Girl in Red (III)
As Shinji was waiting near the school gates for Sakura he thought about today's events. From meeting the freaking son of Magus Killer to well…finding out that a freaking APOSTLE ANCESTOR is connected with the creation of a monster that lurks within the school.
Which is apparently fascinated with his sister and wants to assimilate her or something.
Lovely.
The next question however is…now what?
Zouken is out of the question. The bastard might just get annoyed by the request and kill him.
His father too. The fact that he doesn't have a spine like his uncle Kariya means his pleas will fall on deaf ears.
What else, what else…
"Bye Shinji!" Emiya Shirou waves at him.
He waves back.
And then he got a TERRIBLE idea.
"Shirou, wait!"
The red-headed boy stopped, turned around, and waited for him to arrive.
"Uh…so I gotta ask you something…"
"Ok, what is it?" Shirou asks him.
'Here goes nothing.' Shinji thinks to himself.
"Can you take me to your father?"
Shirou's eyes widen. Then they narrow in confusion.
"What do you need him for?" He asks him confused.
"Ah well…I suppose I know him, you know. Heard of him, I mean."
Shirou's expression doesn't change, so Shinji decides to do something stupid.
First, he turns around.
Second, he raises his hand and comes towards his ear.
And thirdly, he does the stupid thing.
He spells it out to him.
Shirou's eyes widen.
Sakura bowed to her senpai and went outside.
As she starts walking toward the outer gates of school she sees her brother with…the boy that kept jumping, never giving up.
Once again, she feels something tighten in her chest just like that time before. She doesn't understand why, but it feels good.
"Ohoho, well well. It seems my kohai is interested a bit into my classmate."
Ah, she got caught staring.
"I was just-"
Finger landed on her lips, silencing her.
"Hehe, your mouth says one thing, your cute little cheeks say another!" Her senpai, Ayako Mitsuzuri says with a cheeky grin on her face.
Sakura pouts and Ayako's grin gets even cheekier. She didn't know it was possible.
"Ok, let's go."
"…eh? Wait wha…? Senpai?!" Sakura says with widened eyes as Ayako starts pulling her by the hand. She tries to free her hand but Ayako doesn't let go.
As they approach, Shirou looks towards them.
"Oh, Ayako-san and Sakura-chan?"
Shinji turns around as well and widens his eyes.
His lips suddenly go up in a smirk and Sakura sighs as she knows that Ayako just gave her brother more teasing material.
He then speaks to Ayako.
"Ayako-san was it? Thanks for taking care of my adorable little sister. Name's Shinji."
Ayako grins as she replies.
"Ah, don't mention it. But that's not why I brought her here. Is that right, Sakura-chan?
She wiggles her eyebrows at Sakura.
Sakura blushes.
And then Shinji's jaw hits the floor.
"Oh my, fish-eyes? Is there something you haven't been telling your onii-chan?"
He puts his hand on his chest.
"My heart is torn to shreds. My adorable little sister has already grown up so much." He says it in mock sadness.
The blush disappears and a pout suddenly appears on her face.
"Fish-eyes? Really?" Ayako asks with a raised eyebrow.
Shinji merely grins.
Then he asks her: "But tell me, who stole my sister's heart? I do wonder…"
Ayako puts a finger on her mouth for a moment and merely replies: "Oh, I can't reveal EVERYTHING to her big brother now can I?"
Shinji is now sure.
Ayako is VERY good.
"Oh, hello Sakura." The red-headed boy finally decides to step in the conversation too.
Sakura is silent for a moment then bows down and replies.
"Senpai."
Shinji raises his eyebrow. "You know each other?"
"Yeah. We do." Shirou replies
Now, wasn't THAT interesting...
As Shirou and Ayako wave back to them, Shinji thinks to himself.
'Dammit! So. I'm on my own, huh?'
It appears that the Second Magus killer is conveniently somewhere else. Of course he is. Because life simply can't give him a break, can it?!
He sighs as he starts going home with Sakura by his side.
It doesn't matter.
He'll figure it out. Do it by himself.
As he usually did it.
Although he has to admit, something was a bit weird… and alarming.
