【 Flame Contaminated City Fuyuki - 13 】
I wanted to draw aggro.
I wanted her to recognize that she had numerous enemies. Caster would have no choice but to oppose her, and Charlotte, weak as she might be, was still a Servant.
She would definitely be conscious of us and stay on guard. And if I made her wary of me as well, then Saber’s awareness would have no choice but to spread wide—and grow thin.
When many people fight one person, you have to use your numbers.
Put simply, gang up on them. Cowardly?
I don’t want to hear that from someone being supplied by the Holy Grail!
And even if it is cowardly, what are you going to do about it!? What if you don’t like it!? I’m doing it anyway!! Fair play isn’t going to save my life! I’m not the protagonist!!
I’d get killed by a single normal attack, never mind Excalibur!! So I came here thinking, I’ll fight anyway! ...But it seemed my aggro-drawing was working a little too well.
Kaaaang!!!
Sword pressure tore through the ground as it came rushing toward me.
That insane woman had been firing sword pressure around indiscriminately for a while now. And those were normal attacks. She was seriously insane. Still, seeing her react to every one of the attacks from Charlotte’s Angel made me think that even she believed getting hit unguarded would hurt.
I ran with a strengthening rune cast on myself. The buff seemed to have sharpened all five of my senses, too. The downside was that it made me a little excited, put me in an incredibly high mood—but I couldn’t afford that.
I bit down on my wrist hard enough to draw blood and watched Saber fight while keeping watch over me, Charlotte, and Caster all at once.
Don’t calm down. You can’t calm down. Because if you do, I die. So even if I have to force it, I won’t let you stay composed. I don’t know whether this is the world of Fate/stay night.
So there was no use exploiting that connection.
That left me with no choice but to use information they both shared from their time in Britain. Honestly, I thought Saber from that era was pitiful, and I didn’t want to touch that subject.
But I didn’t have enough leeway to worry about that. Even using it, this was desperate. If she gets summoned to Chaldea later, I’ll apologize after passing out the moment I see her.
So for now...!! I’ll use it without the slightest guilt.
Metamorphose On [Transformation Initiated].
Crackle.
My Magic Circuits screamed as though they had been struck by lightning. Ah...!! It hurts, damn it!!
The shock from fighting Heracles was still in my arm!
Boom!!
Rocks burst from the wall behind Saber and instantly spread out, covering her field of vision.
Whoosh!!
At the same time they covered her—or rather...
Before they could even cover everything, Saber casually swung her sword and cut them apart. I had expected that. At the same time, I sent a doll forward in front of her. It was a doll of Merlin, the Mage of Flowers.
The instant she saw it, Saber’s expression went ice-cold. She thrust out her fist and
crash!!
punched clean through its solar plexus.
...Uh, that was the reaction I expected, but... was that really necessary?
Crack.
Merlin’s doll crumbled apart and clung to Saber’s arm. Saber’s eyes widened in surprise. It was a specially made doll, after all.
I had expected her to destroy it. That was why it was made of resin. In other words, it was pretty damn adhesive. The resin trailing all the way to the ground would be extremely troublesome.
"Hup! ...Hah!!"
Caster slammed his staff hard against the ground, and the rocks around Saber began clinging to her.
It would be hard for her to move. Now! Caster, Charlotte, and I all charged Saber from three directions. Come on! Who would she target first!?
Me, who had drawn her aggro; Charlotte, whose abilities she didn’t know; or Caster, who could be called the greatest threat!? Or would she just let us launch an all-out attack!?
Saber looked between the three of us and let out a small sigh. Then, with eyes as cold as if she found this truly absurd, she muttered,
"Even your petty tricks are dull."
Boom!!
Black Magical Energy flowed out from Saber.
What was that? Did she just use Mana Burst to blow away everything stuck to her body?
...Why the hell was she ever called a pushover? Where does she look like a pushover? Please put that character trait in here too. Please. Saber blocked Caster’s charging attack with one arm.
