Here's another bit. Copy pasting plenty, for the win.
Prologue
Previous
Anti-Monster
Time Alter Zero
Decisive battle
Entering the building that once upon a future housed Emiya Shirou as he grew up into an adult, Avenger simply bypassed the door in the wall that surrounded the property by jumping over it. The plants in the garden were left to grow wild, and the building itself appeared to be close to its final moments. From what he knew of the house in the future however, Avenger was sure that the premises would be straightforward to replace.
In any case, they'd been very successful, today. He'd followed Kiritsugu's instructions, which meant that meant that if the Magus Killer's plans worked out, Kayneth would die before the next down. After all, the concoction Irisviel made from Kiritsugu's blood had proven quite effective against Tohsaka Tokiomi, a mage of considerable talent himself. It was a potion that mimicked on a smaller scale the effect of the origin bullets Kiritsugu used, and very difficult to detect, using magecraft. With Archer's A-rank Independent Action skill, there was no doubt that the Tohsaka would survive to remain a threat, but they would be diminished for long enough to deal with some of the other servants.
By this time, it was likely that Maiya had finished dealing with Kayneth's fiance, Sola, so Lancer should vanish in short order after Kayneth drank the poison Avenger had slipped into his private rations.
Going into one of the many rooms of the house, Avenger opened the drawer of a broken desk, and took out a cellphone. Checking the messages stored for the line, he listened attentively the instructions that Kiritsugu gave him. Tokiomi seemed to think that the condition that afflicted him was the result of a Noble Phantasm, or at least the fault of one of the Servants. Since there was only one Servant who's powers weren't perfectly known, he had deduced that there was a chance to end his condition by defeating this Servant, Avenger, and Archer had been ordered to kill him tonight.
Immediately, Avenger had ran out of the house and into the city, headed for the temple where Servant Medea had holed up in the war he had fought in as a Master. Caster Gilles hadn't been a good enough magus to take advantage of its superior qualities, so it had been left alone for the duration of most of this war. Tonight, Avenger would use it to pin down Archer and force him into a battle of fired Noble Phantasms. With Irisviel as a Master and Archer unable to receive magical energy from his master, Avenger would only have to be careful about neutralizing Enkidu if it was used, and preventing Ea from being activated at all. Not that Archer would attempt to use it before it was too late.
Furthermore, if for some reason, Saber and Irisviel managed to defeat Lancer ahead of schedule, they would be drawn to the battle and flank Archer between two enemy Servants. With the beginning of a plan on his mind, Avenger tightened his grasp on the Dragon Dagger. It seemed like the world had recognized it as an unique existence, and supported its presence, instead of rejecting it. It would be his ace in the hole tonight. With the Dragonzord as a proof of concept, there were other actions he could attempt with the Dragon Dagger with a good hope for success.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Avenger was honestly curious of how was Archer, Gilgamesh, planning to arrive to the temple. He'd stopped hiding the last stretch of the way and began broadcasting his position, roughing up the streets a bit to fake a scuffle with another servant. Standing at the top of the stairs and in front of the gate, Avenger stood with his arms crossed as he surveyed the corridor of climbing stairs and the city that spread out from the feet of the mountains he stood in.
On one hand, Archer would hate to be the one looking up to his enemy, but he'd also hate being forced to employ whatever method he had to avoid looking up to the defending servant. In any case, he'd arrive full of anger and injured pride, looking for an easy battle to be won by firing weapons from his gate at the problem until it went away. A tactic so dumb that Avenger was sure that after a good spar or two, the boy could beat the arrogant king at his own game some time in the fifth war.
Hmm... now there was an idea.
Before long, however, he saw a Noble Phantasm flying his way from the bottom of the stairs, a blade that he still remembered seeing in the Gate of Babylon while he was still alive. Bakuya struck it in midair and Kanshou ensured that the former returned to his hand. Everything stood still for a while. The birds, the wind, the insects, the trees, everything paused as if enraptured by the coming battle between heroes of past eras.
