Fate/Heroes - Chapter 4

Leaping out of the top floor of the abandoned apartment complex, Gray landed gently on a nearby rooftop, his drop silent and yet deadly, with a poise to strike.

Gray had refined the style that Rider had perfected over his many years of training and combat.

It was like a martial artist who in his prime was unrivaled stopping for over ten years and deciding to pick it back up again.

The form and image within his mind were correct. And he possessed the experience within him, he only had to embed those techniques again back into his mortal flesh, becoming more like instinct than action.

This wasn’t just limited to his spear techniques either.

Gray’s footwork, breathing, riding-skills all had to be practiced in order to get them up to the same level as the original Achilles.

A mocking yet encouraging feeling came from the Rider Class Card.

“You may not be as good a teacher as someone like Chiron, Rider, but don’t sell yourself short. All the other Servants are monsters in their own right. You could still fight it out with the best of them”.

Despite not being able to communicate with words, the intent that Achilles sent over to Gray still got through to the twenty year old.

Someone like Rider, whose renown may have been the greatest out of all his Servants, had a power that was at the bottom of his Servants was a little bit discouraging. However, contrary to Gray’s initial thought, it only made the dėsɨrė for battle within Achilles’ heart grow, and his chance to do battle with beings that could slay gods and cleanse demons were more than he could ever wish for.

His train of though was interrupted by a single gunshot going off in the dock area several hundred meters away. Gray quickly jumped over the buildings, sometimes leaping dozens of meters in a single jump.

“We’re here”.

Spear in hand, the Pseudo-Servant Gray squatted down over a large warehouse on the dockyard and watched as several men kicked a bloody body into the sea, dropping down to the bottom of the dock within a few seconds.

Gray frowned but didn’t act.

It would be stupid to run in straight into a firefight without checking how many men he would be facing. And even if he wanted to do something about the man they just killed, Gray was too late to stop them.

His grip tightened on his spear.

‘I count roughly 30 men. I can’t be sure how many men are inside the building, but 30 mortals should be enough for me to deal with. Even if they have guns’.

Gray took a deep breath before dropping down onto the dockyard. His spear poised as the earth beneath him shattered, and his body shot forward with the might of hundred men. Every stomp gave away his position to the criminals who had already raised their guns and started shooting at Gray, yet his overwhelming speed allowed Gray to weave between the waves of gunfire, blocking any stray bullet with Diatrekhōn Astēr Lonkhē.

The gap between the various warehouses on the Gotham City dockyard were narrow and dark. Perfect for both illegal deals and ambushes.

With a physical strength, endurance and agility, only Gray’s shadowy armored figure could be seen, with the occasional flash of sparks being created as he blocked the wall of bullets approaching him. One or two getting past his defenses, and being reflected of his armor.

The faces of the criminals in front of Gray become frightened, but one of them shouted over the loud gunfire.

“We’ve got a meta!-“.

With a gentle swing of his spear, Gray knocked out the guard who spoke over the gunfire, propelling him with enough force to knock him, and the other guy he hit, out.

Achilles strength, while only augmenting Gray’s body was still a B+, and his power was more than enough to bisect these men, even at less than half his original strength.

With a flourish and wave, several more armed criminals were sent flying, and hit the walls with enough force behind it to knock them out. Gray deflected the smart criminals who still chose to use their guns over their own brute strength, but punched them with enough power behind it to make them curl up into a ball and vomit up their half-digested food.

None of them were killed as being a killer would put him on the Bat Family wanted list.

Gray’s gaze turned to the single remaining criminal he hadn’t knocked out or incapacitated and held him up by the scruff of his neck, his golden amber eyes staring into this middle-aged man’s scared brown ones.

“If you tell me were you keep the money, I won’t hurt you”.

His words were clear and concise, and the terrified man nodded instantly and extended his finger towards the empty warehouse.

“It’s in there! Just please don’t hurt me!”.

Gray dropped the man were he stood and gestured for him to run away. The twenty year old Pseudo-Servant watched the man’s figure run away into the darkness, and let out a helpless sigh at his actions.

“They may be criminals, but at least they’re not crazy. Gotham City is a breeding ground for unsavory individuals….. I’m lucky that I didn’t meet any of them tonight”.

Turning around and entering the empty warehouse, Gray noted the complete lack of any form of cash before seeing a small trap door in the corner of the building. In the darkness of the night, it couldn’t be seen by normal people, causing Gray to smile and tear off the lock on the trap door, revealing a pile of bundles of hundreds.

‘Jackpot’, he thought.

He picked up the bag containing the stacks of illegally obtained cash, and slung it over his shoulder, mentally calculating roughly how much was in the bag.

“Roughly 30 or so stacks, each ten thousand dollars…..! Three hundred thousand! That’s insane!”.

A happy smile rested on Gray’s face as he walked past the pain filled groans and unconscious bodies of the criminals he stole from. One of them managed to point at Gray with a hate-filled look as he held his stomach in pain.

“The Boss won’t like this! Even if you are a meta!”.

Gray stopped his happy skip and turned around, looking straight at the kneeling man in front of him.

“Tell him that he can visit me at any time. But he’ll have to pay for every minute that he wastes”.

Walking away from the crime scene, the hairs on Gray’s neck raised slightly, and he leaped back several feat to avoid the overhead fly kick.

But his spear wavered as he gazed at his opponent.

Long, wavy red hair whose brilliance overshadowed the sun. Bright green eyes that lit up the night sky. A slightly curvy figure which couldn’t be hidden behind such a tight, bulletproof suit. Legs that went on for miles, which caused Rider to gulp and admire through Gray’s eyes.

A single bat-shaped symbol could be seen on her ċhėst.

She spoke, “I haven’t seen you before, so you must be a new super-villain…. what is your name!”.

Gray snapped out of his trance, although the mental messages Rider sent caused a slight distraction to him as he looked at the masked vigilante in front of him.

He smiled and bowed.

“I have many names but for now….. you can call me Rider”.