Chapter 16

===Semiramis===

The red faction was in the hanging gardens of Babylon, discussing their future plans. Semiramis had just been given permission to take the fortress into the sky when she found a target of theirs they had been searching for.

"Master, you will want to see this." She said to her master Shirou Amakusa.

"Show me." He said.

Putting the live feed on the magical screen she conjured, the red faction turned to look at what had caught her attention.

Two figures ran through the forest at high speeds, traveling to their location.

"Are they servants of the Black Faction?" Achilles asked.

"No." Shirou said.

"They're something worse."

===Godrick===

Running through the forest, Jeanne and Godrick ran at high speed to a destination unknown.

"Just over here Godrick, I can feel it!" Jeanne shouted behind her. They had left the church and had followed Jeanne's intuition. They knew not where they went, but knew it was close.

Jeanne had started to slow before coming to a complete stop. Suddenly the ground started to shake before being violently split. A great fortress began to lift from the ground as it took to the air. Trees and rocks fell from its surface as it left the ground, making them fall back to the earth. The higher it went the more it revealed its massive size.

Jeanne and Godrick stood in stunned silence, looking at the flying fortress as it began to leave.

Jeanne pointed to it.

"Godrick, bring it down!" She yelled over the noise.

Turning to the flying fortress, Godrick readied himself. Leaping from his position, he flew through the air as he tried to jump to the fortress. As he did, a giant magic circle appeared and shot a bright purple magical beam at him. Unable to avoid the oncoming attack, Godrick had no choice but to be hit by it, and be thrown back to the ground.

The attack was strong enough that it buried him deeply into the ground.

"Godrick!" Jeanne shouted as she began to run to his position.

'I'll rip you from the sky one way or another' He thought to himself, as he pulled himself from the ground to reveal his chest armor. It was white hot as he absorbed the energy from the attack.

'Time to try out some new abilities.' He thought to himself.

He planted his feet as he held his halberd like a spear and readied himself.

His halber was a heavy weapon. Made of iron and other magical metals.

He lined up his shot, and threw his halberd with a mighty heave. The halberd flew through the air, and embedded itself into one of the platforms surrounding the hanging gardens.

Using one of his new abilities he swapped places with his weapon leaving him floating in the air for a split moment before he buried his hand into the slab of rock to catch himself.

Climbing up the side of the stone slab he pulled himself up, and now stood on it. He looked over the edge as he tried to determine how high he was. It would definitely take him about 30 seconds or so to fall back down to the ground, but he didn't mind being so high.

Holding out his hand he recalled his halberd, and when it flew back into his hand, he turned back to the stone slab he was on. The slabs surrounding the main island served as a protective ring that had to be taken care of, so he would deal with a couple of them first.

Positioning himself, he readied his halberd, then swung it down onto the slab. The moment his halberd connected with the slab it began to crumble and break apart.

Jumping to the next slab he broke it and jumped to the next one.

'Last one.' He thought to himself. With this one broken he should be able to break through the shield protecting the main island. He lifted his halberd and swung down, destroying this slab of protective material. As the slab began to fall out of the air, Godrick ran to the side of it, and jumped off the edge, catching himself with his halberd as he waited till it started falling so he could stand up. Finally the slab was falling vertically, and as Godrick stood up he prepared to leap into the air once more. He jumped once more with such force, that it sent the slab hurtling towards the ground. As he fell through the air down toward the island this time, another magical circle appeared as he fell toward it. Another purple beam of energy slammed into him, but it wasn't strong enough to throw him backwards. Falling through the beam he finally reached the magic circle, as he did he pulled back his right arm and the second he was in reach, punched out.

Smashing through the circle like glass he fell to the main island with a loud crash. Landing on his feet he looked around him as his armor cooled from its white hot state, thinking the best way to get to the center or bring it down.

It didn't matter in the end however, as someone interrupted his thoughts.

"So, you're the one that has the master so stressed. You don't look that tough to me."

