Beneath Secret of Pedigree, Mordred had a wide, feral smirk as she let out a wild grunt as she leapt off the side of a building towards her target. Said foe moved at the last second, causing Mordred to only kick up a rather large cloud of dust, though not so much that she was unable to see through it.
Seemed like this singularity was going to continue to be chock-full of unusual opponents. Honestly, to Mordred, that was rather exciting. Unusual meant new, and new meant challenges.
This demonic eyeball beast was one such thing, albeit with some annoying traits and abilities.
Mordred bent backwards in an almost supernatural degree as a fiery beam of what seemed to be pure energy shot out of the beast's eye. The burning building behind her was not as fortunate, exploding into a cloud of debris. Mordred's armor rendered the burning planks and half-melted nails that whistled towards her back into nothing more than noisy distractions.
The Knight of Rebellion activated her Mana Burst ability and shot forward, intent on jabbing the fucker in the eye with the full length of Clarent's blade. However, an aggrieved shout had Mordred looking slightly beyond her demonic foe.
Fran was struggling to free her mace from several tentacles. The Berserker was a kind and faithful Servant, but one that was on the weaker end of the power scale, it seems. That didn't mean that Mordred wouldn't help her friend and comrade, though.
She came in like a lightning bolt, and with a single, powerful sweep of her arms, caused all of the tentacles ensnaring Fran's weapon to be cut in twain.
As her comrade leapt back to have a moment to recover, Mordred lashed out at the rear of the monstrosity. To her frustration, however, she had about the same result as if she had tried to cut through a block of granite. No, actually, the granite would have sliced through like a hot knife through butter.
The hell was this thing made out of?
"Look out, Mordred!" Mash's alarmed shout was the only warning the Knight of Rebellion got to snap her out of her musings before the creature's tentacles shot towards her. They slammed into her gut, briefly winding her and also sending her skidding backwards a few feet, though she kept her balance.
However, it was more than enough time for the monoptic beast to turn around to face her. It's dragon-like pupil dilated before it began glowing slightly. Mordred let out a curse, trying to move out of the line of fire, but this time the Knight of Rebellion wasn't going to be fast enough.
"I've got you!" Mash called out, landing a few feet in front of Mordred and slamming that massive shield of hers into the ground, leaning against it even as she buried the bottom of it into the dried dirt. She had arrived at the last second, too, for a split-second later, the demonic eyeball-beast released its death ray attack.
Mash cried out in a mixture of shock and exertion as the burning beam of energy slammed dead center of her shield. To Shieldy's credit, however, she refused to give ground. Mordred hurried over to her pink-haired friend and placed her free hand on Mash's shoulder, lending the Demi-Servant some of her own strength in standing upright and not being flung backwards onto their asses.
At last, the attack sputtered out. Looking over Mash's shoulder and her shield, Mordred saw that the ground between the shield and their surprisingly-dangerous foe had been blackened. Damn, that attack must have been a stronger version than the last one.
Their foe started to dilate its eye again, intent on trying to finish off her and Shieldy, when it suddenly floated backwards a bit as Atalante redirected her fire and sent in rapid succession a dozen or so arrows at the creature.
Unlike Mordred's earlier attacks, the beast had a noticeably different reaction to the arrows. Its tentacles shot forward, covering its eye. Mordred's own emerald eyes widened momentarily before narrowing in realization.
While the rest of its body was heavily protected, the front end, especially the eye, was vulnerable. Without a second's hesitation, the Knight of Rebellion turned to look at her pink-haired comrade-in-arms.
"Stay here, Shieldy. I have an idea."
"Understood. Good luck, Mordred!"
"Heh, don't need luck. I have skill," Mordred shot back cockily, before leaping over the Shielder and her tool, landing on the scorched earth with a dull thud. Once more activating her Mana Burst ability, she shot forward, Clarent chambered up to her side for a mighty slashing attack as she charged towards the floating eyeball fucker.
The creature seemed to quickly recognize the oncoming threat, for it lashed out with all its tentacles with the intent of either squeezing Mordred to death or at the very least block her progress. However, the blonde knight was unphased by this rather desperate offensive, and duck and weaved between the fleshy appendages when she could.
Those that she couldn't dodge, she sliced and diced with brutal efficiency, though occasionally she would have to catch some stray tentacles with either her gauntlets or even her bare hands. Whenever that happened, though, the Saber would merely pull and tug, ripping out the offending tentacles.
