Chapter 7: Burning Scarlet

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own TYPE-MOON

-Kousuke-

-Midnight, Streets-

The rain just wouldn't stop pouring.

"▅▅▅██▃▃▄█!"

The street in front of us was being obliterated just from Berserker swinging his sword-axe at thin air.

"Reikōgyoku!"

In retaliation, Caster fired off a large orb of glowing mana at Berserker, who simply shrugged it off.

"Heracles and God Hand…that's just too OP isn't it?"

Earlier I had already tried hitting him with my katana. It was a miracle that it didn't break. That skin was practically as hard as steel! And his Agility was ridiculous! I only managed to get a hit in because Caster distracted him sufficiently with her Narumikazuchi.

"Master, watch out!"

"I know!"

All we could do now was keep retreating as the mad warrior came charging at us over and over.

"Master, it looks like I have to start bringing out the strongest spells I have. Are you ready?"

"Of course."

At my word, Caster thrust her arms before her and her whole body started radiating energy that even Berserker seemed wary. Having completed her incantation within seconds, she cried-

"Yuumi Kachō!"

And just like that, hundreds of petals and butterflies of pure prana appeared out of nowhere around us, and if it weren't for the condition we were in, it would have to say it was stunningly beautiful.

"Berserker, be careful!"

As the magic bullets started raining upon Berserker, he simply roared and swung his sword around, smashing the bullets aside. But it seemed like an unneeded action, for the bullets weren't even reaching him.

"Caster!"

"Just a distraction. Now."

And raising her hands, they began glowing with a green light.

"Gōma Tetsujinken!"

And just as before, out of thin air appeared a ridiculous massive iron sword that towered over us which left even Berserker's Master and myself gaping.

"Berserker!"

Berserker looked up just in time to see the giant sword carve its way towards him.

"█▄▄▅█▅▅▅▂▂▄▄▄▄!"

There was a massive crash, and all we could see was a giant cloud of dust. As it subsided, both Caster and I were shocked. Despite the fact that Berserker had been pushed back along the whole length of the street, he was barely injured, and he was holding his sword with one hand and supporting it with the other.

"Berserker…used both hands?" stuttered Ilya.

With another roar, Berserker prepared for another charge.

"Heh…heheh…"

"Cas…ter?"

That was the first time I had ever heard her laugh like that. And it was absolutely terrifying.

"Impressive! You truly are a Berserker! Very well, I will fight you with as much power as I can muster!"

And all of a sudden, Caster's body began giving off a bright gold aura as I felt her mana spike to incredible levels. As I kept watching…I realized…she was growing more tails!

"Come, Heracles! I, Tamamo-no-Mae will be your opponent!"

"Reikō Kyōhan Shō!"

"!"

It had only been a few minutes since Caster grew her second tail and she was already on the verge of growing another one. Berserker's sword smashed full force into the barrier of mana just created by Caster, and despite shattering with that single hit, all of Berserker's force that went into that strike was reflected back on him and made him stagger.

"Sōka Sōran!"

Twin horizontal cyclones of wind and petals emerged and rushed at Berserker, who just begin thrashing away at the storm that assailed him.

"You should look up too! Benihiko!"

With her other hand, she made a circle motion with her finger and above Berserker, a ring of a hundred swords materialized, which subsequently rained down on Berserker.

"█▄!"

But yet with another roar, he simply kept trashing until everything was gone. Even the blades that touched him barely left any scratches.

"Caster…don't use anything that will destroy the surrounding area."

"That just makes it harder to kill him!" she replied in irritated voice as she cast yet another spell.

"Berserker! Stop wasting time!"

"Uzuyami!"

This time, multiple tornadoes of darkness whirled into existence and hurtled along the street but Berserker just kept coming. However, he definitely either smashed or avoided every tornado.

"He knows that they're deadly. I should step up my game a little more!"

As Caster's third tail fully appeared, I remembered something I had with me and rummaged in my pockets for it.

"Suiten Sakamake!"

This time, a raging torrent of water, as if it had been spilled straight from the ocean, rushed directly at Berserker. He was being forcefully pushed back, yet he still surged on.

"Unsan Mushō!"

As numerous beams of light began converging on where Berserker stood, suddenly he jumped straight into the air!

"Caster look out!"

