She woke to the excruciating pain setting her body on fire. Her limbs did not feel quite like her own, and her nerves were white-hot, plunging her into a sea of agony just by breathing.
For a few brief moments, the pain was all she could register. It was intense – almost impossibly so – but it was ultimately not able to overwhelm her; she was a fighter, and a force not to be trifled with by even the most skilled of magi. She was a phenomenon all by herself – a fact that her captor clearly did not know.
A dull thud ever so softly reached her ears as violent, fresh shockwaves of pain flooded her body. Ignoring it and gritting her teeth, she continued to push herself to her feet, dismissing the pain that would have crippled countless men with sheer willpower. It felt like her arm would break at any time supporting her weight, but that did not deter Bazett.
"Ugh…"
Her own voice sounded alien even to herself. Deprived of strength and filled with a much-loathed sense of weakness, it did nothing except making her put more force into her limbs.
"I have to… get out of here…"
She spoke that line aloud. As though affirming herself of the objective at hand, she voiced out her thoughts, letting the words fill her body and drive out the distractions.
Finally rising to her feet, albeit shakily, Bazett considered her surroundings. There was no light source in the room, but a minimal amount of what she assumed to be moonlight illuminated the gloomy space.
At a glance, it was a normal, everyday room for guests – the kind one would find in a house. The amount of furniture was modest at best, and there was hardly anything to suggest a previous occupant had once lived here. At first glance, that was all it was – a guest room. But that was all that was normal about it.
Magecraft. Simple, powerful magecraft that distorted her sense of reality and sapped her strength. The more she tried to concentrate, to stay alert, the more her vision faded in and out, swimming in a sea of blurry darkness. She could not even summon the strength to clench her fists.
Over the hazy, jumbled mess that was her consciousness, Bazett understood that she was unarmed. The clothes she had been wearing were replaced by some odd-looking dress, devoid of the strengthening runes she always used. She was, right now, just a regular woman unworthy of the Enforcer title. She was effectively a powerless bystander left in the world of magi, and that thought alone sent a chill down her spine.
She had nothing. Stripped of all her abilities and at the mercy of her enemies, she was alone and powerless. There was nothing she could do, and that helplessness flooded her with a wave of unease. That inability to escape her current predicament filled her with anger, filled her with shame.
And most of all, filled her being with an unmistakable sense of fear.
Bazett had always been a human being, contrary to popular belief. Despite her practically invincible front, she was not something completely alien. She was, ultimately, just human.
For all her life, she had to fight her way out. Every problem she had come across, she was able to crush it with her bare hands. Disadvantageous situations were nothing new to her, so fear had never been a part of her world. Never, until now.
The uncertainty of her fate. The overwhelming strength of her enemies. The unmistakable weakness that was her own. All those things came crashing down on her shoulders, threatening to crush her without mercy at any moment. The sheer amount of stress and pressure was enough to render any decent human into a sobbing wreck.
But for the 'Berserker woman', it merely spurred her fighting spirit.
Despite having a battered and powerless body, Bazett Fraga McRemitz dragged herself into a sprint towards the door.
"U-um…"
Contrary to her confident stance, Illya looked like she had just been told to kick a puppy.
Dressed in the all-too-familiar risqué blue tights and wielding a legendary cursed lance of death, she bore some physical similarities to her opponent, but everything else was way off.
"Hmm," Lancer mused, appraising his Master's appearance. "You seriously can't do something about the clothes? I'd rather not be blamed for corrupting young kids to dress like… that."
"T-this is Ruby's idea!" Illya protested, her cheeks a shade away from matching the spear in her hands. She had agreed to this little sparring match, so there was no backing out now, but at this point she was seriously considering finding a hole to dive into. "I-I'm not usually so-"
"Oh my, is that so~?" Ruby teased, bending her head upwards to speak to Illya. Given Illya's current Installed state, Ruby took on the form and abilities of the crimson spear Gae Bolg. As such, it looked like the entire spear was sentient, bending itself upwards like a snake raising its head. "But the ally of love and justice Ruby-chan doesn't do things like that~ I merely create the outfit based on my Master's interests. By the way, Illya-san's current magical underwear has a Shirou-san print-"
"When did you start doing that?!" Illya exclaimed. "I didn't hear about that part! Why is that even a thing?!"
"Well, the budget kinda increased after the 'Beast Mode' episode aired…"
"You broadcasted it?!"
"Well, as part of the entire reflection meeting, that footage was educational material~"
"Which part was?!"
