FGO Singularity 1950 Germany- The Road to Paradise

by ColinHayworth

A story in an alternate WWII singularity where its mystery still reigns and the mana were unusually dense for its age. It has allowed all those who were beyond 1900 to become heroic spirits as long as their deeds are beyond any comprehension of human beings. And now this is where all those who remains to reach the truth of what happened

11. Ghost Division

Warning: This fanfic dealt with probably controversial themes and you may find it not suitable for you. If you still decide to read, then stay strong and brace yourself for what you are about to read. This story here happens in Arc 2 and thus may contain some spoilers.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Chapter 11: Ghost Division

"._.""._.""._."

---

Arnold who just joined in the battle now learned that there is no infantry that is present here at all. There are just only Panzer Soldats everywhere he could see. Not even a trace of infantry personnel at all. This is actually bad for him since he has almost no mean to counter-attack against armor. Except for the Final Conda that he has, he just has almost no other way to fight back at all.

While he runs from alley to alley, he found a perfect opportunity to use the machine gun. There are Panzers lining up in a straight line and it is a perfect chance for him to use it.

Deploying the gun and spinning it up, he held the trigger and a torrent of bullets flying out of the gun. But, those Panzers for some reason are quicker than how he remembered and quickly evade the torrent of bullets. They turned around aiming their armaments at him.

"Shit..." Arnold cursed himself for this turn of unexpected predicaments. Not that he intended to die here right now though.

Quickly jumping on his feet, he evaded the barrages of ballistic and continue to fire the gun at those Panzers. All of them are clearly more flexible than how even a normal Panzer from before is which begs Arnold the question of how and why?

Not that its evasion was good enough to evade the continuous storm of bullets, one was unable to get out of the torrent of bullets and got fed with a hail of firestorm until the only thing that remains is its melting feet. Arnold looks at the counter and realized that he is wasting too much bullets on them. He now realized why the number is large in the first place, it was siphoning directly from him, using his own life power as ammunition for itself. It explains why he is actually feeling tired despite he entered the battle for like 20 minutes. He should have known so from the beginning because Alfin literally told him about it.

"God damn these annoying speedy droids, if I keep any of this up I might die from exhaustion before anyone would kill me." He thought as he tried to conserve his bullets.

"Berserker! Include!" A loud yelling was said that Arnold can hear.

The little fairy girl smashed a Panzer with what looks like a stone sword-ax with a single strike. Needless to say that it did destroy the Panzer because it was nearly split into half.

"Icicle Stake!" Another voice was heard. He then realized that a certain familiar face has appeared and he is freezing a Panzer's leg at the knee with a wooden stake of sorts. The moment it tried to move, the knee fractured making it tumbles onto the ground and disabled it.

The three of them worked together and took down the rest of the Panzers that were present. It was a difficult task for how literally reflexive and agile they are, but they made it in a short time regardless.

"Holy mother of... I saw the footage of the Singularity involving these Panzers but the ones in the footage were far slower not a goddamn giant athlete wearing metal armor!" Illya said to Arnold

"Damn it, they are too unusually fast, there has to be someone that enable them to do something like this," Larry said in an irritated tone.

Arnold breathes shallowly, he checked the ammo counter and it reads 9852 but at least it is slowly increasing back. He decided that if he is going to use this thing, it must be an emergency. He then hangs the thing at his back and checked the surrounding. The sounds of explosives and ballistics clashing still intensified in a distance. There has to be at least a hundred of those Panzers because there is no way thing would be this loud.

"Hey, mister. Are you fine because you seem to be exhausting yourself." Illya asked Arnold.

"No, I'm fine. It just... It is hard to keep up without proper equipment, you know." Arnold replied to the white-haired little girl.

"You know, I am really starting to think that this is a bad idea to give you such a consuming weapon in the first place. If you wanted to, you can put it in my care." Larry asks the man in genuine care for the first time around.

Arnold thinks hard for a while. While this weapon is a burden to him at most, without it, he would be completely useless in this fight. He tried to impale them with his flamethrower but they just always moving out of his way before he approaches them.

"No, I am fine. Without this, I am completely useless in this fight. But trust me, I won't fall, not until I learned the truth of my identity." Arnold said in conviction.

Arnold then heads out on his own, leaving the other two behind. Unknown to him, both of them chased after him to make sure that they are there to catch him should he got tumbled into a precarious situation.

Meanwhile, in Shirou's position

Shirou charged up his Caladbolg and let it loose against the Panzer he aimed for. Unfortunately enough that they managed to preemptively avoid it. He could have charged it for longer to have it move faster but standing still is a fatal decision when modern warfare wanted to have mobility is the king. He jumped away from his previous position when a Panzer aimed its cannon and fired at him.

"Tsk, you really had me no choice there..." Shirou whispers to himself as he traced a Hrunting and twisted it into an arrow.

He fires the altered arrow and the Panzer tried to evade said attack. However, Hrunting has an ability to auto-hit its target and soon a Hrunting pierced into its right leg and crippled its evasive maneuverability.

"Caladbolg!" Kuro said as she traced the arrow and pumped as much mana as she can before firing it. In a matter of seconds, the crippled Panzer turned into smithereens before it realized its demise.

"Damn... They started to adapt their tactic, aren't they?" Shirou talked to his sister.

"Yeah, back at first encounter with them, they were so slow that it is easy to take down, but now? They are so fast that there is no way it was the same thing from before." Kuro said to her brother.

The siblings keep moving on through the ruined suburban, the amounts of Panzers here are just obnoxious large that they can't stop hearing the sound of metallic movement. Shirou would fire a Hrunting to cripple its maneuverability while Kuro would firing the killing shot with the Caladbolg, rinse and repeat. But they can't afford to let their guard down for one second should they wish to remain in one piece and not being chunks of gore.

"Look out!" Shirou quickly warned his sister as both of them got blindsided by a mechanical robot that is moving at high speed.

"OH NO!" Kuro tried to turn her movement around but that thing is about to fire its cannon at her before she can evade.

However, its firing got interrupted by a rocket that is moving at its location. It quickly interrupts its firing so that it can evade the attack.

*gasp*"Jii-san!" Shirou easily discerned whose attack it was, it was his father who just fired an anti-tank rocket at it.

"Tsk, your show of running around started to piss me off. Now, can you keep up with me?" Kiritsugu said with a voice as cold as the 9th circle of Hell.

And so his figure disappears in almost instantly from the Panzer's vision. It tried to look around for where its target is. Both Shirou and Kuro have already jumped out of the Panzer's sight and thus not being its target anymore.

All of a sudden, the Panzer exploded. Not even able to realize why at all. In a distance away from where the Panzer exploded is where Kiritsugu and Irisviel are. His hand was holding a remote detonator. It seems that he used his Time Alter and placed many explosive charges within an extremely short amount of time. So fast that the Panzer didn't even detect him at all.

"You chose to not die from being shot at so I decided to be up close with you. That is all there is to you." Kiritsugu said with pure apathy.

"Jii-san! Can you give me an overview of the situation so far!?" Shirou tried to get into contact with his father.

"Tsk, the situation is worse than I thought, I could have easily installed many anti-tank traps but seeing how all of them are so ungodly evasive. It would have been a waste either way. There are more than a hundred of those Panzers and some of them may actually include those Tigers.

Both Shirou and Kuro swallow at the thought of having to fight another Tiger, again. They are pretty much getting a close taste of death by facing it alone and would rather face another humanity's evil than to fight it with severely limited manpower.

"Damn it, if I am going to face it then I intend to do so. If it is going to come either way then I am prepared to do so." Shirou said in an attempt to steel his resolve.

"Onii-chan, in our previous attempt to take down the Tiger, it wasn't just two of us alone, there is another person," Kuro said in assurance.

"Arnold..." Shirou whispered to himself but everyone else that was present on that battle would have already known already.

"Then why are we waiting for!? We have to find him, now!" Kuro said as she quickly moves to find him.

Shirou quickly follows up with her, they are having a firsthand taste of German's armor unit of WW2, much like how much of other nations were forced to face at the time. This is a fight of contested will and if they don't have what it took to survive this, there won't be much hope for them in further areas.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Wrench in the Gears

"._.""._.""._."

---

"Richard, 12 o'clock position! Take them down." Pierce commanded his Servant like how he did during the Eastern Front before things turn completely upside down.

Richard heeds his words and quickly unload his entire custom made revolver at the Panzer in the direction. He then detonates the bullets with the built-in detonator which quickly made short work of the enemy. They could easily evade it but underestimated the bullets' initial damage and thus just think that they can tank it without a problem.

"Thank god that I made this revolver. Otherwise, I would be deep in this mess already." Richard said as he reloads the gun with custom cartridges.

"And you know what else I am thankful for, the belt-fed modifications which not only cut the size down but also increase my ammo capacity. Even if it was a bit heavier, I am still thankful for it." Pierce said as he inspects the improved BAR machine gun with a built-in ammo counter of three digits.

The ammo box built ammo by siphoning the surrounding atmosphere's mana and not Pierce and thus it creates ammo more slowly but not putting him at risk.

"But still, how many more of those things still roaming around here?! There is just no end to them!" Pierce said as he still trying to stay low profile while fighting back with what he had. The Tax and Death he still has till this far finally found its use so he doesn't really have much right to complain.

"Look out!" Richard warned his Master as he detected something coming here.

The ground trembles, Pierce tried to discern the situation and how he should act but there is too little he can do since he got caught inside the battle of supernatural. It is like a young bird got caught in the tide of a storm.

A Panzer bursts through from the building behind him, Pierce quickly turned around as he sees it trying to swat him like a fly, it got too close to him and he doesn't have enough time to jump out of its way.

"Duck!" A feminine voice yelled to him, his body can only act upon instincts as it can't find any better choice.

In a few seconds, the Panzer behind him got blown to pieces and with only its lower body remain. The thing creeks in a loud noise as it fell to behind.

Pierce turned to where the firer might be as just as how he thought, it was Alfin. She stood there on top of the roof a building, wielding a rocket launcher. Pierce can tell it was a Panzershreck based on its unique protecting shield.

"Pierce! Where's Arnold?! I need to find him!" Alfin said as she tried to ask him for more information about what is going on right now.

"I don't even know! We are simply trying to fight for our life right now!" Pierce said back to her.

Alfin quickly turns away then jump from buildings into buildings. Pierce and Richard can only look at her while her figure disappears from their sight.

"What is going on right now? Why does she need him?" Richard asks himself.

"Normally, I would have said she got lovestruck by him but now? This is definitely a state of emergency." Pierce said in worry, the experience of Eastern Front has made him extremely wary of things that would fly through others.

Something will happen, they could tell it. What will exactly happen? Nobody can tell...

Meanwhile, in Larry's position

"BOOM!" Comes the sound of a Panzer bites the dust.

Behind it was Larry, holding an M1 Bazooka Rocket Launcher, at a point-blank range. That is just him being sure that it has to be dead.

"Damn it, just how long do they intend to make us fight?! They really starting to wear us down right now." Larry said as he those things really getting on his nerves.

Illya, Larry, and Arnold. Those three suddenly got caught in the encirclement of Panzers and got attacked ceaselessly. Although all three made it through this far right now. They started to doubt that they will make through unless received external reinforcement.

The ground suddenly trembles with great force, both Arnold and Larry almost got tumble by the sheer force that is going on right now. Illya due to the fact that she is floating most of the time received none of it.

"Larry. What is going on right now!?" Arnold asks the man who is in front of him.

"This... No... They can't possibly." Larry said as Arnold's realization dawn on him as he understood those words.

Getting back on his feet quickly and braced for what to come, a large figure approaches them, he discerned that tiger head on top of it. He knew it, he faced that thing once before back at the ridge. Just like before, they will be needing some serious firepower for this one alone. The real question here is that, who has the power it takes?

Deciding that he shouldn't waste another second on pointless thought, he quickly dashes toward it and leaped with a materialized flamethrower on his right hand. Lunging towards it and attempt to plunge the flamethrower into its eye socket.

The thing here is that no prey fell for the same trap twice. The Tiger just sidestep just enough to evade him. When Arnold realized it, the Tiger has already prepared its ploy. The thing threw a devastating left hook, straight into his chest.

Both Illya and Larry felt that pain despite not being at the receiving end. And Arnold is going through the worst possible pain that he just felt. It was so much that he could have faint at any time. His helpless body being fling at such a great speed as he bursts through many buildings while raising massive dust clouds just by his sheer speed alone.

Larry can only look back at the massive holes that the Tiger created by punching Arnold. He then looks at the Tiger with complete disgust.

"BASTARD!" Larry screamed as he charged towards the Tiger.

The Tiger reads his movement and adjusted its stance to counteract whatever Larry might intend to do. However, Larry is completely capable of shifting his stance and bodily movement in a quick manner. The Tiger expected him to lunge towards it but what he did is completely different.

When he got closer to it, he made a small jump which fools it to think that he is going to try the same thing as Arnold but then he quickly skids across the ground between him and it. He then quickly slide to its back by the gap between its leg.

"Icicle Stake!" Larry said as he materialized a wooden stake and stab the Tiger through its knee joint with it.

The Tiger quickly tried to turn back but its knee which was working fine a bit second ago now struggling to turn, it could have broken the stake by itself if it weren't for the fact that its knee started to freezing.

"Berserker! Include!" Illya quickly said and that stone sword-axe materialized itself. She aimed at the freezing joint and broke its knee in one quick succession.

The Tiger roared, the knee which it was injured soon broke and leaving it on one foot. Even still the thing still trying to keep its balance and ward off Larry and Illya away.

"You know, despite being a Tiger, it seems awfully weaker than how you described to me," Larry said to Illya.

"You know. You might be right, my brother's Caladbolg could ignore conventional durability but that thing back then just ward off like nothing. But this? Even what seems like basic attacks actually managed to hurt it." Illya speaks to Larry about her doubt.

Larry piecing the information together. In the next moment, his mind suddenly shudders in the realization that his assumption missed a critical part. He has to tell this newly learned information should he wanted to make sure things don't go turn for the worse. Underestimation and overestimation are both lethal and he can't afford that to happen.

Meanwhile, inside a ruined and abandoned house. Arnold lies there, his face was distraught by the great pain he is going through right now. He coughed out blood, breathing is now a massive burden. His ribcage completely shattered, his inside most likely got completely liquified by now.

He is losing grasp of his vision and his consciousness. He wanted somebody to relieve him of this suffering now. He just lay there in a helpless state. He thought he is going to die soon.

That is what he thought until a figure approaches him. It was a distant yet familiar feeling, he tried to clear the cloud in his mind to see clearer and the person in front of him is...

Desmond

Arnold thought it was Alfin but considering the situation that he is in right now. He is desperately needing his help.

"He...lp..." Arnold tried to call for help but it is needless for Desmond approaches him regardless. He quickly injects him a dose of something. Morphine? Adrenaline? Any kind of Anesthetic? That doesn't matter anymore, it did help him gather back his consciousness. Desmond situated Arnold into a sitting position so that he can check his wound better.

"Dear God, what happened to you?" Desmond said as his external check-up basically tells that Arnold got fucked up pretty badly.

Arnold remains silent, he has no word to describe how irrational his decision at that time was. It might just be best to not speak of anything. He then looks at the behind of Desmond, even if it was a long-distance away from where Larry and Illya are fighting, he sees that they are struggling to take down the Tiger due to the fact that there are many Panzers around them trying to take them down.

"Damn it, Desmond. You had something that can help me go back into battle in an instant, right?" Arnold asked the medic in front of him.

"Unfortunately, no. You need proper surgery or there might be permanent damage. Plus, you are in a state of emergency and must not stay in combat." Desmond said to convince Arnold to stay from combat.

Arnold felt helpless, to be a dead weight in a situation like this just stupid to him. He needs to do something right now, even if it is rash.

"Desmond, can you give me the Anesthetic bottle?" Arnold asked the medic.

"Uhm, sure?" Desmond gives the anesthetic bottle even the syringe that sticks on it without even doubting anything.

Arnold then pumps the syringe with anesthetic and then he... stabs Desmond with the said syringe into his thigh. The effect took on in near-instant as Desmond felt it that he can't move his leg at all. Arnold then stands up and then rushes outside.

"I'm sorry to do this to you. But they need me!" Arnold said as he ran outside towards where the Tiger is.

Desmond sits there while watching Arnold running in a distance. Unsurprisingly, Desmond held no grudge at all. He just finds it almost natural for Arnold to do something like this. He then stood up despite his right leg are completely numb.

