PLOP
"Damn, that was big." Haldor muttered on top of the private toilet he just snuck into nearly two or so hours ago to start his defecating.
'What peace.' He was there taking his time as he sat calmly on the toilet and happily forgetting his loss streak.
But alas his alone time in the toilet would not remain so peaceful for much longer as the world had other plans.
BOOOM
Light flashed outside, illuminating Haldor from the bathroom's window. He remained impassive as he slowly craned his head sideway to look at the lit sky from his comfortable sitting position.
PLOP
"Wow. That was nearly as big as my last one." Whatever he was talking about the outside bomb or the one inside the toilet would forever remain a mystery.
"Ok, I'm done here now." Haldor rose up and started wiping himself. After that he went to wash his hands and fastened his belt.
BOOOM
Another explosion became visible in the distance but Haldor didn't even turn to look at it, instead he put a hand on his stomach and rubbed it slowly.
"I feel like I lost ten kilograms from that. I'm as fresh as a rose."
***
Rider's chariot was being toppled over after Hector kicked it, he didn't linger further as he jumped in the air and left Rider behind… who was trying her best to hold back her own laughter.
SLAP
"NEEEIIIIHHHHHHH" She whipped her horses with the reins and immediately they started stomping the ground with so much force they cracked the asphalt with their hooves and suddenly twisted their body to the side.
That chariot attached to them was also veered to the side, the two horses continued spinning by running in close circles and dragging the carriage by making it spin in the air like it was a sling.
'You better hope your back is pretty sturdy.' Rider smiled as she was feeling the strength of the winds as she held onto the railings.
Then she whipped the horses again, this time they stopped dead in their tracks before twisting their back in the opposite direction of their previous rotation, flinging their driver out of the chariot, she shot like a bullet straight to Hector with the spear she used before still in her hand but now glowing in golden light.
The path she traced in the sky made her look like a rising star.
In an instant she was already before her target, she could already guess that he must have tried dematerializing but ended up being unsuccessful at the attempt. 'To think milk could be used to make something like that, very handy indeed.'
The man attempted turning around, he must have realized his mistake but it was too late already. The spear in Rider's hands shone even brighter and she thrust it towards him.
BOOOOM
The spear exploded creating a flash of light and smoke illuminating the night sky.
Broken Phantasm.
It was the phenomenon of detonating your own Noble Phantasm to increase the power of your attack by one rank. Using this method Rider massively increased the power of her sneak attack.
From the cloud of smoke Hector was flung away like a cannon ball, colliding straight into another highrise building, he bounced off the rooftop and went flopping airborne once again. He had barely survived the attack by moving his armored right arm to intercept the brunt of the explosion at the last second but he still suffered injuries from the attack.
"Hahaha." Rider on the other hand laughed, the horses drew their chariot through the air and passed right beside her. She gripped onto the railings of the cockpit and let herself be dragged along by their charge.
In her free hand a spear identical to her previous one appeared. She pulled on the railings, regaining her purchase on the chariot. The two monstrous horses galloped on empty air as they were catching up with the flying Hector, each hoofstep producing shockwaves that shattered nearby windows into a cascading rain of glass.
'Damn it… I can't stabilize.' Hector furiously spun midair as blood oozed down his forehead on his face.
Another sonic boom split the air.
Rider was already above him. Her spear shining once again with the same vigor as the one from before.
CLAAANG BOOOOOM
Hector barely twisted in time, bringing his sword up with his left hand to respond in kind to her assault. The impact detonated between them, sending Hector flying upward even further in the sky. Rider already started her pursuit once again as the spear in her hand crumbled to dust.
'This is bad, I can't fly while in physical form and she keeps on blasting me up. Should I throw Durindana? No, if I were to fail to kill her in one shot I wouldn't be able to retrieve it as I am right now and I would lose my only weapon.' Hector was evaluating any way to break out of this situation but Rider was not about to leave him time to do that.
"NEEEIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHR" One horse snapped its jaws at him, flames bursting from its mouth in a concentrated beam towards him.
'This damn horse again…'
FWOOOSH
The fire engulfed him midair.
