On the Precipice Between Worlds. Chp. 10:
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Wordcount: 2500
Commissioned by Marteddu
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According to Emiya, the Enforcers of the Clocktower are Magi who specialize in hunting down their fellow Magi, and ensuring the rules of their society are kept. They are feared by their fellows, as their Magecraft is focused entirely on combat, and overcoming the abilities of their fellows in order to capture or kill them. It would be accurate to state that they are individuals who have dedicated their entire lives towards combat.
I knew this, yet I was still unprepared for the battlefield we arrived upon.
The Homunculi were capable soldiers, and they could match the regular soldiers of the TSAB, even if their weapons and defenses could not compare. Each one is created with the skills necessary to conduct their tasks, and their bodies are modified in order to fulfill those tasks. The ones sent by Charon are expected to defeat any local force that finds them, search and extract targets, and hold the line until they can accomplish their mission, so they are strong opponents, especially with their sheer commitment and focus to their task.
However, as we flew over the harbor towards the already-besieged facility, I found them being slaughtered.
The Enforcers were clad in suits, but their weaponry varied between one another. One used a spear, another a sword, and another still used threads. Two were unarmed and either cast specialized, combat magic, or confronted their foes with their fists alone.
And, each one destroyed everything in their path ruthlessly.
The one that used a spear bisected a homunculus through its guard from head to toe. The swordsman pierced his foe fifteen times in an instant. The one who used threads bound her foes, before tearing them apart. Those struck by magic withered away, aging rapidly, as they lsot their vitality and fell apart. And, finally, the one who used her fists alone either punched straight through her foes, or pulled them apart with immense strength.
We left our base and arrived within a minute, yet in that time the five Enforcers killed over half of the Homunculi and were besieging the facility.
"We need to take the facility now. Avoid the one using melee. She has an ability to redirect attacks." Emiya took in the situation with a glance, a mere frown crossing his face as he looked upon the bloody concrete and carnage, before composing a plan as he held onto my hand as we flew. "We need to take them on and bring them down quickly."
Fate took a mere second to evaluate the plan, before taking action. She sent power towards Emiya, activating his Barrier Jacket, before focusing completely on her speed.
In an instant, the harbor disappeared, along with the blood, and the din of battle. Darkness stretched in every direction, as Fate devoted herself completely to discerning her trajectory and path towards her destination, while taking into account her passenger. She computed the alternations to her weight and mass with her passenger, calculated her current speed and vector, and judged the direction and speed of the wind between her and her objective.
In less than a second, she found the optimal path between herself and her destination, programmed the alternations necessary into her thrusters at the correct moments, and then willed herself forward.
Like a bolt of lightning, she surged forward through the night sky, dancing through the air and leaving behind a golden, crooked path as she used everything at her disposal to her advantage. The sound barrier broke against her, and she paid it no heed, as her vision and mind were utterly consumed with reaching her destination as soon as she possibly could.
In the span of a second, she went from the sky to cutting through walls with Bardiche, and stopping right before her target with her passenger in tow, at the very heart of a building.
The room was composed entirely of concrete. Four Homunculi guarded the door, while two others were setting explosives upon a strange altar at the center.
Before they realized what was occurring, Fate was upon them, as she raised Bardiche and treated each on as a stop on her current path.
Each one fell, concussed by a blow to the head, before the last piece of rubble hit the floor of the room.
She was slightly surprised to find Emiya capable of standing straight after her assault, and became even more surprised when he shook his head and ran to the device that they were looking for.
Did he have experience in regards to being moved at high speeds?
The question lingered in her mind, as the sounds of fighting from outsid filtered into the room, and as Nanoha's feet touched the concrete floor.
"I've defused the bombs. We just made it." For a second, Fate blinked at the news, wondering how it was possible the bricks of explosives were set to explode already. Then, she recalled how Magi treated Homunculi. The bombs were to take them out as well. "This is… it's some amplifier for an artifact that's inside it."
