His ears were a torrent of pain. All he could hear was an intense ringing as he tried to pick himself up off the ground. Shirou opened his eyes to vainly try to see what on Earth had just happened. All he could see around him at first was sand. Nothing but sand.
He recalled what had happened. One moment they were there trying to figure out just how a sandstorm would appear out of nowhere and then Archer had tensed and thrown one of his falchions right before there was an intense explosion. They had all been pelted by it and thrown backward.
His armor had taken the brunt of the shrapnel, but his main concern was to find his wife. She didn’t wear as heavy of protection as he did and fear for her safety drove him to pick himself up off the ground. He held up his hand to shield his eyes so that he could see and looked for Rin.
The first thing he saw was the familiar pedals of a giant flower meant to be used as a shield. Archer had apparently brought up Rho Aias to shield them from further attack. Shirou made his way toward the Servant, figuring he was protecting his Master. As he approached, the world shook as another explosion flared up. Luckily, Rho Aias held, losing only a single pedal.
Shirou reached Archer and saw a crumpled form behind him. His heart skipped a beat as he lunged down to his fallen wife. Rin was breathing, but clutching her side tightly and he could see a good deal of blood covering her hand. Her teeth were grit in pain and it was obvious she was in no mind to concentrate enough to heal herself.
He leaned down to her and put his hand on her head to try and comfort her. The situation was dire, he knew. Archer’s shield would only last so long, and there was no way to find the car in this storm. When his shield wore off, Shirou could summon his own, though. Maybe Archer could find a way out while he held off the attack. Or at least get his Rin away.
Rin’s eyes opened and looked up at him. Through a pained expression, she tried to talk to him. Unfortunately, his hearing was still mostly obstructed and all he heard from her was, “..ealit….ble,”
It was hard to ask, but he said, “What?”
She motioned him down and used most of her strength to yell, “Reality Marble! It’s a reality marble, and another one can cancel it!!”
His eyes widened and he pointed at himself. She nodded and worked through the pain to get to her knees. Shirou tried to stop her, but she waved him off and beckoned him to start his chant. They didn’t have much time. That point was driven home as another explosion racked the shield.
“Get to it, Tohsaka Shirou,” Archer’s gruff voice called out. “Once the Marble drops, I can stop whatever is doing this!”
“You don’t have to tell me,” he grumbled and stood up. He opened his circuits and began the familiar chant. “I am the Bone of my Sword, Steel is my Body, and Fire is my Blood.”
The rush of mana made him lightheaded as always and the world around him seem to dim and quiet. He concentrated on the spell, despite the fact that his wife was getting to her feet despite being injured so. “I have Created Over a Thousand Blades.”
Another hit on the shield. It was starting to grow weak as the Servant pumped as much mana into it as he could. “Unaware of Loss. Nor Aware of Gain.” The mana began to flood out of him, whirling around in a circle and surrounding him with its innate power. “Withstood Pain to Create Many Weapons. Waiting for one’s arrival.”
Rin staggered over beside him as another explosion threatened to take down Archer’s shield. “Your fucking chant is too fucking long, you phallic obsessed freak! We’re going to get killed out here!!” she screamed at him.
“I Have no Regrets, This is the Only Path. My Whole Life was ‘Unlimited Blade Works!!’” Shirou released the mana and the world around him began to change. For a moment he saw the barren wastelands filled with blades and the smell of the forge until with a crash, everything shattered. There was a violent shudder and then both realities were gone and they were back to the frigid Munich night.
All three of them looked over to the source of the barrage and Shirou blinked. It was… a tank. A real-life tank and it was FIRING on them? “Is… that a Noble Phantasm?” he asked weakly.
“Looks like,” Rin said with a wince. Shirou quickly took her free arm and wrapped it around him. He turned and found their car and began to help her towards it.
Archer release the shield as it began to crumble from a final hit and traced his bow. As he pulled back a Broken Phantasm smaller muzzle flashes could be seen from the enemy’s weapon. The Servant hissed as smaller caliber rounds zinged through the air and was forced to abandon his attack.
