Chapter 15: Excalibur

Saber attacked a bunch of tentacles, but couldn't find an opening to attack Caster. Rider flew with his cavalry and his master was accompanied. - "What are we going to do now, Rider?!"

"It looks like we're not making much progress..." - Lancer said to Irisviel. The girl with snow-white hair looked worried about the whole situation.

"Hey, Saber! This isn't working. Let's back off!" - Rider shouted to Saber.

"Don't be ridiculous. We have to stop this monster here!" - Said Saber shouting back to Rider.

"But all our options are gone. Back off now! I have an idea." - said Rider.

Saber got the message and retreated while slashing more tentacles on the way back.

With everyone gathered, Rider begins to speak. - "All of you listen. Regardless of what we can plan, we need to buy more time until Scar Boy gets here. I will lure that thing into my Ionian Hetairoi." - said Rider.

"What was that fire bow, was it Yuji?" - Lancer said in doubt.

"I probably didn't know he had fire abilities." - Irisviel said, impressed.

"He should be here at any moment, and we'll explain it to him later." - said Saber.

"Back to the topic, even if I manage to gather the strength of all my warriors, I won't be able to completely destroy him. The most I'll be able to do is stop him for a short period of time inside the barrier." - said Rider.

"And after this?" - Lancer asked.

"I don't know." - said Rider sincerely. - "If I have to take something that size into the barrier, I can only last a few minutes at most. You must find a gap in the meantime. Heroic Spirits... I want you to find a way to lead us to victory. Hey, kid , you stay here too." - said Rider to his Master.

Rider takes to the skies alone this time. Saber looked at the Monster with some concern. - 'You're taking too long, Yuji... I saw that fire arrow and your presence became more powerful, what are you planning?...' - thought Saber.

Meanwhile, the crowd worried about the situation. Suddenly the lake had a strange, purple mist taking up most of the viewers' vision.

Rider approached the creature and he prepared to create a barrier. Meanwhile, the other servants were still talking about the situation. - "What now? He's biding his time, but if we can do anything, we'll have to go back to square one. Hey, Mrs. Einzbern, do you have any ideas?" - said Waver.

Suddenly, Irisviel's cell phone started ringing, but the poor girl didn't know how to use it. - "Ah... Sorry, I don't know..." - Irisviel said, embarrassed.

Waver takes her phone and answers it. - "Iri?" - said Kiritsugu on the phone. - "No, I'm... I mean... " - Waver said.

"I see. You must be Rider's master. Perfect. I wanted to talk to you too." Said Kiritsugu on the phone.

"Who are you?" - Waver said.

"That doesn't matter now. Your servant was responsible for disappearing Caster and the monster, right? I had an idea..." - Kiritsugu said.

A few minutes ago...

"That Kamino Fūga wasn't as strong as Sukuna's, and it still wore me out a lot!" - Itadori ran through the streets of Fuyuki towards his companions, but as he ran without stopping, something distracted him. He feels someone's presence.

"There's someone here..." - Itadori said, getting ready to fight. - 'Damn, using that domain expansion really tired me out too, but I can't stop now.'

Itadori walked carefully, slowly approaching the enemy, the boy approached an alley where the presence was.

Observing the alley, there was a seriously injured hooded man. -"The hooded man I saw earlier, he must be the Berserker's master... He died? I still feel his presence." - Itadori approached the body, still alert for any danger.

"He was burned alive?!" - Itadori placed his hand on his chest, the man was indeed still alive. - "The way he is, he's going to end up dying on his own, I'd better go back..." - Itadori said, turning around.

"...Sa-Sakura..." - said the Burnt Man. - "...I-I h-have to save her..."

Itadori turned to the man. - "Is he still conscious?!" - Itadori said, impressed by the man's resistance.

The pink haired boy was conflicted about whether or not to help this man. - "Urgh... A part of me tells me to just let an enemy die, but another part tells me to save him to fight fairly..." - Itadori said.

'He said that girl's name again... It seems like he is participating in this war because of that girl.' - thought Itadori.

The boy thought a lot. - "I'll probably regret this..." - Itadori said, placing his hand on the back of the man leaning on the ground and decided to use the reverse cursed energy. - "Your face... What happened to it?" - Itadori said, looking at the man's deformed appearance.

While healing the man, Itadori felt something strange coming from him. -'I managed to reverse the fire burns, but his face remains like that... He has a very strong curse, if you take it away from him, he could die... FUCK! If I knew one hundred percent of my power, I could remove this curse without much trouble.' - thought Itadori after healing the fallen man.

After being cured, the man regains his consciousness. - "...Um... The burns...are gone..." - said the man trying to get up.

'I should leave now.' - Itadori thought, turning around.

"...WAIT!..." - The man shouted to Itadori. The boy turned around. - "... Why? tell me... Why did you save me?.... You are that girl in white's Servant, aren't you?... What would you gain from that?!" - said the Man.

Seeing that there was no other way out, Itadori helped the man to his feet. - "Honestly, I don't know. I thought that was not a dignified way to die. We are enemies, but we are still human, I heard the conversation you had with that guy in the red suit." - Itadori said.

"You're strange, boy

"You're strange, boy..." - said the Man.

"Maybe... You're participating in this war because of this Sakura girl, aren't you?" - Itadori said.

The hooded man was sweating in pain. "Yes... She was separated from her mother and sister... That trash in the red suit is her father... Tohsaka Tokiomi... his servant is Gilgamesh, King of Heroes..."

"So, that Tohsaka who did this to you... and even had the courage to do this to his daughter, I have one more reason to face him" - Itadori said

"It was him..." - Kariya said.

"That's what I imagined... And you must be Berserker's servant, right?" - Itadori said.

"Yes... But he doesn't even obey me properly... I'm really not cut out to be a mage... My name is Matou Kariya, what's your name?" - said Mr. Matou.

"My name is Itadori Yuji, under other circumstances, I would probably have killed you. But you have a justifiable reason for participating in this war, unlike the other Masters I have encountered here so far. So when we meet again on the battlefield, I will focus only in your Servant." - Itadori said.

"Thanks, I guess... So you're going to let me live?" - asked Kariya.

"I had a friend who had a thought like this: Good people should be saved, while bad people are not worth saving. I think I ended up getting his ideal for myself..." - Itadori said, remembering Megumi.

"I heard that Servants are summoned with characteristics and similarities of their Masters... Your master must have a good heart too." - said Kariya.

"I don't have a good heart, I'm just a sorcerer, I need to go... I have to help others." - Itadori said.

"Thank you for saving me, I never imagined something like this could happen... Anyway, watch out for Berserker, he's fighting Gilgamesh. He's practically a dog without a leash." - said Mr. Matou.

"Thanks for the tip, I need to go!" - Itadori said saying goodbye to Kariya.

Returning to the present.

"Apparently, we have a lot of time..." - Said Saber, revealing the appearance of his sword, Excalibur.

The strength and magic emanated from his sword, everyone was amazed at Saber.

"So this is King Arthur's legendary sword..." - Waver said, impressed.

Berserker appeared in the skies controlling a ship. Berserker can corrupt and control any object he touches.

Berserker approached Saber. The armored girl noticed his sudden appearance and jumped into the lake running under the waters.

"Saber!" - Irisviel shouted to Saber.

Saber while running, Berserker used the corrupted ship to shoot projectiles at the woman.

Berserker was flying into the skies, enraged as usual. Gilgamesh appears with his own ship, the two were already fighting before.

"How dare you turn your back on me, you filthy mongrel?!" How insulting!" - Gilgamesh said irritated.

Berserker Launches a legion of projectiles towards the King of Heroes. Gilgamesh is surprised by what happened, but before he could even react, someone appeared to help. - "What?!" - said Gilgamesh.

It was Itadori, the boy appeared on Gilgamesh's ship. - "Who told you to step here, you scum!" - said Gilgamesh irritated.

Itadori used Sukuna's cutting technique, The Cleave. Thus reflecting all Berserk projectiles. - "I'm helping you, Idiot!" - Itadori said, jumping from Gilgamesh's ship to Berserk's ship.

The pink-haired boy really had superhuman strength, jumping from one ship to another at high speed.

Itadori narrowly reached Berserk's ship. The boy held on to one of the ship's wings as he tried to pull himself up.

Berserker returned to attack Saber again, a series of shots headed towards him.

"SABER!" - Irisviel screamed desperately.

"What's the matter with Berserker!" - Waver said irritated.

'Now this? Wasn't there another time to attack me?!' - Saber thought, trying to concentrate.

"SAAAAAAABEEEER! I ARRIIIIIIIIIIVED !" - Itadori shouted with a certain spirit, the boy managed to get up from one of the wings of the ship.

"YUJI?!" - Said Saber looking at Itadori trying to climb Berserk's ship. - "WHERE WERE YOU, IDIOT?!"

"I THINK THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME FOR US TO TALK!" - Itadori said. Berserk's ship was moving away from Saber and heading back into the skies.

"That's it now.... Is that Itadori?!" - Irisviel asked.

A Rider warrior appears to Waver. - "I am Mithrenes, from Hetairoi. I have come at the request of my king."

Waver awkwardly tries to continue the conversation. - "I-I want him to wait for my signal and then release the Caster from the barrier at a certain location. Can he do that?"

