At this moment there are four Servants on the battlefield; Saber, Ride, and two as of yet unidentified Servants. All of them now in one place with each and every single one of them now put in a situation where the current state was fight or die.
'An amusing turn of events.' In truth though, there were actually five Servants at the moment. Though unlike everyone else, Lancer opted to stay out of the situation. After all, she was but a lamb of God, a delicate woman. She had no fame to her name, why, she was a powerless girl against the mighty foes that she witnessed before her on this construction site.
"Hehehe." With a giggle, Lancer continued to watch as the newcomer joined in, keeping an eye out in spiritual form to see if anymore would join in on this battle royal. If things were this exciting already, then what else was to come later on?
That was something Lancer couldn't wait for.
Things had already been bad enough when Saber was forced to engage Rider. But had it been just her, Saber felt he could at least handle the girl to a degree. Then the unknown Servant came, bearing the strangest appearance that wasn't even humanoid. If anything, it looked more like a tool.
Then that went away when another Servant arrived.
Saber didn't know her class, as she had a sword like him, yet her maddening appearance made Saber wonder if she was a Berserker as his Master explained to him, a Servant of madness.
"Ughhh." Because she appeared as a contender for one. The look in her eyes said it all, especially when not even a second after she arrived she lunged right toward the metal slime thing, howling as she lifted her sword and brought it down. Had a normal person been on the receiving end of this, there wouldn't have been any remains at all, just a stain of blood on the pavement.
DING!
So it came to the surprise of Saber, and even the mad swordswoman, when her attack did nothing. No, not exactly nothing. Instead, what it seemed to do was make the Servant go splat instead of cutting right through it as expected. Like a popped water balloon.
It was there Saber wondered if that was it. An enemy servant (if that thing had even been one) defeated already?
If only.
Not even a second after splattering the thing, the goopy liquid that composed it surged upward like a geyser. It's form then warping and twisting until suddenly, it transformed into a humanoid shape.
"!" One in the form of its attacker. Saber watched how it now donned an appearance similar to the strange woman, only more metallic with a reflective surface. Why, the woman herself actually seemed to be surprised, taking a step back, almost as if-
"Die!" Then Saber remembered, this was a battlefield. Taking one's attention away is akin to getting an arrow lodged onto your back. With his previous foe's declaration snapping Saber out of his daze, he turned around and blocked a strike that would have cut through his chest like butter.
"Ugh!" Not that it stopped him from slamming into the nearest container. The force of the blow caused him to leave a large dent into the container's side, all while Saber gripped his blade tightly. Having nearly let go of his weapon from the impact.
"Huh!" Then to his surprise, the girl came in once again. Her eyes sharp through her visor, holding her blade up and swinging it down despite not even being near him.
Woosh!
Not that she needed to as her attack created an arc of wind that came forth and flew right at him. Instincts blaring, Saber desperately rolled away as the arc reached him, easily slicing through the container itself and leaving it into two pieces. He shuddered at the thought of that being him.
It was then skewered from multiple mercury tendrils. Originating from where the mercury 'swordswoman' struck at the original by reverting its 'hand' into tendrils to strike at a distance, only for the attack to be dodged. The original huffed before she ran right at the mercury copy of her, then swung her blade down to bisect the foe in front of her. A loud clang was heard, as her blade didn't even make a dent onto her mercury copy unlike before. As if it had gotten more durable.
Said copy then looked at her, dispassionately, only to then head butt her without warning, snapping the sword woman's head backward with a great deal of force. Unexpectedly, it did no actual damage to the swordswoman, not even leaving a bruise on the woman's face. Though it did reel her back from the blow, making the woman stumble back from being struck.
"Hra!"
"Ahh!"
She then heard a noise and the woman, servant Berserker, saw servant Saber running past her with Rider giving chase to him. Though as soon as the two girls locked eyes with one another, Rider took this chance and slashed her blade at Berserker, fully believing she could kill Berserker then resume her chase.
This forced the latter to lift her own blade, which Rider noted gave off an unnatural presence and smell, and clashed it against her own blade. Both women were unrelenting as they stared one another down.
"Look out!" Then Saber, now a safer distance away, called out to the girls, with Rider and Berserker turning and saw that the copy of Berserker wasn't just standing still. It had stretched both limbs and quickly grabbed both servants, lifting them with ease and restraining their limbs.
'Now my Servant, get rid of them,' commanded its master, with the strange metallic being obeying without question. With both Servants in its grasp, it tightened its grasp on its enemies, attempting to strangle them both to death as an anaconda does with its prey.
"Tch." With a click of her tongue, Rider glared as she felt the pressure building around her waist. With her limbs unable to pull free from this thing's grip, she couldn't use her sword to escape, making it impossible for her to cut herself free and avoid being strangled to death. Berserker on the other hand acted as if this was nothing, likely because it was nothing as Berserker simply spread her arms against the restraints and the mercury that surrounded her was torn apart like common rope, freeing her. Her copy actually stiffened a little from the absurd strength the original displayed.
"Haaaa!" Saber then came from behind with his own weapon and made an attempt to slash at the back of this creature. Cowardly as the move may seem, Saber didn't think this Servant held any notions of chivalry and respect.
Cling!
Not that it would be needed, considering the immediate failure of that attack. Like with Berserker from before, Saber found his attack did absolutely nothing.
"How-Ahhh!" Almost nothing anyway, as the mercury copy backhanded Saber with the back of its palm. Where the creature then shifted and turned into a copy of Saber himself for some reason.
"Big mistake!" Of course its transformation, whether involuntary or not, fully released Rider who used this chance to cut down the thing that held her. Yet she was unable to even do anything as Berserker shoulder-slammed her before she could attack. Berserker grunting as she then went to deal with Rider, switching targets in an instant. All while the mercury Saber copy chased down the actual Saber with its own blade alongside spiked tendrils that protrude from its back.
At this point, it was clear what was going on.
It was a free-for-all fight, where there were no allies, no friends, just enemies who didn't even know who to fight. With reckless attacks being unleashed on whoever was closest, and each servant switching from one opponent after the next with no actual progress being made between them all.
"Master!" With Saber really tired of it all as he avoided a few tendrils by batting them away with his sword, deciding to unsheathe his other weapon to parry the mercury blade his duplicate has. "Do you have any advice I could take?" Saber may have been a general in life, but he wasn't adverse to asking for aid.
"Maybe you shou-" If his Master had any plans in speaking further, Saber couldn't hear the rest due to a large sound Saber couldn't identify that sounded close to him. Looking up, he then saw a construction crane falling in his direction. Or a piece of it anyway, caused by Rider's attempt to cut Berserker in two who avoided it.
"Gah!" Saber yelled as he got out of the way. The same couldn't be said for his mercury copy though, that got crushed by the crane, pinned down by it and all the debris that fell with it . Any attempts at sighing in relief though were null when Saber saw Berserker coming right at him, now going for him.
"Shi-" Faster than he could speak, Berserker was right in front of him and decks Saber under his armor with a powerful punch. Saber's eyes bulged as he coughed up a great deal of blood from his mouth, with a rib or two cracked despite his protection.
"Don't ignore me," Rider then arrived and shouted, moving behind Berserker and attempted to stab her from behind. Though her shouting immediately alerted Berserker of Rider's presence, she twisted her upper body and simply held her sword in Rider's direction, blocking the poor sneak attack.
Using this distraction, Saber attempted to run, ignoring the sharp pain he felt from his chest. He only took three steps when Berserker, using the hand she had punched him with, just grabbed him by his neck, lifted him, then used him as a glorified boxing glove where Saber's back connected with Rider's torso. Letting go of him, both Saber and Rider launched away to a pile of rubble which exploded upon their impact while Berserker just huffed.
Nearby where the crane had pinned down the shapeshifting servant, a great deal of metal liquid was flowing through from underneath the pile and soon began reforming itself. It returned back into the original state it started out as when it first met the other Servants and observed its environment. The servant then noticed Berserker, unaware of its existence at the moment. Its tendrils launched right at her, aiming for the back with the idea it would pierce through it and come out Berserker's front side.
