—Near the bridge in Fuyuki City—
Archer jumped, taking Rin by the hand, and they boarded the ship. Instantly, they encountered Rider, who pointed his flintlock rifle at them, and he didn't hesitate to fire. The bang exploded, and the pellet flew toward Archer's face, but he dodged it with absolute precision.
"Finally, we meet, Archer," said Rider. At his side, hundreds of insects flew to attack Rin.
Archer wielded his swords and lunged at Rider. He was ready to fight face to face, and Rider did the same. He held his sword tightly and blocked the first attack. With that, the ship's cannons moved on their own and aimed at Archer.
Behind Rider was Matou. Matou turned the wheel to starboard, and the ship lost its stability as it spun on the water. Fortunately, only Rider had precision in this instability, as Archer almost slipped on the wet deck of the ship.
"Rin!"
"I'm coming!"
She tried to keep her balance as she pulled a pair of knives from the straps tied to her thighs under her skirt. Matou, on the other hand, was also holding onto the hull of the ship to keep from falling. Obviously, Rin was getting the worst of it. She had to walk on this unstable ground while disgusting insects attacked her.
Rider, of course, pretended not to care about Rin's existence. So he left her to face his master. Matou, despite his decaying body, is quite skilled.
The man who conquered a place in the past raised his sword and pointed it at Archer's neck.
"You're on my turf, chaval. And on my turf, things work the way I want them to."
"Huh. Your trap was too obvious, but I don't care," Archer replied indifferently.
"Hehehe... And you were stupid enough to board my ship. Arrogant men fall by their own weight, Archer." The anchor that had been attached to the yacht disappeared and reappeared in Rider's hand. "Now know true conquest!" he shouted, throwing the anchor at Archer.
Archer dodged it and didn't understand why Rider would use an anchor as a weapon. However, he soon realized that Rider was limiting the stage. If Archer couldn't move freely, then he wouldn't be able to use his bow, and it would be difficult for him to use his swords.
For his part, Rider, the master of this ship, smiled confidently. The cannons fired, and Archer opened his eyes to see the cannonballs heading toward him. He maneuvered quickly across the unstable deck, but felt a sharp lash hit him.
Rider laughed, after hiding the whip in his belt, and took out his flintlock rifle again. He fired once and then, seeing that Archer could dodge, grabbed his sword and launched himself into the attack. The wooden floor creaked as Rider lunged forward.
Archer jumped and climbed onto the unstable mast before Rider could attack. From there, he prepared to launch his attack, but Rider wasn't going to let him. The elegant pirate took out his whip and struck the mast. He swung hard and in a second he was on the mast next to Archer.
The stage began to throb with rain and strong winds. It seemed as if the fight was manifesting the mana in the air and altering the stage.
Rin looked up, where Rider and Archer clashed swords as if they were pirates walking on the mast. Both had insane skill and balance, but Rider had the advantage. This is his mount, and he's in charge here.
She took care of the master on this side of the ship. The insects continued to attack, but she, holding her daggers parallel and pointing her index fingers forward, said something in German that could barely be heard and fired violet energy beams.
The beams pierced the insects and were about to hit Matou, but the boy reached out and stopped them with a protective magecraft. It seemed that Matou was no fool. He had tricks up his sleeve that he could use against Rin.
Rin is known for being able to manipulate all the elements with her jewels, and fire is one of the weaknesses of the Crest Worms. It was normal to prepare countermeasures for such occasions.
"It's not enough, Tohsaka. You're mediocre," Matou spat.
Rin was offended. If they insulted the mediocrity of her magecraft, then they were insulting her father directly. This time she took it personally. She boosted the agility in her legs with a slight breath of wind and jumped towards Matou. She gripped the handles of both knives tightly so as not to lose them.
Matou raised his staff and spread both hands. He recited a chant with sinister whispers, and multiple worms began to fill the deck of the ship. Rin felt immediately disgusted, but she didn't let that distract her from her goal.
She attacked Matou, trying to stab both daggers into his chest, but he moved his staff with eerie delicacy and blocked both attacks as if they were nothing.
