Yet another dagger flew towards Kariya, shockwaves gathering at its tip as it strained to surpass the sound barrier. Kariya had already thrown himself to his side, pressing up against the sewer's walls as the dagger zipped by him, disappearing into the depths of the sewers, out of sight within seconds. Kariya's heart beat a mile a minute: if he hadn't predicted that dagger, there was no doubt that he would have steel biting into his brain.
Watcher placed a hand on Kariya's shoulder, squeezing it.
"Careful, my friend. That is no mere human."
As if confirming Watcher's words, a man materialized a dozen meters away from Kariya. He was stooped like a hunchback, with a thin, hunger ridden body that showed more bone than muscle. Dressed in a tattered cloak of black and donning an ivory white skull mask, there was no doubt as to who this was.
"Assassin?" wondered Kariya, his eyes squinting in confusion while his hands gripped the sword ever tighter. Assassin had died twice over; first in its advance against the Tohsaka mansion, then in the banquet of kings when they as a collective were crushed underfoot by Rider.
Assassin was supposed to be dead. Confirmed dead, not like the ruse Kirei had wanted to play by sacrificing one to Archer.
Kariya had no time for confusion. The Assassin dashed forward, its hunched back belying a bestial agility as it weaved from side to side, preventing Kariya from taking clear aim at it with the blade.
All Kariya could do was retreat, his eyes whisking from one corner of the sewers to the other as they struggled to hone in on Assassin's darting form. From his peripheral vision, Kariya saw Watcher dematerializing, and he knew he was alone in this fight.
That moment of focus on Watcher proved almost fatal.
Assassin's face perked up as he saw Kariya's eyes make the tiniest of movements away from him, and he sprinted forward, putting all his strength into his legs, propelling him towards Kariya like a seeker missile. Kariya let out a surprised grunt as he tried warding away Assassin, swinging his sword in a wide, clumsy arc, like he was waving around a club instead of a refined cutting edge.
Kariya grimaced as Assassin dodged with supreme efficiency, letting his untrained blow sail an inch over Assassin's head. That grimace morphed into panic as he saw Assassin, now right in front of him and within his guard, brandish a dagger, pulling it back to gather the energy needed for ending his life.
Kariya raised his sword overhead. This was all or nothing. Assassin was fast like a spider, skittering about with agility he could never match. Even if Kariya dodged this blow, Assassin would dance around him, picking his untrained body apart piecemeal with that cruel, curved dagger. He would take the hit and hammer the sword down, ensuring a hit on Assassin at the cost of possible mortal injury.
Pain spiked at Kariya's left side, like someone had slugged him with a baseball bat. He saw Assassin's dagger caught in his skin. The dagger's edge had cut into Kariya for certain, but it's teeth only sank in a few centimeters, as if Assassin had slashed at a block of reinforced titanium instead. Assassin tried pulling the dagger back but found it embedded, trapped in the iron hard folds of Kariya's split skin.
Kariya saw his chance. Letting adrenaline battle the pain, he focused his strength on his attack, screaming as he swung the sword down. The noble phantasm grade sword met no resistance as it slid through Assassin, splitting him apart from shoulder to navel.
The two halves of Asassin's body slumped to the ground, with the half holding the dagger, still stuck in Kariya's side, trailing him as he stepped back. Kariya breathed hard, exhaling the remnants of his battle excitement.
The dagger popped out of Kariya's side, the muscle fibers knitting together and pushing the foreign steel out. He saw both halves of Assassin's body in clear detail now, and noticed dark matter wreathing it. No blood had come from the wound, and it appeared that solid darkness filled in where organs should have spilled out.
Assassin had been difficult to perceive beforehand, what with him flying around like a mad dervish, but now it was quite apparent: there was a shadowy coating wreathing Assassin, similar to the one Watcher projected.
Kariya felt Watcher's hand pat his back.
"Splendid!" exclaimed Watcher as it materialized. "You've exceeded my expectations. You will make a fine Berserker indeed."
Kariya was too confused to consider congratulations. He pointed at Assassin's body, now fading away into particles of black, with his sword.
"What is he? That didn't feel like a servant, or else my master's vision would have picked up his parameters."
Watcher stroked its chin for a few seconds, contemplating.
"My esteemed Master, how much magecraft do you know?"
"Almost none. I don't plan on learning that disgusting crap either."
"Excellent," said Watcher, heightening Kariya's confusion.
"What do you mean 'excellent'?"
