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'Master,' Medusa Lily addressed Sakura over their Servant-Master link as her scythe reaped a swarm of blade wing worms only for more to dig their way free from the floor and walls. 'Please wait out there for a bit. Zouken isn't going down easily.'
It was rather amazing really. Both of the Archers were carpet bombing the place and Zouken was still putting up a fight. Medusa reckoned that if she hadn't been nearly insignificant to either side, she would already be dead.
The proof was the battlefield.
The floor wasn't merely a pocket of craters now. The top couple feet of the floor had been utterly destroyed.
If the bottom of the stairs were still there, Medusa could have told you how much deep the floor had decreased.
Only, the stairs were rubble now. Zouken and the two Archers had destroyed the stairs pretty early on.
And as touching the ground meant death to the Servants as Zouken's familiars and spells, not to mention the poison mist that was Archer's worm-a-cide, were everywhere on the ground. Zouken's familiars were dying in droves yet some died only to release some spell that he had intended to use the familiar as a medium for.
The result was that the Archers and Lancer had to find ways to stay in mid-air or else discover what a genius magus could do to Servants.
Archer Lily, the teen-aged-looking red-head that her Master liked, was standing on top of the guard of a particularly large sword. One of several statue-like swords and more were appearing every second so that the old magus wouldn't be able to predict which sword Archer would jump to next.
The blond Archer Lily was flying in mid-air having put on some kind of shoe with wings.
Medusa?
She used her high A rank agility to kick off of another worm, the force of her jump splattering it into a disgusting brown mix of gore.
Sometimes she used worms, which made her grateful for the metal boots she had on. She would hate to have worm guts on her feet.
Sometimes she kicked off one of either Archers' swords or weapons as they flew past her or after they hit the ground.
Rarely did she use the fragile walls.
Regardless, Medusa knew that she couldn't stop moving.
If she slowed down, even a little bit, if she dared drop her agility to the equivalent of B rank or below-
-Zouken would kill her. Only her speed which made her into a very fast blur for Zouken kept him from taking her out in a sudden trap.
And if she tried on her own, he would have been able to eventually figure out her pattern and checkmate her, quickly killing her.
But she wasn't on her own. Instead she was with two very, very dangerous Servants that required Zouken's full attention.
As it was, Medusa knew that she wouldn't be able to defeat either. Especially as they now knew about her Cybele.
Good thing her objective for the Grail War wasn't to win it. She just wanted Sakura safe and free.
Amidst the continuous boom of explosions and golden glow mixing with dark and shadowy mists as well as the poisonous purple mist, Medusa cut a particularly fat worm in half before seeing what had been behind it.
Namely that part of the basement wall had collapsed, opening up a view into a secret room. A room that was full to the brink of, you guessed it, more Crest Worms.
Medusa wanted to sigh. But that would mean breathing the air in this foul place.
However, that brief glimpse wasn't long for the world.
The two Archers were already dropping powerful Noble Phantasms into the extension. More destructive Noble Phantasms than the ones they could use in the very room they were inside.
In other words, the new room was already full of fire, smoke and destruction. Plus a number of exotic effects from the sheer variety of powerful weaponry.
Medusa glanced up, petrifying another Crest Worm with her eyes, as the ceiling groaned, a deep rumbling sound, above her.
Belatedly, Medusa remembered that to keep the ceiling up, you needed walls or pillars or some kind of architecture.
Like the wall which had used to be part of this room.
Medusa Lily got to watch as a section of the ceiling came down with the kitchen cabinet and crushed a group of worms flat before the kitchen cutlery flew out from the now damaged furniture.
Zouken's spells quickly rotted—No, that was wrong.
His spells devoured the wood, the silver, everything. Like his spell was some kind of powerful stomach acid.
It was a monstrous thing. A spell you would expect to find in the darkest corners of the world or with the evilest of gods.
Appropriate for a monster that had consigned Sakura to the worst of indignities.
Medusa's glance saw the last of silver utensils turn into shining dust before vanishing into the gloom. Yeah, Sakura wasn't going to be living here anymore. No silverware at the very least.
