17: As always, the two clash (Archer Side).
It's easy to lose track of time in Hell.
I knew that already, of course. I can't count the time I spent as one of Alaya's Dogs; I just know it was long enough that everything else is a distant blur. Every memory, every bond, has been lost to me. There are bits and pieces still, of course. The most important parts are still intact.
But like the smelting of ore, all the unnecessary sediment has been purified. Everything that wasn't absolutely core to the sword named "EMIYA" has been burned away. If the Fuyuki fire was the forge that birthed "Emiya Shirou", then the time I spent as a Counter Guardian was the reforging of said sword.
But, let's return to the matter at hand. Losing track of time is normal in Hell. It was true during the Fuyuki Fire. It was true during my time as a Counter Guardian. And it's true now, in this Flame Contaminated City.
As a result, I'm not sure how long it's been since I last saw Caster and Assassin - but they've both changed in that time. Assassin has lost his arm, and somehow slipped out of the grail's control. And Caster, while someone else would miss it, I can see the new runes he's engraved on his body thanks to my Clairvoyance. It's only a peek here and there, made visible by his shirt shifting as he walks, so I can't make out what the runes are meant to do, but they're certainly there.
What's more, they appear to have made friends. Mordred and Galahad - though the latter is a Demi-Servant. Even someone like me can see new things every now and then, I suppose.
The last of their new friends is a real oddity, though. An ordinary human. Well, perhaps ordinary is going a step too far - he's certainly a Master, the command spells on his hand make that much clear. And, furthermore, there's something… off, about him. I can sense it from here, a sort of pungent miasma following him around.
It reminds me of ████████. Not the same, but similar enough that I should kill him to be sure.
"...I've never met that person, you know." I mutter to the voice in my head. "You keep mentioning her, but that's your history, not mine."
As usual, he doesn't respond to me calling him out. He's not something convenient enough that I can hold a conversation with him. The only times I can even be sure it's him are when he clearly references something I don't know about. Otherwise, his thoughts blend in with my own.
He's me, after all. The me that I'll become after the Hell of the Black Grail finishes reforging me.
...In any case, they've come close enough now. I've got my doubts about whether I'll actually be able to do anything - [Lord Camelot] is one hell of a shield.
But still, I need to put up some token resistance.
"Trace, on." My bow begins to take shape - but then, I freeze.
That sheath. It can't possibly be for Clarent. Clarent was a display sword, one that never had a scabbard to begin with! Quickly, I begin my Structural Analysis.
...It's unimportant. A completely unremarkable sheath.
"...I guess there's no point worrying about it. Trace, on."
In the end, they manage to make it up to the Temple anyway. As I thought, Lord Camelot is one hell of a shield. Shame about the cost to project the thing; I probably won't be able to use it outside of my Reality Marble.
Clarent, on the other hand, seems like the type of blade I'll be able to get some mileage out of. If I'd had that on hand, I might have stood a chance against Saber when everything went to hell.
...Well, there's no point in crying over spilled milk. Let's get this farce over with.
"Couldn't handle me on your own, so you decided to get help, huh?" I call out to Caster. "Only natural for dogs to hunt in packs, I suppose."
He snarls a bit in response. Hook.
"No, they're just here to make sure you don't go whining to Saber when I kick your ass!" He replies. Line and sinker.
We begin circling each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Or at least, that's what it would look like to the uninitiated. Caster is setting up his Ath nGabla, to keep me from interfering with the others fighting Saber.
That suits me just fine, of course. The normal Artoria asde, there's no way her altered self could lose to that bunch, not when she's got the grail backing her up. Assassin might as well not exist without his arm or that shadow to lend him some stopping power. Lord Camelot is a purely defensive Noble Phantasm, so while the Shielder can keep her master safe, that won't be any use when it comes to putting Saber down for good.
Really, their only chance is…
"Hmph. Mordred to fight off Arthur, huh?" I say.
Some pointed words should do the trick. Mordred fights on pure instinct, so giving her something to distract her from that 'flow' state ought to sabotage her enough that Saber can clean up. "Well, frankly I'd advise you to turn back. You won't find anything other than misery if you face her as weak as you are now."
