~Thank you ZealTTD for the suggestion~
The bright light finally subsided and the master moved his hand away in order to finally catch a glimpse of his summoned servant. He had been striving for Rider class servant but was lacking any real sort of catalyst so he had been forced to leave it up to chance. It wasn't Ideal but beggars can't be choosers.
That thought process didn't alleviate his mix of confusion and disappointment upon finally taking in his newly summoned servant...or at least the back of it. On one hand he was now completely confident that he hadn't summoned a Rider, since even with his rather limited and heavily flawed knowledge of history he couldn't recall a tall Asian male who was famous and wore a patterned shirt with a popped collar. His expression shifted more to disappointment as he took in the servants full body, which aside from their height wasn't anything that screamed legend of history.
His thought process halted as the servant casually shifted from staring out the window to staring the Master dead in the eyes. This simple action forced the Master to give a surprised smirk as he completely changed his opinion. It was entirely based on the complete lack of humanity in the eyes of the servant, just two pools of complete and utter disdain. The temperature in the room seemed to drop as the servant just stared back and a feeling of dread suddenly nestled in Masters gut. The servant shifted their weight slightly and the master frantically threw their hand forward and cried out, "YOU WON'T HARM ME."
The command sank in right as the drill-like sword pressed against the Master's suit coat, close enough that some threads were fraying from the pressure. The Servant may have looked annoyed, but the Master couldn't keep the amused smile off their face as they broke the silence, "How about you and I have a little ~chat~?"
He may have been trying to summon a Rider but he certainly wasn't going to complain about summoning a Saber, especially one with killer instinct like this.
Four hours, four damned hours later and all he had managed to get out of his servant was half a name and a list of accomplishments, though calling them murders was probably a better way of terming it. He had been hoping for some concept of his servants skills or even some sort of motivation that he could dangle in front of them to get them to follow orders. He certainly wasn't against having an unsympathetic murderer for a servant, but the issue was that it was a reckless unsympathetic murderer. He didn't want too many civilian deaths, hell he wanted none, but short of using his second command seal he was struggling to find a way to channel the violence.
Maybe just setting the servant loose and seeing who turned up was his best option, but with how bloodthirsty his servant was that fight was probably going to happen in a place with a good amount of people. It really was a conundrum he had not expected when summoning a servant especially since he had confirmed that this was in fact a Saber class servant. Normally those seemed to be pious knights or other general stereotypes, though they were considered one of the most powerful servants. So looking on the bright side of things gave him something-
A loud tearing noise made him scramble from his chair and rush outside only hesitating slightly when he felt the sprinkling of rain. He powered through the incredibly mild annoyance and made it to the road where he saw his car, thankfully old and well used, looking like it had been gored by a rhino. So it wasn't exactly hard to determine who the culprit was.
A medley of emotions ran through his head with the primary one being absolute rage at his servant for possibly ruining any damn chance at winning this grail war. They had no idea of what servants had been summoned or even if they had all been summoned. Especially since he had managed to summon a Saber class, one of the classes that tend to be taken off the table quickly. It really forced him to pose the question: what could his servant encounter in the city and what were the odds that they would win. He started of down the road pushing his pace to a rather fast jog and let his mind drift to the possibilities to try and distract from the stiffness of his knees.
Assassin was a matchup he actually felt comfortable with given how direct and merciless Saber was. It took away some of Assassins ability to work around and exploit the weakness of a servant when they were brutally direct. On the other hand he dreaded a matchup with a Caster, since he knew that without a shadow of a doubt his servant would run headlong into a barrage of spells. It was a similar worry with an Archer since his servant didn't seem to be the strategic type. They had tried to kill their master, the one thing tying them to this grail war, almost instantly after being summoned. Of course maybe Saber had some sort of hidden ability that they hadn't shared that would assist in surviving or just closing the gap.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he came to gap in the trees overlooking the town, and then immediately swore with righteous anger when realizing that he had four more damn miles to run in dress shoes and a dress shirt.
He already regretted getting involved with this entire damn thing.
About a half hour later the now shirtless master stumbled into the outskirts of the city out of breath and covered in sweat. He sucked in breath after breath all while trying to get a solid glimpse of really anything. Eventually his vision righted itself and he was actually able to make out the city's lights, bustling crowds, and a rather interesting figure dashing across the roof's.
