* Umineko - Anti-Demon Sequentia

* Umineko - Wings

* Tokyo Babel - Poison to poison

* Umineko – Anti-Demon Sequentia

It was a rude awakening for Leanne Stormbird.

Not that she was used to emerge from sleep with a smile on her face, but waking up in the middle of a battle was a new record for her. She couldn't even understand what situation she was in, nor how she had gotten there in the first place.

When her consciousness resurfaced, her eyes shot open and she suddenly sat up in a panic, as though she was emerging from a nightmare. Maybe her body realized only now that it had almost drowned. In any case, even after opening her eyes wide, she thought she was still inside a dream.

And who could blame her, given the sight she was waking up too?

The ground underneath her was cold and hard, but also uneven. Her hand, which supported her body's weight, slipped off and she felt backward. At that moment, she realized she had been lying on a pile of...coins.

Glistering gold coins and trinkets of all kinds were piled up in a small mountain, and she was resting at the top. There was more than money – cups, jewelries, precious gems, richely decorated weapons and luxurious fabrics. Although most of it was gold coins, with this variety it gave off the impression of a cliché treasure you would find in pirate novels. And she wasn't too far off the truth, although she had no way of understanding that. But somehow, she was wholy unimpress by this large treasury – she felt that, if she wanted to see gold, then she had seen plenty of it within the last days already.

But more than where she was, she wanted to understand what was going on around her. And that was the hardest part – for that could be described as nothing less than chaos, and her confused senses didn't allow her to get a good graps of the situation.

To explain it simply, the Servants imprisoned inside the Reality Marble were currently spread out and fighting against various enemies. The area around them was indeed a wide cave filled with gold and other treasures; which meant its guardians were trying to defend it. Logically, there should only have been fourty of them, but they were coming back indefinitely – they were some sort of human-shaped wraiths armed with swords, spears and bows. But they were nowhere near the power of a Heroic Spirit, and thus easily dispatched.

They weren't a problem.

Everything else was.

The fourty thieves were not the only enemies here – even though it had nothing to do with the original tale, many phantasmal species were present as well. For exemples, Ifrits, spirits of fire, were flying around and spitting flames hot enough to melt the gold. Ghouls were emerging from beneath the earth and from within the mountain of treasures, with emaciated bodies and their faces hidden behind masks. They were accompanied by another race of demons, nasnas, who were nothing more than half a human body, if you put aside their ability to sap life energy through physical contact.

In a word like in a hundred, utter chaos.

Even after taking a look around her, Leanne couldn't wrap her head around what was happening. Too many pieces were missing, and the more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. Well, actually, it was hurting because of everything she had endured while unconscious. At any rate, she didn't know what to do nor what to say, she didn't even know what to think.

So she did nothing – he just stared into the distance in bewilderment.

Unfortunately, she had no choice but to wake up once reality came after her: a bony hand erupted from the sea of coins, right next to her.

"Uh, mm, ah..." Leanne was too slow to react, as she had just woken up. Even when the ghoul's hand suddenly tried to grab her. "Ah...!"

"Tch..."

Fortunately, she was just as suddenly rescued – the hand disappeared, leaving only a bloody stump. She didn't realize it had been cut off and sent flying away; but she did know where her savior was. Actually, they had been standing next to her from the beginning, but she hadn't noticed them until now due to the complete anarchy ruling over this place.

"Don't just sit there." Hatsuyo growled with her usual scowl. While she was saying that, the rest of the ghoul's body emerged from the pile of gold; but as soon as it did, its head fell off after a swift swing of her blade. "If you're awake, move it."

"Ummm...thanks?" Leanne finally pulled herself together, but she didn't register Hatsuyo's order. Until the later glared directly at her, whereupon she stood up with haste. "Eep!"

But it's not like standing up would tell her what to do, so even after getting on her feet, she just stood there helplessly. Everyone was spread out, so that girl was the only one nearby; hence, Leanne could only turn to her, even if she looked like she didn't want to talk.

"Excuse me but...what exactly is going?"

"What does it look like?" Hatsuyo replied bluntly.

"Hmmm...a mess?"

"Then it's a mess. Don't annoy me." After saying so, Hatsuyo turned away again.

And the reason was that yet another enemy was coming to them: this one was riding on top of a horse and swinging a large scimitar around, all while screaming fiercely at them. Unlike the other thiefs, this one was tougher since it was their leader. But despite his intimidating approach, Hatsuyo walked toward him casually, as if it was an everyday task; which indicated how may time she had had to kill him already. On her way, she beheaded yet another ghoul sprouting up from the pile of treasure. She was walking at a normal pace, but once the horse was only a few meters away, her body moved too fast for Leanne to follow.

The bandit lifted his sword overhead to swing it down on her head. In response, Hatsuyo swung her katana upward to meet his attack – but she was not going for a clash. Her sword cut through his hand, so cleanly that the sword scimitar was pulled by its momentum and flew away (thankfully far from Leanne). Then, in the same breath, she slashed at his throat sideway.

"How many time are you gonna come back..." The swordwoman grumbled to herself as she sheathed back her sword.

"You really like cutting their head..." Leanne commented from a distance, which warranted her another look of annoyance.

"I don't like it, that's how you do it." Hatsuyo raised an eyebrow as though Leanne was the one being nonsensical.

"Huh?"

"Isn't it obvious? When you kill someone you cut their head off to bring it back." But she wasn't picking up any of the heads she had sent rolling... "And will you stop following me already? I protected you because you were unconscious, but now you're awake. Don't you have a Servant?"

