Important author note at the ends of chapter
***
"Lancer!"
Everything went wrong.
It was supposed to be the most optimal place and I even used a divination ritual to pick the spot with the greatest luck in our favor.
Yet things went sideways so incredibly much that if this was supposed to be good fortune then she had no idea what misfortune might even be.
Because unless a meteorite was going to fall on my head I doubt things could have possibly gone worse than now.
I ran to refuge myself, I couldn't allow myself to stand in such close proximity to two Servants battling it out, especially when my monocle pretty much showed me the monstrous condensation of Mystery the boy's Servant was. It was like a miracle given the shape of a man.
His very form was a Mystery in its own right.
[Archer, test his strength, if it gets bad tell me immediately. I will get us out with a command spell.]
[Yes.]
Afterward I eavesdropped on their discussion and heard something strange.
'Ruler? What is that? Is he just messing with us because he discovered Archer lied about his class?'
His fighting style was very strange to say the list, he shooted weapons from portals and they were all noble phantasms too, it certainly didn't help identifying who he was but this fighting style was actually something that might help them find the truth.
Among Archer's personal skills there was an ability called Reach Towards Wisdom(EX). It was a monstrous multipurpose ability that recognized a variety of things like the enemy's weakness and other information given enough time to process it, it could even change parts of the information stored inside Archer's own saint graph.
Among these things the most important now was especially changing the information stored inside of the core of a Servant, the saint graph.
Noble Phantasms were essentially part of a Servant's saint graph because of this it was impossible to wield another's Noble Phantasm without their permission. Of course, stealing a Noble Phantasm from a Servant was nigh impossible in nine out ten cases.
But if the enemy just threw them like projectiles, stealing one of them was easy enough.
And once he wielded one he could match his own saint graph to trick the weapons, with this the time needed for figuring out the enemy's identity would be a few seconds at best.
[He wasn't lying, Master.] Archer's voice came from their mental link transmitting information at high speed during their fighting. [His class is really called Ruler. And to make it worse, he is that guy you researched when you purchased information about the fourth grail war. This guy is humanity's oldest hero…]
[!!] Now… that was a terrifying prospect. [...So he's king Gilgamesh, but I thought his class was Archer. What even is a Ruler?]
[I do not know yet, it certainly wasn't among the information the grail provided, can you provide me with a smokescreen?]
[On it.] I immediately utilized my bounded field made from my mystic code, the Etherlite. I used Material Transmutation on it and thanks to all the energy the king of heroes released in the air I could utilize that to power my spells as well.
SHIIIIIII
My magic circuits hummed as I converted the materials of the threads of the Etherlite into multiple different materials to layer different magic circles on top of each and made various spells rain down on Ruler.
I also used the bounded field to connect my sight to the battlefield and tried to peer into his parameters and it was monstrous to say the least, the additional information provided by Archer's ability through our link made it even worse.
Master: ???
Class: Ruler
True Name: Gilgamesh
Gender: Male
Height/Weight: 182cm, 68kg
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Parameters
Strength:B
Endurance:A
Agility:B
Mana:A
Luck:A
Noble Phantasm:EX
Truly a monster and to add insult to injury.
Class Skills
Magic Resistance: A
Independent Action: EX
This guy probably didn't even waste his Master magical energy, and I thought my Archer's Independent Action(A) was insane.
I wouldn't be preoccupied normally as Archer had so many class skills that it's nearly unbelievable but the problem was that a servant already notorious as one who allegedly had all Noble Phantasms inside his vault now nearly didn't even waste magical energy with it.
[Good news, Master, I figured out what a Ruler is.] Archer relayed new information as he was fighting Gilgamesh. [They aren't participants in the war but just supervisors of it summoned by the counter force.]
[Wait, are you saying…]
[We might have indeed invaded their territory and angered them. Though to be honest they appear to have quite the temper.]
[Dammit, any chances we can negotiate? I didn't even send Rani II with the intent to kill him.]