"I see then... If so then I shall treat you how you should have been in the first place. Proper care and surgery." Desmond said with a smile on his face.

Meanwhile, Arnold is rushing towards where he was left off at full speed. In his right hand is the flamethrower that is firing a stream of relentless flame. He felt extremely painful just to breathe alone but the adrenaline in his blood is pushing himself to beyond his limit.

The Panzers noticed him and they quickly dispatch to his path. They stood there, preparing to open fire at him.

Arnold knows that he needs to do something and not making that same mistake from before. He has no anti-tanking weapon and changing into his Final Conda will most likely cost his precious movement. Those things don't intend to underestimate him and the only way forward to is to move beyond what he is normally capable of.

Charging mana into his flamethrower, increasing the potential output of the weapon. He decided that if he doesn't go beyond now, he won't be able to do anything good in the future. The orange flame that was coming out of the flamethrower started to change it color into a blueish one.

The Panzers opened fire at him, sending a barrage of bullets and shells at him. He makes a single swing of his flamethrower and the azure flame came forth towards the wall of ballistics. A single swing erased the entire ballistic barrage that was aimed at him.

He closes down the distance even more while evading the hailstorm of bullets, swing his flamethrower to make a path if required. Soon, he got closes to those Panzers. He drew his flamethrower like a burning blade, with a single cry, he'll make a decisive breakthrough.

"Azure Slash!" Arnold let out his cry before drew his flamethrower.

In a single slash, the three Panzers in front of them split into half from their torso. A single decisive slash led him to break through the encirclement.

Not stopping there, he quickly makes his advance towards where the Tiger is. Any Panzer tries to get in his way, he'll give it his Azure Slash that cleanly cut it with a single slash. Like a fiery dance itself, he approaches to where Illya and Larry were, the damn Tiger is still jumping around like a goddamn rabbit despite having one leg short. That thing still fires at both Illya and Larry at any given chance which makes them don't have that much chance to counterattack.

Not that it would apply to him anymore, he has a perfect mean to counterattack. He fell to its trick once and he'll pay the debt back. With full interest. Making one final dash towards it, he prepared to swing his flamethrower again and let out his cry.

"Azure Slash!" Arnold let out a cry as he slashes the Tiger with all of the strength he has left.

What happened next is already obvious for all to see. Despite the Tiger's best effort to repel him. The azure flame of his flamethrower ended up erasing any of the ballistics it fires at him. And his Azure Slash completely decimates the Tiger for all of what is left is just the crotch and leg. The remnant of it soon fell to the back and became nothing more than scrap metals.

The clearing of wind signals the conflict has ended, Illya and Larry look at him and tried to process what has just happened. Arnold then knelt to his knee and then collapsed into the ground. It was his price for pushing too much beyond his limit. His vision started to blacken, the silence is deafening, everything aches. In his vision, he sees the two figures approaching him, they're Larry and Illya. That much he knew, then the third figure approaches and seems to talk about something. His vision soon unable to keep up anymore and everything turned into the void.

Whatever it is, he needs more firepower of his own if he wanted to keep up. Perhaps there are still somethings within his memory that will help him. Now, he'll have to enter the void and search the sealed memory of his own.

---

"._.""._.""._."

A Glimpse of One's Past
Flowers in The Trench

"._.""._.""._."

---

The rain still goes on, when was the last time the sun shined in this place? It was such a distant image that hardly anyone can imagine any more.

Arnold who is driving his motorcycle, on a familiar road yet forgetful. There is a sense of dread instilling the atmosphere right now.

He opened the map with one hand while the other still drive. It is scribbled on with lines that marked for 'British territory'. The lines of defense keep getting shorten more and more. It used to take a few hours to drive to the frontline and now it takes only an hour at worst to get there.

With defeat is getting more imminent through time. Morale is basically on the verge of collapse. Almost every soldier that still remains till this point has no will to fight left. They were rugged by the facade, the false prospect of wealth and adventure. They were thrown into the meat grinder and dying for the "elite" that keeps getting more gluttonous overtime.

Many have thought the idea to mutiny while possible but the only they received is a hail of bullets from the firing squad as they were declared for death sentences. All of this supposed to persuade soldiers from going mutiny but only make the already worsening morale became even worse.

People don't even know what they are even fighting for... They don't know where their future is going to head for... It was a dark fate much like the clouds hanging above him.

He reached the 'frontline' which were just hastily built trenches that are simply passable for combat. Soldiers having spoilt bread for ration for even farmers got drafted and died. His ration isn't any better at all. It is just a piece of bread, still decent enough but not fulfilling at all. He then proceeds to hide the motorcycle in the closest bush he could find. He just hopes that there won't be a misfortunate artillery shell landing on it.

He entered the closest trench and for the first time in a while, things have truly gone worse than he could think. He sees even youngsters that they were recently drafted in shivering in fear, he sees the soldiers who were so battle-scarred by the war that they lost all of their conscience when it involves killing. They just stood there, lifelessly as if they will disappear after the war for they have done too much sin to ever found redemption anymore.

The rain definitely didn't help the situation in the slightest, they don't know what to come nor they actually know anything beyond the few first seconds ahead of them. They just wanted to live, even if it is by a margin of seconds.

He knew what he needed to do, to get into the communication quarter so that he can personally deliver the intelligence to the headquarter. That is just his only job, for now.

While he is walking through the trench, he felt somebody is staring at him. Surprisingly enough for him, it wasn't just a person, it was everybody who was presented. They looked at him with disgust, almost like they personally wanted him to die.

He can't understand it at all. What had he exactly done to them to earn such a disgusting gaze like that? He was just fulfilling his duty like how he was supposed to. That is just what his job really is. So then, why?

Something within his gut ached, liked being foretold of something bad is going to happen. These feelings, he knew it well. He then quickly tried to get to the communication quarter as fast he could. 600 meters according to the intel he received, to him, felt as long as running across the whole world. This is a fight against the clock and any seconds that isn't wasted will help him tremendously.

The alarm went off, the soldiers quickly dispatch to their positions. It was just how Arnold anticipated, something is coming and it will be relentless. The machine guns went off towards the distance. Arnold doesn't intend to peek out for there is always the risk of dying just for peeking alone.

But something doesn't feel right at all. The soldiers are panicking as if the whole world is going to end. The sounds of clanging went from a distance away from the trench. Arnold realized that the sounds that are being made is unusual and decided to peek out to confirm his suspicion.

He now realized why the soldiers are panicking in the first place. Those things that are charging toward them are moving metal boxes with machine guns and cannons protruding out of them. The bullets that impact on it are just bounced off like nothing. Suddenly, the thing fired off a shot from the cannon by its side. He looked at its trajectory and the next moment, the machine gun nest 10 meters next to him is gone. And the arm of the guy who was operating the machine gun landed right by him.

Swallowed his own breath, realizing the emergence of the situation. He realized that he needs to do this quickly now or he'll be annihilated without a single chance to counterattack. Hasting his movement, prepare to draw his Artillery Luger. He makes his move toward the communication quarter, this will be one grueling fight with no room for mistake.

The enemy soldiers came flood into the trench, the recruits completely helpless as they became fodder for the enemy's firing. The hardened soldiers professionally counterattack in order to prevent more casualty from their side. With that metal monstrosity came charging at them, the whole situation in his side is like a ton held by a hair thread.

Standing by a blind corner, he saw an ally soldier run pass him and got shot down with a hail bullet. He felt bad for using his corpse as a shield but how can the dead become more dead?

Grabbing his corpse and draw his pistol. He fired his gun at the opposing soldiers, one thing though is that he overestimated the corpse's protective ability against a .303 bullet. The bullets flew pass through the corpse and grazed him. He realized that it might not be a good idea anymore. He dropped the corpse and then keep going happy trigger on the enemy soldiers until all of them fell into the ground.

After he confirmed that there is no one near him anymore, he let out a sigh as he winced in pain from the grazed wounds that he received. Never again...

Assessing the situation so far, he decided that he'll need to go to the infirmary or find a close-by medic before he goes to the comm quarter. He'll never reach there in a state like this.

He keeps moving on despite the agonizing pain on his waist, he hopes that he'll find a familiar face but considering the war, there isn't much hope for that in the first place.

The artillery bombardments went on the trenches, his ears keep ringing like hell from being bombarded with so many loud noises, he swears that he'll go deaf at the end of this war. If he even made to the end that is. The ground keeps shaking like being torn apart, the rain and the thunder didn't make any of this easier at all.

The pain is sickening to him, the screams, chaos, madness. It is like being stuck in hell but worse. Hell is hell and war is war but war is far worse because there aren't any innocent in hell.

He tried to pick up his pace towards the infirmary. There has to be something that he can use but should the worst come to worst. He'll put everything he has to the communication quarter.

Entering the infirmary, it was suspiciously dark with no lighting at all. He started to fear that something is hidden in the dark and that thing would kill him in an instant if he let his guard down. A stench of death emanating the air, if it weren't for the war, he wouldn't have found this too normal but it felt like way too recent.

Feeling for any movement, presences, whatever it is, this sense of unremovable dread swelling in him keeps screaming as loud as possible. His heart is beating with a speed like a machine gun to the point he can hear it himself.

His pupil shrunk, his body preemptively evades an attack. The perpetrator then suddenly lunges at him again and pin him against the ground.

Being pinned down, he looked at the attacker right in the face which he tried to make out the most with the little lighting he has right now. Time slowed down, his mind has overdriven itself to desperately find any clue to break through the situation right now. The enemy is wearing a gas mask and a helmet. That much he can confirm. Although what unsettles him here is that the mask is stained with blood, and it was fresh at that.

Then he sees a flash above him, whatever it is, he needs to get out, now. Pulling his right foot in and kick that person right off his body. It might have been a powerful one for the large noise created when that person collided with whatever is there in the dark.

Gathering himself back at his feet. He tried to find his Luger only to realize that he dropped it when he got pinned down. Wherever it is, he can't find it in a dark place like this. The masked man stood up again and this time the lighting from the entrance shows the entire person. The entire body stained by blood, the gas mask and helmet stained in blood and the most important are, the spiked club that person is wielding. The kind that one would hate to be at the receiving end.

There is no doubt about it anymore, the dreaded unit that would instill fear in any soldier that would face it. He did hear about this kind of soldier about a few times mostly as rumors but to face this head-on is beyond any soldier's worst fear. The trench raider. Savage. Brutal. Unforgiving. And most importantly, merciless.

Arnold started to panic and he tried to find anything that he could use as a weapon, the raider menacingly approaches him with the club that is dripping with blood. Arnold felt something and quickly swung just as the trench raider lunged at him again with the club. By some stroke of luck, he managed to deflect the raider's strike. He takes a look at what he used and realized that he just used a chair's foot to deflect it. Not that he has any better options in the beginning.

The raider attempted another strike as it lunged towards him again. Arnold swung the chair's foot to deflect the strike again but just how much does a broken stool's foot can even stand up to a weapon specifically made to kill as brutally as possible? Right after he deflected the strike again, the chair's foot snapped into half. Arnold suddenly panicked again when he realized the only weapon he has right now just broke again.

Seeing him completely defenseless, the raider leaped towards him to ensure the killing blow. Arnold's reflexes quickly and jumped to the side.

The raider decided to finish this charade quickly and draw out a revolver of sorts. Arnold can't tell what kind of revolver but he knew that he must not be at the receiving end of it or he'll might as well say goodbye to himself.

Whether by reflex or instinct alone, his body moved by itself just literally when the raider pulled the trigger. Arnold's body leaped for to the side again as the bullet that was fired impacted on something and caused an explosion.

"Gah! Did he accidentally fire at a fuel canister?!" Arnold thought as he looked at where the explosion occurred while picking himself back up.

The raider probably didn't expect to hit a fuel canister and thus covered the eyes at that moment. Arnold took advantage of the situation and used the dim-lit fire to look for anything that he could use as a weapon. And just as what he wanted, a rifle with its bayonet placed nearby the wall nearby where the explosion occurred. Grabbing it as soon as he can, he prepared to open fire right on the raider. The raider realized that Arnold is going to grab that rifle and quickly tried to smash his head off with the spiked club.

Arnold pulled the trigger and nothing come off it, he evaded the incoming attack and pulled the bolt back to check, he then realized, it was empty. Of course, this is an infirmary, people would obviously unload the ammo to prevent accidental firing. Blocking the incoming attack with the rifle. The spreading fire from the explosion is still going and slightly lighting up the room more and more. The raider still swinging the club like a madman at him with no end to it, the attack style is simple yet effective which leaving Arnold doesn't have much room to counterattack at all.

Decided that he can't spend more his time being defensive, he looked around the room for anything to use as a weapon or there might be some loose bullets around. The raider about to send an overhead blow which would have most likely a killing blow to Arnold, Arnold quickly evaded and grabbed the closest thing to him and instinctively swung it at the raider's face.

The sounds of something shattered ensue. When Arnold looked at what he grabbed, he realized that he used a bottle of liquor and smashed the raider's face with it. The enemy is holding its face from the pain that is coursing. Right at that moment, Arnold grabbed a burning piece of cloth from the fire and used it to rub the raider right in the face. The flame spread and making the raider started to panic, Arnold used that precious time he gained to search for any ammo and by some stroke of luck he has, he found a single rifle round lying on the table near where he stands.

Loading that round in, he aimed it at the raider who just extinguishes the flame recently. With a stern voice, Arnold will end this conflict for once and for all.

"Repent for your sins, in Hell..." Arnold said as he pulled the trigger.

In a swift moment, the raider fell to the back with blood guzzling through the back of the head. Soon, it is just a lifeless corpse that lies on the floor. Arnold let out a sigh of relief for the fact that he made it out but the flame here will engulf everything in this infirmary soon enough. The light is also bright enough to illuminate the room.

But, perhaps, something is better to be left in the dark. When he looked around the room, he realized why the stench of death is so potent here. All of the patients here, they got their head smashed to death, blood is splattered everywhere, some of them have their mouth gasping, as if in their futile effort to beg for mercy but received only death instead.

And worse, he found the medic who was tending to the patients having his head was bashed to the point the brain was revealed, it was a sickening sight that he wanted to instinctively throw up but refused to nonetheless. He carefully extracts the medical bag and checked the content inside it. Thankfully that none of the contents were harmed. He has also found his Artillery Luger which got dropped beneath a bed. It is no wonder why he can't find it until now. He decided to search around the infirmary for a bit before getting out of here.

He first checked the raider's content first. What he got first is the revolver, the bullet it is chambered in is quite large compared to the pistol he uses. He can safely assume that it is a magnum. He decided to check around with the magnum and soon learned how to reload it. After that, he looted all of the ammo along with it. He then found a device that was lying on the table next to the dead medic. He pressed the button on it and suddenly flashes with light. A light that is brighter than the flame behind him.

"So this is the rumored flashlight then. To see its light like this, it is definitely will be useful even if not now." Arnold said as he takes it from the table.

After he bandaged the wound and injected some anesthetic, he is definitely in better condition than before. He made it out of the infirmary which soon to be engulfed in fire. And now, he has to get there as soon as he can to compensate for the lost amount of time.

Running alongside the trench, the path started to get more treacherous. He knew that artillery strikes intend to cause massive damage to the land that it altered in such hideous ways but this is just having no words adequate enough. It is mud and everywhere he could see. The sounds of roaring steel approaching make things even worse.

Pillars of smoke can be seen from a distance, even with ceaseless rain of artillery shells mix with raindrops turn any crater into a sinkhole of mud that would kill any misfortunate enough soldier should they fell into it. It is like a one-way gate to hell, once you fell into it, you forfeit any chance left to live.

Corpses are everywhere, as they were mixing with the mud and blood. Vision keeps decline as the rain kept getting worse. The terrain is getting steeper the more he progresses into, it is understandable but this is getting way too out of hand for him.

And for the first time in so long, he found an ally soldier who is moving through the trench, like him. He tried to strike a conversation with him but the man completely ignored him, like he didn't exist at all. Based on the appearance, it seems that he is a Kaiser. One can't mistake that spike on the helmet.

The man soon charged forward, but then the wooden barrier on the side suddenly collapsed and he got shot repeatedly until he fell into the ground and blood drips out of him. The barrage then ceased, Arnold decided to peek out and he can only see the silhouette of the enemy. But he can tell that whatever it is used is a machine gun and an infantry-carriable one at that.

It also baffles him that not all of the trenches are built into the ground but also makeshift with wooden fences in a few sections. How exactly can a plank of wood withstand getting hit by multiple rifle rounds repeatedly?! Now he has to consider that fact wherever he goes in this place.

