Fate/Blackened Sugar

[] Run. You can still make it. You have to keep Manaka from doing something unbelievably stupid.

The light was gathering at the top of the castle. That girl... Manaka was really driving you up the wall this time. She wasn't about to give you any breaks or chances, was she? No, she's trying to raise the tension. That was what she was doing, she didn't want you to end idling too long here. She wanted her confrontation when she wanted it.

Always demanding, always sitting on her high horse, she's nothing but a spoiled brat with too much power in her body to know what to do with it. You needed to get to her and fast but... You hesitated. One look at Assassin you couldn't help but hesitate but she shook her head once and you knew that you had to go.

She'll catch up.

You took off, running towards the Blackened as Chiyome kept up with you. You etched a series of runes which reversed gravity for you, allowing you to leap higher than you normally would even with reinforced legs. The Blackened aimed for you but Assassin was close enough to launch an attack, forcing him to stand his ground and catch her sword.

You fired off shards of glass toward the Blackened's back and forced him to negate them with his own attack. Assassin inched closer and was able to shatter the inferior barrier he managed to set up haphazardly. You didn't look back and simply ran. You were charging straight for the castle all by yourself. Rushing through the amusement park, you were only fixated on getting to the castle as fast as you could.

The Light of the Grail continued to shine but showed no intention of going off. Was she waiting? She had to be. Manaka was a demanding, selfish and childish girl and you had experience with someone like that. She demanded your presence so you can't afford to waste her time. Not that you planned on wasting your own.

Your head was throbbing from the pain of using your Mystic Eye, the adrenaline following each use was fading away.

Ophelia did warn you not to rely on it and now you've gone ahead and used it a couple of times. It was limited but overuse will definitely lead to your death. You smiled.

Maybe this was why you fought these wars.

It was the only moment you truly felt alive, fighting past the memories and the grief, you looked ahead and charged straight for the castle. You reached the lowered gate and crossed the moat, stomping on the ground to see that it was filled with mud. Black mud, the same mud you saw the Beast was discharging.

Running inside the Castle, you saw that the interior was filled with a dreadful air of malevolence. It was powerful, strong enough to drain the lifeforce from a normal person. You ran through it, seeing the Evil Spirits that had been drawn to this place. Souls of the Malevolent and twisted stood in your path before rushing towards you.

You responded by holding out your hand and drawing runes, flushing the lobby with light which kept the advance of the spirits while you summoned your familiars to get them. Light crackled as your circuits burned on your skin, runes filling your body as you blew apart ghosts in our advance. Black mud began to bubble and arise into shadows.

They lunged down at you while you swept your hand before you and created a Bounded Field which surrounded you. Inscribing properties into a single spell, you watched the Shadows clawed at your barrier trying to break through. You gasped as the weight which surrounded your Bounded Field forced you down to your knees.

You couldn't see beyond their ghastly forms, your vision was being swallowed by the malice of these souls. You gasped as you held out your hand.

"Cliffs at the Shores of World's End..." You managed to spit out as you held up your palm, "I stand against Eternity. I am the Rock unmoved by Time's waves..!"

A spark crackled before your palm. Your circuits glowing bright as the wall of malicious souls sought to drain you dry. They hammered against the safe space you created, cracks appearing. You looked up and saw Manaka looking down at you as the shadows climbed over one another and pressed down on your barrier.

You grit your teeth and stood up, "Strike me and feel retribution. Strike me and be destroyed!"

Your voice began to echo as you mustered your strength and faced the wall of malice weighing down on you. You felt your circuits flare up as you let out a breath, "Manifest oh shield of Wisdom! Shelter me from my enemies! AEGIS SUPREMA!!!"

A brilliant golden shield burst on all sides of you, smashed right into the wall of shadows and bringing them down. You caught your breath as you grabbed hold of one of the floating shields and swinging it down. You crushed a Shadow before the others lunged at you. You turned and smacked them with your shield as you faced Manaka at the top of the stairs.

You dashed upwards as her shadows gathered around her and flew towards you. You braced yourself as you made a sharp evasion to the right before ducking another, bringing up your shield to smash into the next one. Aegis cracked before the next shadow shattered the shield in your forearm completely.

"NEXT!" you snapped as you called the second of your four shields.

It shined with the same intensity before you watched Manaka walk away while the rest of her shadows rained down on you. You smashed and deflected them aside as your shield became worn and showed cracks. You caught your breath and got to the top and watched a creature born from the mud rise up to meet you.

It swung down its arm and forced you to flip to the side, sliding beneath its second swing as it charged straight at you. You gathered the remaining three shields and created a layered defense which allowed you to take the brunt of the blow.

"Shit, shit, shit!" you gasped as you held it back.

