Hello everyone! How was life to you? Oh well... I know updates on this story take so long that you might think it's dead, but I'm still here, I'm still alive and I'm absolutely going to bring this story to the finish line.
I was always quite bothered about how many of the teaching writers I've been following, well, stopped writing the moment they began teaching. Now I know why. All the preparation is extremely time-consuming and that's why I barely managed to crawl onwards. But line by line, using even my pauses in the staffroom, I somehow managed. And can proudly present the next episode the story!
Also imagine my glee when I found not only the recommendation on TV Tropes, but the shout-out on Jaime Lannister's Pantheon page! Though I can't imagine Artoria actually giggling about chapter 4. I think it'd be more a faint chuckle and she would feel bad about that much schadenfreude. You have to keep appearances up, after all.
Anyway... Let's go right into the thick of fighting...
Chapter 10 - The Lion, the Viper and the Mountain
Oberyn
He came from the left again. The Prince of Dorne once again evaded the giant greatsword and jumped behind a nearby car. The Mountain followed him, not in a circle, but straight through it. With a miserable creaking noise it was flung into the air, but Oberyn saw the opening immediately. Clegane had used his shield as a makeshift lever against the obstacle, leaving his left side completely exposed for a second or so. More than enough time for a superpowerd Red Viper. Oberyn darted forward and let his spear find its target under the shadow of the ruined car, burying it deeply into the joints beneath the giant's armpit. He would have driven it deeper into his flesh, but he already saw the sword once again coming down on his head. Disengaging from the combat, Oberyn darted backwards. The giant was now charging and closing in fast, so Oberyn went into a fast zig-zag, gaining precious seconds with every strike the howling madman missed. The next wall of a house came rapidly closer during this desperate flight. The moment Oberyn reached it and used it as a platform to jump back into the open street, it just exploded in puff of smoke and collapsing rubble as a the steel encased giant crashed into it. Seeing Clegane emerging immediatedely, Oberyn turned his back and raced along a number of thickly placed shops, all of which got thoroughly demolished as the Mountain cleaved a path of thorough destruction right through them. He only came to a stop when one of the heavier looking stone buildings collapsed on top of him, burying Clegane in the rubble shortly after Oberyn jumped back out into the street.
Gaining enough seconds to catch a single breath, Oberyn looked to the tip of his spear. In addition to the green glistening covering the steel in its entirety, several centimeters of it were also mingled with a deep red. Oberyn sighed.
Not deep enough at all. All I do is tickle him...
He had hoped that enough of those tickles from his Noble Phantasm, the 'Sting of the Red Viper', would cause Clegane to slow down a bit. His poison was highly lethal, but needed time to spread out in its victim's body. Only a very high dosis of it would cause a creature of this madman's calibre to fall over immediately. Right now it seemed as if it was of no use however.
Who would have guessed that death would make this bastard only tougher?
He couldn't even say how long the battle lasted up until then. A few hours, a few minutes, a few seconds. All of that was equally possible. The sun still stood high, but the market district that had become their battlefield was already thoroughly wrecked, with barely a single spot that remained unshattered. At least there were no more bystanders around as far as he could tell. The faceless girl seemed to use the time to intercept anyone trying to enter, even though he suspected that there were still many people hiding somewhere within the shops.
Before Oberyn could think any further, the Mountain was once again emerging from the rubble, seemingly without a scratch and barely slowed down. If anything, it had only pissed him off some more. The Red Viper readied his spear, awaiting to receive the next charge with steady feet.
Fine. No need to rush this. I just have to wait for a better opening.
He saw the tip of Clegane's massive greatsword swinging for him as the giant marched back out into the street with uncanny speed. Waiting until the last second, Oberyn dodged it to the left and marched up to him as he buried the blade deep into the cracking asphalt. Again this opening lasted only for a tiny fraction of a second, with Oberyn barely being able get a single glancing hit in before being forced to retreat from a massive lunge.
Seven hells...
The Red Viper darted to a nearby shop, with the Mountain so close at his heels that he could swear he was able to hear his breath behind him. Stands with vegetables were smashed and their contents flung into the air, Oberyn dove through the rubble and ran a circle, hoping that Clegane was distracted enough to allow him some maneuvering. It was still a close call, but the Red Viper managed to turn around, duck under the incoming sword strike and run up past Clegane's defense. One second later Oberyn added another stab, this time just below the joints of the Mountain's pouldron, but the merciless retaliation in form of both sword and shield spinning into his direction made him jump backwards immediately.
Come on, bastard... You can't keep that pace up forever, can you?
Oberyn watched the shattering of the shop-window in which Clegane's shield impacted with an impatient grimace. He didn't like being chased around like this, but for the moment it seemed to be his best option. Silently cursing, he retreated again, deciding to keep this game up for the time being.
Waver
He couldn't tell what the exasperated reporter said or what was written with the moving letters below, but his voice was certainly frantic and the name 'Fuyuki' had been dropped several times already. Some snippets of video footage had been shown. Shaky pictures of a devestated wasteland amidst rows of low buildings. It looked like an earthquake and a tornado had a baby and got the bright idea to drop it right into a shopping district. The barkeeper stared at the small TV screen hanging in the corner with a horrified expression while his only guest tried to ignore it as best as he could. His only drinking guest that is. Robert Baratheon was slumped down at the bar, staring grimly into his beer. Of course Waver sat next to him, having been forced to tag along as always.
The hell is happening out there...
He shot the drunkard a dark look. He seemed to be doing a great job ignoring what was happening out there. Again. Ever since Fujimura dropped them off the day before, this mountain of muscle was listless and didn't know what else to do. After a morning of lazing around, he suddenly got the idea to go looking for one of the bars he had visited with the old man before Waver had managed to track him down. Searching for it took the entire midday, but now that they were here, what little excitement he had about this goose chase had turned somewhat sour.
He is certainly not someone with the greatest attention span.
Waver sighed. He had tried to talk with him here and then. Mostly about this Kingslayer guy they had run into.
"Just some Lannister spawn, don't worry too much about him", Robert had said with a grim face as they sat in his room that evening. "If he tries something funny, I'll smash his pretty face in."
"So you are willing to fight him at least?", Waver asked carefully, something to which Robert reacted with a displeased grunt.
"Haven't you listened, boy? I will act if he comes seeking trouble, that much I can guarantee you. But this is not my fight anymore. I am not going out of my way to make it end up with just me, Joff and Ned's girl having to fight it out."
