Disclaimer: Brutal Violence.
Chapter 8: A Certain Barrow of Blades
P.O.V.: A Certain Scientific Teleporter
The first thing that Kuroko Shirai sees when she opens her eyes is a roofed, stone ceiling. Groaning, she finds herself laying on a smooth, hard and somewhat concave surface. A splitting headache makes her mind hazy, and her vision is still a tad blurry as she glances around and tries to figure out where she is.
'Where…'
She tries lifting her head, only to realize she's still a little too weak for that. "Urgh…"
Her moans of pain did not go unnoticed, as she hears frantic footsteps running up to her. "Hey, Shirai!"
"…Oh, hi Saten…" Kuroko mutters as a black-haired student kneels beside her. Her vision clears up a little more, and she suddenly realizes she's laying on some sort of long bench.
Judging by the stone walls with stained glass, the Esper could only come to one conclusion. 'I'm in that…weird Church again…'
Saten pops open a water bottle and hands it to her, helping her head be at least somewhat upright as she takes in the fluids. "You lost…a lot of blood, and nearly went into shock."
"R-Really…?" Kuroko winces as she sips down the water, which immediately is absorbed by her dry tongue and throat. Looking at the back of her hand, she notices it is pale in complexion, as well. "Talk about a close call…"
The water nearly goes down the wrong pipe, and she takes a minute coughing it out of her windpipe as Saten pulls her upright and pats her back. "The Priest guy healed you…" Saten says, "He said he was going to a different branch or something for official business, but that he'll be back soon. Don't worry; you'll be safe, as well as her." Saten points to a girl further down the pew, still unconscious but breathing stably.
'I think Kamijou called her Fukiyose, or something.' Kuroko thought.
"Oh, and there was another girl with us too…Index, I think her name was." Saten explains, "But she went with the Priest. I figured that they knew each other or something, since she does dress like a Nun."
"Well…" The Esper lays back down. "I guess the best we can do is just sit here and—"
The stone tiles above their heads rain dust to the floor as a reverbing rumble echoes through the Church. Kuroko sits up quickly, but immediately winces as pain shoots from her upper thigh and through her body.
There is one person that is still out there, potentially still in major danger. 'Onee-sama…'
She looks to see her Judgment band is still on her sleeve, then plants her feet on the ground and tries to get up.
"Hold on!" Saten grabs her shoulders and forces her back down. "You're not seriously considering going out there, are you?!"
Kuroko huffs, and closes her eyes, forcing her mind to analyze 11th-dimensional formulae.
When she opens, her body is above the floor by about a meter, and she grunts lightly as she lands on the floor and nearly falls over.
Even so, she finds the mental and physical strength to stay on her feet. "See…? Nothing to it…I can still use my ability…"
"Shirai." Saten's voice gets a little more stern. "Please, don't. I've seen what they're fighting, out there…it's…it's not pretty."
"All the more reason to go…" Shirai mutters, finding the exit door and trudging toward it, "as a Judgment Officer, I can't just leave civilians or innocents to get hurt…"
"You can't use your Judgment position as an excuse!" Saten rushes up to her and grabs her arm, at this point begging her not to go. Shirai turns and sees her eyes starting to glass over. "Please…"
Kuroko smiles, and pulls Saten's arm off of her. "I'll be okay. Onee-sama and I have been through a lot already, right? And I myself have been through intense solo missions on my own, as well…"
She recalls back to the Tree Diagram incident, when she had to battle a fellow Teleport Esper. "This…this is the same. I won't directly fight. I'll just observe, and if I see anyone in danger, I'll warp in and get them out in a snap."
With that reassurance, Saten wipes the tears from her eyes and nods. "O…Okay. But still: be careful. I can tell you're not at a hundred percent yet, Shirai."
The pigtailed Esper smirks, then warps from right in front of Saten to the front exit of the Underground Church. "Well…I'm at a percent good enough, in any case. Stay safe, Saten."
"You too."
Kuroko turns, and pulls open the doors of the Church, tall and wooden, as well as over three times her height.
A wide and long staircase awaits her, spiraling up to the surface. Not wanting to waste her Esper Powers on some stairs, she sucks it up and begins jogging. 'Aw, man…and I just got up, too!'
XXXXX
At the top of the stairway, Shirai breathes heavily as she tries to fight the burning sensation in her thighs. Wanting to move as fast as she humanly could to catch up to the battlefield, she accidentally overexerted herself.
'C'mon…just a little further…!'
A deep rumble settles in through the earth, and a roar of something vicious catches her ears to her right. Beyond the city streets she finds herself in, is the central forest. Apparently, beyond that treeline is where the fight was taking place.
Her suspicions are confirmed even further when she sees an arc of lightning curve just above the trees, and the distant boom of thunder seconds later. 'That's…Onee-sama!'
She grits her teeth, looking up to a multi-story building in front of her that she was sure could look over the battlefield. Focusing her mind, her body vanishes— then hastily reappears halfway up the building.
A half second later, just before gravity starts to pull her back down, she warps again, and stumbles as her feet land on the concrete roof.
Kuroko runs to the edge of the building, setting her arms on the stone fence to balance herself. From this vantage point, she could see nearly the entire forest, including the massive crater the size of a football field in the center.
'There!'
She spots multiple figures standing near the edge of the crater. While the majority had black cloaks, the four or five she could make out had normal-colored clothes.
One of them releases a massive arc of electricity, shocking multiple cloaked silhouettes as they fall to the ground and seize from the sheer strength.
Kuroko takes a breath, and lets her body calm as she sees her Onee-sama quite easily dispatch all of the false Assassins. What's better: the others seem to be handling themselves well, too.
