Fate/Reforged
Chapter 3: Confrontation
Fuyuki Central Park, Fuyuki City, Japan; February 5, 2024
"You said that it would have taken a really powerful magus to even scratch the wards surrounding that castle, right?"
"Right." Mayumi agreed, wondering where Lancer was going with this.
"Well, what if it wasn't actually a magus who did it?"
Mayumi's eyes widened in realization then as she caught onto exactly what Lancer was suggesting. "Wait a second... you don't mean it was a Servant who attacked the Einzbern Castle?"
"It fits, doesn't it? Judging by the timeline, it had to have been the first Servant summoned for the war."
Mayumi pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "That's not good." She said aloud, her words directed more to herself than Lancer now.
"Shogun, forgive me, but perhaps it would be best if you keep your thoughts in your head for now? I don't think you want to risk any of the other masters who might be watching seeing you talking to yourself."
"You're right. Of course."
"Of course I'm right." Lancer's smug grin popped into Mayumi's memory, and she had the strong urge to punch him. Not that it would actually hurt him, of course, but it might make her feel a bit better. "Anyway, why do you say that's not good?"
"Because even a Servant would have had to be pretty powerful in order to completely break through the Einzbern defenses like that. Which means we know there is at least one extremely strong enemy we'll have to defeat if we want to win the Grail War."
"Even the mightiest of dragons have a soft belly, shogun."
Mayumi groaned and turned in the seat of her bike, standing upright and putting one foot on the pedals. "What does that even mean?"
"It means that even the strongest of enemies will have some kind of weakness to exploit. All we will have to do is find it."
"I hope you're right, Lancer..." She thought, then kicked off the ground and put her other foot on the pedals of the bike as she began to ride back down the trail to leave the park.
She barely got ten feet, however, when she found herself flying through the air, unable to breathe.
"Shogun!" She vaguely heard Lancer's voice say just before she hit the ground. Hard.
Mayumi could barely even think to herself, let alone reply to Lancer in that moment. Her entire body was seized up in pain, and she was in shock, simply trying to remember how to breathe. She couldn't even tell if her eyes were open or shut, her vision completely shrouded in darkness. The only things she was conscious of were the incessant ringing in her ears, and the sound of her own pounding heartbeat reverberating in her skull.
Finally, after several long moments, she found herself able to take in several short, shallow breaths. The oxygen rushed to distribute once more throughout her bloodstream, slowly returning some semblance of clarity to her as she began clawing at the grass and dirt below her, desperately searching for something to ground herself. After what seemed like an eternity, she managed to wrap her hand around something firm and cold. Something metallic. It was the frame of her bike, she realized, though it was bent awkwardly now. She was sure that when her vision finally returned, she would find her bike totally destroyed by whatever it was that had sent her flying.
Still, gripping the cold metal helped her to drag herself back to full consciousness. Her vision slowly returned to her, beginning with a light that blinded her. Though, the light wasn't from her surroundings, it came from behind her eyes, and she knew she'd definitely have a concussion. Eventually, the light died down, and she was able to see blurry shapes moving in front of her. The ringing in her ears and the pounding of her heart in her skull faded next, and she could vaguely hear a metallic clanging, like the sound of swords clashing, but faster. Much faster. The blurry shapes were illuminated by a kind of strobe light as Mayumi squinted her eyes to try and make out what was happening.
'What... what is happening?' She wondered weakly to herself.
"-gun!" She heard in her head, and looked around in confusion. Her blurry surroundings' movement in her vision gave her a feeling of motion sickness, and she had to resist the urge to throw up.
Mayumi planted her fists into the ground, gasping for more air as she realized she had momentarily forgotten to keep breathing.
'Breathing is important...' She reminded herself, and closed her eyes once more as she focused on breathing. She'd get nowhere if she couldn't continuously take in oxygen without having to think about it.
Once she was sure she had the hang of breathing again, she opened her eyes, her vision slightly clearer than before. The rapid clanging of metal on metal continued on, though with an occasional pause that seemed to coincide with a slight pause in the strobe lights as well.
'Not strobe lights...' She realized. 'Sparks... But... from what?'