Thankfully he was probably the smallest presence in this town given his rather mediocre magic circuits and the fact that Saber was probably prowling about looking for something to stab. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth before a short trip to the nearest dumpster to grab a shirt and to throw his mangle dress shoes away, once again thankfully old and well used. But with that problem addressed it came to the issue of what servant was dashing across the roof.
The master was favoring Archer or Assassin given how they seemed to be keeping high and tracking something, but anything was possible given the servant he summoned. The only good thing was that he had seen the direction the enemy servant was going which gave him a clear direction to go in order to find his servant. Of course he was going to stick to back alleys given the fact he was shoeless and possibly wearing a shirt that belonged to a dead body, or at least smelled like it.
He pushed that from his mind and refocused on the task at hand, cutting through back alley after back alley while trying to keep any sort of bead on the roof hopping servant. And that immediately proved to be a lot harder than he could have imagined as the servant seemed to defy gravity while moving between rooftops, sometimes even switching sides of the street in a single bound. Somehow though the master was able to keep them in his sights though often it resulted in a dead sprint in order to just barely keep up.
Mercifully the servant slowed up again and seemed to be trying to line up some sort of shot. The hesitation was confusing since the master basically assumed that Saber was being an arrogant ass and probably walking around in the open. So he didn't understand why the servant was constantly trying to adjust their aim like the shot wasn't there. The only real option was a fear of civilian casualties...which his servant most certainly did not.
'Saber….'
'...Saber'
'...I don't know why I expected a response, but if you want a chance to go at it head to the plaza next to the gas station'
Here's hoping that Saber agrees to that because with only two command seals remaining he didn't want to burn one just to get them to half listen to commands.
The plaza was relatively empty, at least compared to how crowded the street was, but he still was trying to remain mostly hidden. Mostly since the cops would definitely be called on the tall white guy in dirty shirt and ratty shoes and covered in sweat lurking around a plaza. Ignoring that small dilemma he was finally able to make out his servant strolling into the park, especially with how out of place the patterned shirt was.
Aside from that they were blending in pretty well, aside from the shirt, so there was a sort of unwitting shield around the servant. Saber suddenly tilted their head, and the master felt a bit of relief as the servant seemed to recognize the fact that Archer was pursuing them. Though they seemed to be completely unaware of why they hadn't been attacked yet, or were just annoyed at the fact they hadn't yet. Honestly the master wasn't sure what was worse.
The train of thought ended when the master was able to catch Archer setting down on a close rooftop overlooking the plaza. The master was finally able to get a solid look at the figure, though most of it was still obscured by a green cloak though blonde hair and a crossbow definitely shown through. Definitely no real hints to the identity of the servant but that didn't exceptionally matter given the fact the master still had no idea who in the hell his was.
But the tension in the area was definitely building as Saber was starting to get impatient, at least the master assumed that as people started to move away from them rather rapidly. There were still some that were hanging around and Archer sought to take advantage of that. A sudden flick of the wrist from Archer saw a bolt fly around one of the bystanders still nearby, a solid attempt to take advantage of a possible blindspot.
However, Saber reacted in a second with their drill like blade batting away the bolt and sending the surrionding crowd into a mass panic. That still seemed to play into Archers hand as even more bolts weaved their way through the crowd only to be deflected with a casual air, though to a close eye the last two came close to landing a hit.
Of course those bolts tipped Saber off to where Archer was lurking and with monstrous speed shot towards where they were. Of course that also played into Archers hand as a trap suddenly exploded out of the ground launching some sort of spikes toward them. They collided with Saber as they crossed their arms in some sort of attempt to guard. The master felt his heart stop as Saber slid backwards from the impact, but it quickly resumed beating when the spikes fell away stopped by some sort of purple armor.
This changed the tide as Saber exploded forward again forcing Archer to dive away and scramble towards some of the panicking crowd. Saber growled and slowly turned to face Archer across the plaza. There was a brief moment where they studied each other before Saber shot off again. The difference this time is that Archer put one of the bystanders in front as a sort of living shield.
The only flaw with Archer's entire plan was that it assumed that Saber valued life, or had any sort of empathy for human beings. That error resulted in the drill-like blade being used to bisect the unfortunate tourist sending a spray of blood all over the bewildered archer, who at the least had the mind to throw themself backwards out of the way of the followup swing. Though their survival meant the unfortunate demise of two more civilians.
