The True Self (Battle)
(Shirou)
"One moment," Sasaku said suddenly. "We probably shouldn't be walking about with us three Servants out in the open."
"You think it'll scare the others into ganging up on us, is that it?" Shirou asked, getting a nod in return. Sasaku really has to deal with her minimum range, and since I want both Kuro and Saber nearby, it's best to be able to keep an eye on Kuro.
"Fine. Hm, Saber, you go into spirit form, stay with us. Sasaku, you too, but move to overwatch." The two Servants quickly disappeared, signaling their agreement.
Sakura, still happily claiming his arm, started pulling him forward, and soon the rest of the group, now smaller to the naked eye, began moving forward again.
"By the way, Shirou-nii, there was something I was supposed to tell you," Kuro spoke up into the awkward silence, apart from the sound of walking, of course. The little Archer didn't seem at all put out by Rin's or Sakura's disapproval as she quickly took Sasaku's now vacant space on Shirou's other side.
"Huh, what's this about?"
"Well I don't know myself," she admitted easily. "But anyway I only have the message - Don't join the Counter Force is what it was."
"That's for me?" Shirou wondered a bit about that. Sasaku had mentioned to him that the Counter Force was something like Alaya's serious cleanup death squad, specifically in the context of avoiding being 'cleaned up'. "Wouldn't you mean Sasaku, since she's a Heroic Spirit but not in the Throne of Heroes?"
"That's what was confusing me," Kuro said after thinking about it. "But I remembered it when I saw you, not Sasaku."
"Hmph," Rin scoffed. "Why would Alaya want someone like him to be a Guardian of humanity? Emiya-kun's a handyman, not some hero of justice." Sakura turned a frown on her, and Rin took the hint to fall silent.
Shirou, on the other hand, had a couple of guesses. Either it's related to that Noble Phantasm I have, which Rin thinks is Sasaku's, or it's related to what Sasaku was doing with my magic circuits. She did say her own magecraft is foreign to this World, so if I was able to learn it, that might be enough cause.
Outwardly, though, he only said to Kuro, "Tohsaka has a point, but if it makes you feel better I promise not to sign up for anything like that."
"Just watch yourself," she muttered, toying with the rather conservative skirt that Rin had gotten out from storage for her to wear. "It isn't like Alaya will just say 'Sign here to contract your soul to be my dog for beyond eternity' or give you any warning, quite the opposite."
"Wait a second," Rin said suddenly. "For you or Sasaku who have the power but not legend, that makes sense, but for an ordinary human of the modern age, Alaya would have to give them a significant power boost. You're literally talking about taking a person to Heroic Spirit status from nothing."
Kuro just looked at the ground sullenly. "I don't know either way. Sometimes it's better to simply accept returning to the Root rather than staying on. Unless," she looked around for the non-existant Sasaku, "unless your soul actually isn't compatible with the Root and will simply disappear or something. Even so, not existing can sometimes be a better option."
This side conversation caused Shirou's mouth to abruptly dry. "If you don't know what to wish for, ask for power," Sasaku had advised him. "It's useful for any number of possible objectives."
It was logical, but if he carelessly asked the Grail for 'power' then it could do so cheaply by selling him to Alaya. After all, the Grail was able to bring Servants out for the War, a normal human would be nothing to it.
"Hah, well if you do happen to become a Guardian, then I'll be sure to summon you sometime," Rin laughed. "And then I'll-"
"No." Sakura abruptly cut the other magus off. "You will do nothing of the sort."
"What? You can't-" Rin reconsidered her words. "I wasn't being serious!"
"I know. Keep it that way."
"Speaking of legends and summoning," Kuro said while studiously scanning the distance. "So you know, the Grail gave me the name Kuro. While I don't have a legend bearing a True Name, I did have a name before, but..."
"But what?" Shirou said, after realizing that the explanation was aimed at him, rather than Rin. "Did you like the Grail's name better?"
"No, I wanted to make a clean break, be my own person. I know it's ironic, however-" she pointed as, ahead of them, a girl wearing a purple coat and sharply contrasting white hair and skirt appeared from around a corner. "Since our parents aren't here anymore, I didn't expect 'me' to also be here."
The newcomer didn't slow down or speed up as she strolled boldly towards them. Scanning the small group, she flashed a confident smile.
"Good morning, onii-chan and onee-chans. I'm-"
"Illyasviel von Einzbern." Kuro said flatly. "To think that 'me' in this world is a Master in the War. What would our parents think?"
