A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
I am very angry at the moment-partially thanks to my bum leg-and I apologize in advance if that reflects the grammar/fighting style in this chapter.
Its dark. Angry. Vicious.
Just what you'd expect from someone like Saber Alter. She takes no prisoners. Fights with zero restraint. Of course, she CAN be tempted with food, but beyond that she'd likely kill you as look at you in any any case. Shift to Naruto, who rarely goes all out unless you force him to, or threaten those he cares about.
So here, have your battle while I stew in my disappointment.
I'm also right and properly pissed off with Game of Thrones now! I had hope! I wanted to believe! But instead...INSTEAD! "That" happened! They say rage is a hell of an anesthetic, but its also quite the motivator. With the end of this series I feel broken and empty inside...but also free. Free to update my Fate stuff again as I can and NEVER invest myself in something the way I did with Game of Thrones ever again. I will always treasure the characters and the last seven seasons, hell, even the first two episodes of Season Eight...but that's all.
No questions to answer, not for this chapter, just a hard fight. Feels good to get back to that.
Yes, Saber Alter is an anomaly. She shouldn't remember anything. And yet she does. Once more, if it wasn't obvious, this is the corrupted "Saber" from the Heaven's Feel Route. She shouldn't have been summoned. It shouldn't be possible. Yet she was, and it does. Needless to say she remembers her death quite clearly, and is bitter as hell about it. Another anomaly, considering most Servants shouldn't be able to remember outside of Fate Grand Order. And yet Saber Alter does.
Come to think of it, a lot of Servants are "remembering" now, aren't they?
...what's that? Plotting, you say? Me? A man would never do that...
...oh who am I kidding, I love overarching stories! Onward~!
"There can only be one victor, Caster! One lives! One dies!"
"Ha! My thoughts exactly little miss hothead!"
"STOP TALKING AND FIGHT ALREADY!"
~?
To The Victor Goes the Spoils
This was death.
Rin reasoned no other word for it; she found herself powerless to do anything other than observe and even that proved dangerous in-and-of-itself. Every blow rattled the soil and ruptured the earth underfoot. Each near-miss shook the heavens above. Every strike rang in her ears like a sonorous bell. Clang. Clang! CLANG! Staff met saber and skittered away in a shower of sparks, a storm of fell magic and impossible strength. Here was a war between two beings who commanded power on a scale she'd never seen before. Any attempt and diplomacy had been utterly, irrevocably cast aside. One would live. One would die.
Soon enough she found she had to run, just to avoid being caught up in the madness of it all.
In contrast to the controlled chaos of Caster's brief battle with Heracles this battle held no restraint.
And yet she felt no drain on her circuits.
Saber and Caster fought like titans of old, engaging a running battle against one another, spells and dark prana blazing through the forest in fell form of wind and fire. Caster was pulling out all the stops, all the tricks in his arsenal, ever gimmick and technique he knew; all to stay ahead of that shadow-steeped sword. By rights her body should've been a searing oven by now, exhausted by Naruto's relentless assault at the very least. So why wasn't she? Had he found some way to bypass the strain somehow? A leyline perhaps? Some trick with his clones? Or maybe-
Caster ripped a tree from the ground to fling it at Saber and she swatted it aside in equal measure.
Unfortunately, the severed halves lost none of their momentum and caromed towards Rin.
She felt the color drain from her face at the sight.
Questions for later! Running now!
"Oh for crying out loud!" her voice rose in a wail as she narrowly evaded a towering chunk of blazing timber, another fresh shockwave further rattling her senses. "Restraint! Both of you! LEARN IT!" she ranted at them as their battle continued to ramp up in spite of her protests. "Especially you, miss battledress! You've got some nerve trying to take my head like that!"
Saber's gaze snapped toward her, eyes blazing like balefire, and something in Rin quailed.
...sorry?" she squeaked.
"Ho~?"
An armored boot cannoned through Caster's deteriorating guard, cracking his ribs and hurling him away with a startled yowl. Even as he tumbled across the ground Saber, never once taking her gaze from her, pointedly unleashed a fresh blast with her sword to send Rin's Servant slamming deep into the grove like a golden meteor. As the trees toppled down onto her ally, the dark warrior advanced on her, dragging that corrupted sword in her wake like a reaper's scythe.
