Chapter 93
He was unable to dodge, block, parry or do anything to prevent the lance from piercing his chest.
As easily as scissors cutting through paper, the cone of metal with red lines running down its sides pricked his faded orange shirt, pushing through the fibers smoothly as the hole enlarged. His skin split apart in front of the keenly honed tip of the lance, blood seeping out from the sides of the gap that the lance made as it continued past the fat and meat under the surface skin, going past his nerves and blood vessels to enter the inner part of his body. The pectoral muscles of his chest bent in front of the foreign objects, the muscles stretching slightly, before they split, the fibers breaking apart in front of the lance as they were cut. The rib bones that were unlucky enough to be in its way cracked as the metal touched and pushed against them, hairline fractures forming as they were shifted out of the way or worn away by the metal grinding against them. Going past the sternum, the rod of steel brushed against the arteries, then cut them one by one. As more of the lance entered his body, instead of piercing it became crushing. His entire heart became a red stain on the black metal of the lance, the blood vessels severed from the all-important organ as blood escaped from the tubes.
Without stopping, the refined point broke through his rhomboid and teres muscles, scraping past the spine and dislocating the bones with sheer force. The black tip burst out of his back, reaching a full fifty inches before stopping.
"Urgh…*uwergh*"
Vomiting blood, placed a hand on the lance, steadying himself with it as he felt strength leave his body and legs. Looking down at the lance, he couldn't help but grin.
At least, I'm dying at the hands of a legend…
As far as deaths went, it wasn't the worst way to go.
Drawing her entire arm, the lance ripped free of his chest, sending flesh, bones and organ tissue flying, droplets of blood and water scattering over the dirt. Flicking the lance to the side, the residue of bodily materials slid off onto the dirt.
Without the lance holding him up, Kairi crumpled to the ground, dropping to his knees, then falling forwards on his face. Slowly, the crimson liquid crept across the ground, sinking into the earth and watering the roots of the trees spread across the floor.
With her job finished, Lancer turned towards where Kirei was grappling with the monster, seeing him walk over to her with blood all over his black priestly grab.
Looking down at the necromancer sprawled on the ground, Kirei nodded.
"Let's head over. Avenger is already engaging with Berserker and Ruler."
With that, Lancer dematerialized as Kirei took off with great strides, gaining speed as he dashed through the forest towards the battle occurring within the Einzbern Bounded Fields.
The blood grew cold in the night, the corpse growing paler as more blood flowed out of it. Meters away, the bike stood in the bush, unscratched by the events that happened around it.
-present-
Parking the car near the slope where Kairi said they could walk to reach his position, El-Melloi got out with his two students in tow, surveying the surroundings for any marks.
Raising his hand, he chanted.
"Ostendo."
A moment later, a glyph in the shape of an eight sided star lit up on one of the tree barks, and a few meters away another similar glyph showed up.
"Let's go."
The three mages and one invisible Servant went ahead, trekking through the dark forest, the leaves above filtering precious little sunlight.
After a half an hour walk, mostly because El-Melloi had to stop and call for a few rests along the way, they managed to reach the place where Kairi was supposed to be, the path marked out by glyphs to it.
"Ah!"
All they saw was a great ditch in the ground, created from Lancer's charge. Pieces of fabric from his blanket and bed roll could be seen hanging on the branches of the nearby trees, and the shattered remains of a telescope could be seen glinting near the end of the ditch. The man himself was nowhere to be seen.
El-Melloi's face hardened at the sight, waving his hand at the two people accompanying him.
"Spread out and look for clues. If something happens to you, send a signal."
Walking in different directions, El-Melloi inspected the ruined campsite, while Grey walked to the place where the lizard familiar had been defeated, her latent instincts drawing her to it.
"Over here!"
Flat yelled, attracting the two's attention.
Walking over, they saw the massive patch of dried blood staining the grass, the iron scent of it flooding their noses when they got close.
"It looks...like something bad happened here." Gray frowned and said.
Pinching his eyebrows, El-Melloi looked around the small clearing.
"Let's not assume the worst. Until we find his body, keep looking around."