"Gilgamesh is serious. He plans to open the Gate of Babylon even more," Kotomine Kirei told Tohsaka Tokiomi through the communication jewel.
Kirei was watching the battle from Assassin's eyes as he conveyed what had happened to Tokiomi.
Both were surprised by Drako's power when he killed Lancer, but were now a little worried because of his power to defend himself from Gilgamesh.
Tohsaka Tokiomi held his head after hearing Kirei's comment,
The basement of the Tohsaka mansion had nothing of the mess of the distant warehouse district that had become the battlefield. Kirei, manipulating Assassin brought the results. The conditions were perfect.
The only thing that was not part of the calculations was that, leaving aside Drako and Mordred, Gilgamesh had come to the present time as the Archer class.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Archer class's characteristics are the power of its Noble Phantasm; for Gilgamesh, who possessed an extraordinary one of the EX range, it could have been inevitable. But in the end, the Independent Action skill of the conceited King of Heroes was too high rank, which was certainly the biggest miscalculation.
Tokiomi respected the King of Heroes' great prestige as much as he could, and as much as he deserved. But to think that his tolerance would be tested so much, and so early...
Gilgamesh was to be the last to act. Right now, it's still Assassin's turn to act and gather information. Something so reckless as to expose the Gate of Babylon again to everyone, and throw all his strength against the mysterious Drako, this simply cannot be overlooked.
For a Servant with the ability to Independent Action, who does not trust his Master, the only way to give him orders are the Command Spells. This grants the right for only three absolute commands. To return a Servant to Gilgamesh, who does not have an ounce of respect for his Master, they are the most precious thing Tokiomi had.
Always maintain your elegance; this is a family precept passed down through generations in the Tohsaka family. For him, who keeps it in his heart, being urged to waste a Command Spell before all other Masters...
"Teacher, your decision?"
Kirei urges him with a harsh voice from the other terminal of the communicator.
Gritting his teeth, Tokiomi stared at the back of his right hand.
Just as he was about to use one of them...
"Wait."
Kirei's voice stopped Tokiomi's movements.
"What's going on?"
"Gilgamesh has retreated, he has closed the Gate of Babylon on his own."
…
"Drako, a good name. Worthy of someone of your race. Although it is very unoriginal."
Gilgamesh nodded, looking satisfied for some reason. His crimson eyes had already lost the flame of the assassination attempt.
"You avoided death by a hair, you mad dog," he said as he looked at Berserker, who had not moved while watching the battle between Archer and Drako.
With his steady arrogance, the golden Archer glanced down the row of Servants.
"You commoners. Lower the crowd next time. I will tolerate nothing but a true hero."
With this last carefree warning, Gilgamesh canceled his materialization. The golden armor lost its physical state and disappeared, leaving only the remains of its radiance.
The confrontation between the two knights, gold and black, reached its conclusion in a way that no one expected.
"Hmph. This Archer is too reckless," Rider exaggerated with a bitter smile.
However, everyone else figured this was not the time for a sloppy comment. Both the mysterious Berserker who had defended himself so well from Archer's attacks and the boy who had even managed to be recognized by the King of Heroes were still there, standing in front of them.
Berserker's burning eyes wandered through the empty space, having lost their target... Then, finding new prey, they lit up again.
Pointed by those eyes tinged with the color of malice, Saber felt a chill run down her spine.
"...Ur..."
The voice seemed to boil from the ground. Like a spell, like a curse, it was a moan full of malice that hardly resembled human speech.
This was Berserker's voice; it was the first time that the others had heard it.
"...Ar... Ur... h!"
Like a spell with a human form, inflated with murderous intent, the black knight charged toward the silver King of Knights.
…
Prana is consumed not only to keep the Servant materialized but also for all the efforts he makes. Thus, in battle, the rate of consumption is higher. The prana is extracted from the Master's Magic Circuits and supplied to the Servant.
And the activation of the Magic Circuits, in Kariya Matou's case, means the hell of the pain of seeing his body consumed by the Worm Crests.
When dematerialized, the consumption of prana is minimal. But even in that state, Kariya was tortured by palpitations and dizziness.
But when Berserker was materialized, the agony was beyond imagination.
The foreign body awakens and begins to eat his flesh, crunching his bones. Acting like Kariya's pseudo-Magic Circuits, the Worm Crests delivered the absorbed prana to Berserker without any concern for the host's limits.
