Chapter 19
Berserker mopped up the remaining wolves with Illya providing more than adequate amounts of energy to her. When she fainted, Berserker had cut off the energy supply and relied on her own reserves, which was why Illya wasn't a charred corpse. Her body had regenerated enough od to continue supplying Berserker, healing her wounds as well. Back in normal condition, it was easy enough for Berserker to wipe out the wolves.
Illya sat on the sides watching the bloodbath, faintly amazed that she had actually massacred the entire pack of wolves in a single day. The wolves that were the terror of the forest were no more, sent into the afterlife. Hopefully, the Servants in the Holy Grail War ended up the same way as these wolves. Illya knew it was unlikely, but she could dream couldn't she? After all, what could be stronger than Berserker? She had even negated the energy from an exploding spaceship with her Noble Phantasm, so it was no exaggeration to say that her Noble Phantasm was on a whole other level despite it being classified as an Anti-Unit Phantasm. She was pretty much set for the War. Smiling cheerfully, she sat on the bloodied snow and hummed to herself, fantasising all the ways she'd torture and kill the adopted boy.
The one-sided massacre ended soon, with Illya slowly feeling the strain on her body again after only a short amount of time. The test should be over now right? At least, Illya didn't think Acht had anything else you his sleeve. All that was left was to find their way home.
"Let's go Berserker."
"Understood." Noting her Master's shaking legs, she decided to ask.
"Do you want to carry you, Master?"
"Eh?" It had been a long time since anyone had offered to carry her, ever since Kiritsugu had left. Sella and Leysritt had offered to do so, but she refused them since it felt different. After she got older, they didn't even bother anymore. Still it wouldn't hurt, and she was exhausted after the battles they'd been through.
"Sure!" Once in a while was fine.
Berserker knelt down as Illya clambered onto her shoulders, then standing up while securing her legs. Although both of them were stained with various bodily fluids and looked horrible, they weren't bothered by it. Illya brushed some wolf meat out of Berserkers hair that she noticed, before looking around from her new elevation. It was quite a bit shorter than what she remembered of her childhood with Kiritsugu, but it still brought back fond memories. She wondered if Berserker could grow taller if she upgraded her Saint Graph.
Pointing forward, she smiled cheerfully with blood stained lips.
"Forwards!"
"Let us return." Berserker trudged forward through the gorefest, searching for a way back to the castle and her kotatsu.
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Illya asked.
"By the way Berserker, do you know where you're heading?"
Berserker stopped in her tracks before walking again, ignoring her question.
"Hey Berserker, answer me!" Puffing up her cheeks, Illya pouted. This time Berserker answered her.
"Trust me Master. My unwavering sense of direction towards the Dark kotatsu will lead us to safety."
"...So you have no idea where we're going then."
"What kind of sweets should I get next? Perhaps daifuku? Or higashi? Maybe…"
"Did you hear what I just said!"
The two bantered back and forth all the way, getting lost in the Bounded Fields, doubling back and then circling around the edges of the forest before finally coming into sight of the castle. The harsh white marble now seemed welcoming, warm yellow light spilling from the windows like a beacon of safety.
"Yatta."
"We're finally here Berserker! You can put me down now."
Gently, Berserker knelt until Illya could slide off by herself. Smiling from ear to ear, Illya walked to the castle. She could finally take a shower and and rest in the kota-
Berserker's instincts went into overdrive as her muscles moved before she consciously commanded them, almost teleporting next to Illya to block the shadowy blade descending on her head.
Illya was blown away by the shockwave, getting hurled away before she finally landed on a pile of snow which cushioned her fall.
*KKRRRR*
The sword creaked under the strength of Berserker, but didn't break. Slowly, the saberstaff pushed back the unknown assailant, until the attacked broke off from the deadlock and jumped backwards with eerily similar movements to Berserker.
Berserker immediately retreated towards her Master, her entire body taut like a bow, cautious if further sneak attacks.
Slowly, the shadowy figure walked into the center of the courtyard, and Illya got her first good look at the figure.
They were clad in a black smoky mist similar to what Illya had seen on Berserker Lancelot in the dream sequence, but unlike him it looked like even their entire bodies were made out of mist as well. They were barely substantial, like clouds compressed into a single body. Still, the sword in their hands was solid enough to block the saberstaff. The vague outline of their body also seemed close to Berserker, a small feminine body clad in some sort of armor.
Berserker hissed at her, something that Illya heard for the first time.
*Whoosh*
Two more shadows joined the first, standing at her left and right, their appearances also similar to the first. They brandished their sword, each one of them menacing and silent. Illya noticed that for some reason, each one of them had a strand of hair sticking upwards from the middle of their head, like someone purposefully gelling one strand of hair to stick up like a cornstalk.
"Master, stand back."
Illya was confused. Why was she so agitated? She wasn't like this earlier, even when facing the entire horde of wolves and rogue homunculi in the woods.
"My sworn enemy, the Sabers, have finally appeared. I will eradicate them until not even a molecule of their bodies are left."
Crouching, she took a stance like a hungry tiger, mana once more blazing off her body.
"Apologies Master, but I will have to strain your body again. Please bear with it."
And then she was off, rushing forwards to clash with the three.
