"Enough of this foolishness!"
"Get-" Saber's shout got cut off as I felt him shove me to the side.
Hard.
Clang!
As I was sent sprawling along the ground from the shove, I managed to catch a glimpse of Saber flying through the air. He hit the ground rolling, but after a couple of seconds managed to dig his blades into the road, using the drag to bring him to a stop, two massive gashes running right through the intersection from his swords.
Despite the exhaustion and pain, I scrambled to my feet and rushed over to Saber. He had managed to pull his blades out from the ground alright, but his attempt to stand left him staggering. Now up close, I could see the front of his armor was crumpled inwards, with a dent that appeared to be in the shape of-
…Shit, was that a hoof print?!
…Would explain why Rider wasn't able to just rush after us; horse would have needed to jump around to perform a kick like that, I'd wager, and it'd have killed all his momentum.
"This is where the madness ends" Rider proclaimed, slowly trotting over, full confidence of victory in his voice.
"Please tell me you got another trick or two left" I muttered to Saber, glancing around for any sign of Lancer or the kids.
Damnit guys! Get your asses over here already!
"I'm not a Caster" Saber muttered back bitterly, adopting a fighting stance. "It's not like I can freely bend lightning to my will."
"What about a Noble Phantasm?"
"That is not your call to make."
…I mean, yeah, but come on! Work with me here Saber!
But fine then, guess it was up to me to salvage this. Not like I could fight Rider, that'd be suicide, but… stalling Rider with words… I could maybe do that, if only for a minute or two. At the least, let Saber get a breather...
"A bold proclamation, Rider" I grinned. "Especially considering that everything thus far has been going exactly as I planned."
"This was your plan" Rider scoffed, coming to a stop mere feet away from us. "I consider it a fortune, then, that you refused my offer of an alliance earlier."
"Rider, you wound me" I spoke with mock anguish as I drummed up the theatrics. "But… perhaps you have a point. No plan survives contact with the enemy, after all. Amend my previous statement to almost everything has gone according to plan."
"That changes nothing."
"It proves my fallibility, and thus the fact that I'm not God. At least, not yet."
Be it the words themselves, or the smirk plastered across my face, Rider visibly bristled when I finished speaking.
"This again?! All this madness; all this destruction and death, all for this blasphemous wish of yours?! I will personally ensure you never achieve the godhood you seek!"
Rider leveled his sword, seemingly about to charge-
"What death, Rider?"
That question stopped him. Of course, the mention of death had also stopped me. What did Rider know that I didn't about this night? Who had died? Berserker? Lancer? The kids? Surely not the priest, considering Rider was still dealing with us, but then-
"…Are you truly so unaware of what you have done this night?"
Fire seemed to dance in Rider's eyes as he stared down at me.
"27 civilians. That is currently the amount of people you have killed through your actions tonight."
"Civilians? How did I- Oh… oh, you mean 27 people have seen what's been going on? The magical shit, that is. I see… so they see some part of the Holy Grail War going on, and, let me guess, you have the assassins deal with them? That explains why they weren't helping you deal with Saber this whole time! …That's kind of fucked up though, don't you think? Killing people just because they managed to see the truth?"
"Don't try to excuse it; their blood is on your hands! You knew what would befall anyone who saw, yet you set on this path regardless!"
"You're right, I did" I mused. "But then again, I'd still not the one actually doing the killing. So, considering that, is it really my fault?"
"Have you no sense of guilt or shame?!"
"You come at me with statistics, Rider. Why should I be emotionally invested in numbers?"
"…That's all those people are to you, then? Statistics?"
"Uh, duh" I smirked, taking a bow, but keeping my head up so I could still see him.
The fire in Rider's eyes turned into a raging inferno.
"Die."
The sheer… finality… in the way Rider spoke that last word. I never felt such a rush, a shiver, course down my spine. I didn't fail to notice that I was Rider's target. Nor did I fail to notice that Saber didn't make a single move to try and protect me. As for what reason, I couldn't say, but I also couldn't fault him; my death would be a benefit for him in this war.
