Shirou was now in a rather awkward position in his personal opinion. At first the new Servant that was previously their foe has defected to their side and joined up with them to fight against their enemy in the Grail War. Was now having a heartfelt reunion with Saber, who he learned was this Saber's father and also something that confused him as well. I mean how on earth do two women somehow give birth to a kid despite the sheer impossibility of it? The only thing he could assume from this was magic then.
Then one of the hubcap got blasted into the air revealing uncle who quickly got out of the manhole before the hubcap fell back. All the meanwhile cursing and wiping off all the sewage crap that he had gathered, from what he assumes, to be a very long time down in the sewers. Why he was down there to begin with, he had no idea or any possibly reason for that to occur at all. Till he found out the reason.
"There is a shitload of demons down there and just a while back I came across several hatcheries for them till I laid waste to all of them." Gabe said calmly as he drank down a bottle of cola as everyone else went wide eyed at the big and unsettling he just told them.
"From what I could tell." Gabe said as he continued on. "The Caster of the enemy team is some sort of demon summoner of sorts and thus he spent a huge amount of time preparing to summon them and control them. But it most likely takes time so he probably used his Item Creation Skill to build up hatcheries so he could summon more at a much higher rate as well." He said rather gravely.
Well…that complicates things a lot actually as I then spoke up. "So now that we know it is going why don't we just go down there and destroy them all and prevent more of them from being born?" As I then thought up of another point to bring up. "While we may not destroy them all we should be able to take down a sizable amount of them down can we not uncle?" while everyone looked approvingly of the plan till uncle shook his head in negative.
"Can't Shirou, the sewer networks go on for miles on end, not to mention it is incredibly easy to get lost down there and it is filled to the brim with demons patrolling at random intervals. While I have no doubt most of us could do it. None of your guy's Noble Phantasm are rather silent now are they?" He said pointing to Ruler, Lancer, Rider, and the two Sabers to which every nodded sadly as they tighten their grips.
"Not to mention that many of hatcheries from what I have seen has already attached themselves to the structures of the sewers and when I tried burning them away it caused some of the structure to destabilize a bit. So we can't risk fighting out so openly, not when we could cause the sewers to collapse and by that time the foe might decide that discretion is no longer needed and decide to turn this into a fight on the surface, which I might remind you all would bring about a bloodshed and secrets out."
All of us frowned as he also had a point about that as well, till Ruler spoke up. "In that case we simply need to disable the hatcheries and seal off most of the sewer entrances correct?" To which all of us nodded slowly not following the idea she's got as she smiled with excitement. "If a Caster can bring these out then why don't we get our own Caster to render them useless and create barriers to seal off the entrances as well? She is to my knowledge an Aspect of Divinity so she should be able to do it."
Every nodded in agreement with that as I quickly went up to Ruler and clasped her hands in joy, causing said woman to look surprised and taken aback. "That's a wonderful idea Ruler! With that in place we should be able to keep the people safe and worry more about how to deal with the Demon Lord that has come out and defeat the remaining Servants that our foe has gather into his banner, nice work Ruler!"
I said with all the enthusiasm and joy that I could muster and for some strange reason, gone was the tactical and coolheaded Ruler and out came the blushing and stuttering wreak that is the current her. I was a bit surprised and even more surprised when Bazett and Lancer started chuckling for some reason and uncle just sighed as he started walking away to go home now. I also noticed that Caren did not look that happy and huffed at me before ordering Rider to escort her back home leaving me with the other Servants and the other Saber. Both of whom looked kind of mystified by the on goings before leaving.
Oh yeah now that I realized it, the other Saber came on the car that Miyu and mom were coming in so that meant that she had no way to get over there and my Saber was already offering her a ride. I forgot that my Saber and the other Saber had a past together. Guess they wanted to talk for a bit. So it was then I decided to hitch a ride with Ruler who looked both excited and nervous for the same reasons I was. Ruler is a very beautiful woman and I would be lying to myself if I was not attracted to her a little.
