Author's note: As per what has become something of a norm for me, I have once again grossly underestimated just how much writing I actually have to go through to fulfill my plot outline.
So we come to one of those good news/bad news scenarios. This chapter had to be split in two.
The good news is, you get a lot more to read. Including a bonus chapter between the two parts of this one.
The bad news is that I now have a lot more to write.
Well, actually this was a good news/good news scenario. I like writing! And I like writing this story.
Let's begin our date!
Chapter Nineteen
It was around noon as Shirou observed the battle taking place from the roof of a highrise building in New City. Dressed in what Ryouko had dubbed his Superhero Suit. This was fine by him. He couldn't use any of the names he had for it in front of a lady anyway. Even a lady like Ryouko. She herself stood beside him in her wiring suit and winged combat realizer which Shirou had in term dubbed her sexy mobile suit girl cosplay, though every part of him knew that actually saying that outloud would not end well for him. At least not in this context. She observed the battle through a pair of high powered binoculars while the mages all looked on with their reinforced eyes. Tohka though kept begging and pleading for a turn to look through the binoculars.
"When we have the time, I'll start teaching you how to do what we're doing," remarked Shirou.
"Please please please teach me!" begged Tohka.
"I will Tohka. For now though, we need to concentrate on what's happening."
"I'll be happy to help teach her fundamentals of magecraft if you'd permit it Shirou," offered Waver.
"I'd actually appreciate that. I turned out the way I did because I learned those fundamentals all wrong. It'd be great if I didn't put Tohka through what I went through," answered Shirou just before his phone started to ring.
He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen with a sour look on his face before answering it.
"This better be good Tohno. I'm a little busy here."
"Yeah? Me too! But I still took the time to call you! So take the time to listen!" he furiously yelled into the phone.
"Shiki?! What the hell is going on there?!"
"We're being attacked by those flying soldiers you talked about! In broad daylight! Whole lot of them. Kotori counted sixty at least. The girls are all in town, the siren went off. Kotori called me and told me they were in trouble. They're hiding and I'm on my way to them now with Arcueid and Akiha! Akiha is pretty pissed off and says she's going to war. So you need to get your ass down here as soon as possible if you want a piece of the action!"
Shirou narrowed his eyes at the display ahead of him. "We've got the same situation here in Fuyuki. The Association and the Church are on the offensive and there's a fight going on right out in the streets. I'll be there just as soon as I can. Take care of the kids!"
"Damn straight I will! Kick ass and take names but don't dawdle!" he yelled before hanging up the phone.
Ryouko stared with wide eyes at Shirou as he put his phone away, "What happened?! Are they alright?!"
"DEM is attacking Misaki. This mission is aborted. Let's pack up and take a road trip."
As Shirou turned around though his eyes immediately caught sight of something he immediately recognized heading straight for them.
"Ryouko. Any idea how your former comrades found us here like this?"
"What?!" she asked while looking into her binoculars again at where Shirou was looking. "Damn it all! Why now of all times?! And I really have no idea. Sure they'd go out when the quake alarm sounds. But why are they coming straight for us? They shouldn't be able to detect Tohka!"
"Could they have detected your equipment?" wondered Waver.
"Impossible. I verified that the tracking device was removed from this unit with my own eyes," she said while reaching around behind her back and drawing out her energy sword.
"We'll figure out the how of it later, right now let's just focus on fighting our way out of here and doing what we really need to be doing! Trace on!" he said before his bow appeared in his hand, and a sword to go with it.
"No! We don't have time to fight them! We just need to get inside this building we're on, they can't use their gear indoors. The wingspan is too prohibitive for effective indoor combat and generating a defensive territory in close quarters is stupidly dangerous," she said while cutting open the roof door and then kicking it in.
"Won't you have the same problem though?" he asked as she made her gear vanish as if it never existed, leaving her in just her wiring suit.
"Yes. But none of you will and they can't do anything to be a threat to you without active CR units. Now move it!"
"Yes ma'am!" yelled Shirou and Waver as they started running after her into the building, Gray, and Tohka following close behind.
"She's a fine woman Shirou. Don't ever let her go," remarked Waver.
"I don't plan on it."
"Miss Kusakabe. Won't they just try to ambush us once we emerge from the building again?" asked Gray.
"Sure they will. I taught them to do exactly that and more. That's why we're not going to exit the building from the street level. This building has a sub-basement parking lot which is shared with the two buildings next to this one. From there we can exit through one of the others and they'll be none the wiser," she said while running down the stairs.
"How did you know that?" asked Shirou.
"I bothered to look at the building map on the way up. How do you think?!"
I'm no leader, but she certainly is. Thank you for introducing me to her Kotori.
"Hmmm. I wonder why it hadn't occurred to me to do that as well?" wondered Waver to which Shirou nodded along.
"Because you're both men. You never read the instructions," answered Gray in a blunt tone.
Shirou and Waver both flinched as if they'd just been smashed in the face with imaginary bricks.
Misaki
Kotori and the sisters Yamai stood back to back in a circle as they were slowly and deliberately surrounded by the DEM wizards. All of them wore red wiring suits and had identical combat realizers which were much smaller on their backs than any of the units Kotori had previously seen.
"Hello again Kotori Emiya," said a woman with dark red hair and icy blue eyes as she made her landing. She had a large pistol like weapon leveled against the three spirits. "What is it with you drawing spirits like a magnet? First Princess, then Hermit, then Nightmare, and now the Hurricane Children. Following you certainly makes finding spirits a lot easier. Perhaps that's why they have a use for you?"
"Sorry… I kinda forgot your name…" remarked Kotori while throwing a lollipop into her mouth which quickly calmed her nerves.
"Jessica Bailey. Now. If you'd please come with us quietly this doesn't need to get ugly," the woman answered the small twin-tailed girl.
Kotori shook her head, "It can't be helped. I don't know if anyone told you, but any minute now you're going to face things worse than spirits by far. But first I'm going to try and kick your ass myself," remarked Kotori with a proud grin as she gathered balls of fire into her hands.
Jessica put a hand on her hip with an unimpressed look on her face.
"But. If I don't manage to end you before my Uncle Shiki and Aunt Arcueid get here, you'll wish you had just fried in my flames!"
"Oh that's right, you were a Magus weren't you? Well it won't make any difference. I've killed six Enforces since I've been in Japan. What chance do you think you have?"
"Let's find out!" yelled Kotori as she threw one of her flames at the woman who simply took off and evaded the flame.
"Protect territory, deploy," she said lazily as the fire changed course and hit her in the back, nothing penetrating her shield. "Kill the spirits, I'll get the girl," she ordered to her subordinates.
"Yuzuru! Let's kick ass!"
"Anger, I am unable to contain my rage."
"Elohim Tzabaoth," the twins said in unison to don their matching spirit vestments.
Kotori gathered flames in her hands again as Jessica came slowly towards her.
She's not taking me seriously. I need to turn up the intensity. Kurumi said I had to brute force this when she was telling Origami about the gun she fixed up for her. But if I go too far… Can't think about it now, it's them or us! I can't be a hero if I need Kurumi, or anyone to protect me!
The wizard leveled her pistol at the twin-tailed redhead. Kotori threw her flames at the ground and raised her wall of fire as the trigger was squeezed, vaporizing the bullet that threatened to kill or wound her.
With an angry gleam in her eyes, and teeth tightly clenched, Kotori pointed out at the woman as she commanded her flames. "Incinerate her!"
"Protect territory, maximum output!"
She controls the fire as if it were a familiar… I've never heard of magecraft like that. Is this why you're so interested in her Ellen? If she's strong enough to attract your attention, maybe you should have given me Cecile for this job? No matter. I'll get it done.