"..." When Hatsuyo told her that, Leanne suddenly realized that indeed, Berserker wasn't around her. Without him, she was actually helpless. "C-could it be he's not here at all?"

While that frightening scenario was flashing before her eyes, something – or rather someone – landed next to them. It was Odysseus, the Archer of Black - at the moment, he was fighting dealing with the Ifrits flying around. The fire spirits were not very dangerous on their own, but they were moving in groups of three or four, and their flight speed was nothing to scoff at either. Even the most cunning man in all of Greek mythology had to focus in order to shoot them down. After finishing off a group of them, he noticed Leanne in the corner of his sight.

"Hey, you're finally awake." He nodded slightly. "If you're looking for your Servant, I'm afraid he cannot afford to spend any more energy than he already has. He must be resting in spiritual form."

So Samson was effectively out of comission. That had to be it, since Leanne was certain her fiery Servant would be easy to find even in this chaos. In other words, her fears were basically confirmed, and she was entirely defenseless here. But while Leanne was standing there with horror on her face, a new flock of ifrit was swooping down on them. In unisson, they spit a deadly rain of white fire – at that moment, Odysseus whistled.

"Berserker, give us cover!"

"▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄!"

At the bowman's call, a silvery giant rushed to their position and stood between them and the fire. The flammes exploded on him, but they didn't so much as give him a sunburn, and he brushed them off thoroughly. Following what Odysseus took the opportunity to shoot all the ifrits down. Then, he turned to Hatsuyo.

"I suggest you keep her company."

"Since when are you giving me orders?!" Although she was saying that, the warrior girl didn't look like she could resist his suggestions. "And why would it be my job to babysit her?"

"Hmph." Odysseus shrugged. "If you don't like it, there is always the other option."

When he said that, Hatsuyo looked at Leanne.

But it wasn't the same; before, she had looked disgruntled that she had to speak with her. But now it was different – Leanne felt a chill down her back when that cold glare pierced through her. No one had ever looked at her with those eyes before; it might be even more frightening than the look in Peter Stumpp's eyes. Yet, there was some anger mixed in there as well. For reasons she didn't understand, Leanne was currently the subject of Hatsuyo's ire and resentment. Somehow, it looked as though the young warrior was deciding something; or rather, couldn't decide on something.

For a moment, Leanne thought she could hear her mutter something under her breath: "...Nana...Nana..."

When Odysseus said there was the 'other option', he meant leaving Leanne to her own device...right? Somehow, Leanne got the feeling the true meaning of those words was flying over her head. She could only stare back at Hatsuyo with incertitude, until the latter clicked her tongue and turned away.

"I'm the one who decide on that. I don't care what you say." As she said that, Hatsuyo's animosity diminished, though she still seemed pissed off.

"...So it would seem." Odysseus turned away, while Leanne was still under the impression there was something she wasn't grasping. The bowman looked at the fire spirits flying around, and the silvery Berserker fighting them restlessly. "This situation is dire. Even if we can shrug off as many enemies as they send at us, it's a waste of energy. At this rate, we can't win against-"

But he was interrupted abruptly when something emerged from the gold at their feet.

It wasn't a ghoul's hand this time around. It was longer and darker, and it was extending like a snake out of a hole. Leanne could ony think of either a serpent or a tentacle, and it turned out to be the latter. A dark limb which ended in sharp claws – the Creature's arm.

"Tsk. Speak of the devil." Odysseus muttered. "Well then, you have to look after her."

And with that, he ran off, leaving a frustrated Hatsuyo behind.

But the samurai girl said nothing.

She definitely looked like she wanted to say something, but she held back, and drew her sword. The tentacle hadn't appeared to serve as decoration of course; somehow it knew they were here, and it came down on them. Hatsuyo stood in its way and held her blade up to absorb the impact. Yet, it was too much for her. Even though that girl was capable of feats beyond human abilities, this was in an entirely different league – and she knew that. Instead of repelling the dark limb, she used its own strength against it to deviate its path. Because the ground underneath her was very unsteady, she actually almost fell off, but recovered in the blink of an eye to attack.

The very same sword that had effortlessly cut through many monsters so far couldn't slice through that thing in one go. Hatsuyo had to put her back into it to finally cut it in half, with a grunt of effort. She had cut the tentacle off as closely to the ground as possible, and the limb that was as tall as a tree fell down lifelessly.

But in the time it had taken her to achieve that, more and more tentacles were sprouting throughout the cave. Obviously, they immediatly attacked; the only silver lining was that, as a third party, the Creature was attacking everyone without discrimination, including the monsters summoned by the Reality Marble. But that was only a breather for the Heroic Spirits.

"Come here." Hatsuyo ordered. For once, she wasn't hostile, so it was refreshing. But there was urgency in her voice. "Get on my back."

"Excuse me...?" Leanne was confused.

"My back." She reiterated with irritation. "If you don't, I'm abandoning you here."

Leanne complied, but she was queasy. It wasn't that she didn't understand what Hatsuyo was trying to do, but it felt wrong to just climb on someone's back like that. Putting aside the fact that no one had carried her on their back since she was little, there was the issue of their height gap. Or rather, the lack of it. Unlike Berserker who was way taller than Leanne, the samurai girl was practically the same height as her. It felt naturally wrong for her to climb onto someone like that with all her weight.

But as she found out, it didn't make any difference.

"Hmph!"

"Whoa...!"

