Chapter 21

Night was falling over the twisting streets of Usadan-ro, a normally quiet if a bit crowded, section of the greater Seoul area. Twilight came just like it always did, despite the increasingly overcast sky. For two newcomers to the district, there would be no chance to enjoy the nightlife that the district had to offer. They were an odd sight for passers-by, but as it was not entirely unusual to see a Western man with a native girl these days, most eyes simply passed over them as their owners continued with their business.

Alex was nervous. The kind of nervous that was tempered with anticipation, as if he were about to ascend a grand stage and speak to an audience of thousands. It wasn't the act that he was nervous about; it was the waiting. He glanced down to his side at Mina, her face a blank mask that hid her inner thoughts. What gave her nervousness away was the slight twitching of her fingers whenever a person stepped into view for the first time. The pair had talked only a little over the past few hours. Ever since Ruler made his presence known, they had gone about preparing for the operation in earnest.

The actual visit from Ruler, or St. George, as was his True Name, was rather short. Neither Alex nor Mina had been successful in convincing Ruler to aid them in their fight with Archer, despite their best efforts. As he turned a wary eye to the darkening street corners, Alex recalled Ruler's parting words, "So long as this remains a battle between Servants and their Masters, I am forbidden to interfere. I am merely a judge that cannot act until the laws have been broken. I shall be watching but I shall not interfere until I have been called to do so."

It was comforting to know that someone was at least paying attention to what was happening, but it was still frustrating to know that help may not come until it was too late. Alex cast his eyes skywards in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the armored knight lurking amongst the rooftops. No dice.

"We'll be there soon. Are you ready?" Mina's heavy whisper brought his gaze back to street level and he considered his overall state of readiness.

"No. Not really. But I'm going to fight on anyways." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, "Wow, no bravado this time. You must really be out of sorts."

He grimaced back in a good-natured sort of way, "Yeah, maybe I am. I wish we had more time to prep for this, but I know we can't afford to. If we mess up here…"

"We won't." Mina interrupted him before he could say anything detrimental, "I refuse to lose this match." The fire in her voice surprised him and as he looked over, he saw that her eyes were blazing with barely-contained anger, "If Archer and her Master think that I'm going to let them do whatever they want to my city, they've got another thing coming. Got that?"

He made a calming gesture, "I understand completely, and I'm going to be with you every step of the way, but we have to keep our heads. That's what you always tell me, right? We have to be careful. There's a lot on the line tonight, so let's get through this without any casualties or brash decisions. Sound good?"

Mina took a deep breath and sighed heavily, "That's a pretty tall order there, Sparky. But you've got a point. Which is new for you. Are you really the Alex that I know?" They shared a quiet laugh at the ridiculousness of everything, and both were breathing a little easier now. Alex remarked on their surroundings,

"I had forgotten that there were so many embassies in this district. Did we just pass one to Laos back there?"

Mina nodded, "Indeed. This district contains several embassies to varying countries, as well as multiple religious communities. Hangwang Church, the Seoul Central Mosque and the Chabad of Korea are all in this district. Things are usually peaceful, but…" she trailed off as Alex finished her statement,

"But that could change if someone pushes hard enough."

She sighed, "Probably. If I wanted to cause a diplomatic incident, or trigger a religious dispute in the city, this is where I'd come to do it."

"But that won't happen, because we're going to ensure that Archer fails."

He wasn't sure who those words were meant to reassure, but at least she seemed grateful for them. Alex checked his watch,

"Fifteen minutes until eight. Curtain's going to rise soon. Are we close by?" Mina nodded and indicated a quiet side street with few lampposts and fewer people. The smiles faded from their faces as they turned into the silent gloom of the darkening twilight. Alex cast an eye towards the heavens and he felt his senses attune to the ever-darkening clouds overhead.

A storm was coming, he was certain of it.

They walked in silence until Mina stopped at a seemingly nondescript two-story house that rested about halfway up the street. From their view, it looked like any other house on the block; a little run-down, a partially blooming set of plants in the front window and in desperate need of a new coat of pain. If one had the willpower, one would easily be able to fix up its shortcomings and create something special. But Alex and Mina felt differently. If their information was correct, this house held a dangerous secret.

Another time check, "Ten minutes." Mina nodded and closed her eyes, no doubt communicating with Saber. He considered to do the same with Rider, but knowing the pharaoh as much, or as little as he did, it was better to do so only when results were achieved. All he could do was trust that the pharaoh would uphold his end of the plan. He took one final glance around, seeing nothing in particular. Satisfied, he raised a hand and snapped his fingers, plunging the street into near total darkness.

"Good work," Mina's whispered approval showed her to already be advancing towards the house, "now let's get this started." Alex followed behind her, his eyes adjusting to the lack of light from the streetlamps. Ever since he short-circuited, all of his spare time had gone towards regaining mastery over his abilities. While he was not entirely back up to his former level, waiting until that moment came was counterintuitive. Putting aside his nagging doubts, he reached the door to find Mina inspecting it. Kneeling beside her he whispered, "How are we getting inside?"

