Despite how she seemed, and despite her Servant Class, Ibaraki was not a simple thug.
Living on a mountain right next to the Heian capital was a… gutsy move for a band of oni, and they'd never have survived as long as they had if Ibaraki hadn't had at least a smidgen of guile to go with her heaping piles of raw power. Admittedly, a lot of the time the extent of her guile was persuading her stupid subordinates to maybe not just blunder in and crush everything when that stupid cow Raikou was obviously waiting in the wings to ambush them, honestly.
And usually Shuten had blundered in and crushed everything anyway. But Shuten was an apocalypse that walked on two legs, so everything tended to work out okay no matter what she did, and besides there was nothing Ibaraki could say or do that would stop Shuten doing exactly as she pleased at all times. Ibaraki had stopped bothering to try and instead just kind of planned around her.
But in general, Ibaraki was well-versed in guerrilla tactics, and humans that expected her to simply charge in swinging were often in for a nasty surprise.
Now, Ibaraki stood on the rooftop where Caster had left her, watching specks of green shoot up like fireworks from a distant point. There, just visible through the haze of smoke rising from Fuyuki, was a small figure, bow raised to the sky.
Green arrows streaked across a backdrop of red, as Archer found and attacked her prey. When her shots found their mark, it would be annihilated. Ibaraki didn't know what that bow was made of, but it had managed to punch its projectiles though entire buildings in order to attack their target on the other side, and hadn't that been a fun surprise for Ibaraki.
She could have run. She could have dodged. She didn't.
"Alright, Archer," she said. "Let's try something new for a change."
Since her escape from the church, Ibaraki had been on the back foot. Trying to stay one step ahead of Archer while hustling that priest around had not been easy. No matter how she tried to evade, Archer had seemed to expect it, and launch a flurry of arrows that would force Ibaraki to dodge yet again, or else try and weather an endless storm of punishing strikes.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise, really. Archer was Atalante, the greatest huntress of Greece – no wonder she knew exactly how to herd her quarry where she wanted it to go.
But Caster's intervention had changed that, in two ways. First, she'd taken the priest off Ibaraki's hands, and she no longer had to worry about keeping a squishy, modern, old human from breaking. Now, Ibaraki was free to move as fast as she could – which meant speeds that would give any human passenger severe whiplash at best. Ibaraki might have been able to escape from Archer, before, but she'd have had to scoop up what was left of the Moderator in a bucket.
(There was a time and a place for that sort of thing, no matter how much it made Shuten giggle when the twitching, fleshy mass begged for death after she was finished with it.)
Second, Ibaraki had now had a moment to think.
And so, after fully considering her actions and their ramifications, and comparing her tactical advantages compared to her opponent, she made her informed and rational decision.
She exploded screaming from the rooftop, launching herself sword-first straight towards Archer.
After all, the sooner she brought the fight to close range, the better – and the quickest way to Archer was straight towards her, right? It was basically science.
Ibaraki vaguely heard the building she'd kicked off cracking from the force, but didn't pay it any attention, instead focusing on sticking her landing. Her foot touched down for an instant on another building – and then that roof shattered too, Ibaraki propelled forward at insane speeds.
Another, and another: Archer was firing from a mile away, but that was no more than a handful of steps with the distance Ibaraki was covering. The world narrowed to nothing more than the remaining steps, and the skyscraper that served as Archer's perch.
Three. Archer's aim adjusted.
Two. Ibaraki readied her sword.
One. Muscles tensed in her leg, and her claws dug in for purchase before she shot forward once again.
And-
-Ibaraki lunged. There was still maybe a quarter-mile between the building she kicked off from and the top of the tower – and Ibaraki covered half that distance in the blink of an eye.
Archer's face loomed closer, her expression showing nothing but cold focus even now. Her bow tracked Ibaraki, even as it became obvious that she had not jumped high enough to hit her.
"Hey, kitty…"
Ibaraki allowed herself a savage grin, and pulled her sword back.
"Git!"
When Servant Berserker impacted the tower, it was with an explosion.
The concrete slowed Ibaraki's blade not at all, which scythed through the entire thing like it was made of air. In its wake, Ibaraki pumped as much power as she could into her Prana Burst, leaving a white-hot line of rapidly-expanding gas where her sword had been.