'Others…wait-'
She narrows her vision, and spots someone that she didn't expect to be here in a million years. 'Isn't that…Kamijou?! What the hell is he doing here?!'
Normally her internal thoughts would automatically default to calling him a troglodyte, because naturally, that is what he is, but the gravity of the situation makes her suppress her biased feelings about him for now.
Not to mention, that weird Hawaiian-shirted guy that she sees him hang out with is also there too.
'And where is…?' One person that is missing from down there is a certain red-haired boy that's oddly way too close to her Onee-sama. '…Maybe he got hurt and is hiding somewhere, or something.'
'But in any case…'
She kneels down, and lets the fatigue overcome her body. Her sudden spike in adrenaline had helped her teleport a few times, but her body still wasn't anywhere close to full health.
'…I'll let them handle it.'
She leans over the short fence, and watches her Onee-sama pull out something from her pocket, and then fire it like a rifle right at an Assassin's face.
A massive white beam of light releases from her hands, and a second later, Kuroko winces as what could only be described as cannonfire causes her ears to ring a little.
'Isn't that a bit overkill, Onee-sa—?'
"…Wait."
Kuroko's eyes peel to something that none of them seem to have noticed yet.
"What the…what is that?"
Something black and voidal, beyond Shirai's comprehension, moves out from the treeline.
It breaks, glitches and inverts in color as it moves, like a buggy video game character. An odd, yet dreadful feeling sinks in the back of Shirai's throat as she stares at it; like it was eating away at her sanity just by gazing upon it.
And it's inching toward Misaka. From what she can tell, no one has spotted its existence yet except herself.
"No, wait-!"
She grits her teeth, willing her body to stand as she keeps her sight locked on that…thing, and doesn't let it go. Taking a breath, she focuses her eyes and lets her body vanish, and then feels the sudden lack of a floor.
One more warp, and she's back on the ground, her shoes touching something much softer than concrete. Inside the forest, she groans as the headache that was already permeating through her body gets several times more intense. 'No…focus!'
She fights it off, and starts stumbling toward the battlefield. 'I have to…tell them…!'
P.O.V.: A Certain Crimson Magus
"I am the bone of my sword.
Steel is my body, and fire is my blood."
At the announcement of those words, Rin Tohsaka can't help but stop and stare. The chaotic battlefield of Servants around her fades, leaving only her Servant in her vision as he holds his hands up and says his prayers.
"I have created over a thousand blades.
Unknown to Death, nor known to Life."
Just then, she feels a certain redhead break out of her grip, and sprint toward Archer like his life depended on it. "Emiya-kun, what are you—?!"
Without thinking, she runs after him as well, just an arm's length away from grabbing his hand and pulling him away from what is certainly guaranteed death.
"I have withstood pain to create many weapons.
And yet those hands will never hold anything."
She watches Emiya firmly grasp Archer's body, and then shove him out of the way just as Archer's Rho Aias shatters. The berserk Caster's Gae Bolg comes railing down, and all Rin can do in an effort to save both of them is push either of them forward.
From the angle that Shirou is moving, the spear would easily pierce his chest and instantly kill him.
But instead, the Tohsaka Magus grabs onto his body, and pushes him even further, making it so the spear instead pierces into his stomach.
With Tohsaka touching Emiya, and Emiya touching Archer, her Servant finishes the chant.
"So as I pray,
Unlimited Blade Works."
Immediately, her vision fills with pure white, as the sounds of chaos from the Underground District fades away into white noise.
As soon as she gets her sight back, she sees the oncoming approach of reddish sand and barren rock, as well as the body of a stupid redhead in her arms. Remembering Emiya's injury, the Magus twists their bodies before they fall, making it so she takes the brunt of the impact.
"Ah—!"
Emiya falls on top of her, his body twitching and limp. The boy sputters out a cough, and Rin turns to see that it had been one filled with red liquid. "Emiya-kun-!"
She turns him over onto his back, and sees the growing red stain on his torso. Undoing his clothes, she sees the source of the strike: a relatively deep gash several centimeters wide, profusely releasing blood.
She considers tearing off a part of her skirt to act as a bandage, but instead reaches into her pocket and produces a small handful of gems. 'This costs a fortune, but…'
Tohsaka hovers it over Emiya's body. 'It's worth it.'
The gems illuminate with a warm glow, searing onto the wound and gently pulling it closed. The blood stops streaming, and all that's left is a thin scarred line.
Stabs from Gae Bolg couldn't be healed with typical healing magic that accelerates the regeneration of cells. However, using a spell that completely replaces matter bypasses its curse. It cost her several years' worth of mana with her gems; but she had successfully recreated the skin, muscular and fat tissue, as well as the organs that had been damaged by the cursed red spear.
She hears Emiya's breath begin to stabilize. 'Oh…thank goodness.'
Looking over the boy's body and face again, a light blush comes across Rin's face. "Why…why do you look like the guy in my dreams?"
"Because he probably is, Rin."
Archer's voice resounds in her head. Rin pops her head up, and she suddenly becomes aware of the world around her.
A world of sand— a desert as far as the eye can see, beyond even the infinite horizon. Amongst the sand stand blades; hundreds upon thousands, stuck into the ground like the graves of heroes that once held them in their hands.
The sky is of orange ash, clouded by dust that chokes the sunlight. Gears and cogs of epic proportions turn in the distance, like massive moving mountains. Like a machine.
"So this…"
Rin Tohsaka's breath is taken away as the dawn of realization sets on her. "This is a Reality Marble. Archer's…Reality Marble."
"Indeed."
A lone figure stands several meters away from her, their crimson coat fluttering in the dusty winds. Back turned, they raise their hand to the sky.
An army of blades answer the hero's call, and lift from the ground in the hundreds. Weapons of all shapes, sizes, and cultures point their ends at something in Archer's sight.
