Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fanfiction.
Chapter X: Recuperation
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Confusion, pain, a horrible feeling of disorientation and lack of energy plagued the young woman's mind. She staggered from one alleyway to the other, not knowing what to do anymore. She cursed her luck and her rotten Master who summoned her using the weapon which killed her and then died immediately when she unwillingly retaliated. But she wouldn't just lay down and fade away, she had another one with her, someone who encouraged her to keep walking. She stumbled towards a wall and stopped, using her pale, pure hand to caress the straw doll in her hand gently.
"We… We'll make it through this… Won't we… Viy?"
The doll produced no response, but the girl smiled as if she indeed heard it speak.
The alleyway was dark and empty. It was almost midnight when she escaped the Hotel.
Her icy blue pupils shrunk in hostility as she felt a presence nearby.
"Who goes there?" she asked with a strained voice, "Reveal yourself please…" Her gaze got even sharper when the Golden King of Uruk merely faded to existence in front of her, seizing her up with his crimson eyes.
"You're…" she trailed off. He felt like a Servant but not really… Who was he?
A snort came from the golden King's side, "You're not her. Begone with you." was all he said before he just walked away.
"W—Wait!" The printsessa called out, and just as she did, a golden portal opened in front of her. Every part of her screamed danger as she ducked as fast as she could, barely evading a sword which rushed out from the distortion in space.
When she looked again, the blond man was nowhere to be seen. But that wasn't her biggest concern at the moment. The sword stabbed through the shadows and it landed true into someone, or something, the sound of flesh being cut and sprinkling of blood confirmed that.
Slowly, from the dark side of the alleyway where the sword struck, a dark creature emerged. It was a large black grizzly bear with ruby eyes. It seized her up and growled, it seemed to be limping because of the sword embedded into its rear right leg, which gave Caster the possibility of escape. And that's exactly what she did, despite her body being dull and largely unresponsive, she started placing one leg in front of the other as quickly as she could.
The bear turned around and bit the sword, tearing it out from its body with visible difficulty. But just as it did, the beast transformed into a black liquid, which just reformed into two Panther-like creatures.
"Krgh—!" Anastasia grunted as every hope she had of escape vanished at that very moment. She turned around and planted her feet. She knew if she didn't fight and just worked to conserve her energy, she'd be able to stay in this world longer but this left her with little choice.
The beasts were fast, way faster than even she expected, but that could also work in her favor. One tap of her foot and the ground became solid ice, causing the beasts to lose their balance and slide around her harmlessly.
"Die in confusion." she whispered with a frozen breath. From below the beasts, spikes of ice emerged, impaling them like stakes before trapping them in an icy prison. "Break, fall and shatter to pieces!"
And surely enough, that was exactly what happened. The blocks of ice broke into pieces, taking the lives of those beasts elegantly.
Gasping for air, Caster felt like death. She used much more Magical energy than she intended, and thus reduced the time she had left in this world significantly. Anastasia looked up to the night sky, feeling the cold breeze on her cheeks.
"Ahh… It is so cold here… Isn't there anywhere with a little warmth nearby?"
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"... Midnight had arrived and it was time to make our move." Shiki spoke, visibly still uncomfortable but not nearly as much as before. Same thing went for Rin, she was sitting next to him, listening with great attention. "Arcueid left first, then I traced her steps when I confirmed that she was being followed."
The air in the Tohsaka Mansion's living room was never so heavy. The expression of the teen retelling the events of his traumatic past was more than enough proof that his words were the truth, even without Archer's confirmation.
"It wasn't long then until she arrived at a nearby park with plenty of hiding spots." stated Shiki, staring blankly in front of him, "The plan was for Arcueid to act as bait while I sneak up on Chaos and kill him while he's not looking."
Even through the shocking descriptions of Shiki Tohno, Rin wasn't able to hide her fascination with the True Ancestor.
"This Arcueid… She really trusted you…" she commented, crossing her hands over her chest.
Shiki's face regained some color. "Arcueid is… She was just the best." he stated, "Even though she acted like an idiot sometimes, she was simply wonderful in every aspect."
"I see." Tohsaka replied before pausing, then going back on topic, "Well… I assume things didn't go according to plan?"
