The new Servant walked slowly toward Berserker, shouldering his weapon.
Wukong looked at the new opponent and smiled, but in a disturbing way. He could sense that the person before him was a kindred spirit. Someone like himself.
The new Servant's walk turned into a trot, and from a trot into a run. In an instant, he was upon Berserker, and with a single blow of his weapon, he dragged him a few meters, but Berserker didn't even flinch.
Sun Wukong's face was badly injured, but it began to regenerate, albeit slowly, thanks to the fire within it.
The ape tore off the piece of skin that was still burning and threw it to the ground, demonstrating that he felt no pain.
Taking his staff, he twirled it to assume a fighting stance. His opponent did the same, crouching slightly with one foot back.
With a leap, their weapons clashed, creating a shockwave. Knowing he was witnessing all of this, he instinctively took a step back.
They began a test of strength. The new Servant's anger grew, but despite this, he still lost.
Forcing him to take a few steps back, Berserker seized the opportunity, twisting his staff and delivering a vertical slash as he extended it to strike, sending him crashing into a temple wall.
Taking advantage of this, the monkey lunged at his opponent, but the latter had already reacted. The new Servant threw his weapon into the air, deflecting the staff with his hands and throwing a punch to the Servant's face.
Wukong quickly dropped his staff and blocked the punch with his hand, then returned the blow, which the Servant mirrored.
Blows flew back and forth. Ties, blocks, counterattacks—a relentless barrage of blows from one side to the other. Neither of them moved an inch.
Saber watched all this, panting; he was using this interval to catch his breath and fight again.
Just as he was about to launch another attack, he saw the unknown Servant punch the berserker in the ribs.
Everyone stopped moving at that moment.
The Servant realized something was wrong. He looked directly into the monkey's eyes, only to receive a knee to the jaw, sending him flying into the air and landing a solid punch to the stomach, sending him flying into the civilian houses.
This frustrated Saber, since his Master had ordered the berserker to be stopped at all costs, and in the end, another Servant had to come to his rescue. This made him feel useless, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time.
There was a sound behind him. When he turned around, he saw that it was the Servant's weapon, which resembled a wheel, lying on the ground. It rose up as if it had a life of its own.
And without anyone doing anything to it, it began walking on its own in the direction where the two Servants were fighting, leaving Saber somewhat bewildered by the randomness of the moment.
...
Ashvatthaman was a great warrior who always preferred hand-to-hand combat to fighting with his fists, but being an archer, he had to use his weapon, the Sudarshan Chakra, as a projectile, which he occasionally employed in that manner.
When he was summoned to the Holy Grail War, he thought he would easily win unless someone like Karna or Arjuna was summoned.
All that vanished when he encountered this mad monkey with a staff who wouldn't stop moving and ignored all the damage he was inflicting as if nothing had happened.
In midair, he saw Wukong above him and, with a single blow from both hands in a fist, sent him crashing to the ground, destroying the ground and three houses in the process.
The civilians, seeing their homes being destroyed, decided to flee the village and get as far away as they could, so there were no fatalities at the moment, but that doesn't diminish the destruction caused by their encounter.
With a darting turn, the berserker hurtled toward him like a comet, attempting to land a punch to his face. Archer dodged, using his tail to propel himself backward and deliver a hook to Archer, sending him crashing to the ground and destroying several houses in front of him.
He spun through the air, landing on his feet and charging toward his opponent. As he closed the distance, he leaped, extending his hand, and his living weapon appeared.
At this, Berserker gripped his staff with both hands and blocked Archer's imminent attack.
The moment their weapons struck the ground, Berserker shattered, slowly sinking the monkey into the earth.
Swiftly twisting his staff, he managed to deflect Archer's attack.
He quickly plucked a few strands of hair from his head and flung them into the air; from these strands, multiple berserkers emerged in puffs of smoke.
Archer enveloped his weapon in flames and began to spin, destroying Sun Wukong's multiple clones. Everything was going well until one of the attacks ducked, causing the weapon to graze his head as he repositioned himself to aim his staff.
"Do as I will, enlarge and extend, Ruyi Jingu Bang," Berserker said, causing his staff to extend and grow towards Archer, striking him directly and sending him flying again, but destroying a large part of his armor.
Sun Wukong has three Noble Phantasms; so far, he has only shown two.
The first, "Great Sage Equal to Heaven," a Noble Phantasm that is always active, raises Wukong's stats far beyond those of a normal Servant; he ignores fear, suppression, and even pain. As long as he is not defeated, he never stops fighting.
The second is the "Ruyi Jingu Bang," the legendary staff of the tales mentioned in his travels. A pillar that supports the world, capable of changing its size, extending, and expanding infinitely, able to crush entire cities with a single movement.
Archer fell to the ground, bleeding profusely; he had to grip the ground with his fingernails to avoid being dragged by the impact.