Watching the heated exchange that had somehow started from seemingly nothing, Lancer raised an eyebrow. He honestly could not tell if he should be pissed at the at the talking, comical Gae Bolg in Illya's hands, or just be amused at this nonsense.
"And didn't I tell you to never bring up the Beast Mode outfit ever again?!" Illya was shrieking. "That… t-thing isn't… isn't…!"
"Ah, but it increased Illya-san's destructive power two- no, ten-fold!" Ruby chirped. "Just being in its presence is enough to render countless men powerless!"
"I don't need that kind of 'destructive power'!" Illya whined.
"Oh? So you have a stronger form than copying me?" Lancer spoke up, genuinely curious. Maybe the term 'Beast Mode' intrigued him. "Bring it out; let's see how good it is."
"… Eh?"
Unfazed by Illya's look of utter bewilderment, Lancer's eyes were blazing with fighting spirit. It was earnest, too, which made things a whole lot more complicated for the silver-haired girl.
"Ufufufufuufu…." Ruby-Gae Bolg snickered. "Since we have been asked so nicely…"
"W-wai-"
"… let's do it with a bang!" Ruby finished, proceeding to give off a powerful, mysterious glow. Her protests meaningless in the face of a power she could not resist, Illya felt her body giving in to Ruby's control as she bathed in that irksome glow. She was well aware of what that sensation meant – that for the next lord knows how long, she would be moving and posing entirely at Ruby's mercy.
The light faded. Then all sound vanished. Then Ruby suggested a way to break the silence.
Then Illya screamed. Again. And really loudly to boot.
It took all of two seconds for Saber to barge into the dojo with her blade of wind in her hands, and another five to absorb the scene in front of her. Casting a brief glance at Lancer, who looked like he was suffering from a migraine, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Illya," she said to the girl in questionable clothing with a face that was clearly on fire. "I suggest that we immediately destroy that abomination of a Mystic Code."
"Eh?" Ruby wondered aloud. "W-wait! In these sort of situations, shouldn't the man be the one blamed and beaten up?! Why are you looking to hurt me instead?!"
"A true knight does not entertain such vile thoughts," Saber said firmly. "Prepare yourself, fiend."
Beast Mode Illya opened her mouth to protest, attempting to point out that in Beast Mode, Ruby was a part of her costume.
"And Illya," Saber added with a sternness that reminded her of Sella. "We need to talk afterwards."
Ruby, in a last-ditch effort to escape certain destruction, dispelled the transformation and flew. She was travelling fast – faster than the human eye could track – but that only got her so far before Lancer's fingers closed in around her.
On that fateful day, the protector of love and justice that was Magical Ruby-chan saw true Hell.
"… And thus, as a proper lady, it is only right to wear less revealing clothes," Saber chastised.
"I-I'm sorry…" a very remorseful Illya replied, sounding and looking deeply ashamed of herself.
Just outside the door, Kuro and Miyu watched the lecture go on and on, the former looking rather amused while the latter was genuinely concerned.
"We can't catch a break around her, can we?" Kuro mused, watching her little sister get told off for something that was not entirely her fault.
"Mm," Miyu nodded. "But at least I was able to acquire some good photos."
… Good for you, then," Kuro replied. "But still, that Saber… She says she pledged her allegiance to Mama, but this is something else; she sounds like an actual mother…"
"… Yeah, she does," Miyu agreed.
Kuro cast her a brief glance, but otherwise said nothing. Miyu had always been a mystery – a fact that Illya seemed to ignore most of the time. There were too many unknown factors, and too many questions surrounding her existence, but she had never once stepped forward to confront Miyu about it.
This stalemate can't hold, Illya, Kuro thought. From Miyu's tone alone, Kuro could gather that she had little to no recollection of her mother, or at least had no fond memories of her – a plight that Illya would never be able to relate to. Perhaps that was why she chose to keep it to herself. Or perhaps…
"… Come to think of it, Shirou-san is quite late," Miyu said suddenly. "Do you suppose…?"
"It is kind of late," Kuro agreed. "But if he's not using that 'Command Seal' thing, he should be fine, right? Knowing onii- I mean, knowing Shirou, he probably got caught up helping someone else after archery practice or-"
She froze.
"Kuro?" Miyu asked warily, noting the sudden change in her expression. "What's wrong?"
"… It's him," Kuro muttered, her fingers tightening around her chest. "I don't know how, but it's definitely him… He's… Projecting… something…"
A sudden surge of emotion came and went, flashing by in her mind like a flash of lightning. It was ever so brief, but was also unmistakable – it was a distinct surge of killing intent, and one directed at someone who was not even physically present.
