Day 7: Luvia — Chains In The Night
As the sun set, Luviagelita Edelfelt stood in the middle of a park with her Servants False Caster Lina Inverse and False Lancer Rei Ayanami. This was the location she'd decided upon for her final confrontation with the mad serial-killing Servant, False Berserker. Luvia had already completed her part of the preparations by using a number of her magically charged gemstones to set up two bounded fields around the area. The first, set up around the perimeter of the park, would repel any civilians who happened to still be wandering around at this hour. That way, she could engage False Berserker without any fear of being seen or causing collateral damage. The second bounded field was more powerful than the first: a strong defensive barrier set a few feet below ground level. In the past, False Berserker had shown a propensity for escaping dangerous situations by using the magic of its right arm to blow a hole in the ground. But with the bounded field Luvia had established, that wouldn't be happening this time. They would finally be able to corner it and kill it like the rabid dog it was. All that was left was for Lina to do her part: to cast a spell that would lure False Berserker to this specific location.
"This is a spell I developed myself." Lina said. "I invented it to make hunting for food easier during long treks through the wilderness. Basically, it's a mild compulsion spell – a weak mental lure that attracts certain animals. Normally, I'd say there's no way it would work on an intelligent being, one with any type of mental awareness and self-control. But this Berserker, he seems to be behaving like nothing more than a wild animal – a predator. With the spell specifically tuned to his magic energy, he'll be irresistibly drawn here without even consciously realizing why."
"All very well and good, but could you just go ahead and cast the spell already?" Luvia asked. "I don't want to stand out here all night."
"Don't get your panties in a twist." Lina said. "I've already cast the spell. It'll just take a while for the enemy to arrive – it's not like he can teleport."
"Well, in that case, be on your guard." Luvia said. "If it behaves like it has in the past, it'll probably come charging straight for me. I don't want to die because you were distracted yammering on about your spells."
Lina rolled her eyes.
"I'm not an idiot." Lina said. "I've got my pigeon familiars spread out through the city around the park. The Berserker isn't exactly the stealthiest Servant; when he begins approaching, I'll spot him."
"Alright, then." Luvia said.
She leaned against a tree and settled down to wait. Try as she might, she couldn't settle her racing heart. It felt like she spent an eternity there in the fading twilight, trying to calm her nerves and prepare herself for the coming battle, but it was probably only a number of minutes later that Lina spoke again.
"I've spotted him." Lina said. "He's headed straight for our position, moving fast. Get ready, everyone."
Luvia took a deep breath and stood, not allowing herself to show any fear. She felt a tingling sensation under her skin as the perimeter bounded field was breached; the enemy had entered the park. And then it came into sight. The False Berserker had changed since Luvia had first seen it. A chain had been embedded into its chest directly over its heart. Darkness had spread from this point, staining both skin and clothing with a deep blackness. Lines of pulsing red light also spread from the chain, throbbing like exposed arteries in the Servant's arms, legs, and neck. One thing, however, had not changed: the burning hatred in False Berserker's eyes. Whatever had happened to bring about the changes to its body, it was clear at a glance that the rogue Servant was still a mad engine of destruction, and Luvia needed to put it down.
Several long, tense moments passed. Luvia had been expecting the Berserker to immediately attack in a mindless rage, as had been its pattern up until now. But while the Servant's features blazed with barely restrained fury, it seemed to be in control of itself for once. It sidled forwards cautiously instead of charging with reckless abandon, clenching and releasing its destroying right hand with rhythmic regularity.
"...Strange." Luvia said. "But if it won't come to us, we'll just have to go to it. Lina, Rei: attack!"
Lina struck first, chanting a spell that sent a beam of magic shooting towards False Berserker. It leapt out of the way, then rolled and came up into a crouch. As Lina began chanting another spell, Rei moved forwards to thrust with her lance. As she stabbed down at False Berserker, it reached up with its left hand and grabbed the shaft, just behind where the head split into two tines. He deflect the lance to his side, causing its tines to slide into the dirt, then reached for Rei's face with his right hand before she could draw back.
"Watch out!" Luvia called.
