Ch 137: Pride goeth before a fall.

"Noah, can he really revive dead people?" asked Chisato, with a gaze so intense that her usual cheerfulness seemed an illusion.

They had just come out of the Tohsaka residence and were starting to walk away.

"Resurrection is the peak ability of the Healer Path he chose. He revived my mom. Koneko-chan's mom, too, and a few others." smiled Akeno. "Do you want me to ask to see them on video for proof?"

"That… Yes, please. If he can do it, I..."

"But you could also simply ask your System, you know?"

Chisato blinked and stopped walking, her gaze unfocused. A few seconds later, she looked back at Akeno.

"I just got confirmation that your Yin-Yang System can do it, but mine is different. I mostly have various attribute boosts and some basic healing, but no resurrection. And Aria can't gain that ability either."

"I see. And from your reaction, I assume that you have someone you'd like revived, too."

Chisato nodded slowly, her expression showing both pain and hope, when she suddenly turned her head, recognizing someone coming in their direction.

It was Asuka.

She frowned as she saw Chisato and Akeno together and glanced to the side at something unseen.

"Hey, Asuka." waved Akeno. "If you're here to try to convince Rin to join your side, you're too late."

"Tsk." said Asuka, stopping ten meters from them. "What are the two of you doing together? Did one of you defeat the other already?"

"Nope." smiled Chisato as she shook her head. "We both reached the Tohsaka residence at almost the same time. We met Rin together, but she chose Akeno's side."

"Well, it doesn't really matter" smiled Asuka, putting her right hand in the pocket of her parka.

Suddenly, the ambient noise of cars and birds was replaced by an eerie silence, and the few people walking down the street weren't there anymore. It took a second for Akeno to understand.

"Asuka! Did you just use your reality marble during the day? Are you serious?"

"Why not? What we do here won't interfere with the real world, and I have a strong Servant! Might as well kill two stones with one bird."

"That's not how the saying goes!" said Akeno, hurriedly dropping her parka and taking her swordstaff from her inventory. Chisato had drawn one gun as well as a short wakizashi and was taking a few steps to the side, ready to act instantly.

"Whatever! Let me show you, the power of the Red Empress, and the best EVA pilot!" boasted Asuka, pressing a button on the red bangle she had on her left wrist.

Some kind of huge, fire engine red mechanical construct appeared behind Asuna. Pieces detached from it at a quick pace, flying to Asuka to fix themselves on her body and forming some kind of mechanical armor. It only took a few seconds, but when the last piece locked itself in position, Asuka's power armor was a good three meters tall, with a red spear in her large, armored hands, and four futuristic-looking rifles fixed on her back.

"This is plagiarism, Asuka! Marvel will sue your butt!" scolded Chisato.

Akeno of course hadn't been idle as she watched and had cast Augment.

"Say what you want, I'll just defeat you, and then you and your servants will be my underlings!"

Another figure appeared beside Asuka. A tall, gorgeous woman reminding Akeno of the image Noah had showed her. Even the outfit she wore, a dark gray and dark blue bodysuit with copper-colored spaulders and waist plates, was similar. The face as almost the same, but this woman's hair was more red than purple, and she had tied them into a ponytail with a blue handkerchief. The blue spear she casually held in her right hand looked identical in shape to Scathach's.

"Hey, Assassin. You look a lot like Scathach, the Queen of the Underworld. Are you perhaps…"

Akeno's words apparently touched a sore spot, because Assassin's expression switched from bored, to enraged, and she ran toward Akeno, the head of her spear kept close to the ground.

But when she came within three meters of Akeno, she was suddenly blocked as Britomart, clad in her massive Fortress Armor, materialized. Assassin jumped back, then to the side to avoid a blade of compressed wind coming from Britomart's massive sword.

"You won't get to my Master that easily, Assassin!"

"Caster, we're helping Akeno and Lancer!" decided Chisato.

"Understood! Your reliable Shrine Maiden Fox, Caster, has arrived!" replied a high-pitched voice, and Caster appeared.

She was a young woman with long pink hair and golden eyes, dressed in a blue kimono with detached sleeves and blue stockings. Two large fox ears with tufts of white hair and a fluffy pink tail gave her a very exotic appearance. A round, gilded mirror floated behind her.

"Thanks, Chisato, Caster." smiled Akeno.

"I just can't afford for you to be killed and result in Noah being unable to come here."

Akeno nodded. Asuka clearly didn't intend to kill any of them, but in battle, accidents could happen. And since Chisato cleared wanted to have Noah resurrect someone, Akeno could trust her to have her back.

