187 Chapter 178

Arrows – like beams of light – cascaded from the sky. The first had missed us, sundering the ground and carving out a crater. We all had moved almost immediately; the feeling of a Noble Phantasm activating was known to all of us at this point.

Even Kairi looked to do something, taking a skeletal hand out of his jacket. It looked Ancient at a glance, possibly a trump card on his part.

I pulled him back, taking out my Staff of Magnus, and slammed it on the ground. "Shield of Asgard." I spoke the Aria, actualizing the dozens of Runes that flew out at my movement. At this point, I was pretty experienced with this particular spell.

Both Mordred and Raikou became enveloped in their respective Mana Bursts – their lightning auras as they shot up to intercept the arrows.

I could feel my Shield being barraged, the strain of each arrow as they collided with my strongest defense spell. I was confident though, this spell had held up against Lancer's Noble Phantasm, and that thing took out a mountain.

I would guess that each of these Arrows was probably less than a hundredth of Lancer's attack. The only issues was – they didn't seem to be stopping. It would be a foolish endeavor to try and count them, as they fell down like rain.

No cracks formed in my spell, supported by the Divine Staff, and my Runes, but I could feel the continued impacts even as Mordred and Raikou took some of the brunt.

"Master." Raikou slammed onto the ground next to us, looking over me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good." I nodded as the arrows finally ceased their torrent. I noticed, not too far away, Archer jumping across some particularly large pieces of the Fortress and going in a certain direction.

And I did not believe I was the only one.

"Fucking bitch." Mordred spat out, hefting her sword up in annoyance. "Uses her Noble Phantasm and runs away as soon as she can."

"Clearly an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm." I muttered, looking over the area that was now filled with craters. "By the looks of it, she didn't think it would be enough if she was so quick to retreat like that."

Anti-Army doesn't always mean 'more powerful' when compared to, say, Anti-Unit. In regards to scale of destruction, Archer's Noble Phantasm was quite powerful, but each of her Arrows was negligible in and of itself. Excalibur, for instance, would obliterate a person just as well as a fortress. Whereas this Noble Phantasm was more likely very on the nose when called 'Anti-Army' as in its purpose is to take out armies, not individuals.

"We're being led." Kairi spoke up. "Using her Noble Phantasm and herself as 'bait', they want her to follow her."

"That was my thought as well." I nodded at his words. "But, that works out for us in the end." There was a reason I didn't take us closer to the Fortress when coming to this desolate field. First, it's a Noble Phantasm, so I'm going to be wary of it, even if it's in pieces like this. Second, it's the Workshop of a Caster servant if my guess was accurate. Not to mention it's clearly something from the Age of Gods based on everything we've seen so far.

I had a healthy respect for things that could alter natural laws with the ease of a single word. Things that held the conceptual weight to even contend with True Magic in the correct circumstances.

With a flick of my wrist, I took a few pot shots in the direction of the cat-girl to make it seem like I was annoyed at the Archer Servant. "Shall we follow?"

"Trap or not, doesn't matter." Mordred grunted. "Just cleave through them all anyways."

"I like your attitude." I grinned. "Let's go."

***

The Archer Servant's actions became more and more clear as we delved deeper into this field of debris, until we came upon a particularly large chunk that looked kinda like a gate. Though, it was heavily tarnished, and destroyed in many places.

However, the fluctuations of 'Space' and Magical Energy were enough to reveal that it was still operable.

I made sure to recast all my enhancement spells. My aura pulsed gently around me, a gentle feeling that I could always rely upon. Lightning coated my arms and legs, giving me a feeling of power that I quickly surpressed. My lightning was a little intoxicating to get lost it, perhaps just a side effect of the ritual I went through."

"All together?" I offered.

"Yeah." Kairi nodded, though he was grasping his own life-saving means if needed.

As soon as we stepped inside, I felt a pull on everyone. Like they were all going to be whisked away to separate places.

I scoffed, reaching out to the Kaleidoscope and anchored them to the same spot on the world-line as I was. To force my specific 'teleportation' to envelop them as well.

