I looked over the scenes in my mind again. I was surprised. The night I had declared the beginning of the War and already people were fighting.
Most of the action had taken place up in the mountains. Calling up prana to my Magic Circuit, I began to revisit the events of the day. Let's start at the base of the mountain.
"Archer, the area we're about to go to is residential." Bob said. "We'll have to be careful, because the enemy Masters could be staying in any one of those houses."
"I understand, Master." The man in Japanese garb said. "I will be careful."
"Let's go." With that, Bob and Servant continued walking. I smiled, and pulled myself back from the eagle eyes of the person standing in a tree, focused intently on their direction. The robed man with belts on his cloak-and-hood said nothing, only taking notes on his discovery. He could not be seen, being literally cloaked in darkness. Not like he needed it, he was a master at hiding. His Master was in the foothills. This note would have to be passed on. His Master's crow familiar landed on his shoulder, and he spoke, in a voice so low that his accent was muddled. "Take this to your master." The crow took the letter in its beak and flew off.
In the foothills of Izaya City, there are certain paths one must take up the mountain.
Right now, one of those paths was being blocked off with traps. The trapper was The One Clad In Black, called that for lack of a better name. He was laying his traps. He knew it was a long shot, but as he expertly tied the tripwire he was hoping for a Master to come across. So he continued undisturbed. I went over the mountains.
Daichi Mamoru had survived. It had been a long day of preparing his hideaway, but he had survived. The elementals he had summoned were hard at work, while his Servant stood guard. It had been a long day. His pact with his fellow Master, Tohno Kenichi, had come in handy after all. One can never be too careful. With that, he cast another glance over at his Servant and the elementals. The tall man in the classic wizard's clothes was supervising the moving piles of rock.
I will move when I am ready, and not before.
Ken Marker walked down the mountain with a young boy at his side. Although he was powerful, he would much rather not be detected. After all, his power was of a completely different nature than the other Masters.
"Master, are you alright?" The boy asked him.
"I'm all right, Saber." Ken told him reassuringly. "More importantly, are you sure you should really be on guard like that?"
"I've been ambushed before, so I know that it can be done anywhere." Saber smiled, recollecting his experiences, both good and bad. They continued to back-and-forth like that, facing each other with a smile.
Soon they came to an abandoned storehouse. It was small, and suited perfectly for their purpose. They constructed a magical array before taking a pair of beds that had been left behind and going to sleep, each trusting the other to be on guard.
The Servant of prana and the alien Master had accepted one another.
Evans Masterson held onto his rifle and suppressed his frustration as he shouldered it. He was shaking, which led to more frustration, which led to shaking. He was cold and wet, which was no problem for a sniper.
The problem was more unconventional. He had been holding his prana inside his Magic Circuits for an hour. He could feel his body shaking involuntarily as he levelled his sights at the spear wielder moving away from him. He grimaced as he tried to steady himself against the raging prana.
Concentrate. Remember your training…. And….. Shoot.
He felt the PTRD 1941 kick as the heavy bullet meant to destroy tanks tore through the air. He watched as his target went down, but he had not hit like he aimed.
Dammit. I should have gotten him, but I will, just you wait.
Before he mentally cursed himself, he packed up and ran off. At his speed, he was burning all the prana that had burdened him so. And just to make sure, he danced the Macarena.
"What are you doing, Master?" A woman of average height began walking beside him. Her clothing was nondescript, but the belts on it carrying various metals and chemicals were all the mark of a master alchemist. She was moving carefully even as she chatted lightly, with no extra movement or wasted energy. Evans replied "Burning off prana. And being a badass. Now let's get a move on."
The two of them ran through the pitch-black night, as if in guilt for their deeds.
Tohno Kenichi swore to himself. Fuck, to get shot like this…
He was lying in a hospital bed. In the end, he was relying on those bastards who had sent him to the Holy Grail War.
And after I said all those things about protecting Ririko after all… God.
