Chapter 122: Cast against a backdrop

The storm brook no quarter throughout the march, with no cover and no opportunity for rest so early into their journey the caravan of survivors had no other option but to grit their teeth and force their way through the blizzard. With the night sky completely blocked out by the menacing dark grey storm clouds looming overhead, the best the group could tell was that it was near enough early night.

Not that it would have mattered if it were day time either, the storm made certain that being able to see more than five feet in front of you was an exceptionally difficult task.

Olga very much hated it, she could feel the cold creeping in around her and even with the mystic code to protect her the prolonged exposure was starting to wear her down, to say nothing of taking potshots to the face from the falling snow being propelled by the winds. Then there was the almost shin deep snow at ground level that made walking a herculean task. Whether or not the locals had a better go of it as they lived here was something that the Director didn't personally care for at present.

For her, it was just a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

Looking over her shoulders for a split second, she had to squint her eyes to even make out the shadows of the people behind her moving through the now and then lost sight of them perhaps ten or twelve back. The caravan itself probably stretched on for around a dozen metres, perhaps more but as it stood you could only see a fraction of that.

If they did get attacked, it would most certainly be something no one would be able to look out for until their attackers were right on top of them. Which is what Olga very much wanted to avoid in the first place, especially if they were being attacked by dragons. One of the beasts could swoop down and blast the entire caravan with a wave of fire and be back into the sky before anyone had been able to so much as catch a glimpse of it.

Unless they were as difficult to spot from the air as they were to spot from the ground, she didn't want to underestimate the sensory abilities of dragons. They were ranked near the pinnacle of phantasmal beasts for a very good reason and if it was Fafnir, then temperatures such as this would mean absolutely nothing to them. Whether it be the story about Sigurd or Siegfried, both dragons made their homes in locations that were far from tropical.

Especially the Fafnir of Norse myth.

Closing her eyes, she turned back around and forced herself onwards, ignoring the growing soreness in her joints as she was having to drag them through the snow, each lift of her leg feeling as though it was growing heavier and heavier.

She had a Dragon slaying Servant.

That was fine, as long as they could ground Fafnir, then they could beat them.

Besides, Fujimaru was able to defeat Fafnir so there was no reason that she couldn't either. She was a better mage than him and the Director of Chaldea itself. Being unable to do something that a civilian brought in to fill a quota could do would shame both her and the entire Animusphere family.

She released a gasp as she felt her body lurch forwards, her leg getting caught on something just beneath the snow and rushing down face first into the ground. She found herself suspended about an inch from the surface of the snow, a tight grip around the back of her coat. The gasp turned into a surprised shout as she was pulled back and righted.

The hulking shadow of Torin loomed over her, leaning forwards until she could just about make out the whites of his eyes before they darted down to the ground. "Careful. The snow hides many dangers for those unaccustomed to marching it." his voice just about came out above the howling of the storm, even then it was difficult for her to hear, he leaned back and turned away from her "Watch your footing."

Olga rolled her jaw, clenching her teeth and biting back a response about how she knew how to walk perfectly well. She restrained herself though, he likely wouldn't have been able to hear her over the storm anyway.

Shaking her head, she moved down to the communicator and activated it. Sure enough, Romani's face popped up but it crackled every now and again as snow rushed through the image and disrupted it. Not that the audio seemed to be too affected. "Glad to see you again, Director." Romani nodded to her, the woman had to strain her ears in order to actually understand what he was saying.

"How far have we gotten?" She called back - or to be more accurate, shouted back - at the man, to her it felt like they had been walking for hours but she wasn't entirely sure what time they had left to begin with. Her muscles were getting sore and this storm just had a way of making everything feel dragged out.

"You've gotten about…two miles from your original location." Romani explained with a nod of the head, oddly enough he looked rather impressed at the rather low number "Which is pretty impressive when you consider that you're walking through a rather powerful storm and you left a little over two hours ago."

Two miles in two hours.

The snow was slowing them down faster than she thought, at this rate it would be about half a day before they made any real distance.

"We shall rest after another three miles." Torin called back from slightly ahead of her, Olga felt the blood leave her face behind her thermal mask. That was about another three hours of walking and in this weather? She wouldn't be able to last that long. He was expecting everyone else to walk in this too? Was he crazy or were the people around here just built like freaks?

Either way, she couldn't let this stand.

"Three miles?!" She shouted at him, her voice managing to penetrate above the storm as she hobbled forwards as fast as she could to try and catch up with him. She saw his pace briefly slow before it resumed, just long enough for her to catch up. "At least make it one more!"

"Three." Torin repeated again in his usual calm voice, he looked skywards "The storm is worse than I suspected and shows no sign of stopping, we must make good enough distance before we set up camp and wait it out." he looked back down "Five miles is the limit these people can manage."

"Wha-you don't know that!" She waved her arm back across the caravan "They won't last another three hours in this weather without losing someone!"

"There is a good chance we have already lost some." Torin responded to her in a tone of voice that seemed dispassionate, it was somewhat jarring to see him seemingly care so little about the loss of life and incensed the woman further. "Besides, who is it that will not last another three hours? Them or you?"

