This story, while original, depicts characters and concepts that are owned by Type-Moon/Notes.
This work is the first installment of seven, and while the series will not be released entirely in chronological order, it is intended to be this way. If this gets popular enough, I will continue the series beyond this and delve into the many mysteries surrounding Toshimi and her divine quest. I ask that any reviews be respectful and constructive since this is my first shot at writing a fic, and thank you all for reading!
Darkness claimed the sky as night fell and gave rise to the final day of the Sixth Holy Grail War. Tohsaka Toshimi, the twenty-seven-year-old daughter of Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin and Master in the war, steamrolled the other Masters and Servants, accomplishing feats few humans could ever dream of. The final battle of the Sixth Holy Grail War had just ended. Toshimi and her Servant, the Hound of Chulann, defeated the last two Servants and their Masters at the same time. Penthesilea, the Queen of the Amazons summoned as Berserker, as well as Scathach, the Queen of the Land of Shadows summoned as Caster, both fell to Toshimi and the Lancer Cu Chulainn.
Toshimi stood at nearly six feet tall, with back-length flowing black hair and icy blue eyes. She wore the expertly crafted Vulcan Robe, a deep crimson magus robe with black and golden designs woven into the fabric depicting Greek elements in gold and Roman themes in black, all focused around Vulcan and Hephaestus, the Patron God of Smiths in each culture. Paired with the enchanted robe was Toshimi's Azoth Staff, a golden Mystic Code whose shaft was two and a half meters long, adorned with a large onyx gem at the top of the staff, inside a ring that extended the artifact another half a meter. The lunar staff was forged with the blueprint of Durandal stored within Toshimi's Reality Marble as a model, and was clearly influenced by Egyptian culture, as the Gods of Egypt mingled with those of Greece upon the golden ring.
The Priestess of Vulcan stood beside Ireland's Child of Light, a tall man with blazing red eyes and short navy hair that seemed naturally spiked, though some stray strains fell upon his open forehead. His attire matched his hair color perfectly, consisting of a blue runic bodysuit with silver pauldrons that was stronger and lighter than normal armor as well as the famous Gae Bolg, a crimson demonic spear that was destined to kill the moment it was thrust.
The last fragments of magical energy belonging to their fallen foes faded, and finally the weary pair could relax a bit. Lancer stared at the place of the Servant that he'd faced, closing his eyes in a moment of silence. Opening his eyes with a faint smile, he turned away with a few parting words. "See ya later, teach. It was fun."
As if letting the world know that the last Servant in opposition to the winner of the war had fallen, a thunderous explosion roared in the sky above the Ryuudou Temple, the site of the final battle. In response, a 'black hole' opened in the sky, a perfect circle of darkness emitting a pale orange ring of light, bleeding into a dark crimson over several seconds. It was none other than the Lesser Holy Grail, the corrupted vessel of Angra Mainyu.
Toshimi took a nervous gulp of saliva and braced herself, holding her Azoth Staff with both hands already aglow with a green barrier produced by the Algiz Rune Magic, which projected itself as a dome around Toshimi within a second. "Lancer, get ready!"
Springing into action, her companion yelled, "Already on it, Master!" As the ruby eyed spearman clad in blue prepared his blood-red cursed lance, a much sharper crack echoed across the region, and suddenly the sinister-looking Holy Grail split in two. The offshoot of the Grail gave off a much more positive energy than it's twin, and quickly took on a new appearance as well.
The counterpart Grail came aglow immediately with a golden ring of light, and then slammed into its crimson twin as if in fierce combat, repeated seven times in rapid succession as they brutally danced across the sky. Each clash released a shockwave of rippling light from the sheer power behind each mass of energy, toppling trees and cracking stone all around them as Lancer and Toshimi were provoked to the same reaction.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Thunderously, the destructive voids exploded in a wave of clashing crimson and gold as they clashed an eighth time, seeming to rend the world asunder. A momentary sense of dread overcame Toshimi as the light surrounded her. A sinister mass of darkness bearing an aura of death clasped around her entire body through the violent explosion of light, crushing the Algiz Barrier like glass. She felt her entire body begin to burn and was swallowed by the void.
