19: Calamity on the Sky part II
"What do we have to defend ourselves against evil in this world, if not our hopes and dreams?"
Kiritsugu slowly walked through the concert hall, focused like a hunter in a lair of wild animals. His most dangerous enemy was already here, hidden somewhere in the shadows.
If Kirei Kotomine possessed any range weapons, he should be already on one of the balconies, waiting for his target to enter the stage. If not, he could be literally anywhere in the darkness of the corridor of columns and Emiya did not intend to give him that advantage.
A quiet click, then buzzing of lamps, and the entire hall lightened in an instant. Kiritsugu knew that for a short moment he was almost defenseless, but the expected atack didn't come.
He looked around. With no enemies in sight, he proceeded through the narrow passage between the seats and entered the scene. Someone, most likely the false priest himself, had prepared a simple altar there. Emiya gently put the golden cup on the white tablecloth, then immediately turned around, ready to shoot.
His adversary had finnaly shown himself, stepping loudly to announce his arrival. Kirei entered the scene with two sets of Black Keys in his hands and a smile of a child who expected a candy.
Emiya knew how fast his enemy could be - thanks to Maiya he had already seen the Executor in action. If the first Origin Bullet somehow missed, the Mage Killer had to do everything to not get hit.
He wouldn't mind it, if he had Avalon. Actually, it could be a good way to catch Kotomine off guard and shoot him from behind. But Irisviel, in her final days, decided to give Avalon to Illya. Kiritsugu accepted her choice. He encouraged Iri to think and act independently, after all, and Illya was just a fragile child lost in their parents' mess.
Without any additional protection, Emiya needed to depend on speed and try to keep Kirei as far as possible. In such circumstances the best tactic against this enemy was an instant attack.
All those thoughts crossed Kiritsugu's mind within a split second. There was no time for anything else - the last fight of this Holy Grail War had already begun.
The King of Heroes was laughing, louder than sounds of explosions and clashing weapons. But it was not his usual mocking tone, rather a new, pure sound of real joy.
Gilgamesh was pleased. Unlike other disappointing individuals during this war, Arturia really tried to take him down without holding back. There was only one thing the golden Servant desired at this moment - tear off Lancer's helmet, so he could enjoy her expression.
Arturia did not intend to give him what he wanted. Even though their duel literally devoured the entrance road, stairs, half of the nearby park and the left wing of the main building, Lancer's armor was still untouched.
She wasn't only blocking various weapons thrown at her by the King of Heroes; her barbed spear was spitting out black streams of energy almost constantly. The mare was fighting as well, biting and smashing everything on her way with hooves, but mostly focused on maneuvering in the air. With a little help of a skilled rider, Llamrei managed to avoid most of the missiles, and those which pierced through her armor left only shallow wounds.
They could 'dance' like that for hours and Gilgamesh had nothing against it. Arturia was the one to change the rhythm. Unable to close the distance and engage the classless Servant in a melee fight, she decided to use the brute force.
"What is it, Lancer?" Gilgamesh noticed that her power levels raised significantly. Was it because of Command Spells or something more? "Aren't you afraid? You may damage the Grail."
"That's the point, King of Heroes," she explained in a cold voice. "My Master does not need it anymore. I have no desire for it either. I am an instrument of destruction, nothing more." Her lance, thanks to Kiritsugu, was now closer to its original state; it whirled ominously and sucked in the air, like a hungry black hole. "If you oppose my Master's will, I will crush you."
Gilgamesh stopped laughing, just stared at Lancer for a surprisingly long moment. In his eyes, which could see much more than the eyes of any mortal, Arturia Pendragon - finally! - shone in all her glory.
Ah, how wonderful she was in such state! It wasn't only a foolish stubbornness but something deeper, worthy of recognition. Only the most shining souls can go this far for their childish dreams, only the purest can fall so low.
Yes, humans were at their most beautiful while delusional and crawling in the dirt. This is why Gilgamesh planned to witness the duel of Avenger and Saber, but now he understood that they were only a pair of boring, barking dogs. Compared to them, Lancer was a bold and cruel lioness with unshakable will. He wanted to crush it so badly!
"I see." The King of Heroes smirked, raising his right hand to materialize a weapon he had chosen for this special occasion. "Haven't I told you already? I don't care if you try to use it or destroy it. If you want the Grail, come and get it."
Kiritsugu was panting after another short but intensive exchange of blows. Both Masters needed a break to catch a breath and analyze the damage. Emiya concluded that so far the Executor, with his right hand broken and several gunshot wounds, including one in the head, was losing the battle.
