SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Realm TMN-5
Earth – Japan – Fuyuki City
Next Day
An odd group slowly made their way up the steps to Ryuudou Temple; Illya, Miyu, Kuro, Rin, Luvia, Shirou, Archer, Berserker (still in Spirit Form), Saber, Teana, Tiida, Sasuke, Fuuka, and Shino all made their way up the slope, eyes & ears open. The rest of the DDF team had met with the 'home team' this morning to introduce themselves and discuss their options, and they had all decided that the chance of an alliance with Caster was something they couldn't pass up. And if it didn't work out, or turned out to be a trap, they could just have Teana, Saber, Tiida, & Sasuke blast the enemy into submission.
As they finally reached the top, a lone figure stood between them and the entrance gate. It was a man, about 176cm (around 5'9") tall, with long indigo hair tied in a high ponytail. He was clad in a traditional light-purple hakama and kimono beneath a purple haori, and slung across his back in its sheath was a (proportionately) very long sword.
"Greetings" the man said. "So you're the group that Master sent for?"
"Master? You're a Servant?" Luvia asked.
The man nodded. "Servant Assassin, Sasaki Koujirou, summoned by Servant Caster."
"A Servant summoned a Servant?" Rin asked, nonplussed.
"She's very good at manipulating magic to do almost anything she wants it to. Though, my nature as the Servant of a Servant limits my abilities and where I can go; mostly, I guard this gate. In any case, I have been instructed to let you pass, and to escort you to Mistress and her Master. Follow me, please. …I see some of you are swordsman. Perhaps we can have a spar or two later? I'd love to test my skills against you in a fair duel."
"Sure" Sasuke replied. "Once we know you and your Masters can be trusted."
"Hmph. Fair enough."
He led them into the temple, which was mostly empty at the moment, and then into one of the 'side' buildings. There, in the main room, a woman waited for them, her body and face obscured by the voluminous hooded robe she wore.
"Hello~" she waved, a smile visible on the exposed lower half of her face. "I take it you're all willing to discuss my proposal?"
"You're Caster?" Teana asked.
The woman nodded, reaching up to pull her hood down, revealing a slender, beautiful face with long light-blue hair and pointed elven ears. "Medea, Caster of the Fifth War. Pleased to meet you."
As she stepped closer, she laid eyes on Saber, and let out a little gasp. "My gosh, you're gorgeous! Those piercing blue eyes, that shining golden hair, how regal you look in that armored dress… Oh, and you!" She looked at Teana. "Your hair, your figure… You're so lovely! Oh, you two would look so good in some of the dresses I've had in mind…"
The two 'warrior women' were both caught off-guard and slightly blushing at this wholly unexpected type of attention and compliments.
"And my goodness, you four are so adorable~" she squeed at Illya, Miyu, Kuro, and Fuuka. "I didn't expect such huggably cute little girls to be involved in all this. Oh, I wonder what sort of adorable outfits you would look best in…"
"Um…" Archer spoke up.
"Oh… I'm terribly sorry; I just got caught up in… A-Anyway, please come in, have a seat. Master will be along soon; he's just taking care of a couple things."
Everyone gathered round a large central table that Caster had conjured for the meeting (she even made sure to make comfy cushions for the chairs).
"So…" Tiida started. "You want an alliance, or at least a long-term truce…"
Caster nodded. "My first Master, the one who summoned me, planned to sacrifice several captured children to empower me. I killed him and set them free, and then went looking for a new Master. Right when I was almost out of mana, about to fade away, I came here, and…" she let out a dreamy sigh "he found me… He is the first man to ever show me true kindness and care. He has a cold exterior, and is a little lost in some aspects in life due to an… unpleasant past, but has treated me so wonderfully. It didn't take long at all for me to fall in love with him, and though it's difficult for him to show it, we recently performed a mind-link spell that confirmed he returns my feelings. Just as he saved my life, I've given him a reason to live…
"Unfortunately, Master doesn't have very much mana to supply me with. However, I've set up an array across the entire city that draws in natural energy and planetary mana and funnels it to me, in order to sustain me. Though, this leaves me fairly weak compared to my full potential. I could be stronger if I were to drain life-force and mana from people, but I'd rather not stoop to that low if I can avoid it… and, to be honest, I was able to sense the power levels of some of you people and knew that if I did anything like that, you'd come down on me like a sledgehammer from the gods. Though recently, we discovered that there is another, more… direct way for a Master to supply their Servant with mana…"
"What would that be?" Sasuke asked.
