Before I knew it, my vision was spinning. I had been shoved backwards, hard. Still lost in my high at the second glimpse of the void, I didn't maintain a proper grip on my phone; it was sent flying out of my grasp as I tumbled head over heels back towards the group. Thankfully, I had managed to retain my grip on the sword.
*Fwip Fwip Fwip* *Fwip Fwip Fwip* *Fwip Fwip Fwip* *Fwip Fwip Fwip*
The sounds of daggers whizzing through the air snapped my focus back to the present moment.
Right, the battle's started: time to see what disaster has unfolded in place of the plan...
Jumping to my feet, Lancer was standing in front of the three of us masters, deflecting the daggers away. Saber had rushed forward, intercepting Rider, who must have charged himself while I wasn't present in mind. As for the priest… He crouched down and stabbed something into the ground. What was he-
From the point, a green, web-like, pattern spread outward along the ground. It shot past Saber and Rider, past our group, and right to the entrance of the park. Then, the green lines shot upward, curving into a dome shape. Following the lines down to the other side of the dome, I could see them rising just in front of the tree line.
It took me a moment to recall what the light meant. Then it hit me. This was the same thing he'd done back during our meeting, to magically lock the room. So, then that must mean we were trapped in here…
"Hmm… Gotta admit, I didn't think that'd work out in an open field like this" I grinned as I admired the magical dome.
"You know what this does then" Johnathan asked, sounding panicked as more daggers came flying our way.
Thankfully, between Lancer's skills with the spear and shield, and Sortiara's magecraft, they too were quickly scattered away from us.
"He used it to lock the room for our meeting" I nodded.
"Lancer, take them down" Sortiara ordered her servant, before snapping her head towards the two of us. "Fuck, he had a bounded field all set to go too?!"
"I mean, he only had to stab one of those blade things into the dirt. Doesn't seem like that much effort."
"Space this size, he must have multiple anchor points" Johnathan explained. "No way that lone black key can lock down this entire field!"
"Well no sh- Get down!"
Sortiara and Johnathan both hit the dirt at her warning. However, while I could, say, walk a great distance, I wasn't quick on accelerating. The first dagger whizzed right by my ear, apparently Johnathan being the intended target. The second one nailed my backpack, the point digging itself all the way through the multiple bag compartments and poking me in the back, just shy of doing any actual damage to me. The third one, though, hit me square in the left shoulder: basically, exactly where Caster had nailed me earlier.
"Gah! Fuck" I shouted as pain shot through my entire body, knocking me to the ground.
Wasn't Lancer supposed to be dealing with them?! Why the hell-
No. Don't get worked up. Don't panic. Analyze the field, adjust the plan to the enemy. Rinse, repeat. You know the steps. Do them.
1, 3, 8, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 25… 25 assassins in total. Last time had how many… About twenty? That, and Rider was specifically not targeting us last time as well. At 25 of his 30 total, no way Lancer was going to be able to handle them all.
"Wind wall!"
With a shout, Sortiara pushed her arms outward as she rose to her feet, what could only be described as, well… a wall of wind radiating outward, blowing the incoming daggers away. Through the tears forming in my eyes, it was a bit blurry to see, but still…
Even on the backfoot, it was all undeniably… beautiful…
How many assassins were targeting us then? 1, 2, 5, 7, 10… I wanted to say ten, as I staggered to my feet, dagger still sticking out of both my bag and shoulder. Lancer was doing his utmost to keep the attention on him, as well as cut them down, but the assassins weren't even trying to fight him. They were just jumping from place to place, either throwing daggers at Lancer to slow him down, at us for the kill, or at Saber, interfering with his efforts against Rider.
Speaking of, just like how it was back at the school, Saber was on the back foot Couldn't blame the guy: fighting a man on horseback with swords must have been rough. Combine that with what was now the remaining assassins who weren't targeting us instead targeting him, and honestly, Saber could do very little besides try to defend himself.
The only respite for us came from the fact the priest had seemingly no interest in joining the fight himself this time. Instead, he merely smiled and watched the fight unfold. The grin on his face… it was one that was sure of victory.
That's my smile, ass hat! Time to start turning this shit around…
So then, what was the end goal…? Ideally, I'd have Lancer take on Rider; with the spear, he should have a better time if Rider wishes to stay mounted. The assassins would have to be dealt with too. Considering they were summons from Rider, they probably weren't Heroic Spirits in their own right. At least, I was hoping that was the case, because dealing with them was going to fall on Sortiara and Johnathan. If the priest interfered… Switch Johnathan over to him, have Sortiara deal with the assassins on her own? Or maybe get Saber to deal with him? Depends on how things are going against the assassins and Rider himself, I suspect; Saber would be the roamer. Then there was still the matter of the lock…
"Wind wall!"