Whenever one of them was pulled out or sliced, purplish-black blood sprayed out of the stumps. Despite its unnatural appearance, however, it didn't seem to be poisonous, thank god for that. Instead, it quickly dissipated. That left Mordred briefly wondering just what this creature was made from. Was it generated by magecraft, summoning rituals, or from a Noble Phantasm.
Well, didn't matter what the answer was. The only thing that mattered to the knight was killing the fucker.
Said fucker was trying to quickly retreat, and to Mordred's feral pleasure, the thing's eye seemed to be wide with fear. It quickly dilated, and the air began to grow warm as Mordred quickly closed the gap between the two. The Knight of Rebellion didn't have long, then, to finish the fight. It was quite possible a do or die moment, though Mordred felt rather confident that her heavy armor would be capable of tanking a single, full-powered hit from close quarters.
However, she knew that would greatly upset her beloved Master, and she refused to do something like that to Jacob unless there was no other option. She leveled her sword, aiming the tip of Clarent dead center of the thing's ugly eye as she closed in.
"Checkmate, you ugly son of a bitch!" Mordred roared triumphantly, thrusting forth Clarent with all her might, with only microseconds left before the thing (damn she really wanted to have a proper name to refer to it, especially if they encounter more of them in the future, as she suspected they would) could unleash its attack.
The thing didn't scream as Mordred pushed Clarent all the way through until the hilt was less than an inch away from its body. She dismissed Secret of Pedigree, smirking ferally as the demonic entity tried to free itself. It was gravely wounded, alright, but not yet dead.
Time to fix that little error, then.
"Crimson Lightning!" She roared, and the embedded sword that she had stolen and used against King Arthur became a fancy-looking lightning rod. Her trapped opponent remained silent, even as it flailed and twitched violently and futilely as its body was fried by bolts of crimson-colored electricity from the inside out.
The heat caused the remaining liquids in the thing's eye to dry out, causing the area around the stab wound to shrivel up. Mordred cut off her attack, satisfied as the smell of burning flesh reached her nose, and the disgusting monstrosity's twitching and flailing ceased.
Mordred placed her right sabaton against the now-lifeless husk of her beastly opponent, and yanked Clarent out of the utterly-ruined eye, flicking her sword to the side to clean her stolen sword of the remaining, pale-golden liquids and matter sticking to it.
"Battle's finished over here, Master!" She called out, satisfied as she watched the thing's body begin to fade in a dark, purplish-black cloud. She turned around, resting the blade of her weapon against her right pauldron, and nodded at Fran.
"Not bad out there, Fran," she said softly, still a bit unused to the whole 'giving compliments' concept that Jeanne and Jacob had suggested she tried.
The former Berserker of Black smiled softly, dismissing her weapon before she started 'talking' through her hands. Mordred felt a surge of pride in her. It had been her idea for the pink-haired, heterochromia Berserker to learn sign language, at least partially. Turns out Fran was surprisingly talkative, so to speak.
Thanks, and thanks for the assist. You fought well, as well.
"Course I did," Mordred said, flashing the Berserker one of her trademark smirks. "Now, less yapping, and let's regroup with the others."
"We won!" Mash reported excitedly, as the last of the Celts disappeared, having barely outlasted their monstrous, living superweapon that Roman had given the designation 'Gazer'. I hoped that it would be the only time we would encounter them here, but life had a nasty habit of wanting to crush our hopes. At least we knew some ways to defeat them, and what they could be capable of.
"You okay, Mash?" Rits asked suddenly, rousing me from my musings. I focused on my friend, noticing that she seemed to be breathing a little heavier than normal, even after combat. She closed her eyes before replying.
"Sorry, Senpai. It's just for some reason… I feel more exhausted than normal…" Ritsuka and I both frowned in concern. My fellow Master took a half-step forward, no doubt wanting to press the issue, but the Demi-Servant opened her eyes and turned to the side to look at an approaching Nightingale. Rama was of course strapped to her back still, but it seems he had lost the energy to continue arguing to be let down and all. More concerning was the fact that the Berserker's right sleeve was charred slightly, and we could see a burnt area on her arm from one of the Gazer's beam attacks. She was also bleeding slightly from a superficial-looking cut on her right cheek.
Mash took "Are you alright, Nightingale? You appear to be inju—"
"I am a nurse," Nightingale interrupted, dismissing Mash's offer. "I understand my body more than anyone. I can still move and fight. Wounds like these will heal themselves."
"But you're bleeding," I said, tapping my cheek for emphasis. But the Berserker nurse merely stared blankly at me. I'd really hate to face off against her in a game of poker.
"What of it? On the battlefield, my blood is no more precious than that of the soldiers. If shedding my blood spares others from spilling their own, I will gladly do so. As someone who joined the military, that's the only mission possible to me. Can you say you have different thoughts, Master Jacob?"
I slowly, and reluctantly, shook my head. Up to this point, I was more than willing to put myself in danger fighting in the frontlines along the brave men and women who had answered the desperate pleas of Ritsuka and I. Ritsuka was the same to a certain degree, though I couldn't help but wonder how much of that had to do with me, and not just the fact that he was in possession a humble and kind soul.
"You're right, I can't say anything different. All the same, it is important to make sure that everyone is in top condition." Well, everyone but the cripples known as Rama and me. I shook my head, chasing away the thought before I would get mentally bogged down in some stupid self-pity party.
I was injured. I wasn't crippled. I'm still in the fight.
"…I see," Nightingale finally said, and I could swear that for the first time ever, the Lady with a Lamp had a conciliatory note in her voice. "Perhaps I was a bit too focused on disinfecting the area. Very well, I shall strive to reduce the risks of both of my patients. Speaking of which, we need to do a check-up on your leg and hip later."
Oh…fuck me no….
Well, if there was any silver lining to the situation, it was the fact that I had finally managed to get Nightingale to agree to—
A polite cough from behind had me whirling about in surprise, jolting me out of my thoughts. Nightingale and Mordred readied their weapons instinctively, but didn't attack, as there was none launched at us. instead, two distinct-looking men were before us, though one seemed younger than the other.
"So, are you all the reinforcements Old Man Geronimo mentioned the last time we spoke with him?" A masculine voice asked, and I detected a hint of an accent in his words. English.
"Well, considering that he is with us, I would assume yes," I replied dryly, while taking a good look at the two newcomers.
The first man, and speaker, had a cigar of all things in his mouth. His face was obscured by a forest-green hood, which was part of the cloak that he was also wearing. Under the cloak, he wore a jerkin made of leather or something that was dyed a slightly lighter shade of green. He wore what I recognized as hosen, basically early jeans, and boots. The man reached up to grab his hood with his right hand, and I noticed the mini crossbow that was attached to his bracer, further confirming his status as an Archer class Servant.
His companion by comparison had a somewhat more modern look. He wore a dress vest over his shirt, and over that he wore a jacket and skin-tight leather pants. His feet were also protected with boots. He had dark grey eyes, and short, well-kept and stylish-looking blond hair. He had a cow-leather belt with a holster attached, complete with what looked to be a Colt revolver, as if straight from a Western film.
He looked like he'd play the role of the handsome-looking rogue, in all honesty.
"Y-Yes," Mash stammered apologetically, as only the second man looked amused by my reply. "I take it the two of you are the ones Geronimo spoke of…?"
The unnamed Archer who had spoken earlier nodded before he pulled back his hood, revealing a rather plain-looking face with orange hair and green eyes only a few shades lighter than Mordred's eyes. He looked like a man used to hardship, and had a certain sense of cunning to him despite his seeming indolence.
"Yep, the pair in a solitary struggle. My True Name is…" He paused, before flicking his cigar out of his mouth and snuffing the stub of it out with the bottom of his right boot, sighing softly as he did so. "I'll just tell you, since it's too troublesome otherwise. I'm Robin Hood, Archer class. And the fella next to me is—"
"Hey, what the heck?" Robin Hood's companion said, slapping his forehead with the palm of his right hand in frustration before lowering it with a glare. "You just blurt it out? No fair." The second Archer sighed, and then looked at us with a combined sheepish and apologetic expression. For some reason, he had an accent that sounded like a mixture between New Yorker and a generic Western drawl. "Then, I guess there's no reason why I should keep mine a secret. I'm William Henry McCarty, Junior. Though most people tend to call me Billy the Kid!" He bowed, grinning a bit cheekily.
"To protect this nation, it looks like I, a Servant from this nation, was chosen. I'm an Archer, of course. Nice to meet you all!"
"It's a pleasure to meet the two of you as well," I said, bowing slightly as Geronimo walked up. The Native American Caster had a small smile of relief on his lips as he looked at the two Archers.
