Sanctum
Jan 23, 2016 21:51:59 GMT -5
Post by Mass-produced Junk on Jan 23, 2016 21:51:59 GMT -5
Zain Krauss & Rider vs. Berserker
Krauss and Rider walked through another gloomy night side by side. Whenever Krauss stole speculative glances at his Servant, he saw flashes of his dream – a young boy, crying over a fiery pit, swearing to be the enemy of Rome. A man, a leader, intelligent and charismatic, following his oath with unwavering loyalty. It was clear that the dream hadn’t ended yet when Rider had shaken him awake to work on battle strategy. Krauss smiled softly. For what his Servant lacked in pure power, he more than made up in tactical knowledge and commitment.
Krauss coughed awkwardly. “This morning, before I woke up... I was dreaming. Of visions from your past, from your point of view.”
Rider – Hannibal – nodded. “That’s normal, as best as I can tell. The constant mana flow from you to me creates a link between us, where my mind sort of leaks into yours. When you are sleeping, when your mental defenses are weakest, those memories are played back to you in the form of dreams. What’s more, we may be able to use it in our waking moments as a form of telepathy.” He smiled. “What did you see, exactly?”
Krauss frowned. “You swore something, and you made good on your promise.”
Hannibal’s smile faded, and he looked down at the ground. “Take advice from me, Krauss. Don’t let yourself be tied down to an oath. Find something you enjoy doing, and do it. That oath stopped me from living my own life, making my own decisions... until the bitter end.”
Krauss nodded, but there was a bitter gleam in his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Not far away, a hulking behemoth of a so-called Servant was lumbering across the streets, in plain view. Berserker, the Servant, was thinking about his Master David. David was weak – he had been knocked unconscious in the battle last night, the one against the thin man who shot arrows like the sun. Berserker had dumped him in their camp and then left, and was happy to not have to deal with his constant nagging David’s only authority came from the red symbols on his hand, and otherwise he was no more than a tool. A mana source, to be torn through rapidly and with pleasure.
Berserker sniffed the air. A sense of battle drifted through his mind – not a scent, exactly, but to Berserker it felt like fresh blood. With a wide smile, Berserker yelled out a war cry. There was someone or something in the area that was at least somewhat worthy, able to rival his strength. A worthy person was a challenger, a challenger was an enemy, and an enemy was a victim. Berserker began to follow the not-scent in the air.
Rider stopped moving abruptly. “There’s a Servant in the area, and he’s already locked onto us. Less than a minute before he arrives.”
Krauss glanced upward and smiled. They were in an area with plenty of abandoned apartment buildings, stretching into the sky. “About time. We have a plan, and I doubt we’ll be easily defeated.”
There was a loud crash to Krauss’s side, and he and Rider turned quickly. A Servant, more than twice Krauss’s size, had broken through the wall of a nearby apartment building to get at them, despite there being a perfectly unblocked street right next to it. He was unclothed except for a tattered cloth around his waist and a helmet not dissimilar from Rider’s.
Krauss frowned. Undeniably Berserker-class, given his obvious strength and his subpar entrance. But where is his Master?
Berserker made an inhuman groaning noise, lifted his longsword, and swung it wildly at Rider. Rider jumped back and dodged the blow, which left an indentation in the ground that seemed to be twice the size of the actual blade.
As Berserker lifted his blade once more, Hannibal turned to Krauss, who was already holding out his bracelets. “Your forcefields won’t be able to stand up to any of his attacks for a second. Play support, and keep safe.”
Rider went in for a blow with his rhomphaia, but Berserker parried the blow with a flick of his wrist, sending Hannibal flying backward. Berserker made a low, guttural noise in his throat. A laugh. Krauss held out his right hand, and one of his Aegis Bracelets began to glow.
“Aegis aureum, arma aeternus!” A shining blue disc appeared in front of Krauss, parallel to the ground. Instead of sending it at the enemy, he stepped on top of its surface. Krauss cast a quick “Erigo” on the surface to increase traction and create handles, and the forcefield disc began to rise into the air, with Krauss riding on top. Soon, he was out of range of the longsword.
Berserker shifted his attention from Rider to Krauss, and swung upward at Krauss’s forcefield vehicle. Krauss continued to rise at the same rate – there was no way the Servant could reach him – but Rider screamed for him to go faster. When he looked down, he saw the weapon extending and changing shape, climbing up to reach him.
Rider rushed over to Berserker and thrust his rhomphaia in the path of Berserker’s weapon, holding it back just long enough to allow Krauss to rise above even the tallest rooftops. Berserker’s weapon had stopped extending, and Krauss could now see that it took the shape of a spear. Berserker, seeming to conclude that Krauss was unreachable and not a threat, turned his attention back to Rider, and his spear shifted shape back into a sword.
