Chapter 54
A second's hesitation was all it took, but it was enough for Kuzuki's instincts to activate and bend his entire body backwards, pulling him out of the way of the mana blast which barely missed him and pierced the lamp pole behind him, boring a clear hole through him.
On the floor next to him, Emiya pushed himself back up after diving at Kuzuki to shield him, having forced Illya to readjust her aim to avoid killing him and giving Kuzuki a window of opportunity to dodge the surprise attack.
By the time Illya had manifested more Zelle's, Saber was already standing in front of the two of them, her sword out as the winds coiled around it, her green eyes darting around the area to find the enemy servant.
She didn't have to wait long, as a crackle of red lightning heralding the arrival of Berserker charging down at her from the sky.
*BOOM*
The force of her downwards momentum pushed Saber into the asphalt street, a sinkhole created in the street as the road gave way to the hollow sewers below.
Shirou and Kuzuki stood tensely on the road, watching Illya as she smiled at them while the bird constructs floated around her, ready to fire at the slightest notice. Yet, she didn't fire, instead waiting for the Servants to reappear.
It took Shirou a second, but he finally realized he'd seen her before.
"Hey, aren't you the girl I met yesterday?"
Illya turned her attention towards him, her red eyes narrowing as she raised her voice to a high, childish pitch.
"Ah, I'm glad you remember me, onii-chan! I didn't get to properly introduce myself the last time we met, so allow me to introduce myself now. My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, the Master from the Einzbern house of the three great families. Pleased to make your acquaintances, Emiya Shirou and Kuzuki Souichirou." She made a full curtsy at them, using both hands to pull her dress and hold them in place as she bent her knees slightly, bowing her head at them.
As if on cue, both Servants leapt out of the sewers, Saber looking significantly worse for wear, while Berserker was practically unscratched.
"Ah, and this Berserker, my Servant and the strongest Servant in the war."
Introducing her Servant cheerfully and lightheartedly, she spun in place and gestured at the trio, one hand over heart and the other outstretched towards them.
"Now that you've summoned your Servant, let's fight to death onii-chan!"
Without giving Shirou a chance to communicate with Saber again, Berserker cracked the asphalt and dashed forward, Necrocalibur blazing in the night as it swung forwards in a wide arc.
*Vuon, VUON*
The two Servants clashed blows at inhuman speeds, their weapons swinging so quickly that even Shirou with reinforced eyes couldn't catch the after images of their blades.
Still, it was plain to Shirou that his Servant was losing, and not just by a little, but by a lot.
The invincible knight he had thought she was when she had fought against Lancer was no longer here, but instead she was desperately trying to claw her way through the fight to survive, each blow thrown off by the smallest of margins to stave off defeat. Her armor was shaved off piece by piece, her gauntlets missing a few edges and parts, holes marking her breastplate, while her skirt was torn and ripped in many places, the right armor plates hanging down her side with her skirt half gone.
Berserker flicked her sword at her like a fencer, a stab aimed at her face. The invisible sword tilted it's tip upwards, barely pushing the energy blade above her face as it cut a groove into her hair. Without missing a beat, Berserker ducked low and rushed forward, an electric palm sinking into Saber's gut and sending her flying. Her green eyes bulged in pain as spittle flew out of her mouth, but she managed to dig her feet into the ground, leaving a long trail as she slid past Shirou and Kuzuki to stop behind them.
Illya frowned at the fight, or rather the curbstomp of Saber. Was there something wrong with her? She shouldn't be so weak, as the supposedly strongest class of the war. It wasn't fun at all if she just lost like that.
The reason was in two parts.
Firstly, Emiya Shirou was an inadequate Master. This weakened Saber considerably, her parameters dropping to levels much lower than usual.
Secondly, Berserker was a Conceptual Weapon against all Sabers, let alone the OG Saber that was the crystallization of Saberhood. Created solely as a weapon to kill Sabers, just like Assassin, she inherited part of Assassin's Origin from her, granting her an advantage against all Saber class Servants, similar to how Assassin had an advantage against all Saberfaces.
The result was a one-sided beatdown against Saber, a fight that she would have struggled with even if she had a Master like, say, Rin.
Mere scratches that should have been minor injuries were magnified until they were deeply cauterized cuts that burnt away the nerves in the area, Saber losing the ability to move her legs as nimbly as before from the shock of lightning pulsing through them while she tried to block an overhead slash.
Her body trembled as she struggled to hold back Necrocalibur, the cylinder of plasma edging ever closer to her neck.
There was a blur of movement on the edges of her vision, her eyes twitching automatically to follow it. Forming her left hand into a fist, she gestured at an iron manhole and pulled it into the path of the fist snaking towards the small of her back.
*Kshing!*
The fist smashed through the thick iron with ease, a translucent sapphire aura coating it. Unable to dodge it, she was forced to knock aside Saber's sword and intercept the blow with her lightsaber, the sword coming into contact with the layer of energy and rebounding off the surface, instead of cutting through it like Berserker had expected.
The brief moment of contact threw it off course, the deadly fist flying past Berserker's left arm as Kuzuki rotated his entire body to apply maximum force, the air forcefully pushed aside in its path. Berserker's body suit was torn up as several light cuts appeared on her left arm from the wind lashing at her body, her skin chafed from the currents.
"Dual blades, activate!"
Technically, she didn't need to say that, but it sounded cool so she did it sometimes when she was in the mood, and not taking the fight too seriously.
The twin blades turned into a red circle as they rotated in Berserker's dexterous hands to cut Kuzuki into pieces. The barrier endured three direct hits, before glowing cracks started to spiral outwards from the point of impact.
