A/N: (November 15th)
Man, I haven't been a week or more late since my pre-Heaven's Fall fics! DX
Hey everyone. Thank you for your patience the past several days.
I would be lying if I said I haven't had a busy couple weeks. Family member's birthdays, as well as a handful of other important events took time away from my writing.
At the same time, I also did kind of fall into a writing funk. Not that I don't know where I'm going with the story (I do, lol), just that I had some…self-esteem issues.
Confidence in whether my writing is good or not.
And you know what— even if I don't think it is yet, I'll try my best to make it better. That's all I can do. That's all anyone can do, really.
In any case…since the wait was longer than usual, I made sure to make this chapter a decent amount longer than the last one, breaking damn near the 14k mark. I hope you all enjoy it.
The battle between humans and vampires is escalating further and further. I wonder how it will all come to a head?
Enjoy!
Chapter VI: Knighthood
For a moment, I flashed back to that fire of ten years ago.
The 10/13 Incident is what it was officially called. A great fire that burned down much of District 7, and claimed thousands upon thousands of lives.
Some of them I knew. A few of which I called friends.
I was supposed to die amongst them. I was supposed to be a part of that horrible, fiery mud.
First, I heard the shattering of glass, and the walls around me breaking. It was so overwhelming, I was certain it would be the end of me.
Next, I awoke to the crackling of fire, and the flowing of what sounded and felt like thick lava, flowing around me.
It was a nightmare. It hurt. It hurt so much.
The smoke choked me. The mud clung and dug past my clothes and into my skin. My eyes, half blind, couldn't see anyone who had survived along with me.
All it could see was bodies. Limp, melting, unmoving bodies, becoming one with that black mud.
I wanted to scream, but couldn't. I wanted to cry, but my tears would turn to vapor from the heat that singed my skin.
I wanted it to stop, but it didn't. It didn't, for so, so, so, so long.
That was, until I heard a voice comfort me from above.
"…I'm glad there was at least one survivor. Come now, you're safe."
The next instant, all of the heat and the pain and the suffering was gone.
I opened my half-blind eyes, and I immediately caught the sight of beautifully long silver hair.
"I've been keeping my eye on you, young one. Your potential to do great things is immense…so I am glad and relieved that you fought your way out of this fire."
He knelt down beside me and extended his thin, pale arm.
"…Come with me, and I'll give you the strength to carry on. For the sake of those you lost. For the sake of the city that you live in."
I accepted his hand without hesitation. Recalling back, I must have been grateful to him for simply making the pain go away.
But that decision…was the correct one. Because now—
xXx
"Approaching the French national border. Galahad, are you ready for deployment?"
The Knight of Academy City tapped the radio on her ear, responding to the male voice on the other end. "Yes. My vital signs read normal, and spiritual aptitude is at ninety-eight percent…I've never felt better, actually."
"Good to hear it. Before you drop, recite the briefing one more time for me."
The raven haired girl held her arms over her chest as the monitor in front of her showed the location of the stealth bomber she was riding in.
Academy City had lost several high-tech bombers over French airspace, costing the city billions of dollars in damages. Upon contacting the French government, however, they denied such involvement; after all, Academy City was trying to assist in the detainment of Avignon.
This meant that the attackers were not a rival military— no military force in the world could even hope to take on Academy City regardless.
Instead, it was deduced that something more…supernatural was involved.
Thus, orders from the top summoned her to take care of it.
Its guardian, leaving the city for the first time in a good few years.
"Find out the culprit behind the destruction of the twelve HsB-02 bombers. If possible, subdue them, and bring them back to Academy City, preferably alive. Additionally, search and recover Touma Kamijou and Accelerator— whether alive or dead."
"Right…that will be all, then. Good luck out there, Galahad. We've just entered the drop zone."
The Knight of Academia smiled softly.
"Please, Colonel Milizé. Call me Tachie."
"…Tachie it is, then. Say, how old are you, again?"
"Fifteen, Colonel."
"Pretty well-mannered and disciplined for your age. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since you were given a Heroic Spirit, and all. You should meet my daughter— a little above you in age, but I think you two would get along well."
Tachie chuckled. "Perhaps. When I make it back with the objectives, we'll set up an appointment."
"Alright. Dropping you in three…two…"
The Knight of Galahad closed her eyes.
"…One."
The latches holding her body and the floor at her feet opened all at once, and Tachie braced as she felt the wind-whipping air soar past her body.
'Alright, Aleister-san…hopefully what you told me wasn't true.'
She recalled the brief conversation she and the city's founder had before she left for Avignon.
"Tachie…remain on your guard. I am wary of what could be lurking in Avignon, to effortlessly destroy my military assets so easily.
…What you may face…could very well rival the Beast of Retribution.
They are known as the Dead Apostles. I'm sure you've read about them in the studies I gave you. Do not relent, for even a moment."
"Understood…Aleister-san!"
The Demi-Servant opened her palm. Shimmering into her hands was a massive cross shield of the greatest Knight of the Round.
She held it in front of her body and grit her teeth tightly. She would use it as a cushion to break her fall.
And with that, Aleister's finest knight fell from the midnight skies toward what would become an earthen hellscape.
"I will face them…with everything I have!"
xXx
After so many centuries, he had long since forgotten his family's name.
Hundreds of years before the modern day, just like many Dead Apostles, the future Ancestor was once a human. Serving under a Russian King, Vlov was a knight whose beliefs were deeply rooted in chivalry and loyalty.
For two decades, he carried on these ideals. For two decades, he fought alongside his brothers-in-arms to fight what they believed was right, and for the will of their king. After all, that is what it meant to be a knight.
They fought in countless battles. Downed countless soldiers, and conquered a number of kingdoms.
Yet no victory came with sacrifice. Along the way, he would lose ones he held close.
Vlov was one of the strongest. Being so, however, meant that those around him would never catch up to where he stood.
Even so, he pressed on. He found new brothers-in-arms. He married new wives. He fought in more battles, and appeased his aging king.
Looking back, those days must have been his most content. At the very least, they were his most hopeful.
Becoming a vampire had sucked much of that hope away centuries ago.
Due to a treasonous crime he did not commit, he had been sent to the seas of the frozen north, fated to die amongst the snow and ice.
Even in his Russian coat meant to take the wintry blizzards, his life would inevitably reach its end. All he could do was wait for the reaper's scythe to claim his soul.
Laying in a blazing cold tundra, Vlov remembered peering up into the sky. His eyes blinked slowly— the only act that his body could properly do, as he figured his limbs had become lost from frostbite.
It had been many days. Weeks, maybe? He had lost the concept of time long ago.
It was only his chivalrous will of a knight that he found his lungs still breathing. His heart, beating. His brain, thinking. Yet none of those would last forever.
The ice slowly crept up to his core, threatening to snuff the last of his soul.
His eyes heavy, he finally relented and closed them shut.
…
And an unknown time later, he opened them again.
The blizzard was gone, yet the clouds still remained. Since it was midwinter, no light of the sun would ever give him solace.
His body wouldn't respond to his movements. He forced himself to breathe manually as he felt the slow, yet present beat of his waning heart.
'Warm…th…'
He wanted warmth. Needed it beyond all else.
The warmth of a hearthfire. Of a brother's cry of victory. Of a lover's gentle smile.
He would give his everything to have a glimpse of those again.
He couldn't understand how he was denied such things so swiftly. How the people he trusted had turned on him so quickly.
He wasn't even sure if his wives maintained their loyalty, even when he remained loyal to them.
'Ah…hhh…too…cold…'
He closed his eyes.
…
Yet once more, they opened quietly.
The air was dead calm, yet still unforgivingly cold. The sky, for the first time in what must have been days, had cleared up into a perfectly brisk, clear night sky.
Vlov let out a shaky, tiny breath as he viewed the greenish bluish waves illuminating the celestial sphere. The stars seemed tiny in comparison to their might.
It was a sight that he, every so often, would pause and admire along with his knightly kin.
'I wonder…if they…are looking…at the same lights as me…?'
He followed the waving aurora with his eyes, like they were trails of a river.
For some reason, he found them centering in on something, higher than even they amongst the cosmos.
"Ahhh…it appears to be…full tonight…"
Watching over all, shone a brimming full moon. If he could, he would reach out, trying to grab onto any of the warmth that its light was emitting.
Instead, he resolved on a quiet solace: that he would perish amongst the beauty of the borealis and the bright blue moon.
