Fate/Geass: The Eden Vital War
Disclaimer: In this particular universe, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the Code Geass, Fate/Stay Night, the Nasuverse or any other modern works that I may reference in this story.
Long ago, there was a war between Code-bearers and their Geass gifted armies over the power of Eden Vital, a war that destroyed the legendary continent of Atlantis and sent mankind back to the Stone Age. To prevent this, direct confrontations between Code-bearers are now forbidden, with disagreements to be resolved in a ritualized war of champions. But when V.V does the unthinkable and violates this tradition, he will soon learn that he is not the only one able to bend the rules for victory.
" " denotes speech
'italics'denotes thought
'bold' denotes location names
'bold italics' denotes skill use
Phantasm World – "Warped Reflection"
"GUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!"
A bellow of distorted rage echoed through the halls as a black knight appeared in midair within the world of mirrors, crashing unceremoniously into the cold metallic floor with a dull clank! Not the most auspicious start to the battle to come, but the figure barely noticed the inconvenience as he leaped to his feet, his helmeted head turning slowly one way, then the other as he sniffed, surveying his surroundings for any hint of the enemy.
The mirrors about him reflected the image of an imposing warrior armored head to toe with heavy plate, his body and face completely hidden, his form wreathed with a haze of black mana, pulsing and flickering about him like flames. And unlike most other Servants, there was nothing in his hands, with a longsword slung across his back as his only apparent weapon.
This was Berserker, the Servant whose special characteristic was not his skill with any particular weapon, but rather madness, having traded sanity for overwhelming power. The strongest of the seven classes of champion in the Eden Vital War, Berserkers were notoriously difficult to face, even were they to have no outstanding technique in combat – largely because pain could and would not halt them, with the Servant continuing to fight until a clearly fatal blow (like decapitation) was delivered. They had no sense of reason, nothing that would stop them from dealing out pain and damage...nothing save death.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
A feral growl issued from the Servant, as the black knight drew back his gauntleted fist and smashed it into the nearest mirrored wall, that single blow shattering it into long jagged pieces that clattered to the ground.
Crash!
Swiftly, the dark paladin crouched down, snatching up two viciously jagged pieces of glass from the mangled remains of the mirror, taking them into his hands and running a current of shadow through them, thus changing them into serrated obsidian blades, Noble Phantasms for his own personal use.
Seemingly satisfied, Berserker stood up, tilting his head as if listening intently, then—
"!"
—with a thunderous roar, threw his effort into assaulting the walls of the maze itself. Others might have tried to find their way through the maze, playing into Archer's little game, but Berserker didn't even bother, preferring the more direct technique of simply breaking everything in between himself and his opponent with monstrous strength. So while to most, the mirrored world of Warped Reflection would have been a nuisance at best, and lethally disorienting, at worst, but for Berserker, it was simply an obstacle that he could—and would—tear his way through.
Smash! Crash! Crunch!
The black knight's blows were unrefined, smashing swings with no technique to them, throwing up dust and shards of glass and metal as he proceeded on, but then, refinement and technique were necessary. As the strongest Servant, Berserker did not bother searching for a weak point, as he doesn't need to – searching for weak points, using techniques…these are things that humans did to compensate for weaknesses, and weakness was the one thing that Berserker did not possess.
While the mad Servant was continuing his onslaught, a sarcastic, almost nasal shout of "Black Barrel" issued from somewhere in the maze's depths.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three low, thundering reports were heard, and all at once a trio of bullets slammed into Berserker's armor, detonating in three cobalt azure blasts that tore three small holes into his shroud of shadow-holes that almost instantly closed, the corrupted knight barely even noticing the attack at all, merely redoubling his blows, as if to more quickly reach the place where his opponent was lurking.
Clang!
One section of the maze proved to be more resistant than most, and so with a growl, the Servant shattered it with a devastating roundhouse kick, moving more quickly in full plate than his unburdened body did outside the Phantasm World.
The words "Black Barrel!" were heard again, and BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! came another three shots.
This time, Archer's Noble Phantasm failed to so much as leave a scratch on Berserker's armored form.
"AOWWUUAAAHHHHH!"
A black howl rent the air.
Crash!
Another mirrored wall was torn down, with the implacable armored form of Suzaku Kururugi crashing through the opening, following the scent of his prey.
From his vantage point, Mao's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked from Berserker to the weapon in his hand, and then back at the approaching Servant once more—his jaw dropping as he noted how quickly his opponent was closing the distance by breaking the very world itself.