She closed her eyes once more and began counting to ten.
'One... two... three...'
Meanwhile, she heard the voice again.
"-un! Ta-... -oo me!"
'Four... five... six...'
"-ammit! Snap ou- vit!"
'Seven... eight-!'
She didn't even make it to ten before her eyes shot open, and she realized she could see clearly again, everything rushing back to her at once. "Lancer!" She gasped aloud, jerking her head over to see her Servant engaged in combat with another.
"Shogun! Are you alright?" She heard Lancer's voice out loud this time, rather than in her head. He was standing still now, staring down the enemy Servant as they circled each other, their eyes never breaking contact, even to blink. In a battle between Servants, one blink would mean the end.
"Do you really have time to be worrying about your master, Lancer?" The enemy Servant asked with a smirk, and Mayumi realized that it was a woman's voice.
It shouldn't have surprised her, of course. Plenty of women had made their marks on history through the ages, so naturally there would be many female heroic spirits. Odds were that at least one or two of her enemies would be female. Still, it caught Mayumi off guard enough that she had to take a moment to examine her.
Her height was the first thing Mayumi noticed. She was tall, for a woman. In fact, she was actually taller than Lancer. After a quick visual measurement, Mayumi estimated her to be a little more than six feet tall. Mayumi's second observation was that she was very well-built. She wasn't bulky by any means, but she was chiseled like a marble statue, the edge of every single muscle well-defined. Her eyes were the color of blood, and her long, flowing hair was the color of sun-bleached bone. She barely wore any clothes at all, really. She had bandages wrapped around her breasts, and her nether regions were concealed by a piece of white clothing that could only be compared to bikini bottoms. She wore leather sandals, and shin guards that seemed to be actually made of bone, and her arms were protected from wrist to elbow by matching bone gauntlets. around her waist, she wore a leather belt that somewhat resembled a wrestling heavyweight champion's belt, with a large gold plate on the front, and smaller plates along the sides. The central plate had a word stamped into it in what appeared to be Greek letters. Her lightly tanned skin was marked with several tribal-style tattoos in red ink that she seemed to wear proudly, concealing not a single inch from view, nor did she hide the fact that the only place she seemed to be lacking was in the chest. Mayumi didn't consider herself "large" in the breast department, but even she had more going on than the woman currently squaring off against Lancer. Still, she was certainly a remarkable woman, and clearly built to be a warrior.
She stood in sharp contrast to Lancer, who had only his head and palms exposed. Every inch of his body was covered, though his clothing was certainly not bulky, either. His attire consisted primarily of a dark gray bodysuit. His shins and forearms were protected by black samurai-styled armor plates with gold around the edges, black geta on his feet, and armor plating on his shoulders that matched his gauntlets and shin guards. His black hair was tied back and pulled up into a folded ponytail, to keep it from getting in his face. His black eyes never left the other Servant's red as they circled, resembling tigers stalking each other, each waiting for the other to show even the slightest moment of weakness.
Lancer's grip on his spear tightened as he narrowed his eyes and smirked. "At least my shogun isn't hiding in the shadows like a coward." He retorted to the enemy Servant's verbal jab. "Where exactly is your master, eh, Rider?"
'So she's the Rider class heroic spirit, huh?' Mayumi thought to herself as she slowly pushed herself to her feet and winced as she brushed the dirt off her skirt and legs. Something felt... off about her left shoulder, and she vaguely recalled that being the side she had initially landed on. She rolled it once to inspect the damage, and gasped as her entire left side was consumed in pain. Yep, her shoulder had definitely been dislocated. She felt tears spring to her eyes as her right hand shot up to clutch at her shoulder. A big mistake, of course, as the action sent more pain coursing through her left side. Still, she kept her grip and forced herself to breathe through it.