The Hero of Wrought Iron closes his fist.
A torrent of metal comes falling, and an inhuman cry of a monster causes Tohsaka to wince as she wraps Emiya's arm around her neck and gets to her feet.
Now, she can spot it.
Beyond her Servant, is a mass of muscles and flesh somewhat resembling a human, growling in pain as many rods of sharp metal pierce into its body and burst its blood vessels. Many more blades are littered around it, their ends bent and broken as they turn into glittered ashes.
"So he still has Protection from Arrows, huh…" Archer mutters, opening his palms and summoning twin blades of white and black. Meticulously, he steps forward, his eyes peeled on the berserk, misshapen Child of Light.
'Rin…I need to tell you something.' Archer's voice rings in her head again. 'Keep your distance. I'll have to fight and talk at the same time. If…he wakes up,'
Tohsaka looks down to Shirou, who is still unconscious. 'Then he has to listen, too.'
Caster's body ripples and pulses as the swords and spears break off of its body. The wounds he sustained start to steam away, and his pulsating irises lock onto the white-haired Archer.
Archer vanishes in a blur, appearing above Rin's head; directly above Caster. He produces a black bow two meters in height, nocking the string and summoning a silver blade.
With a grunt, the blade cracks with overflowing mana, and Archer looses the tips of his fingers. The sword releases with the force and energy of a small thermonuclear missile, unleashing a massive piercing shockwave that skewers the monster's body.
Rin is nearly sent to the ground, and she slowly retreats backwards, keeping her eyes dead set on the battle in front of her.
'What is it, Archer?' She asks.
Caster roars, his hands picking up a crimson spear from the ground. In the blink of an eye, the beast is right upon Archer, slashing his weapon downwards with the strength of a thousand wolves.
Archer brings up his swords to block, and grimaces as he careens to the desert sand. Rebounding quickly, his eyes widen as he releases his authority to the blades around him.
"Put simply, Master…this world…should not exist."
In a moment, the swords break from the earth and tumble and twirl towards Caster, crashing into its body and exploding on impact. A huge dust cloud bursts around the Beast of Culann; and when he falls out of it, several bloody wounds appear all over its horrid body.
Not wanting to relent, Archer grits his teeth as he pitches both of his blades at Cu Chulainn, then quickly forms another pair as he rushes up to the monster for a four-pincer slash.
'Well…yeah.' Rin responds, 'This is your world, no? Your own reality, made manifest onto the World.'
"That's not what I mean!"
Archer shouts as he slashes at Caster, aiming his blades to the beast's neck as the twin swords he launched pierce into their belly, releasing a profuse burst of blood.
Caster's teeth grits, and its spear blocks Archer's slashes cleanly and easily, even with the white-haired Servant's pincer move. Archer's eyes widen, and he's sent flying backwards as the monster's massive leg crashes into his body, tumbling him through the dirt several dozen meters.
"I mean…" Archer gets to his feet quickly, watching as the Caster charges toward him like a pissed-off rhinoceros. "The world you live in, Master. Academy City…I know not of one in my time.
And I should know, because—!"
Caster's spear thrusts forward, and Archer diligently dodges left from the predictable attack. Archer grits his teeth as the two blades of his suddenly double in size; razor sharp spines stick out from the bases of the blades, and the edges become aggressively serrated.
Archer swings his blades, and they crash into the beast's midsection, piercing into its skin and ripping off a sizable chunk of flesh from its body. The hound of Culann roars in response, and before Archer could predict its moves, it slams the end of Gae Bolg into his gut, doubling him over and sending him flying.
The white-haired hero skids to a stop a bus length away, forcing his body to stay upright as he widens his eyes. Instantly, every single blade within a hundred-meter radius breaks from the ground and floats into the air.
"…Because I'm from the modern world, Rin."
Rin gasps lightly as the hundreds upon thousands of blades suddenly roar up into the sky, then twist their trajectory and pummel toward the ground.
Caster looks up, but has little time to react as the blades come falling. He swings with his spear, knocking a few off their mark and sending them careening to the floor, but most find their mark and make contact with his body. The ones of low rank are broken upon its skin, but the ones B-rank or higher pierce true.
Archer holds his hand out, letting the torrential onslaught continue as he speaks to Rin aloud. "Do you understand, Master? I, a hero born from the modern world, know nothing of this place called Academy City!"
"But…" Rin blinks. Disbelief sets in her heart as Archer looks at her with desperation. "I've known about Academy City…all my life…"
"I hate to break it to you, Master, but…I can assure you, it's true." He suddenly strains, and the falling of swords turns from a geyser to ordinary rain as Archer is forced to slow his output. "…Dammit, I only have a few minutes left…!"
They both watch as Caster cries out inhumanly, his muscles spasming and warping as they break off the swords from their skin and slash away at the thousands of blades that surround him like a prison.
"…My True Name is—"
Archer speaks his real name, and Rin's eyes widen in abject surprise. She finds herself looking between the warrior in front of her, and the young man she carries in her arms. "No way…"
The Wrought Iron Hero smirks, and picks up a sword from the ground, stepping forward as Caster's wounds fade away, and it slowly crawls its way toward him. "I see you understand, now. Ordinarily, in any other timeline, in any other situation…my mission wouldn't be protecting the person you're carrying right now, Master. It would, in fact, be the exact opposite."
Caster's arm reaches out from the prison of blades, and it tears through the last barrier with a bloodied, misshapen arm. Within seconds, the wounds that it had sustained from crawling through hundreds of sharp weapons begin to vanish.
"No way…how much energy does Caster have…?" Rin mutters. Her mind is split between trying to take in what Archer's saying, and watching to make sure she and Emiya don't get caught up in their battle.
"More than likely, he's connected to the Grail." Archer surmises, "It means he has an inexhaustible energy supply. On top of his stats that are off the charts in nearly every category…even my world of infinite weapons can only serve as a prison for him for a small amount of time.
Even so…"
The blades he carries light up, and double in length and sharpness again as their very bodies are overedged. "…I'll be damned if I don't at least give this bastard a run for his money."
"Archer…" Rin mutters.
The Hero looks at her, "What is it?"
"…" Tohsaka finds her tongue stuck as she tries to put together her thoughts, "…If Academy City doesn't exist in your world…then…what does happen?"
The Archer smirks, and looks back to the slowly-approaching Caster, still trying to break the blades from his body. "…What did you see in your dreams, Tohsaka?"
The mage's thoughts are taken aback to those memories.
Seeing herself kneeling over her, hovering her own pendant over her body.
Seeing a kid with wild red hair fail at high jumps at dusk.
Talking to that same boy, grown up, on a hill overlooking Fuyuki City, under a sky full of stars. Crying and yelling at him as he tries to cheer her up, then so casually announces his affection for her.
"I…" Tohsaka starts.
"…While some of it may not have been the same reality I saw, one-for-one…our Name is in the Throne. Memories of different timelines are recorded and sent across time and space. In some worlds, you knew him. In others, you do not."
Taking in a breath, Archer prepares as Caster's body is now fully in sight, and his twisted, popped-out eyes lock onto him. "…This world, however…something about it I find worrying. There's an energy around this Academy City that I, as a Counter Guardian, find unpleasant. And so…"
He readies his blade, and the Monster of Culann comes charging.
"…I'll leave the mystery up to you to solve, Tohsaka."
P.O.V.: The Hero of Justice
Shirou Emiya's mind awakens before his eyes do. His head foggy, and his stomach still searing in pain, he has an urge to fall over and just curl up into a ball. However, he keeps his will, and stays upright as he lets the rest of his senses catch up to him.
His ears pick up the collisions of metal-on-metal.
His nose picks up the scent of dust and something metallic.
And his eyes…
He breaks his eyes open, and struggles as he moves his head up. He feels himself leaning against someone, his arm wrapped around their neck. Their body is thin, yet warm and comforting, almost making him want to lay against them in his entirety.
"…Good, you're awake, Emiya-kun."
A voice he wasn't too familiar speaks to him in a low, calming tone. He pivots his head, and sees the piercing aqua eyes of a young woman he had only recently acquainted with look back at him.
"Tohsaka…" His voice spurts out dryly, and he coughs violently as his throat tries to coat itself with liquid.
"You were injured badly back there…I had to spend a small fortune to heal you, but you should turn back to normal. In any case…"
She turns her head up, and so does he.
He spots a man in a red coat, wielding blades of white and black, grimacing as an overinflated monstrosity crashes into him, nearly skewering him with a spear of blood and bone.
"Emiya-kun…I know it's hard right now, but please, try to keep your head up," Tohsaka says, "…I want you to watch every inch of what Archer does. Every movement he makes, every technique he employs…keep an eye on it."
"W-Why…?" Emiya mutters.
"…I'll explain later." Tohsaka responds, "But for right now, do as I ask. Consider that payment for me healing you."
Shirou does as he's asked, and watches the battle unfold around him. His vision starts to unblur more and more, and he starts to realize where they are.
'This isn't…'
He glances around. "Where are…?"
"A Reality Marble." Tohsaka explains, "A world that projects one's inner heart onto the world outside. It's one of the highest forms of Magecraft…it's similar to Academy City's concept of Personal Reality, just a more magical path to the same outcome."
Shirou nods in understanding. "A world…of…"
He peers around, and sees a mass of broken, shattered blades, as well as whole ones that stick into the ground like graves.
"…A world of infinite blades." Tohsaka finishes. "Emiya-kun, like I told you…please, watch closely."
Shirou turns his attention back to the battle, just as a massive eruption of dust and an overwhelming shockwave rips through the field of blades.
Archer jumps from the dust cloud, his bow fully nocked as he unleashes a sword of spiraling light. Caster jumps after him, but hesitates as the sword gets past his guard and drills right into his skin, causing the monster to roar in abject pain. The sword cracks, then explodes.
Archer falls to the ground, collapsing to one knee as he wipes the blood from his forehead. Somewhere in that scuffle, Caster had injured him.
The beast crashes into the desert, its body twisted and spasmed, and a huge gash can be seen on the front of his body. It arches its back, seizing its muscles; but Archer doesn't relent.
With a shout, the surrounding blades crack, then spin toward the Beast of Culann like deadly dreidels. A hundred or more blades; enough to kill any normal Servant, approach him.
"GRAAAAAAAHHHHH—!"
A roar louder than any before rumbles the Reality Marble, and the sound turns into shock that forcefully blows the blades backwards, back into the air. Archer grits his teeth as he evades his own attacks, which explode haphazardly like fireworks.
Caster's body warps, then jolts back upright, his rippling body and bursting veins fusing back together via an energy beyond his own power. Grabbing his spear, the beast disappears in a flash.
Archer's eyes widen, and he barely creates a sword in time to parry the oncoming spear, deflecting it to the side. Effortlessly, Caster rebounds and thrusts forward again, this time Archer slashing the polearm to the ground, then running up and crashing his knee into the Hound's overgrown face.
Gritting his teeth, the white-haired Servant turns his blade inverted, then thrusts into the side of Caster's neck.
The blade hits his skin, struggling to pierce through what must have been skin stronger than steel. His eyes widening, the Archer unleashes his own roar as the blade grows in size and forcefully cuts through the skin, and a sickly red geyser of blood spills out.