He closed his eyes. This time, he had a feeling it would be for good.
Several minutes passed. He focused on the beat of his heart, which became more faded and distant to his deafening ears.
"…Aww. So young, too…What a shame. Humans, always so wasteful of potential…well don't worry, young one. I will be your fire."
Something pinpricked into his neck. Slight, yet sharp.
Yet it was enough to make Vlov's eyes burst open. All of a sudden, all five of his senses returned as a heat powerful enough to melt glaciers burned away his frostbitten heart in seconds.
It melted the ice. It boiled his blood.
It lit his soul aflame, turning its very contents into something irreversibly different than a human. No longer could he be called so.
He screamed— or perhaps it sounded more like a howl, as his body tremored and shook from an unfathomable pain. If the cold was days of slow agony, this was a quick shock of torment.
He would accept it, though. He could live with death not taking him just yet.
Only several seconds later did that searing heat vanish. Gently, he felt himself lay back onto a now snowless ground.
He breathed outward. A cloud of steam exited his mouth.
"You won't need to do that anymore, you know. It's optional for beings like us."
A lady's voice spoke gently near his head. Turning quietly, he locked eyes with a nightly, fiery beauty.
Blood red eyes, yet cool blue hair.
She gently lifted the back of his head, egging him on to find strength to sit up.
"What's your name, young one?"
He scoffed silently. Her youthful appearance made it seem like it should be the other way around.
Yet considering he owed this bloodsucker his life, he chose to respond in kind. It was his duty as a knight, after all.
"Vlov."
"Hmmhmm…" The woman hummed, dusting off the snow from the skirt of her grey and black dress. "With a name like that, you were probably always destined to be a vampire. I'm sure you know your situation now, right?"
He did not respond, yet understood her words anyway.
Vampire. A term for a being who fed on the blood of humans. An entity who once held humanity, yet whose nature was shifted and transformed not just from their body, but down to their very soul.
He had hunted a select few in his time as a knight. He was a human who was actually powerful enough to stand up to them with his own strength.
Yet now, it appeared that he would join their ranks. The woman before him seemed to deem it so, in any case.
The pain in his body had mostly disappeared. The cold barely bothered him— now only seeming like a passively uncomfortable winter's day.
The wind picked up, blowing the woman's light, icy blue hair. Just above her head, a certain crimson moon gleamed in the dead of the night.
The sight before Vlov's eyes was cruelly beautiful. It was as if nature itself was goading him on to the destiny he would now have to march toward.
She stood to her feet. Vlov's eyes widened as the moon seemed to act as a halo from behind her head; a dark angel who had saved him from on-high.
"My name is Zaria Offenbaum. I am the Nineteenth of the Twenty-Seven Ancestors, the Vampire of the Frozen North.
I ask you."
She extended out her delicate, pale hand. Her black dress fluttered in the dawning wind as she asked the question that would forever change his life.
"…Will you be my Servant?"
…
Without a word, he grabbed her hand and pulled himself to his feet. He was surprised to find how small she was to him, comparatively speaking. Zaria barely reached up to his shoulder.
"Vlov. Do you have a last name to refer to you as?"
He shook his head. "I must have…but…"
It was something that should have been easy for him. Yet now, for some reason, he couldn't recall the surname of his long-lost family.
"…Mm. That's too bad. I guess I'll have to give you a new one…"
The Ancestor floated up to his face, leaning in a tad too close for someone he barely knew. Vlov chose to tolerate it only due to the fact that he had saved her life— and because her looks would make any man want to keep their eyes on her.
"…Your hair is a beautiful silvery white. It's almost like the wings of an angel…ah-ha! I got it."
He tilted his head as the excitable Ancestor placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Vlov…I hereby announce your new last name to be—"
xXx
"—Arkhangel!"
The Nineteenth Ancestor inhaled breathily as a boy stepped amongst the melting ice.
Avignon was still, for the most part, a tundral wasteland. However, the flames that enshrouded himself, and the local area around him began to sublimate the frost into simply vapor in the air.
Underneath the layers of cold, lay the barren remnants of what was once a bustling town. Nearly one-hundred-thousand lives either aimlessly roamed, or had succumbed to the freezing, merciless cold.
It was the complete destruction of human life.
So of course, Touma Kamijou had to ask…
"…Why?"
A cool breeze fluttered between them. Kamijou had stepped forward from Rin and the others— acting as their shield, as well as an olive branch toward the hostile vampire.
He couldn't say he didn't hold malice for Vlov for what he did to Avignon. Even so, the question of his reasons— his whydunnit, eluded him. At the very least, he wanted to know the motives behind such carnage.
"Why did you do this?" He asked. "You're a Dead Apostle, right? You prey on humans…but destroying a whole town, indiscriminately like this…I don't understand.
Tell me, Vlov Arkhangel. What's the meaning of all of this?"
…
Several silent seconds. The vampire of the frozen north remained utterly motionless;not even a rise or fall of his chest could be seen.
His small, yet sharp crimson eyes bore into Kamijou's own, as if dismantling his determination with naught but a glare.
As they stood off amongst the melting ice and hauntingly blue and orange blaze, a thought occurred.
The heat. It was the heat that reminded him of what had happened here, only hours earlier.
'…'
"…Itsuwa."
Touma stepped his foot forward again, not caring that the air around him was starting to become sauna-like. "The girl that let us escape. The girl that you fought. Where is she?
Where. Is. She?"
It was less of a request, and more of a demand. For an otherwise ordinary human to be demanding of a superior being, it was certainly unbecoming.
The audacity of such a human. It almost made the ice-cold vampire crack a smile at his fire.
"She fought valiantly."
Those three words cut into Kamijou and the others deeper than any wound the vampire could make.
For Kamijou, he felt his heart wring and twist and burn. His stomach cringed as he realized the weight behind Vlov's words finally made it past his ears and into his mind.
'…Fought…as in…past…tense—?'
He shook his head. This time, he wouldn't give Vlov any room for a vague response.
"Tell me what happened!"
He shouts of barely-bridled fury could be heard all throughout the melting tundra.
He couldn't do this. Not again.
Shirai. All of the Grail War's Servants. Emiya. Illya.
And now—
"You should be proud of her, Imagine Breaker." Vlov said. His ice-cold breath never changed a degree in temperature or cadence. "She gave you all a chance to stand against me today. Have pride in her accomplishment, of her sacrifice. To stand up against creatures like us…is a feat that few humans can say for themselves."
"…Yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right."
Touma Kamijou raised his fists. The burning breeze seared past his eyes as the heat of the vampire grew ever more intense.
He took a glance at the others behind him. Acqua of the Back was nowhere to be seen; likely trying to get out of sight and prepare some sort of flanking attack.
Rin and Sakura gave him the same look: an exhausted expression of desperation. The thought of Itsuwa ran through all of their minds.
"I will take pride in her. I'll thank her, too…after I beat you."
The Nineteenth Ancestor, for the first time this meeting, cracked a fraction of emotion.
A tiny smile formed across his face as Vlov Arkhangel raised his left arm.
"…Show me your mettle, Imagine Breaker."
A soul-rendering sphere of orange flame burned into his palm, ready to blast at a second's notice.
"If you force me to kneel…I will tell you all what you want to know."
His eyes widened.
And so did the fire.
Touma Kamijou immediately backstepped, throwing his right arm in front of his body as an impossibly hot torrent barreled toward him at breakneck speed.
Gritting his teeth, he nearly choked out a pained cry as the flames crashed into his palm, and the crack of shattering glass rendered into his ears.
Imagine Breaker had done its job. Since its power was to negate any and all supernatural forces, Vlov control over the element of Fire was severed.
However, it did not destroy the fire itself.
Kamijou cringed as the flames dispersed from its concentrated torrent, yet still persisted, flowing past his fingertips and searing into his hand.
If he continued to stand there, the three-thousand degree heat would melt him down to the bones in less than a minute.
"Kamijou!"
Which is why a certain lilac flower would act as his shield.
A black wall jutted from the ground, absorbing the heat and light effortlessly and finally allowing Kamijou to retreat safely.
The younger Tohsaka sister rushed forward, encased in that black suit, yet maintaining her vibrant lavender locks. She flicked her finger, letting the wall of darkness shoot forward as it consumed the flames like nothing more than cotton candy.
At this retaliation, Vlov Arkhangel raised his brow. In all of his hundreds of years of existence, he had never come across an attack such as that.
A three-meter tall mass of absolute darkness. Voidal and opaque; transient, yet seemed to be completely endless if one were to stare deeper and deeper into its abyss.
It fired toward Vlov at dangerously inhuman speed, never changing in velocity as it took in his flames with absolutely no effort.
'Continuing to attack it would be pointless. Therefore…'
His eyes glinted as he relented just for a moment, letting his spire of orange dissipate.
His blood shifted and shuddered as he forced his Hemonomic Principle, his very Idea Blood to shift to a different gear— a different attack.
His white fingertips burned an effervescent blue.
A beat later, they fired on all cylinders.
A blast of blinding blue shone from Vlov Arkhangel's hands, twice as bright yet twice as narrow. A concentrated stream flared toward the black wall.
Sakura winced, yet pressed her attack forward. Before, her shadows were capable of consuming Noble Phantasms, Servants, and even—
'…'
She thrusted her arm, and the wall continued its plunge toward the Ancestor.
"…No, wait—"
Sakura grimaced as she realized something that shouldn't have happened.
The darkness— it was starting to glow. Out from the center of the wall grew a pinprick of bluish light that was beginning to crack and split the darkness in twain.
'How is that—?'
She remembered back to how the Railgun's lightning had done the same, as well as Illyasviel's familiars…though those were comparatively weaker strips of her Shadow, or simple familiars— this was a massive wave that took her several seconds to concentrate and form.
Yet even with using most of the power she had over the Imaginary Element…
"Ah—!"
Sakura covered her arms as her wall of Shadow exploded into shattered pieces, and the plume of blue fire barreled onward unabated.
Vlov Arkhangel's former, slightly surprised expression turned to its ordinary neutral as he quickly put together what her attack must have been.
'…My flames absorb life energy…if it had melted away that darkness, then…'
Her attacks must have derived from the soul in some way. A spirit-based attack; which meant his spirit-eating flames were a perfect counter.
This time, the light ate the darkness.
Sakura gasped as the ice-blue fire rushed at her relentlessly.
If it tore through her Shadow without much effort, then it surely would tear through not just her dress— but probably her entire body.
It was going at speeds she couldn't avoid. She only had a second or two to react— even if she evaded to the side, there was nothing stopping the vampire from simply shifting his hand to change his trajectory.
"Gah…!"
The flames struck her body.
Yet they did not burn— rather, she felt the sudden and unexpected sensation of…
'Why do my eyes feel…heavy…?'
A dangerous urge to fall asleep nearly pulled her eyes and consciousness shut. She didn't know the exact effects, but realized it must have been the fire causing her drowsiness.
'This is…bad…!'
She could see the flames burning through the sleeves of her shadowy dress, revealing the winter clothes she wore underneath.
'I…need…to—!'
"Not…"
She turned her head.
"Today…!"
A certain illusion killer was about to return her favor.
With an assertive stomp of his foot, and a thrust of his right arm, he shoved himself between the flames and herself.
His hand collided with the flames. Unlike the natural orange, the inhumanly, ghostly blue was not an existence that was ordinary to this world.
Thus, the glass-shattering shriek rang out— and the blue flames hissed violently as Imagine Breaker disintegrated it upon contact.
There was no heat. Rather, the blue flames designed to melt away souls simply dissipated as Touma pushed against it with his palm.
"Kami…jou-san…" Sakura muttered. Her dress reformed the damage done by the fire as she watched Touma fight off Vlov's assault all on his own.
The vampire seemed to notice Touma's counter, and silently relented as he lowered his arm, ordering the torrent to fade temporarily.
"…I think I figured it out, Sakura." Touma said. "…He has two types of flames. One natural, one unnatural. My right hand is suited more for the blue…"
"…And my powers are better for the orange." Sakura finished. "Right. So we focus on what we're strong against."
"Yeah." He nodded. "But…"
They both watched as the flame-ridden vampire raised his arm to the air. On his command, giant conflagratious claws burned into existence, fueled by the crackling fires that were slowly spreading across the ashen, snowy battlefield.
Dozens in number formulated— some a fiery red, others a ghastly azure.
'He's not gonna make it easy.' Touma thought.
"Kamijou-san." Sakura uttered. "Neesan has a plan. But we have to buy her enough time."
'Enough time?'
Kamijou glanced behind them. Several meters away, just outside the range of the battlefield, a certain crimson magues kneeled silently. A handful of gems were scattered at her feet around her, though their placements seemed deliberately placed.
Her eyes were closed shut, and her breaths seemed deep and concentrated as something circular and energetic began to whir into existence at her feet.
Trusting the most experienced mage out of all of them had some sort of plan, Touma turned to the task at hand.
The claws of fire descended— and all he could do was rush forward to face the inferno.
xXx
"Routing, set.
Fourteen, nine, eight. Set.
Magical energy tied to a greater source.
Flow, check. Angle, check. Formula stability, eighty-six percent. Gem integrity, good enough."
A crimson pattern carved itself into the melting snow and ashen streets. A casting of a powerful incantation was commencing forthaste.
Keeping the pressure in her chest stable, the daughter of the Tohsaka took in deep breaths. With every inhale, the magical energy within the brimming circular crest pulsed.
"…Anfang."
She kneeled at the center of the scarlet circle and raised her head toward the frostbit vampire. Despite the crumbled remains of Avignon beginning to appear beneath the melting tundra, Rin Tohsaka paid no mind.
She had only one target: beyond Touma, beyond Sakura, stood a monstrosity of over four hundred years.
She, a mage of only one decade, would challenge his strength with the might of the Tohsaka.
"…I can see your logic, Neesan, but…"
The younger Tohsaka's voice rang in her ears as she sucked in another deep breath.
"How much damage can it do against an Ancestor? It could…barely get through one of my Giants, so…"
The crimson mage steadied her nerves, and held her magic circuits still as she could as mana surged through her limbs.
'I know. I know that, Sakura.'
The gap between her and the Ancestor was larger than the gap between herself and a normal human. In almost any permutation, she would fall short to a Dead Apostle's overwhelming power.
Their natural advantage over humans, on top of their lethal Idea Blood made them more than a match for Heroic Spirits, let alone a young mage like herself. At the fledgling age of seventeen, she couldn't hope to face these kinds of beings head-on without another decade or so of constant training.
So, to make up for such a difference, she had to give it everything she had. A single, unstoppable blow.
'I'm no match for him. Even if I were to empty out all of my magical energy, I would still fall short in damaging him.
Which is why I have to go farther.'
"My Od Quantity is one-hundred…maximum output is five-hundred at normal levels.
I'll have to double that— no, maybe even further."
It was time to give it all she had.
Avignon was a town filled with Mystery, thanks to the Palais des Papes that once held the same authority of the Vatican. Even though it no longer had such power, Terra of the Left's usage of the now likely-destroyed Document of C temporarily made Avignon a town filled with Mystery once again.
Vlov Arkhangel's Idea Blood of ice had stifled such holy power. Now, with the frost melting, Rin could more stably connect herself to the gigantic magical battery that was the fallen Palace of Popes.
A mage's inner mana, or Od, only went so high. Relying on the magical energy around herself, however, Rin could manually amplify her spells to heights that were far beyond her normal levels.
She extended her arm in front of her— and held everything as steady as she could as she watched her two allies fight for their lives in front of her.
'Come on. Come on…!'
Sakura and Kamijou seemed to be in decent synchronization, defending against the color of flame that were suited best against their abilities.
The blue fire was a counter to Sakura's Shadow in some way, able to burn away at its Imaginary Element. Meanwhile, the natural fire Vlov used was effective against Imagine Breaker, since Kamijou couldn't actually negate the heat in any way.
Every time a counter fire would get too close to one, the other woul jump in the way to protect them. Slowly but surely, amongst the infernal storm of multicolored blazes, Rin witnessed the two of them slowly begin to make headway toward Vlov.
That was good. If they could get to him and use Sakura's Shadows to chain him down, maybe—
'This attack can maybe kill him. I won't be able to adjust its trajectory after it fires, so I'm leaving everything to them to make sure he stays still.'
The glass-shattering shrieks of Imagine Breaker. The uproarious whips of Sakura's Shadow. The crackling flames of Vlov's power.
Their colliding powers danced and clashed together like dueling swords, sending dissonant hisses into Rin Tohsaka's ears.
