Sorry for the wait. I had writer's block again, so I was using most of that time to work on the new story I'm working on. Here's a little tidbit about it.
It is the Fifth War, yet a little like stay night.
It has multiple points of view.
There was going to be a lemon between Saber and Shirou in this, but after a couple of months of being stuck on it I was like "Fuck it!" and replaced it.
Btw, don't you all hate it when your creativity for a story is gone and you have to wait for it to come back again?
The one in the air chuckled. "So you have found me."
"Yeah," Lancer replied with a smirk. "After all, yer no Assassin."
"I do not wish to be compared to that dog."
"A dog, huh?" Lancer said with a growl. "That's how ya think of the guy that served you?"
"What I call him should be none of your concern."
"Well, it's enough reason to kill ya!"
[Breach]
Lancer threw his spear up at Caster. She materialized a large shield in front of her body to block it. When it hit, it only left a few cracks in the shield before it stopped completely and began to fall. But Lancer had jumped at the shield. He grabbed the spear in his right hand before it began to fall and shifted his momentum up over the obstacle.
He grinned at Caster. "Surprise!" Then he swung his spear down at the top of her head. She quickly held her staff up, the shaft of the crimson spear meeting the staff's. But the power in it threw Caster down onto the road, Lancer still in the air. Her body made a crater in the pavement.
Lancer was right over Caster. He came down hard, his spear below him in a stabbing position. Caster got up and slid back just in time. She held out her right hand and four small magic circles appeared around it. All of them each fired a beam of magic at Lancer. At the same time, he was running at her, grinning like a hunter about to kill its prey. The beams bounced off a transparent dome around Lancer, leaving the man completely unscathed. It didn't stop his charge at the enemy.
"Magic resistance?!" Caster exclaimed. "It seems I must use stronger spells."
Lancer was right in front Caster now. He swung his spear sideways. Caster jumped diagonally to Lancer's right, over the tip of the crimson weapon. The "wings" came out and the enemy Servant was flying. The sharp tip ended up cutting the pole of a street lamp like butter and it fell onto the road with a loud clang.
At the same time, Rin was looking around, as if expecting to see someone. "I don't see Mr. Kuzuki anywhere..."
Beams of magic were raining down from the magic circles to the blue Servant. He kept moving swiftly to each side to avoid the attacks. "Are you talking about Master?" Caster asked without letting up the onslaught. "He stayed behind. I do not need him to risk his life fighting all of you. Besides, I will be able to win even alone."
"Don't get cocky!" Archer growled. He jumped up at Caster, both of his swords raised over his head to slash down at the witch. One magic circle let up its attack and repositioned itself. It was now pointed at the red-clad Servant. It fired a beam of magic. Archer lowered his swords in front of his face, where the beam was aiming, and crossed the blades in an X. The beam hit the blades, but was blocked by the weapons. The magic sprayed out around Archer. It looked like water shot from a hose was hitting a wall.
However, while all of Caster's attention was focused on the man cutting his way through her attack, she didn't see Lancer jump back, landing right next to his Master. Saber ran forward, taking Lancer's place as the one attacking Caster. She ran up the trunk of the tree behind the cloaked woman, leaves floating down gently to the ground as the knight's armored feet met each branch.
"Caster!" she shouted when she reached the very top of the tree. Still not letting up on her attack at Archer, Caster looked over her left shoulder. Saber had sprung out at the witch, invisible sword at her side and gripped in both hands. Then she moved the sword up over her head of golden hair, the weapon in a position to slash down. "Prepare!"
"Tsk!" Caster spat then turned to her right. Her right arm came out and the silver staff materialized in her hand. She held it up horizontally with both hands just in time to block Saber's strike. But the power in the swing pushed the enemy Servant down. Just as her feet were about to touch the ground, she managed to use her staff to push the opposing blade off it and the woman moved far back. Archer landed next to Saber. The attack he was busy defending against had at last ceased. Both of the sword-wielding Servants were facing Caster. Then the woman glanced at Akiko and saw that her Servant was no longer at her side.
"Hi!" came a voice above the witch. Lancer was now coming down on her, tip of his spear aimed at her head.
