I finished the final chapter. Also, my laptop is dead. It stopped turning on near the end of August. It was almost 5 years old at the time, so we have to special-order parts for it. And even then, there's no guarantee it'll work. Besides, I'm trying to get into game art design. I'll be transferring fall 2020 to get my Bachelor's. At that point, I'll need to buy a gaming laptop anyway.
So my point is, I'll be using my phone most of the time for these. And my stupid auto spell correct likes to rear it's head when I'm not looking, so there probably will be many obvious mistakes. I'll try to correct as many as I can, but some may be able to slip by.
Penthesilea: "Is Achilles here?"
Servant: Berserker
Master: Illyasviel von Einzbern
Illya: "What's your wish?"
Penthesilea: "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Lancer and his Master rose out of their futon and got ready to head to the kitchen. As the went to the door, Akiko suddenly hunched over and groaned in pain. She gripped her head with both hands and squeezed her eyes shut. She knew that this meant she was about to see the future again.
The scene in her mind was that of a forest. In front of her eyes was Illya, on her knees and sitting on the forest floor. She looked completely terrified, as if fearing for her life. Unfortunately, she made up most of Akiko's field of view. The little girl had a shadow cast on her. That of something looming over her. Large knife-like things, maybe claws, flanked her on both sides, trapping her.
Then something spoke. "You're coming with me."
Right then, the vision faded and Akiko's headache went away. She opened her eyes, seeing that Lancer hand stopped in the doorway and was looking back at his Master.
"Did you see something?" he asked, his gaze serious.
"I did," Akiko replied. She began to speed walk, going past Lancer and down the hallway to the kitchen. Lancer kept pace right behind Akiko as she continued. "It was Illya. She was in trouble. We need to ally with her before this event happens."
"How're you gonna tell the others?"
"I'll think up an excuse." Akiko opened the doors to the kitchen. Shirou was behind the counter, cooking, and everyone else was at the table. The pair went to the table and sat down. Almost immediately, Akiko spoke up. "We should go to the Einzbern Castle."
"But why?" Rin asked.
Akiko still didn't want to reveal to them that she had Mystic Eyes, so she came up with a lie for her wanting to go to that place. "We should ask Illya to form a temporary alliance with us. One that lasts until we put the killer down."
"So you want us to focus on the killer first, even if it means joining up with our enemy?" Saber summed up. "Not a bad plan. Berserker would be a strong ally to us."
"And with any luck, fighting the killer may weaken him enough for us to kill Berserker ourselves," Archer said.
"But would Illya and Berserker really join with us?" Saber asked.
"She should," Akiko replied. "Chances are that she already knows the situation. Perhaps she may even be planning to join with us as well to fight this unknown enemy."
"I doubt it," Archer told her. "Berserker's strong enough that Illya may be confident he can take down the killer on his own."
"Even so, I believe its worth the risk of asking her," Lancer said.
Shirou, cooking on the stove, looked back over his shoulder. "I say we try this, too. Are you in, Tohsaka?"
Rin was silent for a moment, thinking it over, before giving her answer. "Okay. Let's do it."
"Maybe we should hurry before we encounter danger ourselves," Akiko suggested, praying that it wouldn't tip the others off to her ability.
[Heart's Chime]
"We Servants can hurry you guys to her castle," Saber told her.
Akiko shook her head. "I don't know if that would be the best idea. It's daytime. More people will be out. We need a ride there, but we can't take a cab. There will be too many of us. We'll need to take one of our cars."
"I don't have one," Shirou said.
"I don't either," Akiko added. She looked at Rin. "What about you, Tohsaka?"
"I inherited my dad's," she replied. "We'll need to get it from my place. I'll drive it."
[End OST]
Interlude
[Whirlpool of Fate]
"Something has just entered the forest," Sella said.
"I know," Illya replied. "It's something big. Even though I sense the mana of a Servant, Berserker will be enough to chase it off."
"You needn't concern yourself with an intruder," Sella told her. "Leysritt and I should be enough to handle this." Then a crash resounded through the castle, sounding like the front door was taken down. The room the three homunculi and Berserker were in shook. "Whatever it is, it's fast."
"Maybe I should have Berserker take care of this..." Illya murmured.
Sella shook her head. "I have already told you not to worry yourself with this."
"We...will...handle...this...Illya..." Leysritt added.
Sella turned and started walking out of the bedroom door. She glanced over her shoulder back at Illya. "You stay here. We'll be back soon."
Once the two maids were out of the bedroom, Sella closed the door behind her. Berserker stood up and went over to Illya, grunting.
"I know we should help out, Berserker," Illya said. "But those two are as strong as lesser Servants, so they should be able to deal with the intruder." But was Illya trying to convince Berserker? Or herself?
However, about two seconds later, a pair of screams could be heard. Those were from the maids!
Illya shot up out of her chair. "Liz and Sella! Berserker, we need to help them!"
