Konnichiwa Konnichiwa, Planeshunter desu!
How's everything going? I'm full of energy, thanks!
February was a bitch, to be honest, I had a horrible writer's block and got depressed about some random unimportant shit. But I'm allrighty now, so don't worry. RWBY is to be thanked for it. Man, I really loved that series, I sould've watched it sooner.
Also, I saw somebody putting the omakes (What ifs, in my case) after the author's notes. I can see why, if I were to comment the end of the chapter, the what if could get in the way. I'll do that this time and see if it works.
Now, as I'm sure everybody wants:
Kaleidoscopic Grail War, 始まります!
This is the worst, the friggin' worst. That's the only thing in my mind as I run through this sudden wasteland, feeling like a rabbit under a flock of hawks (Yeah, hawks don't form flocks… at least that's what they want the rabbits to believe). This place here was the city's water supply, but it's incredible how quickly a couple of gigantic concrete tankers can turn into something else under the heavy fire of True Archer.
-"Oi, Rider! You dead yet?"
The pile of debris in front of me explodes, and something bright takes flight.
-"You wish, baka-tengu!"
Oh, Looks like she's still full of energy.
-"Why do I even bother worrying?"
Where does she get that confidence from? I mean, I'm pretty sure that getting ambushed by that feisty choco-girl and her zombie Servant isn't -Hmmm, dark skin with clear hair and white skin with raven hair, that's some nice contrast- exactly a favorable situation, right? The irking voice of Miyako sounding through my earbud isn't helping either, so maybe I'm just in a bad mood.
But seriously, I was against this plan from the start. The chance of binding Civitas Legionensis' leyline nexus to Rider before any of the remaining Servants could act was the only silver lining, but even that is ruined now. And here I am, the least battle-ready Master in the world, in the middle of a battlefield, with just Rider between me and the overkill couple. Considering my Servant's tendency to just dodge the problems, that's not a good position to be in.
-"Take the chance and find cover now that Rider got all the attention"
Looks like I can trust at least Yamato to keep my ass safe, god bless this guy. The idea of coming here was still his, tho.
-"Guess this place is as good as any other" -I say towards the mic hidden in my right cuff- "Is Miyako in position?"
-"I told you that an age ago!"
-"Oh, sorry, sorry. I kinda tend to block annoying noise. Duly noted tho" -There she goes cursing again. I should pay more attention to her, but it's hard to miss the chance of driving nuts such a cool character- "Yeah, yeah, I already said sorry. Now let me focus, Rider's fighting out there, in case you didn't notice."
Heh, I can almost see her face going red and smoke coming out her ears. But seriously now, it's true that Rider's fighting. And she's… As I stick out my head from the improvised trench to steal a peek at the battle, there's another blue explosion. This one close enough for me to feel the heat. Losing, yup. I should just duck and cover and wait for everything to end.
Only that's MY Servant fighting out there, and I gotta keep an eye in the lousy idiot, lest she manages to do something really stupid. Now that I pay attention, she's not going that badly. Her high mobility seems to render the big plasma blasts ineffective, forcing True Archer to use faster, less destructive attacks. which kind of resemble gatling bursts. Rider barely has any room to counterattack but, heck. Navigating through bullet hells is exactly her thing, I'd say that field is covered.
Kuro, on the other side seems… in a hurry. Odd, if I were her, I would hand-pick effective Noble Phantasms and find a good time to use them. She can't have much prana to spare after summoning her own Servant, after all. Now that I think about it… didn't she herself require an external prana supply to begin with? How the heck is she supposed to work?
Anyway, she spams hail after hail of minor weapons, adding to the danmaku. That might be somewhat effective against other Servants, even if I still think it inefficient, but against Rider, is pretty much a waste of resources. Has she suddenly turned stupid? That seems awfully convenient, but not very likely.
Or maybe…
-"Yamato, doesn't this girl seem kind of in a rush?" -That's the only thing that makes sense- "Could it be that she didn't plan beyond the initial ambush?"
-"That makes sense, any sorcerer would be vulnerable while performing a ritual like the one we had planned."