Godrick turned to see three figures walking towards him. Two men and a woman. He had met Karna before, but didn't know the other two.

The man who spoke stepped forward and introduced himself and his companions.

"My name is Achilles. This is Atalanta, and this is Karna." He said as he pointed to the woman, then to Karna.

Godrick simply readied himself as he prepared to fight the three of them all at once.

"Is this guy too proud to give us his name?" Achilles asked to his two companions as Godrick began to march towards them.

"The arrogance of this bastard!" Atalanta said with her teeth clenched.

"It doesn't matter. Only that we deal with him." Karna said as he readied his spear.

As Achilles and Karna charged at Godrick, Atalanta shot her bow, fired at the huge knight.

Godrick caught Achilles and Karnas blows on his halberd, Achilles with the butt, and Karna with the head. Godrick saw the arrow of magic coming at him, so he brought his halber to the right, dragging Achilles into the path of the arrow. It hit him in the back as he gave a grunt of pain, but could do nothing as Godrick shoved the two of them off his halberd, then brought it back to strike at Achilles.

Achilles was fast enough to bring his spear up and block the halberd. The force was strong enough to lift him off his feet and throw him back. He landed on his feet, and charged at Godrick once more.

Meanwhile Godrick ducked under a strike from Karna then retaliated by bringing the spike of his halberd up and into Karnas stomach. It was blocked however, by one of Karna's strange golden armor pieces that floated around him.

Pushing him back, Godrick knocked one of the energy arrows out of the sky with the back of his left hand before turning back to the two melee fighters. Catching a strike from Achilles on his halberd, he let the spear slide down the shaft letting him fall off balance before Godrick buried his right fist into the smaller man's stomach, then throwing him away for the second time.

Twisting to his left to dodge a thrust from Karna, Godrick brought his halberd down on the man's spear, burying the head of his halberd into the ground below to lock the spear in place. He then backhanded Karna with his right fist with enough force to make the man let go of his spear and step away. Leaving the halberd and spear pinned to the ground, Godrick reached up and caught Achilles who had jumped into the air to strike at him with his right hand.

He then slammed the man into the ground before picking him back up and holding him into the air facing the purple magic circle that had appeared.

"Wai-" his cry was cut off as the circle fired the purple beam at the two of them. Achilles took the beam straight on, as Godrick had adapted more or less to the attack. The attack was cut off shortly after being fired to not damage Achilles as much, so Godrick threw him to the ground hard enough to crack the floor below them. Then he charged at Atalanta who had been firing arrows this whole time.

She clicked her tongue as she saw the massive knight charge her, and tried to jump over him. Godrick reached up and grabbed her by one of her legs, then brought her back down and slammed her to the ground.

Karna had been trying to free his spear this whole time, but couldn't lift the halberd off of it.

"Achilles!" He shouted over to his teammate.

Achilles was getting to his hands and knees, reeling from what he had just been through. Getting to his feet he grabbed onto the shaft of the weapon and pulled with Karna.

"What kind of a monster is this guy?" He asked to his companion.

"I know not. But if we are going to get him off the Hanging Gardens, we need to stop holding back as much." Karna replied.

"You know we can't do that yet. Master ordered us to not use any abilities that might damage the fortress!" Achilles said.

"If we don't, there might not be a fortress left anyway!" Karna shouted back.

They had finally been able to get the spear free from the halberd.

Godrick had been fighting with Atalanta, if you could even call it that.

Slamming her into the ground after she had jumped over him, he then tried to stomp on her chest. She was able to roll out of the way and fire more arrows at him. Marching through them as if they were nothing he swiped at her. She rolled out of the way again, and readied one of her more powerful abilities.

She drew her bow and poured a good amount of power into it and fired at the giant knight. It exploded as it hit him, creating a large area of smoke that began to be wafted away by the air currents. Godrick walked out of the smoke showing a small patch of white hot metal on his armor that began to fade.

