6th Day – Part 2 – Acquisition

Shirou felt sore all over, however that sort of paled in comparison of the strange burning sensation he felt after Tohsaka had made him swallow that jewel. He didn't really feel like patrolling, but he had promised Tohsaka and Rider. Rider particularly seemed like she wanted to see some action.

He had spent most of the day either getting beat up trying to land a blow on Saber or beat up trying to shoot something while Rider tried to beat him up at random intervals. She said it was training for archery during combat. He hoped it actually helped him become more useful.

As night fell, he switched to magic training, which mainly consisted of swallowing the aforementioned jewel. Discounting the uncomfortable feeling he was getting, he really felt like he had better access to his Magic Circuits.

They still hadn't found out where was Archer's and Lancer's Masters' bases. Rin suggested that they look for them in Shinto, so that's where they would be patrolling this night.

After dinner, after reassuring Sakura repeatedly that they would be safe, they left for the patrol. They had no idea of what would happen.


It all went without a hitch. After all, the bomb that Archer had ready was enough to kill everyone involved if either side tried to take more or less than negotiated. Assassin made sure that both he and Archer had access to the trigger. Well, even without it he sounded confident enough to Shinji the he could kill Archer and his Master.

Shinji was less happy after the deed than he thought he would be. There were certainly downsides to that implantation of artificial Circuits. That could have been the only explanation.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just because you were too accustomed to pushing down women that you took that long." Carmen was talking in a mockingly understanding tone.

"Fuck you, where's the rest of the weapons?" He wasn't in the mood to be made fun of. It had to have been because he knew the Servants were around, or something, damn it.

She let out a chuckle as she dressed herself. "Aggressive, aren't we? Was I dissatisfactory in any way? Perhaps you can only be satisfied by a flesh doll like your sister, eh?" She kept throwing verbal barbs at him.

"Are you trying to provoke me into attacking?" Shinji took a deep breath, it would not do now to attack in such a situation that he was weakened and she strengthened.

"Nope." Her voice took a more serious tone. "I'm just testing you a bit. I guess Assassin really was good for you, normally you would have blown up and made a mistake by now."

"Huh?" What did that woman know of him? How could she talk like that?

"Nothing." As they were both fully clothed she called the Servants. "Archer, it's done. Bring the wares." After a while, both Archer and Assassin materialized.

Archer threw a knowing glance at Shinji, Assassin was silent. "Well, then, here's the part that really matters, eh?" He conjured a suitcase from his portal and put it on top of a table.

Shinji and Assassin peered inside as Archer opened it. "So, what is it after all?" Inside was an unusual gun and a bullet of unusual caliber.

Archer took the gun from the suitcase. "This, my friends, is a veritable Magus killer." He opened the gun, showing the only chamber, where the bullet no doubt slid in. "According to my sources, this will cut and then incorrectly reform any Magus' Magic Circuits."

"What, the gun?" if that was true, then it was a powerful gun indeed.

"Wrong. The bullet. But rest assured that if you shoot it at Matou Zouken's body, then it will crumple. No big deal. As for the soul receptacle, the shotgun I gave you previously should suffice."

Shinji considered it for a moment, the bargain seems to have been successfully fulfilled. So long as what Archer had said about that bullet was true, then an infinity of possibilities lied in front of Shinji, every single one of them ending in the sweet demise of Zouken. It was almost too good to be true.

"What are you going to do now, Shinji? It seems that we took so long that it's now night, but I really don't feel like knocking you out of the fight right after we sold you something." Carmen was talking casually.

So you don't even consider that you might lose to me, huh? But there was another thing that bothered Shinji. "Why give that if you could have killed Zouken yourself?"

It was Archer who answered. "Risk versus reward my friend, even if we incur the risk of you not killing Matou Zouken, a risk which is present even if we do the deed ourselves, we still are not using any energy, on the contrary, we've gained reserves of Magical Energy because of your payment."

"Huh, I see." Quite the businessman he is. Shinji wondered who he was when alive. "Whatever, we're leaving." He opened the room's door and left the room, everybody was following him. "Hey, why are you two leaving with us?"

