Fate: Stay Over Night

by TheGoodDoggo

Gallery: ibb. co/album/bVvTWF - There was a mysterious force that pulled the remnants of Yggdrasil toward the New World. But not all of them got to their destination. Some got strayed by the shifting of realities. And then there was exception. It was like you unintentionally touched something so 'Eww' and tossed it to the opposite direction. And so the Thing went there...

6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer like the previous chapters.

.

This chapter was supposed to be out 10 days ago but thing happened.

Anyway, I didn't have time so I only proof-read this once. Mistakes will be there.

.

Back at the shrine. Everything had become quiet. The ritual was a success without any hitch.

The Servants were standing next to their respective Master and a distance away from the previous killing ground. They were watching Tamako making another circle.

This time they somewhat recognized the purpose. It was a Servant summoning circle. Although it was modified nearly entirely.

Each of them, Servants and Masters, couldn't help but remember that hellish ritual, literally.

According to Tamako, the creepy women called Supplicants were technically weaker than them. And yet they had had to struggle so hard to attain victory.

The agonized cry and whimpering like a murdered victim were also eating at their mind. But their fighting capability was truly fiendish, fitting that of a demon that they were.

And the following wave gave them even more hardship.

Four big burly demonic beings who wore full plate armor with black wings protruded through at their back. War Devil, they were called by Tamako. Each of them was already as strong as a close-combat Servant if not even stronger due to their physique of a supernatural Demon.

They wielded big bastard swords wreathed in black sinister flame. Not only they were frightening warriors but also had great cooperation skill and capable of strengthening each other.

Truly a receipt for nightmare. It was like fighting with four Saber classes at the same time.

They realized that was their limit when they finally emerged victorious against those four War Devils. Even with the strengthen Saber and Caster, the fight was nearly lost because the Demons were also enhancing themselves.

It was lucky that the [Sealing Crystal] could only hold spell at their basic form and couldn't receive the benefits of Classes and Stats.

Tamako had bailed them out just before the last wave came up.

And they were very glad she did so.

The last wave was two Devils of extreme power and one more who overshadowed even those two. Their sheer presences startled the Servants.

Archer gave a guess following the trend that those three were some kind of superior to those Demons they killed, like a captain or something. He didn't know how wrong he was.

The two giant red Devils with the bestial look were Pit Fiends, generals of Demon armies. They were at the top of the hierarchy of the Demon army. The army was comprised of not only Demons but also Devils, because the Demons were just muscled-heads that wanted to fight. They made good soldiers though so their number was actually very high. So high that it got called the Demon army all the time even though it was created and led by Devils.

Pit Fiends were dangerous existences that stood at twice the height of a human, they had a big body of muscle that no one wanted to mess with. Flame spouted from their body like an aura even made the ground they stood on turned red. Their head had two giant horns and a mouth full of needle-like teeth that let out venomous liquid every now and then. They had red leather wings that could wrapped their whole body with a long lizard tail. They held in their hand a golden trident that was as big as they were.

Even the Duke and Monarch they served was also Pit Fiend that was more powerful and more prestige. The only rank above them was Arch Devil that ruled the Nine Hells.

But it didn't mean that they were weak. Pit Fiends had monstrous prowess that stood above all Demons. They also had the might of a powerful wizard and capable of casting all types of spell-like abilities. Not to mention their crafty mind when it came to dealing with the humanoid races. In conclusion, they were the typical big, red, shrewd Devil one found in books and legends.

And the one stood between them… was someone who had a connection with Tamako, surprisingly.

(If you couldn't read and really want to, use this page: eeemo. Net – uncheck the fuck up box to revert it.)

"Y͏oú̸̷!̸͘ ̴̢Yò̷̢u͡ ̧ar͝ȩ̡́ ̨̀t͢͞͝h̛͜͞e͏̴ ͞şe̷ŕ͠͠v̸ą̕͡ń̢ţ͞ ͘͏ó̷f̕͟ ̷́t̛͜h̀a̸͟t ̕͡b̸į͡͡t̸c͏h̴ ẃ̴h̶̶o ͜ḱi҉̢l͏͡l͘͟ ̷͠m̸y̸͘͏ ̢̡F̶͡ier̷҉͜n̸̶a!̢ ̴̴I̕ ̧͘w̧i̧ļl̡̨͠ ҉̧m̢ak̷̛e͠ ̕y͝o̶̶u̧ ş̕u̶͜f̶̷͠f̸͜e͜͟͞r͝!̢̀̕"

"Oh, sorry, I don't think I know you."

"I ̨͞a͏̀m̛͝ ̢G҉la͏̀sý́a͏͝,̷͠ ̴́L̨̧̀o̸ŗ̶d́͟͞ ͜͝o̶̵f ̴̵͠t̢h̸̡e̸͟ ̴͟S̀҉̸ix̸̷͢t͡h L̶a͡͡҉ye͠҉r̀ ̴̷͡ó̴̕f ̶̢H͟e͡ll̢͢͡.͟ ̢Ge̴̡ţ́ ̢͜i͡n̕͟͡ ̴̀͝h̢͜e̡r̴̨͟e̷͜ ş́o̡͠ ̵͢I̵̷ ̨͜co҉̡ù̴̢l̸̀d́̀͡ ̶k҉͡i̡̛l̛͡l͢ ̧͟͡y͏óu҉̧,̛͟ ri͡g̵͡h̸͠t́ n̵͢o͞w!̴"

"I don't know the story, but talking like that toward Mistress in front of me… even if it's you, the Queen of Succubus, I will make sure to cut off that tongue of your."

The woman who seemed to have a grudge with Tamako spoke in a language they couldn't understand and give off a nauseous feeling like a nasty curse, but the two of them were conversing just fine even with a different in language.

That woman was apparently the Queen of Succubus. Archer also seemed to agree as she looked more of a Succubus than Tamako.

She wore a skimpy dress that only cover the essential parts like that of a dancer from an erotic game. She had long blue cyan hair that reach her back and two long horns that curve from the side of her head toward her forehead, the horn had a similar cyan tint like her hair too.

Obviously, she had an alluring body that resembled a human with pale skin but she was taller, about two meters.

He could only guess her power based on the presence she emitted but that could be falsified as well so he wasn't sure.

Glasya was the daughter of Asmodeus, the king of all Nine Hells. She was the strongest female Arch Devil in all Nine Hells. She was extremely evil, but her look could make even the most heroic individual do her bidding if she tried. As a normal summon, she had limited power but if encountered in her realm, she was classified as a Raid Boss with unparalleled fire power. She could finish a level 100 player in one hit if they weren't careful.

###########

(From D&D, Glasya – Lord of the Sixth Layer of Hell): ibb. co /xzGrJfy

###########

Summons were usually created by the caster's mana and had a consciousness like that of a spirit. But there were also cases like Demons and Devils. Most of the high-ranking Devils were summoned from a dimension called Hell that was connected to all the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil. Muspelheim had demonic races too but they were not the dominant force there, the Fire Giants were. And the realm was guarded by Surtr so no Devil Kings or Demon Lords resided there.

Most demonic creatures served under their King or Lord, so no need to say that they mostly saw the summoner as a side job employer. That was the lore behind why demonic force often disobeyed the magic casters whose power didn't overwhelm the summons. Their reason wasn't complicated either because when encountered in Hell, there were usually more than one player just to fight one Devil. Basically, to them weakling equaled snack.

Despite all that power, Tamako disposed of them in a blink of an eye except the Queen of Succubus. Tamako made sure to cut her tongue off before killing her, as she had promised previously.

All the Servants didn't even know what happened. She just walked forward with normal walking speed and then the two red giants started stabbing each other to death. They watched as Tamako dealing out punishment emotionlessly to the Queen who had tried to struggle but got her limbs smeared on the ground in a bloody mess.

It gave them a chilling dread. Reminding them of how scary an individual Tamako was. They were used to how bright and kind she acted and completely ignored the fact that she was one of the beings that Siriel called subordinate.

But how could they not? Tamako was intentionally masking her presence and highlighting herself as a weak normal magus girl.

After that, Tamako used the summoning spell a few more times but she didn't make them fight again. They too thought it was enough fighting for them already, they didn't want to use Noble Phantasm in front of other Servants even if they were allies.

They all stood on the side watching as Tamako erased each wave with some kind of spell. Only one spell. It was obvious that she was still mad. And the last boss of each summoning spell was always a different Lord of the Nine Hells or some kind of diabolic beings. It made them wonder where the Nine Hells were located, and why Hell from another world connected to them.

And it seemed like she was trying to summon the Succubus Queen again.

But it was of little concern for the moment.

Tamako said that those Devils wouldn't want to invade a place where Siriel was staying for whatever reason. That too was another question they wanted answer on. What had happened in their world, or worlds as she said it? It remained a secret as Tamako didn't want to tell them.

Tamako had finished the preparation and had started to summon Caster's soul. It was weird and surreal. No magus could ever pull it off with the huge amount of mana required and the ability to make it happened was no joke either.

But here they were, the impossible was happening. Ripping the soul out of the Throne of Heroes and packed it into an orb. It was one of the cataclysts they made using the previous ritual. The result was five crystal orbs of purplish shades of lightning ran slowly inside.

They were beautiful and harmless with their only purpose was to be a vessel for soul, of any kind.

Archer was still doubtfully observing Tamako. With his experiences, anything that had to do with souls was bad news.

"Caster, are you ready?"

She asked with a hint of concern toward the person involved.

"… Yes, I am. Let's see the result of our work!"

