Aftermath (10)
"BRIGADE! VOLLEY! LEFT!"
A wave of compressed air that managed to simultaneously hit like a truck and eviscerate like the keenest razor took Shirou's left arm, the Apostle frowning at the result even as the limb rewound itself to an undamaged state.
"BRIGADE! IMPAIR! FIRE WALL!"
A shriek of frozen air assailed the Vampire's ears as his feet were promptly encased in ice, the young man not hesitating for even a moment as he Traced a sword and cut his limbs off at the ankle, throwing his freed upper body into a spin that slipped past a volley of raw prana bolts that would have turned him into a cloud of fine ash.
"I can see why this group is considered such a threat."
While none of the Brigade were individually powerful to an abnormal degree their cohesion more than made up for it.
Tracing a variety of mundane swords Shirou launched them at the line of Magi, idly observing the blades as they were abruptly course-corrected, flying back in his face at roughly twice the speed they had been fired at.
Dispelling them before he could be taken out by his own weapons the Apostle began hatching a plan, running through the facts he knew about how the Brigade fought.
First was that they were masters of coordination and teamwork. Within the first few seconds of the mock battle most of the fifty Magi had sped through a Bounded Field construction process that normally would have taken hours, completing it within seconds as a few of their number distracted him with more outwardly powerful spells.
Impressive enough on its own, but the field was also rather versatile. Able to redirect physical projectiles, turn aside effects that passed a certain energy threshold and, most importantly, blocked most forms of magical perception from passing through the outer layers. Visual observation was unobstructed but his ability to see the history of various weapons or artifacts was nullified to an uncomfortable degree, Shirou's main method of countering an opponent's strategies cleverly done away with.
...Never mind that they had an annoying habit of calling out instructions that were blatantly false in order to confuse the opponent. The 'volley left' had instead arched upwards before striking his right. The 'fire wall' had been a wave of ice that spread across the ground...things like that.
Most importantly of all, he couldn't kill any of them. So making use of Archer's more destructive techniques such as Broken Phantasms or Incarnation Rounds was out of the question.
…
"More direct methods it is then."
Shirou let his gaze settle on the man who had been shouting orders, marking him as his first target. Not only was he the obvious leader—or at least first in line for that position—he was the one setting the parameters for the Bounded Field, eyes always keeping a close watch on whatever the Vampire threw the Brigade's way whereas the rest watched Shirou himself.
"Trace on."
A golden spear flashed to life in Shirou's hand, the Vampire swiftly throwing it full force at the intended recipient.
Without so much as a whisper of resistance the Gae Dearg tore through the bounded field and impacted the Magi's gut, sending him sprawling with all the air knocked out of his lungs.
Shirou had already been moving before the man even hit the ground, firing off a barrage of swords that exploded against the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust and debris, channeling a torrent of mana through his circuits in order to manifest one of the newest additions to his arsenal.
A short-handled hammer, dull metal intricately carved with various designs and runes that seemed to arc with lines of power.
Mjölnir, the mountain crushing hammer that would eventually be reforged by dwarven smiths for the personal use of Thor. While he may not have been the deity himself and therefore incapable of making full use of its abilities—as well as some quality of the weapon being lost due to his imperfect replication—a divine hammer was a divine hammer.
Less than a second after the first Magus had hit the ground Shirou raised aloft the divine construct, hidden behind the concealing cloud-
-and brought it down on the floor with all of his enhanced strength.
A deafening BANG loud enough to leave ears ringing sounded out, followed shortly afterward by every present individual being thrown off their feet as the surface beneath their assigned location developed a mind of its own, bucking and twisting like some kind of agitated beast.
"Perfect."
Having kept his own balance the Apostle swiftly murmured, "Time Alter: Double Accel," and leapt into action, leaving the confines of the concealing smokescreen in a blur of accelerated motion.
He would freely admit to being impressed by the Brigade's response to his actions. Even though the ground had split in some parts and formed twisted trenches in others thanks to the force of the divine hammer's strike barely any of them had fallen into panic, swiftly pulling themselves back into formation barely two seconds after the initial blow while one of their number called out another bevy of instructions, obviously taking over for the fellow still dealing with a cursed spear embedded in his stomach.
Exemplary discipline and bravery even while under fire.
...Not that it would help them.
The second commander had time to blink before a roundhouse kick caught her in the temple, wet crunch signifying a fractured skull as she bounced limply off the ground, weakly groaning in disorientation.
"Concussion, perhaps moderate bleeding in brain. Not immediately lethal if treated in a timely manner."
A quick skip and full-body rotation brought a reinforced fist into the gut of the next individual in line, rune-inscribed overcoat not providing the slightest bit of protection as its wearer went careening off a wall, gaping like a fish out of water as they tried to force air into their lungs.
"Likely internal bruising and bleeding. Not lethal, but certainly disabling."
A hasty bolt of lightning flashed by, Shirou whirling like a demented scythe as he brought the flat end of a traced claymore onto the offender's head, the Magi crumpling like a deck of cards.
"Again, concussion and perhaps skull fracture, definitely out of the fight."
The next few seconds were a frenzy of ferocious blows and instinctive attempts at putting him down, magecraft flying wide in the face of his accelerated Vampire instincts while thaumatergic protections proved remarkably ineffective, the Brigade of fifty quickly being whittled down to thirty.