"Dammit!" she spat and held her staff horizontally over her head with both hands. The crimson tip clanged against the silver shaft. Caster grit her teeth as her feet were forced deeper into the ground, the earth cracking even more than it already was. She then slid back, allowing the staff to be forced down. At the same time, she released her grip with her right hand on it and a weapon materialized in her palm. It was a zig-zagged dagger.
"Lancer!" Akiko shouted. "I sense something evil from that dagger! Fall back before you find out what it does!"
"Tch!" Lancer grunted through grit teeth, frustrated that he needed to move back. But Akiko was right. He was indeed also sensing something ominous coming from that weapon. He pulled his own spear back. Right then, Caster stabbed the dagger forward at the man. In the blink of an eye, Lancer had held his lance so the tip was pointing upward and the tip of the opposing blade clanged against the sharp point.
"I've got you now!" Archer roared, leaping over Lancer. A large magic circle appeared over Caster's head and a violet beam shot out at the red-clad Servant. Archer tried to shift in midair to dodge the attack, but he was barely fast enough. The red cloth over his right bicep was torn off. He winced slightly as his unhealed wound from Gae Bolg bled anew, but that didn't stop his attack. Kanshou was swung down and cut Caster's left shoulder deeply, making a wide splatter of scarlet come up from the injury. Caster screamed loudly and jumped back. Her shoulders were hunched and she seemed to be glaring daggers at the Servant who just wounded her. On her shoulder, a blue line of mana filled the cut as it closed.
Then Lancer launched forward at the witch. Caster only had enough time to block the downward swing of the spear with her strange dagger. As Lancer was working to overpower the woman, four magic circles, two on each side, appeared around the enemy. Lancer broke off right as the beams of mana fired at him and he jumped back, landing beside Archer and Saber.
Archer only glanced at the spearman out of the corner of his eye. "Why won't you use your Noble Phantasm? If her Luck isn't high enough, the fight will be over in an instant."
"Heh, too easy. I wanna have some fun."
Saber sighed. "You are an adult right? So stop acting like a kid and use it."
Archer sighed as well. "This guy's too thick-skulled to listen." He raised both swords slightly. "I guess we'll have to settle this the old-fashioned way."
"I wouldn't be callin' others thick-skulled, ya stubborn bastard!" Lancer snapped back.
"At least his bite is as bad as his bark," Archer admitted.
Caster growled under her breath. If she could stab just one of these Servants with Rule Breaker, she could make it 2 vs. 2.
[End OST]
[Sword of Promised Victory]
"If Lancer won't use his Noble Phantasm, then it seems I have no choice but to end this in one blow before one of us gets stabbed with that dagger and find out what it does," Saber said.
The wind around her invisible sword broke away, revealing the weapon that the Servant was holding. The sword's blade was glowing with a golden light. Saber held the blade upward with both hands, over her head. Specks of golden mana rose up from the ground, going into the golden blade which was steadily glowing brighter. The fighting had completely paused now. Caster wasn't moving. She was too awestruck by the object glowing like a ray from the sun. Lancer and Archer, their backs to Saber, were perplexed as to why Caster stopped.
"Archer, Lancer! Please get behind me!" Saber shouted.
Both men glanced at her. "Huh?" However, as soon as they saw the flare in Saber's hands, they knew she was getting ready to attack. They did as they were told, jumping back behind the knight.
"Ex..." Saber spoke as she took one step forward in the direction of Caster. A veil of golden mana shot up out of the ground around Sa - no, everybody figured out her true name, just by looking at the golden sword. She was King Arthur. "...Calibur!"
A beam of golden energy went right for Caster as soon as Saber swung the sword down, tearing up the earth as it passed over it. Caster could sense that it's power was even stronger than Caladbolg's. And the strongest shield she could conjure up couldn't even stop that weapon. So Caster simply accepted her fate, not even bothering to try and save her own life. 'I'm sorry, Souichirou. My Master...my love...' were Caster's thoughts as gold filled her vision, she felt hot, and then everything went black. The others, who had an arm covering their eyes to shield them from the harsh light, lowered them when the attack faded.
[End OST]
"Is it...Is it over..?" Rin asked tentatively.
