Saber vs Berserker
The flames of Rome's battle are watched be extinguished in a single release of Ruler and Avenger's Noble Phantasms by a woman in her 20's in a tall tower. Her name is Elis Barthomeloi, the current eldest member of the Barhomeloi family. She watches as the people turn to dust, as the master of Avenger collapses from terror. "What a fool... damn him."
"Perhaps we shouldn't have put off the rogue mages going and performing a ritual...", the Saber servant in her command appears. His armor glimmers softly, it is not a fancy set of armor yet it radiates kingship. His face is covered in baggy hair and he holds his sword lazily by the scabbard.
Elis takes one look at her disheveled servant, disgusted by the idea that he would have once been a king. "Know your place. I did not make you the ruler of London for you to just lounge around, go patrol."
"Oi, give the man a bone will ya?" A second saber servant appears, wearing a colorful fabric outfit, with a string instrument strapped to his hip. He brandishes his sword freely, throwing it up in a twirl. "It ain't like you don't have a hand in this mess."
"Which of us is the master", Elis asked, showing off her two command seals. Her smile is tired as she has had to do this numerous times, this saber servant continuously gives her back talk.
"Considering age, I think I am", the colorful saber speaks, knowing his master won't actually use her command seals on him simply giving sass. He turned away at the deathly stare from Elis a moment later. "Alright. But I think you might want to send him up north, I noticed one of the berserkers holding up in there."
Elis flinched, "what?"
"Yup, he's just circling on the coast above Scotland. Ain't that interesting", the Saber turns to the knight.
"You want me to go after him", the king sighed. "Don't you have the boat?"
"Yes, but I don't think my skill-set would be a good match...", the arrogant Saber responds. "He seems to have an oceanic phantasmal on his side."
"And how do you know this?"
Elis snaps, "because he's the son of a sea god..." She rubs her brow.
"Aw, you remembered."
"So we fight again...", Saber adds. He had fought this servant once before on his master's commands.
One month ago...
The sea rages as the king Saber approaches the scene, his master supplying him via a command seal. They both fear the advice of the other Saber, despite his attitude. As he gazes towards the sea, he sees - he feels the weight of the mana in the air. Reports said the area had recently been contaminated and despite that, Elis managed to get the area sealed off for a potential battle.
The Berserker was spotted as it irradiated mana to the surrounding area after it's battle with the two riders in Athens. The monstrosity had left an impression on the locals and word had quickly reached London. King Saber was sent to face it as the Colorful Saber was sent to handle a different matter in the Nordics.
Saber's armor appears on him, covering his ragged disguise, adorning him with a rusted crown. "Berserker...", he raises his sword to push it into the ground. "I have come, show yourself."
The ground trembles and quakes as the seas billow with might. A rush of water pushes itself through the air into a misty cover for a set of glowing eyes. "Saber... far weaker than expected..."
The king laughed. "That is because the might of a king relies on the people he has sworn himself to rule."
"So you are weak... as a king who seems to have lost everything...", the voice trembles with sadness. As the water vapor stars to fade, a bright flash crosses the field.
"How did you guess", Saber speaks defeatedly. He stares readily at the spot where the light flashed, seeing the silhouette of an armored warrior.
"You and I faced a similar wall, one that neither of us could overcome." He was covered in armor, from head to toe. The phantasmal beast was no noble phantasm, it was the servant itself. The armor was bulky and it was covered in plate-like spikes. The armor was shining brightly in the dark night, glimmering with a blue hue. "As a warrior, I must inform you that I am merely playing by my Master's commands."
"Likewise, though I feel a slight bit of nobles oblige to defend the people of this country."
"I understand." The berserker who speaks well raises a spear off the ground, it had appeared in the fog with him.
Saber looks closely, further in the fog there are other weapons made of similar material scattered accross the ground. Each weapon was the same color as the armor. For now he simply raises his sword to meet the servant's neck. "Have at thee...", he charges forward with his simple sword.
The berserker lunges forward, thrusting with his spear towards the saber's heart. It's met with a simple guard, redirected as another simple sword appears in the king's other hand, which berserker takes to his stomach. The blade chips upon contact as Berserker grabs Saber by the head with his free hand to sling him up.
