Chapter 8

Groaning, Illya pushed herself up from the cold metal floor. Her head throbbed as she did so, making it difficult for her to think.

"Uuh, what happened…"

She tried to clear her head, shaking it and slapping her cheeks to focus her mind. The sting managed to shake off some of her confusion, but there was still something humming in her head. No, actually it was her entire body that was vibrating. The vibrations were passing through the metal floor and transmitted to her body, her headache having nothing to do with it.

Taking stock of her surroundings, she realized that once again, she was thrust into a completely unfamiliar environment. She was in a small metal room filled with the smell of grease, steel and burnt wiring, with complicated-looking machinery on the walls, and numerous flashing lights installed on them as well. There were also several gauge and meters, while what looked like control panels stood at each end of the room opposite to each other.

*Sigh*

"Looks like I'm in another dream again."

Still, how did she suddenly fall asleep? She was wide awake when she watched Berserker perform her Noble Phantasm, but then...ah, she fainted. Wait, she fainted? But she had prodigious reserves of magical energy, enough to fuel over twenty years of those gems the Tohsaka's used, and possibly even more! Even if Berserker's mana consumption was still three times that of the average Servant, she could still handle without any difficulty whatsoever. Though the Grail wasn't supporting her Servant, she shouldn't have fainted...unless Berserker's mana consumption had increased to somewhere above her limit? She had sensed mana being redirected to her Servant in large quantities earlier, but she hadn't anticipated that having her in that state would consume THAT much mana.

There wasn't much point in dwelling in it, Illya thought. All she could do right now was observe the dream. Although, where exactly was she now?

Without warning, a large tremor shook the room. A red alarm on the ceiling started flashing as sirens blared in and outside the room, creating a cacophony of noise.

"INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT."

A synthetic voice repeated the warning over and over, adding to the chaos. Illya hurriedly stood up, searching for an exit as her eyes darted around the room.

Just as she spotted the door, a faint hissing noise appeared above her. Looking up, she saw the tip of a glowing cylinder poke through the ceiling, looking like it had melted through the metal itself.

*ZZZssshhhh*

"That's a lightsaber isn't it?"

Illya stepped to the side while the lightsaber cut a hole in the ceiling, letting the circle of thick metal ceiling fall to the ground with a "bang". Or that was what she expected, but instead the air suddenly started getting sucked out of the hole, creating an immensely strong wind tugging Illya out of the hole. She barely managed to grab hold of a protruding piece of machinery, but despite her clinging on to it for dear life, inevitably it was only a matter of seconds before she let go.

She was saved by the entrance of Berserker who jumped into the room through the hole, completely ignoring the wind even though it sent her cloak flapping wildly, and plugged the hole by slamming the circle of metal she just cut out of the ceiling back into the hole. She touched the tip of her red lightsaber to the edges and melted the ceiling, using her sword as a plasma torch to weld the piece of metal back in place. With the room sealed once more, she turned around and walked past Illya, now kneeling on the ground and trembling from the physical exertion, and walked out the exit, kicking the door open and sending it flying off its hinges.

"W-wait for me!"

Illya stumbled as she stood up and chased after her Servant, her frail body trying to keep up with Berserker's speed.

Berserker swiftly strode down metal corridors with bright lights, passing several doors and hatches. Behind her, Illya struggled to follow her pace, jogging as fast as she could, but she still noticed how odd the place looked like. She would've thought they were on a ship, but just now that burst of wind when they were in the room, could they actually be on a... spaceship? After all, Illya had read about vacuums before, and that machinery in the room didn't look like anything a regular ship would have.

Berserker continued walking with purpose until she reached the end of the corridor, with a large bulkhead in front of her. Drawing Necrocalibur, she cut through it like the ceiling earlier. This time however, after cutting a full circle, she raised her left hand and pointed at the bulkhead.

*SHOOM-BANG!*

The cut bulkhead went flying in the room at an incredible velocity, crashing into something metallic in the room. Berserker stepped through the hole, sword drawn, and Illya followed her in.

Once they entered the room, Illya's gaze was captivated by the view outside the windows. It was space, in all its splendour. Countless stars dotting the darkness, with nebulas, meteors and gas clouds scattered throughout. Much closer than the rest, was a sandy colored planet taking up most of the right side view outside the windows, an awe-inspiring presence that loomed in the distance. Illya had never seen such a view before, and was struck dumb.

"You managed to track us down and catch up, and you were quick about it too. I'm impressed, your combat skills are formidable, but your tracking ability isn't too shabby either."

Illya swiveled her head to look at the person who said it. Behind the rows of screens and control stations that had been smashed through by the flying door, stood a man with purple hair, wearing full plate armor and wielding the ornate sword she had seen in the first dream. In other words, it was Lancelot, the Knight of the Lake. Illya noted clinically that he was quite the looker as well.