#
The abyss Toshimi had been dragged into was endless, solitary, and devoid of all heat. Toshimi felt as if she were in the literal grip of death, her every cell writhing in a state of agonizing persistent decay. Billions of curses assaulted Toshimi every passing moment, each one screaming obscenities into every corner of her mind. With the voices came visions, flashes of every crime ever committed or imagined, the results of every malicious impulse of humanity.
Toshimi wanted to scream or to thrash about under the maddening flood of corruption, but the void even robbed her body of its will. For the first time in her life, Toshimi felt truly broken. It was all she could to do endure the 5.6 billion curses, and she couldn't help but wonder how her father had ever overcome them. However, a flickering flame lit inside her eyes as she suddenly heard a voice inside her head, different from all the others. It almost felt like she could reach out and touch him.
"Are you done already, Master?" It was the clear, carefree tone of her Servant, Cu Chulainn.
Toshimi first felt relief at the sound of his voice, but his words felt like a smack in the face and stoked the fires of her indominable will. She refused to die as the voices begged her to, mentally repeating her vow to the Gods with fresh resolve as if to combat the voices that could not be silenced and the excruciating pain that refused to fade.
"I swear that I will destroy all evils of Earth and restore balance to the Heavens. I swear that I will destroy all evils of Earth and restore balance to the Heavens. I swear that I will destroy all evils of Earth and restore balance to the Heavens. I swear that I will destroy all evils of Earth and restore balance to the Heavens. I swear that I will destroy all evils of Earth and restore balance to the Heavens. I swear that I will destroy all evils of Earth and restore balance to the Heavens."
Inside the void, space, time, and death were boundless. Angra Mainyu's corruption seemed as if it could have poisoned Toshimi for a minute, a century, or for all of eternity all at once- until the darkness retreated, giving way to a shining light as she gasped for the air that seemed to rush into the void along with the light.
#
Waking suddenly from the state of living death, the first thing Toshimi's tormented mind encountered was a Servant with fair skin, smooth back-length violet hair and ruby red eyes, a person that had recently become familiar to her as an enemy.
The goddess-like warrior stood over Toshimi as she lay on a rather uncomfortable bed, wearing a complicated expression veiled beneath her black and purple battle suit, a much more feminine equivalent of Cu Chulainn's runic armor. It was lacy and almost silky, not seeming to be armor at all save for Celtic-engraved silver pauldrons, but the unassuming armor was imbued with powerful ancient runes that achieved more than the same effect.
The two fought each other during the war only minutes before Toshimi blacked out, ending in defeat for the Servant and her allies. It was Scathach, the God-Slaying Queen of the Land of Shadows and teacher of Cu Chulainn in life, previously summoned as Caster in the Sixth Holy Grail War. While ordinarily she was unable to die due to having achieved a state equivalent to that of Divine Spirits and was inapplicable for the Throne of Heroes, something must have changed in the future that brought death even to her isolated domain.
The impossible Servant stood beside Toshimi in total silence, simply gazing at her with restrained interest.
Narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the former foe for a moment, Toshimi sat up and stared at nothing in particular, beginning to assess the situation.
Based on the information given to her by her parents, the Lesser Holy Grail would appear as a void-like 'black hole', and from it, All of the Worlds Evils would spill forth to corrupt and consume everything it touched.
Instead, that void became unstable and split into two separate entities, ultimately leading to something that had likely been what her father described, complete exposure to the curses of Angra Mainyu, and now, she had returned to reality someplace completely different.
