FATE/LÚNASA FÓMHAR
"August Harvest"
Chapter 19: Dispelling Zhou's Shadows
With Vlad III and Li Shuwen facing off, as well as Carmilla being challenged by Elizabeth, this left Yan Qing to murderously glare at Wu Zetian. She stood behind Connla as the younger Servant got into her combat stance and prepared to face him. Suddenly, his gauntlets shone a bright gold color as he charged energy into his palms, then rushed in and thrust them at the girls. Connla's daggers likewise flared with pure white light as she reeled back and heaved forth with all her might. Both attacks clashed with each other, illuminating the area around them in a blinding spark. Yan Qing flipped backwards, surprised that such a small girl could counter him, but he refused to relent in his rampage. He ran towards a nearby building and leapt off it, then pounced all over the place to try and confuse them.
Connla glanced back at Wu and suggested, "You should retreat. He's much too fast for you to keep up with."
"You do not need to tell us twice. We have no interest in associating with such a ruffian, battle or otherwise."
The empress ran off just as the Shadow Servant performed a diving kick straight at her back. Connla got in between them and crossed her swords in front of her face to block it. The blow was so powerful that she couldn't resist swearing, "Crap!"
Her toes literally dug into the ground as she resisted forces powerful enough to shatter bones. It would have been much tougher had she been a Lancer, but as a Saber, her strength parameters were apparently raised from C- to B so that she could equally match Yan Qing's B-rank strength. Despite his mind-numbing rage, he was amused by his little opponent's resilience, and he showed it by devilishly smirking at her. Connla was so spooked by the smile that she pushed him off and tumbled away right before he slashed his heel into the ground, cracking the earth around them.
Before Connla knew it, Yan Qing's leg rushed just millimeters past her cheek. She felt the wind brushing her bangs and sidelocks so powerfully that she thought they would be sucked out of their roots. Without thinking, she quickly grabbed his ankle and used his own momentum to flip him over, throwing him several feet away. He quickly recovered and barged at her, using his shoulder to bash her against a nearby wall, stunning her for a second. She looked up, then instinctively ducked low to avoid having her head smashed into pieces by a lightning-fast kick that pierced through the brickwork. Connla was in such shock that she couldn't think about retaliating – she just wanted to get away from there, which she did by somersaulting across the ground for several feet.
Yan Qing would have pursued her, but he had to flip away in a completely different direction. Connla wasn't sure why at first. That was when a series of black daggers peppered the area where he previously was. A moment later, Jack the Ripper landed in front of her friend and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yes. Thanks for the save," Connla replied.
Yan Qing wasn't going to give them the chance to enjoy their reunion. He ran for the girls, and Jack furiously thrust her larger daggers at his midriff several times. His thick metal gauntlets helped him block each strike, and he grabbed her leg as she whirled to deliver a vicious kick. He hauled her off the ground upside-down and attempted to punch her in the stomach, but a volley of small fireballs courtesy of Connla pummeled him, forcing him to drop Jack. The Assassin elegantly landed back on her feet and took chase while surrounding them in her characteristic thick mist. Connla couldn't see what was going on, so she remained on guard for a minute. She noticed sparks and flashes illuminating the cloud periodically, as if she was watching a distant storm approaching in the sky.
Soon, it was Jack who re-emerged from the mist. She let out a pained scream as she took a nasty spill. Although she fought valiantly, Yan Qing was not perturbed by the darkness and managed to land a kick to her stomach, tossing her out of the mist. It soon vanished, revealing him standing there in his combat stance looking none the worse for wear.
Connla gasped hard and glared at Yan Qing, then asked Jack, "What do we do? We might be even in strength and speed with him, but we're not making any progress."
Jack got back to her feet and became pensive as well. Even so, she suggested, "Remember our training from before?"
The Saber narrowed her eyes. Her friend continued, "I think you've come a long way since then. If we were to fight together like we were one Servant, we could take him down."
"You mean like a tandem attack. That doesn't sound bad. I'll follow your lead then."
