Yu was in a haze.
Her chest hurt.
She had forgotten what pain was, and Chaldea had coddled her rather well in the years she had been in there.
But she didn't care. She didn't care that she was going to die. She wouldn't and couldn't die.
So, why was he giving so much for her?
"Saber…" she said, looking up at the man that continued to run across dark hallways.
"It's alright Master. Save your strength," he said.
"I don't need to. But you do," she said without thinking. At this, he smirked.
"Right. But it is not the reason I'm carrying you," he said. Yu dared look around. They were on some sort of lower floor, where the ceiling had collapsed.
Lan Ling stopped, and she saw why.
Her dear Xiang Yu was there, standing. One of his arms was missing, and his exterior was cracked.
Her chest burned with anger and sorrow.
"Ahh…" she muttered.
"Lord Xiang Yu," Lan Ling said, stumbling slightly
He turned his head to them, face impassive as always. "You're still here."
"Yes. It seems the emperor has betrayed us," Lan Ling said.
"Hmm. Just as I predicted," Xiang Yu replied. Lan Ling looked at him, a tinge of anger in his eyes.
"You knew?!" Lan Ling asked. Akuta's heart sank. Of course he knew. He always knew. And he always acted with other's interest in mind.
"I predicted this outcome, knowing that our enemies would not be able to escape. But I failed to account for the fox woman's ability. It is that failure which has killed you and Lady Akuta. And for that, I apologise," Xiang Yu closed his eyes, bowing his head.
Yu threw her head back. He was so sweet, so lacking in malice or cruelty. Unlike the emperor, unlike Ophelia, unlike Wodime and unlike those detestable Chaldeans.
"It's alright, Lord Xiang Yu. I just wish…" Yu began, before her words wavered.
"...what is your wish?" Xiang Yu asked.
"... I wish you'd been able to live at peace, without the need to fight," Yu finished, pushing the words out.
Xiang Yu said nothing. The area grew hotter and hotter.
"That I cannot predict," he said.
Yu pursed her lips.
She wanted to show him once. She wanted to show him now, what that kind of peaceful life was.
She'd do anything for that.
"Master," Lan Ling said, setting her down.
"Saber?" She asked him, looking into his bloodied features.
"Use my spirit core," her heart stopped at those words.
"No!" She said, regaining some strength. "No! Don't… don't give your life up for me!"
"There's no other choice. I am merely your Servant," he said, voice serene and expression grave.
"I don't care. I refuse- I refuse to use someone else's life to extend my own! I won't leave you behind!" She shouted, tears falling from her eyes.
She had been left behind so many times. She had left so many others behind herself.
Never of her own choice.
Always driven away by time or humans.
"And if you don't, you'll never catch up to them," he said, stopping her tears in their tracks. "Catch up to them, destroy them all and then… save this world that will never leave you behind! I don't care about anything else… so please… grant me this one wish."
Lan Ling was now crying himself.
That was his wish, and no matter what, she couldn't deny her friend's selfish wish.
And so, she took hold of his heart and soul…
…and ripped them apart.
In the time between Akuta crossing the smoke and the now, nothing had happened at all. The revived Akuta Hinako was simply content to stand at the far side of the field, near the destroyed debri of the Emperor's mobilised armouries as she observed Shirou Emiya and the rest of the Chaldea crew.
Behind them, a mountain range stood, bottling their advance to Xiang Yang through a crevice in the midst. Escape was going to be difficult, because no matter how normal and human Akuta looked at the moment, a primal instinct inside him urged his body to turn tail or give up.
This being was an enemy of humans.
"Akuta," Ophelia said, walking past him. On instinct, Shirou reached for her arm. However, Ophelia simply stared at him with some surprise before turning her attention back to the Crypter.
Shirou frowned, wondering what she was thinking. "You're alive," Ophelia stated, voice unwavering.
"Are you so surprised? Is your mind really that closed off? Typical of humans," she said, sneering.
"A meteor fell on you!" Ophelia shouted, hands clutched tight.
"Does it anger you, having failed to kill me? Or is it the feeling of something you left behind coming back to you?" Akuta asked once again. Ophelia took a step back, gritting her teeth.
Shirou observed the area. There were six of them, Sigurd already recovered from his injury. Akuta was alone, and while she was an enemy there was no point in killing her then and there.
"Stop this!" Shirou said, stepping near Ophelia. "You're alone! The Alien God holds no sway over you! We can help you!"
Akuta looked him straight in the eye. She was beautiful, more than before and it almost made his heart stop. "You can help me by dying."
