flightworks | [Fate/ninth heaven] Vagrant Grail Cadenza; stigmata

Masterlist and readme are here.

(part one)

“—”
…With the dishes done and everyone gathered, it’s about time to start discussing strategy from here on out.
Roswell and Yggdra are both very quiet.
It’s certainly true that I still need to be careful of them, but as they agree with us that neither Hector nor Yellma should be allowed to lay hands on the contents of the Grail, I shouldn’t need to hold anything back in these strategy discussions.

“Anyway, we should resume group patrols tonight.
“—We should all go as a group rather than having Gulcasa and myself remain here.
“It will always be safer to attack either enemy in a group rather than with a single Servant, and I will be useful in combat, unlike Roswell.”

Roswell makes a troubled face that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with my commentary on his abilities.
“—But, Nessiah. Are you sure that you’ll be all right?
“After all, your body…”

“—Yes.
“My natural stores of prana are almost entirely gone, which makes now the best time to act.
“It’s as we’ve discussed already; wait too long, and my body will start to shut down automatically so that it can still retain the raw material of the Servants’ souls.
“And of course, it will get worse as soon as the next Servant dies, so we need to settle things as quickly as we possibly can with one to give me the time to recover.
“You’ve already decided that this is not your battle, and so you mustn’t try to hinder me with halfhearted worries like that.”

Roswell looks down weakly and narrows his eyes.
It’s not just my imagination that he seems listless.
…But that doesn’t matter. I have plenty of guesses as to why he’s acting like this, and now isn’t the time to bring them up.
Gulcasa doesn’t seem to notice anything, and he’s sure to react badly if I tell him with the culprit right before his eyes.

“Now that those complaints are out of the way.
“—There are two Servants remaining.
“When we confront Caster, we need to be fully prepared.
“With that man as her Master, and most likely facing them in their home territory, it will be extremely difficult to win without a sufficient plan.
“So, I would propose that we settle things with Avenger first.
“…That’s been put off for too long out of sentimentality alone.
“And as long as she’s already defeated, when Gulcasa and I challenge Caster there will be less opportunity for the death of a new Servant causing problems in the middle of battle.
“All Gulcasa and Yggdra have to do is not die. That’s something that we can control, unlike the status of an enemy Servant.”

My words must seem quite brazen.
Roswell is looking at me with reproach.

But Gulcasa and Yggdra don’t voice any protests.
I know that Gulcasa will support me.
This kind of planning—going out to defeat the enemy before you are defeated yourself—is what suits him best.
He’s not the type who’s good with staying on the defensive.
And I’m sure that he too feels as though we owe it to Avenger to end things quickly and cleanly.
If there isn’t any future for her as Servant to that woman, then freeing her with death after a last honorable battle would probably be kinder than letting her linger on out of halfhearted feelings of concern.
You can only save who you can save.

…As for Yggdra, I can’t really tell what she’s thinking.
She doesn’t seem to object to the plan, but whether that’s because she doesn’t feel obligated to actively contribute now that she no longer wants the Holy Grail or because she approves is unclear to me.

Roswell sighs.
“…I’m sure that even that woman will have had the sense to abandon her base after we tracked her down the last time, so what’s your plan for actually finding her?”

“—It’s simple enough.
“She knows what I am, and she knows that this is where I’m staying.
“The barrier is too powerful for someone of her caliber to break through, but if we leave its boundary and enter her field of surveillance, she’ll probably come right back out and take the opportunity to try to capture me again.
“Her relationship with her Servant is very bad, so if nothing else we can rely on the fact that Avenger won’t be trying especially hard to make sure her Master’s plans progress smoothly.
“…Too, by my count Yellma should be on her last Command Spell, so there will be a limit to her ability to force Avenger to obey.
“As for where to start looking, if she doesn’t come to attack us as soon as we’re in a position that offers concealment from ordinary people, I would actually suggest going back to those abandoned houses.
“It’s common sense to abandon a place that you know is unsafe, and so many people would try to circle back and reinhabit a breached stronghold, thinking themselves clever.
“Because it’s the last place that someone simpleminded would look, it’s at least worth checking the area to make sure she’s not trying that stale old trick.”

…We’ll start with the battle that we know we can win.
From then on, it’s the real final assault.

“If we meet Caster instead, what then?”
Yggdra speaks up.

“In Caster’s case, I would expect that she could make it through this barrier, so instead it would be better to scatter.
“Depending on the identity of the Servant, she might be able to send out familiars or something to scan the area, but Caster is not a mobile Servant and it should be easy to evade her.
“I do have one or two places that I could lie low for a while; you could probably slip into highly populated areas to prevent being attacked.
“Yellma might be different, but Hector at least is sensible enough to not kill large amounts of civilians just to get at one enemy. An easily-traceable crime like that would ruin his image, and I’m sure his peers would love the chance to be able to bury him politically.”

“—His peers?”
Roswell looks at me blankly.

“Yes.
“—I mentioned before that that man is one chosen by the gods to govern Asgard; whatever else might be said about the gods, they were wise enough to make sure that all their power did not go to a single person.
“There are six others at about the same level of power and wisdom as him, a closed oligarchy that governs that world. From what I know, they are ferocious political rivals and always at each other’s throats; they’re nominal allies, but the other six would surely love to see him go down in flames, since then their individual slices of pie would become that much thicker.
“Hector is certainly not the only corrupt one, but he is by far the worst of the lot.
“…The politics of Asgard are a story for another time, of course.”

Roswell nods in agreement.
“—Then. About the actual battle plans.
“I’m aware that of course Yggdra and Gulcasa are familiar with each other’s battle styles.
“But they don’t have any real practice fighting as allies, so are there any plans that you recommend to keep them from getting in each other’s way?”

…It’s a valid concern.
Certainly, the styles of these two are similar, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t wind up causing trouble with poor communication.
“That’s true, but to some degree I believe we can leave it to their own combat instincts.
“—Gulcasa and the princess here are both warrior sovereigns whose individual reigns were based in part upon their prowess.
“Because this is our fight I’d like to ask for two conditions, however: First, that Yggdra be willing to defer to Gulcasa’s lead if necessary, and second, that we come up with a code or nonverbal signal in order to warn each other before using any Noble Phantasm.
“We’re allies, but the Servant system isn’t convenient enough to recognize that and cancel out any friendly fire. Furthermore, the Gran Centurio and Prominence are both very powerful attacks with a wide blast radius, and neither of our Servants is really capable of nullifying the other’s Noble Phantasm.
“They are both top-ranked Servants and might be able to survive at least one blow, but that would be a dangerous situation to put ourselves in.”

Yggdra folds her hands and rests her chin atop them.
“…We are supporting you, and so I can acquiesce to your first request.
“Honestly, because our styles are similar, it should be easy to follow him up.
“As to the second, we’ll have to devise a signal that isn’t too obvious, as that would let the enemy know we intend to do something.”

Roswell glances to me.
“Then—I do have an idea about that.
“As I can’t participate in close-range combat I’ll be out of the way of the fighting as much as possible, but what about you, Nessiah?
“I think that given the danger you’re in, you should probably stay back as well, but…”

At that, I can’t help but sigh.
“—Honestly I would prefer to directly engage the enemy Master if it’s Yellma, but that seems as though it should be a reasonable precaution to take, yes.”
“Then, how about this?
“If Yggdra or Gulcasa plans to use their Noble Phantasm, they can call us telepathically.
“The Master of that Servant can hand-signal the other of us, who can alert his Servant in time to get away.”
“…Not a bad idea at all.
“Let’s go with that. All we have to do is decide on a signal before we leave.”

Despite that I’ve agreed with him, Roswell still seems solemn.
…It should be enough that I’ve noticed, for now.
Like he himself proposed, if I feel that I’m in danger, I can always call silently to Gulcasa and have him defend me.

“One final thing.
“…Gulcasa, I’d like you to conserve your Reality Marble unless there is no other choice.
“It’s too much of a danger with its high prana cost; I’d prefer that we save it for the final battle if at all possible.”
Even though I’m staring at him sharply.
Gulcasa returns my stare and doesn’t answer me for a while.
“…Yeah, okay.”
…He’s saying that, but I’m sure that there’s only so far that he’s willing to listen to this particular order.
As soon as he thinks I’m in too much danger, there’s a chance he’ll use it on his own again, and it’s not really worth a Command Spell now.
So it’s probably better to just keep him working with Yggdra in tandem, as together they will be more than a match for Avenger and can probably compete with the still-unknown Caster.

…After that, all there is to do is taking care of details while the sun creeps towards the horizon.
Roswell has ideas about the route to patrol that I know are foolish and need to be discouraged, and after that there’s a light meal to fix and another discussion about what kinds of hand signals would be discreet enough but noticeable enough while we are both still concentrating on our Servants’ battle.

It’s sundown.
…With our plan in mind, we lock up the house and leave.

“—”
As soon as I step out of the bounded field and into the street, I know that something is very wrong.
The texture and taste of the air itself is fundamentally different, almost bloody, and the street is unnaturally silent, with not even a single light turned on.
“—”
It’s difficult even to breathe, and with the streetlights fluttering like jellyfish, I feel almost as if I am underwater.

…I look towards the others, but Roswell seems just as anxious and wary as I am, and both Gulcasa and Yggdra scour the darkness with sharp eyes.
It seems that this development has taken everyone equally by surprise.

It’s like there’s nothing breathing.
The streetlights are flickering like illusions, and none of the nearby buildings are lit up at all.
Even though there are still a few faint streaks of lighter blue on the horizon, it’s night.
…Which means.

“—Oh good, so you decided to come out after all.”
A voice with a friendly tone calls.
Footsteps.
Out of the dark at the end of the street, Avenger’s Master appears.

“—”
Immediately.
Gulcasa and Yggdra both blur momentarily and step into their Servant clothes, both gripping their weapons.

At the end of the road.
Past the backs of the two, I can see the witch Yellma striding towards us in an unconcerned manner.
She smiles like a spider and taps her shoulder with the fan she carries.

“—If you hadn’t come out on your own, we would have had to break in, you know?”
Nonchalantly.
She approaches us as if she has not a care in the world.

“The people around here had better not be dead.”
Roswell speaks a cold warning.

“—Of course not.
“Well, I had certainly considered feeding them to my pitiful Servant while they sleep, but rules are rules, you know? I don’t want to have my reward taken away from me because of something like that.”
She snickers.

My body sinks naturally.
…Something is off.
“Goodness, those are words I never expected to hear out of your mouth.”

The witch spreads her hands wide and shrugs.
“Sorry to say, but there are some rules that just about anyone would follow. Even me.”
Smiling like poison.
“Well, that’s all well and good, so—go ahead, Avenger.”

She appears.
The black knight walks out of the night with a cold, disinterested expression.

…At that instant.
There is an intense, searing pain in my shoulder, a reaction incomparable to the pinpricks of Yellma’s approach.
“—”
Yggdra is already moving to confront Avenger, lifting her sword up.
But Roswell’s attention, and mine, is on the scenery around us.
…That reaction.
There is “another enemy” hiding here somewhere.

Just that thought—is so frightening that I almost lose my mind.

Footsteps.
Faint footfalls like bells.
On the other end of the street, something white emerges from the darkness.

“Berserker, deal with the other enemy—!”
As soon as my mind is made up, I shout.
…Even though Avenger is no second-rate Servant, Yggdra’s power should be enough to deal with her.

“—”
On my orders, Gulcasa runs.
Flat to the ground with his hair whipping up behind him like fire, he rushes towards the enemy in white—!

There is a terrible crash of steel against steel.
It comes from in front of me, in the direction Gulcasa ran to confront the final Servant.
The sparks and the burst of magical energy light up the dark street.

Standing there,
…is a tall, winged woman in white armor.
She holds out the weapon in her hands, an ornate staff, and blocks Gulcasa’s scythe along its haft to prevent his blow from reaching her.
“—”
Her eyes don’t hold any emotion and stare at Gulcasa with flat enmity that borders on boredom.

I recognize Caster’s form.
She’s an angel, so of course there’s no way that I could mistake it.
The kind of armor that she wears, and the weapon that she carries—are all the type of equipment that is given to the Guardian Angels, archangels who defend the gates of Asgard from outside attack.
And Caster’s body is brimming with prana, so much so that she seems to steam with the power packed into her form.

“—”
Gulcasa leaps back from her.
As if testing the waters, he jumps back lightly and glares at her.

The worst possible situation.
Avenger and her Master are on one side, and the still relatively unknown element of Caster on the other.
…And this feeling.
I know for certain that Caster’s Master is watching this conversation from nearby, and that simple awareness is enough to put my every nerve on edge—

“If you hand over the vessel, your end will be quick and painless.
“So how about it, Master of Saber?”
“—”
Roswell doesn’t reply to her.

“…Nessiah.
“If worse comes to worst, forget about us and just run.”
He says so in an undertone.
…Huh, don’t talk as if I wouldn’t consider it on my own.
But I know that it is useless.
Even if I were to escape and run away right now, leaving the Servants to battle behind me—I would only be found later.
And if I left Gulcasa alone in this situation, it’s probable that he would simply be killed.

“—Please.
“If he tried to hand me over to you, I’d kill him and detonate my own heart on the spot out of disgust.”
I say so loud enough for my voice to carry to the enemy.

“Aw, well that’s too bad.
“—But hey, this time you’ll have no choice but to open it for us.
“We’ll definitely have enough Servants killed after this battle.”

And, at that time.
Thunder splits the air, a noise so loud and terrible that it feels like my ears are about to start bleeding.

“—”
I cry out, but my voice is blotted out by the great sound, and against the spells that Caster and Yellma have cast, my own shields are like wet paper.
The earth rumbles underneath my feet, and I start to feel dizzy.

Past Roswell, Yggdra and Avenger are fencing with their mutual intent to kill sending sparks into the night.
Avenger’s greater reach and Yggdra’s greater force make the pair of them matched fiercely, and they dance back and forth across the shaking pavement with enough force to crack it, neither surrendering even a step.
Whenever there’s a gap open, Roswell uses the leverage to cast narrow-range spells like Gandr towards Yellma, but she simply waves her fan and great tears open in the air to swallow Roswell’s attacks.
Something about her magic is extremely different from before.
…It’s more powerful, and it smells like ozone and hurts my head.

“Roswell, do something about her, I have to—”
I have to back up Gulcasa.
Periodic stabs of pain are breaking through my shoulder and damaging my concentration.
His defensive abilities aren’t enough to block or nullify her lightning magic, and as Berserker he doesn’t have innate magic resistance, so without my shielding, her spells are at the power level where even his life—

“Even if you tell me that, I still—”
Roswell complains, but I turn my back on him.
…If I can’t block it, then I can at least attack and cancel it out.
Caster spins her staff like a pinwheel, speaking out in the same ancient language I cast my own spells in.
Her casting speed is about the same as mine, and even though she uses orthodox magic rather than invented spells, those shortened incantations make every spell cast a gamble.

“—Aim for her staff!”
That’s the only real instruction that I can give.
“It’s a powerful artifact, especially as a Noble Phantasm, but with your strength, you should be able to damage something that fragile—”
That’s really all the direction that I can manage.
Every breath wasted to give orders is another spell that Gulcasa has to dodge on his own, forked lightning forcing him to roll to the side in awkward evasive maneuvers.
The earth comes up to reach him as he twists his body, face twisted into an intense snarl.

As befitting of a Guardian Angel, Caster is a wall of near-perfect defense, and Gulcasa’s attacks barely scratch her even when they manage to reach her.
But at least if her offensive Noble Phantasm can be disabled, then it will be less of a risk to leave her to Gulcasa alone while I look for that man—

“Go ahead and strike her down—!”
Roswell’s voice cuts the night, but from the shouting voices, it appears that it’s merely encouragement and that Yggdra isn’t close enough to make a decisive blow.
“You can use your Noble Phantasm, so hurry and finish this quickly, or else—”

“That won’t be necessary.”

A cold—and sardonic voice speaks above the rest of us.
My blood turns to solid ice in my veins, and my balance wavers.
The runes engraved into my body underneath my skin crawl and dig into me, spreading their poison and making the five lumps of prana gestating in my flesh pound like hearts.
I’m instinctively holding a hand to my mouth to keep myself from vomiting at the sound of that voice.

White light.
A tear in the very air opens up, laser lancing down from atop that man’s perch in a bright white wall.

Avenger swears and leaps back.
But Yggdra is unlucky, and is caught in the direct line of fire, bowled over with a shriek.

White-faced.
Roswell reaches out and casts healing magic.
But the figure of the princess pulling herself up on her sword is still wavering back and forth on her feet, her clothes and skin burnt in patches.

“Watch where you’re aiming, you dumbfuck!”
Avenger shouts towards the unseen attacker.
She is answered not in words, but in dry laughter.

Roswell swears softly.
“I can’t keep up with this rate of damage—Saber, I’m sorry, just disappear for now!”

Yggdra bows her head in pain and dematerializes.

…That’s it.
My body is shaking all over.

Roswell is biting his lip.
He turns to me and lifts his hand.

“Nessiah, I’m so sorry.
“I couldn’t protect you, so—this is the least that I can do.”

“—Get back into the barrier.”
As he points his finger at me in the shape of a gun, I gather my nerves and speak.

“What?”

He stares at me blankly.
“—The reason that they were waiting here for us.
“It’s not just because they wanted to set up a good trap, it’s because they couldn’t break through the boundary field.
“If you go back in alone, it should buy you time.
“But if you act like an idiot and try to kill me here, you’ll just become the next vessel in my place, do you understand?
“Heal her, and find me, and keep my Gulcasa alive—”

While he’s standing with a look of blank shock.
I grip my shoulder with all my strength.

“Upon this Command Seal do I order thee.
“—Berserker, take Roswell to safety inside the heart of the barrier, and stay there—”

“Nessiah, what are you—”

The horror in Gulcasa’s voice is nearly a scream.
…I’m sorry.
I can’t say it out loud and betray my weakness.
As long as he’s alive.
…As long as Gulcasa is alive, there is still the chance that he will find me, like before.
But if he is killed in this hopeless battle, then everything up until now will have been for naught.
I’m sorry.
I keep—only hurting you, but this time at least it’s really for your sake as well.

A crack.
And my shoulder hurts as though the second mark is being torn out from underneath my skin, inch by inch.

In the instant that Gulcasa touches down to seize Roswell.
He stares at me with wild eyes so filled with emotion that they seem inhuman.
…And in the next moment, he is gone, into safety.

…Surrounded by enemies.
With Caster and Yellma on either side of me.
I narrow my eyes and try to stand steadfast.
My heart is beating so intensely that I cannot even hear.

…Rather than the approaching footsteps that vibrate through the broken ground and chip away at my sanity.
I focus on the distant figure of Avenger, who stands observing this spectacle while biting her lip like she’s suppressing something.

Through my peripheral vision I can see him.
But because I cannot face him directly without everything collapsing, I keep watching her.

“—Well.
“You certainly led me on a merry chase, but this is quite far enough.
“It is well past time that you realize that you are mine to use as I please.”

The hated voice speaks in a lazy-sounding tone.
…It’s no good.
My legs are shaking finely.
My head is spinning and I want to throw up.
…This is the only way, and I know that.
But it’s impossible to ask me to simply return to the cold after remembering the sensation of warmth.

I look only at Avenger.
Her blue eyes are all that is clear in this warped world.
…A thin thread of red makes its way down her chin as she breaks the skin of her lower lip.

Just as I can finally feel the bloodstained membrane that is that man’s presence.
White hands reach out to grasp my body, and with great pain comes merciful loss of consciousness—

[Fate/ninth heaven] Vagrant Grail Cadenza; stigmata - part 2 [route III, day 14]

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