Assassin's Qtip: Good question, but you will have to wait to know the answer. Pyrrha has never heard of Origin, she doesn't know what it is. As for the quality of her Magic Circuits, she has no element of comparison. Let us not forget that Pyrrha had Kiritsugu as her teacher and that he taught her only the bare minimum. But I can affirm she has no Reality Marble, no Element as absurd as "sword"... That said, the Origin of Pyrrha is... logical. Let's say that I was inspired by what inspired Monty Oum to create Pyrrha Nikos. She will not be weak
Merci.
Peroncino: If Pyrrha wins, she might try to use the Grail's wish to get home... but since the Grail is corrupt...
mathdump: Thank you. I agree that a story cannot be judged on the two first chapters. However, I do not think Pyrrha is as popular as Rin. The Japanese males go all to pieces with very tall women and Pyrrha is 6'0" (in heels but at 17!)... And she is not only tall. She is muscular! This pretty Amazon has enough to make any teenager shy! Besides, this was already the case in RWBY. During the Season 2 Ball, Pyrrha cannot find an escort.
Night of Fate
Heroes have our language, our weaknesses, and our strengths. Their universe is neither more beautiful nor more uplifting than ours. But they, at least, ran to the end of their destiny.
Albert Camus (French philosopher and writer)
During his earthly existence, Cú Chulainn, the Lancer of this Grail War, had many reasons to curse his destiny. Having never seen his son, it was unfortunate that he met him and killed him in a stupid fight at a crossroads. Later, a question of honor forced his best friend to fight him to death.
Cú knew what it meant to draw the shortest straw.
This Grail War had only begun a few days ago... The Servant Saber had not even been summoned, however, Lancer already understood that this war of Heroes would not leave him many good memories.
Yet everything seemed to start under the best auspices. Lancer had been summoned by a good Master, the kind of strong and courageous woman for whom he had always had a soft spot... Then Bazett Fraga McRemitz was murdered by his current Master. The latter was everything Lancer hated... a coward, a manipulator, a traitor... and in addition this false priest had used Command Mark to prevent him from fighting to the full potential.
And now...
Now...
This!
The Servant invocated by the young girl gives off the impression of a nightmare monster. This was humanoid in shape, but not human. It was too tall, too muscular for being a mortal man. Like a statue of a very angry god bare-skinned save for an armored kilt and metal braces on its wrists and ankles, carved in strange dark grey stone. At its elbows emerged some sorts of strange bony protuberances that accentuated its inhuman aspect. Even worse, its face was distorted by an insane rage with veins bulging, one eye was blood-red and the second one yellow like molten gold. Even its hair was more like a demented black lion mane.
No need to have universal wisdom to understand that this was the Berserker of the Fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail War.
The monster screamed, his face deformed by insane anger before rushing forward, leaving deep imprints in the pavement of the street. Despite his clumsy bulldozer appearance, his speed and agility were incredible. Berserker raised his left arm to whip the air with a weapon as hideous and primitive as him, a kind of stone sword-axis with barbs.
Jumping back and forth with agility, Lancer dodged several blows that fell on him like an avalanche, without dead time. The muscular colossus showed no technique, he was content to give furious blows by sweeping the air in front of him. One on one side, one on the other. The kind of flawed, exhausting movements a teenager would have used the first time he used a weapon. Normally, Lancer would have easily avoided such attacks and would have taken the opportunity to overwhelm such an idiot with mockery.
Except he had all the world's problems not to be touched!
As Berserker had cornered him against the wall of a house, Lancer jumped over the monster head and turned around in the middle of the jump, striking Berserker with several blows directed at his neck. Except that the Servant of Madness had incredibly quick reflexes... The attacks hit nothing as the monster turned to strike.
Cú Chulainn arched in the open air, successfully deflecting his fall and avoiding the Sword-Axe which hit the ground where Lancer should have hit the asphalt. The blow was given with such force that the middle of the street seemed to explode and rose for about twenty meters. A car was thrown into the air and landed on the roof. The impact of the crushed metal preceded the siren of the anti-theft.
