Archer fired arrow after arrow, but Mash blocked them all. Seeing as he was not getting anywhere and Caster kept firing spells at him, he decided to change his approach. Dematerializing his bow, he projected Kanshou & Byakuya. His trusted weapons and the ones who were with him for the longest time.
Cu smirked, seeing this. "Are Archers supposed to use swords?" He mocked him knowing already Archer's fighting style. He wanted to insult him for the comment about him being a dog—the nerves of the guy.
Archer just snorted, he ignored his remark and dashed forward, slashing his blade against the Shielder girl. It proved to be the right decision as, with him in close range, Caster couldn't carelessly fire spells, less he wanted to injure the young lady.
Mash was hard-pressed to fight Archer at melee range. She was surprised that he was giving her more trouble fighting with swords instead of bows, but she decided not to think about it. She needed to concentrate on this fight, or she would surely lose.
As Archer kept hitting her shield from different angles, Mash's arms started to get tired. Suddenly, Archer dashed backward, throwing Byakuya to the side of Mash, barely missing her. Said sword shot into the distance. The Shielder Servant, believing Archer just made a mistake, pursued him. 'This is my chance...!' Shield forward, ready to impact Archer with a heavy blow, a trace of happiness flashed through her face. With this, they would win!
"Get back, you blockhead!" Caster shouted in a mix of panic and desperation. This girl was a newbie through and through!
The reality, oh the reality. Harsh and disappointing. Once Mash got close enough to Archer, she could hear a small sound coming from Archer's mouth. The sound one made when they smiled, confident in victory.
At that point, she realized, Archer was setting her up. From behind her, Byakuya was spinning ready to slash her back.
She was in a tight position. If she continued her attack, the spinning sword would slash her, and if she faced the incoming weapon, her back would be left exposed to Archer.
"Mash!" Fujimaru shouted, worried about his friend and Kōhai. Olga just clenched her fists, looking at the situation. It looked grim.
Caster clicked his tongue. 'Troublesome.' He thought. What he was going to try wouldn't work so well given the distance, but it was worth a try. He spun his staff and then proceeded to hit the ground with it. "Don't worry, and keep moving forward. I will do something about your back!" He shouted in a hurry.
Mash hearing this didn't hesitate and continued her charge. The ground behind her opened and giant roots started going upward, but due to the distance with the user, the speed at which they were growing was not that fast.
Archer blocked the shield with Kanshou but was still pushed back by its weight. The spinning Byakuya collided with the roots and cut them in two, but its spinning speed and direction were altered slightly by them. Even so, it still managed to cut Mash's arm, who winced a little at the pain.
With enough distance between Mash and Archer, Caster could attack again.
"You are wide open!" Caster said and smashed his hand on the ground.
Archer, who was still in mid-air due to being hit by the shield, saw a circle of fire forming around him. He did a spin and managed to land on the ground. When he was preparing to jump to avoid whatever Caster wanted to throw at him, a wooden arm appeared from the circle of fire, catching and clutching him in a fist before slamming him onto the ground.
After the wooden arm was dematerialized, Archer was seen on the ground with burn marks throughout his whole body. "Gh..." With a little effort, he looked at them. "I commend you all... except you, Caster..." Archer said as he was fading in blue light. "Now, go. If you truly believe in your cause... you shouldn't delay any longer."
"Ha! A sore loser as always, Archer." Caster spoke to the dying man with a mocking smirk. Despite their running back and forth, though, he didn't hate the guy. He found him more amusing than anything, actually.
"Enjoy your little victory, Hound of Ulster. Next time...I will make sure to project a dog whistle," He said before disappearing.
Caster stood corrected; he hated the guy.
"It seems he got the last word." Seth, who was silently watching everything, said, patting Cu on his shoulders. No sympathy was found in his voice, though.
"Tch. Annoying until the end." Cu said before facing Chaldea's trio. "It's time for you to take a hike! We three are going to take down the Sacred Sword."
"I'm glad you trust me, but...do you think I can guard against it? I easily fell for Archer's trap in the previous fight and just thinking of facing King Arthur, my hands start to tremble," Shielder said, feeling a little disappointed with herself.
While Mash was looking down in shame, Cu did a karate chop on her head.
