Fate Of A Gamer

Gareth had been, and always will be a side character. She wasn't bright like her master, nor was she powerful and regal as her king, nor was she boisterous and proud like Francis, and she definitely didn't have the qualities befitting that of a knight. She was just a squire that was promoted far too quick, and no matter what the people around her had said, she'd always see herself as a squire.

'But-!'

As she stands before the legendary Lancer in front of her, she holds herself with confidence. Knights do not back down from a challenge, and though she may be unqualified, she still not disappoint.

"Maa, this is a first…" The Lancer, Li Shu Wen, idly says as he takes a look at the crumbling surroundings around them. Gareth has to agree with him on that. She'd seen battlefields after battlefields, but this is the first time she's come to witness the world around her crumbling, with bursts of magical energy sprouting all around them and shooting to the skies above.

Distantly, the sounds of fire and explosions fly, originating from the bout between Sir Francis and the ancient Indian deity.

It makes her feel somewhat inadequate actually, seeing them flying through the air and exchanging attacks that blew up parts of the earth on their impact. The sentiment seems to be shared by her opponent however, as he looks to them with a rather wry smile. "That as well." He says, before turning to her, grinning. "So, ready, little girl?"

"...Yes." She takes a step back and tightens her grip on her nameless lance. Li grins back, taking a stance, his nameless spear pointed at her.

Silence stretches on, both combatants staring at one another, light blue to deep red. Then, as the earth cracks and a building topples over,

The two leap forward.

Clang!

A loud bang shoots out as the two polearms clash. They remain locked for a moment, before Gareth's superior strength wins and knocks Li's spear into the ground. Stunned by the girl's surprising strength, Li flinches back, and that short moment was enough for Gareth to land a deep kick into the man's abdomen, sending him flying back.

Technically, she should not have won that bout. Her strength is inferior to the man, but somehow, by Hanami intervention, the armor she wears is giving her parameter a boost. She remembers her master saying something along the lines of 'adding some passive effects to it', but what that truly entails she knows not.

She attempts to follow up with another attack, but the Li quickly leaps back, his speed faster than hers despite their similar agility. He lands, and bending down close to the ground, he rushes forward, his spear blurring as it is thrusted. Gareth bȧrėly manages to defend, using the bulky back of her lance to divert the thrust, but this time she's the one left open, and Li moves. His spear snaps to the left, hitting her across her rib and sending her tumbling to the side.

She quickly recovers her footing and deflects the spear heading her way, before using her lance's odd structure to trap the spear and tugging it back, and Li along with it. Then, with as much force she can muster, she sends a powerful punch onto his ċhėst, sending him crashing onto the ground.

An unknightly move it may have been, but she was a squire, so that doesn't count, right?

Li quickly kicks her back, sending her away and backing away. Gareth skids to a stop and rushes forward once more while Li bends forward, ready to meet her head on. But before that could happen, the ground under them cracked and gave away. Both Lancers lost their footing, and they soon found themselves falling into the opening cracks in the earth.

Using the falling rocks as platforms, the two Lancers continue their charge at one another, trading strikes at any opportunity. When Li comes too close, Gareth would respond by using her kicks and fists, and if she came too close, Li would strike back with his lightning fast kicks. Soon the falling rocks became weapons as well, with Gareth kicking them at the fake Lancer and Li kicking them back.

Bang!

Gareth lets out a silent cry as she crashes onto the rocky walls, and before she can move, Li kicks her in her ċhėst, sending her through the wall and out onto the other side.

And just under her is a rampaging leyline, with the planet's mana exploding wildly into the air. .

Gritting her teeth, Gareth bears through the pain of having her skin burn, quickly finding a rock big enough for her to jump from before leaping back. She rears her lance back, and with as much strength as she can muster, she slams her lance into the wall she'd been sent through.

Cracks spread through the rocky structure, shining blue, before it falls apart. Li's on the other side, standing on a falling platform and his spear already poised. She slows her momentum, and with ease from her years of strange training under her brother, she kicks the many rocks falling around her towards the red-haired lancer.

The man easily deflects them, but he's taken aback when Gareth's bulky lance is thrown with speeds rivalling a rocket. He manages to block it in time, sending the lance barreling away before stabbing onto the rocky wall nearby, but the sudden throw causes him to miss the speeding rock coming his way, and he's pelted right on the forehead.

Pain shoots through his nerves, and before he can move away, a missile in the form a blonde girl hits him directly in the stomach, and this time it's him that's crashing onto a rocky wall. And not long after, a fist strikes his ċhėst, sending him tumbling through and out the other side of the wall.

Acting quickly, Gareth retrieves her lance before breaking through the wall to follow him.

"I thank you, fellow Lancer." He says, his spear burning with might. "Though we stand on opposite sides, I'll look forward 'til the day we meet once again!"

Gareth's eyes widen in realization, and she looks around to see no platform for her to get to.

"Observe carefully, the exquisite skill of the Liu He Da Qiang!" The air around him ripples, the stone he stands on cracks, and a tornado is kicked up as his spear shines. "My spear will rectify the one-hit kill!"

"There is absolutely no contradiction to this spear!"

His body crackles with golden light, his very essence being poured into this one attack.

"With this divine spear, there shall be no second strike!"

With one last cry, Li leaps forward, the world breaking apart around him as his spear is thrust. The words he said take into effect, and the world rewrites itself, turning its laws for the Noble Phantasm to work. Space swirls around the tip of his spear, and Gareth finds herself trapped, unable to move away from the spear.

For this was the spear of gods, and none shall halt its strike.

And so, the spear strikes true, causing a loud metallic clang as it stabs right through Gareth's ċhėst and drawing blood. The knight coughs as blood rushes out of her lungs, pain overtaking her every sense.

But Gareth doesn't disappear.

'What?'

Slowly, with his weakening sight he sees what's gone wrong. The spear had indeed struck true, stabbing through her ċhėst and out the other side, but-

It didn't hit her heart.

His eyes widen, too late to realize that Gareth had used her lance as a shield to direct his spear away and stab her in her lungs instead, sacrificing the lance in the process.

Slowly, the girl opens her eyes, and her bright green eyes shine.

"No...I must thank you as well, Sir Li." With her strength, she rips both their weapons away, throwing them down into the rising lava below. "Though I...may not have been a true knight, I thank you for...not holding back!"

She rears her arm back, and though her lance is gone, the skill and experience she'd gained in her lifetime still remains.

She may not hold a legendary weapon like the other knights of the table, but she cares not. She remembers clearly what her king had said to her, of the small proud and understanding smile she'd held as she expressed her concerns of not having anything special.

"Then make your own." She'd said, and Gareth took those words to heart, polishing the one skill she had an affinity with.

So, though she may not have her lance, and though she may not be on horseback, Gareth shifts her stance, dropping into a form fitting for a jouster getting ready to charge, a wolf waiting for its moment to pound. She lets out a misty breath, one painfully created from her punctured lungs, and as blood flows out from her wounds, she calls the name of her Noble Phantasm.

"[Ira Lupus]!"

Her skill at jousting given mystic form, solidified by the words and images King Arthur had departed onto her.

With the fluidity of an ocean wave and the ferocity of a wolf, she pounces. She slams her fist onto him, then another, and then another, and soon her fists blur as tens of punches rain down onto the red-haired lancer all at once. Li can only cry in pain as he watches the girl beat down on him, her green eyes burning in bright green flames.

Then, with one final cry, she sends one more punch onto his abdomen. Wind blasts out as Li rockets away from her, heading down and crashing into the magma-filled caverns below. A blast of hot magma explodes up from Li's impact, and before long, the fake Lancer is swallowed by the bubbling magma.

Somehow, she imagines a smile forming on his face as he burns away.

The thought gives her comfort as she closes her eyes as well, unable to keep herself awake.