Haruka & The Great Holy Grail War
"OPPRESSORS!" Spartacus shrieked as he attacked Karna and Atalanta. "YOU WILL PAY!"
"…Tch!" Atalanta jumped back as the berserker's fist slammed down on the place where she had been standing just seconds ago. A little distance away from her was Karna, who was busy dodging Vlad's spikes.
It had turned into a three-way fight. Spartacus was unable to differentiate between friend or foe and attacked both Vlad and the Red Servants. Vlad would distract Karna with a wave of stakes before impaling Spartacus's limbs to immobilize him, before summoning another wave of stakes to block Atalanta's arrows. Karna, backed by Atalanta, would keep a few stakes from impaling her before slicing off one of Spartacus's flailing arms.
"This is getting nowhere," Atalanta muttered.
It also didn't help that Spartacus appeared to be mutating. New limbs and other appendages grew out of wounds, and soon the berserker was a deformed mass of flesh and eyeballs. She shot a few more arrows before jumping back to land on a boulder. readying her Noble Phantasm.
"Interesting to see what kind of Master summoned such a berserker as so," Vlad commented casually as he clashed spears with Karna.
Karna blinked back impassively, striking again and forcing Vlad to turn away from Atalanta. "I would not know."
Vlad stepped back slightly. "You are interesting, Lancer of Red. My stakes were even unable to pierce you from inside."
"I have my Master to thank for that," Karna said.
Vlad had tried to impale Karna from inside. Instead of piercing through the Indian hero's body, though, they had been forced outside his body and broken into splinters. That was due to Karna activating Volumen Hydragyrum at the last second, giving him temporary invincibility to all of Vlad's attacks.
They resumed their clash, but then they heard Atalanta's voice call out.
"Phoebus Catastrophe!"
A rain of arrows pelted the ground they were standing in. Karna's flames burned any arrow that got close, while Vlad protected himself with a wall of stakes. The majority of the arrows were aimed at Spartacus, though, and tore through the berserker's body.
As the assault subsided, Karna and Vlad watched as Spartacus's body only mutated even more.
"Oh, this is good pain! I will crush all the oppressors!"
"Oi, what's that eyesore?!"
Karna turned his head to see Mordred, Siegfried, Astolfo, and Frankenstein staring at the deformed mass of flesh. The battle between the two lancers had apparently pushed them to where the two sabers had been clashing.
"That is Berserker of Red," Atalanta informed them casually.
"What an ugly meat balloon," Mordred muttered.
Spartacus chose that moment to swing a fist down at Mordred, but she easily cleaved through his body. "Get out of the way, ugly! You interrupted the best fight I've had in a while!"
Vlad glanced at Astolfo. "You were pushed back even with Berserker's and Saber's help?"
Astolfo smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well… we were almost close to overwhelming her?"
"Uuu…" Frankenstein mumbled.
Siegfried said nothing and exchanged glances with Karna.
Mordred's irritated voice interrupted their confrontation. "I don't care if you guys all take me on later, just get rid of this eyesore first! I can't fight you guys without it interfering and I think it's going to blow up!"
True to her words, everyone could see Spartacus's body beginning to pulse.
"His Noble Phantasm… and we're close to the city as well!" Atalanta said.
Vlad gritted his teeth but turned to Karna. "I propose a temporary truce until we find a way to destroy this volatile Servant without harming any civilians."
"Noble words, king of this land. I will accept. But how do we destroy him?"
"We need a Servant with a defensive Noble Phantasm or maybe another Noble Phantasm with an equally destructive Noble Phantasm to cancel it out…" Mordred suggested.
"What's going on here?!" Two new voices said at the same time. Sieg and Jeanne then proceeded to stare at each other, as they had arrived at the same time.
"Oh, Ruler and… the stray homunculus," Vlad commented. "Brave of you to come back."
Arthur materialized in front of Sieg, Excalibur out. "Harm the homunculus and I will attack," he warned.
"Oh?"
"I came here to rescue Rider," Sieg stated simply. Astolfo looked torn between being happy that Sieg was alive and well and scared for his safety.
"I came to mediate the battle… but what's going on?" Jeanne asked.
"Long story short, he's about to blow up," Mordred said, waving a hand towards Spartacus. "Any way to nullify the blast?"
"I can probably shield the homunculus with my Noble Phantasm, but that won't completely nullify the damage," Jeanne said. "The rest of you, please go into spiritual form if you are able."
Arthur tilted his head as if receiving a telepathic message, and stepped forward. "My Master has informed me to use my Noble Phantasm against Berserker of Red. Do not worry about protecting me." Master Haruka was wise to have me keep Volumen Hydragyrum.
"Excalibur… the Sword of Promised Victory. Show me you are worthy of your title then, King of Knights," Vlad stated.
"Then it's settled!" Mordred said. "I want to battle Father after this, so you scrubs better find another opponent!"
"Wait… father? You're Mordred?!" Astolfo said in surprise. "But that means the Knight of Treachery's actually a girl—"
Mordred casually pointed her sword at him. "Call me that and I'll kill you before battling Father. Got it?"
"Enough talk. He will explode soon."
"Everyone, get behind me!"
All the Servants save Vlad and Astolfo dematerialized. The two remaining Servants stepped behind Jeanne, Astolfo standing in front of Sieg protectively.
Jeanne stepped forward with Arthur at her side. The two exchanged glances. "I want to know what is going on after this," the Ruler said.
"You may not get all your answers," Arthur answered. He turned to Spartacus's pulsing form and released Invisible Air's sheath. Excalibur glowed golden in the dark night, illuminating the battlefield. "Seal Thirteen, decision start!"
The enemy must be more powerful than oneself.
The battle must be one-on-one.
The enemy must not be an elemental.
The battle must not involve personal gain.
The battle must not be inhumane.
The battle must be to live.
Bedivere, Palamedes, Lancelot, Galahad, Gaheris, Kay… thank you. With six seals broken, that is more than enough power.
Just before he swung, Arthur felt a rush of extra mana. Haruka had activated an attack up boost on him. Thank you, Master Haruka.
"EX… CALIBUR!"
Arthur swung his sword and a wave of immense golden light rushed towards Spartacus just as his body began to explode, and swallowed him up. Behind him, Jeanne chanted the aria for her own Noble Phantasm.
"My flag, defend our brethren! Luminosité Eternelle!"
The entire battlefield was engulfed in light.