Taking his chance while they still reloading, he dashed through. He then started to see even more corpses strewn around the places, even the blood is fresh. The screams and death throes, gunfires are all over the place. It is like he has entered a slaughterhouse where death is everywhere.

And when he thought things couldn't go any worse, he has been proven wrong instantly in the next second. He came into a stop as he looked at it with a faraway look. Corpses, piled up to mountain. Blood, overflown like a waterfall. This filthy sight can't ever be cleansed no matter how hard the rain is, no matter how much time may pass.

Arnold fell to his knee, seeing the mountain of corpses in front of him. He heard the screams, the cry, everything but none of this has ever amounted to this very image in front of him. This is what all of those lives ever amounted to?

"Help... Somebody... help..." A helpless voice can be heard from somewhere amid this madness.

Arnold quickly snaps out of it and tried to find the source of the voice, he then realized that familiar voice from before. The voice from the earliest memory of his. Arnold looked around for a bit and then realized where the voice comes from.

"Hans! Where are you!?" Arnold tried to draw attention as he raised his voice to break through the madness around him.

"I'm... here...Help..." The voice said back to him weakly.

Arnold detected the sources and realized where it is, right at the feet of the mountain of corpses is where Hans is. Being stuck underneath them and unable to pull himself out. Arnold quickly reaches for him, grabbing his left hand and slowly pulled himself of those corpses. He looked to the side and sees a bunch of British soldiers preparing their machine guns to fire at everyone in this direction. He quickly pulled faster in order to prevent both of them from going to die.

Within a nick of time, he managed to pull Hans back to the safe place and the next second, the barrage of bullets flew past the ground in front of the mountain of corpses. If that was the only thing then it would have been fine. If it weren't for the fact that there are other soldiers who got caught in the firing. Arnold winced in grimaces as their screams filled the atmosphere.

And as if it weren't going to end with that alone. An artillery shell flies towards the mountain of corpses and what happened next is too grotesque for any word in human language to ever describe properly. Body parts, internal organs, bones, anything that used to be a part of a normal human body now turned into thousands of crimson fragments. It was like a rain of blood, flying towards anything that was nearby it.

Arnold can only look, whether by shock or despair or anything. What can be felt to him at that time... was emptiness.

As the rain of blood unveils my crimson cloak

Arnold said silently by himself, seeing it unfolding in front of his eyes.

And after for a few minutes, the path ahead of them is cleared. The fragments of those used-to-be corpses are strewn around into a pile that can still block the barrage of bullets for a short amount of time.

Hans picked himself up, seeing the old friend that he would never think of himself to meet again.

"Thanks... For saving me, I thought I would just join with that mountain of corpses but you saved me, I can't ever repay that for you." Hans said to Arnold himself.

For the first time, Arnold goes out of his way to save someone by himself. There is no doubt that he is a person that anyone can count on the darkest of time.

"Yeah..." Arnold said before he steels his conviction again to prepare for what to come.

Both the two of them running forward and climbed the steep and bloodstained ground in front of them, the roaring steel can still be heard from the distance but one can't shake off the feeling of being forced to go up against it.

"Damn it, who the hell placed all of this barb wires here?! This is inside of a trench, not the battlefield!" Arnold said as the path ahead of them got blocked by an array of barb wires in front of them. They can't climb out of the trench should they wish to be riddled with bullets before they can realize what happened.

"They probably got knocked in here by those mobile pillboxes or being slide in due to the slippery mud. Either way, we don't have much choice left. I have the barb wire cutter but this is going to take a while. You watch the flank and I'll focus on the barb wires, OK?" Hans said as he takes out the cutter from his waist belt.

Arnold looked back and checked the terrain, both of them are on the higher ground and at the back is the downhill where the corpses were strewn around. Anyone who has chosen this place as a machine gun emplacement is either a genius or a madman, or both.

Suddenly, he noticed signs of enemy soldiers' movement towards this area.

"Oh no, this is bad, I have to do something or they will kill both of us." Arnold thought as he tried to find any way to resolve the predicament they just came in.

An explosion went by near his position. Not close enough to harm but enough to shook the ground anyway. Something fell nearby him and got his attention.

"Wah? What's this..." Arnold thought as he examined the gun that fell near him.

Hans turned back and seems to know what it is.

"It's the MG08/15, where did you get that from?" Hans asked as he wanted to know how Arnold obtain it.

Arnold probably misses it due to how chaotic this battlefield is, he most likely didn't even notice its previous operator died clinging to it nearby him. Whatever happened, he has a weapon suitable for the next firefight.

He checked the ammo box that was connected to the gun, still full of ammo, most likely not fired a single round. He then thought about what he should be used as a cover only to realize that he has almost nothing to use as a cover, there isn't a single sandbag near him at all. He can't go prone without having the risk of somebody snipes him from a distance. He has to improvise something or else.

And then a thought sparked, maybe he can use the dead bodies as a wall. Arnold quickly shut that thought off as soon as he can. He can't keep disregarding his fallen allies like this but there isn't any other choice left. The sounds of oncoming onslaught about to approach, Arnold decided to screw it and took the most intact dead bodies and piling them up like a wall. If one can't block those rifle bullets then 4 would do the trick.

And as a safety measure, he asked Hans.

"Hans, can you hand me some of those cut barb wires?" Arnold asked his friend who has just done about a quarter of his job.

"Okay but why?" Hans asked.

"Just do it!" Arnold said as he carefully took the barb wires and place it in front of the wall of corpses.

The footsteps keep getting closer, Arnold prepared to pull the trigger. Whatever happens, happens.

The first soldier entered the line of sight and quickly pulled the trigger at Arnold. Arnold ducked and quickly returned fire with his MG. The man who initiated combat got shot multiple times in the torso and fell to the ground. Other soldiers started to notice him and tried to climb the hill as fast as they can while returning fire. Arnold's only option is to return fire at them.

Bullet casings flying out as he held it. Giving them the taste of their medicine, the opposing soldiers unable to find any cover can only face death as their absolution. Lifeless bodies piling up on each other, time passing away like blood overflowing on this tainted hillside.

A soldier managed to reach to the top, aiming his rifle at Arnold with an intention to pay the retribution. However, one wouldn't exactly have the spirit left after seeing so many died while reaching here at the cost of others. Arnold drew the magnum revolver at shoot right squarely at the head of the soldier who reached the top. The man soon fell and joined the rank of those dying.

The MG soon ceased firing, it has spent its last ammo. Arnold then looked at the sight in front of him. The aftermath, that same mountain of corpses appeared in front of him, the only difference here is that he is at the top of it. That same stench of death, that same overflowing blood, he then started to look at his hand, hallucinating blood on it. He started to shake uncontrollably as he held his head from the throbbing pain.

He started to realize that he got stuck in this cycle of destruction, somebody else is going to repeat this. He started to feel that he is going mad right now.

"You there! I cut all of the barb wires! We need to move on now!" Hans said to Arnold.

Arnold still kneeling there, holding his head. He felt that he is going mad soon. His friend Hans seeing it decided to not stand still anymore and gave him a smack on his head.

"Snap out of it already! You still have the entire life to live! It is 'kill or be killed', we don't have any better choice!" Hans tries to convince Arnold that he is not wrong for shooting those soldiers.

"Please, do not cry until it is truly over. Weep those tears away and only when you find it truly over would you cry, get it? Now, we have to go." Hans said to Arnold so that he can calm him down.

Arnold weeps his tears away, he picked himself up on his two feet. After that, Arnold steels his conviction so that he won't be too weak next time around. He can't show weakness in a time like this.

The sound of roaring steel approaches, Arnold turned around and see that moving metal beast is heading towards him. The thing fires its cannon and blows the wall of corpses in one fell swoop. Arnold realized the emergence of the situation and quickly get on to action.

"We have to go now!" Arnold said to Hans as he runs as fast as he can.

Both of them make their last stretch toward the communication quarter hoping that there may still a bastion of hope left but perhaps, they are too hopeful in the end.

When they finally make it there, the only thing that greeted them was the dead silence of the place, except for the ceaseless rain stretching till eternity. He can discern the dead allies of his, basing from their attires. He can tell that the place must have been raided by a group of 30 or more since this amount of dead bodies here is just obscene.

Entering the quarter, Arnold raised his gun, preparing for potential ambushes. He made it through the entrance and there is no ambush yet. He grabs the flashlight that he carried with and illuminates the room with it. After seeing what really is, he sighed in relief for it is the officer that helped him from before, he actually made it here.

Arnold took a step forward then stumbled, he walked into a dead body and then suddenly his mind turned for the worst.

"So you made it here... You know, seeing you for my last moment isn't too bad of a thing I guess?" The officer sitting behind the desk said to him with a smile he tried to crack.

The officer then proceeds to turn the oil lamp on, the light illuminated the whole room clearly and that is also when Arnold shuddered in panic as he realized what has just happened here.

"You see, we and other 20 people here got raided by a group of 45 of them. Suddenly. We tried our best to hold all of them back and we did it. Although pretty much everyone is dead and I am on my last leg." The officer smiled at him as he coughed out blood.

Arnold realized that the officer got shot in the stomach with a rifle round. No, scratch that, he got shot with a shotgun shell!

"Dear lord! We need to get you treated, now!" Arnold said as he tried to get the medical supplies from his side bag.

"No... Don't even try, there is no hope left for this wound of mine. And you know what I wanted to speak about? My hometown, those French, British, whatever... They scorched the whole town into ashes, with everyone in it. I tried my damn hardest to protect my country and this is how I got repaid. Ironic, right?" The officer said with a wry smile on his face.

Both Arnold and Hans can only watch in silent, they honestly have no word to describe the turmoil of emotions that is residing in them.

"By the way, those metal mobile 'monsters' that you saw outside? We call them 'tank'. Our espionage got the intel of those new 'water tanks' and we assumed that they are just new carriable water containers that would help them in supply logistics. And you see how it got us right now?!" The officer said as the sounds of hysterical can be more easily traced.

Arnold and Hans are watching a man getting more broken time by time, getting more deranged. They wish they could help with whatever going through his mind right now but their hands are as good as tied.

"And you know!? This isn't even the first time that we got attacked with those tanks! Our first contact with it was a complete disaster. Everyone got stump and don't know what to do about it at all. It was a complete butchery, slaughter, only a few of us survived and our report basically demanded a new solution to be created. We have reversed bullets then K bullets and then a weapon made solely to fight against those-" The officer ranted on and on.

Arnold and Hans' eye flashed when the officer said they have a weapon to fight those. But where can they find it?! They decided that they should listen more to him.

"I... I'm tired... I just wanted this madness to end... I don't want to live in this cruel world anymore... I... Thank you for staying by my side for this long... This is my last gift, they can help you tremendously, that I can assure you with everything in this life of mine. You with the mustache, can you step forward to me?" The officer said as tiredness started to overtake him.

Arnold steps forward to him, he looks at the officer intently as the officer gives him a two of something.

"These... These two things right here are the drum mags for the Artillery Luger you are using... The centerpiece and final requirement, they are what would complete the set that you were having... The enhanced capacity will boost its close-quarter combat ability greatly... Don't worry... I have already filled them with ammo... And here is the intel too... I fought tooth and nail for it..." The officer said with reassurance to Arnold.

Arnold takes the drum mags and put them carefully in his waist belt. He shall cherish it the most he could.

"And you, Hans. The anti-tank rifle is in the armory. 50 meters in the west. The crate that contains it is the largest one available. Hardlocked to prevet force breeching. The key is in my hand right now, take it and go." The officer said as he gives the key to Hans.

"And I just wanted to say something to you, personally... Thanks... for everything..." The officer lets out his last words before he fell to his eternal slumber.

Arnold wanted to cry but remembering what his friend said. No crying until the end. He decided to push those tears away and exit the comm with conviction along with his friend. He turned his head back toward the officer who seems so peaceful right now, perhaps for one final goodbye.

"Thank you..." Arnold whispered as he turns away and exits the room.

"So what do we do now..." Hans said as he felt uncertain of what to do, he doesn't know what he has to exactly do anymore.

Arnold reloads the Artillery Luger with the drum mag he received from the officer. He then said sternly.

"We live for another day. Didn't the officer tell us to fight back with all we had? If so then why did he give you the key to armory?" Arnold said to Hans.

Hans suddenly realized what Arnold meant. If it weren't for the two together, both of them would have most likely been broken by now. Brothers in arms, there is nothing more fitting in a time like this.

"Then you know where to go, aren't you?" Arnold asked Hans again.

Without needing to answer, Hans runs first towards where he would believe to be where the armory is. Arnold simply follows him as there is no other choice remain.

Soon, they found a tunnel with a sign 'Armory' placed next to the entrance. They enter the place while prepared their weapons, in case of any potential ambush. Surprisingly enough, there isn't a single soul here, one would have thought that they would have taken over the place first before anything else. But considering how things go, they probably shouldn't put too much thought on why or anything that shouldn't be this way since it makes no sense.

Once they entered far enough, they encountered a wooden door, held by a single lock. If the enemy was here by now. They would have breached the door with an explosive. If this is the case, the enemy wasn't here yet. Hans quickly unlocks the door with the key that he was received, at least they won't make any noise.

The door soon sprung open, only to reveal that the armory is mostly empty, except for a few rifles that are still on the racks. A few ammo boxes that are placed on the shelf. Some artillery shells here and there. It is quite disappointing and one could find it understandable that they would lock the whole place up. Not to them though that they knew something useful is being stashed here.

"Hans, you take some spare ammunition. I'll go find the anti-tank rifle that our deceased officer mentioned." Arnold said to Hans.

Hans nodded and soon go to restock his ammunition. Arnold lifts the crates out of the way and searches for the biggest one. It must be something special since the officer emphasized on it by a lot.

Soon enough, he decided to open the crates one by one when he organized all of them on the floor and his suspicion is confirmed when he opened the biggest one he found. He reads the name engraved on the lid and it said "Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr". He opened it and learned what it is in which he found completely unamused.

"Of course... Of fucking course..." Arnold said as he gazed unamusedly on the anti-tank rifle he found. An oversized rifle with a pistol grip, accompanied with oversized bullets. But if the officer said this is their best shot at surviving then they would heed it no matter what.

He picks the gun up and oh boy, it is quite heavy that he finds it difficult to lug it around without being encumbered. He noticed that it has a carrying belt which would make it less awkward to carry around and so he decided to use it. He then picks up as much ammo of the weapon as he can, what good does a gun have without its ammo?

"Uhm? I think somebody is coming here!" Hans said to Arnold as he noticed the sounds of footsteps.

Arnold then quickly reacts as fast as he could. He doesn't know what to exactly do since they have half a minute at best. He then proceeds to knock the metal shelf out and pushes it towards the door and block the way. It is a temporary method that would buy them a minute as best.

"What do we do now!?" Hans started to panic as they were forced to seal off the entrance.

Arnold then looks around for anything that would help him then he looked at the small window near the ceiling. There is light came out of it. Arnold then presumes that it is would lead to outside. But that window would fit no one at all. Arnold then looks at the crates he forced open and one of them is a crate of dynamites with a detonator in it.

An idea flashed in his mind, this is their last chance to escape this place alive. Grabbing as much as dynamites as he can and placed them on the wall. He decided to keep some spare one with him in case the situation demands. Connected the detonator, both Hans and Arnold hid behind the crates that they restacked while the entrance blockade is going to fall apart soon.

Arnold has only one chance he'll have to make it count. Strike two birds with one stone, that is his crucial objective. If he fails, it will be a dire consequence for both him and Hans.

The entrance blockade blew up, the breeching team started to flood in to search for anyone. Arnold then activated the detonator when the chance to strike came.

An explosion went off, with the only thing that remains is the deafening sound of the aftermath. Both Hans and Arnold looked outside and both of them confirmed that there is no survivor. Especially when they were so close to the blast that the only thing that remains is the massive splatter of blood and gore. Arnold's suspicion is also confirmed as the hole on the wall indeed leads to the outside.

"Do they intended to kill everyone here?! All of these, they went all this way just to kill us?!" Hans said as he tried to clear his head from the ringing created by the blast.

Arnold stands up and pulls Hans along with. They made it this far, they passed through many challenges. They can't afford to die, not at a time like this! Both of them rushes out of the armory through the new path that they created.

The returning path is far more treacherous than before, the road is slippery, mud sinkholes are everywhere. At this point, they might as well assume that everyone who was stationed in the frontline is dead. They don't even hear anything similar to conflict anymore. These whole trenches are as good as taken by the enemy.

"Ugh... How can we even return anymore? They probably don't even have any more reinforcement to fight back..." Hans said as tiredness started to seep into him.

Arnold can't blame him for being like this. Both of them went through way too much for any soldier to handle. The fact that they're still alive is beyond any miracle.

Arnold keeps moving forward but he felt uneasy, like feeling that something is following him and that isn't Hans at all. It is like being watched by someone who is extremely scrutinizing. He wanted to shake that feeling off but the more he goes further, the trench started to ascend higher into the ground. At this pace, the trench wall might only be as high as his waist. And that is a fatal design in itself.

"Hans, stay down. Give me that helmet." Arnold said to Hans as he crouches down.

Hans just simply comply with Arnold by giving him the helmet of the closest dead soldier. It is the helmet of a Kaiser, it should be as convincing enough. Arnold then puts it on the bayonet of the rifle he brought along this far and then he moves slowly while letting the helmet act like a decoy.

"What are you doing?" Hans asked as he doesn't know what Arnold is intending.

"Better be safe than sorry... It just that, both of us might die by some unforeseen enemy." Arnold said to Hans.

Hans seems to get what Arnold is alluding to and he decided to follow whatever Arnold told him to do. If any of them is alone. They would be dead long ago.

Arnold keeps moving while the decoy started to peek out to the range above the trench. In the next moment, a loud noise followed by the helmet flies off the bayoneted rifle and Arnold can tell what made it happen. Sniper... They are hunting for any unaware survivor and they would hunt them like prey. Arnold's premonition was correct and it is the time to deal with them, now.

"Hans, can you distract them again? I'm really sorry but there's no choice left." Arnold said to Hans.

Hans doesn't even felt obligated, it just almost a necessity to do anything necessary even if risky. Action is far more beneficial than standing still.

Hans crawls toward another corpse and picked the helmet from the said corpse. Grabbing the knife that was stuck in it, he placed the helmet on it to act as a decoy again. All he can hope that the sniper would fall for the same trick again. Arnold meanwhile prepared to use the T-Gewehr and loading the bullet into the gun. Due to him not having any of the uniform and only a grayed outfit. He completely melds into the background almost naturally without any intervention.

He heard the sound of gunfire in a next instant, Hans signals him that the sniper took the bait. Arnold managed to see the muzzle flash and he can tell where the sniper is. And now, he prepares to counterattack with this anti-tank rifle. Overkill? Perhaps, but he ain't giving any fuck left for those sneaky shits.

And he pulled the trigger and the recoil was so tremendous that it literally left him breathless. The sound is so loud that he swore anyone a good distance away can still hear it. But he can swear that his aim was infallible since there is literally nothing followed up at all. If anything, that sniper's head is probably gone.

"You alright? It looks like you got hurt pretty badly." Hans asked Arnold if anything is wrong.

"No... But we still have to move on. No crying till the end." Arnold replied as he picked himself up.

Both of them then proceed to move out. The end is in sight, just that whether or not they can still weather it. The path is slowly sinking and they started to get really exhausted but they can't give up now after this long.

Arnold suddenly became sober, he heard that sound, the sound of roaring steel. Why is it there, right at his last hope of escaping? Arnold didn't want to face it, even if he has the means to. An extremely large drawback of a single chance to take down. But he has no way to avoid this fight at all, it was an inevitability. His motorcycle is hiding there he can't get there without being spotted.

There is only one choice left, Arnold if lucky enough will land a preemptive strike that will cripple the whole tank before he actually encounters it but that will alert other soldiers.

"Forget about it, what's the point of going stealthy if it means to stand still and do nothing!" Arnold said as he quickly grabs the sandbags that were close by and prepare the gun to fire.

"Wah... What are you doing?!" Hans surprised about Arnold's intention to act rashly in a time like this.

Before Hans can stop Arnold from doing it, Arnold has already pulled the trigger, the bullet moves with tremendous power behind it, enough to pierce through the armor of the enemy tank. A loud blast created from the penetration of the bullet through tank hull soon followed. Unfortunately, though, soldiers have to be specifically trained with the T-Gewehr to actually take down tank effectively. Arnold whose experience with it consists of merely two shots and he is in great pain for not using it properly, doesn't have much hope of taking it down.

"I think you only make its operators more pissed..." Hans said as the tank started to move.

The tank proceeds to fire its machine gun at both of them. Both Arnold and Hans were forced to stay down as the hail of bullets came to approach them.

"Thanks for nothing!" Hans said to Arnold as he is holding his head down.

Arnold knows it was his fault that thing got worse like this but since he is knee-deep in this mess, might as well go full-blown already. He reloaded his T-Gewehr again and asked his friend Hans.

"Hans, you have a lighter or something?" Arnold asked as loud as he could to break through the sounds of bullets flying past them.

"There, you better solving this shit or else." Hans begrudgingly giving his lighter to Arnold.

Arnold then uses the lighter to ignite the bundle of dynamite. He then throws it to the tank with all he has. If it not going to damage it, then it will create a smokescreen so that he can have the chance to return fire.

The dynamite hit the front of the tank and exploded, blinded it with the cloud of dust created in the aftermath. The thing must have done some damage since the explosion seems to be large enough. Arnold then picks his chance again and fired the anti-tank rifle, this time at the machine gun. The previous shot was just simply at the tank, with no clearance of what he should attack first. Now, he knows his priority and takes down the machine gun before all else.

The bullet bursts through the machine gun hatch and destroyed the gun first. The firing ceased and Arnold and Hans quickly getting onto their pace before the tank can do anything else.

Pulling the bolt, reload, repeat. Arnold this time fires at the engine at the back to disable it from moving again. Which soon ignite the engine on fire, the crew inside quickly tried to abandon the tank as soon as they can. The first operator that got out of the tank tried to shoot him with a pistol in which Arnold quickly return fire back with his fully modified Artillery Luger.

The soldier who opened the hatch died before he can even return a single shot. Arnold then ignites the last bundle of dynamite and throw it through the hatch. He then picks Hans and runs away as fast as he could from the tank. Soon afterward, the tank exploded into nothing more but a burning heap of scraps.

Both of them avoided death narrowly, that is the best outcome they could ask for. Although, they shouldn't consider a tank as the whole invading force for they are about to face another group of enemy soldiers.

All of them are looking at the two, aiming their guns and will unhesitantly pull the trigger if any of the two do anything. Arnold and Hans already stand up, looking at their surroundings to realize that both of them got surrounded. Both of them won't make out of this alive no matter how good they are.

"So this is our end, huh?" Hans said to Arnold.

"Yeah... None of us have what it takes to breakthrough and I doubt that they will take prisoners after what we did." Arnold said to Hans.

So both of them stand there, waiting for would possibly their deaths. It is a good journey but all tales would have to reach its end.

But... It is not going to end right now.

A soldier suddenly fell to the ground, his fellow allies looked at him saw a bullet hole in the forehead. Arnold and Hans didn't do anything at all. They didn't even draw their weapons. And then suddenly the scream in pain started to be heard around more as confusion spread around the encirclement.

Arnold and Hans don't know what is going on but it must have been the reinforcement. And one hell of reinforcement like that. Soon, the reinforcement personnel come and open fire on the enemy soldier. They are fast, agile, and the weapon they are using seems to be a completely new model at that. Did some officers create this battalion of elite or something?

Soon, the enemy soldiers quickly retreated from the sudden appearance of these elites. Those elite soldiers keep pursuing them as they keep running until their figures can't be seen anymore.

Some remained to make sure the area was secured, the medics have also arrived as it seems if the red cross on their armbands isn't lying.

"Thank god..." Hans said as he fell to the ground from the exhaustion. All of this did a massive toll on his spirit and it is a miracle that he managed to survive this long.

Arnold did the same too, he isn't any supernatural that works ceaselessly and so he fainted from exhaustion but at least he is still alive. He heard the distant voice of the elites telling the medics tried to treat them as soon as they could. And soon, he returned to the void, completely disconnected from that memory.

And so another fragment of memory he managed to make through. Now, it is just his perfect time to utilize his newfound power.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Burning Conviction

"._.""._.""._."

---

Arnold wakes up in cold sweat, all of his memory were extremely vivid to the point he felt livid by it. Even things in the dream that felt so real that it hurts physically.

"Hey, you finally awake. You were basically on near-death that time but you got the rest that you needed. You can return to combat should you wish for." Desmond said to him.

Arnold tried to pull himself up, he felt unable to balance properly on his two feet but he will try to fix it as soon as he can.

"Wait, where's everyone else?" Arnold asked as he remembers that there were more people.

"Oh, they are out there fighting. But it is literally been 8 hours of continuous fighting without any stop so far. Our kill toll has already surpassed a hundred and it still doesn't stop at all." Desmond said as he looks out of the window.

Arnold stood there watching, he knew that his newfound memory would have to be of use for something and so he turned back for that armory. The armory of that fateful time, locked and forgotten.

His mind wanders, his vision turned white as his consciousness return to it. He soon found himself in that armory with the differences being that they are more stocked up than before. He checked the journal on his desk and see it is considerably filled up more than before but there is still a large blank spot in it. He has also noticed the magnum revolver also placed on the desk itself.

He noticed that the crates stood near the boxes of grenades that didn't exist before. He opened it and surprise, it was filled to the brim with bundles of dynamites. Even the detonator and lighter are in there for detonating it. Then he noticed the machine gun, the MG08/15 sitting on top of a crate with many of its ammo boxes sitting near it.

Then his sight turned onto the massive rifle, hanging on the wall. The T-Gewehr, the first anti-tank rifle. It is still intimidating until now, even if phased out long from this world. Its kicks are nothing short of a gut punch that would push your soul away if used repeatedly. Hell, his entire arm and shoulder might fly away he used it in a non-prone position.

After he has done checking the armory himself, he returned to reality which he didn't spend any more than a second. Nobody noticed that he has gone to the armory of his inner mind.

"I'll have to assist them, thanks for your help, Desmond." Arnold thanks the man who healed him.

"No need for that, my duty as a medic would never end," Desmond said before he heads out again.

Arnold looks at the window that Desmond jumped out from. Clenching his fist, he sprints toward it and jumped out with Desmond. The entire scene outside is unbearable, the many blocks of buildings were destroyed until they were just ruins. He can still see some of his allies fighting those Panzers back.

Arnold then reaches out for the T-Gewehr within his inner mind. Like picking it up from his own imaginary weapon racks. With the massive oversized rifle formed right in his hand. He crouched and aim the gun at the closest Panzer that is seeming to fight somebody right now. Feeling the whirl of mana spreading out from his arms to the gun, he aimed at it with his iron sight. To be fair, iron sight is literally the best anyone can have for a WW1 soldier who is not highly exceptional at marksmanship and allowed to have a scope, plus it is better for him this way.

He pulled the trigger and within a mere second or even lower, multiple sound barriers were broken. The bullet created a massive torrent of gales that sucks up all of the ruins in its path as it cuts down the distance between Arnold and the Panzers before even a Servant could blink. The Servant that was locking in combat with the Panzer noticed the bullet of destruction got out of the way while the Panzer got caught in its line of fire.

In the next second, the Panzer is gone, whether it got broke down into scraps or got shot into the stratosphere, it didn't matter the slightest to Arnold, what matter is that it is gone. That Servant there seems to head for another one, the one that is fighting another Servant.

Arnold pulls the bolt back and the casing falls out, he pulled out another bullet that formed magically in his pocket, he reloads the gun and pushes the bolt back. Aiming another shot, he carefully aimed so that he won't cause friendly fire. When his chance comes, he pulled the trigger again as the same torrent of destruction came fort. For every shot, that he fried, a Panzer got takes down in a swift manner. Soon enough, he cleared out all of the Panzers that were present in this area.

Pretty much everyone who was close regrouped, but this whole battle has stretched too long already. But what was surprising to Arnold that he slept through 3 hours while things still turn for the worse.

"You what?! You said that I have slept for three hours!?" Arnold exclaimed as he learned of what happened to him.

"I am afraid that it is true, the sky above us doesn't lie but what can I say when neither of us can see the time above us!?" Desmond said to Arnold.

"Wait, then what happens to the others? Why are there only you three and me?" Arnold asks the little Archer next to Desmond.

"About that... We were separated as the number of Panzers being presented start to become staggering. They constantly mobilizing and move as fast as they can to the point that they easily surround and separate us. Guess that is what WW2 really is, when no amount of defense works, might as well run as far and fast as you could. That is why WW2 values mobility like that." Chloe said to Arnold.

"Constant mobilizing of armored units... Perhaps..." Gudao said as he links the information together.

"We don't have much time. We have to find the others, now!" Arnold said as he picks up his speed and runs as fast as he could.

Others started to follow him while telling him where is the last known location of the others. Soon, they got out of the ruined area as they head onto the suburban where they found many Panzers station the area. They quickly get themselves into action nonetheless.

"Shirou, Kuro, cripple their mobility, now!" Arnold told them as he gets into the position to fire the T-Gewehr.

Both the sibling traced the Hrunting and charge it with enough amount so that they can pierce the armor enough. The Panzers opened fire on them while they still running around and evade the incoming fires.

Both of them released their arrows and they soon punctured the knees of the two Panzers before them. Arnold then follows up with the shot of his anti-tank rifle and blown the torso of one apart.

The other Panzer noticed and quickly tried to find the source of the firer. Unfortunately, though, Shirou destroyed it in an instant before they could do anything with his Caladbolg.

More and more Panzers keep coming for them, the sounds of roaring steel just seems to never cease at all. They lined up in a straight line which is fortunate for Arnold whose rifle can fire bullets at high-hypersonic speed and it just doesn't stop there at all. He is safe for the siblings drew all of the attention to them which he can easily snipe for as long as he cares.

Suddenly, the ground near him started to tremble. Arnold knew that this isn't going to go for his favor and heighten his senses as sharp as he could. Just as knew it, he quickly rolled over and evaded a smashing strike from a Tiger that seems to notice and tried to take him out.

Arnold quickly recovered and stood up, the Tiger pulled a left hook which smashes away the plank from the floor he stood on, Arnold easily evaded it and fired the T-Gewehr at it one-handed. The immense recoils knocked his arm high up to the sky, the bullet meanwhile struck right at the Tiger's torso and punched a huge dent in the chest. The thing is dazed from the received attack and most likely not going to recover in the next instant.

Arnold then reaches out to the imaginary weapon racks and grabs the bundle of dynamite and the lighter. He ignites it and shoved it right into the Tiger's eye. He then jumps out of the building as he left the Tiger to its doom.

An explosion soon followed up and blown what is left of the building away. Arnold who is outside reloaded his gun again. He then crouches and aimed his gun carefully so that his friends won't get caught in his fire.

The path ahead of them is now littered with scraps from fallen Panzers and on their side is filled with damage caused by the Panzers. They have yet to see the end of these as they can't even know how much are there of those things.

Arnold's shoulder is aching from constant punishments that it is being subjected to. The T-Gewehr held immense firepower but there is a limit to how much one's body can withstand, transient or not. Even then, Arnold still aiming down with his sight, not wasting any second to take down the Panzers.

However, he noticed something and soon telling everyone to stop. Gudao who was there also commanding the Servants to take down the closest one then change into defensive stances. Soon enough, the Panzers from the furthest back got destroyed and another one fall out of its own knee. It was them, the rest of the separated Servants. It seems that they managed to break through the encirclement thanks to the others' help.

Soon, they managed to reunite with each other. But something is amiss, Arnold realized that there are two people who are still missing. Alfin and Alice, where on earth could they be right now!?

It didn't take long to have his question got answered. A large explosion went off in a distance and its shockwave can be felt from here. Arnold realized what it can only mean and he soon tried to run towards it. However, Larry grabbed Arnold by the shoulder to prevent him from acting on impulse.

"Arnold, I know what you are trying to do but this is important to everyone including you. I tried to get this information to everyone but what transpired in the last 3 hours prevented me from doing so. This information would be a 'make it or break it' to this entire operation of ours." Larry said to Arnold as he held to Arnold's shoulder.

Everyone then looks at Larry, waiting for an answer to be given. They knew Larry always being serious but the expression he carries right now is telling a different story.

"There are three types of those mechanical droids. Panzers, Tiger... And most dangerous above all of them by a huge margin is the King Tiger. What Shirou's account told me about the clash between him and the Tiger but not even a Tiger from what I know is that durable. What they fought was a King Tiger, whose armor is enchanted to nullify all attacks that result in changes in the physical and mystical nature surrounding itself. In other words, the only way to take them down is a very powerful physical Noble Phantasm that it can bust through the resistance of the armor itself. You can't sidestep it with Conceptual Noble Phantasm or anything at all." Larry told all about what he knew.

