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Fate/Zero Hour: A Fate/Zero Multicrossover Fanfiction
Chapter 16: The Flames of Azzinoth
"GET SOME!"
Tychus Findlay was, without a doubt, having a really good day. He was in the midst of war- scratch that, he was in the the thick of it. Of course, riding a building sized mecha with cannons for arms and a payload enough to obliterate an army single handedly would get anyone excited.
"Eat this! And this! AND THIS!"
The cannons released their payloads in devastating succession, nailing Naj'entus with enough force to cause him to stagger. The angered naga roared in defiance and attempted to run the machine through with it's giant mechanical arm. However, it wasn't able to pierce the Odin's thick armor despite it's strength.
"Hey! You got a scratch on it!" Tychus made sure to make the beast pay for that. He positioned one of its cannons on the poor beast's head. By the time it realized what was going to happen, it was already way too late.
"Say goodnight, scaly!"
Tychus had a satisfied grin on his face as that one shot was all he needed to fell the monster. However, he wasn't satisfied. He turned to all the orcs, nagas, blood elves, and demons with manic glee.
"Oh don't worry." The marine pressed a button to open the missile silos on the back of the Odin. "I haven't forgotten you, little shits!" What followed was a massacre of epic proportions; the missiles that were released left no prisoners as foe after foe fell before the technological titan that was the Odin. Even then, however, the horde was still a considerable amount, one that the Raiders were doing their best to whittle.
"The night's still young, and so am I!" Tychus guffawed, joyfully setting his sights on other foes. "I wonder if Jimmy's enjoying himself as much as I am."
Inner Sanctum, Black Temple.
To quote a certain pun-loving skeleton, Rider was having a bad time.
He was strafing, firing round after round from his Penetrator, in an attempt to snipe down Caster, who had been dodging every single shot.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Rider groaned as he switched from his high caliber rifle to an automatic one and began spraying bullets onto Caster, forcing him to defend. In the mean time, Archer and Berserker used this opportunity and flanked the Betrayer from each side.
"Eat this!" Berserker roared as he and Archer brought down their weapons on their foe. To their surprise, Caster blocked their attacks, deadlocking them with one warglaive each.
"Is that your best?" He smirked, not even struggling as Berserker and Archer tried to overpower him, but to no avail. With one grunt, he pushed back the Grim Reaper and the Son of Sparda with little to no effort at all. Both of them skidded on the ground before planting their weapons on them as an improvised break.
"Not even close!" Archer grunted as several swords appeared behind him. Seconds later, he sent sword after sword at Caster in a rapid tempo. Of course, the Servant of the Spell flapped his wings and propelled himself into the air before they could hit. Waiting for him was Lancer, her spear glowing with a cerulean hue as she dove from above.
"Fall before me!" Lancer roared as she attacked. Caster leaned to the side to avoid her dive, but she immediately followed up with several rapid-fire thrusts. However, she was surprised to find that he had evaded each and every one.
"Weak!" Caster responded by conjuring shadow in his hands, then thrust them forward to fire a bolt at Lancer, who rolled to the right to avoid the errant blast.
"Phozon Burst!" With a mighty shout, a pulse of energy burst forth from Lancer, catching the Betrayer unawares and sending him crashing into the ground.
"Your head is mine!" Saber would rush forward and attempt take advantage of this. The smoke from the debris cleared with a flap of Caster's wings, his hands coated with fel fire. With a short incantation, he conjured a massive green fireball that he sent towards Saber...only for it to shatter before it could even touch her.
"That accursed Magic Resistance of hers..." Caster muttered as he was forced to defend against an overhead strike from the King of Knights, who put enough strength behind her attack to shatter the ground beneath him. She immediately follows it up with several swift swings meant to overwhelm his guard. His warglaives met her blade, matching her in ferocity with every blow until she winded up for a wide swing that sent him skidding along the floor.
"Insolent!" As Caster was about to regroup, Berserker charged. His weapon coated in black energy, he launched several heavy-handed swings that the Betrayer bobbed and weaved against before bringing his glaives together to block an overhead attack. He then pushed him back then took to the sky once more.
"Ooh! My turn~!"