…Fortunately, I no longer needed to rely on just Saber for protection.
"Think fast!"
Rider didn't even have enough time to turn his head to the side and see before Lancer's shield slammed right into him. Rider and his horse went flying off to my left, mere inches from having decapitated me, as Lancer landed before Saber and myself.
Lancer was looking rough; armor cracked in some places, a fairly long cut running along his head, and his breathing was ragged. Still, he was alive, and seemed to be in fairly good spirits.
"You look terrible" Saber grunted.
"As do you" Lancer sighed, looking right at Saber's chest. "Was wondering why the lightni-"
A mighty roar rang out in the night, causing Lancer to swiftly turn around to look back where he'd just came from. Bounding down the street, moving far faster than he really had any right to, was Berserker.
"Incoming" I shouted, sprinting out of the way as Berserker leapt into the air, gunning right for Lancer, and by extension, Saber.
Both Saber and Lancer braced for Berserker's landing, but it was plainly evident that they were too exhausted to fully withstand it.
Boom!
Chunks of concrete went flying as Saber and Lancer were knocked backwards. A hail of arrows followed in berserker's wake, disintegrating the flying chunks of road and kicking up a massive dust cloud. While I couldn't see it, I heard the sound of a traffic light come crashing down as Berserker roared again. Another crashing sound, and I made the reasonable assumption that Berserker was, in fact, swinging wildly within the dust cloud. Perhaps a bit ironically, it only continued to kick up more dust, thus making the situation worse for all of us, himself included.
Fwoosh! Scherkt!
From within the dust cloud, Berserker bellowed in rage. However, there also seemed to be a hint of… pain. As if he'd be hit.
Clang! Clang! Clang Clang!
Another bellow, and skidding along the ground, getting shot out from the dust cloud, was Rider.
"Of all interferences" Rider seemingly cursed. "You still haven't put him down yet, Lancer?!"
"I'd like to see you try and do better" Lancer retorted, him and Saber stepping up to join Rider.
A small lull formed as the three waited for the dust cloud to dissipate. Even Berserker seemed to realize that he was at a disadvantage while the dust cloud existed, for his bellows, nay, all sound, from within the dust cloud also subsided.
"Well, that's our cue" I grinned, waving over to Saber and Lancer. "Come on, time to get out of here!"
"Not until Berserker is dealt with" Lancer leveled his lance, not even turning to face me.
"Why waste magical energy fighting Berserker" I groaned. "That's what Rider's for!"
"You-" Rider seemed as though he wanted to say more, but a sudden roar from Berserker shut him down.
Through the dissipating dust cloud came three javelins. They were surprising accurate, but even so, the three servants had been ready for an attack, and deflected, or blocked, in Lancer's case, the projectiles.
…Not that it was the projectiles then needed to worry about.
Clang!
It was a good thing Lancer already had his shield raised, for Berserker shot out from the dust cloud so fast I didn't even register it. One moment he wasn't there, and the next, he was. The metallic ringing must have been from his club slamming into Lancer's shield, and Lancer was sent flying right through the wall of a store at the far end of the intersection, judging from the sound of crumbling bricks and shattering glass.
A quick glance over to the far end of the intersection confirmed my suspicions.
Holy shit!
Immediately, Saber and Rider leapt into action, engaging Berserker while he was seemingly still focused on Lancer. Not that it worked, mind you. Berserker might have been focused on Lancer, but he wasn't so lost as to fail to notice other servants about. Using his shield to block Rider's strike, he swung his club at Saber.
Clang!
Even with Saber raising both his swords in a cross-shape guard, he was sent flying back, the force of the impact just too much to withstand. Right as Berserker was turning to deal with Rider, Lancer charged back in, managing to slip in a stab on Berserker's leg.
Another roar, and Berserker lashed out at Lancer, who managed to jump back out of the way. Attempting to seize the opening, Rider struck, but if the slash did any actual harm to Berserker I didn't notice it. Apparently, neither did Berserker, for he simply backhanded Rider with his shield, as if Rider were nothing more than an annoying fly.
…Holy shit… This… This was amazing!