Halfway to Rei's face, False Berserker's hand struck an invisible barrier. Red sparks leapt from the tattoo on his right arm, but they were blocked by a hexagonal flash of orange light.
"It's fine." Rei said. "Nothing can penetrate my AT Field."
"Good – that means I don't need to hold back!" Lina said. "Fireball!"
She hurled a large orb of blazing orange energy at the False Berserker. Immediately, it leapt into the air, jumping over Rei and landing behind her. With False Berserker no longer in its path, Lina's fireball slammed into Rei's AT Field and exploded. The barrier easily repelled the enormous blast of flame; but False Berserker, on the far side of Rei, was sheltered from the blast as well.
"He used her as a shield?" Lina said in disbelief. "No way – that's too clever for a Berserker to think of."
Rei whirled around, swinging the great length and weight of her lance with her. False Berserker ducked under the first sweep, then once again reached out and grabbed the lance, pushing the tines down so that Rei couldn't stab at him. Rei dug in her heels and trained with all her might to pull her lance free of False Berserker's grasp, but the enemy Servant's muscles swelled with cursed power being pumped through the chain.
"Rei, I'm going to try a spell to blow the enemy into the air." Lina said. "Then you can spear him while he's unable to dodge. But I can't target him while you're in the way – can you get away from him for a moment?"
"Understood." Rei said.
Her AT Field once more flickered to life between her and the False Berserker. Then it began to expand, an unstoppable force pressing outwards away from Rei's body. False Berserker was shoved backwards, breaking his grip on Rei's lance, and Rei took the opportunity to jump backwards herself and place some distance between the two of them.
"Excellent!" Lina said "Mega Brand!"
The ground beneath False Berserker began to bulge and glow as magical energy built up within it. The snarling Servant attempted to draw back to safety, but it was still off-balance from the forceful shove Rei's AT Field had given it. By the time it had readied itself to jump, it was already too late. A massive explosion tore apart the ground beneath the Berserker's feet, the powerful concussive force sending a geyser of smoke and dirt blasting high into the air. Caught in the center of the jet, False Berserker was lifted bodily into the air and sent tumbling head over heels, unable to control its motion.
"Now!" Luvia called.
Rei released the Lance of Longinus, the two tines winding around each other in a spiral that collapsed to a single sharp point as it accelerated through the air towards the airborne enemy. With no control over his movements, there was no possible way that False Berserker could dodge it. But at the last moment, the chain dangling from its chest abruptly grew taught. A portion of its length seemed to retract into the vague, insubstantial shadow from which it emerged, and it pulled False Berserker's body with it as it retracted. The Servant was yanked down to the ground at far greater than terminal velocity, impacting with what should have been bone-shattering force. A moment later, however, it rose up from the crater it body had made; the chain was lengthening and slackening once more, even as it pulsed more violently than ever with dark energy which fortified False Berserker's body and healed its injuries.
"Oh, come on!" Luvia said. "That's entirely unfair! Lina, can't you do something to immobilize this brute?"
"Ah, not really my specialty." Lina said. "I prefer spells that permanently solve my problems rather than just temporarily inconvenience them. I know a few tricks, but... it's too dark to pin him with a Shadow Snap, turning the ground to mud with a Bogardic Elm would bog down Rei just as much, he could just destroy any ice I tried to encase him in..."
"I can immobilize the enemy." Rei said. "AT Field, inverting."
Rei's AT Field flared to life once more, a geodesic dome enclosing her body within an impenetrable barrier. Then, at her command, it unfolded from around her and sprung closed around False Berserker instead. False Berserker screamed in rage and bounded at the walls of its new prison, but to no effect; not even the annihilating red energy that poured from its right arm of destruction could sunder the very boundary of Rei's soul. The AT Field shrunk in size, closing around False Berserker until the Servant was pinned as tightly as if it had been encased in a sarcophagus. Regardless of the Berserker's strength or fury, escape was completely impossible.