The enemy servant grimaced at the display but fired off a bevy of shots while trying to clear some distance. Saber parried the first few but quickly shifted stance before firing forward, fragments of purple armor coming into existence stopping the shots that would have killed. Though some still dug into unprotected flesh it didn't slow down the rampaging swordsman who brought the distance close again and looked to finish the servant off again.
The ground exploded with another narrowly avoided swing sending dust and debris everywhere, while also blocking the masters ability to actually see what was happening. Though by the sudden scream of pain and sound of flesh tearing they could guess that the fight was over, or at least on its way there. A minute later the dust fully settled showing the dissolving body of Archer and the wounded body of Saber with an arrow protruding from their bicep and a fairly gruesome cut along the side of their neck.
There was a heavy silence that hung around in the air as people scrambled away in an attempt to save their lives, which made the master stand out a bit as he walked forward. A small part of him desperately wanted to be anywhere other than walking towards this psychopath of a servant, but with the command in place he still couldn't be harmed. Which in turn made this an issue of diplomacy...this was going to be rough.
Saber regarded him with annoyance and disdain but didn't just stroll away which let the master get out his opening line," Great job Saber, that's one down five more to go."
There was a moment of confusion as Saber looked somewhere between befuddled and disinterested, which only forced the master to stifle a laugh before continuing his attempt at diplomacy. "Did you think I really care what you cut up, as long as it ends with a servant dead go for it. Just try to keep civilian casualties to a minimum"
Saber dropped the sword down to one side and seemed to be reappraising the master, which took several moments but in the end the sword faded away. Serving to make the master release a breath he hadn't realized he had. That got rid of the issue of his servant completely ignoring him, though there still was the issue of getting it to work with him.
But since his servant was walking away and Police sirens were sounding off, it became his utmost interest to get out of there and find a way back to his house. There he could regroup, replan, and take a shower.
The master honestly didn't know what he expected in the few days following the conversation. There hadn't been any mass murders, which was great, but the sudden destruction of a rather nice house certainly stood out. Especially since it basically confirmed that it was Saber that killed Archer and more worryingly, the master in the vicinity of one of the more powerful servants. Hopefully it didn't trace back to his house because with Saber doing who knows what his only protection where his rather lackluster alarm seals and a 12 gauge shotgun. Not the most effective weapon against a magical servant capable of crushing his skull with a bare hand.
He chuckled and grabbed the bottle of whiskey before pouring himself a glass. He wasn't drunk yet, but at this rate he wanted to be because he was drawing dead ends as to where the other servants could be. Archer was dead and didn't matter, Assassin had zero sightings, Rider had one but not enough to draw any conclusions, Lancer had a report but it came in that they had gotten into a fight with Caster so one of those servants was a null value, and lastly Berzerker was just confirmed as to where but not who. Which was helpful information if your servant listened to your instructions, so it was completely useless.
The glass was drained as paperwork was shuffled around, mostly in a futile attempt to get connections to form out of thin air. That ended though with the small flare of magic that signalled one of his alarm runes going off, there was no real presence nearby so he swiftly made his way to the security console. There he was greeted with the incredibly threatening racoon that had tripped the rune making his heart calm down a bit. That calm ended immediately when he noticed a slight breeze moving through the house.
He spun on his heel in time to see a girl in a dress bringing a knife down that tore into his side, thankfully not hitting anything incredibly vital. It certainly didn't help him in the attempt to run away, which was more so violently stumbling as the girl calmly pursued. They made another swipe that caught his back forcing him to fall, but he rolled under a table before calling out. 'SABER'
Silence hung in his mind, 'Are you kidding, If I die it's game over. No more fighting.'
It was painfully quiet as the table was thrown to the side and the girl prepared to bring the knife down. The master through a hand up and with a bright flash the second command seal activated with the accompanying cry of, "TO MY SIDE.'
A bright flash of light followed by the sound of metal on metal which let the master slowly push himself up to his feet. Just in time to see the enemy servant dissolve into golden dust with a drill like blade slammed through their chest. He struggled to get his breath under control and as soon as he did he sormed right up to Saber and planted a finger in the middle of the servants chest.
"Look, You don't like me, plain and clear, but if you want any chance of winning this war you are going to have to listen to me."
The servant tilted their head and began making small circles with their sword, something the Master noticed. "Don't even think about it, first command seal I burnt made it so you can't hurt me and the second dragged your sorry ass here. Now get it through your thick skull that I am trying to let us win this war."
