Fate/first order derivative
Part III.1
⇒ continue: iteration 29, day 4, early night
"Good evening, Master of Saber." Caster appears in a flurry of purple butterflies. She floats above the courtyard of Ryuudo Temple, her cloak spread wide like a pair of bat wings. "How kind of you to respond to my summons at this late hour. I'll try not to take up too much of your time... or of your life.
"Nothing to say? That's a pity. I do enjoy it when my prey struggles. Now - give up your Mana Circuits to me, and..."
She pauses and narrows her eyes. "... and you're not a Master, are you."
"Yeah, not so much." I sigh and drop the disguise gem. I'd told Rin there's no way I'd be able to pass myself off as Shirou for long. Still, I guess it at least got me through the front door. "Sorry."
⇒ why are you apologizing
I'm Japanese. Apologizing is my default reaction to everything.
"Tsch." Caster sneers and crooks a finger. All at once, I'm wrapped up tight in a cocoon of invisible threads, my arms bound at my sides. Yeah. Kinda figured that's how she'd react.
"So, obviously, if you're here, the real Master must have spotted my little trap." She alights on the ground, her cloak folding in around her. "I imagine he and Saber must be on their way up here now. Probably with that little harridan and her Archer in tow."
"Something like that."
She growls and snaps her fingers. A squad of skeleton-looking things - only with these big mouths like lampreys instead of skulls - rise out of the ground. "Reinforce the main gate." They go tromping off.
She turns back to me. "And I doubt they told you anything about their offensive plans, since they assumed I would be capable of extracting that information from you."
"Bingo."
"Barely any mana or Magic Circuits to speak of." Caster glares at me like I'm something unpleasant she just scraped off her shoe. "What an insult. You're not even worth draining." A nasty-looking ring of glyphs materializes above her head, angled down straight at me.
"Hey, woah, wait! Wait!" I'd raise my hands, but... y'know. "I know how this looks, but believe it or not... they sent me ahead as a messenger."
She snorts. "Is that what they told you to make you come up here? I hate to break it to you, boy, but your masters must not put a very high value on your life."
"Okay, one, I prefer the term clients, thanks," I say. Though that doesn't really take the sting of truth out of her words. I still can't believe I let Rin talk me into this. "And two, I'm serious. They really do want to talk. Specifically, they want to know if you're open to the possibility of an alliance."
Caster pauses. The glowing circle of death vanishes. "... I'm listening."
"First things first." I wriggle a little inside of my invisible bonds. Dammit. Why would anyone make magic threads that chafe? "All the coma cases and mana draining going on down in the city. Is that you?"
"No, the life force of an entire population just happens to be flowing directly into my fortress." I can't see her eyes beneath the hood right now, but I get the distinct impression that she's rolling them. "What do you think?"
"Hey, I just wanted to confirm." I hesitate. "Could you... y'know... not do that?"
She looks at me and starts laughing.
I just kind of... hang there, awkwardly. Fuck. I hate it when this happens, you know? When I say something funny seriously and everyone starts laughing and I have no idea why. It seems to keep happening, too.
⇒ that's because you don't think things through before you say them, dumbass
Gee, thanks, Weird Voice Inside My Head That Probably Means I'm Crazy Or Something™! You always know exactly how to make me feel better.
⇒ not my job dude
That would imply you have a job, apart from being a pain in my ass.
⇒ heh
⇒ phrasing
Don't you start.
Anyway, Caster pretends to wipe a tear from her face. "You must be joking."
"Some of us actually live here, okay?" I say irritably. "It's a valid concern."
"They didn't tell you very much at all, did they?" She sits down. Not on the ground - in mid-air, as if on an invisible chair. Which I have to admit is pretty impressive. "The Caster class is the physically weakest of the Servants. We must rely on our guile and wits to survive, not brute strength."
"Don't you have those bone puppet things as muscle?" I nod my head in the direction the skeleton crew went.
"Those? Barely more than a distraction, as far as the others are concerned." Caster crosses her legs. "So... why should I give up any advantage I have in this war? What are your masters willing to offer me in return?"
Oof. Tough question. "Uh, well... what do you need?" I ask.
"Hmm." She tilts her head. "Well, just for starters... I want Berserker eliminated. Completely."
"Not fond of the neighbors, huh?" Unless I'm mistaken, the von Einzbern place is just east of here.
"That's... putting it lightly." She scowls. "In terms of this game's structure, the Berserker class is the natural counterweight to my own. I consider him the highest threat to my Master and myself."
I blink. "So why set up shop right next to him?"
"Isn't it obvious? This is the point that mana in this area naturally flows to. Moreover, the Anti-Servant Field around the temple ensures I only need guard one direction."
"Huh." I furrow my brow. "Does that work on the thing in the lake, too?"
She tilts her head. "... what are you talking about?"
"You don't know about that?" How could she not know about that? It's practically in her backyard. She has to be lying, right?
⇒ meh
Something explodes in the distance. "It seems that your 'clients' have arrived." Caster uncrosses her legs and stands up. "You can tell them that if they're serious about their offer, they'll take you and leave. Immediately. Any delay will be interpreted as a hostile act."
"Okay, sure, but... I was serious about the whole mana situation," I say. "That's kinda a non-starter for my people, you know? The whole stealing-innocent-souls thing."
"Oh, please." She snorts. "Spare me your lectures. I know how these so-called mages think. They care even less for the lives of the rabble than I do. As it stands, the people of this town are mine, to do with as I please. If you want them set free, be prepared to offer me something of equal value."
"Uh... huh." I narrow my eyes. Well, isn't that charming.
"I must admit, this was more amusing than I would have expected." Caster gives me the barest hint of a smile. "Until we meet again, messenger boy. Provided your masters don't throw your life away on some other matter before then, of course."
She vanishes into a cloud of butterflies, leaving me strung up in her web. Okay, rude.
⇒ could be worse tho
Never said it couldn't.
"Tom!" Shirou barks. I hear footsteps rushing up behind me.
"Yeah, so we need to leave now," I say by way of greeting. The fibers around my neck get cut. Finally able to turn my head, I glance over to see Archer cutting me down with his knives, Rin and Shirou standing behind him. "Where's Saber?"
"We ran into some trouble at the gate." Archer slices idly at the air twice more. "She stayed back to handle things while we went ahead."
"Where's Caster?" Rin demands.
"She was here." I rub my wrists as I step free of the bindings. "Conversation was, um, interesting. I'll tell you when we get back to aww dickweasels." She drained me anyway, didn't she, just to slow them down. My legs collapse and I tip forward. I pass out before I even get to see if anyone bothers to catch me.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
And we're back at last. Sorry for the wait. Took me a while to figure out where I wanted to go with this.
Not one hundred percent sure why, but for some reason, this felt like a good point to both start a new part and restate the premise of the story. I'm hoping to make this a good jumping-on point for new readers, should there be any to find out there.