'Alright, Emiya... focus... You can do this... It's just a little pain, you'll be alright... Don't be a baby, dammit!' She internally screamed at herself, then whimpered as she activated her magic circuits, her mana flowing through her right hand into her left shoulder. "Trace... on!" She muttered under her breath, closing her eyes. She visualized the circuits in her shoulder covering the bones, then pulled the joint back together, forcing the joint to realign and pop back into place with a sickening crack. She cried out in agony and sank back to her knees with a whimper, then forced herself to quiet back down again. Still, her breathing had devolved into a mess of whimpers, her eyes clenched shut as she struggled to work through the pain.
Rider and Lancer both observed her curiously, watching as she managed to push herself to her feet once more, breathing heavily.
"I'll give you this much, Lancer; your master is a tough one. She'd have made a fine warrior back in my day." Rider said, her voice carrying a tone of amusement.
Lancer hummed and nodded in agreement. "I would say the same for your master, but... well..." He said sharply with a somewhat cocky smirk.
Rider grimaced and gripped the hilts of her short swords tighter. "Are you just going to keep making that same comment about my coward of a master, or are you ever actually going to attack?"
"Funny, here I was, waiting for you to attack. Seeing as you attacked my shogun, I figured you would appreciate being allowed to take the initiative." Lancer countered. "What's that saying the kids use today? "Ladies first"?"
Rider didn't waste another second, launching herself at Lancer with a growl. Her body seemed to vanish for a split second due to her speed, and Mayumi realized that her lack of clothing wasn't merely a fashion statement. Servants were naturally supposed to be fast, of course, as well as strong, but Rider's speed was something else entirely. Not only was her body built for it, her choice in attire seemed to enhance her speed even further with its unrestrictive simplicity. The lack of heavy, bulky armor and clothing meant she could move freely and quickly, even beyond what other Servants were likely able to achieve.
She seemed almost to dance around Lancer. First, she attacked from the front, bringing her blades around together in an arc from the right. In the next instant, she was behind him, swiping up with one blade while her other blade swung downwards. The next instant, she appeared above Lancer, attacking from the air. Every heartbeat, she came from a different direction, as if there were several of her, all attacking from different angles to keep Lancer off balance.
To his credit, Lancer managed to deflect every attack fairly well, making it look almost easy. Still, he was utterly unable to go on the offensive, as it was all he could do just to keep up with Rider's speed. He didn't bother taking the time to turn and face her, he simply moved his spear around his body to where he could sense her coming from, acting on pure instinct. Those that he was unable to block in time, he narrowly avoided by angling his body just enough that Rider's blade would miss him by a hair's breadth. He somehow managed to keep his balance, despite Rider's furious assault, though Mayumi could tell from his silence that it was taking every ounce of his concentration to do so. If she even tried to speak to him with their mental connection, she would cost him the fight for sure.
Meanwhile, Rider seemed to have no such restriction. She threw taunts at Lancer as she attacked, laughing about how he simply couldn't keep up with her, telling him to just surrender, promising she'd make his death quick, and that she'd leave Mayumi alone once he was gone. Lancer didn't take the bait, of course, but that was the only reason he was managing to hold her off.
'How...?' Mayumi thought to herself, making sure to not break Lancer's concentration. 'How is there such a gap between them?A heroic spirit like Lancer should be untouchable... Yet it's all he can do to just survive this! What... What is she?' A thought occurred to her that Rider could have been the one to destroy the Einzbern Castle, but she dismissed the idea quickly. No, whoever had done that had incinerated the castle in minutes. Rider had shown no signs of having any power over flames, and she had taken the time to physically confront Lancer and Mayumi, rather than simply destroying them from a distance, as was likely the case for the Servant who had attacked the Einzbern Castle. The Castle had likely been destroyed by either the Archer or Caster Servant.
'Then that means there are two extremely powerful Servants in this war... Lancer is beginning to look more and more like the underdog...' Mayumi thought in frustration. 'Still... maybe... if I can catch her off guard...'
Mayumi slowly raised her right arm, gripping her bicep with her left hand as she drew power from her magic crest, and started tracking Rider's movements with her eyes. She looked for some kind of pattern in where she attacked from, any repetition that could be used to decipher where she would come from next.