-"So, she was expecting us to come here…"
A smile creeps up my face.
-"But didn't count on us expecting an ambush."
Yeah, I can hear Yamato smiling through the earbud. This is a battle of attrition, either they get a lucky shot on Rider, or they run out of fuel while trying. And Rider's Luck rank is A after all. With those thoughts in my mind, the figure of Avenger crash-landing in front of me gives me the scare of my life.
Interlude: ambushed ambusher
Leon waits. The night before, he found the best place to stalk whatever's happening in the city's water supply. It wasn't easy. As a the highest ground in the whole place, vantage points that both granted a clear sight of whatever happend and allowed for a quick intervention were hard to find.
But he had been trained to find exactly that kind of spots. So after he did, he looked for the best place to stalk that precise spot. And he waited.
-"You aren't going to ask me if I'm sure about this, stud?"
There she goes again. Taunts disguised as attempts of small talk. As if she were challenging him to doubt her openly. Fortunately she doesn't do it while in combat, but it's still a behavior he could've lived without. Leon has put up with it until now, but this time he's sleep deprived, and more willing to give a thorny answer. About to mention how he misses Berserker's silence, their prey appearing in front of them stops his retort.
-"Oh, look there, stud! That must be the Avenger boy!"
Indeed, and unknown Servant materializing exactly where they expected can only be Avenger. His appearance is quite unimpressive, looking like a simple high-school boy with his short raven hair and that dark blue uniform. They can't see his expression from this angle, but he seems distracted enough keeping watch on the water installation. What's he expecting exactly?
-"He's waiting for Archer and Rider to brawl it out, stud."
-"How… do you know that?"
-"Hey, I told you I had a plan!" -More overacted outrage and poorly disguised taunts, what's her game? - "I got my sources, don't you trust me?"
-"Whatever… what's next in your grand plan?"
Lancer scans him with a half smile and an evaluative gaze.
-"Now you trust me? Let's go tear that pretty boy a new one!"
With a gling of glee in her eyes, she jumps spear first towards our prey. It was quick and easy.
...Or so had Leon hoped. And yet, a while later he's kneeling in front of a half-dead daemonette, holding her head with one hand.
They had the upper hand. Even if their initial strike failed miserably because "[I'm used to deal with my weaknesses]", whatever that meant. Even with the unnatural ease Avenger had to act in the most troublesome way possible, Lancer's combat style had so few blind spots that it meant little.
But every single time they got him, everything seemed to get back to the starting point, with no harm done to him while they grew more and more tired. The first time, Leon hadn't given it too much thought. A variation of Disengage, or maybe a special ability of some short. But as instances of that piled up, as he shrugged off more powerful spells, as he restored himself from more bizarre wounds, it became clear they needed something more drastic to put an end to this fight.
-"[Don't feel bad, Lancer]" -Avenger doesn't even bother to go for the kill. He's just sitting on some debris, smiling confidently- "[I didn't expect you to try it after I removed the first attempts, but overwhelming me with incapacitating magic was a good call. After all my Magic Resistance is nonexistant and, while I can remove individual instances of curses, I need to be conscious to do it. You guys actually managed to kill me with that last combo.]"
-"Apparently that wasn't…. good... enough."
-"[A shame dying triggers my skill automatically, but you deserve some credit. Only True Archer and you have been able to kill me...]" -Then he brings a finger to his lips, as if reconsidering it- "[Actually, that makes two out of the three I fought, not so impressive after all.]"
What are they supposed to do? If it's skill alone, Lancer's realms appart. There's possibly no one in this War able to defeat her. And yet, here she is. Forced to rely in ambushes, with her resources spread too thin. Maybe wasting the bulk of her army against Assassin was a stupid move, but what has really gotten her is the sudden appearance of more and more Servants out of thin air.
Avenger goes on talking, but Leon stops listening: Lancer's trying to say something.
-"Hey, stud… This looks like the end of the line, eh?" -She still smiles. Why?- "In the end we didn't figure out this bastard's trick."
-"Quiet, Lancer, save strength."
