"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Mental link"

"Noble Phantasms"

POV

Chapter 16: The Attack begins

"How are things looking out there, Roman?" Ritsuka asked as they crested the ridge and got a good look at their target.

Orleans.

"As expected." Roman frowned "Its swarming with Wyverns."

"I can see them." Ash pointed to the clouds of lizards swarming around in the sky above the main fortress in the centre of the city "They'll likely detect our presence soon."

"In that case, I suggest we hurry them along." Georgios announced as he marched forwards "Are you prepared, Caster?" he cast a brief glance over his shoulder at Amadeus, the musician shrugged his shoulders.

"I doubt you can ever be ready for something like this." He gestured to the sky full of fire breathing reptiles, before a carefree smile worked its way onto his face "But I'll play my part and conduct a special symphony for this event!"

"Even in this situation, you're still obsessed with music?" Marie sighed and shook her head "Be careful out there, musical pervert."

"I should be saying that to you." He muttered as he and Georgios walked ahead of the group.

"Myself and Master will split off from you when we locate Fafnir." Siegfried said to the group. They nodded in affirmative.

"The Dragon Witch will likely be with him, I shall accompany you." Jeanne announced as she stood next to the tall knight. Kiyohime and Mash took their place next to Ritsuka, the former standing far too close for his comfort.

"Lets move guys!" Ritsuka announced and thrust his fist into the air "Operation: Dragon Slayer is a go!"

"...Operation Dragon Slayer?" Siegfried mouthed in confusion as he turned to Mash, the girl looked as surprised as he did by the announcement.

At the curious looks he got, Ritsuka held up his hands "What? I thought we should name our attack and Operation Dragon slayer sounded like as good a name as any."

"I like it." Roman pointed out "Gets straight to the point."

"Its tacky and embarrassing." Olga shut him down "Please refrain from naming our future operations in such a base manner."

"Perhaps we should return to the task at hand?" Ash interjected "Whatever we may call our offensive is hardly relevant to our current situation." he waited for a few moments before slowly nodding his head "However...it is a very fitting name."

"Thanks guys." Ritsuka sniffed slightly then turned his gaze back to Orleans "Lets go then!"

"Charge!" The Servants then all began sprinting downhill and broke off into different directions.

Faraam POV

The Nameless King raised a single eyebrow in a questioning manner as he watched the enemy forces break off into a seemingly mad sprint towards them.

He knew their options were limited considering that the Chevalier, as she...he...them?, was called had already alerted his summoner to their positions in the early morning. He was expecting a frontal assault, but this seemed to be more akin to a mad dash across the battlefield.

"Marie…" The rider looked to his left to see the mad executioner with an ecstatic glee in his eyes as his gaze honed in one someone within the battlefield. Faraam looked and soon spotted a small pale girl riding a crystal horse mowing down undead by the dozen as she streaked across the battlefield.

"Marie!" Rider watched as the Assassin launched himself from the walls and began his own mad sprint in her direction.

Rider changed his outlook on the battlefield now. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the enemy servants and their positions. After a few moments he allowed himself a sly smirk. It seems that the enemy Master was far more shrewd than he had given him credit for.

The mad dash had broken into multiple assaults along their front line with most of their forces focused on protecting the Dragon Slayer and the Master of humanity. He looked and noticed the servants on the opposite side of the battlefield seemed to be attracting a majority of the Wyverns to them and away from the human.

"She's here." Faraam withheld a snarl as the Dragon witch came up next to him, the woman scowling as she glared at the battlefield.

"That stupid little farm girl…" She muttered hatefully, then sent a small look at Faraam "Head out and meet them, I'm sending the other Servants to face them as well." she gave a hateful smile "If they want to die so readily, I see no reason to deny them."

Faraam gave her a grunt of acknowledgement as he leapt from the walls. Storm summoning itself beneath him and taking them both into the air and changed directions to head straight for the Dragon Slayer and the Human master.

He would rather not have gone for them immediately, however the accursed command seal compelled him to seek out the greatest threat to his summoners life. Which unfortunately was the Knight and the human boy. He snarled in frustration as he approached the group.

Master Group POV

"You've got incoming!" Roman shouted over the chaos of the battlefield "Looks like the enemy Rider!"

"Rider!" Ritsuka sent a mental command "Their Rider is approaching us, get yourself and Siegward ready to intercept him!" he looked back to the sky as saw the four winged birdlike dragon come to a stop above the group.

The rider hovered in front of them before calling down "I see your wounds have healed, Dragon Slayer." it was an observation rather than a taunt.