As he rose, he grabbed his weapon and threw it forward, where it grew in size and began to engulf itself in flames.
"Oh Chakram," he announced, placing his foot on the fiery spinning wheel. "Fan my flames," he said, launching the wheel toward the monkey.
The monkey leaped onto his staff, extending it and carrying him through the air, dodging Archer's attack. But as Archer passed over Berserker, he began to circle the area slowly, calculating where the monkey would land.
Wukong realized this and prepared himself. As soon as he hit the ground, he blocked the attack with his arms outstretched, just as the attack appeared. Archer finished his sentence from behind the wheel.
"Burning," he said, striking the wheel, creating a massive explosion of fire that engulfed everything in red and orange.
As soon as the explosion subsided, Archer jumped back, panting from exhaustion. Unlike the other Servants, he had been summoned last, just before Saber and Lancer began their duel. His Master had already used his prana to bring him there, leaving him slightly depleted, not to mention the toll taken by his attacks, the fire, and his Noble Phantasm.
Seconds passed as the smoke and fire cleared, only for Archer to open his eyes in shock at seeing Berserker as if his attack hadn't affected him at all. Only his clothing was completely destroyed from the hips up; the rest was merely crumpled or burned.
This was a demonstration of Sun Wukong's third Noble Phantasm, "Indestructible Body Refined in the Heavenly Furnace." Activating it granted Berserker a temporarily indestructible body, along with even faster regeneration than he already possessed.
This Noble Phantasm is temporary; He can only activate it intermittently, and when it runs out, he has to wait a while before he can activate it again.
But just then, Saber appears. She has amassed a vast amount of magical power. Using her mastery of water and wind, which her sword grants her, she attacks Berserker, intending to kill him with a single blow.
"Kaiken—Amenomurakumo-no-Tsurugi," she announces, unleashing all that accumulated power upon Sun Wukong.
Yamato Takeru was a Japanese prince who wielded the mythical sword Amenomurakumo-no-Tsurugi, a blade born from the defeat of the yōkai Yamata no Orochi; hence his Noble Phantasm, which allowed him to mimic the heads of Orochi in a single attack, transforming them into water dragons.
In this instance, instead of expanding the nine heads to different locations, he united and compressed them within his sword, allowing them to spin at a single point. This was a more powerful alternative attack than usual, but it left him exhausted and at the sword's limit, preventing him from fighting again, at least for a considerable time.
However, Saber made a mistake: she attacked too quickly after Berserker's initial attack, thus ending Berserker's absolute invulnerability.
Once the attack ended, everything in front of Berserker was completely destroyed, except for Berserker himself.
There he was, dragged a few meters, not a hair on his head having moved; it was as if someone had moved a statue weighing thousands of kilograms.
Saber knelt on the ground, utterly exhausted; he was already badly wounded and weary before that attack. Now he was left with only prana to sustain him in this world; even if he had some mana, he still wouldn't be able to fight.
Just as he was about to retaliate, a beam of light reached him. It was dawn; day was breaking. It had been about six hours of nonstop fighting and pursuit.
First with Saber and Lancer, then the fight against Assassin, then back to Saber, and then Archer's arrival, ending with both of their Noble Phantasms.
When Berserker saw the sun's rays appear, a red beam erupted as if from within him and began to act. He resisted, but it was something beyond his control.
Archer seized this opportunity to lunge, but the monkey skillfully dodged the blow and countered with a punch from the back of his hand.
When Archer turned around, Berserker was gone.
"What happened?" he asked.
"He dematerialized," said a very tired Saber.
Archer simply clicked his tongue, uninterested in Saber, and dematerialized as well, leaving the swordsman alone in the spot to ponder everything that had happened that night.
...
Akane's POV
I was terrified; I could feel the explosions and saw houses flying from one place to another. Thankfully, it was already daylight and everything calmed down.
What worries me most is that I don't know what happened to Assassin. He's still alive, since I can sense him thanks to the connection the contract gave us when we summoned him, but that's it. Not a word from him.
"Honey, I'm home. I brought the baby with me," I heard a voice suddenly enter through the workshop door.
Without thinking, I activated my magic circuits and tried to launch a magic projectile in that direction.
I stopped mid-action when I saw Assassin in his normal form, with a cigar in his mouth, a basket full of milk, and a baby in his arms.
"Wow, the Holy Grail War is making you paranoid," he commented, taking the cigar out of his mouth.
"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled furiously, waking the sleeping baby. "How dare you just barge in like that after everything that's happened?"
"How else did you expect me to do it? I have a baby in my arms; I can't dematerialize; this thing would fall and I'd get brain damage," he said, waving his arms, trying to soothe the baby.
I just slapped my face, unsure if I could endure living with this Servant for any more days.
At least I survived the first day of the war.
...
POV???
Sixty years ago, the first Holy Grail War took place; three somewhat well-known families gathered to perform this ritual to reach the Root.