They got ready to fight, and Jack taunted at Yan Qing, "Bring it, punk!"
Yan Qing was more than eager to accept the challenge, as he dashed in to meet them in combat once more. Connla jumped high, while Jack remained on the ground to swing her blades at him and simultaneously trying to avoid each of his well-aimed punches. They truly were lost in a frenzy of movement, interrupted only when Connla shot down at Yan Qing and kicked at his head, tossing him off of Jack. He tried to grab her leg the same way he did to Jack earlier, but she anticipated this and activated a Ken Rune, violently throwing him away with a flurry of powerful winds.
As he skidded backwards, Jack ran at him and carved her short swords into his flesh so quickly that he didn't notice at first. Black blood spurted out of the wounds, and he pressed his hand against a deep cut over his rib cage. The girls rejoined and stood side-by-side in opposing yet identical stances, prepared to unleash hell upon their injured foe. Before Yan Qing could do anything, their assault began.
Punch… Slash… Knee jab… High kick… Dropping heel… Another punch… Thrusting kick… Jump high…
Both girls performed these motions with such incredible timing that they truly looked like one Servant had split into two. Yan Qing was clobbered from both sides before being thrown back by the last kick. That was when Jack's body exuded her dark fog, while Connla's shone as radiantly as the sun. They then transformed into a pair of black and white streaks that mercilessly hacked, slashed, and tore apart the Shadow Servant.
"Maria-!" Jack shouted.
"The-!" Connla followed.
"RIPPER!" they screamed together.
In an instant, an X was carved clean through Yan Qing's torso, flaying him into quarters before he exploded in a flash of light and darkness. The girls kneeled behind the blast, making the scene reminiscent of some climactic ending to a fight in an action movie. The civilians who had been watching them couldn't resist applauding at such a spectacle.
In a different section of the town square, the Shadow Servant taking on Carmilla's form haughtily stared at the terrified citizens. Many were so scared that they couldn't think about escaping. To her, they were pigs ready to be slaughtered for her own amusement. She raised her scepter and summoned a small metallic tomb shaped like a woman, then launched it at a teenaged girl who had gotten separated from her boyfriend during the chaos. The tomb opened up to reveal spikes lined inside it, and the girl shrieked in absolute terror.
Suddenly, it was kicked aside by Elizabeth. She generated power in her boots so that pink hearts exploded from the blow, sending the device crashing into the ground. She tumbled in midair and landed in front of the teenager, then winked and declared, "No need to fear! Now that your Number One idol is here, that wench will not have her way!"
"Th-Thank you so much!" the girl stammered and fled the scene.
"Be sure to buy my album when it comes out! Hee hee! Now then," the dragon Lancer grinned and stared at Carmilla. "You and I might have been allies once, but those days are over! All you're good for now is being a stepping stone to my inevitable rise to stardom! Once I prove my devotion to my fans, they will have no choice but to flock to my concerts en masse!"
If Carmilla retained any of her rationality, she would have scoffed at Elizabeth and called her endeavors childish and foolish. She instead remained eerily silent and leapt at her while brandishing her sharpened fingernails like they were claws. Elizabeth twirled aside, then bashed her tail against the countess' back. Although she was garbed in an unwieldy hoop skirt, she managed to regain her footing and fired several black bolts from her scepter at the Lancer. Elizabeth cartwheeled through the fusillade and stabbed her spear at Carmilla several times. Somehow she managed to avoid each thrust, then raised her leg high and jabbed the pointed high heel of her shoe right into Elizabeth's shoulder. Blood spurted out of the wound, forcing the surprised girl to leap away.
"Damn it," she winced. She dared not show her weakness to the onlookers though, so she took a deep breath and straightened up while glaring at Carmilla. Many would be confused as to why the Countess of Blood was so agile, but Elizabeth knew perfectly well.
Of course she would know how I fight. She was once me in the past…
She jumped straight up, then sat sidesaddle on her spear and rode as it thrust down at Carmilla. In response, the countess summoned a barrier covered in numerous thorns and repelled the lance. Elizabeth found herself covered in numerous lacerations after she made contact with the thorns, and she leapt off to land nearby.