So… Sortiara was repeatedly casting walls. That wasn't good; if all her efforts were on the defensive, then she can't deal with the assassins. Yet, we can't afford to leave ourselves wide open either. Can't run, and I do like the idea of the wind wall... If only we could…
"Hey, Sortiara" I spoke as quietly as I could so that only my two friends here could hear me, but considering the battle raging on around us, that probably wasn't exactly necessary. "How long can you stretch that wind wall thing?"
"I don't know?! Not crazy far or anything!"
"Could you at least encircle the three of us?"
"Well no shit; that's nothing! But why-"
"Johnathan, can your talismans anchor the spell? Keep it going so that Sortiara if free to cast other spells?"
"I… I s-should be able to! In theory."
"Go for it!"
"Just what the hell are you-" Sortiara started.
"Just trust me on this" I gave her a wink. "I'm going to get us back in this thing."
"Urrrggh! Johnathan! You ready?!"
"R-Ready!"
"Wind wall!"
With a shout, Sortiara unleashed another wall of wind. As she did so, she spun in place, dragging the left edge of the wall all the way around in a circle, connecting it to the right edge.
"Dome it! Don't let anything rain down from above!"
An upward shoving motion with her hands from both sides, and the top of the wall was pull into a dome above us, sealing us in.
"Now anchor it!"
"On it" Johnathan confirmed, talismans flying about, moving to wrap around the dome of wind, both on the inside, and the outside.
"Ok, got it!"
"So we're safe from the daggers. Now what" Sortiara asked.
"Please tell me you can still casts spells from within here outside of the dome!"
"Not if its completely sealed like this! I'm going to need an opening formed when I go to fire! Otherwise it's just going to go off on top of us!"
"Ok, ok! Not ideal, but workable… Bit more work on your part though" I turned to face Johnathan. "Need to create the necessary openings, but also keep this dome up."
"C-Consider it… done" Johnathan confirmed, panting slightly.
That… didn't sound ideal either, but if he was sure…
"Right then, next comes the assassins" I grinned. "Sortiara, have Lancer move to group the assassins up! Get your good spells ready; we're looking for a one-shot, group-wide wipe! Once they're grouped, have Lancer switch with Saber. Johnathan, inform Saber of the switch as well. Whatever assassins are still standing will be his job to mop up. After that, it'll be your call. Send him back in to assist Lancer, or if the priest moves to join the fight, Saber would be best used to intercept and take him on. Keep your eyes open for any movements from the priest, but keep this dome up first and foremost!"
As the two magi got to work, I did another quick sweep of the battlefield. Saber was beginning to show the signs of his struggle with Rider; that switch couldn't come sooner. Lancer was starting the corralling process. It was probably going to take a bit though; he had to cover his intent, or else we'd never get them clumped up. And the priest… he just watched us, the smile now gone, replaced with a more… curious look. He still didn't seem to regard us as much of a threat to his victory here though, for he refrained from taking any action himself.
"Everyone informed of the plan" I asked the two magi.
"All set" Johnathan confirmed, his breathing still heavy.
"All good here; just waiting on Lancer."
"We get one shot at this, so let's make it count" I nodded.
…That's it… Just a bit more, Lancer… Hold a bit longer, Saber…
"Sortiara, whatever spell you're planning on using, start channeling for it now!"
"I can see! Just give me a moment!"
Sortiara closed her eyes and raised her right hand. Around it, dark green energy began to swirl.
"On the winds comes our change."
Johnathan's eyes shot wide open as Sortiara began her chant. Immediately, he performed a quick flick of his wrist, and the three talismans from the very top of the dome shifted downwards, creating a small opening. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled about the opening to our defenses being made so soon, but from the look in his eyes… well, I wasn't going to question his decision. Still, was that small an opening really going to be-
"Let this tempest carry our dreams; wisdom of generations sharpened by the eternal breeze."
Glancing over at the priest, his eyes started to widen, and he casts his own gaze upward. Moving to match it, I saw what it was that had captivated him: a thin, but very dark, green beam of magical energy shot upwards from Sortiara's outstretched hand, passing right through the gap in our dome.
"Oh most nobless of elements, I beckon thee! Twist to my desires; shred mine enemies!"
I was starting to feel a bit breathless as I watched the magical energy converge into not one, but two separate shapes. They looked similar to Sortiara's buzz blades, but were much darken, and much, much bigger. I could hear the winds roaring to life, getting louder and louder as the two blades grew in size. Yet still, the priest made no attempt to move. Rider and Saber were too distracted to be looking, and even the few assassins that did take a glance couldn't do much about it; the gap was too awkward a place for them to throw a dagger at with Lancer atop them.
The grouping was going well too! Just a bit more guys; we got this!
