Saber and her master tumbled down the temple's slope. Saber's speed and lack of finesse caused Tohsaka to suffer a fracture from the impact, but faced with the choice between that and being crushed, he remained silent, rising heavily in silence.
The Servant didn't have time to see his master, as Berserker had fallen before him in all his glory.
Yamato Takeru could be considered a battle machine, something he shared with Lancer, demonstrating his love for battles and his ruthless fighting style. But in Berserker's eyes, he saw only an unstoppable lust for battle, a will to not cease even if his body were destroyed, and unlike the other Servants, he could do it.
He didn't possess an ability, technique, or weapon effective against immortal beings, but as a Heroic Spirit, he had a chance to defeat him: to damage him enough to drain his mana. There was a chance his master could help him in that area, but he had no other choice.
Just as Berserker was about to attack, a Servant appeared wielding a wheel as a weapon, ready to decapitate him. Saber immediately recognized this man as the one who had saved him the previous night.
Berserker quickly blocked the attack with his staff, only for Assassin to appear at his side with a spirit blade ready to plunge it into his liver. But he used his elbow and knee to parry the blade.
Assassin, now in his Reaper form, narrowed his eyes to dodge a kick from Berserker, who took advantage of the opening and parried Archer, sending him flying backward.
Once everyone had created some distance, the place fell silent and still.
"You'd better get rid of that guy behind you if you don't want to go back to the Throne of Heroes," Assassin remarked.
Saber, realizing he was being spoken to, since Assassin had never stopped staring at Berserker, glanced back at his master, who merely nodded slightly in pain before escaping as quickly as possible.
When he looked ahead again, he saw how Assassin had made the slightest movement to dodge Berserker's punch.
"Future vision—now everything makes sense," Berserker said, looking his opponent in the eye.
But Assassin didn't reply, at least not verbally. Instead, he firmly grabbed Berserker's arm, forcing him to remain still, as Archer was already poised behind him, ready to slice him in half.
Contrary to what many might think, Berserker didn't panic but rather rejoiced. Without hesitation, he swiftly severed his arm to dodge Archer's blow, which, upon impact with the ground, destroyed everything in its path, leaving a trail of fire across the area.
Assassin stared at Berserker as he was looking at Berserker's life lines.
"40, and on top of that, he's immortal," he complained, since the Devil Fruit's ability gave him the chance to kill immortal beings, but because he had to sever all their lifelines, if too much time passed after cutting them, they could regenerate, either through a healing ability or by granting him immortality that returned him to normal.
Archer didn't stop there; he launched himself again at the Monkey, only for the Monkey, using his great agility, to dodge all of his blows, something that frustrated and angered the Indian Warrior even more.
When Berserker dodged Archer's last attack, Saber appeared behind him, ready to kill him. The moment the Monkey turned around, the swordsman had already attacked.
With a single slash, he severed both of Berserker's hands from his body, and behind him, Archer, with his giant chakram, delivered a direct blow to his head, sending him flying and crashing into several trees.
Saber wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by, and with her sword swirling in the wind, she rushed to where Berserker had fallen. His arms had already regenerated, but his face, still ablaze, was raw flesh, though it didn't affect him at all.
Assassin, using his class advantage, hid in the shadows, watching the three Servants clash, fighting relentlessly and without mercy.
"Piece of monster," Assassin muttered to himself.
He analyzed Berserker; contrary to what his class dictated, this one had been summoned with sanity. This guy thought, and yet he didn't. He knew what he was doing, and yet he didn't. He acted consciously, and yet he didn't.
His summoning, focused on madness, didn't affect his consciousness but rather his emotions. For Assassin, this was the worst thing: a superpowerful being with science who let himself be driven by his emotions, which were only about fighting, destroying, and annihilating.
Berserker sent Archer sprawling with a single blow, but in a fit of rage, Archer grabbed his opponent's foot and flung him away.
Before Berserker could recover, Assassin was already behind him with a spirit sword, slashing across Mono's stomach. However, the sword only grazed Berserker's body, sending him crashing into the mountain.
"So much for having the ability to kill him; to me now you're just a weakling," Archer scolded Assassin.
"Shut up, that's not what I meant. I was just testing the waters," Assassin retorted, complaining about being called a weakling.
Assassin stared at his sword, watching the blood on its blade evaporate rapidly.
Berserker was already in his sight, walking as if nothing had happened, subtly mocking his enemy.