Olga bristled at the insinuation "Both!"

"Really?" Torin sounded dubious "These men have faced worse winters than this and have lived through them. I am confident they can make it through this one as well." he paused before he looked over his shoulder "Besides, I have little interest in leading them to their deaths. I had wanted to travel through the storm for its entirety but that seems foolhardy."

"It's foolish not to make camp now!"

"We're too close." Torin bluntly stated "Even five miles is a close distance but the storm is removing all options and the hope that it shall lessen has not sprouted, therefore we shall journey as far as we can before making camp." he turned back around "If your legs can carry you no further, then I am sure one of the your Servants can sling you over their shoulder."

Olga bit back another retort, instead she glared ahead of the group and resumed pushing herself through the snow to the best of her abilities.

It was going to be a long three hours, she could already tell that much.

Snow crunched under hoof as the black armoured servant approached the outskirts of the abandoned settlement. The horse neighed beneath the rider, glowing red eyes shifted as the knight pulled on the reins and twisted the direction the mount was facing until it was side on.

The horned helm shaped in the head of a black dragon slowly moved from left to right as the individual underneath the armour examined the town. Eventually, their head moved towards what would be the entrance to the settlement and cracked their reins once again, the armoured horse sauntered forwards at a steady pace before being pulled to a halt.

Even with the storm covering most of it, there were still faint traces of it. The snow was slightly dishevelled, as if something had been dragged through it before the storm had truly picked up and it hadn't yet been buried. The helmet slowly turned away from the settlement, following the faint groove carved out in the snow and watching as it got further and further away from the town and into the distance.

Behind the maw of the helm, pale yellow eyes narrowed before the figure twisted the reins once again and resumed their march. Moving in the same direction that the faint tracks were heading, even if they lost them through the course of the journey it likely wouldn't matter much. They were travelling with the total population of an entire town and through a rough storm.

If it was a small group, then making doubling back tracks and twists and turns would be more accessible to them. However, that wouldn't be the case. Doing such manoeuvres would only serve to put the citizens they were trying to protect in danger. It was a smart move at the very least to try and escape under the cover of dark and in the middle of the storm.

There was just one issue.

It made them slow.

Slow prey was easy to catch and whatever guardians they had - likely one or more Servants - would never try to abandon the defenceless people, which meant they would be forced to face her and the small force of dragon-kind she was bringing with her.

A shadow passed above her head, just barely casting a black patch across the ground as it moved through the sky. The dull red dragon continued to move through the storm without giving the slightest indication it was affected in the least, snow melted upon contact with the giant lizard with a great many of the wyverns sticking close to their larger cousin in order to push through the storm.

"Go, Llamrei." With a click of the reins and a cold voice barely above a whisper, the horse spurred into action. Kicking off the snow with such force that it produced a small boom and sent an avalanche flooding back into the town, the mount rushed across the tundra without so much as showing the slightest hint of being affected by the thick snow as it ploughed through it.

Such was the speed that the beast was able to keep pace with the dragons flying overhead and soon passed by them. All the while, the Lancer atop the intimidating mount remained silent, their eyes fixed ahead of them and staring into the blizzard.

Olga was truly hating their current predicament, moving had long since become a chore to her and she knew that if she spoke up about it that Servant in front of her would probably give her some sort of comment about how that was 'expected' of her. As if falling short behind all others was just what he thought she was all about.

Therefore, she forced herself forwards even past what she imagined was her limits. She would likely suffer for it later but as long as she avoided seeing that mocking expression she knew that Servant would be making behind his helmet when he saw her fall, then it would be acceptable.

Something rested itself on her back, it was small, somewhat thin but stretched out across the back of her coat like some sort of branch.

"Gah!?" Releasing a panicked gasp, she whirled around to stare into the blizzard, soon finding her vision almost completely obscured by Nero's grinning face, the green eyed Emperor gazed directly into the goggles as though they didn't exist and instantly locked eyes with the Director.

"Pale Rose!" Nero patted her several more times on the shoulder before she retracted the arm and allowed it to fall back underneath the cloak wrapped around her "I am pleased to see that you are still managing to navigate such conditions!" she praised before flicking her hair back and removing a large chunk of snow from it, the smile shifting into a slightly annoyed pout "All this snow is causing a great deal of discomfort for my hair!"

Olga just stared at her incomprehensibly for a few moments, then shook her head and frowned at the woman behind her mask "What on earth are you-"

"Look at it." Nero raised up her right hand and ran it through her blonde locks, displacing yet more snow from her head which quickly found itself replaced in the storm. The Emperor shook her head "I admit some envy, Pale Rose. Perhaps I shall invest in a coat or hood during future situations such as these." the woman continued on, cupping her chin and giving a thoughtful hum "It might be wrong to conceal my beauty, but it is better to protect it for later than to risk its destruction now isn't it?"

"...What are you doing here?"