Saber readjusts uncertainly, nearly not acting fast enough when Berserker jumps up to hit him with a spear. Saber brings out another blade to block the attack. "These are really weak", he thinks as he matches the spear with his blades. Saber guards as Berserker grapples with him while they fall to the ground. Berserker bashes their head against Saber's, making the king bleed from their nose and deep cuts. He lifts his hand and speaks, "Galatine!" and a sword wrapped in golden flames is struck at the armored warrior. The strike forces Berserker to the ground as Saber prepares another attack in the air, swinging his sword down once again.
Berserker feels a small heat radiate from the hilt of the sword, "Whatever that sword is, it is weak now" he thinks. He guards himself from the next attack from above, raising his hands up and forming a shield from his armor that covers his entire body.
After the first strike, "Arondite", Saber makes another attack, this time it cuts right through the shield. Berserker stares in disbelief as the sword in the knights hand glows with pure, dense mana. He reaches down, picking up small daggers and throws them up at his opponent.
Like bullets to a man, Saber watches as the daggers pierce his armor and skin. Fear strikes him, but he swings "his" blessed sword once more "Galatine!" The heat is greater now that he put more heart into it. He lacks conviction at first, but forcing Berserker, once who fought the heroes of Greece, made this king confident. He raises "his" sword again and strikes, followed by twelve more strikes.
Berserker hides behind his armor that is slowly being chipped apart. He feels as the blade cuts at his body, the quickly rising heat begins to burn his body. He takes a moment at the end of the twelve strikes and takes a grip on the ground. Red mana begins to rise from his body, like burning steam, his armor darkens and glows crimson.
In a single moment, Saber feels a rush of air push him back into the air. After a flash of burning steam brushes his body and open wounds, he looks down to see an opened maw of a sea leviathan. A billowing beast covered in sharp blades and plates, steam rushes out of it like a geyser.
Elis looks intently at the footage of her servant. She had seen the results of the battle on Athens, but this was not expected in the slightest. Now she was guessing that the phantasmal was transformed into armor or that the phantasmal was merely a transformation for the heroic servant. She gasped for air as she saw her servant use "their" swords, the drain of mana causing her fatigue.
"Pretty reckless right?" The sassy Saber approaches.
"I thought you were still out scouting?"
"I was, then I felt a phantasmal manifesting out of nowhere...", he stares at the footage. "I think."
"You think?" Elis wonders.
"I don't know either, just going off what I know. Maybe if I was summoned as a caster or rider I could tell you something better, but my knowledge seems to be reduced without a territory or my stronger connection to the sea", he rambled. After a sigh he grabs a bottle of wine and sits down next to his master's seat.
"Please hold yourself back..."
"Want some?"
"Save some."
Saber grabs onto one of the hundreds of teeth in the maw he hangs in. He holds his arm outward, "Master."
"Yes?" Elis responds.
"I'm going to use a lot of mana now", he begins to form a glowing golden sword in his hand.
"I can see why... Do it, finish Berserker off."
"Thank you", he says before focusing. "My king, this is a battle against someone far beyond my skill and power. I ask to borrow only a fraction of your legend, Historia Regum Britannie, Excalibur..."
A light splits the sky in two as a massive release of mana leaves a burning scar on the land of Scotland. Water flows in on the molten rock, evaporating at the moment of contact. At the epicenter of the blast there stands a burned servant, and a bloodied armor. The incident would not be covered up as a result of the damage dealt.
One month later, currently, more people are being found dead or injured in the aftermath of the battle.
Elis looks at her servants, both deep in thought. "I understand the two of you hold some regret over the deaths of those people, but I need you", she gestures to the king. "... to go back there to get a chance at getting him killed. I have already informed the master of Lancer and Archer to be on standby."
"Why can't they handle it", King Saber asks.
"Because for some reason your are the only one we have that could hurt the damned spirit. Dumb Saber here can't harm sea beasts and the Lancer and Archer servants lack the firepower. In addition, you have shown yourself enough of a hindrance already, so even if the both of you die this time, it won't be a significant loss." Elis points towards a pille of paperwork, "And I didn't sign up to be the mayor of London just for you to not use the Noble Phantasm that needs that..."
Saber remains quiet. He takes his cheap sword and dissapears, "Understood..."
After some time of traversal using one of the vehicles provided by his master, Saber makes his way back to the site of his battle with Berserker. He stares at the flowers placed along the fenced off portion before changing into his disguise and passes through the gate inspection.