Caster was psyching herself up. She didn't want to waste their effort in the past few days. And she too, was curious about how she would become after gaining all her aspect as a complete person. Would she changed personality or the one she had currently would become dominant? Theoretically, the result they predicted was the truth but thing could be different from unknown factors that arose in unexpected circumstances.

Caster moved to the center of the new magical formation that Tamako prepared and held the vessel in her hands.

Tamako nodded reassuringly at her and started to pump a massive amount of mana into the formation. The surrounding was immediately dyed in her ambient mana.

Luckily for the Masters that Tamako had full control of her power or else they would be bathed in a super class Succubus's aura. There wouldn't be any good coming out of that. The Servants? Who know? They had their own way around it, they were a very capable kind.

Light shined from the orb and quickly enveloped Caster in a moment.

Five seconds passed and everything returned to normal. Caster was still there but without the orb. She was inspecting herself.

It is too bland and anticlimactic!

… was what everyone screamed inside their head.

"How are you feeling?"

Tamako approach her to check on her well-being.

"It's… strange. I feel like I just broke out of a dream that limited my mind until now. It's refreshing."

She had a joyous and contended smile on herself. Tamako held Caster's hands in her own with a similar smile on.

"Welcome back to the living, Caster."

"Yes, I am back."

Caster had successfully acquired her soul and kept her current personality as a dominant one. She was happy that she was alive again. She could feel more, could think more. And there was no longer the unyielding yearning for her home when she was just an iteration of herself. She still wanted to go back to her homeland but not as serious as before.

Now that I think about it, couldn't I just ask Tamako for help with seeing my homeland again? She knows all kind of things. Why was I so fixated on using the Grail before? Hmm?"

"Alright then, how about we test out the other formation too?"

Tamako seemed to be fully back in a good mood. Caster decided to discuss her request later after seeing the happy Tamako in front of her.

"Oh, are we test-summoning a Servant? Let's do it then, but don't summon the whole Heroic Spirit."

It would be bad if they agitated the Egos and made them attacked impulsively.

"Hmm… yes, you are right."

Hearing the two of them starting something again Shirou ran forward to ask.

"Hey Tamako-sis! You are about to do something again? And how are Caster? Is she alright?"

"Slow down Shirou. There is no problem. Everything is executed successfully."

The others had also come to them to ascertain their condition.

Tohsaka had a complicated face on as she looked at Caster.

"Well… with this, won't your power jump up even more? It is frustrating but you have the Holy Grail War in your hand already huh. There are noway any Servant could fight you anymore."

Tamako didn't know how to answer to that as she wasn't interested in the War but Caster was.

"What are you talking about Rin? We are allied so isn't it fine?"

"You are one to talk! Saber also had a power-up too!"

"Eh, well…"

Seeing them like that, Tamako decided to change the topic to sooth thing over.

"Calm down you two. We are done here, so you all could go rest now."

"Oh right Tamako-sis. What about you? You were just planning to do something right?"

"I am about to test-summon Servant using the new magical diagram."

"S-Servant summoning? Wait, Rin! This isn't illegal, right?"

Tohsaka was having a hard face thinking.

"The rules said that only seven Servants should be presented in the Holy Grail War… I don't know what will happen if the number increase. Illegal or not, you think anyone could detain 'your sisters'?"

"Oh, you got a point."

"And you should worry about us. What are we gonna do about the Grail? Could Saber beat Caster now with the addition of another Servant?"

"Ugh…"

He was looking nervously at Saber who just nonchalantly looked back.

"Saber?"

"Battlefield is an unpredictable place, Shirou. Do not base everything on statistics when there are so many unknown varieties."

"Yes! You are right! I will give it my best too!"

"Good. That is the right attitude."

She didn't deny or confirm Tohsaka's statement. Saber herself could barely grasp her peaked power. She couldn't release her Noble Phantasm just to measure it.

The two Masters and Servants discussed thing a bit about what they should do in the coming day.

And as they concluded it, Tamako and Caster had already stood by the new formation on the ground.

"Tamako-sis, do you mind if we stay?"

"Just do as you want."

They decided to observe their new potential rival rather than going to train. And the new member could be an ally for the coming fight too.

Caster had made something in the air in front of them. The thing looked like a tinted panel of glass with bright blue hue and the size of a black board at school.

"Hmm, the size is a bit much. Let's adjust it later."

"I think so too. Is the interface alright? I used the classification of the Mage Association."

Tamako and Caster were inspecting the terminal they made to easily access information through the Earth Vein.

"The data was loading well."

Following Caster's word, Tamako began to check out the spirits whose information had been pulled up.

The panel of light show the figure of the spirit in the middle with all the information on both side.

"Let set the filter to this land only."

The list started to shorten until a few pages worth of scrolling remained.

The others were amazed at their handiwork. The way they did it stripped bare any information from the summoned Servant. Furthermore, they could even choose which one to summon.

What kind of unfair play is this! Why are they so casually trampling on the work of hundreds of years from others like that! I want a refund, dammit!

The silent scream of Tohsaka was left to the wind as the other were interested in looking at all the Heroic Spirits related to these lands.

They were surprised to see so many Oni and Yokai figures. It was a wonder that not even one of the Yokai was summoned in this War.

Are they all Heroic Spirit? Even the Yokai?

Shirou was just thinking about trivial thing like usual.

Then all of a sudden the air became stilled and ominous feeling assaulted them. They knew this feeling. They had witness it just a while ago afterall.

Everyone's eyes left the screen and turned to look at Tamako cautiously.

"T-Tamako, what is going on? W-Why are you…"

Caster saw her eyes stared murderously at the figure in the screen so she quickly turned back to check the detail on it. Everyone noticed her reaction also did the same.

###########################

Death God Siriel

.

True name: Siriel D̡̀͜͏è̷̡͠s̷̶̀és̶̶̨͜p̶̴͜͏e̴̶r̷͘͠a̛͜͡n̢̡ç̶͘͜a̸̧͢͝ Eva

Type: [Unable to classify]

Class: [Unable to classify]

Origin: [Unknown]

Race: [C̶͘os̢͜҉m̸̷ì̕c̡̕ ͡E̡͠a̧͘t̨e҉͝r͢͢], [E̸͘͢͠͡v̴̀́͟͞i̧l̨͢ ̡̀Ģ̵̵̡ǫ̧҉d͠]

Sex: Female.

Alignment: Neutral Evil.

Likes: Killing, Destroying, Fighting, Tamako, Levia, Weapons, Video Games, Manga, Anime, Saint.

Dislikes: Deception, God of Destruction.

.

Strength: EX

Endurance: EX

Agility: EX

Mana: EX

Luck: Invalid

Noble Phantasm: Invalid

.

Skill:

M͘a͢na Ma̵n̴i҉p͘ul͞a͢tio҉n:̵ E̡X̀

͟S͘oul̴ ̨Ma͠nįp͝ul͢àtion͠: EX̨

.

Legend:

A monster-like mercenary suddenly appeared in the modern battlefield of guns and explosives. Since then she made a legend of her own through killing everyone that became her opponent.

She was lured into death trap of many organizations due to her infamous existence but always walked out as the last one alive.

Her name was created by all the fear and reverence of the criminal world as well as the world above.

She was seen as a Death God by everyone on the battlefield. Her marksmanship was impossible to imitate without the use of magecraft. She never took a bullet, even heavy bombardment and air strike couldn't kill her.

But she was also revered as a Savior and Goddess by numerous small villages and slaves when she saved them on her whim.

Her true origin was an inter-dimensional creature of immense power that was stranded on Earth.

Her residence and subordinates were brought along with her at Fuyuki. They a#&$

[Decryption Failure]

[Incomplete Data]

.

W̛̕o͝͠r̡l̵͡d ҉̶Tįt̢́le̕͠s̵͢:

̀A̡ṕó͡c̴̢͞aĺ͜y͏ps͝҉̡ę̀ ̨͟͜o̷̷f͟ ̨t̴̡h̸̨e̵͢͜ ̸̷̡E͏n̴d̡̛͟,̕ ͞L̨i̧̢͘m̶͡i̸͠tl̛͢͝e͏s̛s̷͞, ̴̵͝W̧̢͡o͠r͜l̨͢d͘͏ ̵̛͟E̷nem̨͟y̷̸̧,̴̕͢ ͘G͞od̶͞ ̡͡S̡̀͝l͏à̧y̢ȩ̷͟r,̢
̶̛͞Ù͞lt͏͠i̴̛m̸̴at̷̡e͏̶̸ ̨P̵̸ŕȩ͢da̴t͞o̢͝r͞,͢͜͡ ҉̛Įn̴̷̢v͠͠í̴n̵͘c͏̢i̕͞͡b̶l̷̕e̷̡͝,̛ ͞͏̶Ẁ̷͠ơ͞r̡̕l̨͠d͡҉ ͠C͜h̡͟á͢m̸̢pi̸ơ̷̡n̛͞, ̢̨͢V̧o͠i̷͏d͏͞ ̶͝F҉à͟r̶͜e̢r͡,̛͏
̶̷M̵̧͝ad ͜S̷̷ú͞m̸̛̕m̵̛o͏n̵̨e̷͏r҉,̀̕͟ ͞W҉i̧͘n̛͞g̛͘lès͜s̛͟ ́A҉͞n̕͢g̸͠ę̵l͞,̢͏ ̴̷́G͏͘u͏i͢҉l͏̸d̵̢ ̕͟B̴ą̕͡ǹe̸͟, A͏̨̨r͘m͢y͠ ̡͜of̷ ̷O͜͟͜nȩ͝,͞
͟͞Pa̧̨th̢͟ ̨F̸͞í͠n̕̕͝d̨̧͟e͡r҉̨,҉ ͠҉͞W̵̶͘o҉r̕l̀͞d̕ ̵Ḑ̛̕i̶sa͘͡s͞͏t̕ȩ͝r̷̢,̡͞ ̛҉S҉̨l͞á͡úg̡h͢t̷̷͟è̢͘r̨҉er̴

.

