Moon Cell Irregular

By psychored1911

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/EXTRA or Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Chapter 19


[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST_{Hiroshi_Magatsu}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE}]


:HUD Camera: Offline.

:HUD Microphone: Offline.

:HUD Speaker: Online.

:IFF Tracker: Offline.

:Overall Restraint Integrity: 99.56%

:Servant Integrity: 99.87%

:Lockdown Restraint: Off.


"Damn it. Of course the monitoring equipment broke. Why am I not surprised…? FLT shit can't handle someone sneezing on it much less how that meathead… urgh…" Magatsu muttered, mostly to himself, as he irritably tapped at his phone's screen, as if doing so would magically repair the damaged equipment. "Well, at least the restraints are holding, so at least there won't be too many problems."

Detective Chiba leaned over his shoulder curiously. "So… Major, you never specified what this Warlord of yours actually is."

"Officially, that's classified."

"And unofficially?"

"Unofficially, I'm dropping it on your house next if you keep playing 20 Questions with me." Magatsu stated bluntly, without even looking up from his screen.

Chiba raised his hands as he sheepishly backed off. "Alright, I didn't mean to offend or anything."

The elder detective shook his head, "You see this? It's bullshit like this is why the chief is always on your ass, Toshi." Detective Inagaki deadpanned, before turning back to the Major. "So, Magatsu, this Warlord of yours, you think it's enough to destroy that ungodly monster in there?"

"My Warlord probably killed it by now, detective." Magatsu said with an inch of smugness in his voice. "With any luck, he would have our suspect butchered on the ground as well. Let's just hope that the stadium is mostly intact by the end of it."


[ENEMY_SERVANT_INFORMATION_OBTAINED!]

[MATRIX_LEVEL_1]

]

[{record_data()}_ACTIVE]

[RECORDING_{Berserker}_CLASS_DATA]

[0.00%_COMPLETE]

]

[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST_{Airi_Isshiki}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE]


"HYAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Berserker charged, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Chiwa threw her talismans at him. He slashed three of them into shreds, but two stuck to his armor: one that froze him in a block of ice, and the other exploding into a gale that sent him flying back out the hole and into a different section of the stadium entirely.


[CLASS_DATA_RECORDING_INTERRUPTED]

[1.06%_COMPLETE]


"I think you made him mad." Zoe- Archer said dryly as she nocked an arrow, leaning out towards the hole and peering outside.

"Good." Chiwa- Caster(?) flashed an arrogant grin as she cracked her knuckles, "It would be weird if he didn't live up to his title."

"Wait, weren't we looking for the serial killer?" Airi pointed out worriedly. "Shouldn't we be looking for them first?"

"I doubt a Berserker-class Servant is going to stand aside and let us continue on with our business, milady." Archer deadpanned, "Especially not after so blatantly declaring his desire to kill us all for sport. It may be in our best interests to rout him now or have him pursue us while we are in pursuit of the serial killer."

"Let's split up." Hakuno suggested, "Caster and I will take Berserker on directly. You two try to see if you can track down that serial killer. If you can find a vantage point and cover us, that'd be great."

Airi blinked, "Wait, what? You're gonna fight that guy?!"

"Yeah, wanna trade places?" Caster snarked. "Cuz' I'd like to see you try and kick his ass."

"Gladl-"

"No, no, we'll cover you!" Airi quickly covered a hand over Archer's mouth before she said anything they would regret, "I'll work on our exit strategy. The stadium has to be surrounded by the JSDF by now."

"Got it." Hakuno nodded as Caster scooped him up and leaped out of the hole.

As they left, Archer yanked Airi's hand away from her mouth with an annoyed pout, "We could've taken him."

"Not without your Noble Phantasms, we wouldn't…" Airi massaged her temples as she whipped out her phone. "Just… just cover them. I'm gonna see if I can get us out of here without the JSDF coming down on us when the dust settles."