"Of course we do, but we're running out of time. Our armies inside the barrier won't be able to hold the Caster for long." - said the Hetairoi warrior.

"I know! I know that!.... Damn Berserk, isn't there anyone who can do something about him?!" - said Saber

"I will go... I felt the presence of someone familiar on that ship... I will go there immediately." - said Lancer, teleporting to the ship.

"L-Lancer?!" - Itadori said.

"Good evening, Itadori. I wasn't able to find you earlier, but I just wanted to thank you for lifting my curse." - Lancer said gratefully.

"Thats Okay, but we need to stop Berserk!"- Itadori said.

"You're right! That's enough, crazy warrior!" - Lancer said after using his red spear to basically destroy the ship completely.

As the three fall, Berserker pulls out a machine gun. - "WHERE DID HE GET THAT FROM?!" - Itadori said impressed.

Berserk's machine gun started to move, but before it could fire, two swords flew towards him.

Itadori took out these strange swords and attacked Berserk while still in the air. - 'Who gave me these swords?!' - After attacking, Itadori looked to the side.

It was Gilgamesh. - "THANKS!" - Said Itadori.

"YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO CATCH IT, YOU FILTHY ASSHOLE! NOW YOU HAVE CONTAMINATED MY RELICS!" - Gilgamesh said irritated.

'So he just threw them away? Didn't he realize that swords are meant to be used and not thrown?' - Itadori thought.

The sword Itadori used was red with a golden blade, the boy had no idea if it had any hidden power, but he decided to use it again.

This time a golden glow appears from the sword. - "Get...AWAY!" - Itadori said, throwing Berserker away with the solar glow of Gilgamesh's sword.

"Itadori.... Thank you!" - Saber said.

Kiritsugu, who was hiding, appears by boat while using a flare. A light appears from the sea, indicating that Rider's plan must begin.

"That's it! Materialize him back there!" - Waver sent.

"As you wish, my master." - said the Hetairoi soldier after disappearing.

Rider's grip had completely exhausted itself, releasing the massive creature made of tentacles. The thing fell over the sea, as if a meteor was going to collide with the earth.

'Now that thing is weakened! My cursed energy is running out... I can't use Sukuna's domain expansion right now, and even if I did, I would end up killing everyone, including Saber... The only Technique I have left to use will be this!' - thought Itadori after using his last technique before falling to the side.

"DISMANTLE!"

Itadori uses one of Sukuna's strongest techniques, the strongest cut of all. The immense cut goes through the monster, which, oddly enough, was not enough to kill it.

But with dismantle, an opening was exposed, that figure was Caster. The only problem is that Itadori is very weakened from using too many techniques in too little time.

The boy used his own domain expansion, blood manipulation, cleave, Kamino Fūga, reverse cursed energy on himself and another person, soul manipulation and now Dismantle. Itadori had passed out after all of this.

The boy fell but someone caught him, that someone was Saber. "How can you rest at a time like this... You idiot." - Saber said, smiling at Itadori while putting him on his back.

Saber's sword glowed more brightly. Saber held up Excalibur as if he was going to proclaim something. A golden energy hovered over the blonde-haired girl.

Her glow hovered over the entire lake, in fact, over the entire surrounding environment. The sword shined brighter and brighter. The magic was so strong that Saber just left Itadori resting on her side under the water, it seems that the girl from the lake made an exception for Itadori to stay on the water.

Everyone without exception looked at that beauty. - "Her sword shines, with a dream that all warriors scattered on the battlefield, from the past, present and future. Share and will sweep away the sadness of the world with its final shine. It carries the will to live, with the her pride, firmly offering her unconditional loyalty... Now the undefeated king will sing aloud the name of the miracle she holds in her hands." - said Irisviel.

Saber took a step forward, brandished her sword, raised it to the heavens and said...

"EXCAAAALIBUUUURR!"

An immense golden light gushed from his sword hitting the sea, causing the interior to shake completely.

Itadori had a small moment of lucidity. The only thing he could see was Saber, he looked exclusively at her.

"...S-Saber..." - he observed this entire spectacle. - "...You are... Spectacular..." - Itadori said after fainting.

Golden light traveled under the water towards the already exposed Caster.

"THIS LIGHT..." - Said Caster in amazement.

The light reached him and killed him with a golden explosion along with blood and guts everywhere. Doing so, the monster being destroyed in the process.

The monster began to die little by little, as if it were melting. The purple mist began to dissipate, implying that Caster had definitely died.

Saber took Itadori on her lap, like a princess being carried by her prince, in this case, the King.-"We have a lot to talk about...

At home."

End of chapter 15