Fate/Zero:Act 10 Part 2

-86:30:16

Archer, in mid-air, cast his sight towards the battle the Heroic Spirits had begun on the water some distance away.

“What an ugly scene…”

The King of Heroes rode upon a shining bright ‘ark’ made from gold and emerald 500 meters above the ground.

“Gate of Babylon’ – the treasury of Gilgamesh, the primeval hero who once owned all of the treasures in the world, stored within it the original forms of many treasures that were praised by various legends and myths of latter men.

The golden ark that he used to float in air is also one of those ‘divine secret treasures’.

Indeed, this is the flying contraption that was passed from Babylon to India and recorded in the two epic sagas ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ as Vimana.

“Although they’re mongrels, they are famous warriors at the very least… I wouldn’t have thought that they’ve fallen as low as combining together to finish off that filthy thing. It really makes one wonder. Don’t you think so, Tokiomi?”

Tōsaka Tokiomi, who was permitted to sit in the ark with the other man, had a heart full of anger and anxiety in contrast to Archer, who was at a leisurely ease.

Usually, magecraft has to be used in secret – it was indeed due to the need to obey this basic principle that the Tōsakas were appointed to the duty of guardian by the Association. Not only did the tragedy Caster caused threaten the longevity of the Holy Grail; it especially stained Tokiomi’s personal prestige.

Some unprecedented great tragedy would definitely occur if the liberated beast were to go mad again. If that happens, then the problem would no longer be a simple matter of hunting down Caster for the reward, or altering the direction the Heaven’s Feel will head towards.

Right now, this monster must be disposed of as soon as possible. The Tōsakas’ prestige would be encumbered if witnesses were to keep increasing.

“O King, that monster is an evil creature that’s destroying your garden. Please eliminate him.”

“That’s the work of the gardener.”

Archer immediately rebuked Tokiomi’s request.

“Could it be, Tokiomi, that you regard my Noble Phantasm as the hoe of a gardener?”

“No! But as you saw – the others can’t hold on anymore.”

In truth, this battle was progressing towards despair right from the start.

Although Saber and Rider’s blades continued to slash the sea demon’s gigantic body, it showed no signs of being wounded.

Of course, it wasn’t that the Servants were attacking half-heartedly. The sharp sword that clove rocks and the iron hooves that brought forth roaring thunder carved out the sea demon’s blood and flesh ruthlessly.

However, those wounds were filled up by new flesh in the blink of an eye.

The demonic monsters that Caster summoned and commanded previously also had physical regeneration abilities, so it was not surprising. However, the giant sea demon this time was indeed enormous in size. It was as if they were digging a hole in a marsh; the damage of the two Servants combined was nowhere near the speed of the monsters’ ability of regeneration.

But the united attack of the King of Knights and King of Conquerors was just enough to slow down the sea demon, which was headed to the river bank, by a little bit.

“This is a great opportunity to display the might of a hero. Please give the command.”

The King of Heroes gave Tokiomi a glance of displeasure. Then he swung his right hand, which was propping up his chin on the edge of the ship. Four holy swords and spears immediately appeared next to him. The shining primeval Noble Phantasms unleashed a thunderous roar, and flew to impale the filthy mountain of meat that wriggled down below.

Saber and Rider immediately jumped away to avoid being affected, but Caster’s sea monster was in no ways so agile.

The four Noble Phantasms hit it head on. Their power, enough to split mountains, blew one-third of the giant beast’s body into nothingness.

It was an unprecedentedly mighty impact, but Caster laughed out loud with an even more piercing sound.

“How can it be –”

Tokiomi was dumbfounded. Beneath him, the wriggling meat mountain swelled up like a balloon, and repaired the damaged parts as he watched.

The physical structure of the giant meat lump was perhaps as simple as protozoan. It doesn’t have bones or organs, and thus no weaknesses. Its movement won’t be impaired no matter which body part is destroyed, and it will speedily restore the destroyed parts relying on its mighty rejuvenation ability.

“– Prepare to retreat, Tokiomi. I can’t watch that filthy thing a second longer.”

Archer said while his crimson irises expressed a strong feeling of detest.

“Don’t… King of Heroes, please wait!”

“Tokiomi, I used four Noble Phantasms for your honor. I don’t want to take them back now since they’ve been touched and stained by that thing. Don’t regard my leniency as cheap!”

“You are the only one who can defeat that monster!”

Tokiomi persisted to persuade the other at the risk of his own life. As it had progressed into such a situation, he had no time to think about the prudence a liege should have.

“Since it has such a rejuvenating ability, we can only destroy it entirely with one blow. The only thing that can do this is the King of Heroes’s – your Noble Phantasm –”

“Who cares about that!”

Archer roared in rage and flames of anger, like red lotuses, burned in his eyes.

“You want me to draw the ultimate treasure, Ea, here? Wake up, Tokiomi! Speaking such daring words to the King calls for suicide to punish the sin!”

“…”

Tokiomi lowered his head with anger and hatred and stayed silent.

Indeed, that is impossible. According to Gilgamesh’s personality, he would only draw his ultimate treasure, his trump card, when facing an opponent whom he deems as ‘fitting’.

However, there was no other way to completely destroying Caster’s sea demon. That was also the truth.

