No one says anything for a minute, finally Mordred says, "You've gotta be shitting me."
Iskandar looks at her, "Oh?" Diarmuid speaks up as well, "I'm afraid I must decline, I entered this war and swore fealty to my Master who summoned me, and you are not he, Rider!"
Lancer Arturia adds in, "You interrupted our duel with Saber to spout that gibberish? Pah!"
My Arturia says, "To a knight, that is a grave insult, and you will pay dearly for that, Rider."
Iskandar seems largely uninterested in the other Servants' protests, "I can make it worth your while, we could plunder this-"
"Enough!" both of the Lancers and my Servants say at the same time.
"Moreover," my Arturia continues after a second, "I am a monarch as well, the King of Britain. No matter who you are, how exalted you may be or claim to be, I shall never lower myself to becoming another's subject!"
"King of Britain, you say? Incredible! To think that the King of Knights was a little girl!"
Even though I'm a little over fifty feet away, I can easily see both Arturia and Mordred tense up and start shaking a little in rage. "Would you care to taste this little girl's steel, King of Conquerors?" Arturia threatens, readying her sword.
Iskandar sighs, "It appears negotiations have broken down. Damn, what a shame."
The kid, who must be Riders' Master, wails in anguish and starts pounding weakly on Iskandar. He starts to speak but is interrupted by Lancer's Master. "I see. It was you, of all people. I wondered who could possibly have been stupid or crazy enough to steal my summoning relic. But never did I expect you to have the guts to enter the Holy Grail War yourself. Waver Velvet." The kid starts shaking in fear, still clinging on to Iskandar's cape. "But this is quite convenient. It's the perfect chance to impart a very special lesson unto you. You will learn what it means for two mages to fight to the death. You will be thoroughly familiar with all the fear and pain that it entails. You should feel honored." Rider's Master collapses onto the floor of the chariot, it looks like he's having some kind of panic attack.
Iskandar places a hand on the boy's shoulders and pats him on the back gently, and Astolfo has her hands on her hips, looking around defiantly for the source of her Master's fear. Iskandar calls out, "You there, mage! It sounds as though you were intended to be my Master instead of this boy! Let me say, the mere idea makes me ill! Only the man with the courage to stand beside me on the battlefield is fit to be my Master! A coward, too afraid to show his face, is not fit for the role!"
I mutter, "Schellick, call this dude a pussy."
"Yeah! What he said, pussy boy!"
Iskandar laughs heartily as I say "Hell yeah."
"Hahahaha, hell yeah, Master!" I hear Mordred say in my head.
To be fair, I'm kinda doing the same thing he is, maybe worse since I'm using Schellick as a body double, but I am in a position where I could be seen if the Servants looked up at the right angle, my goal isn't to be completely hidden, it's just to make it seem like I'm not the Master. And I am willing to go down there and throw hands with these Servants if I have to, and something tells me this guy won't. "Oh hey, by the way, 8 and 9, I think I know who Lancer's Master is, I'll look into it after this battle."
"Roger." Schellick and Minaki say.
Iskandar turns and says "And the rest of you! I know you are hiding in the darkness, spying on us." Maybe it's me being paranoid but I swear he looks right at me for about half a second.
"What do you mean, Rider?" My Arturia asks.
Iskandar holds up a thumb to her, "Saber and Lancer, your battle was fought fairly and with honor. It was splendid!"
"That part where you got rid of your armor was very cool, Saber!" Astolfo adds.
"I cannot imagine myself being the only Heroic Spirit drawn by the ringing of your clashing weapons. Heroes summoned by the Grail, let us gather! And to those too paralyzed by fear to show your faces, know that Iskandar, King of Conquerors, holds you in utter contempt!" Iskandar finishes.
I take a second to look around, all this talk of others watching from the shadows has made me wary. I hear Minaki's voice in my head, "Hey 6, this is 9, I think I see another Assassin, on top of another crane at your nine, watching this whole thing. Want me to try and take him out?"
I look, sure enough there's a person perched on a crane that overlooks the area that the Servants are in, they're garbed in some black tattered cloak and are wearing a porcelain mask that looks like a skull. "Nah, we don't know what he's capable of, let's wait for now." Interesting, so Assassin is still in play, whoever his Master is, they're playing a very sneaky game. I sling my M4 on the magnetic holster on the back of my exo suit, and watch, crouched down, as the rest of this situation plays out.
After a few moments, specks of golden dust materialize over a lamp post a few feet away from all the Servants, and they converge to form a person. It's a man, clad in some ornate golden armor, he's blonde, and he holds himself with an obvious air of elegance, standing upright on the lamp post and crossing his arms over his chest. He speaks, with a ridiculous amount of indignation and self-righteousness in his voice, "Not one, but two insolent dogs disregard my majesty, to purport themselves as kings?"
All of the Servants look at him, Iskandar says, "That's an odd thing to quibble about. I am Iskandar, known throughout the world as King of Conquerors."
"Foolishness, I am the only true king to stride this earth. All others are but mongrels and peasants before me."
"Oh man I hate this guy already." I mutter.
"Hooah." I hear Schellick say.
"If you make such claims, then state your name!" Iskandar gestures to this new Servant, "Surely a fellow king would not hesitate to name himself to his enemies."
"You dare issue demands to me, cur?" The light beneath the Servant starts flickering, and he taps his foot against the post, and it shatters, "To your king? Blessed to personally bask in my glory, you still cannot even recognize me. You are uncivilized animals, unworthy of your lives!" A series of golden circles appear behind this new Servant, from within each one appears a weapon, mainly swords, tips pointed outwards. This must be the guy who killed Assassin. Arturia and Mordred move to provide cover for Schellick should this guy decide to skewer him with his weapons. Iskandar appears to be observing this Noble Phantasm, while Astolfo moves to step over her Master's crouched figure and help shield him from attack. The Lancers turn to face this new threat, most likely Archer, and assume defensive stances. I have my left hand on my hip where my G17 is holstered, my M9 is on my other hip, my Grizzly just below that on my leg, and my 500 on a concealed holster on my back just above my tailbone.
