Sheol, the Devourer-class Servant, stood in front of the advertising signs
Archer had collided with. The woman rubbed her fingers on the hand with
which she had slapped Archer as if to remove dirt then, with a bored look,
turned to Hisae, who was pale and paralyzed like a Greek statue, and asked
her:
« Is your familiar alive or dead? I don't have time to wait for him. » Then she turned to Specter. « What do you say, Glasya? In your opinion is
he dead or alive? I bet he's dead. »
Both Specter and Hisae remained
mute. Sheol shrugged and looked back at the signs that were emitting sparks
left and right. An arrow was shot at Sheol's head; the woman grabbed the
arrow in midair with one hand and, sighing, said:
« And of course I lost
the bet to myself. »
Archer returned to the battlefield and without a
word fired three more arrows which were disintegrated by a wall of black
fire that rose in front of Sheol.
« You know you're not fighting, right?
You're just digging your own grave and believe me, I love when others do
the dirty work, that is, don't get me wrong, I love the dead but I prefer to
just bury them, I generally don't deal with graves but only with corpses, I
don't know if I you do understand. »
Archer, wet an arrow with his
blood and shot it; the magic arrow made it through the wall of fire and when
it hit Sheol it exploded; Specter secured Friedrich while Hisae hid behind a
car so as not to be hit by the explosion.
The battle seemed to be over,
more than thirty seconds had passed and nothing had moved, there was only an
immense curtain of smoke and dust, but Sheol was gone: she was not on the
ground and she was not even in the sky and therefore the battle it was
apparently over. Archer, relieved, commented:
« You talk too much,
Devourer. »
« And you don't listen. »
It was Sheol's voice but the
woman couldn't be seen, where had she gone? Archer, looked around and
eventually found the rival on the roof of a building.
« This isn't a fight, Thomas de Camoys… or Archer… or whatever familiars
like you are called. Do you think a Servant can somehow defeat me? »
« How
did you survive that blow? »
« I literally survived your painful Noble
Phantasm and you worry about that spit from before? You're really
pathetic, even Glasya-Labolas would be able to make me have more fun than
you and she's just a President of Hell and… well, that's saying
something. So, are you done wasting my time? »
« Damn you, witch!
» Archer yelled, firing another arrow.
Sheol deflected it using only
one finger of her hand.
« Witch? It's easy for you to insult me, even
knowing that the body I'm wearing is that of a woman who would probably
have easily given you a night of sex. But I guess I can't talk about
hormones and sexuality with a familiar… or maybe you too experience those
things that mortals love? I find it odd considering you don't need to
reproduce because… technically you aren't even alive. But I'm digressing
... let's end this "fight". »
Friedrich was shocked to see Sheol in action, not because she
was much more powerful than any Servant but because she was treating the
battle as a game, it was clear that she was not taking the fight seriously;
when he looked into her eyes he saw a woman who knew she had victory in
hand, it wasn't banal pride it was absolute certainty and this terrified
him.
Specter approached Friedrich and said:
« Get a car and let's
go. I don't want to be here. »
« We have to wait for Alessandro and
Saber, I can't leave them here. »
« I can track him, I recognize his magical energy. I'll take you to them, but we have to leave now. »
« What
will become of Hisae? » Friedrich asked, worried.
« You already know the
answer. »
There was an explosion, Archer had just fired another explosive arrow.
Sheol stepped down to the ground and summoned a coal-black broadsword
that was surrounded by black, red and purple flames; Friedrich
immediately understood that this was her Noble Phantasm and exclaimed,
turning to Hisae:
« Run! You have to run! You can't win this
war! »
« I will win this war! I'm not afraid of this Servant, I'll
find a way to defeat her! I must do it! »
« Idiot, you'll die! »
Sheol appeared next to Hisae, took her by the throat and
lifted her off the ground with immense ease and replied to Friedrich:
« Correction:
she's already dead. »
Archer decided to go into hand-to-hand
combat: he kicked Sheol away, then saved Hisae and finally shot two more
arrows. Sheol created another wall of fire and then, moving the sword,
she began to strike several blows against the wall which caused several
half moons of fire to be launched that flew in every direction cutting
everything that stood in their way.
Specter took Friedrich with her and persuaded him to steal a car and leave, but in the meantime Sheol's
attack was destroying everything.
« Left Wing of Agincourt! (Great
Battle of Azincourt) » Archer suddenly exclaimed.
Thousands of
spiritual arrows hit Sheol at the same time, this time she was badly
wounded. The arrows had pierced her and she was on her knees and dying,
with a trembling hand she tried to reach for the sword but eventually
she passed out. Hisae let out a sigh of relief and complimented
Archer:
« I told you you could do it ... I gave you a lot of magical
energy but it was worth it! »
« Master … »
Hisae was
staggering a bit.
« Are you all right, Master? You shouldn't have
given me all that magical support, now you will be weak. »
« You
don't have to worry about me, Archer, it's nothing. »
« Well. »
It was Sheol's voice.
Hisae and Archer turned and
saw the woman stand up. Her wounds disappeared in an instant and she was
as good as new. The two shocked and frightened as children didn't know
how to react to what they had just seen.
« How is ... such a thing
possible? What are you? » Hisae asked in a swaying voice.
« Do you
want to kill me? Well, you'll have a lot of work to do. A world
disappears only when no one inhabits it anymore and I'm inhabited by
the dead, you cannot kill what is already dead. »
« A world? »
« The
simple explanation is that I'm the consciousness of the afterlife that
has reincarnated in this body, but technically speaking I'm
something more than just "consciousness"... I'm
Hades, I'm Hell ... I'm Sheol. I'm not a deity, I am the tomb of the
deities. »
« What are you talking about? No ... I can't believe
you. This is all madness! » Hisae exclaimed.
« No, the madness is
that you agreed to face me. »
Sheol prepared to deliver the final blow but Archer defended Hisae, getting his stomach pierced.
« THOMAS! » Hisae yelled,
shocked.
« No! RUN! Run… Hisae… don't… don't worry about me… you
have to live! »
« So you really want to sacrifice yourself for that
human? You're a really good Servant but… » Sheol grabbed Archer's face,
held it steady and then pulled the blade from the body and decapitated
the Servant making him disappear in an instant.
The girl tried to
escape but Sheol managed to grab her by the hair and threw her to the
ground like a sack of potatoes. She approached Hisae and prepared to give
her the last blow, the girl in tears prayed for the safety of her little
brother.
Sheol raised a pleased smile and proceeded to deliver the coup de
grace. Hisae closed her eyes. She heard a metallic sound, nothing had
hit her, she was still alive and there was a girl in front of her who
had parried the blow with her sword.
Sheol was face to face with
Saber.
« And you are ... Gaius Julius Caesar? What an
interesting Heroic Spirit ... »
« I like it when people recognize
me, yet I have little time for you. I have to save this Master without
Servant. »
« Really? »
A car approached, driven by
Friedrich, inside were Specter and Alessandro Serpi. Sheol immediately
aimed at the vehicle but Saber got in her way and urged Hisae to join
the others.
« Really very noble of you, Saber, but don't think
about…! »
Sheol had struck a blow but Saber had been able to
parry it and then the latter responded with an attack that wounded
the woman in the belly. Sheol immediately recognized the blade and
exclaimed, surprised:
« So now you own the Holy Sword, huh? »
Saber
kicked Sheol and then jumped onto the roof of the car which
accelerated leaving the woman behind. Sheol didn't follow
them, her wound healed immediately but she was intrigued, she was
determined to face Saber again.
Sheol by Bikowolf
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