Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Campione materials~
Chapter III
The tension was rising. The situation had turned grim. Is there no way to avoid this fight? Both of us were staring at each other, tensed, each waiting for the other to make the first move. I unconsciously bought my hands to the side, ready to trace my weapons in case of an assault. The blonde knight eyed me carefully, flexing the sword at hand slightly. The silence was agonising. Just as I was about to project my swords to reality, we were abruptly interrupted by our bystander.
"H-Hey!" While we were in a heated discussion, Godou stood there trying his best to try to comprehend the nature of our conversation. Finally noticing that the situation had gotten serious, he decided to butt in.
"No violence here! Didn't Emiya already say that he didn't know? Don't threaten him." Godou voiced out in protest.
Erica glared at the interruption. "How can you be so sure of this person's credibility? You yourself are a suspect. Don't think you are free from any suspicions."
The blonde girl shot Godou down, silencing him instantly.
"Look, how could you assume that I can fight? I may be just a normal, mediocre mage, not a combat one. Furthermore, I don't have any weapon. How am I suppose to defend myself?" I tried to come out with all sorts of excuses. This girl is seriously hard to convince.
"How can you not defend yourself when you can even halt an advance from the [Boar] yesterday? You're the one that conjured that chain wasn't it? I don't think a mediocre mage is able to possess a chain capable of holding back a divine beast."
Giku! Did she saw me yesterday? I really am bad at hiding things.
She smirked. "I knew it. You're hiding something. Can I conclude that you're one of the culprits? Still refusing to admit it? Fine. Have it your way. You leave me no choice."
The young blonde then slashed at me without warning. Dodging out of reflex, I escaped with only a small cut of my fringe. Is she serious!? "Wait wait! Don't jump to conclusions! Calm down! Please reconsider your actions. I don't want to fight you. So please listen to-" Woah! That swing nearly took my head. Is she trying to kill me? How am I going to talk if I'm dead?
No choice. Searching for my exit, I hastily jumped out the window of the inn. Without turning back, I jumped to the left, dodging a slash aiming to cut me into half. "Oh? You've got good reflexes. Are you from an organisation that practiced combat? Hurry and arm yourself. I don't want this to be one sided. It will tarnish my pride as a knight." Is she crazy!? It's broad daylight! Isn't she worry that people would see?
Sigh... such a feisty girl. What a headache. Ignoring her declaration, I turned my back from her and made a run for it. "Hey! Where are you going!? Stop at once!" Her voice faded through the background as I fled to the alleys.
Running through the narrow alleys, I coordinated my way, relying on my instincts to guide me through.
Hmm? A shadow was leaping above me. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, a red figure was following me. I smirked at her stubbornness. Seriously, what a persistent girl she was.
Making brief eye contact with my pursuer, I led her to an empty, half destroyed plaza that I spotted before. Off limits due to the destruction caused by the [Boar] yesterday, it was a perfect place to test our skills. The plaza was dimmed of sunlight, blocked by the smoke produced from the burnt wreckage surrounding it.
I stopped at the centre of the plaza, awaiting her arrival. Standing three blocks away on a rooftop, she stood to observed that I was no longer going to run away.
We made eye contact and she smirked at me. Leaping straight to the plaza, she landed gently on the ground. Impressive. Now let's see how she fairs in battle.
Standing tall and proud, she strode to the centre of the plaza with an aura of nobility. "Can you reconsider this? I don't want to fight you. Can't we just talk this through?" I tried to persuade her knowing very well that it was futile.
"Speak for yourself. You're the one that led me to this empty plaza devoid of any witnesses, and just from that stance tells me that you're rearing to go. I wonder who the one that really wants to fight is." Erica rebutted back with a teasing tone to it.
I shrugged, expecting this answer. Well it was worth a try. With a crooked smile, I bought both my hands to the side as though gripping an imaginary hilt. "Let's make a deal shall we? If I lose, I'll tell you everything but if I win, then you're gonna tell me everything you know about the situation. Is that alright with you?" I suggested to her. If I were to fight her, surely I would want to benefit from it. I need information, and she's the closest one I could get. Well I don't think I would lose that easily.
"Oh? So confident of your abilities? Fine by me. I hope you won't regret this." Forming a stance, she bought her now empty hands forward.
"O lion of steel and your ancestor, the lion-hearted king — please hear the oath of the knight Erica Blandelli."
Speaking with a firmed and clear voice, Erica began the incantation for a spell.
"I am the valorous successor to the bugle, the descendant of the Black Knight. 'Til my fighting spirit is broken, my sword will never shatter. O lion-hearted king, I implore you— bring the essence of battle into my hand—!"
