Fate/Zero:Act 7 Part 2

130:32:40

The battlefield of Heroic Spirits had already turned into a swamp full of filthy mud.

A horde of alien demonic monsters which continued to appear indefinitely no matter how many of it was slaughtered. Piled into mountains, the bloody corpses and the spraying innards and body fluid mixed with each other, was kicked and stirred by two pairs of feet, and formed a chaos even more terrifying than hell itself.

More rancid that the stench of rottenness, the smell of the demonic monsters’ internal organs was thick as mist. The air full of this smell is not much different from poisonous gas of the marsh. Living humans will probably die from lung corrosion if they inhale it.

Till now, the number of enemies Saber and Lancer had killed had long ago surpassed 500.

“… Apart from shock, such unceasing summoning does make me acknowledge its power.” Although Lancer had yet to show signs of tiredness, his mumbling was truly bitter.

A situation with absolutely no sign of winning for either side. Despite facing the might of two knight class Servants, the number of alien demons that were summoned again and again and filled the gaps in the encircling horde still didn’t decrease.

“It’s that magecraft book, Lancer. As long as his Noble Phantasm is here… this battle situation won’t change.”

“I see, so that’s what it is.”

Lancer sighed, irritated, after he heard Saber’s muttered words.

“But, if we want to get the book out of his hands, we have to break through this wall of small fries no matter what.”

The demonic monsters grouped together and approached them slowly as they waved their tentacles mockingly. Those alien creatures probably do not feel the terror of death, nor do they feel pain. As if feeling that happiness only come from being slaughtered, they raided towards Saber and Lancer like mad.

Currently, facing both Saber and Lancer, Caster is still continuing his battle of endurance. Since this is his strategy, it would obviously promise him with concrete victory. The prana Caster and his Noble Phantasm are controlling could only be literally regarded as endless.

　“… Lancer, at this desperate time, do you want to make a gamble?”

“Although it’s annoying to lose to him on the endurance sector, it won’t do to just keep playing with small fries like this – fine, I accept, Saber.”

After Lancer answered briskly, Saber stared at the terrifying wall of flesh which ended at Caster, carefully estimating its thickness and density.

This is her greatest secret skill – intuition told her this idea is ‘plausible’. A killing blow, fully worthy of releasing.

“I’ll open up the road. There is only one chance. Lancer, can you run as fast as the wind?”

“Hum? – Hehe, so that’s what it is. So simple and clear.”

Although it was only once, they were enemies who fought with their lives on the line. Both of them have itched into their memory all the secret techniques the other used. Now, for Lancer, regarding the technique Servant Saber was about to use and her intention, he can understand it without need of much explanation.

“What are you quietly mumbling about? Making your final prayers?”

Caster mocked the two Servants calmly and evenly. Right now it wasn’t him who was fighting Saber and Lancer, but his Noble Phantasm “Prelati’s Spellbook”. Caster was like an audience observing the battle in a zone of safety, elegant, composed, making a taunt to get on the opponents’ nerves at the maximum. His “attack” would suffice at this magnitude.

“Be terrified! Despair! There is a limit to ‘difference in numbers’ that brute force can overcome. Hahaha, feeling humiliated? Suffocate, and be crushed by these ignoble, nameless puppets! For heroes, there is nothing more humiliating than this!”

Even when she was joyfully laughed ay by her opponent, Saber remained undaunted, and merely wielded the sword in her right hand with a decisive and calm expression.

Those unwavering eyes were only staring at – the victory that must be obtained.

“Haha, that beautiful face… now twist in agony for me, Jeanne!”

“Giiiiiiii!”

The horde of demonic monsters roared together. They surged towards the center of their ring for the kill as they made alien strange sounds, which couldn’t be distinguished as happiness or loathing.

Now it would be – the time to decide who will become the victor.

With a loud voice, the King of Knights commanded the noble holy sword.

“Strike Air!”

In the middle of the whirling air, the resplendent brilliance of gold shone through.

The jet of super-high pressured air that protected the holy sword was released from the bondage of the invisible barrier – suddenly bellowing and galloping forth like a savage dragon’s roar.

The secret sword technique that guaranteed the kill. It is a different way to use the Noble Phantasm Invisible Air. Last night in the battle against Lancer she released this extreme air pressure to accelerate quickly. If it was released towards the enemy it would turn into an iron hammer of windstorm, capably of wiping away an entire army consisting of thousands of men.

As they were overcrowded together, the demonic beasts took an extraordinarily heavy blow.