[{PERSON_OF_INTEREST}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]

[PERSON_OF_INTEREST_{Tatsuya_Shiba}_IS_CURRENTLY_UNDER_SURVEILLANCE]


"Looks like things are about to get a lot more chaotic around here." The madman mused, cupping his chin.

Why. Wasn't. Anything. Working?

The second the robed man got distracted, Tatsuya did everything he could to capitalize on that and free himself. More spells from his one remaining CAD. Kicking at the robed man's arm. He even resorted to punching the man in the face. It was fruitless. He might as well have been punching a statue. Heck, he could even feel his knuckles bruising against the robed man's face. And the robed man didn't even seem to notice.

"Ah, well, I believe I should be making my leave soon."

"A-Aah?!"

In the end, he wasn't able to free himself. The robed man just ended up dropping him, almost as an afterthought.

Tatsuya ended up staring at the ceiling for a good few seconds, before bolting back to his feet, and aiming his CAD at the man, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home, obviously." The robed man stated with a huff, as though Tatsuya was becoming a mere nuisance to him at most. "You should probably head home too. Don't worry, No harm will come to you. After all, there's no point in killing someone who won't feel any terror anyway."

The robed man then started walking off in the other direction, turning his back on Tatsuya.

And Tatsuya, he was incredulous. This man had to be stopped. Even if his magic wasn't working on him, even if his physical might wasn't working on him, he had to stop him.

Tatsuya aimed his CAD at him and kept pulling the trigger. Bursts of magic bullets flew from his CAD to the back of the man's head, but they all shattered harmlessly against it.

No more messing around then.

Material Burst would be overkill. If he had used it here, then he would not survive the blast radius. It would destroy the stadium, the hotels, Miyuki… all of it would not survive the use of strategic-class magic.

But that didn't mean that his Decomposition was off the table.

Whoever this man was, whatever victims still lay buried, whatever secrets needed to be uncovered, they did not matter. He needed to die. Now.

Tatsuya took a deep breath, aimed his CAD at the robed man… and pulled the trigger.

A burst of psions came from his CAD, flew towards the robed man, hit the back of his head…

And scattered harmlessly against his skin.

"...What…?"

The robed man should've died, no, not just died, he should've decomposed into his base elements and scattered into the wind.

But there he was, still standing. Still walking away. Still treating him as a non-entity.

He pulled the trigger again. And again. And again. And again.

But Decomposition did not kill him.

Eventually, the robed man turned around, annoyed, folding his arms and puffing his cheeks,

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be going home right now? Your magic isn't going to work on me, so why bother?" The robed man tried to explain, punctuating his words as though he was trying to explain something intricate to a small, petulant little child, "Look, you do not feel fear. Therefore I am not interested in killing you. If you want your heart ripped out, fine, but there won't be any fun in it. I doubt me doing it will fulfill the conditions of the ritual anyway. If I was going to do so, I'd rather do so with them at the apex of terror, when their hope of seeing tomorrow rapidly turns to despair. But you, you will just stare at me defiantly and try to go out on your own terms. And there's no fun in that. Where's the rush? Where's the excitement? It's just… work at that point. You're not even a Servant, or even a Master- you're just some guy. It just won't be that interesting. If you get your emotions back, come back and find me, I will gladly kill you in a way that inflicts proper terror upon you, as you so desire. But right now, I do not want to kill you. Just go away. Leave me alone. I have other business to attend to."

Tatsuya aimed above the robed man and pulled the trigger.

He decomposed a square outline of the ceiling above the robed man, and that part of the ceiling fell perfectly onto the robed man, collapsing all around him, and trapping him under a thick layer of debris.

Tatsuya slowly holstered his functioning CAD before unholstering the one he broke against the robed man's head in his left hand, before checking his knuckles and examining the fresh bruises he self-inflicted from his punches. It hasn't gotten to the point that his Regrowth would have triggered automatically, but he shouldn't have struggled this much. And that robed man, he should have been killed more than a dozen times over.

"...What are you?"

