Chapter 9 / For The Beloved Catgirl Archer, Embark on a Final Calydonian Hunt
As the rain continued to hail down on the Servants, the man pushed up his glasses with eyes of scrutiny hiding behind them. He stood underneath the patio's rooftop and watched as Saber approached the Master or rather, the newcomer to the field. He wasn't as daft on mythology compared to the immature and young Master, so when the new Servant revealed himself to be Meleager, he knew right right what the implications of that had meant for Archer's identity.
Because if his assumption was correct, it would make all of the irrational actions of the young Master to have sense behind them; in being stubborn to leave the war, in trying to protect Archer, and even in receiving a fatal blow for her, all of it would have made sense.
For if the Master was truly a normal person, he would have left the first moment that there was a risk to his life. No one would have wanted to die in an underground war that the overworld knew nothing about, including the person in question.
But if this supposed person was strung along and influenced by someone else…
Everything started to click.
But if that was the case, then he absolutely could not allow the innocent person, victim to all these circumstances, to suffer any longer. It was the past that doomed the teenager to this fate, someone that he was personally involved with even if he wasn't present to see what actually happened.
As someone whose experiment had gone awry, it was his responsibility to make sure that the bystanders were safe from any additional harm. The difficult question had been the matter of trying to separate the Servant from the Master's body, but for all intents and purposes—
—Kurogane Yoshida was not here anymore.
No, was he even here to begin with?
If so, then he was innocent. He certainly shouldn't be here, but now that had evidence for his theory, he needed to make sure that this child was not to be harmed.
What should have been the best course of action here?
"Meleager… What are you doing here…?"
Archer's words spilled out by themselves, bewildered by the man that showed up before her. Although he wasn't exactly how he looked from her memories, it was mostly because his appearance was overlapping itself onto Kurogane's physical appearance. However, even if he hadn't foolishly declared his name to the enemy, she would have already known, merely based on the atmosphere in the air.
"Oh? Is that really a question you should be asking? Of course, I'll be here!" With a kind smile turned to the huntress, Meleager looked happy to be standing before her again. "If my dearest beloved is in danger, I always do what I can in order to protect her!"
"Always do… what you can to protect me…" Archer's voice trembled a bit. "Yeah, I suppose that's how you always were, but I must ask you something."
"Anything for you, my dearest Atalanta."
"Why did you pull an innocent person into this affair?"
Archer noticed the abnormality already.
Kurogane Yoshida was a person of energy and upbeat, but no matter how much he wanted to express his love for her, Archer felt it was shallow. Kurogane did not know Archer as a person and yet, he was so desperate for her attention and her affection. She already knew it was going to go nowhere because it reminded her of her past.
She remembered how when she returned from the Calydonian Boar Hunt, her life started to fall apart because of shallow love. Her birth father, realizing that the child he abandoned in the forest was still alive, decided to line up suitors for her in order to continue the lineage. After all, who wouldn't have wanted to have the huntress who landed the first shot on the Demon Boar as their wife?
But that was all the suitors saw. To all of them, she was merely a wife to brag about. To them, she was merely a trophy wife. That was why she came up with the challenge of the footrace for her hand in marriage, knowing that there was no man in the world that could beat her at speed. Those who are defeated by her agility shall be met with death. That was her condition.
And as the time passed, and people kept dying because she kept beating them in the footrace, she started to see how shallow their love truly was. Even the man who cheated against her in the race only saw her for what she was on the surface. She despised it. She despised how much she was being used like an object, but she could not say anything against it.
That was simply how the world worked back then.
And that is what she was reminded of the first moment that Kurogane proposed to her. He was still a young Master, so she was able to dissuade herself from committing any real harm instinctively onto him, but in her heart, she could only feel disgusted.
That was what she thought she was feeling, but the atmosphere around Kurogane Yoshida had been familiar. Perhaps that was the reason why she had put up with him longer than she anticipated. There was some reason that was preventing her from snapping at him, something that caused her to feel hesitant.
The reason was in front of her eyes right now.
"And I already answered you. I'll always do what I can in order to protect you."
Atalanta's body stiffened, until Meleager awkwardly broke the tension.
"That would sound cooler, but that's not actually the case. Not fully, that is," Meleager said, laughing it off. "In reality, it was just dumb luck."
"Dumb luck?"
"What? Did you think I planned to be stuck inside of the kid for years until the Holy Grail War came along?" Meleager groaned. "Apparently, there was this impromptu summoning ritual that used the kid as a catalyst. And apparently, I was the prime target to be pulled in this shenanigan. I got summoned inside of the kid as my vessel."
"So my Master was—"
"No, he was a normal person." Meleager glanced back at the black-suited man standing at the back of the battlefield. "His body would have been absolutely destroyed if that guy over there didn't help in sealing my consciousness, even altering some of the kid's body to make sure he wouldn't die from withstanding the physical stress. He would have been able to live normally and once he died of old age, my spirit would get released back to the Throne of Heroes."
His hand retracted and opened up a few times, making sure that he was fully controlling the body. "I couldn't even think for myself for however long that I was dormant for, but there was a certain day where I got linked back with the Holy Grail's mana supply."
"... It was the day I was summoned by his hand."
