Chapter 42: The Rewards of Perseverance
I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs.
o. o. o.
The room was empty.
"No."
As were the others on the floor.
"Not here either."
As was the building itself.
"Perhaps…"
The basement… yielded a peculiar sight that had not been expected. Unfortunately, it was not what she had been looking for nor was it appealing to her in any particular way.
After ensuring that there was no hidden passageway or secret that could be of use, the intruder set aflame the disgusting room before destroying the supports to collapse the ceiling. Using others for one's benefit was certainly something that she was familiar with, but even she had a limit to the unnecessary cruelty she was willing to submit her victims to.
"Tch." She half swore out a word of power to scan the entire compound for human life and ended up with nothing. Since she had just destroyed the bounded fields that surrounded the compounds, she was confident that her spell would be unobstructed…
… And ended up with nothing all the same.
"How?" The Witch bit her lip in frustration. She had been keeping an eye on the Church since the earlier parts of the War in case she wanted to make her move. Granted she didn't know every exact habit of the peculiar man, but she had observed enough to know that he always left the complex through the front door.
A front door that had not been opened since Gilgamesh had left nearly four hours ago if her familiars were still functioning correctly. Her slaves were on their way to attack her former hideout to buy her time and mask her movements soon.
Be that as it may though, it was abundantly clear that Kirei Kotomine was not at his post.
She was running out of time. With the King of Heroes occupying the attention of the boy, Saber, and possibly even Berserker, now was her best opportunity to tilt things to her favor. Taking the Priest's Command Seals would provide a huge boon to her efforts, allowing her to utilize her underlings in ways that could potentially enable her to destroy anyone there should she be wise in their uses.
Assassin and Rider would do well to weaken Archer and her counterpart enough to prevent them from acting for the next few days if not take out their forces. She had sent the Fraga along with an enchanted gem that would generate a small army's worth of bone soldiers to counter the lesser beasts in Aeaea to even the odds.
The fact that she was forcing Rider to fight her allies and Assassin to kill his son was just a convenient bonus in her opinion. More chaos and confusion to tilt things more to her favor.
The only reason why she kept Lancer back was just in case everything went pear shaped and she needed a strong last line of defense immediately. Even weakened, Saber and Berserker could tear through half of her defenses just by running forward if left unchecked. Archer and the other Caster were annoyances at best so long as she kept an eye on them, but annoyances that she could not afford to deal with outside of her terms right now.
There was always the chance that the Fraga would die or be freed in combat, which would in turn sever her control over the Irishman, but she had doubts that would come to pass. Those little Banshee brats had proven themselves to be exceptionally frustrating when it came to their so called 'mother'.
No matter. She had given instructions to her slaves that they were to retreat should one of them die or be rendered unable to fight to minimize losses. She had put enough power and magic behind the order to at least be sure that they would go through with that action should they put up enough resistance to not kill any of their targets.
It was a gamble, but the payoff was far too tempting and desperately needed to ignore in the end. She was grasping at straws as it was, so she had to risk everything by acting now.
Either Gilgamesh or the boy would die by the end of the night. She hoped that both would, but she somehow doubted that she would be that fortunate. For once though, she was actually rooting for the child, if only because she knew her odds against him were better than against the King of Heroes.
Either way, one thing was for certain: regardless of who won tonight, everyone's attention would be upon her the next morning.
Another curse risked escaping her lips as she walked briskly out of the building, witnessing the winter sun setting already over the small mountains in the distance. The Priest was nowhere to be found.
A quick, albeit slightly inefficient, scrying spell used on a small crystal orb pulled from her cloak indicated that he was hidden from her locating mysteries as well. This fact alone left a bad taste in her mouth. Her spell would have even worked if he was dead. Should his body had been completely eviscerated, she still would have been able to get an idea of the location of his demise instead of the blank she had now. His being cloaked could mean a good number of things, none of them good for her.
The primary two were that he was hiding from her, in which he had predicted that she had been aiming for him the other time…
… Or that he was hiding from someone else.
She had an idea of where he was most likely. She prayed for the first time in years to the gods that she was wrong though.
o. o. o.
Wonderful.
That was the single word that summarized the situation in Archer's mind.
It should be noted that that single word was supersaturated with all the sarcasm that he could muster in his being.
Caster was flying on a dragon and supporting it while they combatted Rider on her Pegasus… that fact alone made him want to gripe about just how far out of hand everything had gotten. Thankfully that particular battle had been taken a far distance away from everyone else, otherwise the chance of everything falling into a chaotic mess was too real of an opportunity.
Even now he could hear and feel the two phantasmal beasts roar and clash from what he felt was clearly not far away enough from him.
Rin and Luvia were fighting against Bazett just outside the building. Honestly that's where most of his concerns were at the moment. The Enforcer was a genuine force to be reckoned with, and if memory serves, she was a Fraga too. Meaning she had Fragarach. Ironically, it was one of the few Noble Phantasms that he had only heard about and never saw in person before. If he did have it, so many past problems of his could have been easily been dealt with.
Had it been one on one, the fight would have been clearly decided even with Caster enhancing the girls' abilities before she left to combat Rider. But, with both Luvia and Rin the fight was now somewhat even. Neither of the girls had the experience, strength, or technique to match the Irishwoman, but the pair were both intelligent, knowledgeable, experienced, and diverse in their own right. If, given a snowball's chance in hell, the pair worked together, they might even manage to pull off a win.
He used the word might extremely generously.
And last but not least, he was stuck fighting his father in likely the worst environment possible outside of one that involved the man rigged beforehand.
Long narrow hallways. Loads of rooms and blind corners. Tons of windows and openings that give a view of the other fights.
The Counter Guardian was not one to hold a grudge. True he enjoyed mocking others for their misguided beliefs, but given what he was, holding genuine ill will against others was for the most part pointless. Until now, he had only had a real sore spot for his younger self for landing him in this situation…
… But currently he had a new convenient outlet to vent on. Especially when this new outlet was giving him a slew of reasons to do so.
"Tch." He grimaced as he jumped back around a corner in order to avoid getting killed by another grenade. No matter how much he tried to close the distance between them, Assassin was always able to keep them apart with the simple combination of a machine gun in one hand and a grenade in the other. "You can just feel the love."
As it stood, EMIYA's main focus at the moment wasn't to kill Assassin, but just keep him busy so the man wouldn't have the time to disrupt the other, and overall vastly more important fights.
Running around the corner, again, he got his bow ready for an assault, only to pause with wide eyes and dodge to the side as fast as possible.
The feeling of the lone high caliber bullet brush his red shawl was painfully unnerving.
On the other side of the hallway, Kiritsugu lowered his Thompson Contender with one arm and resumed his assault with his Calico in the other against the now off center Servant.
If there had been one real advantage that Assassin had over Archer, it was the Origin Bullets. Everything the stronger Servant had was a result of his magecraft, making him a walking target for the cruel projectiles. Any attack or counterattack he could make would only lead to his mutilation. The only way to avoid any form of damage from them was to not get hit in any way.
Retreating once again around the corner, EMIYA grimaced at the fresh wounds he got. Why the hell couldn't Kiritsugu have been this competent when he was a kid?
He glanced at the slightly damaged wall in front of him and noted the rather large bullet hole made among the smaller ones. The Origin Bullets don't leave physical holes, so what he had dodged was a normal round from the Contender…
"Shit. He was testing how I reacted."
As unwieldly as the gun was, the Contender as a Noble Phantasm on its own had the advantage of not only shooting different rounds, but being able to conceal what rounds it had until already fired. Archer had no way of determining what round was in the chamber beforehand with Structural Grasping.
If he tried to deflect the bullet and was wrong, he was crippled forever and easy pickings. If he dodged the bullet though, he opened himself up for the Calico in a narrow space on bad footing.
"So much for being a hero of justice. Looks like your dream came true after all, eh Kiritsugu?" He laughed loud enough, vying for a different approach. Normally he didn't taunt his enemies in the middle of a firefight, but these were peculiar circumstances. Plus he had a bit that he wanted to get off his chest in the process.
"… I'm as much a hero as you are, Shirou," the emotionless voice echoed through the hallway.
Archer's fists tightened at the accusation, his momentary anger surpassing his surprise that his father actually responded. "You have some nerve. Caster can recall your legend. Your myth. You're a genuine spirit while I'm nothing but a Counter Guardian. A cleaner."
"We're all cleaners." Several clicks were heard, indicating that Assassin was either reloading or preparing something new. "Difference is that most idiots pretend otherwise."
"Some hero you are then, loading an idiot kid with a dream that you already fulfilled." The Servant in red grit his teeth, his patience wearing thin. "Hah. No wonder I'm such a failure. I didn't even inherit a real dream in the first place."
The clicking stopped. Whether it was because Kiritsugu had finished reloading or because Archer's words hit closer to home was irrelevant.
Judging from the sounds that Assassin had been making, he was about ten meters down the hallway.
Archer pulled back the string of his bow and aimed at the wall at just the right angle.
The wonderful thing about being a Servant was that you tended to be powerful enough to ignore things like walls of plaster, wood, and concrete when taking your attacks into consideration. All you needed to do was figure out where point your weapon.
"Originally I was going to go after my younger self in this world just to be consistent, but now I found a more appropriate target to vent on."
Archer didn't know what gave him away in the end, but it didn't change the fact that Assassin somehow managed to figure out what his plan was just before he let loose his arrow, which in turn pierced the room between them with enough force to blow out the walls that were pierced in the process. Dodging just before he got blasted away, Assassin retreated further into the building while tossing a smoke grenade in between them for good measure.
"Tch. This is why I hate talking during fights." Emiya grimaced as he lowered his bow and readied a wind element blade to blow away the smoke.
This was going to be one of those days.
o. o. o.
This was one of those days.
Rin grimaced as she picked herself up after being slugged by Bazett's right fist and being thrown back a dozen meters. Even with the enchantments on her, it still felt as if she had just been slugged by a cannonball. The only reason why her punishment wasn't being pressed was due to her blonde host occupying the enemy with a combination of her absurd fighting style and a rather wasteful use of jewels.
She had spent the entire day with Luvia and Archer, trying her hardest to accustom herself to the ones around her. While she was slowly managing to get used to Luvia given the situation, and Archer being… Archer, the truth of the matter was that she was worse off than what she portrayed.
She was tired.
Shirou. Archer. Sakura. This whole war had exhausted her in so many fucking ways that she didn't even imagine possible. She had thought she had been prepared for this thing when it had started. Hah. She was an idiot for assuming such a thing. The only ones that she could even guess had been suitably prepared were Shirou and Bazett simply because they had prior experience with these sorts of events. Even then, one now had essentially the entire world against him and the other was a puppet to a Servant.
She instinctively knew that Shirou was still hiding things from them. She had overheard enough of Luvia's earlier conversation with him to know that much, but was just so tired of it all that she didn't bother trying to find out what it was. He had come clean with a lot, and in the grand scheme of things it did make sense even if it wasn't appealing. He was in a shitty position, and while keeping Sakura alive was a dumb move, she was grateful for it. But he was still reserved about something, and she honestly didn't know if she could handle much more.
She wanted to punch his face in for all the crap he put her through.
She wanted to scream till her throat was bleeding at him for lying so much.
She wanted to shake him, hold onto him so that he wouldn't escape, and ask why he didn't trust her.
She wanted him in her hands, talking to her in person, and tell her that he hadn't forgotten about her. That he'd still help her. That he still cared.
… That he wouldn't run off and turn into something like Archer.
But he wasn't here. So she had to make due with taking out the woman that taught him nearly everything there was about combat and fighting magi up close.
If only the bitch would just stop beating the crap out of them already.
"Tohsaka! Some help would be nice!" Luvia shouted back at her before jumping away to avoid getting into arm's reach of the Enforcer. The girls had learned pretty quickly that although they were adept in hand to hand combat and further enforced by Caster's magic, Bazett was simply on a different level. What little her overwhelming skill didn't manage to cover, her complex and powerful rune arrays on her clothes made up for in spades.
Rin spat out some blood in annoyance. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed several jewels fueled with prana with one hand while preparing the Gandr curse with the index finger of the other.
