One failure too many... [open]

[scorchedchivalry]

Characters: Saber (Alter) and YOU
Setting: Floor 48 (Graveyard)
Format: Action (but I'll match)
Summary: Saber finds Irisviel's gravestone and loses control of her emotions
Warnings: Violence - ANY SERVANT ENTERING THE GRAVEYARD HAS A REAL CHANCE OF DYING VIA EXCALIBUR


[She should be used to not being allowed to have the things she wanted. After all those years being king, denying her emotions, ruling fairly and justly, and the time spent watching her once master with the woman she loved... she should be used to to it. Everything was always taken from her, no matter what she did to try and hold onto it.

Avalon, her kingdom, her knights, her ideals, her trust, her faith... All of it taken away because of her own failures. She'd lost Irisviel in the Fourth War, but had been granted a second chance with her. And yet, she still couldn't have what she wanted for Kiritsugu's ghost lingered even now, even here in the Tower, staying Saber's hand, making her swallow her emotion - her love - for the woman in white. Again, she had tried to be content as nothing more than Irisviel's knight and leave it at that. But it had been so hard with the taint of Angra Mainyu within her, making her feel all those emotions she suppressed so clearly. So, the knight had found other outlets to keep Irisviel pure, to not let her purity be stained by Saber's corruption. And Irisviel was a married woman; Saber could not and would not do what had been done to her back in Camelot. Circumstances may have been different then, but her honor would not allow her to walk the path Lancelot did.

But when Saber could not find Irisviel and instead found the gravestone bearing her name, everything came crashing down upon her at once.

Failure... failure... failure... She'd failed to keep Irisviel safe again. She'd failed to make her princess happy. She'd failed in her duty as a knight. Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Small moments of happiness, all she could ever have, were taken from her again. The one person who understood her as well as, if not better, than herself had disappeared. The loneliness inside of the Saber was a dark and hollow place. She was always lonely and in that emptiness surrounding her heart, Angra Mainyu sat and twisted and squeezed and poisoned Saber's heart. All the Evil of the World wrapped about Saber's core and fed on that emotion she suppressed.

Betrayal.

Failure.

Hatred.

Anger.

Sorrow.

Pain.

Longing.

Rage.

The longer Saber stood there looking down at the stone bearing the name of Irisviel von Einzbern, the more the taint coiled in that kernel of emotion.

Rage.

The evidence of her failure was right before her. The Tower Administrators were rubbing it right into her face.

Rage.

Mocking her. Taunting her. As if she wasn't suffering from self-castigation knowing her failure had sent Irisviel straight back to her death.

Rage.

Such an apt symbol of her failure - this gravestone - knowing Irisviel's fate. But it wasn't a real stone. Irisviel's body wasn't there underneath it. Irisviel had become the Holy Grail. The very thing Kiritsugu forced her against her will to destroy.

Rage.

She'd been the one to destroy Irisviel, to end her existence, commanded to by the man who supposedly loved her. Did he even love her as much as Saber did? Did he even acknowledge that she was there... And now, now, Irisviel was gone again. It was just like Saber had cleaved her in half again. The gravestone started to look to Saber like it was covered in mud as her emotions grew inside.

Rage.

Angra Mainyu coiled tighter and the emotionless king couldn't be emotionless anymore. She hated this place. Hated the stone before her. Hated the way everything she touched corroded and disintegrated. Her kingdom, her wishes, her desires, her hopes, her goals, her dreams... All of them crumbled in her grasp.

Rage.

Legend may call her a great king, the Once and Future King, that lead Britain to a time of golden prosperity, but she knew what she really was. She wasn't the King of Knights. She was the King of Nothing. Nothing... nothing... but RAGE.

Corrupt, dark prana flooded the graveyard then as the red marks of Angra Mainyu spread up Saber's neck and along her jaw and her armor materialized. Visor sliding down to cover her eyes, the black knight had little to no control over her prana, over her anger, as she raised her right hand.]



Excalibur.