Waver had swallowed at that. He had several times made the attempt to bring the issue of the kid Servants up, but every time Robert turned angry and ordered him to shut up. By now he had resigned himself to the fact that this subject was forbidden.
"Mmh... I really thought I was doing you a favor here...", Robert grunted morosely, breaking the current silence. "This place gives off a more traditional sense even here in Shinto, I thought that was more to your liking. Thought that would help you be at ease."
Waver squinted at his own glass, the strange and bitter smell burning at his nostrils. The beer was still untouched.
"No thanks, I prefer to keep my head clear", he muttered.
"Come on", Rider complained. "You should feel flattered to be taken around by a king! Even if it is just a miserable one like me. You should at least have the decency to pretend to have fun!"
"What kind of encouragement is that?", Waver shot back, even though he could not help but feel a bit of stubborn pride that he had managed to frustrate that idiot.
Robert gave a dismissive grunt.
"In all seriousness though, I am stumped. You don't drink, you are afraid of touching women, I have never seen you smile and all you do is complain or shut yourself away in your room when I wouldn't take it upon myself to drag you out. At first I thought you just have trouble being a man, but right now I am thinking you aren't even human."
"I'm sorry that I don't meet your expectations...", Waver snarled. "... but I have to break it to you: Your desires aren't everyone else's!"
"Then I beg you, boy, please enlighten me! What exactly do you find fun?"
Waver frowned. For a second he was just stumped that Robert for once wasn't only talking in jest or in slurred complaints, he could see that the question was serious for once. For a sliver of a moment Waver felt a bit bad about having been so dismissive of his attempts to 'lighten him up' if he was seriously just trying to be nice. But then immediately the memories of the exact places Robert dragged him to came back to his mind and he felt his eyelids fall to form a scowl again. He opened his mouth to shoot back a reply, but oddly enough he found himself unable to come up with something he associated with fun. Instead he ended up taking another glimpse at the TV screen that was still showing the news.
"It certainly is not fun trying to distract yourself while something or someone causes so much havoc...", was Waver's final reply, though it came out unintentionally subdued.
"Uh-huh...", Robert gave a triumphant grunt as if he had won this conversation. "So that's the core of the matter, isn't it? You don't know yourself! All you ever did was hiding behind your books, that's why you don't know how to have fun."
"There is nothing wrong with being ambitious...", Waver replied, this time with more certainty.
"Surely not. Old Jon Arryn would have agreed wholeheartedly. But when you devote your whole life to an idea, you are sure to loose something of yourself sooner rather than later. My brother Stannis never learned to smile either and see what became of him... a grumpy bastard who even got abandoned by his own fucking hair for his constant moaning about perceived slights", he gave another deep sigh, looking down on his beer. "I am not as much of a fool as you might think me to be. I am aware of why you are doing this, of why you insist on this Grail nonsense. Seven hells, you told me yourself whenever you have your angry fits! But you don't actually care about your dusty old books, don't you? You don't care about the knowledge and the power you try to get from them. What you actually want is recognition, right? In a way, you are not all that different to a freshly annointed hedge knight who thinks everyone has to bow and kiss his arse. But I tell you, the moment you go to the tilts with your rusty ill-fitting armor a proper knight will come and knock you into the dirt. And when that happens and you don't have something else that makes you get up and laugh it off, then you end up like... well..."
... like you?, Waver thought bitterly.
He knew better than to push his luck bringing that comparison up. Robert may have been in a comparably contemplative mood, but he wouldn't take open criticism like this well. Instead, Waver watched him empty his cup and wipe the froth from his beard in one swift motion.
"Hah... well, I can't blame you that much for disliking this beer after all. The native's booze may be good, but this here tastes like piss."
Waver couldn't help but put on a grim smile. He hadn't tasted his one, but the smell was indeed terrible, even if that was mostly due to him never having had a liking to alcohol. He could simply never understand why you would willingly blur your senses with that poison. In any case, when Robert noticed his expression, he suddenly sported a broad smile.
"Ah! I see! So you can smile after all!", he laughed.
"I'm not...", Waver swallowed and fought his facial muscles back down.
"Mmh... so how is your opinion on singing?"
"What's that about all of a sudden?", Waver couldn't help but yell in irritation.
"Just a question, that is all...", the muscle monster whistled innocently.
That wasn't a good sign at all.
"I don't care about it. And even if I would care, all you know are drinking songs and by now I have heard all of them!"
Robert laughed at that.
"I was not talking about just us competing. Raiga-dono mentioned a kind of place the natives go to in order to sing, regardless of how shitty they are, just to have a few laughs without caring about embarrassment. I'm thinking that could be just the kind of thing that would make that stiff face of yours crack a smile!"
Waver struggled to understand the meaning of his words, but when they clicked in place in his head, a burst of anger crept up from his bowels.
"That's... you are talking about karaoke?"
"I suppose that's how he called it, yes. Seven hells, I used to make that ice-shitting bastard Ned Stark laugh, so I'd be damned if I give you up now!"
"I am not going to-", Waver was already blustering himself up in protest when suddenly the door of the place opened. Shooting a glance to the unsuspecting witness of this scene, Waver froze up and backed down.
Because he vaguely remembered that face and that dark robe with the cross hung around his neck. And when his cold eyes met his, a wave of fear went over him. With no choice but to rely on that brute, Waver immediately pulled at his sleeve to get his attention.
"It's... it's him!", he motioned helplessly.
Robert Baratheon turned around and frowned as he watched the man with the priest robe approaching. He was one of the men they had encountered when they were storming the Tohsaka manor, a Master of one of the kids. He saw Waver's distressed reaction, but seemed rather amused about it.
"Do not worry, I have not come to fight, only to talk", he instead turned towards the barkeeper, speaking a Japanese phrase that Waver had heard so often in Robert's company that he knew it by now: "The next round is on me!"
Robert grunted and put on a smile, though Waver noted that it wasn't quite as cheerful as it usually was.
"See? There is someone who knows how to make friends!"
"That works only with you though...", the boy groaned.
The priest seated himself next to Robert, who instantly pushed back his chair to allow Waver to join in on the conversation. The man had a grim look on his face and barely registered when the barkeeper asked him a question, likely for his own drink. The priest's blunt reply caused him to frown and fetch a simple glass of water.
"So what is it you want from us?", Waver asked warily while Robert was too busy squinting at this choice of drink.
The priest glanced at him with a joyless smile.
"Is that a way to introduce yourself, Master of Rider?", he asked.
Waver swallowed, still unsure whether this was some kind of trap. But of course, Robert was the one breaking the ice.
