Chapter 5
"Whenever we want to combat our enemies, first and foremost we must start by understanding them rather than exaggerating their motives." – Criss Jami
First Fight
Part 1
"That was very informative" Julian said to Assassin
"Master?" Assassin asked through the mental link with a deep and baritone voice
"We now know that Emiya is the master of Saber, the Einzbern Doll is the master of Berseker, the Tohsaka is the master of archer and Rider has been eliminated by her idiotic master" Commented Julian "That only leaves the masters of Lancer and Caster"
"We will win!" happily said Assassin, this time with a little girl's voice
"Indeed" smirked Julian "After all, I know which servant is on top of that mountain" He said while looking at a Newspaper article
19 hospitalized after gas explosion in the New City side of Fuyuki
"It seems that my story won't be as exciting as I hoped for" Julian said before focusing on Assassin "Assassin, send three of the most agile yourself to Ryuudou Temple and have Two face against Caster and one against their master, if you find it possible, Kill them"
"Master? Are you sure it is Caster?" asked assassin's voice, this time a young man
"Yes, Lancer is far too active to be relying in draining people of mana" It wasn't difficult to relate the cases of coma to Caster draining people which would also explain why they haven't moved in the last month "In Caster's case it is probable that their master doesn't have Circuits and as such they are relying in the people of Fuyuki to provide the mana necessary to maintain Caster's existence"
"Master. Intelligent." Stated assassin this time as a growling voice
Part 2
That night inside a certain guest house in a temple, a master and his servant talked over a cup of tea
"– That's all I saw" said Caster
Izuku looked down at his notes
"So to summarize, saber has all around high stats as well as an invisible sword" To be honest, despite having fought 4 servants in one evening Saber didn't reveal anything about her legend, there were a lot of skilled swordsmen in history but she had a knightly air around her "and berserker seems to be even stronger and faster" Berserkers by the definition by which they could count as one were very common in history, but this one had a distinct Roman or Greek appearance judging by his armor, as little as it was "this is bad"
"Indeed" commented caster, it was easier to counter abilities that were more complex as they would normally have requirements to their activation but something as simple as super strength, speed and endurance didn't have those and once taken past a certain limit, they might as well be a secondary Noble Phantasm "The war has only started and we already have a conundrum"
At that Izuku squirmed a little as he was still leery at the thought of having to kill, even if it was just the servants. Caster however, had completely different thoughts as he could tell that the girl was a homunculus and thus her life was probably nearing its end, so killing her could be accepted as a way to defeat her.
"By the way master, how is your training with Kuzuki–san going?" Over the last month Caster had come to appreciate the former assassin as a person as he watched him take care of the next generation as a way to make amends for his sins "I hope he isn't pushing you too far again" Although the man sometimes went too far when it came to his disciples training, he couldn't help it though, it was how he was trained
"Kuzuki–sensei?" Izuku asked, before his eyes took on a haunted look "He says that I could fight an average martial artist now but that I have to be capable of defeating 15 before he deems me acceptable"
Caster sweatdropped a little before letting out a sigh
"That man- "Caster started but was then interrupted
"He also congratulated me" Izuku commented "He said that if I wanted to I could already be at that level using magecraft to compensate for my physical shape" Indeed the only thing restraining Izuku from achieving such a feat was his lack of the necessary musculature
He had gained some tone in the last month, not enough to be noticeable but enough to have the ability to defend himself if a master attacked him
"At least that's something-!" suddenly Caster became rigid "Master, Hide!"
