Time slowed to a crawl.

The clash of the two servan- no… the two Heroic Spirits… played out before me like the climax of a great movie.

Diving through the last dregs of the lightning, Berserker seemed completely unphased; if he was injured by it, there was no indication coming from him about it. His club swinging out from the side, it smashed into Lancer's flank, sending him flying off to the right. Lancer hadn't been able to raise his shield to protect himself, his focus seemingly entirely on offense. His next strike.

Scherkt!

Boom!

I could not tell what was louder: the wall Lancer got smashed through crumbling down, or Berserker's howl of rage.

Rage… and pain…

The flow of time returned to normal.

Berserker staggered backwards, dropping his club. The lance was clearly visible, embedded in his chest, Lancer had managed to land the strike, slipping right past Berserker's shield.

Berserker tried to grasp the lance, no doubt in an effort to pull it out from his chest. It was already too late.

Despite his already hulking size, Berserker swelled. Or rather, his club arm swelled, rendering it practically immobile, unable to reach the lance impaling him. The desperate attempts to reach over and grab it ended when the skin rapidly began to crack, blood as black as had been flowing from the lance spewing forth like geysers.

Berserker fell to his knees, and I only just noticed, then, that his legs were melting. The skin sagged and bubbled, pooling where his feet either were, or used to be, though no longer visible.

His shield dissipating, he clawed desperately at his chest with his other arm. Alight with flames, the skin there, too, cracking and spewing more of the black blood matching that of the lance, he ripped the lance out from his chest and threw it aside. The arm went with it, tearing from his body and setting off another bellow from Berserker.

Black blood spewed forth from the now open wound in his chest. As it pooled around Berserker's body, I noticed the dark red haze being emitted. It enveloped Berserker, causing his body to crack and melt at a rapidly increasing pace. Fire raced along to the rest of his body as he began to crawl towards us, dragging himself along as much he could with his one remaining, mangled arm.

He tried to spit, but it didn't travel far; didn't even reach Saber, let alone us masters. A final, agonizing roar, much quieter than the others, and it was over. Berserker was gone, dissipating, a faint shower of gold light shimmering and disappearing into the night sky.

Fifteen seconds…

It couldn't have been more than fifteen seconds since Lancer impaled Berserker with his Noble Phantasm. Within fifteen seconds, Berserker had been subdued. Mangled. Butchered. A most gruesome end, one which I would not wish upon anyone.

Yet… as I watched the ordeal pass before me, I felt it. As I watched the faces of friend and foe alike contort, I felt it.

A smile.

Lancer's Noble Phantasm… Beautiful… Absolutely beautiful…

In the growing silence that followed, I looked on at where Berserker used to be. All that remained of the once towering foe was a puddle of black sludge, red haze emanating from it rising ever skyward.

"B-B-Berserker…"

All eyes seemingly drifted to Zach, who was staring at the puddle with a mixture of shock and horror.

"H-How… what…"

That stunned muttering… that one last look of desperation and terror he would give Johnathan… it would all be his last.

The arrow pierced his skull with such force that it bore a hole right through it, scattering bits of brain matter on the road. Zach's body went limp, slumped forward, and hit the ground.

Dead.

Just like that…

"Watch for Archer" Saber shouted out, seeing the arrow apparently reminding him that were technically still in danger.

Yet even as he staggered over to us, exhausted looking as he'd been from before the command spell was used, no other arrows came. A tense moment passed as we looked towards the skyscrapers in the business area of town. Then another. After the third moment passed, Saber allowed himself to relax his guard, though a puzzled expression rested upon his face.

"Thank you, Archer" I bowed in the direction of the skyscrapers, "for playing your role brilliantly."

Saber and Sortiara slowly turned to face me.

"Berserker has been dealt with" I explained. "Doubt Archer's master wants to create an even bigger headache for herself tonight by trying to escalate things with us. Especially since if I accidentally die, it'll really be a shitshow for her."

Turning my focus away from the two of them, I looked to Johnathan. He was still staring at the corpse of Zach and the puddle of what was once maybe Berserker, depending on how all that actually worked. Stiff as all hell. Revulsion and horror marred all over his face.

He was in shock, I presumed. Probably never seen something so… brutal. So graphic. Evidently hasn't made his way round to that part of the internet yet…

"Zach… Oh, gods…" he barely managed to eventually mutter, taking a couple of shaky steps forward, towards his dead friend.

Then he lurched forward and started vomiting.

Before he faceplanted into the pool of vomit, Saber swiftly rushed over to his master's side, catching him just as he blacked out.

"I-I can't… I… I'm gonna be sick…" Sortiara muttered weakly, beginning to get wobbly on her feet herself as she slowly began to back away from the scene.

Then she started throwing up, though mercifully, she managed to remain both conscious, and on her feet.

…Kids… They were not ready for war…

"Get it out of your system" I walked over to her. "Just… y'know… try to do it quickly. Who knows how long you all have till the cops get here."

If she heard me, she didn't make any sign of acknowledgement. Not that it really mattered either way. I could already see Lancer making his way towards the two of us. He'd already retrieved his lance, it longer dripping blood. He looked as exhausted as Saber, and was walking with a bit of a limp, but even then…

Well… what were city cops to Heroic Spirits?

"I leave her to you" I nodded to Lancer as I began walking.

Not that he acknowledged me, mind you. But whatever. He was tired, and probably focused entirely on his master at the moment. Understandable. So long as she has his attention…

With both Sortiara and Johnathan more or less incapacitated, and with the servants focused entirely on their respective masters, I took off walking, down the nearest side street. Slipping away into the night. Once again adopting the role of the drifter.

Their nights were done, and while they botched their roles terribly, it was what it was. They would still have their command spells had they'd just listened to me from the beginning, but oh well.

In time, they'd learn to listen to me.

Everyone did.

…Yet my night… my night was only just beginning, it seemed. Rider had said 27 people had died thus far tonight. Judging by the fact that neither he, nor the priest, nor even his assassins, had come and tried to finish the job just now, I could only assume that meant there were more people who needed to be dealt with.

As the mastermind behind the events of this night, it was my duty, then, to save them from becoming yet another tally in Rider's statistics.

Yet, to do that, I'd need my sword, which I currently had stored away at one of the entrances to the labyrinth, along with the extra supplies in case something had gone wrong at the start of the night.

Fortunately… that entrance wasn't far away.

…A race against time, then. One I was in all likelihood going to lose...

But still…

If I could reach even one before Rider and his master…

…It would be worth it…


A/N

A short bit, and honestly, the next couple of bits will probably be short as well, as I think I'll be bouncing through a couple of perspectives to finish off the night (in the story, not real life).

But yeah, first servant down, and it's Berserker. Honestly, that shouldn't come as a surprise by now, but hey: at least one servant is eliminated!

Only took over 200,000 words to do so... Holy hell, I didn't think the story would be 200,000 words long, let alone just to get to Berserker's death.

Anyways, a thank you to all you lovely readers who made it this far, and I'll see you all in the next post o7