Due to Bazett's sudden appearance, she had been caught off guard earlier and couldn't prepare in time before she had gotten into their faces. It had taken a good deal of effort to not get crippled or killed in the process, and she still felt like she had ended up with at least a few bruised ribs from that one hit that launched her back. It had taken a good deal of effort alone just to take the fight to the green field outside the building they had just been in to get away from Archer's fight with Assassin.
… But now Rin had time to breathe. To move. To prepare.
Bazett was without a doubt the better fighter. No matter what mystery she utilized, Rin wouldn't be able to overcome the woman in direct conflict under normal circumstances.
But Rin was the superior magus, and an Average one at that. Weaving, creating, and learning mysteries that suited her needs were her forte. As an Average One, there were few things that she couldn't accomplish.
Even worse, Rin was an extremely vindictive sore loser, and she finally had someone she could take her frustrations out on. It helped that this was someone that she had already experienced fighting and lost to earlier. She knew what Bazett's strengths were quite well, and had made an effort to learn her weaknesses after said aforementioned losses.
She placed the first gem down on the ground while unleashing her ranged support at the Enforcer and began to move at superhuman speeds, prana running throughout her body with the advanced reinforcement that Shirou had taught her. As much as she would like to leave Luvia to her own devices, it would do her no good if the blonde got herself killed. If she did, Bazett wouldn't have anything else to distract her from going after Rin.
Black orbs flew like bullets, forcing Bazett to jump back from the overwhelmed Luvia and focus on her new distraction.
"She's not in control. She's strong and has technique, but there's nothing outside of basic tactics. Just power and reflexes." She noted the woman's blank eyes as she ran. The fact that she left her back open completely to Luvia was all the indication she needed to know that the woman was nothing more than a competent puppet. In her current state she could follow orders, fight, and react, but she couldn't think… or at least make elaborate plans for herself.
"I hope you have a plan, Tohsaka! These won't be enough to stop her!" Luvia joined in the tactic as she backpedaled, firing off her own Gandr curses from both her hands as if she was from an old western movie. As much as Rin hated to admit it, she was impressed by the absurd output of curses that her rival was displaying.
"Just keep her busy. I'm sure you can do that much." Rin raised her voice just high enough to be heard as she placed down a second jewel. Fighting with pure power was pointless. Conventional tactics wouldn't work.
But that was fine. Magi fought dirty and exploited their opponent's weaknesses by principle. She had no intention of being fair in the first place.
Luvia noticed Rin placing down the jewel as she ran around the target. She knew the setup of a bounded field when she saw one. "You better not hit me with whatever it is you're doing. I swear I'll use my command seals to have Caster kill you as my last act if you do."
"Quit complaining and keep her there. You'll live." She was on her fourth stone and only about a third of the way around the fight. She was using slightly weaker ones for this just in case she needed the supercharged rocks for later, but as a result needed to use more of them. A ten meter radius was just too small to keep the Fraga in place, she had to use at least twenty if she wanted any hope of affecting her in time for any suitable effects to kick in.
"You insufferable… gah!" Luvia's mid battle gripe was interrupted as Bazett accelerated spontaneously through the hail of magical bullets with barely a scratch before throwing a punch that could fold steel. Had the blonde not already been on guard and reinforced by her Servant's magic, she would no doubt have been put out of commission by the blow.
As it stood, she had settled for having both of her ulnas heavily bruised as she skid back with enough force that her feet dug several centimeters into the dirt.
Rin held back a grimace but didn't stop going around the circle that she had already begun to set up. Luvia had moved too close to the edge of radius she was setting up. They'd have to lure Bazett closer to the middle again if they wanted to ensure that her mystery took full effect.
Instead of using the jewel in her hand for her setup, Rin instead forced the power inside of it to rupture and threw it at the enemy. Almost instantly after leaving her hand the stone shattered and dozens of small blue beams of prana, each with a shard in their core, spiraled towards the Enforcer like arrows.
If anyone talked to her about how similar they were to a certain Emiya's water element sword-arrows, she would wholly deny the relation, complete with a snide comment or three.
Bazett likely sensed the spike in energy coming from behind and instantly dashed to the side at absurd speeds to avoid getting hit.
"Watch where you're aiming, monkey!" Luvia, who had been rather close to the impact site, had moved as well but not fast enough to get pelted by some annoying yet harmless debris.
"You're welcome." Good news was Rin was a little over halfway done with her circle now. Bad news was that finishing it would bring her almost straight to where Bazett was. "Tch. Fifty unit charges at thirty degree intervals! Fire or water preferred!"
It took a moment for the blonde to figure out what Rin was shouting about before she saw that Rin was heading towards where she and Bazett were, and more importantly, that Bazett had turned her attention towards the oncoming girl.
Even though the pair despised one another, they could not deny that the other was a capable magus. Much like rivals that had butted heads for years, the pair was familiar enough with one another to think along the same lines if forced to cooperate with only bare minimum information. While they had only known one another for but a few months, the fact that they both studied the same lines of thaumaturgy accelerated the development of this trait significantly.
Looking around quickly in her brief moment of relief as their opponent switched targets, the blonde managed to spot the gems that Rin had managed to place on the ground and roughly estimated exactly where the remaining power sources for the bounded field should be.
Before her calculations were done she had been moving with one hand in her pocket to grab at the gems on her person, and the other unloading slews of black orbs at the back of her enemy. She didn't know if the woman had purposefully exposed her back on purpose or if the mind control had reduced her judgement to being plain stupid, but she wasn't going to complain anytime soon.
While Bazett's tactics were reduced to nothing in her current state, her reflexes were still in prime condition. Without looking, the Enforcer dodged the black bullets coming at her from her front and back with speeds that no human would ever hope to match naturally. It almost looked as if she was dancing as she practically flew across the grass like the wind, never getting touched by the black orbs that flew past.
That was perfectly fine. The girls never expected to hit the woman in the first place. Setting up Rin's bounded field was more important. At their current rate heading towards one another, they'd be finished in less than ten seconds. The problem was that the closer they got to one another, the more focused their fire would be, and thus the easier it would be for Bazett to focus on the two of them at once and close the gap once again.
Not only that, but Rin would likely need at least a few moments on top of that to enact her mystery, meaning that they had to figure out a way to keep the woman inside the barrier and away from her at the same time.
Both girls knew this, and a brief glance at one another conveyed the message that the other knew this too.
With just three marks left, Luvia diverted from the path and headed straight for the enemy once again. Plunging her hand into her pocket and pulled out a handful of gems, her face scowling in clear distaste for what she was about to do. "You owe me for this Tohsaka!"
If the Gandr curses were compared to a rapidfire machine gun, the gems that flew through the air could be considered a hailstorm of rockets, grenades and mortars. Slower in firing rate, but the damage output was on a completely different scale. Bazett's movements were forced to immediately change from weaving about like a leaf on the wind, to instantly taking a defensive stance like a stubborn boulder.
Had Luvia been more conservative with her gems, it would have been likely that Bazett could have evaded this attack as well. This had not been the case though, as the fist-full of precious stones exploded around the woman as if she were the target of a carpet bomb run. As fast as the Fraga was, there was no way she could run or evade from an attack like that.
Neither girl attempted to slow down as the dust obscured their sight of the woman. Instead, Luvia broke from the circuit and spiraled inward while unleashing more gems to keep the pressure on while Rin focused on finishing the rest of the mystery. They had banked on Bazett to focus more on the individual responsible for the heavy attacking and pass up the one that was likely going to decide the end of the battle.
Whether it was due to their correct hypothesis, luck, or Bazett herself influencing what little she could from the inside of her body, it didn't matter as the woman followed through with their script on cue. Luvia would have allowed herself to breathe out in relief for the minor good fortune if it weren't for the fact that it meant that she was once again the target of a person that vastly outmatched her in terms of combat skills.
With the little time left that she needed, the mercenary forwent any offensive tactics and settled for dodging whenever possible and defending when it wasn't. While it was blatantly clear that she was being overwhelmed, it didn't mean she was an easy target.
So long as she was within arm's reach of her opponent, her life was in immense risk. However, this also meant that as long as she wasn't within that range, she had time to breathe. The woman could use runes for ranged attacks, but it was a time consuming and inefficient process compared to her current approach.
The issue was Bazett's immense speed. Any moment Luvia managed to get some distance was instantly followed by the woman closing it. Dodging lightning fast punches at this range was not an easy by any means, but she had no other option.
She held her ground as the older woman launched a kick that could easily fold a normal human in half, catching it in her arms and skidding a meter to the side. She felt her ribs shift, but couldn't tell if they were bruised or broken. Instead, she instantly had to let go and duck a moment later as her enemy hopped up with her other leg and attempted to kick her skull in from the other side.
Luvia took the brief instant of reprieve from Bazett floating off of the ground to back away slightly and unleash several Gandr curses at the ground between them. The dirt and stones that were kicked up in the process clouded their vision of one another, which Luvia took advantage of the half second earned and moved to the side just enough to throw her enemy off once she landed and charged forward again.
She grimaced in annoyance. As much as she hated to admit it, Marjatta would have been better suited for this role. Her sister was more competent than she was in direct combat, and her mastery and diversity in the Gandr curse would have made controlling the flow of this insanely fast paced battle more manageable.
The instant that Bazett emerged from the rubble she was hammered by the shattered contents of a gem that Luvia barely managed to pull out despite her reflexes having it in her hand instantly. Taking the form of a prana enriched gust of wind, the Enforcer was blasted back a small distance, but other than a few superficial scratches on her person she was essentially unharmed.
"Surma Luolaan!"
That was when another handful of gems that were flying through the air shattered. This time, the dark blue stones shattered not to bombard the area with power, but to enchant the area to become a vicious cage.
It was inspired and named after the Surma, a demonic dog like creature of Finnish origin that was the rough equivalent of the Cerberus, guarding the gates of hell. Anything inside the bounded field, the "den", would undergo severe paralytic-like symptoms to the point of having trouble moving. However if those inside attempted to cross the field, they would instead be going "into the Surma's Mouth", a common phrase used in her native tongue, and thus be torn apart viciously as if ravaged by the beast itself.
Normally, most spells of this nature would not be affective against other humans, magi or otherwise. Their innate resistance to mysteries applied to their bodies made such effect difficult to be effective in combat situations.
Normally, people didn't have specially made gems that were fed the prana of, and bathed in the blood and bodily fluids of a Surma. One of the few left in existence on the planet, and arguably one of the most prized and well kept secrets of the Edelfelt family.
Admittedly Luvia did not like employing this spell whenever possible, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
It was one of her family's lesser known mysteries, and ironically one of the ones that led to them being called "hyenas" in particular. Cruel in nature, it was designed to capture and subjugate. Those on the inside would have an idea of what would happen should they "go outside the den", an impulse that invaded the trapped's minds and instilled fear of going outside. The longer they waited to decide what they should do, the more languished their bodies would become. Even if they managed to escape alive, their bodies would be too damaged and weakened to put up much of a fight afterwards.
Two seconds alone was enough for a normal human to lose significant feeling in their limbs to the point of having trouble standing. Ten minutes was enough to cause acute heart failure in the weaker willed. Unless the trapped was specifically prepared for mysteries that attacked the central nervous system and muscle contractions, even a trained magus would be significantly afflicted and have trouble moving once inside for but a few moments.
Luvia had had little time to set up the bounded field and was forced to use a slightly weaker version that possessed overall weaker effects, but the gems should have at least provided the power to enforce the effects to make up for it. She didn't think that the psychological parts of the mystery would be of any use, but the paralysis and the repercussions of crossing the field itself should have at least served to slow down the woman.
She sure as hell didn't expect Bazett to simply charge through the borders without any hesitation like a mad bull. She had barely managed to make note of the gashes and tears that littered the woman's body and clothes before a fist collided with her stomach and knocked the air out of her lungs. She had managed to reinforce herself enough to not have anything crucial damaged, but it didn't stop her body from being thrown like a rag doll a dozen meters away.
If she wasn't in so much in pain, she would have smiled though. She had managed to land outside the ring of gems.
Before she managed to skid to a stop, the bounded field had activated, with Rin finishing her German incantation, hands on the ground and eyes looking up vindictively. The hairs on all three fighters stood up on end as raw power circled around Bazett, connecting all the gems that had been set on the ground and charging the air with weaving prana.