Shirou handed Rin off to Archer as he jumped back to avoid the machine gun fire and he brought out his own Rho Aias. Unfortunately, his was far weaker than Archer’s as his mana had taken a serious hit for having to summon his Reality Marble. The tiny pangs of the bullets weren’t so bad, but when another shell hit his shield, it already started to waver.
“We can’t fight like this,” Rin said weakly. “We’ve got to retreat for now.”
“I agree,” Archer said. “I can’t fight and protect you with you injured like this, Rin.”
They were steadily backing towards the car and when they got there Archer put Rin into the back seat as carefully as he could. Shirou stole a glance backwards and could see she was starting to get pale. They needed to get her to a hospital so that she could recover enough to use a spell to heal herself.
Another hit finished his shield and it collapsed. Shirou dove over the hood of the BMW as more machine gun rounds pelted the area around them. He got into the driver’s seat and quickly gunned the engine to get them moving. Several bullets found there way to the side of the car but thankfully didn’t hit anything vital.
Archer opened the sunroof and said, “You drive, I’ll be OUR turret.” He poked himself out of the opening and drew his bow. Shirou didn’t wait for any more explanation and took them out of the parking spot and onto the street.
Shirou glanced out the window to see the tank giving chase and continuing to fire on them. Archer shot down the shell with an arrow and then began to trace a Broken Phantasm. Shirou cursed as the lights inside the cabin began to pop and explode from the gathering of mana and felt the engine lose a good deal of its power.
Bullets shattered the back glass and Shirou heard his lover whimper as it fell on her. Luckily her jacked protected her from any would-be cuts, but it was still something the poor woman didn’t need. He took a turn away from the tank and headed for a smaller street that would put some buildings between them and their adversary. Even with the engine acting up, they were still much faster than the tank.
“Caladbolg!” came Archer’s voice and he released his weapon. More of the electronics in the car shorted out. His headlights were gone, but he noticed that the machine-gun fire was no longer focused on them. He saw in the rear-view mirror that the tank had used its machine guns to alter the course of Archer’s projectile just enough so that it would miss and hit behind it.
However, Archer’s gamble had still worked as they had now reached the small street. Losing the tank shouldn’t be too hard here and the risk of collateral damage was much higher. Shirou didn’t ease up any, though. More important than anything was getting Rin somewhere where she could be treated. Archer sat back down in the seat and exhaled deeply. It was only now that Shirou saw several bullet wounds on him.
He knew that Rin would be able to heal him once she was feeling better, but it certainly didn’t help that their Servant was now injured as well. Shirou gripped the steering wheel and made another turn, desperately trying to remember where the hospital was. He looked at a sign and tried to read it when there was an odd noise from above them.
Before he could look, the area around the car was engulfed in a bright light and a voice on a loudspeaker began to yell at them in German. He couldn’t tell what most of it was, but HALT was pretty obvious. To further the point, a large white van pulled out in front of them sideways, forcing him to stop. On the side of it was written ‘Bundespolizei’ and several troops poured out of it, leveling sub machine-guns at them.
Shirou had no choice. Archer had already gone into spirit form and at least these people would help his wife. He turned off the engine of what was left of their car and raised his hands.
******************************************************
Luviageltia caught up with her Servant’s tank and spit a silent curse as she knew her prey had escaped. It wasn’t so bad, though. She had seen her nemesis’s Servant and could basically tell his abilities. He was most certainly an Archer class, as he had used a bow against them in his feeble attempts to fend off her Rider.
The fight had gone well, even if they had escaped. Rider was completely unharmed from the encounter and the mana expenditure had not been too costly. She would recover within the next day and could still fight if she needed to. Her gems were also fully stocked and she had a good number of them with her.
The only thing she really regretted was that Shirou had been with her enemy. Thankfully, it looked as if he had gotten away unharmed. He really didn’t need to be involved in any of this. That wife of his probably drug him into this so she would have an unfair advantage. It was the woman’s way after all.
