Chapter 7
She woke up to a bed drenched in sweat, her entire body damp and sticky. The moment she got out of the bed, the cold of the room hit her twice as hard, forcing her to change into new clothes as fast as possible.
"Berserker, materialize." The moment she gave the order, Berserker appeared.
"What is thy bidding, my Master?"
"Servants are supposed to be summoned at their prime, aren't they?"
Berserker thought for a moment.
"According to the knowledge given to me by the Grail, this is correct."
"So you should be in your prime then?"
"Yes, this is my prime."
"You don't have any other stronger forms at different ages?"
" No, I stopped aging at around...18? Yes, 18 years old. Ah, but I still celebrate my birthday, so please give me sweets when that time comes." Berserker replied with a straight face, dead serious.
"But you're only here for the duration of the Holy Grail War though?" Was what Illya thought as she mentally palmed her face. Still, that meant that it was possible for her to achieve the strengthened form she had seen in the dream she had before then.
"Alright then, I'll be direct. Berserker, I saw your past in a dream last night and you were clearly a lot stronger in the dream than you are right now. Do you remember how you reached those levels of strength?"
Berserker nodded.
"This is the key." She took out a black bean bun from under her coat.
"This mysterious artifact of untold power was passed down through generations of Dark Lords until it reached my hands, given to me by my master when I reached my full potential. It contains the six fundamental forces of
Desire (Soul), Sugar (Power), Sales Location (Space), Cost Price (Reality), Production (Time), and Demand (Mind). When all six forced are combined, it becomes an item that (supposedly) grants infinite power to the wielder, the legendary '∞ (Infinity) Black Bean Paste' famed throughout the Galaxy and beyond."
"At least, that was what my master told me."
Illya couldn't help but gaze it at skeptically.
" I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Let's go outside to see if it works."
She had after all seen an ability of the same name in Berserker's Servant profile, so it was possible it might achieve something, though she wasn't exactly expecting it to completely transform Berserker. She had watched her consume them en mass with no effect yesterday.
They went out to a courtyard situated at the front of the castle. It was completely covered in snow, a field of white. Luckily, the snowstorm had abated for now, letting Illya see clearly around the courtyard.
"Here should be fine. Now, Berserker eat the bun and show me your true strength."
Berserker complied.
"Here we go Master, I was waiting for this moment since yesterday! Witness my full might that will end any fight in five seconds!(Disclaimer: only applies to 1-3 star Servants)
Even though Illya remained unconvinced, Berserker seemed strangely motivated. She swallowed the entire bun whole and closed her eyes, adopting a look of extreme concentration.
*Whoosh!*
Strong winds enveloped her body, stirring the snow around her into a frenzy, and her entire body started glowing. Illya widened her eyes, her fists clenched in anticipation as she looked on expectantly.
The winds became stronger and stronger, while the glow also increased in intensity as well, just like when she summoned her Servant. It ended just as suddenly as it began, with a brilliant flash of light and a blast of air, but Illya managed to avert her eyes in time to avoid getting blinded.
When she looked back up, her Servant had changed drastically, at least in appearance. She looked exactly the same as she had in her dream, with the menacing black and red bodysuit with metal plates and armour in various places. The red lines glowed faintly, and with Berserker's scarf and glasses gone she looked completely different, almost like a proper Servant. Her right hand held the Wicked Holy Sword Necrocalibur with it's blade activated, humming quietly, while crimson energy formed unstable small arcs of electricity in her left.
"My power...it's overflowing."
Illya couldn't believe it. The black bean bun worked! She was such a stark contrast to how she was yesterday, almost like a completely different servant. Magical energy was flowing out of her in waves that stifled the air around her, and it was dense to the point that even the snow was disturbed by them.
"You're amazing Berserker! I can't believe you're actually this strong! I'll give you all the sweets you want, even my precious black bean buns!" Illya praised her unreservedly with sparkling eyes, almost jumping for joy despite knowing that Acht was probably monitoring her behaviour with a familiar somewhere.
"R-really? I'm that amazing? To the point that you'll give me all the sweets you have?" Surprisingly, Berserker blushed at her praise, while some drool almost escaped from the corner of her mouth at the words "sweets" before she managed to suck it back in.