"O-Ouch...!" The little girl held her head while tears were forming in her eyes; she looked totally like the image of a wronged puppy.
"Listen. You need to have courage. If you falter, your Master will die. You don't need to think about beating Saber, that's me and that guy's job." Caster said, pointing at Seth. "You just need to protect your Master, and we will do the rest."
"B-But" Mash wanted to protest but was stopped by a hand on her shoulders, looking back she saw her Master looking at her with the brightest smile she had seen him do.
"Don't worry, Mash. I know you can do it. I trust you!" Fujimaru said without hesitation. Their time together might have been a bit short, but everything they experienced together made him trust her with his life. That, and he didn't really have any other option at the moment.
Mash's expression brightened at his words, feeling an unknown confidence surge up within her. "Yes, Senpai. I will do my best!"
'She is so easy to read...' Was the thought on the mind of everyone present.
The group stopped a little before their final destination.
Resting his back against the wall, Caster asked the group, "Are you guys tired? If it is so, we can rest. We need to be at our best to face Saber after all."
It was Olga who answered. "Yes, resting wouldn't do us any bad." She then looked at Fujimaru. His face had a little whiteness that wasn't there before.
Facing the hologram where Dr. Roman was eating an apple, she asked. "Romani, are you checking Fujimaru's vitals? He looks paler than usual."
"Huh? Oh...yeah. The state of his body is not good; it must be because of the unexpected contract. It is the first time using your Magic Circuits, and now they are working overtime providing mana to two servants." Roman concluded his report.
"We should set up a camp here. Mash, prepare some tea with honey and give it to Fujimaru, that will help." Roman advised to which Shielder nodded.
Fujimaru thanked the Doctor and Mash for their efforts in helping him while Seth returned from patrolling the area in case something attacked them.
"Did you find something interesting?" Cu asked after he saw him approaching.
"I didn't find any enemies, but I did discover something," Seth said, looking at the trio in the distance preparing the camp.
"Hoh...? And what is it?" Caster asked with curiosity in his voice.
"You have probably realized already, but this place reeks of Evil like there's no tomorrow. The thing is, I can feel something apart from Saber ahead of us. That "something" has more Evil inside it than everything we had faced so far put together." Seth finished telling Cu. He was sensitive to that type of stuff, so he should know better than anyone. It was also the reason why the Sage of the Forest believed his words so easily.
His eyes widening for a moment, Caster asked again, "Do you mean there is another enemy than Saber?"
Seth just shook his head. "I'm not sure. It could be a living thing or just an object. As I'm now, knowing its general location and the amount of Evil it emits is the only thing I can do."
"Man, why do things keep getting harder and harder?" Cu scratched the back of his head. Luck was not on his side, as always.
"Sometimes, I ask myself the same," Seth said with exasperation. He decided to worry about it when the time came.
"Hah...let's go and join the kids. They may look strong mentally speaking, but it's plain as day how scared they are," Cu said, removing his back from the wall and walking in the direction of the recently set camp.
Seth maintained his position for a moment. He wasn't a guy who liked to socialize much, but if they were going to fight together, awkwardness should be avoided as much as possible.
They were together in a circle. The only space free was between Caster and the white-haired girl, which he took. Despite the occasional perverted joke of Caster, it was quite peaceful...not.
"Why are you sitting next to me?! What are you planning to do?!" Olga jumped like a startled rabbit seeing Seth standing next to her. It wasn't that he was not used to reactions like these, but they still proved to be something hard to deal with. After sighing in an effort to not appear annoyed, he looked her dead in the eye.
"This is the only space available." It was a concise answer that left no room for arguments, evidenced by how she immediately shut up and offered no further comments aside from some grumblings that he opted not to pay attention to.
Mash and Fujimaru giggled at this, which earned a glare from the Director.
After that "incident," they enjoyed tea and fruits that Olga had brought with her. Aside from some assistance against the numerous skeletons, this was the most helpful she had ever been since they got together.
She seemed to have perceived him thinking something rude as she gave him quite a dirty look, but this time she preferred to not make any comments. The white-haired girl then set her gaze on Fujimaru. The said Master felt a little uncomfortable being gazed at by her, so he asked the first thing that came to his mind, "Would you like seconds, Director?"
