Fate/Generation - Chapter 14

Day Nine

My mom and dad let me sleep in as long as I wanted today. I eventually got around to getting out of bed sometime around noon. By the time I had showered, washed my face, and got dressed, it was nearly one in the evening. I went downstairs, and saw my dad in the kitchen. He smiled at me and went right to work making me some food.

"So it all comes down to today, right?"

"Yeah... And I'm going to win this."

"That's the spirit. Me and your mother will be eagerly awaiting your return here. All the remaining Master's agreed the battle would be decided by a Servant battle, right? Meaning no more Master's will die?"

"That's the gist of it."

Dad brought a pretty big breakfast to the table and I started eating right away. I didn't eat much of anything yesterday, so I was starving. After breakfast, I went to the basement and got Caster. He smiled and followed me back upstairs.

"Today it all ends, Master. We either win, or lose, based on the outcome of this final battle."

"You're right, and we're going to win."

"I am unsure what makes you so confident, but I shalt try not to dampen your spirit."

I went to the front door and put my shoes on. The final battle was going to be at Kotomine Church, at night time, of course. I had a few good hours to kill before it, so I started walking over to Shinto. I crossed the bridge into town and started shopping. Unlike yesterday, where it was on the way, this time I brought money with me. After an hour or so spent window shopping, I bought a few new outfits. It felt really nice being able to do something like this during the Grail War.

I walked home, put my outfits in my closet, and spent the rest of the daylight hours with my parents. They gave me advice here and there, but it was mostly playing games with them. Soon, the sun fell below the skyline, and darkness fell over the city. I bid my parents farewell as me and Caster headed towards Kotomine Church. I walked to the other side of the bridge, and as I began walking out of the town towards the Church, I saw a familiar face.

"Hey! Tohsaka!"

"Tsubaki?! What are you doing here?"

Tsubaki, wearing what looks like one of Sister Ortensia's old outfits, came running over to me. She smiled from ear to ear, then looked over Caster a bit before looking back at me.

"Well, the only four Master's left are nice people, right? So I have nothing to worry about! Besides, the battle is going to be at the church from what Sister Caren told me, so I'd be more safe at home."

I guess she has a point. There could always be an accident during the fighting, and she's safer on the other side of the city. And as she said, I can trust all the people left, with the exception of Archer's Master, but Archer himself seems to be a good enough person. I nodded to Tsubaki.

"Me and Caster were just on our way to go fight. Wish me luck!"

"Sure thing! Oh, and some foreigner was looking for a you a little ways back! Might wanna look for him!"

She probably means Anton. I ran ahead to get the Church quickly, and only a few minutes later I could see Anton standing a short distance from the base of the hill leading the Kotomine Church. I could hear the light sound of weapons clashing and could see the occasional flicker of light coming from the top of the hill. Archer and Assassin must be having their battle already. Anton walked towards me when he saw me, and we met up fairly easily. Rider was on his horse a short distance behind him, and we smiled at each other when we finally faced each other.

"Tonights the night, Lady Tohsaka. I consider it my personal pleasure to be able to battle you fairly for the Grail."

"The feeling is mutual. Anything you would like to say before we begin?"

"Just don't think I'll go easy on you because you're a young lady. With that, we may battle."

Anton turned around with Rider, and I did the same. After walking a short distance, we turned to face each other once more. Rider smiled at me, and Caster made sure his cloak was properly on his shoulder. It was with this calm and friendly atmosphere that our battle began.

Rider started by charging towards Caster. Caster fired some of his white orbs to Rider, which were easily blocked with his sword. The sword I saw yesterday gave me an advantage in this fight.

The Sword of Mars. Only one person in the world was ever known to battle with that sword. This meant we were battling the Epic Spirit of Attila the Hun. With Rider's true identity in both my and Caster's possession, we looked for something that could help us in this battle. The battle continued as Caster was now firing his black orbs at Rider. When Rider got too close to him, Caster would leap away and continue. It looked like he was trying to wear down Rider.

