014 - Final Destination (Part 1)
Mashu Kiryelight
Saber of Black is… an incredible fighter.
Her steps are light and firm as she moves around with a confidence that leaves Mashu in awe, always on the offensive. Her reflexes are quick and her body is nimble, easily dodging most attempts at countering the relentless offensive. What she cannot avoid, her ominously black armor easily deflects.
But everything else pales in comparison with her swordplay, sharp and powerful strikes that Mashu finds herself hard-pressed to intercept even while hiding behind a shield bigger than her own body. Each barely parried strike, every blocked strike, echoes through the cavern like the bang of a gong. Even when she has yet to take real damage, her muscles are starting to burn up with the effort, joints aching under the stress of defying the merciless assault.
And the sword itself only complicates things further. The Red Faction had identified Saber of Black as King Arthur Pendragon, which made the sword on her hands Excalibur itself, the holiest blade and one of the most destructive Noble Phantasm on record. Usually, the power-hungry nature of the blade became the only real restriction to its full usage, but since Saber of Black was plugged into an infinite source of prana…
"Choke on this!" Haku-senpai jumps from behind Mashu's back, aiming some sort of futuristic arm-cannon at Saber of Black. "[Charge Beam]"
An energy sphere of blindingly bright blue light shoots from the arm cannon, causing it to blow up in the process and making Haku-senpai hiss out a pained curse, but that's not the important part. As the attack approaches Saber of Black, shock replaces her so far cold and aloof disposition, the widening of her eyes obvious even through the obscuring black visor covering her face.
The enemy Servant tries to dodge out of the way, but the attack was too sudden, too well-timed. Capitalizing on Mashu's shield blocking line of sight, Haku-senpai charged up the powerful blast undetected, only showing her hand at the very last moment. The attack slams straight into Saber of Black's face, causing a powerful explosion and sending her rocketing away, her overwhelmingly aggressive attack patterns broken for the first time.
"Can't hit her with anything slow, can't harm her with anything light… As expected of King Arthur." Haku grumbles good-naturedly, still shaking her pained arm like one would do to shake off pins and needles. "But now we've finally… Oh."
Senpai's words prove themselves premature when the dust from her blast clears up and Saber of Black casually walks out of the hole in the wall. Her visor has been destroyed, the small pieces still clinging to the sides of her head no longer obscuring her face and there's a faint trail of blood running down from her forehead and between her eyes, but she doesn't really look any worse for wear.
The two of them freeze in place at the sight, before Haku-senpai lets out a long, defeated groan. The disheartened, wordless complaint barely lasts a moment though, and soon enough she's back to her feet. A set of wrist blades of some sort take shape on her arms as she sends a side-glance towards Mashu.
"Well, nothing to it but to keep trying." She quips lightly, her boundless optimism shining brightly even through their dire circumstances. "Eh, Mashu?"
"Yes, Haku-senpai!" She finds out that she cannot help but smile too. "Leave the defense to me!"
The two of them charge at their opponent, as one.
Saber of Black may be a monster in combat, leagues above either of them in their lonesome, but… She can't quite bring herself to regret standing here today, alongside her Senpai and Master. It feels good, fighting together like this. It feels like an accomplishment. It feels fulfilling.
While they tag-team the frightening enemy Servant, even as her bones rattle and her teeth clatter with every brutal swing she blocks, she finds her smile growing wider and brighter. Helping Haku-senpai like this, receiving her cheerful encouragement and praise even as they struggle to keep up with the enemy Servant…
For just a little while, she doesn't feel like a pointless waste of space.
"Everything alright there, Mashu?" Haku-senpai checks on her after a while. "How are you holding up?"
"Yes, Haku-senpai!" She cries out with determination, doing her best to ignore the way her body is complaining under the constant strain. "I can keep going!"
"Oho…? You believe you can keep blocking forever?" Saber of Black asks, sounding vaguely annoyed at their byplay. It's hard to say for sure because she acts so detached even during combat. "Confident, aren't we?"
"Say what you want, we're not going to lose here!" Haku-senpai retorts before Mashu can follow the instinctive urge to apologize. "Don't you know? Cute girls can do anything!"
