Seeing the odds against their favor, Cisco became depressed and was about to wallow in despair when he remembered that Carter had given him something earlier and he placed it at the back of his mind until now.
Earlier, Carter had pulled Cisco away for a moment and hands him an item with a few parting words just before he left with Rider for the wrestling match. "Cisco, take this medallion and give it to Rider should the situation become dire. She’ll know what to do with it.” Recalling Carter’s earlier message, Cisco took out the storage cube and searched through its contents until he found a familiar-looking medallion. He presses the rune and retrieves the medallion.
When he took out the medallion, Cisco observed it. The medallion was made of pure gold and had intricate carvings. It resembled the depiction of the sun from ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations. He did not understand what it meant, he just hoped that it could save them from this desperate situation. “Rider, catch”, Cisco tosses the medallion to Rider, hoping that it would be their salvation.
Rider caught the medallion Cisco tossed her and she felt reinvigorated. When she opened her hand, she saw a familiar medallion. Rider closed her hand and held it tightly in her grasp. The medallion was granting her power. Rider smiles, “A significant portion of my divinity has been restored.” Rider then whistles for her mount, the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus. “Master, get on quick.” Cisco quickly gets on the pterosaur and grabs tightly on Rider’s waist.
The master and servant quickly took to the skies. Seeing her enemy run away into the sky, Scheherazade orders the Roc to chase after them. Cisco and Rider were high up in the sky when the Roc caught up to them. It wanted to bring them down and flew towards them for a direct collision. But just as it got close, Cisco used the Sonic Scramble to disorientate it before it fell under the attack of the pterosaur. Showing its aerial supremacy, the pterosaur strikes the Roc multiple times with a few flybys and it finally plummeted to the ground.
Outside the Reality Marble, the group of heroes, masters, and servants were still watching the screen to know the situation surrounding Cisco and Rider. Eddie turns to Carter and asks, “What was the thing that Cisco tossed to Rider?” Carter still had a worried expression on his face, “A trump card I prepared for Rider in case things go south. It’s an oversized medallion that I shrunk. With that thing, I hoped that it would return a significant portion of Rider’s divinity. It looks like my plan worked but I’m just not sure if it’ll be enough on to take out Heracles.”
Inside the Reality Marble, Rider held the medallion tightly in her grasp. “Master, I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to supply me with mana. I need enough mana to cast my strongest Noble Phantasm. So, master, I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to use a command seal. Do you know how to use it?” Rider gives Cisco a gentle smile when she requests this of him.
Cisco found it hard to accept the fact that he had to use a command seal. He did not want to force Rider to do anything against her own wishes, but she was the one asking him to use it. He knew that it was the only to survive the battle despite his fears. In the end, Cisco made his decision, “Alright Rider, I’ll do it, since there’s no other choice. Thankfully, I paid attention to Carter’s lecture when he told us how to use the command seals. I Cisco, hereby command you Quetzalcoatl, to use your ultimate Noble Phantasm and take as much mana from me as needed.”
Rider fiddles with Cisco’s hair for a moment and smiled, “Thank you master, for always adhering to my whims.” Rider turns around flying over her enemies, and balls her fists with the sun medallion held tightly in her grasp. “The past is here! The present is here! The future is also here!” The medallion in her hand started releasing a golden glow. Rider tosses it into the air and a large golden magic circle appears.
The golden magic circle bears a great resemblance to the sun medallion in design as it possesses the same carvings. The glow from the magic circle began to glow brighter as the circle grew larger. “Come winds, come lightning! When the morning star shines, let all know the Sun’s light reaches every corner of the Earth! Piedra Del Sol!” The golden shrunk and compressed to become a miniature sun. Rider grabs the ball of fire and keeps it tightly in her grasp and jumps off her mount.
Her target was the middle of the battlefield where her two enemies stood on each side of the battlefield and Scheherazade had the area surrounded by her familiars. Rider increases the speed of her descent when she leaped off her pterosaur mount. She quickly descends to the ground with the wind brushing past her face and hair. The light from the ball of fire released a blindingly bright light as she descends.