She had to find that crack, that opening. Otherwise, the struggle of attrition would go to the monster with tenfold their power and experience combined.
"…No…"
Rin shuddered, her concentration shaking as the booming voice of a certain indignant Ancestor refused to fall.
"STOP!"
In a burst of vampiric wrath, Vlov Arkhangel unleashed his power unbridled with a lion's roar.
Gusts of burning winds howled by Rin's face, causing her to wince and crack her concentration further. The air had suddenly shifted from a summer sauna, to the inside of an oven.
'If it's that hot here, then…!'
She focused up ahead of her. It was almost like a tornado— a powerful vortex of swirling fire that expanded outwards with storming waves, instantly evaporating any snow and ice and scorching the ashen rubble.
What's worse— she couldn't make out Kamijou or Sakura amongst the heat.
'No…Wait…they can't be…!'
She tried maintaining her spell, but her worry for the two of them began to cause her carefully constructed formulae and dismantle the circle.
'Dammit…need to stay focused…but…but…!'
She held onto the calculations as much as she could. She cringed as her magic circuits bent and screamed at the energy she was flowing throughout her body.
Her localized Od was going haywire. If she didn't formulate the metaphysical barrel to load the cannon, there was a nonzero chance her limbs could explode.
All she could do was hold on as the storming fire burned past her body, singing her clothes and skin.
The Nineteenth Ancestor's power was unbearable. Rightfully so, as a Dead Apostle of the Ninth Rank.
"Heretical Vampire…"
Yet from above, a voice reminded her.
Dead Apostles were not the pinnacle of this world.
They may have a throne at the top, but that throne was shared.
Shared by the holy.
"…By Our Mother's Mercy, I will free thy soul!"
Shared by the Divine.
With a valiant shout came a flood sent from on-high.
Rushing waves of crystal blue water crashed upon the dried, crackling earth, quelling and quenching the blaze in seconds.
Rin held her hand out, sacrificing one of the gemstones she would have used on her spell to form a shield to block her formulae from the surging waves.
The heat vanished. For the first time in hours, Avignon returned to the normal, cool autumn air it was supposed to be. There was no longer a ghastly winter, nor a raging fire.
In front of Rin, a certain blessed Saint set his feet on the ground, hefting a giant iron mace in his hands.
From where she was standing, she could tell he was worse for wear than she was. Scuffs and tears appeared on his shirt and pants, and his hair seemed blackened and partially scorched.
"…Just in time." He muttered. "…His flames melted the ice, so I could finally enact my control over the water. But…"
They watched the steaming, settling battleground before them. Past the fading steam clouds and spitting, choking fires, stood a vampire whose will was imperishable.
"…I'm afraid we aren't out of the woods yet. Far from it, in fact."
Acqua of the Back readied his weapon, which seemed much heavier than before.
'…Those flames. They weakened my very soul. They probably damaged my Divine Mother's Mercy or Stigma in some way…'
He grit his teeth, feeling that pain in his chest tighten with every breath. His body was carefully maintaining two powerful, opposing forces; any imbalance could cause him to self-destruct.
And unfortunately, Vlov's spirit-consuming azure flames might have done the trick. If he exerted himself any further than a normal Saint, then he very well may pass the point of no return.
Yet at the same time, to face an Ancestor with power such as Vlov Arkhangel's, he would have to push his limits.
The silver-haired dark knight huffed breathily, his coat and clothes soaked from the divine rain that Acqua had cast onto him and his fire.
Temporarily, he had disabled Vlov's ability to use his powers, and likely stunned him from the surprise strike.
Or rather—
"—!"
Before Acqua's eyes, what should not have existed, ruptured into existence anyway. All conventional rules of nature had been broken before the Ancestor's might.
Water is fire's natural enemy. When a burning substance is drowned in water, the flames are asphyxiated until there's nothing but smoke.
Yet despite it all, the Nineteenth Ancestor burst to life, and a huge pillar of blueish fury coiled around his body.
Vlov lifted his hand, pointing his palm toward the half-baked Saint of Gabriel.
"…Grr…"
Acqua tightened his finger's grip. In response, he felt the blood vessels in his arms pop and crack and shudder as the immense latent power within his body found his vessel to be too small.
'…This may be the end.'
He took a glance far north. On the opposite end of France, across a frothy channel, was a nation covered in impenetrable fog.
'Forgive me, Villian. I may not be able to save you, after all.'
If he were to use all of his strength, he would go out along with this vampire. A powerful, mountain-shattering strike that would send both to Judgment Day.
He closed his eyes, readied his mace, and took in a staggered breath. As best he could, he stabilized the Divine Mother's Mercy pumping through his aching veins.
'…Wait, are they—?'
He blinked.
Because before him, the soaking rubble began to stir.
Rocks and debris lifted and then fell as a black-clothed body emerged from ashen earth.
Blood streamed down his face. His skin looked singed and burned, yet not as bad as Acqua was expecting for someone who must have been facing thousands of degrees of heat. Even if only exposed for a few seconds, the human body surely couldn't have handled that much intensity.
The spiky-haired teen staggered for a moment, before suddenly steadying, hardening his stance and throwing his jacket to the side.
Touma Kamijou wiped the blood from his chin, and spat out a glob of blood and spit.
He didn't look too much worse for wear. In that moment, as he saw the seemingly ordinary teenager ready himself, Acqua of the Back quickly deduced why.
'…I was wrong to just refer to you as Imagine Breaker, Touma Kamijou. What you showed at your city's Daihasei…and at the end of the Holy Grail War…
…you're not entirely human, are you?'
"Acqua!"
Kamijou's raspy, rattled voice turned back to his ally, even if it would only be temporary.
The boy's eyes…Acqua was taken aback. There was a fire behind them— that dagger-like intensity that surpassed a human's rage.
Something primordial was bubbling underneath his irises.
"…I can tell you're on your last legs. I—!"
A surge of cerulean pummelled toward Kamijou, not letting him a second more to think or speak.
Yet without even turning around, the Slayer of Gods and Demons already had his right arm up to block.
"—Will take it from here."
The stream of fire stopped in its tracks as that signature shatter rang through all of their ears.
Turning back toward the soul-sucking hellfire, Touma grit his teeth as he sensed Vlov push his powers ever harder.
The flames burst brighter. The pressure mounted, surpassing that of high-ranked Noble Phantasms as Touma's fingers twitched and shuddered. Imagine Breaker's negation rate was quickly reaching its limit.
He held his right arm tightly with his left, using his whole upper body as support as he anchored his feet to the ground and held on.
He was the only one acting as a shield for Acqua and Rin. If he let those flames past, all of them would fall. On the other hand, he couldn't push any further and make headway toward the vampire at all.
It wasn't his job to, anyway.
"…Any…day now…!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the rubble begin to tremble from a force that wasn't of their clash.
"…SAKURA!"
He didn't know if she was still alive or not. He only had to trust that if he had, she had found some way to survive that brutal, three-thousand degree heat as well.
Luckily, it seemed she had come out of it okay, just the same as him— as from the earth fired several long strips of pure darkness that lashed out at the Ancestor with godspeed.
Kamijou felt the flames suddenly weaken and dissipate— fading from the clash with his right arm.
Before his eyes, he spotted Vlov groaning across the battlefield— his arms and legs ensnared by multiple dark whips that acted like chains, holding him in place and preventing him from moving.
Sakura Tohsaka stood tall by the edge of his periphery, her arms outstretched as she ordered more, more and more shadowy arms to coil around Vlov's body.
The Apostle tightened his clawed hands. Blue flames burned down several tendrils, disintegrating them into ashes; yet before he could fully break himself free, Sakura would summon just as many to hold him back down.
'She won't win that battle,' Kamijou thought. 'Which only means—!'
He turned to Acqua. "Get us out of the way!"
They both turned behind them.
A rainbow-white light was beginning to make itself known in the ashes of Avignon. Before they became collateral damage, the Saint of Gabriel grabbed Touma, hoisting him over his shoulder in a heartbeat as he hopped swiftly into the air.
…
…
Now, there was no one in the way.
Kneeling at the center of a giant magical circle, Rin Tohsaka outstretched her arm, making sure Vlov's body was perfectly between her fingers.
She had spent the last several moments trying to keep the spell stable. Now, with her target in sight and no one in the way, she could focus on releasing that energy unabated.