Thoroughly stressed and practically growling, Toshimi began observing her surroundings. Around her, Toshimi found herself inside a ruined, half-collapsed building complex, lying on the bed of her scorched private quarters. That alone told her that something was seriously off. After all, she knew that 'Camelot: Ghost of the Lost Utopia' placed around the Fuyuki Branch wouldn't fall to anything the Holy Grail threw its way.
Scathach waited patiently for Toshimi to become satisfied with her observations before finally speaking, breaking the suspicious gaze of Toshimi in only moments. "These circumstances are indeed strange, Master. But I have been called forth as your Servant, of the Lancer Class. It seems for you that not long ago, we met on the battlefield as enemies. "
"What... did you say?" Toshimi's eyes widened, and she was immediately sent spiraling back into thought, once again ignoring Lancer. Toshimi took a deep breath and closed her eyes, clearing her mind. "Do not panic, Toshimi. Think."
There were two Holy Grails, her eyes could not have been mistaken. Whatever caused the split, the separated Holy Grails were clearly hostile toward each other. Toshimi knew that nothing good would come from that, nothing good at all.
There were two possibilities that seemed unlikely but possible; an immeasurable level of destruction had fallen upon an unknown distance due to the warring Holy Grails, or enough energy was present at the simultaneous Grail manifestations to rupture time and space, dragging them into a pale imitation of reality. There was also a third option that would explain everything yet would also mean that something terrible was afoot. It was possible that one of the ruling Gods, Gaia or Alaya, sensed impending destruction to the planet or humanity, and intervened to save it using their Authority as Gods to create an unpopulated parallel Earth.
Assuming one of them was involved, it would have to be Gaia. Alaya had no control over such forces, and would have sent a Counter Guardian or two, most likely. Whatever the case, Toshimi was expecting yet another Holy Grail War. After all, what else would she need a Servant for?
Toshimi bowed her head to her Servant after finishing her analysis and spoke apologetically, "Sorry for ignoring you there, Lancer. As you probably know, I am Tohsaka Toshimi. While the circumstances are... unheard of, I am looking forward to working with you."
Lancer smiled and bowed her head, speaking only after roaming Toshimi's figure with a hint of jealousy in her eyes, hardly noticeable over her teasing tone. "As do I, Master. If I recall, you and my star pupil got along quite well during the last War."
Scathach's words brought a faint blush to Toshimi's cheeks, but her expression shifted as she donned a sorrowful smile, and began explaining her past with Cu Chulainn to Scathach, "Yes, well… I practically worshipped him in my youth. I do admit that I will miss him dearly, after everything... I spent much of my childhood searching for his grave and relics as something of a rite of passage, and it is my connection to him that truly set me on my path."
Toshimi thought back to her time with the Hound in the months leading up to the Sixth War as she summarized their adventure. Cu Chulainn taught her how to properly wield a spear, and even the secret techniques of Gae Bolg. Just as Scathach had passed on a wealth of knowledge and techniques to her pupil, Cu had taught everything he could to Toshimi during their time together as well. Furthermore, they were together able to incorporate Rune Magic into the Tohsaka Jewel Magecraft, bringing it up to a level bordering sorcery.
"So, my student became a teacher. I can see how you were able to compete with Servants so calmly. I look forward to seeing more from you in the coming battles, Master."
With a wry smile, Toshimi stood up and turned to face Scathach and raised a fist outward as if in challenge. "Why wait? Once we figure out what's going on, let's go a few rounds."
Taken slightly aback, Lancer smirked and stood up as well, raising her fist to her Master's. "You're on, Master. I won't lose easily as a Lancer, though!"
Without warning, a sharp spike in magical energy snapped Toshimi and Scathach's heads to the west, dominating their senses. Toshimi shook her head to dispel unnecessary thought, smacking her cheeks lightly to psyche herself up, wearing an aura of resolution while calling to her new Servant, "Lancer, let's get out of here. My gut is telling me that something bad is coming, we need to be ready."
