Beta read by Shigiya, Paragon of Awesomeness and Gamercrusher55
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Beta read by Shigiya, Paragon of Awesomeness and Gamercrusher55.
Earlier than expected.
Next update update is Lyrical Sword.
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-Underworld-
"So… this is a fight between Servants?"
The words slipped from Koneko's mouth in a near-whisper as she watched the beginning of the fierce exchange unfolding below as she stood on Tannin's back with the rest of her peerage. Her golden eyes followed every motion, fixed on the battlefield where the chaos of combat reigned. It differed greatly compared to the first encounter she recalled him having with Rider.
Back then, even though Archer had resorted to his swords almost immediately despite being a Servant class better suited to ranged combat, she had seen glimpses of his power through a haze of fear — barely managing to stay conscious, let alone focus. The Rating Game against Riser and his battle against Assassin had also given the Nekoshou a glimpse of his skill set.
Witnessing his proficiency in fighting up close had served to further confuse not just her, but even the others, as to wonder if their Archer was perhaps better suited to the Saber Class.
But this was different. This time, she saw him finally use his bow to the full extent of his ability.
"He really was holding back on us even more than we thought, wasn't he?" Yuuto muttered beside her, his voice low with awe. Alongside him, the rest of their peerage stood tense and watchful as Archer loosed arrow after arrow at the roaring behemoth that was Berserker.
"I remember Buchou mentioning that he once trained you all for over a week before the Rating Game against the third son of Phenex, right?" Kiyome asked, her tone curious as she glanced at Issei for a second. Several nods answered her, but she barely noticed as her attention shifted back to the streaking projectiles flying across the sky. "If he was training you while firing projectiles like that… I'll be honest, I'm shocked you're all still alive and that you still have your limbs intact. Those arrows look more like those high-calibre bullets I've seen on TV."
A strange way to phrase it, yet somehow entirely accurate. Akeno, who had been silent up to this point, let out a light chuckle, though her gaze remained locked on Archer's silhouette.
"I guess you could say he was going easy on us."
Koneko, while listening, noticed the subtle shaking of Akeno's hands. The way her fingers curled tightly into her palms, the faint tremble in her knuckles, betrayed a side not often seen in the composed raven-haired woman. Her usual elegance was fraying under the weight of worry. Emotions peeked through the cracks. "Even with how strict he was, Archer would never truly hurt us. Just like now, he'll keep us safe."
The Rook found herself nodding in agreement, for he had proven as much many times in the past, and there was no reason to believe otherwise. That trust was felt not only by Akeno and Rias, but also herself, and everyone else currently standing on the Dragon King's back.
"Archer will be fine, right? He's the strongest member in our peerage! I believe in him!" Gasper's voice was higher than usual, a thin veil over the fear he was clearly trying to keep at bay. And yet, he was clearly scared, perhaps more than anyone, but still willing to loudly speak words of encouragement while they were all in the air.
Below, the tempo of the fight began to shift. Previously, he managed to keep Berserker pinned in one location by constantly sending him flying back after repeatedly nailing him with the arrows time and again. Now, more of those thundered into the battlefield, yet Berserker showed signs of somehow… adapting?
"Y-Yes, the last skill is Imperial Privilege. I-I don't know how it's even possible, but—"
Ears twitched with each of the redhead's words, clearly being exchanged with Archer — all heard by Koneko's sensitive ears. Her heart dropped, and she just looked at how paler her King's face became… It wasn't hard to figure out that this Skill brought bad news.
"What does Imperial Privilege mean, Buchou?" Kiyome asked immediately.
Rias looked at the battle with a somber expression. "It's… It's a Skill that allows a Servant to temporarily gain virtually any Skill that they do not possess for a brief amount of time. And… Berserker's identity… It's Caligula, according to Archer."
"Caligula?" Issei repeated the name but remained clueless. And while a few recognized the name on a surface level, the only one whose eyes widened upon hearing it was Asia.
"I-I learned of him during my history studies when I was raised by the church in Italy. H-He's a Roman emperor; one of the worst tyrants in Rome's history."
After getting this information, Koneko looked at the battle with far more worry than earlier. Once-unavoidable shots were now being dodged, or worse, fully deflected by punches of all things. The blue-haired Heroic Spirit's monstrous resilience seemed to defy logic, gaining speed and closing the distance bit by bit. Each impact no longer guaranteed damage, unsettling even the Devils watching.
"Looks like this Servant's madness hasn't completely overtaken his sense for battle," commented the dragon beneath them, his voice calm. Tannin continued flying in a wide arc, eyes always returning to the clash below. Still, despite the commentary, he remained composed. "Berserker, an apt way to describe the Heroic Spirit, he reminds me of Vritra. From your conversation with your own Servant, Rias Gremory, I take it that these Berserkers receive a boost in strength at the expense of their sanity?"
"Do you know of some weakness of Caligula's that Archer can use?" their King asked desperately, wanting to help him out in any way.
"Not anything your Servant already does not know. Outrage, as we call it, can only be removed through exhaustion or a stronger force subduing it in battle. But it does come with the advantage of making one's actions much more predictable. If you're fast enough to react in time or wise enough to predict them, that is."
Using your opponent's berserk state to one's advantage? That thought sounded so ridiculous given what Koneko felt at the moment. Even from afar, she could sense the pressure rolling off Berserker in waves.
His madness was practically screamed into the world like an avalanche, a flood of malice and fury that made her bones shiver. Unlike Rider, whose presence had felt like the chill of a natural predator lurking beyond her sight whilst casting an all-encompassing shadow, this golden-armored monstrosity was a storm made flesh.
"Archer!" she called out reflexively, her heart clenching.
Their exchange didn't last long. Berserker finally managed to close the distance between them. Her heart shook at the sight of his bow shattering into countless shards, given that the very same weapon in the past had managed to break any of Sword Birth's creations with ease. Thankfully, Archer proved himself to be fast enough to dodge the attacks and re-created the bow, followed by another devastating wave of arrows that tore through the air.
Then two copies of what appeared to be altered versions of Excalibur Destruction were fired at his opponent's feet. The force of their impact carved a gigantic hole deep into the earth, shaking the very ground. This was followed by several more projectiles being bombarded within the hole, with fire spewing out of it.
