Anomaly Ch. 75 (Patreon)

Tyuule had barely reached the fallen wall when the blast caught up with them. Shirou stumbled against it, caught himself on the edge, and pushed away as the stone cracked beneath his palm. Through the dust he saw Rory trying to turn with Lelei in one arm and her halberd in the other. Ivan’s scepter was following her.

He threw Kanshou.

Kanshou curved towards Bakuya, drawing its partner back across the giant’s face. Shirou was already running when Ivan raised a hand to meet them. The black blade burst against his palm; the white scraped over a knuckle and snapped at the hilt. Their fragments scattered across his fingers, buying Shirou the few strides he needed to reach the others.

“Along the wall! Keep low!”

Tyuule moved first, dragging Tuka with her. The elf’s feet scraped over the paving, though she was at least trying to help now. Rory followed, keeping her body between Lelei and the giant as Shirou Traced another pair of swords.

Ivan stayed where he was and swept the scepter sideways.

The lightning struck the wall ahead of Tyuule, bursting through it at roughly the height of her chest. For an instant, Shirou could see the individual blocks lifting from their mortar before the whole section blew apart. Tyuule twisted as she dropped, pulling Tuka beneath her and covering the elf’s head with one arm. Shirou launched both swords through the falling masonry, angling them towards the largest slab rather than the light tearing past it. Kanshou drove into one corner; Bakuya struck further along, turning the slab just enough that its broken edge hit the paving beside Tyuule instead of her back. Smaller fragments battered her shoulders. She flinched, but kept her body over Tuka until the last of the rubble had fallen.

Another section of wall came down behind Rory. Shirou checked his stride, searching through the dust for a gap. The passage along the wall was blocked at both ends, and Tyuule was still on the ground with Tuka beneath her.

He Traced a long spear and hurled it at the hand holding the scepter, wrenching his shoulder as he drove Reinforcement through the throw. The point was aimed between two fingers. Ivan shifted his thumb, and the spearhead skidded off a knuckle with a shriek of metal; the shaft broke against the scepter, falling across Shirou’s path as he ran.

“Rory, put her down!”

“Working on it!”

The Apostle lowered Lelei behind what remained of the wall and vaulted over it. Shirou broke the other way, drawing Ivan’s gaze while Rory swung at his knee.

Rory came in from the Tsar’s side, keeping below the scepter as she slid her hands apart along the halberd’s haft. Her first blow struck the side of his knee, driven upwards into the fold above the joint. Shirou heard the impact from across the paving. The blade bit far enough to catch, and Rory stepped through the swing, trying to force the knee inwards with her whole body behind it. Frost broke beneath her boots. Ivan’s leg shifted, but the movement stopped as his foot ground into the stone, leaving Rory braced against a weapon she could neither push further nor immediately withdraw. Shirou started towards her as the giant reversed his grip on the scepter and drove its lower end down.

Rory wrenched the halberd sideways, tearing the blade free as she jumped back. The scepter missed her shoulder by inches and buried itself in the paving, throwing up a ring of broken stone. She tucked her knees to clear the fragments, already bringing her weapon around for another strike when blue light spread through the cracks beneath her. Shirou saw it climb the edges of the rubble, branching across the space she was about to land in. One arc caught her trailing boot. The rest followed before she could pull it away.

Her legs went rigid. Shirou threw Bakuya past her shoulder and caught her around the waist as she fell, forcing his injured arm to take her weight. He kicked off before he had a proper hold. The current reached him through her clothes, locking his fingers against her ribs and clenching his jaw so hard he thought his teeth would break. White light blotted out the garden. When he could see again, the fountain’s broken rim was coming up beneath them, much too close for him to turn. His back struck first, and Rory landed across him.

“Get off.” Rory shoved at his shoulder, her voice strained. Blood ran from her nose, though her legs were already moving again, “I had that.”

“Then have it somewhere else next time.”

He pushed himself upright, trying to make his right hand open. The fingers obeyed slowly. Ivan was lifting the scepter past them, towards the wall where Tyuule crouched over the others. Shirou’s first movement was sideways, away from its aim. He stopped himself before he had taken the step and raised his left hand.

“Rho Aias!”

The shield unfolded from a point ahead of his palm, washing the fountain in light. Its edge fell short of Tyuule. Shirou dragged it wider, feeling the additional strain bite into his Circuits as the petals spread over the wall behind him. He caught a glimpse of her face through the projection before the lightning hit and drove pain all the way up to his shoulder.

Shirou planted his feet, feeding magical energy into the projection as the outermost layer broke. Cracks spread from the point of impact, and he felt each one as a sharp pull through the Circuits in his arm before the petal burst. The next layer caught the bolt with a concussion that drove his rear foot through loose stone. He tried to shift his stance, but there was nowhere to put it, and his shoulder struck the fountain hard enough to send pain down his back. Another petal shattered. His elbow began to bend despite the Reinforcement holding it straight. Ivan was still pouring lightning into the shield, the scepter barely trembling in his hand, while Shirou struggled to keep his knees from giving way beneath a fraction of that effort.

He tried to call for Rory and got no air. His chest was locked, his whole body braced against the force coming through his arm. He dragged in a breath.

“Rory!”

