Holy Nail War Chapter 27: The First Wave, a fate/stay night fanfic

A/n: Hello readers! Psychojack88 here with an all explosive chapter for Holy Nail War. The Red Eye Legion is in mobilization for a large-scale battle under the command of our hero Honda the Warlock. Legions of undead encroach as our heroes attempt to hold out the hour until Silva's poison mist magecraft goes away. Despite the servants at his command, how will they handle the immeasurable amount of enemies that await them? Only one way to find out readers. It's time to get reading!

Reminder: Honda's Mission Objectives!

A.) Defeat the skeleton legion!

B.) Do not let them reach the lever!

C.) Protect your homunculi waifus!

Bonus Objectives:

-Slay 100 skeleton troops personally without the use of Ebony.

-Use the Grimoire 3 times.

-Defeat Silva in a one on one match!

"FIRE!"

The Warlock's voice echoed against the moon lit landscape as he commanded the newly established Red Eye Legion, having his personal army of fully loaded homunculi maids and security guards fire their prana infused weaponry at the walking dead army that approached them. The skeletal battalions were several hundred feet away from the thirty foot bronze cladded walls, though they did begin moving at a faster pace the moment the volley began.

The projectiles that were fired from the prana rifles were designed through magecraft, and as such were able to defy the usual physics that restrained bullets from reaching their intended target at far distances. With each pull of the prana rifles, a bolt of energy would tear through the air, uninhibited by the power of wind that would normally shift the projectile before it made its mark.

The previously slowly skulking undead began strutting forward with more coordinated strides. They seemed responsive, much unlike one would expect from the swarm of animated bones as they appeared aware of their surroundings enough to avoid tripping over stray rocks as well as knowing exactly their destination, towards the Eastern and Western Walls of the tower despite not being given any form of oral command to do so.

Though there were thousands, the undead warriors marched so close to one another that one didn't necessarily require much accuracy to land a successful hit. Each homunculi simply aimed to the closest enemy as they open fired on the necromancy induced invaders, leaving the grounds outside the walls aglow with the flare like shots of blue tinted prana bursts.

Smoke would spew from the small explosions left behind by the magically enchanted bolts, making visibility difficult for the normal human eye. However, under the sharp vision of the Red Eye Legion occupying the thick and sturdy walls, they were not hampered by such human limitations.

Ebony, whilst the rain of blue bolts were fired, launched a fiery indigo blitz that arched upwards almost like a catapult as it propelled through the sky over the walls onto the horde that approached the tower. The heated blast left deep impacts into the ground, along with a high reaching burst of debris and charred rock which collided with any undead warrior unlucky enough to be near the radius of Ebony's attack. The resulting explosion was indigo colored and spread embers and flames that matched the unusual color.

With the bombardment, one would see a great deal of bones beginning to spew outward as the projectiles made their mark, sending all sorts of femur and funny bones throughout the outside ground as the skeletal warriors were practically blown to bits. Others, who were caught in the fiery blast of the gargantuan entity that followed Honda, were disintegrated as the magically imbued fires reduced the walking carcasses into dust. Their collective ashes blew with the night wind, casting an ever-growing cloud of ash that began obscuring the shrouded sky above them. With the moon light bouncing against the ash dust, the area was awashed with volumetric lighting, as rays of moonlight shone through the battlefield.

To the Warlock atop the tower however, the destruction brought on by the consistent firing from the homunculi guards was much akin to fireworks. It was a beauty to behold, the many stray bits of multi-colored embers and magically stained debris that would begin scarring the landscape outside. Despite the fact that he himself was in a literal skirmish, the eighth magus remained unaware of the direness of the current situation. The need to survive was replaced with childlike wonder and awe at the cinematic-like action laid before him.

'Holy shit! This is so freaking cool! It's like a blockbuster out here!' Honda thought as he stared slack jawed from amazement with all the destruction.

'This has gotta be more than a green screen. Maybe LED screens? Virtual production maybe! Whatever it is, I'm all in! I've always been a sucker for movie magic!' Honda thought as he geeked over the quality of what he thought to be an on set event.

Honda began mockingly laughing as the volley of energy blasts soared and claimed many of the skeletal enemies that would dare threaten his territory. The wall defenses left him impressed as the guards appeared to hold their own in this tower defense. He felt like a true badass sorcerer and thus played into the role, as he openly taunted his enemies.

