RUMBLE!!
Colossal slabs of earth and jagged boulders soared into the atmosphere, drawn by an irresistible gravitational pull.
"This sensation..."
Yubel looked down, her expression one of morbid fascination rather than fear. She allowed her body to be dragged along with the surging debris, both the woman and the rocks adhering to the core of darkness suspended in the sky.
A titanic sphere of rock began to solidify high above, its scale so immense that it could be seen from miles away,a man-made moon hanging over the Romanian countryside.
"Hmph. With this, it seems you won't be able to use that peculiar ability of yours to resist anymore."
Madara slowly lowered his hand, his eyes cold as he watched the sphere stabilize. "Until this war reaches its conclusion, stay quiet within your cage."
He truly had no conventional means to break her damage-reflection mechanism, but for Madara, "sealed" was just as good as "dead." The problem wasn't the strength of the enemy, but the method required to remove them from the board.
"Yet... it went too smoothly. This feels unnerving," he muttered, though he showed no outward sign of concern.
By his estimation, Minato should have been able to intervene. Using the [Flying Thunder God] Technique, the Fourth Hokage could have easily whisked Yubel out of the gravity well before the [Chibaku Tensei] finished its construction.
But he hadn't. That lack of reaction made Madara suspicious.
Given the apparent "unity" of the Red Faction, they shouldn't have stood by and watched such a potent war asset be neutralized. Once the sealing was complete, short of Madara himself releasing the technique, there was virtually no way for her to escape from the heart of that pressurized core.
"Am I overthinking it?"
Madara waited for several minutes, but the battlefield remained silent. No surprise attacks, no frantic rescue attempts. He let out a low, thoughtful hum.
***
"This is bad!"
Amakusa's expression shifted, a sudden realization striking him like a physical blow.
"Hmm?"
Karna and Minato turned to look at him, surprised to see the usually composed priest looking so shaken.
"The [Command Spell]... it's not working?"
"She played us."
Amakusa finally understood what the Berserker had been planning. When the seal was about to close around her, he had intended to send Minato to retrieve her. But Yubel had telepathically communicated that she had a solution, explicitly refusing any intervention.
Out of a tentative trust in his Servant's capabilities, Amakusa had held Minato back. But now, it was clear that Yubel had been maneuvering for her own agenda from the start.
"What's happened?" Karna asked, his voice steady despite the tension.
"The Berserker... she must have activated her other Noble Phantasm."
"She is indeed sealed, but only her physical body is trapped within that sphere."
"Therefore, the [Command Spell] is only binding her empty shell. It's a complete oversight on my part."
Amakusa's face was dark as he began to explain the nature of his Servant's escape.
"I should have realized sooner. The conditions for her possession... a suitable host had to be nearby."
"Possession?" Minato asked, his voice sharp.
"She has the power to see the darkness within a person's heart, inducing and then amplifying it. While those with strong, pure wills are immune, someone with a fractured psyche or a heavy burden of despair is the perfect host. She can directly possess such an individual, using their body as a new vessel."
Minato's eyes widened. "She told me not to save her... so she could escape your control and find a new Master?!"
"Correct. In her new form, my [Command Spells] are effectively useless. She's severed the link."
"But what does she gain from this? An isolated player in a team war..."
"It simply means the Berserker is confident she can win this war on her own terms," Karna noted, his tone blunt and unforgiving.
He looked at Amakusa, his gaze piercing. "It seems you still underestimated the depth of her malice."
"I did," Amakusa admitted, his voice low with self-reproach. "I should have noticed when she was so eager to head into battle. She must have sensed a compatible soul in that direction."
"Now, even if I cut off her mana supply, it will only affect her sealed body. The part of her that shifted is already self-sustaining or siphoning from the new host."
"We have to assume Madara will continue his advance," Amakusa continued, forcing himself back into a tactical mindset. "Saber is near that location. We have no choice. If it comes down to it, Lancer, you must release your Noble Phantasm to engage the Rider. We cannot let Assassin's (Semiramis) incantation be interrupted, no matter the cost."
The situation was spiraling out of control faster than Amakusa could have predicted. Between the overwhelming might of the Black Rider and the betrayal of his own Berserker, the board was in chaos. He would have to deal with them one by one. Repel the Rider first, then hunt down the Berserker.
'I just hope she didn't possess anyone particularly dangerous...'
***
"That huge rock... was that the work of that guy?"
Red Archer stood on a distant ridge, his hawk-like vision capturing Madara's silhouette even from miles away.
"Ugh..."
He glanced at the Black Archer beside him. The other man looked ill, his expression more fractured than usual. Red Archer didn't pay it much mind; Black Archer had been acting strange since the moment they set out,cold, erratic, and deeply unsettled.
"Let's move in," he directed.
"Move in?" Emiya Alter repeated, his voice sounding hollow and metallic. "Are you serious?"
"We're supposed to be scouting the enemy, right? Why are we exposing ourselves now?"
Artoria looked at them both, her face a mask of knightly determination. "Ah, I forgot you two were Archers. Fine. I will proceed alone. You two provide support from long range."
"If necessary, do not worry about my safety. Feel free to unleash your large-scale destruction Noble Phantasms."
"Hey!"
Emiya tried to stop her, but Artoria had already slid down the mountain slope, vanishing into the treeline without a second glance.
"Seriously..."
"Same as always," he muttered, his shoulders slumping. He looked over at Emiya Alter, who was standing a few paces away. Emiya noted that the other man's veins were bulging slightly, and he felt a primal urge to keep his distance.
The killing intent Emiya Alter had directed at him earlier had been genuine. Even if it was suppressed now, it felt like a dormant volcano waiting to erupt.
"Hmph... I won't," Emiya Alter murmured, his voice sounding weirdly layered.
Behind the Black Archer, a fleeting, translucent image of Yubel flickered,a twisted, laughing specter. A distorted, grotesque smile played across his face.
"Ah... this body... it's much more convenient than I expected."
He/She turned a predatory gaze toward the distant battlefield.
***
Madara had no intention of leaving just yet. He could sense more Heroic Spirits approaching his location.
As expected, the Red Faction members who had retreated earlier were returning, and they weren't alone.
SHOO!
A moment later, Minato and Karna materialized several hundred meters away.
"The [Flying Thunder God] formula doesn't disappear, but if the object it was placed on is destroyed or removed from this dimension, the 'key' to the technique can't maintain its form," Madara noted, his voice carrying clearly across the open ground.
He understood now why Minato had been so well-informed during the Fourth Great Ninja War. It was likely during this very clash that the Fourth Hokage had first witnessed the extent of Madara's power and tactics.
Madara turned his gaze to Karna. Their eyes met, a silent spark of recognition passing between two warriors of the highest caliber.
VROOM!!
At that moment, the roar of an engine shattered the silence. A modified vehicle tore across the uneven, cratered earth, coming to a screeching halt.
"Reinforcements from the Black Faction?"
Karna and Minato looked at the battered car, sensing the arrival of two more Heroic Spirits.
Counting the Red Saber (Mordred) who was closing in from another direction...
It was now three against three.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]