A misshapen hand the size of an ordinary human grabs Archer by the torso, squeezing as if trying to crush an apple. The Servant yells out in avid pain, his bones and tendons shattering at the seams.
Desperately, he opens his palm, and an azure light quickly forms a pristine white blade, with a golden and blue hilt and guard, traced and etched with intricate designs.
Shirou stares at the blade, and his breath hitches as he realizes, 'That…looks a little bit like…!'
While not exact, it did look similar enough to the sword that he saw Saber wield, when she had slain that mage back when he had first summoned her.
The sword fully forms, and a golden light appears from its edge as Archer slashes it downward.
"CALIBURN!"
A golden shine lights up, and burns downward as a flash of energy crashes into Caster's body like a nuclear bomb. The Hound bellows in as it's forced backwards, and the right side of its body is encased in a stream of white-gold light.
The hand releases from Archer, who is blown back by the force of his own attack as Caliburn shatters in his hand from being overused.
He tumbles to the ground, his torso ripped and bleeding heavily. Even so, he finds the strength in him to get to his knees.
His trademark, slicked-back hair falls wildly around his face, and the red coat he normally wears is tattered and torn. Gritting his teeth, he groans out as he forces himself to his feet, and the golden shine begins to falter.
Caster appears— his entire right arm and much of the right side of his torso are blown to pieces, disintegrated. There isn't even any blood loss; the heat from Caliburn was so strong that it immediately seared closed any wounds.
Half of Caster's face sustained third degree burns or worse: red, and blackened. Steam sears out between the wolf-like fangs as their glowing red eyes continue to maintain their light.
Archer exhales in what seems like almost disbelief. "…Even that wasn't enough, huh—?"
Without warning, a hand grabs his face- and slams him into the earth.
"ARCHER!" Tohsaka shouts aloud, and Shirou can feel her want to run over to him, but she quickly stops as the beast looming over him lifts up his head— and slams it back down once more.
It was so fast, that not even Archer could predict it or move out of the way.
Shirou's mouth agapes in shock as Caster lifts up Emiya's body, then crashes it down once more.
Archer's hands grow limp, and fall to his sides.
"Archer…!" Tohsaka cries out, which proves to be a fatal mistake.
Caster's crimson eyes lock onto her.
Shirou's eyes widen, and he immediately pushes off of her body and jumps in front of her. Before his very eyes, Caster begins to move, picking up its polearm and lumbering toward him.
"Emiya-kun, what are you—?!"
In any second, the beast would be on top of him. With just one strike, his life can be snuffed in an instant— which is why he now has to act fast.
He closes his eyes, and remembers the battle Tohsaka told her to watch.
He remembers back to the visions he saw, of the man who was standing on a field of endless blades, just like the one he was in now.
Even though Tohsaka never told him, he had an idea of who her Servant truly was.
Gritting his teeth, he wills his Magic Circuits to come to life.
'I need to protect her…!'
He feels his blood vessels beat violently as his will overrides his body's natural limits. His Circuits whir rapidly, and he grits his teeth as the Caster's walk starts turning into a run.
The beast's intense speed that it had demonstrated before wasn't present— it likely expended much of it to take down Archer.
If there is any chance, it is now.
"Trace, ON—!"
His vision changes, like it had once before.
The same field of blades surrounds him, with the same unnatural, massive turning cogs in the sky.
In front of him are two figures.
One, the crimson coat and white hair of what looked to be Rin's Servant.
The other, a boy with red hair, and a white and blue shirt and jeans, his face bloody as he holds blades identical to Archer's own, and runs toward him with every will in his body.
With every step the teenage boy takes, he unlocks a light that turns the dreary, red environment of Archer's World into his own. Behind him, instead of machine-like cogs and cloudy skies, are a bright, sunny world, with white, wispy clouds of hope.
'This Reality Marble…' Shirou mutters. '…It's not just Archer's.'
A reality in one's heart, brought forward into the world. It represents one's ideals, and one's true belief born in their very souls.
So of course— that dream, that unwavering will: it would be the same, regardless of the Shirou Emiya that calls upon it.
Even if the appearance is different, the heart remains the same.
'Now I understand, Tohsaka. Why you wanted me to watch him.'
His vision returns to normal, and Caster's only a few meters from him. His eyes widening, he opens his palms, and in his mind, recalls the blades that Archer held in his hands.
"I am…"
His mana circuits start to break, but he keeps his will as two swords form in his hands.
One black, and one white.
"…the bone of my sword."
Caster's spear thrusts forward, but with every inch of will in his body, he collides his blades into the polearm, and redirects its trajectory away from him with a sharp, shining, piercing cry of metal.
His eyes suddenly widen as a massive burst of pain shoots through his arms and down his body. His mana circuits are overrun, and his blood vessels burst as he cries out and falls to his knees.
Even with the accelerated knowledge the Reality Marble had given him, he is still a weak mage at heart.
Tracing two whole weapons without preparation had utterly destroyed his body.
"Emiya-kun—!" He hears, in his agony, Tohsaka yell out to him as Caster lifts up his spear, and aims it at the boy's heart.
He closes his eyes, accepting his fate.
"…Hmph. Just in time."
He opens his eyes, and sees a red mantle jump in front of his body, that kicks Caster away at the last moment.
Tohsaka grabs his collapsed body, and pulls him away. In his blurred vision, he watches Archer struggle to his feet as the behemoth of a Caster lights his spear in a crimson red, bloody aura.
Archer opens his palm, and a blue, shining, floating dagger flies into his hands from somewhere in the Reality Marble.
The two Servants prepare.
"YOUR HEART IS MINE.
GAE…BOLG!"
Caster thrusts.
Archer announces.
"Answerer!"
Caster's weapon moves forth, but Shirou's eyes widen as the world around him suddenly flashes white.