"Hm? Ah, I got bored." Nero explained with a nod of the head, raising her voice just enough that Olga could hear her "There is no one around to engage in conversation with and the Caster seemed terribly dull." she paused for a moment "Well, perhaps not as such but I merely suspect there is little we can speak about."

"And so you came here?" Olga repeated in an incredulous tone of voice before clicking her tone "If you're just coming to waste time, then you can-"

"You do not agree with this plan, do you?" The way in which Nero's voice shifted from jovial to almost serious was jarring, so much so that Olga almost missed a step as she whirled back on the Emperor. "I did not need to hear your conversation to see such things." The Emperor explained with a wave of her left hand "It is all about your posture." she reached out with the arm and tapped Olga's tightly bunched shoulders and her crossed arms.

"Wha-stop touching me!" Olga snapped as she drew herself away, stumbling slightly in the snow and forcing Nero to grab her arm to steady her. "Fine." She growled under her breath and looked ahead, making sure to slow her pace so she wasn't too close to Torin. "I don't like the plan."

Nero nodded along with her "There are many times that I did acts that I did not personally enjoy." she explained in a serious tone as she nodded her head, not even reacting to the falling snow and her eyes becoming distant. "Leadership isn't always about pleasing everyone and there is not one in all of history that is loved universally." she chuckled, "It is embarrassing for me to admit that, given how hard I tried, but I am an example of this too."

"What's the point of being a leader if everyone is dead by the end of it?" Olga huffed and looked on ahead, not shifting her posture.

"You are speaking to an Emperor, Consul Animusphere." Nero pointed out with a small huff "Do not forget that so swiftly, though with how brightly I burn it might be easy to think of me as an idol and not a leader of an empire."

Olga remained silent before she clicked her tongue "Times were different. We aren't living in the Roman Empire anymore, humanity has moved past that."

Nero hummed to herself "Perhaps, but the eternal empire burns in all hearts." she spoke in an almost amused tone of voice "That longing dream to expand as far as you can, to see all there is to see and to experience everything. So long as that dream resides in the hearts of men, women and children…Then Rome shall never truly fade away."

"That's just describing motivating factors for advancing humanity." Olga grumbled with an irritated tone "What does that have to do with making bad decisions?"

"Is it a bad decision?" Nero asked "Or is it one you do not like? "

Olga grit her teeth and avoided looking at the Emperor from the corner of her eye. "They aren't mutually exclusive."

"Perhaps." Nero conceded "But in this case, I admit that I do not see another solution. We would have been forced to depart the village regardless if we hope to resolve the Singularity and this way we also find allies who are willing to aid us in future battles." the Emperor gestured ahead of them to the shadow of Torin.

"I know that!" Olga snapped, whirling on the Emperor and glaring at her "I know we get allies but that doesn't…" she paused and looked back away "...That isn't…"

It shouldn't come from such things.

The sacrifice of innocent lives just so they could get some help didn't change that, it was the perfect sort of logic that should be used by a Director. Sacrifice the lives of the citizens to gain the power of Servants and then save thousands more when the Singularity was resolved. That sort of thing was easy to explain.

It was easy to write down.

It wasn't easy to do.

That was how the Demi-Servant program was started.

"Despite all this, Consul Animusphere." Nero's voice attracted her attention once again, the Director found herself more fatigued than anything else when speaking to her. "That you show such care to people that you have never met in your life is astounding to me." the Emperor gave her a half smile "That is a good trait to have, especially for a leader. I would rather follow one who cares than one who does not."

'She didn't mean that.' Olga's mind whispered the words to her, 'she's just saying that so you won't kick up a fuss again. It's just false platitudes and nothing more. She probably doesn't even respect you as a leader. Consul? What a joke.'

Olga turned away from the Emperor, falling into a long silence and her posture making it perfectly clear that she wasn't willing to speak on the matter further. Nero nodded ever so slightly to herself and backed away, falling further and further down the line to where she had originally been.

Nero might have told an ever so slight lie when she said that she had come to the Director because she was bored. As she moved further down the line, she approached the individual she had been speaking with previously.

Marie turned her head towards the Emperor as she approached, her right hand pressed firmly upon the top of her hat to keep it atop her head. The Queen's eyes squinted at the blonde Servant approached her, raising her left hand and giving a wave of welcoming as she got closer and closer.

"How did it go?" Marie called out as loud as she could as Nero closed in, the Emperor paused for a moment as she considered how best to answer before she responded.

"I think it went quite well!" Nero replied with a slight hint of pride in her voice "I would say that Pale Rose is on the road of understanding how best to handle the situation." there was a pause as she frowned "I think, the head coverings make it remarkably difficult to actually tell what she is thinking. Even her posture can only tell me so much and I am no true master at reading such things."

Marie gave a hum as she nodded her head along with the Emperor "I see." she responded in a quiet tone that was almost lost in the winds, turning to the left and smiling as she stared at the carriage riding alongside them, she could spot a small red haired child sticking his head up against the window of the glass and cupping either side of his head to try and look through it.

Nero turned to where she was looking and snorted at the sight "I see that the young ones have already grown rather attached to the transport, have they not?"