We all tumbled out onto the ground, and I reached out to take a handful of dirt, letting it fall out of my fingers.

"The Hell?" Kairi Cursed, standing up and looked around. "What is this?"

They all looked around as well, the 'place' we found ourselves in was...strange.

"The owner of this place tried to separate everyone with teleportation, I made sure we all stuck together." I stated, sweeping my gaze towards the surroundings. "I did not expect the inside of this place to be its own miniature world though, even as....strange as it is."

To the side, there were these marble pillars that went off into the distance, unable to see the end as shadows enveloped the horizon. In the opposite direction were plateaus and small mountains that littered the landscape.

Where they met was complete chaos. Like a child had brokne up pieces of each and threw it back together. Pillars came down from the sky, the ground became a wall, and the sky was the floor in some places.

It was all jumbled up.

I'm probably to blame for this. My spell having destroyed a portion of the Fortress, as well as the owner probably trying their best to keep it all together in the end.

"Master!" Raikou suddenly shouted, drawing her sword. It wasn't just her, Mordred too reacted quickly to grab her master.

I took out Mirage as a green blur shot towards me.

Raikou lashed out with her sword, only for a familiar shield to block it.

My eyes widened as Achilles drove his Chariot right into me, shield easily deflecting Raikou's attack. The speed and force of it made my Aura shudder under the weight.

I forced my Aura out at its maximum, shielding me fully as even the Horses that pulled the Chariot looked ready to trample me. I hadn't gotten a good look at them before, but they were definitely not normal horses.

I slashed my sword, pushing myself to the side to avoid the worse of it. It only took half a breath to regain my footing as his Chariot jutted around in the sky like a flash of light.

That speed was utterly ridiculous.

My eyes darted to the side to see fireballs composed of Divine fire rain down on me. Raikou's eye-catching purple lightning intercepted, causing the two elements to disperse at impact.

Lancer of Red made his appearance. "The Witch said she would send you to me." He said with a small smile towards my Servant "Even after what happened, she is still too arrogant and looks down upon Modern Magic." He eyes gazed at me briefly before shaking his head.

Ah, so they were sending us to specially prepared traps then. Makes sense and was probably what I would do in that situation as well.

"Well, I do enjoy ruining other people's plans." I joked, eyes still trying to follow Achilles as he stared down at me in the sky.

"Oi, gold ass." Mordred raised her sword. "You forgetting about us!?" She clearly did not like being ignored in situations like this.

"We did not." He replied almost good naturedly. "You were supposed to be sent to another battlefield." As soon as the words left his mouth, the space around us trembled, several more figures teleported in.

"Honorless Kur!" Vlad's voice echoed out in the surroundings. He did not look all too pleased and I briefly wondered what he'd been up to as he grabbed his spear tightly in his hands, and his face twisted back in a snarl. He paused in his rage filled shouts to look at the surroundings, eyes landing on me and sweeping everywhere else. "I see." Is all he muttered, seemingly accepting the circumstances.

Well, as I would expect from a King. It was a simple, yet practical strategy to place two enemies in the same room. He was able to read the situation immediately.

He wasn't alone either, his whole entourage was here.

There was a small silence that was broken by Achilles, surprisingly enough. "Teacher!?" His voice sounded a mix of surprise and shame.

"Achilles." Chiron gave a sad smile.

The look they shared, it was clear they had many – many things they wished to say to one another, yet neither took the opportunity to do so.

You raised a good student, Chiron.

"And Atalanta, if I'm not mistaken." He glanced to the side and I noticed the Archer skulking in the shadows.

She didn't hesitate to pop out onto a nearby pillar that jutted out of the air in an awkward manner. "Chiron, It's been awhile." She greeted with a rather polite tone.

"It has." He nodded. "I had not seen you since –"

"Please don't mention that idiot." She scowled.

"Of course." He held his hands up in appeasement. "I know how my other student is a sore spot."

She seemed grateful. The only person I could think of was Jason, but I fear I'm missing some context here.

Atalanta, huh? That makes sense, even if her legend wasn't quite accurate about the whole 'cat girl' thing, though I guess it's supposed to be a lion girl?