Watcher ignored him, continuing its previous line of thought.
"Assassin was a spiritual body of low caliber. A wraith more-so than a heroic spirit," said Watcher, shaking its head in exaggerated pity, "Due to its weaker status, Assassin is more liable to become a cursed spirit that roams around as a vengeful specter. My hypothesis is that Assassin is motivated with vengeance against masters, considering how wrongly it was betrayed."
Kariya nodded, not knowing the technical details behind the explanation but feeling that it made sense anyhow.
Watcher clenched Kariya's shoulder, its claws almost cutting through his clothes. "Master, I'm afraid your labor does not end here."
Kariya drew his sword again, aiming the bladepoint into the impenetrable darkness of the sewers. His eyes, adjusted to the darkness, could still see nothing: only the endless length of the sewers thinning out into an ominous vanishing point.
His sight was useless, especially considering that Assassin likely kept some form of presence concealment even as a wraith. He had to call on his instincts, sharpened like those of a beast's, instead.
They called, sending a shiver down his spine as his body reacted before his thoughts could catch up.
Kariya dropped his sword and rolled, not willing to risk the possibility of skewering himself. Two daggers whistled overhead. He kept his eyes focused in front of him while his right arm drew back to grab the sword again.
Two Assassins materialized, knitting themselves together with the fabric of the sewer's darkness. They were male assassins, small in stature and youthful in figure. They appeared to be teenagers, but the daggers gleaming in their hands were far from innocent.
"Good luck," said Watcher, as it faded away.
Kariya exhaled, his breath dragging out. He'd need that luck. He imagined pain blossoming within him, and triggered his circuits - the worms. The vermin awoke in response, feasting on his flesh and producing magical energy. He felt a burning spread through his body, scorching him like fire.
The pain didn't slow him down. It even felt comfortable, in a way, shouldering that familiar burden. Gave him focus, reminded him of his limited time, and how much he had to do. Most importantly, it was a symbol of how much he had sacrificed, and how far he was still willing to go.
Two more daggers shot forward. Kariya took a step back and slashed his sword in front of him, managing to knock away one dagger, which performed wild spins in the air as it nailed into the sewer ceiling. The other dagger cut into Kariya's right shoulder with a dull clang, digging in a few inches before muscle fiber, strong like spider silk, stopped the weapon.
Kariya held his breath, reigning in a cry of pain. Despite the dagger being impotent as a cutting weapon, it was still thrown with bullet-like force. The raw impact of the steel wracked Kariya's shoulder with throbbing pangs of pain.
He swallowed down his agony and charged, knowing that he couldn't make this a battle of range. Not yet at least. When Kariya awakened his crest worms, he also called for his battle worms. They would arrive sooner or later, slithering through the network of crevices and pipelines in the sewers - he had to survive until then.
Kariya slashed at one of the Assassins, his whole body lunging forward as he put too much strength in the attack. The Assassin cartwheeled backwards, evading the lethal steel with lithe poise. The other Assassin, positioned behind Kariya, took a dagger in both hands and tried to ram it into Kariya's back, aiming to sever his spine.
Kariya foresaw this and turned his body ever so slightly, causing the dagger to pierce in a few centimeters aside of the spine. Feeling chilling steel sink into his burning flesh, he channeled a cry of pain into a grunt of exertion, twisting to pry Assassin off his back and swiveled to face the backstabber, slashing his sword as he did so.
His blade didn't meet its mark, only another taunting acrobatic maneuver as the Assassin danced away, leaving the dagger protruding from his back. The two killers were now weaponless, their daggers tacked onto Kariya's body. He gripped the blade with both hands and circled round and round, keeping tabs on each Assassin.
The two Assassins followed his dance, circling around him from the back and front, like they were hunting a cornered beast. Kariya managed a smile and counted the seconds the fools wasted.
One...
Two...
Three...
Four...
Both Assassins charged in synch, knowing that Kariya could only deal with one. His smile widened into a grin, almost manic, as he saw his plans fall into place. He dashed forward, meeting only one of the Assassins with a reckless abandon.
Kariya saw the Assassin in front of him halt its offense, assuming a guard. Meanwhile, the Assassin behind Kariya sped up, its footsteps producing a rapid staccato on the stone steps of the sewer.
He kept charging.
The Assassin in front of him was bait, no doubt. The other Assassin would pluck the daggers stuck to Kariya while he, with his rough, amateurish movements, would never have a chance of striking down the defensive Assassin.