Lancer whistled. "Shit! I would hate to be on the business end of that attack!"
"I do not sense Caster anymore," Archer said. "She must have been eliminated."
"Good job, Saber!" Shirou cheered. However, Saber didn't say anything. She didn't even glance over her shoulder to look back at him. "Saber?"
Excalibur vanished from Saber's hands in a cloud of blue mana and she fell forward onto the ground. The others immediately ran over to her. The King of Knights was panting hard, her face covered in sweat. Her armor vanished and modern clothes took their place.
"What's wrong with her?!" Shirou demanded. "Saber! Hey, Saber! Wake up!"
Lancer and Archer were staring at the fallen Servant with narrowed eyes.
"Lancer? You thinking what I'm thinking?" Archer asked the spearman, not looking up.
"Yeah," Lancer replied, his tone serious.
Shirou was looking at them with panic in his eyes. "What?! What are you two talking about?!"
Archer and Lancer looked up at their respective Masters. "She used too much mana," Lancer explained.
"And as a result, her spiritual core is cracked," Archer continued. "If something isn't done soon, it'll break completely."
"Then we have to hurry back to Emiya's place," Rin said. "One of you men needs to carry her there."
"I got it!" Shirou exclaimed. He carefully gathered the fallen king in his arms and lifted her bridal-style. He face looked like Lancer's when he was low on mana. "Wait, can't we head to the ley line and have her recover there? After all, it's closer."
Rin shook her head. "A good idea if Saber simply needed to replenish mana, but it won't help her spiritual core."
"Ya sure you can handle carryin' her all the way to yer house by yerself?" Lancer asked as a whirlwind of mana around his body changed his battle attire to his modern clothes. Archer stayed silent as he did the same to what he was wearing.
"I'll be fine," Shirou replied. "After all, I carried her after our fight with Berserker at the school."
"Yeah, but now it's for a longer time. I can help out."
"Don't worry about me."
Lancer sighed. "Fine. Suit yerself."
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Interlude
Meanwhile, Mr. Kuzuki was heading to Ryuudou Temple from the school. He was almost to the walkway under the large, red bridge spanning the Mion River. But then he noticed that something was off.
[Whirlpool of Fate 2]
'Wait. Where is everyone else?'
All was silent around the man. No people were walking by him and no cars were in sight.
'Is this...a bounded field?'
"_!"
Mr. Kuzuki quickly looked over his shoulder, his face betraying him by showing surprise. "What?!"
Something large landed on the ground behind the man, cracking the sidewalk. It was too dark for Mr. Kuzuki to make out any features on this monstrosity, but he could make out two glowing, yellow eyes boring into his form. He could hear faint snarling coming from this...thing.
"What are you?!" Mr. Kuzuki demanded, holding both fists up.
The snarling turned into a chuckle. The next thing that happened surprised Mr. Kuzuki. The thing actually spoke!
"You are not a mage. However, I do know that you have a Servant. Or rather, had one. But her magic is still running through you. So you will make a satisfying meal."
"A meal?! So you must be the killer!" Mr. Kuzuki shouted. He launched his right fist out in a punched for the thing's face. The two stars vanished and Mr. Kuzuki's fist collided with something hard. It felt as if he had just punched a wall made of diamond.
Suddenly, it felt like the wall slid to the side and the two stars reappeared. The face lunged forward and the entire right arm vanished, leaving only the shoulder out. Mr. Kuzuki suddenly shouted in pain and backed up. All that remained of his right arm now was blood coming out hard from the teacher's shoulder.
The thing chuckled as it chewed, enjoying the sweet taste of blood and the crunch of bones and tendons. Now, it wanted more.
The man knew he had no chance of winning. Gripping his bleeding shoulder, Mr. Kuzuki tried to run for the bridge's walkway. The thing chuckled again. It loved when its prey tried to prolong its inevitable death.
Mr. Kuzuki was just about to step onto the walkway when the thing landed in front of the teacher, cutting off his escape route. "Oh no! You're not getting away! Mr. Kuzuki took a step back and the thing took a step forward. The man was staring right into the face of death. "Die!"
The thing's mouth opened and began crunching on the teacher, leaving only his blood behind.