Shiki Tohno shook his head in confirmation. "At first, everything was going just fine. Chaos appeared and responded to Arcueid's provocation, leaving his back completely defenseless." he said, eyes focusing on Rin then trailing off again, "I approached him, knife out, and prepared to stab. But the moment I was about to strike, his body gurgled and puffed like a balloon, spitting out another one of those black dogs. This time it came out so fast, like a ballista bolt."
"But how did he detect you?" Rin asked, eyes shrinking in suspicion, "Didn't you say his back was left defenseless?"
The glasses-wearing teen raised a finger as if explaining. "He didn't detect me." He addressed, thinning his lips, "The dog was easy to handle once I regained my balance. But when I killed it, it became a sticky, gooey fluid which pinned me to the ground. Only then did Chaos turn around and acknowledge my presence."
Rin was still confused, how can Chaos's familiar, which was part of his body, be alerted without Chaos even knowing of Shiki's presence? The glasses-wearing teen noticed that from her puzzled expression and explained further, "Chaos isn't an individual." Shiki mentioned, confusing the brunette even further, "He's an amalgamation of six hundred and sixty-six beasts, working under his consciousness."
Things clicked in Tohsaka's head. "Oh… He doesn't have familiars… He IS the familiars!" She announced in realization.
"Exactly." Shiki confirmed with a proud tone, "When I approached him, his familiars noticed me and counter-attacked accordingly without even notifying his main consciousness. It's like an automated reaction to danger."
Rin's eyes glimmered as everything made sense all of a sudden. "I see…" she whispered in understanding, "What happened then?"
The glasses-wearing teen took on a serious expression again. "The battle began, Chaos released his beasts, targeting Arcueid. But then he gasped in surprise as she made quick work of them. He released more, and again, they got dismantled like they were made out of paper."
Rin's facial expression indicated astonishment. "She was able to fight him even with all those wounds?" She asked with raised eyebrows.
"Well… Yes, at least for a time." Was Shiki's reply. Then he added, "Once she reached his main body and caused some damage, she got immobilized." Shiki raised a hand as he continued, "The bodies of the beasts she killed melted, then transformed into a black serpent which wrapped itself around her and pinned her to the ground."
"Oh…" She reacted then asked, "But… if you were both pinned, why didn't he just kill you?"
Shiki Tohno scratched his cheek. Really, why didn't he just kill them then and there?
"Pride." Archer finally addressed after a pregnant silence, "Vampires are proud creatures. They do not simply wish to murder their prey and be done with it, and unless they are in a very bad position, they'd prefer to terrify their enemies as much as possible before feeding on them."
The boy placed a hand on his chin, thinking about what Archer just said. "It adds up I guess." he added with a shrug, "He started monologuing right after so…"
"Well, if that isn't a stroke of luck, I don't know what is." The brunette followed with a sigh. "Did he say anything important?"
"Other than explaining his being as six hundred and sixty-six beasts, he also explained the snake he used to bind Arcueid." Shiki revealed. Placing two fingers on his temples as if trying to recall something. "He called it the Soil of Genesis… I think…" the boy paused, then continued after a bit of silence, "He said that… He condensed five hundred of his beasts into making that cage, and that destroying it would be akin to destroying an entire continent."
Rin's face paled. "That's absurd!" She fired in clear disbelief.
"An entire continent…" Archer repeated then shrugged, "But it would be useless if you don't get caught in the first place. Also…" he paused, shrinking his eyes in concentration, "If I understand correctly… He condensed five hundred beasts to make it, then doesn't that leave him with just one hundred and sixty-six?"
Shiki nodded positively. "True. If he uses that cage, he becomes extremely vulnerable."
"Right!" Rin added, color returning to her face, "I guess as for now, Servants can be wise enough not to get caught. But for your case… How did you escape?"
The glasses-wearing teen pointed to his eyes. "After some struggle, I drove my knife through the lines of the liquid that covered me." he explained, "I stood up and stumbled towards him as fast as my strained body could move."
Rin raised her eyebrows. "Hm…" she hummed then stated; "I guess it was alive before you killed it."
"It all depends on how you understand being 'alive'." Commented Archer, closing his eyes confidently, "Different people perceive things differently. A person can perceive an inanimate object as a living thing so long as it does its job and is not broken, like a clock for example."
