I was almost done with this one, why it came out so quickly.
The runway gave plenty of a clearing near the airport itself, the runway being 2 km wide. All planes were currently parked, none getting in the way. The light from the moon and stars were dimmer due to the overcast sky. The air felt still and tense like something was about to go down. A perfect ominous atmosphere for tonight.
Lancer stood atop a rippling red disk in the air. Next to him is Reisi, standing atop a platform of his blue aura deployed in the air. Both were around 500 meters over the enemy Master, who has yet to notice them. It's a good thing he's too inexperienced to sense Reisi due to the mana leaking from him due to his pact with Lancer.
"That looks like Grey King Seigo Ootori. Impossible, Ootori was said to have died in 1999 when Kagutsu dropped his Sword!" Reisi whispered to Lancer, not taking his eyes off the other Master. "You're certain he's our target?"
"It doesn't matter what supposedly happened, I can sense he has a Command Seal. He's our enemy."
"Do you sense another Master?"
"I don't. It's just him."
"Why? I thought we'd be fighting the Green King!"
"I don't know any more than you, except it's possible we're bein' played. Green and Grey may be allies. Alliances formin' isn't unheard of."
"This is completely unexpected. Do you detect the enemy Servant?"
"No. Whoever it is must've been sent to scout the area. I can't believe that happened before an expected fight. We should strike before we're seen. Also, Reisi..." Reisi leaned over so Lancer could whisper into his ear.
Without making a sound, the two dropped down, weapons drawn for a swift kill. Then Lancer's eyes briefly widened. At the same time, a black figure materialized right behind Tenkei and facing up at the two. Four knives were flung up at the speed of sound, two at each. Lancer blocked them all, leaving Reisi as the only one slashing down. The creature pulled out another knife and used it to block the saber. The Grey King pulled a revolver out of his robe without warning and pointed it at Reisi, only looking back to smirk. Reisi planted his feet on presumably Tenkei's Servant's face and kicked off, launching himself back. At the same time, blue swathed his saber and it was used to knock away the fired bullet.
"Nice reflexes, kid," the other King said, eyes narrowed. Reisi glanced to see Lancer at his side when he landed.
"Looks like your hunch was correct," the young King said.
"The enemy could be an Assassin Servant using a high rank of Presence Concealment. In that case it'd be completely invisible in spirit form even to a Servant."
The other figure remained at his Master's side. The black cloak fluttering around him made him look like an omen of death, a smiling pale moon mocking its enemies.
"So, the fool and his pet actually showed up." Tenkei said it not as a question but as stating a fact.
"Why did you show up?" Reisi asked without letting his guard down.
"Part of it is boredom. Another is that I really wanna take you down in particular."
"And why is that, Ootori?"
A chuckle from the older King. "Haven't heard that in 13 years. I'd prefer it if you'd call me Tenkei Iwafune. Or Mr. Iwa if you'd like." A grey Sword materialized in the sky without him budging a muscle. Fog began to build up in the clearing they all were in. "As for my reason, it's out of personal hatred. You Blue King never cease to make me wanna throw up. Try to make your struggles fun for me and Assassin."
"Fine. Just remember that you asked for it." A freezing field at -90 ͦC came from Reisi at the same time his Sword of Damocles materialized and encompassed the entire area in cold. Frost and chunks of ice covered the ground. Wisps of frosty air mixed with the rolling fog. Even if Tenkei's a King, he'll need to watch how long he lingers before he gets hypothermia. Reisi, being the Blue King, would be able to last almost twice as long before his internal body temperature even begins dropping. A smirk formed on Reisi's lips. "Quite a predicament, isn't this? Sure, you could retreat right now, however..." Curved walls of ice almost 5 meters thick rose from all edges of the clearing they were in and met 2.5 km above them in a dome. "...it looks as if you'll need to kill me first. Can you do it in time?" Lancer was shocked at how brutal his Master had suddenly become. The Servant learned from Seri that Reisi has no problem beating people up. But, unlike the demigod, he hasn't killed anyone yet, and never tried to incapacitate someone while using this kind of method. Does he even know what he'll be getting into?
Assassin pulled out four knives. "Easily -" He abruptly had to jump meters back when Lancer sliced down at him with a fanged grin.
"Don't forget I'm here! I won't let ya kill my Master!"
Tenkei looked around at all the walls and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Didn't think you had the balls to pull something like this."
"I admit I'm not normally this cruel, but you're another King and Master."
The Grey King pointed his gun at the ice and pulled the trigger. Several floating blocks of ice under half a meter thick and hardened to be as tough as steel were materialized in the bullet's path and were sacrificed in a glittering fireworks display of light blue and white but succeeded in weakening the bullet enough so when it hit the wall it did little damage, only a smoking dent in the crystalline Grey King sighed and lowered the gun but kept his finger on the trigger. "Kid, you do realize you'll exhaust yourself if you do this too many times. I mean, who knows how much stamina just making all this ice consumed."
