Chapter 48
A shaft of darkness darker than the night sky split the clouds and rushed at Archer and his Master, the clouds gathering and covering the moon as lightning started to clash in the skies.
Tonight, the Wild Hunt would find their prey.
Below her, Emiya murmured unconsciously.
"The King of Storms…"
Over the course of his human life, he had scoured many archives, libraries and databases in search of information regarding King Arthur and her legend, in hopes of finding a way to reach her. While it was all for nothing, he had still remembered many interesting facets of her legend, as well as many lesser known tidbits and offshoots of her story.
She who held the Holy Lance was the King of Storms, the one who led the Wild Hunt.
While others could contest the title as well, such as Francis Drake, Cain the first murderer and even Odin the chief god of Norse mythology, it was indisputable that the wielder of the spear that contained the tower shining at the ends of the world was qualified to become the leader. Now, she called on that little known side of her legend, the weather twisting to suit her whims as a storm gathered in the formerly clear skies.
Far away in the Einzbern mansion, Illya watched the battle intently.
In a quiet temple, Caster gazed uneasily at the gathering clouds while sweeping the leaves, Kuzuki in his shared room correcting his students school work with his remaining arm.
Rider paused in the middle of educating Shinji, looking at the window and at the gray clouds while his sweat soaked body trembling as he held the same pose he had been holding for the past ten minutes.
"W-What is it?"
Despite his obvious fatigue, his furiously red face and slightly parted lips that panted heavily seemed to suggest a certain level of enjoyment.
Rider looked back down on the Master she was sitting on.
"Sixty more pushups for speaking instead of conserving your breath."
"Eh?!"
"Twenty more tomorrow in addition to the usual."
Back at the school, the storm fully enveloped the skies above the school, the wind howling as fiercely as it did when there was a blizzard at the Einzbern castle, red lightning flashing in the sky as thunder rumbled and roared. Rain droplets that were small but heavy fell incessantly, instantly soaking Rin to the bone. Gray was forced to jump from the dirt and onto the asphalt road as the dirt became mud and sucked her boots in, hindering her movement.
In the midst of the chaotic weather, Lancer gazed at her opponents on the ground dispassionately.
"Llamrei, go forth. The Wild Hunt will REAP!"
No sooner had she spoken the last word when her horse whinnied and reared up, the lightning flashing behind her and silhouetting her figure. The moment he came back down, lightning struck his legs, the Mana Burst strengthened by several magnitudes as the dark clouds gathered around her spinning spear, the skies turning into one massive vortex that sucked the lightning and miasma originally circling her spear and combining them into a tornado with proportions that dwarfed the entire school. Purple and red laced through the clouds, with lightning occasionally lightning up sections of the twister, the wind reaching a crescendo as it turned into an unholy screeching that wormed its way into Rin, Gray's and the two Servant's ears.
Originally, her power as the King of Storm's only magnified her strength by half and gave her the ability to summon lightning strikes, even in her altered Lancer form, since it wasn't really a prominent part of her legends. However, in this timeline multiple versions of her were summoned, creating a resonance effect that verified their legends, making each part of them equally true and thus part of their Saint Graph since they all came from different backgrounds and legends. Hence, the moment of life or death when Caladbolg had almost annihilated her helped her instinctively reach deep down and unlock the power of the true King of Storms, the undefeated commander's Authority allowing her to weather the blast of an A-rank Broken Phantasm in combination with Blessings from the End of the World and her unbreakable spear.
With her lance pointed at Archer and Assassin, she charged.
*SHAAAA-BOOM-SHA*
The howling of the wind interspersed with the thunder, the rain pelting Archer as he grimly raised his hand and prepared his strongest defense. The area of effect was too large to avoid as Lancer sought to destroy the entire school, her ability sure to cause large-scale damage that could possibly expose the Grail War as well if he didn't block it. Grudgingly, he admitted that it was smart to use the concealing of the mystics rule in such a manner to keep him in place. While he could possibly bring his Master to safety, his Master would still command him to stay in place, since if magecraft was revealed to the world, the consequences would be disastrous owing to how magecraft worked.
"Archer, do you have a way to block it?"
Rin could tell he was prepared to do something, even with the rain and wind obscuring her sight and hearing.
"What kind of Servant would I be if I couldn't block a single attack?"
