Fate/Infinity Shuffle
Chapter 246 – Singular Fragments – Part 2:
The battle begun.
Seo waved her hand and cast a spell in a high-speed incantation, the only audible word amidst the long text being 'Water'. With a wave of her hand, a stream of clear blue water manifested and whipped its way towards Aiko.
The Berserker waved her fan, launching a set of fireballs that clashed with the stream and evaporated the water, creating a large cloud of grey-white steam.
Aiko didn't waste the opportunity: once the cloud spread she dashed in a straight line, headed to the Caster in order to perform one of her signature moves, stretching out a hand to grab at Seo's neck. But the moment she emerged from the other side, Caster was gone. And in her place was a vial full of a mysterious, dark blue liquid.
Aiko quickly connected the dots. It was obvious that her main form of attack was fire, and Seo took a chance, by quickly evading into the thick steam and leaving behind a vial, that would be reached by her and, most likely heated up by the fire, causing some sort of effect, such as an explosion triggered by the high temperatures of her flames.
Luckily, Aiko didn't perform an attack right away. Her stretched out hand grabbed the vial and, in a quick motion, she spun around and hurled it back into the cloud of steam. Quickly after, she recovered her footing and raised her guard.
The vial flew across the cloud of steam, shattering upon collision with the stone floor once gravity pulled it back down. Seo remained concealed within the steam for a few seconds before casting another spell.
'Earth'
The gray stone beneath Aiko's feet shifted and closed around her feet like claws, trapping her in place.
"!"
Seo then lifted one of the stone bricks, detaching it from the floor, telekinetically. Once it reached her hand, it was hurled forward like a miniature meteorite, even becoming surrounded in red.
It flew right towards Aiko's, barely giving her any time to react.
Barely, that is.
Upon Ascension, her 'Shapeshift' Skill would become 'Shapeshift (Fire Dragon)'. The brick was aimed to her head for a fatal blow, but her body shifted into that of a eastern dragon, serpentine in nature. From her hips up until her shoulders, her body extended and coiled around, essentially moving her body around to avoid the flying brick. Her upper body, still humanoid and possessing human arms, closed in onto the floor, both hands on the floor, similar to an animal. the similarities only increased if one looked at her hands and eyes, the prior becoming sharp with talons and the latter having its pupils turned slit like that of a snake.
Aiko's demeanor suddenly became much more serious. "Are you coming out of there? Or do I need to drag you out myself?"
Almost on cue, Seo leapt out of the cloud, holding out an Azoth Blade. Razor, green winds surrounded the weapon that was about to slash the stuck lower body of the Berserker.
"!" Aiko turned to her feet and quickly swiped a claw at the stone trapping one foot, and once it was out of the way, she spewed a pellet of fire to free the other. The way her body was positioned due to being half transformed made her legs whip upwards, kicking the sword and Seo away.
"Gh-!" The Fragmentary Caster stepped back twice before casting another spell. 'Fire!'
Aiko's body changed back into being humanoid, and the moment she stood up, the Berserker retaliated.
Seo's sword released a stream of red fire, while Aiko breathed out blue flames. And the attacks couldn't overcome the other, and the two quickly realized they'd have to change up their tactic.
The Caster drew her sword back and yellow rings with rock-like chunks circling around it appeared before she leapt forward with a flip, performing an overhead slash, an air cutting wave that would slice through rock without problems.
Aiko stopped her fire breath and opened up her fan, becoming coated in flames that made it appear much larger than it was, and stepped forward to swing it at the opponent. That was the original plan, but it had to change since instead of Seo, her fan clashed with a yellow wave instead.
"I can't...!" Aiko knew she was too weak to overpower the attack. So, instead of attempting to break the wave, she bounced off of it, spinning to the side to get out of the way. The moment her feet connected with the floor, she had already prepared her following attack. Which was a good thing, since Seo followed up by summoning orbs of water and freezing them into heavy chunks of ice before hurling them. The Berserker summoned a set of fire balls behind her and moved her arms, making the fireballs fly towards the ice.
The attacks nullified one another.
On the other side of the room, the Singular Rider crossed weapons with the Fragmentary Lancer.
Kane was rather surprised, because despite all of her parameters being above those of Natsumi, with the exception of Luck, the Rider could fight her on equal terms.
"Is she using some sort of skill?"
Kane wasn't fighting at her full potential yet, letting her body recover memories of battle while Natsumi made a frontal assault. She swung her sword multiple times in arches, something Kane didn't have trouble blocking with her large spear, making the weapon bounce back to its original position.
After enough strikes, Natsumi raised her shield, putting it in front of her body before charging in.
"?!" Kane almost gasped at the sudden change in tactic. Luckily, she managed to place the pole of her spear in front of her body, preventing Natsumi's shield bash from reaching her.
Natsumi smirked behind the shield. "Gotcha." She swung her arm aside, making the shield push the spear out of the way.
Kane's eyes widened behind her glasses as she saw the Sword of Boudica ready to thrust into her stomach.
One of her hands let go of the spear and moved to block the blade. The sword trespassed the hand, and was quickly moved out of the way.
