So, welcome back everybody! Chapter 2 has been released!
Honestly, not much to say. I've seen your reviews, it's mostly just theories and speculation. Which is pretty nice.
Although, one thing I've gotta make clear about Caster EMIYA is that it's not that he's unaware of the same hell that Archer EMIYA has endured. In fact, he's experienced some of it himself. Heroic spirits are above the concept of time, they will remember their complete history even if they're summoned in younger forms. Like the Lily servants, for example. The thing about Caster is that he's the small part of EMIYA buried within that still wants to follow the heroic ideal despite his regrets, taken form as a slightly younger version of him from when he was hanged.
Hopefully, this gives everyone some insight on how to view this variant of EMIYA that I have created. That being said, announcements are over! This chapter focuses on Berserker! Hope you enjoy!
A day earlier...
Bazett Fraga Mcremitz is currently fearing for her life.
She had been glad to have been invited by Kotomine to join the war. They were comrades who had fought back-to-back on many missions together. She'd even go as far as to call him a friend.
The moment when the invitation came, she immediately knew which servant she shall summon for the war. Using her earrings as a catalyst, she intended to summon Cu Chulainn, the hero she had admired as a child.
She had succeeded.
"▂▂▃▃▅▅-▂▂▃▃▅▅■■■■ーー！！"
A deafening roar was released as the ground trembled by the mere might of the Heroic Spirit.
No... It was more akin to a natural disaster... A force of nature that mere humans could never dream to oppose...
Looking into the creature standing in the destroyed summoning circle, you'd never think that this twisted mountain of organic mass was once a hero.
Bazett knew what this is, of course. Any reader of the Ulster Cycle would recognize this thing.
Warp Spasm, a supernatural and other worldly state when the once legendary hero enters a battle frenzy state. A transformation that expands and contorts the hero's body into a horrid mess of flesh in exchange for raw power.
However, this wasn't the time for her to be frozen in shock. If she doesn't do anything right now, she's going to die before the war even begins!
Bazett hastily reached for the command seals on her hand and issued her order.
"By the power bestowed to me on my command seals! I order you to calm yourself, Berserker!"
The mountain of flesh noticeably twitched as the magic of the command seals tried to restrain it. Only for it to immediately break out of the command seal almost immediately and rampage even further, fanatically looking for the magus that dared to try and control him.
Seeing that the command seal didn't work, Bazett decided that the option left was to run. But she couldn't find strength in her legs in her to run. It was at this moment that she realized that she's now completely depleted of mana, it had all been drained away by the berserker servant.
Two orbs of glowing crimson glared into Bazett's eyes as she lied on the ground, helpless and unable to move. Was this really the end for her?
No, she refused to die in such a pointless manner. Putting her last hope into this next command seal, Bazett prayed to the god worshipped by her friend to grant her a miracle that would save her.
"By the power bestowed to me on my command seals! Once more, I order you to calm yourself, Berserker!"
The second attempt at the command seal made the servant lash out at its surroundings even further. Bazett closes her eyes and decides to accept her fate. But surprisingly enough, Berserker began charging at the opposite direction of her. Pushing aside any trees and obstacles unfortunate enough to stand in its path.
The Servant leaped into a nearby lake, the water evaporated into steam as it came into contact with his body heat. Bazett suddenly feels that the mana drain had become much lighter. She can still feel the link connecting her with her servant, so Berserker should still be there.
But oddly enough her surroundings have gotten a lot quieter. No earthshattering footsteps or monstrous screams, it was silent and peaceful like every other night again. Reluctantly, Bazett stands back up and begins looking for her servant, following the destroyed land as a trail.
She arrives at the lake, finding a shirtless, blue haired man casually washing his face in the water, whistling a cheery tune. For moment, Bazett felt like she was dreaming, that everything beforehand with the beast was just a nightmare. Or maybe she had already died from that and that she's hallucinating all of this in the afterlife.
"It's rude to stare at a man when he's bathing, ya know?"
The echoing voice of the man knocked Bazett out of her stupor and she regains her grip on reality. Nervously, she decided to call out to her servant.
"Berserker?"
"Yeah, that's me. Sorry for giving you a fright earlier, I wasn't exactly myself at the time."
Berserker said as he begins to walk out of the lake to greet his master. Bazett instinctively stepped back out of fear.