Rider put his sword away and started riding in a circle around Caster. He took out a bow and started firing arrows at Caster, which he had a hard time stopping with his orbs. Eventually, Caster summoned his blue orbs and started using his beam to destroy the arrows. He then moved the beam and pointed it in the area Rider's horse was charging too. Rider tried to stop, but was unable to before his horses limbs were severed from its body. He toppled over and met the ground unceremoniously.

Rider forced his way back up and licked his lips as he drew his blade again. He waved his hand in the air and another horse materialized. He appeared to have a limitless amount of them. Caster appeared to be giving him the time to remount, which Rider used graciously. Once on his new horse, he snapped the reigns loudly, but something was different this time. His horse kicked up a massive cloud of dust, but that was not just it.

The cloud of dust was what I saw the first time I saw him. There was enough dust to assume there was a stampede charging at us. Caster quickly realized what was going on and raced over to me. He grabbed me and leaped as far into the air as he could as Rider road under us. He landed and urged me to get some distance from me.

"I'm not exactly sure what that doth be, Master, but I am more than certain that if that hits you, you'll no longer be with us."

Caster moved back into the fight, and started firing a mix of the white and black orbs at Rider. Rider seemed to have trouble destroying all of them, and each one he hit exploded against his sword. It was hard to even imagine how powerful he had to be if those did not phase him in the slightest. He continued to charge as Caster moved quickly out of his path, resuming his hail of magical power.

Rider's horse kicked up on the ground and charged with a new speed at Caster. Caster, taken by surprise, could hardly dodge as Rider swung his sword at him. The sword ripped into Caster's coat on his shoulder, and blood began to trickle out of it. Caster simply smiled as he grabbed his book.

"Rider! I know your true identity after the display of your Noble Phantasm yesterday. I feel it is only fair If I show you my own."

Caster grabbed his cloak and threw it off him. It appeared he would be using Playwright again. However, I soon noticed his cloak was dematerializing. The magical energy used to make up his cloak flowed into Caster as the book floated in front of him. The book began to glow as both it and Caster started to slowly lift into the sky. Anton, Rider and I all found ourselves watching in wonder at what Caster's other Noble Phantasm might be.

Caster looked down at me and smiled before closing his eyes and taking his quill in his hand. He lifted it into the air before placing it on the parchment of his book, and running it straight down the page.

"Raise the Curtain!"

The pages of Caster's book began flying out from its binding. Pages grouped together as they moved to the ground, and shaped into human like shapes. Soon after, they glowed with magical power and took shape. I gazed at the sight before me amazed. I saw a large group of people, made from Caster's pages. They looked to be of different race, and different times. I saw several young men holding this rapiers, and men with Roman armor on horses with spears. I saw a few older men with blades, and a boy about my age with a knife. All these figures appeared as Caster's feet touched the ground once more.

"Behold, Rider! These are the character of the works I spent so long creating! Montague followers and Capulet soldiers! Roman legionaries and Scottish guards! All these men serve me in this fabled existence I have brought apon them! Now, Rider, face me!"

Rider looked over the soldiers in wonder before grinning to himself. He charged straight at them, he dust of a stampede kicking up behind his mount once more. The small army of several dozen mismatched warriors charged ahead to face their new opponent, while Caster stayed back and began chanting to himself, clutching the now empty bindings of his book.

Riders stampede easily ran over the first wave of Caster's familiars, however, it soon came to a stop and circled around as he started battling them on Horseback. While even all these familiars combined could not match Rider in power, they were all able to hold Rider back and keep him occupied. I watched as Rider charged around their ranks and killed some of them with single slashes. Once they fell, they turned into magical energy and returned to Caster. I could see Caster continuing his chant as he held one of his black orbs, and a red orb I had never seen before in his hands.