Asuka planted the oversized spear to the ground near her and reached for two of the rifles fixed to her back.

"We'll see how you like this!"

Akeno used Shunpo to appear on Asuka's left flank, two meters away, and thrust with her swordstaff, aiming for the knee joint. She wanted if possible to damage the armor without injuring Asuka, and she was pretty sure that Auska's feet ended short of the armor's knee joints. Unfortunately, her blow was stopped by a barrier of shimmering hexagons. Had Noah been there, he would instantly have recognized an AT-Field, similar to what both EVAs and Angels used as primary defenses.

Asuka was quick on her feet, and despite the size of the armor, stepped away with the fluidity of a martial artist and turned almost instantly, pointing her rifles in Akeno's direction. But she when she opened fire, Akeno already had taken to the skies, deploying the four wings she possessed for added agility. As she did, she turned two rings embedded on the shaft of her swordstaff, activating two of its features. The first, using Light runes, made the weapon invisible. The second activated Stop Runes on the blade.

Holding the swordstaff with her right hand, she focused on evading the energy and physical projectiles coming from Asuka's rifles a hundred meters below her, and maneuvered to have the sun on her back, forcing Asuka to look at the sun's direction if she wanted to target her. This had some effect, as her shots grew less precise.

She risked a few quick glances at the fight between Chisato, Caster, Lancer and Assassin. And she had to admit, Assassin clearly was the strongest Servant of the three, at least as far as technique and skill went. Britomart seemed to have a clear advantage in strength whenever they clashed, and was comparable in speed. Whenever Assassin retreated, she was constantly forced to evade the wind blades coming from Britomart, the occasional bullet from Chisato, and the mix of fire balls, Icicles and wind bullets from Caster.

Whenever Assassin attempted to close on Chisato or Caster, Britomart managed to intercept her and shove her away.

Asuka seemed to grow frustrated by the situation, and decided to ignore Akeno for a moment, aiming her rifles at both Lancer and Caster. But they weren't heroic spirits for nothing, and both managed to either avoid or deflect the shots.

Still, this gave Assassin an opening, and she came very close to landing a hit before Lancer abandoned her defense against Asuka's projectiles to support Caster. Britomart took two hits on her flank and grunted, but kept fighting unimpaired.

Seeing this, Akeno, who was charging a big lightning strike, decided to use her special move. The white gauntlet appeared on her left arm, and she pointed her hand at Assassin.

"Divide!"

Akeno felt a resistance to the skill for a moment, like an elastic membrane resisting her push, but that resistance disappeared, indicating that her magic attribute was enough to overcome Assassin's resistance to magic. However, Akeno wouldn't be able to stack a second Divide on Assassin. Not without increasing her MAG attribute a lot more.

The effect, however, was immediate. Assassin became significantly slower and took a wound to her thigh, reducing her mobility further.

"Assassin!" Yelled Asuka, dropping one of her rifles and plucking her spear from the ground as she charged Lancer."

She let several Wind Blades and Icicles impact her barrier as she advanced, and Britomart was forced to focus on repelling her attacks. Assassin got some breathing room, but Chisato, being extremely nimble and fast, engaged her in close combat, supported by Caster.

Akeno silently dived toward Asuka. The Red armor fired several small missiles in Akeno's direction, and she created several small light shields on their path, making them explode and hiding her from Asuka's perception for a second.

When Akeno passed through the smoke, she was only twenty-five meters from Asuka. She barely slowed down before impacting the ground, and her invisible swordstaff struck Asuka's barrier, before breaking it almost instantly. A second barrier was just behind the first, but it shattered just as quickly, and the blade struck the back of the powered armor's right knee, biting deep into it.

Asuka lost control of her right leg and started falling to the side. She dropped her spear and planted her right hand to the ground to break her fall.

"Crap! How did you pierce my AT-Field!" exclaimed Asuka, shifting her posture to try to stand on one leg.

"Master, please use a Command Seal and order me to use my Noble Phantasm!" Called out Assassin.

Akeno didn't know what a Noble Phantasm was, but assumed it was some kind of trump card. She knew, however, how valuable Command Spells were.

"Don't do it, Asuka! Command Spells can't be wasted for this! Keep them for when it really matters! We're here for at least a year, remember? And if you use one on Assassin, I'll use one on Lancer!"

"…You don't need to tell me!" angrily retorted Asuka. "…Assassin, stand down. They won."