…No. Not amazing. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Even though it flew in the face of the plan, it was undeniably… beautiful…
Well, if Saber and Lancer really want to fight Berserker… I mean, no real loss for me, right? They'd have to be eliminated eventually.
A high-pitched cry of pain would snap me out of my head as Sortiara came flying into view. Before she crashed into the ground beside me she managed to stabilize herself in mid air, coming to a stop floating a few inches off the ground and a few more away from me.
She was cut up pretty bad; blood dribbled down her body from multiple places, and her clothes were cut and torn all over. Her breathing was ragged, and her wind sword dissipated from her hand the moment she came to a stop.
"Woah, easy there" I lunged over to here, grabbing her and preventing her from falling over as the last of her magical energy seemed to give out, cancelling her air walking ability.
"Ah! Ow, ow, don't touch there" she whined as I quickly released her, though she still looked set to fall over any moment, seeing as she was visibly swaying on her feet. "Do I look fine to you, dumbass?!"
"Haa… Yes, that's it! Crush them all, Berserker!"
A burst of laughter caught my attention as Zach stumbled onto the scene. He looked just as bad as Sortiara did, but even though he must have been the one locked in combat with Sortiara just moments ago, he no longer seemed to care, or even acknowledged her presence. He was focused entire on watching Berserker fight, and seemingly win, against the three other servants.
"No, and that's why I'm asking" I hovered right beside her, ready to garb her if she was about to fall over. "You two seem to have got each other good."
"Not good enough, damnit…" she muttered bitterly, glaring at Zach briefly before turning her focus back onto the servant fight occurring in the middle of the intersection. "Shit, this looks bad…"
"Well, Rider did quite a number on us" I admitted. "Lancer also looked as if he'd been in a rough spot, dealing with berserker from before, when he first arrived to bail me and Saber out."
"Bail you out, more like. …Where's Johnathan?"
"Last I saw him he was dealing with the priest."
"Last- what?! What do you mean last you saw him" Sortiara turned on me with a rage, all her spent energy seemingly returning to her in an instant. "What do you mean last you saw him?! You left him alone to fight an Executor?!"
"He told me to finish my plan" I raised my hands defensively. "Saber was already engaged with Rider, so he told me to go after Saber."
"He- Ugghhhh! That idiot! I'm going to kill him" Sortiara seethed. "And what?! This is it then?! Your master plan?! Berserker's on a rampage, the city is in an uproar due to the blackout, and both Saber and Lancer look absolutely battered!"
"Well excuse me, but I told them once Berserker showed up here that it was time for us to go" I shouted back at her. "But did they listen to me? No! Of course it wasn't part of my plan to have Saber and Lancer fight Berserker! But, like, most of the plan had already gone to shit at this point, and every attempt I've made at salvaging it has been met with mixed results because none of you will just shut up and do as I-!"
The sound of an explosion caught my attention, cutting off my sentence. Across the intersection from Sortiara and myself, I barely managed to make out a body bounce up from the ground, only for a ball of fire to blow up from beneath, launching the body higher.
Then I saw a thin trail of white, and my jaw dropped.
Those were… talismans… Then that means…
I watched in awe as what could only be the priest twisted in midair, dodging another small explosion of flame and landing on his feet. Soon as he landed though, a wall of talismans unleashed fire, forcing him to jump back… right onto another talisman.
"…No way…" Sortiara muttered, her eyes focused on the same sight as me. "Johnathan…"
So, she saw it too. Not in the same way I saw it, but at least it confirmed I wasn't hallucinating. But no, of course she couldn't see it as I saw it, for what it was, for she didn't understand.
…Admittedly, it was flawed. Heavily flawed. The priest was able to land multiple times, and even managed to push Johnathan back down the way they'd come at some points. When Johnathan spotted us watching him from across the intersection, he went to re-orient his personal fight with the priest, so that he was walking backwards around the edge of the servants brawling in the middle, rather than pushing the priest towards us.