I made a mad dash and grabbed Caster, pulling her out of the way as Berserker came crashing down on where we stood previously, leaving a huge crater. Behind him, there was a huge explosion of prana as the spell hit.

"Thanks Master! Now, Guren Bakuenjin!"

Like a crimson lotus, flames spewed from Caster's hands as she repeatedly pummeled Berserker with spiraling swords of flame.

"█▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂█▄███▄!"

Slashing away at the flames, we could see that Berserker was definitely injured, but his powers were slowly but surely healing him. Also, I had found what I was searching for.

"Fujin Kamaitachi!"

As Berserker was buffeted by razor-sharp gales of slicing wind, I held up the small bottle in my hand.

"Berserker!"

Ether Pills. Despite only containing a small amount, almost 0.1% ether, that was what they were called. Mixed with other ingredients, they were basically what you could call a prana booster, immediately replenishing a certain amount of prana when consumed. However, overdose and prolonged usage would cause major bodily harm, and even a single pill can slightly (but only temporarily) harm a person's body.

"Kagon Retsuzanshi!"

This time I looked up to see numerous long, thin, curved blades of prana spiral around Berserker, continuously slicing shallow wounds into his body, which in my opinion was a feat in itself, considering how hard his skin was.

"▄▄██▃▃▃▄▅▅█!"

But eventually, like all the others, the spell faded and Berserker came charging once more.

"Fuh."

With a huff, Caster sprouted yet another tail, making it her fourth one and called out the name of another spell.

"Onko Shōbaku Heki!"

This time, a tall, rectangular barrier of what seemed to be pale green water enclosed Berserker and Caster, the latter having effortlessly hopped through to stand in front of me. Despite the fact that Caster had escaped from his range, Berserker made no move to follow her, and in fact he seemed to be avoiding the barrier walls altogether.

"Berserker! What on earth are you doing! Go after them!"

"Miss Einzbern, I am sure that your Servant knows perfectly what he is doing. I wouldn't touch the barrier as well, if I were you. But it won't last long, so-"

All of a sudden, Caster tore off her right kimono sleeve, leaving her pale arm bare.

"Master, please step back. I really, really don't want to hit you with this."

Sensing the danger of the spell, even I backed away to a safe distance, while Berserker just looked straight at Caster, ready to charge once the barrier was down. After a full 10 seconds of chanting, Caster said the name of her spell.

"Jaō-"

With the first word, the night air instantly got hotter and the rain started turning to steam where Caster stood.

"Wha-What are you doing!"

"-Ensatsu-"

At the second word, a blazing, blackish-orange flame shrouded Caster's right arm and all of us could feel the heat and chaos radiating from it. Even the rain had lessened somewhat.

"BERSERKER!"

"-Rengoku Shō!"

Thrusting her right arm forwards, she let loose a massive wave of pure, destructive fire right at Berserker, who attempted to block it with his sword.

It didn't work.

Berserker and everything behind him erupted in a massive burst of flame, the fire completely scorching everything in its path.

"BERSERKER!?"

XXX

-Caster-

Finally the flames died down, and my right arm was left slightly charred and smoking. This was just the weaker version of one of my strongest spells I can use, and it still did quite some damage. Everything in front of me was blackened and charred…

Including the lead giant that stood in front of us.

"Caster!"

I turned to see Kousuke running towards me.

"That was…amazing!"

"Yes…but it's not over yet, Master."

We both turned to look, and slowly but surely, Berserker slowly started moving again.

"11 lives left…this is ridiculous."

Even with that spell and four tails, it only took away one life. If I used the original spell AND all my nine tails, there probably wouldn't even be a neighbourhood left to fight in.

"Two…you took away TWO LIVES in one hit?!" exclaimed the Einzbern Master.

Whoops. Looks I it did what I thought it would after all~

"Berserker. I don't care what happens. Kill. Them. Now."

"██▄▅▅█████▄▅▅█▄▅▅█▄▅█!"

Ah, crap.

"██!"

Just as I began preparing a barrier spell, I suddenly heard my Master chanting.

"tessu no kabe, sōgyō no tō, shakutetsu keikei, tanzen toshite tsuini oto nashi!"

"Master?!"

"Bakudō: Gochūtekkan!"

All of a sudden, five massive pillars of steel which were chained together descended from the sky, crashing down on Berserker, stopping him in his tracks.