"Now everything after that, that was my hand's work. I think the summoning ritual used my presence as part of the catalyst to summon you and in turn, probably work me up. Can't say for certain since I'm not exactly too knowledgeable with magecraft like Medea was, but I guess it would have to do."
"So the emotions that my Master felt for me—?"
"—were mine through proxy, if you want to think about it like that. Though, I would have loved it if he wasn't such a bumbling mess. A guy has to be more convicted in their love, but that's what happens when a kid like him doesn't have experiences."
It made sense. Kurogane, by himself, wouldn't have done all of those things, but if she took the actions of her Master by themselves and looked over them without prejudiced eyes, she would have realized that those would have been things that Meleager would have done. Meleager, without any hesitation, was the only one she met in her life that would sacrifice himself in order to keep her safe.
Was this an act of hypocrisy?
She felt very little when Kurogane even died before her, thinking that he was a fool until the bitter end, but knowing the truth of that it was instead Meleager to force those actions, she was hesitating to say anything mean-spirited about the hero's influence.
It was dumb for Kurogane, but expected from Meleager.
"Anyways, I think we'll leave this conversation for later. I have a certain Saber to beat the crap out of for hurting you." Meleager rolled his shoulder as he took a few steps before him. "Have you figured out his identity yet?"
"His sword." The two Greek heroes glanced over to the radiant weapon held in Saber's hand. "I have my suspicions, but if that's the same demonic blade that I am thinking of…"
"Is that the case?" Meleager smirked, preparing his spear for real this time as he dropped to his usual battle posture. "Then stand back a bit. This might get a little messy, my dear Atalanta."
"Don't think you're going to fight this by yourself." Atalanta drew her bow, ready to support the spearman. "I'm no damsel in distress, Meleager. Have you forgotten who I am?"
"Of course not," he winked. "I would never."
Saber finally took a few steps towards the pair to the command of his Master. Even though Meleager was barking louder than the resilient Saber, he already knew that taking vengeance was easier said than done. Only an idiot would have been unable to sense that they were up against a tough enemy, even taking consideration of the Saber Class standard.
The alternative option was to kill the Master, but something told Meleager that it wasn't going to be as easy either. Saber's entire guard had been up, so nothing was going to get past his sights for free. Besides, even though that black-suited man was the one who issued the command, it was Saber that raised his hand against Atalanta, so he wouldn't be satisfied unless he did the same to him.
"Quite the odd hero," Saber said, pushing up his glasses. "To think that you would declare your True Name to your enemy in such a boisterous fashion. Not only that, but you don't even make attempts to hide Archer's True Name as well. Are you planning to throw away any advantage you might have, Meleager of Calydon?"
"If you know my True Name, that just means you already know what's coming to you. I'm not letting things like the technicality of Holy Grail War standards stop me from protecting the person I love."
"I'm not berating you. In fact, I could come to respect your motivations if it were not for the circumstances here. I too would do what I could for my own loved one, even if I have to die for her."
"Then you really know what's coming for you."
Saber pushed up his glasses. "However, I have a job as a Servant of this Holy Grail War and that is to bring victory to my Master. If you choose to stand in the way, I'll simply cut you down as well."
"Enough of the small talk, Saber. Wrap this up as quickly as possible." The black-suited man called out through the patter of the rain. "Your priority target is to be Archer, first and foremost. I want to make some further investigation into the child, so please do not injure him too much. However, I believe you'll find some difficulty in doing so to begin with. In any case, you're allowed to use any means to proceed, Saber."
"Leaving me for last?" Meleager scoffed. "Oh, you know that's never going to happen. As long as I'm still breathing, I'm not letting you get through me to hurt her."
"Shall we see if your strength is as strong as your conviction then?"
"Bring it, bastard!"
Saber pushed off the ground, dashing forwards. With intense speed, a normal person wouldn't have been able to see him coming, but Meleager was no normal person. He immediately moved Enyalius to have the thrust be pushed to the side, twirling his spear in a fluid motion. As if guiding the blade with the flow of a river, Saber's attacks could not make it past him. In fact, Meleager caught Saber's sword in the middle of a strike, pushing it downwards to be stuck in the ground.
He spun his spear upwards to slash at Saber, but he was a split second too slow. Saber retreated backwards, but Meleager was persistent. He chased after Saber's movements, flipping sides of who had been on the defensive. However, the result was almost the same deal. Just as Saber couldn't break through Meleager, Meleager could not do the same to Saber.
In his flurry, Saber knocked the spear away from the assault and went in for a retaliation. Meleager pulled his spear, extending the pole outwards to block the attack, but it was a feint. Saber instead grabbed onto the spear and pulled Meleager closer. He tried to get away, but Saber's follow-up was a clean thrust right through his chest. Blood had splattered outwards from his mouth as the piercing sword was dyed in his blood.
"Not much of a fight."
"... Not much of a guard either."
"What...!?"
Saber looked at Meleager, seeing that he was smirking.
"Heads-up!"
Meleager reached out, grabbing Saber's collar and smashed his head into Saber's skull. If they were both normal humans, it would have certainly cracked both of their heads in a single swoop, but still, it was strong enough to give Saber a daze. Meleager pushed Saber away and kicked him down. It wasn't enough to make Saber lose his footwork, but he grunting at the unexpected play.
