To her shock, the wall she wasn't able to break did just that. Exploding into shards of coloured glass that dangerously flew in all directions. Swiping at the few that nearly grazed her face, she cleared her vision to spy a large something hurtling her way.
"Keh!" Eyes wide, teeth grit, she rolled aside, dodging the vehicle being dragged by skeletal wyverns as it zipped past and flew high into the air. Catching sight of the driver, Nobu sensed their power. And she licked her lips in anticipation. "So that's how it is! Heh, another Servant! A… Rider?!"
The newly arrived Servant looked the part. Though the Greek carriage was anything but classical as her old rival's had been, the edgier, bladed vehicle still carried the same dangerous air as the Gordius Wheel. However, it was the driver that tugged on the reins that caught Nobunaga's eye.
A woman, one whom Nobunaga would call quite beautiful, stared down at her from her perch in the sky. Her hair was of dark violet, monochromatic eyes of grey and blue were piercing yet challenging. She gave off an ominous air completely different yet eerily similar to the former King of Conquerors. Maybe it was the attire for which she was clad in the same royal red and dark brown, albeit far more loosely based, or maybe even a parody of Iskandar's own battle garments. She was probably someone from his time then. Considering that her appearance belied one of ancient Macedonian descent and other similarities, Nobu was confident it was someone related to the brute.
But then there was the important question.
'What is a Servant doing here? The next Grail would not be so soon… She looks like Rider but, apart from appearance, she doesn't share much … No, wait. I sense some familiar divinity coming from her.'
Iskandar had claimed to be a demi-god. Her whole might be managing to eat away at him whence they fought was proof of that claim. And now, this unnamed assailant was giving off the same vibe.
The redheaded woman raised her katana and warily pointed it at the new face. All fun and games may have to be put on hold. "Name yourself, Servant. To which Master do you belong? And why is it that you are here in the first place?"
The woman didn't respond immediately. Lazily, her left blue eye glanced over to the now-reformed mosaic she'd shattered open during her grand exit. It was as though she was sharing a knowing nod to the despicable homunculus lady's smile, but Nobunaga wasn't naïve.
"Hmph, so the Einzberns already summoned themselves a new lapdog." She scoffed aloud, now certain her guess was the case when the woman-Rider's face lost its last hint of amusement. "Typical that a cowardly clan would try to pull a fast one on any of their other competitors before the games even begin. Heh, how annoying."
"The annoying one here is you," replied the newcomer. "Barging in uninvited, then laying waste without even so much as introducing yourself, how shameless. Whoever are you, leave this place at once, else suffer my wrath."
The wyvern-skeletons pulling the chariot roared despite the missing vocal cords. At their cue, the stormy white skies quickly turned dark as crimson lightning crackled and clapped above.
"Hoh? That's a neat little trick, girl. However, lightning and thunder aren't enough to scare me. If you want to make my blood boil, however, talk less and get straight to the point." Nobunaga licked her lips, anxious to see what else she could do. Her bloodred blade hummed and glowed, thirsty for a fight just as its master. "It's been a long time since I'd faced any challenge on the battlefield. Perhaps you can satisfy my hunger for the blood of Heroic Spirits, brat?"
Red lightning answered her back. Like a warning shot, it zipped past her face and struck the ground behind her. The scent of ozone mixed with iron as Nobu noted the light sting on her cheek.
"Be very careful what you wish for, old bag. This is your last warning."
Contrary to the Rider's expectations, instead of backing off, Nobunaga's tongue dared lap up the blood that trickled down the side of her face. Then, her feral smile took centre stage.
BOOM
In the next second, the ground shattered. With a mighty kick, she flew straight at the flying carriage, earning a wide-eyed stare as the woman quickly cracked her reins. The wyvern-chariot took a dive and so did the woman, narrowly avoiding her neck being cleaved by a crimson slash that tore a vacuum in the space she'd been previously.
"What's the matter?! All bark and no bite?!" Though she missed and ended up slowly falling to earth upside down, her eagerness to fight permeated the air with bloodlust.
To Avenger's mocking, the woman directed a blade, a spatha, in Nobu's direction. Lightning crackled above before a bolt of electricity appeared to lance her out of the sky. But it didn't end there.
