Chapter 19: Conflict
AN: Meant to post this earlier, but for some reason my brain keeps malfunctioning. Maybe its Fanfiction's curse...it knows I am getting close to completing, actually completing, a SYOC, and is trying to stop me. Then again, maybe I just need to watch Fate again. I always get inspiration for something when I watch something else...
While Rune and Set fought against Castor and Serdtse...
Archer of Black and Rider of Red dished it out against each other, both of them fighting with all they had. Slowly but surely though, Rider of Red was taking more and more damage, faced against the team of Mika and BIlly the Kid.
"Face the power of my new and improved handcannons! Deadshot!"
Billy the Kid then fired an even more powerful, supercharged round of his attacks, tearing through the ocean and coming right at Castor.
Castor however spun around and created a wave to cover her as she dodged. BIlly kept dodging, but as he tore the wave apart...she seemed to have disapepared.
"What the..."
"Above us!" Billy shouted, as he grabbed Miku and threw her out of the way as he himself tried to dodge Rider's attack, as she came in from above.
"Finally...I made it to land. YOu sure have made things annoying as hell to get here".
"Rider of Red".
"Archer of Black...now, its time for payback!"
Rider of Red then charged right in...and Miku knew the odds. Rider of Red...also known as Mordrid. Son of King Arthur. Or daughter in this case. The one who was a knight, who could be summoned as a Sabre Class, or even Berserker. Against an Archer, in close range...he stood no chance. Billy was going to die. And she could only watch.
"Don't make that face, Miku-chan".
"See Miku-chan, you are great!"
"You can do it, Miku-chan!"
"I believe in you, Miku-chan!"
"Trust me, Miku-chan. You have friends here, friends who are ready to help you".
"You are not alone Miku-chan. Even when I am gone, you have the friends and allies you fought beside".
Thats right...this is a Grail War...but...I just cant...I cant lose the one friend that matters the most!
And thus, right at the moment Mordrid reached Archer of Black...she was blasted away by a torrent of water so strong, it was as if her Magic Resistance was not even a factor. And then, the two servants looked to see who was responsible...and saw a giant twister of water right behind Miku.
"I wont...I wont let you kill...I wont let you kill my best friend! Even if I have to fight, I wont stand idly by and let my friend be hurt right in front of me!"
See...I knew you could do it, Miku-chan. And now, you finally do to. You have understood the overwhelming power deep inside you...a rare abnormality of the present world. A human who naturally possesses the power to become a Heroic Spirit through sheer ability. A mage with passion.
"That is the spirit! Lets do this, Miku-chan!"
"Yes! By this Command Seal, Billy the Kid...destroy Rider of Red!"
"Understood!" BIlly said as he gleamed with energy.
"Crap...looks like they are getting serious. Master!"
"Right! By this Command Seal, Rider of Red, defeat them and move on towards the goal!"
And so, the two masters utilized Command Seals as their battle went to the next level.
"Water Cyclone!"
"Now, take her down, Berserker!" Simon shouted.
"Excalibur! Avalon! Show him our power!"
And once again, Berserker and Sabre clashed. Even though Sabre knew she needed to get back, to deal with their Sabre, this one had to be dealt with first. Even thought they were down a Berserker themselves...it seemed that things were just not going their way. The luckless, she supposed.
"Now, finish it Berserker!"
Those words rang out...but it was not Simon who said them, as the Berserker of Black reappeared.
"You cant defeat the big bad wolf that easily...she needs to take at least one person down first. Thats how the story goes!"
"You are really stubborn! Must be Battle Continuation..."
"Sabre! Pull back now!"
Joan pulled back, as Berserker of BLack who seemed to have managed to pull through, came out and attacked with the remains of her strength.
"Castor of Black seems to be fighting Assassin of Red...we need to move back into the city".
"But what about..."
"Berserker! Wait! Thats enough! Their strength is reduced! We can pull back!"
"...sorry, master...but, this can be the only was a fight between two Berserkers ends..." she replied, as she overloaded her own magical energy.
"A suicide bomb?!"
"Wait! No! Why?!"
"Because...I know you can find happiness!"
"So she is taking the easy way out instead of taking the risk..." Simon muttered to himself. "Well...I suppose I was never in it to win anyways".
He muttered that half assed drama killing line, as the two berserkers exploded into magical energy.
"Exo-Suit! Full power!"
"Snare Rune!"
Rune trapped Serdtse-sensei in a huge snare.
"Tell me, I want to know. How did you think this would go? DId you think it was like an anime, where there would be some epic, tear filled battle of whits and power?" Rune asked, as Serdtse-sensei fell to the ground while Castor collapsed. The image of Rune then disappeared, and he appeared behind them, holding the Moonscale blades. "You forget, Set is of the Assassin class. That is not how we roll".