The Enforcer attempted to move to get out of the trap, but she stumbled. Looking down, she noted that her legs had been cut deeper than she had originally thought from enacting Luvia's mystery earlier. Not enough to cripple, but her mobility was restricted if certain body movements were made. Instinctively knowing that she would be unable to escape in time, the woman poured energy into the runes on her frayed and ruined clothes and took on a defensive stance…
… And didn't move as her clothes and shoes tore themselves apart, leaving her completely nude save for her gloves.
"Tch. Of course her gloves would still be intact." Rin cursed her bad luck with her hands on the ground and her eyes leaving her opponent, the lights around her target dying off as quickly as they came.
"I... that's your grand plan?" Luvia blinked in mixed surprise and dismay. She knew from earlier conversations that Bazett laced her clothes with runes to enhance her combat ability to absurd levels, but to actually deal with the issue in this way was just bewildering.
Bazett merely looked down at herself to inspect her current nude state before taking a fighting stance again. She seemed to not care at all about the weeping cuts that covered her frame, the fact that her rather generous and toned body, full chest, and privates were exposed for the world to see, or that her legs possessed peculiar vine like tattoos that traveled from her feet to different parts up her calves and thighs.
"If you had a better idea, then you should have said it." Rin wasted no time marveling at the woman's figure and raised her right hand to fire off more Gandr curses. If they all survived this in the end, she could and would gloat as much as she damn well pleased.
After her prior humiliating defeat by Bazett's hands, Rin had done an immense amount of research into figuring out a way to beat the woman with confidence. She had already known a lot about her beforehand, so she had a good idea of where to start.
The problem was, there were a surprisingly few number of combat related "strip, nullify, and or destroy your opponents' highly enchanted clothes" related mysteries out there. Turns out that most magi tended to focus on either theory or focus on more abstract tasks to do with their mysteries… like time travel or summoning the dead or trying to reach the root of all things.
Ironically, she had found the original version of the spell she had used in a mystery joke book of all things.
Written by Zelretch.
Over three hundred years ago.
It was one of the many trinkets the founder of her family had collected shortly after becoming the vampire's apprentice. It was something that her father would have never approved the existence of, let alone possess if it wasn't for the fact that her family had an unusual obsession with Kaleidoscope.
While more complex in execution, the theory utilized the fraying nature of fire elements to create imperfections in the cloth that made up the target's clothes, or any other woven fabric that was made of non-living matter, and then the flowing nature of water to cling onto the imperfect open ends made and unravel the fibers. The more the clothes became undone, the more the magic clung to the additional openings, causing the process to accelerate exponentially.
Most enchanted clothing was designed to be resistant against being directly influenced by other mysteries and physical influence outside, but a little known fact was that these traits were significantly lessened at loose ends where the flow of prana abruptly ended. The woven fibers themselves acted as a circuit, allowing a constant flow to spread evenly to all parts. Interrupting this in any way would cause minor imperfections that could be exploited if the user knew how.
While there were many reasons as to why the more affluent magi tended to dress in impeccable and well-tailored clothing that seemed to have little if any flaws, this was one of the largest ones that was left unspoken to the point of being all but forgotten today.
While it may have been unintended, Luvia's prior bounded field had only served to make the effects of Rin's near instantaneous. The only reason why Bazett's gloves had remained intact were because they were essentially made out of a single swath of leather, enchanted to be shaped in the shape of her hands without a single stitch of artificial fibers to hold it together.
Of course, the original version of the mystery was more of a party trick. It was applied on objects or individual people, and then enacted once a certain action was taken, such as when the seat enchanted with the spell was used. Rin had to modify it heavily for this fight, making the bounded field attack any inorganic fibers within its confines. The gems she used tremendously enhanced the power of both parts of the mystery so that they could get through the defenses that the woman's clothes possessed.
The results were obvious from the get go.
While completely uninhibited by her state of nudity, Bazett was still no longer enhanced by the runes that were on her clothes. While mentally she was likely to still keep up with Rin's barrage of curses, she was physically incapable of avoiding or charging through them anymore.
Unable to dodge or barrel through the oncoming attacks, the woman's body slowly began to be whittled away. The curses weren't designed to kill, but to inflict bodily harm and illness on the subject. Bruises and welts spawned all over the firm but exposed body, and within a short period of time the damage accumulated would have downed any normal human.
Unfortunately, Bazett was not a normal human.
"… Are you kidding me?" Rin faltered back as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.
While the initial slew of curses did throw the Enforcer off guard and inflicted some damage, the woman had somehow managed to regain her stability in the most absurd way possible.
Without her clothes she couldn't defend.
Without her shoes she couldn't run or dodge.
But she still had her gloves.
Running at a speed that most athletic humans could match, the Enforcer had resumed her charge at Rin, protecting herself by literally punching away each and every curse that came close to her.
And she thought that Shirou shooting swords as arrows was crazy.
Shaking her head, Rin jumped back to keep her distance. Now that Bazett's clothes were gone, she couldn't move as fast as she normally could. So long as she kept her range, she could just whittle away at the woman until she was put down for good…
… Or at least that was the plan until the second story of the building to their side exploded and the two Servants inside jumped out, shooting at one another relentlessly with their respective weapons.
All three women stopped what they were doing to look up at the two Servants that bore the name Emiya as they fell down to earth, seemingly ignoring everything about the world except one another…
… No. That was a lie. To individuals like them, the world around them was just as important as their enemies. Rin and Luvia felt a shiver down their spines as they felt both Servants briefly note their existences while attempting to shoot one another down. In that instant, the former party could literally sense the latter coldly calculate them into their plans and how to influence the fight…
"Get out of here!" Archer was the first to speak as he fell back to the ground. It was a warning as well as a threat. He wouldn't be able to keep them alive if they stayed nearby, and he might accidentally kill them in the process of trying to kill Assassin.
As if to drive his point home, he fired a shot at a grenade that Kiritsugu had thrown at the girls with his off hand while trying to stall Archer with his machine gun. The end result was the bomb exploding a small distance away and Archer sporting a few scratches from the small gap in his defenses that he had made.
No. It was more accurate to say that if they stayed, Archer would be forced to protect the girls instead of attack Assassin. Not because Assassin could go after them, but because he had to. Out in the open, Assassin was completely exposed and in the worst situation possible. By default, he was easily the weakest Servant, and as such did not stand a chance in hell against Archer in a neutral area like this. In order to have any hope of coming out on top, he needed to fight dirty whenever possible.
"Double Accel." His words were barely above a whisper as he forced his body to complete its trajectory at double speed to reach the ground faster, similar to how he escaped Lancer just a few nights before. His new position would allow him to attack from a wider range of locations…
… Against any other opponent it would have given him a distinct advantage with the enemy still airborne and unable to change their trajectory. However, his son possessed both unrelenting aim and eyes that could trace Rider at top speeds from over a kilometer away. An Archer of unmatched skill.
The arrows loosed with fury matched the bullets that Kiritsugu shot without fail, tracking the owner with greater accuracy than a manufactured gun could ever manage. Glowing red with absurd amounts of prana in them, Archer took a leaf from his father's book and broke the nameless and common projections as they manifested, plowing through the oncoming bullets with a vengeance and overwhelming Assassin with a series of explosions.
Archer didn't stop firing. Even when it appeared as if his father had been killed, he continued to spray the area with his arrows constantly for nearly fifteen seconds after he landed, further destroying the spot his father had landed.
Luvia and Rin couldn't help but be unnerved by his ruthless display. Even if he was a different version of Shirou, Archer had been more or less impassive about virtually everything that had come his way since the war began. Now though, now there was a distinct look of absolute loathing in the tan man's image. As if he wanted nothing more than to murder the one that had saved him from the fire when he was just a child.
"A-Archer?" Rin couldn't help but stammer out in uncertainty. She had never seen such a look on either Shirous' faces, and to be honest it absolutely terrified her.
"What are you doing?!" He snapped at his master. "I told you get out of here! He could still be-"
"Too late."
With a small burst of prana, the cloud that Archer had kicked up with his attacks had been blown away, revealing Assassin with a gun in each hand.
The calico pointed at Archer.
The contender pointed at Rin.
The world seemed to slow down for the humans there as they realized just how bad the situation had become. With their adrenaline pumping, they took in everything about the man that they had spent years hearing about but never meeting in person.
The cloak he had worn throughout the war had been shredded from Archer's attack. The clothes underneath had fared better, but not by much. His pressed and tailored suit and tie was stained red in various places from where Archer's arrows had scored hits. It was quite out of place compared to the elaborate and enchanted clothes that the rest of the participants of the War possessed. He was far younger than what he was when he died, mid-twenties at the oldest, but he was unmistakable if compared to the pictures that Shirou had shown them. Messy black hair, exhausted if not empty eyes, a firm facial structure that could be considered handsome if it wasn't so eerily emotionless.
"You…" Archer growled menacingly, only to stop at the slightest twitch of Assassin's hands.
All he had to do was fire off the guns in both his hands, and Archer would very likely be killed.
If Kiritsugu really did have an Origin Bullet loaded, then this was checkmate. Archer was too far away from Rin to make it to tackle her out of the way. If he used Rho Aias or one of his projections to protect Rin, then he would be killed. If Rin stopped channeling prana of any sort, the best she could hope for is having part of her body become nothing more than a heap of dead flesh and need to get it removed…
… But if Kiritsugu had one of his normal bullets loaded, then a direct hit would likely tear the girl apart. Even a glancing blow on her body would easily be lethal… and the only thing that could stop those bullets was ironically his strongest shield… which he had to not move in order to use. Lovely.
Even worse, there was no guarantee that the man would attack Archer with the machine gun and Rin with the Contender. He could very easily focus his attention to either one of them in an instant or swap targets, taking advantage of whatever tactic they would use to try to save themselves in an instant.
"Fraga. Focus on Caster's Master." Assassin ordered in an emotionless tone, not once taking his eyes off of the pair. "Throw rocks at her."
"Eh?" Luvia blinked in surprise at Kiritsugu's sudden order, bewildered by his unexpected decision, before comprehending what he had just said. She had moved just in time to avoid getting crushed by a rock that was slightly larger than a human torso moving at the speed of a bullet.
"… I'm surprised that the Witch made it so that she would take orders from you," Archer muttered, his voice would have been casual had it not been for the contempt saturating it.
A brief twitch was seen on Assassin's lips that could have been mistaken for confidence or amusement.
"… She didn't." Rin's eyes widened in understanding. Whether it was due to Bazett influencing her actions from the inside or Caster being careless, Assassin had just exploited a loophole in his Master's system.
Not only that, but the fact that he was willing to divulge and exploit that information likely meant that the woman wasn't, or more likely couldn't paying attention to what was going on at the moment. It was likely in hindsight, seeing as they were within her counterpart's territory.
But if he was forcing Luvia and Bazett away that could only mean that he had something more intended for the both of them.
If Assassin was pleased by her deductive abilities, he didn't show it or even turn to look at her. His attention was solely focused on the greater threat of the two. "… How do you know about the origin bullets?"
Assassin prevented himself from feeling relieved. So long as he acted and interpreted what he was doing as an interrogation and not a conversation, he could still manage to exchange words with the enemy.
"Eh?" Rin blinked in confusion at the sudden question. Of all the things Assassin could talk about, she didn't expect that.
It was a valid question though. No one was supposed to know of their existences, let alone how they worked or that he used his Contender specifically to fire them off. The fact that she had reacted so quickly seeing it during their last encounter was enough proof that she was very familiar with his hidden ace.
Her surprise quickly vanished as the gun pointed at her twitched notably. Not enough to make an opening for Archer to exploit, but enough for her to get the point.
"Rin. Answer him," Archer grunted in annoyance. Clearly he didn't want her to talk, but he didn't have much say at the moment.
She breathed out slowly. "Two years ago a vampire caused some trouble here with his kin. Shirou and I worked together to kill them. The situation was dire enough that he took them and the contender out and explained everything. I used one of them to kill one of the kin. Shirou killed the father."
"… How many bullets were used?"
"Just the one. I don't know what happened to the gun after that. Shooting it hurt, even when reinforcing my hands." Rin answered honestly… while slowly fingering the gem in her hands. It didn't escape her attention that Assassin was focusing completely on Archer.