"I never looked at it that way before…" Shiki said that and thought to himself. What did define a living thing to him?
"But I digress," he added before shaking his head. He needed to finish telling Rin the things he knew about Chaos, then they could talk about less pressing matters. "Chaos was missing half his body, Arcueid was tied down, slowly consumed by that hunk of murky fluid, and I barely kept my balance as I stood up. Clearly, things weren't looking great for any of us."
Rin and Archer listened carefully as Shiki continued. "I felt dizzy. My body was starting to act strangely and out of my will. My blood was pumping like never before. I seized up the Dead Apostle Ancestor and started walking towards him. He… wasn't impressed to say the least… Unable to understand why I was able to kill anything he sent my way, he kept releasing hordes and hordes of beasts, and eventually I was overwhelmed."
Rin felt Shiki's tone change, as if he was secretly in pain.
"It wasn't ten, twenty or thirty beasts that came out this time. Their number was close to a hundred. They swarmed me like ants surrounding a sugar cube. I killed a dog which was right in front of me, but then an eagle scratched at my face, almost tearing out my eyes. I slashed and slashed. One after the other, the beasts fell. But for each kill, ten more took their places to have at my body. I gave myself five seconds before I perished. I had to think, and quickly."
Shiki stopped, alerting the other two as he raised two hands to his head in pain. "Are you alright?!" reached out the brunette trying to comfort him. Archer too, approached with a concerned expression.
"It… hurts…" Shiki whispered painfully while Rin sat him down on a chair and handed him a cup of water. He poured it down in one go, then fakely grinned in annoyance. "Gah… I never expected the phantom pain to be this bad…"
"Take it easy. You can lay it off for now if you're hurting too badly." Rin said in clear worry.
"Yeah. You don't have to go through this right now." Archer joined in. At first, he didn't say anything because of their deal, but when he started visibly hurting… Well… He had no choice.
Shiki shook his head negatively. "No worries." he comforted, gritting his teeth, " Like I said, it's just phantom pain. But my memory is getting somewhat blurry. All I can remember is the slashing. I kept slashing through the pain of my skin being peeled off my body by claws and teeth. I kept slashing in a mad rage and… I was laughing. I was laughing through the pain, and when I finally came back to my senses, there were barely any beasts remaining."
The boy explaining his story paused briefly to note the look of horror on Rin's face before he continued, "The pain was… Unsurmountable." He said, biting on his lip, "There wasn't a part of my body that didn't hurt. But somehow I kept on moving forward. I remember reverse-gripping my knife and dashing forward as fast as I could. The coat of the vampire fluttered wide open, and from within came more troublesome foes. But it didn't matter to me either. No matter how strong, fast or big they were, they couldn't harm me without touching me, and when they tried, I sliced at the part they used to do so."
Shiki gritted his teeth harder. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead before he continued.
"Two beasts. A drake and a unicorn rushed me. Another slash, the unicorn was split in half. Another swipe, the drake was dismembered from the middle. I heard a shout of disbelief from the vampire as I continued moving towards him. My vision faltered and I couldn't see properly anymore, but the lines and points were still there. A squishy, fleshy sound echoed in my ears as I barely noticed Nero's body returning to normal. Then, bizarrely, he stabbed his hand into his chest and started pulling something out. A large, crab-like spider which I can only assume was a kraken-spawn, then a second one and a third. Three of those weird creatures were in my way, so I stabbed their points of death swiftly and moved on towards the vampire."
Shiki's expression returned to normal. The phantom pain disappeared and he let out a breath of relief. "Chaos was terrified." he said, a smile drawing across his face as if taking solace in that previous statement. "He stepped back in fear, then scolded himself for doing it. It was here when he revealed another important information about his abilities."
Rin and Archer looked at him in anticipation, "He said that the beasts killed by Arcueid returned to the Chaos and were reborn. But the ones I killed go back to the Nothingness and thus cannot regenerate."
"That's true." Rin addressed with an obscure expression. The information was good, but she didn't enjoy seeing Shiki suffer. "Killing something with Mystic Eyes of Death Perception is akin to being sent back to the Root. True Death, completely devoid of any chance of survival."
