Fate/Infinity Shuffle
Chapter 248 – Singular Fragments – Part 4:
Dragon versus Beast.
The Werewolf swiped his claws at the Serpent's eyes once she was close enough. The strike hit, making the coiling Serpent miss the target and go off on a different direction. Flat's crooked smile manifested, but only for a second, as Aiko's large body moved so a portion of it would slam into him.
"?!" The Fragmentary Berserker rolled over the floor, his claws braking the movement by piercing through the rock. He looked forward and found the wide open mouth of the serpent ready to swallow him whole in one go. While he remained the size of a person, Aiko grew to an incredible size. He entire body had to coil around the inside of the room at least twice to fit, and her mouth could swallow someone in one go.
But flat wasn't going to let that happen. His hands took a hold of her upper and lower jaws, and despite the constant burning, he ignored the fiery pain and stopped her in place, refusing to lose.
Aiko's eyes narrowed before she released a spray of blue fire from he insides, coating Flat in fire thanks to his fur.
"GRAHHH!" He roared in pain as his flesh began to roast. But in a moment of refusal, he lifted the dragon above his head and slammed the serpent against the stone floor with a powerful crash. The effects of his potion were many times stronger compared to those of a Dr. Jekyll Card User in the Assassin Class. It was an abnormal advantage.
The werewolf leapt far back and quickly rolled over the floor to cease the fire on his body. It took a while, even when using what Jekyll and Hyde would call a 'Reconstructing' Skill, but Flat stood back up onto both feet.
Aiko's large head shook, trying to shake off the dizziness from the hit, and then glared at the beast. With a loud hiss, the serpent lunged forward, close to the floor. Instead of attempting to swallow, she was going to tackle and smash Flat against the wall.
But the plan didn't work. The werewolf leapt over the head and ran on her body. Ako didn't mind that at all. Her head rose up and curled over before it could hit the wall and made its way towards the fleeing werewolf. Her body began to twist all around like a screw, which worked in throwing Flat off her body. Once close, she spat out a set of fireballs, but Flat wasn't going to let them affect him. Once back up from being thrown off his platform, he hurled fists strong enough to destroy the fireballs, making them burst away from him.
After the last one was destroyed, Flat spun over and delivered a spinning heel-kick against Aiko's body. Despite her sheer size, the snake was thrown towards the other side of the room, or at least her front section.
Flat's crooked grin returned, but it was cut short when the snake returned to attack him. Her speed was much greater than he'd expect, enough to have one of her fangs pierce through his right arm.
The room was a blue inferno: flames all around the two thanks to Aiko's body being in a constant state of burning. But Flat didn't care for the fire until it it actually had prolonged exposure to his body up close. The burning fang made the Berserker howl in rage and pain. Through Self-Modification and Reconstruction, his arm was withdrawn from the trap by reshaping itself, splitting it apart and uniting once out of danger.
Flat glared at the dragon, whose head rose.
Kiyohime was a weak Heroic Spirit through and through. Despite being a Berserker, all of her stats remained at a measly E Rank with the exception being Agility at C and, of course, her Noble Phantasm. The ability to turn into a dragon was nothing short of worthy of the EX Rank. Dragons were the pinnacle of Phantasmal Species, so turning into one, even if the figure Kiyohime was never recorded to have dragon blood mixed into hers, was nothing short of an 'ultimate weapon'. Aiko's role in the Team has always been to be the Last Resort, the ace up the sleeve. Her main weakness would be, of course, fighting a dragon slayer, such as King Arthur, Siegfried or Beowulf. But Mr. Hyde, despite being the manifestation of the worst evils of a human being, held no such power or ability. Flat had to resort to fight with brute force.
The beast dashed forward and fast, kicking the serpent beneath the 'chin'. Aiko's head curled back, but she rolled with the hit, coiling back forward and moving around Flat, keeping him in place by shooting fireballs as she curled around, never shooting more than one in the same angle.
Flat, of course, didn't have trouble in deflecting the attacks like before, ignoring the pain the flames could cause. But that's when he was caught off guard, because Aiko's body tightened up. She had moved around him for the move, a simple binding of his entire body with her flaming, long one. Like an anaconda, Aiko had wrapped her large body around Flat, multiple times to make sure he wouldn't escape.
The beast howled as the flames remained in contact with his body. And Aiko started to squeeze him tightly.
The powerful heat from the sun was starting to affect Yukika. She felt dizzy and her body felt like it was roasting. And it looked like Ogami was still close to top performance. Despite already having some poison in circulation within his bloodstream, the presence of the sun seemed to somehow be healing his body.
"I don't think I can win this…" Yukika said to herself, wondering how she would defeat a Caster that appeared to be able to avoid her main forms of attack. The blood trick wouldn't work that easily again, and he had shown to be able to deflect her blades in more ways than one. Just physical contact wasn't going to win her the fight. And kissing him was absolutely out of question! Regardless of whether or not that was even possible, Yukika wasn't going to kiss a stranger, that was out of question!
Much to her luck, someone dashed into the room with a burst of wind propelling her. The two looked, and coming from the entrance behind Yukika was a hovering Caster.
"Seo!"
"Eh? Yukika?" The questions were followed by a landing.
Futaba slid and then dashed into the room. "Eh? Ogami?"
"Futaba? You're back?" His eyes then widened when he caught what Yukika was about to do. "Don't touch those daggers! They're coated in poison!"
His words reached her before the set of blades was hurled. Futaba managed to react appropriately, side stepping the attack instead of risking injury by deflecting the blades and risking injury.
Speaking of which, the rays of the sun started healing the wounds she sustained from the fight with Flat.
Yukika and Seo figured they couldn't compare against two people with Noble Phantasms active.
"…Seo, I had an idea."
"That being?"
"You can use that skill to heal big injuries, right?"
"W-Well, yes, but Yukika, just what are you thinking?" Seo grew worried with the question.
"I'm going to make a bomb."
"A bomb? Of what?"
"You'll see. J-Just be sure to be ready and heat up my daggers." Yukika requested.
"Gotcha." Seo decided to trust her teammate. The Caster quickly cast 'Water', and a stream of water started circling around the two, hiding their presence from Ogami and Futaba, even if temporarily.
The Caster and Assassin-turned-Berserker raised eyebrows, confused as to what Yukika could be planning, but neither of them were worried. After all, they each blocked one of two exits of the room, and they had a physical advantage. In addition to Ogami's Noble Phantasm, there should be anything either one could do to escape.
"Y-Yukika, what are you doing?!" Seo's panicked voice, on the other hand, gave away that the Assassin was thinking outside of the box.
Just seconds later, something was hurled far above what the stream of water concealed. The two couldn't make it out what it was at first, but both gasped when they understood what it was. Ogami couldn't believe it.
"Did she really…?!"
"Did she lose a screw or something?!" Even as a Berserker, Futaba couldn't help but stare in disbelief.
Leaving trail of blood, a left arm with unnatural black skin had been hurled towards the ceiling. Before it could reach it, a trio of daggers was hurled and struck it in multiple spots. The daggers had been heated up, even turning orange, by the Caster. And they were expertly thrown to hit air pockets that Seo had created beforehand. The heat made the air within the arm expand, and as a result, a bomb of poisonous blood burst across the room.
Multiple large droplets struck both Ogami and Futaba, their skin absorbing the poison.
"GAH! What the heck is this?!" Futaba didn't understand.
The Caster's veil of water vanished, and the two girls dashed towards the exit behind Futaba. While Seo remained the same, it was needless to say that Yukika had a great injury. Her right hand remained over the bleeding wound that resulted from her cutting off one of her limbs.
The caster leapt above Futaba with the use of a burst of wind, while the Assassin slid underneath her, between the legs, and stood up on the other side. Yukika even stumbled against the wall, the injury taking effect, but Seo joined her side, and the two began to run once the Caster summoned a lustrous stone into her hand.
"Why you-!"