"Master!" protested Assassin. "With my Noble Phantasm, I could…"

"I know! But you would probably kill them! We may be fighting each other to know who is the strongest, but we are still comrades! Killing them would be stupid!"

"…I understand, Master." sighed Assassin, lowering her spear and abandoning her combat stance.

"Thanks, Asuka." sighed Akeno in relief.

Asuka tried to stand on her feet again, but her damaged right knee folded as soon as pressure was applied to it. With a sigh, Asuka opened her armor and came out of it. The Red Empress was returned into her inventory.

"You got me good. How did you penetrate my defenses?"

"My weapon can be enhanced with Rune Magic to neutralize various types of magic. Apparently, is also works on your barrier… Chisato, Caster, thanks for the help."

"You're welcome. That was a great fight, and I now have an idea of how powerful servants are." grinned Chisato. "And Assassin, you're really strong!"

Assassin nodded in acknowledgement. "The three of you are also fairly skilled, for Masters. Especially Lancer's Master."

Asuka turned her gaze to Akeno, and her right arm in particular. "You have Divine Dividing?"

"Yes."

"Oh, that's right! Giving Rias the Booster Gear and Divine Dividing to you, your boyfriend doesn't do things in half, does he?" grinned Chisato.

"You could say that... Chisato, you have a decision to make. Are you willing to join my side? If not, Asuka will have to decide if she's surrendering to me, or to you."

"I understand... Can we get out of this reality marble? I should call Aria before I make that decision."

Asuka nodded. "Assassin, I'll bring us back to the real world. Can you dematerialize?"

She nodded and disappeared. Caster and Lancer followed suit, and Chisato and Akeno placed their weapons back into their inventories.

"I'm sorry about your armor, Asuka. Will you manage to repair it?"

"Don't bother." shrugged Asuna. "It will repair itself. It will even replace the lost ammunition. In a few hours, it will be brand new."

"Great. Your Red Empress is very impressive. I didn't think a machine this big could be so agile." said Akeno.

Asuka nodded and canceled the Reality Marble. The return of the city's background noises was expected, but the suddenness of its comeback still managed to be a bit of a shock. A few people in the streets blinked as they noticed the trio of beautiful girls they hadn't seen before, but thought little of it. Surely they were just tired.

Chisato walked a little away while taking her smartphone out, and Asuka winced.

"I'll have to call Erin, that's the name of Athena's Champion, and tell her I already lost. She's going to bite my ear off."

Akeno nodded in sympathy as Asuka also walked some distance away.

"Master, I would like to request some mana replenishment soon. This battle was enjoyable, but it left me significantly weaker than before." said Britomart.

"Yes. We'll see to that very soon, Lancer. I guess Assassin and Caster will want the same, too. What do you think of your first battle against another Servant?"

"Assassin is very strong. Her skill is superior to mine. However, I had the advantage of having a stronger Master, and this allowed me to keep up well enough to avoid any injury. This Knight is sorry for being incompetent."

"It's fine, Lancer. Noah warned me that not all Servants were equals, and I am happy with the way you have protected me and our allies… Still, if I possessed a way to make you even stronger, would you be willing to consider it?"

"What is it? Even if it is something painful, I'd be willing to!"

"No, it wouldn't be painful, Lancer. On the contrary, the process would be rather pleasurable, for both of us." smiled Akeno as she picked up her discarded parka. "However, that would have long-term consequences. Instead of being my Servant until the end of the Holy Grail War, as you told me things happen usually, you would be my Servant until we're done saving the world from that second catastrophe. And then, you would be Noah's Servant, for a lifetime. This ability to share part of his strength with his subordinates is something the goddess Lilith gave to Noah, and as his representative on this world, I can act as his proxy."

"…I would like to know more before deciding, Master."

"Sure."

Asuka came back, blushing, and extending her smartphone to Akeno.

"She wishes to speak to you."

"Oh."

Akeno took Asuka's smartphone and placed it against her ear.

"Hello? Akeno Himejima speaking."

"Hi. I am Erin Adams, Asuka's friend. It's nice to speak to you, even if I would have liked for it to happen under different circumstances."

"Yes, that's understandable. And I also look forward to meeting you once the Champions gain access to this world. But I hope you haven't been too disappointed with your friend's defeat. While Asuka had clearly bitten more than she could chew, her skill was undeniable, and her Red Empress armor, quite something."

"For all the good it did her…"

"Honestly, I'm not certain I would have won, if it were only me and Lancer."