Saber extended his arm out, having his sword return to him. Tugging from Meleager's chest, it hurt a bit for the wound to open up suddenly, but within a few moments, Meleager's personal skill came into effect. His injury started healing itself as he rolled his neck with a satisfied grin.
Saber shook his head to get back into his position, holding to his sword tightly, not intending to lose it in a silly manner like that again. "So much for being a Lancer. If I didn't know any better from that interaction, I would have marked you as a Berserker."
"You're not getting anywhere, buttering me up like that. My heart is already dedicated to Atalanta, so you're a bit too late on that front there."
"It wasn't meant to be a compliment."
"Man. Such a boring reaction."
"In any case, that healing factor of yours is going to be a bit bothersome." Saber reached out for his daggers and threw a bunch of them into the air. "Let us see if there are limitations to how quickly it heals."
As they fell down, Saber struck each other with extreme force and precision, sending all of his daggers flying towards Meleager. Much of it, if it landed, wasn't enough to stop his natural gift, but that wasn't the reason why he merely stood them nonchalantly. He gave it a moment before stepping out of the way, not to dodge the daggers, but to let Archer's arrow go right past him.
Without even seeing their exact locations, Archer was able to strike down the daggers.
"I'll give you support, Meleager!"
"I'll be a fool to waste it!"
Meleager dashed forwards, letting Archer's faster arrows suppress Saber's movements. He blocked a few of them while punching out some response daggers of his own, but as Meleager got close, two of the daggers were shot out of the air by Archer. With little thought, he grabbed them and kept them close to him. Pulling up his spear, he slashed the tip at Saber, forcing him to move back, and then again and again. He wasn't any closer to landing a hit with his spear, no matter the angle he thrusted and swept.
However, Saber couldn't launch back any attacks. After dodging one of Meleager's strikes, Archer's arrows would disable him from making any counters or else risk the chance of being hit. If this kept up, it was a matter of time before Saber's defense dropped or so it should have been a reasonable thing to believe. Even with Archer helping Meleager out, it didn't seem like Saber was breaking a sweat. In fact, at some point, he stopped moving backwards.
"Is that all? You've already become predictable in your assault patterns."
"Damn it…!"
Saber knocked Meleager back in between his attacks, narrowly dodging the arrow meant to punish him for the movement. Archer clicked her tongue and fired off a rapid onslaught of arrows, not putting much care for friendly hits or not. She already knew that Meleager could easily heal from any stray arrows, so there wasn't any point in holding back.
Even then, Meleager knew exactly where the arrows were flying to. He bounced backwards, twirling past the arrows and touching their shafts to redirect the angle. Even if it was a difference of a gentle tap, it would be able to throw off the trajectory of the original shot, making it harder to block. Dodging all of Archer's arrow storm, he watched as Saber was still able to defend against all of it.
Meleager jumped back even more and twisted his hand around his spear. With one forceful motion, he threw his weapon forwards in the trailing shadows of Archer's attack. For a frontal attack, he didn't think it was possible to get a clean hit, but it caused Saber to rest defensive, holding his sword to fend it off. A grinding sound momentarily stole their ears, but it also pushed Saber back a bit.
"Grr...!"
If left alone, Saber would easily brush it off. That was why the second Meleager's feet touched the ground again, he closed the gap and leapt forwards. He pulled up his foot and kicked right into the end of his spear, reinforcing the pressure on Saber's blade. He could only hold him there for a few seconds before he flicked his blade up, throwing Meleager into the air and his spear spinning rapidly.
Saber was about to throw his daggers at the airborne Meleager, but he was surprised to see that his opponent had thought of it first and acted in kind. Pulling out the dagger he caught earlier, he tossed it right back to its owner with astounding speeds, making Saber jump out of the way to avoid a deep wound. It allowed Meleager to land peacefully, waiting for his spear to stab itself right in the ground next to him. He grabbed it and repositioned himself, bending his posture back to square one.
"Nothing about your fighting style seems to give your origin away," Meleager sighed. "At the very least, I've never come across anyone like you back where I'm from. Though, if that was the case, I'd probably recognize you by now, without even a fight."
"Then I'm meeting my expectations as a Servant of the Holy Grail."
"Don't even want to provide me with a name? It'll be something to remember you by after I smash your face in for hurting my beloved."
"I would rather not."
"Then I'll write on your grave, 'here lies the nameless swordsman'. It'll give me something to spit on, not that us heroes have much of a grave anyways."
It was all big talk from Meleager, perhaps to the point where even he didn't know what the hell he was saying. He simply needed to spill some off-centered banter to see if there was anything he could tick. Emotions can disorient a person into the wrong decisions, something he himself knew very well, but Saber appeared to be a very focused individual. He chose to respect his duty, having a core of rationality by his side. If that was the case, Meleager couldn't break through the mental defense either.
He was fully aware that if this fight kept up at this rate, he wouldn't be able to beat him. Frankly speaking, he was already on a strict time limit here, unbeknownst to everyone except himself. The more energy he spent in this fight, the weaker the connection to the master's body he felt. It wasn't as if he was fighting back, far from it, but that was because he probably didn't realize what was going on right now.