That's… In spite of the current dire circumstances, Mashu feels her cheeks grow hotter. No way, no way, no way! She's not cute at all! Surely, Haku-senpai only means herself with these words, the girl is certainly cute enough, in an energetic, boyish way that–
What's Mashu even thinking about? This isn't the time for that!
"Damnit, Fujimaru!" A voice comes from behind them, reminding everyone of the fourth person inside the cavern. "This isn't the time to flirt!"
"Don't worry, Lady Director!" Haku-senpai calls back without turning away from Saber. "You're a cute girl too!"
Mashu doesn't dare look away from their opponent either, but can't imagine the Lady Director took those words kindly. She's very sensitive about people not properly respecting her position, after all.
"I swear if we all die here because of your fooling around I'm going to kill you!"
Oh, that was… A somewhat lackluster reaction, compared with what Mashu was expecting. Maybe the Lady Director isn't feeling well today?
"Your pathetic showing so far fails to amuse me." The Blackened Servant declares, having taken the opening their small argument gave her to pull back and raise her blade overhead with both hands. "Let's see you fend off a real blow."
The atmosphere of the room immediately changes, all the levity injected by the seemingly frivolous exchange vanishing like a desert mirage as Excalibur starts pumping out waves of power, gradually growing thicker and thicker as a visible sheen of tainted mana starts forming around the blade.
At least the change in pace gave Mashu time to rest a bit and catch her breath, because all her instincts are yelling at her that she'll need every ounce of her strength just to survive what's coming next. A sneaky glance towards Haku-senpai reveals the other girl has also grown tense, the permanent confident grin on her face tinged with something heavier as she licks her lips, an expression of absolute focus glinting on her eyes.
The voice of Saber of Black, of King Arthur, echoes through the caverns like a rolling storm, full of charismatic authority. A demand… no, a declaration of what's going to happen next, regardless of any opposition, regardless of the will of the world or the very rules of nature.
"Cry. It's time you come crashing down."
"Vortigern, Hammer of the Vile King, reverse the rising sun."
"Swallow the light."
"[Excalibur Morgan - Sword of Promised Victory]"
At the same time, Haku-senpai raises her right hand, a red light glowing around it as her Command Crest activates for the first time since they made their contract.
"By the power of my Command Spell… Mashu! Deploy your Noble Phantasm!"
As a Demi-Servant, it stands to reason that Mashu would have a Noble Phantasm, but she has no idea what her Noble Phantasm would be, nevermind how to use it. Noble Phantasms are the sublimation of a Heroic Spirit's legend and Mashu doesn't even know the identity of the hero residing within her. It doesn't matter how much she would like to follow Haku-senpai's command, to try her absolute best and give her all to this fight, Mashu simply cannot do what she cannot do.
At least… that's how it should've been.
The Command Spells are miraculous things, ritualistic devices bordering on True Magic, nominally designed with the sole purpose of making Servants do what they normally wouldn't. In reality though, it's not by forcing the hand of the Heroic Spirit against their will that they truly shine, but when they work alongside them to allow feats normally beyond them.
It's said that the improved Command Spells called Sirius Light are capable of blowing up an entire Singularity by themselves, but the expenditure of even a regular Command Spell is a power that can defy casualty, that can rewrite common sense and treat space and time as mere suggestions.
As she entrusts herself to the surge of foreign power, Mashu feels her body, her lips, her very soul singing in concert with her Master's will.
"True Name… Frozen Deployment!"
"This is the Castle of Fantasy that holds many paths and wishes!"
"Now… Answer to my call!"
