Hello, good day. I hope you're well. I just wanted to say that I don't want to make this part too long, so I might omit things like how some sorcerers fight. If I did, I'd have to think of a different fighting style for each one, and that would completely exhaust my imagination and creativity for the chapter.
Also, I want to get to the important parts of this section as soon as possible, but to do that, I need to write it and establish some context and atmosphere. Otherwise, it would be strange to start this and jump straight to the battles. What would happen to the surrounding sorcerers, the Reines, and the others? Why aren't they appearing? It wouldn't make sense.
Anyway, that's what I wanted to say. I tried to be as concise as possible so this wouldn't be too long. With that said, let's begin the chapter.
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Night was already falling, and not far from the clock tower, Caster, from the vampire faction, could be seen surveying the entire structure with the Kamigami no Gigan.
"Hmm, I see they made changes to the barriers, but there are still vulnerabilities we can exploit for training and to do our job. We'll start as soon as we get inside," the blond man said. "I see Reines stayed behind, so his caster isn't here, as I planned." With that, he deactivated his eyes and looked to his side. "Are you ready, war machine?"
Beside him stood Assassin; Gavrilo, adjusting his tactical suit, similar to that worn by modern military special forces, looked at Caster upon hearing his question.
"It's not the first time I've done something crazy," the Serb replied simply.
Caster just nodded in response.
"So far I don't see any heavy hitters, only Reines, so I imagine the rest went over there. We'll have to start as soon as possible to create chaos and lure some of those who went back to the tower. That way we only need to take down two Servants; it shouldn't be too difficult with the three of us here, right?" Caster explained, glancing behind her at Avenger, who was cleaning his bow.
"That's the idea, at least; since they're going to destroy our base, we'll do the same," the dark-haired woman commented, looking at Caster.
He simply nodded and smiled.
"Alright, let's begin."
...
In the clock tower, several people could be seen walking through the corridors. Night had already fallen, but for some, it was time to wake up and begin working on their personal or collaborative research.
In one room, four people could be seen, or more specifically, two sorceresses and two servants.
Saber, already dressed in his armor and ready to act, looked out the window while a Lancer paced nervously.
Meanwhile, Rin placed her teacup on the table and looked at Reines.
"This can't end well," she commented resignedly. "Unlike everyone here, I've seen Dante's power firsthand, and without those seals that were holding him back, I don't know how powerful he really is."
Reine simply looked at Rin, somewhat wearily.
"No matter what, he's still a Servant, so there are ways to stop him, in addition to the measures we've already taken. The moment he appears, we'll know you're there; not to mention, we have the Marshal here to act at the opportune moment," Reines said.
"I'm not worried about whether we can stop him or not; what worries me is all the damage that could happen in that time," Rin explained.
"What do you mean?" Lancer asked, having been listening to the conversation.
"The thing is—" she couldn't finish speaking, as Reines dropped the cup she was holding, causing everyone except Saber to look at her.
"He's here," she said simply.
At that moment, Saber summoned her shield.
"This is bad," she uttered those simple words, looking outside.
At the edge of the clock tower, several tanks powered by magic could be seen, the source of which was unknown.
In the midst of all that, Assassin could be seen, wearing a hat and a skull mask similar to those worn by some soldiers in Black Ops special forces units.
Saber moved with incredible speed, grabbing Rin and her Master, and placing them behind him, his shield in front.
"What the—" Rin exclaimed, but her protests were abruptly cut short as the room they were in was suddenly engulfed in flames, creating a cloud of smoke and carbon.
Reines was knocked to her knees by the force of the attack, but the movement and the smoke caused her to cough violently, as did Rin.
"Master, are you alright?" Saber asked, looking first at Reines and then at Rin.
"I'm fine," she declared, surveying the scene: everything was destroyed and still smoldering from the explosion.
"Let's get out of here," Rin's voice rang out.
Lancer, like Saber, had a shield, and seeing her fellow Servants act, she too protected herself, avoiding the damage from the tank's attack.
The moment the three of them left, Rin noticed that in other rooms the walls and doors were destroyed, and in those that weren't, smoke was billowing from the doors.
Rin realized that this wasn't an attack directed at them, but rather an attack on the clock tower in general. Just as she was about to say something, an explosion was heard in the distance, then another, and another in a different location.
"They didn't come to defeat us; they came to destroy the clock tower," Reines said in a panic. She looked at her Servants, who simply nodded.
"Understood," Saber said, summoning her sword and running toward the explosions.
"At your service," Lancer replied, doing the same with his spear and stepping out of the clock tower to stop whoever was attacking it from the outside.
"This is bad. I knew something like this would happen," Rin said, sounding somewhat paranoid. "But there's no time to think." With that, Rin looked at Reines, who simply nodded. They then parted ways, each having something to do when the attack occurred.
...