With a swath of her wrist, crimson blades flew in an arc straight to him. Another swath, and another barrage.
He raised his divine Iron Shield to block them, standing at Ophelia's side. They impacted with enough strength to push him back. The second was blocked by a punk blur.
"Enemy engaging!" Hildr shouted, and soon her head wings shot up. "Ortlinde!"
Why wasn't Thrùd helping them?
When Shirou looked back to where Akuta was, he found her gone. A cold wind, hard as steel flew past him and towards…
"Ophelia!" Shirou shouted, his head turning towards his companion.
As soon as he finished moving, he saw Ortlinde holding her shield up, protecting Ophelia from a crimson blade.
She was fast. Too fast. Shirou knew then and there that there was no way she was human.
Akuta grit her teeth. "Useless automaton… stay out of my way!" She shrieked, making Shirou's head nearly split open.
Ortlinde grimaced, but kept her guard up even as Akuta pulled another knife to keep the offense.
Hildr then flew behind her, spear reared back. In perfect synchrony, both Hildr and Ortlinde attacked, running Akuta through the chest.
The Crypter stopped dead in her tracks, but even still, she twisted her body and in a heartbeat returned the favour, stabbing both Valkyries haphazardly; Hildr on her lower abdomen, Ortlinde on her right shoulder.
Shirou's heart froze, his body moving on its own to help them, Kanshou and Bakuya having already materialised.
Sigurd was faster, though. He quickly dashed in, and in a clean slash of emerald lopped her head off, her body going limp just then.
"Target eliminated," Sigurd said.
The three servants pulled away, putting distance from her body, both Valkyries panthing.
Even if they weren't in danger or in pain, Shirou still dashed to them, ignoring Ophelia and Mash who had stayed on the defensive.
"Are you alright, you two!?" He asked them, going towards Hildr to check her slightly more dangerous injury.
She smiled at him. "No problem here Emiya. No need to worry so much, you look like you're going to die from worry," Shirou frowned in response.
"All injuries are superficial. They'll heal shortly," Ortlinde cut in.
Hildr nodded with renewed energy. "Yup. Yup. You have to trust us, remember? Or are you still on the fence about our capabilities?"
"I-"
"How trite," a voice echoed. Shirou, once again, felt a chill down his spine.
Two swings, followed by a beautiful flowing motion that brought a third and fourth.
The Valkyries were pushed back, Shirou was barely able to block one strike, which sent him flying backwards. Sigurd deflected the last one, and with a frown once again went for Akuta's head, which had reattached itself.
"How is she…?" Shirou asked himself. His left arm hurt, muscles had probably torn.
Sigurd wailed with grace on Akuta. The woman dodged like a dancer, her expression unchanging. Despite that, Sigurd was faster and his strikes were ferocious. It all happened in the span of mere seconds, while the Valkyries and the others still recovered from the sudden onslaught
No injury on Akuta lasted. Every strike was met with closing wounds and returning blood.
It was like fighting Heracles once again.
Then, in a move of recklessness, Akuta allowed herself to be stabbed and with another hand reached for where Sigurd's heart should be.
In an uncharacteristic show of panic, Sigurd grabbed her delicate hand with enough force to crush it, but it was too late. Her fingers dug into his skin.
"I see. A dragon core. Your strength is not your own, but borrowed from the earth. Pitiful," her hand began glowing crimson, as did Sigurd's chest. Veins showed along his neck, and his complexion began to look gaunt.
It was as if draining him of life, of energy. The dragonslayer's struggle slowly began to wane.
It filled Shirou with dread, and anger.
He hadn't known Sigurd for long, but he did admire him. And in that same vein, he mattered to Brynhildr. Shirou cared about Brynhildr, appreciated her help and support in the Scandinavian Lostbelt, undeserving as he was of it.
"Sigurd!" Shirou shouted, tracing his bow and firing in less than a second.
Akuta dodged his arrow with a simple move of her head, not even bothering to look his way.
Hildr and Ortlinde rushed her, attacking her in perfect synch.
Akuta pulled away from Sigurd, drawing a torrent of blood and magical energy from his heart. The dragonslayer stumbled back, dropping to one knee.
Things were bad, Akuta was strong. Where was Thrùd? Why hadn't she materialised?
Shirou wanted to go help Sigurd, but he focused back on the fight.
Hildr and Ortlinde rushed at Akuta with great speed, and yet the woman did not seem to pay the oncoming threat any mind.