Behind him stood a woman whose beauty was akin to her mother's, but more regal. Her straight bangs and flowing hair were the brightest shade of blonde, almost glowing in with the light of the stars, but her face was set in a scowl, marring her features. Nevertheless, Illya could sense a determined resolution from her expression. Next to her stood the boy who had also appeared earlier, now holding a large shield that was almost as tall as he was. His purple hair was a lighter shade than Lancelot's, but there was a clear facial resemblance to him.

"Lancelot, your time has come. Your sentence for betraying the Dark R.O.U.N.D.S. and abandoning us will be delivered right here." She drew her saberstaff from her side.

"There's nowhere for you to run now, and there's no escape for them either. I'll deal with them after I deal with you though."

"I see. Then there's nothing more to say."

Lancelot settled into a familiar stance, ready to take on whatever Berserker would throw at him.

"Indeed. Prepare yourself!"

With that, Berserker initiated the fight. Unlike last time, this time she was going all out right from the start. Her movements couldn't even be compared to before, with the dual blades spinning so much that Illya thought she was wielding eight lightsabers at once. Such was her prodigious skill though that even when swinging it at such a reckless speed, she didn't even worry about cutting herself once, perfectly in control of both blades. Her confidence showed as she steadily advanced, whereas Lancelot was being pushed back by the vicious onslaught. Everything around them was slashed to pieces with no exceptions, while the two other occupants of the room had already vacated to a safer spot to observe the duel.

Lancelot didn't panic, but continued to defend in a solid manner, patiently waiting for his chance. His instincts sparked, as he sensed her movements start to slow down. Immediately, he retaliated, hurling a ferocious blow at her with formidable strength. She tried to parry it, but was thrown off-balance even just by brushing the blade to her side. He took advantage of her moment of weakness by instantly circling around to her back, and then lunging in for the killing blow.

The tip of his blade was about to scratch her cloak when he suddenly retracted the blade, just in time to avoid the crimson blade that swung at him from the left. And the other blade that followed it. And then the other one. The saberstaff spun into a tornado of crimson slashes, with electricity crackling within it, several stray bolts escaping and hitting the surroundings to leave scorch marks. If Lancelot had followed through with his attack, even he would be diced to bits. Front, back, left and right, there were no blind spots no matter which direction you came from. Berserker had feinted losing her balance, then tried to counterattack, but Lancelot's years of experience and conditioned reflexes saved him. However, she could easily maintain her spinning with the momentum she had built up, and inexorably advanced on Lancelot.

Without retreating a single step, Lancelot stood his ground, waiting for her to get close. Then in a heartbeat, be leapt into the air, actually landing on the ceiling and pushing off it to charge at Berserker even faster.

*WHOMP*

The sound of the air displaced preceded his body, aimed at Berserker like a missile, heading straight for the only weak point in her stance. The top.

He had also pushed off the ceiling with one leg, so a spin was incorporated into his jump. His entire body swiveled like a drill, with the tip of his sword as the drill point. He had used this move before in the past against strong enemies, and it boasted unparalleled piercing power, unintentionally harnessing the Golden Rectangle to create a truly perfect rotation that emitted infinite energy. The only downside was that he couldn't maneuver quickly while doing this, but since Berserker needed at least a second or two to stop spinning and dodge, he didn't need to worry about it.

Until Berserker suddenly phased through the floor. Or rather, she had cut the floor while spinning, having anticipated Lancelot attacking from the top, and dropped with the cut section of the floor to a lower level. Lancelot couldn't stop himself and pierced through the floor, creating another large hole before he landed on the ground below.

Berserker attacked him before he had a chance to recover, pushing him relentlessly.

"ORRYYAAHH!"

A downwards slash. An uppercut slash. A diagonal slash aimed at the ear. A low swing. An overhead power slash. Several thrusts at his head, torso and legs. Each blow chained into the next, leaving him no time to rest. To make it worse, crimson lightning wreathed the saberstaff, jumping off the blade to land on Lancelot with every strike he blocked or narrowly dodge. The room they had landed in was small, and he was quickly backed up against a wall, unable to show the full extent of his skill and flexibility.

Berserker didn't hesitate for a moment, turning her saberstaff back into the single bladed Necrocalibur and stopping her attacks to hop back, preparing to unleash her original technique, a sublimation of all quick-type attacks into a slash that left no shadow. Lancelot was completely unable to dodge it in the small space he had.

"Instantaneous-Shadowless Blade."

With barely a whisper, three blades cut through the air, the blades moving so fast that the glow of each blade left a trail in the air, truly a shadowless blade that illuminated the moment of the enemies defeat.

