Chapter Eleven
Saturday August 15th 2008
10:48 pm
I let out a breath through my mask as I landed on the roof. Fou hadn't come back since he'd left with Ceil. I knew they'd be fine. I still worried. My left hand retrieved the rune stone from my pocket, brushing aside the three smaller stones. The usual dullness had been replaced by a small flickering light in the runes.
Something magical was afoot.
Now if only I'd been able to work a locator rune line into it. But I'd already been pushing my rather meager abilities to achieve this much. This meant I was stuck searching around in a grid pattern trying to nail down exactly what the rune stone was picking up. It had taken me the last three hours but I'd finally nailed it down.
Past what I was tentatively calling 'the exclusion zone' that the Dead seemed to be maintaining. The area itself looked like it was built for storage. Dozens of shipping containers and a few small buildings were probably used alternatively for paperwork and as break rooms for the people who worked here. The lights were on but I'd been observing it for the last half hour and no one seemed to be moving around inside.
Which was perfect for me. Though granted the large area to search meant I wasn't overly enthused by how much I'd need to search. Another leap took me over the edge of the roof and into the gated compound itself.
"So it's working?"
"Seems like it."
"Good."
I could feel them urging me onward. The rune stone glowed a little brighter in my hand. As I turned towards the back of the compound and slowly but surely made my way towards it. The rows of containers made everything look similar. I made a small mark on the edge of some containers just so I didn't double back.
"You know I've been thinking."
"You didn't hurt yourself right?" I sent a wave of annoyance down our connection and got one of amusement back.
"I think I need to spend more time on wandless magic."
"Okay, why though?"
"A lot of dark creatures are weak to fire. My wand can be in my hand in a couple of seconds but-"
"That could be a couple of seconds too many." Mordred finished my thought.
"Yeah. I know Incendio and I know of a few other fire spells. But nothing combat worthy." I looked back at the rune stone in my hands. "You can carve Runes into the air if you're good and Ansuz should work for fire well enough. Figured I could kill two birds with one stone. Get an Outstanding for air carving on my Ancient Runes NEWT and throw fire at people."
"Seems like a good idea." Mordred said noncommittally.
"You don't like it?"
"I'm a Knight. I don't know anything about magic past the basics. But I haven't met a problem that I couldn't solve with Clarent. But if you think it's the right thing to do? Well, you're the mage I'll trust you."
"Thanks, Mordred."
It took another ten minutes of searching to get a greater reaction from the stone... Whatever it was picking up had minute amounts of magical energy in it. But at this point, I was suspicious of anything and everything. So I wasn't going to leave without tracking it down. I'd managed to narrow it down to a four-by-four area of shipping crates.
I placed my hand on the ground seventeen lines of warmth lit up inside my soul. Structural Grasp was a simple spell and one of the few I could use without a wand. But even if I didn't scan actively for anything deeper than surface level it could give me an idea of what I was looking for.
However, due to the nature of the spell the more information I had to filter through the less useful it was. I was only human after all. No doubt I'd overlook or forget something. It's why I didn't try to just grasp a massive area. It was entirely possible to overwhelm my brain with information and give myself a stroke.
The outside of the containers was mostly uniform. But it was the floor near the far side of the area that got my attention. There were tire marks and scrapes from foot traffic as should be expected. But there was also a series of scrapes that made a perfect circle. That kind of thing didn't happen by accident.
I stopped the spell immediately and strode towards the scratches. They weren't out in the open. They were near the wall of a small building. In a narrow alley between the container and the wall. I kneeled down fingers tracing the circle and promptly realised I had no idea what I was looking at. A quick look at the rune stone confirmed it was magical, barely.
Circles were common in magic in general. Formalcraft was designed around using a circle to draw in larger amounts of mana at an accelerated rate. Very useful when you lacked the raw power, or the required skill, to use a particularly potent piece of magic.