Illya's smile vanished as she pointed a shaking finger at Kuro. "Berserker, kill her."
(Illya)
Kuro's weapons flashed into her hands as an armor-clad giant appeared between the two girls, a matching massive halberd in hand. Shirou instinctively pulled Sakura closer while backpedalling away from the about-to-commence battle.
The motion caught Illya's eye, but her attention was too tightly fixed on Kuro to give them any thought. She's just a Servant, what does she know?!
"Cut her in two with Slash!" As instructed, Lu Bu shot forward, swinging his halberd in a tightly controlled arc centered on Kuro, who kicking backwards, blocked it by crossing both her swords so the swing would slide off.
The weapons met, Kuro was flung backwards through a combination of her own action and the momentum transferred from the blow, which also shattered both her swords. Though the shortswords were quickly replaced, Illya's Berserker ferociously pressed the attack.
"Hey, Saber, a little help?" she shouted after losing a second pair of swords. Lu Bu's reach and power were a devastating combination, but his Madness Enhancement meant Illya had to do the thinking for him on the battlefield sometimes. Though he does have excellent combat instincts.
Certainly, his opponent was holding her own, if barely, with a clever mix of evasion and deflection but... "She's can't do anything but bounce off. Switch to Thrust and skewer her."
Unless Lancer was blind, something had happened since Tohsaka's Servant clearly wasn't the tall woman with purple hair she had been told about. If she wasn't a Saber... Lancer was a known factor, as was Assassin, a Caster wouldn't resort to sword-fighting, so the red magus had pulled an Archer or Rider.
Wait a moment-!
Lu Bu jabbed repeatedly as Kuro hurriedly dodged, but she was forced to block one of his attacks which sent her back in a predictable path. Berserker immediately got his point in line and charged forward.
"Hm. Go get a little range."
The suddenly appearing swordsman thrust his long sword at Lu Bu from the side, causing the giant to slow in order to parry the attack with the rear end of his halberd. However, he didn't lose focus and lunged at Kuro again, only to be once again held back by another precise thrust.
Kuro brought forth several copies of her swords and began throwing them from her position which was now safely outside of halberd range. Definitely Archer. Stepping back quickly so both his opponents were roughly in front of him, Lu Bu parried her swords as well as a couple more jabs from her allied Saber.
Who's commanding the Saber? Frustrated while watching the Archer-Saber pair deftly weave around, keeping Lu Bu on the back foot, she realized It can't be the Matou... that means onii-chan must have this war's Saber.
So, he actually is a magus. She frowned and gave a new order. "Switch to Parrying and keep both of them tied down."
I'll have to catch Tohsaka and onii-chan myself, then...
"We meet again, little lady." She turned to see a familiar blue Lancer off to the side, cheerfully waving his red spear at her. "What is it, Lancer?"
"Mind if I join in? A two-on-two pair battle seems interesting."
"Do what you want."
(Cu Chulainn)
He looked over at the fight. Einzbern's Berserker was doing quite well on his own, which meant joining in would definitely tip the scales. "Hope you don't mind me saying so, but Berserkers tend not to be good team players. Can you do something about that?"
"I can direct him to a target," she grumbled, clearly offended at the implication that she might have difficulties handling a Berserker. "You can take the Saber, right?"
"My thoughts exactly," he replied quickly before leaping into action. "Saber, let us-" Cu Chulainn stopped immediately to parry a deceptively quick cut that came flying his way.
"Right. To it then!"
l
(On a "nearby" rooftop)
(Sasaku)
"That Lancer you warned about just showed up."
"I saw," was all she sent back. After "climbing" the building in spirit form, she returned to the physical world and began a scrying set up to prepare an overwatch position.
"Shirou, tell Rin to tell Kuro to dodge in your direction on my count of three." "Er, sure."
"Saber, on the count of three, dodge backwards in the direction of the Masters." No reply, but doubtless he knew what to do.
Target area: Ground level, five blocks away.
"This is a day of judgment," "One."
Adjusting for high angle shot. Heading set.
"See and hear, Behold and understand," "Two."
Adjusting for expected minimum range. Speed set at ninety percent the speed of sound.
"(Realm's Armory: Volley)" "Three."
She snapped her fingers, throwing out two sets of eighty-one spears each.
(Sasaki Kojirou)
Even without their link providing him a direction to work off, it was obvious what Caster was about to do. Even though she was "behind" them, as long as her position was sufficiently elevated then it would be a rather straightforward affair.