"Kousuke!"

"I'm fine…I just took a few Ether Pills, and that spell took almost all my remaining talismans…but I still have enough of both prana and ofuda to hit him with one good blast!"

Ether Pills? What are those!? But more importantly, that was an amazing spell (for a human)!

"Hurry Caster, it won't hold him for long!"

I nodded and began preparing another spell equally as strong, if not stronger that the previous one. Beside me, I heard Kousuke chanting as he tossed out 6 ofuda, which floated in a hexagon formation in front of him.

"sanzai suru, kemono no hone! sentō, kōshō, kōtetsu no sharin. ugokeba kaze, tomareba sora. yariutsu neiro ga kōjō ni michiru!"

Finally, Berserker got up with a roar. But as he did, five of my magic circles surrounded him from four sides and above him. With a smile, I called out the name of the spell, as did my Master with his.

'Kami no Engei: Mikagura!"

"Hadō: Raikōhō!"

As my Master shot off a massive yellow beam of electrified prana at Berserker, all five of my magic circles fired off giant, different coloured beams of sheer prana at Berserker. The resulting explosion was so loud, it was a good thing I soundproofed the whole fight to the rest of the neighbourhood.

"█▄▅▅█▃▄██!"

"BERSERKER?!"

Dust hung in the air for a long time. We had pretty much obliterated the whole street and intersection with our spells. Suddenly, Kousuke staggered and fell to his knees.

"Goshujin-sama?!"

"It's-ahck-alright…I'm just-haah-overexerted…urg!"

I was worried sick for my Master had just coughed up a mouthful a blood…but that was the least of my problems.

"█████████████!"

Acting on pure instinct, I grabbed my Master and jumped a few metres backward, and just in time too. A regenerating Berserker just barreled out of the dust cloud and smashed his sword into the ground where we were a second ago.

"Two and a half," we heard the Einzbern Master say. "Two and a half…that's almost three! Four lives in total. Berserker lost FOUR LIVES IN TOTAL! Who are you people?!"

But, seeing the state we were in, she smiled.

"But…it looks like that's your limit…especially your Master's. Well, it was definitely a well fought battle. Servant Caster and Caster's Master, you have earned my respect. Now, Berserker. Finish them."

With another massive roar, Berserker charged wildly at us. This time, I jumped backwards even further and set my Master down.

"Caster, what are you going to do?"

"We can't let him run rampant like this. None of my long-lasting barriers are strong enough to stop him, while none of my barriers strong enough to contain him last long enough for us to escape. I have to stop him in his tracks completely, or at least slow him down by a large margin."

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and began concentrating. Removing everything else from my mind…I recalled the memory of that fateful day.

Yes…on that day…where I was defeated…and turned into a stone.

But not just any old stone.

An artifact so powerful that it would kill anything that touched it.

"Tokoyo Sakisaku Daisakkai…"

Although I couldn't see it, red motes of light began to surround my body as my body began to radiate extremely dangerous prana. I could even feel Berserker stopping in his tracks in the face of the first of my Noble Phantasms.

"Berserker, what is that?! Stay away!"

"Tamamo! Be careful!"

I will, Master. I will.

As I opened my eyes, I saw that the brilliant scarlet stone had materialized in my hands. And then, I was running. Straight towards Berserker.

"TAMAMO!"

Calling upon the strength and speed I had in my past life for a fraction of a second, I reached Berserker it a split second. It was almost too late, for despite having gotten near enough to the giant to be out of range of his sword, his left fist was rapidly incoming.

"Higanbana Sesshōseki!"

Slamming the Sesshōseki into Berserker's midsection, I had the satisfaction of seeing it take effect for a split second before I felt his fist collide with my body.

…

Master…

Please…

Leave me…

And run while you can!

XXX

-Kousuke-

From my position on the road, my eyes widened as I watched Caster get sent flying from Berserker's fist.

"TAMAMO!"

I watched as Caster flew straight into a wall, taking it down with her with a massive crash. Looking back at Berserker, it looked like he was struggling to move. His whole body was surrounded with crackling scarlet prana and he was swinging himself around frantically.

"This is a curse?! No, poison?! Both?!" exclaimed the Einzbern Master.

"It's the Sesshōseki…Caster!"

As I was about to get up and run to her side, I heard a massive roar as well as the presence of its owner.