"You insult me so openly?" a small, cold smile plucked at the edge of her mouth." Bold of you, Rin. Its nice to see that some things never change."
The blackette skittered backward like a drunken spider and reflexively readied a gandr spell, ineffective though it would be.
Something about the way she'd just spoken now sent chills shooting down her spine. "You know me?"
Those wild golden orbs narrowed and her sword swung up, blazing blackly.
"Oh, yes." she crooned. "All too well. And that is why you must die."
Something unholy danced in those eerie eyes.
"For my wish."
A flicker of crimson in the back of Rin's peripherals caught her eye a heartbeat before Caster reappeared; even as Saber brought the sword screaming down-even as Rin cried out and tried to throw herself to safety-so too did Naruto throw himself between them. There was no word nor warning; on moment she saw her own pale reflection in the surface of Excalibur; the next, someone seized her by the scruff of her neck and hauled her out of harm's way like a recalcitrant puppy. It was a clumsy move, one borne of equal parts desperation and fear, one that left him well within the blazing blade's path. He had no time to spirit himself away or dodge aside at the last moment.
Nor did Saber hesitate.
Uncaring for its new target, her weapon split his staff and sank into his collarbone, biting deep through the meat of his right shoulder to nearly split him in half.
To his credit, Caster did not scream. He didn't even stagger. His eyes only widened.
Rin felt the blood drain from her face. "No...!"
A moment of stony silence flowed between both parties, then, in an incredible show of defiance, her Servant roared and lurched into the tainted blade to smash his now-open palm into Saber's armored chest. Strange scrawling runic script burst from his fingers to coat the armor and the skin beneath. tTen with a squeal of sundered steel, the heavy plating tore itself from her shoulders as though it had a will of its own and crumpled like wet tissue paper. Revealed was Saber's shock, just as much as that daring black dress lurking beneath. To her credit, the Servant of the Sword realized her peril and reacted near instantaneously, backhanding him in a cloud of...
...smoke?
Rin realized her savior was a copy if only because of the white haze that followed its death and her heart fluttered in silent relief. He must've reinforced the copy to take a second hit. Still! That...that idiot! Scaring her like that! How dare he?! She nearly shouted, but remembered the ghastly girl standing before her and quickly bit her cheek. Saber possessed no such knowledge and gaped at the fading smoke in a rare moment of confusion and exasperated anger. In his haste to rescue her, Naruto's clone had hurled her well behind his fellow blond. Maybe...if she just crept away quietly...she might escape her notice.
A hand closed around her shoulder and she nearly yelped outright before she recognized the owner of said palm.
"Be...quiet." a familiar, halting voice warned her. "Very...quiet."
"Brynhildr?"
Naruto's Lancer flicked her a quick worried look, idly noting the cuts on her face and arms. Something shifted in her stoic visage. Then all at once she gathered the blackette into her arms and moved. Rin, on the verge of arguing against being picked up at all suddenly found herself yelping and clinging onto the Servant for dear life when she took off at a mad dash into the forest.
"What're you doing?!"
"Naruto said...to keep you safe." she answered in her own, eerie way.
"Hweh?!" sputtering, she tried to right herself to no avail. "No! Stop! Forget about me! Help Caster!" For all her protests Lancer's grip on her was as iron and in no time at all she found herself bodily dragged away from the ensuing chaos.
"You flee, coward?!" Saber's voice roared behind them, only to end in a startled grunt as another unseen assault staggered her.
In the end Rin needn't have worried about further pursuit, for Artoria suddenly found herself quite...preoccupied in the following minutes. A yellow flash arced to her right and the corrupted Saber swatted at it with a snarl, only to miss her target yet again by a hairsbreadth. Another suck strike met naught but empty air while her attack struck a pauldron from her right shoulder, prompting a growl from the armored king as she spun away.
"What sorcery is this?" she hissed, hefting Excalibur curiously. "Where have you gone, Caster?!"
Muted laughter rose from windblown tress to mock her.
"Show yourself!"
