I am so sorry that I've procrastinated for an entire month! Busy with Legend of Zelda: breath of Wild. Decided to get for the Wii U rather than wait until I could afford a Nintendo Switch. That's taken up a lot of my time. And then writer's block decided to show up.
Nevertheless, I hope that this chapter turned out well.
"Well, crap." Marcus said as his team encountered the other White Chimera.
The White Chimera's goat head opened its mouth and fired a blast of energy at Saber, who narrowly avoided it by jumping out of the way. The snake then lunged at Saber and began to expel poison gas from its mouth. Saber sidestepped before Rider summoned and mounted Bayard before charging towards the White Chimera before stabbing it with his sword. The monster then stood up and swiped its claw at Rider before its goat head nailed Archer with a blast. Archer recovered from the blast and stood to his feet.
"Trace On!" Kanshou and Bakuya were summoned and the tan-skinned man rushed towards the White Chimera.
The snake lunged but Archer jumped over it before stabbing the White Chimera in the lion jaw. The White Chimera only growled in anger before turning its attention to Archer and trying to swipe at him. The swipe missed but left a small dent in the floor. Rider turned Bayard around and had the white horse buck the goat head in the throat before turning around and swiftly cutting it. But that only left a small scratch, for the White Chimera was much stronger than a normal one. The snake attempted to bite Saber but was kicked in the jaw before the samurai leapt onto the beast's back and stabbed it. Unfortunately, the blades were unable to get very deep past the skin.
The White Chimera stood and trying the bring its claw down on Archer.
"Trace! Overedge!" he said.
Kanshou and Bakuya were summoned again but they were longswords with dangerous-looking blades. Archer slashed the monster's chest with the married blades in an X-pattern, causing it to stumble back and leaving it open for a stab to the chest with both swords, right where its heart should be. But its skin was too thick for the blades to penetrate deep enough to reach the heart.
"This thing's skin is too thick..." Archer growled as the White Chimera fell down.
Fate/new dawn
Chapter 17: Siege - Two Great Beasts
"Prepare to die, tyrant!" Berserker yelled as he fearlessly ran head-on to fight the White Chimera.
The White Chimera ran towards the mad gladiator but received a punch to the jaw. The beast's head turned slightly to the right before the snake opened its mouth and unleashed a cloud of poison gas at Berserker's face. Berserker coughed a little bit before kicking the punching the snake. He then began cutting the composite beast with his gladius sword, but he wasn't doing much to hurt the monster. The goat opened its mouth to fire a blast at Berserker's face, but was hit by a fireball from Caster.
The goat turned its attention to Caster and fired an energy blast at her. The dragon woman put up a barrier in front of her to block the blast, but it was strong enough to push her back an inch despite the barrier. Assassin then ran towards the White Chimera and leaped over the snake as it expelled poisonous gas at her. She landed before turning around and stabbing the snake in its neck. The snake attempted to bite Assassin but was pulled back when Berserker continually pushed the main body of the White Chimera back. Wesley then pulled out a pistol, cocked it, and took aim at the White Chimera. He shot the snake in the eye, taking it out before shooting the small scratch on its neck, hoping that it would turn it into a full-on wound. Unfortunately, it didn't do much but did cause the wound to deepen. Assassin then stabbed the snake in that same wound and began trying to cut its head off.
Wesley sighed before ducking behind a pillar. He had an extra magazine for his pistol, but now he would have to be careful about how he used the bullets. He would have to save them for if a Master cornered him and he could actually shoot them.
Meanwhile, Berserker was continuing the relentlessly attack the White Chimera. Whatever was left of his mind was only focused on one thing, and one thing only; defeat the oppressors. To Berserker, the White Chimera was a most dangerous and evil oppressor. It must defeated! The blonde punched, slashed, and stabbed the monster with all of his might. The White Chimera attacked with utmost ferocity in its fight with Berserker. The goat head had then managed to distract Caster for a brief moment, which was long enough to turn its attention to Berserker. The goat's mouth was opened and a blast of energy was fired, hitting the Heroic Spirit of Madness square in the face.