The core of her magic bullet howled. The circuits within her spun rapidly and relentlessly, nearly at her body's limit.
Rin fed her circuits more and more energy, scorching her nerves with imaginary flame.
This spell— it was the most powerful one she concocted yet, focused nearly entirely on pure, destructive energy.
It was an attack that would make a certain witch of destruction proud.
"Nng…I got this…I got…this…!"
She winced as her own spell backlashed at her body, threatening to burn her nerves and break her blood vessels. She wanted to crumple from the intensity, but held firm as her secondary magic circle whirred in front of her hand.
One at her feet, one at her palm. If she had time, she'd create a third one mid-way between her target and herself to better direct her attack and ensure accuracy, but she neither had the liberty nor the time to do so anymore.
She would have to do with eyeballing it. Considering Vlov Arkhangel was half a stadium field's distance away, it wasn't exactly an easy task, especially considering her current state.
Rin took a deep breath— this is what she planned.
Her spell was at its final stages. Her gems, scattered meticulously around her circle, were prepped as best she could make them.
Sakura's tendrils were becoming fewer and fewer. Vlov's eyes had locked onto her— he had recognized her as the biggest threat to him now. If allowed to break free from the shadow's grasp, he would clear the distance in less than a second and render her lifeless the next.
Her gems lifted into the air, lightning of a multitude of colors burning and twisting and coiling. The crimson magic circles beamed white as the gems expanded— forming crystalline lenses that superimposed on top of one another.
Her eyes, fixed on the Ancestor, filled with resolve.
If she failed, then she, Kamijou, and Sakura would die.
If she succeeded, the only life she had to worry about was herself.
She was fine with that. So with that steadfast thought in mind, she shouted—
"Vierzehn. Neun. Acht.
Drei Schwerter, Synergie, eine Mulde!"
Her magic bullet— more akin to a beam, thanks to its irradiant energy— fired from her palm with the force of a rocket cannon. It passed through each gemstone field, shifting and changing in color like a dazzling kaleidoscope.
Each layered gem field amplified the light tenfold. With so many refractions and reflections, the magical energy in the form of prismatic light would increase to levels that even a hundred of her wouldn't be able to emulate with normal methods.
She relied on her semi-mastery of Gem magecraft to make this attack work. An attack of this caliber would surely fell a Heroic Spirit; so conversely, she banked on it being able to force an Ancestor to their knees.
Her arm recoiled. She bit her lip as she felt her muscles twist and bend in ways they weren't supposed to, but kept herself steady as she sent the shot straight forward— straight towards its destined target.
However…
"RRRAAAAHHHHHH—!"
A rageful wolf's howl nearly shattered her eardrums and trembled the earth.
Before her eyes, a titanic blue-white canopy met her beam halfway.
The blue flames had vanished— in its place, was Vlov Arkhangel's main power: his authority over freezing and anti-entropy.
To halt all matter's movement infinitely close to absolute zero; a feat only normally possible through the most powerful scientific equipment over a very small area, Vlov Arkhangel was able to accomplish over a whole city.
This was the Nineteeth Ancestor's greatest trump card— and out of a desperation to survive, he sent it all reeling toward Tohsaka's kaleidoscopic spiral.
Absolute cold met absolute light and heat. Layers and layers of glacial ice broke and shattered as her gem-amplified stream careened forward with a high-pitched screech.
"A-Aghh…Nnn…!"
'Dammit, he still has a lot left…argh, what was I expecting, he's a goddamn Ancestor!'
Rin shuddered. The recoil of her spell, which approached the levels of forbidden magecraft, heated up her blood to feverish temperatures. Her body cried out in every joint and every tendon, about to break apart from so much pure energy flowing through her.
She had no magic crest to forcefully revive her body. She had given all of its latent energy— hundreds of years of Tohsaka knowledge and power— to a certain swordsmith in order to strike down a Beast of Humanity.
She would have to build up her family crest again, from the ground up. In the meantime, she couldn't fall back on it.
"Ah…gah…"
"Blut…der Erde…Lebens…kraft…!"
At her word, a gleaming emerald rose up from the ground and struck into her chest, shattering into shards and coating its energy all across her body.
It was the same healing spell she had used on Kamijou to restart his heart; now, she was using its healing properties to forcibly hold her limbs together. She knew something like this might have happened, so she prepared Lebenskraft in advance and only needed to say the command to trigger it.
A cool sensation flowed through her body, reducing the boiling heat in her body to acceptable levels. The white in her vision faded, and she gulped down the blood in her mouth as she faced the unyielding vampire with a glare.
This was as high as she could fire without completely, irreparably destroying her body. The best case scenario of pushing herself any further was she'd likely destroy her entire nervous system; leaving her paraplegic, and at worse, brain death.
She wasn't a mage suited for absolute destruction. Such straightforward specialties were impractical, anyway.
In this case, however, it meant that her efforts to emulate one would quickly be meaningless. She would stalemate with Vlov's neverending ice until one or both of them fell apart.
'Not good…not good, not good, not good…!'
The ice grew ever more powerful. Vlov seemed to have broken more and more free from Sakura's bonds, using all of his limbs to fortify the glacial layers and push his territory into her kaleidic cannon.
He was a terrifying enemy indeed. Rin wouldn't be surprised if he could single-handedly clear the Holy Grail War on his own.
Which all came back to a single question:
'What am I doing…trying to face an opponent like that, head-on…?'
Her eyes twitched. The white began to crawl back in the corners of her vision.
Her healing spell couldn't glue together her muscles for very much longer. If she kept this up, all she'd accomplish at the end of this clash was becoming a frozen pile of red goo.
Her will faded, same as her kaleid light that was being pulverized by Vlov's white glacier.
'Dead Apostle…Ancestors are…way too beyond me…so why did I even think…to…
…try…?'
Yet even before the thought of lowering her hand to surrender, she heard something.
Something that lit the fire back in her frosting soul.
"ACQUA! Throw me, now!"
Above. Far above the clash of cold and light, screamed someone that refused to compromise any of his will.
With a valorous shout, the Saint of Gabriel launched the illusion killer like a baseball, hurtling him toward danger without a moment of hesitation.
Rin's eyes widened at the sight of that black-haired hero outstretching his right arm, not toward the overwhelming iceberg; but at the vampire himself.
Vlov had recognized him, but Acqua had thrown the teen far too fast for him to evade. That was, in fact, a factor that Kamijou had hoped would come into play.
He realized; whenever Vlov used his ice, he temporarily lost the ability to move, as if he himself was as frozen as with the rest of the land around him. If he was putting all of his effort into focusing on Tohsaka's rainbow-white blast, then it offered him a chance to strike while his guard was down.
He was thrown at such speeds that he'd easily close the distance in less than two seconds. During those brief, temporary moments, Touma cocked his fist back.
'Vlov…you're one hell of an enemy. More than any one of us could handle on our own.
But…I need to know what happened. To my friends. To Avignon. You're in my way, so…'
The freezing air whipped by his face as he approached Vlov's vulnerable body.
Even if he was wide open, a strike from an otherwise ordinary human would do nothing more than act as a bee sting.
That wasn't Kamijou's intention, however.
Before either of them knew it, he was within arm's reach, soaring in from Vlov's left flank.
"…It's time, Vampire.
Grit…your…!"
His right arm flung forward, fist as solid as earth.
"…TEETH!"
An ear-piercing shatter of glass deafened their ears as Imagine Breaker crashed itself into the vampire's cheek and slid past his face as Touma continued to fly by.
Vlov only stumbled for a moment, his feet staggering but stabilizing quickly.
That second, however…would prove his absolute defeat.
His crimson eyes widened as he realized— his Idea Blood had been forcefully disabled. The Hemonomic Principle that allowed him control over the concept of freezing had been shut off by the Purifier of God.
Imagine Breaker could not destroy the ice itself, since it was a natural element created through supernatural means.
What he could do, however…was completely shut off Vlov's powers, even if it were for a moment, it would be more than enough.
The glacier shuddered as the production of his ice completely deactivated.
Touma Kamijou smirked in victory, then grunted as his body tumbled and rolled violently into the ashen rubble.
xXx
Seconds before.
'Thank you, Kamijou.'
The spiky-haired hero was hastily descending toward Vlov. She recognized his plan as soon as he saw him haplessly charging through the air.
He was going to give her an opportunity to end this— and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to take it.
"Set— final stage."
