Dawnbreaker's light illuminated the dark night, its razor ship edge falling down onto the servant I had under my grasp. His widened eyes revealing the utter surprise at having found himself in this position. No doubt a Servant would have never expected a 'Master' to get the better of them like this, even if they were lackadaisical in their approach.
He muffled something under my hand that was grasped firmly around his mouth, my muscles tensing to keep him on the ground. I had a better position in this brief contest of strength, and I was able to hold him down as Dawnbreaker came down.
A quick jab by him towards my face was only met by me quickly moving my head to the side. He was in no spot to throw a proper punch either. He growled under my grip as Dawnbreaker touched his armor, pushing through the magical steel that was his Servant Armament and struck true…..is what I would like to say, but my sword would no longer budge even after puncturing through his armor.
I blinked, looking at my sword, then the fuming Servant. A passive Noble Phantasm...huh, that's unfortunate. "Errors have been made."
His eyes twitched in anger, and I could make out a snarl as the magical energy around him visibly exploded.
"Master!" Berserker called out as I was already a dozen feet away. I turned to see her deflecting several arrows, barely paying Archer any attention, much to the feline Servant's annoyance.
"Saber." I still decided to play that little joke as long as I could. "If any other servant activates a Noble Phantasm, immediately use yours on their Master." I pointed towards Shirou who was watching off to the side.
He seemed a bit frail at first glance, but my instincts were telling me he didn't join in not because he couldn't but because he didn't want to.
Normally, I would relay information like that over the mental link, but I wanted them to know. Even Shirou frowned at my command, so it would at least serve its purpose.
"You!" The Rider servant stood back up, the dust around him clearing as he flicked some dirt off his silver armor.
"Sup." I greeted, acting as if he was no one in my eyes. I was making some guesses that he was one to get riled up easily, which should be to my benefit. Despite what had just happened, he wasn't an opponent I could take lightly. And his defenses did give me pause for concern, I had to figure out the limitations or his identity.
Despite having quite a bit of my former self's memories' I didn't have an encyclopedic knowledge of every servant and their looks. I knew most legends and what not, but I couldn't identify most by appearances, but I was able to narrow the list down exponentially by our first encounter.
"Bastard." Rider growled, holding his hand out, his spear erupting in magical energy and jutting back into his hand from where it sat on the ground a few feet away. "I was gonna go easy on you, make it as painless as possible."
I call bullshit!
Can everyone do that!? Why was it so hard for me to learn!
"Calm down, princess. It isn't like you haven't had another man stab you with his 'sword' before." I grinned. "Speaking of, want to give me a very detailed explanation on how you were able to no-sell my sword from piercing you?"
"Oh, sure." His expression shifted, a nonchalant smile on his face, spear swinging over his shoulder.
"Wait, really?"
"Haha. No." His eyes narrowed and the ground below him exploded at his steps, a whirlwind kicked up at his movements.
It was my turn to be surprised, a very sharp spear only inches away from my eye.
What insane speed.
My Aura flared up and lightning crackled across my skin, I jerked my head to the side and felt a chunk of aura taken as his spear passed by my head. I thought I had a moment to regain myself, but there were a half a dozen more spears covering my vision.
I couldn't help but laugh. He completely abandoned the idea of 'catching' me, each of these was meant to take my life. I force myself to swing my sword, to meet each one even if I was barely to catch them all in time, either deflecting them just enough, or dodging by a narrow margin.
He had me on the back foot completely with this obscene speed of his. It was either start losing ground, or reveal some of my cards, and I don't think he's even hitting his top gear right now.
With a shout, I knocked his spear away with a full swing, as if he found an opening, his speed increased by an entire fold, and its sharp tip found my face again.
There was a cheeky smile on his face, as if to tell me I lost.
Instead of a 'desperate' attempt to block or dodge, I took a deep breath.
"FUS ROH DAH" My shout bellowed out; the invisible force rippled the very space infront of me.
The Servant's spear couldn't move forward an inch and he was swept up, blown back into the church behind him, collapsing the side wall.
"Rider, you idiot, stop playing around!" A shout grabbed my attention as I looked to the side. Archer had a line of blood down her chest as she managed to get away from my Berserker, a little wounded.
"Your opponent is me." Berserker swung her sword and a burst of purple lightning shot out in the direction of the Archer servant.
Archer leapt up into the air, firing off more arrows, dancing around the surroundings to evade more lightning strikes.
"Hahaha, you bastard." Rider finally walked out of the semi-destroyed church, a grin on his face. "Were those Divine Words? I didn't think something like that existed anymore."
Divine Words, weren't those predominantly used over in Greece during the Age of Gods?
"And you're still unharmed." I clicked my tongue.
"Rider stop playing." Shirou spoke up from the side, he didn't look all too pleased that the Church was ruined.