“Alright, Rider, I guess it’s time to…” Luvia said until she felt a surge of mana close to her. She spun around and opened her circuits to flood them with mana. The Gandr curses were already charging as she pointed her fingers towards the source of the flare of mana.
Her eyes focused on a woman in a military uniform, one from several hundred years ago. She had on a long coat and a red sash with tan colored pants and long riding boots on underneath. In her gloved had was a long slim blade that curved upward at the end and it was pointed at Luviagelita. What concerned her more, however, was the canon aimed at her Servant’s tank.
In the Servant’s other hand was a stick with a ball of fire at its end. Luviagelita instinctually knew that it was to fire the cannon and grit her teeth. Her new enemy lowered it to the rear of the barrel of the weapon, igniting a spark of a fuse. There was only a split second to spare and she threw out her arm towards her Servant.
“Rider!! Dodge it!!” she called out with authority. The cannon roared and she felt a burning sensation on her arm and knew one of her Command Seals had been expended. From the corner of her eye, she saw the tank dematerialize and Rider rolling out of the way of the cannon ball. The round flew harmlessly through where the tank had been and crashed into the ground many meters away.
Rider rolled onto his feet and held in his hands a Panzerfaust RPG. He trained the weapon on the canon and awaited the command of his Master. Luviagelita only then saw the young girl next to the Servant, her apparent master. She had sandy blonde hair and a green sweater. She stared at Luviagelita without saying anything with pale blue eyes.
“Excuse me, señor,” the Servant said to her Rider. “But I can move much faster than your toy rocket.” Her accent was heavily Spanish, Luviagelita noted.
“Ja, but she cannot,” Rider replied, motioning to the other Master.
They were at a stalemate. Luviagelita had both her fingers pointed at her enemies with a curse upon each one. Whoever moved first would trigger the others to move in turn and more than likely they would all be killed. It was a bad situation for either side, but neither could afford to give.
The silence was broken by the sound of a helicopter overhead and several sirens blaring. Luviagelita cursed slightly and said, “We cannot fight in display of the common population… That is the rule. So what are we to do?”
“Rule?” the girl said. Luviagelita was pained to hear just how young it sounded. This girl couldn’t have been over 15 at the most. What was she DOING in this conflict? “I didn’t know there were any rules to this war.”
“What… do you mean, girl?” she asked her. “As mandated by the organizers, the public must not know of the Holy Grail or its conflicts.”
“Organizers? Wait… what are you talking about?” The girl asked her. Her voice was laced with a thick German accent but Luviagelita could tell what she was saying easily enough. “Is this some sort of trick?”
Luviagelita tilted her head and finally asked, “You…. do not know what is going on, do you?”
“I know I was chosen to fight in a war for the Cup of Christ, apparently, and that I must defeat the other Masters and their Servants to do so,” the girl explained. “Sa… My Servant told me so.”
Luviagelita sighed and said, “Then, as a participant in this war, I offer a temporary truce for the rest of the night. I find it unfair that you know so little of what you have gotten yourself into.” She could almost hear Aoko laughing, but there was no way she could just kill this girl in cold blood like this.
“Servant?” the girl asked. “Does that sound alright to you?”
“Yes, Master,” the Servant, Saber from the slip of the girls tongue, replied.
Slowly, Luviagelita dropped the curse from her fingers and lowered her hands. The enemy Servant sheathed her sword and Rider dematerialized his weapon as well. She nodded and then said, “Well, is there a place that we can talk, then? If not, I have a place of my own.”
“Well, my parents would be pretty sore if I brought you two inside at this time of night,” the girl mused. “I guess we should go to your place, but I’ll have to work up some sort of story for them. Hold on, and I’ll be right back.”
Luviagelita stood and stared at the girl in disbelief as she scurried off towards the apartments with her Servant in tow. Just what on Earth was going on, here? How did a girl like that even become a Master? She sighed and looked up towards the sky, seeing the helicopter fly by. “It’s going to be a long night, Rider,” she said.