'There!' Mayumi realized with a start after a minute, and aimed for the space on Lancer's left. Lancer was right-handed, and so he generally positioned his left hand towards the blade to guide his spear while the right hand was positioned towards the opposite end of the spear to provide the power. That meant his spear was typically positioned on his right side, which left his left side slightly more vulnerable to attack. Rider, of course, was taking advantage of this, and attacking more consistently from his left side to try and slip under his guard.
Mayumi quickly gathered her mana in her right hand, a small pearl of black energy charging up at her fingertips as she waited for her opportunity to strike. Before she could, however, Rider was suddenly in front of her, her blades at either side of Mayumi's wrist, threatening to sever her hand completely. Rider's face was inches from Mayumi's, red eyes boring deep into Mayumi's blue. It was clearly an intimidation tactic.
And it worked.
Mayumi completely froze up, her eyes wide as her knees grew weak as she realized the futility of what she had been about to attempt. She knew that she could still follow through with it. Her attack spell was ready, and Rider's chest was exposed, barely an inch away from Mayumi's fingertips. All she had to do was release the Finn shot, and she would blast Rider with the culmination of eight generations of Tohsaka curse magic, directly from the 75% of the magic crest she had received from her mother over the years. Yet even now, she could feel the sting of the edges of Rider's blades slipping across her skin. With the Servant's speed, there was no doubt that she could sever Mayumi's hand before she even thought about releasing her attack. In fact, there was nothing stopping her from doing it now, regardless of whether Mayumi continued her attack.
So why-?
"It would be very stupid of you to try and interfere in our fight, girl. You're tough. I respect that. But in a battle between heroic spirits, a mere human like you doesn't stand a chance. Put your hand down now, or lose it." Rider said calmly.
Mayumi felt her words catch in her throat, leaving her unable to form a verbal response. So, in the end, all she could do was nod. Rider moved her blades slightly, ensuring Mayumi wouldn't accidentally cut her own hand off when she pulled back, and allowed the girl to drop her hands helplessly to the side. The Servant then gave Mayumi a cheeky smile and patted her on the head. "Good girl! Now, just sit here and wait while the grownups finish their fun!" She said with a mocking tone, then turned back towards Lancer.
Mayumi looked at her Servant helplessly to see that Rider had, in the heartbeat before assaulting Mayumi herself, somehow gotten inside Lancer's guard just enough to knock him away and leave him stunned momentarily so he couldn't rush to Mayumi's aid.
'How did she...?' The answer came to her before she even finished forming the question, and she clenched her fists tightly, her shoulders shaking in both fear and anger. 'Because she's just toying with him... She could end Lancer at any moment, but chooses not to...'
Lancer seemed to come to the same realization, because he growled in frustration as he got to his feet.
Rider simply smirked and pointed one of her swords at Lancer. "Shall we pick up where we left off? Tell you what: I'll give you a handicap." She said, then raised both of her hands, her twin swords disappearing in a shower of red lights. They were then replaced immediately by a short spear with an eight inch blade. "As a Lancer, the spear is supposed to be where you dominate, right? A Rider like me could never match a Lancer's skill with a spear. So, then! This should make for an interesting fight!"
Something about Rider's confidence, despite the handicap she had just given herself, put Mayumi off. Red flags were being raised in Mayumi's mind, though she couldn't see any logical reason why.
"Why would she do that? Why would she put herself at such an obvious disadvantage?" She asked Lancer mentally, staring cautiously at Rider.
"I am wondering the same thing, shogun. It does not make sense. Unpredictable opponents are dangerous, though. That much, I can tell you for sure. If you cannot predict an opponent's movements, then you must make yourself even more unpredictable. If you cannot do that, then I have found it is usually better to retreat and live to fight another day."
Mayumi sighed, clenching her fists as her eyes slipped closed for a second. When she opened them, she shook her head at her Servant. "Running away isn't an option. Running won't win us the Holy Grail War. Besides, you saw her speed. Even if we tried, we definitely wouldn't get very far."
Lancer nodded in agreement, glad that his master wasn't some cowardly fool. Still, if Rider's confidence wasn't a bluff, then their chances of actually winning this fight were looking grim.
"Then forward, we march!" Lancer declared mentally before charging towards the enemy.