It wasn't taught very often anymore. Wands acted as a kind of portable Formalcraft drawing in mana from the air and mixing it with the internal reserves of the user. Quicker, though less efficient, and far more practical than traditional Formalcraft.
I didn't recognise almost all of this circle. Unsurprising since I was a neophyte at best in Formalcraft. But circles were also common in Alchemy where I had a decent grounding. While I couldn't be sure of all of the meanings behind them. If the symbols remained semi-constant between the two arts then I could make out one for energy collection, another for transference, and what I'm fairly certain was a barrier symbol. Though I was even less sure about that one.
My phone came out and I snapped a few pictures of the circle before heading over to my contacts and forwarding the pictures before hitting call. I didn't even care she'd get my real number. Ciel picked up on the fifth ring. Right before I would have been sent to voicemail.
"Hello?" Her voice sounded raw.
"Hi."
"Harry."
"Yeah. I got something. I sent you some pictures. Can you take a look at them for me?"
"Sure. Give me a second." The line went silent.
"Where did you find this?" I minimized the call and opened the map. Then told her. I'm fairly certain I butchered every word. But it was in French.
"Okay. I can't tell a lot about it either but I'll look. When you get back talk to the Aurors and see what you can get out of them. Hopefully, they'll know something."
"Will do."
"See ya."
"Bye." The conversation ended on a small, sour, note. It seemed Ciel was as burned out after today. Not that I blamed her. I looked at the black screen of the phone for a moment before my instincts screamed.
"H-" Mordred couldn't get more than the first letter out as I threw myself to the side. The dagger howled through the space I had just occupied and embedded itself firmly into the middle of my phone. Breaking it into a thousand pieces. I turned calling Clarent to my right hand and my wand into my left. Eyes homing in on the direction of the attack.
It looked like a man. But every cell in my body was screaming that it wasn't. It looked normal enough. A simple pair of black jeans and a white T-shirt. Brown hair and green eyes. Standing slightly taller than I was. A single hand extended from a nonchalant throw. Its fingernails were black and filed to points. It smiled as we made eye contact. Its pupils contracting like a cat.
"Oh good. I like people who are quick on the uptake." A voice of normalcy from a monster. "I take it you're one of the insects that have been buzzing around." He began to walk forward and I retreated further down the alley. Near the end, I'd be able to break left and duck behind the crate. Then I was out of here.
"No answers huh? Well, that's disappointing. I was hoping to have a bit of a conversation before I killed you. My Master may be a bit of a slave driver but I think I'd be allowed that much." He shrugged as if to say 'What can you do.'
"Vampire."
"Ah, he speaks." The smile stretched unnaturally widely across his face. "Not quite though. I'm afraid. I've only just crossed over the thresh hold as it were. You may call me Marcel. I hold the Nightmare rank among my kin. It is a pleasure to meet you." The monster made it sound so banal even as my insides turned into ice.
Ciel had told me that older Vampires usually employed Nightmares and Nightkin. But usually as guards at their homes. I hadn't expected to encounter one outside of storming the front door of the vampire's lair.
"And I see that title means something to you. Wonderful, wonderful. It would be such a shame to kill a man who didn't know what was going on after all. Positively unsporting. Now holding a one-sided conversation can be a bit tiring. Would you mind telling me your name, young man?" The urge to do so hit me like a truck.
A Vampires's Mystic Eyes of Enchantment were not to be underestimated. Had I been alone Marcel may have even succeeded. But having the Saber Class Card Included allows me some leeway in things like this. I shook it off almost as quickly as it started.
"Now that is a surprise. But not altogether unwelcome. I had originally thought I'd need to retreat. My Master forbade us from attacking the Nun just yet after all. I think you'll be a nice bit of sport before the main event. It would be a shame if the play ended too early after all." The monster rolled his neck and every last one of his teeth sharpened to points. His green eyes glowed unnaturally from within. "I hope you don't mind but I'll spend a bit of time with you. It's a bad habit I admit. But I always did like to play with my food."
His right arm came back in a lazy wave and then he blurred forward. Pushing off of the ground so hard his movement was literally explosive. Another almost invisible strike. Between Mordred and Ciel I had seen more than enough almost invisible. Marcel may have been able to move faster than me. But that didn't mean that avoiding his blows was entirely outside of my ability.
I threw myself back into a roll as his arm whipped across where my chest would have been. Shredding my grey undershirt in despite the magical protections on it. A line of fire across my chest. I'd been cut. Not deeply and nowhere near fatally. But I'd been cut all the same. If it hadn't been for Mordred working me relentlessly recently. I'd be missing most of my chest right now.
My left arm flicked forward. The cutting curse aimed at his throat. The vampire put his arm in the way rather than dodge. A deep gouge opened up in his arm. Diffindo wasn't strong enough to cut off a limb. But I could harass with it.
My shoulder hit the ground and I turned my backward momentum into a roll that took me back to my feet. By the time I'd managed it, Marcel was already in front of me again. Left arm pulled back and fingers tensed together like a spear.
Either he had no hand-to-hand combat training or he simply didn't feel like using it. Then again technique was created to make up for deficiencies in speed and power. Things that a vampire would rarely find themselves at a disadvantage in. Hell, he was telegraphing his moves and his first hit still almost killed me.
The spear hand came forward my left arm hammered into it. Very slightly altering trajectory. It was my sidestep pivot that stopped my heart from being torn out though. Clarent swung upwards. It impacted with bone-jarring force cleaving through skin and muscle with ease. Only being stopped halfway in the bone.
I didn't try to get it back. Stepping forward and rolling under Marcel's follow-up haymaker. Clarent dissolved and reformed in my right hand. I swung again. Slipping the sword under the vampire's rib cage and tearing through his liver.
I let Clarent drop as I jumped back avoiding a wild backhand that would have torn my head off. Calling the sword back to me with a force of will as I stepped clear. Blood poured from the wound for a second before stopping. The kind of injury I'd dealt him would have been enough to kill a human. They'd bleed out in minutes. Marcel looked at his shirt in disgust.
"I liked this shirt." I didn't say anything. I watched for the next move. He was faster than me. He was stronger than me. He probably had way more endurance than me. My contract with Mordred made me, barely, superhuman without Installing. But this thing was on a whole other level. I wasn't going to win this without playing it smart. He pulled up his shirt to show the blood had vanished and the unmarred skin over his torso. Even the blood on his shirt was gone.
Great the Curse of Restoration. His time was a fixed constant in the world. He didn't so much heal as he reverted to a time before he was wounded. That was something only more powerful Nightmares who were on the verge of becoming full-fledged vampires could use. Which really wasn't making me feel great about this.
There were only really three answers to the Curse of Restoration. The first was to overpower it with damage. The curse had its limits and while those limits did expand as the vampire grew older. Very few could restore themselves from something like complete obliteration.
The second was using a conceptual weapon. A weapon imbued with the idea of an effect. In this case, a weapon that carried the idea of purifying evil or killing vampires would be perfect. Unfortunately, I didn't have one of those on me.
I had hoped for a moment there that just hacking off part of him with Clarent would be enough. It was a Noble Phantasm after all. A weapon made using human imagination as its core. But no such luck. It could be that just cutting normally wasn't enough or maybe it was a more esoteric thing, but still that left me with option three.
Magic. Lots and lots of magic. While it wasn't a conceptual weapon. Magic had a power all its own. A vampire would find it harder to restore themselves from a magical injury than a physical one. Injuries caused by Conceptual Weapons excepted.
Marcel moved again and I threw myself to the side and flicked another Diffindo at him. Slicing another furrow along his arm. It took a little longer to restore itself than the wounds dealt by Clarent. I couldn't kill him with it. But I could sure as hell annoy him. Curse of Restoration or not I was willing to bet having your eyes slashed out or internal organs punctured would be distracting.