The gemstone lenses, translucent like stained glass, began to illuminate independent of the light she was focusing through them.
She had one trick up her sleeve. It would destroy eighty-percent of her gems, which is why she didn't want to resort to such a tactic before…but if it meant putting down an Ancestor, all stops had to be pulled.
"It's time, Vampire. Grit…your…TEETH!"
She heard Kamijou's rebellious voice, and the shriek of breaking glass scream out all at once.
The glacier overpowering her light immediately stopped. An instant later, she spotted him tumbling through the dirt, out of harm's way— though the fall probably left him with a few serious bruises at worst.
She couldn't spare a second to worry about him. She didn't even know where Sakura was at the moment, but for now, it didn't matter to her.
She had prepared this greater spell in order to fell this great bloodsucker. To the end, she had to see it out.
Besides, now that Vlov's guard was down, as well as his powers temporarily disabled, Rin was granted a guaranteed shot.
The window was closing though, and fast. She'd have to release everything now.
"Destroying Avignon…harming my loved ones…hurting him…yeah, that does it.
I'm done with you, Ancestor."
The kaleidoscopic spiral of gem-lit light seared through the fortress of ice.
Rin Tohsaka focused her barrel, making sure that Vlov Arkhangel's heart was the center of her crosshairs.
Five more seconds of continuous fire, and she'd explode from the overwhelming pressure.
But this battle would end in three.
'No…No…No, No—!'
Vlov realized his fatal blunder the second Imagine Breaker had struck his body.
For that brief moment, he felt his powers lock— even with all of his will, he couldn't trigger them to fire again.
While his outer body didn't show it, his internals were flaring and burning and freezing from the continuous switching between fire and ice. Between the battle against the spear-wielding mage, the Saint of Gabriel, and this clash, his already unstable control over his master's Idea Blood was eating away at him more and more and more.
That strike from the one named Touma Kamijou proved to tip the scales to no return. By completely sealing his powers, even if only for a second, to activate them again would mean his body may very well self-destruct, destroying not just himself; but all that remained of Avignon and the surrounding towns.
He had reached his limit as a fledgling Ancestor. Despite being amongst the Twenty-Seven, his unnatural upbringing made him one of the weakest.
But he couldn't die. He couldn't die.
He couldn't die until he saw that slithering, conniving, repulsive serpent die first.
'A-Ahhh…'
The glacier he made with the last of his powers shattered and melted and sublimated. Taking its place, was an aberrant beam of spiraling rainbow-white.
He let go of his bloodied cleaver.
White filled his vision.
Yet for Rin Tohsaka, it wouldn't be enough.
"Welt…"
The lenses shone as bright as the beam they carried.
And in her next syllable, she commanded them to break all at once.
"Ende!"
The spirallic light amplified tenfold.
Energy from the gemstones, which were formerly guiding and building the light's strength, flooded into Rin Tohsaka's bullet to further increase its raw power.
No longer did she need a guide for her bullet— at this point, all she needed was numbers.
A dozen or more gems scattered and shattered, pushing all of their magical energy into annihilating the Ancestor before her.
The glacier was obliterated, blowing apart into disintegrated dust.
The fledgling rainbow hurtled into him.
At that moment, the vampire of the north learned of the far east's greatest mage to-be.
The Average One. The one who commands the Five Great Elements.
All of it, everything, she forcibly seared into his mind and body.
It was a dazzling spectacle, one that any who bore witness to could not look away.
Even as he felt his body falling apart amongst the burning sun, Vlov found himself smiling.
This warmth— this genuine warmth, felt oh-so comforting.
His frozen soul began to melt, little by little.
In the back of his mind, he recalled the sight of whom he called his only sunshine.
'…My…liege…'
He reached out for her silhouette, visible for him amongst the blinding rainbow.
'…Zari…a…'
xXx
The battle was over.
The broken ice melted away. The flames were no longer visible.
The only thing that stood was the crumbling remains of a once notable French town.
A great, thunderous light from a mage of the far east had bested the might of a novice Ancestor.
Now, silence settled once again. Her spell had long since crumbled as the first daughter of Tohsaka collapsed to the ground.
Or, almost did.
"Neesan—!"
A bed of harmless black shadows cushioned her fall as hurried footsteps knelt by her side.
Cradled by a shadowed body, Rin cracked her bloodied eyes open to meet the sight of long lilac hair.
"H-Hey…Saku…ra…"
The younger sister closed her lips. "Don't talk now, Neesan. You'll be okay…your injuries don't look fatal, but they're notable. Just rest for now."
With the last of her family keeping her warm, Rin decided to heed her sister's words and gently closed her eyes.
Sakura felt her pulse. It was hastened, but consistent and stable, same as her breathing.
With magecraft, she'd be back on her feet within a day.
Carrying her bridal-style, Sakura stood up to her feet to survey the rest of the damage.
A cylinder-shaped crater of destruction bore through the ashy field.
The mist and fog and clouds had parted, revealing the starlit sky for the first time in what felt like hours. Ever-present, the full moon shone its cool glow onto what remained of Avignon.
It was no longer a place for humanity to live, at least for now.
And it was all thanks…
"…How is he…?"
…To a frostbitten Apostle whose heart of ice still beated.
"How is he still alive…?"
Across the ravenous crater, amongst the chaotic debris, lay a decimated Dead Apostle Ancestor.
His clothes were burned and torn open; his skin was seared away, revealing his ribcage to the open air.
Beneath, blood red organs squirted and shuddered with every useless breath he took. His heart— the core of a Dead Apostle, was damaged, yet not destroyed.
Still it beat. Still it remained.
If left on his own devices, the Curse of Restoration would eventually return his entire self to normal.
"Ahh…guh…"
The vampire spat out blood.
His heart had been struck. Despite not being entirely destroyed, the mage of the far east had unleashed enough energy to render a direct strike to his soul.
His regeneration, which was more akin to time-reversal, was weakened in this state. It would take ten times as long to revive if he did not ingest something supplementative, like the blood of a human.
For all intents and purposes, he had been slain by beings whom his species was meant to prey upon.
Especially since…
"…Hey."
Out of Sakura's periphery, Touma Kamijou stepped carefully toward the felled Ancestor. He was holding his left arm in slight, wincing pain; she couldn't blame him, since the damage he had sustained from that intentional throw must have given him a thrashing.
The teen stepped up to the bloodied mess of Vlov Arkhangel. He noticed a strange glow enveloping around his ordinarily fatal wounds; as if trying to pull his body back together. However, its efforts seemed slow, akin to a snail's pace.
He heard the heavy footsteps of what must have been Acqua approach from the other side. With a powerful ally backing him up, Touma chose to be more diplomatic than demanding.
"…You said…you would tell us…everything…so…"
He grunted as he knelt down.
"Speak up, Vlov. Why…why did you do…all of this…?"
It took a short moment, but the vampire's crimson red eyes slowly broke open.
It seemed as if he was staring upon the Moon above as his breathy, ragged yet still deep voice eked out a reply.
"…To send…a message…
…To a bastard…serpent…"
Kamijou tilted his head. 'Serpent?'
He looked toward Acqua, whose stonewalled face stayed ever so neutral.
"What do you mean serpent, Vlov?"
The Nineteenth Ancestor cracked a smile. Whether it was genuine, or crazed with slight insanity, Touma couldn't decipher.
"…You will learn. After all…three years ago…they did the same thing…I did…"
'Three years ago? What is he talking about?'
"…Hahhhh…"
His ice cold breath steamed in the vampire's face like clouds. "…I guess I really am…not much better than…they are…"
"W-Wait, Vlov!"
The Ancestor's head fell backward. His eyes shut closed.
His body limped.
Kamijou grabbed Vlov by his half-burned collar, and forcibly tried lifting him up.
"Who's this serpent?! Why did they make you go this far?…You didn't even…tell us where Ciel and Itsuwa are…!"
The vampire's pale face made no twitch, not an iota of a response. Vlov Arkhangel had entirely lost consciousness.
"…Dammit!"
Touma set the vampire back on the ground. He had no reason to harm an enemy any further if they had no means to fight back; even if they had caused this much destruction.
It wasn't up to him to make those decisions. Even for a murderer like Vlov, he had his reservations.
However, he was standing near someone who could choose.
"…Acqua."
"You don't need to tell me, Touma Kamijou." The Saint said. "Stand aside."
Kamijou struggled up to his feet, and began to slow trek back to the two Tohsaka sisters.
