Chapter 132
The crisp air gave way to black armor as Lancer galloped in the sky on her mount, a bank of clouds surrounding her to obscure from sight of any regular citizens from the ground, cameras or planes. If anyone looked up, all they would notice would be that the skies had suddenly become cloudier. Despite the winter temperatures and the high altitudes, her Servant container allowed her to ignore such things, letting her endure the freezing winds that swept across the skies above Fuyuki, even in her metal armor that did little to insulate her body temperature.
Within minutes, she arrived in the skies above the ruined mansion that formerly served as the Clock Tower mages base. Eyeing the location through a small gap in the clouds, she dispelled her physical form, spiritualizing her body and falling down as the clouds that were used to hide her dispelled under her command. As King of Storm, it was only fitting that she had some measure of control over the weather, though it really only let her stir up storms when she felt like it. Making it cloudier was to an extent part of what a storm did, so she was able to use it as camouflage while riding in the skies in broad daylight.
Her spiritual form halted above the ruins, and she caught sight of the local government peacekeepers, police was it? They were keeping curious locals and busybodies away, cordoning off the premises, while red...trucks and other uniformed men stood by, looking at the mansion warily. After judging that they didn't seem intent on entering the mansion grounds, she proceeded inside, the clashes between the Servants obvious from the stupendous amount of mana being released that could be easily sensed by any mage worth their salt. Passing through the dark elevator shaft, she tracked the mana being released to it's source.
She was vaguely surprised when she saw Saber laying her head on her Master's lap, unconscious, while Caster on the far side limped towards her allies, her clothes ripped and torn, with several nasty looking injuries on her as well, with a large gash on her side, and purple bruises circling her neck. It was a prime opportunity right now to engage the Masters and kill them, but for whatever reason, her Master had specifically told her not to engage them, and to simply retrieve her target and escape.
With her target nowhere in sight, she decided to proceed onwards, going for the next target on her list, the Berserker running out of the base through to the exit while her Master instructed her on where to go with El-Melloi relaying the directions to Illya. Berserker had just recently ingested chestnut paste, so her Altreactor left behind a very distinctive mana signature, making Lancer's job of tracking down the Servant much, much easier. It wasn't long before she homed in on Berserker's location, the Servant giving off such a powerful presence it was almost impossible to miss her. With such a powerful person protecting her target, Lancer needed to proceed with caution, devising a plan in her mind to take advantage of the burdens Berserker was currently carrying.
Normally, a Servant couldn't be sensed in spiritual form, but with Berserker's sharp instincts that bordered on premonition, she just felt something was going to go wrong soon if she didn't get out of the base soon. She picked up the pace until it was just barely safe for her passengers, Gray and Avenger shaking on her shoulders as she rounded corner after corner, dashing through like a blitzing rabbit.
A lengthy straight corridor, perfect.
Lancer materialized right outside the door of the main command room, just as Berserker was merely a few steps away from it. The great lance manifested in her hands shot forward, a great black thorn with red spikes sticking out that made dodging it difficult. With little space to dodge, and two passengers on her body, Berserker took the blow head on, blocking it with her superb strength. But instead of holding on, like Lancer expected her to, she quickly loosened up and let Lancer push her back, using the force to reposition herself as she flew backwards, with one hand around Gray while Avenger's body slipped off her shoulder, the hand she was wrapping around it used to hold Necrocalibur for a one handed block. In a flash, she dropped Gray on the ground and dashed, or more accurately jumped forward, her right leg hammering into the ground to shoot her forward before Lancer even had the chance to touch Avenger.
*Zshummm-zashun!*
Even if Lancer wasn't mounted, she was still able to put up a good fight. Her lance pretty much covered a quarter of the hallway when she swung it, the spikes extending the range of the polearm beyond its normal effective area. The crimson plasma blade clashed against solid metal and crystalline spikes a darker shade of red than the glowing sword. Thrusting the tip of the lance at Berserker, the tips of the spikes grazed at Berserker's shoulder as she narrowly dodged it by turning sideways, then the lance suddenly stopped and shifted into a horizontal slam, aiming to skewer Berserker against the wall with the spikes.
Still, the energy granted by the chestnut paste had yet to run out.
The black cloak flapped into the air, Berserker ducking so fast air was displaced into the ground, the gas rebounding off the floor to create an updraft of wind, and flipped her cloak upwards. The spikes pinned the cloak, but Berserker paid it no mind and surged forward with no heed to the torn cloak, lightning left in her wake as she crossed the meter or so separating her and Lancer to thrust her lightsaber into the Servant's stomach.
She released her lightsaber and jumped upwards, but it came a smidge too late as her leg got caught with Lancer's right hand while the left swung the lance and trapped her legs with the spikes onto her own body, the ruby spikes piercing through Berserkers skin and going all the way into Lancer's body as well. By swinging the lance at herself with all her might, Berserker had been caught, the willingness to harm herself and pull off such a self-destructive move surprising Berserker when she had stabbed Lancer in the stomach. Berserker had still managed to almost escape, it weren't for Lancer using mana burst to speed up her hand and catch Berserker's leg in that instant when she leaped up.
Wasting no time, Lancer wasted no time to summon Llamrei, the horse biting Avenger's neck and galloping off, with Lancer keeping Berserker locked in place.
Then red arcs of lightning leapt from Berserker's finger, lethal volts of energy seeking out Llamrei's legs, but the horse put on a burst of speed and outran it, then leapt Berserker's saberstaff went flying beneath it's hooves, the carmine red saberstaff spinning into a circle of red that could easily slice off its hooves.
Lancer was already knocked out by Berserker's lightning at this point, with her own body injured as well from Berserker's stab and her own self-inflicted injuries. As soon as Llamrei dropped off Avenger in the hands of the priest waiting inside the base, Lancer dematerialized, the horse disappearing with her.
Looking at the sorry state of Avenger, Kirei wondered how long it would take to heal the puppet. While sneaking into the underground complex, he had seen the scars of their battle, and it was no exaggeration to say that whoever brought her down was an opponent to watch out for.
Taking Avenger's body, he slipped out of the base, leaving unnoticed by any other participant, his Servant left to recover on her own in spiritual form.