-"What for? I'm… not getting out of this one." -The Command Spells in Leon's right hand itch, but he barely pays any attention- "We had fun while it lasted, right stud? You were far better Master than the kiddo who summoned me."
A terrible doubt appears in Leon's mind. Has he been unfair to his Servant? For all her mischievousness and claims of being untrustworthy, she hasn't really acted the part. There's a pang of guilt. While he, on the other side…
-"Oh, don't make that face, stud." -She tries to pull off a sneer, but it's not too convincing, with all that blood spilling from her lips- "You know I'm a Demon, right? I'll die here, transmigrate and get my wish some other way. But I'll give you a last gift, and you still have cards to play, right?"
-"How did you...?"
Suddenly, the half-dead daemonette for whose future no one gave a cent a second ago, begins glowing in furious red. Her eyes are now clear and strong as she locks eyes with him. Looking into those wells of resolve results awe-inspiring. And a bit sad. Leon knows that shine, the last flare of a burning candle is always the brightest.
Absorbed by those eyes, he doesn't notice how her arms have surrounded him until their faces start getting closer. Before he can react, a quick kiss in planted on his lips, bearing the salty taste of blood, and an odd spiciness. Dumbstruck, her can only wonder about that particular taste.
-"No poker-facing away that one, huh? Looks like I made you react, right at the end." -She finally says. Her prideful smirk can't hide a small blush- "Now be a good stud and go kick that loser's ass for me, will you?"
I stare, open-mouthed, at the sorry state of Avenger, sprawled on the middle of the ground. Chloe stares, open-mouthed, at the sorry state of Avenger, sprawled on the middle of the ground. The sounds on my hearbud mute, as both Miyako and Yamato are, no doubt, staring, open-mouthed, at the sorry state of Avenger, sprawled on the middle of the ground. True Archer stares at the sorry state of Avenger, sprawled on the middle of the ground. Rider shoots a laser towards True Archer, she blocks without even looking.
-"Tsk."
-"What the fu**?"
Before I knew it, I'm out of cover. Couldn't resist the urge to retort. But really, this scene seems from a bad cartoon! Oh, wait! I should ridicule this bastard now that I can. What witty insinuation would be more fitting? Maybe I should say… no, no, wait! It's better to…
That's when a really pissed Leon arrives after him. Hmmm… I don't see Lancer anywhere, and there's a blood red gunblade in his hands. Eh? If memory serves right, he sacrificed his weapon to summon Berserker, so… where did that dangerous item come from? I'm quite sure you can't acquire that kind of weaponry in our current world.
Avenger stands ups slowly. He seems to have some bones fractured, but he's not using his skills to regenerate.
-"[It wasn't my fault]" -He says, his dead eyes unchanging, his fake smile unaltered. Why do I always notice the same two traits? Creepy…- "[It wasn't me so…]"
-"Renzokuken."
Leon interrupts him with a cold tone, not detached, but tempered. Like sharp steel. Before anyone can react, he's over his opponent, punishing him with a chain of well-placed strikes, each hit exploding with hellish fury. There's no room to counter, no weak point to exploit. Avenger gets played with like a broken doll.
He finally gets thrown some distance away, somehow managing to keep standing. Leon shifts his stance, and the edge of his gunblade get brighter as it heats up. Rider shoots another laser, towards Chloe this time. True Archer deflects it all the same
-"Lion…"
-"[Nope]"
In the frame of a millisecond (the time Leon took to register and disregard Rider's action, I guess), Avenger's behind him, screw ready and going for the kill. But Leon doesn't even blink. He doesn't waste movements trying to get away. A single word leaves his lips as the he's about to take the hit.
-"Berserker."
There's a flash of light, and a growl that sounds like the white noise of a thousand TVs. The towering, shining giant of blue light is now behind his Master. And Avenger's screw got stuck on it's forcefield. Rider shoots a laser towards Avenger. He takes the hit and goes tumbling. Apparently knocked out.
-"Friggin' time I hit something (ze)!" -She doesn't get to gloat for long, though- "Wait, isn't that Berserker? Didn't he kick the bucket?"
