144: At the Pillars of Hercules
"It's a hit. His bow is destroyed - he's drawing [Marmyadose," Atalanta says as she drops back to the deck.
"Great work, Atalanta. Thanks for everything," Jason says, eyes never leaving the constellation of rapidly approaching arrows. He doesn't see her resolute nod, nor does he give any sign of recognition, as the Archer, her magical energy completely spent, melts away into a cloud of golden dust rapidly left in the Argo's wake. And, without wasting any time, he moves forward to the next stage of the plan. "I see one hundred normal arrows, with one round of [Nine Lives] mixed in with them! Now - get ready to blow them away!"
"I get the sense that the [Heavenly Sword] is probably completely integrated into [Nine Lives] at this point," David said, stroking his bearded chin. "Any attack he makes with that Noble Phantasm is going to have that same 'all-piercing' property we've had so much trouble planning around. But, if it helps matters, we don't have to worry about that with the 'normal' shots."
"Yeah, but that doesn't help at all when the normal version of [Nine Lives] is nine homing arrows!" Jason groaned.
"In the best case, it won't be a problem, since Atalanta's going to break his bow. But if that doesn't pan out, or he gets one round of shots off before his bow breaks, then…" Rigel muttered.
"I can set up some cursecraft," Beryl Gut said. "Something like retaliatory damage to destroy the arrows when they hit someone is easy enough, but… well there's no easy way to say it, there's gonna need to be sacrifices in that case."
""That's no good,"" Subaru and Rigel said instantly.
"So what we need is a wide area attack, right?" Elizabeth Bathory said, grinning. "In that case, just leave it to me!"
Wreathed in sickly green light, dozens of ribbons trailing behind her, in a freshly redesigned swimsuit, Elizabeth Bathory takes a stance on the Argo's Prow.
"Listen close, Fishie! This is my new, special hit single! Adnch akah ftaghn! [Daemon Sultan's Awakening: In the Beginning, There Were Idols]! Laaaaaaa!~"
A single, normally pitched note escapes her lips.
"...Wait, what? Where's the sonic blast-!?" Subaru asks - and then with a horrible tearing noise, the sky splits. "Oh, what the hell."
'Something' looks in, from outside - and in an act of mild annoyance, a torrent of green fire pours forth before the tear closes once more.
The wave of pure destruction rips forward in front of the Argo - consuming Hercules's arrows, crawling towards him with the swiftness and certitude of death.
For Hercules, this will not be a true setback. Even if his blow does not cut it down, he will be able to revive with [God Hand, not to mention he still has the Noble Phantasm native to his Assassin self.
But, speaking of that ability, it might cause some trouble if this island were to be destroyed. And so, halting the activation of his sword, Hercules materializes a different Noble Phantasm.
"[Herakles Kosmos]," He says, hurling the shield to meet the attack.
A blast meant to destroy worlds meets a miniature world - and, although the latter is consumed, the Daemon Sultan's attack goes no further.
The Space Argo continues to speed forward, with just two minutes remaining until arrival - but the sight that greets them as the chunks of a miniature world fall away, is that of a blazing column of light, as Hercules holds his sword aloft.
"[Nine-!"
{Now.} Natsuki Subaru says telepathically, and-
"So? What do we do about that 'marmot toes' thing?" Subaru asked.
"[Marmyadose]! It's called [Marmyadose]!" Jason shouted, before growing morose. "And there's not really anything we can do about it. It's a miles long energy blast approaching from all sides - if he can use that in conjunction with the [Heavenly Sword, it's over."
""Just don't let him swing it, then,"" said both Nobunaga and Hector at the exact same time.
-At that moment, a skeleton-masked form materializes. Hassan-i-Sabbah, already present at the Pillars of Hercules, hurls the jar containing the Great Serpent's venom and a trio of hydra-venom coated daggers at Hercules. And, at the same time, Oda Nobunaga, mounted on a rifle in the air far above him, plunges like a meteor, rapidly unloading dozens of matchlock rifles.
"Tch," Again, Hercules is forced to cancel his Noble Phantasm, dodging Hassan's projectiles and attempting a counterattack, which Nobunaga's bullets just barely provide cover for the Assassin to dodge.
The jar containing the Black Serpent's venom shatters behind him, and carefully refined instincts allow the Beast of Heroes to whirl around and sever the poison's existence before it can reach him, but-
"[Zabaniya]!" A crimson arm explodes from under Hassan-i-Sabbah's cloak, touching Hercules with just a single finger before the Beast severs that as well.
