Here we go folks! The fated fight!
Chapter 62: The Battlefield
Both seemed to be equal in swordsmanship, despite the obvious difference of the blade they wield fervently. Nevertheless, the pragmatic Saber does not shy from using less graceful methods, such as an empowered punch, which Tohka found it difficult to counter and follow.
Tohka was accumulating more bruises and gashes beneath her Astral Dress than Saber Alter as they progressed their fight.
The earth shook once more as they brandished their blades against each other a thousand times within a fraction of a second.
Conflicting, unstable energies remained rampant among the atmosphere. Painting the dark sky with deep, bloody red hue.
*KKKZZZZZTTTTT*
A blast of dark energy appeared out of nowhere and a useless building toppled down.
Inverse Tohka hurriedly stepped as she avoided the dreaded blast, while blocking the majority with her trusty sword. The sword will be fine but her body is another issue.
Saber Alter just walked nonchalantly on a levelled ground, with Excalibur in her hand roaring with energies. Sharp, yellow eyes set on her front.
*WOOOOOOOSH*
With a cruel brandish, Saber cut down an incoming gale with sheer strength, revealing Inverse Tohka with an expression of shock. The gale has cleaned a meter of pavement before it was stopped by Saber herself.
"For a 'Demon King', your power is no more other than an excessive waste!" Saber declared as she used her Mana Burst cut down the distance between them.
*CRASH*
Her tremendous jump created a crater beneath her before she went off.
*SCREEECH*
Inverse Tohka was taken by surprise as she came face to face with Saber, their faces lightened by the brutal sparks from the friction caused by their blades clashing with each other.
*tch* The Demon King has difficulty maintaining her dominance against the Altered Saber. The impact continued them to be soaring toward the sky.
Saber's golden eyes scanned the face of the Inverse. "Too naive, for someone bearing this much power and hatred, you are too naive! " she declared. Tohka could only gritted her teeth in fury as she tried to remove herself away from the pale woman, but to no avail.
Saber Alter gladly took the initiative and began to push Tohka's sword away using her forearm guard, thus creating a violent reaction that exploded upon impact.
*BOOOOM*
Tohka was promptly thrown away from the explosion and was planted on the ground, creating another crater in her wake. As if the place itself was screwing her, nearby buildings collapsed toward her direction, burying her several miles deep in concrete and debris.
Saber Alter was standing on another abandoned building, her forearm whom she used to push away Inverse Toka was devoid of protection and instead presented a bruised afflicted on her skin.
Saber can regenerate her forearm guards on a whim but she found it little use against this kind of opponent who could obliterate anything in its path, just like her. Without further ado, she eventually shed her draconic armor in favor of speed and agility.
Hmmp, against this entity, her armor might not be far from useless but choose not to wield it this time. Make no mistake that she wasn't going to belittle her own opponent.
*CRACK*
Her draconic armor dissipated into wisps of mana, revealing a gothic black dress underneath. It might be far from worrying but her forearm hasn't healed back as fast as she thought so, a fitting concern that her opponent isn't someone to be underestimated. Nevertheless, she can still function as normal as she can.
*BZZZZTT*
A pillar of darkness erupted, amongst the hill of debris, creating a massive hole and when the pillar dissipated, it revealed a pissed off Tohka who was already wounded.
Saber Alter could only look in grim satisfaction below. It was obvious that this entity wasn't some kind of one-sided joke that easily gave up in some kind of sparring session.
Their sharp eyes met against each other and the spirits began anew. If Tohka wanted to end this farce right here and right now, then she must summon her strongest attack. Luckily, she has enough strength to do so.
Amidst the ruin, a mystical throne suddenly sprung up from the void beside Tohka and upon fully summoning it, destroyed it with one slash.
Now, Saber understood that it was some kind of preparation for Tohka's greatest attack so far. If this is Tohka's version of powerful 'Noble Phantasm', why didn't she stop her midway? Because she was thrilled, she hated her pale self that she was thrilled to contest her Excalibur Morgan against that sword.
Tohka's sword is now several meters longer than her height, thanks to the shattered pieces of the throne that added [ Nehemah ]'s destructive potency. She couldn't hide her deathly smirk, hoping-, no, believing this will eradicate that annoying pale woman that kept on playing with her.
She had promptly forgotten the boy whom she vowed to kill after, and was now obsessed with destroying Saber. How unfortunate it is.
She will never forgive or forget, and with her [ Paverschlev ]. Nothing can stop her.
The look of an unimpressed stare from Saber would only further irritate Tohka. It seemed that Saber too was preparing to unleash her own version of a powerful attack, as her own sword was now violently raging with dark aura more than ever.
"Throw me your strongest attack, oh naive and imbecile entity!" Saber's strong voice reached Tohka, who was now visibly furious at Saber's taunt. "Let us see who is the strongest of us two!" Saber declared.