"Yeah… Forgive me for being blunt, Akeno, but I'm worried that my friend is now forced to obey someone affiliated with the goddess of Conquest, Lust and Domination. And I know you have some sadistic tendencies. Are you going to do, sexual or painful things to her?"

"…Erin, my partner Noah is aware of Asuka's, difficult past, let's say, and he gave me a short version of it."

Asuka, who was listening, flinched slightly. But Akeno wasn't done.

"He's asked me to treat her gently, make her part of our family, and give her the happiness she deserves. I wholeheartedly agree. So, you do not need to worry about her wellbeing. And Noah treats his subordinates well. I am certain that Asuka will be able to visit you whenever she wants, and you and your other companions will likely be welcome to visit us as well. We're not going to confine her in a dungeon or anything."

"…I see. Well, it's as good as we're going to get, I guess. Please just refrain from doing something that would strain my relationship with you and the Champion you represent. I'm the type that can hold grudges. Could you give the phone back to Asuka?"

"Yes. It's been nice speaking to you, Erin."

"Likewise."

Asuka took her phone back and resumed her conversation with Erin as she walked away. Chisato, who had been waiting out of earshot, came closer.

"Akeno, would Noah been willing to revive a few people? If he is, Aria and I won't mind if I surrender to you."

"Despite being aware that Lilith is the goddess of Conquest, Lust and Domination?" asked Akeno with a smile.

Chisato nodded with determination.

"…Yes. Aria and I have both guessed how things will end. But, it's a price worth paying, to get our friends back. Just, go easy on me, and no needles, okay? I hate needles."

"You were smiling when you engaged Assassin in close combat, and you're afraid of needles?"

"Needles can't be dodged."

"Hum, that's a fair point." chuckled Akeno, as Asuka ended her call and came back. "Don't worry, no needles or anything more painful than maybe a spanking, unless you turn out to like them. But I don't see you as being the type. I'm a sadist to my enemies, not my friends. How about we go to a more private place before we continue talking about potentially sensitive matters? My house is about fifteen minutes away."

"I'm closer to the port side of the city." replied Chisato.

"Mine is about ten minutes away. We may as well go there. But is it safe to leave Rin Tohsaka without protection?" asked Asuka. Chisato and Akeno nodded, and they started walking.

"It should be fine for now." replied Akeno. "Even if other candidates appear, I doubt they can offer a better deal to her than we already did, and I don't see them harming her. The logical course of action for them would be to come defeat me, to secure me and Rin to their side. And we have something to do before we can move in with her."

"As part of the agreement we made with Rin, we will use her house as a base, but we also need to guarantee Sakura Matou's safety. She's her little sister. We plan to pay her a visit tonight." said Chisato.

Akeno peered at the sun's position. They had maybe an hour before sunset.

"Before nightfall, I need to get more information from Noah, since we now confirmed Rin's age. He may even give us the identities of the local Masters and the Servants they will summon."

"Erin already told me about them." shrugged Asuka. "But she didn't remember where to find them, aside from Rin."

"Noah might know more. But there's another issue we need to settle. If we want to keep relying on the information the Champions give us, we'll have to tell more people about… the thing Chisato blurted out when we first met. Our Servants, at the very least. They're constantly with us."

"If this is something we need to know to win the Holy Grail, Master, you should tell us."

"It's not that simple, Assassin." sighed Akeno. "This one is guaranteed to give you a huge shock. After Chisato told me by accident, I regretted knowing."

"I'm still sorry about that." winced Chisato.

"We can't not tell them." replied Asuka. "The fate of the world depends on us. If we miss something important because we didn't exploit all the knowledge that we had at our disposal…"

"Fine. We'll tell them. Sorry, Lancer, Caster, Assassin." sighed Akeno.

"This sounds quite ominous." said Lancer.

"Now that I think of it, I hope at least one of you is good at cooking. That's not my forte." said Asuka, wanting to change the subject.

Chisato shook her head with a smile.

"I can cook! Let me show you the result of my housewife training!" happily said Caster.

"I can cook, too. I even have the Cooking skill to convert my mana into food, so I can fix us a dinner in five minutes." said Akeno.

"That's great! I look forward to tasting both of your food." smiled Chisato.

"Do you have preferences?"

"How about Karaage and…"

Akeno smiled as she listened to their requests. As she did, she wondered if the Cooking skill given by Lilith was only a way to make her life simpler, or if she had been provided with another tool to conquer her companions, starting by their stomachs.