Niven felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, a large knife had plunged into him right in the middle of his incantation.
"No! Not now at this crucial moment!" he thought.
"That's quite the impossible ritual you're performing there, 'Weaver'."
Niven, though he could barely manage, continued his incantation. He didn't even hear the voice behind him. He was so close to flawlessly executing it that it consumed all of his attention.
"I said," he launched himself at Niven, "that ritual is impossible!" He felt a foot connect with the backside of his skull. Halting his words and disrupting the grand magic The Great Weaver was attempting to complete.
"No…" He reached forward, "Cipher!"
The magical energies he was manipulating began to go berserk, this was the worst case scenario he imagined. He could have aborted, but he was just fractions of seconds away from completion. He had compromised again. Put his selfish goals above the lives of others, first innocents, now the life of one of his friends. He should have aborted the instant his shoulder was impaled.
"Your friends, are getting a bit too closely acquainted with my friends, understand? Not sure how long the abhuman pansies'll last. I wouldn't give em' a minute, you?" He was being completely nonchalant, people were fighting for their lives and he couldn't care less.
"You bastard! Do you have any idea what you've just done! Saggita Magica, Venti Tres Ventus! (Magical Archery, 23 arrows of wind!) " He didn't say the incantation of course, instead activating the spell in his mind and launching it instantly with a flick of his wrist. But the arrows weren't fast enough. The entity had already disappeared. A split second later, he felt a foot plant itself firmly on his forehead. He was knocked prone.
"Did you really think you could do it? Did you think a worthless pieces of trash like you had any chance at all!"
"I didn't think, I knew! In God all things are possible!" He responded.
"That so? Too bad there is no God. Oh well, I guess it's time for the traaaash to burrrn!" He whipped out two knives and stabbed them right through Niven's wrists. He leaped up into the air and flicked a few more knives into each hand. He was just showing off now.
A pillar of blinding light prevented Niven from seeing what had happened to Alex. He wass dead, he had to be. And he was tragically about to join him.
Boooooooommmmm!
Another beam of intense light connected with the entity's midsection, sending him flying about 30 feet before it exploded. The pillar of light became narrower and narrower, focusing on a human shape in the middle, until it disappeared.
"Owwwww!" The entity was on its feet and dusting itself off. From a distance, it looked human. "What the...Hehe, AHAHAHAHA! Ahhhh, So it seems that spell wasn't impossible after all! Telll me fateless! How does it feel to be more powerful than any other piece of trash on this planet?" Every syllable that escaped his lips dripped with unrestrained malice and condescension.
"What are you talking about?" Blood was flowing down his face as he bled through his clothes. He needed to be healed, badly.
"Hmmm? God you're dense you know that? Let me spell it out for ya, baka. I want to know if you like being able to slaughter a whole company of highly trained soldiers. I want to know if you love having the power to defy every tin pot dictator in existence." He hunched over and looked him in the eye, hands in his pockets. "Don't you like it? Doesn't it feel good to be able to kill most any waste of space in this world of lies!" The smile he sported on his pale face churned his stomach.
"No! I am not like that! I hate people like you with all my being!" He screamed with a hint of fear. Terrible memories flooded his mind. The complete loneliness, the absolute sorrow, the crushing despair he'd experienced all his life. The people that rejected his earnest pleas for companionship and understanding...deep down, didn't he really wish they would all just die?
He began an incantation labeled 'useless' by Niven. Rings of light as tall as he was formed above the backside of his hands. He crossed his arms, palms facing inwards. The rings fused together, forming a circle of light before him. He then inverted his hands and slashed at the circle before him as with invisible claws. Impello Gravitas! (Gravitic Drive!) He was drawn through the newly opened gate, propelling him towards his enemy at an impossible speed. He felt his fist connect with it's skull.
That head didn't react the way physics texts said it ought to. It ought to have simply exploded from an impact of that magnitude. Of course, his arm ought to have likewise disintegrated, and his body ought to have continued moving forward as though the man in front of him did not exist, yet none of this happened. Everything was wrong, but it didn't matter to him anymore.
"So much for the laws of physics." he thought.