[End OST]
[All Evil of the World]
Berserker grunted and went down on one knee. Illya climbed up on the shoulder of the giant and held onto his neck. Then Berserker shot forward, bursting through Illya's door. He ran down the hall, making the floor tremble with each foot fall, and then jumped over the set of the main stairs where Leysritt and Sella should be.
But the sight of those two maids wasn't what greeted them. It was some sort of creature instead. It was massive, grotesque, unlike any other seen before. It had the body of a white, thin-furred tiger, but the rest of it didn't look like any other creature. It looked like the product of a nightmare.
Near the giant paws of each foreleg was a white protrusion like a fin around the ankles. It started fading to pink at the end of each fin. On the shoulder joints of each foreleg was a single magenta patch. And on the surface of both were yellow openings like branching veins.
Its head was strange. It was a slightly lighter shade of pink then the patches. And the surface was flat, like the face of a human. Its slightly-opened jaw as it snarled looked like the lower jaw of a nutcracker. On its forehead was something yellow and oval, like a jewel. And it had long shoulder-length hair the same shade of pink as the patches, hanging down from the top of its head to cover the sides and back, just like a person's. Its eyes were bright yellow which faded slightly to green as it went to the pupil. The pupils were circular, like a person's.
Behind its head was an upright, pink, three-layered ring, like a halo. The center ring was like an upside-down U. The layer around it was like a bigger one. And the third and outermost layer of the halo was shaped like an upright U. Four protrusions, two on each side, came from the side edges of the center ring, each longer than all three rings. They were like two upside-down V's on top of each other.
On its back were two wings coming out of two white "fins". The "arms" of each wing were black-grey, like Berserker's skin. And there was no webbing in the wings, either. Well, not full ones. Four "fingers" came down, pointing to the ground, from the upper part of each "arm". Each "finger" was the exact same color as each "arm" on the top half. The bottom halves looked like giant swords. The "blades" were white like snow while the sharp edge of each and the joining of the "blades" to the top half was a neon pink. Neon-pink spikes came out of each divide between neon-pink and grey-black. And between each "finger" were string of white skin connecting them. They were clearly made for killing rather than flight.
The hind legs were the same shade of white as the front ones, shaped just like a tiger's. On each knee was a pink patch, just like on the front legs. And they also had yellow, vein-shaped lines. From either side of the knee was a set of three long spike pointing behind the creature. The white on the spikes faded to pink at the tips.
And then the tail. It was also shaped like a tiger's. It looked like one's until it got to the tip. The tip looked to be made of dark pink stone. And it was hooked at the bottom. Compared to the rest of the tail, the hook alone looked to weigh twice as much as the snaking appendage.
It roared, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth. Whatever this things was, it was clearly made to kill and/or tear apart. And it was gigantic, at least one and a half times the size of Berserker, maybe even more, from the bottom of its paws to the top of its head.
(It's Arius Nova from God Eater Resurrection. A picture of it is on Archive of Our Own)
However, that wasn't all Illya saw. Dark red blood rained down from the beast's chin. The same liquid was splattered on its face and forepaws. On the ground right in front of it was a massive puddle of blood. And Leysritt's haliberd was laying in the puddle.
"Liz! Sella!" Illya cried out. Berserker gently set her down on the ground from his shoulder. He continued to stand by Illya. A silent guardian who will only spring into action when the one he is protecting is threatened. The beast turned its head to look at Berserker. It held itself as if saying "Give me the girl or else". Next, it moved its gaze to Illya. Then, it opened its mouth to speak. When it spoke, it had a deep, rough voice.
"Are you the vessel of the Holy Grail?"
But Illya didn't seem to hear it. Or maybe she did, but she didn't reply. But when she did speak, it wasn't to the creature.
"Go rip it apart, Berserker!"
[End OST]
[A Legend Revived]
"_!"
Berserker let out a roar, muscles tensing up under his skin. The beast just grinned at the giant.
"Sorry for disappointing you, but a Servant can't be made my meal. You'll vanish before you even hit my stomach." It chuckled. "But fighting you will allow me to test my current strength."
"No matter how much strength you get, it won't be enough to beat Berserker!" Illya shouted. "Because Berserker's the strongest in the world!"
Berserker let out another massive roar and sprung forward at the creature, swinging his ax at its face. The giant weapon slammed against the side of one of the wing-like limbs that had quickly been shifted in front of the tiger's face, long claws scraping the ground as it moved. Though the weapon only hit the long claws of the wing, it felt like a wall of thick diamond had just blocked it.
Berserker was swinging the ax repeatedly and too fast for human eyes to follow very well at the claws, trying without avail to shatter them. The enemy beast, its face safely behind the wall of claws, peered out from a gap between two of the talons. The gaps was just wide enough to allow the entire side-to-side width of a human hand to pass through and not get cut. At seeing the Servant's futile efforts to break one of its two greatest defenses, it smirked in a mocking way, letting out a chuckle, and its eyes were smiling and full of sick glee.