Berserker gasped as Assassin used his head as a stepping stone and jumped after Caster with Scissor Blade primed. Assassin laughed as she launched several attacks on Caster, taking joy in the carnage that was being caused.
"Enough of your inane prattling!"
Caster shifted to the right to avoid a diagonal slash, leaving Assassin wide open. He unsummoned the glaive on his right hand, then grabbed the Grand Couturier by the throat.
"Perish!"
Within seconds, Assassin's body burst in to green flames. The screamed that followed would've haunted the weak of heart for many nights to come.
"Hmph. One down."
Immediately dismissing the Servant of the Shadows as dead, Caster dropped the corpse. The Servants could only watch as the charred remains of Assassin landed with a thud.
"I will admit, you have all kept me entertained so far." The Betrayer addressed the other five with a grin. "Now, as a reward, perpare to feel the full fury of my magic!"
He hurled his glaives onto the ground with all his might. Once they landed, green light began to emanate from them.
"Oh hell. What now?" Rider groaned in dismay as he locked and loaded once more.
"Come forth, Flames of Azzinoth!"
Sure enough, two massive fire elementals made of the same green flames emerged from the glaives. To make matters worse, Caster's hands began glowing as he was ready to cast a spell.
"Let Chaos Reign!"
The Betrayer raised his hands up and, seconds later, a loud booming noise filled the air.
"The hell just happened?" Rider asked as he reloaded his rifle.
"Oh, you'll see." Caster responded with a diabolical grin.
Soon after, the sky split open as massive meteorites began raining down on the battlefield. The heroes didn't need anyone to tell them to dodge them lest they get crushed by the gigantic burning rocks.
"This has become rather ridiculous!" Lancer commented as she proceeded to do evasive maneuvers as she took to the air once more.
"Just tough it out! It's gotta end soon!" Rider called as he and the other Servants on the ground scrambled to avoid getting hit. Sure enough, the barrage did end, but it was still too early for them to sigh in relief.
"Glad that's...over..." Berserker would stop the premature celebration before it even began; from the craters where meteorites crashed, titanic creatures of animated rock and flame known as Infernals emerged, slowly trudging towards the heroes along with the Flames of Azzinoth with ill intent.
"This has gone to hell in a hand basket rather quickly." Rider grunted as he began to open fire on an Infernal that got too close.
"Don't lose heart just yet!" Saber roared as she jumped towards an Infernal, splitting it in half from the waist down with a spinning slash. "Caster will fall this night!"
"Ouchie...that was pretty rough, Caster-kun."
Whilst the other Servants were busy fighting Caster's minions, Assassin began to slowly stagger to her feet. Her skin, charred by the intense green flames unleashed by the Betrayer, began to slowly regain it's usual smooth appearance. Her bones, which were broken by her fall, began to reset themselves in place with sickening pops.
"They seem all pretty busy...perfect." Assassin giggled, slinking away from the action with a devious grin. "Howabout I make this easier for everyone...and cut Caster's strings?"
Ryuudou Temple
"Shu! Inori! Stand back!"
The two youths nodded as they stepped back to make room for Imca, who had Var locked and loaded and aimed at the hordes of enemies.
"Eat this!"
With a roar, the Darcsen soldier fired several missiles that blanketed the area the were, taking out several foes in one shot. However, that did little to dent the growing horde.
"Fall back!" Selvaria called as she bludgeoned an orc. Shu would be the first to nod before turning to the pinkette.
"Inori, cover our exit."
With a wordless nod, Inori complied. Two crystalline blades emerged from her forearms, which she planted into the ground. Seconds later, crystal spikes erupted from the ground and impaled the many foes that were in the area. The three then made their way to the others, who were grouped together in a defensive formation where the wounded fighters were behind the more able members.
"How's the frontlines?" Scarlette asked them when they showed up.
"Not good." Imca would be the one to report. "We're beating back as many as we can, but their numbers are starting to become too much for any of us to handle."
"Not to mention that more keep coming for every one we strike down." Shu added with a deep sigh.
"I see..." Scarlette shook her head as she watched her comrades fight fiercely against the growing horde. "We have no choice but to hold out until the Servants finish Caster off."