Orbs of poisoned gold shifted toward the trees, demanding recompense for this temerity. But none came. No assault followed, though she left herself well open in an attempt to goad him out. Her instincts bristled and she struck out blindly at her flank, narrowly deflecting an attack that might've taken her head. By the time she brought her blade about again, her prey was long gone. In his place lay a broke kunai wrapped with more of that strange runic script of before. In a fit of pique she kicked it away, only to find herself set upon yet again by little more than a golden blur. He dared not face her directly; his class was too weak in close combat. So he relied on guerilla attacks, or so she reasoned.
Craven.
'Though I suppose I'm the same, now.' a small, bitter-black voice laughed in the back of her head. 'All the same, he struck me. For that, he dies.'
This war was confusing enough for her already; truly, this was the last thing she'd expected. She'd thought to face Medea as Caster as before, not this...newcomer. She'd felt her blade sink into flesh. Seen the light dim in his eyes. Yet when she'd struck him a second time he'd fallen apart like an illusion. But illusions couldn't inflict damage and this one had done just that; she could already feel the cold wind plucking at her tattered dress in silent mockery. It only fanned the flames of her rage further, her rage coalescing into a white hot diamond in her core to keep her warm.
"FACE ME!" she roared!
"No, I don't think I will." the whiskered warrior's voice purred all around her, his once-warm voice now cold with a silken menace. "You tried to take out Rin again back there. That's twice now. So I don't feel much inclined to parlay with someone like you. Congratulations. You have my undivided attention. I hope its what you wanted."
Saber grit her teeth as the trees shifted around her anew. "You dare mock a king, Caster?"
"I see no king before me! Only a tyrant!"
"Enough. I won't bandy words with a coward. Reveal yourself! Now! Before I burn down the forest!"
The world roiled around her, causing her to straighten her back.
Above, then.
He would attack from the treeline or the sky, trusting to his speed and the cover of the trees. Well! She was prepared for that now. The moment she saw the slightest movement she'd unleash her Noble Phantasm on him, consequences be damned. Her Master wasn't here to stop her. Not this time. She'd wipe out this stain, regardless of Assassin's claim, and move on to his Master for good measure. She would not relive the same defeat a second time-
Without warning, the original burst from the earth below her feet like a nuclear warhead.
"Gotcha!"
Clenched knuckles rammed into the Alter's chin from below as the rest of the soil ruptured to make way for Caster's sudden rise; that taut fist snapping her head back with such force that she nearly bit her tongue clear off. He hit harder than she'd expected. Far harder. Momentum seized her in a cruel fist and sent her tumbling to the ground in a tangle. By the time she'd risen Caster was there, slamming his heel into her unarmored side with a harsh crack, gone before she could strike at him again, leaving her with naught to vent her rage on but a smoking crater.
"You're better than this." Rage crept in at the corners of Saber's vision as she struggled to scrape herself off the floor. "I know you are. Why go out of your way to target us?"
"Shut up!"
Excalibur arced out in a mournful howl and to her great dismay Caster merely leaped over it in its entirety, knees tucked into his chest. In the same fluid movement he alighted on the flat of her blade and slapped her face with his staff. Little more than a lazy jab, yet it set her already frayed temper to frothing. A vicious crosscut savaged his coat to set the trees alight, but failed to do anything more than open his cheek as he bounded backward.
"'Tis but a scratch!" his voice rose in jeering mummery, but she could see the anger in his eyes. "Though I can't say the same for you. What's wrong?" tense knuckles cracked in high warning. "Don't tell me one punch was enough to rattle you."
"And who are you to mock me then?!" she challenged, forcing him to dodge back again from an overhanded smash. "A pawn to your Master! Some dog content to do as you're bade!"
"I'm no pawn!" his words crackled over the burning forest, burning hotter than dragonfire itself. "And who do you serve, hmm?! Where's your Master?!"
Artoria unbent enough to growl. "I have no need of him! I serve my own ambitions!" She spun wildly, narrowly parrying another assault.
The look he gave her across their interlocked weapons bordered on childlike pity and it burned.
...you poor, broken thing. You're King Arthur."
Saber stiffened, stung by his words.
"What?"
"I wasn't sure at first," Caster titled his head, considering her as one would an strangely shaped cloud, "But after seeing that sword...that presence...there's no mistaking it. Even dyed in darkness, you'd be an idiot not to recognize that blade. And I'm not that dense anymore. What the hell happened to you to make you like this?"
Saber grit her teeth as he regarded her over their crossed weapons.