In that same moment Gilgamesh told Archer he might consider it if he survives while groveling to the ground.
It was too late to regret it. They might have stood a chance if Archer could use his second noble phantasm but they didn't have the resources for it yet, at least not enough to defeat Ruler. The only chance would be using a command spell but she doubted that it would solve the problem.
Killing his master would also be useless, I feared he didn't even need one in the first place right now.
The only solution here would be…
[Archer–]
[I know, I'm on it already.]
Good, it seemed I didn't need to remind him but I had no time to lose as well. I needed to prepare for an escape route.
I moved the Etherlite's string that surrounded the whole school's building to prepare the creation of various decoys. I had to wait until the last moment to shift everything in place as I couldn't risk him finding out accidentally.
I made my way to one of the empty classrooms to prepare the bounded field, I connected my senses and felt all the presence inside the school, I had already made everyone move to the school gym while fighting Ruler's Master before so the only people outside of it were me, Ruler and Archer who were outside fighting, Rani IV who's passed out in a staircase and Rani III who had her face caved in in the hallways from the boy's…
"Wait…Where is he?" I looked at every corner inside the school, he wasn't in the classroom he was in before, there was a barrier outside but it didn't block me from looking inside.
I searched all over the school building once again but I couldn't find a single trace of him, it was like he disappeared into thin air.
TUK
I immediately turned around as soon as I heard a sound coming from behind my back, the classroom's sliding door opened.
"..."
But there was nobody on the other side, I checked using my bounded field but no one was in the hallway, the only person in this area was just me.
But the door couldn't have opened by itself…
FWUSH
I didn't take any chance and used the remaining parts of the Etherlite I could still use at hand and inspected the area. They gave back no response so there should have been nothing other than air but–
twach
They definitely pierced something now. I couldn't see what it was but the strings met an ever so tiny resistance in there so I definitely pierced something and yet the strings told me there was only air in there. What was happening?
THWAKKKK
'Huh!?' Out of nowhere something hard hit me straight in the face. It was a shoe…
'Damn it!' And it was packed with magical energy.
BOOM
My face burned from the explosion sending my monocle flying somewhere in the room, I managed to dampen the impact by using my Etherlite at the last moment to swat the shoe away as it was bursting.
I managed to avoid the worst of the explosion but the danger wasn't over. Something grabbed me by the crook of the neck and in the same motion–
SLASH
–slitted my throat while I was still too stunned to react.
Maybe due to the close contact now I could catch a glimpse of what attacked me. It was the same boy from before, completely shirtless but now healed up and wrapped with a black scarf around his neck and a bloodied wooden knife in his left hand right before my face.
***
BAAM BAAM BAAM BAAM
The now old Archer fired multiple blue bolts out of thin air to meet the weapons flying in his direction. He then threw the guan dao in his hand straight to Gilgamesh but he just intercepted it by firing a trident from his treasury.
After his sudden aging he grew a fluffy long beard with the mustache especially sticking out, his hair now grayed out and taking the shape of a bird's wing on the top of his head and tied in a neat ponytail on his nape that reached all the way to his buttocks. His clothing also changed, his armor was now replaced by a long black robe with a golden star shaped pin holding it together, other starslike shapes all across its edges with other golden ornaments hanging from his golden pin tracing around his shoulder and along the length of his shoulders was also a blue cloth was tied around like a scarf of sorts with dark blue strips marred in white dots like stars in the night sky coming down vertically from it.
"Hey, I gave it back. Any chance that could count for something and we make peace? We could even drink some tea as well to let bygones be byegones." Old Archer gave a hearty rhetorical laugh.
"Not a chance." Gilgamesh shook his head with his usual smirk marring his face.
"Well, at least I tried." A book appeared out of thin air in Archer's hand as it glowed in a blue light before nine spheres of light formed a circle standing in front of him. They quickly started spinning at high speed before firing bullets in quick succession like a machinegun.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOOOM
Multiple shields from the Gate of Babylon stood in the way of the bullets made of light and stopped them from hitting Gilgamesh as they raised a big cloud of smoke from the explosions.