FWING
He swung blindly through the blaze splitting fire apart, but the distraction had cost him. From behind the flames a spear was thrown like a javelin barreling straight towards his face.
'Shi–' Hector cursed inwardly as he jerked his head aside at the very last instant. The spear grazed across his cheek, leaving a bleeding scar. That was the last of his problems though because as soon as it passed by him the spear started cracking in light.
BOOM
The spear exploded from behind his back sending him flying downward with his back arched backward like a bow pointing toward Rider's direction.
Rider now wielding a sickle shaped sword, a khopesh, leaped from the cockpit to the horses pulling and from the top of the monstrous horse drawing the chariot from the right she swung her toward the falling Hector without a single shred of hesitation, aiming to decapitate him.
'Oh well, I'm done for.' Hector chuckled inside his mind, already prepared for the worst outcome, he wasn't the optimistic type after all.
'Wait a second, what if I…' Suddenly an idea lit a lamp inside of Hector's mind.
He brought down his right forearm behind his back and aimed his elbow to above. The protruding section of his black armored shield arm that covered his elbow opened slightly by parting side ways in the center.
FWUUUUSH VOOOOM
From the fissure on the slightly elongated elbow section a flash of fire like a jet buster propelled Hector downward, avoiding the slash aimed at his neck by a long margin.
'I'm such a genius.' Hector grinned at his success, this was something he often used to fight on the ground to move around in irregular bursts of speed or throw his spear but now it occurred to him that maybe he could use it to save himself in the sky from this predicament as well.
However, his smile didn't last for long, from above him he could see that the hem of the cloak that covered Rider's whole body was open, beneath it he did not see the body of his enemy, but blades, a lot of bronze blades.
BOOOM
Beneath the cloak, inside the cluster of blades, the sound of an explosion echoed and the weapons came flying downward like a rain of steel. Barely any of them actually aimed at him, he avoided those coming down towards him without trouble but then light started shining from behind his back from the weapons that had missed him.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
Hector, who was finally about to retrieve his position on solid ground, was blasted by the explosions back to hundreds of meters in the air.
'My head's spinning so much.' Hector grumbled as he flew back to step one, thankfully as a Servant he wouldn't have anything to throw up anyway. 'I'm so done for this time, aren't I? How many weapons does she even have?'
Hector reached the pinnacle of his flight, for a scant few seconds he hovered still like he was floating in the sky, he could see the moon shine on him as he was battered and bloodied.
'Well, I tried my best, this one is just too much for me. She just keeps throwing weapons and exploding them like spares.' He was outmatched, none of her weapons were that extraordinary by their standards, just a bit above the lowest possible in a Servant's range, however the sheer number of them and the fact she increased their power by one rank by sacrificing them made it just so challenging to face, especially when he was put in an already disadvantageous ground… or rather air, heh.
'Today I feel even more pessimistic than usual somehow… so strange…'
Hector had already started giving up. He came to this war to fight for the grail but he himself didn't see it as anything that essential but an extra.
'I just wanted to talk with that idiot one more time.' His mind wandered to the figure of a beautiful young man of androgynous features, his little brother and he recalled the last discussion he had with him.
It was nothing much to be honest, just the two of them arguing… once again.
They just argued.
Like always.
It was just a little before his last duel with Achilles, the two of them talked and disagreed on the decision to make about whether to accept the challenge or not.
That's actually all they did every single time they met, they could never hold a single discussion without having something to disagree on. There was not a single time it did not happen and their arguments weren't about things like: whatever they liked one dish more than another or their favorite activities or other ones similar to that, they always had to disagree on things that dictated the lives of so many of their people but alas they were just too different from each other.
That was Hector's greatest regret in his life.
He just wanted to talk one more time without the two of them being burdened with their own problems and maybe laugh about their previous disagreements for once instead.
They both loved and cared for each other, Hector even decided to support him in starting the war exactly because he didn't want his brother to die for offending Menelaus but he didn't agree with him. He cared not for the woman whom he brought with him despite knowing what really was happening but he could not hate his little brother for his good nature that couldn't just look at the whole picture of the situation simply to save a single person.
