Here we go with the penultimate part of the battle. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 12: Crushing blow

11/12/2020

The combat between Archer and Berserker seemed to have entered a stalemate as the only thing that the latter could do is use that pole torn from the ground like a giant truncheon to try to crush the golden king. The latter had managed to dodge it over and over without a rest, but this was beginning to bother him badly.

Archer raised his arms to stop the fall the of the lamppost thrown hard by Berserker and managed to hold it in his hands with some difficult.

"Ghr...!" The golden king growled in frustration while still holding the pole. "Enough of games!"

Several golden portals appeared above the post, and several weapons emerged from its.

*SLASH* *SLASH* *SLASH*

The pole blown into a thousand pieces as stakes, swords, etc., they destroyed everything rendering Berserker's makeshift weapon totally useless.

Archer put one foot forward, though he was not very happy.

"I must admit, you've caused me quite a bit of trouble to get me to this, mongrel." The king spoke in a low voice with a tone full of indignation. "But that's over..."

And out of nowhere, numerous portals, the double of before, appeared right behind him. "Your imprudence has sealed your death, mad dog. When I am through with you, nothing will remain of your corpse!"

Berserker was not visibly impressed or threatened, although the same could not be said for the audience who watched this exhibition in shock.

"Are you kidding? How much more can he create this one?"

"How can he summon so many weapons?" Uryū asked equally bewildered upon seeing this.

"Awesome, so that's all his Noble Phantasm." Urahara commented while looking at the exhibition. "As I said before, those weapons that you see are relics that this individual used in life, although I do not know if he could invoke its instantly as in those portals. But surely he must have had a large warehouse of weapons to store all that."

Ishida and Inoue reflected on those words and wondered besides Berserker, who could this powerful golden warrior be and what kind of legend did he transcended to have all that arsenal that they saw.

Only one thing made they clear. They did not think that fighting will be an easy task.

Meanwhile, in the basement of the church, Kirei observed the scene through Assassin's sight, and immediately informed his master of this.

"Gilgamesh is serious." Kirei reported to Tokiomi through the radio. "He intends to open the Gate of Babylon even further."

In the Tohsaka manor basement, Tokiomi listened to his ally's message through the phonograph. He nodded disappointed as he sat with his head lowered.

"So, you're going to constantly teach your Noble Phantasm to others..." He pondered his Servant's actions. "How reckless."

"What is your decision, master." Kirei asked over the radio.

Without hesitation, Tokiomi raised an arm the same level of his face and looked at his circular Command Seals. The Noble Phantasm was the last resort that a Heroic Spirit could wield only in emergency case and the fact of using them like this suddenly without thinking twice was a huge recklessness that any Servant could commit. Perhaps the Gate of Babylon is one of the strongest Noble Phantasm (in Tokiomi's opinion) and could eliminate any Servant or even an army, but its main objective is only one and the other Servants and Masters present could take the information and take advantage of it for the next time.

And that was the red magus did not want, since it would be a setback for their plans and would bring them disadvantages in the next battles.

With that, he make a decision...

"By the power of my Command Spell..." The seals on his sleeve began to glow crimson as he began to recite the spell. "King of Heroes, quell your anger and withdraw."

After saying this, a section of the seals disappeared with the glare.

A strange concrete sensation ran through Archer's body as he felt that his body did not move without the permission of his muscles or brain as if they were betraying him. Not only that. His weapons were also not moving from their place as if he no longer had control over it.

Right away he understand why.

"Damn you, Tokiomi. You dare to order a king to withdraw!?" He spat in rage, unseen to his Master. Leave the fight just like that without doing anything? Give up the fight like a coward and let that black mad dog have his way?

"Fine." Even though he wanted to completely disobey the order, he could not, no matter how much his limbs protest.

This is how the Command Seals of the Masters worked and this is how the Masters controlled the beings that transcended humanity known as Heroic Spirit, and therefore, Gilgamesh, the demigod king of Uruk, was no exception.

With nothing else to do, Archer extended his arm to the left and suddenly all the luminous portals disappear out of nowhere as do the numerous weapons that lay scattered on the ground that soon evaporated into several clouds of golden dust.

"You are fortunate, rabid dog." The golden king muttered in a bad mood before turning to the rest. "Mongrels! See that you have culled your numbers by our next meeting. Only a true hero is worthy of looking upon me."

And without other words, the golden king also disappeared in a cloud of golden dust and nothing else was known. Everyone was confused by this.

"Hey, what happened?" Kon asked confusedly. "Why did he just suddenly leave?"

"It is clear that the Master of Archer is less stubborn than he." Rider gave the answer. "This is how the Command Seals work." The large Servant looked at Ichigo. "By the way, spiky hair. I hope you know how the Command Seals work too, right?"

"Uh, yeah. They explained everything to me before I came here." Ichigo replied as he remembered everything Urahara explained to him about the seals. "They said that I can control Saber's actions, but I can't use it more than three times If I don't want to lose its, right?"

"Yes, possessing the three seals is of vital importance for any Master, but it seems that our friend gold one forced his Master to use them if that first did not want him to do a serious recklessness such to reveal his Noble Phantasm before the enemy, and as a consequence, Archer was forced to stop his attack and leave the battlefield at the orders of his Master." Rider explained passively while Ichigo and Waver listened to him carefully and recorded those words to take him into account in a similar situation.

"Oh, another thing." Rider said suddenly getting more attention from the Masters. "This is not over yet."

Looking now forward where the 2 warriors were fighting before, only the black knight remained who was now watching them in complete silent and motionless as a statue. Despite their awkward and intimidating silence, Ichigo, Kon and Waver could not help but look with concern and some fear at the ghostly from of the black knight due to the abilities they witnessed in their battle against the golden Servant, as well as knowing that they will have to face him.

"What do we do?" Waver was the first to ask without clearly understanding the situation.

"What do you mean 'what do we do?'" Rider asked incredulously towards his young Master. "Well, it's clear." He declared as he turned to Berserker. "I doubt he will let us go so I'm sure he will want to fight us, and we have no choice but to answer."

That was the last thing Ichigo had to hear.

Normally the veteran of the Winter War did not worry about this type of situation because he had already faced numerous enemies stronger than the previous one that they always left him in serious difficulties as Kenpachi, Grimmjow or Nnoitra, including Ulquiorra, and he did not think Berserker was that different from these previous 4 considering the prowess and way of fighting he saw when he fought against Archer a moment ago.

However, after 2 and half years without his Shinigami powers, living a peaceful life (well, not so much) without embarking on a situation like this, he could not help but feel so fearful about this. His only option would be to call on his Saber to help Rider fight the black knight, but unfortunately at this very moment she is fighting against the other Saber who for some reason resembled this first one.

"Oi, Lancer, how about we team up to beat that guy?" Rider suddenly asked the Servant of the Spear at his side so they could have an advantage together against Berserker.

However, he lets out a small laugh.

"The truth is that I am not entirely sure if I join a barbarian like you." Lancer stated bluntly. "Besides, I think I'm capable of dealing with him alone."

The black knight still did not react or move a muscle as he continued to observe the 2 Servants in front of him, and one would think that was what this first would be thinking to attack his opponents. Before he could execute his attack, he suddenly heard shrill sounds coming from behind his opponents. Its almost looked like a clash of swords.

Looking a little, he noticed to 2 figures to several meters behind Rider and Lancer fiercely fighting each other with each blow of their respective swords. Something had caught the attention of the Servant of Madness when he saw to the 2 Sabers, but nobody knew why, nor was the other 2 Servants and Masters noticed of this.