"I can cut him to eliminate all his lifelines, but there's nothing more they can do from there. The problem is if he lets himself be cut, knowing this," Assassin said, almost whispering.
"What are you talking about, weakling?" Archer said, looking at his ally.
Berserker stared at Assassin, only to blink and see his opponent already standing right in front of him.
Archer opened his eyes, barely able to see Assassin move; the floor beneath him was already crumbling from his movement.
Assassin swiftly punched Berserker with Haki; the sound of his residual movement had also reached him, making the blow sound louder than normal.
The monkey took the blow head-on, causing him to glance to the side, but nothing more. Berserker spat out a small amount of blood and looked at Assassin.
"Damn it, my class is useless for this," he muttered, dodging one of Berserker's punches.
(Note: The Assassin class has never been good at fighting Servants head-on, much less one of Sun Wukong's caliber; in fact, I think they're primarily designed to kill Masters rather than Servants, all within the context of the Holy Grail War.)
The moment Berserker counterattacked, Assassin, as if made of liquid, dodged the blow with almost unnatural grace, leaping several times into the air.
Berserker couldn't follow Assassin's gaze, as he had two more Servants ready to attack; he couldn't focus all his attention on the phantom threat.
Assassin still had some tricks up his sleeve; his strength, even with Haki, was no match for Berserker. He had no choice but to act like a true assassin and wait in the shadows for the right moment.
The fight was erratic, chaotic, and disorganized. Unlike the coordination between Saber and Caster, which was able to momentarily push Berserker back, the cooperation between Saber and Archer was quite disastrous.
Neither was an ally to the other, but they knew they needed each other, at least momentarily, to hold their own and land a blow. So, between unleashing full-power attacks on Berserker and trying to avoid hurting each other, they made several coordination errors, which Berserker exploited with his full fighting power.
Assassin realized that their most powerful attacks weren't being used. And from both of their perspectives, an enemy who could sometimes be damaged and sometimes not, without knowing the nature of this rare ability, was something that affected their psyches to some extent.
Their most powerful abilities not only cost mana but also resistances, and if an attack wasn't going to be effective, then there was no point in trying.
Berserker, with a flick of his foot, unbalanced Saber, forcing him to his knees, and just as he was about to strike him squarely in the skull with his staff, in a flash, Assassin appeared, slashing his opponent's chest and disappearing from everyone's sight.
An attack like that wouldn't have affected Berserker at all, but this was different, as he felt a piece of his vitality being permanently ripped away with that attack.
This caused Berserker to pause momentarily, which Saber took advantage of, slashing him away from his opponent with a water attack, damaging him, albeit temporarily.
Berserker felt it, but this attack was different; it didn't affect his own vitality. Before he knew it, another blur came and severed his leg. He felt another part of his vitality disappear.
"Two out of forty," the assassin said to himself.
"I see, I expected nothing less from Assassin," Berserker said, with a Machiavellian smile.
He already knew what the real threat was; he wasn't going to let anyone steal his fun.
Sun Wukong had answered the Holy Grail's call solely to fight and avoid boredom, and he wasn't about to let anyone spoil his fun, especially not so early.
With a well-executed leap and spin, he dodged Saber's slash, landing above him. Using his staff, he extended it, slamming the weapon into Saber's back.
Sun Wukong was brutally slammed to the ground, causing the swordsman to let out a tremendous scream of pain as he vomited blood.
The moment he hit the ground, he spun around at a 45-degree angle, dodging Archer's giant chakram. As he did so, he pointed his staff at his opponent and, extending it, sent him flying.
Archer was dragged by the pillar-shaped staff to the other side of the city, out of the fight until he returned.
In the end, only he and Saber remained. He looked at the swordsman, whose pain in his sword and especially in his spine was brutal, forcing him to remain still, since any movement would bring the pain back with a vengeance; he absolutely had to recover, but now, as things stood, he couldn't; his only option was to be finished off.
The moment he was about to strike Saber in the back of the neck, directly in the spinal cord, killing him, his fighting instincts kicked in, but he didn't turn around.
Assassin swiftly cut Berserker's throat, but unlike the other times, he couldn't just walk away; he had to use Geppo to dodge the blow from his opponent's staff.
This time he decided not to move away but instead landed a few meters from the monkey, holding his full attention.
He glanced at the almost paraplegic Saber, who was slowly recovering from his temporary paralysis. He couldn't let Berserker kill him, since they needed him to kill this monster.
Unlike the other Servants, Saber actually intends to kill him; the others must be hoping the three of us will kill him or some miracle will happen.
