Ryuunosuke was a man who only had one purpose in life. The very thing that made him tick to this day. That being, to see all the 'cool stuff' that made life even worth living.
Blood. A person's guts. Their beautiful screams of agony. The way his guests' mouths open wide in agony. Their eyes bulged as if they would pop. The wonderful twitching their flesh made when it was cut open to reveal all the good stuff inside them. Just waiting to be taken out and turned into wonderful centerpieces. Mwah! A work of art.
'And now, I have a freakin demon in my house.' Ryuunosuke could barely contain a squeal. Who would have guessed that some dusty old book would hold relevance and a spell that could summon the devil himself.
After all, what else could a dark colored being with ghost-like features be? An angel? Ha! Because even Ryuunosuke could tell Assassin, or Number 96 as he called himself, was no good guy.
"Just a shame he doesn't seem interested in my interests." With a sigh, Ryuunosuke patted a small head next to him. "Would have been great if we could work together, comment on one another. Don't you agree?" The head, with no body, said nothing at all. It simply bled on the couch cushions with a terrified expression, of agony one might add, on their face.
Kid was a good boy. He made wonderful sounds when Ryuunosuke slowly got the saw and, well, he learned his lesson. Bone was harder than it looked to cut through. Man he left such a mess. Embarrassing.
Still, he could clean up later. At the moment, Ryuunosuke was interested in more important things.
Beep!
"Oh. Popcorns ready!" Quickly, Ryuunosuke left the couch and grabbed his finished popcorn, then went back to the living room. With the television on, Ryuunosuke now waited for the moment of truth. According to his buddy, he was going to make some fine noise later. Enough to make the news.
"Just gotta wait and see what he did." Giggling, Ryuunosuke relaxed, adjusted his sitting position, and gave another pat to the small head. Life was good.
In another time and place, a dimension governed by its own laws, there were worlds that held beings similar to phantasmals of this one. Creatures that were born out of humanity's mind or soul, or already existed before the primate species crawled out of the mud.
These creatures, these spirits, held a unique power of their own. Where the strongest of them could interfere with the real world itself if they so desired it. Yet only the truly exceptional spirits could summon out what could only be described as 'duplicates' of themselves. Other 'halves' one might even say.
Number 96: Dark Mist, Servant Assassin, was one of those exceptions.
"Hm?" Looking up, a young man noticed his shadow had been entirely engulfed by something else. Looking up, he wondered if maybe a cloud was in the way.
His face was met with a large dark foot which proceeded to crush him into the ground. Blood burst from his body as he was squeezed between the concrete sidewalk and the foot that fell on him like a boot to a cockroach. With the only thing left of the man being his torn arm that fell somewhere on the street.
The rest was simply smushed on the cracked concrete, reduced to paste.
The immediate change in atmosphere did not go unnoticed by those nearby. From the sight of blood splattering on the ground, the nearby pedestrians falling over, to drivers on the street panicking as they crashed into one another in panic, the mood having turned into another direction rapidly. One everyone noticed as countless felt a cold shiver at the source of it all.
Everyone in the vicinity also felt themselves freezing in place. Movement stilled while honking cars on the street that had crashed from being damaged, where the drivers inside that weren't knocked out felt themselves shiver in cold sweat. Only those who had been knocked out from crashing didn't feel a thing.
Whether they were the lucky ones or not is unknown.
Though they were at least fortunate to not see the source of this small disaster as it finally made its full presence known. Standing tall, the pressure it gave off made it clear it wasn't human. With shaking legs, those who had the courage looked up to see just what had fallen near them, just what was giving off such a dangerous pressure. They then saw what could only be described as inhumane itself.
It had a large maw, with jaws extended wide open with some form of inky black darkness replacing the throat. With teeth bigger than the average sized human itself. Its body is practically covered in dark armor with the same inky black substance connecting its arms and legs, with claws ending at the hands and a long tail behind it. With glowing red flames that acted as eyes above the jaw, with a symbol in the shape of the number 96 right at the top.
It then looked down at the humans that gazed upon it, not even knowing, or caring, of the blood seeping out from its foot where it crushed the first human. For why would it-
"Ahhh!"
-when it could just crush another on purpose this time around.
Without even giving the humans a chance to react, let aside comprehend what they were even seeing, the monster before them snatched one of the watching humans as fast as a cheetah, lifted them up like they were a child, then immediately crushed them in its clawed hands. The pressure it put on them made them pop like a balloon. Blood bursting from the head, escaping their mouth and eyes, then tossed the dead body over its shoulder before it screeched aloud to everyone in the vicinity.
