Chapter Text
A light breeze chilled Suisei as she stood atop a hotel she vaguely remembered was called The Antlers. Compared to everything else in the town it was lavish, but only by a margin. The streets below were a ghost town with only Military and local Police roaming around to keep people off the streets. It didn’t work, people still went out wherever they could. Drug dealers and those addicted met in dark alleys while members of what could be loosely called gangs roved from store to store looting what they could.
“This is all so boring don’t you think Sui-chan?” Her partner Watame said. Suisei closed her eyes and sighed not for the first time, nor the last.
“We are here to find and kill the other Masters, then retrieve the Grail so it may return to Fuyuki.” Suisei repeated their mission. Watame kicked her feet in the air while she sat on the edge of the roof. Pulling at a lock of her golden hair she twirled it in her finger drawing another sigh from Suisei.
“We both heard the plan Archer relayed to us from the Master of Lancer. Why you didn’t have her kill the Masters and their Servants still confounds me.” Suisei said, diverting her attention to Watame. The golden-haired girl smiled up at her and looked back to the city.
“Archer deduced with Saber, Lancer, Caster, and Rider there she would have been unable to kill them all, even with her Noble Phantasm. Especially with Saber there.” Watame answered, not easing Suisei’s concerns.
“Still, not taking the chance to eliminate four Masters then and there was a mistake. We can easily deal with Berserker by ourselves.” Suisei pulled up a pair of binoculars and scanned the myriad streets. A figure in red caused her to halt and increase the magnification.
“I’ve spotted Berserker’s Master. I do not see Berserker with her, might be in spirit form.” Suisei announced. Watame stopped kicking her feet and leaned forward.
“Finish it, Archer.” Was the command. The response came in the form of a crack from a rifle. Suisei watched through her binoculars as Berserker’s Master walked down the sidewalk and elegantly moved out of the way of the bullet. She turned and looked directly at Suisei who staggered back and accidentally lost grip on the binoculars, causing them to fall to the ground far below. More cracks came from Archer’s rifle signaling she was continuing to fire, but miss the target. A massive black beam ripped the section of roof they were on apart, causing Suisei and Watame to jump back. Archer and Assassin caught them and landed them safely on the opposite side of the roof.
“What the hell was that?!” Suisei barked, not expecting a true answer.
“Berserker’s sword.” Archer answered. “It seemingly has the ability to extend its length to reach its opponent.” Suisei looked to Archer incredulously, then back to the black blade that remained lodged in the concrete. It shot back to Berserker with a sound of grinding steel on stone. Archer crept up to the edge and looked out to where Berserker was and grimaced.
“She’s materialized and heading this way.” She reported, shouldering her rifle. “I can’t see her master, she must have gone behind a building.” Archer fired off three more shots before ducking another swipe from Berserker’s ridiculous sword.
“Assassin, find her Master and kill her!” Suisei ordered. A sense of an acknowledgement from Assassin was all she knew to hear that she was doing as told. “Archer, distract Berserker!” Suisei then ordered. Archer looked to Watame and when she nodded Archer jumped off the building.
“Are you sure we don’t need to call upon the other Masters to deal with Berserker?” Watame asked. Suisei placed her thumbnail in her mouth and nervously chewed on it.
Archer jumped from rooftop to rooftop dodging swings from Berserker’s blade. Corners and lips of building roofs were sliced off, sending concrete down to the ground below. Berserker was persistent, Archer would give her that. Jumping up she took aim with her rifle and fired four shots which Berserker deflected with her sword. She thrust the blade forward, extending it to nearly slice Archer’s face open. Landing on a rooftop, Archer slid along the gravel floor and rolled when the blade came down on her. Jumping down to the ground Archer ran into an alley and looked around for any bystanders. There was nothing but something in the alley across from hers shifted and she aimed her rifle up. Rider waltzed out and placed a hand on her hip, the other on her sword.
“An archer skulking in the shadows.” She said as Archer lowered her rifle.
“I don’t normally do this, but I’m currently waiting to ambush Berserker.” Archer said as she crept even further back into the shadows, hopefully concealing her presence. She was no Assassin however so any true attempt would be paltry at best. Rider rolled her eyes and walked out into the middle of the street.
“That damned Berserker, we could hear your fight from across the city. My Master is working with the other Masters as we speak to swoop in and deal with that little problem.” Rider said nonchalantly as she looked at one of her gloved hands and cleaned some dirt off the armor.
“We don’t need your help, we can deal with Berserker by ourselves.” Archer hissed back, though she knew she said the wrong thing when Rider smiled.
“Ah, ‘we’, my Master and no doubt the others had theorized you and Assassin were working together, but now it is all but confirmed.” Rider held the smile of a cat who had caught the canary. Archer growled at Rider who only widened her smile.