"Futaba, don't chase them! Stay here! I need to heal your poison!"
"Hell no!" The Berserker refused to listen, instead turning back to the entrance and beginning her chase after the injured Assassin and the alchemic Caster.
Ogami sighed and placed a palm on his face, as the heat of the sun evaporated the poisonous substance. "That girl just cost us a member…"
Futaba ran after the two until they reached a cross section. Seo approached the stone onto the large wound and Futaba couldn't help but be amazed at what happened. Yukika's arm grew back. The blood stopped running and the flesh began to grow. Bone, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, skin. It didn't take long for the whole arm to have been brought back.
Yukika stared at it for a moment, opening her hand multiple times, as if getting a feel of it.
"Y-Yukika, didn't it hurt?"
The Assassin wearing the skull mask turned to her teammate and flashed a thumbs up with her newly grown hand. "It did." Just then, poisonous tears from down her face, despite the brave smile.
Seo staggered, taken aback by this image. "That was really reckless, you know? I almost died of fright."
"Sorry, sorry. I'm really sorry." The younger girl bowed multiple times, making the Cster feel embarrassed.
"Y-You don't need to do that…"
"OI!" The two turned at the bark. "You mind getting back to what matters now?"
"…Seo."
"But Yukika, that's too risky!"
"You've done with Gudako, haven't you?"
"W-Well, yes, but…" Seo let out a sigh and summoned the stone again. "It only works once."
"I don't think I'll miss." The Assassin responded, catching the stone once it was passed at her without direct contact between the two. Yukika adjusted her mask before dashing towards Futaba.
"Oh, you want it like that, huh?!" The Berserker summoned her knife and dashed as well.
For the certain-kill effects to kick in, more mucous substance would need to hit Futaba. And so, Yukika used her trump Card.
Futaba drew back her knife and was ready to thrust it, until she saw what Yukika had pulled. A suicide technique. The method was unknown, but as a last resort, Hassan of the Serenity could 'spread her body apart' and drown the enemy in a massive quantity of blood.
Futaba couldn't evade it. The wave of blood drenched her body.
But this didn't mean Yukika had lost. The Philosopher Stone Seo handed to her could offer a form of pseudo immortality.
As Futaba fell to her knees, close to throwing up as the poison took effect, Yukika stood behind her, having been brought back from the suicide attack. The Assassin walked past the opponent, returning to Seo's side, the stone crumbling into dust.
"I should create a new one." Seo noted, as the two began to walk away, relieved that their opponent was out of commission. Just seconds later, Futaba vanished from the reality, Uninstalled and completely fine. "Aren't you hurt?"
"IT… it hurt less than when I cut off my arm."
"EH?! How?!"
Gudako fought using arrows as unconventional weapons, while Daisuke used his shepherd's staff to fight her off. Each time a fist was close or an arrowhead threatened to stab him, he would drive it away or parry the attack with his weapon.
He took a major leap back and quickly drew his slingshot and spun it, loaded with a stone. "Hah!" He hurled it at Gudako with great speed, the girl defending from the strike by crossing her arms in front of her body. She was pushed back a bit, the skidding of her feet even raising some amount of dust.
"This would be much simpler if I had my boa." Gudako complained, uncrossing her arms.
"Well, my Noble Phantasm certainly has its perks." Daisuke chuckled, as another stone was loaded onto the weapon. Before either one could say anything else, the sound of breaking stone came not far from them. The two turned to the top floor of the castle and saw quite the shocking image. Fujimaru, mounted on a sphinx, falling from high up, pushed by Mash and the small castle wall she pushed in her shield.
The sphinx spread it wings and flew away, while Mash landed, using only her shield to cushion the fall. At least as much as it would. In fact, she didn't land far from Daisuke.
"L-Leader, are you okay?"
"Hmmmm…" She trembled a bit while sitting up. "My head is ringing…" Mash didn't like the sensation. She looked forward and spotted Gudako. "Ah! I knew you would be here!"