From the smoke bolted out the figure of the Young Archer with a long sword and his shield in his hands. He charged at him straight without fear.
"At least you certainly play your part quite well." Gilgamesh snorted as a golden axe with a long handle came from his gate and was fired at Archer.
CLANG CRACK
His shield shattered in half in exchange for parrying the axe.
'Ugh my poor shield, it broke again.' Archer lamented the loss of his shield for the second time inside his mind but continued charging undaunted.
"Ho, are you so intent on approaching me, Archer?" Gilgamesh taunted him after destroying the already damaged shield.
"Of course! How am I going to win if I don't?" Archer roared as in a burst of light he sped up decreasing the distance between the two of them drastically.
Gilgamesh fired multiple weapons from his Gate of Babylon, but Archer just took a straight line without avoiding a single attack as he closed the distance. He then catched one of the spears headed his way before throwing it back.
FWUSH
Gilgamesh just tilted his head to the side to avoid the hit, the smile on his face slightly widening.
Archer was now right in front of his face.
"Nice armor." Gilgamesh commented before the space between the two of them compressed and pushed him backward so he could avoid the incoming attack.
"Thanks for the compliment, much appreciated." Archer was smiling bitterly as Gilgamesh seemingly recognized what his main noble phantasm was in this form, however he charged through the compressed remnant of space without avoiding it, most Servants could easily break through things like this, especially so for someone like him.
'Just a little more.' Archer thought as he continued pursuing Gilgamesh. Until he was forced to stop dead in his tracks.
Gilgamesh floated high in the sky, looking down at Archer. "What's wrong? Can't fly?"
"...Show off." Archer scoffed lightheartedly at the sight.
"Of course. It's because I can afford to, my Master isn't holding me back after all."
'With that sort of Independent Action who wouldn't?' Archer cursed him in his mind. Of course, if he wanted to, he could have jumped to that height, but once in the air his movements would be much more limited than someone who could actively fly.
"So? You want to stay down there staring at me all day?" Gilgamesh smirked from his high ground.
"Nah." Archer quipped back with a bold smile on his face. "I'm just thinking about how to drag you down here."
"I see. A pity it is not possible to drag me down unless I were to allow it."
"That…" A soft light enveloped Archer before his clothes changed and his appearance aged considerably again. "Is to be seen then."
A multitude of books appeared, floating in the air as they opened by themselves with the pages continuously flipping back and forth.
In a single instant Archer started sharing the control of his Master's bounded field while multiple new ones overlapped with it. "From now on, no more flying king Gilgamesh."
"Fiiiiuh." Gilgamesh whistled as his body started slowly making a descent toward the ground like a leaf falling from a tree.
"You are so arrogant." Gilgamesh elegantly landed on the rooftop of the school.
"Look who's talking." Old Archer scoffed in a manner befitting his apparent age as he jumped up in the air.
"Never get tired of the same old frontal charge?" Weapons flew from the Gate of Babylon, twenty seven in total, all flying in the direction of the jumping old man.
"Of course I do." A flash of light enveloped Archer's figure as he disappeared.
"Hm?" Surprised Gilgamesh turned his head behind, the old man was now behind his back.
"OOHH!" Archer, who had teleported behind him, held a greatsword in his hand. This time the light enveloping it wasn't blue but yellow, like that of the sun.
CLANG
The sword met a shield Gilgamesh was able to call at the last moment, but Archer wasn't done yet.
He discarded his sword and climbed over the shield like a young man jumping over an fence. He clenched both his hands into fists intent on engaging in close combat with his bare hands.
"!!" Gilgamesh jumped back and fired eight spears in his direction.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
But Archer punched them all away with his hands, now enveloped in his usual blue light forming two spheres around his fists.
Archer teleported again with another flash of light, appearing behind his back once again.
"Tch, do you think I'm blind?" Gilgamesh snorted, the portal on his changed angle and aimed precisely where Archer was standing, raining a barrage of weapons on his position.