It was at that point I realized the implication of what I have done and why many were amused or unamused with me. But still I slowly forgot all of that as I wrapped my arms around Ruler as she started up the bike. I will say this again, she smelled very nice and I just cling to her waist just a little bit tighter unconsciously as I heard her squeal a bit. Though in the same vein I felt her get a little bit happier from that. So as slowly just drifted off I leaned my head onto Ruler's shoulder as we headed back home now.
I smiled rather happily as Shirou drifted a bit on our way back home while on the road. I was actually pleased by how he gripped my waist a bit tighter as well. It seems that we were both getting closer to each other than we thought. Shirou also forgot that our link worked two ways and that I could feel his emotions through it as well. All I could feel from him at the moment was that he was content right now. He was happy to be with me so far here on the ride and that was more than I am willing to ask for now.
I must admit, Shirou is a very kind person once again and even in perverted situations at times, he still tries to do the right thing still. His uncle truly did right by him, raising him up to be such a wonderful human. Speaking of his uncle, she was honestly surprised by the fact that he was an Ex Servant from the last Grail War that managed to survive and live today. She was even more surprised when it turns out that he hailed from a different reality further along in humanity's history as well. A hero from the future.
Hearing about Humanity's death through nuclear fire and greed terrified her to no end. Even if she was not aware of how damaging nuclear bombs could be, the Grail sent more than enough adequate info into her mind that she paled at the idea of thousands of those being released and used on the world. It honestly amazed her to no end that regular humans could survive such a world ending calamity and still rebuild from the ruins of the old world to rebuild civilization. She supposes it was by the will of both Man and God that they manage to accomplish such awe inspiring feats in such a ruined world as Gabe's.
Still she was honestly surprised that someone such as Gabe could have appeared from such a desolated wasteland and not be crazy, relatively speaking of course. Still her attention was more focused on the man that became her master for this Grail War, and the one she made a personal promise to herself to protect him to the bitter end during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Still though despite the fact that everything has went as best as it could in this situation there was one thing that she was still disturbed by a lot.
The Archer on their team, while no doubt that he has been loyal and helpful to them, for some strange reason she cannot grasp Archer's true name. That by itself is an impossibility that should not occur considering that all Heroes had their own legends in the Throne of Heroes. But from what she heard about the master of Archer, he was a hero from the future and his summoning was altered as a result.
But that was not possible either as Gabe was also a Hero from the future and he remembered everything that has happened to him in life perfectly fine. So why was it that her authority as Ruler was not working on the likes of Archer of the Fifth Grail War? Even with Gabe, she managed to confirm his existence as a Heroic Spirit by focusing on his spiritual core and searching through the Throne of Heroes and found him under the title of the entity known as COURIER, so why can't she find Archer's name?
It was enough of a major concern that after the meeting that they had at the church couple days back, she informed Gabe and Saber of her worries. Saber's reaction was to keep a firm eye on Archer and watch out for what he does. Gabe's reaction was to have placed on watch and eye only. Stating that if he does prove hostile to them the three of them would deal with Archer and make sure he could not hurt any of them. "So for the time being, keep your silence about this, the fewer people that knows the better it is to keep a secret about this." He said as both girls agree to keep quiet about this issue.
She blinked as she realized that she finally arrived at the house again and both Arturia and Mordred were getting off to go to the sparring hall that they had. She shook her head at that, never had she thought in all her life that an enemy Servant would just defect to them like that. Especially if she remembers correctly that the Knight of Betrayal and the King of Knights had a rather violent past.
But considering that their Saber's wish had been to make sure that all of her Knights get a second chance, she would not have forgotten to include Mordred in that wish as well. She remembered when she asked Arturia if she will be okay with fighting Mordred again, her response was that despite all the issues that she may have had with her own son. She still loved Mordred and blames herself for not being the parent that she needed or deserve and felt that she was a bit too cruel to her in her treatment of her.
Still though the fact that Mordred had long intended to defect and join them because of Mordred's desire to reunite with the only one of her parent that may have actually cared about her was enough to give her pause. So for the time being, much like what Gabe intends to do she will keep an eye on Mordred. There were still lots of information that they needed and could collect from her after all.