###########################

What appeared on the wide panel was some incredible information as well as gibberish words that they could barely make out.

But now that they saw it, they knew why Tamako was like that.

"Why is Siriel-sis a Heroic Spirit? Isn't she still alive?"

This time Archer was the one who answered Shirou question, unrest easily seen in his eyes.

"I don't know either. But my guess is that this is someone's or something's doing. Nothing good will come out of this."

The figure on the screen was unfamiliar to them but now they began to see some semblances.

She was wearing black leather undershirt and short pant with camo-combat boots. There was a tattered cloak with hood covered her head and a muffler with the same camo-color as her boots. Her face was completely hidden under the dark shade.

In her right hand was a big black magnum revolver and on her left hip was a katana that was covered in bandages. There was also a big sniping gun strapped on her back that looked like stationed artillery.

The platinum hair that spilled out of her cloak and her demeanor too. No doubt that was Siriel herself.

They noticed the incoherent text and all the wrongness in her profile. Tohsaka who was especially familiar with how the Servant's status looked like was confused and worried. A part of her was in joy to get some information about those phantasmal beings she was staying with. But she mostly concerned about the implication of this turn of event.

"So that is her full name… why was it so gibberish?"

Shirou was always curious about the initial 'D' in Siriel name but never got an answer.

"I am more worried about her races and… those titles. What is even 'World Titles'?"

Tohsaka added her thought to his muttering. There were a lot of details that out of the ordinary and she wanted nothing more than to understand them all. But they didn't have the leisure to idling around when Tamako was in a dangerous state.

Should they approach her? That was the kind of question that was floating their mind the whole time.

She wouldn't harm them normally. Yes, normally that was the case. But right at the moment she seemed to be in rage mode so they were all hesitated. They didn't think they had the kind of magic resistance that could prevent them from being erased by her.

Caster was also quite dumbfounded by the turn of event but eventually she regained her composure.

She quickly pulled away the profile of Siriel and called out to Tamako.

"Tamako! Calm down please! You are putting pressure on the others!"

Caster understood that to Tamako, her Mistress was everything. She was her god, her creator, her master, her friend and even her loved one. So seeing someone or something made a copy of her dearest would undoubtedly antagonize her.

Caster's words was able to reach her somehow. The subtle pressure on the area was lifted and Tamako had closed her eyes.

A relief washed over everyone.

Tamako had surprisingly lost herself to rage despite the discipline she had. She reflected on her behavior strongly and deemed it unsuitable for someone who serve as the caretaker of the Devil's Abode.

She opened her eyes after reported everything to her Mistress. Their involvement would be decided later when Siriel returned.

Whatever her Mistress wanted to do with this, she would follow through. It wasn't her place to annihilate humanity and deprived her Mistress of her fun.

But…

She would still put those egos on her watch list.

It dared to do this kind of blasphemy… Unforgivable.

"I am fine now Caster. Don't worry, I won't be losing myself like that anymore."

She was too level-head that they thought she was just putting up a front to stop worrying them.

"Really? Well, it's alright to be angry. I, at least, understand you to some degree."

"Thank you Caster. Let's get back to the matter at hand."

Caster was still worried but let it go. Tamako knew what she was doing and then if anything was to happen… well, it wasn't her business to interfere.

Shirou and the others felt thing had calmed down so they approached Tamako and expressed their concern.

"Sis, are you alright?"

"… I am. You don't need to worry like that. I will start gathering more data for Mistress. We need to know how much data the copy of Mistress held."

She brought up the profile again. This time she was as calm as her usual self. With analyzing eyes intensely watching the status, she quietly looked at every detail that she could get.

Shirou felt that this was the right time to ask some questions about his big sister that he liked and feared.

"Hey, Tamako-sis, why is big sis Siriel's name look like that?"

"Well, I don't know either."

"Huh? Even you don't know?"

She turned to him with a somewhat sad face.

"I don't know everything about Mistress. She doesn't feel like there is a need to tell me so I won't ask. Her name is something special. She loves and hates it at the same time. If you want to know then ask her."

Even though she said that, in truth she didn't want him to ask. She really didn't want anyone to know more about her Mistress than her.

"Eh? Then it will never be known! She won't tell me anything unless I can cast one of her spell!"

She just smiled back at him. Her mind was at ease remembering her Mistress's strictness toward him.

"Ugh… Then could you tell me something about her races? It is gibberish but we can still read it. She is really a god?"

Tamako looked at the status again with contemplation before answering him.

"I don't think you should trust it too much. Based on what I see here, it is trying to make something that doesn't exist with what it has. Because my Mistress isn't just that. Did you forget she was also an Arch Angel?"

"O-oh, is that so?"

"Well, the Cosmic Eater is right though. I wonder how it could recreate that."

"Huh… Eh?"

Everyone was surprised that was actually a thing after what Tamako just explained.

"Cosmic Eater is the highest rank of all Devourer races. Mistress is the apex predator back in our world."

She didn't disclose more. But they understood what devourer meant. There was also the name that told them pretty much everything.

"A-And what is Evil God supposed to be?"

Shirou was uncomfortable about his sister being called an Evil God.

"I guess that is a replacement for her last race. It is a race that she created herself and she is the only member of the race. That race isn't something that could be imitated, even by the gods."

Tamako looked at the status and smiled to herself as she saw Levia and herself listed in the likes section.

The others were not so much like her. They saw different things. What she liked were not all good things. Although she never hide it, everyone was so used to her laidback attitude that seeing her likes listed like this gave them a shock.

Even if it was an imitation of Siriel, it still held true to what she was. The Type, Class and Origin they could understand but the Parameters and World Titles things were messed up.

With stats like that, she could never be summoned. There was no way an entity like that could be manifested.

And that leaded them to World Titles. It was a strange term even for the Servants and it seemed to be glitching out too.

"What is that World Titles about? The entire section is not normal."

"Hmm, you don't need to overthink thing. It is just what it is, her titles from a long time ago."

Tamako usually never gave them any information that really matter. That meant the things she wouldn't tell them was all serious. But she really didn't hide anything. It was just that telling them about each title would drag out too much time.

There were mainly two kinds of title.

One was the type that you got after completing some kind of challenge. These kinds were not limited and anyone could get.

The second one was the real deal. It gave a big bonus to the holder of the title, a really huge one. These kinds required you to do some insane feats that were never mentioned in any text. It was on pure chance or the truly insane to ever think of doing the kind of things it required. And these titles were all unique. That meant there was only one in all nine worlds. But you could still take it from the holder. Only if you accomplished the same feats first then kill the previous owner after that. Only the people that accomplished the same feat would know of each other name.

The information about these titles were one of the most guarded secret in Yggdrasil. They weren't like World Items but they surely would change the tide of battle.

Obviously most of Siriel's titles were unique. Not many people think of diving into the temple of the Dark God in the deep of space alone and making it into a playground, effectively killing the Gods there over and over without end. Or staying alive the whole duration of the game. Or withstanding the one hundred waves of monsters from ten artificial dungeon outbreaks alone. Or opposing the nine worlds and bearing the sin of ending them (in name only).

People who specialized in divination also wouldn't be able to know which title was unique and which wasn't even if they could pin down the opponent and scan their status. The description of the title was always an understatement of the feat. Some were just an attachment to the unique race or job that was unlocked. And even at the end of the game, there were still numerous hidden races and jobs that hadn't be discovered yet.

All that aside, she couldn't possibly tell them any of these information. Tamako herself only know in detail about her unique race and jobs so even if she was allowed to talk, she couldn't gave them anything substantial.

They all seemed to have their own thought from seeing part of her Mistress. Tamako could direct their thought toward a beneficial direction but decided against it.

Her Mistress wouldn't be happy about her messing with them like that.

She stopped her thought on the matter as she terminated the spell and dispersed all the concentrated mana to the surrounding.

"Now I have what I need, we should end today experiment here. I thank you all for joining."

"Eh, okay. You can call me if you need anything. I will be at the garden training."

"Shirou…"

Her eyes looked apologetic toward him making him quite fluster and nervous.

"W-Wha What is it sis?"

"I know it will be difficult but try hard, okay? Don't give up."

"Now you are really scaring me. What are you talking about?"

He had a bad vibe seeing her pitying gaze on him. His gut was churning non-stop from the self-indulged anxiety.

But Tamako only smiled gently like a normal caring sister while patting some dirt off his shoulder.

The contact made him happy but this wasn't the time.

"Your performance today was less than expectation. Mistress will handle your schedule later."

"W-Why? I didn't do anything! No, no this can't happen!"

While he was whining around, everyone had lost interest and returned to do their thing like Tamako suggested.

It was fortunate that Tamako had a gentle personality and generally a nice… person to hang around. The Servants could find an opportunity when she was alone to talk about this and that matter. There were seriously a lot of things that they wanted to know and clear up. They felt Tamako would answer them if they acted reasonably.

The residents of this mystical shrine were all indisputably unfathomable. They may held answer to solve many of their problems.

It was just hopeful thinking, but they could try. It may work.