Lancer chill, filled with retrospective fear.
Illya had an adorable childish laugh at the sight of the greenish face of the Servant:
"Allow me to introduce you to Heracles, the most famous and powerful Hero of ancient Greece, son of Zeus and a mortal woman."
The little snow-haired fairy put a hand on her mouth to contain her laughter:
"Oh... no need to introduce yourself in return..."
Her eyes narrowed cruelly:
"You... you are dead!"
Cú Chulainn refrained from swallowing and looked critically at Berserker. By the time his Master had begun to speak, he had stopped. Yet the snoring of his breath was enough to fill the street. His mouth opened intermittently, bringing out a breath that condensed into large bursts of steam.
Lancer had a small mocking smile:
"Yeah... well, I've certainly done a lot of stupid things, but at least one of my most famous feats isn't getting rid of a horse dung mound in a stable! (1) I think you might have found a more glamorous Servant, ojousama."
Lancer's witty remark not has endeared Illyasviel. red-faced with anger, she tapped the floor with her little kicking foot and pointed to Cú:
"Berserker, rip his head off and paint the whole street red!"
Lancer made an ugly face, the Master and the Servant were somewhat of an item. They differed only in appearance... the cute little girl was as wild as the colossus she directed.
With a new howl capable of breaking a stone wall, Berserker threw himself forward. What suited Lancer perfectly... He may not have been the strongest Servant here... but he was the smartest (well, okay, it's true that it wasn't difficult). With a movement of his spear, he swept the ground in front of him, creating a luminous circle marked by several runes.
This done, he jumped back and let Berserker rush into the trap.
There was a violent explosion that made Lancer laugh, happy to see that his enemy had let himself be caught.
However, a huge hand came out of the smoke column, and only the reflexes of the Ireland Child of Light prevented him from being seized and smashed against the ground.
Breaking out of the smoke like a train whose brakes would have failed, Heracles jumped high holding his weapon with two hands. Lancer dodged this new attack which plunged deep into the ground of the street, disemboweling a water pipe which rose into a geyser.
Throwing swirling and hitting Berserker, Gae Bolg struck so fast that Cú seemed to have ten arms and as many weapons. The colossus retreated, momentarily baffled. Lancer arched and struck the Ragging Destroyer just under the chin, projecting the monster backward, then followed him by a leap and pierced his chest with a multitude of blows.
Berserker fell to the ground.
Lancer was panting, but his mocking smile was back on his lips...
His triumph lasted... what? Five seconds?
Herakles got back on his feet. His torso and shoulders were marked with numerous cuts... which closed generating black smoke. The eyes of Cú Chulainn grew wide. Regeneration? No, worse than that... it seemed as if time reversed its course.
"Oi... oi... oi... Now, I don't call that very sportsmanlike!"
Illya had a crystal-clear laugh:
"My Berserker is invincible!"
Lancer sighed, bent legs holding his spear with two hands, pointing to the ground:
"In that case, you're not gonna blame me if I do a little test?"
The red lance was now surrounded by a blood-colored aura:
"Gae..."
At this moment, a noise was heard. Ceasing to concentrate, Lancer turned around:
"What?! Who's there?"
Pyrrha began to run, guided by the infighting sounds. She had not thought about the fact that she was unarmed and that she was still holding her shopping bag against her. The Amazon was very worried and with all the questions that tormented her, finding out the answers seemed more important than the potential risks.
The young redhead broke into a street of a residential area that had been ravaged by what looked like an explosion.
Face to face was two fighters. The first was a monster, a statue of gray stone embodying fury. He was facing a much smaller man, his hair gathered in a ponytail and wearing some sort of blue glove.
The latter held a red spear wrapped in a blood light. What Kiritsugu had taught Pyrrha immediately enabled her to recognize Mana. One of the forms took by the magical energy, in fact, Mana is the magical energy that came from nature and the world around us.