Nodding in agreement immediately, Scathach walked beside Toshimi as she was led through the ruined base, navigating the broken structure until they neared the entrance, and were nearly blinded by a thin ray of light as they came around a corner.
Just as Toshimi knelt down to expand the gap in the wall, both women were forcefully stopped in their tracks, while Toshimi felt her Command Spell burn as if prodded by a hot iron poker.
Scathach chuckled slightly while Toshimi sighed in exasperation and straightened herself out, before a slight scarlet came back to her cheeks as she childishly glared at her companion. "Cue the bad feeling... I blame you, Lancer."
The Servant smirked in amusement, taking the blame in jest for derailing Toshimi with talk of Cu Chulainn, "I apologize, and promise that I'll keep my priorities-" At least, until she was cut off by a distortion of space originating from her own location.
Toshimi smiled softly at Lancer as they were sucked back into twisting darkness, with no idea when or where they might emerge.
#
Fuyuki City was whole and thriving. In the south as well as west was pure forest, hiding the local Buddhist Ryuudou Temple within, along with one of Fuyuki's fallen leylines. Northern Fuyuki lay on the outskirts of the city as well, consisting of open fields and farmland, and finally the coast and the ocean beyond. Fuyuki City itself spread east, and was split between Miyama and Shinto by a river flowing out to sea, whose only crossing was the massive red 'Big Bridge'. For the most part, Miyama was mostly residential while Shinto was considered downtown, though Miyama included many shops as well as Homurahara Academy and the Temple.
The year was 2005, and six months had passed since the Fifth Holy Grail War. During their final year at school, a pair of students sat in an isolated corner by the door that was out of view from pretty much every spot on the fenced roof, or at least the ones that were worth going to.
One of the students stood up rather abruptly, and despite her refined appearance, crudely brushed off the dirt and dust from her crimson robe, which was worn over her standard school uniform. For Tohsaka Rin, this consisted of a gold vested shirt with long white sleeves, worn with a knee-length brown skirt and leather shoes, black leggings, and a crimson necktie. "Good work today, Shirou. I'll be a little bit late after school, since I have to pick up some things from my house, but I'll come by before dinner to help set up your workshop. It's time we made you my apprentice, so you better prepare yourself." After speaking to her companion, Rin smiled dangerously and elegantly flipped her silky, doll-like black hair, her left pony-tail having been slightly disturbed by the wind when she stood, then started walking toward the door from around the hidden corner to enter the building.
Emiya Shirou shifted from sitting to kneeling, mechanically cleaning the mess of encrypted magical notes as well as his lunch. The young man was of bright orange hair and clad in the standard all-gold and blue trimmed long-sleeve uniform, and was a self-proclaimed Hero of Justice. "Thank you, Tohsaka. But won't my Reality Marble pose a problem with the Association if they find out?" he asked.
Rin stopped just before opening the door to the roof, turning back around to shoot a mild glare towards Shirou, warning him in more ways than one of the consequences of being discovered, following it up with a short lecture. "Definitely, which is why you must keep it hidden at all times. Never use even your projection outside of our workshops, under ANY circumstances." Turning back around and around the corner to open the door to the roof, Rin felt as if she were frozen in place by an insane surge of magical energy that hit her senses like a hammer from every single direction.
Emiya Shirou stood up without a moment's hesitation and looked around, struggling to his feet under the pressure of the growing mass of mana."Tohsaka, you feel that too, right?"
That question was rather stupid, but Tohsaka Rin was used to this person saying stupid things, so she moved on to figure out the situation at once, turning to face Shirou while thinking aloud. "Yeah, I feel it. I haven't felt such a large amount of Magical Energy since… the Holy Grail War."
Rin's thoughts stopped flowing from her lips as she felt the seriousness of the situation. The magical energy she felt was not that of a Servant, but it was an unimaginably large amount, which could only be produced by a Top Servant or the Holy Grail itself. Rin gasped at the realization as it hit her. "-Shirou!" Following her train of thought, Rin instinctively jumped back to try and reach out to Shirou, but it was too late, not that she could have stopped what was happening.