"Nevertheless." Shiki announced, demanding more attention, "Chaos's pride was his downfall. His body started transforming when he realized his powerlessness, becoming faster, stronger, and bigger. He rushed towards me, extending his claws, but was imprecise as if he couldn't control his speed. It was easy to dodge his swipe and cut his arm clean off."
"How can he be imprecise?" Rin asked with an invisible question mark over her head.
"I don't know for sure, but if I had to make an educated guess…" The teen with the glasses answered, raising a hand to his chin, "He was probably never pushed so far as to fight using his main body."
Rin and Archer took a moment to ponder the information relayed to them. The brunette nodded positively as things added up correctly within her mind, "I see…" she stated, "So in close quarters, his actions are limited to making distance and creating more beasts. Otherwise, he has no experience in melee and would just swing imprecisely…"
"That would be of use the next time we see him." Archer followed right after, closing his eyes and nodding in confirmation.
"Okay, we're almost done." Shiki assured with a pained smile, "After losing an arm, his body completely transformed. Like all his remaining power condensed, he grew taller, his muscles bulged, his coat merged under a thick gray hide which covered all his body. The 999th Beast, he called it."
"That's it! That has to be his last card! His Noble Phantasm!" Rin raised her voice in excitement then looked at Archer who nodded. "What happened after that?"
"Well… The 999th Beast form was intimidating. He was way faster than before and definitely much stronger. But he just kept trying to ram me like a truck, and whenever I dodged, he turned around and tried again, although…" he paused, taking in the expecting looks of the Servant and the Master, "He seemed completely mindless… There was no intelligence behind his moves which left him wide open to retaliation…"
"So?" the brunette interrogated with a puzzled expression. Shiki smiled sheepishly, scratching his cheek. "What can I say… I just stabbed him and… He died…"
"Oh… Wow… That's… Anticlimactic…" Rin commented after some silence, "I fully expected him to become a swarm of bats and fly away or something…"
"Rin!" Archer scolded with a sharp tone, causing Shiki to sweatdrop. "Sorry sorry. I was just joking…" She mumbled in response.
"Well… That's all for now." Shiki interrupted, "There's more to tell but I don't think it'll help us all that much. Of course, if you still have any questions, I'll try my best to answer them."
The Master and Servant exchanged looks. Rin spoke after a moment of pondering; "What happened to the True Ancestor?"
Shiki's brows furrowed, "She is… Away… For now…" he said bitterly.
That statement made her know all she needed to know.
"I see…" She stated with a low voice tone. "Sorry to hear that."
The glasses-wearing teen stared blankly for a moment, smiling bitterly. Then, he looked at the brunette next to him with an expression full of determination.
"Nevermind that now!" he announced with an energetic shake from his hand, "It's already midday. Didn't I hear you mention something about going out?"
Rin could only sigh at how quickly this guy could change expressions, but he was right.
"The Overseer called me." she mentioned casually, "He told me that due to the recent events, he was issuing a meeting for all the Masters. Something big must've happened."
The red Bowman cleared his throat, demanding attention, "I suspect it might have something to do with the incident in Hyatt Hotel."
Rin's brows visibly furrowed, her facial expression contorted into a suspicious stare. "What incident?" she asked with a worrisome tone.
"Oh, We heard it today on the news." Shiki followed, "They said that a liquified freezing agent leaked on the top three floors of the Hotel, it caused a formation of ice which blocked off and most likely covered those floors completely."
"What?! Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Rin fired furiously, earning a goofy head scratch from the boy with the glasses.
"I was planning on telling you, but you got caught up discussing the Dead Apostle Ancestor." Archer casually replied, a hint of teasing in his voice.
"Ugh! Come on, Tohno-kun. We're going to Shinto." Announced the Brunette, immediately heading towards the door.
Shiki sweatdropped silently at first, then he stumbled after her reluctantly, "Wait! Didn't you just say you should attend the Masters meeting?"
Rin didn't even stop to reply. She continued towards the doorway, took her coat that was hanging on the stand and put it on in barely a few seconds, "It'll be at sunset. We still have enough time to investigate if we hurry."
And with that, Shiki had no words left. He quickly followed right after the Second Owner and out of the mansion. Archer was just abandoned apparently, so he just shrugged as he faded into his spirit form before following after his pity Master.