Normally, Mana is weak and dispersed energy that must be gathered by complex rituals. No contemporary Magus could do what the warrior with the red spear did. Gathering so much Mana in an instant was far beyond the capabilities of people living in the twenty-first century... worse it was obscene.
Pyrrha felt an immediate and instinctive disgust for this spear. Any activity, even the most ordinary, could become repugnant if one indulged in it without restraint... and accumulating so much Mana flamed out all other energies, squeezing Pyrrha's throat, making her heart beat at full speed, engulfing her fighting reflexes under an avalanche of terror. Her instinct warned her that the red spear was an evil and cursed thing.
"Gae..."
Terrified, Pyrrha dropped the shopping bag. The noise would not have disturbed the concentration of an ordinary man. But the warrior in blue turned around, barking furiously:
"What?! Who's there?"
The fighter had the face convulsed by anger, inhuman, and his eyes were rubies of blood that set on Pyrrha burning with murderous intents.
Holding a cry, the young redhead ran away.
Illya uttered a small cry of surprise, discovering the witness of the fight. It only took her a moment to recognize the red-haired girl:
"Pyrrha-ane?"
Seeing that Lancer renounced to use his Noble Phantasm and was preparing to leave in pursuit of Illya's older sister, Einzbern's Master had a brief moment of panic. It was her entire fault. She shouldn't have let herself be drawn into a fight in a residential area, especially so close to Kiritsugu's house. She should have been more careful...
"Berserker, stop Lancer! Don't let him go!"
With a roar, Heracles rushed forward! But the Irish Child of Light was definitely harder to catch than a soapy salmon and he dodged the strike again with a side jump!
"Tssk... I hate little girls who don't let adults solve their problems."
With the agility of an Olympic athlete, he retired in a series of jumps and rolls to the roof of a nearby house where he... astralized, dissipating into a whirlpool of bluish particles.
Illyasviel von Einzbern crossed her little arms on her chest while tapping her foot on the ground before turning to her Servant:
"It's not good Berserker, you let him escape!"
The normally impassive monster turned to the little girl... one moment, he seemed contrite, before the Mad Enhancement erased all feeling and emotion in the legendary son of Zeus.
Sending her Servant back to astralized form, Illya walked down the street where a Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce awaited her. Dressed in a white outfit more like a nun than a maid, Sella opened the back door and bowed gracefully:
"Welcome back, Mistress Illya."
The little winter fairy starts fulminating:
"I couldn't beat Lancer, he ran away!"
Sella was usually very cold and not very emotional, but she allowed a sudden animosity to filter through:
"In any case, the traitor's daughter is finished. Lancer will get rid of her."
A horrified expression was painted on the girl's face:
"What do you mean, finished?"
"It's obvious. Lancer left the fight to chase the witness. He's going to kill Pyrrha Emiya."
Illya turned to the second maid behind the wheel of the Rolls:
"Leysritt, to Emiya residence!"
"Okay, dokay!"
On a nearby roof, Lancer took form and substance in a flicker of blue light.
He looked annoyed. Opening his hand, he materialized three engraved pebbles bearing the ᛒ rune, the rune of the birch. He focused on the face of the teen redhead spy. Then threw the stones infused with his magic energy to the ground, uttering "Berkana".
It was so unfortunate, another fight interrupted while he was going to resort to his Noble Phantasm... And is Master want to erase that failure by eliminating another kid... or rather a pretty girl. And Cú hated killing pretty girls. It was very wasteful.
Plus, a redhead with green eyes... likes a true Irish beauty, quite his type.
"Damn you, Kotomine!"
Pyrrha collapsed on the floor of the living room of the Emiya residence, her back leaning against the wall. Her heart beat like an entire percussion orchestra.
The room was not illuminated and, in the twilight, the Amazon barely discerned the Kotatsu which served as a table for meals.
In the middle of the low table, a covered dish with a note left by Sakura seemed to offer her a mute reproach.