No, it was because the master's body couldn't handle all of this power of a heroic spirit. It was supported a bit in order to house Meleager's dormant spirit, but not in a scenario like this one. That meant he only had a single shot at using his own noble phantasm and afterwards, he would certainly go down. The difficulty came in how tough Saber's guard had been. If he couldn't do anything here to break through, there was no way that he could land his noble phantasm cleanly to end the fight right there.
They had to end this quickly, but with Saber not breaking a single sweat yet, the chances weren't looking all too good. All without even knowing his identity, something he could learn to know the noble phantasms they were potentially up against or preferably his weakness as well.
"Do Greek Heroes usually speak as boisterous as you?"
"I can certainly think of a few others."
From the forest, arrows flew out from the trees. Saber, although not expecting it, was still able to react properly to them and knock them out in the air. He even caught one to prove a point, glaring back to the trees where Archer retreated to for more cover. She navigated from place to place, a natural instinct of being raised in the wild, and firing her arrows from all sorts of angles.
Meleager took his chance and charged in again, thrusting his spear. Saber merely stepped out of the way, dodging both tailends of Meleager and Archer's combined efforts, returning to them a yield of nothing to show for it. Meleager blocked his responsive slash after he dodged a few more thrusts, but the weight was strong, instantly pushing his feet into the ground.
It might have been much worse if not for Archer charging up an arrow to fire off at Saber's back. He already knew it was coming, moving out, but the arrow ended up flying into Meleager. Though, he might have instead thanked Archer for the way out, since he pulled his feet into the air and used the blocking force against the arrow to push him away from Saber's close range.
His feet grinded to a halt, shaking off Archer's attack as his eyes kept focus on Saber.
Saber glared at the forest carefully, waiting for arrows to come into him. As a flurry of shots soared past him, Saber punched half the amount of daggers at his predicted locations to where Archer would be. She was hiding herself well, but not good enough enough to shake off Saber. One of the daggers was certainly going to hit Archer and Meleager realized that, pinpointing the group of daggers that appeared to be going for where Archer was.
He tossed his spear with a flick with his wrist, making it spin widely to knock away the airborne daggers. It gave Archer enough time to reposition, but it left Meleager wide open. Saber immediately appeared before Meleager and struck him with a fist, launching him backwards to hit a tree. It broke his momentum, but it also broke the tree, making it fall over from its force.
Archer came over to his side, firing stray arrows to keep Saber away as Meleager groaned a bit.
"A bit out of shape, aren't you?"
"A disappointment to be sure. Getting myself clapped in front of the girl I love," Meleager wryly laughed as he got back up. "There's no guy in the world who wants anything like that to happen. Makes them look less cool, right?"
"It doesn't appear like you're able to make an inch of progress here."
"I'll figure something out." Meleager rolled his neck as he called back his spear, having it fly back into his hand. "Love will persevere, after all."
"Please be serious."
"Trust me." Meleager let out a dissatisfied grunt. "I am serious here."
There had to be something that they haven't tried yet. This game of bouncing in and out was going to get old very quickly for him, but no matter what he thought of, it only involved going in and beating the crap out of Saber. Archer didn't look like she could come up with anything either, or else she might have already informed him of a plan.
"Quite the dilemma you have here, isn't it, Meleager of Calydon?"
Saber's master spoke up in the quiet pause of the fight.
"It doesn't appear to be that you can defeat Saber in that condition of yours."
"Oh?" Meleager sweated, thinking the gig was up. "And who says that?"
"You already know it yourself. Saber is a powerful warrior that can't be defeated in normal circumstances." Some relief came by Meleager's shoulders when the mark was missed, but those words still ended up hitting another target. "His experiences and strength lend him as one of the ideal Servants to have for front-forwards battles as this one. Even against two heroic spirits, he won't be discovering any trouble."
"Careful. You might stroke his ego a bit."
The man crossed his arms, stepping from the porch and into the field. Obviously, he ignored Meleager's little remark and continued, extending his hand outwards to the hero. Saber, being wary of his Master's actions walking into potential danger, stood close to make sure neither Meleager or Archer could make any sudden attacks. It wasn't stopping Archer from loading in an arrow and aiming it, just in case a perfect shot presented itself.
"Your defeat is going to be inevitable, but let us make a compromise."
"Making a deal with you? You're the one that beat the crap of the kid here."
"And I'm still interested in looking into the child. The only reason I did such a thing was because I was in the honest belief that something of these lines could happen. I was supposed to be a bit more peaceful in my tactics, but my curiosity got the better of me."
The man pushed up his glasses, staring at the two heroes.
"I'll offer you a deal. It's obvious that you wish to keep Archer, or should I say Atalanta, in the runnings for this Holy Grail War. Personally, it does not matter if other Servants are defeated as of now. I currently have a different objective in mind right now, but crossing other Servants makes things difficult to pursue. That is why I want Atalanta to be defeated to minimize my problems here."
Extending his hand outwards, he turned the attention over to them.
"However, perhaps you two can prove yourselves useful to me in my endeavors. Having the Chaste Huntress and the Calydonian Prince by my side, I am sure I'll be able to complete what it is I must do. It is a simple matter and afterwards, I'll leave you two to walk off to continue the war as you please."
"Working together with you? You've got to be kidding."
Meleager stepped forwards, throwing his hand out as if he was pushing the man's arm away.
"Though, I might think about it if you let me kill Saber here and now."
"Hmmph. Don't be ridiculous."