[The black sword, tainted with her own corruption and pulling on the dark side of the fae, was summoned into hand. No Invisible Wind obscured the blade from sight. It glowed with a pulsing red and the swirling of dark violet prana around Saber traveled up the sword and then back down in opposite to the pulsing of the red.

She was the King of Nothing and Fuyuki City had been nothing. Her kingdom had become nothing. Her heart was well on its way to becoming nothing. Nothing but rage.

This graveyard should be NOTHING.

With a tremendous surge of prana, Saber activated her Noble Phantasm. The sword in her hand grew in length until it was hard to tell exactly how long it was. Power and corruption crackled along its length as the black knight wielded it like it was also nothing. The rage Angra Mainyu was squeezing out of her black heart was manifest in this version of her Noble Phantasm. Vortigern had indeed been a vile king of Britain before her father. His infamy was almost as famous as her legend.

She would smash everything to nothing. So it would be just like her. Just as all should be. Nothing. Then there would be nothing left to lose. Nothing left to fail.

Nothing.

And with that, Saber swung Excalibur and leveled the entire row of gravestones, Irisviel's included. Clearing a swath, she took another step and turned, cutting another row. Two more rows later, she turned back and saw that name on a stone behind her.

Irisviel von Einzbern.

Rage in her grew and she let out a primal scream as she cut the stone down again. Every few seconds, it would return, as did any other she destroyed. The more they returned, the more she was fueled by emotion to destroy them. Destroy them all.

Nothing... She wanted this place to be nothing. Why did it refuse to end? Unable to answer her own rage-filled question, Saber furiously destroyed row of gravestones after gravestones. It was unending. Neverending.

The stones just kept coming back...]

Comments

[starofpleiades]

[Kazumi had been looking for Saber already, but it was the sound of that explosion, soon followed by another, that caught the girl's attention. Donning her magical girl outfit and preparing her staff for whatever trouble their might be, she ran down the stairs, long leaps that covered flights at a time. As she drew closer, she could hear that voice crying out, just barely recognizable as she entered the graveyard]

Saber!?

[scorchedchivalry]

[The call of her name barely registered. Saber was too buried in her rage, her higher mind lost to the corruption. This was what she'd always told Catarina she guarded against. This was almost as bad as the madness that infected the Berserker class. The difference was that she -wasn't- mindless.

And it was only that fact that had her tilt her wrist upward just a bit as she pivoted and cut her sword parallel to the ground to take out another group of stones. Had she not done that, Excalibur would have killed Kazumi. Instead, the tainted blade of Vortigern passes a scant inch above the girl's head.]

[starofpleiades]

[Kazumi ducked instinctively as that blade whipped around, but considering how it struck her hat and sent if flying - no, completely disintegrated it - it was obvious she would have died had it been any lower. Crouched near the ground, Kazumi felt a chill run up her spine. This was... everything she'd felt hidden behind Saber's dignity, her sternness, unleashed. Some animal instinct in her told her to run away but... she couldn't just abandon her, not when she was obviously in pain. And considering where they were, she had a feeling she knew why...]

Saber!

[Calling out again, she started to try to move closer, slowly, this time erecting a barrier around herself. It was... painful, in a way, to use this magic like it was her own, but she knew she had to be careful...]

[doesnotgetit]

[Hakuno could feel the wave of dark prana, even several floors below the graveyard. It was the most chilling thing she ever felt - worse than that feeling of an invisible blade at her neck, the one that crept up every time she had encountered Assassin. This was like someone had clamped a hand on the back of her neck and squeezed, and every part of her brain was screaming at her to run.

But... no. She didn't. Amidst the darkness and anger, she could recognize something... familiar about this energy. It was that Saber. The Black one... if this kind of energy was flowing from her, she was either in trouble, or angry. And, well... Hakuno didn't know her that well, but she was still someone that she had a connection to. She couldn't just ignore this.

So she climbed the stairs as quickly as possible, and nearly stumbled back down them when she reached the graveyard floor. Between all the battles she had witnessed, this was without a doubt the most intense display of a Servant's power she had seen. Again, she knew that the smart thing to do would be to get the hell out of there, but she wasn't. The way Saber raged against the gravestones... something was very wrong here.]