It was after several minutes of watching the meal that had waited so long for her that Pyrrha slowly began to emerge from her stupor state.
The Invincible Girl didn't realize she'd been out that long.
What the hell happened?
The cops at school this morning, the murder of a student, the signs of a fight in the yard...
Then her encounter with Illyasviel...
And finally the clash between the two monsters...
Pyrrha was far from fearful. She faced very dangerous creatures like a wyvern Grimm. Yet the man in blue spandex was an absolute monster who had terrified her.
As her breath was gradually slowing down, the Spartan Girl sat more comfortably to think, her eyes fixed in the void, for a long time.
The characteristic sound of furin, the small bells found in Japanese temples, suddenly resounded.
Danger!
By reflex, Pyrrha sprang up, inspecting the room around her, in search of the intruder who had just violated the Bounded Field that surrounded the Emiya residence.
And...
Pyrrharolls over, obeying the instinct that warned her she would die if she didn't move. Projecting on the ground the plate on the kotatsu in her haste to jump over the obstacle, she turned to look at the place where she had stood
The Amazon recognized the man in blue. He leaned on his spear planted in a tatami the back turned to her. There was a feeling of anger but also a kind of nonchalance coming from the aggressor. He did not seem to be on alert, not like a man ready to fight... The humiliation electrified Pyrrha. He did not even see her as an adversary... no more than an ordinary man would see a cockroach as an enemy.
The man in blue removed his spear from the ground and slowly turned around. Pyrrha looked at his face and was surprised to read a sort of repugnance. As their eyes crossed, he sighed:
"Stop complicating things, missy. I was just trying to kill you by surprise... I thought I was being considerate... you would have no time to be afraid."
Strangely, Pyrrha was less afraid. She straightened up, looking for a way to survive, a way to escape. Her spear and armor were in the shed.
"Why..." she swallowed her saliva. "Why do you want to kill me?"
"Nothing personal... you were in the wrong place at the wrong time like the other kid yesterday."
Pyrrha struggle not to vomit... he was the one who fought in the high school yard and... Hiroki Endo had surprised the fight as she had just done. And the blue guy kills Endo for no other reason.
Strangely, anger made Pyrrha regain all her control:
"You kill the witnesses of your clashes... But if you care so much about secrecy, why do you fight in a city?"
Lancer looked at her with an amused expression on his face, and posed Gae Bolg against his neck while shrugging:
"Hey... it's not me who makes the rules of this war. It's the Magi. And the logic of these rules... and you know that Magi and logic don't really go together, girl! "His eyes took on a cunning expression."I feel traces of magic in you. You know Magecraft, don't you?
His gaze lingers on the abrasion on Pyrrha's left hand:
"You might even be the seventh."
"Seventh? What are you talking about?"
Lancer took his weapon with two hands. His expression had become frigid:
"It's not I dislike our little chit-chat but I'm here for a job ... let's end this quickly, it'll be less painful for both of us."
Pyrrha swallowed as her neck became wet with cold sweat:
"Wait... you're going to murder me without giving me a chance to defend myself?"
Surprisingly, Lancer burst out laughing:
"You want to fight me? A little Magus with petty Magecraft who wants to fight a Servant? You are something else, you know that? "
Servant?
Pyrrha felt that the monster in blue had just given her important information, but she did not have time to dwell on this point. The Amazon pointed to the window:
"In the shed, I have my weapon and armor... I don't want to die like a sheep at the slaughterhouse."
For the first time, Lancer looked at Pyrrha, not as a disgusting task that had to be done as quickly as possible. There was a warrior in front of him. Cú Chulainn had many faults, but he was honorable. He nodded respectfully:
"Well, I'll give you a death worthy of a song. And then... " He had a mischievous smile on his face "maybe I can finally have fun."
With a movement of his red spear, he pointed to the shoji which opened onto the inner courtyard.
Pyrrha glared at Cú Chulainn.