Tamako returned to the main hall where the altar and Siriel's corner were. She sat down before the altar and stayed still like that for seemingly eternity.

Shirou and Tohsaka also stayed there in the same room with her. The Servants were doing their own things elsewhere, like training or meditating or relaxing.

The Masters themselves weren't sure what they should do. Currently, they could only wait for whatever force the mage association deployed to complete their task and left the island.

Training? What could they gain in just a few days of training? They were human. They couldn't inflate their power like some kind of balloon. Or could they? Certainly they wouldn't try even if they could. That sound like a one-way ticket to Lala-land.

They looked at Tamako curiously seeing as she had stopped moving and closed her eyes.

Tohsaka was planning to ask about the study session of magecraft mentioned earlier but couldn't muster enough courage to speak up. It seemed rude to disturb her just right after the unpleasant event.

For the moment, they would stay put and ignore things that were too big for them.

It had past noon but nowhere near the end of the day.

The shrine got back its normal atmosphere. A serenity that soothed the soul. No sound of insects or birds, only an occasional breeze flowed by. A quietness that could make one addicted. But there was still a chill so subtle that no one would notice. A dread that threatened to explode and consume everything around.

The whole hill was awaiting the return of its master.

.

.

"Shit shit shit! Where is that bastard? Did he know I was coming for him?"

Near the front gate of the Emiya residence, there was a teenager pacing back and forth restlessly while mumbling to himself.

He was Shinji Matou, a magus that participated in the Holy Grail War.

His complexion was bad. His face was voided of blood and showing a paleness that could be related to a corpse. His hands and feet were no better. His anxiety had made him suffer. The constant lack of blood from irregular distribution across the body had made him more and more malnourished.

Afterall, it wasn't something he could control. When a person felt threatened, their body reacted by rerouting the blood flow and gathering it around the central. The vena system and heart hold nearly all the blood.

This reaction of course wouldn't be good for the body if it continued to persist. The body would compensate for the lack of oxygen and nutrients. It consumed its own resource to produce energy.

And this boy had been like that for nearly a week. His mind was gradually becoming unstable.

"Is he hiding in there? Could be… yes, he is hiding in there. I must go in."

Just as he was determined to trespass the Emiya residence, he saw someone open the door and go in. The person was a young woman with short and light brown hair. She gave off a tomboyish vibe about her.

It was Taiga Fujimura, his teacher at school. She also had a relationship of some kind to the Emiya household.

At that moment, something sparked in his head. Something normally wouldn't occurred to him. And in his state of mind, he had no hesitation to do what he thought.

He followed her inside when he heard her footsteps going away from the door.

He opened the door with careful movement that made no sound. That was the first time in his life he had done it and due to some twisted determination, he succeeded.

"Damn that Shirou! Going somewhere and dumping his house to me. What am I? His maid?"

Taiga was cleaning the house while complaining non-stop. Despite her rant, she was properly maintaining the house to the best of her ability.

She admired Kiritsugu. At the time she was still in school she got to know him when he visited her grandfather. Since then she often went to the Emiya residence to visit him. She would watch over Shirou when Kiritsugu had to go somewhere oversea. Shirou was like a little brother to her.

As time passed, she had become friends with the father and a legal guardian for the son. He was her first love. She was really sad and heartbroken when Kiritsugu passed away. But she recovered quickly to take care of Shirou. He was small and vulnerable. With the loss of his father, his mind was in a dangerous state. It could easily lead him to an emotional breakdown and cripple him for life.

She would love to live with him to babysit him easier but the boy became independence fast and didn't want to bother her. He had another sister, it somehow annoyed her, who stayed over from time to time. He called her with a '-nee' but to that sister of his he called with a '-sis'. There was really a distinction in his mind or it was something else that she didn't know.

The strange girl was around the same age as her but had a frightening air about her. She had met the sister once. And that was the scariest moment of her life. But on another note, thanks to that no one was able to scare her anymore, and over time her reputation could surpass even her own grandfather.

Back to her, she had met the sister when she had come over to check on Shirou.

That girl was strange. She like to wear a pair of elf ears and colored eyes contacts. Apparently, she was fond of cosplay.

But appearance aside, the girl exulted a suffocated presence that even she could somehow visualize. She felt like a small hare standing before a hungry wolf. She couldn't move, she didn't dare to breathe, she just stood in place trembling for who knew how long.

Eventually the girl talked and snapped her back. She could move again but out of fear, not of relief. She was told to sit, so she sat. She was told to introduce herself, so she said her name. She was told to drink tea, so she drank the whole cup with trembling hands.

The girl didn't seem to take note of her behaviors and just continued to lead the talk.

She talked about various things but Taiga's mind didn't register half of it. She was still young afterall, and lived relatively in a peaceful region. The gang dispute didn't even come close to a skirmish.

She always wondered how Shirou could withstand that kind of presence.

When she came home she immediately jumped into her futon and hugged herself to sleep. After regained her wit, she started to acknowledge her shortcoming and trained her discipline seriously under her grandfather's instruction. She wanted to know and understand the way of the world.

Shirou's sister was also an acquaintance of Kiritsugu so she must be a top notch hitman.

Setting that aura as the norm of the top dogs of the underworld, she began to see everyone else as children pretending to play tough.

It was a wrong conception but it help her reach the current height of power.

She tried to meet the sister a few more times but always had something to do when the girl visited.

Maybe her luck was not good. Or was it?

And currently there was something going on too.

The school had closed down temporary due to city unrest. It seemed a terrorist organization had tested their weapons here in Japan. The reason why in Japan was never answer, and no organization had taken responsibility for the act.

Everything seemed fishy to her but she couldn't grasp what was wrong. The internet had some absurd discussions that didn't connect to anything, so probably just someone trying to make fun of the situation.

While mulling over trivial things inside her head, she suddenly snapped out of it.

She heard footsteps.

The person was trying to be quiet but didn't have any skill at it. It couldn't be Shirou, he wouldn't do that. And he had enough skill to stay completely silent if he wanted to.

A burglar?

She pretended to not notice and waited for the trespasser to approach. It couldn't be a normal thievery if she was actively approached.

She passed a corner and quickly entered the room nearby. There was a wooden sword Shirou had a while back in the living room. She silently moved to the other side of the room and got to the living room another way without the burglar noticing.

There was noway she would face a criminal with possibly dangerous weapon barehanded. She was confident that she could take five armed gangsters without any weapon but she wouldn't take chances here. Desperate people were unpredictable.

She got what she wanted in her hand. The sword was heavier than she remembered. The black wood was unfamiliar but it was hard and solid. She liked that.

This time it was her turn to sneak behind the burglar.

As she was about to struck she stopped wide-eyes in place.

It was none other than Shinji, one of her student.

What the hell is he doing here?

She was dumbfounded. There was literally no reason whatsoever for someone like Shinji to be here. The kid hate Shirou with a passion since middle school.

She continued to follow him to see what he was planning.

His sister Sakura Matou occasionally visited this house. The girl was timid and lovable but he was nothing like her. He wasn't noticeable all these years but recently he began to clash with Shirou more and more.

It was fortunate that Shirou refused to join the archery club, or else the hostility may become even more of a headache because Shinji was in that club.

She didn't know what happened between them but apparently, Shirou was the one that started it.

Considering his personality, it could totally happened alright. Shirou was a justice hard-ass sometime. On the other hand, Shinji was a playboy with an irritating attitude. She seriously didn't know why those girls flocked to him.

Looking at the boy at the moment, he was a mess. There was nothing resembled the unlikable youngster she knew. His hair was messy. His face was deranged. He seemed to lose weight considerably. His hand was clucking a brick from somewhere.

She was sure the kid had followed her inside the house and intended to attack her fully knowing who she was. Well, knowing as in his teacher of course.

She stepped closer and put the wooden sword's tip behind his back. With how hard the sword was and the kid's weak-looking constitution, she would probably pierce his body if she was to thrust with her normal strength.

It wasn't like she intended to harm him though. In the end, he was still a student and she was a teacher.

"Shinji. I give you one minute to explain yourself before I resort to my way of doing thing."

Well, a few whacks could be forgiven right?

The boy jumped in place and turned around with a scared look.

He gave her a psychotic vibe. She started to worry about a bad feeling that suddenly arose inside her.

She thought he would spill out excuses but unexpectedly, he lunged at her readily to slam the brick to her head.

There was no time for shock as she reacted and slashed him across the face with the wooden sword. She stopped herself before instinct made her finished him with a stab.

"What the hell Shinji? Blatantly attacking me, your teacher?"

"Hihihihi… Ah, that hurts. You are quite strong, teacher."

"…"

There was clearly something wrong with him. He looked like an addict.

"It could have been quick and painless but you just had to make thing difficult for me."

"Painless? With a brick? I am sure a hospital may not be enough for you now. I know a special facility for children like you. Obediently surrender yourself."

"Heh, a lowly teacher dare to talk like that to me?"

She really started to lose it. Veins start to visibly pulsing on her head.

"Brat… you are dead."

"Hmph… enough. Rider, deal with her quickly."

As she was about to give him a hard whack on the head, a chain wrapped around the wooden sword and yanked it from her hand.

She immediately turned around while crouching to the floor as low as she could and gave a decisive sweep with her left leg.

There was another swung at where her neck previous was and a pair of slender legs quickly jumped up to avoid her retaliation.

Without thinking, she aimed for the new opponent's opening while jumping and lunged up with a punch packed with all her power.

But before it even connected, her consciousness was cut off as a long and hard thing hit the back of her head.