Marie giggled "I'm quite pleased at that, hearing the sounds of laughing children is a rather pleasant thing, isn't it?" she turned back to Nero and put on a more concerned expression "So you think she might be getting better?"

Nero thinned her lips at that "Though I call it progress, I cannot be sure. I believe she might take the worst meaning from my words and she made no effort to hide her dislike of the plan." she fell into step with the Rider, looking ahead and strutting through the snow while dragging the cape behind them "I confess my own misgivings of such a treacherous voyage but there is little choice, is there?"

The French Queen gave a slight hum of acknowledgement "Torin explained as such, I feel as though that the young lady dislikes being told what is and is not possible for her to accomplish."

"Perhaps." Nero admitted, scratching her chin "I have met quite a few in my time as Emperor, those who did not like to be told what was impossible for them to accomplish. However, I feel as though perhaps Pale Rose might care a great deal even if she does not show it terribly well." she turned back to Marie "Considering she seemed to demonstrate quite a large amount of concern for the people we are escorting."

Giving another hum, Marie looked on ahead and thinned her lips "...How do you think it will go if we actually fight?"

"...Ah." Nero made a noise "Um…I'm sure it will go fine!" she dismissed with a wave of her hand, smiling as she did so "We have other Servants to support us and the polite knight seems to have no real complaints when it comes to speaking with Pale Rose, despite how she seems to be somewhat…harsh with him."

"I would call it rude." Marie bluntly stated, her face turning more troubled "Tarkus has been nothing but polite since we met him and she doesn't seem to recognise that. Honestly, I'm surprised how he might be a Servant at all with how nice he is." she turned back to Nero and tilted her head "Can you see him using that large sword on his back to hurt anyone?"

That threw the Emperor for a loop for a few moments as she considered the answer, sure enough it might be difficult to imagine some Servants being capable of killing people. One could even make the same argument for the French Queen if there was no prior evidence given during the French Singularity. Now, while Nero hadn't been personally there for that she had heard of it as passing gossip from those who had actually gone to the Singularity.

But on the topic of Tarkus, Nero found it surprisingly difficult to imagine him killing someone when he spoke so politely and appeared rather courteous to all he met. However, that could just as easily mean he was one who was polite and kind with his allies and brutal with his enemies. That wouldn't be too great a surprise to her, now that she considered it.

Especially considering he was summoned as a Saber, normally such Heroes were ones who demonstrated legendary feats with the sword and felled many foes on the fields of battle. She was obviously the exception because she was a magnificent Emperor of Rome and if she said she was a Saber, then by Jupiter she was a Saber.

"Perhaps." Nero admitted slowly as she nodded her head "He is still a Servant."

Maire remained silent for a moment before she made a noise of understanding "Ah, right. I feel silly asking about that now." she awkwardly reached up with her right hand and scratched the back of her neck. As she did so, a gust of wind blasted the hat from the top of her head. Marie let out a noise as she spun around and snatched it back down before it could get very far.

B rank agility was useful for things like that.

"Perhaps some straps?" Nero suggested as Marie affixed the hat back onto the top of her head and adjusted it. The Emperor pointed to her chin "Something to tie it around your chin?"

Marie paused for a moment before shaking her head "I think it would look rather strange, almost like a crash helmet." she paused for a moment as she considered her words "I didn't even know what a crash helmet was before."

"Ah yes. Modern terminology." Nero nodded along "It is rather difficult to understand at times, somewhat confusing."

"Really? I think it's neat." Marie giggled "You get me, fam?"

Nero stared at her "...Huh?"

Marie's shoulders slumped in slight disappointment "Oh…"

Romani raised his hand over his mouth to block out the yawn that was emerging from his throat, the Director wasn't the only one to be feeling the onset of tiredness although the doctor was hardly going to be making that sort of comment right now.

The fact they had been able to make such a journey was good enough but back in the command centre they had a better look of things than down on the ground. The results were somewhat grim to behold.

"That's another one." Maxwell closed his eyes, his voice leaving his mouth as toneless "That makes it five in the last hour."

"These guys are hardy sure but it ain't like they're packing big snow coats and thermal packs." Kerry remarked as she shook her head, grimacing "Still though…watching dots fade away on a screen is nasty."

"As long as we can help keep the others alive, then we can say this is a victory." Romani spoke up, although the words felt almost toxic in his mouth, even as he spoke them. From a purely pragmatic point of view it made sense but these people shouldn't have been put into this position to begin with. None of this was supposed to happen so all of those who died weren't supposed to meet with such fates.

None of it was right and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it.

Sit at the town and wait to get swarmed by dragons or venture out and brave the cold, losing a few to the storm. Romani exhaled as he reached up and ran his hands through his hair. Goodness knows what the Director would be saying if she was here instead of down there, likely talking about unacceptable casualties.

Lowering his hands onto the desk, he stared at the screen for what felt like hours, gazing at the two hundred or so red dots moving across the computer landscape before he squinted his eyes and looked to what was approaching from North of them. He felt his skin turn ashen and his heart rate speed up.

