Chapter 116
Avenger clawed at her neck, the pointed fingers of the gauntlet tearing at the fabric, yet the blue fabric, if it was fabric, refused to yield, not tearing in the slightest even with Avenger sinking her fingers as deeply as she could and struggling to pull them apart like her life depended on it. Meanwhile, her throat became more and more restricted, her eyes bugging out of their sockets as the veins along her neck stood out, though it wasn't visible under the dark metal covering her entire body. Little by little, her movements slowed, the clawing growing weaker and weaker.
By this point, Rider had also realized that the cannons were destroyable through the portals, and was actively firing at them, though the portals quickly disappeared before she could do any real harm to them. Still, it gave her a breather as the portals started popping up less often, allowing her to turn her attention towards the two. From what she could see, Avenger was quickly losing strength, and if she fell here, Rider would be next on Assassin's list.
Raising her sniper rifle between dodging shots from the portals, now only appearing once every few seconds from a blind angle due to Assassin having to concentrate on Avenger, she fired shots at Avenger and Assassin, aiming to at least score a few hits to slow them down if they fought her. Whoever got hit first would most likely be taken out by the other, then while they were being defeated, Rider would fire a few more shots to cripple them in some way.
It was a difficult job to ride a choking Avenger and block Rider's view of her Master, but Assassin was capable of such a task. Gritting her teeth furiously, she applied as much strength as she could, keeping her grip on the scarf as she tightened it's hold, keeping the scarf close to the metal to prevent Avenger's fingers from pulling the scarf away, letting her claw at it instead. Assassin's legs shook as they braced against Avenger's back, every slam into the wall sending a wave of pain through her body, but she refused to loosen her grip. By the time Avenger was on her knees, Assassin's jacket was scuffed on both sides, the sleeves hanging by a thread as blood matted the blue silk, staining her inner white shirt a dirty hue of crimson. Her blonde hair had become a mess on both sides, stray strands still stuck on the wall where her head had impacted, two lines of blood running down the sides of her mouth, yet she was undeniably the victor, standing above Avenger by virtue of being perched on her back, while Avenger sank to the ground, the world fading to a dim black.
Barely a second passed for Avenger's body to sink to the ground before it was snatched up again, this time to act as a shield against Rider's shots. The black armor buckled and twisted under the impact of the watery projectiles, but they failed to penetrate, leaving Assassin who was lifting her body whole and unharmed.
"Tch!"
The sound of frustration made by Rider reached Assassin's hyper-sensitive ears in the silence that followed after the shots failed to penetrate, Rider wondering how to defeat the Servant who had managed to protect her Master who had been a sitting duck for most of the fight, then defeat her opponent while doing so and was currently using said opponent as a shield.
Assassin ran through her own simulations, wondering how to take out Rider, who had an obvious advantage with the ranged combat she could engage in. Though Assassin could summon portals to hit her, they couldn't exactly do a one hit K.O., though they were certainly damaging, and with Rider aware that they could be damaged, she couldn't afford to risk any more like what she had pulled off with Avenger just now. That had cost her a significant amount of cannons, and while she could repair them, it wasn't like she could find the materials on Earth, unless she decided to settle with modifying it or repairing it to an inferior condition. She could throw her sword again, but that was likely to be dodged this time without the element of surprise, since Rider had dodged it last time anyways, and throwing anything to obscure her vision wouldn't work like that last time since she wasn't aiming down her scope anymore, allowing to easily spot anything coming her way. In contrast, Rider could afford to slowly chip away at her shield if she just sat there, with the chances of her eventually getting through in the next ten minutes almost absolute, if not within five minutes.
But Assassins wasn't just going to sit there and wait.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated.
She was the killer of Sabers, and utilized the Saber Force to do so. In the end, all she had to do was act with the will of the SF, and she would find the path to victory. With her own hands, she would grasp the most infinitesimal of chances and turn it into reality.
Her eyes snapping back open, she heaved and threw Avenger's armored body straight at Rider.
The black hunk of metal barreled through the air to Rider's shocked eyes, her legs reflexively dodging backwards before she bent her knees to slip just under the heavy body, the flailing arm on the spinning body clipping her shoulder and ripping a piece of flesh off with the tip of the index finger encased in the metal gauntlet.
Right behind it, Assassin was dashing and advancing. In the same amount of time the thrown body took to reach Rider, Assassin was also able to cross the hallway, bridging the gap between the two to come face to face with Rider. In seconds, the golden sword dematerialized from it's landing position from being thrown earlier and and rematerialized in her hand, the golden blade in a sharp thrust towards Rider's sternum.
The sniper rifle disappeared as a broom extended from the stock, a mop head parrying the blade before Assassin walked onto the wall, the ceiling, the opposite wall then back onto the floor, travelling with extreme speed with her blurring legs to dodge the pistol shots from Secace: Desert Eagle edition.
The banging shots of the gun shook Gray's consciousness, her mind that was about to shut down completely slowly recovering as she felt the pain and lethargy in body lift slightly, the 'curse' of Avenger's focus fading as the person herself was unconscious and unable to apply pressure. Slowly, her senses returned to her, the scratches on her knee and the smell of dust and blood entering her nose. The dread that filled her body with molten lead disappeared, replaced with a burning urgency to move.
Briefly puzzled at Add's sudden change, she leaned on the greatshield, a great dent on the surface visible, while staring at the two Servants clashing in the distance. Her hand gripped the edge of the shield tightly, her moment of weakness earlier biting her heart.