Chapter 9: The Evening bells toll

The church is now visible from here. It reminds me of the night when we met Berserker and Straw Hat. It was a dramatic night that really changed the course of the whole war. On the other hand, it also reminds me of him… I felt quite uncomfortable around him and I am still not happy to see him again. The priest of the church, Kotomine Kirei, is one of the reasons why I do not look forward to when I return to this place. He gives off a feeling that I do not like. He is a strange person who I do not want to meet again on the street during a normal day. However, he is the only person who can answer my questions, because he is the one who oversees the Holy Grail War, although he is not that good at his job in my opinion.

Besides, Archer's warning kind of makes me feel even more uneasy. As I opened the door, Archer was standing on the threshold. He actually wanted to reenter my home, because Fuji-nee had left the house. Hearing that I wanted to go to the church, he suddenly mentioned that this man, Kotomine Kirei, is playing a game with two faces. "Probably", he said, went past me and closed the door to leave me alone in my confusion. Still, this rose my attention, even if I do not like Archer.

I approach the large door of the church and want to open it as I see that it is ajar. Does this mean, someone already was here? No, there is nothing weird here; he is a priest after all, so many people seek for his help. And I am also seeking for advice.

Therefore, I open the door and see that the candles at the altar are still lit. So, he must have talked to someone recently, which means he is still awake.

"Kotomine, where are you? I know you are somewhere around, so show yourself"

"I didn't expect another one to come for me. A pleasant evening to you, Emiya Shirou"

The said man comes out of the back of the church and enters the room. As always, he is absolutely calm and collected, though there is something worrying surrounding his being.

"So, you are still awake?"

"Of course, I am always there to help the lost souls that seek for my help. The same goes to you, so I suspect you have something to ask?"

He quickly gets to the point and guessed the reason for my appearance in an instant. I step forward and close the gap between him and me. Kotomine himself walks over to the altar and now stands in front of me like a preacher, even if he is a false one.

"Yeah, you're right. I came to ask you some things. You are the overseer of the war, so I assume you know a thing or two"

"Everyone who enters this building has a burden in their heart. I try to help them as much as I can and they leave the church satisfied. Or with even more worries. I only share the knowledge I have and the persons have to decide themselves if it was worth visiting or not. I will therefore help you, but don't expect to be relieved afterwards"

This nature of him disturbs me, but I have no choice except to cooperate for the time being.

"I understand. First of all, do you know all the Masters that participate in the war?"

"You were the last one that I needed to know, but I possess this knowledge, that is true. However, I can't share this information with you, I think you are aware of this"

"Yes, I don't need to know the other Masters. I just want to know if you knew that Sakura was a Master"

"Ah, so you found out. Very well, this explains your visit. Yes, I knew that Matou Sakura is a Master in the Holy Grail War, although the eldest son of the Matou was entrusted with the control over the Servant, if I remember correctly"

"So, you knew all about this and you wouldn't do anything? What kind of judge would ignore such an important detail?"

"It is truly morbid fate of the Matou girl, but I cannot interfere in family disputes. I am still just an overseer, so I have no right to settle the feud between them. Additionally, nothing bad happened to her, because her brother is the current Master, right? Oh, congratulations by the way, you defeated them"

"How do you know that?"

Kotomine walks past the altar and now is even closer to me.

"That is easy, you wouldn't be here to ask me this if you wouldn't have defeated the Matou. Only then, you would discover the truth- well the partial truth. Is that all you wanted to ask me?"

He is eager on answering my questions like it amuses him and it disgusts me. Still, I have many other questions that I want to ask, so I cannot leave now.

"No, I also came to ask whether you know of the true nature of the Grail"

The question seems to have a bigger impact than expected, because his eyes glow up like I said something that he genuinely wanted to hear.

"The… true nature of the Grail?"

"Don't pretend to know nothing! I can clearly see that you know more than you want to say"

"You misunderstand, Emiya Shirou. As I said, I always tell you everything I think is useful for my guests. Before I can answer your question, I want to hear what you know of the said true nature"

I take a step backwards. His twisted nature somehow makes me nervous. He is keen on knowing this information and appeared to be unusually… lively when I brought up the topic of the corrupted Grail. I must consider Archer's warning and pay attention to what I say.

"We found out that the Grail is actually corrupted. It is just an evil mechanism to serve evil! It only sucks in the magical energy of the seven Servants, it is neither Holy nor a Grail. It is only a lie. The Grail is a lie."

I do not know how Kotomine is currently feeling. His feelings are so mixed that I am unsure what he might be even thinking about right now.