The air rumbled as energy gathered around Akuta. The energy and blood seemed to take on a life on their own, flying towards the sky.
"EMIYA SENPAI!" Mash came to his aid while Ophelia went for Sigurd.
Why was she saving him?
The air grew hot, unbearably so. Images of suffering, of curses and hatred flooded his vision for a moment.
"No… No Mash no! Help Hi-!"
"The eternal wail of one abandoned even by death."
"O sky! O clouds! Rain tears of compassion to curse life!"
"My eternal shrieking for being separated by a fate of doom."
"O sky! O clouds! Curse life with tears of pity!"
With a final wail, Akuta's body exploded upwards, and from the sky blood began raining down upon them. It reminded him of the many warzones and battlefields he had traveled, the hells he had to go through to save as many people as possible.
His ears rang, and despite being under numerous protections including Mash's own, he was still flung around by the explosions like a pinball.
For a few moments, he felt helpless, carried around by winds of steel.
When it was over, he landed on the ground with enough force to feel like he had broken everything inside of him.
But even so, the only thing on his mind was…
"Hildr… Ortlinde…" he muttered, trying to regain enough strength to stand up.
Luckily, it seemed his bones were still working, if barely.
He scanned the scene.
The ground was covered in a lingering curse, inciting a feeling of despair and suffering inside of him.
Mash was at his side, still standing but covered in bruises.
"Emiya-senpai! You alright!?" She asked, checking him over.
"Mash…" Shirou said, gritting his teeth to bear the pain. Ophelia was a few metres away, limp and being held by Sigurd, who was looking much worse than before.
And finally, Ortlinde and Hildr stood in front of where Akuta was, shields held over their heads. The woman was gone, only a pool of blood remained.
They were alright.
That eased his mind for a moment, and he thought about rushing to check their injuries.
The blood began accumulating a second after he thought of that, until it took on a human shape, and then faded into Akuta Hinako.
"W-what?" Shirou asked himself.
She had rebuilt herself. That was the only explanation.
The Valkyries were standing, but their posture was lowered, breaths ragged and boots on the ground.
"So you're still standing," Akuta said.
Neither Valkyrie said anything in response.
Akuta closed her eyes for a moment. "I've nothing against you, divine spirit. I just want to kill those three humans there."
"And it is our duty to protect them," Ortlinde replied. Akuta narrowed her eyes.
"Is it now? Your true nature was clear as day, ever since I first saw you. Protection of humans is not part of it, it is only what you've been ordered to do. A pity."
He saw Ortlinde tense up, but in a second she and Hildr attacked simultaneously, flying from both sides to flank her with enough speed to look like they teleported, leaving only feathers behind.
But when the attacks came, the Valkyries were both blocked by Aluta's daggers.
And the woman still only looked at one person.
Ophelia.
"Mash! Grab Ophelia and get out of here," he said, getting to his feet.
"Alright. You get the-"
"No. I don't think we can leave. We'll have to hold her off," he said. His body hurt, but it hurt more to see Ortlinde and Hildr struggling to stop Akuta from advancing.
"Emiya-senpai I can't abandon you! The Valkyries can handle themselves!"
"And I can't leave Hildr and Ortlinde. I can't stand by and abandon them again! So please, just go. You're not abandoning me, you're saving Ophelia," he said, nearly pleading to the demi servant.
Mash's eyes watered slightly, face scrunched up in pain.
Seeing her anguish hurt him as well.
No matter what he did, he hurt people by trying to save others.
"Alright," she said, lowering her visor. "Mash Kyrielight engaging in tactical retreat!"
Shirou raised an eyebrow for a second, wondering if she really said that seriously, with all the pep that entailed.
He shook his head. Mash ran ahead of him, going towards Ophelia and Sigurd.
"Don't…" Akuta muttered, magical energy once again building around her, lifting crimson embers into the air. "...get in my way!"
Another wail, and Akuta disappeared, her body exploding as blood mortars shot up into the sky.
Shirou reinforced his legs and ran faster than humanly possible towards the Valkyries.
The two of them turned to him with shock in their faces. "Emiya! Leave the area!"
"I'm not doing that!" He said, lifting his hand towards the blood red sky. The mana infused mortars were coming down towards them. "Trace; On!"
Less than a second cast time, better than ever before. Magical energy flowed through his arm and into a hastily made, three petal shield.
He checked for a second behind him, and saw Mash protect Ophelia and Sigurd.
The rain fell down once again, and like an umbrella, Rho Aias protected them, the impacts above and around them shaking his body to the breaking point.
