Steel Eyed Faker

Chapter 22: Save the Base Part 2

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness

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-Night Raid Base-

Emiya’s mind was far from at ease. Taking down Seryu and Hekatonkheires, who had been fighting Tatsumi, hadn’t brought the battle any closer to a close. Too many enemies still lingered deeper in the forest, likely lying in wait, looking for a gap to exploit. As Emiya moved through the woods, his steps slowed, his senses attuned sharply to the shifting shadows.

Then, without warning, a body crashed through the air, smashing into a tree a few paces ahead. Splinters flew in every direction along with blood and what remained of the man’s insides. Emiya stopped short, stepping back just enough to keep his face from getting splattered by the spraying blood and guts.

“Did you have to do it like that?” he asked dryly, eyes narrowing as he looked toward the direction the body had been thrown from.

A familiar buxom figure emerged from the dense brush, panting with sweat dripping down her forehead. Leone stepped into view. Her body had been transformed by Lionel to give her feline ears atop her head, with her hair having become a long and wild yet majestic mane, and her hands had sprouted fur with powerful claws at their tips, that dripped with blood, and her skin was streaked with the same.

“You look like you really went wild against the enemy,” Emiya remarked, one brow lifting slightly.

Leone’s eye twitched. “You’ve got some nerve making that kind of pun to me after what just happened. Mark my words, I’m still going to make you pay for that little stunt,” she snapped, voice edged with a growl. Her irritation only deepened when the man in front of her allowed himself the faintest smirk.

“And here I thought you would have appreciated and even benefited from a deep tissue massage,” he replied innocently, shaking his head and acting completely oblivious to her anger.

Thankfully, she did not pursue the matter any further, instead swiping off some of the blood on her hands and rolling both shoulders. “Anyways, looks like both you and Mine went ballistic on those grunts in fetishwear earlier. I’m pretty sure you left enough bodies behind to build a wall out of them around the base.”

He folded his arms, noting that the woman even had a tail, which was flicking slightly. 

“Grim way to put it, but you’re not wrong. Rather, I'm surprised at how many of them there were in the first place. Makes you wonder what they were actually after. They didn’t show up just to die here.”

“Maybe,” she said, scanning the trees. “But we’ll find out soon enough. Right now, the priority is thinning them out before they regroup. We need to teach them a lesson on trespassing our base when I was in the middle of something important!”

She shouted loudly, this meant for the rest of the attackers to hear. Then she shot Emiya a pointed look. “And you. Shouldn’t you be back there firing arrows instead of wandering out here?”

“Mine’s got the ranged defense handled,” he replied calmly. “I helped Tatsumi earlier. He and Sheele are covering the base’s entrances. Lubbock is securing the perimeter and is planting traps for anyone who tries to leave, and the girl who let us know about the attack is… somewhere. As for Najenda—”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence before a series of blinding white beams lit the sky above. Both of them looked up as white energy blasts cut through the air, striking with merciless accuracy. From the rooftop of their headquarters, projectile beams rained down, killing anyone who ventured too close.