Saber, stop! [She has to yell to make her voice heard among the chaos, but she manages.] Whatever you're doing, it's not working!

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber whirled about at Hakuno's voice and the group of gravestones next to the girl exploded as the servant's noble phantasm smashed them. Chips of stone flew into the air as the faceless visor seemed focused on her.

The girl. The stupid girl. She was just like him. Like that idiot of a master she had. Like Shirou. She didn't say anything before turning her back to the girl and striding to a far end of the floor. Excalibur was twirled in her hands once before she cut a two handed strike at the wall itself as if the cut the Tower in half.

Which was her aim, except the wall remained intact and the blacked scorch mark from the blow faded before their eyes.]

[doesnotgetit]

[Hakuno flinched, arms raising to protect herself from the debris flying everywhere at the attack. But she didn't fall back. She didn't run from battle when she had her Saber by her side, so... she can't do it now. She has to be strong. Especially with Black Saber doing what she was doing now. It was one thing to destroy the gravestones, but trying to destroy the tower???

She ran forward, stopping far enough behind the Servant to hopefully not invade her personal space, but close enough so that she can keep talking to her.]

You can't do this! Even if you manage to break a hole in the wall, something really awful is going to happen to you! Is that what you want/

[great_king_of_evil]

[ Ganondorf never ventured by the graveyard. Who came in and disappeared from the tower was of little importance to him-- Even if one of his allies was to disappear he would not mourn them, let alone feel any sensation of loss. No, it was something else that drew him to that floor as he passed nearby. A comfortable and familiar aura, yet slightly different from the one he was used to in his world.

Evil. In massive quantities he did not expect any resident in this tower could display. Now that was something very interesting and unexpected.

However Ganondorf was wiser than to show how fascinating he found the situation, instead putting on a neutral face as he stepped into the graveyard and saw what was happening. Saber destroying rows after rows of tombstones, needlessly. It was not hard to imagine what had happened... Only a thing could drive people crazy in graveyards. People taken away by Zo's incompetence.

He walked in slowly all while staying clear from her next target, no weapons in hand as he spoke in a loud enough voice to be heard even through this massacre. ]

Such senseless destruction... It was someone of particular importance, wasn't it?

[ His voice was disturbingly calm given the situation, though he didn't expect much of an answer. ]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber's next swing took out a row of stones and continued through to pass over Ganondorf's head. She'd known where he was and altered the strike to leave him alive, though Excalibur passing so close to anyone would be far from comfortable.]

Better to destroy outward than to destroy inward.

[She wasn't going to answer the rhetorical question asked. She knew he knew the answer otherwise she would be less emotional. She just couldn't contain it anymore. This was too much.]

[great_king_of_evil]

[ The King of Evil winced when the tainted sword passed so close to his head but did not pull his own weapon yet. He couldn't help but wonder if she knew people named on these tombstone were not truly dead, just lost, but he would keep that for later. ]

Of course. Sorrow, anger, hatred, guilt. Yes, there is little point to contain emotions when they are so powerful.

[ He took a step backward out of the way of what he estimated to be her next attack. if anything, he admired the raw power she displayed. ]

This is no less of a shame to see such aggressive feelings wasted when they could be canalized.

[no_longer_a_king]

[Arturia had noticed the nameplate on Irisviel's door missing and had gone to the graveyard to confirm the fear gripping at her heart. True, she had not spoken much to her former master, trusting in Saber to protect their princess. The last thing she wanted was to wind up betraying her and she trusted in Saber's self control to know she would get away from Irisviel before she could hurt her.

Then came the day Arturia had drowned in her sleep under Irisviel's watch. Followed by not being able to find her to make sure she was okay. She'd decided to go check on her herself when she'd find the nameplate empty and now, as she descends to the graveyard, she senses a familiar surge of power.

Excalibur. Yet tainted.

She runs down the stairs, heart pounding in her chest and her dread confirmed. Irisviel was gone, gone to that wasteland Saber had seen or worse. Sent to a place more dangerous and now Arturia had even more reason to save the worlds. If she didn't at least try, then Irisviel would be forever trapped in a lifeless world.

