Chapter two: Metal dance
I snap awake. My body is healed, guess I can't die from a hole in the chest.
That's good to know.
I stand up, the burning from earlier is gone. The moon is still out so it's certainly the same night. I don't know how far I was sent back, but if Lancer is any indication then it's before I was born.
Am I in the middle of the grail war?
Hopefully not. But even if I am it doesn't matter, there wasn't a way back to begin with.
Despite Archer's arm, I manage to get off to a running start and head towards my place.
The burning starts again, but this time it's manageable. I can think straight and I realize that, for whatever reason, I can use Archer's reality marble.
I know Merlin explained that magic is made of perceptions and interchangeable, but this is far fetched even for his rambling.
I feel like crap, inside and out. But, Merlin always told me "you are the strongest of us, no hero can hope to stand against your power", so even if my body collapses I have to keep fighting. I wanted to be a hero, but I guess I'll settle for avenger instead.
I stop suddenly. Archer was one thing, but would they even believe me? The thought rings in my head as I catch a glimpse of the steps to Ryudou temple. I remember my mother telling me once about making rash choices, and the only time my father was ever completely right.
She said, "Alex, you cannot force a skill to become better. And, nor can you simply ignore the other methods given to you. No matter how many times you are right you will eventually be wrong. Your father showed me that during the war. I thought because of my abilities I would be able to defeat any opponents who stood in my way. Such was not the case with the swordsman Kojiro."
That's when I realized the first crack in the armoured form of the hero King Arthur. For all the fading the legends did in my mind, my mother shone all the brighter.
A rasp and struggled breathing snaps me from my memories as a howl of pain erupts at the top of the stairs forcing my gaze to follow.
I see the swordsman my mother praised struggling against his own body until, suddenly, he explodes, leaving a bloody mess and a black clad person in his wake.
At first I fail to move, my mouth hanging open. I don't even begin to understand what just happened until the flaming boomerangs that are Archer's memories assault me.
It's a deep crimson haze, then shadowy flashes. No wait, not shadowy, those are shadows... like Tsukasa's. I know she got them from her-
Oh, fuck no! Aunty is not going dark on my watch!
This guy is Hash, Hassass, Hassan something or other. He's the factory-pressed result of summoning Assassin class servants, and basically a cowardly punk who wants fame or such nonsense.
I rush him. I can reinforce myself and I'm not a regular human to begin with so I should be able to take him, I hope.
He see me and jumps backward. Assassins are a weak class, normally they can't beat any of the other servant in a one-on-one fight.
My muscles burst into flames as Archer's swords appear in my hands. I'll beat this guy and stop whatever he's planning.
I toss Bakuya and he leaps to the top of the gate. He's quick, and I think the skull mask is laughing at me.
I toss again, replicating as I throw, to try and box him in with the swirling blades. It's no use. He deflects each copy by tossing small daggers and I only succeed in cutting down a tree before his small blades begin to strike my exposed skin, the last one slicing my right eye, barely avoiding a directly fatal blow to my brain.
As I go to close the distance between he and I, I realize that he has hit me far more times then I registered. The exposed areas were a feint, I couldn't even see his attacks.
Everytime Assassin threw a dagger he stabbed me in a vital spot. My kidneys, my arms and both legs are completely wrecked and, as I collapse, my right knee shatters.
I would scream, but blood forces its way past my pain and ejects on to the temple walkway.
Before I lose consciousness I hear a scream pierce the night, and the sound of footsteps.
Imma need more quarters if I keep this up....