Needless to say, everyone nearby instantly began screaming and running upon seeing that little display.
"Hahaha!" With Number 96 watching from above in sadistic joy, a grin stretching across his face as he saw his other-half screeching as loud as it could before stomping across the street and grabbing any humans in its path, killing them on the spot. One human in a car tried to drive away in panic. The car screeched in reverse to make its getaway attempt. His other half proceeded to walk towards the car before it could leave, lifted its foot, then stomped through the windshield and killed the person then and there.
"Independent Summoning. What a lovely gift." Number 96 gleefully said as his other half began reaping chaos on the foolish human population that assumed they could continue their day as if the past incidents had been nothing. Watching as his dear other-half lifted a car with a family of three inside, then threw it into a café where the humans inside had been a bit too slow to escape.
The sound of metal meeting flesh was most delightful as the bodies were scraped on the ground from the tossed vehicle. As for the humans inside…
Boom!
The car blowing up in a fiery heap made it clear the family inside would burn to death.
"To think, what needed a duel disk can now be done with a Noble Phantasm." How lovely this world provided him. To think, he could summon what could be described as his more violent, monstrous half, into existence like so. The part of him that held none of his cunning or sadistic tendencies, but his nature to wreck chaos across anybody that crossed its path.
That was the part of him now released onto the human populace, which considered any living being in front of it a threat to be terminated. And without the 'rules' that normally kept him and his other-half from just outright attacking people without waiting for the next turn, here, there was no need to wait. He could just act.
With the humans who thought they were safe now realizing that was far from the truth. Now all Number 96 needed to do was just wait and see what fool would come to try and save the day. Rider? One of the other Servants? Whoever it was, they can either do nothing or show up and confront him and his other half.
Then…the real fun will begin there.
It didn't take long for both Irisviel and Rider to know trouble was around. If anything, it wouldn't be a surprise if any magus in the city didn't feel it.
Because if it wasn't the people screaming loud enough to be heard a block away, the massive roar and magical energy signature gave it away instantly. One that left Irisviel utterly baffled at what was going on.
"Did…did someone just release their Servant?!" In broad daylight at that! Yet that shouldn't be possible. Nobody would actually do it. It went against everything any self-respecting magus was taught.
The sound of an explosion said otherwise.
As panicking people rushed past them Rider took action.
"It's not a Servant." Taking her sword out without regard for the people around them, even if they were running, Rider took a stance. More focused on other matters than a little exposure, she concentrated on what she felt where after a bit, she said seriously, "I can sense a signature. Two of them. A Servant and…something else." Something that felt like a Servant, but wasn't at the same time.
Not that it mattered, as this was a clear threat that was making itself known. One that most assuredly cared not for upholding the masquerade and secrecy that all magus upheld. Whatever was doing this, it clearly wanted attention.
"I'll be back."
Realizing what Rider meant, Irisviel held out her hand. "Rider, wai-"
Rider shot forward. Already she was in the air and landed on the side of the building before hopping to the next one, then the next. While a few humans might have noticed this, seeing as they were running, they didn't put much thought into this either.
Irisviel thought otherwise.
"Uhhhhh." One day. She couldn't have one day to relax herself and have some ordinary simple fun. Yet Irisviel supposed asking for such a thing was too much considering she is in a war. Still, the situation wasn't good if a Servant was attacking in the open, with Rider about to join the fray without considering the consequence, then this could really cause problems for Kiritsugu down the line.
"I need to call him." Realizing she couldn't act on her own properly, Irisviel went to find a phone. Hoping that Rider would be alright. Because whatever was causing this, it couldn't be good.
"Ruaaagh!" Lifting another car, one where the two occupants inside were too late to get out, Dark Mist aimed it at the running crowd and tossed it. Hearing the explosion the car made as it slammed into the ground and burst into flames, with the humans too close either pierced by shrapnel or crushed beneath it.
Giving another roar, Dark Mist gazed down at all the weak humans that ran from it. At the way they scrambled over one another in order to survive. With not a single one even attempting to fight it.
Its other-half, simply watching in a fit of laughter while doing nothing. It made sense. After all, Dark Mist held the real power while its more humanoid other-half was just the thinker. The planner. And whatever its other-half's plan was, it didn't care either.
With a snarl, Dark Mist simply continued to attack the humans without regard for collateral damage. Merciless as it lifted a human and threw him into a building where they splattered all over it. All while feeling nothing but contempt over them.