Then she tried to swing her sword.
With Saber’s sword as it was now, even Caster would suffer a fatal wound. I pressed my hand to the ground and dropped the floor beneath Saber’s feet.
Swoosh!
It sank in an instant, but Saber’s sword naturally rose upward.
Instinct, seriously!!! She anticipated that I would drop the ground and deliberately angled her sword upward. That skill was seriously insane! In the game, it was some trash skill that just gave you crystals!!
I don’t need reality’s reverse correction! Damn it!!
"Ch-Charlotteeeee!!!"
"Hup!!"
Charlotte slipped in behind her, gripping her dagger tightly. Except for that single assassination, she might have been an ordinary girl raised in a convent—but she was still an Assassin! Go for a fatal blow!
Saber spotted Charlotte charging from behind and lifted herself into the air.
...What am I looking at right now?
She rose into the air while swinging her sword. Why did the laws of physics—the natural order of the world that properly applied to every other Servant—not apply to that woman? Was God discriminating right now?
Wham!!
Saber swung her foot at Charlotte.
The kick, driven in like a stab without Saber even looking, struck Charlotte in the abdomen.
"Ghk!"
Charlotte grimaced.
I ran toward Charlotte as she flew backward. I caught her before she hit the ground and held her close.
Boom!!
My forehead split open and blood ran down my face. Damn it, I was already low on blood. At this rate, I’d die of blood loss first.
Thankfully, my stitched-up wounds hadn’t burst open.
"M-Master! What...!? You protected a Servant!?"
Charlotte looked at me as though I were insane. What!? If it’s an injury that won’t kill me, it’s better for me to take it!
You and Caster have to be okay! And if you or Caster get hurt, I have to spend Mana to restore you too!?
Between me getting hurt and wasting Mana, which do you think takes priority!? Isn’t it obvious!?
"Efficiency! Efficiency! I’m the weakest one here! I’m no help! I’m just a Mana shuttle for you and Caster! No matter how weak you are, you’re stronger than me! You’re more necessary than me! You can fight better than me! So if it’s an injury I can take, I’ll take it! If I can protect you, I will! You can stand, right!?"
"...Do you need my strength that badly?"
Charlotte sounded a little surprised, but her question left me dumbfounded instead. What was she even saying?
"We don’t have time for pointless talk!"
"Ugh, that’s so cold. I was hoping for something a little kinder."
Charlotte and I charged in at the same time. Caster, somehow having dodged it, was fighting Saber in close quarters.
...Seriously, how did he dodge that? I can just assume it was Caster being Caster as usual, right?
Saber already recognized all three of us as enemies. Otherwise, she could have simply ignored us and focused only on fighting Caster instead of reacting to us one by one.
Just by doing that, I was fulfilling my role. As I charged in, I shouted at Charlotte.
"Charlotte! You’re definitely not the strongest!!"
"Why are you hurling insults while we’re charging in!?"
"You’re the Servant I summoned!! Even if you’re not the strongest!! I believe you’re the best!! Right!?"
"...Yes! I’ll do my best!!"
Thump!
Charlotte and I rushed in quickly from either side.
Recognize us. Recognize us!
Recognize that Charlotte and I exist, and that Caster exists too! Recognize that this is one against three, not one against one!! Spread your awareness even thinner!
Make an opening!
Ignore the weak one, thinking that getting bitten by them won’t matter—and then realize too late, and regret it, when the poison in that weakling’s teeth begins spreading through your body!! King of Knights!!!
"Annoying."
"That’s the highest praise, you "perfect" king!!"
"Tch!"
The words “perfect king” were surely praise.
To any king, they were praise beyond words—compliment and glory alike.
But not to the Artoria Pendragon standing before me.
To her, those words were condemnation, reproach, criticism, and a painful memory of the past.
Light gathered around Saber’s sword as she glared at me.