"Surely, little Arya must have told you who I am", he stated bluntly.
"Yes... in life you were a man called King Robert Baratheon. The father of the boy that my mentor summoned", the priest replied.
"The very one. King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, the First Men and all the rest. The boy at my side is the one who dragged me out of my grave, Waver Velvet. Now your turn, friend!"
The odd priest nodded with a seriousness as if he was speaking funeral rites.
"My name is Kirei Kotomine. My mentor and the one on whose side I joined this Grail War was Tokiomi Tohsaka. And to answer your question, young Waver Velvet, I have searched this city not truly for you, but to find an answer to a question for myself that doesn't concern you."
Waver found himself frowning and oddly enough, Robert turned around to exchange a similarly confused look with him. Kotomine, clearly seeing the reaction to his speaking in riddles, gave a grim smile.
"As I said, it doesn't concern you. It is just that I happened to have been reminded that if something happened to me, my father surely would like to hear of it."
Robert's eyes narrarowed and Waver noticed that he glanced for a second back to his beer before turning back to the priest.
"So it is about Joff then...", he grunted.
The priest nodded, not saying anything, he was taking in the reaction of the giant just like Waver did.
"How did he die?", Robert asked with a low voice.
"I was not there myself, but Arya told me he fell valiantly fending off a man known as 'The Mountain that Rides' who appears to have been summoned as Berserker."
Robert gave a dark chuckle.
"I highly doubt that 'valiant' is the word the girl used", he mused. "I appreciate the attempt to console a grief-stricken father though. It is good to know that he showed some guts in the end. Few men dare to stand up against a monster like Clegane."
Kotomine kept studying the king's face with an increasingly curious expression.
"You take that news far better than I have expected you to do."
Robert grunted in acknowledgement and before Waver had time to react, a giant hand grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it hard as he was desperately trying to escape this grip.
"The boy here kind of convinced me that this outcome was inevitable the way it was. Or at least he kept rambling about it until I had no choice but to accept it."
It was then he released his grip and Waver had to hold his shoulder with the other hand, rubbing at the throbbingly painful bruise that was surely about to grow there.
"You're welcome", he muttered.
Robert ignored him, continuing the conversation immediately:
"And what about Ned's girl? You made it sound like she had escaped Clegane's wrath. Bloody hells, what sick kind of god pits that madman against children?"
"I recalled her at the time. Not that she appreciated the gesture for it made her unable to save my mentor and his family", Kotomine clenched his fist, Waver noticed that almost all of his command spells had lost colour and turned into simple scars.
"Yeah, she always seemed quite fierce to me, even though I knew her little", Rider commented, his mood liftening. "I couldn't tell either way if she doesn't want me to, but it still doesn't seem like she came with you. Where is she now?"
"She went to hunt the Master of Berserker, but unfortunately...", he waved towards the TV screen that was still showing news about the local devestation. "... it seems that she found Berserker first and now she has to keep civilians away from this battlefield between him and Lancer."
"I see."
A long stretch of silence set in, in which nobody seemed sure what to say. At last Robert did the most obvious thing and raised his cup.
"To Joff!", he toasted. "May he find some peace of mind in the next life."
Kotomine raised his glass in unison, even if it looked a bit silly to do it with simple water. When Rider noticed that Waver hesitated to do so as well, he shot him a dark look and Waver saw no choice but to lift his cup and pretend to take a single sip. Just making the stinking brew touch his lips was nauseating, but Robert gave an acknowledging nod as he saw his compliance.
"To your house of Tohsaka!", Robert raised his cup once again as he turned back to the priest. "May their sacrifices be not in vain!"
They repeated the procedure and once again Waver saw himself forced to emulate them.
"And to little Arya! She may not equal her aunt in beauty as of yet, but certainly in fierceness! May she succeed in preventing any more victims of the old lion's mad dog."
Waver noticed that the priest frowned at that before he drank up and Waver could not help but feel the same sentiment.
"So you are not going to help him?"
Robert glanced to the TV screen, grimacing slightly beneath his beard.
"It does seem like Martell doesn't need my help at the moment and even if I wanted, I have come to know better than to throw myself into battle after drinking."
Half a dozen complaints about the unlikelihood of that went through Waver's head, but for once he kept his mouth shut. It wouldn't help much to show disagreement when in the company of an enemy. Even though this Kotomine guy seemed troubled and unhappy as he was staring into his empty glass, clenching his teeth.
Oberyn
With a crashing sound and a wave of smoke and debris, another wall went down as Clegane's sword tore it apart. The Red Viper had already jumped far away as it happened, barely able to get a few strikes in that ineffectively scraped against the giant's armor.
Good thing my stamina has increased as well. I don't think I could have kept up this pace while alive. Even though I am not quite sure whether he would have...
"Stand still! Uaaaaaaargh!", the giant roared as if to rip Oberyn out of thoughts.
Like a charging bull Clegane plowed his way towards him, pointing his sword threateningly at his prey who once again tried to dance away from him.
Come on! Come on! Come on! Fall over and die already!
The Mountain surely must have had the same thought. And even though dulled by madness, this time he took a surprising sidestep in his path, forcing Oberyn to adjust his stance and suddenly he found himself with the emptied street at his back. He cursed silently at his own idiocy, but had little time to think how he could have avoided being hounded on terms that were not his own. One step, two steps, three steps he retreated away, the last one being half a jump, and yet it was not possible to increase the distance between them. Much the opposite happened even, with the charging brute coming straight for his neck with cold steel. Oberyn managed to evade to his right at the last moment, but instead of burying itself in the ground like so often before, Clegane managed to stop his momentum at the last moment and guide it towards the Red Viper. It was too improvised and too haphazard an attack to readjust his sword, so what hit Oberyn's shield was only the flat side of it, otherwhise he assumed the strike would have been powerful enough to cut him in half, armor and all. Because that's how he felt as he slithered and tumblered over the broken asphalt, reeling from the impact with a wave of pain coming from his left arm.
Seven hells!
With no more cover in sight, Oberyn had no choice but readied himself to take the next attack head-on. He wouldn't survive a direct hit, that was for sure, but he had to take his chance with another evasion to get back towards the walls of whatever building was not already leveled. He ground his teeth and focused on the yellow shield with the three dogs and of course the rapidly nearing sword, waiting for the right moment...
... until the sword rapidly moved backwards.
"Uaaargh!"
He could barely believe his eyes as the Mountain stumbled and turned his attention away from him, swinging his sword in a wide arc that stopped in the middle of the air with an explosive metallic impact sound. Oberyn should have gone for the exposed back of his foe, but his reflexes were already anticipating the attack, causing him to jump to the side and see what exactly had the audacity to interrupt the fight and charge into Gregor Clegane from behind: A knight in shining Kingsguard armor, either too confident or too mad for his own good, as he was bearing the full brunt of Clegane's attack with his now bent and twisted mirror shield. His boots were buried up to his ancles in the broken asphalt as he was hopelessly pushing against the madman's strength.
The Kingslayer?
Oberyn could not help but gape in disbelief. In that moment Jaime Lannister turned his shield inwards so that Clegane's sword slid across it with a sickening scraping sound and buried itself into the ground once the brute's strength lost its target. A black-red sword darted forward, going straight for the minuscule timeframe in which the Mountain had lost his balance, found its way around his giant shield and stabbed into the monster's side. Even though his armor there was at its thinnest, it previously took Oberyn a good amount of effort to penetrate it, but the Kingslayer managed to draw blood on his first try and it might have become a killing strike if not for the roaring madman's following rampage forcing him to back off immediately.
With the two disengaged Oberyn readied his spear, this time intending to go for it once Clegane lowered his guard again, but instead of following up of his first series of strikes, the Mountain himself for once backed off circling in a way that made it obvious that he was trying to keep both of them in front of him.
Seven hells, he may have lost his wits but he still has all his instincts...
Using the sudden moment of pause he turned his attention to the Lannister knight.
"I must admit, I haven't expected you of all people to show up, Kingslayer."
"It can't be helped", he replied unusually cheerful. "With all the noise you are making, you are bound to attract some attention!"
He pointed with his sword upwards and Oberyn's eyes followed that way up until he realized that there was an odd flying machine hovering above the battlefield. The news helicopter's rotors made enough noise that Oberyn found himself at a loss for how he managed to completely miss its presence during the carnage of the day.
"A lot of people are going to be very pissed about this...", Oberyn admitted sheepishly.
"You really should have brought your new Master to erect a Bounded Field", Jaime observed mockingly.
"After what your Master did with my old previous one? You have to see why I am not going to take any chances!"
The Kingslayer nodded, the expression beneath his helmet looked almost solemn.
"Good point... and for that very reason my Master has put up one in the alley right behind this line of shops!", the knight slightly tilted his head into the destined direction, not letting Clegane out of his eyes.
"I suppose he won't come with us if we ask nicely", Oberyn grimaced.
As if to answer that question, the giant was glowering at the Kingslayer now. The air in between them grew so thick it looked like sparks were about to fly.
"As if things were ever that easy...", the Kingslayer chuckled, right before the giant's feet lifted from the ground and made him dart towards the silver knight.
This time the lion of Lannister was more clever. He didn't try to hold his ground, but deflected the attacked and sidestepped. Unlike Oberyn though, he was not nearly fast enough to completely evade all of the repercussions of Clegane. He surely would have ended up cornered if not for Oberyn to charge into the beast's seeminly uncovered back. But Clegane's instincts worked fast. He swirled around and Oberyn had to evade his sword, though he could see that Lannister was using this moment to guide his sword through the giant's defense. Just like that, they drove him backwards.
Damn it... fighting alongside the Kingslayer... I better won't mention that this actually comes as a relief. I would never hear the end of it...
Their fighting styles were obviously entirely different. Oberyn was lightly armed and armored, more like a common sellsword than an actual knight. He was thankful for the reach, but had to be careful of Clegane's blows. All he could do was dance around him, but that also made it possible for him to lure the Mountain into every direction he wanted. The Kingslayer was not so fortunate. Where Oberyn was like a feather in the wind, he comparably had to stand his ground like a solid rock, sparks flying from shield and sword each time the monstrosity went to the offensive. Every lesser man would have been cleaved in half after the first two strikes, but the Lannister's counters were precise and skillful enough to nullify almost all of it. But even then, in spite of his skill, the Mountain either saw him as the lesser danger or simply as easier to deal with. In any case, he now focused his attention more on the Kingsguard knight, allowing Oberyn even more room and more time to think strategically.
The line of shops drew nearer with every step as the Kingslayer allowed the Mountain to push him backwards. There was a bit of actual retreat in their movements, but the Mountain was too busy fending off the attacks from two sides to make any serious counterstrikes. But Oberyn knew things would change once they entered what appeared to be a tailor's shop.
My reach won't mean much there inside and even the Kingslayer will struggle to keep his dance of swords going with so many obstacles. But it seems we have little choice...
Grinding his teeth, Oberyn circled towards the Lannister's position so that they both faced the Mountain from the front. Like this they were able to move simultaneously, both in terms of steps backwards as in their flurry of stabs with which they kept the raging madman busy.
"Hold... still... already!", the beast roared, his massive sword slashing around in a deadly storm.
But this time, it would find neither steel nor foe, since the two knights exchanged knowing smiles before darting apart, leaving the Mountain to stumble onwards into the shop window, shattering glass and mannequins alike. Oberyn knew that now time was important, they had to pressure him before Clegane turned around came bursting out around the shop like the storm of carnage he was. The Kingslayer seemed to realize that as well, as he came back to Oberyn's side as they rushed into the breach, sword and spear lunging forward at the monster that already awaited them.
Jaime
Fighting alongside the Red Viper was certainly an experience he hadn't expected, but it ended up a necessary one, no matter how much Kiritsugu complained when Jaime had called him. But watching a battle of the Grail Wars on the news channel was something even the grumpy hitman had to concede was irrefutably bad.
"Most mages don't bother to craft bounded fields that are able to counter ordinary cameras", he had stated grimly, assessing the situation. "But it doesn't seem that there is a bounded field involved at all."
"Will it be a problem for you?", Jaime had asked warily, still unsure about the limitations of magic.
"I am not most mages", Kiritsugu had replied with a barely contained sneer. "Just focus ony getting Berserker into the Bounded Field. I will not be able to cover the whole street."
I'm trying though...
Oathkeeper danced through the air, stabbing through Clegane's defense seemingly from all directions at once, a constant rain of black and red steel. The Mountain's armor had the reputation to be impenetrable. Its layers upon layers of steel, mail and leather certainly would push any lesser man to his knees, unable to move with it. Only a man of Clegane's freakish size was able to move and fight with it like any regular knight. But when facing Valyrian steel, he could as well have clad himself in parchment. Jaime had managed to penetrate it in numerous places, with red blood puring out everywhere, drenching his surcoat and generally making the Mountain look like he was chewed and spit out by a midsized dragon. But if this bloodloss was slowing him down though, he certainly was good to hide it.
