“My lady, it seems your theory was correct. There are, in fact, newly-summoned Servants in the city. Four, and one unusual case, to be precise... But the stranger thing is, they all seem to be contracted to a single Master.”
Rider of Atlantis spoke candidly, kneeling before the Caster seated upon her throne. Though her expression was unreadable, her tone was that of amusement, more than concern or surprise. The red-haired young woman stood by the door, arms folded behind her back, however, briefly let the ghost of interest flash across her features - if the Caster sat at the opposite end of the opulent room noticed, she didn’t comment on it, only replying to the information her Rider had relayed to her.
“Oh...? How intriguing. I’ve not known multiple Servants to contract under a single Master at once... Even these human fools, having experimented on themselves for centuries, wouldn’t be able to handle that sheer level of drain on their prana... So the Servants themselves must be lesser for it, to avoid killing their Master from the strain on their magical circuits. Am I correct, Rider?”
The silver-haired woman nodded, still having not risen from her position.
“Yes. The unusual case has a Spirit Origin, but it’s faint; she seems to use special equipment to draw out her power. It’s possible that it’s damaged, somehow... But the other four do indeed seem to be weaker than they would be under a singular Master. They recently entered our territory and began to slay your familiars, but it takes the entire team of them to handle a small pack.”
Hearing that, the young woman by the door’s expression changed once more, but rather than a passing look, this time, her facial features stuck, silently expressing her desire to speak candidly, yet knowing it wasn’t her place to ask. This time, Caster of Atlantis seemed to take notice.
“Yes, Saber? If you have something you’d like to share, you may speak.”
The newly-christened Saber of Atlantis bowed her gratitude, only taking a few steps forward so she would have to avoid raising her voice as she spoke.
“If I might say as much, my lady, I would wager that they intend to draw out Berserker so that they can ally with the few remaining Servants still in the city. While doubtful they intend to slay her outright, weaker than a typical group of Servants as they are, it’s likely they intend to either lure her into a disadvantageous situation and weaken her before striking, or intend to force her into a gambit and learn more about her - potentially even her True Name.”
The raven-haired Caster smirked, curling a finger and resting its side against her chin.
“Oh? I take it this is your experience as a tactician talking, hm? If I recall, you were quite famed for that...”
The Saber merely nodded in response, saying nothing else unless told to do otherwise, for now. Rider, meanwhile, cast a glance over to the red-haired Servant before finally standing and looking up to her mistress.
“I’m sure they’ll move on when it’s clear we won’t give in to their efforts, my lady. Your familiars are easily-replaceable, after all; the loss of a few packs won’t be much harm.”
A few moments of silence passed before Caster finally spoke, her smirk still refusing to fade from her lips.
“No. Indulge them, and send Berserker out to greet them as they desire. She’s served her purpose, and quite frankly, I’m beginning to believe she’s starting to chafe against her chains; after all, that girl’s hatred of me is second to none other, so it’s only natural even I’d have trouble reigning her in for too long...”
For a brief moment, both Rider and Saber seemed surprised, before realization suddenly seemed to dawn over Rider’s otherwise-stoic face.
“I see... So preparations for the ritual are almost complete, then?”
Caster’s smirk formed into a rather evil, sadistic grin moments before she spoke, her heterochromatic eyes narrowing, as well.
“Indeed. By this time tomorrow, everything will be in place, and I’ll have no more need for loose ends like Berserker...~”
====================================
“Okay, Regina said these were Phantasmal Beasts, right?! These don’t look like any Phantasmal Beasts that I’ve ever seen!”
Einstein called out in clear frustration, and who could blame him?! These “Phantasmal Beasts” were like nothing you were familiar with; it’d be more accurate to call them “monstrosities”, warped abominations of nature, science, or magecraft made to only vaguely resemble animals. They reminded you of the Lahmus from Babylonia with how alien they were, only significantly less uniform - not one of these creatures even vaguely resembled one another!
They even differed in how their bodies acted after death - most of them vanished into magical energy, while some collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap like a typical creature. The most viable explanation seemed to be that the “living” ones were blueprints for the ones that dissipated... Not that it made it any easier to take them down.
“That’s putting it mildly, dear Caster... They’re certainly much harder to put down than your average Phantasmal.”
Even Maria was beginning to complain in her own way, and she wasn’t wrong. These things were surprisingly tough for how weird and difficult it should be just for them to stay alive with how nonsensical their bodies were, let alone fight. Still, you were slowly chipping away at them, one group at a time. And yet, there was no sign of this supposed Berserker...
“Master! We’ve got an incoming Spirit Origin headed our way from 8-o’-clock at high speed! It has to be Berserker of Atlantis!”
Well, ask, and ye shall receive. Thanking Mash for the heads-up, you turned your attention to the indicated direction, and moments later, who should land in the street before you with a loud crash but...