Though that would have to be put on hold as she is currently carrying her master, who fell asleep among the way back home. Again she could not help but blush at the amount of muscles that her master has made over the years of intense training he had with Gabe and his other instructors. If she remembered correctly there was still one more instructor that was his martial arts teach of sorts for him to train under. Souichirou Kuzuki was his name if she remembered it correctly, another teacher.
"And that's the plan, do you think that Caster can get all that she needs to seal off the entrances and destroy all the hatcheries ready by tomorrow night? And also our Assassin is getting the poison ready to assist in taking down most of the demons to make our work easier as well." Gabe said as he was now speaking on the phone with Luvia. Thank God for him that the young woman also uses modern tech as well.
"Don't you worry now Mr. Gabe; my Caster is one of the top tier Servants in term of magical usage so all you have to worry about is when your Assassin will be ready. Luvia out!" She said and ended the conversation rather cheerfully as he just stared at the phone now with a rather blank look before sighing as he took note of everything that has happened since the day started for all of them. It was one mess after another and he had to make sure that everything was attributed too mundane rather than magical.
Then Assassin came in with a rather pleased look on her face. Hoping for some good news he then redirected his attention to her. "So Assassin, lay it on me. have you finished preparing your poison gas to flood the sewers so they only affect the demons and not the mundane so we won't have a rather high casualty list if containment breaks?" And to his joy Assassin nodded in reply as she started to speak now.
"At first it was a bit difficult to create a poison to personally affect them, but with some of the demons appearing near our base and me being able to capture and experiment on one of them. My work went much faster than expected and right now all I have to do is being able to create enough of the gas for it to work. So I would need additional supplies to make more of it. and they should be able to get here tomorrow." She finished as he nodded in affirmative to what and she and cannot do in her current state.
There was only so much that she could do with limited supplies here so it could be considered to be a miracle that she was able to accomplish what she did with what little resources she had. One of the major reason why he wanted her to be summoned in the first place that while she could easily fill out the requirements as an Assassin. Her abilities as a magus was far more important and of more use to him. With either or classes he would get what would suit their purposes the best to win the war.
But to have her be summoned as both Assassin and Caster was a miracle that he would not take for granted. A Caster with a well prepared territory could pose a threat to even the three Knight Class Servants as given enough power and time they could lose the advantage they have in their natural Magic Resistance. Which is why he was grateful to God and beyond when the King of Heroes had no such territory creation skill despite being summoned into that class and had only item creation to use.
But no, the thing that would be most valuable from her alone was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. While it was simply a fortress from the outside, its main purpose was to be that of a flying weapon of mass destruction. A weapon that would be more than useful when they finally have to take down the Demon Lord as he doubted even a Demon Lord could simply ignore that much power pointed at it. Which is why he refused to have Assassin focused on other matters and stay hidden all the time as well.
While no doubt that each and every one of their Servants was worth his or her salt. Assassin would be their trump card against the Demon Lord. She alone who could create such a powerful EX rank Noble Phantasm would be their key to winning against such odds against the likes of Prehistoric Being such as the Snake, as he found out from his old buddy the Priest, and hopefully cause a lot of damage to it. So under no circumstances could she be put in danger otherwise they lose one of their most powerful ally.
Now back to their conversation. "Excellent work here Assassin I will call you up later when the time for you to deploy your other tool is upon us. Remember the fact that you can create that Noble Phantasm is vital for us to survive this. I wish for you to be safe until then understand?" To which she nodded and just as she was about to leave he spoke one last time. "Also as thanks for your hard work, you can screw around with my nephew as long as you like provided it does not escalate that badly." He added in as a afterthought.
To which Assassin turned quite quickly in surprise before smiling somewhat mischievously as nodded in my direction before leaving. I once again cannot help but sigh at how quickly most of the female Servants on our team grew fond of my nephew. Then again it is to be expected as he heard from Cass and Veronica that one of the best way to a woman's heart was to their stomach which can also work in reverse as well. ah well it will be fun to watch his nephew squirm for a bit under Assassin's watch and all.
"Gabe you're here!" A woman's voice cried out as he smiled rather softly as he barely turned around and caught his girlfriend's hand. "I was so worried about considering how deep you went down into the sewers and the dangers you faced! Don't you ever worry me like that again! I can't stand to lose someone else that is important to me." Irisiviel said softly at the end as she hugged me hard.
