A soft breeze blows across the grassy field. "Huh...? This..." The rustling of trees fill the area. The all too familiar scene of a riverside surrounded by nature. She knew this place; an area of peace and tranquility just a short walk from their home.
"Medusa! What're you spacing out for!" Voices call to her from the riverbed. Two short figures with long purple hair like her own, tied into twintails. "Get over here already! The river's not gonna grow legs and come to you!"
"Stheno Nee-sama... Euryale Nee-sama..." Her legs were already walking her towards her sisters. As she enters the riverbed, coolness envelops her feet, rising to her knees as she approaches them. "Wha...?" Her legs start to feel sluggish, not from water resistance, but like she was dragging something along with her. Stheno and Euryale were getting farther and farther from her; they weren't even moving but it was as if some unseen force was pulling them away from her. "Stheno nee-sama! Euryale nee-sama! Wait-!"
Rushing forward to catch up to them, one of her feet must've lost it's balance as she's sent tumbling face first into the water. Pushing herself back up, Medusa looked back to find a tail coming out of her back. "wHAT... THE..." Turning back around, the purple haired girl pauses when she sees her reflection in the water. Snow pale skin, snake-like hair, glowing eyes. This couldn't be, there was no way this was her reflection. Raising her own hands, she was met with golden scaled wrist, fingers hand grown out to dark purple talons. And on those talons of hers, there was... blood. "nO... nO! no! no! no! no!"
...
Eyes bursting open, the purple haired girl sees the inside of a car. "Ugh!..." A slight headache presents itself as she wakes up. "Huh...? That's right..." Pushing herself up from her sleeping position in the backseat, recollection of her situation came back to her. Olga and Boudica were escorting her from the CSC's building, they were on the road when she fell asleep.
"Bad dream?" From the passenger seat, the silver haired lady asks her, eyes glued to the small laptop she brought with her.
"Director Olga? Oh... it's nothing, just some old memories. Huh?" Looking out the windows, their vehicle was no longer and the road. Looking around, they were in a parking spot near the Big Bridge, and only two of them were in the car. "Where are we?"
"The fast food restaurant across the street. See that worker there, the one with the twintails?"
"Yea, the uhh..." Looking out the window to her left, Medusa's spots Boudica walking towards them from the place in question, carrying a bag with her. Looking past the redhead, she spots a female employee with black hair in twintails was cleaning up one of the window side tables. "That one there?"
"That... is Tohsaka Rin, a magus associated with the Mages Association." Olga explained. "Unfortunately for us, in our current situation we can't exactly go to any of our usual safe-houses since our Lev knows all of them. He's probably guessed that we won't go to the Mages Association for help, but like Ushiwakamaru said, we can use that to our advantage. They have quite the kill order on him, so he can't exactly make himself known to them, so that works in our favor. I doubt even Lev would take the risk of exposing himself to the Association, so at least for now as long as we remain close to her, we'll be fine."
"I see... But what's a magus doing working at a fast food restaurant?"
"Oh... that. Well, jewel magecraft does wonders for one's finances. Or in her case, brings one deep into the abyss called bankruptcy."
"Jewel... magecraft?" The purple haired girl tilted her head in confusion.
"I won't bore you with the details but long story short, you need an absurd amount of money be able to support bulk buying jewelry every single day. And if you don't, well... As you can see, that's the result: a poor errand girl that's essentially enslaved to her work, barely making ends meet from paycheck to paycheck."
"I'm back." Opening the driver side door, Boudica returns, bringing with her the smell of fresh fast food. "One burger with curly fries for Olga, and I also got something for you if you want some, Medusa-chan."
"Oh, if you don't mind then... thank you."
Unwrapping her burger, Olga took a munch before tugging slightly her left sleeve, revealing her wristwatch. "Hmm... Well, they should've already started by now."
