Dusk of Judgment (Battle)
(Rin)
"Phew." I was quite thankful for a breather after a good fifteen minutes or so of sword drill. Although using a shinai or standard metal weapon wouldn't be too bad with Reinforcement magecraft, Kojirou's weapon was was ridiculous even among two-handed swords. And he frequently uses it with a single hand too...-By the way, Kuro was off to the side slashing away at the air with her twin shortswords.
"I must ask, though, why are these also just cutting around myself?" I asked my new sword instructor curiously. After all, every one of ((Tsubame Gaeshi))'s three slashes are moving away from him.
He snorted, whatever he had been thinking a moment earlier interrupted by the question. "Because you don't have the stamina for any prolonged work. But more importantly, because that will slice off your arm or leg quite trivially. Especially because even I have to use very high stances sometimesand you're much shorter."
"Hmm, I suppose so," I answered with a bit of doubt remaining. Granted, he personally hadn't any experience teaching, and if it only took a decade or to to learn the technique I'd consider myself fortunate. The swordsman raised an eyebrow as though having read my mind. "It's entirely possible things like this might only be possible if you're dedicated to the point of insanity. Especially since this is how I somehow tricked my way into becoming part of a Heroic Spirit."
"That sounds like something Caster would say," I shot back, having had similar thoughts going through my mind. Awkwardly so, since I only wanted to use it as a steppingstone but it took a talented swordsman his whole life (and death) to attain. Unfortunately, unlike new spells there was no real way to pass it on if I only partially mastered it before dying.
"It is what she said," he muttered dryly. "Taking things to extremes is practically her life philosophy, if you hadn't noticed by now."
"Can Kuro really learn that by just trying to cut faster?" I lowered my voice, though it was probably pointless given a Servant's hearing, let alone an Archer's. "It might be. After all, she is actually young and children are well-known for being able to learning things, if they want to. And she's already starting off with a Heroic Spirit-level of swordsmanship."
I glanced at the weapon on the ground next to me. Full-length, razor-sharp, and scabbardless because Kuro apparently couldn't copy non-weapons with any efficiency, it, like the copy Kojirou had, could probably cut even a Servant if I could actually hit them. Speaking of copies...
"Do you have any idea how you became Sasaki Kojirou?" I inquired. "It implies that the Throne has a version of the original you, even if he isn't a Heroic Spirit on his own. If you don't mind me saying so."
"You're asking me?" he replied with some surprise. "Archer seems to think she wasn't even a person until you summoned her, which is even odder. 'Kuro' is not the name of any Heroic Spirit and she's using a combination of Noble Phantasms which, again, matches no Heroic Spirit."
"Well they are copies made by her (Projection) Skill," I shrugged before a flash of insight crossed my mind. "Is that her plan to give immortality?"
He laughed, immediately catching on. "Not as she's explained it. The problem is trying to summon the exact same person, even if they got on the Throne. There's probably many other mes."
Sakura and Shirou appeared about a stone-throws away from the house, eyeing the weapon that was clearly being used by me with some surprise by the one and clear thoughts by the other.
"Er..." I started, before Sakura abruptly turned around and dashed back inside. Shirou spun around and stared after her before suddenly following suit. That can't be good. The hairs on the back of my neck rose.
-Kuro, go after them.- I got to my feet as well.
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(Sakura)
The first sign that something had gone wrong was that Medusa's magical energy level began rising rather sharply above what she told me was her maximum. The problem was, of course, where the energy was coming from.
Various exclamations of surprise from behind me passed my notice as I sped back along the corridor, the locked door to Caster's room creaking in protest as I practically ripped it open. My eyes immediately fell upon Rider holding a lifeless Sasaku. We eyed one another in speechless astonishment for a moment.
"What have you done?" I breathed out bitterly. "I still needed her!"
"Wait, I-"
Shirou broke into the moment by tapping me on the shoulder as Kuro appeared next to him. "Relax, she's just knocked out. Again," he added with a touch of irony while moving over and slapping his Servant several times. "Get up. Ah, no good."
"Do we need to do something?" Kuro asked with uncharacteristic worry. "We can't," Shirou shrugged, directing Rider to lay Caster on his bed. "We basically have to wait until her, uh, non-conscious error-correction purges the effect. Which I assume is petrification of some sort," he glanced at Medusa, who was wearing Gilgamesh's glasses.
"No," I commented looking at the marks on Sasaku's neck, exactly where she had been bitten the last time. I had a good idea what had happened. "Rider probably has a very strong 'advantage' when biting goddesses in that form." The mentioned Servant shifted uncomfortably at the thought of the part of her legend that led to that. "Explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to lie to me about how low you actually were."