Medea grinned. "Sex. It can supply a Servant with a significant amount of mana."
The four younger girls went bright red, with most of the rest of the group showing lesser but still noticeable embarrassment at the idea and at Caster's brazen admission to "getting some".
"Anyway," she continued, "I don't want any trouble. I just want to spend as much time as I can with my beloved. Now, we of course can't be sure that everyone else will be as reasonable, so I propose we help each other. You people don't attack us, we don't cause trouble for you. If you can find a way to give me more mana to work with, I can also provide my magical expertise in any way it could help. For instance, I'll give you a freebie: somebody is setting up a large-scale rune around Homurahara Academy. From what I've discerned, the rune's effects will be quite harmful for anyone inside. I don't know who, or why, but I'd venture it's the work of a Servant or Master… or perhaps it's from one of these mysterious 'other' enemies you people have made."
"A large-scale rune at school?" Rin asked. "Since when?"
"My scout Familiars first detected it a few days ago; it's still under construction. It looks like it's going to be a life-force drainer, but on a more intensely focused scale than what I might have done; rather than slowly leeching energy from people, it would suck their bodies dry of life energy near-instantly, harvesting a massive amount of energy in a manner of minutes by killing everyone in the area-of-effect."
That got everyone's attention, and not in a good way. "…We need to scan the school," Kuro said, "find the rune's convergence points and wreck them. And then track down whatever asshole's planning to drain our school and bash their head in!"
"Easy, little sis" Archer told her. "We can't move too soon; we have to wait until we have a target to go after. Maybe we can sabotage the rune more subtly, so that our enemy doesn't know it's been broken. When they come out of hiding to either activate it or find out why it won't activate, then we hit 'em."
"I think we can help each other" Teana said to Caster. "Also, there are these dark creatures called Heartless and Unversed skulking around. Perhaps we could place a 'lure' to bring some lower-leveled ones here, you use a few Light spells to blast them, and then maybe you could find a way to extract and purify their mana and add it to yours?"
"I know of the Heartless," Caster replied, "and I do think I can make up a secondary rune over the area that would separate their Darkness and their magical energy, dispose of the former and let me gather the latter. Though, in my current state, if anyone bigger than basic 'foot-soldier' units showed up, we'd probably need help with them."
"That's where we could come in" Shirou replied.
For the next while, they discussed various other ideas and proposals, also getting to know each other a little better; Assassin joined in the conversation at points, offering his own input where he thought it could help. Eventually, the door opened again. When Medea turned to look, her eyes lit up and a big smile formed on her face.
"Honey~!"
As she practically leapt over to him, letting him sweep her up into a spinning hug and a sweet kiss, Shirou, Rin, and Luvia's jaws dropped.
"K… Kuzuki-sensei…" Shirou murmured.
"Hm?" the man looked at some of their 'gests'. "Emiya, Tohsaka, Edelfelt… So you three are involved in the world of magic…"
"Onii-chan is Saber's Master," Kuro spoke up, "Rin is Archer's, Illya is Berserker's…"
"And I was… too late" Luvia admitted sheepishly. "I meant to summon a Servant today, but last night the last two were summoned."
"Hmmm…" Assassin Koujirou looked thoughtful, turning his gaze to the blonde. He then looked to Caster and Kuzuki.
"…Oh, why not?" Medea said. "With these people here, having this place be guarded will be easier. Miss Edelfelt, I believe my Servant has a proposition…"
-Break-
The ritual-spell went off without a hitch. The Assassin known as Sasaki Koujirou felt new power flowing through him as his Contract with Luvia was completed, the rich girl eyeing the Command Seal that now showed on her right forearm. After seeing magic scrying-footage of her in action, he was impressed; while not on the level of a Servant, she had impressive magical power and skill. She seemed to excel at ranged attacks, a fine compliment for his close-range style.
Afterwards, Rin had shown Caster the Class Cards, to see if she could make anything of them. Though very intrigued by them (especially the card that represented her, complete with Rule Breaker), she couldn't quite figure out where they may have come from. Strangely, she said it almost felt like someone had used Displacement Magic – a magecraft usually deemed weak, inflexible, and tactically worthless – and taken it to new heights in order to somehow access the Throne of Heroes to empower the Cards…
Medea was also curious about Illya & Kuro's connection to the Greater Grail, especially when also taking into account the unique nature of Kuro's existence. The dark-skinned girl allowed Caster to (magically, non-invasively) examine her.