"It's that or nothing," Assassin told himself, but he didn't finish, as he had to dodge a blow from his opponent.
The moment Berserker was about to strike again, Assassin, in a fighting stance, moved his hands like water and deflected the blow.
This left Berserker momentarily bewildered before he attacked again with even more force and speed.
Assassin began to respond to every blow as best he could, deflecting them, but each blow was increasingly violent and chaotic, making it impossible for him to continue like this indefinitely; the moment he made a mistake, he could fall dead.
The worst part was, he could already see the first lifeline he had severed beginning to rejoin.
Deflecting one of the blows with all the strength in his leg, he leaped back using Soru, avoiding the next strike that would have destroyed the entire area around him.
Assassin's respite was short-lived, as Berserker was already upon him, ready to kill him.
Using his speed and agility, he managed to dodge all the attacks. Until something caught him off guard. Using Haki, he saw his opponent strike him with the staff, and before he could realize what had happened, the branch he had stepped on broke, causing him to lose his balance and triggering what he had seen.
The blow landed directly on his chest, breaking almost all of his ribs and damaging several of his organs, including his heart.
The impact sent him crashing into several trees and momentarily knocking the wind out of him.
Berserker didn't follow the trio but instead began to slowly walk over him.
Assassin, in great pain, got to his feet.
"There's no other way," Assassin told himself, standing firmly and extending his hand forward. "Answer my call, you who judge all who possess a soul, you who cannot be lied to or deceived, you who revoke immortality and resurrection." As he chanted, a portal appeared on the ground before him, next to a sealed box, which was covered in chains. "Return to your master's hands and sever the soul of any being who dares to oppose you, mark of death."
With his last words, Assassin touched the box, breaking all the seals and chains that bound it. A great light and an aura of death appeared in his hands.
The weapon was a kind of sword; the closest thing it resembled was a scimitar. But in reality, this weapon was the scythe of death, his first Noble Phantasm. The moment Assassin held it in his hands, he modified it, knowing that with this weapon he could be identified, especially since some of his family members were watching the entire battle.
Assassin raised the sword with one hand, and red lightning bolts erupted from both his body and the blade, filling the air. The trees began to crack and break, and the ground began to shatter and shake.
The aura emanating from Assassin was not only that of death but also that of a king, a self-proclaimed one, accepted by the world itself.
Berserker could not be affected by the fear of death, but that didn't mean he didn't feel it. After all, before him stood death personified.
With his blade as dark as the void and his wings spread as dark as night, enveloped in an aura so terrifying it could bring almost anyone to their knees, Assassin launched himself at his opponent with a speed beyond the comprehension of any ordinary being. Anyone could say it's almost the speed of light.
Sun Wukong might not have thought much, but that didn't mean he was stupid. If he had felt his life force slowly fading before, he felt that if he were to touch him, everything he had left would be snatched away in a single movement, the end of fire.
Using his staff, he tried to strike, but Assassin, using his weapon, slightly deflected the staff, causing it to pass by.
Assassin was just a few steps away from cutting Berserker and killing him, since this weapon held conceptual power over the soul. The moment he cut him, you would be dead; no matter how much divinity or immortality you possessed, you were lost.
For this very reason, the ability to create portals was the first thing the Greek gods took from him when they betrayed him.
Assassin, with such a sure cut, didn't hesitate and struck; it didn't matter where he cut, as long as he did, he would win.
Just as he was about to touch Berserker with his staff, it was enveloped in smoke. Assassin didn't stop and slashed at whatever was in front of him, even though he couldn't see it, but as he did so, he opened his eyes, since the weapon hadn't touched anything.
The moment the smoke cleared, what had happened became clear: Berserker had transformed into a monkey in every sense, making him much smaller. As a result, Assassin's slash passed over him, missing the target.
Assassin had made a mistake, and when he was about to move, his opponent was faster.
"Do as I will, Pillar of Heaven, Ruyi Jingu Bang!" Berserker said in his small monkey form, causing the staff to extend and grow, striking Assassin with a powerful blow and sending him flying against the mountain.
The moment of death had passed; there was no longer a threat to the Monkey King, so he returned to normal.
He leaped into a tree, glancing at where Assassin had fallen. Unlike his previous form, he no longer had the mask, the wings, the black face, or the weapon; In its place stood a young man with blond hair, red eyes, and a face that reflected immense pain. Death incarnate was no longer there, but a young man who had played at being an entity beyond what he could be, at least in his current form.