Tatsuya used his Elemental Sight, if only to confirm if the madman he had killed was truly dead. He normally wouldn't bother otherwise, but this madman made him more paranoid than he ever was.

…Nothing.

That man was gone. Not dead, gone. There should be a corpse, a living human in that rubble, something. But no, there was nobody in there. It was as though he never existed.

"-suya! Tatsuya!"

Oh, right, he left his phone on.

Tatsuya checked his phone again. "What is it, Kyouko?"

"Don't 'What is it, Kyouko?' me!" Kyouko chastised, "What are you doing?! You killed the guy! Get out of there before the JSDF closes in on you!"

"I didn't get him."

"What?"

"I didn't get him." Tatsuya clarified. "That was only the accomplice, not the serial killer, and even then, I didn't kill him."

"What do you mean? I just saw you drop a metric ton of rubble on his head." Kyouko argued.

"And that means his body just magically disappeared?" Tatsuya argued back, "I used my Elemental Sight. There is no body. He's just… gone. He must have escaped somehow."

"So you're saying he's still out there?" Kyouko assessed.

"I'm positive." Tatsuya checked his broken CAD and quickly repaired it with his magic. "I'm dealing with someone, or something, that is beyond my means." He then glanced at the mountains of corpses that saturated the turf below, "But that doesn't mean I'm leaving empty-handed."


[RESUMING_{REGALIA}_SURVEILLANCE]

]

[CASTING_{synchronize()}]

[SYNCHRONIZING_WITH_SERVANT_{Caster}]

[0.00%_COMPLETE]

]

[SYNCHRONIZATION_COMPLETE]

[100.00%_COMPLETE]


"We still have time. Want me to use a Command Spell to call Ruler over?"

"Nah, I got this. Besides, you already rang her up, right? No need to rush."

While they descended, Hakuno retreated into the Sovereign's Regalia, which had turned itself into a large, ornate war fan- one intricately carved and inlaid with red, blue, and green gemstones into its outer spokes- and hovered over Caster's arm like a shield.

Once Caster landed onto rafters on the lower floor, she then playfully fanned herself with the Regalia just as Berserker emerged from the crumbling concrete he was buried in.


[RESUMING_CLASS_DATA_RECORDING]

[1.06%_COMPLETE]


"Well played. That was a dirty trick, but well played." Berserker said as shook off the ice and debris that encased him, "But it will take more than a few dirty tricks to take me down!"

Berserker slammed a fist against his chestplate and laughed, "I am Mori Nagayoshi, descendant of Miyamoto Musashi, retainer in service to Lord Oda Nobunaga herself! I will not fall to some random mage who dares cross my path!"


[ENEMY_SERVANT_INFORMATION_OBTAINED!]

[MATRIX_LEVEL_2]


Herself?

Caster closed the war fan and tapped it against her palm, just as her mirror emerged from behind her and flew toward Berserker's face.

Berserker swatted her mirror away and charged at her with a roar. Caster then produced three talismans and sent them flying towards Berserker.

"That won't work on me a second-" Berserker attempted to boast as he readied another swing of his naginata, only for Caster's mirror to come flying back and strike him in the back of the head, stunning him, leaving him wide open to the talismans as they erupted into a blast of flames, engulfing him in a fiery inferno.

But that did not stop Berserker.

Berserker leaped from the inferno and swung his naginata with a mighty swing, one which would have surely bisected Caster had she not deflected it with her mirror, leaving her to stare down Berserker with a confident smirk.

"That all you got?" Caster taunted.

Berserker grinned back, "I'm just getting started!"


:Overall Restraint Integrity: 80.44%

:Servant Integrity: 71.61%

:Lockdown Restraint: Off.


"What the heck is going on over there?"

This was impossible. There was no way Berserker should be struggling that badly. That monster should be child's play to him. Unless-

Unless he was fighting an actual Servant.