"Research later, Shirou-kun! Those Enforcers are almost here! Can we take out with us?" Nanoha's voice reached her, as she shook away the malignant thoughts from her mind and refocused. Focusing on her hearing, Fate wasn't surprised to find that the sounds she was hearing was echoing down the facility's hallways instead of coming from outside. "Do we fight, or do we just get out!?"
Fate waited for an answer, but didn't have to wait for very long.
"We have to fight."
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They awaited their opponents, after securing the device in a barrier, and their foes arrived soon enough.
Fate was ready to fight, so she was surprised to find the woman who fought with her bare fights step forward ahead of the group of five.
"Emiya." The woman had dark red hair of a strange tint, nearly purple, and wore a burgundy suit. Her gloves were aglow with power, and Bardiche informed Fate that she had several unknown magical signatures on her person, which were most likely the devices that could send back attacks that Emiya had described earlier. "I see that you're doing well."
The many questions that Fate had doubled as Emiya relaxed ever-so-slightly, and addressed the tall woman.
"Bazett-san. It's been a long time. You've recovered well." Emiya greeted her and Fate cast a glance at him, but kept her weapon at the ready. "I worked together with her as a freelancer, during my time with the Clocktower."
"And, we would've killed each other in the Grail War, if not for my disqualification." The short-haired woman's eyes widened ever-so-slightly when Fate turned to her. A moment later the suit-clad Enforcer nodded. "I see that you're keeping secrets properly, Emiya. Good. You might have betrayed the Clocktower, but you're as practical as I remember."
Fate shot a look at Nanoha, before her friend could speak. Their eyes met as Nanoha was ready to speak out against their friend being called a traitor, and Fate breathed a sight of relief when Nanoha grudgingly relented and bit her tongue, instead of speaking.
It was better to lose face, than to have to fight, and Emiya must have felt the same as he nodded at the words.
"They need to be stopped, I couldn't do it alone, and the Clocktower wouldn't provide me with more help. If I was working with you all at the start, this might have never happened." Emiya shook his head, and to Fate's surprise, summoned his familiar black-and-white blades. The Enforcer promptly raised her hands in a boxing stance, while the other Enforcers readied themselves by either stepping forward or back. "What are your orders?"
"Shirou Emiya, a Sealing Designation has been placed upon you. Your sentence is capture, interrogation, and study. If necessary, only a study will be conducted." Bazett spoke and stepped forward. Her features were set as she coolly uttered words dripping with menace, sending a shiver down Fate's spine. Nanoha was disturbed for a second as well, but Emiya merely nodded at the frightening, inhumane sentence that was placed upon him. "You are a higher priorty target than all these homunculi, and the organization which owns them. Fight for your life, or risk losing it. That is all."
Emiya gave a singular nod of understanding, aimed towards individuals who he probably knew from another life, before charging forward with his two blades readied.
There as no declaration, no orders, and no words.
The battle began and Fate charged alongside him against five that were once his own comrades.
Fate wielded Bardiche, set to send a paralyzing shock on the foe she contacted, and immediately realized that the fighting styles of the Enforcers has a passing similarity to Emiya's own. In order to face powerful threats, and prepared opponents, Enforcers had to toe the line between life and death in battle because only defeat would be possible otherwise.
Bazett, the woman Emiya spoke to, engaged her after the spear-wielder charged towards Emiya. The swordsman attempted to slip by Fate, to reach Nanoha who was suppressing the one who used wires and the one who casted magic, but she engaged him as well by taking one of Bazett's hits and striking him with the end of her weapon. The man convulsed only once, and didn't even fall from the voltage, but she attracted his attention.
While a right cross collided with her face.
Her barrier held against the attack, but the thunderous noise from the attack nearly gave her pause, and if she hadn't been paying attention she would've been thrown into a wall. She had to activate her thrusters to ensure that she stayed in place, despite the blow, and even then staying in place rewarded her only with a furious flurry of sword strikes from her second opponent that she had to block with Bardiche.
