"Take this Gandr, you bitch!"
I stylishly fired off a Gandr. Wait, come to think of it, this even worked on the King of Mages, so it should hit King Arthur pretty hard too, right? Just as I thought, King Arthur’s body floated up into the air. So this is why everyone gets stunned for a turn in the game.
King Arthur collapsed after being hit by the Mystic Code's Gandr. She looked flustered, clearly not expecting to be brought down by something like this.
Chaldea’s Mystic Codes are seriously impressive. Normally, something like Gandr would never work on a Servant, but it actually landed? I’ll have to look into who made this later.
King Arthur’s aggro shifted to me. But it was only for a moment. Our aggro king, Guardian, started pulling her attention again to protect me. He fired three bullets—all of them aimed specifically at her eyes. He’s a persistent bastard, really.
The three explosive rounds hit King Arthur directly in the eyes. As expected, they did no damage. They just exploded without any real effect, but one thing was certain: nothing worked better for drawing King Arthur’s aggro. I could see her getting genuinely pissed off.
_Don't expect a peaceful death._
King Arthur continued her relentless attempt to kill Guardian.
Beams from her Mana Burst, pure swordsmanship in close quarters—she used everything in her arsenal to kill him. However, Guardian dodged it all with far too much ease and counterattacked once more with his revolver.
Even Cu Chulainn seemed to be attacking half-heartedly compared to how he started. He kept muttering "Ansuz" every now and then, but I could feel from his tone that his mind was elsewhere while he fought.
"...Ansuz."
Look at that. He's acting like that because he’s bored of fighting. What a lunatic.
'Master, can you hear me?'
Guardian sent a telepathic message.
'Yeah, I hear you.'
'I won't be able to maintain high-speed movement much longer.'
'What?'
Did I hear that right? He’s reaching his limit already?
'You realize that if you can't use high-speed movement, you're dead whether it's Berserker or King Arthur, right?'
'Oh, right.'
That one sentence from Guardian gave me a headache.
Cu Chulainn, Okita, Guardian. If even one of these three falls, the operation fails. And this crazy guy is telling me he’s about to die? Is he insane?
'Okita, can you hear me?'
'Yes! Please speak!'
It seemed Okita could still hold her own for now. I had no choice but to go with the plan I thought of earlier.
'Okita, Guardian is going to drop soon. We have to end this quickly. When I use Order Change, take Guardian's sword, teleport to King Arthur's stomach, stab her, and slice upward. Got it?'
'Yes!!'
Okita’s spirited response echoed through my head. I thought I heard her voice crack slightly, though.
I was about to continue the telepathy when Cu Chulainn suddenly shouted.
"Guardian!!!"
When I looked back, Guardian had been caught.
If I used Order Change now, whoever swapped in would die instantly. I couldn't switch anyone into that position.
_I finally caught you._
"Cough... My... bad... I won't call Britain... a shithole anymore... cough..."
Hey, that crazy bastard is still drawing aggro even while caught...!!
_...It seems you don't want to die quietly. Fine..._
Holding Guardian by the collar, she activated Mana Burst. King Arthur had no intention of letting Guardian go easily.
"Aaaargh!!"
Guardian screamed in agony. He was feeling the constant pain of his entire body being scorched. King Arthur kept pouring out her Mana Burst.
Cu Chulainn used every Rune spell he could muster to rescue Guardian, but it had no effect. The word 'death' began to circle in my mind.
Cu Chulainn's sudden, massive use of Runes caused his mana to plummet, and because of that, I collapsed to the ground. Cu Chulainn ran toward me, and I stared at Guardian until my consciousness faded.
Seeing me collapse, the look in Guardian's eyes began to change. He glared at King Arthur with that new gaze.
Okita, startled by the sudden cut in the telepathic link, kept calling out for her Master, but Damascus couldn't respond.
'Master!! Please answer, Master!!!'
She continued sending telepathic messages while skillfully dodging Berserker's attacks. Her speed was slightly slower than Guardian's, but her movements were far more fluid.