Now that Vlov was officially no longer a threat, he could check on how the survivors were doing.
'…I hope Rin didn't hurt herself too much…that attack looked…'
It had an output far surpassing Shirou Emiya's Caliburn. It was certainly a Noble Phantasm-level strike, delivered by a human.
It was astonishing, the level of power she displayed. But at the same time…
"…Tohsaka—!"
Upon seeing her limp body being cradled by her younger sister, he found the strength to push his legs into a sprint.
Meanwhile, a certain God's Right Seat member hefted up his iron mace.
"Vlov Arkhangel. Nineteenth of the Twenty Seven."
His eyes hardened. The enemy was truly formidable— one of the strongest he's ever battled, up there with the leader of the Knights of England.
Now, due to the transgressions he had committed against not just the Catholic Church, but of God's Right Seat and the town of Avignon…
'…I will put you to rest. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.'
He lifted his great weapon.
With a single flick of his wrist and swing of his arm, the nightmare would come to a close.
"…Ah."
…One nightmare would come to a close.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
Acqua felt his limbs petrify in shock as a new voice resounded through his ears.
He watched as strange bloodred plants the shape of moonflowers began to sprout atop Vlov's body, completely taking the vampire over. Acqua was forced to take a step back to avoid the sudden-growing plants as a mist materialized from practically nowhere.
It flowed from the north— where the voice seemed to be coming from. Looking ahead, Acqua spotted a silhouette marching forth from the darkness.
Of course, the others heard the voice as well.
The pressure coming out from that dark mist was vast. It was at such an unfathomably high level that Touma couldn't properly figure out what felt worse between Vlov and this new presence.
Touma turned between the new voice and Rin, split between running and helping her escape, or staying and holding off this new threat.
Luckily, he didn't have to make that choice.
"Just in time!"
The Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa's voice caused Kamijou to sigh in relief. Behind Tatemiya were a dozen or so more Amakusans to greatly lift the weight off their shoulders.
"We came as soon as the blizzard began to fade. What's…"
Tatemiya locked eyes with the darkening mist ahead, as well as the unconscious body of Rin Tohsaka resting in Sakura's arms.
Before Touma could even tell him what needed to be done, he moved to action.
"I'll get my people to escort her back…I and a few others will stay and help out. This looks…"
The mist somehow grew even darker, as if it was going to swallow the shadows themselves.
"…This looks serious."
Sakura handed off Rin to one of the Amakusans, thanking them with a silent and polite bow before they turned heel and ran toward safety.
"Where are the rest of the Amakusans?" Touma asked. There were only a handful of them that had come to the center of town, apparently.
"Searching around Avignon, looking for survivors…" Tatemiya replied. "Though…considering what we're about to face, I might need to call all of them here.
Eyes up, kid. This doesn't look good."
Touma gulped down his hesitance, and stepped forward to meet the everblack mist. Only Acqua of the Back was ahead of him, faltering onto his knees from the weight of his own weapon.
If even one of God's Right Seat was struggling, then what chance did he have?
'A chance.' Kamijou resolved. 'Even if it's small. There's still a chance.'
He stopped a few paces behind the Saint. Just behind him, he spotted the black-dressed Sakura out of the corner of his eye. Behind them, were probably the Amakusa Christians bringing up the rear.
All facing against…
"…He couldn't quite do the job, it seems. A shame…but we can't exactly let him die. My liege signed a contract with him, so until she fulfills her end of the bargain, I'm afraid we can't let you take his life."
Peering down, Touma noticed the red moonflowers had vanished— taking the body of Vlov Arkhangel along with them. He had a feeling he wasn't dead— but was probably taken somewhere far out of reach.
And in his place, stood a monster that towered over all of them. Not in height, but in mere presence alone.
The black mist faded. The humanoid standing amongst it finally came into view.
"…No way…"
He recalled back to just that morning.
The walk he had with Rin Tohsaka, standing on the sidewalk.
'…That man…he was…!'
Pale white skin. Dressed head-to-toe in raven black, with slicked back chocolate brown hair. At his belt buckle was a sword sheathed at his side, glowing a hellish purple-red.
His brimming crimson eyes scanned across what was soon to be his prey.
Meanwhile, all Kamijou could do was gawk in shocked silence.
'I thought he was just a confused tourist…wait…he can't be a…!'
"…Vlov Arkhangel had three jobs. He completed two of three. Sufficient enough to be gifted my liege's grace.
I will complete his third task in his place. And that—"
His hand, now wreathed in a grey armored gauntlet, pointed its finger at one person alone.
Touma Kamijou tightened his fist as the vampire's pressure bore onto him, all from a single gesture; a declaration of war.
"—Is you, Imagine Breaker."
At this point, all Kamijou could do was grimace into a wry grin of disbelief.
He wanted to remark how much abysmal luck his right hand gave him, but chose to choke down his words.
An enemy of Vlov's strength or even beyond was making himself known.
Even worse, he announced Kamijou as his main objective.
Not wanting to show weakness, Kamijou pressed his foot forward. "…Before we get started…
Who are you, Ancestor?"
The black-swathed vampire paused. His red eyes glinted as he lifted his palm, swirls of darkness coalescing into a single point on his order.
"…I am the Sixth of the Twenty-Seven…The Black Knight Strout. My orders are to take Touma Kamijou…alive.
Now, all of you…"
He watched as those meager humans charged straight at him, acting as meat shields for his true target.
The Saint of Gabriel. A mage wielding the Imaginary Element. Warriors of a far east church.
This battle would end like all the others, over his millennia of existence. The Black Knight sighed in despondence as he took one, insignificant step.
"…Out of my way."
The darkness in his hand exploded like a dark star, blasting outward with a great unholy gust of hurricane wind.
And naught but silence followed.
xXx
For what was the second time in just a few weeks, Accelerator found himself staring up at the sky.
Unlike the blinding streetlights of Academy City, however, the gentle ceiling of stars was much more comforting on his cornea. It didn't take him too long to blink himself back to consciousness.
And realize the situation he was in.
'Wait—!'
Spitting the copper taste of his mouth, he immediately hopped to his feet just as he felt a massive pressure fall down on him from above. Stomping his foot, he launched the ground— the literal earth around him— up to meet it.
A pillar of condensed rock and dirt collided with that invisible force. An eruption of debris and dust squandered his vision, forcing the Esper to re-activate his tornado wings and whip toward the heavens.
And immediately, upon breaking the treeline, he locked eyes with that bastard smiling cocky from above.
"Had enough yet, First-Ranked?" The caped white warrior taunted. "Can't reflect something you don't understand, right?"
"Would you just shut up, already?!"
The white-haired Esper burst his wings to full throttle, firing at the enemy as he shattered mach speed.
Yet even in the face of Academy City's strongest, the one known as Stratovarius did not waver.
In fact, he seemed to be amused at Accelerator's rage.
"Nah, talking's funner."
The White Knight snapped his fingers, and the unseeable ship behind him fired another great volley of cannonfire.
Accelerator jerked his wings and body upwards in a heartbeat, shifting his trajectory toward the sky as he felt the pressure of unreflectable cannonballs whirring and whipping past his face.
He had been bested once by this bastard. It must have been why he was knocked flat on his ass and stunned earlier.
He wouldn't let that happen again. Right now, all he had been doing was dodging and remaining on the defensive. If this was a battle he desired to win, he had to push the tide of combat in his direction.
Leaping clear of Stratovarius's attacks, Accelerator found his chance.
Descending like a white comet, Academy City's strongest plunged his fist forward as his wind wings spun to their maximum capacity.
He shattered the sound barrier several times over, reaching speeds that would make his late Servant chuckle in pride.
His strike met its target in the time of a bee's wing flap.
An earth-breaking boom shuddered the entire woods, as shockwaves upon shockwaves galvanized the air.
Upon contact with any material, Accelerator could enforce vectors upon it such that he could massively amplify their acceleration, sending them firing in any direction he desired.
If he could use that power by hitting that bastard directly, then…
'I could get him to finally shut the hell up. More importantly, I'd at least knock him on his ass!'
He charged forward unabated, with speeds nearly unrivaled.
Accelerator's fist fired like a rocket, straight toward the white warrior's cheekbone.
An impossibly massive gust of shocked wind roared in response to his strike.
His attack had made its mark.
"…Ow. Now that's a lovetap, if I've ever seen one."
"—!"
Yet it did nothing but cause Stratovarius to jest.
Accelerator's eyes widened as he noticed his fist hadn't actually made contact with the man's skin— rather, it seemed to be pushing against some invisible, malleable barrier, which he failed to pierce his arm through entirely.
The white-clothed bastard had turned into the punch, making it seem like he had been struck despite no damage occurring to his body whatsoever. His beaming red gaze smirked back at Accelerator.
Sensing that staying here an instant longer was dangerous, he tried pushing away and retreating— but the Esper groaned as he felt something tight wrap around and grip his wrist, completely bypassing his Reflection and preventing him from escaping.
"…Nice punch." Stratovarius remarked. "My turn."
Cracking his neck and pulling back his fist, he responded to Accelerator's assault with a massive haymaker directly to the First-Ranked's stomach.
He managed to bring his arm up to guard, but he winced in pain as he felt his forearm shatter underneath the pure, raw energy of the man's attack.
It transferred to the rest of his body, sending a dreadful chill down his spine as he was once again sent careening back down helplessly into the earth.
Luckily, unlike the white warrior's punches, regular elements couldn't get past his Ability, so he crash-landed without any further injury.
It didn't make his situation any less shitty, however.
'I hate to admit it, but…'
He bit his lip as he held back the intense pain coming from his left arm. He could tell the ulna bone in his forearm had entirely shattered, leaving little room for him to move his left hand at all.
'I think I'm on the ropes, here…'
As he got to his feet, he was forced to simply let the limb hang helplessly as he watched Stratovarius hover down toward him.
The white warrior broke into an amused smile. Despite the pain he was inflicting on Accelerator's body, he was having genuine fun. "You know, Accelerator, you could very well easily just cut your losses and retreat. My orders are to simply prevent you from entering Avignon, after all.
Although…"
The two of them scanned their intentions through each other's eyes.
"…Something tells me that's not exactly your style, is it?"
The First-Ranked rubbed the blood off his chin and scowled. "You're damn right."
"Heh." The man chuckled. "But even so, what can you do? Even with all your power, you cannot hope to bypass my own. Having a taste of your own medicine doesn't feel very good, now does it?"
"…You shut the fuck up." Accelerator spat. "You don't know the first damn thing about me."
"Sure I do." Stratovarius crossed his arms. "Strongest in Academy City, can control vectors, was experimented with and isolated as a child, was responsible for ten-thousand deaths in the dastardly Level 6 Shift projec—"
"SHUT UP!"
With a rageful stomp of his foot, he broke apart the rock and dirt in front of him, immediately forcing them to break the sound barrier and beyond as he fired thousands upon thousands of earthen bullets directly at that white bastard.
Any human would turn to naught but red goo on the floor after an attack like that.
Even a powerful mage would find it hard to react to an attack of that speed.
And yet—
"—And to top it all off, you're just a screaming, whining kid who was given more power than he can handle and just wants to be left alone. Right? I got that right, didn't I?"
"…"
'…Well, one thing's clear. He did his homework on me.
Which means he knows all my damn tricks…fuck…!'
He really was on the ropes. Both physically, and psychologically. The enemy knew his history, meaning any tricks he tried to pull would be worthless.
'So how…can I…?'
"Well, now that it seems I've broken your spirit, let's see if I can break your body next."
The man of Stratovarius hovered higher into the air. As he snapped his fingers, Accelerator gasped as the ship that the bastard commanded had moved— from high amongst the clouds, to just over the treeline.
Far too close for him to evade in any way.
If he tried to run, he'd just be hunted down.
There was no way to harm his enemy. Without understanding the logistics behind his power, there was no way to reflect any of the attacks. Alternatively, the enemy could harm him in every way possible, knowing how his Vector Manipulation worked from the inside-out.
"Dam…mit…"
Stratovarius smirked, and raised up his arm. The ship shifted into translucency, loading its dozens of cannons to turn him into paste on the forest floor.
"This is the end of the road, Accelerator."
He lowered his arm.
The cannons fired.
And death…
"Manifest yourself—!"
…did not call Accelerator's name.
He grunted as he heard the slam of something metallic crash directly in front of him, and a flash of a black-clad feminine silhouette of a person that looked strangely familiar.
Yet, once her voice rang out, who she was became all-too clear.
The iron spheres launched from their billowing canons.
Yet in their way would stand an eternal castle of chalk and snow.
"Lord…CAMELOT!"
Before his eyes grew a great azure barrier. One that heals all wounds and grudges; a glorious homeland of a utopian nation from centuries past.
The castle walls of blue and white stood firm. The assault upon the fortress proved useless as Stratovarius' cannonfire was absorbed, and completely negated by the walls of chalk.
After all, it was a Noble Phantasm based on will. As long as the user held absolute determination, the wall's strength was utterly, entirely unrivaled.
Accelerator locked his eyes on the back of the raven-haired hero that had jumped in his way to save her.
Clad in a black, skin tight suit, hefting a great cross shield that protected both of them from all harm.
"You're…"
'…Tachie. That's her name, right?'
The one that had opposed him, and later allied with him and Rider during the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Academy City's Guardian. For some reason, she had been called outside of its walls— likely to deal with the same emergency he was.
The cannonfire faded, and only then did Tachie lift her shield and fade the bounded field.
The First-Ranked was the first to speak out.
"…Thanks."
In response, the Demi-Servant shook her head, and refused to turn so she could keep a direct eye on their mutual enemy. "No. The thanks will come when the fight is done, and…"
They both gazed up at the white-clad warrior…whose face was filled with an emotion that Accelerator did not expect from an arrogant bastard like him.
Surprise. Astonishment.
And sprinkled in between his gaping mouth, he could tell there was an iota of fear.
"You're…you're…!"
The man lowered to the ground, his feet actually touching the upheaved earth.
Just based from his reaction, Accelerator put together that—
'They know each other? How?'
"…Well, you're not exactly him, but…those eyes…that shield…answer me, girl— how do you possess his power?!"
Tachie picked up her shield, and began marching valiantly forward.
Stratovarius watched as her one visible eye gleamed— shifting from a beady red to a shining gold.
…the same color as the mortal who he once called his archrival.
"So you did your research on Accelerator, but not on me, hm?" Tachie spoke— though she could tell the words coming out of her mouth were not entirely her own.
It was as if some greater, supernatural force was temporarily hijacking her body. However, due to that same force being wholly benevolent toward her and her wellbeing, she allowed him to influence her body and her tongue.
"I've become a Heroic Spirit. A name great enough to enter the Throne, and to be immortalized in human history. In other words, I have become the very opposite of what you represent, Vampire."
Accelerator shuddered at the last word Tachie spoke.
'…So that's what I've been fighting, all this time…?'
Suddenly, the fact that he had been struggling all this time made perfect sense.
"I'm sure you know of the Holy Grail War. A ritual that summons Heroic Spirits as Servants to fight for mages and claim a false Grail…I, however, am not like those Servants. No Holy Grail was needed to bring me into existence— rather, what brought me to this world was the city of science itself.
And the anchor…is me. My name is Tachie, Academy City's Guardian."
She slammed her unbreakable shield into the earth, causing the ground to shudder as she pointed its end at the vampire before her.
"…So you've come back to life…" Stratovarius muttered. "…What fate is it that we'd meet again, huh, Knight Galahad?"
Tachie grinned darkly. "Indeed. I can't wait to pulverize your face into the dirt again. This time, it won't be for the sake of my King…we'll be doing it for ourselves.
Now, vampire…as a knight yourself, I believe you have a duty to tell us your true name. Spit it out, Ancestor."
Stratovarius's crimson eyes twitched, but he seemed to relent and clear his throat. "…Very well."
He snapped his fingers. The massive wooden ship behind him shimmered into full existence, its cannons smoking from the rounds they had fired.
"…I am Eighth of the Twenty-Seven Ancestors. The White Knight of Blood…and the Demon of Stratovarius.
My name is Fina. Your final duel will be with me, Galahad."
A/N:
I really feel like I came back into form with this chapter. Lots and lots of action— that's the kind of writing I enjoy the most.
I hope you did, too. If you have any theories, thoughts, concerns, etc., please leave a review, they're very much appreciated.
The end of this entry is just on the horizon— now, I hope to run toward it as best as I can, without much delay.
I'll see you all soon!
Next Chapter: "Black Night Neardark" (November 20th, hopefully)