As I watch this confrontation play out I hear a ping and see the little proximity warning symbol pop up again, and since I haven't been hit by some projectile that means that there's someone behind me. I pull my Glock and bring my left arm around my body, my weapon now pointing behind me on my right side, and I turn my head to the right to see what's behind me. I see a man, he has white hair and amber eyes, standing about five feet away from me, he's holding a simple black bow with a single red arrow drawn and pointed at my face. He has on a red coat over a black skin tight suit, with steel plates on his feet making boots that almost look like sneakers. He has a very serious, almost angry look on his face.
I sigh as I put my Glock away, "Well shit." I mumble. A small, sly grin crosses this new Archer's face for a moment. I think for a second, wondering how I'm gonna get out of this. This guy is obviously in the Archer class so his reflexes are probably ridiculously high. If I move at all he'll just release his arrow and I doubt I'd be able to dodge it from this close. I'd have to move extremely fast to… Wait… Yes, that's it, I know what I'll do. It should work.
Without taking my eyes off this guy, I mumble as quietly as I can, my face still concealed from my bandana, "Time Alter: Double Accel." It's an alteration spell, it creates a reality-altering field inside my body, letting me manipulate time into accelerating for myself, and so I move twice as fast as I normally do, which is amplified due to my exo suit, so I can move faster than most people would be able to perceive. I lunge forward and to the side, because as I expected, even though I'm about five times faster than most humans, I'm just as fast as this guy, and he releases his arrow which flies almost in slow motion past my head, and I grab him under his arm and pivot to hurl him off of the connex, but he grabs my arm and takes me with him.
We fall off the stacked connexes and hit the ground, both of us rolling and separating. We get to our feet and square up to each other about ten feet apart. We've both assumed a fighting stance, neither of us have a weapon in our hands. The archer opens his hands and in a flash of yellow light, like some kind of pseudo-lightning, similar to the way Mordred's armor and weapon materialize, he suddenly has two scimitars in his hands. One is black with red lines tracing through it in some kind of volcanic rock pattern, and the other is white, both of them having a yin-yang symbol set in the middle of the blade close to the handle.
"Ooh, fancy." I say, and then I extend my combat blades, "I can do that too." I smirk, realizing that my bandana has fallen down. My combat knives that are inserted into the wrists of my exo suit aren't exactly designed for swordfighting like this, but they're sturdy enough and are long enough to work against a guy wielding some short swords, the length of my blades is about 12 inches. My only concern is that this Archer is gonna be too fast for me, my time acceleration spell only lasts for a couple real-world seconds, and drains a decent amount of my mana, so I can't use it too much.
"Master, are you alright?" Mordred asks, "D'ya need me to come over there and kick that guy's ass for ya?"
"I think I got him for a few minutes, I'll let you know." The other Servants watch as Archer lunges at me, I block and counterattack, he blocks and attacks, I parry, he dodges, he slashes and I dodge, this continues for a couple moments. I notice that even though I'm comparatively weak to this guy, and I'm using standard blades and not some special Noble Phantasm, I break this guy's swords about five or six times, and each time he just summons up another one, like he has an unlimited amount of blades. We separate for a few seconds, and I hear Minaki say, "6, watch out!" During our fight we've moved over closer to the group of Servants, and I look around, then up, and see one of the connexes in the air as if it was thrown from across the shipping yard heading straight towards us. Myself, Schellick, and all the Servants dodge out of the way, I've put my blades away, and we all stand back up, I'm next to Schellick who is behind my Servants. The connex gives off a deafening clanging sound as it crashes to the ground and rolls into a stack on one side of the aisle.
From the same direction as the connex comes two more Servants, they land several feet away from everyone and stand there for a second. We all look at them. One appears to be another knight, he has on a full suit of black armor, a long black decorative tail trailing from his helmet, a menacing red light emanating from his visor, and he is surrounded by some kind of black mist. The other is some gargantuan motherfucker, like this dude has to be at least ten feet tall, he's got dark skin with tattoos all over, and he's wearing purple fabric around his waist adorned with a ridiculous amount of gold, and he also has on a lot of golden jewelry like bracelets, rings, necklaces, ear and nose piercings, and more. When they stand after their impact which shattered the ground around them, the knight gives off a slightly muted cry of pure rage and begins shaking and twitching, as if his primal desire to tear apart everything in arms reach is just barely being suppressed. I remember reading that all Heroic Spirits summoned as Berserker class have this thing called Madness Enhancement placed on them, it increases all their attributes, especially strength, but damages their mental capabilities so that they're either insane or nearly brain dead, making most of them act like barely tamed animals, extremely difficult to control.
"Berserker?" Arturia asks incredulously.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's them, since they just threw a 5,000 pound container at us like it was a football." I joke.
"Well, King of Conquerors, why not try recruiting them?" Diarmuid says.
"I would try, but they don't seem the type to sit down and negotiate." Iskandar replies. "Okay, boy. How do they measure up as Servants?" He asks his Master.
The boy looks around Astolfo for a second, then says, "I don't know. I can't tell at all." He looks petrified.
"What? What kind of excuse for a Master are you?" Iskandar retorts.
Astolfo turns to scold him, "Hey, hey, hey, don't be so hard on him, Iskandar, he's doing his best!"
"I understand that, but can't he see weaknesses, strengths, stats, basic things like that?"
"...No, I can't. I can see some stuff for the big one, but for the other one, I can't read any of it's stats!"
What? Maybe it has something similar to Mordred's Secret of Pedigree ability. I mutter "Ich Sehe" and look at the big guy.
