"Get ready, we're going to warp him to you in a few seconds." Those words telepathically beamed into Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters' minds.
The foursome waited in a grove near one of the craters made by Scáthach and Heracles during their battle. Their opponent was someone prone to causing collateral damage so it was best to have the fight take place somewhere that was already beyond repair. Unlike the other groups who waited to teleport themselves until after their targets were already warped to the appropriate battlegrounds, Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters were against a Servant who was unlikely to sit still for long, so they were already at their battlefield, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
All four women stood around the spot their opponent would appear, removing their blindfolds and letting their Mystic Eyes gaze upon the world..
"Breaker Gorgon!"
"Tri-Breaker Gorgon!"
With a flick of their hands, the blindfolds were tossed in front of themselves and formed four magic circles that surrounded the spot their opponent would appear. If all went well, the enemy would immediately get caught in one of the Breaker Gorgons and thus be trapped in an illusion that would leave him easy to kill.
Medusa let her eyes wander to those of the Gorgon Sisters. They were all the same as hers. The other Medusa had truly shared everything with her sisters. Such beautiful eyes. They looked so good on Stheno and Euryale. They were all so beautiful and the lone Medusa was so disgusting. They all looked the same, and yet Medusa could only look upon herself and see ugliness. She lacked the beauty of community and family. The Gorgon Sisters were the platonic ideal of what living beings should achieve. They were many and they were one, and that made them as infinite as a zero-dimensional point.
Green light. The enemy was appearing. Medusa freed herself of her distractions and readied herself to use Breaker Gorgon upon the target.
"▂▂▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
A scream to rock the very foundations of the world.
Flashes of horror. Medusa's head falling from its shoulders only to get stomped into a slop full of her hair. Her chest getting torn open so the putrid heat of her insides could fill the air and her organs could be comfortably torn out. Flames spreading over every inch of her flesh to boil her bodily fluids and cook her fat and muscle black. These images that flicked across Medusa's eyes were not the byproduct of any illusion. They were simply born from the primal fear the Caster felt at hearing that draconic roar. It left Medusa frozen with fear, unable to attack with Breaker Gorgon. It was the same for the Gorgon Sisters. The dragon man that had appeared was free to jump up and exhale flames that resembled a waterfall due to their azure coloration. All four Casters would be turned to ash if they didn't dodge.
Medusa let her senses focus not on the fear that had been instilled in her, and instead on her surroundings and the current moment. The smell and heat of a crackling blaze grounded her. She regained her senses and was about to dodge until she noticed that the Gorgon Sisters were still paralyzed. They just quivered and looked at each other.
Were they unable to withstand fear such as this alone? This was merely Medusa's theory, but she suspected that the sisters had become so reliant upon each other for support in all things that they couldn't overcome the fear Siegfried had created in them without one of the other sisters comforting them. Since all three of them were shaken, none could be the rock that the other could stand upon in the sea of terror they were in.
From Medusa's sleeves came snakes that stretched over to the Gorgon Sisters and pushed them all out of range while Medusa herself flew backwards. The bodies of the snakes turned to gas from the flames, but the identically faced foursome avoided getting drowned in fire.
Given the short timeframe, Medusa didn't have time to be gentle when she knocked her lookalikes away. The impacts were enough to return the sisters to their senses and they flew into the sky to avoid more flames from Siegfried, Medusa joining them. The dragon man flapped his wings and shot for Medusa who swerved out of the way as she attacked with more snakes and the sisters launched spears of blood. The Casters' creations failed to penetrate the scales of the beast, but his body began to gain small portions that were petrified. The Mystic Eyes of the four women couldn't completely turn the dragon man to stone due to his high Mana stat, but he was still able to have all his parameters ranked down to the point that he wouldn't be fast enough to tag Medusa or the Gorgon Sisters.
The foursome kept their distance from Siegfried who continued pointlessly trying to chase after them in the sky, exhaling flames that never hit their mark. Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters retaliated with more blood and serpents, but the scales of the Berserker held strong despite the two-times rank down of his parameters. His natural armor had to be a Noble Phantasm with durability that disregarded his own natural endurance. Killing the dragon man was going to be a challenge.