Jessica used her jetpack to fly in close to Kotori where she landed and attempt to subdue her. As soon as her shield was down so she could try and grab her, Kotori reinforced her body to the fullest extent she was safely able and jumped up to land a vicious kick on the woman's face. Jessica staggered back when Kotori followed up with a savage and exceptionally painful punch to the centre of the woman's chest where the nerve cluster in her body ignited to cause as much pain as it would have if she'd been set on fire.
"Don't underestimate me!" barked Kotori as she tried to follow up with one more kick.
Jessica caught the foot this time. She wouldn't make that mistake twice and decided to take the little girl seriously now. She slipped her foot under Kotori's other leg and sweeped her down to the ground. But before she could follow up, the little girl grinned mischievously and ignited two more fireballs in her hands.
The woman quickly jumped away from Kotori and activated her defense shield as the fireballs came at her once again. She then reached around behind her back and drew out her energy sword before coming back down at the twin-tailed magus.
"Now you've pissed me off! They want you alive, not intact!"
Kotori widened her eyes and started running around to try and keep distance between them as she hurled more and more fireballs at the woman.
Damn it! I can't breach that shield with just fire! What the hell did Kurumi mean when she said I'd have to brute force it?! Fire isn't going to affect it! If I get taken by her, Pops is gonna go berserk. Origami will never forgive herself… and Kurumi will lose whatever few marbles she has left… I need a weapon!
The image of Kurumi holding her mystic codes in defiance of Jessica and Ellen appeared in her mind's eye. It was then replaced with the image of her father holding his twin falchions. Then she saw Tohka holding Sandalphon.
I need a powerful, exquisite weapon! Like the ones they have!
Suddenly Kotori bumped into something and fell down onto her backside. She looked around and found herself enveloped in a green bubble made of honeycombed sections.
"Well. This is the end of the line for you little mage. Nightmare isn't here to save you this time."
Kotori looked up into the sky to see the twins fighting with all their might against the other wizards. But even they were starting to look tired. Their movements were becoming sluggish. If she couldn't act, they could perish, and Kurumi's promise to save them would be broken. Kurumi herself would be broken if she failed to save them.
Kurumi's done so much for me… I have to help her. Help her help them, help her help us all! I need power! I need a weapon! A strong weapon! A powerful weapon! A weapon to inspire fear!
These people drove me out of my home. And came here to hurt us all… I can't allow that to go unpunished! And it wasn't only this time… Kurumi has suffered so much because we couldn't beat these people before… No more! It ends here! She doesn't need to be my hero anymore! I will be hers!
Kotori closed her eyes and felt a rage build up inside her like nothing she'd ever felt before. Her blood was as fire in her veins. The inside of the energy shield she was trapped in started to feel smolderingly hot. A sweat broke out across her whole body.
I remember now…
"You're wrong Jessica… It's not me who needs a savior. It's you! ELOHIM GIBOR!"
"What the hell?!" she exclaimed as she ignited her engines and took off to put distance between her and the small girl she had trapped in her territory. The shield was suddenly struggling to contain an inexplicable firestorm.
When the territory failed, all that remained was an an explosive conflagration which burned with an intensity that seemed to overpower even the sun itself. It bathed the area in its blazing light and caused Jessica to shield her eyes from the blinding bright inferno that started coming towards her at a dangerously high velocity.
The heat began to increase as the fireball came towards the red wizard who for the first time since this battle began, felt true fear. The blazing storm separated into a collection of rings which encircled the little girl at its center. Jessica started flying away from her as fast as she could, but no amount of engine power her CR unit was producing could keep her ahead of this hurricane from hell.
The girl was wearing different clothes, she had horns tied to the sides of her head with her black ribbons. A low cut dress with vibrant white, pink, and black colors that seemed to blaze the same as the flames with which she was surrounded.
Humans feared fire. It was a natural reaction to fear that which could cause you harm. Evolution programed this response into humans. But it was her eyes which pushed Jessica Bailey beyond the realm of the healthy fear humans had for the things which could harm them. The look in this little girl's eyes inspired the kind of abject terror no fourteen year old girl should be able to inspire in a grown woman. Those burning red eyes flared with an unspeakable intensity, as if they were portals into the realm of hell itself though which she truly believed the Devil himself would reach through and rip the soul out of her body.
"Camael!" the burning demonic spirit screamed at the top of her lungs. Then a formidable giant red double bladed ax literally burned into existence in her waiting hands. "Payback time!"
Jessica turned to face her opponent with wide fearful eyes, "Protect territory! Maximum forward defense!" she cried out as Kotori brought the ax down upon her with enough force to knock her away, even against the power of her jet pack's engines trying to keep her stationary.
Kotori then ascended into the sky where Kaguya and Yuzuru were fighting for their lives with a giant lance and chain whip respectively. The first Wizard she encountered wasn't prepared for her onslaught and was knocked completely out by the ferocious impact to his defensive shield before the flame spirit moved onto the next who tried to defend himself with his territory but was knocked away out of control like his comrade had been.
"Surprise, Kotori Emiya is a Spirit?" remarked the robotic Yuzuru.
"She's powerful too! Look at her go! Wooooo!" cheered Kaguya.
"Suggestion, perhaps it would be wise to resume combat now?"
"Yeah! We can't let her show us up like this! Let's go!"
The twins took up their weapons once more and prepared to reengage in the battle when suddenly both felt a strong force tugging at them. Trying to pull them together.
"No! Not now! Not like this!"
"Agreement. We need to fight. Please Kaguya. Be strong. We must resist."
"You're right… we're stronger than this! Come on! Just a little longer then we'll decide!"
Kurumi ran into the area with Origami still in her arms and gently set her down with her eye in the sky. Origami reached around behind her and pulled out her pistol while walking forward to the remains of a DEM Wizard where she picked up his rifle. Kurumi walked up beside her with her eye still set in the sky.
"You're going to try and emulate me with a rifle and pistol now?" she asked casually.
"Your tactic is to use a shot to penetrate the shield before finishing them off. The theory is sound. If my pistol can do that too, the rifle will let me finish the job."
"Origami. I just have one question for you," she stated gravely, "Have I earned your trust?"
The silver haired girl leveled a curious glare on Kurumi, "Is this the time for that kind of talk?"
"Yes. Answer me. Please."
"Yes Kurumi. I trust you. Implicitly. I'll put my life in your hands if I need to, and I know you won't fail me."
"Good answer. Just two more questions before we can do this. Do you love Kotori as much as I do? How far would you go to protect her if I couldn't?"
"Don't you already know the answer to that? I would have imagined you would have seen for yourself how far I'd go for Kotori many times by now. There's nothing I won't do for her. Nothing I won't fight for her. She's the only friend I have. I love her as much as I love you!"
Kurumi slowly nodded her head again, "I hope that's true this time…"
"What do you mean 'this ti-"
Kurumi turned her eye on Origami as she cut her off. "Do you remember what I whispered to you before I went off to stop her from killing my father?"
Origami narrowed her eyes, "Yes. You said the flame spirit couldn't have killed my parents. You said you couldn't prove it, but you knew it was the truth. Why is this important now?" She then slipped her pistol into the back of her pants and reached out to grab Kurumi's arm. "What's the matter with you?"
"Because the Flame Spirit is up there now, and if you can't keep your priorities straight we're going to have very big problems between us..."
"What are you say-" Origami looked up into the sky at what Kurumi's eye was watching.
The Flame Spirit was darting about from wizard to wizard with the Yamai sisters and violently knocking them around. Origami narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on her weapons.
"Impossible…"
"This is the last secret I kept from you Origami. Because I didn't know how you'd react this time. The Flame Spirit from five years ago… was my little sister. It was Kotori. Now I will ask you this straight. Give me a straight answer. Can you put it aside until I can prove her innocence, can I count on you to have my back in this fight no matter what?"