Rin clicked her tongue. This bastard knows how to fight too.
However, she smiled. This was a perfect challenge.
"Want to dance, Matou? Let's dance!"
She spun quickly with both daggers and forced Matou back, who couldn't block attacks at such speed. Although Matou seemed to be glued to the floor by his powerful force, he could be knocked down by an external force.
The worms filled the lower deck and were climbing the stairs to reach the wheelhouse. From above, Archer hesitated to maintain his balance, because if he failed even a single move, Rider would stab him immediately.
Rider has four weapons. The sword, the flintlock rifle, and the whip. Finally, the anchor, which seemed to be used as a slow-moving weapon, but with great weight. He can summon the mount, this ship, and redirect the cannons at will. In fact, the cannons are currently aimed at Archer, tracking him like a heat-seeking weapon.
Getting on the ship was apparently a bad idea because not only is Rider strong in close combat, but his ship makes him partially immune to projectiles. This ability of the ship is due to the fact that, in life, this ship was never attacked with projectiles. Rumor had it that it was like a ghost ship of lamentations, which could not be hit by any cannon at sea.
Archer frowned as he thought. This was his idea, but they were getting more results up here than simply staying back and shooting from a distance.
"What's the matter, stowaway? Are you afraid of falling into the water?" Rider's words echoed across the ocean as he exchanged sword blows with Archer. He didn't even question the use of swords on that servant.
If there was anyone capable of making the ocean reverberate with their voice, it would undoubtedly be a renowned heroic spirit, one known to the whole world and whose story is still told today.
But Archer did not get nervous. He put one foot in front of the other and moved forward. He immediately struck Rider, but he blocked it. The recoil almost knocked Archer off the mast, who looked down; on the ground there were many worm friends ready to eat whatever was made of mana.
That was why Matou could use magic even though he was always a failure and mediocre.
The swords clashed incessantly, and the resulting sparks lit up the darkness of the night. The wind blew strongly, and in the thick fog, small drops of water began to fall.
"The weather is beautiful out there, don't you think?!" Rider laughed, his teeth showing in his mouth. "In my day, I never had duels as amazing as this one! You are someone worthy of knowing true conquest! So get ready to see the fruit of my conquest!"
"You talk too much, but you show little."
"Ohohoho. You'll see, chaval"
A heavy rain began and the waters became turbulent. The cannons aimed at Archer fired, and Archer had no choice but to use one sword to defend himself from Rider while using the other to cut the cannonballs.
The fight became complicated, and Archer couldn't return to the deck, as it had been filled with worms that eat mana. If he touched that place, the worms would feast on his body. This trap was very well designed to deal with Archer.
It was as if Rider knew what to do at the right moment. He had already planned with his master how to deal with most servants. If it was a fighter, then the worms would eat them. If it was an archer, the ship could not be damaged by projectiles. The only thing was that Rider had not yet figured out how to deal with Caster.
Facing an ancient sorcerer must be amazing. And he didn't care about revealing his identity as long as he got his way. Soon that would be proven.
Rin was already between the worms and the helm. She was still fighting Matou. The boy was skilled at blocking with his cane, but he already had a cut on his shoulder that was bleeding and staining his sweatshirt.
During the fight, when Rin pushed Shinji back, she stomped hard on the unstable ground and imitated Kirei's fighting style. She took advantage of Matou's gap in defense and stabbed him in the shoulder.
Matou did not cry out in pain, nor did he even make a sound. With his gaze fixed on the ground the entire time, preventing Rin from seeing his face, he only sighed. He slowly raised his head, and his empty blue eyes looked directly at Rin.
"You did so many stupid things in vain, Rin. Nothing is going to work. Even though my Rider isn't as fast as you, Archer, he's still smart and has me controlling his movements."
"You..." Rin recognized this boy's face.
His hair was completely white and his skin was so battered and pale that it made him look like a zombie, but that face was something Rin had seen before. The only son of the Matou family.
"Matou Shinji..."
"It took you a long time to realize. My face will be the last thing you see. You will be the first obstacle I destroy before reaching my goal."
