Chapter 12

After tucking Rin into bed with a icepack Shirou collapsed onto the floor of the living room. All of them were tired from running all the way back from Shinto, that while hiding from all the police cars that were flooding into the ravaged business district.

The memory reminded Shirou of what he had meant to do when they got home. Saber's use of Excalibur, what had she been thinking? Judging from the wreckage there must have been at least a hundred people who would have been caught in the blast.

Angry and determined to let his servant know it Shirou got up to give Saber a tongue lashing she would never forget.

"Saber! You -- ... Eh?"

Saber was kneeling before him, head bowed in a guilty manner. Faced with such a sight Shirou's castigation of Saber died on the vine.

"Shirou, I'm sorry I did such a reckless thing as to use Excalibur without your permission." Saber said.

Unbalanced by this unexpected turn of events Shirou didn't know what to say.

"Uh... Well, I suppose you have an explanation at least?"

Saber nodded and raised her head. Her eyes came up to meet his before she began speaking in a firm tone.

"The main reason for such an act was that I... Felt something. I realised that I had to finish off Berserker as soon as possible."

Saber looked at him in a dubious manner, probably doubtful if Shirou understood what she meant. As for himself Shirou thought he knew what she meant but motioned for her to continue. There had to be more than this.

Saber blinked in surprise, then resumed her explanation.

"As his master wasn't nearby there was no danger of my identity being revealed," Shirou nodded again here. While Berserker may have seen Saber's sword the mad enhancement that made him so strong also prevented him from telling his master of what he had seen. "It was my judgement that using Excalibur was justified in order to take out such a powerful servant. Especially when there was no possibility of any civilians being hurt."

That stopped Shirou for a minute. No civilians? What?

"Hang on a second Saber. What do you mean no civilians were hurt? We were in the middle of Shinto! There's always people there!" Shirou really was getting confused and it showed in the increasing volume of his voice.

Saber shook her head.

"Actually Shirou, there were no other humans within a distance of a league. Didn't you feel something strange as we entered the city? Somebody had set up an enormous ward to keep people out."

Although just who could do such a thing is another question, Saber muttered worriedly.

Thinking back Shirou remembered the 'prickly' taste of the air as they entered Shinto. If the ward had been meant to drive people out of the area it explained the unpleasant taste. Not many people would like feeling such a thing and would probably choose to go home rather than stay out late at work.

"So, you are saying that there was no one there?" Shirou asked in disbelief.

Saber nodded.

"But, but, that's ridiculous!" Shirou burst out. "A ward that big would require weeks to set up. Who would go to all that effort? And who could do such a thing in the first place?"

Saber shrugged, as if to say that it wasn't very important.

"Maybe Caster? Whoever it was they are very skilled, and the design of the ward suggests that they dislike getting outsiders involved." Saber made an approving noise, and Shirou followed suit. They could both understand that sentiment.

A passing thought wandered across Shirou's mind and for a moment he had to stop and close his eyes.

"Shirou? Is something wrong?" Asked Saber.

Shirou shook his head. "No, nothing. I was just imagining Caster from the last war doing something like this. That witch, caring for the safety of others..."

Saber looked dazed as well.

"I think I know what you mean," she muttered.

They both sat there in silence for a while, the image of a smiling purple witch running through their minds. That caster, smiling... Such thoughts belonged in nightmares.

Saber coughed to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Well, maybe it wasn't Caster, whoever that is. Still it means that we should be on guard for magical attack as well Shirou," that last worry was for her master. As a possessor of A rank anti-magic Saber herself had nothing to worry about against any magecraft of this time. Well, except maybe the wielders of true magic, or someone who could use entropy magic, or...

Shirou pouted. Was Saber perhaps suggesting he couldn't take care of himself? He was about to argue that she had nothing to worry about when he remembered the most important thing he had to ask his servant. It was unbelievable to think that he had nearly forgotten.

"Saber," he called. His servant returned her attention to him from wherever it had gone.

"While you were fighting Berserker did you notice anything strange about him?" he asked.

Saber looked at her master curiously. Was this really a serious question? Of course there was something strange about that servant, how else could he have shrugged off everything two servants could throw at him. Saber was a little confused but Shirou looked like he wanted a proper answer, so she gave him one.

