If there was any waiting for major characters to start getting brutally killed, the wait's over.
It was night in the bar, with the only light being that from the moon. The door to the stairway groaned open and Anna came out into the main area. The Strain chose to wear her lion pajamas, where the hood is the lion's head, tonight. "Lancer? Are you awake?"
The knight was laying on the couch by the window. He was using the pillow and blanket Izumo gives the Servant every night before leaving for his apartment. The first night he said it was "great to have a wolf guardin' downstairs and a lion upstairs". The demigod seemed to wake up immediately and looked at the young Clansmen, able to see in the dark like an animal. "Anna? What're ya doin' up?"
Anna looked fidgety. "Did I interrupt a dream you were having?"
"No. I just finished havin' one a while ago. Anyway, shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I had a nightmare so I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to disturb Mikoto because he's still recovering, so I wanted to see if you were up. Sorry if I disturbed you."
"It's fine since Servants don't need to sleep. Now, mind tellin' me about your nightmare? I'll see what I can do to help."
She walked slowly over to the Servant. "You and Mikoto had been killed, ripped to pieces. It was so bad that even we couldn't identify either of you right away. I probably had it because you two came back really hurt."
Lancer wrapped his arms around her small frame. "I promise that will never happen. I refuse to allow it. This War will end in Mikoto's victory. I guarantee it." He held her closer to his body and used one hand to stroke the girl's hair. How could someone so kind and gentle be regarded as a demon, Anna wondered. And yet, in her mind, she heard the phantom rattling of chains.
Kiyohime was burning Anchin alive, her dragon body coiled tightly around the bronze bell he had tried hiding under in the temple she followed him into. She still cried over his betrayal of her trust, but it was unable to be seen among the flames.
Why did he lie to me? I loved him, I loved him, I loved him, he betrayed me, I was sad, I was sad, I was sad I was sad I was sad, I hate him I hate him I hate him hate hate hate hate hate hate hate...So I burned him alive.
There was a lump next to him in the futon and it felt like something was holding onto the King. He peeled back the covers to reveal Berserker snuggled up to him and latched tightly onto his midsection. But what he noticed immediately was that all her clothes were dematerialized.
"Berserker, why are you sleeping in the futon with me while completely naked?"
The dragon slowly awoke at the sound of Ichigen's voice. "Hmm?" Then she woke up and gave the man a sweet smile. "Good morning, Master. I know you just woke up, but," she climbed over him, "feel free to do whatever you please to me now."
Even though she was born long before Ichigen was, he still couldn't help but merely see Berserker as a child. "I'm sorry, but I can't."
"N-no! I can't! Now get out of my room!"
Tears hit the brunette's face. "Please...Not again..." Berserker whimpered. "Don't do this to me again!" It was then Ichigen saw the Servant is just a girl sporting a broken heart. Anchin should've been upfront about his rejection of her instead of lying. It might have prevented her from going to such an extreme.
The King proceeded to pull the 14-year-old into a tight embrace. "It's alright. I may not feel the same way you do about me but I won't just abandon you." He didn't even realize she had materialized her blue kimono and white stockings.
It was strange, but her Master's words seemed to melt away her anger, something she never thought possible.
"Please make me a promise." Berserker said as she pulled back and extended her pinky to the King. "Promise to at least stay by my side until the War's end."
Ichigen smiled and locked his pinky with hers. "I swear I'll remain at your side until the end."
"If you ever break the promise, you'll pay with your life." Then she stood up and gave her Master a giant grin. "I'll make sure your breakfast is extra-special!"
"I'll be looking forward to it."
The poison from the arrow in the thigh of his horse half burned at his insides like fire. He groaned as he sunk to the rocky ground.
The centaur wasn't even aware of his surviving brethren galloping away. It may sound cold of him, but he actually didn't care how many of them died. He had always disliked them for being a bunch of vulgar barbarians, making a point of warning all his students, who he saw as his own children, to stay away from them. The only good one is Pholus.
His student, Heracles, locked eyes with his beloved teacher and member of his own family. The bow was lowered and the young man looked absolutely horrified at what he'd just done.
Chiron weakly reached out to Heracles, who turned and sprinted away in shame, tears flying from his eyes as he did so. "Wait...Please come back..." he said, his voice just above a whisper.
"So...that's how my Servant died," Reisi murmured after waking up. Reading about the Servant and actually seeing those events play out are two different things.
This isn't his first dream about his Servant; rather, the fourth. The last dream had been about a sparring session Archer had with Achilles. The green-haired child clearly didn't like Pankration lessons for some reason, only the martial art itself.
He grabbed his glasses and put them on over his violet eyes. Reisi was currently resting in a bed of the main building of Tsubaki-mon, him refusing to go to the hospital.
Archer, skilled at medicine except for curing poisoning from a hydra, had made some medicine for his Master to take in order to heal the internal damage Lancer caused. The amount of blood Reisi lost was a bit concerning, so he also received a blood transfusion just in case.
He got his uniform on, slowly so as to not aggravate his wounds. His blue trenchcoat helped ward off the chill of winter in the air. The cravat he wore pressed uncomfortably against the part of the white button-up shirt covering the bandaged burns on his neck. An itching sensation from his healing injuries crawled up his body like a bunch of spiders. However, he failed to find his saber where he left it. He knows he can use another if he really needs to, but it felt the most comfortable to use Sirius.
The Blue King shakily made his way to his office, one hand pressed against the wall to keep himself upright. He was still incredibly sore but he needed to get to work. Inside the office, his Servant was talking to his lieutenant. Both stopped to turn their attention to the man limping in.
"Captain, please return to bed," Seri said, worry in her voice.
"I'm alright. Besides, I have work to get to."
"No. I'm Acting Captain today. The others agree that you should take the day off to rest. Depending on how much you've recovered, you can return to work tomorrow."
"But I'm fine!" Now he was whining like a little kid.
Seri crossed her arms. "No means no!" She said it like a mother to a child caught playing around when they should be doing homework, leaving no room for argument.
"I'll head out into the city. You shouldn't have a problem with that."
She sighed in defeat. The King can be really stubborn sometimes. "Fine. Just don't get into any scuffles and be back here by tonight for your next dose of medicine." She looked at the King's Servant. "Archer, you're going with him. I'm counting on you to keep him out of trouble. Don't be afraid to manhandle him if necessary."
A young Cú Chulainn went up to his uncle, the king of Ulster. "I wanna become a full Red Branch Knight!"
The king narrowed his eyes. Though this was his nephew, he isn't going to show favoritism. It doesn't matter that Cú Chulainn strangled to death the top guard dog in the nation, he won't send a child to an early death. "What good can come from a child like you becoming a warrior? Focus on growing up healthy first."
One red eye twitched. "What?!" Something in the young hound snapped. In his fit of rage, he wound up smashing all the spears in the castle as well as a chariot. He stomped over to the king, who had checked out what had been done and was struck speechless at the damage this kid just caused. "Now try tellin' me one more time I ain't strong enough to be a warrior!"
Mikoto went down to the bar after getting himself ready for the day. His Servant and Clansmen were cleaning the remainder of the blood on the floor. Izumo had thought it all got cleaned up last night, but the morning light revealed a few other spots. Lancer looked up from helping mop. "Mikoto. Why're ya givin' me a weird look?"
"It's from the part of your past I saw."
"...What was it about?" the Servant asked slowly.
"What I saw was..." The King went on to state the details of the part of Lancer's past he saw, at which red bloomed on the wolf's cheeks, him chewing on his lower lip with one fang and averting his eyes. The other young men of the bar broke out laughing.
Rikio grinned. "Threatenin' a king, oh boy!"
Shouhei chuckled. "You were a little rebel in the old days, weren't ya?"
Lancer was both glowering and blushing. "I was a stupid little kid back then, alright! Uncle just pissed me off is all! I bet y'all did stupid shit at that age as well!"
"Throwin' that big of a tantrum isn't on the list!" Saburouta managed to say while laughing his ass off. "I can't believe how short of a fuse you used to have! Ya really mellowed out in comparison!"
Eric was still laughing a little. "Did anyone else have to suffer that kind of wrath?"
"My charioteer did a little, my childishness every now and then bein' partially why he gave me lip and had a flippant attitude towards me. I'm 100% sure he did it because he knew I wouldn't get physical on him. That's 'cause Láeg Riangabar was my childhood friend. He always referred to me as Cucu or Little Hound. He was also the one who made my collar. It's that ring of metal around my neck when I'm in my Servant outfit. Almost lost it on him for what he was tryin' to insinuate. But I put it on since it's a friend who made it." However, even someone like Lancer had a hard time resisting the urge to strangle the charioteer for that one stunt he pulled.
"Hey, Caster!" Neko called out to the fox.
"What is it?" She said it without looking up from the food she was cooking.
"Can you materialize your mirror real quick? I need to use it to check myself for school."
This time, Caster looked up. "That is my weapon!" What the hell does this human-shaped cat think her Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu is?!
"Does it really matter? It still has a reflective surface. And I don't want the student council chewing me out again!"
"Wearing your school uniform properly shouldn't be that hard!"
Back when Okada was still alive, he was a sellsword. He would be hired for bodyguard duty or to carry out assassinations. He was eventually introduced to Ryouma Sakamoto and the two became the best of friends.
Some time later:
"Ryouma, you bastard!" Okada screamed at the top of his lungs from the prison. It's all because of that piece of shit traitor that he was beheaded in the end!
Daikaku was currently in a seiza, and had gotten so comfortable he had fallen asleep.
"Were ya really so bored?"
The elderly man opened his eyes to see a casually-smirking Assassin leaning against the wall on the other end of the room in his Servant outfit. In one of the Servant's hands was a half-empty bottle of some kind of alcohol. So he was merely spending time at the Tower's bar.
"You're back early."
Assassin pushed off the wall and began walking along the wall on the other side of the room. "Is that so wrong?" He stopped when his eyes landed on a framed picture Daikaku has on top of his drawer. He's seen pictures of the King when he was younger, so he was able to identify the one with the black hair as his Master, but didn't know the other two standing by him. "Who're these people in the picture with ya?"
Daikaku walked over to where his Servant stood. "Adolf K. Weismann and Dr. Klaudia Weismann. They were my friends from my time in Germany during WWII. Weismann was the one who discovered how to use the Dresden Slate to bestow great power onto people, first testing it on mice in the König Project. However, his intention was not to create an army of superhumans but rather to have it unite the world."
Assassin snarled a little. "Friends...They can be worthless traitors when push comes to shove...Better to not have 'em."
"...You're bitter about being sold out by your friend, Sakamoto."
"He's no friend of mine..!" Then Assassin's attention landed on another picture on the bookshelf. It had an older Daikaku standing next to a man with brown hair. Both were grinning as the picture was taken. The unknown person was wearing a black kimono and holding a yellow rabbit mask in one hand. "An Usagi?"
Daikaku noticed the swordsman staring at the photo. His voice noticeably got thick, like he was trying to hold his emotions in. "Yes...a former one..." Before Assassin could ask for more details, the Gold King walked out of the house.
