Chapter 13: Anathema.
Lancer had seen less dignified marches to the battlefield, but not many, he had to admit. The Emiya kid was at the front of their little group as they made their way through the forest in the outskirts of Fuyuki, his even, determined stride the sure sign of a man who was nervous as hell, but doing his best to hide it. Saber walked gracefully a single step behind him, her regal bearing only diminished slightly by the fact that she was bundled up in a white coat, blue scarf over her mouth and nose.
Behind them, Assassin and his master walked, the bandana wearing Servent practically radiating tension. His master probably would have been in the same state, if it weren't for the black haired woman who was clinging to his back, head nuzzled into the back of his neck.
"Is she… actually sleeping?" The Servant of the lance ventured, moving up next to the pigtailed boy.
"Sorta?" The other shook his head. "Said it was way too early, and somethin' about growing pains. I'm… pretty sure that's not how the curse works."
"Couldn't we have just left her behind?" Lancer was answered by a hand lashing out from the figure on Ranma's back, grabbing the spearman by the blue ponytail, and pulling his head sharply sideways.
"Urk! Okay, I get it, I get it!" He slapped her hand away, quickly straightening and fixing his hair.
"Good," the girl mumbled, before shifting to curl her arm back around herself.
"So," Lancer spoke loudly, "What's the plan here?" There wasn't much in the way of response for a moment, before Shiro glanced back.
"I've got to fight Archer."
"Yeah… We've established that," the spearman rolled his eyes. "If everyone else is just going to stand around watching that, then I'm going hunting for Tohsaka. Don't trust that guy not to have somethin' tricky set up."
"I'll go with you," Ranma offered. "I'm pretty good at bein stealthy."
The Servent tilted his head, looking the other over for a long moment. "I'm not sure that's a great idea."
Ranma frowned, and was opening his mouth to retort, before something seemed to occur to him. "Well, this technique was supposed ta be sealed, but now none of that matters." He closed his eyes for a moment, shifting his shoulders and arms awkwardly, his sleepy passenger grumbling irritably. Lancer was about to ask what he was doing, when both Ranma and his hanger-on vanished.
"Okay, that's new," Lancer did his best to avoid letting the surprise show on his face as he glanced down at the ground where the kid's feet should be making indents in the soil, but somehow weren't.
A moment later, Illyasviel abruptly appeared a foot above the ground, falling backwards with a mild 'whumph.' "That… felt strange," she complained, as Ranma flickered back into visibility a few feet away.
"Never really tried it with two people before," he mumbled, offering the girl a hand up.
"Do that again?" Lancer asked, his eyes narrowing as Ranma shrugged, his hands tracing out a much more definite pattern this time before he vanished. The Servant stared for a moment, noting that Shiro and Saber had turned around to watch, before tossing his lance into the air, catching it in both hands and pointing.
"There!" A moment later, Ranma flickered back into view, frowning, standing a foot away from the weapon's point. "That's... actually pretty impressive," He admitted, lowering his weapon. "I had to use your mana link to Assassin to figure out where you were, and it took enough concentration that I'd need to know what I was looking for to do it again. So sure, you can help me hunt down Tohsaka."
Lancer wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but it seemed like Assassin's tense frown got deeper.
HR.
Archer stood at the top of the steps in the center of the Einzbern castle's destroyed main hall, hands hanging at his sides, a blade gripped loosely in each. His muscles tensed as he heard the sound of several pairs of footsteps from outside, before four figures appeared in the remnants of the far wall.
Shiro was in front, and his eyes narrowed into a glare the moment he came into view. Saber walking slightly behind him wasn't much of a surprise, nor was her relaxed posture. Both master and former Servant were sadly predictable in many ways. The next figure, however, gave the bowman pause. The tall, delicate featured woman wasn't immediately recognizable, but something about her seemed familiar. "Who are you?" Archer found himself demanding before he could stop himself.
It took the woman a moment to realize that he was speaking to her, but when she did, she snorted. "You ask me that when you turn my castle's main hall into a battleground?" She frowned as she stepped around a pile of rocks scattered across the floor, muttering something under her breath before continuing. "I am Illyasviel Von Einzbern, and if you-"
"Illya?!"