Seven hells...
He nearly fell over a clothing rack lying on the ground while he deflected another of the Mountain's strikes with his shield. When they had entered the shop, initially having the upper hand and pushing the Mountain backwards with ferocious aggressiveness, it immediately left the entire storefront in shambles. The shockwaves and deflections cleared all of the racks and cupboards, smashed all the lights, created furrows in the ground and removed large swathes of the ceiling. Unfortunutely that also meant lots and lots of obstacles that made it hard to move freely without giving the enemy openings and soon enough he was the one chasing them again, barely bothered by his surroundings.
Oh come on...
Jaime listened to his own ragged breathing even more than the sound of clashing steel while he was busy fending off attacks, waiting for another opportunity to drive through the Mountain's surprisingly decent defense.
How come I am the one he focuses on? Doesn't he have more of a score to settle with Martell?
Jaime knew that there was little point in complaining. He of course paid attention to what the Red Viper was doing in order to synchronize their attacks and abuse the openings created by Clegane's divided attention. But right now he somehow switched between attacks and haphazard attempts to clear Jaime's path from debris with swift kicks. The Kingsguard knight should have appreciated the gesture, but at the moment he'd preferred some kind of relief from the constant onslaught against his already heavily battered shield.
It will cost me a lot of magical energy to repair it... again...
All too late he noticed another incoming downwards strike, the threat of a forward bashing shield turned out to be only a feint. Jaime raised his ruin of a shield in the last moment, but this time deflecting turned out to be difficult. He ground his teeth as steel bit in steel and a wave of pain made his whole body shiver.
Damn it, not again.
Clegane put his whole weight behind the strike that had impacted on the shield, obviously trying to drive Jaime onto his knees. Like a cornered scorpion Jaime lashed out, first with a low faint, then with a direct hit into the Mountain's shoulder. He seemed to barely notice it, continuing to push Jaime to the ground. He felt how his boots were driven into the floor, shattering the entire area around him... at least until the resistance of it suddenly stopped and he found himself without ground to stand on.
"Oh for fuck's sake!"
A cellar!
Oberyn
The Red Viper was dashing through the debris to come to the Kingslayer's help, but even then he couldn't hide a certain sense of amusement when under the pressure of Clegane's entire weight, the white knight suddenly disappeared into a gaping hole in the floor. Oberyn's retaliation came in the same instand, burying his spear deeply in the unguarded calf of the dumbfounded brute.
"Uaaaargh!"
With an earshattering outcry he flailed around and the next thing Oberyn knew was that he was flying through the air, a shockwave of pain numbing his senses. He saw the shield coming, but was unable to disentangle himself fast enough to do more than taking it with his own shield. Fortunately, he barely felt how he impacted in the opposing wall. He wondered whether that was a side effect of his spirit self. That idiot Kayneth once rambled about Heroic Spirits being unable to be hurt by anything non-magical. Therefore taking a shield created by magic to the face was a bad idea, but getting catapulted across the countryside seemingly had little effect on him besides the nausea. Trying to shake it off, he emerged from the sizeable hole he created and faced the charging brute once again.
I hardly believe this persistence...
Darting away at the last moment, he watched the Mountain impacting where he had impacted, completely tearing down the entire wall and opening up a brand new walkway to the next shop over.
That's it...
Oberyn dared to make a short look around while Clegane was still heaving himself out of the wreckage. The wall opposing the entrance was right behind him. With renewed determination he brought it behind his back.
Come on, then!
While still waiting for the next charge, Oberyn saw a rather annoyed looking Kingslayer emerge from the stairs next to the entrance. He seemed ready to pincer the Mountain again, but Oberyn hurriedly made a motion to stop him with his spear hand since Clegane had apparently not noticed his return yet.
Attack me, you bloody moron!
And so he did. Sparks flew as Oberyn made another short stab at Clegane's right shoulder as he jumped to the left, but it was more of a feint than anything else. The only important part was that the charging brute tore through the wall once again, leaving him reeling and stumbling out into the open.
"Now!", Oberyn shouted and Jaime was already at his side, his accursed Valyrian sword flashing through the orange-tinted air.
Twilight had already arrived as the lion and the viper cornered a mountain.
Kariya
He felt them struggle. Hundreds and hundreds of them trapped in a cycle of being born and being burned away. He felt them wriggling desperately, eating away at his body all at once in a desperate attempt to stave off their inevitable doom. The agony seemed to be already eroding away his memory. Or maybe it was just that he was so lost that he never even noticed how he escaped that dreadful mansion that had turned into a grave. He didn't come far, that much was certain. After shuffling through back-alleys and near abandoned neighborhoods, he collapsed here in a dark corner god knows where. Barely able to prop himself up a brick wall, he was just awaiting the end. Amidst garbage cans and stolen bycycles, below the falling night.
Berserker was fighting.
That much was sure. And he fought for hours. The worms in his body screamed in agony as they were consumed and reborn, just to fuel the cruel monster's wanton hatred. Kariya had used a command spell to send him forth, but apparently that order just unshackled him. Not that Kariya cared much. There was nothing to care about anymore. Whether Berserker managed to take some of his enemies down along with him or not, that was something he could take no solace in. He lost the purpose of this fight. He killed her. Not Berserker, Kariya himself killed her in his carelessness. He accepted that fact by now. And was already prepared to loose his life to pay for his sins.
The strangest part was, that he was not scared of death. At first he was furious at himself for throwing away all hope for happiness. He was furious at Zouken for making him contract with Berserker and furious at Tohsaka for making it necessary in the first place, but somewhere along the way they stopped to matter. Nothing mattered anymore. He lost. He was about to die. A year of agony had apparently trained his body to take the stress, to take being destroyed from the inside, because even now when his mind had given up, his body was still oddly clinging to life, even though he was praying for a swifter ending b now. Somehow he had the faint hope that when his body finally gave up, when Berserker drained him to the last bit and took his life, that he would be able to see her again. He surely would fall to her knees and beg for forgiveness. And yet he cursed himself that he hadn't started to think up what he would say before the pain numbed his mind and made it difficult to form coherent thoughts. The idea somehow amused him.
"So... this is... how it ends...", he muttered with a dry and coarse throat, every muscle movement reminding him that his body was in his death throes, loosing the fight against the all-consuming worms at every front.
"Have you truly fallen this low?", a female voice rang through the dark and deserted alley, almost melodical and yet full of disdain.