"Look, I know what I said earlier, but we really don't have to fight." he was still speaking, mistaking her silence for acceptance. "I know what its like to be hated. To be loathed even. That was a really dark place in my life for awhile. Let me help you-
Something snapped deep in Saber's rotten heart at those words; her world turned to flame. Of course Caster had no way of knowing this. Pity. She loathed pity. Least of all from a man she'd never met, one who had been leading her on a wild goose chase for the better part of the night now. He didn't realize he'd just trod upon a landmine. How could he? She wanted none of it. Needed none of it. Even though that hand stretched out towards her-even as a small part of her longed to accept it-the sheer hatred she had for it, for the world, for him, for everyone and everything, all of it came boiling up in an instant.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!"
Caster must've been genuinely surprised by her refusal because for once, she finally caught him. Excalibur rejoiced as it finally tasted blood, carving a deep trench into Caster's side. This time, he didn't disappear, no, the shock in those azure orbs was all too real. Blood bubbled up between clenched teeth but he still spun away as the king chased him down relentlessly, hammering blow after blow into his faltering guard. Yet he stubbornly made no move to strike back at her, and it ignited her rage all the more.
"What do you know of it?!" she raged, cursing with every blow! "What do you know of anything?!"
A flicker of blue in her peripherals heralded the return of Brynhildr; Saber felt some spiteful satisfaction that she'd forced the Lancer to abandon her mission and return. In her maddened state she cared not for the odds or who favored them. She'd kill her, kill him, kill all of them, grasp the Grail for herself and finally be free of this-
"Stay!" wavering on his feet, the young Caster flung up a hand before the newcomer could enter the fray. "Stay back. This is my fight."
It was a surprisingly noble gesture.
Saber loathed him for it.
"Then die!"
A bloody snarl swerved with spite as she swung her sword down; but the air blurred and she found naught but a log in its place. In a heartbeat Brynhildr snatched up Naruto and sought the safety of a weathered oak before she could be targeted by the woman's unthinking battle lust. Not a moment later Saber's snarl rose in her ears anew; a harsh animal cry of pain echoing through the Einzbern forest as she gave chace. Perhaps Illya heard it, leagues away in her mansion. Perhaps not. Or perhaps-more likely-this ill turn of luck would persist and they'd all be dead by morning. Who knew?
Lovely thought, that.
Rin was of the same mind when she saw her Servant's sundered state.
...how are you still alive?' she'd meant to ask that, to berate him for being so foolish. Instead she yelped.
Yelped as a swathe of dark fire burst from Saber's blade and obliterated half an acre of the forest. A quick glance confirmed her worst fears; though Lancer had saved him from dying on his feet, it seemed death had other plans for him. Oh jeez this was going to end poorly.
Thus it came as something of a surprise when Naruto actually stood.
"Ah, Rin? Might be a good time for you and Bryn to get out of here. Find Illya."
"What are you talking about, Caster? There's two of you and only one of her! Can't you just-
Cast clicked his tongue in mild admonishment as the reaper raised her blade to strike the three of them down.
...and she's likely to wipe the floor with all of of us in spite of that now that I've riled her up. Nothing personal, but run. NOW."
Before she could challenge him his staff struck down against the earth once, twice, three times in rapid succession. And the world answered, banishing him and Saber to another realm. A swirl of wind, of leaf and shadow, and the two of them ceased to exist in this world. Belatedly she realized Caster had just used his Reality Marble to pull them away from the fighting. It made sense. If he couldn't best Saber alone with his wounds then he would bog her down with sheer numbers and overwhelm her, just as he had with Berserker. At the very least he could delay her, trap her until Heracles arrived-
With a sound not unlike glass breaking, Caster reappeared a heartbeat later. He looked about as surprised as she felt.
"Unbelievable." He turned and spat blood. "Is she pulling her power directly from the Grail or something?!"
"I don't understand, what happened-
Desperate blue eyes turned to meet hers. "The moment I pulled her into my Reality Marble she used her Noble Phantasm. I've never seen anything like it before" a hand rose and he coughed harshly into it, shuddering in every breath. "Everyone...they didn't have a chance to react. I won't be able to call them again for at least a day...assuming we even survive this...
A chill stole over Rin as she followed Naruto's gaze to the east. What she saw there caused her to sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth.
