Tank-hopping to the scene wasn't going to be an option.
First off, it was a sure thing that Iskandar would be taking Waver with him. And then there was Irisviel; Kiritsugu didn't want to leave her alone at the mansion. Saber wouldn't stand for it either, so they were both coming along. But that meant Sakura would be left alone, so I decided to take her with me.
With all of us, Rider's chariot was definitely over capacity. He told me he could get us there, but he couldn't guarantee our safety while fighting. So, we had no choice but to split up.
Irisviel and the others took the car by land, while Rider, Sakura, and I went by air on the mech. We arranged to meet up with Kiritsugu and the rest at our destination.
As we neared the site, something shocking appeared before my eyes.
"What... is that...?"
It was a formless mass, growing by devouring people. It looked like a squishy, clay-like blob, spreading out from the plaza and expanding its damage.
I couldn't understand what was happening just by looking at it. What kind of attack was this?!
"What's going on...?"
"Hmm..."
Rider, who was steering the chariot, and Waver were deep in thought together.
"I don't know. But I think we should avoid getting too close to it. We should poke it with something and see..."
"Hold on!"
As I activated the mech's weapons and got ready to attack, Waver's voice stopped me.
"What is it?!"
"What's 'it'?! Can you see something, too?!"
What did he say? I listened carefully to Waver's voice.
"Hey! Are you listening?! What do you see?!"
"What do you mean 'what'? That thing! It's right in front of us!"
"Where is it?! What's its size?! Rider, can you see it?"
"My eyes see nothing. But I feel a very unpleasant presence."
"What are you talking about...!"
The static was terrible, and we were shouting at each other, but it wasn't a conversation.
"Nothing" is right in front of us? There's this huge thing that doesn't belong in modern society, and you say you don't see anything? What else could it be?
"Sakura-chan, you don't see anything?"
"No, I don't."
"Seriously...?"
Could it be that only I could see it? This monster was invisible to Waver, and even Rider. Only I could see it. Wait a minute, could it be...?
"Is it a Stand...?"
That would be the most natural conclusion. Indeed, there was no magical energy coming from it.
But I've never heard of a Stand this big. Why there was a Stand here was a minor detail. The worst-case scenario was that it was a new type of Stand with no known countermeasure.
Could my fang, Tusk, put it out of commission? No matter how powerful the spin, I didn't think a small fingernail could kill a Stand of this size.
Just then, Saber's voice came through on the comms.
'Irregular, we're about to arrive at the station. What's the situation?'
"Don't come! You shouldn't get any closer!"
I yelled on instinct. It seemed that Stands were invisible to humans and Servants alike. I didn't want them to come here and get attacked.
'Understood. We'll wait at a distance.'
Saber, trusting her intuition, obeyed without question. We both had tracking devices, so our locations were easy to find. I'd have them evacuate again if things got dangerous.
"Hey! Explain things more clearly!"
"There's a monster only I can see right in front of us! It's really, really big! If it grabs you, you'll be eaten! Just stay back a little!"
When I said that, Rider pulled the reins and gained altitude.
Alright, let's give it a try.
I began to spin my fingernail. The image of my Stand appeared, hovering next to my right hand.
"ACT2... Take this!!"
With no recoil or sound, the nail bullet was fired. It sank into the flesh as if it were being absorbed. The sensation and texture of it... it was all squishy, something I definitely didn't want to touch. The spin was wreaking havoc inside the flesh. It wasn't that I couldn't destroy it, but...
"The spin just died..."
The nail bullet's spin came to a stop.
The monster in front of me calmly squirmed its body. It wasn't fazed at all. It was like holding a lighter to an Antarctic iceberg. You might melt a tiny bit of ice, but that was just one small piece. An attack of that magnitude had no effect whatsoever.
"This is bad."
The monster in front of me started to attack the mech I—and Sakura—were on.
"Sakura-chan, I'm going!"
"Do your best!"
I opened the hatch and jumped out. I figured the giant mech would be too slow to react to the enemy Stand's attacks. While tearing apart the approaching mass of filthy flesh with my nail bullets, I descended toward a rooftop.
"Tch!!"
Even when a piece was separated from the main body, it didn't stop chasing me. In fact,
"It's getting faster! The Stand doesn't take damage?!"