Saber looked annoyed as the master continued to get in his face." I don't care if civilians get killed, casualties of war and all that, but I need you to be on the same damn page when it comes to the actual grail war. Maybe you don't got a wish or any sort of desire, but when I die it's game over for you too. So pay the slightest attention to my orders and there's a chance that we can actually come out on top."
The master turned and stormed off, or tried to with how his wounds felt now that the adrenaline rush was gone. His servant scowled after him but begrudgingly put the sword away and followed the Master. They may not like being cuffed to a magus like this, but they did enjoy the act of existing over being cordoned in the Throne of Heroes.
The next two days were mercifully quiet, at least in the sense of being attacked since Saber was playing music at odd hours with the goal of pissing the master off. And it was definitely working. Aside from that he had actually managed to weasel some intel out of contacts willing and unwilling.
Unfortunately he hadn't learned a whole lot in terms of identity's just their status. Archer and Assassin were both dead, Caster was apparently finished off by Lancer who was able to wound Rider before being demolished by Berserker. That meant that there were three servants standing including Saber signalling the endgame of this whole mess.
The worst part about it for the master was that there really was no great strategy to follow through with. Engaging both at once left them open to being eliminated, and engaging one meant the other could pick off the winner. The best conclusion he was able to come to was just to let Saber do their thing and hope it works out, like it had so far at least. It wasn't something he was happy to do in the slightest but there was no other great option since every plan basically achieved a poor result.
Thankfully this wasn't a plan he had to try to force Saber to do since all he had been forced to say was "Go take a walk", and Saber was gone in a heartbeat. That had led to him prowling the city in his most normal attire in an attempt to keep pace and an eye on his servant. This hadn't given him any great insight but he had the suspicion that there was an extra pair of eyes on him.
It made him wonder who exactly was able to be this stealthy since the last two tended to not be the stealthiest of classes, and if it was even a servant that was stalking him. Personally he hoped it wasn't because his blood pressure was far too high and he desperately wanted to relieve some stress. And also wanted to use his magecraft for something other than bitching at his servant to follow orders, though it was necessary.
The sudden thinning of the crowds caught his attention and filled his stomach with a feeling of both apprehension and relief that this whole shitshow was over one way or another. It wasn't that it hadn't been fun...well it had been fun 'winning', but having your servant ignore you and try to kill you on what feels like a regular basis puts a strain on you. A sudden voice interrupted his internal ranting; "There you are~"
He spun around and saw one of the candidates he had listed for being a master, albeit lower on the list, strutting forward with a smirk. She continued talking but he tuned out and began to roll his sleeves up, though he did hesitate when the energy signature of a servant appeared. That only lasted until he heard the screaming masses fleeing the area and the sudden slanging of metal on metal.
The female master looked bewildered at this reaction but he honestly couldn't care and just rushed forward throwing a straight right at her center. It collided and forced her back, but a dull ache in his hands told him that she was doing something to harden her own body. It wouldn't matter for long once he got going or if she kept getting distracted by Saber and what he guessed to be Rider going at it. As much as it pained him to admit, it was important to have some faith in your servants abilities. And Saber might be a complete psychopath but they were prideful enough to fight their hardest to win.
Speaking of winning, he dodged a sloppy punch before countering with a hook to her body, which should have had the same effect. The only issue is that the female master failed to take into account his magic, the ability to manipulate the metal within his body. In this case he was forcing metal into his knuckles in order to form some sort of armored knuckles. Sadly her ribs held up but there was a satisfying rush of air from her lungs as she stumbled back.
He took the second to try and pick up on how the fight was going, but it was indiscriminate weapon clashing and likely civilians getting cut up. He forced it from his mind as the female master surged forward, only for him to duck out of the way and maneuver around her back before locking his hands and body slamming her into the ground. Once again her magic saved her but it was more than satisfying to do that.
Of course good things must come to an end as another presence entered the area, and with a bellow what he assumed was Berserker entered the fight. The female master paused and stared giving him the perfect opening to slam his fist into her jaw, knocking her out cold. He sighed and turned around to observe the three way match. Saber and Rider had split apart and were staring down the large hulking mass that was Berserker.
There was complete silence for half a beat before both rushed Berserker prompting the muscle bound mass to swing its dull blade in an attempt to behead the two. Rider ducked under landing a slash across Berserkers leg while Saber went high and dug it's blade deep into its chest. Both attacks seemed to be ineffective as the servant simply picked it's pace and and began to swing faster and faster, eventually devolving into a complete blur of death.
