In the underground tunnels, the three sorcerers were running tirelessly, searching for Berserker's master.
"Didn't you act a little agitated when you saw Berserker's master?" Albus asked Kenji.
"You don't understand; that wasn't him. It was a villager I'd seen in Fuyuki a long time ago. Berserker's master should be around 140 years old."
"How is that possible? Maybe it's an illusion or something," Akane commented.
Kenji remained thoughtful for a moment.
"His wife should be the same age, but in the tube, she looked like she was only 60. That means she's been here for a long time, doing all this." Kenji's voice didn't sound very pleased.
Albus was pondering all the possible implications.
Knowing the family isn't the only way to know what kind of sorcery they practice—for example, the Tohsaka family uses gems in combat—but knowing the individual's identity can reveal the specific type of sorcery they use.
"We're here," Toby announced, standing before a room.
"I sense magical energy within her; if she altered the room before, she can perfectly alter it now, so it might be a trap," Akane said, already activating her magical circuits.
"Then all that's left is to destroy all her trap rooms until only his remains," Kenji exclaimed, drawing his magical weapon.
Kenji drew a rather long sword, similar to a katana, but it wasn't; it was made of gems.
Long ago, the marshal of the clock tower tasked the Tohsaka clan with creating a jewel sword, a mystical code. Kenji had spent much of his life trying to recreate it, and the weapon he held was the closest he had come to creating it.
Akane couldn't help but look around; the tunnels were completely enclosed by a barrier, only this barrier wasn't active, unlike the one that had moved the rooms.
Albus stood in front of the door, holding a scroll in his hand.
Suddenly, the door opened, revealing tubes filled with liquid, and then slowly vanished, leaving only one person standing before them—or at least, a real one.
"You took your sweet time, brats," said the being sitting in the armchair in complete darkness.
The others quickly assumed fighting stances without responding to the man in front of them.
Albus's concentration wavered when he realized something.
"He's not wearing his Command Seals?"
"He probably had to use them all to control Berserker," Akane replied.
"No, you're right; the Command Seals leave a mark even when all three are used."
As he said this, Kenji took a closer look at his opponent; he recognized him. It wasn't the form he had shown before, but his true form, though it was frozen at around 70 years old, when he should have looked like an old man over 100.
"Albus," the black dog spoke. Kenji looked at him. "What's in front of me isn't human."
"Very perceptive, the Barghest," the being said, just as the room lit up, displaying 10 different unused titles, one of them being the lord who had appeared before.
"He wasn't a lord, but a puppet." Akane concluded, already preparing her ultimate attack.
This one-on-three quickly became a ten-on-three.
"There's no need to speak with the dead; let's begin," he said, opening his mouth like a puppet, revealing that the one they were speaking to was also a puppet, forming a bullet of magical energy launched at full speed.
The three of them dodged to the side, Akane being the first to counterattack, launching her own magical bullet, which was intercepted by a hidden weapon the puppet threw away.
Albus quickly threw the scroll to the ground and, touching it, imbued it with his magical energy to activate it and summon several more black dogs to attack the puppet.
With the black dogs attacking him from the front and Akane and Albus supporting him from behind, it was quite easy for Kenji to slip away behind the puppet, which was watching for attacks from all sides.
The berserker master, at his age, with what he's shown, can't be human anymore; He became a puppet, and if that is so, there must be a core where the magical energy and soul of the being reside.
In one of Akane's attacks that reached the puppet, she managed to tear off a piece, allowing Kenji to see inside, revealing a heart within.
Wasting no time, using two gems, he propelled himself toward the puppet with a small explosion when he was close and, using the prototype jewel sword, bound it directly to its core.
As the attack took effect, the puppet stopped moving, declaring its defeat.
"Wait," Akane said out of nowhere, making everyone look at her. "Where are the other puppets?"
This caused everyone to look around, seeing that they had disappeared.
"You thought you had defeated me, what a shame, hahaha," the Berserker master's voice echoed in the room.