As she rounds the corner from the staircase into the graveyard her clothes change to the ridiculous white dress she wore under her armor and Caliburn appeared in her hand. It would be no match for Excalibur--especially one that has been corrupted by the Grail--but at least she can keep her from hurting someone.]

Arturia!

[Hopefully hearing her name would get her attention. Arturia has no time to dwell on it before she rushes Saber, intentionally trying to draw her anger towards her. It's futile, she knows, but if it would make Saber stop for a moment and calm down, then it didn't matter.

Arturia was the one between them who had no future whatsoever, whose kingdom was well and truly gone, erased completely from history and consumed by Nothing. She was not about to let her other self give in to her rage and do something she might regret later. She just hoped she would not see more of the curse clinging to her spread over anger she knew Irisviel would not want her to drown in.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Hearing her name indeed drew her attention, but she saw less herself and more just someone coming at her with a drawn sword. The wish to draw the rage at herself worked for Arturia as the black knight, turned and pulled Excalibur back from Vortigern into its usual form, though the Invisible Wind did not also return.

Attacking the one in white, the familiarity registered somewhere in the back of her rage-filled mind. Caliburn wouldn't hold against Excalibur for long, but without using the noble phantasm's true powers, it would hold up long enough.

Assuming the black knight's monstrous strength as steel met steel didn't disarm the one in white.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[Arturia, before she had Excalibur, before she even understood how prana burst had worked, had fought men twice her size and four times her strength on the battlefield. She knew without the powers she once had she would not be able to last long and would have to rely more on speed than brute strength.

She managed to catch the blackened Excalibur against Caliburn. Sparks flew as the swords met, the taint on one and the fae runes of the other making them rebel. However, Arturia knew this strategy well. She lowered Caliburn's blade and lifted the hilt, forcing Excalibur to move to the side along the blade while she sidestepped out from under it and backed away, ready in case Saber should follow her.

Hopefully the black knight had some of her wits about her. Arturia doubted that Caliburn would hold up against another blow like that, as much combat as the sword had seen in her tenure as a Counter Guardian.]

[eighteen_winters]

[Illya had also wondered what had become of her mother. Though much of her time had been occupied with Shirou supposed return and her daily routine and often thought her mother had been occupied herself with her loyal servant and knight.

It had only recently dawned on the smallest Eiznbern that her mother may have been sent whence she came like Shirou had a few months prior. Her eyes filled with tears and her mind laced with thoughts of denial, she had come to the graveyard to confirm her grim suspicions.

Seeing Saber as she was only confirmed every terrible thought resting on her waking mind.]

Saber...

[scorchedchivalry]

[Unfortunately, Saber didn't hear Illya in the midst of her rage. Instinct allowed her to note to girl's presence, so Excalibur did not come near her as the knight swept across the room, destroying things which would not stay destroyed.

She even attacked the walls and the ground, scoring terrible black lines through them, but even those would fade from sight as if she'd done nothing to them.]

[eighteen_winters]

[Illya stood by and watched the destruction from the sidelines. For the sake of her own safety and Saber's peace of mind, there was no reason to disrupt the King of Knights rampage.]

giving the a-okay for killing?

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer had come into the graveyard a little more lately. Now that he actually has something to mourn. But today, as he kneels near Ayaka's grave, the quiet is disturbed by the noise of something being smashed to pieces.]

What the--

[The sudden feel of killing intent causes him to summon his armor. As he turns and looks, he sees Saber, cutting down rows of gravestones.]

...Saber?

[This rage is greater than even the one that she had showed when they first met. He had gotten so used to Saber as a dignified figure that he could not imagine her raging like this. Raging in a way that would make a Berserker proud.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[The presence of a Servant registered in the back of Saber's mind and her Instinct told her where the threat was. She wasn't thinking at that point, with the rage and the darkness controlling her for the moment.

Pivoting, she brought Excalibur in a sweeping arc as the full strength of her noble phantasm cracked about the enormous black blade right at where the Servant was felt.]

ed.note: Not to the death, but serious wounds are fine.

