The summoning circle flared to life as the soon to be master smirked in triumph. It was a little early to smirk, but she was self assured in the success of the ritual. Her bloodline alone assured that she would summon a servant, which made the only issue the attempted servant to summon. Of course she had been able to leverage connections inside of the Clocktower to retrieve a catalyst, specifically a chariot piece.
She refocused on the pulsing circle as murmurs started from her gathered assistants, all speculating on the success of the ritual. Her smirk grew as a human figure began to coalesce from the glowing circle. A few more moments and the shining stopped signalling that the servant had fully manifested. Though her joy was suddenly cut short as dust exploded out from where the servant was standing.
She was completely confused but still confident in the success, though the dust was not a factor she had seen in any of the recorded accounts. She cast a small spell in order to clear the dust from her clothes, and eagerly looked forward to see the prestige of her summon rider servant the great invincible Ac-
Her brain froze as she was greeted with a man of average height, covered in dust, and wearing the oddest clothes. A leather jacket with one of the sleeves cut short, loose torn pants with a knee brace on one leg, and dirty boots. She vaguely noticed the bullets and guns hanging off his body at various points, but her eyes quickly darted towards where the catalyst laid.
She was greeted by the sight of the chariot piece but also a black key chain ending in an unfamiliar key. She stomped over leaving a dusy trail, as the servant simply watched on with a mix of disinterest and apathy. She grabbed the key before spinning around and yelling," What is this?!"
She should have been worried about her decorum, but the summoning of whatever servant this was pissed her off too much. She scanned over the assistants until one of them shakily raised a hand and spoke up, "I thin-think that's mine."
She turned and put all her effort in staring at the man. She recognized him as one of the lesser families that were employed by hers, this specific one had an aptitude for magical systems and determining outcomes. Apparently he was a complete moron though," Okay, now what the hell is this?!"
The man looked tentative, but the sheer fury the woman was emanating forced him to answer," It's the keys to my new car, a GT Falcon."
She would have strangled the man if her apparent servant didn't just chuckle. She spun on her heel and stared towards her apparent servant. "You," She barked out," Please tell me you're at least a rider."
The servant nodded and let out and responded with a gruff voice," Yeah."
A vein nearly popped on her head, but at least she could take some solace that her servant was at least the quiet type. Of course she still had no idea about this servant, so maybe his voice was something important. She rubbed her head and barked out an order for the assistants to leave, before plopping down into one of the fine chairs. "I guess I should hear your tale, because I have absolutely no damn clue who you are."
The servant merely shrugged before dropping into a seat across from her, getting dust all over it.
The master let out a long breath.
It was tempting to use a command seal to verify the insane story she had just heard, but they were far too valuable. Though it was a strong temptation. She shook the thought away and returned to her notes. She had purposefully waited until a majority of the other servants had been summoned, at least four of them. It was a mixture of guaranteeing herself a rider class servant, and also being able to see who and what the other servants were. She had confirmations on the saber class being Chevalier D'eon and the Lancer class being Knight of The Round Gareth. Both were major threats, but she was still more worried about archer and berserker. She only had a tertiary account of berserker being an axe wielding humanoid and archer's master kept him under wraps. She was also aware that assassin and caster were both issues to keep an eye on when they were summoned.
She stepped up after writing some checks for her 'spies' in those houses and headed towards the kitchen. She walked in and stopped dead as she saw the man hunched over a hunk of meat, tearing into it with his hands, and with a tall glass of water next to him. It was baffling to her that somehow this man qualified as a heroic spirit with his manners, but she ignored it and took a seat. She turned to look at her servant, but had to turn away as he continued eating. "We are going to go for an assault on saber, their master is the most powerful magus in this war and getting rid of them quickly would be best."
There was a pause in the chewing before the servant uttered a word," Not a good idea."
She spun to face him as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve," Why not?"
"Better to keep the strongest one around to be a bigger threat, people are going to focus on a name."