Then boredom quickly hit the creature and it sighed. Striking out in the split-second gap between Berserker's swings, its right wing swung the talons forward, striking the Servant in the chest and knocking him back several meters. Berserker was on his hands and knees, about to stand up, when about five crystal spikes shot up from the ground under him. These spikes started out the size of the tip of a sword at the top, but got wider further down. They looked to be entirely made of translucent rose-pink crystal.
Berserker's hands and feet left the ground as the tip of each spike hit his torso. However, they were too strong for God's Hand to stop and they ended up burrowing all the way through the flesh. Berserker was skewered about half a meter up off the ground with the blood-covered tips protruding from his back and extended up into the air a few meters.
"Break free, Berserker!" Illya cried out.
Berserker's body jerked, the giant trying to free himself. But whatever he did, the spikes wouldn't even crack. They were probably just as hard to break as the talons.
The tiger sighed again. "Such a futile effort." Then the tip of its tail flicked up and a sixth spike emerged from the ground below Berserker and ran the Servant through the forehead. Illya gasped in horror, seeing the red light in Berserker's eyes go out.
The enemy beast smirked. "If taking one of your lives was this easy, then this will be over in no time."
The red light suddenly flashed in Berserker's eyes once again and the spikes that had been holding him all shattered like glass. At this point, a red hue was covering the Servant's skin. Steam rose up as the holes dotting the giant closed and he stood up, snarling.
The tiger tilted its head back and roared, lifting its wings up and opening large gaps between the claws. Three daggers of light pink crystal, each half as long as the creature, suddenly materialized over its head. The sharp points faced Berserker.
"Say goodbye to another life, Servant!" It brought its face back down, tilting its wing forward slightly. The daggers flew forward simultaneously and at lightning speeds at the giant. He growled as he smacked one down with his ax, but the other two skewered his left shoulder and right hip. However, the creature wasn't done. As soon as the first three daggers were launched, six more appeared over the thing. As soon as they formed, they were launched at Berserker. It kept repeating this over and over.
At one point, another set of daggers didn't appear. At least, not over the tiger. Thinking fast, Berserker ran back to Illya, curling his body over her like a giant tent. A couple dozen crystal daggers came down, initially aimed at Illya. The enemy smirked. It figured the Servant would do something like this. Daggers ended up dotting several areas of the giant, surely ending yet another life.
"Berserker..." Illya murmured. But the giant didn't hear her. Life had faded from its eyes.
Suddenly, his eyes flared red and the daggers shattered, him roaring loud enough to shake the castle as his wounds stitched themselves closed.
The creature grinned. "Good! It sounds like you're ready to take this seriously!"
[End OST]
Interlude out
[Time Together]
"Get a move on, Emiya!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming, Tohsaka!"
"We're all here waiting for you! Now hurry up and get your ass in gear!"
"Just cut me some slack already, Hashimoto!"
The group of six were currently making their way through the Einzbern forest after getting out of Rin's car. She borrowed one of Shirou's bikes to get to her house quickly. The car was crowded. Rin was driving and Akiko was in the passenger's seat. This left Shirou and the three Servants to try to squeeze in the back seat. Unfortunately, there were only three seatbelts back there, so Saber was without one and had to sit on Archer's lap in order to fit. Shirou sat in the middle seat, keeping Saber and Archer separated from Lancer. After yesterday, no one was sure whether or not if Saber and Lancer sitting next to each other would end with the car being reduced to scrap metal, and if one or both Servants would be dead at the end, so they decided it would be better to have Lancer and Shirou sit next to each other.
When the seating arrangement was initially proposed, Archer was the first one to voice disapproval, stating that Saber should be on Shirou's lap since he was her Master. And his complaint was quickly countered by Rin and Akiko pointing out that if he and Lancer sat next to each other, the car ride would be filled with arguing.
Saber's only complaint was that Shirou would be sitting next to Lancer. This was shot down by Akiko yelling at her to "get over it already". Saber was shocked into silence that it was Akiko who shouted at her.
The entire drive was filled with tension in the air and it felt like it took centuries to reach their destination. It was mostly silent, well until Archer decided to rile Lancer up and the endless bickering began. Meanwhile, Rin was praying that she wouldn't get pulled over and have the cop find them breaking a law.
Every now and then the group would run into a drop-off in the forest, about a meter high. The Servants and two female mages would pull themselves up and over it with little effort, but Shirou was struggling to get over these obstacles fast enough to keep up. Lancer and Archer were leaning back against two separate trees, crossing their arms and waiting for the idiot. The three girls were standing by the man and facing Shirou's direction.
Shirou was still grumbling. "You two are such slave drivers."
Despite him only breathing out those words like a whisper, Akiko and Rin still heard him.
Rin narrowed her eyes, staring at Shirou dangerously. "If you have something to say, say it to our faces like a man."
Akiko's expression mirrored Rin's. "And if you think this is us being a couple of slave drivers, you haven't seen anything yet.
Archer only spared Shirou a glance. "She's right. I don't know about Akiko, but Rin can be pretty brutal when she puts her mind to it."
"That's how Akiko can be, too," Lancer said.
A large explosion appeared from the direction of the castle, the cloud from it reaching up to the sky and the ground shaking violently enough to cause all the Masters to almost hit the ground.
[End OST]
[Nightmare]
"What was that?!" Rin exclaimed, Archer at her side and holding her shoulders to keep her from smacking her face into the ground as another shock wave shook it.
"Something must be happening at the castle!" Akiko said. "We should hurry!"
The group started running as fast as they could in the direction of the castle. The Servants had slowed themselves so they wouldn't leave the humans behind. They tried to keep up, despite other occurring explosions shaking the ground and making them stumble. They were all secretly envious of their Servants. The Heroic Spirits made this look easy, avoiding trees and obstacles on the ground with ease and running without tripping despite the tremors. But even with the Masters running as fast as they could, it would still be a little more than a half hour until they reached their goal.
"This is taking too long," Archer grumbled. He quickly scooped up his Master in one arm, cradling her to his chest, and Shirou in the other, but held the boy over his shoulder like a sack of flour. "Lancer! Grab your Master so we can go full speed!" Run blushed as Archer held her closer to him.
"Fine." He went to Akiko and picked her up with both arms and held her bridal-style. "But y'know, I could have handled also carrying the lad as well. You didn't hafta."
"If you did, Saber would have protested loudly about it."
"...It happened ten days ago. She needs to get over it already," Lancer grumbled.
Archer glanced at the spearman and gave him that cocky grin. "And don't tell me you're actually concerned for me."
"Of course not!" Lancer snarled. "I was just statin' a fact!"
Saber sighed, not letting up her sprint. Even though the other two Servants had their hands full, they still kept up with her. At this point, the trees they went past were a blur. "Can you two quit your squabble so we can focus on getting to the castle?"
"Fine..."
[End OST]
Interlude
[A Legend Revived]
Berserker was flung out of the wall to the outside. He ended cashing through the trees and was laying among them, a cut spanning the width of his abdomen and was so deep he was almost cut in half. The red light in his eyes went out. Illya ran out after him.
"Berserker!"
The creature lumbered out of the hole just as Berserker's wound closed and the giant got up from the ruined trees. His eyes and his entire body were blazing red with a clear intent to kill.
"_!"
The tiger smirked. "That makes 11 lives you've lost." It jumped high up into the air, extending its wings and staying level with the tops of the trees. Dozens of orbs of red crackling electricity formed at its sides. Then they that came down at Berserker like a crimson rain.
Berserker was able to sense the danger these attacks posed. He should be able to survive should the entire assault pummel him. But he was directing his concern at his Master. While Illya wasn't in the path of the meteors, the resulting shockwaves from their impact could bring her harm.
So thinking quick, the giant dashed over to the small girl, shielding her body with his own like a giant grey sheet handing over her head. The bullets hit empty ground where Berserker just was. When they made impact, a crimson wave of electricity spread outward from each ball that hit the ground. The Servant's giant arm was a shield protecting the homunculus from being electrocuted.
But the attack wasn't done. The abomination in the air above the two readied another assault as soon as the behemoth below moved. The crystal daggers formed in the air, replacing the electric bullets at its side. Their aim, once again, was directed at the living mass of muscle shielding the girl.
"Watch out, Berserker!" she cried. If Berserker heard her, he didn't reply with a grunt or twitched a muscle.
The daggers came down like a deadly hail. However, Berserker was ready for them. He got up while they were still in the air, cutting their way downward. He moved in front of Illya, his body still acting as her shield. He lifted his ax and, as the missiles came into his melee range, he used the weapon to smack some down. He knocked a couple back up at the enemy. Shock passed over its face briefly. One of the projectiles sunk into the shoulder of its right foreleg. It dropped out of the air just in time to dodge the other. It whizzed over the thing's head.
The monster's massive paws hit the ground, the earth trembling. Magenta energy covered the claws of both wings like a veil. This made them seem to grow to twice their original length. The wings were held up so that the claws were splayed out horizontally.
It jerked its body around to its left, it's right set of knives becoming a sharp whip aimed at the giant. Even though the tiger and the Servant were several meters apart from each other, the pointed ends of the blades still scored a deep cut in Berserker's chest, splashes of crimson painting the dirt below. It jerked its body to its right, the left set of claws doing the same thing, deepening Berserker's wound.
But despite this, the giant refused to move, choosing to remain Illya's living shield rather than attempt to dodge the two strikes.
"Berserker, just stop protecting me!" Illya pleaded. "I'm afraid you'll be killed for good if you don't."
The tiger chuckled darkly, causing Illya to turn her attention back to it. Meanwhile, Berserker stayed put as the wound in his chest closed. He was still snarling, eyes focused on his target, waiting for it to make another move. "It doesn't matter if he ends up giving you up, I'll still kill the Servant anyway."