"Is anyone else seeing this?" He called out across the command room as he pressed the buttons on his keyboard and zoomed the monitor onto the new dots that showed up in the storm.

"...Oh shit." Kerry was the first to speak up as she similarly brought up the results and subsequently blanched.

A large magical energy signature, weaker than the one they had seen in France but it still matched the basic structure. A dragon was closing in on the group and from the looks of things, it was being accompanied by at least a dozen wyverns, perhaps more. They were so bunched around the larger beast it was difficult to make them out.

Romani went to alert the Director when he noticed something else on the screen, the magical output was easily large enough to match the dragon but the makeup of it was all wrong. His eyes slowly widened. It wasn't a dragon, it was a Servant that was accompanying the dragon and the wyverns.

In essence, they were being pursued.

"Director!" Olga winced as Romani practically screamed into the air, his voice rippling forth from the communicator on her wrist as little more than a shout. She barely even registered the high degree of panic attached to the voice as she raised up her wrist and stared at the communicator, watching as the screen popped up and revealed the doctor's face.

Like his voice, he also looked on the verge of passing out from terror.

"You have to get ready for an attack!" Romani called out frantically "You've got hostile signatures closing in on you! A dragon accompanied by a group of wyverns and a Servant."

Olga blanched "Wh-wha-? B-but you said that wyverns couldn't fly in this weather!" she practically screeched out loud, the people next to her stopped walking and turned their heads in her direction. Torin from up ahead ceased walking and whirled around as a blur to stare at the group and swiftly marched back towards them.

"From the looks of things they're sticking close to the dragon and using it as some sort of buffer!" Romani explained "But they're coming on you fast, they should be on you within a few minutes!"

Torin remained silent before he looked up towards the sky, glaring at the darkened clouds and the snow storm before his hands clenched themselves into fists. Reaching down to his waist, he clasped the rope tied around him and undid it from his person, dropping it to the snow and rolling his shoulders while bringing forth his axe. "Then we shall have to delay them as long as we can."

"Wha-delay?" Olga looked at him incredulously "Not defeat?"

"I am prepared for either outcome." Torin simply replied as he marched past her, a large double sided axe in his hands brought into a ready position as he moved further and further down the line "Whatever happens, stay together!" his voice roared out above the storm, likely being supported by his magical energy to penetrate the storm "If you run into the storm by yourself then you are doomed!"

Olga grit her teeth and turned further down the line, then cupped her hands around her mouth in an effort to shout out "All servants to the back!"

She sent a mental command to Stahl to move to the back of the group - briefly remembering he had been wounded and having him hand those off to others still moving - before she herself waddled through the snow as fast as she could. Not even close to being fast enough to keep pace with the taller knight but she was at least making slow progress.

A rumble split through the storm, for a moment Olga had thought it to be little more than thunder before the sound went on for longer than she was comfortable with. As it trailed off, she slowly turned her head skywards as she realised the 'thunder' had gotten louder the longer it went on.

She could see it in the distance, high into the sky.

A faint orange glow, dancing through the sky as if it were a firefly amidst a raging hurricane. For a moment she considered it to have an eerie beauty to it, then she widened her eyes as she watched the glow get larger and larger, the mild light managing to do its job just enough to unveil the looming shadow just behind the burning glow. A pair of powerful wings beat up and down as the creature they belonged to was propelled forwards and at great speeds at the group.

Olga released a strangled noise as she fell back, slumping into the snow and freezing on the spot. Doing nothing more than watching as the dragon got closer and closer to her, the bright glow at the forefront of the beast making much more sense now as it fell towards her, slightly higher than the growing orb of fire in the gullet of the dragon were a pair of faint glowing eyes, an ethereal colour of pure hazel that shone like jewels.

That sheer power of the eyes locked onto her before being blotted out.

Olga released another cry as a shadow fell over her and blocked out her line of sight with the dragon, a hulking mass stood protectively before her with the rounded scaled shield pointed skywards and oversized axe held in the other hand, glowing menacingly as flickers of lightning danced across the blade.

Another roar split through the sky, this time accompanied by the panicked screams of the caravan as they rushed to get away from the point where the dragon looked set to strafe them.

Then it flew right above them, the maw opened up to its fullest extent and breathed out a river of flame across the ground, burning a thick line through the snow and sending a wall of fire into the air, stretching a good three metres and curving around the caravan before the dragon took back off into the sky with several more beats of its wings.

The Director raised her hand to protect herself from the sudden brightness, the newly birthed wall of flames granted her a sudden clarity of vision that made seeing a trivial matter, lowering her hands she found herself transfixed by the sight for a few moments. It didn't make sense to her in the least, the dragon flew right over them instead of burning them. Did it just not see them?

Why burn a massive line of fire in front of them, it can't have been to block them off because then they could just go around.

Perhaps she had just been protected by the flames because of Berserker? Almost hesitantly, she turned back around to face the front and blinked. She could see the caravan easily enough, her own shadow being cast across them with no sign of any of them being caught in the flames. Her brows furrowed as she tried to get back to her feet.

