View: https://youtu.be/LHTtYkHqJqY?si=VX-eJIjnhtx9P6UD
[X] Command seal to summon Mordred
-[X] Ask Fujimaru what BB's weaknesses are
Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!
One command seal for Mordred remains.
—
"S-Shirou?"
Time slows, yet your breath quickens all the same. What was the correct course of action here? To save Taiga, there was
nothing you wouldn't do, up to and including trading your life for hers. She had also taken care of you after Kiritsugu died, and she was the closest thing you had left to family. To that end, what was Rin? Nothing, she was nothing to you. Someone you used to admire, but now… now that is gone. You would trade her life for Taiga's without a second thought.
But, she was apparently ignorant of all of this. That excused nothing, but you weren't going to kill her out of hand, especially not on the orders of a creature like this.
You look at Rin, staring at the girl you used to admire. She was beautiful, that was about the only thing she had left going for her. Then you look at BB, the servant staring back at you from her perch above, a very smug look on her face.
"Not all of them," you reply.
'Mordred, to me.'
The second group of command seals on your wrist lights up, then all but one remaining mark for Mordred remains. The swordswoman appears just in front of you, hunched, bleeding as always, with a blank expression. She turns her head slowly, taking in the scene around her. And I turn my attention to Fujimaru.
"How do we deal with BB?"
Fujimaru begins to speak.
"Oh, just talk about me like I'm not even here, why don't ya!?" but BB shouts before she can, her voice booming across the landscape.
Then a loud
crash sounds out as a blur flies by you with enough speed to whip your jacket back. The Sakura lookalike that had 'killed' Sakura just earlier was back, and had slammed spiked-feet first into Mash's shield. The servant's feet drag across the hollow ground, and she twists the weapon, causing the clone to quite literally pirouette away like a ballerina.
"You don't think you have any power here? Do you?"
Mash blocks again, the shield a blur as she snaps it from place to place to block and parry the blows.
"This is my realm!"
Mordred grunts, and you look to the Berserker to see a faint grin starting to form on her face.
"I gave you a simple task, why do you even
care if Rin lives?"
"I don't," you reply.
Rin starts, you ignore her.
"But I'm not going to kill anyone just because you tell me to. I just want Taiga back. You have no right to be doing this."
BB arches a brow, looking between you and Mordred. "What exactly do you expect to do then, you
can't defeat me."
You close your eyes for a few moments, you let out a breath. Controlled, slow, just like archery. Then you open them once more, glaring at BB. "No, but I can try."
BB is then in front of you, hand on her hips, a mildly annoyed expression on her face. Not a face of challenge, not even a face of anger. Just mild annoyance, like someone had left a door slightly ajar when they left the room. Then she smiles, it isn't exactly much better. "Well, you won't win, but this could at least be vaguely entertaining." Then she looks Mordred up and down clinically, hand on her chin. "The walking corpse won't be much of a challenge howe-"
Mash goes flying past the two of you, the shield nearly clipping BB as she sails off. The alternate Sakura skating after her a split second later. Fujimaru is by your side a moment after
that, panting, and glaring at BB.
"So, answer my previous question?" you ask, tilting your head towards Fujimaru but not looking away from BB.
"None." Fujimaru replies solemnly.
"Aren't I just
perfect?" BB asks in a singsong voice.
Then Mordred moves, sword moving up in a wide cut right to left. BB smiles.
Then catches it. The blade slaps against her palm then moves no further, her fingers closing around the edge of the blade and squeezing, causing the shriek of metal to fill the air as her thin fingers cause the metal to
dent.
"BB, stop this!" Fujimaru shouts.
BB rolls her eyes, then flings the blade, and by extension Mordred over her shoulder. "Oh, is my ex-master giving me orders?"
"
Ex-master?" Fujimaru asks.
BB waves her hand dismissively. "Our contract was boring, this is a new grail war, new rules. I voided it and got a new one."
"How is that even possible!?" Fujimaru shouts.
BB smiles, then looks at the still unmoving Rin Tohsaka. "Terms and conditions." She turns her head back, only for the smirk to drop and BB to leap back as a shadowy figure darts out of Fujimaru's hand to take a swipe at BB. The figure is indistinct, but female, and is seemingly fighting with their
fists.
"Arthur!"
BB darts to the side as Mordred's sword goes crashing down against the ground. It bounces against the see-through surface, and the swordswoman spins around, carving towards BB's legs. The Sakura lookalike stops the blade with her heels, then twists and kicks the Berserker away. Another fist flies towards BB's head, and she stabs her wands forward, a blast of magical energy erupting from it and causing the 'servant' to dissipate, only for BB to be forced to take a step to the side as another shadow goes tearing by her, narrowly missing. This one is masculine and tall, with giant… wheels in each hand.
Disantly the clang of metal upon metal sounds out as Mash does her best to keep the other…
thing busy. And you are standing there, taking it all in. No longer. The bow forms in your hand with a thought, the arrow appears with another.
BB laughs, grasping the shadowy man's head between her hand and
crushing it. Then she leaps over a wide swing from Mordred. "I'm not your daddy, little girl!"
Mordred roars in rage.
*Thwip*
The arrow sails towards the back of BB's head. It hits, then… glances off, falling to the ground with a clatter. BB looks back at you, then smiles. "I'm sorry, were you doing something there?"
"GANDR!"
A bolt of energy slaps against BB's face, and she turns to stare at her 'Master'. Rin was standing just a few feet away, having moved in the chaos. She had her right arm up and her hand was pointed like a gun, and she was
glaring at BB.
"GANDR!"
"GANDR!"
More bolts of light, each successively larger, all hitting BB but doing nothing. "Should I feign being hurt for your entertainment master?" BB asks, smiling.