'You would do something stupid if you were here probably, wouldn't you?' Hector gave a brief smile and turned to look at Rider. 'Nothing much I can do right now I guess, unless my Master uses a command spell I'm done for. Even if I throw Durindana she would just avoid it from this position…'
[Lancer.] Suddenly jolting him out of his thoughts Yvette spoke through their telepathic link.
'Master!?' Hector exclaimed. Finally she gave signs of life, there was still hope then.
'Please save me.'
[Please save me.]
…
'Eh!?'
[Eh!?]
They both were left in stupor at that but Yvette immediately regained her wits.
[What the hell is wrong with you? Did you actually turn really senile now? How am I supposed to save you? You save ME instead.] She grumbled as if offended… and she was.
'Use a command spell then we will be reunited at least. We will run away after that. This is hopeless here.' Hector quickly clarified however right after saying it he felt like something was off when he said it. Didn't he just think it was a bad idea before? Whatever, he was just so tired now he couldn't bother thinking about it.
[...What?] Yvette asked back as if shocked by what he just said. [Wait, what the hell are you saying?]
[You said you were confident in protecting me, weren't you? I can use a command spell to bring you here but then what? They probably have all three command spells too, if I bring you here like that we would be down one for nothing, geezer. Where is that confidence from a few days ago?]
'Why the hell are you yelling at me?' Hector felt wronged at her whining. What the hell did he do wrong this time? Teenagers were really such a pain.
[Why did you become such a sissy all of a sudden? At least before you only spoke cowardly. Just defeat her, you are strong.]
'Me?' Hector asked as if he didn't know what she was talking about.
[Aren't you?] She asked back.
Hector's body turned, no longer facing the moon he saw Rider and something inside him told him that she was preparing to end this. He could see it in the look of her pitch black eyes.
'Nah, I'm really not.' He answered as he felt the magical energy gathering around Rider.
[Then what? Is she stronger than Achilles?]
'Eh?' This made Hector pause for a second. 'No, I wouldn't really say that so light–'
[Then you can win, stop bitching and come help me.]
'…'
Hector didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What kind of argument was that even supposed to be?
'It feels like talking with my brother. Heh, what a bother.'
"Pfff, ahahahhaha." In the end he just laughed. His fall resumed but amidst his laughter he now felt extremely light. Almost like he was a feather it was like someone removed something that before he even realized was weighing on his shoulders. His mind also felt more relieved, somewhat.
'Maybe arguing isn't as bad as I thought it was after all.'
"What's so funny? Have you gone crazy from all the beating you got?" Rider spoke loudly from her chariot, her voice carried by the wind reached even the distant Hector.
She didn't wait for an answer though, sands started appearing out of nowhere as if brought by the wind, it surrounded Rider and her chariot like a tornado. Then the chariot started shining brightly enough to blind any normal person.
Looking at it Hector was slightly impressed but somehow he didn't feel so pessimistic anymore.
Then a familiar feeling sprouted from his guts. 'Wait, this feeling… Is that an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm?'
'Hell, yeah.' And it was an incredibly good feeling.
'I was really just overthinking, in the end I wouldn't even need to throw it.'
He threw the sword from his left hand to his right.
""NEEEIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHR"" The two horses grew bigger and bigger, their muscles bulging as they roared menacingly. Rider pulled on the reins, a khopesh still in her other hand as sand and winds covered the chariot in a sphere like shape. Soon it was no longer visible save for a few rays of light emanating from the sand.
Then–
"SETEKH NUB"
In the form of an arrow like shape made of light and sandstorm, Rider charged at Hector with such a breakneck speed that sound couldn't immediately catch up with her.
BOOOOOOOOOM
Hector was already in position, sword in hand and smiling.
He would not search for ways out any longer. Like against the other Lancer he would face her head on. How very unusual for him, having to fight head on twice in a row.
"DURINDANA"
The burster on his elbow activated once again firing a mana burst that creates a jet of flame like propulsion. And he used it to thrust–
"SPAAAADA"
–with his sword meeting the charging chariot with the tip of his weapon.
***
Shibuya
"An explosion? Looks like the other Masters have started fighting as well." Sialim looked at the sky from the hotel's hallway as the group was loitering in the empty bar section. A massive explosion lit the night sky thousands of meters away from their position.