The room dropped into a dead silence after that outburst, even Shiro's hostile expression twitching for a moment. "I..."
"I haven't given you permission to call me that," the blak haired woman's tone turned acid on the word 'you' as though it were a mortal insult.
Archer took a deep breath, looking down. "Yes, you haven't. I apologize."
This seemed to break the spell his initial outburst caused, Shiro stepping forward. "Where's Tohsaka!"
"Tohsaka, yes..." Archer paused for an unnaturally long moment, before his fists clenched around the hilts of his blades. "She's somewhere in this castle. Of course, someone got here before you did and wanted to see her." As Shiro was opening his mouth to ask, Archer interrupted. "Shinji Matou."
"Shinji? You left her alone with him?" Shiro demanded.
"I only promised that I wouldn't harm her," The white haired man shrugged. As the red haired one snarled, a hand rested on his shoulder.
"Lancer and Ranma will get to her first," Saber said in a calm, cool voice. "Archer, I thought better of you than... this."
"You can think what you wish of me, as long as I get this fight," Archer responded cooly, exerting a force of will to keep his vision locked on Shiro.
"Fine," the red haired boy growled, falling into a stance as two blades, one of gleaming dark steel and the other silvery white, materialized seamlessly in his hands. "Let's get this over with."
HR.
"And this is for that damned cheap shot at the school! You... you ruined everything, you bitch!" The sound of a heavy impact followed the enraged scream, which made the task of tracking someone through the echoing old halls of the Einzbern mansion surprisingly easy.
"Shinji, I'm finding it pretty hard to take you seriously if you can only land a hit when I'm tied to a chair..." Rin's voice sounded pained, like she could barely get her breath, but the tone was still loaded with more contempt than should be physically possible.
"Heh..." Lancer's chuckle died as he actually rounded the corner. Tohsaka was, indeed, tied to a chair. The chair, and the girl herself, were knocked to the floor, and a trickle of red was running down her torn lip.
Looming over her, or doing his best attempt at it, was a boy with light purple hair wearing a disheveled male school uniform. "You won't be mocking me for much longer..." He growled, clenched fists shaking at his sides. "I'll show you-" What he was going to show her was unknown, as that was about the time the ponytailed Servant's fist slammed into his cheek and sent him hurtling into a nearby wall.
"Sorry about that, pal," Lancer said casually, brushing his hand off against his bodysuit. "I meant to tell you to stop, but I punched you instead." He shrugged as if to say 'it happens,' before reaching down and lifting Rin's chair back to an upright position.
L-Lancer?" The girl stammered, but couldn't help but smile.
"Yup. Lemme cut you loose, then you can go yell some sense into the idiots fighting in the main hall. ...Or leave out the back."
Rin's eyes widened as Gae Bulg was raised, and Lancer was almost offended that she thought he'd hurt her with it, before she yelled "Look out behind you!"
The Servant spun, expecting to see the schoolboy lunging at him or something. What he didn't expect, however, was a very familiar priest. "Heh. I thought it was a requirement of your religious order to skulk around?" He asked, eyes narrowing. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same," Kotomine Kirei returned. "I ordered you to help them, but that was only to be until Archer was eliminated. And I didn't expect you to get this directly involved"
"Eh, he's on his way out," Lancer justified. "Besides, all I did was rescue your student before you were going to anyway, right?"
"I suppose," Kirei admitted. "Though, at this point she doesn't need rescuing anymore, I think. Two extra days of life should be enough of a grace period to show my affection."
"To show your... So that's what's going on. " Rin's tone was curiously flat, almost resigned rather than the angry outbursts the blue-clad Servant was used to.. "I thought there was something fishy going on, but to have the overseer hold their own Servant? That violates all of the rules the grail war has. You were deceiving me from the start, weren't you?"
"And yet you saw it coming enough to try and hide several of your allies from me," Kirei sighed. "That intelligence of yours is the one reason I almost regret doing this." He paused for a moment, before a small grin appeared on his lips. "In fact... 'From the start. I'm curious," He stepped towards Rin, brushing past a glaring Lancer and lifting her chin to force her to look into his eyes. "I wonder, when do you mean by 'From the start?'"