If I move first, don't bother to protect me and focus on attacking Assassin.
Archer tried his hardest not to flinch at the girl's sudden mental command. Rin, there's a time and a place for your impulsive ideas. Now really isn't one of them.
Just shut up and do as I say.
"Do you know why we attacked now?" Assassin's probing persisted.
He's stalling for time. Keep an eye out for any traps. "I can make a few guesses. I take it that your Master knows about Gilgamesh from Rider."
"He told you about Gilgamesh?" She was starting to understand more of the situation. The Servant was constantly asking questions as if it was the only way he could talk. The fact that he focused on her father's former Servant was a likely hint that her worst assumption was taking place at that very moment.
"Oh he's been telling us a whole bunch of fun things lately. The problem now is that when he decides to stop, he's still holding out on us." The girl grunted in annoyance, allowing herself to glare annoyed at Archer.
"If the situation is as bad as you reason, why aren't you afraid?" That time his question did cause her to stall.
"Humph." Rin allowed herself to smirk, moving her body almost casually to allow her hand holding two gems to come out of her pocket. "Shirou's has been pointlessly cruel to us since this mess has started, you know? Leading us around and keeping secrets, playing with our lives in this mess. I'd almost be angry enough to kill him for all he's done if I didn't know him well enough to be sure of one small thing."
"And that is?"
A satisfied and vindictive grin stretched on her face. "That I am absolutely nowhere near as pissed off about how things have turned out as your son is."
She knew it to be true. As calm and composed as Shirou claimed to be at times, even over the phone, she had easily been able to tell just how enraged the Second Magus Killer was at times. He was no doubt out for blood. If it weren't for the fact that he had a strong attachment to many of the people in this war, she was certain that he would have massacred virtually every factor, Gilgamesh, Kirei, and Zouken by now.
His sister. His father. Sakura. Her. Luvia. Himself twice over. Everything and everyone he had dedicated himself to were at risk in this pointless war. She doubted that the fate of the world itself actually mattered to him, only the existence of a world where he had failed them.
He really was an idiot of unparalleled measure. Then again, she was too for falling for him.
"… So you trust him with your life even after all he's done. You know him that well." Archer did grimace at his words this time, but Assassin didn't seem to take note despite focusing completely on the man.
"For better or for worse."
Assassin actually smiled faintly at her remark, surprising both Archer and Rin. "He's still an optimistic child though, trusting a magus. You've found a counter to the bullets, haven't you?"
"?!" Rin's eyes dilated in alarm. If she had not already been prepared to move at any given time, she would have frozen on the spot. Her arms were on the move and a command was on her lips…
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
Her command was drowned out by the otherworldly roar from a distance that was far too close for her liking. Had her veins not been flooded with adrenaline, she would have easily been distracted by the turn of events that she had not been aware of.
Instead, the girl had ignored the nearby Dragon approaching their position and gone through with her plan, throwing one of the gems that she had constantly been feeding power for almost a decade, unleashing the full scope of its power at Assassin at once in a tremendous blast of pure prana, and jumped to the side.
The combination of the unexpected return of Caster and Assassin focusing all his attention on Archer had given her enough time to pull off this otherwise suicidal move before Assassin responded by firing both guns at their respective targets with Archer almost immediately following suit.
The Contender's bullet struck Rin's spell first. The projectile was enveloped in the prana blast that possessed enough destructive power to equate to an A rank attack and vanished…
Just before it overwhelmed the spot that Assassin had been in, as he had been forced back by Archer's arrows, the concentration of prana unraveled wildly, as if it had torn itself apart from the inside.
There was no mistake, it had been an Origin Bullet.
Rin couldn't help but smirk at what she had done, completely unharmed. She had been right, mysteries that were fueled completely by gems and other external sources made the user completely immune from Origin Bullets and Origin swords so long as the attacker didn't try to be excessive and control or add their own power to the mix.
She didn't intend to tell anyone about it though. Sure she had been absolutely terrified by the weapons and their effects the instant she heard about them. What magus wouldn't? The mutilation of one's circuits was both a cruel and nightmarish idea for any of them to employ.
Not that she ever expected Shirou to use Kiritsugu on her, or anyone else they cared about for that matter. She knew him better than that… not as much as she had assumed, but still better than most.
She simply didn't like being scared. More so, she didn't like being afraid of something without trying to do something about it first. The magus in her would never accept it.
Plus, she really wanted to see the look on Shirou's face when she did manage to trump his ace.
It had taken more than a few off hand comments and carefully planned conversations to get Shirou to explain how the bullets worked in finer detail before she had managed to get a better idea of what she was working with. After that, a good half a year of on and off brainstorming had passed before she had finally gotten to her current answer, ironically when she was working on another project involving the output charge of gems and her workshop possibly almost blowing up at the time.
With her spell being as overwhelmingly strong as it was, it didn't matter what ammunition Assassin had in the Contender. Had it been a normal Contender round, the Noble Phantasm would have been overwhelmed easily. The only way her counter would have been in vain (other than if she had been killed before she managed to use her spell) was if Assassin had loaded a normal round, enchanted to fire off at a higher speed, and broke it.
Given that she didn't feel any prana or spellwork being generated from his direction at the time, she decided that the odds were slightly in her favor.
Her moment of satisfaction though was immediately suppressed by the bigger issue at hand, both figuratively and literally in the form of the tremendous beast that had all but fallen out of the sky and landed on top of Luvia's house, all but crushing the top floor in the process.
Now that she was outside, she could get a better look at the extinct creature. Close to fifty meters from head to tail, the magnificent specimen was armored with green scales so dark that they appeared to be ebony at many angles. Its massive and muscled tail thrashed about, destroying portions of the building it was on and carrying with it enough weight and power to rival stronger Servants by itself.
Its spine was lined with several rows of long silver horns that could be mistaken for fur at a distance. Similar larger ones stuck out of its head, and its three meter long talons were also of the same color. Its wings, nearly three times its length, beat the air with enough force to create dozens of miniature twisters on the ground below.
Despite it all, it did nothing to prevent Caster from sitting on its back as if it was second nature to her.
However the beast was not in ideal condition. Swaths of its body and wings were a combination of burnt and marred. Its front right limb appeared to be damaged enough to be almost lame if the was the beast carried itself was any indication. Several of the horns on the left side of its head were notably cracked, chipped, or in one case broken completely.
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
The beast bellowed once more, displaying its anger at the bright light in the sky nearby which was clearly the source of its current state.
It was almost loud enough to drown out the explosions and sounds of metal striking metal, courtesy of Archer and Assassin once more going at one another during the chaos. While it was a unique and distracting spectacle, the dragon seemed to hold little of either Emiya's attentions.
That is… until it breathed fire.
The instant the Dragon's chest and neck flared, everyone's hairs stood on end, their focus instantly turning to the source not out of curiosity but primal instincts. It was literally impossible for anyone to ignore the infinite well of power that was peaking so close.
Caster, from the back of the beast, uttered a few indecipherable words that no one could hear from that distance. It was impossible for her to enchant or control her mount. Her Riding ability was not high enough. By all means she should not have been able to stay on its back for as long as she had…
… But while her abilities would not allow her to stay on it, the Dragon's whim would. Her Noble Phantasm summoned the beast, but she did not own or rule over it. It was rarely if ever mentioned in the legends, but she had actually been quite close to the creature in life. Whether it be because she had been of Helios' blood, or on a whim, she had never felt at unease even as a child around the creature. In kind, the Sleepless Dragon seemed to always welcome her in its midst to the point that she was at an early age tasked to be its caretaker. Even when she did not come with food, drink, or to clean it, it accepted her.
In many ways, her drugging the beast for Jason was just as large of a betrayal as the murder of her brother.
Her magic would not work on the beast, but that protection did not extend to the fire it breathed.
Even though the its target was still in the sky, Rin didn't know if she would pass out from the heat first or the oxygen deprivation. Just being even remotely near the thing seemed to suck the air out of the lungs.
She couldn't even call the destructive phenomena coming out of the beast's maw fire. It would be more accurate to describe it as pure plasma, the fourth state of matter, enriched and saturated with an unfathomable degree of power, piercing through the sky and attempting to engulf the white light a short distance away.
She could barely hold her surprise when Rider's horse attempted to dodge the attack, only for the lance to veer in its direction almost instantly. At first it didn't appear to be enough though. The Pegasus was far more agile and maneuverable than the concentration of inflamed prana that attempted to hit it. Being close certainly would be enough in most cases. A normal human getting that near to that sort of power would instantly be charred to a crisp, but neither Rider nor her mount were human. Irritating yes, but not unbearable in the slightest…
… And then Caster uttered another word of ancient origin, and the concentration of power exploded.
The shrieking scream of a horse was heard from where the world turned white. It took several moments for everyone's senses to clear up enough to spot that Rider had flown a bit further away from where she had been earlier, but was still capable of fighting given the speed she was flying at.
Assassin grimaced. The situation was looking worse for his group, which was a good thing technically, but he still had to deal with the situation. His last encounter with Archer had proven that blow for blow if he didn't enhance his weapons he was at a tremendous disadvantage. Many of his son's weapons had been enhanced themselves ironically, and had pierced through his attacks, striking home several times. There weren't any lethal wounds, the arrows had been deflected, or he had dodged at the last moment, but it was clear that he would not last much longer at this rate. Backing away quickly and reloading his gun, he tried to get to a safer location…
… Sadly, with the only building in the area being right under the dragon, and the last of the skeleton warriors he had summoned with the trinket Caster gave him finally being overrun by the rest of the beasts in this world, it quickly became clear that there were few places he could actually call safe anymore.
Even if Rider somehow managed to defeat Caster's Dragon, she wouldn't be able to manage it before he and the Fraga would be killed… and he couldn't afford to die just yet.
Escape by normal means was impossible. The Witch knowingly sent them on what would be considered a suicide mission by most standards. Caster's territory was potent enough to stay stable even with a Dragon and a Pegasus rampaging in it. Nothing short of a tremendous mystery of absurd proportions or an item specifically designed to pierce a hole through the bounded field would get through it.
All three of them had been given a small cursed object from the woman to escape, but its uses were limited and its range even more restricted. Plus with both females being mentally controlled as they were, they wouldn't use the trinkets unless one of them was killed off or the Witch cast a spell that burned a portion of their lower backs to signal a retreat.
Rider might have been able to fight her controls long enough to use it under normal circumstances, with her strong magic resistance and independent action, but he doubted that she would manage so while on her mount fighting a dragon.
To him though, the endeavor was lost. It was best for both parties if they escaped now.
Thankfully, there was another option available. One that he learned while overhearing the Witch gripe about her petty issues over the past few nights.
Without bothering to pay attention to anyone else save Archer, Assassin bolted to the mind controlled Fraga, who had been momentarily been bested by the blonde girl's gems a short distance away. Neither one of the females looked well off by now, both sporting cuts, bruises, what appeared to be some internal fractures, and of course in the Fraga's case, a complete lack of clothes.
He was on his last clip for the calico. Thankfully these rounds were broken, so they could hold off the Archer's equally broken shots, but he held off on firing them until shot at. He needed to make them count.
His other hand in the meantime, emerged from his coat once again, grasping a grenade that he threw as hard as he could while moving, not at Archer or any of the Masters there… but at the dragon.
Assassin's eyes darted about him on reflex, checking the area for any traps or sections of earth that might get in his way before he could make it to the nude pugilist that was still harassing Caster's Master…
… He saw something sticking out of the earth in between them… and his mind betrayed him.
No. No no no no No No No NO!
As well as his Eye of the Mind and tactics had served to find him ways around the Witch's commands, Assassin was bound harshly by them. In order to avoid killing anyone, he had tweaked his approaches and tactics against major opponents such that it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to obtain the upper hand, or maneuver his enemies such that he would have trouble finishing them off despite the traps they set off in the end. Because of the options he had available, Tools of the Trade, and his Eye of the Mind allowed him to come up with various ways to attack while still following orders, he had managed to skirt around the most lethal and most efficient ways to take his enemies down while keeping himself alive in the process.
It was a dangerous tightrope he had chosen to walk. One false move could easily spell the end for either himself and the ones he was trying to keep alive, but it was the best he could do given his condition.
