(Bazette)
Laughing as she parried d'Eon's attack, Medb back-flipped into her chariot, followed soon after by the descending Saber.
Some distance ahead of the now-driverless chariot, a frowning Bazette watched as Marie landed smoothly behind her disappearing Noble Phantasm mount. Of course, even though she had to evade a sliding mass of spirition-based horseflesh, the Alter Ego did not give the Rider any openings. "Cute trick," she remarked sarcastically while taking a fighting stance.
To her surprise, Marie only acknowledged the taunt with a casual shrug while raising her own fists. Despite that unexpected response, Bazette was not so easily tricked, easily dodging the surprise burst of magical energy that flared out towards her.
One trick after another, she noted internally while quickly moving to close the distance. Try this one on for si-
As Bazette entered her fists' range, she didn't miss to account for Marie suddenly starting a backpedaling motion when throwing her opening punch. But, Marie dodged it and moved out of the way of Bazette's follow-up strike. Huh.
Marie started a legsweep as Bazette started to move into range again, causing the Alter Ego to blink and quickly avoid the attack. The battle wasn't going as she had expected, but that last move by the Rider sparked memories of her sparring sessions with (multiple versions of) Cú Chulainn. Ah, she's been trained by Scáthach, indeed.
However, their contest would not proceed much further, because right at that moment...
"Gah !" The back of Medb's chariot burst open as its owner flew out, penetrated all the way through the stomach by a Chaldean Saber's saber. The Rider had run her riding crop up up the blade to the guard, but at that moment was actually gripping it with her left hand to prevent d'Eon from extracting his weapon from her flesh and thrusting her again.
With his free hand, d'Eon pulled out what looked like a sword hilt, flicking the item into a reverse grip before sending his magical energy into the Craft Essence. Recognizing a threat, Medb immediately moved to block d'Eon, catching his raised arm with her own weapon, but unfortunately for the Rider, she simply wasn't aware of the potential lengths that Black Keys could take, and what she had thought would be at most equivalent to a long knife instead easily reached all the way down, piercing her throat and digging into the ground underneath.
"..." Caster Cú shot a rune of fire at d'Eon who was then forced to abandon his sword. Unfortunately, this was less of of a considered action, but because the Caster hit him in the back, with the blast of the explosion throwing him over Medb.
(Caster Cú)
Off to the side, Scáthach made her presence known as she joined Nobunaga and Sasaku in catching the engaged triangle formation of Cú Chulainn, Fergus and Sétanta in a three-way crossfire of arquebus balls, magical shots, and now red spears. The two Casters moved out wide to either side, Scáthach taking the clear ground on the Celts' far right, while Sasaku flew over to their left, while also making sure to position herself near enough to Marie should the Rider need assistance.
"You need to get at their Masters," the Celtic Caster sent to his Lancer counterpart via magecraft. It wasn't the right time to mention Medb's situation. "They're using the smoke from that Archer's guns to hide."
"If you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit concerned about having Scáthach up my ass," the Lancer replied through the link.
"She's a Caster at Chaldea, she won't come up and shank you."
"That's fine for you to say, but those red spears she's throwing are not toys."
"One of you take her, the other two charge the Archer. I'll take care of the flying one for you."
(Sasaku)
Going by the looks of it, both d'Eon and Medb are out of commission. Of course the enemy wouldn't be so good as to fall apart due to that. Seeing how the Chaldean left had the Celts contained, Sasaku moved to land in Bazette's blindspot and pincer the Alter Ego along with Marie, but before she had even gotten in a slash with Ruby, Caster Cú attacked her with a variety of destructive runes, including a few which exploded and immediately gave her position away to Bazette.
The druid and magical girl engaged in a bullet hell-esque exchange, with the latter having to take to the sky as near-misses from exploding runes were able to hit the ground and go off. Well, let's take advantage of his attacks, the ex-Caster thought while positioning herself so that any of her opponent's missed shots would hit his ally Bazette. Of course, that meant that Marie was also in the line of fire, but Bazette was closer and also had her back to where the runes would be coming in.