She placed a finger to her lips, urging him to be silent before reaching into a pocket and producing a few thin strips of wire. Alex was a bit surprised at her method, "I had no idea she knew how to pick locks. Why go mundane though? Surely, she knows a few basic spells that can remove barriers, unless she's worried about setting off magical alarms? Even if that was the case, couldn't she just- "

A tap on his shoulder brought him back to the present. He looked up to see Mina gesturing at the open doorway, clearly, she wanted him to go first. Grimacing at her only served to increase the intensity of her gesturing, so he gave in. Gently taking the first steps over the threshold, Alex brought his hands up into a ready position. They had no idea if they were going to encounter resistance, so both had come armed and ready for a fight. But he decided now wasn't the time to show his cards. Whispering a quiet incantation, he closed his eyes and extended his senses to detect any form of magical residue. Mina stepped in behind him and quietly shut the door, leaving them both in complete darkness.

Before their eyes could properly adjust to their surroundings, Alex picked up a faint signature coming from below them. Reaching out to where he figured Mina was, his hand made contact. The next moment was filled with a brief instance of sharp pain to his index finger and it took every bit of control he had to not shout in surprise. Pulling his hand back he turned a shocked eye to Mina, who looked both surprised and a tiny bit embarrassed. That was when he was able to put two and two together,

"Y-you bit me!"

"I'm sorry!" Her hurried whispers only sounded a little sorry, "I couldn't see your hand properly and then something touched my mouth and I just reacted! Think of the situation before you do something like that!"

Feeling abashed for his actions, he tried to explain, "I didn't mean to hit your face, I was going for your arm or something like that. It's just dark and the height difference…. I…sorry…" Mina glared at him with such a withering ferocity that his pleas dropped off to quiet mumbles. An awkward silence fell between them as Alex self-consciously rubbed the bite mark on his finger. Neither seemed to know how to proceed forward, until Mina quietly cleared her throat after what felt like forever.

"So…you find anything of note yet?"

Alex was silently grateful for the opportunity, "Yes, there's something beneath us that could be interesting. I don't hear anyone in here either. How's your vision right now?"

"Better now. I'm good enough to move around, let's just take it slow. We good on time?" He checked his watch and hit the luminescent button, "Just enough, is everyone else in position?"

The outline of her shoulders rose and fell, "I hope so. No sign of Archer or Lancer yet, but that could change in an instant. Let's get this done quickly, lead on." Accepting the role with no further complaints, Alex quietly crept deeper into the building. Each step ramped up the pressure on their shoulders. The clock was ticking.

It took a few minutes of quietly frantic searching for them to find the door that most likely would lead them into the basement. When he was about to ask her to pick the lock, Mina shook her head, "No time. Hit it."

Alex did not need to be asked twice. Stepping back, he positioned himself in front of the door, magically strengthened his right leg, and with a singular strike the wooden door splintered and fell apart. Wasting no time Alex plunged into the darkness, only slipping once on the wooden stairs. Reaching the bottom, the detection spell flared in his mind's eye. "Over there."

Unable to indicate direction, he turned back to articulate the position of the anomaly only to feel a hand grasp onto the back of his shirt, "Keep going, my eyesight doesn't shift as fast as yours." The situation was so unexpected that his feet remained glued to the floor until her fist pushed against the small of his back, "Don't wait! Go, I'm right behind you."

There was no time to ruminate, he had to push onwards with Mina in tow. The short stall had given his eyes enough time to adjust so that he could see rough outlines of shapes, and the detection spell would warn him of magical traps. He hoped that no mundane mechanisms were waiting to ambush them, not that he could really do much to stop them if that was the case. Carefully guiding Mina around piles of boxes and equipment, he came to what he could tell was the final door that separated them from their goal. Not only did the detection spell point him in this direction, but there was also an ominous purple glow softly emanating from within.

Mina must have felt him rear back for another breaching attempt because she pulled him off balance before he could deliver the strike,

"Stop that," she hissed under her breath, "we don't know what's in there! Just check the handle first!" "Oh…she makes a good point." Thankful that the dark hid the embarrassment on his face, he reached out and gingerly grasped the door handle. The door clicked open without issue. It swung slowly inwards with only a slight push, revealing the contents of the room beyond to the apprehensive pair.

Beyond the doorway lay a small but extensive magical workshop, with alchemical apparatus and crawling scrollwork lining the walls. Taking up the center of the floor was a large geometric sigil that had been scrawled in some sort of reddish liquid and was the source of the now stronger purple glow. But that was not the strangest sight within the space. The entirety of the far wall was covered in all sorts of technical equipment, including several keyboards and silent monitors mounted on the wall in haphazard fashion.