"Well, it's no wonder you'd act like that after what you saw. But I intend to redeem myself from that." Berserker lets out a sigh, as a white fur pelt and a pair of dark blue leggings materialized around his waist to cover up his privates. "Servant, Berserker. I hereby answer your summons. I'll be in your care for this war, master."
Reluctantly, Bazett accepted this new contract with her servant.
It had taken a while for her to get used to it, but Bazett eventually warmed up to Berserker. He's an easygoing guy when he's sane, after all.
This restrained form is much lighter on the mana load, although that came at the cost of Berserker is only at a tenth of his original power right now. But he doesn't seem to mind, he seems elated to be able to fight in battle once more.
"Are you sure that you feel okay, Berserker?"
"I can feel some sort of outside force constantly trying to drive me mad again, but I'm pretty sure that's just the Berserker Spirit Origin acting up." Berserker inspected his body, it's been about half a day since he was summoned. Despite having been tamed by his master, his spirit origin is always clawing at the back of his mind to eat away his sanity. But he shrugged that off regardless.
"Just in case though, I think I'll be making multiple trips to the lake to take some baths so that I can stay calm, maybe I'll even catch some fish while I'm there."
"So, the hound of Chulainn gets angry when he doesn't get his daily bath?" Bazett lets out a small laugh, humored by how taking care of Berserker is akin to taking care of a pet.
"Shut up! I'm being serious!"
Taking jabs at Ireland's greatest hero aside, it's time to get ready for business. Bazett begins gives one last check upon the runes she inscribed on her gloves and body before leaving for Kirei's place. This grabs the servant's attention as he steps in to look a little bit closer.
"So, you're a practitioner of runes, Bazett?" Berserker mused, placing a hand onto his chin as he stood by, watching his master doing her work.
"Well, of course." Bazett responded. "Are you interested in runic magecraft, Berserker?"
"Something like that." Berserker continued. "It brings back memories. That brutal mentor of mine pounded those skills into me during my training in the land of shadows."
"Oh right, Scathach." Bazett clicked her tongue in realization. "Well, as a fellow practitioner of the craft, what do you think of my work?"
"Hmm..." The blue haired servant takes the gloves out Bazett's hands and began inspecting it. "Ehwaz, typically used as a fire type rune, but you used it as a hardening rune to make your gloves tough as steel. Pretty decent stuff for a human magus, but it's still some pretty basic stuff. Let me show you how a heroic spirit does it!"
Concentrating, Berserker takes up one of his fingers, and began drawing a set of runes in the air. But something doesn't feel right as Berserker suddenly feel a sharp and agonizing pain on his head. Like a drill slowly digging into his skull. Eventually, the pain became unbearable, and the runes flickered away as the spell failed.
"What the hell? That can't be right."
"Berserker, are you okay?" Bazett asked in concern, seeing her servant in pain.
Unrelenting, Berserker tried the same spell again, to no effect. He eventually settled for a simpler rune, using Ansuz to light a candle in the room.
"Well, dammit. It seems like madness enhancement blocked off most of my runes." The servant cursed to himself. "Stupid Berserker Spirit Origin, it's way more trouble than its worth!"
Although Bazett didn't say anything, she silently agreed. It's specifically because of Berserker's uncontrollable nature that had costed her two command seals before the war even began. Regardless, it's almost time for her to pay a visit to her old friend.
"No use crying over spilt milk, Berserker. Now come on, we've got a schedule to keep."
Sensing his master's intentions, Berserker enters spirit form and followed after his master.
It's late in the night, and the city is empty. Bazett is making her way to the church on the mountain. And Berserker is currently bored out of his mind.
"Hey, Bazett. While we're on the way, can you tell me a bit about this 'Kotomine' guy that you mentioned? I'm interested in knowing about your friend." The Irish hero asked his master telepathically, trying to make conversation to kill some time.
"Well, it's a long story. Kotomine and I worked for separate organizations. I was an enforcer for the Mage's Association, and he was an executor for the Holy Church." Bazett replied. "While our allegiances were different, he and I had something in common. We're both members assigned to do the dirty work of our respective organizations."
"So... You guys run into each other a lot on missions together?" Cu asked.
"Correct. We fought back-to-back on many tough assignments and many conversations over the years." Bazett confirmed. "While the Clock Tower and the Church doesn't get along well, we both bonded over the fact that we're outcasts in our organization and looked down upon by the higher ups. Comradery is hard to come by, so I'd like to think that we're friends."
