Here is yet another chapter of VGW! It's been fun doing this, maybe I'll do stuff like this a bit more often. Anyways, here's the next chapter!
Chapter 4: Battles and Identities
The four Servants stood opposite each other, Saber and Archer deactivating their Noble Phantasms to conserve power. Each Servant watched the others, waiting for one to make a move, each ready to retaliate in under a second.
"Weiss, Blake," Rider whispered to the girls behind him, "Get back to your dorm. You'll be generally safe there as the general rules frown upon outsiders seeing us fight."
The girls nodded reluctantly and left their Servants to fight while they got to safety.
Several more seconds passed before the silence was finally broken.
"So," Archer started, "Were we going to start, or were we-"
He didn't get to finish the thought as Saber drew his swords and was in front of him in a flash of lightning, slashing towards his head and chest. Archer was just able to block the sudden attack and repel him before he could pull another trick of swordsmanship.
Archer grinned. "Not bad, Saber. If I hadn't fought someone with a similar fighting style before, I'd be a goner."
Saber raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I ask who that might have been?"
"Sorry, Saber, but that's a little close to home, and my legend for that matter," Archer replied, "I can't have you figuring out my identity on the first night, can I?"
Saber smiled back. "No, but that won't stop me from trying. That hood you're wearing is really making me curious."
"I'd love to show my face, especially if my suspicions are correct about YOUR identity," Archer said, a small smile on his face.
Saber chuckled. "Was it that obvious?"
"There aren't many heroes that use lightning, much less in that manner."
"True, true," Saber replied.
"Shall we continue? Or should we stand here all night talking?" Archer asked.
"As good as that sounds, I still have to keep you away from Blake," Saber replied.
"Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not all for it either," Archer said, his hand tightening on his sword, "but I need to win this, so I'll do what my Master asks me to."
Saber gripped his swords, ready to recommence the battle, a small smirk coming to his face. "You know, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping you'd say that."
The pair smiled at each other before disappearing in a burst of speed, sparks of lightning and solidified shadows being the only things marking their high-speed battle.
Meanwhile, Rider and Caster were circling each other, sizing each other up, Rider with his dual pistol-rapiers, and Caster with his mechanized gauntlets and boots.
"Why would a Caster have a use for metal gauntlets?" Rider asked.
"If only you knew, Rider," Caster replied, smirking.
Without warning, Caster activated the mechanics of his gauntlets and boots, blasting forward with a surge of white energy from both of them. Rider deflected the first volley of punches with some quick defensive slashes from his rapiers before going on the offensive and slashing, stabbing, and shooting in between blocking Caster's strikes.
Caster then used the white glow at his palms and feet to hover in air above Rider.
"You're good," Caster complimented.
"You're not too bad yourself," Rider replied.
Rider then unexpectedly pointed a hand at the ground, a blue and white hover board appearing at his feet, and stepped onto it, hitting a switch and making it begin to hover above the ground.
"Let's kick this fight into another gear," he said.
Caster landed, settling back into a combat stance. "Let's go then."
Rider smirked as he took off at an incredible speed. He circled Caster, looking for an opening, before zooming in and slashing at him with his swords, repeating several times over at a speed that was hard to follow, steadily wearing Caster down.
That was, however, until Caster was somehow able to move fast enough to knock Rider off his board and off balance, a light grey glow at his feet, and proceeding to come at him with some very impressive boxing and kick boxing skills, knocking Rider back further.
"Rider! Down and switch!" Saber's voice came from behind Rider.
Without hesitation, Rider bent at the waist, allowing Saber to vault over his back to deliver a kick to Caster while Rider drew his rapiers to deal with Archer.
Rider slashed and stabbed at Archer, who dodged and parried each strike before returning his own, Rider parrying those. They went back and forth, Rider's unorthodox fencing style throwing Archer slightly off, and Archer's shadow construct distracting Rider.
"I have to say, Rider," Archer said, parrying another stab from Rider, "I haven't heard of this style of fencing before. Is it of your own design?"
Rider smirked. "I wish I could say it was, but it's more of a style I adapted into my own than anything else. Your swordplay is impressive as well for an Archer, although parts of it seem like it were designed for another weapon."
Archer raised an eyebrow under his hood. "You picked up on that in only a couple minutes of fighting?"
"I had to be perceptive in life," Rider said, "Things tended to sneak up on myself and my friends when we weren't looking."