"This place feels weird," Mina whispered quietly to him once she realized nobody was home, "combining tech and magecraft isn't common from what I know. The two don't always mix well." Alex stepped into the room first, careful to avoid stepping on the glyphs and lines painted on the floor as he made his way to the wall of computers. Curiosity got the better of him and he chanced a look at the desk underneath the monitors. What he was able to see only deepened his unease,

"This is nuts. Each of these keyboards is structured differently; there's one here with English letters, another with Korean, I have no idea what this one is…and this one! It's got runes on it! The hell is this place?" Mina's voice pressed him, "We can look at that stuff later, right now we need to deactivate this circle. Let's see now…"

He turned to witness Mina hovering a slightly glowing hand over the irregular marks painted onto the floor, her brow furrowed in careful concentration as she sought the weak point among the symbols. Alex understood her caution; when it came to nullifying arcane sigils, one had to take the utmost care. Choosing the wrong line to break or casting a weak counter spell could easily result in a magical backlash, which would most certainly be a bad thing for them. He nervously checked his watch again, knowing that any second the rest of their plan would go into action, hopefully removing the other locations in one blow.

Right as his watch indicated the top of the hour, a triumphant cry from Mina sounded her success, "Found it! No more siphoning for you!" She snapped her fingers and an exceptionally loud crack sounded throughout the room. A single glyph broke into pieces, and with the loss of its foundation the entire sigil flashed once and then went dark. As a precaution, Alex extended another detection spell to see if there were any lingering effects. It was completely inert.

A great sense of relief overcame that small room. Despite the darkness the pair shared a smile of success, they had managed to pull it off. But their moment of tranquility did last long. Blinding light filled the space as every monitor suddenly flared to life and a high-pitched tone assaulted their ears. The pain was so intense that Alex dropped to one knee and pressed his palms flat against his ears in a vain attempt to block out the screeching. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the noise cut out. Gingerly removing his hands, Alex noted that there were small flecks of blood on his palms. Just as he was getting his bearings back, a terribly sweet and all-too-familiar voice echoed in the chamber,

"My, my, look what I've caught! A couple of daring intruders, perhaps? Or rather…a couple of foolish mages!"

Upon each of the blazing monitors, the image of a triumphant Archer materialized in perfect clarity. She stared down at them from every angle, clearly relishing in their shock and surprise. Alex was at a complete loss for words and could do no more than stare blankly at the haughty woman on screen. Archer laughed,

"Ufufufu, oh how I wish you could see the looks on your faces right now! The visions of hope now gone to despair, all at the sight of my radiant self." A malicious tone crept into her voice which made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, "Such things are to be expected, especially when foolish mortals like yourselves meddle with things far above your own understanding."

The air in the room chilled considerably as Archer extended her hand towards the screen, as she put on her best bored face, "I have no further need of you. The ritual will be completed on schedule, despite your meddling. I will permit you to fall on your knees and beg for your lives, as it will be your final offering to me. I am, after all, a gracious goddess. Master can have fun with you now. Farewell."

The screens went black. Above their heads, a faint rumbling was heard, it felt a lot like footsteps to Alex. A fuck ton of them. "Looks like we're through hiding," he spoke out into the dark, "I'm giving us light." With no rebuttal from Mina, he felt his way over to the desk and activated one of the monitors with a quick burst of electricity. In the dim light that it provided, the pair reoriented themselves.

He was surprised by how calm Mina appeared to be, given the circumstances. He quietly resolved himself to the fact that they were caught, and that it was time to improvise.

"So, she's sending her Master to finish us off." Mina's quiet affirmation solidified the reality of their situation, and Alex would have been lying if he said he wasn't apprehensive about facing the man that brought him so close to the edge of death. Her next words surprised him greatly,

"This is a good thing. We can use this." She hurriedly explained once she noticed the stark confusion on his face, "Just hear me out. If she is sending him, then that means they'll be separated. If we can eliminate her Master, or at the very least keep them apart, then we have a chance to bring down Archer for good. But we need to converge on the tower, and for that we need transportation."

He nodded emphatically, "Sure. If you think that could work, then let's do it. I don't have any ideas, so let's give it a shot! I'll pull the pharaoh here whether he likes it or not!" She returned the nod, "And I'll get Saber here. If the Master is coming, then Lancer could show up at any second." Not wanting to waste any more time, Alex reached out with the mental link that connected him to the pharaoh Ozymandias,

"Great pharaoh, your presence is required at our current position. The plan has changed and we require an immediate evacuation." The response came swiftly, To make such bold demands of a pharaoh. How insolent. Whatever you have gotten yourself into, surely, you can find a way out without needing to make such ridiculous demands.

Alex grit his teeth at the self-serving tone of the pharaoh, "Perhaps we can, but I prefer to ensure our ultimate victory. Take the field, my pharaoh! Won't you bring your brilliance to those who would defy you? Or would you rather Saber be the one to claim this day?" There was a long pause where nothing was said, and Alex began to regret antagonizing the pharaoh, even though the situation was most certainly an emergency. But he wasn't going to back down on this. He could only hope that the pharaoh was in a giving mood right now.

Hmph. You certainly are impertinent and lack appropriate manners. Hold out as long as you are able. I will send aid. Be grateful that I still have need of you.

