Apologies for the delay.
Disclaimer: I still own neither Blazblue nor Type-Moon.
Of course, Archer's taunt hadn't been directed toward mindless critters, but toward the familiars that had been used to spy on his clash with Rider.
Perhaps the strongest reaction came from a certain someone on the other side of Fuyuki.
"I-that-"
At a loss for words in the face of his boldness, she could only mutter angrily.
"I'm sorry?"
Lancer, who hadn't shared senses with the familiar, could only stare at his Master in confusion.
"That bastard! I'll show him who the strongest is! Lancer, we're going right now!"
Threats and boasts were only to be expected in a battle, and she had prepared herself for them, but she couldn't stop her blood pressure from rising at this particular event.
It wasn't like the enemy had scouted them and determined he was stronger; that ridiculous man had simply decided that he was strongest by default.
"Master-"
"No time." Ignoring the attempts at a protest, Rin took hold of his thin arm with an almost painful grip. "We're going to teach him a lesson. Announcing his victory like that on my watch, the nerves!"
Her Servant's unresisting hand suddenly seized, and the sudden shift in atmosphere forced her to halt her anger.
Barely a few meters from them, a man wearing ornamented robes sat. Had he been there all along and she simply overlooked him? Surely not.
"Hey, Lancer, that guy…"
"I didn't sense him." Serenely staring at the apparition, Lancer nodded. "But this pressure doesn't leave much to doubt."
She could only agree with his assessment. The man sitting there was undoubtedly a Servant. Even though the Master's Sight didn't provide her with any insight into his abilities, the sheer personality that he projected left no doubt in her mind.
In the modern world, a man who could give off a feeling of royalty while sitting on a bench could only be a Servant.
"I quite agree with your assessment, young lady." Without acknowledging the tension, the man spoke out. "He appears to be quite a prideful fellow, although perhaps not without reason."
Putting a hand on his heart, he gave her a slight nod.
"But I am remiss in my duties. I am currently acting out the role of Caster, and as fellow competitors, I must ask that you demonstrate your strength to me."
Without a single movement on his part thousands of specks of dust gathered between them in an instant, forming two large, vaguely humanoid figures.
Was it some form of summoning magecraft? It seemed unlikely considering that Rin, whose attention had been focused on him, felt no shift in the flow of mana.
She made no effort to suppress her confident smile. It didn't really matter if she didn't know where the two golems – for lack of a better term – had come from or how they had been created. The strength they exuded was nowhere enough to threaten a Servant, let alone one of Lancer's ability; he would easily defeat them.
The two figures took a step forward toward them, reducing the distance by a third.
Lancer would defeat them easily, any second now.
As they took a second step, she couldn't help but to glance at the boy next to her, who watched her with an expectant state.
"Well?"
As though confused by her simple expectations, he tilted his head.
"Well what?"
For a brief moment, she considered the possibility that he was deliberately angering her, but perhaps he was simply that passive.
She gestured at the two golems, who fortunately had decided to politely wait – perhaps Caster suspected a trap of some sort?
"Get them?"
As though it had been the only thing he had been waiting for, he moved before the golems could take a single step, his arm passing right through the chest of one of them, piercing right through where a human's heart would be.
Without pausing to look at his own work, he turned on the spot, sending his victim crashing into its compatriot.
She stood there for a moment, unable to form words. Lancer's strength wasn't surprising, in theory, and his speed wasn't anything beyond what she had heard from the past war.
What surprised her was how casual it had been. This wasn't an act reinforced by magecraft, or a secret trump card; as far as Lancer was concerned, it was nothing more than an ordinary strike.
She sent a smile to the man who had stayed motionless.
"Hey, Caster, those guys aren't exactly going to make us show our strength, you know?"
Caster responded to her smile with his own.
"I wouldn't dream of underestimating you, young lady. But perhaps you should pay attention to your surroundings."
A buzzing sound resonated through the air, and she saw in the corner of her eyes the disintegration of the two golems, only for them to reform intact.