Carmen looked at him with mild bemusement. "You didn't think we had brought you to our base, did you?" Shinji opened and closed his mouth. He blushed and looked away. "Oh, you did! You're so cute." Shinji grinded his teeth. I hope this doesn't go on for too long.


It wasn't that late so, despite the recent happenings in the city, there were some people in the streets. This didn't necessarily mean that Masters wouldn't start arming traps against each other.

Rider and Saber suddenly froze, as if sensing something.

"Shirou/Rin, there's a Servant." They spoke at the same time

"Where? Do you have an idea?"

Saber answered Rin's question by pointing at a nearby hotel. Not a very good sign. It wasn't advantageous for them to fight in a closed space, considering one of their Servants was Rider.

Rider added quickly. "It seems to be moving up. Perhaps it's going to the roof. Whatever it is that it plans to do, running away doesn't seem to be among its choices. Perhaps the Servant is trying to lure us into a trap, it's not trying to conceal its presence at all." She said it all as if analyzing possibilities.

Rin considered for a moment, and then spoke. "Maybe it's better if we wait, no matter how we decide to approach it, right now isn't a good time, since we don't have to option of climbing the building because of all the people." Shirou agreed.

"It's on the roof now. It definitely wants to set something up. Since we probably can't stop it now, let's wait."


It felt like nothing short of a miracle. Just as they were going to take the elevator, Assassin felt two Servants' presence. Of course they didn't feel his, but they most certainly did Archer's, which was good enough to mount an ambush. Fortunately it didn't take much persuasion for Archer and his Master to agree with a quick alliance.

Of course, Shinji hesitated, since two Servants together could only have meant one thing: Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin. Assassin agreed that it would be a shame to just kill them off with an ambush like that, but in the end it shouldn't matter. It wasn't a foregone conclusion that Assassin and Shinji would kill the both of them, and at the very least they could be tormented. All in all, it was quite a good situation.

Shinji and Assassin hid among the last few floors before the roof, while Archer went to do whatever it was that he did on the roof. It was all ready, all they had to do was to wait. The enemies weren't moving, so they likely were waiting for something, but didn't feel like retreating. That's it, come to me now, little fools.


Rin, Shirou and Saber rushed inside the hotel as Rider waited outside. The plan was for them to do a two-pronged attack, from the stairs and by climbing to the roof. At first Rin was incredibly surprised by how much faith Rider seemed to be putting on her and Saber. "What if we betray you and kill Shirou?" It was a foolish question to ask.

"Simple, I will just slaughter the both of you along with the third Servant who's here. And to be honest, believe me when I say that as long as it's not Berserker, I can kill any Servant with my Noble Phantasm. You don't want to test it." She said it so much seriousness that Rin quite believed that she might just be telling the truth. Well, not that it mattered, since she didn't plan to betray Shirou.

First of all, the reason that the attack wasn't from two different sides of the building was because Shirou absolutely wanted to invade from inside the hotel. From that sprang the suggestion that Saber accompany them as protection.

The plan was that they would first take the elevator as high as they could, then take the stairs. The moment that they exited the elevator, Rider would begin to climb. The idea was that she would at least be able to distract the Servant enough for Saber and the others to enter the roof unhindered from the Stairs.

Everything went swimmingly well up until a little while after they exited the elevator. They ran for the stairs, but before Saber could so much as whisper a word of warning, something struck Rin's foot. She wasn't sure what it was but it shattered her bones. She let out a moan of pain and feel on the ground. Saber quickly put herself between the direction that the attack came from and Rin, but no more attacks came.

"Tohsaka! You okay?" Shirou knelt over her, looking concerned.

It hurt, it really, really hurt. "I… Of course not, you idiot!" She didn't mean to say that, but it just hurt so much. It didn't matter that she kept Avalon to herself and that it would likely heal soon enough. It just hurt so damn much.

Shirou winced at Rin's words, but still peered to look at her wound. "I think it was a bullet." Of course, what else had such destructive power without magic? Shirou took in his hand the bow that he had created with some wood from his house, it probably wouldn't be much effective there, but it was better than nothing.