Servant Class: Berserker
True Name: Unknown
A.K.A.: N/A
Origin: Unknown
Homeland/ Region: Unknown
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 345 cm (11' 4"); 280 kg (617 lbs)
Strength: A Agility: B Luck: D Endurance: A+ Mana: E Noble Phantasm: A
Class Skills: Madness Enhancement B
Personal Skills: Unknown
Noble Phantasms: Unknown
Holy mother of God. This beast is almost twice as tall as I am and weighs more than all the rest of these Servants except maybe Iskandar combined. I then look at the knight.
Servant Class: Berserker
True Name: Unknown
A.K.A.: N/A
Origin: Unknown
Homeland/ Region: Unknown
Alignment: Unknown
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 191 cm (6' 3"); 81 kg (179 lbs)
Strength: Unk. Agility: Unk. Luck: Unk. Endurance: Unk. Mana: Unk. Noble Phantasm: Unk.
Class Skills: Madness Enhancement Unk.
Personal Skills: Unknown
Noble Phantasms: Unknown
The kid was right, I can't see any info on the knight other than his physical appearance, which is very dangerous since I can't compare his stats or abilities to the other Servants, especially my own. There's a lull in activity so I take a second to sweep my gaze over the other Servants to see their stats. I look at the Riders.
Servant Class: Rider
True Name: Iskandar
A.K.A.: Alexander the Great, King of Conquerors
Origin: History
Homeland/ Region: Macedonia, Greece
Alignment: Neutral Good
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 212 cm (6' 11"); 130 kg (286 lbs)
Strength: B Agility: D Luck: A+ Endurance: A Mana: C Noble Phantasm: A++
Class Skills: Riding A+; Magic Resistance D
Personal Skills: Charisma A; Military Tactics B
Noble Phantasms: Unknown
Ok, so Iskandar isn't seven feet tall and 300 pounds but he's pretty close. I look at Astolfo.
Servant Class: Rider
True Name: Astolfo
A.K.A.: N/A
Origin: Legend of Charlemagne
Homeland/ Region: France
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Gender: ?
Height and Weight: 164 cm (5' 4"); 56 kg (123 lbs)
Strength: D Agility: B Luck: A+ Endurance: D Mana: C Noble Phantasm: C
Class Skills: Magic Resistance A; Riding A+; Independant Action B
Personal Skills: Unknown
Noble Phantasms: Unknown
Alright, her stats seem fairly standard for someone like- wait… What the fuck does "?" mean for gender? She's obviously a woman, she looks like a woman, she talks like a woman, she acts like a woman, so why doesn't it just say female? Maybe it's a similar case to Arturia where the stories about her said she was male when she was actually female, and Arturia and Mordred were real people so they are definitely female, but Astolfo is a completely fictional character, given form by the Grail from the legends surrounding her, so I guess it's possible for her to either be male or female, and maybe something just got screwed up in transferring her spirit origin from male to female. Next I look at Diarmuid, I haven't had a chance to yet.
Servant Class: Lancer
True Name: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne
A.K.A.: Diarmuid of the Lovespot
Origin: Irish Mythology
Homeland/ Region: Ireland
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 184 cm (6' 0"); 85 kg (187 lbs)
Strength: B Agility: A+ Luck: E Endurance: C Mana: D Noble Phantasm: B
Class Skills: Magic Resistance B
Personal Skills: Love Spot C
Noble Phantasms: Gae Buidhe- Anti-Unit B; Gae Dearg- Anti-Unit B
Then I look at the Golden Archer, still standing on the lamp post, he's now looking at the Berserkers with the utmost disdain on his face.
Servant Class: Archer
True Name: Unknown
A.K.A.: N/A
Origin: Unknown
Homeland/ Region: Unknown
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 182 cm (5' 11"); 68 kg (150 lbs)
Strength: B Agility: B Luck: A Endurance: B Mana: A Noble Phantasm: EX
Class Skills: Independant Action A; Magic Resistance C
Personal Skills: Unknown
Noble Phantasms: Unknown
Oh shit, an EX rank Noble Phantasm? That is not good at all. The ratings on Servant skills and abilities go from E to A++, but there's one more rank past A++, and that's EX, which basically means that it's so powerful that there's no real way to compare it to anything else, or it's so unique that there's no other ability or Noble Phantasm like it, and thus it's automatically the most powerful ability in its class. I'll have to keep a close eye on him. Finally I look at the red Archer.
Servant Class: Archer
True Name: Unknown
A.K.A.: N/A
Origin: Unknown
Homeland/ Region: Unknown
Alignment: Neutral
Gender: Male
Height and Weight: 187 cm (6' 2"); 78 kg (172 lbs)
Strength: D Agility: C Luck: E Endurance: C Mana: B Noble Phantasm: ?
Class Skills: Independant Action B; Magic Resistance D
Personal Skills: Unknown
Noble Phantasms: Unknown
What in the actual fuck is going on with the Archers? This guy's stats are pretty sub-par, which explains how I was able to go toe-to-toe with him so well, but his Noble Phantasm has a fucking question mark on it? What in the sam hell does that mean? That's even scarier than an EX Noble Phantasm. I've decided that we're gonna avoid combat with the Archers at all costs until we get a sense of how powerful they actually are, I simply don't know enough about them to formulate a good plan of attack, especially not now. I mutter "Halten."
Once my vision returns to normal I look around, all the Servants near me are looking at the Berserkers, and the knight Berserker is looking at the golden Archer on the lamp post. "Who gave you permission to look at me, you rabid dog?" the Archer says. I just noticed that he has red eyes, that's pretty cool. The two yellow circles behind him move so that they're facing the Berserker, the circles are two dimensional, they must be portals of some kind. "See to it that your death amuses me, mongrel." The sword and spear sticking out of the circles glow with a golden light and shoot towards the knight, almost as fast as a bullet. The weapons have so much force and energy behind them that when they reach the knight they explode on impact.