He continues his travel, past the burning crater, watching as people continue to be evacuated despite the lockdown. The scroched earth almost melts apart his vehicle's wheels. Saber gazed quietly at the remains of destroyed homes, the streets that were once bustling, he thought to his past. He thought towards a destroyed white wall of marble, a land of fantasy in ruin, he took a moment and brought out a cross to pray. The cross, the only item he held that was not ruined since his manifestation.
"I see you got the message...", the Berserker spoke from a distance, his voice billowing through the smokey town. Saber raises his blade lazily, met by Berserker's saddened tone "That's disappointing. Want to talk about it before our Masters force us to kill each-other, I found some old booze", he says while lifting a box of beer.
"I must disappoint you-"
Berserker dismissed what Saber was about to say "I figured. You're not the type to dismiss your Master's orders..."
"I am a bit dissapointed with that...", Saber sounded like he was going to cry. He sat down on a still standing bench at a bus stop. "I really am a pathetic man...", he said while gripping his cross. "I swore to protect people while he was gone...", he added, now dragging the tip of his sword against the ground, tracing a path in the ash.
Berserker rubbed his shoulders, or what was under his armor. "I thought I was the worthless one..."
"Kuhaha...", Saber laughed. "You didn't try to prop up a dying kingdom with nothing, I did that."
"Well that sounds like a story, care to tell me more...?"
"Sure, I need someone to vent to...", Saber said while tapping the bench. "And I think I'll have a drink too."
"Now you're talking", Berserker answered before sitting down and giving the king a bottle.
Saber took a gulp, "My name is Constantine of Briton, the last of king Arthur's soldiers."
Berserker looked to the void for a moment before taking a drink. "That's a lot already."
"Do you know how hard it was to try to keep that hellscape up without a blessing or a legendary weapon to my name? I had to salvage whatever I could from the vaults of that damned-", Saber took a moment, holding himself back and took a sip. "That Camelot, it was ruined by those knights of his, killed all my brethren and then the guys who caused it all... they decided to just die or run off!" he yelled as he threw a bottle at the ground. "And then I have to deal with all of that letting a bunch of our enemies to our gates..."
"Damn."
Saber clutched his own face, "Do you know how many people I had left at the end of my reign?"
"Some odd handful?"
"It's funny, it was actually just over two-hundred... I didn't lose to fighting though...", he said while looking at the exit of an ancient wall. "They decided they couldn't trust me, that I was a tyrant who just wanted them to stay alive long enough..."
"Rough..."
"In the end, I just walked away, met some fey and found myself stranded, joined a 'church' and then wrote a book..."
"I'm guessing it's what you used in my mouth?"
"Yes. A record of king Arthur and his rule, though I think someone copied my work later on. He was quite a beautiful man, not some bearded croak." Saber drank a bottle in one take, tears flowing down his cheeks as he was reduced to a hysterical laugh before calming down. "So I guess we might as well have me killed..."
"We'll see... But I don't think I want to fight you."
"What? Isn't your whole culture about glorious fighting? Are you not the friend of a hero?"
Berserker went quiet. "And that's enough of that, I don't care how you guessed that, but shut up", Saber felt a surge of anger from beyond the armor.
"Well, what's this change in attitude...", Saber responds. "I didn't think you for someone who'd wish to abandon his story... Is being a phantasmal beast something to be ashamed of? Or is it something else..."
Berserker cools down. "You're dead", he takes a lunging stance, cracking the asphalt beneath his heel and toes.
Saber takes up a massive sword, draining his master severely. It is adorned in gold and an oddly sized hilt. It perfectly blocks Berserker's attack, braking the spear he brought out in the middle of his attack, before swinging an ax at the sword, chipping the sword. Saber stood his ground, blocking each strike and watching as "his" sword slowly shattered apart. He jumps back, using the ruble and collapsed buildings as cover while channeling to create a bow and arrow. He plays it like a harp, sending the arrow to strike the Berserker on his joints.
Berserker collapses as his feet give out, the arrows have been charged with mana. He feels as the next attack hits, Saber threw the blade he held at him, knocking him on his back. He hears the steps of the heroic spirit, growing spikes on his legs that fire out at the hero. They pierce his body, shocking Saber. He then swings his body around wildly to get up and throws a spear.