Berserker let out a loud grunt, as if saying "I'd like to see you try!"
"I'm having too much fun fighting him. Sadly, I'm beginning to bore of this fight. We should hurry and wrap this up. Don't you think so too, Berserker?"
"_!"
Berserker suddenly turned around and grabbed Illya, jumping to the side while holding her. At the same time, three spike emerged from the earth where Berserker just was. He quickly set his Master down and held his ax up in front of his face.
Right at that moment, the magenta tiger appeared in front of Berserker. Its mouth was open wide as its head was lunged forward, aiming to engulf Berserker's entire head. The only thing stopping it was the bladed weapon the sharp teeth were clenched around. The club was only held by one of the Servant's gigantic hands. The free one shot forward, massive fingers clenching the exposed white throat.
"..!"
Though the tiger was much bigger, Berserker was still able to wrestle the enemy to the ground, pinning it on its back with the hand still gripping its throat, the grip steadily getting tighter. The halo on the ground now under Berserker glowed briefly. That was all the warning he got of an incoming attack. He swiftly let go of the thing's throat and leaned back as a concentrated beam of magenta and bright yellow light was fired at him from the halo.
The beam obscured Berserker's vision enough that he couldn't see the five daggers appear over the tiger's abdomen until it was too late. The instant the beam vanished, the daggers fired.
"_!"
Berserker was on able to lift his weapon a little right before the projectiles hit their mark. One sparred his spiritual core. Two sunk themselves into both of his lungs. The last two drove into his eyes, the bloodied ends poking out of the back of his skull. A perfectly aimed killing blow.
"Berserker..?"
The Servant slumped, dropping to his knees and sitting on the ground. Somehow, his entire body remained in this position rather that collapsing fully onto the ground. Illya gasped in horror, realizing her Servant had just lost his final life and she took a couple steps back, tears spilling from her large, bright red eyes. "No..! Berserker! Don't go!"
[End OST]
The monster rolled onto its stomach. "If only he wasn't so focused on protecting you, then he could have won." It stood up and began slowly walking over to the frightened little girl. "But now that he's out of the way, it's time to get what I came here for."
Illya looked at Berserker's still body, then at the creature approaching her. "Someone please help me!"
The thing was moving around Berserker, grinning in amusement. "Scream all you want, Holy Grail, but no one will come to your rescue."
"..."
A soft growl was heard.
"Wha -" The thing didn't get to finish its shout of surprise as it was cut off by a massive fist crashing against the side of its head. The blow sent it flying several dozen meters to the right, plowing down multiple trees as it slammed into them. "How?!"
Illya gasped in surprise. "Berserker?!"
The skewered giant got to his feet. Even though he was still blind, he snarled at the tiger as if he could still see it clearly.
Battle Continuation. Even receiving fatal wounds won't stop him from continuing to fight.
"Damn you!" the enemy snarled. It pulled itself out of the wreckage it was currently resting in and faced the Servant that should've been dead. Berserker started charging at the monster, but he didn't get far. Multiple crystal spikes emerged from the ground, impaling the runaway train coming straight at it.
"_-!"
The Servant exploded into hundreds of particles of blue mana. The thing resumed lumbering towards Illya once again but a little more cautiously this time, as if it was afraid that Berserker would suddenly rematerialize.
[Footsteps of Destruction]
Illya's eyes were wide and she began sweating heavily as the thing drew near. Thinking fast, she yanked out two strands of her hair. The strands then formed two silver-white birds. The birds flew at the beast head-on. It smirked and raised one of its wings up over its head, the claws facing down to the ground. The wing was brought down right in front of the thing's face, two claws skewering both birds through the middle as easily as a hot knife slicing through butter. The defeated familiars blew up in a flash of white light, leaving Illya to once again be alone when facing the creature. It smirked and planted both sets of the wing-claws in the ground on either side of Illya, cutting off her escape.
"You're coming with me."
"Illya!"
[End OST]
Interlude out
[Confrontation]
The one who shouted was Shirou. Saber burst out of the foliage around the trees. She was followed by Archer, holding Shirou and Rin, and Lancer, holding Akiko. Right away, they all saw the creature in front of Illya, caging her in with long claws coming from its wings. Their initial reaction was to stare at it with wide eyes.
Rin snapped out of it and held out her hand. Several rounds of Gandr were fired, however the dark bullet simply hit the claws without making them budge.
"Tch!"
Saber swung her invisible sword down on one of the arms of the wing. The tiger-like thing moved back to avoid being cut, freeing Illya.
Archer tossed Shirou to the ground like he was a doll to be thrown. He didn't give his Master the same rough treatment, instead setting her gently onto the ground. Shirou gave Archer a dirty look before scrambling to his feet, rushing over to Illya.
"Are you hurt?"
"No - wait, why worry for me?!"
Shirou turned so he was facing the thing that had been threatening the small girl. "It's natural for a big brother to protect his little sister, right?"