But Kariya had faith. Faith in himself, and, though he hated to admit it, faith in the familiars Matou Zouken had given him. After all, he had shared his body with them. They were of his own flesh and blood, and were just as familiar.
Kariya thrust his sword forward, aiming to knock the defensive Assassin's head off. The Assassin bent backwards, dodging the blade, the tip of its head almost touching the stony ground. Kariya had missed, as expected, but his attention was not on his wayward blade.
"Now!" he screamed, the crest worms in his body writhing as they processed and expelled magical energy like miniature generators. The second Assassin, now almost right behind Kariya, stopped for a second, surprised at this outburst.
That second proved to be one too long. Worms hiding in the walls, hiding under the sewage, hiding in the ceiling - they all squeezed out of their hiding places and morphed into flying beetles that swarmed the Assassin behind Kariya in a cloud of hunger.
The beetles, as large as house cats, white like metal with carapaces just as hard, tore at Assassin with all they had. Their mandibles, scythed so as to make even death proud, and their stingers, elongated and bladed like axes, butchered the Assassin in seconds, not even leaving time for screams.
A few rags, wafting around in the thick, methane rich gases of the sewers, were all that remained of the wraith. Kariya's breathing was like a metronome set to max speed. His veins and capillaries bulged again, some popping and spurting little jet streams of blood from his face.
Kariya swung with even less precision than before, trying to cleave the remaining Assassin in two. The Assassin kept its composure, sidestepping the attack, weighed down with a pain fueled rage, with ease. Kariya kept pressing the offense, loosing a barrage of blows that went wide, gouging scars into the ground and walls as he missed, then missed again.
The adrenaline poisoning Kariya's veins and the pain bursting from his crest worms made an intoxicating brew, fogging Kariya's higher judgement and descending him into a rabid bloodlust, leaving him moving forward with the only thoughts that gave his life substance - the thoughts inscribed in the foundation of his existence.
He needed to save Sakura and Aoi.
For that, he needed the grail.
For that, he needed to survive.
For that, he needed to kill.
Sensing their master's desires, the beetles swarmed forward. The remaining Assassin, in between dodging motions, saw the swarm approaching and stopped, accepting his fate. Kariya's sword skewered through the Assassin's chest, pushing past muscle and bone like a flaming knife through paper.
The swarm cleaned up the rest, eating away Assassin's body like a biblical plague of locusts. Kariya stabbed his sword into the ground and rested both hands on the hilt, leaning his weight on the sword to gain his breath. Blood trickled from his face, flowing from ruined blood vessels. He looked down as droplets of sweat and blood pattered on the stone floor, sometimes mixing into little puddles of thinning red.
Kariya laughed between tired breaths. He had managed to defeat Servants. Well, something close. Despite the fact that Assassin already had to split its power into close to a hundred bodies, a negative made worse by them weakening into wraiths, it was still an achievement to defeat not one, but three of them.
For the first time, Kariya felt powerful. It had been his own hands that had swung the sword, felled his enemies, and pushed him a step closer to his goals.
Kariya celebrated too early.
A fist manifested in front of Kariya, and despite his instincts warning him, his feet were too leaden with exhaustion to react in time. The fist, clothed in the signature black of the Hassan, smashed into his face, shattering the hardened skin like porcelain under a hammer.
Kariya whirled backwards, his grip on the sword, stuck in the ground like a stake, prying apart. He cupped his face in anguish, screaming as blood rained from his shattered skin and blood vessels, sifting through his fingers like streams of sand.
An Assassin stepped forward, blocking Kariya's path to his blade. Kariya saw through the gaps in his fingers that this Assassin was different from the others. It was a walking fortress of muscle, with gigantic arms grossly disproportionate with the rest of its body.
Kariya struggled to stand, pressing a hand to his face, trying to keep it from falling apart. Countless cracks lined with red blood streaked his face, with chips of skin dropping through his hand and onto the ground, making clinking sounds as steely skin hit stone.
The pain was enormous, but it fueled Kariya, knocking his battle instincts back into gear. He couldn't afford to take another hit. Another one might actually split him apart. Sensing their master's danger, the insects gathered around him, forming a chitin phalanx.
The Assassin jumped forward, clasping its hands, as massive and deadly as bear paws, together to hammer down on Kariya's head. Kariya felt the cracks in his face sealing, one by one, so he tried stalling for his healing. Beetles buzzed into formation, weaving into a tight shield of bodies that intercepted Assassin's blow.