Carmilla spread her arms out, and Elizabeth looked up to discover a massive Iron Maiden towering over her. She widened her eyes in dismay as the lady-shaped tomb opened its doors like it was reaching out to embrace her. Inside was a series of blood-soaked spikes waiting to skewer their next victim. Before the Lancer could react though, several violet-robed figures rushed past her and willingly leapt into the Iron Maiden moments before the doors closed in on them. Carmilla's eyes raged in fury as she realized her strongest attack had swallowed the wrong targets.
"Those were… Kuli?" Elizabeth yelped.
"Ahem!" she heard a familiar girl coughing from behind, and she looked back to discover Wu standing there. After leaving Connla to fight Yan Qing, she took refuge behind her Enforcers, but soon saw that Elizabeth was having trouble fighting her opponent and decided to assist.
The empress smirked, "Even if you were once our enemy, we will not idly sit by and allow one of our own citizens to be dismembered so easily. Well? What do you think? Does our boundless magnanimity not strike you to the very core with awe and wonder!? Feel free to express praise for our timely intervention, Elizabeth Bathory!"
"Oh, spare me! I had that woman under control just fine!" the dragon girl retorted.
"Goodness. Humility does not come easily for you, does it? And here we were, about to give you the antidote that will purge the toxins blighting your very veins. Oh well. We suppose there should be a hard limit to our generosity."
"Ah! W-Wait, I take that back! I truly couldn't have done it without you and your most loyal retainers! I promise I'll give you the show of a lifetime! It'll be so grand and wonderful, it'll make Nero's show look like a third-rate rookie's in comparison! All dedicated to you, the most gracious empress of all time! What more could you possibly ask for!?"
Wu didn't look entirely pleased with Elizabeth's pleading, but then smirked and replied, "Aw, what the heck? We'll bite. Circumstances dictate that we must put our differences aside and confront this villain who has been controlling us like puppets from behind the scenes."
"Boy! For once, I wholeheartedly agree with you! I'm not sure whether to be scared or disturbed by this sudden turn of events!"
"You truly are a mess, aren't you?" Wu muttered, but nevertheless fished out a white bottle from her cape and tossed it to Elizabeth. The Lancer eagerly popped off the top and guzzled the antidote down in one gulp.
Suddenly, her eyes bulged in revulsion, then she shouted, "WHAT THE HELL!? That was the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted!"
"Hey, we never said it was a delicious antidote."
"You cheeky little bitch! When I get my hands on you, I'll-!"
"We suggest you concentrate on the most pressing matter at hand," Wu reminded her as she turned to face Carmilla, who was raising her scepter and conjuring dark energy around the ornate top. More black bolts were fired, but Wu countered by hurtling violet needles. They canceled each other out, giving Elizabeth the chance to run past and fight Carmilla head-on.
The countess tried to slash her sharpened nails at the dragon girl's midsection. Without warning, the elongated cuticles were shorn off by Elizabeth's twirling spear. She continued whirling it about, trapping Carmilla in a storm of spinning colors and flying hearts that viciously eviscerated her. Once she finished her first assault, Elizabeth turned around and heartily laughed while smashing her tail against Carmilla numerous times and shouting, "How do you like me now, Blood Countess!? Come on, come on, come on!"
She concluded by bashing the tail over Carmilla's exhausted body as she laid on the ground. Before she could get up, a pair of shackles materialized above and snatched her wrists, then suspended the weakened woman upright. Elizabeth hadn't been responsible for capturing Carmilla, so she glanced over at Wu. The empress smiled and waved her folding fan before her face while declaring, "No escape for you, villain. Make peace with yourself, for your sentence is the most cruel and unusual death imaginable."
"Hey, no fair! I want to decimate that bimbo with my own two hands!" Elizabeth whined.
"Settle yourself, little lizard. We shall offer a most glorious prison upon which she shall hear the full might of your supersonic vocal cords."
