Title: Fate Perfect Zero
Author: InfernalChaos
Disclaimer: This work utilizes characters, places, themes, and other such ideas from various anime, games, books, and movies. The said games, books, and movies serve as inspiration for this work of fiction. The author lays no claim on the characters, places, themes, and ideas which may be presented in this work. No money is being made in this work.
Authors Note: Sorry for the late update. School has kept me busy the past month. I shall most likely be updating every 2-3 weeks now because of my busy schedule, but I'll let you know I have no plan to abandon this story. I have the whole thing planned out and outlined already, and the story does have a definite ending, so I will not be abandoning it. Also, PLEASE review. Pretty sad my last chapter only got two reviews so far.
-Chapter 04: Red and Black Monsters-
-Matou Kariya-
There was field, full of graves.
A man stood on top of him, dressed in a black suit, covered by a red coat.
"All flesh is grass. And all the cunningness thereof as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God abideth forever."
The stake found its way to his heart.
His mouth opened to scream, but no scream came out. Blood instead flew past his lips.
"Have I been…bested…sir?"
He asked the man who stood victoriously above him.
"Yes, you are bested. This is not a nightmare you will be awaking from. Your castles are plundered, your dominions in ruin, your servants destroyed. And the girl has fled this place forevermore! She will never be yours Count!"
The man brought his hand down to strike the stake home.
The pain was excruciating. He could do nothing but scream.
He flew back from the force of the blow, yet two hands grabbed him.
Why? Would this man mock him even in death?
"You are judged and found wanting, Vampire King! You have nothing! You are nothing! Nothing!"
Blood.
Red on black.
Blood red remained in that darkness of death.
A man facing against a monster.
No, both were monsters now.
The monster of God and the monster that denies God. Quiet fitting.
He heard a voice, calling out in the darkness.
"Here standeth the Bird of Hermes! Eating my own wings! To keep…myself tame…"
A name.
Someone was frightened…and he was calling him a name.
It was a name of a monster, yet it seemed…somehow fitting for this man.
Yes, the name of a monster should indeed fit a monster such as him.
Again, that terrified screaming, that terrified man, dressed in priestly robes.
"You…you DRACULA!"
Kariya woke up in pain.
Where was he?
Images of red and black remained upon his vision, but he was not there, on a bloody field.
He was…where?
Green light, dark, damp…
Why…does this place seem so familiar?
Wriggling, slithering all over his body.
Now he understood. Kariya was in the Matou Manor. More specifically, Kariya was in Matou Zouken's worm pit.
As if Kariya's thoughts had summoned him, Zouken entered into the room.
"Well Kariya, I didn't expect you to get very far in the War, but I didn't expect you to lose this early. Truly, your Servant is most frightening…if he had a proper Master…"
"Zouken…you…"
Kariya could only stammer in pain, as Zouken continued to mock and belittle him.
"Well, it's a good thing I kept this, then. Open up, Kariya."
Zouken's crutch pushed into Kariya's throat, forcing him to open his mouth.
Kariya almost fainted again from the pain. Zouken's worm familiars kept jumping in his mouth, end after end. The Crest Worms, Kariya's fake Magic Circuits, started to pulse like never before.
"Do you know, Kariya, that piece of Prana you swallowed just now came from a Lust Worm. The one that first absorbed Sakura's innocence. How about that, Kariya? The vitality of a young girl, absorbed continuously over the course of this past year – it is the best magecraft energy of all, yes?"
The elderly Magus smiled at the tortured face of Kariya. The cruelty of his actions seemed to satisfy his sadistic heart, and he turned to leave the worm room.
As Zouken left, Kariya sobbed.
In his pain and torture, Kariya never noticed the fact that Zouken had Command Seals on his arm. Kariya too, never noticed that he was not alone in the worm room.
In a distant corner of the room, there was a young man, who lay there shivering. His mind broken, his body crushed, this man was once a Master in the War. Now, he lay there violated by worms, leeching Prana off of him, feeding it to Kariya. Not once did Kariya notice Uryu Ryunosuke lying in the corner of the room.
Most importantly, due to the despair and hatred that filled Kariya's mind, he had forgotten why they had fought Lancer in the first place. He had forgotten about the extra Command Seal.
-Matou Zouken-
The small, elderly man made his way across the large manor.
This man was none other than Zouken Matou, the current head of the Matou family. He was considered to be the 'Uncle' of Kariya, yet this man's name constantly kept reappearing in the Matou family tree. No one knows how old this man really is.