Still, Kiritsugu's heart was beating like crazy from overusing the time-altering magic. His gun needed reloading and his left leg was barely usable after a series of impossible dodging maneuvers. Emiya forced it to move, trying to stand steadily, but slipped on something sticky.
What in the...
Some kind of a weird, black substance was coming out of the lesser Grail. Something must have happened outside and the energy of at least one strong Servant was now overflowing through the vessel. But should it really look like a thick, burning mud with the scariest aura imaginable?
Not sure what to think about it, Kiritsugu glanced at the false priest, curious of the man's reaction. Kirei did not look surprised at all, rather overjoyed, if such expression was even possible in his current state.
This is it then? Let's get this done at last.
Gritting his teeth, Emiya forced his body to once again move at quadruple speed, avoided a blow in the head and shot right into the Executor's heart.
"I knew you'd come. I had faith that you would reach this place."
"Who...?"
And then Kiritsugu saw it all.
"Is everyone all right?" - Saber asked, looking around with a worried expression.
Illya and Waver both nodded vigorously, shaking off the dust after a sudden explosion. Rider's imaginary world withstood the impact, but its structure became too unstable to risk staying inside any longer. Iskandar let it dissolve into the night air and now was staring at the burning sky above the Fuyuki Civic Center. Even Robin, accompanied by wounded Maiya, joined them, feeling the urge to stay close to his Master, just in case...
Another explosion filled the air with smoke and heavy, metallic smell. All gathered Masters and Servants observed two clashing forces on the sky, far beyond their reach. With Rider's chariot lost to Balmung's blast, they couldn't intervene or join the fight.
"What's wrong with them morons, huh?" Archer helplessly shook his head. "Can't they see that everything around will be destroyed, if they go all out now?"
"Maybe that's the point," Saber suggested.
"Or they just don't care anymore," Tokiomi Tohsaka added bitterly through his familiar.
Waver clenched his fists and turned to his strangely silent Servant.
"Can we do nothing to stop this madness?" - he asked, sounding a bit more tearful than intended.
Siegfried was about to say something, but a sudden wave of terrible headache almost knocked him to the ground. For a moment, shorter than a blink, he saw images of fighting monsters, fire and destruction.
"Every time I see strange beasts someone very important to me gets hurt."
Kriemhild? So this was...
One more look at the sky and Saber understood.
"Look out, Illya! It's going to...!"
He wasted no more time, grabbed the girl and carried her to the nearest hill, hoping it was far enough from the center of the upcoming catastrophe.
And then the world around them started to burn.
"Master, have you ever thought about what sleeps within the Holy Grail?" – Lancer asked him once. Now Kiritsugu understood why.
That thing, wearing face of Irisviel... Everything about it was wrong. Its cost was greater than any benefit it could offer.
Kiritsugu needed to kill it.
Lancer, if you still hear me... finish this. I'm giving you all I've got. Finish what I...
Seeing, or maybe rather feeling, Emiya's Command Spells in use, Kotomine reached for his last reserves of strength and charged.
"Don't! I need it! If you don't want it, give it to me!"
To let myself be killed by such unbelievable fool... pathetic - Kiritsugu thought and fired his last bullet.
"Oh, holy spear, removing restraints..."
Arturia looked down at the golden king and his weird sword able to destroy entire worlds. Her own weapon, even powered with Command Spells, was still far from its original self and most likely couldn't surpass Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasm. With her Master's life force fading rapidly, those were Lancer's final moments in this Servant form.
Still, she smiled. Even the famous King of Heroes looked small from the saddle. Defeating him, although would be extremely satisfying, wasn't what she wanted to achieve. Kiritsugu's decission was correct, in her opinion, and now Lancer was going to fulfill her role.
She had no regrets. Her fighting potential had been recognized. And her duty...
Thank you for your service, Llamrei. It was a good summoning.
The mare neighed, but her last battle cry drowned in the noise of swirling energy. The roaring of magical wind was so terrible Arturia could barely hear her own voice:
"Thrust and feast! Thirteen fangs! Rhongomyniad!"
Waver needed a second to understand what had just happened. He found himself in the saddle in front of his Servant, galloping with unimaginable speed to avoid being knocked down by a shockwave.
Surprisingly, even for himself, the young mage was more curious than scared. Maybe it was because of Rider's presence, his potent aura of a true, charismatic leader? Or maybe Waver had already seen too many wonders for one night to care anymore?
He glanced through his shoulder and gulped painfully, not ready for the view. Two clashing Noble Phantasms partially neutralized each other, but the remaining energy still wiped the main building of the Fuyuki Civic Center and most of its surrondings off the face of the earth. Servants who had released such terryfing power were nowhere to be seen.
