Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi

Chapter 6: Il Mondo (Part VI)

The rituals were complete.

Now that the silver had the metaphysical properties it needed to have, it was time to shape it to a usable form. And so molten silver flowed down brick-lined channels, bubbling with toxic fumes as it filled molds under the watchful eyes of Edelfelt attendants. Working efficiently to keep the molten metal from overflowing and wasting its precious volume paid for in blood, they opened and closed valves to control the flow of molten metal, directing it away from filled molds to empty ones.

Other attendants carefully took the filled molds away, and placed them on separate racks to cool. Others more took the molds where the silver had cooled to solidity, but still retained enough heat to be ever so malleable. It was they who stamped the silver with their mistress' mandala, before dumping the finished metal into vats of water.

Steam hissed and water bubbled as silver cooled in their depths, and then the silver was fished out, and tossed into receptacles with the clinking of metal against metal. The noise was all but drowned out by the rest of cacophony filling the floor, the loudest noise by far the dull roaring of the fans that pumped out the fume-tainted air, and pumped in fresh and breathable air in turn.

Even then, everyone on the floor wore protective masks, tubes running down to portable air filters carried at the waist. Nor was poisonous air the only danger to be wary of, in fact, it was the least danger faced here, working as everyone was with molten metal. And so everyone wore leather gloves and aprons over clothes made from toughened fabric, though it would only protect them from small splashes or spills, and never from large ones.

Even Sakura was no exception, as she conducted an inspection in the morning. The young woman briefly twisted her face at the noise filling the floor, ranging from the roaring of the fans, to the groaning and squeaking of heavy machinery, the hissing of vapor and boiling water, the thumping of stamps, and the clinking of metal amongst others.

Making a single round of the floor, she finished at the receptacles which carried the final product, Sakura reaching in to pull out a single silver wafer at random. It was a simple thing, really, one eight fine silver, six-inches long and two inches wide, with a thickness of only half an inch.

A twelve-pointed mandala was stamped in front, the same one used in the rituals that gave the silver the properties it now had.

Shadows flickered from around Sakura's wrists, over her hands, and then around the wafer. She nodded, and then tossed the wafer back into the receptacle.

"It will do." Sakura thought as she stared into the receptacle and all the silver wafers piled inside. "With this I can finally begin actually containing the nexus of Matou taint in this city."

Sakura blinked and then looked around the floor. "And then," she thought while deciding to make another round inspecting the floor before heading to school. "Once that's done, I can move on to disconnecting the ley-lines from the Fuyuki Grail."

Nodding to herself, Sakura stepped away from the receptacle to finish her inspection.

"Good morning, everyone!" Sakura greeted her classmates as she entered the classroom.

"Good morning, Sakura!" several of her classmates returned the greeting.

Sakura nodded at them with a smile as she went to her desk. By now, Ayako was alone in distrusting Sakura, and most of the class was now on first name terms with her. Though, it probably helped that despite her own Japanese heritage, she'd grown up in a Western culture. For all that she had no real trouble adjusting to Japanese norms here, deep down, she was still a proud Finn.

Enough so, that she didn't really mind people addressing her by her first name, not when she spent so much time with them every day. It wasn't really a surprise then that most of her classmates had started addressing her by her first name sooner than would be the case were she Japanese in upbringing as well.

"Hey there, Sakura!" one of her classmates greeted her while wandering over with several of his friends.

"Good morning to you too, Murakami." Sakura said with a small smile. While she didn't mind being called by her first name even by people who were only on working terms with her, she knew most of her classmates would be. They were fully Japanese, after all.

"…sorry about that…ahem, good morning, Sakura!" Eisaku Murakami started over with a cough. "Hey, sorry about this being on short notice, but do you mind doing a tarot reading for me?"

"No, I don't mind." Sakura said while putting away her things under her desk, while bringing out materials for first period. "Though, I'm going to need some background if you want me to do a reading."

"Uh…yeah, alright." Murakami said with another cough. "I'm…I've got a new girlfriend, you see. Koma Sakurai, from another school…so I'd like to know if it's going to work out, you know?"

"Considering your reputation," Sakura dryly began with a wry smile. "Don't you mean you want to know if she'll be worth your while?"

Snickers went up at that, and prompting Murakami to throw betrayed expressions all around. "Oh come on," he protested. "Don't tell me you believe in those rumors?"

"Hmm…and if I do?"

"Well, I…uh…"

Sakura smirked and shook her head…

…and then brought out her tarot deck.

"Alright!" Murakami said while pumping his fist into the air.