These were the beings that its propagator, Astral, wished to protect? That Number 39 defended with its mighty shield? With red eyes, Dark Mist noticed one human shoving another person aside to run. The person they shoved, a small girl who slammed into the ground. Countless people then ran atop her, their feet stomping on her body, none even stopping nor caring that they were killing the girl.
"Ruaagh!" It cared not for the girl. It cared not for the people it killed. Why should it? Just looking at their actions made it clear to it that the humans weren't worth protecting, let aside showing concern. Its Number brethren, those who chose to side with humanity, were clearly mistaken in siding with them.
And to think, it was also these humans that called it and its brethren monsters. Acting oh-so superior whenever they summoned them for their little card games, as if they were better than them. Better than the Numbers.
Grabbing a human male, Dark Mist stared at the human in its claws. Watching the way they weep and beg to be spared. Snot and tears streaming down their face, pathetically, hands clasped in prayer.
Dark Mist crushed their chest with a small squeeze, killing them in an instant.
No. These humans weren't better than the Numbers. Better than it. They were just walking pieces of flesh that could do little unless they had the power of another helping them. But otherwise, they were just mere garbage.
With a swipe of their claws, two humans were eviscerated while its tail wrapped around a truck, dragging it on the ground towards another group of fleeing humans. It then stomped towards a third group and shrieked, leaning down and scooping them all and tossing them into its inky black maw.
Their screams muffled by the substance within it, their bodies disintegrating as their life force, their souls, were utterly consumed as 'food' for it. Of course, as humans, they didn't provide much in terms of mana. Not that it needed to eat them in the first place, it just wanted to kill them. No more than that.
As Dark Mist continued to eliminate the scum all around it, it then stopped when it felt something. A magical signature of some sorts that felt rather strong.
'Number?' Dark Mist thought for a moment, claws shivering in excitement. Its own maw actually widening just a bit to look like a smile. It then turned where it sensed the magic signature, which seemed to be coming from above. Yet when it looked up, it didn't see anything but a dot whic-
"Die!"
An arc of wind slammed against it followed by a strong force slamming against its 'head' that made Dark Mist fall on its back. The street breaking under its weight as Dark Mist 'blinked' at the position it was in.
Before it could stand up, it felt something small land atop of it. Followed by the view of a small figure in some kind of armor with a sword, reminiscent of one of its brethren, the Numbers. Number 12?
Narrowing its eye, it was then Dark Mist realized that no, it wasn't Number 12. Or any of the other Numbers it knew in general. Instead, it was a human.
"Graaa!" One it would kill for daring to make it fall.
Rider couldn't deny that she was a bit unsure when looking at whatever…whatever this thing was.
As it stood up, Rider leaped back to avoid falling off. While doing so, behind her visor she narrowed her gaze. So this was the second magic signature she felt. But as she told the weak woman, it wasn't a Servant. It was something else altogether.
Some kind of creature that made even the more intimidating machines sent against Karma look like a joke. It was also something she never faced before.
"...no matter." Lifting her blade, Rider gave a small smirk. Feeling just a bit excited at the thought of facing such a creature. The creature, as if detecting her mood, immediately shrieked in a deathly wail. Then rushed at her with its claws out, lifting one up and then bringing it down like a hammer.
Hopping backward, the claw smashed into the ground and sent pieces of the street all over. Yet it wasn't through yet. It's other claw, it sent it forward where to Rider's surprise, its claws stretched forward like tendrils, all aimed directly towards her. A challenge.
"Ph." To the weak. The tendrils, which threatened to pierce her armor and flesh, came in with only a few feet before they made contact. Then, at a rapid pace, Rider simply moved.
Swish!
The wind itself seemed to be sliced apart, as Rider slashed threw both it and the tendrils. The creature, as if realizing this, shrieked as it pulled back and saw its tendrils had been sliced into small bits. Its flaming eyes glew even brighter, its own mouth bubbling in rage.
Rider took that chance to run forward to its right leg, where she then slashed at the ankle, in hopes to slice off her opponent's leg. Yet to her shock, her sword, which could cut through even the strongest of metal alloys, didn't even nick the armor of the creature. Instead, her sword flew out of her grasp after making contact with it.
"Wa-!" She was too late to see the tail slam against her chest, sending her packing onto the ground and grinding against it. Stunned, Rider blinked behind her visor as she sought to concentrate on her surroundings.