Caster Cú caught onto the ploy immediately of course, though he only raised an eyebrow and switched to air bursting runes. In response, Sasaku took upwards in order to use the oddly-bright sun to complicate ranging her. Frowning, Cú sent homing runes after her, but after a moment, it became clear that she wasn't trying to return fire, but was instead shooting at Bazette who was having a frustrating time of it.
Of course there was no way Marie could ever defeat Bazette, but the Rider was steadily moving back towards Nobunaga's firing line. For her part, the Archer was slowly moving up, but as she was waiting for one of the Celts in her sights to stop and attempt a Noble Phantasm release for her to counter, the motion was simply to avoid blocking her own line of sight with the smoke of firing, rather than to directly join Marie.
(Caster Cú)
"Oi Caster, isn't that Archer deliberately using her guns to cover their side of the field? It isn't clearing up like normal smoke."
"No shit, well haven't you heard that people nowadays use smoke for that?"
"I don't care about that, we can't just walk into that and expect to stumble across a Master."
"Use your Anti-Army technique on it, but have someone cover- what the hell?" As the Caster craned his neck awkwardly to track his opponent who was flying close to directly above him, it two things occurred to him. First, how is the sun right above me since it's only a little after dawn? And second, that glowing spot of shadow wasn't a hail of magical bullets but...
The druid hurriedly jumped out of the way as a number of iron spears stabbed into the chariot and the ground all around, followed soon after by the thrower who charged at him with a sword of all things. He hurriedly batted aside her opening thrust, deflecting the glittering blade with his trusty staff, but the exchange made it clear that his Caster-level combat level didn't make for a favorable matchup.
Without overly thinking about it, Cú prepared to activate his Noble Phantasm (Wicker Man). In that moment, however, the Ruler tackled him to the ground, making the Noble Phantasm significantly less immediately useful.
"Get off me, girl !" he snarled while she tried to stab him with a dagger of some sort. Reacting instinctively, he rammed his knee into her stomach, which caused her to stagger backwards, creating a little space as the Caster gained his feet and opportunity. "Now, (Wicker -"
He paused, not voluntarily, as something pierced him from behind. That Saber.
d'Eon stumbled away from a charging Bazette, who had realized, too late, that it was better to give up on the elusive Marie. "Do you Chaldeans not stay dead?" Cú coughed as the Alter Ego caught hold of him.
"Oh your rune? (Magic Resistance)," the Saber muttered from the ground without trying to get up after having fallen some distance away from the two.
"What happened to Medb?" Bazette asked the wounded Caster quietly as Sasaku quickly left to rejoin Marie.
"She's dead," Cú replied bluntly.
Bazette twitched. "Did you know this would happen?"
"I'm as surprised as you are. Medb should've had it in the bag. Or the sack, so to speak."
She put that matter to one side. "How badly did he get you?"
"It didn't even trigger (Battle Continuation). Anyway, I can handle myself. Finish him off, will you?"
Simply nodding, Bazette let the Caster settle into a crouch, making a fist. But before she could cover the two steps to the silent d'Eon, a hail of bullets came over from the Chaldean side as Nobunaga intercepted her with fire. The arquebus balls whizzed over the Alter Ego's head, along with one magical girl who quickly nipped over and started awkwardly dragging d'Eon away. Despite being able to fly 'for free', her transformation wasn't sufficient to allow her to pick up someone else and fly.
"These Chaldeans really like the 'close' part of danger close, don't they," Bazette grumbled while realizing that they were rotating around the Okita-Berzerker Cú duel and coming in her direction. Furthermore they seemed determined to make use of their ranged attacks against a Celtic force stacked with Skills like (Protection from Arrows) which was somehow more infuriating than the trick they had somehow played on Medb using the French knight.
(Okita)
Dodging a swipe of the Berserker's claws, Okita eyed her left and right before shifting towards the right in order to keep her opponent in between her and the trio of Celts that were, for the moment, giving their wild ally a wide berth.
He was definitely focused on trying to kill her, though the Saber wasn't entirely sure if some of Cú Alter's apparent over-extensions were not feints, (Madness Enhancement) or not. After all, with his armor and (Battle Continuation) it would be very easy to turn an actual opening into a trap for the naive attacker.