He had watched her undress to her underwear with a dirty-minded smile... and once again she felt humiliated. In the cold air of the shed, the Invincible Girl passed a short black skirt, and a bronze breastplate similar to a corset. Pyrrha pulled on long gloves that went up to her elbows, put on a brass wrist-guard and a bracelet holding his biceps to her left arm, then the Amazon sat on a crate to equip herself with her leggings. She then passed the brass gorget, which protected her neck, and then wore her circlet adorned with two emeralds hanging from smalls gold chains. The Invincible Girl straightened herself up to tie a long red sash to her waist, which she tied with a disc-shaped clip depicting her emblem: a spear on a shield. Finally, she fitted out her javelin Miló and Akoúo̱ her Hoplon shield (2).
Lancer looked the Spartan Girl from head to toe with an admiring whistle:
"What's your name, girl?"
"Pyrrha..." She hesitated for a brief moment before completing, "Pyrrha Nikos".
She never considered Emiya her real name.
The Irish hero nodded:
"A beautiful name... I can't tell you mine... sorry. But you can call me Lancer." He took a bent-legged pose, Gae Bolg held with two hands: "Show me what you are made of, Pyrrha Nikos."
The young flame hair woman concentrated...
She had no Semblance, no Aura, and all she could use was Strengthening Magecraft. Pyrrha hypnotized herself with the key phrase she had created:
"Eίμαι σίδηρος" (3)
Her Magic Circuits lit up with a green glow. Energy filled the void in the matter. Her bones became as hard as steel, her muscles gained power, her speed was increased.
Two shadows moved quickly, so fast that their movements were blurred...
Impact of metal against metal...
Sparks...
The cloudy night was dark, but spears wielded by warriors illuminated it with their clashes.
Any Servant who saw the fight between Lancer and Berserker would have immediately understood that Cú Chulainn was not exploiting all his strength and speed. A smile on his lips, he even left the initiative to Pyrrha. Twirling, he wielded his red spear like a quarterstaff rather than give blows from its cursed spearhead.
In turn, the Invincible Girl fought with her usual brilliance. As a kick from the heel of the spear made her let go of Miló, she made a shield bash, repelling the enemy to catch her javelin before it even touched the ground.
Lancer planted Gae Bolg in the ground and leaning on the spear, gave a powerful kick... that Pyrrha deflected from her shield while kneeling. In her hand, Miló described a circular arc, mowing the support foot of Cú Chulainn. But the attack met only emptiness. Lancer had leaped like a cat and landed on his feet a few meters away. His has now a full smile... he was having fun like a king.
Pyrrha pressed the button twice on Miló's knob and the weapon turned into a rifle! Still kneeling, she stalled Miló into Akoúo̱'s upper notch and opened fire... without being able to touch Lancer once.
The latter witnessed the transformation of the javelin with a rather amusing stupor expression, but now he laughed:
"Give up, girl... the bullet that will hurt me is not yet melted!" (4)
He then jumped forward and Pyrrha only had time to throw herself aside to avoid the Servant charge. Nevertheless, the Hound of Culann planted his spear in the ground to stop instantly and gave the Spartan Girl a violent kick.
Her lungs suddenly emptied of all air, she was catapulted into the sky... and Lancer leaped in her wake.
Releasing Akoúo̱, Pyrrha turned around and struck the shield of both feet, propelling herself towards his opponent. In her hand, Miló took its xiphos (5) form. Once again, Lancer was surprised... which did not prevent him from countering the attack and landing to the ground with the agility of a young goat.
Nearby, Pyrrha focused on her wrist guard.
Akoúo̱ came back to hit Lancer in the back of the head... Except that the Hound of the Red Plains grabbed the shield with a nonchalant move:
"No bullets... no arrows... no flying shields... try something else, girl!"
Instead of breaking Akoúo̱, he released it and smiled with an appreciative gaze when he saw the Hoplon heading towards his opponent:
"You fight very well, Pyrrha Nikos. And you have used your assets intelligently. I'm sure an ordinary opponent wouldn't have understood that you control the shield with your wrist guard."