"You know what you're asking me for…"
"The flame spirit is the reason you joined DEM, the reason you became a wizard. The reason you wanted to help the AST after you turned your back on Ellen and the others. All this time the Spirit you were looking for was your own best friend. Or in my time, the baby sister of your girlfriend… Someone who loved you dearly, who looked up to you. She still loves you and looks up to you as a guiding influence in her life… That's who you think killed your parents. You're as much a hero to her as I ever was Origami..."
Please make the right decision this time… I don't have enough time left... Please don't ruin it now…
When she saw her facial features morph into a look of deep inner turmoil, Kurumi decided to push a little harder, "Origami… You're not like me, you have a greater capacity for love than you do for hate. Your love saved me when nothing else could have… Please… I beg you..."
Origami pulled her hand away from Kurumi and balled a fist, with a loud scream she punched herself hard in the face, drawing a curious glare from the raven-haired magus.
"Fine! I won't hurt her… I'll give you a chance to prove you're right. I want to believe you! So I choose to believe you! I choose to believe my capacity of love for you both is greater than my capacity of hate! Let's go take my anger out on Jessica!"
Kurumi grinned mischievously and put a hand on Origami's shoulder. "Then you need to get up there and join that fight. I can't shadow walk without Zafkiel or I'll burn up all my magical energy before I get half way up there. And you can't fight while carrying me."
"How could I get up there? I can't fly without a realizer. So what are you suggesting?"
Kurumi looked her dead in the eye with that mischievous grin, "Put down your guns, and take off your cloths. I have a little Deus Ex Machina of my own for you to surprise those DEM bastards with. I only wish I could see the look on Jessica's face when she sees you with it. Take a picture if you get a chance."
Origami raised a very curious eyebrow at the grinning Kurumi.
"We don't have a lot of time. Kotori's spirit powers are going to start having a very negative effect on her if she keeps using them like she is."
"Like they do with you?" asked Origami as she started stripping.
"Worse. I had to trade my time for my power. She has to give up something even more precious."
"Could she die?"
"Depends on what you mean by dying… Now hurry up while I explain my plan."
Fuyuki
"Gathering cloud sword style!"
Shido attacked first, engaging an executor in close combat. The energy swords attached to his arms being easily blocked before he disengaged and moved onto the next target while his sister came in from behind and cut through the man with her physical sword.
It was a brutal and bloody battle between over a hundred wizards and seventy Holy Church Executors. Through they were outnumbered, and often fighting two or three against one. The Executors were formidable opponents who could hold their own against the Wizards. Indeed, standing up to overwhelming odds was the norm for them, and any competent fighter in their secretive world. The DEM Wizards may have been newcomers to this world, but they were by no means incompetent fighters.
Ellen Mira Mathers recognized that all the Wizards here were capable combatants. She developed their training program after all. But when it came to the Holy Church, the Wizards were simply outmatched through no fault of their own. Black Keys were simply the nemesis of the Wizard, and anyone who wasn't an above average close combat fighter didn't stand a chance against them.
It was for that reason that Ellen held back the vast majority of her forces and simply had them hold position high in the sky to defend the headquarters from any surprise attacks. She would send none but the most capable close quarters combatants like the Takamiya siblings to engage the Executors.
It wasn't that she was incapable of joining the battle she was presently overseeing. In fact, every fibre of her being longed to join in on the fighting. But she also had a certain set of skills which would be needed later, and thus, she had to conserve her power for when it would be most needed.
When it came to the Enforcers though, only the best of the best could go up against a DEM Wizard. Their defensive territories blocked out most magecraft, and the Wizard could retaliate and easily overwhelm all but the best of the Enforcers. Unfortunately for all involved, the Enforcers presently in Japan met the latter qualification. They were some of the best and most experienced combatants the Association had to offer. Thus the reason Ellen chose to take the most conservative approach to this battle she possibly could.
It was a sorry state of affairs. The Church were suppose to be the allies of DEM. But something went wrong to instigate this war. Ellen had no idea yet who or what was to blame for that, she had her hands full dealing with the situation in Japan and couldn't pay attention to what were meant to be the responsibilities of others.
It was a sad truth in war, the best laid plans seldom survived contact with the enemy.
Pushing all thoughts of how her present situation came to be completely out of her mind, she refocused herself on pelting the area around the Takamiya siblings with support fire from her rifle. Though it had little effect on the forces of the Holy Church who could easily deflect bullets with their Black Keys it kept them distracted long enough for Shido and Mana to engage and eliminate their targets. Something she had to credit them for. They were very efficient about it.
Cecile hovered beside Ellen and added to the support fire with her own automatic rifle. "Where are the Enforcers? Why are they just letting the Church fight alone?"
"I don't know. But stay alert. When they show up we'll take care of them. For now, let Shido and Mana do their thing. We don't want to overcommit now and miss whatever surprise they have in store for us."
"I understand. But. I just don't feel comfortable just hanging back while they do all the work and take all the risk."
"Look at them down there. What do you think you can bring to that? If you join in that melee you'll just be getting in their way, or worse, get yourself pointlessly killed. The best thing you can do for them right now is to stay here with me and support them on an as needed basis with your magecraft."
"I understand, but still… It's hard to just watch like this…"
"Sometimes you really surprise me Cecile. An eleventh generation magus who doesn't reek of blood is eager to jump into a fight against the Executors because she can't stand to watch her boyfriend and his little sister, who are born warriors, fight alone and maybe get hurt. I know I don't give any of you much reason to trust me, but just this once, trust me to know what I'm doing. I know exactly what those two are capable of, and if I thought for a moment they needed help I'd be down there right now."
Cecile sighed with a pained expression on her face as she slowly nodded her understanding as she resumed firing for whatever good it would do beyond conserving her magical energy for the real fight Ellen was expecting her to participate in.
Shirou, Waver, Gray, Ryouko, and Tohka all hid behind a car in the underground parking lot which was being shredded by massive amounts of weapons fire.
"I thought they wouldn't have known about this parking lot Ryouko!" remarked Shirou, shouting over the sound of gunfire echoing through the parking lot.
"Obviously the figured it out! Can we hurry up and figure out what to do about it instead of how this happened?!"
Waver calmly took a breath, "Tohka, are you able to move with your shield deployed?"
"Yes. I can," she calmly answered.
"Good. You and I will rush their centre. Shirou from the left. Ryouko, from the right. Gray, I want you behind Tohka and I. Use us to cover your approach. Once we're close enough, engage and don't hold back."
The hooded girl gave a small nod.
"Ryouko. Are you alright with this plan? Will you be able to fight your former subordinates?" asked Waver with a stern look into the woman's black eyes.
She slowly nodded in response. "Let me try and reason with them first. If that fails, then we'll attack. Is that alright?"
Waver nodded, "Yes. I understand."
Ryouko screamed at the top of her lungs, "Cease fire! I said cease fire damn you!"
"Crease fire! Everyone cease fire!"
"Kannazuki? Is that you there?" asked Ryouko once the gunfire stopped.
"Yes, poor little me had to shoulder the burden of the command you abandoned. But since we're talking, what pray tell are you actually doing here now?"
"It's a long story. But why are you here? Don't you know the alarm was false?"
"Yes. DEM was about to be attacked so they summoned us for reinforcements. But when we detected your stolen CR unit, we got orders to recover it, by any means necessary. Now I'm getting orders from DEM to leave here and join their battle. I wonder what you might have done in my position?"
"Are you seriously asking me that? There's a reason Origami left DEM, I wasn't about to let her be forced to take orders from them! You have no idea what she's been through! I will protect her, and I will kill all of you to do that if I have to! I'd just rather not have to do that. So please stand aside, let us pass, and don't make us hurt you!"