"Oh, I get it!"
Wu raised her arms, using her powers to generate a metallic urn large enough to fully encapsulate Carmilla. Elizabeth rushed around the massive container and planted some heart-shaped markings along the sides. The end product looked like some child's poorly-made crafting project gone horribly wrong. However, both girls knew what was going to happen next. Elizabeth spread her dragon wings and flew up to the top of the urn, gracefully standing on the tip with her toes.
"Come one, come all! My show is so enchanting that you will die from awe!" she crooned, then spread her arms wide and began singing.
The hearts lining the vessel suddenly throbbed like… well, actual hearts. Although it was heavily muted, everyone could hear a disturbingly horrendous booming sound reverberating inside the urn. The hearts she had placed actually functioned as speakers to transmit her loud voice into the container, blasting Carmilla with a noise equivalent to the loudest sound ever heard – the 1883 eruption of Mt. Krakatoa, recorded at 180 dB. The entire city rumbled as if an earthquake had hit it, causing almost everyone to fall to their knees in terror.
Elizabeth remained calm despite this cacophony, and she bowed lovingly to her mortified audience before hopping off the urn. It dissolved into particles, revealing nothing but a pile of black dust lying on the ground.
Sparks flashed everywhere in random bursts. Li Shuwen maintained an impressive defense despite Vlad's relentless assault. The martial artist flipped back, then ran up a wall a few steps to avoid his opponent's slashing spear. He vaulted and took a swipe at Vlad's shoulder, successfully cleaving into flesh and bone. Li landed, but Vlad didn't seem bothered by his injury as he raised his hand and produced countless black spikes that pierced through the ground.
Li hurried back to outrun them as best as possible. He flipped, rolled and leapt in contortions that wouldn't be possible for anyone except the most agile of Servants. When he found an opportunity, he finally stood firm and aimed his lance at the oncoming barrage of giant thorns. For a moment, he concentrated pure qi energy into his right arm. He then thrust the spear forth, generating a potent gust that was as lethal as a blade – certainly enough to decimate the spikes and throw Vlad backwards against the wall.
Li remained stoic though. He wasn't the type to revel in his victory, even after his enemy was dead. All his attack accomplished was canceling the stakes and knocking the wind out of the Shadow Servant. He understood that it would be very difficult for him to find that chance to use his characteristic No Second Strike ability when Vlad was capable of handling both short- and long-range combat, whereas Li functioned best in close quarters. Sure enough, once the Romanian regained his senses, he stood tall and planted his spear upon the ground. A large magic circle comprised of Celtic Runes formed beneath him, then extended past Li for around 100 meters until both men were encased inside a Bounded Field.
What is he doing?
As Li pondered this, Vlad charged at him and furiously swiped his spear. They engaged in vicious combat once more, but Li quickly realized that his opponent's strength was far, far greater than it had been before.
"Damn you!" Li cursed and kicked Vlad in the solar plexus, throwing him back. Thanks to their scuffle though, he had a better understanding of the devious trick Vlad pulled on him.
So he's extending his Spirit Origin to the very earth he stands on, transforming it into a tiny slab of Romanian territory. Heroic Spirits who fight in the land of their birth are given a substantial increase in power, so he would definitely benefit from this Bounded Field.
He shifted his eyes to the ground and became pensive.
However, the power he is borrowing appears to be otherworldly in nature. There is simply no way a Servant can establish foreign soil as home territory unless they had help from a greater being. Not to mention the Servant's own mana stores are being used up in the process… Truly a last-ditch gamble, isn't it, Prince of Wallachia?
A delighted smirk crept across his lips.
So there truly is a demonic god hiding among us, controlling us all with invisible reigns to do their bidding. It is ironic for me to say this as a Servant, but never before have I felt so alive!
Indeed, Li Shuwen's path was now set. All he had to do was get rid of any obstacles barring his path, starting with Vlad. He needed to control his excitement though, and that was always difficult for him when he knew there was a much worthier foe waiting in the shadows for him to confront. Nonetheless, he needed to focus on his current task. Li got back in his combat stance, then proceeded to take a lithe step forward…
"Guh!?"
To his astonishment, he found himself coughing up blood. Some sort of excruciating pain shot through multiple areas of his body, causing him to fall onto one knee. Vlad hadn't moved from his spot whatsoever, so Li was absolutely confused as to why he was the one slumped to the ground in pain. He looked down at his chest and discovered that several stakes had spontaneously burst through his skin.
"Wh-When did he-!?" he gurgled in shock.
Vlad wordlessly made his advance once more, raising his lance over his head to try and pierce it through Li's head. That was when an unexpected figure dashed in between them and clashed his sword against the spear.
"HYAH!" Lucius Tiberius screamed and swung so hard that it tossed Vlad off his feet and made him sail away several feet.
"Ungh… You have my thanks," Li said. The stakes had already disappeared, leaving only gaping wounds behind. He stumbled back onto his feet and wondered, "What prompted you to assist me when we were rivals not even five minutes ago?"
Lucius chuckled darkly. "Hm hm hm! After witnessing you fight that beast, I have a better understanding of how he works."
"Do you now?"
"His Noble Phantasm isn't just his stakes - it is the very concept of 'being impaled by stakes'. After all, you can't talk about Vlad Tepes without mentioning the Night Attack at Târgoviște."
Li nodded in understanding. The event Lucius referred to was the aftermath of a battle between Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire, where Vlad left thousands upon thousands of executed Turkish soldiers impaled on large stakes outside the abandoned city. It was a most gory and spectacular display that it inspired fear in the invading sultan, Mehmed II, and prompted him to order his troops to retreat.
He then asked, "So as long as we remain in this Bounded Field, we will further fall victim to this conceptual attack?"
"As if I would let that happen to me! Stand back and watch how a real conqueror fights!" Lucius exclaimed, then charged at the Shadow Servant while barking, "So this is your country, huh!? I like it! I think I'll take it for myself!"
Vlad's red eyes glowed brighter and more sinister than before as he met Lucius in battle. While the Roman Procurator wasn't as fast as his hated rival Arthur Pendragon, his strength was easily A or A+ in ranking, which matched with Vlad's own strength parameters. Each time their weapons clashed, the Shadow Servant could feel the reverberations threatening to tear out his arms.
Lucius laughed, "Feh heh heh! You may have established this small space to be equivalent to Romanian territory, but such an ability doesn't come cheap, Impaler Prince! Even if your strength and Noble Phantasm are boosted, how long will it be before your magical energy runs out!?"
If Vlad heard him, he made no notion to retort. He simply rushed at Lucius and swiped his elongated claws. The Roman realized that blocking it would not be effective, so he quickly sidestepped. The pagoda wall directly behind him was shorn like paper as four lines carved through the structure. Lucius slipped away and attempted to round back, but Vlad sent more stakes at him to keep him at bay. The mirthful Saber felt his blood boiling with the joy of combat as he swiped Florent at the writhing spikes. Each one was decimated as he made his return charge too quickly for Vlad to concentrate on where his opponent was.
"Too slow!" he shouted while barreling past, slashing his sword clean through the Romanian's midsection. Lucius skidded on his feet and turned around, hoping to carve his way through the Shadow Servant's spine. However, he gasped in utter surprise when a series of black stakes exploded out of Vlad's upper back. Before he knew it, Lucius' face, arms and torso were viciously lacerated, and he was forced to jump away to avoid having his head skewered. The emperor spat some blood out and cursed, "Tricky son of a bitch."
Despite his annoyance, Lucius knew that Vlad was faltering. He just needed to keep the pressure going until Vlad ran out of so much magical energy that the god supporting him would abandon the fight. Lucius' grin spread out so wide that the top of his head could have fallen off. Excitement coursed through his veins as he tightly gripped Florent and raised it before him. The familiar white light flared along the blade, and small petals whirled around him. He was certainly charging up his Noble Phantasm, but he made sure not to make it as powerful as when he used it against Beowulf and Connla earlier.