My family was invited to this war, which we accepted. The one who went to this ritual was my heir, the greatest prodigy of the family, the one who was to revive our family of mages.
Sadly, the Holy Grail War was not completed; no one could fulfill their wish, and worst of all, my son died in it.
The Holy Grail can grant any wish, meaning it can bring my son back to life. That's why I waited sixty years for another one to begin.
I had to do things beyond what a mage would do to stay alive and obtain a great source of prana for this war.
I had to do dirty work and betray friendships to obtain the catalyst I wanted: a talisman, which was sealed, and the Servant I wanted to summon, the Monkey King, Sun Wukong.
If they hadn't given me my son's body, I might not have been able to control this Servant.
His body still contained two Command Seals, which I used to give the order that, at daybreak, Sun Wukong had to go to the base and enter suspended mode. I had to use four Command Spells to make it work, leaving me with two.
(Note: As I understand it, the church only appears in the Third War; by default, the Command Seals from the previous war should have been lost or were still lying around, since Kirei's father had Command Seals from past wars on his arms.)
My body was already deteriorating; having to change from puppet to puppet is not good; the soul becomes distorted and unravels more and more with each transfer.
I stared at the horizon of the new day, signaling the beginning of the second day of the war; all I could do was wait for nightfall and for the massacre to begin.
...
Akane's POV
As I walked through the city holding the baby Assassin had saved, I saw how the place was littered with rubble. The fighting hadn't reached this area, but pieces of house and earth still flew towards me.
"This is awful. With that monkey here, I think it'll be hard to win the Holy Grail and get our wish. And speaking of that, Master, what do you want to ask the Holy Grail for?" Assassin asked me telepathically.
"Hmm, it's not that complicated; after all, it's the reason this war started," I said, trying to dodge the debris.
"To reach the root, huh? I didn't see you as such an old-fashioned mage; I saw you more as asking for a wish, like infinite money or to return to your youth."
"I'M NOT 40 YEARS OLD!" I yelled, waking the baby, so I had to stop and cradle him to calm him down.
"Reaching it is easy enough; I could easily guide you to the Root and obtain one of the five magics," he remarked, making me stop.
"Really? You could do it for me?" I asked.
"Do it, yes, for you. What would I gain from it? It's not much different than you losing your purpose in this war, thus losing my chance to fulfill my wish," he said in a tone that made me feel somewhat foolish.
"And what is your wish?" I asked.
"To return to life. I don't mind dying for a great cause, but in doing so, I took my partner with me, something that shouldn't have happened. If I revive, by default, she should too," he explained, making me respect this Servant a little more.
"So, if instead of asking to reach the Root myself, I ask for you to be revived, could you take me and others to the Root immediately?" I inquired.
"Yes and no," he told me.
"How so?" I asked.
"Well, I lied to you. I can't go directly to the Root; I can, since I have a weapon that can create portals anywhere, including to the Reverse World, but for that I need to know where it is. But that's easy to figure out. I just need to know what the place is like or find one where the boundary between the Root and the world is blurred. With that, I can open the portal and take you there without any problem," he explained, making me doubt myself a little.
"I feel like I'm being scammed," I said honestly.
He didn't say anything about it.
I still feel like we were getting ahead of ourselves; the way things are going, that monkey might kill us all before we can even get close to the Holy Grail.
With that, I continued my walk to where all the refugees were.
When I arrived at the refugee camp, I saw a bunch of makeshift tents full of scared, confused, and injured people, some with more serious injuries.
"Hinata," a man's voice broke. I turned around to see a guy in his 20s or 30s with a bandaged head and missing an eye. "You have Hinata; she has my baby."
With that, the man held out his arms and began to cry. The baby must have recognized the man, because he reached out his arms in response.
I let the father hold his son as he knelt on the ground and started to cry.
"It's normal for this to happen," I heard Assassin's voice say. "I'm no longer a hero, but when I saw that woman and that baby in the middle of all this, I acted without thinking, and when the guy attacked me, I had to choose which one to protect. I was a father myself; I had to raise almost all of my children, since their mother wasn't exactly mother material, so she would have asked for that. Anyway, I apologize. thank you, for having to take care of the baby; I couldn't fight and support the fight against that monkey; maybe things would have been different."
I shook my head.
"Don't blame yourself; maybe things would have been better this way, not to mention you earned some good karma points," I said amicably.
"Maybe," he replied simply.
When I returned to my workshop, I saw a well-dressed man whose appearance seemed very familiar.
"Do you know if the owner of this hut will be coming soon?" he asked me with a friendly gesture.
"I own this place, and it's not a shack, nor are there any goblins living here," I said, somewhat annoyed.
"Oh, I apologize," he said, extending his hand; I noticed that he had three command seals on the back of it. "I am Albus Wright, and I come from the Clock Tower to participate in this war, but due to certain circumstances, I would like to propose a settlement."