"MUAHAHAHA! Yes! Shower those cursed fools with the bolts of our armada! Leave none alive…er standing!" Honda said, correcting himself considering that the opposing force consisted of undead and as such were technically already dead. He continued to laugh a cruel one as the enemies thus far were being decimated by the current defense plan.

The homunculi guard took his mocking laughter as pride in their work. Emboldened by their new masters' approval the security forces continued to press the attack, one would say that the more Honda laughed, the less doubt in their capabilities the homunculi possessed.

"Lord Honda appears to like it! Keep doing what you're doing!" One homunculi guard stated before pulling out a second prana rifle and fired with both large arms towards the encroaching undead. One skeletal warrior had fainted dead in order to steadily crawl its way towards the front entrance, at least right before touching the door itself. It was grand and about fifteen feet tall. The normally flimsy and easily movable door wouldn't budge under the lone skeleton warriors' strength. Im fact upon placing its left bony fingertips against the door, a lock rune appeared, emblazoned in aqua, bearing the sigil of the Deacon Magus Family, shaped in the form of a coat of arms, bearing a culmination of many refined and well decaled handprints.

BAMPH

The door unleashed a surge of prana that flowed like a shotgun, disintegrating the lone and unlucky skeleton warrior, leaving nothing but stray pieces of its armor behind. It would seem that the only way past the wall would be from over the walls as opposed to simply barging through the front gate.

Honda looked at the battle so far, it seemed simple enough, but with the mass of this army it wouldn't be long before the enemies began to use their sheer numbers to ravage the walls.

'If I'm gonna win this tower defense I'm gonna need to prepare an advantage or strategy ahead of time, when the battle shifts.' Honda thought to himself as he placed his left hand to his chin as he massaged it in thought.

The performer looked at his grimoire. "Hmmm, haven't read this in awhile, might as well begin taking advantage of this!" Honda said aloud as he turned the book, scanning through the first page before coming onto page 2.

Honda raised his left eyebrow.

"Hmm. This incantation sounds cool!" Honda said before closing the book.

"Now all I have to do is wait for the right moment…" Honda said, his Warlock voice on the forefront as he spoke with his bewitching charisma.

"We will go to our positions as you've instructed, master." Saber said as she looked towards the battlefield.

"Yeah, we'll show you that we're worthy of wielding our blades! Just keep your eyes on us!" Mordred said with pride in her voice. If this will make amends to Honda for her attempt to fight Saber earlier then she would gladly do so.

Saber and Mordred both used their prana induced bodies in order to leap off the ledge where Honda was, free falling in thrusts of prana as they jetlined to the ground to reach their instructed positions.

"Mordred, we should put our animosity on the side, for the moment at least." Saber said as she fell, taking a peak at Mordred on her right.

"As if I need to hear that! The last thing I wanna do is mess things up with Honda again. Besides…we have a bigger rival to worry about!" Mordred looked behind her.

Saber narrowed her eyes. Both blonde knights said in sync. "Assassin…"

Both landed on the bottom ground, their servant bodies being made of sturdier stuff and thus not injured by the fall. Ahead of them was the lever that would be the defining factor between victory and defeat for this crucial large scale battle.

Mordred gritted her teeth. She whined in a surprisingly kid like manner, with her arms shaking in her frustration. "No way am I losing to a sneak! I'd rather die than lose to her of all servants! So don't get in my way, okay?"

Saber sighed. Seeing the display from her once most hated enemy was rather unusual. At the same time the once great king of Camelot relented, considering that Assassin has been a major threat to her since the moment Honda introduced her to his group of servants. "Very well, if it means to prove ourselves worthy of Honda's trust then I will not intervene. We shall not fail!"

A determination filled the green eyes of the twin like 'father' and 'son'. With a burst of their strength, the two blonde warriors went straight towards their assigned walls. The blue clad knight went towards the Western Wall whilst the crimson garbed knight found herself at the Eastern Wall. They would need to be the main commanders taking care of their respective position in order to handle these admittedly demanding conditions.

'Honda, you've trusted me with the Western Wall, just as you have trusted Mordred with the Eastern Wall. In your wisdom you deemed it necessary to allow us to lead in order to watch a commanders' performance on the battlefield! You are undoubtedly wise. And…by doing so…maybe I can show you my value in ways no one else could…' The blue knight thought to herself, blushing as her thoughts came upon her master, distracted by the feeling of wanting to prove herself.