"I know, but a non-Blue King or Servant won't last drilling a man-sized hole even halfway through that ice with me here." Defense is his forté instead of offense, which is more toward Mikoto's, and he refuses to just let it fall. But when it comes to endurance, his Servant is probably one of the best among any others in the Throne. Offense isn't his strong suit as much as survival is. In another War in another timeline, he held his own against quite possibly the strongest Heroic Spirit, keeping that golden sword-spamming bastard from his goal, for 12 hours straight before being killed!
Tenkei narrowed his eyes at Reisi and growled in frustration, raising his gun to the younger man this time. His fog seemed to thicken as his anger rose. "Goddamn ice king..."
Meanwhile, Lancer's assault forced Assassin back further. "A scent of sand? So you're just a dirty sandworm, huh? Ice is just frozen water and water droplets comprise fog. Isn't it too much for a type of bug like you?"
Reisi sighed. "Lancer, please don't continue to taunt the enemy."
Lancer turned his eyes to the King and grinned. "Or what? Not like a sandworm would be much - Whoa!" Three dirks were thrown at Lancer's face while he was talking, two at each eye and one at his throat, with accuracy rivaling an Archer Servant's. The demigod, not wanting to reveal his Personal skill against it, used his spear to deflect them when they were only 5 cm away. For some reason, it didn't surprise Reisi to see his Servant knock away knives thrown at the speed of sound at him while he's supposedly distracted. "Nice try, sandworm. But I'd advise not doing that again. You could be in for a nasty surprise. You can't hurt me with projectiles."
So the arrogant fool is bragging now? Time to fix that. Assassin was then attacking Lancer, who stood firm like a statue, from all directions. A normal person would have been killed immediately. But the blue-haired man easily turned away each dirk with a simple motion from his spear. Assassin gave up on that, landing 50 meters in front of the other Servant. How is this possible? The enemy is using such a long weapon, there's no way he could block all of them, and in dense fog! Assassin was actually shivering, and not from the cold. The other Servant had no clear intent to kill before, but he does now. The used dirks all dematerialized so they could be used right away again. He only has 40 and that assault nearly depleted him.
A single block of ice managed to knock Tenkei's bullet off-course. He noticed Reisi is being extra careful to not take damage. Is there a reason for that? "I'll never be free of overly idealistic idiots like you Blue Kings." The way he grumbled, it sounded like he's complaining to himself. "Just when I'm free from Habari, another shows up ten years later. Not long enough in my opinion...It's like being reminded of how stupid I was back then..."
Two more bullets Reisi deflected in time. "There's nothing wrong with who you once were; the issue is who the Kagutsu Incident forced you to become!"
"Heh, then it must've been a blessing in disguise."
Assassin jumped almost 15 meters back. 30 dirks were simultaneously launched at Lancer during the leap. It was too many at once for the spearman to deflect with his weapon like the other times, having no choice but to have his Protection From Arrows skill knock them away when they were only a centimeter away from touching and therefore reveal another thing he can use against the enemy. If Assassin really is a one-trick pony like the Blue Servant fears, this Servant may decide not to stick around. Then he wanted to kick himself. There's a wall of ice blocking escape that he completely forgot about in his joy at fighting another Servant, despite this Servant being some bug in the desert. The only way out is to kill Reisi and Assassin will need to manage to get through Lancer first. Sure, Assassin can phase through. But his Master can't. And Assassin would be one hell of a shitty Servant if he just abandoned his own Master to save his worthless hide.
"Idiot, you didn't listen," Lancer hissed. "I warned you that projectiles are useless. Look, is that all you can use against me?"
"Gh!" Assassin wanted to escape right this instant and lure Lancer to a more advantageous spot. His Strength, being at B, will allow his dirks to go through the ice like it isn't even there. But since they're knives and with how thick the ice is the holes won't be large enough for an adult man to get through and he had a feeling Lancer's too fast for Assassin to get to the wall and punch it in time. After all, the man looks to have more tricks up his sleeve than the masked one does. As expected of a Knight Class. Well, he has something else to use on this Servant.
A fanged grin from Lancer as he pointed his spear at where Assassin's spirit core is. "Heh, nothing else? Then it's game over. I would've normally been kind enough to let ya struggle some more, but oh well!" That's when words said in a chilling voice came from Assassin.
"The angel of death comes to claim you."
Lancer wonders if he imagined that sudden red pulse from under the bandages covering Assassin's right arm. A frightening premonition went through his head and it made him wonder if he's seen it before. Perhaps he did in another timeline.