Talk of agony is not half the story. Being corroded, plundered by a living creature inside his body, the pain of being eaten alive is doubled by fear and disgust.
"Guh... Ga, gwa...hh!"
Hidden in the darkness, Kariya drowned out his cry of impending death, tearing his throat and chest. When his skin broke and began to spill blood, he began to bite the nails off both hands.
And worse, the consumption of prana required of the Master by the Berserker class is even greater. When Zouken had Kariya use the formula for insanity during the invocation to make him stronger, perhaps that was already a plan of the old mage to tyrannize him.
The worms were biting his spine. The worms are melting his nerves. The worms are nesting en masse inside Kariya's body, the worms are the worms are the worms are the worms are the worms are the worms...
"Gaaaaahh..."
He was unable to contain his scream, but only an emaciated groan erupted. The intense pain strangled him, and he could not get out of his throat. When he began to sob, Kariya continued to abuse his body in anger.
He could not even observe Archer and Berserker's fight on the main street; he had not even noticed that Berserker was not even fighting. When the storm of pain finally subsided, Kariya took some time to recover his ability to think and understand the situation.
"... Haa... Haa..."
Breathing harshly in the last traces of his agony, Kariya continued his observation of the battlefield through the vision of his familiar. There are still three Servants left. Archer could not be found anywhere. The battle is over.
The battle - has not been won. Perhaps Tokiomi made Archer escape by understanding his disadvantage.
Kariya's Berserker did not step back from the overwhelming Golden Archer. With a magical art trained in one year, Kariya was able to rival the magic of Tohsaka polished for generations on his own.
"... Fuhu, hahaha..."
Emaciated, Kariya laughed roughly at his theory.
He succeeded. That conceited magician was finally splashed with mud by an ordinary man like Kariya, after always making those like him less. Kariya mocked Tokiomi and Zouken enormously in his heart, thinking, "Did you see that?"
I am not a loser. No one will call me a failure or a bug anymore. I can fight you. I will let you know what fear is...
That's enough for tonight. There is no reason to continue a battle that will only torture you now that your sworn enemy, Archer, has retreated. Just let the other Servants kill each other as they wish.
When he formed his conclusion, Kariya was the most terrified of all those who saw Berserker take Saber as his new target and lash out at her.
"Stop... Come back! Come back here, Berserker!"
Kariya called out to him. Such a simple instruction should have been enough to reach him, but, even so, the black knight did not respond. Instead, the amount of prana consumed by Berserker's enthusiasm stimulated all the Worm Crests at once, and pain reshot through Kariya's body.
"Berserkeeeer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Drako took the opportunity at that moment to approach Mordred.
"We're leaving."
"Huh? The fight isn't over yet."
"We have nothing else to do here, and I'm hungry. Besides, I don't want to keep Sakura waiting."
Hearing Drako's explanation and seeing that he was already leaving the place, completely ignoring Berserker, Mordred could only follow him before giving Artoria one last look.
If Drako was willing to leave, it was because he knew that they were going to meet up with the rest of the Servants at another time. Trusting Drako, Mordred followed in his footsteps and left the place.
The rest did not even notice when they left the place, as they had their attention on someone else.
In pain, Kariya's voice was more like a scream. He no longer even had the mental freedom to use a Command Seal. Overwhelmed by a torrent of agony, Kariya could only focus entirely on preserving his fading consciousness.
The black knight lashed out with the force of a wild beast, kicking at the asphalt. He looked only at Saber, with a dark killing intent swirling.
Naturally, Saber was prepared. She immediately adjusted her sword into a defensive stance.
Berserker held the iron pole, more than two meters long after it had been cut, with both hands like a spear, putting terrible pressure on Saber's sword. But the surprising thing was that the weapon was nothing more than an iron pole.
Saber's sword hidden beneath the Invisible Air was definitely the holiest of holy swords. It was the most supreme of the Noble Phantasm. There was no way it would have any trouble with a piece of metal picked up from the road.
The only thing that could rival Saber's sword with such strength was the Noble Phantasm of another Heroic Spirit. And yet...
"...What?"
Suspended, Saber couldn't believe her eyes.
The iron pole in Berserker's hands was being dyed black. Black lines spread and multiplied like the nerves of a leaf, invading the iron pole.
The starting point was Berserker's two hands. The black lines spread all over the pole like a spider's web from where the black gauntlets held it up.
This was Berserker's prana - prana smeared with bloodlust and hatred, possessed only by the black knight. The iron pole received it as it permeated his hands.