Lancer set a wide-eyed Akiko down. He was also perplexed by it like everyone else, but chose to glare and snarl at it. Saber gripped her sword tightly with both hands, her shoulders tense. Archer's eyes narrowed with Kanshou and Bakuya materializing in his hands. Rin reflexively took several steps back, hand diving into her jacket pocket so she could grasp her gems as if they were the only thing keeping her from fleeing. Shirou moved himself further in front of Illya like that would be enough to keep her safe.
Rin broke the silence, finally asking the question on everyone's mind. "What...IS that?!"
Illya looked down at the ground. "I don't know...but it...it killed Berserker..."
Akiko snapped her attention to the homunculus. "WHAT?!"
Illya collapsed to the ground, tiny hands over her eyes to hide the amount of tears she was shedding. "Berserker...he would have been fine on his own...but he refused to stop protecting me...it's my fault that he's dead..!"
Shirou went down on one knee to pull her into a tight embrace, stroking her soft hair and whispering for her to not blame herself. The scene looked like an older brother comforting his little sister.
Rin glanced at her Servant. "Archer, find a spot to hide. When the timing seems right, snipe it."
Archer allowed his twin swords to vanish. "Alright." He jumped to the trees to his left and vanished from sight.
Lancer materialized his spear and took a fighting stance. "Any orders for me, Master?"
"This is an unknown enemy. Try to exploit its weaknesses. But try not to get too reckless," Akiko told him.
Lancer grinned. "Heh, shouldn't be a problem fer me!"
Saber, still keeping a defensive stance, looked back at her own Master. "Any orders for me?"
"Your duty will be the same as Lancer's," Shirou replied.
"Very well."
[End OST]
[Burst Up]
Lancer charged at the beast and swung the demonic spear at its face. It jumped high up, soaring over the spearman before the weapon hit.
"For something that large, it's agile," he said.
As soon as it landed behind Lancer, Saber swung her sword at its leg. It shielded itself with a set of those giant claws, but it was all a ploy on her part. She pulled her sword back and jumped straight up, instead cutting the arm of the wing deeply. It howled in pain and swatted at the king with its tail. Saber placed her feet on the wing and pushed off. The tail ended up whipping empty air.
Archer, from his hiding position, fired a drawn arrow at the thing's back. However, instead of hitting its target, a spike of rose-pink crystal rose out of the ground behind the beast, standing in the way of the incoming projectile. The arrow ended up hitting the spike and blew up in a cloud of smoke and blue light. The pillar ended up being mostly destroyed, with just some of the base remaining, but the tiger was completely unmarked. The thing turned to the tree Archer was hiding in and swung it's tail at the trunk. Wood flew through the air as it splintered, the tree falling to the ground on its side as the whip took away its support effortlessly. Right before it hit the ground, Archer jumped out of it, black bow in his left hand.
Saber ran at the thing and slashed at it. It jumped up to avoid the strike, but Lancer had already jumped up before it, and was now directly over it. He slashed downward at its face. Right when the speartip broke the skin, the tail slammed into his abdomen.
"Oof!" The strike sent him crashing down diagonally hundred of meters away, multiple trees being smashed.
"O wind, enrage!"
The monstrosity didn't expect the harsh twister that collided with its abdomen. It tumbled out of the air, the trees in landed on doing nothing to slow its descent.
Rin reached into her pocket and pulled out three dark purple gems. "Archer!" She threw the gems. Once above the monster that was still pulling itself out of the debris, they shattered and rained down around the creature in a dark purple dome. The dust suddenly made a translucent barrier. It seemed to have high gravity within, as the monster struggled to stay on its feet even as the earth beneath its paws cracked and splintered. Almost right at the same time the barrier appeared, numerous red bolts of light flew through the air, arcing down at the tiger.
But even through its movements were restricted, the creature was still able to defend itself. Several knives of rose-pink crystal formed over it and fired, each meeting the incoming attacks. As the tip of either projectile met, they exploded in a display of pink and red lights. At that moment, the barrier shattered and the monster was free.
Rin was stunned. "No way..!"
"Rin!" Archer shot out of the bushes. The monster charged at the mage, the ground trembling each time a massive paw hit it, and raised one paw up to slam down on her. Archer got to his Master just in the nick of time, scooping her up in one hand and materializing Bakuya in the other, the blade meeting the claws of the paw. But the blade didn't last half a second and shattered, the claws tearing three long jagged strips away from Archer's red mantle as he leaped away.
Despite this, Archer chuckled. "I should have expected no less from the one who killed Berserker."
The tiger lunged forward, the ends of its wings together, the claws facing out, at Archer. The man quickly jumped back at the last minute, using Kanshou and Bakuya to prevent the two closest claws from slicing him. Sparks flew out at his quick defense, but the force of the lunge sent him flying back through several trees nonetheless. He pulled himself out of the wreckage quickly, seeing Lancer jump out into the clearing quickly being made.