BOOOOOOOM
"..." Gilgamesh stopped and took a step back from the explosion. The rooftop had given in making Archer fall to a floor below inside the school. 'Why didn't he dodge?'
BANG
The sound of ringing metal echoed from the cloud of dust where Gilgamesh believed Archer to be.
BANG
The sound echoed again.
BANG BANG BANG
And then again.
"What the hell are you doing, Archer?" Gilgamesh couldn't hold it and asked him.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
"I…" The dust was blown away by a strong shockwave revealing the young Archer. He was a bit bruised and dirty but it looked like he didn't actually get injured by any of the attacks he received.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
The air and light seemed slightly distorted in his surroundings, the source of the sound was the result of hitting his chestplate with his hands continuously.
"...Am adding the finishing touches to repay you for charging me up!" Archer roared, making Gilgamesh raise an eyebrow in confusion.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Archer had previously disregarded some of Gilgamesh's attacks, taking them head on while avoiding others. The purpose of it all was to prepare for an attack while he still couldn't notice the trick behind it or that something suspicious was going on.
Archer had two noble phantasms, well he had his weapons too but they held no name and their performances weren't that outstanding compared to other heroes' so they weren't really his true trump cards.
One noble phantasm for his younger self and one for his older self.
His older self noble phantasm consumed too much mana, so even if he wanted to now he wouldn't be able to use it now unless they sacrificed a command spell but he still hoped to not escalate the fight that much and finish it before then.
So he used his only viable solution to try and defeat Ruler.
His first noble phantasm was the armor he was wearing, it could convert any and all types of energy into light and heat. Which meant that so long as certain conditions were met this noble phantasm could be used without wasting a single spec of mana from either the servant or the master.
Until now, all Archer did was tanking blow after blow and sneakily used Gilgamesh's attacks to charge his own noble phantasm and he was confident that right now it was stronger than ever.
And on top of it, he added some more kinetic energy now by hitting himself repeatedly while Gilgamesh observed him in confusion. Now was finally the time to strike.
The true name of the noble phantasm was that of the mirror that served as the center of the lighthouse of Alexandria.
BANG
"PHAROS TIS ALEXANDREIAS!!!"
The one that was obtained by Ptolemaeus I Soter in his adventures with the king of Macedonia Iskandar also known as Alexander Magnus.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
From his chest a giant torrent of red-azure light erupted like a ray, all concentrated to aim at Gilgamesh and powered up by the virtue of all the strikes Gilgamesh hit him with.
On his part Gilgamesh quickly reacted once he realized the danger he was in, bringing out many shields to stop the massive attack. He had realized his opponents' noble phantasm was the armor but with most of the abilities in his eyes sealed he didn't know the specifics of it.
'My shields are melting!' Gilgamesh gaped in surprise at the sight. He was preparing to bring out more of them but the situation was overturned by someone else before he could.
FWUSH
TWAAKK
"HUH!?" Archer was hit in the cheek by a flying shoe.
BAM
"Argh! My eyes!" Which then exploded, it didn't hurt him one bit but it sure blinded him for a second.
"Pffft AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" Gilgamesh laughed as he used the chance to shoot four noble phantasms to crumble the ground below Archer's feet.
"You got caught lacking by a child, Archer!" Gilgamesh continued roaring in laughter as Archer fell to the ground floor.
His ray of light now hitting the sky and breaking the top of the bounded fields.
For people looking from outside the bounded fields it must have looked like at about five hundred meters above the school in the air a flood of light appeared out of nowhere. In the future it would be reported as a cumulus of natural gases high up in the air that combusted spontaneously due to the release of certain chemicals, but it was another story.
"Dammit!" Archer bolted out of the rubble from the ground floor and Gilgamesh, still snickering, descended from the rooftop. The two met in the first floor's hallway.
They stood in front of each other but something caught their attention from the corner of their eyes before they could continue fighting.
***
A few moments beforehand
My neck was cut.
The boy took me by surprise. I could guess that maybe the scarf or the knife helped him do that as it was the same as when I couldn't detect him until lunch break, so that must be why he was running to his classroom.
I quickly maneuvered multiple strings to sew back the wound and used alchemy to reattach the flesh to stop the bleeding. Body modifications of this level are basic skills any respectable alchemist is capable of accomplishing.
'I mustn't let him go, if we break body contact I fear I would no longer be able to see his position. Also my Etherlite seems to be now incapable of locating his nerves and targeting them.' She quickly tied a string around both of their waists to stop the boy from getting further than fifty centimeters away from me.
Her mystic code, Etherlite, targeted the enemy's nervous system, even if someone were to cut the strings they would burn and destroy the nerves of the other person killing them or paralyzing them for life.
'But before this guy had blown them all away destroying them completely with his shirt so they didn't burn him and now the strings cannot locate his nervous system. Is all his wardrobe an amalgamation of super mystic codes?'
The boy raised his right wrapped in the undershirt he was wearing before. If he were to hit me in the face with that I would probably end up like Rani IV.
I activated Thoughts Acceleration and the boy slowed down but only inside of my perception, I simultaneously used Memory Partition to analyze the current situation to think of a solution. Subsequently I used to my advantage the fact that we were inside my bounded field and set the coordinates for a spell by remotely activating mystic codes on my body.
I couldn't see the boy with neither my mystic codes nor bounded fields, all I could rely on was my own sight. So I calculated his speed, angle and force.
Then all I needed to do was wait for a single instant.
I used the seeds inside my uniform to create an impromptu mystic code using alchemy.
I made them into Bong Tree seeds. The same tree mentioned in Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat. The seeds sprouted into hard wood, they couldn't defend against the power of this boy's unusual clothes but I could still block the rest of his perfectly normal arm.
"!" The boy gave a brief look at his arm, which was now completely immobilized inside a tree, before turning his head back in my direction.
I quickly used a gem of malachite from my pocket and transmuted it into a vorpal blade. It was a conceptual weapon made from the tale of the nursery rhyme of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. I wasn't physically gifted, rather I was really far from it but with reinforcement magecraft I could still use a sword without problem for a short while.
FWUSH
I stabbed towards the boy's face, aiming to end his life right in this instant.
"Ptuh." However he spitted something from his mouth and–
BOOM
CRANK
–it exploded and destroyed my vorpal blade.
'What? What kind of metaphysical weight is this?' In my accelerated perception I could see what he spat on the sword, they were some pieces of wood. Then I noticed that the knife in his hand was missing half its handle.
'He kept the pieces in his mouth to use as a last resort.' I could see the knife's handle starting to reform but I had no time to pay attention to it for now.
FWUSH
I ducked under the amateurish swing from the knife in his left hand, thankfully he didn't seem to be trained in martial arts. And I was not about to let such a thing not turn to my advantage.
THWAACK
THWAKK THWAAKK
I hit him in the chin once with my knuckles, elbowed his left arm away and kneed him on his spleen.
The distance between our bodies had to be kept to a maximum range of fifty centimeters between our two waists so it was an extremely close quarter fight. I didn't try to grab his scarf, I suspected it might even have been one of the king of heroes' noble phantasms that he lent to the boy and if I were to take it with my bare hands they might burn down to the bone.
THWAAK
I hit his cheek with my elbow.
Meanwhile with my accelerated perception I could see from the corner of my eyes that the boy was removing the reinforcement spell from his wooden knife. 'Did he give up?'
The he hastily reapplied but so horribly that it failed and broke the making its handle snap in half–
'Wait!?' I realized too late what he was doing, he flicked his weapon to hold the half of the handle that lacked the blade between his thumb and index finger. He reinforced it and immediately flicked it with his thumb towards me.
BAM
I tried swatting it away like before with his shoe but we were too close and the impact hit both of us.
The explosion at least wasn't big thankfully but it still injured me. On the other hand the boy was already moving but I could see that without problems.