Why did it miss them?

It didn't make sense.

She could see the caravan was unharmed.

So what was the point of that?

Cu lowered his arm, staring down the length of the caravan. Crimson eyes widened in horror as he stared at the wall of fire that lay directly in their path. And to the black outlines of the people that were now cast across the fiery backdrop. Showcasing where they all were.

"Oh…fuck." Cu quietly cursed to himself before he directed his attention skywards and narrowed his eyes at the storm, there was a faint silver lining though. It meant they could also see all the wyverns that were now swooping down upon them.

With a wave of his hand, several bolts of lightning rushed forth from runes he carved in the air. The attacks crossed the distance of the sky in a heartbeat, striking the closest wyvern to him and causing it to release an ear piercing scream of agony as the life was literally fried out of it, the beast tumbling through the air. Brown scales now scorched dark as it fell to the ground with little in the way of grace, slamming into the snow and rolling for several metres before coming to a halt.

"Wyverns in the sky!" Cu called out, runes raising his voice to ensure that everyone could hear him. No sense in worrying about stuff like keeping a low profile now when everything within a mile of them would be able to see the bonfire and their bodies moving in front of the flames. "Eyes to the sky!" he stopped and waved his hand once again, bringing forth another barrage of runes and striking another wyvern that sought to try its luck.

The beast twisted in the air, avoiding the initial barrage and responding by hurling a bolt of flames towards him. The Caster narrowed his eyes and twirled his staff before thrusting it forwards like a spear, slamming it directly into the centre of the fireball and dissipating it as his eyes worked to reacquire his target.

The fact he couldn't see the dragon that had caused this mess to begin with was already weighing on the back of his mind. It would be all too easy for it to make another pass at them from the air and unleash a river of flames on them. He could protect himself and a few others if that happened, but protecting the entire troupe?

Not a chance.

Orbs of fire crashed into the centre of the line, bodies went flying in the blast and screams split through the air, Cu grit his teeth as he watched shadows dance across the sky. Wyverns zooming through the air and making continuous strafing runs towards them.

A spear shot across the air, slamming directly into the skull of one of the wyverns. The force behind the throw was great enough that not only was the spear obliterated by it, but so was the skull and neck of the wyvern. Momentum carried it backwards, disappearing into the darkness of the storm as a bleeding ragdoll.

"...Well alright then." Wasting no further thoughts on it, Cu returned to what he was best at.

Being a guard dog, even if he would never publicly say that.

"All those with bows, take aim to the skies and loose true and firm!" Torin's voice roared across the length of the caravan, all the way to the back where Cu was located. The Caster shifted his attention towards the shout for a split moment before he shifted his attention back to combat.

Tarkus grabbed another spear, drawing it back and staring at the sky with narrowed eyes. He was absolutely certain that the first throw against the small dragon had been nothing but luck but that only meant that he was very lucky. Right now, as long as he was hitting something then he was alright with that.

The black knight drew back the spear as far as he could and slowed his breathing, his eyes flickered across the sky for any sign of moment. His eyes snapped left and his arm rocketed forwards, the spear launched itself across the sky with a boom, snow parted the instant the spear took to the air, the wind curving around the weapon.

It missed the wyvern by a good metre, but the winds that followed in its wake did their job and rocked the beast in the air. A screech emerged from the beast's throat as it flapped its wings repeatedly in an effort to stabilise itself. That made it a stationary target for a few moments and being illuminated by the fires going across, that made it a very welcome target.

Dozens of arrows crashed against it, bouncing from the scales with dull thuds. Save one, through either luck or skill the arrow slammed into the wyvern's left eye. The beast leaned back and roared in pain, the voice cracking slightly as it reached up towards the wounded eye with its legs in an effort to pull the arrow free.

"Haaaaaa!" A cry shook the air, the form of Nero with a blazing sword in her hand swept across the darkened horizon and rushed straight towards the wyvern, approaching from its blind side and still put off by pain, it was left thoroughly unprepared for when the Emperor smashed her burning sword into its gut and tore it open, the beast fell from the sky in a show of blood soon after, Nero landing atop the ground soon followed by the crunching thud of the wyvern corpse. The Emperor cast a stern visage, her expression illuminated by her sword and by the backdrop of the inferno ahead of them.

"Stand firm!" She cried out, raising her sword up once again and pointing it towards the heavens "We still have foes to vanquish! Shall this be the place you meet your ends?! I think not! What battle will lead you to glory if it is through an ambush by mere animals!?"

Perhaps her words would have been more impactful if the red dragon hadn't chosen that moment to burst through the clouds, soaring towards the group with its maw opened wide once again and the orange glow building in the back of its throat as it got closer and closer to the group, eager to make another pass on them.

Nero turned to see what they were staring at and promptly blinked.

"Oh."

Grabbing another spear - this time from someone's arm, he made sure to apologise to them - he drew it back and didn't wait for a chance to aim. Hurling it with all his might with enough blowback to send the snow rolling behind him. The spear thudded against the front of the dragon with a crack, the beast flinched its head to the side but otherwise didn't look too gravely affected from the attack.