“No matter, for the time being we are all on one big team while we deal with the situation, as it were.” Rider said, turning to look down the street. “And look who we have here.” A familiar black blade raced past Rider who side stepped the lunge while drawing her sword to parry the strike upwards. Rider shot forward and Archer ran to the edge of the alley to see the fight.
Berserker brought her sword back into a normal size and crossed blades with Rider. The two stayed like that, metal locked with metal, until Rider shifted her handguard up to strike Berserker in the face. Berserker stumbled back, ignoring the broken tooth and blood pouring from the wound. A mischievous smile spread across Berserker’s face as she shortened her sword into a dagger and lunged into Rider’s guard. Archer brought up her rifle and fired two shots. Berserker’s eyes widened as she bent backward and fell, sliding under Rider from the momentum. Placing a hand on the ground she pushed herself back up and lunged forward, extending the blade to strike at Archer.
Archer ducked and rolled along the ground into the street. Berserker’s smile grew feral and she swung the sword over to decapitate Archer. There was a ringing of metal on metal as Rider blocked Berserker’s sword. Getting up, Archer moved to the opposite side of Rider and fired four shots into Berserker. The blade retracted and Berserker sliced the first bullet in half, but missed the others. Two jets of blood sprang from Berserker, one from her chest, and the other from her leg. Her smile turned to a frown as she touched a hand to the blood. Berserker looked back up at Archer and glared murder into her. Archer was about to depress the trigger when Berserker disappeared in a flash of light.
“Assassin!” Archer shouted as she ran off, Rider following right behind.
Assassin slammed her scythe down into the rock as Berserker’s Master jumped out of the way of her strike. A flurry of magic spells flew towards her and Assassin used her scythe as a spring board to launch herself out of their path. She had already used her Noble Phantasm once on the woman and now knew the intimate details of her death and when it would be. She only needed to touch her a second time and would steal the Mage’s soul. Assassin lunged down, hand extended to touch the woman’s outstretched hand.
“Berserker, defend me!” She called out and a sigil on her right hand glowed red. There was a brief flash of yellow light and then a blade was meer inches from her face. Bringing her scythe up to block the blow, Assassin was launched back and slammed into a large garbage bin. The thin metal warped and fetid bags of trash spilled out onto her. Pushing herself out, Assassin used her scythe to steady herself. Looking back to where Berserker’s Master stood, Assassin cursed as said Servant’s blade moved to slice her in two. Assassin brought her scythe up to catch the blade and swung it around to bring it into the ground. Rocketing forward she made to bisect Berserker in two, but the dizziness from her impact caused her to miss Berserker ducking under the blade to then kick Assassin in the back. Assassin flew out of the alley Berserker’s Master hid and into the side of a police vehicle. There was a sound of people inside yelping in surprise, and then sirens being flicked on.
Assassin stood almost drunkenly and stared at a man who aimed a pistol at her. Activating her Noble Phantasm she touched the man's hand, instantly seeing the time and manner of his death. A drunk driving accident as he returned home from a bar. Not expecting the move or perhaps shocked at the situation the officer didn’t move or shoot. Assassin moved in close and moved her hand from his hand to his face. Her eyes flashed with the activation of her Noble Phantasm and he collapsed, gripping his chest as his heart stopped. A flow of mana entered Assassin and the dizziness from the impacts earlier disappeared.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO LADY!” The officer’s partner shouted from the other side of the car. Assassin looked at him and smiled.
“HANDS WHERE I CAN FUCKING SEE THEM!” He ordered. Assassin tossed her scythe into the air before jumping up and onto the hood of the car. Kneeling down to caressed the man's face with one hand and then the other, killing him near instantaneously. More mana flowed into her and she reached up to grab her scythe as it came back down. Berserker launched herself out of the alleyway to carve into Assassin. A sound in the air caused Assassin to look for the source and found a missile of all things racing up to slam into Berserker. The explosion whipped Assassin’s hair and clothing back and sent asphalt and rock everywhere. Assassin brought a hand up to guard her face and when she looked back only a smoking crater remained of where Berserker once stood. Looking around, Assassin could see a group of men at the far end of the street running back into cover behind an armored vehicle. One of them carried a large, bulky tube that angled upwards. There was a small laugh that picked up in speed and volume until it was fully maniacal. Assassin turned to see Berserker perched atop a street light, laughing. Though whether it was at her, or the soldiers she couldn’t tell.
Assassin launched herself towards Berserker, scythe poised to slice the manic servant in two. Berserker didn’t pay attention, instead she jumped off the light pole towards the soldiers who had attacked her. Thrusting her sword forward she sliced a Humvee in half as well as some of the soldiers taking cover. The remaining soldiers opened fire with their rifles, causing Berserker to have to dodge and weave their shots. Assassin ducked behind a building as they seemed intent on killing her as well.