The narrow alley in which we were fighting was both an advantage and a detriment. On the positive side, it allowed me to more accurately predict what attack would come next. It was one of the few things that were letting me keep up with the Nightmare. Well, that and the fact he was telegraphing everything.
The negative was that gaining distance in a place like this was a pipe dream and the fact I couldn't break line of sight meant that apparition was out of the question. I had no doubt that if I attempted to turn to activate the spell. The Nightmare would have ripped my heart out long before I could complete it.
My wand thrummed slightly. Great it was as worried as I was. I pushed it forward halfway through the wide slicing motion of the banishing spell when I had to abort my attempt. It was like watching skipped frames of a video. One second Marcel had his claw outstretched ripping through the air where I had been. The next he was facing me his other arm swinging upwards in a vicious arc.
I literally didn't see him move.
I pulled the arm back. It was that or lose it from my elbow down. Clarent punched forward in a stab. The vampire slipped around it and into reductor curse I'd been preparing with my other weapon. Blue light burst forth and Marcel flickered again. Instead of hitting the pit of his stomach and blowing the contents of his torso out of his back it barely grazed his side which reverted a few seconds later to its prior state.
He swung an arm at me again and I threw myself backward. Slowly but surely gaining distance to get out of the alley. Break line of sight and get the hell out of here. My wand moved again a malformed V and fire roared forward. Incendio wasn't the greatest spell in terms of pure damage. Too unfocused and frankly the flames weren't that hot. But when you needed to cover a wide area in fire accept no substitutes.
I moved back again to the edge of the alley. Marcel came flying through the flames eyes wide, mouth fixed in a wordless snarl.
Apparently, I'd managed to piss him off.
Go me.
His right arm whipped forward at my neck. His movements a half-seen flicker. But his telegraph let me see it coming. A half step and lean took me just out of his range. The thick steel of the shipping container crumpled under his blow. With a shriek of tearing metal, his arm tore through the outer layer like a hot knife through butter. Barely slowing down with the effort.
My wand flicked up and I allowed myself a small smile. Blinding light radiated from its tip into the vampire's eyes. Enough to render a normal human permanently blind without intervention. The Curse of Restoration would heal them, but he would be blind long enough to buy me some time.
A hop and a step later I was outside the alley. I'd been giving ground constantly in this fight. It was the only way to stay alive when a single solid hit would most likely kill me instantly. But now I had an opening I chose to retire from this battle instead of continuing with a fight that would probably get me killed.
I spun on the ball of my foot the basics of apparition flowing through my head. Destination. My hotel room, specifically several steps from my bed. I could bleed off the excess momentum by throwing myself onto it. I'd probably break the bed. But that was a problem for future me. While the vampire currently attempting to murder me was a problem for very much now me.
Determination. I knew where I was going. I knew how I was going to get there. I knew the fastest way between two points was not a straight line. But instead punching a hole through space and making where I was and where I was going the same place.
Deliberation. Magic needed to flow smoothly. Too fast and my apparition would be unstable. Likely to result in splinching. The more unstable the worse the splinch. Up to and including splinching a vital organ. Too slow and I wouldn't be able to punch a hole in space at all. I'd go nowhere. It needed to be controlled and constant. A calm building and release of power.
The three D's, for all I mocked them when learning, came together and exactly nothing happened. My heart dropped into my stomach and something in the back of my head screamed. I stepped to the side and spun on the ball of my foot.
It wasn't enough.
White hot pain erupted from my left side. I felt claws rip through my enchanted clothes, then my skin, and shave off some of the bone of my ribs as Marcel went past me a vicious look on his face. I jumped back gaining more distance even as my mind put together the obvious answer.
Anti-Apparition Charm, maybe even a Ward.
I was stuck here.
"Sorry boy." The vampire ceased his attacks to grin at me. His teeth gleamed as he licked my blood off of his claws. "But you won't be running away."