Rider looked at Lancer for a moment, as if contemplating something. Somehow, Mayumi knew what Rider must be thinking in that moment. It was almost obvious, what she must be considering.
Are they smart enough to realize that running isn't an option? Or are they simply overestimating the apparent advantage that Rider had given them? Perhaps they think that because she was trying to combat Lancer with a spear that they had the fight in the bag? Or was this merely a desperate last-ditch effort to survive this first battle?
Either way, she wasn't going to let this opportunity for a good fight escape.
Rider stood still as she watched Lancer come closer and closer.
Mayumi watched Lancer's charge as if it were happening in slow motion, though it happened in the space between heartbeats. For a split second, as she saw Rider making no move to block the attack, she allowed herself... No, she dared to hope that maybe, just maybe they had called her bluff. After all, how many Servants could simply switch their fighting style on a whim? There couldn't be many. Sure, there were heroic spirits who were famous for wielding different weapons, such as the legendary King Arthur using both the holy sword Excalibur and the holy lance Rhongomyniad at different points, but as a Servant, those spirits usually only had access to a certain weapon and fighting style at a time, depending on their class.
'But does that necessarily mean that, if they were given access to the other weapon, that they would not be able to use it with the same level of profficiency?' Mayumi wondered. She had to confess that she didn't know. She hadn't heard of any heroic spirit gaining access to another of their preferred weapons outside of their class container, so she didn't know how the class they were summoned into impacted their skills with other weapons.
'It would be best,' she decided, 'not to underestimate her... For all we know, she could be just as skilled with a spear as Lancer, even without his class advantage.'
Mayumi watched with baited breath as Lancer finally moved within striking distance, thrusting his spear forwards, towards Rider's heart with purpose. The speed and power with which he attacked stirred up a slight whirlwind that tossed Mayumi's hair, even at the distance she maintained from the Servants. She saw Rider finally move, her spear coming up to knock Lancer's strike aside... and Mayumi felt, rather than saw, Lancer smirk.
'It's a feint!' She realized with a start. Of course it was. Lancer wasn't an idiot, after all. Rider wouldn't have challenged him to a contest of spears if she didn't possess at least some skill with the weapon. An obvious frontal attack like that would never get through her guard. It was intentionally telegraphed!
Just as Rider's spear would have knocked Lancer's aside, the trajectory of the attack changed slightly, causing the blade of Rider's weapon to glance off of the flat of his own blade with a spark, nullifying the block entirely.
'He's got her!' Mayumi thought to herself, a confident smirk playing across her face. 'I-I mean... of course he got her. It was only a matter of time. The moment she chose to take him on with his preferred weapon of choice, the outcome was decided.'
She was brought out of her internal celebration, then, by a cry of pain. A masculine cry of pain. Mayumi's eyes widened as she saw Lancer stagger back, clutching his right shoulder. There was blood on the tip of Rider's spear. Rider herself was unharmed.
"Lancer! What happened? How did she hit you?" Mayumi had been watching the entire time, but she couldn't make out what had happened. It had been so fast, she hadn't seen a thing.
Then, as Lancer thought about that moment, Mayumi saw the counter through Lancer's memory. His mind, which operated at the speed of a Servant, had been able to process everything much faster than Mayumi's could. At the last possible moment, Rider had turned her wrist after her failed block, swinging the spear around just enough that the butt of her weapon had formed the block, instead, batting Lancer's spear aside and leaving him open for a counter attack.
And with Rider's innate speed, the counter had been far too easy.
As Lancer pulled his hand back from the fresh wound, Mayumi saw a shallow gash across his right bicep, blood slowly leaking out of the cut.
"Hmm..." Rider said curiously, examining the wound herself. "You must be incredibly lucky. That should have been a fatal strike to your heart, not just some shallow cut to your arm." She said, then swung her spear around to fling the blood off of the blade.
"Shogun... to be able to counter my feint so effectively... Her skill with the spear is every bit as profficient as my own." Lancer said with a glare towards the enemy. "This will be a very difficult fight..."