In the distance, Fergus and Sétanta abruptly broke into a run towards Nobunaga's position. Though they were probably targeting the Masters, the two homunuli and Jeanne had already started moving in the same manner that Okita had, keeping to the right edge of the Archer's smoke cloud. Well, as long as that south-blowing wind continues to cooperate.
Don't get caught by them, Gudako warned over their link. We're going to link up with Marie. Keep on the zerker for a bit more.
(Lancer Cú)
Once their course of action was decided, the Lancer turned smoothly and began moving towards Scáthach. If he was able to engage the Caster, the other two would be able to continue without their backs being threatened by her red spears. As the two spear-wielding Servants entered one another's range, Scáthach quickly stepped to the side and thrust at Cú's leg, which the Lancer avoided in turn by quick footwork. He tried to follow up with a high attack, but her second spear thwarted this attack.
Right at that moment, Cú had to abruptly block a number of bullets shot by Nobunaga at his left, while Scáthach transitioned her left from the defense to strike at his right. Reacting immediately, the Lancer gave up ground, seeing that the Caster couldn't follow him without entering the line of fire. However, the moment the last balls had whizzed past Cú face, Scáthach was trying to put the point of her spear in it.
The Lancer stepped back again, then sharply leaned to one side, as did Scáthach, when a series of bright pink shots came at him from the rear. I might be able to take her one-on-one but not like this. Cú gritted his teeth as his mentor pressed the attack again. He was carrying a barbed spear that pierced with death, but so was she. Multiple, actually.
(Bazette and Caster Cú)
"I don't think we really need to worry about being wiped out by an Anti-Army attack now," Bazette muttered while hauling the bleeding Caster Cú up onto his feet.
"You took out Marie's shot, but Nobunaga hasn't used hers yet," Cú replied while blocking said Archer's shots as the two made to join Cú Alter. Bazette mumbled something while blocking a number of Sasaku's shots. Off in the distance, standing possessively over a small depression in the ground where she had dropped d'Eon like a small animal, the Caster waved a hand at the Alter Ego before dropping her transformation and bringing up a number of spears.
"Swap with me," the Caster said.
"I can't block that many bullets either."
"I didn't want to do this, but I suppose we have no choice. I'll have (Wicker Guardian) block us from the gunner, we can use it as cover and regroup."
"I think everyone is strung out over the field."
"I've already let them know. We'll collapse in on Lancer me."
(Sasaku)
"You still alive?" Sasaku asked the Saber at her feet while watching the enemy Alter Ego and Caster's motion.
"He just hit me once, I wouldn't die unless it was a stealth Noble Phantasm strike. It's just that Medb herself took some... doing first."
A towering (Wicker Guardian) rushed at Nobunaga, using its large shield and larger form to block off the Archer's possibilities for fire. Both Nobunaga and Sasaku tried shooting at the massive summoned giant, but unsurprisingly to no effect since it was a Noble Phantasm-level summon.
Let Scáthach know they're all headed towards her, she told Gudao.
Marie already told us. How's d'Eon?
He'll live.
"It's rude to look up a lady's skirt," Ruby commented idly as the south-headed wind picked up in strength and temperature, throwing dust into the air and scattering Nobunaga's improvised smoke screen to reveal Jeanne and the two Masters headed towards them.
"Stay down," Sasaku remarked to d'Eon. "We don't have to move, but I can't fight and stabilize you at the same time." Much to the opposing Caster Cú's annoyance, probably, her spears had various forms of ward-piercing enchantments on them, making for a more challenging defense than Ruby's projectiles.
"I'm not bleeding out," the Saber remarked, though he had noted the same developments and did as asked.
"Yes, you only had your back blown out by a powerful rune. I know that (Magic Resistance) doesn't simply nullify everything. Ruby, I need to switch back, these spears are more dangerous to Scáthach than they are to that Lancer right now."
With Nobunaga occupied or at least blocked by the (Wicker Guardian), Sasaku couldn't leave off covering the friendly Caster, but unlike the Archer, it wasn't possible to do so accurately at that distance. As a result, she had to largely leave it up to Scáthach to respond to the incoming 'help' and find an opportunity to peel away from Lancer Cú before all of his allies ended up converging on their spot in the battlefield.