Rin took a deep breath. Think, don't get lost in the pain. "Shirou, has Rider started to climb yet?" He nodded. That wasn't good. Someone or something else was there and it ruined their whole plan. Wait, it could only be… A voice confirmed her fears.

"Is it okay for all of you to just sit there waiting for my attacks? Rider must be getting to the roof by now. I wonder how long she can last alone against Archer." She didn't know the voice.

Shirou did. "Assassin, you bastard! Why is Shinji helping another Master?" Shirou seemed disturbed by Assassin's presence.

No reply came, instead a knife barely missed Shirou as Saber pulled him back. "Can't let you die here, Shirou, or this would turn into a three versus one." Saber coolly explained her action. "Damn you, villain, what honor is there in targeting the lives of Masters? Fight me fair and square!"

A laugh echoed in the corridor in reply. "That's rich. What honor is there in beating on a clearly inferior opponent you ask? I should be asking you that, Servants though both we may be. You don't truly believe that I can match up to you in a fair fight, do you?" The answer that seemed to come from every direction was unrelenting.

Saber sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. After she blocked another bullet aimed at Rin, she turned her voice to the darkness that kept tormenting them. "Fine, I shall fight with you without my armor, is that fair enough for you?" Having said that, she removed her armor.

"Saber! Don't..." Rin tried to voice her opposition, but winced as a new pang of pain emanated from her foot.

"Tohsaka, don't strain yourself." Shirou asked as he calmly put himself under her arm to help her stand up.

No more attacks were forthcoming, it seemed like their attacker was considering the proposal. "Hmm, interesting, but I don't really have any guarantees that you won't just put your armor back on after they have safely run away." The voice seemed slightly mocking.

Saber was outraged. "You dare to question a knight's word? I would never dream to break it, even if it would cost me victory in this War." Rin knew she was serious.

"Hah! That's rich." Assassin scoffed. "How much does a title really define someone's virtue if it can easily be bought?"

Saber bit her lip, obviously frustrated with it. Rin knew that she probably wanted to answer with much more wrath, but she kept calm for her and Shirou. "What do you want then? If you cannot trust my words, then there are no other guarantees that I can give you." She asked in frustration.

"You can't." Assassin paused, seemingly for effect. "But your Master can." He put enough emphasis on the word Master that everyone knew what he meant.

It was Rin's turn to be outraged. "You want me to waste a Command Spell to give you a guarantee? Are you crazy?"

Assassin took a while to answer. "Okay. Let's see for how much longer Saber can protect the two of you then." The attacks resumed.

Saber grew increasingly desperate. "Master, please do it, were just trapped like that!" It didn't occur to her that Assassin just might not keep his word. Rin knew that Saber was naïve, but to that point… Still, they didn't have much choice.

"Ugh, fine, but don't blame me if this goes wrong!" Rin shouted from sheer frustration. "Saber, for this fight with Assassin, do not use your armor." The symbol on Rin's hand glowed and part of it disappeared. "There, enough for you?"

The attacks had stopped as soon as she started saying the command's words. "Yes. Go on now, my Master wants to have a chat with the both of you." They had no choice but to trust him. Rin and Shirou started to climb the stairs, no attack came. Because of Avalon, Rin could already put some support on her left foot, but mostly she relied on Shirou, that was slightly vexing.

"Shinji." Shirou said the name under his breath with uncharacteristic hostility. Not for the first time Rin wondered. What did happen at the Matou household?


Rider knew the moment that Shirou stepped out of the elevator. Time to go. She summoned her horse and started climbing the building. As she closed in on the roof, she had a bad feeling that she should be careful. Well, whoever it is does know that I am here. She stopped just short of it.

She considered her choices for a second. I can't take too long here, or else the other might get caught in a trap. She hated to be using her horse that way, but her options weren't very numerous. She patted it on the side of its head and whispered. "I'm sorry, luck be with you." She dismounted whipped it.

The horse climbed on the roof and Rider saw it being obliterated by a hail of bullets. Wow, that's just… Overkill. She now knew who was her opponent at least. She climbed on the roof crouching low and quickly rolled out of the way of another hail of bullets. Without even thinking, she drew her bow and shot at the lone man she saw.