"Normally, this Card's power would 'only' let you copy a weapon and its accumulated experiences" the arch-mage said. "Like what the 'prime' Archer can do. But you, little sweetie… I think your unique nature might grant you an advanced form of that ability. I can't tell you what it is, not yet, but it seems like you have a sleeping power just waiting for the right stimulus to awaken it…"
"Do you think you could help me with that?" Kuro asked.
"Mmm, perhaps I could give it a little 'nudge' to make it easier to awaken… if you could, say, model a few outfits for me~. You and the other girls are just so heart-warmingly adorable, I'd like a few pictures for posterity. Now, if I could just convince Saber and that beautiful buxom redhead to let me dress them up a little, too…"
Kuro couldn't help but wonder how in the world Medea had developed the habit/desire of dressing girls & women up in cute or 'regally alluring' (depending on their age) outfits…
Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Sasuke and Assassin stood facing one another. Sasuke looked over to his older cousin, and Tiida pulled his Device out and called up his magic. A few seconds later, a transparent expanding dome or 'bubble' shimmered out, expanding to cover an area 15 meters across with the two swordsmen in the center.
"This energy field was developed by the TSAB for use in training, spars, and tournament fights" Sasuke explained to Koujirou. "Normally field agents don't have it available to them, but Tiida-niisan requisitioned it, anticipating that some of the allies we'd make on this world might want to spar or get some heavy-duty training. It converts all forms of damage or harm into harmless 'magical damage'; even a 'mana construct' type of entity like a Familiar or a Servant won't actually get hurt, not even from what would be a lethal blow. This will let you and me fight with our full skill. But before we start…"
He waved Fuuka over, the young girl showing a little surprise as she came closer.
"Sasaki-san, if you could please only defend, let's see if my young student can land a blow on you. Fuuka, let's see how well you do. Don't be dejected if you can't get past his guard; even with the bits of temporal-displaced training we've mixed into 'normal' time you still only have about a month's worth of my training under your belt. You're free to use both sword and unarmed strikes, but no ninjutsu or long-range magic. You have five minutes to land at least a single unguarded hit on Assassin. …Go."
With a burst of speed, the young brunette dashed forward while drawing and swinging her blade in a lightning-quick iaijutsu opening strike, and Assassin quickly brought his rather long sword to bear and blocked her attack, the loud sound of clanging metal ringing out; Koujirou was impressed by the degree of magically-enhanced strength and speed the little girl already had. Fuuka followed with a rapid barrage of strikes at different angles, but Assassin moved his blade just as quickly to block or parry her blows. She began making other strikes as well, occasional kicks or punches of magic-infused strength, forcing Assassin to work a little harder to avoid or block every attack. Though, the older warrior's greater experience was plain to see, as he successfully dodged, parried, or blocked every one of Fuuka's attacks. To her credit, it wasn't effortless for him to do so.
After about three minutes, Fuuka finally prevailed. A combo of strikes was ended with one noticeably stronger than what had preceded it, catching Koujirou off-guard and knocking his sword back for just a moment. In that instant, Fuuka jabbed him in the gut with the pommel of her sword, and then while he reeled from that she struck with a palm-thrust to the chest that actually knocked him skidding back about a meter.
"And you've only been doing this for about a month?" he asked. "Impressive, little one. It seems Uchiha-san has indeed found a promising student. Now, however, I would like to test your master's skill."
As Fuuka nodded and stepped back, Sasuke moving in to take her place, Teana came up beside her.
"Nice work, kiddo" the redhead petted Fuuka on the head, making the girl grumble softly and blush but at the same time gave her a slight warm feeling inside. "So… You have Lightning, Fire, and Wind as affinities, right? Sasuke-kun can't help you with that last bit… but I could. Wanna learn a couple new tricks, Fuu-chan?"
"You'd do that for me?" the girl asked.
"Sure! From how I've seen you two interact, Sasuke's developed a kind of big-brotherly attachment to you already, and since he & I and our big brothers treat each other like siblings despite being cousins, I guess that makes me your new big sister figure… unless you don't want it to be like that?"