"Hmm..." Berserker nodded wordlessly. The priest does sound like an upstanding fellow from what Bazett told him, but he couldn't help but feel an odd sense that something else isn't quite right. But for the moment, he'll just believe in Bazett's words.
"We're here Berserker, you can wait by the gate while I go meet the man."
Berserker was about to comply, before sensing a sudden burst of magical energy in the church charging towards his master at inhuman speeds. He materializes quickly, just in the nick of time to block a black blade aimed for his master's throat.
Bazett was in shock, she had let her guard down thinking that she was just visiting an old friend. She didn't expect a servant waiting right here, prepared to ambush her.
"Bazett, get back!" Berserker's roar broke the enforcer out of her stupor as she gets back on her feet as the other servant clashes against her Berserker blow for blow. Despite their small figure, they're somehow managing to match against Berserker's brute strength.
Spotting an opening, Berserker thrusts his crimson spear towards the enemy servant's shoulder. Only for them to sidestep the blow at the last second, and swinging their sword with the intent to cut Berserker in half.
The Irish hero sees the attack coming, using his left foot to kick the petite servant's blade away and knocking them into the air, and following up on the maneuver with a hit from the butt end of his spear. The mighty blow pushed back the blackened servant by a few feet, but they seem to be relatively unharmed as they were able to block the brunt of the attack with their blade.
Although this was a stressful predicament for him and his master, Cu Chulainn couldn't help but smile at the encounter. Whoever this servant was that had just attacked them, was most certainly a worthy opponent for him that he looked forward to crush. His lust for battle is finally beginning to be satiated.
"Not bad for a brainless brute such as you, Berserker. But this is far from enough to take me down." With the battle taking a pause, Bazett can finally take a good look at her ambusher with her human eyes. The servant was short in stature, but held a commanding presence. Their Jet-black armor and mask contrasts their pale skin and bleached hair. Most remarkably, they wield an ominous looking sword that seemed contradictory in its appearance of a cursed holy sword. A dark aura emanating from the blade as it thirsts to have its true power be unleashed.
Despite everything about the servant seemingly looked like bad news, Berserker remained unintimidated and shot back with a quip of his own.
"Thanks for the praise, Saber. Good to know that this 'brainless brute' is giving you so much trouble."
The blackened servant, now identified as Saber, scoffed at the Hound of Ulster's reply. Before walking forward and retaking a combat stance.
"In any case, it doesn't matter. You and your master will not live to see tomorrow's dawn." The servant of the sword readies her corrupted blade. Preparing for a charge.
"Those are some bold claims you're throwing around, Saber. Why don't you try backing them up with your actions?" Berserker replied, taking a combat stance of his own. Aiming to take their heart in the next blow.
The atmosphere is suffocating, the two heroic spirits both standing at the ready, prepared to lunge against each other at any moment. However, the tension was suddenly broken apart with Saber softening her stance with a smile. Berserker was confused by the action, but didn't let his guard down, the enemy might have some tricks up their sleeves after all. As his patience begins to break thin, Saber opened her mouth to speak.
"While I'd be more than happy to send you to your graves with my own two hands, I'm afraid that my master would prefer doing the honors himself."
It was then that Berserker realized that Saber is but a diversion, but it was far too late at that point. As his master was suddenly struck in the shoulder by a set of black keys, with the enchantments upon them going off to paralyze her in place.
He tries to rush to his master's aid, but Saber blocks the way, unyielding. A dark figure empowered by magecraft takes advantage of the magus' paralyzed state, rushing in and throwing a reinforced fist aimed upon Bazett's face.
"That's enough, Shirou. Stand down."
The fist stops inches before landing its mark as the redheaded boy hears the voice of an older man within the church's building. Letting out a sigh, he turns and faces his adoptive father. With Saber doing the same, but not without clicking her tongue in annoyance.
"The two of you should be aware of the rules of the holy grail war, Shirou. The church is a safe zone that doesn't allow any battle to take place. If you wish to kill each other, take it somewhere off of sacred grounds." The source of the voice was a tall, black-haired man donning simple vestments and a cross around his neck. It's the supervisor of the 5th Holy Grail War, Kirei Kotomine.
"With all due respect, priest, the flames of war do not concern itself with rules and restrictions. Any chance at victory must be taken, or else." Surprisingly, it was the servant that shot back against the supervisor, it seemed like this wasn't the master's idea.
