Author's Note: Hell yeah! I traded out my PS4 Slim, along with some extra cash I saved up, to get me a PS4 Pro, and now Digimon Cyber Sleuth works again! (I transferred the save too). Enjoying it a lot, I also bought Fate/Extella with leftover money, so can't wait to play that! And there's another digimon game coming out the end of this month! TRULY THE YEAR OF FATE AND DIGIMON!
Student: Unfortunate that your review was cut out, but thanks for the concern for my health! Yeah, Caster and Hakuno are going to have it rough this fight.
Blarg7865: Well, I don't know if any of the 7 Deadly Sin Digimon or any Digimon villains from other digimon series or games will make an appearance. There might be a cameo or two with different backgrounds like Asuramon (From frontier but different in this fic).
Yolea Irk's: Thanks for the praise, and no worries about the review!
Enjoy the chapter everyone! Live or die by the sword! What power lies in your hands? Dancing flames, decaying earth, withered ocean!
Digital/Extra
Chapter 14: Roar of the Universe
An explosion rocked throughout the area as fire and ice collided together into a fury of magical power, curses being flung about as tags attached to the bone structure that made the lower body of a digital necromantic monster. A display of brightly lit light, flashing outward as each tag ignited and the effects traveled over the creature's form. The battle was a breathtaking sight, as pure physical prowess did combat with the arts of magecraft.
Hakuno Kishinami ran around the battlefield, avoiding the huge swipes that arced downward as the monster known as Skullgreymon attempted to swat away the speeding form that made Caster's figure. The magus Heroic Caster moved quickly, barely avoiding the devastating strength behind each swipe of the ultimate level digimon. She attempted to dodged every attack, buying her Master time to familiarize with the controlled digital monster's patterns and come up with a proper way to counter each and every move.
It wasn't easy.
'Skullgreymon's moves are wild and unpredictable, it's hard to get a grasp on what he does next!' Hakuno thought to herself as she pressed her body against a large boulder, a suitable location for her to look at Skullgreymon without him tearing her frail human body into pieces.
She looked upward, spotting Caster, 'My Servant can't keep dodging those attacks forever, I have to come up with a way to counter him,' The Master of Caster glanced back towards Skullgreymon, the massive forced digivolved Greymon brought its two claws together and smashed downward.
"Caster, Break!" Hakuno yelled her command towards the Servant.
"Fu!" Caster yelled as her mirror spun through the air, following her hand motions and dancing figure and slamming at the digimon's right side with a harsh impact, the sound of a hammer smashing against hard rock echoed. But it did its job, Skullgreymon halted its attack, stunned by the sudden action by Caster's guard break.
"Attack it now!" Hakuno shouted over the battlefield.
"Right away!" Caster replied, landing on the ground before launching herself once again, her feet leaving behind a trail of dust as she flew from the dirt and collided with the large bone leg of Skullgreymon. The Heroic Spirit ran up the bone, her mirror trailing behind her as she brought her right arm to her left side, before swiping it in a horizontal pattern, the mirror spun and struck, slicing in the same way as demonstrated by its controller.
The weapon sliced across the digimon's chin, scratching the bone with a high pitched noise. Caster paused her steps, before moving quickly away from Skullgreymon as the uncaring monster sent a large claw to shred her to ribbons.
"Eh!? I think I lost a few tail hairs there!" Caster exclaimed as she landed on a nearby boulder, brushing her fox tail for a brief moment before focusing her attention back to the enemy before her.
Hakuno bit her lip, Skullgreymon's durability was ludicrous, only Caster's magical skills had any effect on the creature. "How's your prana reserves, Caster?" She asked her Servant.
"I'm okay, Master, you are still supplying me with ample amounts to regain my own personal reservoirs!" The fox woman replied ecstatically.
It's true, Hakuno Kishinami had felt her own prana reserves starting to dwindle, she had been transferring more of her magical energy into Caster to counteract the low parameters that she currently experienced. The downside to this is that Hakuno herself was beginning to feel exhausted, but it was the only thing that was allowing Caster to have the necessary prana to continue casting her magecraft and be able to damage or delay Skullgreymon at all.
But there was a limit on how much prana Hakuno could transfer through the bond between Master and Servant, there were other ways, but neither Rin or Rani had diverged the method to Hakuno, leaving her in the dark on how exactly they supplied Servants with large amounts of magical energy.
Even then, those methods probably took way much time.
"Skill! Now!" Hakuno shouted as she moves away from her current position, the boulder no longer a safe location with Skullgreymon having walked closer.
A small burst of prana, a blue light emitting from Caster's hand as another tag appeared in between two fingers. The magus Heroic Spirit brought her army back before she flicked the tag towards the digimon, it soared straight and true, attaching itself to the ultimate level monster's left rib.