"What do you think, brat?" Gilgamesh tilted his head amusedly to the explosion as he asked the boy.
"Nothing." The boy just answered listlessly as he looked at the light shining in the sky.
SLAP
Which earned him a slap behind his neck.
"That's not what I mean, mongrel." Gilgamesh grumbled with a huff.
"Why did you hit him? He's a child, you monster." Archer admonished sternly from his seat.
"No one interpelled you, filthy cur."
"Do I need your permission to speak?" Archer asked rhetorically.
"I see it took you long enough to realise maybe you do have some brain." Gilgamesh scoffed back challengingly.
"Heh, I heard sophists with crazier mouths than yours but the utter nonsense you utter astonish me every single time as well." Archer spat back waving his hand dismissively.
The two started another round of their verbal spats and Sialim who watched it unfold couldn't help but question how she even ended up in such a situation in the first place. The current status quo was very bizarre and unclear to her. She felt like they were around the steps of building something close to a preliminary alliance but she also felt that Ruler had no intention of helping her dispose of the other Masters or Servants.
All in all the situation wasn't too bad though. With both Ruler and Archer present no one was likely to try and bother them for tonight in favor of avoiding facing two servants head on even without necessarily knowing their capabilities.
'I'm curious about the Servants fighting so far in the distance but fighting twice in a row today isn't exactly optimal and if I did we would lose the guarantee of having an ally like we do if we remain waiting here, even if just defensively.'
Sialim weighed her options and ultimately decided that remaining in wait here was the best option at hand for the moment.
She was about to filter out the entire argument among the heroes when suddenly she realized the boy was no longer sitting among them.
She turned her head left and right but couldn't find him. 'Where did he go?'
"I'm off, bye." Then from behind her back she heard his monotone voice saying goodbye. Turning around she spotted him at the hotel's exit with his head turned in our direction as held the door's handle.
"Bye, brat, be caref– wait!" Gilgamesh responded in kind as he was about to nod dismissively before stopping and calling him out as he opened the door and was about to go out but stopped as he heard Gilgamesh calling him again.
"Where are you going?" Gilgamesh asked with a raised eyebrow what the other two also wanted to ask when they saw him ready to go out.
"To fight them." He answered pointing at the blasts in the sky. "Isn't that what you meant? I'm going there then."
"..."
"Bye." The boy said as he closed the hotel's door behind him and they could see him start jogging away thanks to the see through glass door.
The three people left inside the hotel's bar were left speechless as they stared at his retreating figure in the distance.
'What just happened?' Sialim's brain was struggling to process the scene she just bore witness to and she knew he was probably serious too, so he wasn't just putting on airs or anything he really was going there.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAH." Gilgamesh on the other hand started laughing from the top of his lungs covering his face with his hand. "Yes, THAT is the right spirit."
Rising from his couch he started walking to the door as well, waving his hand at Archer and Sialim without even looking back at the two of them. "If you stay here to drink, put it on my tab, I'm feeling generous today."
And like that he was gone as well, following after his Master.
"Well, I will be damned, the brat is crazier than the Servant." Archer huffed a short laugh, he was also flabbergasted but he was equally amused, he could understand how it reached this point out of nowhere too, the kid did punch his crotch after all.
"…That is indeed quite accurate."
***
22:01 — On the streets
I ran.
I continued running at a sustained pace from the hotel and as I was going I realized that having a car would have been very handy in this situation but Gilgamesh said nothing about coming with me so I believed he must have meant for me to go by myself like back in the school.
This was surely gonna take me a while, I wasn't as fast as Archer and Gilgamesh after all.
On the streets people were either passing by minding their own business or looking at the sky in a daze, they talked about how pretty these fireworks were and how much they appreciated them.
They really didn't look like fireworks to me but I'm not really an expert on the field. However I knew for sure they weren't fireworks this time at least, otherwise that girl and Gilgamesh wouldn't have said those words.
'I wonder what I should do when I get there?' I was quite perplexed by this matter. I didn't have any weapons on me so fighting a Servant would probably be quite hard.
Especially if they wore armor.
Which was also aggravated by my lack of any weapon as well once again.