Now he was flying slowly towards a staggering enemy. From up close, he looked like a rather unassuming middle aged man with wild bleach white hair (which was probably nice and tidy before he ate that beam), a suit and tie, and violet eyes. Was he an albino? No matter, he had to continue his pressure. He hit the ground running and punched him again, a distortion effect, like the one observed from viewing an object with a magnifying glass as it's slowly moved away, occurring at the point of impact. He kept on punching, the jewels losing their newfound brilliant white color with each blow, yet also creating the same distortion effect. He couldn't let his enemy recover, he had to destroy him here and now. He hit him again and again, a jab to the head, a blow to the midsection, a knee to the face, the same combo once more, and then a final haymaker that sent his enemy flying. He muttered an incantation, Saggita Magica, Septendecim Obscuritas! (Magical Archery, 17 Arrows of Darkness!)
Lightless orbs formed behind him, and fired in unison. Each beam struck its mark and exploded paradoxically, consuming light where they ought to have generated it. He then raised his right hand in front of his face and began to charge another blast, then a hand came down on his shoulder.
"Heh," He felt a fist impact his backside and was sent flying, he landed hard on his back and slid for a meter or two. He kicked his feet and recovered quickly. "You're pretty damn weak newbie!" He crouched down and made an insulting gesture "C'mon, show me what you're really capable of you fateless piece of trash!"
He moved faster than his eyes were able to track, but that didn't matter. Alex didn't have to track his movements, merely predict them. Any professional fighter will tell you that people give subtle hints to their next action if watched closely. Your opponent's body will tell you how, where and when he will try to hit you next. In his training in martial arts, he had developed and honed this skill to a science. He barely dodged the inhumanly fast blow, opening another bloody gash in his face. He countered with a grab and threw him as hard as he could into the air.
"It should be harder to pull the same trick once he's in the air" he thought, yet immediately he saw the signs of another attempt and sidestepped. Now his enemy was on his knees with both arms fully extended. A sitting duck. He reverse kicked his foe in the head, sending its face into the dirt. He raised his hand and fired another blast. Right as the beam met the enemy's head it disappeared. He felt something grab his arm. Alex was flung high into the air. A split second later a large plume of fire was heading right for him. He curled up and crossed his arms in front of his face. The fire rushed over him, but none of it actually touched him. The flames that would have incinerated him were instead sucked into the jewels on his hands, causing them to take on a more reddish hue. He prayed that his enemy hadn't moved, his mind shouted the name of the move that he had used just a few moments before as he tried to activate the spell in his heart.
Impello Gravitas!
His fist once more met face and caused a large directional explosion that sent his opponent flying towards the horizon. He charged another energy blast and fired. It hit home, but now the effect was different. Like a fusion of the standard explosion effect and the distortion effect he had observed at the beginning of the fight. After a moment the smoke cleared. He was surprised to see his opponent unphased as he drifted towards the ground.
"Ahhh, now that was much better." He was now on the ground walking towards him. "Aww damnit, it appears as though my friends have lost. Meh, I never liked them anyway." He said in a dismissive tone.
"I'm not..." Alex said. He was barely able to stand, all of his extremities were shaking, "done yet!"
"Yes. You. Are. In fact, you're already dead. Not even a good healer could save ya now." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I won't...let you..." All the action had prevented his wounds from closing. He'd lost a lot of blood, too much blood to remain conscious. He passed out mid-sentence, falling face first into the dirt.
"Oh well, looks like I'm stuck once again. Damn, if only you humans could manage to surprise me once in a while. It's all getting far too old." He took a knife out of his pocket and began twirling it.
"Who do you work for demon? Tell me!" Niven had recovered during their exchange, and had used the time to gather somewhere around 300 orbs of light behind him.
"I Can't. Terms of my binding. You understand don't you?"
"Tell me damn you!"
"No. Instead, I'll give your old ass a little hint. You're on the wrong planet! Hope you figure it all out, baaaka." He threw the knife at Niven's feet as he gave a flippant gesture. A flash of light erupted from beneath him and he was gone.
The rest of his entourage came running towards them. They had all clearly been in a desperate battle. They were to a man cut up, bruised, and bleeding. Cipher, however, was certainly the worst off. A pool of red was forming below his unconscious body.