Siegfried nodded his head at the Rider "The curses which afflicted my body upon our last meeting are no longer an issue."

"Curses?" Rider parroted, seemingly confused "What do you mean? Why would you b-" he cut himself off, his whole body began to tremble with rage at something "That infernal woman…" he all but snarled the word out hatefully "She insults me yet again!" his head snapped back to the group "In that case, your survival pleases me greatly. I would consider it a great insult to my honour if my opponent was killed by a poisoning."

"You seem to hold great disdain for the Dragon Witch!" Jeanne called out to the Rider "If that is the case, why do you follow her?"

"She is my summoner." Rider answered "Despite my...Reservations-" it amazed Ritsuka how the servant could make the word sound so insulting "-towards her, she still called me forth. However...she has dealt a great insult one too many times."

"Then why not stand aside?"

"She has me bound by a command seal." He answered back immediately "I am currently restraining myself from killing you as best I can as we speak...However…" his voice took a more subdued tone "If you were to provide me a more...present threat...I would be inclined to pursue them rather than you…"

"Good thing I'm here then!" Was the cry of Astolfo that echoed out, Rider's head snapped to the shout, only for his dragon to let out a cry of shock and pain as it took a bolt of lightning to the face and flail through the air slightly.

"What!?" Faraam let out a cry of alarm as the Hippogriff rider shot past him. Time seemed to slow as both he and Siegward made eye contact with the enemy Rider for the briefest of moments before they shot off and into the sky.

Storm reoriented itself, growling slightly at the new burn mark on its beak. Faraam watched the Hippogriff circle through the air as it made to return to attack him.

Faraam looked down at the group again and chuckled "I believe this shall suffice." with that he let out a command and his dragon immediately let out a roar as it charged the smaller mount.

"Let us make haste." Siegfried spoke "We still have yet to locate Fafnir."

"That Rider…" Mash mused "He didn't seem a bad person…"

"He is the leader of Ash's Covenant." Ritsuka shrugged his shoulders "He's a little intense, but I can't say I hate him...I suppose he's been one of our biggest allies in this singularity."

"Quite so." Jeanne nodded an affirmative "Unexpected…" she muttered then narrowed her eyes ahead of the group "We should steel ourselves Master. It seems we have Wyverns approaching."

"Guess Saint Georgios and Mozart can't distract them all…" Ritsuka lamented, then looked to his right "Berserker? I don't suppose you'd be willing to demonstrate a true Dragon, would you?"

The girl smiled at Ritsuka "Of course, Master-sama."

Ash POV

The Saber servant released a small grunt of exertion as he swung his sword downwards and split a wyvern in half, his grip on the blade changes and he slashed at his side while releasing a burst of black flame.

The undead which had been attempting to flank him were caught up in the fire and released wails as the black fire consumed them, leaving behind only charred remains. Ash nodded to himself as he surveyed his work.

A roar took his attention to the sky just in time to see the pink haired Rider's mount shoot through the air, swiftly followed by the much larger dragon mount that the Nameless king rode upon.

Ash bit his lip behind his helm, the discovery of the identity of the Rider still plagued his mind. However, he would have to place his concerns at the back of his mind. The battlefield was no place for distractions.

"ARGH!" Ash heard the cry and instincts gained over hundreds of fights took over as he flung himself to the side. The wyvern which had been infront of him was less fortunate as the distinctive blur of Gael smashed into the hapless beast and completely obliterated it, sending chunks of scale and meat in every direction.

Ash rolled away and then sprang back to his feet. He gripped his blade with two hands as Gael slowly stood up from his crouched position and turned on him. He cursed his luck.

In single combat, he wouldn't fancy his chances against the Slave knight, and he wasn't afforded that luxury. While the Wyverns themselves were no considerable threat to him, they would provided a distraction.

Which in this situation would mean his death.

"Oi!" The shout was followed by a blue shaped blur striking the side of Gael's head, Ash blinked in surprise as Cu quite literally jump kicked the knight in the head and sent him tumbling away "You better go find Lancer, pal." Cu said as he twirled his spear and assumed a stance "I'll handle this guy." a feral grin worked is way onto Cu's face as Gael rose to his feet.

"I wish you luck then." Ash nodded his head at Cu and turned away and continued to hack through the Wyverns.

Assassin POV

Sasaki Kojiro would, for the first time since his summoning, admit he was having more fun that he really should have been having.

This swordsman...swordswoman...this swordsperson was certainly skilled, it was just a shame they were under the affliction of a madness enhancement.

He diverted the strike, aimed at taking his head, to the left so it overshot him. His nodachi thrust forwards, his assailant leaning their neck to the left so he was barely able to cut them.