"It was worth a shot," Meleager shrugged. "It's probably in your best interest to keep a juggernaut like this guy around. He would probably give Heracles a run for his money."
"Do you really think that we would believe you?" Archer asked. "The moment we turn our backs, you might go ahead and stab us for your own benefits."
"Heed my words, for that is far from the case." The man pulled back his hand, resting it on his sides very diligently. "There is more than one reason why a person would end up in a Holy Grail War, after all. The wish at the end of it is far from the only thing that keeps people in. I know that you know that it is possible for that to happen, considering the circumstances of your own Master. "
"You can't honestly expect us to believe that you do not want the wish of the Holy Grail."
"There is another goal I wish to obtain. In the process of this war, I will already be able to reach it, so I have no need for the wish. I cannot say the same about Saber, but…" The man paused a bit, glancing a bit at the swordsman and then down to his hand, covered in a glove. "Even if he does stand to be the remaining Servant at the end of this war, I believe I won't be able to make a wish either way."
Meleager and Archer frowned at the mysterious way the man had been speaking. Before any of them could speak up against it, the man pointed his finger at the pair.
"I believe nothing said here will be able to sway any of you." His arm swiped forwards with his command. "And if that is your decision, then we'll end this here. Saber."
"Of course, Sir."
Saber held up a few of his daggers, but instead of throwing them upwards, they floated before him as if a strange energy took control and suspended them in the air. Meleager could feel the power surging through the space, merely in its presence, but his instincts were telling him that this still wasn't his noble phantasm. Saber had been holding back the entire time, so he still didn't finish having tricks up his sleeve. Meleager bent his legs, clicking his tongue as he turned to Archer.
There was no way Saber would end up using his noble phantasm in this battle, so their opportunity would never arise. In that case, Meleager needed to force things out here. There was only one way to beat an unknown opponent and that was the classical art of brute power.
"Hey, Atalanta?" Meleager kept his eyes pointed forwards, but nudged his head to the side. "How far do you have to be to get some reasonable mileage out of your noble phantasm?"
"Give me thirty seconds. Perhaps a minute. Could you hold him here for that long?"
"Anything for you, my dear. Besides, I'm the one who asked."
As the daggers hovered, brimming with energy now, Saber struck them with blinding speeds. The daggers sped up much quicker than before, but it was still nothing Meleager couldn't handle. He spun his spear as Archer made her retreat, watching where the daggers were flying to ensure that Saber wasn't going to stop her. There were a few attempts, but Meleager stood in the way, knocking down some and even taking some hits intentionally.
Having those weapons stick from his body, he didn't even think about pulling them out. He had good healing, but it didn't mean that attacks didn't hurt. Even so, he sped up, running forwards to keep Saber pinned down to the field, He took on more daggers as he got closer, forcing Saber to change his tactics and rush in to stop him. The man moved back to allow the Servants to fight one another in an explosive acceleration, clashing rapidly among each other.
Just as Saber was getting serious, Meleager's attitude started to shift.
"If it's just for a minute…"
He gritted through the pain, trying to let his gift heal himself. It was working in overdrive right about now and while he sustained more than he could heal back up, he kept pushing forwards. In fact, he was starting to catch up right to Saber's current prowess.
If there was only a minute left in this fight, he might as well show Saber the noble bravery that came with his power. Putting himself on a stricter timer, Meleager unleashed all the strength he had, making the timer on his clock tick away that much faster. It almost took Saber by surprise, but with everything else, he was still able to hold it back.
"So you still had more in you?" Saber asked in the midst of the clanging. "Impressive, but that won't be nearly enough to defeat me."
"All I have to do is buy time!"
Meleager managed to slip right by Saber's cut, still being sliced a bit, but he pulled out the second dagger he caught from earlier and threw it. Not at Saber, but at the black-suited man standing in the distance. Although he was confident that the attack wouldn't do anything substantial, hell, the man even caught it, it was enough for Saber's attention to be diverted.
Everytime the man had been standing close to danger, it would look as if Saber would always ensure that he was safe. Whether it would be simply stepping up to negotiate with the opponent, Saber always made sure that he was in between the enemy and the man, just as Meleager always tried to be standing in between Saber and Archer.
And it was that gesture that made their noble phantasm a viable option here.
"Eyes over here!"
Although the sword was still limiting Meleager's spear and its movements, Meleager was able to quickly lash out a straight punch to Saber's face. He heard the cracking noise of Saber's glasses as he staggered backwards, but it wasn't enough to stop the battle at all. Saber shot forwards three daggers as he fell back, punching them right into Meleager's chest.
"Grah! Crap!"
He hastily took the moment to get the daggers out of him, but before he could get the last one, Saber leapt forwards with his sword and slammed it down on Meleager. He was forced to block the attack, steadily feeling a loss of control in his arms.
"You fight well, Meleager of Calydon. However, it ends here."
"It's far from over!"
With the burst of adrenaline rushing through Meleager's fingers, he pushed Saber off of him as he could feel more energy being condensed in the distance. Even if she was far away, Meleager could hear her noble phantasm going off. The man noticed it as well and was about to jump back to the manor for safety, but the dagger he caught started glowing.
"Hmm…?"
