fate/first order derivative

Part II.2

> continue: iteration 24, day 7, evening

And I'm running again. The ground's soft here. Feels like racing on sand. Mud covers my shoes and the bottom of my pants. Lungs feel about ready to burst, but what else is new.

"MOVE IT!" Rin shouts back at me from several paces ahead. She's faster than me. I try for an extra burst of speed anyway.

Three of Archer's arrows streak over our heads. I hear them explode like mortar shells right behind us.

I risk a glance back over my shoulder. Saber walks out the fireball without a scratch, her sword still wet with Shirou's blood.

> wait what
> what is happening

I have no idea!

> that is less than helpful

Shit! Shit is happening, all right?! Of the downward moving variety!

Looking back was a mistake. My foot catches on a root. I go down like a sack of potatoes and faceplant straight into the muck. Stumble-crawling to my feet, I pull my mud-covered glasses away from my eyes.

When I look up, I find Saber standing over me. She raises the jet-black blade.

Something red flashes in the air. I hear a loud clang. Archer grimaces as he blocks Saber's sword -- not with his usual pair of twin knives, but with a silver longsword. "She -- said -- move!" he growls.

"Yep!" No need to tell me twice. I scramble away.

> where are you

By the lake behind Ryuudou Temple, up on the mountain. Look, can I explain after I'm finished running for my life?! Is that too much to ask?

Archer seems to be only barely holding her off. I hear him grunt as she presses her blade down on him. "Now -- would be -- a great time -- to snap out of it, Saber!"

Saber doesn't reply. She just moves her head out of the way as one of Rin's Gandr blasts streaks over Archer's shoulder. (How the hell can she even see with that black visor thing over her eyes?)

I catch up with Rin, standing on top of a slight rise about twenty meters away. Should I keep going? No, no -- don't split the party. I look back. It's fuzzy without my glasses, but I think I see Saber break away and slash at Archer from the side. He's ready for that, though, and leaps back. I hear him mutter something under his breath. "Rho Aias!"

Some kind of glittering translucent flower unfolds in the air between us and Saber. Archer jumps again and lands next to us, his hand held out towards the projection.

"You can make a shield?!" Rin glares at him. "Why didn't you tell me you can make shields?!"

"I just remembered I could do this, okay?!" Archer snaps. "We need to leave. Now."

"Fuck that! We're putting Goth Barbie here in the ground!" So much for Baeber, I guess...

"I don't know what's going on here, Rin!" Archer glares back at her. "What we just saw should be impossible! Hilarious, sure -- but still impossible!"

I rub my glasses off on my jacket and shove them back on my face. Just in time to see what's happening in front of us. "Uh... guys?" I whimper.

They look up. Behind Archer's shield, Saber stands with her sword raised in the air, crimson energy swirling in the air around her. Small clumps of earth and grass float lazily upwards in defiance of gravity.