" So if I do really well, you'll even give me luxury Japanese sweets from a long-established candy store every day along with a daily supply of 5kg wasanbon sugar? And if it's not too much to ask for, even a portable Black Round Table-type kotatsu?"
Normally, Illya would reject these ridiculous demands out of hand, even from her own Servant. But after seeing her Servants strength, she was happy to comply.
"Of course, I'll buy you the very best Japanese sweets from the most famous of stores for the entire Fifth Holy Grail War. I'll even sign a geis to guarantee it!"
With that, Berserker was completely fired up.
"Fufufu. In that case, I will demonstrate my strongest technique right here and now, to prove that your trust in me isn't unfounded. With this move, even if it's an OP Indian demigod that needs to be nerfed before summoning, I'll still pierce them through their core."
She pulled out her saberstaff and activated it, crouching into a low stance as if to dash forward while her right hand holding the saberstaff was positioned behind her.
"The summoning of Heroic Spirits begins with Alter and ends with Alter."
Illya marveled at her as Berserker's magical output suddenly leapt up by several levels, completely blowing away her expectations.
"This is the road where what lies ahead is shrouded in darkness, the path of the Alter."
At this point, the energy was literally exploding out of Berserker, manifesting as a red translucent aura like flames with Berserker as the source, crimson lightning dancing around her form.
"Altreactor, critical limits exceeded."
Like a bullet, she shot forward towards the forest, a massive blaze of ruby magical energy blasting from her lightsaber propelling her forwards like a rocket, melting all the snow behind her in a straight line. A crater as large as a lorry was created at where she was standing moments ago, testament to the extraordinary strength of her charge.
"Through my darkness's brilliance, be returned to elementary particles!"
She roared out the words the moment she reached the forest's edge, and slashed once, twice and thrice near simultaneously, a godlike speed that was just short of reaching heaven itself. The saberstaff slashed through ten trees and cut them into sizable pieces, with all of them flying backwards into other trees and crashing into them, felling those trees with the momentum they had and continuing until they were deep in the forest. Bark fragments and snow flew into the air, turning into a storm of wood and snow that shredded the other trees in the surroundings indiscriminately.
Berserker continued onwards, swinging her saberstaff over and over with increasing speed and power as her output increased more and more, as if she was trying to cut through the very air itself.
*ZUSHANZASHINZUSHANZASHINZUSHAN*
Numerous slashes were made within a few seconds, creating a trail of destruction deep into the forest, like a meteor had cut its path through it. The energy she was outputting even magnified her blade's strength, allowing her to cut things from dozens of meters away, creating a massive killzone all around her. She released one final slash on the ground, at the same time making all the sliced pieces fly up in the air into one big target. She gathered all her energy for one final burst that would release everything she had, striving towards the sword that would even slice a planet in half.
Her knees bent as she crouched, gathering her energy into her lower half for a massive jump that sent her flying into the air hundreds of meters in a few seconds until she reached the wooden pieces. Drawing back her sword, she charged up all her energy and unleashed everything she had into that one blow.
"CROSS-CALIBUUURRRR!"
The name of the Noble Phantasm echoed across the land as a massive star of destruction consumed the wood fragments and seemingly split the sky itself, a crimson sign of death in the sky.
Far above the cross of energy, Berserker floated in the sky, before the kinetic energy propelling her upwards finally lost to gravity and caused her to plummet. Quickly, she slowed herself down with her "Alter Choke" technique and landed safely, dashing back to her Master with haste.
"If it's with this, surely Master will reward me with many sweets after seeing my power. With wasanbon sugar and wagashi every day, even attaining Nirvana wouldn't be out of my grasp. Fufufu." She grinned at the thought of all the sweets awaiting her, drool starting to pool in her mouth.
When she reached the courtyard, she called out to Illya.
"Master, what did you think? Even though I'm not a buster servant, with my power even a quick Noble Phantasm would be enough to...M-master?"
Illya was lying face down on the ground, held frail body half sunken into the snow.
"Master!"