"Magus killer…? What?" Shirou asks him.
Shinji pales for a moment.
"Wait, don't tell me…you-"
"-I know what 'Magus' means. But…this is the first time I heard about his… nickname…"
Shirou looks down.
"…dad…"
Crap. It seems that Emiya Kiritsugu decided not to tell him of his past.
And he just told him this even though it seems that the assassin didn't want him to know about it.
Double crap.
He barely stops himself from sighing again.
As if it's not enough that he has to deal with the Apostle Ancestor's pet monster, now he has to think about the ramifications of doing something that displeased the Magus Killer.
Boy oh boy, there is no way his actions are gonna backfire in any way, is there?
Pfff.
As if.
If only. He knows he isn't that lucky.
Whatever.
He'll think about it when the time comes.
But for now, he has the monster in the basement to put down. For his sister's sake.
As he eats together with his caretaker Shirou thinks to himself about how the day ended up being more shocking than he thought it would be in his wildest dreams.
Not only did he find out about Shinji's knowledge of the 'Moon Side of The World' as his dad liked to put it.
He also found out that apparently not only does Shinji knows his dad, but his dad is also so much (in)famous that he is known by that… nickname.
Magus killer.
Before he never thought about it as much. What does his father do during all those journeys? Does he… kill?
But more importantly, if he does…
Why?
He shakes his head as Taiga asks him how his school day has been.
He will think about it later.
For now, he has to deal with the Tiger in the room…
"DO NOT CALL ME TIGER! GAOOOOO!"
As Tai-Gar stands up to deliver righteous justice for the great betrayal of trust, thunder suddenly appears in the room from literally nowhere!
'Crap.'
The moment dinner ended Shinji immediately took some books on Dead Apostles and started going through every single possible detail. As with every workshop he thankfully had plenty of books with lots of details to go around with.
So, first off. Bit of recap.
Just as every other Dead Apostle, the five girls he saw in the vision were humans. However, the girls were then, either by blood or by magecraft or a combination of the two, turned into the Dead Apostle.
It also seems that somehow, the amalgamation of the girls was able to completely bypass the phase of The Ghoul. Because there is no way that the girls have been there for centuries, as the elementary school itself was built just after the Second World War.
And that is ignoring the fact that the Burial Agency wouldn't interfere after some investigation on multiple deaths during the full moon.
Not quite inconspicuous. Especially in this age with the vampires popularized through books and movies.
Hell, in Japan not too long ago, in 1939, a novel Dokuro-Kengyo was written by Seishi Yokomizo. The 'Death's-Head Stranger' took some elements from Bram Stoker's Dracula and put it into Tokugawa-era Japan.
But that's not important. What is important that this is bad news out of two reasons, hypothetically three. The third possibility, while very improbable… is terrifying, to say the least.
First possibility and the most probable one.
The girls have a HUGE affinity for magic.
In the books he read through, he managed to find that the Mage's Association has recorded some cases where the Magus infected by the Vampire Virus manages to completely skip the phase of 'The Ghoul' – process that takes many years of development from and immediately turns into an Apostle.
This makes sense because that basement did have a boundary field of sorts. But… it seems it took more of a material form.
A form of a wall that prickled his sister's skin and absorbed her blood.
Shinji frowns.
"The Territorial Field."
This was bad news. Because they are extremely difficult to invade, even trained magi of the Mage's Association need MONTHS to invade it. And even should you be able to do it, because they are a turf of their power, you are attacking it at its full strength.
Not only does he not have the time, but he also can't even formulate a plan how to pierce such a high-class boundary field, let alone a mid-class one.
…how he was able to come close in the first place is even a mystery that baffles him.
He sighs. He'll figure out some other way.
The second possibility, less probable but can't be ignored.
The Apostle Ancestor that turned her was one of the High-ranking ones.
Among the top 15.
This would complicate things, to say the least.
And depending on which Apostle Ancestor it is…
Putting aside the fact that he should even succeed in taking care of this thing, the fact remains that even if he doesn't want to, the Apostle Ancestor would probably see it as a challenge at best.
At worst…
It could see this act as him foiling its plan and choosing aside.