"What the...?" Kenji exclaimed in disbelief, breaking the puppet he had attacked, only to find that the core was gone.
"We'll see if you can find me, you two-bit sorcerers." Upon hearing those words, the delimited area that had been inactive activated.
At that moment, several ghostly beasts began to appear around him.
...
In the forest, or what remained of it, several spectral swords could be seen flying from one place to another.
Assassin, using Geppo, took advantage of being airborne, using his superior height to dodge the continuous attacks of Berserker's clones.
The truth was he wasn't very focused on his own fight, as he was paying attention to what was happening with Berserker's real body against Archer and the situation in the tunnels with the three sorcerers.
He had felt Berserker's master's vitality shifting from one place to another as if he were teleporting, something a sorcerer shouldn't do unless he possessed magic on par with the age of the gods.
But Assassin sensed something amidst all of that, as he was going to specific points, not just anywhere; it was as if he were following a predetermined path.
Focusing more intently on their fight, he launched himself to the ground, destroying one of the cabbages with Haki. He then used Kami-e to dodge two swift attacks from the cabbages before leaping back into the air.
Elsewhere, a burst of fire could be seen swirling everywhere. Amidst it, Archer rolled on the ground, blood trickling from his mouth, watching as Berserker's body was burned to a crisp and rapidly regenerated.
Berserker pointed his staff and stretched out, but Archer twisted his body, dodging the attack and rushing towards his opponent. He landed a punch, but in return, he received a kick to the face, sending both of them tumbling backward.
It could be said that there was a stalemate above, which, for Assassin, was ideal, as they worked to kill Berserker's master.
...
The tunnel corridors were teeming with phantom beasts, attacking each other as best they could.
"Damn it," Kenji said, slashing one as best he could to throw a gem and destroy another.
After destroying the puppet just in case, they left the room only to find it swarming with beasts.
The worst part was that Kenji had to do the most work, since the other two were also supplying their Servants—well, one more than the other.
In addition to summoning black dogs, Albus also summoned a lesser spirit, which had the ability to heal and block weak projectiles.
After killing the last beast, they went their separate ways.
Following a path that turned to the right, the black dogs continued onward, only to be brought down by a bladed weapon.
That stopped everyone in their tracks, only for them to see a rather strange puppet covered in weapons.
"You guys are a real nuisance," came the voice of the Berserker Master from inside the puppet.
"What's going on over there, Master?" Akane heard a voice in her head.
"Assassin, is everything alright?" For some reason, Akane felt calmer upon hearing his voice, only to have to dodge blades that nearly cut her thigh, at least slightly.
"Everything's more or less under control here, but what's happening over here? I feel like whoever I suspect is the Berserker Master is teleporting from one place to another, like to certain fixed points, and then having to walk; it's strange."
"The Berserker Master is a puppeteer, and I suspect his body is a puppet, but I don't think the main one in front of us is the one."
While the telepathic conversation between master and servants continued, Berserker's master was gradually taking down Albus's summons, inflicting some serious damage.
The entire fight was being monitored by Assassin, who was running back and forth without attacking, pursued by Berserker's clones.
A black dog leaped at the puppet, biting off a piece of its body, only to be sliced in half.
Kenji saw this and grabbed a gem, imbued it with magical energy, and lunged at the puppet.
The puppet noticed and, with a swift movement, plunged one of its bladed weapons into his stomach, but this gave him the opportunity to get close enough to throw the gem.
As fast as he could, he severed the puppet's arm, retreating as far back as possible, narrowly avoiding the explosion caused by the gem from within, which destroyed the puppet.
Just before the explosion, the puppet froze. Assassin focused his attention on it, watching as the life force took the line connected to another location and disappeared before the blast.
"What happened?" Assassin asked, unable to see the details clearly; he only saw the signature of each puppet's life force, not what they were actually doing.
"Tōhsaka destroyed the puppet with a gem," he explained.
"Hmm, I think I have an idea of what he's doing."