Despite the pain and his lack of skills to boost his reactionary abilities, Saber manages to barely dodge the spear. Before he can recover properly, he's struck in the stomach by Berserker's fist. Berserker continues on his rampage, pushing Saber through the buildings. Saber recovers barely enough to create a lance in his hands to use as a brake to stagger Berserker's charge. He then uses his free hand to summon Arondite, stabbing it into the armor, piercing Berserker and blasting him with mana.
Berserker realised, Saber had transformed this blade into one of the arrows. "Even as a heroic spirit, he was improving", he thought. He could have expected this from someone more modern, maybe a counterguardian, "But a hero from the time of king Arthur? Now that's something..."
"Overload", Saber says as the sword charges once more, splitting Berserker's armor and flesh apart, triggering a mana release inside his body. The explosion sends Saber back again through the buildings, leaving Berserker in the dust. He looks back at the blast site, seeing Berserker rise up, healing his body - now partially revealed. His armor is attached to his body like an exoskeleton, and now it grows back like nothing happened. Saber throws away a shattered hilt, bringing out a great sword.
Berserker takes a step. "Is that all?"
"Have at thee...", Saber speaks as he summons a second, slimmer sword. "Joyful."
Berserker charges, now on all fours, the return from death drained his pools of mana. His body steams like a geyser, he swings his fist wildly down, being met with Saber's great sword before being pierced by Joyful.
Saber's grip tightens on his slender blade, charging it - it glows like a rainbow and slices deep into Berserker. The armored warrior's arm is cut off as it wildly tries to break free from the blade. In that moment of confusion, Saber swings his blade down, smashing through Berserker's armor and going deep inside his body.
As the blade slowly moves towards his core, Berserker uses his Noble Phantasm, "Curruid Coinhenn!" The town is crushed underneath the heel of a giant beast, though of a slightly smaller size than normal as he is no longer near water or in a humid environment thanks to his previous battle with Saber.
Saber now rides atop the billowing beast, Curruid, in full view. His weapons are now deep inside the servant, still cutting at his body. Saber looks at the beast, he is without his weapons that he had asked for with permission and he would likely not be allowed to re-use Excalibur like last time. He begins to sit down as Berserker tries to swing him off, though in his current state it seems like it will take some time. He might as well accept his death, he believes. It's not like his master will care enough, he thinks.
"Saber", Elis speaks to him. "Just so you know, there seems to be a one more person still being rescued in the area."
Constantine smiles, "so it doesn't matter how large the area is?"
"No, take out Berserker."
Saber stands up. "I will try, but I need to inform you that he is clearly too much for anyone."
"Do not worry, you were already ahead of schedule, so Lancer and Archer have yet to arrive. Take him down a little and the others can take him on in his smaller state."
"Understood", Constantine raised a simple blade, a rusted sword, one he had gathered from the barracks of Camelot in the end and one the one he wielded until his death. "Releasing Noble Phantasm." A glowing circle surrounds the beast of the billows, angelic feathers fall to the ground and the bells of salvation ring. "I, Constantine, King of Camelot, knight of Camelot and Arthur Pendragon, hereby devote myself to the people of this town. They are under my protection", he chants. A golden blade takes the place of his rusted one, Excalibur is in his hands. "Let this vile beast be struck down in the light of God", he chants. His cross shines in brilliance. "Come to me, oh knights of Camelot, grant me thine strength", the white walls of Camelot erect in place of the glowing circle. A bounded field is formed, one in which Berserker's movements do not damage the buildings or land.
Saber raises his sword above his head as spears of light are sent down from the walls at Berserker. The beast can no longer move as Saber swings down Excalibur and spits him in two. The ash cloud is gone and the sun shines, Berserker still stands as the walls fade. "Begone", Constantine summons Galatine. It burns with brilliance, "Excalibur - Galatine", he brings down the burning blade down as he falls at the remains of Berserker.
Berserker looks up at the sky as he lays down in a burned body. The armor is reduced to his legs and it is not growing back, he lacks the mana and the burns prevent it. He hears his opponent panting aside him, he too has been drained of endurance. He gets up, picks up a piece of shrapnel of his armor. He begins his thrust at the hero until he is interrupted by a hail of bullets piercing his body, ripping of his skin and bone.
"Can't believe this guy", Archer speaks. His clothes flow lightly in the wind. "Couldn't he just wait for a little more?" He lifts his gun up, an old riffle from the 1900's. "Now, let's take care of this..."
