"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"
Faker cursed as she was pushed farther and farther away. Despite her small frame, the hulking war machine seemed to be able to match her speed. Not only that, she couldn't quite readjust her trajectory as, every time she tried to cast her magic or use her weapons, the blasted behemoth had a reaction to her!
Any attempt to summon something was met with a firearm mounted on its chest blasting at her in full auto. Small arms fire that shouldn't have scratched her, let alone hurt, had seemingly been enchanted with anti-mystery bullets. Whatever they struck, they momentarily disrupted the flow of mana, meaning whatever magic she could've prepared was thrown into disarray. Instantly summoning the chariot back to her would've been some help here, but Faker dropped that idea fast.
She wasn't a Caster despite her ability to chant High-Speed Divine Words. For all that she had expertise in the ancient arts, being immune to small-scale interruption, she was not. Especially when it came from the constant barrage of anti-magic disrupting bullets. For example…
"Aello!" A breeze began to form a shield around her, but the rapid burst of bullets tore through it with minimal effort, forcing Faker to tank the shots that only tickled her side but deflect what looked like a grappling tool that fired from the golem's chest. "Annoying little—!"
It was nought but sharp metal that could've pierced concrete and flesh, but for her to not be able to slash through its connecting cable or spike tip informed her of its durability. But it did work as an anchor as she tugged on it to momentarily weigh the creature down. It is a shame she couldn't rip the thing off to use as a whip to flay it's hideous face.
"Too hard, huh… Then take this! Nereides!"
Water vapour in the air coalesced into spears. At her will, they assaulted the giant she had trapped. But as her lances tried to pelt the damn thing, more of those machine guns fired and dispelled her magic once more. Faker had to retreat lest the golem used her grip on its grappling tool against her.
"Dammit…"
Trying to push a chant through while avoiding hits would amount to nothing, especially if she got skewered in the time it took to cast her magic. In the end, she could do nought but scoff at their earlier plan. Sending her Hecatic Wheel flying in the opposite direction distracted fuck all. Without the one asset, she had to replicate the speed and manoeuvrability of a Rider Servant, they were now sitting ducks being harried by a giant metal bug and its theatrical masked owner.
She drew her blade instead, trying to go for melee while increasing her physical capabilities through internal enhancements. She didn't expect the lumbering giant to draw its own blade, literally a massive hunk of metal the size of her, to meet her blow over and over, managing not just to match her boosted pace but also push her back.
Faker tried glancing blows, throwing stabs and the occasional ice lance, but even that was futile. Her sword glanced and sparked across the metal plates that made up its front and her magic was useless in direct combat. Even now, after getting shocked, slashed, and stabbed, the metal armour glinting chromatic red under the light had taken her attacks in stride. Granted, they weren't her strikes at full power, with how it was forcing her to take shallow swipes with its constant attacks, but still.
For a magus creation to be capable of taking on the weak blows of a Servant this long, it was formidable to say the least. More so than the other hunks of metal she and Heartless fought over the years!
No, that was a fallacious assumption to make. Zero could very well not be human at all! That would infer many more headaches, she was certain.
"Kuh! You and your summoner are a real pain in my ass!" Hephaestion rarely lost her cool. To lose one's nerve was tantamount to admitting weakness on the battlefield. And even if her foe had no pride to gloat or sentience to mock her, it didn't stop the warrior within from scathingly deriding her current behaviour. 'I need to get back! Forget this thing and return to Master's side immediately!'
She couldn't leave the ever-smiling redheaded fool alone for long. Though the man was capable, she saw what that masked son of a bitch was! Or rather, she sensed just how dangerous of an individual Zero is.
No matter how dangerous and cunning of a magus Doctor Heartless was, something about Zero had chills running down this Servant's spine. And she didn't have the time or pride to waste time!
"Get out of my way!"
She dove under the metal golem's wide swing and struck the back of its wrist with her sword. It didn't penetrate, but she could feel the electricity running through this thing's weapons enough to infer it was powered by an energy source akin to hers. She made to jam her sword's tip in one of the gaps of its armour and willed her control over water in the air to rush through any and all gaps within the target.
"Eat this!" Red lightning sparked along her body and down to her blade. It ran into the thing's wrist via her water magic before she saw its fingers spasm like a human's would be given a strong enough jolt shocked it through. "Ha! That works?! I can do it—GAH!"
The victory was short lived when its massive silver-white claw stamped her into the soil. The knife-holding arm was crackling and twitching, smoke pouring out of its gaps. But the other arm, the one that looked more like it was ripped out of another creature and slapped onto this golem, was still as strong as ever.
The sound of a roaring engine erupted from the silver arm's shoulder. Faker recalled the blast that propelled her away from Heartless, seeing the red glow forming around its wrist. Emanating heat informed her of another crimson blast being charged up and aimed for her torso. Faker knew even a Servant would get hurt from it point blank. But with her gaze now turned to the sky to look at the giant red beetle's mug, Faker found cause to smirk.
"Hope the back of your head's as reinforced as your thick front! COME AND GET IT, BOYS!"