It failed. Not his repositioning, mind you, but the chaining of attacks. Johnathan must have sensed it too, for rather than try to get the priest back in the air, he settled for pushing the priest back as far as he could before turning and making a mad sprint around the perimeter of the intersection towards us. The priest threw a couple of those dagger things, but didn't bother pursuing. Not that it did anything; swift interception of the things by Johnathan's talismans made sure of that, and the final round of fireballs that shot out at the end only added to the certainty of Johnathan's disengage.
…No, it wasn't beautiful. Not like Gou Jia's; too flawed for that. But for a Hannibal, in the process of learning, it was adequate. A good... start...
…He was learning…
I couldn't help but smile as he finally reached us.
"Plenty of room to improve" I commented as he came to a stop, panting heavily. "But for a first attempt at juggling your opponent, not too shabby."
"Yeah… Thanks…" Johnathan was still breathing heavily and seemed way too out of it to really be focusing on what I'd said, but whatever.
Sortiara, for her part, just gave the two of us the stink eye.
"Forget whatever nonsense you're prattling on about" she growled. "Johnathan, how the hell-"
"Not now. Please. Too tired… too drained…" Johnathan sighed, seemingly struggling to pull himself up into a straight position. "How is it- …Oh, this doesn't look good."
"Forget that. How are you doing" I asked.
"Not good. Have no magical energy left myself. If the damn Executor hadn't been constantly throwing out black keys, I would be dead" he muttered.
"And you, Sortiara" I turned to face her. "You still able to cast spells?"
"…I still have a bit of magical energy left, yes" she muttered. "Not much though; basically running on fumes."
"Then it's time to go. Now" I more or less commanded the two of them as I quickly went to plan out our disengagement route.
…If we're north, then Zach is… west, and the priest is south. We need to get here, so… go this way… this way, and like this…
"You even know-"
"I have a route mapped out" I confirmed. "Just get your servants out of there, because they won't listen to me."
"Saber!"
"Lancer!"
The kids' shouts must have reached their servants, rough as it was, over the sounds of battle, for the very next moment Rider moved in on Berserker, the two of them swiftly broke away from the battle and rushed to their masters' sides.
"Time to go. Now" I addressed the group, before turning round and breaking off into a sprint.
Judging from the lack of protest, Saber and Lancer must have taken a swift glance at their masters and realized that leaving Berserker to Rider, like I'd planned, was the best course of action, for their masters' sakes, if nothing else.
"You're not getting away tonight with your lives! Berserker, forget Rider and crush them!"
…Damnit!
See? This is why we needed to leave Berserker and Rider behind earlier! So his damn master couldn't set Berserker's priority on us!
With a mighty bellow, the sound of combat stopped. I didn't bother to look back, but evidently, Rider was going to take this chance and get both himself and his master out of here, and leave Berserker to us. Exactly what I didn't want to happen!
…I admit, while I'd been prepared for something like this to happen once Berserker's master had made it to the scene, more or less… I didn't expect at all what happened next.
"No more games! Berserker, unleash your Noble Phantasm! Do not let them escape you again!"
…Berserker was unleashing what?!
"Stop!"
I came to a halt, swiftly turning around to see what Berserker was doing down the street. As I'd expected, Rider and his master were no longer around, but Berserker… Berserker was glowing with a red aura…
"That's a command spell…" Johnathan muttered, sounding shocked. "Zach… why-"
"Shush!"
I didn't bother to turn and face the rest of the group. No. I needed to see. I needed to confirm if my suspicions were true...
Berserker's Noble Phantasm… Shaka was a ruler; a leader. He wasn't some famous hero from myth, with his own super techniques or legendary artifact weapons. Considering his poison spit was just an ability of his and not his Noble Phantasm, then…
…Then the only thing worthy of being a Noble Phantasm that Shaka Zulu would have… was his army, right…?
