Chapter 7

Bad Situation

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." -Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Part 1

That morning Sakura awakened to the snores of Taiga as she stayed in her house. A part of her felt fondness at the messily sleeping teacher, but another {Hedoesn'tloveus} felt sad and betrayed as her Sempai had decided to accommodate Tohsaka {Thatluckysisterofhers} rather than her.

'Maybe he knows I'm dirty' Soul crushing fear filled her at the thought of her Sempai rejecting her 'No! He didn't say it but he is fighting in the war' Sakura knew about it due to having had performed the summoning ritual for Rider who she could feel watching her even right now 'He is probably in alliance with Ne- Tohsaka-san' That is probably why they stayed together in the same house and why Sempai didn't want her in, as he probably didn't want her involved {Isthatreallythereason?}.

As these thoughts occupied her mind she silently stood up and walked to the door so she could prepare for school, but she frowned and looked down at her feet finding them muddy and dirty

Part 2

"What are you staring at?" asked Caster

This made Izuku flinch and immediately look back at his teacher's face "Ah, Sorry!"

Caster paused in his lecture and demonstration of Alchemy's Temporary Element Metamorphosis Concept and STARED at his student more importantly at his near-empty notebook in which he hadn't taken more than a few notes "You are distracted"

"No! I'm not. I just didn't sleep a lot last night" Countered Izuku shaking his hands wildly while his eyes avoided Caster's

Caster had long since noticed the slightly dark circles around Izuku's eyes, but this wasn't the first time he had not slept a full night and even in those times his student and master had managed to take highly comprehensive notes that demonstrated that he was doing his best to understand the lectures, he was obviously lying.

Caster sighed "I originally wanted to have this talk later but it seems that master's heart is soft as always" chuckled Caster before turning serious "This is about assassin's death isn't"

Izuku just looked down and decided to ask Caster the question that has been bothering him the entire time "Isn't what we did yesterday villainous? I- I mean wasn't killing him too much?! Couldn't we have just done something else? Aren't we doing the same things a villain would?!"

Caster closed his eyes almost as if remembering something long in the past "I once asked myself the same question" He said with an almost nostalgic feeling "I once joined a war, not as a soldier that reaps life but as a medic that saves them. And after watching so much death and destruction I couldn't help myself and thought if it was alright to save the lives of the soldiers that came back to me"

Izuku's eyes widened as he heard his teacher's words, it was unfathomable to him –To not save a life in front of him – was impossible and unnatural

"They were murderers" Continued Caster "And if some of the rumors were right they were also thieves, arsonists, rapists and child murderers" Caster spat the words as if they were dirty "But it was all forgiven because they were doing it to the enemy and there I was saving the lives of such people" Caster reminisced "I am ashamed to say that I almost left a life slip through my hands due to being distracted" Caster seemed almost apologetic and embarrassed at the memory "But I reached my answer not during the war, but during my training at the Clocktower, where my teacher at the time said to me – Humans are by nature greedy, this is why alchemy can no longer transmute to gold with the average method of altering the nature of items and such is why violence and evil will never disappear from this world, in the end we humans are foolish so the best we can do is live our lives in a way that let us die in peace… no matter when the time comes – , I followed these words almost religiously in life and never kept my opinion to myself and even when the Clocktower warned me due to my security breaches I never stopped and found myself able to die in almost complete peace"

Caster looked at him with an unusual amount of seriousness "You have to decide if you can kill, because if you aren't you are going to die"

Izuku pondered Caster's words and he too reached his answer

Part 3

Investigating the school and the surrounding area during the middle of the night to search for the sigils that appeared around the school seemed like such a good idea at the time but now that she was actually doing it, it became really tedious work to search for the sigils that powered the barrier that surrounded the school.