When Leanne's feet left the ground, she couldn't believe how light she felt. She inately considered Samson a force of nature, but when it was someone like Hatsuyo lifting her off effortlessly, it was like she had become a feather. Which was highly disturbing for a plethora of reasons. That being said, Leanne was so used to be carried around by her Servant that she could immediatly tell the difference in strength. Hatsuyo had to consciously put in some strength, whereas Leanne didn't think Samson actually needed to do anything.

"Don't fall. If you do, I'm not saving you." With this stern warning, Hatsuyo kicked off.

She moved just in time to avoid a black tentacle pounding on them from above. But in the process, Hatsuyo had started sprinting so abruptly that Leanne almost fell off for real – that girl had not been joking about holding on. Most likely, she wasn't used to adapting her speed to anyone but herself. Then again, she might have been right: there was no lack of obstacles on their way. Of course there were the tentacles sprouting left and right, but it wasn't like the rest of the monsters had vanished either.

Be it ghouls, wraiths, nasnas – Hatsuyo had no choice but to hop around. Nonetheless, she was pretty good at it. Even with a grown adult woman on her back, she had no issue changing her course again and again all while looking out for any attack coming her way. Even if they tried to form a wall and block her way, she would just leap and use their heads as stepping stones. On the other hand, it was a real rollercoaster for Leanne, and she too had to look out to make sure she wasn't hit by a stray attack. But still, being carried effortlessly like this gave her a lot of confidence.

Well, not so effortlessly actually...

"Y-you don't have to push yourself! If I'm a bother, then...!" Leanne wasn't oblivious to Hatsuyo's heavy breathing. She also couldn't get out of her head the memory from last night of a Hatsuyo bleeding all over.

"Khhhh!"

Well, in truth, Leanne was completely wrong. Hatsuyo wasn't tired or even pushing herself. The reason she was grinding her teeth was because she was dying to draw her sword and hack away her enemies – but that was impossible with someone on her back. And so she was forced to resist her urge and run away. Leanne's sympathy was only adding more salt to the wound.

"Of course you're a bother!" She flared up. "Why are you even here!? I told you before – if you can't take care of yourself, then stay holed up somewhere!"

Leanne wasn't shocked. She clearly remembered that girl saying those words the night before. She had not been lacking in people to remind her of her weakness.

"I refuse! I know I can't do much by myself, but I have to be here. I don't have power, but at least I h-have courage!" Just when she said that, Leanne had to lower her head to avoid a bandit's spear. "Eep!"

"...That's stupid. You're worse than a coward."

"Huh...?"

"A coward would stay away. It means that between you and the coward, the coward will live longer. What's even the point of putting yourself in danger?"

"..."

So that was how Hatsuyo Toriyama thought. She wasn't exactly wrong. In fact, she would be right; there was no glory to be won by standing in danger's way when you knew you couldn't save yourself. However, Leanne wasn't following the same logic.

"It has nothing to do with efficiency, or living longer. Of course I'm afraid, but I can't run away! How am I supposed to face reality otherwise?! Until now, I've been hiding constantly - I know how it feels! I can't depart from the fact I'm weak, but the reality I have to face is here!"

"... ... ..That doesn't mean anything..." Hatsuyo grumbled.

"If I stayed away, I wouldn't be in as much danger. But even if I survived the Holy Grail War that way, how could I live with myself?! If I live longer by hiding and running away, then nothing will have changed! I don't want that path. There's no meaning in preserving my life at all cost if it means that life has to be filled with dissatisfaction! I want to feel like I really did something for once!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... ... Hmm, Miss...Hasuio?"

"That's still dumb." The samurai gril barked back. "You're not doing anything, I'm the one carrying you!"

"I-I'm sorry for that..."

"Khhhhh!"

They were different people, not only in how they thought, but also at a more fundamental level. Leanne wished they could get along, but maybe Hatsuyo couldn't even understand her logic. There was still doubt and anxiety inside Leanne's heart, and perhaps she wasn't as determined as she liked to pretend. But she had made her decision.

She wanted the path that was closest to happiness, but it might not come cheap at all.

Chapter XXXVI: Crossroad Countdown

* Umineko – Wings

Fuuma Kotarou lunged forward.

There wasn't that much distance separating him and Völundr; all he had to do was close that distance as fast as possible. The hallway was not exactly short as far as hallways were concerned. But in a battle between Servants, that distance didn't mean much; it was extremely narrow and wouldn't let him dodge nourished fire. He knew for a fact that this blacksmith could use runes – both the reports from Saber of Black and his current predicament pointed toward it.

On his end, Völundr wasn't oblivious to what the shinobi was trying to do – he was the one who had trapped him in this hallway. The only way to come at him was in a straight line, and so all he had to do was attack in a straight line to take Fuuma down. But he didn't need to do that for now, as he had other alternatives: the entire hallway was booby trapped. Using Runes as remote-activated mines had proven its efficiency before in the Himalaya, so of course he would apply that same technique for a defensive battle. There was no snow here to camouflage his runes, so he had resorted to a different strategy instead.

Namely, posters.

"...!" Fuuma was taken completely off guard when the wall next to him burst into fire.

It wasn't that strange to find posters in a hallway; well, anywhere other than in the Clock Tower, in all its austerity. As long as the runes were covered by something, they wouldn't stand out, and Fuuma Kotarou was none the wiser.