The world itself froze in time as her hand stretched out, and all color was drained from existence, leaving everything in black and white. After a few seconds of absolutely nothing, a blue light came into Rin and Shirou's vision, and somehow, only they could move in the world that was standing still.
In a panic, they both looked down at the source of the light.
"W-What is this?" It was no surprise that Shirou didn't know what he was seeing. After all, he never summoned a Servant properly in the previous Grail War. Rin, however, knew at first glance what was happening, and began to break it down for Shirou while reigning in her own emotions.
"…Shirou, calm down and listen to me." Despite understanding the situation, Rin struggled to remain calm. If she were by herself, she would undoubtedly be raging like a mad bull at the absurdity of what was happening, but she kept herself together for his sake, taking a deep breath before she said, "Shirou, this is a Magic Circle used for summoning purposes. To be more precise, it's for summoning Servants, usually at least..."
Shirou's eyes widened in surprise, and he too seemingly understood that there was only one thing that could be happening until he spoke, "I see. But Tohsaka, how can this be happening? It hasn't even been a year since the Holy Grail War ended. Can the Holy Grail really be active already?"
Rin let out an exaggerated sigh, fluidly transitioning to further explanation. "Shirou, the Holy Grail is not active right now. Well, it is but it isn't- That's not the point! We're being summoned by the Holy Grail just like the Servants are. The Grail is removing us from the flow of time to be summoned in a completely different era!"
With this, Shirou finally understood just how absurd it was. The Holy Grail was summoning two insignificant Magi as if they were Heroes into a distant past, present, or future. Before Rin could continue working out what was happening, the dim blue light of the summoning circles filled the vision of both Rin and Shirou. Their eyes met at the last moment, a swirl of emotion conveyed with a single glance- and then all their fear, confusion, and love were overwhelmed by light.
#
As the harsh light finally died down, Rin was lying on her side, covered in sheets and blankets much like the ones in her house. It seemed as if she had been unconscious, but she couldn't remember a single detail about what happened. Rin blanked for a few seconds and tried to remember what happened before the light engulfed her. She focused her mind and dug deep, and what brought everything back was just a memory of Shirou's smiling face. Her eyes opened wide in realization as she shot up from her bed shouting, "Of course, Shirou!" They'd just been on the roof at school, and then… And then the Holy Grail summoned them both somewhere.
Rin quickly got to her feet, and began sprinting out of her room, nearly falling through a hole in the floor in the process. However, the frazzled woman quickly brought herself to a halt only a moment after recovering her balance. This room wasn't just like her room, it was her room. "Then why…" Rin voiced her devastated thoughts, looking horrified out of her bedroom window. Rin's face paled, her mouth left agape and quivering, and clenched her teeth and fists at the same time, her panicked voice shaking with anger and fear. "If this is my room, then why is the city a complete ruin!?"
As she began to lose herself in a mixture of fear, confusion, and dread, which was extremely rare for Tohsaka Rin, a familiar monotone voice brought her out of her raging mind. "Do not worry, Rin. This is not the Fuyuki City- no, this is not even the world that you know."
Rin quickly put up her guard and turned to face the knight in red that was once her Servant with half a battle cry, "Archer!?" After yelling out the class that the knight was summoned as in the Fifth Holy Grail War, she quickly realized that he was different somehow. His skin was deeply tanned, his eyes gave off a shimmer of gold, and his hair was white as snow. The scarlet shroud worn atop his black armor was the same as well, but his expression and his aura reminded her of the Shirou that was alive.
Seeming to be aware of Rin's realization, the knight in red smiled, but even that was different from when she summoned Archer. The Archer she knew would always smirk cynically, while the smile this one gave off was gentle and caring to the core, and even his voice seemed kinder now. "It's no surprise that you are confused, Rin. However, my class is Caster, and I am not the same existence as the Archer from the Fifth Holy Grail War, either."