She was already moving. Through the glare, he caught a glimpse of Rory climbing the rubble beside Ivan, her boots finding purchase on the tilted slab above the cellar. She used the halberd to pull herself over its upper edge, then leapt towards the extended scepter. The axe head passed over the haft, its hook catching behind a raised ornament as she dropped. Her arms pulled straight. For a moment, she simply hung there, boots well clear of the ground, before she jerked her weight down and towards the giant’s fingers. The scepter dipped. Shirou felt the pressure against the shield move lower, tearing across the surviving petal before Rory dragged the weapon’s head beneath its edge.

The bolt tore into the ground short of Shirou.

He released the shield immediately, gasping as the remaining petals dissolved. His left arm hung uselessly for a moment. Across the garden, Tyuule was moving Lelei behind another block of stone, with Tuka crawling after them.

Still alive. Good.

Before Rory could unhook her halberd, Ivan closed his free hand over the haft above hers and lifted. Her boots swung against his forearm. She planted one heel against him, pulling with both arms, but the weapon stayed caught. Shirou saw her glance down as Ivan began to swing her towards the paving. She let go, twisting clear of the blade, and struck the sloping rubble back-first. Loose stones carried her towards the cellar opening until she dug in a heel and stopped herself.

She came up empty-handed. Shirou forced his Circuits open, Traced Kanshou, and ran at Ivan while Rory was still trying to stand. The effort sent a cramp through his thigh; he shortened his stride and kept going.

Ivan brought the stolen halberd across his path.

Shirou ducked beneath the halberd, feeling it pull at the loose edge of his Shroud, and drove Kanshou towards Ivan’s ankle. The sword slid across the hide with a rasp, stripping away frost. He tugged it clear as the Tsar raised his leg to stamp on him.

Shirou kicked sideways with his injured arm held against his chest. The impact broke the paving behind his heel and pitched him onto the sloping rubble, where he caught himself on Kanshou. Something shifted beneath its point. Through the noise of falling stone he heard a hollow knock from below, and looked down.

The slab Rory had climbed rested on a narrow section of cellar wall. Ivan had landed close to its edge, and cracks were opening through the masonry under his weight. Shirou could see daylight through one of them.

Shirou knew considerably more about breaking stone than cutting through that hide.

“Rory! When he steps, get your weapon!”

“What, straight from his hand?!” Rory glanced up at the halberd, then back at Shirou, already getting her feet beneath her.

“Yes!”

He pulled Kanshou free and scrambled onto the paving, Tracing Bakuya into his left hand. His fingers barely held it. The throw came out low, but the blade struck the exposed masonry, and he sent Kanshou into the wall beside it as Ivan stepped after him.

Shirou waited until the weight began to come down, then drove a heavy wedge of projected steel between the swords. Mortar crumbled from the gap. He flung himself backwards as the slab tipped and Ivan’s leg punched through into the cellar, dragging the support down with it.

The far end of the slab rose behind Shirou. He hit the ground on his side, heard Rory shout through the crash, and looked up in time to see Ivan plant his scepter against the fall. His other hand reached for the intact flooring, releasing the halberd.

Rory caught the haft before the blade struck stone and dragged it clear of Ivan’s reaching fingers. She turned with it, driving the point into the back of his trapped leg. With the knee bent beneath his weight, the blade went in far enough for her to lean over the haft and force it deeper. Dark blood ran across the axe head, steaming where it struck the frost.

Shirou pushed himself onto one knee.

“Out! Rory, get out!”

She tore the halberd free just as Ivan hauled his leg from the opening. His hand swept through the space she had occupied, catching the top of the broken wall instead. Stone burst outwards. Rory ducked behind the tilted slab, and Shirou covered his head as fragments struck his back.

Ivan remained on one knee while the last stones settled around him. Shirou watched him rise, keeping his weight off the injured leg even as the wound began to close. He tried to get up before the Tsar had finished and nearly fell again; his left hand had given way against the paving.

Rory landed beside him, breathing hard, her halberd bloody again.

“You think you can do that again?”

Shirou glanced at the ruined cellar. There was very little support left to break, and Ivan had stepped back onto solid ground.

“I don’t think he’ll let me.”

The scepter lifted. This time, Ivan held it against his chest, leaving both tusks pointed towards them.

“You are of passing skill, We shall admit.” The massive Servant rumbled, “Had our paths not crossed as such, then We would have been glad to have you serve as part of Our Royal Guard. Alas, Fate has forced Our hand once more.”

Shirou caught Rory’s sleeve as lightning gathered between the tusks, watching Ivan’s head and trying to judge which way they could jump without landing in the cellar.

Ivan turned towards the wall instead.

Tyuule was still trying to get Tuka onto her feet. Lelei knelt beside them, one hand braced against the paving, and there was nothing between the three of them and the Servant but broken stone.

“No!” Shirou released Rory and ran, “Over here!”

Ivan’s gaze did not follow him.

“The sentence extends to all who took part.”

Tyuule looked up. Shirou saw her judge the distance to the nearest cover, then glance at the two girls beside her. There wasn’t time to move them. She pushed Tuka down beside Lelei and stepped in front of both, raising her sword with two hands.

His left arm still wouldn’t straighten. Shirou forced it forward anyway, reaching for a shield he wasn’t certain he could make again.

The light between Ivan’s tusks swallowed Tyuule’s shadow.

…