This old vampire caressed his hand, upon which were inscribed the Command Seals, marking one as a Master in the Fourth Holy Grail War. These Command Seals were stolen ones, taken from the previous Master of Lancer. Said Master was now residing in the Matou worm pit, his Prana constantly being drained and fed to his nephew, Kariya. Kariya, of course, knew nothing of this.
At the thought of his wayward heir, Kariya frowned. The Matou Magecraft was slowly dying, and he knew it. Yet that useless Kariya had actually run away from the responsibilities of the Matou art, despite him being the only one capable of continuing it. To think, that the once prideful Matou's had fallen this low, it disappointed him.
It was of no consequence though. Once he won the Grail, the Matou's would no longer be needed, as his quest for immortality would be complete. Yes, he, Matou Zouken, would win this Grail War.
So the old man began his preparations. Calling upon the mental link between him and Lancer, he called to him his Servant.
"What the fuck do you want now?"
The Servant appeared. Truth be told, Zouken himself did not like this Servant. It was far too arrogant, and not as powerful as the other contenders in this Grail War. Under a proper Master like himself, however, who knew how to utilize proper strategy, even a lowly Servant such as that one could attain victory.
"Lancer, how goes your new arm? Is it acceptable, hm?"
When Matou Zouken had propositioned teaming up to Lancer, it was right after the battle with Berserker. Lancers arm had been cut off, or rather, bitten off, by that monster. Zouken had decided then to grant Lancer an arm composed entirely of Worm Familiars, much like Zouken's body was.
"An arm's an arm, old fuck. This is but a small price to pay for the grievous sin I have rendered upon Jashin-Sama. I have been unable to give Jashin the blood of that heathen monster."
This Lancer said with an unusually straight face.
This served merely to aggravate Zouken. Lancer was only ever serious in matters concerning his 'god', this Jashin. He treated almost everything else as if they were not worth his time.
"Lancer, go and acquire some more 'Prana sources' for my nephew. After all, dear Ryunosuke can only last so long, and Kariya requires as much Prana as possible. Go, go and bring me some more potential sacrifices."
In response to Zouken's command, Lancer disappeared immediately.
"This Grail War shall be the victory of the Matou!"
Zouken confidently declared. The plan was set in motion. The opponents were reacting exactly as he expected. All that was left to do was wait for Kariya and Berserker to do their jobs.
-Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald-
Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald.
He was a Magus born of the illustrious Archibald family, scion of the Archibalds, holder of the title Lord El-Melloi. A man such as him took great pride in his abilities as a Magus.
This prideful man was now worried.
His entire plan for winning the Grail War had been destroyed in a single night. His student, Waver Velvet, had stolen his original catalyst to summon Iskander, King of Conquerors. His second relic, intended to summon Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, had also failed.
Instead, of receiving the Servant Lancer, he had drawn the card for Caster.
This Caster he had received seemed to be strong enough, but Kayneth knew he could not win against Servants like Saber, who had innately high Magic Resistance.
Thus, he had to degrade himself by allying with another Master, Waver Velvet. The fool who had dared to steal his relic could not get even the simple summoning ritual right, and had failed to obtain Iskander. His ineptness as a Magus was probably what had messed up such a ritual.
He was worried, because even though he had two Servants at his control, he had seen the strength of the other combatants.
Particularly, he had observed the battle with Berserker and Lancer.
He had sensed an outburst of dark Prana, and had sent several familiars to investigate. What he saw chilled him. Two Servants, who apparently could not die. He dared not interrupt such a battle of monsters.
Apparently, in order to survive, he needed to use his trump card much earlier than expected. He focused on the mental link between him and his Servant, relaying his orders.
'Caster. I want you to keep watch on all the remaining Masters. Set up Bounded Fields in the immediate area, and begin the construction of your Temple. Much work remains to be done if we are to survive this war.'
Wordlessly, the Servant appeared before him.
Even though he controlled this Servant, he could not help but get chills down his spine every time he appeared. He was truly hideous, for lack of a better word. His skin possessed a golden sheen to it, and his eyes…those eyes looked at you as if they saw you dying before him.
Then, the Servant spoke.
As he chanted, he felt the air around him grow thick and become saturated with magic.
The ground rumbled.
There erupted a tall tower.
This tower was hidden from those who were not practitioners of Thaumaturgy. Yet to those who saw this tower, they would gaze upon it and feel its evil gaze back.
Black as night, with twisted spires reaching towards the top, the magic it exuded was far beyond what Kayneth was capable of.
"So…this is the power of a Magus from before the Age of the Gods."
Kayneth muttered to himself in awe. He could tell it had once been beautiful, yet a dark curse lay upon it. The beauty of the tower was twisted, defiled.
The tower exuded the essence of dark magic.
This tower was to be their base of operations. Casters Temple, the place in life which he had conducted his Magecraft in.