"Hah! If you think some fake Arthur can handle me, you're sorely mistaken! I'm the rightful heir of the real deal, so there's nothing that fraud can do to me!" She says with a laugh.
"I wasn't talking about your physical capacity." I reply, and note a slight tightening of her posture as I do so. "Besides, 'fake Arthur'? Do you really think it's something that simple?"
"Are you joking? I already heard this fake's going around yelling 'Excalibur Morgan'. There's no way Father would fall to that level, so-!" Mordred says with a shrug.
This person..! "'There's no way Saber would fall into despair and take a darker path' - says the person who killed her knights and toppled her kingdom! You twisted-!"
My words are cut off as I'm forced to narrowly dodge the blazing tip of Caster's sharpened staff. "Hey, Archer, keep glaring at her like that and I'm gonna get jealous, you know!"
Ath nGabla flares to life as I jump back, tracing Kanshou and Bakuya. "Tch. So you finished setting up the runes while I wasn't paying attention, huh?"
"Sure did!" He says with a grin, assuming his usual spear pose - no, not quite. He's favoring his left arm. An injury? "So, same as always, then?"
"Same as always." I reply with a wry grin. If he's not going to lean on his strengths as a Caster, that's no skin off my back.
His staff clashes with my blades a few times, and I'm forced to trace a new pair almost immediately. Did he put exorcism runes on his staff? Honestly, the nerve of this guy…
"Caster! Don't die! We're probably gonna need your help to deal with the Demon!" Calls out the master.
To think he'd already picked up on that…
...Picked up on what, exactly?
"Yeah, yeah! Just get going already!" Cu Chulainn calls out as he unleashes a spray of fire at me.
It's pretty simple to dodge, but it provides enough time for his companions to get away.
Well, that just means I can fight without watching my back so closely.
I leap backwards, and trace a new pair of married blades, hurling them at his neck.
Spirit and technique, flawless and firm…
The first two blades are deflected, sent spinning away, but I've already closed into melee with the next pair.
Our strength rips the mountains…
The Kanshou in my hand is swung at his neck, its thrown partner returning to strike at the same time - but my strike is deflected by the tip of his staff, and Bakuya flies wide as a result. I let go of the sword as he hits it, sending it sailing into the air as well.
Our swords split the water…
The second copy of Bakuya swipes at his gut, with the first Kanshou spinning in to strike from behind. He jumps, clearing both blades in an acrobatic feat that would make any circus's Ringleader hire him on the spot - and I let go of the blade.
Our names reach the imperial villa…
I reach backwards, a third pair of blades appearing in my hands - stretching to greater lengths and sprouting feather-like growths of metal as I reinforce them, drawing in all four flying blades for a final strike.
The two of us cannot hold the heavens together.
Six blades crash down upon Caster simultaneously.
[Triple-Linked Crane Wings]
"Algiz!" roars Caster - and all six swords have their momentum abruptly arrested by a gleaming blue magic circle that Caster is standing in the center of - one of twelve, each projected from a different glowing rune that caster had left behind him as I forced him back with my swords.
"Tch. This isn't 'same as always' at all." I complain while contemplating my way out.
"Well, you had me on the ropes, after all. Can't afford to lose if the fate of the world is at stake, y'know?" He replies with a shit-eating grin. "Ehwaz."
As an additional circle is added, I project my go-to solution for magical traps. "[Rule Breaker]."
The dagger of Medea of Colchis, capable of nullifying any and all magecraft… does nothing. Unfortunately, the thing is incapable of destroying Noble Phantasms, so it can't stop Caster's. Well, I wasn't sure that this particular trap was one, so it was worth checking, I suppose. And it seems I don't have much time.
"I am the bone of my sword." I mutter. "Steel is my body, and fire is my blood."
"Sowilo, mannaz, fehu." The hound mutters as he adds additional runes to the ground. "Ah, damn, I'm gonna need to move the first few. Thing's gotta be a perfect circle, or old one-eye won't take the offering. Gimme a sec."
