So what are the odds Adrian spent the two years training under the 4th war Caster?
Name: Troy Forthill
Age: Unknown
Appearance: Unknown
Background Report: No records exist of a Troy Forthill within any magus community moderated by the Clock Tower or the Church. This indicates he's untrained and raised in mundane society
Alternatively he is the 4th war Caster incarnated attempting to fulfil his wish by winning the next war.
The servant doesn't answer him, instead it focus all of its attention on you through the car window. You look inside the black visor to see a mask of cold red, sadness? And hesitation? You don't know why but it felt like it was resisting something, that if it had the choice it wouldn't be here.
You feel a bead of sweat go down your neck as your first battle begins. Part of you wanted to help, but the rational thinking side ingrained into you came through just in time. You might possibly be the most powerful master in the war with your homunculus body and magic, but against a servant such as Berserker - while they normally don't have any magic resistance to speak of they were still the physically strongest class with their Mad Enhancement. And if you remembered correctly, there was an exception with the Berserker of the last war. According to the records it didn't even use Mad Enhancement and it had magic resistance. While you hadn't seen any skills so far, there was a possibility that Berserker had something more up his sleeve. You saw it shrug off getting stabbed by Saber's blade like it was nothing but a bee sting. If you made one misstep, you could be putting both your and Saber's life in serious danger because you got a little overconfident.
So you remained seated, and looked over the battle as Saber fought for both your lives. The Servant of the sword was doing his class proud as he danced around Berserker. With each move that Berserker made Saber countered and landed a strike on the most vital parts of Berserker's body. The head, neck, heart, Saber pierced all of them but it did nothing. At first you thought it was because Berserker had a skill that allowed him to ignore fatal injuries, an extreme form of Battle Continuation? But then Saber cut off Berserker's sword arm at the shoulder. The black armored servant roared in pain as its appendage flew into the air. Saber, sensing victory was near attacked again. This was the first time that any of his strikes had made contact with anything physical on Berserker. If an arm could be taken off, so could a head. Saber swung his sword in a downward arc that would have cut Berserker in half.
If the Servant didn't split itself apart to dodge the attack!
Right before your eyes Berserker's torso detaches from its legs and floated up just fast enough to dodge Saber's strike. The sword passes harmlessly through open air and once the danger passes Berserker's two halves reattach themselves. You blink to make sure you didn't just imagine that just happened. A thunking sound outside your door draws your attention from the battle. It was Berserker's sword arm but as you watch it fades into black energy. You feel a chill run down your spine and you look at Berserker's cut shoulder. A build up of black energy swirls around the shoulder and the sword arm near you begins to fade. You put two and two together and the four that you arrive at chills you to the bone.
"Saber!" you scream in warning.
Saber hears you and his eyes widen in surprise as Berserker's sword arm regrows, seemingly in an instant after you shouted, and he brings it down on Saber's head. Saber brings his blade to block Berserker's and the force of his blow makes Saber's feet crack the ground as he strains to keep Berserker's blow at bay.
Then, the impossible happens again. Berserker's sword shifts and it phased right through Saber's blade. Both your and Saber's eyes widen as the blade solidifies itself behind Saber guard and the shadow blade cuts a deep gash across Saber's chest. Saber gritted his teeth, stifling a scream of pain. Before Berserker could continue his attack Saber slashed with his own sword in a desperate attempt to stop Berserker from continuing. Instead of detaching its body like before Berserker jumped back to avoid the attack.
The armored servant landed on the ground about five meters away from Saber, its red eyes looking Saber over with a mix of disappointment. It seemed to be both hating and enjoying the fight that was transpiring. It felt like Berserker was greeting an old friend but was hating himself for hurting him. As you watch though, the red haze over Berserker's eyes goes away and the black aura that surrounded him diminished slightly.You look away from Berserker to look over Saber's wounds. Berserker's attack cut into, but not completely through Saber's armor. That's not to say there weren't points that blood was starting to leak through.
<Sigyn, if you could heal me, it would be greatly appreciated.> Saber says through your shared connection.
You nod and with your training it takes less than a second to recite the spell in your head and cast it on Saber. A faint blue illuminates you and Saber's wounds and when you look again Saber stood unharmed other than the fading damage to his armor. As you watched, Saber's armor was molding itself back together like it was a living thing. After a second, his armor was completely repaired. Saber glanced back at you and smiled in thanks before turning back to Berserker. The dark Servant had done nothing during the moments that Saber was being healed. It just stood and watched like a knight waiting for a fair fight.