Yet, instead, not a single sharp-tipped tendril broke through her armor. All the Servant managed to do was just alert Berserker of its presence, making her turn her head and glaring at it. Lifting her sword, Berserker then growled.
"Tch." In the meantime, Kiritsugu who observed this fight could only growl ever so slightly. A contrast to his usual stern expression. More so when taking a look at Rider who was getting back up, yet looked as if she was ready to fight without thinking again. Gazing at Saber who immediately ran instead of fighting back.
'She just attacks whoever is in her sights with brute force and no strategy. With none of the others being any better.' For the other Servants, Kiritsugu noted that Saber kept playing defense against anyone that challenged him. Berserker just struck as if she was being commanded half-hazardly. With the fourth and unidentified Class Servant just automatically attacking the closest with little thought in how.
This was what Kiritsugu had concluded after the free-for-all battle began, watching how the mercury based Servant once more took on the form of the(likely) Berserker Servant with their blades slamming against the other.
'This needs to change.' It wasn't even five minutes in and this fight was just four individuals not using any form of strategy at all to take the opposition down. Kiritsugu has the strategy, but couldn't even use any of them due to Rider ignoring his commands to take the others down. Not even responding to him in the mental link.
"And at this rate, this will be going nowhere." Like watching a bunch of children attack each other without rhyme or reason. "Maiya, can you find any of the other Masters here?"
"No." Maiya admitted. "I can't find whoever's commanding them. What about Kayneth though?"
"He moved." Bitterness could be heard in Kiritsugu's tone.
When the free-for-all began, Kiritsugu admittingly got distracted by all four clashing into that mess. By the time he refocused on Kayneth's position, the man was gone. Considering the side of the building Kayneth had been on had a collapsed wall on it now, it was safe to say he moved for his own safety.
Gritting his teeth, Kiritsugu realized he didn't have a choice. If he wanted to win, then he needed Rider to start listening to him. No matter the cost.
Raising his hand, on the back of it are three Command Seals. The power to command a Servant with absolute obedience. It would be a waste…unless he used it right. One of the seals slowly shimmered. Kiritsugu whispering aloud, "Rider, by this Com-"
It was then Rider looked at him in that instant when he spoke. In spite of her face being covered, Kiritsugu felt the glare she was giving to him. A glare full of anger as in that moment's notice she then vanished.
"You." And was in front of him not even a second after. Her agility truly was top-ranked, all while her appearance practically gave off an air of anger as her hand gripped Kiritsugu and lifted him up forcibly by his neck. The Mage Killer showed a rare look of shock as he was unable to breathe.
It was confounding, that Rider was leaving herself open, revealing his location, and putting herself in a massive disadvantage. But through her mask Kiritsugu saw Rider just didn't care.
Instead, she leaned closer to Kiritsugu and told him one thing and one thing only. "Never give me a command like that again." A memory appeared in her. One of a girl that looked just like her.
"Aughhh!"
"This is how I control her."
One who screamed when forced to follow an absolute command. A command Kiritsugu had been about to do. Gritting her teeth, Rider said, "I will not go through something like Azalea did. Understood." It wasn't a question. It was a demand. One Kiritsugu couldn't even answer as Rider then slammed him into the nearby container.
A dent appeared with the blow knocking him out, darkness filling Kirtsugu's vision as his eyes closed. His earpiece falling out of his ear and hitting the ground.
"Kiritsugu? Kiritsugu!?" It seemed Maiya noticed something wrong. Not like Kiritsugu could inform her though. Rider merely clicked her tongue in annoyance, as if she found the entire endeavor she did boring. Where she then picked up the primitive device and told the other human one thing.
"I'm leaving." She then took hold of Kiritsugu and lifted him up, not even bothering to hear Maiya's words as she dropped the ear piece and stomped on it. Her mood soured and unwilling to fight anymore. Bitter at how the battle she experienced, as chaotic as it was, became ruined by bad memories of her 'sister' and 'father'. Like so, Rider left.