The Runes the blacksmith used were nothing like those used by modern magi. The latters were just watered down versions of the Primeval Runes created by Odin – and those were the one Völundr could use like it was nothing. Admittedly, as a simple blacksmith he wasn't as proficient with them than a genuine god or mage. But it didn't really matter when the firepower was this great already: the hallway was engulfed in fire, swallowing the shinobi in its fiery blaze.

For good measure though, he activated two other runes, thus amplifying the chaos and turning the hallway into a furnace too powerful to cook anything.

"Well, that should do the trick." The blacksmith was about to call it a day, but as soon as he did, projectiles came flying in his direction. "Hm?"

Those were kunais, two of them to be exact. They came flying too fast for him to react, but he didn't need to: the kunais rebounded on the invisible wall he had set up in front of himself. Of course he would prepare something like that if he was going to make the entire hallway explode – he wasn't immune to his own magecraft! However, neither should the Assassin who had disappeared within the flames.

"Urghh..."

Yet there he was, overcoocked but still in one piece. The only thing that had truly suffered here was the black fabric wrapped around him like a shadow. The oufit had burned away in many places, exposing his charred skin.

"Our clan specialises in explosives and controled fires. Using flames against us is laughable."

A bold claim, considering his appearance. The fact that he was still alive was no mean feat, but his fireproof cloth would not be of much use anymore. It could protect him against forest fire and explosions, but it seemed it could only hold up for so long against Primeval Runes. All in all, Völundr didn't think much of it – Fuuma was still standing in the middle of a minefield.

The posters, which were supposed to be of the same color as the walls, had all burned away, if only partially. This meant Assassin could see them, of course, but he was still trapped like a rat. If Caster made them all explode at the same time, the shinobi would disappear along with this area of the floor!

But when Völundr was about to snap his fingers to active the runes...

"Fool! The projectiles were merely a distraction!"

"What...?" Immediatly, the blacksmith shifted his gaze to the ground in front of him. On the other other side of the rune barrier, there was colorful strip of explosives – and their fuse had reached the end. "...!"

The bomb went off, but unlike what Caster had expected, it didn't explode in a fiery blast. That bomb was actually a bliding grenade, and he had stared at it just when it went off! He had expected to be safe since his barrier could take a regular explosion, but now the blacksmith was blinded and brought his hand to his eyes, instead of activating the runes that would have killed Assassin.

Fuuma could act freely: he lunged toward Völundr.

But he was aware of the barrier's existance – throwing those kunai had also been meant to confirm whether he could reach Völundr or not. So instead of slamming into an invisible wall again, he slowed down his pace before lunging again, but this time at where the barrier was. He drew back his fist and, with all his momentum, all his weight and all his strength, he slammed it into the rune barrier.

THUNK!

It was like hitting a boulder with your bare hands.

Destroying a protective spell without a counterspell or an absurd amount of power was a completely preposterous concept. And indeed, when he punched the barrier, Assassin could tell just how resistant it was. But he had expected that. There was no easy way out of this situation, he had to force his way through no matter the pain. And in the end, he won – after the initial impact, the invisible wall shattered and he got through. The shinobi had attacked in such a way as to unleash as much power as his body could, but such a feat would have been impossible if not for his Monstrous Strength skill.

Now there was nothing between them.

Assassin materialized a knife and closed in on the defenseless blacksmith; all it would take was a quick slice, nothing more. Just a little more...but it was foolish to believe Völundr was completely defenseless. Granted, he couldn't see Assassin, and he certainely couldn't rely on his ears or his nose to locate him. Nonetheless, Fuuma had been too hasty: the reason why he had been in a hurry to close the distance between them was because there wasn't much space for dodging – in other words, Völundr knew which way he was coming from no matter what.

Runes were floating in front of the blacksmith, the same that had almost burned the shinobi to a crisp. They burst into fire and the flames poured in his direction. Even Fuuma Kotarou, one of the most agile Servants in this Holy Grail War, had very little chance to escape an attack that close up. He was forced to jump aside frantically and roll over the floor to escape the blaze.

In a heartbeat, he had already recovered and was ready to resume his assault – but things had changed within this heartbeat. Völundr's eyes were still shut tight from the pain, but one of them was opening slightly – and it was looking at Fuuma. The blacksmith brandished the hammer in his hand; the smithing tool wasn't impressive for a weapon, but one couldn't judge it by appearance alone.

Fuuma couldn't let him use it: at the same time Völundr lifted his arm, the shadow assassin pulled out his kusarigama. He threw the weight faster than a bullet, and the chain wrapped around Caster's wrist. Assassin then pulled on the chain to force his opponent to lower his weapon. He was surprised that, even with his Monsterous Strength, the blacksmith was able to put up a fight; he wouldn't be able to pull him closer, but at least he could keep his weapon down.

However.

"Very well, then!" The blacksmith bellowed, and his voice was followed by a thunderclap.

"...!"

It was not an approximation: thunder had truly struck, right here and then in the middle of the hallway. More exactly, it had come from the hammer. The latter hadn't suddenly turned into Mjolnir, but the lightning runes inscribed upon it allowed it to be more than a tool. Völundr had intended to strike Fuuma head on with them, but since he was in that situation, he prefered to unleash its power here, and in doing so he destroyed the floor beneath their feet.

The two of them crashed into the floor below, but not in the same way: Fuuma had not expected such a move, whereas Völundr was the one executing it. The Servant of Assasination had thus lost his hard-earned initiative – before his feet even touched the floor below, the blacksmith was ready. The kusarigama's chain was still wrapped around his wrist, so he used it to abruptly pull Fuuma closer to him. The shinobi only had the time to partially manifest a shadow clone – the next instant, he received a mighty blow from Caster's hammer.

