Chapter 76

Snow. That was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. There was no red tinge to near the edges of her vision. No voice ordering her to do something. Her body was hers to control, with the moon shining down her as the winter winds caressed her skin. Closing her eyes, she savoured the moment of freedom she had managed to obtain. There was no Avenger, only a young girl standing in the forest, enjoying her surroundings.

*shf*

She opened her eyes to turn towards the source of the noise, and her brief reprieve was over.

A red aura suffused her everything in her line of sight, her focus narrowed down until she could only see Berserker. Her heart pounded harshly, speeding up as it pumped blood across her body, raising her temperature and preparing her body for combat. Her nerves tingled, the muscles in her body quivering as they prepared to release their energy against their sole nemesis. The last lingering vestiges of her sane mind wished for another second of peace, before it was consumed by the growing haze of rage, with only a single word echoing in her mind.

Father.

Then the girl Mordred was gone, and in its place was Avenger, the resentment that never faded even with death.

The only way she would regain her sanity and peace, was if she killed her father until he was dead. People may die when they are killed, but with multiple fathers in this war, she would have to do it multiple times.

The rest passed by in a blur for Avenger, the subsequent clash with Berserker hazy and indistinct in her mind. It was only when Berserker took a massive leap to put some distance between her that the rage filling her subsided somewhat, allowing her to roar at them in frustration.

Deep in the forest, Rider slowly calibrated the aim of Morgan, the sniper rifle resting against her shoulder as she flicked through the magnifications of the scope to ascertain her target. While it was unnatural for a Rider class Servant to perform the duty of an Archer, this was simply another duty for a maid, though she was loath to perform it. Keeping her shoulder and arm rigid, while the rest of her body was relaxed, she breathed in and out, keeping a regular rhythm to let the rifle be as steady as possible. The wind didn't matter since her beam wouldn't be affected by it, and she only needed to lead the target by a small margin, considering the speed of her projectile.

"Around...here."

Settling her crosshair on an empty spot just ahead of Berserker and Ruler, she synced her breathing with her finger, then pulled the trigger.

*SHOOM*

The blue and white beam of energy blasted out of the sword/sniper rifle, the font of water concentrated until it was barely larger than the muzzle of the rifle, with it's speed vastly increased. Within seconds, the water crossed the kilometers in between and reached Berserker and Ruler, slicing through Berserker's arms and body.

"Gyah!"

Berserker faltered mid-air, her body bent over as she coughed blood, Ruler's body slipping from her grasp as her nerveless fingers lost their hold. Flipping and turning in the air, they plunged to the earth after losing their momentum, unable to control their descent.

The injuries Berserker had incurred from the fight with Avenger previously were not light, and with the wound going through her entire body and arms horizontally, she was only able to move her legs normally. Every time her torso twisted in the air, or when her arms flapped around, blood spurted out of the wounds and floated in the air as droplets of crimson, accompanying Berserker in her fall. Illya instantly spread a massive web of threads below Berserker and Ruler to cushion their fall, but she could sense Avenger getting closer and closer to them as well. It was possible that they'd die before they even landed.

"FAATTHEERRRR!"

All that the Servant could see were the two figures in the sky, gaining velocity as they fell to the earth. Red mana engulfed the earth as Avenger jumped into the air, vaporizing a crater on the forest floor as she soared into the sky towards the two.

The closer she got to them, the more her emotions crowded everything in her mind. All that was left was a beast bent on vengeance, with her instincts and skill beaten into her body with years of training and experience to guide her in combat. If it was against other non-Artoria opponents, she could actually fight normally, like her Saber counterpart. But if it was against Artoria, there could only be one conclusion.

Which was why Lancer was able to blindside her and blow her off course, sending Avenger flying into the forest as Lancer slammed into her with her charging horse, lance wrapped in black winds as Llamrei galloped into her with the force of a freight train.

Still, her heightened sense and beast-like intuition was enough to let her interpose her sword between the lance and her body, preventing serious damage from the impact. Sticking the sword into the ground to slow her slide, she glared up at Lancer and snarled, her back hunched as she spat out a broken tooth from the charge. In an instant, her aura flared out, red lightning covering the area and blasting the surrounding indiscriminately, setting the trees on fire as the bolts of energy flew around the place.

"Lancer, you are free to do as much damage to her as you wish."

With her Master giving her free reign, Lancer met Avengers challenge and charged forward into the fray.