"Come on…" he muttered through clenched teeth. A petal broke, and with it a part of his arm bent out of shape. "Come on!" He screamed, putting all his will and magical energy into holding the shield.
It was too much. Every impact reverberated through his body, making his knees buckle to the point he feared for moments that they would bend and break, because that would mean dropping it and letting the Valkyries be killed.
He had to save them.
Without them he was nothing.
Without them, his dream was meaningless.
Rho Aias was impenetrable, but Shirou Emiya was not, and each impact reminded him of that truth.
"Emiya!" Hildr said, holding his body steady.
"We'll assist you!" Ortlinde added, holding him steady as well.
The rain stopped a few seconds later, only a petal remaining as the sky cleared.
Shirou could feel curses all around him, screams of anguish piercing his mind.
He let out a breath and knelt down, his left arm useless.
But at least he had protected them. He closed his eyes, facing the ground.
He felt someone hold him steady.
"Emiya! Try to stay still. Ortlinde, status on the others," Hildr ordered.
"They have left the battlefield," Ortlinde said, floating and looking around them.
"Hildr… I…" he said, teeth chattering.
"We'll talk about your heroics later. Even if you are our battle partner, you're still human!" Hildr said, voice full of energy. She was close. Very close.
"Hmm," An uninterested voice rejoined the fray. Shirou raised his head while Hildr turned hers, and the Valkyrie was promptly kicked back by a bare foot. "You fight so hard for them, but you know they are inhuman, right?"
Shirou looked up, eyes widened. Akuta still stood there despite her body having disintegrated moments before.
She turned, looking at him straight with piercing crimson eyes. "It's all superficial, you can never truly love them. Humans cannot love anything other than themselves. They cannot understand those that are not like themselves."
A hot, flaming feeling welled up in his chest. His worries disappeared in an awful and blinding feeling, a feeling that threatened to erase his ideals and thoughts. "Shut up!"
In an instant, he projected a nameless sword, still hot from the forge.
He screamed as he swung it, but with a simple attack from Akuta's own weapon, his sword shattered in pieces.
Akuta said nothing as she swung another sword at his gut, which he blocked with his shield. That was followed by a kick that launched him at least ten metres away.
He rolled on the ground before stopping near a stray rock.
In the distance, Ortlinde's head turned in an instant, and the Valkyrie charged.
With a shriek, Akuta engaged her, and both women fought in front of him, a blur of white and black; blade and spear.
Shortly after, Hildr joined, leaving behind a strong gust of wind.
Shirou rolled around on the earth, even breathing hurt. He was sure at least some organs were ruptured. But he still turned his head. He couldn't see Mash or Ophelia.
Were they gone?
Good.
But… they had no chance of stopping her. No matter what, Akuta's energy would not run out.
As the battle raged on, with one misstep, Akuta managed to grab hold of Hildr's neck, and smash her into the ground.
"Sister!" Ortlinde said, rushing to her aid.
In a flash, Akuta slashed at the Valkyrie's neck. Ortlinde barely blocked the attack before Akuta also grabbed ahold of her neck.
"I'll make it quick and painless. Just drift off to sleep into the void of the planet," Akuta said as her hands began glowing red, vein-like crimson circuits extending into the Valkyries.
Soon after, Hildr and Ortlinde stopped struggling, their existence fading.
He wished he could reach for the Valkyries, extending his hand to grasp at anything.
It was then that he noticed. He still had his command spells.
The battle raged in front of him. Hildr and Ortlinde were losing ground.
Each strike pushed them back.
Blood stuck to them, burning like the fires of Fuyuki.
His chest tightened, an unbearable void sucking it all in.
They were going to die, and he had no power to save them.
But… he knew someone who did.
As a kid, he did not cry for help when walking in that scene of destruction. He knew there was no point.
And while he still knew that, something in him told him he had to keep living, to keep wishing to save those in front of him.
Even if he had no power and had to cry for help.
"Thrùd… please…" he whispered, vision blurry. "... You may have hurt me, but… I still love you all the same. Even if you don't believe in yourself, or that I can become a hero… I still believe that you love your sisters. So please… help me save them!" He raised his command spells with his remaining strength, gathering air in his lungs. "Thrùd! Answer my call, and by the power of my command spell… save your sisters!"
With that final shout, something inside him began burning brightly as the command spell took on a crimson shine, it's first stroke dissipating.
The hand he extended was grasped, and a golden glow engulfed him.
He couldn't see a thing, his entire world was a white background. And yet, he felt something warm yet familiar. A sensation he had forgotten long ago.