"I'm glad that both of you are okay. The pink-haired girl with the shield is a Demi-Servant, named Mash Kyrielight. The youth with black hair and blue eyes next to her is her Master, Ritsuka Fujimaru."
"Nice to meet you," Rits said with his usual good cheer. Billy and Robin returned the greeting, and Geronimo turned to look at my partner and me. He didn't get a chance to start speaking, however.
"Name's Mordred," Mordred said brusquely, standing next to me and unwilling to let Geronimo introduce her. "The banged-up one is my Master, Jacob Aronson."
"I see. It's nice to meet you guys. Well, at least we're not fighting all on our own anymore now, Kid."
"Looks that way, Green," Billy agreed, before looking at Ritsuka and me.
"So, um…Jacob, Ritsuka. What do we do now?"
"Actually, allow me to respond, if that's okay?" Mash asked, and the two Archers exchanged a quick glance between one another before looking back at Ritsuka's girlfriend and nodding in unison. "Alright, here's our current situation…"
About fifteen or so minutes later, Mash was wrapping up her summary of everything we knew. For their part, Robin and Billy had both been most polite, only interrupting once or twice to seek clarification on anything that was said. Once Mash had finished, the two Archers remained quiet for half a minute before Billy finally spoke up.
"Ah, okay. So, heal that Rama kid riding on Nurse Nightingale over there, find even more firepower for our party, and—"
"Assassinate the enemy Celtic leaders," Robin finished, running one hand through his slightly damp hair. "That works, doesn't it? Sounds like an appropriate course of action to me." Billy let out a soft chuckle.
"As expected of someone who spent years fighting as the Faceless King. You really don't hesitate." Robin glared slightly at his more youthful-looking companion.
"Both of us are used to doing dirty jobs. Right, Boy Outlaw King?" Billy threw his head back and let out a full-throat laugh.
"Ah, ha, ha! Well, of course! I'm not gonna deal with guys who spawn infinitely." Geronimo cleared his throat, silencing the American Archer, and began speaking.
"Considering our lopsided class distribution, we could really use another, fully-functioning Saber, and maybe even a Lancer if possible. Jacob's Archer and Caster are still being held captive, as is Ritsuka's Saber. It would be prudent to have the frontline of our formation fully filled out. Especially considering Nightingale's penchant for running off on her own without warning."
"And people said you're prone to running off and doing your own thing," I remarked to Mordred, who let out a soft grunt of amusement, but didn't say anything else as Geronimo continued speaking.
"Ideal Servants would be those who were summoned to this era who have no connections to the Celts. Do either of you possess any knowledge of such potential allies?"
Billy shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately, I don't think anyone I know has been summoned, be it either someone I knew personally or from reputation."
Nightingale was the next Servant to respond. "What is truly lacking the most in this world are nurses," Nightingale said rather sharply, crossing her arms over her chest with a look of absolute disappointment on her face. "Second to that are doctors. The medical kind." I sighed, honestly not surprised by what Nightingale would prioritize as being vital in this situation.
"What about you, Doc?" I asked. "Anything good on your long-range scanner?"
"Oof," Roman replied a second later. "I'm not picking up any Servant responses in the vicinity. If you can all wait a bit, I'll expand the scan range."
"Best get started on that, then," Ritsuka said, and the acting-director of Chaldea let out a sound of affirmation before he started typing on his keyboard.
"Well, until we detect a Servant, I guess we will have to patiently keep scouting the area?" Atalante suggested as the rest of Geronimo's group began to pull into the devastated town. I was about to voice my agreement when I noticed something rather peculiar.
Robin Hood had an expression of someone who had sucked a particularly strong lemon. His eyes were screwed tight, and his lips puckered. The green-wearing Archer released a long sigh, and I tilted my head to the side quizzically.
"What's up?" I asked. The English Archer slowly opened his eyes, a resigned look in them as he did so.
"Oh, just…" the orange-haired man hesitated for a moment, before exhaling again and continued speaking. "I guess, um, before I teamed up with this guy," a quick gesture in the direction of Billy the Kid, "I met some Servants who might fit your criteria. A Saber and a Lancer. Well… I mean, they were a Saber and a Lancer, but…"
"But what?" I prompted, my curiosity fully aroused now. Robin tapped his chin, eyes aimed skywards as he mulled over something for a solid minute. Then, the Archer shrugged as he looked back at us.
