Chapter 37
Bloody constraint. For should you try to hide the crown from him, even in your hearts, there he shall rake for it.- Henry V, William Shakespeare
"Good evening," Illya said. "Now I don't have to go looking for you all. Thank you." Silence was the girl's only reply. "Huh? Something wrong?" she asked. "Come on guys, I'm giving you a lot of time to come up with some last words here. It's more fun if I at least here you say something before I kill you."
"Oh, is that all?" Harry asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I figured you were just going into the stereotypical evil overlord gloat mode. But now I understand perfectly. Thanks for clarifying." He lifted a hand and poorly hid a staged yawn. "Let me know if you're going to start though. I could use the excuse for a nap."
Illya grimaced in annoyance. "You're not nearly as funny as you think you are," she told him.
Harry sighed dramatically. "Yeah. I mean I know I find myself hysterical, but I guess the hard truth is that I'm only hilarious. How will I ever live with the shame?"
"Harry," Rin chided him.
"Do you have any final words, Caster?" Illya asked, her voice colder. There was a growl and Berserker dropped out of thin air and landed just in front of the stairs. Ghost Rider materialized next to the hulking Servant with a swirl of fire.
"Plenty," Harry answered. "But I'll save them for later. I have an offer for you, if you're interested."
"Oh?" Illya asked. "And what might that be?"
"That you let us go," Harry answered. "Unharmed and unpursued."
"And what would I get?" Illya asked, clearly disinterested.
"Elf boy and Saber don't curb stomp Hercules: the Greek Incredible Hulk there and Archer and I don't turn Ghost Rider into chew toys for my dog."
"No one can beat my Berserker and Rider," Illya said. "So, no. I don't think I'll let you go. If that's all, let's get started." Illya raised one hand solemnly. "You have my word, I won't let anyone escape."
Saber started to speak, but was caught off by the sound of Link drawing his sword.
"Don't even think about it, Saber," he said, his voice deadly serious. "You're in no condition to fight, and we both know it. It's my turn. Take Shirou and go."
"Listen to me Archer," Rin said, quietly. "It doesn't have to be for long, but I need you to try and slow them down for a little bit."
"Tohsaka," Shirou said.
"That's absurd, have you lost your mind, Rin?" Saber asked. "He can't take them on by himself."
"And he's not going to," Link said. "We can slow them down long enough for Harry to warp you out. As soon as you're clear we can pull back. I know I don't plan on dying here."
"That is the wisest course of action," Archer agreed. "If you can escape first, Link and I should be able to follow. Independent actions are a specialty of the Archer class."
He and Link both stepped forward. Ghost Rider unslung the chain around his body and began to spin one end carelessly.
"Wow. I don't believe it," Illya said. "Do you really think those two are going to be able to stop both of my Servants? You do remember what happened last time, right? Neither Saber could stop my Hercules, and that Caster was forced to run away from my Rider."
"By the way, Rin," Archer said. "Let's be clear on something here." Rin glanced at Archer. "If all you want me to do is buy you time I can do that. However, would you be disappointed if I just destroyed them instead?" He turned his head just enough to give Rin his signature cocky smile.
"Archer," she said, and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she said, "Go ahead. If you want to take them, take them. Just don't get yourself killed, alright? I'd rather you stay alive."
"Excellent," he answered. "I hope I won't disappoint you."
"That thing you told Rin and I on the roof back when this all started," Harry said. "How true was it?"
Archer gave Dresden a look and the wizard's eyes flicked around for a moment, trying to convey something. Archer smiled in reply.
"I'll manage," he said. "It's true enough."
"Hmp," Illya said. "Go on Berserker, Rider. Tear them apart. I want those Servants dead."
Berserker roared with fury and Ghost Rider flung his chain forward, only for the links of metal to be knocked aside by Link's sword.
"Now's our chance," Rin said. "Come on, let's go!" She ran for the exit.
"But," Shirou said.
"Come on, Shirou," Saber said softly. "This is our only chance to escape." Then she turned and ran after Rin.
Shirou turned and heard a voice call to him over the sound of Link intercepting more lashes of Ghost Rider's chain.
"Shirou Emiya," Archer said. Shirou stopped and looked at Archer. "Listen closely: You aren't a person who fights. You're a person who creates. Clear everything else from your mind. There is only one thing you are capable of so it's imperative that you master it."
The Servant held out his hands and the twin falchions materialized in his hands. "Never forget: That what you should always be visualizing is you performing at your absolute best. You don't need external enemies. Your own worst enemy is the image you have of yourself in your head.
"Now GO!" he shouted and threw one sword into the ceiling. Cracks formed and rubble began to crash down between himself and Link, and Shirou and Harry.
