Chapter 123: The Shield-Maiden
Snow crunched under feet as the figure marched through the snow, ignoring all sense that there even was a storm raging around them as they did so. Even the frozen winds rushing over their face elicited barely a reaction from them.
The figure marched ever onwards, their steps graceful as if in defiance of the storm, movements that would usually have been clumsy in order to maintain some measure of stability were instead taken slowly and carefully, speaking of a great deal of experience in dealing with climates such as this.
It was natural for them though, they knew these lands even if they had not walked them in many an age, these were the lands they were born in, lived in and died in. There was nothing about them that they could not possibly be prepared for, so there was no reason to be worried about a spot of mild weather.
They had experienced worse, after all.
Finally, the figure ceased walking through the snow and stopped movement altogether. Their eyes remained locked onto the distance, however they were not staring at anything in particular. In actuality, the pale haired figure was attempting to hone their other senses through the storm to detect what she thought she had heard a moment ago.
To the untrained eye, it would have sounded not so different from a clap of thunder but to her the sound was something else entirely. It was the roar of a dragon, it could be nothing but. Though she had been summoned with little to no information as to whatever threatened this land, she understood that there was a threat to it regardless.
Something was threatening her homeland and if she had been summoned here, then there was a good chance that he had been summoned here as well.
And if that was the case and she was hearing a dragon. Then there was a very real chance that he was present there already. Doing what he did best, slay the great beasts. There was no chance he wouldn't be doing so, that was just what he was like. Always doing heroic deeds.
Her beloved.
It was for those reasons that she loved him.
And for those reasons she would kill him.
Her head shifted ever so slightly to the right, immediately taking notice of a faint flicker of light in the horizon growing ever so slightly, stretching into the sky like a beacon. Violet coloured orbs narrowed ever so slightly to focus on the orange glow in the distance. Her vision was enhanced by the language of the All-father to see with absolute clarity the roaring inferno in the distance burning through the storm.
Her body twisted in the direction of the flames.
It was at least a mile from her, but she would make it there relatively swiftly.
Adjusting her posture, she leaned forwards before kicking herself off into a run. Spear manifesting in her hand with her armoured fingers clasping around it, the heart shaped speartip made from violet coloured metal dragging through the snow and carving a faint groove behind her as she did so.
Despite her speeds, she moved with clear grace and barely even seemed to touch the ground, looking from the outside as though her feet came within a scant few millimetres of touching the surface before she was propelled forwards once again.
She was getting close now.
She had to see him again, he had to have been summoned.
With an almighty roar, the red dragon swung its head to the slide like a club. Torin raised the flat side of his axe up in the split second before it hit in an effort to try and take the blow as best he could.
The moment the armoured skull struck, his legs were swept out from underneath him and his bulky frame was sent rolling through the sky as though it was an empty set of clothes, the man giving out a grunting noise as he clumsily fell through the sky without any sense of direction before he crashed face first into the snow and rolled for several metres.
Pulling his head free, he shook his helmet several times to dislodge the snow that had gotten buried inside the eyeports of his helm. Using the butt of his axe, he slammed it into the ground and used it to push himself up and back onto his feet before he turned around to face the dragon once again.
The beast wasn't looking at him this time, it's attention was back onto the odd Servant nearly twice his height and currently attempting to tear them in half with its jaws. Continuously snapping at them as they chased the Berserker around.
With another snap of the jaws, the Servant stepped back before it gripped the axe with both hands and swung it upwards like a club, the weapon cracked against the jaw of the dragon and staggered it back with the blow, flakes of scale were sent flying from the impact sight as the Berserker advanced. It was a premature move, the dragon might have been stunned by the attack but it wasn't left immobilised by it.
Drawing its front leg off the ground, it curled the limb into its chest before sweeping it outwards in a backhanded motion, the attack slammed straight into the chest of the Berserker and sent them flying away from the beast while giving off a heavy clunk, both as the attack landed and as the Servant crashed into the ground in an explosion of snow.
Torin grit his teeth and risked a brief glance towards the pale haired girl who was supposed to be commanding her subordinates.
She appeared to be just standing there in a trance, still staring at the dragon even as it turned its gaze towards her and released a threatening growl. That seemed to jolt her out of her statuesque state, although it was perhaps in the worst way possible considering she released a high pitched scream and scrambled backwards, falling back into the snow.
Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Torin rushed forwards while giving a bellowing warcry as he did so. Even if it physically did nothing for him, he knew that if the woman died then there would truly be no hope for any of them in surviving this fight. Whether she knew it or not, she was now one of the most important people here.
His roar reached the dragon, the beast shifting its attention towards him and opening its maw up to reveal the back of its throat starting to glow.
Twirling the axe in his hands, he aimed the blades of the weapon directly downwards before thrusting the weapon into the ground, parting the snow directly at his feet and into the ground beneath it. There was a pause before a rumble echoed out, with another grunt Torin pushed the axe further down and twisted it.
The ground trembled beneath him, then groaned as it shuddered and churned. The soil parted and rolled as it spread across the ground. The snow split open and fell into the newly formed crevices rushing across the ground towards the dragon. The beast stumbled to the left slightly as a crevice in the ground just large enough for its foot to get caught in opened up without warning, the orange glow cut out and the dragon looked down in confusion for a split second.
That distraction was more than enough time for him, kicking off the ground into a sprint once again. Torin charged forwards and rolled underneath the front of the dragon and spinning around, gripping his axe tightly he swung up as hard as he could and buried the weapon at least two inches into the front of the beast.
A brief grunt from the dragon showed it at least acknowledged the attack as it stepped back to unveil the druid to the world once again and let it spot him. Torin ripped the axe clean before spotting another area he could attack, spinning around he swung the axe into the back of the front right limb and once again scoring a nasty gash in the limb.