"Huh," Archer responded before dashing forward, firing a trio of shots from his rifle and slashing upwards with his sword, knocking Rider off balance and removing a rapier from one of his hands, which a shadowy figure, emerging from Archer's shadow, caught.
Archer sheathed his sword and temporarily dematerialized his rifle as he took the rapier from the shadowy figure, taking a somewhat familiar fencing stance.
An irritated look crossed Rider's face, and he said in a slightly accented voice, "En garde."
Archer grinned and dashed forward, Rider parrying his strike with perfect form. As they exchanged strikes with the rapiers, Rider began to notice Archer using the shadow figure to boost himself into the air, provide a platform, and even serve as a makeshift left arm.
"So that's how you're making up for your missing arm," Rider said, jumping back, "You're using that shadow figure to replace your left arm and provide platforms, and backup, in combat."
"That's correct, but I doubt you stopped this fight just for that," Archer replied.
"No, I didn't," Rider said, shaking his head and reaching to the back of his belt, "I stopped because your fencing technique, while quite obviously a bit rusty, is one that I've only seen, and faced, from one other person."
Archer's smirk from before disappeared. "Oh, yeah?"
In under a second, Rider had drawn a pistol from the back of his belt and taken the shot at Archer, who was unable to deflect it in time, blowing his hood off of his head, and causing Saber and Caster to stop their small battle nearby to watch this new development.
Archer's eyes widened, exposing his right silver eye and left blue eye further. His pale complexion got a bit paler, if that was possible, but the main thing the other three Servants looked at however, was his alternating white and brown hair with red tips.
Rider himself hadn't expected this kind of development. "What the heck?"
Caster stared wide-eyed at Archer's appearance. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Saber took in Archer's appearance before finally grinning. "Looks like genetics truly is an impressive thing, am I right, Max Rose?"
Archer looked at Saber with a look that was partially amused and partially annoyed. "I should say the same to you, Silver Aurelius."
"Well, now that we know each other's names this is about to get interesting, isn't it?" Saber replied, his own identity now revealed.
"That it will, Saber," Archer said before turning to Rider and tossing the stolen rapier back to him. "It seems my fight is spoken for."
Archer got into a combat stance, facing Saber before tensing as he listened to something and sighed. "My Master has ordered me to retreat for now. We'll have to finish this later, Saber. Be warned though, your fight isn't over for the night."
And with those last words, he dematerialized in a small swirl of shadows.
Once Archer left, both Saber and Rider turned their attention to Caster who quickly gained a nervous look. "Hey, guys, what's up?"
Rider simply smirked in response.
"You know, I almost feel bad about having to take you out, Caster," Saber said, twirling his swords, "You seemed like a really good guy and all."
Caster laughed nervously. "Yeah… uh, right," he stuttered before his eyes widened, "Look out!"
Saber just barely had enough time to jump out of the way as a figure shrouded in a black mist impacted with the ground he had just been standing on.
"Oh, come on!" Saber said, "Just once can I take a breather when the fighting stops for a bit?"
Rider scanned the newly arrived Servant, his eyes glowing dully. "That has to be Berserker. There isn't any other Servant that would put out an aura like that."
Berserker hadn't moved from his kneeling position inside the crater he had formed, but he seemed to be watching the three Servants, his eyes glowing a dull red.
Saber, Rider, and Caster all faced this new opponent, the tension rising as Berserker continued to sit still in a kneeling position, watching them. That changed when a woman's voice echoed from the shadows.
"Kill them, Berserker."
With an inhuman growl, Berserker launched forward, blades appearing on his arms, which he used with deadly efficiency for being under the influence of Mad Enhancement. He attacked each Servant randomly and effectively, keeping them on their toes as they dodged and deflected his blades. Even Saber couldn't get much of a hit in on the maddened Servant.
Assassin stayed hidden in the trees, watching as Saber, Rider, and Caster battled Berserker, a silent agreement between the three Servants to take care of him before anything else.
"General, I have some more news," he said, contacting Ironwood.
"What is it, Assassin?" Ironwood replied.
"I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?"
Ironwood stayed silent for a few moments, debating the question. "Give me the bad news first."
"The Masters of Saber and Rider fled the scene upon Caster's arrival, Archer has departed, and Berserker has arrived."
Assassin felt Ironwood sigh. "And the good news?"
"Berserker's Master is here, hiding, and Saber and Archer's identities have been revealed."