Something did slightly disturb Luvia. The chain which was anchored in False Berserker's chest still passed through the wall of the AT Field, as though it were insubstantial as a ghost. Luvia didn't think that should be possible – she recalled Rei saying that the AT Field was a field of absolute isolation which blocked even the connection between Servant and Master. Even if it appeared to be a blackened chain, it must actually be the manifestation of some profoundly complicated and powerful magic if it was able to bypass even Rei's impenetrable Noble Phantasm. It was probably very fortunate that they were eliminating False Berserker now, before this bizarre transformation could bestow it with any more strange additional powers.
"That's more like it." Luvia said. "Lina, take him down."
Lina began chanting a spell, but Rei shook her head.
"There's no point to that." Rei said. "The Berserker is completely encased within my AT Field. There is no power in the world capable of penetrating the barrier save for my own Lance of Longinus. Therefore, I will eliminate the enemy myself."
Rei raised one arm, and the Lance of Longinus came flying back through the air under its own power to land back in her grasp. False Berserker redoubled its struggling when it saw her leveling the weapon at it, but it couldn't make even the slightest amount of progress against the barriers constraining it. Rei brought her lance to bear, preparing for the thrust which would drive the soul-destroying weapon cleanly through her AT Field and into the imprisoned enemy Servant, ending its life.
That's when the chain struck.
It had slowly and stealthily crept up behind them, hugging the ground and sliding through the grass like a snake. The dark metal was nearly invisible against the dirt in the dim twilight, and it had inched along at a painfully slow pace to avoid making any sound that might betray its presence. The moment Rei exposed herself by extending her AT Field around False Berserker, the chain abandoned stealth and lunged upwards in an unstoppably fast attack. The chain's barbed head pierced Rei's lower back, burrowed upwards through her guts, and lodged itself in her heart.
Rei dropped her lance and arched her back, muscular spasms rippling through her arms and legs. She opened her mouth as though to scream, but no sound came out. Then curses began to flow through the chain, and darkness spread like a stain from the point where it entered Rei's back. Her white bodysuit was dyed a poisonous black, broken by pulsing veins of malicious red light.
"Rei!" Luvia shouted.
She didn't know what was happening to her Servant, but it clearly wasn't good. Without hesitation, she raised her arm and focused on the second of her three Command Spells.
"By my Command Spell, I order you!" Luvia yelled. "Pull out that chain and escape!"
The mark vanished from her hand in a blaze of magic. But as powerful as the Command Spell was, the darkness was stronger still. Now that it had embedded itself in Rei's heart, it would not allow anything to dislodge it. Power surged through the chain, crushing the Command Spell's magic with an overwhelming wave of malice; then poisonous tendrils of caustic curses began seeping down the tether of prana which connected Servant to Master.
Luvia felt a sudden, sharp pain in her hand. As she watched in horror, her final Command Spell changed in color front a vibrant red to tar black. Wisps of smoke rose from the contaminated mark as the terrible curse consuming Rei began gnawing at Luvia as well.
"Lina!" Luvia yelled in a panic. "Help!"
Lina abandoned the spell she had started preparing for use against the immobilized Berserker, letting the magic she'd gathered dissipate into a cloud of hazy sparks. She ran behind Rei, drawing a short sword from her belt as she moved, then swung it down like a guillotine blade on a section of chain lying on the ground. The steel blade clashed against the cursed chain, and was repelled so hard that Lina nearly lost her balance.
"Try this, then!" Lina shouted. "Astral Vine!"
As she hefted the blade back into the air, it blazed brightly with magic. This time, when she brought it down, a large spray of sparks erupted from the point of contact. This was apparently enough to draw the attention of the malign force attempting to corrupt Rei, as several more chains rose up from the darkness and swayed in front of Lina like snakes preparing to strike. She immediately broke off her attack in order to jump back to a safe distance, chanting another spell under her breath even as she leapt.
"Break, damn you!" lina said. "Dynast Brass!"
Magical lightning bolts rained down on the group of chains. The newly emerged chains which had been menacing Lina were blown apart by the spell. The chain which had embedded itself within Rei, however, shrugged off a direct hit without so much as cracking. The curse had already taken firmly ahold of its victim; and now that that dark bond had been established, it could not be so easily broken.
