Fate/Stay Royal

"Stay here." Bazett declared. Archer froze. Caster did not move. The air remained still for a long moment, before Caster nodded, gathering her mantle around her and forming her breastplate.

"Got it." She declared. "I'll leave a potion in case the girl wakes. Give her it only in thirds." She had already vanished before anyone could say anything. Archer's lips twisted into a frown.

"You do not wish for me to come?"

"Hakuno will die if things get too serious." Bazett answered. "I don't want her to risk it until she's awake to actually make the decision herself." The Enforcer's face softened, as she checked her supplies. Knife, Fragarach, arm-

Wait? Arm?

Archer's hand reached out to Bazett's shoulder, and gold melted from its fingertips as fake flesh and sinew wrapped into existence.

"Consider it a temporary gift." He declared. "It'll fade away if you cannot meld magic anymore. It feeds on your own after all." Bazett raised the arm, flexing it, testing it. It was definitely stronger than any limb she could make. "I can see what's going on through it, too."

"Insurance. You're smart." Bazett noted. "Caster, make the bird a familiar again, we're leaving it behind." Smiling at Archer, she buried anything resembling excitement deep inside her as she stripped a pair of gloves from the inside pouch of her jacket, slipping them onto her hands. "We'll be in touch. Pay attention to the bird."

"Likewise. We'll be moving soon. I'll let you know where we end up." Archer hummed. "Yes, somewhere with a gentler smell. The smell here is smeared with something." Bazett wasn't going to pretend to understand the Archer's thought process, as Caster returned, palm bloody as she flung a drop into the air.

"Done. You look better already."

"I feel better." Perhaps it was just the placebo effect of having two arms again, but Bazett did feel better. Maybe the Servant's body was bridging the gap between her haywire circuits, or maybe it was just all mental. Bazett didn't know which nor care which. "We probably won't be back, Caster. If you want to steal some junk food, now's your chance."

"Business first." Caster shot back, handing Archer her potion. "Remember, only give it to her in thirds, do it as soon as she wakes up. Make sure she drinks it all." Turning on her heel, Caster joined Bazett without a single parting word to Archer. Then again, given the nature of a Grail War, she probably thought it inevitable that Archer would meet them again.

"We need to hurry." The two woman started at a brusque pace, hurriedly evacuating the city of steel and taking to the tops of the containers. "Half the city saw that. I don't know how many consider it worth investigating." Caster considered Bazett's words, turning them over in her head.

"Three hours till morning." She noted. "Long enough for nearby Servants to join in, not long enough for far away Servants to meaningfully scout. Archer is already out, so thirteen possible Servants. That attack means two Servants are likely fighting, so maybe eleven unaccounted for who might join in."

"Lancer of Black is out. Ruler said Kirei's been fighting most of the day. He's not that strong. He needs a break sometime."

"Agreed. Good memory." Caster nodded. "Assassin of Red is not going to fight. His Master looked dead on her feet. Likewise, if Archer of Black appears, it'll be Masterless. The circles around his eyes said enough."

"Servants will be active at night." Bazett noted. Caster nodded again.

"That is true, but their Masters were late teens at the youngest. Swapping sleep schedules on the fly is a skill, and I doubt they've mastered it." Caster noted. "The most likely Servants to interfere would be Riders, if they aren't involved. They are the only ones who could cross the city that fast. It won't matter where in Fuyuki they are, they could be there if they thought it worth attending."

"This could become a brawl fast, then." Bazett muttered to herself. After a long moment, Caster shook her head.

"No. I don't think it will. A Noble Phantasm of that level of power is one that can only be used a few times a battle in the most lenient circumstances." She noted. "Your sword has given you a warped idea of what a Noble Phantasm really is. Answerer is extremely efficient compared to a normal Noble Phantasm." Bazett flinched as the drain on her energy magnified almost one hundred fold. "If I was going to deploy my Noble Phantasm, this is about the energy it'd take for me to use it."

"That'd almost kill me. How much energy do you have?"