"I'm afraid we've been given very clear, and very specific orders Captain. We were told to find you and return your realizer to the base at all costs."
Ryouko raised her eyebrow. "That's it? Just the realizer?"
"Those were the very specific orders we were given. Word for word."
The other members of the AST all nodded to each other in concurrence.
Ryouko didn't even need to contemplate that. "Alright. I'm going to come out and hand it over. I'm going to give my weapon to my ally, and step out unarmed. One of you meets me halfway to take the unit. Agreed?"
"Agreed! Private Okamine, step out and receive the realizer. Everyone else, lower your weapons," commanded Kannazuki.
Ryouko and Shirou exchanged looks for a moment before she handed him her rifle.
"What's so important to them about the realizer?" he asked before she could stand up.
"I don't know. Normally it would just be a write off. But if they want it back more than they care about me stealing it... that's just another mystery. As long we don't have to fight our way out of here, I'll take what we can get."
"Agreed. Be careful. We'll watch your back."
Ryouko nodded and slowly stood up from behind the car they were using for cover and started walking out to the halfway point between her and the line of AST soldiers.
Ahead of her, a small girl with short brown hair and little pigtails sticking out the sides started walking forward to meet her.
As the two came close enough, Ryouko materialized her realizer and turned her back towards the smaller girl, she then knelt down to allow her to remove the unit.
"Captain… I wish you wouldn't have left us. But. Could you tell Tobiichi something for me?"
"What is it Mikie?"
"Just tell her thank you, and that we all miss her. For someone who wasn't very good at making friends, she had more than she knew. Same goes for you Captain. I hope you're successful in whatever you're trying to accomplish."
"Thank you. I'll pass the message. Disconne-"
Ryouko suddenly cut herself off as her ears detected a noise coming towards them.
"Captain? I really do need your reali-"
"Shhhh! Listen! What the hell is that?"
"It sounds like music?"
As it drew closer, it was accompanied by the sound of hundreds of marching boots hitting the ground and then singing.
"J'aime l'oignon frit à l'huile! J'aime l'oignon car il est bon! J'aime l'oignon frit à l'huile! J'aime l'oignon, j'aime l'oignon!"
"What the hell? Is that french?" asked Ryouko in a loud voice.
"As if DEM wasn't enough to contend with, now we have to deal with the Frogs too?" complained Waver.
Gray raised her eyebrow at her master ever so slightly, "Is there anyone in the world that you actually like? Or at least respect?"
"Hmm… Present company excluded... Not really. No," was his court response.
"Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas! Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas!"
Shirou stood up from behind the car and yelled at the top of his lungs towards the AST, "If you all want to live past today we need to work together now! Everyone get over here quickly!"
"Kannazuki! I don't mean to usurp your command here, but anyone who doesn't want to die, better do as that man says and follow me!" she yelled in her most authoritative voice as she ran back towards her allies, half way back Shirou threw her rifle to her and she caught it.
Meanwhile, those of the AST who felt more loyal to Ryouko than to their new commander didn't hesitate in running after her while reloading and preparing their weapons for combat.
"Well, no sense standing around now, let's go!" Kannazuki commanded to the rest as he started running forward and reloading as well.
"Mais pas d'oignons aux Autrichiens. Non pas d'oignons à tous ces chiens. Mais pas d'oignons aux Autrichiens. Non pas d'oignons, non pas d'oignons!"
"What are we up against Shirou?" asked Ryouko.
"Nightmare. Kurumi Tokisaki."
"Didn't she lose all her Spirit powers before we sent her off with Origami and Kotori?!"
Shirou shook his head, "We sent the real one off with them. It's complicated. For now. We're up against a legion of musket wielding copies of her. They fire shadow bullets which aren't all that strong, but they have some kind of special attack that can breach your shields, and even Tohka's. So don't let them hit you with that or you're dead. Beyond that, she's a powerful magus in her own right capable of magecraft she calls 'Shadow porting' which looks like my tracing ability. So who knows what else is in her arsenal. Just think fast and stay loose. They'll also fight us with Napoleonic tactics. She seems to be into that sort of thing. Even dressed her clones up like little orange coated Napoleonic soldiers."
"Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas! Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas!"
Ryouko nodded her understanding before turning to the AST members, "Alright everyone, loosen up! Heavy gunners in the centre, lay down suppression fire as soon as you have eyes on your targets! Riflemen spread evenly on the left and right flanks and provide cover fire as needed! Use all the available space to spread out. Be sure to check your targets to avoid friendly fire accidents! And for the love of all that's holy, don't waste your ammo unless you're going to hit something! And while you're at it, stay the fuck out of each other's shield space!"
Shirou turned to Tohka and nodded at her, "You may as well. We're going to need your full power if we're going to get through this. Just remember not to let her hit your shield with those special bullets of hers."
"Shirou… Are we really working with the Mecha-mecha Squad? This doesn't feel right."
"Mecha-mecha?! HUH?!" chorused the AST members.
Shirou tenderly placed his hand upon her shoulder and looked deep into her violet eyes. "We don't exactly have a choice right now. We either trust them and maybe survive this battle. Or we don't, and we all die. But I can't force you to trust them. I know what you've been through with them, and others like them. So it's up to you Tohka. I'll respect whatever decision you make."
Tohka gave a firm nod in response, "Adonai Melek,"
Suddenly the AST all gawked as she donned her spirit armor.
"Everyone stay calm and remember who the real enemy is right now! Tohka is on our side!" yelled Ryouko in her commanding voice.
"But Captain! That's Princess! She killed a whole platoon of us!" yelled one of the soldiers.
Ryouko leveled a hard glare on the soldier, and then looked around at the other confused AST members, "Be that as it may. That was then, this is now! Our comrades were soldiers and knew the risks! Tohka was our enemy before, but she's our ally now! When you see what we're up against, you'll be grateful for any help she can give you!"
Waver smiled at Ryouko, "If only I were twenty years younger…"
"You still wouldn't have stood a chance," remarked the hooded girl standing beside him.
"Why are you being so mean to me today?"
"Because I don't like it when you start angsting over your misspent youth," she said while pulling back her hood and reaching into the right sleeve of her coat to pull out a small bird cage.
Shirou widened his eyes at the young woman beside Waver, for the first time seeing her face.
My god… She's the spitting image of Saber! Gray hair. But the face, the eyes, even the hair style…
Gray transformed the bird cage into a large scythe which she then held beside her. Shirou instantly managed to read it and even add it to the blade works.
"What the hell?!" yelled Ryouko amidst the murmurs from the soldiers as they all beheld the vicious looking weapon the gray haired woman was holding in her hands.
"Grim Reaper… The scythe of the Death God… But that's not all it is, is it?" Shirou asked aloud.
"Correct Mr. Emiya. But perhaps instead of gawking, you should be busy preparing yourself for battle? There isn't much time."
Even the attitude… This is so surreal.
"Trace on," said Shirou as he brought out his bow and a sword to load it with.
Ryouko looked at the sword in Shirou's hand. "What's that thing? I've never seen a sword like that before."
"It's called Lævateinn. The Damage Twig. It's a Noble Phantasm capable of autonomous combat. By launching it into the clones it'll start fighting on its own for as long as I can keep it in the world."
"Your version of a Drone strike?" asked Ryouko with a raised eyebrow.
"Something like that," he said while configuring and loading the sword into his bow.
"You're just trying to sound cool for the girl with the Grim Reaper's scythe, aren't you?" remarked Ryouko with a chuckle. "No need to feel inadequate, your swords are cool too," she added teasingly.
Shirou's lips curled into a mischievous smirk, "By the way. If you're still wondering what Saber looked like. Gray is literally her twin sister."
Two can play this game.
Ryouko turned to look at Gray properly for the first time without her hood up.
