Fate/Zero:Act 10 Part 4
84:23:46
Although Archer was moderately enjoying this new game for a while, after the exchange of infinite Holy Phantasms and missiles repeated for 3 or 4 times, he grew bored of the aerial fight soon enough.
At the end of the repetitive dogfight, Archer’s Vimana was at a position of pursuing Berserker’s F15. If he shortened their distance a bit more, he would arrive at a position for his ultimate attack. Aware of that, Berserker tried to pull their distance and spur on the fuselage with full throttle, and finally executed the move of vertical drop, utilizing the acceleration due to his descent.
“Stop your useless struggle……”
Despite chuckling, Archer accelerated his Vimana, and was again hot in Berserker’s tail effortlessly. In the twinkling of an eye, the two shot through the clouds, falling downwards to the land of the sparsely lit Fuyuki city.
“Might as well as just plunge you headlong into dirt. How does that sound, mongrel?”
Archer spread open his preparatory Noble Phantasm which was shot out previously, into a torus-like shape, restraining Berserker from every direction and sealing off his path of retreat. Because of that, the only route Berserker could take was directly down towards Mion River –the track to a direct collision with the sea monster Caster, which was creeping towards the river bank.
As if trying to soften the impact of the inevitable collision, even a little, the F15 opened up all its flaps. Clawing at the atmosphere, it tried for maximum deceleration.
It was at that instant that that huge lump of meat disappeared.
At a point-blank distance, Rider shouted loudly and activated his “Ionian Hetairoi”. Archer and Berserker knew not the reason for the reality that Rider and his subordinate Servants were sucked into the expanded Reality Marble, which contained the gigantic sea monster. Nevertheless, not wanting to be stained by another drop of mud from the boasted Noble Phantasm, Archer foresaw the timing of the collision, and canceled the materialization of his Noble Phantasm. Without the slightest sign of wanting to miss out that break, with force coercive enough to cause the fuselage to creak, the “monsterified” F15 turned its nose upwards just before plunging into the river, and escaped its crashing in a similarly perpendicular path.
Whilst causing water curtains to rise up on its left and right due to the shockwave, the black F15 was on the verge of gliding on the water surface, and then it passed by the Servants who were observing the developments at the river bank. At that moment, the shining figure of the knight covered in silver and azure armor, was clearly burned into the mad dark knight’s eyes.
“……”
Within the interior of the black helmet, the pair of eyes brimming with stagnant hatred, flared up fiercely like a crimson blaze.
Based on Tokiomi Tōsaka’s standard, that is too crude to be called magi’s deathmatch –it was just a comical farce.
Tokiomi was just disinterestedly maintaining his defensive measures, and he had not executed any move which could be called as an attack.. Nevertheless, Matō Kariya with whom he was fighting, was already at the verge of death.
It was a complete self-destruction. For Kariya, the usage of magecraft is an act of self-inflicting lethal injuries. He himself was probably aware of that, but without hesitating, Kariya still foolishly continued using magecraft which surpassed his limits. As a result, he had no choice but to pay for its consequences.
He was at a dire state. The blood capillaries all over his body reached a stage of perpetual ruptures, and even right now, they were splashing blood out continuously. He could not stand straight, and his staggering figure was like someone drowning clumsily in a bloody mist. Due to the intense agony, from the face which was skinned to his eyes being white, one could not tell if there was still any sense left in him or not.
“You were raging so passionately just now……and when the lid is opened, you’re like this?”
The saddest thing above all else was that, despite shaving off his life and utilizing his prana, Kariya’s attacks could not scathe even a hair on Tokiomi.
The summer insects which flew into the fire –they were just like the maxim of a stage show. The group of beetles which assailed him incessantly, rushed into Tokiomi’s flames just like that. With not even one breaking through the flames, all of them were scorched to ashes. To begin with, the act of challenging flames head-on with insects, is a guaranteed foolish move. And yet, Kariya did not slow down his assault. While shaving off himself and his body, he fruitlessly spurred on the insects, turning them into cinders.
This was already not laughable. At this utterly powerless enemy, Tokiomi had surpassed disdain, and felt pitiful at him. Soon, the flames burned all of Kariya’s insects At the same time, Kariya probably could no longer withstand the agony and die. Tokiomi merely had to focus on maintaining his magecraft while looking at him calmly. With that impregnable fortress, the fight would end.
However, for Tokiomi who follows noble principles of magecraft, this disgraceful behavior of a corrupted magus who had stepped out of the path –moreover Kariya’s displaying it- was too unpleasant for him.
