"What's this? Just a bunch of toys?"
Yubel sneered as she swatted aside the Homunculi that rushed toward her. She dismantled them with a casual, predatory efficiency, her laughter echoing through the halls of the Black Faction's fortress.
"As a warm-up for this body... I suppose they'll suffice."
She grabbed a Homunculus by the wrist and hurled it through a stone pillar with a violent snap. She continued her stroll down the corridor, her gait arrogant and unhurried.
"Hmm?"
She paused, her gaze shifting to the end of the hallway. A dignified-looking man was standing there, his expression cold and calculating.
"Heh... now I can speak without any distractions."
Speaking through the voice of this body's original owner, Yubel smiled.
"An intruder from the enemy faction?"
"To seize such a critical opportunity and infiltrate the heart of the fortress..."
Darnic's tone was sharp, his aura bristling with a dangerous edge.
"Hehe. You,"
BOOM!!
Before Yubel could finish her sentence, the wall beside her exploded. A metallic blur lunged from the debris, slamming into her with the force of a high-speed train and knocking her backward.
THUD!
Yubel tumbled across the floor, but she rolled back onto her feet with a feline grace. She looked up and narrowed her eyes as she identified her attacker.
The man radiated the cold scent of polished metal. Aside from his human-like face, every part of his body was a complex array of machinery and synthetic components.
"Oh? A Servant?"
Yubel's interest was piqued. She drew her twin pistols,the red-and-white blades,and aimed them forward.
BANG! BANG! BANG!!
Genos didn't even flinch. He swept his leg in a wide arc, the sheer wind pressure from the movement deflecting the bullets as if they were pebbles.
"!"
Before Yubel could adjust her aim, Genos was already in her face, his fist delivering a heavy, piston-driven blow.
CLANG!
She raised her arms to block the strike, but the sheer momentum of the impact lifted her off her feet and sent her crashing through the outer wall of the castle.
"What incredible speed and power."
Yubel was genuinely surprised. She had never seen a "human" like this before. Even for a Servant, his explosive capabilities were beyond anything she had anticipated.
'Because he's a machine... I can't induce the darkness in his heart?'
She had attempted to activate her parasitic influence at the first moment of contact, but it had washed over Genos like water over stone. He had no bio-signals for her to manipulate, no chemical despair for her to amplify.
Finding herself so cleanly countered was... irritating.
SCRAPE!!
The red-and-white guns blocked Genos's follow-up punch. This time, Yubel managed to hold her ground.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Genos's elbow let out a high-pitched warning. Small vents opened along his arm, and a violent burst of pressurized gas acted as a secondary thruster.
POW!!
The sudden increase in force punched through Yubel's guard, sending her flying out of the castle ruins and into the open wasteland.
"Now you know what happens to intruders!"
Gored stood at the edge of the breach in the wall, watching his Archer's performance with a look of immense relief.
"To cause us so much trouble... Archer, finish him off!"
Thinking about the scores of damaged Homunculi that would now need extensive repairs, Gored felt a massive headache coming on.
"Hmm?"
Turning to look at Darnic, Gored saw that the other man was standing rooted to the spot, his head bowed and one hand covering his face.
"I've already notified Rider and the others."
"It seems Archer can handle this on his own."
"There's no need to waste a Command Spell calling Saber back prematurely."
Darnic suppressed the strange sensation that had just flared within his mind, turning to speak to Gored with his usual composure.
"Understood."
Gored nodded, his earlier panic subsiding.
'What was that just now?'
Darnic reviewed the voice that had just echoed from the depths of his own soul. He suspected it was some kind of Noble Phantasm, but he had no way to prove it yet.
It had clearly been an attempt to subvert his emotions, and it probably would have worked if Archer (Genos) hadn't arrived just in time.
***
THUD!
BANG!!
Outside, the battle continued. Genos evaded Yubel's sporadic fire with mechanical precision, closing the distance in a series of blurring leaps.
SWISH!
Yubel managed to evade his initial grab, her hands snapping onto his elbows in an attempt to wrench them out of their sockets.
WHOOSH!
Flames erupted from Genos's heels, providing a sudden burst of torque that allowed him to break free and knock her to the ground with a shoulder barge.
"Gadgets and gimmicks everywhere, I see."
Yubel's voice was tinged with disgust as she rolled back onto her feet.
Genos stood several yards away, his synthetic eyes glowing as they processed a torrent of incoming data. He was scanning every aspect of his opponent.
Power, speed, reaction time...
Mana...
'Wait.'
Genos noted a strange irregularity. According to the laws of this world, a person,or a Servant,should only possess a single magical signature.
So why was he sensing two distinct wavelengths from the same body?
"The frequency and quality are completely different..."
"It's as if one is anchored to the other."
Thanks to the advanced analyzer installed by Dr. Bulma, Genos could see the truth behind the veil. A normal sensory mage would have missed the nuance, but Bulma's technology was designed to look for precisely these kinds of anomalies.
...
"Oh! Doctor, the intruder is being absolutely crushed!"
Roche watched the monitor in the lab, his face lit up with excitement as he saw Genos's overwhelming performance.
"Doctor?"
He looked over to see Bulma intently staring at a separate screen, her fingers Flying across a keyboard.
"This is the telemetry Genos is sending back."
"I installed a high-precision Servant info-array in his core."
"This intruder is... weird."
Bulma looked at the fluctuating waves on the graph, her curiosity piqued.
"Two different mana signatures?"
"How is that possible?"
Roche hurried over, his jaw dropping as he saw the two distinct lines on the display.
"I don't know yet. If possible, I'd like Archer to capture them alive."
"But with so many unknowns, the risk might be too high."
"Haha! Archer is so strong, it'll be a piece of cake!"
Roche didn't share his Master's caution. Genos's modifications had pushed him far beyond his previous limit. He was confident that even against someone like the Red Faction's Caster (Natsu), Genos could hold his own. Capturing a single intruder should be easy.
"I hope you're right..."
Bulma shook her head, her optimism tempered by experience. In her world, nothing was ever absolute.
Genos was powerful, yes, but he wasn't invincible. And the fact that this intruder had managed to find their hidden base was concerning.
Was it the Red Faction?
If so, they were incredibly bold for attempting a solo infiltration.
'I'll have to build a proper multi-spectrum shield and a bio-recognition system for this castle next time.'
Reflecting on the security breach, she realized how close they had come to disaster. If it hadn't been for Genos staying behind, the Masters might have been assassinated or the Dragon Balls stolen.
***
SPIT.
Yubel spat a glob of blood onto the ground as she swayed on her feet.
"I see... you may be tactically experienced, but you aren't a seasoned warrior."
"Your movements are full of openings."
Genos stated his assessment with a cold, analytical detach.
"Oh?"
"AH... HAHAHAHA!!"
Yubel threw her head back and laughed, a sound that carried a disturbing, melodic quality. Her expression twisted into it something that looked decidedly un-human.
"A seasoned warrior?"
"It's true... he has no memories, so he can't utilize his body's original talent."
"However..."
"The type of combat I excel at... is far from a simple brawl."
Genos watched as the intruder pulled out a strange, metallic device.
It was a curved, red-and-black apparatus that deployed from their left forearm. A series of lights began to cycle across its surface as it hummed with a new kind of power.
Yubel's face was pulled into a horrifying, wide-eyed grin as she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"NOW... LET THE DUEL BEGIN!!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]