Lancer VI
I was too late.
Assassin, Berserker, and Gilgamesh lay dead amidst the smouldering chunks of concrete. Shattered steel littered the ground like unexploded ordnance, and burnt tiling swayed in the wind before sliding off the roof and crashed into the ground. The tiny embers of an adolescent flame threatened to consume the entire temple before I stomped it out beneath my heel.
They had killed each other before I even started making my way up the mountain. I grit my teeth, somehow upset at myself for missing the fight.
The bodies of the dead Servants began to deteriorate, speaks of flesh dissolving as they faded from existence. But a chill ran through me, this was wrong. They way their bodies dissolved filled me with a sense of dread. This wasn't the sweet embrace of death. There was hungering fear, an all consuming force that, if contacted, would lead unending suffering and hatred. This was not the warm embrace of the Grail I instinctively felt, but something else entirely.
I rushed over to the still warm corpse of Gilgamesh, admiring the look of shock on his face. The joy was short lived however, as the darkness swept out from underneath him.
Nothingness, like a hollow shell. I leapt back a good ten meters, desperate to put as much distance between me and the void as possible, watching it consumed Gilgamesh's body as it sunk into the ground.
I landed at the entrance to the temple, beneath the leaning gates. The darkness consume the other three Servants. Their bodies dissolved before disappearing completely, the shadow leaving with them.
I checked areas where their bodies were. Nothing. Not a single trace of prana or anything magical in the area. The temple itself was also bare, no signs of foul play. The monks were okay, exhausted, but alive. Small mercies considering they could've been consumed as well.
The trail was growing cold.
The bushes in the treeline rustled in an unnatural manner. It can't be the wind, and no one would be out here by accident, so I decided to risk it. I swung my hands in the direction of the disturbance, sending my garrote wire out from the sleeves of my coat. It wrapped around something, taut. I pulled.
A humanoid figure soared out from the woods and crashed at my feet into a misshapen blob. It had no mouth, no features, other than two bright white orbs resembling eyes. Caster's familiars.
I slammed my fist into where its nose would be, the splattering ash seeped into my coat. It was a silly feeling, torturing a shadow, but this was my best bet. If I was lucky I might be able to hijack the link and find the Master.
I flattened a three meter square around me and etched out a large half opened eye into the dirt. Centering it were three intersecting right triangles. Prana surged into my crude rune circle, its magic pulling images of bedpans and trolleys into my mind.
Focus. I gripped the temple of my skull. More images flashed. Rows of beds and curtains, all full. The sick, the dying, and the infirm. A man with in green blood stained scrubs, a mask wrapped around his face and scalpel in his hand.
The hospital!
It was perfect. People die in hospital's all the time. The young, the old, the sick and infirm; what better place to avoid suspicion? Caster could harvest a limitless amount of prana from the patients without attracting unwanted attention.
The shadow blob lunged at me. I tried to escape as it let loose an overcharge of prana and exploded in a cloud of ash. I hacked up the mucus of my lungs, feeling a burden weighing me down. Each breath grew more difficult as one by one I felt my cells dying.
This was a curse.
Fuck. I kicked at the pile of ash on the ground in defiance. It was a petty gesture, not something that would help. There was nothing I could do, I estimated maybe one or two hours left to live. Kotomine might be able to do something, but that would only delay the inevitable, if I was lucky I can get a few more hours.
Besides, the Hospital was closer than the Church, I would have to go out of my way, and then backtrack. Precious time I could ill afford. Every second I wasted meant more people dying at the hands of Caster. More souls lost and consumed by him.
I smiled, easiest decision I ever made.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Kotomine. When he picked up I said: "Hey, Priest. I think Caster's at the Hospital, I'm going to go check it out."
"I see."
"I don't think I'll be coming back."
"..." A pause. "Understood."
"Thanks for everything, jerk." I said before slamming my phone shut. It was the truth. Despite everything I couldn't help but like the bastard.