"You are a fool to challenge me in the skies." The woman cried as she continued to aim her blade. The sheen of metal sparked with crimson energies as a bolt manifested at will. "Eat this and rue your folly!"
Two shots of lightning bolts. One to force her to dodge, the other a follow-up wherever she tried to dodge. She was to be shot down and without a means to escape unscathed. Just like back during the Grail war, Avenger couldn't compete with a Rider's mobility.
That is, if she never learned to adapt to the situation.
"Keh, underestimating me?!" Space warped around her falling form. Several dozen rifles shimmered into existence before lining up and forming mini barricades against both bolts. Kicking off one, she dodged the second before pointing her own sword at her foe. "Just because I don't have wings does not mean I can't fly too, bitch! FIRE!"
At the devil's behest, a matchlock barrage rained down upon her. A crimson and black rain of shell and gunpowder exploded all around the target, catching the Rider woman unawares.
Though her weapons were relics of the ancient past, that didn't mean she couldn't modify the magical bullets they fired. Turning each matchlock shell into airburst rounds was quite the bold suggestion by Lelouch, but in terms of fighting flying targets, they were unmatched in precision and devastation.
Had the woman not been a Heroic Spirit, she would certainly have not escaped with mere scratches and an amusing scowl on her face. Said scowl turned frustrated when more airburst rounds struck her chariot from below. Without being ordered to, the two Gloucesters Nobu left on the ground were backing her up, trying to shoot down the wyverns as she was. Though, all that did was piss off the haughty Rider.
"You're wasting time. She's mine! Go crush the Einzberns like bugs. Leave no survivors!" The two Knightmares did as ordered and continued to bombard the wall. They couldn't kill the fast-moving target even if they did manage to hit. Despite the impact of modern weaponry, a Servant's legend and myth could power through much of the damage. This was why Nobunaga created more footholds in the sky with her numerous rifles and charged the woman directly. With enough force, she managed to get close enough to see the whites in the woman's eyes. She smiled, guns and red hair blazing. "Now… where were we?!"
The chariot dodged at the last second again, its wyverns pulling their lady away from the hellfire shots of the Demon King. But the unnamed Rider wasn't going to take this fight on the backfoot.
She cracked the reins before letting it go.
What would've seemed like a foolish move turned out to be a genius one as her chariot began to drive itself without her input? Streaking through the skies, it circled back to evade a volley and ducked under a follow-up before darting right at Nobunaga once more. But this time, what met her katana wasn't evasion or flesh. It was the spatha the monochromatic woman wielded with both hands that blocked a strike to her neck. A spatha that shared a very uncanny resemblance to one she'd crossed blades with in the past. And was wielded with great skill just as much as that brute!
A slice there, a thrust behind a feint. A slash that returned to deflect her own attacks. It was followed through by a parry that, two-handed, managed to push Nobunaga far back enough that she needed to open fire to continue her attacks. The woman simply evaded it. Or rather, her chariot managed to without even her ordering it to.
It was a momentary exchange. The quickest of skirmish strikes. But it was enough for Avenger to come to her own conclusions.
"You, two-colored-eyes bitch," halting her volley, she watched as the Rider came to a slow stop, hovering a small distance away in the air. "You ride a chariot, wield the same sword, and carry the same divinity. Tell me. Are you an incarnation of that buffoon?"
"What was that?" the woman muttered.
"Answer me, fool. Are you not related to the beaten bastard demigod who called himself the King of Conquerors, Iskandar?"
Had the woman resumed attacking, Nobunaga wouldn't have bothered pressing further. For an opponent to not bear the same grandiosity as her former rival, they wouldn't be worth the effort to crush. They would be pebbles, not even a mere foothold to step on and cement her greatness. But what she did not expect was seething anger.
"What… did you just call him?"
"The buffoon?" she raised her eyebrow, cottoning on to the prickled expression on Rider's face. "It is a nickname. One I've given to a fool deserving as he—!"
"Shut your mouth, you bastard!" The chariot surged forward. Faster than ever before, it launched itself like a jet fighter at Nobu's face. Only, she was sort of expecting it and managed to dodge it by hopping over. She even dared to give a cheeky smirk to the infuriated woman's face.
"Hoh? Struck a nerve, did I?" she didn't get a response. Only a second speedy charge. Yet, dangerous as it was to fool around with her prey, she couldn't help but dance around the woman's reckless abandon.