It...was actually a decent idea. She hadn't originally given it much consideration, since she believed she would have a different servant. But Rider did bring up a decent point in that leaving a bigger threat around might buy them some advantage with who the focus is on. She relented that point to a lack of strategy on her part, but sitting back and letting things unfold wasn't what she wanted to do. "Well, prepare yourself Rider. We are going to the city tomorrow to scout around and make preparations. "
Her servant just glanced at her before standing up and heading off, tightening his belt and adjusting the guns he had strapped to various parts. Though she swore she heard mumble something about shit luck.
She walked around the very nice car that she didn't know the name of she kept her eyes on Rider and the odd way he looked at it. It was this odd mix of reverence and wistful passion as he actually examined his reflection in the car. He reached out a hand to touch it and the moment it made contact something interesting happened.
Where his hand touched the exterior it began to change. Dents appeared and dust started spreading over the floor, spikes also began to manifest along the top of the car. She could see a memory play out across his eyes, though she couldn't tell if it was a good or bad one. She let it continue for a minute but eventually her annoyance at having her car...morphed prompted her to speak up," Could you stop...whatever that is please."
The servant stopped and chuckled quietly," Can't even have it normal anymore ."
She briefly wondered what that meant, since the story she had heard from him painted the crazy as normal. He finally removed his hand and the major changes swiftly reverted, though the dust refused to leave the car and the ground. Really made her dread the cleaning bill. He turned into his spirit form as she climbed into the now normal car, leaving even more dust behind. Really was proving that this was not a servant meant for stealth, not that she minded.
The car started up and she suddenly felt an odd though come from her servant, 'This can only go well for me.'
"Well the hell do you mean by that," she asked only for silence to be her answer
The answer showed up about fifteen minutes later as an axe impacted the road in front of the car. The master swore and threw the door open escaping the car as the axe's owner slammed into the ground after the axe. She cast a glance at the servant as she ran for cover and was able to make out a muscular frame with an odd pair of horns protruding from it's head.
Sadly, her curiosity cost her some speed, something the servant didn't lack. It exploded forward and slammed the axe down, forcing her to throw herself to the left. She scrambled to her feet and kept moving as the servant kept advancing with a single minded fervor. At the least she could confirm that it was berserker based on that fervor, but that information did nothing as it was already coming at her. She snapped back and cursed her wandering mind as the servant dashed forward with a heavy overhand swing. She tried to throw herself back again, but the servant showed it's combat prowess and kept her in range despite the attempted feint.
She was spared from her end as a gun shot rang out hitting berserker in the side of the head, throwing it off balance. Berserker didn't fall, but the stumble let her get to the woods as it turned to stare at Rider. Who, to its credit, looked calm and collected next to the newly warped car, with one leg inside. Berserker growled with a disturbing smirk before beginning to storm forward, with it's axe ready to meet Rider in a charge.
Rider ducked into the car, revved the engine, and immediately threw it into reverse before taking off. There was a beat of silence from both Berserker and the master, before the enemy servant bellowed and rushed forward, pursuing the car. However, to the masters glee, Rider wasn't running away, because when Berserker was mid-stride he threw the car into to drive and floored it straight into the opposing servant.
It was a horrific noise as the wall of muscle that was Berserker was slammed with the full weight of the car. Somehow Berserker wasn't plowed over by the vehicle, but the spikes that had appeared on the front certainly tore into the servant. The master felt a smile sneak onto her face, but it disappeared as Berserker grabbed onto the sides of the car and began to crush it with some dark laughter. The laughter was cut short by another explosion of gunfire blowing out the windshield and nailing Berserker in the face.
The servant's head flew back from the knock back but it still held on to the car, but Rider wasn't letting up. A quick reload and two more bullets slammed into the servant, finally staggering it and making it let go of the car. Rider wasn't letting it escape as he removed a knife and lunged through the blown out windshield before plunging the knife into Berserker's head.
The master felt herself let out a cheer at the rather picturesque sight of her servant plunging the knife into Berserker, finishing him off. The defeated servant began to turn to dust and fall apart as Rider retrieved the knife and returned it to the sheath. She got up from where she had dropped on the side of the road and made her way towards her servant, who was calmly wiping dust off their...everything. "Excellent job, though you could have acted a little sooner."