Originally, Angra Mainyu had kept the suit on Avenger to keep her under control, with the extent of her rage and resentment to her father so strong that without a limiter in place, even the embodiment of evil was unable to control her. This was especially true in this Holy Grail War, with multiple father's taking part in almost every class. Their mana signatures were enough to make her go crazy, and even if she moved far away from them, she would still feel a burning desire to seek them out and kill them. After all, her Avenger form was the aggregation of her hatred and resentment against Artoria Pendragon. When she was next to them, like in combat, she lost her sanity and became a feral beast, only able to fight and kill.

Due to that, Angra Mainyu used the armor as a means of hiding her identity and a method of controlling her, the armor actually an element of the mud shaped and formed into the armor, though it wasn't actually the mud itself. Rather, it was a metal approximation that was close enough to allow All the World's Evils to control her and manipulate her body while clouding her thoughts, though her occasional roars still showed that Avenger still kept her focus on Artoria. In the end, the evil god was expecting to lose control of her from the start, so he had asked Kotomine to put Lancer on standby close by, to assist with taking down Ruler, but more importantly bringing down Avenger for a sufficiently long time for Angra Mainyu to regain control of her as well if she went out of control. While Avenger was certainly strong enough to kill all the Servants if left by herself, Angra Mainyu needed to take control of the Lesser Grail first in order for it to be born successfully. Having the Servants fill the Grail right now would only serve to hinder its birth. As for Ruler herself, he had other plans for her.

Lancer wondered why Rider was here, but she didn't send any more shots after the one that crippled Berserker, so she pushed it to the back of her mind and dealt with Avenger first, who was the primary objective for her. In any case, Avenger wasn't going to let her go either. Turning her back to Avenger would be suicidal.

With Avenger released from her restraints, she was growing wilder and wilder, the mana releasing off her in waves that stirred the snow, the lightning storm surrounding growing ever powerful as the arcs of electricity grew from mere branches to massive thunderbolts the width of a car.

Judging that it would eventually become impossible to defeat her if she tarried any longer, Lancer decided to immediately use her trump card. Since the enemy had a specialized Battle Continuation and a high rank of Endurance, she could cut loose on her and use all her strength, and Avenger's body wouldn't be completely disintegrated, which was enough for Angra Mainyu.

Stopping Llamrei in the air, she raised her lance until the tip was pointing at the sky, the lance spinning ever faster as it became a drill cloaked with black mana, the winds responding to it and wrapping around Lancer and the lance as it spun. Lancers pale hair floated with the wind, Llamrei's mane tossed around by the gale surrounding them. Far above them, the moon became obscured, covered by the clouds that were gathering in the sky.

"Pierce and devour-"

The lightning storm increased in intensity, Clarent glowing a brilliant red as more and more mana was funneled into the sword, the trees in a 100 meter radius around Avenger all blown to the pieces by the immense blast of lightning which easily blasted through multiple tree trunks at once, setting fire to many trees further than 100 meters away as the flames whipped furiously from the wind stirred by Rhongomyniad.

"ORRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Avenger continued pouring all the energy supplied to her from the Grail, mustering every last drop she could spare even with Angra Manyu cutting the connection, the energy reservoir she possessed so vast that she could easily generate enough to blow away the whole forest, and then some. At this point, one could say that a new star was glowing in the forest with how bright it was. Even with the distance Illya was at, she could still see the brilliant crimson glow in the distant horizon with the streaks of lightning, like the sun was going to rise.

"The thirteen fangs!"

Enough mana had gathered around her lance to form what looked like a pitch black tower stretching from the base of her lance and far into the clouds, the top of the tower lost in sight among the steel gray clouds, stretching further than mortal eyes could comprehend. Purple and red streaks wreathed the tower, providing spirals that outlined the tower, wrapping it in such a way that it was like the candy canes of Christmas.

The mana reached a boiling point, the entire spot a painfully blinding white, no longer even red anymore. Anybody looking at where Avenger was at was sure to be blinded, the area around her no longer even observable from the light that was emitted by the glowing sword which was completely suffused with mana. Without even crying out the name of her Noble Phantasm, the sword was swung.

"FATHER!"

Lancer responded in kind, lowering her lance and finally cracking the reins of the restless Llamrei, the horse neighing and then charging downwards as Lancer swung the entire tower downwards at the blinding red beam surging up to meet her.

"RHONGOMYNIAD!"