"What did you do?" I knew the answer. But I needed to keep him talking. Get my breath back before he attacked again. Every second was like gold to me. Fortunately, the wound in my side hadn't gone through my ribs and torn out a significant section of my torso. It was only a flesh wound. A very nasty flesh wound. But I wasn't going to die of blood loss from it. Not quickly enough for it to matter anyway.
"Oh, I thought wizards were supposed to be wise?" His voice dripped with condescension. I stayed quiet. I really hoped his need to monologue now he had the upper hand overrode his good sense to just kill me and be done with it. But he said he liked to play with his food. I wet my lips and took a step back toward the shipping container. A desperate plan took form in my head.
"Very well then I suppose I don't mind educating the dead." He buffed his nails on his shirt and his smile got wider. Ripping the skin on either side of his face to show more teeth than should be possible. Blood and split mixed as he continued talking.
"An Anti-Apparition Charm worked into a ward around this place. I'm no spell slinger myself. But luckily I do work for the kind of people who are. Rather lovely little trap really. The entire thing is set to be completely dormant unless it senses foreign magical energy. Then it alerts us so we can do something about it." I let the silence stretch between us for a moment.
"Who's us?" I tried to keep him talking.
"Tut, tut, tut boy. I think that's quite enough stalling for time don't you?" His mouth opened and the skin on either side of his jaw ripped away leaving him with just fangs as the flaps of what used to be skin pulled back. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with trying to work out how to get out of this alive. I'd probably have pissed myself.
Marcel flickered again arriving in front of me between one eye blink and the next. I stepped out of the way of his first thrust and trusted in my training to guide me when I rolled under the second with a bob of my head. I moved back with each move. His next was a telegraphed swing with his left arm. My back was almost against the shipping container.
Perfect.
My wand came up to the level of his right eye as, for the first time since we'd started I stepped forwards instead of backing away. Marcel's eyes widened. I didn't have a lot of room and less time. No time for a complex casting but a high-powered lumos?, that I could do.
His right eye snapped shut and his left was locked on my wand. The moment I cast his left eye would be blinded but his right would be almost unharmed. Between his closed eyelid and the Curse of Restoration it'd be healed by the time he opened it again. And have had me back in his sights before I could capitalize on the opening. So instead I did the one thing he'd never expect.
I dropped it.
His left eye followed my wand as time seemed to slow down and gravity dragged it towards the floor. Marcel's open eye followed my wand. My eyes remained locked on him.
The basis of all magic is misdirection.
"Magic in Clarent now!"
My right arm snapped upward. As seventeen lines turned into fire as I forced more power into them than they could safely hold. Clarent drank deeply of my Od. The steel roared as red light howled around the sword. While nowhere near as famous as Excalibur, Galatine, or Arondight. Much like the former two Clarent took magical energy and amplified it.
Sword met arm at high speed and went through with almost no resistance. Instead of ripping me in half due to my positioning Marcel screamed and grabbed for his newly shortened appendage even as I dropped to the floor like a sack of hammers.
Narrowly avoiding a wild backhand. I hit the ground on my side and pain whited out my vision even as I forced myself to scramble away and back to my feet. I cut the power to Clarent and felt a wave of pain run through me. Effective but with no control I was risking damage too.
"You little shit! I kill you! I'll grind your organs! Crack your bones and eat the marrow! And violate your corpse!" Whatever composure he had was completely lost as the arm failed to regenerate. Well, that was new. Fangs bared the monster seemed to want nothing more than to rip me to pieces. Now however I had the means to fight back. My left hand dipped into my pocket.
So far so good.
Marcel charged his flickering movement becoming easier to track now he was enraged. Combined with what I'd already seen I was able to keep up. His left arm whipped forward at my head. Seen that move before I'm afraid. I ducked and rolled with the motion stepping outside of his arm. It hit the container and punched through. Last time that had slowed him down, barely granted, but it had slowed him down. Which gave me another half second, that was going to be all I needed.