After a moment the smoke clears and the knight is standing confidently, unharmed, facing the Archer. "That's quite a technique for one who is beyond rational thought." Iskandar muses.
"What do you mean?" Astolfo questions him. The nearby Servants turn to look at them.
"Oh, couldn't you tell? That black thing snatched the sword out of the air, then used it to knock aside the spear."
That's… Well… Extremely impressive, because if that's true, then the knight did that in less than a quarter of a second, much faster than the human eye could detect. "Father, this Berserker… He seems… Familiar…" Mordred says to Arturia in front of me.
"I agree… But for some reason, I cannot place where I have seen him… Perhaps he was a prospective for my Round Table at one point, I know I turned away many knights."
The knight looks directly at the golden Archer, almost like he's challenging him. The knight says nothing. "You presume to soil my treasures with your filthy hands?" the golden Archer says, turning to face the knight directly now. "Do you desire death that badly, dog!?" the Archer has a look of annoyed anger on his face, and now around two dozen circles appear, each with its own ornate, deadly weapon. "How long can your petty thievery sustain your life? Show me!"
The Archer launches all of his weapons in quick succession at the Berserkers, the knight catches the first two and starts using them to block and deflect the others. The large Berserker uses the bracelets and golden jewelry on his arms as armor and begins to block the weapons being launched at him. The knight throws one of the weapons in his hand at an incoming projectile, and it boomerangs back to him, I notice that it has the same black mist around it as is around him. Both Berserkers block and parry the attacks, the impacts of the weapons on the ground creating small craters and a large dust cloud that obscures them for a moment. From inside the dust cloud, two weapons come spinning out at the Archer. He jumps from the lamp post as the two weapons hit it, slicing it into three pieces.
The golden Archer lands on his feet on the ground, facing away from the rest of the Servants, the red Archer moves to stand near him, his bow re-materialized and a long dart-looking arrow nocked and drawn, pointed at the large Berserker. "Ignorant fools…" the gold Archer says, "You should think of me as a god. I shall not permit you to exist upon the same world I inhabit!" He turns to face the Berserkers, and now there are even more circles of light behind him, at least fifty, probably twice that. "Your impudence has earned you death! You mongrels, I shall destroy every last bit of your corpses!" He prepares to unleash all of his weapons upon the Berserkers, but then he stops. He tenses up, and looks up and to the side. "You would have the gall to order a king's retreat? A bold move, Tokiomi." He waves his hand and all of the circles of light disappear, as well as any weapons still on the ground and not destroyed. "You've been spared this time, mad dogs… As for the rest of you mutts, by our next encounter, I expect you rabble to have thinned your herd. Only true heroes are worthy of gazing upon me." He walks away and both the Archers dissipate into specks of golden light.
"Looks like Archer's Master doesn't have that one's fortitude." Iskandar says, looking at the spot they disappeared at.
Arturia and Mordred shift their focus from the Riders to the Berserkers. The knight stares at Arturia for several seconds, then starts shaking uncontrollably and with another cry of pure unbridled rage, several long strands of fabric similar to the one on his helmet burst out of his back, his armor starting to glow a slight red like his visor. "Master, get back!" both Arturia and Mordred shout as they start to move towards the Berserkers. The large Berserker materializes two deadly and ornate looking axes in his hands, and the knight rushes to the side and picks up a section of the lamp post that he cut down, and jumps into the air, his fellow Berserker running forward.
The knight almost lands on top of Arturia, bringing the pole in his hands down, Arturia stopping it with her sword. The pole in his hands now has red lines around it, and it's holding up against Arturia's sword very well, and this fact surprises Arturia slightly. The large Berserker slashes sideways at Mordred as she moves to intercept him, and she ducks under his strike and gives him a slash of her own, but it's parried by his other axe. Arturia disengages from the knight and strikes at him, and he blocks it with his pole. Mordred takes a step back away from the large Berserker and prepares to go back in for another strike.
"So that's it…" Iskandar starts, watching the confrontation between my Servants and the Berserkers intently.
"Oh! Oh I get it! Whatever that black knight holds becomes his Noble Phantasm! That's so cool, why can't I do that?" Astolfo finishes.
The black knight begins a brutal assault on Arturia, striking her with so much force that even though she can block his attacks easily, she gets thrown slightly off balance and can't easily counterattack. The same is happening with Mordred, the large Berserker has a bit of reach and the benefit of two weapons on her, similar to Arturia's battle with Diarmuid earlier, so Mordred has to stay on the defensive and desperately hope that she'll find a chance to attack. I can hear Mordred cursing as she fights, "Dammit. Dammit! Damn you!" and Arturia grunting and panting slightly from the exertion of fighting such a fierce opponent, and at some point she says, "What are you?" My Servants look like they're actually having a tough time with these two, and the Rider and Lancer Servants seem content to just watch this one play out for now, so I decide that I should do something. "8, help Arturia with that knight, I'll see what I can do with the big one. 9, be ready to take shots at the Servants if I say so."
My teammates acknowledge my orders as I stride forward, starting to run to pick up speed, Schellick beside me loading up some of his AP shells. He starts firing at the knight Berserker, and while the slugs don't actually seem to hurt him or damage his armor like Schellick was hoping, they do stagger him a good amount just from the stopping power of the slugs, allowing Arturia to make some advances, and now the knight has to worry about both attacking and defending against Arturia, as well as dodging Schellick's blasts. During this confrontation the knight lets out a long, guttural, high pitched, slightly muted cry that sounds a little like "Aarrthurrrrr!" Meanwhile I pull out my Grizzly, and shoot out my grapnel at the large Berserker while he fights with Mordred, catching him on the hand with it. He stops for a second and looks at me, but has to return his attention to Mordred as she takes a couple swings and jabs at him. I begin circling him and shooting at him with my Grizzly, but sadly my bullets don't seem to do much as he's able to block them with either his weapon or his jewelry that he has on. I curse under my breath, annoyed at my weapon's uselessness against such a monster as I re-holster it. I leave my grapnel on him as I circle him, running sideways and jumping over Mordred as I pass her, trying to tie him up in my cord. After a couple revolutions my cord has run out and he only has one hand free, and his legs are bound, I'm holding him in place and have about twenty feet of cord separating us, he lets out a long, extremeley loud, echoing war cry, "AAAAOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!"