"GANDR!"
The bolt hits, and still… does nothing.
"ARTHUR!"
Then BB goes flying as Mordred's sword slams into her side. The servant tumbles, rolling across the landscape before she recovers, one, and only one arm planted against the ground, the other was laying just a foot in front of you, leaking little 'blocks' like those the floor and landscape was made of instead of blood.
Mordred follows, sword dragging along the ground before it swings once more at BB. BB jerks out of the way of another shadowy figure, this one a woman in a veil with an odd, foursided blade. Then her remaining arms snaps up, catching Mordred's blade once more… only now it's a struggle, her arm shaking.
"I'm your Master right!? Even if I don't have command seals, I'm your source of mana!"
BB stares at Rin, then… smiles. "Oh, very good! Ten points to you, but what is it about Magus and always shouting out their plan?" BB then looks at you, "not bad, I think I like you more now… but this game is over."
Rin shouts in alarm, and you jerk your head back to see… a new figure has appeared behind her now. It's Sakura… but not. She was monstrous, standing atop a pair of gargantuan golden claws and with a body shaded like that of an ancient clay goddess. She had the claws around Rin's waist, points digging into her.
You start to move, but by then it's already too late. The points sink, then the claws tear apart, a terrified, pain-filled scream echoing across the alien landscape before Rin falls silent, two halves of her, uneven, bloody, broken fall to the ground… and all the while BB laughs joyously.
"Stupid, stupid Magus! So very egotistical!" BB lets go of Mordred's blade, and it crashes down onto her, cutting her in half from the right shoulder down, but she remains standing, motes of 'data' floating out of her as she grins with half a face at Fujimaru. "Oh, don't look like that
master, it's just another Magus."
She then takes an impossible step forward, and her body reforms itself. She pays little attention to the shouting Mordred behind her as she moves.
"BB…" Fujimaru says, but nothing else.
BB rolls her eyes. "Oh
please. She may look like Ishtar but she's nowhere near that useful. But regardless,
I'm going back now, I got what I wanted, and, frankly…" She looks at the bloody, ruined remains of Rin with a sneer. "I'm not even sure it was worth the effort."
Then she raises her hand, and snaps her fingers.
—
You are back in the apartment, or, more accurately, what remained of it. Half the walls around you are gone, replaced by sparking wires and running pipes. The smell of acrid smoke and blood filled the air. The first figure you saw was Circe, she was kneeling just a few feet away, bloody, cradling an equally bloody, and barely conscious Ayako, the wand held limply in your girlfriend's hands.
Rider is the next, she's a few rooms over, panting but otherwise seemingly unharmed, with Illya standing behind her, looking at you curiously. Medea… Medea you couldn't see, at least not from the cursory, immediate glance gained when you reappeared. Then a weight hits you, and you shift, grunting as Taiga rolls off of your shoulder and into your arms. You stare down at her, silent, confused. She was breathing softly… and uninjured. Assassin appears a second later, crumpled on the ground, equally asleep or unconscious as Taiga was.
Then you hear the clatter of metal, and you turn your head slightly to see Mordred staring down Rin's servant… the black swordswoman was caked in blood, dust, and drywall. She was also transparent, and rapidly becoming
more transparent with each passing second. She turned her head to look at you, but whether your eyes met you can't say. That mask shows nothing, and it was the last thing to go before she was completely gone.
—
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBRxxinuUO4
—
A loud electronic spark sounds, along with the smell of burnt plastic, and you jerk your head back towards the ground where a familiar phone was sparking and aflame on the ground. You stare at it, saying nothing, feeling less. BB was gone, Rin was gone.
"Master!" Mash calls out. "Communication is back open with Chaldea!"
Excited chatter fills the background, you don't pay any attention to it, still staring down at the phone. There was no body to bury. It's… it's what Rin deserved, she played her part in this war as a Magus, and made her choices. She may have been influenced, but her decisions were her own. You weren't even the one to kill her, she was killed by forces she didn't understand, it was one of the most common ways for a Magus to die. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault Ayako's closest friend was dead. It wasn't your fault. She killed someone, maybe more you didn't see. You couldn't save her, but you can't save everyone. It's not your fault. It's not like you could plan for BB.
It's not your fault. You had to save Taiga.
It's not your fault. You had to protect the people of this city.
It's not your fault, you didn't reach out to her earlier.
…
Your fist goes through the wall, punching clear through some metal piping. It returns a moment later, smoking, but completely unmarred. You were a Magus. You were a monster. You weren't human like Ayako was, you were something apart, separate. You were alien, you couldn't treat other humans like they treated each other. You couldn't treat Magus like people either. It's not just your fault.
You didn't know how Rin was raised, you didn't know she was a Magus until a few days ago. How could you? You weren't even aware there were other Magus in the city. Sakura, Shinji, now Rin. The blame for the deaths couldn't rest on you, you wanted to be a hero. You wanted to save people just as you yourself were saved. It was your ideal, your purpose. It was the only reason you were alive.
It's…
It's…
It's entirely your fault, isn't it?
"Master, you okay?" Mordred asks.
You tighten your grip on Taiga, then you turn, and make your way to the stairs, saying nothing. Voices called out to you, some concerned, some confused. You couldn't understand them, not for the screaming of Rin in your ears.
Then, a hand stopped you.
—
[] [Ayako]
[] [Medea]
—
Anyone celebrating Rin's death will be thread-banned. I understand ignoring Rin started as just a meme, but I try to write these characters as real people. Rin isn't exactly a comfort character to me, but regardless, within this story she had her own life and goals. She played a bad hand, and has died for it. However, celebrating the death of a seventeen year old girl in over her head is beyond disgusting and will not be tolerated.
discord.gg