"Urgh...!"

Even with a cushion, he felt that hit as though he had taken it head on. Thankfully, the impact had been softened enough for him to keep his focus; he had let go of his weapon and flied across the hallway before landing harshly on the carpet. It was better than having his own tactic being abused against him, and the newly created distance gave him the time he needed to fully analyze this new situation.

That being said, another way to look at it was that he was back to square one: Völundr was in perfect position to fire at him from a safe distance. And he was about to do exactly that: the blacksmith's finger were tracing runes in the air, but Fuuma couldn't tell what they were for. There were a great many of them as well, so he was likely preparing several spells.

Fuuma wasn't planning on finding out.

He was in the middle of enemy territory, time was against him here. With no intention of wasting any more of it, he made his move and rushed forward.

"Hmph." Völundr noticed him, but didn't interrupted his spells.

On the contrary, he unleashed one of them: some runes shined a bright blue before turning into a hail of ice. Everything on its path was frozen, and it would include the shinobi if he did nothing about it. Well, against ice, there's nothing better than fire; a flask appeared in his hand, and he threw it at the incoming ice. Then, he threw a knife at the flash – there was a lit match attached to it, so when it broke the flask apart its content was set on fire. It was a very potent infamable substance, but it was merely a setback against magecraft of this level. All Fuuma needed was to avoid death, so he would take every little bit of progress.

But he had to stop the blacksmith from pulling anymore tricks – that was why, the shinobi pulled out a gun.

It looked nothing like modern handguns, and was closer to a barrel held in his palm. This was a weapon from his days, a nigiri-teppou; in other words a 'palm gun'. Truth be told, he had done his best to keep it secret until now. As a Servant without Noble Phantasm, his efficiency depended on his tricks, and how many of those he could keep as a trump card. In this case, his nigiri-teppou was granting him range Völund didn't think he had.

And indeed, Caster's eyes opened wide when he caught a glimps of the barrel inside Fuuma's hand. As a blacksmith, he had shown curiosity for modern firearms as soon as he had been summoned, so he had no doubt about what kind of weapon it was. He was still too slow to react: with a thunderous sound, a bullet was fired and successfully hit its target.

It didn't hit a vital like the heart or the head, but it wasn't Fuuma's objective. In the first place, this weapon didn't have enough precision even at this distance, so he hadn't expected more from it than to give him an opportunity. And it was exactly what he got: the blacksmith winced in pain when the bullet struck his side, and his concentration was breached.

All the runes dancing in the air disappeared – at this cue, Fuuma pulled out another weapon of his. This one was more popularly equated with ninja than firearms; it was none other than the famous smoke bomb.

Indeed, the shinobi wasn't using this opportunity to attack, but to flee.

He had already ascertained that he had nothing to earn in letting this battle go on any longer. He wasn't here to kill Caster, he only wanted the treasure the blacksmith was defending. His chances of success were higher if he escaped – even if he came across Caster again, he could use his stealth to his advantage.

So it was without hesitation that he lit and then threw his smoke bomb. In the blink of an eye, the entire hallway which was over twenty meters in length disappeared under a dark screen. On top of making it impossible to see, the smoke would hurt the eyes and make anyone who breathed it cough violently – it was thus without fear of being intercepted that Fuuma ran past his opponent and left him behind.

However...just how far would he be able to go?

Not too much, as he had feared: after turning around the corner and progressing a little, about midway through the hallway he found yet another rune barrier. He couldn't overexert himself by destroying every one of those. Worse yet, that would alert Caster, and would render the entire act of running away meaningless. He would have been better off escaping through the hole in the ceiling!

At this point, he might as well escape the building entirely and enter again from a different spot. With this idea in mind, the shinobi turned toward the closest window and applied himself to using the same trick he had used to enter. No matter how much of a bind he was in, his heart always remained composed so he wouldn't make a single mistake, no matter how meticulous the operation.

But

Shh–!

it wasn't to be so simple.

"Gh...! Hhh... ... .. !"

Fuuma was brutally interrupted in his escape by a sword, which came flying at him with tremendous force. He was completely pinned to the wall through his shoulder, and in his surprise he barely managed to hold back a groan of pain. He quickly brought his hand to check the sword that had impaled him – it was not even a weapon for throwing! And Caster shouldn't have been able to find him; with no ventilation here, the smoke should have remained a while longer.

But it was easy to dispel if one used wind runes.

"That makes us equal, I think." The blacksmith approached slowly, his hand over the bullet wound. "So that's what it feels like to be shot. Hmm, I still don't appreciate firearms. They aren't something I can work on."

"You...how did you know which way I went?" Assassin snarled.

"As long as you activate one of my barriers, I can tell which it is."

"I see...so merely touching them will trigger them. It was an oversight..." But just as he made that observation to himself, Fuuma suddenly swung his arm and flung several kunai toward Caster.

They were close enough to each other to make it hard to avoid. But it would be easy to deflect: the blacksmith took a step back and swung his hammer, knocking all the projectiles aside. Obviously, Fuuma had expected that; those were a distraction while he prepared something else.

"...!" Völundr's eyes widened, but it was too late.

The shinobi was still pinned to the wall, but that didn't mean he had no mobility. Namely, his shadow clones could move freely. In the span of time it took Caster to defend himself, Fuuma had manifested a clone and had given it something: an explosive, and a real one this time. But Völundr didn't know that.