I turned and twisted putting my feet, hips, and shoulders into an upward cutting motion. Clarent roared with light. I threw my everything into the cut. Circuits burning as I forced even more power down them. Each circuit could only take so much Od. Without causing damage to the user. I jumped over that line gleefully. That was a problem for later after all. The weapon took Marcel completely by surprise a dumbfounded look on his face even Clarent hammered home into his left bicep and cut his arm off.
I barely felt any resistance to the cut. I wasn't sure if that was from the power or from the adrenaline. Blood splattered over the ground and over me. Pain wracked the vampire's face as his limb detached from his body. I wasn't finished yet.
I brought Clarent down and twisted again. Light roared from the blade as my insides felt like they were being charbroiled. Unfortunately, this time I made the mistake. So caught up in capitalizing on the opening I had found. I didn't move. Marcel's foot came up in a blur and planted itself firmly in my ribs.
My mouth opened in a scream as the air was driven from my lungs. I felt four or five things break and several others cracked. Clarent flew from my hands as I was sent into the air. I came back down in a heap. I bounced twice each time whiting out my vision. As my body spasmed. I tried to scream again as I rolled to a stop. But I didn't have enough air. Instead, I lay desperately trying to force my lungs to work.
"Trying to make a fool of me boy!?" My eyes wavered as I looked at the monster that had shed any pretense of being a man. His face was a ruin. Flaps of skin dangling near its teeth. A snapping, tearing, sound rolled around it. Like a stick being broken underwater. There was a spray of blood and a skeletal claw tore its way free of his back.
More bone joined it. Rolling over the monster and completely divorcing it from whatever human it had once been. Four skeletal arms jutted from its back. Each ending in claws. Its ribs had punctured its skin and fused into a sickening body armour. While a spike of bone jutted from each knee.
"I'm going to take my time with you boy! You're going to beg me for death." It made it worse that its voice still sounded human. Though I'd give him a three out of ten on the threat. I focused on my breathing and searched for a way out. My left hand was still in my pocket. The monster advanced and I curled a leg underneath me. Ready to make an attempt at throwing myself clear. My hand wrapped around all three stones in my pocket.
Marcel took another step forward letting his arms drag on the ground behind him. Cutting through the concrete on the ground like a hot knife through butter. It cocked its head to the side as it approached.
"What's wrong boy, all the fight gone?" He took another step forward. "Don't worry too much. You'll have bigger concerns soon." Another step. I pulled my arm and hurled the stones at him. Marcel scoffed before his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the runes carved into their sides as they were halfway between us.
Mordred had given me the idea. Runestone grenades. They were simple things. Only two runes carved on their surface. Ansuz, God. One of the most versatile runes. If you invoked a God of fire it would burn. A God of lightning would shock, a God of winter freeze. I invoked a God of Thunder. Thor. Lightning and Thunder were exactly what I needed right now. The other was Tiwaz, named for Tyr the God of War. Though I was invoking its meaning of Battle right now. My circuits protested with pain as I saturated the runes with power and invoked them.
My three makeshift flashbangs went off at the same time. A roar of light and sound. Unlike Marcel I wasn't looking directly at them as I threw myself to the side. In his blind rage, the Nightmare lashed out. One of his skeletal arms skidded across my left grazing it.
That was still enough to break every bone inside of it. I tried, and failed, to hold in a scream as I came back to my feet. This wasn't good. I was cut in half a dozen places, I was missing my wand, my ribs were busted, and my arm was broken. I wasn't really seeing a way out of this anymore. I had one more card to play. Even if I knew I wasn't going to make it. I had to die trying. The vampire turned, eyes filled with hate, and charged.
"By the power of my Command Seal." I began that words that would change me. The world seemed to stop as my brain was lit on fire.
"Wait." The stillness of the timeless world Mordred spoke. "Harry I can't guarantee anything but do you trust me?" What kind of question was that?
"Yeah."
