"Apparently it's not the riddling type," Shirou mused as he dodged the charge of the sphinx cooling the water in the air to offset the heat from the Divine Beast. The beast had immediately lunged at him at the start of the fight. However its lunge had immediately turned into an uncontrollable slide when Shirou had frozen the sidewalk. The resulting fight was nearly embarrassing to watch. The sphinx had a huge amount of power and its mystery would have rendered it invulnerable to all but the strongest of weapons. Its speed was also phenomenal and the heat around it would have killed any normal human instantly and badly burned most servants.
Unfortunately the forces that had arrayed against the creature did not consist of most servants. A multitude of arrows of light penetrated the hide of the beast biting into flesh and bone. Rin's servant strode forward radiant with power, far greater than he had shown in the previous nights and went toe-to-toe with the colossal creature his blade driving deep into the creature's meat. And Shirou fully used his type advantage drenching the flaming beast with water and then freezing the water into ice that dotted the beast's torn skin.
After half-a-minute the once noble and proud beast had been reduced to the state of a beaten street dog. As if in defiance of its certain fate the beast roared, it's one remaining eye glowing golden and charged at the nearest person who happened to be Shirou. Shirou smiled and waved Rider down, he was slightly miffed that despite the five bullets he put in the creature he wasn't able to take out an eye like his servant and he decided to accomplish that by using an ability he had possessed for a while but hadn't properly used in live combat.
Channelling prana to a special part on his heart he felt the world slow down around him, the charging creature now moving at a significantly slower pace. Bending his legs slightly he eyed down the creature and jumped at it. The creature swiped its paw in a vain attempt to repel his attack and he repelled himself of the outstretched limb and over its head. The world almost stopped for an instant and he fired the single bullet down into eye of the beast the fluid-filled organ rupturing as the rune-carved piece of metal gouged into the recent aperture and entered the brain. The world speeding up again Shirou landed on his feet and with a click of his fingers activated the runes carved on the bullet.
Behind him the beast jerked once and then fell its body turning to sand as it did so. Shirou continued walking forward and opened his mouth, most likely to make some witty remark before falling flat on his face.
For a moment everybody was silent. There was a look of abject disbelief on the face of Rin while her servant had a faint smile that he unsuccessfully tried to hide. Ishtar was snickering to herself in an unrestrained manner.
Shirou got up off the ground ignoring the events of the prior second. "Anyway I've narrowed it down to a few possible pharaohs," he said silently cursing the disorientation that came as a drawback from that inherited ability.
"It's Ramses," Rider interrupted him.
"You had to spoil my fun," Shirou said annoyed. "I was going to start at Thutmose III then move on to Hatshepsut and then a few others before I got to the correct one."
"You could still give it another go," Rider said to him with a mocking smile upon her lips.
"No," Shirou said in a huff. "It's obviously Ramses. This is a fucking big Temple and he's the pharaoh known for building monuments. Still this is not good," Shirou mused out loud. "If we go by the classic rule of older=better than he's nipping on your heels Rider.
Rider nodded in consideration and dematerialised her bow. "Shall we enter the lion's den Master," she said smiling.
Shirou loaded his gun while smiling back. "We shall indeed Rider."
"Wait," Rin called. "You're just going to walk in there," she said in shock. "This is a Reality Marble. If we proceed we will be walking into the place where he is strongest."
"Do you know any other way of exiting a Reality Marble," Shirou asked watching the Magus go silent. Silently he recollected that he probably could break out of the Reality Marble if he were to use his trump card or his Magic. He shook his head of those thoughts, this was the opportunity to remove a servant from the board and even the odds placed against them. He could not let this opportunity slide by. Still…
"Rin, you are welcome to retreat," he said. "This is not me be condescending or attempting to place any pressure on you. Rider and I should be enough to handle this servant."
Rin just looked at him seriously before walking past him and into the labyrinth. Shirou sighed and followed her in. The room that they entered was magnificently lit and contained a large empty space that was filled with stone lions. Without pause the lions all turned towards them eying them up. Shirou sighed and shot the nearest one causing it to explode which triggered the flood of them to rush down at the two masters. Flames came from gems that Rin had thrown which caused the stone lions to melt momentarily before the stones literally forced themselves back into position leaving the lions looking good as new.
However bolts of light followed those gems putting them down for good. Shirou inclined his head slightly to take in the image of Ishtar who was firing arrows from her blue and golden bow with seemingly no need to reload. Each shot killed a stone lion and allowed for no possible regeneration. Shirou saw Gawain wade into the sea of stone lions and witnessed how every single one of them was crushed to rubble and subsequently reformed.
Thoroughly intrigued and confused Shirou retreated behind his servant the only person who currently seemed to be harming the lions. Drawing upon the Fourth Magic he analysed the make-up of the lions and was nearly struck dumb at the sight.