"Easier said than done!" Ace called from where he was fighting, plowing through the enemies like the wraith of flames he was. "A lot of us are getting pretty tired, boss lady!"
"Then it's a good thing we came back when we did."
A black blur ran past them and sliced an unfortunate blood elf in half. Two orcs attempted to retaliate, but they were taken down immediately; one was by a powerful energy blast, several bayonets turning the other into an unfortunate pin cushion.
The black blur was revealed to be a female with long, raven black hair, a black sleeveless dress with a short skirt, a red tie and boots. She swung her blood red katana to clean the blood off it.
"Akame!" Yuuki called out with joy as she parried a foe and dispatched them with a kick.
"Welcome back." Scarlette greeted the assassin with a welcoming smile. "If your team's here, then that means..."
"Yes, we're here to help. To add, we ran into several reinforcements from both the Bureau and the Order, who you've seen take action just now."
Edgar at that point turned to see the two groups sprinting towards their location to join the fray. Several of them he recognized immediately, as they were members of his own organization, the Oridinis Sancti Gladius.
"Good to see you guys can join the party." He greeted his men with a smile, the one who threw the bayonets responding first with a wide grin of his own.
"It's always good to put down heathens in the name of our Lord!" Father Alexander Anderson, agent of the OSG, greeted him before rushing into the fray himself, followed by Raymond Starrk. "Especially those that get off with killing innocents!"
"You're Edgar Silverstein, correct?"
He then turned to the one who fired the energy blast; he was clad in streamlined blue armor that hugged his body. He wore a helmet of the same color and design, but what really caught Edgar's eye was the built in cannon on his right arm.
All these matched the description one of his own agents gave him of a hero she admired.
"You're X, aren't you?"
"So you know my identity?" The blue clad Reploid asked, to which Edgar nodded.
"One of my agents spoke highly of you." The Shadow Knight explained as they exchanged handshakes. "Are you familiar with Dr. Ciel?"
"I see...So she made it." X nodded with a smile.
"So, are you with the Sentinels too?" Edgar asked.
"Actually, he's with me."
All turned to see the newest arrival; her pink hair had tufts shaped like cat ears (probably to make her actual cat ears bigger than they are). Otherwise, it was let down. She wore a white coat with oversized sleeves that showed a bit of her mid-riff and red pants with sandals. She was flanked by a giant of a man with red skin and cybernetic enhancements. She gave off a wry grin as she greeted the rest of the bunch.
"And you are?" Edgar asked the woman.
"She is Professor Kokonoe A. Mercury, Head of the Bureau of Multidimensional Defense." At that point their attention is turned to Rachel, who had appeared out of nowhere with her usual smirk on her face. "I believe Miss Valentine may have mentioned her motley crew on more than one occasion."
"She did, yes." The Shadow Knight nodded.
"The difference between her group and ours is that while the OSG and Sentinels dabble in magic and science, the BMD take a wholly scientific approach to multidimenisonal travel." Scarlette added some much needed exposition.
"And today, we'll show you all that science is power." Kokonoe declared with a confident grin.
"At any rate, it's good that you decided to join us personally, Kokonoe." Salem greeted with a smile as he cleaved several foes in half with a swipe of his scythe. It was also at that point when a large stomping sound echoed through the battlefield.
"You all heard that, right?" Alvin asked as he fired his pistol at an approaching Myrmidon.
The loud boom was heard once more. This kept repeating and, sure enough, they saw the source; a massive, centaur-like demon known as a Pit Lord emerged from the portal, wielding it's giant two bladed weapon in it's right hand, and began a roar of challenge against all those who seek to stop it.
"You have got to be shitting me." Ace groaned as he launched a wave of fire to keep his foes at bay.
"Allow me to prove what I said earlier." With a smirk, the Professor pressed on the earpiece she had while her hand was flicking a menu that popped out of nowhere. "These are the coordinates, Isara. Think the Edelweiss Mk II can make the shot?"
"I believe it can." A voice from the other end answered. "Adjusting the aim...and fire!"
A loud boom was heard a good distance away from the temple, followed by the hissing sound associated with artillery fire. Seconds later, a tank shell hit the Pit Lord dead-on, the beast roaring in agony as the explosion engulfed it.
"Direct hit!" Isara confirmed from her location.