However, he lacked the edge in raw power that the other Servant seemed to possess, and his axe was rather mundane. Perhaps that was the difference between something wielded by a true dragon slayer, and a weapon wielded by someone who was only known as an enemy to a specific dragon.
As he pulled the axe free, something slammed into his back and staggered him forwards. Torin released a gasp of surprise as something clawed at his waist from behind him and a pair of jaws snapped down around his left shoulder and punctured through his chainmail. The druid released a growl as he looked to the side, spotting a black scaled wyvern locked onto him, likely having flown in from behind him and underneath the larger dragon.
With a roar of his own, Torin pawned his axe off into his left hand and swung his right fist up. Slamming his fist into the snout of the drake and prying it from his body. As it recoiled and loosened its grasp on him, the man dissipated his axe and brought up his left hand to grab the next while his right clasped around the upper jaw.
Grunting, he flipped the drake over his shoulder and onto its back before he raised up his right leg and stomped down on the throat. The scales around its neck imploded inwards as his boot crushed the windpipe of the beast, bringing his axe back into existence, Torin turned around just in time to get a rush of cold air as the red dragon finally stepped back and stopped blocking him from the storm.
Torin simply stared up in silence before he made an annoyed noise.
A ball of luminescent pink light streaked across the sky before slamming into the side of the dragons head, though it gave no indication that it was caused pain by this attack it did serve to gain its attention for a few short seconds, shiftings its head in the direction the orb had came for before obviously spying the one who had attacked it.
The Berserker was back again, running forwards and slamming its axe into the exposed ribs of the dragon. The heavy thudding noise of the axe shattering scales split through the storm, soon followed by the sound of the dragon crying in pain before once again swatting away the Berserker. Torin was now beginning to feel that the Servant spent more time getting knocked out of commission than they did actually doing any fighting.
While their attacks were powerful, they were thus far few and far between to prove to be any sort of benefit. At the very least, the dragon couldn't fly but it didn't need to do so in order to kill them all here.
Another ball of pink light struck the dragon in the face, the head of the dragon flinched ever so slightly in response. In much the same way a person would when they were struck by a leaf in the middle of a storm, something to elicit a reaction but hardly something to be overly concerned about at the end of the day.
Attacking a dragon with pure magical energy was never going to work, these beasts could exert force equal to that just by existing.
"Haaaaa!" Tarkus released a cry of exertion as he slammed the wyvern into the ground, grabbing it by the tail and pulling it back into the air before he started to twirl his body. Spinning around faster and faster until both he and the wyvern in his grasp were moving as little more than blurs to the naked eye.
There was a brief pause before Tarkus felt a jerk run through his arms, then there was a snapping noise followed by a sound similar to meat being dropped on the floor before he found himself suddenly lurching to the side as he found he lost his counterbalance. The knight staggered forwards then fell face first into the snow, he could still feel his head rolling as he stared down, resting his hands either side of him and pushing up.
His eyes slowly trailed to his right hand, finding himself staring at the contents in his palm with now small amount of surprise. He was still holding the tail of the wyvern in his hand, the detached limb wriggling around freely in the snow with an occasional twitch. With a noise of disgust, Tarkus let go of the limb and rushed back to his feet, a little too quickly as he once again found himself staggering around as his vision was still very much hazy from all the spinning.
Shifting his vision to the loudest noises, he managed to catch sight of flashes of bright pink light streaking across the sky and slamming into the form of the red scaled dragon, highlighting its form to everyone around, even more so than the wall of flame had achieved. However, that was all it seemed to be doing at the time. Shaking his head several times, Tarkus grabbed his greatsword from off his back with held it before him with two hands, stalking towards the dragon with heavy steps.
The hairs on the back of his neck rose, his helm slowly shifted to the right as he managed to feel a slight disturbance in the air. Perhaps disturbance was the wrong word to use, what he was feeling was nothing shy of death rushing towards him. He found his eyes locked onto something in the distance, an ever so slight flicker of crimson light that was seemingly suspended in the air, just beyond the end of the caravan and barely visible through the storm, even with the flames illuminating everything.
He found himself almost transfixed by the sight, tilting his head ever so slightly as he continued to stare at it. Noticing that it seemed to be growing brighter and brighter the longer that he continued to look at it, although it was slightly off centre to him. With a curious hum, Tarkus continued to gaze at the light and seemingly forgot the battle that was currently raging around him as a result.
The strange thing was that he was feeling that odd sense of dread from the direction of the light, but he couldn't quite figure out why that was. He looked over his shoulder, spying towards the front of the caravan and spotting Olga virtually undefended. Then turned back around to look at the light again.
"HAH!" Tarkus made a sudden shout of panic as he jumped back, his sword dismissed as he brought forth his tower shield and raised it up, placing himself directly between the crimson light in the distance and Olga as he started to run backwards, intent on acting as some sort of defence, still unaware of what the light was or why he was feeling this level of-
The light accelerated towards him, carving upwards as a beam of light through the snow and slamming directly into the front of his shield. Tarkus threw himself forwards, bracing against the attack and angling himself to hold his ground even as the force behind the beam of light combated against him, gritting his teeth Tarkus felt his feet start to slip backwards as he was pushed by the beam.
Then came the explosions, the snow the beam had carved through detonated a split second later. Bright red flames rushed into the sky as the shockwave sent the men flying away from the attack and into the snow, Tarkus himself felt the explosion wash over him and was launched back, crashing into the ground with a grunt as the beam died out. Coughing heavily, Tarkus blearily looked up from the ground and noticed the faint red light start to pick up again, even as the blood red flames died down in the snow and the others attempted to pick themselves up.
