Third Floor

The fight between Gama and Asuka continued to rage, with Gama attempting to block Asuka's attacks, only to get more of his armor chipped. On top of that, the police dog Asuka brought with her would occasionally bite at his legs, which, while it didn't do any damage, still made him lose focus.

Gama was getting frustrated, yet also a bit nostalgic. Before he became a dead apostle, Gama used to be a prisoner in the French prison known as Château d'If. While there, he was repeatedly beaten and tortured for the guard's amusement.

One day, he overheard a conversation in the cell next to him about dead apostles. He heard stories about how they were immortal as long as they had a steady supply of blood and were impervious to all forms of harm.

Wanting to try it out himself, he used his magcraft to conduct a ritual inside his cell to turn himself into a dead apostle…and it worked. He managed to become a dead apostle with the principle of "shield," which made him impervious to harm. With his new abilities, he would never have to feel the pain of torture ever again.

However, the police girl in front of him still managed to hurt him. This was unacceptable. He shouldn't have to relive the pain he felt when he was human! He had to kill her. No one pierces his skin and gets away with it! Before he could do that, there was still one thing he needed to figure out.

Gama: "How did you pierce my hide? There is no way an ordinary sword like that can cut me!"

Asuka: "That's the thing, this is no ordinary sword."

Gama: "What?"

Asuka: "Take a closer look."

The police officer held out her sword. Gama was confused at first. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary about this sword, but as he looked closer, he could feel a dark aura coming off the blade. A malevolent presence that wanted to taste the blood of all those the sword cut.

The sword was cursed, and he knew of only one man in Japan who created cursed blades like this.

Gama: "Murumasa…"

Asuka: "That's right. This sword is a family heirloom that has been passed down for generations. It has a curse that allows it to cut objects on a conceptual level. In other words, it can cut through anything. My family has given it a name fitting its unstoppable nature."

Asuka swung the sword and cut Gama's hand clean off.

Asuka: "Dangan Murumasa!"

The vampire clutched his chest in pain as he glared at Asuka.

Gama: "Dammit! Don't get cocky you fucking pig! Tearjerker!"

He fired two more beams of pressurized blood from his eyes, but Asuka sliced through them and continued her assault, delivering several more cuts across his body.

Gama: "Shit! I won't last long at this rate! With that sword in her possession, she could potentially cut through my immortality. I need to retreat to recover my wounds and- huh?"

When he tried to leave the battlefield, he found that he couldn't move his leg due to the police dog biting into it.

Asuka: "Hold him still, Cosmos, it's time I finished this!"

She steadied her sword and pointed the tip at Gama.

Asuka: "Secret technique….."

She slashed at the vampire, the sword cutting the boundaries between dimensions, allowing her to imitate a VERY famous sword technique.

Asuka: "Tsubame Gaeshi!"

Created by Sasaki Kojirou to kill a swallow, Tsubame Gaeshi is a technique that delivers three strikes at once, making escape impossible. Sadly, Asuka's recreation could only strike twice. This left an opening, which allowed Gama to escape the attack, albeit with heavy injuries.

Gama: "This isn't over, human! We will meet again! And next time, I'll kill you for sure!"

He then limped away while Asuka sheathed her katana and watched.

Asuka: "Yeah…..good luck with that."

Second Floor

Brook: "OUCH! THAT HURT!"

Yui: "Please stop complaining. I'm trying my best to heal you."

Brook: "It still doesn't change the fact that I'm *cough* suffering right now!"

Yui: "The fact that you're still running your mouth despite having no stomach gouged out is absurd."

Brook: "What can I say? Not even death will stop me from talking! Hahahahaha- ACK! IT HURTS TO LAUGH! In other news, how's Zero doing?"

While Yui was tending to Brook's wounds, Zero was engaging Gorgos in hand-to-hand combat, weaving through Gorgos' claw strikes and landing several strikes of his own, causing massive damage to the dead apostle.

Yui: "He is doing well, all things considered."

Brook: "He's quite strong."

Yui: "Indeed. Zero is a humonculus created exclusively for combat. While it is unknown who created him, one thing is for sure: he is very strong. He is one of the few people who can match Naru in strength."

Brook: "Really? That's impressive considering what I've seen Naru do so far!"

RIIIP!

Brook: "What was that?"

Yui: "That was the sound of Zero tearing a vampire's arm off…"

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Yui: "...and beating them with it. Alright, I've done the best I can to heal your wounds, so now I'm going to assist Zero. You stay here and be quiet."