"Yeah, but it wasn't enough to take it out. Good effort, though." Kokonoe scoffed as the demon remained standing, though it did stagger a few steps.
"We'll take it from here."
Two figures jumped in; the first was a blonde girl, her hair tied into pig-tails, with a massive glowing scythe and the second was a red clad figure with a giant sword. Both of them swung for the fences and, as expected to two experienced demon hunters, ended the Pit Lord in two clean strokes.
"Nice one." The blonde, known as Maka Albarn of the OSG, gave the second guy a thumbs up. "You're pretty strong, Mr.-"
"Name's Dante. Drop the 'Mr.' and we'll be good." The silver-haired Demon Hunter gave the girl a grin. He then watched as more Pit Lords emerged through the gate. "Damn...we got one crazy party here today."
"Then let's make use of our extra numbers!" Edgar declared as his right eye began to glow a bright red, ready to take the fight to the demons once more.
Sanctum, Black Temple.
"Damn, talk about hell on earth!" Rider grunted in discomfort as he opened fire on a nearby Infernal, having switched back into his Penetrator, and took it down with one piercing shot. He took time to reload before unleashing another round which nailed one in the shoulder. Wasting little time, he pressed on his earpiece to check on how things were going outside. "How's the battle on your end, Tychus?"
The sound of gunfire and explosions were enough to tell Rider that the situation was dire on their end.
"Been doing pretty well until these damn rocks fell into the ground." The gruff marine answered as he bombarded an Infernal with cannon fire, taking it out immediately. Another one closed in and socked the mech with enough force to make it stagger a few steps. Retaliation was swift and merciless as Tychus unleashed his payload mercilessly "The Odin's taken some nasty hits, and we're losin' men here! Matt's been sendin' more troops, but I doubt we'll hold until ya end it, Jimmy."
"No need to state the obvious. Just hang in there until we end this. Raynor, out." Rider scowled as one of the Flames spotted him. He rolled away before he could get scorched by green flames. "Like hell I'm letting you get me! He roared as he unloaded another round at the elemental. It staggered quite a bit after the bullet nailed him on the shoulder, but it wasn't enough to deter The Flame of Azzinoth.
"Damn it..." Rider cursed as the Flame was about to retaliate, only for a red blur to jump in between them with an angry look on his face.
"Hell's Fang!" Berserker roared as he reared back a fist coated in the Azure, then thrust it forward with a mighty punch. This managed to send the elemental flying.
"Thanks for saving my ass back there." Rider gave him a grateful grin.
"I figured I owed you one for that last clash with Caster." The Grim Reaper nodded with a smile before both of them surveyed the battle before them; Lancer was working with Saber, battling back to back while engaged in an elegant dance of death. Archer was running around the battlefield, Yamato screaming in the air as Infernal after Infernal fell before him. They then looked up to see Caster smirking at them, looking down on them as if he was a god toying around with mortals.
"Damn...this has gone to hell really quick." Berserker remarked as he and Rider took a breather. That break didn't last long, as several Infernals start stomping towards their direction.
"Tell me about it! Assassin goes down, and we have to deal with this bull!" Rider grunted as he unloaded round after round on the minions while the Servant of Madness covered his six.
"Now that you mention it..." Berserker noted as he blocked a fiery punch from an Infernal. "Wait, we never saw her body dissolve, didn't we? That would only mean..."
Rider, having been listening the entire time, began to realize the implication of Berserker's words. Now that he had mentioned it, it wasn't surprising; Assassin had faked her death once before, what was to stop her from doing it again?
"If what you're saying is true, then where is she?"
One of the Hidden Rooms of the Temple
"YES! THAT'S IT! KEEP TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER!"
From his little safe room, Uryuu Ryuunosuke was watching two crystal balls with delight at the carnage that was occurring before him. In one crystal ball, the Servants were engaged in heavy battle against Caster while on the other, the Masters as well as those strangers were maiming the creatures his Servant had summoned. Needless to say, he was enjoying the show immensely.
"This is it. I'll never be bored every again!" Ryuunosuke declared maniacally. "I don't have to go out of my way to kill anymore. If Mr. Caster has his way, I can just watch all of them die in every possible way!" His grin and eyes grew wider as he continued his mad rant. "Crushed! Maimed! Eaten! EVERYDAY! FOREVER AND EVER AND- URK!"