The odds of Berserker fighting the serial killer's Servant in there were fairly high. However, it is also just as likely that Lord Harwey, or perhaps one of his agents, was currently looking into this clusterfuck on their own, and had encountered Berserker by mere chance. It was one of the risks that were taken when keeping the Harweys in the dark. The stadium was a Schrodinger's cat right now, and he dreaded to look inside.

For there would be hell to pay if Berserker attacked the wrong Servant.

Frantically Magatsu checked the cameras. The motion sensors. Anything. Unfortunately, the only monitor equipment that the serial killer didn't completely destroy was the magic sequence readers inside, and it was only reading the magic sequences the detectives were using earlier-

Wait a minute.

Someone was using modern magic somewhere in the upper western hallways. And it was one of those innate magic sequences too, which meant…

Damn it. Some brat from the Hundred Families is sticking their snot-nosed head into the military's business.

Just what he needed. Not only was his Servant probably engaging with another Servant in there, but now there was some brat from the Hundred Families running around in there to play hero. These Hundred Family scions were all the same: they barge into police or military business and do whatever they want, reaping the fruits of the hard labor of others for themselves, and then leave the mess for someone else to clean up after them. And on the off-chance they fuck it up, they immediately skip town to dodge all scrutiny, leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces. Oh, and don't get him started on what happens when those brats get themselves injured or killed. Because their wretched parents immediately begin raising hell on them, oh-so conveniently ignoring the fact that their spoiled little cherubs carelessly threw themselves into danger in the first place.

It was times like this that he was glad that such criticisms were mounting upon the Hundred Families.

"Everything okay, Major?" Detective Chiba asked worriedly. "You look kinda mad."

It took all of Major Magatsu's willpower not to blow up on the detective, instead gulping down his mounting anger and saying, "We're fine for now, detective. The lack of monitoring equipment is troubling me, that's all." He then reached for his radio. "Get me eyes in the sky on whatever the hell's going on over there, now."


Nothing.

There was nothing over there that should be causing those explosions. If there was, it would've been caught by his Elemental Sight. That Warlord has to be still around. The serial killer and his accomplice should still be around. Kishinami, the Isshiki heiress, Chiwa, and the Isshiki bodyguard should still be around. Unless something was wrong with his Elemental Sight, which he highly doubted… he was the only living soul in the stadium.

So… where was everybody?

He shook his head. He will have time to ponder such questions later. For now, he managed to gain something for his trouble here. Some pieces of armor from the slain soldiers, and a helmet. The helmet itself was especially important. While the armor pieces could eventually be inspected to have been developed from Captain Sanada's designs, and thus prove he was plagiarized by Magatsu, the helmet was connected to Magatsu's systems. Sure, he had to strip the monitoring equipment from it, but with a little bit of tinkering from Kyouko, they would have an open line into Magatsu's comms.

With his little consolation prize collected, Tatsuya called Kyouko again, "I got it, Kyouko."

"Great." Kyouko sighed in relief. "While you were gone, I was able to get ahold of Corporal Otowa again."

"He still alive?"

"Yeah. Fortunately, he was already out of the stadium when the serial killer came knocking." Kyouko explained, "He has an escape route for you by the northeast entrance. Head there as soon as you're done."

"Speaking of which, can you check the case file for this serial killer? The police had to have been tracking him for a while."

"Give me a few minutes." He could hear Kyouko tap away at a computer before returning to him. "Okay, according to the file, the serial killer's activities have only occurred in the past week or so, currently up to a total of nine known victims have been identified: each one had been killed in distinct ways, but posthumously, the results were the same: their hearts were removed and a set of numbers were carved into their corpses."

"Any connections between the victims?"

"No. There are no connections between the victims demographically. Age, gender, magic ability or lack thereof, it's all random. Even the locations of the discovered bodies are all over the country."

"So we can rule out the murders as symbolic." Tatsuya deduced.

"Which means that the murders have to be ritualistic in nature, correct." Kyouko affirmed grimly. "It looks like he is attempting some form of ancient magic ritual, which seemingly requires human sacrifices."