"Dear God—argh! Um, fucking shit… Th-That should be enough, right?" Issei asked, his eyes drifting toward Rias. There was hesitation in his voice, a need for reassurance.
But Rias didn't answer. Her lips were parted slightly, her brows drawn together in worry. Even she had no certainty now.
"If that isn't enough to kill him…" Issei's tone grew harsher, frustration swelling. "Then what the hell are we going to do? I say we go down there and help him! We can't just leave him to handle everything all by himself!"
"Issei, we need to stay calm and follow his words."
"Calm my ass, Kiba! I may not like that guy much, but he's still part of our peerage! No way in hell that—"
"Archer!"
Rias's terrified scream rang out, followed in chorus by Akeno, Asia, and Kiyome's cries. Every head turned just in time to witness the golden blur that had somehow, in the blink of an eye, appeared to have jumped out of the hole and was now above the bow-wielding Servant. Berserker's foot nearly collided with Archer's face, with the latter using one of his swords to block it, yet it still launched his body like a shooting star across the landscape. Dirt and debris exploded in every direction, a massive trench carved into the earth where he tumbled violently through rock and rubble.
"That crazy bastard is still not dead!?"
The shocked exclamation mirrored what each of them was thinking. How could something like that even exist? How could any being endure that kind of barrage and still stand tall? Berserker's armor was only mildly damaged, marred with a few cracks, but no real wounds marred his skin. There were a few mild burns, some blood, but nothing serious, much less anything that indicated he'd been struck by a barrage capable of leveling a small town.
Koneko shuddered at the sight. The sheer force, the power… it made her body tense with dread at the idea of facing a Servant herself even in a hypothetical future where she was as strong as Kuroka.
"We can't leave him behind, Buchou," she whispered to Rias, her voice trembling. The small girl shared the same sentiment that Issei and Asia held deep in their hearts, the desperate desire to go down there and do something — anything — to help him.
But a heavy hand settled on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Yuuto's face. The Knight's usual soft expression had hardened.
"I know you won't like hearing this," he said quietly, "but going down there will only bring more trouble. We won't be able to help him, not truly. Even I doubt we could buy him any time, let alone land a single blow. Remember what happened to Sona's team when they tried to assist Rider against Saber."
The blonde's voice wasn't scolding. The others heard him too, whether he meant them to or not. The words hung in the air like a court sentence none of them wanted to accept.
But it was the truth nonetheless.
As strong as they liked to believe they had become, as proud as they were to have trained under Archer and defeated Riser, none of that prepared them to face a Servant like this. Not one consumed by madness, and a level of raw strength that clearly surpassed even Rider's.
Koneko said nothing. Her lips quivered, and her golden eyes brimmed with frustration. She wanted to shout that they would not abandon him like her sister did. That she had grown stronger. That she would never repeat the mistakes of her past… but her body betrayed her heart. She could feel it, if she set a single foot on that field, her knees would buckle and fall — turning her into nothing but a burden.
She hated it. Hated that helplessness more than anything.
"No. We must go back to him."
Even Rias's composure was beginning to crumble. The tide of battle had shifted. Long-range assaults had favored Archer, but now Berserker had forced the fight into close quarters. Archer was being pushed back, blow by blow, his footing slipping under the relentless advance of the golden juggernaut.
They could see it now. Blood splattered through the air. Then, the two Servants broke apart, separating once more. They stood still, unmoving, locked in place as if caught in some unseen standoff.
"Is it over? Why isn't he attacking? Did he win?" Issei asked, hope flickering behind his words.
No one answered. Not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't. Every eye was fixed on Berserker. Something had changed.
Koneko saw it first.
The Rook's eyes widened. The twisted fury on Berserker's face had softened. Clarity gleamed behind his eyes as he stared at the illusory moon in the Underworld's sky, and then a wide, malevolent grin stretched across his face. His head tilted back toward the sky. His lips moved silently, whispering some unknown verse, and in an instant, something shifted. The air warped with blue waves of Magical Energy bursting from his body.
"Huh, what was that, Archer? What is Berserker doing?" Rias kept trying to get an answer from Archer as if that would explain the unseen dread pounding through Koneko.
Her instincts screamed at her, louder than ever before.
"We need to leave! We need to get awa—"
But it was too late.
A pillar of dense blue light erupted from his position, blasting upward like a lance aimed directly at the heavens. It looked as if it tried to strike the moon itself, even though it wasn't real, or perhaps it struck the space around it, twisting the sky itself. And before Koneko's eyes, the false celestial body above them began to change.
"Look up there!"
The others noticed it as well.
The twilight sky, once soft, had now twisted. The moon, once silver and serene, had become a blood-drenched orb, glowing with a grim, unnatural bright blue light that bathed everything beneath it in an ominous hue. That same light seemed to stretch for as far as the eye could see and blanketed the entire region. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong. She could feel it immediately. Not just in the air, but in herself, in the dragon beneath them, and in every flicker of energy that surrounded them.
It hit them like a hammer.
"Argh!" several voices cried out at once, and then came the roar, a guttural, thunderous bellow. Tannin bucked violently as if possessed, his wings flaring wide and wild. He had lost control. Madness gleamed in its eyes, pure and animalistic, as its body twisted and jerked through the air.
"Ah!" They all shouted in unison as the dragon reared up, hurling them all from its back. Wind whipped at them, a fierce gale caused by the violent flapping of its wings. They were tossed like leaves in a storm, and with the chaos seeping into their minds, none of them had the clarity of mind to bring out their wings to halt their fall.
Koneko hit the ground hard, her body crashing to the ground, unable to even think about landing safely. Her increased durability as a Rook managed to mitigate and absorb most of the damage, leaving her a bit battered and bruised but otherwise whole. But physical pain was the least of her concerns.
The storm of negative emotions and madness washed over her.
"A-Ah!"
It clawed at her mind like a starving beast sinking its claws deeper within. Her pained howls turned into growls, her voice warping between hiccups, snarls, and incoherent cries. It was as though a war raged inside her, a storm of chaos and fury tearing through every corner of her soul. Her demonic energy surged wildly, no longer held in check. Her Nekoshou powers burst out with it, and now even nature energy was seeping into her, adding to the uncontrollable mix.
The very power she had desperately not wanted to control her was now coming out in full force.