"[M̷̭̞͚̄o̴̟̙͙̫̓l̴̝̝͎͌͛d̷̹̰͂́̔̈ͅ ̵̧̛͙͍̮͖̍͂̿͝C̶͙̭̩̆̂͋͝ā̶͕̖̳͕̰̈́́m̷͔̜̓́ͅe̴̛̙̟̯̞̩͛̍́l̸̅̓͗̿̚͜o̴͙͍̫̟͗͆́̇͘t̸̼̍̂̏ - N̸̯͙͎̋̈́͝o̵̖̣̔͑̀̚w̸̜̿̋̒̉̑,̸̮͇͋̑̓̕̚͜ͅͅ ̵̮̤̄̒̌̓ä̷̭͙̈̓̇͝ ̶̢̛̛̠̤̌̓F̴̝̟̮̅͂̏õ̴̡̲͉̟̙̕r̷͕̜̗̖͊͝t̷͕͌͜r̶̦̣͇͓̅̾͘ę̷̯̟͌̓̀̋s̸̹̻̥͝s̸̱̻̗̉͂͊ ̵͙͝ỡ̷̧̧̩̖̥͑͆͝f̷͙͕͗͋̎̍͑ͅ ̴̹̻͙̽F̶̢̯̜̒̂̀̓͛ŗ̴̳̯̬̅̄̂͑͝ȃ̷̢̹̿̕͘g̸̺͙̜͖̯̊́̕i̸̳͌̊̉͂͠l̴̡̤̫̠̲͑́ȅ̸̤̓̽̂ͅ ̵̧̼̩̦͚̌͊̃͗̚V̶͈͔̂ì̵̟̼͕̯͓s̶̠͈̪̯̈̓͌̚ī̵͚͗̚͝ơ̴͙̖͛̌̿̿͜ṋ̶͈͈̓͐s̸̨̛̊̿͑͌]"
The Blackened Holy Blade is swung and what feels like an unending tide of darkness floods the cavern, rushing towards their position and threatening to swallow them whole. At the same time, Mashu slams the Around Round Shield into the ground with a cry of defiance.
Centered around her, something manifests by rising from the ground. From the positioning and general shape of the manifestation, it looks like it might be buildings, streets and walls, all warped and distorted beyond any hope of recognition. There wasn't enough space between Mashu and Saber of Black to manifest something so big, but her Noble Phantasm doesn't seem to care.
Before the wave of darkness can reach Mashu or (her precious people) those she fights to protect, her Noble Phantasm stands all around her. Whatever it was supposed to be, this the real thing, but a mere vision. A promise of things to come, of things that aren't here yet.
A Fortress. A Castle. A City.
Unrecognizable under its current form, but enough to show there's something there. Something worth pursuing, something worth working towards.
Whatever it is though, it's enough to meet King Arthur's Excalibur head on. It's not easy, it's not effortless… but it's comfortingly simple. The false city stands, made out of hopes and dreams, and will continue standing for as long as Mashu dares to hope and dream. It doesn't matter how much might is leveraged against the fragile illusion, you cannot kill an idea.
After what feels like forever, the tide of darkness finally relents, begrudgingly conceding the match. As soon as the pressure abates and the immediate thread disappears, Mashu feels a pressure on her chest, like a drowning man coming to the surface after getting stuck underwater for far too long.
The adrenaline crash hits right as she tries to take a breath, all strength abandoning her body and leaving her falling to her knees, an unpleasant thrum beating on the side of her head and rapidly building up into a splitting headache. She barely has enough presence of mind to remember their opponent and look up to try and locate her.
She shouldn't have bothered, Saber of Black stands no further than ten feet in front of her, a distance any Servant could cross in a blink of the eye. Her yellow eyes glaring a hole into her as a frown of disapproval twists her pale face.
"Barely passable." King Arthur enunciates dismissively, making Mashu feel small and insignificant in spite of the incredible feat she just pulled off. "You'll have to do better to actually impress me and—"
Whatever was supposed to be said next, Mashu never hears, because that's when the ceiling finally collapses under the strain of their clashing Noble Phantasms. It was a reflexive, unconscious action that saw her powering through her pain and exhaustion, jumping without thinking to rush in defense of the Lady Director.
A colder, more pragmatic person might have committed to that action because the Lady Director has limited combat experience while Haku-senpai is an incredible fighter that could no doubt fend for herself, but that's not what went through Mashu's head at the time.
Because nothing did, her body just moved.
Status Window Update:
Arm Cannon (Metroid, Samus Aran): The default weapon of a certain power suit and the signature weapon of a certain bounty hunter. Chozo technology is highly adaptable and capable of interacting with a wide spectrum of energies, giving this arm cannon a great versatility. Still, even the basic configuration makes for a fearsome weapon indeed...
Manas & Ayus (Soul Calibur, Voldo): The Merchant Vercci amassed a great wealth as an arms dealer. A collector of weapons, he posessed numerous items from all over the world. These katars are more accurately known as jamadhars and were once stored in the Money Pit. The weapons' enrapturing form leads some to mistake them for ornamental pieces, but they've tasted the blood of countless intruders.
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