I don't swing that way, but damn it if I'm not tempted to try! Well played Shirou! Points to you. I'll even up the score though! Just you wait!
"Gray is her descendant. That's why she looks so much like her," added Waver in a matter of factly manner.
"Well. I'm glad to have you on our side Gray. I'm sure you'll fight as good as you look," said the still smirking Shirou, very much to Ryouko and Gray's vexation.
If the snickering echoing around them was any indication, the tension in the atmosphere had been lifted and moral was up to a high point. Even if it was at her expense, Ryouko was nevertheless pleased with the end result.
Mikie Okamine widened her eyes at what Shirou had just said and done. "Your boyfriend is so cool Captain Kusakabe! So are his friends! Aren't you glad we all made you agree to date him?"
Ryouko turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "Standing there is the descendant of King Arthur, holding the scythe of the Grim fucking Reaper, and you just watched him use magic to recreate a legendary sword, and that's all you have to say?"
"Actually, Add is just a mystic code which becomes the scythe. The purpose of which is to contain the mystery of-" started Gray before being cut off by the angry Ryouko pointing and yelling at her.
"Don't start explaining it! You'll just make it less cool if you do!"
The little girl pointed to the parking lot entrance ramp with her rifle, "I'll gawk at those things later. We have a bigger problem incoming."
"Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas! Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas!"
The clones of Kurumi came marching down the ramp, muskets in hand all ready to fire from the hip as soon as they had targets.
"Heavy gunners! Open fire!" commanded Ryouko.
The members of the AST wielding the heavy gatling guns in the centre of the formation squeezed their triggers. The gun barrels began to rotate and spray bullets into the clones as they came into view.
Meanwhile Shirou drew his bow and waited for the opportune moment to launch the Damage Twig into the clones.
"I am the bone of my sword! Lævateinn!"
"Cecile! Cease fire!" ordered Ellen before putting a hand on her earpiece. "Say again control. Say again!"
Ellen's eyes widened at what she was hearing.
"What is it Ellen? What's happen- What the bloody hell is that?"
"Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas! Au pas camarades, au pas camarades! Au pas, au pas, au pas!"
"It's Nightmare, and she's raised an army this time. I think I know what happened to the Enforcers now… Reports say she's also attacked several shelters and killed everyone inside… Covering this up is going to be…"
"A Nightmare?"
"To put it mildly. Anyway. You wanted a fight, well, you're about to have your fill."
"Un seul oignon frit à l'huile! Un seul oignon nous change en Lion! Un seul oignon frit à l'huile! Un seul oignon un seul oignon!"
Cecile sighed with exasperation, "I thought she was a Spirit, nobody told me she's a bloody Frog!"
"Hey! Executors! We're all about to be outnumbered a hundred to one! A three way battle isn't in anyone's best interests here! If you're willing to stop this battle and join us to-"
Ellen was interrupted by a set of black keys thrown at her with which she narrowly dodged. "I'll take that as a no then…"
The Irish girl shook her head before speaking into her comm, "Shido, Mana. Disengage and fall back to our position. All Wizards, disengage and regroup around the HQ."
"Cecile! What the hell are you doing?!" she yelled furiously, "Belay that order and continue combat!"
In response she pointed to the streets around them, "Ellen! Don't be daft! Look at what's coming. To hell with the Church, hell itself is coming towards them! They'll figure it out on their own and they'll either choose to co-operate with us or be slaughtered, but we won't stand a chance if they catch us out of position like this! You know I'm right! Don't let yourself get tunnel visioned!"
Ellen grit her teeth and slowly nodded, "Nevermind, do as Adeptus Five says. All Wizards disengage and regroup around HQ. Deploy all our reserves and evacuate all nonessential personnel from the HQ and other facilities. Contact the JGSDF and tell them we need those AST reinforcements very soon! Also get me an ETA on Adeptus Four."
"Ellen. Whatever we may think of you sometimes, you are a strong wizard, an excellent magus, and a brilliant tactician. But even the best sometimes need competent advisors who can say no to them when they need to hear it. If you want me to trust you, you'll need to trust me as well. This is a lot to manage for one person. Especially in the face of what's coming. So can you trust me to help you manage things if you won't let me fight on the front?"
"Alright Cecile. We'll do this together. I'll stay here and command the defense of the headquarters. I want you to take Shido and Mana, as well as a platoon of heavy weapons specialists and conduct an offensive recon mission. I want a more precise estimate of the number of clones Nightmare has out there, and I want you to check and verify the status of quake shelters, if necessary defend them from attack. Use your discretion, but keep in touch with me. Understood?"
Cecile smiled proudly at Ellen, "Now that's the kind of leader I want to follow."
"You were right. I got tunnel visioned. I didn't help build all of this to just stand by while a Spirit commits genocide. You have your orders Adeptus Five. Carry them out and show me what you're really capable of."
"Yes ma'am," said a happy Cecile before she powered up her engines to start gathering the people she needed.
Misaki
"Hahaha! There's nothing more pathetic than a warrior who can't stand up and fight when war is brought to him instead of the other way around!" taunted Kotori as she repeatedly slammed her ax into a DEM Wizard until his shield popped and blood erupted from his mouth.
"Now you die!"
Kotori heaved her ax up high, but before she could bring it down over his head she was suddenly enveloped in another territory which she couldn't shatter no matter how hard she bashed it with her ax.
"Thank you Captain! You saved my li-" the man started to say to Jessica but was interrupted by a bullet to the head.
"What the f-?!" questioned the red wizard as the blood splattered all over her.
Kotori's eyes widened at the person who now hovered in the air in front of her. The silver haired, azure eyed girl was wearing a white armored CR unit and matching wiring suit with thigh high armored boots and high heels which conspired together with her proud and dignified posture to give her a majestic and in fact regal appearance. The pearlescent whites of her armor shimmered in the sunlight in contrast to the more matte color of her wiring suit. Her porcelain skin radiated a light all of its own as she floated gracefully between Kotori and the sun, giving her an angelic brilliance, as if all the sun gods decided to work together to cast this warrior in only the most perfect lighting possible.
"So beautiful…" the flame spirit muttered in awe of her best friend.
Her equipment featured three armored panels around her waist like an armored skirt which was open in the front and went down below her knees. There were light armored pauldrons on her shoulders and heavy gloves covering up her forearms. On her back were two powerful looking engines mounted between four wing like protrusions which kept her airborne.
Conspicuously absent from her though, were any weapons. Leaving Kotori to wonder what killed that man and how exactly she planned to fight Jessica.
"Are you alright Kotori?"
"Yes… I'm sorry I kept this from you! I'm so sorry!"
"What the hell was that for?! And how did you even kill him without a gun?!" demanded Jessica.
"It wasn't me. My business is with you," she stated matter of factly before turning back to Kotori, "You shouldn't be the one to do this kind of thing Kotori. The blood should only stain our hands. Never yours."
"Our?"
Origami's response was to point downwards to the top of a tall building where Kurumi lifted her head from behind the scope of a sniper rifle and waved at them both with a happy smile.
"Origami Tobiichi," the woman growled her name through clenched teeth. "Where the hell did you get that?! Alice is suppose to still be under construction!"
"The Cheshire Cat herself brought it to me from wonderland," she icily replied while holding out her right hand to the side, an energy sword hilt then materialized in her grip. "Kotori, go to Kurumi. She needs your help now. I'll deal with this."
Origami charged towards Jessica who started shooting with her handgun but she managed to evade every single shot by flying in a barrel roll towards Jessica who was then forced to redeploy her protective territory onto herself and thus freed Kotori to fly down to her waiting sister.
While in the protective bubble, she put away her handgun into its holster and drew her own sword from behind her back while she and Origami circled each other to maintain distance between them. Each looking for the opportune moment to engage.