"That's about a third of my tank." Caster admitted. "My main Noble Phantasm is a magnification Noble Phantasm, so its a bit more powerful than most. It's also on the efficient side. Most Noble Phantasms are probably a bit more strenuous then that, but on the body, rather than the spirit."

"And you think that one is more strenuous?"

"It reminds me of Excalibur or Galantine, which means its likely similar in function. It'd be some sort of magnification Noble Phantasm. I'm a Caster, which affords me certain priviliges in regards to the size of the tank. What is a large tank for me is huge for another Servant class. The user probably has a smaller tank to work from."

"Can you match it?"

"Yes. If we see it coming, I can match it with my Noble Phantasm. The output is less than mine." Caster nodded. "If I had to, I could level this side of the city."

"Don't do that. I won't be able to explain that away." Bazett grumbled, as they slipped into the city. "I feel it."

"Yeah. Leftover heat. This isn't even magical energy anymore. That was pure energy." Caster grumbled. "That's unfair, it's so efficient."

"In what way?"

"The magical energy converted straight into light and heat. Mine gets a lot of sound as well." She whined. In a way, Caster came off as a petulant child in that moment. "Huh. That's..."

"That's what?"

"I think its another nail." She muttered. "No, it doesn't matter for the moment. We'll worry about it only if we run into it."

"Caster, don't withhold information you think is important."

"It's not important. It's just me musing on the wizard's words. The only nail that matters in this age is Rhongomyniad. My curiosity is academic." She retorted bluntly. "This way. The energy is thicker here." Streets continued to melt away, and it occurred to Bazett that, like most of Japan, cars were in fact quite rare in Fuyuki. Outside of Shinto, there probably wasn't any real need for them. Only those that absolutely needed a car would own one.

Slowly, the signs of damage began to show themselves. This fight had not begun where the Noble Phantasm had been deployed, but instead had moved through several streets first. Hiding this was going to be an absolute chore for both Ruler and Kirei, but Bazett didn't feel particularly sorry for them. Instead, her gaze was drawn to the small holes punched in the ground and into cars.

"Feet. Those are feet impressions." She concluded. "One of them had no control whatsoever."

"Neither of them have control. The steel is melting." Caster noted. "I'm not sure that's heat, though."

"No. It's too random. It reminds me of acid." Bazett frowned. That would not be pleasant to deal with at all. The street continued to melt away, and then, as they came to what was almost certainly the site of the Noble Phantasms deployment, all hope of hiding this incident went out the window. "Did they seriously blast a crater in the ground!?"

Well, it was less a crater and more like a super-heated knife had gouged through a block of ice. Steam was still rising from the depths, and brick and stone had clearly melted from the heat. Caster whistled, her left hand in her pocket and her right on her hip as she peered over the side.

"Moves in opposite directions. We had a Noble Phantasm clash here." She noted. "If I were to guess, the one we saw in the air won, for a given value of winning."

"What do you mean?"

"It was shot low and dragged high." Caster mused, a finger tracing the line of destruction. "The other one came in from the left side, from about where your standing actually. If I had to guess, this was a race, whoever deployed first won." She paused for a moment, sniffing the air. "Both heat. We're dealing with two fire based Noble Phantasms."

"I can smell the sulfur." Bazett admitted, nodding as she walked around the crater. Infrastructure was gone, but it looked like the houses were actually relatively untouched. "How does anyone sleep through this?"

"They probably didn't. I don't feel anyone." Caster mused. "I think they evacuated first. We should probably do likewise." No, that wasn't it at all, Bazett realised. There were no emergency services or anything. Something had drawn the people out of here.

What's more, something was still here.

"No. Behind?" She spun, eyes scanning the street, but nothing presented itself. Caster silently put her back to Bazett's.

"Odd. I don't feel it." She muttered, right hand reaching out and that great sword-staff from before twisting into existence in her grasp. "Who are you, that you can just hide in-"

"Above!" Bazett had already started twisting as the shadow fell from the sky, its heel smashing into the ground through where Bazett's head had been nary a moment before. Crouching low, Bazett raised her right hand, fist already launching at the figures sternum, while Caster's sword had swung at his shoulders. A two pronged attack from opposite directions. There should have been no blocking it.

Yet the figure's body twisted, forearms crossing to block the blade even as a gold covered shin rose and intercepted Bazett's fist. The shear florce of the two attacks moving opposite directions lifted him off the ground, spinning comically in the air as Bazett launched from the ground, rolling behind Caster and refocusing her posture. Caster simply kept spinning from her slash, skidding backwards as her left hand found the sword-staffs pommel, magical energy burning off her body in a flare of blue.

She was ruthless, both in style and in her energy usage, Bazett realised. There was no grace in the swordsmanship of a knight-caster. Rather, every movement was intended to get the maximum benefit on the battlefield. There was no purpose to showing her magical energy, except to intimidate the opposing side. Caster had energy, more of it then she needed, and it was all focused on killing you. That was the message the knight was giving off.

The dark figure in the distance, Bazett was realising, was garbed in black, a black fur cloak about his shoulders. His hair was blood red, and on his arms and legs was pure gold. The black fur twisted and turned around his torso, but his chest was bare bar where the fur met just above his heart. He was, by very definition, a Servant.

It took a moment for Bazett's eyes to adjust, but when they did, she realised that she wasn't looking at armour at all. That was a second skin that had been torn and burned away bar where it covered his arms and legs. The pale flesh was scarred from the experience. This was a man who had lived on the battlefield his entire life. Indeed, he might never have actually left it, his eyes glowing red in the din as he began to examine them, calculating, plotting.

Bazett hated the cold look on his face. It was the look of someone who murdered by the dozen, the hundred, the thousand. There was no remorse or mirth in what he did. They were the eyes of someone who was currently lost in a sea of blood.

"Limit your movements. He's trying to feel us out."

The warning was more than Bazett expected from Caster, if the truth was told. Caster seemed like the type to simply not care if others knew what she could do. She certainly hadn't tried to hide anything from Archer, yet now she was showing the caution you'd normally expect from a Caster.

"Fine by me." Bazett knew how to restrain herself. Besides, she had Fragarach if things got hairy. Taking several steps forward, she felt a grin cross her face. "I'll lead."

There was no point hiding it. She needed to know how well Caster worked with her in combat anyway. Bazett was not going to take some back seat position in a fight. It just wasn't in her blood.

"Got it." Normally, Bazett supplemented her strength with Runes. The McRemitz family was blessed with a knowledge of runes that dated back to the runes Lugh himself used in battle. Gods-Holder was not merely a title for them, but an indication of their origins. The Magic Crest they wielded was full of many secrets, some of which were so old and frail that they were for emergencies only due to the risk they'd fail to work in this age where Gods had been banished from the world.

Bazett was used to the feeling of empowerment that came with using her Runes. It was nothing compared to the feeling of Caster's magical energy mixing with and strengthening her body. The difference in power was almost surreal, as Bazett kicked off the ground. What was fifteen metres away melted into reach in about two seconds.

Her opening was a cross. A traditional knockout punch. Of course, it completely missed Saber's head. He shifted only slightly, the minimal energy needed to avoid the attack, his hands already moving to trap the limp and deliver his rebuttal. Bazett didn't wait for that, flicking her wrist and freeing the knife from inside her sleeve. She had found out more then enough in the opening barrage. She dragged her arm back and slashed with the knife, but Saber's fingers swiftly danced around her arm like water, wrenching up and sending the knife flying into the air.

Her knee met his side as she twisted. He had known about the knee coming, she realised after only a moment, her hands now free and fists already firing off. He had just elected not to do anything about it. He barely grunted as he took two steps back, hands briefly pushing each first aside as his footing reaffirmed itself and flowed forward. His confidence was too high to keep up the barrage. Bazett let him win the four steps forward he took, pushing her punches away and forcing her to begin blocking his own strikes.