Hannibal told me I can use our mental link to talk to one another from a distance... Krauss focused on the dream he had had of Hannibal, tried to shift his point of view to that of the general, and began to think.
I’m going to hunt for this man’s Master. He has to be nearby, observing.
Perhaps he is... but I’ve seen cases like this all too often in the Berserker class. Where the Master is nowhere nearby, with almost no power over his servant, just drained of mana until there’s none left. And the Servant runs around like a mad dog.
What makes you think that?
Look at the mana he’s radiating with every attack. No one but the most experienced Master would be able to stay conscious under such a drain, much less be able to plan battle strategy. I also think it’s suspicious that he’s not paying attention to you... he judges opponents based on sheer power, while I feel that a human Master would be much more suspicious of what you’re doing.
Understood. Still, it can’t hurt to try.
“Myrias.” Krauss sent out forcefields to seek humans in the area, particularly those in a position to see the battle without being seen themselves. Now high up enough to see the streets from a birds-eye view, Krauss could plainly see Hannibal’s elephant in the adjacent street.
I can barely do any damage to this Servant. I’m bringing in the elephant now, and come up with a different plan of attack.
Krauss looked down at the battle. Hannibal was deftly dodging Berserker’s strikes, but every blow of his in return was barely deeper than a scratch. Berserker, for his part, hadn’t broken a sweat. He was just playing with his prey, refusing to fight seriously.
Hannibal’s elephant began to charge full speed toward Berserker’s location, and Hannibal maneuvered into a position where the elephant would be toward Berserker’s back. When the elephant approached, though, Berserker sniffed the air and turned around, holding his sword out toward the elephant. As the elephant bore down on him, Berserker’s sword transformed into a tower shield.
The elephant ran straight into the shield and pushed Berserker back a few metres before raising its head and trumpeting. Berserker laughed once again – it still sounded wrong somehow – and turned toward his new quarry.
Berserker and the elephant ran at each other again and again, tusks slamming into the shield’s leather, the sword slashing at the elephant’s hide. Neither side was doing much damage, but Berserker seemed to be enjoying the battle, smiling and laughing for every blow he was dealt or dealt to the enemy. He seemed to be getting less, not more tired as the battle went on.
Krauss cast some “Erigo” spells on the ground, making the ground that Berserker was stepping on slippery. Berserker merely stomped on the affected ground, and Krauss’s forcefields shattered. Krauss wasn’t even sure it had been a conscious action on Berserker’s part.
Krauss’s forcefields still hadn’t found Berserker’s Master. Wherever he was, he wasn’t in a place that had an obvious line of sight to the battlefield. Perhaps Hannibal had been right. Krauss scanned the ground for his Servant, and saw Rider in a battle-ready position nearby. It seemed that Berserker was completely ignoring him, and it was clear that his rhomphaia could contribute little.
Battle Continuation... this Berserker possesses a similar skill. A skill that increases strength as a battle gets harder, scaling up infinitely. And when fighting against the elephant, which possesses its own Battle Continuation skill, that skill can reach its full potential. That’s why Berserker is ignoring the more vulnerable targets, and going for the biggest threat.
If we allow this battle to continue the way it’s going, Berserker will only get stronger. Defeat is inevitable.
Yes. But he has a weakness... one that I think you’ve already figured out.
He’s only paying attention to the elephant, the target of his skill. It’s like we aren’t even there.
And we possess skills of our own. Your forcefields may not be able to stop Berserker, but they can redirect him, and I can command my elephant via my Remote Relay skill.
Yes. Add that to our advantage in mobility, and I think we have a way to win. Or at least inflict a lot of damage.
You’re learning.
Another of Krauss’s Aegis Bracelets began to glow, and another glowing blue disc appeared in front of Krauss. He cast an “Erigo” on it, creating straps to attach to the elephant’s tusk and additional reinforcements. Krauss paused, and re-applied the “Erigo” spell several times, pouring all of his mana into the contraption.
Krauss’s creation began to fly down toward the elephant, which backed away from Berserker into a defensive position, and attached onto its tusks. The Aegis forcefield formed a platform parallel to the ground in front of the elephant, like a forklift.
Krauss landed on the roof of a nearby building and cast an “Erigo” on the side of the building. The almost-transparent forcefield stretched down to the ground, creating a tiny slant almost parallel to the building.
Rider began to go on the offensive as his elephant stepped back, assaulting Berserker with slashes of his rhomphaia. They had little effect, and Berserker changed his weapon into sword form and swung it at his target. Rider was barely able to dodge, but he continued to press the attack.