"It is most unfortunate we could not face eachother when your skills were not hampered by such an unsightly display." Sasaki spoke, the saber servant rushed forwards and delivered multiple thrusts as the Assassin.

Sasaki would admit, this one would be stronger than him even without the madness enhancement. However, he still had the edge in speed. Diverting and parrying their strikes was a challenging feat, but it was more practical than trying to use his sword like some kind of club.

"My blade may be lending its aid to evil." Saber countered, her eyes narrowing "But it remains as pure as ever."

"So I see." Sasaki smiled as they locked blades, Saber could easily blow him back however they seemed to repress their madness for a few moments.

"I am Chevalier d'Eon." They announced, Sasaki nodded his head and kicked away from them as they broke the engagement and attempted to slash him.

"In that case, I am Sasaki Kojiro. Assassin class servant." He nodded his head, for a brief moment a flicker of a smile appeared on Sabers face.

"Fitting that I face an Assassin such as yourself." They nodded before their expression steeled "Perhaps it is a killer of men that is needed to end this nightmare." they pointed their rapier at Kojiro "Fight me with your full strength Sasaki, or you shall die."

"If you insist." He darted forwards, from Saber's perspective he seemed to disappear and then reappear in front of them. Their eyes widened and their rapier swung downwards as the Nodachi swung up.

A spurt of blood impacted the ground.

"My, my…" Sasaki chuckled "That was rather close…" he said as he examined the cut through his sleeve, blood already beginning to drip from the slash across his arm.

"You are a better Saber than an Assassin." d'Eon spoke as they turned around, a cut just above her eye, blocking out half their vision "Had I not been able to strike at the last moment, you would have taken my head."

"I suppose I shall have to settle for an eye." He smiled the steeled his expression "I doubted it would be that easy however. Although I suppose you have shown, even in your maddened state, that Western swordplay is more than simply flailing about."

d'Eon merely frowned as they readied themselves again "Now let us continue, Saber." Sasaki said, getting into a stance of his own "Let us see if I may yet end this nightmare of yours."

Siegward and Astolfo POV

"You ever have one of those moments where you think something sounds like a good idea so you do it...only to realise how badly it actually is?" Astolfo idly asked as they were chased through the air by the Stormdrake.

"Yes." Siegward admitted, throwing another bolt of lighting at their pursuer "I have had moments such as those."

"Good, good…" Astolfo nodded "Worried I was alone for a second."

"Nonsense…" Siegward waved him off "This is likely one such -DODGE!" he let out a cry, Astolfo heeded his advice and their Hippogriff darted to the left. Seconds later a gigantic bolt of lightning when shooting past where they had last been.

"Yikes!" Astolfo let out a cry as they stared to zig-zag through the air to avoid the torrent of lightning bolts that the enemy Rider was throwing at them.

Siegward frowned behind his helm, they needed to separate the two or put Rider in a position where he would be unable to use his dragon mount effectively. His eyes widened in realisation.

He had an idea...a very stupid idea, he would admit, but an idea none the less. He turned back to Astolfo "Rider...I have a plan."

"Oh? Lets hear it…"

Cu Chulainn POV

Lancer slid underneath the overarching strike Gael hand launched underneath him, the blade impacting the dirt just behind his head. Lancer's face morphed into a feral grin and he spun around and lashed out with his spear.

The red lance pierced straight through the armour behind Gael's knee and out the other side, the giant released a cry of pain and collapsed onto the ground, his sword now working as a crutch.

Cu ripped his spear clean from the leg and spun it around, ready to drive it through the Berserkers head. He was forced to change his attack into a defence when the Berserker spun around on his good leg and gave a horizontal slash towards him.

Lancer grit his teeth as the spear blocked the strike, albeit barely, and his legs buckled. Thrusting the spear downwards, Cu used his to smack himself away from the giant servant. His opponent gone, Gael lost his balance and haphazardly crashed to the ground.

Cu narrowed his eyes, the Berserker had taken him by surprise in their first encounter, although now he was fully prepared for whatever tricks-

Whatever thoughts he had were suddenly dashed and his eyes widened in alarm, Gael suddenly threw himself into the air and then thrust his sword forwards. The momentum of the strike sending the Berserker rocketing towards Lancer like and arrow.

"Shit!" Cu barely had time to cry out a curse before he threw himself away from the Berserker in order to avoid the mad servant.

The ground exploded in clumps of dirt as the Berserker smashed into the ground where Lancer had been, still middair, Lancer had no room to manoeuvrer when several bright disks of energy where flung at him.