Talking. Giving them hints. Stalling for time. Leading them into less efficient traps instead of shooting them when an opening was available. All things he would never do under normal circumstances
However, there were limits. If an opponent for example walked right into a trap he had set up, then there was little he could do to about it.
… Or if the enemy had taken him inside their Reality Marble, his body would not be able to resist the urge to use an Origin Bullet right then and there.
… Or if he had simply run out of options, and he happened to come up with a near certain way to kill any of his Master's enemies right then and there.
Two seconds left before the flying grenade would detonate. He had to make them count and pray they avoided a worst case scenario.
"FRAGA!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, easily loud enough for everyone to hear despite the chaos the beast above was making. What was more alarming to those that heard him though was the alarm in his tone that had only been there once before… when he had almost used his Origin Bullet on Unlimited Blade Works. "YOUR NOBLE PHANTASM!"
When Bazett had been stripped of everything, the metal canister containing the lead balls that have turned into Fragarach remained unmarred, merely falling off of her person and be completely forgotten until Assassin had spotted them in his rush to her.
Before anyone could fully process what he had said, Kiritsugu had tossed the canister at the nude woman while still rushing forward as fast as he could.
And then the grenade exploded on the Dragon's right flank.
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
He must have hit a spot that Rider had injured earlier because he certainly heard more pain in that roar than he expected.
It took a few moments for the monster to recover from the agony of its latest wound, but once it did it seemed to know who had been responsible for it almost instantly.
Servant or not, Kiritsugu had been in the mortal era. Aside from Servants, the worst thing he had ever had to go up against were Dead Apostles and other Magi.
As such, even with his mental fortifications and training, he still momentarily paused when he made the mistake of making eye contact with an exceptionally enraged Dragon.
He went pale and moved again as fast as he could with time magic when the beast's maw flared up once again.
"No! MASTER!" Caster shouted out in alarm as she realized that Luvia was still far too close to where Assassin and Bazett were…
… Where Bazett was taking out a large metal ball that was charging with blue prana, morphing int a warped blue blade with runes and a ring around the base…
Fragarach. The Ace Killing Joker. That which strikes last hits first. A conceptual Noble Phantasm whose full abilities could not be unleashed unless the enemy uses their strongest attack first, it goes back in time to the instant before it was even enacted to kill the enemy, rewriting time in the process. With a power rating of A, often focused into a needle thin beam of light that would spear through the target's heart. The number of mysteries or artifacts, new or old that could defend against it were exceptionally few, and even then they were only of use if they were in place before the user attacked in the first place. Speed, skill, and reaction time were useless in the face of this artifact.
"ARCHER!"
Before either destructive force was unleashed at one another, a crimson seven petal shield manifested between both parties.
Three of the petals were shattered instantly from one side as a needle thin beam of power attempted to spear through it from the Fraga's side.
However, as powerful as Fragarach was, it still had flaws.
Its ability only took into account the attacks and wills of the user and the enemy. Should the target have a potent defense in place before they had attacked, Fragarach could still theoretically be stopped.
With regards to the timing of Fragarach's strike, should a third party intervene in the clash, Fragarach would not take it into account so long as what intervened was not also an "ace". It would go back in time to just before the target unleashed its attack, but should the third party have already acted by this point, then that would still happen.
That's enough! Let the dragon's attack take care of the rest!
Rin grimaced as her Servant suffered from the feedback from his shield being destroyed. When she had researched everything she had known about Bazett in order to overcome the woman's overwhelming advantages, she didn't expect to have to use them in this way.
Looking briefly away from the show, she spied Luvia glowing with a slew of mysteries that were clearly not her own. She could only assume that they were of Caster's work, attempting to use these precious few instants to protect her Master from her own attack.
The shield vanished, and the spear of light that should have pierced through the heart of the dragon unimpeded was instead met with the pure power that it should have stopped from existing in the first place.
Weakened from expending power trying to pierce through the Shield of Ajax, the Joker was overwhelmed almost instantly, allowing the unmatched gout of fire to go and immolate the one responsible for harming the Dragon, the woman he was with…
… And the two small girls that were standing in front of them with tears in their eyes.
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ ▅ ▅ ▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
The world from Rin's perspective twisted. Or was it her mind? Sound that was not sound violated everything and anything around her, contorting and twisting facts and fantasy in a incomprehensible mess that would drive her insane if she spent any longer trying to make sense of. Colors were sounds. Tastes were touch. Her hair writhed, itching her veins as they danced, coiling her blood in merriment and sacrilege in the throes of life and…
She gasped as the world made sense once more, almost collapsing to her knees and breathing in the fresh cold air of Fuyuki… wait.
"My Temple…" It took a moment to recognize the owner of the voice as Caster, and even longer to note that she was far closer than she should have been to the group, and quite unnerved. "The Banshees…?"
"Why does everyone wat to hurt mommy?" the smaller of the two children asked in an innocent wail, hugging the Fraga protectively. Rin would have almost felt guilty and ashamed for harming the child had the situation been not as extreme as it was. "Why can't they leave us alone?"
It was then that Rin managed to realize that she was once more back in Japan. She, Archer, and Luvia were where they had roughly been with respect to the now destroyed home, but Caster had returned to their side. Not only that, but Assassin, Bazett, and the small girls were now by the entrance and clearly intending to retreat. Off in the distance, a bright light could be spotted which could only be Rider still on Pegasus.
"Caster? What happened?" Luvia looked about warily.
"A wild guess, but I suppose that those Banshee girls have stronger lungs than we originally thought." Archer frowned, his eyes constantly darting from Assassin to Rider as if trying to determine who he should attack. It was embarrassing, but he had completely forgotten the peculiar existence of the girls in all the chaos, much like everyone else.
He had originally thought that their screams was simply akin to a powerful shockwave of sorts when they had defended themselves last time in Unlimited Blade Works, but that clearly wasn't the case. As he was also somewhat connected to Caster's temple, he had also felt what Caster had: that the girl's screams had... pushed? Banished? Torn apart the world around them? He couldn't explain it himself.
The only other hint he had was the raw emotion that came with the mystery. The fear and desire for "all the bad things to go away" that one could associate with small girls screaming at the top of their lungs like that was hard to ignore.
"Return to your mother. We're running. I can't carry both of you and her at once like this." Assassin ordered the inhuman children gently, but firmly as he picked up the legless Bazett and threw her over his shoulder without issue.
"You sound confident that we'll let you escape," Archer grunted as several weapons manifested above him.
"… The Witch is waiting for us." It was obvious he didn't like saying those words, but it had the desired impact.
"Master, we have to prepare," Caster warily advised Luvia. While Rider and Assassin were weakened, the Witch and her growing pool of power was still fresh. Plus she still had Lancer in reserve. Even worse, with Caster's Temple destroyed, they had lost their home field advantage. Fighting any more would only make them bigger targets, and actually chasing after the enemy would be suicidal.
A vein throbbed on EMIYA's temple, showing his irritation. He knew that the Witch was buying time for something. He knew that odds were likely that Gilgamesh was fighting his counterpart at that very moment. He knew that given Assassin's track record, it was probably for the best that they keep them alive…
But he really, REALLY wanted to kill Assassin right now.
It wasn't as if he was unprepared either. If they had continued to fight and Rider had attacked with her Pegasus, he would have simply used a copy of the very recently witnessed Fragarach to kill the beast and weaken the enemy even more in the long run…
"Archer, calm down. We can't afford to be sloppy." Despite how even her tone was, Rin couldn't help but be unnerved by how much killing intent her Servant was emitting.
The biggest problem was that even if they won completely here and killed two or more of the invaders, it would only cause problems down the line. The Witch's forces would be reduced, making her act even more erratically. This would lead to even more civilians being drained and killed at a rapid pace…
… Or it could result in the Witch activating the Grail early with the extra power the defeated Servants would provide Marjatta since she was the closest Lesser Grail.
"Tch," EMIYA clicked his tongue in annoyance, knowing she was right. His stance relaxed slightly, but the blades above him didn't vanish.
Assassin seemed to pay them little mind as the Banshee girls turned once more into the tattooed legs of the Enforcer that he was carrying on his shoulder, the hand of that side holding onto her body while grasping the canister holding her remaining copies of Fragarach.
Even if he could say anything to them, he wouldn't. Now that he was outside Caster's Temple, he couldn't risk having the Witch know of the loopholes he had been exploiting. She would already suspect too much when she found out that he had managed to force a retreat without killing anyone… again.
Truth be told, he was a bit annoyed by it as well. Keeping people alive was infinitely harder than killing them.
Slowly he took out his free hand, revealing a grenade for everyone to identify. With practiced ease, he pulled the pin with his mouth while backing away and dropped it at his feet.
Caster and Archer moved in front of their Masters as the smoke bomb went off, flooding the area with a thick black cloud of artificial smog. It wasn't hard to imagine that he'd use the cover of a retreat to get a final shot in.
However no gun was fired. The bright light that was Rider's mount dimmed as it traveled away from them. The smoke cleared, and Assassin was gone.
As if on cue, a large section of Luvia's home collapsed behind them from the damage it had sustained.
o. o. o.
Absolute War.
That was the only way Saber could even barely describe the event she was taking part of, if only as a witness at the moment.
Even if it was confined to this single room, even if there was only three people actually fighting, even if there had been no politics or lands or history of aggression, she was unable to call this anything else but War.
There was no mercy in any of the weapons fired off in the room, nor was there any victory when said tools shattered by its other mere instants later. The process repeated hundreds if not thousands of times by now, shaking the entire castle to its foundations, causing much of the scaffolding and plaster above to fall helplessly into the chaos below.
She was uncomfortable.
It was not the unnatural nature of the conflict taking place that got to her, though it did contribute a notable portion. It was the lack of control she had over what was taking place.
She had stood to the side and observed while her men fought for her on many occasions. She had stayed back during campaigns as her army battled enemy after enemy in her name. Many other times, the roles had reversed with her charging at the front of the line, or being the focus of everyone's attention as she risked everything for her homeland…
But during those times, she had been King. The responsibility. The power. The control. All of it had been hers in some measure. There had been few events where her actions and decisions didn't heavily influence what went around her in some way.
Now though, she was not only just standing by to watch events unfold, but she was more or less completely irrelevant as well. She could only stay where she was and watch with Shirou's hand on her shoulder for whatever plan he had to come to fruition.
"Why are this half dead fool's counterfeits giving me such trouble?" Gilgamesh's cool demeanor was slowly giving way to frustration from the lack of progress he was making. Since Shirou's second wind kicked in, the battle had been a complete stalemate between the treasury of unlimited wealth and the world of unlimited weapons.
His confusion was somewhat warranted. He had singlehandedly overwhelmed the boy, Saber, and Berserker all at once earlier, and that was when they were at full health. Now though, Berserker had vanished, Saber was fairly wounded, and her Master looked like he was perpetually on the verge of passing out if not bleeding to death.
The King of Heroes' eyes wandered up to observe the world the boy had opened a portal to. Another Reality Marble to be certain, much like the King of Conquerors'. However this one was clearly different as well. There was no mistaking the hill, the land, the sky, the stars, the sun… every part of it was clearly identifiable. But at the same time it did not appear to be as refined as the current world. Details were fuzzy, the sky in the distance occasionally blurred as if unsure of what it was supposed to be. The moon's glow seemed to take on various intensities, still deciding on its ideal image.
It was an incomplete world. Close to manifesting in its entirety, but still lacked the final definition and purpose that would give it a full splendor…
… And yet despite its clear deficiency, Gilgamesh couldn't help but stare at the invading world in vexation. It was a land full of fakes and counterfeits, but everything that stood in it did so with pride, with power, with purpose. Reflecting the crimson light off of the setting sun, each blade seemed to resonate with authority that they represented, even if they did not deserve such being mere imitations.
That light in the distance. The pure, bright moon in the sky. The intense stars behind the moon that could not be ignored that gave the sky itself a meaning of its own…
This would be a good land to…
He grimaced at the thought that had wandered into his head. He did not know how or why he had come to such a conclusion, but immediately dismissed the possibility of magic interfering with his thoughts. His mind and ego were strong enough to resist being bathed in the cursed Grail itself ten years ago, and his armor only added to those defenses.
That only irritated him further, as it meant that the absurd idea was his own.
