Black Zero 5
"According to legend, those who are called a berserker are an object of fear; not only for the enemy, but for the allies as well because it is said to kill anything in its path…" – Serpico Berserker
Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true. – Julius Ceaser
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Some things, no matter how earth shattering the other changes are, still occur. Such things have not been affected too much by the change for one reason or another and play out the same way time and time again.
Assassin moved silently beside his Master Kirei They stood there overlooking their target, the Tohsaka Manor. The Tohsaka Manor, like the Einzbern Castle in the forest and the Matou manor, are known locations for holding masters, and over the years have developed powerful defenses to protect the Masters during the War. These defenses vary greatly by the Masters, but each of them is a fortress in their own right and only a fool of a Master or Servant would dare to enter.
Stepping unauthorized into the bounded fields of the Tohsaka Manor is anything but safe, all the more for the large mass of prana that is a Servant. One step onto the grounds would trigger the field causing waves of death in many forms to converge on the enemy. Essentially, even if it is a spiritual body, it should be impossible to slip through the bounded fields of the fortress undetected.
But of course, the impossible can always be made possible; it just takes a certain kind of person to do it. In this case, Assassin with the A rank skill of Presence Concealment, was the perfect candidate to make the impossible possible. While he does not excel in battle power, Assassin can suppress his to nothing in order to creep in the shadows and reach his target.
In his spiritual form, Assassin progressed through the many alarm fields without a problem, laughing at the ironic fate of Tosaka Tokiomi. That arrogant magus has placed a considerable faith in his protégé Kirei, but can't imagine that he might be bitten by his dog. This was too easy, much too easy for the Man on the Mountain. He had broken through much harder defenses in his time to take down targets.
Kirei's had ordered Assassin to kill Tokiomi has reached Assassin not an hour ago. It had been strange, only one aspect was allowed to go after the target, but this aspect was the best in infiltration. He is unsure of what caused Kirei to change his mind, but Tokiomi's summoning of a Servant a few days ago must be when it began. Tokiomi seems to have summoned the Servant Archer, but apparently, that Heroic Spirit must be weaker than Kirei expected.
For that reason Kirei had told Assassin, "Vain prudence is unnecessary. Have no fear of facing Archer. You need to obliterate Tōsaka Tokiomi quickly."
Now halfway through the garden, the blind spot of the bounded field one could pass through undetected vanished. From there, the barrier has to be destroyed by physical means alone. It became impossible to proceed while invisible in spirit form. Now was the time for cunning and experience to destroy the defenses in silence before the hunt could be completed.
Leaning over the shadow of the vegetation, Assassin returned from spirit form to physical form, exposing his bony mask and tall, lean figure. He can feel many different 'eyes' all over him from afar, different from the bounded field of the Tosaka residence. The familiars of other Masters must be observing the Tōsaka residence from outside the barriers. This was no immediate concern for Assassin. As long as he remained unnoticed from Tokiomi and his Servant, there wouldn't be any need to worry about any Peeping Toms. It's not like he was revealing his Noble Phantasm or anything for so simple a takedown. In addition, Tokiomi's rivals disputing the Grail would never warn him of Assassin's infiltration. While Assassin went in for the kill of a competitor, the other Masters would be content to remain as spectators.
Snickering without a sound, Assassin extended his hand at the first keystone that binds the barrier "Too easy," he whispered
*SLAM*
The next instant, the outstretched hand was pierced through by a spear that came flying from above.
"Hiii!"
An intense pain and wave of shock passed through Assassin. 'What?' The simple spear strike was completely unexpected, and Assassin swung his head upward, looking for the thrower.
But there was no need to search for the one responsible. On top of the roof of the Tōsaka residence, a golden shadow stood proudly. That divine radiance of this being steals the dignity of the starlit sky and puts the moon to shame.
"You worm crawling on the ground, whose pardon do you seek?" The golden man asks indifferently to the Assassin no longer hidden on the ground, looking down at him with a pair of disdainful, burning crimson eyes. To him, this black creature is an insect, a worm, not even worth considering a threat.
