Chapter 177

Once Avenger and Saber were separated by only two flights of stairs, she stopped in place, standing motionlessly on the stone landing. Clouds passed in front of the moon, shrouding both Saber and Avenger in shadows. Silence reigned in the darkness, the two warriors not so much as giving the slightest twitch, eyes staring unblinkingly straight at their opponent.

Then the moon shone once more, igniting the start of a long night.

With a thunderous crash that shook the trees, sending dead leaves flying in every direction and outright disintegrating the ones too close, the swords of the two knights met, each packing enough force to flatten a car and send it flying up a skyscraper. Saber possessed the advantage of height, pressing down on Avenger's sword and utilizing the power of gravity, but to Saber's horror, it was far from enough. A mere second passed, and she was pushed back explosively, her body sent crashing into the top of the temple gate. Shingles shattered into fine dust as they met her armour, the symmetrical structure now sporting an unseemly crater in the middle. Then as Avenger leapt up to press the attack, she was forced back by three sets of golden rings that rippled at the edges, releasing small waves of golden light that gave off an air of instability as they closed in on Avenger. They came within inches of slicing into Avenger's arms, legs and waist, the distortions in the air created by them kissing her skin.

A few generous applications of Mana Burst later, she was floating in the air above the golden rings, the stone stairs below sporting twin craters side by side from the pulse of force that easily demolished the stairs which had stood there before the current head of the Ryuudou Temple was born. Avenger hung in the air next to the treetops, sword already parrying the first of the golden rings as they zipped upwards at a sharp ninety degree angle the moment Avenger repositioned, unaffected by the released mana. Skating across the length of her blade as she deflected it off to her right, she held it parallel against her shoulder and body as she tucked her elbow in away from the edge to allow the second ring to hit, then in one fluid motion, the blade was swung in a clockwise arc from the back of her shoulder to the third ring, batting away as it cut below her feet that she raised slightly to just avoid it. The fourth was batted in a similar manner, though in the opposite direction, the sword going from bottom to top instead of top to bottom, and then the fifth and sixth ring clashed against her blade as they bit into her steel fiercely, two buzzsaws chewing away with high-pitched metallic shrieks against Clarent held horizontally against her body in front to block them.

Despite being mid-air with virtually nothing to provide leverage against, Avenger was able to spin her entire body, her biceps and pectorals straining as prana flowed into them, reinforcing beyond the ken of normal Servants. With one almighty swing, she twisted her body and sent the last two rings flying straight past her, letting them meet the other four rings that were boomeranging to her back after she had deflected them. The four gold discs met each other with a dismal screech which was sure to make the monks run to their doorstep if they hadn't been put to sleep, and several birds left their roost, disturbed by the haunting noise. Caster's rings exploded, raining fine golden dust on Avenger in the aftermath, but she didn't stick around to look at the spectacle.

A shadow-like blur crossed the gap between Saber and Avenger, and then Avenger was there, locking blades with Saber once more. Only this time, Saber was standing toe to toe with her, not giving even an inch against the brutal strength pressing down on her from Clarent. Seeing that the bladelock wouldn't get her anywhere, Avenger released one hand and thrust a fist towards Sabers midsection, casually keeping the pressure on Saber's sword with the other. The dress fluttered into the air as Saber's knee thrust upwards to intercept the blow, hammering the hard metal bulb that covered her knee into Avengers wrist, where there was thinner material to maintain the flexibility of her hands. But instead of hearing a satisfying crunch, she felt the cold grip of Avenger's hands clamp around her knee, her armour creaking under the tight grasp.

Shi-

Going into overdrive, she reinforced her sole leg still left as much as she could, practically pumping gallons of prana into it along with Caster enchanting her body to withstand the pressure and increase her durability. As a result, when Avenger tried to throw her and slash her in the process, in the milliseconds before the action was attempted, she pushed against the stone her right leg was standing one, deep cracks spiralling outwards from a foot-shaped imprint on the stone tiles, and then she sank a whole inch downwards. With her strength at its peak, she snapped her leg upwards in a kick that broke the sound barrier.

With little warning, Avenger was sure to be caught by the supercharged kick, or so Saber thought. Instead, the warrior bent her back so fast she was already halfway to the ground by the time Saber's leg started to rise from the hole it had made in the ground, her body going into an upside down U that let the lightning bolt of metal and flesh shoot past her navel into empty air. The wind almost rocked her off balance and tumbling down the stairs, pushing her entire body off the ground as her feet left the stone by inches, but in that moment she still had her grip on Saber's knee, and she used that to her advantage. Withdrawing her sword hand, she tugged on the knee, hard.