"Hold on..." A strange look krept across Rin's face as Kirei's small smile grew, "You... you don't mean the start of this grail war, do you..." Her usual hardy and determined expression crumbled, as a realization finished sinking in. "I see. So you killed him..." Her tone was strained, tightly controlled, and Lancer could see her hands shaking.
"Of course," Kirei said, stepping back. "I was his beloved student, so it was easy for me to attack him from behind." It was at that point that the girl snapped, screaming several inventive insults and a few very colorful curses, one of which actually had some magic behind it. Kirei merely let her rage roll over him, unaffected.
"I must admit that I've been waiting for that," the priest sighed, before shaking his head. "Even if I can't accomplish any other goals, it was... enjoyable."
"You're one sick bastard, you know that?" Lancer drawled. "Can we go now?"
"No, I don't think so," Kirei shook his head. "Lancer, dispose of her."
His Servant's jaw clenched. "I refuse that order," He said, stiffly, his eyes shifting around the room as he stood at attention. "You're gunna have to use one of those seals on your arm if you want me to do it."
"I see," the priest said, in a tone of mild annoyance before raising one hand, the sleeve sliding back along the arm to reveal half a dozen neatly arranged command seals, the edges of several more poking out from the edge of where the sleeve still sat. "Then I will command you-"
"Moko Takabisha!"
'What kind of command was...' Lancer blinked his eyes clear of the flash that had blinded him to notice that his master had vanished into a large hole punched in the wall to the next room, scattered clouds of brick dust obscuring the path he'd taken. "Cutting it close, weren't you, kid?"
"Sorry," Ranma replied, dusting off his hands. "Was making sure the wimpy guy couldn't cause problems." He gestured behind him, where Shinji was trussed up similarly to Rin, save the fact that he was tied to a bookshelf, and looked like he would be much, much less comfortable when he woke up.
Lancer was about to reply when he heard the sound of rubble shifting from the hole in the wall and his eyes widened. He was half way through opening his mouth to shout something when the condensed mana of a mental command smashed into him. He only had time to do one thing as the targeted, specific order overrode his free will, forcing himself to belt out a loud, intimidating battle roar rather than stabbing Ranma through the heart immediately.
The pigtailed martial artist took the warning he'd been given, hurling himself sideways and out of the way of Gae Bulg as it hissed through the air. He skipped back, managing to just barely stay ahead of the continued flurry of swings.
"Ryoga, get in here and stall lancer!" He yelled, his Servant appearing in a shimmer of light, barrelling into the Servant of the lance and creating a new hole in the opposite, outside, wall. Since they were on an upper floor, there was a distant crash a moment later.
"Hm, unfortunate," Kirei commented, as he walked back into the room, brushing off his coat. "Still, your Servant doesn't have the power to defeat Lancer. Your time is limited."
"Think he'll surprise you," Ranma shot back. "And either way, I can get outta here with Rin."
"No, I don't think you can," The priest replied, his strange blades sliding out between his fingers, and a red light pulsing from one arm. Ranma just had enough time to curse under his breath before he began frantically dodging down the hall.
"So... I'll just be here then?" Rin grumbled to an empty room, before her eyes caught on a glimmering object in the rubble of the wall Kirei had been sent through.
HR.
Ryoga winced as his opponent's weapon missed his side by millimeters, but he didn't let the near miss distract him as he brought his arm down with exact timing, immobilizing the lance just long enough to give him the opportunity to land a counterblow on his incredibly slippery target. For a moment, he recalled the training session where Ranma had beaten that tactic into him, literally with a stick, and had to admit that the younger martial artist had been right. Still, he was fairly certain that even with the anti-lance tactics he was using, he was once again losing the battle slowly.
As if to punctuate that thought, Lancer recovered mid-air from Ryoga's punishing strike and the weight of the weapon under his arm vanished in a shimmer of red light, reappearing in its master's grasp. The blue haired man's expression broke into a wide, almost feral grin a moment later, and Ryoga found himself weathering over a dozen blows in less than two seconds, moving his arms and hands to deflect the ones he couldn't completely evade so that they merely scratched him, or left shallow gouges to less important areas.