At that moment, Albus rushed over to Kenji to take the weapon from him and heal him with the help of his spirit.
While doing this, he noticed that there weren't many black dogs left, and he didn't really have many summons left that didn't consume so much mana to fight them.
"Hey, I think I know what's going on here," Akane said, joining the others.
"What's happening?" Kenji asked, slowly getting to his feet.
"What Berserker's master does: he moves his core between each puppet to control them and save himself from death at the last minute," at least that's what Assassin came up with, since he felt the life force was only there to teleport him to another place right before the puppet was destroyed.
(Note: I'm too lazy to name Berserker's master; I prefer to save Japanese names for other, more relevant characters I might invent later.)
"That means we'll have to destroy the remaining eight puppets until we finally corner him with one and he can't escape," Albus commented.
"Most likely," Akane replied.
"Well, we have no choice but to try and eliminate each puppet with the least amount of magic energy possible," Kenji said, seeing that the wound had healed to some extent.
...
Berserker punched Archer in the stomach, causing him to vomit blood, then spun in mid-air and delivered a devastating punch to Archer's head, sending him plummeting to the ground and shattering it.
Both Archer and Berserker were immortal, but as heroic spirits, their immortality wasn't truly real, and their forms were quite different.
Archer's immortality wasn't focused on damage, unlike Berserker's, but rather on survival—the ability to endure far more than others. However, this immortality has its limits, and Berserker reached them faster than he did.
Berserker hits hard, is incredibly resilient, and regenerates rapidly; in normal terms, there's no fair way to defeat him.
Archer is a very strong Servant, almost on par with Arjuna or Karna—not in terms of destructive power, but certainly in brute strength. However, this is of no use to him against an immortal being, especially considering he possesses a divine construct that aids him in this regard. Furthermore, he refuses to use his Noble Phantasm, which he will not use even now, nor ever; he prefers death to using it.
Thus, the Monkey King lifted him with his foot and, twirling his staff, struck him as if he were a baseball batter and Archer a ball, sending him flying and crashing into the air, creating a cloud of smoke and debris, and leaving him motionless, momentarily defeated.
Berserker knew he would get up, but for him, this was the ideal outcome. His intention was to fight one-on-one, defeating one to move on to the next, and so on, since from his perspective, he couldn't imagine losing or dying under any circumstances.
On the other hand, Assassin had already been systematically destroying each clone, reaching the modest number of seven.
Just as he was about to attack the next clone, everyone froze, both Assassin and the clones.
The clones because they were no longer needed and Assassin because he already knew who was coming.
Looking to the side, Berserker stood remarkably unharmed, staring at his opponent with a relaxed expression. His body exuded no murderous intent, but rather a sense of endurance that seemed to permeate the entire land.
Assassin sighed and vanished into thin air.
Berserker stared around in astonishment, his battle instincts tingling, sensing something approaching. But the moment he did, Assassin delivered a kick that sent him flying.
After crashing into several trees, Berserker regained control, using his staff to steady himself and avoid sensing Assassin's presence. Yet, something inside him told him he was still there.
Suddenly, Berserker jerked his head back, dodging a punch from Assassin. This time, he was more alert and managed to evade it.
With swift movements, he swung at Assassin's arm, intending to sever it, but Berserker was quicker, snatching it away to spin and attempt a strike with his other arm. Assassin dodged by ducking and countered with a kick.
Assassin stepped back to respond with another blow, which was blocked by his opponent.
Seeing that this wasn't working, he tried to retreat, but his opponent grabbed his staff and tried to strike him. Assassin dodged every attempt, even with his eyes closed.
Thinking of another method, he created several swords to launch at Berserker, who this time reacted more defensively.
While Assassin tried to cut as much of Berserker as he could, Berserker tried to land even a single blow, but Assassin was too elusive, leaving him no choice but to devise a plan.
"Assassin," he heard a voice within him.
"Master?" he wondered upon hearing Akane's voice.
"I've come to warn you that the situation here isn't good, so if you have the chance to kill Berserker, do it."