"They're, like, ultra-problematic children?"
"Oh, fuck me, no," Jeanne Alter groaned, showing once again just how much patience she had for supposedly immature Servants. Or virtually anyone in general, for that matter.
"Not even for a chance to pull Caliburn," Mordred instinctively shot back, causing Alter to growl angrily and cross her arms. Well, at least she hadn't started another fight. When we get back, I really need to corner Doctor Roman and ask/beg him for advice on how to resolve this issue in a way that wouldn't cause anyone's untimely and early demise.
"Do they have Madness Enhancement? Or are they Anti-Heroes?" Mash asked, equally uninterested in having to sit through another bout of arguing between the Dragon Witch and the Knight of Rebellion.
"One's definitely an Anti-Hero, alright. You can communicate with both of them, though," Robin Hood replied, before muttering under his breath, "Unfortunately."
"That's good then, isn't it?" Ritsuka, ever the optimist, piped up. Robin shrugged again, looking a bit uncomfortable now that everyone was focusing their gazes on him.
"I suppose. But they were… I guess you'd say…" Robin paused, apparently trying and failing to grasp accurate enough words to describe his mysterious Saber and Lancer acquaintances. He shrugged once again. A nervous tic, perhaps, or a default gesture, like Mordred smirking? "Well, you'll see for yourselves when you meet them. Just don't blame me when you do, okay?"
Well, wasn't that absolutely cheerful a note to hear. However, beggars can't be choosers, and with the ongoing conflict we were stuck in the middle of, any assistance we could acquire would be most useful. And just how ba—Okay, nope, not going to tempt fate with that thought.
"With our current situation, no matter how problematic the Servants you met might be, we could really use their aid," Mash said, before turning to her boyfriend and I and smiling gently at us. "When things get dire, Ritsuka Senpai and Jacob Senpai will be able to unite us. Right, Master, Jacob Senpai?"
"Well, I'll figure something out," Ritsuka admitted, scratching the side of his head rather sheepishly, his cheeks tinted a faint pink at Mash's compliment. I smothered down the urge to snicker at my friend's bashful display, instead settling on waiting for a different time to tease him over it.
"Yeah, though let's try to make sure that things don't get that difficult, yes?"
"Aww, but it's boring if it's easy," Mordred whined. I shook my head resignedly.
"Be careful what you wish for, Mordred," I gently chided my lover, and she reluctantly nodded in understanding.
"Fine…"
"Well, that's reassuring… I think," Robin Hood said, though that last part kinda ruined the sentimental compliment of the whole thing. "You've all fought beside some pretty troublesome folks before, huh?"
I cringed slightly, as I began remembering a certain Greek deity Archer and her not-quite-husband from the Third Singularity, or a dragon-trait Lancer and Berserker from our time in France in what felt like a lifetime ago. I sighed, closing my eyes as I responded.
"Oh, you have no idea…" I muttered, before heading back to our truck.
Original Endnotes: And done! What do y'all think? Personally, I had fun writing the fight scene with the Gazer. I wanted to add some to the abilities of the creature, especially since I find them to be really damn annoying to fight. Plus, I doubt any of you wanted to read a fight scene where the Gazer basically stands in one place and only shoots death lasers. Also, Mordred and Fran, best battle buddies, am I right? :)
Now, some notes for the story that is coming up. Some of you might be wondering if Nero Bride is going to be in this arc, (or maybe not lol), but I'm going to go ahead and confirm that she is. I'll talk more about it when she does show up. Also, in advance, I am changing some of the locations later on in the game to ones that would be more historically/realistically appropriate, such as the location of the Celtic capital, and where Sita is being held. Again, more on that later in the appropriate chapters.
Now, for the question(s) of the chapter! First up: Who here is familiar with Tsukhime? Follow-up question being, who would be interested in some of the characters from that series showing up in the sequel to The Will to Fight, like Arcueid Brunestud? Third question: Who is your favorite Archer-class Servant?
As always, thanks for reading another chapter of my story, and an even bigger thank you for all the support and love you all have given it! Means the world to me! I hope you enjoyed it, and please feel free to leave any kind of feedback! I look forward to hearing your thoughts, and have a wonderful next few days! See you all in Chapter 116!
Updated Endnotes 03/04/24: As always, the fully caught-up version of my story can be found on Archive of Our Own, with Chapter 309 having just been posted. Otherwise, have a good day, and see you all next time!