Before the sound of thunder had a chance to echo through the restaurant, Bazett and the two Scáthachs had already fled their seats and moved out of the way of Caster's lighting bolt. The other patrons who were in the path of the electricity were not so lucky, but at least they were turned into a red mist before they could even notice anything was happening. The thunderclap the lightning created rattled the windows, said windows then shattering when a new Servant charged through them. What looked like a dragon in humanoid shape had appeared, the one who had roared earlier. That scream had paralyzed Bazett, but Lancer had grabbed the magus and pulled her out of the way before she was hit by Caster's spell.
Bazett shook off the stun effect of the dragon-man's yell and scribbled a Primordial Rune on herself with her finger. She was ready to fight, but what she wasn't ready for was the dragon-man grabbing a random woman by the head and lobbing her at Bazett like a baseball. The magus instinctively caught the woman in her arms, but the force of getting thrown into Bazett at high speed caused the poor woman to get split in two upon making contact with Bazett's body. The civilian woman's two halves continued soaring past Bazett while the magus was frozen in place at the shock of what just happened, blood and pasted organs now staining her suit. The dragon-man's successful distraction was followed up by him exhaling an inferno at Bazett whose Accel Turn skill kicked in and made her auto-dodge. The fire was avoided and instead just turned more civilians to ash. The remaining normal people began trying to escape, their screams making Bazett get goosebumps. She knew already that everyone in the building was likely to die in this fight, but she still couldn't help but be disturbed by the pointless loss of life.
The living Scáthach was handling Caster, keeping him on the defensive with a fierce string of spear thrusts, so Lancer Scáthach joined Bazett in facing the dragon-man. Like with the other Scáthach and Caster, Lancer and Bazett were using a constant series of punches and spear attacks to prevent their draconian foe from having the chance to do anything besides evading. That didn't last too long. Sounds of destruction came from the upper floors and quickly grew closer. The ceiling violently broke apart and dust filtered into the restaurant. The cloud of debris made visibility zero, but it was dispersed by a shockwave made by weapons colliding. Bazett's Scáthach was pushing back with her spear against a similar polearm wielded by a man who was crying blood. His spear was so similar to Scáthach's Gáe Bolg Alternative that it couldn't be coincidence. Was this man Cú Chulainn, or someone else from the Irish Cycles? What Bazett did know was that the man had a red sword in his free hand that he tried to slice Scáthach in half with, but she brought out a second spear to defend with. She and the man engaged in close quarters combat and it was immediately clear that Scáthach was superior. Her skill was refined while this man fought with a remarkable, but comparably inexperienced technique. That isn't to say that his style of combat didn't belie a man who had fought and honed his skill on numerous battlefields and earned his spot in the Throne of Heroes, but that he couldn't compare to Scáthach and her hundreds of years of experience. This obvious Berserker was also being hampered by his madness that was dulling his skills and making him less precise. This loss of technique was in exchange for more raw power and a level of unpredictability, but Scáthach's ability to predict her opponents' moves and her technical mastery made the advantages of Mad Enhancement near irrelevant. That said, the sheer stamina and raw power this Berserker possessed was allowing him to keep up with Scáthach. He was jumping around the room to attack from odd angles and swung his weapon with his full power every time. It was as if he had no worries over how much mana he used up while fighting. He was linked to the Greater Grail so it was possible that it was providing more magical energy than was normal to him and the other Servants serving it. That meant they could constantly fight at full strength without worrying about using up their mana and disappearing.
The dragon-man rushed at Bazett now that she was on her own. Bazett tried to push the dragon back with punches that combined her Flashing Fist and Hard Puncher skills for extreme speed and strength, but he just took the hits. The fists rammed into the beast's scaly body and they certainly did damage, but it was barely anything. Bazett didn't know if her strikes were too weak, the dragon was too tough, or if the dragon-man had some kind of defensive ability. No matter the explanation, the monster tanked the punches with only minor damage and swiped at Bazett with his clawed hand. Bazett whipped her body away from the swing, only to predict with Mind's Eye and Revelation that the dragon's tail was secretly coming to hit her from the opposite direction of the dragon-claw attack, the direction Bazett just dodged towards. The magus' hands both grabbed the tail right as its tip was about to impale her and she immediately swung both the appendage and the dragon-man over her shoulder. She tossed the dragon towards the Berserker that Lancer Scáthach was fighting, but the scaly giant stabbed his fingers into the ground to slow himself down. The floor crumbled thanks to his strength and the force with which he was thrown, but he only needed to stall himself for a moment so he could kick off the ground and propel himself back towards Bazett. The magus drew a fire rune that launched a ball of flames, but the dragon just exhaled his own blaze which met with Bazett's and overpowered it. The enforcer auto-dodged the dragon's breath, only for the beast to clothesline her as she did. Bazett crossed her arms to block the dragon's forearm which prevented her death, but she still felt her bones crack and her skin compress. From Bazett's perspective, everything around her was suddenly pulled away, though in truth, she was the one moving. The armbar blew Bazett off her feet and through multiple walls. The next thing the magus knew, she was outside the hotel. She looked down to see the several story drop to ground level.