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
Demonic growls from throatless maws cried out as a pair of skeletal wyverns sped like lightning and whipped their cargo, a weaponized war chariot armed to the teeth with enchanted blades, into the back of the hulking titan. The resounding screech of metal tearing metal could be heard as Faker suddenly found her captor's grip loosen enough for her to kick away its fingers and slip out. Leaping into the sky, she snatched her reins on the chariot and pulled herself on. With her returned freedom, she was free to glance back to her Master's direction.
From here, she could see he was engaged in combat with Zero. It wasn't the one-sided fight she was expecting, but Heartless was still unable to so much as put a dent in the masked bastard. Every spell, every shot fired, either bounced off Zero's form or didn't do shit to him at all! In fact, seeing Zero take a lazy swipe at her Master's last shot, it dispersed the magic as though the caster was not a proficient magus but a novice who lacked basic form control.
"He's armed with the same enchantment as that tin can's bullets!" Faker grit her teeth in annoyance. Magic-interruption or anti-magical interference. Whatever theory it ran with, it was beginning to be a pain. If it was capable of stopping even a top-class practitioner of the mystical arts as her, any magus, Sealing Designee or lesser, could be crippled if they couldn't adapt. Her Master could just keep trying to buy time for her to regroup with him. That meant she had two options.
Either she made a break for it from the beetle and they flee for now or try and hit the mastermind hunting them down with all the power she had in store and see if that could be nullified by whatever protection he had going for him.
"But do we even have that leeway—?"
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR
The sound of aircraft engines blasting down below drew Faker's attention again. A crimson streak was barreling through the mud and trees, seemingly skating and gliding across the terrain. The hunk of metal was still on the move still, and that was despite the large sparking gash on its back from being hit by the Hecatic Wheel's blades!
"Now you're really starting to piss me off!"
The golems they fought in Germany were a surprise. The ones they occasionally encountered on the run were annoying but definitely not impressive. This red one was on a whole new level of bullshit that Faker had to give it props. It may have given even Iskandar a run for his money, that is, if the old fool tried to hunt it down one-on-one like it was a challenge set by Zeus himself. And she definitely knew that bastard would do it given the chance!
But Hephaestion wasn't like her lord and liege. She specialized in a different form of combat, despite training to be his very shadow, a reflection of Iskandar but not.
"Wanna play? Alright." Cracking her knuckles and limbering up her shoulders, Faker activated her Hecatic Wheel's autopilot function. She turned to glare down at the armoured titan in a challenge and summoned her blade, crackling with violent red sparks. "Let's play, you annoying little insect!"
The crimson golem seemed to howl as it lunged for her in the sky. What must've seemed like a futile attempt to reach her turned into a speedy dogfight as the thing suddenly bore small fiery wings sprouting from its back. Granted, they were more the excessive afterburners used to propel the hunk of metal into the sky than additional appendages, but Faker could care less what they were. All she knew was that thing could fly in spite of its make and size. But she was going to be the lightning that struck it down!
Crimson light enveloped her form as she streaked through the sky like a falling star. The afterburners blazing behind the metal golem caused it to shine like a rising comet. Before meeting the ascending giant halfway, she howled as though possessed by a maddened god.
"See if you can fly after this!" Faker's sword glowed ominously as the steel hummed with her power. "Hephaistos!"
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRR
Red struck red and the cloudy sky was bathed in a bloodred haze of sparks and flame. The twin lights sped past each other. But the clash wasn't done. Just as Faker sped past her foe, she raised her hand and made a tugging motion, as though to pull on invisible reins. She smirked when the flying red beetle giant turned midair, unaware of the target she marked on its gashed back.
"You're mine!"
Twin streaks of silver struck the target. Claws and fangs made of magically-enhanced wyvern skeletons cleaved the golem from either side, causing an explosion when the chariot pulled by one of her mounts was whipped into its backside. The four-hit strike caused the red titan, now a flaming ball of flailing metal, to crash into the park grounds down below.
"Keh!" Faker spat to the side, a little blood and ragged breathing being her only signs of injury.
It was a boon of being a Servant that she wouldn't so easily lose limbs. Her sword arm still shook from clashing against the behemoth's armour. That it mostly withstood her blade, enchanted by magicks that invoked the name of the Divine and empowered by her advanced spellcraft, put the red one at the very top of her shitlist so far. It wasn't a Servant, but it sure as hell fought like one. Still, better a numbed arm and a downed golem than being killed before she got her answers.
Speaking of, the golem had not moved after cratering the green just a few ways away. She didn't have the want to check on it for fear of wasting time. Whistling, her wyvern-dragged chariot came for a smooth landing by her side, both skeletal beasts back pulling her Hecatic Wheel once more.
'Fucking stay down this time… damned puppet…' Teeth grit, she spared the flaming pile of crimson metal behind her a quick glance, looking for a sign of life. Satisfied it didn't budge, she hopped on her chariot and quickly cracked the reins, directing her mounts to rush back to her Master.
'Master, how're you doing?' she reached out via their mental link.