Saber pointed her blade towards a small group of skeletons who came towards the bottom of the wall of the Deacon property.

"FIRE down below, let none of them reach the gates! Show no mercy, for you shall receive none!" Saber commanded the garrison, resulting in the guards at the Western Wall to aim downwards and fire a rapid volley, leaving a multitude of small yet violent blue explosions. The end result of the bombardment left a deep hole where the small group of undead were. Not even bones were left behind.

Saber unintentionally caught a skull from one of the unfortunate victims of the blast. The skull was normal sized, however the canines of this piece of human anatomy were much more extended. It would seem that these skeletal soldiers were somewhat beastly, considering that their skulls also possessed very small spike-like protrusions at the cranium. It was unnerving to the knight, however, considering what she just witnessed, sweat dripped from the noble kings' forehead at the fact that these homunculi were so quick to react. They seemed to unleash hell onto the small group with far more intensity than any of the other enemies so far.

"...Well done…" Saber said weakly as she dropped the skull on reflex, the piece of the now truly dead skeleton breaking apart like fractured porcelain as it shattered on the hard ground below.

'These homunculi lack the training for extended battle but they more than make up for it with their passionate demeanors as well as their ability to quickly adapt to battle tactics. If so then that means I can use that to our full advantage.' Saber smiled as she figured that with this little detail, the odds of victory were higher. Highly moraled and adaptable troops were far more versatile and deadly in the right hands than just mindless numbers such as the ones before them. It's a matter of quality vs quantity, and it seems that with Honda's rallying speech, the homunculi were far more ready mentally for war than the mindless drones marching straight towards their deaths.

On the opposite wall, Mordred could be seen raising her sword. "Alright squires, shut up and listen to me and you'll survive to see the morning and maybe receive a head pat from your beloved master. You'll be my personal warband for this battle! The rules are simple! No running away! You fight till you drop! Now my Red Eyed squires, start blasting on my mark!" Mordred said as she pulled out her blade, about to guide the firing squad.

BANG

The homunculi fired anyway without Mordred finishing her command. Mordred stood dumbly with her blade extended as the men at her command fired without so much as a verbal cue from her. Due to the loud bangs of the prana rifles being blasted next to her ears, the blonde servant had to practically yell just to hear herself speak.

"I said wait on my mark! Dammit! Aren't any of you paying attention!" Mordred yelled as the volley continued.

She grabbed one homunculus. "Stop firing like maniacs!"

The homunculus in her grasp, a male security guard breathed in. Though youthful in appearance his voice came out loud, masculine, commanding and prominent. Like a drill sergeant that knew how to get his battalion in order.

"LADY MORDRED SAYS START FIRING LIKE MANIACS! SWITCH TO RAPID FIRE!!"

The homunculi guards pressed a small thumb sized switch on the left side of their prana rifles making the once blue glowing weapons emanate an orange hue as they began firing. Surprisingly the switches of the rifles enabled them to fire their weapons like fully automatic machine guns as opposed to the semi automatic default that they darted with, thereby increasing the amount of damage they dished out while at the same time increasing the amount of noise they made.

Mordred yelled again, her voice muffled by all the rapid firing surrounding her. Though what they were doing was efficient the irate commander of the wall was trying to maintain order so that she would partially impress Honda with her commanding skills. Unfortunately it would seem that she was given a rather crazy bunch of garrisoned homunculi.

"I said to fire on my mark! I didn't even know your guns could do that! Stop firing so I can hear myself think!" Mordred angrily said, a vein prominently appearing on her forehead with her fangs bared. All the noise was making her ears hurt.

The same homunculus guard yelled out in military like fashion, his voice clear and commanding despite the obnoxious bangs of the wall of rifles.

"LADY MORDRED SAYS KEEP FIRING UNTIL SHE CAN THINK!"

Mordred looked at the guard and yelled. Her canines were extended as she tried to speak to her apparent second in command. "That's not what I said! This wasn't at all like the plan!"

The homunculus guard stopped firing and looked at the sky. The loud homunculus answered without emotion, his voice now soft in pitch, almost like a child. "The weather is great, milady."