The top two floors of the skyscraper just… ceased to exist. In their place was a cloud of rubble, metal, glass and furnishings moving at speed, with a surprised-looking catgirl in the middle.
Which wasn't to say that said catgirl didn't respond basically perfectly. Archer twisted upside-down in mid-air to place the soles of her feet against the nearest block of concrete, and pushed off, launching herself downwards. As she dove, she managed to fire a steady stream of arrows at Ibaraki, each one aimed to intercept her projected flight path.
Unfortunately for Archer, Ibaraki was an oni, and as far as she was concerned her projected flight path could fuck straight off.
Ibaraki held a hand out, and a torrent of fire blasted forth – and this time, Ibaraki let the recoil stop her almost dead in mid-air. With a backhand swing, she hurled her sword at Archer, then held both hands up behind her. They ignited, and Ibaraki fell from the sky as a burning comet. Bits of building fell all around her, but she fell faster, and locked her gaze on her opponent.
Down below, Archer reached the decapitated building, and landed in a roll to come up on aim in the ruins of an office, now open to the sky. Her head snapped up, her ears twitched, and she zeroed in on Ibaraki, bow drawn-
-and was forced to leap aside and vault over the side of the building, as Ibaraki's sword came down like the fist of an asura. It punched clear through the floor Archer had stood on, lodging in the next while rubble rained down around it.
Ibaraki herself followed an instant later, snatching up her sword as she barrelled through concrete and steel like it wasn't there, emerging on the outside of the building. Archer was there, running down the glass surface – and when her ears twitched and she noticed Ibaraki thundering towards her, she leapt out into empty space.
With another blast of flame, Ibaraki followed. Shards of glass seemed to hang in midair as she blew through them, and shattered them on her iron skin. Then, they were left far behind as she half-fell, half-flew, a nimbus of flame surrounding her in her pursuit of the falling Archer, far below.
This was more like it. Now she was the one hunting Archer and not the other way around, she could dictate the pace of the fight. Archer was fast, and she could bring a lot of firepower to bear, very accurately, over a very long distance… but up close? She was just another human to die beneath the blade of the oni.
With that cheerful thought in mind, Ibaraki threw yet more fire out behind her, pouring on the speed. Archer's speed meant nothing in midair, and with a thrill of excitement Ibaraki realised she was gaining. Archer seemed to realise it as well, and twisted to shoot yet more arrows at Ibaraki even as she fell, but a forward burst of prana blunted their force and Ibaraki's sword took care of the rest.
Closer. Archer grimaced in concentration as the ground approached.
Closer. Ibaraki cackled at the sheer joy of chasing down a strong enemy.
Closer. Archer was just outside her sword's reach…
…and then Archer twisted to land on her feet, inches ahead of Ibaraki – and was gone, her impossible speed taking her hundreds of yards away before Ibaraki slammed her sword into the road where she'd been.
She screamed in frustration. "Goddammit!"
Tarmac rose in a great rippling wave, but Archer only rode it to gain more distance. Snarling, Ibaraki flung herself out of the crater, sword blurring to knock aside Archer's counterattack, and the chase was on.
The streets were still packed with people – of course they were, Ibaraki had blocked off all the roads and sown chaos only today. The thought had been to keep the other Servants too busy reacting to try and stop her, and to fill the space with potential witnesses. A battle between Servants was anything but inconspicuous, and that kind of thing was generally frowned on. Ibaraki didn't care, of course, which gave her the advantage.
Apparently, no-one had told Archer.
She was just too damn fast. No-one saw her as she passed by, because she was only really visible as a green blur. Ibaraki could just about follow her by where she paused between footsteps – kicking off a wall here, leaping off a rooftop there – but the people had no chance.
They noticed Ibaraki though, because she was a little slower and also still on fire. Those that didn't get out of the way… well, how sad for them. It was such a shame, too, because Archer was going to so much trouble to thread her arrows through gaps in the pedestrians, her skill utterly defeating Ibaraki's attempts to use the foolish humans as shields.
"Come on, Archer," called Ibaraki, after batting away the latest volley. "Surely there is more to you than this?"