Berserker, annoyed by Rider’s attack and attempting to squash him as a human would a fly, did not notice the elephant’s charge in time to change his weapon into shield form. But instead of charging into Berserker head-on, the elephant lowered its head, allowing the contraption Krauss had created to scoop up Berserker.
Krauss quickly moved the forcefield that was holding Berserker to lodge Berserker in the elephant’s tusks. As Krauss and Rider predicted, Berserker shifted his focus back to the elephant, trying to attack its face and tusks. However, Berserker was stuck in an awkward position without much leverage, so he didn’t have immediate success.
Hannibal’s elephant began to run straight toward the building Krauss was standing on. Krauss raised himself into the air once more and watched. When the elephant approached the building, instead of crashing through the forcefield and wall, it went up, running up the side of the building as if it was flat ground. Berserker, now fighting gravity in order to escape from the elephant’s hold, got lodged in the elephant’s tusks even deeper.
The forcefield the elephant was running up began to veer backwards, until the track in front of the elephant was in a semicircular loop. The elephant, still moving at top speed, ran the loop, losing momentum as it did so. When the track ended in a vertical drop, the elephant finally succumbed to gravity, and began to fall straight down.
Berserker, with a yowl of triumph, was finally in a position to smash through Krauss’s forcefield. However, by now, it was too late – Berserker fell headfirst onto the concrete pavement, and Rider’s elephant landed on top of him, leaving a massive crater in the ground.
When the dust cleared, Hannibal’s elephant was slowly lumbering toward Rider, weak on its legs. Rider touched its side lovingly, and the elephant faded into gray mist to recover its strength. Even Battle Continuation couldn’t withstand such a long drop.
Rider turned to Krauss. “There’s nothing more we can do here. Even after that, I doubt Berserker’s dead, though he may be stunned for a few minutes. With my elephant de-summoned, I doubt he’ll be all that interested in us anymore. We need to make our getaway now.”
Krauss took a glance at Berserker’s giant form, lying at the bottom of the crater, groaning in agony. He nodded at Rider, and they began to drive away from the scene of the battle as fast as they could.
Berserker, his quarry gone, lumbered back around the streets where he had been walking. He soon found himself within sight of his camp, where David was lying on the ground. Berserker grabbed his Master and banged him on the ground a few times, ensuring that he wouldn't wake up for another while.
Krauss and Rider walked through another gloomy night side by side. Whenever Krauss stole speculative glances at his Servant, he saw flashes of his dream – a young boy, crying over a fiery pit, swearing to be the enemy of Rome. A man, a leader, intelligent and charismatic, following his oath with unwavering loyalty. It was clear that the dream hadn’t ended yet when Rider had shaken him awake to work on battle strategy. Krauss smiled softly. For what his Servant lacked in pure power, he more than made up in tactical knowledge and commitment.
Krauss coughed awkwardly. “This morning, before I woke up... I was dreaming. Of visions from your past, from your point of view.”
Rider – Hannibal – nodded. “That’s normal, as best as I can tell. The constant mana flow from you to me creates a link between us, where my mind sort of leaks into yours. When you are sleeping, when your mental defenses are weakest, those memories are played back to you in the form of dreams. What’s more, we may be able to use it in our waking moments as a form of telepathy.” He smiled. “What did you see, exactly?”
Krauss frowned. “You swore something, and you made good on your promise.”
Hannibal’s smile faded, and he looked down at the ground. “Take advice from me, Krauss. Don’t let yourself be tied down to an oath. Find something you enjoy doing, and do it. That oath stopped me from living my own life, making my own decisions... until the bitter end.”
Krauss nodded, but there was a bitter gleam in his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not far away, a hulking behemoth of a so-called Servant was lumbering across the streets, in plain view. Berserker, the Servant, was thinking about his Master David. David was weak – he had been knocked unconscious in the battle last night, the one against the thin man who shot arrows like the sun. Berserker had dumped him in their camp and then left, and was happy to not have to deal with his constant nagging David’s only authority came from the red symbols on his hand, and otherwise he was no more than a tool. A mana source, to be torn through rapidly and with pleasure.
Berserker sniffed the air. A sense of battle drifted through his mind – not a scent, exactly, but to Berserker it felt like fresh blood. With a wide smile, Berserker yelled out a war cry. There was someone or something in the area that was at least somewhat worthy, able to rival his strength. A worthy person was a challenger, a challenger was an enemy, and an enemy was a victim. Berserker began to follow the not-scent in the air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rider stopped moving abruptly. “There’s a Servant in the area, and he’s already locked onto us. Less than a minute before he arrives.”
