Fate/Laoch Gan Finsceal

Chapter 10: West Persian Empire

FATE/LAOCH GAN FINSCEAL

"Hero Without Legend"

Chapter 10: West Persian Empire

Arash initiated the fight that he didn't want to start by raising his bow up high and firing what looked to be one large arrow into the sky. It shone against the blue void, but returned as dozens of smaller needles that rained upon them. It was nowhere near as grand as Atalanta's Phoebus Catastrophe, but it was enough to make the four heroes panic. Leonidas raised his shield to cover himself and Sanson, while Spartacus gladly used his body as a barrier so he could defend Connla. Arash kept firing more needles upon them in a relentless barrage, and it was only a matter of time before the group's defenses wore out.

"Ooooh! More! More! More!" Spartacus shouted happily as hundreds of small thorns turned him into a human pincushion.

"No! You can't last like this!" Connla urged.

Leonidas growled, "Krrrgh! We must retaliate somehow!"

"How!?" Sanson exclaimed. "We'll be pierced to death if we drop our guard!"

Connla stared up at the falling pins in shock, but it made her think about something...

"That's it!" she shouted and took out her slingshot. She placed a bunch of loose rocks into it and energized them with tiny Ansuz runes. They wouldn't be deadly on their own, but once she fired them upon the falling arrows, they exploded in small bursts and scattered Arash's shots everywhere.

"NOW!" Leonidas screamed. He and Sanson rushed at the surprised archer, and they attacked him side-by-side with a furious display of spear thrusts and sword slashes. Once he had sustained enough damage from them, they stepped aside and let Spartacus deliver the final blow.

"NGUOOOHH!" the gladiator yelled as loudly as he could.

Arash choked up moments before the gladiator pummeled his elbow right against the pit of his stomach, folding him like a jackknife before throwing him across the dirt in a violent tumble. He laid motionless for a short while, and the other four were unsure if they managed to break Xerxes' hold over the bowman.

****

Xerxes and Agrippina observed the battle in silence. Both of them appeared enraged and disappointed in Arash's complete failure, along with frustration that the four heroes did not kill him to ensure he wouldn't spill their secrets. Xerxes appeared especially agitated as he thrashed about in his bed, coughing up blood from Agrippina's poison.

"That bastard...! He... He betrayed me...!" the king lashed out. She tried to keep him down, but he shoved her away.

"Why are you so upset over one man?" she asked calmly, brushing off her dress of dust.

"The eclipse..."

"Huh?"

"It is the eclipse that forebodes doom! One by one, as people betray me or die, my dream of a new Persian empire crumbles bit by bit... Will my kingdom never hope to rise again? Is it divine providence that I will forever be denied my rightful sovereignty!? Ahh, Artabanus, you scum! You were the one who began my glorious kingdom's decline into obscurity! You are the eclipse that forebode my doom!"

Xerxes continued babbling nonsensically. Agrippina did nothing to sate the man's rabid bantering. In fact, she actually expected it. It was the first sign that her poisons were wearing away not only his body, but also his sanity. It was a special toxin that eroded the victim's mind and made them easier to control. It was akin to the Madness Enhancement that defined the Berserker class, although Xerxes had not lost his status as a Rider. Since Agrippina had no intention of giving Xerxes any sort of antidote, his conquest was essentially over before it even began.