It was only when his gaze became more focused on the fighting Sabers to the point of instantly 'recognizing' them by the way they wore their clothes and the way they fought, and thus provoked a strange reaction that alerted the Masters. His body began to shake violently at the same time that he emitted strange sounds that seemed more like growls. Then he leaned his body into almost squatting position while still trembling. That sight immediately concerned viewers.

"What now?" Ichigo asked as he kept observing the black knight's strange behavior.

It was thus that the black knight could not take it anymore and released all his anger.

"RAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The knight got up releasing a powerful supernatural howl of war that spread throughout the port, drawing everyone's attention.

With incredible inhuman speed, Berserker moved forward, picking up another lamp post, and then charging straight at his targets, leaping over Rider and Lancer. Everyone was surprised by this, but even more so when Ichigo deduced who the target was.

"SABER, BEWARE!"

Mordred heard her Master's scream when she realized that something was coming was going to fall on her and father.

"RAGH!"

*SMASH*

The concrete cracked as the 2 Sabers quickly jumped from their respective positions. They both got up to see Berserker in the middle holding his pole used as a giant baton that when hitting the ground caused a huge crack around it.

"Berserker, you bastard...! How dare you interfere in this duel of ours!?" Mordred angrily declared as she pointed Clarent towards the black knight. "I swear that-

She never had a chance to finish the sentence when suddenly Berserker turned his gaze to her with a growl that caused the Knight of Treachery to shut off for a moment. Despite her usual bravado, even she had to admit that there was something strange about the way the black knight looking at her.

She did not have to wait any longer when Berserker suddenly charged at the Knight of Treachery with a war cry.

Stopping right in front of her, the black knight lowered the metal pole in his arms aiming directly at the blonde's head.

*SLASH* *SLASH* *CLANG*

Several blows were exchanged between the two of them, the former's attacks having enough weight behind it to actually stagger Mordred much to her own surprise. Quickly picking herself up, she stepped back to keep some distance between her and Berserker.

*CLANG* *CLANG*

It was a futile attempt. The black knight quickly caught up with her and raised his weapon once more.

"Tch, you won't reach me with that shit!"

Pouring energy into her limbs, Mordred stepped forward with an audible burst.

Not letting up, she began countering each of Berserker's attacks.

Sidestepping, she saw an opening. Clarent grazed her opponent's armor, but the attack itself did little to actually damage it. Gritting her teeth in anger, she laid out another assault, her sword directed at the black knight's neck. It was of limited success however as every time she made a move, the black knight would easily find a way to outmaneuver her.

Just what the hell was he!?

"RAAAGH!"

"Huh...?"

Before she knew it, Berserker swung his pole horizontally directly at her.

*BAM*

The red knight flew through the air as the black knight's makeshift weapon struck like a huge baseball bat on the former's torse and crashed heavily into one of the containers causing a large dent at the site of impact, and shortly after there was no movement there.

"SABEEEER!" Ichigo yelled in horror looking at the impact site.

Once one of his enemies was out of combat, Berserker immediately turned to the other Saber, who the latter was on guard. The former wasted no time when he took a great leap into the air swinging the pole above her.

*CLANG*

The pole crashed over the invisible sword of the blue Saber, who had blocked Berserker's improvised weapon with relative difficulty. Arturia herself had been in awe of the other opponent's tremendous strength and was able to tell that this was the true Berserker in contrast to her son.

Gritting her teeth, Arturia managed to gather the necessary strength to push the black knight through the air and the latter landed a bit far. That last attack served to further numb the King of Knights, and even more for the cut that the Knight of Rebellion gave her. She backed away while panting a little.

Berserker charged once more.

"GAAAHG!"

"Hah...!"

And so, the duel continued...

Ichigo grunted in concern as he got out of the chariot and ran towards where Mordred had crashed.

"Ichigo wait!" Waver yelled worried about what the first one was doing, but he could not do anything. Ishida and Inoue also made a face when they saw the orange haired boy and worried that he would expose himself to danger.