"I have created over a thousand blades." I continue, rapidly chanting. "Unknown to death, nor known to life."
"...That should be good enough! Ansuz!"
"Have withstood pain to create many weapons." I say, even as the magic circles surrounding me merge into one crimson circle inscribed with Cu Chulainn's preferred fire rune. "Yet, those hands will never hold anything!"
"An offering to the great god of wisdom-!"
"So, as I pray - [Unlimited Blade Works]!"
"[Ochd Deug Odin]!"
And the world is swallowed by flames.
My world has deteriorated since I last stood in it. The titanic gears which used to turn eternally in the sky are jammed, bound in place by massive chains. The orange light of sunset is gone, leaving behind a starless night sky.
The only light comes from the cracks in my sky, through which molten gold is pouring down onto my desert of swords, faintly illuminating the terrain.
"I wonder, is this your doing..?" I mumble to my Alter.
"Hah! So this is your true Noble Phantasm, huh? You've been holding out on me, Archer!" Calls out Cu Chulainn. He's about a kilometer downhill of me, standing amidst a cluster of nameless spears. I must have subconsciously dropped him there. "So, are you actually just some famous blacksmith?"
I chuckle wryly. "Famous? No. I'm just a nameless Counter Guardian, with no particular story to tell."
"Shame. I feel like any story that brings you into contact with all of these would have to be an exciting legend." Caster replies.
"Exciting?" I scoff. "No, it's just a dime-a-dozen farce about a fool who thought he could be a superhero."
"Sure looks to me like you became one, in the end!" He says, advancing up the hill of swords towards me.
"Think what you want. - but this is as far as you go." I mutter. Swords begin to unsheath themselves from the dust, pointing at him. "Caster, Cu Chulainn. I'll see you next time - but this time, it's my win."
An endless storm of blades rains down upon him.
Cu Chulainn stretches out his left arm, and runes engraved in the flesh of his palm glow bright yellow.
"Come!"
From a little-used, dusty corner of my Reality Marble... a familiar red spear leaps to his hands.
A/N:
Cu, the moment he figures out Archer is using other heroes' NPs: "I will prepare runes to steal my own spear from him."
Emiya Alter, to Emiya, when he sees Avalon: "nothing to see here move along."
Next chapter Monday.
Review responses:
DemonRaily said:
Speaking of good guy Lev, I was genuinely surprised that such thing exists, I find the fact that if he managed to kill himself in time the three thousand year old plan to remake the world would just failed.
Clock Tower 2015 is weird and I wish it was fully translated.
Mizen said:
Nice chapter as always. I created an account! So Avalon does the same but looks different?
Nice. And yes, it's identical, except it functions for Mordred instead of Artoria, and costs more mana to use.
Guest said:
I have a question... I think that you said somewhere (SB, SV or here) that this story is post Arc VI and that Subaru would have the Authority of Gluttony... what would happen if Subaru eats Flauros name and memories? Would Goetia forget his existence and Lev would take over?
If Flauros was eaten by the authority of one of the gluttony archbishops, yes. But Subaru's gluttony witch factors have not yet sprouted into any kind of authority, nor would it necessarily be the same authority that Louis/Ley/Roy have.
Crown of Reaper said:
Good chapter. Will Barusu's authorities get stronger? Like getting more his unseen hands or something?
Authorities are jank. Unseen hand seems to increase in power with the density of witch factor in its user's body, so probably not unless subaru dies a lot in a short span of time. However, individual witch factors seem to sprout additional authorities as their user increases in affinity with the associated sin (i.e. Louis creating the eclipse authorities because of her gluttonous desires. )
In that respect, the most likely candidate is Greed, which Subaru has the highest affinity for. Though the actual result of such a thing is totally up in the air. (Stillness of an Object's Time for Cor Leonis'd targets, perhaps? It'd probably stop his heart if he did that, and he could probably only do it for one ally at a time.)
Also, will we see the servants react to Satella?
Yes.