"What in the world?" Leaving Saber rather baffled at the entire thing.
One moment he had been running for his life. The next, Rider abruptly left, grabbed some human, then flew away from the battle. Was that human her Master, or an enemy? Still, her disappearing did give him some breathing room.
"Ruagh!" And enough time to then turn and immediately jump away from getting crushed by Berserker. Only to his surprise, it wasn't because she was after him.
Vam!
It was because she had been thrown across the field. Stepping forward, Berserker's metallic copy came out, looking unscathed and emotionless as before. Hearing movement, Saber immediately went into spirit form.
"What are you doing?" Waver, having been watching the fight safely, demanded answers.
"Staying out of this." Saber responded bluntly. "Apologies Master, but the two remaining here aren't exactly individuals I can take on easily." If anything, it'd be best if he just observed. "Maybe we can get hints of a weakness from this battle." From their link, Saber felt Waver ready to respond.
Berserker and the unknown Servant immediately clashed, drowning out any backtalk from his Master.
Both held their own blades, with both slamming them against the other. Restrained eyes stared at vacant eyes. Stepping back, Berserker made rapid movements with her sword in her attempt to cut the strange Servant down.
Her foe retaliated in kind. Matching her blow to blow. Narrowing her eyes, Berserker stepped further back and then kicked at the ground. Pieces of it were gouged out and dirt was brought up, attempting to blind her enemy.
Spikes burst from the small dirt cloud and slammed right into her.
"!" Into the few parts of her body that weren't armored. The tipped tendrils managed to press down onto her skin and make her flinch, as if someone was stabbing a sharp needle onto her body. An aura burst from her, strengthening her body momentarily and ensuring the enemy couldn't penetrate her body.
The tendrils slipped back but her foe didn't seem to mind. Instead, they moved forward and attacked using the same moves as her.
Yes, the exact same moves as her.
Observing closely while defending, Berserker realized that the strange Servant used the exact same methods she used earlier. Mimicking her movements but with no improvement. Making it surprisingly easy to predict and defend against. When the strange would-be mimic then leaned back and arched her shoulder, Berserker recognized that move as a lunge to stab the blade into her.
She allowed it.
The strange Servant landed a hit, its blade stabbing right into Berserker's midsection. It assumed the attack would tear through her armor, pierce her organs and go out her back. Such a blow would be fatal even for a Servant such as herself.
Splrrr.
But Berserker knew herself well. Even with her mind feeling…addled, as it was now, she knew herself. And she knew that after years of drowning herself in those vile creatures' blood, that her 'armor' was much stronger than her own regular skin. Which was saying something considering normal steel wouldn't even pierce her normal skin.
As such, the blade thrusted into her ended up doing nothing. If anything, the Servant, despite making no expression, did seem just the slightest confused when it found itself unable to move the blade a millimeter forward. It stepped forward, only to find its own feet incapable of getting the blade to penetrate her body. As if it were a child trying to move a brick wall with their bare hands.
Only said brick wall could fight back.
"Gru!" With a grunt, Berserker made contact with her copy by putting some extra oomph in punching her doppleganger's face. The copy of her own face distorted as the blow warped the metal surface and created a rather unflattering mold on the side of her copy's face.
Her copy was thrown back from the blow and landed heavily on the ground where it proceeded to stay there, unmoving as if it had given up. But soon enough, its surface rippled, where any dents and impressions were smoothed out making it clear it was 'healing' itself.
Growling, Berserker was immediately on top of her copy. Fists raised in an attempt to beat it down, coming down like meteors as the impact made a loud clanging noise. With her might, Berserker made numerous impressions as she did little to hold back.
Yet her copy showed no emotion. If anything, it didn't even seem to care that it was being beat down. Why would it?
"Hehe. An act of a brute." Hidden away, Kayneth could only sneer at the vain attempt this woman's actions were. Wasting her stamina on something that couldn't even feel pain.
