Bab 202: Chapter 197: Act 2 Part 3

"Those Command Seals are things I really don't like. My Master forced me to tell you my story using one of those."

He said, stepping back and acquiring his combat stance. At the same time, Kiritsugu, staggering, stood up and looked at Saber's face. It could be seen that she really hated Assassin.

"But well, it's something that couldn't be helped. Anyway, how's it going, Saber, how's your arm? I must assume you're still in no condition to fight?"

Saber answered him.

"Even if they cut off my arms and legs. Even if all that's left of me is my head, I won't let someone like you fulfill their evil wishes."

He smiled relaxedly.

"Hmm... I think my goals are pretty normal if I think about it carefully. But what could a girl like you know about what others think? Am I wrong, Arthur-san?"

She lowered her gaze and clenched the hilt of the sword tightly.

"Again... I... I am not a child..."

Toru's relaxed smile changed to his usual expressionless face.

"Then what are you, Saber? A child who became the king of an entire nation? It's more than clear that children shouldn't take such a great responsibility on their shoulders."

Although Toru's words were right, Saber didn't want to admit it. She always sacrificed herself for her nation. She did everything she could for Britain, but all that... How did it all end?

"Now, step aside. I'm going to kill Emiya-san."

However, when he looked at Kiritsugu, Kiritsugu was pointing a small gun at him. Before he could react, the bullet was fired, and Saber realized that Emiya took advantage of the conversation between the two to fire one of his origin bullets. The bad news is that this didn't work, as the X in Toru's eyes sharpened, and as easy as breathing, his hand moved and cut the bullet in two.

"That's the bullet you used to wound Lancer's Master. It's quite interesting."

If Toru isn't tired, a bullet won't be able to reach him. Although there was no way to reveal this to the enemy, he guessed that Emiya already knew. This man could become someone extremely dangerous to Toru's future. That's why he thought he should first get rid of that man, but with Saber standing in the way, he has no choice but to fight her.

"Emiya Kiritsugu, I want you to answer one question before I start my fight against Saber."

Kiritsugu didn't know what this Servant planned to do, but he realized that now the latter couldn't attack with Saber here. This gave him two options. Cooperate with Saber to kill Assassin using an origin bullet, or run away and leave Assassin alone. The more logical option popped into his head. They can't risk losing to Assassin's eyes and speed, so the latter option was the best.

The question here is how to run away from someone who far exceeds the speed of sound.

"What is it?"

Emiya said. Toru smiled relaxedly, causing Saber to only feel disgust towards him.

"You had everyone in the building where Lord El-Melloi was staying leave before the explosion. Why go to the trouble? If you want something you can simply take it. Even if that requires a few sacrifices."

"You..."

Saber could no longer listen to this assassin's bullshit. He didn't care what happens to others as long as there are benefits for himself. Now Toru represented everything Saber hated. A ruthless killer, liar, manipulator and cheat, a full-fledged Assassin.

Kiritsugu thought carefully before answering.

"Because they had nothing to do with this war."

"I see..."

Toru smiled kindly.

"It seems our thoughts are similar, only you... you want to play the hero. And that's something I completely differ on. You and Saber are very opposite. You're a man who thinks he's everyone's hero, and she's a girl who calls herself a king."

"I will tolerate no more of your insults!"

Without waiting for Toru to finish speaking, with her blood boiling with anger within her body, Saber raised the wind sword and stepped heavily on the ground, splitting the ground itself by the force with which she consequently propelled herself forward.

The X in Toru's eyes pulsed once, a split second later, his eyes danced across the stage and analyzed the enemy, which gave his the opportunity to better guess the enemy's movements. Saber, at the same time, swung the sword from bottom to top in an attempt to cut Assassin's head off. Yet, this was no problem for him. He only moved his upper body to the right and deflected the sword with the edge of the dagger in his left hand.

But this was far from over, for the fight was just beginning. Saber's hand is still cursed, this gives the absolute advantage to Toru.

"Die..."

He said. Saber then widened her eyes as she saw Toru take advantage of the recoil of the daggers and sword clashing to move at top speed. She turned around quickly seeing Kiritsugu, who was holding the weapon, aiming at Saber. She didn't know why her Master was aiming the firearm at her, so for a moment she doubted whether she should trust him, however....

Bang! Clang!