Both Saber and Rider managed to avoid the death and back up, before splitting around either side of the servant. Berserker spun towards Saber, remembering who caused the deep wound across it's chest. Rider took full advantage and closed the distance landing another strike to the larger servant's leg causing it to stumble before spinning to attack. Then Saber took advantage driving it's drill-like blade into the small of Berserker's neck. The blade dug in but didn't reach anything vital so the servant rose to its feet and began to thrash about trying to dislodge the attached annoyance. Rider took notice of the opportunity and dove forward sliding their blade into the servants heart.
Berserker slumped over and Saber dislodged itself before landing by Rider. There was a terse silence between the two, but it suddenly broke as Berserker began to reassemble itself and almost immediately launched a deadly swipe at the two servants. Both leapt back but in the air Saber slammed a foot into the back of Rider sending them right into the path of the blade. There was a horrible sound of flesh ripping before Berserker simply threw them to the side as the body dissolved into golden dust.
Now the odds were one on one, but they weren't anywhere close to even. This was even more prevalent when Berserker exploded forward and slammed the hunk of rock into the guard of Saber, who was launched backward into and through a tree. That wasn't the end though as Berserker came down with an equally heavy blow that was barely avoided.
Saber got their feet under them and immediately launched an attack that connected solidly with Berserkers side, not that it did anything since the heavy muscle stopped it. The heavier servant slapped Saber sending them back again and through yet another tree...or several. This time they were a little slower struggling to their feet, blood coming from their mouth, nose, and eyes.
The master looked on and quickie appraised the situation, and it wasn't looking good. Especially considering that Saber was back on the retreat as Berserker pushed forward on a brutal assault. His hand twitched as the seal seemed to burn as the decision sat heavy in his head. He could burn the seal and try to boost Saber or keep it to force Saber to follow his orders. He glanced up again as three more trees were felled by Berserkers mad springs and Saber could only keep backing up. He held his hand up and the final seal flared delivering energy directly to the psychopathic servant.
Saber paused as the energy filled them before dashing backward, putting double the normal distance between the two servants before taking a heavy stance. Energy seemed swirl around the servant getting Berserker to cock it's head for second before it began to surge forward closing the distance. Saber held steady and seemed to measuring the distance as more energy poured around them covering the entire body.
Berserkers foot left the ground and there was a massive explosion surrounding Saber before a hole suddenly tore through the bigger servant. The difference was that now a purple armor covered Saber head to toe, something the master had not expected in the slightest. But now it seemed that the odds were closer to even now, though Berserker still wasn't down yet as they were pulling themself together again.
Saber seemed to scoff and exploded forward again but Berserker proved their skill by avoiding the initial thrust and countering with a heavy swing that slammed into a hasty guard. This sent Saber sideways allowing Berserker to continue the assault. They pummeled the servant again and again while Saber tried to hold a guard together against the onslaught. But once again they managed to swing the tide with a sudden explosive thrust that speared into the head of Berserker.
But the massive servant quickly regenerated and wrapped a massive hand around Sabers arm and began to ragdoll them around. The ground shook with every slam and the Master could make out Saber frantically trying to remove the grip. Three more slams and there was an explosion of blood and a severed thumb flew out from the dust quickly followed by a purple blur that landed on its feet.
Berserker exploded out of the mist and in response Saber launched themself up and over with another explosion of speed. The massive servant reacted but Saber twisted in air before coming down slamming the sword into Berserker's back. But what happened next made the master's jaw hit the floor as Saber picked the massive servant up with the word embedded slamming them into the ground head first, killing them twice in quick succession.
But even that wasn't enough to finish off Berserker as they surged back to life wrapping both hands around Saber and slamming them face first into the ground before kicking them across the ground. Saber shook with pain as they struggled to their feet but they got ready to kill and kill this servant again and again.
They raised their blade again and exploded forward to meet Berserker in another lethal charge.
Saber Class Servant- Takeshi Asakura
Noble Phantasm- Kamen Rider Ouja, The Killing Rider
-The full armor of Kamen Rider Ouja provides a boost to power, speed, and durability allowing them to surpass the limitations of his physical container. The phantasm can also be brought forward in pieces to defend or boost power in small quantities.