He nodded softly as he turned around and gave Irisiviel a strong and firm kiss as she moaned a bit. As soon as they finished there was a bit of a saliva string between them as Gabe looked into her dazzling ruby red eyes. "Don't you worry about me dear, I won't let myself die and I won't let anything happen to our brats either. You can trust me on that one." And soon Gabe closed and locked the door as he also put up the silencing spell as he and Irisiviel soon shared their love for each other once again in their room.
Though he may not say it out loud, he is truly happy that his whole family has been reunited once again and no matter what happens. He will protect them all to the bitter end, that is the promise he made as both the Courier of the Mojave Wasteland and on the pride that he had as a Heroic Spirit of the Throne too.
For once in his life Shirou Emiya can say that he has encounter true fear. The fear of which is nothing like he has ever seen before even as Ruler and the other Saber looked at him with worry. The former should be expected but the latter was a bit surprising, but nevertheless he has to rein in his fear and face the nightmare before him and he has to stand firm just like uncle did before him. "Shirou are you ready to make more food again? I would like to eat dinner right now." Yes, a hungry Saber is truly terrifying.
"I-I will be done in a minute or so! The food is taking some time considering that we have more people here than usual!" He said quite panicky as he struggled to finish the fifth bath of Fried Rice on his frying pan. 'Not to mention that if Mordred is anything like you than I will have to prepare a lot more for dinner as well.' He thought to himself as he shudders a bit at the idea of feeding a second Saber. Uncle could not help him out right now as he and mom were now with each other once again in their room.
And yeah he has no intention of disturbing that one at all, he remembered the first and last time that Taiga barged in on their home and decided to barge in on mom and uncle's room and all she got in return was several kitchen knives being thrown her way. Which she barely dodged all of due to her kendo training and the fact that uncle was not even really trying to aim at her. And last he heard he planned on sleeping with a powerful laser pistol by his side and plans on vaporizing the intruders.
Yeah he did not feel like getting turned into ashes right now and if there is one thing that he will admit that Taiga is great for. It is knowing when not to do something stupid as seen by all of her stupid actions as of the last couple years or so. He remembered exactly what uncle said about Taiga. "I may not like her or even tolerate that much but at the very least you brats will have a role model of what not to be like when you all grow up." As much as he and his sisters like her, uncle did have many points about her.
"And I am done!" He said with much relief and joy as he turned to his rather patient audience and soon Miyu and Illya came in to help set up the plate and tools for dinner. Now that he looked around he noticed that they have a bigger group than normal tonight, which he really should not be surprised by. But they had to also bring out the extra table to make sure none of them were too crowded as well. First came Ruler and the other Saber, followed by Assassin, Lancer, Bazett and then finally uncle and mom.
Though he did notice that mom and uncle's clothes were a bit off and he silently decided not to ask about it both for his life and for his sanity as well. It was already horrible enough that uncle gave him the talk again and this time including condoms. But he did not have any desire to know what goes on behind their closed doors as well. He also noticed that both Illya and Miyu were sitting far away discussing some events that has occurred since she left and that both Sabers were sitting together having an eating race.
At least till uncle put his foot in that as he smacked them both with a paper fan that he pulled out from underneath the table. While both Sabers were rubbing their heads, uncle silently and calmly berated them. "This is a time for peaceful eating, and regardless of what you wish to compete over. I will not have you two disturb dinner time, do I make myself clear?" While projecting his killing intent at the two Sabers, both of them squeaked and hugged each other a bit tighter out of fear while nodding rapidly.
Then his killing intent vanished as he soon smiled warmly at them, a major contrast to when he was being scary right now. "Good, then let us enjoy our dinner now in peace. We all had a very long night and it would do us no good if any of us did not recover our energy." Was the last thing that uncle said before going back to eating dinner while taking the occasional time to feed mom as mom did the same for uncle. I am so glad that the scary intent thing that uncle use were no directed at us during that time.
Though I did notice that Lancer and Bazett were chuckling a bit while Assassin, who sat next to me, just gave me a rather sultry wink. At the same time Illya and Miyu were sweating a bit from that scary intent while Ruler looked absolutely surprised that uncle could do such a thing before shaking her head and went back to eating dinner. Both my Saber and the other Saber finally managed to recover their wits and started eating more peacefully again but having some kind of thumb war to pass in the meantime.