"Enough of this game." He had run out of patience, raising his arm and opening his Gate even further than before. All he would have to do now is overwhelm the fool with his treasures and… ?!
"Oh?" Shirou rasped out with a hint of amusement at Gilgamesh's look of surprise. "You finally noticed."
As useful as the bounded field to his Reality Marble was, Shirou knew that by itself he would never win in a full blown fight against the King of Heroes. Even if Ea was not drawn and Saber helped him out, he simply did not have the capabilities to match, let alone beat the Gate of Babylon in a straight fight. They would be overwhelmed, killed, and defeated in no particular order.
However, three facts… no, it would be more accurate to call them educated guesses, were what pushed Shirou to continue forward with his plan instead of trying to escape.
Given Gilgamesh's reaction, it appeared that his first assumption had proven fruitful.
"You…" The Heroic Spirit's rather tamed rage had been provoked almost instantly. "You dare assume to limit me with such a feeble trick, Mongrel?!"
The Gate of Babylon was by all means an unfair Noble Phantasm. Its contents were beyond description, only matched by the vastness. No power or army would be a match against such might should it ever fully open…
But, that was where its first flaw lay.
So long as the Gate remained closed, nothing could come out of it. Inversely, the wider it opened, the more contents could be used. Likewise the less it was opened, the less there would be…
… And should there be anything in the way of a gate, much like a door, it would not open any further than that.
From wall to wall, floor to ceiling, the space behind Gilgamesh glowed with hundreds if not thousands of golden ripples. And it could expand no further than that. Each irregularity indicating a treasure of unmatched power and mystery…
… Save for the wall crimson and silver flickers of light that came from behind Shirou.
Had this battle taken place anywhere else, had this fight been outside, or in a building that was not enhanced and supported by the greatest of modern thaumaturgy that could resist the constant barrage that had taken place, this battle would have undoubtedly been in Gilgamesh's favor.
Walls would have crumbled. Ceilings would have collapsed. The space around the Golden King would have undoubtedly opened up eventually, giving him more room to access his treasury. His weapon output would have overwhelmed Shirou's once more by sheer numbers via more area around him, and victory would be his…
But here, where the walls were cracked but still standing, where the ceiling remained stubborn, where his side of the room possessed the same physical area as Shirou's, he was forced to fight on the same level as the boy.
The Gate of Babylon could open no further.
Had this been any other enemy this would not be an issue. The storm of legendary weapons was without a doubt an overwhelming force under most circumstances. Servants would not be able to hold their own against such a thing. But against Shirou this was not the case. The bounded field to his world enabled him to match the partially opened treasury blade for blade without issue, his imitations made fine enough to more than knock aside the originals and render them harmless. Quantity for quantity. Quality for quality.
With this first fact, Shirou had made himself Gilgamesh's equal.
"What's wrong King of Heroes?" Shirou called out accusingly. "I thought your treasury could do more than just this."
But with just this, he will never win.
Even if he was in perfect condition, Shirou would not be able to close the gap between him and his enemy with just this. Nor would any of the weapons that originate from his world. Gilgamesh was an abnormally powerful force that could resist the gods themselves, even if he is reduced to that of a mere Servant. Shirou's claim to be a God of his world was not one made in jest. However, it was also made knowing full well that the King of Heroes was someone that could face a God in full might and come out victorious.
As he was now, the boy could not even move from where he was standing. His body had sustained too much damage to do so, even if he was rapidly recovering due to Avalon and being in contact with Saber.
He was on a time limit. The jewels around his waist were steadily draining in order to maintain the bounded field. He no longer needed to individually manifest weapons or spend energy to send them flying out to meet the enemy. They were already in his world the instant he spied the originals beginning to cross the Gate of Babylon, and even sooner were they moving to his will, the barrier between his world and the current one so thin that there was no delay in their crossover. This enabled him to meet the enemy's weapons as quickly as they came and ensured the stalemate.
But once his jewels were empty, no, if he got too close to empty, he would lose. His ability to match the King of Heroes under any condition was indeed a miracle in itself, but only a temporary one. He would not be able to win a battle of attrition.
Likewise, Gilgamesh's pride would not allow him to move. All the Golden Servant had to do was move back a few meters outside the door and he would have all the room he needed to finish off everyone. That would not happen though. To move would be for the King of Heroes to admit that the boy was a genuine threat to him, something that he would never accept.
For the same reasons, Gilgamesh would not put any effort into destroying the castle around him to access more of his treasury at once. As it stood, Shirou could only use as many treasures as his opponent could. To try and access more in this state would indicate that the boy was actually his equal if not superior.
Without words, the rules had been made. Whoever moved from their spot would lose unconditionally.
"How dare you pretend to be my equal in any way, let alone for such a minor oversight? As if your delusions that your counterfeits can compare to my priceless treasures are not insulting enough." Enraged crimson red eyes bore into bloodshot silver. "Even if your toys were exact replicas, they would never compare to the unique originals that they are based from. A child can never surpass its father. Just like humanity, these tools are weaker with every generation. Your imitations are no different."
A tremendous singular ripple illuminated the room from above Gilgamesh.
"Know your place!"
"Shirou!" Saber readied her blade to defend her Master as a tremendous slab of stone… no, it would be more accurate to call it a small mountain in the shape of a sword began to emerge. It was so large that it entered the world at an angle, as the Einzbern room was not quite wide enough to fit in normally.
She was only held back by the Emiya's firm grip. He would not let her go. She did not know why, but if she made any attempt to counter the new monstrosity, their defeat would be assured.
"Ugh." Blood ran from his eyes and nose as a copy of Ig-Alima, the Green Sword of the Mesopotamian God Zababa, the Mountain Felling Sword, fired off from his world just as quickly. The tremendous recreated slab of forged stone barely missed the top of Shirou's head as it passed, moving at inconceivable speeds that kicked up winds that would have knocked him over easily had he not been using Saber to stabilize himself.
The weapon was a monstrosity of an existence that he would absolutely never be able to project to the human world under normal conditions, let alone fire off in such a way. It was only because there was a portal available that he could move his own copy here without burning out in the process. Never had he had so much trouble comprehending or replicating a sword before.
It was not the size or power that put unsurpassed strain on him. It was the nature of the tool. Ig-Alima was something not made by or for human hands, much like Excalibur or Ea. A Divine Construct whose nature should and could not be conceived by human minds. By all means, the sight of it should have floored the boy almost instantly, especially in his current state.
Even Gilgamesh blinked in momentary surprise as the fake weapon slammed the original from the inside, hammering it to one of the upper corners of the brutalized room above Shirou with enough force to cause both sides to stop attacking one another due to the chaos caused in their wake. An immeasurable amount of dust and air was thrown in every direction, causing a momentary lull in the battle as both parties braced themselves from the offhand impact.
Moments later, the upper and back floors of the castle were blasted away, unable to hold together against the explosive power of the impossible Noble Phantasms. While unseen by them, the collapsing and further damages done to the castle could be heard clearly in the background by everyone, though no one paid it much mind.
"How? An annoying faker you may be, but you are still mostly human. It should be impossible for you to be able to forge an adequate counterfeit of a Divine Construct." The King of Heroes turned his glare back to his enemy, who at least had the ability to stay standing despite the chaos above him. He didn't bother to make note of the disappearing monstrosities that had destroyed a good portion of the area around them.
Ironically it was the two meeting eyes that answered his question.
"… I see. Those repulsively perverse eyes are a greater annoyance than I thought." Shirou's sudden bleeding from his orifices was a major tell that a great strain had been put on him. "Your Reality Marble produces your forgeries, but the information must still pass through your eyes and mind first. That gaze processes more than what your lowlife brain can fathom. Regardless of if you cannot understand or handle what you are seeing, it will still go to that world of yours. Even if you cannot comprehend the information, even if your mind is destroyed in the process, those wretched eyes will force all that it takes in through your being."
Shirou grit his teeth and held back the lobs of blood that were constantly threatening to force their way up his throat. He was not in the best state of mind to figure out what exactly had just happened to him, but he would not doubt that Gilgamesh was right.
The instant he had witnessed that titanic weapon in its entirety, his mind had nearly fried itself. No, it would be more accurate to say that it tore itself apart as data that could not be understood was forced through it. The only reason why it was still intact was due to Avalon working overtime to heal the damages that riddled his being. Had he not been in skin contact with Saber, there was a good chance that he would have lost right then and there.
It was akin to being forced to eat food that the human body was not designed to digest in the slightest, and then passing and digesting it through his entire system in a single go. The entire process had been excruciatingly painful and dangerous to his entire being, and not one that he was keen on ever repeating if he could help it.
The fact only sent a deeper chill through his system, as he recalled the existence of the greatest threat within the Gate. Ig-Alima had been the weapon of a God during Gilgamesh's time… but Ea had existed in the time "before".
He knew… he knew if he bore witness to Enuma Elish with his eyes, even if it was the slightest glimpse, he would not go nearly catatonic as described in his father's memories. His eyes would not let go of anything that fell within their gaze, forcing all the inhumane, unnatural and impossible data taken in through his skull.
He would without a doubt die.
He couldn't wait any more. If Gilgamesh decided to capitalize on this new weakness of his right now, he would win instantly.
Trace on.
The circuits that had been left on standby started to warm up. They had been occupied before when he had been making weapons individually, which was why he was unable to accomplish what he was doing now, but now was a different story.
"King of Heroes." He stood up, renewing the stock of weapons around him. "Your treasures are indeed one of a kind works of art. Perfected. Complete. But, if that is all to your name, then you have left me disappointed."
Ingrain supplementary mystery. Stabilizing. Establish dead man's trigger.
"You… it seems that you have truly gone insane boy." The air behind Gilgamesh was nothing but gold and weapons. Filled to the brim with deadly tools, it appeared as if the man had crammed as many projectiles as possible in the space behind him. "Before I was going to put you down as punishment for your transgressions. But now I shall do so as a service."
Before Shirou Emiya became the Magus Killer, before he inherited the Emiya Crest, before his stunt with Louvre, he was just a boy with a single spell. A spell to reach an unlimited world of blades. Any other magic he possessed was simply a mere deviation of this single mystery.
The list of magics available to him included Structural Grasping.
The weapons on each side fired off in deluges with even more ferocity. There was no space between the tools that was not assaulted in some way as they tore through the air at violent speeds. In lieu of the chaos, had there been anyone capable of managing to discern what was happening in the slightest, they would have noticed that every collision that took place was between tools that were identical to one another. It was almost if each side was facing an unopposed mirror.
Reinforcement.
As potent as Shirou's eyes were, and as skilled as he was in projection, his copies were still inferior to the originals. He could have poured extra prana into them in order to make them stronger against their counterparts, but he didn't.
Alteration.
In droves, his copies hammered against and wildly deflected the originals, shattering themselves in the process. He didn't gain any ground by accomplishing this. Perhaps if he found an altered design that could enhance all of his weapons' effectiveness, he could have ensured the mutual destruction of his tools and Gilgamesh's, but he didn't do this either.
Projection.
Every weapon of his was at most a rank below the original. They would clash with the stronger tool that shared the same shape and mystery as them. They would collide with immense power, and they would break apart doing so fulfilling their purpose of deflecting their original…
… And that was perfectly fine. They were supposed to break in the first place.
Enact Legacy Protocol.
And by association… Gradient Parallel.
Once the copies had fallen apart, the spell written into every one of their very existences when they were made was enacted…
… And a copy of each destroyed tool materialized where the original fake had taken place, shooting forward completely unopposed at Gilgamesh.
"WHAT?!" The King of Heroes' eyes widened in complete surprise at the sudden onslaught of weapons coming right at him just before they collided with the latest rounds from the Gate of Babylon...
But this round that was mostly thrown off by the unexpected barrage, completely gave away to their copies that came soon afterwards. Like the previous onslaught of weapons, the ones that had managed to be destroyed almost immediately made copies of themselves instants later to gain even more ground.
"Impossible! I'm losing to the fakes of fakes?!"
"Even if you're right that children cannot surpass their parents, that doesn't mean that they start at the same spot." Shirou held his ground. His drained voice drowned out by the violent chaos reverberating in the building, but he knew somehow that he was still heard. "Parents don't pass everything down to the next generation just to do the exact same thing they did. They do it so with the intention that their kids can use what they learned to surpass them. A selfish narcissistic fool who did everything alone and never thought of the future would never understand this."