"Hey Mash!" The Fragmentary Archer waved a hand, greeting her underclassman, as Fujimaru joined her side, the steed vanishing. "So, you took a hard tackle?"
"You could say that, yes." The black haired Rider, embarrassed, scratched the back of his head.
Gudako, with a silly grin, placed her hands around her mouth. "Oooooiii! Mash! When I told you to tackle your feelings, that's not what I meant!"
The standing Shielder turned completely red, making Daisuke chuckle at her expense.
"G-Gudako, please don't speak any further!" She requested, turning to the Archer. "You didn't set up the Noble Phantasm, right?"
"Didn't have much of an opportunity, no." Daisuke, admitted. "Ascension." A gale of wind and pure light coated Daisuke, and in a second, his clothes changed, becoming more complete with black leg sleeves and a matching scarf., on top of the main piece of clothing turning different.
"I'll cover for you."
"Figured as much." Daisuke admitted, leaping farther back and preparing to act as Mash raised her shield to protect him from the two opponents.
"Hey, Fujimaru? You think it's a good idea to keep that thing active." She pointed at the flying ship.
"Hmmm. It is wasting a good amount of Mana, yes."
"Besides, your other Noble Phantasm is much cooler."
"I don't think that matters." The Rider chuckled. "But regardless, it's my main way of attacking. I'll just rely on you."
"Ummm, actually…" Gudako looked away, awkwardly giggling and scratching the side of her face, confusing Fujimaru. "I can't summon my bow."
"Huh?" Hi head tilted. "Why?"
"That dude's Noble Phantasm sealed it." She answered in a sigh.
"I see. Then if we beat him, it should come back to you."
The news made Gudako cheer up. "Wait, really?!"
"A bunch of Noble Phantasm effects vanish once the user is defeated. I don't see why it wouldn't apply here."
"I see, I see!" Gudako turned. "I guess it's too bad that we have a wall blocking our path."
The loud clangs of metal continued as Sisigo fought against both Akiko and Taiga. And much to the two girls' surprise, he could keep up with both of them at once.
Akiko took a breath and stepped forward fast to perform her multi-stab attack, but Sisigo's brilliant sword was swung around fast enough to either block the tip of the sword or throw it off course to miss his body.
Taiga used her teammate as a platform, jumping further with the use of Akiko's shoulders. She twisted and turned so she would land behind Sisigo while performing a downwards slash.
The King of Knightmares smirked, raising his sword above his head to block the attack and then kicked Akiko away before she could do anything. He moved away, making so his sword didn't let Taiga's Naginata touch him while doing so.
Once it struck the floor, Taiga quickly ran around it, making it a pole for stability by driving the blade into the stone, and jumping with an extended leg. "Jaguar Kick!"
Sisigo didn't fear the strike and let the plat armour on his chest take the hit, pushing him away from Lancer, but he didn't lose his balance while sliding back. He foresaw Akiko's approach thanks to his Instinct Skill. The Knight of the Round raised the crystal sword that burst a powerful glow.
"Take this!" She yelled while performing the swing. Sisigo didn't fret, however. He spun over his heel at a bit of an angle, charging up momentum as the Mana Burst Skill activated. The two swords clashed, resulting in Akiko stepping backfrom the force of the collision and Sisigo completing his spin.
"Out of the way!" Taiga yelled, charging in with her spear aiming low.
The adult jumped off his spin towards her, one foot landing on her weapon to the tip would cut through the stone and get stuck. "Next time," And his other foot kicked Taiga's chin while jumping into a backflip, making the Lancer let go of her weapon and land on the floor. "don't announce your attack."
"Grrrr…" The Jaguar warrior sat up, growling and rubbing a clenched hand under her chin. "You're gonna get pounced."
"An overreaction, no?" Sisigo asked in a chuckle, as he blocked a sword swipe from Akiko with the gauntlet of his armour. He stepped forward and bashed his forehead against hers. The sudden strike was more shocking than damaging. Akiko staggered back, taking a knee and holding her forehead.
"What in the…? How is the King of Knights fighting like that?!"
