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The green-skinned Orc still struggled against the invisible force binding her. Having heard her name spoken out loud, she was feeling even more desperate, since knowing her name would mean the enemy had at least some idea of her capabilities. “Your struggle is quite futile.” The Servant they’d all come here to kill stated in that eerie voice of hers.
“You know her?” The dark-skinned Archer of the now red team asked, a question Garona also wanted answered.
The Caster that had all the Assassins worried, for a reason as shown by this sad excuse of a battle, seemed to nod. “She doesn’t know this, but we’ve met. Back in her old world. Although, back then, I didn’t look as I do now.” That came as a pure shock.
Garona looked at the being in front of her with more interest. The Caster was covered from head to toe in her armor, robes, and that mask that seemed to cause such primeval feeling of otherness in people. Then again, if she was correct and she’d looked different, then appearance would not help anyway. But there were other ways to identify someone. The way they carried themselves. The aura they exuded. The personality that shone through their smallest actions. There weren’t many beings that carried themselves with such confidence or radiated such danger. Only…. “No!” She suddenly exclaimed. “It can’t be! Draenei! Butcher! Murdered! All the deaths of my people!”
The Caster suddenly laughed. “Is that what Gul’dan and Ner’zhul told you?” She asked clearly amused by the thought. “I’ll have you know, you Orcs doomed yourself by attacking the Draenei. Hell, you yourself are the result of your people raping one of those Draenei. You used the power of the Dark Star to attack Karabor. I merely turned that power against you. You attacked Shattrah, and I defended my people. When we left instead of retaliating, you chased us to Azeroth, hellbent on conquest. I made sure you failed once again. Do not blame me for the barbaric actions of your people. Besides, it’s not like your people went extinct. The others were too soft-hearted to finish the job.”
The Archer cleared his throat. “Not that this isn’t interesting, but isn’t it risky to reveal so much?”
The hated enemy of her people just shrugged. "There's no one scrying us. I actually want to see if her master will try to use a Command Spell to summon her away to save her. I want to see if I can stop it. Besides, this information will do nothing to help them. I wasn't summoned using that legend.”
Garona didn’t understand but tried to memorize whatever she heard. The others would want to know. No, they needed to know. Grom and Gul’dan were among those summoned here. They would savor the chance for revenge. Only…could they gain that revenge? It’s not like they’d been successful with all the power of the Horde behind them. No wonder most of the Assassins decided to join hands to take her out. They just didn’t understand who they were dealing with.
"Ah, here we go." The hated enemy suddenly said, and Garona could feel the power of the Command Seal struggling against whatever was holding her in place. For a brief moment, it looked like the Seal would lose, but then it seemed she was let go. Mercy from the Butcher? That seemed unlikely.
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“Well, even with that gone, you took out two Servants. Not bad.” Arjuna stated, not entirely pleased she’d let Garona go, but not too fazed either. He was not in a position to complain, considering he’d not taken part in the fight.
Caster, on the other hand, was surprised Garona held such weird beliefs of the past. Maybe she had been summoned from a point in the timeline where the Horde hadn’t yet reconciled with their loss. There was a good chance Garona had been summoned from the height of her infamy, which would place this version around the point of the First War, before her involvement. Minor details anyway. In her anger, the Assassin had not noticed her rifling through her surface thoughts, which included the identities of the Black team’s Servants. They had a nice line-up, perhaps aside from Garona, and she wasn’t bad as far as Assassins went. She eagerly awaited how they’d do against the other teams. It would be interesting to see how someone like the Lion King dealt with Sylvanas or Illidan.
“One, aside from Garona, got away though. That one noticed they were outmatched right away and fell back. Too bad. They would’ve been interesting to question. Great situational awareness though.” She complained playfully. Something about Arjuna's stoic presence made her want to force him to react. That was part of the reason she'd let Garona go. A bad habit from her past that she'd since tempered.
As the two stood on top of the building for a moment, the whole structure suddenly shook. They looked down to see two Servants fighting. “Huh. I wonder how they got so close without me noticing…” Arjuna fingered his bow.
“You were otherwise distracted. Still are.” Caster said playfully, although considering the way her mask filtered her voice, it came off even creepier.
Arjuna just scoffed at the thought and looked down at the fight going on below. There, an elven figure wielding a shining spear was facing against a raging green-skinned humanoid creature, and apparently winning. “Another one of the Orcs? Or something different?”
Caster took a look down as well. “Oh, something different. This one is a superpowered individual of sorts. I've heard the name Hulk at some point, though I've never seen him personally."
The Green creature wasn’t fighting alone, as he was supported by a blond man wearing scale armor, a winged helmet, and a rather small hammer. The man was crackling with the power of lightning though. The Elven spear-user was being pushed back, but only barely, as the agile fighter seemed to be able to dance around the two slower enemies with relative ease. “Two on one?” Arjuna asked.