"Hng!" she cried, as tears streamed down her dirt-streaked face. Her body ached, burned, twisted under the pressure of too many forces fighting for control. Her mind screamed with an avalanche of emotion — hatred, confusion, despair, bloodlust, and the echoing screams of people lost in battle.
The thoughts were deafening. She clawed at her arms, her nails digging into her own flesh in a desperate attempt to anchor herself in something, anything. She wanted… no, needed to stop the chaos in her head through any method possible.
Her body convulsed again. The conflicting energies continued to battle until, at last, one began to weaken and the others swelled in strength. As long as it managed to lessen the pain pounding through her skull, the Nekoshou no longer cared about its origins and accepted it desperately. Her shape shifted as her power altered her physical form — snow white ears burst from her head, a single cat's tail whipped behind her, and her round pupils narrowed into slits, her golden orbs now glowing faintly in the moonlight like those of a cat.
"B-Buchou? Akeno?" She called several names, searching for her friends, worrying about their state after falling from such a height. Even as Devils with enhanced physical traits, it did not make them immune to dying from high falls. So Koneko started stumbling across the dark forest with a limp at first, not even realizing that the pain had begun to fade at a vastly accelerated rate, with the limp disappearing in a matter of seconds.
Obvious to the increasing changes all across her body, her nails sharpening further, or the way her features began to look less human and more like a cat. Her focus was fixed on finding the other members of the peerage, pushing her sense of hearing and smell to their limit — barely managing to trace their direction. Somewhere, beyond the screaming in her head that she could not even tell if they were real or not.
She blinked, her vision blurred, and blood stained her cheeks. But for a heartbeat, she saw familiar shapes colored in red in her darkening world, all the figures lying on the ground.
"Issei-senpai…? Asia…? Akeno…?" Her voice was a faint whisper, her words trembling as she tried to speak with a hoarse voice. Her legs wobbled beneath her, but she forced them to move, staggering forward across the cracked earth.
The white haired Rook didn't know what she was doing, nor where she was meant to go, but her legs carried her forward regardless. Unthinking, almost dreamlike, she wandered until her path led to a clearing soaked in the stench of blood. Bodies lay strewn across the earth, unmoving, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight. Standing among them was Yuuto, his chest heaving, a bloodstained sword gripped tightly in his hand.
There was no trace of the kind-hearted senpai she once knew. The kindness that had always lingered in his gaze was gone, replaced by a vacant glare that froze her in place. The moment his eyes landed on her, he let out a grunt and surged forward, blade raised high.
"S-Senpai!?" she cried out, startled, as her body leapt into the air with speed and strength that surprised even her. Soaring higher than expected, but he pursued her relentlessly, slashing upward, each wild swing cleaving through trees as though they were paper.
"W-What happened to you? Please co-come back to your senses!" she pleaded, dodging blow after blow with desperate grace, her body moving on instinct. She couldn't bring herself to strike him… unwilling to hurt him.
But he didn't stop. His strikes held no rhythm, no precision — just rage and chaos.
"Ah!" she cried out as one errant swipe tore across her forearm, blood spilling freely as pain lanced up her arm. The sound of her pain seemed to jolt him.
He froze, trembling with the sword stopping a hairbreadth away from the girl.
"Ko… neko?" he whispered with a shaky voice, eyes clouded with conflict. His grip on the sword tightened, now clear that he found himself fighting something within himself. "Bu… Buchou…?"
"I'm trying to find them, I-I don't know what's going on, but we need to get away from here quickly!" Her instincts continued screaming at the girl to distance herself from the battle going on between the Servants ever since the fake moon changed. She did not know how or what exactly Berserker did, but it affected everyone. "The others… they…"
Eyes looking behind him, the blonde followed along and saw the other members of the Peerage lying on the ground with various wounds on their bodies. Several, which looked like they came from a sword… his own eyes now at her sight, widened with horror.
His hands moved.
"Yuuto!" Much to her disbelief, he suddenly flipped the blade and drove it straight into his own thigh, the weapon plunging into the earth beneath him with a sickening crunch.
"Urgh!"
"What are you doing!?" she shouted, panic flooding her voice as she dropped to her knees to pull the sword free. But before she could, his hands latched onto her arms, strong and trembling.
"R-Run… I can't… co-control," he murmured, barely coherent. "I can't…"
Another sword formed within his grasp, this one aimed straight for his stomach. Perhaps thinking of trying to incapacitate himself, but the sight alone terrified the girl, telling her of a more cruel fate. That sight was enough that she could not allow it to happen.
"Stop!"
She didn't hesitate. Clenching her jaw and striking his temples.
He collapsed before he even hit the ground. She caught him, heart pounding, and quickly snapped off the hilt and upper half of the sword, leaving only the blade buried in his thigh to prevent the wound from bleeding excessively. Her hands trembled, but she forced herself to move.
"What should I do? What should I do?" she whispered to herself in panic, eyes scanning the dark clearing. Relief flooded her that he and the rest were still breathing, but her mind spun. That's when she saw the red moon again, high in the sky, casting its dreadful light.
Her instincts continued to scream: run, hide, shield yourself.
She dragged Yuuto, stumbling over roots and rocks, trying to think, trying not to give in to fear. Around her, she spotted other members of their peerage, unconscious and scattered. She moved quickly, gathering them all one by one, limbs burning, until a dense grove of trees nearby presented itself after a few seconds of searching.
The canopy above was thick enough that it nearly blotted out the sky. With effort, she dragged them under the natural cover, then heaved a heavy boulder in place to further block the light. Only then did the crawling sensation across her skin begin to fade.
It didn't vanish, not fully, but it dulled, like a voice muffled behind a wall.
"BOOBS!"
"Kya!"
Like a startled cat, Koneko jumped with fright as soon as one of the peerage members woke right back up as she tried to carry him back to the shade. Her fist reared back, ready to knock him unconscious like with Yuuto and stop him from doing anything drastic, she found herself surprised when she discovered a different kind of madness in his eyes. Albeit a familiar one.
A perverted gleam which settled on her chest, before realizing nothing of note was there, and the raging lust faded.
…Honestly, she just wanted to punch his lights out anyway, just because.
"Issei… senpai?"
At that word, Issei's face became confused. A glow from his arm appeared, and clarity returned to his eyes.