Which Bazett capitalized on mercilessly, weaving her punches with the attacks from the sword, and buffeting Fate with ceaseless pressure.
Fate was unused to using her weapon like a staff, but to use it like a scythe or a spear would mean risking grievous harm upon foes without Barriers, so she withstood the combined assault and searched for an opening. She had to focus, to think of nothing besides the room, her companions, and their five opponents. There was no time for anything besides the battle at hand, unlike all her other battles where she worried, fretted, and wracked her mind to strategize.
Fate could see how this tactic could work against terrifying monsters, used to their own superiority, and content with their strength.
This constant pressure can create openings, critical ones which humans can capitalize upon with exceptional firepower at a critical moment, thus ending battles.
However, Fate wasn't a monster, and after spending nearly a minute blocking blows… she found her opening, surging between the gap between her two foes, and connecting the electrified end of her staff with the gut of the woman using wires to cut through concrete with ease.
It was a dangerous move, and Bardiche warned her that her two opponents surged after her to capitalize on the opening provided by turning her back upon them.
But with one less foe to suppress, Nanoha was more than capable of providing Fate the support she required.
The swordsman attempted to dodge the series of shots sent his way. Nanoha's power was limited against human beings without Barriers, but her gunnery skills lended themselves well with the stunning effect of her well-aimed multiple shots. The man, through either extreme skill or some unseen ability, parried through a dozen shots and dodged at the same time, but was eventually struck by three rounds.
He convulsed once, twice, and thrice, standing fast with grit teeth as he tried to endure, but fell with his sword still in his grip.
Bazett, however, shocked Fate by enduring the assault instead of dodging, and crashing straight into her.
Fate found herself pinned to the ground, with an aglow fist raised over her head, which proceeded to smash into her Barrier again and again. In the span of seconds, she counted at least a dozen strikes on her Barrier, and she nearly panicked at the steady drop in power she had, until she calmed herself activated her thrusters, and shot upward into the ceiling to release herself from being pinned.
The Enforcer kept punching her, wearing down her shields, even after being crashed into a concrete ceiling, not relenting in the slightest, even as Fate called upon lightning and coursed it through the suit clad woman.
Fate gritted her teeth, coursing electricity into her opponent, as she felt her power continue to steadily deplete against a continuous barrage of punches more akin to artillery shells.
She felt a hint of fear, as the attacks continued and her Barrier neared depletion, but she grit her teeth and continued her assault until her target convulsed once and went limp.
Nearly thirty seconds being continuously electrocuted, and the woman fought until she was rendered unconscious.
Fate carried her down to the settled battlefield below in her arms, and lay her beside her unconscious fellows with a frown on her face. She looked towards Nanoha, and saw the same surprise on her friend's face, as Emiya approached his old comrades somberly and searched each of them in turn.
He found the same knife Fate saw him use on Bazett and nodded once upon finding it, before looking up at Fate.
"Do we return them, or do we keep them prisoner?" Emiya stood up and looked upon his fellows. Despite the Barrier Jacket he wore, he sported wounds from his attacker, cuts upon his arms and legs that didn't limit his mobility, as well as singular stab wound on his chest just shy of his lung. Nanoha was fussing over him, applying first aid, while his eyes bore into Fate's own. "If we let them go, if I send them back, they'll come back stronger and more ready for us."
Fate felt a slight chill at the thought of their current foes preparing specifically for them, putting their magics to use to counter their own, and implementing better strategies to defeat them.
However, she pushed that fear aside, upon remember her orders.
"The TSAB is considering the Clocktower as a misguided organization currently lashing out in anger. We will return their troops and their equipment, and facilitate diplomatic contact at a later time."
Fate nodded at Emiya, and almost lowered her guard at the relief that he let show on his face, but refocused her attention on her unconscious foes and their target objective. The infiltration and destruction of the ship appearing and abducting so many across many worlds.
She could only hope that following her orders was the correct course of action.
Even when her gut told her that keeping their foes prisoners would be better for them later.