This battle wasn't at all like the one with Saber. Half-hearted blows set against proper defenses, a stalemate that he could have kept for a relatively long time, if it hadn't been for bad luck. He was losing by degrees, and those degrees grew larger with every exchange of blows. "You're not holding back." It felt almost like an accusation, even though he knew better. He hadn't seen what had happened before he was summoned, and Lancer had admitted that he was only an ally of convenience. He'd just been such a helpful ally, up until now, that his change of side still stung.
Much to Ryoga's surprise, Lancer actually winced as if the accusation had found a tender spot. "No, I'm not," he admitted, as the two circled each other, looking for a proper opening for their next clash. "I am sorta sorry about that, actually." He shook his head, only slightly, ensuring that he didn't lose sight of the other Servant. "This is probably my last fight. The priest sure isn't going to trust me after this." His eyes narrowed in a glare, though it wasn't directed at anything in his line of sight. "I envy you, you know?"
"You what?" Ryoga's eyes widened in surprise for just a moment, and his opponent took that as an opening, hurling his lance forward before charging after it. He recalled it a moment after the lost one had dodged and flowed into a long series of sweeping strikes that left bruises all along his forearms, and an aching wrist where the haft of the spear had hit at just the wrong spot.
"I envy you," The lancer continued as he drew back, as if he hadn't interrupted himself before. "Even if I don't include your master and their issues that... I still don't really understand, Emiya and Tohsaka have been damned good masters. It's why it pisses me off so bad, what Archer did to the lady. Compared to mine?" He snorted. "No contest. And then he throws it all away by betraying her."
"Then why are you fighting so hard?" Ryoga asked, taking the lull in combat as an opportunity to recover his balance.
"Because like I said," Lancer shrugged. "This is my last fight. Either my master kills me, or yours kills him and I run out of mana. For once in this goddamned pointless war, I want a decent fight!" There was very little talking after that. Lancer's statement seemed to mark a new level of intensity to the conflict, his red weapon blurring as Ryoga dodged and blocked, the air filled with projectiles as the Lost One used every trick he'd ever learned to keep ahead of the curve, even as a sinking feeling grew in his chest. The only way he was going to win this fight, he knew, was if Lancer's master were taken out. And the only one in a position to do that was Ranma. The question that kept coming to his mind, however, framed by an image of a despairing, broken man the night before, was if the other martial artist could do it.
As if in response to his pessimistic thoughts, Lancer shifted from an offensive to a defensive stance, and his lance began to crackle with red energy.
HR.
'How many of those things does he have?!' Ranma screamed internally as his opponent's arm flashed once again, and the whirlwind of silver blades, both wielded and projectile, continued. His muscles burned as he performed another in a countless series of dodges, thankful for Illyasviel's hurried healing the night before, as if he'd still had the wound in his side he'd probably be dead by now. The worst part of the situation was that the question about how many of those seals the man had was the only real relevant one, aside from how long Ranma, himself, could hold out. With the boost they gave to his strength and speed, getting close enough to land a proper counterblow was impossible. The martial artist could hit him, if he poured all of his power into the attack, but he wouldn't be able to mitigate the force at all. If the seals didn't increase his durability to match...
A borrowed image flitted into his mind of a body, specifically his own, almost disintegrating as Ryoga's fist smashed most of its torso to pulp. And that, of course, brought up the fact that the longer he stalled, the more likely Lancer was to overcome his Servant and start gunning for him.
At least the man wasn't monologuing about how easily Ranma could end the fight, this time. It probably took a lot of concentration to channel the magic of a command seal into your body without bursting something, given what magic seemed to do, otherwise.
"This is for my father!" The yell was so sudden and out of place that it took Ranma a moment to catch up with, seemingly along with his opponent. He'd been so caught up in the fight that he hadn't really noticed where it was going, even as the priest's missed blows turned what was left of the hallways on the Einzbern castle's second floor into kindling. A desperate dodge about five minutes earlier had managed to swap the two combatants' positions, and since then they'd been retracing their steps. As a result, they'd gotten closer to where Rin had been held. The twintailed girl apparently hadn't moved very far, as she was now lunging out of a side room, circuits flaring with magic and a short steely blade clutched in her hand.