"Wha… What's going on? Where are the others? Why is my body covered in cuts!? Ah! It hurts!" he shouted, rolling around but still being his usual self — which further confused her. "Wait… you have cat ears!? And a tail?! You now definitely look like our school mascot cat girl!"
Cat… ears? The comment took her by surprise as she went ahead and touched her forehead and indeed found the soft sensation of those ears brushing against her fingers. This along with the tail she finally realized was present and several other changes which made her heartbeat accelerated with uncertainty.
"I-It's nothing… forget you saw this, just tell me how you are not affected?"
He looked at her, confused, "Affected? I… don't remember what happened. Last thing I recall was sitting on Tannin and then the moon turned blood red all of a sudden… and… w-what…?"
[I advise you not to stay out in the open any longer than necessary, partner. Or else that madness will return.]
"Ddraig?" Both of them looked at the red gauntlet manifesting upon the boy's arm.
[The enemy Servant is using some sort of ability that affects your psyche as long as you're exposed to the moonlight. Since I am but a soul trapped in a Sacred Gear, I remained unaffected since I am not really exposed to it, and could smack your mind back to reality for at least a short while. But if you stay out here any longer, then you'll succumb to it again.]
That… so it really was the light of the moon after all.
"Get behind that stone, Issei-senpai, that's where most of our friends are. Make sure nothing bad happens to them. I'll keep looking for everyone else, including Buchou."
"What? No! I should help too!" he insisted. "Ddraig can just keep smacking my mind to keep me sane, and we can both find Buchou!"
[I highly advise you not to do that,] Ddraig replied again with a sigh. [Falling under the moonlight's effect and being freed from it already consumed a ton of your energy. A couple more times, and you will collapse from mental exhaustion; your mind and body are still not strong enough for such things. Besides, your friend is right, we are not alone in this forest, and creatures who lost themselves to the madness may also attack anything nearby. It is your duty to keep your comrades safe.]
The brown-haired Pawn grimaced, unable to even say anything against that, for he also agreed with it. "Damn it!" he cursed, but no longer tried to leave. "Just make sure you're back soon, okay? Or else I'll be coming to find both you and Buchou!"
Koneko nodded, rushing outside and leaving the boy alone, who sat under the shade.
"Where… where is she…" she muttered in a shaking breath, her eyes scanning the area desperately. Rias was nowhere to be seen. Her heartbeat quickened with dread, but her feet refused to stay still. She pushed forward through the woods, following the echoes of clashing steel in the distance.
Her fear built with every step, yet she did not stop, bursting into a clearing just in time to see a brilliant flash of light that filled her vision entirely.
And then, just like that, everything vanished.
{Break}
(Earlier)
At the end of the day, he had no choice but to use it. His trump card, so to speak. The sole craft he had, the only one he could master, and the very same that he pushed beyond all precedent until it branched itself into a completely different form of magecraft from Projection. One that defined his being, the path he had walked, and the crystallization of his life's purpose.
The very first verse defined the Heroic Spirit's existence as a tool — a weapon — for others to use, with his bones being the core.
"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."
The second version reinforced the imagery of his physical being, a sword that the world wielded for its purpose. A sword that had no thought or purpose but simply perpetuates those of the wielder, whether it be good or evil.
His Master had always shown interest in the details of his Noble Phantasm, and so had the others. Though he never really gave them a complete answer. Instead, he offered a brief explanation, stating that it was part of his Tracing magecraft. That answer had always sufficed.
The concept of a Reality Marble would have proven itself tricky to fully explain and would have led to more questions prying deeper. Explaining it would have been a waste of breath, at least in his eyes. After all, he hoped there would never come a day when he would be forced to use it. Still, if she ever insisted — if Rias truly pressed him to reveal the truth — he would have without much hesitation. Casting aside his silence without protest, and telling her everything.
While the Reality Marble required time to fully activate, even its preliminary aria had begun to alter the world around him. His connection with his Master allowed the marble to draw freely from her demonic energy reserves, and he was certain she could maintain it for an extended duration if need be. The shift in the air drew the attention of both Berserker and, to his mild surprise, Saber. Even in her maddened state, she retained enough instinct to recognize a threat. Her aggression surged, a feral response to the unknown force she felt stirring.
"I have created over a thousand blades."
He whispered while Sparks flew as Kanshou and Bakuya clashed against Clarent, the weapons reduced to silver blurs, their presence focused entirely on defence. A trademark of all the countless weapons he's forged to survive the scarred moments of his life. One that Rias had gotten a glimpse of in the past from his time as a Counter Guardian, and even before that.
'She's not using her Noble Phantasm,' he thought as he held off Saber. 'Mordred… her fighting style differs from Artoria's quite a bit, calling it a polar opposite would be valid. From what Rider said, having a brawler approach with her strength. In her current state, that makes her no different from another Berserker but moving more instinctively rather than with a plan in mind.'
His point was proven when, upon deflecting her sword with Kanshou, the woman tried to go for his throat with her other hand and completely disregarded any defense. He pushed Bakuya to slice upwards and cut through her front armor, a gash that drew some blood all the way to her chin. Her fingers missed their target as he leaned back at the last second.
'No reaction to the pain, no red lightning gathering around her sword. She's a juggernaut, but even those can eventually fall if they make a single mistake—!?'
Any follow-ups were rendered impossible when an actual Berserker descended from above and crashed in the spot where Archer was standing before jumping away at the last possible second. 'Tch, did he notice I was going to go for the kill at that moment? He's not as aggressive as before and is using Saber to tire me down while making sure I don't use anything that might tilt things to my favor…'
This realization made him chuckle. The Emperor of Death really did live up to his sadistic reputation.
'At least I won't have to worry about Clarent Blood Arthur. If her madness prevents its activation because she doesn't have the mental clarity to actually say its name, then that's an edge I'll gladly keep. Of course, that's just a hopeful guess. The last thing I need is to be caught off guard because I underestimated my opponent.'
A violent wave of heat exploded near their position, the blast throwing both Servants across the battlefield. The roar of the dragon echoed from above, vibrating through the air with enough force to rattle the bones of anyone nearby.