"I see. Thanks. I won't let you down. I got to warn you though this is going to hurt. There is a chance it'll hurt so much you can't fight anymore even if it does work. But the effect will be immediate."
I understood what they meant. But really what choice did I have? Marcel wouldn't give me the ten seconds I needed to Install. To bring all of Mordred to bare. So it was do or die. If this gave me the best chance of success I'd take it. I wasn't about to just roll over and die because it was going to hurt. Who was willing to hang themselves today just because they knew they may die tomorrow. I had to walk up to the gallows either way. But I got to choose how I got there.
"That's fine."
"Okay then, brace yourself this is going to hurt."
Mordred's presence vanished from my mind. Marcel was still charging towards me claws upraised. But he wasn't moving in this timeless world. I felt the concentrated magic in a third of my command seal vanish. A weight dropped into my right hand. A sword. Clarent. I looked at it time still frozen and felt blood run from my nose.
It was ╠╓╔╕╖╗╧╦╨ blood ran from my left eye as I stared at the blade and attempted to comprehend it.
It was ▀▄▐▌█■▪╢╣╠ If my brain had been on fire before now it as though molten metal was being poured into every vein.
It was ╪╫╬╞┼ I felt a part of my brain explode and a fresh wave of agony rolled over everything. My sight darkened and a howling wind filled my ears as the world went white.
The world breaks as pain fills every waking second. I feel parts of myself break off and drift away.
"Ah." I feel blood well in my throat and begin to choke me. The wind howls louder and pain roars through my skull as my eardrums burst under the pressure. A fresh wave of agony assails me. The wind roars like a beast. It cuts at my flesh reducing my skin to tattered rags. Blood soaked the ground around me.
It tears into my muscles shredding them, pulping my organs, and even grinding my bones to dust. My eyes are completely pulped. Every second is a fresh hell. Every moment was another agony. My mind burns and breaks as the pain overwhelms everything else. There is no past, no future. Only now. Only ever burning mind-breaking agony.
Please.
Please I beg you.
Please let me die.
The wind does not relent.
This is my punishment for attempting to go beyond my limits and reach for power I wasn't meant to grasp.
Time is meaningless.
Hot-Cold.
Light-Dark.
Hopes-Dreams.
Life.
They mean nothing.
Please, please, I beg you.
Let me die.
There's no way to fight it off.
No way to move forward.
The winds tear away at everything left of me a wall of pain that doesn't allow for true thought let alone movement.
Let me die.
I feel my mind crumble further. Soon even my desire for it to end will stop having meaning. I'll just be a broken corpse.
Why?
Why did I come here?
How long has it been?
Who am I?
What did I want?
Please.
Let me die.
I try to force my arms to move, my legs, anything. If I can clench my fist. If I can just do that. I can use it to move forward. I can use it to try.
They all refuse.
Torn at by the wind my body shredded the pain rolls through me an ever-present companion. My mind on fire. My body is broken. Blood filling my mouth drowning my ability to breathe.
Please.
Please.
Please.
Please.
Let me die.
The wind refuses.
This is the price of my hubris.
Then I see it. Even with pulped eyes, I can see it. A figure standing in the wind. Their back to me. Their silver armour and golden hair were unmoving. Striding forward not at all bothered by the hell around us. As if moving through this wind is the most natural thing in the world. A simple matter of due course.
The image is unbelievable.
I don't notice as my hands form fists and my jaw clenches.
The knight shows no interest in me or my pain as they walk away. As though for them this was simply the expected result. That I could not stand up to this wind.
That I could not stand before death.
"Can you reach me?"
As if to scorn me.
As if to believe in me.
They stop and ask the question. Turning the green eyes of Mordred Pendragon look into my soul. Their gaze holds no judgement as they wait for me.
I feel something hot rushing through veins that have long since been torn and ravaged by the wind. Rolling through me like the very essence of fire. I force the flames into the limbs that no longer exist and breathe out with lungs long since lost. Spitting the blood out of my mouth as I take a single step forward. Then another. Then a third.