"They can regenerate?"
With a speed that now rivaled an athlete, the two charged her as though they planned to simply crush her under their weight, only to once more be intercepted by Lancer, a single strike from his thin arm slicing them clear in half. He may as well not have bothered; the area he struck merely dissipated into specks that reassembled as soon as he had passed through.
Not missing a step, the young man accelerated his movements, striking at the two larger figures without pause from every angle. It was a strange stalemate; as long as he struck they couldn't advance, yet he couldn't seem to deal any permanent damage.
She bit her lip in concentration. This made no sense; any construct that could repair itself infinitely had to be getting its power from somewhere, and she didn't feel any great flow of prana. Besides, surely Caster wouldn't waste his resources on threats that couldn't possibly defeat Lancer.
In fact, Caster didn't appear to be doing anything at all, she would have expected him to try to attack her while her Servant was distracted.
Although, now that she thought about it, the situation itself made no sense; if Caster could simply appear out of nowhere, he should have waited until they were vulnerable before revealing himself, rather than making a show of announcing himself. He didn't appear to be a knight who obeyed complex rules of engagement.
Stricken by a sudden suspicion, she approached him with a frown that only intensified his smile while Lancer crushed a golem's head with his knee.
"Is something wrong, young lady?"
Now that she was closer, she could definitely feel a slight flow of energy going from Caster to the two golems, passing through the ground.
"You aren't here at all, are you?"
His smile morphed into a perfect mimicry of confusion.
"Whatever could you mean?"
Without another word, she levelled her finger at him and fired a single burst of magical energy – Gandr, one of the simplest curses in existence. Still, with her strength, even a simple curse would be enough to severely injure or kill an ordinary man.
Far from the result that would have been expected, Caster's head exploded, revealing a vaguely plant-like interior.
"Just a familiar whose shape you modified. This is what's been acting as the golem's core, isn't it?"
The damaged construct offered no response or resistance, and with only three more shots it was reduced to ashes and the golems fell apart on their own; for good this time.
Lancer, whose expression hadn't faltered during the entire exchange, returned to her side.
"Should we go after the one who angered you now?"
She shook her head negatively with a smile, the earlier slight had completely slipped her mind from the sheer strangeness of Caster's interference, and seeing Lancer in action had done wonders for her ego.
"Let's just end it here for tonight. I doubt we could find him again anyway."
In the magnificent workshop that had once been an humble warehouse, the real Caster nodded contentedly as the reclined on his throne.
"Well now, that was unexpectedly swift. The young lady has quite the good head on her shoulder."
"She must be one of the local Masters, I would have heard if a girl that young had come from afar to participate."
Johnathan, who had observed the battle through the large crystal ball prepared by Caster, did not share his Servant's lack of concern toward the battle they had witnessed.
For the golems to have been defeated was one thing; it had never been meant as more than a scouting manoeuver. The problem was Lancer; his power as a Servant, glanced through the Master's Sight, far surpassed what he had hoped to find.
"Will it truly be alright this way, your majesty?" Turning from the now motionless globe to Caster, he frowned. "Between the strength of her Servant and her own ability, those two might be dangerous."
"…I can see why you have summoned me, Master Wynne." No longer amused, Caster shook his head in reproach. "This is a war. If there were no opponents who appeared dangerous, then I would truly be frightened. Today's display was simply meant to observe Lancer's reaction to an attack; did you notice that he did not summon his spear? It must be quite a recognizable treasure indeed, and his skills at fighting barehanded, along with his appearance, are also clues as to his identity."
Raising a hand to stroke the artificial dove that decorated his throne, Caster nodded to himself.
"I still need some time before I can truly match heroes of his or Saber's caliber. Until then, please accept small displays like today's entertainment as premonitions of things to come.
Above all rest assured that no matter how mighty they may be, or how crafty their Masters are, it is in your hands that the Holy Grail will rest come the end."