A red magic circle appeared in front of her. Reaching out her hand into the mouth of a steel lion that appeared, Erica pulled out her sword.
"Advance! The time for Cuore di Leone to fight has come!" With her long, slender sword, Erica readied herself into combat stance. "So? What are you waiting for? Or do I still need to provide you with a weapon?"
"Thanks for the offer but your concern was unnecessary. I've got my own." I politely rejected her offer and traced my favoured twin swords, Kanshou and Bakuya. Relaxing my body, I bought my weapons to the side.
Erica frowned at my action. "What's with that posture of yours? Are you really taking me seriously?"
I shrugged at her comment. "Of course I am. I'm as serious as you."
"Hmph. Then it's fine. It's just that, that posture reminded me of someone. Nevermind, just so you know, I won't go easy on you."
"Fine by me." I replied with a smile.
Then without warning, Erica closed in the gap instantly and thrust her sword forward, attempting to pierce my heart.
Relying on my instincts, I twisted my body to the side by reflex to avoid the fatal strike.
Using the momentum, I bent down to dodge the followed up horizontal slashed aiming to cleave me into two, taking instead a few strands of my hair.
At the same time, I slashed my swords upwards, forming an uppercut at which she narrowly escaped with just a small cut which exposed a little of her cleavage.
All that happened in one fluid motion, in less than two seconds. As expected of the Great Knight. That title wasn't just for show. She's good.
We widened the distance between us, taking the chance to analyse each other. This was gonna be an interesting fight.
*Scene Break*
Sound of running footsteps echoed throughout the empty alley. Kusanagi Godou was running with two bags sling against his shoulder. One was his while the other was another's.
"What's with these people? Suddenly trying to kill each other. Can't they just talk things through peacefully?" Godou complained loudly as he went to look for them. "But seriously, how did things end up like this?"
All this talk about magic, knight, gods, it's like a setting for a game or an anime. 'What have I gotten myself into?' The teen thought to himself as he searched for the two.
Cling! Clang!
Sounds of metal resonate in the background. Flashes of light flickered from a certain alley. "Is that the place? The sound seems to be coming from there." Godou whispered to himself and jogged to that alley. What he saw there captivated him.
Debris littered the damaged plaza. With smoke sheltering from the glaring sun, the plaza was shrouded by shadows. With an inconsistent exception, light leaked through the black smoke, temporary exposing the two. As though featuring the star performance for a show, it formed a spotlight on the two figures.
Beautiful. That was the first word that came to mind. For all his life, Godou never saw something so intense. Two red figures were moving around the plaza. Exchanging skills, steel clashed against steel, illuminating the darkened plaza with bright orange sparks.
It was a captivating sight. Emiya and Erica dueled with such passion and ferocity that it seems like they were enjoying themselves. Their movements were so fluent and coordinated that it was like a dance, sword dance would be the correct term.
As Godou got closer for a better look, he could feel that the pressure intensified. Both of them were evenly matched. Moving around with fast steps, they avoided each other's strikes while parrying from blow to blow, forming sparks like a fireworks display.
Erica was controlling the flow of battle with dexterity, pushing Emiya back, not giving him a chance to retaliate. All he could do was to defend against the fierce attacks raining down on him.
Godou stood there speechless. He was not sure if he was confused by all that had happened. No, that wasn't it. He was at lost for words at the girl on stage.
Moving gracefully with quick and light steps, Erica swung her sword around with ease. Her moves were so graceful that it was as though she was dancing but at the same time fierce like a lion. This girl was meant to be in the limelight.
Godou could not help but be mesmerized by her elegance. He was so busy gazing at her that he didn't even noticed a blade flying towards him...
*Scene break*
Steel clashed against steel.
Sparks flew, illuminating the darkened plaza.
Each strike she unleashed was aimed for my vital points.
Each strike she gave, I would dodge or parry them.
As though testing each other's endurance, we repeated this for a full ten minutes.
Parrying all her attacks, I was taken aback at her enormous strength. For a woman her size, she was very strong, strong enough to push me back. It reminded me of Saber with that monstrous strength of hers despite having such a petite size.
She was good. It was not only brute strength but was also accompanied with amazing skills. With fluid movements, she forced me back to defence.
Evading a counter-attack that I managed to pull through, she jumped back gracefully across the plaza, opening the distance between us.
The barraged of attacks finally stopped and only the sound of our ragged breathing were audible.
"To match me in a one-on-one duel, not many people can manage to keep up with me except for my rival. I compliment you." Erica spoke with interest. "Could you be a knight too? All the more I want to know about you."
"Who knows? You're not too bad yourself. I can see that your title as knight was not just for show."