There was no reply. Archer sprinted down a relatively deserted street, and Ibaraki only just managed to barrel round the corner before losing sight of her. The buildings were getting taller as they moved further north – Ryuunosuke had mentioned this was the business district, although what kind of business required such grand, sky-piercing masterpices Ibaraki could only guess. Some kind of magecraft? Were they wizard's towers?
"Maybe you could try your Noble Phantasm again?" she suggested, shaking off her distraction. "That was very effective!"
This time there was a reply, but it came in the form of three arrows aimed for various vital points. Ibaraki laughed and swatted them aside.
Up ahead, Archer disappeared into some kind of arcade – enclosed, narrow, with various shops and stalls on either side. This modern time really did have an abundance of interesting things. Ibaraki would have loved to stop and sample the delicacies, maybe bully a vendor or two, but there was no time. If Archer wanted to shut herself into a narrow space where her agility was useless, who was Ibaraki to argue? She dove into the arcade.
A second later, she was forced to pulse her power in a violent blast of prana, knocking about fifteen arrows off-course. She growled. In the brief instant Archer was out of her sight, she'd managed to fill the narrow arcade with a flurry of projectiles, just where Ibaraki was unable to dodge.
Annoying. Archer wasn't much a threat if she didn't deploy her Noble Phantasm, but she was just so annoying. Ibaraki growled, and her rising sigh of frustration ignited as a cone of flame ten feet across. The wooden furnishings in its path flashed and burned to ash in moments, while the fancy clothes and desserts on display simply disappeared.
Now look what Archer had made her do! She could have at least snagged some of the sweets on the way past. Growling, Ibaraki gave chase through the blackened and burned arcade, Archer a barely-glimpsed figure in the distance.
But not quite so distant as she had been.
Maybe it was the fire, maybe it was the tight quarters, maybe it was how Archer kept on trying her pointless counterattacks, but Ibaraki felt she was catching up. Spurred on by the thought, she pushed herself faster and faster.
Round a corner, the arcade opened onto a wide plaza, and Archer was only a few dozen yards away. It wasn't Ibaraki's imagination! This meddling cat was tiring, slowing, and soon enough she'd be a smear on Ibaraki's sword. She lunged, heedless of Archer's arrows, brandishing her sword, and Archer had to dodge, rolling under the strike and kicking off the wall to gain distance.
Archer and Ibaraki emerged from the arcade into the plaza almost simultaneously. Well, 'emerged' made it sound gradual. At the speeds they were moving, 'exploded' would have been a better word – especially as the next thing out was a torrent of demon fire, as the arcade utterly failed to contain the sheer volume of flamed Ibaraki was pumping out behind her.
People screamed and ran from the noise, tripping over themselves to escape. Neither Servant paid them any mind.
The next blow would be the last, Ibaraki knew. She knew, because she intended to make damn sure this was the case. She wasn't messing around, and she shoved enough power into her blade to cleave a hill and its three best friends in half.
And then Archer stumbled.
Ibaraki howled in triumph, and whirled her blade over her head. Her eyes locked on her opponent's, blazing yellow malice fixed on cool green… amusement?
She had only an instant to register that something was seriously wrong.
In that instant, Archer moved. Her muscles uncoiled, her tail lashed, and she was suddenly just… not there. Instead, she was on a rooftop, half a mile away, already aiming her bow.
Ibaraki's jaw dropped. She couldn't help it. She'd seen both heroes and oni move quickly before, but this was impossible. No wonder no-one had been able to catch Atalante, in her legend.
In that frozen instant, Ibaraki finally realised the truth. She'd been allowed to catch up, nothing more – and in the very instant she overcommitted herself, the trap was sprung.
Ibaraki's blade smashed into paving stone at the same instant that Saber appeared out of fucking nowhere and shoved their rapier through Ibaraki's shoulder blades, driving her to her knees and leaving her pinned to the ground like a bug.
Her scream was lost in the sound of the earth tearing, rippling, shattering under her monstrous blow – but anyone who heard would have been able to pinpoint the moment it turned from pain to rage.
The way she erupted into flame would probably have been a clue.
All around, stone melted to slag. The plaza had once had some rather fetching plants and trees in it, but it sure as hell didn't anymore, only some artfully-arranged flecks of ash. Around Ibaraki, there was a blackened area of devastation – and at the edge of it, one sneaky backstabbing double-teaming swashbuckler, entirely unharmed.