Avenger kept his eyes on the form of Gilgamesh, as the golden clad Servant climbed the steps, an annoyed look on his face. It seemed like he was saving his displeasure for when he could talk down at Avenger without straining his voice, and less angry than Avenger expected. But even if Gilgamesh wasn't incensed in any way as he climbed, Avenger's ability to make him angry was high. And he also preferred to have Archer on the defensive, which would mean countering the Noble Phantasms fired from the Gate of Babylon with his own after the former had been launched. Deciding that while the open space of the temple would not favor him, the trees could be used to hinder Archer some, Avenger began to move down the stairs.
The natural corridor and the speed he was moving at meant that the shroud of Martin he wore billowed dramatically in the wind, but he had long ceased to pay attention to such things if they had no immediate benefit. Throwing Kanshou and Bakuya, he allowed them to fly in an undulating path as they converged on Archer.
They would cut Archer's head in half if left alone, so even if the armor that he wore could be hit by the blades without a scratch, Archer was forced to defend himself, somehow. But the swift movement of both servants had brought them close with celerity, and Gilgamesh's counter, a Noble Phantasm from the Gate of Babylon that buried itself on the ground, parried away the paired blades.
"A worm digging its way out of the ground," began speaking Gilgamesh without breaking stride. "For raising your blade against what is mine, worm, you answer to me!" Raising a hand, numerous blades appeared in thin air, powerful and ancient weapons that the arrogant king had claimed possession of, in his life.
Avenger had not stopped to listen either, so he was close enough to Gilgamesh to grab the blades he had thrown as they tried, once again, to reunite. The trajectory of the weapons had avoided all the trees in both sides of the stairs and returned to the place where Avenger and Archer would meet at, if Avenger hadn't jumped forward to grab the weapons in midair, jump towards Archer and swing them in a rising cross against the golden servant.
Four weapons were fired at Avenger, ancient and powerful Noble Phantasms carelessly treated as simple arrows. Four projected blades, all of them low ranking Noble Phantasms, deflected them. But one more sword appeared in midair between Avenger an Archer, held in place by two portals to the vaults containing Gilgamesh's treasury and ringing after being struck by Avenger's blades.
Making use of the fact that the upwards attack moved him closer to the ground, Avenger took a step forwards down the staircase and swung again. This time, Gilgamesh met the blade with a golden one of his own, swung in his right hand. Undeterred, Archer swung his other blade, and it was met with an identical twin of the first blade, held in Gilgamesh's other hand.
Putting a smirk on his face, Avenger began fighting Archer, clashing his two blades against the two golden blades of his enemy. Matched blow for blow, the facade of self control that Gilgamesh was displaying broke, and true anger showed in his eyes.
Raising sparks in the air with the clashes of their blows, using the steps to change the angle and distance of their combat, the two warriors seemed closely matched as far as wielding two swords was concerned. Of course, the blows Avenger slipped past Archer's guard deal no damage to the golden armor, so as he fought he began adding some magical power to his blades, making them stronger.
Back and forth they went, exchanging blows without moving much. But Gilgamesh had lost his patience. Again, weapons appeared in midair from a golden glow that marked their arrival from his gate out into Earth, these time much greater in numbers.
"Enough!" Began saying Gilgamesh imperiously, "Die!"
Again, swords came flying out of the Gate of Babylon, and again many lesser Noble Phantasms projected by Avenger parried them, diverting them from their path. Avenger himself jumped back up several steps of the stairs, and allowed the two blades on his hands to change. Like they were containers being overfilled and stretched, the black and white blades grew in length, width and even thickness, while their grips stayed the same. The ridge of the blades shattered, tightly packed shards that remained firmly struck together in a manner reminiscent of feathers.
"Bastard!" Yelled Gilgamesh as Avenger jumped towards him to strike him with the overedged forms of Kanshou and Bakuya.
"Die-kgh" Something with colossal power hit Gilgamesh's back. It deal no more damage than a scratch, but the angle lifted Gilgamesh of the ground and into Kanshou and Bakuya.