Misaki was laughing so hard that tears were building in his eyes. "Just found somethin' Lancer sucks at! He can't do the jumps and other tricks on a skateboard that I do!"
Lancer was blushing hard and looking away in shame. "Gimme a break! I don't instinctually know how to do that shit since I don't have the Ridin' skill!" What he said was heavy with his Irish accent.
"I though you Servants received a shit ton of information 'bout the modern world from the Grail," Izumo pointed out while smirking.
"Simply ridin' the skateboard is fine. But I need instruction to do other things on it."
The Blue King and Archer were wearing casual clothes while going through the city. Archer wanted to wear a suit, but Reisi convinced his Servant to wear a yellow shirt with a blue blazer and jeans. The tail was tucked into the jeans. The suit thing would be a problem because they not only didn't have one at the base for muscular people 179 cm tall but they were only going shopping and not to a fancy party.
They had just finished lunch when Seri decided to check in with Reisi on his PDA. A minute later, the King hung up with a sigh. Archer chuckled. "Your lieutenant's worried about you. It must be nice to have such a caring subordinate."
"She acts like a strict mother to me every now and then." Archer chose not to reply, knowing through dreams about his Master that Seri seems to get annoyed at her boss for doing puzzles, crosswords, or making tea instead of actual work. Saruhiko's usually the only one with the balls to call him out on it, but sometimes Seri will give her superior a piece of her mind.
"Speaking of her, earlier today Mr. Doumyouji had prepared some sweets for me to try, although I'll wager Mr. Kamo did most of the work...then Ms. Awashima entered the room, armed with anko..."
Reisi adjusted his glasses with a sigh. "Don't tell her I said this. Even though I enjoy sweets, that doesn't mean I enjoy her drowning my food in anko."
Archer chuckled. "How could you not enjoy it?"
Reisi's next move surprised the centaur. He moved his face close to the Servant's. "So you enjoy having to eat a meter-high pile of that dark substance every single day for three years?"
"Master, your face is really close to mine..." Archer said while blushing. Their faces were so close that they were almost kissing. The Servant could smell what he suspected on the King's breath. There was a hint of tar; does the man smoke?
The violet-eyed man smirked in a seemingly seductive way. "Oh? Does this bother you?"
The centaur averted his gaze, still blushing. "Master, I'll tell you again that I'm just a Servant, a tool to help you win. Nothing more."
"I've never seen you as just a humanoid weapon." Reisi pulled his face back. "I was merely teasing you to see what reaction I can manage to draw out. You aren't one to often show emotion. But the fact I see you as my friend remains true."
Archer was somewhat speechless. The man was very blunt with saying that.
Some time later, the two came across three stray cats. While they went up to Archer and let him pet them, they hissed and bolted as soon as Reisi approached. The man chuckled.
"Animals...They've always seemed to dislike me for some reason."
Eventually, Reisi and Archer stood in front of a glasses store.
"Why are we here? Do you need to update your prescription?" Archer asked.
"There's nothing wrong with my lenses," Reisi replied as the two went in. "I occasionally go into a glasses store to browse the frames available. However, I'd like to try some along with you."
Archer had a feeling this isn't a hobby of his but rather his way of trying to kill time. Still, all the Servant said was, "My eyesight is of the highest quality among the other Servant Classes."
"I never said we'd actually get glasses to buy. After all, I have no intention of changing the ones I'm wearing. I only said we'd try on some frames."
Reisi was picking out frames for the two to try on. He first decided to use red frames to complement his partner's forest green eyes. The next pair Reisi put on his Servant, the dark blue haired man actually chuckled a bit. He genuinely sounded amused. It was nice to hear. "What is it, Master?"
The chuckles died down a little. "Sorry. It's just that those frames make you look a little like Mr. Fushimi."
This caused Archer to glance in the mirror. The frames were black and square just like Saruhiko's.
After a bit, the two went outside. Reisi spoke first. "I would've liked to make you a SCEPTER 4 Clansmen. But you said that your time here is temporary and that you've already sworn your loyalty to me. Seeing as how supernaturally powerful you are, I suppose there's no need to make your affiliation with the Blue Clan official. However, you Servants aren't completely invulnerable, allowing you to be taken out of the War, but aren't you people still immortal?"
"In a sense. We may be immortal, but we are also ephemeral existences at the same time. Alaya - what actually has Authority for its half of the Counter Force, Gaia having the Authority of the other half - keeps the actual Heroic Spirit in the Throne of Heroes or Counter Guardians as a record and it only sends out a copy to help defend the Human Order - humanity itself - from going extinct. So even if that person gets 'killed', a new one can be sent out. Even if we survive to the end of a Grail War, a Master is our anchor while the Grail is the reason we're here. Once the War ends, the surviving Servant fades after claiming their prize."
"I see. That must be why you people are so powerful."
"It depends on the situation. We use only the necessary amount of power for the given scenario. However, the Grail takes a small portion of our full power, a small group of Heroic Spirits capable of destroying whole continents as collateral damage even without using a destructive Noble Phantasm."
"I never knew the world set up defenses."
"Protecting the world is Gaia's concern. It and Alaya are constantly at odds with each other since humans are seen as a threat to the planet."
Then the King saw a certain someone browsing through a shop window and went over to them. "Mother, what brings you out here?"
She turned her head and beamed a smile at seeing the man. "Shopping and - What happened to your face?!" She referred to his bandaged left cheek. But if she thought that was bad, she may have a heart attack if she saw just how many wounds her son has all over his body. Archer had just walked over and stood by his Master.