Saber knew that in terms of raw power, Tohka easily overwhelmed her by a small margin that alone isn't enough to deter the tides of this battle. Her Excalibur raged as its excited, black flames grew in size.
Tohka was now preparing for her finale, as she was about to swing that gigantic blade toward the Pale Saber.
[ Paverschlev ]!
*KABOOOOM*
Huge wave of dark energies travelled toward Saber, as it destroyed everything in its path. Tohka smirked as there is no way that pale woman can avoid it anymore.
She could feel it, the victory is hers….
Only that Saber retorted too in similar fashion as she swung her sword in all her might.
[ Excalibur Morgan ]!
An opposite wave of disastrous large dark beam shot against the wave, each clashing against each other in terms of strength.
*KABOOOOM*
Another explosion that could make anyone deaf within its range. The mixture of both unstable energies that came from either blade was too much for the place to bear.
The result? A mute immense explosion comparable to a nuclear blast. The blast radius completely flattened the area into a disastrous wasteland.
Luckily the minute explosion was tightly sealed by a barrier erected by Ritsuka's Servants and thus, has managed to contain it before it could spread out. Still, it was a considerable effort to do so upon a large amount of land.
Even from a considerable distance, the contained explosion still shook the Fraxinus ship itself. It took them a minute to stabilize their ship from the pulse. Still experiencing the power of a Spirit still scared them to the core.
Inside the medical bay, Shidou was lying peacefully on their bed. The bay was currently unguarded by the other staff as they were busy observing the fight to the core.
Little did they know that it was already infiltrated by a somewhat familiar but mysterious entity who had observed the boy from afar since the day he discovered he could seal the Spirit… no, beyond that.
Her ghostly veil was draped above the boy's vulnerable body as she observed him pitifully. Well, so far no one can detect the anomaly currently inside the ship, as the violent energies outside just made their detectors overwhelmed for a full time, one that this entity took advantage of.
She could have remained at the distance, quietly observing the boy for the whole time but no, she did not. She could have quietly ignored the whole situation but no, her instincts told her to check upon the boy personally and give him a worthy chance.
If only she could laugh. Yes, she was aware she will be in an elaborate trap sooner or later as long as she continues to meddle right now. She might have been a creature of logic but the sight of the pitiful body of the boy just made her decisive.
Yes, she can't avoid the trap but at least she would be a great help to the boy.
Amidst the dark room, the mysterious entity was the only who was glowing. Nearer and nearer, her face was near the ears of the boy, slightly illuminating his face.
"Tell me, do you want to save her?"
Upon that question, the boy whom she referred to as Shin opened his eyes from a fleeting dream. There's no need to answer that question; as long as there is a chance, no doubt he will try to grab at his own will.
Then the door suddenly opened.
The lights suddenly flooded the whole room and in came Reine with a teddy bear inside her breast pocket. She was here to check upon Shin's body condition inside the medical bay.
...but to her grim surprise, Shin was nowhere to be seen and the bed was empty. Unless Shin could have a reason to hide himself in the room then she has no choice but to report to the Captain that he was missing.
The only sound then was the beeping sound of a machine and the fading sound of the heels by a woman in a hurry.
She hoped that the Captain would take ease upon this emergency.
Mashu suddenly kneels down due to exhaustion. The range of her protective Noble Phantasm might have been amazing but it's another issue if she was trying to contain two powerful unstable individuals inside fighting each other at their content.
Make no mistake that she still has the willpower to maintain her Noble Phantasm.
Luckily, aside from her defensive barrier, Circe was also supplying Magecraft to further reinforce Mashu while at the same time layering the barrier with another defensive seal.
"Mashu, are you alright?"
"Don't worry about me, Master." Mashu tried to ease her own Master but found it very difficult to do so.
Having no other choice, Ritsuka could only push the shield straight while letting Mashu's weight dumped on her.
"M-Master!?" Mashu could only blushed when Ritsuka was near her.
Ritsuka could only smile sourly. "I am so sorry that I can't let you have to put down the shield… the least I could do is to support you." she can feel her shame creeping upon her cheeks.
Mashu doesn't care whether her body is weakening right now, because she has too, as long as she has her Senpai, she would never fail. Even without any explanation, she was willing to do so for the sake of her Senpai. "Don't worry Senpai~! I-I can do this all day!" She tried to cheer her Senpai as much as she could.
Ritsuka could only nod at her persistence and continued supporting Mashu. Even though she has wielded the shield once, the weight of that shield was still too much to bear for the Master, to the point she questioned herself how she managed to beat up Goetia using that shield.
Ritsuka believed as long as the shield remained erect, Mashu's Noble Phantasm would remain steadfast. It should be because they should contain all of the unstable, dangerous energies inside the sealed area.