When it returns, Caster is back in his low stance, and Archer releases his blade of blue light, striking first despite striking last a moment before.
"FRAGARACH!"
A blue beam fires from Archer's weapon, toward the Hound of Culann's heart.
Simultaneously, a red line twists around the beam's light, and Archer's body is blown back as the red arc crashes into him.
Shirou faintly hears the cry of Tohsaka's voice, calling for Archer's name. He watches weakly, as the body of the Wrought Iron Hero starts to turn into golden glitters, vanishing from the limbs and inward.
Archer turns his head, and makes direct eye contact with him.
Just as the glitters overcome the Servant's torso and make their way up to his head, Emiya sees him mouth a phrase he could barely make out.
"Will you…keep up with me?"
And before his eyes, the world of cogs and swords dissipates; and his vision fades into darkness as the World turns reality to normal.
P.O.V.: A Certain Level 0
Minutes before.
"What…what just happened?"
Touma Kamijou looks over the battlefield, which is now eerily silent without a massive, monstrous version of Caster looming over them. Not only that, but Tohsaka, her Servant, and Emiya had vanished without a trace, after a light appeared that nearly blinded him.
Tsuchimikado clicks his tongue, "…Looks like Archer has a Reality Marble."
"A Reality…Marble?" Kamijou asks.
"It's some high-concept Magecraft, almost reaching the level of Magic." The Hawaiian-shirted teen explains, "Let's just say that they're somewhere pretty far from here, but they'll be back in a few minutes…assuming Caster didn't kill them in Archer's own Reality."
'Yeah, let's not jinx that.' Touma thought.
His gaze turns to either side of the battlefield, where small hordes of Assassins slowly start to re-encircle them, after being forced to retreat from the sudden arrival of that monster. "We're not out of the woods yet."
Tsuchimikado nods. "Definitely not. Well-"
Kamijou shouts out in protest as his friend kicks him down the crater to the battlefield, almost stumbling over, "Tsuchimikado, what the hell-?!"
"I'm more of a support and espionage guy, myself." Motoharu grins, "Your Right Hand can basically oneshot Servants, so you're up, Kami-yan!"
"Urgh…!" Touma grits his teeth and regains his balance, sprinting toward Saber, since she is dealing with her group of Assassins solo. Mikoto and their own Assassin seem to be good enough on their own in any case.
With a shout declaring his presence, the nearest Assassins stare at him in almost bewilderment; amazed that a mere human would so haphazardly throw themselves against something as powerful as a Servant.
That is, until he actually connected his fist.
A glass-shattering crack breaks through the air as Kamijou's fist meets an Assassin's face, who must have chosen not to evade out of hubris.
It suddenly cries out as half of its face is immediately disintegrated, and it falls to the ground and squirms, rolling in pain as its body starts to melt in on itself.
The rest of the Assassins suddenly lock onto Touma, their movements cautious as they slowly begin to encircle him. "Yeah, that's right." Kamijou announces, "Who else wants to fight me, huh?!"
A wooosh of wind almost tumbles Kamijou over as short blonde hair appears next to him, holding something in her hands that he couldn't see. "That ability of yours is fascinating…Touma, correct?"
Touma ignores her use of his given name, and nods, "Yeah. If I can strike them with my Right Hand, I can essentially cripple them."
"Right, but do be careful." Saber narrows her eyes at the Assassins, who seem to be fighting much more conservative after seeing one of their comrades go down in one hit. "Despite your ability, you are still human."
"Right…" Kamijou tightens his fist, back-to-back with Emiya's Servant.
'A dozen or so Assassins surrounding us…' He thinks, 'Probably the same amount that Misaka and her friend's Assassin are fighting…
Wait-!'
A sense of impending death looms over from his left, and he ducks his head as the slash of a knife through air can be heard over him. Simultaneously, another Assassin in front of him twitches, then rushes toward him faster than an Olympic athlete.
He rolls right out of a sheer will to live, hearing it grunt as its knife stabs into the dirt unsuccessfully. Gritting his teeth, he grips the dirt with his shoes and bounces back, throwing his right fist forward and crashing it directly into the Assassins' midsection.
It immediately coughs out a massive spurt of spit and blood as it crumples to the ground. Above him, the Assassin that tried cutting his neck screams as a metallic blade sears into its torso, then blows it away with a gust of wind.
"Thanks, Saber." He nods to the Servant, whose guard didn't falter.
"Touma, get down!"
"Wait, wha-!?"
He looks around him, and sees the Assassins had lost their compunction; unable to beat them individually, they all jump the pair at once.
Even with his fast reflexes, Kamijou couldn't evade multiple enemies at once like this. He curls to the ground as a breeze picks up around him, and the female knight shouts:
"Strike Air!"
Straight up into the sky, the Knight releases a tornado-force gust that blows all of the Assassins backwards just before they could make contact with any of their bodies.
As they fly through the air disoriented, Saber hefts her sword without missing a beat and shouts, "Touma, take them out before they can stand!"
"R-Right!" He watches them all fly through the air, and runs to where he thinks they'll land. Behind him, he can hear the blonde Servant slash her blade, tearing into cloth and flesh as inhuman voices cry out and then falter out.
One Assassin falls nearly next to him, and to make their fall even more painful, the Level 0 slams his right fist into their gut and punches downward.
This Assassin, a female, this time, screams in agony as their body is cleanly ripped in two. Instead of blood, a black void appears between their torso and their legs, slowly eating away at both sides of her like a disease.
Not wanting to dwell on its pain and empathize with the Servant, Touma quickly moves on and strikes another Assassin as they fall, wincing as they hear them cry out.
'No…don't get distracted! They're not human…they're more ghosts than they are people. They've already died once before.'
