Author's note 3/11/2012:
OK, so over a week later I have come back to re-write chapter 9. Old chapter 9 is now struck out on spacebattles. The Kayneth scene is the biggest casualty, but other things are being reworked as well. Please re-read and note what has changed before moving on to chapter 10. I'll still have to mention this at the top of Chapter 10 when it happens as well, so please bear with me.
Thank you for reading.
The previous night . . .
Saber rendezvoused with Kiritsugu and Maiya shortly after her skirmish ended. They had holed up in a nearby safehouse he had prepared, and he had done some first aid on Maiya such that she'd survive without complication long enough for Irisviel to magically heal her back to optimum.
As soon as Saber arrived, she informed Kiritsugu of the circumstances she was in with Irisviel before she was summoned away. She knew that any rapid action to help Iri was pointless, as Caster could have taken her anywhere. He didn't so much as grunt in response, merely helping Maiya get in to the getaway car. Apparently the only reason they hadn't already driven home was because Kiritsugu didn't want to deal with having Saber navigate all the way back to the castle solo.
Shortly after the car started moving, Kiritsugu's cellphone went off. He answered, grunted in acknowledgement, then with a
"No, I didn't. Ok,"
He tossed the phone back to Saber.
Saber caught it and put it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Saber! I'm OK! Kiritsugu didn't even tell you I called him as soon as I could, did he?"
"Ah, that would apparently be the case." Saber took a deep breath and tried to not let her dissatisfaction overflow. "I am glad to hear that you are safe."
"I'm happy to hear your voice too. I knew about the Command Seals academically but I didn't realize how violent they'd be. In any case, I am apparently going to be on healing duty once you arrive."
"Indeed. Well, We will be arriving at the castle soon, I will see you then."
"Okay! Bye Saber!"
Saber passed the phone back up to Kiritsugu, and tried to not to think about anything at all.
The car ride proceeded in silence, with an occasional involuntary sound from Maiya as her wounds got to her. Once they got to the castle, Saber got out of the car, helped Maiya out, then scooped her up and carried her, one glace directed at her face, daring her to protest. She whisked Maiya ahead to where Iri was, and hoped on some level Kiritsugu would fall off a parapet and break a few bones.
Oh, if it looked like he was going to die, she'd save him, but as long as it was something Irisviel's healing could handle she wasn't going to further inconvenience her Master by involving herself.
These and other dark thoughts bounced around behind her otherwise stoic expression as Maiya was laid out on the briefing table and examined by a surprisingly unharmed Irisviel. Hearing her voice aside, that Caster seemed like the sort to not hold back. Saber decided she would wait for the whole story until everyone was present. A few minutes later, her Master arrived.
At first Kiritsugu went over the events from his perspective, and at the point he discussed his conversation with Archer, Saber's attitude towards him mellowed slightly. While not a threat per-say, his apparent casual mention of her Master's daughter's name did not win him any awards for chivalry, to say the least. Kiritsugu's further mention of the potential explanations, be they some kind of special scrying ability, direct mind reading, or other Phantasm-level possibilities, left her more worried than she expected regarding the irritating red Servant; whatever his abilities, his actual intent was completely inscrutable.
Iri explained what had happened during the confrontation with Caster, and the intervention by Assassin. Kiritsugu had already heard this part by way of telephone call, so he didn't so much as twitch. Saber was slightly confused, and decided to ask more about this 'vessel' business later.
Finally, the announcement regarding Caster was discussed. Saber was less than satisfied by Kiritsugu's plotting for advantage in defiance of the official rules of the contest, and stated her case. She was ignored again, and despite her intentions to the contrary she allowed her anger to leak out again (as this was not battle, she rationalized it later as blowing off some pressure) by quietly stating that even for all Kiritsugu's planning and treachery, he had not manged to score one single decisive victory, and that if even the idiotic honor-bound anachronism could see that, then perhaps he had bigger problems on his hands.
Iri flinched, Maiya didn't react, and Kiritsugu . . . seemed like he didn't react.
Satisfied, she left the room without being dismissed.
Later, on a rampart overlooking the forest, Kiritsugu had his delayed heart-to-heart conversation with Irisviel. After breaking down as much as he'd allow himself to in her arms, he whispered:
"Iri, if I could believe it, if it was true, I'd have taken that bastard's deal in a second. But it's too much. It's the perfect trap for me. We have to avoid him. Doubly so since he's that Kotomine's." He looked her in the eyes. "Iri, it can't be true, can it? You don't sense anything wrong at all, do you?"