Berserker walked toward his opponent; he had no time to waste, and he had already defeated his opponent. He wasn't dead, but he couldn't even stand on his own.
The moment Assassin tried to speak, he instinctively spat blood. That last attack struck him all over his body, and the speed with which the staff extended made the blow all the more brutal.
Berserker, out of respect for being the only threat in this Holy Grail War and the Servant closest to killing him, would give him a swift death, but on the way, he heard his opponent's words.
"Help me, Kiss-shot," he said, his throat trickling with blood.
The moment he said that, Berserker felt his legs give way. He looked down, watching as a shadow emerged from the ground and attacked him with several spikes piercing his skin.
He sensed a menacing presence; he looked ahead to see a very beautiful woman with yellow eyes and blonde hair staring at him intently, and before he knew it, she had punched him in the jaw with a fist engulfed in flames.
Berserker hadn't reacted, as all of this was very strange to him; if he could put it simply, it was like a knight answering his princess's prayers.
In midair, he saw the woman deliver a powerful blow, sending him crashing to the ground and destroying everything around him. The destruction was instantaneous, and the pain was one of the most intense he had ever felt.
He quickly got up, ready to fight the new threat, but when he looked around, there was no trace of the woman, and worse, Assassin had also vanished.
"He took him down as soon as he kicked you," he heard Archer's voice behind him, just as he had to dodge the blow.
Archer had arrived a while ago, but taking advantage of Assassin's distraction, he had searched for Saber, and when he found her, he proposed a plan.
Saber hadn't fully recovered from her injuries, so the bulk of the physical fighting fell to Archer.
Saber was already communicating with Master to plan their next move.
The frenzied, unparalleled blows of each filled the air. Archer was also immortal, but it was a different kind of immortality than Berserker's, hence his tenacity and resilience, comparable to his opponent's.
They didn't have much time left; daylight was about to break, and that meant two things: Berserker could continue indefinitely, or he would escape, and the idea was to eliminate him.
Neither of them had a way to kill him, so there was no other option but to get rid of him by any means necessary.
Archer had to take a blow from Berserker to position himself beneath him. Using his chakram, he struck the monkey, sending him flying upwards.
In midair, using centrifugal force with a spin, he sent Berserker flying further, leaving him suspended in midair for a moment.
"NOW!" Archer shouted to Saber, who ran towards him at full speed.
Saber leaped onto Archer, who caught him with both hands and, using all his strength, hurled him at Berserker.
The moment Saber made the leap, several dragon heads emerged from the ground to follow their conjurer.
This time he was going to use his spatial technique in all its glory, not a mixture of it, so he absolutely had to say its name.
Berserker saw the attack in mid-air but couldn't dodge it, as he didn't have anything that could strike the air like Assassin's. He could only use his Noble Phantasm to tank the next attack.
Using his staff, he tried to stop Saber, but Saber's master, anticipating his move, immediately used a Command Seal on him.
"Saber, strike Berserker and send her flying into outer space," his master announced, invoking the Command Seal.
Saber felt the pain in his body cease; a momentary surge of power coursed through him.
Dodging the staff and moving past it, he quickly reached his opponent.
"Kaiken—Amenomurakumo-no-Tsurugi," Saber declared, and with a single blow, he sent Berserker soaring into the air, followed by the eight water dragon heads.
Each head struck Berserker in turn, launching him further and further into space until the last one left him floating in midair.
The place where Berserker was no longer gravity-defying, and since he was off Earth, beams of light hit him directly, making it feel as if it were daytime, momentarily rendering him inactive.
Elsewhere, an old man could be seen gazing into space; this was Berserker's master, who watched the entire spectacle from afar.
He could use the last Command Seal he had left to bring him back, but it was his last key to victory, or rather, to survival; he couldn't waste it like that.
Besides, he could feel Berserker slowly beginning to fall back to Earth. Berserker would eventually return, so he decided to let his enemies have this momentary victory and take the opportunity to recover his prana.
And just as he said, Berserker began to fall back to Earth; The problem is that he started falling outside of Japan, in a sunny place, so he'd be inactive for quite a while, and when he regained consciousness, it would take him a while to get back to Fuyuki.
The problem: only two people were aware of this.
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Hey everyone, I needed to take Berserker out of the equation for a while so the other Servants could interact with each other and it wouldn't be a 6 vs 1 battle.
Since almost everyone believes Berserker is out of commission and won't be returning, they'll resume the war as it was originally, or at least they'll try to.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you later.