The one on the left moved first, raising her sword to deflect Necrocalibur to the side. She displayed unnatural skill, using a similar fighting style to Berserker that emphasized strength by utilizing the entire body to generate as much force as possible. She also seemed to be wearing medieval armor, with a skirt as well as a blackened longsword that seemed strangely reminiscent of Berserker's single bladed Necrocalibur. As she watched, the servant-like shadow suddenly generated a burst of black mana that pushed her swing to greater speeds, the sudden increase catching Berserker off-guard and bashing her saberstaff to the side. The moment she was open, the shadow servant on the right acted, rushing straight in for the kill.
This shadow was much taller than Berserker, wielding a disproportionately long Oriental sword, and dressed in Oriental garb as well. In fact, to Illya it seemed like she was wearing some variation of traditional Japanese clothing, and using a very long Japanese sword. Her long hair shrouded in mist swung gracefully in the air as she moved, almost acting like ballerina as she skillfully weaved her way through the snow towards Berserker, her sword poised for a fatal strike. Illya could tell that this shadow had mastered the martial arts of the sword until she had elevated it to an art form that broke the rules of the world.
Berserker quickly let loose a bolt of lightning towards her, but the Japanese shadow simply vanished from sight, immediately reappearing much closer to Berserker and swinging her sword. With a hair's breadth away from the blade, Berserker managed to dodge it while using her telekinesis to barely nudge the longsword from the other shadow attacking her to just scratch her arm instead of cutting through her shoulder.
The middle shadow stood in the center all this time, observing the fight as it progressed.
Berserker recovered and pulled up a spray of snow from the ground, masking her and her opponents from view as they disappeared into the whiteness. Illya could only catch a few glimpses of them through the snow, blurs of red on black, and the sounds of blades clashing. Not a moment later, a shockwave blasted the snow away, revealing Berserker standing between the two shadows, with the Japanese shadow in front and the European shadow behind, sandwiching her just out of sword range. Electricity crackled around both of Berserker's arms, and Illya spotted several shallow cuts in her cloak.
For a few heartbeats, both sides remained still. Then all of a sudden, pillars of black flame erupted from the ground, rapidly closing in on Berserker. She jumped straight up into the air, snow flying all around. Without a pause, both shadows attacked her at the same time, one charging up an attack on her sword to release a purplish-black beam of energy with red edges. The other settled into a stance before jumping as well, releasing what looked like a single slash, but was in reality numerous slashes that actually made slash marks in the air.
Berserker crossed her arms, putting her hands all the way back so that Necrocalibur was behind her, then slashed when both attacks reached her. Her telekinesis was used to pull in her in a certain direction as well, letting her rotate fast enough to create what looked like a wall of light to Illya, but was in fact just the saberstaff spinning rapidly with the slashes. Lightning coated her sword and slashes as well, serving as an additional deterrent for her attackers.
The European shadow's feet exploded with black mana, propelling her like a bullet straight at Berserker. Meanwhile, the other shadow in the air with Berserker charged up her blade with massive amounts of mana, red and black mana swirling around the blade like a tornado, with the blade as a shining white center. Several iron stakes trailing with dark flames shot up right beneath Berserker as well, cutting off her options. Unable to descend or turn in either direction, she quickly came up with a plan.
Stretching one hand towards the shadow flying up to her, she pulled as hard as she could to increase her velocity towards herself, leaving her back completely open towards the other shadow. Seeing her chance, the other shadow swung with all their might towards Berserker. Only to clash with a shadowy sword that had the momentum of the mana burst behind it, canceling each other out. Berserker had twisted her body away at the last second, her right side still getting shredded until it looked like a cannonball had gone through it, and she was now stuck right between the two of them, but most of her body was still intact. They also served as meat shields for the stakes flying up from the ground, and when they turned their attention to her she threw lightning at both them, the close proximity negating their chances of dodging or blocking the lightning. This, combined with the stakes that distracted them from below, gave Berserker enough time to kick off them with her legs and jump back to the ground away from them. The two shadows, electrocuted by her lightning, took a few more moments in the air to recover before they could land.
"Berserker, we need to finish this quickly. Time is of the essence." Illya took the brief moment of reprieve to communicate with her.
"I understand. The previous battles depleted your stores of mana, and battle once more after so little rest would prove suicidal if it drags on for too long. I shall try to finish this as soon as possible."
Already, Illya was shaking and sweating from the effort, looking like she had a fever, while she knelt on the snow, trying to stay conscious as hard as she could. The few wounds she had sustained earlier actually helped a bit, stinging her enough to stimulate her mind.
Berserker took a moment to analyse the situation. In this situation, where all three seemed to have a similar level of skill and strength to her, the only way she could win was to catch them off guard and kill them off all at once. Although individually they seemed weaker than her, they were still capable enough to spar with her for a bit, and they were willing to cooperate. Coupled with the fact that she had a time limit, she could only think of one way that was guaranteed to take them out swiftly. After all, it was in her nature to kill Sabers. The only problem was the third one who was still standing in the courtyard, as she didn't seem like a Saber. She would have to deal with her after killing the two Sabers first.
"Master, get ready for an increased drain of mana."
Despite her exhaustion, Illya forced herself to nod, conveying her will through their bond. Berserker smiled slightly. Her Master certainly wasn't weak of heart.
The two faced her again as she charged towards them, initiating the fight.