Kariya looked up and saw her standing right in front of him, radiant like a burning flame. A foreign woman in a long red dress with red hair, red lips and an overwhelming aura of light that filled Kariya with a warmth that for once wasn't a sign of the crest worms burning away inside his body. She was overwhelmingly beautiful and yet a blind fool could see that there was nothing human about her. She was driving the darkness from this place and if he had still cared about his own survival, he would have been terrified of what could only be the Servant Caster.
In spite of himself, he gave a small choking sound that was supposed to be a chuckle.
"You... have come... to kill me?", he asked with a faint smile. "Come on, then... Get it over with..."
"So you have truly given up?", she looked down on him with an expression that only contained contempt.
"Disappointed?", Kariya shot back. "Don't expect me... to fight... there is... nothing... nobody... to fight anymore... I lost her... I lost everything..."
Her expression darkened even further. The red woman's gaze was piercing and made him uncomfortable despite everything. He tried to avert her eyes and looked to the ground instead, but somehow he could still feel how she looked down on him.
"Are truly so miserable a creature? Are you truly so blind in your obsession that you have forgotten the one soul who actually does secretly pray for your victory?"
Kariya blinked. He tried to look up again, but stopped at her feet. His mind was hazy. For a second he was confused about whom she was talking about.
"There is... nobody... I was always... just fighting... for myself...", he croaked.
A picture flashing up in his mind told him otherwise, but Kariya didn't want to believe it. The woman in front of him gave a chuckle. It was almost compassionate.
"Just this once, you speak the truth. And yet your misguided struggle has inspired a spark of hope. The flames told me. The Lord of Light showed it to me and he never lies. I saw her. A broken girl, fearfully speaking her prayers in the shadows, where no one could hear her. Prayers for hope. Prayers for salvation. Prayers for a victory of yours."
Kariya once again just blinked in confusion. His heart was racing and his aching body seemed to burn so hard he thought he was about to burst into flame.
"Sakura?", the name filled him with horror.
How could I forget her?
"Indeed. The girl you claimed to be fighting for."
Kariya ground his teeth and clenched his fists. That was about the only show of strength he could still muster.
"It is... to late... her mother... Aoi... I let her die... she will... never forgive me..."
For a moment, the red woman didn't answer, but he could still feel her intense stare on him.
"What you did may be unforgivable, but what right do you have to doom her for your own sins? What right do you have, to condemn her to a fate of pain and suffering, just out of your miserable self-pity?", she implored.
Kariya didn't know what to say.
My sins? Her fate? She is right... I promised her... I promised her...
"I... promised her...", it took him a while to realize that there were cold tears running down his cheeks. "I... promised... her..."
"Do you still intent to hold that promise?", the red woman asked, now almost gently.
Now he managed to raise his eyes. He looked into her red eyes and found them unyielding but not without pity. Something was burning away at his heart, something that for once was not the worms. It a rapidly expanding wave of regret, anger and fury about how he could have forgotten her in his misery.
"How?", he croaked, almost screamed. "How? I... I can't..."
"The worms are killing you. This curse born out of the darkness of the Great Other will be your end...", she kneeled down right in front of him, eyes now on the same level as his as she was showing a strange pendant to him. "... if you let them!"
Kariya swallowed, it tasted like bile and blood. He could not avert his gaze from it. It was a red ruby with a silver chain, a cross engraved on it. He faintly remembered that stone, but in his current state of mind, he couldn't quite pinpoint where exactly he had seen it...
... but here it was, undoubtedly, with the red woman holding it out for him to take. It was an offer. An offer of salvation.
Kariya swallowed again, the taste of blood now dominated. He wanted to take it, he wanted to clutch it, hold it to his chest and cherish it. But there was still this nagging feeling that he didn't deserve a second chance. Not after what he did.
Aoi... Rin... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I will try... to make it... right... this time!
With one last display of strength, he lifted his right arm from the ground. He couldn't feel his hand and his fingers barely reacted to his commands, every muscle was like burned away. And yet, somehow, Kariya managed to hold it out and when the red woman lowered the triangular ruby into it, he managed to grasp it with three fingers.
It was then, when it started to emit light. A bright, blinding light that was driving away not only the darkness outside, but the darkness within himself as it engulfed all of his senses.
"Uaaaaaarghh! Uaaaaah! Aaaaarrgh!"
Kariya Matou's screams echoed through the alley as his entire body was overtaken by what felt like burning flames. Every thought was driven out of his mind, everything was just focusing on keeping the pain at bay. This pain... of death... only after several seconds he realized that it was not his own death for once. The crest worms were driven away by the holy light, his body was cleansed of their filth by it. And when it finally subsided, nothing but a hollow numbness remained.
In the dark back-alley, Kariya was staring at his fist that was clenching firmly around the red pendant. And he realized that this numbness was a feeling he hadn't sensed in a year, a feeling so mundane that he was barely able to grasp its meaning: It was the absence of pain.
"Is it possible?", he croaked.
His throat was dry, but he could speak clearly without drowning in his own blood. Kariya's body was still stiff and unmoving, but he could feel that his ruined bones were back in place and that he was seeing with both eyes again. He could hardly believe it. Zouken's curse, Zouken's presence, it was all gone.
"How...", he barely started to speak, when a sudden sense of dizziness overcame him.
For all the joy that a restored body brought to him, it was short-lived as a different kind of pain overcame him. This time it was not physical in nature. It felt like someone was trying to suck his thoughts out of his brain with a vacuum cleaner. His thoughts melted away until just one terrifying word remained.
Berserker.
"You are remembering it already, are you?", the red woman spoke with a serious voice. "The reason why you were in need of those parasites. If you are not sacrificing your body for magic... your Servant has no choice but to feed directly on your soul."
Panic took a hold of him. It was ridiculous. He had been calm and accepting of death before, but now it terrified him. The red woman reminded him that he still had a goal, that he was still needed, but now he was at the brink of death once again.
"You tricked me!", he robbed away from her, desperate to escape, but his numb arms and legs were unable to carry him far. "You played me for a fool! You saved from the crest worms only so that Berserker can finish this business!"
The red woman's gaze kept pressuring him. She didn't even need to move. Her overwhelming presence was enough to suffocate him.
"I assure you, I did not. I offered you to rid you of the demons that haunted your body and forced you into a path that could only lead to destruction. You accepted", she stretched out her hand towards him. "What you will now decide, Kariya Matou, lies entirely with you. If you choose to remain a Master, you will die. But... there is another way..."