Why? She questioned. She had never been unsure of her own feelings, and she was far more straightforward and open than Illya was. She held no doubts about what she wanted. Yet, this killing intent was defying all of those thoughts in just one instant. Why is it that when I think of him, I want to… kill… Shirou…?
In her mind, she loved him. She adored him. And yet, ever since coming into contact with that weird man in that red cloak, an uncanny hate had begun pouring out from deep inside her. Far deeper than her mind, as though coming out of the very essence of her being. Her soul.
Almost as if in that moment, she existed solely to eliminate the man called Emiya Shirou.
"Kuro?!" Miyu called, but it was too late; with her signature red cloak billowing in her wake, Kuro had already vanished into the night air in one leap.
"Miyu-sama, do we give chase?" Sapphire asked.
"Yes," Miyu replied, breaking into a run. "Sapphire, the transformation!"
"Understood!"
The Servant Caster looked away from the boy she had saved, and instead focused on the woman with the blindfold.
"Oi, you," the clearly shaken wreck that was Shinji said. Having survived the surprise attack earlier, most of the fear was gone from his system, replaced instead by a fit of rage. "Who do you think you are, barging in like that?!"
"My, what a rude young man," Caster said pleasantly. "You have no idea what situation you're in, have you?"
"Ha!" Shinji scoffed. "That's my line, you third-rate trash! You're up against the strongest Master and his Servant; do you really think you can-"
A thin beam of energy whisked through the air, burning the spot where Shinji's face had been moments before. Having avoided the attack, Rider set him down, before turning to engage the enemy.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Caster said. "I just got a little bored of your nonsense. Mind wrapping up so we can continue fighting?"
"Damn you…" Shinji snarled. "Don't think you can get away with this! Rider, kill her! Wipe that stupid look off her face!"
Wordlessly, Rider complied, kicking off the ground towards Caster. Covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye, she closed in on the hooded Servant and flung out her weapon.
A brief flash of metal followed that movement, and in the next moment Shirou saw the shape of the thing that had been invisible before: a silver stake-like object that was attached to a long winding chain. He was, however, unable to make out its proper design, since it traveled like a speeding bullet.
Even with that speed, the weapon failed to connect. Before the silver stake could pierce Caster's face, she vanished, leaving it to soar through the air pointlessly and lodge itself into the dojo's wall. Then, before Rider could even begin to look for her foe, several beams of mana bombarded her from above.
Leaping out of the cloud of dust left behind by the attack, Rider retreated a few steps – an act that she knew would be pointless to an enemy in the sky. She was not unscathed, having received considerable damage from the attack earlier, but her concentration did not slip. Without any regard for her injuries, she kept her focus directed at Caster, who remained high in the sky and out of her reach.
And right next to her, trapped in a floating magic circle, was a very surprised Shirou.
"You should really be more careful," Caster told him. "You could easily have died, you know."
"T-thanks," Shirou stammered. "Are you… a Servant?"
"Oh? You know about Servants?" Caster asked, casually firing more beams of mana down at her helpless opponent below. "I had thought you were just an unrelated victim."
That was, naturally, a lie; she had already observed Shirou for some time before this, and he was in fact the reason for Caster showing up here in the first place. She had fully intended to steal his Saber after seeing Berserker in combat, but that went out the window as soon as she saw his entourage.
At first, she had assumed her to be a magus pretending to be Berserker's Master. A rather harmless individual, she was, until she brought out the Noble Phantasm that was Rule Breaker.
Servants were, in most cases, Heroic Spirits across time and space with legends left in the wake of their passing. Regardless of whether they were saints or fiends in life, Servants would always have a form of 'legend' of their own, and with said tales came Noble Phantasms – the crystallization of their renowned myths. They were objects only the Servants themselves could possess, and each one was unique to its wielder. Noble Phantasms effectively defined the Servant, and there were no exceptions.
But the child had clearly used Rule Breaker. Not only that, she had done to Lancer what Caster had intended to do to Saber – she had transferred the Contract between Master and Servant onto herself. After seeing something like that, it was only natural for Caster to be a little wary, and be forced to change her plans a little.
For now, that meant tricking this trusting fool of a Master-
"Look out!"
A mere fraction of a second later, something swift and sharp gouged into Caster's body.
"… Nice shot," Rin said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
Archer narrowed his eyes. When Rin had asked him if he would miss them at this distance, he had gone and told her 'only if you want me to'. In hindsight, it might have been better to boast after he actually hit the target.