…Could armies be Noble Phantasms? This was the question I needed an answer for. If they could, then… well, that changed everything…
Berserker's bellow was louder than anything I'd ever heard before. Even plugging my ears, my entire head was ringing. I honestly considered it a miracle I hadn't gone deaf from it. Even Saber and Lancer dismissed their weapons in favor of covering their ears from the noise. All sound was drowned out save for it; no way that sound, if none other from all the battles, wasn't heard. Police would be here soon to investigate, but beyond that…
Shimmering into existence all around berserker were men. Armed with clubs, shields, spears… everything I'd have expected. They weren't as big as Berserker, but that was maybe the only fortunate thing about them, for us. Not that they needed to be as big, mind you.
Their numbers swelled, going well past the point I could see them all clearly, let alone count them all. As they finished forming, they joined Berserker in his bellow, only making the ringing in my head worse.
"…Run!"
Nobody needed to be told a second time. In fact, before I could even take off running myself, I was swept into Saber's arms, while Lancer grabbed the two kids. Berserker and his men charged straight for us, eager to catch up and slaughter us, no doubt.
…So, armies could indeed be Noble Phantasms. Then surely, Rider's other Noble Phantasm…
…Gods, how do I beat Rider?
…Before I could even begin dealing with all that though, I needed to get out of this alive!
"Saber, jump" I shouted as Berserker and his men began to, slowly but surely, make up the ground from the brief head start we'd had.
"What? Why?"
"I need to get a better view of his army! I need to see the surrounding streets!"
Despite the exhaustion he must have surely been feeling, Saber did as I requested, launching the two of us into the air without any further questioning or delay.
…The Zulu were famous for the Bull Horn formation. If Shaka has an army as a Noble Phantasm, then surely that's what they'd be in the process of doing…
In short, we were going to get encircled if we kept running straight. That was the whole point of the Bull Horn formation, after all: encirclement. Let none of your enemies escape, and turn it into a battle of complete annihilation.
However, the two horns were, typically speaking, not equal. One would be faster than the other; very hard, perhaps even impossible, to keep such a formation moving perfectly in sync.
Our only hope of survival from this would be to break though the encirclement before it was completed, and in order to do so… I needed to see which horn was going faster than the other. That would be the horn we'd need to punch through, so as to put the greatest distance between us and the reinforcements from the other horn.
…But which side…?
Before I could even get a proper glance at things, Saber had already landed.
"Again!"
Saber jumped into the air a second time.
…Where are they…?
I still couldn't see them, damnit!
"Again!"
…Am I crazy? They're not invisible, right? So where the hell are they…?
"What are you looking for" Lancer shouted as we touched down for the third time.
"Encirclement" I shouted over, getting the kids' attention as well. "They should be trying to form an encircling maneuver, but I can't tell if the left or right side is moving faster! We need to punch through the side that's overextending, and quickly!"
"One sec" Lancer nodded, before jumping into the air himself.
"…There's nothing moving alongside us" Lancer shouted over once he landed.
"What?! Are you sure?!"
"Positive!"
…That didn't make sense though! If it wasn't the Bull Horn formation, then what-
"Is this some kind of tactic Berserker would have used in life" this time Johnathan shouted over.
I didn't have time to respond before I was jerked violently to the side. Saber and Lancer both needed to leap out of the way as a first wave of javelins touched down all around us, bouncing harmlessly off the road.
"Y-Yes" I shouted over, once I was sure I wasn't going to bite my tongue off in the process. "Why?!"
"Madness Enhancement" Sortiara shouted. "Berserker has Madness Enhancement! It should be interfering with his ability to properly use tactics!"
Can't use tactics?! But if Berserker can't use tactics, then… then the 'Bull Horn' formation wasn't a formation at all; just a bum rush charge!
"And here I thought if we broke though the encirclement, we could get him to stop pursuing us, or hell, even break the Noble Phantasm!"
"Well, that's clearly not going to ha-!"
"Can't outrun him either" Saber commented after a second wave of javelins landed all around us.
One of them came dangerously close to impaling me… Couldn't tell if Saber did that on purpose or not. Didn't really want to find out either way, really.
"…Then the only option is to punch through him" I noted. "But if we're not getting encircled, then it doesn't matter if we get tangled up with the chest… We don't have to worry about getting encircled, and everything in front of us is all we have to deal with… Can you guys do it?"
"Die if we don't, right" Lancer laughed at the question.