Krauss glanced upward and smiled. They were in an area with plenty of abandoned apartment buildings, stretching into the sky. “About time. We have a plan, and I doubt we’ll be easily defeated.”
There was a loud crash to Krauss’s side, and he and Rider turned quickly. A Servant, more than twice Krauss’s size, had broken through the wall of a nearby apartment building to get at them, despite there being a perfectly unblocked street right next to it. He was unclothed except for a tattered cloth around his waist and a helmet not dissimilar from Rider’s.
Krauss frowned. Undeniably Berserker-class, given his obvious strength and his subpar entrance. But where is his Master?
Berserker made an inhuman groaning noise, lifted his longsword, and swung it wildly at Rider. Rider jumped back and dodged the blow, which left an indentation in the ground that seemed to be twice the size of the actual blade.
As Berserker lifted his blade once more, Hannibal turned to Krauss, who was already holding out his bracelets. “Your forcefields won’t be able to stand up to any of his attacks for a second. Play support, and keep safe.”
Rider went in for a blow with his rhomphaia, but Berserker parried the blow with a flick of his wrist, sending Hannibal flying backward. Berserker made a low, guttural noise in his throat. A laugh. Krauss held out his right hand, and one of his Aegis Bracelets began to glow.
“Aegis aureum, arma aeternus!” A shining blue disc appeared in front of Krauss, parallel to the ground. Instead of sending it at the enemy, he stepped on top of its surface. Krauss cast a quick “Erigo” on the surface to increase traction and create handles, and the forcefield disc began to rise into the air, with Krauss riding on top. Soon, he was out of range of the longsword.
Berserker shifted his attention from Rider to Krauss, and swung upward at Krauss’s forcefield vehicle. Krauss continued to rise at the same rate – there was no way the Servant could reach him – but Rider screamed for him to go faster. When he looked down, he saw the weapon extending and changing shape, climbing up to reach him.
Rider rushed over to Berserker and thrust his rhomphaia in the path of Berserker’s weapon, holding it back just long enough to allow Krauss to rise above even the tallest rooftops. Berserker’s weapon had stopped extending, and Krauss could now see that it took the shape of a spear. Berserker, seeming to conclude that Krauss was unreachable and not a threat, turned his attention back to Rider, and his spear shifted shape back into a sword.
Hannibal told me I can use our mental link to talk to one another from a distance... Krauss focused on the dream he had had of Hannibal, tried to shift his point of view to that of the general, and began to think.
I’m going to hunt for this man’s Master. He has to be nearby, observing.
Perhaps he is... but I’ve seen cases like this all too often in the Berserker class. Where the Master is nowhere nearby, with almost no power over his servant, just drained of mana until there’s none left. And the Servant runs around like a mad dog.
What makes you think that?
Look at the mana he’s radiating with every attack. No one but the most experienced Master would be able to stay conscious under such a drain, much less be able to plan battle strategy. I also think it’s suspicious that he’s not paying attention to you... he judges opponents based on sheer power, while I feel that a human Master would be much more suspicious of what you’re doing.
Understood. Still, it can’t hurt to try.
“Myrias.” Krauss sent out forcefields to seek humans in the area, particularly those in a position to see the battle without being seen themselves. Now high up enough to see the streets from a birds-eye view, Krauss could plainly see Hannibal’s elephant in the adjacent street.
I can barely do any damage to this Servant. I’m bringing in the elephant now, and come up with a different plan of attack.
Krauss looked down at the battle. Hannibal was deftly dodging Berserker’s strikes, but every blow of his in return was barely deeper than a scratch. Berserker, for his part, hadn’t broken a sweat. He was just playing with his prey, refusing to fight seriously.
Hannibal’s elephant began to charge full speed toward Berserker’s location, and Hannibal maneuvered into a position where the elephant would be toward Berserker’s back. When the elephant approached, though, Berserker sniffed the air and turned around, holding his sword out toward the elephant. As the elephant bore down on him, Berserker’s sword transformed into a tower shield.
The elephant ran straight into the shield and pushed Berserker back a few metres before raising its head and trumpeting. Berserker laughed once again – it still sounded wrong somehow – and turned toward his new quarry.
Berserker and the elephant ran at each other again and again, tusks slamming into the shield’s leather, the sword slashing at the elephant’s hide. Neither side was doing much damage, but Berserker seemed to be enjoying the battle, smiling and laughing for every blow he was dealt or dealt to the enemy. He seemed to be getting less, not more tired as the battle went on.