Mayumi cursed under her breath and clenched her fists in frustration. "I know... But there's nothing we can do about it. We have to win this, or our Holy Grail War will end before it even begins."
Lancer kept his eyes trained on Rider as he nodded in agreement. There was nothing more to be said. He would fight, and he would win. For his master, his shogun.
"Come on already. Use your Noble Phantasm!" Rider said, her tone conveying her boredom. Clearly, they weren't entertaining her enough.
'So that's what she's after, then!' Mayumi thought to herself with a frown. 'She wants to see Lancer's Noble Phantasm!'
Her eyes met Lancer's, then, and a thought passed between them. It was true that Lancer's Noble Phantasm did seem to be the only path forward, the only way he could defeat Rider...
But that would be playing right into Rider's hand. Clearly, she wanted Lancer to use his Noble Phantasm. Using his trump card like that so early on in the war would reveal his True Name, and put him at a severe disadvantage against any other masters and Servants who managed to learn his identity. He couldn't risk it. Not this early on.
Rider could see that Lancer and Mayumi had no intention of relying on his Noble Phantasm, and she scowled in irritation as she sighed and pointed her spear towards him menacingly. "Fine, then. I guess I'll just have to kill you now, before you become a problem later on." She said under her breath as she charged towards Lancer, her speed causing her to vanish from Mayumi's sight entirely.
Lancer reacted instantly, vanishing from view as well. Mayumi could hear the clanging of metal on metal once more, and sparks flew from the point of impact as the two invisible fighters clashed again and again with relentless speed and power. She couldn't tell which of them was winning, whether Lancer was successfully fending Rider off, or if Rider was continuing to hold the upper hand.
But with Rider focusing on killing Lancer, surely Mayumi could do something now?
Mayumi reached into her bag and pulled out a small, red gemstone, tossing it into the air before quickly firing a finn shot at the jewel. The stone exploded in red sparks, and a translucent red barrier sprang into existence over Mayumi, protecting her. It wouldn't hold for long against a Servant's attack, but it would hopefully buy her enough time to do what she needed to do.
"Alright, here goes nothing..." She muttered under her breath, focusing her mana. "Trace... on!"
Mayumi's father was technically a first generation mage who had learned some basic magecraft from a very skilled mage hunter. However, having been taught only the very basics, the only thing he was really skilled at was the projection of weaponry from his own internal world. As such, it was really the only skill he'd been able to pass on to Mayumi herself. However, because Mayumi didn't possess the internal world owned by her father, her projection magecraft worked a bit differently...
"Judging the concept of creation... Creation conceptualized." Mayumi said as her eyes slipped closed, kick-starting her magic circuits as she began to imagine the object she wished to create.
As Mayumi began working her incantation, both Lancer and Rider turned towards her to watch for a moment.
"Shogun... What are you-...?" Lancer trailed off, confused by his own master's actions.
Rider recovered from her confusion quickly, however. She grimaced, her face quickly turning to a scowl in anger. "I thought I told her to stay the hell out of this!" She growled, then began to charge towards the master, her spear gleaming with red energy.
"No you don't!" Lancer said sharply as he, too, recovered from his confusion, and rushed to defend his master.
"Theorizing the basic structure..." Mayumi continued, trusting in her barrier and her Servant to keep Rider off of her long enough to finish. "Basic structure theorized."
Rider lept into the air, roaring as she spun in midair and slashed downwards with her red spear, the speed of the movement leaving behind a red blur as the weapon arced downwards. Just before the spear could make contact with the barrier, however, Lancer managed to place himself between Rider and his master, barely managing to get his spear up in time to block the attack.
"Formulating the compsition materials... Composition materials formulated. Virtualizing the skill of forging... Skill virtualized." Mayumi continued uninterrupted, showing no signs of having even noticed Lancer's and Rider's proximity.
"Tch... Meddlesome brat!" Rider growled, glaring past Lancer towards his master as she used the momentum from Lancer's block to spring-board herself back up into the air, twisting as she ascended, then landed twenty feet back again, crouching as she prepared to attack again. "Lancer! If your master insists on getting involved in this fight, then I'll have no choice but to take her life! I suggest that you convince her to stand down now if you don't want her to die alongside you!"