"Started- That's right... Scathach and her friends..." The set time when they were to hand her over at the docks. "Umm... I'm so sorry for inconveniencing you all like this. You're all risking you lives for someone you barely know. I'm been causing you all so much trouble, yet you've only met me over a week ago."
"Hmm? Don't worry to much about it. We're doing this not just because you're our client, but because it's the right thing to do. So stop thinking you're burdening us or anything of the sort, okay, Medusa-chan?" The redhead reassured her, holding out a burger for the tall girl.
Charging forward towards the oncoming attack, Ushiwakamaru narrowly avoided the giant weapon coming her way, Eric's axe barely grazing the side of her head, taking off a tiny lock of hair while her katana tears into his right side. The moment blade exits flesh, the tactician quickly jumps away as fireballs came smashing into the man, covering him in yet another blaze of explosions.
From within the flames, the Bloodaxe King stumbles out from the smoke and blaze, rolling around to put out burning patches of skin before struggling on his feet. "Owwwkay... that one actually hurt..." He places his hand on the right side of his waist, over the open slice that was spilling out blood. "Been awhile since anyone's gotten me this good. I think you got a kidney too, dammit that's gonna be a pain to fix."
Dashing towards him, Ushiwakamaru thrust her katana forward, the stab pushing back the man all the way into the warehouse wall. But yet again, she barely missed his heart. Eric used his free hand to take the attack, forcefully shifting the attack away from his vital point. "Shaa!" Lifting his axe for a downward swing, his raised hand is blasted with a fireball. Fingers damaged, he is forced to let the giant axe fall to the ground.
"Nice one, Kiyohime! Now then, it's over-"
"ErIc... IsN't It TiMe To StOp MeSsInG ArOuNd?" A woman speaks, her voice somehow emanating from the Bloodaxe King's mouth.
"What the?!-" Quickly pulling Usumodori back, the tactician blocks a knee from hitting her in the gut, but is sent backwards.
"Anjin-sama!" Kiyohime rushes forward, using her body as a net to catch Ushiwakamaru.
"My My, YoU GiRls ReAlLy HaVe SoMe NeRvE. To HuRt My DeAr HuSbAnD LiKe ThIs... Is SiMpLy UnFoRgIVaBlE! IsN't ThAt RiGhT, My DeArEsT?"
"That voice... dear husband? No way, it couldn't be... The witch Gunnhild?"
"...Yes..." His whisper barely audible, Eric picked up his weapon. Running his other hand over his wounds, he lathers the axe with his blood, sliding his palm against the crude and uneven edges to draw more blood. As the red liquid slides onto the blade, it sinks into the weapon as if it were being drank, the red veins shimmering slightly in reaction. "Blood... Bloood... Bloood..."
"Wha?!-" A flash. It was but an instant, bodies being decapitated in multiple areas, the bloodaxe shredding limbs off their body; Ushiwakamaru just saw herself and Kiyohime die... no, she felt it. Killing intent showing her an image of the real thing that was soon going to happen. "Crap!- Kiyohime! Look Out!-"
"Blooood!... Blooood!... Bloooooooood!" Eric charges forward, wildly spinning and swinging the giant axe, turning himself into a walking tornado, one that minces anything on contact. "FEED THE BLOODAXE AND DIIEEE!"
"Benkei: Steadfast Position!" Both hands tightening around Usumidori's grip, the tactician readies her guard to face the attack. But the moment the axe met her katana, it was like she was in the face of a typhoon. The ground around them cracks, her feet being pushed downward as she tried to stand her ground, her okobo sandals being forcefully dug into concrete ground. "Damn!- Too- Much! Can't!-"
"ANJIN-SAMA! HANG ON!" Taking a deep breath, Kiyohime lets out an intense torrent of flames from her mouth toward the ground. With magma-like heat, the floor beneath them is melted, breaking a hole into the sewers beneath. Reaching her hand out, the dragon-girl managed to grab her lover's hand, saving her while the Bloodaxe King falls down into rushing sewer water, the current taking him away from them. Pulling her back onto solid ground, Kiyohime immediately latched onto Ushiwakamaru in a hug.