Archer wasn't fast enough to dodge it and the arrow hit him near his heart, however despite it pushing him back little more than a meter, the arrow did not pierce him.

"Ugh, this hurts, you bitch. Good thing I got this really good bullet-proof vest." Archer was surrounded by a veritable fortress of Gatling guns. "Eat lead, damn you!" A few Gatling guns started to whirr and soon they were spewing bullets.

Rider quickly jumped on another horse she summoned and dashed for the only cover she found: Behind the stairs exit. She breathed a sigh of relief as the whirring of the Gatling guns stopped.

"Come on you coward! Face me so I can give you a few new holes!" He sounded much more like a maniac now than last time. Did he get angry because she hit him with her arrow?

Rider thought of something. "Hey!" She shouted to him. "You have all of these weapons, you seem to know to operate them, but it doesn't feel like you know how to really use them." Taunting him seemed like a valid option.

The reply came with anger. "Fuck you!" Along with a grenade. Rider rode away from it and out of cover. She shot two quick arrows, one of which hit Archer again. "Damn it, stay still!" Before the Gatling guns had even started to shot again she had already breached the 'fortress' and almost trampled Archer.

"You're not very good at fighting, are you?" Rider grinned as she swung at him with her scimitar. Archer escaped once again by a hair.

He growled in frustration. "I don't need to! All I need is enough firepower." He held a bazooka in his hands and three more pointed at Rider's general direction.

"Whoa, don't you think that's a bit excessive?" She started to ride away to make some distance to dodge them.

"Die!" Every bazooka shot. A few moments later, a good part of the roof was collapsing.


Some eight floors below, Shirou and Rin faced Shinji.

"Yo, Emiya, how have you been doing? I sure have been doing well." His sarcastic tone grated on Shirou's nerves.

He managed a calm enough response. "Shinji. What are you thinking? Working with another Master?"

"Huh?" He looked as if unsure that he had listened right. "What, you think that you two are the only ones with the right to cooperate? Well, don't worry, it's just for tonight anyway. So, how about Sakura? You two hook up yet? Just don't worry if she's too loose, it's only to be expected." He said it all in an off handed manner, like commenting about the weather.

"Shinji!" Both Shirou and Rin replied angrily. Shirou grabbed Shinji by his shirt. "Don't say things like that, or else…"

"Or else what?" He pushed Shirou back. "I know you're too much of a goody two-shoes, you don't have the balls to kill me or let Rin do it either." Shinji said it with as much contempt as he could muster. "You're too soft."

Shirou bit his lips, Shinji was right, so long as all he did was provoke, Shirou didn't feel justified enough to kill him. That didn't mean he couldn't bluff. "Push me too far and let's see how much this thought holds."

Shinji laughed nervously. Perhaps it worked. "We will see… Besides I'm just telling it how it is. It's not my fault that Sakura got as loose as a whore due to all of the abuse Zouken put her through." He was grinning, looking at Rin as if waiting for a response. Is he baiting us?

"Damn you Shinji, stop it! You're just a disgusting bug! You could have helped Sakura, but instead made it worse for her!" Rin unleashed this abuse on Shinji with tears in her eyes. Even Shirou was taken aback by how angry she sounded.

Shinji responded in kind. "Shut up, you Tohsaka people are the last I want to hear complaining!" He pointed an accusatory finger at her. "Your father didn't even sell her. He GAVE Sakura to the Matous out of pure vanity!" Silence descended after he was done shouting.

It was quite the bomb. So Sakura was actually Rin's sister… Rin feel on her knees to the ground shivering, but the reason was probably not the revelation. "No, my father was… He was…"

"Hey, Tohsaka, are you okay?" Shirou put his hands on her shoulders trying to help her somehow.

"Oh, how genius I must be! I have two daughters who will succeed a family of prestige." Shinji's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Shut up, Shinji, why are you doing this?" Shirou wasn't sure what to do, try to help Tohsaka or shut Shinji up.