[End OST]
Interlude out
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Eventually, the six reached Shirou's house. They did pass the blood near the bridge, but it was too dark to see it. The lights in the house were off, meaning that Taiga or Sakura weren't back yet.
"Fuji-nee told me this morning that the archery club has a meet today, so they won't be back for a little less than an hour, giving us time to do anything relating to magic," Shirou told Rin. The group went into his room. He released Saber and she sat down on the futon, intending to rest her body.
"To do the mana transfer on her, you'll need to do what Hashimoto and Lancer did. In other words, you need to have sex with Saber," Rin told Shirou. But she said it casually, like the subject was perfectly normal.
Shirou looked at Saber on the futon. She was sitting on her knees. Like what she was currently doing, Shirou began blushing madly and sweating heavily. "Umm...is this...is this really necessary..?"
Akiko was also blushing, looking totally embarrassed. "Oh boy..." Archer didn't say anything. He was just crossing his arms. But he was also blushing. Lancer turned around, facing the door. He sighed but wasn't blushing.
"I'd rather fuck someone instead of watchin' another do it instead of me."
Akiko faced the door with him, face still red. "S-Since you're leaving the room...I'll join you!"
Then Archer broke his silence. "Count me in."
Lancer had one hand hugging Akiko at his side and he put his other hand on the door's handle. "Akiko can stay in the same room as me...but go to another one, Archer!"
Archer huffed in amusement, but didn't say anything back. If he did, it would just start yet another fight between the two male Servants.
When the three left, Rin went down to her knees in front of Saber. She tugged off the Servant's shirt, bra, skirt and white panties. "You need to do this, Emiya." She stood up. "Saber's spiritual core is breaking from having used her Noble Phantasm with insufficient mana from you. If it breaks completely, she won't be able to hold in her mana anymore. If that happens, she'll vanish in mere seconds, given how low on mana she is."
"So how do I fix it?" Shirou asked.
Rin glanced at Saber. "Not only will you have to resupply her with mana, but you'll also need to transfer your magic circuits to her so the spiritual core will be fixed."
"I refuse to allow Shirou to do that for my sake!" Saber shouted. "I will accept vanishing instead!"
"What's wrong with me transferring magic circuits to you?" Shirou asked his Servant.
"If you do that, you will lose your ability to reach your greatest potential in magic," Saber informed him. "You'll forever be flawed as a mage, which could be fatal."
"I should be fine, but..." Shirou looked at Rin. "Why does magical energy need to be transferred in this way?!"
"The other option is to let her suck your blood. But there are two problems with it. One: depending on where she bites you, you could bleed out. And two: you can't transfer magic circuits that way. Just relax. Mages give samples of their genital secretions all the time." She turned her attention back to Saber and tugged out the blue ribbon holding the knight's hair in a bun. The hair unraveled as the golden strands cascaded over her shoulders. "Here. This will make it more comfortable to lay down."
"If those weirdos are fine with it, whatever! But I'm not comfortable with this!"
"Oh, shut up and be a man already!" Rin snapped as she glared at Shirou.
"To-Tohsaka!" Shirou shouted. Saber didn't say anything and her blush spread to her ears.
"Suck it up, or Saber goes bye-bye!"
"That isn't helping!"
"Too bad!" Rin said as she grabbed Saber's shoulders and pulled down the knight so that she was laying on her back. Then she grabbed Shirou's forearms and pulled the teen so that he was on his hands and knees over Saber. Then Rin released Shirou and stood up. "Well, have fun you two," she said as she went out of the room and closed the door behind her. The mage sat down at the kitchen table, where the other three were.
[Madder Red Town]
"Now that Caster's gone, we need to come up with a plan for dealing with Berserker," she said.
Lancer crossed his arms and huffed in frustration. "Our best option would be to have Saber use her Noble Phantasm on the beast, leavin' not even a scrap of flesh that he can regenerate from. But if she uses it, she'll wind up powerless again."
"Actually, worse," Archer pointed out. "Just using it the first time this War cracked her spiritual core. If she uses her Noble Phantasm again, the core might shatter."
"Hopefully, we won't have to resort to that option," Akiko said. "At a full tank of mana, she should be strong enough to handle Berserker with us. And she should have a full tank, provided that Emiya actually does the mana transfer."