Mordred massaged the sides of her temples to relieve her stress, clearly nobody in her own garrison could hear her commands properly. Though she did have to admit so fat they were in fact doing a good enough job.

Saber from afar, noticed the effectiveness of the Eastern Wall. Though deaf as to what Mordred was saying, Saber found herself stumped.

'Surprisingly, Mordred is proving herself to be quite the commander. The homunculi around her are taking her commands to heart and effectively thinning out the enemies by the Eastern Wall. If that's the case…'

Saber raised her sword, pointing the disguised wind blade at her intended targets. Her eyes peeked at Honda's position behind her, she had a faint blush appear on her pale cheeks.

'Then I can't lose. My master is counting on me!' Saber thought to herself as her eyes focused on her target. The truth was she simply wanted to impress her master, though the strict knight wouldn't dare admit it. It was something she herself didn't really notice since these obstructive feelings were all still new to her.

With a mighty glare within her impassioned emerald irises, the passionate King of Camelot ordered.

"On my mark, FIRE!" Saber commanded her battalion, the Western Wall guardians all aiming properly before firing at her designated command, specifically a gathering group of armored skeletons who were attempting to avoid the shots via shifting their bodies left and right to mess with their aiming. Upon their firing, the battalion found themselves overwhelmed and obliterated into a collection of limb and rib bones sprinkled against the evergrowing war zone.

Mordred looked at her 'father', noticing how well organized they were in the execution of their efforts. They were firing in synchronized waves, with the bolts landing headshots each time. In comparison to the guards she herself controlled who were rapid and yet wild in their firing, the Saber battalion were organized and made every shot a guaranteed critical hit.

Her pride was brought out to the forefront, feeling as if she was behind Saber by not being able to maintain the same amount of near perfect leadership as her 'father'. Looking back towards Honda, Mordred narrowed her eyes.

"I refuse to lose to my father! I'll show Honda I'm a worthy servant and king!" Mordred clenched her red blade with her reddish chaotic prana surging outwards though unintentionally. The homunculi under her command took a collective step edging away from their clearly irritated leader, not wanting to be the recipient of her rage.

"LADY MORDRED'S ANGRY! KEEP FIRING!" The drill sergeant sounding homunculi commanded the troops, causing them to double their firing efforts. A gleam shone through the scarlet eyes of the Eastern Wall defenders, as their desire to not upset Mordred drove them to fire their guns.

Mordred stared gobsmacked that once again the Eastern Wall fired without her input.

"DAMMIT!" Mordred echoed outward into the night sky. This night the legendary traitor knight would learn that leadership was an exceptionally difficult skill to master, especially when leading new recruits.

Saber looked over at Mordred's position. Her eyes seemed to register the open challenge. From what she could see, Mordred appeared to be screaming something as her men fired like they were possessed. Mordred's reddish energy crackled in the vicinity as she led her men with a vicious display, one that would serve to intimidate their enemies.

'Mordred is impressive! Leading her men in such a manner is driving their output to greater heights. She's…a natural…' Saber thought inwardly as she admired her lineages' attempt at leashership go surprisingly well, clearly seeing Mordred roar into the heavens as she led by example. In all truth however, Mordred was roaring into the heavens condemning her luck that the men under her wing were doing anything but following her orders.

Mordred and Saber locked eyes. Mordred sweatdropped being that she was caught red handed clumsily leading her garrison due to the loud amounts of noise that prevented her units from hearing her orders properly, as well as the hurdles of profanity she dished out as she attempted to regain control.

Saber on the other hand took the cheesy and unconfident grin from Mordred as a mocking one.

'I see! Mordred seeks to make this a competition! I, on the other hand, won't be caught in such deplorable childlike contests!'

"Looking good Mordred! You got the Eastern Wall all covered! Anyone with eyes could see that you're a natural!" Honda complimented Mordred, noticing how much firepower was being dished out from the impassioned homunculi guards. Being that Honda was far away, he was unaware that Mordred was in fact struggling to maintain leadership through all the distracting noise.

Mordred blushed when she heard Honda's praise. Considering that she is still unused to compliments, the hot-headed blonde was ill prepared for her ego to be stoked out of nowhere, especially from the master whose attention she sought more than that of Saber's. She also blushed because of the simple reality that she did not command these homunculi, therefore making her lack of leadership skills much more prominent in her own mind.