The super-high pressure storm, compacted like a solid, smashed the demonic monsters to smithereens and stirred up the minced flesh together with gravel and wood dust. It was as if an invisible giant hand swept across the entire earth and opened up a dead straight path. The instant they were blown apart by the air pressure, the demonic monsters’ siege was penetrated by an empty hole.

The destructive power of “Strike Air” was countered by the many layers of demonic monsters, reduced to a gust of wind that merely blew at the ends of Caster’s robe when it reached him.

Then, the gap opened by the hit served as a road. However, based on the density of the demonic monsters summoned, it could only count as a temporary opening that could be sealed off immediately.

“What – ?”

Even so, Caster still made a sound of shock. It wasn’t just the blow of wind which penetrated the siege.

When objects move extremely quickly in the atmosphere they are capable of tearing apart the air in front of them, while leaving a vacuum behind. Of course, that vacuum would draw in the surrounding air, and become a surge that follows the object which passed through it. There are techniques in current car races that allow cars to follow right behind the car in front of it, using that slip stream to accelerate faster.

The air pressure resulting from the release of Saber’s Invisible Air triggered a similar phenomenon. It created a vacuum behind the passing gale at the same time it destroyed the army of demonic monsters, and prepared a point of in-rushing air.

Then, the one who sprang into this converging surge without hesitation was the one who was waiting for this one strike – Lancer.

“Come – Be prepared for this!”

It was an ultimate skill that not only demanded superhuman physique, but complete synchronization with his partner. However, Lancer achieved this miraculous combination with watching his enemy Saber using the secret sword of wind for just once.

With one leap Lancer passed through the passage twirling with gales of blood and flesh, like a swallow that tucked in its feathered wings by its side as it chased the wind. When his feet once again touched earth he was barely ten strides away from Caster, with no obstructing barriers between them.

“Gotcha, Caster!”

“Ahhh!?”

The demonic monsters that turned around due to their master’s crisis stretched their tentacles together towards Lancer’s back. But Lancer didn’t turn back. He brandished the short spear in his left hand behind his back like a windmill to stop the pawns following him, while he turned his torso sideways and approached Caster with the long spear in his right hand extended.

He caught up – a pity he was a hair’s breadth away from the kill. The long spear’s strike only resulted in the tip cutting slightly into the surface, and didn’t make a serious tear.

But the Noble Phantasm in the spearman’s hand was such a weapon that would decide the victor on the battlefield even with such a slight touch.

“Take this, Gáe Dearg!”

The crimson spear extended out following his low roar. The tip of spear did not touch Caster’s fragile body – but the cover of the magecraft book in his hand.

That is the blade of the red spear which once penetrated Saber’s Invisible Air, ignorant of the defense of that magical armor. It is the “Noble Phantasm killer”, capable of severing all sorts of prana. For Caster, who completely relied on the mighty power of the magecraft book to summon demonic monsters to manipulate, it was a decisive blow equal to a checkmate.

“Boom”, a sound akin to waves breaking against rocks beside the sea echoed in the forest.

The countless alien demonic monsters on the ground all liquefied in the blink of an eye. The demonic monsters, which were originally created from the flesh and blood of the sacrifices, changed back into blood and scattered away. They lost the power to materialize into being the moment the prana supply from Prelati’s Spellbook terminated.

Within the rapidly retreating Caster’s hands, the magecraft book immediately activated its ability as a prana furnace and quickly regenerated the damaged cover. The prana was only cut off during the brief moment when Template:H:Title’s blade contacted the book and had no power to damage the Noble Phantasm itself – however, once canceled, the magecraft can’t be salvaged. Also, even if he wanted to repeat the summoning spell, Saber and Lancer’s holy sword and twin spears wouldn’t give him the time either.

"You bastard- BASTARD bastard BASTARD bastard BASTARD BASTARD BASTARDDDDDD!!"

Faced with such a desperate situation, Caster’s expression twisted until his eyes were rolled to the back of his head and he raged while foaming around the mouth. Lancer dismissed it with the smile that he was born with.

“How was that? Now that Saber’s taken back her ‘left hand’, this is something that can be done with just lifting her little finger.”

But Saber wasn’t in the mood to joke like Lancer.

Until the moment victory is decided, the only thing that echoed in her mind were the final screams and tears that the children gave out as they were torn apart and cruelly slaughtered.

“… I hope you’re prepared, heretic devil.”

The King of Knights muttered in a quiet sound of anger as she lifted the golden holy sword with her right hand. The sword tip was pointed straight towards Caster.

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