"Oh no! Is he...ok?" Said Ffion with a tone of genuine concern showing through her exhaustion.
"No, he's not. It's obvious he's lost too much blood. He'll die in a few minutes if we don't do something." Said Jason.
"Anyone got type AB+ blood?" said Niven.
"That's universal recipient! Anybody could give him blood and he'd be just fine!" Screamed Emiya.
"Can't you just heal him?" said Mikoto bluntly.
"I can close his wounds, but you can't just replicate blood on demand. His body won't produce enough in time to save him."
"I brought a first aid kit with me." Emiya muttered an incantation, and a few seconds later a box flew into his hand. He opened it and frantically rummaged for a few seconds. "Yes! Blood Transfusion kit!"
"Ok, who's going to hook their arm to Cipher's?" Asked Niven.
"Me. They barely managed to touch me." Said Mikoto. She was surprisingly unharmed, save for a few cuts and bruises. She really should have noticed one very important thing was missing, but everyone was either too concerned about the man dying on the ground or too happy at this turn of events to tell her.
"No! You're not human Inari it won't work! I'll do it. I have A+ blood, he can take it!" Said Emiya.
"In this form I'm essentially human. Besides, you're all showing signs of anemia. If any of you try to give him a transfusion, you'll die. I'm the only one who can save him without dying myself."
"Are you absolutely sure? Emiya, Sneck, or myself are the best options."
"You'll die if you try! Please Niven, Let me try. Please believe in me." Her sincerity was obvious.
"Alright, I'll put my faith in you and in God. Emiya, weave transmutation magic through the tubes, make her blood as close to human as it possibly can be." Said Niven. He pushed the needles into their arms. Magic circles formed around the tubes as dark red fluid began to drain from Inari and into Cipher. After about 10 minutes, color had returned to Cipher's face and he opened his eyes.
"Huh? How did I...?" His vision was blurry, but he knew the faces that hovered above him. "Thank God," he weakly moved his hands to touch their blurred faces to make sure they were real.
"You're insane, you know that?" Tears were flowing down her face, "What in the world made you think you could take on that monster!" said Ffion as she pounded her fist into his chest.
"I had too...I thought he killed all of you. Someone had to...to avenge you." He felt pain in his right arm as he tried to move it. There were needles and a series of tubes linked to it. He followed those lines up to a bare chest, and then to a familiar face. He turned away.
"Mikoto is it?" He said drowsilly.
"Yes?"
"You do know that...your sarashi is gone...right?" She looked down and realized that her chest was showing. She quickly brought her arm up to cover herself.
"And you were all planning on telling me this when?" though it was dark, everyone could tell her face was bright red.
"I...uhhhh."Said Itsuki.
"I just thought you finally decided to stop hiding that deceptively delicious chest of yours." said Paula.
"Awww, I thought you just wanted to give them a little bit of fresh air!" said Jason.
"Now you must understand Inari, saving my friend here was more important than your modesty." Said Niven, his face red and his eyes focused well below her face.
"You...you friggin'..." One could see veins popping up on her forhead, lots of them. She tightly gripped the katana in her right hand. "PERVERTS!" in the blink of an eye, she unleashed a wave of force upon everyone but Alex, they were all sent flying into the air.
"And I was spared because?" Though beet red, she looked right at him and said.
"You were the only one looking away, this is my thanks", she lowered her sword, it's point stopping an inch short of his left eye, "Thank you, baka."
"If you want, you can take my...whatever this cutout Cossack is called." He gripped the zipper and drew it downward.
"Thank you, but I have a spare. Adeat!" A glowing, cross-hilted longsword materialized in her left hand. Her arms and legs were now decked out in plate similar to the type adorning his forearms and shins, only her's were pearl white and provided a full breastplate that covered her 'shame'.
"Another artifact?"
"It's from Niven."
"Ooooooh! The blood is flowing quite nicely. Do you two want to form another pactio?"
"No!" They both said in unison.
"Awww Damnit! I need another 100k for that new x-ray camcorder! C'mon, don't you guys want a new artifact?"
"Isn't a pactio supposed to be something special?" Said Alex.