"Well off course. I am Erica Blandelli, The Great Knight and soon to be Diavolo Rosso. Though I would like to enjoy dueling for a little longer but I am in a hurry. Now let's get this over and done with." She declared.
As though the previous exchange was just a warm-up, she went even faster than before, swinging her sword proficiently.
The blonde knight charged at me with full strength, eyes full of determination and confidence. Her blows were stronger than before that blocking them was starting to get difficult. As the battle recommenced, the tear on her shirt slowly became larger as she began putting a lot more force in her strikes.
"Haaaa!" With a ferocious war cry, her now revealing chest moved together with her movement. If I'm not wrong, it's bigger than Rin's. Wait, what am I thinking!? Ugh…this was getting distracting. Is she purposely showing it to me? What a formidable foe.
Distracted by her well-endowed bosoms, Bakuya was sent flying from my hand. Seeing me at a disadvantage, the blonde knight smug and her strikes intensify.
Instead of retreating, I went in for the offence with only Kanshou in my hand. Erica frowned at my sudden changed in tactics. Dismissing my behaviour as an act of desperation, she went back on full assault.
She fell for it. I smirked back at her. The air vibrated at the disruption caused by the spinning blade, producing a deadly sound. Approaching from the side, the white counterpart, Bakuya, raced its way towards Erica.
Like magnets attracted to each other, Bakuya approached Kanshou with Erica in the crossfire. I swung Kanshou, accelerated by the attraction force of its counterpart, striking the blonde knight from two directions.
With Bakuya blinding her from the reflection of the flickering sunlight, Erica instinctively managed to avoid both of the attack by avoiding and redirecting Bakuya away but with the cost of her defence. Staggering back, she was left defenceless. I closed in on her, bringing my arm up with Kanshou in hand.
The blonde's face showed a mixture of shocked and frustration. I've got her now.
Just as I was about to bring my arm down, the sound of rocks shifted caught my attention. Someone was there, and he was in the trajectory of the deflected Bakuya.
'Damn it' cursing under my breath, I changed my target and threw Kanshou towards the intruder instead, deflecting both blades away from him.
Falling down from the improper posture, I landed on something soft.
'Kya!' Wait, something soft? And what was that cute sound? I have a bad feeling about this. Looking up meekly at the thing that broke my fall, the origin of the cute sound was glaring daggers at me, while giving me a venomous smile! A venomous smile! That was enough to convince me that I was in deep trouble.
"Don't you dare move." speaking, no, ordering me in a bone chilling voice, she had her sword at my neck while smiling sweetly. I'm dead meat, I can be sure of it. Girls are scary when they smile while they are angry. I know from experienced. I gulped hard, preparing myself for the inevitable.
"Why didn't you finish me off? You had the chance to do it but why didn't you?" she demanded.
"Huh?" I answered dumbly. That was an unexpected question. Am I spared? How should I answer her? "Well actually..."
Sound of rocks tumbling down interrupted my answer. The culprit was still sitting there with a dumb expression on his face. He's unharmed. Looks like I made it in time.
Noticing the presence of another, Erica shifted her view to the young man sprawled on the debris. "I see..." she whispered to herself. "I understand now. It's my lost. As a knight, I must honour the deal we made. As much as I hate it, I'll allow you to do what you want with me" she said while looking away, blushing.
Wait wait! I thought the deal was to exchange information only. Now I look like a bad guy. "Hey don't make it sound like I'm some kind of pervert!"
"Aren't you already one? You've tried to cut my shirt off didn't you? Look at this, the cut exposing my dear chest. You'll be sure to compensate for this." And she gave me a cunning smile.
Ugh...Is this blackmail!? I got a bad feeling about this. "So...I guess I lost? Considering the position we are in with a sword inches from my throat."
"Do you want to stain my pride as a knight? It was my lost. You could've strike me back then." she argued back, emphasising the blade.
"Erm...that's not really convincing considering the sword at the tip of my neck"
"Fine then!" She finally put away her sword which I finally could breathe a sense of relief. As we were having our meaningless argument, we forgot that someone was spectating our little bickering.
"Um...guys? Hello?" Godou voiced out to get our attention. When we finally noticed him, we finally realised the situation we were in.
There was awkward silence. Erica was just a breath from me. I knew she was beautiful but seeing her up-close really emphasised her beauty. With small, soft luscious lips that were calling to be kissed, sapphire blue eyes and hair as golden as a crown, I was mesmerised by her beauty making my heart race. The tore on her shirt greatly exposed her cleavage, with her disheveled clothes from the recent battle fought, drenched in sweat and ragged breathing, makes her look so seductive and alluring that I found myself unconsciously staring at her.