Luvia screamed in pain. The malignant energy flowing through her bond to Rei was beginning to spread: dark lines of tainted magic stretched like a spider web from her Command Spell and were starting to work their way up her arm. She felt a vast and hateful power gnawing at the edges of her mind, attempting to crush her into submission. It was too much to bear for any longer. There was only one thing left she could do.
"By my last Command Spell, I order you – sever our link! Break our pact! I renounce my status as Master!"
Luvia's final Command Spell vanished – and with it, her connection to Rei. The curse had not yet been able to fully take root in her, and the corruption afflicting her arm began to recede as soon as the flow of energy from Rei was cut off. But Rei... the spreading darkness had covered every inch of her body. It was clear she had a new Master now – one who wielded a hideous curse the likes of which Luvia had never before seen. Rei turned away from False Berserker to stare at Luvia, her dull eyes suddenly smoldering with hatred.
"Uh-oh." Lina said. "Sorry about your Servant, Luvia, but you'll have to mourn later – we need to get out of here, now!"
"Rei... wouldn't attack us." Luvia said uncertainly.
"Does that still look like Rei to you?" Lina asked.
Rei extended one arm, and the Lance of Longinus leapt off the ground into her hand. She then drew it back, the two tines twisting together into a single spear point as she prepared to throw it. Luvia could only watch, paralyzed with fear and indecision. She had prepared a number of gems in case they were necessary for combat against False Berserker, but she had never imagined that she might be attacked by her own Servant. Rei's Lance of Longinus was a soul-destroying weapon that would pierce any defense; Luvia had nothing capable of blocking it. Nor did she have a chance of evading the Noble Phantasm, which could accelerate to strike at supersonic speed. As far as she could see, Luvia was doomed.
Fortunately, Lina hadn't given up yet; and it seemed the Caster-class Servant still had a few tricks left up her sleeve. She quickly reached up and tore out a chunk of her chestnut hair. Five of the strands went straight and rigid, like needles. She then flung them at the ground around Rei.
"Lance of Longinus–" Rei intoned in a growl unlike her usual flat voice.
"Rune Breaker!" Lina shouted at the same time.
Lines of energy crackled between the five needles of hair Lina had thrown, forming a pentagram with Rei in the center. As Rei released the Lance of Longinus, the tines suddenly unwound; and rather than rocketing through the air, it tumbled and speared the ground at her feet.
"That was close." Lina said. "I've blocked the flow of prana between Rei and her lance, preventing her from activating her Noble Phantasm for the time being. But with the crazy amount of prana flowing into her through that chain, I give it a few minutes at most before my seal is overwhelmed and breaks. So unless we want to be sitting ducks, we've got to – uh-oh."
When she'd first become tainted, Rei had seemed to focus on Luvia with single-minded rage. Now, deprived of her weapon, she appeared to once more become aware of her surroundings. With a small gesture, she lowered the AT Field that had been keeping the False Berserker pinned down. It strode forwards to stand at her side, the two of them now being driven by the same malign will.
"That's it, we're getting out of here." Lina said. "Ray Wing!"
She wrapped her arms around Luvia's waist from behind, and a barrier of wind formed around them. Lina then rose into the air and began flying at great speed, her Servant strength allowing her to easily haul Luvia along with her. Lina seemed to moving far too fast for safety – while the barrier of wind that had surrounded them seemed to be acting as a windshield, protecting them from the expected negative effects of high-speed motion through cold night air, it seemed far too insubstantial to withstand a collision with a solid object. Luvia flung her hands up in front of her face as they shot out of the park and into the city streets, certain that they were about to make a crater in the front of a building, but Lina handled break-neck turns with casual ease.
"Relax, I've flown through forests way denser than this without ever crashing." Lina said.
"Couldn't you get a little higher?" Luvia asked. "Above the buildings, for instance?"
"Sorry, but the spell has limited power – more height would mean less speed." Lina said. "We need all the speed we can get right now; we're being followed."
"Impossible." Luvia said. "False Berserker... and Rei... aren't capable of moving at this speed."