Brook: "Hmph! You're no fun!"

With a sigh, Yui went to join Zero in his fight against Gorgos.

Yui: "Zero. Move."

Zero moved aside, allowing Yui to pass him.

Gorgos: "Hmm? What is this? Your humonculus was doing so well, and yet you came in to take his place? How foolish. I will turn you to stone in an instant!"

The vampire's eyes flashed, and parts of Yui's body started to petrify. However, instead of feeling panicked, Yui simply chuckled.

Gorgos: "What's so funny?"

Yui: "Nothing. It's just, by being lazy and using your mystic eyes on me, you pretty much doomed yourself."

Gorgos: "Huh?"

Yui: "I guess I'll explain, since you're pretty much doomed anyway. You see, I possess mystic eyes, too, but compared to yours, mine are far more destructive. In fact, my eyes are the reason my street title is 'The Demolisher.'"

Yui's eyes started to glow with a terrifying pink color, sending a chill down Gorgo's spine. He became even more terrified once she told him what sort of mystic eyes she had.

Yui: "The mystic eyes I possess are the Mystic Eyes of Detonation. By looking into the eyes of other mages, I'm able to alter the process by which their circuits turn od into magical energy, and turn their entire body into a makeshift bomb which I can detonate at any time. Since you had to look into my mystic eyes to use your own Mystic Eyes of Petrification, and the fact that your circuits were active when using them, means that-"

Gorgos didn't give her time to finish. He immediately started running in the opposite direction, wanting to get as far away as possible. However, there was nothing he could do. His circuits were already set to blow. All that was needed now was the trigger.

Yui: "Detonate!"

Her eyes flashed, and the moment they did…

BOOM!

Gorgos' body immediately lit up, exploding gorgeously, leaving behind scorch marks in the hallway and destroying all the lockers.

Brook: "Hot damn! Remind me not to get on your bad side! That shit was ridiculous!"

Yui: "You don't have to worry about that. My mystic eyes only work on mages. Normal humans are unaffected."

Brook: "I'm gonna be honest, that ability is broken as fuck!"

Yui: "I have to agree. However, I don't use it often because the Mystic Eyes of Detonation are guaranteed to be fatal, and the Infinite Path has a strict 'no killing' rule."

BOOM!

Brook: "What the-? Did you explode someone again?"

Yui: "No. That was a shockwave created by Naru's Mach 2 punch."

Brook: "Yikes! And you say Zero is comparable to him?"

Yui: "Yup."

Zero: "..."

Brook: "So he's strong and good-looking? I wonder what it would be like to be in bed with him- wait? Why am I thinking this!?"

Yui: "Brook?"

Brook: "I'M NOT A DEGENERATE!"

Yui: "What?"

Brook: "What?"

Zero: "..."

Sub-Level

Artoria was walking her way through the school's sub-level when she felt the massive impact of Naru's punch upstairs.

Artoria: "Amazing! Such physical strength is enough to rival servants. I wonder where such great strength comes from?"

She shrugged and continued on her way. As she kept walking, she noticed something up ahead. It was a perfectly circular puddle of water in the middle of the hallway.

Artoria: "That's odd, there aren't any pipes nearby to make a puddle like this."

The puddle began to crackle with electricity as it rose and formed a hand. Artoria was taken aback, but was even more so when the hand started to speak.

?: "Greetings, Saber. I am Giovanni Aquarius. Chirocul has been expecting you. Follow me."

The puddle moved down the hallway.

Artoria: "This is truly the strangest greeting I have ever gotten."

The King of Knights followed the puddle through the expansive hallways of the sub-level, weaving and turning through various traps and hidden doorways until they finally made it to the basement.

The place was repulsive. The room was surrounded by several unused school supplies, which had decayed from years of disuse, and papers that had grown mold on them over time. The air was thick with an iron smell from all the blood spilled all over the floor. On the ceiling, there were several decaying bodies hanging from meat hooks, which contributed to the foul odor filling the room.

Artoria was no stranger to death; she had been on countless battlefields in the past, but seeing this made her want to gag.

Giovanni: "Chirocul, I brought you the servant as requested."

A tall figure moved from the shadows, allowing Artoria to get a better look at her "host."

Chirocul: "Thank you, Aquarius, go inspect the building and find any other intruders that may have entered."

Giovanni: "Yes, sir."