Rider shot him a look of clear annoyance. "You're not my master." His lips thinned. "Besides, it's not like I can capture this guy." He jabbed his thumb towards me. "It's gonna be either killing him or nothing, boss man."
Shirou let out a sigh. "Fine, deal with him then."
Really curious what's gotten going on with him to want to remove me so quickly.
"Well, you heard him." Rider turned his attention back at me. "I'm surprised, I didn't expect anyone of this caliber to exist anymore."
"I drink plenty of milk." I grinned, gripping Dawnbreaker tight.
"I'm not one for words, usually. I mostly like to just fight, everything else isn't important, but I'm curious." He cracked his neck and tapped his boots against the ground. "Are you really human?" His eyes narrowed.
"My mom was human." I rested my sword on my shoulder. "Though, I don't think you're one to throw stones. Glass houses and all that."
"Haha, can you tell that much?" He ran a hand through his hair. "You definitely don't' have any divinity though."
"Well, I was taking a shot in the dark, thanks for confirming my suspicions." I smirked.
Rider let out a grunt in annoyance. "This is why I hate fighting you wordy types, always trying to scheme something."
And his comment about me 'definitely' not having divinity….curious. I could put money on his 'armor' correlating to divinity in some aspect. Well, putting all the pieces together, I think I can guess who he is. "Too late for regrets, I know your true name now."
Rider raised an eyebrow.
"That kind of skill, not fully human, and a passive defense I can't penetrate? There's only one person I can think of with those characteristics."
Rider just let out a sigh, but looked pleased all the same. "I guess it'll make it more interesting, and I can't help how famous I am." He held out his arms with a 'what can I do' expression.
"You're Siegfried." I declared.
He wasn't.
Rider paused, staring at me. "What…?"
"You're Siegfried. I have seen through your identity."
"I'm not Siegfried." He looked rather annoyed.
"Enough, your lies won't work on me. Who else could have such defenses like that, why you could call them the scales of a dragon."
"I'm not Siegfried" Rider said more adamantly, a subtle growl encasing his words.
"Come, Wandering Knight of the Netherlands, face me." I held my sword up.
[Why are you calling him Siegfried, he's clearly Achilles.]
Because I find it hilarious.
[Carry on then.]
"I'm going to stab you. I don't know when I'll stop." His expression turned dark.
"Hmph, you can try. I know your weakness now; I just have to find the spot on your back." I raised my sword leveled with him.
"Die." He said without much emotion, disappearing from the spot he was in.
My Aura pulsed, as there was now a Spear trying to push through it into my Stomach. I looked down, then up at the face infront of mine, a sneer of anger only inches away from my eyes.
How fucking fast is he?
It was practically instantaneous.
He didn't seem to stop, his free hand reeling back, clench fist coming for my face.
{Berserker} I called out through our link and my servant came barreling towards Rider like a force of nature. The Rider Servant, being as fast as he was, was able to intercept my servant's blade, but his arms slightly buckled.
I waived my hand in the air, summoning several Rune Circles, firing off bolts of lighting at an incoming hale of arrows from the Archer servant who had been doing a good job of keeping Berserker occupied.
"You can actually wound me!" Rider shouted in joy, a small bit of blood dripping down his arm as I turned my head for a moment to catch the last moment of their brief exchange. Rider just continued to cackle as they traded blows.
I was right, divinity is the key to getting around his 'armor', though I don't know the true limits.
{Berserker, get ready, we're going to retreat.}
It wasn't an idea situation at the moment, I wanted to regroup to get a better understanding of what's going on.
{I believe there are several more servants waiting around us, do you have a plan?} She asked.
Well, good enough reason as any to leg it. I was confident to take on Rider, maybe even Archer added on by myself, but several more Servants with Noble Phantasms? I wasn't suicidal.
{I do, wait for my signal.} I mentally nodded, putting Dawnbreaker away and taking out Mirage. There was no point in hiding Mirage since I would be using it more often.
"One Hundred Birds." I swung out my sword, the lightning-infused Sword Phantoms filling the space between me and Archer, as she quickly jumped off her sniping position to avoid my attack, giving me a moments reprieve.
"It's pretty unfair that your master isn't participating, Rider." I took out one of the little gifts that Jinn gave me. "I wouldn't want to leave anyone out." I pivoted and threw it towards Shirou.
Shirou wasted no time taking out a Black Key, I felt a little shiver down my spine as the conceptual armament of the Church was actualized. A holy weapon that could definitely give me a bad time. Why did this guy give me a worse feeling than Rider?
He threw the sword-dagger-rapier towards the Dust Bomb I had thrown a moment prior.
"NO, YOU FOOL." A new voice called out, a servant materializing to grab Shirou. A woman with long black hair and an elegant dress...I was not staring at her extremely cute pointy ears.
As soon as the Black Key made contact with the dust bomb, it exploded out in a burst of pure Ice. The element basically given form and compressed down, then further enhanced and turned into a bomb.
