Fate Of A Gamer

Saber looks at the amulet in her hands and frowns.

It's a dainty little thing; a simple circular plaque made of silver, with the image of a rising sun carved onto its surface. It was shiny, unnaturally so, and it glittered under the sunlight. Tied to it was an unassuming string, made from tightly coiled leather and made to have the amulet be worn around her neck.

But the feeling it gave is...frighteningly familiar. It pulsed with a bright, cleansing energy, and though Hanami had advised her to wear it, she finds herself reluctant to do so.

She isn't the only one to receive this, and most of the rest had already worn theirs, so with some trepidation, she slings the string over her head and lets the amulet clink against her ċhėst.

And magic rushes into her, playing a gentle melody, and she can't help but shiver at the hauntingly familiar warmth. But she can't do much about it, especially considering the news Hanami had dropped on them this very morning.

~~~

"Those amulets are enchanted with [Holy] energy." Hanami explained. "Make sure to wear them at all times. Well, except Shirou, since he doesn't need it, but-, eh, whatever."

Ritsuka had been the one to ask, staring at the amulet in her hands with no small curiosity, wincing slightly as the loud excited shouts of Da Vinci reverberated through the comms. Hanami turned to her, and with a small frown she spoke.

"That fever of yours yesterday, that wasn't because you were sick. " She began, taking a sip from the water bottle she pulled out from...somewhere. "Sometime before you fell ill, a dark taint, something of a similar breed to that monster Shirou killed a while ago, managed to get inside your body and started feasting on your magic circuits."

The entire throne room was silent.

"The taint was making itself home inside you in the beginning, which's why you didn't feel much. It's only when noon was approaching that the taint struck, diving into your magic circuits and draining you of your energy." She took another chug of her water, and screwed the empty bottle close. "If the thing stayed in your body for, maybe, another hour, you would've been dead."

And wasn't that a surprise. Everyone's eyes had shot to the now horrified Ritsuka, and the girl had simply looked down at the amulet in her hands and gulped.

"The reason why I forced everyone to leave after I brought you back was to take the taint out." She continued. "That, and I wanted to do some investigating on my own."

"Hanami." Shirou quickly cut off. "What do you mean?"

The magician went silent for a moment, before the space beside her began to pulse. She dipped her hand into the distortion, and she pulled out a dark, almost slime-like blob, wiggling and shivering on the girl's hand.

"This is what it looks like." She said as she gave the thing a couple pokes. "Don't worry about it moving. It doesn't have the ability to move, but don't touch it either, since it'll begin suċkɨnġ your prana dry."

"...Interesting." Gilgamesh whispered, leaning forward from his throne as he glared at the offending little thing. "It holds some [Divinity], yet it's incomplete, a fetus of a divine being."

"Yep. That's pretty much it." She dipped the taint back into the distorted space beside her, putting it away before anything terrible could happen. "If it'd finished eating on Ritsuka's magic circuits and turning her into a husk, the taint would've taken over your body, and you'd turn into an [Incomplete Lahmu]."

"If I may ask, Hanami-san." Ushi said, and Hanami turned to the warrior. "You'd said that one mustn't touch the evil taint. Then why did you not suffer any adversity when you held it atop your hand?"

"My magic's poisonous to it." She explained with a shrug. "[Divine] it might be, but it's still somewhat [Demonic] in nature, so my magical energy heavily damages it."

Everyone stared. Hanami blinked, and blinked again. "...Anyways, when a corpse becomes an [Incomplete Lahmu], it'll go off to Tiamat-, or at least her dwelling place, and grow and turn into a fully-grown [Lahmu], which was the thing Shirou killed a while ago, and the monster Mash and I fought the day before." .

"...wait, Mash, you-" Ritsuka turns and stares, and the shielder could only shyly laugh. It wasn't quite her fault, considering she was very much tired from the day before.

"...Thankfully," She continues. "The evolution of an [Incomplete Lahmu] to a fully-grown [Lahmu] takes quite a bit of time, so that gives us some time. It also helps that the ones that were created were still just experiments."

Then, Hanami frowned, and the bright sky seemed to darken. "But there's already a lot of [Incomplete Lahmu] that were created. They just need to decide on the perfect [Lahmu] form and start transforming at once. And if that happens, well…" She let the sentence hang, but the implied threat was clear.

"To make things worse, those things learn incredibly fast." She added. "If I was to...put it to numbers, then their skills had the potential to jump around 20, maybe 30 levels in the span of a minute. As an example, the [Lahmu] Mash and I fought started out being pretty bad at attacking, but after only a minute or so, the thing could probably fight against Heroic Spirits."

The throne room was silent once more.

'And isn't that terrific?' Saber can't help but sigh. She had heard bits and pieces about this monster from Shirou's encounter, but to learn all of that?

