Interlude: The strongest one?
Lancer bolts forward and sinks his spear deep into Berserker's flesh. Gaé Bolg can easily break his barrier now. One could say Lancer is a completely new Servant now. A new version of himself. He is on par with Berserker.
"Berserker, defeat him at once! He is too dangerous", Illya tells him.
Therefore, Berserker takes his blade and engages in melee combat with Lancer. Usually, he would have lost such a competition, but Cú Chulainn is a brilliant fighter. On top of that, he is now connected to the leylines of Europe. For now, there is no reason to further think about why, but how to utilize it for the best.
"I won't hold back, Heracles. If I get the chance, I will immediately kill you. Just for the sake of the duel, do you feel alright when I cast a rune, thus none of us can retreat? I want to enjoy the battle to the fullest. However, this means either one of us will ultimately die here", Lancer proposes.
Berserker looks to his Master.
"You really want to win, right?", the kid asks him.
Berserker does not move.
"Fine… if you really want this fight, I'll allow it", she sighs.
Berserker smiles and nods towards Lancer.
Thus, Lancer draws a rune in the air. Upon its completion, they are both chained by it.
"Ath nGabla- the Ford of the Forked Branch", Cú Chulainn elaborates, "a rune for a deathmatch. I can't retreat and you can't refuse combat. The spell will be removed once one of us dies. The conditions are set, now fight like you are clinging on your life!"
He immediately charges at Heracles who dodges to the left and grabs Lancer's head. However, Lancer simply kicks at Berserker's belly, hence he is freed of his grasp.
Still, Berserker repeatedly stamps on the ground. It causes Lancer to lose his balance. As a result, Berserker can attack Lancer without resistance. He presses Lancer on the ground with his right foot. He stands on him, so Lancer cannot escape and punches on him again and again. Lancer can barely manage to defend himself from the barrage of punches and suffers some serious wounds from it. Eventually, he holds his spear up, thus Heracles punches into the spear. The spear deeply penetrates his arm. Although it obviously causes him a lot of pain, he continues his barrage.
Despite of this, Lancer pulls at his spear and attempts to pull away the arm. He succeeds and uses the sudden confusion of Berserker to get away. Lancer quickly retrieves Gaé Bolg by ripping apart Berserker's arm and leaps backwards. Heavily breathing, both opponents are quite injured. Lancer is covered in blood while Hercules' left arm is pretty much useless.
"▄▅▃▄▄▄▄▅▅▂▅▃▄▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▂!", Berserker roars before rushing towards his enemy.
Lancer wanted to pierce his chest, but Berserker turns around before he reaches Cú Chulainn; using the momentum to slap him with his immobile arm. Consequently, Lancer is blown away and lands several meters away.
"Damn it, I'm sure one or two ribs are broken…", he laments.
Yet, he has to kill Berserker. Not only once, though.
We killed him before and I killed him twice, which means I have to kill him nine more times, Lancer thinks to himself.
Berserker runs towards him, but Cú Chulainn confidently stays where he is. Before Heracles can hit him with his blade, Lancer slides below him and throws Gaé Bolg right at Berserker's head. His skull is pierced by Gaé Bolg, thus his brain is gone. Lancer swiftly turns around and jumps over Berserker while grabbing his spear again and retrieving it midair. As he lands on the ground before Berserker again, he throws his spear at Berserker's heart after the latter one revived.
"Hah, that makes two!", Lancer proudly declares.
Enraged, Berserker pulls out the spear from his body and throws it at Lancer. It is too fast, so Lancer is hit by his own spear in his left foot.
"Khhrrr!", Lancer yelps in pain.
He pulls out Gaé Bolg and readies himself again. The agonizing pain is indeed bothering, but Lancer never hoped to win this battle unscratched. His endless battles against Medb's army are nothing compared to his current task. Nonetheless, he enjoys the battle to its fullest.
Suddenly, Berserker grabs Lancer.
"Hey, what the-"
Before Lancer can say more, he is blasted away against a wall. There, he collapses on the ground and Berserker presses his foot against Lancer. He hopes to crush him by simply imposing enough pressure on his skull.
However, Cú Chulainn manages to press his own arms against the enormous foot. Just enough, so he can escape, although it required a lot of strength. As Lancer catches his breath, Heracles is already in front of him. He launches Lancer into the air. Then, he throws all kinds of objects at him. Rocks, trees, bushes- basically everything that can be thrown. Cú Chulainn has no room to evade those, so he slices the most of them with his spear. However, at this speed the objects are more like missiles and even mountains would be torn apart by it. Naturally, one or two of them grazed him. One of them hit his shoulder, inflicting a fatal wound. As Lancer lands back on the ground, he is trembling and shaking.
Berserker on the other side is still able to fight. Cú Chulainn notices he can hardly hold Gaé Bolg. He is bleeding from his whole body and breathing is like burning his lungs. He must defeat Berserker as soon as possible before he is unable to continue due to fatigue. He aims at Heracles with his crimson red spear and concentrates.
To everyone's surprise, Berserker's Master runs towards him.
"You can't die Berserker, you can't!", she cries to him, "please don't lose! How can I win the Holy Grail War without you? You also want to win this battle, right? Please, Berserker, Berserker! I really wish for you to win this"
Berserker is astonished. Yet, he hugs her with his hand. He nods to her.
"Thanks, Berserker. I really don't want to lose you"
"Hey, little kid", Lancer calls for her.
She turns around and looks at him. She does not say anything.
"Can you accept it when I kill him. Will you be able to let go of him?", he asks her.
"Of course not", she replies, "I will never forgive you. I'd never forget it. But… when Berserker accepts it… if he wants such a duel, I can't force him to reject it. He really wished for it and when I already use him to grant my wish, why should I hinder him pursuing his own?"