"Force all to acknowledge the might of the gale; scatter everything as the leaves!"
Sortiara opened her eyes, except I couldn't really see her eyes. All I could see were two solid orbs of dark green in place of her eyes. The whipping of the wind was beyond insane at this point. Had the two blades been any bigger, I would have-
Just as I was thinking I was going to be swept off my feet, the blades jumped in size yet again, causing the wind to pick up even more force. I was bowled over, knocked face first into the dirt. As I was falling, I caught Johnathan bracing himself on one knee, teeth gritted as he kept his eyes on the priest, and what must have been all his focus on keeping the rest of the dome up.
Quickly pulling myself up on one knee as well, I just managed to see it. Lancer finish grouping the rest of the assassins, Lancer doing one of the greatest leaps I'd ever seen, clearing as much space as he could. Saber and Rider coming to a halt as they finally couldn't ignore the strength of the roaring winds. At the priest, his eyes darting from the giant blades, to the group of assassins, and back to the blades.
"Scindite Inlacrimat: Panta Rhei!"
At that moment, the green beam of energy anchoring the blades in place dissipated. At that moment, the blades began their race towards impact with the assassins and the ground below. At that moment, all three servants looked upon the spell, as if in a trance, unable or unwilling to move. At that moment, as I witnessed the most beautiful magecraft I'd ever seen, might ever get to see, I smiled. But, in the corner of my eye, just barely able to be registered by my mind as I gazed upon the beauty before me, I noticed… so to, did the priest.
A/N
BRUH xD
First part of the fight proper! Wonder why the priest is smiling though O.O
Sorry this took a bit long; how I write fighting bits still never feels completely right to me (that, and trying to come up with a chant alone for the spell took me a solid day; don't even think it's all that amazing, but hey, at least I can bring myself to stand by it). I wish I could have some visuals for fights, but alas, text only xD
Still, I hope this first part come out decently enough for you readers.
Now, to the reviews! Mainly, why is Nathan not a magus?
Well, sure, I could have made him a magus; not like his way of thinking is really any more fucked than some canonic magi. But the thing is, if Nathan is a magus, the entire nature of the story changes. For example, Caster: does anyone really think Caster would put up with ANY master actually acting like a master, giving him orders? No way a magus wouldn't try, but... the way I see it, Caster would have to be an entirely different Heroic Spirit for Nathan to live if he was a magus o.O And I need Caster as CASTER (Daedalus), for reasons that I hope people will see come the end xD
Also, I wanted to really touch on the parts that I feel the canonic entries of FATE don't touch, and I feel like I can't really do that with Nathan if he is a magus. Technology? Forget that; magi don't use tech. His way of thinking about the war proper: the classes and how they match up, picking battlefields, all that jazz? All comes for a more... techy background...
But especially the modern day tech stuff. The main V/N of FATE released... what? 2004? 2005? Something like that, I want to say? No canonic Holy Grail War is ever set in the modern day, with modern tech; fifth war being set in 2004, when cell phones would have been just becoming a thing and most people didn't have a way to record everything at the tips of their fingers (the Moon Cell is a separate thing and does not count here; let me explain!). None of the stories ever have to deal with the implications that EVERYTHING could be recorded. Trying to keep a Holy Grail War secret in the modern day, even if it were in Fuyuki, would be a right BITCH to do; I really want to play around with this, but to do so, I need someone good with tech (i.e. not a magus!) to work as a vessel; to see things that magi most likely would never think of. The Moon Cell is its own world in isolation, basically, and only inhabited by AI, servants and magi, so it doesn't count, despite being set in the future (year 2030+, I believe). The risks of the magical world being revealed is still never present by nature of how the Moon Cell works.
Which, thinking about it now... man, in a modern day setting, Loli the Stripper (Jack the Ripper) is maybe one of the most outright BROKEN servants, due EXCLUSIVELY to the Information Erasure skill. Like, not even CAMERAS can pick up Jack the Ripper... It's kinda retarded, when ya think bout it xD
In a modern setting Jack could hunt other masters right out in the open, in any major city, and never be at fault for revealing the existence of magecraft because Jack can't leave any trace on anything, even via technology (which, IMO, should HARD COUNTER magecraft, considering that this no longer the age of 'Mystery', but that's why I'm doing my thing xD). But seriously, how would any proper magus defend against that kind of shit O.O Jack the Ripper coming at you, middle of downtown wherever, and if you defend yourself, you're at fault for revealing the secrets of magecraft to the world because only you and your servant can get picked up by cell phone recordings and shit. Like, ok o.O That's totally balanced, Holy Grail!
…I can understand, and respect, why no canonic FATE story is ever written in a setting or time period where they'd have to consider this shit, cuz man... it's taxing on me, and I'm sure I've done goofed it plenty of times already LOL...