I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor any other Servants depicted here.
Boundary
"A wise choice," stated Lancer.
"Steel is my body and Fire is my blood..."
"What do you mean, Lancer?" asked Rin, her hair moving with the gusts of wind present. The Masters could only stare while the other three Servants gripped their weapons... or in Rider's case, his fists, as they got ready to fight off the supposed greater daemon.
"I have created over a thousand Blades..."
"Chaos does not operate on simple sorcery like your world does," Lancer explained slowly, as if talking to a child, "While that mon-keigh cultist lacks in psychic power, the cursed book more than compensates..."
"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life..."
"Power comes from the Immaterium. It comes from the life blood spilled on the ground. It comes from the flesh, both dead and living..."
The rumbling intensifies as the circle was fully traced in the air.
"Have withstood pain to create many weapons..."
"Greatest of all, it comes from the psychic emotions present here. Did the cultist not say that the cursed item controls the entire area?"
The bodies and the blood used to create the circle started to float upwards.
"Yet, those hands will never hold anything..."
"Even now, I can sense a myriad of things. Despair. Hope. Fear. Terror. And more recently... Rage."
Drop by drop, the red liquid suspended in the air as if frozen in time. The bodies liquefied, the slurry behaving in similar fashion.
"So, as I pray..."
"If you wish to fight, mon-keigh, be prepared for battle immediately, for it will not wait for you," she concluded as she gripped her spear. The drops of fallen life suddenly coalesced to the center, forming a pulsating red ball. For a mere second...
"Unlimited Blade Works."
The ball exploded outwards, becoming a fine mist. From within, a loud inhuman roar was bellowed out and the falling spray revealed a large winged horror with blood red skin and bat-like wings. At the same time, fire blazed outwards from Archer in a circular manner. Fire with no heat, but consumed the ground with great intensity and all became white as the Masters covered their blinded eyes.
"Where did they go!?" shouted Shinji as he stepped out from behind a tree, the open book floating behind him, "Where is that thing I summoned? That Greater Demon?" The book flew around him and presented its pages.
It is merely a Reality Marble, Master. The Rider from the previous War had one as well.
"Reality... Marble?" the Matou repeated slowly, his anger cut short to growling, "Why haven't I heard of this?"
It does not matter. All we need to know is that one of the Servants has a Reality Marble and the Khornate has been brought inside it, as are the other Servants and Masters present in the vicinity.
"Hmph, fine. I might look it up next time," he replied, calming down. He paused to take a better look at the summoning area. All trace of his preparations, as well as all the Masters and Servants that were present, were all gone. It was mind boggling. Then, he asked, "Your Master participated in the previous War?"
Indeed. Unfortunately, he perished in the very same Reality Marble the past Rider had.
"I see..." he mulled over, but soon said triumphantly, "Still, that Khornate thing we summoned would have no problem defeating them."
Maybe... though, the Bloodthirster summoned was one of the more shorter ones I have witnessed.
At that, his mind shut down for a moment.
"Shorter... ones...?"
"Avenger."
The skinny, blue haired Servant jumped out of his inky blackness and swung his giant weapon out, cutting down the giant snakes that suddenly sprouted out of the ground. As easily as they appeared, they dissipated, revealing the mediator from before covered in a single piece of clothing. To Caster it was odd, but at that moment, it didn't matter. The mediator sought her death, and she wasn't intending to die any time soon. However, she would freely offer death to him.
"Hmm, it seems we have another oddity here," he said as he slipped into a stance, "No matter, all will fall in the end." Then, a weird black substance spread over his head, totally enveloping it. The eye sockets began to glow a deep red.
Inwardly, she was a bit startled. Only a bit. The mediator didn't look very human anymore... and the fact that it reminded her of that shadow monster that the she-devil, that repulsive woman, sent after her. This thought only served to raise her ire even further.
"Avenger, kill him."