"What in the-!?" Nero's voice rang out, the Emperor sliding to a halt next to the downed body of Tarkus as she noticed where he had been knocked to the ground "What was that!?
"Make sure Miss Animuspear is safe!" Tarkus all but called out as he rolled back to his feet with a grunt, pulling his greatshield up and staring at the large scorch mark running across the surface of it. Shaking his head, he pulled his greatsword back out and rested it on his shoulder "I'm going to fight the red light!"
"Eh?" Nero blinked at him "But-"
Tarkus didn't give her an opportunity to respond to him, already breaking into a heavy sprint as he moved across the snow tundra and charging off into the distance where he had spotted the light originating from.
Nero herself didn't have much she could complain about, making sure their Master was safe was the priority of any Servant and while Nero was technically a Servant on loan, that didn't make her responsibilities any lesser as a result. With a nod in Tarkus direction, she turned around and rushed towards the form of Olga as she lay in the snow, staring in her direction - likely from hearing the roar that had been the unknown attack - with her hood blown back.
"Pale Rose!" Nero called out as she rushed towards her "I suggest we find cover! I believe we are being attacked by more than drag-" the Emperor slid to a halt and turned, raising up the flat of her sword and blocking a bolt of fire launched by a strafing wyvern as it passed overhead. Lowering the weapon, the Emperor scowled at the sky "I believe it unfortunate we do not have any Archers available to us."
Olga was still staring at her in silence, her expression mostly hidden behind the goggles and the scarf but if the shaking was any indication, she wasn't doing quite so well. "Come, Pale Rose." Nero rushed back towards her, grabbing her shoulder and quickly halling the woman to her feet "We must find you cover before-"
A roar sounded out behind her, the Emperor turned around to see the dragon shift its head to the side, snapping its jaws at Marie as she galloped past atop a crystal horse, blowing bright pink light from the oversized ring on her right hand directly into the face of the beast. The dragon appeared to be more annoyed than harmed at the attack, although it shifted targets once again when Torin charged towards it and shouted something out in his strange language.
The ground split open as roots rushed up and wrapped themselves around the jaws of the red beast, snapping them shut and locking them closed. The dragon released a muffled yell as it ripped its head back, shattering the roots and then swung its head around as it tried to open up its jaw yet again.
"Aim for the legs!" Torin yelled out as he charged the beast once again "The legs!"
"The legs…" Olga whispered to herself "T-the legs…yes…the legs…" Nero gave her an odd look for a few moments before she heard the metallic rumbling noise that could only belong to a certain golem Servant making a charge.
Sure enough, Stahl was next seen sprinting towards the back leg of the dragon with an axe in hand before sweeping it up and into the joint at the front of the knee. The eyes of the dragon burned bright with pain as it shifted its whole body to the side to try and get its head around to bear on the Berserker.
Stahl ripped the axe free of the joint with a sickening squelch as they turned around, only to get headbutted into the ground by the massive skull of the dragon. Even being unable to open its jaw, that didn't stop the phantasmal from usings its excessive weight like a hammer, raising its head up and then slamming it down atop the Berserker as if driving in a nail, the end result was Stahl being buried even further in the ground.
As it brought its head up again, Marie galloped past and hurled another ball of light direction into the side of their head. The attack caused it to pause briefly as it cringed in response to the blast. Shaking their head, they then followed the path of the Rider as she galloped around it.
The dragon narrowed its eyes, then drew more magical energy into itself. Power flooded every muscle of the dragon, including those within its jaws. The roots that bound its mouth shut started to creak and crack as the dragon started to force its maw open inch by inch, breaking through the bindings with a snapping sound each time.
Torin slammed an axe into its chest for its troubles.
"That keeps happening…" Olga whispered behind Nero as the Emperor led her further towards the caravan and out of the open "Why does that keep happening?" she continually muttered to herself, the Emperor sitting her down and turning her eyes skywards again.
"I do not know what you mean, Pale Rose but you should keep yourself alert. There are still plenty of foes about and we lack the means to combat them effectively." The Emperor paused for a moment "Unless…" she turned towards the caravan "Someone find me a bow and some arrows!"
"This is a fine fucking mess!" Cu cursed to himself as he hurled another dozen runes into the sky, lighting up numerous shadows of wyverns circling above them through the storm for a brief moment before the flames faded away. That was excluding the dragon that fell on their heads and whoever was throwing that much magical energy at them.
Quite frankly, they were in a shit position as was and there was very little he could actually do about that right now. He had his hands full trying to keep those wyverns from falling on the people behind him without having to worry about a Servant.
"Take the elderly and the sick to the centre!" A voice called out behind him - Brynjar, if he remembered right - and sure enough, that was followed by muffled shouts "Warriors to the lines! Hold the beasts back!"
It was a nice sentiment but a lot of these guys would be lucky to take out a wyvern by themselves. This many was just overkill, still it wasn't like they had much choice in the matter.
He spied the red light begin to fade into existence once again, he grit his teeth. The last time he spotted that damn thing, it managed to burn an entire groove through the right flank and all but confirmed that a direct hit would probably do a number on a Servant, let alone what it would do for the ordinary people they were travelling with.
At the very least, he could try and attract its attention away from whatever it had been shooting at last time, or bring it forwards. With a wave of his hands, Cu cast several runes in front of him and launched them towards the red light, the balls of flame travelled the distance towards whomever the attacker was and seemingly scored a direct hit.
Then he noticed the way in which the explosion of fire had warped around in a circle, shifting itself to accommodate whatever it had run into which had blocked its path. As the flames died down, he found himself staring at the shape of an armoured rider mounted atop a rather mean looking horse, their person illuminated by the remains of his attack burning beneath their feet and the crooked spear they held in their grasp.
The Servant slowly turned their head in his direction, then jerked the reins of their mount to face him.