Tohno Kenichi lay on the bed in pain, both emotional and physical. The bullet had been taken out, the wound stitched, and healing magecraft applied. But the disappointment in himself was far stronger than anything. His Servant came in. She was tall for a woman, her smooth skin covering muscles that had been honed through battle. She had been a general once.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Kenichi said. "The organization is cruel, but they're good at their job."
"Good." She said. "We won't be able to operate properly with you on a hospital bed." She said it with a straight face, but if looked at carefully, she was holding in a smile and blushing just a bit.
"So, what do we have so far?" She asked, changing the subject.
"There are a lot of people in the vicinity of the mountain." Kenichi said. "Also, they seem to be moving in different directions, so we should be able to find a few of them if they are moving like that." His Servant nodded. Of course she wouldn't be needing an explanation, she was better at military tactics than he was.
They spent the rest of the night planning.
I sighed. It's been quite a day. Now, let's see how the others are doing. Most of them decided to hole up in the mountains, so there are only a few that are away.
It was a full-sized industrial warehouse, the kind where containers were once stacked up and ship supplies kept before they got too big for even these warehouses. Normally, magically reinforcing a place like this would not be easy.
But with the assistance of an extremely powerful Servant, nothing would be impossible. Tensai Takizawa once again smiled and thanked his Servant for his help. Lancer merely nodded. He was a bit offended at his Servant's arrogance, but was willing to let it slide.
This workshop… soon, I will be able to use it.
He smiled at the thought. A Servant like his would be unbeatable combined with the power gained from a workshop like he was building.
This will be my victory.
"Of course, there's the star of the day." I smiled, recounting the battle that had taken place. The mall and the bridge nearby had been destroyed.
"Kiyouskei Sousuki gave me some valuable information." I smiled. Thanks to his valiant effort, I now had all the info that the Holy Church was asking for.
He was running with a girl into the botanical garden. The girl was tall and blonde, looking like she had just stepped off the plane from Greece.
"Where are we going, Kyouskei?" She asked, running quickly.
"There's a Servant after us, Penny." He said. "Hide in the greenhouse, I'll make preparations." Quickly, he ran out and buried gems in the earth, weaving the intricate patterns he had only seen before in gemstones into the world.
In effect, he had created a web of magical traps. But before he could finish, five arrows pierced the ground between him and his Servant. As he looked up, another five joined them.
"I won't harm you if you leave quietly." A voice boomed. "I do not wish to harm another hero." Kiyousukei merely smiled, but his eyes turned red. His voice jarringly took on a more destructive tone as he answered.
"Welcome, Archer." He said, sneering. "Come on out so I can kill you and your Master quickly!" He motioned his hand towards Berskerer. She saw his hand wave. The arrows came from over there, at a high angle. He's on the ground. Find him. She nodded.
Berserker's mouth ran dry. She ran as fast and quietly as she could to the source of the arrows. She came upon a bow-wielder who was dressed in a simple homespun garment that her male friends would wear when she was still alive.
"Last chance. I will have no mercy." The voice of the man in front of her rang out. That was the signal. Without fear, she lunged. The man turned around. "I told you to leave quietly. Now I will have to shed the blood of another hero."
He turned and deflected the spear with just a dagger. Her eyes opened wide in surprise as she saw the champion before her.
"I fo~~und yo~~u!"
With a high-pitched yell, like a calling child, her Master activated his magecraft as he stepped in front of Archer, revealing himself.
But there was something different about him.
He was grinning madly, like he was just playing a game and loving it. It was such a wide, careless smile that one would think that he was just playing.
But he was deadly serious. All around the park, ruby golems and hand streched out towards Archer from the ground where his gems were buried. Each one of these golems was enough to take down a wall, never mind a park. The ground of the courtyard shattered under the stomps of the wild golems.
This was his power, the Imagine Jewel. With this, he can replicate alchemical concepts to an extent and construct all sorts of magical objects. The objects were powerful enough to rip a car to shreds.
But the man merely smiled. "Nine Lives." He declared. The dagger cut at impossible speeds, destroying the ruby golems that came close. The hands were cut into nothing by the flashing dagger. Through the gaps, in Berserker charged. There was no way she would not make it.