Kiritsugu listens to what Larry said attentively but he somehow can't shake off the feeling that Larry might know way too much for a random summoned Servant in this world. But needless to say, this information changed a lot perspective in their ways of combat

And as they move toward the battleground between what could be presumed as a battle against a King Tiger, they quickly devise their tactics and how they should act accordingly. Once they get there, they soon realized that the enemy they are up against is a Herculean task in itself.

The widespread destruction created by the unfathomable power of the King Tiger as it unleashes its destruction everywhere it fires at. The girl with blond hair who is unmistakably Alfin is trying to fight it with the cannons protruding out of the burning portals around her. But none of them are making a dent on its armor. Meanwhile, she is showing signs of burn on her body and her clothes. It seems that she is struggling to fight it on equal ground. Larry is right, you would need a group of Servants just take this thing down properly.

"Richard! Use your Noble Phantasm, now!" Pierce said to his Servant.

In an instant, Richard materialized his Gatling Gun and started to fire at the King Tiger, it soon also returned fire with the twin machine gun mounted on its arm. Both of them have ridiculous fire rates that it is nothing less but a storm confined to a single gun. Bullets clash with each other create a deafening symphony that could rupture a Servant's eardrum.

None of them refused to yield as they locked in combat and stood their grounds. Larry took advantage of this as he dashes toward the leg of the King Tiger. The hulking mech seems to also notice him as it tried to kick him away. However, he quickly sidesteps with little movement wasted and soon got to its behind. He then materializes a wooden stake that is familiar to him and then he impales the King Tiger through its knee with the said stake. It was successful and it confirmed his suspicion, the joints aren't armored. It makes sense since if they just going to fully armor the thing, they might as well build a turret instead.

The freezing process seems to work slower than the others, might have been innate magic resistance but the process still works regardless. The knee joint of the King Tiger is slowly being frozen and the creaking of froze hydraulic press only to serve it further.

The King Tiger realized the possibility of defeat, it decided to break the impasse by firing the cannon right at Richard who is trying to suppress it. However, its intention was quickly swept away its accomplishment.

time alter - nona accel

The shell's firing velocity was easily surpassing hypersonic in speed. But to Kiritsugu and Iri with his time alter on, it was pitifully slow. A Servant's reaction speed and dexterity surpass the human apex by hundreds of times. In time alter, both of them are indomitable to any external influences. But, their weakness in this is time dislocation. A Servant's body can endure far more than anything human-made can but that doesn't mean they are indestructible. At the acceleration of nine, their body could have ripped themselves apart for hundreds of times even. Iri's healing ability and Noble Phantasm are the only reason they are still alive but it helped nothing with the tremendous physical pain they are enduring.

When the shell got close, Kiritsugu grabbed the shell in midair and put all of his strength to throw it away as far as possible. His throwing speed isn't anything special among Servants but it is no doubt something to not scoop off at all. The shell was thrown off into the air and he quickly disables his time alter as quickly as he could. Soon, both of them collapsed into the ground and Desmond carefully dragged them away while avoiding Richard's fire.

The shell flung sky high and soon exploded with the power of thousands bomb. The shockwave can even be felt directly from the ground which is a testament of how powerful it is.

"Berserker! Include" Illya yelled as she channels the tremendous strength through the card on her hand.

She then proceeds to plunge her hands into the ground and then pulled the tract of land right beneath the King Tiger and flip it up. The King Tiger lost its balance and started to tumble. Richard foresees what happened next and disengage. The King Tiger having its left leg frozen and unable to move properly and thus became greatly confused at what it should do.

"Trace! Overedge!" Kuro yelled as she plunged the pair of Bakuya and Kanshou into the tract of land that Illya flipped.

Right in the next instant, the overedged blade pierce through the land and impale the King Tiger right at the shoulder joints and thus completely immobile it. Kuro who was underneath right at the tract of land and King Tiger's position as it being flipped midair. She let the blades go and disengage as the tract of land about to land.

Soon, the tract of land that King Tiger got impaled to is now landed. Shirou now will be the one to finish it all off, preparing his stance and then started to trace the very same blade that he destroyed the first King Tiger that he encountered. Arnold who was closeby watching the execution of the King Tiger about to unfold, until something happened.

Hold him

Whether that was his impulse or not, Arnold quickly tried to grab Shirou's arm to stop him from tracing the Excalibur. Getting caught off guard by Arnold's action, Shirou canceled his projection.

"What are you doing!?" Shirou yelled at Arnold as his sudden action threw him off guard.

"Don't destroy the King Tiger yet! We might still have use of it!" Arnold said while Shirou tried to get Arnold's hands off him.

"What use-" Shirou said before he noticed something going different than how he thought.

Words of God: For this part, play Persona 3 The Movie - Burn My Dread - Last Battle

Alfin is approaching it from the back, surrounding her are embers, scattering around, a demented yet determined look on her face showing many mixed emotions that can't be discerned from each other. The others soon looked at her as she getting nearer to it. And then, she threw a white-hot chain that struck right at the shoulder joint as it started to meld into the King Tiger. The hulking mech started to roar and attempted to writhe in pain as the burning sensation started to course through it. But it is stuck and that was the only fate to it.

She then threw another at the neck while climbing on top of it, it tried to break through but she begins to jam that same chain on the other end into her own wrist. She winced as it cauterizes her but in only makes her far more determined to see things through.

"Burn my dread..." She said as she plunges another one into its wrists as if connecting it to her.

The thing stopped making any noise as if it accepting her as its new master. With each chain nailed into the King Tiger, the embers started to form more and more around it. Nobody around her actually knows what she is intending as this is something entirely out of this world for them.

She soon grabbed the end of the last chain and then she plunged it into her other wrist. As if she just make a blood oath of something demonic, the flame started to course through the King Tiger from its feet and spreading throughout its body and then it also spreads to her. Shedding away that pathetic state of her, the flame reborn her anew.

"Burn my dread!" Alfin yelled as the flame of rebirth turned her into something completely different.

She wore a short dress with frills instead of the soldier's attire with side steel platings like tank skirts attached to her waist belt to protect her lower body. On her wrists are shackles chained straight into the King Tiger which emitting light like an ember. On top of her head is a tiara made entirely from steel, no precious metal, no jewel, no adornment at all. But the most striking characteristic is the cat ears made out of steel on her head. Whether it is actually working or not can only be told later. She is no mere soldier anymore but now a queen of steel.

Arnold looks at her, feeling extremely mesmerized at what was just happened. It all changes way too suddenly that he can't catch up at all. It was to the point that he can't even feel what is going besides him.

"Ambush!" Shirou said as he sidesteps away from Arnold's position.

"Huh?" Arnold said as he just snapped out of the mesmerization then looked up to see a Panzer about to crush him.

Within a swift second, Alfin is in front of him with the King Tiger behinds her. Arnold then looks back to see a scattering mess of scraps that was the aftermath of that Panzer. He then noticed a battalion of Panzers and Tigers came forward to this place. He then turns back to Alfin and he saw her smile.

"Let me help you..." Alfin said politely with a melancholic smile before she rushes ahead of him.

Before the Panzers could do anything, she gutted one with a swift punch of the King Tiger. After that, she proceeds to command the King Tiger to rip the dead Panzer's arm off, the chained mech obliged without asking any question as it rips the arm off and then bashes another Panzer's head with said arm. Such strength and tenacity being displayed that is unbelievable, she controls the King Tiger as if it were her body. The Panzers tried to stand their ground to fight back against her but they were helpless against the power of King Tiger which easily overpower them without any effort.

The King Tiger justs one strike them all and they are just scraps on the ground. Despite the continuous onslaught of them, none of them are measured up to her. She snapped their joints and smashed their torsos before a second passed. The Tiger can put up more of a fight but she usually annihilates them before they can actually do her any harm. And she didn't even use any ranged armaments that the King Tiger would use.

The other Servants are fighting back against the Panzers but he just got completely caught by how powerful she has just become. He noticed that a group of 8 Panzers led by a Tiger is charging straight at her and he started to wonder how she would break through it. Adrenaline filled into his blood, time started to slow down. He analyzed everything as to how he would assist her, until.

Alfin and her King Tiger, they started to move faster while everything else still at slow-mo. Arnold thought only he could alter his perception of time but that belief of his get discarded as she pulverizes the 8 Panzers and that Tiger before he could just process everything that happened. Time flowed back to normal and the shattered remains of those Panzers scatter on the ground while she still kicking in full force. As far as he knows, the Tiger doesn't die by one punch of her normally but she just precisely destroyed it with a decisive strike before it could react.

Chaos started to override anything, there is absolutely no plan at all. Everyone is basically fighting the best they could without following any tactics at all. The King Tiger, its fist emanating an aura of azure dust on its blood-stained hand. Alfin is still looking extremely calm despite being at the heart of the onslaught right now. Her attacks have nothing that can exceed its brutality. She then swings with the left arm on an approaching Panzer and smashed its upper body away in the direction towards Arnold.

He simply dodged it but he never once thought that someone like her can get any more powerful at all. There is absolutely no word that can adequately describe what is unfolding in front of him. Within that glimmer of a second, he noticed that she is looking at him. He doesn't need to learn any body language but he could tell that she is telling him to get back to the fight. Don't spend any more second looking at her if it could help the others.

Arnold nodded, simply hope that she caught glimpse of it. He then moves on with the T-Gewehr in his hand, seeking to take down as many of those Panzers as he could. He fights but always keeps this one fact in the back of his mind. The mastermind behinds this attack has to be somewhere. If he can't find him then there won't be any hope of making through.

Arnold's figure soon reached out of her sight, Alfin sighed as the King Tiger that she controls wreck havoc on the last of the enemy that is present. Suddenly, her instinct flares up as if foreseeing a premonition. She looked around and sees that one tiger-headed mech right in front of her. She knew what it is, another King Tiger. She looks at it intently as she braces for whatever the enemy is intending to. But there is this one fact that stood out to her, its aura is different, not the one that she knows of or familiar at all. She decided that she can safely assume the operator of the opposing King Tiger is a Servant.

The opposing enemy opened fire at her with its cannon, the operating speed was so fast that she didn't catch onto it at first but she has already prepared to act accordingly. Her King Tiger swung its right arm and deflected the high-explosive shell away without detonating it. The shell flew off then exploded with great power behind.

Alfin looked at it while the aftermath shockwave scatters the dust, she knew that she must take that thing down. Servant or not, it has to be taken down! Alfin then charges toward it with her King Tiger behind. The opposing King Tiger did the same. Both of them preparing their attacks, each will collide with each other with forces that could shatter the earth apart. There is only one thing to say about this, it is after all... a decisive collision.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Heart of Steel

"._.""._.""._."

---

"Fire!" Illya said as she fires multiple rays of pure mana beam at the Panzers.

Whether it actually deal any meaningful damage is best left to speculation but the follows up with that stone sword-ax definitely killed one of them. She then keeps swinging that same sword-ax with strength enough to bisect the enemy.

"Caladbolg!" Shirou chanted as he let the spiral arrow go as it pierces through multiple Panzers in one shot. Caladbolg's strength lies in the fact that it twisted the space around it and thus ignore conventional durability. Whatever the King Tiger's armor got enchanted on, it nullifies the space altering ability of the Caladbolg and makes it nothing more than a drill. Even Caladbolg without space twisting ability is powerful enough to pierce most armor just to show how resistant the King Tiger is.

"Tiger at 3 o'clock! Cripple its maneuverability first!" Kuro said to her brother as she traces a Hrunting and prepared to fire it.

The Tiger quickly approaches them. Kuro fired her Hrunting and busted right into the knee of it. Even then, it doesn't stop moving but also tried to go faster with is limped right leg, Kuro realizes what is going to happen and quickly tried to find a countermeasure.

"Not so fast!" The familiar voice said.

The voice belongs to Larry who is leaping from building to building, with each landing results in a large explosion that pushes him back to the sky. He quickly approaches to their location as fast as he could. The Tiger lunged toward them like a hungry beast seeing its prey but Larry came just in time to give a curb-stomping of lifetimes.

He landed right on its back and the explosion that followed afterward busted it into nothing but mere scraps. He then landed safely on the ground with nothing happened at all.

"Holy... What did you do, Larry?" Shirou asked the Finnish in the white cloak.

"I attached anti-tank mines to my feet. You gotta use your imagination or you won't last long at all. Make good uses of it." Larry said before he attaches the mines he materialized into his feet and then bounce off again with a bang.

Shirou looks baffled at what just going on, something that sounds so stupid in a time like this just doesn't go well at all to him. Not that this was the end of it yet, a Tiger burst through from a nearby building and grabbed Shirou before he could react in time. Kuro and Illya quickly retaliate but the Tiger mercilessly kicked both of them with an earth-shattering strength behind it. Just right at the last moment, Illya created that same sword-ax and blocked the killing blow but it still knocked them away by a considerable distance.

The Tiger then threw Shirou as the forces behind it burst him through many buildings. He braced for it and thus not too badly damaged. Afterward, he pulled himself back into his stance and fired a Hrunting right at the eye of it. It then roared and fired at him with its cannon, Shirou then sidestepped all of its attacks and even grabbed one of the shells that flying at him. Seeing him dodging all of it, the Tiger became enraged and charged straight at him. Shirou then proceeds to fling the shell that he grabbed right back at the Tiger and broke its hull armor in an instant.

Seeing its armor got damaged, Shirou decided to charge ahead towards it and pulled out the dual swords Kanshou and Bakuya. He overedged them as they became the amalgamation of angel and demon. Within quick succession, he stabbed right at the torso of the Tiger and it then swatted him off but he blocked it with another pair of dual swords he traced.

It then tried to smash him into pastes seeing how ranged attack just got backfired against it. With each smash shook the earth to its core but even then Shirou evaded all of them like child's play. He quickly climbed onto its back and retraced his bow, he then traced 6 Hrunting and turns them all into arrows. Quickly drawing his bow with all of them in places, he shot the Tiger right at its back at the point-blank range which broke the entire back hull. He then pulled the bloodstained overedged dual blades that he pierced it from before from the back and stabbed the Tiger repeatedly with it until the dual blades disintegrated.

The Tiger fell became lifeless, with the back of it reeking with holes and blood and soon azure ashes started to scatters from there. Shirou can only give it a single look before he turned away. That is the price for attempting to harming any of his family members.

"Damn it... They are ruthless and underhanded but if that is how they wanted then I shall become their own darkest fear." Shirou said as he walks away from the destruction that was left behind, not giving single care whether or not.

Shirou then moves toward where his sisters are. On his way, he encountered more of those Panzers who are pursuing him, Shirou prepared to drew his bow at them until a figure broke through the window of a nearby building. It was Arnold as he spun around and 360-no-scoped them with the T-Gewehr, although it is given that his rifle didn't have a scope to begin with.

Arnold then landed nearby Shirou and gives him suppressing fire so that they can stabilize the situation. A Tiger burst through from the building that he jumped out from, intending to crush them both into pastes, Arnold simply sidestepped and grabbed the pickaxe that he has with him since that faithful encounter and broke its kneecap with a precision that is unparalleled. The thing knelt from losing its ability to stand, Shirou then leaped into a high distance and traced the overedged dual blades before he came crashing down on it like a guillotine.

"Spirit and technique, flawless and firm"

Within a single slash of his overedged dual blades, the Tiger completely split into two parts and also killed its operator in the process. There are still more of those Panzers and they are charging at them almost in a reckless manner.

"Damn it! We have to move now!" Shirou said as he rushes ahead first, he needs to ascertain the safety of his two sisters.

Arnold nodded and follows him. Before he catches on to Shirou, he grabbed the bundle of dynamite and ignites them before dropping them into the ground. He estimated their speed and it would most likely land on them when they are about to detonate. He then follows Shirou and let everything up to the sky above him. In a few seconds, an explosion occurred that blown everything up there and thrown everything around it into a rain of fragments.

Shirou and Arnold, both of them still running and leaving behind the pillar of smoke that stretches to the sky. The onslaught still going on as they can't find an end to all of this, time is running out for everyone here and if they stretched the battle to night time, they will be at a massive disadvantage.

"Another Panzer blockade ahead, prepare to initiate combat," Arnold said as he caught sight of the blockade ahead of him from a distance.

