Chapter 73
The visit to the faction of the Mage's Association was quite fruitful. Having the Tohsaka family help out in the investigation would surely prove to be beneficial, with their knowledge of the land. If there were any anomalies in the leylines, she would know. In addition, their possession of the knife as proof was a helpful coincidence. With that, she could easily pinpoint the root of the problem in the Greater Grail. All she had to do was search for a similar magical signature in the Greater Grail and see how far it had infiltrated in the system.
To be safe though, it was probably best to ask the Einzberns for their help as well. Since they were the original designers of the Holy Grail system, they would be best suited for analysing the system. According to the information provided to her by the Holy Grail, their mansion should be somewhere around here in the forest, on the western outskirts of the city. They had tapped into the leylines here to construct their Bounded Fields, so it was easy to locate them. She had also triggered the Bounded Fields to announce her arrival to them, giving them advanced warning so they wouldn't attack her immediately. Hopefully, they'd be willing to listen to her, or else she might have to use force.
The lights of the castle grew brighter as she got closer, two small figures visible standing in front of the heavy steel portcullis blocking the entrance.
A chill unlike that of the wind brushed across her neck, making her whole body shiver for an instant. Without delay, she summoned a lion and planted both feet squarely on its back, using it as a platform to boost her jump upwards.
*BOOM*
With a massive leap that sent her close to the stratosphere, she shot clear of the black blur zoomed straight through the space she had been occupying just now, obliterating the lion of light as it passed through.
"AARRRRTHHUUURRRR!"
The roar of rage crashed against the howling winds far above the castle, the torrent of sound reaching Ruler's ears and stirring vestiges of recognition. Then her eyes narrowed, sharpening as she acquired her new target.
"Avenger."
There could be no mistake. Even though the Servant's True Name was hidden through some sort of skill, their abilities and parameters invisible to her, the class was still obvious to her. Not to mention the tugging of her emotions that heralded the beginning of anger in her.
"To think that you would show up so early."
Well, if Avenger was going to offer themself up on a golden platter for her, she wasn't going to turn them down. It was time to show them that the house always won.
Flicking her hands outwards, decks of cards filled her hands, with two lions materializing at her side, their manes unruffled by the wind, standing in the air as they glowed with yellow light, dwarfing Ruler between the two like a bicycle between two vans.
Below them, Avenger growled as it landed on the ground, carving a long track through the dirt as it slid to a stop.
Illya and Berserker stared at Ruler from the ground.
"It doesn't seem like she's coming with the intent to attack."
"Maybe. Even so, stay on your guard Ecchan. While she is the Ruler class, I still don't trust anything that comes from the Grail."
The two of them waited for her arrival. But their vigil was soon broken when the other Servant intervened.
"Ecchan!"
Her Servant nodded, and then leapt forward to assist Ruler. The both of them knew by sight that this was no ordinary Servant. The malice pouring off the Servant reached even those who were standing a full mile away, tickling the edges of their minds. As the duty of the Masters, they had to eradicate this abomination of a class.
Ruler watched Berserker race forward, charging straight for Avenger to engage it. Between the two of them, Avenger stood no chance. Releasing a roar that would explode a normal human's eardrums, the lions charged ahead of Ruler as they descended to fight Avenger.
Avenger turned to face Berserker first, who reached them after sprinting nonstop through the forest. In the process of getting to Avenger, she had also cut a few trees, and kicked them towards it before she reached Avenger, using her telekinesis to slightly nudge the trees to land on Avenger and increase their accuracy.
*SCHING*
With one swing, the tree trunk was cleaved in half and flew past her, the rest of the logs following the same fate as they were bisected easily and hurtled past her into the dark forest. In a heartbeat, Berserker was on her, following right behind the tree trunks.
Crimson lightning wreathed her lightsaber as it activated with its dual blades, spinning and humming with each blow against Avenger. It didn't miss a beat, dropping to the ground to let the blades swing above her, thrusting it's sword from the ground below Berserker's guard to pierce her heart.
She managed to twist the blade so that it was parried past her body, the blade slicing through the air just right under her arm and next to her ribs. Taking the chance, Berserker leapt backwards and observed her opponent, trying to discern it's identity.
Avenger picked itself off the ground, lurching around to face Berserker with unnatural movements, jerking like a puppet. Yet, it displayed no problems moving earlier when it clashed against Berserker. It's sword dragged on the ground, it's back hunched over as it peered at Berserker through it's helm.