All the treasures in the Gate of Babylon were ideal. Perfect in form, shape and power. Each one was a symbol of wealth in itself, and thus would not, and should not ever change in idea, concept, or design for millennia if not forever.
In essence, what was inside the Gate was what Gilgamesh had. He was unable to change, alter, or enhance the contents in any way. To do so would be an indication of weakness or inadequacy in the King's treasury, the very symbol of his wealth and power that was supposedly unmatched. As such, the idea of being able to change, or more accurately to enhance something from its inside was theoretically impossible.
Shirou had no such restrictions.
This was the second fact.
It had been proven on multiple occasions that he could alter the shape of weapons stored in his Reality Marble to suit his needs. Likewise he could enchant his projectiles to move multitudes faster with his father's crest. Doing so on Noble Phantasms was significantly more difficult than normal weapons, especially considering the spell he was using was more complex in theory and in execution. However it was not impossible.
The spell had been the result of much brainstorming between Sirius, Waver, and Kiritsugu when they had been thinking of alternative ways Shirou could gain an upper hand over Gilgamesh. A two stage mystery that would only work against enemy attacks of similar or greater power and nature under normal circumstances. Something that functioned well against attacks, not defenses. As the copies were made outside of Shirou's Reality Marble, the spell required a good deal of prana to enact, even if it did utilize the power dissipating from the destroyed original to make the clone.
It was a mystery specifically designed for Shirou to take out the King of Heroes. A mystery to be applied to copies of Noble Phantasms that should not have been made in the first place.
There would have been no point in using it from the beginning. So long as Gilgamesh could further open the Gate of Babylon, he would always have been able to pull out more resources to counteract his previous defeats with interest. Only when King of Heroes had opened the Gate as wide as he could in this environment would the mystery's effects have maximum effect, with the enemy being unable to oppose being overwhelmed in terms of sheer quantity.
Another major factor was that the mystery was quite costly. Before the portal had opened, Shirou had been unable to apply it to his individually manifesting blades earlier, and doing so in that situation would have not gained him anything
The pattern repeated itself dozens of times within a span of a few seconds, waves of metal overwhelming metal in the air with deafening ferocity. Before anyone could genuinely believe that such an incomprehensible upset was taking place Gilgamesh was completely overrun by Shirou's counterattack, experiencing the same fate he had bestowed upon nearly every other Servant and prey he had overwhelmed.
Armed with the First and Second Facts, Shirou had surpassed the Gate of Babylon.
He did not let up. The Magus Killer continued his barrage on the ever growing crater that his enemy had once stood for almost half a minute before finally relenting. Even then, he did not do so out of belief that he had won, but because he needed to conserve what little power he had left in case an upset occurred. After keeping his bounded field up for so long and enchanting hundreds of weapons, his gems and body were nearly out of power.
Saber was speechless. She had known that her Master was a dangerous individual, hell everyone knew that by this point, but never did she ever expect him to singlehandedly manage to actually overwhelm Gilgamesh at his own game. The mere idea of such an achievement was next to impossible as far as she was concerned.
She spared a glance back not to see the young man behind her, but the land that he represented. The lone hill. The sun, moon, and stars. The blades protruding from the ground like graves...
Despite the gravity of the situation, she felt at ease taking in the sight. It reminded her so much of where her story ended in Camlann, on a hill of blood, swords, and bodies. Overlooking a vast expanse to the setting sun, reminding her of her failures, her victories, her dreams, her ventures, her battles… and yet…
"!"
Her eyes widened as she comprehended what she was seeing, as she deciphered the true nature of her Master, of what truly drove him to put his very life at risk for those around him. Shirou Emiya was not ruled by his love for the people in his life, the dream that he at one point could have inherited from Kiritsugu, or the regrets that the same man entrusted him to.
At his very core, Shirou Emiya was driven by…
"Ha. Haha. Hahahahahaha!" A near hysterical laughter made itself known from the receding dust and dirt in the air, interrupting any thoughts that may have been going through Shirou's and Saber's minds.
Gilgamesh stood proudly where he had been assaulted relentlessly with a wide and almost childish grin on his face. The rage burning so intensely in his eyes that there was no mistaking the madness that had overcome him. The scattered remains of a few haphazardly picked shields crumbled all around him, and his once immaculate golden armor was riddled with dents and cracks. The ornate golden metal that covered the right side of his body had been completely shattered, and was only offering partial protection anymore.
"Of course! Of course of course! How foolish of me!" The King of Heroes laughed as if having an epiphany. "The retainer is more thoughtful than I had anticipated! How could I, who had ruled the world at the beginning, have forgotten such a simple thing!? Haha! How silly to have forgotten that in my entire rule over all, I had yet to experience something as trivial and yet so fundamental as an invasion?!"
Even as composed as they were, Shirou and Saber could not help but stare at their enemy with bewilderment and confusion.
"I had no need to be concerned about such things, but all the pretenders that came after me claiming to be a King have at least one or two to their name." Gilgamesh continued to monologue, unable to hide his mirth. "Ah. King of Conquers, truly you have picked a wondrous pastime to invest your kingdom to. It is a small wonder you too made it to the Throne."
As great of a King Gilgamesh claimed to be, ruling over the entire known world, there were few things that he had yet to experience that others had. The thrill and hardship of fighting a genuine invasion, of losing ownership over his domain itself to another, was one of them.
In any other time period, where the world was segregated by beliefs, geology, lands, and kingdoms, conflict was everywhere. Kings fought Kings. Lands exchanged hands frequently, and only the mightiest of rulers and warriors stood tall enough to reign as legends. As mighty as Gilgamesh was, as arduous as his adventures were when dealing with the gods themselves… his kingdom never had to deal with a threat that came by human hands.
"He's gone mad." Saber's grip on her blade tightened in concern. It was too clear to her that the impossible idea of Shirou overpowering Gilgamesh had enraged the King into a near delusional state. In his anger and attempt to rationalize the absurdity of what had just happened, he had somehow clung onto Shirou's initial statement of invading this world as a crutch. Fighting off an otherworldly force was the only way the twisted Servant could rationalize being even temporarily overwhelmed by an inferior human.
"Get ready." Shirou's lone hand tightened on her shoulder.
"I've decided." The lone man stood up tall with a pleased grin on his face. "The world may be mine, as are its treasures, however I have done little to enjoy either to their fullest. Once this farce of a war is over, I shall claim what is mine in earnest. Land after land shall once more remember who their ruler is. A campaign of unmatched scale to meet the needs of the true King! Saber! I ask you once more! Join me as my woman and you will enjoy all the pleasures that this world has to offer! No more will you endure protecting a meaningless rock! Instead you shall be the conqueror, the invader, the victor, and thrive in all the spoils that come with victory! Your tiny land will once more thrive and revel under your name with my blessing!"
"I'd rather die," she shot down his offer instantly. There was no hesitation or excitement in her voice, only a cold declaration made with her authority as King.
The rejection only seemed to further excite the Golden King as if he had hoped she would say those words in the first place. He turned to face Shirou. "Faker. You have managed much for being a worthless mongrel. Be proud to have earned my thanks and accept it in its entirety. As a reward, I shall not only take Saber as my own in my own invasion of your lands, but fight to you with my full ability! Be proud of this acknowledgement! You have earned the right to face the true King's might!"
An ominous chill went down Shirou's and Saber's spines.
Despite having never seen it before in person, the presence of Ea had always been instinctively known to Shirou the instant that Gilgamesh had appeared before him. Much like an insurmountable monster hiding in the dark, it had never been witnessed, but the teen could feel its existence as if it had been always breathing down his neck.
The moment Gilgamesh reached back to his treasury, Shirou knew that the monster was coming out.
And in that instant, he bet everything on the third fact…
Weapons fired off from both sides of the room with interest once more, desperate to overwhelm one another. However, this time Shirou's fakes did not spawn further imitations. He did not have the time, the energy, or the need for them anymore.
If he even caught a glimpse of Ea he would die instantly, no matter what else happened. Thus, instead of keeping his eyes open on the treasures in front of him, the Magus Killer closed them, focused everything he had left on the last spell that would decide everything…
Time Alter: Hex-Accel.
… And took his hand off of Saber's shoulder.
Where before the King of Knights had been a silver and blue blur, she had transcended into a divine flash of light.
Her veins burst. Her bones cracked. Her joints shifted. Her veins burst. Her tendons ripped. Her orifices bled. Her organs ruptured. Her skin split.
Her body screamed in agony as she moved, falling apart and healing itself several times an instant despite her Servant body being multitudes stronger than a human one. She could feel her copy of Avalon growing more unstable within her body as she pushed as hard as she could forward.
Had it been only her speed that was increased, she never would have attempted such a suicidal charge, but Shirou's spell accelerated every physical function that she had possessed, including her processing and reacting time. Moving at nearly sixteen times her base parameters turned her into a phenomena that only a handful of specifically designed Noble Phantasms could ever hope to surpass. At that magnification, a professional human sprinter could run alongside if not surpass formula 1 race cars.
For Saber though, it meant that she traveled at High-Hypersonic speeds. Even if she didn't need Avalon in order to heal from the damage the spell dealt to her, she no doubt would have needed it for the friction burns she would have received had she not used her Barrier of the Wind King at the last moment to protect herself and Shirou from her movements. If she had not, it would have been very possible of her accidentally killing themselves from the forces she would have invoked.
Salvos of tools and weapons that Saber would have struggled to defend against if not dodge before now traveled at a near painful pace that she easily bypassed as if they were not moving at all. She would have marveled at how easy it was to press forward now if she was not focused on the task at hand and shutting out all the pain that plagued her body.
Still… closing in on her opponent who had yet to react to her approach, she couldn't help but smile viciously. Shirou really was a terrifying person, to be able come up with a way to enable her to take out this monster from the front so easily.
Regardless of how powerful or enemies were, Gilgamesh always emerged victorious. The King of Heroes that only knew victory, standing tall and proud never required aid. Nor would he accept it.
Therein laid the third fact that would enable Shirou and Saber to victory. Gilgamesh was always alone. He fought alone. He claimed everything alone.
With his hand on the golden handle of Ea, Gilgamesh barely managed to realize what was happening and look down at the blinding flash that was Saber's blade just before she was upon him.
In the middle of taking out his prized tool, having been focusing the rest of his Gate of Babylon on Shirou the entire time, the King of Heroes had been caught completely unaware by the true killing blow that had been waiting the entire time and unable to defend himself at all.
"Wh-?!"
"EXCALIBUR!"
Saber's voice blurred along with the rest of her existence as she flashed past her enemy, surrounded by golden light. Her sword, brighter than the sun, cut a swath into reality in the space that it had traveled through, arcing through the King of Hero's armor effortlessly and discharging a wave of power that cleaved through at least a third of the rooms of the first floor of the castle and a good portion of the forests beyond.
Dust was blown everywhere as the entire landscape shook from the attack, and the sound of raw power being discharged drowned out everything else that was taking place around them.
The light faded. Debris fell to the ground. The foundations and remaining mysteries ingrained into the castle eventually managed to keep what was left of the building upright for the time being, though it would only be a matter of time before they gave way to nature.
Saber panted with her blade no longer glowing a vicious light, still in position she had been in when she stopped her record setting charge.
Behind her, Gilgamesh simply stood in a stupor. His body had been cut in half save for his spine. It was a testament to both his will and his armor that he was still standing, let alone conscious.
The Holy Grail War, or at least the lie that was known to the rest of the world, was a battle consisting of Masters and Servants. While the latter did most of the fighting, it was the duty of the Masters to combat Masters, and to enhance the capabilities of their Servants via whatever means possible be it cheating or otherwise.
Whether it was due to hubris or habit, the magi of the modern era took this in another context, intending to maximize their own potential or minimize the strain needed to sustain their Servants to further their capabilities during battle. While these were but some of the possible approaches that could have been taken, the pragmatic idea of actually enhancing their Servant's abilities and capabilities was rarely if ever employed. Whether it was because such methods were impractical, such as in the case of the user summoning a Caster, or because the Master had no ability or mystery to actually enhance the Servant in the first place was up for debate, but in the end it was something that rarely happened.