"There is another one here master" commented Archer

Rin twitched and looked where her servant pointed at to find one of the walls of the archery club, walking up to it she grabbed the covering and pulled, revealing at least five of the sigils

"Whoever is doing this really has something against the archery club" commented Tohsaka

"No, I just wanted you to get near the biggest accumulation possible" commented a voice "Rider"

Rin who was taken by surprise could barely turn back before the sigils activated and the area turned crimson red and Rin felt her blood boil and her senses reverse

"ARRRG" she screamed as she fell to her knees as the seal drained her Prana ruthlessly

"Master!" Archer immediately rushed towards Rin, he gritted his teeth as a good portion of his Prana was drained by the sigil and tried to run away from the area only to find that he could not get out of the

"What?" questioned archer as he found his feet incapable of leaving the area

"You won't be able to leave" commented Shinji whose voice was coming from outside the bounded field "I originally wanted to ally myself with Tohsaka but I don't think that will be possible anymore" Shinji said before continuing "Rider, Kill them"

Rider immediately rushed to Rin intending to kill her and then focus on Archer but Archer wasn't new to that tactic and stood in the way after summoning [Kanshou and Byakuya]. Rider adapted to the change and threw one of her nails into one of the openings in his guard. The nail was thrown with beautiful precision and poisonous killing intent, the accuracy was on point and perfect, yet the nail was stopped by the black sword on his left hand while opening a path to his heart. Rider noticing this augmented her speed to the limit and stabbed towards his heart, however, the white sword in his right hand immediately blocked, and then the black one slashed forwards almost like a coiling snake finally attacking its prey.

"Guh!" Rider jumped backward away from the range of the blade, however, the blades were still capable of easily slashing her flesh as if there wasn't any protection from her magic resistance. Rider gritted her teeth, this was the second time in less than a week that she had to face a servant with monster slaying capabilities.

"Kgh!" Archer kneeled as he felt his Prana capacity get even lower after [Tracing] [Kanshou and Byakuya] but he promptly stood up and set up his guard as he stared at his enemy. Rider however just stared back and just put up her guard. Archer mentally cursed as he noticed that the Prana that was being stolen was being directed to Rider and that she was using it to recover. Before he could think more he felt his prana levels recover and a black sphere flew from behind him made the servant of the mount dodge to the side.

"Thanks for defending me, Archer" Said Rin who had recovered from the massive Prana drain from earlier by using one of her jewels to recover her Od and to cast a simple if tiny bounded field to defend herself from the effects of the bounded field "I have defenses prepared and I will be supporting you from here, you can go crazy now"

Archer just smirked "Such a dictator of a master, I have" and then ran forwards to attack Rider each of his blades moving rapidly and accurately with no wasted movement and no hesitation, almost as if a machine wielded them. Rider counterattacked and rushed to kill Archer with each of her moves, but Archer seemingly read them and countered every single of her moves leading to her accumulating wounds faster than what the stolen prana could help her recover

"Damn useless servant!" Shinji yelled probably watching the battle "Use one of your damn Noble Phantasms!" he screamed desperation in his voice

"Shinji" Growled Rin "So it was you all along!" she yelled

"Of course it was me! Only I would be able to think of a plan to defeat you so completely, so stop being a stupid bitch and give up!" Shinji yelled back

Rider just sighed and moved her hands to her blindfold and took off [Breaker Gorgon] reveling her eyes "[Cybele]!"

Rin and Archer immediately froze and Rin collapsed once more "Mystic eyes!"

Archer looked downwards and saw that his limbs were turning to stone

Part 4

Shirou was checking out the teacher's Break room when it happened. Suddenly Saber grabbed him and pulled him along and one of the desks that were near where he was collapsed while being pierced by a black knife. With inhuman movements that made him nauseous, Saber ran through the school in unnatural speeds and less than a minute later reached the roof, where she dropped him down and instantly turned back to deflect three knives.

"So it isn't going to be that easy, huh?" commented a teen that stood in the roof seemingly waiting for them "Guess it should be as expected of the saber class" The teen was around Shirou's age with dark blue hair and eyes dressed in the Homurahara Academy school uniform "It was a long shot anyway" the teen spoke calmly but with a sense of detachment as if he wasn't here, then the teen extended his arm and raised his voice "EMIYA SHIROU, son of the magus killer, master of saber and survivor of the Fuyuki Fire" Shirou flinched at the first and third title "I've come to reap your life so as to further carve my heroic tale into history, die knowing you are doing so for a greater purpose!" he yelled for the first time appearing focused. This served him well as saber rushed forward and swung her sword to decapitate him only for the sword to just pass through hitting nothing but air.

"Do not be impatient" the teen said with a calmness that seemed to defy the fact that he should have died "My name is Julian Ainsworth and I've come to defeat you SABER" then Julian's leg became black and thorny before his leg moved at speeds that no human should and would have hit Saber if it wasn't for the fact that she blocked with the edge of the blade which should have cut him only for his leg to spark a bit and be completely fine sending Saber flying back crashing against the wall

"SABER!" yelled Shirou rushing towards her but he was stopped by a blade hitting the ground in front of him embedding itself up to hilt in concrete making Shirou turn around to see that the one who originally threw the knives was a colossally muscled man with a black cloak that covered its entire body and bone-white mask with the image of a skull. "Run. Piggy" the masked man said speech broken by obvious madness

And Shirou ran, fear freezing his blood as insane laughter followed him.

Saber analyzed her opponent as confusion settled in her entire being, no human should be able to even dodge her blade or otherwise block it. "Who are you?"

"Didn't I just say so?" Julian smiled and rushed to her throwing an obviously telegraphed punch. Saber raised her blade and once again used its edge to block Julian's fist… only for the punch to hit her liver anyways "Khg" she groaned a little as the hit connected and this time she went through the wall and filled the area with dust and debris obscuring her from sight

"What's wrong? Is this everything a Hero from the grail can accomplish?! Or are you still holding back?!" yelled Julian as he ran towards saber. Only the fact that at that very moment he was intangible saved his life as an invisible blade passed right through his midsection and would have gutted him if it wasn't for Flash Air, yet this didn't deter him and he threw a knee kick anyways yet saber blocked with her right arm revealing that she had only swung with her left arm. The impact was big enough that all the dust in the area was dispelled. Then Saber, in a show of skill in sword fighting, shifted her stance and grabbed her sword and swung her sword upwards.

Julian immediately went for the retreat and tried to turn his entire leg into its reinforced form yet Saber managed to not only cut a hole in his uniform but to also scratch his knee "I see. It takes 1.03 seconds for you to react and turn one of your limbs into that defensive from" analyzed saber. It was inhuman but that was what she had just seen, this teen had gone beyond the biological limit for his reaction time.

"Your abilities are purely defensive" Yet that was enough to match her "but that still doesn't explain how your fist hit me even though I blocked" that was the dangerous part

"I wonder…" He turned his head lightly "if you remember that your master is in danger" he spoke calmly as if the bloodlust he released earlier was a lie "Assassin, Kill Him"

Part 5

The lights within a Certain Hotel flickered once more as a shadow moved through its corridors

The shadow walked without care on top of blood-soaked bodies

"دخ̷̠͎̩̙͖̞͎̘̬̥̳̱͕̫͎̈̑͛̀͌̀͐̾͗̈́͊̒͂̈̕͠͝ل̶̣̾́̆̽̈́͗ ̷̙̯͇̹̘̲͈̟͉̜̺́̎̄̓̂͆̕͘͠ͅا̴̡̧̢̢̢̙̤̹̰̫͔̖͔̻̪̱̎̆̈́̐̎̈̍͠ل̴̡̛̞͖͌͊͋̽̑̽̂͊̚ش̶̙̺̲̬̜̝̞͈̘̋̓́ر̷̝̹̳͑̓͑ ̷̡̛̲̫͇̯̫̫̦͈̄̈̈̈̅̅̋͘͝ت̴̧͈̝̯͇̦̫̮̝͕͊͐͛̋̏͑̂͗̓̈́̈́͌̌̂͗͘̚͜و̵̨̢͚̲͕͚͓͔̏̈́̓͒̋́̔͒́̒͌͠͝ج̵͉͔͇̰̠̩̜͉̠͂̂̈́̽̀̅́̅̇͌̃̈́͋͝د̵̖̹͇͕̔̀̽̾͝ ̵̨̰̣̬̹͎̝͓̦͔͍̗̈́̿̈̐͒̽̿̍̒̏̒͘ق̵̢̡̤̫̈́̑͌͛͊̈́̔͋́̈́́̈͑̍̕و̴̖͙̗̮̼̱̯̤̬͓͊͑̿͆̅̋͆̐͘̕͝͝͠ت̵͓͆̊̈̅́̓̊̚͘ي̷̝̣̰̠͚̗̤͆̎̿̑͊́̿̏̀̎̒̉̍͑͜͝

̴̨͍͖̖̤̮͖̈́͒͊̑͂̌́̃̀͝

̶̛̩̳̟̰͍̰̎̒̔́̆̏̾͒̎̈́̓̎́͝ف̵̯͙̈͊͛̀̃̏͠ي̷̡̛̟͎̟̹̫͚̟͎̞̖̇͋̿͌͋̈́̆͗̂̀̿̚̚͝ ̶̧̨̧̛̜̘̱̹̣̼̩̩͌͌̅̓̆̈́̀͋̈́͌͝ح̶̨̛̠͈͚͉͙̖̜̫͎̰͎̲̞͕̺̺̉̓̔̃͒̓́͋͐̽̕̕͠د̸̨̛͔̻̣͙̥̫̗̺̰͚̆̽̀̅̈́͗̅͋͆͌͘͜و̵̢̧̨̢͚̦͖͇̲̻͚͈͎͇̹̱̰͐̋̃͐̎̚د̵̳̗̹͖͖͖͊́́͛̀̀̅̃̓̅̒̈́͘͠͝ ̴̡͙̩͈̀̀̈́͂͋̈̇͘͝س̸̨̢͙̮͔̭̲̹͖̖̩̟̈́̀ل̵̨̢͖̳͈̟̥̫̰̗̠̮̗̼͝ط̷̛̦͙̳͕͚̳͕̩̅̈̇̋͝ت̶̟̥̣̗̤͇̇́͊̀̕ي̶̢̛̬͍̪̆̀́͝ ̶̲̺̰̻̠̜͚͖̊س̶̢̟̮̝̱̻̘̺̃͂͑́̈́͜ͅͅي̶̤͍̙̓̈́̔͛͑̄́͒̍͗̔͜͜ت̸̛͕̤̍̓م̷̻͕̯̯̘̿̆͛̆̔̂̍ ̸̢̨͎̞̘͓̪̼̱̬̦̦̩̄͊͛̓̏̓̈͛̓̏̏͜ت̶͎͈̫̙̝͙́̓̊͊غ̷̱̲͉̭̏ͅي̴̨̱̼̺͓͚̓͗͊̂̂̋̾̂͝ي̴̛̰̣̙͚͇͎̙̫̩̼̫̟̦̪͈͆̓̽͗̑͜ر̶̧͕̬͚̩̘̙͊̆̍͂̆͋̂̕͠ ̵̢̧̭̲̩̳̳̗̻͙͙̺̻̲̹̽̓͗́̊ا̴̧̛͎̰̫̼̘̺̻̺͈̬͙͍͛͛̀͊́̄̄̀͂̄̄̿̀͘ͅل̵̢̨̛̛̗̼̲̖͎̮̳͉̠̫͓̓̎̐̐̐̎͊͐̋͑̑̕͠ͅك̴̡̢̢̰͚͓̭̻̗͔̣̥̰̜̃̅͂̃̄͘̕ت̴̨̡̡̧̛̞̭͓̤̠͍͓͉͎̘͖͖̙̊͌̏̅͒͝ا̴̭̱̀̐͛̍͂̓͠ͅͅب̸̖̺̭̏͑͆͂̓̈́

̴̢̹͖̦͕̥̂̎͆̅

̶̝̫̹̤̘̙͓̗̂̇ا̵̨̢̢̜͔͙̞͈͓̲̩̐̾̈͊͌͂̂̓̾͊̄̂̔̍̒̕م̵̛̺̟̝̤̻͈͖͔̥̜̐͒́͆̎͊̆̄͑͗̍̎̕̕͠ͅͅس̸̨̨̢͙̫͓͎̳̥̪̟͒͘ͅح̶̛̥̰͚͍̀̉̏̋̈́̀͋̋͌͋͒̏̔͛ ̴̨̧̢̻̫̱̠̼͎̞͒ا̸̦̻̮̬̱̰̂̂̔͘͝ل̸̡̮̱͍̠͖̬̠̭̝̠̭̪̠̉̈̄̇̈̂͊̽̚ͅأ̷̢̠̱̹̜̩̭̝͔̂̋̓̇̒͐͒͊́̀̍̍͒͌͛͝͝س̷͓̊̌م̸̳̣̬̘̥̣̻͎̲͚̟̫̘̣̔̾̀͗́́́̓͐̉͒͘͝ا̵̡̧̻̬͖̼̝̫̣͇̙̱̫̆̽͌̈́̌͑̐̏͘͜͜͜͝ء̵̮̤͑͋̃̓̏͝ ̶̨̜̰̱͕̖̮̖͙̘̦̩̭̼̥̦͋̾̓͆̚͜ا̸̨̬̼͇͔͖̯̟͇̣̖̥͕̝̬̻̏̉ل̵̣͕̮͔̫̰̥̠̺̬͚͍͙̥́͛́͊̋̋̄̇̀̋͂̃̊͌̚͠م̶̥̠͖͕̇̅̆̋̌͑͝͠͝و̴̧̢͎̝͔͇̫̼͔̠̞͚̍͗͛̅̾͊̐̿̆̒̍̄͘ͅج̴̢͍̜̘̮̯̯̤̜͙̳̫̩̦͚͈̠̉و̷̡̦̻͍̞͇̭͔͓̰͑͊̇̍̂͛̊̂̆̓̐̈́͊͋̓͠د̴̧̨͙͔͍̖̣͓̹̙̦̹̀̀̏̑̑̾́̓͐̿̽̈́̊͘͜͠͠ͅة̶̨̢͔͓̙͎̘̞̗̆̆̽̋̂ ̷̭̥̤̭͈̞̮̲̇͒̏͌̉͛̊͒̈́̐̇̃̃͆̒͜͜ͅͅف̶̧̻̮̱̞͓̼̭̺̖̟̠̫̻̀̽̂͝ي̴̥̳̌̈́̑̓̈́̐̎̔͠ͅ ̴̧͇͕̰̼̝͇͈̻͛̓̅͆́̏͆̈́ه̶̙̅̄ذ̷̢͇̱͈͗̓̀̍͜ا̷̨̖̝̼͔͉̦͈̗̲̩͆͐̀͊̄̐͘̚̕͜͠ ̶̧̤͐̽̀̂͐̕͝ا̷̧̧̞͎̱̬̺̯̖̠̓̅͋̏͆̂̒̈́͌̒̕̕̕͘͝ل̶̘̙̜͇̭̊̀̉ͅم̸͇͖͔̮̿͂͊̓͗́͗̑̈̌̃̇̒̿̈́̚̕ج̶̛͚̳̟͆͋̅́̂̏̀̈́̔̑̒̉̆ا̵̛̛̪̯̣͉̭̯͖̫̘̲͋̿̈̈́̍̇̑͗̑̓̕͜͝ل̸̟͎͇̲̙͕̤̽̎

