Fate Of A Gamer

"…You know, we really should stop meeting at circumstances like this, Rider."

Francis laughs weakly, coughing slightly as she wipes the blood staining her lips. "Sorry about that." She smirks as she looks towards the barren land in front of her. The forest that once had been here is all gone, uprooted and burnt away.

In her hands is an unconscious Gareth, whose armor is far too destroyed, with blood seeping out of the many wounds on her ċhėst. Francis frowns. "Still, she's a real piece of work over there." She glares at the woman standing in the center of the burnt forest, and Caster follows her gaze forward.

There, standing with apathetic eyes, is a woman, one that looked so much like Saber, yet different. The clean armor is dark and black instead, with red lines running across it, as if the armor is cracking from the inside. The usual blonde hair is now a light, bleached yellow, and her eyes are covered by a black metallic piece. Her skin is far too pale, and the kingly presence Saber had is replaced by a thick miasma.

"That's expected, seeing as she's directly connected to the grail." Caster analyses. Francis grimaces. "…Shit."

She's running on infinite fuel while Francis and Gareth had to make use of the prana they took from Hanami before their connection was cut off by the damned Bounded Field this fake Saber created?

'No wonder she's this strong.'

It'd been a fairly normal afternoon, you see. One moment, Francis and Gareth were travelling through the forest, with mostly Francis recalling the many tales she's experienced, then the skies suddenly turned black and most of the forest was suddenly burnt away by a falling pillar of dark purple light.

They'd both gotten out unscathed, but Francis had to call her [Golden Hind] to shield them both, and the ship was torn completely in half by the strike, soaking up most of her prana and rendering her unable to battle for a while. But that short while was enough for the altered Saber to take them both down. Gareth had put up a valiant fight against her and Francis had provided backup, but the enemy was simply too strong, and her strikes were simply too big.

They were overwhelmed in mere minutes.

"Master, please take Lancer and step back. The enemy is far stronger than any we've seen before." Caster says, and her master nods, cautiously taking Gareth off Francis' hands and taking several steps back. Idly, Francis notes that the boy is slightly taller and holds a much larger pool of prana.

"Can you stand, Rider?" Francis smirks, before standing up and bringing out her pair of guns. Then, a bottle of blue liquid is suddenly thrust into her hands, and Francis looks to Caster in confusion. She stares back. "Your connection with your master is currently muddled, right? Take that as a temporary boost."

"Nice." Without hesitation, Francis downs the contents of the bottle, and instantly the lost prana she used returns. All weakness and fatigue disappears, as if they'd never even been there in the first place. The wounds remain however, though they present only a mild disturbance for the sea-hardened pirate.

"Alright, let's do this! [Golden Hind]!" Upon her call, her beloved ship manifested, its cannons primed and aimed at their target.

"Let's. [Bamboo Forest of the Lost]." At Caster's command, shoots of bamboo sprout out from the ground and surround the ship, much like their previous encounter. Just this time, instead of running through, the bamboo seems to wrap around the ship protectively, forming a shield-like barrier for the ship.

"Let 'er rip-!"

"Please wait."

Francis blinks. "…huh?" Caster ignores the confused stare of her temporary ally, and instead calls upon her magic once again. The dark atmosphere of the bounded field darkens, but the sky begins to glitter, as if a thousand stars had suddenly shined upon them. "That alternate Saber seems to not attack unless we move, so we must make as much preparations as possible."

Francis blinks again and looks toward the unmoving Saber, this time truly observing her enemy. And…Caster is right, despite them clearly standing in her peripheral view, Saber Alter had not moved from her spot, her eyes watching them passively, unblinking. There seems to be no consciousness in her, almost like an automaton.

"…huh." Francis parrots again, this time in understanding.

Caster nods, and pressing her palms down upon the Golden Hind's deck, she calls, "[Sovereign of The Moon]" The ship rumbles and slowly, the ship begins to rise from the ground, untouched by the gravity that binds all things onto the earth, though still anchored by the many shoots of bamboo around the ship. .

'Gravity negation?' Being a pirate, she doesn't quite understand the fundamental law of gravity, but she knows that her ship's suddenly able to fly around without the earth trying to pull it down, and she can't help but smirk at the prospect of flying her ship through the air.

But Caster isn't done.

"[Lunar Technology]" This time, Caster's magic heads into the cannons situated on the ship, and suddenly they shift. The previous gunpowder-powered cannons suddenly become electromagnetic railguns.

Caster stands, and taking a deep breath, she calls out once more.

"[Imperishable Night]"

The sky morphs. A moon far larger than possible appears in the night sky, and stars blink all around it, surrounding the natural satellite.

Of course, such a large moon is impossible, for it would've either crashed onto the earth or left orbit long ago. It is but an illusion casted by strange lunar magic, but for those unknowing, an illusion may as well be reality.

And in the world of magic, perceived reality is stronger than truth.

The illusion forms a bounded field around them, easily taking over the previous field. A connection, though thin it may be, between Francis and her master is suddenly reformed. All the combined effects of Caster's magic suddenly grow in the wake of the unending night, drawing their strength from the night sky.

Now, with her prana beginning to restore itself and her ship empowered beyond her wildest dreams, Francis grins.

"Let's go! [Golden Wild Hunt]!" The new railguns on her ship power up, and they soon fire, rocking the ship back slightly from the sheer force of the combined firing.

Instead of beams, a singular bolt of power is fired from each of her cannons, and they all fly, surpassing the speed of sound by over tenfolds. Saber Alter finally moves at the newly perceived threat, but despite her empowerment from Angra Mainyu, it's still very much too late. She manages to block three of the bolts, while a couple others make impact, tearing apart her armor and churning through the flesh under.

Still, no vital organs were injured in the attack, but weakness begins to settle in from the blood loss, and Saber Alter locks her eyes at her target. She rears back her sword, miasma gathering at its edge, and she swings it at the ship, a beam of dark energy following.

The beam travels fast, and in second in makes contact. Immediately, two rows of bamboo burn away, and another is torn. The final line holds for a second, before it too breaks, and the beam impacts the ship, tearing through the right side of the hull and disabling just under half of all the cannons on the ship.

The ship fires again, but Saber Alter is ready this time, and she narrowly evades the railgun projectiles. Caster adds her own attacks, firing beams of condensed moonlight at the charging servant, but it too misses. Even then, some of the magic pellets that hit are brushed aside by the altered Saber, her [Magic Resistance] too powerful for normal magic to penetrate through.

"I'll hold her off."

"Hey, hold on!" Caster ignores Francis' calls and climbs up atop the ship's bow. "Most of my magic is useless against her, and ones powerful enough take much too long. Your cannons are primed, and they can easily tear through her. The choice is obvious, no?" Saying that, Caster leaps off the ship.

She notches her arrow, and infusing it with her magic, she lets it fly. "[Bamboo of the Lost]!" The arrow lands right before Saber Alter and a forest of magical bamboo sprouts out from the ground, stopping her movement, even if only for a moment. A couple swings of that corrupted Excalibur is enough to cleave a path, and Saber Alter swiftly continues her charge.

Only to suddenly be hit by a giant pillar of light and be sent flying back, blood flying out of her wounds as she is flung. The attack did no damage, but it served to send Saber Alter back. As she stands, she glares at Caster, whose bow is already notched, with orbs of light floating around her.

"Go."

The orbs of light fly forward, morphing into arrows. Saber Alter quickly brings up her sword to block them, only for the arrows to suddenly form into a chain and wrap around her, tying her down. The arrow Caster notched is fired as well, and infused with lunar magic, it flies faster than possible. Seeing that, Saber Alter tilts her head slightly, and the arrow hits right onto the piece covering her eye, shattering that instead of piercing the side of her head.

The sickly golden eyes of the tyrant king is shown.

And suddenly all the chains around her body break from the energy gathering at her sword. She tightens her grip, and she swings, firing forward a burst of dark energy.

Caster realizes a second too late, and the beam easily cuts right through the unfinished bamboo forest she haphazardly created, before making impact against Caster's ċhėst. The beam cleaves right through her body, creating a cut right across her torso and burning away her flammable clothes and bow.

But, even then, she smiles.

"[Golden Wild Hunt]!" Francis' voice rings out behind her, and a sonic boom sounds as her railguns fire.

Saber Alter quickly brings her sword up to block, but an orb of light flies forward and knocks the sword away. Seeing this, she glares at the downed Caster and at her smile, before an explosion sounds and everything goes white.

Numbly, she looks down at her ċhėst, and at the new hole created right where her magic core once was. Blood rushes out from her mouth, and faced with sudden weakness, Saber Alter crumples down onto the dirt. Francis smirks in victory, and so does Caster, though her body hurt far too much for her to cheer like her ally.

Then, Saber Alter suddenly stands, and the cheer of victory quickly fades.