Ironwood once again went silent as he formulated a strategy for his Servant to follow, taking the information he had received into account.
"All right, change of plan. Try to find Berserker's Master's identity and then report back. We'll come up with a plan to deal with the other known Masters and Servants based on the information you've gathered. We're not engaging any Servants, not tonight. I can't risk a chance of your identity being revealed. Clear?"
"Understood," Assassin responded before taking off through the treetops to try to locate Berserker's Master.
Back at the battle, Saber and Rider were starting to get tired, while Caster was running low on stamina, having taken a few hits and expended quite a bit of energy.
"We need to at least injure him enough to get him to pull out," Rider commented, "Then we can retreat safely ourselves."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Caster asked.
Saber sighed. "Why do I always do the crazy shit?"
"What do you mean?" Caster asked, curious.
"I mean I'm probably about to paint a gigantic freaking target on my back for doing what I'm about to do," he replied, holding his hand up as if he were going to throw a spear, and getting into a wide stance.
"We may want to stand back," Rider said, picking up on what Saber was doing.
Berserker's Master seemed to see that Saber was about to pull something as well as she shouted, "Get him now, Berserker!"
Berserker charged forward, blades out and ready to impale Saber, with a roar, while Saber charged up an attack, his eyes beginning to glow a dull electric blue.
"Lightning Dragon's… Heavenward Halberd!" Saber shouted.
A lance of lightning formed in Saber's outstretched hand, taking the form of a halberd, which he through forward with speed matching the element.
The attack travelled so fast, Berserker didn't have time to dodge it, and was blown back by the ferocity of the attack, plowing through the tree line and stopping about fifty yards in.
"Whoa…" Caster commented in awe.
"Indeed," Rider replied.
Berserker staggered back to his feet with a groan, and was about to charge again before his Master cut him off.
"Stop, Berserker, we're done for the night," she said, "You interest me Saber, I'd love to meet your Master sometime."
The way she said it filled Saber with a sense of dread, which he quickly shook off as he watched Berserker dematerialize and listened as his Master also retreated.
"Now what?" Rider asked.
"We're done for the night," Saber replied, "Caster, get lost, Rider, let's go check on Weiss and Blake."
Not needing to be told twice after that display of power, Caster dematerialized, returning to his Master.
"You're not in a very good mood, are you?" Rider asked as he walked with Saber.
"I didn't really want to put a target on my back, and thus Blake's, this early in the war, Rider," Saber replied, "So, no, I'm not in the greatest of moods at the moment."
With those words, he disappeared in a flash of lightning, leaving Rider to shake his head in amusement as he dematerialized to follow.
Patch
Rin and Luvia looked between each other and the crystal they had been watching the battle through for a few moments as Saber and Rider left the scene.
"What. The hell. Was that," Rin asked in shock.
"How do you not know? YOU were the one who participated in this stupid ritual!" Luvia argued.
"That doesn't mean I know who all those Servants are!" Rin yelled, "I've never even heard of Max Rose or Silver Aurelius! Besides, you can't talk because you've never heard of them either!"
Luvia went slightly red in embarrassment and anger. "How have we never heard of them though? That was the craziest thing I've ever seen, especially what Saber did at the very end."
Rin sat back. "I don't know, Luvia. Short of asking him, I don't know if we'll get that answer."
"Perfect. Just perfect," Luvia muttered.
They both sat rather quietly, thinking about the events of the night and wondering where they could get answers.
That's the end of Chapter 4! I don't know whether to call it good or bad in my own opinion, so I'll leave it to you readers. I've also decided to start leaving Servant stats at the end of certain chapters, so up first, because he was revealed first, is Archer! Keep in mind I might leave some parts out to prevent spoilers.
Servant Class: Archer
True Name: Max M. Rose
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Master: N/A
Stats-
Strength: B
Endurance: A
Agility: B+
Mana: D
Luck: A
Noble Phantasms: A-
Skills-
Class Skills-
Magic Resistance: B
Independent Action: B
Personal Skills-
Clairvoyance: B+ (future sight is possible on occasion)
Eye of the Mind (True): B
Subversive Activities: C (able to set traps)
Guardian Knight: B
Noble Phantasms:
Unleashed: Full information unavailable.
Shadow Puppet: A figure created from his shadow used to assist him in battle either independently, or to replace his left arm. Rank: C (Anti-Unit)
That's a wrap! See you next chapter!