He glares at the white mask in disgust as he sees Assassin look him in the eyes "You can't look at me. Worms can only look at the ground when they die, like the worms they are."
Around the golden shadow, the air shimmers as more glows appear, growing into almost countless numbers of this phenomenon. Out of thin air appeared hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of swords, spears, dagger, bows, arrows, halberds, and maces, not a single one of them was the same, all of them treasured weapons with dazzling ornaments and designs. And all of them were aimed right at Assassin.
'I-I can't win'. Without even thinking, Assassin realized it instinctively. Winning against him is impossible. It's stupid to even think about facing him.
If he is able to hit Assassin, a Servant, it therefore means that this golden silhouette is definitely a Servant, for only a Servant can battle a Servant. And if he is stopping an invasion into the Tosaka mansion, then the Master of this…thing is Tokiomi. In other words, he must be the Heroic Spirit Archer.
'There's no need to fear that?' In his disbelief of his Master's words, Assassin knew there was no contradiction in Kirei's words. In front of such an overwhelming enemy, fear is…yes, there is no place for fear, only despair.
And then the countless weapons descended…
Assassin felt the eyes, the familiars observing from outside the place. They saw him, the first Servant to fall in the fourth War of the Holy Grail meeting an unsightly end without even a retort, now witnessed by the other Masters. And at the last moment, Assassin Aspect understood. He understood the true intention of his Master, Kotomine Kirei, and... of the leader, Tosaka Tokiomi. This, this was meant to free the others to move silently, and to sow despair upon the enemy.
'Impressive.' Assassin thought as he faded away.
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Time continues to play out the same way in many forms. Tokiomi felt emboldened by the display killing off a single Aspect of Assassin with contemptuous ease. Surely the others must be quivering at the thought of tangling his Servant. After all, there was no way another Servant could hope to match the oldest Hero of mankind. There was no way another Servant could harm Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes…
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Kirei went to the church to ask for sanctuary. Of course, this was merely a ruse to hide the fact that his Servant was still alive. Only one Aspect had fallen, he had over two dozen other aspects to fight as needed. Yes, the death of the Aspect was a ruse, but only four other Masters had watched. One Master had not, therefore, the ruse was not perfect. Troubling indeed…
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Maiyu went over the video again and again trying to glean anything useful from the tape other than the sheer power of the Servant, so far she was turning up nothing.
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A man, his wife, and his Servant gazed through the familiar's eyes and began plotting how to counter such a Servant. It would be difficult, but one of the Servant's Noble Phantasms could counter that sword spamming ability. It would be difficult, but not impossible for the Servant. It would take timing, effort, and concentrated help from the Master, but this Servant could fall like any mortal…
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Waver saw the death of Assassin was disappointed in the quick death of the Servant, however, he did worry a bit about Archer. Yet, Rider was confident as always, considering Assassin nothing more than the rat of the Servants. Now that the skulker was dead, it was time for confrontations. Waver was sure he would have an ulcer before this was done and over with….
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Yes, some things in time play out as they had, but many, many more move in different paths.
A broken and dying man filled to the brim with insects flinched in pain as a moment of despair filled him. Caster was not looking like a good match for that Servant no matter how much he hated Tokiomi.
"Don't worry Master," The frog-faced Servant leered. "Just let me go to work and I shall obtain victory." Truly fortune favored him the day he was summoned. His Master had no interest in the Grail, only the salvation of a single girl. It was so easy to get the Master to promise the Grail to him as long as the girl was saved.
Now…how to get the Master to let him have the other children for his work? The countless familiars and insects could be used as sacrifices in their own way, but the best summons came from children. Such delectable souls, such satisfying fear they possessed. The greatest of his summons could be brought forth with the flesh and blood of children. However, if the Master was as resistant to the idea as he looked, then it fell to this humble Servant to work in secret like he had so long ago in the service of his Maiden. After ignorance is bliss…
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"You have no leads?" Tamaki said coldly.