The orange-haired Master suddenly felt himself lurch forward. When he noticed blood coming from his mouth, he looked down to his torso and, sure enough, a purple blade was sticking out from his chest.
"Wh-what...?"
"Aww...I was hoping you'd put up more of a fight. I guess Caster's Master's pretty incompetent~." The sugary sweet tone Assassin gave as she yanked her Scissor Blade out of him didn't match the situation. "Such a shame. You and I would've gotten along had you been my Master~."
"So...this was inside me all along..." Despite being on the brink of death, Ryuunosuke found it in himself to smile. "It's...so pretty..."
"I know, right?" Assassin agreed with a smile. "Red is such a pretty color~!"
"I...finally found it..." The serial killer chuckled "It was there...all along..."
"Funny how the things you're looking are often the closest to you." Assassin giggled.
"If you were...inside me all along...why didn't you tell me?"
Ryuunosuke then went on his knees, his hand over the hole where is chest used to be, his eyes closed and a smile on his face, as if he had accepted his end. As Assassin went behind him, her Scissor Blade on his neck, she had such a sad smile on her face. She had only gotten to know this man for a few minutes, and he had already entertained her. She felt almost sorry she had to kill him.
Almost.
"Such a shame indeed." The Grand Couturier raised her blade and, in one swift stroke, ended the life of Uryuu Ryuunosuke, Master of Servant Caster.
When Caster felt himself suddenly weaken, he knew that his connection to Ryuunosuke was lost. He also immediately realized what had happened.
"So...it has come to pass...Assassin, you sly fox." He thought as he watched the other five Servants persevere, having weathered a huge storm and eliminating the last of the Infernals as well as the last Flame of Azzinoth. "Had I not used the Well itself as an additional anchor to this world, it would have been my end. However, losing him has cost me an important mana reserve." He felt himself smile ruefully as he reminisced the past few days. "It's a shame, really. I would wanted you to live to see this world you envisioned, this world of death and excitement. That is past us now-!"
He was caught off-guard when Lancer suddenly shot into the air and rushed forward at him. He dodged to the side, but not before she sent several small icy projectiles at him, all closing on him quickly.
"Damn it!" He cursed as he conjured several shadow bolts that collided with Lancer's projectiles. However, he was not prepared for the follow-up Archer had planned for him. He found himself surrounded by blue swords, all of their edges pointed at him with cruel intent.
"Fall!" Upon Archer's words did the swords fly onto Caster in a merciless barrage. He summoned his glaives to his side once more in an attempt to parry the blades, but he was met with limited success; he managed to avoid getting hit by majority of them, but a good number of them managed to land several gashes all over his chest.
"My turn! Inferno Divider!"
Caster would then be surprised when Berserker would emerge from beneath him. He would get knocked up by the massive Blood Scythe before he had a chance to defend himself. The Grim Reaper would follow it up with an axe kick that sent the Betrayer down to the floor with a resounding crash.
"Is it me, or did he get weaker?" Berserker would ask when he landed next to his team mates.
"Now that you mention, he seems to lack the strength he had earlier to oppose us." Saber nodded in agreement as Rider pulled out a strange gun from his arsenal.
"Yup! And you have me to thank~!"
Only Lancer and Saber turned with expressions of shock as Assassin walked into their midst with a pleasant grin, twirling her bloodied Scissor Blade casually.
"You're alive...and where have you been?" Lancer would be the one to ask the grinning Servant.
"Oh, take a wild guess~!" She then turned to the other three Servants, who didn't look at all impressed with her apparent return from the dead. "Really? Nothing at all?"
"You've done this kind of thing before." Archer would be the first to point out with a sigh. "So...I take it that you took care of Caster's Master?"
"Oui! He shouldn't much of a problem now!"
"Normally, I would not approve of such tactics, but considering our position, I will look the other way just this once." Saber's neutral expression did nothing to reveal her inner distaste for the Servant of the Shadows.