Awkwardly twisting his body, Lancer was able to avoid two of the three. The third slashed itself across his shoulder, he bit back a grunt of pain as the disk burnt through his skin and left a burnt slash through his shoulder.

Having heard what happened to Ruler, Lancer immediately darted away from where the disks were the second his feet touched the ground. The disks hovering in the air before returning back to Gael.

The red servant climbed out of the hole like a beast on all fours, dragging his useless leg behind him as the hood focused itself on Lancer.

"Damn." Cu rolled his injured shoulder and winced "Saber wasn't kidding, you are a real piece of work." he smirked "But we got a fight to finish old man…" the smirk became a bloodthirsty grin "So try not to die too quickly!"

Both he and Gael launched at eachother, the flurry of blade meeting spear was barely readable as a blur of movement and a chaotic clash of metal.

Gael, lacking mobility due to his injured limb, was forced to lash out from the ground, crawling around on all fours and wildly hurling his blade at Lancer. Cu was no fool however, he could see that even if it appeared to be wild slashes, the Berserker was demonstrating a rather advanced level of skill.

Berserker roared and gripped his blade with two hands, using his good leg he launched himself into the sky and pointed the blade downwards. Lancer kicked back as the giant smashed into the ground, Gael wasted no time in ripping his sword upwards in a vertical slash which sent a cloud of debris towards lancer.

Cu squinted his eyes as the dirt engulfed his vision, he swung his lance to clear away the dust, then widened them in alarm as a storm of crossbow bolts emerged from the cloud and headed straight for him.

He spun his spear and deflected a good portion of them, however two of them impacted his side. He grunted and narrowed his eyes. Protection from arrows only worked his he could see his opponent.

He gave a pained smirk, seemed that the old man was capable of learning some new tricks after all.

He reached up and pulled the bolt from his shoulder and tossed it away before doing the same to the one embedded in his side. He looked back to Berserker, the red caped giant stared at him as the dust began to settle.

Crossbow still in hand.

The berserker then looked down to the weapon before dismissing it. He gradually rose to his feet, using his sword to balance himself on. Lancer narrowed his eyes and assumed a stance, ready to charge or jump away at a moments notice.

Seconds later, wisps of red fire began to leap from the old mans armour and cape. Lancer widened his eyes and grinned.

"Noble Phantasm?" He got no reply, but he didn't need one. The amount of power that the old man was building up was enough of an answer.

"In that case...only fitting I answer in kind." He's expression hardened, his spear tip pointed towards the ground suddenly burst into life with bright red energy.

Berserker's armour burst into flames and launched over a dozen burning orbs into the sky, the red flames sailing towards lancer as he charged forwards.

"I'll have your heart!" Cu cried out as he closed the distance between himself and Berserker in a moment, the spear thrust towards the ground "Gae Bolg!"

Ash POV

The undead swordsman continued to slash his way through the field of Wyverns, he needed to find the enemy Lancer before they found his Master.

His left arm lashed out and gripped the snout of a wyvern, the pyromancy incinerating the skull instantly before returning his grip to his blade and swinging it sideways, cutting off the head of another of the flying beasts.

This was taking far too long.

He held his sword out in front of him, placing his palm on the blade "This sword is the dark soul of man." he intoned, running it across the blade and causing it to burst into life with black fire "The flames of humanity shall clear all away." he drew the blade under his left arm and lashed outwards "Elfriede!" a wave of fire follow, immolating the surrounding wyverns and leaving the Ashen one standing in a burnt circle in the field.

Satisfied he had dealt the immediate threat, he turned to survey the surrounding are-

His eyes widened in alarm as he saw the sky burst to life with green energy before it broke into lines that began shooting down the centre of the field.

"Master!" Ash cried in alarm, the enemy archer had come out and gone straight for his Masters group in the centre of the field. He sprinted towards that direction, only to slide to a halt and hold up his sword to block a strike aimed at him.

He grit his teeth as the impact of a spear against his sword sent him skidding backwards slightly. He lowered the blade and turned his attention to the man standing in front of him.

The man in a black royal long coat, pale skin and long platinum blonde hair stared back at him with thinly veiled disgust. A feeling which Ash made no attempt to hide as every instinct in his gut was telling him that this man had more in common with a creature of Lothric than a human.

"What manner of abomination are you?" Ash snarled at the man, his left hand beginning to glow with a pyromancy. The man scoffed and narrowed his eyes at the Saber servant.

"That would be my question. You and the odd knight wreak of death." His nose shrivelled as his he had smelt something foul "A disgusting mix of a funeral pyre and a grave, rotting and aged. What manner of dark sorcery ripped you from your grave?"