Krauss cast some “Erigo” spells on the ground, making the ground that Berserker was stepping on slippery. Berserker merely stomped on the affected ground, and Krauss’s forcefields shattered. Krauss wasn’t even sure it had been a conscious action on Berserker’s part.
Krauss’s forcefields still hadn’t found Berserker’s Master. Wherever he was, he wasn’t in a place that had an obvious line of sight to the battlefield. Perhaps Hannibal had been right. Krauss scanned the ground for his Servant, and saw Rider in a battle-ready position nearby. It seemed that Berserker was completely ignoring him, and it was clear that his rhomphaia could contribute little.
Battle Continuation... this Berserker possesses a similar skill. A skill that increases strength as a battle gets harder, scaling up infinitely. And when fighting against the elephant, which possesses its own Battle Continuation skill, that skill can reach its full potential. That’s why Berserker is ignoring the more vulnerable targets, and going for the biggest threat.
If we allow this battle to continue the way it’s going, Berserker will only get stronger. Defeat is inevitable.
Yes. But he has a weakness... one that I think you’ve already figured out.
He’s only paying attention to the elephant, the target of his skill. It’s like we aren’t even there.
And we possess skills of our own. Your forcefields may not be able to stop Berserker, but they can redirect him, and I can command my elephant via my Remote Relay skill.
Yes. Add that to our advantage in mobility, and I think we have a way to win. Or at least inflict a lot of damage.
You’re learning.
Another of Krauss’s Aegis Bracelets began to glow, and another glowing blue disc appeared in front of Krauss. He cast an “Erigo” on it, creating straps to attach to the elephant’s tusk and additional reinforcements. Krauss paused, and re-applied the “Erigo” spell several times, pouring all of his mana into the contraption.
Krauss’s creation began to fly down toward the elephant, which backed away from Berserker into a defensive position, and attached onto its tusks. The Aegis forcefield formed a platform parallel to the ground in front of the elephant, like a forklift.
Krauss landed on the roof of a nearby building and cast an “Erigo” on the side of the building. The almost-transparent forcefield stretched down to the ground, creating a tiny slant almost parallel to the building.
Rider began to go on the offensive as his elephant stepped back, assaulting Berserker with slashes of his rhomphaia. They had little effect, and Berserker changed his weapon into sword form and swung it at his target. Rider was barely able to dodge, but he continued to press the attack.
Berserker, annoyed by Rider’s attack and attempting to squash him as a human would a fly, did not notice the elephant’s charge in time to change his weapon into shield form. But instead of charging into Berserker head-on, the elephant lowered its head, allowing the contraption Krauss had created to scoop up Berserker.
Krauss quickly moved the forcefield that was holding Berserker to lodge Berserker in the elephant’s tusks. As Krauss and Rider predicted, Berserker shifted his focus back to the elephant, trying to attack its face and tusks. However, Berserker was stuck in an awkward position without much leverage, so he didn’t have immediate success.
Hannibal’s elephant began to run straight toward the building Krauss was standing on. Krauss raised himself into the air once more and watched. When the elephant approached the building, instead of crashing through the forcefield and wall, it went up, running up the side of the building as if it was flat ground. Berserker, now fighting gravity in order to escape from the elephant’s hold, got lodged in the elephant’s tusks even deeper.
The forcefield the elephant was running up began to veer backwards, until the track in front of the elephant was in a semicircular loop. The elephant, still moving at top speed, ran the loop, losing momentum as it did so. When the track ended in a vertical drop, the elephant finally succumbed to gravity, and began to fall straight down.
Berserker, with a yowl of triumph, was finally in a position to smash through Krauss’s forcefield. However, by now, it was too late – Berserker fell headfirst onto the concrete pavement, and Rider’s elephant landed on top of him, leaving a massive crater in the ground.
When the dust cleared, Hannibal’s elephant was slowly lumbering toward Rider, weak on its legs. Rider touched its side lovingly, and the elephant faded into gray mist to recover its strength. Even Battle Continuation couldn’t withstand such a long drop.
Rider turned to Krauss. “There’s nothing more we can do here. Even after that, I doubt Berserker’s dead, though he may be stunned for a few minutes. With my elephant de-summoned, I doubt he’ll be all that interested in us anymore. We need to make our getaway now.”
Krauss took a glance at Berserker’s giant form, lying at the bottom of the crater, groaning in agony. He nodded at Rider, and they began to drive away from the scene of the battle as fast as they could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Berserker, his quarry gone, lumbered back around the streets where he had been walking. He soon found himself within sight of his camp, where David was lying on the ground. Berserker grabbed his Master and banged him on the ground a few times, ensuring that he wouldn't wake up for another while.