The puddle slithered its way out of the room, leaving Artoria alone with the all-white vampire. Chirocul grinned as he approached the Saber-class servant.

Chirocul: "Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights. We have much to discuss."

Sekoyoma Forest

Arash sat on a branch, completely still with his bow drawn, ready to strike at a moment's notice. He had been like this for hours now as per his master's orders.

Flashback

Shirou: "I need you to keep an eye on the forest outside Sekoyoma. The moment Arcueid appears, let me know. If you see her after Chirocul has been defeated, I'll come to meet her and try to convince her to leave."

Arash: "What if she arrives earlier than that?"

Shirou: "I…don't know. I'm kind of hoping she arrives late so we can deal with her more easily. Just keep watching until she shows up."

Arash: "Hahaha! Ok, master!"

End of Flashback

His orders were simple. Just keep watching and contact Shirou when Arcueid arrives. It should have been easy…right? Wrong. Unfortunately for Arash, he was unprepared for the chaos that was about to ensue, for as soon as he finished thinking about his conversation with Shirou…

…she had arrived.

She was tall and slender, with blonde hair and red eyes. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a silver cross around her neck. She had a blue miniskirt worn around her waist and black leggings with brown boots.

To most people, she looked like a normal person you would see walking down the street, but to Arash, who had clairvoyance, she was anything but normal. At one look, he could tell who she actually was.

She was Archetype Earth. The brain of the planet. A pseudo-ultimate one meant to defend the Earth from anything that would threaten it…humans included.

Arash didn't waste any time, he immediately contacted Shirou through their connection as master and servant.

Arash: "Shirou! Do you hear me!"

Shirou: "Archer, I'm busy right now! What is it?"

Arash: "It's Arcueid! Arcueid has arrived!"

Shirou: "What!? Already? Dammit, I'm busy fighting a dead apostle, and we haven't even started fighting Chirocul yet!"

Arash: "Don't worry, master, I'll distract her!"

Shirou: "Archer, that's suicide! Arcueid completely outclasses servants in terms of power! There's no way you can beat her!"

Arash: "I don't have to beat her, all I have to do is distract her long enough for you guys to defeat Chrocul."

Shirou: "..."

Arash: "Listen, I know you're against other people fighting your own battles, but I'm the only one who can do this at the moment. Please, Master, let me do this."

Shirou: "...Very well. Just make sure she doesn't see you. Remember, we don't want Arcueid to learn about the Holy Grail War."

Arash: "Don't worry, Master…"

The green-clad archer pointed his bow at Arcueid.

Arash: "...she won't even know what hit her!"

She fired an arrow pointed straight at Acrueid's head. It sailed through the trees like a bullet, creating a whirlwind as it sped past. However, Arcueid was not impressed. She grabbed the arrow mere moments before it was about to hit her head. She looked at the arrow she had just caught and examined it.

Arcueid: "A projectile created completely out of mana? Impressive. I wasn't expecting such a warm welcome from one of Chirocul's lackeys!"

Arash: "She thinks I'm a dead apostle. That's good. That should take care of her gaining any interest in the Holy Grail War. Now I just need to keep her busy long enough until Chirocul is killed."

Arueid: "Step out of my way, Mister Bowman. I'm here to kill your boss for insulting me and trying to steal my magic circuits."

Asash: "I'm sorry to hear that, Mrs. Brunestud, but Chirocul is dead; somebody has already killed him."

Arcueid: "See, that's a lie. I know Chirocul isn't dead. I can sense his magical energy all the way over here, just like I can sense that you're not actually a dead apostle…Familiar."

Arash panicked. She already knew he was a familiar. This gave her more time to puzzle out that he was a servant. Arash had no choice. He had to defeat her right away.

Arash fired more arrows at her, which Arcueid deflected with her claws.

Arcueid: "What was that for? Did I say something bad? Is being called a familiar a racial slur nowadays? I'm not sure. I haven't been out of my castle in a few years, so forgive me if I say anything offensive."

More arrows came flying at her, this time from behind her. Arcueid responded quickly, turning around and flicking the arrows away with her wrist. However, the assault was not done as even more arrows were shot towards her from all directions, and Arcueid deflected every single one.

Arcueid: "Someone's quite persistant!"

Another burst of arrows came at her from the side. She deflected them again, but one of the arrows managed to cut her across the cheek.

