Chapter 120

Shirou stared down at the elevator shaft, the loose cables swaying with current of air drifting from below to the outside, the warmer air in the base rising out.

"I think I can jump in if I reinforce myself, but-"

"Shirou there's no need, just let me handle it."

Saber made to take him up in a princess carry, her arms ready to lift him up, but he backed away against the wall, resisting her steady advances.

"She's right Emiya-kun. It'll be faster and safer to let her carry you."

Kuzuki's flat voice reached Shirou's ears, and faced with such logic, he had no choice but to reluctantly allow himself to be carried by Saber, his face turning a tinge of red, though it was hard to tell in the darkness.

One by one, they jumped into the elevator shaft, Saber's landing denting the ceiling further, then they entered the opened hatch, before Kuzukis jumped down, Caster also reinforcing herself in a similar manner to jump down with her Master. Zouken used his own ways to follow them, being the last to descend.

Within the dark corridors, they could see remnants of the conflicts that had occurred less than an hour ago. Scratched walls, broken lights, shattered glass on the floor and large ruts on the ground.

Caster and Saber placed their hands on their respective weapons, Saber clutching her sword with both hands, Caster lifting her staff in the air.

"Leoht."

A speck the size of a firefly appeared, shimmering a iridescent blue that illuminated the tunnel in front of them. Several more popped into existence, drifting from the bottom end of her staff into the air, flying just like fireflies, lazily swinging from left to right and whimsically going in loops. They went ahead, loosely sticking to each other as they formed a group of five, sparks of light dancing in the air.

Shirou silently marveled at the basic magecraft that he could only dream of performing, before he followed the rest of them, walking down the dark corridor. He couldn't help but feel nervous though, this being the first time he was willingly walking forward into danger in this War, instead of danger finding him.

The ruined hallways did nothing to dispel the uneasiness in Shirou's heart. The gashes on the wall, the seemingly endless lines of broken lights with the glass littered on the floor, and the obvious signs of battle between two beings of inhuman power marking the innards of the base, with rubble and concrete dust aplenty in the corridors they walked through. Shirou had to frequently sidestep or step over these piles of concrete and steel, his shoes occasionally crunching on one of the smaller fragments of concrete with a sound that made him wince.

Still, even with the tenseness of the whole group that was ready for battle at any moment, they didn't really come across anything of note for the first few minutes they spent walking in the base. All they could really see was the leftovers from the carnage earlier, the broken rooms and corridors serving as the only proof.

However, both Saber and Caster were adamant that there was another Servant besides them in the base, and quickly headed for their general direction, walking through the corridors, down the stairs and heading down more drab hallways with purpose, their senses tingling with the presence of another Servant.

They weren't disappointed either.

While Shirou struggled to catch up with them, with Kuzuki just slightly ahead of him, the two had already come to a face-off with Assassin carrying Avenger, and her Master Gray behind, looking at the two approaching Servants warily. Zouken delayed his arrival, watching from the shadows.

"Who is that Servant?"

Avenger might have been unconscious with her armor mostly intact, it still wasn't difficult to sense the roiling anger stored in her body, directed at Artorias especially, muted and dull though it may be with her mind asleep. It was only natural for Saber and Caster to question Assassin regarding this, with her instincts blaring alarms at them when they saw the black armored figure on Assassin's shoulders. They had no doubts that it was a Servant, but they couldn't tell who it was, though it felt horribly familiar, like an itch they couldn't scratch.

"This is...my long-lost cousin."

She wasn't lying. In her own universe, Mordred wasn't her daughter, but a long-lost cousin that simply got too attached to her, leading to a tragic end(?).

"Don't try to fool us Assassin. We could just defeat you and find out for ourselves."

Caster's words rung true. There were two of them and one of her, while she was also exhausted as well from the battle earlier, with energy reserves running low, along with her Master being moderately tired as well, though she had managed to recover a portion of her strength and mana earlier.

On Caster and Sabers heads, their ahoge twitched, darting forwards slightly towards Assassin and Avenger.

Assassin saw this, and internally frowned, before carefully choosing her next few words.

"I'll just give you the Servant and be on my way."

Surprised at her sudden agreeability, the two didn't stop her when she set down Avenger down on the ground and untied her, undoing the restraints which mainly consisted of her own scarf tied around Avenger's still disabled limbs, though her regeneration was bringing closer and closer to being whole again.

Assassin could also sense that with the presence of two more Artorias, Avenger's regeneration was getting faster, and would likely completely heal in the next half an hour, maybe faster if she consciously willed it.

With the aggression pointed at her by the two Servants who didn't seem inclined to let her and her Master go, she decided to beat a hasty retreat with the assistance of her opponent.

Stealthily, she pressed against Avenger's back while undoing the bonds, passing energy into her opponent's body, then manifested Secret-calibur with Avenger in front to block Saber and Caster's view of her doing so.

"Here, catch!"

Saber and Caster had already recovered from their initial shock at Assassin releasing the Servant to their care, and were already moving forward towards her, though not to the point of charging straight at her owing to the fact that she hadn't displayed any overt hostility yet. Thus, they were caught by surprise from the brilliant flash of light stabbing at their eyes, the Secret-calibur overloading with energy to turn into a blinding brilliance. Assassin could only do this when she was really concentrating though, so it was useless in battle, but it could be used in situations such as now where she pretended to untie Avenger when she was really concentrating on doing it.

Assassin smirked at their faces of surprise, even as she was already running backwards to pick up her Master and retreat. The black body hurtling at them was an added layer of obstacles, with the eyes in the helm cracking open, even though the legs and arms were still drifting uselessly in the air, unable to be moved.

Saber caught the body, and was immediately headbutted on the chin, her head making a sharp crack as her hair flipped into the air, her face left staring at the sky from the force of the headbutt.

"ARRTHHUURRR!"