"Then that's unfortunate for you, Saber. This war has rules that even you must follow." Kirei responded, unwavering in his decision. "If you're responsible to any more skirmishes upon my church in the future, then I'll have no choice but to make you commit suicide with a command seal."
"Tch." Saber scoffed for what seemed like the millionth time tonight. Dismissing her sword and armor, her appearance changed to one that's much more feminine, doning a black dress. "We're leaving, Shirou. There's no point in wasting our time out here any further."
The young boy followed suit, but not before turning back to Bazett. With a smile on his face, he apologized. "I'm sorry for the attack and my servant's behavior, I hope that you don't hold it against my father."
With that, the boy left and went back in the church. It's honestly hard to tell who's the master and who's the servant between the two of them.
Berserker may be hiding it underneath him, but he's secretly seething on the inside. Partially because the fight between him and Saber was interrupted before it can come to a good conclusion, but mostly because he felt that he had failed once again. From the very moment of his summoning, he lost control and attacked his master. He had promised to redeem himself, but only ended up almost losing her again after getting tunnel vision from battle. God dammit! What kind of a heroic spirit is he if he couldn't even protect a single master!?
"In any case, Bazett. I'm glad that you could made it." The priest turned around and greeted his old friend. "While I regret that we could've reunited in better circumstances, nonetheless, it's good to see you."
"You've never told me that you had an apprentice, Kirei." Bazett said, slightly bitter from the stab wounds inflicted upon her by the boy.
"Ah, he's no mere apprentice, Bazett. He's my son. But you're not the only one to mistake him as such, we do look very different after all." Kirei smiled as he invited Bazett into the church to treat her wounds. "He's one of the few surviving children from the fire ten years ago. The other children had all been adopted by foster families, but he stayed behind. So I've decided to adopt him as my own."
"I see. You've certainly taught him well. He fights just as ruthlessly as you." Bazett recalled how cold and emotionless the boy was when he took aim at her head. A complete contrast to his gentle looking smile as he apologized and left.
Like father like son, huh?
"There you go, all patched up. I see that you've finally summoned your servant. Care to introduce me?"
Berserker exited from his spirit form and reappeared in the physical realm, towering over the priest in silence. He hasn't done anything yet, but Berserker couldn't help but feel that there's something off about this guy. He can't quite grasp what it is yet.
Whatever it is, he'll have to keep a close eye and keep his master safe.
"So... A berserker servant? It's quite a rare oddity to encounter one that is sane." Kirei said as he took note of the servant's features. "You're the sixth. We're just waiting for the master of Caster and our roster will be complete."
"And that wouldn't happen to be you, wouldn't it?"
The Heroic Spirit spoke his first words from ever since he entered the church. His voice ominously echos the room as he stared the priest dead in the eye.
"Berserker!" Bazett didn't like what her servant was insinuating about her friend. Sure, Kirei was an odd fellow, but she knows that he's a good man.
"We come into your church, and yet the first thing that occurs to us is that we were attacked." Berserker paid his master no heed as he continued. "The church is supposed to be neutral in this conflict, yet we were attacked by your son the moment we stepped foot upon your home. How do I know that you don't have some other servant under your sleeves?"
"Your doubts in me are justified, Berserker. But I promise you, I'm not affiliated with any servant within this war. My son entered the conflict for his own personal reasons, I had nothing to do with his decision." Kirei reassures the maddened servant. "I promise you that even if he is my own kin, I will not show any favoritism towards him as the Overseer. If he dares to break the rules any further, I will not hesitate to kill him with my own two hands."
"Kirei?" Bazett called out to the priest, slightly horrified that he literally just promised them that he'll murder his own child. "You don't have to go that far, he-"
"He knew what he was getting into, Bazett. You may call me heartless for saying so, but my son was well aware of the risks entering this battle." Kirei interrupted the enforcer mid-speech. "Thus, he shall suffer the consequences like any other master if he were to break the rules. Tonight was his first and last warning. Does this answer satisfy you, Berserker?"
The Heroic Spirit scoffed and remained silent, he has nothing left to say and returned to his spirit form. Vanishing from the physical world as if he had never existed.
"I'll take that as a yes, then. Then this is farewell, Bazett. I wish you good luck in your trials going forward. If you ever need me, you know where to find me."
With that being done, Bazett exited the church and bid the priest goodbye with her servant in toll. A few moments after she left, a golden-haired man descended from the rooftop and grinned as he took a seat on one of the nearby chairs.
"You know, Kirei. Lying is a sin." The man spoke, utterly amused of the situation.
"I did not lie. I am in fact, not affiliated with any servant from the current grail war."
The blonde man put a hand on his forehead and laughed. "You crafty bastard! I knew that you had it in you! Fuhahahahahah!"
"You should best keep quiet, Gilgamesh." Kirei said to the King of Heroes, even if he's thoroughly enjoying the moment as much as he is. "We have another servant living under roof now, it'd be best that you keep to yourself. You wouldn't want to ruin your reunion with Saber, would you?"
The golden servant's laughter ceased as the church descended to another moment of silence. He got off the chair and began making his way back up the stairs.
"Saber has been corrupted by the grail's mud, her cursed state no longer interests me. Your son, however, still might be an excellent source of entertainment for me within this war. I'll be looking forward to what he'll do next."
"Berserker..."
"What is it, Bazett?"
"What the hell did you do that for!?"
As the enforcer walked upon the streets, within her mind was a telepathic argument with her servant. She was not happy about what Berserker had said to the priest.
"I'm not apologizing." Berserker scoffed. "That brat of his would've killed you! And I can't help but feel this subconscious at the back of my head telling me that he's bad news."
Bazett lets out a sigh, though she doesn't like it, she could understand where Berserker's coming from. It's perfectly understandable why the Irish Hero distrusts Kirei after their first meeting. She trusts him, but it doesn't seem like she's gonna be able to change his mind anytime soon.
The two of them continued walking until the enforcer suddenly stops her footsteps on the sidewalk. Her servant did the same.
"Hey, Bazett. You can sense that right?"
From a distance, they see a dark and shadowy figure carrying a girl, jumping from rooftop to rooftop to get on the top of the highest building in the city.
"Yeah, that's most likely a master. Kirei said that we're still waiting on one more, these guys are likely just doing some scouting right now." Bazett remained calm and analyzed the situation. "We're unsure of the servant's identity and capabilities, and you are being held back by two separate command seals. Let's should avoid them until we get more information."
"I admit, you make a good point. But I have a different idea in mind."
The maddened heroic spirit suddenly materialized with his spear in tow and jumped towards the other servant's location with one thundering leap. His master tried to call out for him to stop, but it was too late. Her servant was gone, with the only trace remaining being the obliterated ground where he once stood.
"Dammit!" Bazett reinforced her legs with runes and ran after him. What the hell is he thinking!? She just hopes that he doesn't get into too much trouble from this.
Cu Chulainn was not in a good mood.
From ever since the moment he had been summoned, everything always seems to have gone wrong in some way. He had almost killed his own master by accident in madness, costed her two command seals from the incident, almost failed to protect her once again from that damned Saber, not to mention that shady priest really ticks him off for some reason.
He really wants to vent out his frustrations by obliterating something to pieces. This unfortunate servant that he spots seems to be the perfect target.
If he turned out to be someone strong, then he'll get a good fight as he wanted. If he turned out to be someone weak, he'll kill them anyways and be done with it.
Either way, Berserker is determined to not lose again.
"Sorry to hop in unannounced, I hope that I wasn't interrupting anything there."
Berserker landed on the rooftop as his body weight shattered the ground beneath him. He looks and observes his opponent. A black coated servant with his face obscured by a red scarf and bandages. Most remarkably, he's wearing some of a desert headwear that the grail knowledge identified as a Keffiyeh. A servant of Middle East origins, perhaps?
Behind the man is a purple haired girl with twintails, noticeably shocked and horrified of his own appearance. It's a shame that he'll end her role in the Holy Grail War so quickly. Maybe he'll spare her after this is over.
"Well, let's get to the point, shall we? Servant Berserker, at your service. I shall take your hearts."
With that, another clash between heroic spirits begins in this moonlit night.
And that's it for Chapter 2.
Honestly, I always wanted to imagine how would Fate Cu be like if he had Warp Spasm. Although it's been stated that he will most likely just end up killing his master when he's summoned. So I had to bend the rules a little bit. The process itself is more explained in Berserker's servant profile.
Of course, that doesn't mean that we won't get to see Warp Spasm in it's full glory. It's never a question of "if", only "when". But for now, we'll put it on the shelf.
Welp, tune in next week to see what kind of bs Caster's gonna pull to get out of this one. See ya!