"We're being attacked and massacred; I repeat, maximum alert level; please, we urgently need reinforcements; we can't handle everything that's happening here," a sorceress said, tears, snot, and saliva pouring from her face as Assassin pointed a gun at her head. "I did what you asked; let me go," the woman begged.
Only to receive a bullet in the head.
Assassin stared at the body for a few moments, only to hear an explosion not far away. That's the call to action.
The moment Assassin left the room, he suddenly came face to face with two sorcerers.
"An enemy," one exclaimed.
"It must be a Servant, be careful—" He couldn't follow his warning, as his throat was brutally slashed.
He threw himself to the ground, clutching his neck, which was spurting blood, only to see his fellow sorcerer fall to the ground with a broken neck.
Assassin, after doing that, simply looked ahead to see two more sorcerers in his path. One had a pickup truck, and the other a mystical code in the form of a staff, ready to stop them.
The Serbian charged forward, drawing the knife Caster had given him.
His speed caught the man and woman trying to stop him off guard, only for the man with the mystical code to react and attempt an attack. Assassin blocked the blow with his knife using one hand, and in the other, he summoned a rifle, which he fired into the man's shoulder, causing him to drop the staff.
Assassin moved to dodge the puppet's attack, leaping over the wall and landing above the woman.
She tried to attack him with a magic bullet, but his enemy, using the ceiling as a vantage point, launched himself down, avoiding the attack, and in one swift motion, ripped open the woman's stomach.
The sorcerer watched in agony and horror as his intestines spilled out of his body, only to feel the assassin plunge his knife into his throat and quickly pull it out, preventing him from screaming. He simply collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely and slowly dying.
The assassin, in passing, summoned a tomahawk and hurled it at the other man's head, killing him instantly.
At that moment, he moved down the corridor, his hand to the right; he leaped backward to dodge a fireball.
In the hallway, several sorcerers were ready to attack, but they didn't approach for fear of having to fight near him.
The Serb simply summoned a flashbang grenade and threw it into the hallway.
"Huh?" said a young man of about 16.
"Damn it, close your eyes," said an adult there, covering the young man's eyes.
The grenade exploded, blinding almost everyone in the hallway, which Assassin used as an opportunity to enter the room with two loaded pistols.
Bang
A shot rang out. The shoulder covering the young man's eyes looked up at the moment the bullet pierced his eye and brain.
Bang bang
Two more shots, instantly killing anyone in his path.
Assassin turned to dodge an attack from a man whose hands, with their magic circuits active, were staring at him with one eye open.
Taking advantage of this, he lunged into his blind spot. The man tried to attack, but he was too slow; with one leg, he deflected the man's hand and, summoning a machete, slashed his shoulder, lung, and part of his torso.
The nearly mutilated man, with his last bit of strength, tried to attack, but Assassin pulled the machete from his body and attacked again in the same manner, managing to cut the sorcerer in half.
Quickly, he summoned a rifle, which he used to strike the person behind him, about to attack him, hitting them in the stomach, causing them to double over for air. Turning their body, he aimed the weapon at their head and fired.
Bang
To one side, a sorceress began chanting, so Assassin threw the rifle at her, interrupting her, only to fire again with his pistol.
Bang, bang, bang, bang
Assassin took a step forward only to see a woman gliding across the floor toward a magic circle, which was then enclosed within a barrier.
"He's locked in, it's now or—" She couldn't finish her sentence, as something from the window slammed into her head, knocking her to the ground.
The survivors stared in horror at the now-dead woman; her skull was split open and shattered, and on the wall of the corridor, an arrow was riddled with blood and brain matter.
With that, the barrier that had imprisoned Assassin vanished, so he didn't hesitate.
Bang, bang, bang, bang
Everyone thrown from that corridor fell dead, except for one.
Clang
The sound of a rifle firing without bullets echoed through the air.
Assassin glanced to the side and saw the 16-year-old boy who hadn't been blinded at first. He was trembling with fear; his hands shook, making it difficult to aim the rifle, but he had tried nonetheless.
The boy looked on in fear and panic as Assassin stared at him, and he tried to hit him with the weapon, only for his opponent to duck and, summoning a shotgun, fire into the boy's chest, sending him flying against the wall, his chest riddled with shrapnel.
The moment he hit the ground, the boy was already dead.
The Serb watched this with resignation.
"War doesn't discriminate by age or gender," he remarked.
"I agree with that," came the voice of an old man.
When Assassin looked ahead, he saw a tall, blond man with a beard, wearing a suit. This was McDonell Trambelio Elrod, better known as Lord Trambelio.
"That young man was one of my students in the General Fundamentals Department. He doesn't have a single attack spell, but he still came here intending to help," McDonell lamented as he rolled up his sleeves and activated the magical circuits in his arms. "So many lives you've taken; this is something you must pay for."
Assassin simply stared at him as he cocked his pistol and drew the knife Caster had given him in his other hand.
...
Lancer, using her spear, destroyed the last mortar in the area and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Tanks, cannons, mortars, catapults—she's finished them all, right?" Lancer wondered to herself, seeing all the weapons of war now destroyed.
