A Berserk Heart 2

A roaring scream tore through the air, ringing through my ears. So loud, it felt like my eardrums were going to burst.

It went on and on, continued on for minutes, hours, maybe even days. I honestly couldn't tell how long the scream resounded in my ears and the red tint of rage hazed my vision.

It was a while before I recognised the voice of the one screaming, the one sounding like they were in utter agony. It was me.

And as I realised that, the red hot rage left me, and I found myself kneeling in the middle of a ten foot crater, my hand buried deep into the ground. I was panting deeply, and felt oh so numb just then in this moment.

I pulled my arm from the ground, my fingers coming free easily, as if my hand was buried in sand for all the resistance the ground put up against my strength.

It was as I did, that I felt something wet trailing down my cheeks and I reached up to touch my face, "Tears." I blinked.

An ache formed in my chest and my vision went blurry with salty liquid. What the hell is going on? Why are my emotions swinging so out of whack!?

All because I'd laid eyes on...Ilya. Ilya's corpse. My eyes widened, 'Herakles emotions?!' I realised in shock.

But how?! For one, the Herakles from the class card was one from a completely different reality by my account. And even assuming it was the same one, since the Throne of Heroes existed outside of time and space, how the hell would Herakles remember her anyway!? The Heroic Spirits on the throne don't get the memories of themselves that are summoned as servants. Only outliers like Emiya and Arturia remember and that's because they're not really proper Heroic Spirits!

Herakles was crazy in Fate, he went above and beyond when it came to protecting Ilya. He rampaged around on instinct with only one life left, after having his very flesh sheared away and being nothing more than an oozing, senseless writhing piece of muscle to protect her. He tore his way out of the Chains of Heaven themselves to try and gain revenge for her.

But, to subvert the laws of the Throne of Heroes itself? How? I'm not sure how it worked, but, instinct perhaps?

I grasped my chest as it throbbed, "You're crazy." I spat, grinning at the Heroic Spirit within my soul. Beyond crazy even, but should I really be surprised?

This is Herakles I'm talking about here. The greatest hero to ever come from Greece, maybe even the most famous hero of all time.

Before I'd ever heard of King Arthur, or William Wallace or anything like that, I'd long known of Herakles. So famous even Scottish toddlers knew of him and wished to be like him.

Was it any wonder someone like that could overcome something like this through his sheer instinctual rage?

And it made sense to. How else would I have winded up here? We're in my body. Though it's changed a bit, bulked up a bit, grew a few inches and become more defined, I could recognise my own body.

So, it was because of the will of Herakles I ended up here huh? 'You're a fucking failure Julian, I thought you said the ego of all the Heroic Spirits used for the class cards were purged.' I snorted inwardly.

My hand involuntarily clenched into a fist and the face of a golden haired, red eyed dead man walking flashed through my head, "Gilgamesh!" I hissed, the muscles in my clenched fist spasming.

'Calm down.' I growled inwardly. I can feel the rage threatening to overtake me again. We already knew where going up against Gilgamesh while raging out of control got him!

And here, we're weaker than the full servant Herakles! God Hand is at C-rank! A slice of Kanshou and Bakuya could reap two of my lives alone, as they had with Shaw up against Shirou Emiya not long ago! And I only have eleven lives left right now, because the process of bringing me here ended up having my body take on the wounds that killed Shaw somehow when Shirou blasted his ass with Caladbolg.

Gilgamesh would utterly murder me. 'I get it!' I swore, I really did. I understood why the rage threatened to overwhelm me, and I wanted to smash his smug fucking pretty boy face in as well, but as satisfying as it would be to rage out of control and satisfy that rage, it would just end in failure!

I breathed a sigh of relief as the anger filled pressure building up in me began to slowly wind down, "It's impossible for Berserker Herakles to defeat the King of Heroes, it's the worst class of all for you," I admitted, closing my eyes. But it wasn't just Herakles here now, "You have the strength and fighting ability, while I have my knowledge and Shaw's own abilities with magecraft."

And the family magecraft of the Morganach magus family, was perfect for dealing with the biggest problem for Herakles when it came to Gilgamesh, Enkidu the Chains of Heaven.

My eyes drifted up to a stone hanging over the ledge of the crater I'd punched into existence in my rage and I extended out my od towards it, enveloping it within it, then I activated the spell.

Instantly, I was standing over the ledge of the crater, and in my former place at the bottom of it, rested the stone.

"Iomlaid." I tasted the name of the spell on my lips. the Scottish Gaelic word for 'exchange'.

And that wasn't all. I may not have the same strength as Herakles did as a fully summoned servant, but I still have B-rank strength and C-rank Agility. And any magus worth their salt can reinforce themselves.

And beyond all the spells and magical knowledge I had access to now, there was something else I got from the class card that was a massive boon.

Each class card was imbued with the family magic of the Ainsworth, and could create a space that overlapped the world itself, like a very very minor form of a Reality Marble. And that space resided in the soul of the Class Card holder at all times. A space where no time passed and that I could easily use.