Despite staggering weakly, with veins throbbing under his skin, Shinji's expression was serene, almost expressionless. After so many years, he had finally grown accustomed to the pain of the worms moving inside his body.
Rin couldn't believe it. She had seen Shinji in the past, a rather annoying child, but now Shinji was completely different.
"What did they do to you?"
Shinji lowered his gaze to hide his face again. He didn't answer and just tapped his cane on the ground. The worms became agitated and began to move faster. They started climbing up Rin's legs and chewing on her.
She reacted by shooting out a burst of flame, incinerating the beasts to ashes.
"This is my family's magecraft. I was forced to develop it on my own. Now this magecraft will eat every last part of you. Your mana is valuable and will be very useful to me."
With that, Shinji stopped talking. The worms moved inside his body and gave him enough strength to run. He immediately advanced toward Rin. He raised his staff to strike her, but Rin frowned and blocked the attack with both daggers.
Shinji backed away, and Rin spun like a ballerina to stab the guy's heart, but dozens of flying insects came out from inside his clothes. Rin felt disgusted. The Matou's magecraft was the most horrific and graceless of all.
With flying insects, devouring worms, and the ship rocking from side to side as the rudder turned aimlessly, Rin was surrounded by insects. She could use fire to burn them, but the rain that had begun to fall diminished the damage of her fire jewels.
At times like this, the Tohsaka family's magecraft was obsolete.
But Rin, as a proud magus, did not give up.
"If only I had brought my father's staff." It was a perfect tool for enhancing the effect of magecraft, but unfortunately, she did not have it with her.
Shinji continued to strike with the staff, and Rin had to jump between the barrels and the edges of the ship to save herself. The odds were stacked against them at that moment.
Up above, Rider took out his whip and knocked a sword out of Archer's hand, but Archer immediately regenerated the sword. There was no way to win this. Rider had the absolute advantage. Then he looked at the anchor stuck in the hull that Rider had thrown earlier. He jumped over there and took out his bow, but stopped when he saw Rider smile.
"The time has come, chaval!" Rider shouted at his master.
Shinji jumped back and raised his staff, but Rin wasn't going to let him. She lunged at Shinji, but instantly a large anchor fell in front of her. It was the same anchor Archer was on, but that anchor disappeared and Rider acted. He took out his flintlock rifle and fired alongside the cannons at Archer, who in a split second was suspended in midair, which ultimately became a weakness.
The cannonballs pushed him, and the shot from the rifle pierced his shoulder. This threw him off the ship.
"Archer!" Rin left Shinji to go help Archer. Then she realized that all the worms were getting into every hole in Shinji's clothes.
When the worms were released, they caused the mana to fluctuate in the air, which, consequently, gave us the following result.
When he fell into the water, Archer rose to the surface and looked at the yacht. He tried to swim toward it, but the yacht was destroyed by cannon fire. Then, from the bow, Rider looked at Archer and laughed.
"I told you you'd see it, chaval! Get ready and admire my greatness!" Laughing madly, he raised his sword high and lightning struck the water in the distance. His eyes momentarily showed signs of malice, and Archer finally discovered the identity of this servant. "¡Haz lo tuyo, Santa Maria! ¡Suelten el Ancla!" [Santa Maria - Drop Anchor]
The turbulent water rose and a huge wave advanced. Archer could only think about how screwed he was at that moment and the identity of this bastard who terrorized South America more than five hundred years ago.
Santa Maria was the ship on which the conquistador Christopher Columbus arrived in America. And his Noble Phantasm is one of the most destructive in the water. Multiple chains and anchors emerged around the Santa Maria. Rin and Shinji fell to the ground due to the turbulence of the ship.
And Archer, from the turbulent water, looked at the captain of the ship, Columbus Rider. Alongside Rider, about twenty human shadows smiled maliciously at Archer's fate. The Noble Phantasm is the representation of a hero's story, and this was the story of the world's most famous conqueror.
The chains and anchors dragged Archer along, hitting him again and again as the wave carried them to shore. It was a long journey that lasted a long time, as the ship rocked violently, causing Rin to lose her balance as she shouted her servant's name.