"Tch." Kane disliked the plan she stuck to, but there wasn't much of an option. She tensed up the hand as a Primordial Rune appeared in her pierced palm. Suddenly, the blade of the sword grew hotter and hotter, turning bright orange.
"E-Eh?!" Natsumi stepped back, pulling the sword out of Kane's hand. "Hot, hot, hot!" She dropped her weapon and quickly blew into her hand to cool it down.
Kane wound up her arms to swing her weapon. "You don't like the heat?" The heart-shaped tip of the weapon burst with blue fire.
Natsumi wouldn't take the hit. She raised her shield and protected herself from the hit, rolling with the attack and not trying to stay in place, instead being hurled away and then rolling over the stone floor to create distance.
Kane chased, performing an overhead swing, but Natsumi protected herself by raising the shield above her head. Then, with her free hand, she summoned the Sword Noble Phantasm again, and stood up, focusing all of her strength into the legs to move the spear out of the way. Then, the two crossed weapons again, close enough to glare into each other's eyes.
"You're steadfast, aren't you?"
The Rider smirked. "I've gotta keep up with the competition!"
She leapt back. "Sword of Boudica!" She swung her sword and released a barrage of Mana projectiles of splendorous blue towards the Lancer.
Kane stepped back and spun her weapon like a mechanical fan, coated in blue fire to protect herself.
Futaba kept crossing her knife with the identical one Flat held in his hand.
"I never battled anyone that was the same as me! This will be fun!"
"Have you ever been told you can be annoying?!" Futabe swung her knife to strike his neck, but once again, he seamlessly blocked with his own.
"A couple times, yeah."
On the other side of the room, Ogami began his struggle with the young-looking Hassan.
He coated his knife in electricity and hurled it at the target.
Yukika evaded with a side step before throwing daggers of her own.
The Caster tightened his fists and punched the daggers away from their course once close, all three of them. Yukika was taken aback, seeing someone disregarding the danger of punching blades without a shred of fear.
His hand extended and the spirit of a snake extended towards his lost knife, which bit the hilt and retrieved it into his hand just as fast.
Yukika decided to take the chance and dashed towards the Singular Caster, with a dagger in each hand. Ogami, once his weapon got back into his hand, spun over a foot and drove his knife towards Yukika's neck, but her greater Agility gave her the chance to pull back her head and evade the slash before resuming and attempting to slash Ogami's body.
"!" The spellcaster let go of his knife, dropping it to the floor, and his hands whipped back and caught the white blades with his bare hands.
"W-W-What?" Yukika couldn't help but be surprised. Despite the danger, Ogami blocked the attack without fright.
And utilizing that moment of surprise, Ogami bashed Yukika's forehead with his own.
"Ah!" She stepped away, a pounding in her head.
"Heh." Ogami smirked. But that didn't last. "Gh-?!" His arms shook. "What the…? What's going on?" He looked forward and, finally, his Luck Check succeeded.
CLASS: Assassin
IDENTITY: Hassan-i-Sabbah of the Serenity
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil
STATS:
- Strength: D
- Endurance: D
- Agility: A+
- Mana: C
- Luck: A
- Noble Phantasm: C
CLASS SKILLS:
- Presence Concealment: A+
- Independent Action: A
PERSONAL SKILL:
- Shapeshift (Infiltration Specialization): C
- Projectile (Daggers): C
- Poisoned Blade: C++
- Silent Dance: B
NOBLE PHANTASM:
- Zabaniya 'Delusional Poison Body': Anti-Unit B
"Crap… The blades were coated in poison, weren't they?"
Yukika let out a giggle, even if still in pain. "It's starting to take effect, right?"
Ogami took a deep breath. "Well. It's not like I don't have an ace in the hole." He picked his knife up from the floor and crossed his arms, becoming surrounded in greenish winds. Yukika's eyes widened when a set of animal spirits surrounded the Caster. "Mind if I don't go easy on you?"
"E-Eh? I-I thought you weren't from the start. It's mean not to." Yukika pointed out, adjusting the skull mask.
On the other side of the room, the knife duel between Flat and Futaba continued.
"Okay, I'm getting sick of this!"
"Already?"
Futaba spun over a heel and kicked Flat, who blocked the strike with his own leg. Once he stopped in place, He glanced over and noticed Futaba summoning her Noble Phantasm: the potion from the famous tale of the scientist with a split personality.
"Dangerous Game!" She opened the flask and quickly downed the potion inside. Once the vial was empty, she tossed it aside as an aura of green and black burst from her body for a second. "ARGH! Transformation complete!" With a maddened grin, bright red eyes, and her curly hair becoming wild like the mane of a beast. "Come here!" She dashed towards the opponent, ready to swing her weapon.
"I-I'm getting mixed signals!" Flat admitted, parrying the strike with his own knife. "You tell me to come to you, but you run to me?" He leapt back towards a doorway. "Yukika, I'm gonna lure her out! You're on your own!"
"Understood!"
"Futaba, go kick his ass!"
"That's the plan!" Thee Assassin turned Berserker gave chase to the fleeing teenager.