"...Oh shit." Cu quietly cursed to himself as he twirled his staff and faced the person, gritting his teeth and watching as the pitch black spear with bright red spikes jutting from it was pointed in his direction and started to glow with clearly menacing intent. Why did he always have to run into Servants with Magic Resistance?
That just wasn't right.
"Thanks Mr Cu!" The man almost choked in surprise at the voice before something rushed past his head and struck the helm of the knight with enough force that the rider of the mount actually recoiled slightly. Although he couldn't hear over the storm, he was sure there had been a thudding noise from the impact.
"What the-" Cu turned to see who had thanked him, only to blink when he saw the black knight from earlier pull his arm back from being outstretched and grab his sword from out of the ground. "You-did you just throw a snowball at them?"
"I did!" Tarkus replied with a rather happy go lucky tone of voice as he rushed forwards, charging in the direction of the mounted knight without a hint of fear "I'll take care of them, Mr Cu! Thanks for letting me see where they were! I was just following the red light!"
"Yeah, that's the probl-nevermind." Cu shook his head and turned back to deal with the wyverns, the sooner he could deal with those then the faster they could work on the dragon and then the Servant who was attacking them.
So no big problem.
Torin sailed over the head of Nero, the Emperor ducked down and watched as the man smashed into the snow with a tremendous explosion. Not that the knight remained downed for long, it was a testament to his endurance that even after getting struck in the chest by a dragon tail that had been moving at speeds powerful enough to require her to solidify her footing that he wasn't crippled by it.
Or he had been and was just skilled at not showing pain in the face of tremendous injuries, either way the druid was back on his feet in moments and brandishing is bronze axe once again before rushing towards the direction of the Emperor, briefly taking notice of her with a bow in her hand and burning sword planted in the ground.
"What-"
"Imperial Privilege!" Nero cheered as if that explained everything, holding her arrowtip into the odd flames off her still burning sword and pulling it out. The strange fire now clinging to the end of her projectile as she aimed up towards the moving shadows in the sky "If I can be a swordswoman, why can I not be a bow woman!"
Torin just shook his head at her and turned to face Olga still crouched on the ground near him, giving her a frown behind his helmet before he stared back off in the direction of the dragon as it tried to snap its jaws on the Queen riding around it. Clicking his tongue, he grabbed the Master by the shoulder and hauled her up.
"H-hey! What are-"
Torin pointed in the direction of the dragon "I care not what issue you Servant has! Have them fight the beast rather than being pummelled by it!"
"I'm trying!" Olga shouted back, her voice teetering on being frantic "It's not working, they just do what I say and then stop!"
Torin just did a double take at her "Then keep giving it orders!" He released her and rushed back off, charging in the direction of the dragon as fast as he could and leaving the two behind as he did so.
Nero loosened an arrow into the sky, beaming as she was rewarded with a pained reptilian cry before she turned back to Olga "I confess he speaks truly, Pale Rose. Perhaps the Golem needs more specific commands!" with that said, she returned to lighting her arrows ablaze and sending them skywards.
Olga internally frowned. Specific commands? They were a golem that was supposed to-
Ah.
They were a golem.
Golems only did what they were commanded to do.
Which meant she would keep having to give commands to Stahl in order for him to actually be successful. Vague commands such as attack wouldn't cut it, she was instead stuck with the type of subordinate that needed to be told what to do at every single instance and demand her entire attention. That was just as bad as a Servant that had a massive ego and needed to be constantly reigned in.
Gritting her teeth, Olga turned back to face the dragon and issued her commands.
"Cripple the legs, avoid counter attacks from the dragon." She commanded, the Servant rose back up from the snow and hefted its axe up once again. "Bring your shield back to you."
She noticed the Servant then turned in the direction the dragon had thrown it and started to move.
"Get it back via your weapon link!" She hastily added on when she realised that the Servant fully intended to just walk away from the battle and dig through the snow in the hope they would rediscover the shield that had been flung away into the distance. The Servant paused, then remained standing for several seconds. Their left hand clenched and the circular shield found itself back in their grasp.
The order completed, the Servant defaulted back to the initial command and turned back around to face the dragon before breaking off into another sprint towards the beast. The axe was brandished and cracked with golden lightning while the shield was raised up to defend itself in the event of an attack being aimed towards it.
The dragon heard the stomping sounds of the suit of armour approaching once again, shifting its attention away from Marie and back onto the armour with no small degree of rage. Then it did something unexpected, it charged forwards. Kicking off the ground it rushed towards the suit with its jaw extended wide in an effort to grab hold of it.
"Block it!" Olga commanded in a panic, realising seconds later that there was no way the Servant was ever going to-
The dragon halted, eyes wide and jaw still agape.
Two large metallic hands gripped each of its jaws and held them open. The dragon attempted to pull back and found itself unable too, the dragon slayer armour having dropped its weapons and grabbing the open mouth with its limbs and holding it in place, straining against the strength of the beast with its own as the two fought.
The dragon then attempted to raise its head.
"K-keep it there!" Olga called out when she got past her initial surprise.
Stahl did just that, grasping even tighter around the jaws of the dragon and crunching the scales beneath their grip as they did so. Stopping the dragon from even so much as being able to move their next into the sky and instead being locked in place as the Berserker tightly held their head in their massive hands.
A faint orange glow built up in the back of the dragon's throat, the beast clearly preparing itself to unleash a blast of fire from its maw and vaporise the Berserker if it could in an effort to release itself. There was more than just the Berserker that would be caught in the attack though, the flames would no doubt wash through the Servant and obliterate the front half of the caravan and that would be if it caught them with a low powered blast.
