Chapter 3
Rin knelt over the latest victim. The freshman lay still upon the ground, clinging to life by a thread. "What kind of magic could cause this?" She wondered, glancing up to the rest of the bodies. Every student, every teacher, all who attended the school had been struck by some strange spell cast through the loudspeakers. A single word of power had been enough to do this, had Rin not been a capable magus, she would be unconscious as well.
Exactly like Shiro. The novice magus in question was still shaking off the effects, not having the sense to protect himself in time. "We have to find whoever caused this before they finish the job." Shiro, ever single minded in his determination to help everyone but himself, offered that piece of wisdom.
A sneering chuckle alerted Shiro to Archer. "And how do you plan to do that? Get in your servant's way again?"
Rather than get angry at the spiteful servant's jest, Shiro tilted his head in confusion, "Wait, didn't you die?" Rin nearly missed a step at the idiotic question. When had her servant ever come close to…? Vague memories tried and failed to surface within her mind.
Huffing and looking away, Archer shuffled his feet. "I got better." The dejection in his voice was not well hidden.
Not wanting to deal with a possible argument between her servant and temporary ally, Rin spoke up, "Shiro, we need to head to the broadcast-" Rin was cut off as Shiro ran off like a bloodhound with a scent. "Hey, wait!" Without a thought, Rin took off after the boy, her servant close behind.
Despite the obvious location of the enemy, Shiro neglected to head for the broadcast room, instead he made a beeline for the front door. He could smell it. The stench of that magic wasn't far now. Sliding to a stop, Shiro found himself in front of the sports field. So that was it. The announcer box on the field was could be connected to the school speakers as well, clever. Shiro got no time to pat himself on the back for his deduction as pain lanced down his shoulder. A spurt of red announced the blade sticking through it.
Shiro fell as an armored boot pushed him off the blade. "Very good, but I deduced you might figure out my ruse." Shiro rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the killing blow.
Managing to reach his knees, Shiro caught sight of his attacker. A bucket helm obscured his face, but the blue and white surcoat with a white tree heralding signaled him to be a servant. Strength drained, Shiro realized he would not be dodging the next blow. The blade came for his neck, but found only steel as sword clashed against sword. Saber stood before her master, invisible blade intersecting her adversary's. The sheer fore of the blow ruffled the cloth on her armor and tossed her hair about. Her ahoge mustache flowed with manly grace… wat?
Shiro's worship like admiration was shattered when he caught sight of the ridiculously fake facial hair. "Sir Bedevere." She ground out in an artificially deep voice. "Stand down." For a hair of a moment, there was no response. Then, in a flash, Sir Bedevere broke away and jumped backwards.
Tossing the bucket helm aside, Sir Bedevere showed a grimace upon his face. "I cannot obey my liege. My allegiance belongs to another woman now."
Despite the solemn words, Saber quickly lost her cool and became flustered. Hand flying to her ahoge, she gently touched it to insure that it hadn't fallen. Assured, she spoke again, "I don't know what you are talking about fellow male. But I forgive you, I'm sure that woman you have found cause erections in all other males. Males like myself." Shiro blamed the blood loss; there was no way Saber was this insane.
Clearing his throat, Bedevere cut in. "My liege, as a fellow student of the sciences, give me some credit. We were cell mates for years." Wait, cell mates? Shiro couldn't remember any heroes that spent time in cells. Understanding the ruse was up, Saber replace her ahoge upon her head and gingerly made sure it fell into place. "I do have to ask," Sir Bedevere questioned, "Why keep such a secret from your most trusted knights? I understand the people, but me my liege?"
It was Saber's turn to clear her throat. "It was a commandment from the lord." From the embarrassed look on her face, Shiro could only guess how awkward this was for her.
The understanding 'ahh' from Sir Bedevere only served to confuse Shiro. "God was… odd." Bedevere commented.
"Shiro!" Rin cried out, nearly crashing into the bloodied master. "You're hurt! Idiot!" Adding insult to injury in a quite literal fashion, Rin fell to Shiro's side to administer first aid. "Archer." The terse command was all Archer needed.
Seeing the approaching servant Sir Bedevere realized the odds were now greatly against him. Taking another step back, he noted neither Saber nor Archer seemed to be backing down. Instead, both Servants began moving to either side to hound him in. "Sir Bedevere, to have mastered the word of the Ni, you summoned as a caster then?"
Smiling, Sir Bedevere shook his head. "That was just something I managed to deduce on my own, the trick is not to say 'nuu'. You should know what I was summoned as." Mana swelled within Sir Bedevere. "Come to me, COCO!" Blinding light announced the arrival of Sir Bedevere's noble phantasm.
Still shielding her eyes, Saber spat out what she should have known. "Of course, the greatest rider among my knights, of course you would have been summoned as a rider!" The terse words were aimed at her own foolishness, but the steeled Archer. Be it dragon, pegasus, or manticore, he was ready for this rider's noble phantasm. That was what he thought until the light cleared however. Rather than mounted, Sir Bedevere stood with his hands holding imaginary reigns and was flanked by a rather grimy looking squire holding two halves of a coconut. "Magnificent…" Saber's awed voice drew three looks of complete befuddlement. "Your steed is without peer, old friend." There was resignation laced with admiration in the swordswoman's voice.
Shifting back and forth under the minor steps of his 'steed,' the squire knocked the coconuts together softly. Sir Bedevere nodded respectfully. "I'm sorry to use him against you my liege." Any regret in Sir Bedevere's voice was forgotten as Archer interjected.
"ARE YOU ALL MENTAL?" Composure fully broken, the man in red held out his hands, gesturing to Bedevere. "You have just got to halves of a coconut and you're banging them together!" A bow formed in his hands. "Deranged swordsmen? I get that." Ancient sword became arrow. "Killer rodents? Sure, whatever." The arrow was drawn. "But this is the line, and you crossed it! Cala-"
"COCO!" Sir Bedevere charged faster than any man could run, let alone skip. Coconuts hammering away, the man on imaginary horse crashed into Archer with the force of a semi, launching the man in red clean through the school building. Not bothering to stop, Bedevere rode his magnificent 'Stallion' into the night, deciding that tonight was not the night to face his liege.
Rin, completely at a loss for words, looked at the whole her archer turned arrow had made. "Rin," Shiro spoke, his eyes also looking at the building, "I think Archer died again."