"Says the man who let a girl he doesn't even know shove her tongue down his throat!"
"I...I had no idea she was going to try that." He assumed a meekish posture, pushing his fingers together. "She was...It was..." his face was now beat red.
"Ohhhh, so you like em' nice n' bouncey eh? Don't be ashamed, but don't be so narrow minded either! No matter what, Mikoto here does have an attractive body and a pretty face. Isn't complaining about her flat chest being a bit nit-picky?"
"Paullllaaaa!" She grasped her sword, veins once again bulging about her forehead.
"Ahhh, to die by your criminally seductive hands, an ermine spirit like me could scarcely hope to achieve such an end!"
"So be it you perverted wench!" She slashed with her sword once more, a wave of pressure emanated from her pristine blade. Yet Paula jumped and dodged it perfectly.
"Yahooooo! Too slow slut-chan!"
Inari snapped. "Oh that's it. I'm going to murder you and sell your hide to a coat maker." She said in almost complete monotone with a blank look on her face. Her entire body began to glow in a pure light. There was no doubt she wanted blood. This turn of events surprised Alexander. Before she acted in a manner befitting royalty, yet now she acted in a crude and violent manner. This was probably her true self, but why hide it?
"Inari! Control yourself! Paula has always been our friend despite her eccentricities!" Yelled Niven.
"But she deserves..." She was interrupted.
"No! She does not! Deviant and perverted though she may be she is still a good person. We both owe her more than we wish to admit!"
"That dirty old hag...she always did help people when she could didn't she?" Tonality returned to her voice. The pressure around her faded.
"That's right Inari. Sinful as she is, there are good reasons why we trust her."
"But to call me a slut." She raised her blade raised once more. "I just can't forgive her!" She threw her sword hand down to her waist, the pressure once more built up around her.
"Oh c'mon Dragon Lady, I'd lose it if I didn't get to have fun every once in awhile."
"I'm not a slut!" She pouted.
"Ohhh-ho-ho-ho! Never got it on have ya? I guess that's understandable, given how confusingly prudish you are. Seriously, if you're so conservative, why do you leave so little to the imagination?"
"WHYYY YOU!" She assumed an Iaijutsu stance, yet before she could lash out a single light arrow struck both of them right between the eyes.
"E-NOUGH!" Yelled Niven, "There's no need for violence!"
"So what am I in your little scheme? I can figure out the role of these people, but if all you needed was another fighter you can just get a mercenary or two. And if you needed another scholar, there are likely better choices than myself." Asked Cipher.
"Ah, but they aren't immune to illusions, memory wipe, and other such mind altering spells and effects." Responded Niven.
"So I'm just a trump card then?"
"That's not a bad way of putting it."
"You devious bastard."
"Hehe, you always knew I was hiding something from you. What did you expect from me?"
"You know, you're right. Still, you owe me Niven"
"I know."
"So what happens now?" Asked a cheerful Ffion.
"Demons rarely lie outright. He said I'm on the wrong planet...We're heading for the gateport." Said Niven.
"What is it you're searching for anyway." Asked Cipher.
"Information on this threat I've discovered. I only have a few bits and pieces now, in order to stop it I need more."
"And that information isn't In the old world?" Said Emiya.
"I don't know, I'm out of solid leads. But that demon just gave me one."
"And just why would a bound demon want to help us? He just tried to kill us all!" yelled Mikoto.
"I don't think so, rather, he was testing us. He wanted to know if we were strong enough."
"Strong enough for what!"
"Either to defeat his master, or fulfill the conditions of his release."
"So you intend to play right into the hands of a demon?" asked Cipher
"For now, it's all I can do. We all know a bound demon seeks his freedom above all else. If he's playing us, he's playing us with that end in mind." Said Niven.
"Ok you got us there. Still, you still haven't told me or anyone else what we're fighting against Niven."
"I will in time, now let's get moving."
Yay another chapter. There's going to be a few spoilers from here on out. I started writing this with the assumption that anyone reading fanfic of this series was already familiar with most of the manga, so if you aren't familiar, get familiar. It's good stuff, believe me (how else would it attract such a huge fanbase?)
Again, I love constructive criticisms and fanarts. If you do any of either, please inform me.