Mordred scratched her head. "Y-yeah sure…I got it all down…yup…" Mordred said shyly as she took a glance at the Eastern Wall homunculi, noticing some of them were a bit too passionate about battle. One of them had actually pulled out a goblet and threw it in a manner similar to Honda when he knocked out Silva earlier. The goblet itself caused several skeletons to trip and land on the metallic piece of culinary glassware and shattered their skulls, thereby resulting in their magically constructed bodies innate and useless. Immediately, upon seeing that, several other homunculi began doing the same, considering that it seemed that throwing goblets was more efficient in terms of racking up kills than firing weapons.

BING

The loud metallic reverb of goblets rang in Mordred's ears as her men decided to follow the example, leading to a great deal of skeleton warriors tripping like dominoes. Strangely enough this resulted in temporarily slowing the army on the Eastern side.

Mordred sweatdropped, sighing pitifully. "Oh who am I kidding…leading is a lot harder than I thought. Squires! Stop throwing goddamn cups and fire your rifles!"

Honda loved the improvised method of slowing the enemy. That and considering that they were doing what he did earlier, it reminded him that he too could participate. Who said that a commander couldn't fight alongside their men?

"Hey, you guys got some good aim! Lemme try!" Honda could be heard calling out before Niki provided Honda a goblet from a large silver plate. Honda petted her before taking the cup.

"Thank you my dear!" Honda said, gently caressing her gray locks as Niki blushed, a faint upturn of her lips signifying the exhilarating joy she was feeling.

"My lord, it pleases me to see that my service satisfies you." Niki said as she looked shyly to the side, taking nervous peaks at her passionate lord.

"And I am pleased to be worthy of said service, my dear Niki." Honda responded before turning towards Ebony. "Hey Ebony, I'm gonna need a page two on this! Make it a medium rare!"

Ebony seemed to await Honda, willing to follow his example. He threw the goblet, his throw matching that of a professional athletes' as it launched far beyond the walls, landing in the middle of the horde as they rushed towards the gates. Surprisingly, the cup landed perfectly upright, a testament to the perfect throw from the performer himself. He immediately raised his arms outward as he recited the words on the page he had found that was required for this particular grimoire spell. He read the page 2 grimoire incantation.

"Let earth shatter! Thy end comes for you as a tide of drifting earth!"

Niki and Miki hid behind Honda as they awaited the ominous sounding incantation. Knowing what they did to the great Warlock, he was no doubt attempting a powerful spell if his voice were any indication.

Ebony took both her golem sized hands and charged her indigo coated energy into both hands. A swirling mass of energy flowed in a circle before she fired it. The bolt appeared small, and yet was faster than her previous catapult styled blasts as it was directed to the metallic goblet Honda threw.

Honda finished the incantation.

"Unleash the might of the all mother! TERRA'S TRENCH!" The Warlock named the ability, one not provided for by the grimoire, but was in fact of his own making.

GONG

Upon touching the goblet, the loud sound echoed in the spot where the cup had landed. The blast itself spread outward in a horizontal manner, as a stream of vibrant royal purple colored energy spread wide across the landscape.

Atalanta took a look with widened eyes as her master seemed to conjure a wide reaching stream of prana energy onto the field at such a large distance. Hearing him name the ability she could only surmise that it was one of his own personalized spells. Considering how far reaching the energy stretched, it was clearly a very powerful ability.

"Impossible…" Atalanta mumbled. Taking a peak down towards the flowing cape of the eighth magus, Atalanta gulped as she had to stop herself from looking in his direction to focus on the war.

'Does he intend to use a spell of that magnitude! That's too powerful for a mere magus to wield!' Atalanta narrowed her eyes as she watched on.

Honda pulled out a spyglass to see the spell work its magic from afar. Upon finishing its stretching an audible sonic boom rippled from the epicenter of the attack. This resulted in the ground shaking in place as a purple glow shot through the ground, resulting in the literal collapse of the ground that it touched. Not even a crack was made away from where the spell touched, the ground merely smashed downward as if gravity itself carved deep into the continent.

The spell nearly split the battlefield in half with a twenty foot trench that halted many skeleton warriors from maintaining their swarm-like tactics. Many of the undead found themselves slipping right into the trenches, breaking apart and piling on top of one another as they landed messily into the bottom of the far reaching trench.