Rider continued to battle with the familiars as he appeared to pick up his pace with their killing. Only a small handful of the original force remained when the rest of them suddenly turned into pages that flew back to Caster's book. Caster looked up at Caster and smiled and he brought the red and black orbs together. They fused and began to grow, the red orb taking the main shape while a stain of black began sliding around the spinning orb. The more Caster spread out his arms, the bigger the orb grew.

"I'll be honest Rider, I never expected you to kill so many of them. This is seriously going to effect my battle with the victor of Assassin and Archer's battle, but I'll make do. For now, i think thy time has run out."

Caster held out hone hand, the now massive orb following it. Caster made a fist, and with that, the orb was sent flying towards Rider. Rider looked at the oncoming orb, sighed, and drew his blade once more. His horse kicked up the massive dust cloud as it charged full speed towards Casters oncoming orb. He slowly got up and stood on top of his horse as he pulled his sword back. With a voice full of power, he shouted.

"Sword of Mars!"

The lightning shot forth from Riders blade, and it began striking Caster's orb. I could see the orb slowly beginning to cave where the lightning was hitting, and with a loud crackling sound, the lightning shot clean through it and towards caster.

"What?!"

Caster quickly put all his power into a barrier and dug his feet into the ground. Sadly, that barrier only lasted a few seconds against the lightning from Riders sword and sent Caster flying backwards. However, I noticed something else.

The orb Caster fired at Rider was still going. Rider slid himself back into the saddle and closed his eyes as the orb completely enveloped him. A short while after, there was a massive explosion. Caster slowly got to his feet, the fabric of his jacket and undershirt burned completely from his left shoulder, where the lightning hit him.

The explosion's cloud faded slowly, and I could see the sparkling of a dematerializing Servant amoung the dust. My gaze quickly shifted to Anton, who was watching the same sight in wonder. We all stood there watching as Rider left our world. After the dust settled, Anton walked over to the site of the explosion and ran his hand over the ground softly. Me and Caster walked over to him, and he stood up to look at us.

"Young lady Tohsaka... I have no words. Your Caster is an amazing Heroic spirit... or maybe mine was just not good enough... no, that's not it, your Servant is truly one of a kind. I submit this victory to you, miss Tohsaka."

We all looked up to the top of the hill, a few more flashes of light and faint noises rang out before they all faded. The battle atop the hill had also ended. Now it was just me, and who ever was left. I looked to Anton, and he nodded to me.

"Your last battle awaits you up there, Lady Tohsaka. With any luck, your friend bested my old apprentice. But if he failed, do give her all you can for me. I won't forgive you if you lose."

"Wait... Archer's Master is your apprentice?"

"She was. She left my guidance after she decided she needed to learn more powerful magic to get what she wanted. She is a selfish and heartless person, unlike her Servant. Do me a favor, and if she was the winner of that fight, don't let her get the Grail. I beg of you."

"Of course."

Anton smiled at me as he looked at the last place Rider was before he disappeared. He sighed loudly and laughed a bit before looking at the stars.

"At least I picked a beautiful night to lose... oh well. Then, Miss Tohsaka, I have a lot of work to do. I need to prepare my return to France. So, with this, I say adieu, Mademoiselle."

Doing up the buttons of his coat and putting his hands into his pockets. Anton turned from the church and began walking away. I stood there and watched as he left for a while before Caster put his hand on my shoulder.

"I don't thin thy opponent if fond of us making them wait. Shall we be off, my Master?"

"Yeah... lets finish this."

With my words of confidence, me and Caster began climbing the hill to Kotomine Church. Caster held his shoulder where Rider's Noble Phantasm had hit him, obviously, it must have done a lot of damage on him. We climbed together, my pocket full of gems and Caster with his book in his hand. I noticed Caster's book was now missing most of its pages, probably from all the familiars he lost to Rider during that battle. He sighed loudly as we neared the top of the hill.

Once at the top of the hill, we saw a amazing sight. The entire area in front of Kotomine church was a horrible mess. Rubble had kicked up everywhere, tree's were knocked over. One would expect something like this from a battle with Berserker, but against Archer and Assassin, I expected a lot less damage. Finally, I saw what I was looking for. Sam was leaning against the front door of Kotomine Church, with assassin perched on the roof above him. He was wearing his usual all black battle outfit and didn't seem to be looking at me.

"Master."

Caster cut into my analysis of the scene and urged my attention elsewhere. I looked and saw exactly what he wanted to show me. Akako, Archer's Master, was leaning against a tree. However, blood covered her body and her chest was filled with Assassin's knives. My mind went blank at this. Weren't we only suppose to battle with Servants?! Why did Archer's Master have to die?!

I looked at Sam, who started laughing as he leaned up from the door. Assassin jumped down from the churches roof and wordlessly followed his Master.

"It's down to you and me, Lady of the Tohsaka Family."

The words from Sam's mouth betrayed everything I knew of him. It was his body, and his voice, but I know Sam. Okay, that's not true. I thought I knew Sam, but this Grail War proved differently. Since all this started, he has been acting much differently from the Sam I knew, but I do know this much. Those words are not Sam's. Sam grabbed the hat and bandanna from his head and threw them to the side. I could see right away something was wrong. His eyes were glowing a dim red, and his movements were slightly sluggish.

Caster immediately stepped up and readied a spell. Sam, no, this monster who appeared to be Sam walked towards him still, laughing again.

"I've waited so long for this day. The day I claim the Grail and reach my true potential. You could never hope to understand the struggles of the Parker family, Miss Tohsaka. So just be happy that the one who will kill you is the man you trusted so much.

"Hold it right there! I will not allow you to harm my Master, you or your Servant Assassin! Now come forth, duel me!"

Caster stomped his foot angrily. I could see he was not in the mood to be calm like he was with Rider. He stared walking forward, as did Assassin. The two stopped a few feet from each other and Sam sighed.

"Well, I really don't have time for Assassin to fight your Caster, Tohsaka. So I'll just stop this and end it now."

Sam grabbed one of his gloves and pulled it off. Under it was a sight I could not believe. I saw his Command Seals, which I could have expected, however, something was horribly wrong.

Seven, there were Seven Command seals on the back of his hand. He cracked his knuckles and pointed at Akako's corpse with a look that showed he held her at the same value as his trash.

"That dumb woman over there cost me two of my Command Seals, not that i needed so many anyway. Luckily, the girl was such an idiot that she used up all of her own. When ever her precious Servant fell she would use her command Seals and force him up again. Sure enough the second time she used her last Seal. It's comical, really."

He's right. I remember during my one battle with Archer she forced him up with a Command Seal. I could not believe she really managed to use up all of them though. I glared up at this figure who took the shape of my old friend and yelled.

"So why did you kill her?! She was of no threat or value! What did she do to deserve death?!"

"Simple, she was worthless. A woman who can't even count her Command Seals does not deserve to live."

I could feel my fists unconsciously clenching and I grit my teeth. Caster also looked enraged as Sam slowly raised a hand into the air. He smiled at me and shifted his gaze to the sky.

"It was really lucky for me. Thanks to her accidentally canceling her contract with Archer by losing all her Seals, and due to my own extra one's, I managed to secure a new pet."

Sam snapped his fingers loudly and then stared stepping back.

"Archer, deal with the Servant. Assassin, you kill the girl."

Archer materialized in front of Sam, just a behind Assassin. His mouth was firmly shut and his entire body shook. The two Command Seals Sam lost were probably used forcing Archer to his will. Archer took forced, hesitant steps towards me as Assassin watched all of us. Sam watched the entire sight with a hint of joy in his eyes, and he laughed once again.

"This is it, then! Farewell, Lady of the Tohsaka Family!"