"I might not know much about magecraft, but I was a companion of Medea! Even a hunter prince like me could pick up a few tricks to make his hunts a little bit easier! Or in other words, a little magecraft of my own!"
The dagger exploded and paralyzed the man's movements, causing him to flinch in the moment.
"W-What…?"
"Sir!"
Saber called out to him, but Archer's attack had already been unleashed. Using her own mana and independent action to make it happen, two arrows flew upwards into the skies. A message to the gods above and once received, a hellstorm of arrows came crashing down, faster than the rain, aiming themselves onto the field. Saber clicked his tongue, showing the first instance of frustration as he leapt over to the man and tossed up as many daggers as he could.
He started punching them forwards, retaliating and blocking all vital arrows that could have landed, but even Atalanta's noble phantasm had been far too much to block all of it.
Phoebus Catastrophe.
And now, it was his turn.
Atalanta got the first hit before he arrived.
It was time to end his fight, one way or another.
Meleager's spear ignited in a brilliant light and his body started burning up. The brighter it got, the more flames that consumed him, but he was still smiling. The pain was beyond terrible, but it was never lasting. Even the rain couldn't extinguish it, but that was something he already knew about.
"A passion that burns eternally in my heart…!"
Meleager raised his spear.
"A fate that ends with an everlasting flame…!"
The grass under his feet wasn't scorched in the lightest. This flame of his belonged only to himself and while he once despised the fire that put an end to his life, he could now wear these flames with resilience and honor. For they were the proof of his undying love for Archer.
"Let this hunt come to its end!"
With a blazing speed, Meleager rushed through the pelting arrows, destroying everything in his way. Seeing the flames get closer, Saber sent the last of his daggers up to the remaining arrows, being forced to tackle Meleager's final burst. It wasn't in his expectations to do so, but he unleashed the limits of his sword in a split-second decision, detecting that he wasn't going to be able to deal with a noble phantasm like this so easily head-on.
"Demonic blade, complete."
His daggers appeared before him, spinning in a cycle as he sent them forwards to slow Melager down, but all they managed to do was be deflected by the fire. However, his final projectile had been his very own sword. It shined a bright light, brighter than the flames that devoured Meleager. Saber struck the sword in its pommel and sent it forwards. It hadn't been knocked away like the daggers, hitting right into Meleager's ramming spear, but it did not stop him.
He simply kept moving forwards.
But that did not make Saber falter.
"This is the dawn of destruction."
As the sword was still pushing itself against Meleager, Saber rushed forwards with his fist, striking forwards on the pommel once again.
"Bölverkr Gram!"
Meleager felt the loud crash through his ears and through his body. If he let up for a mere moment, his body would have been crushed in an instant and while it wouldn't be an injury he couldn't heal from, that would be it for hanging on as long as possible in the vessel's body. As the sword started to explode all of its energy to stop Meleager, the link with the body started to break down. He could see his own hair fading in and out between his white and his vessel's black, not to mention his spear flickering with a golden fade.
Damn it, is this really it?
"Meleager! Is that all you have!?"
Archer's call from the distance reached him as he was stuck in the deadlock, but even the simple call of his name with her voice was enough to give him more life in his actions. The flames that surrounded him charred his body to a crisp, blazing louder than anything Saber's sword could unleash. A loud scream pierced through the heavens for even the gods and goddesses to hear, everything holding with his heart, pounding away in his chest.
"GRAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"This is…!"
The ground around them broke into pieces, suspending the rocks and dirt into the air as the gravity around them shattered. None of their feet budged, but the power from Meleager's spear was starting to overwhelm Saber.
Under normal conditions, his noble phantasm wasn't anything special. It would have actually lost quite easily to Saber's noble phantasm. In a normal Holy Grail War, he wouldn't be able to unleash this power, only having it similar to the powerful strike he used to end the Calydonian Boar Hunt. However, this was different. With Atalanta by his side and the conditions aligning themselves, he was able to put this noble phantasm to its maximum output.
A spirit that was unstoppable to hurt those who had malicious intentions towards his beloved.
"Telikós Kynígi Calydonia!"
With the flames roaring, a bright light emerged from the impact and at its apex, it exploded.
Smoke gathered in the area as Archer landed nearby to check on the situation. The amassed energy had spread throughout the area, so it was difficult for her to sense what happened, but the smoke cleared up, she first saw Meleager panting. The flames had not been extinguished yet, lasting on his body, but there were no injuries on his body.
Only burns remained, something that his gift could not resolve him from.
His sweat dripped onto the broken ground as his entire arm was visibly blackened like ashes, but his spear was nowhere to be found. He placed everything he had left into that attack, to the point where he shattered the spear back into its spatial location. It wasn't gone forever, but he couldn't exactly call it back in due time. At less, not in time for another round with Saber.
It was more of Meleager's physical appearance that surprised the Archer the most. It was as if he was fading in between the current version of himself and the Master he once knew. The color of his hair started rejecting Meleager's white, his clothes started flickering back to the civilian outfit that Kurogane was wearing before, and his eyes were returning back to the normal blue, phasing the green color out.
However, as the smoke cleared up even more—
"Damn it…" Meleager swore under his breath. "So even that wasn't enough…?"
Saber had still been standing.
It was not without damage, as his breaths were ragged and his armor and clothes were partially destroyed, but he was looking far better than Meleager. The black-suited man had been standing right behind Saber, showing little evidence that he was hurt in the exchange.