Naruto's Noble Phantasm had devastated Heracles. Saber had broken out of it in less than a minute. Caster was covered in wounds and missing a chunk of his left ear. Saber looked nearly as fresh as a daisy, though her expression told another story. Her once bound hair hid a bloodied eye, but not her grin. She'd been pushed too far, goaded beyond the point of no return. There would be no truce here, no alliance forged. Something had broken deep inside her, yet this once proud king, her outfit in tatters, her pride flayed beyond recognition, still advanced on them.
"You have to die, Caster." Saber growled the words through clenched teeth, chanting them like a mantra. "You have to die. So long as you live, I can't have my wish. So you...you have to die...
Once more Brynhildr stepped forward, and once more, she was waved back by Caster
Steadying himself on his staff, the battered blond turned an irritated look on her. "And what is your wish? You've been going on about it for awhile now."
Artoria graced him with a mad smile.
"Oblivion."
Rin twitched. "You must be joking."
"I do not jest, Rin." That crazed grin rounded on her with frightful clarity and yet her voice echoed-as though another were speaking through her, something horrible, something ghastly-causing the blackette to shrink back in abject horror. "You're naive. Like my old self. Once I thought I could be someone else. Something more. I had hopes. Dreams. And for these idiotic hopes, I was destroyed and degraded in the same breath, shattered and left to die. No one was there for me! No one saved me! And yet! AND YET!"
A small bitter laugh escaped her as she palmed her bloodied face.
"And yet the throne persists in this torture! No more! Enough of this bad joke!" still laughing, she turned her gaze to the ruined sky above. "I want nothing more than an end. To erase myself, my thoughts, this corrupted form, all mention of me-from the throne of heroes, from history itself. Don't you see?!"
Her arms spread wide, as though to embrace the burning forest around them, the pale, cloudless sky overhead. "Only the Grail can accomplish that! And you're in my way! You call me corrupt? Craven? I DON'T CARE! I want it to end! I'll gladly climb a mountain of bodies if it means release from this hell that you call life! Now stand aside or be cut down with your Servants!"
"You want...to die? For something like that...you'd trample them?! That's...cruel! Cowardly!"
Rin's gaze snapped to the right as Brynhildr raised her lance.
For the first time since they'd met, a rare note of anger had entered the Valkyrie's voice. No, more than that, her mournful visage bore genuine emotion. She looked all of an instant from flinging herself at Saber; only the stubborn order given by Naruto held her in check.
"Silence!" Saber snarled. "Your condemnation means nothing to me, Lancer! Who are to judge me?!"
...and yet it means everything to me. Funny how that works."
Ignoring his wound, Naruto slouched upright.
"Stand aside?" bloodied hair shaded his eyes, hiding them from view. They did nothing to conceal his snarl. "Surrender? To you? For a stupid wish like that? Fuck that! Fuck this! FUCK YOU!"
"Caster, what-
With a snarl, Naruto flung down his staff and raised his arms, fingers splayed toward the enemy. Golden light swarmed him, taking on the shape of a beast. Rin didn't wait to see what kind. Sensing the sudden buildup of Prana, Brynhildr dove to the ground, dragging the young magus with her and not a moment too soon.
"I'll knock that idiocy out of your head!"
The subsequent shockwave and scream behind it sent even Lancer stumbling; forcing the wounded warrior to drop to a knee. Though her body shielded her from the backlash, it couldn't block the sound of Naruto's attack. Nor could she fully contain the sight. Rin saw the gathering vortex and something in her went cold as she beheld the spiraling sphere of energy. Not a Rasengan. Or a Rasenshuriken. As she looked she felt the earth begin to tremble underfoot, just as she saw the sky rupture overhead.
This was worse.
Violet energy swirled out, congealing in a towering sphere before his good hand. A keening gale rose at his call, piquing louder with each passing moment. And yet Saber made no move to evade, or even raise her weapon in the least. Those pale golden eyes calmly gazed back at them, unblinking as the summoned storm battered at her face, sending her unbound flaxen tresses snapping like whips in her face.
"SABER!" Caster-Naruto!-roared again over the storm, his words laced with inimitable fury. "You call yourself a king?! Let's see you try and stop this one then, your majesty!"
Perhaps she sensed the danger.
Regardless, the tyrant stood her ground.