"What manner of inhuman power granted you this…" Ash gestured to him "You wear the form of a man like a thin cloak, you fool no one…"

"Tch." The man clicked his tongue "I had planned to find the Holy maiden...but I shall deal with your impudence first and use her blood to wash away the stink of your existence."

"I shall do this world a similar courtesy…" Ash muttered darkly as he raised his sword "And rid it of whatever manner of perverse creature you are."

Nameless King POV

He hurled another bolt of sunlight at the fleeing pair, while the beast he was chasing was no match for Storms might, he would admit that it had his drake beat in terms of pure speed.

However, their speed meant nothing if they could not defend themselves properly. The Catarinan had the right idea in targetting Storm, however it would take far more than whatever sunlight bolts he could cast to bring down his mount.

He narrowed his eyes as the flying half-breed suddenly lurched upwards and shot into the air, heading upwards.

"Follow." He commanded, Storm obeyed and shot off after them. He lost sight of them when the creature disappeared into the clouds. He paid it no mind though, he would soon have them within his sights again.

They could no flee from him forever.

If anything, he found it somewhat unfortunate he could not fight the Catarinan on an open field. Even in his exile, he had heard stories of the prowess of the Onion Knights of Catarina, to see one was certainly a surprise.

However...his command seal forced him to forgo attempts at fair combat and chase them down with his complete arsenal.

Storm cleared the cloud layer.

"Tally-ho!" Faraam widened his eyes in alarm as the second they breached the clouds, the onion shaped armour of the knight was rocketing towards him.

Rider barely had the time to process what was happening before the knight tackled him with the force of a battering ram. Faraam released a cough as the wind was blown out of him and both he and the knight were sent flying off of the back of the drake and into a free fall.

"Wh-!?" Faraam couldn't even exclaim surprise before the knight struck him in the face with a haymaker. Riders head snapped to the side in surprise and shock at the punch, it didn't last long before he reacted with a punch of his own which launched the knight away from him.

Siegward cartwheeled through the air before attempting to right himself as best he could, only to be tackled by Rider as he launched himself at the knight.

From an outside perspective, the viewer would have been treated to the bizarre sight of the two engaging in an awkward brawl as they fell through the sky, rapidly heading towards the ground.

Faraam was internally laughing at the sheer audacity of the knight, he would never have expected anything like this. He sent a mental command to storm to continue pursuing the enemy Rider. He was confident he could kill the Catarinan himself, his dragon could keep the other Servant occupied.

His thoughts were cut short when he took a boot to the face which caused him to perform several backflips through the air.

When he finally stopped spinning, both himself and the knight were staring at eachother as they continued their free fall.

"You are quite possibly insane, Catarinan!" Faraam barked out a laugh.

"I am inclined to agree with you!" The knight replied as he looked down, barely a hundred meters from the ground.

"Good! I was hoping for a fight like t-" He was cut off when the pair impacted the ground in a deafening explosion of debris.

AN: We're at the finally of the first singularity!

Also, had a few comments talking about how I've underpowered the Ashen one...

I think I got him pretty well. In game, you're not exactly bless with overwhelming strength, speed and durability. The whole point is you're just some guy. No like the Heroes of old, the whole point of being an Ashen one is that you were ultimately worthless, not fit to be fuel for the First flame. So I think giving him C+ strength, which means in certain situations he can exceed A rank, is actually pretty representative of his skills.

Also, seriously...Were you expecting him to just bat away every servant like they were nothing? You know how boring it is to just have an OP main character and just have them blitz their way through every single fight? It gets old, really quickly.

Also to give you an idea, these are the Stats of Ornstein, the Dragon Slayer, whom I would consider to be a top class Servant.

In game, Basically a Four Star Servant...

Ser Ornstein

Servant: Lancer

Strength: B+

Endurance: B+

Agility: A+

Mana: B

Luck: E

Noble Phantasm: A

Dragon Slayer Spear Rank: A

"Fulgur Præcipe": A

Releases a single bolt of lightning (Anti-unit) Max Target 0-1 Max Range 0-20

Class Skills

Divinity: C

Magic Resistance: C

Personal Skills:

Knight Captain of Gwyn: EX (Extensive knowledge of the miracles [Rank A] of Gwyn and High Charisma from leading his personal knights. Can apply a + to any of his skills, save Luck and Mana)

Blessing of Gwyn: A (High Resistance to fire and lightning based attacks)

Leo Ring: A+

Apply a + modifier to his strength

Dragon Slayer: A++