"Th...those blades...it couldn't be..."
"You are aware, aren't you. Of Toko's Origins?"
"Its...you are..."
Rune took off his disguise rune, and revealed his true form...one identical to Toko.
"You really had no clue...did you?"
"To think...you also were..."
And then, Rune cut through Ford and finished destroying the Servant himself.
"Sorry. I did think you were kind of cool, Ford. But, your done with the stage here".
That was when he and Set looked up, at an approaching power.
"...is that..."
"It seems my brother has come to finish the fight..."
"HOld on, wait a..." Rune started, but Set already took off. "...right, we forgot to tell them. Ooops".
"I say we let them fight it out" Toko added, stepping out of the shadows. "In any case, it will provide a good distraction. I have secured two warp pads. While they fight each other and keep everyone distracted, we can aim for our targets".
"You mean, the Church".
"Yeah. You did find their secret base, right?"
"When we knew what to look for, yes. So, we are saving Serdtse-sensei's family too?"
"They should be close by, just to keep the pressure on him. The Church wouldn't want to risk the possibility of being so focused on the grail war, they neglected hostages farther away".
"Well, then lets get moving".
"Ahh...we are losing power!" the quatro yelled as their robot started to lose power and collapsed backwards. "It seems that...the backup mana store is out?"
"We never did get to fully charge it...something must have happened to Castor..."
"Well, crap. And we were doing so well".
Zeus meanwhile just looked down at them with annoyance.
"Time to crush some bugs..."
He slammed his fist down...but right before it hit, he was blocked somehow. And he was even knocked back.
And standing in his way...was Joan of Arc!
"So...the fake Sabre has appeared...foolish!"
"You might be right...I have always been a fake. Fake Sabre, Fake Ruler, Fake HOly Maiden...but, dont think that my passion is fake!"
"Divine Lightning!"
"Activate Noble Phantasms: Excalibur...and Clarent BLood Arthur!"
"What?!" Zeus cried out in surprise, as Excalibur let loose red flames as it attacked. Zeus countered with his divine lightning, but the two equaled each other out, evenly matched in this situation. A colorful image spread into the minds of others as they clashed though...
Crimson fire and blue lightning.
"Did you honestly think that I would give up easily? Lets do this, Excalibur!"
And so, Sabre of Black unleashed her Noble Phantasm as she clashed with with the Sabre of Red. The shockwaves created by the two cracked the ground, destroyed several trees around them, and caused untold catastrophic damage across the region. Furthermore, the sheer magical power caused a pillar of red and blue to shoot up into the sky.
Sabre of Black attacked again and again, pushing Sabre of Red back. But Sabre of Red suddenly ducked and went around her, striking at her side. She took the blow, being blown away several dozen meters but ended up landing on her feet. Her helmet long torn to pieces, her blonde hair was let down.
"I think that you are far too arrogant missy. To face off so easily...against a god".
"You are the one who is arrogant, thinking I would let you get away with all this!"
"Fine then. I suppose no words will stop you...except maybe, the cries of children. But will it be for enjoyment, or despair?"
"You bastard!" Sabre of Black shouted, and then charged right at Sabre of Red.
Meanwhile, two smaller figures looked out at all the chaos, but neither of them took their eyes off of each other. Both of them had brown hair, but one had red eyes and one had blue. Both appeared young though, no older then ten or eleven, but they stood perfectly on top of rooftops.
"This fight is getting interesting. Want to just get some popcorn and watch?"
"Not happening. I wont eat any food made by you".
"Awww, you dont trust me?"
The boy with blue eyes turned towards the one with red.
"Says the Assassin..."
"...I am not the only one who is an Assassin here".
Assassin of Black and Assassin of Red stared off at each other. While it seemed casual between the two of them, each one was looking for the chance to gut each other and slit their throat.
"I suppose if they are going to put on a show, we should do the same".
"All this staring is getting annoying..."
And then suddenly, they disappeared, reappearing in the center space between the two. Both drew dual daggers and tried to attack, but were prevented from hitting each other by their own blocking and dodging ability.
And while they, and all the other servants, fought it out to the death over the Greater Grail, Sherlock Holmes, the Ruler, stood and watched.
"...where is that person...after all the chaos he caused in starting this Greater Holy War, it certainly wont end this simply".
There was something terribly wrong here...
Sherlock had figured out most of it, how it would play out. Indeed. He knew basically everything, except the ringleader behind the true chaos. He knew that there was a Master involved, one of the fourteen. He knew that much. But...there was something missing. And without him acting oddly, without his identity, it was difficult for him to figure out. Some sort of cloaking magic for sure.