They seemed… different. Parts of their blue jacket, and their cape, had turned silver, and they wore a ruby amulet at their throat. Ibaraki didn't like the look of that at all, and if the fading glow was any indication as to what it did, Saber was going to be even more of a nightmare than they were last time. Apparently, they'd come prepared.
Of course Atalante the Huntress would have set something like this up. The hunter becoming the hunted was a problem as old as hunting itself – and so was the solution. And since the only thing that could realistically pose a threat to a Servant was another Servant, what else could the trap have been?
Around them, the plaza cleared. Those that had lingered after Ibaraki's violent entrance had decided not to hang around after her second explosion. Those that still stayed were hurried along, as arrows lodged themselves between their feet.
Apparently the huntress didn't want any hostages messing up her trap. Ibaraki let them go. She was past caring.
Saber saluted with their rapier. Ibaraki hadn't even felt it get removed from her chest, which was probably a good thing. The relaxed, playful expression on Saber's face from their first duel was gone, leaving only a calm professionalism. "En garde."
Ibaraki struggled to her feet, clutching at her breast. It wasn't a fatal blow, not to a Servant, but it had still really goddamn hurt. "You're supposed to say that before we fight, fool! What kind of knight are you?"
"One who, with regret, must slay a wild beast before it hurts anyone else." Saber raised their sword, a textbook guard. "You may have your reasons. As you say, all is not as it seems in this War, I agree. But nevertheless, you cannot be allowed to live."
"I'm not the one you should be worried about," Ibaraki tried, before sighing. "Ugh, whatever. There's no talking to you people." She brandished her sword, and flexed her claws.
There was a whistling noise behind her, and Ibaraki swung her sword backhand to deflect another shot by Archer. Saber lunged at the same instant, darting in to thrust at Ibaraki's heart.
But Ibaraki had been expecting something like that, and met Saber's charge with a torrent of flame from her right hand. The force of it stopped Saber cold… and cold really was the word, as Ibaraki's worst fears were proven true about the amulet.
The fire – Ibaraki's own demon fire, her pride as a high-class oni – spiralled inwards towards Saber's amulet as though disappearing down a drain. Within a second, there was no trace of it, and Ibaraki stomped her foot. "That's cheating! You can't do that!"
"My Master came prepared," said Saber. "Although I believe this was meant to stop magecraft – how impressive it was able to stop even your flames! As expected of my Master… ah, how wonderful magic is."
"This is so unfair," grumbled Ibaraki. "My Master's good too, you know! Very, um, non-judgemental!" Why was she even arguing? She shook her head and glared at Saber.
"Yes. That is why you will lose," said Saber. "Your Master simply did whatever you wanted – and mine thought about how best to use his weapon in this War." Not bragging, not posturing, just a simple statement of fact. Ibaraki was hard pressed to disagree. Ryuunosuke was doing an admirable job of keeping her summoned, and an absolutely abysmal job of everything else.
But honestly? This wasn't about Uryuu Ryuunosuke. Ibaraki hadn't really worked with her Master. At best, he'd been a tool, a convenient way to learn about this new era, or use the Command Spells at her instruction. Beyond that, she'd treated him as a sort of affiliate. Not her partner, not her clan.
There was nothing he could say or do to stop her doing as she pleased at all times.
She'd had to fight alone, only because she never did anything to forge Uryuu into a worthy partner.
Well. Maybe it was time to change that, when she rescued him from Caster's clutches.
For a moment, Ibaraki debated telling Saber about Caster, and how her Master was captured. How the Moderator they'd set out to save was even now in her hands.
But no. When had anyone in this War ever listened to a thing she said? If their ignorance about Caster came back to bite them, it was only what they all deserved.
Ibaraki smiled, and readied her blade. "We'll see. Saber! Archer! Before you stands Ibaraki-douji, leader of the Mount Ooe oni, Servant Berserker! You who stand between me and my Master, prepare to feel my power!"
"Well met," said Saber. "Die well."
The only answer from Archer was a flash of green – and when Ibaraki swung her sword up to meet it, the duel began.