"Shirou!" Harry shouted. "Let's go!"
Shirou turned and ran and Harry lifted his staff as he ran beside him. "Hexsus!" he shouted. Chaotic magical energy scattered from the Caster and every light in the entrance hall, and probably the entire building, died with a collection of pops and clinking glass.
Harry stopped just at the open doorway and shouted as loudly as he could. "He's weak against sunlight! Any part of him touches sunlight is completely human!" Then he ran out of the castle.
Harry, Shirou, Saber, and Rin ran down the path away from the castle.
"Which way?" Shirou asked, mostly carrying Saber as they ran.
"Follow me!" Rin answered and took the lead as they fled at a dead sprint. Her face was grim with worry as they ran away from the battle taking place. "Be careful, Archer."
The white falchion fell from the ceiling with the debris from the upper floor and back into Archer's empty hand and Link brought his sword and shield into guard. Ghost Rider cracked his neck and Berserker growled.
Nothing happened a single, crystalline second. Then all four of them moved with blinding speed.
Link didn't look at Archer or Berserker, he'd let them go at it until he was needed to interfere. His sole focus was the Rider.
Harry's voice rang out behind him as he moved and all of the lights suddenly went out.
"He's weak against sunlight! Any part of him touches sunlight is completely human!"
Link's eyes widened for a split second and then there was a cracking sound as the chain in Ghost Rider's hands lashed through the air toward him. That attack from the darkness revealed a flaw in Ghost Rider's Noble Phantasm.
Anything he brought under his will with Hellfire shone with the hellish light of the demonic power, much like his skeletal body. It wasn't much light, and might even be able to be suppressed, but, in his haste, Ghost Rider hadn't taken any steps to reduce the light from his weapon, thereby revealing the exact path the weapon was going.
Link spun and met the links of the chain with the blade of his sword, knocking the attack away as he continued to charge forward. Then he called out in a clear ringing tone: "Blade of Evil's Bane!"
The Master Sword blazed with golden light, filling the entrance hall with unnatural, but undeniable sunlight. Ghost Rider howled in rage and twirled his chain back toward Link as the sunlight began to intensify.
The Hero of Twilight dodged the strike and swung the Master Sword at the Rider. Ghost Rider dodged and rapidly retreated from Link's flurry of flow-up attacks. Something like smoke seemed to be rising from Ghost Rider's form as he retreated.
"Berserker!" Ghost Rider shouted, undeniable fear in his tone.
Link didn't get any warning before Archer was flung into him like a human wrecking ball, sending them both sprawling across the entrance hall. Ghost Rider fled down a hallway.
"Sunlight?" Archer asked, rising to his feet.
"Near enough," Link said, rising as well. "The sunlight known to another realm, infused into the sword."
Archer smirked. "Handy," he said.
"Kill them, Berserker!" Illya shouted. The brute roared and charged toward the pair of heroic spirits.
"Boost me," Link said and leapt into the air. Archer spun the falchions in his hands until their tips pointed down and raised his arms over his head. Link landed on them and Archer helped propel Link into another leap, one that carried the saber over Berserker's charging form.
Link rotated in the air, his bow appearing in his hands with a bomb arrow already on the string. He released the shaft even as Archer spun his twin swords back up right and slashed them down at Berserker.
The detonation of the bomb kicked up a cloud of dust and debris that obscured all sight.
"Go!" Archer directed. "If Rider gets out of the castle then he'll start hunting down the others!"
Link didn't need to be told twice. He had the greatest advantage against Ghost Rider and Archer was completely correct.
He made his way through the cloud and into the hallway Ghost Rider had fled down, blazing sword in hand once again. There was the clanging as metal as Hellfire infused suits of armor charged down the hallway toward him, battle axes already in mid swing.
But this was the type of fight Link excelled in. He slammed his shield into the first suit of armor and knocked it back a critical step, then launched himself into the air, driving his sword into the head of the enemy with the Helm Splitter technique taught to him by the Hero Spirit. He immediately launched himself back at the suit of armor and drove his sword into the back of the armor before it had the time to turn around, completing the Back Slice maneuver that had been passed on to him.
The suit of armor simply fell apart with the overwhelming damage Link inflicted on it and he turned to face the second suit of armor, sliding his sword back into its sheath on his back as he did.
The second set of armor wasn't smart enough to spot the trap and charged him with its axe held at the ready. Link waited until the last second and then drew and slashed his sword in one fluid strike, destroying the suit of armor with one, overwhelmingly devastating blow. The Mortal Draw.