"Merely a work-related accident. It's nothing to be concerned about." He glanced at Archer. 'Please call me Reisi around her. I don't want to convince her we don't have some strange relationship going on.' He turned his eyes back to the woman. "Mother, this is Archer. He's a friend of mine from overseas."
"I'm Kohaku Munakata, Archer."
"So this is your mom? What a lovely woman."
She began blushing madly. "Oh, Reisi! Your friend is such a flatterer!" She turned her head to her head. "Since I ran into you, you have to come to the house!"
"I will someday."
"Don't be shy!" She wasn't leaving any room for argument. "You haven't come home in a couple years! Besides, your brother, sister-in-law, and their children are at the house as well! It'd be a pleasant surprise! You should also come, Archer!"
Archer laughed nervously. "I wouldn't want to impose."
"It's no trouble at all!"
"We never talked about what you want from the Grail?"
Lancer looked at his Master. Both were currently in Mikoto's room. "A wish? Don't have one, though I might be able to come up with somethin' if we win it." That was true. While he actually doesn't have his own wish to be granted by the Grail, Lancer only being in this to fight other heroes, he'll claim the Grail for Mikoto's sake since he has a wish to offer it.
"Your wish for the Holy Grail wouldn't be to get rid of Riastrad?"
"I may be keepin' Riastrad tucked away for everyone's safety, but I don't wanna be rid of it. As I said yesterday, I've already accepted it as a part of me. It's partially to thank for makin' me who I am now. You've seen that I seem like a different person when I get riled up. While most is from my mindset as a Celt, the other piece is a fragment of Riastrad, though it's much milder from when I was alive. It isn't severe enough for me to transform or to be unable to distinguish friend from foe. That's a part of me so it isn't somethin' I wanna do away with."
"There's somethin' else I wanted to question you about. Ya mentioned a sword ya had when ya were alive. Well, I did a search on Fragarach. It's a sword forged by gods that was originally owned by Manannán, god of the sea, and could only be used by those it considers worthy. If held at someone's throat, that person is unable to tell a lie. That's why it was nicknamed The Answerer [That Which Comes Later Cuts First]. But there wasn't much about how the sword is in battle. Ya owned it after Lugh gave it to ya, so do ya know if it can do anything else?"
"It can. I used it in battle unlike Dad. He used his spear, Brionac [The Five Roaring Stars] , in combat. The sword could launch from its sheath without me havin' to touch it, but it has another nifty trick. Fragarach [Gouging Sword of the War God] is a conceptual weapon that changes the order of events so the attack is sent out after the enemy's yet hits the heart first. And since it's like it killed the enemy before they used their attack, the attack fades into nothingness, earnin' it the nickname The Retaliator."
"A conceptual weapon?"
"A weapon able to manipulate a natural law of the world. Gáe Bolg is one, able to alter cause and effect. I'm sure that if I got summoned as a Saber, Fragarach would possibly be my Noble Phantasm even though I didn't use it much, only on a few occasions. I preferred to use my demonic sword. Hell, I only used Gáe Bolg twice when I was alive." Mikoto knew those two times were on Ferdiad and Connla.
It was lunch break and Adolf retreated into the faculty lounge.
"The day's half over," came a disembodied voice. Caster was accompanying her Master in spirit form. "No one else is here...Are you sure you don't want me to materialize? I'll let you feel my mana tanks while you eat."
The King blushed a bright red and pulled out his lunch. The first time Adolf brought out the bento Caster made for his lunch, one of the teachers exclaimed "That's an impressive lunch, Weismann! You get married?" Caster may be modest about her cooking skills, but they were truly extraordinary. His catalyst, a small fragment of the Killing Stone that Tamamo's corpse became, looks to have been a good one. She was most likely also being modest about her fighting ability. She's a Caster Servant from the Age of the Gods after all. She uses witchcraft instead of magecraft, which is able to ignore Magic Resistance, so who knows what spells she has in stock? But, while it wasn't totally overwhelming, the Servant seems to continually desire her Master to do these kinds of intimate things with her. It seems to be from her desire to be the Good Wife like when she was alive. "I'm sure! Besides, another teacher might decide to walk in and see me groping you!"
"Fine, but you'll desire my body someday. After all, I'm a tool that'll see to your every need."
"I refuse to treat you as some kind of object! You're a person!"
"..."
"Caster?" Adolf was somewhat unnerved by the fox's sudden silence.
"You're so noble and that's why I love you!" Did she phrase it like that only the have him reply like that? "But remember the door's always open if you want to take this relationship to the next level."
Adolf sighed and began eating. "Fine."
"Here's a new bar addition," Lancer said when he emerged in the bar after playing with Anna. The other Clansmen and Mikoto were chatting and laughing with each other. Playing with Anna actually reminded Lancer of this.
"Huh? What'll it be?" Izumo asked.
"You'll see." Lancer quickly laid three runes onto the floor. From the runes sprouted a wolf with a coat of pure-white fur. This took everyone by surprise.
"A wolf?!" Izumo exclaimed, eyes wide. "We can't have wolf in here! I can't believe you thought this was a good idea! Get rid of it!" Anna, who wasn't scared at all, was making puppy-dog eyes at the blond in an attempt to make him back down from this decision. Izumo groaned and looked at Lancer. "Ugh...Is it at least tame?"
"Don't worry, it won't pounce on you guys unless ya treat it badly. It's also a spirit so it has the same physiology as me." The wolf was sniffing Kousuke and Anna, who both decided to pet it. "Like me, it's classified as a Ghost Liner familiar, but it's only as strong and durable as a normal wolf since it's an Animal Spirit. I'm the mage it's relying on the mana of to survive."
"So why're ya referrin' to the wolf as an it?" Yõ asked.
