Battle to Recover (Male Reader x High School DxD x Fate Series) Volume 4

Chapter 4: Betrayal

Several days later at Shirou's home.

Rin: "I think it would be best if we dealt with Berserker next."

Shirou: "Why do you say that?"
Rin: "He is by far the most powerful of the remaining servants. Currently there should be Saber, Archer, Berserker, Assassin, and Lancer left. Archer has already fought against Lancer and they were fairly well matched, so I don't think he will be too much trouble with the both of us. We have no clue where Assassin is located, so that only leaves Berserker."

Artoria: "I agree that Berserker will be a challenge to deal with, but do we know where he is located?"

Rin: "Using a familiar I was able to track the location of Illyasviel to a castle in the woods near here. I am sure we will find him there."

Shirou: "Alright then I say that we move out as soon as we can."

Archer: "Are you both idiots in forgetting about the eighth master? He could easily be plotting something right now. For all we know he has made Caster his servant and is preparing to strike against you. He knew way too much to be left alive."

Rin: "I agree with you, but we don't have any clue where he is. From what I can gather that is the first time he has actually shown himself at all."

Artoria: "My guess is that he has been watching everything and looking to find a servant."

Gawain: "Well I will admit that he is a powerful mage, but I will always serve my king first and foremost."

Artoria: "I do not deserve such loyalty, Gawain."

Gawain: "Nonsense. You are the rightful king of Britain, the King of all Knights. You have most definitely yearned my loyalty. Although I will say that had he joined with us I doubt he would have turned on you until all the others were dealt with."

Rin: "Having a two person alliance is bad enough. We cannot add more masters. I am not keen on this whole alliance as it is."

Shirou: "Very well. I say we move out to take down Berserker as soon as we can."

The group all goes off to bed.

While he is trying to go to sleep in a shed near the main house, Shirou hears an explosion that shakes the ground. He and Artoria rush to the main house. They find that it has been attacked. In the wreckage they see Caster walking towards them. Caster says, "You really are fools to think that I would not be back." Shirou inquires, "Isn't your master dead though? The eighth master said that he poisoned him." Caster laughs, "I need no master. I can just kill humans to supply my magical energy, but yes my master died from that dirty poison attack about an hour after I rescued him." Artoria rushes forward to kill her. Caster uses magic to strike and Arotira gets knocked down. Next up is Gawain who has come into the room and rushes forward to strike. He however is blocked by Archer.

"What do you think you are doing Archer?" Gawain says. "It is simple. I am pursuing the path that will lead to my happiness the fastest." Rin seeing that Archer has betrayed her tries to use a command spell on him to no effect. "Why isn't it working?" Rin questions. "Oh that would be the effect of Caster's noble Phantasm. I am no longer your servant. I am now her servant." "What did you just say?" Rin asks. "I left you to fight for someone that is much better. It was the natural choice to make."

Having heard enough, Shirou rushes at Archer. "You will pay for betraying us." Archer laughs, "Oh will I now. I rather doubt it, but come on I look forward to killing you." Shirou tries to attack Archer and kill him, however Archer summons two blades as he usually does and blocks Shirou's attack easily. The battle between them continues as Archer is more toying with Shirou than anything. After suffering attack after attack Shirou collapses due to the pain of his many wounds. "Learn this well. It is better that you just give up on that foolish dream of yours of becoming a hero of justice. That will never happen. You may as well just give up now while you still can." "I will never give up," Shirou says. Archer responds, "Very well then you will die with your ideals in tack."

Archer advances on Shirou to kill him, but is blocked by Gawain. Gawain says, "You will never be allowed to hurt him, so long as I am here. He is my king's master so I will protect him with my very life." Archer and Gawain, begin to trade blows. Despite his skill, Archer is no match for Gawain and is being forced to defend against blow after blow. Gawain says, "All you are doing is wasting time here. You have no chance of winning." Archer replies, "That is alright all I was trying to do is buy some time for Caster anyway."

Gawain realizes what he may be referring too and sees as Artoria gets stabbed by a dagger that Caster had hidden. Gawain knocks Archer down and runs over to Artoria. "Are you alright?'' he asks. Caster says, "Oh she will be fine. I used my noble phantasm Rule Breaker on her. She is now my servant." Gawain asks Artoria, "Is that really true?" Artoria replies, "Yes it is true." "Good I am glad you realize it. I want you to kill your former master," Caster says. Before she can strike Archer says, "Hold on. I think we should just leave them for now. It is not like they are a threat. Why don't we let them wallow in the despair of this loss and then kill them later if they are foolish enough to show themselves again." Caster sighs, "Very well. We have a priest to go hunt down anyway."

Caster orders Archer and Artoria to follow her as they leave to head towards the church. Gawain begins to follow them. Caster says, "What do you think you are doing now? Do you want to die after all?" Gawain replies, "No I will serve Artoria no matter what the cost is, no matter who her master is." Caster smiles, "Oh so I guess you are a bonus servant then." Gawain replies, "I suppose you can think of it like that." "Good. Let us be off," Caster replies. The group of four servants leave the now destroyed house.

Rin runs over to Shirou to see if he is alright.

Shirou: "We need to go after them. We cannot let her start killing innocent humans."

Rin: "How exactly do you plan on fighting them? There are four of them and only two of us. Also they are all servants, so they are way stronger than we are."

Shirou: "I am not sure. We are going to need more help. I wonder if we could get Illyasviel to help us. I doubt she will care too much, but taking out so many servants may be of aid to her. As long as we get Artoria back it is alright."

Rin: "Are you an idiot. She is gone and will likely kill you if we ever see her again."

Shirou: "I have to go and help her though. We are going to need aid to do so. We can at least try to talk to Illyasviel. There is also the eighth master. However, we have no idea where he could be."

Rin: "You are right. If we are going to make it through this we are going to need help. It is possible that if Caster is defeated then Artoria will go back to normal. I cannot believe that Archer betrayed me like that though."

Shirou: "I didn't trust him from the start. He has always acted very hostile."

Rin: "That is true. Although I never thought that he would turn on me like this."

As they are talking a man in blue comes walking up behind them.

???: "Well it looks like you have quite the predicament here."

Rin turns to see him.

Rin: "What do you want, Lancer? Come to finish us off."

Lancer: "No I have come to offer my aid. My master has requested that I provide you support in taking down Caster. She has become quite the threat it would seem and so he has asked that I deal with her."

Shirou: "We are planning on going and asking Illyasviel for help as well."

Lancer: "I am sorry I cannot help you with that. I doubt she will show any interest in helping you. Since you are lacking servants as well it would just be foolish for you to go anywhere near her castle at this time. However, with the three of us I think we will be able to handle taking down Caster."

Rin: "What makes you think that we can do that?"

Lancer: "My master told me that Kirei Kotomine is a formidable fighter. If we get there while they are still assaulting the church we will have our best chance to strike. Also it takes time for Rule Breaker to take full effect so our best chance to save Artoria is now while she is not fully controlled."

Rin: "I don't like it, but I doubt we will come up with a better plan."

Shirou: "Well let's get going then to go and defeat Caster."