"Well, I'm a little too busy steering to look over my shoulder right now, but I know killing intent when I feel it." Lina said. "Behind us, to the left, keeping pace."
Luvia twisted in Luvia's grasp and looked back. Sure enough, a Servant was pursuing them: a woman clad in black, her face covered by a blindfold. Luvia recognized her as Rider based on the description Shirou had given of the fight at his school. And the thick chain which emerged from the Servant's heart and seemed to fade out into insubstantial shadows as it trailed behind her left no doubt that this Rider was under the thrall of the same Master which had enslaved Rei and False Berserker.
"It's a dark Rider." Luvia reported to Lina. "It doesn't seem to be gaining on us, but it isn't falling behind, either."
Rider moved with a strangely graceful, almost mechanical strides. She raced across the vertical surfaces of the buildings lining the street with utter disregard for gravity, her feet finding flawless purchase even on the smoothest edifices of steel and glass. She was constantly jumping diagonally between the faces of opposing buildings to cross the gaps in her path made by intersecting roads, but didn't seem to be losing any speed in the process. When she had to land on a building with a glass front, she would splay her arms and legs wide to spread out the force of impact over large enough of an area to prevent her from simply smashing through; but in a single smooth action she would draw her legs once more beneath her and resumed running. Windows only cracked by her impact fully shattered in her wake as the shockwave of her acceleration reached them. And no matter how far she ran or how many times she jumped, there wasn't the smallest indication of fatigue setting in.
"I could try a spell, but I'd have to be of limited strength if I'm to keep powering the flight spell at the same time." Lina said. "Not to mention, I need to keep my eyes on the road ahead, and don't fancy my chances shooting behind blindly. I suppose I could create a smokescreen, see if she loses my trail..."
"She's blindfolded." Luvia said. "Whatever sort of sense she's using to track us, it isn't sight."
"Alright, let me try something else... Gaia Graze!" Lina shouted.
She pointed at the ground in front of them and red light flashed, but they passed over it too quickly for Luvia to see what the spell had done. Quickly looking behind her, Lina saw an imposing creature rising up from the ground where Lina had targeted her spell. It was tall and had an imposing physique; muscles bulging beneath plates of armored skin. Though mostly humanoid, it possessed a large pair of bat-like wings as well as curling ram-like horns growing from the sides of its head.
The summoned creature was apparently bound to Lina, compelled to serve her will; for the instant it had emerged, it was already leaping into the air to strike at her pursuer. Rider, however, did not so much as point her face-mask in its direction. The moment it moved into her path, she lashed out with a mid-air spin-kick that tore the bewildered creature in half. The creature's separated pieces crumbled away into black ash before it had even had a chance to realize what had happened to it. Familiars were so far below Servants that they could not even momentarily delay one; as fearsome as the summoned creature had appeared, it was no more capable of hindering the dark Rider than the pigeon familiars would have been.
"Looks like we have no choice." Lina said. "We can't outrun the enemy; and if we stop to fight, Rei and the Berserker will catch up to us. Even I can't win three-against-one; not while protecting you at the same time. So, I'm going to fly us to that kid Emiya's house. Between him and Tohsaka, there should be four more Servants there to back us up. Emiya's fought against this Rider before, and he approved of taking down Berserker – plus, he's got that whole dumb but good-hearted vibe to him. I figure he'll probably help us out."
"There's really no choice... but to seek aid from Tohsaka?" Luvia asked.
"Well, if it's really too much for your pride to bear, I could drop you." Lina suggested.
"No!" Luvia said. "I mean, the pride of the Edelfelt family will not allow me to surrender and leave my task undone. I must defeat that Berserker, no matter what undignified depths I must descend to. And... I owe it to Rei to try and save her. To remove that chain, if possible; and if not, then to..."
"I understand." Lina said.
Holding Luvia tightly to her, they shot through the night in a missile-like envelope of wind; the dark Rider running close behind them, and False Berserker and corrupted Rei trailing some distance further back. At their speed, it would only be a matter of minutes until they arrived at the boundary of the Emiya estate; and then the night would be torn by violence and bloodshed far beyond the mere skirmish at the park.
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