Irisviel shook her head slowly.
"No, everything feels fine. Not that that's saying much as the vessel is still empty, but . . . I don't feel as- oh!"
She flinched. Kiritsugu's expression faded and his tone changed.
"Already?"
"It's Caster. Caster, and . . . others."
"To the scrying crystal." They moved.
The battle for Einzbern Forest was about to begin.
Nearby, on the highway, Kayneth and Lancer sat in the back of a taxi. The driver, hypnotized, sped them along towards the forest as quickly as he could without attracting undue attention. Kayneth's eyes were closed as he looked through the eyes of a familiar he had soaring near the edge of the Einzbern bounded field. He hadn't noticed Caster and the group of children he had in tow until it was too late to follow directly, so he merely kept an eye on them as they had not taken any measures to hide their presence.
As a magus, Kayneth was unimpressed.
As they reached the edge of the forest and disembarked, Kayneth left more than enough money on the dashboard to compensate the driver for his trouble and disorientation. He commanded the man to navigate back to Fuyuki, then awaken from his hypnosis. As the cab drove off, he turned to Lancer.
"Find Caster. Crush him. Play with Saber if you must, but don't be an idiot-"
Lancer flinched slightly at that,
"-and don't allow yourself to be sucked into someone else's pace. Understand? You are forbidden from engaging Saber if any other servants are present or even remotely capable of interfering. For that matter, don't fight anyone other than Caster if that is the case. Especially Archer. Your grudge WILL wait. Is that clear?"
Lancer bowed his his head.
"Yes, my lord. I will endeavor not to embarrass you again."
With that, they parted ways and entered the woods. Kayneth smiled as he felt the bounded field react to his entrance, then invoked his invisibility and faded from view.
Alexander looked up from taking the latest of a handful of river water samples.
"I feel like I'm missing the excitement. River water. Pity it isn't wine."
He blinked.
"Say . . ."
He chuckled, then went back to sampling with new energy.
Archer, Kirei, and a handful of Assassins reached the opposite edge of the forest shortly after Lancer and Kayneth entered. The three that were already on Saber duty were already scattered inside, and the ones that arrived with them infiltrated unnoticed shortly thereafter. As they couldn't quite pierce the castle proper unnoticed, they had easily spread through the trees to the point that Kirei had a live view of most of the clear paths to the castle. In short order he could be looking at any point in the forest. One Assassin was already watching Caster as he shouted his ultimatum to the air, and crushed the skull of the nearest child he had brought with him.
The Hundred-Faced Hassan was one of many that held his position. He was a man of numerous skills, and had infiltrated dozens of fortresses and removed countless targets. A master of disguise, of killing technique, of speech and craft.
Never once had he killed an unrelated innocent.
He had involved his share of innocents, of course. Men who just happened to be in the wrong place, men whose timely unconsciousness would send the target into a panic. He had tricked children, drugged children, hidden children. If he wanted a target to reveal himself, if he wanted a man to come out into the open, he could do so without a drop of blood spilled.
Occasionally the target was selected as a message to the one whose attention the Old Man of the Mountain had gained.
This mad dog, provoking the (easily enough manipulated as it was) King of Knights into coming at him in a killing frenzy, was worse than unprofessional. It wasn't even a proper use of death as a message. It was an insult.
None of this made it to Kirei in detail, aside from a cold anger that pulsed through his sixth sense as he viewed the scene from the Assassin's eyes. Shortly thereafter, the female Assassin faded into view on one knee.
"Master. We request the use of our ally's . . . talents."
Kirei nodded. Archer raised an eyebrow, and Kirei quickly summarized.
Archer's expression went blank. He stepped forward, turned back and glanced at Kirei, nodded, then bolted into the forest.
Irisviel's head jolted up from the crystal ball.
"Archer has entered the forest and is heading for Caster as well."
Kiritsugu merely nodded in acknowledgement.
Archer dashed through the trees at top speed, cursing the situation.
Plenty of cover, no sniping positions nearby, hostages in the way . . .
Yeah, this is a wonderful scenario. At least I get to save some kids if I get there fast enough.
At this thought he came upon the first corpse and skidded to a halt.
Crushed skull, looks like from a hand; Caster apparently has superhuman strength. No huge surprise there.
The body ever so slightly twitched.
"Trace, on."
He reinforced his sense of smell, and almost reeled backwards from the wrongness of what he detected.
Magic on this kid's body, and still very much active and very much alive. And wrong. Too wrong. But . . .