A loud squelch followed as Assassin's hands crushed almost half of Kariya's swarm. A puddle of green insect blood splashed onto the floor, broken shards of white carapace littering the expanding pool of lime. Kariya's breath cut into short gasps, pain from his overworked circuits stealing away even the luxury of full breaths.
Kariya took his hand from his face, now healed, and saw the glint of his sword shining behind Assassin's blockade of a body. He ordered the remains of his swarm to attack the Assassin while he leaped across the stream of sewage, landing onto the other side's pathway.
The cloud of beetles, much thinner than before, raged around Assassin, gouging out deep cuts in its body by the dozen. Kariya ran forward, hoping to reach the sword while Assassin was occupied.
His hopes crashed along with his body as Assassin ignored the beetles and tackled Kariya, squashing him like a bug along the sewer's wall. He heard his body breaking apart as both his skin and bones shattered like glass. He wanted to scream, but only a weak gurgle, tinged with blood, escaped from his lips, his lungs punctured by shattered ribs.
His consciousness shook. His vision darkened around the edges, and he focused to keep himself awake. The adrenaline barreling through his veins was not enough to fight this level of pain, but he thanked it. It was the pain that held his consciousness hanging by an edge thinner than a strand of cobweb.
He couldn't move. There were no bones to move with. He felt Assassin's broad hand circle around his neck and lift his limp body up. He stared down at Assassin's skull mask, an expressionless face that promised only death. Beetles pecked at Assassin, but his huge body, far more durable than that of the other Hassan, had more than enough flesh to spare.
Kariya fought back, willing his body to heal before Assassin's spare fist ground his head into paste. By this point, Kariya was familiar enough with his instincts to know that they would not be so impolite as to not tell him of impending death.
He trusted his instincts more than his mind, they had saved him more times after all. He didn't just think he could survive, he knew.
He believed. Like a hero.
Watcher's voice echoed in his head.
"Superb! Taking my advice already! For your belief, here is the next step of your evolution: a skill!"
Kariya blinked in confusion.
Asasssin tightened its grip on Kariya, squeezing out his breath. The giant's other fist cocked, readying to loose the final blow. Kariya knew, no, felt what to do. His mind didn't understand how he would use his skill, but his body did.
Assassin's fist, so large that it shadowed over Kariya's whole head, sailed forward. Kariya blocked it with both hands. His arms, which were moments before loose piles of muscle and ground up bone, had recovered, stopping the gargantuan fist without giving up an inch.
Kariya grit his teeth, exerting strength into his hands. He crushed Assassin's fist, compacting it into a shriveled black pulp no larger than a tennis ball. Assassin dropped Kariya, backing up as it stared at its mangled fist with wonder.
Kariya slumped on the ground, the rest of his body still a broken mess. Now free of that brutish, choking grip, he inhaled vast gulps of air.
Monstrous Strength. An useful ability to draw a last spurt of strength with, but at the cost of -
Kariya looked down at his hands. They were covered in a black, carapace -like armor, segmented where the finger joints were. His nails were elongated, curved like harvesting sickles. His hands were wider and broader, and his fingers were longer and thicker, more suited to crushing and clawing.
Kariya felt his muscles knitting together, his splintered bones attaching, his shattered skin patching up, and he stood up, a heavy sway in his movements. Assassin took the erratic movements as weakness and closed in again, its hulking body looming over Kariya as it raised a single fist.
Kariya couldn't keep his balance, so he didn't try to. He put his strength into his legs and leaped right towards Assassin's barrel-like chest. He thrust his arms forward, and his clawed hands sunk into Assassin's chest, sinking in almost elbow deep.
Assassin froze, its spiritual core destroyed, prevented from mustering enough energy to bring that fist down. Kariya pulled his arms from Assassin's chest with a sickening schlick. Assassin fell over backwards, into the sewage stream. Its body floated atop the human waste, the current driving it away as its body faded into black particles.
Kariya trembled as he stood, still uncomfortable with his repaired body. His instincts flared again, pricking his skin and jolting his consciousness alert. He sighed, knowing what was to come.
Another Assassin materialized, this time a young woman,
Then another, a young man.
Then another.
Then another.
More and more until all Kariya could see were Assassins, all cloaked in that mocking, waving shroud of black. He closed his eyes, keeping the image of the future, one where his loved ones didn't suffer, burning, fueling his will to push on.
The Assassins were the ones to swarm now, the sea of darkness fogged bodies swallowing up Kariya's lonesome, pale figure.