A blessing of such magnitude covered the collective mass. It was the concept of immortality or the closest thing that Shirou had ever seen. But Ishtar's arrows pierced and destroyed the concept whenever they struck a beast. Shirou was momentarily perplexed and then he saw it. His mind perceived it as a flicker of gold but he knew it was so much more. Both the blessing and every arrow fired by the Babylonian goddess contained it. Scouring the pure substance for a designation he was immediately assailed by the name. It was divinity, the blood and muscle that moves the arm of authorities. It was by far and away the most powerful concept that Shirou had ever seen. The fact that his brain hadn't broken by merely taking it in he could only attribute to the strength of will and power over his Magic he had obtained. This was very good because right now it was the thing he needed.
Reaching into the core of his body Shirou applied the concept of [DIVINITY] to himself and was so surprised that it stuck that he did not even notice his servants eyes immediately snap towards him as he did so. Shirou gestured with his hand and a rapier of water drilled a hole through the head of an opposing statue lion causing it to crumble to dust. Nodding to himself Shirou went to work.
"Saber," he yelled giving the battle focused servant ample warning so that he did not decapitate the Magician. He teleported behind him and touched him immediately imparting the concept of [DIVINITY] to the battling knight. Looking back at Rin he erred on the side of caution and decided not to apply it. Both servants were beyond human and could survive and he was tough and could remove it if it became too much. But a normal human body may not be able to contain the concept properly.
Raising his hand to tell his classmate to step back he joined the two servants in systematically destroying the entire pride of lions. With all three of them now able to properly harm them the fight became as easy as the previous fight against the sphinx. The statues were tough and would most likely have overwhelmed an ordinary servant or even taken down a team of two servants working together but three very powerful servants were too much for them.
Saber looked like a miniature sun with every sweep of his sword the lions closest to it evaporated and any lion that even managed to get close to him could not do anything to the armour that he wore except be crushed by a well-timed punch or kick. Rider was just as hazardous for them, as she drew back the sting on her bow and fed it prana at such a phenomenal speed that she didn't even seem to be able to move. Shirou made up the difference and he did it with piercing blasts of water or crushing ice with the occasional bullet destroying the statue. Within two minutes the victors stood triumphant amidst a pile of rubble.
Shirou took a deep breath and turned back to talk to the resident jewel mage when he heard clapping resound throughout the empty temple. Turning his eyes forward again he beheld the sight of a young tanned man adorned in gold and shirtless apart from a white cloak draped over his shoulders and standing on a balcony that looked down upon the room.
"Magnificent," the young man said. "You are truly a mighty alliance to besiege my temple so. I had originally elected to wipe out the servants with a single sphinx and bring this war closer to an end, but seeing such strength from you three has moved me to enter the fray myself. I am Ozymandias, the King of Kings," the man spoke his words holding the authority of the ruler. "Now behold the ultimate guardian of this temple of mine you had so foolishly invaded." A large door creaked open and a sphinx bigger than the one they fought before stepped out. However this sphinx did not burn with the fires of the previous sphinx that they had fought but merely resembled a galaxy in the shape of sphinx with a golden headrest and golden wings. Shirou evaluated its power without using the fourth Magic and came to a conclusion.
"You take the servant," he said to Rider. "Saber and I should take the sphinx."
"Are you sure you want to do that," the voice of the pharaoh rang out and this time he sounded slightly concerned. "Your friend doesn't look to well."
Shirou whirled on his heels ignoring the looming beast and turned towards Rin, cursing himself for forgetting to check up on her. She was on the ground being supported by a concerned Rider. Her face was very pale and her breathing was shallow.
"There is a poisonous curse on the temple," the voice of Ozymandias rang out from behind him. "You placed some sort of protection over the other three but not her for some reason." There was a brief pause. "Were you perhaps trying to take her servant?"
Shirou ignored him and deliberately supressed any flashbacks to Akiha or Kiritsugu. He was stronger now and more versatile than the younger version of himself and he had more options with which to save people.
"Trust me," he said to Rin and after a moment he saw her weakly nod. "[Amessunu Istenis]," he said his voice quiet but determined. Saber looked like he wanted to stop him but he was held back by a look from Rin. At its core his trump card had a very anti-human nature as it was based on an environment that humans could not survive. He once again used this nature now as he had used it once before against the shadow version of Narbareck to punch a hole in the reality marble. Pushing his Magic and concentration to the limit he was left panting but in an instant the temple cracked and both Saber and Rin were gone causing Shirou to exhale in relief.
"Interesting," the self-proclaimed King of Kings stated. "To penetrate my Temple and release them. "You could have done this at any time and still you to choose to fight me here. You must be very confident in yourself."
"Once outside the temple she should recover quickly," Shirou said. "That's the trick isn't it all the blessings and curses are only effective inside the temple gates. That's why the sphinx that fought us went down so easily."