Jaime
Sweat was dripping down his brow and every muscle in his body seemed on fire, but Jaime Lannister didn't care much. He was in his element. Defending, side-stepping, attacking. All his movements were in a single deadly flow. The Mountain was a formidable foe, but against both him and the Red Viper, there seemed to be little hope for him managing to pull something unexpected against them.
Hell... even the surroundings work in our favor. For all his crazy talk, Kiritsugu knew what he was doing when he chose this.
The alley was narrower than the market district, but entirely free of obstacles. Jaime could move freely, evade freely and Oberyn had room to create openings through his pincer attacks. And after all this time the Red Viper had stalled him before Jaime arrived and all this time they were fighting him from then on, the bleeding monstrosity was finally slowing down.
"Come on then! Let's finish this!", Jaime yelled mostly at the Mountain, but Oberyn must have understood his intention either way.
The Mountain that Rides charged forward. Jaime greeted with his battered and deformed shield, guiding it into the ground. In the same he brought Oathkeeper forward and used it to cut over Clegane's shield, which he used to haphazardly defend himself. Dozens of times this had been enough, but this time the monstrosity didn't manage to disentangle himself fast enough. An opening the Red Viper immediately exploited.
"Haaaaargh!", with a scream he stabbed with his accursed spear deeply into the giant's knee.
Once again, Jaime noted that Clegane used to shrug attacks like this off, but this time the Red Viper actually managed to put his entire weight behind the attack, causing the Mountain finally to tumble and fall to his knees. Jaime was onto him like a vulture starved for blood, tearing through Clegane's awkward defense he pushed away the shield and guided Oathkeeper towards his collossal helmet.
Sparks flew as the Valyrian Steel tore through steel and flesh in one swift motion. A moment of unsure silence followed in which Jaime was contemplating bringing some distance between him and the Mountain again, but then it fell. The Berserker's helmet hit the ground with a metallic clank with his ugly head rolling out of it and coming to a stop at Jaime's feet. When Oberyn retrieved his spear, the last thing that still propped up his corpse was gone. The headless Mountain fell onto the asphalt and stayed there, finally dead.
Jaime sighed. He only just now realized how exhausted his war. He was breathing heavily and his head was pounding relentlessly as soon as the thrill of the battle subsided. The Red Viper seemed only mildly winded when compared to him. And yet he couldn't help but crack a smile. They both did as they stepped away from the corpse of the fallen foe.
"Truth be told, that was a little anticlimactic in the end", Jaime admitted.
"I won't complain as long as justice is done", Oberyn replied casually, already turning around to leave.
Jaime looked down at their badly battered foe and at the huge and distorted head of the madman they had struck down. It already started to fade away in a black vapor.
"He was certainly a man who had a lot to answer for."
He heard a sneer coming from Oberyn and already rolled with his eyes. Right now he was not in the mood to answer to derisive mentions of his moniker or perceived injustice he was blamed for. Jaime was already preparing some verbal comebacks when he noticed how that vapor came only from Clegane's rapidly decomposing flesh, leaving a grim white skull exposed beneath. When he looked towards Clegane's body, he noticed that it seemed as if on fire, but nothing actually began to disappear.
Are spirits like us actually supposed to that on death?
Jaime took a careful step backwards, raising the Valyrian blade again that was still in his hands.
"Prince Oberyn!", he called out, angered about his own shortsightedness.
"What is it, Kingslayer? Do you want to continue where we left off in our last duel that badly?"
"I think we should do just that, but only after we dealt with Clegane."
Oberyn turned back around, a confused frown on his face.
"I'm not sure what you-", the words remained stuck in his throat.
The flames seemed to cleanse Clegane's corpse more than anything. They burned away the blood, they burned away the surcoat with the three hounds, they somehow even burned away the holes in his armor. How that is even possible was anyone's guess. But when they were finished, only the thoroughly cleaned bare steel was remaining, steel that brimmed in a silvery blue beneath the now already darkened sky. The corpse then twitched and began to move. It still had no head, but that seemed to faze it little.
When the headless corpse pushed itself from the ground, it wore the white of the Kingsguard.
"Seven fucking hells!", Oberyn shouted in his exasperation. "Just how many goddamn lives does that bastard have?"
"You'd be surprised...", Jaime replied, half unbelieving of what he was seeing, half annoyed at his own blindness. "Truth be told, I kinda should have seen it coming."
He never saw Cersei's pet himself, she had already sent it out into the Eyrie by the time he had returned from the Riverlands, but he heard the stories of what she allowed to be created in her madness and heard what it was capable of. Undoubtedly, there it was right in front of him, that nightmarish affront against the gods, picking up its sword and raising it in one swift motion: Ser 'Robert Strong'.
Still out of his breath, Jaime readied Oathkeeper again, awaiting another charge. Oberyn next to him seemed to expect the same. But that charge never came. The headless giant just stood there, glowering at them as if staring them down with invisible eyes.
"What even is this thing?", then Oberyn asked, still wide-eyed.
"Just some left-overs that stubbornly refuse to die... well, it seems it doesn't want to take the initiative for once."
"It doesn't matter either way", the Red Viper shot back. "No matter how many times it takes, I will send this... this thing... back into the hell it belongs to!"
With that he jumped at him, his spear shining in the moonlight. But the sudden attack was parried just as suddenly with one swift motion of the giant's silver shield. As if on reflext, its greatsword darted forward and Oberyn, obviously taken aback by so much precision, was barely able to evade certain death. He stepped back and the giant... didn't follow up. Regaining his composure, Oberyn began to circle him. But instead of focusing solely on him, the headless giant slowly retreated, careful to keep both of the knights in front of him.
Who would have thought that loosing his head would make that bastard more clever?
Seeing no other way out, Jaime joined the Red Viper and added his sword to their attacks. Their combined strikes were met with caution and strength, the latter of which didn't change at all, but the monster seemed focused on defense at all.
"The only question remaining", Jaime said in between two of his strikes. "... is how you kill something that is already dead."
"It moves, so it uses its muscles", Oberyn replied with a rarely shown stubbornness. "I'm sure it will stop moving when we cut it to pieces!"
With that they drove it back, sword and spear cutting and stabbing at it in unision, sparks flying as the headless creature was pushed against a wall. They only stopped when they realized that they weren't alone anymore. Oberyn noticed it first and, wary as he was, jumped back to gain more room. Suddenly finding himself alone against the monster and sure of how it wasn't keen on charging headlessly forward, Jaime did the same, unusually glad of being able to catch a few breaths.
What's up with my stamina, damn it?