It was a feature designed by the Ainsworth long in the past to try and keep the holy Grail War a complete secret from the mundane population and limit overall damage.

And it, alongside the abilities of the Heroic Spirit within the Class Cards, and the knowledge how to use them, were downloaded straight from the card into the users brain upon becoming one with the Class Card.

And I could easily link my spells to it. Like, the Morganach exchange spell. "It's not quite the Gate of Babylon, but it's not bad either." I smirked.

As I turned around and my eyes fell on the body of Ilya my smirk disappeared and I heaved a deep sigh, my shoulders slumping.

It really was sad how her life turned out. Her mother murdered on the journey to be turned into the holy Grail for her husbands wish, only for the wish to be corrupted by an evil god within the grail itself. Never seeing her parents again, poisoned against her father and adopted little brother, reared and experimented on just to win the grail for her sick family, and then having her very protector and the person she cared most about killed in front of her before having her heart ripped from her chest just to be used as the grail this time around like her mother before her.

Well, I summarised it, but that was the brass tacks and it was honestly a pitiful life. "To be a magus is to walk with death, huh?" I gave a sardonic huff and slowly made my way over to the dead girl.

I could remember all of Shaw Morganach's life. And it was a shit show. Maybe not as tragic as Ilya's, but the boy hadn't known a lick of proper fun in his entire life. From the moment he could walk, he was being taught the ways of his family. By time he was five, his entire back was flayed open in a spiritual surgery as the Magic Crest of his family was transferred to him, a surgery where he not once had something to dampen the pain.

He was shown no affection, was given no praise for all the hard work he put in for his family, and there was no love given to him. All he was, was a tool to promote the family legacy.

Despite all the power he had in comparison to my old self. Despite all the wealth he had access to in comparison to me, I can't help but think he was infinitely more pitiful than I had ever been.

Even before I ended up here, me and the boys had been shooting the breeze and having a good time since it was the weekend and we didn't need to worry about classes for a few days.

'Honestly, becoming part of me is probably the best thing that ever happened to him.' I didn't know whether to respect or pity him for that.

I put it out of mind as I stopped in front of Ilya's body, another sigh leaving me. I crouched down and gently pat her head. She was cold to the touch, like an ice cube. I gently trailed my hand back through her hair, and marvelled at how soft her silky white tresses felt on my fingers despite the blood and grime matting it.

"I don't know what I can do for you, probably nothing to be honest," I admitted, reaching up with my other hand to run my hand through my short spiky hair, "But I at least won't leave your body here Ilya." I promised.

She deserved that much at least.

While stroking her hair, I reached within me, past the magic circuits within my soul to the feel of Herakles deep within me, the feel of the Class Card and pulled on the Mirror World within me.

It could have spread out entirely over the Einzbern Castle, but I didn't need it to. I only spread the space out from around myself until it spread over Ilya, and then I let it return to my soul.

And when it did, Ilya's body was gone. Stored within my soul, with Herakles.

I stayed there for a moment, crouched on the ground, before releasing a deep sigh and standing up. "Time to get a move on." I narrowed my eyes and turned, walking towards the entrance of the castle, the huge doors barely hanging on to the frame.

Despite their size and weight, they felt feather light to me as I pushed against them and opened them, stepping out onto the castle steps, before freezing, my eyes going wide.

"...What the fuck." I gaped.

The massive forest that I knew was spread around the Einzbern Castle? It was gone, completely and utterly. All that remained was charcoaled tree remains and seared and burnt grass.

The sky was pitch black, filled with roiling dark clouds. A thick heavy smog breached all the way to those black clouds and in the distance I could see Fuyuki City, but, it was a desolate place, not a single light in sight, just a vast ruin of destroyed buildings and raging flames spread about all over the city, some so high they were smouldering over buildings skyscrapers themselves.

...Have I ended up in some horrible bad end?

I worked my jaw back and forth a bit, before narrowing my eyes and stomping down the stairs and beginning my long trek to Fuyuki City.

"It looks like the fucking apocalypse rolled over here." I ground my teeth. It was probably only thanks to Herakles mental personal skills and maybe even a little Mad Enhancement that I wasn't utterly bat shit terrified right now. Because Fuyuki looked fucking terrifying right now. It looked like something right out of a horror movie.

'Are you kidding me?' I huffed internally. I thought my luck was really high thanks to Herakles! You'd think I had the fucking luck of a Lancer with this shit!

Why couldn't I have been dropped in the Unlimited Blade Works good ending, and then I could have just popped up behind Gilgamesh when he was trying to drag Shirou along with him and rip his head off. Easy and simple, see.

There ain't nothing easy and simple about what I fucking see right now! And to make matters worse, I'm stomping through this burnt forest in nothing but a metal armoured sk- kilt, a metal armoured kilt!

Rocks and ashes dug into my feet, but I felt no pain despite my annoyance with it all. I was just that sturdy as I am now.