Daisuke was, admittedly, impressed by the feats of the opposing Archer. But in his mind, he could only think 'I'm in danger.'
Gudako's arrows were shot all the away from the other side of the battlefield and pierced through the stone of the castle like it was nothing. With the help of Clairvoyance, she could take aim at the opposing Archer, while there was little he could do to counter. Hiding behind a shield was out of question.
"Maybe if I set up my Noble Phantasm?" He asked himself, wondering how much time he would have to do so.
The rock-piercing arrows kept firing. Luckily, he had a skill that granted some Divine Protection. Added with the sound of shattering stone Daisuke could and had been evading the projectiles with sharp and well-timed movements.
"Maybe Sacrifice takes too long. But if I use my slingshot, I can buy myself some time!" He dashed towards the west side of the castle. During his dash, the top of his sheppard's cane burst into splinters. He stared and blinked at it twice. "…Well, that's just rude." The sound of another arrow made him panic. "W-Whoa!" He progressed in the path while tossing aside the destroyed pole and quickly preparing his slingshot. "Alright, now or never!" He took a giant leap forward, going past the edge of the castle, spinning his slingshot. "Warning shots!" He swung his arm, firing a set of four stones that purposefully missed the still hidden Archer. He needed to run a little further before she would be in his path of sight. "If you don't want to lose your weapon, I suggest you stop!"
"Eh? Lose my weapon?" Gudako was taken aback by the warning. "…He's bluffing." She narrowed her eyes at the Archer no longer hidden by the castle. But in turn, he could see her as well. And once he saw her pulling back the string of her bow, he knew what that meant.
"You asked for it!" He gave the last step and spun over a heel. "Hamesh!" And his arm swung forward. "Avanim!" The fifth stone was launched, leaving a trail of green behind as it went straight for Gudako's head.
"Fast!" She did not expect the attack to be faster than her. The stone struck her forehead making her eyes go blank. "?!" Her mind became unconscious as she fell over. The moment it happened, her bow and arrow became surrounded in Hebrew glyphs, sealing the weapon and making it unusable.
Daisuke breathed heavily, hands on his knees. "I can't… pull a stunt… like that again." He stood straight up again, the back of a hand rubbing against his chin as he recovered his breath. "Well. I guess I have a few minutes, at least." He didn't know why his neck tilted back, but it ended up showing to him something he hadn't noticed it was floating above in the sky before. "W-What the-?! What is that?!"
"Kyahhh!" Taiga kept hiding behind Mash, who in turn, protected herself with the use of her shield. "What's going on?!"
"I-I don't know it either!" Mash admitted.
Fujimaru chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "I-I feel like I should apologize."
"Don't, Fujimaru. It's all part of the battle!" Sisigo suggested, as he swung his sword forward again, attempting to slice Akiko in half, but she was agile enough to get out of the way.
Shielder and Lancer were panicking because they didn't understand the nature of the beams of light and fire coming from ceiling. Fujimaru's reaction gave away that it was indeed his doing, and it was almost unfair! Granted, he was probably consuming at least a good chunk of Mana, but they didn't even know how to approach him.
Mash took a deep breath. "Taiga."
"Hm?"
"Ascend."
"ON IT!" With the roar of a tiger, Jaguar Man ascended! The cub was replaced by a naginata, and the silly kigurumi was swapped for the outfit of a yakuza gang leader.
"Ascension!" Mash yelled it as well. Her amour became more completed, and a sword appeared on the side of her hip. "March after me!"
"Gotcha!"
Her shield suddenly began to glow in bright blue and a dome-like aura surrounded it. Mash and taiga dashed across the room, the shield protecting the two from the incoming beams.
Fujimaru was impressed. "I guess it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be." He chuckled before tapping the bottom of his staff on the floor.
Mash and Taiga moved in close, and the moment the two were ready and in range, the protective shield vanished and the two jumped in opposing directions, Mash to the right and Taiga to the left.
The knight of the round drew her sword for a slash, while the Jaguar swung her naginata. But before either one could touch the Fragmentary Rider, she was scooped up and moved out of the way.
"Huh?!"
Their weapons clashed with the sharp claws of a mythical beast: a lion with the wings of an eagle. Its face was hidden behind a golden mask, and above its head stood Fujimaru. "Sisigo, you're being a bit selfish, don't you think?"
"Sorry, sorry, but it's not every day I get to face a knight of the round." The leader of the team responded, blocking a strike from Akiko. The two leapt apart, creating distance.
Akiko let out a breath before taking a pose. Her sword was pointed forward, at a slight angle, while her body stood at its side to Sisigo.
"Hm? Fencing?"
"I don't think I'd match you without changing up my fighting style, King of Knights."
"Hmph." The adult snickered. "You're willing to bet this battle on that. I like it." His invisible sword let out a strong gust of air, revealing its golden, shining blade. "Oh. And it's King of Kngihtmares."
Akiko smirked. "I don't think it makes a difference.
Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting in quite a while. And next chapter will be better I promise! Hope you all had happy holidays.
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