She was starting to get predictable, to the point where Nobu had backflipped over her last attack, blocked the spatha from slicing her neck open with a wall of rifles, and managed to cleave the back of one of the skeletal wyverns at the base of its spine.
"KUH!" Realizing the mistake, the Rider lost control of her ride as it quickly began to fall out of the sky. Lightning rained down alongside her, blocking Nobu from cutting into the other bony undead. She managed to right herself but was grounded in the process. Nobu swiftly touched the earth as well with a thud, cratering the burned soil. Yet, despite not landing a killing blow, she would assume she'd managed to win. After all, she clipped the wings of an actual Rider without the need to resort to her usual tactics.
"Hmm. Guess I have to take back my words. That brute was a better Rider than you are. Still, considering how you so easily let your emotions get the better of you as he had, you aren't too different to be unrelated." Shouldering her katana, she slowly marched closer to the glaring woman. "So? Who are you? His cosplayer? Or one of the loyal soldiers he'd left for dead in the desert? Can't be, considering I'd remember burning you back then—!"
"Shut your trap!" The unknown Servant roared as more red lighting struck at Avenger. But this time, Nobu managed to block and deflect the bolts with ease. Her katana flared and sparked whenever one struck, but their energies were weak, frayed. As though they reflected the control and composure of their caster. "Don't you dare insult my lord! I am his most loyal confidant, but neither am I a soldier of his army. Don't you dare associate me with that lot!"
"… … Huh?" Nobu gawked with a raised eyebrow, all bloodlust waning for a confusing moment. "Loyal but… not one of his army? But… aren't you of his posse? Sounds confusing. Make up your mind, Femskandar!"
"I told you! I'm not him!" another red lightning bolt that Avenger simply danced around. They weren't as fast as earlier. Nor did they have the same power. Nobu scowled slightly, losing interest. They were weaker. Like they couldn't be charged up faster or conjured better now that the woman was flustered and pissed. "Just stay still and die, you cockroach!"
"Hey, hey! That's rude! Don't call me names when you don't even know me. Ah, on that note, let me introduce myself," Nobunaga stopped as she bowed slightly before theatrically waving her hand before her, mimicking the gestures made by Lelouch whenever he introduced himself to a captive audience. Yet, she couldn't cluelessly expose her identity. So, replicating her darling's flair for the dramatics, she acted in her own play. "I am the real Lucifer, Lord of Hell itself. A pleasure to meet you, not-Iskandar. Now please, perish!"
At her order, dozens of rows of her arquebus arsenal manifested. In the next second, a concert of hell enacted a sweet symphony through the creative timing and rhythm found only in the sudden and impactful unison of gunfire.
Had they hit their mark, it would've made for a great standing ovation. Yet not even her audience was that much of a fool to watch her own demise. And that was despite the front row seat Nobunaga oh-so graciously bequeathed to her.
Swift as lightning, she escaped the barrage. Although left with only one wyvern to pull the chariot, shell after shell impacted the earth behind her, culminating in a desperate gambit when it flew high into the sky.
For a second, Nobunaga was blinded. The storm clouds had suddenly dispersed, leaving the high noon sun to glare down into her retinas. All was silent until she heard the guttural reptilian growl and saw its bony maw lunging for her face.
"Of all the desperate things—!" Nobu swiped at the air. The skeletal beast dispersed in motes of red light the second her sword sliced through it like butter. But eyes widened even further when the chariot that followed continued its meteoric crash course for her. 'DAMMIT!'
Her guns let loose a volley. The chariot was destroyed instantaneously.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The woman behind it thrust a blade at her, earning Nobu's surprise in the process. "DIE!"
"I think not!" The crimson blade clashed against the crimson blade. Hers burned red with the fires of vengeance, the other's sparked fiercely with the ferocity of electricity. It was there in that blade lock that they met face to face, eye to eye. So close that Nobunaga could study the glow of the faux-Rider's left amber eye. 'Wait… Amber—?!'
"Now," the woman snarled with a cheeky smirk. "You're mine!"
The imposter raised her weapon, aimed for the neck of Avenger and was ready to strike.
"Halt!" However, before the blade could make contact with Nobunaga's skin, a familiar male voice ordered with an assertive tone.