Either it saw me, a Stand user, as a threat, or it was simply because I was close, but it was relentlessly targeting me. And it was fast. Even though I was enhanced with the Dark Magic, Magia Elevea, I couldn't shake it off at all.
It was a good thing I was pulling it away from everyone else, but this was unexpected.
"Temporal Control: Time Alter, Double Accel!"
Even with my speed doubled, the pieces of flesh kept pace, accelerating to keep up.
At this rate, I'll have to put the main body out of commission to stop this. But I don't know where it is or who the user is.
"But I have to find out..."
At a time like this, there's only one person I can rely on. I quickly established a connection. My contact was...
"Mr. Kiritsugu!?"
'What's wrong? What's the situation?'
I couldn't even catch my breath. I would think I had shaken it off, only for it to appear from behind a building. I crashed through a wall and started running again without losing momentum.
What I was about to ask Kiritsugu to do was...
"Search this vicinity—and as soon as you find another Master, kill them."
'...'
Over the phone, even Kiritsugu was choosing his words carefully.
"There's a chance that one of the other surviving Masters is the cause of this. Rider and I will hold down the main cause. In the meantime—"
'So the Caster's Master and Kirei Kotomine are the targets. I can leave out Berserker's Master, right?'
"If you see Kariya, tell him my contact information. Begin the search in one minute. It's too dangerous to get close right now."
'Understood.'
With that short reply, Kiritsugu hung up.
With a Stand this powerful, the user has to be nearby. A Stand's power weakens the farther it is from its user. If the user wasn't close... then it just wouldn't make sense.
Kiritsugu would begin his search in one minute. Next,
"Rider, can you hear me!?"
'Oh! You're safe!'
'Hey, where are you right now!'
It was Rider and the others, who were supposed to be waiting in the air. This would be a big burden for them. After all, I needed them to use their Reality Marble—the Ionian Hetairoi.
"From up there, what does it look like now!?"
'After you jumped out... let's see, it's like a path of buildings are being torn down in a straight line... as if some huge monster just walked right through...'
"That's enough! At the very front of that path is a monster that nobody can see! Lock it inside the Reality Marble!'
'Lock it inside, you say?'
That way, Kiritsugu could search for the user while the surrounding area was safe. The best-case scenario would be that the user, if they were nearby, would also be dragged into the Reality Marble and defeated. With no obstacles in the Ionian Hetairoi, it would be easy to spot them.
'Very well. Boy, you stay here for communications. Get on that big machine over there.'
'Ah, got it.'
Rider said it was for communications, but he knew this enemy was dangerous.
"I'll have Saber head toward you. Saber's speed will get her there quickly."
'Alright, I will deploy the Ionian Hetairoi in five seconds. Are you ready!?'
"Anytime!!"
I'll buy as much time as I can to give Kiritsugu more time to search!
'Gather, my fellow warriors—'
Rider's powerful voice came through the comms. Just then, I broke through a window and stepped outside. The next moment, a vast desert stretched out before me. I braced myself for landing.
That must be why I didn't notice the black shadow approaching from the side.
"■■■■■■■■■■■■■—!!"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
A powerful kick landed squarely on my side. The force of it changed my direction and sent me flying through a window of the adjacent building. I felt the corner of a desk slam into my back, but I barely felt any pain. It was a good thing my body was in a state where I couldn't be sent flying like a log in a game of "Daruma Otoshi."
But the person who kicked me was a different story. I couldn't understand it. Why was he attacking me?
His body was shrouded in a black haze, melting into the darkness. No matter how hard I tried to focus, my vision blurred, and I couldn't make out the details. He wasn't holding anything in his hands. But what he held was the most fearsome weapon imaginable.
"Berserker...!"
Why was Kariya's Servant, who was supposed to be on our side, attacking me?
"Kariya, what's the meaning of this! Who's been talking to you?!"
There was no answer. The black-armored Servant just stood there, looking at me.
The distance to Berserker was about 15 meters. For a Servant, that was no distance at all. I didn't know when or how he would attack.
'Zzzzz... Zzzzz...'