Olga, with a red face, shouted. "No, I'm full! Just remember that I like coffee more!" She said, but as if regretting her words, she clarified, "N-No...that's not what I wanted to...Oh, forget it!" Olga stuttered before continuing. "Wh-what I mean is, you have done a passable job, so I have to give you credit. If you keep going like this, you might even hear praise from me."
Dr. Roman couldn't help but tease her. "Did the Director eat something sweet, admitting Fujimaru did a good job?"
Olga gained a tick mark on her forehead. "Romani, if you have time to speak nonsense, then you have it to send Fujimaru some supplies, I would feel bad if we failed our mission because he was ill-equipped."
"What's this? 'feel bad'? Did you finally open your heart, Director?" Dr. Roman laughed on the other side.
At this point, Olga was as much embarrassed as she could be. "Wh-what are you talking about Romani?! That's not what I meant at all!"
"I will never go tired of seeing young men and women interact. Although when it comes to young women, Director, you are not really..."
'This guy was writing his death sentence without a care in the world.' The former God and Caster Servant thought.
You could see Olga shaking. It was not going to end well for the whole party, so Seth came to the rescue.
"She is not old, though. To me, Olga is a very young and charming lady." Seth said, successfully avoiding an angry shout that would burst many eardrums. Listening to this, the Director went red but still managed to utter an almost silent thank you.
The Egyptian God sighed internally. Such sappy things were not up his alley, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made. 'Besides, I feel bad for her. She is looking for something that she will never get. She and my younger self are too much alike for me to just ignore her.'
"Agghhhh!" A weird sound came from behind Olga. Looking there, they saw a group of monsters heading in their direction.
"Eeeeek!" She released a girlish scream, quite unfit for her strict personality, and jumped like a rabbit behind Seth who was the closest to her. He sighed, realizing that there was no point in bringing anything up. He only needed to deal with them, just as he had been doing.
After eliminating the waves of enemies that seemed endless by this point, the group was finally ready to fight Saber.
After some minutes of walking, they finally reached the end of the cave. What awaited them was a large open space that seemed to belong more to an underground cave than to one such as this. The interior certainly gave them an eerie feeling. They unconsciously realized that this place was their final destination, and where they would be facing the cause of this Singularity.
At the very back, on top of a big rock wall, they could see this land's heart, Fuyuki's Greater Grail. Seth has to admit, describing it as Evil comes short when it comes to that thing. He hadn't seen many things that could compare to it in pure and utter rottenness.
"The Greater Grail...It's an ultra-superior Magical Reactor. What's it doing on this island of the Far East?" Olga asked, perplexed by the finding. She was expecting the Grail, yes, but not one at this level.
"According to our data, it was built by a family of alchemists, the Einzberns." The Doctor responded quickly. He was a little surprised as well. It went to show that they had to be prepared for anything from now on.
"Enough talking..." Caster's voice brought them back to the present. Now was the time for some useless information. The minimum sight of carelessness could cost them their lives. In his case, it didn't matter since he was already dead, but they were not, which meant that they only had one chance that they couldn't squander.
"...She has noticed us." Seth continued, summoning his spear and preparing for battle.
Everyone tensed. The group was facing the toughest Servant in the war, the one who has defeated every Servant except Caster.
"Her magical output is extraordinary..." Mash said with a grave tone.
"There is no doubt about it. That woman is the King, or rather Queen of Britain, Arthur Pendragon. Her gender may be different than the legend, but that's not important right now! Do everything you can to win this fight. Humanity is counting on you!" Roman chimed in.
"I see...you have an interesting Servant with you" The cold voice of Saber resounded in the cave, her gaze set on Shielder. Unknown emotions flashed through her eyes of a time long gone; of when everything went wrong and she chose a different path. Those emotions, however, lasted barely a fraction of a second. Her cold mask was adorned once again to face the enemies of her wish.
"And..." Her gaze went from Mash to Seth. Remembering the word a certain purple-haired girl used to call her former Master. She spoke, "My senpai in kingship" Even though her voice was cold and unfeeling, the sarcasm in her voice was very noticeable.
Chaldea's group didn't understand Saber's words; only Caster did.
"..." Seth offered no response. It was a touchy subject that he would rather not dwell upon, yes, but that didn't mean he should fall onto the provocations of his opponent. The time for questioning her would come just moments before the light of her eyes would be gone.