Turning their heads to the source of the sound, Rin was the first to speak: "Who's there! Show yourself now!"
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(Pov change to ???)
'Shit I messed up bad!'
Shinji had planned to just watch Rin, but he could not have imagined that his decisions would lead him to this point.
'Think my only solution is to summon Rider to get me out of this mess. But what am I gonna tell Tohsa-' Shinji's idiotic monologue was interrupted by Rin's next warning.
"If you don't come out of your hiding spot, the next thing you hear won't be a warning!" As she shot a simple Gandr at near where Shinji was hiding.
'You chimp brained bitch why are you threatening to harm right away!?!' Be it resolve or fear, Shinji chose to remain hidden and reached out to Rider.
'Rider! Where the hell are you!?! Why are you still watching and doing nothing!?! Come here right now and take me back to the mansion. I'll deal with you when we're done.' Shinji pulls out a black book inside his school jacket and transfers his mana to it while using the leylines as a proxy.
But the next thing Shinji felt was not Rider taking him in her arms, instead it was a painful stabbing sensation all over his body. The book he was holding got burned to cinders. Naturally, Shinji couldn't bear the pain and fell to his knees, writhing.
Shinji, who gave away his position with his cries of agony, didn't even notice Rin and the now-materialized Archer coming towards him. All he wanted was for someone to end this pain and save him.
"Shinji? Why are you here at this hour? What happened to you?" Rin stopped a few meters from Shinji and asked, half-surprised, half-cautious.
"To-Tohsaka, why are you just staying there? H-Help me!" Shinji cried out to her, barely containing his screams.
"Rin, we've got new company." Archer remarked from the side, keeping his eye on the school gate.
"Is this the place?" A new voice echoed across the school.
Rin, distracted completely forgot about Shinji and turned her head towards the school gate.
Rider who had disguised herself at Shinji's summon, seized the opportunity to appear on the rooftop and immediately picked Shinji up, running for the Matou mansion as fast as she could.
Rin saw what was happening out of the corner of her eye, but for the moment, Shinji's condition or his servant could wait for later.
"One master, one servant. They didn't even take that much care to conceal themselves." Archer commented, furrowing his brows.
At the school gate, said servant and master were talking among themselves.
"So that's where the mana surge we sensed was coming from. But why a school?"
"I don't know about that, but master, the moment we entered the school yard, you realized it too didn't you? The magic field and the lovely residents waiting for us on the roof."
"I did, but I don't understand why they set the field up and still are waiting here." After walking around the schoolyard for a while, Ezekiel stopped and asked.
"What do we do now, master? After coming all this way, I would love to say hi." Ezekiel's smile could be felt despite his mask.
Bazett did not respond to this. Only strengthened her legs with mana and jumped to the roof. Ezekiel was the second to reach the rooftop.
Facing them, Rin crossed her arms and spoke to them with a haughty look: "You two think you can roam my territory as you please? Without even disguising yourself?" Meanwhile, Archer was quietly eyeing Ezekiel. Feeling Archer's gaze on him, Ezekiel waved his hand, and the eyes of his mask squinted in a comedic way.
"So you're the one who cast this field spell? You're acting too righteous for someone who would do such a disgusting thing." Bazett paused for just a breath, then continued. "It is a waste of time to waste words with you. By the authority granted to me by Clock Tower, I'm taking the initiative to eliminate you right here." Saying this, Bazett immediately gets into a boxing stance and takes a step forward while channeling mana through her body.
When Rin heard the name Clocktower, she felt a shiver run down her spine.
Suddenly, Ezekiel stepped in front and said: "How about you just take the initiative of letting me fight alone first?" If one paid attention to his tone of voice, it seemed that he was not going to back down from his decision. He seemed to be wanting to prove himself to Bazett.
Hearing this, Bazett's facial expression, while outwardly staying the same, was a little surprised on the inside, but the surprise did not last long. For she too, was curious about her servant's abilities, and what better moment could there be?
"All right, show me what you got."
Ezekiel just gave a little snicker and summoned a guitar-shaped axe in his right hand. Bazett was beyond puzzled to see this because she thought he was a lancer-class servant, not a Berserker. However, she knew that this could be discussed at another time.
"Hey hold down a second! Why would I even make this field when I'm heir of the Tohsaka Family!?!"
"Rin, it's already past the reasoning phase." Hearing this, Rin clumped her shoulder down and sighed.
"I'm leaving it up to you."
In response to this, Archer summoned two identical swords in both hands, differing only in color, and began to unleash his mana.
"Don't let me down, Archer!" Rin finally called out from behind.
Before Ezekiel could do anything, Acher disappeared with a sudden burst of movement and appeared at his right. Ezekiel noticed the sword coming from his right out of the corner of his eye and swung his axe in that direction, he managed to block it. However, he had not expected the power behind the swing, and although he blocked the blow, he was sent flying off the roof into the schoolyard.
'Is my servant weak or..?' Bazett hoped that he was just taken surprised by the opponent as her eyes widened upon seeing the impact.