A simple curse hit him while he was busy avoiding that thing in the water that seems to eat mana for breakfast. A short amount of time later, his heart was suddenly crushed within his chest during his jump to shore, forcing him to use Battle Continuation to stay alive. But for bit he can't move. In that time, his heart was mercilessly ripped out of him. Then countless black-and-red tentacles from that same something beneath the surface of the lake he fell into grabbed him, the source resembling a deep-sea creature. In no time his body was ripped into bloody pieces to make it easier for that thing to swallow him.
Without meaning to, he jumped back almost 100 meters in one go, all while taking a defensive stance. This interested Assassin but also worried him. Does this Servant know about his Noble Phantasm's curse? In any case, the length of that jump took Lancer out of range. Lancer looked just as confused as the Grey Servant. "Why...did I retreat..?" Ah, so it was his instincts and not familiarity with Zabaniya. Still, he most likely won't allow Assassin to get close enough to use it.
"You should know you can't erase the darkness in people's hearts..." A bullet skimmed past the arm of the Blue King's jacket over his black turtleneck, him having deflected it too late. He glanced down and saw only the fabric was torn but no wound was made. Reisi briefly looked relieved, further confusing Tenkei. "...So why bother wasting time for something that will never exist?! Violence is the only thing they respond to! I can't believe I had to wait for Kagutsu to have a Damocles Down to see that! But you're too young. When you've become an adult you'll see I'm right."
"I'd sooner die!"
A scoff. "Well, that'll be granted tonight."
This disadvantage Assassin was in annoyed him and it wouldn't be long before his Master succumbed to the cold. Tenkei could no longer hide his uncontrollable shivering. It's time to stop playing around and to put an end to this. He pulled three dirks seemingly out of thin air. Lancer sighed in boredom. "How do ya still not get it? Projectiles are useless on me."
"I'm aware of that." The dirks were thrown at Lancer, but does the attack have no value? They zipped past him, far enough away that even his spear won't knock them down as long as he's standing still. Lancer then realized too late who they're actually targeting.
The weapons planted themselves in Reisi's thigh while he and Tenkei were still having their argument and he hit the ground with a groan. Blood was pushing out around one, like major bleeding had been caused. Did it hit an artery? The pain wasn't enough to make him unconsciously dematerialize his Sword, but it shocked him enough for it to take a few seconds to regain his bearings. He dissipated his ice before the freezing temperature could start killing his cells - the inside of his body aside from his lungs is nowhere near as resistant to cold as the outside of his body. Each beat of his heart widened the cut and thus caused the bleeding to be worse.
Tenkei couldn't help but smirk at seeing the other King's pain and the subsequent vanishing of the ice. So that's why he was going on the defense, and not just for an endurance battle. If Reisi bleeds then the cold wouldn't show mercy even to him.
The Grey King walked to the kneeling man, grip on his pistol relaxed as he raised it. The gun's muzzle was 10 cm from Reisi's forehead, so the Blue King can't freeze it. The older man couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm feeling generous today so I'll make your death quick. But I gotta say, seeing you like this is so satisfying."
What Tenkei did not expect to see was a still-active jumbo jet about to go out of service - a 300 ton lump of metal - go flying at him like someone threw it. The fuck?! He reflexively put up a shield of his grey aura for the plane to smash into, eyes wide with shock the whole time.
What in the world?! Reisi's eyes darted to where the plane had come from. He saw, even with his vision having severely doubled, Lancer pull his right leg back like he had just kicked something. Did he jump up and kick the body of the plane? There's no other way he could have made it skim that - He doesn't look to have broken a sweat putting enough force in that one kick to make it go almost halfway across the clearing, him being a kilometer away! And he's only at a fraction of his full power! This means he wasn't merely boasting about the amount of weight he can handle in the state he's in. So Servants with B-rank Strength can do things like that no problem?!
"What made you think you could just do that to my Master?!" A knife hurled at him that his skill blocked turned his full attention to the Grey Servant.
"You'd better hurry before your Master dies. A King isn't immune to dying from blood loss," Assassin snickered. One of the dirks cut Reisi's left femoral artery, hence the massive bleeding from that wound. The King had already fallen unconscious and Lancer knew he only had a few minutes, hopefully more since Reisi's an Extra-Alpha Strain.
The back of Assassin's head was suddenly grabbed while he was chuckling and the snarling face of a majorly pissed-off demigod entered his field of vision. "There's enough time for this, asshole!" The next thing the white skull knew, his face was slammed down hard enough to crater the ground soaked with Lancer's mana and caused large chunks of earth to break off and jump up.
The impact was too light to cause any blood to appear but a certain something shattered and as soon as Lancer let go and the spider jumped 30 meters back. His left hand tried to cover a face that's featureless, aside from his mouth and some sunken parts. The Blue Servant narrowed his eyes. "So that's why ya wore a mask. Ya hid the fact ya don't have a face."