"It wasn't a major issue, I've been rationing energy use from the very beginning," she answered promptly. The transfer was Caster's idea because she keeps Saber full all the way and anything left here wouldn't be of use if we're outside." I pondered just how much it had to have been, given that her energy levels had practically doubled. "There was no other way to feasibly move that much," Medusa continued, fanning Sasaku with one of wings. "She was... hoping to be able to have my ((Pandemonium Cetus)) as a backup, or perhaps a trump card."
"Wait a second," Rin said, making her presence known. By now Kojirou had also joined us. "The Demonic Legion Temple, you can use that?"
"Theoretically," Rider replied hesitantly. "At the very least I can't use the ((Blood Fort)) any longer, and that is the most likely replacement."
"Is that Noble Phantasm a problem?" I asked, noting Rin's reaction at hearing its name."
"Like the Blood Fort, it is indiscriminate, of course. But Gorgon wouldn't mind melting everyone around her, so my ability to control where it actually manifests isn't guaranteed."
"That's insane," Kuro muttered darkly. "And Sasaku wanted you to be able to whip that out for?"
"Gilgamesh."
Shriou set his jaw.
(Shirou)
It was obvious now why she wanted a similar formation to earlier despite the obvious problem of someone like the King of Heroes rushing her. I had initially thought her plan was to occupy him while we (hopefully) took down Kotomine, but as Rin had pointed out, Archers wouldn't drop for at least a few days afterwards due to the class' ((Independent Action)).
The likely alternative before this revelation, finishing off the other three Servants and then all ganging up on Gilgamesh, was crude but a decent shot, all things considered."
"Did you know about this?" I asked the Saber next to me. He shook his head.
"I was trying to keep things under wraps to get around ((Sha Naqba Imuru))," Sasaku groaned. "And yes, I am seriously regretting suggesting Rider try that transfer - feels like I'm burning from the inside out."
"She has a point there," Kojirou said grudgingly before jabbing a finger at her. "I suppose the fact it's stupidly risky for you would also cause him to not expect that."
"Sure," Caster replied in a strained voice. "Look, if he can only stay for a few days after Kotomine's death, he has no way to get the Grail if everyone just splits and out-waits him. But if he loses his temper and starts leveling Fuyuki, the Grail might explode like last time, and we'd all go down."
"Can he really do that?" Sakura asked. "The Grail won't appear, and the Grail System should be well shielded, warded and so on against even Servant-level attacks."
"((Ea))." Sasaku said calmly, causing Kuro's head to whip around at the name. "He has that? Did you actually see it?"
"I might have seen the very tip of it," she replied, thinking back to her last encounter with the other Archer. "It was when he was showing off a bunch of otherwise mundane swords, so it's likely he wants us to at least think he might use it."
"Realistically, how long can you occupy him?" I asked after a period of pure silence. "I know you don't want to go into details, but this one is critical."
"My best guess is something like five minutes," she sighed. "Seven if he feels like playing around."
We took a moment to consider this before Sasaku waved Kuro over. "Your turn."
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(About an hour later, 7:30 pm)
(Kotomine Kirei)
"They're here," Gilgamesh announced suddenly into the quiet church. "Three Servants walking straight towards us."
"I suppose they have no intention of respecting the neutrality of this place." Archer just chuckled as his Master started taking out Black Keys. "Only three?"
"Caster is doubtless back somewhere far enough that I can't see her," he replied while Lu Bu got to his feet, hefting his halberd.
That Ruler turned Assassin was dangerous, but losing Lancer was not worth it to remove her. The priest took a mental count of the two sides, which was far from ideal. Himself, Lu Bu and Gilgamesh against four Servants and the last Tohsaka.
Not only had Gilgamesh's ((Clairvoyance)) or similar Skill not been useful, it seemed obvious now, in hindsight, that informing them about Jeanne d'Arc's location had been essentially an act of sabotage. There was no way that he didn't know there was a dark Jeanne there. Though Saint Heroic Spirits shouldn't even have a dark side.
Not only had his playing around with Emiya's Lancer lost the previous War's Grail, he was clearly after his own goals again. Unfortunately, suiciding him would just have been a waste since it wasn't possible to summon any more Servants in the last War. Or in this one due to being Overseer.
But there's also Command Spells to consider.
As he stepped out of the Church, Kirei saw only one Servant. Because it was so massive everyone else in the group was blocked by its large golden wings.
"Gilgamesh, what is that?" he snapped.
"Apparently Rider absorbed some of the corruption from the tainted Grail. Search your own heart."
(Rin)
She carefully peeked around Rider's wings so see Kirei standing between Lu Bu and Gilgamesh, and was spotted in turn.