"T-Thank you... Kiyo-chan..." Hugging the cyan haired girl back with her free hand, the tactician look towards her right. Her katana, along with her entire lower right arm was still trembling. "That was close..." Even with her most favored guarding stance, had Kiyohime not intervened, she won't deny the possibility that she could've lost her arm.
Looking toward the hole toward the sewers, their opponent was long gone, probably wherever the rushing sewer current took him. "Anjin-sama, should be pursue?"
"Yea.. We probably should-" Rising to their feet, the two of them paused when they heard a loud roar coming from the outside.
"RRRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
...
From the rooftop of an industrial building that overlooked the Shinto docks, Lev watched the conflict between his forces and the CSC. As expected, Chaldea had no intention of cooperating in the first place, but he was a little surprised by their little scheme. "A shapeshifter that physically morphs..." The German made a mental note to look into it later. "Now then...- Hmm?" "Not bad... you almost managed to sneak up on me."
"Save it. I see even the slightest movement and you're dead." Shirou warned, his bowstring pulled back with a sword-arrow ready to fire. "I don't know what you did back at the office, but at this distance, even you won't be able to react or avoid this."
"Ho? Is that a challenge I hear, Emiya Shirou?" He chuckled, but Shirou offered no response, keeping his bow trained dead center on Lev's head. "Hmph, not even a slight reaction? But that's neither here nor there I suppose. I have to say, smart move using that pitiful errand girl as a deterrent. Sure enough, I cannot risk any chance of the Association learning I'm here, but even then, it won't last. Though it seems I may have miscalculated Chaldea's forces, looks like the company hasn't been slacking since I left. In fact, I didn't expect all my special hires to be struggling this much."
"Well too bad then. Now, why the hell are you after our client?" Shirou asked.
"Information..." The German sighed. "You do realize I have zero obligation to share anything, right? I'm simply reclaiming what was mine in the first place."
"Yea right. Last I checked, no one human belongs to another. Now, why are you after her?"
"Well since you're so interested, that thing you call Medusa is a unfinished experiment, one that I would like to complete. Now if you don't mind, I-" True to his word, the moment Lev started to turn his head slightly, it was immediately shot off.
"Tch... great..." The sword-arrow easily shredding through the target like it was nothing, but the blood and guts didn't spew forth like it normally would. The German's head and upper torso burst apart from the impact force into a dust-like form, the rest of the body slowly breaking apart in a similar fashion. "My my... well credit where credit is due, I really couldn't react in time..." A gust of wind sends him scattering into the air, his voice still echoing from where he stood. "But I think you may have bigger problems."
"Bigger problems? What the heck is he going on about-"
Looking towards the Shinto docks, Shirou's eyes widen when he spots a shipping container flying through the air. The metal box crashes between two stacks of containers, blocking off one of the pathways in between. Scanning the container storage area, he spots Scathach and Mashu for a moment, but not whatever threw the container.
"RRRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" A blood curdling roar fills the entire area before another shipping container goes flying through the air.
"What the- ...Oh boy... that's... not good..."
"That's..." Blocking another attack from Marie, Sanson quickly dodges Chevalier's oncoming rapier, leaping backwards away from them. "Great... And he's let that thing loose." Looking down at himself, the executioner had managed to hold his own, but at this rate, he'd be the one losing. "Well then, I hate to cut our time short, but I'm afraid it's high time I left."
"Running away?" The french lady fired off another attack at him, the latter blocking with his claymore.
"Call it what you want, it is what it is. But if I were you, I would go check up on your friends." Bolting back towards the city, the white haired man hops the fence, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Wait!" The royal guard wanted to chase after him, but Marie lightly grabbed her shoulder, holding her back. "Princess?"