"Still though… Gram, huh?" Meleager smirked, even when he had no energy left to move. "To think I was fighting the great hero of the Volsunga Saga, Sigurd. The King of Warriors. What can a mere prince like myself have to do against something like that?"
"You were outmatched from the very beginning," the black-suited man said. "Would you like to take up the compromise again? I fear that you do not have much of an option."
"Are you looking down on me? Even if… I can't move this body as well anymore…" His speech stuttered. Even control of his mouth was starting to return to the vessel's control. "Like hell… I'm going to comply. I don't… need your pity."
Archer tried pulling up her bow at Saber, but that was all she could do. If the identity of Saber had really been Sigurd, she wasn't so sure that any of her arrows would be destined to hit him. His capabilities were far greater than anything Archer could attempt in the moment.
"Then we'll take you down, have the child return back to normal, and make away with Archer."
Meleager, even in his broken state, still found the strength to step forward.
"Didn't I say… if I was still breathing… you're not getting through me to her?"
Meleager flinched, making a poor display of any difficulty it would be for Saber to do so. Even so, he was still able to hold his arm up, almost blocking Archer's line of fire at Saber. He looked over his shoulder, slowly and steadily, as if any sudden movements would make him fade away in the wind.
"Atalanta… Get away from here. I don't care where you go. You have to escape."
"I don't believe that would be a wise choice."
"If you live, you still have a chance at the Holy Grail." He turned to Archer with a bitter smile. "And then, you can finally use its wish to make the world that you envisioned for children, right? A place where all of them are loved, not to be abandoned like how your father treated you."
"Meleager…"
"And when that happens, you'll be happy. And when that happens, my own wish will come true as well. In that case, I still win. Ha… Hahaha…"
"There's no way you will be able to buy enough time either way."
"I can try. I'm pretty stubborn, after all."
Meleager sighed.
"Though, it still sucks. And here, I thought we could have a loving reunion with each other after we're done here. Maybe I could have taken you out on a few dates in this modern world, but I suppose that will have to be postponed into the unforeseeable future."
Archer clicked her tongue, slowly lowering her bow.
"Unfortunately, you won't be getting away too easily." The black-suited man shook his head. "If you won't help me out, it's in my best interest to defeat the both of you now." He looked over to the Servant. "Saber. Finish this."
Without another word, Saber held out a few of his daggers again, but there was no way that either of them could retaliate against his attacks again. As he threw them up in the air, Meleager tucked himself over to block the trajectory to Archer. With a silent apology to the kid whose body he was abusing to high heavens, he crossed his arms to brace himself.
Before Saber could unleash the final attack though—
"Saber, by my command seals! I command you to stop!"
Another voice emerged from the forest and Saber widened his eyes as he let the daggers fall back to the ground. It didn't look like he was forced to do so, more about releasing his stance from the sheer surprise he was receiving. Saber's head turned over, as well as everyone else, to where the voice came from. Rustling through the trees, someone came stumbling out.
"To think, it took me a while to figure out that this was happening!"
"... Who the hell is this lost child?" Meleager grunted.
"Excuse me!? I'm a bit stressed right now after I realized what was actually going opposed to what I thought was supposed to happen! Like, what the hell was that explosion just now!? That wasn't part of the plan! Leave me alone, Kuro! Being a bit rude too!"
"W-What?"
Archer widened her eyes, not being mistaken on her identity. It was the girl that her Master was friends with. Eriko, was it? Her Master's cat was even hanging off her shoulder, pretty much confirming that she was really there. She wanted to tell her to leave before she got hurt in the fight, but when Archer was looking over, she noticed a red mark on her hand.
Command Seals…? And it would appear that she was commanding Saber just now.
And there was one that was used up.
She looked over to the black-suited man.
Wait, then… who…?
Eriko had glared at him as well, huffing and puffing.
"I thought you said you were just going to talk to Kurogane! I even gave him the bracelet and everything, so that he could get through that barrier to keep people away from the house, like you told me too! And here, you said you were going to fix everything up from the misunderstanding that Saber had on kidnapping Shiro instead of taking Kurogane!"
"E-Eriko, my dear… There's a lot of things I need to explain here, but for the sake of the situation, this type of ordeal was unavoidable because—"
"Look, I know I messed up your little summoning thing or whatever, but I guess messing up plans runs deep in the family, doesn't it!?"
"U-Uhm, why don't you calm down a little…?"
Like a switch being flipped, the confidence that exerted from the black-suited man had been shattered into pieces, leaving behind a nervous and lackluster person that couldn't even trump himself over a highschool girl. Granted, it had been an angry highschool girl, but the confrontation was one of a significant age difference nevertheless.
"Eriko, is it?"
Hearing her name, she glanced over to Archer's voice. She relieved herself of an exasperated breath before turning to Archer.
"H-Hey, Archer. It's been a bit, hasn't it? Not exactly the place to be meeting your Master's friend, right? You might have questions right now, but maybe we should leave the explanation for later. Kurogane looks like he's about to drop and… Wait, is he on fire!? You've got to put that—"
"N-No, I'm… fine…?"
Meleager was very unsure what was happening.
Eriko looked over to the black-suited man, giving him a chilling glare. He looked as if he was shrinking down in her presence, as she turned over to Saber.