It didn't take a genius to realize that Avenger was trying to use Saber as an anchor to stop from being blown off her feet while simultaneously forcing her to defend as she pulled Saber towards the descending blade that was chipped and cracked in so many places. Unable to respond any faster after overcommitting on the kick, she raised Excalibur and blocked the cut, gritting her teeth as her entire body shook. Air exploded outwards from the point of contact, the blow resounding all the way to Shirou's side of the hill, where he had heard the screech of Caster's rings earlier as well.

The two of them effectively hung in mid-air just inches above the staircase as they glared into each others eyes, blades vying against one another for dominance, one with the Mana Burst running at full tilt with blessings of Vivian and the protection of Around Avalon assisting her, the other with pure raw strength that stepped beyond the boundaries of god's and men when against an Artoria. Gravity took hold, and eking out another Mana Burst on top of everything she was already using, Saber managed to just position herself slightly over Avenger so that when they fell to the ground, she was pushing downwards with the momentum aiding her.

Unfortunately, this was far from enough to help her. Avengers blade remained like a stone statue, unyielding and unmoving. The moment her back touched the ground, she released her grip from Saber's knee, used a two-handed grip on Clarent, and pushed against Saber. With nothing to brace against, Saber went rocketing into the sky, shooting past the gate, the treetops, the fleeing birds and higher into the air until a speck in the sky was all that she was. It didn't do any direct harm to her besides perhaps the air pressure popping in her head and ears, but it definitely got her out of the way.

As Saber flew into the air, a small part of her mind mused on the fact that Avenger felt completely different from the Mordred she knew during her lifetime. Rather than relying on just raw instinct and animalistic strength to pull off great feats of combat, Avenger was instead calculating every move ahead of time, showing much more restraint than Saber was used to. Her reflexes and strength were top notch, and combined with the more refined style of combat that she showed, it was hard to get a grasp on what she was about to do, unpredictable in a different way than the Mordred of her past had been when she fought against her own daughter.

The intent to kill was still there though, just distilled into a finely honed edge instead of radiating off her whole body like heat.

With nothing standing in her way anymore, Avenger rolled onto her feet and catapulted into the open gate, her blade descending on Caster faster than a guillotine, the jagged edge of severed steel meeting the soft fabric that covered her shoulder. The cloak gave way as easily as butter against a hot knife, the sword sinking in to meet her skin. Then it stopped dead in its tracks.

At that exact moment, the mana capsules spaced around Caster lit up and released their contents in an explosive manner. A pillar of pulsing blue light wreathed in white bolts of energy tinged with azure rose into the sky, becoming a beacon of magical energy that could be easily detected for miles around. When the mana decayed, Caster didn't hesitate to thrust her staff into the ground, focusing her Circuits into Chastiefol as it hastened to obey her orders, lines of energy erupting from the ground and rumbling towards the center of the trap that she had prepared.

It was unfortunate that Avenger had already anticipated such a move, using the pillar as a smokescreen to move out of Caster's range, weathering the explosion and then swerving all the way to the left just outside of Caster's field of vision. When Caster caught sight of Avenger again, it was already too late. Her presence was right next to her, the blade bearing down on her waist. Caster could only shift her staff slightly to her right before Clarent edge but into her flesh, cutting cleanly through the scabbard on the back of her waist.

Again, the sensation of an invisible barrier protecting Caster's body could be felt, but this time instead of aiming to cut through, Avenger instead put in more effort and pushed with her blade, grinding it against the unseen wall between her steel and Caster's skin. There was no contest in the strength between the two, even with all the enchantments Caster could cast, and before she could blink the blonde haired Servant was sent flying, the surroundings turning into a blur as she was launched out the gate faster than a racecar. A roar of wind ripped through the temple as Avenger followed Caster, chasing after her with no intention of letting up. But as her head passed the threshold of the gate, she found herself having to block an invisible blade that hammered into Clarent and would have cut deeply into her shoulder if she hadn't sensed it in time. Her momentum was enough to push back the attacker, but Caster was spared from a third blow as Saber defended her .

Before she rose too far away from the ground, Saber was caught by the portal that Caster had created in time to catch her, the murky pine colored ripples with black patches appearing in mid-air as a ring of pointed tips poked out of the rim of the portal, copies of the catalyst Carnwennan that allowed her to cast the spell. Though she was unable to perform such a feat outside of the Around Avalon, within the Bounded Field she could bend the rules enough to enhance Carnwennans shadow-shifting properties, allowing a semi-teleportation to take place with a human, Servant or animal as long as there were shadows around, in this case on Saber's back with the moon shining above her. With her back shadowed, it became a possible point of entry, and Saber was dumped back to the stairs of Ryuudou Temple.