He casually traced Bakuya and flung it down into the corpse. The energy quickly faded.
Monstrous, whatever it is. I can deal with monstrous.
Veteran eyes swept over the surroundings. He quickly took stock of a few more bodies, and listened for the scrambling of survivors.
Quickly scaling a tree, he touched his communicator.
"Kirei. Have an Assassin point out the rest of the bodies to me."
Almost instantly, one appeared in the tree nearest him.
A quick exchange later, and a second Assassin appeared. Archer projected and handed them each a pair of Kanshou and Bakuya. They lept away silently and went for the more distant corpses. Archer proceded to project a fling a few more pairs. neatly impaling the heart of each child's body, snuffing out the foul energy building within.
Which only leaves . . .
He dropped down from the tree and marched forward. Sure enough, with a bit of travel he came upon the final child running from Caster. With a quick glance he knew the situation was hopeless. Maybe if Kirei was present and he had time to perform an exorcism, but . . . that wasn't possible.
That child was doomed.
Deep inside him, in the amber sky over the hill of swords, the giant array of gears began to slowly turn.
Two targets. No wind. Element of surprise. Assume primary target will not succumb to first barrage. Priority: secondary target. Defensive capability: negligible. Monstrous energy detected in both targets. Appropriate course of action confirmed. Engaging.
Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and flew out into the trees in two separate directions. A second pair appeared, and he flung them both at Caster. A third pair appeared, and he jerked his head to look at the child as he heard the sound of steel on steel ahead of schedule.
Saber had arrived, and parried the thrown sword headed for the child at the last second. At the same time, Caster had pulled a -
-completely mundane and unremarkable, nameless-
- sword out of his robes, and deflected the first Kanshou headed for his neck. With an unpleasant screech, he dove out of the way of the next two swords, never losing his grip on his sword or his . . . book.
Point of note. Book obviously related to magecraft at work. Designation: tertiary target.
"ARCHER! What is the meaning of this?"
Archer turned back to Saber, who was eying him warily. Her blade seemed to hover between pointing at him and at Caster.
"The boy is infected with foul magecraft. If it's left alone, something bad will happen. He must be purified."
No inflection, no emotion, not hesitation. Saber was taken aback, and the child wailed and clutched at her harder.
"Nonsense. Even if he was to be controlled or manipulated, I doubt he'd be a threat of such magnitude that-"
"The curse only cares that a body is present. It doesn't matter if it's dead or alive. It's already eaten half of his essence. He cannot be saved." He raised his arms to throw his third pair of swords.
Saber was slightly taken aback. Archer had no trace of his former demeanor or attitude. No sarcasm, no insults, not even his customary overly familiar greeting. He radiated lethal intent, and the boy shook from terror. Shook, then suddenly stopped.
"Tch, too late."
A bit earlier . . .
Caster was on the ground. Just as he was about to catch his breath, he flinched again and let a shrill sound escape his lips as the sword Saber deflected embedded itself in the tree night next to his head. He heard his Jeanne engaged in conversation with the red man, and made to stand up, when the sword in the tree caught his eye.
Its craftsmanship. Its quality. Its purpose.
He was a warrior and a swordsman long before he was a practitioner of the black arts. He had an eye for weapons, especially those of fine make. He was by no means a legendary swordsman himself, but he had fought back to back with one on plenty of occasions. As such, he was by no means unfamiliar with a blade, or lacking in the reflexes needed to use one. He had been driven to draw his when his summoning had failed; perhaps the catalysts had been disturbed.
Correction, on seeing this blade, he knew exactly what had happened. Just as he was about to turn back to the conflict behind him, he noticed one last property of the blade. An engraving.
Spirit and technique, flawless and firm
Our strength rips the mountains
Our swords split the water
Our names reach the imperial villa
The two of us cannot hold heavens together
—Two great men, sharing a life.
His mind raced. Somewhere in the back of his consciousness his old fondness for 'mundane' art re-awoke. As he reached into his memory for where he has seen this blade before, he inadvertently reached back into Akasha itself. Grasping the name of the blade firmly in his mind, he traced it back down the channel provided by the Holy Grail.
Yin-blade Bakuya. No blade exactly like it has been mundanely forged by human hands. While it is a very close copy of a slightly different blade, this one is uniquely used by a single hero. That hero's name is . . .
Caster smiled at the wonderful coincidence. He sheathed his sword, turned, saw the situation, and snapped his fingers. The child's motion stopped.