Feeling a bit touched, Fuuka shook her head. "No, I'm totally cool with that… née-chan…"
Teana giggled softly and petted Fuuka on the head again, and the young girl scooted closer to her, her lonely upbringing leading her to crave that gentle affectionate contact.
There was the sound of clashing blades as Sasuke and Assassin's duel began. The two swordsmen were immediately moving with stunning speed and striking with great power, exchanging blows at a very quick rate. It was immediately clear to Koujirou that Sasuke had much more skill than his student, his movements smoother and more refined, his strikes faster and harder, among other little differences that – to a veteran swordsman like Koujirou – meant everything. To the observers, both combatants were a whirling storm of deadly motion, sparks flying as steel struck steel.
For several minutes the duel went on, Sasuke and Assassin managing to land a few blows on each other but mostly blocking or parrying each other's attacks with fluid skill. Finally, they briefly broke off, staring each other down.
"Fantastic…" Koujirou said with a grin. "You are truly gifted, young Uchiha. Indeed, I think you are worthy of facing my ultimate technique…"
Sasuke smirked. "And what might that be?"
In response, Assassin took a stance not previously seen, as power flowed through his body and blade. Then…
"Hiken: Tsubame Gaeshi!"
In the instant before Assassin moved, Sasuke's eyes widened as an instinctual feeling of overwhelming danger assailed him, and he reflexively brought up a Stage-0 Susanō ribcage around himself. Despite the fact that Koujirou very clearly only made a single swing of his sword, three simultaneous slashing cuts dug deep into the solid-chakra ribs that surrounded Sasuke. Even with his Sharingan watching the swordsman's every move, he could hardly believe what he'd just witnessed. On the sidelines, the spectators were similarly amazed.
"W-What… was that…?" Saber asked, stunned and trying not to let her jaw drop.
"No way…" Tiida murmured, Sharingan active. "That wasn't three moves fast enough to look like one. This guy… That attack of his triggers a dimensional refraction – it actually warps reality, taps into the high-ancient magic that harnesses parallel existences to 'create' three attacks, each from a different angle, from one strike! In the TSAB's entire history and that of the Belkan Wars, billions of people over hundreds of years, only four people – four – have ever managed to weaponize dimensional refraction like that… Just who is this man?"
Koujirou, meanwhile, was also a bit stunned. "You actually have a defense capable of successfully blocking my Tsubame Gaeshi… I concede. If nothing else, your defense is not surmountable by me… and I feel that were you to utilize your full power, other than simply your blade skills and unarmed techniques, I would not last long. Well fought, Uchiha-kun. I look forward to working with you… and perhaps I can aid in your little student's training as well?"
Sasuke nodded, giving the man a respectful bow, which Koujirou returned.
Meanwhile, back in the residence building, Caster let out a little cuteness-struck giggle, practically floating around Kuro, occasionally taking pictures and having the little girl pose for her. The girl in question was clad in a rather poofy and frilly dress, mostly dark red but with some bits of black or pink, in a style that could best be called a seamless blend of 'gothic-lolita' and 'fairy princess'. She also wore matching frilly pink socks and plain black 'mary-jane' shoes, and her pinkish-lavender hair was held in pigtails by frilly red ribbons with pink lace. Kuro had a rather deep blush on her face, mildly mortified at being in such an outrageously girly, cutesy getup.
'Am I really sure a new power is worth this?' she thought as a grinning Medea held up the camera and had her strike another pose.
-Break-
Later that day, the DDF people were setting up a small 'lure' that was meant to be just barely perceptible over the city's "background", to draw in occasional batches of low-level Heartless and Unversed for Caster to destroy and harvest mana from. They activated it… and it worked a little 'better' than they had anticipated or desired.
Now, they were fighting off a "moderately large" Heartless incursion. Thankfully, with so many heavy hitters on-site, it wasn't that difficult to manage. As she stared down a pack of Soldiers and Scrappers almost two-dozen strong, Kuro decided to mix things up a little. The 'archival footage' had been configured in a way that she was able to 'see' the various weapons with her "Archer-vision". Thus, she was able to Trace some of them, as shown right now as she summoned 'copies' of the late Asuma Sarutobi's trench-knives. Since she also Traced the weapons' accumulated experiences and their original owner's skills with them, as she leapt into the enemy's ranks she began stabbing and cutting through them easily with the weapons as if she'd been using them for years.