'Even a dragon can't ignore the effects of Caligula's Noble Phantasm. Since I can still sense my Master, that likely means Tannin came straight after us. The others should still be alive… but if this goes on, then I can't guarantee what might happen to them. Given communication has already become impossible, Rias must be going through the same effects as everyone here.'
"Raaaarg!"
Clarent struck again with savage fury, crashing down against the married twin blades. Berserker's relentless assault continued, each strike aimed at whatever small gaps he could exploit. Archer had already begun tracing additional weapons into the air, launching them in quick succession to keep the golden-armored tyrant at bay.
It was too much; if he didn't finish soon, he would lose the fight. A fact emphasized by how quickly he was being pushed back by these monstrously strong opponents.
"Hn! U-Unknown to death, nor known to life."
Their efforts would eventually corner him, and he could feel it. So, he hurried with the remaining verses to his aria. The prior words painted his bleakness of no longer knowing whether he could truly be touched by life nor death. He was an existence outside of such concepts. An aberration.
"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."
He had been forced to contradict his old beliefs in order to preserve this ungrateful world over and over again.
Saber… she was every bit as dangerous as Berserker in close quarters. Whenever Clarent was parried or momentarily locked down, she charged in with unrelenting force. Her fists, her legs, it didn't matter. She struck with raw, explosive power, enhanced by the violent discharge of Mana Bursts that cracked through her limbs like rolling thunder.
The most frustrating opponent to contend with though was, without question, the dragon. Each blast of fire it unleashed was strong enough to reshape the very terrain, carving out deep craters and scorching everything in its path. While a single hit wouldn't be enough to kill him outright, it would certainly knock him out of the fight long enough for the others to finish the job. He knew this all too well.
Berserker knew it too.
The Roman Emperor was watching closely, waiting for him to switch to his bow. That would be his moment to strike. If Archer gave him that opportunity, he would fail not only to bring down the dragon but would also lose his foothold in the battle. Fortunately for them, that wasn't part of his plan. He had no intention of drawing his bow anytime soon.
"Yet, those hands will never hold anything."
The revelation that he himself was a weapon that would most likely never reach his goal, but just a tool to be wielded, and would never achieve genuine happiness or justice.
Even when facing the three warriors in front of him, part of him already knew that victory would be bleak at best. If no light existed at the end of the tunnel, then fulfilling his duty as a Servant to his Master remained his top priority. For he felt gratitude at the small instances of what could only be described as a regular life by being a regular teacher, and all the many sources of enjoyment he'd been provided, a harsh truth was now rearing it head — all things eventually came to an end.
His resolve matched their aggressiveness, but Berserker sensed the changes growing and so did Saber. The former's presence completely filled the Counter Guardian's vision, using the same technique from before and aiming for any opening. His legs, arms, and head, all of them assaulted by several punches from Berserker, forcing him to push his Mind's Eye to its limit to avoid and deflect all the blows along with keeping track of both the dragon and Saber… the latter of whom was no longer holding her sword.
"—!"
Even when seeing it at the corner of his eyes, it took everything he had just to keep dodging or it would just pierce and damage his Spirit Core. For a brief moment, he recalled an old memory flashing within his mind, a dark figure turned into a being corrupted to become the grail. Each of its tendrils piercing his body and damaging his core. Fe was no Lancer with Battle Continuation to sustain himself against anything short of destroying his core. With Berserker aiming for a lethal hit that could not be ignored, the white-haired Servant didn't have much time to think about his next course of action.
'This is just a small sacrifice.'
Woosh!
Clarent reached his side in an instant, thrown with monstrous strength and speed no different from one of his own projectiles. The blade sinking into his flesh, the size of the weapon nearly dismembering his entire right arm from his shoulders, and in an instant, the bloodied sword coming out from the other side and pinned him against a boulder.
The pain itself, with Mordred's red lightning making his flesh feel like they were on fire. Yet he kept his calm, gray eyes gazing at crimson… with death being just a few feet away, he whispered.
"So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works."
A flash of light blinded the Servants for a brief second before everyone in the vicinity ended up getting pulled into his own world filled with an endless graveyard ocean of swords.
.
.
.
A world that overlapped with reality, materializing one's inner world, and a space completely cut off from the outside. The most advanced form of Bounded Field magecraft that touched upon the realm of True Magic. Yet still not completely there, but rested on the border with it, and Grand Magecraft almost touching in between both. His mystics, driven to the extreme in order to override the real world with his inner one.
Emiya stood alone at the center of it all — the culmination of his magecraft, the pinnacle of everything he had ever forged with Clarent still embedded in his body, his right arm barely hanging by a few strands of muscle while blood dripped down his unresponsive fingers.
A sky heavy with smoke and iron clouds loomed above, pressing down with a suffocating weight. The air was thick and almost made it seem like it would be hard to breathe, filled with the scent of ash and steel. Colossal gears rotated in the heavens, grinding slowly and endlessly, echoing the rhythm of a world that reflected his soul.
"Flucticulus Diana, a curse of madness bestowed upon you by the Goddess of the Moon, that you can force on others. A Noble Phantasm befitting your legend, Caligula. So as a courtesy, I bring you mine."
"…"
Caligula gazed at him before looking around at the Reality Marble, with the others who'd been pulled in doing the same.
The ground stretched endlessly before him, a field of countless swords jutting from the earth like gravestones, silent tributes to the forgotten legends he had once imitated. Not one was an original, not even the paired blades he relied on most. Each was a forged replica, conjured from his own Magical Energy after glimpsing the genuine article. And yet, despite being imitations, they faithfully carried the form and will of the true weapons they sought to echo.
They glanced upward. With all of them now inside his Reality Marble, the effects of that Noble Phantasm should have ended. There was no moon here, no conduit for Berserker to corrupt others with the same madness he'd suffered any further.
And thus he looked back at Berserker with a tired smile.
"You were too slow to kill me, Emperor of Death."
"…"
No response came from the opposing Servant.
"Your own insanity has lessened, that much is clear. You can understand me, and you are no longer chained to that curse of yours. It's unlikely for you to currently have a reason to do battle with me for a Grail that might not even exist. So why continue fighting?"
Again, no answer came from the man who continued to stare back at him. Part of him figured he was perhaps looking for answers where there were none. The emperor who was once admired by his people as a benevolent ruler was long gone, or perhaps his desire for a wish to be granted trumped everything else, even if the likelihood of that existing was near zero.