"Understood, Master."
With that said, Assassin shifted from his inactive mode to full-blown-assassin mode.
Assassin dodged one of Berserker's attacks only to activate his Haki and, in an instant, summon his Noble Phantasm, the Death Scythe.
With a swift and brutal movement, he broke the chains holding the scythe and attempted to slash Berserker, but the way he appeared and grabbed it gave Berserker time to leap back, creating a distance between them.
In an instant, the fight went from casual, aimless blows to a full-blown death match.
The two stood motionless in their places, saying and doing nothing.
The most worried was Berserker, who went from carefree to somewhat anxious upon seeing the weapon.
The scythe focused on severing the soul from the body; Berserker believed he could return his soul to his body with relative ease, but the problem was the length of time his body would be soulless. Assassin could destroy him and send him to the throne of heroes, and against that, he would be powerless.
Berserker moved first; he attempted a horizontal slash at his opponent, but Assassin, using the scythe, intercepted the attack, sending the staff crashing to the ground and immobilizing him.
This created a stalemate, which Assassin resolved by creating thousands of spiritual stages that cut Berserker in multiple ways.
This caused him to drop his weapon and retreat as far away from the attack as possible.
Berserker's instincts kicked in, and without hesitation, he threw himself to the ground, dodging Assassin's slash, which passed over him.
The moment Assassin hit the ground, he planted his foot firmly, and imbued with Haki, the scythe made a horizontal cut.
"Δικαστήριο Απόλυτης Επικράτειας: Ανώτατη Δύναμη (Dikastirio Apólytis Epikráteias: Anótati Dýnami)," he announced, creating a powerful energy attack in Berserker's direction that struck him head-on, destroying what remained of the forest in the area.
Berserker got up, looking quite hurt and battered, which Assassin took advantage of to leap forward and try to strike him with a single blow, since that alone would activate the scythe.
But just as he was about to strike, Berserker enveloped himself in smoke and transformed into a small chimpanzee, causing Assassin to miss the attack.
"What an idiot," he muttered to himself, only to quickly turn and try to slash him, even though he ended up hitting him with Berserker's preplanned moves in action.
From a small chimpanzee, he transformed into a large silverback gorilla and, with all his strength, struck Assassin, sending him crashing to the ground, destroying the entire area and creating a trail of destruction along the path the assassin had taken on the ground.
Assassin, I feel an almost unbearable pain throughout my body, and the worst part is that I can't turn quickly enough to land a blow.
Struggling to his feet, he looked at his opponent, who was pointing his staff at him.
He was going to dodge it but realized something at the last minute: the direction he was aiming was precisely where Chaiki was hiding.
If the staff continued to extend indefinitely, it would reach her, and the least it could do to Chaiki would be to cause serious injuries; with a bit of luck, the worst it could do would be instant death.
Unlike Archer, Assassin had made a promise to Rider even though he was no longer there.
Berserker wouldn't give him much time to think; he grabbed his staff, pointed it at Assassin, and stretched it out to a diameter of about 30 meters.
With no options left and no time, Assassin stood firm, used all his Haki, and tried to stop the attack with his entire body.
The staff, upon impact with Assassin, continued its trajectory without stopping.
Assassin was holding the staff with only his arms; he felt his bones beginning to break and dislocate, but he could do nothing about it.
Assassin's heart raced faster and faster as he saw that he was getting closer and closer to Chiaki. He used everything he had to stop it.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Assassin screamed with all his might, trying to stop the weapon.
...
In the tunnels, they could see a puppet lying on the ground, poison oozing from its mouth.
Akane, Albus, and Kenji sat surrounded by the corpses of phantom beasts that were slowly fading away.
"That's ten already; just one more to go," Akane said, quite tired.
"Let's finish this," Albus continued, standing up and looking at a room—the only one left in all their travels—thus beginning the final battle between the Masters of this Holy Grail War.
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P.S. I'll just say that I don't have a computer mouse.