Arcueid: "I see, you're jumping from tree to tree at high speeds in an attempt to shake me off and ambush me. Very clever, but you're forgetting one thing…"

The trees began to rattle, the Earth started to shake, and the winds began to howl. The very planet itself was in a frothing rage. Archer was about to move out of the way, but the branch he was standing on suddenly came to life and wrapped around his leg.

Arcueid: "I am the Earth. This planet body, and the trees you're using to hide are my limbs. I can feel every footstep. I can smell your every breath. The only thing I can't do…IS SEE YOU! COME OUT ALREADY!"

Despite being in mortal peril, Arash had to admit that watching Arcueid throw a temper tantrum like a toddler was pretty cute. Despite being the apex of the planet, she could be very charming, but now was not the time to admire her for her cuteness. He was stuck, and Arcueid was about to attack.

Arcueid: "Fine! If you won't come out, then DIE!"

The true ancestor princess swiped her claws and cut down an entire row of trees. Arash barely managed to escape by using a mana-charged arrow to blow up the branch that was restraining him, although this did mangle his foot in the process. This turned out to be a problem, as Arcued kept spamming wind blades like a lunatic.

Arcueid: "I'm tired of playing hide-and-seek! Come out and fight me, Mister Bowman! If you don't, I'm going to cut down every tree in this forest until I-"

Two arrows shot out of the wood, one going straight forward, and the other one upward. Arcueid tried to deflect the one going forward with her claws, but it went through her fingers and went straight into her eye. This caused her to tilt her head back in pain, aligning perfectly for the second arrow to pierce her other eye.

Arcueid: "GAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Arcueid rolled around on the ground, clawing at her eyes and trying to get the arrows out. She eventually calmed down enough to firmly grab the arrows and pull them out.

Arcueid: "That…..was a big mistake."

Once her eyes had regenerated, she lifted her eyelids, revealing that they were now a golden-yellow color with blood-red sclera. Her joyful smile had turned into a nightmarish snarl, showing her sharp fangs. She looked in Arash's direction, her eyes bloodshot and furious.

Arcueid: "I̸̫̻̪̥̰̼̱̖̺̱̓̚͜'̶̢̝̟̱̱̰̦͇̺̜͕̖̯͈̣̝̅L̷̺͉̯̮̼̝͙̖͎͍̙̹͍͙̰̇͂͊͐͌͋̒̇͋͜L̷̠͍̬̺̞̼͔͍͔͍͠ ̵̣̪̈́͋̊̆̿͊̽̏͂͌̽͐͗͌̄́͘Ṛ̵̢̛͚͚͇̜̦̯̰̙̪̯̲̭̼̩̥̑͋́̕͠I̴̺͍̲͇̣̜̔̆̓̓̈́̌̐̎͂̀̍̒P̸̨̠͇̮̫̪̼̗̲̞̆̀͐͌̇̀͒͠ ̶̨̮̹͕̼̠̝̩͔̤͈̰̳̲͇̩̗̎͊͂̐̑̈́̑̔̈́̕͠Y̶̠̙̣̯̥̰̞̞̳̘̗͖͉̩̳̩̹̎̚Ō̴̡̫̼̩͖͇̮̖̼̼̝̐̂̏̆͆͋̄̑́̍̈̒͊̚̕͜͝U̶̢̡̝̗̦̺͙̯̗̫̝̙̅̄́̅͐͒̔͆̅̅̀̀ ̶̗̫̻͕̣̺̠͉̪̞̒͒͆̚͝T̵̫̟̀̄͛̋́͑͑O̴̧̺͍̝̬̻̘̬̗͔̪͉̤͉̰̫̾̀̾́̏̓̂̂̈́͆̎͂ ̸̡̨̧͎̬̳̙̰̠̫̟̗͖̰̃̈́̂͆͌̈̃̈̈́̀̈̐̽̌͠͠P̶̨̗̪̞͙̩͚̣͎̥̲͛͐̀̾̿̊̋̽͑́̃̀́̾̈̓Í̸̢̗̟͚̭̤̤̠̹̮͓̟̭̟͜Ë̴̡͍̦̬̺͖̳͍͍́̒͛̎̃̂̒ͅC̷̨͖̥̼̘͇̮̾͆̾͗͊̓͛͊̐͌̄̚͜È̷̡̨̠̘̦̣̣̼̬̜͚̳̟̣̩̪̄̋̆̈́̽̇̍̽̈̑̉͂͗̑͘͝ͅS̸̨̨͈̱̄̾̽̓̾̂͆̏̔ͅ!̵̨̛͕͔̼̬͇̰̮͔͖̙̈͒"

The sky turned red, the clouds ripped apart, and the earth began to crack. Harming Arcueid meant harming the very Earth itself, and now, Arash was about to suffer the consequences!