"It is strange to fight a Berserker with both a formless body and weapon. Along with not using Mad Enhancement, you are a strange one." Saber comments.
A short gruff sound comes from behind Berserker's helm as he chuckles slightly "We don't like the madness. It blinds us, makes us fight when we don't want to."
Saber nods once in understanding, not many would willingly want to be made into a mindless beast. But that still begged the question, why was Berserker sane now? A few moments ago he charged Saber and could barely talk without stuttering, but now he was fine and he could talk normally. Was Berserker able to turn his mad enhancement off at will without his Master's orders? You rack your brain to find the answer. As best that you knew it was possible, but most Master's keep their Berserker's in a constant state of mad enhancement so that the Servant would blindly follow orders without question.
Saber lowers his blade "I sense something over you, Berserker. Something about your body is, foul, dark and not of this world. As a warrior of the lord it is my duty to destroy the sickness that plagues you."
Berserker nods "Your senses to not lie, Servant of the Sword."
Saber was silent for a moment, his face strained as he thought about something "Berserker, in life you were cursed by demons from the pit were you not?"
Berserker nods again "My condolences. None should bear such a fate, you-."
"No." Berserker interrupts.
"Pardon?"
"The curse which you speak of. It implies that we were forced into this burden."
Berserker's form shifts slightly and it looks down "We were not forced to fall under any curse. We chose this power. We chose this madness, for it gave us strength when we had nothing. Skill when we were weak and reason to live again."
It looked back at Saber "We don't regret our choice, we only regret what we failed to do."
Saber smiles "Your purpose must have been great to sacrifice so much. I might sense many minds, many souls plaguing the mind of one driving you to madness. But that soul that must bear the burden of all the others," Saber paused for a second before smiling of all things "He is a good man. To sacrifice everything for the power to do something pure, there is no sin in that. "
Berserker was silent for a while before he spoke again "We have forgotten what it means to be good."
"It is still not too late to remember the lessons we have learned." Saber sheathes his blade "My Master has a dying family she must return to, please, let us pass."
Berserker stood where he was, pondering the choice. He shakes his head eventually "Our master has ordered us to kill you."
Black energy swirled around Berserker and the red haze returned to its eyes "Our master is forcing the madness upon us and we cannot hold it back any longer. If you wish to pass, you must kill us."
Saber quickly takes out his blade and gets into a low battle stance "If I must."
Mad Enhancement (B-->A+): Rank up in all parameters but most, if not all of one's sanity is lost. Ranked with a + because Berserker possess a unique Mad Enhancement available only to it. Instead of increasing all parameters, only Strength, Endurance and Agility are increased by two ranks. In exchange all of Berserker's sanity is lost while under the effects and its mana and luck are ranked down. Plus added due to Berserker's Noble Phantasm Y̹͉̠̦̬̙̫ͩͦ͗̉͂́ͦȓ̛̿ͬ̎̾t̿̔̃ͮ̄ṽ͖͉͍̗̲ḃ̫͍͓͚̔̓̌ͪǎ̅̌҉̟͉̲͉.
You blink, what was this? Your master's clairvoyance was letting you see Berserker's stats, but it was preventing you from going any further. Plus what kind of hero had a Mad Enhancement rank this high! It was rare to see it above C but A+? And modified as well, only increasing physical parameters that would allow the servant to hit harder and lessening the stats that it had deemed unneeded. And modified due to its Noble Phantasm, what Noble Phantasm would do something like that? It was like this creature was born to be a Berserker.
Berserker rushes forwards, both of its arms turning into shadow blades. It jumped up and brought both swords down in an overhead strike. Saber narrowed his eyes and waited for the attack to come.
<Saber, Berserker has A++ ranked strength! Dodge!> You scream through your connection.
Saber's eyes widened and he dove to the side just in time to avoid the attack and it was a good thing he did. Berserker hit the concrete of the street like a meteor, cracking the ground and creating a crater fifteen feet in diameter.
When it hits the ground you feel yourself bounce into the air a little just from the force of the blow. Before the dust even settled Berserker charges out of the crater and rushes Saber again. It raised its right arm for an overhead strike while using its left for a horizontal slash. If it was any other servant, Saber would have dodged one attack and deflected the other. But with only C ranked strength, Saber wasn't going to stop the strike of a raging Berserker with A++ ranked strength. It was clear that Berserker was stronger, and far faster than was even on his best day, but Saber had a trump card that even Berserker's strength couldn't stop.