"Even outside the temple that Sphinx has the power of three servants," Ozymandias said. "The fact that it was defeated at all simply shows that your group was exceptional but it will not continue for much longer. Ahead of you is my toughest Sphinx, incomparable to the one you fought before. The Sphinx Wehem-Mesut will be your opponent."
"Rider," Shirou said. "If I were to attack Ramses with my water attacks I may cause him to run back to Egypt. You can take Remains .I'll clip the wings of this sphinx."
Ozymandias' persistent smile fell. "Destroy him," he said to the sphinx below. "I'll take the servant you can take the fool."
Shirou immediately drew and fired his pistol three times at the sphinx. He got a split second warning as the bullets didn't impact against the starry body of the sphinx but instead seemed to disappear. Throwing himself forward he was quick enough to dodge two of the bullets that unexpectedly appeared behind him but the third caught him in the shoulder. Shirou had kept his eyes on the sphinx even as he was shot and was thus not caught unawares when then the creature disappeared from its location, warping time and space and appearing in front of him striking down at his form. Shirou rolled out of the way in time, the world once again slowing down as he channelled prana. Standing up and examining the Sphinx he noticed in the back of his mind that the bullet had been broken down by Nolava II that was stored inside him and that there was a huge amount of light and noise going on outside of his peripheral vision from the collision between Ozymandias and Ishtar.
Once again focusing on the sphinx he drew fired another three bullets this time at the wings and head mask of the sphinx. The sphinx didn't move but the bullets entered the starry body anyway and this time Shirou was able to dodge it. Cursing under his breath Shirou channelled water from his body and flung an iceberg at the creature in an attack that would have crushed the defences of anybody hit by the iceberg. However the iceberg began to shrink as it flew towards the sphinx until it was eventually the size of a snowball and was absorbed into the sphinx's body. Shirou didn't move as the massive iceberg appeared above him and merely snapped his fingers casually causing the iceberg to shatter and the resulting mass of water that it left behind to hang in the air, held aloft by his willpower.
He again fired jet after jet of water after the sphinx in every direction but the creature did not move and all of the jets of water were absorbed by the starry cosmos that made up its body and redirected towards Shirou where they fell at his feet. Focusing on the sphinx he tried to evaluate its abilities but he was alarmed as the stars of the creature began to glow brighter multiplying in number and causing the whole of the sphinx's body to glow white. Summoning Nolava II to his hand he stabbed it in the ground causing him to be encased in a metal coffin.
For a brief moment he was left in the dark and silence and then in an instant the coffin became hellishly warm and there was a loud sound that caused Shirou's ears to revolt. He felt the air in the coffin begin to boil and he froze the surrounding area encasing his body in ice to avoid the worst of it. Even still the ice began to melt and Shirou frantically kept cooling it even as the world around him turned white.
After what felt like an eternity the heat abated and Shirou turned the ice into water and took in the scene around him. The floor around him was bubbling it was so hot and the coffin that was made from Nolava II's metal had melted. Focusing again on the sphinx he was disrupted by the cry from Ozymandias from behind.
"Finish him quickly Wehem-Mesut," the voice of the opposing servant called out and Shirou noticed a slight note of alarm in his voice, before his attention was taken entirely up by the sphinx in front of him. All the gold on the sphinx's body disappeared leaving only the outline of the starry skies. Then that outline began to grow overtaking Shirou's vision of the pyramid and even the floor he stood on. The last thing that Shirou heard before he found himself in a desert under starry skies was his servant Rider calling his name.
xxx
Shirou walked aimlessly through the desert, the heavy winds blowing sand against the one hand he used to constantly protect his eyes. His skin grew warm and he was forced to release a bit more of the dregs of water that he had remaining in his body. What was once a lake had dwindled down to a couple of puddles after six days of marching in this barren land. There was no water in the air and he had been forced to use the water that was always stored inside his body to both protect him from the heat of the sun and the nightly attacks. While the desert at day was a hell that he could not escape, and he had tried both teleportation and his Magic would not let him bust out of here, the desert at night had constant roaming sphinxes that seemed to be spawned from the starry skies.
In addition Shirou had not slept for more than a couple of hours since he had entered this hellish landscape. He was dead on his feet and he barely managed to survive the last night by the skin of his teeth. He blacked out on his feet and when he came to he was still walking and the sun was now barely above the horizon.
Stopping his walking for the time being Shirou sat down trying to gather up the feeble remnants of his energy. He sensed eyes on him and he had a feeling that tonight was going to be the last. The beasts usually went about their business at night randomly and he only had to fight one or two if he was caught off guard or was not able to sneak past. This was not the case now. As the light dimmed and the shadows rose Shirou was able to make out shapes in the darkness. He scrambled up to his feet and then fell on his back, his muscles failing him he stared up at the blue sky.