I have you now… How were you ever in the Triple S?
"Deploy territory!" yelled Jessica.
The green energy shield surrounded Origami for the briefest of moments before it was inexplicably repelled. Origami closed the distance with her sword ready to strike the killing blow.
"Protect territory! Deploy!"
She was then enveloped in her protective bubble just in time to block out Origami's killing blow.
The Alice was suppose to produce a defense field to prevent the Wizard from falling victim to a targeted territory. But it hasn't even been tested yet! How is this even possible?!
Kurumi picked up a bullet from a set of jewel tipped shells attached to the side of the rifle's stock. She took a moment to carefully inspect the ammunition and asses the stability of the contained mystery. It was .300 Winchester Magnum cartridge that had its bullet replaced with a brightly glowing yellow jewel. She took a moment to close her fist around the cartridge and infused some of her Od into it the before carefully pulling back the receiver bolt and loaded the bullet into the chamber before she released the bolt and lifted the rifle up to peer through the high powered scope.
"How many guns do you have?!" asked Kotori as she landed beside the raven-haired magus.
"Just the three…" she casually remarked.
"Where did Origami get her gear? She said she didn't have any?"
Something's wrong with Kurumi. She looks just as sluggish as the twins do. Her posture looks tired. She's keeping it off her face. But she looks all wrong...
"I gave it to her. It's a new model that they haven't even finished building at this point in time that the three of us suped up for her exclusive use. No more questions now. I need to concentrate, so stay here and watch my back. These won't be easy shots to make, even for me. I promise to explain everything later."
Kotori watched with curiosity as she looked through the large scope and aimed the rifle. It was some kind of compact sniper rifle with a very large scope mounted on top of it. Though it looked modern, it somehow also looked like an antique. 'Walther' and 'WA2000' were written on the side that Kotori could see. A cloud of darkness gathered around her as she flooded the weapon with mana. Now revealing it to be yet another mystic code for use with her thaumaturgy. "I am the shadow on which I stand… darkness is my prison, and the clock is my chain… Zafkiel, El Mufaraka!"
That aria is the most awful thing I've ever heard… Even worse than Pop's. But isn't Zafkiel the name of her Angel? I thought she lost all of its powers...
When she fired the bullet up into the sky it took on a trail of blackness as it pierced through the azure sky, and even visibly curved. Jessica Bailey's shield looked like it was destroyed even before the bullet actually hit, allowing Origami to engage her in close quarters combat.
The other one used the first line of that same aria when she fired at Jessica before… I know now that Jessica's shield was stronger than the others I hit. But why did she add the second line this time when the first line of her aria gave her enough to destroy her shield the first time? And how did the bullet curve in the air like that?! Arrgh! Why can't I ever make sense of her or her mysteries?! Or anything about her!
"When you have an affinity for time, which I gained through Zafkiel, you can make all sorts of fun things happen."
"Huh?"
"You're trying to figure out my mystery."
"Yes… Sorry."
"I wish I had time to explain it. It really is fascinating how I pull this off. For now all you need to know is that with my power, and the power contained in these particular bullets, I can reverse cause and effect to guarantee a hit on my target instead of Origami."
She can reverse cause and effect?! That sounds like high-thaumaturgy or even actual freaking sorcery!
"How many times can you do that?"
"One more time if I absolutely have to. So she needs to make it count. In a more general sense of the question, I had twenty bullets with which I can actualize this ability, and I just used one. So nineteen more times."
I could fire all of them if that bitch wasn't eating up my mana like Tohka and a loaf of kinako bread… Nothing I can do about it though. Just need to stay focused and be useful here for as long as I can.
"I'll go help her!" said Kotori while looking up in the air.
"If you even think about going up there right now, this next bullet will have your name on it."
"You would actually shoot me? With one of those precious bullets?!" asked Kotori with a disgusted glare on Kurumi.
"To keep you from getting in Origami's way. Damn straight. It's not like it would kill you. But it would be extremely painful. Getting her to go after Jessica instead of you just now was hard enough. The less you rub your spirit form in her face for a while, the better this will go for all of us."
Origami pushed Jessica back with her sword as another Wizard tried to outflank her, Origami held out her free hand and commanded her CR unit to materialize her pistol and fired a single shot which, much to her relief functioned as advertised and passed through the comparatively weak shield and lodged itself inside her skull, a second Wizard tried to outflank her but met with the same fate. Origami considered trying it on Jessica but thought better of it and simply put the pistol away with Kurumi's words ringing in her head.
"Jessica's realizer produces the strongest defensive territory. But I have a weapon that can breach it from the ground without any risk of hitting you, so save your pistol for the trash mobs."
"Trash mobs?"
"RPG lingo… I mean the ones who aren't stupidly strong like Jessica."
Origami quickly brought out a DEM model compacted bullpup style assault rifle from the Alice's arsenal and started firing wildly upon the red haired woman in an effort to force her to put up her shield again. But rather than give her what she wanted, Jessica opted instead to evade in a fast and wide arc while descending towards the Earth.
I won't fall for the same trick twice! But why is Nightmare sniping from the ground and not walking up here to join the fight? Origami was the designated sharpshooter of the team when she was a member. She also specializes in the use of heavy weapons and close quarters combat. Nightmare does all of that as well. In fact she does it just as well as Origami… Or is Nightmare actually a better shot than she is? No. There can't be a connection there, even if they're on the same side now, Nightmare's combat style isn't anything like Origami's. No matter! You may have been good enough for the Triple S, but you're nothing without the rest of your former team! You're even less with that psychotic spirit on your side! She won't even use her full power to help you!
Origami followed her as quickly as she could while continuing to fire on her with the assault rifle until it was out of ammunition, she removed the magazine from near the rifle's stock and returned it into the Alice's storage system before drawing out a fully loaded magazine and slapping it into the rifle. After chambering the first round she resumed firing.
The Alice is incredible, this storage system must be what Kurumi based her Shadow Porting ability on. There are so many weapons in this thing, and it sacrifices nothing to maintain high mobility. It's like it was designed specifically for me, every one of these weapons is something I'm well trained with.
"After we liberated it from DEM, we spent a lot of time customizing this thing with you. After gathering weapons for it from anywhere we could, Kotori and I applied reinforcement magic to every weapon, every bullet, every little thing in this system from top to bottom. There are other features it has I don't have time to go over with you which I don't even fully understand anyway. But I'm sure you'll figure them out yourself on the fly. You set them up after all."
Thank you all. With this, I can fight properly!
A group of four wizards came at her as she chased after Jessica, pistols and assault rifles firing.
"Protect territory, deploy!"
Origami turned her eyes on the four of them coming at her and highlighted them all with her CR Unit's augmented reality vision system provided by her head gear attached to her temples. She then went to select the weapons with which to counter attack.
The Alice can maintain a protective territory while deploying remote weaponry outside the territory... Impressive. It's capable of deploying targeted territories which are the inverse of a defensive territory. They'll let anything in, but nothing out. Alice can even create a boundary field which will ensnare whole groups in its targeted territories just like my old White Licorice could.
"Targeted territory! Deploy!"
The field around her then expanded exponentially until it ensnared the four wizards.
She then looked through her weapons selection menu and pulled up the list titled 'Remote Weapons' but found the item numbers next to each weapon system was zero. She also didn't recognize the names of any of the weapons which used to be there. Things with odd names she couldn't understand, like Shemesh, Kadour, and Artelif.
What gives? Is my past self being stingy, or was she just too trigger happy for our own good?
She then closed the menu and opted instead to simply leave them trapped, correctly guessing that Kurumi would also provide support fire from the ground. Which was indeed the case as all four were quickly shot in rapid succession by shadowy projectiles from Kurumi's position.