From the shadow of Avenger cast by the moon, turquoise lances of unknown material shot out of the black surface, now rippling like water tinted green. The greaves she wore remained unpierced, but they encircled her legs in a way that kept her rooted in place, preventing her from taking another step. At the same time, Saber unleashed the scabbard that cloaked her blade when Avenger wrested free of her bindings, the four winds blasting free from their prison as Saber released the cage holding them. Ultra-high pressure air that twisted light and hid the blade burst forth in a cone, enveloping Avenger with the force of a mini F-5 tornado.

"Strike Air!"

The Hammer of the Wind King did it's job, blowing back Avenger into the boundaries of the temple, she found herself under bombardment from a trio of swords that were disproportionately wide, a fat width decorated with ornamental designs that one would expect to see on a ceremonial sword. It was far from practical to use in hand-to-hand combat, with more effectiveness as a club than a sword. But with Caster's usage as catalysts, they became bombs that unleashed magical fury on Avenger. Streaming golden light bathed the Servant as each catalyst fired away with abandon, striking her and the ground indiscriminately as the air became saturated with power, the ground shaking from the heavy strike. Saber could feel the trembling from her toes, the temple creaking with the vibrations. Then it was over.

Unsummoning the Marmyadose trio, Caster floated up behind Saber as they peered in at the crater the central courtyard of the temple was now sporting.

*KAN*

The next thing Saber knew, she was driven into the ground, her face full of stone, dust and dirt. She could feel the force of Clarent on her back, breaking her armour like eggshells and pushing her down, but her body remained untouched even with the monstrous strength Avenger was exhibiting. Spinning to the side, the Servant dodged as Caster sent more spells flying at her, performing several acrobatic rolls, flips and cartwheels as each bolt of colored energy and projectiles flew past her with millimeters to spare. Behind, the temple was protected by shadow portals that sucked in all the missed shots, regurgitating them out at Avenger from different angles as they surrounded her from all sides.

It wasn't enough, but Saber was able to extract herself from the ground by the time Avenger had escaped the spells and started charging at Caster. As the Magic Core started burning, courtesy of the startup energy provided through the local ley lines with Caster's help, her muscles flexed as she channeled several gems worth of prana into a Mana Burst as she met Avenger's blade, the chipped steel caught by the exposed blade of Excalibur, dimly reflecting the moonlight off it's mirror finish. Using Excalibur as a springboard, Avenger pushed off it and spun the other way, rotating her entire body before Saber could react and launching a devastating blow with the flat of her blade that lifted Saber into the air like a baseball and a bat, swinging hard for a home run as Saber once more sailed into the air unwillingly. The tiles broke beneath Avenger's feet, but she could care less as she continued to stomp forward one step, cracking the floor and propelling her forwards at Caster.

By this point, it was obvious to Avenger that there was some kind of defensive spell protecting the two Servants, and it was at a level where she couldn't even begin to hope to scratch their flesh, much less harm them, though their apparel seemed to be unaffected by the protection. This invulnerability was most likely the work of Caster, so she made it a priority to focus the diminutive girl with the staff as she worked to get Saber out of the way and drag the magus out of the territory she had set up as her Workshop. Or Temple. Whatever it was, as long as she could force Caster out of it's range, the effect would likely disappear, from there onwards it would be significantly easier to harm them. It was either that, or she exhausted Caster's supply of energy, though with the leylines supporting her it would be difficult to say the least. Instead, it was easier to burn her out by forcing her to channel the vast amount of mana required to maintain the enchantment protecting the two. It was no small effort to cast it on one person, let alone two, and she was sure the fatigue was going to show sooner or later the longer the fight dragged on.

While Saber and Caster were invulnerable, Avenger herself possessed a level of hardiness and endurance that no other Servant was able to match. Even after receiving Strike Air head-on and flash burned by the mana pillar from the exploding capsules, she sustained few injuries, and her strength was hardly touched in the few minutes of combat they had engaged in. If it was a battle of attrition, she had a chance of victory as well.

While Caster retrieved Saber from the air again, she focused her defenses against Avenger, throwing everything she had as the juggernaut charged at her. She could feel the heated glare resting on her as the black knight dove through slashing blades of golden prana and countless turquoise spears that split the air, cutting through the obstacles and weaving an path unseen by all but herself through the sweeping clouds of deadly projectiles. Chastiefol shone with brilliant azure light as Caster pulled from every offensive spell in her repertoire, doing her best not to damage the temple too much while piling on a dense assault on her opponent.