"The wolf's genderless."
"It seems to understand what we say," Kousuke said after having just ordered the white animal to not jump into a booth. It immediately complied, sitting down.
"The familiar has the same language knowledge I do, so it can understand everything said around it." He looked down at Anna, who looked about to ask the knight a question. He already guessed what it would be. "It can't speak human languages though. Sorry, Anna."
"So what's it here for?" Masaomi asked.
"It's meant to be a companion for Anna at night. She had a nightmare, but I couldn't just stop guardin' the place to stay in bed with her. And she avoided goin' into your room 'cause you were still healin'," Lancer glanced at Mikoto when he said that. "This is in case that kinda situation happens again."
"But shouldn't ya still be able to sense someone breakin' in?" Izumo pointed out.
"To be honest, I dunno. I have a soft spot for kids, so I tend to let my guard down if I'm with 'em." He glanced at the small Strain. "Ya ain't allergic, right Anna?"
"You ask after creatin' it?" Izumo grumbled with a facepalm.
Lancer laughed. "I would've dispelled it if she is! But seriously, is she?"
"She isn't."
"Then it needs a name." The demigod looked at Anna. "It's meant for you, so you pick the name."
Anna was scratching the wolf behind the ears while gazing at it with a gentle expression. "Its name will be Kiba."
Izumo just took out a cigarette. "Kiba'd better not scare away my customers or we're gonna have a problem."
Reisi's mother had driven her son and his partner to the Japanese-style house she lives in. She slid open the front door. "I've brought Reisi and one of his friends, Archer!" Almost immediately, a little boy and girl came dashing out of the house.
"Uncle Reisi!"
"Uncle's here!" Both kids began chanting "uncle, uncle!"
Archer had a gentle smile. "Ah, so these are your niece and nephew?"
"Yes. Their names are Umi and Kai," Reisi replied. He bent down to their level. "Where's your mom and dad?"
"Mom's in the kitchen and Dad's at the table," the little girl, Umi, replied.
Reisi sighed. "Taishi hasn't changed. He chooses to relax while his wife does the work."
Kohaku chuckled. "Actually, she yelled at him to stay out of the kitchen. Apparently, Taishi still doesn't know how to cook to save his life." She led them inside. At the table, a man stood up and extended a hand to Archer.
"Nice to meetcha, Archer! I'm Taishi Munakata, Reisi's older brother! Your name is Archer, right? Pretty sure that's what I heard Mom say."
The horse took his hand. "That's my name."
When they sat down around the table and Kohaku went to the kitchen, Kai, Taishi's son, was being quiet at his pillow and staring at the table unlike his sister who kept asking Archer questions. Taishi noticed this and chuckled. "Don't mind Kai not going up to you. He's shy around strangers."
The door opened to reveal another man. "What's going on?" Reisi and Taishi both looked over.
Taishi: "Dad!"
Reisi: "Ah, Father. Mother invited myself and a friend of mine over."
The man muttered something before sitting down. "My name's Jirou Munakata. As you've probably guessed, I'm Reisi and Taishi's father. What's yours, young man?"
"I'm Archer, a friend of Reisi's from overseas."
"That boy did a lot of travelling until recently, when he became a police captain. I'm sure he has many friends in other countries."
'They don't know your actual position?'
'No. I hid it for their safety.'
Kohaku and another woman, probably Taishi's wife, came out with trays of food. "Reisi! I've prepared your favorite! Shrimp cocktail!"
"While I appreciate you cooking, I have a different food I enjoy the most than when I was a child."
"Both of you will always be my precious babies!"
Taishi rubbed the back of his neck. "C'mon, Mom! Stop saying embarrassing things!" It came out as a whine.
"But it'll always be true!"
"Soon, this world should become more peaceful," Reisi said. "You all will become much happier in it."
"The only world that we need to be happy in is the one where all of us are spending time together," Jirou replied.
Taishi clapped his brother on the back. "You were always so ambitious about the future, even in school! Looks like that's one thing that never changed!"
"What kind of student was he?" Archer asked.
"He was an amazing student, one that excelled in everything from schoolwork to athletics," Kohaku replied.
"However..." Taishi scratched the back of his head. "This guy used to give the teachers long lectures, brutal enough that many wound up resigning."
The woman sighed. "A shame, really."
The King agreed. "I didn't intend for that outcome. I merely expressed to them on what could be improved."
Archer chuckled. "He never managed to scare me off."
"Oh? So you work as a teacher?" Reisi's mom asked.
"I used to. I'm currently looking for a new job. What about you?"
"I work as a hair dresser. Jirou and Taishi are landscapers. And Aoi, Taishi's wife, works at a restaurant."
After eating, they all continued sitting around the table and chatting amongst themselves. Eventually, Archer noticed out of the corner of his eye that the sun had gone down.
'Master, it's getting late.'
An enemy might have seen them enter this place. If that happened, everyone here could be in danger. "I apologize, but Archer and I need to get going now. You prepared quite a delicious meal, Mother."
"Aw, is it work?" the King's mom asked.
"Something like that. We're celebrating the birthday of one of my subordinates, Yuujirou Benzai, tonight." That was technically true.
"Will you be able to come next week?"
Reisi smiled. "If I'm not too busy."
"And you're invited as well, Archer."
"I'll try to make it."
It was night and Tatara was going to film the city. Mikoto was with him to make up for last night, but Tatara insisted Lancer also comes just in case they get attacked.
On the sidewalk, the two humans didn't seem like they were cold. However, the tips of their noses were red, surprising for Mikoto given his status. The demigod trailing behind them, on the other hand, displayed no physical signs that the sharp bite of the winter air was bothering him. But just like the other two, his breath could be seen in misty puffs.