Shinji ignored Shirou's words. "Well, too bad. Zouken doesn't need heirs, he needs tools. A tool, that is all that Sakura is."

"I told you to shut up!" Shirou charged Shinji. He needed to do something to stop him.

Shinji mad a strange gesture and a magical rope appeared in his hand. It tied Shirou's legs, making him fall to the ground. Shinji tried to, but failed to suppress a grunt of pain. "Ugh, it really hurts for me to use magic. Fuck you for making me use that, Emiya." He kicked Shirou's side.

Shirou gritted his teeth and bore the pain. "Stop saying these things, why are you tormenting Tohsaka?"

Shinji sighed from exasperation. "Look, she is a sinner, just like all Tohsakas are." He talked in a tone normally reserved by a burned out teacher talking to a particularly slow student. "You see, they are too arrogant to admit their sins, the Tohsaka family, so I thought I'd do Tohsaka a favor and tell her of her family's sins, especially her father's."

Tohsaka's father? What does Shinji mean? "What does her father matter? Didn't he die in the last War?"

Shinji slapped Shirou's back in contempt. "Everything. Quite a lot of misfortune spilling from the last War to this one is either directly or indirectly linked to his immoral actions. Tohsaka Tokiomi was quite a wicked man indeed."

"Shut up! Stop talking badly of my father!" Shinji apparently went past Rin's breaking point. She pointed a finger at Shinji, preparing her signature Gandr spell.

"Oops, I went too far it seems." Shinji dodged the bullet like curses and took cover behind a wall. "Just remember this Emiya: Her father was the kind of person that you would go against. Are you sure you can trust Tohsaka?" He released the binding on Shirou before running away.

"Shut up! I'm going to kill you!" Rin ran with tears in her eyes to where Shinji was.

"Tohsaka, calm down!" Shirou had to hold her.

Tohsaka struggled mightily against him. "Shut up, idiot Shirou! Let go of me, I'm going to kill him, I'm going to fucking kill that asshole." She was mentally unstable; Shirou knew that if he let her go she could easily hurt herself. Not that he thought that her response was completely unreasonable, but she was in no state to fight anyone.

Shirou shook her a little. "Tohsaka, calm down. You can't fight in that condition."

"No, shut up… Please, let me go… I have to protect… Father's honor…" She spoke in between sobs and tears. At least she wasn't struggling anymore, it was the first step for her to calm down.


Saber wasn't sure whether to be worried, impressed or angered. The Servant in front of her was her equal in terms of swordsmanship. She didn't doubt that they would probably have a fair fight even if she had her armor, as she was without her armor, offensive opportunities were non-existent.

"Are you sure you are a mere Assassin?" His impressive skills weren't the only reason for her questioning. In front of her was a man with a face of undoubted European origin, but his clothes were all from the 'Orient', the middle east or farther away places seemed to be their origin. Not only that, they were all flamboyant clothes. His sword was still a European sabre. Tucked in a holster in his belt, on the left side, was a flintlock pistol, which Saber eyed warily, as his swordsmanship style was single-handed.

"Oh, this? I just prefer to use different personas depending on the situation. En garde!" He jumped in and attempted to cut her legs, but Saber parried the attack. She refrained from a counter as his left hand hovered near the pistol. Yet this was not all, he moved in a manner befitting of a duel, much more focused than Saber's style that was born out of many battles. While she always aimed to overpower and quickly kill her opponent, he had no worries and merely aimed to outlast the enemy, refraining from a deathblow unless it was certain.

Saber was growing more frustrated by the moment. "You coward! Why do you bring a long range weapon to a swordfight?" She attempted to slash him twice but Assassin gracefully dodged both attacks.

He scoffed. "Coward this, coward that. Is one a coward when one no longer has the means with which to oppose you? That's not very fair, if you ask me." He feinted and jumped back, Saber's riposte hit the air.

Saber was irritated. "Don't twist it like that." She attacked and he had to parry. "Obviously a ranged weapon is unfair in a swordfight." She attacked again, Assassin dodged and finally drew his gun, shooting twice in rapid succession.

Saber blocked both bullets without much problems, Assassin was too far to make use of the opening they created. "Hah, how unfair it is if you can block its bullets so effortlessly?" Assassin charged and they locked blades.