Despite her best efforts, her maze of spells and prana blasts barely held back Avenger for less than half a minute, the tip of Clarent piercing the haze of energy that surrounded her, than the rest of the body coming through as Avenger tanked several shots coming at her to advance on Caster. Magic Resistance blunted the force of the blows, and Caster gritted her teeth as she shifted into a melee stance while Avenger rushed at her.

"HAH!"

Letting out a spirited shout, she thrust her staff between herself and Avenger at the last second, the shock of the blow sending her tumbling head over heels that she converted into a rolling dodge when Clarent was brought down on her body three times in quick succession, smashing three divots into the stone. Straightening up, she thrust the staff at Avenger as Carnwennan pierced from all sides, constricting the Servants movements for Caster to unleash a blast of mana from the tip of her staff, before scattering mana capsules in the air and firing at one to spark off a chain reaction of explosions around Avenger. It didn't do much as Avenger broke free quite quickly, evading most of the attacks while what little that did hit were greatly reduced in power by her innate resistance, but she was unable to catch hold of Caster as she slipped through a shadowy portal and disappeared while Avenger was preoccupied.

Where is Saber?

Caster wondered as she crouched on the roof tiles above the temple, doing her best to remain hidden as she remotely activated spells to attack Avenger while she set up a stealth spell with the dagger floating next to her as a catalyst. Without any sound, she was wrapped in the shadows by Carnwennan, disappearing as the darkness lengthened around her, muting her presence and disguising her mana signature. With that done, she sent out her magical senses in search of Saber. What she found made her frown.

Two Servants?

One was definitely Saber, but the other was so weak and...diluted, for a lack of a better word, that the presence would barely qualify as a Servant. Was it another enemy? A concerted attack with Avenger? If so, then who was it? She couldn't quite tell the newcomer's identity, and it was a mystery why Saber hadn't repelled her when the newcomer felt so weak, like a phantom barely tethered to the world. A stiff breeze felt like enough to defeat the Servant, but at least Saber didn't seem to be in any danger.

Abruptly, she rolled to the side as a rusted, jagged piece of steel stabbed straight through the roof she had been crouching on a second ago. Slipping off the roof, streaks of golden light covered her back as she dashed away from Avenger, Spumador proving too fast for Avenger to dodge, but at the same time inflicting little more than skin-deep pinpricks on her. Undaunted by the lightning fast arrows piercing her, Avenger leaped off the roof and gave chase.

In response, Caster levelled one of her stronger catalysts at her, making sure to aim from an upward angle from the ground to the sky as a familiar sword appeared in front of Avenger. The brilliance of the Sun lit up the small confines of the temple, turning night into day as temperatures skyrocketed on the top of the mountain, melting snow and burning stone.

It may have been the sister sword of Excalibur, but Galatine surpassed it in sheer destructiveness. Whereas Excalibur fired off a concentrated beam of ether that possessed great penetrating power, Galatine was a spreading flame that consumed everything in its path. As Avenger knew very well, having faced off against the wielder before during her life. She was given a grim reminder once more of why it took her so long to secure victory against that annoying show-off who was known as 'Knight of the Sun'. Torrents of fire licked Avenger's body, Caster taking the effort to tighten the area of effect and focus the flames into a pillar instead of letting it release as an omnidirectional blaze. The black figure became lost within the orange flames, her outline fading into the twisting cyclone of heat.

Ten more seconds passed as Caster sustained the roaring inferno, and then she released it, certain that Avenger at the very least, had to have had her armour charred black by now. Or blacker than it was before, at any rate. She was rewarded with the sight of Avenger kneeling on the molten stone, her knees sinking slightly in the soft ground as she remained in that position motionless, the armour and clothes all damaged to the point that only her armour and certain bits of clothing strategically covering her were left. Her skin was stained with black soot, and Caster could see what looked like inflamed skin at the center of her body, angry red patches swelling on the scarred skin. She only realized now that there was an inordinate amount of scars and old wounds criss-crossing her skin, turning her body into a criss-crossing pattern of lines.

It seemed to have been effective to some extent, as Avenger slowly got back to her feet. The attack was enough to overwhelm her resistance, finally feeling her injuries for the first time. Though Caster was starting to feel the strain of maintaining her Noble Phantasm on four people at once, with the additional mana expenditure of the spells and catalysts she had summoned during the fight, if something on the level of Galatine was able to work on Avenger, then she could probably manage to bring her down if she managed to hit her a few more times with a similar attack.

"How long do you plan on resisting your fate?"

Caster blinked upon hearing Avenger's voice for the first time, addressing her directly.

"What do you mean?"