Uh, hold on. Was she going to fire that at me?
We were way too close, weren’t we?
Fwoooosh!!
Before Saber could even swing her sword at me, flames suddenly erupted and sent Saber flying through the air.
Caster!! If I were a woman, I would have fallen for you ten times already!!
"This time for sure...!!"
Charlotte’s Angel fired its laser.
Boom!!
Saber, suspended in the air, took the hit directly. And she flew even farther away...
Huh?
Kwoooong!!!
Saber emitted light from her sword and came rushing back toward us. She was using it like a booster to move at high speed through the air.
H-Hey! God!! There’s an error in the laws of physics here!?
How the hell is that possible!? She struck Caster with her sword.
Boom!!
He barely blocked it with his staff, but she had come in at high speed, so the force behind it was too much. Caster couldn’t hold on and was sent flying backward.
"Caster!!"
"Is this the time to worry about others, Master of Chaldea!"
The moment she knocked Caster away, she charged at me.
"Tch!"
I tied threads behind me and evaded, using Metamorphosis Magecraft to obstruct her path.
Boom!
She charged through without caring. She might have been smaller, but she was even scarier than Heracles. She was practically a tank. A living tank was charging straight at me.
If you didn’t call that a biological weapon, what the hell would you call it? I didn’t have many dolls left now.
It was fortunate that I had made them in advance, but making more now would not only cost time—it would consume a great deal of Mana, and they would lack detail.
But this was a body that had already died over and over. I had to keep challenging things as far as I could. I injected adrenaline into my body once more.
Sorry, Doctor! But even if it makes my body worse, I have to survive first, right!? Right!?
Summoning a Lancelot doll...
Boom!!
The instant I summoned it, she cut it down with her sword. It definitely wasn’t because she hated Lancelot; she just wasn’t going to fall for my traps anymore.
...That had to be it, right?
"You’re scary! Seriously!! Is that why your wife cheated on you!? And with the man who was your best retainer, no less!!!"
"What a thoroughly cheap provocation."
"I can’t believe you’d say that after taking the bait from such a thoroughly cheap provocation."
Hostility filled Saber’s eyes as she leaped into the air. Fast!!
...She was nearly right in front of my nose. I didn’t know whether she had strengthened her body with Mana or used Mana Burst to leap, but—
I immediately understood that I couldn’t dodge and activated Emergency Evasion through my Chaldea Mystic Code. Then I switched to a defensive rune. The sword barely grazed my hair. I avoided the first strike thanks to Emergency Evasion’s effect, but I couldn’t avoid the fist that followed.
Wham!!
It swept across my face. Several molars fell out, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. As I went flying, I coughed up blood. She had struck my cheek, but it felt as if my entire face hurt.
It felt as if my whole face had cracked. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I suppressed the urge to collapse and scream as I forced myself upright.
"Enough. ...No matter what means and methods you use, you cannot defeat me. Now I will kill you."
"Earlier..."
"What?"
"Earlier, after you sent Caster flying and immediately charged at me, I understood. ...The preparations were finished."
"Preparations?"
Normally, she should not have come after me. There had been two reasons I had drawn so much aggro. The first, naturally, was to make Saber recognize that she had many enemies.
Even one more person would divide Saber’s attention. No matter how powerful her skills, parameters, or armaments were, she had to remain aware of every existence she recognized as an enemy.
That was why I had deliberately shouted at Saber as though reproaching her. Though I also had the simple but powerful urge to see that indifferent expression break.
"You probably recognized me as more of an enemy than her because, in your fight with her, you judged her practical combat sense to be inferior to mine. Once you understood that the egg’s laser, the last thing you were wary of, could only inflict minor damage, you lowered her priority beneath mine. My direct combat ability may be lower, but I have a Mystic Code and Magecraft. And if you kill me, the Servants’ Mana supply is cut off. I don’t know why exactly, but the important thing is that my priority rose higher."