Looking up, you pressed the shields against the mud creature before overloading each of them, having them explode. Each shield broke apart right in front of you, erupting into a blast of golden light which took the entire chunk of the mud creature with it. You were thrown back and sent tumbling as your arm went numb.

Your entire body ached and you nearly lost the strength to even roll to your side. You didn't give up and just dragged yourself back to your feet.

You were looking at the double doors leading to the Throne Room or rather the rundown attraction that led to it. You started walking and pressed your hand on the door before you, pushing it open to reveal a wide and open hall. You could see the light of the Grail just up ahead of you. Waiting for you in this hall was a lone girl.

She had her back turned to you as you came to a halt, breathing heavily. Manaka stared at you with a smirk on her lips as you tried recomposing yourself. You breathed in and let out a sigh as you met her gaze. You moved to approach her as she swept her hand through the air and had shadows emerge from the black corruption which spread from her feet.

However compared to the first time you met her, your thoughts were unclouded by the thought of winning or surviving. You simply had a job to do.

You swept your hand through the air as well and called upon the golden shields which accompanied you before.

The two of you stared at one another as the chamber slowly darkened. The light from the nearby lamps began to dim as you stood your ground. You weren't afraid, not of her. You knew her, you knew how she ticked and you had done every bit of preparation to get to this point.

"This duel, I've been waiting for it," Manaka declared as her Magical Power began to rise, her eyes glimmering with untold might, "After all I've put you through, it's time to pluck the fruit you've become."

"Time to end this game, Manaka," you told her as the lights died out and you were enveloped in pure darkness. Only the light that came from your Shields brought illumination in your view alongside the light of annihilation which surrounded Manaka.

"All by yourself? Aren't you a bit confident?" Manaka sneered.

"I don't hate you," you told her.

Manaka blinked as she was caught off guard by your words.

"What?" Manaka asked.

"Even after everything you've done, I don't hate you. I don't like you either," you replied as you felt the ground shift underneath your feet. You knew what it was but you ignored it, "Beast of Revelation and all, it's not all too impressive, really."

Manaka stared at you in silence as you realized that the transfer was a success, you were no longer in the grand chamber before.

"I've fought my fair share of wars. Ten Years of fighting and I've fought all manner of people. Magi with principles and dreams, with desires and cruelty, they're a colorful bunch. And I've felled every last one of them," you told her as you kept your eyes on her, "But you? You're different. You will be different. You may think this is some sort of grand duel between the two of us, that may be how it looks like to you... But to me?"

You took a step forward to which Manaka reacted by firing a javelin of darkness at you, only for one of your shields to automatically catch it.

"You're just another person in my way," you told her in a cold tone.

Manaka's expression turned sour as she held up her hand and you watched the creature behind her emerge. It was just as monstrous as the last time you saw it. You felt your knees buckling just from breathing the same air as it did and you met it thrice now. You held your chest as you watched the scarlet dragon covered in black mud extend the seven heads it had upon its grotesque form.

Spreading bat-like wings, it towered Manaka and loomed over you.

"You want a duel, Manaka? You'll have to learn to say please," you smirked as you placed a hand between your lips.

One of the Draconic Heads howled and lunged downwards and closed in on you. It scraped by your shield and shattered it in one go. You felt the brunt of the blow as if you had been struck by a sledgehammer. Your shield shattered and fragments of it flew through the air but you stomped on the ground and caught yourself.

"Do you intend to play around?" Manaka asked with a deadly serious voice.

"I'm just doing as you did. Annoying, isn't it?" you chuckled as you raised your remaining three shields, "Still, I won't be playing your game. I'm playing my own."

You took a step forward and another Dragon head descended on you and you caught it with your remaining Aegis, the Beast easily shattering it and blowing you back. You didn't fall and you simply kept yourself standing, letting magical energy flow through your body as you re-summoned your shields.

You walked again, retracing your steps and walking past the point you had been on.

"Aren't you going to attack? Isn't that why you got that Eye from that woman? To get a chance at winning?" Manaka asked you as she glared your way.

You simply smiled.

You took a step forward and another Dragon Head came crashing down on you. You defended against the blow but this time you didn't go flying. You stood your ground as your shields rained all around you.

"Aegis," you called once more and the shields returned.

Giving Manaka a firm look, you took another step forward. More Dragon Heads flew towards you but you endured and watched your shields shatter past you. Taking a deep breath, you summoned your shields once more and prepared yourself.


[] Take another step forward. Keep walking towards her.
[] Use your Command Seal. Call Assassin.
[] Summon Faux Pandora... For one Final Curse.
[] Relinquish: 3 Year of your Life. Call upon a Cursed Shield which will protect you in exchange for blood.

[] Take another step forward. Keep walking towards her.