It was times like these that I enjoyed such dinner like this but I could really do without the sultry look that Assassin kept sending to me and her occasional maneuvers with her hand on my person. I looked around for help but both Sabers were more focused on eating, Lancer and Bazett were snorting at my issue, Miyu and Illya just ignored me, Ruler just grabbed my other side, mom just gave me a positive beam and a thumbs up, and uncle just raised his eyebrow at me while his eyes were filled with mischief.
That mischief sparkling in his eyes gave me the info as to who it was that thought it would be okay to let Assassin and Ruler to do as they wish. I seriously hated uncle at times. "By the way." Uncle spoke up all of a sudden grabbing out attention. "Other Saber, you will now be rooming with Miyu for the duration of your stay unless you prefer to sleep elsewhere?" Uncle asked as the other Saber and pointed to…my Saber who nodded as well. Uncle raised his eyes but just gave his okay on it while I was left stunned.
Now Lancer and Bazett were laughing really hard at my expense and all I could do was groan and palmed my face into my hands while both Assassin and Ruler were rubbing my back tenderly. As I now have to deal with another roommate in my room and now this was going to get a lot more complicated for me now. Why have you forsaken me like this uncle? Why? Why did you have to do this to me? Why couldn't you just order the other Saber to stay with Miyu and sleep next to her in her room uncle, why?
"For some strange reason I now have an uncontrollable urge to laugh at my counterpart in this world right now." Archer muttered as he stirred the pot around that had soup inside which he was going to feed both Rin and Luvia, as the latter was staying over at his master's place due to the closer proximity. Though for some reason now he had a very strong urge to laugh at the Shirou of this world for reasons unknown to him right now. Ah well not like it really matters not when he had to prepare dinner now!
After receiving the call from Gabe about the sewers and what not Caster has been throwing herself into her work. And he resolved to leave some big dinner for her as well so she can have something to eat while she was working hard. He caught himself as he realized that he was more worried for her than he thought. He could not help it really. She was the only one among them that was working right now and all he could do for them was give them the small things while she finished what needs to be done now.
Finishing the chicken soup now, he stopped by the living room and poured out all the soup into the bowls for them before leaving while the ladies thanked him. Then he picked up the rest of the soup and went down into the basement where he saw Caster muttering words of power into the talismans she used before finishing another one. HE also took note of the rather long talisman to the right with a series of characters and filled to the brim with power.
Something he assumed to be the bomb to purge all the demons from the sewers. He really had to admit that the work that Caster put into the talisman were awe-inspiring indeed. He waited for her to be done with her current talisman and after she finished he knocked on the wooden pillar and she slowly turned around to see him. Once she did she started smiling at him. "Ah Archer what is it that you came down here for? Did our masters started arguing over nonsensical things again?" she said while tilting her head.
He also noted that he found that to be quite cute in its own way as he shook his head. "Nah none of the above Caster. Thought you might want to eat some food after a rather long night not to mention that you started to work on the talismans as soon as you can." As he pulled up the pot and two bowls to which she was kind of confused by eventually accepted as he poured out a bowl for her and for himself as well and soon the two Servants were eating the chicken soup in nice quiet peace in the basement.
He had to admit while he preferred to be out fighting and the likes sitting around and enjoying a nice bowl of soup was also rather nice as well. Things were so different from his world but he could not help but find himself to be growing rather attached to this world. It was without most of the major issues that he had and for once he felt like that young boy he once was, being a Hero of Justice fighting all those demons and not giving up to let them get any closer to the people of the city he once lived in.
Still though he knew that once this war was over he will go back to the endless cycle of killing same as he always had. And there was nothing that he could do about it till he finally found the past version of him specifically. So he might as well enjoy what he could from this world before he finally vanishes and he found that spending time with Caster to be a rather enjoyable thing to do. Even if she does complain about the fact that a man is a much better cook than she ever was in her whole life. It was kind of funny to see her be so depressed about such thing. Depressing for her but all the more amusing for him.