Bucephalus stopped. Iskandar let his young Master slip from the saddle, but stayed mounted, like a statue of an ancient warrior ready for battle.
"Rider?" Waver gave him a curious look. He knew the King of Conquerors long enough to guess that he had some kind of a ridicoulous plan. But what could it be, when the Grail was already destroyed?
"It's not over yet, Look," Iskandar said, with his gaze focused on a strange black hole on the sky. It was twirling restlessly for a moment. Black rain emerged from it first, then small portions of something similar to lava...
"What is this thing?" The young mage instinctively stepped back. "Looks like it's overflowing."
"Ah, and it won't be pretty, if we just leave it like that."
"But you can do nothing to stop it, right, Rider?" A heavy silence was his only answer and that meant nothing good. "Hey, you can't think of... Rider? Rider!"
The King of Conquerors looked at his Master... no, companion and friend... from above with a mixture of pride and compassion. What a fine young mage he was, with a bright future awaiting him. Fighting for this future was a duty of a Servant, was it not?
"What do we have to defend ourselves against evil in this world, if not our hopes and dreams?" Iskandar laughed. "And I've built an entire world out of them, ha, ha, ha! Now the time has come to put it into use."
"Rider..." Waver did not even try to argue, and that made his Servant proud of him again. The boy took a deep breath and reached out his hand. Command Spells dissapeared from his skin one after another.
"That last one was unnecessary," Iskandar said in a suspiciously soft voice. "But I thank you for it."
This was too much for the young Master - he managed only to nod weakly, before looking away.
"Never forget this moment, boy. I am the King od Conquerors, the one to lead the charge, to challenge all obstacles head on. I do not know any other way." Rider grinned, unsheathing his sword. "Here I go!"
"The smell of this thing..." Siegfried gently put Illya back on the ground.
"Yes, Saber. These are curses." The girl narrowed her eyes. Strong connection to the Grail helped her better understand the situation. "So much of them that they took physical form."
Like a river breaking through a dam, the contents of the Grail leaked out to the city below. Only a single little light dared to stand in its way. A shinning orb, in which they recognized Rider's Noble Phantasm, opened up under the stream of curses, trying to neutralize as much of the mud as possible.
"It's still not enough," Tokiomi noticed flatly. Indeed, it looked like an attempt to stop the flood with a small basin.
Iskandar's imaginary world soon shrank and disappeared, like a baloon pierced with a needle. It was hard to tell how much of the Grail's corrupted contents had been absorbed, but the rest still reached the nearest buildings. It poured all over them, like a burning wave, and soon the entire area fell victim to its hunger.
Screams of dying people filled the air. Siegfried couldn't stand it - with every fiber of his being he felt the need to do something. His dragon skin had always been a shield for the weak, his place was on the front line. Someone must have survived, they couldn't ignore this fact and just let those innocent victims perish.
"Saber, don't." Illya stopped him with a shaking hand, ready to use a Command Seal. "I will not let you touch that mud."
Siegfried hesitated. His defiance would probably break Illya's heart and shatter the bond they formed during so many hardships. He was certain that he'd chosen the right thing... but it didn't make it any bit easier.
"I'm sorry, Illya. I cannot accept this order. I won't stay still while people are dying right before my eyes."
Saber expected the girl to get angry and move away, not cling to him tighter than ever before.
"You promised!" Tears welled up in her eyes. Now she wasn't a Master anymore, just a scared child, who had already lost too much. "Don't leave me alone!"
"I won't. Illya..." He kneeled to look straight into her eyes. "Have you forgotten your own words? Who is the strongest Servant of the strongest Master?"
"You." Illyasviel sniffed loudly. "You are. MY Saber."
"That's right. No mud can stop us." With a gentle smile, Siegfried wiped away her tears. "If I just stay here and watch, I will never forgive myself. Deep inside you know you won't forgive me either."
Illya was visibly conflicted, but didn't look away under the expectant gaze of her Servant.
"Fine," she decided eventually. "Go, Saber. But your dragon skin is not enough, you must shine. I will help you shine brighter."
Siegfried felt a sudden burst of power, so strong that it indeed made him shine a bit. Illya was right - a steady stream of magical energy shoud keep the curses at bay, at least for a few moments.
Wasting no more time, he looked around and jumped. He tried to stay above the ground, leaping from one point to another, but couldn't completely avoid the contact with the mud. Neither hot nor cold, sticky and extremely unpleasant, it left weird burning sensation on his skin whenever he touched it.
The air became heavy, as if it tried to push him down. Siegfried ignored that, focused on his task. He checked the pile of debris, where he still could hear groans and heavy breaths, but an elderly couple found there was already beyond saving.