Izuku was stunned for a second before he understood what was happening
They were being attacked
Part 3
The moment the jewel in his pocket vibrated Kuzuki started running up the stairs, dodging a pitch black knife in the darkness and ignoring its source as it was attacked by a golem made of ruby
Inside Caster welcomed him and gave him a curved jewel that would transmit what they say and heard back to Izuku and a vial
Raising an eyebrow at the vial, he looked at Caster who quickly explained "It's an elixir that augments a human's capabilities"
Nodding Kuzuki quickly downed the elixir and looked back to where the last golem exploded an illusion of command seals covered by a second illusion of a normal hand appeared on his left hand
It was then that three skull masked people appeared at the gate. Kuzuki idly noticed that he now could clearly see them move
"What a bother. Who would have expected that you would have such advanced security systems?" Rhetorically asked a tired voice from a thin skull masked teen
"It doesn't matter. We have a job to do" commanded a skull masked child that walked on all fours
"I just hope they last enough to give me a good time" commented the last skull masked figure, a woman that had a hint of sadism in her voice
Caster just sensed around his bounded field so he could find the master, ultimately finding nothing
"Master, it seems that their master is nowhere near the temple" said Caster
"Understood"
It was then that the three figures rushed at Kuzuki, intent on killing him, but Caster was waiting for it
"O' Fire" Caster chanted making the air in front of the assassins combust and explode
The assassins however were not deterred and jumped over the explosion launching some dagger to stop caster from activating spells while they were on mid air
"Guh-!" Caster managed to dodge the daggers but the assassins' objective was achieved and they could land without being attacked
Then they split up with the female going against kuzuki and the two males against Caster
The female assassin reached kuzuki and tried to cut him with her dagger. Kuzuki however deviated the blade with the back of his fist before unleashing a brutal combo on the servant
Base of the throat, solar plexus, Bladder, Temple and Chin, in less than a second all these were hit and in a normal person these would have led to a knockout… but this was a servant
The assassin gasped in pain before she quickly recovered a kicked Kuzuki into the forest
Caster meanwhile analyzed his opponents and grimaced, he had been killed in life by assassins and thus he had almost no defense from their attacks
"O' Earth" He intoned crating a stone wall and stopping one of the assassins, the Teen Assassin, from attacking him from the back "O' Water" Pressurized water appeared above him and shot to the other assassin, Child Assassin, making him dodge and giving Caster a bit of breathing room letting him prepare a few spells and to summon a few elementals of sapphire
The blue elementals rushed to his enemies while he chanted "O' Earth, Attack my enemies"
The ground of temple turned into a spikes that threatened to piece the assassins, but the assassins dodged with inhuman agility before rushing his elemental and destroying them as if they weren't launching pressurized wind at 300 km/h
"Heh, Protection from the wind" Commented Teen Assassin "Always useful" he said before reaching Caster and trying to slice his throat
Caster barely dodged the dagger and quickly chanted "O' Earth!" a rock spike appeared and shot towards Teen Assassin but he easily dodged it
Caster couldn't help a small smile appearing on his face
"Activate" with just that single word the Teen Assassin was surrounded by wood branches that seemingly grew endlessly as they completely covered him before growing 3 inch thorns everywhere killing him
"GRah- "The Child Assassin pierced Casters back with a dagger
"I got it!"
Part 4
Izuku always wondered what was the point of the Master – Servant Relationship
The servants are the recollection of and manifestation of old legends and their power was near divine in some cases. The only reason they even needed the master was so they could act as the rope that keeps them from returning to the throne and as a battery of prana so they could maintain that rope strong
At least that was what Izuku believed before Caster refuted that notion
"We servants are manifestations of legends, tales, myth and stories that changed humanity, however, those legends include our strengths and weaknesess"
As Caster taught him all servant had a weakness related to the way they died, the best example would be if Achilles was summoned as a servant, he would become invulnerable to attacks as long as his immortality remained. But as his legend explained he had a weakness.
This was the truth of the Master – Servant relationship
The strength of a servant varies but the master's own didn't and wasn't affected by where they fought and what they fought. A master couldn't fight a servant, but they could use the deductive reasoning that a warrior normally couldn't use in battle to help the servant discover the identity and weakness of the enemy servant
As such in his free time Izuku studied as much legends as he could, especially the way they died. And that's how he would contribute.
