Chapter 20: When an Irish, Greek, Nameless and Weirdo meet…

Without any trace of harm or brutality- she is standing there innocently and stares at me. How was she able to get through our defense systems? Yet, she is now here and we can no longer flee from the inevitable. We can no longer escape from it. Surprisingly, I cannot see Berserker anywhere.

"Good evening, big brother", Illya greets me.

"Hey, isn't that Berserker's Master you told us about?", Tohsaka asks from behind me.

Illya looks at Tohsaka quite annoyed and sighs.

"Yes, I am. Any other questions?"

"Are you an Einzbern?", Tohsaka responds.

Illya nods. I do not quite like the atmosphere here, but what concerns me more right now is Berserker's absence.

"So, Illya… why exactly did you decide to visit me?"

"I announced that I'm going to meet you today", Illya calmly explains to me, "have you forgotten it already? Besides, it seems rather crowded here. Is this some kind of party or so, Rin?"

I look behind me and apparently everyone has gathered here now. With the exception of Lancer, everyone is tense. Although Illya has a lighthearted conversation with me, the pressure of her being Berserker's Master makes me uncomfortable.

"No, we we're just discussing some important matters. You should move on, young lady", Lancer orders.

"H-he didn't mean it like that; we just wanted to go outside and catch a breath of fresh air!", Sakura butts in quickly.

For a moment, the situation looks like it is escalating. We have forgotten to warn Lancer about Illya, therefore he does not know he is messing with Berserker's Master. Luckily, Illya smiles and steps aside.

"Sure!"

I am very relieved. Though Illya humbly radiates the essence of danger, she acts… childish. We all move outside and- while Archer carefully scans the area like Rider- Tohsaka grabs my arm and whispers to me:

"Isn't it strange that Berserker is absent? If Berserker is not around here, the plan of getting Saber back will become meaningless before it could have even been executed"

"Berserker must be somewhere. There is no way Illya would come here without him"

"Hey, what are you talking about? I want to participate!", Illya shouts at us.

I nod to Tohsaka and we end our little conversation. As we walk over to Illya, we both look everywhere for a sudden surprise attack. Nothing happens. Finally, we reach the others and now we are standing in the cold darkness. Illya inspects my house very carefully.

"Is something wrong, Illya?", I ask her.

"So, you lived here", Illya calmly states as she turns her head to me, "all these years. Grew up here. Went to school from here. Slept here. Ate here"

As she speaks, I feel more and more uncomfortable. Her cold stare that bares no pity returns on her innocent face.

"All these years, you spent your days- cold, warm, wet, dry- around here without knowing much of the world outside", Illya murmurs.

Archer raises his twin blades while Rider readies herself for every eventuality. Straw Hat stays calm which is unusual and Lancer grabs his spear tighter.

"So, since you lost Saber, you are basically defenseless, and I thought if you would maybe like to come with me", Illya asks.

That… was unexpected. Even the others who were previously preparing for the seemingly inevitable are extremely confused.

"Come… with you?", Sakura says.

"It was not a question for you. I asked Shirou whether he wants to follow my invitation or not", Illya answers.

"Illya"

"Do you accept?", Illya asks one more time.

"Illya… there is no way I can accept your invitation. I can't just leave everyone and abandon the Grail War. Not now. Not after all that happened. So, therefore the answer is-"

"Why don't you want to agree!", Illya suddenly screams, "You all leave me, say there are more important matters, but never look back! I politely invited you to my house and you declined, just why!"

"Illya…"

"Well, it's not like you have many choices here. Your choices are limited to exactly one option. I will get you home regardless of what you say", Illya clearly states.

"Oi, little lady. You may have your valid reasons to kidnap that brat. I even did that to my loved one myself-"

He did what?

"-Still, I forged an alliance with them mere seconds ago, so this time I will have to protect these kids", Lancer mentions while raising his spear.

"See, that is what I meant you will ruin yourself with your honor. You will only get yourself in trouble. Saving them will only mean suffering for someone else", Archer comments as he goes next to Lancer.

"Guys, something big is coming at us that we cannot control. I hope it will meet my expectation. I wasn't that thrilled since the last eating competition", Straw Hat adds while taking the position left to Lancer.

"Don't need someone to tell something devastating is about to happen. It's crystal clear, even a blind person can see it", Rider adds as she takes out her chains.

"I don't care how many of you will stand in my way. I will get what I want. If you insist on dying, do it quickly", Illya retorts against the wall of Servants.

She takes a deep breath. The earth is trembling in anticipation and the wind is trying to escape from the scenery. Even the sky is cannot tell what will be the outcome.

"Berserker, show them who is the strongest!"

In an instant, the whole ground is taken apart as Berserker appeared right in front of us, as his blade scorches the earth. The dust blinds us all while the first strike lands upon Rider who can barely escape the attack.

"Archer, reposition yourself and get some good shots at this beast!", Tohsaka commands Archer.

