The feeling in my body returns as I wake up. Rubbing the last bit of sleepiness from my eyes, I notice that it's pretty dark, save for a small light on a table in front of me.
Taking in my surroundings, it seems I've been lying on this couch while in Caster's reverie. Everyone else is stirring and waking up too.
Well, everyone except for Gilgamesh, who's still sitting, sipping his wine without a care in the world.
"About time you came to," Gilgamesh says. "My tolerance for this depressing farce is wearing thin."
"You can thank Caster for that," I say, turning to Jeanne. "Speaking of, we can't let him get away this time."
"I concur," Ozymandias says.
"Oh? Are you planning to seek him out yourself, King of the Sun?" Gilgamesh says.
Ozymandias laughs. "Ha! Perish the thought. I can reduce this entire building to rubble with a single strike from my Mesektet if I so desire."
"You cannot!" Jeanne says. "There are still people in here!"
Not to mention us as well, but we really don't have time to be standing here arguing like this. Just as I'm about to get between them to de-escalate…
"Then perhaps I shall lend a hand this time," Gilgamesh says. "That clown did have the gall to attempt to deceive me. Such transgression cannot go unpunished."
Gilgamesh opens a portal in front of him and a stone tablet falls into his hands. He slides one hand over its surface. It lights up, and signs of what I can only assume to be cuneiform float out of it.
A wave of magical energy pulses from the tablet past the walls of the room. It's obvious that he did something, but I don't see any immediate effect.
"This bounded field will prevent Caster from escaping," Gilgamesh says. "But I will not sustain it indefinitely. That would simply cheapen the struggle."
He lets go of the tablet, which continues to float in front of him, and sits back down to enjoy the rest of his wine.
"Go on then," Gilgamesh says, glancing at me. "The clock is ticking."
Don't have to tell me twice.
Ozymandias summons his scepter and taps the floor with it. A couple of portals open behind him, sphinxes pouring out of them and rushing out of the room.
"The second my beasts locate Caster, I shall mete out his punishment myself," Ozymandias says, sitting back down.
I give a knowing glance to Jeanne, now in her armor, who follows me wordlessly toward the door. There's no time to waste.
"We shall depart as well, Lancer," Isasviel says.
Once out of the room, we part ways with the Einzbern team and head toward the elevator. A stray sphinx occasionally dashes past us in the hallways, but they otherwise ignore us.
"I do not believe the elevators will be working with the electricity being cut off," Jeanne says. "Even if they were in working order, using them in this situation seems unwise."
"Yeah, I know, but we don't necessarily need the elevator itself," I say. "We're currently on the 34th floor. The bounded field is preventing anything from getting in or out, so even the sphinxes are confined to flying down the staircases or... breaking through the walls and ceiling, I guess."
I hope they don't cause structural damage and bring down the building on us, now that I think about it.
"Anyway, my point is, it's going to take them and the Einzbern a while to get to the lower floors," I say. "So, we'll simply jump down the elevator shaft to reach the basement and work our way up."
We stop in front of the metal doors of the elevator.
"I see," Jeanne says. "Stand back."
She puts her hands into the middle gap and pries them open with ease. Always surreal to realize just how strong Servants actually are.
I take a quick glance up and down the elevator shaft to check that it's clear. After confirming it, Jeanne picks me up and hops down the hole.
I'll admit it's a bit nerve-racking to be falling like this in near-darkness, so I hold on to her just a bit tighter as we barrel down the bottom.
After we're more than halfway down, Jeanne grabs onto the steel cable with her armored glove to slow our descent. We touch down a few seconds later.
Jeanne lets me down and proceeds to pry open the door leading to the basement while I get my gear ready.
The metal gives way with a slight screeching noise and a bit of light pours into the shaft-
Footsteps, dead ahead. My eyes dart toward the opening to see a silhouette jump at us.
Jeanne quickly jumps between us and subdues the attacker. She summons her banner to finish the job, only to stop halfway through.