Talk about an epic moment going to the gutter. What's worse, it seems like everybody finally realizes this isn't a duel between Avenger and Leon. Chloe yells something that I'm too far away to hear. Leon gets on guard against Rider, while Berserker growls, a low but menacing sound of static, towards True Archer. I… facepalm.
-"I hope you're happy now, Rider. You ruined it."
For some reason, True Archer takes my comment as a signal to begin, and shoots towards Berserker, who roars in annoyance. Rider charges against Chloe, only to abruptly abort when she finds a wall of spears materializing in front of her, and the two of them resume their danmaku routine. Leon makes Berserker charge too, and every hint of order in this melee quickly disappears. I… stand on the sidelines, hoping everybody's too busy to notice me.
-"[I owe one to that Servant of yours]" -welp, looks like the worst one chose to pay me attention- "[Why don't we keep quiet on the sidelines and watch the spectacle?]"
I shrug, no point in resisting, really. So I reach for my shoulderbag and pull out my secret stash.
-"Popcorn?"
Interlude: So she keeps fighting
True Archer jumps backwards to dodge Berserker's blast, and blocks a laser beam mid-air before countering with her own shoots. Then, there's a moment of quiet as her Master's enemies fight each other. She can feel the tiredness, the anxiety and the despair of her Master. It weighs on her in her Master's stead. And so she burns with the strength of duty.
Her senses expand, her own self melting with the surroundings and, as she pleads more prana from her Master, reality twists. It was her Master's enemies blunder, to grant her respite in the middle of a fight. Now the perfect world steps forward, overlapping with this odd reality her Master inhabits.
For I am the one who takes on your pain.
For I am the one burdened for you.
For I am born to fulfill this duty.
For I grant peace.
For I gift rest.
For I am One.
No one measured up to me.
No one struck down my flight.
No one granted me peace.
So I am Champion.
So I still walk.
So I keep fighting.
In this Perfect World (Constant Battlefield).
Now they are in her world. Where she cannot be defeated, for anyone capable of doing so has already been laid to rest.
Interlude: Arrastro!
Leon frowns, things have taken a turn for the worse. True Archer doesn't bother dodging Berserker's attacks anymore, they simply seem incapable of harming her. Her attacks are now faster, stronger, better… Rider's, busy up in the sky, dodging for her life's worth. And True Archer isn't even paying full attention to her.
Because she's fighting him, and that's the most frustrating fight he has had in years. Each and every single of his blows is met with a perfectly perpendicular block. She doesn't attack, she doesn't dodge. Simply meets him blow per blow, without seeking any advantage.
True Archer is hard to read, but if she's ever tried hard, now's obviously not the case. Whatever this strange world is, it seems to grant her invincibility. They need a disruption, something capable of breaking the flow of the battle.
-"[Well, I guess that's enough, there's no fun if it's too one-sided!]" -As if responding to his thoughts, Avenger suddenly appears behind Chloe, the tip of a screw resting casually on her neck. Leon notices he's unscathed again- "[Now, how about you dissolve this Reality Marble before someone gets hurt?]"
As the only answer, True Archer shoots at him. It's a perfectly aimed strike that will force him to get away without threatening her Master. An absolutely precise shot that Avenger turnes into mere fantasy mid-flight. Such tactics don't work on him… or shouldn't. As if the projectile had only turned invisible, the high-schooler gets hit and sent flying.
-"Scan."
The spell fizzles against True Archer's Magic Resistance and Leon mutters a curse. Still, he has a good idea about what just happened. This odd reality doesn't allow for her to be outplayed. what now? Lacking a method to destroy Reality Marbles, he would require a force capable of altering the very fabric of reality…
Something he has, to be honest. But the price to pay… Leon looks at his newly acquired gunblade, deep black and crimson red, and the three Command Spells of his right hand, now grey and lifeless, but still there. Then he looks at the solitary Command Spell of her left hand. He hopes his theory works, because if he's wrong, this whole Holy Grail War could very well end in a tie.