Because the fact remains that for a few centuries there has been infighting of sorts between Van-Fem and Altrouge Brunestud.
…if either of the two is in any way responsible for the creation of the thing in his school and he takes it down, it doesn't matter what he has as an explanation.
It WILL be seen as a power move and heads WILL fall.
Shinji sighs again and puts a hand to his forehead. He hopes this isn't the case.
But…there is one even worse.
Third, most improbable and yet… most terrifying of all three.
The girls were turned by the True Ancestor.
It would, of course, make sense why the girls would be able to create such a high-ranking boundary field, even if there are a few faults.
…of all three.
He hopes that this isn't the possibility that's the correct one.
Because…he doesn't know what will he do.
That's a PLANET-CLASS spirit. Not only is it a rank higher than a Divine Spirits, as in, FUCKING GODS, it also has backup from Gaia.
So even if hypothetically speaking, he was the strongest human in history who far surpasses the strength of every single imaginable heroic spirit past and future, that thing would still be stronger than him.
So yeah.
For today. Definitely.
Fuck everything.
Shinji bashes his head against the wall.
He almost wants to think of the words. Almost.
But he knows if he says them out loud, life WILL find a way to fuck him up.
'Because it can always get worse. ESPECIALLY because I'm a Matou.'
He simply lies down for a minute, calms himself down, and then starts taking notes again.
Shinji smirks to himself.
'Whatever. It doesn't matter. And you know why?'
Then he grins.
'Because I am a fucking Magus. And Magus walks together with death by his side. About the time I start acting like one!'
As midnight starts nearing he finally reaches the end of his final book and writes in some of his last notes.
Few more things he found out.
First off, it appears the body he saw in the vision is some sort of a spare body that is used by the five girls. This makes sense.
Second, and this makes even more sense. Since eyes are windows to ones' soul.
DO NOT LOOK THEM IN THE EYES. Or at the very least, take some glasses with yourself.
Since the first possibility is probable, the one where the girls have an affinity to magic, there is also a possibility that the girls possess the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment which would turn him into their puppet.
Three, if possible try to get rid of them during the new moon and avoid confrontation during the new moon.
But of course, it may be most defensive during that period, because who the hell wouldn't be at their weakest?
So, perhaps somewhere in the middle. Or maybe just after the new moon passes, so the thing relaxes itself thinking the worst time has passed.
As a certain smart Chinese strategist said: "To know your enemy, you must become your enemy."
…although he would like to avoid the last part of the sentence becoming literal. He likes being human.
Four, the thing has a form of immortality called the Curse of Restoration. It makes the vampire's body regress through time to its original vampiric state whenever it receives an injury. This is why the third note is so important. The potency of the Curse increases dramatically during the full moon.
Finally, it appears he will have to do something impossible.
It seems that to defeat a Mystery, he is gonna need a bigger one too. Because a Dead Apostle can "deny" the power of items made by man or those the gods prepared for man. So, that means even him attempting to burn the thing might fail.
So, either way…it seems that he will have to try to do another impossible thing.
He will have to try to make a contact with some sort of creature from the 'Reverse Side of The World' and make a contract with it.
As he watches his grandson - who is not so much as a failure as it seemed, go to sleep, the five-century-old worm grins to himself.
It seems that there is some promise in his grandson. More so than Byakuya whose only purpose is to act as a mana fuel for Sakura, even tonight.
"Well, well…let's see how will you get through this one, Shinji."
So, he decides to acknowledge his efforts, seeing that they are starting to bear fruit. Seeing that he is indeed formulating a plan in defeating the Dead Apostle that even he couldn't defeat.
And here he was thinking that he might have had to call upon Kotomine Kirei and end up in his debt. What a surprise!
If his grandson does somehow succeed where he failed, not only he might just grant him the honor of participating in the Fifth Holy Grail War... he might actually acknowledge his existence since he was born.
As he starts cackling to himself, he thinks that the next ten years might not be boring as he thought they would be.
'Let the games begin!'
Nice one Shinji. It appears you made juices flowing good and proper of not just one old immortal grandpa vampire. Now two are out for your arse. Boy, oh boy you just can't stop getting into trouble, can't you?