He then shouted, "This is the power of a true sovereign and child of the gods! Florent!"
A beam of dazzling brightness exploded out of the energized blade, overwhelming Vlad and tossing him clean out of the Bounded Field. With its master no longer present, the barrier fizzled out of existence. Perhaps due to Lucius reducing his power, Vlad was not killed in the assault, but he was heavily damaged and his spear was broken in half.
"A fine show. That contemptible field is no more," Li commented. "But an assassination like this requires a more delicate touch. Allow me to finish up here."
The martial artist raised his hands before him in a meditative gesture, then took a few lithe steps while slowly moving his arms about. Ripples of pure qi radiated around his toes, making him look like he was walking on water. He then stood on one foot, spread his arms so they resembled a perfectly vertical line, and then rushed at Vlad faster that one could blink. Li's palm struck the Wallachian prince's stomach, and a tremendous gust of wind exploded from his backside that decimated a few tables and shattered some nearby windows.
Li stood back up properly, then calmly turned away and murmured, "Wu Er Da…"
An instant after he said that, Vlad's form lost its rigidity and disintegrated into a mound of black powder. Lucius smirked, although he was rather miffed that he didn't get the chance to kill Vlad himself. Despite that, he was so impressed with Li's technique that he couldn't keep himself from asking, "How'd you do that? I detected nary a hint of violence in your movement, yet such destruction is on par with my Florent. Furthermore, you are supposed to be a Lancer, are you not? That Noble Phantasm is most certainly not very spearman-like."
"Flexibility, my good man," Li replied. "A true warrior does not reach the pinnacle of just one skill – they study multiple disciplines and interweave them into a seamless web of fluid mastery. Even if my spear were to part ways with my hands, all I need to do is channel into my abilities as an Assassin, and allow my experience to handle the rest. I am embarrassed to admit that my martial arts are not as refined in this youthful body as they will be in my older years, but if the job is done, then I am satisfied."
"You don't say."
As they spoke to each other, they noticed Connla and Jack running toward them. They had scuff marks and scrapes all over their bodies, but were obviously not in danger of dying. The young Saber asked, "Is everything wrapped up here?"
"With the most exquisite bow you could ask for," Lucius chuckled and folded his arms. "I trust you have done away with your enemy?"
"Yes, the Shadow Servant of Yan Qing is dead. What about Carmilla?"
"Nooo~ooo problem!" Elizabeth shouted as she and Wu likewise joined them. "I guess we took care of things at the same time, huh?"
"Stellar work, everyone. Now we must perform a thorough investigation into why all of this is occurring," Wu said. She faced Connla and said, "You there. We take it that you are familiar with the circumstances behind these 'guardian deities'?"
"I don't know the entire story yet, but I'll give you all the information I have. Just one thing though – you think you could give Jack and Elizabeth the antidote for that poison they're suffering from?"
"We already administered it to Bathory, but the serial killer still needs it. Very well; one antidote in exchange for compelling intel."
The empress tossed another white bottle to Jack, and she quickly consumed it in a single gulp. Of course, she cried out after realizing how disgusting it tasted and ran off to get some water. Connla sighed, then said, "Now that that's settled, let's regroup and-"
"LOOK OUT!" Li Shuwen screamed, seemingly apropos of nothing.
"Huh?"
Without thinking about what he was doing, he thrust his spear clear over Connla and Wu Zetian's heads, and the blade made contact with flesh and bone. The girls glanced over agape to see what had startled the warrior. Something had hobbled its way out of the alleyway shadows and rushed for them when they weren't looking.
"Tch!" Lucius snarled and snatched Connla's wrist, pulling her away before another humanoid creature emerged from the ground and swung its whole arm, comprised entirely of a steel lance, upon the surprised Servants. Lucius fended the blow with his sword, then whirled around to throw the monster off him before he bifurcated it down the center.
"YAAAAH! What are those things!?" a random girl squealed in fright. Other people panicked the same way she did, and with good reason.