"One card," Sakura said while shuffling the deck back and forth. "And let's see what fate has in store for your venture here."

Murakami nodded while rubbing his hands together, his friends clustering around him along with several other women from nearby, all looking on in intrigue as Sakura consulted the cards. Finishing shuffling the deck, Sakura set it down on her desk, and then palmed the card on top.

"Ace of Swords." she said, displaying the card to the audience.

"So…is that a good thing?" Murakami asked.

"Hmm…that depends." Sakura said, and placing the card on her desk next to the deck.

"Depends on what?" Murakami pressed.

"On one hand," Sakura said. "The Ace of Swords foretells triumph, excessive quantity in all things, conquest, and the triumph of force."

"So she's worth my while?" Murakami asked, and causing a storm of jeers to rise up from the women nearby.

"Really, Murakami?" one of them said.

"You suck!" another said.

"Oh come on!" Murakami protested, but then turned back to Sakura at a cough from the young woman.

"Sure, she could be worth your while." Sakura said before narrowing her eyes. "But keep in mind that tarot cards are impersonal. Considering the nature of your inquiry, it fits that another one of the associations of the Ace of Swords is that it foretells great success in love…and in hate."

"Hate?" Murakami echoed in confusion.

"Is this Sakurai pretty?" Sakura asked. "Desirable, even?"

"Well, yeah…" Murakami began to reply, only for Sakura to interrupt.

"And there you go." She said. "It might be that she's got a very…attached, maybe obsessive even, ex-boyfriend or jilted lover out there. The Ace of Swords could foretell success for you…or for someone wanting to get her back, or against anyone trying to start a relationship with her."

Sakura paused and shrugged before giving a smile. "So be careful." She said.

"Uh…thanks." Murakami said.

Sakura shrugged again, the audience muttering among themselves at her ominous predictions. Then returning the Ace of Swords to the deck, she began shuffling the cards again. "Anyone else want to consult the cards?" she offered.

"Oh I do!" one of her female classmates yelled.

"Me too!" another one yelled as well.

"Hey, me first!" another one yelled in her turn.

Sakura just smiled, and letting her classmates sort themselves out, made three draws and predictions before the warning bell rang, and everyone hurried to get ready for first period.

"Yesterday there was this really expensive bag over at a store in town." Sadako Yasuda began. "I just want to know if I should buy it or not."

In response, Sakura drew the Queen of Swords. "You're going to need to consider your other needs before actually buying that bag." She explained. "At the same time, you should also consider why you actually want to buy the bag in the first place."

"Why I want to buy the bag?" Sadako asked, and Sakura nodded.

"Was it because it looked new and fashionable?" she asked. "Do you want to impress someone? Or are you just doing it out of a whim?"

All good questions to ask, and which Sadako walked away thoughtful of as she really began to consider why and if she really needed to buy the bag at all.

"I found this opening for a new part-time job." Rumi Wakatsuki began.

"What's it about?" Sakura asked.

"Eh…can you just make a reading without knowing that?" Rumi asked back in return, looking away with an uncomfortable expression on her face that had Sakura raising an eyebrow. "Let's just say it's private."

Sakura hummed in skeptical thought at that, all the while shuffling her deck. In the end though, she just gave a shrug and made a draw.

The result was the Seven of Wands. "You'll probably get the job if you apply for it." Sakura said. "More than that, you'd immediately succeed with it…but! After your initial success, you'll find yourself struggling to hold on to your new job, to keep the luster of your initial success, and to continue succeeding in the future."

Sakura paused, and then nodded. "If you really want the job," she continued. "By all means, apply for it. Just be ready to face come what may, and to stand your ground, no matter what."

Rumi hummed to herself while holding one arm over her chest, the other holding up a hand to stroke her chin in thought. Meanwhile, another one of Sakura's female classmates was asking her question.

"Is my boyfriend cheating on me?" Mari Fukumoto asked.

"What?" Sakura asked, deadpan.

"Just answer the question!" Mari demanded. "He's been avoiding me lately, fails to reply to my texts, talks his way around my questions whenever I ask where he's been and what's he been doing, he even turned me down for a date last weekend!"

"…Fukumoto, I think you need to talk to your boyfriend about this." Sakura replied after a moment.

"Not yet!" Mari countered. "Not until I know what's coming."

Sakura made an unhappy sound, but made a reading regardless: The Ace of Wands.

"I can't really tell you what's coming." Sakura finally said. "All that the cards tell me about your fate in this is that you should trust your instincts. It's also the best time to take action, and that the longer you wait, the worse it might get. In fact, asking this question to your boyfriend might be the first step to something bigger, something more wonderful, in your future. It could be a new beginning, even."