He takes a breath, thinking about how they went off. The first Command Spell to prevent Berserker from being provoked. The second one, to activate an ability of the Servant locked by his Class. The third one will go off, along with a little extra push, to unlock a dormant Noble Phantasm.
-"Aura" -Berserker's blue tone becomes gold, and he roars triumphantly. Leon rises his left hand- "Berserker, destroy this whole reality!"
The roar transforms, as the shilouette of Berserker shrinks, turning more definite, more humanoid. Reversing to the shape he had when first summoned. His voice resounded inside Leon's mind.
-"Your will, Executor!"
A warpgate opens, as his real Noble Phantasm, sealed under the Mad Enhancement effect, splits the heaven. Over the astonished eyes of his enemies, a round monstrosity of an aircraft, made out of golden metal and blue light, opens countless hatches and releases a swarm of small golden drones, raining blue destruction from twin cannons mounted on their wings.
The staging is more showy than effective, though, as neither of the remaining Servants gets caught on the shoots, True Archer and Rider soon mount a counterattack, while Avenger seems content with dodging from the sidelines. But that's only the beginning. Berserker's not by his side anymore.
From inside the giant battleship, his heroic last captain begins channeling both Khala and Void through the hull. Soon, it will become a bomb capable of erasing beings far more tenacious than mere Servants, preventing any regeneration or reincarnation on it's wake. The last charge of the Gantrithor
With a hum that pierces the ears of the witness, the starship hits the ground. The Reality Marble, with everything that was inside, explodes. Back in Civitas Legionensis, Leon falls on his knees. Seems like Berserker was able to get him out. But that was only the first bet.
Episode 13, images 1-5 are now unlocked. Check them out in the Author's Profile!
And here we end! It's a short chapter, but that scene was so epic that I simply had to leave you guys hanging. Sorry for being evil, I can't help it.
Oh, boy! Since the very beginning I wanted to keep Leon's "Aura" as his last spell. There was a time when I wasn't sure if there would be a chance for him to use it. Believe it or not there was no less than four ways this chapter could've gone, all depending on how they felt when it came to writing.
And now some random thought that have occurred me while writing.
Sukasa cheats, plain and simple. She's an immortal who can be summoned by the Grail. How? Even Artoria, who was summoned while still alive, was a mortal being who would've ended up in the throne of heroes sooner or later (really soon in her case). But Sukasa… (Scathach) is almost a Hourai being, getting to the extreme where she's unsure of how the world's destruction would affect her.
She gives some of the reasonings in this fic the validity of [insert some random bullshit here]. And that's unfair, I had actually given some thought to it *cries silently*. So, if you ask me:
1- Mokou cannot be summoned as Heroic Spirit.
2- Avenger cannot truly be immortal, as he has been summoned by the Grail.
Sukasa is an exception, and there's some unknown factor at play. I'm neither retracting from my interpretation of the Nasuverse nor ignoring the facts. I'll simply assume we don't have enough info about this particular case and there's some acceptable explanation waiting to be disclosed.
On another note. Please remember that while Lancer is a Demon, she's not one of the kinds mentioned and classified in the Nasuverse works. She's a not disruption of nature, but rather a denizen of Makai. A supernatural creature called Demon sharing only superficial similarities with the former.
For those wondering, "Arrastro" is Spanish. It literally means "to drag", and refers to the act of starting a hand with a triumph in the card game "tute". That means if you use the ace of triumphs, everybody will be forced to play their own triumphs, only for the hand to be inevitably won by you. While it's only marginally fitting, it can convey a lot of forcefulness, and was the only thing coming to mind while trying to name that interlude.
Everybody interested, please remember that my own original story can be found on the Project Rhea page. The links are in my Profile.
What if… Insane Black Rock Shooter
As the fight prolongs, keeping track of the annoying fly known as Rider becomes harder. Her vision blurs, and projecting becomes harder. Prana exhaustion. In other circumstances, she might hesitate, but now that they are in the middle of a fight, she siphons from the Grail, filling True Archer and her own magic circuits with fresh prana.
