{Day 3, Night}
[?, Fuyuki]
"Imbecile."
"Hey, I did what you asked. I saw my shot, took it, but I wouldn't have stood a chance against two Servants, so I fled."
"After they saw your strength? You're an Assassin, and you can't understand that information is precious?"
"You sent me after a Saber, Magus. I like this existence better than Limbo. They probably didn't even see my face."
"Urgh. Useless idiot."
Assassin winces, almost imperceptibly. "Might not wanna do that."
"I'll do as I please, Servant."
How was this… insolent thing going to get him the Grail at this rate?
"Fine. Focus on reconnaissance for the moment. Stick to the dark, and do not get seen. Understood?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Head to the next place you were supposed to. And for the love of the Types, don't get caught again."
A wave of his hand and the Servant vanishes from his sight.
[Tohsaka Manor, Fuyuki]
Now that she notices, it's a relatively quiet night, the moon still making it's coming-out from the dense clouds above.
"So."
The Servant across her, arms on his lap and posture stiff, frankly looks like he'd be more comfortable perched outside on the roof, dreary drizzle be damned.
"Yes..?"
"You owe me quite the explanation, Avenger."
"Ah. If it's about Assassin-"
"No, you idiot, it's about you being stupid."
"I didn't-"
"Yes, you didn't, or rather, you didn't tell me what the hell you were going to do, or what you can do- you can't even explain your own damn class!"
"If you're angry-"
"I'm not angry, Avenger. I'm not just angry, I'm downright pissed."
He at least looks somewhat sheepish. "...Sorry?"
"Explain. Now."
"W-what?"
"Everything, Avenger."
He stalls, and she can almost see the gears grinding, again.
"Everything. Spill."
"-Yes, Master."
[?, Fuyuki]
"... Archer?"
"Yes, Master?"
The man's hands are a blur, deftly crafting, sculpting from the materials he'd requested earlier; a bit archaic, he still thinks, but definitely effective.
"What do you think of the strategy?"
"It is acceptable. I can carry it out without qualms."
"That's not what I mean, Archer." This wasn't the first time they've had this conversation, though the first time he's put it so directly.
-It is his first day of being a Master, but then it's also the first day he's at direct risk of, well, dying.
"The plan is generally the safest, and has a high chance of success. I find that sufficient."
Archer's face is impassive, fearsomely so.
"Arc-"
-Wait. The detector system he set up: a pulse of remnant energy signature.
"We will speak again later, if we can. A Servant approaches." Archer- nonchalantly?- places the constructed arrows back in his quiver.
The Mana exuded from the intruder's signature… Raw strength and power, overwhelming power. A presence unrivalled by anything he'd ever felt, even stronger than the sense that Archer gave out at the start…
That was a Servant?
"Is there time to flee?"
"Not anymore, Master."
He fumbles for his Mystic C-
"Hello? He-lloooo. Can you hear me, other Master?"
-A little girl?
"Ah. Best I stay out of this one, Master."
"Obviously. Unless you can take that on?"
"Hah. I'm reckless, not stupid."
"I'll assume you can hear me." A light, airy giggle, which echoes through the forest. "I am Ilya von Einzbern, Master of the Einzbern family."
He looks at Archer, who more or less could be a spring, wiry taut steel even as he slips his quiver around his back.
"-And you're in my way. Not sorry, So… You'll have to die now."
-Then the thing he sensed earlier roars. Nothing else could have made that sound.
"Welp."
"You are ready, I hope? It comes."
"I think, I'm good. Yeah."
In hindsight, he realised, it was quite an error to have set up camp in an abandoned house in a forest. The Einzbern forest.
First day.
[?, Fuyuki]
"Master. There is a disturbance."
"Our orders are to hold till we have identified the Church's target. We can't interfere."
"That is true. However, this is valuable information, a altercation between two Servants. One may be the target we seek."
"Not very likely. A Servant that strong as the Church says… it'd attract too much attention. The Master wouldn't risk it this early."
"Perhaps, Master. If it was the Master in charge."
She hates this as much as the Servant of the Lance beside her does, but she can't directly disobey the Church's orders at this point. Especially not since she may have angered the Clocktower, or at least a part of it.
The silence is unsettling.
"I must go, Master."
"Eh?" She definitely didn't flinch when that- once- imperious voice broke the quiet.
"My God has ordained me; this is a task I am called to do."
"Your God."
The look the Servant gives her is tempered judgement and weary patience. "Yes, Master."
"So, you want to go Servant hunting, based on, ah, a voice in your head?"
"To you, yes. Shall we, Master?"
She rises to her feet, stretching. She is kind of itching to do something. "I'll trust you, then. What's the prey?"
"Heathens, Master."
-As before, Lancer isn't joking, if the grey of her eyes is anything.
[Abandoned House, Fuyuki]
-It's not much use.
There were only two ways to win this. Take down the Master, or the Servant.
He can't find the other Master, and-
Well, there's what can only be Berserker, even if it wasn't- very happily- announced.
"▂▂▃▃▅▅!"
An Archer, and a Berserker. A class of bowmen, and a class of mad warriors.
They're hopelessly outmatched here.
"Kill, kill, kill, Berserker! Smash the puny man to bits!" The ephemeral, floating voice drips of as much bloodlust as the beast's roars.
-A child indeed, huh. They've taken it a bit far, this time, he absently thinks.
In another place, in the same moment as he thinks, Archer's arrows streak golden and brilliant as they pierce the air and find their marks, piercing through the living rage-thing.
Berserker just keeps charging. Archer's running out of forest to duck in.
"Ugh."
-No doubt about it. Archer's done for.
Whatever that Servant is, it's as good as Nature itself raging. Against that, Archer can't really do anything.
"Nnn! Yes, crush him, kill him, mash him to pieces! Tear him apart!"
Akasha, that's disconcerting.
There's only one option, really.
"Archer- By my Comma-"
"As expected, eh? Told you that this would end quick."
"Just a minute before you crow, Master." His senses… tingle. "There's something about to happen."
"...Eh?"
"-d Seal: Retreat t-"
His words, louder than anything he'd ever said (at least to him), are cut off by the sound of heavy steel and military precision, contrasting perfectly against the inhuman noises coming from Berserker as it halts.
-Also a Servant, from the man's appearance. Or a really lost, really anachronistic soldier who hadn't quite realised guns existed.
"Eh?" The giggles of death have become only slightly confused. "More Servants to kill?"
-Oh.
It's impossible to mistake the bloodlust of the beast; mindless, animal frenzy. Berserkers going berserk is, well, normal. Berserkers.
But this new Servant…
He raises his weapon, and his killing intent glints in the moonlight, sharp and focused.
"Lancer. Watch out, Master."
Archer's presumably perched somewhere, hidden in the less dense forest. It's… somewhat unfitting, somewhere in his heart, but there's more pressing matters.
Such as the very, very real possibility that he might fail Archer.
"Dammit, Lancer-"
The sounds of battle and the noise of a inhuman beast roll through the silent forest like a faraway dream. Then there's her, darting through moss-filled undergrowth, chasing after them-
Her heart screams and she's suddenly very, very aware of the Servant behind her.
Yes, back. Somewhat. Got sidetracked by, um, severe procrastination. This chapter's a bit rushed, but I'd rather something be out here rather than me putting it off another day.
As always, hope you've enjoyed this bit. I'll try and get the next slice up in... 2 weeks? I'm beholden to y'all.
Also, I've been thinking to, from next chapter on, put up mini profiles for the Servants that are running about. Maybe it'll help. If you want anything in particular, raise it.
Thank you for staying!