Changing tactics, both Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters activated the magic seals they had placed around the area a few days ago to gather magical energy. Red lighting was expelled from the marks that convened at the sky's peak, a red dome forming around the battlefield that sealed the dragon man within its bounds. An eye like those of Cybele appeared at the Bounded Field's peak. This was not one, but two Noble Phantasms combined. Medusa's Blood Fort Andromeda and the Gorgon Sisters' Tri-Blood Fort Andromeda. The two barriers became one and not only combined, but multiplied their power. These fields normally needed ten days to gather the power necessary to act at full capacity, the seals for this activation only having been around for three days, but the synergized power of the two Noble Phantasms together allowed them to act as one fully powered Blood Fort Andromeda.
Siegfried Alter began having his magical energy siphoned to be fed to the four bloodsuckers. This Berserker was unlikely to ever run out of magical energy since he was getting a direct feed from the Greater Grail which was functionally bottomless, but sapping that mana would allow Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters to also have all the energy they'd ever need for their spells. The kicker was that the Bounded Field dyed the area red because it was saturated with the blood of Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters, the blood they used for their magecraft.
Medusa used the life giving properties of her blood in the air around the dragon man to create several serpents the size of houses. The bloodsucker's spawn wrapped around the Berserker and formed a tight ball. Inside that cage of snakes, the beast was about to exhale an inferno to burn his way to freedom, but first he had to inhale. What the Berserker inhaled and filled his lung with was more of the bloody air. From the blood soaked oxygen came more snakes that started ripping the dragon man's lungs from the inside and biting into them to inject various poisons. Dragon fire filled the lungs and burned the serpents away, but not before the Berserker had taken significant damage. The Berserker exhaled his blaze and burned a hole through the reptilian ball that was holding him. He flew out of the hole, but more snakes formed around him. He was quick to lash out with his claws and begin tearing Medusa's creations to pieces. This left him preoccupied and in one place. Everything had gone to plan.
The Gorgon Sisters had gathered together and formed a magic circle of their blood in front of themselves. They had been preparing this Noble Phantasm the whole time Medusa was keeping Siegfried occupied.
"Tri-Pandemonium Cetus!"
From the sigil fired a beam that was a concentrated version of the Blood Fort that would liquify anything organic, everything else being turned to stone. The blast was fast and it was unlikely that the Berserker's scales could nullify it.
Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters were chosen to face Siegfried Alter because they had the intelligence and varied abilities necessary to overcome the powerful and dull minded Berserker. The rest of the alliance had initially been unsure as to whether the four bloodsuckers could kill Siegfried, not because they didn't not have faith in the competency of Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters, but because they had near no chance of winning if Siegfried transformed into Fafnir. That was why they had to keep the Berserker distracted so he didn't have the chance to transform. If he got even a brief moment of freedom, then the fight was his.
The beast reacted on instinct to the incoming Noble Phantasm, exhaling flames to his right to push himself out of the way. He wasn't fast enough, his right arm, right wing, and some of the side of his torso getting caught in the beam and turning to ooze that was absorbed into the bloodsuckers.
More serpents were born from the air around the Berserker, but he exhaled more flames to propel himself, this time towards the ground. Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters kept trying to attack him with snakes and blood projectiles that they formed point blank around him, but his scales protected him. He just kept exhaling without pause thanks to using circular breathing, inhaling through the nose while simultaneously breathing out through his mouth. This would normally present the opportunity to create attacks inside him with the bloody air he was intaking, but the air was continually cleansed by the dragon's fire that kept forming in and being released from his lungs. The dragon man's body crashed into the dirt and burrowed deep into the Earth as he kept on breathing out fire.
Medusa realized his plan. He was digging so deep into the ground that it would take a moment for the bloodsuckers to get through the soil and stone to attack him again. That meant he had a moment where he wasn't preoccupied with anything. He was free to transform.
"Akafiloga All-Grið!"
Rising from the ground, hunks of rock and dirt getting flung about, a dragon appeared with only one arm and one wing. Despite being injured, it was no less intimidating than the strongest dragon should have been. Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters were monsters, they were creatures that instilled fear in other entities, and yet they felt like children dressed in costumes standing before a real terror. The true monster roared with such might that the Blood Fort began to warp, space itself quaking. The fear that the bloodsuckers felt at the dragon man's initial scream was nothing compared to the bellow that they were hearing now, drowning out all other sounds and overpowering their minds. It was like falling into Hell while gazing upon its deepest layers, the layers you knew you were headed to.
The dragon looked up at the Gorgon Sisters who were clutching each other's bodies. It knew they were the most apparent threat. They needed to run, but they couldn't, because they were petrified by their fear better than Mystic Eyes ever could. Each of them was scared and sought comfort in their sisters. Since none of them were calm, they could only feel each others terror which reinforced their panic and left them inert. They had become so reliant on each other that they couldn't function when all of them were under duress. Medusa may have been myopic in believing the nature of the Gorgon Sisters was something worthy of envying.