"Well there was his incredible stamina, and that extraordinary healing speed of his. The only servant I've seen who compared was Hercules, but not even he could have survived Excalibur's blast." Saber seemed a little put out about that.

Shirou smiled, Saber still acted like a child sometimes. "Actually, I think that was more to do with Berserker using his noble phantasm to protect himself than any ability he possessed. As well as a healthy dose of luck on his part, not something that he's short of by the way. My senses rate him as having A+ luck."

Saber looked disbelievingly at him, unable to take in the fact that anyone could be so lucky.

"A+ luck? What kind of monster is he?" Shirou had no answer for her there. "Anyway Shirou, there were two other things that seemed strange about Berserker. Firstly, he sometimes acted more like a normal warrior than a berserker. Did you see the way he drew in all those ghosts to protect himself?" Shirou nodded, and Saber continued. "Then there was that sudden jump in his abilities during our fight. All of a sudden it felt like I was facing Hercules again, coupled with Berserker's speed I could have been in real trouble if he kept that up."

"So you noticed that too huh. Well then, what about his weapon?" Shirou asked.

Saber was really confused now.

"His sword? Well, it seemed like a noble phantasm to me Shirou, and a weak one at that. He didn't even use it during the fight." Saber stopped when she said that and tilted her head. That was a bit strange. Why would anyone choose to not reveal a C rank phantasm during a fight when they were willing to reveal an A+ rank phantasm like that ghost army of his. Something didn't add up.

Shirou sighed. Well, even he hadn't really understood but he hadn't thought that Saber wouldn't notice at all. It was almost a little disappointing.

"To say it simply Saber, that sword is a fake. It isn't Berserker's phantasm." Shirou looked displeased as he said this.

"Eh?"

Shirou didn't explain any further but instead stretched out his hand and closed his eyes. Within seconds a perfect replica of Berserker's sword rested on the floor between them.

"See this?" Shirou asked Saber. "It looks like a perfectly normal phantasm doesn't it?"

Saber nodded.

"Well it isn't," Shirou grimaced and picked up the sword. He had to use both hands as it was so heavy.

"There's nothing behind this weapon," he said as he held it up to the light. "No powers, no history, it's just a sword. A good one, but just a sword nonetheless. And do you know something else that's strange? Look, there isn't even one marking anywhere. There's nothing to identify it by. If Berserker has a weapon this, is, not, it."

Saber narrowed her eyes. She hadn't noticed this during the fight but now that Shirou pointed it out she began noticing all the irregularities in the weapon.

"If I had to say something Shirou, I would say that this is a weapon designed to prevent people from guessing his identity. As it is now I couldn't tell you anything about Berserker other than the fact that he is a very skilled warrior." Saber picked up the sword for herself, her eyes going wide as she felt its weight. How could Berserker swing this thing around as if it was a dagger? It had to weigh at least twenty kgs.

Master and servant frowned as they puzzled over the mystery Berserker represented. In the Grail War knowing a servant's identity could have a huge effect on the outcome of a battle, and it was disturbing to know that there was a servant here that could not be named.

"Arggg! I give up," Shirou screamed after a long period spent thinking it over. "I'm going to go and sleep. You get some rest too Saber, since your body's a physical one unlike the other servants you must get tired as well."

Saber stood up and gave Shirou a slight bow.

"I will do so Shirou. Sleep well." Saber wistfully noted that Shirou wasn't going into his own room to sleep. Instead he headed over to the room Rin was in after washing up. It was only after she heard the thud of the door shutting that Saber realised that she had been standing in the same spot for ten minutes. Slapping her face to wake herself up Saber laughed haltingly to try and sort out her confused emotions.

"Hmmm, I wonder what's for breakfast tomorrow." Saber wondered out aloud in a bubbly voice.

She went into her room with an odd feeling at the back of her head. It was a feeling that she didn't recognise, so she ignored it as she went to sleep.

In any other person, that emotion would have been called jealousy.

--

Day 5 Outskirts of Fuyuki City

Patience is a virtue. Unfortunately virtue wasn't something Miata possessed in abundance.

"I can't take it anymore! Give it to me already!" she moaned. Lying on the floor she was staring up at Assassin with desperate eyes.