You took one more step forward.



The Draconic heads howled all at once, causing your shields to waver as they descended. However you took out a gemstone from your pocket and crushed it open, filling the shields with the necessary enhancement to remain aloft. You braced yourself as the impact of the Dragons passing forced you down your knees.

Keeping one eye open, you watched Manaka look down on you. You got up and took a step forward and manifested another shield. Turning to the side you watched as a Dragon came rushing down. You jumped and rolled forward and weaved to avoid a second dragon head from biting your remaining arm. You gasped and took the next forward as three Dragon Heads roared to unleash a flood of black mud towards you.

Drawing several runes, you reversed gravity before you and evaded by throwing yourself the air.

The Seven Heads of the Beast howled and rushed at you, knocking you out of the air and slamming you down into the ground. Blood flew out of your mouth as your entire body ached. Runes lit up on your flesh as you forced yourself on your feet.

"AEGIS!" you roared as you continued your approach.

"Why won't you fight?!" Manaka roared back at you as she set fire to the air and turned it to color of her eyes. Blasts of powerful energy flew past you as she missed your broken form.

You stood your ground as the ground was blasted behind you.

One of the Beast's Head descended to crush you but Manaka instinctively tugged her hand and forced it to graze your shield. You were thrown to the side but you slid to a halt and continued walking towards her. Manaka's fingertips crackled with energy as she held it towards you. She fired and you gathered your four shields to take the brunt of her blow.

She shattered three of your golden shields before she held up her hand to fire off a shadow.

You canceled the last Shield and weaved beneath it, taking three more steps towards her. Manaka grit her teeth as the Beast howled to descend upon you with the force of a coming surge of water. They slithered through the air and bared their maws. You stood alone before them but Manaka twitched her hand and forced them to miss again.

Magic Circles began to rotate behind Manaka as she began casting. You braced yourself and opened your Mystic Eye, culling the possibility of her spell going off. She glanced at it and clicked her tongue, a smile curling upon her lips as she spread her arms.

"That's it! Fight back! Fight back or you'll die!" Manaka cheered as you watched the air open up with more Magic Circles as the Beasts roared.

You simply kept your gaze on her and used the Eye once more, culling the magic circles from firing off. You watched as a Dragon head swept in with its maw opening to crush you. Bringing your shields forward, the Dragon crushed all four of them with ease. You managed to get through the impact site and keep moving.

Manaka held out her hand and the Beast reacted. Reinforcing your legs, you dashed forward. You dodged and weaved past the Beasts before holding one Aegis in your arm as you took blow after blow. You etched a Rune on your chest as one of Chiyome's snakes slithered beneath your clothes. Manaka smiled as she summoned two shifting crystals which exploded shards in your direction.

You saw them coming as you smacked and deflected each one while detonating the ground before you. This launched you to the air and evaded a Dragon head from smashing into you. You enhanced gravity with a rune and pulled yourself towards Manaka as she launched her Beast towards you. You used your shield as they grazed and went past you, your shield shattering as you dived towards her.

Manaka smiled as she held up her hand and fired off a crimson spear from behind her.

You braced yourself before you shut your eye and canceled your shields. Manaka's eyes widened as the spear flew straight for your heart as you smiled at her.

STAB

.....
....
...

Hans was dead.

Manaka's eyes widened as she was left watching the only man she found interesting besides her Prince die before her eyes. Even as the crimson spear pierced his body he kept that smile on his lips. A smile of defiance in which he kept till the end, his eyes was looking at her, not with hatred or jealousy but one of understanding.

And Manaka...

She looked through the Root, finding possibilities that led to this moment all the same. Death, she found him crushed by a Dragon head. Death, she found him blown apart by her spells. Death, she found him a ruined stain from one of her earlier attacks. Manaka saw the man's death as inevitable and he had managed to distract her enough to keep her from seeing this.

Was this his plan? But she... Wanted more.

She wanted more out of him. She wanted...

The Beast howled behind her and lunged forward just as the body of the dead man in the air... Turned into a Serpent, a black Serpent.

From the smoke and debris emerged Hans as he ran towards her. He was close... So close.

Did he trick her again? Manaka watched as one of the Dragon Heads descended upon him from above but Hans was able to evade to the side. Manaka had her arm up again as she prepared to fire another spell.

"Fight back..." she whispered.

Hans kept his eye on her as he approached.

"Fight back!" Manaka screamed as she unleashed her Spell, only for Hans to cull it with his Mystic Eye. Her body tensed, he was too close for her to cast another projectile at him. Barriers, she had to make a barrier-

The Beast screamed and rushed the man to protect her.

"NO!" Manaka roared as she tugged her hand, driving her own Beast down but then Hans managed to reach her.