"Close its mouth!" Olga screamed out loud in a panic, briefly startling Nero and causing her to loosen her next arrow slightly early and send it flying off into the sky without hitting anything. The Emperor made a noise of annoyance before she grabbed another one.
With a grunt, Stahl brought the two jaws together like a pair of scissors and snapped them shut and kept them shut. All the while the dragon's eyes widened in surprise and alarm as its struggle to free itself continued, all the while it was being pelted by blasts from Marie across its body, the continuous attacks from the Rider slowly whittling away at the exterior of the dragon.
With a muffled roar, the dragon shifted its body to the side while pushing with its powerful legs. Stahl maintained their grip with the end result being the Berserkers' feet being dragged through the snow and carving a groove through the ground beneath them as it did so. Maintaining their grip, Stahl was focused solely on that simple command of keeping the dragon's jaws closed and it was going to do just that.
"This is going well then!" Nero exclaimed as she loosened another arrow skywards, the wyvern numbers were gradually starting to thin down.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh-!" She looked to the side as she watched one of the warriors get grabbed by the flying beast and carted off away into the storm. Before Nero even had a chance to turn the bow on the wyvern it had already taken both itself and its victim into the storm and out of sight. She grimaced and shifted her attention back to the dragon.
"We should find a way to advance, Pale Rose."
"And how are you going to manage that!?" Olga couldn't help but snap back at her "We'd need to reverse and get around the wall of fire but with the dragon still there and the wyverns in the sky we'd end up-"
A hissing sound to her left had her raise up arms to cover her face while the wall of dragon fire flickered. A large section in the centre of the flames was smothered as a small tsunami of steaming water rushed through it, the boiling liquid spilling across the snow and melting to reveal the thick mud beneath it.
Both Nero and Olga turned their sights on the figure that stepped through the gap in the flames. A white haired woman with violet coloured eyes stared back at them. Both her arms had deep purple coloured metal gauntlets with her left arm having a protective bracer around her upper bicep as well.
Matching the arm design, her legs were covered in decorated violet coloured armour as well, however as if to contrast that her actual outfit was a black dress with a pale pink coloured metal corset around her waist. In her hands she brandished a long spear with a heart shaped point at the end of it.
The woman stared at the group as she continued to walk forwards, then gazed past them towards the dumbfounded expressions on the people at the front of the caravan, all of whom were caught between admiring her beauty and remaining alert for potential wyvern attacks while they were distracted.
As she stared at the group, her eyes flickered across the faces of Nero and Olga before evident disappointment flashed through them for a split second, then turning in the direction they heard the combat of the dragon. Hope filled their features before that dwindled away as they beheld little more than a gang of Servants dogpiling the beast.
"Servant!" Nero called out, stepping protectively in front of Olga and ripping her red sword from the ground and levelling it at the new arrival, her face set in a pensive frown. The white haired Servant shifted her attention back to the Emperor as she called out "You arrive at a troubling time, are you enemy or ally?"
There was no reply for a few moments before the woman's eyes flickered past Nero onto Olga and narrowed ever so slightly before they returned to their usual expressionless stare as they returned to the Emperor.
"I seek someone who is not here." The woman called out to them, her voice gentle but even still it carried over the rushing storm with little trouble. "However, in his absence I shall provide aid." she paused for a moment as she turned her body to face the dragon and twirled the spear in her hands "Please…do not thank me for it."
Neither Olga nor Nero could get out a response before the woman kicked off the ground with a sudden burst of speed and lunged directly towards the thick of the fighting.
Greatsword met spear in a heavy clash of the two weapons, Tarkus struggled behind his helm to push the mounted knight down from their horse, locking his sword into the grooves between the red spines of the lance and the actual body of the weapon.
The Servant atop the menacing horse stared down at him in silence before shoving back with their weapon, Tarkus staggered with the blow before raising up his shield and grunting as the horse itself reared up and its hooves fell upon him like a hammer. Crashing against his defence with a heavy crunch before it stepped backwards and freed him.
Though he didn't lower his shield as the beast charged forwards, the rider thrusted their spear forwards as they passed by and struck the edge of the shield. Tarkus spun with the blow as the rider moved past him and forced him to track them as they did so. The black iron knight maintained his focus on the horse and the rider as they banked left and made for another pass.
The mount gave an intimidating grunt as it picked up speed and started to move faster and faster before it turned again and moved straight towards him. Tarkus raised his shield as the Servant struck it once again, this time pushing him back through the snow as they sailed past.
Tarkus lowered his shield again to re-acquire them and found himself somewhat stunted when he couldn't actually see them. Even reaching out with his Servant senses didn't do much good, being stood so close to the Servant was like being in the centre of a storm and trying to pick out an individual raindrop. The Servant was so powerful that he couldn't help but sense them everywhere.
A roaring gallop to his right had him whirl in the direction of the sound and raise his shield once again. This time the spear slammed into the upper section of the shield and jerked it back, the upper ridge of the tower shield cracked against his faceplate and staggered him back as the rider surged past him without losing momentum.
The knight eventually stumbled to a halt, his head ringing from the impact before shaking it several times to straighten himself out. Shifting the shield to the side once again, he strained his ears to listen closely to the sound of approaching hoofbeats. That was the one thing that gave the rider away, although being made aware of the danger a split second before it struck him allowed Tarkus little more than the time necessary to raise his shield.
A flash of crimson light burst through the blackness, the knight whirled in its direction and watched as it streaked across the space before him, gradually growing in size before it spread across whatever it was coating too and formed the general shape of the spear the rider was wielding. So bright was the light that the riders form was now completely highlighted as they once again turned in the direction of the Saber and launched themselves straight towards him on horseback.
Tarkus would never be able to avoid them, he was slower than the average Servant and even he knew that. Not even taking into account that magical horses were almost certainly bound to be faster than him which this one proved to be. The only thing he could do was trust in his sturdiness as he raised up his shield once again and held it in front of him as the lance coated in crimson light rushed towards him.