"Fuhahaha! Good! Hahaha!" Berserker laughed, the blast only stopping him for a brief second.
Of course, this was long enough for the White Chimera to slash the gladiator with its claws. But that was not enough of a deterrent. Spartacus did have EX Rank in Endurance, after all. Almost nothing could be enough of a deterrent, for only a mighty Noble Phantasm could bring him down!
"Quake in fear, tyrant! Your attacks have no effect on me!" Berserker shouted.
"thou art a dragon, a fell beast originating from Satan! Abyssus Dracones!" Rider shouted, the effects of the Noble Phantasm tied to his surcoat adding inherent draconic traits to the White Chimera. "Interfectum Dracones!"
The White Chimera roared in pain as a lance of light pierced its side before another pierced the goat head's brain, killing it. Archer then fired multiple swords form his bow in quick succession to kill the snake before Saber stabbed the main lion head in the neck.
"Archer! Finish it!" Marcus yelled.
"I am the bone of my sword... Caladbolg!" Archer summoned Caldbolg II and let it fly from his bow, striking the White Chimera in the head before exploding.
Miraculously, the beast managed to survive that, albeit barrely. It inched weakly towards the group before Saber stabbed it in the brain to kill it. Saber poked the dead monster with one of her swords to make sure that it actually was dead, Archer ready to fire another sword in case it still was alive. But the vicious creature was unresponsive, laying still and unmovingly.
"There we go." Saber sighed.
"Let's get moving." Marcus said.
"I hope that we don't have to face another one of these things." Abraham said. "But I wonder what this would taste like if I cooked it."
"Why would you want to know something like that?" Serena questioned as the group started advancing again.
"I want to be a chef someday. Hopefully open a five star restaurant." the college student said.
"Did Saber give you that idea?" Marcus asked.
"No. It's always been a dream of mine." Abraham asked. "Why'd you think that?"
"The Saber of the previous War was my Servant. She was a big eater. She'd have to eat enough food to feed seven people before she was satisfied. I'm starting to think that's an inherent trait in Sabers." the rich man said.
'That sounds a lot like the one I summoned, so it probably is.' Abraham thought.
"So, let me guess; your wish for the Grail is to get enough money to open and maintain a restaurant." Serena guessed.
"No. Not exactly." Abraham replied. "I don't want to talk about it."
Assassin stabbed the snake in the eye but ended up taking a blast of poisonous gas for it. The snake then lunged forward but the attack was sidestepped and the wound on its neck was exposed. The small Servant then stabbed a knife into the wound and moved the blade down, cutting the snake's throat from inside. The snake then fell over dead.
The goat head continued to exchange blasts with Caster, but one hit it directly in the head and set it on fire. It seemed pretty angry with this and tried to fire a massive blast in retaliation. Unfortunately for it, the main body's fight with Berserker ended up throwing its aim off and it ended up blowing a hole in the ceiling instead.
Berserker plunged his sword into the White Chimera's chest before delivering a punch to the lion head's jaw.
"All oppressors shall be overthrown! Nothing can overcome my love!" Berserker shouted.
"Ian, you're a fan of the Fate series, right?" Wesley asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Ian responded.
"Does Spartacus have a mute button or something?"
"I don't think he does."
"Well, that's just d*** perfect..." Wesley muttered under his breath.
Berserker throwing its aim off angered the goat head, so it proceeded to charge a large fireball and launch it at the offending Servant. Given who its target was, it didn't do much damage. Another large fireball was charged, but its aim was thrown off right when it was about to fired and blew up a wall. The goat continued trying to kill Berserker but its aim kept on getting thrown off and Caster was not making matters much worse.
Suddenly, a roar was heard from near the end of the hallway where the group came from.
"Oh crap." Ian said.
Berserker of Omega came rushing down the hallway towards Berserker of Alpha and the White Chimera.
"Another oppressor!" Berserker of Alpha shouted.
"▂▂▃▃▅▅-▂▂▃▃▅▅■■■■ーー!" Berserker of Omega roared before unleashing Nine Lives on both Spartacus and the White Chimera, them being so close together.