She couldn't help but wonder how this had happened, and the answer was simpler than it seemed.
Assassin was able to do all this thanks to Caster.
Dante was summoned with his full repertoire of sorcerer/mage abilities, and if he was summoned with his personal magic, it wouldn't be surprising if he wasn't also summoned with his third magic.
Using this fact, he managed to supercharge Assassin's magical abilities, allowing him to summon various war machines in seconds to besiege the clock tower without losing a single drop of mana.
This is because Caster essentially has infinite mana. Not really, except that thanks to his third magic, he has a passive ability: he practically always has mana. Basically, to put it simply, the moment he casts a spell, it consumes a certain amount of mana, which is automatically replenished; it's like an instant regeneration of his magical reserves.
That's why he could help Assassin do this without any problems. This is also part of Caster's plan, which is why he asked Assassin to come here with him to do this.
While Lancer was thinking about how all this was possible, he heard an explosion not far away, which snapped him back to reality.
"I can't waste any time," he told himself, gripping his spear tightly and running toward the nearest explosion.
...
Assassin peered through the broken window, looking down at the ground, only to see McDonell with his leg burning red, covered in gangrene, skinless, and missing an eye. His other eye was red but intact, but without an eyelid, he couldn't close it, making the scene even more gruesome and terrifying.
This happened because Assassin summoned a belt full of grenades; he managed to loop it around McDonell's chest and kicked him out.
The lord tried to throw the grenades off but couldn't, especially when he fell backward to the ground, gasping for air for a few seconds. He tried to defend himself with sorcery, covering his entire body, but with several steps, he couldn't get out.
He survived, but much of his skin was missing, especially from his face and chest; his torso was ripped open, and he couldn't move. He was saved from instant death, but it was all for naught, as he was bleeding profusely and his heart was open, with several arteries and veins near it ruptured. Basically, it would have been better to let himself die in the explosion than to have done this, but what's done is done.
Assassin was about to shoot him to end his suffering, but he heard a shout from his side.
"Stop right there, evildoer," came a young woman's voice.
The Serb had to jump back to avoid being struck by a lance used in jousting.
The newcomer to this scene, realizing his attack had missed, turned to face Assassin with a serious expression.
"You, who have caused so much harm and suffering, I will stop you; otherwise, my honor as one of the knights of the round table is at stake," declared Lancer with his spear pointed at Assassin and shield raised.
Assassin just stared at her silently, holding his knife, realizing that nothing in his entire arsenal could stop Lancer's spear; only the weapon Caster had given him could withstand it. He could only sigh.
"I wonder when this siege will end."
...
Caster stared impassively at the explosion he had created. Faced with this situation, he could only freeze his emotions and stick to the plan; worse still, he couldn't complain about anything, since the plan was his.
With the missile launcher on his shoulder, he aimed at the corner of a corridor that connected to another and fired.
In the next second, three spells appeared in that same corner, intending to capture them, but they only saw a missile practically upon their noses.
The explosion killed all three of them before he could do anything.
"Out of sight, out of mind," he told himself, since he didn't like having to do these kinds of things, but in war, anything goes in the pursuit of victory.
The moment he took a step forward, Caster's eyes widened in shock, only for him to take another step. Because in the next second, a chasm opened up where he stood, splitting the corridor in two.
"It's finally here," Caster declared, turning and firing the missile launcher at the wall.
From the wall where he launched the weapon, Saber appeared, passing right through it. With a single, swift motion, she sliced the missile launcher in two at supersonic speed.
Using a burst of mana, Saber arrived in front of Caster, slashing downwards with the intention of killing her opponent in one fell swoop.
Caster, in response, blocked the attack with only one arm, employing defensive Haki and sorcery.
The impact caused Caster's feet to sink into the ground; they began to struggle.
Saber's sword only managed to sever half of Caster's arm, leaving it usable.
The redhead, using his free hand, enveloped it in darkness to touch Saber, but Saber reacted immediately, leaping back and creating distance.
Before nightfall, Solomon had explained to Saber that if she encountered the enemy Caster, she absolutely must not let him touch her; otherwise, it would be game over.
And this was because Caster, possessing the third Amgia, was practically a Servant killer.
Seeing the distance Saber had created, Caster could only offer a knowing smile.
"A Caster with such defense is something to study; generally, almost no Servant could have taken my attack head-on and used their own body to defend themselves and survive. That's quite an achievement," Saber said.
"It's an honor to hear that from the former wielder of the Red Dragon Core," Caster scoffed.
Saber, who was wearing his helmet, could only frown at his enemy's words, as they implied that he knew not only who he was but also his capabilities.
"You're dangerous; that's why I have to kill you here and now," Saber exclaimed, her sacred sword glowing with light and a shimmering red energy tinged with black.
"Let's see how long you can endure using a power you never had," Caster replied, assuming a battle stance.