075 - And Violence Breeds Violence

Tohsaka Rin

A conventional duel between two Masters involves their Servants clashing head on while they do their best to support from the sidelines. A distressingly high number of Servants can simply shrug off magic, and even those who can't are still exceptional existences steeped in mystery and shrouded in legend, far beyond what a conventional modern magus can hope to challenge.

The circumstances here are very much unconventional, there are two monsters in this little battlefield who far surpass even what most would call exceptional. Dark Sakura is an unrelenting, unstoppable anti-Servant weapon. A constantly regenerating tide of pitch-black curses capable of drowning out the light of the mightiest hero, fighting more like a flood than a human being.

Common sense dictates that Rin's Servant should've been caught and consumed in a matter of minutes, but Altera is just as amazing as Sakura. In this Titanic form, Altera is the closest thing this world has ever seen to the natural disaster that once crushed the Twelve Machine Gods and sank Atlantis. The Goddess Aspect of the King of Combat. If the enemy can crush her with a touch, then she simply won't be touched. If the enemy can regenerate all damage in the blink of an eye, then she simply will make the most of that instant.

This duel isn't so simple that mere brute force can win the day for any of the participants.

Where no Servant can hope to match Dark Sakura in combat, Rin has her own contingencies prepared for exactly this sort of situation. She prepared them a long time ago, in case their travels ever lead them to an evil alternate of her sister or in case Sakura ever loses herself for some reason and needs a good whack on the back of her head.

Glowing gems pepper the blackened tides, sinking harmlessly into Sakura's floods as the endless curses greedily drink in the magics contained within…. Just as expected. The magic in these gems was utterly harmless, mere containment spells. But the black mud doesn't discriminate, too blind, too hungry, to do anything other than consume all. And, once the containment fields are dispelled, there's nothing holding back the contents anymore.

Rin grins viciously as the ideal gas held at absolute zero temperatures gets released, freezing off a good seventy percent of Sakura's body and countering her ability to act in a way that can't be regenerated or easily ignored. Sure, Magic Resistance is annoying, but there's no such thing as magic immunity. Regardless of the method that is employed to deny mystery, there always exists the opposite, a method to work around such denial. It just takes some creative thinking.

Unfortunately, there's no chance for Rin to throw a second barrage and finish the job before she suddenly finds herself face to face with a very pissed Medusa who isn't wearing her glasses anymore.

The anti-petrification amulet Rin was wearing to protect her against modest glancing exposure to Medusa's Mystic Eyes outright explodes under the strain of trying to ward off the full attention of [Cybele]. It's only thanks to Altera's very timely drop-kick that she's saved from turning into a stone statue right then and there.

Where Sakura is the perfect counter for Altera and Rin is the perfect counter for Sakura, Medusa is the perfect counter for Rin that only Altera herself can counter. An uneasy balance where nobody can beat everyone else and everyone can beat someone else. All advantages are temporary and nobody seems capable of eking out the edge required to secure a decisive advantage and win the duel.

Trading a nod with Altera, Rin produces a new anti-petrification amulet and prepares for the next clash. At this rate, they'll keep on fighting forever.

… Rin can only hope.

Matou Sakura

Nee-san is too naive.

Try as she might, she can't help but tackle all challenges honestly and head on. Even when it comes to subterfuge she somehow manages to approach deceit earnestly and without malice. She might have grown older and wiser, but she cannot change that part of herself.

She has the talent, the training and the resources to succeed and thus, she never feels the pressure to sink to the same lows less fortunate individuals might. No matter how deep she digs or how many layers her plans contain, her rock bottom is simply different from other people's rock bottom.

Honestly, Sakura hopes that will never change.

Because she lied a little bit to Animusphere-san and Mashu, right before accepting this challenge. It was a lie of implication, speaking the truth in a way that would lead to erroneous conclusions:

'Last time I wasn't really trying to win.'

As if she was going to try now.

Nee-san's countermeasures are… inspired, effective and elegant. As expected of her, really. But Nee-san can only prepare for what she can predict. And Nee-san may have all the pieces it takes to predict Sakura's worst, but she lacks the ability to sink to the lows necessary to actually do it.

Nee-san has never known the horrors that lurk in the darkest pits, the hell born of humanity's curses, she can't even imagine it. She thinks she can, but she doesn't. Some things need to be experienced in person to truly understand. Sakura really, really hopes Nee-san never understands.

[Ath nGabla - Shoal of the Four Branches] in particular was a stroke of inspiration. A tidy, neat and elegant solution that serves to section the chaotic nature of total war into smaller, more manageable portions. The original ritual duel is supposed to be to the death, but Sakura can't imagine her perfectionist sister resorting to something like this without the means to break free once it's served its purpose. That, or she's banking on stalling forever until they can be broken out from the outside.

In any case, Sakura appreciates what Nee-san is trying to do here, but…

But.

This fight won't last forever. It was never going to last forever. There's no way it will last forever. Sakura isn't trying to win but, if Nee-san keeps pushing like this, she will eventually be forced to actually put her full effort into the duel. That's the absolute worst scenario, the sort of world where Nee-san is dragged down to her same lows… It's a world Sakura never wants to see.

Another barrage of delivery jewels sink into her curses, and Sakura feels once more the compulsion to handle them properly, to hold back the magic-eating properties of the curses so they won't detonate or banish them whole into imaginary space, where they won't do any harm. The compulsion is stronger than ever before, but not so strong that she can't bury it into the back of her mind. She's not as practiced as she used to but, once you learn how to do some things, you never really forget them.

'Sakura?' Medusa's telepathic voice echoes through her mind with a hint of concern. 'Your emotions are growing darker, what's wrong?'

'The compulsion is growing stronger.'

She answers while she allows her cursed body to get restrained once again, this time by some sort of quickly growing crystalline matter. 'I'm not sure how much longer I'll manage to keep sandbagging.'

'Try tipping your hand a bit.'

Ever-reliable, ever-caring Medusa suggests without missing a beat. 'So she's not fully caught off-guard when you stop holding back. Rin isn't stupid, that should buy us some extra time.'

'I'll do that, thank you.'

Medusa strikes at the crystalline formations, blowing them into tiny shards and allowing Sakura to regenerate the lost mass without trouble.

Nee-san claps her hands, letting out a burst of magical energy that makes the crystal shards flying everywhere bloom like a living thing, forming a dense patch of thorny roses around Medusa. Transmutation followed by Reinforcement, creating a trap that even a Servant won't be able to immediately break out from. Just another way to work around Magical Resistance, smart and elegant, bright and beautiful, like Nee-san herself.

Sakura will really, really hate (herself) it if she ends up having to ruin that.

With a gaze of [Cybelle], the crystalline roses turn into dull stone that crumbles down to dust all on its own, but the initiative is already lost. Medusa barely has the time to get out of the way of Altera's next strike, which in turn needs to break away when Sakura springs her next trap on her, which Nee-san will no doubt counter soon afterwards.

Another cycle completed in this game of cat-and-mouse, another turn on the rack, and the compulsion on Sakura comes a tick closer to shattering her self-control. The situation is unsustainable, sooner or later all hell will break loose. And there's nothing any of them can do about it.

It's truly fortunate that doing something about this was never her role in the first place.

Sakura smiles as she feels a tug on her heart that makes it skip a beat and every participant in the duel freezes in pace as one. As the tug becomes more insistent, Sakura notes it's not something physically affecting her, nor is there any magical energy involved. Rather, it's something far more primal, far more intimate. A form of sympathetic pull she has never experienced before, not like this, at least.

Feeling her smile grow a little wider, she turns her eyes towards the west, everyone turns their eyes towards the west. Towards the blue star gathering on the horizon. Towards… Haku.

"Our bonds." Nee-san whispers incredulously. "That crazy girl is pulling at our bonds."

"Isn't Senpai amazing?" Sakura hums contentedly. "I wonder what incredible thing she's about to do this time?"

"Incredible thing?" Nee-san huffs in pretended annoyance. "More like 'crazy stunt'."

"Six of one, half a dozen of another." Sakura shrugs, pretending she doesn't notice Nee-san's own smile.

And then they return to their duel, because their compulsion still hasn't been broken. But something has definitely changed. Where Sakura was feeling the pressure start to overwhelm her just a few seconds ago, she now feels like she can take on the world and win.

It won't be much longer.

Olga Marie Animusphere

Some people say the battlefield is no place for doubts or breakdowns, that one should never stop until the fight is done, that there will be more than enough time to process things once the danger has passed. These people are absolutely right.

These people can also go hang. Right now, Olga is taking a moment to process the fact that she's alive, that none of Haku's Servants died under her care and that the enemy has been defeated… somehow.

Sure, they lost Yamato Takeru, but he wasn't her responsibility.

Sure, she has no idea how they managed to pull off that win in the end, but a win is a win.

Even if the results weren't perfect, her strategy ended up working. Upsets are to be expected in high-intensity situations like this one and no plan survives enemy contact, especially where Servants are involved. She didn't lose anything she couldn't afford to lose and she achieved what she absolutely needed to achieve. That means she did a good job, right?

(Surely, she will be praised for this?)

"Lady Director?" As expected Roman's (annoying) face pops up in front of her at absolutely the worst time. "Haku is requesting to be connected to Chaldea's magical energy generators."

"What are you even talking about, Roman?" She glares at the holographic display (to hide her worry) in annoyance. "She should already be, did anything happen?"

"Er… Well, she's indeed connected as a Master." Roman reassures her, scratching his cheek nervously. "But she wants to be connected as a Servant."

"She wants to be…" Olga's eyes narrow in a dead glare. Any reassurance she might've felt at his first line was immediately ruined by the second. "What?"

The only reason Haku could possibly want to be connected to the generators as a Servant is to take advantage of their obscene magical energy output for some reason. But that connection was built and optimized with Heroic Spirits in mind and was never intended for humans at all. The safety concerns alone…

"She's confident she can handle it." Roman comments, making Olga snort. Of course Haku is confident, Haku is always confident. "She also has promised to 'show us something amazing today'."

"That… doesn't spark joy."

"For some reason, Da Vinci had the absolute opposite reaction." Roman chuckles nervously. "Does that mean we'll be denying Haku's request for once?"

"Don't get cheeky with me, Roman." Olga rolls her eyes. "Just… just do it."

Unfortunately, the chance to deny Haku passed when she allowed her to march alone towards one of the most dangerous Servants in the Singularity, so Olga is going to have to swallow her lack of joy and trust Haku knows what she's doing.

That trust is sorely tested mere minutes later, when a painfully intimate tug in her heart heralds the birth of a new star, blazing blue over the horizon.

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