Honestly, I could literally hulk jump from here to Fuyuki if I wanted, shoot a thousand feet through the air and not take any damage at all. That's how absurdly durable Herakles was even with a two rank decrease in his abilities.

It was still annoying though.

"You know what, fuck this!" I ground my teeth, frustration getting the better of me a few moments later. I kicked off the ground, leaping high into the air and shot towards Fuyuki.

I crossed a hundred feet in a single bounding jump. And then I did it again, and again and bunny hopped my way to the city, and when I reached the end of the forest I launched myself high up into the air, straight into the city itself.

I slammed hard onto the road of one street a few moments later, my impact so powerful the ground buckled underneath my feet and spiderweb cracks spread about.

On instinct, I stepped to the side, just in time for a sword to slash through my previous position.

"Tktktktktk!" glowing red eyes peered out at me from a bone white skull, a skeleton stood before me brandishing a long blade at me

"A dragon tooth warrior?" I wrinkled my brow in thought for a moment as dozens of weapon wielding skeletons swarmed out into the street from the alleyways and rushed me.

"No wait," I said to myself, shaking my head as I examined them a little closer, "They look more like human skeletons." I noticed.

Just in time for a battle axe to smash into my neck from the side. The blade of the weapon crumpled against me.

"Yeah, how about no." I snorted drily, lashing out with a backhand that caught the skeleton in the jaw before it could do anything else and ground it into powdered shards from the sheer force of the blow.

No normal weapon could stand up against a Noble Phantasm. And my very skin is the God Hand.

I cracked my neck and then my fingers as the skeletons attacked me. Weapons swung at me from all angles, only to be rebuffed off of me as if they had smashed into a wall of titanium.

I lashed out and grabbed one by the skull, my palm wrapping around its face. And then I squeezed and a loud crunch echoed as I crushed its hand with my bare fingers, "I could use some good stress release right now." A sigh of relief exited my nostrils.

There's nothing quite like hitting things for stress relief after all.

                                                             ____________

I wish I could say that fighting the skeletons perked my mood up.

But it didn't. Sure, if I was the me of before just one would have killed me, but now, I may as well have been fighting some wet paper towels for all the ability they had to hold up against my blows and deal damage to me.

Honestly, I wish I could even just marvel at the fact that I just got through fighting magically animated skeletons, but I'm so over this shit right now. The mental and physical skills of Herakles enhancing me and the memories of Shaw just made them all seem so...trash, bottom of the barrel, low tier.

I tore through the dozens of skeletal warriors in less than thirty seconds. "What a waste of time." I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

What do I even do from here? Head to the Tohsaka Mansion, the Emiya Mansion? The..Matou?

I highly doubt they're still standing. And what the hell happened to cause all this anyway? Did Gilgamesh win and make his wish? Did some idiot wish for something that caused this to happen? Did Angra Mainyu get incarnated?

"If Fuyuki is in this state, I doubt Shirou or Rin are still alive." I groaned. That was disappointing. At least if they were around, I'd have somewhere to go, and Rin was hot, so she'd definitely make things more bearable, at least aesthetically.

I shook my head and eyed the mountain in the distance, where the Ryuudou Temple stood, or at least whatever was left of it with the city in this state.

That mountain was where the Greater Grail should manifest at the completion of the Holy Grail War, right? Then If I head up there I might be able to find something.

I stepped forward a- "Why does these kinds of things always happen to me!" a female voice screamed, echoing out from a street a a large building over.

My eyes widened slightly, before I turned and quickly jumped up on top of the building and peered down at the street.

My gaze settled on the form of an attractive white haired woman in clear magus attires, stuck on her knees in the middle of the blazing broken street.

She had one hand pointed out, all fingers facing out in a knife hold and a split moment later a barrage of red spheres of magic energy formed and fired out, blitzing through the air like bullets towards a dozen or so armed skeletons chasing after her.

Three of the skeletons took the Gandr curses, one to the face, and the two others in the chest and were blown apart, but they were the only ones and the other skeletal warriors quickly fanned out around her and rushed her from all sides.

She fired wildly at all in sight, but couldn't aim properly, wild and panicked as she was and I caught sight of one skeleton climb its way on top of a lamp post to take her from above.

"Tktktktktktktktktk!" its bones chattered and it threw itself down towards the white haired woman.

She caught sight of it and locked up, "Help me Lev!" she screamed in terror.

Before the skeleton could cleave her in twain with its sword, it shattered apart when my fist smashed into its torso and blew it apart.

I landed a moment later beside her and her pretty yellow eyes went wide. The Skeletons swarmed from all sides, but they never got close. With a thought, the massive axe sword shimmered into existence in my hand and I spun around in a blur of god speed, the axe blade cleaving through every single one of them in a few instant moments before they could get close.

"You alright?" I asked her, trying to smile at her, but no doubt smiling cockily. I couldn't help it though. Because god damn, I bet I looked so fucking cool right now.

At least something good came from this utter bullshit of a situation.