I quickly used my elbow to push away his swinging left arm by hitting the center of his forearm and kicked away his left leg that tried to hit me from below.
Fighting with him in a battle of mysteries was not gonna work anyway and if I made another Bong Tree the other one would weaken its concept so engaging him in martial arts was the best solution for now.
THWAAK
I hit his nose with another elbow strike, making him bleed. After that I avoided his thrust with the knife and kneed him on his left flank once again.
CRACK
'This guy…he doesn't even scream.' He was weaker than I was and I now that I was thinking more clearly I doubted those clothes were his own works to begin with, he never used any spell apart from reinforcement and exploding his clothes by overloading them.
However, fighting him felt extremely creepy.
THWAKKK
His eyes especially. Even as I continued hitting him blow after blow his eyes continued looking at me like I wasn't even an object . It felt like everything he looked at was just the same as a rock on the sidewalk,no, maybe the right term would be that he was looking at me as if he was a different species of lifeform looking at an alien(me). It didn't really bother me that he had a strange gaze but the fact that I had met one person with a remarkably similar look.
And that person wasn't human.
He was a dead apostle.
And not any run of the mill bloodsucker but an extremely powerful one.
THWAAK
'Stay calm. He's human, he's not like him.' I hit him once again as I calmed myself, it didn't require much effort. Keeping control of oneself is a skill any alchemist must learn, especially when the most basic spells of alchemy involve your own brain.
THWAAAK THWAAAKK THWAK THWAAAK
It was only the same gaze, he wasn't a dead apostle and much less someone on the same level as that man, as my father. And he wasn't something similar to him like my sister.
THWAAAK
"Cogh." I punched his throat making him cough blood. His entire body was once again buttered, bruised and bloodied.
'Why?' Even my hands were starting to ache.
THWAK
'He should have passed out already. Why is he still awake? Or rather, how?' I had hit his head and neck enough times and hard enough that they all should have counted for several concussions at least and not light ones.
As an alchemist I studied the human body in great detail since a young age, in a way I was no different from an expert surgeon if not maybe even more incredibly better. I obviously knew how to make a person pass out but he wasn't going down.
I tried killing him before but he was reinforcing his vital points much better than everything else so it wasn't possible with my bare hands but I couldn't even make him pass out.
I couldn't maintain reinforcement on my body for much longer, maybe another two minutes at most but I didn't have the luxury to hope for him to die before that and I had to prepare an escape route for me and Archer too.
"Are you thinking a lot?" A raspy whisper came from the boy's mouth as he slashed at me again.
I was confused by his remark but I didn't let it bother me and ducked under his blow again. I prepared to punch his ribs when I noticed something in the corner of my eyesight, it was picked up thanks to my mind picking up information faster due to Memory Partition.
It was the hand he tried to slash me with.
And it was now empty.
THUD
Something softly landed on my back and I realized that I was done for.
BOOM
I tried everything I could to defend myself, I created a slim shield of magical energy but I knew it was not gonna be enough, however it was too late to do anything else.
The behind of my uniform had a gaping burning hole and my entire back was charred. I was forced on my knees by the explosion and I was struggling trying to even move my body. And this guy wasn't going to let me rest and get up.
***
I did it.
Sacrificing the entire knife I immobilized her.
Kill her
THWAAAK
I kicked her face then I used my free left hand to pick the undershirt in my exposed right hand.
SHIIIII
I leaded it with magical energy and put it on the tree trunk.
BOOM
Don't stop
The tree exploded in splinters that cut me all over and my right arm was a very bloody mess, but it didn't matter.
You can win
I grabbed the girl by her throat with my left hand and balled my right one in a fist as much as I could.
THWAAK
TWHAK THWAAAK THAWK
TWHAAK THWAK
I hit her with my right hand straight on her face without stopping, I couldn't afford to, if she got up I would lose.
She was stronger than me so I couldn't afford to make a mistake now.
THWAK THWAK
You can kill her
My right hand was totally numb and I couldn't feel anything in it but I didn't stop. I could see her eyes increasingly losing focus as I persistently beat her up.