Bazett activated the Primordial Runes of fire she had written on her shoes in case an occasion such as this arose. Flames spewed from the bottoms of Bazett's feet which allowed her to stay airborne and even fly around. The dragon-man flew out of the gape Bazett's body created in the restaurant, wings having sprouted from the draconian Servant's back. The dragon exhaled another blue-green conflagration which Bazett flew away from. The magus headed higher into the sky to make sure the dragon wouldn't accidentally hit any of the nearby buildings as their fight continued. More streams of flame were exhaled at Bazett by the dragon-man as he chased her into the sky, the magus swerving out of the way of each blast. It became a dogfight among the clouds as the dragon fired more and more flames while Bazett shot her own fireballs back at him. While Bazett dodged the infernos that came her way, the dragon-man just flew through each fireball in his way like he was some kind of juggernaut. The heat of both combatants' blasts caused the surrounding clouds to dissipate.
As the dragon got progressively closer, Bazett drew runes on her fist and elbow. The beast got near enough to Bazett that it tried to grab her, but she let herself auto-dodge while focusing her conscious mind on angling her body for her counter strike. The runes on her arm activated, flames engulfing and focusing around her fist to the point that it was like Bazett's hand had a second skin of burning light. The rune on the magus' elbow released a deluge of fire that propelled Bazett's fist like a rocket. Bazett's entire arm looked like a laser as it shot towards the dragon, especially as the enforcer activated both her Flashing Fist and Hard Puncher skills. The punch hit its mark perfectly, the blow resembling a flaring star as it smashed into the dragon-man's solar plexus and caused an explosion that blew the beast away.
Bazett's adversary crashed into the roof of a building, thankfully not going through it. What Bazett wasn't thankful for was the dragon-man getting back on his feet and showing only a little bit of damage from the burning blow. The monster did cough up a little blood and his chest spasmed. Getting a hard hit to a pressure point was going to do some lasting damage, even if the dragon did have high durability. He could just regenerate from the damage though so damaging him wasn't meaningful unless it was a killing blow or something close to one.
Bazett couldn't win this fight. Her talents were anti-mage combat, using high power and technique to overwhelm opponents, and countering enemies with Fragarach. None of those were useful against an opponent who possessed superior stats and who didn't use magecraft or any kind of ultimate move. This dragon was someone Scáthach was suited to defeat. Bazett would have a better chance against Caster, so she needed to get back to the hotel and trade opponents with the living Scáthach. The question was how to do that without getting caught and killed by the dragon.
A roar from the dragon-man made Bazett's body freeze. The beast flew at the paralyzed magus, but Bazett moved out of the way since, even though her body couldn't move, she could still control the flames she was using to fly to push herself. Bazett regained her freedom of movement and made a beeline for the hotel, the dragon hot on her tail. Stopping suddenly, Bazett spun around and headed for the monster before he had the chance to stop his own forward flight. More flames left the dragon's throat and Accel Turn made Bazett dodge them while she continued approaching the beast. The creature was unprepared for the magus to charge at him so he couldn't stop his momentum from carrying him closer to the woman. Claws tried to shred Bazett's flesh, but she avoided them and got the dragon in the chin with a swift hook, the monster's forward momentum causing him to fly into the fist which increased the damage of the hit. The punch failed to penetrate the defense of the dragon's scales, but the hit to the jaw made the beast's neck twist and caused his brain to bounce around in his cranium. The dragon was momentarily unable to properly control his limbs, which was a problem for him given that meant he couldn't use his wings. The monster fell from the sky while Bazett flew back to the hotel.
Entering the hole in the building and flying back to the restaurant, Bazett found the room was in shambles. There was nobody inside, the fight having moved to other parts of the hotel. Bazett sensed for where the most magical energy was concentrated in the building and headed in that direction.
Sprinting through the battered halls of the hotel that were covered in blood stains, Bazett found that there were more than just Servants attacking. Masses of tentacles and teeth were devouring civilians. Bazett wanted to help some of the innocents, but she didn't have the luxury of worrying about anyone but herself and her allies at the moment, especially as she heard the sound of the distant dragon plowing through walls towards her.