"Three."
Abandoning his brief dance with Cu Chulainn, Kojirou slid backwards smoothly. Not jumping, that might put him in the way of the coming attack.
The Lancer made to close with him, then suddenly stopped and switched to a defensive stance. Seeing this, or perhaps due to battlefield instinct, a few feet away Lu Bu also stopped rather than chase Kuro and raised his halberd to protect his head.
Moments later, a rain of iron spears screamed into the battlefield shredding the road around the two unlikely allies. Cu Chulainn, undefeatable by projectiles as always, was completely unharmed while Lu Bu's armor might have gained a few scratches or dents at the most.
"That didn't work."
There was no reply as he and Kuro immediately took off towards Shirou's group. Perhaps wary of more attacks, Lu Bu moved back in order to protect his Master. Lancer looked about to take up the pursuit before deciding against potentially having the tables turned on him by Kojirou and Kuro with Sasaku's support..
"What's going on, keep shooting or they'll simply give chase."
"You'll have to deal with that, sorry. I'm busy here."
"What?" Every Servant had been accounted for, except "Is it Assassin? Do you need help?"
(Sasaku)
She turned to regard the boy Servant who had appeared unannounced next to her, and was waiting for her reaction. "This might be a stupid question, but is your class Assassin?"
"No." He said, amused by her lack of surprise. "Archer."
"I see." The two of them just looked at one another after the deadpan reply.
Sasaku was hurriedly asking Sakura, through Shirou relaying, if her Rider could help out, since she wouldn't be able to provide support once if Berserker and Lancer caught up.
"Sakura says she can't 'take out' Rider, whatever that means."
So much for that.
"My Master really screwed up," Archer said after the silence had stretched for a while. "Not two, or three, but four Servants together? That's a dangerous game you're playing."
Sasaku simply kept quiet, which he took as a request to elaborate. "The Grail System is supposed to require the souls of six Servants killed in the War, though since you're coalition-building, you either don't care or know otherwise."
There was little she could do, judging by the level of magical energy she could, easily given the distance, detect coming from him. And if provoked he could not only take her out but then turn the chase below into a very one-sided three on two mop up.
The other question though, was how are there two Archers at the same time?
"I take it you're the system's enforcer, then?" she asked finally. "I wondered if the system really expected a single priest to somehow keep Servants under control with just some rewards and manipulation."
"Heavens no," he laughed. "That would entail a Ruler class, who has no wishes. I definitely enjoy my human desires, if only to collect treasures."
"What do you want?" she said when, after a while, he prompted her to speak up.
"You." He laughed as her expression froze once she took in the answer. He grinned, before continuing. "Come now, you're quite one of a kind, quite literally too apparently."
He what? Damn, he must be some sort of king or so on, to try recruiting Heroic Spirits. "You hardly know me," was all she said in as calm a tone as possible, only to be rebuffed. "But I do."
"Know you that is," he declared confidently. "Or at least better than you know yourself."
"You can read my mind," Sasaku muttered in confusion. "How is that possible, the format shouldn't be compatible..."
"I can't actually do that, though I can or close enough with most Servants," he explained with an air of carelessness. "(Sha Naqba Imuru), have you heard of it?" The color draining from her face was all the answer needed.
Oh no, the actual Gilgamesh. Is standing a couple feet in front of me. Even while her danger instincts were shifting into overdrive, Sasaku kept her tone deliberately casual. "Surely you already have innumerable more competent servants in your kingdom already."
"I wasn't looking at a sword or a horse, but a flower," he muttered with something approaching bashfulness. But it disappeared with his next line. "Won't you let me pluck you?"
"I-I still have a lot of responsibilities I can't just abandon," she pushed back at him, in a daze. "It would be wrong to just walk away..."
"Well, so be it," he sighed in disappointment. "There's always next time I suppose. Fine. Let's fight."
Ah. He's going to kill me.
l
Notes:
Feels like Illya orders Lu Bu's abilities (which he can't decide on his own due to Madness Enhancement) like it's a turn-based RPG battle or something. Like this is Fate Extra CCC.
l
Apparently his type is a "flower that blooms in the wild," and then according to himself in FGO My Room conversation lines, he likes women "calm and quiet". Welp.
I am now giggling while remembering the Prisma Illya chapter/episode (take your pick) where he calls Illya onee-chan and she totally goes wild and he says something like "Did anyone tell you that you're easily handled?"