"Hey, Saber. Get these folks healed up in the house. There was never a reason for us to be fighting in the first place, unless my father messed up and went on a tangent. I thought I told you to not blindlessly listen to what he says, pulling in the reines wherever the line is crossed."
"This is a Holy Grail War, Master," Saber responded. "I thought nothing of it when it was an encounter with enemy Servants."
"I guess it's not my fault for not updating you on the situation, and only talking to my father…"
"Master…?" Archer looked between the two. "And Father…?"
"Yeah. The guy in with the sword is actually my Servant, while the guy in the black suit is my dad. For the duration of his involvement in the war, I'm letting my father use him. Sorry about everything he did though, but he can be a little narrow-minded when it comes to some things." She pouted towards him. "That's probably the reason why mom lives apart from you."
"B-But, Eriko dear—"
"Get Archer and Kurogane into the house and get them rested already!" she snapped. "What are you doing, still standing there!?"
"Y-Yes, of course…"
"... Well, I guess that's that."
Meleager started swaying forwards as the flames started to fade away from his body. A thin layer of light covered him as he fell forwards. He spent everything he had just standing there, so when the dangerous threat removed itself from the field, there was no remaining reason to fight back against his natural choice. With a loud thud, Meleager sighed as Eriko was surprised, running over to check on him. Saber came by as well and while Archer was still wary, it was clear that there wasn't any hostility resting in the Servant anymore. It was as if he was acting the part, simply out of duty.
"Kurogane!"
"He is not the one in control right now, but I suspect that it will be relinquished back to him," Archer said. Eriko looked up, still a bit confused, but she shook it off. She was much more accepting of the situation than expected, but if she was already a Master, it might have made sense. "How are you holding up, Meleager?"
"... Think I'm… about to go dormant again, but since I've already awakened…" Meleager's voice started quivering through the nonchalant tone he had. It was slowly starting to sound more like Kurogane than Meleager. "Since I've awakened like this… I don't think the kid's body… is going to hold up for… much longer…"
"You can leave that issue to me."
Coughing to clear his throat, Eriko's father walked up to check on Meleager.
"Saber. Bring him down to the basement. I'll make something work, such that the child's body won't be crushed by Meleager's spirit once his consciousness returns. Though, it might be difficult to figure something out in such a short amount of time. If there was way to extract Melager's spirit and keep it somewhere else, it might alleviate the pressure on his body, but…"
"You better figure something out."
"Y-Yes, I know…"
"For now, I'll do as requested, Sir."
"Alright, good on you."
"If you guys… are finished now…" Meleager's voice got weaker and weaker until it was merely whispers. "I… I think… I'll be leaving for now…"
The thing glow on Meleager dissipated from itself, finally returning Kurogane back into this world. However, he was still knocked out, showing no signs of waking up anytime soon. Saber lifted him up to his arms and left to return back to the manor with Eriko's father.
With a sigh of relief, Eriko looked over to Archer.
"How about we go see Shiro right now? My father just put her to sleep the moment that he realized Saber took the wrong person. Don't worry. She's supposed to be sleeping soundly in my room, so there won't be any problems there."
"Don't you understand the severity of the Holy Grail War yourself?"
"Huh? I mean, yeah, but I think there are more important things for us to deal with here. And besides, I'm just worried about Kurogane's safety right now. I pulled him into this whole Holy Grail War thing without really understanding much about it to mess up my father's plans, but I didn't think too deeply into it. He spends too much time on magecraft and it frankly gets annoying."
She spoke rather normally, giving no signs of aggression. Archer shook her head, wondering if the Masters of this certain Holy Grail War had something wrong with their heads with not understanding what type of dangers they were in. Eriko dusted herself off and headed back to the house.
"Come on, Archer. I'm sure that when Shiro wakes up, she'll enjoy having you around to wait on her brother. And we have snacks in the house if you want."
Archer was a bit dazed by the simplicity of what was going on, but after a fight like that, perhaps a break was in order. With an exasperated sigh of her own, she approached the second Master of the Grail War. The real one, apparently, and with that, there were many questions she wanted as answer, but for the first one to leave her mouth—
"Do… Do you have any apple pie?"
She covered it immediately, but Eriko still heard it.
"Don't worry. I got some from Kurogane's cafe."
Her tail wagged slightly.
"... I see. That will be acceptable."
[Author's Notes]
Been a while, but we got to see Meleager in action. And that Sigurd was Saber. And revealed that Eriko herself was a Master this entire time. Might have explained some of her actions previously. Now, I'll remind readers that I'm not very too well-versed in the mechanics of Fate, simply writing this as a exploration and a dedication for Atalanta, so there will be things that could slip by my radar. It has been a while since I worked on this, so some of my plans might have gone different than originally planned, but I think I managed to work something that my past self would have been envisioning.
I'll try to, uh, not keep the next chapter waiting for so long. It will be the epilogue, answering the rest of the questions that showed up in the final part of this chapter. It will serve to the end to the first arc here, or rather, the first "volume" of the story. After that though, I'll have to figure things out if I want to continue it, maybe trying to scavenge ideas that I may have placed down somewhere in my documents.
I'll probably leave a more conclusive author's notes later.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. And didn't... mind the wait.