"Just because it is unfair, doesn't mean that it is always efficient." Saber pushed Assassin back before he could shoot from close up.

"Wow, the way people like you think is just mind-boggling." He readied his pistol to shoot again when both of them felt something that gave them pause. "Wait, Saber, do you feel that?"

"You mean the tremors from above? Or the ominous feeling from below?"


Shirou wasn't sure whether he was glad or not about the debris falling around them. On the one hand, it made Rin snap out of her downward spiral, on the other hand, it was quite possible that the both of them would get killed by a rogue piece of concrete falling from the ceiling. It started after they had gotten up a few floor, so they tried to get away from it by going back down.

The ten floors before the roof were not complete, therefore furniture was completely absent from them, so Shirou and Rin had to rely on dodging the falling pieces.

"Damn, why is this happening to me?" Rin was whining as a piece fell right next to her.

"I want to know why it is happening at all; shouldn't this building be stable already?" Shirou felt something. They really should stop running. "Tohsaka, watch out!" He pulled her back just as a hole opened in the ceiling, a few paces from them, quite a lot of debris fell.

"What the hell…?" Rin could hardly contain her surprise as Rider appeared from the hole, sitting atop a horse.

"Oh, there you are, Shirou and Rin." She stopped and quickly helped first Rin, then Shirou on her horse. She took off right after. "Okay, hang on tight, let's go."

"Wait, let's go what? What is…?" Rin face went pale as a bullet whistled past her. Color returned to her face as Shirou followed Rider's command and held tight. "Where are you holding?"

"I'm just trying not to fall off, Tohsaka." They both heard an explosion nearby.

Rin couldn't help but vent her frustration. "Ah! What is going on!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Don't worry, Rin." Rider replied loudly. "It's just that Archer a little trigger happy now that we're inside the building, so no matter how bad a shot he is, he is going to hit something."

An angry voice behind them replied. "I can hear you! Save your breath for a last prayer instead of provoking me." Shirou didn't even want to know how Archer was keeping up with Rider's horse. Well, they were inside a building after all.

They went in circles a few times around the floor, after which Archer shot open a hole to the lower floor in a particularly unstable spot. Oh, so that's how she did it. As soon as her horse's hooves touched the floor, all three of them felt something ominous.

Rider first went to get cover. After they heard the clang that signified that Archer was in the same floor, Rider called after him. "Hey, do you feel that?"

The answer took a while to come. "Damn, why is that stupid shadow here already? I'd rather not get devoured." It didn't look like he was still after them. "Lucky you Rider, you might get out of here alive. I have to go, see y'all." Might get out alive? Does he think Rider can't run away?

Rider clicked her tongue. "Next time I will get him." She asked Shirou and Rin to get off the horse and did the same herself. "Not a good idea to go down the stairs with him, you know, Saber should be in the next floor, right Rin?" Rin nodded in confirmation.

It didn't take them too long to find Saber, who had her armor on again. "Saber, are you okay, did you manage to get Assassin?"

Saber shook her head looking regretful. "We stopped our fight right after we started feeling this ominous presence, shortly after that, Assassin's Master appeared and they both fled." Shinji. Rin fleetingly bared her teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, reports are important, but let's get out of here. Whatever this presence is, it's probably not a good idea for us to stay and confront it." Rider summoned two horses. One was for her and Shirou, one for Saber and Rin.

Shirou didn't feel too comfortable simply leaving and letting that ominous presence, whatever it was, do what it wanted. But they were all mentally tired, so it was probably for the best if they left. "Let's go." He said simply.

They were riding to the nearest window when the building started to tremble all over. "Ah!" Rider said as if finally understanding something. "That bastard, that's what he meant. Archer planted bombs and is imploding the building." Saber didn't say anything, merely made her horse go faster.

They made a mad dash for the window and just as the building's collapse increased its pace, they made it out. All four of them let out a sigh of relief as the horses slowly ascended and they stopped on a nearby building's roof. Fortunately its structure was strong enough not to fall over due to the nearby implosion.