There on Ryuudou Temple, rose the twisted and accursed Tower of Palanthas, along with the spectres that had haunted it. There rose the domain of the Master of the Past and the Present.
-Emiya Kiritsugu-
Emiya Kiritsugu was a Magus unlike all other Magus. Whereas other Magus' saw Magecraft as both the means and the ends, Kiritsugu saw it as merely a tool to be used.
This man, Kiritsugu Emiya, was a freelancer, an assassin. He was absolutely ruthless in dealing with his targets, as one of his more infamous deeds shows, when he blew up an entire jet liner because his target was on the plane.
If one were to describe Kiritsugu Emiya, the words that would come to mind would be, "the perfect killing machine."
Having gained a reputation as the 'Magus Killer', truly this man was someone who should be feared.
On this particular occasion though, it was Kiritsugu himself who was afraid.
Unlike the other Masters, Kiritsugu was not worried about the strength possessed by the Servant Berserker. No, he was plagued by an entirely different set of concerns. He was afraid of the man named Kotomine Kirei.
When he had received reports on all the Masters, it was Kotomine who frightened him the most.
This man, Kotomine Kirei, was an accomplished man. He had become an Executor of the church at a young age, switching departments several times. For three years, he had studied Magecraft under Tohsaka Tokiomi, and then broke away from him upon receiving the Command Seals. He was trained in Alchemy, Spiritual Evocation, Summoning, Divination, and was more adept at Healing Magecraft than Tohsaka.
According to Kiritsugu Emiya's standards, this Kotomine Kirei was a dangerous man. Not because of the number of achievements he received, but because of the way he kept on pursuing something with so much effort, then, when there was just one step left to reaching excellence, he discarded it like trash and moved on to something else. He was an empty void, probably filled only by anger and despair. If this despair filled man touched the Grail…Kiritsugu shuddered to think at what might happen.
Yet, there was something even more terrifying to Kiritsugu than this Kotomine Kirei.
Kiritsugu Emiya was completely terrified of the Servant Saber.
Saber. Their original plan had been to use the sheath Avalon to summon the legendary King Arthur. This plan had failed. Instead of King Arthur, they had gotten the mysterious, silver haired swordsman, who wielded a sword as long as himself.
The stats of Saber were certainly excellent, since almost all of them were A-Ranked. It was two skills in particular that made Kiritsugu worry. Independent Action, a skill commonly possessed only by Archer's, and Mental Pollution, both ranked A. These two skills would make his Servant hard to control. It was strange, however, that his Servant was…docile, so far.
Kiritsugu also wondered if it was worth obtaining the Grail, if Saber's wish would also be fulfilled. He had asked Saber what his wish was, and his Servants reply was that he had no wish. This instantly made Kiritsugu distrust him, as all Servants had a wish, otherwise they would not be summoned by the Grail.
Kotomine Kirei and Saber, both these men seemed empty and without ambition, and that was something that made Kiritsugu shudder.
A phone call rang out from the bedside table of the hotel he had been staying in, interrupting his stray thoughts. He picked it up.
"There is movement at Ryuudou Temple, and also at the Matou front. They have yet to retrieve the Command Seal."
The one who called was none other than his 'apprentice', Hisau Maiya.
"It seems Caster is at work then. Are the surveillance cameras in place?"
"Yes. I have set up a perimeter around Ryuudou. No entrance or exit is unwatched."
"Good. Maiya, I want you to send a familiar to watch the church too. Don't get too close, but make it sure anything going on can be seen. I have a suspicion things there aren't as they seem to be."
"Yes sir."
"Report to me upon receiving any further developments."
"Yes. I have also sent the recording of last night's battle, along with the equipment."
"Good."
Saying so, Kiritsugu cancelled the call. It was inconceivable to any self-respecting modern Magus to use devices such as mobile phones; therefore Kiritsugu assumed it would be safe from prying ears. Just to be safe, he had also made it so that these phones used by him and Maiya were untraceable. Secrecy was a top priority in this War.
Kiritsugu opened up the package that Maiya had sent. It had been transported through several contacts of the Einzberns, and he had paid a good deal of money to obtain these weapons.
Lying there on the opened package was a rifle of the highest quality. The base was a Walther WA2000 semi-automatic sniper rifle. The total length was above 90 centimeters. The .300 Winchester Magnum shell has an effective range of 1000 meters. For this high class rifle, the price was $12,000, due to it being one of the only 154 units produced of this gun.
This new, shiny weapon was not Kiritsugu's trump card. His greatest weapon was the Thompson Contender. This gun was meant to be a pistol for target shooting sport, but Kiritsugu had magically modified it to make use of 'magic bullets.'
