Part 173: Poisonous snake / Saber defeated

Having repelled all of Caster's spells, Saber settled the match without giving anybody a chance to stop her.
The charging speed, her footwork, and her attack were perfect.
Her invisible sword slashed the enemy Master.
A surprise attack at the perfect moment.
Saber's powerful slash splits Kuzuki Souichirou in two.

Noit should have split him in two.





"No… way."
Even Saber does not understand what is going on.
A perfect strike that was slashed horizontally.
The attack is stopped.
The sword has stopped before slashing the enemy's body, being caught between something.





""
Saber does not know, of course…
That there is a technique to stop an enemy's blade with bare hands, and that there are experts today who actually use it.
But still, she would not have stood there in astonishment if this were a normal fight.

But this is the battle of a Servant.
And the enemy is a mere human.
For him to stop an invisible sword with his bare body… he must be insane…!

Video: Shower of Fists (RN) (mirror)





"……!!!!"

Saber's body moves.
She tries to pull back her sword with all her might.

At that instant…





"Gah!?"
An unknown impact strikes her head from the back.

Music: Breach







"!"
She evades it, still not knowing what it is.



"Ha!"
"Something" goes past her temple.
Saber understands it is a fist "strengthened" by some magic, and she jumps.

As she has a long weapon, she is at a disadvantage at close range against an unarmed opponent.
Saber retreats to short range, the range where she can make use of her sword.





Of course, she keeps facing her enemy while she does so.
She is moving to get out of the range advantageous to her enemy.
It is an established rule to pursue a retreating enemy.
But the enemy does not pursue her.
Caster's Master, the man who will be defeated if he stays there, does not move, and…



He pierces her through her solar plexus.



She only feels the impact.
The attack is stopped by her armor and only the impact comes to her.



"Ha, ah!"





The impacts continue.
The things aimed accurately at her vital points are human fists.





""
Did she even have time to gasp?
By the time she realizes that his mountain-like fingers are the cause of the impact, the match has already been decided.







The fists shower down on her.
The man's fists are fired in rapid succession with heaviness and intensity as if they are made of iron.

How should it be expressed?
His arms are flexible like a whip, but they move in right angles.
If his arms are shot out like a flash, his forearms that move from there are like the technique of a fierce god.





The attacks all come from the outside to the inside.
The swinging arms change direction using the elbow as the fulcrum, and they beat Saber from impossible directions.















"You are dodging well. And you are still confused, too."
The enemy's arms stop moving.
His stance is like his arms, steady like a rock.



"I see. It is not your eyes that are exceptional, but your intuitions."



"!"
The man moves.





What is different about the attack?
Saber, who was avoiding all the fatal blows, could not dodge his attack.



The impact landing on the back of her head shakes her brain.
"Kuh!"
But she still manages to raise her hands.
The man's attacks cannot penetrate through her armor.
Thenthe man will go for her bared head.

Saber raises her arms to protect her face.





"Gah!"
The impact comes through the arms.
It is like a snake crawling through a thick forest.
The enemy's fists easily make their way through.





She readies herself for the blow that will go for the back of her head from the left side.
She cannot make light of him anymore.
If the enemy is to take her consciousness, she will let him.
But she will cut down his arms as compensation. She opens her eyes wide and…



…She is astonished at the change.



""
With the elbow as the fulcrum, the blow comes straight down from above.
The circular orbit of his attacks changed to a straight line…!

"Haa……!!!!"
She instantly moves her neck to avoid the blow going for her head.





"Guh…!"
The impact lands on her shoulder.
She glares at her enemy with her left shoulder destroyed… and her spine freezes up the instant she does so.



His right hand that has not been used yet…
The hand that has been placed at the height of her throat is released like a cannon.



Video: Snake's Fang (RN) (mirror)



"!!!!!!"
But it misses.
A surprise attack is useless on her, as she has instincts bordering on precognition.
The snake-like fist grazes past her neck.
Seeing that, she tries to step in to attack, but at that moment…

Music: Stop







Bam!
An unbelievable sound comes from right beside her neck.





The snake's fang pierces her.
The instant it is dodged, the attack that passed her uses its fingers to dig into her neck with a sound.
"Anchor…!"

Music: Whirlpool of Fate 2











The shock passes through her as a shudder.
Yes. A hand is originally something used to grab, not punch.
It must be supported by Caster's magic as the enemy's fingers easily squeeze off her neck…!



"Guhaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh……!!!!"
Saber's sword is raised.
Her sword moves to cut off the enemy's arm before her neck is crushed.



A fastball with a human as the ball.



There is no way she can land safely from it.

Music: Stop

Her neck is scraped off, and she is smashed into a concrete wall at a speed of two hundred kilometers per hour.
"Ah……"
Her body is forced to stop its action.





Saber's quick charge to Kuzuki's counter-attacks…
From the nightmare-like neck grab, to the perfect throw that fascinated even us.

""
Saber doesn't move.
She was thrown by her neck and smashed back first into the wall.
The wound on her neck should be fatal.
Even worse, she hit the wall with such speed.

I don't think it killed her, but I'm sure she won't be able to move.
At the very least, Saber will stay on the ground until the wounds on her neck and body heal.

Music: Footsteps of Destruction

"No… way…"
I murmur without realizing.
Even though his fists are strengthened using Caster's magic, Kuzuki is only human.
Who could possibly think that he would be able to overwhelm a Servant in hand-to-hand combat?



"It is fine to assume that the Master's role is to support the battle from the back."
The lean figure turns.



"But there are always exceptions. There are Masters who can only fight head on."

He just proved that to us.
So…
Their roles as the one to fight and one to support are reversed…!



If you are to support me, you are to eliminate the enemy's projectile weapons."



He fully knows that letting a magus fight a magus would be the most sure way to a kill.




"No, I will take care of Saber. Souichirou, please take care of the Masters."


""



"Fine. Saber was taken aback, but I already know his attacks. We just have to beat him before he gets close to us."

Tohsaka slowly retreats while glaring at Kuzuki.
A battle between a magus and a fighter is a fight for distance.
Even though Kuzuki has monstrous fighting techniques, he has no magic resistance.

Therefore, we can win if we cast something.
We win if we manage to cast a spell before he reaches us.



Kuzuki faces Tohsaka and does not move.
Caster is walking towards the wall where Saber is smashed.