“Intensive Einascherung.” [Furigana translation: “My enemy’s incineration shall be severe!”]
Responding to just these two-versed spell, the defensive flames curled up like a snake, and stretched forth towards Kariya. Kariya did not even defend. To begin with, whether or not this instant magus [Translator’s note: “Instant” as in “instant noodle”] knows defensive incantations or not, one would wonder about that.
“KI-……I’LL KILL YOU……TOKIOMI……ZŌ-KE-N……”
Despite being burned alive, without even screaming, Kariya merely repeated his endless murmur of curses. His body which had been eaten up by the worms from the inside out, probably did not even have the sense of pain towards heat left inside.
Just as he was writhing in agony at the flames enveloping his body, he broke through the fence, stepped over the edge of the rooftop, and thus dropped down into the depths of the darkness of the ground beneath.
Finally, after cleanly sweeping off all the remaining bugs at that area with his flames, Tokiomi lifted his magecraft, and sighed while tidying up his collar.
The body –does not have to be checked. Even if there was still breath within him, he would not last long. After this, he only had to wait for the natural annihilation of Berserker who had lost his contractor.
At first, Tokiomi’s expectation was that the Matōs would just quit and let pass the Holy Grail War this time. As for why Kariya, this disinherited outcast was suddenly trained to be sent in as a Master, he could not understand the intention at all. In the end, Tokiomi did not know what Kariya had wanted that had caused him to hasten to join in this war.
Completely forgetting the victory which was without any sense of achievement, and just the bitter aftertaste; without sparing any further worry over it, Tokiomi turned around towards the river, and started examining the details of the battles surrounding Caster.
Thanks to Rider’s clever scheme, the gigantic sea monster disappeared without a trace from the river surface. –But, although its figure could not be seen, the Masters and Servants gathered there could clearly perceive the presence of the monster raging within the out-of-phase boundary field.
“……What should we do?”
Not being able to withstand the weight of the silence enveloping that place, Waver opened his mouth.
“Even if he'd told us that he’s buying time, if we don’t think of anything meanwhile, we’d end up where we’ve started. Hey Einsbern, don’t you have any idea?!?”
“You say that, but……”
Beep beep… From Irisviel’s chest, an out-of-place, frivolous electronic sound started ringing. Irisviel herself was taken aback, and she hastily took out the source of that sound.
Her mobile phone. It was something she received from Kiritsugu in case of emergency. Obviously, there was no need to guess who the caller was. Nevertheless, because an arrangement that they would use this to converse was generally impossible, and together with the urgency of this situation, Irisviel temporarily could not recall the how to use it, which she was supposed to have remembered.
“Ummm, errr…How to use this?”
She unintentionally asked Waver who was standing next to her. Irritated at the interruption to their conversation, Waver snatched from Irisviel’s hand the mobile phone which was ringing away noisily, pressed the receive button and pressed it to his ear. Although he was a magus, Waver who was from a family which did not really adhere to the formalities, had some knowledge on the operation of machines, like that known to an ordinary person.
“―Is that Iri?”
A deep male voice came from the other side of the phone call, sent Waver into confusion. He had wanted to return it to the owner after pressing the receive button, but had taken the call instead.
“Err, no. I’m not……”
“? ―I see, you’re Rider’s Master huh. Just nice. I have things to talk to you.”
“Wh-who are you!??”
“That will do. It’s because of your Servant that Caster had disappeared right?”
“……Yeah, but…”
“I have a question. For Rider’s Reality Marble, when he cancels it, can he drop the contents at a place he choose?”
Although it was a question of whose purpose could not be seen, under the current situation of racing against time, there wasn’t even time to ask back the person’s motive. Waver pondered upon the fundamental laws governing Reality Marbles which he learned at the Clock Tower, and combined it with the properties of Ionion Hetairoi he witnessed only once, finally giving a prudent answer.
“There is supposed to be a range, but only to a certain extent –at most 100 meters, I think. That’s because the prerogative for their reappearance outside lies at Rider.”
“That will do. After this I will choose a time and send up signal flares. Release Caster directly under it! Can you do it?”
“……”
The problem now was the communication with Rider inside the boundary field, but come to think of it, Rider had said he would send a messenger afterwards. Rider would probably still be conscious of the link between the inside and outside of the boundary field.
“Can―I think. Maybe.”
Even so, who is the one at the other side of the phone? He is likely to be someone from Einsbern’s side, but from the way he talked, Waver had no choice but to conclude that he is watching them from somewhere near.
“One more point. Tell Lancer that Saber’s left hand has an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm.”