They thought there will only be two of them fighting until another Servant burst through from a closeby building. He jumped out with a revolver holding in each hand and fired at the approaching Panzers. Each bullet impact on the Panzers then exploded violently with a power that is unbelievably contained in a single handgun bullet. The Servant landed on his two feet and turned around to Arnold and Shirou. They could easily tell who it was, Richard.

"Seems like I wasn't late at all" Richard said as he calmly reloads his revolvers.

A horde of Panzers came and surrounded them, three of them standing in the middle of it. They looked carefully at the Panzers that surrounded them and prepared to act accordingly.

"When I count to three, act now..." Arnold whispered to his allies near him.

And when the three seconds passed, the Panzers opened fire on the three Servants. They quickly move to action and run away from the blast impact of the enemy firing. Shirou quickly traced the dual blades and throws it into the knee joint of the Panzers, Arnold decisively strikes his pickaxe right into another Panzer into its knee, he then quickly turns around and throw a bundle of ignited dynamites at Richard. Richard then quickly leaped and spin kicks the dynamite with a force that is enough to pierce into the Panzer itself.

"Now, run for the hill!" Arnold said as he quickly crippled the last Panzer.

All of them then run as fast as they could before the dynamite detonated, and another explosion occurred which then brought ruins to everything surrounding it. All of them somehow managed to avoid getting affected by a hairbreadth.

"Phew... Hold on. If you are here then... Where's your Master!?" Shirou said as he realized something amiss.

"Don't worry about him, he could hold his ground, plus he wasn't near me when that occurred. Didn't you forget this bad boy right here?" Richard said as he pointed at his own revolver.

They soon understood what Richard meant, but it still not shrugging off the feeling that he might have put too much faith in his Master's capability.

Suddenly, the clashing sounds of something go deafening to the point that the chaos around can't even measure up. They can only brace themselves for whatever to come. And bursting through the whole block of buildings is the brawl between two King Tigers, with each blow can bring massive collateral damage. Both of them locked in combat, pummeling and canceling each other's attack with equal force. The impact behind each pummel were so great that the shockwave can make Servants' ear rupture if they remain nearby for extensive periods.

"Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless-" Alfin lets out her battle cry as she rides on the King Tiger while it punching at the opposing enemy repeatedly with the speed beyond even a Servant's perception speed.

All three of them can only watch as the battle in front of them unfold. If they intervene, they might receive the receiving end from both of them.

"Useless!" Alfin lets out her cry as she charged all of her strength into that one next punch and knocked back the opposing King Tiger with it.

Seeing how determined she is, the opposing King Tiger decided to fall back before she might be able to kill it. It did so by also giving her a punch of equal power as payback and knocked her back away enough so that it can disengage. And it also has many other Panzers and Tigers quickly block the way so that she can't reach it easily.

"So this how you intended to play, huh? Not that those pawn of yours can measure up to me..." She said as she gave a disgusted look while cracking her knuckles and the King Tiger did the same since it follows her thoughts and what she does.

She then charges through and struck the approaching Panzers with ease, the back liners fired their ranged armaments at her in hope that it might harm her but those barrage of bullets don't even make a single dent on her King Tiger. She hangs on to it from the back seems to know what is in front of her without even looking at all. The ability to percept a different perspective without looking at said perspective is definitely not what one would call a useless skill.

Her foresight is so great that it reaches the realm of clairvoyance, whether it was her instinct or anything, her King Tiger climbs up the hill where Panzers and Tigers are retaliating back at her with all they have. And she just tanks all the bullets and deflects the shells with her simple swing of arms, those that got too close to her ended up smashed into scraps with her single swing alone.

"Too slow... I can't let him get away." Alfin thought as she tried to pick her King Tiger's speed up.

"The King Tiger started to move faster, slowly from walking into power-walking and then running and into full-blown sprinting, before the enemy realized it, they are dead before they could do anything to retaliate back. The opposing King Tiger realized it and quickly tried to retreat. Alfin despite not seeing but she knew damn well it is.

"Oh no, you don't!" Alfin said as she quickly cutting down the distance and annihilating the enemy that tried to stop her.

And when the last thing that is standing between the opposing enemy and her is a Tiger. She quickly grabbed it and make a large jump towards the enemy King Tiger, she then slams the Tiger itself into the King Tiger as both of them got crushed into the ground itself. She stands on them, prepared to commence the execution, cracking her knuckles again and then pummeling the Tiger that is on top of the King Tiger with the intention to crush both of them.

"Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless UselessUseless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless Useless-"

Nobody really able to count how much time has passed or how much punch she has done, such a ceaseless barrage pummeling from the King Tiger would have flattened anything to even thinner than a paper. And as a finisher, she activated the main cannon of the King Tiger and aimed at what would be called the former King Tiger that was flattened to the point not even any miracle would make it operable again.

A massive blast soon follows and plowed a massive amount of land right in front of her, the opposing King Tiger is wiped from existence without any trace remain. Alfin who was so agitated and driven entirely on adrenaline until this point finally calmed herself. The King Tiger also stopped and Alfin climbs up to its shoulder and bore witness to the destruction she created herself. She only sighed as she sits down for the onslaught has finally ended. At least everyone is safe, or that is what she thought.

Everyone soon regrouped around her, the Master of Chaldea is also presented too. Now, it seems like a perfect time to discuss what they should do next.

"So what should we do now?" Kuro asked her Master.

"What we should do? First, we need to sort out all of the information so far. There are too many leaps in logic and information right now." Gudao said to all of his Servant.

"So did you figure something out?" Larry asked Gudao to see if he is as smart that any Servant just followed him willingly.

"First off, the number of armored units is staggering. This is simply an unnatural tactic that is difficult to follow through unless you have extreme specialization of it, right? Gudao said to all of his fellow Servants.

Everyone nodded. In fact, they haven't seen a single infantry at all in this battle.

"And you know how fast those armored units that we just fight? It contradicts our first handed experience of the battle against them, they hardly move that fast and quite sluggish with their gears. But here, that level of proficiency could keep up with a Servant for a while. Someone who has the leadership skills with mass armored attacks and tactics. You can figure that out if you are well versed in WW2 but I would cut to the chase." Gudao said as he walking around the area with his hands behind his back

"That Servant we most likely fighting against is Erwin Rommel. The Desert Fox. That man who commanded the 7th Armored Division and burst straight into the capital before a day even passed. Because of how swift he is, the 7th Armored Division became known as the Ghost Division. His skills as a military commander are unparalleled and he also goes straight into the front line with his troops. " Gudao said all of the necessary information while cutting away the unnecessary one.

"So that is the kind of guy we are fighting against, huh?" Arnold said as he thought solemnly.

"And I have one question for you. Are you sure what you were fighting is actually Rommel?" Gudao said as he questions Alfin himself.

"Uhm..." Alfin started to doubt herself when she is being presented that possibility but she was sure that the enemy King Tiger there is giving out Spirit Origin signal.

"I take it as you are unsure. Da Vinci, is it possible for one to falsify their S.O signal?" Gudao said as he takes out his comm then speaks to it.

"Hey, it has been a while since the last time we talk. About what you asked, I could say that it is a possibility. Oh! Gil! You seem to be tired but we are talking to the Master right now. Do you want to-" Da Vinci said before she got cut off.

"How dare you speak to me in that tone, mongrel?! But whatever, I shall forgive you this time for I have found some interesting thing in my search in the treasury. Oh and about that Spirit Origin falsify thingy? That is possible with a specifically built spell or with some skills and Noble Phantasm. You already have an answer in mind, right?" Gilgamesh said as he took the comm for himself and projected his hologram for everyone on the other side to see.

"Yeah, Yan Qing, that guy can indeed falsify Spirit Origin signal and his own appearance but he can still be busted if not having the adequate parameters to keep it up," Gudao said to his strongest Servant in the arsenal.

"Still as sharp as I remember. But I am here because I found some interesting thing, in this stone tablet is a prophecy, seems to be Mayan of sorts but who knows. One of a kind but of course it is one of a kind that hardly anyone can find something like this. Either way, here is what I deciphered.

"The stars will bring its finality. In the color of the sky, Judgment shall be brought in 70 years before the end of all."

"Well, that is what I deciphered at least, I am the wise king of Uruk for a good reason you know," Gilgamesh said with a stern smile.

"70 years before the end of all. Is the prophecy using Mayan's calendar?" Gudao asked.

"Huh, that is the most I can believe if it is true. The supposed end of Mayan's calendar is 2012 which is when calamities befall on this world and all will be gone, all of them which didn't happen. But the judgments in the color of the sky, and 70 years before the end of all. Don't you find it strange that it lined up like this? Right at the heart of WW2 of all things." Gil said as he states the fact.

Gudao started to think about what Gil said, the judgments in the color of the sky, it is probably how this world came to its end but humanity in some form still persists. The Nazis still going strong, war is still being fought. Nations collapsed within this eternal madness that was descended into this world.

"Either way, don't you have something else to worry about now? I shall go deeper into my research to see things through. This is my good luck to you." Gil said as he turned off his hologram.

Gudao sighed, the possibility that they might be fighting something greater than what they might have known. The idea that the enemy Servant might still be alive. But he needs to focus on the recent task, the bigger one will be left to later.

"Remember, this is the man who outsmarted the French army by literally going around the Maginot line. We might have already fallen into his ploy by now." Gudao said to all of the Servants that are present.

"But I heard him talking from that King Tiger, he must have been there, right?" Alfin asked for she doesn't want to believe all of what she did was for nothing.

"Radio. Out of all the things you chose to forget." Gudao said as he could felt the embarrassment and disappointment.

The idea that Rommel might have put a red herring started to become more possible the more time passed, and it all became real as the tremor that shook the ground of them started to go more chaotic.

"Everyone, splits up, now!" Gudao commanded all of the Servants to follow his words.

Shirou grabbed Gudao and Richard grabbed Pierce, everyone else moves away as fast as they could from the meeting location. Soon, a massive explosion plowed where they were and turned it into nothing but a crater. The power behinds it is as much as MOAB, or probably even more powerful than it.

Shirou balanced his stance and looked for where the firer might be but when he realized it, his pupils shrunk as he tried to process that monstrosity made out of steel.

It is a large bipedal mech, its height around 20 meters, heavily armored to the point it makes King Tiger's hull looks like paper to it. It is armed with a high-powered railgun, two rotary autocannons on each side, anti-tank missiles which can be launched from its back. Whether it was some sort of sicks dream, there is no doubt about it, that thing is a Metal Gear, real in steel and oil.

Suddenly facing a far greater adversary, Shirou quickly changed his priority to ensure the safety of his Master. There is also no way to be sure that Excalibur could take that thing down. The only thing in his mind that he thought could work would be Ea or Vasavi Shakti and he doesn't have the proficiency to recreate those Noble Phantasms.

Clapping his face, stuck in a dilemma bigger than the world. How on earth would he exactly fighting this?! Fighting on the ground is asking for death sentences, there is no way that would work in the slightest. He keeps thinking for an answer but that is like finding that one exact needle in a needle stack.

The rundown house that he and his Master is hiding in is like a shelter made out of glass to protect from the meteor shower. Sooner or later, this house would up and vanish like never existed, to begin with.

In a mere second, the roof is blown off, then in the next second, a blinding light burst through the wall and both Shirou and Gudao narrowly avoided death by a hairbreadth. The remaining aftermath is a large chasm that goes into quite a depth They now know that they need to find a solution, right now!

"Damn it, we have to reconcile with everyone else, this can't go on or else..." Gudao said as he tried to recover himself from the ground.

He then gazes through the broken window and saw a large figure of steel made passing through like a fleeting image. He can tell who it is immediately, without anything else. It is Alfin, still using the King Tiger to charge towards the Metal Gear. But what on earth is she thinking!? There is no way to fight that thing at all with such even with the King Tiger like that.

"Master, we have to reconcile with everyone now. She has brought us time to do so and we can't let it all go to waste." Shirou said as he picked his Master up and moves as fast as he could.

While running through the ruins that were brought onto by the Metal Gear, he started to worry about how he will find everyone else when everything is in disarray like this. Suddenly, he noticed a flash of a flare in the sky, the sky is turning dark after all for they are entering night time. At this point, the night is the least worrying thing right now.

He turned his head to the right and sees the destruction unfolding, the Metal Gear is like a walking armageddon. Anything it strikes all turned into ashes and ruins. Its power shattering the earth into the hazardous terrains, such power like this would scale up to Servants' Noble Phantasm if compared. And to think that Alfin willingly risks her life so that a solution for this dilemma can be reached.

In before long, they reached their rendezvous location. Everyone is present except for Alfin who is diverting all of the Metal Gear's attention away. All of them look anxious, for they are reaching an impasse that has no solution. However, among the growing anxiety, there is still a single breeze of calmness among. Arnold who seems thinking about a possible solution.

"Arnold, do you have an idea?" Gudao asked the man for there is no one else to ask for.

After a moment, Arnold broke out of his thoughts. Realizing that the Master of Chaldea is asking him, he decided to go straight forward with his solution.

"I have an idea but I don't have the stuff required to execute it. But since we are knee-deep in this mess, to begin with. Might as well go all out. If we can't take that thing down on the ground, we will assault it on the air. Like anti-air guns, it can't depress to high up vertically and thus giving us more chance to take it down. The only problem is that how can we even parachute on it." Arnold giving his unorthodox solution but might be the one to resolve it all.

"Getting up to the sky... Wait, perhaps us Chaldeans can actually resolve that!" Gudao suddenly received his brainstorm as he connected the pieces together.

"How?" Arnold asked as he wanted to know the answer.

Gudao whips out his comm then initiates the connection to Shadow Border. The sounds of verdant destruction still rampaging on the background only serves to make things more nerve-racking. Then the connection made through and what he received is a bombardment of questions.

"Master! Are you alright!? We have seen the observing feeds and getting really worried." Da Vinci said as she cries tears of happiness to see him being alright.

"Now is not the time, bring us those papers that are etched with teleportation runes, now!" Gudao replied loudly to overpower the deafening sounds of rampages on the distance.

"Understood!" Da Vinci said without fails and she soon disappears from the camera.

"Tsk, best we can do is hope that the Metal Gear won't find us too soon," Gudao said as he holds the communicator and waiting for her to return.

It was roughly 30 seconds but those 30 seconds were so stressful that they thought they have waited far longer than that.

"We sent them to your location, all is left to you now, Master!" Da Vinci said before the communicator is cut off.

Seeing the 6 sheets of paper that are in front of Gudao, he checked it and can confirm that they are teleportation runes with each pair connected and can be activated with a small amount of mana. But that brings to another question, how will they get it up to the sky? Before anyone asked that, Arnold has already brought the solution as he took out 3 pigeon cages which held them separately from inside of his cloak like magic.

"Wait, you have pigeons?" Shirou asked as he found it surprising that he got something like that.

He took the pigeons out of the cage and bind the paper sheet into each pigeon. He then jumped outside and searched for the highest point. In a few moments, he reached the highest place and throw the three pigeons up to the sky. Those 3 pigeons are their last hope as they soar up to the skyline above them. Soon their figures are gone into the hazy cloud of the rain itself.

Arnold then returns to the rendezvous point, seeing the three sheets of teleportation runes activated. The chosen three that were selected for this battle are Kiritsugu who is going to be accompanied by his wife thus technically make it a four, Larry who has the rocket launcher prepared along with his parachute. However, Larry approaches him and then giving him the familiar 6-barreled machine gun.

"The Final Conda! Damn... I forgot about it." Arnold said as he reaches for the gun that consumes his life force for powerful attacks.

"I held on to it for you when you were out cold. Consider it the perfect chance to give that Metal Gear hell." Larry said as he handed the gun over to Arnold.

"And here is the parachute, supplied by me. Consider it a gift." Kiritsugu said as he gives the parachute to Arnold.

"Are we ready? Step on the teleportation rune and then I shall count to three and then activate them." Gudao said as he looked at the chosen Servants of this assault.

The four of them nodded together as they entered the teleportation runes, how exactly high up they will be, only God could answer that question.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Angels' Descendence

"._.""._.""._."

---

Words of God: For this part, play Ao no Kiseki - Steel Roar

"Holy! How high up are we!?" Larry said as the height they are dropping is staggering than how he thought.

One thing for sure though is that they are above the clouds and now descending with the speed that is accelerating faster than they can control.

"Everyone? Are you ready for this!?" Arnold said as he is about to pull the parachute.

Everyone then opens their parachutes and then begins to fall slowly to below the cloud. When their visions became clear, they noticed that they are right above the Metal Gear as it is trying to kick Alfin away. Knowing that there isn't much time left, they quickly come to action.