"Saber, Lancer! I'll be tied up for a bit! Do what you can to keep that thing there!"
Lancer grinned. "Don't try orderin' me around!" However, he still sprang at the beast, thrusting his weapon at it so much, causing it to use both sets of claws to defend itself, along with raising several pillars to act as walls for the exposed gaps.
Saber looked at the Servant in red. He had tossed his swords down. "I assume you have a plan?"
"Yes, but as I said, it'll take some time. Buy me time until then."
"Very well." Saber sprung forward, joining Lancer's assault on the tiger.
"I am the bone of my sword."
At this point, the crystal pillars had shattered and a few cracks had appeared on the claws.
"Steel is my body and fire my blood."
Rin and Akiko fired a few magecraft rounds at the thing. Surprised at this, the monster turned its full attention to them, blocking the spells with a wing.
"Unknown to death."
It dropped its guard for the other two Servants charging at it.
"Nor known to life."
The two knights slashed its face in an X shape, the two deep cuts slicing through the jewel on its forehead and ending at its cheeks.
"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."
It jumped up, extending its wings to hover. Dozens of crystal daggers appeared around it.
"Yet these hands will never hold anything."
The daggers fired simultaneously at the two. They simply dashed under the thing, the assault missing them and they jumped up. But the thing smirked. This was all to get them right where it wanted. As soon as they were in striking range, it discharged red electricity from its entire body. This took both Servants down and the tiger let itself drop out of the sky.
"So as I pray... Unlimited Blade Works!"
The beast was smirking as its feet hit the cracking ground. Fire erupted up from the breaks and that's when it opened its mouth. Everyone around it had to cover their ears as a deafening roar from the creature's mouth was unleashed. The roar was strong enough to even extinguish the fire spewing from the ground.
Archer was the first to uncover his ears when the roar ended, blinking rapidly in confusion. Where was the Reality Marble? Then he figured it out and began staring at the beast in utter shock. "Unlimited Blade Works... It's been stopped..!"
Taking advantage of Archer's surprise, the monster charged at the man, swinging one set of claws at his chest. Archer quickly projected his twin swords to block the strike.
"Urgh!"
It smirked and increased the pressure. Saber and Lancer rushed over to back Archer up, but they were too late. The blades shattered and Archer received a slice spanning the width of his chest and grazing his spiritual core.
"Archer!" Rin cried out. Saber and Lancer slashed at the monster to drive it back. Rin, in a rage, fired several rounds of Gandr at it. It simply created a pillar to get hit with the impacts.
Saber leapt at the tiger, prepared to swing her sword down on the thing. It sensed her come at it from behind and it turned around, facing her. A concentrated violet beam was released from the halo. The beam was only as large as the outer ring of the halo, but it was so thick that it wasn't translucent at all. The attack slammed into Saber's abdomen and forced the king crashing through multiple trees, leaving a trail of debris on the ground in its wake. Even the things not in the beam's path but rather were near it were scorched by the intense magical energy it radiated. While Rin and Archer were far enough away from the fiery light, Shirou shielded Illya with his body and Lancer grabbed Akiko with one arm, jumping a safe distance back.
Shirou looked up. "Saber!"
"We need to get this off!" Illya exclaimed. She was pointing frantically at Shirou's jacket, which was blackened in the back with a small fire burning.
"Ah." Shirou got off Illya and shrugged his jacket off before stamping out the fire. There was now a smoking hole in the back or it with ragged and blackened edges.
Saber grunted as she got up off her back. The entire front of the armor had been blasted away easily, as if made of glass. The blue dress underneath was blackened and torn majorly, blood soaking into it like a blooming rose. As she got up, the damaged clothing being repaired due to her own power.
Archer materialized several swords in the air around the beast and launched them all. Even if it was able to deflect several by countering them with crystal daggers, some still sunk into the flesh of its back.
Lancer lunged at it while it was grimacing in pain, glaring at Archer. "Ya might wanna keep lookin' forward!"
The thing turned its gaze back forward just in time to see Lancer slash upward, creating a new bleeding cut on its face, going right over its left eye.
Saber and Archer took this chance to strike directly at the thing while it had both eyes screwed shut and it was bellowing in pain so loudly that the trees shook.
Unfortunately for them, it automatically defended out of instinct. A large blast of electricity was discharged from its body that blew the three Servants back a little and stunned them. It may have been for only a couple of seconds, but it was enough time for several crystal daggers to form over it, all pointed in random directions around it, before firing them.
Akiko had to duck as one came at her head. It ended running a tree trunk through. Rin threw a gem at one that came at her. The gem exploded, also taking out the incoming missile. Shirou had to grab Illya and roll to the side with her as one aimed too close to them for comfort. Many of the projectiles ended up stuck into the ground or skewering trees.
During that brief amount of time, the Servants were unable to move. The thing shot a larger concentration of the daggers right around it, as if it could sense that the ones actively threatening it were somewhere near it. Lancer was unharmed. Even though one dagger would have gone through his thigh and another would have torn off almost half of his left bicep, his Protection Against Arrows skill deflected them and the two sharp pieces of crystal landed in the ground.