Mordred slashes at him but he bats it down with his free hand, hitting so hard that her sword flies out of her hand and embeds itself into the ground at her feet, and his axe head shatters, turning into a crude mace. He then uses said new mace to swing up at Mordred, catching her in the chest and sending her flying backward into a connex. She blows through the door and impacts unseen into the other side, causing the whole container to shift back a couple feet. The Berserker then grabs my grapnel cord, and starts dragging it back around and spinning. I say "Ah shit." as I realize what's about to happen. I get whipped to the side as he pulls me and starts spinning with me still attached to him through the cord. He starts spinning faster and faster, dragging me along as if he's doing the hammer throw at an olympic game. My world becomes a helpless blur of pain as I collide with the ground, other lamp posts, Schellick, and the walls of containers at speeds probably in excess of 50 mph, I cry out in pain multiple times as I strike something and roll and ragdoll all over the place, I hear Arturia shout "Master!" Eventually I'm able to get out, "Fuck! Gaah! Minak- kuh, Minaki! Kaah, dammit, shoot him! Grrah! Shoot him God dammit!"
I hear the crack of a rifle, and the large Berserker lets out another impossibly loud war cry. Another shot. "Boss, I hit him twice but it's not doing much!" God dammit, I fumble with my harness and after banging against another few things I finally disengage my rope from my harness, and I fly into a container, denting it slightly from the impact of my body. I lay with my back against it, slumped over. I can feel Avalon slowly healing the major damage, but it'll probably take a few seconds due to the sheer amount of injuries I have. I can feel blood coming out of my ears, nose, mouth (I think I'm missing a couple teeth now), and probably my eyes. I have at least seven broken ribs and my right shoulder is out of place, luckily my exo suit is still intact and it kept my limbs from breaking, and miraculously my helmet is still on, the visor is cracked, but it kept my head from taking a serious beating. I look up, my left eye starting to swell shut, breathing ragged and painful, and I see the knight Berserker, he's broken away from Arturia and Schellick and is now in the air flying towards me, his pole over his head ready to bring it down on me.
There's nothing I can do to stop him in this situation, I'm going to die, he's gonna bring that pole down and completely pulverize my head with it. Avalon can heal lots of wounds, even fatal ones, but it can't regenerate lost limbs and it definitely can't heal decapitations or similar wounds. This unnamed knight is going to be the reason that my daughter becomes an orphan. Someone's going to have to knock on my parent's door and tell them that I've died and they'll have to lie about how. I watch in slow motion as the Berserker's pole comes down and…
And Mordred appears in front of me and blocks the blow, catching the pole with her sword. She's standing over me, parts of her armor are gone from the other Berserker's attack, most of her right arm armor is gone, her chestplate is dented in and half of her helmet is gone, revealing a single emerald colored eye that shows an intense fiery anger. She's bleeding from her head and several other places, I see drops of blood pouring down her armor onto the concrete in front of me. She pushes the Berserker off of her, yelling, "Get off my Master, you Bastard!" The large Berserker finally frees himself from my cord, and rushes forward, Arturia running to try and intercept him from the other side of the aisle, and the knight Berserker swings his pole at Mordred. Suddenly a flash of red cuts across the pole and about a foot of it is severed.
Beside Mordred, Diarmuid stands from the position he had to be in to slash at the pole, and meanwhile the large Berserker hurls his axe at Arturia, but it's batted out of the air by the lance of the other Arturia, who gets between my Arturia and the Berserker. "Berserker, we have already claimed this duel with Saber." Diarmuid says.
"Attack them further, and you will contend with us as well." Lancer Arturia adds.
"Lancer…" My Arturia starts, looking at both of the Lancers.
"What are you doing, Lancer? This is the perfect opportunity to eliminate Saber." Lancer's Master calls out from wherever he's at.
"Saber will fall by my spear, upon my honor as Diarmuid Ua Duibhne!" Diarmuid calls to his Master. "Allow me to slay this rabid dog first!" He points his spear at the knight Berserker. "What say you, my Master?"
"... I command you, by this Command Spell…" Oh shit, this ain't gonna be good.
"Master!" Both the Lancers call out pleadingly, silently begging him to stop.
"You will help Berserker, and kill Saber."
Nothing happens for a moment, then out of nowhere, both Lancers turn and start attacking my Servants. I can't see what Lancer Arturia's expression is right now, but I'm sure it's similar to Diarmuid's. He looks angry, he has no way to resist the command spell, his body is acting on it's own, and as he squares up to Mordred alongside the knight Berserker, he says quietly, "Saber, I'm sorry." This is a bad situation, there's no way my Servants will be able to take on both Lancer and Berserker at the same time.
I see Schellick getting up slowly and painfully from when I hit him earlier while I was being tossed around. Mordred looks at me, her and Arturia readying their swords, "Master, can you walk?" Mordred asks.
"Yeah, I think so," I say, "Schellick?"
"Ah, yep, I think I'll be good."
"We shall hold them off, Master, while we do, get yourselves to safety." Arturia says.
I'm healed enough to stand up, and as I do I chuckle, spitting out a little blood. "Like hell I am."
"Master, go!" Arturia implores me.