Their attacks double up, slowly cornering Rider, until something very wrong happens. Attacks that should land simply disappears, as if they were mere fantasy. An insincere laugh makes them look away from the flying Servant. It's that bastard Avenger!
Chloe clenches her firsts and increases the number of weapons. They are now simple, generic tools of killing. If she wants to keep up the pressure, she doesn't have the luxury of projecting proper Noble Phantasms.
Reluctantly, she drinks more and more power. She knows the risks. even if it was supposedly cleansed since, she knows what the corruption of the Grail did to her mother.
-"Daggers, Spears, Arrows…" -She mutters. Since her Servant is taking on her pain, she doesn't know how much this continuous abuse of her magic circuits is affecting her, but it's getting harder and harder to focus with thought alone- "Swords, Axes, Guns…"
It's working. Even with the constant interference of that hateful Avenger. The sheer amount of projectiles is simply too much for them to be hand-pickedly deleted. Rider is getting hit. Just glances at first, but soon she loses balance and begins taking worse hits. Then… the hail stops.
Her connection to the Greater Grail disappears, as if it was a mere fantasy.
She glares back, towards the smiling high-schooler that simply widens his grin and shrugs. He has nonchalantly erased one of the greatest mana flows ever created by humans just like that.
-"Youuuuu!" -Her range is clearly felt in her trembling voice, she was so close…- "Is there anything you can't laugh at?"
-"[Hmmm… True love?]" -He answers, shrugging again- "[Maybe butt sex… that seems serious.]"
There is. Similar, yet different from how True Archer communicates with her. Alien knowledge flows to her mind.
-"[It's not as cool as it sounds, to be honest]" -He continues, and she has to force her attention away from the strange knowledge to listen- "[I could erase the world by accident if I'm not careful, you know?]"
He lives to hate and deny. But he cannot deny himself, nor can he deny what's like him. Chloe understands. Heavens be damned, but she understands. Where the knowledge comes from, and what is it that's like Avenger. But she cannot… You need too. No, she won't repeat Mother's mistakes! You have no choice. If you don't, everything you have fought for will be lost.
Maybe in other circumstances, Chloe would've had the presence of mind to fend off the temptation. But now, full of urgency and despair, with victory denied so close from the goal, she can only think about the fallen, and how high the price to reach here has been.
She opens herself to the Taint, and the repulsive power that once corrupted the Grail flows through her magic circuits.
-"[Ahahahaha!]" -Avenger laughs- "[I can't believe you fell for it!]"
Too late, she realizes it was all a trap. Avenger never cared about saving Rider, nor about his Master's orders. He just wanted a host for the Taint known as Angra Mainyu to walk the world with. Desolated, she braces herself for the inevitable… nothing?
I'm the one who… takes on… your… pain.
Could it be real? Afraid about what she might see, Chloe looks at her right hand. Her Command Spells had turned black and are… dissolving?
[!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!]
A silent scream takes her gaze from her hand to her Servant, who's kneeling on the floor, vomiting something black and thick. Before she can react, True Archer sends a look her way. A look of urgency and pain.
Stay away, Master!
-"[Wow! Talk about the unexpected!]" -That damned… monster still uses his light, mocking tone- "[You managed to summon a truly exceptional Servant, Grail-chan!]"
-"You monster! What have you done to True Archer?"
-"[It's not my fault, I didn't do it!]" -He answers with glee- "[She protected you from the taint, taking it on her. Unfortunately, no Servant can resist that. Say goodbye to the True Archer you knew, Grail-chan!]"
To her horror, under her very eyes, the fire in True Archer's eyes fades, and her blue, beautiful eyes turn black. The black puddle she has vomited rises from the floor and violently enshrouds her, shaking and bubbling, and making terrible sounds. After a short while, the liquid disappears, back into her mouth, and she's changed. She looks the same, except for her dull eyes, but Chloe can feel she isn't. Then her eyes become a sickly purple, and a fierce flame of the same colour ignites. She looks at Chloe and smiles.
-DEAD END-
Episode 13 Extra is now unlocked, check it out on the author's profile!