"Those forms of ancient magic rituals have been banned since the forties." Tatsuya noted as he examined the pile of corpses that had been animated by some form of spirit magic earlier. While he was no expert in ancient magic, he did know that laws had been passed that banned certain types of magic. Necromancy and magic requiring human sacrifice are considered especially illegal in the court of law, not just domestically, but also internationally. The fact that the serial killer had done both makes him particularly heinous. Still, despite the severe legal penalties, such forbidden magic has been stated to be incredibly powerful compared to other ancient magic, and even its modern counterpart. Was that why it was near impervious to conventional firepower? And even modern magic? But what does that make the Warlord? How was he able to destroy that thing with just raw strength and a naginata?

There had to be more to this. There just had to be.

Whatever the case, it had to come later. "What about the numbers, Kyouko? What do they mean?" Tatsuya asked.

"Well-" Kyouko paused, "Hold on, I'm hearing chatter about them sending another chopper over. You better make yourself scarce, Tatsuya."


"He was here. Recently. We must have just missed him." Archer concluded.

Airi anxiously paced back and forth as she scratched her head, "Well, can you chase after him, then? Just leave me behind and I can-"

Archer glared back at her Master, "Out of the question, milady. I may be ill-suited to protecting you from a close range, but you are infinitely safer with me by your side."

Airi sighed. Archer was stubborn, but she had a point. There would be no talking her out of this.

Back to the matter at hand, she examined the giant hole in the ceiling and the rubble that had fallen from underneath it.

"There was a fight here." Airi realized, "Someone tried to take out the serial killer's Servant."

"A foolish endeavor." Archer scoffed as peered through the window. "And I would wager that must be the unfortunate fool who tried to do it."

"What?" Airi looked out the window. It was someone on the ground floor. Someone she recognized. Her stalker, the brother of Masaki's crush, "That's Tatsuya Shiba. What's he doing here?"

The boy did not seem to notice them. Rather, he seemed to be investigating the gory mess that covered the turf.

"I believe he is another third party to this chaos." Archer mused, "Caster and I noticed him following after us."

"He was what?!" Airi exclaimed in alarm, "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"You didn't ask." Archer bluntly stated. "Our priority was the serial killer, not some careless fool with their own agenda."

Airi massaged her temples with a groan. "So, who is he then? Is he another Master?"

"I doubt it." Archer huffed, "I did not see any Command Spells on him."

So, odds of Tatsuya being a Master are slim to none. So what is he doing here anyway? A quick glance gleamed he was the son of Japan's biggest corporate dirtbag, but there shouldn't be anything that would indicate he'd throw himself into this mess. Maybe once this all blows over, she could do a more thorough background check on him, and-

*BOOM!*

Airi and Archer whipped their heads towards the explosion, blowing a hole through the rafters.

"Seems like Caster is putting up a decent fight, for a mage." Archer stated, seeming vaguely impressed as she slowly traced her bowstring with her index finger.

"Right, we were supposed to cover for them." Airi said, deciding to shelve the mysterious Shiba boy for later, "Do you have a good shot?"

"Not yet, but I believe that there should be an opportunity very soon." Archer tugged at Airi's arm, "Milady, we will need to keep moving."


There was something… off about Berserker's armor.

It resembled the armor that the JSDF security was wearing, far too much for comfort. But it also resembled the armor that samurai used to wear, with a more modern spin to it. And those cuffs on his arms and legs, the ones that didn't quite match the rest of the armor set, they resembled restraints, cuffs even. And there were broken lenses and damaged wires on Berserker's helmet. Were they monitoring equipment? If Hakuno recalled correctly, and with a quick confirmation from the Moon Cell, it seemed like the monitoring equipment was broken before he attacked them, fortunately enough. But considering how well-equipped Berserker was, it would be quite safe to assume that Berserker's Master was in the JSDF, presumably in a high enough rank that tailor-making some armor for the Servant would be a non-issue. But why give him armor at all? If he was wearing armor as a Servant, wouldn't that be more than enough for any fight? Unless… that armor was a Mystic Code. That must be what it was.