Lancer didn't glance back towards his master, keeping his focus on Rider as he considered heeding her advice. In the end, however, he simply sighed and shook his head. The movement was almost imperceptible, but if Rider's sneer was anything to judge by, his decision had been made clear. His master was trusting him to protect her from Rider. What kind of Servant... no, what kind of samurai would he be if he did not put his faith in his shogun just as she was putting her faith in him?
"Engineering experience and growth... Experience engineered." Mayumi extended her right hand outwards, palm facing the ground, and green lightning began crackling along her fingertips, firing out about a foot away from her hand and gathering into a single point before extending to either side of her in a straight line. The energy whipped up a fierce wind within the red barrier from her gems, tossing her hair and clothes, but she maintained focus. She couldn't afford to slip up. Not now. "Hypothesizing accumulated years... Years accumulated."
Rider lunged forwards faster than even Lancer could see, and it was by instinct alone that he was able to narrowly avoid her attack. He realized his mistake too late. Rider sailed past him, the tip of her spear stabbing into the red energy barrier, cracking it. Somehow, it managed to hold up, though the cracks were quickly beginning to spread as Rider continued pouring her strength into the attack.
Lancer quickly spun and managed to kick Rider out of the way, sending her flying back about fifty feet before she skidded to a stop, her feet digging shallow trenches into the ground. Her spear, which was still lodged in the barrier, disappeared in a shower of red sparks, and she held out her hands, her swords once again materializing out of thin air. Without hesitating, she rushed forwards again, slashing out with both blades from the left as Lancer moved once again to block the attack. There was no time for him to go on the offensive against such a fast and strong adversary, but he could keep up the defensive game as long as he had to. Still, even he had his limits, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Rider was able to wear him down enough to slip past him again.
"Shogun! Whatever you're doing, if you could please hurry!" He shouted over the roaring of the wind, which was now spilling out of the crack in the barrier left by Rider's attack.
Mayumi opened her eyes then, her pupils glowing a bright green. The beam of energy forming from the green lightning met her palm, and she grabbed it as if it were a physical thing. In her hand, the energy curved slightly. "Reinforcing structural foundation..." A split second later, the green lightning disappeared, leaving behind a smooth, black bow with a cup-guard surrounding the hand that held it. The bow was covered in subtle, thin, green hexagons that radiated with the same energy that had surrounded the shape. "Foundation reinforced." She said calmly as the wind died down.
Mayumi reached up and pulled the string of the bow back to her ear, and similar green lightning extended from where she was gripping the string through a hole in the cup-guard just above her hand. The lightning dissipated from one end to the other, leaving behind a sleek, black arrow.
It was at that exact moment that Rider was able to slip around Lancer, feinting an attack and spinning herself around him like a top to throw him off balance and get around his guard. She wasted no time and lashed out immediately with her swords. Her attack smashed through Mayumi's damaged barrier, the red energy shattering like glass before vanishing completely.
The mage just smirked as the broken barrier disappeared from between Rider and Mayumi's line of fire. "Projection complete. Now... eat this! Finn Arrow!" Mayumi shouted, releasing the arrow. The arrow rocketed forwards towards Rider at nearly point-blank range. Even Rider's speed wasn't enough to avoid the attack. She only just barely managed to bring her twin blades up in an "X" in front of herself as the arrow slammed into them, pushing her back with tremendous force.
Rider's feet dug into the ground, creating more trenches, and she grit her teeth against the strain. When she finally came to a stop, the blades of her swords were pinned together by the arrow, which had managed to pierce through both ot them, and the arrow itself was smoking. The black tip of the projectile was less than an inch away from Rider's heart.
Each of the three combatants simply stood and stared at each other for a minute. The two Servants were completely taken aback by the power of the attack mustered by the mere human mage before them, and Mayumi herself was breathing heavily, her arms and legs shaking from the effort it took to hold herself up. The bow she'd created quickly dissolved, having only been strong enough for that one shot, and Mayumi was left running on fumes. That one attack had taken everything she had.