A sound broke the silence. The sound of something travelling through the air along with the sound of tingling metal.
A second later, it impacted something, strongly enough that it seemed like an explosion.
Where was Hildr?
Ortlinde?
Ophelia?
Mash?
Sigurd?
"Servant, Thrùd. I accept your contract, brave Master."
Hearing those words, he almost forgot how to breathe.
The light faded.
He was leaning on his side, thrown on the floor.
A tall woman with wings of light and long golden hair stood before him, her back turned.
A memory jumped out of his mind, one of the night he first summoned them in his shed; and without meaning to he smiled.
"...Thrùd…" he said, despite how painful it was to talk.
"That is my individual designation. I have accepted the contract. Now please, stop pushing yourself, Master," she said in that aloof tone he loved so much. She still didn't turn to him, eyes fixed forwards.
"Sister. How is it possible? Are you not?" Ortlinde said, smiling brightly.
"You came…" Hildr added, cheeks red and eyes glassy.
"Forgive me, you two. I failed you," Thrúd replied, guard lowering for a moment before straightening her back once again. "But no more!"
"Yes! That's the spirit!" Hildr said, liveliness back in her as she floated next to her sister.
"Sisters! Our enemy is still active," Ortlinde said, and thus from a nearby rock slide, where Shirou supposed Akuta had ended up on, blood began to drip from between the stone before flowing on its own and forming into a human shape.
In moments Akuta was back as if nothing happened, hands behind her back and eyes dull.
However, instead of focusing on the long gone Ophelia or the Valkyries, she seemed to look straight at him with an impassive expression. "So that's how it is."
If he had the energy to, he would have raised an eyebrow.
Akuta then closed her eyes for a moment, as if in deep sorrow. "Let's end this sad story then."
She once again drew her weapons, and the Valkyries got into a battle stance.
"But sad stories are the best, don't you agree? Especially when happiness is dangled in front of you all the time," said a voice, breaking the tense atmosphere.
Shirou barely managed to turn his head to spot someone near the steppe. A figure in a suit.
Beryl Gut. Smiling as he always seemed to do.
"So it's you, you dog," Akuta said, disdain evident. "You're the one that's been messing with the Lostbelt."
"Eh," he shrugged. "It was pretty fucked up anyways. Not like you cared anyways."
"Get out of here, or I'll land a million curses upon you!" Akuta screamed, eyes flashing red once again.
Beryl wasn't fazed. "Man, I liked you more when you didn't say a word. But if you wanna talk, and about curses at that, shouldn't you be looking at your feet?"
As he said that, something began emerging from the ground. Some kind of black smoke, followed by the smell of something stagnan and repulsive.
Panicking, Akuta stepped back as if she weren't indestructible. "What is -?!"
"Ho? You know this? Or is it your… well… whatever-you-are sense?" Beryl asked.
The Valkyries huddled together back to back, eyeing Shirou in the process.
He felt something evil beneath the earth.
He knew that he needed to move, even if he could not.
From the ground, figures began emerging. Black humanoids, blobs of purple sludge, barely animalistic figures, all sporting shining red eyes that seemed to swim in their black bodies of an ink like substance.
They surrounded him. They surrounded the Valkyries. They surrounded Akuta.
Akuta's reaction was instant, slashing at the creatures violently.
The Valkyries also attacked them, but upon seeing him being surrounded by them, they began flying with their wings of light.
"Pick him up and retreat!" Thrúd ordered. With a nod of affirmation, Ortlinde picked him up somewhat violently while Hildr took out the emerging creatures, who simply looked at them with what seemed to be a mix of curiosity and lethargy.
He was lifted into the air, where he watched as the creatures began to surround Akuta at a steady pace.
There were so many of them the ground seemed to have turned into a black void.
"You three! This way!" Beryl said, breaking into a jog and disappearing into the mountains.
Thrúd looked at him, as did Ortlinde and Hildr. "Your orders, Master?"
He almost smiled at that, which was selfish and something he would chide himself for later.
"What about her?" Shirou asked, looking at Akuta who still struggled against the creatures. However, he could not say anything else as darkness overtook him.
A/N: Yay! Shirou is the Valks' Master again. How? It'll be explained next chapter.
As a side note, I began writing this arc not liking Yu at all, but Summer 5 made me like her a lot, so I had to adjust some things in my plans. Now that I get her a bit better she's much more fun to write.
Anyways, that is all for now. Sorry it took so long.
Chiao!