Chain? Dammit, why is a professional running around h…

She slumped to the floor defenselessly with a loud crash.

There was only a delirious laugh remained until her awareness completely faded out.

.

On the street of Fuyuki city, the many people moving back and forth were a normal sight to anyone living there.

The sun had set and the night had blanketed the land. There were the lights of the modern age illuminating the darkness and let life continue as if the day never ended.

But at the moment, there were fewer civilians out on the street. They all had kind of taking a shelter inside some of the buildings near them.

Because many groups of armed men were running around relentlessly at every corner of the city.

It was the local yakuza. Hidden in their clothes were machetes and knives. Some had guns, some had nail guns.

Totally dangerous-looking bunches.

"Reporting! West site clear! No sight of Aneki! Continue searching!"

They were thuggish but very organized.

People were scared and worried sick from all the ruckus the gangsters caused.

"Reporting! Signal from Aneki's phone found! The location is outer edge of the city in the east!"

"Move out! Surround the area quickly!"

Radio communication made rapport orders throughout the yakuza's network. One group rushed quickly to the site where the signal was located to confirm the validity of the information. Couldn't risk having their force concentrated in one location for no reason.

There had been so much unrest lately that the local yakuza were constantly on high alert.

Some foreign mafias infiltrated their turf and in hiding ever since. They hadn't gotten any experience on global gang war before so the veterans were all the active forces that were deployed in patrolling the city.

And now the boss's granddaughter had gone missing since noon.

They were all agitated. Hostility was overflowed in the city at the moment.

It didn't help that gunshots were heard in the day. Plenty of gunshots.

The whole organization was mobilized in response immediately but everything were over when they came.

All they found were corpses of men with multiple types of lethal wound. Some had their head cut off. Some had their intestines removed entirely. Some had all their limbs sliced up into ribbon. There were bullet holes too but those were the more mildly corpses.

As if having foreign gang in their land wasn't enough, they just had to have a massacre too.

They had suspected the foreigners were responsible for the kidnapping of the boss's granddaughter and they wouldn't let this slide.

The local police couldn't handle this kind of matter so they needed to actively move in discretion. Even in anger, they couldn't afford to make an enemy out of the government.

The oyabun had some connection with the mayor but the law would crush them if the city came into harm.

"Reporting! Signal is in an abandon building, and there are activities in there."

"Good job! Men! Surround it! We will raid it on my command!"

With the information confirmed, they pooled their force into the area. Every man was armed with machete or katana. A few guns were distributed among the veterans. There weren't many big guns like rifles or shotguns. Most of them were small arms like handguns or sub machinegun.

The total manpower of the assault was above five hundred men. They took the situation completely serious.

.

Meanwhile, inside the abandon building which the yakuza were surrounding, a boy with messy dark blue hair was shouting irritatingly at a tall purple hair woman.

"Didn't I order you to kill them all? Now they are gathering around like ants outside! You are useless!"

"There are too many. And we need to keep the existence of the Grail War a secret from the public. I can't just run on the street killing people without any witnesses."

"Just kill all the witnesses then! What is so hard about that you stupid Servant?"

Her face didn't even twitch at his insult but inside she was already holding herself back from attacking him, verbally.

"That would result in me killing nearly all the citizen in Fuyuki just to cover your order. He won't be pleased."

Hearing the mention of his grandfather, he flinched but quickly got angry again.

"You dare to talk back to me? A lowly Servant like you!"

He threw a piece of concrete at her in his tantrum. Of course she dodged it with a side step while rolling her eyes beneath her eyes cover. Never had she felt this much fed up under him.

He was more and more like a madman running wild. His original 'plan' hadn't even started yet and he was already stumbling around uselessly. She honestly didn't know where he wanted to go with this kidnapping business.

Talking about kidnapping, he chose a target that seriously couldn't be any worse. Of all the people that could be taken, it just had to be the oujosama of the biggest local gang. Now he was being hunted by the yakuza of this whole region.

He was still looking down on the gangsters outside as if they were all beneath him. Afterall he had a Servant and Servant could never lose to human.

The arrogant and overconfident were spilling out from him no matter how you looked at it.

The Servant he commanded, Raider didn't give her assessment either. He wouldn't listen and she also didn't want to.

In the corner of the room, stayed motionlessly on the ground was the body of a light brown hair girl. She lied there without as much as moving a pinky finger.

She wasn't unconscious as her kidnapers expecting though. She had woken up as soon as she was carried out of the house but stayed still. Even if the professional hitman noticed her she didn't think the woman would knock her out again.

And she was confident in her acting. She had countless experience of her opponents pretending to faint, she knew what to watch out for.

They didn't take away her phone for some reason. It was like they didn't even think about it. It was her advantage so she wouldn't complain.

She stealthily made a distress call to her family and turned the phone to silent mode.

It certainly helped that Shinji was acting like a maniac and ordered his supposedly hired subordinate everywhere.

They brought her to the highest floor of this building. Typical thinking for kid like him.

What worried her was the hitman he hired. For whatever reason she didn't know but the woman was quite tolerating toward him despite his conduct.

The woman was a dangerous fighter nonetheless. If her clan went against that woman in the narrow space like this building, they would all be dead soon.

And she didn't want that. But currently she couldn't do anything herself.

There was a small tanto under her skirt but she didn't think she could overpower that woman. If anything then the only chance was Shinji. If she could take him as a hostage that was.

She couldn't take a good look at the woman but she seemed like an eccentric person. Wearing sensual outfit and having a cover on her eyes, not to mention her long hair, very long hair.

It looked like she didn't use gun, but those stabbing spikes with chain were a serious threat in her hands. As expected of a professional. It was wrong but Taiga didn't know. The few true hitmans she met through her grandfather were all nothing special with her screwed standard.

Shinji was ordering that woman again.

It seemed he wanted her to destroy the perimeter to make thing harder for everyone.

Should she went outside, Taiga would enact her plan and capture Shinji. Even if she had to break a few bones, his of course.

At the edge of her vision, she saw the woman disappeared like a ghost. A moment later, sound of gunshots and explosions rang out. There were just a few of them but they still made her stomach churned in worried for her men.

With the woman gone for the time being, she slowly stood up and took out the tanto.

She called out to him quietly while putting the blade against his throat.

"Look at what you have done. You don't know the consequence at all, do you?"

He was startled and a bit scared at suddenly being held by sharp object.

"H-How did you…"

"I don't know what your aim is but I am taking you down here. At this point, all I can do is assuring you of your life as your teacher. No, former teacher."

Realize that he wouldn't be killed. His mouth start to run off again.

"Heh, talk big but you don't have the gut to… GYAAHH!"

"Hmph!"

She casually dislocated his left shoulder with a chop. So it seemed he wasn't used to pain at all.

She kicked him behind the knee and made him stumble to the ground. Her foot stomped down on his dislocated shoulder and continued to press it.

"I said I would assure your life, didn't I."

"IT HURTS! STOP, STOP! GYAHH!"

She grinded her foot on him while looking at him like a bug.

Just a kid and already start to act like a small time thug. His family isn't poor but he turns out like this nonetheless.

"You are lucky I take my responsibility as a teacher seriously."

She got her hand on him. The next step would be very tricky. She needed to make the woman stop fighting.

"Get up! Go outside!"

"Ugh! Grrr…"

He was terrified but still held hostility in his eyes.

"RIDER! WHERE ARE YOU? COME HERE QUICKLY!"

"Tsk! Shut up!"

"haa haa… you are finished! You will pay for hurting me!"

"You are too far gone."

Like the wind, the silhouette of the woman flashed at the stair and disappeared again. Taiga couldn't follow at all.

She quickly kicked Shinji aside and put her back against the wall in a ready stance.

"You are good, for a normal girl."

"! Wha!"

From the ceiling?!

Chains wrapped up together and slammed down on her like a log. She jumped away to another wall.

"Y-You are ridiculous. Do you perhaps know of Siriel?"

"Hmm? What are you talking about?"

The woman dropped down to the floor and stood up looking at her curiously. At least, the attacks stopped too.

Taiga was just spouting out whatever was on her mind to seek a way out of this. If the woman was among the top dogs of the underworld then perhaps she could use Siriel's reputation to make something.

"It's that Siriel you know? The one people call Death God? You must know her right? She was like the hottest hotshot currently."

"Hmm…"

"B-Because you know… You are the only other person that have an air a bit similar to her."

She was kind of desperate. Information of Siriel wasn't that hard to gather. It was like, just asked her grandfather and boomed! Same day delivery!

She was also surprised at the beginning when looked at the profile. It looked like the informant scribing bullshit while on drug. The exploits were like obvious faked info but her grandfather guaranteed it.

There is noway she doesn't know someone who survived SSM bombardment.

"That is certainly interesting, but I will put you down now."

"Tsk!"

Trying as she was, her scheme wasn't much in delay tactic. Chains was slung at her again.

She threw a big chunk of concrete that was lying around up before her, hoping to knock the chain away.

It worked somewhat but the thing was broken into smithereens.

At that time, sound of footsteps running up the stair reverberated the whole building. It seemed her clan had finally gotten to her.

"Oh, they are quite fast."

"Ugh! What are you doing Rider? Kill them, KILL THEM ALL!"

"*sigh* Got it."

He was screaming on the ground, still hadn't gotten up yet.

"Aneki! Aneki, are you alright?"

"You guys focus! She is dangerous!"

"Uuu!"

The men poured in quickly. There were around thirty men in the wide empty floor then. They surrounded Taiga and tent to her while on vigilant.