He looked around saw that the movements he had seen at the edge of his vision were not belonging to an onlooker of flesh and blood. It were shadows on the walls surrounding the alley. Shadows that belonged to no one, moving on their own.
"What mad trick comes now?", Oberyn asked.
"I'm just as stumped as you are", Jaime replied vaguely.
A headless giant was already bothersome enough, but he had no idea how he could defend himself against moving shadows. They emerged from the walls, reaching out with black hands and black daggers, one after another. While Clegane's corpse retreated further away from them down the alley, they chose to surround them soundlessly. The knight of the Kingsguard counted roughly a dozen. And all at once, they threw themselves at them.
Not knowing what else to do, Jaime swung Oathkeeper at them, preparing himself to evade their strikes... but that proved to be unnecessary. Oathkeeper flared up in bright red and like a ferocious storm cut through the shadows, causing them to implode on contact. After he had retreated so much expecting a difficult encounter, Jaime couldn't help but find that a little underwhelming.
"Come on, Martell, they are harmless. We have to cut off the Mountain's esca-", when he turned around with a victorious grin, he found that the Red Viper was in quite a lot more trouble than he was.
Oberyn was utterly surrounded, twisting his body and dancing around their relentless stabs, all the while his spear just passed through them without any effect at all. Dumbfounded, Jaime looked down at Oathkeeper. The weird magical flare had already subsided, nothing of its glow remained on the dark blade.
It's the Valyrian steel!, Jaime realized. They are vulnerable only against it!
For some reason, he found his grin widening. He couldn't help but find Oberyn's desperate dance around the shadows very amusing. To him they were harmless, but the Red Viper was struggling full of exasperation.
"Come on, Kingslayer! What are you just standing there?", Oberyn yelled.
"Just enjoying the show, that is all!", Jaime snickered, his painfully throbbing head barely diminishing it.
"Oh for fuck's sake!"
For a split second Jaime played with the thought of just walking away and leaving him to his fate, it certainly would save him a lot of trouble later on. But with the Mountain still around, he had to admit that there was still need for the two to fight together. Grudgingly, the knight of the Kingsguard stepped into the circle of shadows and cut through it with almost boring ease. He watched Martell coming back to his feet and looking around.
"Great job, the Mountain made a run for it...", he grunted.
"There was little I could do to prevent that, even without his strange shadow allies jumping at us."
Jaime joined him in letting his gaze sweep across the alley. There was no one here but them inside the bounded field, no more moving shadows either.
"What now? He could be anywhere...", Oberyn said, looking like a starving wolf that was denied his prey.
"Well, like you said, we could continue where we left off the last time", he tried to overplay his bursting heart with a cocksure smile, but was somewhat doubting that Oberyn wouldn't see how much he had overexerted himself.
"Sure we could...", the Red Viper mirrored his smile, making his spear spin threateningly before lowering it again. "But I could kill you later anyway. For this day, let's call a truce until the Mountain is taken of."
Jaime nodded.
"Agreed. You have my word that I will not seek pointless fight with you", he declared.
I can't promise anything in regards to Emiya though.
The Red Viper gave a derisive sneer.
"The word from the Kingslayer! How assured am I supposed to feel with that?"
Jaime felt his features darkening, his smile turning to ice.
"Take it or leave it. Either way, we don't get anything from it when we let the Mountain roam freely."
Oberyn shrugged, grimacing slightly.
"I take it... for now... It was interesting though... fighting alongside you. I wonder what the kingdom would say about it. The lion and the viper back to back..."
"Oh, I am sure the singers would praise the gods for such an opportunity..."
Their words were friendly, but Jaime couldn't help but notice that they were still glaring at each other with vicious smiles and drawn weapons. At least until Oberyn laughed it away and turned his back towards him.
"Till next time, then. Kingslayer. And then we will have our rematch!"
With that the knight of the sun disappeared in a golden mist, leaving only the heavily breathing Jaime Lannister behind in the darkness. With all the tension of battle falling off his shoulder, Jaime now truly felt all of the exhaustion that was inflicted upon him... and more. His arms seemed stiff and cold, while the throbbing pain from his head now engulfed his entire body, making blood in all of his veins boil. That was no mere fatigue.
"God's be damned...", Jaime cursed, unable to stop himself from dropping to his knees. "And damn you, bastard..."
He had felt the first symptoms of it before, but he tried to shrug it off, deny it and power on, hoping that his supernatural spirit body would be able to somehow drive it out of his system. He didn't want to allow that one mistake at the docks to doom him. He knew that he needed to keep on fighting, but for now he felt only tired. Absurdly tired. He only wanted to close his eyes for a bit. At least until he managed to calm his racing heart down, at least until he regained his breath. But when he did, he dimly felt his body hitting the ground next... and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
Kariya
He couldn't believe how warm her hand was. Burning even. Long after she had used her magic on him.
She claimed that he was making a choice, but Kariya was still barely able to see this as anything but a lie. A choice between life and death wasn't really a choice anymore once you decided that you want to live again. Therefore he took her hand. And the moment he did, his command spells flared up and one by one they disappeared... only to reappear on Caster's own hand.
Pulling back from her grip, he looked at his hand with uncertainty. The faint scars on its back reminded him that she just took everything that chained him to this Grail War. Anything but his regrets. He looked up at her. She seemed to do the same thing, inspecting the command spells on her hand with a keen eye. Kariya could not help but dread what was about to come next.
"So... now comes the part where I have outlived my usefulness to you, isn't it?", he leaned back against the brick wall again, waiting for the inevitable last betrayal to happen.
The process of her taking his right as a Master was surprisingly painless, but even then there was nothing he could do on his own against a powerful magic user like she was. She however interrupted her inspection of the red markings in order to look down at him with genuine confusion.
"Do not worry, Kariya Matou. The Lord of Light still has a purpose for you. Your fate now lies in his hands... and I will help you walk this path of atonement."
"What exactly is in it for you though?", he knew that he should know better than test his luck, but he couldn't shrug off this nagging suspicion that he was about to become a piece for just another Zouken, even if this one was certainly better to look at.
But the red woman only smiled like this, as if being reminded of a joke that was eluding him.
"Why then? Of course everything I wish is aid mankind in its struggle against the Great Other. Raise then! Come with me! The night is young and we have a lot to discuss. Our battle has just begun!"
Uneasily, he lifted himself onto his feet. They felt cold and stiff, but he was surprised to find that he had a feeling in both of them at all.
Fine then... let's play after her rules...
And just like that, Kariya accompanied the radiating woman into the night.