With a roar, he leveled the teeming mass of energy at Artoria.
"After all you said to me you're not going to try to dodge this, are you?!"
A dark look bloomed in those frigid golden eyes as she hefted her burning blade. One final clash? So be it, then. Caster was clearly on his last legs and she doubted his companion's strength. Kill one, and the other would fall in short measure. Something dark had wormed its way into her thoughts; something that was even now providing her with power when she should have none. In her frenzied state she cared not a wit for it. Perhaps if she had not been pushed so far she might've realized what was happening to her. Too little. Too late.
...come, then."
Steadying Excalibur in her good hand, she raised it high to the heavens and willed it to respond. Darkness soothed her wounds, steeping from her body into her blade. Her shadow-steeped sword swelled menacingly, cold sparks of dark crimson etching from the tattered remnants of her spiritual core. Yet she did not bring her blade down. She watched. Waited, as her enemy's attack swelled to meet her own.
"I knew it! BIJUDAMA!"
"EXCALIBUR MORGAN!"
This clash exceeded all others; darkness met light and neither yielded. For a fleeting moment the stalemate endured. Shadow and flame. Saber and Caster. Two beings cut from a similar cloth; one who had given into the dark, and another who even now stubbornly fought against it. Two indomitable wills. A moment that stretched into eternity.
Eventually, as all things do, one yielded to the other.
Rage kindled anew in Saber's heart as she found herself slowly but inexorably being beaten back. Inch by inch. Foot by foot, she gradually gave ground. Though she ground her teeth and planted her feet against it, she still found her boots digging determinedly into the soil. Small trenches formed underfoot as she sank further and further back.
There was something...calming about it. Almost soothing. It reminded her of what her Excalibur should have been-had been!-once upon a time. In her mind's eye, she glimpsed the faintest outline of a familiar face. A smile she'd once held so dear to her heart. Of a hand offered in peace...just like him. Then it was gone and Artoria's world went with it. Perhaps realizing its cause to be lost, the dark forces empowering her fled all at once, leaving the last remnants of her Noble Phantasm to scatter in the wind. One final fleeting thought whispered through the back of her addled mind as Caster's blast plowed forward.
'What have I...been doing?'
Through her, then headlong into her.
'If this is my end...perhaps it wasn't so bad...
Saber laughed as the radiance overwhelmed her.
And then there was only the light; sweet, blessed light.
A/N: To the victor goes the spoils.
The only question is...did Saber survive her defeat?
Why, that would be telling dear reader. Next chapter will reveal her fate.
Even if she did perish by some chance, it seems her outlook on life has finally changed.
Felt good to finally get this out here, because Saber!Alter ties into my A Most Unlikely Avenger. To post that first would've spoiled this chapter, so I did my best to get this out as soon as I could given the circumstances. No jumping around. No skipping. Just one pure, bloody fight scene. It goes without saying that Saber Alter is an absolute monster in battle; we all saw the number she did on poor poor Heracles. Add in her magic resistance and she put up quite the fight.
Now I'm off-limping-to work. Looking forward to your reviews/comments/concerns when I get back tonight~!
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews!
Potential Ones!
(Previews)
"You...?!"
Assassin sighed.
"Nothing personal kid...
"We all fall sooner or later."
Caster's expression remained pensive. "This feels...familiar."
Rin tilted her head. "How so? You're acting like you've seen this before."
"Maybe...maybe I have."
Caster clicked his teeth in annoyance.
"It pains me to do this, kid. It really does. But you're in the way. Last chance. Move or I make you."
"No! I won't back down-
"Then fall."
Shirou opened his mouth to reply; only to grunt as a clenched fist sheathed itself in his stomach with blinding speed. It would've been easy to turn that arm into a point. To pierce his stomach. Yet he didn't. Instead breath burst from the boys lungs and he bent double in an explosive gasp. Twin palms clapped over his ears, deafening him. Even as he turned to face the enigmatic servant, another hand blitzed into the side of his head to render his world black.
Reeling, eyes rolling in his head, he collapsed.
The last he heard was a bitter growl.
Rather, he saw his lips move:
"Sweet dreams, hero."
Blue eyes snapped up.
"Burn."
Just a simple word, and yet it rendered the world into fire.
R&R~!
=D