Any attempts to further the conversation was cut short when laughter began to echo throughout the Sanctum. With a flap of his wings, Caster cleared the debris to reveal that he was very much alive. He was covered in bruises and cuts all over from the barrage of attacks, but he was very much alive.
"I commend you, Servants, for opting to take out my Master. Even with the Well anchoring me to this world, I only have so much left to spare. So..." With a manic grin, he summoned what looked like a skull that rested on the palm of his right hand. "It is time I ended this!"
With those words, a sickening green light burst forth that blinded the gathered Servants for a few seconds. Once it faded, they beheld Caster's new form; His body, shrouded in shadows, had green glowing tattoos etched all over his body. His blindfold had all but been discarded, which allowed them to see his glowing green eyes. All of this gave off an effect that made him more intimidating. All the Servants gathered could easily tell that the true battle had just started.
"Now..." Caster, his voice going a few octaves deeper, grinned maliciously as he bore his Warglaives of Azzinoth. "Who's ready for Round 2?"
"Scarlette, watch out!"
The blonde Princess of Valentine felt herself get pushed out of the way of an errant shadow bolt. She watched as her savior, Neji Hyuga, retaliated by thrusting his palm forward, sending a gust of wind that sent several foes flying.
"Are you alright?" He then turned to Scarlette with concern on his face. At this, she couldn't help but smile.
"I'm fine. Thank you." She returned with a smile, but suddenly sent Graveryl onto an attack that veered past him. As it turns out, the chain was aimed at an orc that tried to attack an unsuspecting Neji. "For someone with the Byakugan, you're painfully unaware of your surroundings." She flashed him a teasing smirk.
"Maybe I don't need to use it as much, seeing as you've got my back and all." Neji chuckled as he and Scarlette stood back to back, ready to engage any who got close. "I don't want to be a wet blanket, but this is beginning to look bad."
"I'll have to agree." The nature of their conversation began losing their mirth as they watched battle erupt around them. "All we've been doing is beating them back. Even if we have no choice but to depend on the other Servants, we have to find a way to stem this flow."
It was at that point that one of the Pit Lords was about to reach the stairs that led out of the Temple Grounds.
"No! Someone stop him!"
The first responders would be a fit blonde man in a brown jacket and jeans and another blonde, a woman this time, clad in a black tube top and loose baggy pants. The difference between the two was that one was brandishing a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun while the other, who had effortlessly punched an orc out of her way, had a device called an Imperial Arm that gave her the strength of a lion as well as insane regeneration.
"Like your style, miss." The man chuckled as he fired away "Name's Earl Harbinger. What's yours?
"Just call me Leone!" The female grinned as he plowed through the enemies.
They were about to reach the escaping Pit Lord when, to everyone's surprise, they found that it was sliced in half diagonally in one clean stroke.
"Well...I suppose it's my turn."
A slim woman clad in a white hood and black knee-high dress entered the fore, her curved blade gleaming in the moonlight. As she walked to the fray, all staring in awe, her hood pulled black to reveal a smiling face with long, jet black hair, and lustrous silver-eyes.
Two orcs would snap out of their reverie and try to hack her with their axes, only to be surprised that they had passed through her as if they were hitting air.
"Yeah...that never works." She sighed as she swung her blade, decapitating both of them in one strike.
"A Counter Guardian..." Emiya Kiritsugu would be the first to murmur in awe. Salem, for his part, only chuckled at this new arrival.
"You always go for a dramatic entrance, Counter Guardian ROSE."
End Chapter 16
A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen! Feast your eyes on the latest chapter of Fate/Zero Hour!
To all who follow this fic, thanks for waiting patiently. It took me a while to write all this down, but damn did I have fun doing so! As you all read, the Battle against Caster has escalated significantly! Will our heroes make it out alive? Who is Counter Guardian ROSE? All these questions and more will be answered as this fic goes on, so stay tuned!
Also, special thanks to X the Reaper for helping me shape the Zero/Hourverse. I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but he's been a huge help!
Mordred: Okay...so when are you going to continue Clarent Blood Arthur?
Soon, Morty. Soon...Anyways, please leave a review when you're done reading! I'd love to know what you guys thought of this chapter! This is the King of Beasts and I'll see you all next time!
Next time on Fate/Zero Hour: The Brilliance of the King!