After striking down two or three more, he finds the last one in front of him kneeling over on the ground, her body shivering in pain as it tries to gather its bearings.
She didn't notice him yet. Pulling back his fist, he feels his heart start to ache. '…She's defenseless…'
Taking a breath, he punches down.
The Assassin coughs as he plants his hand into her back, then flattens onto the ground. It sobs lightly, tears coming down its face.
"…I'm sorry." Kamijou mutters.
"You did what you had to, Touma." A royal, feminine voice says near him. He looks to see Saber, her body splattered with blood that's slowly steaming away. "They're enemies. If it wasn't them, it was going to be us."
Kamijou takes one last look at the Assassin below him, who's gone limp and starting to fade away. "Still…taking lives like this…and with just one punch…"
Saber shakes her head, "We Servants have already died once before. Death is a part of our existence. Do not fret if you watch one of us die: in a way, it is a part of our role in the Holy Grail War."
Touma reluctantly nods his head. '…I don't know if I can agree with that…'
He remembers back to the Assassins' cries; while some seemed inhuman, others genuinely sounded like people crying in absolute abhorrent pain, that he caused them. "…Yeah, okay. In any case…"
He looks over to the other side, where Misaka and Assassin were fighting their own battle.
Assassin seems to be nearly finished, stabbing her blade into a downed false Assassin. He had heard a loud sound coming from that direction a moment ago, but after spotting Misaka's arm lifted up and sparking with electricity, he figured she had fired her signature Railgun.
Speaking of Misaka…
"What is she doing?" Touma thinks.
He sees her walking toward what looks like a little girl: one with dark violet hair and a tan complexion. Misaka steps closer to her, as the mysterious girl mouths something that Touma can't hear from his location.
"Why is a kid here…?" Touma asks out loud.
He sees Assassin turn her head, then her eyes begin to glow again as she reaches out to Misaka.
Saber realizes what's apparently wrong as well, and starts running up to her. "Mikoto, don't-!"
Misaka turns her head, puzzled. "What're you guys-?!"
Kamijou's eyes widen as he sees something standing next to Misaka.
Something.
Dark, voidal, and translucent, yet opaque.
He, too, raises his arm and runs at her as fast as he can. "MISAKA!"
P.O.V.: A Certain Scientific Railgun
Moments before.
'This is…'
Mikoto Misaka raises her arm to the sky, letting a wave of electric blue lightning coil off her body in a massive wave, striking any Assassins that aren't fast enough to dodge. The few unlucky ones are struck with a quantity of volts utterly deadly for a human, and incredibly dangerous for even a Servant.
'This is almost too easy.'
She glances to her left, to see their own Assassin cut through her enemies easily, moving like a blur even to the Electromaster. The kimono-wearer's movements are so fast, in fact, that she almost seems to afterimage; shadows of herself appear where she once was, as if the world itself was trying to keep up with her location.
Her knife slashes through three false Assassins in the space it took Misaka to breathe, and they all collapse to the floor simultaneously; their limbs slashed clean off their torsos, and their torsos effortlessly chopped in two as if they were made of butter.
'Sheesh.' Mikoto thinks, 'Remind me to never get on Assassin's bad side.'
The Servant looks at her and nods, her glowing blue irises fading back into a soft onyx as Misaka looks for any stragglers.
One Assassin, their body charred from a lightning strike she must have sent on him earlier, grips his knife and stumbles toward her; unable to move as fast as Servants normally do thanks to his body being burnt from head-to-toe.
Mikoto's eyes widen as she recognizes the Assassin's frame: skinny and lanky arms, with a body so thin that she could see its ribcage, as well as an entirely bald head with only a loincloth covering their body. The cloak they had worn was turned into tatters.
She recognized this one instantly. "You're…!"
The Electromaster pulls out a coin, and points it right between the Assassin's eyes. "You're the one that attacked Kuroko!"
The Assassin only roars out incoherently in response. Some, apparently, could speak in a manner she could understand, while others could only speak in animalistic grunts.
It made Misaka's job of separating her empathy from them that much easier, anyway. Gritting her teeth, her mind recalls seeing the pain on Kuroko's face, and the profuse amounts of blood that poured from her leg.
'No, they don't deserve mercy.'
Her body is surrounded in a blue, sparking aura, then without hesitation, a massive blast of what sounds akin to a cannon firing blows through the Underground District. The Assassin is effortlessly blown backwards at supersonic speeds, crashing into the dirt and drilling through it for several meters, their body tearing apart from the sheer force of the blast that the Railgun had fired.
All from a single, lightweight coin.
When the dust settles and the light fades, Misaka spots no sign of the Assassin any longer.
"…That was a little overkill, don't you think?" The friendly Assassin comments.
"Hmph." Misaka crosses her arms. "They hurt my friends. Anyone who does that…they don't deserve any kindness from me." She turns to Assassin, and smirks, "And you're one to talk. Don't you stab them with your knife? That has to be painful, too."
Assassin shrugs, pocketing her blade, "It's a little more complicated than just stabbing, but basically."
Mikoto sighs, letting her guard down as the battlefield starts to quiet. Kamijou and Saber seem to be wrapping up their side as well, with Kamijou punching every Assassin he gets near, and crippling them with his right hand.
'Good, it's almost over.'
She sighs, almost wanting to lay down from all the running they had done, but keeps her body upright in case anything else happens. She still didn't quite know what happened with Shirou and that Tohsaka girl, as well as her own Servant— but from what Assassin had told her, they'd be back in a minute or two.
'Hopefully, with that…thing defeated.'
She shivers at the thought of that massive creature that had suddenly appeared and attacked them out of nowhere. It moved much faster than the Assassins she had fought; and seemed to be much more powerful and durable than even Saber was. 'Might even be stronger than that girl's Berserker…' Mikoto ponders.