-Hassan of the Cursed Arm's Noble Phantasm has a misleading appearance. At first glance, it seems to teleport the target's heart outside their body, but that is not actually the case. The true nature of this heart is an ether clump, a replica heart that inflicts identical damage on the true heart to that it suffers itself.
Of course, this link is not perfect. Fundamentally, it is a type of curse, so sufficient magical resistance, or even luck, will nullify the attack. It goes without saying, considering this ability's C rank, any damage reflected upon Hercules with this attack will be nullified by [God Hand].
With one exception.
-Although Shaytan's arm was severed, although the ether clump generated failed to even take the shape of a heart, although the link will not even be present for a second.
One of Hassan's thrown daggers finds its mark, piercing that ether clump just before it dissolves.
And the Hydra venom coating it, a conceptual weakness that bypasses all of Hercules's resistances, slithers through the conceptual link, directly to the Beast's heart.
"!"
A wordless howl of agony rips through the air, as Hercules's eyes roll back in his skull. His veins bulge, his mouth foams, and his every muscle spasms.
"Yeet!" Nobunaga shouts as she whizzes past him, snatching Marmyadose from his spasming grasp as she flies back to the Argo at top speed.
"!"
But, somehow, Hercules does not die. Even with the Hydra venom coursing through his veins, not one life is expended, and he lunges, eyes filled with madness, his hands reaching for Hassan's neck-
{To my side, Assassin.}
-only for the Servant to teleport away.
"!" Another scream of primal fury echoes across the water.
"He didn't die…" Jason mutters. "So it's active after all."
"Yeah, but it seems like we got the right place." Subaru notes. "If that Noble Phantasm works like you said, he wouldn't have needed to use his shield to block Elizabeth's… whatever that was."
"Even if we deal with everything else… there's the most troublesome one. His Noble Phantasm as an Assassin, [Thanatos Demenos]," Jason said.
"'Death Restrained'? That sounds a bit…" Rigel said.
"It's from that time that Heracles ambushed and captured Thanatos, the god of death, and forced him to spare a friend of his," Jason explained. "In terms of what it actually does… he can only activate it once, but once he does - basically, as long as he can physically keep his grip on Thanatos, we won't even be able to take a single life off of him."
…
"""Just how much is this guy going to cheat!?"""
"It's worse than that," David said with a sigh. "I get the feeling he still has that cloning ability he stole from Musashibou Benkei, and it's got a bad interaction with [Thanatos Demenos]. Bad for us, I mean. So on top of everything else, it seems like someone will be playing Hercules-and-seek."
-Apart from the Pillars of Hercules, there is a second geological wonder that can be found near the strait of Gibraltar. A great complex of caves, in the foothills on the Moroccan coast opposite the Rock of Gibraltar, thought for many years to have been bottomless. Many legends even told how deep within, one could find a tunnel that led all the way across the strait, emerging in St. Michael's cave in Gibraltar itself.
These caves are, of course, called the Caves of Hercules.
"So when ya think about it, it was pretty predictable you'd be hiding down here, once we knew the island the other you was hanging out at!" Beryl Gut says with a laugh as he stares down the demigod, and the skeletal figure gripped under his right arm.
"...And so, you, a normal human, snuck in here alone ahead of Chaldea's arrival. A servant would have been noticed, after all. Or do you have an Assassin with you?" Hercules asks.
"Nope. Just command spells," The man replies with a grin as he reaches for the necklace hanging around his neck, the marks on his hand burning red. "-Come to my side, Foreigner."
Noble Phantasm Revealed!
Thanatos Demenos: Death Restrained
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Demise
Range: 1
Maximum Number of Targets: 1
The Noble Phantasm native to Heracles as an Assassin. Reproducing an anecdote from legend wherein he ambushed and kidnapped the god of death, Heracles summons Thanatos, and then restrains him to prevent the death of a target individual. As long as this Noble Phantasm remains active, the target cannot be killed by any means. However, Thanatos will not allow himself to be captured a second time, so once Heracles loses his grip or runs out of mana to maintain its activation, the Noble Phantasm will end and cannot be used again.
In the course of an 'average' Grail War, God Hand would likely suffice, and Heracles would reserve this Noble Phantasm's use for the purpose of protecting his master. Nonetheless, Thanatos Demenos's compatibility with God Hand is incredibly favorable - God Hand also adapts to attacks that fail to kill Heracles, so by using these two abilities in conjunction, the development of a truly massive list of immunities becomes possible.