Wasting no time, Archer jumped after him, kicking down to where he assumed Ezekiel was, though he couldn't see him due to the dust cloud created by his crash.
After the dust cloud dissipated, Archer couldn't see Ezekiel beneath his feet as expected, but heard his voice. "Don't be rash." Next thing he saw was a dragon's head made of huge red energy coming towards him. "Hmph!" He jumped into the air again and spotted Ezekiel's current position, throwing his swords at him.
Easly dodging the swords Ezekiel smirked and said: "What swordsman throws his swords mid-fight?" However what he didn't expect was another two pair of swords flying at him.
Avoiding these swords too with ease, Ezekiel quickly turned his head towards Bazett to check on her, but could not see the other servant's master on the roof. Then he saw that the master had jumped down, creating a mana cushion on the ground to soften the fall.
Ezekiel's distraction from the battle was a good enough opening for Archer. Still in the air, this time, instead of throwing swords at him as before, Archer summoned a bow and rained arrows down on him nonstop for a while before landing on the ground and seeing the result of his action.
Ezekiel couldn't escape the barrage of arrows unscathed, overall he seemed to be fine except for a few scratches on his arms and burn marks on his clothing.
Seeing her servant's condition, Bazett called to him from the roof:" If you have an axe that looks like a guitar, you should have a reason to play it, right? I hope it's not just for looks."
Hearing this, Ezekiel grunts slightly and replies.
"If an Archer is using swords, why do you expect me to play it when I can just swing it around?" With that, he rushed towards Archer, and within a second, he was already in front of him. Raising his axe above his head, he whispered something that could not be understood. After this action, his axe was engulfed in crimson flames. As his axe ignited, he swung it downwards at Archer with a lot of force behind it.
When Archer saw the axe coming at him in flames, he did not back down, instead summoned a new pair of swords and met the axe head-on.
They stayed in this position for a few moments as their weapons clashed and scraped together, but as the heat of the axe increased, Archer's swords could no longer withstand Ezekiel's attack and shattered into pieces.
Seeing this, Ezekiel immediately swung his axe horizontally, starting from the right. Even though so far Archer has been constantly summoning sword after sword, this would be the first time they had actually broken. Ezekiel wondered if Archer would stand his ground or bring forth those same shattered blades once more, as if nothing had happened.
The answer to his question came quick. Archer yet again summoned the broken swords and withstood the axe blow.
Seeing this, Ezekiel didn't give up and attacked Archer with his flaming axe again. "How many of them you stored in your ass?"
Outcome? Archer's swords were broken again, but within seconds, new ones had already replaced the old ones.
This continued for a few more minutes. Ezekiel attacked, and Archer summoned the broken swords again. Again, again, and again, there was no end to it. Ezekiel started to get tired despite being a lancer-class servant, so he decided to put some distance between them and jumped back.
As Ezekiel took a rugged breath, he breathlessly said: "Is your hair natural or did your father sleep with a corpse?"
Archer's only response to this was: "So even clowns too can become heroic spirits nowadays huh... Pathetic worm." He summoned new swords and went into a stance, waiting for his opponent's next move.
Seeing Archer's impassive face and stance, the eyes in Ezekiel's mask narrowed slightly, and said: "If we can't solve this the easy way, maybe it's time to resort to something a little more extreme."
Ezekiel started spinning his axe around and then dragged it through the dirt before suddenly swinging it from below at Archer.
Archer first felt the tremors coming from the ground, and it wasn't long before the next phenomenon appeared. Cracks on the ground formed as magma erupted from where Ezekiel stood, meters in size, and it was heading towards him. He dodged the magma with ease, but then realized this attack wasn't targeted at him, it was at his master.
As the searing magma surged toward Rin with frightening speed, she made a desperate attempt to flee, only to realize she couldn't outrun it.
Archer quickly rushed to Rin, picked her up, and took her to safety. Magmas were already burning and destroying the entire place. 'So much for subtlety.' Realizing that things were getting serious and fearing for his master's safety, Archer decided to get serious.
When Archer turned his head back to his opponent, Ezekiel was just standing still. However, with his skill 'Mind's Eye', he was able to notice that Ezekiel's body was fading in and out.
Thanks to this, he barely reacted to the fiery axe slashing him across the chest and kicked Ezekiel's midsection, sending him sliding across the yard, his shoes grinding against the ground.
Archer leapt high in the air and summoned his bow in one hand and a sword-looking weapon in the other, its shape resembling a drill, even though it had a handle. He put the strange-looking sword on the bow and stretched it. As the sword was drawn, it grew longer and longer in size, expanding the drill.
"I'm the bone of my sword." Archer whispered.
Sensing that Archer's next attack was not going to be a normal one, Ezekiel's masked eyes widened with amusement. Then, for the first time since the beginning of the battle, he held his axe like a guitar. The head resembling a reptile, he positioned his guitar at Archer, while doing so, crackling sounds and sparks from inside of the head could be seen.
Seeing Ezekiel readying himself, Archer remained calm and said a single word as both of them fired their attack.
"Caladbolg"