Mari didn't look too satisfied with the reading, but then the warning bell sounded, and everyone was scurrying off. Sakura nodded back as Rumi gave her a grateful nod, and then Sakura was putting her cards away.

"Sakura," Shirou began as he walked in on Sakura during lunch break. "Can I talk to you?"

"You do that most days, Shirou." Sakura said. "That said, this sounds serious. Do you want me to address you as a friend or as a magus?"

"Why not both?" Shirou challenged.

"I'm the Second Owner." Sakura said with a shrug. "No one says magi can't have friends among themselves, but from the way you're acting, this is serious stuff. So I'll be professional about it."

"…eh, I don't think this really needs you to be professional." Shirou replied after a moment.

"Alright, then." Sakura said before offering Shirou her sandwich of black bread, smoked sausages, cheese, vegetables, and homemade sauce. "Want a bite?"

"No, thanks." Shirou said with raised hands. "Anyway…on to what I wanted to talk to you about, did you say or do something to make Issei very angry with you lately?"

Sakura shrugged again. "Ryuudo dislikes me by sheer principle." She said. "I could even say my mere existence offends him on some level."

"Eh…I don't really think that's the case." Shirou said with a cough. "In all seriousness, though, did something happen between the two of you lately? He's been…very…hostile, to the mere mention of your name for the past few days."

"Hmm…oh yeah, there was that."

"…what happened?"

Sakura shrugged again. "He confronted me over doing tarot readings for anyone who asked." She said. "He said something about wasting everyone's time with nonsense like fortune telling, and spreading around baseless superstition that's only going to affect their futures badly. Or something like that."

Shirou scratched his head as Sakura shrugged again (she did that a lot). "I get the feeling that's not all there is to it." He finally said.

Sakura made a face. "Then I'll be frank with you." She said. "Mister Ryuudo is a very pompous man. I'll admit he's intelligent and diligent in his own way, and has quite the fine grasp of bureaucracy and even rhetoric."

"What?" Shirou deadpanned.

"He'll make a fine politician one day." Sakura concluded. "That, or an officious civil servant or pencil pusher of one kind or another."

"I…what?" Shirou deadpanned again, and Sakura sighed.

"He made quite the self-righteous speech about superstition and whatnot…I basically tuned him out after the first five sentences." Sakura said. "Then while he was droning on, I did a tarot reading for him, a three-card spread, in fact. My…exclamation, on finishing the reading interrupted him, though. He didn't seem impressed by the fact."

"I can imagine." Shirou said, and rubbing his forehead in exasperation. "I also get the feeling he was even less impressed by what your cards told you about him."

"Hmm…" Sakura hummed while thinking back to her reading for Issei Ryuudo a few days ago. Thankfully, all magi had eidetic memory, so it didn't take her long. "Oh yes…his cards were the Four of Wands, the Queen of Wands reversed, and the Magician."

"…what do those even mean?" Shirou prompted after a moment.

"Mister Ryuudo grew up with a happy family in a stable home and a harmonious environment." Sakura elaborated. "At present, though, while his efforts are productive and his talents find suitable roles to find fulfillment in, he also faces obstacles towards achieving his goals. He also needs to stay rational, though, and not let his feeling get the better of him, otherwise even if he succeeds, he'll find himself falling short of what he might achieve otherwise."

"…well, isn't that a very accurate description of his life's past and present." Shirou deadpanned (again).

"I suppose so." Sakura said with another shrug, before giving a wry grin. "Though I imagine my sister's absence and my presence count as the 'obstacles' described by the cards. And that his needing to be rational might as well as me telling Mister Ryuudo that he's being…irrational, about our…relationship. I imagine that struck a nerve…a bad one."

"That sounds about right." Shirou said with a sigh. "Is that all?"

"Oh no, those are just the readings for the Four of Wands and the Queen of Wands reversed." Sakura said. "There's still the Magician, for Mister Ryuudo's future."

"…and?" Shirou prompted.

Sakura shrugged (again). "In the future," she said. "Mister Ryuudo will put his all into his chosen path in life. He will succeed at everything he sets out to do, and achieve his full potential. At least, so long as he doesn't hesitate or hold back, of course. If he does, then he'll fall short."

"…I'm…not sure, why he'd get offended by that." Shirou said in confusion.

Sakura shrugged (again). "I don't know, either." She said. "He's your friend, not mine. You know him better. Though if I would hazard a guess, he took it as flattery and was insulted."