The bullets used were .30-06 Springfield. A cartridge whose power exceeds that of a normal handgun bullet. This one surpassed even the hand canon class of a Magnum bullet.
The true strength of this weapon was not in the destructive power it possessed.
Its strength lay in the fact that this was Kiritsugu Emiya's Mystic Code. A weapon that had earned him the formidable title of 'Magus Killer'. The ultimate anti-mage weapon, that was its true purpose.
After quickly going over the status of his weapons, Kiritsugu observed the video left to him by Maiya.
Unlike other Magus who utilized solely on familiars, Kiritsugu used surveillance cameras in conjunction with these familiars.
As he observed the grainy video, it appeared to be the same as the one relayed to him through his familiars eyes. One thing became clear to him, as he observed two battles. All the Masters had familiars watching the battle between Berserker and Lancer, and apparently not one had thought of observing Berserkers Master.
Kiritsugu watched as Kariya Matou was struck down by Lancers unknown Master, and how he was rescued by Zouken Matou.
It is there Kiritsugu sees that which the others did not see.
Zouken had carted away the unknown Master, and there on his hand, without a doubt, were that Masters Command Seals. This would mean that the Matou's now had control over two Servants, and would successfully hoodwink the church into giving them extra Seals. Clever.
It was a good thing in Kiritsugu's opinion that they had yet to appear before the church. Upon these pieces of information, new plans began formulating in his mind.
It seemed the Magus Killer was on the hunt once again.
-Tohsaka Tokiomi-
Tokiomi was not pleased.
His plan had been to use Archer in order to eliminate Lancer, obtaining for himself the extra Command Seal.
He had been beaten to it by none other than the Matou Master, the rival of the Tokiomi family. What he had observed from watching that battle was not good at all. It seemed that Lancer possessed a form of immortality, while Berserker had regenerative abilities. He had no doubt that Archer possessed a weapon that could destroy Berserker, but it was troubling nonetheless.
Lancer posed no problem to Tokiomi's plan, as would most probably disappear. The wounds dealt to him were too severe, and he guessed that his Master was not a Magus. No Magus would conduct themselves in such a demeaning way, after all.
It was the extra Command Seal that posed the problem. According to Father Risei, the Matou representative had not yet come to the church to obtain their reward. Tokiomi did not know why this was so. The Master had used a Command Seal already at the end of that battle, as evidenced by Berserkers sudden disappearance. By all means, he should have gone to church already to retrieve the Command Seal to make up for the one he lost.
As the head of the Tohsaka family reflected on the problem posed to him by the Matou representative, an image popped up in his mind. It was something he had seen through the eyes of his familiar, a terrifying thing indeed.
He remembered that monster of a Servant, Berserker. Crouched on the floor, shadowy hands emerging from his body, lapping up the blood spilled by his enemy, it was a sight straight out of a nightmare.
It was an action reminiscent of monsters…of vampires.
From that stray thought, a plan began to form in Tohsaka's mind.
A plan that would unleash all hell upon this Grail War.
A plan that would bring down the wrath of God upon the heads of the Matou.
He smiled, and poured himself a bottle of wine. Yes, this could work to their advantage.
"He…hehe…hehehehehe…"
-Assassin-
A lone figure walked along the Fuyuki Central Train Station.
The station was devoid of life, save for this one man.
Dressed in jeans, a grey hoodie, and a black leather jacket, he looked like any other man one might find on the street.
Yet this man was a Heroic Spirit, the Servant Assassin. His regenerative abilities had allowed him to survive his apparent 'death' at the hands of Archer.
He had come here on orders from his Masters, who had received orders himself from Tokiomi. Apparently, there had been a change in plan.
As he reached the center of the station, he knelt down slowly on the ground.
He placed down one hand upon the floor, and invoked his Noble Phantasm.
"Blacklight-DX-1118"
Immediately, a red toxin seemed to spread from his body. This toxin quickly dispersed into the air.
His job done, the Servant Assassin turned into spirit form, and reported back to his Master.
On that place in the station where Assassin laid his hand, something grew.
This something seemed to be an organic material of some sort.
Black organisms.
Spreading, multiplying, and corrupting.
The tendrils, once few, were still small, yet now greater in number.
It crept its way up the tracks, creeping and crawling.
This twisted thing was the virus known as Blacklight.
As the Servant Assassin travelled to the church, a stray thought crossed his head.
'This War, is going to be a lot bloodier.'
Yes, for upon the unknowing Fuyuki City, Blacklight, and ZEUS, had been unleashed.
Monsters are unleashed, plans are in the making. Next Chapter shall show Those Who Turn on Humanity.