Saber did not understand.
Yes. She didn’t understand.
Even though Charlotte had come right beside her, Saber hadn’t reacted. It wasn’t because Charlotte was an expert assassin. In the first place, she had only carried out one assassination. A plan that succeeded through luck alone couldn’t possibly give her professional skill.
Becoming a Servant didn’t change that. Then why had Saber failed to notice Charlotte, who had approached close enough to touch her?
The answer was very simple.
‘There’s no need to blow her entire body away.’
Presence Concealment was better than nothing, but against Saber, with her Instinct Skill and abundant experience, it was as good as having no skill at all. But Charlotte’s other skills made her what she was.
The skill [Mishap Planning] allowed her to cover a plan so reckless it bordered on madness.
With overwhelming luck.
And finally, [Angel of Assassination] even had the effect of raising [Mishap Planning]’s rank.
A skill gained by succeeding in a reckless assassination despite her pitiable, fragile-looking appearance—it greatly lowered the enemy’s guard.
Through luck, too.
That was right. Charlotte reaching Saber’s side was simply luck. But wasn’t there a saying? Luck was a skill too.
"...!!!"
Only when the dagger was nearly upon her did Saber recognize Charlotte’s presence.
Stab her!! Her Spirit Core!!! If you destroy that, then no matter how infinite her Mana is, she has to disappear!! The heart of a Heroic Spirit!! Once that is destroyed, she cannot be healed unless Chaldea summons her again.
Then the Holy Grail here in Fuyuki must be the same!
If we destroy only that, it doesn’t matter how incredibly powerful Saber is, whether she receives Mana from the Greater Grail, or how terrifying her Holy Sword is!! Nothing but a future where she disappears will remain! She’ll be fixed to that future!!
This plan depended entirely on my faith in Charlotte’s lucky breaks.
Somehow, I had to make Saber decide that I was more troublesome than Charlotte—that I had the higher priority.
That was why I tried close combat that didn’t suit me, loudly drew aggro, and made her approach me. And at the very end, she charged at me as though she had even forgotten Charlotte existed.
Even while listening to me speak, she had failed to include Charlotte, standing right beside her, within her range of awareness. You think that’s strange? Why? There are swords that fire beams, so why can’t there be Noble Phantasms like this!?
Noble Phantasm, [La Rêve Ensoleillé: To My Homeland, a Dream Like Falling in Love].
The more an opponent knew Charlotte, the stronger its effect became, but sadly, Charlotte and Saber had no connection. So I had no choice but to induce carelessness in another direction.
I had tried to bring her evaluation of Charlotte down—not all the way to having no value as someone to guard against, but at least to the point where she was the least necessary person to watch here. I had put on every ridiculous show imaginable for this one moment.
That was why it had to succeed.
Even Wicker Man enhanced through a Command Spell had not been enough. So we had no choice but to strike a vital point. That was why I raised my hand.
"By my Command Spell, I order you!!! Charlotte!! Pierce her Spirit Core!!!!"
Light flickered over Charlotte’s body.
Sliiide!!
Her dagger thrust in as though ignoring the armor. Ordinarily, this might have been impossible for Charlotte. There was no way she could break Saber’s armor and stab through it.
In skills, parameters, and even the worth of their Noble Phantasms, Saber and Charlotte could not even be compared. But this could work. There was an expression in this world: a dagger hidden behind a smile.
That Noble Phantasm embodied those words. The opponent was bound to be deceived. Judging that she could not avoid the stab, Saber grunted and
boom!!
punched Charlotte in the abdomen, physically knocking her away.
Splurt!!
Blood burst from Saber’s chest.
Without paying that any attention, I fired threads, caught Charlotte as she flew away, and pulled her into my arms.
"Kgh, cough!! ...M-Master."
"Don’t you think Saber is mean for hitting the same place twice?"
"Yes. And so is the Master who told me to fight someone like that."