"I think I must tell you what happened ten years ago"

"What has a story from ten years ago to do with the Holy Grail?"

"Everything. Ten years ago, the fourth Holy Grail War occurred. Usually, the Holy Grail War happens every sixty years, but due to a certain incident, the next war occurred faster than expected"

"The… fourth Holy Grail War?"

Wait, this triggers something within me… the last war, the last war, I think someone said something similar to me today, but what was it and who said it? Wait, I remember! Yes, it was that old man, he told me that my father fought in the last war.

"Did my father really partake in the last Holy Grail War?", I shout to Kotomine. I must know it; did he not tell me or was the old man lying?

It seems like Kotomine is quite satisfied by my question. He looks past me as if he is wallowing in the past.

"Interesting, so you know the truth of Emiya Kiritsugu"

"What? So, it is true?"

"Yes, your father who adopted you indeed was a Master of the last Holy Grail War and so was I"

Wait, did he just say that he was a Master, too?!

"Does that mean, you met him?"

"We were enemies and we fought to the bitter end against each other. He really hated me and our final battle was the expression of our nature and feelings. Unfortunately, I lost the fight and Emiya Kiritsugu emerged victorious. He was the legitimate winner of the Holy Grail War"

"Kiritsugu… won?"

"That is true, however he committed a folly that can never be forgiven. In the last moments, he rejected the Grail and all of its abilities, he even attempted to destroy the Grail"

What? Kiritsugu won the Grail, but he did not use it? Did he already understand the true nature of the Grail, thus he refused or what was the reason? Furthermore, Kotomine shows amusement while telling me this story as if he is talking about his most memorable moment in his whole life.

"After rejecting the Grail and destroying its vessel, the interior of the Grail was escaping it, creating hell on earth. It was that very night… that the mysterious burning incident took place. In other words-"

"It was this night that I witnessed hell and lost my parents. It was this night… that Emiya Kiritsugu came to… save me"

"Indeed. It were his deeds that caused the fire. In that night, I was able to witness the corrupted nature of the Grail. The reason for all this is that All the World's Evil resides in the Grail; Angra Mainyu"

This is impossible… no, that is not true! Is he saying that the Holy Grail is the cause that everything was taken away from me that night? Also, he said… that my very own father is the cause for all of this. I cannot believe this, it is not possible, no. It was his wish to save everyone, to become the hero of justice! This is the dream I inherited from him, so he would never do such a thing. Yet, the false priest is standing there unaffected by this unbearable truth.
…No, this is not right, he is not unaffected but he is reacting in a way that a human should not. It seems like he can barely hold back his laughter; it is as if he is remembering the something special in his life.

"I can reassure you, that this is the absolute truth. The Holy Grail is truly the evilest thing in the world, yet everyone desires it. Don't you agree that this side of humanity is… sacrilegious yet interesting?"

What on earth is he talking about? I still cannot comprehend that the Holy Grail can cause such destruction. I truly have to destroy this sinful thing.

"Is the Grail… also the reason for what happened yesterday in school?"

"Hm?"

Kotomine seems surprised and it makes me furious.

"Answer me, you pseudo-priest and don't play dumb! Is the Holy Grail responsible for the incident that happened yesterday!"

I shouted to him so loud that I am still breathing heavily. He drove me mad, he made me insane. I cannot stand this man and his very being. Still, Kotomine recollects himself and eyes me with his damn smile again that only makes me even angrier.

"Not at all, I was not playing dumb. I was just surprised that another visitor asks me this question this night"

"Another one?"

So, someone really has been here and they… asked him about the Grail, too? Kotomine nods as an answer.

"He was here before you entered the church. The man requested this as well and I will say you the same that I told him: There is no way that the Holy Grail could cause that what happened yesterday"

"That reveals you know what happened back then. Why didn't you do anything about it then as the overseer?"

"The extent of the event was so large that I was no longer in charge of dealing with it. The Mage's Association stepped in and tried to resolve the situation. However, the mages that were sent were not able to find out what happened. That is why the Clock Tower sent a magus to investigate this further. This man was the visitor who wanted to ask me some questions before he began his work"

Someone from the Mage's Association is here? These are bad news, father always told me not to interfere with them. I should try to avoid this person at all cost.

"Tell me, why do you think is it impossible that the Grail caused this event?"

Kotomine goes behind the altar and takes out a chalice in which he pours milk. He raises the chalice and starts walking around me in circles.

"The incident was based on something that is nonmagical. No sort of magic was used for this to happen and I heard that the Association is really upset about it, hence the investigator. The Holy Grail on the other side is an object that uses magic"

"That means?"