.....
....
...

You managed to run up to Manaka through certain death as she summoned a crystal shard to fall from above. You wielded Aegis and took the brunt of the blow, only for her to weave writhing fire but you canceled that out with your eye once again. Only Three left... You could feel it... Your body was trying to reject the Mystic Eye.

You managed to take the last three steps as Manaka looked up at you.

You reached out towards her as metal spikes erupted on the ground to graze your side. You reached out and clenched your hand into a fist, you then brought it down and lightly knocked her on the head. Manaka gasped in pain as she instinctively held her head.

"Go home," you told her.

She looked at you with surprised eyes before you knelt before her, holding your side. Manaka continued to stare at you as she gave you a blank expression. You managed a smile before speaking once more.

"You're in the way, think you can step aside?" you asked calmly as you held your bleeding abdomen.

"Why... Would you deny me? You could have called Assassin, you could have burned your life in a blaze of glory, you could have endured and suffered to buy time for your betters to save you... Why? Why would you be so cruel as to give me this boring outcome?" Manaka questioned as she gave you an irritated look.

"The outcome may be boring but... What about the lead up?" you asked her in return, "Did I keep you at the edge of your seat?"

"You..!" Manaka grit her teeth but you simply stood up.

"I'm not a good Magus, but I guess I'm a good entertainer. Winning Wars and surviving isn't done by heroes. They're won by scumbag like me that dance to the tune of others right until it truly matters," you told her with a smirk, "You didn't kill me. You let me dance... And I kept you entertained right until the very end while you hoped to see if I would do something interesting."

You then placed a hand on her shoulder as she lowered her head.

"You're... a Horrible Man, Hans," Manaka declared as she moved your hand away from her.

"Like I said... Go home. Show's over," you told her as you sighed.

Manaka closed her eyes before lifting her hand, only for a warm gust of wind to blow past you. Your fatigue and exhaustion ebbed away while your wounds and pain were healed as well.

"My final gifts. I learned a lot in my trip here," Manaka said as she glanced at you, "With this, I should be able to take my Prince's hand. When I rule my old world, I'll come again to meet you when I'm Queen. Maybe you can be the Merlin of our Camelot?"

"Are you going to be up to some evil shit again?" you asked with a frown.

"Maybe," Manaka mused.

"No thanks. It's not my kind of scene. I don't care what you do with your world as long as you keep your hands off mine. It's your funeral," you told her in a dry tone.

Manaka closed her eyes and sighed, "Right. Perhaps I could do things differently. Still, it was fun, Hans Derrinsmith. What kind of ending will your story have? Will it be a happy one or a tragedy?"

You turned and glared at her.

"Be careful, a red spear might ultimately kill you," Manaka warned as she held her hands behind her back.

Light began to escape her body as she smiled your way. Her body began to glow before her blue eyes turned brown, widening as she fell forward and forcing you to catch her. The girl fell into your waiting arm before you looked to see her Soul be pulled out of your world... However.

"A red spear, huh? Guess that means I've got a chance," you said as you looked up at the rampaging Beast howling before you, enraged and out of control. You set down the girl's body and held up your hand, "I'm not dying here... WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG?! COME ON, ASSASSIN!"

The darkness cracked and the Bounded Field you were trapped in shattered. From above a hole was punched through the sky, light came within, the light of the moon cast its rays down on you as Assassin made her descent. Wielding her blue sword in hand, she dived downwards and unleashed the a gargantuan serpent to come down with her.

It sunk its fangs on one of the Beast's heads as she managed to cut one with her blue sword and land directly before you. The Beast ripped apart her familiar as Assassin stood before you.

"Hans!" Assassin cried out, "What about Manaka?!"

"We've come to an understanding. Now that? That's here present," you told her as you both faced the Beast as it turned its gaze towards you.

"Lovely," Assassin as she faced it.

"And Artoria?" you asked as right on timing golden light cleaved through the darkness, expelling it and allowing a woman in blue armor to advance and appear behind you. She wielded with her the Strongest Holy Sword in the world as she locked gaze with the Beast. Upon seeing her, the Beast was quick to shudder.

"Forgive me if I'm late," The King of Knights apologized as she faced the Beast.

"I've seen your Noble Phantasm... Think you can handle that?" you asked her as she got ready.

"Give me fifteen seconds," Artoria readied her sword as she held it before her, golden light appearing within the dark bounded field which surged with the Beast's mud.

You smiled as you turned to your partner, "Chiyome."

"Hans," Chiyome nodded as the two of you faced the Beast head on.

Your right hand shined with crimson light.

The Beast howled and lunged all at once.

[] Have Chiyome use Ame no Habakiri.
[] Have Chiyome use Omen of the Great God Ibuki.