In the Throne of Heroes, a certain purple haired swordsman sighed.

"Why is everyone trying to copy my sword?"

But then a pipe came flying at her, followed by several more, each one wreathed in black smoke and red lines. She raised her blades to block the pipes, but another one came straight her faster than the rest, crossing the distance in an instant, and with her guard down after performing a sure-kill technique, she was hit in the stomach and slammed into a wall, the pipe actually piercing through her bodysuit and intestines to come out the other side, pinning her to the wall. Blood started to flow out of the wound and the other end of the pipe, steadily dripping onto the floor. Looking down at her wound in shock, then back up at Lancelot, she saw him holding several more blackened pipes in both hands, as well as biting one in his mouth.

Knight of Owner: A Knight Does Not Die with Empty Hands

An Ability Noble Phantasm that implements the attributes of "one's own Noble Phantasm" to anything he puts his hands on. Anything he wields becomes a pseudo-D Rank Noble Phantasm. Yet, a subtle and flawless technique is still displayed, using unfamiliar Noble Phantasms in repeated offensive and defensive maneuvers with grandeur.

In this case, the moment she had hopped back to unleash her technique, he had instantly ripped all the pipes from the wall behind him and activated his Noble Phantasm, converting them into Noble Phantasms capable of withstanding Berserker's swords. Then, he had simply blocked every blade with the numerous pipes he had as shields. For the technique that she had developed, "Instantaneous Shadowless Blade", was meant to be so fast to the point of being undodgeable, but it could still be blocked if one knew where it was going to land, and had the sufficient materials to block all three blades. With the pipes he had in both hands and even his mouth, along with the Eternal Arms Mastery, he was able to correctly predict the path of each blade and block them all accordingly. Then after she let her guard down, he'd thrown the pipes from different angles and speeds to distract her, before putting his full might into one pipe aimed at her stomach to pin her to the wall.

All this had happened in the span of two or three seconds, stunning even Illya who had been watching the fight through the two holes made earlier. To her, all she had seen was two blurs, one red and one purple, before the red blur moved back and did something that cause three arcs of red light to appear, and then the red and black blur was sent flying into the wall while the purple blur suddenly had pipes in his hands and mouth. If she had blinked, she would have missed half the fight. Still, she could tell Lancelot hadn't come out unscathed, with two large gashes in the armor on his arms showing the charred flesh within, as well as a slight limp to his gait.

"Kah, *cough*, to think that the day would come, when I get defeated by my own retainers...kuh." She hacked up some more blood from her mouth, staining the floor with more red as her lips turned cherry red. Lancelot looked extremely apologetic, even though he had just stabbed her in the stomach without hesitation just now. Spitting out the pipe in his mouth, he replied to her.

"I once followed you as one worthy of receiving my sword. But eventually, numerous troubles and problems accumulated, in the end forcing me to forsake my vows to you and leave with my family. I hope you understand, but I truly bear you no ill will. I know your abilities enough to know that you won't die from something minor like this, so simply stay like this until we reach our next destination."

Saying so, he slowly approached her. Berserker stared at him with her molten yellow eyes as he approached, slowly channeling magical energy from her Altreactor into her two hands without him noticing. Without Arondight, he surely wouldn't be able to completely block the lightning, and he would be stunned for a few seconds, allowing her to pull out the pipe and escape. The moment he got into range, she lifted both arms and released the pent-up magical energy as crimson lightning.

"BZZRRTTT"

A steady stream of energy burst from her limbs, but instead of one massive bolt, this time it was countless individual threads, each packing a sizable punch. Lancelot, hindered by his wounds, was unable to block them all, and his body was struck in many places, forcing his muscles to twitch and spasm as he collapsed onto the ground. Immediately, Berserker focused her strength and tugged on the pipe, struggling to pull it out.

"Krrr,aGggHhrrr...GRAHH!"

Even for a Servant, pulling out a pipe from their stomach was still painful, and she struggled to hold back her tears as the pipe scraped through her innards, creating more wounds and lacerating her organs. Still, she managed to pull the pipe free, even as some pink lumps of flesh and unidentifiable organs fell from the hole in her stomach, a rancid smell wafting up to her from them. Blood gushed from the hole before she could fully heal it on the surface, patching up the skin and wall of flesh. Quickly, she looked around the room for her lightsabers, but- a dart struck her, pumping liquid into her body. She looked up, seeing the regal woman from before, as well as the boy crouched in front of her to block any attacks from Berserker.

"Guinevere, you…"

She was already starting to feel woozy from whatever the dart had injected into her, she had to find her lightsaber and get out, she had to-

She lost consciousness when the blackened pipe hit her in the head, courtesy of a recovered Lancelot, still slightly shaking from the shocks he had endured.