"No way!" She whispered as she looked at the knight.

Godrick held out his hand, and his halber flew to him. The moment it was in his hands he brought it down on Atalanta.

A great clash of weapons sounded as Karna and Achilles appeared and blocked his blow with their spears. Godrick applied more pressure to his halber and began to push them all down towards Atalanta, who was below the three. Just as it was about to reach her chest a fourth voice was heard.

"Hello Gentlemen! My lady!" A man in a strange looking green suit said.

"I've come to give you my assistance!" He said as he pulled out a book.

Suddenly pages started to fly from the book as they surrounded the four combatants.

Godrick found himself in his old armor, standing in a great hall of the castle he once grew up in. The marble like pillars holding a vaulted ceiling made of the same. The floor was made of Grey stone, with a blood red carpet leading to a dais surrounded by steps. A lone petite woman stood before a silver sword with blood red highlights.

"You left me." The young woman spoke.

Godrick had started walking to the dais, but now stopped as he recognized the voice.

The young woman reached out and grabbed the sword, and pulled it from the stone.

"You left me to rot in the north." She said turning to face him.

"You let her take me. You left me with her for years!" Mordred yelled as she started to walk towards him.

Godrick removed his helmet and threw it to the ground. He looked in disbelief at his sister. He shook his head at her as she approached.

"YOU ABANDONED ME!" She screamed as she raised her sword.

She brought it down on him, as he held out his hands to fend her off. The sword cut deeply into his left hand, as he tried to calm her, but she wouldn't calm down. She continued to strike at him until his hands and arms were nothing more than shredded flesh, and broken armor.

"I needed you, and you didn't come!" She continued to yell at him.

He had backed away from her, not wanting to hurt her, but also not wanting to continue being hurt.

"Where were you, Godrick!?" She questioned as she pursued him, continuing to hack at him.

"Where were you, when I needed you the most!" She continued to question him.

He had backed away all he could as he felt his back hit a wall. He didn't, couldn't understand what was happening. He had done all he could to find and save her. He had fought the Warlord for years to try and find her.

But he could never tell her that. He could never speak to her again. She was dead, and he knew not what had happened to her.

He tried to speak, tried to tell her he had looked for her, killed for her, bled for her.

Died for her.

But nothing came from his lips. He had to sit there and watch as she struck at him, over and over trying to vent her frustration.

Watch as she believed he had betrayed her.

He began to weep at it all, tears streaming from his eyes as he watched his beloved sister. The hatred and betrayal in her eyes spoke more of the hurt she had been through then words ever could.

"I needed you." She said in a whisper as she dropped the sword and collapsed to her knees, beginning to weep as he had. He had fallen to his knees, but now stood as he went to comfort her in any way he could. As he reached out with his mangled arms and hands he suddenly found himself in the open. He was standing back on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He stood on one of the edges of the fortress with nothing but the ground below him if he fell.

"Now!" Achilles said.

Godrick turned back to his three assailants, head still in turmoil from the illusion he had been shown.

Achilles, Karna, and Atalanta all struck him with their strongest attacks that would damage the Hanging Gardens that badly.

Godrick had a split moment to cross his arms as the attacks struck him in the chest. To his surprise they knocked him from the fortress as he began to fall.

"His halberd!" William said. The three of them quickly picked up the halberd Godrick had dropped as they dragged it to the edge as well.

"Damn, this things heavy." Achilles grunted as they finally pushed the halberd off the ledge.

Godrick fell, still recovering from the illusion. Soon he hit the ground, and a massive crater was formed. The fall hadn't hurt, but he stayed where he had landed, thinking about what had happened.

After a while he ripped himself from the ground and looked around him.

He stood, and looked at his right hand. It was no longer mangled, but it was shaking.

Not from fear, or stress. But from sheer rage.

He clenched his fist as hard as he could, the armor beginning to creak.

'I will rip and tear that mage limb from limb'