Rider merely rolled their eyes, but the master couldn't be mad. They had managed to eliminate a servant that's always considered a threat, and they had done so without any preparation or planning. She started to walk towards the car since despite it's destruction it was still going to be the quickest way back to the house. That plan died as the effect of Rider seemed to wear off, causing the car to begin to fell apart. She stopped dead in her tracks and spun to face Rider who had wised up and gone to his spirit form.
The master sat at her desk looking over the reports she had received, all why trying to ignore the sound of Rider eating in the other room. It was difficult but she managed, having grown somewhat used to it over the last two days. All the reports were really telling her was that Saber had eliminated whoever the Archer servant had been, and that Lancer had clashed with the Caster servant but both made it out. Sadly there was still no identity on caster, and there was absolutely no word on Assassin. That last fact scared her a little, because it meant that anywhere outside the house was incredibly dangerous. She supposed they could technically just hole up and play defensive, but that was just asking for an alliance to form against them. Now it was just a matter of trying to determine who the next be-
She was interrupted by the sound of something getting knocked over, and that put her on high alert. Rider may have manners that made a pig look somewhat refined, but he had always been considerate of the house's valuables. She stealthily rose from her chair and proceeded to the door with careful steps. It could be one of the assistants, but at this point they should have gone home. She cracked the door open slightly and immediately spotted a dead body, foaming at the mouth. It didn't take a genius, although being one helped, to determine that the man had been poisoned. So in conclusion that meant that this servant was Assassin, and the fact she was still alive meant that the heavy wards in the house were working. She quietly closed the door and sent a quick message to Rider, 'There's an Assassin in the house, you need to deal with them'
No response came back, but at this point it was par for the course with Rider. She turned away from the door and walked over towards her desk where she was able to pull up the security cameras. It took her a second but she eventually located Rider on the camera and started following his journey through the house.
He was moving slow and methodically through the house, almost like he had been in a similar situation. The shotgun was held at the ready, and for a man dressed in leather and chains he moved surprisingly quiet. Of course he wasn't as stealthy as an Assassin class servant, which made her nearly yet out loud as the Assassin emerged from the shadows. Thankfully she kept it mental, 'BEHIND!'
Rider responded immediately and spun around, swinging the fully covered arm as Assassin lunged forward. Her hands clasped down on the leather sleeve letting Rider try to bring the shotgun around for a shot, but the servant disengaged and backed up. They stood across from each other feeling the other out, though the master could see that Rider was definitely nervous. She couldn't quite tell why and she wouldn't find out as her thoughts were interrupted by a shotgun blast.
Assassin dodged and in a flash of movement two daggers tore into Riders shoulder chest. Thankfully the leather jacket served as some sort of armor and he had shifted his body to avoid a lethal blow. But the fact they weren't parried apparently told Assassin that she had the advantage in agility, and she quickly started to put it to use. She started moving around the room throwing daggers, forcing her servant to cede the initiative.
Thankfully Rider was managing to minimize the damage and at least keep track of the servant, but the master was getting worried. Rider wasn't able to land any sort of attack and was just chasing the opponent around. That was until in a single swift movement Rider used his boots to kick a cloud of dust directly into Assassin.
The servant lurched back suddenly blind obviously not expecting dust inside an immaculate kept house. Rider took advantage of the blindness and unloaded into Assassin, though it wasn't as successful as the master wanted. Since the Assassin had thrown themself backwards minimizing the damage from the shotgun. But it seemed that with that underhanded tactic Rider had swung the tide of the fight. Of course the moment she though that Assassin swiftly dove forward and surged forward.
Something screamed in the masters head, telling her that she needed to do something to save her servant. The seal on her hand surged and she yelled out her command ," PROTECT YOURSELF."
The seal burst and in a supercharged movement Rider's free hand flew up and deflected Assassins hand with three fingers. Then he capitalized on Assassins momentary confusion to slam the shotgun into her center mass and pulled the trigger. As the opposing servant fell they still wore a visible smirk that even the master could notice. She was confused until Rider looked down and grimaced at his fingers. She couldn't get a good view from where she had hidden, so she exploded out the door and quickly cut a route to the room where to fight broke out.