[chevalier_mal_fet]

[Can his Master feel the pull of Arthur's rage, her despair, as he has done? He has no way of knowing, though he does know that the man would not want him to have come here. They've spoken of it, of his Master's wish that he not seek Arthur out for Battle (for Judgement). But short of a Command, he will not leave. How could he not have have come-- and how could could he now leave, confronted with such Mad, Reckless Despair?

So strange, to see it in another. Particularly in Arthur, who never in life would have made such a display of her Heart. But Her Master, the white-haired woman, has left this place. Excalibur seems to crawl with black flame. His King's face is veiled in fell armor. Is this how he appears in his Madness? Unrecognizable even to himself?

Lancelot watches Arthur destroy the stones over again, Arondight in his hand. His armor is yet unsummoned. When he speaks Her name, it is quietly.]

Arthur.

You got it.

[scorchedchivalry]

[She felt the presence of another Servant in the back of her mind and her rage latched onto it. Turning around, the blade in her hand cutting a semi-circular swath along the ground, scoring the dirt with a deep ditch, she faced the Servant at the call of her name.

Had she been completely consumed by her rage, she wouldn't have paused. She would have crossed her own line and destroyed him. She was vulnerable in this state and had been in too many wars to not know that the best way to deal with that situation was to strike first.

But this wasn't just any Servant and she wasn't a ravening beast lost to madness. She was just so angry at everything, especially herself. She had nothing left. Nothing.]

Do not cross that line, Lancelot. I do not know if I will be able to control myself enough to let you leave unscathed.

[bowandblade]

[ooc: Realizing this will be awful any which way... Injury is okay, but survival of Excalibur via Noble Phantasm armor, if that's all right?]


[Corruption. That was what Lancer had called it. When he senses the spike of a Servant's prana a few floors away, he heads towards it like a moth to flame. Power radiating outward and unleashed brilliantly, be it tainted or not -- it is something to behold at its peak, even in a warped tower such as this.

The floor he arrives on is swathed in gravestones, to which he frowns. The audible destruction of the gravestones is what prods him into summoning his armor in a gathering of golden light. He does not reach for his swords, instead watching from afar.

And the class of this one, who the hound had referred to as one dipped in the Grail...]

Saber.

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber pivoted and turned toward the presence of another Servant, the brilliant blackened sword held at the ready in one hand a bit behind her. The lengthened blade of the activated noble phantasm scored along the ceiling of the floor, but did nothing to impede it... and it nothing to the ceiling other than to leave scorch marks that would quickly fade.

She knew this Servant. Gilgamesh.]

Archer.

[But there was something different about him...]

[angramaintsu]

[ Destruction calls for her and so she answers. When she steps onto the floor of the graveyard, she spares no look for the newly reformed rows of stone.

No, she only stares down the knight in black armor. Their last meeting didn't end so well as she reaches a hand up to touch the sore spot of her neck with a look of annoyance. While many others would have made an attempt to comfort or calm her down, Rin chooses instead to ask a favor of her. ]

Could you stop wasting time with this and instead destroy a floor that is worth the attention?

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber came to a stop, Excalibur crackling loudly, as she looked over at the voice. Rin.

Retracting her noble phantasm to its normal size, she narrowed her eyes behind the obscurity of her visor.]

And there would you rather I destroy?

[swordedpast]

[ The graveyard floor is one he lingers in often. It's good for brooding--it reminds him of what he wants, and what he can't have.

But right now, it reminds him of more than that. The roaring whirl of dark prana, all wrapped around a too-familiar woman. That sort of unrelenting destruction is more suited to him and what he wants to do to himself than to her. That's what he thinks as he approaches, stepping lightly through the destruction, dodging the flying chunks of stone and earth. ]

How unlike you, Saber.

[ His tone is flat, but there's no hiding the bitterness in his eyes. He'd love to rage like this, but he has things to watch over here in the tower. ]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber came to a halt, physically, but her prana continued to roll across the floor as did her killing intent. Tread carefully, Archer.]

You are not welcome here.