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The determined duo entered the arena, Lancer summoning his spear to deal with the smaller programs between them and the Jabberwocky. The sword only had one fight in it after all. They had to make that one fight count. They reached a turn, hearing the snarling hiss of the Jabberwocky trapped in a large room of the Arena. Lancer accepted the Vorpal Blade from Hakuno with a reassuring grin "Don't worry Master. We've got this."
"Kick its ass Lancer" Hakuno answered, watching the blue haired man's grin grow wider at her words, a battle junkie to the core. They rounded the corner and Lancer launched forward, Vorpal Blade in hand.
The Jabberwocky let out a piercing shriek, its purple wings flaring as Hakuno's hair was blown back from the force of the gale. The tempest did nothing to Lancer but make him grin wider, the battle loving servant roaring back his own battle cry at the dragon he'd come to slay.
The Jabberwocky surged forward, slamming its gleaming claws into the ground, tearing into the arena floor as Lancer leapt to the side, lashing out to kick at the thing's face. The Jabberwocky wasn't hurt but it was staggered by the strike, eyes staying locked onto her servant and not paying Hakuno herself even the slightest attention.
"Come on big guy!" Lancer grinned, twirling the Vorpal Blade in one hand and his crimson spear in the other. The dragon snarled, eyeing the spear hatefully, it's tattered wing that still bore the damaged membrane from their last meeting standing out.
Its angler fish head surged forward, the snap of its death clicking loudly as Lancer danced around the monstrous creature, working to figure out its attacks and habits, deduce a pattern. The damn thing may look thin and unnaturally frail but she was positive that was far from the truth.
As the two beings of legend battled, she swore she could hear the poem resonating through the air.
"Beware the Jabberwock." She whispered, "The jaws that bite," the purple dragon snapped at Lancer who lashed out, cutting a gash against the beast's face as it was sent reeling "the claws that catch." Black chitinous claws swung at Lancer who parried them with his spear. The crimson lance might not be able to kill the Jabberwocky but as they'd seen with the creature's wing it could still hurt it "The Jabberwock…with eyes of flame."
As if invoked by her words, and Hakuno silently hoped that it was a confidence and not actually invoked by such, the Jabberwocky pulled its head back before exhaling, a torrent of purple and yellow flames shooting out. The colorful flames would belong only to a fairy tale like the Jabberwocky itself.
"Whoa!" Lancer dodged to the side, rolling as he landed to spring forward toward the dragon once more, the Jabberwocky having to cut off its flames to avoid hitting itself with its own attack. Seeing Lancer bounce around the dragon, an idea started to form in the back of her mind. It all depended on the system's classification.
'Lancer, I might be able to get you an opening so be ready to take it!' she told him through their connection, not wanting to take the risk on the Jabberwocky being smart enough to understand her, or for the enemy Master and proper Servant to be close enough to hear even if it wasn't.
'I knew you'd come through lass!' Lancer laughed out loud even as he responded telepathically.
The dance continued, Lancer dancing around the purple beast as it continue to thrash, to bite and claw at her servant who would use his spear to spring himself around and to parry the creature's claws while the Vorpal blade lashed out, cutting through the Jabberwocky's scales like a hot knife through butter. Eventually, the beast reared back, ready to breathe another torrent of flame. She waited, holding out till she could see the light in the back of its throat.
"HACK!" Hakuno called out her skill as she targeted the Jabberwocky. It wasn't a Servant itself or program, but it did come from a Servant and clearly had its own skills too. Luckily, the system seemed to be on her side for this at least as the Jabberwocky staggered, the flames dying in its throat as the creature thrashed, startled and confused. But it was still reared back, its neck now unguarded.
"One, two! One, two! And through and through!" Lancer shouted as he used his spear to spring up into the air, flying faster than she'd ever seen him go toward the Jabberwocky's jugular "The Vorpal Blade went Snicker-snack!" The blade carved through the beast's throat, blood spurting out like rain as the gleaming blade cleared through the other side "He left it dead."
Lancer landed softly, the severed head and now headless corpse landing with a resounding boom a moment later, the Vorpal blade having lost its luster and part of the end broken off. But the beast itself was now dead, disappearing into black pixelated dust.
"Congratulations Master, you've helped kill a Jabberwocky!" Lancer flicked blood off his face, his fanged grin wide. "You're officially a hero of legend now."
"You did most of the work" Hakuno gave Lancer a once over then gathered her mana as she went over to him. "heal();" It was much easier to regulate when touching she'd found, rather than the desperate distance healing of mid combat. Plus, this way Hakuno could keep a sharp eye on the worst of Lancer's wounds and ensure that those were closed.
"Up close and personal is my part of the job. Softhearted squishy Masters get to be the ranged support." He poked Hakuno's forehead "Doesn't make your part any less important." As Lancer spoke, the Vorpal Blade lost its shine in his grip. Looking no more dangerous than a toy.
"Uh oh! They found a Vorpal Blade!" The voice was unexpected, even though it shouldn't have been, causing Lancer's spear to manifest in hand. He tossed the Vorpal Blade to Hakuno, who fumbled it a bit before getting a grip. Even like this it was better than nothing as a last measure of defense should her code casts fail. There stood the two Alices. Recognizing the weapon in Hakuno's hands even now that it had turned useless. "How did they find one?" Blue Alice continued confused.
"I wonder how…" Dark Alice seemed more amused than upset.
"Guess you win the treasure hunt big sis!" Blue Alice smiled "Now we gotta think about what we're going to play next!"
"We'll see you soon!" And just as suddenly as the pair had appeared the two Alices were gone.
Lancer grumbled even as his spear lowered. "I really wish they would stop doing that." Wordlessly shrugging in commiseration, Hakuno put the Blade in her inventory which dinged as the new item registered. He shook off the encounter, turning cheerful again. "Well, let's get going. We still need the trigger, Master."
"Waiting on you Lancer." Hakuno would focus on the path forward. Processing her emotions about the two girls would wait.
"Oh, I'm the slow one now?" Lancer for his part just laughed and started to drag his unfortunate Master through the rest of the Arena at an unrelenting pace, only briefly stopping to retrieve the cipher key and any other items they'd missed before. Lancer's gaze lingered on Hakuno when she wasn't looking, the slightest of frowns escaping into his expression. She was doing that thing again. Where his Master put herself aside to continue forward. It was equally admirable as it was terrifying and sad. But he could hardly scold her. Not the man that had chosen and chased his destiny no matter the cost since he was a boy. All the Servant could do for his Master was help her survive until she found a star of her own.