The order spurred the Servant of Vengeance to cackle even more as he threw out his giant shuriken, aimed at the shadow mediator who was dashing forward. At the last moment, he gestured and a black barrier rose to block the weapon. As the shuriken flew back, the barrier dropped and the mediator was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a black hole appeared below Avenger and a black fish-like creature shot out and knocked him into the air. It followed up by gaining larger fins and slamming the Servant onto the ground. As he skidded over to Caster, the fish melted into the floor and out came the mediator.
With a cry of anger, Avenger got up and leaped at him.
The sky was choked with red dust and smoke. Huge cogs clanked and whirred in the distance. The land was barren. Arid and dusty and red. As far as the eye can see, swords decorated the earth, stabbed into it blade first, making them look like gravestones of fallen warriors. This is what they saw then it was made manifest.
"A Reality Marble..." muttered Rin in awe as she took in the information. The other Masters were quite amazed as well, although Bazett was hiding hers quite well. Shirou then grimaced as he suddenly held the side of his head, Sakura saying his name with worry.
Archer scowled as he glanced at them, catching Shirou in his sights, "This is my soul. Tread lightly."
"Well, this is really something," commented Rider. Assassin said nothing, only keeping close to Sakura.
"To think you had the power to create your own dimension," stated Lancer, "You must have manifested great control over your psychic powers in life, mon-keigh spirit."
"You can address me as Archer, Lancer," replied the Servant of the Bow, quickly noting the summoned daemon's reaction. It seemed to be as stunned as everyone else was. But not for long, as it let loose a great roar and proceeded to charge at them, raising its giant axe high above its horned head. Instantly, he materialized his bow and had already notched an arrow to it. He seemed to mutter something as he let it fly. Surprisingly, the horned daemon stopped and swung its great weapon, deflecting the arrow with a loud explosion.
Sakura glanced to her side, noting the patches of darkness that were slowly dissipating. "Assassin?" she said in surprise, wondering where he went to.
"Up there," said Rider, drawing the attention of the Masters. Assassin stood on the shoulder of the beast, slashing its neck. Unfortunately, the cuts were shallow and only served to enrage the greater daemon. It grabbed after him with its free hand, but he merely teleported away in a flash of darkness, appearing on the ground. He raised a hand-held crossbow and shot at it once, shouting, "Come at me!" The thing only obliged, as it thundered after the Servant of Murder. Meanwhile, Archer let out a sigh of relief as the bow disappeared from his grasp.
"The spirit will only serve to delay it."
The Masters turned back to Lancer, who seemed to be preparing something. She would draw something in the air, then the ruby red stones on her armor and the spear would gleam and hum.
"Lancer, what are you..."
"The bloodthirster must die," she declared as she interrupted Bazett, "If left unchecked, it will be released onto your world. This manifestation will only delay the inevitable." She then muttered lightly, "It is times like this that I wished I had a host of Eldar with me. We would make short work of that greater daemon." Turning to the remaining Servants, she told them, "If you wish to aid me, then do so. If not, do not hinder me." She then took a few steps forward... and then she stopped. Looking to the Irishwoman, she waited.
"Lancer, win and return," the Enforcer ordered.
The Servant scoffed and replied, "With Fortune being my Guide, Doom will come to the spawn of the Great Enemy." And she took off, leaving a white shine in her wake.
"That was... cryptic... and dramatic," muttered Noel, the first to break the few seconds silence that passed. Turning to Saber, she asked, "Do you think you can repeat what you did in the last War? Your final attack?"
A look of concern graced the Servant's face. "I have a different Master now," she let Noel know, with Shirou's face etched with worry, "It may take even longer for me to prepare."
"You know what, take all the time you need," Rider interjected as he suddenly crushed a clear, white crystal in his hand, "Now, I have no idea what your final attack is but leave it to us to buy you enough time to do whatever you need to do." With a sheen of white and swirling snow, the eidolons materialized, already in their Gestalt Mode. He quickly hopped on and drove off to aid the other two.