But why? Why would they need this armor in the first place?


[CASTING_{def_up(16)}]

[CASTING_{off_up(16)}]


Either way, Mystic Code or not, it did little to stop Caster from kicking his ass.

Metaphorically, of course. There wasn't an opening big enough for her to safely pull off that 'Polygamist Castration Fist' she kept telling him about, but she did spend the past several minutes blasting Berserker with as many different spells as she possibly could. Berserker's armor was a shadow of what it was, charred by flames, sparking erratically from frayed wires, gigantic chunks of it were blown off or half-melted onto Berserker's skin.

But Berserker kept on coming.

Despite all the damage Caster dealt, Berserker kept making swing after brutish swing with his naginata. One good blow from that, and Caster would be bleeding out on the ground. But Caster always kept her guard up, parrying the naginata with her mirror or the transformed Regalia or dodging out of the way with a series of flips and spins, avoiding the blade by a hair's breadth each time.

Perhaps that armor of his was some form of Mystic Code. That would explain how he wasn't half-deleted by this point.

Regardless, they were whittling Berserker down, but every moment they were fighting him was a moment they weren't tracking down the serial killer. Hopefully, Airi and Archer were making better progress than they were.

Their fight would then be interrupted as the sound of a helicopter's blades entered their ears.

"A chopper? Now?" Hakuno questioned, "Caster, fall back. Keep out of sight. The last thing we need is the JSDF's attention."

"Got it~!" Caster leaped back as Berserker made one last swing at her, before turning tail and fleeing before the JSDF chopper's lamp lit her up.

Berserker growled, ignoring the chopper's headlight illuminating him.

"Running so soon, mage?! Come back and fight me, you coward!" Berserker barked before chasing after her.


Whoever, or whatever, was fighting Magatsu's Warlord, was putting up one heck of a fight. Even if he couldn't detect it with his Elemental Sight, watching the Warlord sail across the air through one concrete wall into another, it had to be packing some serious magic.

…And that troubled Tatsuya even further.

He couldn't detect any psions in the air, nor was he able to read any magic sequences from any magic nearby. This means that either they were fighting with conventional weaponry (which, considering which country they were in, was highly unlikely), or they were using some form of technique that made their magic nigh imperceptible.

And frankly, he didn't know which one was more concerning.

But, right now, he had to focus.

Tatsuya managed to clear the turf before the chopper arrived, watching it as it shone its headlight at the center of all this madness.

He shook his head. While he would've liked to find more dirt on Magatsu, he couldn't risk getting spotted. But, he managed to get a lot of evidence on both Magatsu and the serial killer in the process. Perhaps he can also have Kyouko run facial recognition on-

Wait, what was that?

Tatsuya's gaze snapped back towards the turf, or rather the spirit approaching the countless corpses still lying on the turf. Much like the earlier spirit that controlled the monster before, this one had glowing red eyes and was covered in an eerie miasma. However, as Tatsuya just noticed, the spirit seemingly resembled the accomplice in physique. It was as though the spirit was a facsimile of the accomplice himself.

The spirit slowly made its way to the center of the gore and raised its arms above its head. Immediately, the surrounding gore gathered around the spirit, at first gradually, but then rapidly, leading to the gore erupting beneath it in a sanguineous geyser that reached high into the sky.


"What the fuck is that?!" A horrified Detective Inagaki exclaimed.

A geyser of blood and gore erupted from within the stadium, reaching far above the rafters and into the sky, but more importantly… far, far too close to the chopper for comfort.

Magatsu barked into his radio, "Overwatch, evasive maneuvers! Now!"

The order came in too late. The geyser of blood solidified into a tower of flesh and guts, whipping over to the chopper, grabbing it, and then promptly slamming it into the stadium, over, and over and over again. Even if they couldn't see much of the damage, they could tell it was substantial. The sounds of cracking concrete, rending steel, and the pillars of smoke it left in its wake were the only evidence of the destruction it was wreaking in its wake.