Well, Greeks were into some weird shit.

"And like that, all identities are revealed, except for you, pinkie." I glanced at Black's Rider. Though I still have yet to see either side's Caster. That did give me a small bit of worry.

"Oh, I'm Astolfo." The Rider Servant beamed, making everyone pause and stare at them.

"Dammit Rider." Vlad face palmed.

{Master.} Raikou spoke to me through our link. {I will fight together with you.} She declared, but even through this mental link…..it sounded strained.

{Raikou, as your Master, I order you to fight Karna to the best of your ability.} I decided to let her pursue her own desire here, even if it was one born from her heritage and not her own wants.

She looked at me with a strange look. Like she was both happy I told her to do so, but aghast at the idea of leaving me in this situation again.

{Trust me, I have one final card to play.} I tried to sooth her conscious.

{I will trust in my son.}

The whole place was filled with this tense air, like everyone was waiting for someone to make a move. How comical, that a war between two factions had devolved into a free for all like this? I wondered how the War would have gone without my interference before pushing such thoughts down.

"How about we –" My words died in my mouth as everyone moved.

Arrows flew out from both ends, some at me, some at either side as well. Chiron and Atalanta seemingly stalemating each other.

Raikou exploded off the ground, her Lightning weaved around her whole body, her Mana Burst crackling as it collided with Karna's divine flames. The eruption of opposing elements pushing anyone else in that immediate vicinity away.

I summoned the Boosted Gear on my hand, using it as a shield to once again block Achille's spear, while Mirage was held aloft to intercept Siegfried's blade.

"Boost." I quickly called out to meet these two powerful servants without being overwhelmed.

Mordred shot at Astolfo, the pinkette, laughing the entire time, even as his lance was swept to the side at every blow.

Chiron was forced to divert some of his attention towards his companion so they would not be overwhelmed by the large gap in physical ability.

My other Swords flashed out at both Achilles and Siegfried.

They disengaged, deflecting them with relative ease, only for Vlad to jumped in, swinging down his spear ontop me. I swung up Mirage to intercept, bracing myself for the force, but I was surprised at how easily I managed to block before realization set in.

"This isn't your territory." I grinned. "Your Enhancement only works when you're in your territory." My back foot slid out, and I gathered Magical Energy into my sword. I deflected his spear to the side and made a move to follow up.

"One Hundred Birds." My sword Phantoms manifested. the Impaler snarled, swiping his hand to bring out his own Stakes.

There were much less, and their power was greatly diminished, but it was enough to tear apart my attacks. The Magical constructs that took on the concept of stakes had pierced through them.

Achilles's Shield swung at my head in that brief moment, the weight behind it once again felt like the world was going to collide with me. All the while Siegfried swiped his sword at me with gathered power. His Dragon Slayer sword practically shouting for my blood. Each of the blows made my knees buckle under the sheer force, even as I blocked them.

I was ready for his shield this time, and my Boosted Gear didn't suffer any damage as I withstood the force.

Even still, I felt the ripples of power through my Aura.

"Enough." I spat out. "Fus Ro Dah!" I bellowed out, the invisible force rippled into my surroundings, knocking them back to give me a moment's respite.

They were certainly coming at me with full force and if this was to be the last battle, it would be remiss of me to not answer in kind.

"Ddraig." I called out, the gem on my Gauntlet lighting up. "Let's end this."

"[Finally.]" The Dragon's voice was filled with absolute glee.

The fluctuations of Aura around me pulsed and I could feel my 'presence' enlarge, my existence stepping to a higher level. I grabbed the attention of the whole chaotic battlefield as my power began to skyrocket.

"What is this…" Vlad choked out.

"His Dragon aspect is being amplified" Siegfried gripped his sword tight, readying himself.

I grinned viciously at his words.

"Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker." We spoke as one and the world was dyed in a crimson light.

***

And we're back. So, the count down on the Servant numbers begins. It won't be much longer now until the war is wrapped up. The current schedule for the story is wrapping up Apocrypha -- Small Campione Arc -- Long DxD arc.

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