Strange how things seem so impossible until you do them.
Before I know it my steps have turned into a sprint as I approach death, pushing through the wind. Each moment drew me closer and closer to the end. My throat, torn and ragged, draws in air. I roar. An animal thing of defiance, hate, rage, and determination.
The wind answers.
The wind howls louder than ever before attempting to flense anything left. Chipping away at all that I am. Forcing me to discard everything unnecessary. Everything. My ideals, my memories, hopes, dreams, everything.
Except the fire.
It doesn't slow me down.
The corpse steps forward roaring in defiance at death.
I accelerate.
Every step pulls me closer to my goal.
To the Knight of Rebellion.
"It's not can I reach you." The words howl to match the wind as I glare. If my previous words matched the wind. The next is a roar that exceeds it. "I will reach you!" I step past Mordred and the world shatters.
The wind vanishes. Power beyond anything else I'd ever felt rolling through my body. Hot and heavy just holding onto it burns. I know what I need to do. I know the form and scope of my power. The Noble Phantasm Clarent. The Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword. A weapon equal to, if not exceeding, that of Caliburn.
The weapon had been stained by their hatred. Transformed from a Holy Sword like Caliburn. Into a Demonic Sword like that of Gram or Balmung. I hadn't before. But now I knew what Mordred meant when they said that Clarent was a sword of curse-like glory.
I take every last drop of magic from the Command Seal and everything I have left of my Od. and forcing it down my already abused circuits my vision whites out as Clarent burns red. I feel my body burn. The scent of charring meat. The ornamentation near the cross guard is opened. The red light is joined by a roar of lightning.
I slam my left foot forward as time begins to move Marcel races towards me his arm pulled back to spear my heart. His eyes widen in surprise at Clarent as power builds. The traditional form of this technique was an overhead slash. I didn't have the time for that. Instead, I stabbed forward aiming at the monster's chest.
A Noble Phantasm is the proof of a hero. The embodiment of their legend. Both a heroes greatest strength and weakness. As it's true name, and thus the key to the users identity, must be spoken to invoke its full power. My vision almost whited out from the pain. My mouth tasting of copper and iron.
"Clarent Blood Arthur!" I force the words past my teeth. The world before me disappears in a squall of red light the wind roaring in my ears with the crash of lightning.
Blackness eats at my vision as the ground rushes up to meet me.
Chapter Eleven- END.
So yeah, that just happened.
Installing takes a few seconds, about 10 in total. I have mentioned this earlier. Lacking that time and out of options. Mordred instead gambled on forcing the knowledge of how to activate Clarent into Harry's mind. Hoping their connection would be enough to force an activation even without an Install. The Command Seal was used to provide the power needed to use the Phantasm properly. However without the buffer that an Install would have provided this did his mind, and body, some serious damage.
Of course serious damage is better than being dead so? Victory?
Also a note of Harry's Command Seals. They're not traditional ones. Instead being closer in nature to the Dead Count Shapeshifter Command Seals of Sieg from Grand Order. The Class Card is there to make sure that instead of being 'invaded', for lack of a better term, by Mordred's nature instead its a very gradual process that minimizes discomfort while still turning the holder into something more than human over time.
Which means doing it like this is going to cause some problems. Fortunately the Class Card is still a buffer so it's nowhere near as bad as it could have been.
Final note- while Harry is beyond a normal human thanks to a D+ Rank Phantasmal Body. A short aside that + is there because the rank will gradually grow stronger over time. He's still pretty low on the superhuman totem pole. Something that will change over time.
Also for anyone asking or wondering- If he had time to Install Mordred he would have rag dolled both Ciel and Marcel.
Marcel would have been completely overwhelmed almost instantly.
Ciel meanwhile, not coming loaded for something as busted as a High Rank Servant, would have been forced to fight defensively but been overwhelmed sooner or later.
But he didn't so he was stuck with a slightly superhuman body against people with significantly superhuman bodies.