Rin slightly lowered her guard. Everything about him reminded her of Shirou. As Rin pieced it together, she mumbled, "It can't be…"
The knight of the Caster class chuckled slightly, seeming to enjoy Rin being flustered, as it was usually a rare sight that surely would never occur as often as this day. "Rin. Your thoughts are correct. I am the Heroic Spirit Emiya Shirou. Just like the Archer that was once your Servant, I am what Emiya Shirou will become, as long as history remains unchanged. Although… Unlike him, I am a true Heroic Spirit, not a miserable slave to Alaya like the Counter Guardians."
Rin stared at Servant Shirou, left utterly baffled for a few seconds while mumbling, "Shirou, but…" Rin quickly shook her head to clear her mind of everything that was not currently important, and transitioned from practically whispering to an outburst of frustration. "Enough of this, Shirou. Explain what's going on! And do you know where my Shirou is!?"
Rin's word choice nearly made Caster roar with laughter, but he managed to hold it in long enough to start explaining his understanding of their predicament. "Alright, alright. From what I know, this is the Seventh Holy Grail War. It appears that, for some reason, the Holy Grail dragged everyone out of time and space through a dimensional rift that occurred when the Holy Grail became active for the Sixth Cycle."
Scratching the side of his head in thought for a moment before furrowing his brow in apparent unease, Servant Shirou seemed to understand something that he decided not to voice. "However, even the Holy Grail shouldn't be able to do that naturally, so there must have been major interference with the manifestation of the Grail. No doubt Avenger would have played a part as well…"
Caster slowed his speech towards the end and seemed to trail off into unpleasant thoughts. A few moments later, Servant Shirou spoke so softly that Rin couldn't even read his lips, but she did notice the flicker of darkness in the grown Shirou's eyes, what seemed to be a mixture of sadness, hatred, and even a hint fear. "This time, we'll end him..."
Just gazing at Caster's pained expression became too much to bear for Rin, having seen it six months ago in the Shirou that still lived. After Sakura was corrupted into The Shadow by her adoptive grandfather Matou Zouken, Illyasviel von Einzbern was killed during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Shirou's spirit had nearly broken as a result of the two losses of his loved ones. Whether the expression on Caster's face was a memory from those times, or from something Rin had yet to encounter, she could not stand by and watch him suffer. With slight hesitation, Rin took a step toward him with a halfway extended hand. "Shirou, is everything alright?"
Mild shock brought Caster out of his trance, but was instantly replaced by a sigh of relief and a warm smile. Crossing his arms and shifting his weight to his left leg, Servant Shirou spoke with a hint of embarrassment. "Y-Yeah, sorry to worry you. It's just that... I was remembering the events leading up to my death." Shirou didn't want to talk to Rin about his death at all, as was evidenced by his increasingly uncomfortable expression.
This didn't stop Rin of course, as she swiftly stepped forward and took his hands into hers, holding them together with all her strength. "It's okay. Tell me what happened, Shirou."
Caster took a deep breath and nodded mostly to himself, gently pulling Rin with him so that he could lean against the wall beside the window, averting his gaze to their entwined hands as he remembered his dying moments. "At some point between 2022 and 2049, Angra Mainyu managed to possess a human being similar in nature to himself. Not a single person on Earth noticed that fact, allowing Avenger to start pulling strings from the shadows- clearly, that was to reestablish the Fuyuki Grail Wars after the Greater Grail was dismantled."
Nervously swallowing her saliva, it was clear that Rin understood just how bad that was. With Angra Mainyu released upon the world and freely planning his revival, countless people were certain to die. Rin could hardly stomach the idea that he might have been able to unleash even a portion of All the Worlds Evils. Falling victim to that was a fate she wished on nobody. "No way..."