'Wha…he wasn't hurt? What a…monster…'
As the black knight finally came into view, a chill raced down Archer's spine. No, that was an understatement. His entire body felt frozen by fear, struck by the realization this Servant was an existence on a completely different level. It wasn't a matter of being stronger or weaker than him – the difference was not that trivial…Berserker's strength was beyond comprehension.
And Mao understood…to face Berserker, to stand against it and fight, meant nigh certain death. There was little hope of him getting out of this situation alive—and none of him escaping unscathed. His smugness and playfulness were drowned by despair, and for a moment he thought to run, but-
'Wait. If I don't win, C.C. won't love me anymore,' Mao thought to himself, under the mistaken impression that she currently loved him at all. 'If I'm a prince on a white stallion, I have to be strong enough to rescue the princess.'
It was the principle of the Eden Vital War to defeat one's enemies, to defeat other Servants in exchange for a wish.
Thus, for the sake of his imagined future with C.C., Mao would have to defeat this raging beast.
'It will be alright…right, C.C.?'
So thinking, Archer tore himself out of his daze and hefted the weapon in his grip, its cold weight somehow more intimidating than it had ever seemed before. Berserker was in his sights, advancing like a raging wind…so he would get only one shot at victory.
Clink! Fwoosh!
Without warning, Berserker hurled the two glass shards he had acquired earlier at his foe, the two flying straight and true—to miss Archer and—
BOOM!
—explode in a gout of magical energy as they flew past him.
"Guh!"
A sickening thud, as Archer was lifted off his feet, hurled through the air, and slammed into the wall behind him, his form slumping against it in pain.
'No. Not yet. Not without giving it my all…'
His weapon, the gun that could supposedly slay gods, was still gripped tightly in his hand, and as Berserker made to close the final meters between them, Mao resolved to invoke the full might of his Noble Phantasm's god slaying power.
For against a creature like Berserker, there could be no such thing as overkill.
A pure white light flowed out, a raging tempest gathering about the barrel of Archer's handheld cannon, feeding into a nascent star forming before the muzzle. Converging and spinning, it gathered power into itself from the rest of the Phantasm World, the maze itself fading away as all the power Archer had was tapped for one decisive blow.
"Black—"
Seeing the sudden determination in Mao's features, and the great meteor of light taking shape, Berserker halted, instantly realizing Archer's intention to unleash his ultimate Noble Phantasm, one whose power could even destroy the greatest of Servants if he took it head on.
If that was the case, then was only way to oppose it – a strongest attack for a strongest attack.
In the next instant, the mad warrior drew his blade, revealing it to be a longsword overflowing with black light, as the aura of magical energy about his form pulsed and intensified.
"!"
The demonic sword Arondight, an indestructible crystallization of mankind's despair, a sister sword to Excalibur, one of the strongest of all Noble Phantasms.
Black light wrapped itself about the demon blade as if setting it aflame, drawing mana from Berserker's deep reserves to counter what was to come.
But Archer's technique had already charged to the critical point, a flashing thunderbolt ready to be loosed.
—Barrel!"
Its true name uttered, the attack was released, a torrent of light like a comet bearing down upon the dark warrior and the expanse around him.
"Arondight."
A deep, dark growl, it was the first word that Berserker has spoken since entering the Phantasm World: the true name of his Noble Phantasm.
The dark warrior lifted his true blade, and black light surged forth, a condensed wave of corrupted mana that raged through the air like a storm. In the remnants of the mirror world, light and darkness dueled, contending for supremacy.
For the merest instant, the two forces contended, struggled, warred...but darkness won, the unholy power of despair slicing the light in two, as Berserker charged through his opponent's attack, closing the distance in an instant.
Squelch!
With a sickening sound, the demon sword Arondight pierced clean through Archer's chest and was jerked up and to the side, a surge of darkness cleaving his body in two.
'How…my Noble Phantasm…failed? Is this the end for humble Mao? Such overwhelming power…'
But though his lifeblood was spilling out upon the ground, his entrails leaking and his body torn up, all but destroyed, Mao was not dead yet. And more importantly, his weapon still in his hands.
"Guaaahhh," Archer moaned, as the black knight withdrew his weapon. "Kuh…no…not like this…C.C…."
Crunch!
"AUuuughhh!"
A spinning kick with enough power to destroy a tank smashed into Mao's side, hurling him through the air and further breaking his body. It seemed that Berserker would not stop until Archer was dead, with no chance whatsoever of recovery.
There would be no point to escaping now, when the Phantasm World was already beginning to collapse around him, when all he had done had ended in failure.