"Crap!"

In a ditch effort, I Reinforced my arms more and attempted to block it with Yattsugami, but of course it wasn't enough.

"Uggaaaaaaaah!"

My katana was wrenched out of my hands and stuck itself one-thirds of the way into the road while I was sent stumbling backwards. As I got up to my knees, a huge shadow was cast over me.

"He can…still move this fast…even with the curse?"
"▅█▃▄█!"

"—,—"

And the sword descended.

XXX

-Caster-

Ah…I think he pretty much broke all my ribs and more in that one hit. I couldn't even get up and was lying in the rubble on my front. But when I did look up, I was hit with utmost despair.

"GOSHUJIN-SAMA!"

With a massive swing and crash, Berserker brought his sword right down on my unprepared Master, erupting a huge dust cloud, completely obscuring my view.

"Kousuke…Kousuke…Kousuke!"

I repeatedly called for my beloved Master over and over again, but there was no response. Even within my mind, I couldn't hear him.

"Goshujin-sama…"

I couldn't help it. Tears just started welling up and falling on their own, becoming unrecognizable as they mixed with the rain. My Master which I had sworn to protect…my Master who I promised to live with for the rest of his life…was he really…dead?

"Mas…ter…"

But, as the dust cloud cleared, it was replaced by something else.

"Scarlet…mist?"

Thin wisps of blood-red mist were hovering over the crater where my Master laid. I was still confused when a sudden pain struck me. Not from Berserker, but from within my mind.

No.

It can't be.

I recognized this feeling well enough.

No, not just that.

I used to know someone who had the same feeling, but much, much stronger.

This was the power of…

"…an Oni?"

In the past before and when I lived, Oni were commonplace and could be easily found if you knew where to find them. Sometimes, Oni would kidnap humans after they lost at an Oni's games but other times, humans would willingly seek out oni to crossbreed, so that their offspring would have superior powers. They were known as…

Konketsu.

Or Mixed-Bloods. They weren't rare in my time, but weren't uncommon either. But what was extremely rare, was a human having oni blood so strong, they were known as Kurenai Sekishu.

Crimson Red Vermillion.

And that was the exact same feeling my Master was giving off now.

"Kousuke, can you hear me, Kousuke?!"

But my mind was sent reeling from a sharp shock of pain and a splash of red. Master, don't tell me…you're having an Inversion Impulse?! To survive against Berserker…?!

"!"

Impossible…there was a giant wound running right through Kousuke's left shoulder! His whole left side should have been gone! But instead, his wound was smoking. Smoke was literally seeping out of the wound as it closed up. And not just that, the rain was literally turning to steam as they fell around my Master.

"The wound…is cauterizing itself?"

Yes. No doubt about it. Instead of healing, the wound was just burning itself shut.

"▅▅█▃▄█!"

Suddenly, Berserker swung his sword down at Kousuke, but this time, he instantly lifted his arms up and there was a horrible sound of stone grating against iron as the sword sunk halfway into his wrists, while causing my Master to drop to his knees. Just then, I heard his say something.
"…Release the self-imposed restriction, 50%, Level 2."

And as he said that, more scarlet mist emerged, a reddish-aura could be seen around my Master, and I suddenly felt a small shockwave burst through the area. From behind, I could also see his black hair beginning to turn a slight shade of red. As I watched, Kousuke actually THREW off Berserker's sword-axe and caused him to stagger, which was jaw-dropping (although to be fair, he was already cursed and poisoned by me). And in the next moment, he was in the air at chest-level with Berserker. We watched, astounded as Kousuke landed a punch square in Berserker's chest with a sound like a dump truck hitting a concrete wall and Berserker was pushed back several metres.

"█▄▅!"

With a roar, Berserker began his assault again, albeit slower than before, but still faster than a human should be able to follow. However, my Master was dodging every single thing with an agility a human should not possess. As Berserker made another swing, I just managed to see my Master jumping onto the flat side of the sword, and in another flash, was behind Berserker's head and gave it a massive kick before the mad warrior even realized what happened.

"No…this shouldn't be happening," muttered the white-haired Master as she took a few steps back. "You're just a human, you shouldn't be able to fight Berserker like this!"