Caster nodded solemnly and continued recounting what seemed to be the rise of Angra Mainyu. "About four months after I estimate that he became noticeably active, I caught the scent of a mysterious worldwide killing spree involving seemingly unrelated incidents, which led me across four continents and eventually to Rome in early 2050. However, Avenger must have known I was after him and led me there. He set up an ambush outside the city to take me by surprise, and he wasn't alone. Whatever those things he contracted were, they barely resembled humans beyond their shape. They were just... shadows with a huge power output that behaved like Heroic Spirits. I used every ounce of strength I had to defeat them and, in the end, I traded my life to destroy his vessel."
Rin opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't seem to find the words she wanted to tell him. "How awful..." Like a marionette with its strings cut, her body slackened where she stood, the only exception was her left hand clutching her heart in sorrow, searching for the words she needed to tell him.
"But..." Speaking before Caster could push off of the wall with his back and step towards Rin to ease her worries, a faint smile emerged on Rin's face and her eyes began to glisten with emotion. In the next moment, she released Shirou's hands and reached up to softly thump the scarlet knight in the center of his black breastplate with the back of her hand, much to his surprise, beaming up at him with a mixture of pride and admiration. "I always knew you were a hero. I'm so proud of you, Shirou."
As the words left her mouth, Caster stepped forward with a heavily suppressed grin and gently laid his hand upon her head, stroking her hair affectionately. "Thank you, Rin. I only came this far thanks to you."
Rin began blushing profusely, closing her eyes for a few seconds as she resigned herself to the embarrassing gesture. As expected of Toshsaka Rin, she flashed between 'tsun' and 'dere' like flipping a switch. "Y-You're damn right you did."
Shirou snickered so hard at her reaction that he had to step back and get some space, nearly breaking out into full-blown laughter. Wiping a tear from his eye, he chuckled one last time and leaned back against the wall with his shoulders.
Narrowing her eyes into an embarrassed glare accompanied by a single throbbing vein above her right eyebrow, Rin had no choice be to endure his teasing, or find something else to talk about. With the bombshell of Shirou's death out of the way, she also needed to figure out where the Shirou of her time had gotten off to.
"If you're done laughing at me, we have some business to take care of." Taking a breath to calm herself and her blushing cheeks, Rin paused and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "The first thing we need to do is find-"
Caster perked up out of his momentary silence and smirked in a joke-mockingly way as he interrupted and finished her sentence. "-your Shirou?" It was almost as if he'd been waiting for the subject to be brought back up, just to make fun of her.
Immediately after the words left Caster's lips, Rin stepped back with a terrifyingly embarrassed expression, so red in the face that she risked passing out. With no witty comeback, she nodded stiffly while averting her gaze in her classic awkward manner.
Caster, smiling victoriously, obliged Rin and said, "Well, yeah. I think I know where he is. Shirou should be back at his house, probably having a similar conversation with his Servant. I don't actually remember any of this, so I'm just basing it on our own circumstances."
Rin nodded and started walking to leave her room, talking slowly as she dedicated half of her brain to tearing through her memory for anything that might relate to the current predicament.
"Alright, then let's go. We can't waste any time, being so uninformed…"
Caster nodded and entered his spirit form silently as he began following Rin.
However, he was suddenly forced back into his physical form, and alongside that, Rin's new Command Seals began to glow, searing with pain as she yelled in exasperation, "What now!?"
Unlike before, there was no time to think about what was happening. Instead, both Rin and Caster were suddenly transported through space, just like when Command Spells are used to transport Servants.
"Camelot: Ghost of the Lost Utopia" is a powerful bounded field with numerous layers, each designed to serve a unique purpose.
The "Fuyuki Branch" is a section of the Mages Association that was created after the mysterious death of Emiya Shirou for the eventual return of the Holy Grail War. It is formally headed by Rin, but as she resides in London under the tutelage of Zelretch, actual command of the base is left to Toshimi.