The only thing I heard from Rider's channel on the comms was static. In the worst possible timing, it seemed Rider had entered the Ionian Hetairoi alone. What a perfect moment for an attack.
But the Stand transfer seemed to have been successful. Kiritsugu should be starting his search for the user now.
"Hmph, you're finally alone, aren't you? Irregular Servant."
"Zouken Matou... you're alive."
From all over the room, disgusting sounds announced the presence of crawling insects. They gathered near Berserker and then vanished into the desks and corners of the room.
A wrinkled old man stood in their place.
I see, this is different. It's completely unlike Kariya. Even though they're both from the Matou family, the difference between them is astounding.
"Sakura-chan told me about you. That you're the worst kind of bastard. How could you do such horrible things to a little girl?"
"It couldn't be helped, you see. To adapt to the Matou's magecraft... while there may be other ways, isn't it better to take the most expedient one?"
"But all that effort will be for nothing. This Holy Grail War is ending right here."
"Kahaha, you talk a big game, boy."
Zouken's body began to crumble.
"Berserker, crush him."
"■■■■■■■■■■■■■—!!"
With that merciless command, the black mad dog lunged at me. The word "lunge" might not be accurate anymore. He was trying to tear me to shreds, to sink his fangs into me.
He still wasn't holding a weapon, but I was sure this Berserker could easily do a number on me, like gouging out my throat with a finger.
Of course, I wasn't going to let that happen.
Even a Servant with modern knowledge wouldn't expect this. My vision narrowed, and everything around me seemed to slow down. I pulled the trigger on the shotgun pressed against my stomach. My vision and senses were slow. The recoil traveled up my arm with the muzzle flash. At almost the exact same moment, Berserker's arm, which was only a few centimeters from my throat, began moving in the opposite direction.
My sense of time returned to normal.
The tables had turned. Berserker had been blown back by a point-blank shotgun blast, knocking over desks and slamming into the wall.
---------
An anthropomorphic weapon called an "Arm Slave" that appears in Full Metal Panic. In the original series, it is piloted from the inside, but in this story, it appears as a powered suit worn directly. It is, of course, equipped with the "Lambda Driver," and all the weapons used in the original series can be used. However, it requires practice to use them well.
The vivid white body of the Arbalest made me forget that it was a weapon. But the barrel of the ominous shotgun it held—the OTO Melara 'Boxer' 57mm Shotgun—still smelled of gunpowder.
"Tch!!"
Sensing he was getting up, I pulled the trigger again before he could.
I just kept firing bullets. The lead pellets pierced the steel desks more easily than a finger pokes a hole in a shoji screen.
Thinking about how much trouble the office workers here would have tomorrow brought tears to my eyes, but I irresponsibly concluded that they probably wouldn't have to work anyway after an incident like this.
Now, among the scattered debris, one desk remained, scraped but not destroyed. Berserker had used Knight of Honor to turn it into a makeshift shield.
I wasn't going to lose either. Using Kinji's gunmanship, I super-reloaded, changing the rounds to OO-HESH.
Impact. The warhead flattened and exploded. The OO-HESH was a high-explosive squash head round. In this world, it would be a type of Butei bullet.
"Good."
I fired three more rounds just to be safe and flew outside the building. If I kept fighting in there, the whole building would probably collapse. That floor was unusable now anyway.
I was clinging to the wall of the building across the street when I heard voices from above.
"Irregular, are you alright!?"
"Onii-san!"
"Hey, Sho!"
For some reason, everyone had come closer.
"Wha... why are you here?"
"There was an explosion. We came to check it out and saw you flying out."
Oh, right. If there was an explosion at a time like this, it made sense that they would come to investigate.
"Wait, Saber, stop! Get away from here! It's Berserker!"
"Berserker? Why? I thought you said he was on our side... No, that doesn't matter. It seems that Berserker has a strong attachment to me, but my physical condition is perfect. I cannot allow you to be on the front lines alone. I will handle this."
Intuition, do your job! My usually reliable Intuition! Being serious is a good thing, but...
At this point, I didn't care. I didn't care if they looked at me weirdly.
"Saber! I care about you. I don't want you to get hurt in many ways! So please, listen to me—"
"What are you suddenly—"
But it was too late.
"Aaaaaa—urrrrrr!!"
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