"I'm going to go check on your friend and Saber," Assassin says, walking off.
"He's not my—!" Misaka feels her face turn red at Assassin's accusation, but takes a breath and lets it go. 'Can't afford to lose my temper, here.'
She decides to follow Assassin, and starts making her way toward—
For some reason, she spots something walking up to her in the corner of her vision. Thinking it's another Assassin, she tenses her body and swivels her head in that direction.
Only to see nothing of the sort.
Instead, standing innocently, and staring with large pupils right at her, is a little girl. She's no older than seven or eight years old, with tan skin, dark violet hair and a white dress that reaches down to her thighs. A white object is tied into the side of her hair, but Misaka can't tell what it is from the angle she is standing.
"Um…hello?" Misaka says out to her. 'How did a kid find her way down here…?'
The girl tilts her head, seeming puzzled at her greeting. Slowly, she lifts up her hand, and gestures with her fingers for Misaka to get closer.
Mikoto slowly makes her way over to her. "It's not safe for you to be out here, you know. Here, just come to me, and we'll take you somewhere safe."
"Misaka!" Assassin calls out to her from behind, "Don't get too close to her!"
"Huh?" Mikoto looks back to Assassin, whose eyes are fully activated with that blue glow once again, running toward her quickly. "What're you guys-?"
She turns back to the girl, whose face turns into a frown, and mouths something under her breath that Mikoto can't hear.
However, she makes out what the girl had mouthed.
"Behind you."
Her heart sinks into her stomach. She turns her body, and her vision is consumed by the void itself.
Standing just a meter or two away from her, is a tall, dark, black, voidal something. It stands just as tall as her, and its skin, or…surface seems to absorb all sorts of light or energy that it makes contact with. The only source of light on its body are red lines that border its limbs— long, black ribbon-like tendrils that stretch from the top of its body to the bottom.
Her breath hitches in her throat.
Time seems to slow down as she can't make her eyes look away from the object, or the person, or the entity. For all intents and purposes, and for all Mikoto knew, it could be all three at the same time, or none of those at all.
A blank existence, standing in front of her. A horror unlike anything she's fathomed; far beyond even what she could understand.
An entity that denies all forms of science.
She finds herself frozen in place as the Something casts a shadow of darkness on her.
Her vision is consumed by darkness. She feels something crawling up her legs, trying to invade every inch of her body and tear it to pieces.
Her senses scream out, telling her to move despite her being utterly unable to.
Then, everything vanishes in a heartbeat. The pain subsides, and the darkness recedes as her vision comes back to her, and she can make out the artificial, starry night sky of the Underground District once more.
She grunts as she feels something push into her shoulder and shove her aside. Her breath comes back to her, and she turns her head to whatever had pulled her from hell itself.
And her heart sinks to its stomach once again.
Misaka locks eyes with a pair of brown irises and pigtailed hair. "Kuro—!"
The Teleporter's eyes soften, and a thin, grateful smile comes across her face as she sees that Misaka is now safe. Desperately, Mikoto reaches out to her, her fingertips just centimeters away from pulling her out.
The Level 4's outstretched arm is extended out to her; and is likely the thing that had pushed Misaka to the side, and barely out of harm's way.
She could not, however, save herself.
Just before Misaka could grab her, Kuroko recoils her hand, and lets herself fall into the darkness.
The shadow wraps around Kuroko Shirai's body, and then chomps down mercilessly. The girl opens her mouth as if to scream, but no sound comes out as she limply falls to the ground.
A black substance stains the middle of Shirai's body, crackling with a dark, twisted energy that Misaka couldn't fathom. Without even thinking, she scrambles over to her friend, grabbing the unstained parts of her body and rolling her over.
Her whole body trembles as she sees the light in Kuroko's eyes fading.
"Kuro…ko…!"
Everything else around her doesn't matter anymore. She can somewhat hear the screams of Kamijou as he runs up beside her, and the glass-shattering screech of his right hand rings out.
But she doesn't care.
She keeps her eyes on the girl laying on her knees. Misaka holds her hand over Shirai's mouth, and gasps as her breath is nearly nonexistent.
A masculine hand appears in Misaka's periphery, and she watches the blackness around Kuroko fade as it touches her body and repels the shadows away.
And in its place…
'Oh my God…
…No…
Nonono…
Why…?!'
In its place, is a sopping pool of red blood. A massive tear gashed through the Esper's body, exposing her lower organs, much of which are mutilated beyond repair. A gut-wrenching stench suddenly invades Misaka's nose, and her body feels the urge to hurl and cry simultaneously.
Just beyond her skirt, she can see one of her legs bleeding— independent from her body, covered in red and pinkish-grey innards.
An entire limb had been ripped apart.
Misaka's recalls back to the Level 6 Shift Experiments, and what the 1st Ranked had done to one of her Sisters.
But now…
'No…please don't let this be…
Please don't let this be real.
This is a nightmare. I'm gonna wake up soon, right?
I'm going to wake up, and Kuroko's going to be right next to me, cuddling me and calling me Onee-sama.
She'll be right there.
Right…there…'
A soft, weak hand touches her cheek. Mikoto wipes the tears away from her blurry vision, and sees Shirai's bloodied palm softly pressing against her face.
A gentle, tiny, yet warm smile comes across Kuroko's lips.
"Kuro…!"
The hand falls. Her head limply collapses onto Misaka's lap.
Blood overflows, leaving Mikoto in a puddle of the Esper's red, liquid innards.
The light behind Kuroko Shirai's eyes disappears.
And all that her best, and closest friend can do…
"Ah…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
…is scream.
Act I Finale: "A Certain Curtain Closer" (December 13th)