A sizable flock of Blue Rhapsodies made itself known, launching a barrage of Blizzard spells at the girl. As she saw them coming, Kuro suddenly felt new knowledge flow into her head, feeling her chakra surge to life within her. Guided by the urge and the knowledge, her hands moved in a rapid series of seals, while she took a deep breath in, gathering and molding chakra in her lungs and mouth, and then…
'Katon: Haisekishō!'
She blew out a cloud of super-hot ash that engulfed the ice-type Heartless, and then she struck the trench-knives against each other to make a spark, causing the whole cloud to combust explosively, destroying every Heartless inside and a couple too close to the edge of the cloud. The blast drew the attention of the others fighting, allowing them to see Kuro staring in shock at her own hands and the weapons held in them.
"I… I feel it… Within me… This new power awakened… I don't just copy weapons and their experiences & skills anymore… I can copy techniques used by the weapons' original wielders, even ones not connected to those weapons!"
A new, larger pack of Soldiers and Scrappers emerged from the treeline, sizing up the young 'Faker'. Dispelling her current weapons, Kuro focused for a few seconds, and with wavering red light she Traced a familiar white & gold hilt with an orange energy blade: a Mirage Longsword, though with the central core's light dimmed to show it did not hold the original A.I. in it. Now with a confident grin on her face, she drew on the knowledge connected to the weapon, and a swarm of red-orange mana bolts formed around her.
"Crossfire Shot!"
With a wave of her arm, she sent the bolts flying toward the incoming darklings, ripping through nearly half of them. She leapt in, wielding the energy blade to cut through the rest, occasionally firing off more Crossfire bolts and even a couple of Fūton: Shinkūha that sliced through their targets. With only a dozen of them left, she dispelled her Traced weapon and called in a new one: a 'Fake' of Sasuke's chokutō. Her free hand was quickly shrouded in Lightning-type chakra, and she swept it out to release a wave of Chidori Senbon that pierced into the remaining Heartless, destroying a few and stunning the rest, leaving them helpless as she leapt high and 'Traced' Katon: Gōkakyū, incinerating the last hostiles.
"This is awesome!" she shouted. "I've got a whole new world of options available to me now!"
The dust settled, as elsewhere in the courtyard the other groups mopped up their own enemies; the last to fall was a Large Body that Berserker used the broad side of his sword to whack over the head with deadly force, almost squishing the rotund Heartless flat. Illya dispelled her massive Servant back into spiritual form once she confirmed there were no more enemies, and everyone regrouped.
"Okay," Riku said, "I think we're going to need to adjust the lure's parameters, turn the settings down."
"Copying the techniques used by Traced weapons' original wielders…" Archer said as he came up to his 'little sister'. "So that's what happens if you mix my power with the Holy Grail's like that…"
"Isn't it cool?" Kuro exclaimed. "This is really gonna go places, I can tell! For now, though, I… think I need a mana recharge… Illya~? Could you come with me over this way for a moment~?"
Blushing, Illya followed her 'twin' over to behind the nearby building.
"Well," Caster said as she joined the group, "if I had any doubts before over you people's capabilities and power, I don't now. I really think we can make this alliance work."
Meanwhile, Shirou called for the attention of Saber, Archer, and the three present Uchihas.
"I don't like having other people have to defend and fight for me all the time" he told them. "So, I'm wondering if…" He shook his head. "Teach me. Train me. I want to be able to fight. Even if it's only enough to handle low-level enemies in small groups, I need to be able to do something. Please…"
The others looked to each other for a few seconds, silently deliberating. Finally, Archer sighed.
"Why not?" the red-clad Servant said. "At the very least, you seem to have more people to rein your 'ideals' in than I did in my timeline, make sure you don't do anything stupid with them. And this way, if… when you do commit some foolish act of bravery, you won't be screwed if no-one is there to pull your ass out of the fire."
"While… not putting it as roughly as Archer," Saber added, "I concur that it is a good idea to teach you at least some basic abilities, Master. We'll come up with a training regimen as soon as we can."
"I'll help with that" Itachi said, startling those who hadn't sensed him arrive. "Should be interesting. From what I can sense, you do have quite a bit of potential; you'll just need help to bring it out."
"Thank you all" Shirou bowed. "Hopefully I'll be able to learn some basics quickly. Who knows how or when our mystery enemy who set up the field around the school will make their move…"
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: Action at the school, as the Fate-verse's Number-One Weenie and 'his' Servant make themselves known.