However, the other two didn't have any such defense to protect them. A dagger sliced into the middle of Archer's chest. Another was close to going through the side of his head, but it only ended up skimming past his right ear.
Saber got a dagger in the left side of her abdomen. Another went into her right arm, nearly tearing it off.
Shirou snarled, grabbing a tree branch and reinforcing it. He would use it as a bat to smack the asshole who hurt Saber upside the head. He started to get up to do that, but Rin beat him to it.
She was firing Gandr like a semi-automatic gun at the creature and looked absolutely furious. "Goddamn bastard! Who said you could do that to Archer?!"
Meanwhile, Akiko had been trying to keep Rin from going at the beast, but to no avail. "Wait, Tohsaka! You'll die if you get too close!" But Rin was too upset to listen.
The tiger opened its right eye. The left stayed closed. Though Rin was running up to its blind side, her shouting gave away her location. Its left wing was lowered so the claws would take the Gandr shots. But she wasn't done yet. She pulled out four gems and threw them.
"Take this!"
As soon as they hit one the claws, the gems shattered and a large explosion engulfed the wing.
"What?!"
The explosion went away, revealing three claws covered in long cracks. Ome claws had broken off and was now resting on the ground on its side.
The thing snarled. "How dare you!" The large tail was swung at her.
"Get down, Rin!"
All Rin saw was a red figure tackle her to the ground, sparing her from having her ribs broken and several of her internal organs ruptured. Then she saw who the person was. It was Archer. The crystal going through him had shattered and he was bleeding heavily. He leaned into her shoulder, panting heavy and Rin wrapped her arms around his body, holding the man close and refusing to allow him to collapse onto the ground.
Saber and Lancer had gotten up. Lancer looked relatively fine, aside from some bleeding wounds on him. Saber looked to be in much worse condition. She had a giant hole in her abdomen much like the one in Archer's chest and her right arm was barely attached. In fact, you could see the bone and some of the remaining muscle on her bicep still managing to hang onto the limb.
The thing was hissing and spitting at the two like a cat. "Ugh, this isn't good. I'm almost out of mana. But don't think this is the last you'll see of me!" It jumped back into the trees and vanished.
[End OST]
Lancer dematerialized Gae Bolg and Saber probably did the same with Excalibur. Then, without warning, she began coughing up blood.
"Saber!" Shirou dashed over to her. "How bad is it?"
Saber smiled at him. "I will be fine. I just need to rest for about a day."
"And you'll probably need to suck some of Shirou's blood to heal yourself," Akiko added as she went over to her own Servant. She looked him up and down. "Well, you look worn out, but it's not too bad. Any internal injuries to worry about?"
"It seems everything's fine fer now. I'll let ya know if that changes."
It was then that Rin noticed that Archer had been silent, aside from the sound of the blood in his throat bubbling with each raspy breath.
"Archer?"
No response. Rin chose to turn her head and look at her Servant, although she feared what would greet her eyes.
Sure enough, she saw exactly what she feared. Archer was unconscious and he looked to be fighting to stay materialized.
Illya came quietly walking over to Rin, crimson eyes on Archer. "He needs lots of mana right away!"
Rin grit her teeth in frustration. "I only have one Command Seal left, he won't last until we get to the car, and I really don't wanna do a mana transfer outdoors..."
[Madder Red Town]
Shirou overheard her. "Hey, Illya, can we stay in your mansion tonight?"
Illya's eyes went big. "Big Brother...in the mansion...with me..?"
"Hold on, Emiya," Akiko said. "We only came here to find out if she and Berserker would join up with us against that thing. But..."
Illya puffed her cheeks out in anger. "But now that Berserker's dead, you don't wanna anymore?"
"No, what I was gonna say is that we never got to ask you. If you didn't want to, it would be pretty rude of us to expect you to let us use your place."
Illya looked shocked. "You...You still want me even though I don't have a Servant anymore..?"
Shirou smiled at her. "Of course we do."
"Hey, my Servant's dying over here!" Rin reminded them. "Can we use your mansion or not, Illyasviel?!"
"Well, if Shirou promises to spend the night with me, then fine. You people can use the guest rooms."
"Wait, what?!" Shirou exclaimed as Illya clung to his waist.
"It'll be so much fun, Big Brother!"
Shirou looked at Saber. "Are you okay with this, Saber?"
Saber let out a large sigh. "As long as it is only for one night."
"Yay! We'll get to talk to each other all night!" Illya cheered.
"Glad that's settled, but my Servant needs help now!" Rin said. "Lancer! Can you help carry him?"
At first, Lancer grumbled a complaint as he lifted the red-clad man up. Then he grinned wide enough to show most of his teeth.
"At least when he wakes up, I can get back at him by teasing him about the sorry state he's been reduced to."
[End OST]