"It's not night," he thought. "It was just my…" And with that partially completed thought Shirou fell into complete unconsciousness.
xxx
Shirou was walking down a hallway in which the walls were decorated with unfamiliar writing that he could read. The sound of rushing water echoed throughout the passage and the ground was of stone. Shirou's eyes were trained straight ahead to an unknown goal that he knew he had to accomplish. His skin was chilled and his heart trembled with fear. With every step he took he wished to retreat two. But still he soldiered on even as the air grew sweet and moist and the steady rumblings that he heard in the distance grew louder. Coming to a chamber he stepped through with a mind full of fear but a heart fill of resolve and with his eyes he perceived that in front of him laid a behemoth.
xxx
Red-eyes snapped open in the sockets of the man who lay upon the desert sands. Stretching his limbs out he got to his feet ignoring the procession of sphinx's that eyed him warily. "I'm inside a Reality Marble, inside a Reality Marble," the man mused to himself. "This puts me about as far away from G&A as if I was on the moon," the man said smiling. "You really did me a favour there. If I was just a bit closer to those two I couldn't do this."
The man stepped back and for a brief moment the world was silent, the cavalcade of sphinxes started to edge closer. Than in an instant things changed. From the dry desert sands geysers of water exploded indiscriminately with the force of bombs. Some hit the mass of sphinxes and tore one or two apart but the majority of them merely filled the air with water. Then the ground cracked apart and the cracks formed into trenches that revealed a watery abyss. The Divine beasts had enough, abandoning their caution they charged at the red-haired man. They leapt over the trenches and dodged the jets and with power that did not disgrace their Divine heritage, they closed on their opponent just as he brought his hand down causing the water level to rise and sinking the entire desert into an ocean.
xxx
Ishtar stared in despair at the spot her Master occupied recently. The sphinx had expanded and swallowed him and now it had returned to normal looking as if it ever did. She couldn't even feel her Master feeding prana to her. Her red eyes narrowed in absolute hatred and she turned to use the remnants of her prana to reduce that hated foe to dust and then she paused.
For just a moment she felt her Master's prana surge. Whipping her head back to the sphinx while still keeping an eye on her enemy she was shocked by the sight. The fearsome Divine beast was hacking and spluttering as gallons of water exploded out of its mouth then a jet of water burst from its sides, and then it's back until the majestic Divine Beast looked like a leaking water balloon. In the next instant the creature exploded sending water all over the temple and depositing the form of Shirou who fell to his knees. She looked at him and she could tell by the lethargic look in his brown eyes that he was nowhere near okay. He merely stared at the both of them without any comprehension in his eyes.
"That is something I never thought possible," Ozymandias said from behind the goddess. Turning away grudgingly from her Master, she fixed him with a look of warning.
The Egyptian servant wasn't looking too well. He had wounds over him that clearly indicated his lost fight. While he was strong there was no way he could both activate his Reality Marble and fight a goddess. She drew back her string prepared to end the insolent Pharaoh and was mildly enraged when he held up a hand.
"Your Master may be killed if we continue to fight," he said directly using words that stopped her action dead. "Your master and I are both wounded. I can release my temple and you can fight me another day." Ishtar glared at him and then very deliberately lowered her bow.
She turned around, still keeping an eye upon the servant and she walked to Shirou and picked him up gently. The temple faded away and both servants found themselves on the street again, where they started, thankfully with no onlookers.
The tanned servant turned to walk away but he was stopped by the sound of Ishtar's voice. "Ozymandias," she said. "When we next meet I will beat you to death.
The servant didn't even look back, merely nodding. "I will be ready," he said in reply.
"No you won't be," Ishtar stated to herself, her eyes all but glowing with determination.
Author note: This chapter may be a bit rushed but I think I have all the essential bits written out. I had to come up with a powerset for this sphinx and something about his design reminded me of Becquerel from Homestuck. So yeah.
AnimeA55Kicker There is literally no way that the Fuyuki Grail can summon Ishtar under normal circumstances. The wiki literally says that if the grail was powerful enough to summon divine spirits it would render the entire war pointless.
Archleone Literally no idea about the outfit. In FGO Kiyohime refers to Tamamo as her chat room buddy. They are very similar in speech and action so if you didn't read the name or the title of the chapter you can easily mistake them. Thanks for the punctuation advice I should have fixed most of them.
Fathira Yes it was a homage to MIB. Shirou has actually also got a habit of quoting movies. Although I usually keep it subtle.
Guest It is always interesting to see how to develop weaknesses for an omnipotent character. I might as well spell them out though. Her almost omniscience doesn't work on people who are also strongly connected to the root and there is literally no way she can brainwash Satsuki or Anderson because Anderson. But so far two beasts' let's see if I can introduce a third.