Author: me
Type-Moon (Nasuverse)
Chapter 11. Bitterness
"There are no hopeless situations. There are situations that don't suit you. " - one famous shinobi.
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A magical battle - like heroes from the legends Mages created and destroyed. They were constantly fighting and retreating, keeping their eyes on their adversary. Magical chains were heating up. Prana was boiling. The area around me was mangled, trees uprooted, the ground cracked, and the valley sprouted ravines.
The battlefield shook once more and the three mages collided with the deafening roar of magic and the crackling of the earth.
Sora bounced to his right the moment the Mage's hand shot in his direction. He slowed to a half-step, and threw a strange-looking parchment at the wizard, flying like a dagger as it struck the old Mage, paralyzing him with electricity.
At the same moment Kiritsug turned around, putting his hand with the gun far to the side to keep his balance, and threw a small bottle at the Magician, which broke on contact with the old man and exploded in red flames.
Sora ducked and dived into the smoke of that explosion, and in two leaps was in front of the Mage - and hit him. As hard as he could, knee to the groin, fist to the jaw, but when he felt something wrong, he bounced back. In the same second, the temperature around Mage dropped so low that the moisture in the air began to form ice crystals, but it didn't end there, Mage sang a short aria and called out a sea of flame that exploded in all directions. The sudden change in pressure added explosions to the fire, and the shockwave knocked out Kiritsuga and Sora.
Sora landed on his feet with a nimble, catlike movement. Kiritsuga, on the other hand, did not have time to regroup because of his many wounds and hit the ground flat, blood spurting from his mouth and blackening his eyes.
The old warlock looked ragged, white braids falling over his dirty face, hands sticking out of frayed sleeves whiter than snow.
- You are an incredibly talented Mage, boy. How many runes have you used? Your skill at Power Flow and Transfer is astounding, isn't it? And your Displacement Magic, if you had more experience, would be stronger than mine. Prana floated above him, forming an intricate magical circle. - What a pity you will die at such a young age. If you die, no one will ever know the truth, your destiny as a great Wizard will end, and no one will ever know your name. But you, despite all this, do not want to retreat. If things weren't so hopeless, I would feel something like admiration.
Sora approached ten paces. He knew that, despite his praise, the Mage was exhausted and was waiting for the chance to strike with his sorcery for sure. Looking back, Kiritsugu was already up, limping behind Sora. Checking his pockets, he noticed bitterly that there was only one explosive bottle left.
None of them were spared. Everyone was pushed to the limit. Some had wounded bodies, some had already begun to overheat their Magical Chains. But did it matter? Right now, no. Like madmen, they rushed toward the Mage.
Kiritsuga slid past Sora, using Magic [Double Acceleration], suddenly knives appeared in his hands. White as a bone. A moment later, they were flying at the mage, zigzagging and changing their trajectory. The mage, as if he hadn't noticed, finished his magic circle, and the world seemed to shake.
"Earth!" - was Sora's immediate conclusion. Having seen dozens of different Magias today, he memorized their magic formulas and "auras. The magic that the old man applied had the pattern of the formula for changing the Earth Element.
As if he were in a berserk state, Sora pushed his Magic Circuits to their maximum. Steam escaped from his body, and blue, mystical lines glowed on his skin. The speed at which he activated [Displacement] was astounding, just a moment and the ground within a five meter radius below him and Kiritsugu leveled out, and in the next instant stone spikes shot out of the ground. Like a forest, they sprawled in every direction. Tall, heavy, needle-like spikes were everywhere except where Sora and Kiritsugu stood.
Noticing what his son had done, Kiritsugu couldn't keep up, applying [Triple Acceleration], he disappeared from sight, and the next second an explosion was heard followed by a scream of agony.
As they made their way out of the affected area of the Old Alchemist's, Sora saw the scale of this spell, a fifty-meter area was dotted with stone spikes. It was astounding. Once at the spot where, the Mage had activated this spell, Sora noticed his father, he looked even worse, a couple more applications of Magic and he would collapse from exhaustion.
The old Mage stood at a distance, his condition not good. His robe was tattered, his hands burnt to a crust, his face sooty and bloody. When he saw Sora, he grinned madly.