"You don't mean...!"
Saber understood through her surprise—the true nature of Berserker's Noble Phantasm.
Rider, observing thoroughly, came to the same conclusion.
"...So that's what it is. When Blacky takes something, it becomes his Noble Phantasm."
Rider grunted in admiration. A Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm doesn't need to manifest through a characteristic object. Sometimes, it can be a type of Noble Phantasm that manifests through a "unique ability" employed by the Servant's body itself. This is exactly the case for Berserker.
And yet, what an amazing power it was. Berserker was able to steal at will the Phantasm Nobles threw at him by Archer. Now they understood the terrifying lure. The instant Berserker's gauntlets grasped one, Archer's Noble Phantasm's control passed to the black knight.
And it wasn't just that, even that ordinary iron scrap was filled with immense prana fit to compete with other Phantasm Nobles once they reached Berserker's hands. Unlike how the golden knight possessed numerous Noble Phantasms, Berserker's Noble Phantasm has no end.
If Drako had not intervened in Lancer's battle with Saber, right now she would have a wound on her wrist that would render her unable to fight in perfect condition against Berserker. She would be knocked down, again and again, unable to defend against the black knight's brutal attacks.
But Berserker was still a powerful opponent, and one with incredible skills. It was not easy for Artoria to gain an advantage against him.
Emiya Kiritsugu, from his distant vigilance, also saw that Saber was in the midst of a complicated battle. But with Kiritsugu's current equipment, he could not interfere in a duel between Servants.
If they could at least find out where the Berserker Master was located, there might be ways to control this... But Kiritsugu couldn't see the Berserker Master with any of his night-vision goggles.
"...Maiya, can you see it from your side?"
"No, I can't see it."
Kiritsugu furrowed his brows when he heard Maiya's reply. Kiritsugu and Maiya's positions were indeed mutually blind spots. The reason why they could not see the Master might be that Berserker's Master also considered his hiding place as a priority and did not remain in a position where he could deliver commands directly to his Servant.
It seems that the opponent's personality is even more cautious than that of Archer's Master. To Kiritsugu, compared to those talented but petulant magi, magi who do not show themselves are much more difficult to handle.
"...The situation doesn't look good..."
Just now, it was a single combat between Berserker and Saber. In the middle of the two of them stood Rider, with all his potential. On a battlefield where only the strongest survive, the worst position is to be at a clear disadvantage. At this point, by helping Berserker just a little, they could easily defeat Saber.
And then eliminate the exhausted Berserker. It would be two birds with one stone. Rider can defeat two enemies with the minimum expenditure of prana.
Kiritsugu aimed his rifle at the top of the crane again. The skull-masked Assassin was still sitting there. A single moment of carelessness could cost Kiritsugu his life.
"...Damn it."
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth, but he could only sit and wait.
However, something happened that surprised everyone present.
Berserker disappeared.
Let's go back a few minutes earlier.
Drako left the place followed by Mordred, but he followed a specific path.
"That's...!"
Mordred was surprised when they saw him.
"Yes, Kariya Matou. The Master of Berserker."
The man was kneeling on the ground, banging his head to stay conscious. His hands were full of blood, probably self-harming to achieve the goal of not losing consciousness.
"What are we going to do?"
"Heal him."
Mordred watched in a daze as golden scales appeared on her Master's arm, forming a golden draconic arm.
Drako began to heal Kariya's wounds with his healing skill, restoring him to health for a few brief moments.
When he regained 100% consciousness, Kariya looked at Drako and his golden arm.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Kariya was afraid of this mysterious young man. He recognized him. He had seen him before, along with his knight in the middle of the fight between Berserker and Archer. They should be a Master and his Servant.
Drako just smiled, scaring Kariya a little more if he could. His golden arm changed color to a black even darker than Berserker's armor.
A shadow emerged from the arm, taking the shape of a claw. Drako grabbed Kariya's neck with that arm, threatening to break it easily.
"Use a command seal on Berserker, order him to stand down."
"Yes!"
"By the way, I'm taking good care of Sakura."
bình luận đoạn văn
Tính năng bình luận đoạn văn hiện đã có trên Web! Di chuyển chuột qua bất kỳ đoạn nào và nhấp vào biểu tượng để thêm nhận xét của bạn.
Ngoài ra, bạn luôn có thể tắt / bật nó trong Cài đặt.
ĐÃ NHẬN ĐƯỢC