Before the last of the rotted metal and wood could vanish,
Then the mixture of Matou decay magecraft and a passing weapon from the ridiculously overpowered Archers destroyed the cabinet into splinters and rot.
The fight continued.
Until it suddenly didn't.
Medusa crouched atop one of the Archer's weapons. She didn't know which Archer, but she didn't want to be on the ground.
"I thought we weren't going to let him talk," the taller Archer reminded the other Archer. "He's a master at using words. If we let him talk, he'll find a way to hurt us or use us."
So that was why the two had immediately started shooting full speed as soon as they shot open the door to the workshop. Medusa had thought they just wanted to be boys and blast the door off its hinges.
"No," the red-eyed demi-god said with his eyes narrowed. "As much as I don't want to listen to this pest's words, we need to. We overlooked something."
"Like what?" Archer asked, eyebrow raised. "We used one of your barrier Noble Phantasms around the area before we even got onto the property. Nothing of Zouken can reach to another house. And if he tried to eat someone, he would still be stuck inside the barrier."
"So, what offense did I do to cause all three of you to turn against me?" The old man, the old monster spoke, as a slop of worms came out into a corner of the room. "I don't think my dear granddaughter would be pleased that her Servant threatens the one who holds her life."
Holds her life… What did he mean?
"We forgot about Sakura!" the red-head suddenly yelled, a look of mortification and self-recrimination sweeping over his features. "She has his worms in her!"
Shirou, that was his name. That was the name of the boy her Master loved.
"There is nothing we can do about her," The other boy said with extreme distaste evident on his scrounged-up face. "All we can do is make her to be the last victim of this monster."
"Can't we save her somehow?" Shirou begged. "We just need to get the worms out of her. Surely, there is something in the Gate of Babylon—"
"Not with him holding her life in his hands," the boy who must be the hero Gilgamesh said, his eyes firmly set on the old man. "He can end it with just a thought. Just a squeeze of the worms and her vital organs will die in just an instant."
"Indeed, young heroes," the old monster mocked. "And even if this acute poison wipes me out, my death throes will undoubtedly involve the worms inside of her raging out of control, consuming her heart and mind until she dies. Will you heroes" And the word was definitely a slur from his mouth. "let the maiden die?"
Shirou was right, Medusa realized. Zouken was going to play off of their good nature and use words against them. He was going to threaten Sakura's life until they let him live if only so that Sakura lived.
"Let her go," Medusa ordered, letting her Siren Song skill play through her voice. "She has no more part in you."
The old man snorted. "I may be a man, but I am not so weak willed to let a Servant charm me into letting go of my granddaughter. What kind of neglectful grandfather would I be?"
Blast. Medusa's teeth ground against each other. He was too strong-willed despite being a rotting soul in possession of an inhuman body. If only she was more like her sisters and had greater charm as opposed to these petrifying eyes—
Her eyes.
"He can't kill if the worms are already dead," Medusa declared as her cloak reappeared around her as she kicked off in her strongest kick towards the doorframe which hung above a few remaining stone steps like a door above a cliff ledge to nowhere.
She had to move fast.
And it was a good thing that the Archers had understood. She would have had a hard time getting past them if they decided to shoot her too.
"So the Gorgon seeks to kill the ones dearest and most sisterly to her. Oh, how the legends play out again," Zouken mocked.
Medusa couldn't suppress her involuntary shudder even as she landed one foot on the top of the bottom stone step and flew forward, up the stairs, Harpe's sharp edge cutting through fallen architecture and clearing a way through the rubble.
She will kill her sisters while lost in mindless anger and bloodlust. Her older self already had even if she, the Lily, didn't remember it.
But this was the only way to save Sakura.
After all, what could worms do when turned to stone?
"How did you forget something like that?" she heard behind her from Gilgamesh.
"Hey, I have more memories of swords than I do of actual life," Shirou protested, his voice echoing up the passageway. "It takes a while to…"
'Master!' Medusa cried as she bounded through the cracks that she enlarged with her weapon. 'Where are you?'
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