"It means the Grail can only interact through magic. Likewise, such a thing can only be accomplished by an advanced magus who utilizes dark magic. To be honest, I suspected it to be a Servant due to its sheer effects"

"A Servant is the cause for all of this?"

"No, as I mentioned there was no magic. A Servant is a Heroic Spirit manifested as an entity based on mana. Like we humans are made of atoms, Servants are dependent on mana. They can also interact with the world without magical energy, but not to this extent. Consequently, it is something unknown"

An unknown force? This… suits the description Straw Hat gave us. He said that it is something apart from magic. Kotomine confirmed the theory now. Speaking of, he drinks the milk and returns to the altar to put down the chalice.

"These were all the question that I wanted to know. I will leave now"

"Oh really? You are not surprised by this? I thought you would be as shocked as you were when I told you the story of the last Grail War"

"Every second that I spend here induces anger and disgust in me. Therefore, I will leave now in order to avoid wasting my time here"

The priest turns around and we both walk away in opposite direction.

"As I said, I tell every visitor all I detest helpful, but it doesn't mean that the information makes them feel better"

Regarding this point he is right. I gained new information, but I do not feel relieved nor better now. This conversation only rose more questions.

"Whatever, I will surely not come back to this place"

We peacefully part and I make my way to the door which I through entered. I want to open the door, but before I can get a finger on it I get blasted away.

"What the-"

The door is ripped of its hinges and flies over to the other side of the church leaving a path of destruction behind it. Hidden within the dust of the blast, someone rushes in and quickly advances forward. Meanwhile, I am lying on one of the banks and try to stand up again to defend myself from whatever has entered the church. I hear metal clashing against each other and as soon as the dust settles I see-

"Kotomine!"

A man with indigo colored hair tied in a long ponytail has attacked Kotomine with a katana. He wears a traditional light purple umanori hakama and kimono, light purple tabi and black zori with purple haori and tekkou. Despite this sudden attack, Kotomine… parried the blow with three short blades, although he immediately steps back to avoid another hit.

"It is forbidden for a Servant to attack the regulator"

The swordsman lowers his sword and lifts his head.

"I am truly sorry, but this is the command of my Master, so I can't object"

Out of the blue, another person appears next to the Servant. It is a woman that resembles the typical witch that you would expect from a fairy tale. She wears a bluish-purple robe and hides her face with a hood. She giggles before she puts a hand on the swordsman's shoulder.

"It is a nasty job, but it has to be done. I recommend you to be cooperative while we kidnap you"

Kidnap… Kotomine? He throws his blades at both intruders and jumps away as the swordsman swings his sword towards Kotomine.

"I don't think I can agree with your plans. I am sorry, but I have to ask you to leave this church immediately"

The woman who appears to be a witch seems to be pissed off.

"I just asked for your cooperation to make things easier and you decline? Very poor choice; then I will have to capture you by force. Assassin, get him!"

"As you please"

The swordsman, revealed as Assassin, runs to Kotomine and plunges out his katana to pierce him. However, Kotomine was able to avoid fatal damage by moving to the left, but the sword still pierced his shoulder. Assassin pulls out his sword again and Kotomine reaches out for the wound with his right hand.

"I thought you wanted to kidnap me and not kill me"

"As far as I was informed, you can endure much pain. Therefore, there is no problem to inflict a little damage to you", the weird woman said. She suddenly speaks something so fast that I cannot understand that it seems like she could beat the record of the fastest speaking person with ease. After she finished her chant, several creatures appeared who look like skeletons, albeit their bones are pitch black and they also carry a lance that is the same material as themselves. They target Kotomine and he can barely escape them by rolling away and dodging them.

"It is no use, give up now"

I must do something right now or Kotomine will get killed. I do not like him, hell I would rather like to punch him straight into his face, but I also cannot let someone die if I could do something. I have to summon Saber right now!

"Saber! With my command spell-"

A lance is thrust against my hand and I am stuck between the benches. I cannot end the sentence due to the pain and I am unable to escape at all now. I try to get the thing out of my hand with all my might; why must I always get hurt when I want to summon Saber with my command spell? A shadow darkens my field of view and I turn my head around, just to see the witch standing before me.

"My, my, very interesting. You had a guest as I can see. It is a young innocent boy"

Kotomine quickly looks to me and proceeds to escape the creatures and Assassin. However, he throws one of his blades towards the bench and it is stuck in the wooden planks just as I am.

"Rejoice! Use this to defend yourself"

I understand, he threw me one of the blades as a support. I immediately pull out the blade and aim for the woman who blocks it with a shield.