"I'm so sorry... Hope you will find peace."
Every step was tiring Saber out. The evil dragon within him wanted to lay down and bath in the mud like a happy pig. Magical barrier created by Illya seemed thin like paper and could vanish at any moment.
But he couldn't turn back. Not yet.
The farther he went, the thicker the silence became. Not a single sign of life, just a stench of death above the dark sea of curses as far as the eye could see.
"How one can allow such kind of hell to happen and still call oneself a hero?"
He was late. He failed. He should give in and let himself drown, here and now.
What a fool he was, trully, to think he had enough willpower to resist such curses. To think that he had changed and could do anything good without being asked for it...
"Such an ugly image, don't you agree?"
His connection with Illya was slowly fading, the light around him almost completely went out. He closed his eyes, having no strength left to burst out magical energy anymore.
It was fine. He was not worthy to even be here. Illya deserved better.
"H-help... me..."
The veil of darkness fell immediately from Siegfried's eyes. His power returned... or maybe wasn't ever depleted? Could it be that he, known as a hero who had never lost, almost fell victim to an illusion of despair, to weakness of his own mind?
It wasn't important at the moment. Saber saw a small hand sticking out from the rubble, desperately reached out toward the sky.
Bursting power like a real dragon, Siegfried rushed to this one impossible survivor and almost dived in the mud to pick him up.
"Hold on just a bit longer, little one," he said to the wounded boy, holding him tight like the most precious treasure. "Everything will be fine. Do you hear me? Do not close your eyes. Just a moment longer..."
Repeating these words like a prayer, Saber ran back to his Master and no curse could stop him.
"It's not over yet."
Two women were observing the explosion from the bridge. Avenger refused to let go of her Master until they reached the river. To say that she was overprotective would be an understatement.
"It's still calling to me," Kriemhild continued in a disturbingly monotonous voice. "It has been denied. Its desires have not been sated."
For a moment Sola-Ui wasn't sure if her Servant meant the entity within the Grail or herself. Was it really important, when the lack of conclusion of tonight's battles worked in their favor?
"Mine neither," she smiled wickedly. Having the Grail in a partially awakened state for no one knows how long opened some... interesting opportunities. "Come, Avenger. That sword of yours will soon taste the blood. We're going back to London."
Kriemhild nodded and obediently followed Sola-Ui through the bridge. She looked back only once, sure that she'd just heard another familiar voice in the distance.
"Do not worry, my love," the princess muttered under her breath. Keeping secrets from her Master wasn't good, but she didn't want to provoke more suspicions and nasty comments. "I will come back and find you. Always."
This man was huge and scary, with an aura of a warrior, of magic and blood around him. It surrounded him wherever he went, like an ominous shadow, like a beast lingering in the darkness right behind him.
At first the boy was scared of him, of the smell of fire and ash, which reminded him of that awful, tragic day. They bathed in the same curses, after all, and their stench would never leave them, no matter what.
But soon the saved boy learned how to know his savior better and understood some things. He got it all wrong.
The man had the softest voice and the gentlest smile the boy had ever seen. He let three little girls literally sit on his head and never complained or scolded them, not even once. He would do everything, if asked for help, even at cost of his own wellbeing.
But most of all, what the boy knew both from tales and the evidence before his very eyes, this man was a hero.
"Tell me about your adventures, Siegfried!"
"Oh? You're too big for bedtime stories, Shirou." The man put away an old book and glasses, then smiled to the boy. "What about something better than boring stories about me? Let me tell you about a boy who challenged the sun."
This is the end of part I. Part II - "Between the Wars" will be published soon (I hope!), not as a separate story, but in next chapters, as usual. So please stay with Illya and the rest of her merry band, if You're still interested.
Sorry for not going deeper into the Kiritsugu vs. Kirei fight, but I just wouldn't dare to try. That part of the anime is a masterpiece, in my opinion, and there was no way I could ever get close to it.
I really hope this chapter wasn't disappointing. Actually, I'm happy I could finish it at all. Last year I went from being 'of generally weak health' to 'barely alive' really quick, so writing is a real challenge for me now...
Before proceeding with the next part I would like to fix a bit all existing chapters. English is not my first language, I'm still learning, so any help will be highly appreciated. I do not want to add anything, just fix some grammar and other weird, annoying stuff. ;)
Lastly, a word to fellow FGO players - it's a great time to be a Siegfried fan, isn't it? Kriemhild officially joined the game (she's pretty cool) and our Dragon Boy got a nice buff at last!
Thanks for reading and hope to see You soon!