In a heartbeat, the clone was already launching a suicide attack on Völundr.

So far, Assassin had only used utility bombs, and so Völundr probably expected the same to happen here. He was expecting a flash bang or a smoke bomb, so instead of protecting himself he shut his eye closed and raised his hand in front of him.

BAM!

The bomb exploded to the blacksmith's face.

Although it was meant to kill, this time it was also a distraction. Fuuma wasn't going to bet his life on this attack, so it the meantime he used this occasion to remove the sword from his shoulder. He then cast it aside to make a run for it. With the explosion, there was once again a smoke screen, and probably a hole in the middle of the hallway. In any case, Assassin had to move – he wasn't confident enough to turn his back now and resume his escape through the window. As expected, escaping through the hole to the upper floor was better after all.

"...!"

But when he set his body in motion to do exactly that, Fuuma detected a sudden movement amidst the smoke, and he only evaded the hammer by a hair's breadth. The strength of the swing was enough to dissipate the smoke, and reveal Völundr with barely a scratch on him. That shouldn't be – even if it was a small explosive, it should be enough to cause serious damage! And the blacksmith took the full brunt of it at point blank range...or had he done that because he knew there was no risk? It would seem his body was enhanced in some way.

In any case, Fuuma had evaded the hammer swing, but didn't have the time to escpae the fist that came flying immediatly after. Caster's knuckles sank heavily into Assassin's stomach; it hurt much more than it had any right to. The shinobi was sent crashing into the wall, which almost caved in (he was starting to suspect those walls were enhanced as well).

Fuuma was feeling a spike of irritation. He was supposed to remain composed at all time, but that was only true when his opponent wasn't so stubborn. He may have crashed full force into the wall, but his consciousness didn't so much as waver, and he used that same wall to spring toward Völundr – slamming his own fist into the blacksmith's face.

Völundr's feet left the ground, and he was sent flying into the opposite wall.

"Hrgnnn..." Völundr groaned in pain with a hand on his cheek. "I must say, you pack a good punch for an Assassin."

"...I return the compliment. You are a problematic Caster." Fuuma was clenching his fists, trying his best to hold back his anger.

"...Heh. What do we have here?" The blacksmith scoffed. "Looks like you aren't completely human either."

That was because the shinobi was doing a bad job of keeping a cool head: his body was changing shape. One by one, his muscles were bulging and growing larger, and the parts of his skin that were exposed were slightly shifting in color. Finally, there was the growth in height. Fuuma was already very tall, even by modern standarts. But even that impressive height was now increasing, and his head was almost reaching the ceiling.

"But you're on the other end of the spectrum." Völundr pushed himself off the wall and brushed off the dust. "Sigh, how troublesome. I was hoping for a simple fight, demonic one."

* Tokyo Babel – Poison to poison

Meanwhile, another battle was taking place – the intense sound of metal clashing against metal was resounding beyond the hall.

This fight wasn't as destructive as others; there was no flashy display of magecraft nor flying machines. It was the most straightforward battle possible; blade to blade; Saber to Saber. They were not moving and jumping all over the places either. In fact, their clash was taking place at a single spot.

That was because one of them wasn't budging at all, despite the other's ferocious assaults.

Knight against war god.

Galahad against Chi You.

With a howl worthy of a demon, the six-armed warrior was throwing herself at the impervious wall that was the knight himself. A ruthless offence against a unwavering defence. It was truly a sight to behold, a battle like none other in this Holy Grail so far. There was no one to witness it – and it was better that way; simply because it was contained didn't mean bystanders risked nothing. And for that matter, this hall was gradually giving in from their intense battle, with cracks spreading everywhere from the might of their blows.

In her pride as a war deity, Chi You was not giving Galahad a single second of respite. She used all kinds of weapons at her disposal – short swords, long swords, spears, axes, halberds, daggers, maces, etc – in all variety of combinations thanks to her many hands. She even resorted to more exotic weapons such as whip-swords, flails, brass knucles or claws. It didn't matter what weapon it was or how many she used – she could wield them as if she had used them her entire life. It was beyond being able to use any weapon; weapons were a part of herself, a part of her power as the war god who had brought them into this world.

And she spared no efforts to break his guard. She attacked from every angle imaginable. She parried his riposte and doubled down on her assault. She had grapsed his fighting style and was exploiting every flaw in it. Moreover, she wouldn't allow him to see through her movement. Several times throughout their clash, she had changed fighting style completely, making it impossible to read her. If he so much as looked like he was grasping his head around it, she could change it in a heartbeat. Although they both possessed a supernatural instinct, hers was naturally superior. A divine blessing couldn't be compared to the experience she had accumulated over her many battles.

Yes, she was unmatched under the Heavens.

And yet...

And yet!

And yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, and yet!

That knight...absolutely refused to go down, no matter what!

Even though she was landing hits directly...! Even though she was using every opportunity to strike him...! He refused to kneel, or even so much as to budge! Once, taking advantage of a hole in his guard, she had punched him squar in the throat with a brass knuckle. Another time, she distracted him with an attack in order to sweep him off his feet. She lashed out out against his armor, chipping it bit by bit with overwhelming violence. It was true that, with both his sword and shield, many of her attacks were parried. But even so...!

He...wasn't budging at all!

He didn't even look like any of this was affecting him. No matter where and how hard she struck, he never so much as winced. All he had on this face was this serious expression, which only added to the impression that nothing could reach him.

