Land of the Blades

49. Thesseus

Marchen Meines Lebens. That was the Noble Phantasm of the being known as Hans Christian Andersen. One could say it was a lesser version of Caster's blessings, reinforcing both me and Ondyne's bodies, and keeping our stamina up. We were the main "damage dealers", but we were just barely enough to block our enemy's attack. Faust's buffoon was throwing bombs basically at random, some exploded instantly, others only when they were touched. And in his unpredictability, he was the only one who had been able to hurt Ushiwakamaru at all. It was a double edge sword, as even I had stepped on one of the mines he had set up. Thankfully, that explosion wasn't strong enough to blow me into pieces, but my leg still cracked a bit. The gold alloy fixed it immediately, though.

—You have impressed me, Lord Phosphophyllite —the shadow servant said after we had crossed blades and pushed each other away.

—Since you haven't put your sword away, I don't think that means you'll join us or at least let us go ahead.

—Of course not, once I have a master I'll serve them to my end. And I can't let you go through either. Mmmm... though Archer wanted to fight against Lord Emiya, but he told us to not go easy against him either.

—Wait, Archer? Like Assassin, are there two Archers? —I said, and the image of the attack that had brought us down appeared in my mind. I had been thinking that must have been the work of Franny herself or another Shadow Servant, but it felt weirdly familiar.

—-Two? Aside from those who are just shadows, there is only one Archer —Ushiwakamaru said—, the king of heroes, Gilgamesh.

I froze, and felt something deep within me shiver and twist.

—But... Shirou...

—Hmmm, I see, it was always weird —Andersen said—, the Holy Grail was started by those two, Franny and Shirou. They existed before it, so neither would count as servants participating on it, even if their souls were summoned using the same principle.

—Correct —Ushiwakamaru said with a wide smile— If anything, Franny could be described as one of the Ruler class, while Shirou as her opposite will be... never mind, it doesn't matter.

I hold tight the grip of my sword. All this time, they had been attacking us and Shirou, and he wasn't part of the ritual. Caster, Berserker, Assassin, and even Lancer and Rider had been lied to. There wasn't any reason to involve us, there wasn't any reason to darken the sky of our world, and there wasn't any reason to hurt Sensei. I was pissed, utterly pissed.

—Phos?! —Ondyne said, and I took a glance at her.

She looked scared, even Andersen and Faust were giving a few steps back. Ushiwakamaru stood her ground, but I noticed my shadow covered her entirely.

—Ah, I see —I thought to myself—I lost control again.

My body had broken in pieces barely held together by the gold allow, twisting and contorting into weird shapes. Swords and all sorts of weapons had started to sprout out of my body. I was about to burst, but Ondyne was too close, and unlike Ghost and Cairn, we couldn't just put her pieces together. In the last seconds I had, I tried to aim the blades towards the enemy and then, everything went white.

—Phos! Phos! Wake up! —I started hearing after a while. There was something jumping on whatever was left of my chest.

I tried to stand, but my body was too broken. My legs and one of my arms were completely gone, and the other was just a shattered stump. I could see the earth above me. I started to panic and hyperventilate.

—Calm down, you are safe —the creature said, and only then I realized it was an Admirabilis. Her voice was familiar, and way more comprensible than the feral ones I had met before.