"I don't know… They seem stuck to the ground. Could take to-"
A third wave of javelins cut my sentence short. Damn, we had maybe a minute left, tops, before they closed the rest of the distance!
"To the roofs? Too risky" Johnathan shouted.
"Then we got to break through!"
Johnathan and Sortiara looked to one another.
"We don't have time to ponder this" I cried out to the two of them. "Your servants on the line; make the call!"
Sortiara seemed to mutter something to Johnathan after a moment. Whatever she said, Johnathan nodded in agreement to it. …Just as a fourth wave of javelins rained down on us.
Like thirty seconds remaining… hurry up, you two-
"Saber!"
"Lancer!"
Apparently the two of them understood what their masters wanted from them, for they practically threw us forward while coming to a stop themselves. Lancer sure seemed to put more care into it too, judging by how I went sailing through the air compared to the kids… Still, I managed to land on my feet just as the kids had.
…Fuck, now five seconds…
"Saber, clear the way!"
Johnathan shouted first, raising his hand into the air. A red glow shined out into the night sky, and Saber's entire form became a washed with bluish light.
…A command spell…
"At once, master" Saber shouted, sounding full of energy once again.
He leapt into the air, launching himself right at the approaching mob of Berserker's soldiers. A fifth wave of javelins went straight for him, but those that came even slightly close to hitting him were cut aside as his swords began to crackle with purple lightning once again.
…He landed just as the first couple of ranks ran past him, slamming his twin swords deep into the ground. Right down to the hilts.
KRA- BOOM!
My senses were blitzed by the brightest flash of purple light I'd even witnessed. The ground shook as twin bolts of lightning struck the blades right after Saber leapt backwards to safety. Trendles of lightning shot out backwards past Saber, electrocuting the soldiers that had run past beneath his leap. The twin bolts, however, surged froward from the blades, cutting a straight path through the charging mass of men, more or less disintegrating them on the spot. The road was ripped apart from the power, and massive chunks of debris was sent flying high through the air.
Yet the sound of the road being torn apart, and the screams of the men disintegrating where they stood, were silenced out by the shout beside me.
"Lancer, finish this! Take Berserker down, here and now!"
"Unleashing Noble Phantasm! Longinus-"
Upon hearing that, my focus was pulled away from Saber's created beauty, and onto Lancer. Lancer himself was engulfed in magical energy, just as Saber had been. However, this energy was red. Dark red. A red darker than that which had surrounded Berserker upon unleashing his Noble Phantasm…
And the spear… Longinus… Blood dripped from the tip at an ever-increasing rate, until it was flowing like a stream, rather than dripping. But that wasn't what really caught my attention. No. It was the color of the blood that had my entire focus.
…Dark red, or… No… That… That was… Black…
Lancer bolted, and, using the crouched form of Saber as a springboard, launched himself forward, following right behind the trail of the twin lightning bolts.
"Berserker, cave their heads in" came a shout from Zach, from beyond the purple light.
But that, and Berserker's subsequent roar as he lunged at Lancer himself, just as the twin bolts of lightning began to fade, sounded far away. So impossibly far away… compared to Lancer finishing the activation of his Noble Phantasm...
"Cursed Blood of the False Prophet!"
A/N
Welp, late as per the norm now, but... MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
Actually, I don't know if it's still Christmas for everyone when this gets posted, considering it's 5:45 AM Christmas Day as I type this, but hopefully it's still in time for Christmas for you all as well!
Writing this out was though though, as always, because trying to get fight scenes... pictured right... in my head is nearly impossible with the words I put to page. I really wish I could animate all this instead of write, but I have neither the time nor skill for such a thing, sadly xD
I wanted this out Wednesday, but between all the re-writes, and considering breaking this down to different viewpoints and stretching it all out across more chapters and fragments, well... eventually I settled on this being the best way to do this bit, and I hope you all at least find it... well, passible.
As always, many thanks to everyone who reads up to this point; I'm both amazed and gladdened people actually find my work worth their precious time, and I'll see you all in the next post (hopefully within a couple of days) o7