Yes. Truly Kayneth had attained the perfect Servant. Obedient to his will. No backtalk. It was just Kayneth and Kayneth alone with a Servant-level familiar no different from his own mercury-based Mystic Code, Volumen Hydrargyrum. Metal Reflect Slime, Servant Caster!
'...In all honesty, I wonder if it was forced into the Class.' It would make sense, since Kayneth wasn't even sure how said Servant was even a Servant in the first place. It was a literal familiar. A golem of some sort. Though he did sense some kind of…will, of sorts, in it. Not to mention for reasons that baffled Kayneth, the golem actually had the Divinity skill itself somehow.
Still, setting such mysterious aside, Kayneth was glad to see that even for all that woman's strength her attacks were doing nothing. Once she tired herself out, Kayneth will have his Servant attempt to pierce her through again. He already noticed the armor she had on was as durable as it looked. But her skin, well, that last attack did seem to show promise seeing as how she reacted a bit faster in getting Caster away from her.
"So run her through." Kayneth demanded, where Caster's eyes blinked. Its torso rippled, something Berserker noticed. A thick metal pillar burst from the torso and rammed itself onto Berserker, sending her flying into the air before it retracted back into it. Getting back up, the Servant then watched as Berserker fell down onto the ground, heading towards her slowly.
Then Saber appeared from astral form.
"What?!" Waver screamed in Saber's head. "What are you doing?"
"To end this." While Saber was no bandit, in war he wasn't naïve to believe that fighting fairly and honorably would win a battle always, especially when some of his foes had been dishonorable monsters. While regrettable, sometimes one had to stab another in the back to ensure victory. Plus, he didn't think it'd be a good idea to let this strange Servant live.
Thankfully, despite knowing that this Servant was much more stronger than him, at least in terms of defense, he had a hidden move.
"Activate. Back-Up Rider." A passive Noble Phantasm that increased his Strength Stat to A if he desired to help someone. And he did want to help Berserker. Oddly, he couldn't see her as an enemy for the better or worse. Still, in this situation it helped him out.
Whissssh!
With his sword arcing across the air, Saber felt his strength grow temporarily, swinging his blade in hopes that he could break through the Servant's natural defenses as his blade made contact with the enemy.
CLING!
That hope went away when his sword made contact and actually cracked while only sinking a few inches deep into the mercury based Servant. Eyes widening as in that split second he realized he failed already. Immediately he let go of his blade and stepped back.
Shing!
A move that saved his life, as the Servant retaliated by releasing a wave of spikes from its back. Extending to turn Saber into a pincushion and riddle him with holes, forcing him to back off.
"Master!" Saber said as he then turned around and began to run. "Apologies, but I think we need to rethink a new strategy." He knew little of these new foes. But after this fight, now was the time to retreat and strategize.
"U-Umm, s-sure. Okay!" Elsewhere, Waver was already on the move. Probably for the best, since he didn't want his teacher finding him. "Besides, we….got enough info anyway. So m-move out!" Good enough for Saber as he entered spiritual form and vanished.
Caster just stared, as it formed into a copy of Saber while the spikes it released retracted back inside it. A sound is heard from behind, caused by Berserker who looked right at it as she was getting back up. It appeared as if the two were about to fight once more, as she materialized her blade for battle.
"L-Leave, Be-ku-rserker." Then, within Berserker's head, she heard the sound of her Master who didn't sound so well. As if he had just run a marathon and was out of breath, wheezing in her mind. "T-That's probably not…his Servant. Might be the girl in the armor? O-Or the guy with the swords perhaps. Ugh." She heard a cough. "J-Just go."
As a Berserker, she was powerful. But that also just meant she drained a ludicrous amount of mana. And while Berserker felt tempted to continue fighting, she obeyed. Her sword dematerializing as proof of that. Besides, as strange as this thing (Servant) was, it wasn't a dragon. It can be ignored.
Like Saber, Berserker then entered spiritual form and left, leaving Caster as the last Servant on the battlefield.
"Hahaha!" With Kayneth looking quite joyful at the results. "It seems I made all the others run like cowards! Proof of my greatness." Of his might!. As expected of him, Kayneth El-Melloi.
