All this time I waited in corridor, not risking room entry—and soon as Berserker vanished through other door "chasing" Shinji, realization hit—this the chance. Few quick steps to Illya, draw knife and reach for her head—but freeze. No—not right—swap to Trusted axe, swing—and mid-strike before axe hits neck, use fastest low-cost boost ejecting from Intangibility but keeping Invisibility.
But Illya still flinches—distant Shinji pain scream, Illya's head severs from body and... Berserker's sword pierces my chest. Picture blurs, sharp back pain hits, then just sword and clone link drops.
"Khaa... hurts." Booted to main body.
Some reaction. Even invisible she spotted me, and Berserker good too—as thought, killing her any other way much harder. Catch breath, enter new clone, summon to tree clone at school.
First thing—Berserker roar and building collapse sounds—didn't go quiet, though expected. No point rushing now, but Illya's body... on one hand dig after—but it'll be mangled. Especially when Shed collapses.
Rush now... weighed pros/cons—risk it. Couple leaps to Shed—still intact, just Berserker roars/noise betray activity. Phase through wall to room—well, could've been worse.
Berserker is still just pounding the wall where the corpse of my clone was, and fortunately Illya's head isn't far from her body. I quietly sneak up to the body, bring my hands close, and at the last moment exit Intangibility to touch it before immediately going into summoning, but even so I managed to notice a Shpala flying through my vanishing silhouette.
What kind of instincts does he have?! I didn't make a single sound! And the transfer is almost instantaneous and silent! Sort of. Yeah, definitely silent! I wasn't in reality for even a blink! Well, okay, I got ahead of myself—a blink there was, but I never exited Invisibility!
Grumbling a bit more about how things had suddenly gotten complicated, I picked up Illya's body and placed it in the pre-prepared Coffin, then did the same with her head. As I raised my hand for the "cold flow," I froze and calculated that casting it would take a minute and holding it for about 5 minutes would be wasteful time-wise.
I switched to the Mage clone and summoned to the Coffin in him, then cast it in 10 seconds and held it for a minute. Yeah, that's the difference between a strong Mage and me. A single-chant spell cast and such differences in time and effect.
Since I'm in this body anyway, I updated the Mirage while I was at it—then returned the Mage clone to the main body, while I switched to a regular clone and went to check on Berserker.
To my own surprise, he still hadn't destroyed the building and, surprisingly, had gone quiet. Sensing that this deviated from my own expectations, I went on recon. Sneaking into that room in Intangibility again, I found Berserker calmly standing in the center of the room. Yeah, slightly wrecked, but not to the point of no roof or walls.
And so I'm looking at him—one minute, two, ten. And nothing. Absolutely nothing happens, and it makes me tense up—I wasn't expecting this behavior. I squat by the wall and continue observing.
*Half an hour later.*
He's still just standing there motionless. And that's weird. I decide to try killing him after all—maybe he's just a mindless doll now. But as soon as I approach from behind with the Axe and exit Intangibility, the link to the clone cuts out and I'm kicked back to my body.
What the hell?! I possess a new clone, summon to the school, and head back into that damned room. And it's like a painting—Berserker stands there as if nothing happened, in the exact same spot, same pose. I look at the brute anew, and it seems like something in his gaze has changed. And I don't like that gaze of his—too aware.
*An hour later.*
I'm still sitting here watching him, he's still standing staring at one spot. And I see no signs of weakening.
*Another half hour later.*
His time in this world should be up soon—without Master support, any minute now. I'm starting to get more nervous; I won't even be able to just appear in reality calmly—I've already confirmed that. Our weight classes are too different! And I want at least a piece of that power!
So I patiently wait until he starts fading—a few minutes pass, and his body seems to become… I don't even know how to put it—more transparent? Probably the closest analogy? Driven by my own greed, I decide on one more attempt, but this time with the Pistol—aiming for the head. No talk of getting close to that giant yet.
I pull out the Pistol and aim at his head; the first shot kicks me out of Intangibility, and the next instant I'm back in the main body. Fuck, how?! Driven by the realization that only minutes—or seconds—remain, the new clone jumps to the school and bursts into the room; another Pistol attempt and another failure.
This happens four more times, and then another clone bursts into the room—Berserker already looks like a Ghost and is almost fully disintegrated; part of the body gone along with one arm and leg. I yank out the Pistol and shoot him; the next instant, I see a Sofa flying at me!
Another awakening in the main body. "Aaaaa…"
On autopilot, a new clone jumps to the school, runs into the room, and finds no one there. "Fuuuuck!"
Fucking monster! Sure, I saw that beast break the sound barrier in the church recently, but still! They managed to wound him then! I definitely saw his chest torn open!
Calming down a bit, I conclude that I'm apparently too weak. For now. Well, for a guy practicing Magic for just under a month, my results aren't bad, probably. Plus young age, but honestly, that's all just excuses. I feel like I need to focus more on body enhancement Magic and look for something to improve reaction time.
Also find a teacher for spear handling—worth mastering the artifact, at least as a regular weapon. Thought a bit and added knife and Axe handling teachers to the list? Axe handling? Spear is exotic enough to find a teacher for. And maybe sword too—I'm still eyeing Excalibur. But even if I miss out on it, getting a sword in general is a good idea.
Habitually planning, which let me calm down and accept the loss somewhat—I didn't really believe I'd succeed against Berserker anyway, but hope is such a bitch, always giving hope. Heh, anyway, time to check on Sakura's younger brother—awkward if he survived; yeah, I only remembered him now.
Didn't take long to find his corpse, and things went without surprises—he's dead. Stood there thinking a bit and decided to burn him; stood straining for a minute and finally produced a fire flow. The burning campfire always calmed me, and as a kid I was a total fire Maniac. Especially loved burning other kids' huts… they didn't invite me to build them back then. Yeah.
Stood contemplating the fire for a couple minutes until the body burned down to bones and the building itself started burning; snapped out of it and decided the fire in the building was even for the best—it'd cover the tracks.
Speaking of tracks, I remembered the girl from the very beginning—heading back, I quickly found what was left of her: bloody mince hammered into the wall. Apparently when she woke up, Berserker reacted on reflex—spent a minute burning her remains too. Thought a bit and decided to burn the spot where Illya's blood was left too—just in case.
Leaving the already burning building, I started checking where the "dream team" was; Rin's house was empty—so I transferred to the clone at Shirou's house. Already passing through the wall of his house, I heard a strange conversation.
Japanese MC trope. "…convince Rin, and together we'll stop Illya!"
And that snippet I overheard didn't sit right. Heading toward the voice, I stepped into the living room, and what I saw made me freeze—if Shirou and Sakura still fit my worldview somehow, Rider's presence here did not.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan