44

043 - Gambit Bypass

"Well… shit."

I can't help a serene smile as I watch Rin and Illya trade horrified looks. There's something strangely satisfying about watching your opponents realize how utterly they've fucked up. Especially when they've just tried to pull a fast one on you… And almost succeeded.

One could call it poetic even. Maybe Kirei was onto something?

...

'Princess, am I a sadist?'

'Hardly, Master.' Comes the amused reassurance. 'Though you do have your moments.'

'Huh, I guess I do.'

Oh, I would be a dirty liar if I claimed to have expected this. Neither Rin nor Illya, nor any of the alternate versions I know of them even hinted at knowing how to deploy [Ath nGabla], nor do any of their families have a direct relationship with Ireland, so how was I supposed to know? Just because it makes some slight -barely even worth considering, really- amount of sense after the fact doesn't mean there was any reasonable chance for me to predict it.

… Hell if I'm going to admit it, though.

Instead, I put my hands in my pockets again and watched the situation develop. Atalanta's eyes dance between Jackie and Archer for a while before resting on Illya. One can practically see the gears turn in her head.

"Master." She finally speaks out, breaking the uncomfortable -for them- silence and revealing that yes, she can speak just fine, after all. "Fight."

Her voice is deep, the short of rumbling one that uses the whole chest as a sounding board. And yet, in spite of the obvious tension and frustration it carries, there's little of the irrational rage of conventional Berserkers to be found on it. It's still unambiguously feminine and I can't help thinking it would be nice, comforting even, in more relaxing circumstances.

… I wonder if I could make her purr?

"Berserker?" Illya gives her Servant a worried glance. "But Assassin is..."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine."

The two of them hold each other's glance for a moment, conveying something I utterly miss before Illya's face adopts a determined expression and she turns towards me, conjuring a handful of those wire-based bird familiars the Einzbern are so fond of.

Berserker herself keeps staring for a moment longer before nodding to herself and facing her own opponent. I mean, she's lucky we have our own agenda here or Jackie would've brutalized her guts during the distraction, but this is still an unexpected turn of events.… Is Berserker… actually going to fight Jackie?

But that just… doesn't compute. Atalanta's wish is to save the children. All of them, everywhere and everywhen no matter the circumstances. Even after discovering the truth of Jackie's nature in Apocrypha, she still did her best to protect her, going so far as turning against Ruler to side with them.

Why would she volunteer to fight, unless she's not planning to... Oh, Ooooooh! I see!

That's clever, but unfortunately we have our own plans for this fight. That gambit isn't going to pay off. Hands still in my pockets, I take a step towards Illya, my best disarming smile on my lips.

"So, Little Big Sis..." I call out, letting the burning feeling of prana circulating through my magic circuits spread through my body. "Shall we dance?"

"Why, Onii-chan." She answers with an adorable smile of her own, making a slight curtsy. "I thought you'd never ask!"

The bird familiars swoop at me before she's even finished the motion. My smile sharpens as transparent spheres materialize in front of me to meet their attacks.

"[Storch Ritter]!"

"[Corrosion Orbs]!"

Medusa Gorgon

I only pay the taunts and jeers around me half an ear, choosing to focus my attention on my own opponent instead. She doesn't seem inclined to speak out, which suits me just fine. I can do pre-fight bantering if I truly need to, but it has never been my forte. Strike hard and fast, from the shadows if at all possible, fits my style much better.

Not that I can do that here either, I'm not the one calling the shots.

I take a glance at the one who does, the man who reunited me with my Sakura. The man who saved Sakura when I failed to, who protected her and made her happy. He has a role for me to play tonight and I owe him that much. I owe him much more.

… Even if he sometimes seems to take pleasure in stretching my gratitude to the limit. I'll be remembering the omiai from earlier today for a long time. Still, this is a chance to get some payback on Archer. As much as the situation has changed since Shinji acted as my Master, it still irks me how easily I was handled last time we fought.

"Shall we fight too?" I ask with a smile as the night fills with the sounds of fighting all around us. "I have been itching for a rematch."

There's no forthcoming answer, though the seasoned warrior in the body of a little girl gives me a small nod before she brings her bow to bear. It's a bit intimidating, I muse as I dodge the first salvo of rainbow-like hardlight projectiles to close in the distance. To know I stand in front of something so vast and mighty, Earth itself stood at the brink of destruction.

Her eyes widen slightly at my swift approach, no doubt still expecting me to remain the same as I was under Shinji. Catching her off guard with my considerably improved condition, I swiftly drag her into close combat where I hold the advantage.

I'm stronger and faster, more maneuverable and, as long as I manage to pin her into melee range, hold the superior reach too. I have a functionally-infinite prana supply and Archer's weapon was poorly fit to be used as a bow in the first place.

And yet... I can feel the tide of the fight slowly turn against me as my opponent regains her bearings.

Even with all her disadvantages, Archer holds her own with deceitful grace. Dodging without a flinch even my most vicious strikes, deflecting and counterattacking while maintaining a stoic demeanor that makes her hard to read or predict. It's even worse when she forces me to break off and I find myself needing to close the distance again.

Because she simply… doesn't allow me to. It's an unpleasant surprise to realize that, now that Archer has caught a measure of my new capabilities, she has no trouble cutting short my attempts at approaching. She is able to read even my most unconventional maneuvers to stay a step ahead.

As expected of the White Titan who sank Atlantis and broke the Olympians. It's frustrating to feel myself still falling short of my opponent like this, but I'm not going to give up just yet. Sakura stands with me now and I still have my pride as a Servant. Things will go differently this time.

'Rider?' Sakura's worried voice comes through our connection and I chastise myself for allowing my emotions to flow back to her. 'Are you… alright?'

'I'll be fine, Sakura.' I reassure her, though my attempts at sending confidence through the bond are utterly ruined when I'm forced to throw myself away from a new barrage of projectiles. 'Just... thinking about kicking things up a notch.'

'Just… make sure not to overreach, okay?' Sakura asks softly, obviously unconvinced by my resurances but resigned to the way things are. 'I just want to see you coming back.'

'Yes, my Master!'

Like a breath of fresh air, a burst of prana flows through our connection, renewing my reserves as I prepare for a big move. Archer tries to interrupt me again, but I don't really need to remain still to gather energy. The very air around us seems to hold its breath as the bindings keeping the world safe from myself slowly erode away, revealing it to my eyes.

"[Self-Sealing Black Temple - Breaker Gorgon]!"

...The sight of panicked surprise in a child's face probably shouldn't bring me this much satisfaction.

Medea of Colchis.

Deep within the caverns under Ryuudou Temple, I sit amongst a collection of water surfaces, each displaying the events taking place behind the temple from various angles. Technically, I'm still working on stripping my latest project bare of all its secrets, but I've decided to take a break to enjoy watching my dear Master and my cute little Servant in action.

This is the way life should be lived, I muse as the situation develops. I'm not a front line fighter and never have been. My place is safely tucked away behind the walls of a fortress and the countless layers of traps protecting my inner sanctum, enjoying the fruits of my preparations and providing last-minute support as required to the actual fighters.

If I need to step into a fight, I consider with a chuckle, something has already gone terribly wrong. Which, I have to admit, could've happened here. Had dear sweet Atalanta been pretty much any other Berserker, had my cute little Jackie been pretty much any other Assassin…

Instead, what was an impressive gambit nobody could've predicted turned into the spectacle in front of my eyes. Master told me once about the strange curse of the Tohsaka line that causes their best laid plans to get derailed by small unpredictable factors, but this is frankly pitiful. Enemy or not, nobody deserves this.

And yet… It speaks well of the Einzbern Master that sweet Atalanta still chose to fight. Well, no. She's not fighting, not really.

Her strikes are slow and straightforward, lacking all the fire and awe I know them capable of carrying. Sure, they are powerful, with the ground around the fight already sporting craters, bushes getting ripped right off and trees exploding to the missing strikes.

But that's exactly the thing, isn't it? All the strikes are missing. Because they're not trying to hit. They're showy and scary to the uninitiated eye and I certainly wouldn't want to be there facing her. But to an experienced fighter they're easy to predict and dodge.

In fact… Holding back like this is a remarkable display of self-control for a Berserker. Or maybe it's a lack of self-control that keeps her from fighting for real against a child? In any case, she would already be out of commission if Jackie wasn't showboating too.

We don't want to hurt our future family, after all. Admittedly Jackie was a bit grumpy about not being allowed to gut everyone, throwing a bit of a tantrum that would've got her grounded if she wasn't so utterly adorable while trying to convey her displeasure.

So I had to sit her down and tell her some… slightly cherry-picked tales of my time in the Argos with the chaste huntress. It was strangely cathartic to sit Jackie on my lap and tell her stories of the good times with the Argonauts before everything went to shit. Why, the last time I did something like that was… no, not the point. Not the time.

Putshing depressing away, I refocus the cheerfully dodging shape of my cute little Servant.

'Still want to gut my friend, sweetie?'

'Nn!' Jackie denies with the mental equivalent of an enthusiastic head shake. 'We want to pet the floofy ears!'

'That's my girl.'

Satisfied the situation on that front isn't going to change anytime soon, I take a moment to survey the rest of the battlefield. Haku is happily throwing it down with the Tohsaka girl and Master is, of course, effortlessly keeping up with that utterly adorable sister of his. The only one who actually got pressured during this fight was Medusa, but…

That was before she unleashed her Noble Phantasm and stopped Archer dead cold. Or is it stone cold in this case? No, Medea, that pun is beneath you.

The fight is practically over and neither Ecchan nor me have needed to intervene. Nevermind our real ace in the hole. Having a mass of tentacles with limitless regeneration and a conceptual advantage against Servants is an unfair advantage in a Grail War, after all. And she's such a sweet girl when she's not busy mind-breaking heroes of legend, too.

I give a considering glance to the screen focused on the four runes that form the basis of [Ath nGabla], idly twirling a materialized [Rulebreaker] between my fingers.

'Don't you think this has dragged long enough, Master?' I call for Master, who seems to be having the time of his life [Projecting] snowballs to throw at his sister's face while she tries her best to eviscerate him with sword-like masses of glowing wire. 'Shall I take pity on them and end this pathetic display?'

'Not yet, wait until the rest of the team surrenders and is secured.'

'Uh?'

'Does Atalanta know about your [Rulebreaker]?'

'I couldn't say for sure. It's not something I had in life, but it's an intrinsic part of who I am as a Heroic Spirit. Since her own legend is tied to mine though, it's not impossible for her to have gained knowledge on it upon being summoned. Why?'

'Because both Rin and Illya have been keeping an awfully close eye to the [Ath nGabla] setup even while being taunted and pressured by us.' He explains, crouching under a flying sword before disintegrating it with a lazy wave. 'They're waiting for you to come out.'

'Huh…' So, the whole thing was just bait to lure me out? That's why Atalanta dug her heels and tried to fight in spite of… everything? That's actually a fairly good strategy. 'Clever girls.'

'I don't know their play and I have faith you could counter it yourself but...'

'Needless risks are a fool's calling card.' I finish for him with a nod. 'I understand, Master. I'll stand back for now'

Leaning back into my seat again, I focus back on my role. Oversight and support. A Caster has no business in the front lines during an ongoing conflict.