Alright, yeah! We really do work well together Kurumi. How did we ever lose a fight?
"...Do you love Kotori as much as I do? How far would you go to protect her if I couldn't?"
"Don't you already know the answer to that? I would have imagined you would have seen for yourself how far I'd go for Kotori many times by now. There's nothing I won't do for her. Nothing I won't fight for her. She's the only friend I have. I love her as much as I love you!"
"I hope that's true this time…"
"What do you mean 'this ti-"
That must have been it. I chose to fight Kotori, and I turned Kurumi against me… Am I really that selfish? No! I can't think about this now. I can't be responsible for what these other versions of me did in the past. I can only be responsible for my own actions. I'll sort it all out later... Jessica is moving to regroup her allies and to disallow Kurumi from getting another good shot at her territory. We need to regroup as well.
Origami quickly changed course and moved to support the twins. With a decisive assault she sought to take some pressure from them by rampaging through a group of six wizards with her sword and assault rifle.
"If you can take her out after I destroy her shield, do it. If not, get the twins, and come down to the roof. Then I'll lay out the rest of the plan."
Kaguya impaled a wizard upon her lance while two more circled behind her and started shooting. Though her spirit armor protected her well enough, some of the bullets managed to get through in her weakened state, causing her to scream in pain before Origami enveloped them in her territory. Both were then sniped from the ground by Kurumi's shadow bullets.
"Kaguya. Are you alright?" asked Origami while the other wizards disengaged to rejoin with Jessica.
"I'll be fine. It'll take more than their pathetic attacks to- Uugh! Not again..."
Origami's eyes widened at Kaguya became semi transparent before her. But she quickly returned to normal after a brief moment. "We need to regroup with Kurumi. Can you move on your own?"
"Damn straight I can!"
Fuyuki
"They just keep coming! How many Nightmares are there?!"
"Captain! At this rate we're going to run out of ammo long before we run out of enemy!"
"Kakazu, Futaba, and Kinjou are all down!"
"So are Okazaki and Otonashi!"
"Hinata! Behind you!"
"Sunohara just got kicked into oblivion!"
"Matsushita!"
"Captain! There are more coming from behind us! We're surrounded!"
Ryouko briefly looked around while slapping her last clip into her assault rifle. There were more of the orange coated soldier Kurumis coming from behind them and they started opening firing. The amount of cover available around them was rapidly dwindling as the shadow bullets they fired had the effect of utterly destroying whatever they came into contact with. Whenever someone tried to put up a territory to protect themselves, there was always at least one Orange Coat who had one of those special shots ready to destroy the shields with.
I need a plan… Think Ryouko. Think! Everyone's counting on you!
"Shirou! Can you do that thing you did in the park?!"
"If you want me to bring the buildings down on us, then yes sure!" he answered while shooting more swords into the clones.
Damn it…
"Is your attack actually strong enough to do that Emiya?" asked the officer with the long blond hair.
"That and more. Why?"
"What are you thinking Kannazuki?" asked Ryouko.
"I think he should do it. If I can coordinate all our territories at once, using Princ- I mean Tohka's power. Then we should be able to survive!"
"That is insane! We'd be trapped!" she cried out. "Anyone have any good ideas?!"
Waver looked at the blonde man, "Can you really do it? Can you link their shields together to create this absolute defense?"
"Easily!"
"If you can just focus on the shield. I can provide us a means of escape after."
"You're all on board with this idea?!"
"Make the call Ryouko! We don't have much time!" yelled Shirou.
"Or ammo!" added the young Mikie Okamine.
"Or food!" added Tohka which drew more than a few raised eyebrows as she cut the air before her with her sword to send a wave of energy into the group of Kurumi soldier clones coming from behind them.
"Alright! Everyone give Kannazuki control of your territories! And pray to whatever you pray to that we won't all regret this!"
"Princess! I need you here! Someone hold her place on the line!"
"Don't call me that!"
"Go! I'll hold them here for you!" yelled Gray as she rushed into the fray with her scythe.
"Gather the wounded and regroup on Kannazuki!" ordered Ryouko as she fired into a group of clones and slowly stepped backwards.
"Sorry Tohka dear, I need to use you as a battery to make this work. Just kneel here and hold still," he explained to the curious looking spirit. After a moment of hesitation she grudgingly complied and he put his hand on the exposed part of her chest just below her neckline.
"We're a little short on time, but if you grope her we're going to frag you Captain Pervert!" yelled one of the female AST members.
"Oh you know what I like to hear!" he said with a grin.
"Kannazuki… If we all end up in hell, I swear what I do will make Satan himself think I'm being too harsh on you!" yelled Ryouko.
"YES! YES! KEEP TALKING LIKE THAT!"
"Ryouko… What is wrong with this man?" calmly asked Waver.
"Quicker to tell you what's right with him. He sometimes knows what he's doing," she answered before firing a shot at a clone before she could shoot her.
"He's using his suit like magic circuits to channel Tohka's magical energy to supplement whatever powers your realizers to increase the potency of the mystery which generates your defense shields... I must confess that is very clever. For someone who isn't a magus to understand the very concepts he's manipulating. I think he could be excellent proof of an old theory of mine. If we live past today, I may have to borrow him for a while."
"I'm sure you mean well with the praise mister. But Kannazuki works better when he's being humiliated for some reason…" remarked one of the AST soldiers.
Shirou loaded and fired another Lævateinn into his bow and launched it at the clones in the rear, now maintaining two copies of the Noble Phantasm. He then traced Caladbolg II into his hand and reformed it into an arrow. "I'm ready when you are. Just give me the word!"
"We're all ready! Hurry up Kannazuki! We're losing good people here!"
"Done! Everyone gather close! Fire when ready Emiya!"
"Everyone huddle! Gray! You too!" screamed Ryouko at the top of her lungs.
Gray nodded as she disengaged from her battle and ran towards the huddling soldiers.
"Give me some cover fire!" yelled Shirou as he loaded the sword into his bow.
"Cover fire!" yelled Ryouko.
Shirou then stood up when he had the opportunity and drew the bow. Mana began to surge around him with a blue and red glow as he flooded the Noble Phantasm with magical energy.
"I am, the bone of my sword... CALADBOLG!"
Cecile, Shido, and Mana all looked to the city skyline as three buildings collapsed, sending dust and debris throughout the city.
"What the hell was that?" asked Shido.
"I don't know. We'll check it out next. First, check this shelter and see if there's anyone who needs help. We'll cover you from out here," ordered Cecile.
Shido and Mana both nodded before making their descent and landing on the street below. They then walked up to the heavy doors which would lead to the underground shelter and peered inside before walking in.
Five minutes later, they emerged and gently shut the doors behind them.
"How does it look in there?" asked Cecile from where she was hovering.
Shido shook his head, "It's bad. But it fits Nightmare's MO. There's blood, signs of struggle, but no bodies. Everyone's just gone."
Cecile slowly nodded. "Let's move onto the next shelter. Hopefully she hasn't reached it yet. This time I'll go in while you two-"
"NO!" they both screamed at her.
"What?"
Shido leaped up into the air to hover in front of Cecile. "What was in there, isn't for your eyes Cecile. I never want you to have to see anything like that with those beautiful eyes. It's bad enough you had to see us fight and kill. But not that. I can't let you see anything like that."
"I appreciate the thought Shido…" she said while reaching out to cup his face in her hand. "But with sight, one has to take the good with the bad. It's just the way the world works."
"You two are so sweet... Do you realize that you're going to make us all diabetic?!" exclaimed KURUMI.
Mana drew her sword while her brother activated the twin energy blades on his forearms. Cecile tightened her grip on her rifle and looked around to asses the situation.
Suddenly the Kurumis began to appear and shoot their shadowy projectiles from all the dark spaces between the buildings, and even out of the street itself.