"No, Saber, I'm staying. I'm with you to the end." I reset my shoulder, crying out in pain, and as it fully heals I pull my M9 out and point it at Diarmuid. "I may not be able to do much against a Servant, but it looks like you need all the help you can get." After a second, I look around, "9, you still got visual on the Master?" I mumble.
"Roger, I don't have a clear shot, but if I needed to I could probably hit him."
"Alright, on my mark."
Diarmuid and the knight Berserker take a step towards Mordred, "Ready…" I see them tense up and prepare to lunge, and I'm about to say mark, but then Rider's chariot comes in and bowls over the Berserkers, the Lancers seeing this attack coming just in time to dodge out of the way. The Berserkers are carried about twenty feet and the chariot keeps rolling along, turning to be ready for another attack. Both Berserkers get up to their hands and knees and struggle to get up, the knight disappears in a cloud of black smoke, and the large one looks at the Riders, and says, "Is...kan...dar…" before he too disappears.
"Well, it appears that our Berserker friends have decided to withdraw for the night. Master of Lancer, I know not where you hide, but cease your pathetic meddling in the affairs of true knights! Call off Lancer. Should you insist on further sullying their names, I shall side with Saber." Iskandar says.
"Me too, and together, we'll massacre your Servants! What do you say to that?" Astolfo pipes up.
"... Fall back, Lancer. Tonight's battle is over." Lancer's Master calls out.
"You have my gratitude, King of Conquerors." Diarmuid says.
"Don't mention it, I simply enjoy seeing the flowers of war in bloom." Iskandar smiles.
Diarmuid looks from Mordred to Arturia, Arturia nods to him, and he nods back as he disappears. Lancer Arturia looks at my Arturia, "You got lucky with your Master, I hate mine." She says quietly with a chuckle as she too disappears along with her horse.
After a few moments of silence, Arturia asks Iskandar, "What was your purpose in coming here, King of Conquerors?"
"I cannot say I planned it out thoroughly, to be honest… Saber, before you do anything else, settle your score with Lancer. I shall await the victor, be it you or Lancer. Goodbye for now, King of Knights! I hope our next meeting will prove even more exciting than our first!"
"You guys are really good fighters! I can't wait to see what your Noble Phantasm does!" Astolfo chimes in from behind Iskandar. By now my Servants have moved closer together and are standing by the chariot, and I am a couple feet behind them.
"Hey, boy, any grand declarations for our foes? Hmm?" Iskandar bends down and picks up his Master, who has passed out from shock or something, by the scruff of his collar. "Haah, he really needs to get himself together." He gives an approving nod to my Servants and me, and he turns and cracks a whip to get his beasts going, "Farewell!"
As the chariot lurches forward Astolfo leans forward, waving her lance, "Bye bye, Sabers- Aaah!" The sudden movement of the chariot causes her to lose her balance and in her effort to steady herself she throws down her lance, and it impales Mordred in her right leg.
Mordred's lower leg and foot disappear in a bunch of golden flakes and she falls to the ground, "Gyaaah! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?" She screams in rage.
"Oh no! Oh no, oh no I'm so sorry, sorry! Sorry!" Astolfo jumps down as the chariot pulls away, leaving her behind, and picks up her lance, but then has to use it to block Mordred's vicious attacks.
"You bastard! Come here you wretch, I'll kill you! Damn you, damn you!" Mordred crawls awkwardly on one hand and leg, swinging her sword, chasing Astolfo as she hastily backs away.
"Sorry, sorry! This is the Trap of Argalia, it turns whatever it strikes back into spirit form, but don't worry, it'll come back in a couple of hours! Sorry again, gotta go, bye!" She turns and starts running in the direction that the chariot went, "Hey, wait for me!" She disappears in the same golden light that the rest of the Servants did.
Mordred cries out in rage, it's actually scarier than the Berserkers. "I'll kill her! I'm gonna find her and kill her! Heal me, Master! I'm gonna go after her and-"
"Mordred, calm down, you'll be ok, it was an accident." I say as I crouch down next to her. She's got golden light emanating from where she got amputated, but there's no bleeding or anything like that. "9, meet us at the car."
I hear Minaki's acknowledgement as I pull Mordred onto my shoulders. "You're gonna be ok, Mordred." I say gently, my compassionate side coming out. "I'll patch you two up once we get to the car, let's go." We jog to the car, me carrying Mordred on my shoulders, Arturia on one side and Schellick on the other. We get to the car, Minaki waiting leaning against the driver's door, her weapons already stowed in the back. She looks up at us as we approach, we must look horrible, all of us have a couple wounds on our faces and heads that cause a trickle of blood to come down our faces, as well as other scratches and bruises on other parts of our bodies. "Schellick, drive. Minaki, shotgun. I'll get in back, Arturia, go to the passenger side." Minaki opens the back driver's side door then goes around to the passenger seat, and I place Mordred in the seat while Schellick opens the back and stows his weapons. Arturia goes around to her seat and after I stow my M4 I jump in from Mordred's door and close the door behind me, and we take off back home.
…
During the drive back to the house, we're driving down a back road in a forest near our suburb, I'm standing hunched over between Arturia and Mordred in the backseat, I pull out a first aid kit from under the seat and start treating their wounds. "Alright, both of you, get your shit off."
"Huh?" Mordred asks.
"Your armor, get rid of it."
"Oh, roger Master." They both de-materialize their armor, and they're left wearing their regular clothes. I look first at Mordred's leg, there's still no blood but I don't know when her foot will come back so just in case I put a tourniquet on her leg just above the amputation. I don't tighten it too much, just enough to keep it on, if she starts bleeding then I'll tighten it and use magic to heal her. I then turn to Arturia and roll up her sleeve to look at her injured arm, it's still bleeding, albeit slowly, it's started to clot but not fully enough for a wound of that size. I decide that since magic can't heal it, then I'll just pack it. I get some gauze out and pack the wound, then use a bandage to hold it in place, that should at least stop the bleeding.