“Humm. If their team is made up of superpowered individuals, then they’re somewhat used to working in teams, unlike most Heroic Spirits. Besides, as we can see, they’re losing.” As she spoke, the green being ripped out a chunk of the building and tossed it at the elf, who effortlessly seemed to vault over the hurtling debris before sending a shining lance of power to wound the monstrous being.
“Should we make things more ‘equal’?” Arjuna suggested. “A chance to take out more Servants.”
“We don’t need to.” Caster pointed at the other approaching Elf, the same one that had fought against Siegfried before. “The White Saber is here. Although…he is being chased.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
It seemed more members of the green team were following the White Saber. An angry-looking masked man with metal claws coming from the spaces between his fingers, as well as a flying man wearing blue spandex, with a stylized red S on his chest, were chasing the Elf down, almost herding him towards the other fight. “Now we can interfere. I don’t think 2 on 4 is very fair. Besides, I think it was the Green Assassin that attacked us and bailed.” After speaking, Caster simply stepped off the edge of the building, falling down. Instead of just plummeting though, an invisible force seemed to grab hold of her and gently set her down between the two chasers and the White Saber.
“I think, I’ll step in here to make things a little more fair, if you don’t mind.” Her arrival stopped the two in their tracks, while the White Saber went on to aid his teammate in the other battle.
The flying man spoke with a calm voice. “It’s a little hypocritical of me to say, but I do not believe this to be any fairer than the previous two against one.” The man seemed genuinely sorry about that, even if not willing to let the advantage go. It seemed the Green team had indeed realized the benefits of teamwork.
“Just what I’d expect from the Superman.” Caster laughed. “However, who said I was alone?”
Suddenly a pair of arrows shot past her, nailing the clawed man against a wall down the street.
The flying man nodded. “Well, that does make things fairer. And the Red Archer already took down one of ours, so returning the favor is only fair.” Suddenly the man’s eyes glowed bright red, and it seemed like lasers shot out towards his opponent. The beams hit an invisible shield however and didn’t seem to have much effect.
"Archer, darling. Would you take care of the other one? Superman here would be a bad matchup for…well, most Servants. Just know your enemy has a powerful healing factor and almost indestructible bones." She suggested, not bothered by the continuing beams hitting her barrier.
"Will do," Arjuna announced quickly, before going after what could've only been Wolverine.
The flying man stopped his ineffectual attack. “It seems you don’t consider yourself among those that are a bad matchup against me.”
“Oh dear, no. See, the issue is that I started pretty much with what you have, only more. And I've learned so much more since then. So, why would I be afraid? Being a Kryptonian is an advantage against most, no doubt, and not many beings can boast having an SS-ranked race or better. It’s just too bad, that I’m one of the few.” Caster pulled out a spear that started floating around her, and eldritch lightning crackled around her hands.
“So, this is why Bruce was so insistent on trying to eliminate you first.” The floating man nodded. “In that case, let us measure if you truly are worthy of such a boast.” He surged forward, attempting to punch her, but was shocked to see her return the favor, doing the exact same move. Not only was she able to match his speed, but as their fists collided, and both were thrown back by the shockwave, he could tell she could match him in power as well. Then there was the lightning. He could feel it coursing through his body, causing trouble.
As the two engaged in a close combat brawl, he quickly realized that while they might be close in power and speed, she was far ahead of him in pure skill. Every strike and exchange seemed to land him in a worse position, and soon he found himself overextending before he was thrown over her hips and his hand and shoulder were twisted painfully behind his back.
"You aren't used to fighting people who can match you, are you?" She asked with a laugh. The annoying thing was that she was right. He'd grown better in this new universe, but even here few could match him in pure speed and power blow for blow.
He gathered what power he could despite the awkward position, before striking at the ground below, shattering it and breaking the hold she had on him at the same time. He quickly pulled some distance with another flash from his eyes. Before he had the time though, he suddenly felt pain in his back, as the spear he’d forgotten slashed a wide gash in a sudden swing he hadn’t even noticed.
“Situational awareness also needs improvement.” The woman commented. “Let’s try something.”
As he was gasping from pain, he suddenly felt some kind of power constricting him, and holding him in place. He knew this would be the death of him if successful, and rebelled against it with all his strength, shattering the power holding him, and barely dodging the flying spear once again.
“Well, I suppose it would’ve been too easy if the most magic-resistant Class would've succumbed to simple telekinesis." She commented, seemingly not too bothered. That was supposed to be simple telekinesis? He was more thankful than ever for his wisdom in investing in the Magic Resistance stat. That had always been a weakness of his.
