Chapter 11: Torrent of Swords

Chapter 11: Rain of Swords

"So, should I try to save Emiya Shirou and Saber as much as possible? Or just blow them up right away like in the original story?"

Lolita looked at Saber, who was exchanging blows with Berserker, and thought to herself.

"Whatever, I'm not Archer anyway, there's no need to attack Emiya Shirou and..." Lolita muttered to herself, "Well, the original story blew them up anyway and both of them turned out fine, so I might as well just make Rin stay far away, blast them silly, and teach you a lesson for bullying me with Command Seals!" Fine, Lolita was throwing a petty, womanly tantrum.

She extended her right hand, and Pandora's Box transformed into a longbow.

With a sweep of her left hand, the tiny arrows from earlier materialized in Lolita's grasp.

Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow, Lolita took aim at the battlefield...

---

"!" Suddenly, Saber’s footing faltered. She hadn't expected her magical energy to run so low. If this continued, all of them would die here.

Seeing the young girl's fluid movements suddenly stutter, Berserker—despite losing his reason to madness—was not so foolish as to miss the chance to beat a drowning dog. The giant greatsword in his grasp slashed fiercely down toward the girl called Saber. If this blow connected, the outcome would be decided.

With no time to evade, Saber could only hurriedly retain just enough magical energy to sustain her existence, then concentrate the remainder at her waist to withstand Berserker's full-powered strike...

"Ugh!" Under the dumbfounded gazes of Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin, Saber, the only one currently capable of combat, was suddenly struck and sent flying, nearly cut in half.

*What is going on? She clearly had the upper hand just a moment ago, and they were about to lure him into a narrow corridor—why did she get hit? Right, Emiya-kun's magical energy supply! Dammit, how could I forget something like that? I can do most things just like an ordinary person, but I have one hereditary curse: at the most crucial, decisive moment, I always manage to do something unbelievably stupid—and this time I actually forgot such a simple thing! I am such a failure!* Tohsaka Rin inwardly shrieked in despair.

Come to think of it, didn't you also forget the part about summoning a Servant with a Command Seal? The Tohsaka family's hereditary flaw is truly terrifying.

"Saber!" Emiya Shirou watched as Saber traced a red-and-blue interwoven arc through the air and crashed onto the open ground not far in front of him.

"Huh? Archer? Ah? Make me stay away from here?" Tohsaka Rin suddenly received a communication through the Master-Servant link. She hurriedly complied and ran off.

"Whoosh!" A blue beam of light whistled through the air and struck true—hitting Saber!

"Nice shot!... Eh?" Tohsaka Rin, having heard the impact, started to cheer, but upon closer inspection, the one pierced straight through the heart was none other than Saber, who had just managed to stand up by using her invisible sword for support.

Without a word, Lolita placed her Thunder Zanpakuto onto the longbow, taking aim at Berserker.

Seeing that Archer was ignoring her, Tohsaka Rin hurriedly looked over at Saber, only to find that the sword piercing Saber's chest was actually melting, then being absorbed by Saber, leaving her completely unharmed.

"Judge him! Thunder!" Softly chanting the release incantation, Lolita began to wrap the Thunder resting on her longbow in crackling electric arcs.

Gently releasing the bowstring held by her left hand, Lolita parted her rosy lips: "Ninja Art: Blade Shadow Clone Technique!"

"!" Emiya Shirou suddenly sensed a dense killing intent erupting not far behind him. Turning his head, he saw hundreds of lightning-shrouded katanas shooting toward them. Without even thinking, his body lunged forward and tackled Saber, who was standing not far ahead.

---

Saber, who had just gotten to her feet, raised her sword to face the approaching Berserker, only to be suddenly tackled to the ground by Emiya Shirou rushing forward.

Thinking that he was taking advantage of her injuries and lack of retaliatory strength to pull some sort of 'censored' stunt, Saber was about to teach this lewd, perverted, hentai Master an unforgettable lesson when she suddenly felt a massive wave of magical energy whistling through the air right above her and Emiya Shirou. Subconsciously, she threw up a protective barrier of magical energy to shield both of them.

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!" Countless explosions and Berserker's wounded roars erupted amid a cloud of dust and smoke.

The bombardment lasted less than two seconds, and a gentle breeze swept away the dust and smoke within three seconds. It revealed a bullet-riddled, blood-drenched Berserker collapsed on the ground.

Tohsaka Rin stood dumbfounded, while Emiya Shirou and Saber raised their heads to look at the pastureland that had been completely plowed over and devastated. They thought: Is this the true power of Archer?

"L-Lies..." Illya clenched her fists tightly, her delicate little face contorted with anger. "Unforgivable! How dare you humiliate me like this? Get up, Berserker, and crush them!"

"Your Berserker is already dead, Illyasviel." Hearing Illya's cries, Lolita treated it merely as a struggle to vent her anxiety. Besides, she had no intention of putting such a young girl to death; she would be satisfied if Illya simply surrendered her Command Seals.

"Rin! Watch out! Berserker isn't dead! Everyone, fall back!" Lolita leaped a few times, landing near Tohsaka Rin and the others, and shouted.

"What? You've got to be kidding me, Archer! A fatal wound of that magnitude—even for a Heroic Spirit..." Tohsaka Rin's words cut off abruptly. Amidst the rubble and debris, the body of the giant known as Berserker was actually rising to its feet once again.

His body had been pierced full of holes, resembling a hornet's nest. Such a lethal injury was enough to kill even a Heroic Spirit beyond redemption. However, Berserker was different; the Berserker who should have been thoroughly dead had actually responded to Illya's voice.

"How can this be!" ×3.

