Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/ Stay Night or any other related properties. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Please Enjoy!
Chapter 31: Integra
Jondor's mansion was a wreck. Tables had been crushed, paintings were destroyed, and the walls had holes in them, almost as if people had been thrown through them. Not only that, but a dark aura hung in the air. It seemed to press down on the diviness with a heavy pressure that she hadn't felt in years.
A battle had taken place there.
Integra grit her teeth as she shuffled through the rubble. What had happened? Had Vollu attacked their master? The Overlord of this realm? If so, where were they now? Was the battle still going on? Vollu shouldn't have been able to stand against Jondor.
Integra sighed as she made her way to Jondor's audience chamber, where he held his more important meetings. Scorch marks scarred the walls and small slits had been gouged everywhere, evidence of sword cards being used.
When the diviness reached the chamber, she found that the doors had been blown off of their hinges and the inside of the room was in an even worse state than the rest of the mansion.
A giant hole had been blown into the ceiling to the point that there was nearly no ceiling at all and the walls around were crumbling, letting the eternal moonlight of the Diviner Realm pour in.
That's when she saw him.
Integra gasped as she caught sight of a shriveled body in the center of the room and ran towards it. His chest was still shakily rising and falling, indicating that he was still alive.
"Jondor!" She called out as she fell to her knees next to her fallen master. "What happened here?! Where's Vollu?"
The old man's eyes cracked open slightly. They were dull and clouded.
"Integra," he wheezed. "Is that you, my dear apprentice?"
"It's me, master!" Integra replied. Struggling to hold in her panic. "Where's Vollu?"
"He's...headed for...the children..." Jondor coughed, struggling to get his words out. "He means...to make...Ryan...suffer. You have...to stop him." More coughs wracked the man's body. "Ryan...is in more...danger...than we all...know."
"What do you mean!" Integra cried out.
"There's...no...time..." Jondor was fading fast. "You have...to go...to Ryan. He is...our only...hope..."
With that, Jondor's face went blank and his last breath left him.
A tear fell down the diviness's face as she closed her master's eyes.
Then she turned and ran out.
She needed to get back to her apprentice and the Tohsaka girl fast.
Rin sat by Blake as he sat in a meditative position. She had spent her time filling her gems with mana and crafting different combinations to use against Vollu.
As promised, she visited Blake in his inner world every ten minutes, spending a couple of days in there each visit. He was definitely stronger each time she visited despite the fact that the dilation had been slowed in his inner world.
In her eleventh and final visit to his inner world, before he would come out, she had become confident that he could now beat Vollu. No. Not could. Would. He would beat Vollu.
That was when she felt the house shake violently.
The magus's eyes went wide as she leapt to her feet. Not soon after the tremor, the door to their room was blown off of its hinges and was sent flying at her. The Tohsaka head threw up a gem shield and the door splintered into pieces on it.
And there, to her horror, standing in the doorway, was Vollu himself, with his usual sadistic grin.
"So this is where you two rats were hiding," he laughed. He then took in the sight of Blake meditating. "Ah, it seems I came at the most opportune time as well."
Rin stood in front of Blake with her gem shield still up. "Like I'd let you touch him."
Vollu rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Girl, we have already gone through this song and dance before. You may be clever, but you're no match for a Master of Arcana."
"That's what you think," Rin glared.
Vollu sighed in exasperation and sent a red sword flying at her.
Rin grinned. He had fallen for it. It was a little trick she had picked up from her servant in the previous grail war.
The sword sunk into the shield with no resistance, but as soon as it did, it shot out from the shield as if it were Rin's projectile.
Yet Rin's heart dropped when Vollu didn't even blink as he side-stepped and grabbed the sword by the handle.
"You really think I wasn't expecting that?" Vollu sighed. "And did you really think a cheap trick such as that would defeat me? How disappointing."
The diviner drew another card from his deck and held it forward.
"Burn those who stand in my way, Mastered Arcana: The Sun."
A continual blast of fire shot towards the shield, engulfing it. Slowly, the shield began to melt, since the blast was meeting itself at the surface of the shield.
Rin popped a sapphire gem in her mouth as the heat began to rise in the same fashion it had before. It was an aqua gem, meant to keep her hydrated during the extreme heat.
The blast died down and the remainder of Rin's shield melted to the ground and dispersed.
"Impressive," Vollu nodded. "You withstood my Sun card. But unfortunately for you, you've come to be an annoyance to me." The diviner drew two more cards. "Now die by True Enhancement."