"Tohsaka," the priest said with a put-upon air of disappointment. "This is how you repay me?"
"Exactly," she shot back.
He simply exhaled before raising a hand towards Rider. A sleeve fell back slightly to reveal numerous Command Seals, one of which was glowing slightly. "As Overseer, by my Command Spell, Rider. Turn around and kill them."
What?! The onset of night seemed to accelerate as Rider chuckled darkly.
(Sakura)
Whether that would actually have had worked had her new link with Medusa not somewhat overwritten the standard one she had to the Grail hardly came to mind.
"Go," she sent to her Servant guardian angel, who shot forward with amazing speed for her size. Lu Bu quickly stepped forward to meet her charge, thrusting the point of his halberd square at her chest.
With a powerful beat of her wings, Rider arrested her movement, stopping short as Berzerker's point reached its maximum extension, then reaching out to grab it with a hand. Almost immediately another one took hold of the weapon's shaft just below the axe-head. A moment followed where the two tried to wrench the weapon out of the other's grip, before Lu Bu switched it over to gauntlet form.
Apparently receiving a telepathic order from Shirou, Kojirou quickly skirted around the pair as they closed into fistfight-range, making a beeline for Kotomine since Lancer had unexpectedly not taken to the field yet.
About a moment later, several swords appeared near Gilgamesh before an equal number of black spears flashed into being right in front of them, shattering into sprays of metal shards. Apparently more interested in the Caster who had shot them at him than anything else, Gilgamesh took to the air, bringing out more weapons as another volley of spears broke on them.
"Crap," Rin muttered, as Kojirou continued towards the now unguarded Kirei. "He is going after her. Kuro, shoot him."
Gilgamesh went flying overhead, bringing out more swords to block a trio of arrows shot from the other Archer's black bow. "He can see all the missiles coming," she hissed, shooting several more to no greater effect than the incoming volleys of spears.
"Sasaku can't seem to find Lancer or Assassin anywhere," Shirou relayed with some doubt in his voice.
"Ok, keep shooting Gilgamesh," Kuro's Master directed encouragingly. "He can't see behind him, so once he's between us and Caster..."
(Kojirou)
Hmph, taking down a Master directly, seems more like an Assassin's tactic, Saber grumbled inwardly as his sword traced out an elegant curve towards said Master's neck. His eyes opened slightly as a set of three Black Key blades intercepted the slash, which shouldn't be possible.
Kotomine flung his other hand's Keys at Kojirou without hesitation. The Servant deflected them with one defensive cut that hit all three mid-flight.
Going by the surge of magical energy, he's using Command Spells to fuel Reinforcement like Tohsaka's technique. Or rather, he was the one that taught it to her in the first place.
Turning while apparently closing in, Kojirou brought the hilt of his weapon across his body on the opposite side as his opponent before abruptly turning the other way and thrusting it at lighting speed to skewer the priest who was taking out a set of Black Keys to replace the ones he had thrown.
Almost smiling, Kirei leaned to one side, his left hand moving in the opposite direction using the momentum to cut at the Saber's thrust, causing it to miss. Having reloaded his right, he tried to close and slash, but Kojirou's sword being much longer than even a longsword meant that the Black Keys were simply out of range.
He glanced downwards quickly. The ground here is fairly level. Though it seems almost unfair... At least, being a technique, it didn't use any more energy than performing three cuts normally.
(Kirei)
If Gilgamesh gets to Caster, two Command Spells at once should suffice to ensure he kills her. That will do in Saber.
I blink as Saber starts winding up for something. As he moves for another attack, the tip of his weapon started to blur slightly more than its speed would account for. Is he actually going to...?
((Tsubame Gaeshi))
I throw myself to one side. If I can at least avoid one cut, the vertical one, then with each hand blocking one of the two horizontal ones...!
The blur grows before resolving itself into three separate swords closing in like the pattern Gilgamesh described. Apparently, re-aiming the technique was not trivial once he commits to the three cuts.
Sasaki Kojirou frowns as one sword misses and the other two slam into Black Keys, but apparently not for being foiled as he doesn't even attempt to move after the three swords return to being a single one in his hand.
*thud*
The first sign that something had gone wrong was when my legs dropped me onto the ground. I turned my head to see Tohsaka's Archer standing behind me with a shortsword in her left hand.
Going by the pain, the other one was buried in my back. Archer didn't mention that she could teleport.
Berserker and Rider seemed well-matched at the moment, but that fight would be over soon once Saber and Archer joined in to help their ally.
Just get a bit closer Gilgamesh, then I'll repay your cleverness in full.