It was as he'd told Shirou. Legacy was important with swords. The most powerful and devastating techniques were passed from master to apprentice and improved with time. And there was no sword style that had even been used as much or passed down as often as his own.
Link set off down the hallway in pursuit of Ghost Rider. He rounded a corner and was immediately forced to move back as gunfire started.
The demonic Rider was standing at the other end of the hall, holding a black, spikey, rifle and firing at him with reasonable accuracy, despite the lack of lights. Link mentally reached into his pack and swapped the Master Sword with the Gale Boomerang and hurled the weapon around the corner.
He didn't need to see the weapon's path to know what was happening. The Gale Boomerang held a fairy within in that summoned and controlled winds. The boomerang would grab any unattended object in its path and spin it in the whirlwind the boomerang created.
The sounds of paintings and other decorations being ripped from their positions and thrown toward Ghost Rider filled the hallway. The sound was so loud that the only reason Link evaded the incoming attack was because the triforce on his hand suddenly blazed to warning life.
Link glanced over his shoulder and saw the two glowing birds streaking toward him, pulses of magical energy flashing toward him with destructive intent. He threw himself into a lateral roll and brought his shield up in front of him.
They'd figured the sides wrong. It wasn't Link and Archer vs Berserker and Ghost Rider. It was Link and Archer vs Berserker, Ghost Rider, and Illya. Even if the Master couldn't reasonably kill a Servant, the familiars she could call into being could serve as a distraction at a minimum.
Link used his shield to protect himself from the arcane blasts as a bomb materialized in his other hand, fuse already glowing with sparks. He pitched the explosive over the shield and then dashed into the hallway where Ghost Rider had been waiting for him.
The hallway was largely bare of decorations, thanks to the efforts of the Gale Boomerang, though the fact that the paintings and vases were in a pile to one side of the hallway begged the question of what had actually happened while he'd been distracted by the bird familiars.
There was the roar of an engine and Link saw Ghost Rider astride his flaming motorcycle barreling through the pile and straight towards him. The motorcycle slammed into Link and sent him through the wall behind him and outside of the building.
Pain flared across Link as he hit the ground and went into a roll. Ghost Rider spun his bike to face Link. To make matters worse, the damned birds flew out of the hole the two Servants had made and prepared to open fire.
Link shot to his feet as the Master Sword returned to his hand and the golden light radiating from the blade was suffused with blue light as well. Link spun in a circle and an arc of radiant light slashed through the air toward Ghost Rider as he turned to face Illya's familiars.
They opened fire and Link charged forward, his boots changing to the pegasus boots and granting him their enhanced speed. He effortlessly evaded the barrage and then ran up the ruined castle wall. A moment later, he pushed off of the wall and slashed both familiars out of the air.
Link fell back toward the earth and chains suddenly shot through the air and wrapped themselves around him. The hellfire infused metal began to burn him as he was dragged to the ground with considerable force.
The chains all connected to Ghost Rider's own chest, and the demonic man took advantage of Link's prone position to level a shotgun at the hylian. Link struggled against his bonds and managed to adjust his position just enough to bring his shield into the correct alignment.
"Shield of Hyrule," he declared, and his shield expanded into a magical barrier, shattering the chains binding him and intercepting the blast of Hellfire that left the shotgun's barrel a second later.
Link leapt to his feet and brought the Master Sword up into a guard position.
""You're good, Ghost Rider," Link said. "You've been staying out of my effective range, making my sol enhanced blade less likely to hit you. I wonder what will happen if I manage to land a blow? Will it kill you outright? You're not turning human instantly which means that my sunlight needs time to affect you."
"You're welcome to try, Link of Hyrule," Ghost Rider replied, his body starting to smoke again from the sunlight. The two Servants readied themselves for another bout.
A voice rang out from the nearby entrance hall of the castle, and with those words the world itself seemed to ripple and distort with energy.
"And so I pray: Unlimited Blade Works!"
Ghost Rider vanished with the pulse of power that followed those words, and Link stood alone outside of the Einzbern castle.
The saber spun, looking around wildly, but he was alone. He couldn't sense Archer, Berserker, or Ghost Rider anywhere near him. It was as if they had all simply ceased to exist.
Cautiously, Link stopped his Noble Phantasms, the light from the Master sword fading away and the barrier collapsing back into his shield.
He ran down the path, hoping he'd be able to find Shirou and the others quickly. Whatever Archer had done was only going to last so long, and it was smarter to regroup now that the immediate threat was gone.
Author's note: So close, Link. So close. Not really much to comment on here. Mostly some ass-kicking and another Noble Phantasm. But boy do I have some stuff for the next chapter or two.
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