Avenger raised her head to look at the girl, younger than her with the physical container that she had been granted. Lifting her injured body off the ground, Avenger straightened her back and pulled Clarent out of the place where it had stabbed into the ground next to her.

"You will die at my hands, father. What you did couldn't be forgiven, and you will always hold the potential to act out the same things you did back then."

Caster stared in confusion, but she assumed it had to be something from Avenger's past that made her what she was.

"I'm not the father you knew, and most likely will never be. There's no meaning in killing me."

Avenger moved forward, dragging the tip of her broken sword against the warped tiles that were rapidly cooling down and solidifying. The rattle of the metal against stone was irritating, but the sounds of steel clashing at the stairs where Saber and the enemy were fighting were louder still. Caster looked at Avenger fixedly, ignoring everything else besides the constant support of her protection afforded by her Noble Phantasm. There was a strange sense of dissonance in her mind regarding Avenger, and though the desire to kill her was there, the universal hate that she'd expected to feel from a Servant wholly focused on revenge just wasn't there. Mordred herself was incredibly cold and level-headed, her fighting cold and precise.

Instead of answering with words, Avenger replied by rushing forward and swinging her sword at Caster. The magus retreated through a portal, another barrage of spells bombarding Avenger again before the portal could even close.

She's not going to catch me with just that.

So far, while Avenger had displayed incredible durability, agility and strength, not to mention her uncannily accurate instincts and senses, she hadn't really displayed anything beyond that, with little abilities used besides Mana Burst, something that Saber and Caster had already expected from her. Caster was thankful for that, since it meant she had less to worry about from collateral damage, making her job of protecting the temple itself and its inhabitants easier, with the majority of the firepower focused on herself, but she couldn't help but worry. What kind of cards was Avenger concealing up her sleeve?

Outside the temple gates, on the stairs where Avenger had passed through, Saber growled in frustration as she plucked the cards from her arms, ducking under a flurry of exploding red rectangles as she endeavoured to get closer to the zombified Ruler, to no avail. As Ruler lurched away from her with unsteady feet that miraculously didn't trip herself, a continuous stream of cards pelted Saber like rain, though they didn't do much more beyond slowing down her progress and forcing her to block. It would take some time for the playing cards to wear her down, and while in contrast Saber could easily cut down Ruler with one stroke of her sword, but the problem was that she couldn't.

Sacrificing all of the remaining Command Seals seared onto her back in one go, Ruler sealed off a large portion of Saber's strength, layering the same command 'slow down' several times, 'do not touch Ruler' and 'stand still'. Each command had several Seals enforcing it, and it made it incredibly difficult to summon her full strength, her body warring against her mind as every single step took herculean amounts of willpower, her strength augmented by Caster's blessings doing little to help. It felt like she was back to square one again, with only Shirou's mana to sustain her as she felt her body move in what felt like slow-motion to dodge the projectiles when compared to her speed against Avenger moments ago. Already, her body was littered with cuts all over from being unable to move properly, and getting to where Ruler felt like climbing to the top of Mount Everest with both hands tied behind her back, a monumental task that was nigh impossible.

Gritting her teeth, she parried another wave of explosive cards to the side as she did her best to avoid the green cards cutting through the air, ignoring the pain that blossomed from her side as a few of them narrowly missed their mark, but left thin red lines on her body. Lowering her body, she feigned a loss of balance, her sword far away from her body as if she had overreached, prompting Ruler to launch a salvo of cards right at her, a concentrated cloud with no gaps in between.

She was already tumbling as the cards whistled through the air, her body rolling down the steps one by one. It was a loophole in the commands, tripping on purpose, but she could still feel her body resisting the momentum as her elbows twitched to purposely catch on the stair ledges, her feet and knees subtly moving to bang on the stairs as much as possible, slowing her down considerably. With no other choice, Saber halted in her tracks as the next volley of cards came, having only traveled a dozen steps or so. She was disappointed to see Ruler slowly opening up the distance between them again as she shuffled down step by step.

She was starting to regret using Strike Air on Avenger now. She was unable to rush forward and end the fight in one blow, but neither could she run away and assist Caster against Avenger, since she couldn't move as fast as she wanted to, and Ruler was guaranteed to take advantage of that and strike her fleeing back. Advancing was difficult, but retreating was also equally hard, forcing Saber to weigh her options as she forced her wrists and arms to move, blocking the incoming cards.

*GAOO!*

Suddenly, a guttural roar shook her out of her thoughts, and she craned her neck to look at the growling lions standing on each side of Ruler. Though they were much smaller than what she could summon at full strength, they were still familiars with the strength to rend a Servant to shreds. With another chorus of spirited roars, they pounced on Saber.