Charlotte’s pure white dress was dyed red.
She had taken it head-on, so bleeding wouldn’t have been strange at all. Charlotte and I stood up and watched Saber bleed.
Had she pierced her Spirit Core? Destroyed it?
...As I watched, tense with anticipation, Saber slowly gripped her sword tightly. That stance, holding it in both hands, was one I had seen before.
As she took that stance, Saber’s armor restored itself, and black Magical Energy adhered to her as though regenerating it.
"So your objective was to destroy my Spirit Core. ...Excellent. From the beginning of the battle until now, every action was foreshadowing for that one strike. ...You are unexpectedly skilled at strategy, Master of Chaldea. But regrettably..."
Saber, nearly finished regenerating, wiped the blood from her lips as she spoke.
"Had it gone a little deeper, it would have reached it. To come so close to my Spirit Core with such a weak body... I commend you. Therefore, I will give this my all."
My body trembled. It was coming. That was coming.
What now? Since we had failed to pierce her Spirit Core, the same strategy would not work twice. Saber would raise her guard against Charlotte tremendously now.
If it was a conceptual Noble Phantasm rather than simply one with high firepower, she might be even more wary. Even forcing it in would be difficult.
The gap in our specs was simply too great. Saber tightly gripped a sword of Magical Energy stretching toward the sky. ...I thought this before too, but are you even human?
"Excalibur [Sword of Promised Victory]..."
"Aah!!! Excalibur! Excalibuuur!!! Run!? Where to!!!"
That thing fires a beam in a straight line, so it seems like we should be able to dodge it, but that straight line is absurdly wide! Where!?
Where the hell are we supposed to run!?
I grabbed Charlotte and shook. Charlotte clung to me too. Ah, damn it!! Was I going to get incinerated by Excalibur again!? Last time, getting hit by Excalibur made me remember how to summon Servants—what was I going to remember this time!?
Was I going to figure out how to get hit by Excalibur better so it wouldn’t hurt when I died!?
"Mana! The Mana!! Master!! I’m sorry I failed!! If only I had pierced her Spirit Core!!"
"Is that what matters right now!?"
"Doesn’t it matter!?"
My fear of Excalibur paralyzed my reason. It did matter! We were in this situation because she failed, so it mattered!!
But what mattered right now was that Excalibur was coming at us head-on!! As Charlotte and I clung to each other, trembling because we could see no way to escape, Caster stepped in front of us.
Charlotte and I were nearly crying, but the sight of his back filled us with joy.
Nameless, hand over the title of Back-Watcher to Caster!!
"Honestly, this is the crucial moment. Stop bawling, Master! You know what I’m thinking, right!? We’re using Plan B!!"
"That’s practically a suicide attack! No...!! I don’t know!!!"
I had made one more plan just in case. It wasn’t as though I had ignored the possibility of failure when our strategy was built entirely around Charlotte’s luck and haphazard planning.
Our opponent was the King of Knights backed by the Greater Grail. A top-tier Servant so terrifying that merely facing her inspired fear, and now she had gained infinite Mana. In one sense, failure had been inevitable.
That was why the plan I came up with depended on blocking the incoming Excalibur.
But I didn’t know whether it was really possible.
"Caster! You can block it, right!? Say you can!!!"
"Kid, I believe in you. ...So what about you?"
"..."
At those words, I felt the trembling lessen, even if it did not disappear completely. I immediately stretched out my hand.
"Morgan [Sword of Victory]!!"
"By my Command Spell, I order you!! Block the Holy Sword, Caster!!!"
The incoming light grew larger and larger.
Ah, seeing it like this, it really was insane. It might have been a Noble Phantasm with terrible Mana efficiency, but now I understood why everyone said it was incredible. Mana efficiency didn’t matter when a single blow ended everything.