Bazett continued dashing through the building, punching through any walls or demons in her way. The dragon was just a few rooms away so Bazett drew runes on her arm for another fire powered punch like before. She was going to combine her surprise u-turn hit to the chin with her fire rune enhanced blow to stun the dragon-man again. Bazett stopped and spun around right as the beast burst through the last wall separating himself and his prey. The magus activated the fire runes and used her Hard Puncher and Flashing Fist skills. She even used Reduced Earth now that she was able to step on a surface, the movement technique letting her get right in range to strike the dragon before he could do anything. The blazing punch hit the dragon-man square in the face, the hallway both he and Bazett were in breaking apart from the shockwave of air and the explosion of fire the strike generated. The monster was sent flying back from whence he came and Bazett did a heel turn and continued towards the mass of magical energy she was sensing.
Tackling through a door, Bazett ended up at the hotel's indoor swimming pool. It was large and it currently hosted the fight between Caster and the bleeding eyed man against the two Scáthachs. The fight had begun with the Scáthachs having a slight advantage, but that had changed. There was a dark substance that had consumed half the room and tainted the pool's water. It was a dark slime that was pure evil incarnated. Looking into it was like looking at a wound in the very fabric of nature, the platonic ideal of sin materialized as a shapeless slurry of curses. This had to have been the curses of the Grail that were meant to flood the Earth. Caster stood atop a mound of the mud, a wave of his arm sending some Bazett's way. He was the one controlling this stuff using his immunity as the Grail's Servant and his knowledge of magecraft. Bazett dodged and jumped over to where Lancer Scáthach was standing.
The living Scáthach was currently jumping around the room with the man crying tears, dueling with him while dodging mud. It was especially difficult for Scáthach given the man she was fighting could use the mud covered parts of the room as platforms while she couldn't.
"How's the fight been?" Bazett said.
"Not great. That mud dissolves anything and everything. Even my strongest barriers are reduced to the magical energy they're made of with just a touch. We've been on the run since Caster pulled it out."
"Did he just summon it?"
"No, it's something he pulled up from the pipes in the building. He must have built up a large amount of this stuff ahead of time and seeped it into the hotel's piping. He's slowly been flooding the whole building with it. We're gonna get surrounded by it if we don't escape soon. Where's the dragon-"
As if on cue, the dragon-man flew into the room and exhaled flames that Lancer blocked by creating a rune barrier.
The next moments were chaos. Bazett could barely keep up with what was happening. Waves of mud, attacks from the man bleeding tears, and fire from the dragon all combined to create a constant series of dangers that Bazett had to evade. One second she'd avoid getting ripped in half by the dragon-man, but at that very moment she'd have to deal with an incoming sword swing from the bleeding man before she even had a chance to think about how to escape the hotel. Bazett had no time to rest or do anything but stay on the defensive. The Scáthachs were in the same situation, though they were doing a little better given their magnificence in combat. They were still stuck just trying to survive despite that magnificence. If there wasn't some kind of windfall in their favor, Bazett and the Scáthachs were eventually going to get caught and die. They needed a miracle.
No miracle came.
Bazett saw the disaster that was about to happen next thanks to her Revelation skill and she could tell that there was no way to change the future she had seen. The magus's foot, right as she was taking a step to dodge, ended up slipping on a puddle of pool water. Her leg slid into the mud of the Grail. The burning pain was a step above anything Bazett had previously known. A wave of curses rose up into a wall that began to collapse towards the magus. Bazett tried to move, but her leg was completely unresponsive. The limb was numb and her shoes and pant leg had melted to reveal her flesh had turned jet black. Bazett's other leg was functional, but all her weight was already all on her other leg, so she began to fall with no way to move out of the way of the mud wave in time. She tried to gather mana to activate the fire rune on her shoe, but she was too slow. It wasn't this moment, where her life was in danger of ceasing, that made the vision Bazett saw with her Revelations skill so alarming. The thing so harrowing about the vision, so terrible that it made Bazett begin to cry as the mud was about to reach her, was what happened next.
Loving hands pushed Bazett out of the way of the mud wave. The redhead turned to look at the woman she loved, her Servant and partner, Scáthach. She was now in Bazett's place, the mud already beginning to wash over her. Scáthach was about to dissolve and be taken into the Greater Grail to become one of its accursed warriors. Scáthach was going to die. After everything they had been through, Scáthach was going to die. It was all Bazett's fault, her incompetence caused this. Bazett was an abject failure, she knew she was and yet she managed to convince herself for a brief period that she was actually okay, that she wasn't worthless. All that did was put the woman she loved in danger and forced her to sacrifice herself. Scáthach, poor Scáthach. Such a splendid person who had suffered for years all by herself was now going to perish. This wasn't right. Bazett should have been the one to die. As the mud was overtaking her, Scáthach smiled and drew a Primordial Rune on her chest.
"I'll be oka-"
The mud washed Scáthach away.