Inverse Tohka suddenly jolted out from her sudden slumber. Her eyes were still particularly blurry but she can tell that she was lying among the dust and concrete.
Her astral dress looked worse than she could imagine, it was just enough to protect her from a huge explosion to the point it was literally in tatters and barely covered her curvaceous body, not that she didn't mind though.
She tried to move but found her joints and muscles too weak, even wiggling her fingers were too much of a task.
All she could do was laugh terribly. There is no doubt that the pale woman couldn't survive this encounter. Her chest rose up and down in difficulty as she tried to take in air.
She laughed so loud that she didn't notice someone was approaching her. That's when she realized who it was when the feeling of dread came setting in.
Just like Inverse Tohka, Saber Alter too survived the inevitable blast. Her clothing was in complete disaster too, revealing a smooth skin smothered with cuts and bruises all over; her supple breast was barely covered by her own cloth and she wasn't complaining. Unlike her, Saber has the strength to walk and heck, still has the discipline to walk gallantly as how the knight walked.
It is obvious who is the winner of the battle and yet, Artoria Alter wanted to make sure.
Tohka could only grit her teeth in her own failure and slowly replaced by fear and dread when Saber was now overshadowing her.
The pale woman was indeed strong!
Then she found herself crying… why was she crying? Why is her cheeks now wet? It only made her more baffled than ever.
Saber materialized her Excalibur and pointed it toward Tohka's neck.
"Yield." Out of her broken, bloodied lips Artoria announced toward Tohka. She knew no matter how broken her opponent's body is, this kind of opponent is unwilling to admit defeat to the point of being helpless… surely, giving her peace was the only option to ease this reminder.
Tohka was somehow crying all over and as long as she doesn't give her the definite answer, Artoria wouldn't be deterred by Tohka's emotions alone. Saber was determined that this is the right way, killing Tohka right here and right now would reduce the risk of a Spirit in berserk.
...and seeing that Tohka was still in the state of inversion after subduing her, perhaps, this is her act is tantamount to mercy.
Saber was about to push the blade into her neck-
Are you willing to save her?
A mysterious voice interrupted her thoughts and made Saber hesitate for a moment. If Saber was annoyed that she was disturbed by some kind of voice that didn't came from her Master, if she wanted to finish this job, better do it right now-
Yes! I will save her!
Saber barely pushed the blade when it was obvious someone was in front of her blocking Tohka from her sight. the tip of her blade nipped the chest of Shidou, who bravely did not utter any words, despite his chest now bleeding.
If Saber wanted it too, she could just push the sword into Shidou, killing Tohka as well and call it a day but she found herself unable to kill a human, so she retracted her blade away and dematerialized it.
Nevertheless, Saber was infuriated that she couldn't finish off her opponent.
"You dare to interrupt?"Saber threatened Shidou as she grasped his collar and raised him up as easily as she could above the ground. Still, Shidou was unperturbed by her action. He wasn't worried for his own life, he was worried for Tohka, no matter how different she is.
"P-please do not kill her! She's my responsibility!" Shidou declared with no hesitation. He was grasping against her hand for easing his breathing. Aside from what he has said, he has no other words to comply.
All he can do now was to stare at her fiercely, and show that his resolve was as strong as it should be.
"tch!" Saber can't even try to argue with this boy anymore as it was true that this boy was akin to her opponent's 'Master'. As decisive as she was, she was now hesitant to do her own will. Eventually, she dropped him down with a thud and telepathically told her Master that she was now done.
She must have kept it to herself that she wasn't in some kind of a normal Holy Grail War, where all opponents should die.
Regrettably nothing else to do here, Saber began to leave the premise with an unsatisfied bloodlust, with the barriers slowly dissipating. She then leaves the two of them on their own, not caring whether the boy would be killed indiscriminately by the Inverse Spirit… or if by chance a miracle would happen, no one is going to die.
However, one thing that boggles her mind…
How did that boy manage to get inside the barrier?
Shidou faced Tohka once more, who was evidently crying and sobbing for a reason. Seeing this pitiful nature, he instinctively hugged her.
"I-It's alright." Shidou assured her with a broken voice.
Inverse Tohka was taken by surprise when she felt his embrace and surprisingly, she found some strength to push him away gently, no matter how familiar his embrace is. At this point, she now stopped crying.
"Y-you!" She remembered him; the one she was supposed to kill. Unfortunately, she has no strength to do so.
Shidou was happy that somehow Tohka remembered him after her inversion. "Y-you remember me, Tohka-chan?"
Tohka could feel it, her head turning gears at the mention of his name but to no avail. "You are the one who I need to kill!"
Shidou wasn't even surprised at her threat and it doesn't help that Tohka was still teary-eyed. "W-what are you trying to say, Tohka-chan?"