The tip of the spear struck the centre of his shield, the next moment his world was consumed with heat and he felt himself lifted off the ground. Tarkus made a strangled noise as he helicoptered through the air, it felt as though the lance had exploded the very second it had made contact with him and for all he knew it had. It would certainly explain why all he could currently see was roaring red and black flames all around him through his eyeports.
Then came the landing, the knight smashed into the ground without a hint of grace and grit his teeth as he fell hard upon his shoulder. If the height had been any higher he wasn't sure if it would have broken or not. As it currently stood, his arm just hurt really badly from the landing. As he placed his other limb out to push himself up, he found himself slipping over on something wet and crashing face first into a sticky substance. Blinking several times, he then found himself understanding what had happened.
Not only had the explosion blasted away the snow from the surrounding area, but it had also superheated the moisture that was frozen and turned the ground beneath him into sludge. Punching his fist into the ground, Tarkus felt it bury itself up to an inch in the filth and used it as a crutch to push himself up.
Then he heard it again, the galloping sound.
Using his fist as an anchor point, Tarkus pushed himself off the ground and into a roll just in time to avoid the horse's hooves from crushing the back of his skull. Instead they struck the wet mud and kicked up a nasty deluge of filth which splattered across his armour as he rolled onto his back.
Hastily grabbing his shield, Tarkus raised it up as the spear thrust towards him and cracked off the surface with a heavy thud. Then the rider thrust it towards him again and again and again. Continuous strikes without reprieve aimed at different sections of the shield with the clear intention of loosening his grip and each time the Servant struck it stopped Tarkus from getting back up, his legs slipping against the ground as he tried to get back to his feet or propel himself back.
Unable to get any traction, the end result was just the limbs flailing against the dirt as the Servant took almost lazy potshots at him.
While they were mounted, Tarkus was certain he couldn't beat them. So he did what he did best. He just figured he'd have a go as best he could.
Rolling to the side at the next strike, he thrust his shield upwards and shoved the lance back the way that it had come in a sudden jerk motion. While he did so, he rolled his body onto its side and used his right hand to shove against the ground and throw himself beneath the horse.
Before the mounted Servant even understood what was going on, Tarkus launched his body up and slammed his shoulders into the underside of the animal while dropping his shield. With a grunt of exertion, he lifted the animal into the air and managed to elicit a noise from his opponent for the first time since the battle had begun.
"Wha-" Tarkus briefly pondered why the voice was so feminine before he gave another cry and hurled both horse and Servant over his head and across the field of snow. The pair crashed into the ground a short distance from him with the rider being thrown from their mount while the beast rolled across the ground and whined in pain both from the throw and from being struck by the battering ram of the Servant in the gut.
The complaints of the horse made Tarkus feel moderately guilty. He really didn't like hurting animals but it seemed to be one of those situations where he had no choice. Unless he could kill their owner and they would vanish, then he wouldn't have to kill them at all. Stumbling to his feet, Tarkus picked his greatshield up off the floor and manifested his greatsword again as he marched himself towards where the rider had been thrown.
He watched the Servant pick themselves off the ground in silence, spiked lance still in their hands with flashes of crimson lightning dancing between the crystalline spokes jutting from the spear with faint crackles. The Servant gradually turned their head to face Tarkus, revealing that while they were indeed shorter than him, that made their form no less imposing.
The Servant then turned to look down at their mount as they rolled in the dirt to get up before flicking their head slightly. The horse paused in its thrashings before it closed its eyes and slowly faded away back into spirit form. Tarkus watched the dismissal occur before he looked back at the Servant.
"...I can't beat you on horse." Tarkus dumbly pointed out, feeling the need to at least ask why they got rid of the mount.
"That much is obvious." The Servant responded, Tarkus noted again that the voice sounded very feminine, if a little cold. "However, you have hurled me from my mount and I cannot ride upon them with you still breathing." she started to march forwards "I shall simply do so when you have been dispatched."
Tarkus gulped to himself before holding out his shield before him and preparing his greatsword at his side.
The Servant with the spear paused before sweeping their weapon to the right side, unleashing a blast of light from its spokes and obliterating the wave of runes that had been rushing towards them. The Servant silently lowered the spear once again before returning their sights to Tarkus and staring at him in silence.
Taking a deep breath, Tarkus adjusted his positioning before he rushed forwards and brought his sword down. The Servant leaned to the side to avoid the strike before throwing out their fist and punching him in the side directly where his ribs were. The punch itself packed much more weight than someone with their posture should have allowed, although Servant strength was already ludicrous.
Either way, Tarkus pulled the sword back and slashed it across towards the Servant. His counterpart raised their spear vertically and blocked the attack with ease before their body suddenly erupted with magical energy, releasing a shockwave of purple and crimson light from their body and sending him skating away from them.
As he looked back above his shield, he stepped back and raised it high as the Servant was in the process of launching themselves towards him with their spear swinging through the air like a club. Though the spikes were intimidating enough, Tarkus could tell that most of the real danger was going to come from the light dancing around the surface of the weapon.
Bracing himself as best he could, he raised his shield up to intercept the attack only to stumble when the blow landed and unleashed another explosion of crimson and purple light directly in his face. The detonation once again caused him to stagger away from his opponent, who showed no problems in powering through the force of their own attack to swing the lance up into the base of his shield and unleash another explosion.
Tarkus felt his arm wildly jerk upwards, his body now exposed to the Servant in front of him as he stumbled back once again. Tarkus responded with a thrust, attempting to cut the Servant off before they could take advantage of the guard break. With a quick swipe of their spear, the Servant parried the thrust directly into the ground before drawing their own weapon back.