Saber spun on his heel and dodged Berserker's overhead strike like a dancer practicing a routine. He then arched his back, leaning down so low that Berserker's second strike passes harmlessly over his head. As soon as both attacks were dodged Saber circled around Berserker and slashes across Berserker's exposed back. A crippling blow for any other servant but it passed harmlessly through Berserker like he was made of thin air. Berserker roars again but with its arms on the other side of its body so it couldn't attack straight away. So it did the alternative, an arm sprouted from Berserker's back and punched Saber's unprotected face.
The blow sent your servant skipping across the ground. With each bounce off the ground you quickly realize that Saber was headed straight for you! Your hands go to the clasp holding your seatbelt down on instinct but you didn't need to worry. Saber stabs his sword into the ground creating a trench in the ground and bringing him to a halt right outside your door. Saber straightens his posture and cracks his neck.
<Saber are you ok?>
<I am unharmed Master.>
You blink, he was telling the truth but it didn't sound like he was trying to be tough. Adam once said that guys liked to do that. Even when they took a blow they would say that it didn't hurt even though it probably hurt a lot. You had asked him why they did that and Adam laughed "'Cause if the brave knight was hurt by something like a punch they wouldn't be much would they? Knights need to go out doing epic stuff. Like fighting entire armies, saving the world or killing a huge dragon! That would be an epic way to go out. You get to heaven or whatever place people go when they die and when someone asks you what happened to you? You get to smirk and say 'I killed a mother fucking dragon! What did you do pal!?!"
He had gotten a swift slap across the head from Megan after that for swearing in front of you. The memory brought a small smile to you before you remembered where you were.
<Saber that blow was right on your head. Are you sure you're ok?>
You couldn't see anything but you figure Saber was smiling <Worry not master, I was expecting such an attack and planned accordingly. Observe.>
He turns so that you could see his face, and it was completely unharmed. Devoid of any type of harm or blemish. Saber then showed you his blade, and on the hilt of the blade it was smoking like it had just taken an attack.
Before you could ask what happened Berserker roared its challenge again. It ran on all fours like an animal right for you. Again your hands shoot for the clasp of your seat belt and this time you get it unhooked. As soon the belt retracts away you start to move to the other side of the car but there wasn't any point. Berserker was a second away and Saber couldn't stop a charging Berserk- <Master, do you believe I can win?> Saber asks and time seems to slow to a tenth of what it normally ran at.
Berserker looks like it was moving in slow motion and all of your senses shut off focusing only on the sound of wind. You felt like you were alone in the world with only Saber there for company, all other senses and sound were shut off as you focus on Saber alone.
"What?" you ask out loud.
Despite the door between you and he, Saber responds like normal and you hear him perfectly.
"Do you think I can win this fight?"
That was a good question, did you think Saber could win? He was clearly the better swordsmen between him and Berserker but Berserker outclassed him in almost everything else. It had more speed, power and durability then Saber had and with its strange ability to phase through attacks and weapons made it near untouchable. If Saber had a Noble Phantasm that could hurt Berserker, then maybe he could win. But that wasn't what he asked, he asked if you believed he could win.
Your answer?
Yes, yes you did.
"Saber," you say "I summoned you because I wanted a protector. A guardian that could lead me through this war and save me from the hell called my life."
"...Then what do you need me to do?"
You close your eyes, and you remember everyone who was waiting for you. Your family "Adam, Morgan, Megan, everyone is waiting for me to return. So please win, so I can go back to my family."
Saber says nothing before a confident smirk graced his features "As you wish, I will protect you Sigyn."
Time then resumed its normal speed just before Berserker reaches the car. The mad servant roars a battle cry, rears its fist back and punches with all of the strength that it could muster. Saber holds up a hand, and he catches Berserker's attack.
The blow sends a shockwave ringing out through the air that causes Saber's hair to move in the breeze but other then that nothing. Both you and Berserker look at Saber in complete shock but fortunately for you, the answer came as another wave of information.
Guardian Knight (A+):
The Servant receives a temporary attribute bonus if acting in the defense of others. A protector of numerous nations and expansive regions in life, the Servant is capable of deriving effectively unlimited defensive capabilities from those who place their faith and expectations in him.
