Fate/Burning Will

Chapter 17: Unlimited Blade Works

Hey guys, I'm back. So, as of writing the beginning of this, my mental health is once again on a downward spiral. I basically had a relapse in my anxiety, but this is serving as a way to get away from it, so it all works out. Hopefully my writing isn't really affected.

Not much else to say, so here's chapter 17 of Fate/Burning Will.

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"I am the bone of my sword."

With the first line of the incantation of Archer's ultimate attack being uttered, it was time for Natsu, Saber, and Rin to pull together whatever scraps of power they had left. That said, though they were all invigorated, that did not change the reality of their current situation.

Rin wasn't badly injured, but she had no way to even push Berserker back. Natsu was grievously injured and running purely on adrenaline, meaning he would lose consciousness the moment that adrenaline ran out. Lastly, Saber arguably had it even worse than Natsu. Not only was she heavily wounded from holding off Berserker, but Natsu's currently low magic power left her one good hit away from disappearing entirely.

With this dire situation, holding off Berserker would be nigh-impossible. They needed to circumvent this somehow.

Natsu had an idea.

"Hey, Rin," Natsu suggested to the Tohsaka girl, "Throw one of your jewels at me."

"What? Why?" Rin questioned, confused at the sudden suggestion, not to mention her concern due to the expensiveness of each jewel.

She'd already tossed four. She couldn't afford to waste another one.

"When I was getting up after Berserker hit me into the forest, I saw that your jewels can explode. I need that to-"

Natsu couldn't even finish explaining himself, as the giant Servant rushed at the three combatants before he could do so. Natsu and Saber jumped to his left, while Rin jumped to his right. In this moment, the latter needed to make a decision. Should she go along with Natsu's plan, even if she didn't know the full extent of it?

It was her best bet, and Natsu was not the type to actively cause a detriment to his allies. As such, she decided to trust him.

"Fine!" she shouted, pulling out a jewel and tossing it over Berserker's head, "You'd better not make me regret this!"

"Saber, get back!" Natsu commanded as the jewel approached him, his Servant heeding his words and getting further behind him.

The jewel soon descended in front of the Dragon Slayer, and it promptly exploded upon landing. As Illya had heard Rin say something about "not regretting this," she figured this was a part of some kind of plan, but... What plan would involve attacking your own ally? She'd find out soon enough.

The sound of slurping showed her just what this plan was.

Natsu was consuming the explosion.

Not only that, but Saber felt herself regaining some power.

"Natsu, are you-?" Saber began to ask.

"Yeah," Natsu promptly answered as he swallowed his meal, "You saw it before. I can eat fire, and the same goes for explosions like this. Now I've got some power back, and that means you do too, Saber."

Immediately after saying this, Natsu began whaling on Berserker with a flurry of flame-coated punches, fighting through the pain of the large gash across his chest. Though these didn't drain Saber's power much, they were also rather ineffective at even holding Berserker off. He was pushed back a little, but he was merely standing there, taking every punch before he finally acted and kicked Natsu away.