Twisting his body, Tarkus hurled himself forwards and slammed his shoulder directly into their torso before ripping his greatsword from the ground and swinging it upwards. The Servant adjusted the position of their armguard, catching the blow and redirecting it towards the helmet. Tarkus' sword glanced along the surface of the armour with a grind of metal on metal before catching one of the horns and snapping the head to the side.
The Servant took a step with the blow before their head instantly shifted to face him once again as he brought up his shield with the clear intent to ram them. Twisting their body to free up their spear arm, the Servant rocketed forwards with a sudden propulsion of speed and beat Tarkus to his own plan, slamming the left side of their body into his shield and holding him in place while bringing up their lance once again.
Tarkus leaned forwards, attempting to push the Servant back while they did much the same. Both straining against the brute strength of their opposite.
It was at this point that Tarkus' opponent did something else, their head turned back in the direction of the caravan, catching sight of the sudden dousing of the flames and deducing that the people were soon going to be attempting an escape. Raising up their spear, the tip of the weapon started to glow and ethereal red which soon spread across the surface of the lance.
With sudden realisation of what they were about to do, Tarkus gave a roar as he shoved back with all his might while angling his shield up at the same time. The end result was a blast of magical energy leaving the spear and being directed skywards, cleaving effortlessly through the storm clouds and carving a thin path through them by which the night sky could be seen.
The opposing Servant dug their feet into the ground to halt their retreat as they reached around and grasped the edge of Tarkus' shield with a clawed gauntlet. Their left hand clenched down with all their might and pulled. Tarkus - already in the middle of pushing the Servant - could do very little to stop himself before he suddenly found the resistance in front of his shield vanished and turned into something that was encouraging his charge.
Stumbling forwards with a surprised gasp, he made a halfway turn before pain flashed through the side of his body and he locked up. His eyes glanced down to his left side and instantly took notice of the barbed spear which had penetrated through his hardened armour and out of his body. His eyes shifted back to his opponent, the dragon shaped helm stared back at him without a hint of anything.
His shield elbow swung up and slammed directly into the face of his attacker, they stumbled backwards with a grunt. Tarkus grit his teeth and wrenched himself free of being impaled with a crack of metal and a sickening squelch. It was a good thing he was undead because he figured that would have hurt a lot more otherwise.
Turning back around to face his opponent, he watched as they shook their head and returned their attention to him as he raised his shield once again, this time covering his left side to hide the hole that was now running from the front of his body to the back. Dark blood dripped from the wound, running down his armour and falling to the ground, dirtying the snow.
The spear wielder gave Tarkus another once over glance before seemingly coming to a realisation. Whatever it was, Tarkus himself wasn't privy to it but they angled their body forwards before hurling themselves towards him. Sweeping their spear through the ground and hurling forth a river of magical energy towards the knight.
Rolling to the right, Tarkus narrowly managed to avoid getting caught in the attack before he swiftly got back to his feet and countered with a sweeping attack to the neck of his opponent, The Servant twisted their body and raised their lance up with with tip pointed towards, Tarkus greatsword struck the spear and bounced off when they pushed back, angling their grip once against and swinging the weapon like a club towards him.
A wooden fist erupted from the ground, striking the side of the enemy Servant and sending them into a stumble. The hatched together limb uncurled its fingers and returned back to the ground as Tarkus jolted in surprise at the sudden intervention.
"Run pal!" Cu's voice carried over the wind "This one is just built different!"
Tarkus was hesitant to follow through with the advice, if he left them be then there was every chance they were going to launch another attack with the beam once again. However, from the tone of voice of the Caster it was clear to even Tarkus that he had some sort of plan. The Knight of Black Iron might not have been very good at planning, but he could at least understand that it was something people did.
He watched as the enemy knight reorientated themselves and shook their head before focusing upon him once again. Then paused and shifted their attention skywards as the clouds above their head rumbled ominously, flashes of light danced just above the storm and that was more than enough warning that Tarkus needed.
Turning on his heel, he bounded back the way he had come and rushed towards the general direction of Cu.
"Let's see you have a go at this!" Cu called out, sweeping his hand before himself and sending another set of glowing blue runes high into the sky, the divine words mingling amidst the storm clouds and further spurring on the reaction in the storm.
The enemy Servant turned their head skywards just in time for Cu to swing his arm down and point at them, Tarkus slid to a halt and turned around at the flash of light that blurred his vision and the force of an explosion that almost knocked him on his back.
A bolt of thick lightning descended from the sky, falling upon the enemy Servant and consuming their entire form. Crackles of smaller bolts fell frequently, supporting the larger attack as it continued to strike at the spot where the Servant had been standing.
"Run!" Cu called out, already backing away as he pointed his armoured forearm at the enemy Servant "Fast as you can all manage it now!" while he was never one to personally like fleeing from the enemy, he could at least tell when he was outmatched. Even with the help of tall, simple and strong, this was one such time. Especially when he had managed to glance at the amount of raw magical energy the Servant had been hurling around as if it was nothing.
As Tarkus rushed past him, he felt a trickle of sweat drip down his brow, shifting his feet and preparing to flee himself.
Then the base of the lightning exploded outwards, raw magical energy tore apart the ground and sent patches of snow and mud dozens of feet into the air as the epicentre rapidly expanded outwards in a ball of crimson and violet flames. Both Cu and Tarkus felt themselves get hurled by the impact, Tarkus heavier frame crashing into the ground and sinking beneath the snow while Cu did several flips and landed roughly on the ground.
Shaking his head, he shifted his vision back to the point of origin and stared at the wall of flames which now lay before him.
The fire parted, the armoured knight stepped out from in between them. Their armour looked marginally scorched but otherwise undamaged and with the spear in their right hand positively glowing like a bright red star, the light morphing to form a vague outline of their weapon.