Then, they heard another roar echo through the arid land, coming from the still visible greater daemon.
The bloodthirster roared in pain as the bolt of lightning slammed into its head. Lancer leaped back as the greater daemon spun around with deceptive dexterity and slammed the axe into the ground she stood on a few seconds earlier. Assassin had already returned to his Master, as drawing the beast away was his only concern. The daemon made to grab her, but she danced out of his way and sent another bolt to its head, the psychic lightning not only blemishing its skin, but also searing what little mental capability it had. It swung again, this time the blade cut from the side. She jumped and landed on it. Keeping her balance, she waited until the swing followed through and she jumped off, her spear tip aimed at its head. It moved and the spearhead met the shoulder instead. She dragged the blade across and up the neck, leaving a deep gash. With a great howl, it made to grab her, only for her weapon to impale its palm. A great roar later, Lancer landed on her feet, turning to aim another bolt at its head.
"It seems it only serves to irritate the beast," she muttered, noting the patches of black and red under its hooves and its faintly smoking prints slowly becoming larger, "Disrupting its connection to the warp is sound, but banishing it back will take all of my effort."
The bloodthirster roared once more. However, a thunderous crack was heard. Small fissures began appearing on the ground. An inhuman shriek sounded behind her. She spun around and neatly beheaded the bloodletter that charged at her.
"The encroaching has begun, even if it is much slower..." she mused as she turned her back on another four more that appeared. As she looked on the bloodthirster, the sound of a machine droned louder and the shrieks stopped. She lowered herself as the greater daemon strode up to strike. More shrieks echoed as three more of the lesser daemons burst out of three red portals that suddenly appeared and charged straight at her. She impaled the skull of the first, slid the spear point out and smacked the second away, and flung the third away with a psychic push. She leaped after the second and landed on it, driving her weapon's blade into its skull. Taking it out, she then adjusted her grip and flung the spear at the charging third, the point driven into its chest. Before the body even reached the floor, it dislodged itself and flew back to her.
"Sovereign FIST!"
She looked up; Rider was overhead, punching the giant axe that was being aimed at her aside. He landed, noticed the disappearing lesser daemons and said, "What in the world are those things? They didn't get summoned with that bloodthirster thing, did it?"
"The bloodthirster's presence is allowing the Warp to encroach on this dimension," she stated as she leaped back as the axe landed with a crash. "The longer the greater daemon exists, the weaker it gets and more daemons will come through."
Eight more bloodletters burst forth into existence and attacked them. With a wave of her hand, a psychic explosion threw them all away. Noting that the greater daemon had turned to look at the group of mon-keigh, she stated, "Strange. Why..." And then, a bright light shone from that group. It felt powerful and dangerous. "So... it goes to the more pressing threat," she mused as she parried a slash from a Hellblade. Quickly stabbing the daemon's throat, she called out to Rider, "You might want to let them know it is coming. We must hold these ones here and make sure no more come through."
"Oh, they heard you loud and clear, alright," he replied as he ducked past a bloodletter's guard and uppercut it on the chin.
"May the wrath of Khaine rouse them," she muttered as she charged into the fray with a shrill cry as another eight more broke through.
The thunderous crack did not go unnoticed by the group of Masters. Archer winced as pain surged through him for a few seconds. "What just happened?" he muttered to himself, as the others watched what the large daemon was doing.
Then, Luvia let out a small gasp. "How is that possible..." she was heard muttering to herself.
"What are you talking about?" asked Rin, giving in to her curiosity. Everyone else present looked at the Edelfelt.
"That crack we all heard... that was the boundary," she explained, sounding a little shocked as she turned to them. To Archer specifically. "More of... of that thing... are coming through. Rider and Lancer are fighting them off."
She was cut off by a sudden brilliance. An invisible weapon was now revealed, a most majestic sword. A sword belonging to Saber.