While Guardian moved flashily and with large motions, Okita Souji avoided Berserker's attacks with minimal movement. The reason her movements were minimized was to preserve her stamina, a choice she made to help her weak body endure as long as possible.
Slash!
Okita cut into Berserker's body. Another reason for her minimal evasive actions was to be in a position to strike back the moment an opening appeared.
Berserker slammed his massive sword down where Okita stood. But Okita was no longer there.
Okita slashed Berserker's right arm—the one he used to swing the greatsword—five times. She cut through his fingers, triceps, biceps, the inner forearm, and the entire front deltoid.
Unlike with King Arthur, every time Okita slashed, blood sprayed from the wounds.
Okita was anxious. She had even forgotten Master's words about having to kill Berserker twelve times; her only thought was to finish him quickly and run to her Master's side.
Because Okita had severed all the major muscle fibers in his right arm, Berserker couldn't move it properly. Okita then slashed his left arm, left leg, and right leg. After cutting through his jaw muscles, neck muscles, and rectus abdominis, she brought Heracles down, climbed on top of him, and kept slashing until he died. Then, Okita suddenly stopped. She realized her Master had collapsed.
Okita turned her head toward where her Master was. She dropped her sword for a moment before picking it up again. Her eyes narrowed. She chewed over what her Master had said. He said Heracles had to be killed twelve times to be defeated, and the other task was to defeat King Arthur.
She took a long breath in and out. Looking down slightly, she whispered to herself.
"Master, I will complete the order no matter what."
Save the Master. If that's impossible, save the Director. Okita kept thinking about what the Master had said—that she was replaceable, but the Director was not. That thought flashed through her mind.
While she was lost in thought, Berserker moved. Having died from excessive bleeding, Berserker came back to life and stood up.
Okita gripped her sword and took a stance. As Berserker rose and let out a roar, Okita took his head.
Squelch.
Okita whispered again.
"Ten more to go."
She intended to kill Berserker and go to Damascus. Damascus was down, Guardian was being tortured while captured, and Cu Chulainn couldn't use his skills recklessly due to the Master's lack of mana.
"Is this the end?" Cu Chulainn muttered.
_Did you really intend to save the Human Order with only this much power? If you cannot even surpass me, you will never overcome the other trials ahead._
"What do you mean by that?"
_It is exactly as I said: a trial. There are other Singularities besides this one. If you struggle this much here in Fuyuki, you might as well give up._
"Shut your damn mouth," Guardian said. A red flame flickered on his body before exploding.
"I can't... take it... anymore..."
The flames on Guardian's body were absorbed into his revolver-shaped Mystic Code. Then, Guardian spoke.
"Three shots."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
_Urgh!_
For the first time, an attack other than Excalibur wounded King Arthur's body. Because of the armor Okita had destroyed earlier, King Arthur currently had no protection on her upper body, so the damage went straight through.
Blood gushed from her abdomen. King Arthur protected her stomach with one arm.
"That guy..."
"Why didn't I use this sooner? If I used this from the start, King Arthur would have just dodged it. From what I've seen, she has good instincts. Against types like her, if I try to crush them simply, I'm the one who always ends up in danger. This is advice born from experience, so listen well."
Guardian spoke with a wink.
_You bastard..._
King Arthur glared at him. But Guardian wasn't just standing still either.
"My attacks are too weak to kill you. With those three shots, I'm almost out of mana. Normally, I should die here... but that's not going to happen. There's someone who's going to finish this for me."
_What..._
Guardian stepped aside. Behind where he had been standing stood Okita Souji, covered in blood and holding a broken blade.
"She's calling it! The finish!"
Guardian was coughing up blood while shouting about the finish. With the previous attack, Heracles had lost two lives. With ten lives remaining, Okita was determined to attack Heracles with everything she had.
First, she moved at high speed as soon as they started. When Heracles swung his greatsword horizontally, she leaned her upper body back while running to dodge it, then corrected her posture and slashed upward from below. Heracles' right thigh was deeply severed.