Archer crossed his arms. "Why is every Servant in this alliance getting laid except me..?" he muttered with a light blush on his cheeks.
Lancer decided to be a dick once again to Archer and rub it in. He leaned over to Akiko and licked the edge of her right ear. "Let's go into our room and do it." He rubbed her inner thigh with one hand.
"The last thing we'll need is Ms. Fujimura coming here for dinner," Akiko growled, shuddering at the sudden sensation of Lancer's tongue. "She'll go into our room looking for us and see you nailing me!"
Lancer nibbled on the shell of Akiko's ear now. "We don't have to do it in our room. We can do it elsewhere."
"Where do you suggest?"
"We could do it in Shirou's room.
"WHAT?!"
Lancer grinned. "We could show Saber and the lad what to do."
"Absolutely not! Let's keep us getting intimate private."
[End OST]
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Interlude
The archery club had returned to the school. The entire team was standing at the entrance to the campus, chatting amongst themselves about their win.
"_!"
"What in the world was that?" Ayako asked, looking around for the source of the howl. Then she faced Taiga. "Holy crap!"
[Midnight Interval]
"What?" Taiga asked, seeing Ayako take a step back. Then she looked behind herself as well. Suddenly, Taiga was face-to-face with some large...thing! She jumped back in fright. It was too dark to make out what it was. "Who-Who are you?!"
"I am only here for one person. However, let's make this fun," it said. "Why don't you humans do what your instincts tell you: run and scream." But the archery club didn't move or make a single peep. They were too scared to move. The thing grunted in frustration. "Very well. It seems that you all need some...incentive."
Something large and sharp came down. A knife? One student, a freshman, was its target. The blade came down on top of the person's head and ran them through completely, cutting them in half. The body quivered for a moment before sliding apart into two halves as it hit the ground. Several students threw up before screaming along with the rest of the club. In order to save themselves, they all ran away from the killer. It chuckled at seeing the team's fright. Something large hanging down behind it swung back and forth in glee. Perhaps a tail?
[End OST]
One archery club member ran into an alleyway, trying to lose the thing. She was dismayed to see a dead end. Although the though sickened her, maybe she would get lucky and the thing would go after the other students.
"Sakura Matou!"
[Nightmare]
Sakura turned in fear to the entrance of the alley at hearing her name. She recognized that voice too!
"I've got you away from any witnesses." The thing was lumbering over to Sakura. The alley was wide enough for its large body to get through. It was close enough to Sakura now that she could smell its breath. It smelled like rotting flesh and blood!
Sakura gulped, fearing for her own life. A life that was most likely going to end soon. "Pl-Please don't kill me..!"
The thing chuckled. "I'm not going to kill you." Sakura released the breath she was holding in with momentary relief. "I just need you to come with me."
Sakura's fright came back. "Wh-Why..?"
The thing grinned, though it was hidden by the lack of moonlight. "You'll see." It took a step towards Sakura.
"I won't let you!"
[End OST]
The churring of insects erupted. The thing was surprised. "What?!"
The surroundings of both were filled with insects, some flying and some crawling on the ground. Several insects formed a pile next to Sakura. The insects broke away from the pile to reveal a bald, elderly man.
Large things sticking up from the thing's back - maybe wings? - slammed several insects into the walls, crushing them. "Old man, you don't really believe you can stop me, do you?"
The old man grinned. "No, of course not. I just came to collect my granddaughter." Insects enveloped both the man and the girl and burst, both humans having vanished. No, the old man wasn't entirely human. Something about him seemed off, the thing surmised as it crushed a few of the insects as they were starting to thin out.
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Inside the Matou estate, several insects piled together, forming Sakura and her grandfather.
Sakura looked shyly down at the floor. "Thank you for saving me, Grand -" She was cut off as the back of one of the old man's hand connected with her cheek, knocking her to the ground.
"Shut up, girl!" the old man hissed. "I only rescued you because I need you to bear a child strong enough to win the Sixth Holy Grail War, and I won't let anyone take you before then!" He grumbled as he walked away. "Useless girl, getting yourself into that kind of mess..!"
Interlude out
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