Charlotte merely looked up at me as I stood there. Charlotte had already done more than enough. She would have to do a little more, but for now, she could stay still. No, she had to stay still. If she tried to dodge something impossible to dodge, we could be truly screwed. I didn’t know what was possible!
But Caster told me to trust him! Then I would trust him! What else could I do besides believe right now!? Was it because I was so amazing that we had even made it this far!?
No! It was because Caster was amazing! I had only gotten lucky with my Servants!! Then I would bet on that Servant luck until the very end!!
"Wicker Man [Burning Cage of Flames]!!!"
This Wicker Man was not summoned to defeat Saber.
It had been summoned purely for defense. To put it even more simply, it had been summoned as a shield. Caster immediately positioned himself behind Wicker Man and reinforced it even further.
Kaaaaang!!!
Excalibur struck Wicker Man, split in two, and devastated the surroundings on either side. This was insane! Completely insane!! I was certain I would die even if I touched the deflected light!
I’d die from the collateral blast!!
"Hnnngh!!"
Caster gritted his teeth and endured. He was a hero. He was a hero in the truest sense. And that hero said he believed in me. I wanted to repay him.
I didn’t want to betray that trust. I couldn’t betray it.
Crumble, crumble.
Wicker Man gradually began collapsing.
Even knowing it was useless, I used Metamorphosis Magecraft to summon rocks. With the wish that it might reduce the impact, even by the smallest amount.
"Do not underestimate my Holy Sword!!"
Like hell anyone would underestimate it!!!
Kwoooom!!!
Wicker Man collapsed completely, and my vision was entirely obscured.
I could only feel the sensation of my body floating through the air.
Tumble, tumble.
Fragments of rock falling from above woke me up.
...I realized I was not dead. The moment I realized that, I moved my hand. I knew that what I had to do had not changed.
...Then I slowly raised my head. How far had I been sent flying?
The branches behind me had softened the impact. ...Even so, it was a miracle I was alive.
One of my arms was completely crushed and would not move. Perhaps the nerves were pointlessly still alive, because the pain was beyond words. One arm had been torn off, and the deeply gouged wound made it hard to breathe.
The bone in my right foot visibly protruded. Bones looked stranger than I had expected. I used emergency treatment and desperately tried to stop the bleeding.
When I closed my eyes, the Mana Paths connecting me to Caster and Charlotte were still intact.
Neither of them had disappeared. I hadn’t realized because I couldn’t see out of one eye, but Charlotte was in that blind spot, gasping as she tried to raise herself.
I couldn’t see Caster, but that was all right. Knowing through the Mana Path that he had not disappeared was enough.
‘...I think we got blown all the way to the end of Fuyuki.’
"M-Master...!!"
As I lay there gasping for breath, Charlotte’s voice finally made me recognize that someone was standing in front of me. For just a moment, I thought it was Caster.
But the pressure I felt immediately told me who it was. Slowly raising my head, I saw Saber looking down at me with an indifferent expression.
...Had she come to make sure I was dead? It seemed Saber had recognized me as an enemy who had to be exterminated. Someone she could not leave alive.
I was so happy she thought so highly of me, damn it.
Saber looked perfectly fine. She seemed calm, as though the wound Charlotte had stabbed her with had regenerated long ago. She did not even take a stance, simply standing there as if the fight were already over.
I’m still alive... I’m not dead. The fight—the fight isn’t over yet. As if meeting the defiance in my eyes, she stared down at me with cold, composed eyes.
I didn’t know if it was the stimulants or because I was on the brink of death, but I had no urge to run from those eyes now.
Something else had devoured my fear. At this moment, I could glare Saber down head-on.
...Then Saber spoke to me.
"It is not as though nothing surprised me. There were aspects worthy of praise. ...But if you cannot defeat even me, you will not have the strength to walk through the hell that awaits you. Therefore, your journey ends here, last Master of humanity."
Raising her sword, Saber wore a slightly sad expression, just as she had last time.
"Your... no, your defeat. Chaldea."
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