The men by the entrance could only watch (and listen) in horror.

Detective Inagaki audibly winced. "Ooh, that's gonna look so bad in the report…"

"Lord Kudou is gonna kill us…" Detective Chiba muttered under his breath.

Magatsu could only grit his teeth as the situation rapidly slipped out of his control.

Just what was going on in there?


Caster and Berserker briefly paused their fight to watch as the new, more worm-like monster, flailed about the distal stadium with the now-ruined helicopter in its 'maw, slamming it against the stadium with wanton abandon, leaking helicopter fuel and starting multiple fires everywhere.


[CASTING_{heal(16)}]


"...Oh, I suppose you're responsible for that too!" Berserker finally barked as his attention returned to Caster.

Caster whipped her head over to Berserker in outrage as Hakuno took the opportunity to heal her in the brief pause, "Me?! I was fighting you this entire time! When the fuck would I have had the time to make the bastard child of the Alaskan Bull Worm and the Human Centipede?!"

Why did she have to phrase it like that?! That image was going to haunt Hakuno's nightmares more than the actual monster!

"Why don't you tell me?! You're the mage here between the two of us!" Berserker yelled back, pointing his naginata at the monster they were only half-paying attention to.

Caster threw a fit. "Bah! There's no getting through to that thick skull of yours! You're going down, asshole!"

"Bring it, pinky! A few extra points wouldn't hurt anybody!" Berserker challenged.

The two Servants roared, clashing again as the Human Bull Worm rampaged behind them.


[SIGNIFICANT_STRUCTURAL_DAMAGE_DETECTED]

[MULTIPLE_GAS_LEAKS_DETECTED]

[POTENTIAL_STRUCTURAL_COLLAPSE_DETECTED]

[ACCURACY_92.34%]

[ESTIMATED_TIMESPAN_WITHIN_10_MINUTES]


"Uhhh… Archer? there's-"

"I see it, milady. Ignore it."

Archer promptly scooped Airi into her arms and leaped away from the freaky worm monster thing that arose from the bloodied turf, thrashing mindlessly with that flaming, wrecked helicopter in its 'maw', its propellor still spinning wildly.

Airi side-eyed Archer incredulously, "I really think we should deal with that first."

"Would you rather I destroy the shadow-born puppet or the puppetmasters?" Archer argued, glancing back at the monster rather apathetically.

The freaky worm monster then slammed itself onto the hallway right in front of the duo, crumbling the concrete foundation immediately, forcing Archer to scoop Airi into her arms and take a leap back. The freaky worm monster then reeled its body back and swung forward, taking a large chunk of the stadium with it. Before it could sweep into them, Archer threw herself through the nearby glass window, covering her Master as they landed on the turf below.

"...Fine then. It seems as though it's not letting us pass." Archer let out a frustrated sigh as she set Airi down and shook off the glass covering her and her Master. "What's the plan, milady?"

Airi glanced at the monster, which was recovering from the one attack, then clutched at the pendant at her chest. "You said that thing is a puppet, right?"

"A puppet of blood and flesh, with a Shadow Servant at its core. Just like the previous puppet they used." Archer clarified as she summoned her bow to her hands, nocking an arrow.

"Right…" Airi gulped as she kept her gaze locked onto the worm monster, racking her panicked brain to what Caster said about it in passing. "This… Shadow Servant has to be in there somewhere, right? If that's the only thing keeping this thing standing, then we just have to find it. Let's keep our distance and perforate that thing."

Archer grinned as she nocked an arrow and loosed it. It pierced right through, but there was seemingly no reaction from the monster.

"Not there." Archer noted with a hint of annoyance as she drew another arrow back and loosing it closer to the top. Once again, the arrow pierced right through, but the monster still had no notable reaction.