One swing decapitated the goat, another slashed Spartacus across the chest, another did the same to the White Chimera, another decapitated the lion head, the rest were randomly aimed and hit either Berserker of Alpha or the already dead monster. The finishing blow came as a downward swing that hit the gladiator and sent him and the White Chimera's corpse flying to the end of the hallway.
"Well, three Masters of Alpha." Jeffrey grinned. "We were sent to get rid of Caster because the boss deems her a liability, but this is a nice bonus."
"Oh f***..." Wesley growled.
"Daddy, what's a 'f***'?" Assassin asked innocently.
"Don't repeat that. It's a very bad word." Ian scolded, quickly shooting a glare at Wesley.
Jeffrey pulled out a gun and aimed it at Ian, but Wesley tackled the ginger-haired man, kocking the gun out of his hand.
"Berserker, stall Berserker of Omega! Kids, run!" Wesley yelled.
"None shall trample on the weak while I draw breath, tyrant!" Berserker of Alpha declared as he charged his enemy from behind.
Ian and Lily took this opportunity to run away, Assassin and Caster following close behind them. Jeffrey pulled out a knife and tried to stab Wesley, but the thuggish man caught his wrist.
"I fight punks like you on a regular basis." he growled. "And you're not even holding the thing right."
Jeffrey kneed Wesley in the gut but was given a punch the face in retaliation. The psycho then tried to stab the thuggish man again. Once again, his wrist was caught, and Wesley headbutt him in response.
"Uncle Marcus?" Ian said into the radio as he, Lily, Assassin, and Caster ran up the stairs. "Bad news! Berserker of Omega showed up."
"Crap. Caster must've called for backup."
"No. According to Omega Berserker's Master, their boss has deemed Caster a liability and wants her dead."
"I see..."
"Wesley and Berserker of Alpha are staying behind to stall, so we need to meet up as quick as possible."
"Okay. Be careful."
Caster was absolutely infuriated. Not only did the White Chimeras not manage to kill a single one of the Alpha faction's Servants, but now the Omega faction had betrayed her.
"Caster, we need to get out of here." Ada said nervously.
Caster ignored her Master's suggestion and turned to another homunculus servant.
"Run! Get everyone on the fourth floor to gather on the fifth, we'll throw everything at them then!"
And that's part two of three. The next part will be the finale of the Siege arc. Caster's getting desperate, we get a (very minor) hint about who Saber of the previous War was, Berserker of Omega just caused some complications for the Alpha faction, and I'm just having so much fun writing Spartacus. Seriously, that guy is so hammy with his shouting things about love and fighting oppressors. I just love him!
Looking back, I'm doubting whether or not I did a good job of writing the White Chimeras. I built them up as this big threat and they failed to kill just one Servant. But they were fighting three Servants each.
Now for the reviews.
ZenoZen: Yes, and it's only going to get more entangled.
LunaRose2468: You remind me of some the guys on the LINE Webtoons site. Whenever a new chapter of a webtoon (style of webcomic originating from Korea. Look it up. There are some pretty good ones out there.) uploads, i usually find some comment from some guy who waited until midnight (when the site updates and new chapters get added) for the upload. And, thanks.
KnightOfZaku: Thank you. Yeah. It's a shame that Spartacus was poorly handled in FGO. He's no SSR, let alone SR, but he's definitely not a 1-star. And he's the guy who took near Heracles-levels of punishment for God's sake! But I'm glad that you appreciate me giving him the spotlight.
Guest: Thank you. I agree, good Jackie stories are hard to come by. But, here's more, so I hope you enjoyed it.
Anyway, switching back to the subject of LINE Webtoons, there are some pretty good ones. If you like anime or manga, this is your playing field because the art style is the same. The arrangement is a little weird, being an extremely long canvas with the panels being not close together like manga or comic books and more spread out. But once you get past that and figure out how the format works (by which I mean, scroll down to the see the events of the chapter you're reading unfold), you might actually like the stories. Definitely check them out!
So, leave a review. Constructive criticism will be accepted. Flames will be used to make s'mores. Jyaa-nee!