Inverse Tohka tried to move but to no avail; she was too wounded and exhausted to even move a finger.
Shidou knew that Tohka must not need to move due to her current condition but he felt dumb that this is his first time he noticed that she was barely cloth, and thus, redness bloomed on his cheeks.
Perhaps he subconsciously prioritized the welfare of Tohka chan before her decency and so he removed his own coat, whom he realized he was wearing recently, and placed it on Tohka's body.
Tohka flinched when the coat was placed on her chest. She was promptly confused and bewildered that the boy wasn't even trying to kill him after confessing her motives.
"P-please don't move… you are hurt." He explained. It was obvious that he was worried over her, much to Tohka's dismay. Luckily, his earpiece was still inside of his pocket.
Upon putting the little device in his ear, he was met with a barrage of angry noises, which made him flinch instinctively and was temporarily deaf.
"Where the heck did you go! You were literally gone from the medical bay!"
"E-easy there, Kotori-chan..." Shidou explained while maintaining a distance toward the earpiece. Kotori's rather vicious loud voice left a ringing in his ear and even at a considerable distance away from his face, he could still hear her vicious ramblings.
"I don't even know how I got here…." He admitted.
Bravely, Shidou neared the device near to my ear, just enough to understand what she was trying to say.
"Well, the barrier was slowly dissipating and we could now pick up some signal from the area… it literally looked like a battlefield." Kotori defined what she was seeing on the video feeds.
Shidou looked up, wondering where the hell the Fraxinus is currently on standby. He then waved his arms trying to get the attention of the invisible ship… somewhere.
"B-baka! We could literally see there-... is that Tohka-chan?" Kotori behind the lines could recognize Tohka, who was still inversed.
Shidou only looked back to see Tohka was now standing, her only covering which is Shidou's coat has been abandoned to the ground. He froze when Tohka was looking straight to his own eyes. He found it very hard to look away.
"Tohka-chan?" Shidou was innocently unaware of what Inverse Tohka was trying to do.
"You want your Tohka back, right?" Tohka questioned him vaguely and the way she didn't even flinch from her question means that she was very serious about it.
"W-what are you talking about?!" Shidou's cheeks were now red as beet.
Tohka immediately grasped his collar and pulled him closer to her own cheeky face. It doesn't even help that Tohka was barely covered by her own astral dress and that his own body was touching each other boldly.
Tohka was visibly aware of it and took advantage of it by pulling him closer to his face while grinning. Teasing Shidou might be fun after all.
This made Shidou flabbergasted.
"Tohka-chan! You need to be treated first!" He reasoned while not struggling to avoid looking at her exposed body.
"I know your tricks, boy! Kissing me will go away. Why didn't you take advantage of it?!" Tohka was visibly enraged and then just calmed later on.
"But we needed to treat you first!" In order to stop the boy talking nonsense, Tohka flared her angry eyes.
"I want out!" She demanded.
Tohka didn't retort anymore and then just straight dunk her lips into Shidou, biting his lips in the process.
Shidou didn't expect for Tohka to be so confrontal of her sealing even though they haven't even dated which is his general knowledge before sealing but the fact that it seemed to be working right now is mind-boggling.
Eventually, a soft glow coalesced into the air.
A mysterious being was floating in the sky, being considered a witness to the entire phenomenon. Below, the ship Fraxinus was unaware of the entity above them because they were focused on Shidou for the moment.
Slowly, a scarlet void ripped from the sky and was near the being, whom she just ignored. Out came the hole first was a hand and later it was revealed it was the Alter Ego herself, the Bodhisattva. Kiara already informed her Master that she will be going somewhere after her stunt that involves saving Shidou.
"Oh my, such a nice surprise seeing you..." Kiara mocked her accompanied by a soft chuckle. Currently, Both the mysterious being and Kiara were alone in the sky floating. The void which she used has now disappeared.
Nevertheless, the being just outright ignored her and just continued observing below the ground, as if she wasn't aware that Kiara was just right beside.
Kiara just frowned. "How rude! A quiet one whom I'm currently facing… that's just so annoying." Slowly, she approached the currently benign entity.
The self-restrained Beast then chuckled. "Hmmm, I did not expect a mysterious being bent on assisting cute Shidou-kun, huh?"
Again, the entity remained unresponsive.
"I do expect some chase and fights upon arriving here but seeing you leaving yourself to fate was rather too amusing… very well, I guess I could tell you a little secret."
Kiara eventually grasped whom she assumed the shoulders of the said entity, which poked her attention at the moment. "Do you know how much chaos I must have incurred before I can poke your attention? and I must say it was all worth it!" she smiled in the worst way possible to the point even the mysterious being was creeped by it.
and suddenly, something struck behind [Phantom], rendering her whole world dark.