The Servant's shoulders were hunched and his hands were jammed into the pockets of his black jacket. An awkward silence hung between the three young men. Finally, Lancer broke the silence that had grown so thick you could cut into it with a knife. "I feel like the third wheel here."
Tatara looked over his shoulder and gave the man an apologetic smile. "Sorry if this is weird for you. But you're needed to be a guard in case a Servant decides to attack."
Lancer just grumbled something incomprehensible while faintly blushing. "I'll just go into spirit form." His body dispersed into a large dust of blue mana. Luckily, no one else saw it or there would be an uproar about someone simply vanishing into thin air. He spoke again, but it sounded disembodied. "My senses are significantly duller in this state, though, so it's harder for me to detect incomin' danger right now."
Ichigen didn't know that when Berserker said "stay by my side" it meant they would constantly be together. He managed to draw the line at going to the bathroom. At least when she followed him during his visit with Ms. Watanabe, the elderly lady thought the Servant was just some cute little girl with white horn hair accessories, someone Ichigen recently adopted, just like he had with Kuroh.
While Reisi and Archer walked back to HQ, a person wearing white-and-red armor materialized in front of the two. Servant Saber. Clarent was slung over her shoulders behind her head, which wore her helmet. In response, Archer materialized his Servant clothes. "Are you here to fight?"
"Yeah. The parrot was watchin' the fight last night and I saw your Master nearly get killed. So I want to see for myself how it feels to battle you in case someone else makes ya vanish first." She pointed her sword at the centaur. "Let's see if you're as fun to play with as Lancer!"
He quickly glanced at Reisi as he held up his bow, ready to shoot at the knight. 'Master, don't push yourself too hard or you'll reopen your wounds. Besides, you don't have your saber. Focus only on providing support and leave the fighting to me. After all, I swore to be your sword.'
Reisi took a few steps back, being enveloped in blue aura and his Sword of Damocles appearing as he released his Sanctum. 'Very well. I'm counting on you.'
As soon as Archer fired his notched arrow at the other Servant, multiple other arrows appeared around the horse and also launched themselves at Saber. She used her sword to knock them all away. "Stup -" She was cut off when an arrow sunk into the non-armored part of her arm. In an instant, a feeling of being electrocuted seemed to enter her through the injury. Her helmet broke apart into her armor as red mana exploded from her body, destroying the arrow. "Goddamn you!"
The centaur couldn't help but smirk. Like Lancer, the Green Servant appeared to have a short fuse that night. So what other tricks would work? Archer was using his bow, which managed to hold out against Saber's attacks, creating a spectacle that looked like a blacksmith's hammer hitting metal. It looked like he was starting to be overwhelmed, so Reisi whipped out his arm and fired a large crest of aura at Saber, which made her jump away, shooting the King a glare. It felt less refined than if he used a saber, but it's all he's got right now.
"She's easier to deal with than Lancer since she doesn't have Protection From Arrows or is as fast. But her Mana Burst skill grants her more raw power," Archer commented. Then he spoke again without tearing his gaze away from Saber. "I thank you for your assistance, Master."
"You looked like you were beginning to struggle."
"Don't interfere again!" Saber roared. Her sword was thrown at the Blue Servant, it cloaked with her red mana. Archer blocked the sword with his bow then proceeded to engage the armored Servant in a small fistfight.
Saber's armored foot went for Archer's face. He was about to block the blow with his bow when a blast of crimson mana was expelled from the shoe. It was Saber's Mana Burst, and it managed to temporarily blind the centaur. The blinding would only last a second, but that's more than enough time for a Servant that close to do a basic attack.
Clarent was swung upwards at the opposing Servant's face. The sword drew out an arc of crimson and Archer stumbled back several steps before jumping far back. In a few seconds, the right side of the centaur's face was a mess of blood, the liquid gluing that eyelid shut. Clarent had both sliced deeply into the right eye and completely destroyed it. While the organ will regenerate, it'll take several hours.
"You Archers take pride in your eyes, right?" Saber said with a sneer while flicking off some of the blood on the bladed weapon.
Reisi held up his right hand. "Do you need to retreat?"
"No. I'll be fine. Besides, you'd be left alone with this Servant."
Saber grinned wide enough to display her fang-like canines. She lunged forward while swinging her sword, Mana Burst making her cross a few dozen meters in an instant. "And now for the other eye!"
The sharp steel met a blue, translucent defense, the Arthurian Servant's vermillion mana almost seeming to try to constrict it like several red snakes. The blue aura took most of the brunt of that attack. However, major cracks formed in the crystalline structure. The user tried to repair the damage, but it was too late. The shield broke into millions of blue shards, the blue lights appearing just like the dust of mana from a Servant going out of or into spirit form. But in that instant, Archer's fist collided with her face.
"C'mon, Archer! Would it kill you to at least make this a little more fun?!" Saber growled, wiping the blood that had come out of her nose.
Reisi could see the overwhelming disadvantage Archer was currently in. He tried to run toward his Servant to back the man up, but he felt something in his abdomen tear as soon as he moved. Dammit! Not now! He grabbed his abdomen with a grimace and coughed violently, blood coming up.
Saber, seeing this as a chance to kill the Master, activated Mana Burst for a sudden boost of speed and stabbed her sword at the Blue King's chest.
Blood splattered onto the ground. Reisi's eyes went wide. "Archer! No!" The sword had gone all the way through the man's chest.
"Master...Please run..." The dying Servant grabbed Saber's wrist with one hand, his strength preventing the other from escaping or phasing away since he's a spiritual being. His other pointed up to the Sagittarius constellation. He couldn't think very clearly now, failing to remember why he hadn't used his Noble Phantasm yet. It didn't matter. It'd fire even if he died. "You're coming with me...Saber..!"
Though his Noble Phantasm's mana cost is ranked A, it's a weak homing Anti-Personnel attack. But unlike most Noble Phantasms, its True Name doesn't need to be said for use. He wants to use this once a night attack only if he has a high chance of it severely crippling or killing the enemy. Saber's armor shows no weak points, which is why Archer didn't use it on her before. It would also fire automatically upon his death, as Sagittarius was formed in memory of the centaur, but the aim would be off. Who knows, he might get lucky and hit a weak point in this Servant's armor.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Andy was laying in his bed of the room in the mens' dorm he shares with Ryuuhou. He happened to look out the window just in time to see a beam of golden light shoot down from the heavens. Ryuuhou, who was reading a book on the opposite side of the room, glanced up at his roommate. "Is something wrong, Doumyouji?"
"Why do I have a feeling something bad just happened?"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The golden beam had slammed into Saber's shoulder, trying to drill down to her spirit core.
"Fuck you!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. While her armor was withstanding the continuous attack, cracks were forming, getting deeper and deeper. Before the metal could completely break, Saber vanished in a shower of mana like blue glass being shattered. A Command Seal was used to teleport her away.
Command Seals, crystalized High Thaumaturgy that can be used as a "whip" acting directly on a Servant's spirit core to force them to obey whatever order was given, even against their will, by having the order manipulate their limbs like a puppet or machine. Attempting to resist the order equals pain for the Servant. The more specific the order, the stronger the binding on the Servant and thus the pain of disobedience is greater. For example, orders like "don't break the glass" are direct while broad and long-lasting orders such as "win this battle" aren't and can easily be ignored by the Servant. However, a Seal can be beneficial to the Servant as it can reinforce one of their actions. The stroke would provide the Servant with enough mana to temporarily boost their parameters but only if the Servant's will is the same as the Master in regards to the order given, such as with delivering their next attack with all their strength and other actions. For purposes such as teleportation, the mana of both the Master and the Servant is used.
With nothing to hold himself up, Archer collapsed backwards where his Master caught him.
"Master..." Archer said even with blood in his throat. "The church...Masters without a Servant can go there for protection..."
"What are you talking about? I still have you as my Servant."
"Don't fool yourself. You know that blow was fatal, even for a Servant..." He coughed some blood up. His body was starting to break apart into flecks of blue mana. "Don't stay here...Rider might arrive..."
"I refuse to leave you!"
"I'm sorry...But I wish you well..." His body finished dissolving and he was gone, as if he never existed. Even his blood on the ground and the King vanished.
Reisi suddenly felt like his right hand had been stung and he glanced down at it. The three red wings of his Command Seal disappeared, leaving the skin there spotless. The strokes were reclaimed by the Grail. He could obtain them again if there is a Stray Servant and the Grail selects him as a Master again.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The Archer piece on Ruler's spirit board, which looked like a chess board, crumbled apart into dust.
"So, the first Servant has been killed." the Maiden of Orleans murmured. "Servant Archer, Chiron."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Anna placed one small hand on the wall of her bedroom and leaned into it while gasping for air like when she had been repeatedly drowned at the Center, feeling weak all of a sudden. She had been getting ready to go to sleep when it suddenly felt like a gigantic lump of power entered her body, it briefly thrashing around wildly like it wanted to get out. But her feeling of weakness passed as quickly as it came, the power seeming to have settled down. What even caused it?
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Reisi was making his way back to HQ. He took out his phone to text them the situation. But right when he unlocked it, the top half came off and clattered onto the ground, frosty from snow, as if sliced off, making the device unusable.
What?! Who's there?!
His body suddenly pitched forward and he hit the ground with a groan. Massive pain overcame him and liquid red quickly spread out beneath him.
What..?
He slowly looked back and couldn't help but gasp. His legs, his severed legs, were laying lifeless and bloody behind him.
Servant Assassin seemed to appear in front of Reisi, who turned his head forward. The Servant laughed hard. "You're such a dumbass! Ya let your guard down! Anyway, have fun slowly dyin' human!"
"You aren't going...to finish...me off..?"
"That would be no fun. I wanna see ya struggle to survive!" He seemed to vanish as he quickly jumped out of view. "Make sure to entertain me!"
The man with the dark blue hair chuckled humorlessly. This certainly isn't good. He can't try to drag himself back since not only would he not make it in time but moving would only worsen his bleeding. He was just going to have to stay here and hope that help arrives in time. He won't give up hope there.
He...needed to prolong himself bleeding out as much as possible. He managed to get his jacket off and tore away large strips of the black shirt underneath; he was too weak right now to rip the dark blue-grey jacket up. His hands were shaking too much at this point, yet he still managed to tie the makeshift bandages at his hips where his legs were severed. Afterwards, he laid his jacket over his body to try staying warm.
The King was laying still to conserve his fleeing energy. It might've looked as if he died, because he heard the Japanese Servant call out from nearby, "Yo, human. Ya still alive?" The young man responded by glaring at where he believed the voice to be coming from.
Reisi's breathing was growing more and more uneven and pain was flooding all his senses. Is this...what it's like to die? It's like that incident on the plane. He thought the plane would crash and he would die. He didn't want to die. Him awakening as Blue King is what saved him and everyone aboard the aircraft. But no such thing would save him this time. Still...
I don't want to die.
"Captain Munakata!" A female screamed. There was a rapid crunching as the thin layer of the snow that built on the road was crushed by the falling boots.