Palms. Why palms? They didn't do as much damage as fists. Even so, Saber used his palms, rather then fists. One clipped Bazett's cheek, and with it, she realised how dangerous this fight actually was. It was like a car had rocketed straight past her face. If it had hit her straight on, she was sure she would be dead.

"Tag."

All Bazett needed was a moment to reset. Caster was more then capable of that, flipping over Bazett's retreating form and slashing straight down. The magical energy enhanced sword-staff smashed straight into Saber's forearms, and all of a sudden he was knee deep in the ground, bricks and cement cracking and tearing apart under his feet. The barest traces of a smile graced Saber's face at the intrusion, and with it, realisation dawned on Bazett.

Saber was having fun.

What did he see in this that gave him that joy?

Caster flipped backwards in the air, pushing off Saber's body and rushing back into the battle. No spells flew. There was little point against a Saber. He would have to be an unusual Saber indeed for his Magic Resistance not to be enough to render the approach meaningless. Caster's body spun as her blade drew wide arcs in the air, tearing through the ground like it was nothing. In a way, she resembled more a murder-blender of steel then a person. It was a terrifying sight.

Yet Saber only gave ground. None of the strikes harmed him, and not a drop of his blood was spilled. Bazett felt herself biting her lip. This fight was not giving ground.

Darting around from Saber's left, she smashed her fist into his side. He let out only a grunt, but his attention clearly could not split evenly. By observing Saber's movements, Bazett could begin to discern his weakness, and his weakness, in hindsight, had been obvious from the get go. He could only handle one opponent with his hands. Either he had no practice at fighting multiple opponents or his fighting style simply couldn't cope with more then one. Whichever was the case, now that his attention was divided, he was taking punches, kicks, nicks that almost ripped the blood from his veins. It was obvious this was a losing proposition for him.

At least, until he spun away, skidding along the ground, dark magical energy twisting around his left arm and ripping forth in what looked like a small swarm of hungry, black snakes.

" Nagastra( O Nagas, Devour Me) !"

Caster was already moving, shoving Bazett's body behind her as she spun her staff. Words were tumbling out of her lips in a language that Bazett knew was certainly dead.

" Invisible Air( Tempest of the Witch King) !"

The snakes hissed and spat as they were torn apart by the sudden gale, a typhoon whipping itself into existence around Bazett and Caster's bodies. Caster's tooth bit into her lip, her face the beacon of concentration, as the snakes twisted, snapped forward and were ripped to shreds, until finally there was nothing left and the tempest fled. Bazett could already see the flaw in the spell. Caster had to actually stop and channel it for it to take effect.

A pure defensive spell. That seemed out of her character.

"I know that one." Suddenly, it was as if all hostilities had ceased. Saber stood up, his gaze fixed on Caster. "I see, yes, I've seen that Noble Phantasm. Your the best pick."

"Huh? How have you seen it?" Caster's voice was nothing but bewilderment, but Bazett felt her jaw drop at what came next. The man before them dropped to his knees, and clapped his hands together to beg.

"Please, sorceress. My Master is afflicted and will die within the night. You possess a strong character worthy of any hero. I beg of you. Save my Master. I will offer any boon you require for the task."

The shear ridiculousness of the whole situation had destroyed anything resembling tension.

[ ] "Uh... sure..."
[ ] Continue the fight.
[ ] Leave this mess to whatever fate may come.
[ ] Write in.


Nagastra( O Nagas, Devour Me)
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Unit

Demonic Treasure. A divine weapon handed down by the Naga of Hindu myth. The delivery method in the case of Saber of Red is his fists. A torrent of serpents who have imbibed the acursed poison are launched at the enemy. It is considered one of the signature Astra of the hero, Karna( Alter) . Since Saber of Red is not actually a proper swordsman, his fists and this Noble Phantasm see use as his main weapon.

The poison is lethal, as a matter of course, and dissolves the insides like acid. This is also the source of Saber of Red's Magical Burst (Corrosion) ability. Since it's magical energy cost is relatively efficient, he can use it even when he has to conserve energy.

As Answerer was made available during Nagastra's usage, its information is provided here.