Don't stop
Don't stop
Don't stop
TWHAAAKSNAP
Some of my fingers snapped but it didn't hurt at all. 'Another one.'
CRASH
Then from the classroom's door I could see a cloud of smoke covering the entirety of the hallways accompanied by the sound of an explosion. As it cleared out the figure of the girl's Servant who must have broken in from a hole in the ceiling to come down became visible. He was hitting his chestplate frantically like a drum before screaming something and releasing a massive ray of light
It's your chance go for him
That's right, he wasn't even looking at me now. That meant I could hit him from behind, right?
I let go of the girl and removed my one remaining shoe from the ones Gilgamesh gave to me while bolting inside the hallways. I had recovered them from the school's closets at the entrance before coming here after I left my own classroom.
The hallway was like a furnace, the heat was so intense that I could see parts of the school either melting or catching fire, it hit me like a strom or a gust of wind making me sweat like a river as my scarf flailed around as it hung from my neck.
If I approached him any closer than this I'd probably die from the heat. So I did the only thing I could do.
FWUPH
I charged the last of my shoes with my remaining magical energy and threw it with all my might.
"HUH!?" Somehow he seemed to have felt the approaching shoe and turned around, staring at it in confusion.
TWAAKK
The shoe struck him right on his cheek as he had turned around before exploding.
BAM
"___!" I couldn't hear what he said under the loud noise made by that ray of light but he grabbed his eyes as if in pain.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Then four weapons rained from the hole towards the floor and made that white haired servant fall to the ground floor making the light shoot upward like a beacon signal.
'I did it…'
THWUUK
"!" Just then something strangled my neck, it was like a thin thread was wrapped around it but I couldn't catch it with my hands.
Turning my head I could see the girl bleeding from her head as he supported herself with the wall near the classroom's door barely holding herself up as her legs trembled furiously.
'How did she catch me? The scarf should have made me invi-' As I moved my hands around my necks unsuccessfully trying to grasp those strings I realized the scarf wasn't on me anymore. It must have been blown away from the shockwaves from her Servant and the ones made by Gilgamesh when he destroyed the ground under the other Servant's feet.
"Huff huff I…got you." The girl muttered under breath, her eyes were still clouded and her bleeding wasn't stopping this time.
It's not over you can still fight back
She's weak as well now
"Yeah…" I bolted for the girl using all my strength and tackled her to the floor.
CLENCH
Both my hands wrapped around her neck to choke her.
KRAAAA
The things strangling my own neck also tightened considerably.
We were in a mounting position with me clenching my hands around her throat from on top of her and she strangling mine with her threads in return while lying down.
I couldn't breathe anymore, but the same should have been true for her as well. It was purely a fight of endurance now. The first one to pass out would be the one to die.
She was pretty beat up so now I still stood a chance. If I just resisted a bit more I would-
"Oi, Archer. Is this a new sort of choke play people do these days?"
***
Hope you enjoyed and maybe leave a few power stones.
So first off(very good news) with this chapter if we do not count all the EXTRA 1,2,3 and the Specials 1,2 and all the things that aren't part of the chapter like all my authors notes at the end THEN with this one chapter we officialy surpassed 100k words for this fic(else if we count them it happened a few chaps back).
Second of all (very bad news) is that christmas is coming but so are my exams, so I to prepare for them I was thinking of taking a break because i cannot write while having all my pending exams coming for my ass. My exam will take up all my time from january and probably up until the middle of february.
So I will release one last chapter next week and it will be the last chapter for this month. I will also release one chapter wit updates on the situation on the 14th of january and if I am not done by then another chapter with further news on the 11th of february. These chapters are all already written so there is no need to worry about them not being delivered, do bear in mind that once I am done it might take me a while to get back on my usual writing schedule hence why I decided to use some of my already writtem chapters like this while keeping a few to buy me time when I'm back(which are not many cause I used them to cover me when I was busy a few times before already).