Turning her head, she then saw something right by her. A person.
Clicking her tongue, Rider was about to tell them to leave when she paused. Eyes widening when she realized…that wasn't a person.
It was a corpse.
One where the right side of its face had been torn off with the skin red and raw, with bits of bone poking out. A victim of Number 96: Dark Mist's rampage against the humans. It was…the first time Rider saw such a thing. Blinking, Rider felt something in her stomach bubbling. Something nasty that made its way to her mouth, full of disgust.
"Gruagh!" Only for these feelings to be pushed back when Rider sees something dark falling right towards her. Gritting her teeth, Rider rolled out of the way just as the creature's foot made contact with the ground, reducing it to rubble while the force of the blow created enough backlash to send her tumbling into a car this time. It dented when she slammed into it, honking loudly from impact.
Adjusting herself, Rider turned and saw the creature looking directly at her. But instead of wildly attacking her, she realized instead it was using this time to grab something. A vehicle.
It lifted it up and threw it at her. In an instant Rider ran to the left, avoiding it as the car crashed into the building. Screeching, the creature wasn't giving up. Its arms stretched as each hand grabbed a vehicle and tossed them to Rider to see if it could get a lucky hit. Where, unfortunately for Rider, the creature had plenty of ammo to use and pick up on from the empty streets.
With her sword gone, Rider was forced to dodge each tossed vehicle lest she take damage from it. While her armor was made to handle immediate impacts, a direct blow could still hurt her. However, the creature threw too slowly, as if it were a clunky old machine that hadn't been maintained well. Not to mention the way it clumsily tossed them meant Rider could actually see where it would fall. Being much faster gave her quite the advantage.
'I just need to get my sword.' While still surprised by the creature's armor, Rider concluded she could just strike at the other parts of it. Like those red flames that should be their eyes. Or the strange black substance that seemed to be holding its body together. Admittingly, Rider wasn't quite sure what part to attack, considering this thing wasn't even a human. Still, something had to work against it.
Noticing her sword, Rider ran to get it to make her move.
"Guh." Only to trip against something else. Falling embarrassingly on her face, Rider growled and turned to see what she hit.
Only to be met with the torn upper half of an old man whose face was one of agony with empty eyes.
"..." Her body going cold, that feeling from before came again. The disgust. The repulsion. Quickly Rider attempted to push them away. This was a battle for crying out loud, she couldn't let herself be distracted by such-such…ridiculous matters.
Even so, her eyes couldn't quite leave the dead body. Or even those around it, as Rider soon realized it wasn't just the old man there. All around, seeped in red, the broken bloody street was filled with countless dead bodies.
Men. Women. Young. Old. All sorts of bodies were there in desecrated wrecks. With Rider noticing some areas looked as if a human had been splattered and grinded across it as if they'd been rolled over. Or scraped against leaving behind torn clothing and bits of flesh all across the street.
"..." Her throat felt sick. Something in her stomach was rising, as if she needed to spit something out. All while the urge to look away started to overcome her. Needing to look at something else, anything else instead of the defacement on the street here.
"Gruagh!" Her actions didn't go unnoticed by the creature. Claws snatched her up, pulling her in where with a yelp, Rider came face-to-face with the beast that caused all of this. Red flaming eyes meeting her own, with its open maw looking much wider as its teeth seemed to wiggle as if they had life on their own.
Realizing the situation she was in, Rider immediately began to try and escape the beast's grip. As a Sky Striker, Rider held immense strength that surpassed humanity in more ways than one. Her being capable of surviving Dark Mist this long was a testament to that.
"Grrrr." Unfortunately for Rider, what she failed to realize was that similar to her, the creature, Dark Mist, was also a being that surpassed human strength. While Dark Mist was not the strongest of the one-hundred Numbers, it was still a Number with great power. One with the power to easily kill humans as if they were bugs to be stepped on. And while the insolent pest in its grasp wasn't a common bug like the rest, she wasn't capable of escaping its grasp either.
Tightening its grip, Rider felt her chest being crushed. Gasping, she could feel her armor actually cracking under the strain of the creature's strength. Not even her rival, Raye, could cause this much damage.
'N-Need to e-escape!' Putting more strength into herself, Rider tried to push the claws around her aside. Where one could see some progress as the claws around her were slowly being pushed back.
With a growl, Dark Mist merely just wrapped its other claw around her and began squeezing even together with both hands.