"I must disappoint you, but this is useless"

She attacks me with something that causes the whole bench to explode.

"Ah! Khh-"

Although I suffered some injuries from it, I was freed from the bench, so I quickly get up and face the woman with the blade.

"Oh, daring, aren't we? Hehehehehe, I will show you that your efforts will result in your end"

She raises something that looks like a staff and a sphere of destruction forms above it. It gets larger and larger and I realize what is awaiting me, so I step back.

"Frightened?"

"Who the hell are you?"

The witch giggles as the sphere grows.

"An enemy of course. I assume you are a Master, too? Well, one enemy less to deal with"

I turn around in an attempt to run away as she moves her staff and the sphere that is now as large as I am follows the movement. However, there is no possibility I can run away, so I throw myself at the ground, thus the sphere does not hit me. To my surprise, I see that the sphere changed its direction.

"It's target-seeking!", the woman says.

I can only watch as my end is nearing. When this thing hits me I will die, it is the undeniable truth. It will all end here, I knew this church and its priest would cause me troubles!

"Damn you, why are you even doing this?"

"Be quiet, corpses don't talk"

The sphere is approaching me with increasing speed and I accept my end as suddenly… a shield pops up before me. It is a flat circle that is yellow colored. I was saved! I did not get killed! Somehow… I am still living. The sphere explodes nonetheless and half of the benches are destroyed.

"What? How were you able-"

SNAP

The ground surrounding the woman stands up and tries to crush her. However, she can stop the attack with a full body shield around her.

"…wait. What the-"

"Just who are you?"

Someone grabs my arm and lifts me up. He runs away, dragging me along.

"Hey stop, what are you doing?"

I look up to the person to see a man with long black hair and a red coat. Golden ornaments are hanging down his shoulder.

He runs over to the altar and throws me against it.

"Ouch! Couldn't you have been a little bit softer when you, well you know throw me against something?"

"Shut the fuck up and don't move!"

Woah, woah, woah this guy is using some heavy language there. Still, I don't go away as he said to me.

The skeletons noticed us and now casually approach. To my surprise, the strange swearing man can hold them off by creating a wall of… some kind of gray liquid.

"Kotomine, where are you?"

"You mean this guy?"

It was Assassin's voice. He emerges from the darkness showing us his katana… which has pierced Kotomine's stomach! He is stuck onto it like a popsicle.

"Kotomine!", I shout.

He is bleeding very strongly but still conscious, although he is about to lose it. He raises his arm.

"I command La-"

Suddenly he is pierced by a beam of the woman's staff. Kotomine's arm falls down unconscious. The witch approaches Assassin and raises her arm, causing the skeleton enemies to stop attacking. They dissolve and create a pool of ashes on the ground.

"We are done here, Assassin. Head back. Stick to the plan"

"Wait, you can't just go away now" the strange man who protected me exclaims.

"Yes, I understand"

Assassin nods and the woman giggles devilish.

The man fires a beam of bright light towards them but it hits the wall of the building as Assassin fades away with Kotomine while the strange woman dodges it.

"You are not on my level. I will end this quickly"

"I don't think so. It is true that my magic is mediocre. However, I have other methods to achieve what I desire… Gray NOW!"

Suddenly, a girl bursts out of the dust of the battle and she… fires something at the witch.

"Unfair, no one told me that there will be other people besides you"

She points at me while she creates a barrier to stop the beam from hitting her.

"Great, keep her in check!"

The girl turns around and nods towards the strange man, but something bothers me… She looks so familiar. Yes, she looks like Saber! She has the same face.

"Saber!"

"Hm, what are you talking about? That person is Gray, my personal assistant. Wait a minute…"

The man views my hand with my Command Spells.

"You are… a Master? Well, will you finally summon your Servant now? Why didn't you do it earlier?"

"I would have liked to, but there was a surprise attack and then those skeletons and the lance and, and…"

"Enough! I see, you are an unexperienced magus. You will never reach the Grail"

"Hey, you can't decide that, that is solely my problem! How do you know of the Grail War to begin with?"

"I know more than you would assume"

"Sir, get away from there!"

While we engaged into a heated discussion, the other girl resembling Saber tried her best to fight the witch. We did not pay attention and now the witch somehow escaped from the fight. She stands right before us with a knife and seems ready to make use of it.

"Your discussions annoy me! I will end this now; I will end both of you now"

The long-haired man pushes me away in an attempt to save me and I fall down on the floor. I can only witness how she will kill him right in front of me. Again, again, again am I not able to save someone. Once again, I can do nothing at all to prevent someone getting harmed. I am useless.