Kiritsugu started first by getting the largest known rifle, the JDJ .950. The person who convinced the NFA that this is a hunting rifle should be hired to deal with highly dangerous international negotiation and trade deals. It DOES hunting alright, it hunts rhino, the armored vehicle one. And Kiritsugu will push the thing to its limit in this fight.

Taking out the gigantic bullet from his pouch and his wife who held onto the back and quickly broken charge the bullet as soon as she could. It is quite a feat for two people to use one same parachute but whatever suits them. He then chants his unique spell on to it, the time alter speel which makes the thing move far faster but also risking it to implode. In this case, he has a second at best

time alter - nona accel

With broken-charged, 9-time speed, and Servant's modifier. This thing will probably reach re-entry speed in terms of pure muzzle velocity. He then aims the rifle down as the time-bombed bullet started to ticking down. He then pulled the trigger and in one shot, it pushed him back to the cloud line with its sheer recoil alone.

"Kiritsugu!" Arnold said as the man beside him is gone before a second passed.

The bullet broke the sound barrier and tore the space around it, a deafening impact of the bullet on the Tiger can be heard despite being up thousands of meters in the sky.

They checked it, a massive hole tore through it but it is not a direct hit, might have missed the cockpit since it is still functioning despite that powerful shot connected just to tell how ridiculous its armor is. This time, the Metal Gear noticed them and begins to fire upward towards them. Arnold's hypothesis is correct, the Metal Gear can't tilt itself straight up. As long as they remain exactly above it, they won't hit by it.

"Keep firing!" Arnold said as he winds up the Final Conda and firing a stream of infernal at the Metal Gear from above.

"Already on it!" Larry said as he firing the rocket launcher at the Metal Gear.

Nobody can really believe what is happening right now, the two parachuters fighting that metal monstrosity with all of what they had. It is like watching the angels descend from heaven to purge the spawn of hell back to its depth.

"Keep it up!" Arnold said as he holds the trigger of the gun down.

Bullets and missiles flying everywhere, the two of them keep swaying around between the hail of ballistics while returning fire back. They don't know how long they can do this before a misfortunate shot might kill them before they realized it.

Arnold can felt the life of his leaving him the more time passed, all of them in the form of brass cartridges falling endlessly from the Final Conda. Watching as the counters depleting away like watching a timer of his death. He can really feel the drawback but there is no other choice remained.

"Damn it, why!?" Arnold said in frustration that the strongest weapon he has just feel like doesn't seem to make any actual difference at all.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of rejuvenation, he checked the counter and seeing it climbing back with a speed that is unusual even for him. He looked up and see two familiar faces right nearby above him and the white-haired woman is placing her hand on his shoulder. Kiritsugu and Irisviel.

"Wait, when did you!?" Arnold said in surprise to see him back. Of course, they got punt back to the cloudline, not dead.

"Don't push yourselves to only one path, think of the other ways. Try all the options you had and always think ahead of your enemy." Kiritsugu said as he prepares his weapon.

He then looks down at the Metal Gear only to see it activating its railgun and aiming at the three of them, Kiritsugu realized it and pushed Arnold away. In a single moment, a blinding pillar of light burst through Kiri and Iri while Arnold barely escaped. With their parachute incinerated, they only can free fall to their demise. But he knew something for sure is that their resiliences are way beyond than how he ever could fathom and he is sure that they will make it through somehow.

"Damn it! I had enough of that fucking shit below me!" Larry said as he seeing how the Metal Gear took out his allies.

He then ditches the previous rocket launcher away and replaced it with the one with four-tube, it was a design completely foreign to Arnold and he can't even think of what it is. Lary then fires the rocket out of it which makes Arnold guess that it is also a rocket launcher but with a design he completely unheard of.

Arnold then looked back to the Metal Gear, what exactly does he have besides the Final Conda which can harm it? But he knew that there is no harm in trying and so he reaches out to the distant armory once again. Time slowed down for him as his vision turned white. Soon, he found himself there again, trying to search for a weapon that could pierce through the armor of that Metal Gear. Dynamite? T-Gewehr? There is nothing that he could think of. And so he just took everything he obtained in the previous memory fragment with him and going to exit.

Returned back to reality, carrying his MG and T-Gewehr with carrying belts connected so he doesn't accidentally drop them, A bandolier belt that crossed his torso and holding bundles of dynamite. Larry then looked at Arnold and surprised by the amount of weaponry that Arnold is carrying with him. If it wasn't for what they are up against, it would have been called overkill. But there is nothing that can be considered overkill when that Metal Gear is involved.

Arnold then tried out the MG first, he pulled the trigger and what came out of it is a relentless barrage of bullets that is completely unexpected. He remembers that the actual one in his memory isn't this fast. It doesn't feel like shooting, it is like revving up a sawblade at woodcutting mill. And then uses the still working sawblade to smash someone with it.

Still, it was how much he expected, not enough to penetrate the armor. But when a barrage of missiles begin to approach him, he fired at it and sweep them all in one fell swoop. He then realized that if the MG can't pierce through the armor then it would do a fine job at clearing the missiles and ballistics to buy time and created more opportunity.

"Take this!" A feminine voice but carrying great conviction can be heard from below. What followed up a few seconds later is a massive shockwave accompanied by a deafening crashing sound. The shockwave keeps travel and brought ruin to anything in its path for quite a distance. The Metal Gear then changed its prioritized target and quickly trying to deal with the 'pest' that keeps denting its legs.

Arnold and Larry realized it is their chance to go all out, Larry quickly fires his rocket launcher even faster to make the most it with the limited time. Arnold swapped out for his T-Gewehr and test to see if it is enough to break through armor. He aimed his anti-tank rifle downward at the Metal Gear and then pulled the trigger. The sound of the sonic boom followed and the sheer recoils that gutted him right at the shoulder definitely tell that it hurt. Might not be as much as what Kiritsugu attempted but still hurts.

The bullet impacted on top of the Metal Gear and it could tell that the bullet has indeed might have reached right on top of the cockpit but not powerful enough to burst through the armor completely. The bullet hole that is created in the aftermath of his shot is the designated target.

The Metal Gear realized what Arnold, Larry, and Alfin are intending, it begins to act even more aggressively than before. This time, it started to repeatedly kick at the Alfin to knock her away, if it can't then it would try to stomp her, the King Tiger is 3 meters tall and the sheer size of the Metal Gear would completely make the King Tiger looks like a dwarf in its presence.

Its ranged armaments are aimed up at the sky where Larry and Arnold are, the railgun fires at an interval and one must stay out of its line of fire, period. The missiles and autocannons are being constantly fired that they felt like a plane that got caught in a killing ground filled with anti-air batteries. They have absolutely no chance to attack back without getting hit and got no choice but to prioritize their survival first.

Alfin looks up at the sky and realized that she has to do something, she then lunges toward the railgun attached to the Metal Gear and quickly pummeling it as quickly and as powerful as possible. She let out her cry as she desperately tried to destroy the railgun. But... no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make a single dent out of it at all. Just what on earth is this railgun made out of!?

The Metal Gear quickly turns rapidly and bashed her King Tiger with its own railgun. It felt like her own intestine got liquified just from the sheer force that she received. Both she and her King Tiger then got flung away and crashed into many blocks of buildings. With Alfin out of the way, the Metal Gear can then exterminate the remainder without having something to hinder it. Now, it just fires all of its armaments at both Arnold and Larry uncontrolled and with its railgun prepared, somebody is going to die.

"Oh no!" Larry said as he swerves his parachute to prevent himself from getting hit but it is not enough.

Arnold's mind went overdrive, he is about to witness somebody's death. The flow of time slowed down, as he can assess the situation within that meager amount of time. Seconds into minutes, minutes into hours, hours to eternity, he only has this chance to chose the correct course of action. He racks his mind trying to find an answer, how to get Larry out of this situation.

It is almost as if he is trying to resolve the meaning of life, his own mind just can't seem to find an answer. He may have all of the time he has but without a decisive decision, that time would go into waste. Well, that is what it is... until.

He sees a tint of azure glowing upon the strings that keep Larry's parachute working. He suddenly realized an answer but if he does so, he'll be up against an insurmountable task afterward. But if Larry is going to get wiped out for this fight anyway, might as well give him a way to survive.

"I'm sorry..." Arnold said as he takes out a knife from his pocket and throws it at the strings. In one single moment, the strings that connected Larry to his parachute were severed and makes him fall down to the ground below.

"Wuh..." Larry said before he begins his freefall of 4500 meters to the ground below.

And just in time, the Metal Gear fired its railgun and incinerated Larry's parachute and it would have most likely also Larry himself if Arnold hasn't acted in time. Arnold also felt that he might have to give his apology when things are finally resolved. Servants can at least survive a freefall of this height but definitely not getting hit by something with such power like that railgun.

And so, it is just himself left. This is a decisive battle that he can't run away anymore. He will have to use everything he has or there won't be anything left. It is his decision that got him like this and he'll have to make it through with his own strength alone.

Takes out his Final Conda, revving it up. This decisive battle is about to begin.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Inherited Knowledge

"._.""._.""._."

---

Back to Alfin's position.

"Ugh... What happened? I'm not feeling so well..." Alfin said as she slowly grasps her consciousness back and picked herself up from the rubbles around her.

She then looks at the Metal Gear wreck havocs in a distance and realized that her own clothes are also in tatter. She then realizes that she probably failed to do what she intended. Takedown the Metal Gear or at least, assist in taking it down. And she failed in doing so even with her newfound power. She then laughed, in a self-loathing and mocking way towards herself for her own failure.

And then she looks at the sky and then surprised to see a single remaining parachuter making his last stand. Firing a stream of blazing fires at the Metal Gear. The chance of him defeating the Metal Gear by alone himself is extremely small yet he still held onto it to the very last. When the Metal Gear about to fire its railgun, an extremely fast-moving projectile impacted the railgun itself and knocked the railgun's line of fire somewhere else. It must be the Archers of Chaldea for there is no one else having such power contained in a single attack like that. Seeing how everyone still held onto the belief that victory can still be attained even in a time like this, she just realized how stupid of her to lose faith in her own allies this easily.

"I have to find them, I can't bind myself in one single solution," Alfin said as she runs toward where everyone is holing up.

She keeps running underneath the ongoing storm, the flash of those arrows impacted on the Metal Gear, the pillar of light burst through the sky, the sounds of the relentless impact of clashing steel. All of them ongoing in the background and one can hardly ignore them.

While she is running through the ruined city itself, she sees a figure running, she quickly discerned the figure by the red cross on the side bag and quickly trying to get the figure's attention.

"Hey! Over here!" Alfin said as loud as she could in order to let her voice break through the chaos unfolding surround her.

The figure noticed her and then tried to get to her position. Just like what she expected, Desmond. He is carrying two people on his back, they looked like they got severely burned but she can still sense their life hanging by a hairbreadth.

"Don't worry, I treated their wounds and they should be able to recover. Also, the red Archer has something to talk with you." Desmond said and then moves away as fast as he could.

Alfin silently followed him, time is running out for everyone and the longer they had to fight this, the more dangerous thing will destine to become.

Meanwhile, Arnold is fighting tooth and nail against the Metal Gear while evading its barrage. The HEIHVAP 12.7mm rounds did work as he can detect how the top of the Metal Gear is melting down. But with his limited mana capacity, whether or not he'll make it there is a question without a proper answer.

Whenever he noticed the Metal Gear charges up its railgun, he switched out for a T-Gewehr and fired it sideways, one-handed. The sheer recoils push him away with a force greater than how his body could wiggle its way out but he would be lying to say that his wrist is unharmed for firing it onehanded but it is a fair price in order to avoid getting annihilated by the railgun.

His vision keeps darken, it is a side effect of using the Final Conda, he wished that he has a much better mana capacity but there is no one else to fill the role he has to follow. He'll make it there, just not right now.

Meanwhile, Alfin looks at where Arnold is, worrying that he won't be able to keep up the fight for long. However, she got interrupted by Shirou who is standing right next to her. She then looks at him nervously, fearing that he might have misunderstood and found her suspicious.

"Hey, we've been fighting for quite a long while. Based on what I saw so far... You know... That power of yours... That power is awfully familiar..." Shirou said as he wanted to inquire about her.

Alfin looked at him while suppressing the growing distress within her. She is currently in a bad state and has no means to defend should he decided that she has to die.

"That power... is awfully similar to me," Shirou said as he frowned aside for a bit.

Suddenly, she felt completely relieved but also curious about what he is trying to allude to.

"Your power is of recreating weaponry with your mental blueprints as long as you absorbed those weapons. Those mental blueprints contain all of the inner working mechanism of the weapon, parts by parts, material. Just like how I can store blueprints of all my swords in my mind. You use them to their full potential, all of them held great power behind it, just like how I did... There are a few more similarities that I could point out but I shall cut short to the point. Your missing key to your full potential." Shirou said as he gives his analysis of her skills and abilities.

Alfin stood there and listens to what Shirou has to say, her missing key to her full potential? What exactly does he mean?

"All of our hands were tied, we don't have much time or options left. But... I believe that the decision that I will make will turn the tide for all of us. I shall teach you, Projection Magecraft. Whether it is effective or not for you, that will... unfortunately be left to fate but is there anything left for us to try?" Shirou said as he looked at her directly into her eyes.

Alfin doesn't understand what Shirou is talking about but she doesn't have any choice left. This is her last shot at no fatality victory, a single death will throw this whole operation that she followed with into complete disarray. She then listens to the red Archer in front of her, taking in any information that she could cram inside and utilize.

"I don't know how much my steps will fit you but we will try. First, judge the concept of the creation. Just like swords, you are specialized with guns or anything that could technically be passed as firearms and thus can recreate it with perfect details. So pick whatever you intended to trace." Shirou said to Alfin.

Not sure what Shirou meant but she tried anyway, she looks at the Metal Gear or more precisely, its railgun. She looked at it intently, focus as hard as she could. Soon, she started to see the outline of the railgun itself, then the inner structure with increasingly more detail, small parts, working mechanics, all of them are highlighted. It is like a blueprint being drawn within her own mind and being imprinted within her memory.

"Got the structure down? If so then analyzes the composing materials that made the gun up. In order to faithfully trace a weapon down to its nearest identicality. You have to replicate the material that the gun was built from. Keep focusing and you'll get that information soon enough." Shirou said as he supervises her of how to use Projection.

She focuses, and then she started to read up the composition of the railgun itself, along with the materials that built it. She now understood Shirou's intention, the ability to create weapons by gazing on them once and recreate them from there onwards. Absorbing them grants complete insight but in cases like this, this ability will grant her the chance to use their weapon against them if she found it impossible to take from them in the first place.

"Steel, Copper, Brass, Lithium. All of them are enchanted and are used as major components for the power source, conductive rails and movable bridge made out of conductive metals. There is also an internal reloader that reloads armatures back between each shot. It takes roughly 4 minutes to fire it again but the power behinds it is tremendous that no Servant's durability can withstand." Alfin thought as she grasps the basic and overview of her internal blueprint of the railgun.

"Hold on... It is not exactly just them alone, there is an element blended completely inside them. It is A%!$ # $%^*&$ -" Alfin said before her mind suddenly short-circuited in the attempt to perceive the element and pushed her into a state of extreme agony.

"Aah!" She winced in extreme agony, statics filled both her vision and hearing as if it punishes her for delving too far into it.

"Alfin! Are you alright!" Shirou tried to calm her down as the sudden turn of events completely surprised him, that is also when he started to see the familiarity between him and her.

"That's right... I am a Sword Incarnation and thus I could easily analyze every melee weapons with no repercussion but she is more of a gun-aligned and thus can see the full details of the railgun. There is something in there, an element completely foreign to Earth itself. I got a firsthand taste of it when I tried to analyze Gil's Ea and boy did I try to walk on the nano thread above absolute annihilation. Gil's Ea belonged to an era during Genesis and thus all of its material is completely foreign to all of humanity's knowledge." Shirou thought as he tried to assess what is going on until he connected all of the pieces of information together.

"Judgment in the color of the sky... 1942... The indecipherable element... Azure ashes... No... It can't be..." Shirou dawned as he realized the meaning of what might going on right now.

Alfin suddenly stood up, her eyes completely turned into the color of a raging wildfire. The light of ember illuminates from where she stood as she held her two hands in front of her like trying to bring something. Shirou can only stand there observe for this is something outside of his capability. Weaving lightning sparking from the feet, the light got even brighter, the earth where she stood is cracking up from the tremendous flow of mana that is coursing through. In her two hands are forming what looks like a downsized railgun with a similar appearance to the Metal Gear's railgun as it taking form.