"I see."
At the end of the day, it was not his task to change the mind of a fellow Servant. Not to mention, even with clarity returning to the emperor — Archer still would not put any level of trust in him.
'The effects of Flucticulus Diana should be gone by now, right?' Unfortunately, one look into Saber's eyes told him otherwise.
Madness still lingered in those orbs, where clarity would hopefully return at any moment. But… the chances of this outcome making things worse were not lost on him. He'd much rather deal with a berserk Mordred unable to fully use her abilities due to rage than one who came back to her senses.
For they were not allies.
Regardless, how long the effects of Berserker's Noble Phantasm would remain, he couldn't say. But the glow in her gaze was unmistakable, still with her innate Magic Resistance, it should not take that long…
"▂▃▃▅▅ーーー!"
A deep roar rumbled through the sky as the dragon, now pulled into the Reality Marble with the rest of them, reacted violently to the new setting. Its wings flared, and its gaping maw opened wide. A dense cloud of smoke billowed from its throat as it began to channel a mass of concentrated fire, forming into a seething orb nearly twice the size of its own head.
"Hah…" Taking a slow breath, Archer let go of his thoughts. He cast away his concern for the people outside and of the driving force behind Caligula — now fully fixed his focus on the three threats before him.
'With Gaia absent, there is no natural suppression of magecraft. Even if this world has something akin to Gaia watching over it — and it most likely does — there are no signs of hostility from it, actively being aggressive towards me. Not toward humans. Not toward supernatural beings. My Unlimited Blade Works would hold for longer than it could in my world.'
And even if some force did attempt to erase it, the constant magical flow he received from Rias would be more than enough to maintain its form for a great deal longer.
"Two Servants. One dragon," he muttered as he studied them calmly. Each stared back at him with wary eyes, their stances guarded and ready. "Urgh!"
Swiftly, the red sword was pulled away from his shoulders. Sound of the metal sliding out of his flesh, more blood pooling down below, and an arm that refused to budge. 'Thankfully, my spirit core remains intact; if this had hit my chest then I would have been done.'
Berserker's Noble Phantasm had already been neutralized. Now it was only a matter of time before Saber regained her senses as well — a small period of time he would use to his advantage. His plan had never been to kill the feisty blonde unless absolutely necessary… even if her actions were not done under the right state of mind. The real threat, the one he needed to eliminate first, was the most unpredictable force on the battlefield.
The Dragon King.
His eyes locked onto the winged creature in the sky, and his world responded to his will in an instant. Raising his still intact arm in the air with Clarent now in his hand, weapons started to materialize around and above him. Their numbers did not stop until they were in the thousands, growing numerous enough to block out a portion of the sky.
The floating weapons cast a shadow over the two opposing Servants, and Berserker was about to make a move.
They all fired simultaneously, raining down from the sky with there being no way to escape or block it all out. Mordred's figure braced as she raised up her arms, getting drowned by a sea of steel as she backed away from the onslaught, while Caligula once more proved his strength and speed by punching the closest sword, shattering it into several shards and the shockwave knocking many others back. But even that would not be enough against the sheer number of them.
Several weapons left cuts, the same golden spear from before even pierced his thigh, which the emperor removed and threw away.
The Servants were forced to keep their distance.
'That should buy me enough time,' he thought while bringing his attention back to the dragon.
"▂▃▅▅ーー!"
Tannin responded with fury. The black dragon's maw opened wide as it prepared another devastating breath attack, only this time, the attack was different.
A massive ball of flame condensed around a newly created crag of molten rock, ballooning into a meteor-sized projectile created by the greatest phantasmal species, and shrouded in flames and lightning.
With a thunderous blast, the dragon launched it directly toward Archer's position, tearing through the air with blistering speed. Demonic energy, pushing it ever further.
'It's much more dense than before. Getting hit by that in my current state or even before would be idiotic… looks like he hasn't recovered from Berserker's Noble Phantasm, but I can't say how long he will stay like this compared to Mordred.'
He frowned. 'If the effects of this maddened dragon linger any longer, even without the moonlight, then I'll have to deal with him first.'
After all, only a fool would underestimate a dragon.
Woosh!
Tannin fired the attack, the meteor several times the size of Archer, and heading straight for him. Several giant greatswords lined up together in a circular pattern, with several stacked across one another like a line of barricades. Though those were shattered rather quickly upon impact, despite lowering its overall momentum, the attack continued to push past them till it broke through and hit a translucent pink film taking the shape of a blooming flower with seven petals.
Even in his maddened state, Tannin faltered. His massive head tilted in confusion. The magic wasn't one he was familiar with, and his confusion grew even more upon finding an empty space behind Rho Aias, sensing something next to its head before bringing up its forearm just in time to block a slash from Clarent. The sword left a faint gash as it parted the scales, but the wound itself was superficial.
'Should have expected this, even in this world, a dragon is still a dragon. Clarent, while powerful in its own right, is not the most effective sword against it.'
Several swords flashed across his mind, with a throw, Clarent went flying from his hand to Tannin, which the latter spun to dodge quite fast, especially for someone his size, with the scaly tail literally whipping the sword away. This sent it flying across the Reality Marble and the dragon proceeded to lunge towards him as if intending to take a bite out of him.
Only to be met by a pillar of blue light bursting from another greatsword held within Archer's grasp. The Servant had gotten close, far faster than the Dragon had realized. Instinctively, Tannin curled his wings inward to shield himself.
"Balmung!"
The pillar crashed into the dragon's body point-blank, forcing a pain-filled roar from its jaws. With a brutal shriek of shearing flesh, the burst of blue holy Magical Energy started to tear through the dragon's left wing as if they were parchment, carving deep within the wing. Blood sprayed into the air in great arcs as the beast let out a guttural, tortured cry, its flight thrown into chaos as its body began to spiral and crash onto the ground.
'That should incapacitate it fo—!'
Much to Archer's disbelief, the creature went right back up with the malevolent light in the dragon's eyes growing more wrathful. Its body moved forward, and the clawed hands crashed into the spot he was in a second ago. 'He got even more mad? At this point, it's not even the effect of the Noble Phantasm that continues to linger, but he has entered a genuine state of berserk rage unable to discern ally from foe.'