Even as he cursed her, Ranma had to give the girl credit. Her striking stance was near perfect, and she was moving incredibly fast, given the fact that she was using magical reinforcement. Even if both he and Kirei were moving much, much more quickly, she may have had a chance to land her strike... if she hadn't yelled.
As it was, the two combatants' eyes met as Kirei landed from his last lunge, Ranma still in the air from his dodge, and the younger man clearly saw the other smirk. The priest pivoted on his one foot, throwing out one arm to accelerate a turn towards the girl even as he removed his vulnerable back from the curve of her strike..
Ranma's vision narrowed to his opponent's other hand as it wound up for a retaliation, and his options rapidly vanished. As his foot hit the floor, he moved. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" The attack happened so quickly that the battlecry actually took place after it. A series of five punches in so little time that they were completely invisible even to Kirei.
There was a loud cracking sound, actually the combination of four others, as one blow had been hastily deflected, while the other four found their marks. The command seal boost apparently did give Kirei some increased endurance. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't nearly enough, as Ranma's blows, meant for nothing but imparting enough momentum to force the blade to miss Rin, stitched across his side and back, shattering bones as they fell. The man flew past Rin as if hit by a truck, his swords skimming less than an inch over her back before he skidded down the hall, coming to a stop against a toppled cabinet with a loud crash that splintered its side.
Ranma watched the crumpled body for a moment before falling out of stance. "That what you wanted, you old bastard?" He growled, still half in shock. Rin, however, didn't seem phased, and for a moment Ranma saw her as the ruthless, cruel mage she always claimed to be while describing their role in the lessons she taught him and Shiro. Without saying a word, she marched up to the man, kicked him over so that he was laying on his back, and slammed her blade into his chest, growling something short and angry that sounded sort of like German. The blade let out a pulse of blue light, before she withdrew it and stood back up. Her cold expression immediately shattered into one of rage and sorrow, and she stood, shaking for a moment before forcibly pulling herself together. When she turned her attention back to Ranma, he hadn't seemed to move from his previous relaxed stance.
"Are you alright?" She asked, walking slowly up to him.
He didn't speak for a long moment, but then nodded. "Yeah." He took a deep breath, remembering the conversation from the night before. "It was him or you, and I chose you."
"Thank you," She said, simply. He didn't speak. In spite of what he said, he was still a little rattled and wasn't sure if it would show up in his voice. Instead, he started walking towards the main hall. Who knew? Maybe Lancer was right and Rin could talk Archer out of fighting Shiro.
HR.
The Einzbern castle's back garden was treated to a stream of old gaelic curses that could probably wither grass at twenty feet as the Servant of the Lance gaped at a divot in the ground. Nearby, Ryoga just stood there looking confused, and wondering if they were still fighting. "-and their mother can all bend over and-" The stream of invective was abruptly cut off by an enraged scream of "How?!"
"...Lancer?" The Assassin ventured. Even though he should probably take advantage of the halt in combat to recover, he was starting to get genuinely worried for the other man.
"How did you dodge that?" The blue haired man demanded. "It's my Noble Phantasm, Gae Bulg alters probability to ensure a hit! The only one who's ever blocked it in that form is Saber, and I still don't know how she did it!"
The lost one shrugged. He wasn't really sure what the other man was talking about. He'd only dodged to the side, as usual, when the obviously telegraphed attack had come. Certainly, he'd ended up somewhere other than where he'd intended, somehow managing to move six feet behind his opponent, but that just seemed to happen.
"You know what?" Lancer said, before taking a deep breath. "Never mind." He raised his spear once again, before wincing. Shaking his head, he lunged at Ryoga once more. The next few exchanges were... confusing. Mostly because the Assassin was doing far better than he'd expected to. Lancer's strikes were coming slower, and the ones he'd had to block with his arms hardly made bruises. Still, he was sure that his opponent wasn't holding back. There was only one explanation he could think of.
"Your master's gone, isn't he?" Ryoga demanded after easily fending off his opponent's latest attack.
Lancer didn't say anything, twirling his spear back into combat position. "Y'know," Ryoga offered, "I could vanish any time I want, now you're not a threat to my master."