Behind Saber, Toru blocked the origin bullet once again.

"Don't neglect your back when fighting Assassin."

"It was my mistake."

Toru was about to kill Saber, but Kiritsugu and that special bullet stopped him. He stepped back to recalculate his movements again and smiled relaxed under the hood.

"We're in a closed place. I won't have to spend so much mana this time."

'That means...'

Saber tightened her grip on the hilt of the sword.

'That he won't tire as quickly as he did a few days ago at Fuyuki Harbor'

And Emiya completed the thought. Considering what happened in the port, Assassin got tired quite quickly after fighting Saber and Berserker, as he was using the air platforms all the time there due to being in an open space, but that's different right now. The corridor is narrow and this gives Assassin more of an advantage.

Saber prepared for that. She raised the wind sword and frowned.

'We can no longer escape. The only thing left for us is to fight'

The only thing Kiritsugu had to do was to concentrate on a plan to end this.

But as expected, Assassin wasn't going to waste any time. He propelled himself upwards and then, stepping on the ceiling with force, he plummeted against Saber. She quickly reacted and, although her injured hand missed for a split second, she ignored this and clenched the hilt of the sword with all her strength. Again, with a bottom-up movement, she tried to split Assassin in half, but the latter was faster, as his body spun on its own axis, easily dodging the slash of the sword in midair.

At that moment, as if time had stopped, they both looked into each other's eyes. Toru was upside down, about to fall to the ground, and Saber was preparing her sword to strike again.

Kiritsugu, although it was difficult for him to follow the movements of the two spirits, was able to calculate where to shoot, so he raised the firearm and took aim, firing on the spot.

When that second term, Toru stepped back and instantly raised his guard. He felt an itch in his shoulder. After that, he felt some kind of hot liquid dripping down his arm, staining his bandages. He looked down at himself and realized that the bullet had managed to graze his shoulder, but failed to hit.

"Blood..."

Assassin said. Saber saw this moment of weakness and attacked again with two quick sword slashes, but Toru only sighed and dodged with ease. At the same time, Kiritsugu concentrated on aiming the weapon. It was still difficult to keep up with the spirits, but he concentrated so hard, his hand aiming the weapon followed Assassin at all times.

"Time Alter: Double Accel."

And to even things out, no matter if his body is tired, he accelerated his body's time. With this, tracking over the target was easier.

Clang! Clang! The daggers and sword resounded. Saber kept swinging the sword from side to side with elegance and discipline, while Assassin dodged and blocked with smooth and relaxed movements.

"Your sword..."

Saber frowned as she heard him suddenly speak.

"I can't kill it... it's not a normal sword. I have to assume it's the famous sword in the rock."

As the legend said, Arthur won the right to the throne of Great Britain when he drew the sword from the rock (Caliburn), a weapon that later broke in a battle, being thrown into a mysterious lake where it finally became the legendary Excalibur, an extremely powerful weapon. Toru wanted to "kill" Excalibur, but Excalibur had a power vastly greater than his own, preventing him from even seeing the kill lines of such a weapon.

"So what?"

Clang!" Saber snorted, striking once more. Toru again blocked the sword with his dagger and smiled kindly.

"It's just that I'm very interested in this sword. Where I come from there were also powerful weapons, but they weren't as powerful as the sword you now hold in your hands."

Clang!

"We're in a fight. Stop bluffing."

Clang! Clang!

"You're right. I'm talking too much, and besides..."

Bang! The sound of the bullet's detonation echoed. That was enough for Toru to react with the other dagger, splitting the bullet in two. He realized that he was getting too caught up in his conversation with Saber that for a moment he forgot what he was doing.

"Saber... I will win. I will have that wish and there will be nothing to stop me..."

Toru's gaze radiated a certain conviction about his own words. This made Saber hesitate for a moment. The determination in Assassin's gaze is not false, it is something that shines as bright as the sun. She didn't know, she didn't know Toru. She was simply jumping to conclusions, but even if she thought about it, that didn't put aside this Assassin's actions.

He didn't care about anything but himself. Even if his determination was as strong as a knight's, his actions are stained with the blood of his sins.

"There is no way someone like you deserves the desire for the Holy Grail."

Toru smiled when he heard her say that, for that, he slammed his daggers against Saber's sword and stepped back. Before answering, he took off his hood and showed his faint gentle smile.