And thus it was a move that few if anyone would expect, let alone be able to deal with. Especially if they assumed that they already knew of all the tricks the enemy could employ individually.
This tactic was completely available to Kiritsugu during the Fourth War. Combining Avalon with his Time Altering magic could have allowed him to wipe out the competition one at a time with ease save for Assassin.
However due to his inability to trust others, the idea of actually teaming up with Saber instead of simply using her never entered his mind. It was ironic. The greatest tactic the Magus Killer could have used to wipe out the competition was unavailable to him because he thought too much like a Magus.
"… Ah." Gilgamesh managed to breathe out despite his diaphragm being utterly shredded. He would have turned around to look at Saber, to look at the one that had did him in with pride, but he no longer had the strength to move. "How foolish. I had completely forgotten why I had come here in the first place, and it led to my loss."
"No." Saber panted behind him, not bothering to look back. She would not admit it, but she too was having trouble moving. Had she not been as powerful of a Servant as she was with Avalon's healing abilities, she would not have been able to hold herself together under the strain of the spell, even if she had been under it for at most a second. "The one who defeated you is right in front of your eyes, King of Heroes."
Crimson eyes managed to refocus themselves forward to take in the sight in front of them again. The one armed boy barely standing himself, eyes closed, in front of a peaceful crimson world of blades standing proudly.
A pity. His fading mind wandered, the sight in front of him somehow soothing his being. It would not have been so bad to pass on in that land.
It was not a land of death, for there were no bodies.
Nor was it of despair, for the lights of the sun and the moon shone too energetically to ever give such a sensation.
Nor war, for there was no blood as far as the eye could see. Though there were weapons aplenty, the land itself was not ravaged. If anything it was kept in pristine condition with short grass about the earth where there were no stones. Tended with as much care as the imitations that stood up everywhere.
If anything, it was a world of…
"… I see." He laughed to himself through his marred body. His eyes spying three cursed weapons on top of the hill, right next to what he could make out were Saber's sword and several others of similar make. "I was mistaken the entire time about you."
The boy's world… was a memorial.
A fake was made as an imitation without purpose. To exist simply to resemble or pass off as the original. A memorial though was much like a temple… they were made to remember, to represent that which has passed. Regardless of what form they took, their primary purpose was irrefutable.
It made sense that he could not recognize it or the child's replica's for what they were. There had been no need for such a thing in his time for humans. The dead were buried and forgotten. None before him had been truly significant, so none before him had been worthy of being remembered.
In this era though, where there were heroes of legend aplenty, where history was often little more than a chaotic mess, a memorial of genuine worth had purpose.
The bloody sun in the distance reminded him of all his desires and the sights he had witnessed during life, magnificent, trying, invigorating, and terrifying, but beautiful all the same.
The soothing moon above reminded him fiercely of the peaceful days with his lone friend and the few enjoyable weeks he had before he died of old age.
The stars above that made the sky stand out as its own gave the world meaning. The pointless things that he had seen and done that were none the less a treat in themselves, and gave the sky a depth that it would not have otherwise.
The blades stood up from the earth, each one a testament to their owners, to their achievements and lives. Basking in both lights, they stood up without aid, proud of their existences even if they had not been victorious in their goals.
This was a place that a Hero would not mind seeing at the end. If the throne of Heroes could be considered a reward for their exploits, then this land could be considered an unknown goal of sorts that was universally accepted. Something to remind them of what they had fought for, and what they would all eventually obtain once their story was over.
Even as he further faded from reality, Gilgamesh noted that not a single one of his treasures' copies were close to the hill itself. Meaningless items that never served a true purpose other than to show affluence. Little to no history. Little to no soul. In a way he felt dirty for being responsible for their existence. This was a land to remember the ones that had existed, not to marvel at meaningless copies of meaningless trinkets to represent those that may never come to pass. To remember the Heroes of legend. To remember those that fought…
No. This would not do.
His slumping posture straightened. He would not fade away like this without a final say. He was the King of Heroes and it was his duty to bestow his words upon those that had earned them.
"Well done." Strength returned to his voice. "To think that someone of your worth was in this world all along."
"Archer." Saber hissed out warily as she slowly turned herself around.
He paid her no mind. "Open your eyes. I will not have the one responsible for my defeat looking away in fear like some virgin girl."
It was difficult to tell if Shirou had even heard him in the first place given how hard he was panting and the pale disposition on his face. In any other situation, one would assume that he was the one who had just lost the battle. A few moments passed before the youngest one there complied, warily opening his eyelids to reveal his eyes, though they were no longer shining with prana like before. "… I thought you hated people that wouldn't just die after being beaten."
Gilgamesh held back a snort, knowing that the boy was making a note of the fact that he was essentially cut in half. "A king will not pass until his words are heard."
"Then speak your fill and be gone." Shirou's words were as sharp as his eyes.
Slowly, the King of Heroes reached out with an arm with the last of his remaining strength and opened his treasury for the last time. A single length of chain emptied from the golden portal and rested on his arm, travelling up it, and over his shoulders. The previously negligible weight felt like a mountain to his fading body. He found it a fitting ordeal, as it made him feel as he had so long ago after his first battle with his only friend.
"Enjoy or burn my gardens as you wish. It is your right as the conqueror. It matters not to me. However, I have but two requests. Above all else you have seen during our battle, remember this treasure." The King demanded of the victor, flaunting Enkidu in its original glory. "It is one of the few that holds any true value in my possession. It is suitable for your lands."
As if to confirm the man's request, the world behind the boy changed barely. Running down the hill from top to bottom, a small golden snake like object became visible to anyone that bothered to pay attention. Unlike before when it ensnared Saber from the Gate, the chain was revealed in its entirety, wrapping around its owner gently as if concerned for him.
Although it was not a sword or a short ranged weapon, it had been without a doubt used as a tool of war and combat. It was an item forged to hold down the gods themselves, and named after the only individual that the King of Heroes considered an actual friend. Made in the Age of the Gods, but not an incomprehensible oddity like Ea. The ornate, dagger-like ends of the chain provided enough leeway for Shirou to eventually grasp its existence with a small bit of effort.
Much better.
Gilgamesh smiled briefly. It was far from an ideal testament to his only friend, but it was suitable. A replica of a weapon that was made in dedication to a fake human. The irony would have made him laugh if he wasn't so weak.
The instant he spied Enkidu's tribute in the other world, his body finally began to fail him in earnest. Prana began to shed off of him in droves, his armor vanishing before anything else.
"Complete your world boy. It would be the height of humiliation if word ever got out that I was bested by an incomplete realm."
Shirou could only nod while breathing hard and leaning heavily to the side. From an outside perspective, it was difficult who was really faring better of the two.
Behind him the image of the land that did not exist in this world, faded away into a silver sheen. The portal leading to it finally having run out of power to sustain its existence.
"Farewell Saber. Truly the best things in life are the ones that elude one's grasp." Gilgamesh felt his body fall apart in earnest, but he never tore his gaze away from the soothing image in front of him. Even though his eyes no longer saw anything, the sight had never left him. "A good fight, Dream of Heroes."
His body vanished before it could meet the ground.
Shirou's on the other hand, remained intact as it fell forward onto the pile of concrete and wood in front of him.
"Shirou!" Saber managed to recover enough to get to him only a few seconds after he had fallen.
"Ugh… Sa-ber…" he managed to grunt out feebly as she put her hand on his back. He had no energy left in his body. His temperature had skyrocketed from using his circuits to a near high capacity for so long. He had lost a great deal of blood that wasn't going to recover soon, and his brain had been momentarily been scrambled from copying Ig-Alima. It wouldn't be off to say that he was on the verge of slipping into a coma. "Gilgamesh…"
"He's gone," she breathed out, part relief, part exhaustion, part comforting. "It worked."
"Good." He attempted to smile, but failed miserably. "Are you…?"
"Your spell was a bit extreme, but I'll be fine momentarily. You need more care than I do." She consoled him. Truth be told, she had intended to chastise him for recklessly using his spell on her without permission, but desperate times called for desperate measures. It didn't change the fact that she felt like she had just been put through the ringer against Lancelot again.
"Mmm," Shirou grunted, probably knowing that she was holding back her complaints for later. His eyes slowly closed as he attempted to fight falling asleep. "Got to get to Illya and Sakura. Have to check that…?! Shi-t!"
"Shirou? Shirou!" Saber grabbed her Master in alarm as his body suddenly seized up and became unresponsive, even though his eyes were still open. He still appeared to be alive, but his vitals seemed to have vanished, or more accurately stopped.
"The repercussion of his time magic?" She frowned, remembering what he and Sakura had explained to her earlier when going over their capabilities. Regardless, until he returned to normal, Shirou wouldn't be of any help to anyone like this. It would be best to do as he originally planned and go check on the girls…
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"
Saber's blood ran cold.
The roar had without a doubt been Berserker's war cry, but there were two problems with its call that had the King of Knights fearful of the future.
The first was that Gilgamesh was already dead, so there should have been no reason for the mad Servant to roar as such anymore.
The second, was that the call had come in the direction of where the rest of the girls had been hiding.
o. o. o.
A/N:
BOOOO!
Thanks Wayfarer. Sorry for making you rush for this.
And that my friends, is how you fucking make an epic battle between two powerhouses. Fuck the weakling overcomes challenges bullshit and surprise Deus Ex Machinas. Power and skill vs Power and skill and Preparation.
This chapter fought me. I don't know why. Normally I'm better with fights than this, but Rin's fight… Fought me. No pun intended, and it was annoying.
But behold! Gilgamesh is dead in an epic way that was in no way cheap!
Truth be told, he would have been trumped even if Shirou had only accelerated her 6x while Gil was in that position. At 16x, he probably could have done that from the beginning once Gil was sufficiently distracted by UBW, but he was being paranoid as fuck about Ea, understandably, and overdid it.
In all honesty, yes there were several different things he could have done to win this fight. He could have destroyed the building around him once he realized that it was restricting his output. He could have taken a few steps out the door and be outside. He could have not been an overconfident asshole…
… But he didn't, because he's Gilgamesh. It's just how he rolls. It's hard to argue against that.
On a side note, the only other place in Fuyuki where Shirou could have fought Gil indoors and effectively capped his output is ironically Kotomine Church. Just throwing it out there in case anyone wants to use it.
As for the whole Ig-Alima thing and Ea, I'm sticking with it. UBW CAN copy them, but in order for their information to get into UBW, they have to go through his mortal mind in the process… which would damage his mind to varying levels depending on how removed from reality they are.
Without his eyes, his brain would stop the process and cause him headaches and possible seizures.
With his eyes, the info would be forced through his skull, giving him an experience similar to what Shiki gets with his higher levels of his MEoDP. Really, it was only because he had Avalon and was touching Saber that he managed to stay conscious when Ig-Alima showed up.
As for Enkidu, no, Shirou's not going to use it like Gil does. He can't make hundreds of portals to UBW around his targets and ensnare them for unfair wins. Get your heads out of the gutter. Shirou's powers don't work like that.
Ironically, out of almost all the people that Shirou will encounter in his life, Gilgamesh is one of the few that would ever get the correct idea of what his version of UBW is about. Even most Apostle Ancestors and other alien like beings will assume that his world is akin to a graveyard.
You could say that Gilgamesh calling Shirou the "Dream of Heroes" is another gift for defeating him. He doesn't acknowledge Shirou as a Hero, but as someone that represents that which exists in every human that can claim to be one. He has a vital purpose, but will not be an individual that others would sing tales about.
Had Gilgamesh still remained alive (Something that I admittedly was playing with, at least for this fight), he would have addressed Shirou as "Caretaker" in conversation, though would fall back to "Faker" in times of irritation.
Onto more terrifying news… I'm working on my other fic Take Two Round Two after this!
I've decided on giving myself a schedule. Six months on my Naruto fic, and six months on my fate fic. October to April and vice versa. I know it will piss off a lot of people, but this is the best way I feel I can still work on both.
So anyways! Enjoy Halloween ya bastards! Party hard and eat candy! I was supposed to go out tonight and party, but my friends got lazy and didn't do anything at the last moment!
So REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! ACCELERATED SABER TRUMPS EVERYTHING BITCHES! AND REVIEW AGAIN!