As for her part, Airi… retreated, keeping her distance from both the worm monster and Archer. As she ran away, she lobbed the occasional psion bullet at the giant flesh worm thing. It did nothing to harm the monster, and she could tell Archer was giving her the occasional incredulous glance, but at least she was trying something. All the while, Airi had to stop herself from gagging at how gross and disgusting that thing was. She kept calling it a worm in her head, yet it didn't even wriggle on the ground. If anything, the disgusting thing was constantly wriggling back upright to slam itself down again, and it seemingly slid across the turf with a mass of limbs at its base-

Wait a minute, why was it moving like that? Unless…

"Archer, aim for the base!" Airi cried out. "I think that's where the core is!"

Archer nodded in affirmation, nocking another arrow and aiming dead center of the creature's base.

The arrow pierced right through, but unlike previously, the creature violently reacted, thrashing erratically, and slamming into the ground everywhere. Airi was about to use her own magic to escape, but Archer rapidly closed the distance and scooped her into her arms, leaping onto the stadium's rooftop before the monster could crush them both.

Once they were back in relative safety, Archer set Airi down and aimed again at the monster's base, nocking three arrows with her bow and releasing them, piercing right through the middle.

As those arrows pierced through, the monster thrashed violently one last time, flinging the broken helicopter out of its maw and into the stadium walls, before it rapidly exploded, sending guts and gore raining everywhere.


*CRASH*

The ruined chopper crashed into the wall behind Berserker, its propellors still idly spinning as it leaked what remained of its fuel.

Berserker snapped his head toward the chopper, and then to the gaping hole in the wall it left, "Fuck! Did that bow woman get the extra fifty points before I did?! Bullshit! Those were supposed to be my points!"

While Berserker was distracted, Hakuno and Caster saw their opportunity and jumped on it.

"Caster, launch him at the chopper and blow it up!" Hakuno ordered.

"You got it~!" Caster summoned two talismans and launched them at Berserker. One unleashed a powerful whirlwind that slammed him against the ruined chopper, and the other engulfed him in a raging inferno, igniting both Berserker and the helicopter fuel, causing the helicopter to explode, sending Berserker flying right through the roof and out of the stadium.


[CONFLICT_RESOLVED]

[HOSTILE_{Berserker}_HAS_BEEN_INCAPACITATED]

[HOSTILE_{Caster}_HAS_FLED]

]

[CLASS_DATA_RECORDING_INTERRUPTED]

[98.85%_COMPLETE]

[{Berserker}_CLASS_DATA_RECORDED]

]

[SIGNIFICANT_STRUCTURAL_DAMAGE_DETECTED]

[MULTIPLE_GAS_LEAKS_DETECTED]

[POTENTIAL_STRUCTURAL_COLLAPSE_DETECTED]

[ACCURACY_98.22%]

[ESTIMATED_TIMESPAN_WITHIN_3_MINUTES]


A/N: Happy Halloween, everyone! Glad to get this chapter done and over with before the big day.

So, let's address the elephant in the room first: Tatsuya lost to a Servant. Even if Tatsuya is at the peak of his strength, he was going to lose a straight fight against any Servant he came across. I knew this going in, but I did give him a few smaller victories to offset that loss. He's still as smart as he always is, and now he has more insight into both Ryuunosuke and Magatsu. That being said, it wasn't easy to write. Heck, the only reason he survived was because I figured that Bluebeard wouldn't be interested in killing someone who can't feel despair. And even with that, I actually planned on writing a whole fight scene between the two, but it didn't really make sense the more I thought about it. But, I'm rather satisfied with the final product, so I guess it worked out.

As for the monster, I based it on the Legion from Castlevania and the Aether Worm from MW3 zombies… albeit much, much weaker. And easier to beat. And way less infuriating when it ends an otherwise good run. Anyways, I'm glad I got Airi and Archer to kill the damn thing. I also had fun thinking up ways other Masters would come up with using Shadow Servants. Especially Ryuunosuke. He's gonna be so fun to write in the future.

That's all for now. Please review!