The diviner shot towards the girl as she threw a gem at him. He dodged out of the way and the gem flashed behind him. As he got close, Rin threw up another gem shield, but Vollu knew her tricks now and flashed to the side of it, lifting Rin into the air by her throat.
"Any last words, little girl," he sneered.
"Yeah..." Rin struggled. "Just the one. Checkmate."
With that her body began to dissipate into mana.
Vollu's eyes went wide as he looked over to see that the real Rin had emerged from the gem her double had thrown earlier. The one that he had dodged. And this Rin had a gigantic gandr shot charged.
The mana condensed into a tiny ball and shot a concentrated black and red beam forward towards Vollu.
The diviner smiled and a pentacle shield came up to block him, but the beam pierced straight through and struck him along his left cheek.
Rin shakily fell to her knees. That last attack had drained her considerably.
Anger twisted the man's face as he touched his hand to his face. When he looked at his hand, blood covered it.
"You think you're so clever don't you?" Vollu shouted. "Well you're not! You did all that just to land a scratch. Well guess what! It was for nothing! Observe!"
Vollu drew a card and ten red swords formed. The diviner then held up his hand and swung it down, firing the swords in rapid succession.
Rin looked down and smiled.
A white and black pentacle shield came up in front of her and the swords stopped.
"Reverse fire," a familiar voice came from a familiar person as he landed next to her.
The red swords instantly turned white and black as they flipped around and shot at Vollu.
"Damn you, Ryan!" Vollu shouted as he dodged the blades. "You're always getting in the way!" The man then calmed himself. "But it matters not. You're the one I want to kill anyways."
"Sorry, Vollu," Blake said with a calm gaze. "But it is you who is going to die today."
"And what is it that you'll kill me with, boy," Vollu laughed.
Light and darkness erupted around Blake's body as his mana surged forward. One pure white wing and one pitch black wing spread from his back, creating a picture of grace, and when the diviner opened his eyes, one arched with black mana and the other with white.
It was the form he had scratched the surface of during his fight with the Observer. His Diviner Form.
Blake exploded forward like a flash of light and slammed a fist into Vollu's stomach, sending him flying backwards.
"You talk too much," Blake said calmly as he chased the older diviner.
"How quaint," Vollu snickered as Blake appeared above him and slammed his fist down into the man's face.
Vollu slammed into the ground, creating a fracture in the floor. Yet, Vollu stood up as if he hadn't been injured.
"Is that all from the "prodigy"," Vollu snickered.
Blake lunged at him again and swung, but Vollu ducked under the fist. Blake kicked, but the man jumped his legs over the blow. The younger diviner continued his onslaught, but Vollu ducked and dodged each strike as if it was moving in slow motion. This went on for several seconds, yet Blake couldn't land a single blow.
"You really are pathetic, Ryan!" Vollu laughed. "Did you really think that form was enough to defeat someone like me?"
Blake grit his teeth as he backed off. "No, but I had to try anyway."
Rin stared on with wide eyes. She had barely been able to keep track of the exchange. The two diviners had been moving so fast that she knew if she stepped in, it would not end well for her.
"I'm impressed, though," Vollu continued. "You managed to gain that form since the last time we fought, but it's not enough. Now let me show you what a true Diviner Form is like."
Red and black energy exploded around Vollu and he gazed upon the younger diviner with pure red eyes with blackened whites. Red energy flowed from the red part and Vollu vanished from sight, appearing right in front of Blake.
"Behold, the power of a Master of Arcana!" Vollu smiled as he slammed a fist into Blake's chest, sending the younger man crashing along the ground.
Blake felt the pain explode through his body, but pain was nothing to him now. He let the momentum carry him into a backwards roll and sprung back towards Vollu and began his barrage of blows. Yet, every time he struck, Vollu dodged and returned a strike. Blake managed to dodge most of them, but was still pegged with the occasional strike to the side or face.
Blake backed off, blood dripping from his nose and lip.
"Why'd you back away from me?" Vollu laughed. "I was just starting to warm up."
"I just answered the question I had before coming back here," Blake sighed.
"And what answer is that?" Vollu asked.
"That if I want to defeat you, I'll need that ability," Blake sighed.
"And what ability is that?" Vollu raised an eyebrow.
"That's simple," Blake smiled humorlessly. "The Divine Overdrive."
A/N: I felt bad for making you all wait so long for the last chapter, so here's another one to make up for it. I hope you all enjoy!