Shifting to the shield on his back, Tarkus swung it around in front of him and then unsheathed the greatsword from its scabbard. The knight charged forwards like a lumbering wall of metal, bringing his shield up and waiting for the dragon to unleash its breath upon them.

Another thud sounded out across the sky, this time accompanied by the sound of flesh being parted. The dragon let out a pained roar as the orange glow vanished from its mouth and it twisted midair, the gleam of a positively giant one-sided axe being reflected in the light caught Tarkus's eye as the beast flew over the top of the caravan and crashed into the ground, the axe having struck it directly on the joint between the left wing and the body.

Despite the rough landing, the dragon was swift to get back upon its feet and whirl its enormous head in the direction the axe had come from, narrowing its glowing eyes towards the charging Servant. Stahl moved with speed unexpected of something their size, raising their circular shield as the dragon opened up their mouth once again and allowed the flames to build up in the back of their throat.

Before Tarkus could change directions, he stumbled back as something smacked into his back. The knight blinked and turned back around, seeing the ground around him slightly charred as though something had set fire to it. Turning his gaze upwards, he soon located the answer to that question as he watched a wyvern fly back away from him, its mouth glowing in an effort to appear intimidating as it prepared to launch another ball of flame.

Ducking down low, Tarkus raised up his shield and allowed it to eat another orb of fire as he stabbed his greatsword into the ground and grabbed a clump of snow in his meaty palm. He then squeezed his hand as tight as he could, compacting the snow so far that it became like solid rock. As he revealed his makeshift projectile to the world, it had perfectly moulded itself to his grip.

The knight stood back up, pulling his arm back and hurling the snowball - now so dense it likely could have killed a normal human being - at the wyvern. The animal dodged to the right to avoid the ball of hardened snow. Tarkus made a small noise of disappointment as he watched his attack miss before he went to form another snowball.

Olga had noticed the dragon rushing the centre of the column and had immediately ordered Stahl to intercept it. While she hadn't been specific on the details, the last thing she had actually been expecting was for the Berserker to hurl the axe at the beast. Still, it knocked the dragon out of the sky and therefore achieved the objective she had in mind, so it was fine in the end.

Turning her head towards the combat, she watched as Stahl charged straight towards the dragon while raising their rounded shield. The Berserker then kicked off the ground and launched themselves into the dragon's chin like a battering ram, the bottom jaw snapped up and collided with the top, shutting the mouth and causing the dragon to stagger backwards.

Not that it remained on the defensive for long, bringing its full weight to bare, it brought its front right leg up and slammed it down into the ground with enough force to shake the earth, the fact that Olga felt her own legs shake the moment the dragon struck the ground was proof enough of just how much power it had put into the attack. Of course, that had nothing on the wave of snow that was kicked up by the attack.

Stahl swung their shield to the side, creating a gust of wind that parted the sea of snow that had been rushing towards them. Then angeled their shield slightly when the dragon's head fell upon them with their jaws wide open. The mouth had extended wide enough that it could take the width of the shield in its mouth easily and did just that, clamping down around the rim of the Berserkers defensive armament and picking them up into the air.

Olga was watching in silence as the Dragon swung her Servant around like a ragdoll, the Berserker's armour making a grinding sound as parts and joints were slammed against one another.

"U-um…L-let go of the shield!" She called out in her head, the Berserker complied with the order and released the shield in the middle of one of the dragon's swings. The end result was the Servant being launched several dozen metres into the air before plummeting back to the ground with a heavy crash, burying themselves a good four feet in the snow and dirt.

The dragon swung their head to the opposite side and released the shield, flinging it away like the world's largest discus and far into the distance before it turned its attention back onto the fallen dragon slayer, stalking forwards and raising up its foot with the sole intention of crushing the troublesome Berserker.

All the while, Olga just stared uncomprehendingly at the battle, blinking repeatedly as thoughts rushed through her mind.

That wasn't supposed to happen. They were a dragon-slayer, what type of dragon-slayer couldn't slay dragons?

"O'Tree, gildru óvin minn!" A voice cried out, a rush of roots rushed up from beneath the snow and wrapped around the limbs of the dragon that still rested upon the ground. The dragon itself lurched forwards as it found its momentum briefly halted, turning its head and staring at the branches and roots now clinging to its body before releasing a snort of black smoke.

With a grunt of exertion, the dragon pulled its whole body to the side and shattered the bindings that had it.

"Do not dally!" Torin all but ordered Olga as his form blurred past her, rushing the dragon and kicking up a wave of snow as he ran "Order your Servant to get up and retrieve their axe!"

Olga was briefly shook from her stupor as the words registered in her mind "G-get the axe back!"

Like that, Stahl was back on their feet as though nothing had happened to them at all. The Berserker kicked off the ground, devoid of weapons and leapt straight for the dragon's head. The red scaled beast noticed the body of the Berserker flying towards them a second too late as Stahl slammed into the side of their skull with a shoulder ram.

