Caster hide-out.
Everyone was silent. None dared to speak.
At first, no one moved. Rider continued to stare at the servants before him while his master silently observed everything with horror on his face. This wasn't what Waver had in mind when coming here but it was too late to back down and he knew it. The young master turned to his servant to see him smiling. Waver gulped before trying to calm down. He wanted this, joining this war was his choice, he couldn't run away now.
The future head of the Archibald family was nervous. This wasn't what he had in mind when coming here. He expected to fight Caster, learn more about his new ally and his servant to get rid of them in the future. However, now Kayneth found himself inside the sewers while his failure of a student was standing near the servant that was supposed to be his! This was beyond humiliating!
Lelouch didn't show any emotion on his face but inside his mind was anything but calm. He needed to come up with a plan to escape this situation, preferably with his new ally alive. However, if it becomes necessary then the blonde magi and Lancer will serve as a distraction while Lelouch and Avenger escape. His eyes moved between Rider and the Assassins, trying to understand who was a bigger threat right now. Assassin had numbers but they lost the element of surprise and now they were visible to everyone. If Avenger opened fire in their general direction it might be enough to make them disorganized at least for a few seconds.
Lancer, Avenger, Rider and Assassins. All of the servants were staring at each other, waiting for someone to make the first strike.
It was one of Assassins.
The moment a male Assassin moved, six matchlock rifles appeared before Avenger, all of them shot in his direction. Her bullets made contact with the wall behind creating a cloud of dust that covered the Assassins. Avenger hissed before taking Lelouch by hand and jumping at the side. Looking back at her ally, Avenger shouted. "Lancer! I will take care of them while you distract Rider!"
Kayneth wanted to protest but froze when he saw the murderous scowl on Avenger's face. Deciding to do as he was told, for now, he turned to his servant.
"Do as she says, Lancer!"
"But my L-"
"Shut up and attack Rider! I will take care of myself!" Kayneth wasn't a fool and knew that if he wanted to survive and win he needed to cooperate. His mercury familiar transformed into a shield and covered its creator to protect him. The mage quickly ran away from the battle and took cover behind one of the columns.
Avenger and Lelouch landed a few meters away, the red-haired woman never loosened her grip on his hand. New matchlock rifles materialized in the air before shooting at the direction of the Assassins. Lelouch saw how Kayneth made his way out of the fight and an idea came to him.
"Avenger." Lelouch started before she glanced at him. "These Assassins might be here to see and test your abilities. Maybe force you to use your Noble Phantasm. I will join Kayneth and try to escape the sewers. If the Assassins are here only to fight you, they won't follow me."
Red eyes narrowed, Avenger spoke with a worried tone. "And if they do? They will attack you the moment you leave me." Lelouch could hear the concern in her voice but he calmed her down. She couldn't fight at her full potential if she was protecting him.
"If they do you will kill every last one of them, my Avenger," he smirked. The red-haired woman paused before laughing.
"Very well, Master. On my command, you run towards that blonde coward. I will cover your escape."Dozens of new matchlock rifles appeared around them. The moment they started shooting Avenger yelled. "Go!"
Lelouch wasted no time and did as he was told. Sadly, even after being transported to a new world, his physical abilities didn't change too much. He was sure even a regular human would have been able to catch up with him. However, Lelouch didn't hear any movement behind him nor did he feel any knives inside him. He didn't dare to look back and waste any second, instead, the former emperor continued to run. Soon he was standing next to the mercury wall that was protecting Kayneth behind one of the columns. Before he could say anything, the silver shield opened up and the blonde magi dragged him inside.
Lelouch blinked. "Huh, how nice of you."
"Don't be stupid, Lamperouge. If you die right now I will lose valuable help and that means I came here for nothing!" The older man shouted before letting out a sigh. "Tell me you have a plan."
"You and I will escape while our servants will cover us." Assassin didn't go after him as he expected and the former emperor doubted someone like King Iskandar would choose to go after them when there were servants to worry about. He and Kayneth would escape and meet with Sola-Ui if she hasn't left. Lelouch remembered where Rider and his chariot were standing and paused. "Lancer should force Rider to move otherwise we can't leave."
The Master of Lancer snorted. "Well, in that case, we have a problem." Before Lelouch could ask what he meant, Kayneth snapped his fingers and a small window opened in the mercury wall. "My foolish servant is just standing there doing nothing!"
Lelouch's eyes found Lancer standing before Rider's chariot. The male knight stood in a fighting stance but didn't move, clear frustration was seen on his face. Rider was confidently standing and waiting for the servant before him to attack, curious at what he will do. Neither servant was moving but one of them was at a disadvantage.
