Final Benediction (Battle)
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(Amakusa Shirou Tokisada)
"None will escape me. None will escape my sight."
It was all too easy; he might have been suspicious had it not already been revealed to him by (Revelation), along with his mission in this current summoning. Though it was not what he expected, becoming a Heroic Spirit had many advantages. After all, it is written, 'if there is no resurrection of the dead'.
"Damnit," Tamamo muttered as her strength faded, "Just looking at you, I should've known. You're with the Counter Force."
Even he needed to avoid distraction and keep up the proper cadence for maximum effectiveness of the Rite. Certainly, using it to put down a wounded Servant was not hard, however to accomplish his goal it was necessary to so thoroughly disperse the spiritrons making up the heretic's body and synthetic soul so that there would be no hope of their recovery or reconstruction. Since there was no other, secondary, or backup version of her existing, that would once for all end any possible threat, so he had been instructed.
"Be crushed. I welcome those who have grown old and those who have lost."
Fortunately, the summoned Okita Souji he met this time was not the one he knew from elsewhere. The wrong one could have easily blown his cover by her sheer foolishness. But perhaps Alaya could only insert one agent into this War, and it was a perfect way for his master to avoid interfering directly. It was good that both agreed on the need to deal with the foreign element.
"Devote yourself to me. Learn from me. Obey me."
This would be a night of both judgment and execution; indeed he was the hand of the witness and 'you shall purge the evil from your midst.'
"Fu fu fu," someone was laughing. It sounded oddly hollow, fittingly so since she was somehow speaking with Black Key-pierced lungs. "What have we with you? Gil-kun told me that one would come; is this the eternal life your mighty one promised?"
Amakusa frowned for a moment before catching himself. She's trying to buy time. I need only concentrate on the Rite.
As he started on the next line, the sound of footsteps approaching reached him through the rain, along with a powerful signature. Not friendly. Enemy reinforcements. He prepared more Black Keys from the practically infinite number that he simply had as a Servant. If only they had arrived a bit earlier, I could have caught them in the Baptism Rite as well, he mused.
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(Shirou)
The slow-burning pain spreading up from his left hand was stopped near his elbow thanks to Avalon's powers. However, he refused to entertain the thought of separating their hands. It isn't lost, I can reclaim it afterwards. Though he may have scoffed externally at the various warnings of Caster and even Gilgamesh, Shirou didn't want to see what might happen if he simply left Sakura alone to her fight.
Wait, isn't this clearing the place where I first met Sasaku? That's odd...
The running pair paused to take in the three figures laid out in front of them like some sort of twisted diorama. Two of them lay on the ground pierced by multiple Black Keys, clearly by the third who had apparently turned traitor on his partner in the battle.
The priestly-garbed on turned to view them neutrally. But rather than a challenging or dismissing them, instead all he said was, "Rest."
"It must be a ritual," Sakura said, moving towards them after noticing the telltale shimmer of spiritrons evaporating off the two wounded Servants. "We were just in ti-"
Time seemed to stop as Shirou looked down at the sudden warmth spreading across his rain-damp shirt, then up at Sakura's back in front of him, immediately recognizing the blade points that poked out through her dress. Black Keys.
"Why you-!" Grabbing an iron spear, he flung it at the priest Servant, probably missing him completely, as Sakura bodily tackled him to the ground. Shivers ran up Shirou's spine as he saw the hilts standing out from her chest, and again as the two of them were pierced by more Black Keys; the blades of those projectiles being sword-length meant they were long enough to pass all the way through a one body and still reach a second target.
"I am light and relieve you of all your burdens."
"Stay down," Sakura whispered, her voice sounding hollow and distant. Small wonder, if she was doing so with punctured lungs. As though to make sure its mistress' wish was granted, the shadow they were lying on extended, reaching around Shirou.
Raising a hand while rising out of a crouch, Sakura sent forth several black spikes towards Amakusa who, spotting them easily even in the darkness of night, kept throwing Black Keys to intercept.
Gleaming dully from its magical energy-formed blade, a Black Key cut its way into one of the spikes, splitting it in two until being stopped by the sheer amount of solid shadow in front of it. A moment later, black cracks began to spread up from the halted point, until the blade shattered, energy being greedily absorbed into Sakura's ravenous magecraft.
Amakusa simply blinked, automatically filling his hands with more Black Keys. "Ask for forgiveness here."
"Ha..." As though her earlier attack was only a warmup, Sakura stretched as, with a clatter, a dozen Black Key hilts fell onto the shadow spreading out around her and swiftly sank into the glossy black surface. As the storm winds flung her ripped clothes around, Shirou could see the same shadow gleaming wetly with blood underneath.
"You attacked a Servant by yourselves?!" Saber was coming towards them, grinding his teeth at the time taken to knit him together. "Hold on, I'm on my way!"
The priest started backpedalling, though without losing focus, chant, or his Black Key volleys. "I, the incarnation will swear." Standing up as he was released, Shirou touched his chest experimentally, noting immediately that the rather small punctures he had suffered were rather quickly healed away by Avalon's power.
We have him on the defensive! Imitating the same motion he had seen what seemed like a lifetime ago, when Caster had shot Medusa full of spears, Shirou pulled out the same spears and sent them whistling into the retreating enemy. Though he had no real idea how much danger they actually posed to the Servant, it would at least complicate matters for him.
The priest smiled.
He delivered his benediction with satisfaction.
"Kyrei Eleison."
"No!" Though the rite had very little effect on Sakura, it had tugged at one part. Her attention was immediately pulled to that Circuit's original owner. Seized by a new dread, Sakura snapped around, sending her attacks into the rapidly-disappearing figure of Sasaku.
Out of the corner of his sight, Shirou caught sight of the priest starting to float rather ominously. He isn't just going to use Black Keys again... He tried shooting more spears, but the distance was too great for a tight grouping of the volley which proved disappointingly ineffective.
(Twin Arm: Little Crunch)!
Two balls shot out towards Sakura, who was too distracted to defend herself. "Sakura, your left!" The girl moved her left hand. Half of the shadow threw itself out towards the closing orbs. But they were not aimed at her, though the attack was.
The resulting explosion threw Shirou to the ground, which despite being glassy smooth broke his fall rather than simply allowing him to be flung across it. Though his ears were ringing, he somehow heard, either directly or telepathically, in the moments before passing out...
(Tsubame -
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(Sasaku)
Gilgamesh could have been clearer. She had finished engraving onto herself the last bits in the time that it had taken for the priest to complete his lethal ritual.
The night was engulfed in even deeper darkness.
Argh! As her consciousness started fading, the pain of her body being forced to sublimate by the enemy's ritual giving way to a more alarming numbness, a sudden jolt ran through her prone form as something else invaded the Caster's body.
In those last moments, her mind unwillingly rallied around that new agony; proof that, even now, she was still alive. But moments.
"Illya."
"Caster?! Hold on, Saber is on the way-!"
"I'm sorry. Read the letter. You're the older sister... take care of them."
"Sasaku, what? You..." Illya stopped, sensing that there was no longer anyone on the other end of 'their' telepathic link.