A magic circle formed in front of the sisters again as their desperation peaked. Their power charged while the dragon opened their mouth and breathed in, an azure color rising out of the beast's throat.
"Tri-Pandemonium Cetus!"
The beam of organic dissolution was fired down towards the dragon that responded with an exhalation of flames. The two streams met and the blood in the air began to boil from the fire's heat. Medusa's skin was scalded and the sisters screamed as they poured all their power into the Noble Phantasm. The blue of the dragon's breath painted over the Blood Fort's redness as it pushed back the Gorgon's Sisters' beam. The alternate Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno didn't have the chance to bewail their loss as the fire incinerated them. The blazing wave continued stretching across the air and when it reached the edge of the Bounded Field, it simply burned a hole through it and kept soaring until it reached the vacuum of space where the flames finally died from lack of oxygen. A gape was left in the Blood Fort that allowed the light of the outside world to shine in.
The Gorgon Sisters were dead. The dragon turned its attention to Medusa.
Medusa regained her composure and created dozens of snakes that were just as large as the dragon, the serpents wrapping around the king of Phantasmals. Despite the comparable size, the dragon broke free of its living bonds with its bare claws. Bloody scales and mangled heads were left around the dragon as it fired another burning wave. Medusa flew out of the way, the dragon thankfully still slowed by the power of Cybele, though far less so given the beast's even greater mana and the Gorgon Sisters no longer contributing to its petrification. Another hole was made in Andromeda, its effects becoming lessened.
As she continued dodging the dragon's repeated breaths, Medusa saw how foolish she had been to think the Gorgon Sisters were an ideal to aspire to. Such obsessive and incestuous love was not a form of enlightenment. Such a relationship was a cushion to the world's ills and a shackle that stunted growth. No wonder Medusa's life ended in disaster. She became a monster due to her desire to protect her sisters, and in the end she devoured them and was then beheaded by Perseus. One might think she would have learned her lesson from that experience, but sometimes the truth only became apparent when seen from a certain angle.
If only Medusa could retain this lesson learned, but memories did not persist between Grail Wars. It was too late to fix her past mistakes, but that didn't mean she couldn't fix the problem currently before her.
Blood Fort Andromeda was barely holding on from all the sections of it that were now missing, its attempts to restore itself getting outpaced by the flames of Fafnir. Medusa, seeing the dragon breathe out once more, didn't completely dodge the exhalation. She let the fire at the edges of the blast graze her, which was all that was necessary to vaporize her legs and cause her whole body to ignite in blue.
Like a bug swatted out of the air, Medusa plummeted without grace and hit the ground. She did not writhe. She just let the fire cremate her.
The dragon began to turn to leave. Good. With its back turned, it wouldn't take much to finish it.
Medusa, when she was a Caster, had the magical nature of her blood emphasized. This manifested as magecraft that allowed her blood to heal, to be made into constructs, and to generate life. That last point was vital. Some legends hold that the Pegasus was born from Medusa's neck after her decapitation, but in truth she was given the steed by Poseidon. That said, there was certainly a child born from the mystical blood of Medusa's corpse. This demi-god progeny, born with the blood of not only Medusa, but also Poseidon, was the ultimate Noble Phantasm of Caster Medusa. It was a temporary Heroic Spirit with the goal of retribution who would be blessed with abilities attuned to slaying whoever was responsible for taking Medusa's life.
"Chrysaor."
As the last of Medusa's body turned to ash and left behind an amber orb, a fragment of her consciousness remained to watch the womb birth a woman identical to her. This new Spirit wielded a golden sword and wore armor adorned with large wings. The new warrior flew at the dragon while it was crawling out of a hole in the Blood Fort and towards Mount Enzo. One slash powered with the concept of dragon slaying was all that was necessary to lop off the head of the dragon. An easy win thanks to the beast's already wounded state and the fact that it was distracted.
An anticlimax, but Medusa was glad it was one. Her consciousness wouldn't have lasted long enough to see through a full battle between Chrysaor and Fafnir. Both the dragon's body and Chrysaor began to fade away, so Medusa found it appropriate to let her mind do the same.
Medusa and the Gorgon Sisters had failed to learn from her mistakes, and that was why this victory cost their lives. They could only pray the others would be able to grow and survive. Medusa thought of her Master, Henriikka, and hoped she would be okay.