"Let him go for now, Chevalier..." The french lady look towards the stacks of shipping containers where the loud roar came from. "...I have a bad feeling about this..."
...
"...Senpai..." Holding her shield in a defensive stance, Mashu gulped nervously.
"Yea..."
Scathach and Mashu were both making their way through the maze of shipping containers, looking for a exit back to the rest of the docks when something came bursting through one of the walls in their path, sending bent up pieces of metal their way. Looking through the clearing smoke, they had found whoever flung those containers into the air. Or in this case, whatever flung it, since what they were looking at may resemble a human, but is definitely far from being one.
A man stands nearly ten feet tall, surpassing even the metal boxes around them. He possessed a huge, almost gigantic muscular body, nearly all of it covered with large scar tissue, ranging from cuts to burns. Wearing nothing but a red cloth around his lower body, sizable shackles clung to his arms and legs, with a gigantic one around his belly. His head was hidden beneath a black metal helmet with two horn and a golden ring attached to where his nose area would be, giving him the appearance of a bull. Long, crinkly white hair came out from the helmet, forming a mane around his neck.
"Grrrrraaaaagggghhhh..." Taking a step forward shook the earth slightly, the ground cracking beneath his feet. In each hand, he was armed with steel beams, easily holding them up as if they were regular pipes. "RRRRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Breaking into a sprint, the giant charges forward toward them.
"Anzus!" Blasting forth a volley of runes, giant fireballs fly towards their target, their scorching flames encompassing the entire area in front of them. But the target didn't stop or dodge, taking the attack head on as he continued rushing forward. "No effect?!" Taking notice of her, the masked man raised both steel beams, swinging them towards the crimson haired woman.
"Senpai!" Stepping in front of the crimson haired woman, Mashu braced herself for a strong hit, but what came was far more than she could handling. Slamming into the shield, the impact sends Mashu flying off her feet with Scathach, the both of them crashing against a container wall behind them. "What the... Valiant of Snowflakes... broke?" Coughing out the blood built up in her mouth, the lavender haired girl struggled to push herself back up. Looking towards her shield, Lord Camelot was still shaking from the impact, as was her right arm and her legs. "No... he's strong enough to completely negate my protection? But that's..." No, while impossible, that had to be it; had Valiant of Snowflakes actually broke, Mashu would no longer have her right arm.
"Son of a-...Heh... Okay, that actually hurt..." Blood flowed down from the crimson haired woman's head, covering up her right eye in red, as well as a small amount coming from the side of her mouth. Had Mashu not gotten in front of her, her reinforcement runes might not have been enough to save her. Trying to focus her blurred eyes, she could make out the fresh burns around the masked man's body, even though they were only first degree ones when he should've lost chunks of flesh. "Ha... So the runes did affect him, they're just lacking in firepower... That's some magic resistance that thing has..."
"S-Senpai...! You're hurt!"
"I- I'm fine..." Wiping off the blood from her lips, Scathach pressed her palm against the wall behind her, using the flat surface to help steady herself back up. "So that man even has monsters like these at his disposal... Alright then..." "Mashu, can you stand?"
"Y-Yea...?"
"I may have a way to stop him, but... think you can keep him distracted for a bit?" From beneath her right sleeve, she grabs a bracelet, snapping off the string which held with it small shaped piece of wood. Taking a breath, Scathach cleared her mind of any unnecessary thoughts, filling her magic circuits throughout her body with a steady amount of magical energy.
"I... I can try..."
"GRRAAAGGHHH!" When the white maned bull charged forward again, the crimson haired woman quickly reinforced her arms, pushing the lavender haired girl aside just as the masked man reached them, his attack crashing him into the container wall. The wall lit up with a rune symbol, blasting a fiery explosion point blank in his face.
"Mashu, just keep him occupied for a minute!" Scathach yelled out.