The halcyon days were over.
Things became a blur. All Bazett could focus on was the fact that Scáthach was dead, the Scáthach she loved and who had made her a better person was dead. Scáthach had made Bazett learn to appreciate herself and made her stronger, and even taught her the appeal of tasting food. The very act of living was full of joy when Bazett was with Scáthach. The great queen of the Land of Shadows was everything to Bazett. They had only known each other for two weeks since Bazett first summoned Scáthach, but every second of every one of those days had been carefully penned into the tapestry of Bazett's memory due to their radiance. That woman with the dark hair and red eyes, that queen of queens who was always in control, always a step ahead, was so kind. She could have used her plethora of competencies to be selfish, and instead she dedicated herself to the education of others. She was so self-sacrificing that she sequestered herself in another realm for the sake of not interfering in a world that wasn't her own anymore. The queen had finally learned to let her reservations go and live for herself. She was finally happy. Now she was gone, because Bazett screwed up. Bazett didn't even know what to do anymore. Her will shriveled and died.
Red flashed as the living Scáthach used her Gáe Bolg Alternative to sew the dragon-man into the surrounding space before throwing her other spear which hit a mass of mud. An explosion destroyed the room and everyone was sent flying in different directions. Bazett was grabbed by the living Scáthach who created a barrier around them before she rocketed them both through a dozen walls and out of the hotel. Scáthach carried Bazett above the buildings of Shinto and far away from the hotel.
"Bazett, where's the church? We need to meet with the other Masters and Servants asap."
"…"
"Bazett, where's the church!"
"…"
"Bazett?"
"…"
"Bazett! Answer me!" Scáthach landed in a bamboo forest in Miyama and dropped Bazett who just flopped onto the dirt. "Bazett, focus! Your Scáthach is fine!"
"How?" Bazett muttered out as she sat on her side. "She was consumed by the Grail's mud."
"She'll come back. It'll be a corrupted version of her, but she'll come back and we'll return her to normal."
"How?"
"I haven't worked out all the details yet, but we can."
"…"
"Bazett." The living Scáthach crouched next to Bazett. "We're going to save the other me, trust me. Trust me and trust the other me. You know we're smart, right?"
"Right."
"Do you think the other me would recklessly sacrifice herself without some kind of backup plan?"
"No." Bazett remembered the rune Lancer Scáthach drew on herself before the mud dissolved her. "She probably has some kind of plan. She said she'd be okay."
"So believe in her, or do you not actually think she's capable? Was all your admiration for her that shallow?"
"No." Bazett shot into a sitting position. "I admire her more than anyone."
"Then prove it. Believe in her."
Bazett thought back to every time she saw Scáthach stand with confidence, which was almost always. She gave off a constant feeling that she was in control. She was proud and wise. She found the solutions to situations that eluded Bazett. Scáthach had only ever shown a lack of control once, and that was when she and Bazett made love. In that bedroom, on that romantic night, Scáthach let herself be vulnerable. She let her deepest facets be clear to see so Bazett could know them, so they could truly comprehend each other and form a bond. The queen had trusted Bazett with her lesser seen side. That was the kind of connection they had. Scáthach trusted Bazett. Since that was the case, what right did Bazett have to not hold that same degree of faith in Scáthach? Bazett loved Scáthach and now was the time to prove that their love was more than superficial, that Bazett understood how fantastic Scáthach was better than anyone. Scáthach was so amazing that there was no way the Grail could defeat her so easily. She was going to be okay, and if freeing her from Avenger meant she needed some help, then Bazett would provide all the help she needed and one-thousand fold more.
"I believe in her. She'll be okay." Bazett said.
"Good. One more thing." The living Scáthach put a hand on Bazett's head. "Don't blame yourself. You just happened to slip on some water, it could have happened to anyone."
"I-" The words Bazett wanted to say got caught in her throat. She was about to go on a tirade blaming this whole situation on herself. Then she remembered that just a few minutes earlier, when she and the Scáthachs were having dinner, that her Scáthach said something. Scáthach said that Bazett needed to learn to love herself. Hating herself was just going to muck up the gears of her mind and prevent her from being the best person she could be. Scáthach chose to love Bazett over everyone else, and Scáthach wasn't so foolish as to love someone unworthy of affection. Bazett was worthy of Scáthach's love, and so why wouldn't she be worthy of her own love?
Bazett felt the gentle weight of the hand on her head. It made the magus feel safe and accepted. She would normally direct her grief inwards as self-hate, but instead she hugged the queen and wept. The living Scáthach embraced the magus and rubbed her back. Bazett stopped blaming herself and simply mourned her loss so she could move forward later.
"I'm going to save her." Bazett declared. "I'm going to save Scáthach."