"Curse: Frigid Heaven!" Caster stated her ability's namesake, triggering its response.
Skullgreymon moved for a brief second before once again, a large shattering of ice exploded outward from the tag as magical energy collided with digital data. Skullgreymon's ribcage was suddenly encased in large chunks of frozen ice, slowing down his movements drastically and allowing Hakuno a chance to relocate herself away from the digimon's range of physical attacks. In annoyance, the Digimon Emperor cracked a whip in the air as she screamed in frustration towards Skullgreymon.
"Come on, Skullgreymon, they are flies! Stop playing around and crush them already!" The Digimon Emperor yelled.
"Master, don't you think this is a bit too far?" Wormmon spoke from beside him.
"Silence, I can deal with a problem here and now!" He shouted, "Once Skullgreymon destroys Hakuno's partner, I will capture her and force her other partner to my will."
"But what about Metalgreymon, didn't you want that instead?" Wormmon questioned.
"I did, but I realized that Skullgreymon is much more suited for this kind of work, Metalgreymon will be better for helping me control the Digital World, but Skullgreymon will destroy the Digidestined," Ken answered.
Hakuno Kishinami halted her movements behind another boulder, taking a second to catch her breath, her heart pumped furiously in her body from the adrenaline coursing through her system. She took a glance back at her foe, the massive skeletal digimon breaking free of the ice created by Caster just moments before. A few thoughts came up in her head, each trying to think of a plan to deal with the creature before her, this wasn't like the powerful enemy programs that occasionally appeared in The Holy Grail War's Arena. This was a monster, simple as that, corrupted into a twisted enigma of Greymon by her foolishness.
Her hands clenched in anger, she wanted to help him, but Caster had no way of defeating Skullgreymon or destroying the Dark Spiral that remained wrapped around its neck. She wondered if that was her fault too, that perhaps her interaction with the Moon Cell and her defiance to being absorbed shattered the connection between herself and her Servants, lowering their parameters considerably.
Caster landed on top of the same boulder, "Do not blame yourself, my husband," Caster began, "It is no way your fault, just believe in me and I will defeat anyone, no matter how powerful!"
Hakuno nodded, Caster was right. She hadn't come this far just to fret on a few mistakes, had she not survived the trials of The Holy Grail War with even more disadvantages than this? In comparison to the many opponents of that cruel war, Skullgreymon was just another stepping stone!
"Your right!" Hakuno shouted with renewed determination, "I haven't come this far to give up now!"
"That's right, Master!" Caster said, "Let that fire burn so bright that it incinerates all that stand before us! A passion that makes all others seem like candles lights!"
Hakuno felt something click inside her, a feeling, an emotion that was so tiny before now sparked just a bit more, increasing in size. It felt small still, but it was as if she had nurtured it into a growing ember. Her magic circuits surged with magical energy, heating up with intensity, as not all of them were activated beforehand they now increased in number.
But, something was missing, a link of some description, like if one had the hammer and just got the material, but lacked the forge to create the blade.
This, this, was the how she would do it. She could feel it, a path that hadn't been opened before now came into view, a way to enforce her Servants with greater abilities.
But the path was still blocked, she could perceive it, but the bridge between herself and the end was destroyed and in ruins. She needed a way across, but she didn't have the means to create it.
"Curse: Fiery Heaven!" Another tag flung through the air, impacted against the hard bone structure of the digimon. It ignited in a large explosion of fire and flames, but it had little to no effect on the monster, indeed, Skullgreymon seemed nearly immune to the sheer heat that surrounded the magecraft ability.
"Graaoooh!" Skullgreymon roared.
Then, Skullgreymon lowered his head.
Caster gasped, she immediately backed away and ran towards Hakuno.
Hakuno Kishinami felt the choking aura suddenly increase, she could barely move, but she took a step back as she knew that whatever Skullgreymon was during would surely lead to their doom if they stayed right here.
"Master!" Caster yelled in alarm as she landed right in front of Hakuno and turned around quickly. A dozen tags suddenly erupted around them, each tag brightly lit up as they formed a circle of magical energy, decorated in strange runic incantations that Hakuno didn't recognize. They all conjoined together into a protective barrier, just at the moment, the large, orange-hued object on Skullgreymon's back launched outward like a rocket and towards them.
Hakuno gasped as she reflexly covered herself with her arms.
The rocket came forth, Dark Shot, and impacted against Caster's barrier.
And Hakuno knew white.