Or so she thought.
"Forgive me, fellow warrior of Greece." With that, Hercules kicked the girl into the next building. She coughs up blood, but that was lucky considering the strength of that kick. He turns towards Kiyousukei, the falling pieces of concrete from the last building punctuating his movements.
"Last chance."
Kiyousukei opens his eyes. A dagger comes out of his sleeve.
And a river of blood follows it. He holds his stare at Archer.
"You hurt Berserker." He said. "You will not leave here alive."
A blur of speed approaches Archer.
It is Berserker, spear in hand. However, that is not all. With his blood, Kiyousukei creates a sigil and throws in diamonds. With that, a pair of glowing swords cuts through the air to Archer.
Archer pays no heed and runs towards Berserker, his left hand waving off Kiyousukei's attack before he grabs Berserker by the throat and slams her onto the ground, which opens up into a web of painful cracks due to the force exerted. As she is boosted by her Master, she rolls away and tries to get up. However, Archer's dagger is already moving towards her head.
It hits something. Kiyousukei's crystal gauntlet stops the blade, but Archer's left hand immediately smashes it. But Berserker strikes him in the head, her muscles pulling themselves to the limit.
A blow enough to smash a concrete wall should be fatal, but Archer merely bleeds. In return, he kicks Berserker in the side with a painful breaking noise. She doubles over in pain and injury. Archer would have continued the beating, but an object that appeared to be a wall of air pushed him back.
He smashed the paper-thin crystal to bits. Kiyousukei takes this opening to punch him with another crystal gauntlet.
"Who do you think I am?" Archer asked from under the crystal.
"Just another nameless hero." Kiyousukei responded.
"Fool." Archer said. He grabbed Kiyousukei's arm and twisted roughly, dislocating it. He was lucky that that was all, seeing what happened next. "I am Hercules."
Berserker's spear strikes him at the speed of light. But he smirks as he says the words that are like an enchantment again.
"Nine Lives."
He cuts Berserker nine times at the speed of light. The straps of the armor are cut, revealing her casual clothes underneath. But her stab connects, straight through the abdomen.
"Aaah... I lost one." He said. But then he smiled, the smile of a warrior who has won. "JUST ONE!" He kicks Berserker in the leg, leaving her on the ground in pain. But Kiyousukei grins as five explosions rock the ground Archer was standing on. He runs to help Berserker.
"I said I would only lose one." Arrows flew out of the smoke, striking Kiyousukei in the leg and Berserker twice in the right arm. The next arrow was already on the string, but Archer stopped.
"Snow?" He asked. But that slight hesitation was enough. He was frozen by the cold ice. In front of him, a homonculus rapidly formed from the ground, six feet tall and using its own ribs as swords. He could see Berserker and Kiyousukei escape out of the corner of his eye, but he could not shoot at them. He sighed, and looked at the monster in front of him that was charging mindlessly at him. He punched it in the chest and proceeded to deal it a savage beating, ripping it to pieces.
He smirked. He was done. But just as he turned around, the pieces exploded into light, engulfing him.
"Magi are as cocky as ever." He said, as he emerged unscathed. Behind him, the roof of the botanical garden collapsed.
Now the important part for me began. Thanks to this attack, I could now see Archer's movements like the other Masters and Servants. He moved towards the basement of one of the malls. There, his Master had already rented out a stall and prepared the ingredients for the next summoning. He and I had both already predicted that the next great surge in magical energy was here. The difference was that he had moved, and I had not.
Hercules reached his Master's stall. There I saw the man's face.
The face of one of the two supervisors of this ground before me, my predecessor, Shini'chi Hashimoto. Rank A ritual magician, specializing in energy prediction and control. I smiled. I might only be a Rank C, but I specialized in combat.
And magic was not the only indicator of strength. I smiled and called the higher-ups.
"Bishop Magnus, I have some interesting news." I began.
It was only the first day, yet the Holy Grail War had already truly begun.