"Oh, gross! I don't know what these fetid pigs are, but they make the Demon God Pillars look pretty in comparison!" Elizabeth ranted as she rammed her spear through another ghoul's chest. "Oh my GAWD! I seriously think I need to take a shower just from looking at you!"
Wu retched in revulsion and screamed, "What in Diyu is going on here!?" †
"This is bad! Fomorian guardians are popping out everywhere!" Connla shouted. No sooner did she say that did she hurry to a terrified man's aid by slaying a monster before it could pounce on him.
"I don't believe this! Have those monstrosities been sleeping beneath us this whole time!?" the man yelped at her.
"I think so! That's what I wanted to warn your empress about!"
"This is insane! Zhou is no place to live in anymore! Hell, it never was in the first place!" a mother raged before taking her crying children away to safety inside an unscathed building.
"She's right! We need to get out of here!" another person shouted.
"But where to!? We're completely surrounded!"
"The Empress Regnant will know what to do! Have faith in her!"
"Of course! She's the one who relies on the guardian deities! She should know what to do if it goes out of control!"
"Please help us, Empress Regnant! I beg of you! I don't want my children to be eaten!"
Wu Zetian listened to the cries of her people and froze in panic. The crowd began to notice the uncertainty in her eyes, and their attitude immediately changed from absolute faith in their queen to a festering doubt.
"Why does she look so nervous?"
"She does know what she's doing, right?"
"Maybe she doesn't have a clue? She wrestled the guardian deity out of the Dracul Faction's hands, after all."
"What an idiot! I knew right from the start that we shouldn't trust her!"
"I guess we're on our own, huh?"
"Come on, let's ditch this hellhole and leave the monsters to the Servants!"
Wu stammered, "W-Wait, this isn't what you think-"
Connla ran towards her and struck down a ghoul that would have killed Wu had she not interfered. She barked at the empress, "Get a hold of yourself! This is your time to stand firm as a ruler in the face of adversity!"
"But what do we do? We've never experienced such a bizarre incident before."
"The other Servants and I will take care of the monsters. You focus on evacuating the citizens so we can use our Noble Phantasms without worrying about casualties."
"Hmm… We are not prone to taking orders from another, but your suggestion is worth merit."
"There's no harm in listening to advice, is there? You don't have to make every single decision by yourself, you know."
Wu's eyes widened with both surprise and delight. She smiled and exclaimed, "You speak with such sway, young Saber! If that is how it shall be, then leave the evacuation to us! Remain valiant in your defensive efforts, everyone! Many lives are depending on it!"
With that, she ran towards a crowd of terrified people and did her utmost to rally them. Although some folks found it difficult to trust her, everyone agreed that this was a genuine state of emergency. While the other Servants fought off any Fomorians that dared get too close to the evacuees, Wu guided as many people as she could out of Zhou and out into the sandy fields. She even summoned some of her Kuli to assist with the efforts, although their ghastly appearances didn't help matters when it came to keeping everyone calm. Some people were so scared of leaving their homes that the Enforcers needed to resort to force to get them out of the ransacked city.
By now, Jack had returned from her break to join in the battle, but she was absolutely bewildered by what she was fighting. When she got a moment, she asked Connla, "What are these ugly monsters? I don't think we've ever seen them when traveling with Mommy before."
The Celt winced from an injury she received on her arm, then said, "I'm afraid I can't explain. Just dismember them as quickly as possible, got it?"
"Oh, fine. It's better I don't know anyway."
Jack leapt back into the battle and decapitated a row of ghouls in one stroke. She, Connla, Lucius, Li, and Elizabeth fortified Zhou's entrance so that none of the monsters could escape, but the task was proving most difficult when they kept spawning from the muddied ground one by one.
This is bad, Connla thought. They are not powerful individually, but as a horde they are nearly unstoppable. It doesn't seem like we'll get any reinforcements either. What can we do to stop them for good?
"Come on, everyone! Just one last push and we'll finally be in Zhou!" Parvati encouraged her tired troops. She raised her spear and waved it around like a makeshift flag, hoping to inspire her soldiers to press onward.