His opponent stiffened, eyes narrowing, but he also stepped back. "Turnin' that back around on me, huh?" He demanded. "I told you, this is my last fight. I won't let yet another one stop before it's done. Not this one!"
"You don't really have a choice," Ryoga shook his head. "Like you said before, this stopped being a good fight when you lost the ability to fight back. But it doesn't have to be your last."
"It... what?" Lancer blinked.
"We've got two spare masters," Ryoga pointed out. "So we finish everything here, today, You make sure Tohsaka's alright, like you promised, and then you, Saber and I finish the war."
Lancer winced once more. Bringing up the promise was both entirely right and punching below the belt. "You know you'll lose that fight, right?"
Assassin shrugged. "I already got my wish anyway."
HR.
"And so I lose again..." The black and white blades dispelled into mana, leaving the open wounds in his chest as Shiro Emiya staggered backwards. The boy was also covered in cuts and bruises, the jerky way his arms moved revealing that cracked bones had yet to fully heal, even with Saber and her sheath nearby to support him, but the boy's wounds didn't matter, given the much more severe ones Archer was left with.
After a clash of both blades and words, a merciless assault on everything the boy was and believed, the Servant had found himself coming up short. His caliced, cynical certainty was brushed aside by the boy's unwavering ideal. ...No, the ideal had wavered. It had stumbled, as Shiro learned what probably lay at the end of his path, and had then rallied. The worst part, the thing that made the Servant's defeat complete, was that he knew that Shiro was now fully aware of the price of his dream, and still stood on shaky legs, glaring into his eyes.
He looked away first. As if that final admission of defeat were a signal, the sound of hurried footsteps entered the Einzbern castle's main hall, followed by Rin Tohsaka, bursting onto the second floor landing and leaping down to the ground.
"Shiro!" She yelled, as she spotted the bleeding boy. "Are you alright?" She glanced around the room rapidly as Ranma entered behind her. As she took in the rest of the room, stopping for a moment on Illyasviel before moving on, she gasped. "A-archer? What happened to you?"
The white haired man couldn't help but laugh at the shocked look on the girl's face. "I guess I'm really going soft," he muttered, just loudly enough for her to hear. "I think you should have been more cruel, master. Then maybe I..."
"Shut the hell up, would ya?" The snapped comment surprised Archer, as did its source. "None of the shit you did was her fault." Lancer was unequivocal, as he entered through the hole where the main doors had once been, along with Assassin.
The white haired man chuckled again, which only seemed to anger the other more. "Of course not. That's not what I was going to say. But... I think I've been here too long." He glanced down at the holes in his chest, wondering how long he would stay together without using some of his starkly limited mana reserve to try and repair the damage. "Rin, for what it's worth-" He was cut off by a shrieking and clanging sound, dozens of blades passing through a space almost too small for them, and a spray of blood.
Assassin's body fell forward slowly, the mesh of metal enclosing and bisecting it stopping it from falling all the way even as its sharp edges continued to do damage.
As the bowman leapt back, summoning his weapon and looking for the source of the attack, he heard only one soft word, brittle and jagged. "Ryoga?"
End.
Taiga Dojo!
"Hi, everyone! Long time no see, though I'm pretty sure I'll be saying that every time. Lazy, good for-"
"What Sensei is trying to say is that we're glad to be back! Hehehe..."
"Yeah, that's right! We hope you enjoyed this chapter. There are two issues we can see popping up ahead of time, so I thought I'd mention them right now. First, if you're wondering how Ryoga dodged Gai Bulg, well, it's tradition! That attack never works. We'd be inconsistant if it did hit him."
"Sensei, that really isn't a good reason."
"Well, no, it's not. But more seriously, if you want to know, the answer's in the little Grand Order Servant card that was written up for Ryoga in the notes of chapter 1. In short, one of his unique skills triggered. As for the other question, if you know who launched that last attack, he does have a reason to have changed targets. It's a very good reason."
(Illya gives Taiga a very, very flat look.)
"Well, he thinks it is, anyways.""
"And with that out of the way, we thank you for reading, hope you enjoy, and shamelessly beg for reviews. Next time, a clash of egos, a path chosen, and bad haiku!"
"Bad wha-"