“Haa?”
Increasingly confused, Waver asked him back, but the conversation was quickly cut after that, leaving only static noise behind.
“―What’s wrong?”
Feeling the meaningful gaze from Waver, Lancer asked him that suspiciously.
“That, umm……There’s a message for you. ‘Saber’s left hand is Anti-Fortress,’ or something like that……”
Lancer’s and Saber’s expression simultaneously changed completely to astonishment and awkwardness respectively.
“Is that true, Saber?”
“……”
She wanted to avoid bringing up this topic here, but there’s no use hiding it now. Dropping her face, Saber nodded silently.
“That thing…it can bring down Caster’s monster in one blow?”
“It should be okay, but…”
After nodding again, staring straight at the lance-wielding heroic spirit with unwavering eyes, Saber continued.
“Lancer, the weight of my sword is the weight of my pride. My injury from the fight with you is an honor, not a binding chain.
It is just as what you said in the forest. If I can get the backup from Diarmuid ua Duibhne as a substitute for my left hand, that alone is worth tens of thousands of army.”
Although she had made Lancer feel guilty, no good will come out of it. As a fellow believer of the chivalry, in the end, Saber wanted Lancer to welcome the conclusion without any unnecessary binds.
Silent as if he was looking through at the figures of Rider’s army and the sea monster at the other side which was separated from this dimension, Lancer squinted his eyes, staring at the river surface.
“―Hey Saber, I cannot forgive that Caster.”
His reply escaped from him word-by-word in a peaceful tone. On the contrary, the beautiful tear-mole eyes shone with determination.
“That guy treats people’s despair as righteousness, and rejoices at the propagation of fear. Because of my oath as a knight, that is an “Evil” which I cannot overlook.”
Thrusting the red lance in his right hand into the ground and releasing it, Lancer tightly gripped the remaining yellow lance at the center with both his hands. At that moment, realizing what that prideful lance-wielding warrior was trying to do, Saber stared in wonder and shouted.
“Lancer, no!”
“Now, the one who must win –is it Saber? Or is it Lancer? Neither. The one thing which must win here, is the “chivalry” we follow –isn’t that so, heroic spirit Arturia?”
After boasting and smiling nonchalantly, with the lance which is part of his personal double-lance Noble Phantasm in his hands, Lancer broke it into half without the slightest hesitation.
An enormous prana which contained Gáe Buidhe caused a whirlwind and gushed out, and then scattered before their eyes into nothingness. If you think about it as one of the Noble Phantasms in which legend was embodied, its disappearing figure was too swift.
The mystery of a Servant who destroys his Noble Phantasm, his trump card to absolute victory, with his own hands- who would have thought of that? It wasn’t just Saber alone; Irisviel and Waver were also struck utterly speechless by Lancer’s actions.
“I entrust my dearest wish of victory into the King of knights’ sword. I’ll rely on you now, Saber.”
The feelings which welled up in her heart, enabled Saber to form a stiff, tight fist at her “left hand”. Released from the mortal curse, the arm of the King of Knights which had recovered instantlaneousy, replied to that passionate feeling with an unmistakably clear fist. Shingg The silver gauntlet creaked, shaking with excitement.
“It’s a deal, Lancer......Right now, I swear upon victory by my sword!”
The unveiling Barrier of the Wind King. Blowing up torrents of wind, the golden sword showed its appearance. As if congratulating them on the promised victory, the shining blade illuminated the darkness brilliantly.
“Is that King Arthur’s legendary......”
Finally witnessing the sacred crown-jewelled sword in front of his eyes, Waver whispered that, dumbfounded.
As if seeing the dawning light at the end of the long night, their impatience and anxiety which were lurking in their hearts, were gently swept away by that radiance.
That’s right, this is the knight’s idealistic dream.
The crystallization of everything depicted by the ones scattered at the radiance, who were placed at the bloody battlefield- a hell fully exposed to the fear of death and despair- and yet still clinging onto “human’s most precious thing”.
“We can win....
Trembling all over with joy, Irisviel whispered that ecstatically.
However, as if raising an objection to such hope, a roar of repulsive malediction shook the night sky, spreading all over. ―No, the scream which was unlike a voice, was none other than the explosion of a turbo fan.
Looking up to the sky, Saber saw hatred incarnate. Riding on the iron bird which was tainted with jet black prana, the mad heroic spirit once again bared his teeth at the King of Knights.
“A―urrrrrrrrrrr!!”
Together with Berserker’s bloodcurdling roar, fire spouted out from the six-barreled 20 mm Vulcan autocannons.
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