̴̬̘̗̺̺̜̖̞́̔͑͛̉̽̕͠͝͠

̷̗̬̳̒͝ج̷̧̤̩̠̰̤̮͓̦̘̰̺̬͔͈̀̉̀͝ͅل̴̧̛̛̳͚̤̠̦͔̂̓̂̃̈́̐͋̏̿̂̉̚ب̵̯̳͚̥̹̹̹̭͎̿̔̀̚ ̷͇͇̫̫̮̯͎̝̲̪̘̇͑̿͠ͅا̵̤́͊̀ل̴̱̲͕͓͇͔̹͕̣͈̰͖̹̗̤͖͂̅͗̏͘̚̚͘ن̵̨̡̳͖͕̝͓̘͚̫̼̃͋̉̂̂̋̈̏̐̾́̌̈́͜͜͜͝͝س̸̫̖̯̦͈̣̠̊̊͛̽͋̓̅̈́̑̏̽̉͛̀ي̸̧̭̗̼̞̤̐̌̔ا̶̢̛̛̛̮͚̭̙̝̯̟̺̭̳̲͇̻̬̼̓̍̆̍̋̀̈́̈̔̀̒͘ن̶̢͙̫̺̖̙̗̑̽̋͂̇̽͐̀͝

̴̲̈́͊

̴̧̧̧͓͓̥͉̭̬̦̭̫̮́̅͋̀̂̐̿͐̌̒͋̽̆̄͗͜͝ب̷̡̢̧̫͙͚̬̬̝̞͖̹̯̃̅͒̌͋̔ا̸̧̧̧̙͈͙͓͈͕̾̓͛̈́̅̋̆̀́͂̕͜͝ل̷̠̮̩̱̬̻̞̞̩̞̂͒̈́͊̀̇̽̋̓̓͒͘̕ن̴̢̖͚͎̺̕͝ͅس̴̧̮̘̩͚͉̲̝̬͖̹͓̹̟͇͌͆͜͝ب̴̨̛͓̬̣̱̜̺̫̳̩͉͉͒̏̏̿͛̑̎̎͐̀͆̽̋̈̂͜͠ة̸̢̧͇̮̥̻̲̠͓̰͆̏̈̿̓̀͆͋̾̒̓͘͜ ̴̻͓̣̱͕͍̏̀̋̔͊̆̋͂͆̈́́͗͂̓͘͠ل̶̖̬̬̬̩̠͇̽̆͊͒͗̎̂̏̿͒͜ي̶̬̪̮͉̜̲̥̹̟̗̈́

̴̨̧̡̱͔̺̩͉̯̼̮͖̖̠̺̊͆͑͠͝ͅ

̵̢̞̖̼̱̳̪̲̭̺͉͎̔̎̋͌̉̈̍̒̍̈̚͝͝ص̸̨̺̹͓͇͇̫̜̜̬͔̝̞̒̔́́̐̕͘͘ͅب̴̲̗̓̕ا̴̨̛̛̗͙̜͈͎̼̬̝͍̱̮̥̪̹̀̂͑͑̈̌̋͋̅͗̓͊̚͘̕͜ح̴̢̛̹͉̜̝͍̜̰̣͓͔̝͕͚̔͊̈́̃̆͐͋̌͛͌̃̑͜͝ͅا̶̠̜͙̭̳͈̠̻͚̯̫̻̤͉̟̺̯̋

Each word could have been understood clearly, each word was simple and without profanity but if some alive would have been there, they would have destroyed their ears for they would no longer be clean.

END

Well… this is it

Things will considerably get worse before they get better… and you will see why

If things go according to plan things will finally be completely outside Canon, giving me more liberty when it comes to the events that are to come

"This… should be impossible"

"It seems that things got interesting"

"This is GREAT"

"…"

Next Chapter: The Darkness At The End Of The Tunnel