Trembling and shaking, my hand went for the blade in my throat. I saw the blood marring it, and imagined that my body wasn't faring much better with how slick and wet my flesh felt then.
I clenched the blade. Its sharp edge dug into my hands, I gripped it regardless.
The King of Heroes laughed louder as I ripped it out with a wince, then pressed both my hands against my throat to stop the blood that gushed forth.
I-I needed only a moment to pull out the swords, and then recast the spells.
"Do you think I'd give you that moment?! Fool!"
A blade pierced through my stomach, dragging me back with its force even though I had dug my heels in the moment I noticed it. I let myself be thrown back, then even jumped off, casting a Blue to pull myself through one of the few standing buildings.
Despite Luvia's wishes, I couldn't help but curse. All that came out was wet gargles and disgusting sloshes. I'd landed in some office, lying against a cubicle that broke under my weight and momentum.
Right, recast-
The world shimmered gold, and a spear tore through my shoulder to pin me against the dusty floor.
Fucking hell, it hurt so much.
"Stay like that, mongrel."
I clutched my throat.
"I'll drag that Tohsaka girl here, perhaps partake of her while you watch like that."
What could I do?
What was I supposed to do here?
No, nevermind all that.
I brute-forced the healing onto my throat, treating it as a separate entity. Slowly, surely, the flesh began to knit itself together.
"Oh? Do you think I don't possess something else to get through this?"
Blue surged. The blades impaling me were ripped and discarded all over the floor.
"If-" Speaking hurt so much, "-If I can't stop... That just means I have to come at you... with everything. And you know... what?"
The King of Heroes wiped his bleeding lip.
"What?"
"I prefer it that way!"
Then, I was upon him. The moment I reeled my fist, a gate opened over it, a gleaming blade already prepared to meet it. I shoved the tip right through my palm and used Blue to pull it to the side. The blade tore out my palm, but I balled it into again fist all the same and smashed it into his face.
His head broke the floor, the floor under it and then the floor under that floor. That was as far as he got before I grabbed him by the collar and punched him in the face again.
Red flashed.
The King of Heroes slammed against underground train tracks.
"How can you-"
My flesh turned to stone where he had torn it apart as I grabbed him by the back of his neck. With a grin, I tossed him through the tunnels and brought my hands together.
"Dismantle."
Dozens of shields formed in the path. They did nothing.
"Purple."
The tunnels screeched as plaster rained down, crumbling when the supports were removed from existence by purple lightning. Yet, the King of Heroes was not dead. He had secured himself by blowing into a wall, thus avoiding a direct hit.
"How pitiful! The King of Heroes had to hide just to live!" I grinned through bloody teeth and a hazy vision.
"I won't allow you another step!" He shouted back. "You've gone mad with the pain, you mongrel!"
"You're right! Oh, you're so right!"
When I punched him next, a sword cleaved my arm clean off. I grabbed his collar with the other hand, and smashed my forehead into his face instead. It did nothing except disgruntle him, but that single instant was more than enough for me to kick him in the chest.
He shot back. I appeared under him, Red already primed. An axe tore into my gut. Red crashed against him, blowing off a chunk of his shoulder. A sword pierced my lung, I struck his chest. The sheer force launched him through the tunnel ceiling.
I felt the Sun on my skin once more.
The pain made me hiss.
When I reached for the sword stuck in my lungs, a hail of lances rained down into the hole. Instead of facing them head on, I removed the distance between them and all around me. Only when they were done and buried did I calmly float up to meet the King of Heroes once again.
"How... am I doing?"
His cut and bruised face bled, his armour was ruined, and blood trickled down the gaping wounds in his shoulder and gut.
I stared at my stump of an arm.
Not that I was faring much better.
When I took a step forward, my balance crumbled. Blood dripped from my nose and my vision grew hazier, fresh blood seeping out of my eyes and ears as well.
If I took a moment to gather myself-... he wasn't going to let me. He had proved he had no intention of allowing me any respite.
That was... fair.
"I'll acknowledge it,"
The King did not laugh or ridicule. No, he stared at me plainly, with a sharp gaze that would have made lesser men tremble.
"In this era, you are surely the strongest. Disgusting as you humans are in this age, you still refuse to kneel. However! That, absolutely, does not mean that I will lose to the likes of you!"
The Gate of Babylon opened once more.
"You will! You know it! You know I'm getting through!"
Behind me, Red and Blue formed in equal measure.
""Bastards like you...""
I put my only hand over my heart.
"I detest!"
"I absolutely love!"
-
"What kind of..."
Search as she did, Rin Tohsaka could not find the words to describe what was before her. That day, however, she did realise well and truly why her ancestors had decided that the Grail War was to be fought in secrecy and seclusion.
"The Fuyuki Incident is nothing compared to this! Kirei! Why did you sanction-" Clutching her heart, she turned to the priest stood beside her, "-The city's gone!"
She would have liked to say that it had gone out of control slowly, but no, that statement was the farthest from the truth. The very start had seen the Shinto district utterly decimated. They carved through mountains, uprooted the peaceful forests, and made great craters in the very earth.
The sky had turned a resplendent gold. Noble Phantasms had rained down. Magecraft had risen to meet them from the ground below. The clash utterly decimated what remained.
Her house probably wasn't preserved either, and if not for the barriers around them, the debris would've surely found them on this hill as well.
Many of the Enforcers and Executors gathered to ensure that the incident remained veiled and under control had gone weak in the knees. Some left. Others cursed the two fighting. A few declared them monsters and acknowledged that they were far from the realm of humanity's heroes.
But that was the problem.
One of them was a heroic spirit.
Henry was a human.
How was he fighting Gilgamesh? How had the fight decimated the city she grew up in so utterly and completely? HOW were they still going?!
"Would you prefer if the people were here to be casualties? Rin?" Kirei asked calmly.
"No, you could've stopped them!"
"When individuals like them choose to do something, far be it from us to stop it." The priest held his hands behind his back. "You know this, Rin. We can only stand and watch, while scurrying around to protect our own skin."
Rin bit her lip, "That's when it comes to heroic spirits. Henry's not... He's a human. Are you saying he's..."
"The proof is before us. That young man has surely stepped into the realm of those humanity as whole has come to admire."
"What are you saying, father?" Some priest with a monocle and hair grey from age suddenly stood beside Kirei, a hand already on his shoulder. "That's a heretic magus. He won't survive this."
Kirei acknowledged his words with a nod. Yet, to Rin, they gave a sinking feeling in her stomach, like something was deeply wrong. She looked around her, once again noticing the Mystic Codes these people had brought with them.
Weapons.
They were weapons.
They were... here to make sure he didn't survive this, weren't they?
The Holy Church and the Mage's Association rarely ever agreed on anything, and not even once in a blue moon did they join hands towards a common goal... but they clearly had.
Henry had left them no other choice.
Beyond the hill, purple lightning flashed like it had numerous times before, an a great light vapourised another district of Fuyuki. Rin could not help but tremble.
It was a good thing Shirou and Sakura weren't allowed to see this.
-