Under great scrutiny from one Rin Tohsaka, we retreated back into living room. I plopped down behind my empty tea cup and gripped my chin in thought.
Though it had been a product of a sudden impulse, I now possessed the Round Deer. The Shikigami had already demonstrated its ability to interfere with Nue's magical lightning, but the full extent and mechanism of that ability needed more investigation before I could come up with something conclusive.
For now, the running theory was that the ethereal energy it released was messing with mana the same way positive energy disturbed the function of cursed energy.
Humming faintly, I looked up at Rin. She stepped through the door with narrowed eyes, biting her lower lip. It was hard to get a grasp on her thoughts honestly, since she could be simultaneously brilliant and stupid at the time.
"Don't worry, it's not like you have to fight me. Our servants do... eventually."
She opened her mouth to answer, but Archer spoke before she did.
"The masters are not prohibited from helping their servants." He inclined his head, towards the demure Sakura washing the dishes in the kitchenette, "I also expected a magus to be more concerned with who they reveal their abilities to. You do not sit amongst friends."
That...
"Helping an enemy is not some great achievement. It's stupid."
I pursed my lips.
"Archer..." Rin scrunched her face up, "You don't have to be that harsh, do you?"
The servant let out a faint grunt, then stepped into the air, gone from sight. I could still feel his presence thanks to the itch under my forearm.
"Sorry, Enji. He can be really grumpy sometimes."
I waved my hand in dismissal, pushing his words from my mind.
"I'm not going to waver this far in."
Maybe even a couple days ago, no, a couple minutes ago, his words would've made me fall deep into thought. Healing Shirou brought me the clarity and resolve needed to completely ignore them.
It was fine.
I was a sorcerer, and I would live on my own terms.
Paranoia and philosophy made a sorcerer weak.
It was better to face problems by rushing at them.
At least, that was the sort of person I wanted to become.
Not bad, not good... just me.
"That's good." She smiled faintly. "Can we finally address the elephant in the room?"
I looked around, searching for Maximum Elephant.
Right, I still had to tame him.
Besides me, Shirou was clenching and unclenching his healed hand. He looked up as well, locking eyes with me.
"Thank you."
I accepted his gratitude with a nod, offering no words.
One day, I would tell him that the gratitude should've been loathing instead, but that day would be after the Holy Grail War had ended.
I shook my head and looked at Rin.
"We still have to deal with Heracles." She held up an open hand, "And, as great as it is that Shirou has his hand back, it doesn't help much. If you're right about him having twelve lives, then I don't think my Archer and your Assassin stand much of a chance against him."
"I'm pretty sure he develops resistance to what kills him."
For the Twelve Labours, the Olympians gave him Twelve Lives. For each labour overcome, he became stronger and greater. Instead of describing the servant Heracles as a great hero, it was better to say that he was a force of nature.
A calamity for those against him.
I'd experienced it first hand.
Two servants had unleashed their strongest attacks, and Heracles was only down for mere seconds.
Rin let out a long sigh, massaging her temples. Her brown locks swayed.
A sudden chill swept through the open doors and windows, driving away the faint smell of spices and sizzling meat from the kitchenette. Shirou hurriedly crawled over to snap them shut, as did Sakura. Their hands ended up touching, and both teenagers became bashful.
Rin gave them a nasty look.
"Hoh? Here I am worrying over how to make sure you see tomorrow, and the two of you are busy being all lovey-dovey" She smirked evilly, hiding her expression behind a hand, "I see how it is, Shirou."
"T-Tohsaka-senpai, we're not-"
"Don't give in to her, Sakura." Shirou closed his eyes helplessly, "This is how she gets to you."
"What do you mean by 'gets to you' huh? You're describing me like a bully."
"Are you jealous?" I asked Rin plainly.
"Eh? I told you already. There's nothing like that," She straightened her back, waving her hand, "Aw, now you've ruined it. So, what else do you have on Berserker? I'd assume he has some kind of magic resistance at least."
Oh, so we were going to drop the teasing entirely.
I shrugged and continued, "Physical resistance too. Nothing below A-Rank even touches him."
Be it physical or magical, he had outright ignored most of what we'd thrown at him to hulk after Cu Chulainn like a mad animal. Then, Illyasviel had outright admitted to the fact.
Rin let out another groan and clutched her head, "I don't think Archer even has anything like that. And, I'd need a leyline, or years-... decades worth of magical energy to throw out even one attack like that. Hey, Enji, I think this might be hopeless."
I held up all my fingers.
"I have ten different Shikigami. There's two servants between you and me, and I'm sure you have at least something up your sleeve."
"I do but..." She continued rubbing her forehead, "It'll be too close for comfort. We have no idea if it'll work."
I tilted my head, racking my brain for ideas.
As a last resort, there was always the Divine General to call upon. As creations of the Shinto Gods, the rest of the Shikigami were more intricate than the ones I was familiar with, the same had to carry over to him too, right?
Suddenly, it hit me.
There was another option too.
"Let's add another servant to the mix, then."
Even then... I doubted victory against that monster. I would still try though.
"Who?"
I reached for my phone.
-
Round Deer emerged from my shadows and raised his head. The air seemed to shimmer as the black beam of a Gandr shot dissipated into nothingness, having fallen apart at the base. At the same time, Bazett lost her balance, disoriented by a sudden loss of the strength provided by her runes, and stumbled some steps to hit empty air with a lopsided punch.
Neither of the two backed down immediately, Rin fired off several more impotent Gandr shots in the blink of an eye, unwittingly confirming my theory about the strange mana produced by the Round Deer.
It seemed to join with the core of whatever magick approached and then make the formula fall apart at the seams.
"What the hell are you two doing?"
Giant Toad appeared behind Bazett and lashed out with its tongue, attaching to her back before pulling her back.
"She attacked me." Bazett said calmly.
Rin gasped, "YOU attacked me."
"I thought you were the perpetrator of the attacks."
"I told you I wasn't!"
I narrowed my eyes as both the shikigami sank into my shadows.
Apparently, the two of them had met before... and the meeting hadn't been on the best of terms. Still, I did wonder just how bad it was for them to attack each other on sight. Bazett had thrown a straight kick the moment Rin opened the doors for her. Rin ducked immediately, letting her leg slide aside, barely avoiding a blow that made the air whistle behind it.
"Then, why attack?" I looked at Bazett.
The hard woman's gaze trembled, and she averted her gaze with tinted cheeks. "I... I thought she'd gotten to you."
I deadpanned.
"What?"
"M...Maybe she'd hurt you... It doesn't matter."
Some heat rushed to my face at the concern.
"What kind of barbarian do you take me for?" Rin put her hands on her hips, leaning forward, "Who in their right mind would risk having the Zen'in family after them? Not to mention, I'm a girl."
I coughed into my palm.
Was it that bad?
"Who knows what those deviants would do to someone with a lineage like mine if given the excuse?"
I coughed louder.
Bazett seemed to think for a moment, then nodded seriously.
"I understand."
Was it THAT bad?
-
Hope u enjoyed.
Do we like how him and Bazett are developing?
You can find 7 chonky chaps ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap