Before reading this chapter, I know those who have the read the last chapter might be intrigued by the same question: How do you climb against a waterfall on an incline of ice in a car?
In fact, its certainly impossible for normal humans, and might even be very hard for average Servants to achieve. So here, we answer below about how a very 'talented' human achieves this. It might be quite complex, so I've simplified it as best as possible.
Read closely.
...
A deluge slammed into our side mirrors, right one folding, left one folding, and the wipers thrashed, peeling sheets of water clinging to our windshield.
Our headlights cut through the waterfall, illuminating patches of ice across the ramp where water flow remained thin, more trickle than current flowing beneath us.
Mustang's wheels carved through the current, clawing at ice for purchase. Steam and air bubbles whipped around half-submerged tires as they spun.
I pushed down on the gas. RPMs spiked, and the steering went light in my hands, as if on smooth asphalt.
550 mph.
530 mph.
But the speedometer was still falling even as our car surged up.
Mustang's frame shuddered, suspension straining under pressure, front bumper pitching inches higher as we fought gravity. The stake-chain sang taut ahead, anchoring us against the waterfall's current.
Beneath the rear bumper, chasm-water was chasing us. A black tide crawled up the ramp's incline behind us, swallowing the grooves our tires etched milliseconds after we passed them, erasing our path in a continuous hiss.
"Chasm-water has made contact with Mustang's tail." Justeaze informed from the centre screen.
"Master!" Medea ripped her feet off the floorboard, knees drawing up to her chest, back pressing into her own seat. "Water, it's seeping in beneath my feet!"
"What now, Master?" Artoria asked, gaze dropping to her own feet, cold seeping up through her armoured heels.
"Both of you, close your eyes." I threw a glance at them before turning back.
480 mph.
450 mph.
"Chasm-water level has reached the fuel tank," Justeaze reported, tone flat as ever.
Our exhaust seared into the flood consuming Mustang's rear, detonations punching outward in succession until their wails died to silence under water.
400 mph.
"Water level is one inch from Medea's door."
"Master..." Medea's lashes trembled on closed lids.
I stomped the accelerator, then lifted.
A single volley of explosions was still tearing through the chassis—
And caught.
Beneath us, the tires found purchase on a patch of ice, the thin water over it barely a layer.
500 mph.
Mustang's rear ripped free of the water with a roar, chasm-water whipping off the rear bumper in coils, gravity shedding it in ropes, and suddenly we were climbing again, tires biting ice, chain slackening, waterfall cleaving open around us in an ascending line.
That patch ran out.
480 mph.
450 mph.
Wheelspin returned, and our speed took a dive.
I jerked the steering right, and Mustang's rear end swung out without a live handbrake, chassis drifting sideways in a wide and ascending arc.
Water began striking my side window now, jetting along the flank, headlights cutting a diagonal up the ramp.
The loose chain stretched, slack vanishing link by link until it was fully taut, catching our drift before it could finish.
One breath. Two.
Irisviel watched Artoria's body tilt and remarked. "Careful Izuru, we're about to be flung back like a pendulum."
She had barely finished when—
A new patch of thin water slid beneath our tires.
Bite.
Rear wheels hooked, and I buried the gas in a burst.
500 mph.
The waterfall parted.
Mustang raked an upward diagonal across its width, vehicle splitting the current from one side to another.
Spray tore from the current and dragged down behind us, too slow to hold its shape. Rain pelted the windshield and kept coming, each hit sliding sideways off glass before the wipers reached it.
440 mph.
420 mph.
The current thickened, and rain began landing again, one drop, then ten, each a blast on glass, our wipers forced back to work.
Links folding over links, the chain went slack halfway. Mustang's rear slid out on its own; I fed it throttle, and the car gathered itself into a line, windshield facing skyward.
"That chain—" Irisviel cut herself off.
Medusa had already moved, hovering with Pegasus directly overhead. The chain drew straight, car to sky, no angle left in it anywhere, every ounce of her pull running up the ramp's spine.
The whole waterfall was trembling now, that tsunami a dozen seconds away in a reflection on our windshield.
Another patch slid beneath us.
Grind.
Medusa. Noble Phantasm, now. I commanded through our connection.
Radiance bloomed in the sky like a white star, a shockwave expanding outward for kilometers on end. The water around us hung motionless for a breath, and then the waterfall itself reversed course, droplets defying gravity, rising and dissolving into vapour trails every second.
Lightning patterns engulfed nearly the whole city-block-sized slab, bleeding off smoke, its light painting the cracks white.
Behind, even that tsunami faltered briefly, its crest pushing against resistance before continuing.
Artoria snapped her eyes open, elbow cracking against her door and deforming the metal there. "Master! You had her use Bellerophon?"