"Maybe because I don't have to follow what the King of Knights' fighting style one for one. I can mix in my own moves, like you do with your fencing."
"But still, that doesn't look like something a knight would do…" She pointed out, standing back up and raising her sword. She dashed forward, pulling back her sword to attack Sisigo with a mighty thrust.
The Saber wasn't afraid. He swung his shining sword, but much to his surprise, instead of intercepting Akiko, it met her metallic arm, blocking in the same fashion he did just a few moments prior.
"Hm?" He couldn't help but smirk when seeing someone improve in the field of battle. As Akiko slid away from the strike, Taiga used her as a platform again, performing a downwards swipe again.
Sisigo blocked the blade with the flat side of his sword, making it stab the floor.
Taiga grinned. She lifted her body with her arms holding onto the spear and flipped herself over. She landed on the slanted polearm of her weapon, one foot behind the other. "Jaguar PUNCH!" She hurled a mighty fist, much to Sisigo's surprise. He managed to block the strike with the flat side of his sword again, but the fist as so strongthat he was hurled against the faraway wall of the room, one of the three still up and stable.
"Let's go!"
"Right after you!"
Akiko and Taiga posed. Akiko positioned her metal arm into a position that gave away the impression she was going to perform a sideways karate chop, while Taiga lifted her weapon, pointing it towards the ceiling.
"Noble Phantasm!" The two shouted.
"Switch On – Airgetlám!" The metal arm suddenly began to glow bright gold. The glow extended past her hand, the magical energy taking the shape of a blade. "Dead End – Airgetlám!"
An orange aura surrounded Taiga. "Great Death Claw!" Above the blade of the Naginata manifested a giant clawed hand, ready to be swung and attack the King of Knights.
Sisigo smirked. He spun the sword over his hand and the Divine Construct suddenly shined brightly, even brighter than the two opponents' Noble Phantasms put together. "EX-" And he swung the sword, launching the blinding beam of light against the two wide eyed opponents, wondering how exactly they fell into the situation. "CALIBUUUUUUR!" The beam of burning light swallowed the two opponents and burst through the opposing wall, making another wall of the room crumble, and thus making it collapse.
The collapsing of the room alarmed the residents. It even made the castle shake.
This included the two Berserkers. The snake looked towards the origin of the sound.
That moment was all Flat needed to break free, exerting all of his strength onto the coiling body during a moment of weakness to escape.
"!" The snake hissed at the beast once it fled from her body.
Within the corridors, Ogami fled and found a window that led to the outside. A turn of the head would let him over see Mash and Daisuke facing Fujimaru and Gudako.
Seo and Yukika reached the collapsed room. "L-Leader, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Didn't expect this to happen though." Sisigo laughed like a lion, stuck underneath the many bricks of grey stone. But of course, he got free once Seo manipulated the 'Earth' with some of her rapid casting.
And then, another loud crashing came from a faraway ceiling. The giant snake moved upwards, the werewolf-like Berserker trapped between her jaws, keeping himself from being eaten.
Gudako's eyes spotted the Caster. "Seo! Hand me a stone and give me malleable rock!"
"E-Eh? S-Sure…" Seo hurled a shiny red stone that Gudako caught with no trouble. Then, a substance akin to clay formed from the floor in front of Gudako.
"Perfect!" She crouched down and quickly put her 'Bow and Arrow Creation' Skill to use. Arrows could be manifested with Mana alone, but she'd need materials to create a new bow entirely. And it didn't take more than a few second for a completely new bow to be constructed and get ready to be used. She loaded an arrow and took aim. Her target wasn't just the giant snake, but also the portion of the castle Ogami was hanging out on.
Sisigo and the two young girls immediately understood what Gudako was about to do. They jumped off the destroyed section and landed on the floor of orange. rock that surrounded the castle.
Seo cast a spell just as quickly. 'Water' was fired in the shape of a large stream that moved and coiled around Aiko's giant body, ceasing the flames before attempted to ignite again. The snake hissed in pain, allowing the werewolf to jump out of her mouth.