The two Black servants did not know what Rider was up to but they knew it needed to be stopped. Scheherazade felt dread in her heart, “What is this I’m feeling? Is this what it’s like to truly feel fear? Is this what it’s like to truly be afraid?” Scheherazade watched as Rider continues her descent even when she orders her flying and long-range familiars to attack the swiftly plummeting servant. None of her attacks seemed able to stop her enemy. The fear, dread, and despair overcame her.
When Rider was a few feet from the ground, she un-balls her fist revealing the small ball of flame. Rider releases her grasp on it and presses it on the ground. The miniature sun grew and created a large contained explosion. The damage created as a result of the Noble Phantasm eclipses a nuclear explosion in terms of destructive force.
The explosion of flames burned everything in the area into cinders. Scheherazade turned into dust along with her familiars. Just the heat released by the Noble Phantasm could reduce anyone to ashes. Even the mighty Heracles could not get away from it even after he just regenerated.
The effects as a result of the explosion turned the ground into molten magma. Even at the height Cisco was sitting on the pterosaur, he could feel the heat emanating from the tiny ball of fire. It felt like an intense heatwave. If he got any closer, he would suffer more than just fourth-degree burns. However, Rider was standing in the middle of the molten magma without any problems. Cisco was delighted that they had managed to kill two more of the enemy’s servants.
Outside the Reality Marble, everyone was cheering for Rider and Cisco. Everyone except for Carter. He was still worried about Heracles’ Noble Phantasm God Hand. “Four down, eight to go.” No heard Carter’s mumble in their excitement.
Even with his body turn to ash, Heracles regenerated once more. He regenerated and was standing several feet away from Rider, and he was fully enraged. However, he was still standing inside the field of molten magma. The Greek hero’s body started to burn once more. Once again the magma and fire burned him alive and turned him into dust.
Some time afterward, Heracles regenerated once more, except this time he learned his lesson. Immediately after he revived, he used all his strength to jump out of the range of the lake of magma. In a single leap, he managed to get to the periphery of the lake. Even though he managed to escape from the lake of magma, it still burned his feet. The berserker roared loudly once more.
Echo was startled awake by the sudden familiar loud roar and went to the location of the commotion. Cisco worried for Rider’s well-being orders the pterosaur to descend to the periphery of the lake of magma. As he got closer, he could feel the intense heat emanating from the lake. He knew that if he got closer, even he would be burned by it, and perish in flames, so he kept his distance.
Echo ran to the site of the battle despite his injuries and found a bright light emanating from the ground. He knew he could not get any closer if he wanted to keep his life, but he turns and saw Heracles, his servant standing just outside of the lake of magma, not having a care in the world about the heat. He just stared angrily at his enemy. The enemy that caused him great harm and humiliation. He did not even notice as his master, Echo, inches closer to him.
Even with his distance, Echo could see the tired and fatigued servant of his Earth-Prime counterpart, Cisco. Looking at the Red Rider servant that was standing on one knee, he knew she could no longer continue the battle. Echo had an evil grin, “Cisco, I’m going to hit you where it hurts. Heracles, I command you. Use all your strength to end the enemy servant’s life.” The command seal on Echo’s hand released a bright red glow before one of the command seals disappeared.
Heeding his master’s command, Heracles roared loudly and threw his ax at the kneeling Rider using all of his strength. Despite seeing the ax quickly approaching her, Rider knew she could not avoid it. Rider thought inside her, “That last Noble Phantasm used the last of my strength. I can’t dodge this attack. It looks like this is the end for me.” Rider turns around and saw Cisco, and she smiles. “I’m sorry master. It looks like the end of the road for me. I wish we could’ve spent more time together.”
The ax finally reached Rider and the large ax stuck into the back of her head all the way down to her back. The power that carried the ax dug deep into the back of Rider’s skull and spine. It killed her immediately. Cisco witnessed the entire thing right before his eyes. The woman he called sister was killed. Tears ran down his cheeks as he yells in his grief for his servant, his sister figure, someone he cared deeply about, even though they had just met for a few days. “Rider, no, don’t leave. Please don’t go.” Cisco watches as Rider began turning a warm light before dispersing.
“ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