"Arturia, can you move your hand? You mentioned that Lancer cut a tendon and from that point on you weren't fighting quite as well."
"I can't move my thumb, Master, and that is true, I have lost the full use of this hand, which is my dominant hand in sword fighting, and so I have to adjust to using my non-dominant hand."
"Hmm… Ok, we're gonna prioritize going after Lancer, so that we get rid of this curse and you're back up to full strength. I'll take out the Master if I get a chance, to speed up the process."
"Understood, Master."
I then start using magic to heal their minor wounds and wiping blood off them with a rag. While I do this, Arturia says, "Master… I… Would like to apologize."
"For what?"
"We faced almost all of our enemies tonight and yet we were unable to eliminate a single one. I should have tried harder, or been more cautious during my fight with Lancer, and perhaps we would not be in this situation."
I chuckle, "Are you serious? The way I look at it, since you were faced with so many enemies and got hit so hard, and you're still standing and largely unharmed, I think that's pretty impressive."
"How do you think we did, Master?" Mordred asks.
"Well I'm not well versed in medieval combat but I think you two were awesome, you at least showed that you're pretty tough and won't go down without a fight."
"True, thanks Master… Heh, we probably could've kicked Rider's ass if they wanted a fight. Did you see the look on-"
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Schellick screams as he slams on the brakes. I grab onto the headrests of the front seats to stop myself from destroying the console. I turn around to see what's up, and standing in the middle of the road is a man. He has a gaunt, hunched figure, he has slicked back, slightly unruly black hair, and is wearing a black and red robe and cloak, with a large puffed out collar, and in one hand he is clutching some kind of book or tome. His eyes almost bulge out of his head and give off this look of pure insanity.
"Who the hell is this clown?" I say.
"Master! That's a Servant." Arturia says.
"Oh hell. Alright, Arturia, get out with me, I'll stay close in case he tries something. Mordred, stay in the car, you're in no shape to fight. Minaki, Schellick, keep your weapons on him."
Arturia and I get out of the car while Minaki rolls down her window, sits on the bottom portion of it with her body sticking out, and readies her M4. Schellick rolls down his window as well and holds his pistol out pointed at the man, one hand still on the wheel in case he needs to move the car. Arturia and I walk around to the front of the car and stand in front of the headlights, as we do this the man crouches to his knees and bows his head, bringing one arm across his chest. I notice that he has some kind of lines or runes traced along his arms. "I have come for you, my holy virgin." He says.
We're standing about fifteen feet away from him, "Huh?" I mumble. "Do you know him?" I ask Arturia.
"I don't think so." She says.
The man looks up, clenching his fists, his voice filled with some kind of poetic despair, "Don't say that! You must surely remember my face!" He opens his palms and I can see that his nails form claws. Weird.
"I have never seen you before this night." Arturia assures him, taking a step forward. "Perhaps you have me mistaken for another?"
The man clutches at his head and shakes it, then pats himself on the chest, "It's me! Gilles de Rais… I prayed for your resurrection, longed for the miracle that would reunite us, and even leapt through time to find you, Jeanne!"
Jeanne… Gilles de Rais… Holy Virgin… Holy shit, this guy knew Joan of Arc.
"I know neither your name, nor of the Jeanne of whom you speak." Arturia continues.
"No… Can you really have forgotten your past life?" Gilles is still on his knees, he assumes a pleading posture, holding his hands in front of him in a "why can't you understand?" kind of way.
"As you have revealed your true name to me, I am honor-bound, as a knight, to give you mine. I am Arturia, Daughter of Uther Pendragon, and King of Britain. Summoned to this era as the Saber class."
Gilles raises his head and lets out a shriek, "OH! How regrettable! How heart-wrenching! This isn't simple amnesia, but madness!" He starts sobbing into the ground. "Damn you… Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!" With each other word he punches the ground. "How much more torture must my maiden endure before God is sated!?" His words start to sound more like he's hissing them out rather than saying them.
"This guy is fucking nuts." I say.
"Ditto." I hear Schellick say behind me.
"Cease your pathetic ravings!" Arturia commands of Gilles, looking at him with disgust.
He stops, then looks at Arturia, "Awaken. Cast aside the mantle of Saber. The Holy Grail War has its victor already! Without spilling a single drop of blood, the Grail has chosen me, Gilles!" He looks down a little, "I know this, because my wish has been granted. My virgin angel, Jeanne d'Arc, has been revived!"
A blast of air shoots past him, creating a gouge in the road beside him. He stops, dumbfounded, and looks once more at Arturia. Her armor and sword are back on, and she is pointing her invisible blade at him. She lowers her sword and says, "Mock the prayers of our fellow Heroic Spirits further, and next time, I shan't miss! Stand up!"
I swear I hear some kind of laughter coming from the forest to our right, it's merely a chuckle, just barely audible, and I look to my right, but don't see anything, not even in EMF.
Gilles doesn't stand, "Your mind is locked away so tightly, Jeanne." He says quietly, "I suppose I have no choice." He lifts his head and closes his eyes. "Clearly, drastic measures are called for, and I must prepare accordingly." He stands, Arturia moves in front of me, ready to fight. I hear a car door open behind me, and I turn to see Mordred's door open.
"Mordred, stay in the car."
"But I wanna-"
"No! I said you aren't fit to fight right now, stay in the damn car!"
"Ugh, dammit. Fine!" The door closes.
"I swear this to you, Jeanne. I will free your soul from the wretched curse of God." Gilles says, then he gives a bow and disappears.
"Holy hell, I can't even keep up with him." I sigh, I feel absolutely drained just talking to that guy.