Even so, both Servants were fully aware that if that attack had been allowed to find its target, then Rider would have been finished, killed before the Grail War had even officially begun. Rider stared at the exhausted master with wide eyes, not bothering to hide her shock.
After a long moment, Rider's swords vanished in a shower of red sparks once more, and the black arrow clattered to the ground before dissolving just as the bow had. Rider brushed her hands together and sighed as she shook her head. "Well now... Not bad at all... You actually almost had me." She said casually. "It's a shame that that attack drained you so badly. If you could have repeated that, then you might have actually kept me entertained for a while, yourself. That's no small feat for a mere human. You're quite the mage, kid."
Lancer stepped in front of his master, then, crouching in a defensive posture as he prepared to fend off another attack. His shogun no longer had the energy to defend herself or support him, so it was all up to him now. "That was amazing, shogun. Please rest up as much as you can. Leave this to me." He said solemly.
However, he was then taken aback when Rider simply put her hands up in surrender. "No worries." She said simply. "To be honest, I'm actually not supposed to take you guys out, anyway. My master just wanted me to see what you could do. And I think I've got a pretty good idea of your skill levels now. So, now that I know the extent of your abilities, it's time for me to report back." Rider flashed them a cocky grin as she turned to walk away. Before leaving, however, she looked over her shoulder with a smirk. "Though, if you want to chase me down... I suppose my master can't get angry if I have to kill you guys in self-defense."
With that, Rider walked away, throwing back a carefree wave in their direction before dissolving in blue sparks as she returned to her spirit form.
As soon as she was gone, Mayumi's knees hit the ground, and she slumped forwards in exhaustion, barely supporting herself on her hands. Lancer was beside her a moment later, a hand on her shoulder in support.
"I'm sorry, shogun. I failed you. I've dishonored myself as much as I've dishonored you." He said softly, his head hung low in shame.
Mayumi took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she tried to collect herself. Then, she stood again on still-shakey legs as she looked at Lancer. "You... You're..." She stammered, then took another deep breath to calm herself. She then scowled at Lancer and crossed her arms. "You're absolutely right!" She said sharply.
Lancer looked up at her in surprise. "Shog-"
"You absolutely failed me, Lancer! You should be utterly ashamed of yourself! What kind of samurai fails to earn a victory for their shogun?"
Lancer's shoulders sank slightly, and he looked back down at the ground, ready to accept his punishment for failure.
He was surprised once again a moment later as he felt his master's hand on his shoulder, imitating his gesture of support from only a minute earlier. He looked up once again to see Mayumi smiling kindly at him.
"So just don't fail me next time, okay?"
Lancer's face was frozen in surprise for a second before he schooled his features and nodded in agreement, determination to serve his shogun faithfully renewed as a fire burned in his dark eyes.
"Yes, shogun." He said, standing tall once more, then looked towards the spot where Rider had disappeared. "Next time, Rider... Next time, I will claim victory for my master, and restore my honor. I swear it."
5 days later
Fuyuki Church; February 10, 2024
"-protector of the holy balance!"
The young priest-mage's mana surged, red light exploding throughout the room as he completed his incantation. He shielded his eyes to protect them from the blinding light, then waited for the whirlwind to die down before he uncovered his face. His silver cross necklace settled against his chest, and he gazed upon his Servant.
"Are you... my master?" The woman standing before him asked, her black hair tied back in a bun with a single bang hanging down in front of her face. Her deep, green eyes bored into his, as if daring him to declare himself her master.
He rose to the challenge, however, steeling his nerves as he nodded and produced the command seals on his left hand. "Yes, Assassin. I, Ryouta Kotomine, am your master."
AN: Sorry it took so long for me to get this out, guys. The holidays are kind of a crazy time for me, so I haven't had a whole lot of free time for, like, the past week. Between prepping for Thanksgiving and getting out the Christmas decorations, I've been going nonstop since LAST Sunday. Anyway, I hope this chapter makes up for my absence! Please let me know what you guys think!
Also, sorry if the combat scene isn't the best. I'm not used to writing those kinds of scenes, so let me know if there's anything I can do to improve them in the future!