Speed reading beyond what a normal person could he read and read about assassins
"There!" he found the answer inside one of his new Servants notebooks
"The 19th Hassan died while protecting the great master of the assassins during an ambush after the fall of Alamut" he read out loud
Quickly contacting both Kuzuki and Caster he quickly sent the information he learned
'I got it!'
Part 5
Quickly standing up and analyzing his surroundings Kuzuki mentally recounted his physical condition
'Judging by the pain my ribs aren't broken nor are they even fractured'
Such was the power of Caster's elixir
"You know" a female voice came from the shadows making kuzuki tense his muscles for quick movement "Even if that was a weak kick from my part that should have at least broken your ribs"
Kuzuki just looked around for her
"Ah well" for a second he though he saw her before dismissing it "This makes torturing you to death easier"
Kuzuki didn't even gasp when a cut appeared on one of his arms
"Was I too fast for you?" the voice giggled
"No" answered Kuzuki "I was just waiting for the right time" quickly turning to his right he threw a punch that hit the now revealed Female Assassin
Mercilessly he continued punching and kicking even past the point that a normal human would have become a mangled corpse and finished with a punch that sent the Female Assassin crashing against a tree
"I got it!"
Kuzuki expression didn't change despite the sudden appearance of Izuku's voice in his head
"This is Hassan of the Hundred Faces, they are weak to ambushes and trickery!"
While Kuzuki's expression still didn't change his eyes betrayed a sudden realization
'So that's why my style was so effective'
Entering into a new stance Kuzuki was about to finish off Female Assassin when a black shadow moved and started dragging her in direction to the lake
Thinking it was an escape strategy Kuzuki was about to release her when the screaming started
"NOOOO! Please save me! No no no no no NOOOO!" Yelled Female Assassin as she tried to use her knives, fists and even her teeth to try and escape. Looking at Kuzuki she yelled once more for help
Kuzuki just walked back to the temple grounds, ignoring the yells, curses and pleas of the Assassin
Part 6
"This is Hassan of the Hundred Faces, they are weak to ambushes and trickery!"
Since the moment Izuku mentioned the name of the enemy servant Caster already knew their legend
Child Assassin grinned before gloating "It seems that Caster has been eliminated"
Then Caster answered by covering assassin's feet with rock
Raising an eyebrow, he twisted the dagger before pulling it out "Was that all?" and with that he decapitated Caster
Satisfied with his work he was about to work on releasing himself before two anomalies made themselves known in his mind, one the body was still standing and two Caster still could talk
"Not really" Then the form that he had stabbed in the back turned into a floating human shaped ruby "I just wanted to be sure you couldn't dodge"
Then the form of the red elemental exploded into a contained storm of fire that severely burned Child Assassin
Caster stepped away from a tiny bounded field that made anything inside transparent
"How?! I felt the flesh and bone!" Yelled Child Assassin as his form slowly disappeared into prana
"While my specialty is another field of magecraft, my master is scary enough that he turned one of my weakest into the most useful one" and with that Caster retired and Child Assassin died
Part 7
"So they died" Julian concluded while smiling
"You are not angry" stated one of the assassins in the room, totaling up to 24
"It just means that my legend will become better than expected" smiled Julian "Although it would be best that we take care of small fry before trying to take on that caster"
Looking at his notes on the other masters he reached a conclusion
"How about we take out the Emiya kid?" Julian said, surprising the assassins
"Saber's Master?" asked one of the assassins
"Indeed" he stated before his eyes turned deadly "I will fight her and hold her back and you will kill the master"
Meanwhile in the church Kirei Kotomine laughed
The events of the fifth holy grail war were out of his control and interesting things happened
"What is with all this fuss you are making?" asked a blonde man in a black jacket
"It is possible that Caster just killed Lancer" Kirei answered
"Hoh~ now that's interesting"
END
2 nights have passed
LANCER GA SHINDA!
And Caster is only indirectly responsible
Anyways, sorry for the delay, if forgot I hadn't finished this chapter and spent weeks thinking I Finished and uploaded this chapter before realizing I did neither