"She... She is intending to-" Shirou thought as he started to see what will happen if he breaks the lock that prevented her true potential.

"Recreating the internal structure. Downsizing the structure to infantry-carriable level. Sustaining capability. Replicating the material..." She whispered as she focuses on recreating the railgun as close as possible.

"Error, structure stability not reaching required durability. Usage will result in instant breakage." Alfin recited as she realized that the reason the railgun of the Metal Gear can be used repeatedly is for the fact that the indecipherable element blended within them strengthen to the point that no Servant's attack except for the strongest possible can harm it. She has no ability to recreate said material and the weapon in her hand would only strike as hard as the one that normal people put together.

However, she won't back down. If she only has one shot then she will put all of her faith in that shot. She begins to reinforce it with her own mana, like a flood pouring over an empty mountainside. Like an avalanche that engulfs everything in its path. The earth around her shatters as pieces of it float in the air, like witnessing a goddess descend into the mortal world. Her eyes are shining in a blinding light akin to a star that would blind anyone who looked at it directly. Even Shirou started to step back for the fear that he might get caught up in something even worse.

With the railgun begins to illuminating with a light that pierces the darkness, she then threw it at where she believes Arnold is. It flies true without falter like silver of light within eternal darkness.

Alfin collapsed into the ground, everything around her also falls. Shirou quickly approached her and checked her conditions. When he made contact with her, her body was emanating a burning heat that made Shirou instinctively flinched, it is like touching molten metal as a human. Mana exhaustion, Shirou could tell instantly by the heat that was emanating from her. Thankfully, someone arrived.

"Doctor! Help her! Please!" Shirou said to get Desmond's attention.

Desmond came forward without asking anything, when he touched her, he flinched for a moment but he then decided to carry her back to the safe place while ignoring the burning heat that she is emanating.

Shirou turned his head back, hoping that Alfin's sacrifice won't be in vain.

Meanwhile, Arnold is hanging onto his life by his last pinky finger. His overusing of Final Conda started to have an actual demeriting effect. The counter on the gun literally has only a two-digit number. At this point, Arnold just stalls for whatever remains for him, using the T-Gewehr for recoils knockback to evade the Metal Gear's line of fire. His left hand which he used to fire it one-handed that it is completely in ruins and the only reason it still works is that the nerves and muscles still connect. The parachutes itself is not in any better condition than its wearer, tattering like a piece of rag that still held on to this point like a miracle.

"So this how it will end..." Arnold said as he is so inhumanly tired that it is lethargic.

However, he sees an object flying towards him, one shrouded in a blinding light that is really hard to ignore. When it got closes, he catches it perfectly despite he is on the last leg. He checked what he grabbed and realized it is a weapon. His entire mood goes from despair into determined, especially when what can be described is like receiving a holy bow to take down the demon titan. He inspects the weapon to see where the trigger and ironsight are in 1 second and then aimed the thing downward towards the Metal Gear from below. However, just before he pulled it, he heard a voice in his head.

Don't Waste It

Arnold stopped himself from pulling the trigger in an instant, realizing that this might be a one-shot only weapon. If he used it in a rash manner, he'll only dig himself further into his grave. Aiming down the ironsight, with it points perfectly at the Metal Gear, his chance to fire has come and he begins to pull the trigger and-

A missile flew near his parachute and exploded which pushed him aside and broke him out of his aiming. Had he fired his shot, it would have definitely missed. And then another one, and another one... What is happening to Arnold right now is like a ball that is being juggled by a jester for he has almost no control of what he supposed to be doing. His vision is blurry, he can't tell what is real or not, his hearing is constantly ringing from the bombardment that he is constantly receiving.

The Metal Gear from below is charging its railgun and Arnold got caught into a predictable cycle of juggling and it will be his execution if he doesn't do anything about it.

Suddenly, like an epiphany, he heard a voice calling out in his mind.

Descend Like a Falling Star

Arnold realized if he is going to stuck up to the parachute, it will get him to nowhere. He then gets off his parachute and begins his freefall into the ground below from the altitude of 3500 meters. And just in time, Arnold barely avoided getting hit by the railgun as its beam incinerated the parachute. As his falling speed accelerates, he glided through the air and evaded all of the missiles and bullets as all of them flew past him.

Aiming his railgun while the gale moving through him, his aiming started to suffer due to the aerodynamics of this thing is beyond trash but who on earth would use something like this during a free fall!? Calculating the falling distance, he learned that he has a minute as best before he impacts on the ground. He needs to do take down the Metal Gear, now!

The gun shakes so much, it constantly zooming in and out uncontrollably. His own mental state is on verge of shattering and until he decided to... give up. He closed his eye and waiting for whatever his fate would be to come.

However, he felt time started to slow down, and then everything stopped moving, even him. He opened his eye only to see the darkness surrounding him.

"So... I am probably dead..." Arnold said to himself until a familiar face appeared in front of him. It was... Alice.

"Don't lose faith, whether you can do it or not, just ignore them. Let your own conviction do its job, when the decisive moment comes, your victory will come naturally." Alice said to Arnold in a calming voice and then she steps back and faded away into the darkness.

"Hey! Wait!" Arnold tried to stop her from moving away from him only to find himself grasping at the darkness.

Soon, it is just himself remains in the darkness, he realized that he shouldn't sulk himself over something like this. It's only over if he truly believes it's over. Now, this is his turnabout.

He blinked and he soon found himself free falling at the Metal Gear again. He grips the railgun tighter and not allows it to shake, he aimed the thing carefully as he came closer to the Metal Gear. And when the decisive moment finally comes, he pulled the trigger without any sorts of hesitation. The pillar of light blasted out of the gun like a morning star as it effortlessly pierces through the armor of the Metal Gear that they struggled so much to overcome. Its light illuminated the dark for a single moment but that moment forever immortalized into the memory of everyone who witnessed it. The thing soon creaked up and fall to the ground. The very once menace that everyone feared is now nothing more than a giant heap of junk.

The railgun's recoil completely stopped his freefalling and reset his falling velocity. The gun itself shattered into stardusts due to its inability to handle the power it was forced to channel. With nothing left to care, he let his own body freefall. At least, that is what he intended to happen until a shadowy figure seems approached him and snatched him in midairs. He supposed to panic but there is no hostility he is feeling and the familiarity that he felt is telling him something else. The voice that came from the figure confirmed his suspicion.

"I got you!" The voice belonged to Larry and he rocket jumped to reach him.

"Wait!? How did you!?" Arnold started to confuse as he thought Larry is in no condition to stay in combat.

"Well, I am supposed to have all my limbs broken if it weren't for Desmond catching me in midair by his unreal leaping skills. You should have seen that when it happened." Larry said as he shoulder carried Arnold to the highest building that still stood.

Both of them soon landed safely on the ground and soon everyone came to check them up. They praised him for his bravery, saying that he is no doubt deserving of the title of Heroic Spirit. Arnold can only reluctantly accept the shower of praise that is happening to him. However, there are two people that are moving towards the wreckage of the Metal Gear itself, Kiritsugu and Iri. They recovered unusually fast despite the fact that they received the most punishments out of everyone here. They wanted to confirm that the Desert Fox is truly dead. They knew that if one doesn't finish up their stuff, it will bite them back really hard.

When both of them reached the wreckage, they quickly leaped into the large hole that was created from Arnold's railgun. They peek inside the cockpit and can confirm that it is truly the Desert Fox inside. His lower legs were completely vaporized due to it was in the railgun's line of fire but he is still alive and being held on by the seatbelt. Kiritsugu knew what to do and takes out his Contender and put it squarely on the head of the Fox.

"Haha... Truly enigmatic, all of you are sure to be a powerful bunch for managing to destroy the Metal Gear..." The Fox said tiredly but still seems to be having enough life in him to joke in front of death like this.

"What are you intending to do!?" Kiritsugu yelled as he pushes the gun harder into Fox's forehead.

"I'll just say, enjoy your victory... while you're still can." The Desert Fox said before he pressed a button on the side of his seat. In an instant faster than Kiritsugu's pulling his gun's trigger, a blinding flash and disorienting noise came fort. Before Kiritsugu realized, the man in front of him is gone. There is no trace that he can detect at all.

"Damn it... Should have pulled the trigger before." Kiritsugu said as he kicked himself for letting the enemy away.

"Don't worry, at least we are safe for now," Iri said as she calms her husband down.

Both of them got out of the wreckage and return to where everyone is. However, the banter of joyful cheering has died and completely replaced by a sense of weariness and the dreading shivers that spread among them. It is like there is something is foretelling something bad is going to happen.

"What's going on? Why is everything so silent right now?" Kiritsugu asked as this sudden change of mood can't bold well.

Gudao stepped forward with a serious expression in his face. He then hands out his comm which is establishing a connection with the Shadow Border right now.

"I should have known that sly Fox would have back up plans stacked on top of back up plans. No wonder of the man who outsmarted the enemy's army. Well played..." Gudao said with an expression that one could tell things have turned for the worse without a solution for reversal.

And then the comm connected which is showing a distressed Da Vinci and she said.

"Everyone! There is an incoming ballistic missile that is heading your way! Its signal power is so high that is comparable to the lance of Rhongomaniad in Camelot Singularity!"

The Chaldean Servants' face furrowed, and then a sense of panic started to spread among others. So this is what the Fox meant when he said: "enjoy your victory while you're still can". No matter what the Chaldean might do, the Fox will win regardless. If anything, one might at least respect the ability to outsmart like that.

"Can any of you find a way to stop it!?" Arnold asked as he doesn't want to die after he put all of his effort like this.

"Back then, there was Arash in that Singularity. When the lance of Rhongomaniad came to decimate all of us, he used his Noble Phantasm to destroy it at the cost of his life. Here? We don't have anyone with that capability. In a case like this, our hands are tied." Gudao spewing out straight fact like a brick to the face.

A sense of despair now started to spread among everyone, they are facing their imminent doom without hope of escape. Among the growing chaos, there is one person who stood there in a state of complete somber. That person is Desmond Doss, he stood there whether because of the silence of denial or in a state of epiphany, nobody knows. And then, he suddenly leaped to the top of the closest building and looked towards the horizon surrounding him.

Even in the heavy rain and complete darkness. There is no mistaking the trail of flame that is flying behind it. The V2 Rocket, one of Germany's progenitor inventions during WW2 that changed how warfare works in the future, also the basis that led to the space race. But here, it is a cataclysm that threatens everyone here, he has to stop it while he could. From what he estimated, he only has 5 minutes at most.

Words of God: For this part, play Evangelion - Destiny

Preparing his stance into one of Olympic runners, he looked intently while waiting for the right moment so that he can take full use of his stamina. When that moment comes, he runs with all of his strength behinds it. The first step created a shockwave so powerful that shatters the building he started into ruins. Each step he ran on each building reduces them into rubbles.

And when he reached the end of a city block, he proceeds to make a massive jump over a large distance. And wherever he landed shooked the earth to its core and created a giant pillar of dust in the aftermath. All of this process is repeated.

Suddenly, he noticed a change in its trajectory. This can't bold well for him and changing direction right now will cost him precious momentum. That is what he thought until he seemingly noticed a crack on the ground. He then begins to stomp it with the most power that he could put into his feet. And with a single stomp, he altered the geography by making the 450 meters ahead of him completely tilted to one side. However, this is what he needed, he begins to run on the tilted ground and he launched himself off from it when he can assure himself that he is going to head to where the missile is going to land.

Burst through many buildings through head-on collisions, he landed on his two feet and using the momentum to boost his movement further. Seeing that time is running even shorter, he begins to put more force into his own feet. If he could cut short the path then he proceeds to jump on buildings to buildings and with each landing, and each jump brought ruin to everywhere he jumped and landed.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Desmond yelled as he pushes himself beyond his limit. The sound barrier started to show signs of being pierced through and then Desmond breaks through it effortlessly. When that happened, blasts of shockwave followed and shook the buildings within a radius of 3 kilometers while Desmond razing through the land itself.

Soon, he quickly stood his ground to slow down and stop right at where the rocket would land. He looked at it as if waiting for it to come, and then he held his two hands toward it in order to block it. In his eyes, only have determination. Whether he has gone mad or not. There is one thing that can be asserted without a doubt. He will defy his fate.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Fate

"._.""._.""._."

---

Words of God: For this part, play Evangelion - Fate

When he braced for the rocket itself, its force pushed him back by a huge distance as he tried to stop it in its track. The results are massive cloud dust created when he tried to stop it. Eventually, he managed to hold his ground against the rocket while pushing it back. Desmond is pushing back a rocket with a payload potentially greater than a nuclear bomb.

The rocket suddenly sounds its alarm, a completely unorthodox feature that was installed in a rocket out of anything it has to be installed on. The nozzles on the rear of the rocket suddenly increase in its output as it tries to thrust through Desmond's attempt to push it back. Desmond's expression turned into something that is completely out of his characters. To see him being filled with fury like this is a complete paradox in itself.

He stomped into the ground so that he won't be pushed back by the rocket, the clash between them shook the earth itself, literally as the ground shattered by the force that the rocket exerts.

The flame created from the nozzles alone is akin to the Second Sun. It is so bright that it is blinding. But there is only one thing in Desmond's mind. To stop the rocket. To him, a true soldier doesn't fight because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behinds him. That is where his true strength lies at, the ability to protect the others, not harming the others. That very strength is so great it is like Atlas carrying the world itself.

The earth shattered again for the second time, this time the rocket begins to boost its nozzle output to maximum. The power that pushing it could have made it escape the solar system before an hour passed if it weren't for Desmond standing its way, defying all odds. The light is now so bright that one would mistake it for daybreak within midnight. Desmond cried in agony as the force of rocket thrust started to ripping apart his muscle tenders.

What will the future hold

How will I be rewarded

Have I the right to riches

In a world where there are no prizes

Who makes the clock tick by

When will my fate be ready

Do I get prior warning

Am I told? Are there no surprises

Even within the extreme agony that he is in, he still held on to his faith no matter what. He has already made it through hell, so fighting against his fate shouldn't be out of capabilities. He let out a heartfelt cry as he slowly pushing back against the rocket little by little.

I have to count my blessings

I have to learn my lessons

My fate is in the balances

I must go on believing

And just when he thought he will all be alone, somebody came to help him. The large mech is pulling back the rocket from the fin, its controller is Alfin who is controlling it to the best of her ability.

And then a little girl who he can tell is Illya if he remembered correctly, except she isn't wearing the magical outfit that he remembered but the one that seems to belong to a different person. He then remembered that she keeps calling "Berserker" or something which he might believe this is the power of said Berserker which was transferred to her and altered her appearance. She joined force and pushing the rocket back with him. It is a little burden relieved from him but he welcomes any help regardless of what it is right now.

And then everyone quickly gathered around him, trying to give any help they could. But Shirou finds something doesn't feel right, like what if there is another fail switch hidden that it can be remotely detonated. He then quickly uses his Hawkeye on the rocket that is still thrusting in full speed and then he realized something is counting down within it, he swiftly cut open the outer shell of the tube and unveiled a timer within it, the thing is indeed counting down. He realized that it would set itself to detonate no matter what. That sly Fox has everything planned out and to eliminate every possiblity and now, he only has 10 seconds left. But if that is what is going to happen, he'll use the last resort. The ultimate defense. Just as when he tried to reach out for it, he heard a voice within his head.

Halt

Shirou wanted to stop but the feeling of imminent death is too much that he decided to ignore it, just as it started to take form in his hand. A person that has been missing for much of the whole battle has appeared. It is Alice! Where was she the whole time everything went down!?

She rushes forward toward them with a speed that is completely unprecedented. Carrying a tremendous amount of mana signal, is she going to use her Noble Phantasm?

"Void Field!" Alice chanted as she approached them in time.

Suddenly, there is a sense of isolation spread among everyone, like completely disconnected from the plane of reality they existed. They can still observe, interact, move in the plane of existence, but also at the same time not existing at all.

Shirou stood in pure bewilderment as he thought it is impossible to have something replicate the effect of the ultimate defensive NP that he is about to trace. He then turned toward the timer as it finally reached zero. The rocket itself detonated into a massive fiery ball that consumed anything in its flame. It felt like witnessing the sun goes supernova yet at the same time he can't felt anything at all.

And soon, everything fell into silence. Not even sure whatever is left.