Ichigo arrived at the impact site and quickly surveyed the surroundings until he found his Saber lying on the ground with her head resting on the dent. With the helmet on her head, it was very difficult to tell if she was unconscious or dead, but Ichigo didn't care about that.

"Hey, are you okay? Wait there!"

Ichigo leaned into a squatting position and then grabbed an arm and then tried to lift it off the ground. To be honest, he was surprised by how much the knight's grotesque armor weighed considering the small size of its wearer within. Being about Orihime's height but just as flat as Rukia, he found it incredible how someone so delicate-looking (even if she looked athletic and not very muscular) could move so easily in that armor that weighed a few tons as if it were made of cardboard including the sword.

"Gah..."

Ichigo heard the little gasp from Mordred who started to move her body slightly.

"Saber!"

Mordred stabled her sword into the ground and used it as a support so he could stand up albeit limping a bit.

"You're all right?" Ichigo asked concerned.

Once on her feet, she cocked her head towards her Master.

"Ichigo. What the hell are you doing here?" She blurted out surprised that her Master was here. "You should be in the chariot."

"Shut up! How am I going to stay here watching you fly away like a baseball?" Ichigo retorted in response.

"What was that!?" Mordred bellowed angrily as she grabbed the Ichigo's red shirt and pulled him closer to her.

She did not have time to complete her threat when she heard the sounds of steel colliding with steel, and she watched forward to seeing Berserker now fighting father. The imagen of battle made her clench her teeth under the helmet and her eye twitch. She did not know if the black knight thought he had killed her or if he decided to ignore her for the time being to face father, thinking that latter could be stronger.

If the latter were true, made her more infuriate for being underestimated that simply, and she was not going to tolerate such an insult any longer.

"Tch, you bastard." Mordred growled as she released Ichigo and prepared to charge the mad black again.

"Listen, Ichigo. You better get back in the chariot and don't come out again, understood?"

Ichigo did not have time to reply, when the red knight shot out like lightning toward her target.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Arturia gritted her teeth as she blocked another attack from the black knight, the last one causing her to lose her balance even though she managed to stand miraculously. She jumped back to try to get away from her opponent, but the latter had not made it so easy for her and continued with her relentless savage attack, pushing the King of Knights to the limit.

Strong.

That was the only word the blue Saber came up with to describe the black knight that Berserker was.

For every opening she saw and attempt to attack, Berserker quickly defended himself. The power of his attacks also comprised his class name. There was not even any wasted movement either. They were accurate, and despite his madness, Berserker was still a first-class warrior.

"Saber!" Irisviel yelled worried.

"Stay away!" Arturia yelled in response before focusing again on her current enemy.

She now could hardly take any more after facing 2 extremely strong opponents, although not as strong as the one she was fighting now, which was undoubtedly quite a challenge and she was almost at the limit of her strength.

'Damn, if I continued like this...!'

Just as Berserker was about to continue attacking, he suddenly noticed something coming by the back in a hurry and turned to see that it was the Knight of Treachery screaming and about to throw Clarent horizontally. Immediately, the black knight turned towards the opponent he believed he had knocked out and went on the defensive to stop the attack.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

This time the black knight no longer seemed so on the offensive when the Knight of Rebellion launched a counterattack on him with a series of violent diagonal sword attacks that caught him off guard, forcing him to be on the defensive. It seemed that the red Saber had found a way to adapt to her opponent's attacks and used them to her advantage.

Mordred continued to lash out non-stop, trying to gain ground or weaken her opponent and thus finish him off eventually. The onlookers watched somewhat in surprise as the other Saber seemed to keep up with Berserker as if this former were also of the same class.

*CLANG* *CLANG*

Berserker had successfully blocked 2 of the red knight's violent attacks and then pushed the former back.

"Tch... Take this!"

And with that, she lunged once more towards her target.