Yet it became clear that Balmung had left it weakened with its haggard breath and wounds that became charred scales as if burned, the holy effect being a detriment to all Devil-kind, yet perhaps due to his nature as a dragon, Tannin managed to gain some resistance to it.
Tannin's massive mouth let out a fierce roar, and the sheer wind pressure pushed Archer back, his body being pushed backwards by a powerful wind force created from the dragon's thundering roar.
He was not that surprised that a direct hit from Balmung failed to incapacitate it in one bit. The short window of opportunity hadn't exactly given the Heroic Spirit much time to charge the attack, and even then killing Tannin would not have been a likely or desirable outcome. Even so, the Blaze Meteor Dragon had proven to be far more resilient than he expected… He should have anticipated this though, as the title of Dragon King was noteworthy for a reason.
'If killing him will take too much time, then I can exhaust him.'
His Reality Marble manifested more swords, Gram, Balmung, Arondight, Ascalon, and other dragon-slaying swords numbering in the dozens, each firing at the dragon aiming for vulnerable areas as Tannin continued to rush towards him. Unlike Clarent that managed to leave a wound on his scales but failed to go too deep, these blades proved far more effective due to their anti-dragon properties. Stabbing and getting stuck within each limb, stomach, tail and going so far as to shatter one of the Dragon King's horns.
'His scales are tough, aiming for the arms, tail, and legs is useless for it only serves to further enrage him. If he continues rampaging, the others will recover and I'll get overwhelmed again.' Left with no choice, another sword landed in his hand. 'Without the wings he should not be able to fly at least.'
It looked far different yet similar to Gram, white blade with a polished golden guard. No it was a blade he considered one of his very best that he received from a treasured individual. As the weapon began to glow with a golden sheen, he prepared whatever came what will. Yet as he was about to use it, the Heroic Spirit's instincts screamed. He halted his strike and summoned several greatswords to his side, forming a wall just in time to block a golden figure whose crazed crimson eyes were locked onto him with fury.
Many wounds now lined his body. Clearly, he hadn't endured the earlier assault unscathed.
"You're a persistent one," Archer muttered with frustration, now forced to split his focus. Tannin lunged with claws aimed to crush him, while Berserker kept up the pressure with relentless grabs.
"Argh!"
Staying alive against the combined attack of both Saber and Berserker earlier was hard enough… but doing so now when Saber was replaced by an angry Dragon, and fending them off with a single working arm eventually became overwhelming; it wasn't long before Berserker cornered him. The dragon's tail came crashing down, sending him flying across the field. He hit the ground hard, then turned his head — his arm was gone, torn from his body and no longer hanging by even a thread.
Gripping one of the many nearby swords for support, he lifted his head and saw Caligula grinning in the distance, proudly holding the severed arm like a trophy. With a slow clench, the man crushed it into a bloody mess before discarding it without care.
A gruesome sight, one that left Archer feeling both grim and, strangely, amused.
"Was that supposed to intimidate me?"
He wanted to make a sarcastic comment but doubted it would even reach his opponent. Seeing the approaching figure with the rampaging dragon in the background, Archer understood what to do next. Without uttering a single word, another weapon appeared in hand.
Just like before he barraged both Berserker and Tannin with more swords, keeping them at bay and buying him enough time to charge the one in his hand. A spear belonging to someone he faced several times, always sighing whenever they encountered one another during each Grail War. A weapon to which he died several times in the past but also survived against it through several ways.
'He is no longer in top shape, the wound left behind by Gae Bhuide continues to bleed and my previous attacks have weakened him to some extent. I can't take the chance that he will survive my next attack or else…' More of his magical energy surged within the weapon, causing it to let out an eerie reddish glow. The spearhead was pointed downwards to his side while the end shaft held within his armpit. 'Holding this with one hand is awkward, using that technique even more so. But… I should still be able to do it.'
"Hah…" Archer let out a deep breath and steadied his body. His body lowering and knees pushing forward with all his might, figure flickered as a few words left his mouth. "Pierce the heart… Gáe Bolg!"
Caligula saw the attack, but it was already too late, for the attack had already landed before he even reached the Servant's side. Cause and effect reversed, and the spearhead found its way within the emperor's chest and went past the already battered golden armor with relative ease. Their figure closed and Archer let out a bloody cough, eyes going downwards to see the spear having hit the center of the chest, its aim a bit off but still it landed.
But unfortunately, it seemed that Caligula opted to abandon any semblance of defense at the last second and instead threw his own attack.
Blood pooled beneath Archer's feet as past the spear shaft, he looked down at the golden vambrace upon the arm that had dug deep within his own guts.
Archer coughed more, finding breathing to be painful and standing a tall task. Thankfully the hand didn't go deep enough to crush his spine.
"…You… name."
A faint whisper, no longer just screaming or speaking crazily, but instead a simple question that came out of the emperor's mouth. The first time he truly addressed the Servant of the Bow directly. Saying Archer or throwing a backhand remark would have been his preferred choice of words, for revealing one's name to an enemy was detrimental. But with Caligula… that no longer mattered.
"…Emiya," he said quietly, grunting while examining his own body and grimacing at his current state. The Reality Marble around them grew more faint, almost as if it would disappear at any moment… Hopefully the others were far away from all of this as soon as they regained their minds.
"I will… remember… it."
Caligula stirred, trying to pull back from the spear only for Archer to twist it back in. Cursing if the emperor managed to somehow get the effect of battle continuation for him to still move with so much strength left in him.
"Hm?"
A chill crept up his spine when he sensed another presence rush forward. And right before his eyes, he saw the figure of Tannin be sent flying before landing near them with a deep gash on his chest.
"I'll fucking kill all of you! Don't underestimate me!"
An enraged roar came from nearby, a pillar of crimson lightning rising in the sky just like the one in Kuoh that had split a mountain. Mordred with her helmet gone, blood on her face and a single eye, glared at them and several swords having pierced her body. Just as he feared, she came back to her senses and became something else he needed to worry about. 'If that hits… it should also completely take out Berserker and perhaps even the dragon. Sirzechs will prefer dealing with the news of a dead dragon rather than a dead sister… he'll keep her safe.'
Perhaps Saber coming back to her senses was the ideal scenario after all. Mordred's Master did not seem as an enemy of the Devils, a neutral party maybe.