Gudako grinned. "Lone Meteor." Fujimaru stepped away from her, creating distance for safety. The Archer's arrow began to glow brightly, with all the colours of the rainbow dancing around it. With a deep breath, she yelled. "STELLAAAAAAAAAAA!" Her body cracked with fiery light as the arrow was fired like an unparalleled missile. Ogami and Aiko couldn't believe it, nor could they escape it. The massive meteor struck them both in one go, resulting in a massive cloud of fire to erupt and fly to the dark skies.
Ogami and Aiko were defeated.
But what was supposed to happen after deploying Stella didn't. The red stone crumbled away once again, and Gudako let out a sigh of relief. "Man, this trick is really handy."
"Giving immortality to make an ally survive a suicide attack…" Daisuke couldn't believe what he had witnessed. Mash was just as taken aback.
Futaba. Akiko. Taiga. Ogami. Aiko. Five allies had been defeated.
"…Daisuke, use that Noble Phantasm."
"Gotcha." The Archer didn't question it. He unleashed its True Name once the incense appeared in his hands. "Sacrifice!"
"What was that?!" Natsumi was shaken by the loud sound of the explosion provoked by Gudako's Noble Phantasm.
And that's when Kane figured that keeping identities and Noble Phantasms secret was useless. Gudako never deployed her Noble Phantasm without being certain she'd defeat more than one opponent with it, regardless of Seo's presence. And if the battle evolved to such a state, she could attack without worries.
Kane flipped backwards and began hovering. "Brynhildr Romantia." Natsumi turned around and her eyes widened when she saw the spear of her opponent growing and growing, becoming heavier and heavier. The Fragmentary Lancer aimed the spear of love that burst with blue fire and flew towards Natsumi like a rocket. Raising a shield was a useless attempt to stop the Noble Phantasm. The fire consumed Natsumi before she was stabbed through with the weapon.
Natsumi defeated.
Multiple Incense Burners manifested in front of the multiple members of Fragments of Blue and Silver. Everybody was confused by the purple mist that came out of them and started surrounding each member of them individually.
Fujimaru acted quickly. The flying golden ship vanished into golden dust as he spoke the name of his final Noble Phantasm.
"Ramesseum Tentyris!" Mash and Daisuke stepped away when they saw a full Egyptian temple, a pyramid, manifest out of almost nothing. It housed all of the Players in the area during its construction.
Daisuke panicked for a second.
"Activate!" He yelled, hoping for the thunderclouds to manifest, but nothing could be heard. The torrent of fire was nowhere to be seen or heard. "Why…?" The incense burners even vanished alongside the purple fumes.
"Phew." Fujimaru cleaned his forehead with his forearm. "That was a close one."
"What in the-? HOW?!"
"My Ramesseum Tentyris has a lot of curses and protections." With a smirk, Fujimaru placed his staff behind his neck to relax. "Unless you're an ex-divine spirit or your Noble Phantasm once belonged to one, your Noble Phantasms are sealed."
"E-Eh?" Daisuke's eyes widened. "B-But…"
Sisigo interrupted. "Sacrifice. The flame that carries the hottest heat, shining brightly, which flared up by God's commands. But the Noble Phantasm itself is just a simple incense burner. And even if the flame was cast upon god, this incense burner did not belong to God."
The two remaining members of the Singularities gritted their teeth. In front of them were essentially facing five opponents.
"Well Mash, this was fun, but I'm afraid it's the end." Fujimaru lamented as he raised his taff again. Multiple bricks flew out of their place within the structure, creating the top of a pyramid in front of Fujimaru before he launched it forward.
"Daisuke, your last Noble Phantasm!" Mash yelled, dashing forward without any fear. The pyramid top was fired forward, not dissimilar to a projectile, and Mash struck front and centre. The impact made her fly away hitting the floor in pain as a result.
But once she was out of the way, the opposing team saw what she had set up. Daisuke pushed his final Noble Phantasm: a golden Ark of the Covenant, a wooden box containing the original engravings of the Ten Commandments issued to Moses by God.