Her long suffering servant sighed. He had known that his master would be strange when he was summoned as an Assassin, but this was verging on the ridiculous. Still, she wasn't a bad person or anything, and it was always a good thing to keep those you had to serve in a good mood.

But this? There were some things a servant just did not do.

"Miata, are you sure you want me to do this?" Assassin had one last attempt at injecting some sanity into the situation.

"Yes! Just do it already!" Miata screamed. She grasped his hand and dragged it to where she wanted it, moaning as his fingers touched the smooth surface.

Assassin shook his head in disbelief, what a pushy woman. "Okay then Miata. Don't say I didn't warn you."

He pressed down.

On the widescreen LCD monitor before them his Cavaliers levelled their lances and charged at Miata's last remaining battalion of Archers. When the dust cleared up Miata's men lay vanquished upon the ground and Assassin's soldiers were waving their lances around in celebration of another victory.

"ARGGGG!" Miata screamed in frustration and threw her controller upon the sofa. "Damn it! That's my fourth straight loss to you! How?!"

Assassin shrugged.

"You messed up when you tried to flank me with your cavalry. It would have been fine if you had sent them in as one group but you tried to get fancy and attack me from three sides. As it was each individual group was unable to create enough of an impact upon their area of battle to break my lines. My cavaliers were able to sweep them up one by one, and after that it was just a matter of grinding your infantry down before I cleaned up with my cavaliers." A professional recounting of how the battle had gone, given by an experienced warrior, except that this battle had taken place in a virtual world where victory was essentially meaningless.

"Bah," Miata dismissed Assassin's critique of her performance. "I only did that because I thought your general was sufficiently busy as to be tangled up near the front. How the hell did you get him back to rally your mercenaries so fast?"

"That's a secret." Assassin said.

Miata glared at her servant but he didn't seem to care as he stared back at her with that arrogant smirk on his face. When she had realised who she had summoned she hadn't expected that Assassin would be interested in her collection of games, or that he would be such an insufferable jerk when he won against her, which he so often did. A jock from the bronze age was beating her in her own realm. That reality was grinding down the gamer's pride she had built up over fifteen years.

She would have had to endure his teasing for a good while longer but was saved by the chiming of the bells she had set up in the dining room. Miata listened to them for a while, her eyes getting wider and wider as the chiming grew in volume. Finally she rushed over to the dining room herself and bent over another of her creations.

Assassin followed her at a more sedate pace. He had gotten used to these sudden switches in his master's focus. One moment she would be doing something and then all of a sudden she would start reading a totally unrelated book, or begin drawing up plans for another of her strange thaumaturgical aids.

"What's going on Miata?" he asked. It was even odds as to whether he would get an answer when she was in this state.

This time he got one.

"Someone is drawing huge amounts of mana and storing it somewhere," Miata replied in a distracted voice. "My spirits can't tell me what it's for. They only know that it 'feels bad'. Whoever is doing this is somewhere in the older side of the city though, I could detect that much. Oh, and some servants just had a huge fight. Usual."

"Wait, wait, wait. What was that?"

Miata waved a hand in dismissal without even looking at him. "Some servants had a fight over in Shinto. No one died. Not important. Now shut up Assassin, go and kill someone or something. I need to find out why my spirits can't follow the flow of mana."

And with that Miata brought up her crest, the turquoise light of the mesh that covered her arms and head died everything around her in the colours of the ocean. Assassin tried to get her attention again but gave up after his master ignored every attempt.

Sighing again Assassin opened the front door and went outside, his clothes changing from casual jeans and a t-shirt to a black piece of cloth that looked like a cross between a toga and a skirt. Tieing back his long brown hair the servant of the dagger got ready to go out to kill someone. Just like his master had ordered.

Really though, couldn't Miata give him a little more detail as to what had happened? As it was he was going out there blind, and while he wasn't in any danger even if he was taken by surprised, it would have helped to know who was vulnerable to attack tonight. By the time Miata remembered to tell him everything tomorrow the information would be useless. It couldn't be helped though. Once his master started doing all those mage things she became an unresponsive statue. He was going to have to find out the situation for himself. What a hassle.

Assassin leapt into the night, disappearing into the darkness. He didn't dematerialise, he literally disappeared from sight. Almost as if he were some stage magician performing a disappearing trick before an audience. With not a mark on the ground or a glimpse of his back the servant of the dagger had gone to work.