She arrived in a cloud of dust to see Rider looking at his fingers, which now had purple veins and darkening flesh. She froze as the dots finally connected in her head, making her swear as she tried to figure out the best way to counteract the poison. Rider had other ideas and in an instant had his gun placed at the base of his fingers. The master's eyes flew open as the gunshot sounded out.
She felt a little pride at summoning such a determined servant, but at the same time she felt worried. Somebody had decided they were worth fighting and trying to take out, which indicated to her that things were going to kick off. Her thought was confirmed as second later as her phone rang with a call.
She said a rushed thanks and turned to Rider, who was already walking out of the house.
The master stood on a hill overlooking the town, which was being rocked with plumes of dust and destruction. Saber, lancer, and Caster were all going at it, though based on her sources it was bad luck on the part of the saber servant. Apparently they had been fighting Lancer and pushed them directly into the master of caster, so really it was just a complete mess. It honestly made her head hurt at how out of control it was.
She was snapped out by Rider asking," How do you want to do this?"
Thoughts and plans swam through her head, each involving different situations with different servants still being around. Every plan wasn't perfect and it gave her anxiety, but she eventually arrived at an answer. No plan would survive contact so; "Go all out from the beginning."
Rider nodded before going to spirit form, moving to where she assumed the nearest road to town was. She would be lying that a part of her was incredibly interested to see his true noble phantasm, especially after seeing the effect he had on normal cars.
Really his entire story was interesting and the deeds he mentioned certainly made her believe he qualified as a heroic spirit. The whole apprehension, willing sacrifice, the Barter Town thing, and even rescuing 'damsels' in distress. It still was odd to get a hero that dealt with cars and stuff considering most of them were from history, but she wasn't complaining now.
Her attention was stolen by the revving of an engine and the sudden appearance of a dust cloud. She could only laugh as she imagined the remaining servants seeing this monstrosity of a noble phantasm approaching them.
Lancer parried another strike from Saber before attempting to counter, though Caster had other ideas and made them both avoid a spell detonation. She prepared to charge back into battle but a rumbling sound caught her attention, forcing her to spare a glance. Her jaw nearly dropped at the dust cloud that had formed, bigger than anything she had ever seen. What startled her more was the presence in the car leading the storm.
Rider was apparently entering the fray and was bringing his full might into the fray. She had heard that they were responsible for eliminating berserkers before their master could get them under control. She figured that Caster didn't think much of them, but she wasn't going to underestimate them.
Thankfully Saber had a similar thought process and gave them both a chance to observe the rapidly approaching servant. It was this black vehicle with an exposed engine of sorts, that's as much as she understood about cars. Nothing too worrying aside from the visual impairment from th-
She regretted tempting fate as from the dust more headlights and other cars suddenly began to drive out. And it only got worse as phantoms moved about the cars manning weapons….and beating a war drum apparently. The cloud quickly raced towards town getting them to share a quick glance before separating and bracing for impact.
It was only a second later when the cloud hit and they were smothered by the dust cloud and the sound of the war drums. She adjusted her stance to try to peer through the dust and was actually able to catch a glance of Saber hiding inside of a destroyed building. She considered making a move for it. But the sound of an engine deterred the instinct.
Thankfully she hadn't because a second later a large truck plowed through the store slamming into Saber. She was able to see the spikes that adorned the front of the car impale the servant, but her attention was stolen by the sound of an engine approaching her. She turned back just in time to see another car bearing down on her cover.
She quickly rolled out from the wall in time to watch it get obliterated by a chanting phantom. She didn't have time to process the close call as another car was bearing down on her, though this time she used her lance to spear the car getting it to stop dead. She was briefly aware of her master asking what was going on but the sudden appearance of a truck with a flame spraying weapon.
The flames licked at her clothes as she leapt clear, but even that wasn't safe as she narrowly avoided getting run over by a tire. She got back to her feet and was clipped by the front of a car zooming past. She hadn't even heard that one. It suddenly hit her that the storm had gotten worse, limiting her ability to see what's coming.