His firm voice reached her through the howling gales, steadying her nerves in the face of their imminent doom.
*Splish*
Behind them, Grey and Assassin landed on the rooftop.
"Tohsaka-san! I think I may be able to block the blast if I activate Rhongomyniad, but we need a way to block the excess mana spraying everywhere during the collision. Assassin's fire support can only do so-"
"Leave it to Archer."
Rin trusted her Servant. If he said he could do it, he would do it. His slick hair gleamed under the occasional lightning as he stood on the rooftop, the hardened muscles accentuated by the rivulets of water flowing down his back.
Grey hesitated, before nodding.
"I shall begin."
"Gray (be dark) ... Rave (do surface)"
The cube rose into the air started glowing, the winds not even budging it in the slightest.
" ... Crave (do desire) ... Deprave (let corrupt)"
Light glowed from the cracks, a pure light that entranced Rin as she stared at it.
" ... Grave (do engrave) ... me (unto me) ... "
The cube cracked open and scattered into many glowing shards, the tower of light now visible as it floated in the sky above Gray's hand, halos of yellow light surrounding it.
"Grave (prepare a grave) ... for you."
Hearing the last line, Archer lifted his right hand towards the sky, palm open. He closed his eyes and withdrew deep within himself, searching, finding and tracing the shield of the legendary Greek hero Ajax.
"I am the bone of my sword."
"RHONGOMYNIAD!"
"RHO AIAS!"
"ÞRYM ǪRVAR!"
The battle cries rang out in the midst of the storm, the chill-biting wind and dull thunder doing nothing to mute their determination contained in their voices.
A golden pillar of light ascended into the sky, meeting the massive tornado and tearing the clouds and sky asunder.
A seven layered Bounded Field came into being in front of Archer, an iridescent flower taking shape in the air as each individual petal appeared. Wind, rain, lightning and the corrupted miasma from the lance attacked the first layer, yet it held firm, the majority of the attack being directly blocked by Gray's trump card.
On the rooftop opposite the building they were on, Shirou Emiya struggled to avoid getting blown off as the wind tore at his body, his feet sliding on the wet concrete floor. Lightning flashed above him, striking his surroundings, his whole body wedged into a corner in a desperate attempt to avoid the wind, yet his eyes could never leave the battle. His eyes were captured by their prowess and strength, insane feats of power that could never be replicated by normal humans. Perhaps, this was what a Hero of Justice looked like.
So entranced he was with their battle that he didn't notice his body was starting to glow.
Avalon was owned by Artoria, and could only be used by her. However, there were now several Artorias in the world, all concentrated in Fuyuki, and two in his direct vicinity. While neither of them had a particularly strong affinity with Avalon due to them not using it in their legends, it was only a matter of time before Avalon started reacting to them with their mana being released in copious amounts while fighting. Lancers mana permeated the entire area after activating her Authority as King of Storms, coaxing Avalon to show itself.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Assassin spotted a dim glow on top of the other building as she felt her ahoge being drawn in that direction.
Far above her, charging down at them through the skies, Lancer saw a prick of light on the rooftop, visible in spite of all the rain, clouds and lightning. Inexplicably, she felt the need to go towards it, deep in her heart.
Her attention wavered, allowing the portals that had opened far below to land the barrage of shots on her, lightly harming Lancer and Llamrei and breaking her concentration. With the wind and rain hiding the shots, it was difficult for her to detect them until the last moment.
The clouds shook and trembled as the cone of energy bearing down on them teetered on the edge of incoherency, then the golden beam blasted a hole straight through the center and burst through the clouds, creating a large hole in the sky among them.
Gray sank to her knees as she deactivated her spear, panting heavily as Add reassembled the seal, while Archer deactivated the shield.
Far above them, the wind and rain slowly cleared up, the clouds dissipating into thin air as the thunder ceased completely.
Archer scoured the skies for her with his hawk-like eyes, but he couldn't spot her, even though she should have been an easy target.
"GAH! Kgh…"
All four of them simultaneously swiveled their heads to the left when they heard the faint cry, only to see Lancer remove her spear from the body of a red haired boy as he slumped to the ground, blood pouring out of his chest from the coconut-sized hole.
Without further ado, she leaped off the rooftop and dashed away, leaving behind the numbing body of Emiya Shirou as his consciousness faded away.