"Sir, NO!", the other girl screams.

It is useless, she is even farther away than I am. I cannot help him nor can anyone else. He will be killed.

The witch strikes down her knife, the man has already accepted his fate, as… an arrow hits the knife and it falls down.

"What?"

"At least I got here in time to prevent you from dying"

Everyone in the church turns around to look at the origin of the arrow. He stands in the entrance while he still holds up his bow. There is no doubt, Archer came to save us.

"Archer, what are you doing here?", I yell at him.

"Archer? So, this is the Archer of this Grail War?"

The Foreigner who saved my life is relieved and exhales, since he escaped from death. The girl who has a similar face to Saber reaches the man and almost crashes into him.

"Gray, hold on. I almost tripped over"

"I thought you would die! I am really sorry that I was not able to protect you, Sir! It is my fault"

For the first time, I see the unknown man smiling. He is apparently quite happy.

"Don't worry, it is not your fault. We're interfering in something more dangerous than anything else we encountered before. I should've considered this, I am really sorry"

"Oh, how touching, but could we talk about a moment who you are? This young boy said you are Archer, but to me you are rather actually Satan"

"What, no! I'm not Satan!"

Archer's bow dissolves and he wields his twin blades now. They are… really convenient; somehow, I must admit that I like them. He is about to rush forward as Tohsaka enters the stage behind him. She is visibly exhausted as hell.

"Ah, ah, we made it, we came in time, right? Archer, I see you took… care… of… what happened here?!"

Tohsaka is stunned by the view in front of her. Well, I cannot blame her. Basically, the church is half destroyed and there are two strangers, me and a woman that looks like a witch. I think that is truly a sight that she did not expect.

"Tohsaka, where are the others?"

"Tohsaka?", the man who still stands next to me asks.

I quickly get up and attempt to run over to Tohsaka and Archer, but the man stops me from doing so by raising his arm.

"You got almost killed by that witch, so you should not act brainless now or you will lose your head. Gray, protect us"

"Understood, Sir"

The girl named Gray gets in front of us and out of the sudden she holds a big scythe that she should not be able to carry.

"Rin, I told you to stay back. You should not get harmed, wasn't that the plan?"

"Something changed my mind, but I will explain this later. Consider this as a surprise change of plan"

"That's not how plans work, Rin!"

"Oho, is this the Master of Satan?"

Oh, I forgot. The witch is still around.

"I am not Satan!"

With immense speed, Archer rushes towards the witch.

"An Archer attacking someone in melee combat? What kind of twisted Servant are you?"

She speaks something very fast again and another skeleton warrior emerges from the ground.

"An Archer should know his place, this dragontooth warrior will suffice to fend you off"

She is so sure about that plan that she does not even attempt to step aside. How foolish of her, Archer kills the skeleton warrior effortlessly and nothing protects her now.

"Impossible!"

The woman tries to teleport, but Archer is faster and is able to hit her shoulder, hence she falls down.

"Argh, what kind of Archer are you that you are so strong in melee combat?"

"If you underestimate me, your will die rather quickly. Rin?"

He looks over his shoulders to Tohsaka who nods. This is the executioner's final decision. However, there is something odd… why does the witch smile?

"I've still got a trump card and you exposed yourself now. Brilliant, you fell right into the trap"

She pulls out a strange knife out of her robe. It is no ordinary knife, as much as I can tell judging by its form. The blade of the knife, which shines in various colors, is formed like a thunderbolt. It is absolutely cumbersome for a knife, so what is her plan?

"Gray, stop her!", The man orders the girl.

"Yes, Sir!", she retorts and jumps forward to the witch. She swings her scythe which gained size.

"Rule Breaker!", the woman shouts and swings the knife in the direction of Archer.

Luckily, the girl with the scythe is able to block off the attack before it can hit Archer. She looks up to him who already held up his blades.

"Are you okay?"

"Well, thank you, but I actually saw it coming already. Still, I acknowledge your help"

The witch draws her knife back and moves away from Archer and the girl who blocked her off.

"I knew this would result in a failure, but I didn't expect that more people would show up. However, our goal is accomplished, so I will leave now"

"Wait, why did you attack the regulator in the first place!"

The witch turns around and views me surprised. Well, I guess she is surprised, judging by her open mouth. I guess, she has forgotten me already.

"Oh sorry, it is forbidden for me to answer this question as it is written in my job description. We will surely meet again, but for now playtime is over"

With these words, she dissolves in the same manner as Assassin did. He was indeed right, whoever enters this church has no guarantee to return satisified.