Looking ahead, Archer closed his eyes and waited for the pillar to descend.
In the end, he was mostly satisfied with the outcome. He'd done well, all things considered.
…
"By the power of my Command Seal, I order you to live through whatever means necessary, Archer! You are not allowed to die!"
Out of nowhere, he heard his Master's voice shouting from the distance, eyes snapping open and seeing the redhead girl huffing next to the same black-haired woman who was thrown at his feet right before Saber arrived, now awake and standing beside Rias with a concerned expression. His Master had sunk to her knees with tears streaming down her face while holding out her hand in a desperate cry. The three marks of her Command Seals glowed brightly, with one of the lines then growing faint as it faded away almost entirely.
"You…" Archer was at a loss for words, but he had no opportunity to even say or think about the matter anymore, for the order had already embedded itself within his core. Power coursed through his body, as he dismissed the spear and summoned Kanshou in his hand slicing through the arm still buried in his guts.
"Hn!" Staggering backwards, he felt how the wound was no longer as debilitating as it should have been. The command itself was vague enough that some of it already started to heal him, and for that reason he swiftly tore the severed forearm free from his stomach. With the pillar of red lightning in the distance, his will spread across the entirety of the Reality Marble one last time.
An echo spread across the barren wasteland with each and every sword plunged into the ground extracting themselves before shifting in place such that they were aimed right at Saber's Noble Phantasm.
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
The massive tower of red Magical Energy and crimson lighting descended, as the recently re-acquired Clarent released its full power of its master's wrath. To meet it, Archer sent forth an endless barrage of swords, with countless named and nameless Noble Phantasms being fired all at once against the wave of crimson destruction. The impact set the sky ablaze with a series of detonations spreading.
He did not stay idle, with Berserker still standing and looking as though he was about to somehow continue fighting, Archer raised his hand for a weapon to form that immediately halted the emperor in his tracks.
A jagged scarlet weapon that was both a work of art yet also too impractical in shape to truly be called a sword. Held by one of the late emperors of Rome and a weapon he used once against Riser Phenex during his Master's first Rating Game.
"Ne… ro?" Caligula whispered upon catching sight of the weapon, leaving himself completely open.
Archer turned to stare right in front of him, his eyes meeting the red pupils of the black eyes who were staring at him as if shocked at the presence of the weapon itself once held by none other than his precious niece. Caligula looked upon the blade as if he could practically see the blonde girl herself standing in Archer's place holding it. The clarity that slowly made its way inside his mind disappeared with a twisted emotion reigning in.
"N-NERO!!!"
His scream became buried by the sound of the massive tower of red Magical Energy and crimson lighting that continued to push against the endless barrage of swords above them. Clarent Blood Arthur struggled, unable to contend against the combined might of the Noble Phantasms, until it started to break apart much to Mordred's frustration as her enraged shout echoed in the distance.
The black-haired woman and Rias were gone, thankfully. Both of them rushed away in the opposite direction as fast as they could go.
Archer summoned whatever was left in his reserves, further empowered by his Master's Command Seal. Magical Energy hummed, surging within the blade and releasing a staggering amount of heat and fire that threatened to melt anything and everything in its surroundings. The surge of energy did not stop until sounds of cracks and breaking formed on the surface of the sword.
Until he pierced the very ground of his Reality Marble, at which point a circuit-like pattern spread across the entire area and connected with each and every sword that materialized within this space. He broke the sword and its powers flowed into all of his weapons as they started glowing an eerie red glow similar to Aestus Estus itself, with a fire soon erupting from them.
The ability of the Roman blade was shared and absorbed by each and every one of them, all simultaneously releasing a powerful wave of fire that spread around them, the flames twisting and turning with each weapon set ablaze around them and all Servants present along with the very sky were consumed by the flames — laying havoc.
{Break}
(Unknown amount of time later)
"Urgh… my head."
Katerea woke up with a nasty headache, trying to make sense of what happened and also figure out why her body was aching so terribly. The last thing she recalled were the murderous black and eyes of that golden armored figure glaring at her with the intent to kill or even torture her until she could no longer resist. But then, then an arrow appeared out of nowhere and pierced the Servant, which freed her.
But then… then she did not recall anything else other than nightmarish howls of rage and a suffocating amount of dread. Bits and pieces of more memories started to return slowly, but also brought with them a killer headache.
"I… I survived?" she whispered to herself, unsure whether this was truly reality or but a dream.
She was never one to believe in there being something so ridiculous as an afterlife for Devil-kind.
So that really meant she was alive, and thus, Katerea was forced to open her eyes, dreading to find herself facing that golden armored monster or the other one that chased her before. Though instead, the first thing she came to witness was an odd boy with brown hair looking at her with lecherous eyes. He stared intensely at her exposed breasts with his mouth hung open, stunned to the point of not even noticing she was awake.
'This lowly boy dares to…!'
No, she had to maintain her calm! This was an opportunity for her to leave this place and get away before—
"Don't even think about running away, Katerea." A chipper voice reached her ears and even snapped the boy who was ogling her chest back to reality. Katerea panicked upon recognizing that voice, and it brought her almost as much dread as the Servant from before who nearly killed her. "It's okay now, Issei. Grayfia and I have already gathered everyone and you all will be heading back to Kuoh immediately after Asia and Grayfia are all done helping the wounded."
Two figures walked inside the dimly lit area, the first one being a woman with silver hair dressed in a maid outfit whom Katerea instantly recognized, and she was holding Diodora Astaroth in her arms. Though the Astaroth heir's condition made anyone unsure if he was even alive or not. Both of his arms were gone, his legs were badly broken, and barely any movement could be seen from his chest.
And next to her was a short woman with her hair in pigtails wearing a ridiculous outfit who made Katerea seethe with fury. She stepped forward to crouch down in front of the rightful heir to the Leviathan name. But concerningly, Serafall Leviathan no longer wore the bright smile on her face she was known for, and instead looked to be in a very bad mood.
"This is all your fault somehow… I just know it."
-------------
AN: For those who may not be aware, yes, that ability Emiya used is canon and not made up. It was showcased by Shirou in Case Files. I highly recommend this story for those who haven't read it yet, mostly focuses on Waver and Gray.
The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.