Poking her head out she found Berserker dancing like she was in her own little ballet. One which included a shape changing sword that could cut through anything it seemingly touched. The sounds of metal rending followed by people screaming began droning out the sound of gunfire till the gun fire stopped, and only the lingering moans of the dead and dying echoed through the street. Berserker was in an elegant pose on top of the wreckage of some eight wheeled vehicle. Berserker jumped before a sword impacted the spot where she had stood. Four more flew in to strike her, but she danced herself out of the path of each of them. Assassin followed the path of the swords and found a woman in black and red with gold hair dancing in the wind as she stood atop a nearby building; Caster.
In her hand she held a small hammer and the other a metal pipe. She struck the pipe with her hammer and it flashed before melting into the form of a long sword. Arching her arm back she threw it, sending the sword shooting like an arrow for Berserker. Instead of dodging she deflected the sword as if she was swatting a fly. Caster summoned three more pipes and turned them into more swords to throw at her opponent. Soon she was going at a speed to keep Berserker having to defend herself or be sliced to ribbons.
Assassin took the opportunity to sneak around behind Berserker. Slinking through the shadows she could hear the staccato beat of Berserker deflecting Caster’s swords. Seeing Berserker’s back to her, Assassin once again took a position to strike Berserker down. Assassin burst out of the alley way and watched almost as if in slow motion as she neared the white and black clad monster. Only for Assassin to catch a quick glimpse of a smile before Berserker turned, allowing a sword to imbed itself into Assassin’s side. She was thrown into a Humvee that had been pried open like a tin can.
The sword burned and seemed to sear her wound. Looking down at it she slowly attempted to pull the sword out but a sense of familiarity dawned on her. It was a holy sword, not one she recognized, but she knew one when she saw it. Taking hold of the handle, Assassin pulled the sword out in one quick motion, taking care to stifle the pained cry that threatened to escape. A shadow loomed over her form and Assassin looked up into the deep blue eyes of Saber.
“Well, it seems like shadows can bleed.” She said before turning to look at Berserker who was trying to strike back at Caster, but couldn’t keep up with her rate of producing holy swords.
“A Noble Phantasm that allows its users to instantly create holy swords.” Saber mused aloud as she picked up one of Caster’s deflected swords. She dropped it back onto the ground and summoned an unusual blade with a gold handle that flowed into a needle like silver blade. Saber was almost insulting in how casually she walked up to Berserker, any swords that threatened to hit her disintegrating before they reached her. Berserker attempted the same trick on Saber as she had with Assassin, but jumped away when Saber lunged forward and brought her sword down onto the armored vehicle she had stood on.
Caster stopped throwing her swords and jumped down to the street below. She walked over to where Saber stood and kicked a soldier’s rifle up before hitting it with her hammer. In an instant it was transformed into a halberd. Caster looked Saber in the eyes and nodded. Saber didn’t return the gesture, but turned so they stood side-by-side before Berserker. The Servant was panting and looked physically tired. Faced with two other Servants like Caster and Saber, Berserker even in her mental state, blinded by rage as she was, could understand she could not win that fight. She smiled before bowing and returning to Spirit Form. Caster let go of the halberd and it transformed back into a rifle before hitting the ground. The other swords littering the street turned back into metal pipes, and Assassin could feel the wound in her side begin to heal, the effects of the sword no longer existing.
“Thanks for helping.” Assassin said sarcastically as she stood, glaring at Caster. The blond Servant stared back, a seemingly bored expression on her face. Saber returned her sword from wherever it came from and crossed her arms.
“Berserker and her Master have fled, this little plan of Lancer’s Master was a fool's errand. I knew we should never have trusted the word of someone who held control of the Grail already.” Saber bemoaned. Her eyes scanned the skyline, looking for something. Assassin followed her gaze but couldn’t find anything. All she could hear was the buzzing of distant aircraft engines.
High above the city a large aircraft began to turn in a large, lazy circle. Its crew looked down at the target below through infrared cameras. Three people stood in the middle of carnage a fourth person had caused, but somehow they had vanished. They would write it off as being something weird, and leave it out of the report. As well as the person who had jumped from the roof of a building to land on the ground, and still walk afterwards.
“Confirm three targets in the engagement zone.” The officer in charge of the specialist team spoke into his radio. A reply came back swiftly and he looked to the gunners at their station. “Comence firing!” The plane shook as its side facing 105mm howitzer fired. Men quickly reloaded the cannon with practiced ease. There was a slow, methodical bang bang bang as the 30mm autocannon joined the chorus.
Saber jumped out of the way before an explosion tore up the road in front of her. Caster did the same, but Assassin was too slow due to her injury. She was thrown through the air and smashed through a window. More explosions rocked the building she was in as they tore up the street outside and parts of the building. She couldn’t take any more and turned back into Spirit Form to return to her master.