Forcing the other participants to run with their tails between his legs, proving his superiority to the garble below him. His only shame was that in his excitement he forgot about young Waver. "Well, no matter." Without a second though, Kayneth began to walk away. His mood, ever high. "I can always find him later." And when he did, he'd make Waver Velvet pay for his impudence. "Come Caster, let us go."
Caster obeyed, reverting to its usual form before reducing itself into a puddle and went off towards its master, leaving the ruins of the building behind. With the first battle of the holy grail war done, the Bounded Fields that had been set up would soon be taken down later on.
There were no winners here. If anything, this fight was just a large mess with all the participants unable to reveal their full might.
"Maybe next time things will be better." Lancer wanted to see more. Sitting alone, the woman smiled as she saw everyone leave. This was just the warm-up, the prelude before the showdown. All seven Servants existed, but soon, there would only be one.
Leaning back and feeling the cold breeze, Lancer tilted her head and asked, "So, what did you think of all this?"
In the shadows, a young man then appeared. He had been here this entire time, watching from start to end. With a grin, he turned to the site of battle and noticed the glorious destruction all around. Without making a sound, he took a large step forward as if to get a closer look.
He fell off the building he had stood on, plummeting to his death. A wet splat could be heard, indicating the man already died.
"Well, are you going to answer?" Yet Lancer didn't care. If anything, she didn't even seem to mind the death of the young man, as if he wasn't real. Instead, more focused on the spot where the young man had stood.
"It was interesting, all things considered." The spot where the unmoving shadow of the young man had supposedly made. In reality, Lancer never once noticed the young man, because she was focused on the real observer of the two, not the puppet of the shadow.
Rising, a form was then created. It appeared a bit masculine, with a rather deep voice, colored jet black with a black sclera, but a gold iris on his left eye. With markings across his face and body, colored red and green, the figure smiled at the aftermath of the battle.
Clearing his throat, the strange being then said, "I must say, this little 'war' is more interesting than I had assumed. I know my 'master' is rather pleased with all of this."
"Good for you." Lancer felt happy for the being. "It's always best if Servants such as ourselves have good relationships with our Masters." She smiled. "After all, how else can we help them walk the right path."
"Hah!" The figure scoffed. Making a mocking grin at Lancer. "Ah, yes. Help our Masters, hmmm. Then I suppose that means you've told your so-called Master of your real form, witch."
"..." Lancer kept smiling, as if she had no idea what the being meant. Said being rolled his eyes.
"Next time we meet, I'll be sure to kill you wench." Slowly dissipating, the seventh and final Servant made a mock bow. Chuckling as he said, "At least ensure when we meet again, you'll cast off that false form." His voice echoed off, and like so, he was gone, leaving Lancer alone.
Standing, the woman yawned before walking away. Her Master was probably confused, that the sight she allowed him to see was cut off just before she spoke to that charming entity. He was rather interesting. He wasn't some wraith, and felt more…exotic. Clenching her fist, Lancer giggled.
"And here I thought Solomon's little 'pet' was the only one to give the chills." That wasn't even mentioning the other unique and rather astounding Servants of this war. Such a shame Archer wasn't here, but it seemed the poor maiden was just conflicted on what to do. Well, Lancer supposed she could pray for the girl to be well and make a decision soon.
Otherwise, it would be dull if she fed her to her Holy Grail without a fight.
And done. And here we have a mess of a fight. Though I suppose it was to be expected.
Kayneth: A Servant with no real mind of its own.
Kiritsugu: A Servant that despises being commanded like a tool.
Kariya: A Servant that only cares for dragons while the Master only cares for Tokiomi.
Waver: A Servant that just wanted to make friends.
No wonder none of them could fight to their full potential. Because both the Servants and Masters can't communicate well to do so. Maybe the next few chapters can change that. Maybe.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this and like seeing the final Servant along with Metal Reflect's Slime Class identity. Oh, and just saying: Metal Reflect Slime was forced into the Caster Class because Berserker was already taken before it was summoned. As for why it has divinity, well…check the yugioh anime to see why. Until Next Time.