Hakuno Kishinami's vision was blurry, her body ached and her magic circuits burned underneath her skin with a stinging sensation. She checked her muscles, feeling them numb and almost non-responsive, but thankfully she could still move them. The magus girl was on the ground, sitting upright with her legs underneath her, slumped. Hakuno tried to stand, but her knees gave out and she fell back to the dirt. Her breathing was erratic, and she took a moment to calm herself and gain control of it again. The little female Master glanced around, before spotting her Servant's still form on the ground just a meter away.
"C-Caster…" Hakuno trailed off, crawling her way to the fox girl, reaching and placing her hands on the Servant's own.
"H-Hi, Master…" Caster replied weakly, her body looked trashed, clothes torn to pieces, and her furs looked singed.
"D-don't worry, Caster, I'll heal you…" Hakuno stated as she raised her hands, but couldn't concentrate enough to do a Code Cast. She breathed out, sweat dripping from her forehead as she tried to gather the necessary prana in which to use magecraft.
"Code Cast…" Hakuno trailed off, "Heal 16!" She yelled as a bright green glow lit from her palms and the energy traversed into her Servant's form, healing the Heroic Spirit's wounds.
"Ah, that feels good…" Caster said, "I barely have any prana left, used it all to protect you," She answered as she began to sit upright.
Hakuno stopped her spell, and placed a hand on Caster again, "You used it all?"
"Hai, that attack like super tough, like being hit by the Golden Armada again tough," She replied.
That attack from Skullgreymon was like Shinji's Servant Noble Phantasm?
While Rider's Noble Phantasm was far from the strongest, it was still a powerful ability. A Noble Phantasm was a trump card, the crystallization of the hero's legend into a skill that can be used against enemy Servants, for that digimon's attack to even be compared to a Noble Phantasm was breathtaking and terrifying.
"Skullgreymon!" The Digimon Emperor's voice shouted, grabbing the magus's attention as she whipped her head away to look towards the sky, where the boy rode on an Airdramon. "Stop wasting time, destroy Hakuno's partner!"
The digimon in question moved slower in responding, was it perhaps having exhausted some of its energy in the previous large-scale attack?
Still, it began to move towards both her and Caster.
Caster stood up, wobbly moving into a combat stance.
"No, you'll die!" Hakuno shouted in a display of raw emotion, Caster hadn't fully recovered yet! The Code Cast didn't fully heal her and the Servant didn't have any excess prana to use her magecraft against the ultimate level digimon.
"Silly, Master, I am your Servant! I shall wrap you around in my tail and never let go so long as you are protected!" Caster yelled with conviction, even as her form swayed slightly.
Hakuno then tackled Caster, stunning the Servant as they both landed facing the dirt, a large skeletal claw swishing right over them, missing by just an inch.
"I could've-"
"Done nothing, Caster! I can't lose you! I can't lose any of you!" Hakuno cried out, her emotions breaking out, "You're all I have left, I can't lose any of you… I know I'm weak, I can't take a single hit without nearly dying… But I'm still your Master, and as your Master, I can't let you die!"
Another massive claw started to reel back to strike them.
Hakuno tightened her left hand into a fist.
"By the power of my first Command Seal, I order you!"
A bright crimson glow shined brightly through Hakuno's sleeve as the entire Command Seal engraved onto her skin lit up in response to the Master.
Caster couldn't fight.
Hakuno didn't have the skill to heal her.
She didn't want her Servant to continue fighting and risk dying.
Yet, one would think that it was the only way to defeat Skullgreymon.
There was, however, another solution.
"Come forth! Archer!"
A large wave of red energy burst outward from the Command Seal as one of the nine Command Seals burned with the luminance of the sun before it dimmed into a gray, used tatoo. The resounding tone of magical energy smashing open space echoed through the local area as a small portal burst outward and out came forth a speeding red and black colored blur that caught both Hakuno and Caster in its hold and traversed a safe distance away from Skullgreymon's immediate range of attacks. The portal closed right afterward, the power vested in the Command Seal that had been used now consumed and fulfilled its duty.
Hakuno Kishinami felt an additional link start to drain on her magic circuits, but it soon subsided into a meager offering. She was placed on the ground, sitting upright with Caster as the magus looked up towards the standing figure that stood protectively above.
"Worry not, Master, I have come in answer to the Command Seal," A deep tone said, full of confidence.
"Archer…" Hakuno trailed off, "Skullgreymon used an attack and Caster protected me, but she's too drained now to fight."
"Hmph," Archer grunted in acknowledgment, "Then I shall rid of the monster so that we may return to our headquarters. Focus on restoring Caster."
"You're not taking my prana?" Hakuno questioned.
"I believe I have enough to deal with this, it may not look it with your eyes, but I can spot the damages the Magus Servant had done to the creature," Archer answered as she started taking a few steps forward.