Looking at Avenger, Berserker realized that the Servant wasn't very tall at all. In fact, with it's back hunched, it almost looked small, and she guessed that if it stood up straight they would be about the same height. Though the entire suit of armor was black, she could still tell various shades of darkness, and it had a very distinctive design as well. In fact, it felt somewhat familiar as well. Had she seen it before somewhere? The helmet itself was the most recognizable piece of the entire helmet, and Berserker was strongly reminded of something that she struggled to recall.
"It feels like I've seen that helmet before, on an annoying person from the Servant Galaxy."
Maybe that was why she couldn't remember where she'd seen it before, because the person in question was so annoying around her that she'd sealed all memories about her.
How troublesome.
Well, she could still find out her abilities and identity with a tried and true method though. Raising Necrocalibur diagonally in front of her, she let her mana run rampant, crimson lightning crackling around her entire body as her cold gaze focused on Avenger.
"This is where the fun begins."
Kicking off the ground, she sped across the forest floor, covering the distance between them in a blink of an eye and slamming her electricity wreathed lightsaber into Avengers sword, the lightsaber growling as it bit into the metal, slowly melting it's way through the sword.
"GRahhhHHHHHHH!"
Berserker felt the strength behind Avengers arms explosively increase, throwing her back as red mana suffused its arms and repulsed her blow as easily as a sledge hammer breaking ice. Without pausing, red mana glowed, and then blasted out of Avengers legs as she shot forward like a rocket, sword arm stretched forward for a thrust to stab straight through Berserker's torso.
"Mana Burst…"
Making note of the skill, Berserker positioned her blade in the way of the sword, slamming her feet into the roots of the trees spreading across the grounds to tilt her body sideways slightly with an extra added push from telekinesis. The sequence of movements were smoothly completed in less than a second, allowing her to barely dodge the sword, as it glided along the surface of her plasma blade and missed, the force pushing her to the side of Avenger as it flew past her.
In slow motion, Berserker saw Avenger's foot lash out right as it passed her, the black sabaton and greaves flying into her face. With no distance between them at all, Berserker was unable to dodge in the slightest, barely able to turn her face to the side to avoid having her nose smashed in as the steel met her head.
*BOOM*
Berserker flew backwards, straight into a tree trunk, crashing through it, and then finally stopping at a second tree trunk behind it. Wood splinters flew across the forest floor as the tree toppled, the second tree bending and tilting ever so slightly from the fracture in it's trunk made by Berserker, before it toppled as well.
Fast. She couldn't believe that Avenger would be able to act so instinctively at such a moment, attacking her while her guard was down, no, before she was able to put her guard up. It was like a wild animal acting on raw instinct, achieving the best possible result without having to think it through and calculate each movement. It seemed like Avenger was that type of fighter.
Coughing a bit, she rolled to the side and dodged the tree trunk thrown at her, the tree that she had crashed through just now plowing into the stump and the barely connected upper trunk lying on the ground. The wood exploded from the force they collided at, the thick trees splintering as Berserker was showered in splinters, the two trunks now wedged together like some haphazardly created puzzle piece.
Shaking her head, she tried to dispel the dizziness filling her head as Avenger charged at her. The kick had shook her brain quite a bit, and her right eye was now heavily bruised, to the point that she could barely see with it. She could also feel her cheek starting to swell up, and her jaw felt tender. Incidentally, she could also feel some tough shards in her mouth, as well as blood. Most likely, the kick had smashed her teeth to pieces as well. It was a miracle that her jaw hadn't been dislocated.
As she staggered to her feet, Avengers sword was already at her forehead.
*BANG*
Just centimeters away from Berserker's pale skin, the tip stopped and then swung upwards, intercepting the cards raining down on her. In a matter of seconds, it was enveloped in small explosions as the cards charged with mana impacted on its armor and exploded, eroding it's armor bit by bit. Taking the chance, Berserker disengaged to regain her bearings.
"Allow me to assist you Berserker."
Ruler descended next to Berserker on a lion as the rain of cards petered out, revealing Avenger with dents and nicks in its armor, but was otherwise mostly unharmed. The armor was thick and tough, while providing enough flexibility for Avenger to move freely.
"Seems like they're ready for the second round. But this time, the cards are stacked in our favour."
Ruler and Berserker squared off against Avenger, as the Servant of hatred lurched to face them.