"Next time I shall kill him before he can utter a single word. I loathe dealing with his type." She starts walking back to her door. "Nonetheless, we have been fortunate tonight. I could sense that he was far too dangerous an opponent to fight right now with my injuries." We get back in the car and continue our drive to the house.
…
Once we get back to the house, it's around midnight. I'm in pretty rough shape. Physically I'm fine, Avalon has seen to that, but as we pull up to the curb by the house I finally noticed how exhausted I feel. I think it's because of all the adrenaline from the fight finally wearing off. I stagger and stumble a little during the short walk to the door, I now feel drunk as well as tired, everything going a little blurry. Once we get through the entry way I almost collapse and stabilize myself on the table.
"Master, are you alright?" Arturia asks.
"Yeah boss, you ok? You look like shit." Schellick adds, supporting Mordred.
"I don't know, I think I'm just… Oh no." I start to get tunnel vision, the edges of my sight going black, and I look at Minaki, she's in a bad way too, not as bad as me, but she is slouching and swaying. I just remembered, Magical Circuits are effectively just another body system, and mana is the thing that keeps it running, like blood. If a person gets low on mana, they start feeling like they just ran a marathon or something. If a person runs completely out of mana, they just collapse and pass out, if they haven't already. Running out of mana isn't usually fatal unless it's prolonged, then a person can slip into a coma and just die like their body stopped working, but human bodies constantly replenish their mana reserves like cells, the world of magic has yet to figure out where exactly the mana comes from though, but most researchers seem to think that it comes from nutrients we gain from food that we eat. So really all I need to do is rest and eat, and I should be fine.
"I uh…. I think I know what's going on… You two…" I point weakly at Arturia and Mordred, "You two sucked a whole lot of mana out of me during the fight. Normally I'd be ok with you two sucking stuff out of me but this time it's a no no." My mind feels fuzzy, I start talking without really thinking about it. I giggle stupidly.
"Master, you're not making any sense, are you going to be alright?" Arturia and Mordred look at me with concern.
"Yeah, do we need to call an ambulance or something?" Schellick asks.
I shake my head in an exaggerated way, "Nah, nah, I just need to… yeah…. yeah, I need to get out of this. I- I just need to get naked and drink a little, get some food. Yeah." I feel absolutely horrible, it's like I've been awake for the last 48 hours and just started to crash from an overdose of coffee, and I just downed a dozen and a half shots of whiskey, and I haven't had any water in the last two days. I press a couple buttons on my exo suit and it opens up, allowing me to step out of it. My vision now makes me feel like I'm looking through a straw. I take one step forward, and suddenly the floor lurches up at me, I don't even register this sudden attack, I hear Mordred yell "Master!" before my vision goes completely black.
I open my eyes again, and I'm lying on my back staring at a ceiling. It's still dark outside. My head hurts a little but I don't feel quite as shitty as I just did. I look to my right and see my outfit that I was just wearing folded up neatly next to my bed, my phone and everything else I had in my pockets sitting on top. I grab my phone and feel myself, I'm in my underwear, and check the time. 0317, alright then, I turn to my left and freeze for a second. I must be in some weird dream because my dead wife is lying next to me. She's on her side and facing away from me, but in the dim moonlight from outside I can see her long blonde hair, slightly wavy but not too much, splayed out around her while she breathes slowly and evenly while she sleeps.
I roll over and shift myself so that I'm spooning with her, I wrap my arm around her abdomen as I bury my face in her neck, drinking in her scent. It's different than normal but still very nice, I wonder if she changed shampoos recently. She stirs slightly as I hug her, and I mumble into her ear, "I love you, Lilly."
She turns her head to look at me, and she says, "M- Master? What are you..?" in a very tired voice. But it's strange, I thought I'd remember her face easily, but there's a couple slight differences, her face looks a little younger than I remember, and her eyes are green rather than blue, and her voice sounds more like Arturia's than… Oh…. Oh. Oh no.
"S- Saber? Oh crap I'm so sorry! I thought- Uh- I- I didn't mean to…" I release her and scoot a few inches away. She rolls around to face me, she's wearing a simple white bra and I'm guessing matching underwear.
"It is alright Master, I should be the one to apologize, I should not have done something to confuse you like that… But Master, if I may ask, who is 'Lilly?'"
"Oh, um, she's my… uh… wife. She died about three years ago, from Ovarian Cancer."
"Oh, my condolences, Master."
"Thanks… Um… Arturia, what are you doing in bed with me?"
"Oh… w- well, when you collapsed, we carried you into your room, and when we undressed you and got you under the covers, you said that you were cold, and I couldn't find any other blankets to cover you with, so I decided that I would use my body heat to keep you warm by laying next to you."
"Hmm… thanks, but you know, there's a much better way to keep me warm."
"What's that, Master?"
I slip one arm under her and pull her onto me, her head resting on my shoulder and most of her body laying on top of mine. "Direct contact." I say.
"M- Master! You shouldn't just do things like that!"
"If you don't like it you can get off." I smile.
Arturia stays still for a moment, then says, "It's… I shall tolerate it, just this once." She places a hand on my chest and relaxes her head, and I wrap my arms around her in an embrace as I drift off to sleep.
In the morning I wake up feeling completely refreshed, it's around 0830, Arturia and I are in the same position as we were when I fell asleep. I look at Arturia, her face which normally seems so tense and unhappy now looks calm and peaceful as she continues to sleep. I decide that a moment like this can't go to waste, and I grab my phone from beside my pillow, trying not to disturb her, and I hold it up to take a selfie of me and her like this. Right before I take the picture, she opens her eyes and looks first at me, then the phone, her face still with that peaceful look. I give a small, content smile and press the button to take the picture.
"Master… Why did you do that?" She asks sleepily.
"...I guess so I can remember the good times." I respond as I get up. I put some casual clothes on and grab my computer and spellbook, then head out to the living room to have some breakfast and relax a bit before we start looking for Lancer's Master.