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Rin, Archer in his spirit form and Shiki Tohno were at the bus station. The weather was fine and sunny, with gentle wind breezes blowing occasionally. There weren't that many people around for some reason or the other, probably too scared to leave their houses due to the recent disappearances and strange incidents.
"So… What's the plan?" Shiki inquired with a relaxed tone. He really was enjoying the weather and scenery of Miyama during the day.
Rin on the other hand, tapped her foot nervously on the ground. She was clearly worried and frustrated about what happened at the hotel, how many innocents died on her watch again?
"We go there, we figure out what happened, we track down the suspect and depending on how well the investigation goes, we either confront the suspect there and then or if we can't, during the Masters' meeting." She spat out in one go, letting all her frustration funnel into her tone.
"Is that so…" Shiki pondered, then trailed off until a thought occurred to him. "By the way… I think we can guess Chaos's class by a process of elimination!"
Rin's head perked up when she heard his words, "Go on."
"We already know Saber, Archer and Lancer, right?" The black haired boy stated, earning a nod from the brunette, "We also saw a Servant near the Emiya Mansion when we first arrived there and she didn't look like an Assassin or Berserker, so it's safe to assume she was either Caster or Rider. So that leaves…"
"Rider, Caster or Berserker since he clearly wasn't an Assassin either." Rin continued his words, climbing into the bus which had just arrived.
"Right!" He confirmed, following after her, "But from what I understand, Caster is supposed to be good with magecraft, and the craftiest of all the Servants. And unless mindlessly spitting out beasts is considered to be crafty, or an intelligent form of magecraft, I doubt he is a Caster."
Rin kept silent for a bit before she spoke again, "Those are a lot of assumptions, but personally, I don't think he's a Caster either."
"So… Either Rider or Berserker." Shiki said with a sigh, "I think we both know which one is more likely to be his class."
Rin gritted her teeth. "A Berserker Servant who is also a Dead Apostle Ancestor… If that isn't nightmare fuel, I don't know what can be. Let's both hope we're wrong and he's a Rider or something."
Silence befell the bus as the two sat in the back seats. Shiki was the closest to the window with Rin on his side.
The two kept quiet for a long time as the vehicle crossed the streets of Miyama, Shiki stared out of the window blankly, seeing the students walking out from and towards Homurahara made him think back to the people he left behind. His best friend Arihiko, Ciel-senpai, his classmates and teachers…
—Life was much simpler back then, was it not?
"Tohno-kun…" Rin's voice startled him, "I know this is a bit out of nowhere but… I have another question to ask."
"Oh. Ask away no problem, I'm an open book to you so long as we're allies." He assured with a goofy smile.
She stared at him with hesitant eyes, "What is your wish for the Grail?"
Shiki felt as if he was just slapped. His expression immediately changed as a visible frown took over his face, "And we closed the book."
Rin looked away, "Is that so…" she whispered to herself, "Well, I expected this would be the case. I won't pry."
"Sorry." The teen with glasses apologized, "That's the only question I won't answer at the moment. Maybe later down the line…"
"Yes, yes." The brunette hummed as she looked away and trailed off again.
Shiki turned his attention to the window again. Just as he did, his eyes widened in surprise.
Time froze from his perspective, as among the students, he saw a purple haired girl dressed in a school uniform. Shiki felt repulsiveness, then straight up disgust.
He didn't know what it was that made him feel that way. It made his instincts tingle, that girl wasn't normal. Far from it.
Rin took a look at him and noticed his stern expression, "What's wrong?" she asked with concern noticeable in her voice.
"Eh—Ah, nothing! Just a random thought occurred to me, don't worry about it." Shiki lied as naturally as he breathed. He was not going to make assumptions, his instincts were proved wrong before. Not only that, he knew for a fact that Rin had more than enough on her mind at the moment, adding anymore wasn't going to help.
"Hm… I see." She hummed in reply.
Only then did Shiki actually take a good look at the brunette ever since they left the house. She was just sitting there, staring out of the other window and shaking her legs nervously. Somehow, he sensed familiarity from her appearance and began examining her further. Her aqua eyes, her dark brown hair contrasting with the black ribbons and skirt.
Yes, the similarities were starting to get clearer and clearer. This girl in front of him… She looked almost exactly like Akiha.
"Hm?" Rin was alerted to his looks, "What is it? Something on my face?"