Meanwhile, the battle on the beach was reaching its conclusion as well.
As Archer of Black and Rider of Red clashed, Miku suddenly found something strange happen, as a spout of water went and attacked her! She managed to defend herself, but other attacks came in as well.
"You are not the only one who can use water!" Kaori announced. "Even in this Astral Form, I can fight you! Now, Rider!"
"Right! I see the opening!" Rider shouted, as she charged in.
"Nooooo! Billly!" Miku screamed as her power swelled. BIlly held his two guns as he charged them up with Mana...but before he could fire, was stabbed right through, the guns flying towards Miku as she desperately grabbed them, as if she was grabbing hold of him. But it was already too late, as his body was deteriorating. "Billy! No!"
"Its...okay...Miku-chan...you don't need me anymore..."
"Nooooooooo!"
BIlly then faded away, as Miku stood there starting to cry as she was holding the guns...hold on...
They...didn't disappear...
That is when Miku realized...these guns did not look like his normal ones...
And then, she remembered about how BIlly mentioned how he had talked to Ford about getting some upgraded weapons for future fights...these guns, charged with his Noble Phantasm...she poured her mana into them!
"What the...oh no, stop her!"
"I wont let you win! I wont let you get away with hurting my friend!" Miko screamed, as she pulled the triggers when she pointed the guns at Rider of Red...and the subsequent release of energy, the combination of her mana and BIlly's, blew the Servant away...
And so, the casualties so far were: Berserker of Red, Rider of Red, Castor of Red, Archer of Black, Castor of Black, Berserker of Black, Rider of Black.
Meanwhile, at Red Headquarters...
"Tell Archer we are going to momentairily lose communications. I think we are about to get attacked by Assassin of Black, and should move to a safer location now that we are more servants down".
"Alright...I will tell him to return then, so we can ambush Assassin".
"I see...I suppose thats a good move..." he mentioned, as he communicated to Archer the plan. "Alright, he should be...what?!"
Suddenly, Inuzuka ducked as a huge wave of magical energy burst through the room, instantly killing some and wounding others, like the Masters. And a force of telekinetic energy then hit Inuzuka, pinning him to the wall.
"I suppose, now that we are in this stage, I have no need for the rest of you. Archer can do just fine using his Independent Action to finish the fight, avenge you after Horus, Assassin of Black, tried to butcher us all. Going through all of us, with me just barely able to hold him off at the end to make him retreat".
"What...is...but...we are...the same team..."
"You know we would have to fight each other the moment we had the Grail. And I dont want to be concerned with anyone stabbing me in the back to try and steal Sabre. It would be annoying. So this was always the plan".
"No...damn...it...then..."
"Yes, thats right. We did have a traitor...and it was me" he said, as he snapped the neck of a Mage's Association subordinate who was only unconscious, and drained him of magical power. "The Greater Grail...and this world, will be mine".
He then drew his sword, and threw it at Inuzuka telekinetically. It hit him, and then he pulled the sword out in order to finish...
"Noble Phantasm: Twin Hunters: Apollemis!"
A voice called out, and two powerful arrows hit both Terry Blood and the sword away, as Ikarus flew in and scooped his master up before flying right on out of there through the hole he made in the roof.
"Master! Master! Are you okay..."
"...no...not really...I...I cant feel anything..."
After getting a good distance away, Ikarus landed, and tried to help deal with the wounds on his Master. Still, nothing seemed to be working, and only got himself covered in blood.
"No! Not like this! I dont want to loose you!"
"Its...okay...you have...other friends you can help. Rune...and Set...and those boys from the Black Faction...just, dont let him win..."
"No! You cant give up!"
"By my remaining Command Seals...I order you to stick around, to help the people you like, and to try and hash out your own victory...on your own".
And so, using his remaining Command Seals, he charged Ikarus with all of his remaining mana...and tried to make him happy.
"...you can still win...you can still explore this world...if you can get the right teammates..."
"...alright then..." Ikarus said, standing up and fully displaying his wings. "I will use all of your mana, and get us our own victory. I will make your final wish true...and have my wish granted, even if I have to do it myself".
AN: Bum bum buuuuu! And so, the villain has finally revealed himself! The epic showdown has finally reached the point we have been heading towards! Its anyones guess now, how this holy war ends...but...POOOR MIKA-CHAN! I was really rooting for you! You even won in multiple simulations I had for how this would go down!
At least it was sweet, at the end...anyways, sorry this is taking so long! Stay tuned, as we approach conclusion!