Those that did not fall in had to either go around it or risk jumping over the trench, which would have served to be counterproductive as the Western and Eastern Walls gunned down the undead who attempted to simply jump over the trench.

Atalanta's eyes shook. 'He used the spell to break up the entire landscape and force the enemy army to disorient their movements. This change to the landscape also forces them to move around the site, making it easier to pick them off as a group as opposed to individually. All it takes is…'

"Atalanta! Use your noble phantasm!" Honda commanded his archer class servant.

'This was his plan all along! The first step, observe the patterns of the enemy, he must have deduced that these undead are simple minded, though they are numerous. The second, to keep the enemy at a certain threshold in the battlefield, forcing their numbers to the middle between the mountainsides. He was able to do so through the experienced leadership of Saber and Mordred. Next was to literally split the landscape apart so as to goad them into an easy position, one that would halt their movements altogether, if for a brief moment. The final blow would be my noble phantasm. That alone would thin their numbers by a great margin. I see the genius of your strategy! As such I will follow through, master!' Atalanta analyzed as she stood tall for the noble phantasm she would use.

In Honda's brilliant mind that put the greatest war tacticians to shame, he echoed in his thoughts. 'Yo…that was lit!'

He raised his fist towards Ebony, who simply raised her own gargantuan fist before bumping them against each other.

"Thanks partner!" Honda said as he admired the devastating spell of the grimoire.

Atalanta nocked two arrows, a complaint to the gods. She aims them at the sky as they begin to shine with a noticeable blue swish of energy.

"With my bow and arrows, I respectfully ask for the divine protection of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis." Atalanta echoed as she aimed her bow Tauropolos, the bow of heaven. The boon granted to her by her goddess Artemis now readied for her greatest move.

"I offer thee this calamity!" Atalanta said aloud. The tips of the arrows glowed brighter, practically sizzling with the faint miasma of prana that charged the technique, one that would bestoe to the very gods a sacrifice numbering in the hundreds.

"Phoebus Catastrophe!"

The feline servant released them at a great enough speed that they pierced through the clouds while leaving behind a glittering trail. Shortly after, a faint light filled the sky and a sound echoed in the night, similar to falling rain.

However, instead of it being a rain of water, it was a rain of arrows of light falling onto the enemies like a downpour. As the malevolent gods sought a sacrifice, they scatter down on as the phantasm was invoked by their devout worshiper, carrying out an attack on all enemies in its range.

As the arrows rained down towards the bundled skeleton warriors, the monstrosities turned towards the bright lights that struck them from above. Each arrow vaporized their bones, eviscerated them in a shower of bone fragments, flowing with the gathering smoke and debris like snow, piling against the landscape as the arrows tore through them. Each arrow made their mark, striking headshots as well as fatal torso shots that rendered the skeletons immobile and useless.

After a prolonged ten seconds, the downpour was over, along with the sound of raindrops, leaving only behind the compressed puke of bone fragments.

Saber and Mordred were impressed with the aftermath. Being a servant, a noble phantasm was truly the one skill that could turn the tide of an entire battle. In this case, Honda was a master of timing, the move being efficient enough to completely decimate the massive undead legion.

With the dust clearing the homunculi spotted the end result letting loose a prideful cheer at the sight of their enemies strewn about lifeless on the battlefield.

Honda whistled. "Atalanta! That was amazing!"

Atalanta sighed. "You act as if you don't know what a noble phantasm is…"

Atalanta had to kneel down as the use of a noble phantasm had drained her a great deal. The size of her noble phantasm was strangely pushed to its maximum. Usually the range was controllable, however, here with the way the Holy Grail War was playing out, it would seem she has extended her usual reach. At least she had thinned out their numbers. The anti army archer unintentionally let out a fatigued yawn. The way she had done so was similar to a cat, with her prominent canines showing as her eyes closed as she took in oxygen.

"Awww, is the cute kitten yawning!" Honda admired before Atalanta narrowed her eyes.

"For the last time I'm not a cat!" She said with irritation.

"I know but you're my cat." Honda said with an innocent tone prompting Atalanta to look away from him.

"*sighs* You amaze me with how both competent and yet childlike you are…" Atalanta said offhandedly, though one would notice her taking peaks at Honda's eyes, finding herself looking nowhere else.