"Don't...don't stare at me like that..." the beauty suddenly spoke while looking away.
"Huh?" I answered, stumped at what to say.
"How long are you going to lie on top of me? It's unbecoming of a gentleman." her now blushing face was now coupled with a pout.
"I-I'm sorry!" If anybody would have seen this scene they would definitely misunderstood. We both blushed furiously after I got off from the awkward position we were in.
That was dangerous. I've let my guard down. If Rin were to see this, I'd be butchered by the smiling devil and indulged in a world of pain by Saber. Gotta be careful next time.
As I sneaked a glance at her, she too was trying to calm herself down and mimicked me. When we both exchanged glances, the redness returned to our cheeks.
"Alright alright! That's enough flirting you two!" standing in between us, Godou wore an annoyed face. Is he jealous?
Erica stood up straight and muttered a brief spell which restored her clothes back to normal. "Good match" she said as she held out her hand to me. As I took her hand as a form of sportsmanship, I regretted it right away. She gripped my hand so hard that it started to felt numb.
"You're good. It's a shame that we were interrupted if not it would be more...interesting." she glared briefly at the cause of the disruption which he let out gulped. Did she have a trick up her sleeves if I were to continue with that strike previously? It really could've been interesting to see her try to counter that.
"Are you a combat mage? You should start telling me who you are. We had a deal and since it's a draw, we both shall answer each other's questions."
I knew things would end up like this. "Well actually I-"Before I could complete my sentence, I was interrupted by a sudden quick and light rhythm. Why am I always interrupted when I'm about to say something? Letting go of my hand, Erica took out her red cellphone.
"Please excuse me. I have to take this. Don't think you're out of this." She warned me before answering her phone in Italian. Reinforcing my hearing, I tapped into their conversation.
"Yes? What!?...Is it the same as before? I see…I see…At Dorgali?...I'll be there" Her face turned solemn as she talked on the phone. Did something happen at Dorgali?
"Hmm…Looks like I have to go to Dorgali and both of you are coming with me" she suddenly declared.
"What? Why should I follow you? I have a job I need to do to give this tablet to Lucretia. I need to go to Oliena, not Dorgali" Godou voiced out a complained.
As fast as I could react, Erica had the tip of sword pointing at Godou. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not. That tablet you possess is no ordinary tablet. A holy relic leaking such divine power, even we of the Copper Black Cross rarely possesses specimens of such high calibre. If you were to go to the witch's place then I'm going with you but first I have an urgent matter to settle and I don't trust you to wait for me. So you're coming with me." Godou gulped hard and nod at the unreasonable beauty.
Lowering her sword, she smiled sweetly towards me. "How about you? Any problems?"
"Nope, no problem. I'm all in. But I would appreciate if you would tell me what's going on." raising my hands up as though surrendering.
"Good. I'll explain along the way. Then let's go…to Dorgali."
Godou sighed a long sigh. I pity him. Getting dragged around by the unreasonable blonde beauty, we made our way to Dorgali.
I better prepare myself for what's coming. I didn't really like it when I heard the phrase 'monstrous energy' over the phone. Whatever awaits us couldn't be good.
As we made our way to Dorgali, dark clouds had already started to form. Unaware to us, an ominous presence was gathering...
AN: Alright! How was that? This is my first time narrating a fighting scene which I hope was delivered well. Do point out any mistakes that you think can be improve. Your reviews and suggestions means a lot to me for my reference so that I can better in my writing of future chapters. Cause they will be a lot of fighting scenes in the later chapters so I need to know how well it went.
You've notice that my chapters are short and simple. I actually want to keep it that way. I'm a fanfic reader myself and I find long chapters exhausting and difficult to pause midway. Well that means there will be a lot more cliff hanger for mine. haha.
Anw thanks for the reviews and the favs and followers so far! I really appreciate it. I've been receiving concerns on the harem of Shirou and Godou whether they should be shared among them or just have Shirou hog them all (muahahaha!) Well for this case, it will be revealed in the later chapters when they finally meet all the girls so for now just hold on to your horses~! I have already briefly planned what their relationship would be like which I hope will be satisfactory.
Also a lot have mentioned about having Godou becoming the Campione instead of Shirou. Some provided great ideas and arguments about Shirou being overpowered if he would be a Campione. Well I already have my setting in my head about how this goes so try to guess who will be the one.
If you've read the LN then you'd notice that I've slightly changed the order of the story. I will be combining the anime and LN a bit for this. And for now, I will put my Author's Notes at the end of the chapter to avoid spoiling anything. For the next chapter, there will be some lightning and stuff so look forward to it! Feel free voice out your opinions. I look forward to the growth of my first fanfic!