The woman who was called Rider was engaging with her men at the front and winning. But these men were tough, they endured quite well.

"Are these all of you?"

"Yes, the others are all down. Only we old timer remain standing."

"… I drag all of you into this…"

"What are you saying aneki? We are family. Enough of this, let deal with her now."

"Yes, you are right. Take five men to the back and grab that brat. We are using hostage."

"On it! And here, aneki."

He passed her a katana and went on with the others. She took the blade in hand with a cold determination.

She didn't know what drive Shinji to do this but she didn't really care anymore. Her family were harmed. That was enough.

Holding tightly the katana in her hand, she rushed in with a slash.

It missed of course but she wouldn't stop trying.

Rider was swift in her action. She noticed the whole plan Taiga pulled off but didn't interfere.

She 'obeyed order, not advising him on how to do thing'. Just as what Shinji wanted. There was a small smile barely noticeable on her face.

The twenty or so yakuza and Taiga just lunged into combat with all they got. The number overwhelmed Rider but she was fast and nimble. Wanting to scratch her was a very hard task in and of itself.

Slithering between the men, the chains whipped and split their formation. She flung men around as easy as a kid playing with their toys. But the men were too persistent to lay down.

Miraculously, there weren't any death yet. Or more like, only light injuries were inflicted on their body. Taiga had a feeling the woman just was just playing around with them and wasn't even serious in the slightest.

It was frustrating but she was thankful for that. There was no need to press her into serious mode.

Taiga observed Rider while blocking her chain sweep. The blade could withstand it but not for too long. Sparks and chips flew everywhere.

Rider's fighting was like a dance. It was graceful and elegant. Plus the woman despite wearing an eyes cover that obscured nearly half her face, was a super beauty. Even Taiga could tell that from looking at her the whole time.

Beauties in the underworld are all monsters. Never have I felt the how true the statement is.

The small group had succeeded in approaching Shinji.

"What is this? Get your hand off me!"

"Shut the fuck up! If it wasn't for aneki, I would chop your head off right now!"

"GYAHH! STOOPP! IT HURTS! RIDER!"

"… I am occupied…"

The yakuza, unlike Taiga, were merciless. They snapped his other arm and forcefully pulled him up by the hair.

"I ORDER Y-"

"I SAID. SHUT. THE FUCK UP!"

A fist to the face knocked Shinji out in a heartbeat.

"Shit! Is he dead?"

"No, he's fine."

"Good."

In that short amount of time, the men gathered up and formed a line of defense between Rider and Shinji.

"Hmm, this is troublesome."

I kind of needing him to stay awake.

Taiga was staring at Rider with a hard face. She was fighting the most out of all her gang. Her clothes were tattered and the katana was snapped in half cleanly.

"We have the brat now. You should cooperate obediently."

"… So, what do you want?"

Taiga understood that they were just using false hope. Rider was fast enough to snatch him back.

What is she planning? I can't read anything from her face at all, dammit!

"Why did you kidnap me?"

"Don't know."

"What! How can-"

"That was entirely his idea. I wasn't informed of anything."

"Tsk! Well then, next is-"

She noticed there was something threw at her feet. It was just a rock.

But it had taken her eyes away from Rider. Even her men were also distracted.

In that brief moment, Rider had disappeared completely.

They all became startled and guarded up even more.

A chain coming from the ceiling wrapped around Shinji and flung him away from the group. Even with a few men holding him down weren't enough to prevent that.

"Shit! Aneki, I am useless!"

"Don't worry about it. We are all outclassed by her."

Looking up they saw Rider was sticking to the ceiling with her spikes like a spider. Her face void of emotion. It was as if she didn't care one bit about this fight.

Rider jumped down and with a swing, delivered intense pain to the group below.

The chains moved like a cyclone of metal. It hurt and broke bones if contact was made.

Rider threw a rock at Shinji to wake him up. It worked as the rock hit his eye.

"Gah!"

He felt pain all over his body, especially in his right hand which was broken by the yakuza.

Fear crept into his mind slowly. He hadn't thought about anything other than getting back at Shirou. He also had no idea who his teacher really was. Normal people were all insignificant to him.

He didn't even try to sit up

"R-Rider, protect me."

"… I am."

"N-No! I don't want this! It hurts! It wasn't supposed to be like this! I am-"

He was rambling with broken sounds in between.

"Aneki, our clan had sent more men here. They will arrive shortly."

"Got it. Hang on everyone."

Rider heard their whispering and had a thought. She wasn't obliged to inform him of anything. But with his mentality like that…

"Master, their reinforcement will be here soon."

Her announcement startled not only Shinji but Taiga's group too.

"R-Rider! Defeat them! You have to protect me!"

"If I fight them, you will be vulnerable. Their number maybe in the hundreds."

"Then protect me!"

"Their number will overwhelm us when I exhaust all my energy. I suggest we retreat-"

"NO!"

He was cornered. Servant needed mana from the Master but he couldn't provide at all. That was why he made her steal life force of civilians every day. Even Shirou who was a failure as a magus had more prana than him.

He remembered the seal. He only got one and it was what bound her to him. Using it meant he gave up the Grail War. But right at the moment he thought otherwise. His grandfather would give him another one.

And a Servant was far stronger than any human. He was scared but also angry. His hatred built up from all those beating and humiliation.

Just then shouts were reverberating from the stair. Thunderous footsteps were getting nearer and finally, the yakuza poured into the floor, surrounded them completely.

Being put under such pressure, Shinji seemed to lose it. He didn't expect them to arrive so soon.

"I order you. Protect me at any cost! And go kill them all!"

"… Order received."

She let out a small sigh that no one noticed.

Light flared up under his shirt. The book contained his seal was burnt up in magical light and disappeared.

Rider's body was covered with a thin and barely visible layer of mana before returned to normal.

The seal Shinji held was crafted. Not a genuine one. It was meant to keep the contracted familiar in line.

So obviously the command he gave out didn't have any actual power behind it. She would still had to do what he asked but there was no boost in power, no mana to convert.

She would run out of mana in a few minutes if the fight carried on.

A decision was made. She jumped into the men to 'follow' his order. Any that tried to evade her and went for Shinji was sent flying with a kick or a flick of her chains. Bones were cracked and screams were heard.

As she 'defended' him to her fullest, her body started to shimmer out. The men were startled but kept pressing on her.

Shinji felt something was wrong while looking at Rider.

He suddenly realized that she hadn't used her spikes to stab anyone yet. And the supposed power she should have received from the command was nowhere to be found.

The command didn't work? My command spell failed?

His face turned blue upon realizing that he was completely cornered.

Taiga was watching everything behind the men. She took the role of the temporary lieutenant. She was determined to keep her men alive through this, and realized that Rider was trying to keep them alive too help a lots.

The impression she had of Rider was that of an unwilling babysitter.

Finally, one of her men managed to ram into her and push her through the window. He threw plastic explosive toward the falling Rider and detonated it.

"Die already bitch!"

"Wait! Stop…"

She was too late and couldn't intervene in time.

The explosion shook the building. Flame illuminated the interior briefly.

Everyone was exhausted but began to cheer loudly. She tried to find the body but didn't find anything. Not even blood. Her eyes narrowed in suspicious but didn't see any retaliation so she assumed Rider wanted to pretend to be dead or something.

Professional tend to do that I guess.

She gave up on finding the woman and turned to the brat.

"Have anything to say to me, you little shit?"

She completely abandon her teacher persona and acted like a boss of the yakuza that she was.

"Your insurance is gone. What are you gonna do, huh?"

"… no-no-no-no it can't end like this. I am supposed to win the war, not like this…"

"Oi!"

"… It's not my fault. That's right, it was all her fault. Because she was such a stupid and weak Servant, she made me suffer like this…"

"Aneki, look like the brat goes bonkers."

"…"

She didn't know if he was pretending or not but she would bring him back to her grandfather.

Talking seemed pointless at the moment. He would lash out again, and it would agitate her underlings more than necessary.

"Treat his arms. We are going back to the main house. Bring him with us."

"Hai! Aneki!"

She would let him live at least. His family was a problem to deal with but she would leave that to her grandfather.

.

.

When the yakuza and their force all left the building, footsteps resounded the place quietly.

"… I thought the Servant somehow detected us."

"Master, you worry too much. It is just a coincident."

"But you know, suddenly a lot of people flooded our base and started fighting all over the place…"

"Should I eliminate them all?"

"Nah, I don't really care about them."

Shadows of three persons emerged from the darkness of the corridor.

"We need to speed up the construction. I leave it to you Eins."

"Acknowledge."

The one named Eins wore a maid outfit that was customized into a beautiful dress. The skirt was just above the knees without any hint of lewdness. She vanished like vapor as she bowed, doing her duty.

The young man with a plain face that just gave order to her started to mumble something without any coherent words. He turned to the remaining person and asked.

"So Assassin, was that Rider?"

"Yes, Master."

"What was she planning? Doing all the weird acting."

"… That- I don't know. Sorry for disappointing you Master."

"Hmm… It's fine. Forget about her. What are the situation with all the other Servants?"

He found a big rubble that could be sat on and made himself comfortable there. Assassin continued to report while getting on one knee in front of the Master.

"Lancer are still running around the city as his Master's order. Nothing has happened with him yet.

Berserker and his Master still remain in the old castle. Only the servants have been going to the city to buy food and necessities. They haven't made any moves either.

Rider had been hunting human's life force for the past week and… as just now, broke up from her Master."

"Alright, good enough. What about them?"

"Saber, Archer and Caster are unobservable. I couldn't approach within one kilometer of the hill."

"Can't be help… let them be for the moment. I want you to focus on other Servants."

"Yes, Master."

He stayed there and silently looked far away from place to place. There were walls all around but it seemed like they were of no obstacles for him.

"Humph."

His thought was pulled back to the encounter with the woman, the Devil miko.

He was at a stump. There had been time he wished to be the only being there was in existence.

It wasn't him being edgy or something. His race made him lose his mind sometime.

Here again in a different world, he found people like him.

Last time wasn't a pleasant memory. He was exploited, betrayed and banished from the world itself. But he didn't let them have an easy time either. He at least consumed all the deities that governed hell on that world before the ritual expelled him to the void.

His three subordinates stayed by his side, readily abandoning the Guild they all belonged to. Their priority was him, their creator.

Whatever happened to him, he would try his best not to disappoint them.

But this time, when he met his kind of people, he became too reckless.

With the two of them together, he had no hope of victory. Even though he was clearly stronger than both of them combined.

At their level, they could inflict serious damage on him. Especially that dragon. Its punches and kicks had the property of piercing and devouring. An odd combination.

It wasn't like it was impossible, he had never seen them together though.

Eating that kind of attack would erase the whole body within a heartbeat. He didn't equip any Counter-Devouring item so it was quite dangerous.

And the woman, she was simply untouchable. He wasn't even sure if the one he was punching was really there. He was unable to sense her the moment he burned the kids.

His vague instinct told him she was still at that place so he attacked with his Devil's nature guiding.

Even when he decided to escape, the whole place turned out to be a pocket dimension, an artificial plane that she had set up beforehand. He had no clue when he was even trapped in there.

Simple conclusion.

Extremely lethal.

He couldn't understand why she was so hell bend on making an enemy out of him but well, things happened.

There was still another one that he hadn't met yet. The data Eins brought back wasn't able to show the person. It was a blocking of some kind.

But looked at what happened in the city, it certainly seemed to be the traits of a summoning specialist. If anyone know how to get a Merchant to fight, they can only be a Summoner, right?

His plan to co-exist had failed so what left to do was war.

He wasn't great in large scale strategy. His creations were taking on the role to prepare for whatever he dictated.

For the moment, he would wait. Wait for the base to expand, the army to amass, the enemies to gather and the world to agonize.

.

.

It was when the sun had gone down. The cold of the night began to spread over the land.

The mana in the air started to vibrate, announcing the bad omen that was about to come.

The residents of the Devil's Abode were notified of the change through their skin. Anxiety and fear overwhelmed their mind.

They made it to the entrance instantly. Levia who had come back following his sister's summoning were standing with Tamako in his human form.

They bowed as the space in front of them was torn open violently and poured out miasma briefly.

"Mistress."

"Master."

Emerging from the broken space was the violent mass of black aura with sparks of holiness occasionally striking the ground.

The all too familiar dread that they felt not so long ago was on full display.

Siriel looked at them with a melancholic face as the unstable space closed itself. Her eyes told them the raging inferno that was suppressed within would obliterate any who approached her carelessly.

"Tamako, Levia. Come here."

They moved forward obediently without a second thought.

Their master didn't say anything and hugged them tightly. Her expression was still that of a cold blood tyrant, but her aura had become soften somewhat.

They all sat down on the ground for quite a long time. No one spoke anything. Who would dare to disturb such a dangerous group of monsters?

The bad mood of the master of the shrine had finally reduced to a controllable level after an hour.

"Alright, I am good."

"Mistress, I don't mind staying like this for a while longer."

"Me too! Me too! Master, you rarely hug us nowadays!"

Siriel patted their head, her mood improved greatly with their presences.

"I will do that later. Now Tamako, prepare to summon 'that'. I want to see how it fare."

"It will be done."

Siriel casted a [Gate] to the location she had created before.

"Levia, you stay here and watch over the shrine."

"Aww."

"I will treat you afterward."

"Yay!"

As Tamako and Siriel were about to go through the [Gate], Shirou shouted out.

"Big sis! Can we come with you?"

She gave him a small glance before stopping.

"Whatever. Come if you want."

He looked at Tohsaka and the three Servants pleadingly. They decided quickly and nodded.

After everyone stepped through the [Gate], the mana and everything else returned to its calm and serene state.

Levia morphed back to his dog form and assumed his duty faithfully.

.

Out of the [Gate] came the group of Masters and Servants. They started inspecting the surrounding immediately.

Within five seconds they all came to the same conclusion. They had no idea where the place was.

They were standing on a mass of land with a flat surface as far as they could see.

Behind them was a cliff with cloud floating below. They were quite high above the sea level as the air was too thin.

The sky had a dim glow of sunlight indicated that the time zone was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean and about to be morning soon.

Shirou and Tohsaka had to get used to the thin air fast or they couldn't even walk.

"*haa* *haa*… I didn't expect this at all."

"Rin, are you good?"

"I'll be fine… *haa*… shortly *haa*…"

He left her to herself and move to ask Siriel. She had returned to normal, somewhat. Tamako was manifesting the circle with even more layers than when they were at the shrine.

"Where is this sis?"

"Nowhere."

"Huh?"

"I made it."

"Oh, okay."

He looked again around him. The border of the floating mass of land was not that clean. It was jagged here and there but overall, the mass of land was in a round shape on the surface with the bottom like an inverted mountain.

"How long has this been here sis? Did anyone discover it?"

He thought that this place surely had been masked somehow or the world would be quite noisy already.

"Hmm… about ten years ago I guess. Don't really care about it much. And everyone who had satellite should have seen it already. I didn't hide it."

"…"

Everyone stayed silent hearing that. They didn't know what they had expected of her. Of course she didn't care one bit about secrecy.

But ten years and not a leak on this kind of thing's existence. All the world leaders and organizations must have been desperate to hide this themselves.

"Sis… that was reckless."

"What? I don't see any problem with that. In fact, if there was someone that was a bit more courageous and came to this floating island to investigate, I would be more pleased."

"Well anyway, how large did you make this? It seems quite vast."

"Don't know. I didn't measure it. Around fifty kilometers in diameter perhaps?"

He wanted to chat more with his big sister but Tamako had already done with her thing and started the ritual.

"Mistress, I am about to summon it."

"Alright, do it."

As mana was being pumped into the complicated diagram on the ground, the world started to shake.

It wasn't the ground that shook but the entire world, the Earth trembled.

Mana condensed to where they were, shifting between physical and magical mist.

A bubble of transparent runes surround Shirou's group. Mana was poisonous for the human body. They could die instantly or mutate into monster.

The mana was dyed black like miasma. The magical diagram glowed with white light that illuminated the all the black mana around.

"W-What is going on? Is this supposed to happen?"

"Servant summoning doesn't do this."

Caster answered Shirou's question as she used her own magical power to anchor herself down in place.

She, of course, had an inkling as to why everything shook like that. The Thing that Tamako was summoning wasn't supposed to exist. It was buried deep within the sea of data, the World itself.

Finding it was simply due to the special magecraft they cook up together with the combined knowledge of two worlds. It was unexpected even for them, who designed the tool.

Tamako was pulling forcefully that incomplete soul from the World. Therefore, the unnatural tremor resonated to the real body of Earth.

Looking at them, the owner of the shrine and her miko were really seeking a fight with whatever on the other side.

Remembering the stats she saw, whatever that had created the copy was hell-bend on eliminating those monsters at any cost.

Siriel took out the red uchigatana that she had been dragging around the past week. She moved in between the circle and their group with the sword at the ready on her left hip.

Caster hadn't seen her drew the blade even once since she carried it. Its presence was always subtle and chilling, just like every artifact in their place.

The quake had subsided and stopped. Mana was swirling into a big ball in the middle of the diagram.

*ZDUUUN*

*Schlick**Schlick*

*BOOM*

Thunderous explosion suddenly erupted behind them, taking a big chunk of land down to the ocean below.

The mana then had already become black smoke and was parted by a tunnel of force. The straight line connected from where they were to the middle of the mana maelstrom.

Hovering in the air while shouldering a giant detached artillery cannon was the figure they all saw when Tamako using the spell in the day.

Wind blew her cloak and hood violently but couldn't win against the magical hold of the equipment. However her face was shown.

Intense red lights emitted from her irises and a bone chilling, maniacal grin plastered on her face.

An expression they had never seen on Siriel until now. This shocked everyone except Tamako.

Siriel on the other hand was motionless but they knew she was the one who disabled the cannon ball just then.

The two of them locked eyes with one another. One was madden with bloodlust, one was unnaturally calm.

"Name yourself."

"Call me the end of your world. I will be your genocide."

"… Have I ever said that? Ugh, well forget it."

Maybe not that calm.

Without any other conversation, the two just started to engage into combat.

The spirit dissipated her giant cannon and took out a revolver, another cannon – hand cannon. The gun was clunky enough to make people think it would definitely smear anything with one bullet.

*PAAAAAAAAAANGGGGGGGGGG~*

Chain of bullets, which seemed to be unreal to be shot out of the revolver, made contact with Siriel. At the same time, a flat explosive sound rang out.

It looked like a barrier had melted the bullets heading to her. On closer inspection, it wasn't the work of mana. Siriel was standing still but the ground was vibrating and deforming as if unnatural force was continuously pounding on it.

"Her draw speed is too fast… I can barely see a blur. It was expected but still frustrating."

Saber took that as a hit to her swordsmanship. The gap was too much for her to even perceive. She was able to see a blur was all due to her existence being closer to that of a divine spirit. No mortal should be able to sense their death before that kind of swordsmanship. The horror of higher being doing the thing human was known to be good at.