"Hmph, my Berserker is nothing like Servants of your caliber! Berserker is the strongest hero in Greek mythology!" Illya walked over to Berserker's side and declared. Berserker cooperatively let out a matching roar.

There were many heroes in Greek mythology. The term "hero" referred to those of mixed blood possessing the lineage of both humans and gods. Looking at the mythological accounts—to say nothing of others—just considering the sheer stallion-like prolificacy of Zeus, the King of Gods, one could easily deduce that heroes were hardly in short supply.

However, when it came to the title of the *strongest* hero, there was no need to consider anyone else; only one person could hold this title. Setting aside Lolita, who already knew Berserker's identity, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou now guessed the enemy's true identity—the son of the Heavenly King Zeus and the mortal princess Alcmene, the mighty demigod and hero Hercules!

Tohsaka Rin frowned. Indeed, once an existence was tied to "Gods," such a Heroic Spirit was naturally far too much stronger than heroes who had truly existed in history. A fabricated Heroic Spirit constructed from human imagination like this was the absolute strongest, and as an enemy, undoubtedly the most troublesome!

"Sigh, what a pain. I'll handle this one!" Lolita looked at the battered Emiya Shirou and Saber, who had ended up getting tackled, rolling around, and covered in dust... ahem, tumbling into a dusty mess. Finding a tiny bit of amusement in it, she decided to take advantage of her good mood to finish off Berserker.

"No way! As a knight, I will never back down!" Saber stood up and said, "I will fight alongside you!"

"Stop joking around. How many more minutes can you even fight? That arrow I shot into you with my magical energy earlier was only enough to repair your wounds, not give you the stamina for sustained combat." Lolita then pointed at the dirt-stained Emiya Shirou nearby: "Can a half-baked Master like him even let you fight?"

"..." Unable to refute, Saber certainly knew her current condition. Her Master was completely half-hearted; he couldn't even manage the most basic duty of providing magical energy as a Master. Yet, letting her hide behind a Heroic Spirit who was supposed to be an enemy was still a bit difficult for Saber to accept.

"We aren't allies right now. Forgive me for declining your help as an enemy! Now step aside and don't get in my way," Lolita said with unconcealed hostility. Then, extending her left hand, the Thunder blade that Berserker had previously pulled from his chest transformed into a streak of lightning and flew back into her grasp. Lolita opened her right hand, and a weapon with a blood-red blade radiating a bloodthirsty glow materialized in her grip. This was Blood-Dancing Revolving Moon—though merely a projection, lacking the full power of the original. Its sharpness remained the same, even if it lacked the absolute indestructible attribute.

With that, Lolita twirled her dual blades and charged straight toward Berserker...

Watching Lolita engage Berserker in fierce combat and completely suppress him on all fronts, and then glancing over at Saber—who wore a conflicted expression that clearly screamed, *'I was saved, yet I'm unable to act and can only watch my savior fight a bloody battle'—Tohsaka Rin smiled faintly and walked over to Emiya Shirou: "Emiya-kun..."*

"Uh... Ah!" Snapping out of the trance caused by the previous battle, Emiya Shirou realized that Tohsaka Rin's smiling face was merely centimeters away from his own. Even in the middle of a battlefield, he couldn't help but blush deeply.

---

"Let's continue our previous conversation, Emiya-kun. Form an alliance with me!"

"Toh... Tohsaka..."

"There's nothing to hesitate about, Emiya-kun. Even if you don't understand the Holy Grail War, you should realize it from the battle you just saw. Your current strength isn't enough if you want to survive. Ally with me; that way, our chances of winning will both increase."

"This..." It wasn't that Emiya Shirou disliked Tohsaka Rin and was unwilling to ally with her. In fact, Tohsaka Rin was the girl Emiya Shirou had long secretly admired. What Emiya Shirou loathed was the Holy Grail War itself. Wasn't the very existence of magecraft meant to help others? To harm people just to seize the so-called Holy Grail—that was something he could never forgive, no matter what!

"Emiya-kun, though I don't know what you're hesitating about, once you became a Master, it meant you were chosen by the Holy Grail. The all-powerful vessel that can grant any wish—surely Emiya-kun has a wish he wants to fulfill as well?" Tohsaka Rin continued her assault on Emiya Shirou, combining her beauty trap with A-plus-tier eloquence.

"A wish... I..." Just as he was about to deny it, Emiya halted his words, distant memories from the past surfacing in his mind.

*[I used to yearn to become an ally of justice too...]*

That was a summer night five years ago. The two of them sat quietly in the courtyard, and the light shining in Kiritsugu's eyes back then was something he couldn't fully comprehend.

*[Yearned to? Meaning you've given up on it now?]*

Kiritsugu had stroked his head, his gaze fixed on the bright moon in the sky.

*[It's regrettable, but the dream of hoping to become a hero has an expiration date. Once you grow up into an adult, you simply have to give it up.]* Kiritsugu had sighed, speaking with a hollow, desolate tone that he still couldn't fully grasp. *[If only I had realized it sooner—]*

*[Is that so? Well, it can't be helped then.]* Since it was what Kiritsugu said, it couldn't be wrong, so he had simply accepted it.

*[Yeah, it really couldn't be helped.]*

Father and son seemed to use matching words to bring the conversation to a close.

Yet the conversation hadn't ended. The young version of himself had spoken up back then—it was the beginning of everything, the start of the man named Emiya Shirou shouldering an impossible dream:

*[Since it can't be helped, then leave it to me! Dad's an adult so he couldn't do it, but I'll be fine. I'll become an ally of justice and fulfill the dream in Dad's place!]*

His father had smiled—a look of relief that he could finally let everything go.

*[Ah—I can rest easy now—]*