Alex couldn't be happier. Even if the words spoken were harsh as iron, he could tell that the pharaoh was highly amused. "Time to go." Mina gave him an affirming nod, "Saber is on her way. We'll meet her nearby, let's get out of here."

He couldn't agree more. But before he left, his eyes once more wandered to the strange keyboard. There was something familiar about the symbols, but he couldn't quite place it. Noticing his hesitation, Mina hopped over to him and took a glance. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Those are Russian letters."

A desire to press her for details arose in his mind, but he knew that any more stalling would lead to serious trouble. Once more, they were on the clock. Except this time, the consequences for failure would affect millions. Without another word between them, Alex and Mina moved quickly back up to the ground floor. As each of them possessing adequate levels of common sense, they crept below the dark windows that circled the house and arrived at the main door. Keeping himself low and out of sight, Alex slowly peeked his head over the nearest windowsill to peer into the darkened street beyond.

Except the street was neither dark nor deserted any longer. Standing in the long shadows cast by a few flickering streetlights, stood well over a dozen men. Quickly dropping out of sight, he cast an eye over to Mina, who was doing the exact same thing on the other side of the door. She grimaced through the gloom,

"This isn't going to be as easy as I thought."

He shook his head, "Definitely not. I guess this was a trap after all."

"Hmmm…I think they all were. Archer probably divided as many loyal troops as she could to each site and waited to see which one we arrived at. Now that she figured it out, she's going to swamp us with people until her Master gets here and finishes us off. That smug bitch…she thinks we're trapped."

"I'd agree with that," Alex mused aloud, "But she doesn't really expect us to sit here and politely wait for some masked gunslinger to kill us, does she?"

A wide grin spread across Mina's face, "I certainly hope not. I intend to make it out of here in one piece."

"Agreed. Think any of them will have guns?"

She shook her head, "I doubt it. The SOU are still on edge from the skyscraper incident. I doubt Archer will want to bring them into this, unless she's ready to bring them under her spell. Which will happen if we don't stop her."

"Right. No time to lose then." He checked on the men outside and noticed that they had begun to move in slow, deliberate steps. "They're coming. Probably hoping to surround us and cut off any escape."

Mina cracked her knuckles, "Then we shouldn't keep them waiting. Time to unveil our surprises." With her index finger she drew a horizontal line in the air, leaving a glowing trace behind as she did so. She then gripped onto the empty space on both sides of the line and pulled vertically in each direction, revealing a glowing pocket of space between the parted lines. Triumphantly, she reached her hand into the inky blackness and drew forth a long polearm, with a heavy blade in the shape of an eyebrow. With a snap of her fingers, the lines came together and vanished, the space now closed. Alex gave a low whistle,

"Hot damn, I didn't know you could manage magecraft like that. Don't tell me you've had that pocket dimension all this time?"

She smirked triumphantly, "There's a lot you don't know about me, Sparky. But I have my weapon, where's yours?" He rolled his eyes, "Don't you worry, I've got my ways." Closing his eyes, his mind turned to a brief conversation that he had with the pharaoh not but a day ago. He had been concerned about not being able to openly carry his khopesh, and relying only on magecraft may not always be enough, so he brought his concerns to the sword's original owner. He recalled with perfect clarity just how the pharaoh responded,

HA! Do not be such a fool! Pharaohs have no need to burden ourselves with such unnecessary weights! Our weapons respond to our will, and thus appear wherever and whenever we need them! Since that blade has known only pharaohs, then you must ensure that your will is equal to ours. Do so, and you will never find yourself empty-handed!

Taking a deep breath and extending out his hand, Alex focused intently on the khopesh. He envisioned its shape and weight, the sharpness of its edge and the feel of the grip in his hand. Silently, he called out into the ether, "I am about to head into battle, and I require a weapon. I need – no- I demand that you come to my aid! I am your master now. Answer my call!"

No change. A split-second of fear and doubt caused his focus to waver, but he calmed his nerves before they took hold of him. He redoubled his efforts, "This is an order! You WILL answer my summons! It is time to fight!"

Something heavy dropped into his palm. He opened his eyes and was relieved to see a familiar, curved blade now resting neatly in his hand. The hilt was warm in his grasp, despite the evening chill. Perhaps it was just a trick of the eyes, but he could have sworn that the hieroglyphs etched into the blade were glowing ever so faintly. He matched Mina's smirk,

"So? What do you think about that?"

She sighed reluctantly, "Alright, alright, that was pretty cool. Straight up summoning a weapon is useful, I'll give you that. So, you ready?"

Breathing deeply, he rose to his full height and shook out his limbs, "Yep. Let's dispatch this group quick and make for the end of the street. Once our Servants reach us, we make a beeline north towards the tower."

"Roger that." Mina stood as well, slowly spinning her lance into a ready position, "Then if you don't mind, I'll start things off."

Alex stepped back, "All yours."