Tenkei's fog thickened around both him and his Servant. "Assassin, let's fall back for now since we're free. The kid'll die soon." The fog was now so thick neither could be seen. Now, Lancer would normally go slashing at them but he knew he needed to focus on his Master's critical condition.
When he came over and kneeled at his Master's side, he saw the three dirks had dematerialized. The King's breathing was getting ragged, his skin was really pale, and a cold sweat had broken out on his forehead. He only had a minute or so left. Luckily, it was just enough time for Lancer to close up the artery. His palm was placed gently on the wound and a healing rune activated, making the cells rapidly multiply and seal the injury shut. The entire time, his other hand squeezed Reisi's. If his estimations for the healing were correct, he should finish with only a few seconds remaining. His sensitive ears could hear the Blue King's heartbeat getting weaker with each passing second.
When Lancer stood up, all three cuts had been closed just in time. Reisi's heartbeat, which became just a fluttering in his chest, was slowly getting stronger. Even though Reisi is now healed, he most likely won't wake up until tomorrow afternoon and would be suffering from anemia until that evening. His close brush with death from bleeding will require a blood transfusion when he gets back or the anemia will be worse. The healing runes put his body under too much stress to safely increase his blood production until early afternoon. The demigod scooped the King up and made a beeline for Tsubaki-mon. Hopefully they had medical equipment there to help with anything else Reisi might need.
He isn't a medical expert but he knows how to treat those wounded due to battle, thanks to Scáthach beating, verbally and physically, the knowledge into his head. After all, there could be times where he can't rely on his runes to help someone. Scáthach's policy is that the warriors she trains have to be well-versed in all fields regarding combat. He's much smarter than people think he is. It took him only a year to master everything she had to teach. In the medical field for combat he knows how to perform a safe amputation with minimal bleeding, how to quickly and efficiently stitch up a wound, what herbs to give someone to reduce shock, and other things. It's why he called a guardian angel almost as much as he was called a demon.
When Lancer arrived at the iron gates of Tsubaki-mon, he immediately had Seri, who was on the current guard shift, sprint over to him. He knew it was because of the unconscious man soaked in blood that Lancer held in his arms.
Seri had never seen the Captain looking so small, so fragile, so helpless. Noticeable on one his dark black-blue pant legs that looked mostly black like those places had been dunked in a bucket of water were three incisions in the fabric over his right thigh with slashes of milky white skin peeking through in stark contrast. One was directly over where an artery lay, covered merely by the muscle atop his thigh. Though all three places were closed, something told her they and the artery had been open at one point, hence all the blood on him.
"Is he...still alive..?" Seri asked tentatively, afraid for the worst reply. Then she looked closer and was relieved to see the faint rise and fall of his chest.
"I managed to save his life...For now at least. He's unfortunately so weak he can't handle any more magical healin' for right now. It could backfire and rip him apart on the inside. So I have to use first-aid materials to help stabilize him. Would there happen to be packs of blood and a blood transfusion kit here?"
"Yes. We carry an emergency stash of all blood types and basic medical equipment. His blood type is AB-. We still have medics here should you require any assistance."
"Shouldn't be necessary with the knowledge the Grail gave me on how to work modern equipment, but thanks. I'll make sure to call 'em in if the Grail left some gaps in my new know-how."
"Two fights in one day, and both ended in a draw...How boring..." Archer murmured.
Daikaku glanced at him. "Are you still upset that one of the Servants isn't Enkidu?"
"That would at least have made this War worth my time."
"I would've loved to see what story Kotomine would've come up with to conceal that reunion..."
A story from back when gods still ruled the planet. Gilgamesh was combatting a lump of clay shaped like a human, Enkidu. It was the Chains of Heaven, meant to drag a tyrannical Gilgamesh back to where he belongs in order to face divine judgement. But the expression on both was not of hatred but of joy. Both had finally found a worthy opponent, one that had managed to drain the other, and the fight ended with both of them laughing.
That's why it broke him when his best friend decayed, breaking apart in his arms due to that bitch Ishtar crying about them killing Gugalanna.
"So your fight ended with you having to retreat?" Nagare summed up once Tenkei and Assassin returned and explained what happened. "And no clues to the other Servant's identity? How unfortunate."
"That other Servant has a huge advantage against Assassin, so you and Saber are probably needed."
"What about his Noble Phantasm?"
"He didn't get to use Zabaniya [Disillusional Heartbeat]. Besides, if it hit then Lancer wouldn't still be alive."
"Perhaps a new strategy is needed. I'll see what I can come up with. In the meantime, explain the battle in detail. That wall of ice kept Kotosaka from seeing anything."