"G-gomen." The officer said fightened by the woman. "W-w-we still don't kn-know w-who did this at th-this t-time. W-we are checking out the un-unknown in-in-intruder in the house, but w-we've got nothing at th-this t-time."
Tamaki resisted the urge to smash the man's head on the table to stop the stuttering…barely. She needed everything she could to find her son. She had already seen the bodies of her parents, hiding the horror at seeing her mother and father killed. She was no stranger to death; she had seen the enemy soldiers die in the attacks on the Island as they tried to claim the Sekirei. But this was different, this was her family, and this was her son.
She remembered hearing about the missing and murdered children in the neighboring town, but she had never thought it would be her son that went missing. She prayed with all her heart that Shirou was unharmed, she prayed to every deity and demon she knew that her son lived promising heaven and hell for her son to be alive and well. Behind her Yume stood for 'moral support' i.e. as soon as she found a lead, Yume was going to find them and beat the information out of them. Tamaki had barely been persuaded by Minaka not to bring Karasuba with them as Karasuba would have probably killed someone with information in her bloodlust.
Tamaki rubbed her forehead; she was half tempted to drag Matsu out of that Inn regardless of Miya to have her help in the investigation. Hanya or not, strongest of the Sekirei, or not, that woman owed her big time and this was her son d*mmit.
"Lieutenant," another officer called into the office. "You need to see this."
The Lt.'s eyes twitched, he stood up and bowed at Tamaki, "I am sorry for your loss," he then strode out of the room.
"Follow him," Tamaki said, she turned but saw that Yume was long gone already foreseeing Tamaki's demand. Tamaki then stood up and walked to her car to wait. She waited tensely for about an hour before the door opened and Yume entered the room. "Well?"
"The unidentified intruder was behind the child murders. Fingerprints and residual DNA match one hundred percent" Yume informed her seeing Tamaki start. "However, the murdered officer is just the first in a series of murders over the last couple of days. Each of them is the same, the victims were all ripped in half. This same serial killer killed one Uryuu Ryuunosuke, the intruder in your parent's home"
"What about my son?" Tamaki asked feeling her heart fall.
"Unknown, but he was not at the house." Yume said causing Tamaki to seize on a strand of hope.
"Maybe-maybe he heard the noise and hid. Then, then ran out of the house." Tamaki said ignoring how she knew how sick Minato had been. Any hope, anything at all was needed to keep her from breaking.
Yume pulled out two pictures she had swiped from the files. One was a picture from a street camera near her house. "This is probably the second intruder." The picture was strange, though the street was perfectly shown without smudges, the intruder was a blurry black thing with only a red orb and a gold orb showing where the eyes would be. Yume then showed the other picture, it was the inside of her parent's house, showing a obscured circle full of symbols and what looked like old foreign writing. However, most of the circle was covered in blood splatter of a strange man with orange hair ripped in half over it. "Tamaki-san what is this?"
"It looks like a ritual of some sort." Tamaki said shifting into analysis mode. "Some…cult ritual…arg, it's too obscure. I need an expert." She sat up and started the car; she quickly headed for her hotel where she had a scanner.
Unseen by her, a certain priest had arrived to deliver his condolences on behalf of the church…as well as some hypnotism to erase all data regarding the Servant. The secrecy of the Grail War had to be kept at all costs, and that was exactly what the Overseer of the Grail War had to do.
Tamaki hurried to her hotel room and pulled out a scanner and her computer. Matsu may be hiding, but she must still be checking her old e-mail account. In a blur, she sent the images to Matsu and a threat that if she did not help, Tamaki was going to personally launch an all-out assault on her location.