The dragon staggered with the blow, Stahl reaching up and slamming their gauntlet down into the top of the dragon's ridge and clenching their hands with all the strength that they had. Armoured fingers dug through scales and drew out blood from the insertion points, a scream erupted from the dragon and soon turned into a pained grunt as Stahl placed his feet against the dragon's jaw and kicked upwards.

Stahl rolled across the top of the dragon, sliding down the back and reaching the midsection of the back where the wings lay. Finding their axe still embedded in the back of the dragon and taking a hold of it before ripping it clean out with no thought for delicacy, even taking a sizable chunk of dragon flesh with them as they did so and spraying blood across the snow.

The dragon released another pained roar, then flinched back as Torin slammed his axe into one of its front toes just behind the front nail. The Caster twisted the weapon and gripped a hold of it before yanking forwards, tearing the dark claw from the finger of the dragon and tossing it away without a care in the world.

If his plan had been to anger the dragon, then it was a success beyond all doubts.

The dragon's roars were nothing shy of rage incarnate, the very air bled with magical energy as the density surrounding the dragon hiked up. The Director felt her breath start to shorten as her body reacted to the sudden influx, it was far more than modern mages were equipped to handle at such close range and she could already feel her body's limits being reached.

"Director!" Romani frantically called through the radio "You're suffering from mana oversaturation, you need to get out of there now! Director!"

As if sensing their master's pain, Stahls head snapped towards the woman instantly and then down to the dragon. Adjusting the axe in their hand, the Berserker gripped it tightly with both hands before turning onto the right wing which was still undamaged. With a silent roar, the Berserker swung the axe down with all their might, scales shattered, flesh parted and bones were shredded the moment the axe bit into the extra limb.

Tearing halfway through and ensuring that for the time being, the dragon would not be flying.

The roar cracked, the dragon's rage shifting into a howl of agony as it bucked and swung its body in an effort to fling the Berserker from them. With a momentous effort from their body, they flexed themselves and swung their body down, rolling across the ground and roaring as their wings were pressed into the snow.

Despite that, the dragon succeeded in forcing Stahl to leap from the body to avoid being crushed and for Torin to jump to the side for the same reason. As the dragon righted themselves, they brought their tail to bear in a sweeping motion, slicing it through the air towards the two Servants in an effort to strike them.

The back of the tail smashed against Stahl's head, flipping the Servant onto its back and leaving it lying motionless on the ground.

Torin was far luckier having seen the move coming, dropping down he felt the tail sweep over his head as it carried forth a tsunami of snow which washed over his body, shaking himself free of the cover he rushed back to is feet and adjusted the axe in his hand as the dragon brought themselves to face him entirely, eyes narrowed and a deep menacing growling building up in the back of its throat.

"O'Lordkin of the Forest, guide my axe." Torin chanted to himself before he stamped his foot down and raised his axe upwards. Giving out a bellowing roar before he charged forwards at the dragon.

Llamrei slowed themselves to a halt, the rider of the mount stared out across the horizon towards the burning wall that lay in the distance and the shadows it cast from all those who stood before it.

The rider gave a grunt as their eyes scanned the battlefield, tracking the wyverns descending upon the caravan one after another but very quickly losing numbers. They were mere fodder though, their role was to distract the opponents from the real threat. The dragon itself seemed to be under quite a great deal of pressure at the moment. Even from this distance the rider could tell they didn't have access to their wings.

Unexpected resistance? Probably.

The level of damage done when they weren't far behind, likely someone with a conceptual advantage against dragons. Given the nature of their allies it was expected that someone who could fight dragons would have been summoned.

Regardless, that just made their role all the simpler. Deal with those who represent a threat. That was what their Master wanted so that was what they were going to do.

As they searched for Servants to target, something caught their eye near the dragon. An individual standing just in front of the wall of flames, narrowing their eyes they took in the features of the individual. Garbed in clothes that couldn't have looked more out of place if they had tried, they stood out like a sore thumb even amongst the backdrop of fire.

A unique individual surrounded by Servants.

A Master perhaps?

And one who didn't have a Servant accompanying them? They could be mistaken but it was something they were not going to risk.

The spear in their hand was raised, the elongated weapon of carved obsidian stone with red spiked gems jutting from its surface locked onto the individual and started to glow menacingly. Magical energy built up within the spear, far exceeding what any normal Servant was capable of.

She was no normal Servant though.

She was the King of the Storms, and this was her element.

AN: Yo…Hey, Artoria Lancer Alter…

What's that? You're getting an actual role? Goodness me…

Anyway! Yes. First engagement.

It's a frantic struggle already and the Servant hasn't even fought yet, oh boy.

So why is Olga bad? Simple.

The Dragon-Slayer armour is more like a sentient Balmung. They are a being that is proof a dragon slaying did occur, but whether it occurs again is dependent on the wielder. In this case, the wielder is Olga.

Yeah…You have to think quickly in Servant fights and not get distracted, Stahl just doesn't have that sort of mental capacity to make complex decisions for themselves.