Despite the many wounds in her body, Saber Alter stands, her pale golden eyes glowing with purpose. In growing horror Caster watches as a new magic core begins to form in the hole where her old heart once was. Slowly, Saber Alter rears her sword back, gathering dark energy at its edge, and with a cry-

The Noble Phantasm is stopped by a sudden weight on her body, forcing Saber Alter down onto the earth. The weight on her back strengthens, and the earth begins to crack as the altered servant begins to sink into the dirt under the massive unseen weight. Saber growls in pain, trying to push herself up, but the little strength she has left after her bout fails to fight this new force.

Francis sighs in relief and smiles. "Took you long enough, Hanami."

"Mm. Sorry about that, I was a bit…busy." Hanami says as she slowly descends onto the ship, and…

'Something's…different?' It's only then that the pirate notices something strange about her current master. With her connection with Hanami restored, it's only now that she's felt the new gargantuan source of prana brewing under that seemingly normal appearance. Not only that, but since when was Hanami able to fly without using those rocket things?

'Thoughts for later.'

"Anyways, mind-, huh?" Francis looks back to the battlefield, but Saber Alter is long gone, with the only remnant of her presence being the large crack where she once was. Hanami looks confused for a moment, before her eyes flash blue, and her lips settle to a thin line.

"So it's beginning to move, huh…" Hanami says ominously, much to Francis' confusion, but she then smiles. "Oh well."

What?

"Hey~, Caster! You okay there?" At her call, Caster floats up onto the damaged ship, with her master by her side and an unconscious Gareth in her master's hand. "I am. No worries."

And then they begin to chat, as if the previous battle that just occurred never happened in the first place.

For the first time in her life, Francis finds herself rather taken aback by everything.

~~~

You know, seeing Gareth resting from her many injuries now, I can clearly see that I fuċkėd up.

Heck, that isn't even the complete Saber Alter. Angra Mainyu only sent that small fraction and it managed to deeply injure both Francis and Caster combined, so what does that say about the completed Saber Alter? Will she throw [Excalibur Morgan]s everywhere like she did in Sakura's route?

I sigh.

"Is she okay?" I hear Shirou ask from behind me, and I smile back in response. "She's fine. She just needs to sleep and she'll be as good as new."

"That's good." Shirou smiles too, before he then frowns. "But that's not all, is it?"

My smile grows just a bit darker.

"We're going to ȧssault the Matou Mansion tonight." I say, clenching my fists. "We've relaxed enough, and Angra's starting to act. It's time we move as well. I've already cut the connection between Irisviel and the grail when she was asleep, and since Ilyasviel is still in Germany, the other possible candidate as the grail's vessel is Sakura."

"…I see." I hear the sound of clashing swords from my trusted confidant, and my smile grows wider, knowing that he'll definitely join me in my endeavour. "Once we attack, we'll attract the attention of every magical being in Fuyuki." I say as I stand to face him. "So be ready for anything, okay?"

"Oh, and no dying on me, okay?"

Shirou smiles as he pats me on the head. "Don't worry."

We spend some time there, simply basking in each other's presence, knowing that this will be the last moment we'll have before the storm comes.

Then we leave the room and separate, heading towards our own destinations to begin our preparations for the ȧssault tonight.

Honestly, I feel pretty invincible right now, but I won't get conceited, knowing that such confidence will only lead to a slow and insidious death. So I'm checking on my armor and weapons, making sure they're in check and I'm not missing anything. I won't be casting any magecraft, since I want to save them for the inevitable fight later.

I also meet up with Francis to tell her of the incoming fight tonight, and as expected, she agrees. We hold a small talk to briefly discuss just what each of us can do, with her explaining the mechanics of her guns and her ship while I explained my powers. I did tell her of my massive prana pool and my ability to directly manipulate prana, along with my [Thunderer] and Mystic Eyes, but I withheld telling her about my Noble Phantasm and my more powerful skills.

Just in case she gets captured and my skills are leaked, you know?

…What? It's a possibility!

Anyways, now that I've briefed with Francis, I'm basically done. Caster and Waver already know of my plan, so they won't be shocked when the Matou Mansion suddenly goes up in smokes. Gareth will join if she wakes up before we go, though I doubt that'll happen seeing how weakened she was. I've left Saber and Kiritsugu out from this operation as well, since I fear that Kiritsugu's recent recovery will only lead to Saber being weakened, and with Zouken being kinda an unknown piece right now, I don't want to risk it.

And Gilgamesh…well, I somehow feel like she'll know what happens either way.

Now, all I need to do is wait for night to roll by, and it'll be time to begin our mission, one that will surely lead towards the end of this Fourth Holy Grail War.