"I know, so what, I don't care if I deserve the wish or not. I will decide what I want. That's why I must win. Only then will my life really begin."

"What...?"

Toru took his stance with his arms crossed and prepared to kill.

"There's no way you can understand this, but you don't need to. Just like you, a child who shouldn't have become a king, I shouldn't have become what I am now, but that's why I must learn to live this way. It is the path I created for myself based on my own choices."

Squinting his eyes, he clenched the hilt of the daggers tightly. His eyes glowed in the eternal darkness of the night, where his seven mystical colors seemed to show his broken soul.

"I don't know if the path I have chosen can be called fate. I really don't know if fate as such exists, but if it does, it is my job to shatter that fate with my hands and mold it to my liking."

You can decide how to live. It's as simple as that. Toru finally managed to understand that and that is why he wants the victory of this war so much. To mold his destiny to his liking, there is no better form of expression and life than that, for with that in mind, he let out a small cloud of steam in the form of a sigh and his daggers lit up with the light of the Shakuton.

"Ninpō: Dansu Gyakusatsu."

Saber, after that, could not react quickly. Toru appeared in front of her, ready to hit her with a double slash of the incandescent daggers. She tried to raise her guard, but he was quicker, and although he failed to cut any kill lines, he was able to hit Saber in the chest, which consequently pushed her forcefully backwards, colliding with Kiritsugu to finally stop due to the wall bounding the corridor.

She first saw if Kiritsugu was injured, but upon doing so and realizing that the man was instantly knocked unconscious by the heavy blow, Assassin took advantage and attacked once more. Saber quickly stood up and struck the dagger with her sword, causing the clashing metal to knock them both back.

Toru skidded on the ground with his feet and rejoined the battle. He jumped with all his might to the ceiling, then jumped from the ceiling to the left wall and consequently to the right wall. All that happened in a small fraction of a second. Each movement seemed to illuminate the darkness of the castle, as his daggers radiated that unmistakable light.

With wild, yet strangely elegant movements, Toru attacked a hundred times in a second. Saber could barely block half of that, as the rest of the attacks managed to hit her. But that was strange for Toru, for just like in the Fuyuki Port fight, Saber seemed to instinctively dodge the dagger slashes to avoid cutting her kill lines. That showed that she was not a common enemy like any other.

Even so, the dagger slashes had damaged Saber's armor quite badly. It could be clearly seen how the shakuton had left melted cuts on the armor.

In the next ten seconds it was more of the same. Saber was cornered, protecting Kiritsugu and avoiding dying at Assassin's hands.

'He is too fast. No matter what I do, I can't catch up to him. Despite being an Assassin, he's strong...'

But how could a child his age be so powerful? In the middle of the fight, the answer was shown to Saber. They were both different sides of the same coin. They might have an abysmal difference in thoughts, but they both had difficult lives. Why didn't Toru, despite his age, consider himself a child? Know, no... Artoria Pendragon had the answer.

Based purely on what her eyes saw... Assassin was not a child....

'Assassin... a man who fights tooth and claw for a living.'

That was the difference between the two. Toru was not a child because he could never afford to be one. Unlike Saber and her proper, almost childlike personality.

[Assassin...]

But in the middle of the fight, suddenly a voice echoed in Toru's mind, which made him step back. He looked seriously at Saber and then listened attentively.

[By the power vested in me by the Holy Grail.]

It was Kirei, about to use another Command Seal. Toru sighed and let his guard down. He didn't like being forced to do things at all. Then, the light on his daggers disappeared, which vanished wrapped in clouds of smoke a second later.

Saber watched this in confusion. She thought she would die together with Kiritsugu, but apparently she was lucky.

"You don't need to use the Command Seal, Kirei. I'll be right over."

After that, Kirei seemed to stop, as his voice could no longer be heard. Toru sighed and approached the broken window.

"How fortunate you are, Saber. We'll fight another time. I suppose, when that happens, I will defeat you and win this war. The wish will be mine..."

Before jumping out the window, he whispers.

"Or so I want to believe..."

Just as he arrived, Assassin disappeared into the shadows of the night. Saber watched him go, kept quiet, holding the sword. When she realized the danger was gone, she fell to her knees with a shadowed gaze.

"What was that...?"

To be continued...