We sped past Tohsaka and her Servant, shockwaves of an explosion rippling behind us. It certainly wouldn't be enough to directly kill a Servant, but that dragon was Tohsaka's headache now, not ours.
My thoughts had barely concluded when [Ultimate Precognition] screamed a warning.
"Master!" Artoria's voice cut through the wind simultaneously.
A crimson lance hurled toward us like a meteor, embedding itself into asphalt just inches before R1's front tire.
I reacted instantly, squeezing the brake.
R1 pitched forward, momentum lifting its rear tire into the air before gravity slammed it back down with a heavy thud, bringing us to a violent halt.
"Master, multiple Servant signatures are closing in from all sides." Artoria reported, her tone grave. An invisible sword shimmered into existence in her grasp.
"A Servant and her Master, huh?"
A blue-haired, red-eyed man strode toward us from the front. He was clad in deep ultramarine full-body tights, accented by grey metallic pauldrons and a plate guarding his lower abdomen.
The crimson spear wrenched itself from ahead of us and flew back into his hand with a familiar weight.
So this was... Lancer.
I didn't have a moment to catalogue his parameters before another presence made itself known. From our left, a purple-haired Servant approached silently.
Medusa. Rider.
"Hoh? Another Servant? And a looker, at that. What do you say, lady? Up for grabbing a bite after a satisfying fight?" Lancer grinned, casting a glance toward the newcomer.
My eyebrow rose imperceptibly. My mind instantly filed Lancer under 'playboy' category. From that behavioral data, I deduced his most critical weakness... women.
Rider, for her part, ignored his flirting entirely, continuing her silent approach toward us.
"So... which one would you prefer to fight, Saber?" I asked, my eyes already scanning and archiving the surrounding terrain, calculating trajectories and environmental advantages for our inevitable clash.
"I will fight both of them, Master. You are injured and in no state to combat a Servant." Artoria stated firmly, dismounting R1. Her posture was impeccable, her expression deadly serious.
"A three-way duel, huh? It's been ages since I've had one of those. Come on then!" Lancer twirled his spear, rapidly closing the distance between himself and Artoria.
Fwumph.
Air screamed as mana exploded from Artoria's feet, launching her toward Lancer at tremendous speed.
"Whoa, whoa! You're quite aggressive, little lady!" Lancer barely managed to block her invisible sword with the shaft of his spear, appearing nearly caught off guard by her sudden burst of acceleration.
Artoria ignored his words. Her invisible blade flashed toward Lancer from countless angles, each strike carrying lethal precision.
Clang. Clink. Clang.
Sparks erupted across their surrounding battlefield as a crimson spear and an unseen sword collided in a symphony of violence.
Meanwhile...
Rider had closed the gap, reaching me in a blur of motion. Yet, she wouldn't make contact.
Because...
BOOOOM!
The sound barrier shattered. Artoria materialized between Rider and me, having launched herself backward from her duel with Lancer.
Rider barely had time to cross her stake-chains in defense before Artoria threw an armored fist forward.
BAM
A secondary explosion of mana burst from Artoria's elbow just before impact. The sudden acceleration jerked her fist downward mid-motion, bypassing Rider's guard and colliding brutally with her unprotected stomach.
The impact was tremendous. Rider was thrown back, her heels grinding against the road as she struggled to arrest her momentum.
Artoria did not pursue. Instead, she swung her sword to her right without looking, deflecting a crimson spear that had been streaking toward her blind spot.
The weapon spun mid-air before returning to its owner's hand in an instant.
BOOOM X2
Two sonic booms resounded in quick succession as Lancer and Rider coordinated a pincer attack, striking at Artoria from opposite sides simultaneously.
In response, Artoria's invisible sword moved toward Rider's stake-chains with eerie precision on one side, while her gauntleted fist rose to catch Lancer's crimson spear on the other.
It would have been a perfect defense.
Yet...
Time seemed to dilate as my combat instincts took over. A silver-white pistol materialized in my hand, its weight familiar and comforting.
I pulled the trigger twice.
BANG! X2
One bullet struck Artoria's gauntlet, ricocheting off its metallic frame to scream directly toward Lancer's eye.
Another bullet collided against the flat her invisible blade, tilting its angle just enough to slip through Rider's chains.
All of this happened instantly and simultaneously.
Both Rider and Lancer felt their eyes widen in shock. Lancer was forced to retract his spear to deflect my bullet, while Rider jerked her chains desperately to avoid the redirected blade.
Artoria seamlessly cooperated with my intervention. Her fist, unimpeded by the spear, buried itself into Lancer's exposed chest, while her invisible sword tore a jagged gash across Rider's shoulder.
BOOOM! Rrip!
Lancer and Rider pulled away, their gazes now focusing on me with newfound caution. I had helped Artoria injure both of them even with a single hand out of commission.
.
Though, my injured hand had recovered somewhat by now, trying to move it still made pain receptors flare and send desperate signals to my brain.
I nonetheless ignored the pain and looked at all three Servants, finally getting down from R1.
Magic circuits started to flare from my feet, climbing up my body like a forest of viridian roots.
They soon covered my thighs, abs, chest, hands, even climbing up to my lower eyelids.
"Shall we wrap this up then, Saber?" I questioned flatly, my mind having simulated countless ways this fight could conclude.
"I like your flair, Saber's Master." Lancer tightened the grip over his spear.
Rider did not visibly react, tensing instead—reminded of our last showdown mid-air.
I walked to stand face-to-face with Rider. Artoria faced Lancer similarly.
...
My mind tuned everything out.
Artoria and Lancer became an afterthought.
Our surroundings became merely background noise.
Even breathing became obsolete.
My mind hyper-focused on Rider alone... from her breathing rhythm, to the micro-twitches of her muscles, to the "flow" of her movements, even to the predictability within her unpredictable movement.
Sound barrier ruptured as my eyes tunneled, everything blurring into mixed shades of light.
When my eyes refocused—
I was already in front of Rider.
My punch barely being blocked by her sheer instinct alone.
BOOOM!
Fist met fist beyond sound.
BOOOM!
Knee met knee.
We exchanged countless moves in a mere blur. Yet with each collision, data regarding her flashed across my mind.
I kept dissecting her whole existence, cataloguing everything that made her Medusa.
Her breathing pattern. Muscle density. Reaction speed. Chain trajectory preferences. Blind spots.
Long black and purple-violet hair intersected as we fought without stop, targeting each other's vitals without mercy.
She favors her left side, compensating for the shoulder wound.
Her chains respond 0.3 seconds faster to high attacks.
She anticipates linear patterns.
I altered my attack pattern mid-exchange, incorporating circular trajectories that violated her expectations.
WHOOOSH!
My elbow grazed her ribs.
WHOOOSH!
Her knee brushed my thigh.
Both superficial. Both testing.
Her blindfolded eyes looked at me... not with fear, but with something closer to recognition.
"You're not human." She stated flatly between exchanges.
A statement. Not a question.
My reply was just as flat.
"Neither are you."
...
..
.
***
[200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[5 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thoughts]
I thought about trying to write a large chapter in two parts. Do tell me if it hits or is a nah. I'll follow your suggestions.
Enjoy.