Ten minutes later, the picture of the black intruder was sent back with two circles, focused on the chest, and on the edge of the intruders' shoulders looking over it. Below that picture were two others showing enhanced images on the two locations. The chest area had something strapped to the black intruder's chest, some kind of sling. Over the…man's shoulder, was a small bit of red. Tamaki glared at the red, then scrolled down to see a final picture with that red enhanced…
Hair, it was a bit of red hair over that man's shoulder. The same shade as her son…
The wheels turned in Tamaki's genius head before hope and despair hit her in the same moment. He could be dead, he could be alive, but one thing was for sure. "He has my son. That, that monster has my son…" Tamaki snarled. She looked over at Yume with bloodthirsty eyes that would have put Karasuba to shame. "Find him, no matter the cost, find him and bring him to me…alive."
Yume nodded and bowed. She had a lot of work to do tonight.
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Kiritsugu woke up startled by what he had dreamed. 'What was that?' he thought
"Sir, are you alright?" a stewardess asked.
"Yeah, just a bad dream." Kiritsugu assured her.
"Sir, you were thrashing rather badly." The stewardess pressed.
Kiritsugu looked her in the eye and the woman went a bit ridged, "It's fine, I just hate flying. Bad memories."
"I see." The woman said as she suddenly backed off. "Well, you'll be pleased that we're about to land."
'Arigato." Kiritsugu said as the plane descended. 'What was that? The dream cycle? But that wasn't about her past…at least not a part in the legend. That was a Grail war.'
A grail war in his house. He knew that shed, he knew that building too well. What was going on. He had bought that house himself, so why was the boy named Emiya Shirou? Kiritsugu tried to think of his family tree, but he didn't know anyone besides his father. Was it possible? Had an ancestor fought in a previous Grail War? It had to have been the second then, as the First and Third Masters were well known, only the second had a great deal of information missing. Kiritsugu thought of his family crest. It was only a few generations old, so it was possible that this was the founder of the Emiyas he had seen. Was it possible? He had bought the house because it suited him, but was it possible that he had felt a resonance with that house?
His father had sold a great deal of his families old lands to fund his research, but it might be possible…It could be an ancestral home. He would have to look into it as soon as the war was over. In the meantime, he would have to ask Saber about this Emiya Shirou. Honestly, Kiritsugu could not see any resemblance between the boy and himself, but time does strange things.
Nothing made sense. Even if she had been in a previous Grail war, there was no reason for him to dream of it as the memories should not have transferred. He should have only dreamed of her life as the legendary King of Knights. Instead, he had seen the start of another Grail war, one with Cu Chulainn in it apparently. Gae Bolg, now that would be a useful Noble Phantasm, a spear that altered causality so that the spear always hit the heart one hundred percent of the time and was unblockable.
Still, the boy was a fool to waste a Command Seal to prevent Saber from killing that Archer. Kiritsugu had no idea who that man was, but something in him found respect for him none the less. Something about that man seemed familiar. No matter, Archer was the enemy, so why did the Master stop her? Yes, he was clearly out of his depth and not expecting the Grail war, but this was the height of foolishness. Was this boy some sort of pacifist? Kiritsugu could not help but feel annoyed at the boy, he dreamed of an ideal he had no idea how to go about.
Kiritsugu buckled up and settled in for the landing. He had to get his gear from Maiyu and focus on the current war, not ghosts of the past.
In a land of snow and ice, Irisviel von Einzbern and Saber were boarding their own plane for the journey to Fuyuki. Within a day, they would arrive at the site of the Grail war and begin their battle.
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It was becoming easier to identify offerings that pleased the Light. Solids meant little to the Light, liquids with good smells, however, were perfect. The Light took the offerings greedily. Ignoring the dried blood of a construction worker on the shoulder, miso soup was carefully poured down the boy's throat. Not too fast, just enough for the Light to feed without coughing The Light was always coughing, making such pitiful sounds. It was best not to make it worse. The Light still flickered every now and then, but it wasn't as bad as the First Time. Now, the Light was fairly constant in the Light's glow.