But at last a proper response finally seemed underway, a group of eight Magi leaping at him from multiple directions, signs of reinforcement and other perception-enhancing magecraft allowing them to respond to his actions in a somewhat coherent manner.
"Time Alter: Triple Accel."
At least until he ramped up his speed once more, the eight swiftly dissolving into confused chaos as he rapidly dispatched them with little difficulty.
Really, the battle had been over the moment he had broken past their Bounded Field and gotten into close range. He had been trained by one of the most martially talented Executors in recent decades, had the overclocked perceptions of a Dead Apostle and a bevy of other strength and speed enhancing tools at his disposal.
Regular Humans, heavily organized or not, with no prior knowledge of his abilities hadn't stood a chance.
Less than thirty seconds later, amid the broken and destroyed floor of the training arena, stood a single man looking no worse for wear while fifty other bodies groaned, bled, cursed or even puked as a result of the injuries received.
Shirou felt an odd sense of satisfaction as Lorelei gave the scene an ugly look, jaw clenched so hard he was honestly surprised she hadn't broken it.
"Does that fulfill my end of the agreement, Lady Barthomeloi?"
"Now, would any among you care to explain why you were so easily dispatched of? I would have expected better of my own personal Brigade, not the dismal showing that was displayed. You barely so much as managed to inconvenience this Apostle with a few limbs in need of regeneration and nothing else!"
Aoko and Shirou watched from the relative safety of the sidelines as Barthomeloi strode back-and-forth in front of her subordinates with relentless fury, expression cold as the fifty recently healed Magi stood at rigid attention, expressions shameful as they tried their level best not to meet their leader's piercing gaze.
…
Well, healed enough that they weren't in immediate danger of dying, at least. More than a few lacerations and bruises remained behind to mark the beating Shirou had laid down.
"Well? Speak up! Or am I meant to simply enjoy the sound of my own voice and nothing else?"
Flinching at the ominous warning in the Queen's tone the elderly gentleman Shirou had impaled with the Gae Daerg stepped forward, stating, "We underestimated the creature, Ma'am. Had we known of his abilities-"
"You are only partially correct. Your mistake was in assuming this Vampire was simply to act as all others we have hunted have...sitting behind their protections, hiding like skulking rats or relying on misdirection, traps or slaves to do their battles for them."
Lorelei sharply snapped her booted heel on the broken floor, the Brigade straightening at the noise.
"You did not anticipate this Vampire acting as an individual, engaging you directly with merely its own talents and laughing in the face of stratagems more akin to that of a siege than a swift melee. Once it eliminated distance you were but mice in the grasp of a prowling feline. Remember this, the coming hunt will be against all manner of Apostle and creature of the night, fought on an open ground with little time to form complicated plans. We shall be as a mailed fist, breaking through the center lines and I expect all of you to exemplify that mindset!"
A snap of her crop caused the Brigade to stand even prouder...and opened more than a few hastily bound wounds, not that the Magi seemed to notice.
"YES MA'AM!"
"Dismissed!"
The fifty began to file out with varying levels of stiffness and hitched steps...as well as no shortage of malevolent glares sent in Shirou's direction.
"I'm fairly certain I just made a great deal of enemies today."
"True. You did just kick a great number of prestigious family members square in the balls, in one memorable case quite literally. I'd watch your back around them if I were you."
Grinning as she laced her hands behind her head Aoko stated, "Nice job keeping the extent of your abilities secret, by the way. The smokescreen, the dematerialized spear...things were moving fast enough that I bet most of them barely even had time to wonder if those were Mystic Codes or just mundane weapons, never mind high-ranking Noble Phantasms."
"I suppose I should thank Lady Barthomeloi for not revealing that bit of information. She had every opportunity to do so."
Grinning like a lunatic at the prospect of potential chaos the Blue cheerfully suggested, "Yeah, you should totally do that!"
The last Magus marched out of the room, pausing only long enough to spit on the floor in the Ancestor's direction as the redhead chuckled.
"Welcome to the club, Shirou-kun. I think you might be well on your way for tying with the Kaleidoscope in terms of number of people that would like nothing better than to see you brought low in the most humiliating way possible."
Appearing mildly alarmed Shirou turned to Aoko, asking, "Am I?"
"Eh, not really...but you're getting there."
Leaving that train of thought for another time Shirou turned to the approaching Lorelei, standing up before bowing his head slightly.
"Thank you for not revealing the nature of my abilities, Lady Barthomeloi."
The Blue luxuriated in the brief expression of joy and horror that twisted the Queen of the Clocktower's features, mind no doubt screeching to a halt-
SMACK!
-and almost doubled over laughing as Shirou lightly touched the handprint left upon his cheek, facial features in a bewildered state at the out of nowhere slap, Lorelei blushing red as she stammered, "D-do not speak so familiarly with me, you perverse demon! If you desire my noble blood you will have to take it from my lifeless corpse! I bid you good day, monster! I shall be in my office if you need me! Do not disturb me!"
Power walking away at a furious pace before slamming the doors shut behind her hard enough to rattle the ceiling Shirou turned to Aoko, the Magician doubled over in her seat and vainly trying to conceal her hysterics.
"Is she insane?"
"Only for you, Shirou-kun. Only for you."