A young woman who looked more like a fairy tale being than any “Berserker” - fair skin, a slender, dainty figure, and blue hair that almost seemed to sway and float on its own, as if she were perpetually underwater.
“Oh! It’s just like Master said! A bunch of Servants and a Master, and they’re all super duper weak! Hmm, there’s supposed to be five of ya, aren’t there...? Oh well! It won’t be any fun to play with you guys, but if I don’t kill you first, I can’t go kill Master!”
Though the girl’s appearance caught you off-guard, there was no doubting the presence she was exuding; this was a Servant, all right, which meant that it was time to execute Plan A. With a command on your part, Mash, Maria, and Shangxiang all took up combat positions, while Einstein hung back to provide support as usual, and Annie in position elsewhere, as planned.
As soon as your team made it apparent you intended to fight, Berserker of Atlantis rushed forward with an arm outstretched. Her path was quickly intercepted by Mash’s shield, the sheer strength of Berserker’s strike prompting the Shielder to skid back several feet, causing even Mash to struggle to hold her ground - it was clear that, despite her frame, the girl had plenty of strength. Either she was deceptively powerful, or she really was a Berserker, and with exceptionally-high ranking Madness Enhancement, to boot - if not both.
While Mash had Berserker occupied, Maria took aim with her bow and launched a small barrage of arrows at the girl. Expecting her to either disengage and let the arrows bounce harmlessly off Mash’s shield or be struck, nobody expected her hair to suddenly raise up in a motion to swat away the arrows, and even less for the arrows to embed themselves in her hair, causing nothing less than blood to splatter from them as Berserker cried out in pain. It was then that, upon closer inspection, that you realized that her “hair” wasn’t hair... They were tentacles.
Regardless, the shots were enough to give Mash enough of an opening to begin pushing Berserker back, and combined with Shangxiang, were dominating the Berserker in melee, while Maria controlled her movements with carefully-timed arrows, and Einstein provided support via his Galvanism and providing tactical insight. However, something seemed off to you as you commanded your Servants and provided assistance via your shadow summons. Within the blur of combat, you noticed something odd now and then with the Berserker, and while she was technically on the losing side, your gut told you that things were about to go south.
And that’s when you finally caught notice of it. The Berserker was changing. And not just now, but you realized she’d been slowly changing the moment the battle started. Her hair hadn’t always been tentacles - they were the first transformation. And now you could see, her clothes were looking more aged, her mouth was filled with fangs, and her skin seemed to be growing scales... That bad feeling of yours skyrocketed in urgency, enough to cause you to command everyone to get away from Berserker.
Just in time, too, as the moment everyone disengaged to a more moderate distance, Berserker of Atlantis slumped forward as her body began to lurch. Now that she was stood still, you realized she’d grown at least two whole feet taller since she first arrived, but now she was growing even larger. Not only that, but her entire body was shifting, changing, as her lower body sprouted the heads of wolves, tentacles burst forth from various places on her frame, and her eyes became solid red orbs within her sockets. Just looking at the mish-mash of beast parts made you sick, but also filled you with a primitive terror - this wasn’t a Servant any more, your mind thought. It was the embodiment of a natural disaster.
“Everyone, retreat! I think we’ve done all we can!”
Einstein called out, and nobody was about to disagree. Mash was swift to scoop you up into her arms as the entire team began to book it as fast as they could - whatever Berserker of Atlantis had turned into, it wasn’t something you could deal with any more, not as you currently were. However, despite how fast your retreat was, you soon realized that Berserker was not only keeping pace with you on her medley of tentacles, but was actually beginning to catch up!
However, you’d planned for this sort of thing, and with a whistle on your part, a gunshot rang out from a fair distance away, striking Berserker of Atlantis right in the head. Annie, set up on an abandoned tower approximately two kilometers away, ready to snipe and confound Berserker. Unfortunately, the shot did little but cause Berserker to pause in her tracks for a few moments as she looked for the source before resuming her chase of your group.
A few more shots rang out, striking Berserker of Atlantis in the head several more times, but they did little besides cause her to veer off to the side in the middle of her pursuit, something she had little trouble in correcting. The monster chasing you down was swiftly gaining, and soon, Mash was within reach of one of its tentacles.
The strike from the bestial Servant sent you and Mash both flying, but while Mash quickly righted herself, you didn’t find yourself so lucky. Sprawled out on the ground, your head ringing, your vision cleared just in time to see the monstrous creature bearing down on you, one of its gigantic wolf heads opening its maw...
...And then a blur and a rush of wind. You felt a pair of arms holding you from below, looking up to see a helmeted woman carrying you in her arms... and from where you could see, you were now about 30 feet from where you had been laying just moments before.
“Come with me! Keep a lock on your Master’s magical energy signature, we’ll be safe in just a moment!”
The helmeted woman spoke with confidence before running off towards the outer rim of the city with you in tow; while you were grateful for the rescue, part of you was curious as to who this was, and why she had saved you...