Taking a position directly in front of the door, her circuits flared to life as she inhaled deeply. At the peak of her breath she extended her hand and placed it flat against the wooden door, at which moment she exhaled sharply and a large concussive blast of air shattered the door completely off its hinges.

Within two heartbeats she was on the move, pushing her way through the cloud of debris where the door had once stood. Alex followed immediately afterwards, emerging into the cool night air at a near run. The dozen or so men had spread out considerably, and judging by the expressions on their faces, Alex guessed that none of them expected a frontal assault. He descended the stairs in three large steps, his feet hitting the pavement just a hair after Mina. As they turned on the spot towards the end of the street, three men stood in their way. Alex could see two knives and a baseball bat between them. He was relieved to see that Mina's gamble seemed to be right; if any of them were wielding firearms, their assault would have ended before either of them made it down the stairs.

There was too much ground to cover to make full use of their surprise, as was evident in the shifting stances of the men before them. As quick as they were, Alex and Mina retained the upper hand. In three paces Mina had gotten close enough to bring her weapon to bear, and she took full advantage of its reach. Flicking her wrist, she swung the hyeopdo from a general ready position to one of offense, leveraging the heavy blade in a diagonal descending swing towards the nearest enemy. The bat-wielder who stood in her way attempted to step backwards to avoid the blow, but Mina adapted with blistering speed.

Before the blade could complete its descent, she released her grip with her left hand while simultaneously pushing with her right. Where the man may have dodged successfully, he was now faced with an additional six inches of weapon that he had not expected. Deftly, Mina reestablished her grip moments before the blade reached his chest and severed the bat in two. With a final step inward, the blade swung end-over-end as she brought the counterweight crashing into the man's gaping jaw. He dropped without a sound.

The two knife-wielders had meanwhile made moves in Alex's direction, either because they believed him to be the greater threat or that they could subdue him together. Two gleaming blades swung at his midsection, but neither made contact. This was primarily due to the fact that the men attacking him were obviously getting in each other's way. "There's no coordination between them," he noted as he dodged another pair of wide swipes, "numbers might actually work against them here. But why? Shouldn't they be working for the same goal?"

He decided to figure that much out later. As his opponents each thrust forward, he sidestepped to the left to now be on the outside of the leftmost attacker. As the momentum carried the man forward, Alex lashed out with his left hand and seized his opponent's wrist. With control over his opponent and the second attacker blocked from an easy counter, Alex retaliated. Pulling the off-balance man forward, Alex reversed his grip on the khopesh and brought the jeweled scarab pommel crashing into the man's temple. He released his grip on the limp man, turning his attention to his remaining opponent.

The man in question was now sandwiched between Alex and Mina, which was definitely not a good place for him to be. Alex heard more movement behind him, but it seemed to be farther off. Still, there was little time to waste. Taking aggressive steps forward, he rapidly closed the distance with the final knife-wielder, flourishing the onyx blade as he did so. Confidence flowed through his veins as he noticed Mina also moving aggressively in his direction, "This poor bastard. Just give up."

But when he showed no signs of surrendering, Alex prepared to send him to sleep. That's when Mina abruptly shouted, "RIGHT!" Immediately, his senses kicked into overdrive as his confidence shattered in a fraction of a second. There was no time to turn and look, as his opponent in front of him was already attacking. "Hell, what do I do? No, no time. Just act! Trust her! Move!"

He leapt to his left. The moment he did so, a long blade grazed the outside of his hip, tearing through the fabric. At the same time, Mina's hyeopdo flashed in the dim light, knocking the long blade skywards. Focusing intently on the attacker before him, Alex swung his khopesh in an upwards arc, catching the offender's knife mid-thrust. Utilizing the hook at the blade's tip, Alex wrenched the knife from its owner's hand with a powerful reversal. Weaponless, the man stood no chance and joined his compatriot in slumber on the pavement.

Alex whirled around, his weapon already in a defensive position in case any more attacks came his way. What he saw instead was an unconscious man lying on the ground with a very bloody nose and Mina standing over him. Alex was able to piece two and two together.

"Thanks for that."

Mina turned and nodded, "Anytime. We should leave now."

He looked around to see the rest of the group had shaken of the initial shock of the attack and were now moving swiftly in their direction.

"Couldn't agree more!" He turned and took off at a run, with Mina quickly matching his pace. The sound of multiple footsteps echoed rapidly behind the fleeing pair as they dashed into the darkness. Adrenaline coursed through Alex's limbs as his feet pounded on the pavement, his eyes flashing from one dark crevice to another, never knowing when the next strike would come. He had no idea how long they would need to run, only that relief would come eventually.

They ran on, ducking and weaving between side streets and alleyways, desperately attempting to evade their pursuers. Much to his frustration, the sounds of their pursuers were not decreasing. In fact, it sounded like they were increasing instead. From all around them came the sounds of shouting voices and heavy footsteps, and they were getting louder with each passing second.

"They're trying to surround us!" Alex shouted to Mina as he skidded to a halt after hearing a particularly loud shout coming from the next street over. "We need to find another route!"

Mina took a hurried look at their surroundings, "Follow me! We may be able to slip through somewhere close!" Alex had no reason to argue and took off after her down a winding side street. They had been running for several minutes, and worry had begun to creep into his mind. "Any word from Saber?"

She glanced back at him, "No. But she'll be here."

Alex wasn't so sure that she believed those words. He considered using a Command Seal to force Ozymandias to appear, but he resisted the temptation, for now. Mina then turned down a long side street that ran near a very official looking building. Alex wondered which country it belonged to. She turned her head to shout at him, "We're getting close to the main road! Once we cross, we have to –"

A knot formed deep in the pit of his stomach, "Something's wrong!" He opened his mouth to call out to her, but he was too slow. From the shadows came a glint of steel and a flash of movement as a long blade swung towards Mina's neck. Without missing a beat, Mina bent backwards at the waist and allowed her legs to collapse, sending her sliding to safety mere millimeters below the weapon that now passed harmlessly overhead.

Perhaps she had seen the look in Alex's eyes that caused her to react so. Maybe it was her instincts that had taken over, Alex did not care either way. A kernel of rage kindled within his chest as his momentum carried him into range of the attacker. Striking out with his unarmed left hand, he latched onto the weapon hand and gave it a powerful twist. The man cried out in pain and released the knife, sending it clattering to the ground. He then stepped around the man, placed his khopesh flat against his back and pushed heavily. By twisting from his hips, it provided Alex with the force he needed to send the man careening face first into the side of the nearby building. A satisfying crack echoed down the street as the man's nose shattered from the force of the impact. The second time sated his anger. Smiling, Alex dropped him to the ground, confident that he would not be getting up for a very long time.

He turned back to Mina, breathing heavily. By the time he had dealt with the attacker, Mina had already stood and composed herself. Alex took a deep gulp of air to steady his nerves and wipe the satisfied grin from his face, "That was a bit close."

She just nodded and turned away, "Road is close, let's get across quickly."

"Right, sure." They moved on without another word.

It wasn't long before they reached the road in question. It was clearly the main thoroughfare for the district, a wide-open expanse built to sustain several lanes of constant traffic now stood before them. Alex knew that they would need to cross this road eventually if they wanted to make it to the tower in time, yet he was hesitant. Crossing open ground with a trained gunman on the hunt was a recipe for disaster. As they both paused at the corner of a building, Mina was just as cautious.

They pressed themselves flat against the wall, throwing furtive glances every which way as each attempted to find the right time to move. Alex's heart thrummed in his chest as the prospect of crossing the open ground grew ever more necessary. All around them, shouting and calls grew louder and louder as the noose began to close around them. "Do we have time to augment ourselves? Should we even try? Can my body handle stress like that?"

Time ran out. From behind them came a triumphant yell, as pushing through the alleyway came several humanoid shapes all hurtling in their direction. "It's do or die!" Alex pushed by Mina, "Follow me!" Routing mana to his legs in order to increase their muscular output, Alex burst from the shadows and onto the vacant street. There was no time to look back and see if Mina had begun to follow, any loss of momentum now could mean death. There was movement coming from other points along the street, he refused to look. He began a zigzag pattern. It was only twenty yards to cover.

CRACK

By the time the sound had reached his ears, it was far too late to do anything about it. A piece of asphalt no more than ten feet from his left exploded in a shower of gravel and dust. Terror gripped at his heart as he reversed direction, his brain instinctually calculating the trajectory of the bullet that had nearly caught him. He concluded that he was only a few inches from the bullet's path. Running was the only option.

Under fifteen yards to go. He swerved back and forth irregularly, knowing this was his only defense against sniper fire. Without any ability to stop and look, there was no chance of fighting back, nor could he see if Mina was still behind him. There were too many footsteps echoing, and the sound of the rifle further hampered his ability to discern her gait. All he could do was hope.

A second resounding CRACK shattered the air, this time catching the ground mere inches from his right foot. He jerked his head away instinctually, but the sudden movement caused him to misstep. He stumbled forward, unable to catch his balance as he began to hurtle towards the ground. "No no no! Falling here means-"

A powerful blast of air caught him directly under his torso. It was like being punched by a heavyweight boxer and it very nearly knocked the wind out of him, but the force was enough to push him upright. Without considering the consequences he whirled on his heel to see Mina only a few feet behind him, her circuits glowing in the dark from their activation. She pushed by him, "Run you idiot!"

And he did, but not before he decided to send a message to their sniper adversary. "I've got a basic angle from those two shots, and there's a gap between. It must be a semi-automatic, or more likely, bolt action. With time to reload and aim, I have just enough time for this!"

Swinging the khopesh up in an arc towards where he thought the gunman lay, Alex charged the blade with crackling static and released it in a single burst, shouting his defiance as he did so, "Lightning arc!"

The energy wave crashed into a roof down the street, sending sparks flying into the cloudy sky. Alex didn't wait around to see if he had made a difference or not and resumed his mad dash. Mina was now ahead of him and pushing hard for the cover of the alley and with under ten yards to go, confidence surged through his limbs. But his euphoria was short-lived.