However, what she did not predict was the black knight gained momentum and took a great leap before the crimson-silver great sword swooped horizontally through right nowhere, surprising Mordred. Berserker somersaulted behind the red Saber, and she turned back to look at him in bewilderment.

"Shit, what the heck are you!?" Mordred growled as she recklessly charged towards Berserker.

*CLANG* *SLASH* *CLANG*

Another series of violent attacks ensued between these 2 warriors. Mordred tried her best to try to find an opening to attack or wear down his focus, but the black knight seemed unaffected and continued to attack. It was as if the latter did not know tiredness.

Little by little the tables turned as Mordred began to show signs of exhaustion and the black knight took the opportunity to launch a powerful counterattack.

"Gah...!"

Mordred blocked another fierce attack from Berserker that almost numbed her arm, but she did not let go and continued swinging her sword.

Ichigo could only watch from a distance as his Saber was fighting at a disadvantage against the monster that is the Servant of Madness. The power comparison between those two vaguely reminded him of his second fight against Renji when the former was at disadvantage. He could not help being worried about her, and once again cursed himself for not being able to help her.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Mordred managed to stop another series of attacks from the black knight and backed from him slightly. She grunted in frustration. She could not believe that she was losing advantage now and immediately noticed that the exhaustion was taking its toll on her body either from the blow he gave her earlier, or from the low supply of mana her Master was giving her.

She started panting wearily while still looking at her opponent as fresh as a rose without any sign of exhaustion on him. Almost the same... almost the same as father.

The very thought of that time she faced father, the latter always gave her that impassive look that she hated so much as if she had never seen it as a worthwhile challenge. The thought made her blood boil with rage, completely forgetting how exhausted she was, and she lunged again.

"Haaaaah!"

She tried to swing her sword horizontally, aiming to bisect her enemy.

*THWACK*

Yet at just the right moment, the black knight ducked to the ground before kicking the flad side of the blade upward with such force that it caused the sword to dislodge from her hands and fall to the left right next to one of the containers. Mordred had been totally shocked by this, but then she wasted no more time and immediately went looking for it, ignoring her opponent.

Once ignored, Berserker rose from the ground and grabbed his weapon. Once he set his gaze on her, the latter was retrieving her sword, he raised the pole and pointed it towards his target. Everyone saw this action and suddenly figured out what he was up to. Especially Ichigo.

"Saber, watch out!" Ichigo yelled at the top of his lungs to warn his Servant.

But it was too late, since when Mordred took her sword and turned to where Berserker was, the latter threw the pole like a spear that traveled through the air like a projectile at full speed and its objective was the chest of the Knight of Treachery.

Luckily, Mordred managed to react in time and push her sword on guard to try to block the attack.

*CLANG*

Clarent managed to block the huge pole used as Berserker's improvised weapon and its user tried to stand trying to support the full weight of the launched projectile. However, the force exerted by the black knight along with the added weight of the pole was enough to break the red knight's strength that she could feel her shoulder explode. She cringed from the searing pain shooting though her shoulder down to her arm. It was thus that she gave in to power of Berserker's attack, trespassing the sword and impacting in the chest protected by the armored armor, and sending her flying until her crashed again on one of the containers.

Everyone looked on in shock as the red Saber received Berserker's devastating attack. Ichigo was totally horrified seeing this.

"SABEEEER!"

The minutes passed quickly as the smoke settle, and finally the form of the Knight of Rebellion could be seen lying seated like the other time, but in worse shape than before. Barely surviving, her armor had managed to block most of the impact but left a fatal dent that could have pierced through.

Her helmet had split and re-fused with the rest of the armor leaving her face exposed. The top of her head was bleeding heavily as crimson rolled down the side of her face. Her vision was blurry on the verge of unconsciousness, but she had managed to stay awake. How pathetic she thought. How was she supposed to acomplish her goals if she gets taken out like this? She was supposed to become a king, wasn't she? In a way this situation seemed almost familiar to her. It made her so mad she could spit blood. Ichigo tried to run over to help her but she waved him off, much to his surprise.