Heracles let out a roar. Without a moment's rest, Okita moved behind him, slashed his right calf, and then cut his waist twice in succession. Heracles struggled to catch her, but he couldn't grab the high-speed Okita Souji. The left arm he swung to catch her was shredded until his serratus anterior was a mess. In a very brief moment, his left arm had been slashed more than ten times.
"No matter how many times you come back to life, if I cut you, I can kill you."
This was the conclusion Okita had reached.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
She stabbed Heracles' upper body three times. Twice from the front and once from the back. Struck accurately in the chest, Heracles couldn't regain his senses. The moment a hole is made in the chest, the diaphragm can no longer function properly, and the lungs cannot expand or contract. As a result, Heracles couldn't breathe. No matter how much of a Heroic Spirit he was, he was still human, so being unable to breathe was a significant blow.
With no air in his lungs, he couldn't think straight and thrashed around before dying on the spot.
"Nine times left."
Okita didn't want to delay any longer. She intended to finish all nine lives right here. Heracles came back to life and tried to roar, but as soon as he stood, she moved at high speed behind him, slashed his back eight times, and the moment he turned around, she moved behind him again and pierced his heart.
Heracles died once more.
"Eight more times."
After counting the remaining number, she waited for Heracles to rise. Unlike before, Heracles attacked immediately. Okita widened the distance and fled into the forest.
Heracles followed her, swinging his greatsword wildly. However, Okita's speed was too fast, and Heracles lost sight of her. But she was nearby. While Heracles looked around, Okita, who had been hidden behind a tree, leaped quickly and took his head.
"Seven more times."
Despite being a Great Hero, Heracles couldn't catch Okita. The reason was simple: she was too fast. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Okita killed Heracles.
However, Okita, who had been physically weak from the start, knew she would collapse soon. She thought she would have to resolve this within the next three minutes to survive.
"I'll kill you once every ten seconds."
But life didn't go as planned. If things had gone as planned, Damascus would have escaped with the Director long ago, but hasn't he always been struggling in unimaginable situations?
Okita spent a whole minute on the next kill. This was because Heracles was building up resistance to her attacks every time he died.
Now, six lives remained.
Actually, only one life was left. Five lives had already been taken by Guardian and Cu Chulainn's brutal traps earlier. But Okita, who had no way of knowing that, started overexerting herself to take the remaining six lives. She intended to use her Noble Phantasm six times.
Splurt!
She vomited blood onto the ground. Her limit had arrived much faster than she had anticipated.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Both her hands were trembling. Damascus couldn't heal her now. Using Emergency Recovery could improve the situation, but how could an unconscious person use a Mystic Code?
Heracles struck Okita with his fist.
"Gah!"
Okita was sent flying about 30 meters. While down, she gripped her sword and tried to stand, but her body wouldn't listen. 'Weak Constitution'—that was a curse that had followed Okita since she was alive. A constitution that prevented her from doing what she needed to do. A curse that kept her from fully displaying her abilities. This continued to hold Okita back even as a Heroic Spirit.
Heracles walked slowly to finish her off. When only about 10 meters remained between him and Okita, the ground exploded as Heracles stepped on it, and for a very brief moment, he was launched into the air.
Now.
Okita didn't miss that moment and slashed Heracles' neck more than twenty times. Although she couldn't sever his head from his body, the twenty-plus sword strikes had no trouble cutting his carotid artery, and thus Heracles died from excessive bleeding. A fountain of blood erupted from his neck, and a moment later, Heracles died.
Okita stood in a daze for a moment. She had been fighting with her teeth clenched, thinking he had twelve lives, so she was stunned when he suddenly stayed dead.
"Eh?"
Okita let out a dumbfounded sound, but soon, drop by drop, blood began to fall to the ground. Blood poured down like rain. Okita just stood there, letting the rain hit her. When the rain stopped, she rubbed her face with her hand and swept her hair back.
"Phew..."
Okita picked up her broken blade and headed toward her Master.
"Ple... please wait just a little longer... Master, I'm coming."
Okita's only wish was for Damascus to simply be alive.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register