To be fair, he would have cleanly pierced Caster's heart had it not been for that stupid boy with her. Considering the time before during the battle with Berserker, Emiya Shirou seemed genuinely able to sense his attacks. Now that he had been foiled a second time, Archer found it difficult to chalk up those occurrences to dumb luck.
"Hey, I managed to hit her," Archer said defensively, watching his second arrow blast through the roof of the dojo and pierce Rider's leg. "See? I hit her too."
"Oh, bravo," Rin rolled her eyes. "Now we've lost the element of surprise."
"We still have the advantage of distance," Archer shrugged. Of course, there was the option of using a Broken Phantasm and effectively nuking them all, but that would take more lives than was necessary. Sure, Emiya Shirou would die in that attack too, but so would Caster, Rider and Shinji.
Okay, maybe I can live with the last one, he thought.
"In case you didn't know," Rin said. "That Caster can teleport. What're you going to do if she just appears right here and kill us?"
"Then it'll be even easier for me," Archer replied simply. "I can match her in range, and in close distance combat she's no match for me. I see no reason to worry."
"I can give you one."
Archer moved fast. So fast, in fact, that Rin almost thought he had teleported. Standing between his Master and the mysterious assailant, Archer let go of his bow and produced his trusted pair of swords.
"I have some things I want to ask you," Kuro said, pointing her copy of his sword at him.
"And if you want them, you'll have to be a little more persuasive," Archer replied, throwing her own words back at her.
Wow, that sounded really wrong, he thought to himself.
"I can manage that," Kuro said, dashing towards him with her swords raised.
With an exasperated sigh, Archer raised one hand almost lazily. She may have had beyond-average abilities, but the dark Illya in front of him was still no Servant. She may have been fast, but he was on another level altogether.
So why was she not backing down?
The thought of it made him pause ever so briefly. Any rational human being would back off when faced with an enemy they could not defeat. If they knew the difference in level, they would just not fight, at least not head-on. But this girl was persistent, unnaturally so. It may have had something to do with the fact that she was wearing his clothes, but she was giving off the same stubborn vibe as Emiya Shirou.
Bringing down his sword with more force than he had intended, Archer smashed Kuro's Kanshou into thousands of tiny pieces. Before he could register what he had just done, his knee had already buried itself in Kuro's stomach, sending the girl flying backwards and tumbling on the floor.
"… Ouch," Kuro groaned, slowly getting up. "You don't hold back, even against an elementary schoolgirl?"
"… That was me holding back," Archer said after a brief pause. "So if you have any degree of common sense, you'll leave right now."
"… Unfortunately, 'common sense' doesn't run in the family," Kuro said, evidently in great pain. "And neither does 'running away'. So you see, I'm afraid I can't comply with your demands."
Archer considered her words for a few moments.
"Very well," he said at last, pulling out his bow and creating an elegant sword out of thin air. "Then I'll smash that stubbornness to pieces along with your life."
"… Archer?" Rin said hesitantly.
He did not reply. Even if he could, he probably would have chosen not to anyway; he was far too confused right now to talk, to consider his options, to sort through the chaotic thoughts swimming in his head. All he could feel now was rage – raw, all-consuming rage – burning through the blood in his veins without reason or mercy. For some reason that he could not fathom, Archer felt the overwhelming compulsion to crush this girl. To break her spirit and kill her in the same way he had intended for Emiya Shirou.
"So be it," Kuro muttered, copying the bow in Archer's hands and creating a sword of her own. Mirroring his actions and preparing to fire the sword – which had compressed itself into a thin-looking arrow – she took a deep breath.
She could tell that his weapon was called Caladbolg. It was just so clear when she looked at him creating it for some reason. She knew that he was stronger than her, but at the same time she knew that his arrow was definitely inferior. She could not understand how or why she knew, but she just… did.
Her weapon was a construct far more powerful than the likes of Caladbolg. She may be weaker than him in terms of abilities, but there was no denying the sheer difference in the 'arrows' they chose to fire. Maybe – just maybe – this would give her the edge over him just this once.
"Caladbolg!"
"Excalibur!"
So many people in one location again? What is this mayhe- oh, wait…
So it appears I have a bunch of new reviews for the last chapter, but I couldn't respond to them because my mail decided to remove them from my inbox (or something; I was using my phone to check so I don't know if it's an app thing or what). My apologies, and I promise I'll try to get back to you!
See you next chapter!