'I also don't have that wooden knife anymore.' I blew that one up against that Sialim girl and the scarf was taken back by Gilgamesh when it fell on the school's hallway. 'I will have to be careful in how I blow up my clothes, they are my only weapon.'
SHIIII
I activated my magic circuits to get a feel of my current clothing and strangely I felt like jogging had become slightly easier now but it was probably just an impression.
'It's really far away…' I was still far away from my destination, as I ran I noticed the streets grew more and more quiet. It wasn't because I was near the site of the explosions or because there were less people around but because they simply grew silent, simply looking at the sky in a daze without turning their eyes away.
Then out of nowhere everything turned bright once again, but this time it was unlike the one from before. This did not feel like the light of an explosion but more like as if the sun suddenly rose out of nowhere.
A pillar of light with an arrow shaped tip rose toward the sky aiming at the clouds far in the distance.
BOOOOOOOM
And then came the sound, drumming inside my years like a bomb. I felt like the already quiet streets turned even quieter, all sounds were swallowed save for the one generated by the ascending pillar of light.
THUMP
For a second I felt like my heart suddenly hit my ribcage louder than usual.
I didn't stop running as I continued moving in the direction of the pillar so far away in the distance and I felt like everything was flowing slower than usual, whether it was my movements or that of the world around me, my eyes focused on the scene before me without losing sight of it for an instant.
And… maybe I was mistaken, no, I think I definitely was but I thought that for a moment I saw the shadow of a man where the arrow was directed up there distantly in the sky, a man holding a sword and thrusting it in the opposite direction of light.
Before I could even finish my thoughts the world had already started moving normally.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A massive spherical explosion overtook the night.
And immediately after that.
THWUK
Something swept me off my feet from behind my back.
It was a tall man with long white spiked slicked back hair.
***
Somewhere else in the outskirts of the city
The night air smelled of burnt rubber and gasoline.
The private bus lay on its side in the grass beside the highway burning, its windows shattered and its metal frame bent inward from the impact. The truck that had rammed it wasn't worse off, its front half crushed like paper and its engine still ticking from the heat as flames surrounded it.
In the empty highway stood a group of thirty or so people dressed in priests and nuns' habits, all armed to their teeth.
And surrounding them were hundreds of puppets.
The two groups stood facing each other as if sizing when the right moment to make the first move would come.
Then light came from the sky.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
And massively so at that, in the shape of a spherical explosion that was visible from their position despite the distance.
The church cohort and puppets alike turned their attention to look in that direction.
"…Well." Father Mark sighed, adjusting the monocle on his eye with his wrist. "This escalated rather quickly."
Father Mark flicked his wrist.
FWIP
Three red black keys slid away from between his fingers, shooting like arrows to hit three distracted puppets hitting them squarely in the head. The other puppets quickly turned back and looked at their three downed comrades.
"Ah, Father Mael, how could you sneak attack them? They might be a heretic's puppets but this is unbecoming of a priest." Father Mark with indignation clearly present in his tone.
"What!?" At which Father Mael gave a dumbfounded response.
At that the puppets all turned to look in the direction of the french priest.
"You mother–"
Then the puppets started moving forward in groups and the battlefield finally erupted. And the first person they charged at, to no one's surprise, was Father Mael himself.
He didn't even have time to finish the insult before the first puppet reached him wielding two sickles in its hands.
CLANG
"--Tch!" Father Mael stopped the attack by swinging his spiked mace to intercept the sickles before kicking the puppet in its torso to push it away. "Filthy piece of crap."
Immediately another one lunged from the side.
Mael pivoted on his heels with his arms raised high.
BAAAM
The mace came down vertically in a straight line this time, crushing its skull and embedding half the weapon into the asphalt beneath with a single hit.
Behind him someone snorted.
"Oh dear." Father Mark sighed lazily. "Would you look at that? They seem quite eager to greet you. You can do this, Father Mael, I leave them to you."
"You Irish bastard—!"
FWIP
Three more black keys shot past the french man's shoulder before he could finish the sentence.
THUNK THUNK THUNK
Three puppets retreated as they were about to attack him to avoid the black keys thrown by Father Mark.