"Okay! Hey, over here!" From within the smoke, another attack came towards her at breakneck speed. Dodging the first attack, Mashu quickly readied herself for the immediate second attack. Steel beam swinging downward towards her, she raised her shield in retaliation. Putting all her might into stopping the attack, the force was still strong enough crack the ground around her, her feet being painfully forced down into the concrete. "Too!- Strong!-" Mustering up whatever strength she could, Mashu managed to push back the attack for a second, quickly backing away as the steel beam went into the ground.
"Again...! How is he negate my defenses so much?!" Pulling back his weapon from the ground, the steel beam was swung so hard it had been bent almost into a 'U'. Looking at his weapon, the white maned bull tossed aside the damaged beam. "...The weapon can't handle his strength?"
"GRRRAAAAGGGHH!" Avoiding attack after attack, Mashu tried to limit blocking attacks, resulting in her being slowly backed. Eventually hitting a wall, she quickly used her shield in a parry, barely able to sending the oncoming steel beam into the wall instead, quickly creating some space between herself and her opponent.
"Darn, even if it's just buying time, I won't last long if I can barely play defense against that thing... If I can last against an attack for just a few seconds!" Considering her options, there was one thing that she could do, but with how much magical energy it takes. Taking a deep breath, Mashu began channeling magical energy through her arms into Lord Camelot. "Okay, here we go..." Getting into stance, the lavender haired girl readied herself for the next attack.
"GRRRAAAAAAA!" Raising the steel beam with both his hands, the masked man charged straight towards her, intending to finish her with his next strike.
"Deploying Mystic Code!" Her opponent closes the distance in a second, death mere inches from reaching her. "Lord Chaldeas!" Focusing as much magical energy as her circuits could handle, Mashu slammed the cross-shaped shield upright against the ground. White light burst forth, forming a large wall atop the shield's surface.. When the steel beam hit, the force of impact sent shock waves to the area around them. "HAAAAAH!" But Mashu barely budged, holding her ground as the attack almost slid off as she parried it away, knocking the weapon out of his hand. "Now!" Seizing the opening she managed to create, the lavender haired girl quickly jumped, swinging Lord Camelot downwards. Slamming into the giant black helmet he was wearing, she didn't stop until his entire head went digging into the ground. Stumbling backwards in the aftermath, Mashu managed to use her shield to keep on her feet.
Lord Chaldeas, the closest Mashu could currently get to bringing out her mystic code's true potential, hence why it's under a different name. An enhanced version of her magecraft where she forcefully overloaded her usual defense barriers, sending her protection into overdrive and her defenses through the roof. But in exchanged, flooding her magic circuits with that much magical energy left them in 'cooldown' for a moment, leaving them unusable for awhile. Not to mention the noticeable state of physical tiredness due to the sudden consumption of a large amount of the od within her body.
"That actually... worked. I hope Scathach-senpai will have whatever she's planning finished soo-"
"gggggrrrrraaaggghhh!" Clenching his fist, the white maned bull slammed both his hands into the ground, breaking apart the concrete trapping his head, freeing himself easily. "RAAAAAGGGHHH!" Still on all fours, the man charged towards Mashu like an actual bull would, his two horns aimed towards her.
"What the!-" Upon contact, she is immediately forced back, her feet being dragged though the concrete. "Crap! Lord Chaldeas won't!-" Even with her severely increased defenses, the attack was immense.
"Mashu, get back!" Mid-charge, the white maned bull is pulled towards the ground. The entire area fills with a blue hue, large rune symbols materialize on the floor, walls, even placed in the sky. With the attack neutralized, the lavender haired girl quickly leaped back, spacing herself away from the opponent.
"Activation!" Landing in front of her, Scathach had in her arm a long wooden staff, with multiple runes etched onto its surface. Raising the staff, multiple rune symbols form around her while the ones in place started glowing brighter. Noticing the change, the raging man tried his hardest to push himself back up. "Too slow! Grand-Scale! Burn Into Cinders, Cage Of Flames!"