Although, to have gathered so much information from so little, and in so little time…

It proves that those mystic eyes Hanami has are incredible, and definitely much more powerful than Hanami claims them to be.

But if Hanami had been a foe instead of an ally…

Saber shivers at the implications. If Hanami was truly an opponent she had to face, then she'd have all of her information taken. Hanami would immediately learn of her strengths and weaknesses, of her likes and dislikes, of her history and her life, and of the Noble Phantasms she could use.

Thankfully, Hanami had been introduced into the moonlit through Shirou, and so that was impossible.

But what if she'd learnt from another source?

...Considering that parallel universes exist, such a scenario surely exists in a distant world.

Sighing, Saber shakes her head and pushes the thoughts away. This isn't really the time to be thinking of such things.

And leaps back as the ground where she stood upon suddenly combusts into flames. She lands, digging her foot into the dirt as she swings her Excalibur, clashing it against a golden claymore. She stands her ground, shifting her grip to push forward, when the strength behind her opponent's sword suddenly doubles, and she's fȯrċɨbŀƴ flung back.

With a shout, Saber stabs her sword into the ground, dragging herself to a stop. Pulling her blade out, she leaps back, just in time to avoid the claymore that came her way.

Slowly, the dust clears, and Saber narrows her eyes.

The one that stands before her is a girl, with her hair long and yellow and her eyes an unnatural gold. A yellow kimono is loosely worn over her lithe body, decorated by the bright yellow fire that dances all around her.

But most telling are the two horns on her forehead.

An oni. She distantly recalls from the knowledge the grail granted her, though the information she has is scarce, and most likely useless. All she knows is that this oni has control over fire, has a claymore filled with curses, and is most likely filled with a ŀust for battle, seeing as her lips are curved to a mad grin.

"Not bad, girl." The oni says, hefting her claymore over her shoulder. "So, Ibaraki-Douji's the name. What's yours?"

"...Arturia Pendragon." She says slowly, silently casting [Reinforcement] on her armor.

Ibaraki's eyes shot open. "Well, if it isn't King Arthur herself!" She says, feral excitement clear in her voice. "This false world's filled with all kinds of wonderful people-, except for the one bitchy girl I have to work with. Ugh."

Saber eyes the girl oddly, though she can't help but smile slightly. "I thank you for the compliment."

"I aim to please." She says with an exaggerated bow.

Saber remains silent for a moment, contemplating, before she lowers her sword. "If I may ask," She begins. "Must we fight?"

"Why not?" Ibaraki shrugs. "I get to fight, I get to kill humans, and when all of this is over, I get a chance to get a wish. What's there not to like?"

But Saber maintains her stare, clearly unconvinced by the oni's words, and Ibaraki sighs. "...Well, not like I can help it. My will has been chained, and there ain't anything I can do. Still," She grins. "At least I'm on the winning side."

"Oh? Truly?" Saber bites back with a small smile. Odd as it may be, but she can find no hatred or malice that she can direct towards the oni. There is only understanding, and a strange small spark of excitement. "Perhaps I should show you which side you're truly on?"

"Oya? Not bad, girl." Ibaraki grins, and her fire grows as she swings her claymore down. "But let's see if that bark of yours has any bite!"

And with that declaration, Ibaraki leaps forward with incredible speed, but Saber is ready now, and quickly she swings her sword forward, clashing her sword against the claymore. Once again, Saber feels Ibaraki's strength suddenly increase, but unlike before, Saber remains in place as she fights the increased strength with her own.

Then, she slides forward, letting the claymore crash against the earth as Saber thrusts her sword towards the oni's stomach.

But fire suddenly springs forth from Ibaraki's side, and Saber swiftly leaps back. She spins in the air, catching a glimpse of Ibaraki's outstretched hand, and her eyes shoot wide open as she sees fire gathering around her hand, forming into a giant smoldering fist made of flames.

"Fly! [Great Grudge of Rashomon]!"

And at her call, the flaming fist is fired, racing quickly towards the airborne knight. Even at a distance, Saber can feel the powerful heat the fist carries, feel the cloth underneath her armor begin to burn, and so she makes a decision.

Pumping prana into her sword, she reinforces her hand as a vortex of wind forms, gathering a powerful storm onto her sword. She tightens her grip, and facing the incoming fist, she shouts.

"[Invisible Air]!"

At her behest, the gathered winds fire off in a powerful column of concentrated wind. The attack quickly makes contact with Ibaraki's Noble Phantasm, and in a brilliant explosion, the two forces collide. Winds and fire are shot out, and Saber quickly brings her sword up to defend against the blast.

It works, to an extent. The force of the explosion sends her crashing into the earth, though the impact is negligible to her natural vitality, The heat of the blast dealt much more however, with some pieces of her brėȧstplate having been melted, and much of the cloth on her shoulders have been burnt off.

Well, no worries.

Now then, shall she return the favor?