"What's with that look?" Atalanta asked, raising her left eyebrow.

"Nothing, just admiring talent when I see it. You're really good with that bow!" Honda complimented.

Atalanta looked at Honda with half lidded eyes. "I am an archer class Honda, that's my skillet by default."

"Still, I think you're amazing." Honda said honestly.

Atalanta blinked her eyes slowly at Honda before looking away. "Think what you will…" the cat eared servant looked towards the battlefield again. One couldn't help but notice the faintest of red on her cheeks, as well as her tail quivering in place.

"Is that what you mean by the term 'Tsundere' mistress?" Miki whispered to Stria.

"Yup, eventually though she'll show her softer side, true tsunderes have slightly tougher exteriors and yet are quite gold hearted once their guard is down." Stria informed the maid, whispering as if it were gossip.

Atalanta's ears twitched from picking up the banter between the gossiping homunculi. Her cheeks reddened as she heard what they said.

Idores, who had taken her position by the lever along with a handful of homunculi, had made her way to the top of the Eastern Wall alongside Mordred to take a look at the mess.

"It's quiet…" Idores mentioned. She had felt her eyes analyze the now ruined landscape. She had to be honest, Honda and Atalanta with their respective techniques, had left quite an impression on her.

Mordred narrowed her eyes. "Not for long…look." The red garbed knight said, causing the homunculus magus to look in the direction, noticing the movement of a skeleton. Others followed suit as they dig themselves from the dust and stood upright from the destruction that was done to them. There were many that laid unmoving however there were still a great deal more to contend with.

Idores bared her teeth. "Dammit, it would seem that we will be here awhile." The albino said as she took a look at the trench made by Honda.

"Though at the least, their momentum has been sabotaged. We could focus on recollecting ourselves

CRUMBLE

The ground shook as the once cheering homunculi silenced. Their eyes immediately focused once more on the battlefield which seemed to tremble.

The ground puckered and shifted to and fro as a loud rumble echoed in their eardrums. From atop the tower Honda immediately peeked with a spyglass.

"My lord, what do you see?" Niki asked Honda who brought down the spyglass.

"Looks like wave two is coming in. Red Eyes! Look alive! Enemies are incoming!" Honda used both hands to call the homunculi by the walls. They immediately raised their rifles in preparation for the next wave that approached.

CRUMBLE

BOOM

The destroyed battleground uprooted as some form of large entity shot upwards from the ground outside the gates.

It appeared to be a giant snake monster. One would assume that it was a basilisk, a great king of snakes said to be so deadly that one would die from its eyesight alone. The thing is, the summoned beast bore green runes along its scales, pulsing along its flexible frame. The skeleton legion stood behind the giant snake as it did so, regathering their forces as the monster led the way.

Saber was able to catch the snake as its head turned, currently focusing on the Eastern Wall.

Atalanta, from atop the tower, felt her instincts flair as she threw herself off the peak of the tower.

BOOM

CRACKLE

In order to avoid a shockwave that decimated the tip of the tower, At Atalanta had to abandon her position. She retaliated with an arrow shot that missed its target. Though she did hear audible flapping. Whatever it was, the enemy was clearing one capable of flight.

Upon looking what made the air strike, her eyes widened.

Up above was what appeared to be a large pale white horse, with large angelic white wings that flapped against the clouds, brushing them aside as it glided through the air. Its rider was a woman garbed in black with a long stream of light purple hair that flowed alongside the wind currents. She dominated the skies with the mighty steed.

The winged horse in question navigated swiftly, heading straight for Honda whose back was turned as he was more focused on the large snake that had been conjured into the battlefield.

"Holy shit! It's a giant snake!" Honda let out, amazed by the sudden entrance of such a majestic and fearsome beast.

All he could manage was a slight turn of his neck towards the winged beast thatwas already nearing him, attempting to finish this battle quickly under the command of riders' command.

Honda was only able to ask a question as it stampeded towards him. "Is that a...pegasus?"

"GET DOWN!" Stria and Saber yelled at the same time. For Stria it was for Honda to avoid the attempt on his life. For Saber it was for Idores and Mordred at the Eastern Wall as the giant snake zoomed straight for the defenders of the wall.

CHAPTER END