A loud roar identified the source of the attack, Berserker had been drawn by Avenger's show, and had immediately attacked Archer. It wasn't Saber, as Avenger had hoped, but if it wasn't an ally, Berserker was the easiest enemy of my enemy to use against Archer.
"GHRARHAGAHARHAAARG!"
Not allowing Berserker's surprising first strike, Avenger completed his attack and allowed the full power of the Noble Phantasms of his making to hit Archer with tremendous force. This time, Archer's guard broke, and he was sent flying back with the chest of his armor dented. Now angered beyond anything that Avenger had remembered seeing in this war, Archer turned and saw Berserker's wavering dark shape quickly jumping towards the two other servants.
Gilgamesh then called forth even more weapons from the Gate of Babylon aimed from the sky above them to fly at both the Servants who had dared enrage him.
"Trash! I'll kill you both!" He yelled. Without any further pause, the weapons began raining, but this time Avenger saw his chance. Bringing a copy of each and every single weapon that Gilgamesh displayed, he fired them at their originals hard enough to shatter some of them and to send others back into the gate. But he didn't fire them fast enough for Gilgamesh to fail at recognizing them.
Full of wrath and without the time or the inclination to come up with an appropriate insult, Gilgamesh yelled, "FAKER! DOG! DIE!" And proceeded to summon what seemed like every weapon in his treasury to point at the other servants.
At that moment, a jumping Berserker grabbed two copies of Hrunting in midair, and flew at Gilgamesh like he had learned ow to fly without wings. Much closer to the mad Servant than the wall of golden light that fell from above, several openings of the Gate of Babylon opened around Berserker, and a chain manifested to chain the insane servant in place.
Right before it tightened, however, Avenger threw a copy of the Crimson Rose of Exorcism at the golden miasma that marked an opening of the Gate of Babylon and watched with satisfaction as all the openings to the Gate of Babylon disappeared, taking with it all the weapons that hadn't been fired and the chain that was about to trap Berserker.
Gilgamesh was livid with fury, but at close range and with the Gate of Babylon forced to close for even one second, he stood no chance against Berserker, who wielded two copies of a blade that would not fail to strike what the owner aimed at with the skill preserved by Berserker's Eternal Arms Mastership and guaranteed by Knight of Honor. With the power of Berserker behind the strikes, Gilgamesh was overwhelmed. He had underestimated his enemies and was paying for it.
Understanding the danger he was in, he summoned Ea, not from the Gate of Babylon that took too long to open and browse, but as a the Noble Phantasm given to him by the Grail. Even if his enemies weren't worthy of being targeted by Ea, he wouldn't allow himself to be defeated.
But in his madness, Berserker knew better than to let him use a weapon and sacrificed one of the copies of Hrunting to send it and the drill sword flying off a few feet away. Taking the opening, Avenger stepped forward and stabbed Gae Buidhe into Gilgamesh's unprotected's head.
Berserker and Archer froze.
Gae Dearg fell from the sky and into Avenger's free hand, who proceeded to stab it into Gilgamesh's spiritual core through his armor, as though the golden metal didn't exist. Letting both lances go, Avenger hopped back away from Berserker who swung the copy of Hrunting in his hands and decapitated the King of Heroes.
"GHRURHAGAHRUHAGUARG!"
At Berserker's roar, Avenger hopped back even further and dismissed all the weapons he had projected and still remained.
Seemingly panting with a dull roar, Berserker sounded more like an engine or a monster than a human, bent over several meters away from Avenger who watched him warily. Taking a risk, he used his knowledge of the future and said, "leave. You will not find your king in this temple."
Berserker roared again, and prepared to pounce, but whoever his master was gave it the order to retreat, and it astralized and left in a hurry.
Standing still for at least half an hour, Avenger watched everything within his sight. After he was satisfied that neither Rider, Berserker nor Lancer or their masters were waiting in the shadows, he returned to his spiritual form and made his way to the current base of operations for the Einzbern faction. Hanging from his waist, the Dragon Dagger went with him.
To Be Continued...
Prologue
Previous
Not beta'ed.
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