The man gave a smile, though it probably didn't look reassuring with the blood spilling past his lips, when the footsteps stopped beside him and he slowly looked at the person. "Lieutenant...I'm glad to see you..."
"Try not to talk."
"The-the Servant who did this...he's watching nearby...He-he's deriving...pleasure from this..."
Seri grit her teeth. "That sick bastard!" She couldn't worry about that. Right now, she needed to focus on her King.
He was even paler than usual now with his massive blood loss. She doesn't have much to stop the bleeding and she had a feeling her rushed tourniquets won't help much. She was too scared for her King right now to do it right. There'll be better first-aid materials at the base. It wasn't that far. Then he can be taken to the hospital. She quickly gathered him in her arms and began to sprint back to base.
"Kusanagi knows a woman who uses puppets and is really good at prosthetics. She'll be able to make you new legs! I'll contact him for her information once we return to base!"
"I don't think...I'll make it there..."
"I beg you...Don't die!"
"I apologize...But it's...starting...to get cold..." Violet eyes were slowly closing.
"Captain! Stay with me! Don't go!" She kept begging him not to die, but it was like he couldn't even hear her now, his eyes closing all the way. Eventually, his ragged breathing came to a stop. Seri stopped running and just stared with tear-filled eyes at her King, who's body was quickly being made cold from the outside temperature.
"Cap...tain..?" No response. "Captain!" She was screaming now. "Dammit, Reisi! WAKE UP!"
Her legs were heavy as she slowly walked up to HQ. Himori, who was on watch, came up to her. "Lieutenant, you should get inside before you catch -" Then Himori saw who she was holding. "Captain?! Is he..?"
"...Akiyama, get the mortician out here..." She wasn't looking up. "...Also, order the Special Squad out here...Let Mr. Zenjou know about this as well...Fushimi should be in the information room..."
"Sasaki," she said to another Blue Clan member also present outside. He was simply staring in horror at the dead body Seri held, "get the rest of the Clansmen gathered here..."
He looked to snap out of his daze and saluted. "Right away!"
She looked down at her King's body in her arms. His blood was all over her. How long would it take to erase it all? Perhaps never.
Clansmen began coming out. "So why do we -" Akira shut up when he saw the person in Seri's arms.
"Captain?!" Ryuuhou exclaimed. "What even..?!"
"Wa-wait...He's not..?" Tatsuya stammered.
"So he's..?" Andy said slowly, green eyes wide and filling quickly with tears. He had been walking around carefully as to not aggravate the bruised ribs he received from Gáe Bolg's shaft casually slamming into him last night. He had though it strange at first to be called out of bed to go outside. "No..."
Yuujirou bit his lower lip hard enough that it bled. Some birthday!
Saruhiko didn't say anything. His head was down so his black hair hid his expression.
"What about Archer..?" Andy murmured. "I don't see him anywhere."
"When a Servant dies, their Saint Graph breaks apart into mana," Gouki explained, having come out when Saruhiko and the Special Squad did. The one-armed man continued to maintain a neutral expression. He had lost his left arm during the Kagutsu Incident. "He seemed like the sort of person that wouldn't just let this sort of thing happen to the Blue King, though a sneak attack may have been involved. Either way, since he isn't here, he's most likely deceased as well."
The woman carefully handed the King to the morticians, silent the entire time. Then she fixed the Clan with a firm look. "In honor of Blue King Reisi Munakata and his Servant, Archer, everyone draw your swords!"
The sabers of every Blue Clansmen glinted in the moonlight. Tears spilled from several sets of eyes. The morticians carried the Captain through the gap the officers created, Seri following in silence.
Though the King was constantly trying to become buddies with those in the Special Squad with the bonding games, which got scarily creepy for them, they all had a large amount of respect for him. And they'll actually miss those times since they'll never happen again. That's why they couldn't help but weep over this. So what now?
In the Green Clan base, Nagare looked at Saber who still wore her armor. "Before I teleported you out, how much damage were you able to inflict on Archer?"
"I stabbed Archer's spirit core. He'll die real soon." The blood and armor dematerialized from her, leaving her in a red outfit. "I didn't have as much fun fighting him as I did with Lancer. That one seems to agree with me for some reason."
"Maybe 'cause he's hotheaded like you?" Tenkei threw out.
"Judging by Archer's performance against Lancer and you, I wish I had gotten to battle him again," Rider mused while rubbing at his beard.
"He would've probably used more of his mana if you didn't hold back," Saber pointed out.
"I didn't exactly feel like using either of my Noble Phantasms then." A true battle between Servants involves them using their Noble Phantasm.
Saber stretched her arms. "Anyway, Yukari, got any products that help with stress?"
"No, but we should get some skin products on you so you don't get wrinkles from the stress."
"Isn't that meaningless?" Tenkei asked. "You Servants don't age and you're incapable of physically changing. Your bodies are Mysteries."
Yukari looked taken aback. "That's still no reason to forgo beauty!" He firmly grabbed Saber's wrist. "Let's get you into my room immediately!"
Genji: Stop trying to be friends with me.
Nagare: That sword's going to fall.
Sukuna: So, one less pair in the game.
Anna: You two won't die, right?
Seri: If only I could turn back time then I might've been able to prevent what happened that night!
Saruhiko: It's funny. I felt no sadness when my dad died. I wasn't related at all to the King, but...but...
Misaki: It's all this stupid War's fault! Why the hell does it even exist?!
Okada: I didn't sense him until it was too late! Does he have Presence Concealment somehow?!
Kiyohime: I didn't want you to see me in this form.
Next chapter: And Another Falls