"Ga-aahhh." The result of any progress became lost, as Rider felt herself once more put back in her original position. Eyes widening with her teeth digging into her lower lip as she felt the pressure on her bring forth pain across her body. The life being squeezed out of her as she felt her both her armor and bones strain under the creature's death grip.
Her own vision began to darken. Slowly she was going unconscious, the result of all the pressure on her body, her chest, making it more difficult to even breathe properly. Even so, Rider struggled to keep herself awake. Knowing that if she was knocked out, that'd be the end of her. Where soon after she would be…be…
'Be…' Rider's eyes then looked down, pupils shrinking. '...like them?'
All around her, she saw bodies.
Bodies that had been squashed, burnt, pierced with shrapnel and debris, reduced to paste with only their clothes intact, and so much more. Thinking about it, Rider didn't bother giving the bodies a single glance when she first arrived here. She simply came to kill the creature under the belief she could just make progress in the Holy Grail War. Even if she exposed herself.
But now…
'I-Is this…how humans…die?' A thought began entering Rider. A thought she tried to hold back, but couldn't. Her eyes wandered to the bodies, the corpses, all around her. Then, they wandered back to the creature that seemed to cackle as it was crushing her to death.
It was there the thought of her own body joining the rest of the bodies here came to Rider's mind.
'...' A gasp escaped her lips while her eyes expression slowly warped into that of fear. An emotion she didn't think she'd feel again since Zard made that threat against her, after electrifying her 'sister' into submission.
Yet even the fear she felt then felt small compared to the fear she was feeling now. To die like the other humans like this? To be slowly crushed with her body turned to a mangle wrecked? That…that shouldn't be how humans died.
…right?
'...no.' Rider thought. "N-No." She then said aloud, groaning. Under panic, Rider realized if this kept going on, she would become one of those ruined corpses among many. Caused by a creature that knew no mercy, knew no sympathy. Under its strain Rider swore she could hear some kind of laughter followed by noise from above. But none of that mattered, none of it did.
With a single-minded determination to not end up like all the others around her, Rider put even more effort into escaping. Her own Sky Striker Ace Noble Phantasm now tangentially working alongside hysterical strength to escape her current situation. With a grunting growl, Rider put as much effort as she could in pushing back the claws around her, refusing to submit to her own death.
"!" Where Dark Mist, for once, actually expressed a form of shock.
What should have been a slow death for the insolent human, soon became one reversed as the human actually began to push back against its own grip. That shouldn't have even been possible.
"Uhhhhh." Yet her determined grunts said otherwise, as it was now Dark Mist straining to put her back in her place. Unable to contain her for much longer at this rate.
"Hrrrr." In that case, it wouldn't. "Gruagh!" Deciding it couldn't let her live, Dark Mist zoomed its face in as it decided to simply devour her whole instead of squeezing her to death. So long as she died, it didn't matter how it did it. With Rider too late to realize this change of tactic as she saw the creature's maw and teeth ready to consume her whole and absorb all that she was.
"Back-Up Rider!" Only to be slammed by a force as strong as Number 51 directly on the head, making it let go of its prey who fell onto the ground.
"Gruagh!" As it shrieked from the attack, Rider simply gasped and took in the fresh air, as much as she could. Coughing as saliva escaped her mouth from the near-death she just experienced. Hand resting on her chest, Rider turned to see just what had even happened.
"Well, hello there." It was then Rider suddenly felt another magic signature. Only this time, unlike the creature, it was indeed a Servant she felt. One who smiled at her and brought down his hand to her, cape rustling against the wind as Saber gave a calm expression to Rider, with not a hint of deception coming from him. Acting almost like...
"Mind if I join?"
Raye.
Honestly, Rider is pretty good as a Servant here. But her reckless attacking and inability to plan ahead finally caught up to her here. Sure, she did well one on one against Dark Mist, but, unfortunately for her, Dark Mist proved just a bit too much for her. Not because it was superior to her of course, even with its protection from being destroyed by non-numbers, but because it was more brutal and a being Rider isn't used to facing. She faced a single human and machines, not monsters that literally came from another dimension.
Plus, her seeing a bunch of dead bodies really spooked her here. In the end, unlike what Irisviel and even Kiritsugu think, Roze isn't some emotionless human in general. She just never had a chance to experience actual emotions. And here, she experienced an emotion every human has. A fear of an ugly death.
Thank goodness Saber came in. But how? Why? Guess we'll find out soon enough. And to note, the battle between Rider and Assassin was less than five minutes to boot. Anyway, until next time.