"Careful there." Mark shook his head while holding back a smile before taking a stance and retrieving more black keys.
Then the rest of the swarm arrived, forcing the rest of the church cohort to take action as well.
Dozens of puppets rushed forward at once from all around the group.
"Shields!" Sister Caterina shouted as she slammed her foldable tower shield into the asphalt, beside her the other members from the church chivalric order followed suit and made a circular shield formation to surround the other members of the cohort.
SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM
The hordes of puppets collided straight against their defenses but the knights were surprisingly resilient and all held their stances. Of course, due to their restricted numbers of only ten knights they couldn't employ a side by side formation but one with gaps between each shield, between these gaps the puppets obviously tried to break through the defenses of the knights.
But there was no need for the knights to worry about those.
All they needed to worry about was setting the gallows so that the executors could do their job.
FWING FWING FWING FWING FWING
Black keys and crossbow darts flew between the gaps dampening the first wave trying to break through by piercing their heads, making them explode to splinters. Then came the front liner.
Brother Billy Butcher, a young man with short dark hair and a toned physic cracked his neck as he approached the enemy.
"Take this, cunts." He charged forward with his two gauntlet shaped ash locks and jabbed the first puppet he came across, sending it back where it came.
Two others charged at him but he didn't panic, he assumed a boxing stance hopping on both his feet. The first puppet came charging in a straight line with its feet sliding across the floor as if they had rollers underneath, in its hand a long monk spade with a rectangularly shaped blade.
FWUSH
BAM
He weaved the first one and moved behind him, threw a hook on its side which made the puppet stagger slightly before it made a sharp turn around with both feet still glued to the ground as they traced into arcs to create momentum for another attack.
Billy followed alongside his opponent's rotation by twirling to the side and followed by delivering an elbow smash from behind its neck sending the puppet falling to the ground.
CRACK THUNK
As soon as it made contact with the ground the puppet was impaled by two black keys in its head and stomach, thrown by brother Junpei who stood behind brother Billy.
The second one tried to attack him from the back, its arm spinning like whirlwinds from the shoulder joints with two sickles in its hands but it never reached its target.
TWHACK GRRRR
Brother Junpei used his bondage shaped ash lock and swept the puppet from its feet, making it fall sideways. Brother Billy quickly followed by slamming his knuckles on the head of the fallen puppet.
CRACK
His crushing its head and making cracks on the asphalt.
Then a third puppet came, jumping high in the air grasping two torch like sticks.
Billy's nose gave a quick sniff for a brief moment and his expression contorted, he moved his right hand inside his jacket and quickly pulled out a white metallic revolver.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
He fired the consecrated bullets straight at it, piercing its skin. But the puppet still succeeded at throwing the two flaming sticks at them.
"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Billy quickly retread back but he wasn't fast enough.
BOOM BOOM
The moment the two sticks touched the ground they exploded in flames.
Fortunately for him, Billy barely saved himself as at the last moment Junpei pulled him back by wrapping his ash lock around his waist and dragged him back to safety.
All around them everyone else was also fighting to push the army of puppets back with all their strength.
CLANG CLANG CLANG
Father Mark was facing four puppets at the same time by himself, using the black keys he held between his fingers like a pair of claws.
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG
He parried the swirling sickle of one puppet while avoiding and swatting away the thrusts of the other three armed with monk spades that moved by sliding on the ground with their feet.
CRACK TANG
The onslaught carried by the sickle armed puppet continued until it broke the three black keys Mark held in his right hand, snapping them in half. Mark didn't panic and instead used the moment when the black keys broke to step closer to the puppet between the gap of the trajectories of his spinning attacks.
TWACK
Then he tripped the puppet by kicking slightly at one of its legs, making it tumble over. As soon as the puppet fell Mark stabbed the half blades of his three broken black keys into its back with one fluid motion before twisting in place to deliver a roundhouse kick to hit the handle of a monk spade that was about to be stabbed onto his back and deviate the attack.
FWIPFWIP FWIP
From the position he spun further using the sole foot he was touching the ground with as a pin and threw all the black keys in his hand to impale the puppet in its head, torso and abdomen.