Holding one hand to her head, eyes slitted, Medea planted the other on my seat for support. "That looks like Medusa's thing..."
"Everyone, brace," I said.
"Oh." "Ah."
Both of them were still reacting when a tremendous force heaved the chain up and forward, and our world went with it.
The windshield streaked.
Drops struck glass and screamed away in the same instant, streaming to the roof in a cluster of needles, wipers refusing to move.
Around us, the waterfall's current froze in place, flowing, but too slow to matter, and we shredded past faster than it could fall. Our shadow ran on ice beneath, thrown down by the star overhead, a second Mustang galloping to keep pace with our engine.
The chain's howl escalated past every other sound, vibrations racing across links that ignited water along its length.
"Ramp remaining: sixty percent," Justeaze reported.
Medea's chant had been crushed down to a single syllable. Artoria's breath was low and deep.
"Ramp remaining: forty percent."
More ramp behind us than ahead.
That white star blinked.
And then its radiance went out abruptly, the chain's howl falling apart into silence without any warning.
I looked up.
Those monoliths had come down.
The ones I'd tracked since they'd grown from needles to pillars now hung over the ramp's end, close enough that their heat pressed through the chassis and settled over my knuckles.
580 mph.
540 mph.
500 mph.
Medusa—
A dozen pillars boxed her in. Two above, two ahead, four to either flank, standing in the sky and around her.
Pegasus's left wing moved wrong.
Bent at its joint and barely beating, feathers shearing loose with every stroke, spiraling down and breaking into embers as they touched a pillar's heat. It held flight on the good wing alone, but sank anyway, the stake-chain sagging between us in long loops.
"Master." Artoria's gauntlet dug into her thigh, metal groaning under her grip. "Allow me to disembark, and I'll clear her sky of those pillars."
"Not before being swallowed by the tsunami behind." Medea's voice cracked. "The car is the only reason you've survived this long, and if that chain breaks, or my circles give—"
"The tsunami's on our tail again," Irisviel informed, a drop of sweat beading at her throat on the screen. "And it's surging."
"Monolith encirclement is contracting," Justeaze reported. "And Medusa's altitude is falling."
I said nothing.
The wipers crossed glass, then crossed again. Rain landed and stayed, each drop a heavy strike.
One car. Twelve pillars. A mountain beyond them.
"Artoria, Medea."
Both went still.
"Dematerialise. Now."
"Master, the circles—" Medea's fingers dug into my shoulder. "If I let go, rain alone will punch through the—"
"Medea."
"..." Her hand loosened. "Okay, I trust you."
Magic circles across Mustang peeled off in long sheets, violet fading until only black remained.
Medea was gone by then.
Artoria hadn't moved. "And the chassis, Master? Without my reinforcement, one impact—"
"The chassis is mine now."
A deep exhale.
"... I'll be right here with you and will materialize if something threatens your life." Gold drained out of the chassis, panels, welds, and bolts, reverting back to mere steel, and she was gone with it.
"Justeaze, Irisviel. Detach and retreat."
Irisviel turned, mouth ready for another question, but then she closed it and nodded instead. "We'll know in a bit."
"Understood." Justeaze acknowledged, and dropped her arms back down.
Silver threads crawled out of the dashboard, detached from the side doors and roof, unwinding from the stake-chain link by link until that knot came apart and the chain swung free.
Mustang held for a few moments, tires crushing into ice, rubber shrieking to grip as long as possible.
Those threads lunged toward me, half splitting, dropping to vanish beneath my heels, the other closing around my wrist, twisting and writhing to form a bracelet.
The centre screen went dark.
Finally, I reached for her.
Medusa. Dematerialize now.
With that last order, I let the peddle go.
400 mph.
300 mph.
Mustang plunged, tail-first down the path it had carved.
The engine fell from its scream to calm, and in that sudden quiet, the rain's sound became the loudest thing left.
Ice ramp smeared backward faster and faster, my own grooves running under the tires in reverse, molten scars gone cold.
Above, those twelve pillars shrank against the sky, closing on empty air. Medusa and Pegasus were gone before they finished.
A roar kept growing.
Behind me.
The tsunami was here.
My hands rested on the steering.
100 mph.
0 mph.
The needle hit zero.
My gaze was not on it. It was on the mountain peak beyond, on a relay station visible there.
I stayed still.
And the tsunami swallowed Mustang whole.
A natural disaster.
"I hoped it would be more."
Dark covered every window, cracks racing across them in full. Mustang's frame groaned, roof sinking inward, the bracelet's silver being the only light around me now.
"Guess we'll be taking a detour, then."
...
..
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***
[200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[15 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
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[Author's Thoughts]
Have a fabulous day, everyone! And take care too.