But even if he felt like an impervious wall, that was not entirely true; the mere fact that he bothered to defend himself proved that he wasn't invulnerable. Unlike Ravana or Lancer of White, he had no Noble Phantasm or special armor, and unlike them he certainely cared about receiving damage. Yet, ironically, it made it all the more impressing: he was naturally that tough.

His strength and reflexes were not superior to Chi You's, but she was forced to concede when it came to defense.

"When...will you...bend?!" She roared as she brought down a large war axe on him. "What does it take to break you?!"

The knight brought up his shield and the axe collided heavily against it, but to no avail. At the same time, his sword deflected her own blade, but he couldn't block the mace being swung toward his shoulder. This blow would have smashed anyone else, or at least dislocated their shoulder; but beside the initial impact, Chi You felt nothing, and Galahad was still swinging his weapon like it was nothing.

Even her anger couldn't put a dent on his solemnity.

"...I will not lose." For the first time since he greeted her, the knight opened his mouth. "...I will not run, and I will not fall. I shall not be defeated."

"Tch...! Why you...!"

Eventually, even she had had enough of it. Chi You decided to give it a rest and jumped away from him. The knight didn't try to pursue her and stayed exactly where he stood, still ready for more.

She was breathing heavily, but that was equally due to her frustration than to her endeavor. In comparison, she had barely worked up a sweat. But it was hard to contain this frustration when she couldn't find the feeling of superiority she was used to. Even if she wasn't at her best, this was an opponent she was forced to acknowledge as an equal.

"Don't make fun of me. There is none I can't defeat. I've bested everyone along the way... No matter what it takes, I emerge victorious!" There was no such thing as an 'equal' to Chi You. Anyone designated as such is simply her next target to overpower. Only one person could genuinely said to have ever had her esteem. "You still haven't moved, even to come after me. Are you really intent of defending this place rather than fighting against me? You would go so far to insult me?!"

"...That wasn't my intention...but I cannot step aside." The knight replied calmly but firmly. "...I must defend this place no matter what, even if it costs me my life."

"For what? The Holy Grail? What purpose is there in defending it with your life? Once you die, you won't be able to get your hands on it."

"...No. This isn't about the Holy Grail" Galahad shook his head slowly. "...I made a promise. As long as I fight for this wish, I will not lose. I...will not let you through."

"Kh! What do I care about getting through?" Chi You spat out. "I don't understand what is going on inside your head, but I will kill you all the same."

"...You can't kill me. In this land, there is no legend of my defeat."

"Then I just need to be the first!" Chi You claimed unabashedly, and with this their short interlude came to an end.

She replaced all the weapons she had in her hands.

As the first blacksmith, her Noble Phantasm Gōngjiàng allowed her to create whatever weapon she wanted. However, they were not all of the same quality – she was saving her best weapons for occasions such as this one. She revoked the swords, spears and axes she had been using up until now, and replaced them with arms of the highest quality. Those had nothing to envy to weapons used by any other Heroic Spirit. Although they were nameless and only simple weapons, they were equal in quality to Noble Phantasms.

One of them was a haleberd, which she held between her toes before kicking it with all her strength toward Saber. The knight was ready to intercept it, but the polearm never reached him in the end: with a loud sound of crushed stone, the haleberd planted itself into the ground right in front of him, missing him only by a few centimeters. Of course, it would be a miss if it wasn't exactly what Chi You had been aiming for. With no further addo, the six-armed warrior rushed toward the knight, ready for round two.

A javelin materialized inside one of her hands, and she hurled it at full strength - with perfect timing, Galahad intercepted it with his sword. That was what she had been aiming for: she knew that an attack of this level wouldn't get through his defenses. However, she had long since noticed that Galahad's fighting style was painfully simple: he would use his sword, then his shield, then his sword, and so on. Either he wasn't used to powerful foes, or he was counting on his unnatural resilience more than on his skills in a defensive battle.

Whichever it was, Chi You had wanted to make sure he use his sword first – so that he would use his shield next.

Putting weight into her leg, she closed the rest of the distance with a single jump. All her weapons were ready to strike at the same time, unlike usual; and just as she had predicted, the knight raised his white shield in front of him in anticipation. However, his absolute refusal to take a single step back would be his last mistake: Chi You had laid a trap right under his eyes without him realizing it.

His gaze was fixated on her, not knowing that what he had to look out for was at his feet: Chi You had jumped in such a way as to be above the haleberd still planted in the ground. The polearm was stuck in a diagonal position, with the blunt end sticking up. When Galahad raised his shield to block the incoming weapons, Chi You kicked said blunt end with as much strength as she could gather mid-jump. That was more than enough force: pushing down the handle caused a seesaw effect, and the blade rose up abruptly – toward Galahad's face.

"...!"

His face wasn't the target though – it was his shield. Even if she wanted, she couldn't strike his head this way, so instead she had wanted to remove his defense. It would not have worked quite as well with his sword, but the shield was too large to miss: the head of the haleberd hit the shield head on and, for the first time, forecefully moved it out of the way.

That's right – she couldn't make him budge by even a centimeter, but if it was a surprise attack from an unexpected direction, it was a different story. In the first place, the knight was prepared to parry an attack from above, he wasn't ready to resist force from below.

As a result, his guard was now wide open, and Chi You didn't waste a second to attack.

"Die!"