- You! All because of you! You, you filthy, insolent boy! If anyone should pay me in death, it's you!" The air around him fogged a little, the snow began to melt a few paces away, and on his open shoulder, the Magic Emblem glowed.
- Jubstaheit, - Kiritsugu called out to him. - Don't do that, we'll leave!
- Don't you dare talk to me, puppy, I'm going to kill that boy tonight, no matter what it costs me.
- You know what it will cost you. Any Magic recorded in the Coat of Arms is terrifyingly powerful, but can you withstand it? And if you can, what about your Magical Chains?
- I'm an Alchemist, I'll get over it.
- You're the head of the Einzbern family, I think such a loss is worth more than our paltry souls.
- The Mage Killer decided to talk to me about the value of souls? No. I don't care. I know your kind. You will come for revenge. And then, the possible loss of the Chains will be the least I have to pay.
- We'll sign the Geis.
Those three words. The Old Mage froze. In Lunar World, only a madman would sign the Geis of his own free will. Though Kiritsugu is not what you would call normal.
- Do you value that boy's life that much?
- We lost.
Without asking any more questions, he materialized the contract in front of him, the Mage smiling as if he had won the coveted prize. Watching the whole situation, Sora managed to pace himself several times, cussing and humbling himself. Seeing his father offer such a bargain gave him a taste of the bitterness of defeat. It seemed to be going so well, they had almost made it, but in this world complacency sometimes costs lives.
Looking at his father, Sora noticed a strange look in Kiritsugu's eyes, and then seeing him clutch his hand in his pocket, Sora began to guess his father's plan.
Kiritsugu walked toward Mage calmly, as if admitting defeat. The distance between them was shrinking. Fifteen meters, ten, five. Standing a meter apart, the old man spoke.
- You know where to sign.
If the old Mage hadn't been so stressed, he would have suspected something wrong. The Mage Killer surrenders? In what world is that? But fortunately for the father-son pair, the Mage was too much smitten with Sora, and was watching him, far more than Kiritsugu. Which was a huge mistake on his part. The Mage assassin took his hand out of his pocket, holding something strange in his palm. Only now did the Mage turn his attention to it, but it was too late. With the push of a button, the dynamite planted along the barrier exploded, raising a pillar of earth and sand.
Turning on his heel, Kiritsugu kicked Mage in the stomach, causing him to bend in half and fly away in the direction of the explosion. After that, he threw three smoke bombs and darted off in the other direction.
- Let's go!
Without saying anything, Sora followed his father. They rushed into the woods, trying to leave as little trace as possible. As they ran past the trees, everyone thought the same thing-"We're screwed!
Walking through the woods one could occasionally see drops of blood on the snow, as if they had fallen from the sky, since there was no sign of who had left them. Looking around, there were aspen trees with no leaves around, the snow lay on their bare branches, gleaming in the sunlight.
After the [Strengthening] subsided, Sora felt unprecedented weakness. The adrenaline in his blood was running low, and the pain of his wounds was giving out. But even he was dragging his father on his back. Kiritsugu looked like the living dead. Pale skin, black bags under his eyes, sunken cheeks. Hands and face smeared with blood.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Old man don't die." - Sora kept repeating.
He had already healed his wounds, but this battle had caused Kiritsugu damage, far more serious. His life energy was running low. Magical Chains were no longer useful. The life of the Mage Killer ended in this battle. And Kiritsugu Emiya's life would not last more than a week.
- This is fucked up.
- I agree. - Kiritsugu answered in a weak voice.
- Father! We must try to use Avalon.
- No. You know it only manifests its abilities in the hands of its true owner.
- But... ether. The ether will have some effect. It should help you.
- Silly boy, I know what I'm talking about. - The smile he gave Kiritsugu was reassuring. - Sometimes you have to listen to your old man.
- But you are dying!
- Everyone is dying.
- But you, - Kiritsugu interrupted him before he could finish.
- So am I. Get in the car, we have to get out of this filthy place.
It was a day Sora would remember for the rest of his life. The first fight. His first defeat. The realization of his father's imminent demise. But most importantly, he realized his father had a death wish. The most selfish, the most ruthless desire a man can have.