"Well, they're pulling back," Marie noted as Nobunaga joined her, Jeanne and the Masters, followed soon after by Okita who disengaged from Cú Alter without issues once it was obvious that the Celts were departing. Not that it prevented Nobunaga and Sasaku from showering them with missiles as Scáthach quickly made a getaway out of the range of (Gae Bolg) and the (Wicker Guardian) finally ran out of energy.
"Great. I think this is about as clear-cut of a win as we could get," Gudao commented. "They're not going to be able to hold together the invasion without Medb."
"I doubt all the Celts will suddenly be rushing to get on a ship and just leave," Sasaku retorted after taking to the sky to confirm that Scáthach was safe. Landing back in place, she gently turned d'Eon over to see how badly the Saber was wounded.
"How bad is it?" Marie asked with concern clear in her voice.
"Oh he'll live, but recovery will need Scáthach to do a ritual for it."
"We should get back to the leyline then," Gudako took a breath and coughed on the remnants of smoke still being pushed through their position. `"Some shade and different air would be nice."
"Wait a moment, something's wrong." Okita abruptly switched into a combat stance. "There's something coming from that direction." She pointed out the exact direction of the leyline base.
"That wouldn't be the Celts..." Jeanne frowned, turning her head between where Medb's force had departed towards their own lines and the Chaldeans' own base of operations.
"What have you done ?!" The hot air currents brought a near-panicked voice. Squinting through the day's glare, Nobunaga could make out a battered Geronimo headed towards them along with ... "He's being chased by Phantasmal Beasts ?!"
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Notes:
You probably already guessed but Medb doesn't get her anti-male bonuses vs d'Eon. This is part of the reason why Chaldea went with Okita instead of (their) initial first choice, Sasaki Kojirou. This is true even though everyone (and yes, the narrator) uses he etc for d'Eon - it would be similar for Astolfo et al, by the way.
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d'Eon's surprise hit on Caster Cú is nowhere near a mortal wound. He was simply lucky that the Caster jumped down near to where he had fallen, d'Eon definitely couldn't have run across the field to catch him, for example.
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If you're wondering why (Protection from Arrows) does not let Servants simply ignore ranged attacks etc, it comes from cases like Cú vs Gilgamesh where he couldn't just ignore all the Gate of Babylon spam, though he could tank it for a long time. In this context, it means you can be invulnerable to ranged attacks, even from multiple directions, but in extreme cases you can't do much besides defend and maybe move with a speed penalty. Definitely not do something like use your Noble Phantasm. Lancer Cú actually encountered this in Another Aria where he wanted to use his (Gae Bolg) but he couldn't make a bit of distance to use it before getting a lot of spears thrown at him and having to defend. Oh and Chaldea knows rather explicitly about this aspect of the Skill because of, of course, Scáthach...
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The spears having runes, wards, spells etc on them first started with just Reinforcement back in Another Aria, but as is mentioned in Halloween Approaches (Ch 13) the Four Houses had access to the spears from then all the way until now and started doing things with them. So while they have a lot of different properties, Sasaku doesn't actually know which ones are/do what except the ones she handled or prepared personally. It's obvious that they are intended to harm the target though, nothing silly like a spear that heals someone when it runs them through.
Also, while the base weapon can harm Servants, the extra properties are not Servant-level so using a spear with a ward-breaking rune won't break a Servant's decent defensive ward, but 4 of them might do the job vs 5 un-bonused ones. Or if a Servant tried to minimally deflect one which happened to have an enchantment that multiplied its inertia, then they might take a grazing hit instead of a clean deflect. (Any hit is more like scratch damage though, or follows the rules where you get hit 10 times, but only one `counts' in terms of actually piercing you.)
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Things like Black Keys aren't generally effective vs Servant-level targets, but note that Chaldea has Black Key Craft Essences which are roughly at the level of a Servant's generic weapon. Recall that Craft Essences are made from things that appear when summoning - a process obviously involves using enough energy to materialize Servants. Also this is a callback to one of the other random story bits I had which had d'Eon using one (in that story the Masters assumed he would dual wield, but sabers are commonly used one-handed with no off-hand weapon).