All five of them were confused at first. They couldn't even understand what it was. Being too close to do anything else, both Fujimaru and Gudako stopped the Ark with their hands.
"Gh-!"
It allowed Sisigo and Yukika to slash his body in a quick dash making his blood splatter as a result as he stepped away.
"W-What?!" Seo gasped once she saw what was happening to Fujimaru and Gudako. Their bodies glowed gold and then turned completely grey, turning into dust right afterwards.
The temple cast by Fujimaru vanished, since its wielder had been defeated.
Daisuke stepped back, understanding he couldn't recover from the wounds all that easily. "Good luck, Leader." He wished with a smile before Seo sliced his stomach with the Sword of Paracelsus. Daisuke was Transported away and Uninstalled. The ark vanished alongside him.
Mash slammed a fist against the floor. "God damn it…!" She hissed between her teeth. She stood back up and saw the three opponents in front of her. Not to mention the other two that probably waited for her if she somehow survived this encounter.
"So, Knight of the Round." Sisigo approached, raising his sword. "Shall we test how your shield stands against my sword?"
Mash was angry. There was no other way around it. She failed to protect her teammates from defeat. And she couldn't fight alone. It was simply impossible. But she then took a deep breath and calmed down. "…Yes." She struck the bottom of her shield into stone floor. "WE shall!" She spoke with bravery in her voice. Sisigo couldn't help but chuckle at the bravado.
"Very well then." He positioned the sword as Mash hid behind the shield.
"EX-!"
"LORD!"
"CALIBUUUUUUR!"
"CAMELOT!"
The walls of the fortress that housed the Knights of the round was struck by the shining light of victory.
"…" Mash let out a sigh. After shutting her eyes during the confrontation, opening them back up made her realize she had been defeated. All of her teammates were around her with smiles on their faces. "Guys… I'm sorry."
"Mash, why aren't you celebrating?!"
"Eh?" She was confused. "W-Why should I celebrate? I couldn't protect Daisuke at the end…"
"Leader, forget about that!" Daisuke pointed out, pointing at the screen.
Mash's eyes followed his arm,hand, finger, and then they were laid on the large screen.
The mugshot of Mash was plastered on the screen, with he word 'VICTORY' written beneath it.
"Eh? EH?!" She didn't understand it. Suddenly, a handy lightly struck her back. She turned around, finding both Fujimaru and Gudako smiling.
"Congratulations." The two wished.
"E-Eh? But I lost." Mash couldn't make heads or tails. Was this a dream? Was this a really selfish dream induced by the powerful heat of Sisigo's attack?
That's what she figured it was until Hakuno and Jinako approached.
"Mash Kyrielight." Hakuno called, a pressure falling upon her shoulders. "As the only member of your Team that managed to follow the EX Mission, and as the one that lasted until the end, we, the Rankers, declare you as an EX Ranker."
"Eh?" Mash's brain took a moment to realize what they meant. She had completely forgotten about the EX Mission. It was something she didn't even intend to follow, only to then realizing that, yes: she didn't use her Noble Phantasm more than twice during the entire battle. The realization made her blush bright red. "I-I'm an EX Ranker? But… This feels so weird…" She didn't want to say it was a hollow victory. At the same time, getting rewarded for her efforts was rather nice. She did feel guilty offer how her teammates didn't get to be on the same Rank as her, but they all agreed that no one would be mad regardless of what the result was.
"Congratulations!"
"Should we make a hip-hip hurray throw for our captain here?"
"E-Eh?! Wait, no, I'm not fond of-!"
It was useless. Mash was roped into being thrown into the air by the people present.
Hip hip, hurray! A panicking Mash was thrown up by her teammates, the Rankers, and the two upperclassmen that were beat.
I'm gonna try and pick up the pace. Again. I hope this battle didn't seem rushed to you.
In case you are interested, Discord Server Link: discord .gg /e7Qznvb (remove the spaces)
Just as always, if you have questions or requests, be free to ask, preferably through PM.
Until next time!