{Now.} I called out as Berserker Astralized and Rider turn to look, dumbfounded.
"Later, Siegfried."
I sliced through the air and jumped through a portal while everyone was distracted, heading back to our initial safe house, leaving behind a massive, jutted sphere of ice that had almost instantaneously formed at the point of contact. I was saddened that I couldn't take the time to truly appreciate Jinn's hard work.
***
"Are you hurt anywhere!?" Berserker was immediately on me, looking for any kind of wound.
"I'm fine." I grumbled out, letting her inspect me. It was strange how quickly she went from combat mode to…..doting 'mother'. "More importantly, we should go over what happened." I waved my hand, weaving an illusion in the air to show the images of everyone we had just met.
"Shirou, the Master, though he doesn't appear to be the Master of Rider or Archer. Definitely some strange things going on here." It wasn't particularly hard to guess what was truly going on and why he wanted to capture me. "What did you think of Archer?"
"I would have defeated her, given more time. I feared if I pressed her too quickly, she may have taken the battle into the city." Berserker stated. "I do not believe she is a Youkai, but I don't know who she is. There have been many women in history with archery skills like she displayed."
"Yeah, and I can't think of any 'cat girls' off the top of my head like that." I agreed with her thoughts. "Rider is Achilles." I said plainly.
Berserker blinked at me. "Why were you calling him Siegfried?"
"To rile him up. He seemed like the type to tunnel vision when angry." I shrugged.
I also thought it was funny.
"That was very dangerous, what you did. Fighting a servant all by yourself." She crossed her arms, like she was chastising me.
"I was fine." I waived off her concerns. "I could take him if we kept going." I reassured her, though she still looked worried.
Well, he wasn't either. I doubt anyone there was putting all their cards on the table, too much to lose this early on without any kind of decisive victory in view.
Admittedly, my Aura was running low. Anymore and It would have burst. His last attack was very – very fast and I did not anticipate it at all. Something I'll have to pay attention to in the future.
I had a handle on the situation, even though I retreated quickly, I didn't feel too threatened at that moment. There were clearly more Servants around, but it was obvious that the Red faction was trying their best to deal with us without taking any loses. With us not allying with them they were already down one servant, if we managed to even take one with us, in their eyes, they would be down two then. It was in their best interest to slowly wear us down with their other Servants stepping in if it looked bad.
They also couldn't recklessly use their Noble Phantasms since I very vocally gave Berserker a command to go all out on Shirou if anyone used theirs. That should have also given them pause for concern.
Adding onto all of that, who knows if anyone else was peeking. An enemy Assassin, a Magus that specializes in information gathering, or even an expert Caster on the other side. It was one of the reasons I wanted to stay in the open. It hurt them as the greater 'faction' to reveal their cards than it was for me as a 'singular' individual.
I closed my eyes for a moment to check on Sir Wiggles, he was already almost back, having escaped as the fighting started.
Good boy.
With a thought, I created some Illusions into the air, weaving them to based on my memories of the people we had just fought. Little screens that showed the Servants and Shirou.
"We did good." I stated, tapping my chin. "The situation wasn't as I would have preferred, but we made out with some valuable information." I pointed towards the 'screens'. "Three servants identified, as well as the mastermind behind the Red Faction. We have Rider's true name, which is also good, so we know his weakness.
"Was this the servant who appeared at the end?" Berserker was pointing towards the woman.
"Yup, I'm guessing Assassin or Caster." I nodded. "Though I'm leaning towards caster since she was able to perceive the threat of my bomb that quickly." What a shame, it could have done some damage if she didn't interfere, though I feel like he still received a little bit of my gift.
"Did you approach them knowing we would fight?" She looked at me.
"It was a coin flip, if I were to be honest. A team fight like this, with a guaranteed fight once a single side wins? It was basically asking for someone to take control right off the bat."
While I would have loved to have taken Rider out in a surprise attack, it was still to my benefit that Red didn't lose too much strength yet. They would be useful in my plans.
On a side note. "That lightning of yours, it was very beautiful." I was the teeniest bit jealous of hers.
"Kya~ You're so sweet." She grabbed me again, something that was quickly becoming normal. "Mommy is going to spoil you."
Oh, well, I can take a moment to enjoy my face being pushed between a pair of magnificent breasts.
***
Kind of tradition for the first fight of every grail war to just be a probe. To answer some questions, Dawnbreaker is not a Divine Construct. Explained this before. Being created by a 'god' does not make something a Divine Construct. It's a bit of a misnomer because even Excalibur, a creation of the Fae, is a Divine Construct. You can just consider the term to mean anything that can't be attained by mortal craft. Dawnbreaker was created by Meridia, but it was created with the intent to be wielded by Mortals.
Things will start escalating when Noble Phantasms are thrown around.
Anyways, if you want to read 7 chapter ahead or support me, visit my pat.reon.com/astoryforone. A wild Mordred recently appeared.