"Do not guard against his attacks, they're like a Berserker's strike," Hakuno advised.
"Heh, what is with me and fighting Berserkers?" Archer said, "I have such bad luck."
"Graooooh!" Skullgreymon roared.
Archer opened his hands, "Trace… On."
A duo of twin short curved swords appeared in each, one white, one black, each a perfect reverse mirror to the other in an ideal image of yin and yang.
The Servant of the Bow took a single step forward before his form whisked away as quick as the wind, he reached the giant digimon's position in seconds time, his arm reeling back as he slashed forward with the black blade, sparking embers from the collision of the weapon against bone harder than steel. He retreated as a large claw came swinging about, whirling his body around it, Archer struck at it with the other sword, the white weapon whooshing through the air with the chang of steel as it impacted against Skullgreymon's bare knuckles.
"Tch, no effect," Archer commented as he leaped back, discarding the twin blades into motes of light. A flash of prana conjured in his left hand's grasp, a long, sturdy black bow coming into existence, its size almost as large as the Servant himself.
He brought it upright, his breathing steady and focused, with his right hand he pulled on the string as the bow was loaded with a mundane European sword as the arrow. He launched it, and within an instant, fired two more bolts with an inhuman speed of projection and firing.
The three sword-arrows soared through the air faster than a bullet, each colliding with the massive form that made Skullgreymon's physical figure. As blade shattering and exploding into bursts of blue magical energy as they made contact with the insanely durable bone structure.
Archer jumped on top of a boulder, before launching himself into the air as the digimon's claws smashed into the same rock. He landed on the digimon's arm, running up the creature as he dismissed his bow out of existence and conjured up the same twin black and white swords from beforehand.
"I am the bone of my sword."
They were words of power, holding a meaning to them that even Hakuno couldn't identify their true purpose. But the air around the place had taken a different tone to it, a sense of rusted steel now hung in the atmosphere, a pressure that weighed down and made it hard to breathe in its sheer presence.
"Trace: Overedge!"
The two twin blades suddenly grew meters in length, its outer appearance taking a drastic change into that of two longswords dressed in feather-like edges all around it. Archer held them both, holding each weapon with ease as he slashed forward with both, striking and cracking the outer bone of the monster's lower chin.
Skullgreymon roared in agony as its usually impenetrable bone structure was cracked and broken by the twin weapons.
They shattered, however, in Archer's grasp, forcing the Servant to conjure up another replacement in their regular state, the two short swords coming together in a crisscross pattern as Archer defended himself from Skullgreymon's counter, the monster using its skull to literally headbutt away from it. The Servant flew through the air, crashing against the nearby elevated hillside, but Archer got back on his feet, a bit damaged from the attack but now at a high altitude than beforehand.
He dismissed the twin blades once again and summoned his black bow.
"Archer, aim for the Dark Spiral on its neck!" Hakuno shouted.
"This monster is already exhausted from its encounter with Caster, but still, to know it has this much strength despite already fighting a Servant is remarkable," Archer said.
He opened his right hand to his side, a single onyx-hued blade was summoned into the air with crackling red energy, he grasped it and lodged it into his bow's strength. Its shape was strange, like numerous angles to it and can hardly be fit to perform combat, yet everything about it could be considered powerful with but a glance.
Archer pulled back on the sword's handle, the blade hummed with red prana coursing throughout.
Then, he released.
"Hrunting!" Archer shouted it's true name.
The sword flew across the sky, it's previously physical shape changing entirely into a red bullet made entirely of magical energy. It crackled, Skullgreymon hadn't the chance to defend itself as it pierced right through into the neck region where the Dark Spiral lay hidden, the construct hadn't the chance in resisting the power behind the noble phantasm, and it dissipated into digital data in an instant upon contact.
A yellow light enveloped Skullgreymon, it shrank more and more before revealing a tiny orange dinosaur digimon laying on the floor out cold.
"Archer, grab him and let's leave!" Hakuno shouted as she heaved Caster onto her back and made her way up the hill.
Archer dismissed his bow into motes of prana and used his superior agility to grabbed the unconscious digimon and make his way back to his Master.
"Hakuno!" The Digimon Emperor seemed furious.
The Servant of the Bow projected a white blade as before, and threw it at the Digimon Emperor, it missed entirely as the Airdramon moved away to avoid the attack. But that was enough of a distraction for Hakuno to fully climb up the ladder with Caster. Archer made way, and they made their escape.
"We make for the nearest safe location," Archer said.
"Where's that?" Hakuno questioned.
"Our allies hold a region near here, once there, we will drop off our package and return to our home base immediately."
Hakuno nodded, "Alright, let's go."