"Boy, we've sure come a long way, haven't we?" Nursery Rhyme murmured. "Are you sure these men are up to fighting when they're so tired?"
"Don't worry. They might be complaining, but they are as resilient as diamond. Once the battle gets underway, their fatigue will disappear almost immediately, and Wu Zetian will face the justice she deserves for trying to assassinate me."
"I hope Connla and Jack are doing okay…"
"Just be patient. We know that Jack is with Wu, so we'll rescue her in no time flat. After that, I'll dedicate a search party to go look for your other friend."
After traveling another kilometer through the tunnels, a scout who had gone ahead hurried back to meet with Parvati, and he gasped in panic, "I've got urgent news, Your Ladyship! Just now, I saw Wu Zetian leading all of Zhou's citizens out of the city!"
"All of them?" she blurted, and the other soldiers murmured amongst themselves.
"Yes, every last man, woman and child is evacuating as we speak!"
"What in the world is going on? This is hardly in Wu's character."
"I'm not sure, but I took a quick look in the city, and there appears to be a fierce battle underway."
"Could it be an unexpected invasion from Roma?"
"I didn't see any Roman soldiers anywhere, although I spotted the former Triumvirate member Lucius Tiberius."
"Hm… This doesn't sound good. Nursery, you come with me. The rest of you remain hidden until I send word!" Parvati ordered her troops.
The two Servants ran through the tunnel and emerged in Zhou territory. They hurried to see what the commotion was and to speak with Wu. Their search didn't take long when the flustered empress noticed them and squeaked, "Wha-!? Parvati!? What are you doing here!?"
"I could ask you the same question," the goddess firmly stated.
"Nnnngh, we simply don't have the time for our usual political nonsense! If you came here only to get in our way, then get lost already! Our people are scared enough as it is! We don't need you adding to the confusion!"
"What in the world are you talking about? Who is attacking Zhou?"
"An unknown enemy, that's who! If those Servants fail at their job, we'll be overrun by zombies before we know it!"
Nursery freaked out when she heard the word 'zombie', and she ran off towards the city while screaming, "JAAA~AAACK!"
"No, stay here!" Parvati implored, but was too late. She faced Wu and frantically declared, "Listen, I know this is sudden, but I have a company of soldiers waiting outside Zhou's border! If you'd like, I'll have them assist the other Servants in their battle!"
"Are you for real!? You have the nerve to tell us that you performed a war march here, only to turn around and offer assistance!? We will not be taken for a fool so easily! What is your game, Parvati!?" Wu retorted.
"I am not playing at anything! Regardless if this world's human denizens are from different nations, I will not sit by quietly and watch them suffer! I will even throw myself into the fray if I must!"
"Is that so? Then you better start living up to those words immediately! We'll give you permission to have you and your men assist in routing those fiends! We are remiss to admit that those five Servants will not be enough to assure victory! At best, they are simply buying us time!"
"Leave it to me!" Parvati exclaimed, then returned to her soldiers and updated them on the situation. Although many men were bewildered by this turn of events, they implicitly trusted their leader and emerged out of their hiding spot as a unified force. All of Zhou's civilians stood aside and watched the troops march past in nervous silence.
Out in the lead, Parvati raised her spear, then commanded as loudly as she could, "CHARGE!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE #1:
† - The Chinese term for 'hell', or the realm of the dead.
AUTHOR'S NOTE #2: Boy, this was an incredibly hard chapter to get off my ass and write. This story's getting a lot more chaotic than I realized with the sheer number of characters and having them contribute even a little bit to the plot. That's something I'll have to be careful of for Story #7 next year. The Jack/Connla vs. Yan Qing fight was fun though, since I used some Precure fights for references. Unfortunately the next chapter won't be easy to write either, and the ServantFes Event is proving to be a serious grind, but I'll push through it somehow. I absolutely want to get to the final battle and all the twists in store there. In the meantime, thanks for your continued patience and support, readers!