Of course, Kuzuki didn't stay idle during this time, but instead wholeheartedly entrusted his safety to Caster's enchantments, his leather shoes cracking the ground as he sank his right leg forward and darted straight in front of her, grabbing her neck in one strike.
Red lightning danced around his outstretched arm, more and more lines spider webbing across the blue layer as it shimmered in and out of view, flashing with increasing urgency.
Berserker continued raining blows on him, her slashes not slowing down despite the force he was choking her with, her body's combat instinct deeply ingrained to a point that she could attack on simple reflex.
But he was not fighting alone.
Behind her, while Kuzuki had managed to grab her in a stranglehold and Berserker fought to break free, Saber had jumped high into the air, using her increasingly low reserves of mana to activate Mana Burst for an even greater height, then she crashed down on Berserker while swinging her sword with all her might.
*B-WOOSH*
The three of them collapsed into the sewers once more as Sabers strength and fall plunged them through the weakened asphalt, all three vanishing into a cloud of dust and debris.
Illya stared at the hole, surprised that Kuzuki could still fight even with his left arm gone, and that they could actually pull off something like this.
Shirou on the other hand had balled his hands into tight fists, watching the cloud of dust tensely for the first sign of the combatants.
A spray of blood burst out of the cloud, droplets of crimson dripping onto the pavement, the cloud of dust became tainted a slight red even while it settled onto the ground.
"Now!"
Saber's cry rang through the night as the ground beneath Illya's feet cracked, the pavement breaking as the winds were released, the bounded air hiding the holy sword released in an attempt to collapse the ground she was standing on.
Her eyes widened at the unexpected vector of attack, the threads originally in attack mode instantly disassembling into a lattice of threads below her as she jumped off the ground to float on them while the ground collapsed beneath her, but she was unable to avoid the massive blast of wind shooting upwards at her.
Buffeted by the wind, her makeshift platform swayed and shook, before completely losing control as pieces of concrete and asphalt pelted it from below, the force they were traveling far higher than they could tolerate.
"Hak!"
A long arm reached out and grasped her around the neck, pulling her into a tight embrace before she lost consciousness from a sharp blow to the back of her neck, striking a pressure point that put her to sleep.
"Master! Where are you?"
Berserker instantly sensed her fainting, her leg spinning to kick back Saber as her eyes scanned for an opening back to the surface, her enhanced optic nerves peering through the dust and darkness to see a hole right above her. She jumped straight up, her body flying high into the air as she surveyed the scenery below.
On one side was Shirou Emiya, master of Saber, while Saber herself was half buried in the sewer walls from her kick, a deep gash in her right arm rendering it useless, the source of the spray of blood from earlier.
But her Master, and Kuzuki Souichirou, were nowhere to be seen.
"Berserker!"
Once she landed back on the ground, Shirou called out to her.
She turned to look at him, her mind frantically trying to contact and pin down Illya's location through their connection, yet it felt blurred and diffused, like something was blocking it. Her face remained still however, the picture of calm.
"Grant us safe passage to Ryuudou-jii, and we'll return Illya to you after we reach the temple."
These words that came from Shirou's mouth seemed so unlike him, but it confirmed her suspicions.
They had managed to capture Illya in the chaos earlier, and were using her as a hostage to escape. While she had been fighting the two of them earlier, they had made a desperate gamble to distract her, Saber fighting with sudden ferocity as she swung her sword with reckless abandon, a complete contrast to her style a few moments ago.
Pinned down by her desperate offense for a few seconds, that was all it took for Kuzuki to vanish, courtesy of the Mystic Code "Shadow-Treading" Carnwennan lent to him by Caster for emergencies. His Reinforcement was also provided by runes shaped like the swords she used as catalysts engraved on his body, a rudimentary physical copy of her staff serving as the main source linking her magecraft to him, so that she could support him even at long distances.
The moment he disappeared, Saber had unleashed Invisible Air, the strike of the repressed winds breaking through the ceiling and the floor under Illya's feet, Kuzuki jumping upwards while boosted by the wind to get behind her in an instant, grabbing her, knocking her out and then hiding away with her in a short period of time like how his assassination techniques taught him to.
Right as the fight started, Kuzuki had relayed this plan to Emiya, and made sure he mentally communicated it to Saber to secure her assistance. At first, Shirou was adamantly against it, but after assuring him that they wouldn't hurt her besides knocking her out, as just the threat alone would be enough, he conceded to follow it. He could also see Saber getting hurt in front of him, while he was powerless to do anything. Gritting his teeth, he agreed to the plan.
Berserker stared at Shirou for one long moment, wondering whether to take him as a hostage as well, before he spoke up again.
"Don't try anything either, you know what will happen if you try anything."
It disgusted him to say this, but he had no other choice. At least he knew that they wouldn't actually hurt Illya, which was the only thing that made him go along with the plan.
Berserker on the other hand, knew that if Shirou was the one who had kidnapped Illya, she had nothing to worry about. But if it was the cold, dead-faced Kuzuki, there was a high chance she would actually die to the teacher if Berserker tried to do anything to save Illya.
"Very well. Go ahead, take your Servant and get back to Ryuudou-jii. I won't chase you back, I swear on my honor as the heir to the Dark Rounds."
Emiya blinked, before nodding to her in relief, opening his mouth to thank her.
"Don't say anything, just leave."
Berserker flatly stopped him.
"Ahh, o-ok."
Helping Saber who had just crawled out of the hole, she leaned on his shoulder, blood staining his light brown school uniform as blood from the various wounds she had accumulated dripped on to the ground and onto her Master. Slowly, step by step, they made their way to the temple. Before they went far, Shirou paused.
"We'll drop her off at the entrance of Ryuudou-jii."
With that, they left for the mountain, Berserker following closely as she tried to detect Illya during the entire trip, Carnwennan completely foiling her attempts at every turn.