Fate/Zero: A Different Path

Chapter 29

"Aeghhh!"

Caster's form writhe painfully on the floor. Flesh and skin bubbled akin to being boiled alive, he loooked up, revealing the deformed face of a monster underneath

Every alarm bell went off in my head. I shot to the side to avoid being crushed by a thick mass of dark energy resembling a tentacle. One that easily crumbled to the floor udnerneath me to pieces

"Gilles!" Following the fierce shout, a blur shot past me. I dodged underneath Avenger's own attack as she unleashed a torrent of flame behind me to target the other Servant, which easily burned down his forest of tentacles like a raging inferno

How exactly did things go so wrong. My mind provided me with several factors that went awry over the course of my planning. The unexpected alliance of Kirei with Prelati. The location of their base,, which serves them with a superios advantage against us. And the fact that somehow...somehow...the Servant before us seems to be stronger than his previous self

"What the hell? His parameter definitely isn't that of a typical Caster's"

My eye widen in surprise at Jeanne's muttering beside me. Shaking my head, I channeled Mana to dodge another tentacle lash, at the same time using [Structural Analysis] to gauge the figure before me

Strength: C Endurance: B

Agility: C Luck: E

Mana: A NP: ////////

She is indeed right. With Parameters like that, it's hard to consider him a Caster as much as one would guess he is an Archer. The attack feels stronger than when we last fought him

Somehow Prelati had found a way to increase Gilles's strength as a Servant, at the same time bringing about a paragism shift to his Noble Phantasm, which is now blurred to the point of undecipherable garbage. Either that means the Noble Phantasm itself has been vastly altered, or it's rank has gone beyond the system's calculated growth

How did she do it? Conceptual awakening via her friendship with Gillles in the past? There are cases of Heroes receiving an increase in abilities while being summoned through means connected to their origin

What about simple strengthening through rituals? After all, Prelati was known for his affinity through the dark Magecraft that could achieve means some conventional practice can't

So many variables. Not enough time to prepare

I jumped up to avoid a torrent of flame from crashing against Gilles's continuous assault, the tentacles waving violently around in bestial hunger

"Time Alter: Double Accel"

My body blurred through the overlapping strikes that kept getting quicker by each interval. Each tentacle whipping, smashing, and spinning around was dodged with extreme bursts of evasion that split the air in front of me

Dodging between two parallels tentacle aimed at my feet and head, I landed with one foot and dashed to the side to avoid another one smashing beside me

"Time Alter: Triple Accel"

I dashed forward. My knife ripped apart the wave of monster descending on me as I spun around them with reinfroced speed. Drawing my arm back, I threw Phantasm Punishment at Caster with a well-aimed throw

It hit him in the forehead, yet the man's smile did not waver. Moments later I was forced to move again to evade his imposssibly fast attack. Some of them grazed against my clothe, drawing out crimson blood flying in the air and causing me to grit my teeth