"Oh!" Shiki immediately averted his gaze, "Sorry! I didn't mean to stare. It's just that, in this lighting, you reminded me of someone I know."
Rin's face took over a devious expression, "Oh would you look at that! Who's she? Your classmate? A person of interest? A possible lover?" She pressured curiously.
"W—W—What kind of things are you saying!" He fired back, face turning red, "My sister! My adoptive sister!"
Rin couldn't help but explode in laughter at his reaction. He was clearly flustered by her as well and didn't know how to react when she started laughing.
Eventually, she was able to catch her breath. She wiped a tear which formed under her left eye with her hand. "Sorry sorry, I didn't mean to offend." The second owner muttered, "Your reaction was just too funny."
Shiki sweatdropped sheepishly, "You're a real tease, do you know that?"
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Author's Note:
Chapter done! Thank you so much for reading, it was a lot of fun writing this one. Please review!
Here's a more detailed Nero Chaos Servant Profile:
True Name:
NRVNQSR Chaos (read: Nero Chaos).
Other Known Titles: The Tenth of the Twenty seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, Fabro Rowan, Professor Chaos.
Description:
Nrvnqsr Chaos (ネロ・カオス, Nero Kaosu) is the tenth of The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors. He is a living mass of chaotic matter analogous to the Primordial Sea, created from the accumulation of the lives of 666 creatures. Unskilled in Magecraft except Alchemy and prefers to fight with his natural abilities rather than weapons. Fit only to be summoned as a Berserker. If the summon is somehow tampered with or corrupted, he can be summoned as an Avenger that bears hatred towards all of mankind.
Appearance:
Nrvnqsr has a tall and strongly built body, he wears a black trench coat that fully covers his body. While he looks like a regular human from his initial appearance, only his head and hands still retain their original form. Under his trench coat is a pure darkness that doesn't have a visible outline. He only retains the basic shape of a man, while the rest of his body looks like it is constructed due to being made of chaos.
Skills:
Vampirism A+++ :
A skill possessed by Vampires in general, allows him to absorb Od from living creatures and Servants by drinking their blood, or in his case, swallowing them whole.
Primordial Sea (Body) B+ :
Unique Skill possessed only by Chaos, Allows him to freely manipulate the shape of his body and integrate his Reality Marble into it. It also allows him to utilise living creatures as means to repair any damage done to his body.
Soil of Genesis (Fake) A :
An ability that allows him to mimic the Soil of Genesis from the Age of Gods, a cage of pure chaos that slowly devours whatever it captures. It is made by condensing 500 of Chaos's beasts. This cage is unbreakable by pure physical strength and can only be destroyed with a Divine Construct.
Battle Continuation EX :
This skill comes from his ability to regenerate from the most dangerous of wounds, his nature as a merge of 666 beasts makes him extremely hard to completely kill, the only way to fully kill him without this skill activating is to kill all 666 Beasts at the same time.
Note:
Although Chaos as a berserker does not have the independent action skill, he can stay in this world without a master if provided enough pray for him to devour using his highly ranked Vampirism skill.
Noble Phantasms:
I - Lair of The Beast King:
A Reality Marble. The Lair of the Beast King (獣王の巣, Jūō no Su), which allows him to absorb and merge his existence with the lives of other creatures and manipulate them in the form of chaos. It is different from normal Reality Marbles that are superimposed upon the world, as he only deploys it within his own body. The corrective impulses of the world don't see this usage as a contradiction, so the cost of maintaining it is much lower than normal. It is always active, and he can sustain it indefinitely as long as he has a sufficient amount of energy.
II- 999th Beast:
Nrvnqsr can condense all his beasts to the limit into one ultimate form, the 999th Beast (武装999, Busō 999), the ultimate expression of the chaos's strength. It stands several feet above Nrvnqsr's six foot normal form, and it is referred to as the "best Beast." In that form, his Agility's Rank is increased from C to A, but he seems unable to fully control it while he charges at his opponent without stopping. It can function without all 666 lives at once, and is more used as his final assault that is described as a beautiful, simple, and efficient motion to kill with speed so fast that one couldn't ask for more.
Parameters:
Strength: B
Endurance: A
Agility: C
Mana: D
Luck: C
NP: B
Compatible Classes: Berserker. Avenger.