Shirou was silent for a long moment, and then he sighed. "I…see…" he finally said. "Well…thanks for being honest with me."

"Not a problem." Sakura said. "Would you like to join me for lunch?"

Shirou looked at the lunchbox and can of iced coffee he had with him, and then shrugged. "Well, why not?" he replied, and sat down next to Sakura as she gestured invitingly for him to do so.

"Issei, we need to talk." Shirou said while walking into Issei's office soon after club activities period had begun.

"About what?" Issei prompted while gesturing for Shirou to sit down.

Shirou briefly hesitated, and the sighing, paused to pull out a mystic code that Rin had given him. It was special, designed to take into account the…idiosyncrasies, of his ability to use magecraft. All he needed to do was set a setting, then put his prana into the mystic code with a single word, and it would do the rest.

Issei raised an eyebrow as the bounded field encompassed his office. Not that he could actually sense it, of course, at least beyond a certain sense of…wrongness, but he could see the mystic code Shirou had just used, and how its jewels glowed on activation.

"Something important then." He said, setting aside the budget report he'd been reading up on.

"This has got to stop, Issei." Shirou began without preamble.

Issei blinked in confusion. "What?" he asked.

"This…back and forth between you and Mitsuzuri against Sakura." Shirou said. "Whether you like it or not, she's the Second Owner. Making an enemy of her is not going to end well."

"Humph," Issei snorted. "So you're saying we should just do nothing while she prances around, usurping Rin's place and authority?"

"What can we do?" Shirou asked back.

"You can take her down if it comes to it." Issei replied. "Ayako's told me about what you did during the contest. Even if she's a better magus than you in every other way, in that one area you're good at, you can take her down."

"And then what?" Shirou challenged in exasperation. "I murder the Second Owner, the Association brands me a renegade and a heretic, and orders me hunted down. I wouldn't be surprised if they placed a price on my head, in addition to the one the Edelfelt would for murdering one of their own. And she's Rin's sister, for gods' sakes. Rin would never forgive us if we kill her for no good reason."

Issei snorted again. "She's only Rin's sister by her own claim." He sneered.

"Oh really?" Shirou deadpanned. "Weren't you the one who found those birth certificates about a certain Sakura Tohsaka? The ones buried away in red tape for well over a decade now? And who disappeared for that same amount of time?"

"That assumes they're the same woman." Issei snapped back. "The only commonality between them is their black hair and blue eyes. Even that former is suspect: Edelfelt has partly-white hair, if you hadn't noticed."

"…true," Shirou conceded after a moment. "But the rest of my point stands. Killing Sakura only brings us more trouble. And at least Sakura tries to get along with everyone. Shinji aside, she's made no major changes. Her replacement could be far stricter and controlling, especially since Sakura's…light touch, would have been proven as too lenient."

"We can't just do nothing!" Issei finally exploded as he slammed a fist against his desk. "Rin was my friend for years! She's stayed over at my house more than once! She's eaten with my family at our table! To have her…usurped, by someone as questionable as Edelfelt is intolerable!"

"…I'm not saying you should be friends with her." Shirou said after a long moment staring Issei down. "I'm just saying you should at least tolerate her, more than you are doing now. Even if you stay enemies, at least keep it under wraps. A confrontation of any kind wouldn't help us in any way. If I don't go all out, none of us could win against her. And if I go all out, she's likely to end up dead, and we both know that's not a good thing."

Issei glared at Shirou, who stood his ground and looked back at Issei straight in the eyes. Finally, after a full minute, Issei looked away first. "Fine," he grudgingly said. "I'll think about it."

Shirou relented in turn with a sigh. "I guess that's the best I'll get for now." He said. "Thanks for listening, Issei."

"…you deserve that much at least."

"Ready…"

Sakura crouched down at the starting line, feet pressed against the starting block, and hands against the ground.

"…set…"

Sakura raised her head, looking up ahead and down the track.

"…go!"

The word was accompanied by a gunshot, members of the track and field club bursting forward at high speed. At first keeping pace with the rest of the runners, Sakura quickly took the lead, and opening up the distance completed the hundred-meter dash in a matter of seconds.

"Not bad…not bad…" the club manager said while looking at the stopwatch she was holding. "…a hundred meters in twelve seconds? The new girl's pretty good, isn't she, Kaede?"

"Hmm…I guess so." Kaede Makidera said with a nod and a small smile. "Though, I'd be more impressed if she could reach around eleven seconds. What's my record again for the hundred-meter dash? 11.454 seconds, right?"

"Yeah, it is." The manager said with a nod. "Then again, you're something else, Kaede."