He was forcibly reminded of the Command Seals on his right hand. Even if he uses one here, he can obtain another one from the Holy Church as the reward for defeating Caster. However – this kind of choice would definitely cause the relationship between the King of Heroes and himself to shatter.

Since that’s the case, he could only place his hope on other Servants.

… Even if Caster is successfully destroyed, the additional Command Seal Father Risei declared would still wind up with Masters other than Tokiomi in this kind of situation.

The constrained anger caused Tokiomi to clutch his hands into fists. His nails dug into his palm.

Why did things progress toward such an unexpected direction? It was supposed to be a fully prepared, carefully planned Heaven’s Feel, so how did it turn into such a mad and chaotic situation?

A thunderous sound tore apart the sky at this moment. Tokiomi lifted his head with a solemn expression.

The lightless thunder was the residual noises of the impact waves that broke the sound barrier. The paired lights that flew across the night sky, north to south, were the front lights of jet-propelled fighter planes.

“Damn it…”

The situation was deteriorating rapidly every moment. For Tōsaka Tokiomi, guardian of magecraft in Fuyuki, there was nothing he could do except to look on.

X X

The strange scene happening before their eyes shocked the two elite pilots speechless.

“… What, is that…?”

First Class Lieutenant Ōgi raked his brain and thought about all kinds of possibilities, including whether or not he’s still sane.

“Strange lights also appeared at six o’clock, and it’s not a helicopter… is it a UFO or something?”

Third Class Lieutenant Kobayashi, in the consort plane, also explained the situation through the radio. Then this wasn’t an illusion that only First Class Lieutenant Ōgi could see.

“Control to Diablo I. Please report the situation.”

“This is… This is…”

How should he say this?

Disaster? Unknown life form? Invasion into airspace?

Monster – this word can’t be considered. The air defense doesn’t have a communication code name for that word.

In order to explain this, it must be built upon the foundation of current knowledge. However, such knowledge far surpassed First Class Lieutenant Ōgi’s capacity of thought.

“I’ll go a bit lower to look at it closely.”

“Wai – Kobayashi, wait.”

A nameless evil chill descended upon his back; First Class Lieutenant Ōgi reflexively tried to stop the consort plane. However, the F15 that Third Class Lieutenant Kobayashi controlled had already completed a series of moves from slow circling to actual descent.

“Come back quickly, Diablo II!”

“If we observe it a bit closer, then we can know –”

At this moment, the two fighter jets were no longer onlookers.

The opponent wasn’t a modern weapon like anti-aircraft artillery or missiles, so Third Class Lieutenant Kobayashi couldn’t estimate the parameter of the enemy’s attack. Tentacles that can easily stretch 100 meters in the blink of an eye allowed no one any time to think, anyways.

He couldn’t figure out what abnormal things were happening to him either when the control stick suddenly went haywire. It was as if the fighter jet smacked into an invisible wall and spiralled into a fall. The vigorous tremors didn’t even let him cry out a single harrowing scream.

Although he died in this way, it was somewhat a fortunate end compared to First Class Lieutenant Ōgi, who witnessed everything.

Numerous thick and robust web-like extensions stretched out from the surface of the meat lump on the river and entangled Diablo II, forcibly dragging the plane down while ignorant of the engine’s thrust force. Such a scene can only be called a nightmare.

The plane didn’t explode when it smashed into the meat lump. F15, reduced into scrap iron, sank deeply into the gigantic primeval creature and was swallowed with not a single fragment left.

“Kobayashi –!”

Having witnessed everything, First Class Lieutenant Ōgi’s brain had gone over the ultimate limit of thought and comprehension, and was left solely with a perception alien to common sense.

Aaaah, it – got swallowed.

“Control to Diablo I. What exactly happened? Please report immediately!”

“Eyes, it has eyes, so many eyes…”

Despite the thick mist First Class Lieutenant Ōgi still saw, very clearly, those wart-like eyes that emerged on the surface of the meat lump, which all opened at the same time and stared at the prey in the air above them.

First Class Lieutenant Ōgi could feel that ‘gaze’ even in the airtight cockpit.

That was it. That thing was unimaginably hungry. It focused on the next prey after it swallowed Diablo II, and kept a death glare on it…

“– Diablo I, initiating combat!”

“Wai, wait wait, Ōgi, just what –”

He forcibly turned off the noisy radio communication and unlocked all the weaponry’s safety. 4 AIM-7F/M Sparrow missiles. 4 AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. 940 rounds of M61 Vulcan cannon bullets. All in premium condition.

Kill the opponent before he gets swallowed.

Ōgi laughed madly, having lost all normal capacities of thought, his mouth hanging wide open. Holding the controller of a F15, the most powerful fighter jet in the world, he was the true god of death.

Must revenge Kobayashi… blow down that monster, burn it into ashes.

He turned the plane around, locking on target with the HUD scope. He would never miss with such a giant enemy. A saturation attack, firing all his bullets towards the enemy –

Powerful tremors rocked the plane’s body.

Right behind him – Ōgi’s battle instincts, pushed to the limit, told him this. However, judging from its results, his sudden turn to look behind him delivered the final blow to his already half-shattered conscious –

Back to Act 9, Part 5

Return to Main Page

Forward to Act 10, Part 3