"This is... a human?" Jeanne says.
The man she's holding down keeps flailing and makes grunts that are more akin to an animal.
"Hold him down, I want to check something," I say.
Crouching down, I look at his face. His eyes are glazed over as if he's in a trance.
"Just as I thought," I say. "Another one of Caster's victims turned puppets. Best to knock him out for now."
With a quick chop, I send him off to the land of dreams and check the mana compass. The needle is spinning like crazy.
"But I think we hit the jackpot," I say. "The response down here is strong. Not to mention, if he's sending out people to attack us..."
"It might be because we are on the right path," Jeanne says. "And he is trying to delay us until the bounded field expires."
I stand up, putting the compass away. "I agree. Let's go."
We can hardly leave the man under the elevator. We pick him up and step through the door into a dimly lit hallway. After propping the man against the wall, we proceed further in.
It only takes a few seconds before more footsteps echo in the hallway ahead of us.
Jeanne assumes a defensive stance. Another five civilians round the corner and charge straight at us.
"Remember not to hurt them," Jeanne says.
"Don't worry, I know," I say.
The first one attempts to swipe at Jeanne. She swiftly steps aside and hits them on the back of the head. The second and third try a pincer attack. Once they reach melee distance, Jeanne grabs one and flings them into the other in a semicircular motion.
Number four runs right at me. I hold still, waiting until the last possible second, and duck out of the way. Their back turned to me, I give them another push, sending them straight into the wall.
The last one throws a punch. I catch their arm, twist it behind their back, and deliver a kick to the back of their knee. With one last bop to the head, the fight is concluded.
"There's probably more of them on the way," I say. "Let's move."
We run down the hallway and around the corner into an intersection that goes left, right, and straight ahead. I know from looking at the blueprint for this place before the mission that this area is for storage and the machinery to power the upper levels. If I were Caster, I'd want the most spacious room to set up my temporary workshop in. That means we should go left, but there's no guarantee that-
"I sense a high concentration of magical energy close by," Jeanne says, pointing down the left path. "That way."
Following that path, we arrive in front of a door leading to one of the storage spaces.
"Right behind that door," Jeanne whispers.
He probably knows we're close, but not our exact location which gives us the element of surprise.
"Alright, here's what we'll do," I whisper. "You bust the door down, I throw in a flashbang, then you go in and finish Caster off. I'll stay hidden so he doesn't target me."
She nods. Once we're in position, I count down from three. On two, I remove the pin on the flashbang. On one, she kicks down the door and I toss it into the room.
Jeanne charges in while I stay behind and keep an eye out.
"Damn you!" Caster screams, hands pawing at his eyes.
Jeanne closes the gap and jumps to deliver a strike with her banner. Caster barely steps away. Her flag impacts the ground and bits of concrete scatter with a crack.
Caster stretches out his hand, forms a fireball, and hurls it at Jeanne. She ducks out of the way, but the wall behind her is incinerated. The heat strokes my face.
As Jeanne presses the attack, I can see what Caster was standing in front of. There's a crystal ball on a pedestal with three rings consisting of symbols I can't decipher orbiting it. I'm no expert, but I think he was in the middle of preparing a spell before we arrived.
Considering his current situation, the only thing he'd want to do is escape. So, I'm guessing he's trying to punch a hole through the bounded field to get out.
Seeing as he's busy fighting for dear life, nothing is stopping me from smashing that crystal ball. With a clear line of sight, I draw my revolver-
Footsteps. A lot of them. Looking down the hall, I see a horde of civilians coming straight for me. Jeanne is still in her battle with Caster. I'll divert their attention, so they don't interfere in that battle.
I make a run for it. Luckily, I know the layout and the civilians are not fast enough to catch me. I take care not to get too far from them, so they stay focused on me.
It takes less than a minute for me to reach the room containing the vent filtration system. Once inside, I head to the far end with my back to the wall and get ready.