“I have failed my master.” She said as she kneeled upon rematerializing. Her master was glaring, not at her, but up at the sky where the brief flashes of cannon fire could be seen.
“That bitch! So much for that truce and plan she wanted to enact!” Her master hissed. Assassin didn’t have the care to correct the woman that she never agreed to such a deal. Not for the first time Assassin believed her master to be a loathsome creature, with no beauty in her soul, only hatred for everything around her. Looking back over the roof Assassin could see as Saber and Caster dodged incoming cannon rounds. Caster even at one point turned a street sign into a spear and threw it into the air. No resulting explosion told Assassin that Caster had missed. Her face remained impassive the entire time, perhaps some form of stoicism or perhaps psychopathic in the clinical sense.
Saber looked more annoyed that someone dared to shoot at her. She eventually stood her ground and summoned her long blade again. One of the cannon rounds was sent flying into a store front instead, sending a jet of rubble and black smoke out its windows. She held up her sword in the direction of the circling aircraft and a halo appeared behind her head. At its center sat a disk with three arms sticking out from it. The thinnest one moved around lazily. There was a sound of air being sucked in and Assassin looked to her Master. An emotion she had never truly seen in the woman now encompassed her entire being. Fear.
“Do you know that servant?” Assassin asked. Suisei never took her eyes off Saber as she nodded her head.
“That. That is Ouro Kronii, the legendary Warden of Time. Said to be the one entrusted by the gods to enforce the flow of time and causality. She is by far the most powerful servant theorized to exist! How is it possible that she was summoned for this Grail War!” Suisei’s fear was mixed with anger, likely at not having been the one to summon Saber.
“Lets go Watame, we are leaving. Neither of us stand a chance against Saber.” Suisei said, forcing her shaking legs to turn herself around.
Saber smirked as she felt the watchful eyes of Assassin and Archer’s Masters leave her back. The stupid aircraft that had been part of Lancer’s Master’s plan was firing on her, after having arrived late to the fight with Berserker. Though now that she thought about it, perhaps this had been that woman’s plan all along. Gather the other Servants in one spot and kill them with their neat little contraption.
If they thought this would stop her then Saber was insulted. No weapon made by man could harm her, and nothing could be faster than her. Looking up at the aircraft she tapped into her Chrono Gear. The ancient device she had forged hummed with magical energy and the dial hands began to spin faster. A golden energy encompassed Saber’s body before she squatted down and kicked up, propelling her into the sky where she floated. Caster, the poor girl, had been left on the ground below, having to fend for herself against the bombardment. Saber watched as the aircraft circled around, taking what path it was taking.
Saber floated forward and placed herself in front of the aircraft’s path. One of the pilots saw her and pointed to her through the glass, causing the other pilot to look up and jerk his controls. The aircraft banked in the opposite direction in an attempt to not hit Saber. However Saber wanted them to come to her and they noticed her too late. Holding her longer blade in a axe throwing position she threw it at the plane's wing. The blade spun in the air as she threw it, creating a silver and gold blur heading for where the wing met the body of the aircraft. Sparks and flames leapt from the clean cut in the wing as the sword effortlessly cleaved through the metal.
Once it had passed through Saber returned it to where she had taken it from. The wing flipped up and over, slamming into the tail. Missing a wing and now its rudder, the plane began to spiral out of control. Saber watched as it fell nose first into a large cemetery below, sending up an enormous column of fire and smoke.
“Was that you Saber!?” Her master all but screamed in her mind.
“They shot at me, I believe it was that weasel of a Master’s attempt to kill off the other Servants.” Saber answered. She heard a grumble that morphed into a whining sound as her Master no doubt paced the room of their apartment.
“If anything, we should kill Lancer’s Master first. She has too much power at her disposal that could seriously harm you Master. She is also disgracing the sanctity of the Grail War by blatantly using military units to attack other Servants.” Saber argued as she turned to look at the glowing lights of the parking lot in front of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.
“I could even do it right now, her and her Servant are no match to me.” Saber suggested, not letting her Master get a word in.
“No! We won’t do that.” Saber made to interject how foolish it was when Mumei continued on with her sentence.
“If we did that, the military would still be a threat, and everyone else would think we intend to keep everyone else from getting the grail, like Lancer is doing now.” Mumei retorted back. Saber paused to think on the problem and reluctantly found she could see the logic in the statement. The fools who now participate in the War would see them storming the mountain bunker as a power play to seize the Grail for themselves, permanently. They would all single her out under a unified front, one likely helmed by the government wishing to keep the Grail for themselves.
“You have deceptively good logic my Master. Very well then, we shall retire for the night.” Saber said before disappearing in a cloud of blue motes.