Seemingly at random, Mina stopped short a few yards from safety and visibly recoiled, putting her weapon into a defensive posture. Confidence soon drained away to despair once Alex realized what had stopped her advance. Four heavily armed and armored men, two wielding riot shields and the others sheltering behind them, leading many more men in various states of dress. Mina's horrified whisper sealed the plan's failure,

"They're…those are SOU. How…how did that happen?"

Acting on pure adrenaline, Alex grabbed her arm and began to pull her away, "We'll try another street!" It was enough to get her moving, but they did not get very far. Withdrawing back towards the center of the street revealed many more groups of men pouring out of the darkness. Every avenue of escape seemed to close at once, they were trapped.

Alex might have been impressed if he were not so angry at himself, "We were led here. Cornered like rats in a maze." The sensation of Mina's back being pressed against his soothed him ever so slightly,

"Probably," her voice was quiet and firm, "so I guess we can't run anymore. Even though we're sitting ducks."

Alex gazed around at the encircling crowd and raised his weapon aggressively, "That's true. Why hasn't he shot yet?"

"I don't know. Maybe he wants to toy with us. But he's going to regret waiting."

"You going to use one?"

"Definitely considering it. I'll use one if you do."

"Deal."

The Seals on his hand glowed a bright crimson as he focused on their power. With them, he could bring the pharaoh to his side in an instant, though that would leave him with only one to endure the rest of the War with. But he saw no other alternative.

Simultaneously, they both spoke their commands,

"By the power of my Command Seal, I order you to-!"

"That is quite enough."

All eyes turned upwards towards the intruding voice, and Alex was filled once more with hopeful enthusiasm,

"Pharaoh Ozymandias!"

Alex could scarcely believe it. At his side was a familiar woman in a flowing red dress, her flaming sword flickering in the dark.

"Saber!"

The crimson swordswoman beamed down at the encircled pair and extended her arm dramatically, "Behold! Your hour of deliverance is upon you, my Master! Umu! Such a delightfully heroic entrance is befitting of one such as myself! Have no fear, for Saber is here!"

The euphoria at the sudden reversal of fortune was nearly absolute, but not so all-consuming that Alex nearly forgot the most critical problem,

"Drama later!" he shouted as loud as he could, "we still have a sniper!"

CRACK

There were too many possible targets, too many variables to calculate in the split second that any of them had to react. All Alex could possibly do was wonder who was about to die.

Two men in the crowd suddenly staggered backwards in shock, small pools of red growing larger on their clothes. Shaking off his own stupor at the notion of not being dead on the ground, Alex saw that Saber was no longer on the rooftop. "Unbelievable…"

Rising up from her precise cut, was none other than Saber herself, having just sliced the bullet in two. With an exceptionally pleased look on her face, she addressed Mina while the crowd around them faltered, "Are you alright, Master? Did you see my beautiful heroic act? Come now, shower me with your praise!"

Mina seemed close to collapsing from sheer relief, "Yes I did, Saber. That was wonderful, you have my thanks. I had no idea you could move so quickly…"

"Umu! Neither did I! Though I am very happy that it worked so well as it did in my head!"

Mina swayed slightly on the spot, completely unsure of how to take that. Meanwhile, the pharaoh had not budged a single inch. With total indifference in his voice, he summoned his crooked staff, "What a rabble this is. Normally, one should bow their heads in the presence of a pharaoh, but I will allow your last visions to be of my glorious form!"

As he raised his staff to smite those before him, Alex recovered his senses, "No, pharaoh! These people aren't themselves! Besides, there are embassies here! If you cause damage to them, there will be serious problems!"

Even from a distance, Alex still felt the pressure from the pools of molten gold that fixed him in place, "Hoh? Is that so? You would rather them oppose you still, rather than removing them?"

"That's right! I'd rather fight the one that controls them against their will! Let us be away from here, and cut off the head of the snake!"

He knew that he was in no real place to bargain for anything, but these were the kinds of moments that required a firm and unshakable stance. There would be no debating here, even though he was still surrounded and under threat of fire. The vast majority of the men around them had no control over themselves, and Alex adamantly refused to kill them for a crime they had no idea they were committing.

"Heh. Haha. HahaHAHAHAHA!" The pharaoh's laughter echoed in the dark of night, "How preposterous! How idiotic! HAHAHAHA! Such audacity could only come from a complete moron! HAHAHAHA!"

Alex fumed, hoping that either the bizarre pharaoh had scared away the gunman, or that the next shot would shut him up. The laughter continued for an awkwardly long amount of time, until, as if a switch was thrown,

"Hmph. I tire of this scenery. Let us be gone from here."

Alex was exhausted, and there was still plenty of fight left in the evening. From the look on Mina's face, she was just as over this whole scene as he was. He couldn't muster the mental strength to even be deferential, "Fine then! Just get us the hell out of here!"