Your eyes widen just in time to have a full view of Saber dropping Berserker's fist and returning the attack that he received only moments before. You thought it was going to go straight through him like it did before, but instead you're greeted with the sight of Saber's fist connecting with Berserker's helm. The blow sends the mad servant flying through the air and Saber leaps after him. He overshoots Berserker ever so slightly so that he flew straight over the shadow servant. Saber spun mid air and slams the flat of his blade sending Berserker slamming into the ground. Saber allowed gravity to take him down and he crashes into Berserker like a holy meteor.
Berserker created a hole in its chest so that Saber's attack hit the ground behind it. Saber removed his sword from the ground and slashes across the ground to slice Berserker in half but it passed harmlessly through it like before. Berserker focuses dark energy on his right hand, creating bladed knuckles to attack Saber. Saber tilted his head ever so slightly so the blow just barely grazed him. He then kicked Berserker in the head and the attack passed through him again as well. Berserker roars and turns his right arm into a shadow blade before slashing at Saber.
Saber jumps backward to avoid the attack and Berserker charges after him. The mad servant swung its blade in crazed, animalistic arcs that were fast, but easy to predict. Saber barely moved as he dodges the strikes, using only the smallest movement necessary in order to avoid the attacks. Each of Berserker's attacks that miss crash into the ground causing the ground to break and snap like it was as brittle as paper. Then, Berserker makes his left hand into a blade and brings them both down on Saber in an X-cross pattern. Again, as easy as reading a book, Saber shuffles his stances and just barely avoids the attack. Saber uses his opportunity to stab with his blade. Berserker tries to avoid the attack but Saber still cut deep into its shoulder. Berserker roars in pain and attempts to slash at Saber again but your servant removes his blade and retreats.
The two servants stood where they were for a second and you hear the faint sound of something dripping on the ground. You look around and covering Saber blade was lines of black blood that dripped off at irregular intervals. He hurt Berserker, Saber actually wounded Berserker!
"Fifteen seconds before a recharge of ten."
You look at Saber "What?"
"He can only maintain his untouchable form for fifteen seconds at a time before he is vulnerable to my blade for a state of ten seconds. " Saber explains "His master is a foolish one, if he remained sane, Berserker could have kept control of when he should keep his form untouchable. Changing his weapons to pass through my guard before striking my person. But in his mad state, he cannot act accordingly and my strikes cleave through his armor when his time drys up."
Saber swings his blade, removing the blood from the golden sword "I don't know if he will make his weapons formless, but that matters not when the simplest movement can dodge his attacks. Worry not Sigyn, Berserker will not harm you or myself for the rest of his war."
With that, he charges Berserker. When he gets close enough, he leads Berserker into a faint that leave his side open to a follow up attack. Saber slashes but the attack goes straight through it. Berserker retaliates but Saber was too fast for its attacks. Whenever an opening presented itself, Saber struck, forcing Berserker to keep his untouchable form active. Then after fifteen seconds, Saber lands a cut across Berserker's chest piece. It was a shallow cut but the black armor now dawned a cut that stained the once pristine armor.
Berserker doesn't even glance down before attacking Saber again. Over and over again, the two servants enter a stalemate. Saber couldn't hurt Berserker, and Berserker couldn't touch Saber. But when those fifteen seconds go out, Saber lands an attack. Some minor, others unnoticeable but they were quickly adding up.
You watch the unfolding battle and with each attack that Saber lands you feel safer than ever before. This is what a heroic spirit was capable of. Someone so fast, strong and skilled that they could only live in legend. You finally had your protector, and he was a perfect guardian.
Your feelings of hope turn to stone cold fear when you feel something place itself on your neck. You flinch at the touch and immediately you know there was a blade at your throat. The feeling of cold, sharpened steel is unmistakeable, even if you never felt it before. You glance down and the shifting shadowy form of a black dagger was where you feel it should be. The black dagger was connected to a shadow hand that wrapped itself around you, coming from your shadow!?! You thought you were imagining things at first but it's clear that both the arm and the weapon came from your shadow. In the shadow where your head should be, a pair of red eyes begin to burn at you.
Thought and reason go out the window as fear shoots through you. You open your mouth to scream but another black hand forms from the shadow faster than you could blink and cups itself around your mouth, silencing the scream before it began. The red eyes chuckled without a mouth "Move without my say, and you die."
It didn't speak, but you heard the words in your head like a direct phone call to you mind.