They pour in right after me. It's almost like a bad zombie flick.
"Come and get me," I say.
Seeing as no more people are coming in, I spring into action. Just before the first wave reaches me, I drop a smoke bomb.
Time Alter: Double Accel!
With how slow they moved to begin with, they may as well be statues at this moment. I beeline it to the door again and lock it shut behind me.
Now to get back to the fight.
Looping back around, I return in time to see Jeanne backing Caster into a corner. His robe is tattered in multiple spots. Nothing lethal from the looks of it, but he can't keep this up forever.
To put the final nail in his coffin, I draw and shoot the crystal ball dead center. Hundreds of glass shards scatter to the floor, drawing the attention of Caster.
Caster whips his eyes toward me. "You-"
A momentary distraction. Jeanne lunges forward, and Caster shrieks as his left arm goes flying with rivulets of blood.
Jeanne follows it up with a flurry of strikes. Caster uses his remaining hand to raise a barrier between them. The shield flickers with each attack, its color slowly changing from light blue to orange to red.
It lasts a few more seconds, then bursts. The next thrust goes easily through Caster. Too easily in fact.
The one in front of her vanishes. Dozens of doppelgangers surround her, gathering fire in their hands with identical motions.
Jeanne twirls her banner overhead, then thrusts it forward in an all-encompassing strike. All the fakes disappear on contact, except one. The force of the attack sends Caster soaring into the wall.
"This is the end!" Jeanne shouts.
She reverses the grip on her banner and hurls it at Caster. The strike connects, piercing him through his torso and pinning him into the concrete.
Caster's movements gradually slow down. He doesn't say so much as a word either. The best he can muster is a few pained gasps.
It's over.
Between all escape routes cut off, being forced into close-quarters combat, and his opponent having high magic resistance, this outcome is only natural.
With the fight over, I come out of hiding and regroup with Jeanne, who slowly approaches Caster.
"Not... like... this-" Caster croaks.
"This is your comeuppance for all the innocent people you involved," Jeanne says. "Now, begone."
There's a slight tremor and a shift in the atmosphere. Seems like the bounded field Gilgamesh set up has expired. Hard to think that we wouldn't have caught Caster without his assistance.
"And I was so close," Caster says.
His body starts to sparkle, a sign that he's disappearing. With the last bit of his strength, he snaps his fingers one last time and teleports away, leaving only Jeanne's banner stuck in the wall.
"Running away until the very end, huh?" I say. "I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. There's no coming back from a mortal wound like that."
"True, he should be gone for good this time," Jeanne says.
Meanwhile...
Nicolas has been following the events of Caster's banquet via scrying from the safety of his base this evening. Once the King of Heroes erected the bounded field around the building, however, everything went dark.
Despite that, he felt the moment his Servant was struck with a lethal blow.
In a corner of the room, a teleportation circle manifests. Caster reappears, sitting down against the wall.
Nicolas approaches and looks down at him, wordlessly.
"What, no parting words for little ol' me?" Caster says in an almost mocking tone.
Nicolas sighs. "Part of the blame lies with me for not reining in your habit of getting carried away, but your fixation on Saber was your undoing."
"I cannot help it," Caster says. "It is in my nature to lead people astray. The more they resist, the more enticing they become."
"Regardless, you have failed me," Nicolas says. "Completely and utterly."
Caster's abilities of deception and temptation were what Nicolas was looking for when he summoned him. Unfortunately, the Servant's personality was always going to be an issue.
"I would laugh if I did not have a gaping hole in my chest." Caster grimaces.
But not all is lost. His abilities can still be of use. Even if the Servant himself will soon be no more.
"Who knows, maybe we will see each other again in hell," Caster says. "But I guess this is where we part ways."
"Not quite," Nicolas says.
There is still a deal to be made.
"Hm?" Caster says.
The second Command Seal on Nicolas's hand begins to glow.
"I have one last command for you, Mephisto."