"Return fire and take to the sky! Move it!" yelled Cecile at the top of her lungs. "Move move move!"
The Orange coated soldier Kurumis began running up into the sky after the DEM wizards on their shadowy platforms. For every one the Wizards killed, two more seemed to emerge from the street level to take her place.
Shido noticed that one of the clones stood out from the others. She was wearing the orange and black gothic lolita dress Nightmare was most known for. "That's the real one! Let's get her Mana!"
The ponytailed girl firmly nodded to her brother.
"Gathering cloud sword style!"
"Zafkiel! Zayin!" yelled KURUMI as she held her guns up against the giant clock face, she then pointed her guns at the siblings and squeezed the triggers. Both Shido and Mana then became frozen in time.
"No you don't!" yelled Cecile while directing her hand at the spirit. Her magic crest now became visible on the exposed sections of her chest and abdomen, "Counter!"
KURUMI flinched as the mystery took effect on her, painfully shutting off her magic circuits. The platform of darkness she stood upon vanished from under her as well and she fell to the street where she vanished into a shadow which opened up to receive her. The time stopping spell she had over Shido and Mana was destroyed and the siblings were instantly disoriented as their bodies readjusted to the normal flow of time.
Cecile sighed with relief as she took a moment to reassess the situation. All the the clones of Kurumi had vanished along with the one she had just disrupted, prompting the ginger haired Irish girl to raise a curious eyebrow.
"What did you just do?" asked Shido as he and Mana came to hover beside Cecile.
"Counter magic… I disrupted her circuits. The effect seems to have carried over to all the copies around her as well and they all retreated."
"You're amazing Cecile! I promise we'll pay more attention when you try to teach us that next time!" exclaimed Mana.
Cecile couldn't help but smile, "Our work's not done yet. Let's move on. We're here to protect the shelters. If we encounter more of her army, I'll try it on one of the copies and see if it won't have the same effect."
"Good plan. Let's go."
Misaki
Kurumi felt a surge of power in her body. Kotori instantly noticed that something came over the raven-haired girl. She covered her missing eye with her hand and for a short instant where she could see her face, she looked pained. But after a moment, she let go of her eye and her posture took on a more refined and elegant stance than what she had a few moments ago.
Some of the mana being drained just surged back into me. How? Why? That pain in my eye socket... What did it mean? Did Zafkiel just try to flow back into me as well? What's that stupid bitch gotten herself into?
"Wow… She's really kicking the crap out of them," remarked Kotori as she watched Origami fight in the sky. Again deciding to not say anything about Kurumi's current state of being.
Kurumi flashed a toothy grin, "Magnificent isn't she? Anyway. I need you focused entirely on staying in control," she stated while putting her sniper rifle back into the shadows. "It's time to end this."
"Shiki, Akiha, and Arcueid are coming. They'll be here any moment."
"Then we just need to hold out until then. Not a problem. If this next phase of my plan works, we won't even need them, but it's good to know back up is on the way."
A moment later Origami and the weary looking twins landed on the roof beside them.
"All we have to do is draw them in now. Once we have them where I want them I've set something up that'll dish out one hell of a curb stomp. But if they don't come for us, Origami, you'll be with me on the front line. Kaguya, Yuzuru, take it easy and hang back, you've done more than enough. Kotori, protect them. That's your only job. Do you understand?"
"Yes Kurumi. I understand."
I wish I had the time to tell her the truth now… I had all the time I could have wanted before, but I wasted it. Fell completely back into the lazy carefree slob I was when this all began. How pathetic is that?
Thirty eight Wizards gathered in the sky above the highrise building the group stood upon.
"Regrouping is generally a good tactic in a battle like this. But you should have been retreating while we were regrouping. Now you're outnumbered and surrounded."
Kurumi grinned mischievously as she reached into her pocket to pull out a small cylindrical object. "Oh I'm surrounded alright…" she remarked as the wizards spread out to encircle them. "I'm surrounded by dead people who have no idea of the trap they just walked into."
Jessica rolled her eyes, "For some reason you're not even fighting at your best Nightmare. Where is that army of you? No Angel? No Spirit Armor? Not even your guns at this moment? It's almost disappointing not to fight you at your best. Move in and take them!"
The Wizards responded to her command by moving to land on the roof with their weapons pointed. Kaguya, Yuzuru, Origami, Kotori, and Origami all closed the distance to each other until they stood in a small circle as the Wizards slowly approached them.
"Do you have a plan?" asked Kaguya.
Kurumi slowly nodded as the intricate clockwork like magic crest revealed itself on the exposed back of her dress. "Yes. I'm going to kill them all. When you see the signal, take off. Deal with any survivors and don't worry about me," she said before the sound of two clicks was heard coming from whatever was in her hand.
Time alter, double accelerate!
Suddenly the rooftop began exploding around them and all four girls and the surviving Wizards who were able took flight without an iota of hesitation as Kurumi vanished from sight.
Origami looked around for her with watering and fearful eyes before she caught sight of the elegant gothic girl again with her arms around Jessica's neck. The red haired woman began to fly erratically as she attempted to throw the raven-haired magus off her.
"Kurumi!" she cried out in desperation as she started pursuing them.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! WITH A FRIEND LIKE YOU THEY DON'T EVEN NEED US FOR ENEMIES!" screamed Jessica at the top of her lungs in panic and desperation as she tried to push, punch, and kick Kurumi off her.
"War is such hypocrisy isn't it? You're angry because I killed all your toy soldiers. I'm angry because you tried to kidnap my little sister, kill my friends, and even my girlfriend, and not even for the first time! But now that the tables have turned on you, you're angry? Did you actually think it was alright to try and kill us without being prepared to be killed yourself?"
"GET OFF ME! GO TO HELL!"
Kurumi wrapped her arms around Jessica even more tightly until her mouth was next to her ear, "I'm already in hell. What you're fighting is just the shadow of the person I was. An echo from a life long gone... You can't get rid of me any more than you can get rid of your own shadow."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?! TELL ME!"
"I'm not a spirit anymore… I'm just a mage. More than that, is not for your ears! Find out in the afterlife."
"So that's why you hid behind Origami!" she said as she punched Kurumi repeatedly in the sides and tried to kick her off, but she just held on tighter as the two flew higher and higher into the sky.
"You don't get to call her by name! This is your punishment for that, and for picking on my precious little sister," she spoke into the woman's ear before letting go, plunging herself back down to the city.
While falling away from her, Kurumi waved a hand with a happy smile as Jessica looked at her with a raised eyebrow before the jewel she left in the woman's CR unit exploded.
As Kurumi fell towards the cold waiting earth, she closed her eye and adopted a serene smile.
Didn't really think that one through did I? But I suppose I never really expected to go out in a blaze of glory. Though I always kind of hoped I could.
Well, it is what it is. Nothing to be done about it now is there? I'm about to be taken into my prison of darkness. Soon to be locked in the cage of silly dreams I've built for myself out of all the hopes I once allowed myself to cling to so tightly...
I accepted this fate a long time ago. But now that I'm face to face with it. All I feel is regret.
I gave all of my life, and all of my time, but I failed to be a person you could be proud of. I've killed so many more people than I've saved.
My hands became the very hands of time itself and still I couldn't save a single person.
It figures. I have to wonder if my father ever really knew what it meant when he said his hands would never hold anything. Time always slips. The hands of time, my hands, literally touch everything, but they really could never hold anything. Especially with all the blood I've soaked them in… so many times over. Maybe that's part of why she never got over the hate we once held for him?
Even with all my power, even with all my tenacity, determination, and relentlessness… Now, at the very end, I've amounted to nothing. I tried walking your path, and I've left it in ruins. My only destination now... is oblivion.
Forgive me… Sofu-sama.