The Spartan Girl remained calm and composed, but kept a gasp of surprise... how did he understand that she had made a Mystic Code that allowed her to control remotely Akoúo̱? This trick allowed her to reuse some of the tactics she used with her Semblance.
Pyrrha rushed ahead. Understanding that the difference in strength was too great, she bet everything on one card. She would deflect the red spear with her shield and would hurry to contact to stab Lancer with Miló still in its xiphos shape. Her Magic Circuits were activated once again:
"Eίμαι σίδηρος"
She channeled the energy into Akoúo̱ ... the shield had to hold the shock!
But Cú Chulainn just smiled and jumped aside... sweeping the air with a powerful left spin kick. Struck in the belly, Pyrrha tore up from the ground in a "bang" sound that raised clods of earth. The young woman broke the shed door from her back before spraying the shelves of the back wall.
Spitting blood, she remained there prostrate to the ground, with chest pain and several ribs broken.
Gae Bolg resting on his neck, the Hound of Culann approached the shed with a nonchalant gait:
"You are quick on your feet, witted, thoughtful. So much talent in a girl your age is impressive. Some people have to believe that you're some kind of born combat genius. But you and I, know it's a lot of practice and the everyday repetition of every move to perfection. I have only one complaint against you: your moves are too flashy. It seems that you are a gladiator in an arena... You know, nobody's looking at us. Well, I hope you're not mad at me..."
He pointed the red spear at the heart of the Amazon:
"Farewell Pyrrha Nikos..."
But The Invincible Girl tried to straighten herself up and looked at Lancer full of anger at her own weakness:
"I cannot die! This life has been given to me! I have lost too much! I cannot let this war kill countless innocent people! I refuse to die!"
Cú Chulainn sighed and raised his spear. He had hoped that the girl would be brave to the end but... deep down, she was right. Her death was a waste that promised to make him sick.
What happened then was so fast that even Lancer could act only by reflex. Entirely focused on Pyrrha, he had not noticed that a half-erased invocation circle was hidden by several crates. The fight had released significant amounts of magical energy that had revived the Formalcraft circle.
As for Pyrrha she mechanically squeezed her painful left hand... without knowing that under her glove the scratch turned into a red tattoo... When she cried "I refuse to die!" an energetic shock spread in the circle of Invocation. Through time and space, lines of force extended...
From Avalon, the legendary scabbard, the lines of forces reunited it at Excalibur, the Sacred Sword.
The wind swirled in fury.
With his eyes wide open, Lancer only had time to raise Gae Bolg to counter an attack. Repelled by a hail of blows, he jumped out of the shed to escape the aggressor's wrath.
As for Pyrrha, she sees only a whirlwind of blue and silver...
At that moment, the clouds tore in the night sky and the full moon enveloped the shed with silver clarity.
The man standing in the doorway turned around... for a moment, Pyrrha thought that was Jaune... Except that the knight dressed in blue and wearing silver armor seemed twice as... manly... as Jaune had ever been.
And the Knight of the Silver Sky nodded as he watched the Spartan Girl:
"Milady, are thou my master?"
"Master?"
As she looked at him, without understanding anything, the Command Mark radiated red light, making her cry out of pain. As if it were an answer, the gallant knight nodded again. Then he began to declare with great formalism as if taking an oath:
"This concludes my invocation. I Servant Saber, I'm thou sword in this sacred quest of the Holy Cup and I would fight thou foes in thou name, Master!"
And the legendary King Arthur rushed into the court to face his first opponent.
The seventh Master had been chosen, the seventh Servant had been invoked, the Fifth Fuyuki's Grail War had actually begun!
(1) Fifth of the twelve works of Hercules, the Augean stables.
(2) Pyrrha's shield is a type of aspis (a greek shield more commonly named hoplon) called koilè recognizable by its two indentations.
(3) This is ancient Greek. It is pronounced: Eímai sídiros and translates: "I am (made) of iron".
(4) Protection from Arrows B rank!
(5) Greek short sword.