The pharaoh smiled and brandished his staff, "Hear me, for my voice is the voice of the sun. Obey me, for my will is the will of the gods. Kneel before me, for I am the King of Kings! Come forth and bring deliverance! SPHINX WHEM MESUT!"

The heavy clouds over head parted to form a perfect circle directly overhead of the besieged group. Whereas the vast majority of the sky was dark and reflected the orange glow of the city lights, this empty space was filled with dozens of twinkling stars. At first, Alex thought the stress of the evening was causing him to see things, but Mina actually confirmed that his eyes were not tricking him.

"The stars…they're moving…"

She was right, or very close to it. All watched in muted awe as the starlight descended from the heavens as it coalesced into the form of a large sphinx. The starlight sphinx was nearly fifteen feet long from its blank face to its star-tipped tail, the golden headdress adorning the beast bestowing a rather regal appearance. The crowd of men that had come so close to seizing victory, now scattered with shouts of surprise and fear. At over twelve feet to its shoulder, the sphinx towered over all.

Ignoring the scattering ants at its feet, the monster turned towards the pharaoh and bowed its head. Without acknowledging its actions, Ozymandias casually stepped off the roof and was promptly caught by the sphinx's luminescent back. Striding forward to its shoulder, Ozymandias gestured with sweeping hand, "Behold, the power of the pharaoh! Be stricken with awe at my majesty, the mighty child of the Wehem Mesut! The stars themselves shall carry us to the horizon and back!"

Saber's eyes light up like an arcade, "Oooohhh! It's so pretty!" Without so much as an invitation, she leapt over its head to land directly next to Ozymandias. Popping her head over the sphinx's shoulder, she called down to the stupefied Masters,

"This is quite wonderful, Master! It is warm and rather comfortable! Umu. I will have one for Rome! No, more than one!" Alex and Mina shared blank looks of disbelief as Saber leaned over its flank and began to scratch under its chin. A deep rumbling sound akin to that of two large stones grinding against each other soon emanated from the sphinx. Surprisingly enough, Ozymandias did nothing to stop her.

"S-should we…uh…get on?"

"Y-yeah. We need to get moving."

With both Masters silently agreeing to just go with it for now, and happy to be alive, the sphinx crouched to allow them to clamber aboard. With a little bit of effort, both of them mounted the creature and collapsed upon on its broad back. As the adrenaline slowly faded from their bodies, Ozymandias proclaimed from his position at the sphinx's head,

"See how the opposition scatters before my might! Surely, there are none so brave or foolhardy as to stand against me!"

"Please don't say that," Alex groaned quietly, "that's how bad things happen." Mina wearily nodded, "Normally that's true, but I have the feeling he's earned his overconfidence."

"You're just saying that because he summoned a star sphinx."

"Mhmm. Pretty much."

"Yeah…I'm not going to argue that."

All things considered, Alex was both immensely relieved at Ozymandias' timely arrival and impressed that everything went more or less according to plan. While he had no real problem with how the rescue went, there was one thing nagging at the back of his mind,

"You know, a thought just occurred to me."

Mina turned onto her side to face him as the sphinx rose and turned down the street, "Oh really now? That's a rarity."

Alex brushed off the comment, "No, seriously. Summoning this beast, while amazing and totally awesome," he said while glancing at the pharaoh, "must have taken a serious amount of magical energy, right?" Mina gave a slow nod as if she had already figured this out.

He grew slightly exasperated, "Don't you see? He might as well have set off a bomb! I bet every Servant in the city knows where we are now!"

Mina's shoulder's slumped as the realization sunk in, "Oh. Right. This could be problematic…"

Saber perked up and turned her head every which way, "Umu. I hear something! It sounds like a landslide."

Alex strained his ears to pick up on what Saber was hearing, "Yeah, I hear it too. But that doesn't sound like a landslide…it sounds like…vehicles!"

He was dead-on. Curving around the far end of the street came several motorcycles, all bearing two riders that began making a beeline for the massive sphinx. Saber called out it a more joyful tone than Alex would have liked,

"Look, we have guests! Umu. As an emperor, it is my duty to entertain these guests and dance to my heart's content! Master, shall I go handle them?"

"Let's draw them out of here first!" Mina shouted, "Pharaoh, if we head that way, we can lure them away from the city and then you two can handle them any way you like!"

Ozymandias lazily cast an eye in the direction that Mina was pointing, "Hmph. Very well, I shall leave the navigating to you. Now then, let us be off! The real fight begins now!"

The sphinx reared back on its hind legs and dropped heavily to the ground, cratering the street beneath its paws and nearly tossing Alex and Mina from their places. Bounding away from the pursuers, it left a long trail of potholes behind as they began to pick up speed. Alex gripped the sphinx's body tightly, not entirely sure of what was actually okay to hold. He turned his eyes skyward to avoid being dazzled by its starry body. he took a deep breath to prepare his mind for the next stage of the night's trials. The pregnant sky churned above his head and somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled.

The storm was nearly upon them.