"Beautiful..." muttered Shirou as he stared at the sword in awe. The other Masters, minus Bazette, had a similar look. Assassin stood stoically next to Sakura. Archer seemed to be emotionless, but if one looked more closely, the side of his mouth seemed to twitch a little as he closed his eyes.
"It seems you are ready, Saber," said Noel with a small smile on her face.
Instead of a confirmation, Saber shook her head and replied, "No, it is not enough. We either need to damage that foul summon further or I need more time to ready myself."
"I think that demon knows it too," Assassin suddenly spoke up as he got ready. Everyone turned back to it and sure enough, it was looking at them. It then looked to the sky and roared. It then pointed at the with its axe before lumbering towards them.
"Odd... it was in a hurry before... what changed?" said Bazette as she tugged on her gloves, putting everyone on edge. Luvia reached into her skirt pocket, producing a few gems held between her fingers. A black, shadowy circle bubbled up around Sakura's feet. Shirou, having prepared nothing, decided to reach for a random sword that littered the place and set himself on guard. A sort of sloppy stance, but on guard nonetheless.
Archer frowned but didn't say anything. He then held his hand in front of Rin, "Like I said earlier, you do not have to do anything, Rin. I may need to call upon your help to maintain it." With a frown of her own, the magus put away her own jewels, knowing fully what her Servant meant. A cacophony of snarls and hissing made them look. Slowly walking towards them were those horrific looking demons that were summoned the other night. The bloodthirster then raised its axe high above its horned head and bellowed. The smaller ones echoed back and charged at them.
Saber made to counter charge but Noel put a hand to her shoulder and said, "Let us buy time for you, Saber. As Rider did say, take all the time you need." The Servant looked on grimly and nodded.
The former Servant nodded in reply, stepped in front of her, and started firing. A few demons fell, bullet holes in between their eyes. Archer joined her, sending his black arrows raining from the sky.
"In creation and in death, there is only shadow and darkness..."
A dark shape rose beside Sakura, take shape of a giant scorpion. With a gesture, the giant arachnid dove into the ground with surprising ease. A trailing mound moved towards the charging band of demons and it erupted in the middle of it, throwing many of their feet. Immediately, those that were not caught trained their blades on it. It returned with its giant claws and vicious looking stinger; though it lacked poison, it could still impale and fling a demon away with ease. It seemed to drain a bit out of her, for she let out a sigh and her shoulders slumped over. Assassin helped to steady her as she wobbled on her feet, Shirou sending a worried look over to her.
Still, not all were distracted by the shadow construct. Many stragglers still zoned in on them, choosing to continue their charge. It was then Archer dismissed his bow and brought out his married blades. He ran forward to meet them and soon the swords were dancing freely. Suddenly, a shrill cry sounded behind them. Saber spun round and immediately cut down the bloodletter that appeared there. Three more buzzing sounds issued forth and three more demons burst out from electrical red flashes.
"Protect her," said Assassin as he put Sakura's hand on Shirou's shoulder, the young duo starting to blush. Flipping his sword open, he Blink-ed towards them, just as Luvia flung out her jewels in a magical bombardment. The explosions only served to anger them even further, as they rushed headlong after them. Even so, Assassin had no problem taking out one while Noel turned round and killed the other two.
"Call Rider back!" Rin shouted as she placed herself behind Shirou, albeit reluctantly, as she badly wanted to to contribute to the fight as well as show off to the Edelfelt.
"He said he will be here soon," the blonde magus shouted back, "Lancer will be with him! Why aren't they affected by my magecraft!?"
An enraged roar caused everyone to look up. With a mighty swing, the bloodthirster obliterated the shadow construct, shattering it out of existence. The, it turned to bring the axe down on them. However, the drone of a motor caught their ears and Rider rode up to them at full speed, the ice trail somehow moving faster than he was and made a ramp. He drove off with ease, heading straight to the greater daemon.