CRACK BOOM
The three black keys then exploded turning the puppet to shreds.
Being an executor of the catholic church came with many benefits however it was an extremely harsh and risky job, the training was hard and the things you would have to face in your career were enough to make one want to give up after facing them the first time.
Among all of the professions one could undertake in the church being an executor was certainly the one where you were the most likely to meet a gruesome and horrible death.
Sure, there were other risky jobs such as being a knight of one of the church's chivalric orders; however it was rare for the knights to be out on missions like the few present here today. The knights of the church made up the main military power of the church but their job was protecting the main bases such as the Vatican in Rome and other various different stations.
Thus they rarely, if ever, went out and were mostly stationed as defensive personnel and in the last century they rarely faced any sort of siege. So despite the responsibilities it was currently not a job on the level of being an executor when it came to how likely you were to die a premature death.
The cohort of the church sent to Tokyo was composed of roughly twenty executors, with fifteen of them being seniors at their job, commonly referred to as senior executors, meaning they had been in this line of job long enough to have passed at least their thirties and still be alive.
In this job where people died fighting daemons born of human wishes and dead apostles who grew stronger the more they butchered on human blood there were only three kinds of executors that survived and became seniors.
The first kind was lucky, it might not sound so incredible but in situations where your life was at risk being lucky is the greatest trait and blessing one could ever ask for. They were lucky enough to survive or lucky enough to be able to kill their enemies, whichever it was it didn't matter, luck was still one's skill after all.
The second kind were survivors, they weren't necessarily weak but neither were they that skilled, they were simply good at surviving many different situations. They were people who could somehow survive many hurdles, even those that took the lives of people much stronger than they were, they succeeded thanks to their perseverance and continuous survival.
Then, there was the third kind…
CRASH
Father Mark grabbed the third puppet's monk spade by the hand with both his hands as it charged at him and broke it in half using his left knee.
From behind his back the other puppet tried to stab him but Mark, still holding on to the one he was facing, vaulted over it by pulling on its arms and rolling back to back with it before he kicked toward the upcoming thrust making the puppet be pierced by its own ally.
TWACK
While his enemy was confused by the accidental friendly fire he quickly dashed forward, kicking away the stabbed puppet and disarming the other in one move.
TWACK
Then he elbowed it in the torso and started his assault, bare handed.
TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK
He quickly jabbed his face three times and swatted away its arms as it tried counter attacks thrice at the same time but he didn't stop there.
TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK
He continued without rest as his hands moved in a blur.
TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK TWACK
The trajectories of his fists made circles in the air like he was a pro boxer training on his punching with a speed ball, each one stronger than the last as he targeted both the face and torso of the puppet making cracks form all over its upper form.
And then he finished it off.
TWACK CRAKK
With a hook he made the head of the puppet free from burdening its shoulder any further.
"Arrgh." Massaging his shoulder Father Mark gave a slight half grunt half hum. "I think I'm warmed up enough."
Another group of puppets approached him but they were intercepted before they had the chance to reach him.
BAAM
A mace hit the one at the forefront and a gust of wind formed pushing the puppet and its entourage back with it a few meters.
It was Father Meal.
FWIP FWIP FWIP FWIP FWIP FWIP
Then six black keys flew about Mabel's shoulder hitting the bullseye on the forehead of the six puppets that were just blown away.
The two didn't exchange words and both went on back on their own ways to fight puppets by themselves.
Out of everyone present the two of them were the only ones taking puppets head on by themselves, only occasionally cooperating to deal with big groups in haste.
That was because the two of them were simply not like the rest of the members of this cohort.
There were three kinds of senior executors. And out of fifteen present here, only two were of the third kind.
If the first were lucky and the second were good at surviving then they…
Father Mark and Father Mael were of the same generation both having reached the ripe age of forty nine this year. They survived many different kinds of ordeal and monsters with something few actually possessed.
Strength.
They were simply strong enough to survive. After all, there was a reason why people said that you should always fear an old man in a profession where people die young.
…Well, Father Mark was actually the type to use cheap tricks as well if it meant surviving but he was so strong you could count on less than one hand how many times he needed to make use of those.
But that was another story.