Ichigo could not believe what he was seeing. Here was his Saber, bleeding profusely and with one function arm, forcing herself to stand with the aid her blade for support, albeit limping a bit. She watched as the black knight walked to where she was standing in complete safety knowing that her opponent could no longer do much to defend herself.

Ichigo could not do anything except watch in frustration and despair, he hated this. He hated more than anything to be so helpless while others suffered. That feeling was very familiar to him and he had felt it on more than one occasion when that hollow attacked his family and seriously injured Rukia that night when he became a Shinigami for the first time. He had also felt it before when Orihime tried to help him while he was taking a good beating from Yammy (Arrancar number 10) and also when Rukia's chest had been impaled by Grimmjow in their first encounter.

He really hated doing nothing about it!

Berserker stood in front of a limping Mordred and this first grabbed his weapon ready to deliver the killing blow. Even in her last moments, the Knight of Rebellion did not look in fear towards her end, but in anger and frustration at losing in her first battle.

From a distance, both Uryū, Orihime and Kisuke also looked concerned at the scene and feared the end of Mordred. Immediately, Orihime was the first to get up with the intention of coming out of her hiding and desperately trying to save the blonde.

"Inoue-san!" Ishida exclaimed surprised by his friend's action.

"We have to save Saber-san!" She said with desperation and concern. "We can't leave her like this. She will die!"

The Quincy agreed that this had gone too far, and Mordred had already reached her limit, so she will could not be able withstand the next blow. He prepared a Ginrei Kojaku and aimed at the black knight ready to shoot and thus save the gravely wounded knight.

"Ishida-san." Urahara said suddenly as if it were a warning.

Ishida did not need to ask the blond Shinigami what he wanted to know, since he too knew the consequences well. Even if he managed to shoot to force the monster that was that Servant away from Saber, they would most likely become targets of his retaliation.

While his mission here was not to face the Servants because they are dangerous opponents, as they had just seen, but the situation demanded it and he could not sit idly by doing nothing.

With everything determined, he risked confronting that dark monster in order to save Mordred from certain death. However, before he could execute his attack, he suddenly saw something that he should have anticipated earlier. There on the pavement, a figure ran in a hurry to where the massacre was about to take place, and his eyes widened in surprise and horror as it immediately discovered who he was.

It was the red Saber's Master, Ichigo Kurosaki running like a madly towards Berserker in an attempt to stop it.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Screamed so loud for the black knight to hear, which he achieve. Everyone was freezing and saw puzzled the sudden action of the orange haired teenager, especially Mordred.

"Baka, stay back!" She tried to warn, but it was useless.

Berserker decided to ignore the other knight and focused on the stubborn boy approaching with no weapon in hand towards him and decided to push him out of the way. With that in mind, he set up the post like a big baseball bat. The world went completely deaf and in slow motion as everyone saw what was going to happen, and Ichigo seeing what was going to lay ahead, tried to avoid it, but it was too late when the blow came.

With a single jolt, Ichigo felt over a thousand sensations from where it had hit him and spread throughout his body, and they all felt like the same thing: pain and broken bones. The body of the teenager flew through the air several meters until crashing on the ground apparently lifeless.

A mixture of shock and disbelief had gripped those present upon witnessing the scene before their eyes, and they still could not believe what had just happened.

Uryū and Orihime could not help staring in horror at what happened, and although Uryū knew this could have happened, he simply had not seen it coming as he stared at his friend's corpse.

"KUROSAKIIII!"

I know this is a bit short, but that's how I decided to leave it; in a dramatic and tragic way.

Speaking of which, the last scene will surely you of a certain hero of justice who did practically the same thing to save his Servant from certain death. Well, in the following subsequent chapters you will see similar scenes.

Ja ne!