"Take this!" he cried as the bike deconstructed into the two eidolons, who grabbed hold of his feet and shoved him forward. He reared back his fist... and punched the daemon in the shoulder, ultimately stopping its attack in its tracks. It stumbled to the side and fell as Rider landed on the ground, making a moderately sized crater. The eidolons floated down and stayed at his flanks.
A cacophony of howls and shrieks drew all of their attention. The daemons that were distracted by the shadow scorpion were now turning their sights on them.
"Impressive feat," said Lancer as she walked past them and stood in front, facing the horde, "However, it merely delayed it. We have yet to kill it and the encroachment is increasing."
"Saber is still not ready, I presume," stated Assassin as he Blink-ed in next to Sakura.
"Better hurry up, Saber. If what Lancer says is true, I will be forced to withdraw my soul to stop this from being a permanent feature," said Archer as he raised his hand in the air. The swords all around them slowly floated up, including the one in Shirou's hand, which he let go of. The Servant threw his hand down towards the advancing daemons. The swords rained down, impaling many.
"Styria, Nix, let's pitch in," said Rider as the Sisters nodded. They spun and gestured at the daemons, ice formations randomly appearing and exploding among them.
"I don't think we can handle both those and that... bloodthirster... at the same time," stated Noel worryingly, "Everyone, you take care of those. I'll take on the big one."
"Eh?" sounded the red head magus in disbelief, "Er, Officer, I'm not sure if you noticed, but...
"Trust her, Shirou," interjected Saber, drawing his attention, "She will be able to distract it long enough for me to kill it."
"Thank you, Saber," replied the former Servant with a smile. Taking a deep breath, she held her guns up, each pointing the opposite way. With one pointing up and one pointing down, she slammed the triggers together. The barrels broke off the guns and the weapons themselves shattered, disappearing into motes of light. They reformed into a symbol, her pair of revolvers in an X-formation.
"Restriction 6-6-6, Activate," she announced as she placed her hand over it. The image broke up into six revolving orbits before reforming into a sword with what looked to be many wings around it.
"Boundary Prime Field Device deployed," she intoned. The image disappeared and she became enveloped in light. It burst away, revealing a different person. Her eyes were bright blue and wore and open faced helm with two fins or horns rising from behind her ears. She had a long white cloak with blue trim on her shoulders covering her entire body, adorned with six black rings that had red colored tags on it. A huge block-like thing that was reminiscent of a sword appeared behind her, colored blue, white and gold.
"Mu-12, Activate!" she declared loudly. The cloak glowed and burst, as well as the sword-like block. The apparel disappeared, leaving behind an almost-naked Noel, which made Shirou turn around with a blush. The floating piece of metal glowed, then split into eight blades that floated behind her like a pair of wings as it stopped glowing.
She gave herself a once over and sighed. "I wish I could make this a little less revealing..." she muttered to herself. Setting her sight on the rising greater daemon, she said, "Release... the Light."
Two white orbs formed above her and shot two beams of pure light at it. It roared in pain and anger as it singed its chest.
"Time to take you down," she declared as she flew at it.
Commentary:-
GOODNESS! So many surprises in this chapter! ...Well, for the Master's at least. Reality Marble. Check! Bloodthirster. Check! Chaos breaking reality. Double check! Fortune. Guide. Doom. All checked and ready to go!
Welcome back, dear readers. Today, we shall take a walk through the world of Unlimited Blade Works. Right now, its cracking up, but what do you expect when you decide to try and contain Chaos within it? It never always ends well. Or will it? You will never know, for Chaos is ever changing and ever morphing into something you would never expect. Still, we already got a curve ball where we have a shorter-than-normal greater daemon. A pity that Shinji and the book could only do so much. Still, it has been done and it will rampage unchecked unless the Servants present defeat it. Everything is riding on a promised victory. Everything is coming out... even the Sword of Doom. What else will be in store for them, I wonder?
Now then, would you kindly... read and review?