Though, the Light did start to smell, it took some work, but it became apparent that filth had gotten on the Light somehow. Using water from the fountain (kitchen sink Berserker broke), the Light and been gently cleaned the filth off, however, the filth came back every now and then. No, the Light had to be perfect, the Light was everything. Filth must be removed. The old wrap had to be removed, but there was plenty to use from the dead shadows. They should be glad that their wrappings were used for the Light. All must worship the Light, for it was good and warm.
It never occurred to Berserker the trail of blood he left behind as he searched for food. Men and woman alike had died while he scavenged for supplies. They died for merely possessing food and clothes. The police were stumped by the attacks. Each of the victims looked like they had been cleaved with either a blade or a blunt object that hit them at such speeds that it cleaved through flesh with ease. What was worse was that they had no idea why the attacks occurred as it appeared to be random. All that was known was that the Serial killer was somewhere in Fuyuki, however, the attacks were coming from all directions. No section of the town was safe.
All Masters tried to send familiars to follow Berserker, but, somehow, it was evading them. It moved like a phantom, never being where they expected, nor revealing itself unless it was on the move. And then, it was impossible to follow. One Aspect of Assassin had tried to follow Berserker when it spotted him, but the blasted Berserker had literally outrun Assassin and left the Aspect behind. As expected of the physically strongest Servant versus the weakest.
In the meantime, children were continuing to disappear, though this time, no bodies were being found. All in all, the priest had his work cut out for him. Magic wasn't being uncovered, but the sheer bodies count was making the locals nervous which meant that he had to put in more effort to keep it secret. At least the Master of Berserker was keeping the identity of the Servant a secret and relying on mundane ways to kill people. Any photos of the Servant showed only a black out of focus blur.
All in all, the area was becoming more and more frightening for the locals. Murders, missing children, mysterious attacks, it was like a bad horror movie, and they were the stars. Many people followed sage advice and decided that it was time for a vacation far, far away from here.
Save Him Kiritsugu Save Him
Almost there. I'm almost at the Light. I know not how long I have labored, how long I have climbed, but I pray that there is something there. The voices are getting louder. Maybe it's an indication of getting close to the goal…
YeT I hAvE nO rEgrEtS fOrmY lIfE
From a family of light and love I came
To the lands of blood and sin
So close, so very close. I can see my goal past this constant onslaught of Liquid. Liquid, I swear it tastes almost like metal. Sometimes I taste something semisolid in it. And it all tastes terrible.
With gun and steel, in blood and flames,
I won all that a man may win:
If all else fails, maybe I will find the source of the voices and shut them up. I really hate listening to their pleas and bad poetry.
Save Him
So close, so very close. I climb these chains slowly as the weight on my body tries to drag me down. I climb towards the light trying to leave the darkness behind. I only pray this is the way to salvation, and not damnation.
My pAtH eNdS tOdAyaS a ▄▄▅▅
The boy dreamed of many things as his mind was being overwritten. He dreamed of a witch with a poisonous tongue, a samurai oozing honor, a teacher that moved like an assassin. He dreamed of a king in gold and infinite weapons.
And he dreamed of a world made of nothing but gears and blades. Gears in the sky made countless blades where they fell to the ground like memories. It was a world where not a single sign of life could be found; a world that did not belong in this world, a world that broke all conventions of this world. And the world called to him…
Minato was dying; he was dying a painful death. Bombarded by memories and knowledge that was not his, he was dying. His broken and fragmented mind that had seen his grandparents killed in front of him, a madman that toyed with him, hurt him, bled him for his insane reasons. His broken and fragmented mind that was suffering from a deadly fever that was not being treated, suffering from magic circuits that were opening by their own will and pumping out magic into him with no regard to his safety. If he could have, he would have screamed from it all.
But he could not; he had no control over himself, so he clung on. He clung to something so beautiful, so pure that all the blood, the pain, the sickness, the horror, the images could not push away; something so grand and seemingly impossible to complete, yet stronger than any other conviction.
An Ideal, an Ideal to save everyone…
"Un…aware of…loss, nor…aware of…gain"
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