Arash: "Oh shit!"

The archer ran as fast as he could. He knew he had no chance against Arcueid at full power! He had to run.

Arcueid raised her hand into the sky. The moment she did, Arash fell to the ground. He couldn't get up. He was heavy. Arcueid had increased Earth's gravity so that Arash was now six times heavier, leaving him unable to move. He watched as the trees around him started to get crushed under their own weight.

Arash: "Damn, I must weigh tons! This can't possibly get any worse!"

I was about to get a lot worse. Arcueid continued to raise her hand in the air as she released her attack.

Arcueid: "B̷̨̜̞̖͍͚̗̻̞̮̜̙̆̅͑̑͐̿̓̄͒́̉̚l̶̨̨̛̼̈́͂̍̔̂͐̈̈͌̐̄͘̕͝͝͝u̸̧̧̡̱̠̥͓̤̲͓̭͔͚̗̓͑̂͛̒̈́̃̀̍̌̓̊͛̈́̈́͜͝t̶̛̛̀̈̏͒̒̈͒́̍̈́̑͂͝ͅ ̸̢͙̦̆͂̅̾̇̅͌͝d̸̨̫̰̟̮͕̰̳͖̱̺̜̤͙̀́́̈͂̄͊̍̾͌͘̚͝͝ͅi̸̡̦͙͎͚̙͍̫͉̮͎̬̻͕͈͕̚͜e̷̢̮͈͍̞͈̼̼̯̝̳̍̀͐̃͂͊̐̓̔̕ ̴̡̧̭̟͎̭̘̗̥̹̺̗̗̗̖̠͕̉̑̐̈̏̊̏̅̓S̶̥̯̘̈́͐͐̽̈̉̏͠c̵̢̯̗̳̦̭̮̜̱͕͊̌̋̃̈́͑̅̀̀͝͝ḩ̸̫̘̼̽̉͐̊͒͐̚͝ͅw̶̪̥̻̙̓͐ę̶̯̭̰̲̘̘̬̮̤̹̻̤͓̼̔̆̄̎͋͑͌͗́̃̕͝s̸̤̜͍̤̠̝̩̭̺̬̃̅̔̀̅̉ṭ̸̺̺͔̲̒̾͘e̶͇̙̜̱̤͊͛̈́̋̀̉̀̈́̅̂̒̽̽͝r̵̛͎͐̄͗́̊́̿̈́͜!̴̢̛̘͎̤̜͍̞̩̤͕̩͓̩̰̙̩̓̉͂̃̄͒̌͝"

The sky cracked open, and clouds were wiped from the sky as a meteor began to fall to Earth.

Arash: "Curse my D-rank luck!"

Arash pulled two arrows out of his quiver and planted them into the ground, using them to walk himself as far away as possible. The meteor slowly fell to Earth, getting closer and closer until…

BOOM!

…it crashed into the ground. The resulting shockwave flattened the trees, and the heat from the space rock burning in the atmosphere scorched the Earth and set the area ablaze!

When the smoke cleared, a large section of the forest had been wiped out and replaced by a large crater with Arcueid standing in the middle, back to her usual cheerful self.

Arcueid: "I think I overdid it a little. Oh well! At least that annoying bowman is gone! Now, the next thing I'm going to do is find Chirocul and shove my foot up his-"

Arash: "Arrow Creation!"

Out of nowhere, dozens of arrows began raining from the sky, piercing Arcueid's body and pinning her to the ground.

Arash had survived the meteor by crawling behind one of the knocked-down trees and holding on for dear life, but his entire body was still covered in burns.

He charged mana into one of his arrows, making it glow red as flames billowed around it.

Arash: "Power Shot!"

The archer released the arrow, which kicked up dust as it sped towards its target. The moment it reached the pinned-down vampire, it exploded, detonating the other arrows stabbed into her and blowing to pieces.

Arcueid was little more than bloody chunks now, but she wasn't dead. Her blood and organs were already inching across the ground, desperately wanting to join with each other.

However, Arash was content with this because this would at least buy the Infinite Path enough time to defeat Chirocul before Arcueid fully regenerates. Arash walked away, dragging his mangled foot.

Arash: "Alright, Master, the rest is up to you."