Three blades stabbed into his vulnerable chest – two short swords and a guan dao. This time for sure she pierced through his armor and was drawing blood. And...yet...it wasn't enough yet. She had definitely stabbed into his flesh, but she felt resistance and didn't manage to reach the heart. Even though she had taken him by surprise and had the complete upper hand. Even though she was using Anti-Hero and Anti-Saint blades. It was like his body absolutely refused to be destroyed!

But she wasn't done yet – she had prepared a fourth weapon. It ressembled a stake made of metal, with a tip so sharp it could barely be seen by the naked eye. This one was an Anti-Armor weapon; with this, she would definitely stab into his heart.

"...I...will not fall...!" The knight called out dauntlessly. She had taken him by surprise, but that wasn't enough to stun him.

"Too late!" Chi You was already about swing down the stake. But right then... "Kh...–!–!"

She was blinded.

The very chestplate she was stabbing into suddenly glowed an intense white, as though it itself was turning into light. It happened so suddenly that Chi You winced from the pain in her eyes. However, being blinded itself wasn't a setback, as long as she could rely on her instinct, and she was about to swing down the stake anyway. But, something else came along with the light – intense pain.

That light was scorching her body.

It felt as though her skin was sizzling and melting, the same sensation as being burned by an intense flame. It couldn't be good, and her instinct was screaming to get away from him. Ragefully, Chi You reluctantly followed that hunch and jumped away from Galahad in haste.

"Damn you!"

She wasn't one to simply cower without retaliating though. As she jumped away, she materialized a hammer and, using it, she hit the stake at full force to propel it toward the knight. The stake successfully burrowed itself deep into Galahad's thigh, and for once his stance wavered. But Chi You couldn't possibly happy with a small victory like this – she would only be satisfied once he was dead. To make matter worse, this intense pain she was feeling was fueling her desire to make him crawl. She was able to brush off all kinds of pains, but this one was different; she didn't know what that light was, but it was attacking her from inside!

"Die! Die, die, die!"

Since it was like this, she would kill him from a distance: she summoned three bows into her many hands. Nevermind that firing a single bow required dexterity, she had no issue wielding one per pair of hands at the same time. She loaded all kind of arrows in them and fired at will at the knight who still refused to move away; not that his thigh wound would make it easy for him.

In total, in the span of a single second Chi You fired thirty-four arrows. Moreover, since it was the case that she had crafted all of them through her Noble Phantasm, each projectile was a weapon in its own right, and she could sacrifice them as Broken Phantasm. In such a narrow area, this was a rain of death.

The knight raised his shield and braced himself.

The rain of arrow reached home and exploded, and their combined deflagration filled up the entire hall.

This was the last straw – the tunnel around them finally collapsed.

* Stop music

At that time, a lone figure was skimming silently through the night sky.

It had taken a while, but they were finally ready for battle. Since that was the case, obviously they were now looking for an opponent. It was such a strange Holy Grail War: even though there were thrice as many opponents, it felt as though they were practically never fighting. So many people had tried to keep the powder keg from exploding that, in the end, it wasn't very much like a Grail War anymore. After so much time, the hand holding a spear was itching for a battle.

...Why were such thoughts surfacing now?

It was true that she was trying hard not to dwell too much on her feelings, and focus on the war that was going on. It was...her duty as a Servant, and she would fulfill her duty no matter. No more, no less. That was what she had decided from the beginning; and it was probably her mistake for thinking otherwise at any moment. That's why, for her wish, and for her Master, she was thinking of nothing but battle now.

Many Servants were currently trapped inside Caster of Black's Reality Marble, so there was no obvious target in sight. Her actual objective was to lead the assault on the Clock Tower and carve a path through enemy lines, but she was a little late for that. If at least it had been something like a fortress, she would know where to attack. But a secretive organization's headquarters was not something she was used to; it wasn't complicated because she didn't know where it was, but because she couldn't fulfill her role as a weapon if she didn't know where the enemy was.

However, that had changed just now.

"Enemy spotted. 380 meters ahead, the ground is falling apart. Servant presence detected. Master, what are your orders."

...Go. I'm following behind you.

"It might be too dangerous for you."

In that case, protect me. I'll engage the enemy Masters.

"..." She wanted to say something, but she held it back. "Understood."

Brynhildr acknowledged her orders and dived. For the first time since an eternity, she could feel the wind glide over her feathered wings – but she didn't let nostalgia distract her and accelerated toward the target.

...Ah, it truly was a strange feeling. Now that she thought about it, maybe she was thinking so much of battle because she was back in that state.

The warrior...no, the Valkyria Brynhildr closed in on the collapsing building, spear first.

"Engaging the enemy."

Thank you for reading.

Hi again everyone, and Merry Christmas. I know, it's not Christmas yet, but you're not seriously expecting a chapter in a few days, are you? Then I guess I should also wish you a Happy New Year, because there will not be another chapter for a short while. Indeed, the period of finals is approaching and I don't find the strencth in me to both uphold the publishing rate (if it exists) and my studies.

With the recent publishing of Lostbelt 5 in Fate/Grand Order, yet another Rongodamiant Servant has become canon. I don't know whether we should celebrate or cry, but whatever. It made me think that there is something I should point out, for good measure: yes, I'm not following canon so much, in so far as I keep what I already established. This is especially important since quite a lot of information has come out since I started Fate/Rongodamiant (basically, all of fgo) and between Servants being made canon and the lore being expanded, I can't keep track of everything and modify my story in accordance. Not that I was planning to.

Anyway, thank you again for reading, and I wish you the best for this end of year, as well as this end of decade.

~Legends Storyteller