Torrents of flames blast upward as a pillar from the ground, the giant runes around the area directing and condensing them all toward a single point. Immediately covered within the blazing orange, the masked man yells in extreme agony. Eventually, the torrent of flames drowns out his roars, the incineration starting to melt the metal containers around them.
"A-Amazing!" From where she was standing, even Mashu was hiding behind her shield, finding the heat unbearable. Looking at the pillar of fire reaching the sky, she was amazed at the scale of the crimson haired woman's spell. "This should- Huh?" Narrowing her eyes towards the figure she could barely see among the fire, it looked like the masked man had struggled back up, but the figure was holding something in his hands. "That's!- Senpai!"
"Huh?-"
From within the flames, a large object came flying out. A piece of the rubble had been ripped from the ground, being aimed towards them. Running forward, Mashu quickly shielded them both. Although successfully blocking the attack, the lavender haired girl is sent colliding into the woman behind her.
"Ugh... Mashu, you oka-" Even though her concentration was broken for a mere instant, it was enough to where the masked man had broken out of the burning flames, charging straight towards them. "Shit!" Circling her free hand around Mashu's waist, she quickly slammed her staff against the ground. Mere seconds before the oncoming fist would've reached them, flames burst from the ground around them to counter the attack. At the same time, her spell also destroys the floor, dropping them both down into a rapid current of sewer water, saving them from being caught in the blazing flames.
"grrrrrrraaaaggghhhh..." By the time the spell dies off, both of them were long gone. Looking down at the speeding current, he was about to follow when he felt two blades on his shoulders.
"What the..." A rapier and a katana, each aimed towards the man's shoulder joints, were barely cutting into his flesh.
"Chevalier!/Anjin-sama!" Jumping off the masked man, a magic flare cluster together with scorching flames hits him in the face. Knocking him off his feet, the four of them quickly put themselves between him and the sewer hole.
"What is he?... Our blades barely caused wounds..."
"Let us worry about that." Feeling the buzz in pocket, Marie pulls out her mobile. "Shirou-kun texted, he's on his way here."
"That so? Antoinette-dono, please go after Scathach-dono and Kyrielite-dono."
"Huh? But-"
"Don't worry about it, Princess. With Shirou on his way, we'll deal with him somehow.
"...If you say so. Be very careful." Reluctantly agreeing, the french lady jumps down into the sewer way, running along the path that followed the water's current. Soon after, the man gets back up. Smashing his fist into the ground around him, he pulls out two pieces of concrete rebar.
Deep in the sewers where the current had died down, Scathach burst out from the water for a much needed breath of air. Pulling up Mashu, she quickly found the nearby pathway to crawl up to. "Haaaah... Damn, that was close..." Laying the girl down, the crimson haired woman places her hands on the girls chest, one atop the other. Applying a few compression's, the lavender haired eventually coughs out water, gasping for air. "Thank goodness..."
Minutes later, Mashu finally regained consciousness. "Huh? Scathach... senpai...? W-What happened, where are we?"
"In the sewers, I guess I owe you one for saving me from that piece of rubble. Can't believe that guy could manage an attack while being baked alived..." She explained. "Anyway, good news is I know which part of the sewers we're in, bad news is... well, it's a long walk to the nearest exit. Regardless, take a minute to catch your breath."
"I see..." Letting her eyes wonder, she finds herself looking at Scathach's staff. "Senpai, what's that?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's known as a Matrix Wodan; a spare staff I brought along just in case. It has my Primeval Runes etched onto it, and as you saw, it makes for a great casting catalyst. But-"
"Hum... Hum... Hum!" A distorted voice starts singing, echoing through the sewer tunnels from all directions.
"Great... I was wondering when he'd show up."
Note:
Okobo, are a kind of heighted wooden sandals usually worn by maiko (apprentice geisha) during their apprenticeship.