"Call for the saint, and you die. Are we clear? Nod once if you understand."
You nod once like it asked.
"Good, now unbuckle yourself and step out of the car. Oh, and if I see a red glow, feel any magic. Well, you already know the knifes a bit of a give away."
Despite the danger your mind raced, playing out scenarios and asking questions that you wanted to ask but couldn't. This thing, whatever it was had it right where it wanted you so why step out of the car? If it wanted to kill you it would have done it already? Was it part of Berserker? It mentioned a we, could this be one of the we? You glance down at your hand, your command seals and the knife edges itself closer to your throat.
"I am not Berserker, if that's what you're wondering." the shadow says as if reading your mind "I am the servant, Assassin and 'm just going to feed you to that mad servant. It'll give me a better view of how a demon rips a human apart. You don't mind right?"
You don't know what to do, no amount of training could prepare someone for this! Right now it felt like your entire body was frozen in fear and the knife was edging closer. So you…
________________________________
[] Get out of the Car, once you're outside Saber can get to you.
So just as a general announcement: Please don't break the code used to hide Berserker's information.
I got the code from @Flagmauth and as a curtesy to both him and myself don't break the code as it contains a lot of spoilers for the story. I will be using this code to hide information later in the story as well so please, as tempting as it might be please refrain from cracking the code.
I'm confident that the reason Saber told Sigyn to stay in the care is because it would be safer than keeping her close by where he can protect her directly. Furthermore given the fact Saber is a Christian Saint fighting a demon, this would be the part of the story where the demon tries to sway the faith of the innocent thereby testing the Saint's conviction.
the Servant is capable of deriving effectively unlimited defensive capabilities from those who place their faith and expectations in him.
A less faith based line of reasoning would be one of those unlimited defensive capabilities would be turning a stationary location like say a parked car into hallow ground where no harm can befall the innocent, which is why Assassin want Sigyn to step out of the car.
I'm confident that the reason Saber told Sigyn to stay in the care is because it would be safer than keeping her close by where he can protect her directly. Furthermore given the fact Saber is a Christian Saint fighting a demon, this would be the part of the story where the demon tries to sway the faith of the innocent thereby testing the Saint's conviction.
Also one of those unlimited defensive capabilities would be turning a stationary location like say a parked car into hallow ground where no harm can befall the innocent, which is why Assassin want Sigyn to step out of the car.
That last part is reaching very far into the unknown for George's capabilities and the first part doesn't fly since Assassin isn't tempting us he's threatening us, totally different. George is busy fighting, defending us from Berserker, unless we do something to let him know about Assassin I'm not sure he'll notice/be able to do something about Assassin.
That and I prefer doing something as a protagonist rather than just sitting still and praying to St George. I'd go for magic but that'd probably just get us knifed so I won't risk it.
Out of all of the masters in this war, you have the second best chance to take on a servant and win. But only if everything goes for you, and that's a big if.
Out of all of the masters in this war, you have the second best chance to take on a servant and win. But only if everything goes for you, and that's a big if.
The whole point of Servants is that they're virtually impossible to defeat without one of your own. Rin nearly beating Caster in F/SN was a special case because of Caster's lack of physical prowess, and Shirou beating Gil was because 1. He's Shirou Emiya, the Hero of Justice who doesn't die, even when he's killed and has only one ability allowed to him and 2. Gilgamesh wasn't trying.
I'm not gonna mess around and try to fight a servant in hand to hand unless we have Avalon inside us or something.
Out of all of the masters in this war, you have the second best chance to take on a servant and win. But only if everything goes for you, and that's a big if.
I am the bone of my worm
Worms are my body and purple is my blood
I have created over a thousand worms
Unknown to Shinji
Nor known to Rin
Have withstood pain to cast many spells
Yet I still can't get Shirou in my own route
So, as I pray...UNLIMITED WORM WORKS
I am the bone of my worm
Worms are my body and purple is my blood
I have created over a thousand worms
Unknown to Shinji
Nor known to Rin
Have withstood pain to cast many spells
Yet I still can't get Shirou in my own route
So, as I pray...UNLIMITED WORM WORKS
I am the bone of my worm
Worms are my body and purple is my blood
I have created over a thousand worms
Unknown to Shinji
Nor known to Rin
Have withstood pain to cast many spells
Yet I still can't get Shirou in my own route
So, as I pray...UNLIMITED WORM WORKS