I can hear someone lift themselves off the ground with tremendous force, as the next blow clashes against Rider's chains that almost break due to the devastating power.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▄▅▃▄▄!", Berserker roars so loud that my ears hurt.

"Nebel, lichte dich!", Tohsaka casts.

With a sudden strong wind, the dust is blown away. Tohsaka used a spell to create a little tornado! However, someone grabs my hand and tries to drag me away. It is Sakura.

"Senpai, we must quickly get away from here. We cannot do much here", she explains.

"Sakura is right, this is a battlefield for Servants. We will be crushed beneath them. We have to give them our orders as their Masters and support them. If we stand here dumbfounded, we are useless!", Tohsaka adds.

I nod and together we run away. I can hear the sound of two weapons clashing against each other behind me. It sounds like Lancer attacked Berserker who blocked it off. After we gain some distance from the battle, we turn around to look at the sheer violence that unfolded in our backyard.

Rider has tied Berserker's enormous blade with her diamond-hard chains and Lancer swings his spear back to deal a fatal blow.

"Berserker, watch out!" Illya warns him.

He holds his massive hand against Lancer's attack. Lancer in return thrusts his spear without any fear against his opponent. However, Berserker is able to grab the weapon without any sustained damage and stop it from piercing his head. It is a sheer wonder how he was able to pull that off, since one has to witness it to believe the spear that was thrown with such inhumane strength and unbelievable speed was stopped.

"Archer, now!", Tohsaka orders.

I look around to see Archer standing at the highest point of the house. He aims at Berserker's head and draws the bow.

"On the rooftop!", Illya alarms Berserker.

He shortly looks up.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▄▅▃▄▄▄▅▅▂▃▃▅▃▄", Berserker howls as he violently pulls at Rider's chains.

Rider is pulled to Berserker who grabs her at her neck.

"Rider, no!", Sakura calls out.

Straw Hat kicks at Berserker's stomach with both his feet and cushions to land back on his very feet while Berserker tumbles back.

"You shouldn't have forgotten me!", Straw Hat yells at him.

Still, Berserker regains his composure rather quickly, but it is enough time for Archer to attack. He shoots his arrow at Berserker's head with an incredible speed- even a jet from the highest quality pales in comparison to the immense speed the projectile is accelerated towards Berserker- and upon impact, Berserker's head clearly explodes.

Illya does not seem upset whatsoever. Even worse, she shrugs it off with a smile.

All of a sudden, Berserker throws Rider away who binds his fist with her chains midair. She requires a lot of strength to slow Berserker's movement, let alone bind him with her chains. It reminds me of Saber when she first killed Berserker. He simply comes back. Once again, he came back to life. And he is still wreaking havoc. Due to Rider's initiative, Lancer is given the opportunity to attack the beast that still lives on.

"Still living? Guess, you do a miserable job, Archer!", Lancer states as he throws himself at Berserker; causing the ground to shiver upon the pure strength of these two combatants.

Berserker on the other hand grabs his blade again with his free hand and raises the weapon as fast as a gun can shoot to block the attack of Lancer, although he slightly struggles to hold off the tremendous blow. Then, he brutally breaks the chains of Rider and attacks Lancer with his gigantic bare palm that would be able to crush my whole body before I would even have the chance to notice so. Lancer is completely caught off-guard and basically blasted away from the attack.

"Shirou, don't stand there and do nothing! Summon Saber, we need her NOW!", Tohsaka scolds me.

She is right. I must use this situation to summon Saber. I raise my hand to summon the Servant I lost.

"By the power of my command spell, I summon-arkghh!"

A sharp pain in my chest stops me from summoning Saber.

"What's the matter? Why are you in pain?", Sakura asks me.

"I am… not-"

"Yes, you are! Tell me, what is wrong?"

I cannot answer her question, no matter how much I would like to. I definitely know why I feel this pain and who causes it. But why? Why would she do that? What is the reason to it? After all, it was her idea. She remains silent. Normally, she would mock me now.

I have no time to think about the reasoning behind this, because rubble from the battlefield almost hit us. However, thanks to Tohsaka and her shield, we suffered no wounds.

And yet, all of a sudden, without any signs-

"Santoryu: Thousand and Eighty Caliber Phoenix!"

The ground is burst away, sliced away like it is butter. No, even the air itself is visibly cut in three different pieces, separating us and Berserker. It is such a ridiculously powerful attack that I get goose bumps simply by imagining by what would have happened if that would have hit me. I think I would have been cut in two parts effortlessly.

"What… was…"

Even Tohsaka is at a loss of words. What concerns me the most however is that the attack was clearly aimed at none other than Straw Hat. He on the other hand is frozen in his movement, his jaw wide open and eyes screaming in surprise and fear. It is like the worst that could have happened just became reality for him. Whatever that is, whoever caused it… it certainly changes everything.