Cu blanched "...Fuck this." he muttered out as he scrambled back and turned around before breaking into a sprint, shouting out at the top of his lungs for those at the back of the column to do the same.
Tarkus pulled himself from the snow and shook his head several times, reaching up with his right hand and smacking the side of his helmet to shake out some of the bits of snow that had gotten stuck in the gap around his neck. Picking himself back up, he paused as he noticed the fleeing people before turning around and seeing the Servant menacingly marching towards him.
The dragon roared, jaw snapping open and dislodging Stahl from its grip as the heart shaped spear of the new Servant slammed directly into its neck. The user having hurled the weapon with tremendous accuracy and power as they ran and didn't even stop as the spear made contact.
Leaping through the air, they grasped the polearm of the weapon and placed their boots atop the scales and twisted it. The dragon leaned back onto its hind legs and rose up like a man. Staggering backwards and rapidly shaking its head back and forth to try and free itself from the new arrival now clinging to it like a bug.
Torin saw a chance where he could, pointing to Marie and shouting out "The chest! Ramn the chest!"
The French Queen nodded once from atop her glass horse and bounded forwards, leaning towards the front of the crystalline animal as it charged before it kicked off the ground Marie herself flung herself from the mount and rolled across the ground as the construct carried on. Smashing into the gut of the dragon and shattering into hundreds of sharp fragments, the shotgun blast of magical crystals shredded the underbelly of the beast and caused it to release another ear piercing cry as it fell backwards.
Its titanic body crashed into the snow with a heavy thud, the actual beast making an effort to roll itself back onto its legs.
Torin was having none of it. His axe struck the ground and the words flowed forth from between his lips, all the while Stahl ran forwards and grabbed ahold of its tail in order to stop it from trying to rise back up, continually pulling on it and dragging it back down whenever it tried to move.
Roots emerged from the ground once again, the thin branches wrapping around the dragon's neck and limbs to hold it in place long enough to deliver the decisive blow.
"The heart!" Torin called out, a clear struggle in his voice as he fought against the power of the dragon trying to break free "Destroy the heart!"
Whether or not anyone heard him didn't matter much, Stahl let go of the tail and manifested their large axe in their hand. The Berserker climbed atop the dragon and hefted the weapon into the sky, lightning crackled around the blade and exploded forth from the weapon, shooting every which way and scoring glancing burns across the skin before being brought down on the chest of the beast with an explosive crunch.
The chest of the dragon collapsed inwards as scales were sent flying in every direction feasible, the body of the dragon soon went limp as blood poured forth from the new gaping hole in the centre of the torso just above where the heart was.
Torin slumped his shoulders forwards, breathing heavily for several moments before he turned around and furrowed his brows. The caravan was in a state of panic, charging forth into the smothered inferno that lay before them and in between the walls of flame in an effort to get through.
"Stop panicking!" Torin called out as he waded towards them "Don't run! Don't ru-"
An explosion went off at the far end of the caravan, Torin's head snapped towards it and watched as Cu came bounding out of the snow and charging towards them with a pale look on his face.
"Run!" He shouted out while waving his arms, briefly pausing as he caught sight of the new arrival before another explosion of violet light had him look over his shoulder and slam his catalyst into the ground, blocking the outskirts of the flames before they reached him, still waving his hands towards the fleeing people "Run! Go!"
Torin stared at him in shock "Seidr!? What is the meaning of-"
"Servant attack!" Cu called back with a noticeable strain in his voice "Powerful one! The big guy is-"
A black suit of armour rushed past him before he could finish his words, bouncing across the ground like a stone across a pond before it rolled to a halt. His armour cracked and shattered with the leftmost portion of his body all but gone beneath his ribs.
Tarkus heaved as he spat out a wad of blood from beneath his helm, gasping repeatedly as he tried to push himself back up and failing to do so, his arms wavering under the strain of having to support his weight and still pushed to his limits from having to battle the Servant from before.
Torin stared down at Tarkus with clear shock before he looked up, watching as the burning red lance emerged from the storm, the light it unleashed illuminating the shorter stature of its owner but doing nothing to contain the whirling mass of magical energy that surrounded them like a tornado.
The figure ceased walking, horned helmet passing glancing over the Servants before them before finally resting their eyes upon the corpse of the dragon that had accompanied them.
"So you felled the beast." The voice behind the helmet stated as they watched the white haired Servant jump from the top of the dragon and land on the ground, narrowing their eyes towards them. "Hmmm."
The Servant then took a single step backwards before taking another "Accept this as your victory, if only barely." they called out before turning around. "I came only to test your strength, should we meet on the field of battle again…I shall crush you."
With their words delivered, the Servant retreated back the way they had come and vanished into the storm. A roaring neigh was soon heard by the group before a galloping noise faded away into the distance.
Olga was still staring at the storm where the Servant had retreated, slumped upon the ground and shaking ever so slightly. Her eyes shifted away from them and towards the spot where the caravan was fleeing to. Her breaths coming out as little more than pants.
Torin lowered his axe before he pointed towards the fleeing caravan "Chase them down and calm them!" he ordered Cu before pointing to the new arrival "...We will speak later." then turned to Olga and paused for a moment "...Get her on her feet and get us moving again…"
He glanced back over his shoulder to where the Servant had retreated "...This storm has brought enough pain, I should think."
AN: As expected, Artoria Lancer Alter demolished Tarkus, poor guy.
Nothing against him, but she's just built different. Mana Burst A+ just does that, not to mention Rhongo-Bongo.
Anyway, trouble vanquishing a dragon, quite a few dead and a whole other mess.
In other words it was a 'by the skin of their teeth' victory.