Even if he ran, he would not win, and so C.C. would not love him.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The armored juggernaut approached with heavy footsteps, and Mao spent the last of his energy to overload the Black Barrel into Broken Phantasm, a weapon of last resort that would hopefully Berserker with him.
The shadow of the mad warrior loomed. Berserker had come to finish him off, it seemed.
Blood dribbled from the corner of Archer's mouth, the world around him growing cold and dark.
"I'm sorry, C.C…" Archer whispered, his face setting in a grim mask as he whispers his last words. "Broken Phantasm: Black Barrel."
A sphere of devastation burst into being, engulfing the Phantasm World in blinding silver light. It lasted only an instant, but that instant was all that it took to set the world aflame.
"NUAAAAAGGHHH!"
In the inferno, Berserker roared in fury, the explosion having damaged his armor to a terrible extent, shrapnel from the world's destruction piercing through his gut, as blood dripped down his limbs. Any lesser Servant would have been destroyed by that suicide move, but the corrupted knight survived, even standing at the epicenter of the blast.
Without another word, Suzaku Kururugi vanished, with the only remaining trace of Archer being the crackling of flames in a crumbling world.
Boundary Wall, Tokyo Settlement
With a great deal of difficulty, Rolo Haliburton had finally tracked Archer to the park near the boundary wall of the Tokyo Settlement. Unfortunately for the highly-skilled assassin, his orders from V.V. were not to kill the telepathic Servant, but rather to maintain surveillance on him, seeing as his master had deemed it likely that the man would lead them to C.C.
'Curious, he hasn't moved in some time…is he fighting in Phantasm World?'
If so, then his opponent would need to be close by, within the radius of effect of Mao's Geass, at least. Thankfully, this park was on the very outskirts of the settlement, so there weren't many people present, just—
Thud!
Mao's eyes jerked open for a moment, his body spasming once as the white-haired man toppled from his perch at the edge of the settlement, plummeting over the wall into the unknown territories below, his last, whispered words being a simple "I'm sorry, C.C…"
'Archer lost? But what Servant would have possibly—'
Crash!
A mighty roundhouse kick caught Rolo in the back, sending the lad sprawling to the concrete walkway. Scrabbling for distance, the assassin tried to get to his feet, but—
"Guh!"
The air was knocked out of him by a front snap kick, followed by an uppercut to the face that sends him reeling back once more. Then a flurry of palm thrusts, thrown with inhuman speed and strength, aimed at chest and neck and face—of which Rolo could defend against the latter two.
"Servant. Servant. Servant. Green hair. You want to know. You want kill me," Suzaku Kururugi was muttering, Geass sigils flashing his eyes as he chanted a madness mantra that compelled him onwards, urging him to destroy to kill, to tear apart those who threatened him. "No. No. No. Live. I must. I must. I must live!"
'Berserker,' Rolo realized, activating his Geass, the Ward of Absolute Suspension, freezing the Honorary Britannian in place. 'A truly dangerous Servant, in either world. Little wonder that Archer lost, though it seemed that Berserker was not unwounded, given how he reacted like a cornered animal.'
The pain in his chest was greater than usual this time, possibly from the blows Berserker had rained down upon him. It would be better to kill him now, but…
'He mentioned green-hair, meaning that Mao probably fought him for information about C.C.'
Given Assassin's standing orders and the priority of his mission to find C.C., it seemed Berserker would live another day.
"Tch! It would be much simply to kill him now," the boy muttered, even as he jumped up and pistolwhipped Kururugi on the back of the head, before running to get away. This Servant could be tracked easily enough, unlike Mao, so Rolo could afford to live and let live this one time.
And since he had not displayed any trace of a Geass that allowed him to manipulate objects...
'Zero is most likely Servant Rider. Master V.V will be pleased with that information.'
With that, the assassin slunk away, disappearing out of sight before releasing his Geass.
Suzaku Kururugi reeled, the Geass sigils in his eyes disappearing as the threat disappeared, and his instincts allowed his sanity to return. He couldn't remember what had happened during the last few minutes. What had happened? Why was there blood on his hands? Why was he in so much pain?
"What am I…doing here?"
A/N: So the Eden Vital War claims its first victim. Goodbye to Archer, who will now wait forever in the World of C.
Broken Phantasm
A technique that all Servants are capable of using, though usually only as a last resort, this consists of overloading a Noble Phantasm with mana and making it explode for incredible destructive power. A weapon destroyed in this fashion is forever lost, so it is not commonly done – however, in a drastic situation, it can be of great effect, as using a Noble Phantasm as Broken Phantasm raises its power by one rank.