A blue explosion of power came from a short distance away. “Oh, it seems Archer is getting serious.”
He didn’t even look towards the explosion. “I have faith in my teammate.” He simply said stoically.
“Maybe you shouldn’t. Wolverine has his strengths, but in this, he is hopelessly outmatched.” She replied coldly.
As if to prove her words correct, the Red Archer suddenly arrived to stand behind her. "Done already? Are you sure? Your opponent has a nasty habit of crawling back from almost any damage." The female enemy asked.
The handsome dark-skinned man spoke with a humble voice. “He was. Unfortunately for him, you can’t regenerate instant death. He was judged by Shiva and found wanting.” The Archer looked towards Superman with a tilt of his head. “Are you playing with your food? Or why is this taking so long?” His voice wasn’t judgmental, simply curious.
The Red Caster tilted her mask and hood-covered head as well, mirroring her ally. “He’s Superman. He deserves some respect. Though I suppose he also deserves me getting a bit serious. Fine then. Let’s do it that way.”
She recalled the spear back into her hand, lifting it up as if throwing it up, before levitating into the air. Superman could feel the eldritch energy gathering in the spear that glowed with so much power that even he found it difficult to look at. He didn’t know why, but he knew. He absolutely knew, that if he got hit with this attack, he would die. No matter his heritage, power, and stats, this attack would end him. He frantically tried to fly away from her, turning several corners to get behind several tall and sturdy buildings to use them as cover, before the spear reached him. At that moment he realized. No matter how much he tried to dodge, he would not be able to avoid it. And then he knew no more.
------
Arjuna gave a small whistle as the spear Caster threw bored through several buildings to find the target, and then cleaved a long, deep, and thick furrow through the rest of the city behind the target, leaving a permanent scar on the surroundings. “You can be summoned as Archer as well, can’t you?” He asked. “I can sense [Unerring Aim] and some sort of clairvoyance in that attack as well.”
“Seeing as you have the same, or similar, abilities, I would be shocked if you didn’t.” She replied before a great howl came from all around them. It seemed to come from everywhere. Every building, every park, every workplace and home. The cold howl of countless beasts waking up. “Oh? It seems things are about to get more interesting.”
“You did mention that there seemed to be something off with this place. I believe we’re about to find out what.” Arjuna shot back.
The other fight also seemed to pause for a moment, as the combatants realized things were about to take a different turn. Windows and walls started shattering as creatures with feral features suddenly charged out. The ravening beasts bore some resemblance to the people who had lived here, at least judging by the clothes, but their eyes held no intelligence, and their teeth and nails had turned into fangs and claws, and the slavering beings were running on all fours towards them. There were hundreds of the beings, and they were clearly driven mad by something.
Arjuna drew back his bow as several blue arrows of energy appeared behind him, and as he shot, all of them turned into thin blue streaks that unerringly found their targets. Some exploded heads, while others collapsed chest cavities. Those shot in the chest seemed to carry on, despite the damage, assuming the damage wasn’t bad enough to cause them to be effectively bisected. Those shot in the head didn’t get up.
Caster used her telekinetic power to grab all the debris around them, causing them to spin around quickly, turning their surroundings into a tornado of sharp objects moving at very fast speeds. Despite that, the maddened creatures threw themselves into the blender, and the tornado quickly took a very scarlet hue as blood and viscera were mixed along with the other debris.
“Do we stay, or leave?” Arjuna asked, not in any hurry. His shots seemed to have no trouble flying out of the tornado and finding their targets.
"Well, my senses tell me that this whole thing is citywide, though only those near to us are coming our way. The rest seem to be wandering around aimlessly. That said, it seems they have some sort of communication, as more and more of them are being drawn this way as if word of us is spreading." Caster replied.
They could see out of the storm, as the two Elven Servants easily seemed to avoid the creatures. The hammer-wielding Servant flew up and seemed to be conjuring some sort of storm, while the green-skinned one just plowed into the mass of the creatures without any care. At first, that seemed to work, but as soon as some of the creatures jumped on the green being and bit down at his sturdy skin, it seemed like energy was being drawn out of him, despite each bite only barely managing to pierce his skin. They watched as the green being seemed to slowly wither and die in a sudden shower of golden sparks.
“Ok, so getting bitten is bad. Noted.” Caster stated almost jokingly.
“What are they? They don’t act like any creature I’ve heard of. Or to be more precise, they seem like a combination of several. They’re almost like a mix of zombies, werewolves, and ghouls.” Arjuna asked, his hands not stopping even for a moment as more and more of the creatures fell under the rain of his arrows.
“Can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like them either, although I can see some possibilities. No matter what they are though, it seems this Grail War just got a whole different dimension to it.” She stated firmly.