To my eyes, it looked more like there were two Berserkers fighting each other instead of one. Kousuke was just using his fists to counter Berserker's sword and he was knocking it away with every hit. As I was following the unbelievable fight, Kousuke suddenly drew back his right arm and his fist began to glow a bright scarlet.

"█▄▅▅█!"

I had no idea what Berserker felt from Kousuke, for he just jumped backwards a few metres. But it all became clear soon. As my Master threw his fist forward, a scarlet beam of energy prana lanced forwards from his fist. Where it hit, it literally disintegrated everything in its path, leaving a round hole wherever the beam connected, including the road.

"What sort of Magecraft…is that…"

No…that wasn't Magecraft…it wasn't prana either, I got it wrong.

It was pure heat.

Theoretically, if you take something and heat it fast enough with enough heat, it should just turn to dust, shouldn't it? But that was literally what my Master was doing. The beam of heat just heated things till they turned to dust. But, what would it do to Berserker?

"██▃▃▃▄▅▅█!"

With more sounds like car accidents, I looked up to see Berserker with his sword at my Master's side while my Master's fist was directly on the left side of Berserker's chest.

Right where his heart should be.

"Berserker watch out!"

It was too late. In an instant, another scarlet beam shot out from Kousuke's fist and went right through Berserker.

"Berserker!"

That was the fifth life he lost that night.

"Berserker, that's enough! We're leaving!"

With that order, despite his still-regenerating heart, Berserker was at his Master's side in an instant, picked up his soaking wet Master and ran off as fast as he could. I half expected my Master to give chase, but he simply stood there while the rain kept falling around us.

"…"

Slowly, he turned around to face me.
"Goshujin-!"

His eyes. They weren't looking at me like a human. His oni blood had taken over. As he walked towards me, I desperately tried to reach him inside his mind.

"Goshujin-sama! Please! Snap out of it!"

"█▃▃▃▄▅▅KILL█▃▄█BLOOD▅█▃▄█RED█▄▅▅█▃▄██DIE█▄▅▅█▄▅▅█▄▅█"

It hurt my mind to enter his, it was just like it was being hammered with nails while being split in half by Berserker, but I had to try! I had to save him no matter what!

"Master, listen! It's me! It's Caster! Goshujin-sama, it's me, Tamamo!"

At the mention of my name, he stopped and suddenly grabbed his head in his hands.

"Aaaargh-"

"Kousuke!"

He looked up at me, and face was contorted in pain. His eyes were practically bleeding as he held back his Inversion Impulse.

"Goshujin-sama!"

"Tama…mo…"

And suddenly, he just crashed to the ground and lay there, unmoving and silent. With the extreme heat emanating from his body gone, the rain continued to soak my Master.

"Kousu-"

And then, it was my turn for the world to go dark. My physical injuries from Berserker and my mental pains from my Master were just too much. And the last thing I set my eyes on before the world went completely black was the prone form of my Master.

"Goshujin…sama…"

And there we go. A short but completely epic fight between the Servant-Master pair and Berserker. Once again, thanks for all the support, I really liked writing this because like I've said, Tamamo is my absolute favorite Servant. Thanks for reading, favoriting, following, reviewing and I hope the next chapter will come out soon enough.

EXTRA: Tamamo's Super Fluffy Japanese Test!

Hai, this is Tamamo! To be honest, the next chapter might not come out soon, since Author-dono is quite busy nowadays! So to occupy your time, here's a game! I'm giving you the kanji writings for every single spell used by my Master and I these past seven chapters, and you get to match them to the right one! The prize is a fluffy tail from me! So, here we go! Oh, and no points for cheating! On more things than one…

刹月華

摑趾追雀

白雷

紅球波

渦闇

白蓮

六杖光牢

綴雷電

炎陽玉

八爻双崖・八方封印

流れ月

百歩欄干

赤火砲

千年氷牢

鎖条鎖縛

雷吼炮

五柱鉄貫

怨呼障縛壁

紅蓮爆炎刃

鳴御雷

双華咲嵐

霊光鏡反衝

裂破風陣

業魔・鉄神剣

水天逆巻け

霊光玉

紅飛蝗

勇美華蝶

風刃鎌鼬

常世咲き裂く大殺界・彼岸花殺生石

雲散霧消

神の演芸・御神楽

華厳裂斬肢

呪相・密天

邪王炎殺煉獄焦