Her realization was cut short as she leapt over another car, though she wasn't perfect as her foot clipped the hood. At least the goal was clear; Weather the Storm.
The master laughed like mad as she saw the dust cloud move over the town She readjusted her binoculars and was able to make out the black car making it out the other side of town, followed by the slowly dissipating dust cloud. A quick scan over the city didn't tell her anything too important, but there was definitely structural damage to the city.
Her phone buzzed dragging her attention, but in the end she was thankful she checked. It was her contact with the clocktower informing her that Saber had been eliminated. She wasn't given a reason, but she was more than willing to bet that it was Rider's noble phantasm. No news on Lancer or Caster but at the least they took some sort of beating. Some movement caught her eye and she adjusted to see Lancer still standing, though a little worse for wear.
She moved her view again to refocus on Rider tearing back into town without his noble phantasm. She begrudgingly agreed that this was a good strategy because it would convince the opposing servants to remain in town, and while she wouldn't admit it her magical circuits couldn't take another run.
Rider was tearing back into town which got her to widen the view through the binoculars. Lancer braced and prepared to accept the charge, except Rider had other plans. At the last moment he swung the car to the right making Lancer hit air and giving Rider a chance to open fire. The master couldn't hear the shots, but she could tell they hit Lancer by how the servant lurched to the side.
The car flew by before spinning into a U-turn in order to go for a second assault, but Lancer took advantage of their turning radius and landed a glancing blow to the hood of the car. It didn't deal much damage to the vehicle but it did throw the vehicle off it's line. Rider lived up to his name however and managed to wrangle the car under control, but instead of going after Lancer he floored off down the road.
The master was confused, but the sudden explosion answered the question. So Caster and Lancer were both still in the fight, which made this a three way battle. Thankfully Rider seemed to be familiar with this sort of fight, judging by how he was removing himself and pitching the other two against each other.
The car idled for one moment before rider gunned it back into the fray, forcing Lancer to become an unwilling ally as she tried to force Caster into the path of the car. Caster suddenly took off into the air making the impromptu charge miss, but Rider swung the car around before letting off a shot. It lacked power but it certainly stunned the caster for one second, letting lancer get a chance to land a blow.
She managed to land a glancing blow forcing caster back into the ground. But as she did Rider took advantage and slammed the car into her, sending her up and over with a thud. Caster took the chance to recover and slam Rider with a spell, shattering the glass and denting the frame but otherwise it was fine.
Lancer struggled back to her feet and tried to land a blow on Caster, only for the mage to dodge right into the path of Rider. It was a solid hit, trapping their leg under the wheel and grinding it. Caster yelled in pain only for Rider to follow up with a shot from his shotgun.
The effect was instantaneous, but Rider wasn't able to enjoy it as he had to get out of there in order to avoid a well placed Lance. The car spun around and stared down the opposing servant before charging. The master could tell that Rider was preparing to swing to the side in order to try to line up a kill shot from the gun.
The master could tell the moment Rider went to dodge, but at the same time Caster exacted their revenge and slammed the car with a spell knocking it back into the path of Lancer. Who with a direct thrust went through the broken windshield.
The Master felt the pain of her servant and dropped the binoculars to her side. A message drifted into her head, 'Sorry, couldn't get it done.'
She couldn't help but let out a sadness tinged chuckle, 'You did the best you could.'
It wasn't the servants fault, it was the masters. If she had a better capacity for magic they could have sustained his noble phantasm for longer. She also could have done more in the fight against Assassin, because as much as he sold it the miniscule traces of the toxin were causing him some discomfort.
There was the sound of a gunshot, and she assumed that Lancer had been taken out of the war. She really couldn't have asked for a better servant in terms of tenacity and pure spite. 'Thanks for everything Max.'
Rider Class Servant- "Mad" Max Rockatansky
Noble Phantasm- Pursuit Special, Outrunning The Horde
-Manifests the Pursuit Special along with a raging dust storm. Inside the dust storm is an armada of phantoms driving a legion of vehicles inside. The worse the storm gets, more cars appear and more appear faster making it dangerous as long as the master can take the strain.