Chapter 125

Taking a deep breath, Berserker did her best to mask her slight fatigue after using such a large amount of lightning, her muscles tingling as they felt the stress of channeling the energy. Her yellow eyes fell on to Saber's prone body, her muscles still spasming as she writhed on the floor, then she took a step back as several emerald spears impaled the floor in front of Saber.

A literal wall of mana came flying at her, forcing her to recall her saberstaff into her hands and slash through the wall with a fair amount of strength, mixing in her lightning to disrupt the cohesion and create a gap large enough for her to fit through. By the time she was done, Caster had grabbed Saber and retreated with her, placing the unconscious Servant next to her Master so she could recover.

Well, that was fine with Berserker. Illya had explicitly told her to not kill any Servants while protecting Assassin, and it wasn't hard to tell why. Considering her status as the Lesser Grail, if any Servants died, they'd go straight to her for storage, and it would lead to her eventual degradation once enough Servants fell. It would be best for her to delay that process for as long as possible to figure out what was going, and Berserker wasn't averse to letting her Master live longer either, even if it was only for a few more days.

Still, Caster could be a harder opponent to subdue. While she was able to easily defeat Saber in one fell swoop, it was mostly due to the fact that the damage she dealt to her was multiplied by her Concept, a weapon tailored especially for the Saber-class, a poison that was lethal to them, but harmless to the other classes. Hence, she was able to electrocute and knock out Saber with her maximum non-fatal charge without much problem, despite the Servants hardy disposition and stubborn streak. Caster though was another problem entirely. It was difficult to say how she would take the hits, though on the surface she didn't seem too threatening or difficult to face.

Caster was unable to interfere in the battle earlier besides offering her support abilities to Saber due to the nature of the narrow hallway and the lack of coordination between her and Saber, despite their true identities being exactly the same. But with Saber down, she could freely move and engage Berserker, this time with some idea of what to expect after seeing Saber fight with her.

Berserker drew on more mana from her Master to replenish the energy she had expended earlier, especially the large amount spent electrocuting Saber. Keeping an eye on Caster for any further moves, she kept her saberstaff out, the twinblades hissing and humming. She briefly contemplated fully manifesting Necro-calibur with her second lightsaber, but decided against it. Using three blades against Caster seemed like overkill for the moment.

*ting*

Tapping the tip of her staff against the ground, Caster made the ground light up, a Bounded Field of blue wrapping around Shirou, Kuzuki and Saber, a blue line tracing itself on the ground and ceiling as an opaque sapphire wall manifested itself around them. It was pretty basic Bounded Field in reality, but it would buy her some seconds if Berserker got past her and decided to attack the Masters directly, despite how she seemed to disregard that course of action. There was no telling when she'd change her tune.

Passing through the wall without resistance, Caster stepped forward slowly, her staff held loosely in one hand, held horizontally by her side as the tip glowed blue, the crystalline azure rock visible within the branching sapphire prison holding it rising and ebbing in the intensity of it's glow. Slipping several blue capsules into her empty hand, she continued advancing, getting closer and closer to Berserker.

Berserker for her part simply stared at Caster, scrutinizing her appearance, body language, weapons, anything that could provide clues as to how to best defeat her. After a moment of studying her and holding her place, Berserker vanished.

Or at least, that was what it seemed like to Shirou. It was his eyes that couldn't keep up, making it look like Berserker had disappeared, when she had moved at speeds that left a wake of air splitting apart behind her, a sudden wind brushing against Shirou's face, cooling his body.

Aiming with expert precision, she slashed at the hand holding the staff, aiming to disarm Caster before she could cast any spells. It was common for magi to be less capable in melee combat, and it was easy for a Servant to take out a magi that was inexperienced in fighting at close range, with close-quarters combat something that few magi mastered, though there were exceptions. In any case, it was an amateur mistake to allow a melee fighter into a magi's range, effectively granting them the advantage.

Which was why Berserker twisted around as Caster suddenly faded into existence behind her, the image of Caster in front of Berserker that she had targeted originally fading away in return as Berserker's mind no longer recognized that Caster was standing there, breaking the illusion. Caster's surprised face was on full display for Berserker, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open as Berserker struck Caster, cutting the staff in two and slashing a shallow cut into her arms, blood staining her prim white clothing. Stumbling back, the broken staff clattered to the floor as Caster leaned against the wall, staring at Berserker wide-eyed.

Lifting the tip of her saberstaff to Caster's throat, Berserker met her terrified gaze, her emotionless face revealing little to the Servant, as well as the Master's watching her down the hallway.

"Yield."

Caster bit her lip, trembling, before she slowly knelt on the ground, her head bowed in submission. Her arms hung uselessly next to her, dangling and scraping the ground with the muscles used to operate them severed.

That was too easy.

Berserker stared at the figure kneeling on the ground in front of her, head bent so low she couldn't see her face at all. Was Caster this weak?