Lancer smiles and takes a deep breath.
"Wisely spoken. Then, I won't regret what I will do. I'm fine if you can't forgive me. I'm used to it", he concludes.
His spear glows up again. It is almost burning, shining as bright as the sun itself.
"This one attack, it shall be your thirteenth trial. Will you be able to overcome it or not? This is my ultimate attack, I won't be able to produce something even stronger than that", he points out while drawing his final rune.
It is a rune that he came up with himself, but barely used it. Only once or twice during his lifetime. It is a rune that simulates the weapon Gaé Bolg projects. Gungnir itself. He transfers it to Gaé Bolg. It is not as strong as Gungnir at all, but close enough to be called an alternative.
Berserker reinforces his grip on his blade and jumps forward. He needs to hit Cú Chulainn only once. Only one hit is required.
"GAÉ BOLG!", Lancer yells as his weapon accelerates towards Berserker.
Heracles holds up his blade to deflect Gaé Bolg as long as possible, but it pierces through the blade like it was not even there in the first place. The spear utterly rips apart Berserker. A giant hole is created in his chest, large enough to look through it. Lancer simply steps aside and holds out his hand to grab Gaé Bolg as Hercules slides besides him.
"Berserker…", his Master murmurs in disbelief.
She runs towards him and looks at his wound.
"Stand up", she says.
But the wound will not close.
"Berserker?", she asks him.
But his mouth will not speak anymore.
"You… you promised me to defeat him. You can't die, no you can't die now! You still got some lives left", she cries.
"But he will not stand up again", Lancer acknowledges.
Nonetheless, Berserker slowly raises his arm, albeit it costs him a lot of strength. He lays his hand on the child's head.
"Berserker!", she claims happily.
The moment of happiness is short though, since she realizes he cannot stand up. He is merely bleeding out and it is his last life. His eyes are empty, but he imagines to look into her face.
"Berserker, you can still stand up…", she whispers.
Several red threads glow up on the child's body, although the light becomes weaker by time. She seems to have an idea as she looks quite determined at her hand.
"With my Command Spell, I order you to stand up again!", she declares.
She looks at him in pure hope as he stands up again. Yet, he falls down again. Lancer quickly grabs him from behind and presses him against a tree.
"It is of no use, kid", he tells the Master, "for he is defeated. It was a gamble, but my Noble Phantasm was able to take several lives from him. However-"
"No, that's simply impossible! I don't believe you", she pouts.
Lancer falls down next to Berserker. Both of them reached their limit.
"Seems like he defeated me as well, though"
"Huh?", the girl lets out confused.
"The wounds he inflicted. I may have defeated him- and he will die. Still, I will die, too. I could barely hold my spear, let alone fight on for much longer. Besides, my source for energy has long been exhausted", he elaborates as he slacks back.
Berserker is still faintly breathing.
"You mean… you fought him, although you had hardly magical energy left?", she questions astonished.
He nods as words are too much for now. He may have won, but he has to pay with his life.
"Yet-"
"Yet what?", the girl says as she looks down sad.
"Yet, he enjoyed it. So did I. We both flourished in this battle and overcame our own limits. I'd say I am fulfilled. The only regret I have is not to have found my Master"
"Berserker…", Illya says.
"Till we meet in another life, Heracles", Lancer mentions.
Finally, Berserker stopped breathing. Slowly, Berserker fades away.
"Berserker!", Illya shouts as she lunges towards him.
All she faces is the tree. Berserker is gone. Nothing remains.
"Illya!", someone yells.
Illya looks to where she has been called from.
"Sh-shirou", she stutters.
Lancer turns his head to see the others approaching.
"Damn it, now I can't fulfill my promise to these kids either. How did they find me, though?", he murmurs to himself.
"Where is Berserker?", Archer asks as he looks around.
As he spots Lancer next to the tree, he understands.
"I see, you defeated him, huh? I thought we'd find your corpse here", Archer mocks Lancer.
"Shut it, Archer. I'm more surprised you made it here without losing a limb or two", he answers.
"You don't look good", Shirou tells him.
Lancer inspects him and sighs. The boy has a pale face and looks like he could collapse at any moment.
"You look way worse. It's a wonder you survived", he acknowledges.
"He will die", Illya butts in.
"Eh, wh-what", Tohsaka exclaims, "what do you mean he'll die?"
"He will die as a result from the battle", she retorts as she looks up into the sky, "Berserker…"
"Is that true?", Rider wants to know from Lancer.
He does not say anything. After a while, he looks at them.
"Look, before I die, I still have to tell you something"
"That can wait. First, we should-", Shirou wanted to mention.
However, Straw Hat walks in front of them and directly looks at Lancer.
"What is it you want to tell us?", he simply asks.
Lancer especially glares at Straw Hat.
"Something is odd with this Holy Grail War. To be honest, I was forced to lie to you. I still have a connection to my Master, although it's weak. I was forced by a Command Spell to tell you… a lie", he confesses as his chest lifts up and down due to the wounds.
Straw Hat stands there and looks at him without responding.
"You see", he proceeds, "my Master is still alive. I even know where. Since he ordered me with a Command Spell, our connection shortly… shortly allowed me to locate him"
"Where is he?", Straw Hat inquires of him.
Lancer lifts his arm to show them the direction.
"A temple in this city. There, you can find him"
"I expected to find filthy animals here in the forest, but not a dirty dog", someone suddenly declares.
"Who said that?!", Lancer angrily shouts.
As he gazes upon the person who said it, he shortly petrifies. A man with golden hair. He is standing there on the cliff, looking down on them as the rays of the moon penetrate through the trees to illuminate his presence.