Kaede just shrugged at that. "That I am." She said.

"Modest too." The manager said with a laugh.

"I don't do modest." Kaede said with a grin. "Just who do you think I am? I'm the Black Panther of Homura."

The manager just laughed again, while in the distance Sakura caught her breath. It only took her a couple of seconds to do so, a hundred-meter dash nothing she hadn't done before. She didn't know about other families, but Edelfelt began physically-training their scions at six years of age. Nothing too demanding, just calisthenics and swimming among others, along with the basics of hand-to-hand.

Just something to lay a solid foundation down to build on later.

"Eleven seconds…you're a pretty fast runner, Edelfelt." Sato Murata, another member of the club said nearby.

"I guess I am." Sakura said with a shrug. "Though, it's nothing special really, from what I hear of the club's star sprinter."

"Oh, that's for sure." Sato agreed with a nod. "Makidera's the best really. I wouldn't be surprised if she goes to the professional leagues in the future."

"Hmm…" Sakura hummed while looking in Kaede's direction, still chatting, well, roughhousing now, with the club manager. "…well, very good if she does. If she's got talent, then there's no reason to let it go to waste."

Sakura held up the mystic code she'd received from the College of Law along with the official paperwork of her appointment as Fuyuki's Second Owner. Then she prodded it forward, seemingly into empty air.

Instead, a glowing mandala appeared in the air, just in front of the wrought iron gates of the Matou mansion. Had Sakura not possessed the mystic code and had been a step closer to the property, the bounded fields erected by the College of Law would have incinerated her on the spot.

Segments of the mystic code turned, opened, and closed like clockwork, the mandala revolving and swapping its segments around, like a pair of combination locks. Then the mandala disengaged, as did the mystic code, Sakura gaining control of the fields and the right to come and go as she pleased from the land in front of her.

The Matou mansion stood at the heart of the property, looking quite desolate and forlorn after so many months without anyone living in it. The College of Law had stormed and seized the property after the Fifth Holy Grail War, taking everything of value inside just like they'd seized the Matou patents in the Clock Tower, before sealing away the property and mansion behind powerful bounded fields.

Not even the default – Makiri Zolgen having left no will – heir to the Matou assets (what with the College of Law's cover-up operations having Makiri Zolgen officially declared deceased in the mundane world, his body cremated, and his ashes scattered into the sea) Shinji Matou could enter the property, much less take possession of it. Instead, the property's deed belonged to the College of Law under a front identity, but with the Second Owner – Sakura – holding executorial authority over it.

Not that she had any intention of selling the place.

This was the nexus of Matou's taint in the city, and the heart of a Dead Apostle's nascent territory. It was simply too dangerous to be left uncontained, at least for a hundred and one years. Preferably for a thousand and one years, if Sakura could help it, but she'd settle for the former number.

Containment would start this evening.

"You all have your assignments." Sakura said, addressing her men once they were inside the property. "Just to recap, though, you all have your mystic codes?"

The men held up the silver and jade bracelets she'd given them so they'd have a degree of protection against any defensive mysteries they might encounter inside the mansion. There shouldn't be any, not after the College of Law had swept the place clean, but still, best to be prudent, regardless.

Sakura nodded at the sight. "Alright then," she said. "Stick to your assigned teams, watch each other's backs, and work as quickly as possible. Proceed floor by floor, and absolutely do not enter the underground level. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the men said, coming to attention and saluting her.

Sakura saluted them back. "Then if there's nothing more," she said. "Dismissed!"

The men stood down and then moved past her, carrying crates of thermite and magnesium with them, the better to set the Matou mansion on fire with. Sakura followed them until they'd entered the mansion and were no longer in sight, and then turning away, went towards the pavilion that Elisa and a few others had set up.

"This might take a while, Lady Sakura." Elisa said, speaking formally as she usually did when they weren't alone. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Thank you," Sakura said, sinking into a camp chair under the light of portable lamps. "That sounds just what I need."

Elisa smiled, and poured Sakura coffee even as she helped herself to a sandwich.

A/N

Well, now you know why Shinji had his own apartment elsewhere in the city from a previous chapter. The College of Law booted him out, and dispossessed him of the Matou mansion and property. Not that there was anything he could do about it, since as mentioned in that same past chapter, the only reason they even let him go was that he was so useless that there was just no point in keeping him in custody.

And now Sakura plans on finishing what the College of Law started. With the mention of her men bringing thermite and magnesium into the mansion, I think you can all guess just what Sakura is planning.

Then again, it was also mentioned in the chapter, so meh.