'Shit. Lancer needs quick movements to cut the distance between him and Rider. But Avenger is busy with Assassins and can't help him. If he makes any step, Rider will just move his chariot and try to run over Lancer.' Lelouch was sure that Lancer wouldn't have a problem dodging the upcoming bulls but if Rider gained the initiative the fight would transform into a game of cat and mouse. He saw the Irish knight's fighting style and could see that Lancer won't be able to keep with Rider in terms of mobility. Then Lelouch remembered about someone else as violet eyes fell on another young master who was currently next to Rider.
"Kayneth. Order Lancer to attack the moment Rider moves to protect his master." Lelouch smiled while the man next to him blinked.
"Protect? Protect from what!?"
Lelouch silently pulled out a gun.
***
Rider's gaze didn't leave Lancer before him. Iskandar waited for the knight before him to attack first, it didn't matter. No matter what the servant of the lance did, the redheaded king had something to answer with. As long as Avenger was busy with the Assassins, he would be fine. However, Rider knows that the Assassins weren't here to help him. They had a chance to kill the master of Avenger but focused purely on her. It meant only one thing: they wanted to learn her abilities, her noble phantasm to be exact.
'So Assassin isn't one person...hmm, it might be some sort of magic art or maybe these Assassins are familiars. Doesn't matter either way now since there must be more.' Sending all your Assassins only to have them killed for the sole purpose of learning a Noble Phantasm was a huge waste in Rider's opinion. No sane master would do something like that.
"Rider, will you attack?"
Rider smiled. "Don't worry, Master. Lancer won't make the first move."
Poor guy was standing right in front of his bulls. The moment the Assassins attacked Avenger, Iskandar focused his attention on her ally. The Japanese servant was afraid that Rider would use the disorder in which the Assassins cause to slay her master. Truth be told, Rider considered such an idea but quickly dismissed it. It wasn't his style. Besides, killing two normal humans wasn't why he joined this war. The Grail promised him battles against fellows heroes across time and that's what he wants right now.
His master's eyebrow twitched. "Rider, stop fooling around an-"
However, before his master could finish Iskandar pulled him back and covered the small boy with his right arm. Waver's eyes went wide and wanted to yell but froze when he saw the figure of Lancer jumping forward with great speed. Rider didn't waste a second and pulled out his sword before blocking a strike from Lancer. His sword met with a red spear. Iskandar ordered his bulls to move before Lancer could gain stable footing.
Lightning surrounded the chariot as it moved forward and leapt into the air, crushing anything on its path. Lancer tried to stand on top of one of Rider's bulls but the animal proved too prideful to let the unknown enemy of its master do so. The knight with two lances was pushed but before he could land, Rider used his spatha and went for the head. Lancer brought up his red spear and met with Rider's blade. The smaller servant tried to stab Rider's arm with his golden spear but the chariot flew further denying Lancer his opportunity.
Lancer jumped towards one of the columns. He used one of his spears to stab it and hang onto it. Despite failing to slay the servant or his master, Lancer smiled, satisfied by accomplishing part of his duty.
"Rider." called out Waver."Lancer is smiling. Why is he smiling?" The poor boy was about to panic but the man next to him stopped him.
"Calm down, Master. Lancer is just proud that he did as he was told." Rider let our sigh. "His attack was only to distract us while they escaped."
"Wait, what?! The Professor escaped?" Waver's face went pale as he started looking for the mercury shield or its creator but couldn't find either. "Damn it!"
Rider smirked."Turns out the master of Avenger isn't a simple guy either." he said and showed his arm that he used to protect his master. Waver's eyes went wide when he saw two bullets. Little metal projectiles that only smashed into the skin of Rider like he was a brick house. Waver raised his eyes from the bullets to see Rider smiling.
"...Thanks, Rider."
Iskandar waved away."Oh, don't mind it. Seriously, it is nothing. That guy just wanted to distract me. Now, Master." Rider's smile went from friendly to feral. "What do we do next?"
Waver looked out of the flying chariot to see what was going on. Avenger continued to shoot at the Assassins that were too fast for her. Lancer was moving towards them, jumping from column to column, sometimes blocking an attack from one of the Assassins. A minigun appeared in the hands of the redheaded woman who opened fire at her foes while Lancer managed to stab one of the white-masked servants with his red spear.
Waver thought about it for a moment before looking up and remembering where they were all.
"Rider, I have an idea."