The sound barrier was sliced so finely that there was only one explosion at the beginning.

Just the feedback of her counters was enough to deter any opponent. However, this time wasn't your regular foe. The more they fought, the more their nature showed.

Normal bullets started to be replaced by violent streaks of plasma. Cracks of lightning highlighted the collision of their aura.

Siriel walked toward her counterpart with a smile that was threatening to split from ear to ear.

"This is more like it! I am excited now!"

She drew her sword out and slashed vertically at the opponent despite the distance was still quite far. Furthermore, the hand cannon and the right arm of the spirit were completely shredded into tiny bits of flesh and craps, really really small bits of flesh and craps.

Everyone only saw one normal motion but it wasn't right. She was too fast to move that slow then.

"T-That is the second stage of Ichigeki Style – Sashimi Slices Extra Thin!"

"What the hell kind of name is that? And what is that Style?"

Shirou shouted out in recognition after his sister did that swing. He had seen that a lot of times when she tried to teach him but he still couldn't get the hang of it yet.

"It is the Sword style she has been teaching me. Remember the thing I did at the school ground to get us out? That is the first stage – Absolute Severance. And that is all I am capable of currently. The name is… well, she said her Shishou named the first three stages so she kept them as they are."

"And now there is a master that taught her too. Great."

"Anyway, I don't know how many strikes but that is definitely an afterimage or illusion of sort, the swing that is."

"… You will be able to do that too?"

He looked yearningly at her figure. Siriel once told him he could be the strongest human on Earth as long as he mastered the first three stages. With training, he could cleave building with finger too.

"One day… I will attain that strength one day. Definitely!"

Tohsaka felt his determination. It touched her somehow. Not that girly feeling. She also felt like trying her best to become the strongest magus in the world.

It certainly wasn't that girly feeling!

Archer stared at her squirming briefly before looked at Shirou narrowly. There was no track of his old self at all. The Shirou he knew was a naïve but stubborn brat that saw the world in duality.

He hated the young him for what he was. Too many deaths on his path. He was scarred, damaged beyond repair. His ideal heroism brought nothing but tragedies. He was too powerless to make a difference, too insignificant to the world.

When he got power, he saw even more deaths. His ideal was skewed. He was just a gardener, another villain. The few people he saved meant nothing when the people he killed were more numerous.

This reality that he somehow strayed into perhaps held his best self. A Shirou that was groomed by the power from beyond. Shirou's strength was near Servant level and would grow even more in the future.

This Shirou held the strength he sought and the mind to withstand it. He really wanted to see how far this him could go.

Archer directed his attention back to the fight between the two horrors. That was the closest description he could give.

Tamako had put up some kind of barrier that required her to transform into a black shadowy figure that darken the whole region. Because morning hadn't arrived yet so it didn't look so strange being that dark. Despite that, she seemed to have a hard time keeping up. Each strike was stronger than the previous one.

Their place still had more light than the surrounding and the barriers were more visible. The battle was easily observed from their location too.

Siriel and the spirit – Death God were slashing each other with swords, and tendrils from thin air? Monsters were occasionally used as throwing objects. He just saw a giant cluster of flesh with innumerable mouths got blasted on the ground.

The hell kind of monster is that.

This was a first experience for all of them, to witness so many weird monsters. There was even a lion head with many hind legs attached like a pinwheel. Those monsters should be very strong too, seeing as some took a few of Siriel's attacks and still lived.

Siriel was the only one throwing monsters but the monsters attacked them both. It was total chaos.

The bloodfest escalated bigger and bigger still. They regenerated as they fought and seemed to be about equal to one another.

"This is fun. But you are not strong enough… yet."

"Shame, really."

"Well, I will wait for that time. There is some business tomorrow so this is goodbye."

They both jumped back and got into stance. Sword held straight facing the opponent with one hand.

The straight and dignify posture broke as both of them slashed down without any prior notice.

Darkness, mana and whatever the energy they were producing, coagulated on their blade like a shining reflection of the abyss. The speed of their manipulation was instantaneous.

The sound of their clash was not a sound.

Darkness surged up enveloping the barrier and consuming everything around. Even Servants couldn't see through it all.

They all felt the pulse of the collision.

Then everything was split apart.

The island, the ocean, the tectonic plate, the sky, the atmosphere… even the space time that separated layers of worlds got sliced for a moment. A gleam of the other side revealed a vibrant world, a dried up land and more of that overlapping with their own world.

Everything soon was pulled forward where Siriel's slash went.

Tamako had caught them all in a [Mass Fly] spell when the floating island was reduced to rubble and swept away by the attack.

Everyone was speechless seeing the devastated aftermath.

There was a giant gap divided the sky in two with them staying in the middle of the belt-like separation of nothingness. Eldritch energy held the gap in place making them see all there was to see about space and the geography of Earth.

"Wait, no, sis! This is bad! Really bad! What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"

"… Teehee."

"Don't try to be cute here!"

"Aww… alright alright. Tamako."

"… Yes Mistress."

"I leave the fixing to you."

"…"

Shouldering her blade and smiling like that was none of her business, Siriel pushed all the mess to Tamako like a terrible boss. She was. And Tamako wasn't happy about that, like at all.

Looking down to the crevice that cut pass the Pacific plate, she heaved a sigh.

The heat from the Earth was leaking up to where they were. The jelly-like lubricating rock beneath the lithosphere was held back from dripping down to the mantle layer. But their natural flow was already disturbed. The movement of the tectonic plates would change accordingly as well.

This Earth was changed completely on its natural history course.

"Mistress, I won't make it in time before the planet collapse. You need to help out."

Siriel looked thoughtful while the others were anxiously watching her.

"Haa~ I guess this is my fault. Here."

She threw an extremely luxurious looking black bag with gold rim decoration toward Tamako.

"I will hold thing back while you patch it up. Quickly, I want to go back home."

She disappeared before tentacles of energy emerging from the deep of the Earth.

The long trench was pulled together like an opened wound being stitched back. The tentacles were innumerable and emitted dark mana like some bad infection, a scourge of corruption.

They wouldn't comment on it though. Right at the moment, they needed her.

The sky was also closing up. They thought they saw something up there but it could be wrong. What could be up there, right? There had been nothing until then afterall.

…

Who were they kidding? They were deceiving themselves of course. Servants weren't just seeing things. They were Servants, spirit familiar of the highest rank.

"Um hey, Tamako-sis. Big sis isn't Cthulhu right?"

She looked back at him as if he was stupid.

"I-I meant- look! There are all those tendrils and that…"

He quickly tried to make excuses. Never wanted the kind sister to hate him. He pointed at the closing sky. Beyond that a shadow could be felt covering the star behind.

She was making a difficult face, thinking about how to best explain thing.

"Shirou, how do you even know about Cthulhu?"

"Well, because of big sis I also read manga a lot. It got mentioned a lot in fictions actually."

"Then you already know the answer, don't you? Cthulhu is from this world, we aren't. Simple right?"

"Could it be big sis is the equivalent on that side?"

"Hmm, I wouldn't know about that. She is a Cosmic Eater no? But isn't your outer god a fictional creature? Some man created it no?"

"… You got a point."

Ignoring him with his mumbling, the others had decided to pass that topic already. Saber remembered Caster from the last War, but this time that horror maybe on their side so she kept quiet. Tamako opened the bag and smiled a bit.

She cared afterall.

There were black [Sealing Crytals], a lot of them. Holding one in her hand, she read the spell inside it. They were all Primal Elemental, a level 87 monster capable of manipulating the element it belonged to. It was the highest tier of Elementals from Yggdrasil with extraordinary power and stamina. But at this moment, they weren't needed for their fighting power.

Tamako threw ten crystals on a flatted surface of solid air and summoned them immediately.

The moment they appeared, everyone felt the gigantic power exerted from their existences alone. Five Primal Earth Elementals and five Primal Fire Elementals.

The lumps of rock and metal dived into the ocean floor immediately with their fiery companions as the mental command reached them.

Tamako continuously summoned batches of ten and sent them to different part of the crevice. In total, she had summoned more than one hundred groups. Each and every single creature could rain down apocalypse on humanity if let loose.

"This should do. Crisis evaded then. Let's go back."

"What about big sis? Don't you have to wait for her?"

The Servants were looking around watching the summons knead earth back in place. They were doing an amazing job at mending the Earth.

The dark tentacles were vanishing as the Primal Elementals took over. Siriel was also doing a great job of not crushing the earth while holding it. Exerting more force would crumble the crevice and exerting less would lead the gap to expand wider.

"She will come back on her own."

With a pout on her cheek she opened the [Gate] back to the shrine. They didn't know what to say so they just followed her home.

With everyone gone except the Primal Elementals working hard under the seabed, the barrier holding the dimension slowly closed off.

Morning rays of dawn started to appear on the horizon making the sky dyed a vibrant orange color. The ocean was calm and no track of mayhem left behind.

The sky still had a streak of dark void from one end to another but was already hard to be seen.

That day, the secret floating mass of land disappeared from the observation of the world's governments. Along with it was the devastation of nature on a straight line from the Pacific Ocean to Europe.

The world was cut open for a period of time with no witness.

Death of countless lives on that path of destruction made sure no mortal know what exactly had happened. There was no track left of the rampage. Nothing at all for human to investigate.

Except for those who lived with the supernatural. They all quivered in their lair when the world quaked.

The predator had stirred again.

.

.

End of chapter.

.

I am slow. I know.

.