Four Servants. Assassin. Caster. Berserker. Lancer.
Those were the enemies that the new alliance between Emiya, Matoe, and Tohsaka now had to face together. With the group having three Servants consisting of Archer, Rider, and Saber. In paper, one might say the alliance between them all had the bigger advantage against their enemies.
"Guess this shows no plan survives the enemy." Shirou now knew better as he sighed. The other two, Ozpin and Shinji, not exactly saying anything to disagree while Saber and Rider were relaxing a bit nearby. Sakura having gone to the grocery store to get food, which was fine by Shirou as he didn't want her to overhear the things about to be said.
"Indeed." Ozpin nods as he thinks back to the little fight and chase they had just a few hours ago. The sun has been setting in fact since then. "I knew Berserker was strong, but never did I think he would be powerful enough to deal with two Servants."
"Not to mention how he could keep moving despite all those injuries." Shirou added with a shiver going down his spine. Even after the attacks Rider and Saber gave Heracles, he still moved despite the pain he had to be in. Like it didn't matter if his body had a few broken bones or stabbed eyes. Hell, no normal person could possibly move with such injuries. Mainly, because they'd be dead.
"This goes to show our enemies can handle a simple outnumbering party against them." Ozpin sighs as he rubs his wrists. The stain of breaking Heracles knee having actually hurt him a bit and cracked some of the bones, showing just how tough Berserker was to even injure. "We gravely underestimated his power."
"Yeah. Not often I face a guy as big and strong as him." Saber admits as she leans back while looking at her swords. Inspecting for any damage done onto them. "Heck, even worse, it seems Mad Enchantment didn't even slow down his skill. Or at the least, not by much."
"Mad….Enchantment?" Ozpin then asked, a bit confused.
"It's some stupid skill Berserker's have." This time, it was Shinji who answered. Though that might be to ignore the fact his room was a wreck because of his Servant. "Berserker's gain some kind of skill that strengthens their parameters, but lose their sanity in turn."
"Exactly." Saber nods to those words. Recalling them from that girl she met on that island. "Normally that kind of skill would weaken them in some form. For Berserker's case, I think it sealed off some of his more precise skill and function."
"You mean the ability to make pinpoint accuracy attacks?" Ozpin assumed with Saber nodding. Then that was indeed a weakness in some way. Yet as Saber mentioned before, it did little to stop Berserker as he just kept on moving. Nothing they did fazed him for long, and he was overpowering them bit by bit.
"The son of Zeus is indeed a foe we cannot take lightly." Rider then says as she then holds her chain. "If anything, it's best if we go for the Master."
"You mean...Illya?" Saying that made Shirou feel uncomfortable, as he knew exactly what Rider meant. As in, killing her. Logically, it made sense as by getting rid of her, then Heracles would vanish thus getting rid of one huge obstacle in their path. 'But,' Shirou clenched his fist. 'Can we...can I really kill her?'
No. No he couldn't. As Shirou thought this Ozpin looked at him for a bit before turning away and speaking.
"Clearly, Berserker is someone we must face when we have everybody." As in the addition of Archer may help them out greatly. "But until we can talk to Tohsaka, for now let us think of our other enemies. Lancer, Assassin, and Caster."
"Lancer's a toughie." Saber then says as she rubs her chin. "We know little about him, and have no idea where he could be. And while I don't mind facing the other two, especially Assassin…"
"To face Caster in her domain would be beyond foolish." Rider gives her thoughts on the matter. "It'd be better if we dragged Caster away from the temple or get her Master, but doing any of those two would be difficult."
In other words, they have three options. Try to find the elusive Lancer who's good at hiding. Face the powerful Berserker and hope none of them died from him. Or face Caster and Assassin in their territory, which would be suicide. Yeah. Shirou can see how each option is not good for them all. "It feels like we're underpowered."
"Ah!" Shinji then groans as he grabs his face with his hands. Acting as if he'd tear off his hair. "How can this be!? We have the numbers! We have the best class Saber! We even have Tohsaka with her magecraft! So how are we not winning!?"
"I ask myself that all the time." Ozpin mutters in a whisper thinking about his war on Remnant. Life just wasn't fair.
"Come on guys, we can't give up now." Shirou tries lighting the mood up. "Yeah we're realizing this war isn't going to be easy to win, but we're not out just yet."
"That's right!" Saber yells as she walks to Shirou and places a hand over his shoulder, bringing him closer to her and his cheek pressing a bit on her chest making him blush a bit. "So what if we had to run off. So long as one lives, then it just means another chance to fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Correct." Ozpin agrees with that statement. "As long as all of us are alive and working together, then surely we can find a way to overcome the odds against us. We still have the advantage in numbers after all." Berserk was strong but even the mightiest Grimm can be slayed. Caster had an advantage but what if they aimed for just her, who undoubtedly wasn't a strong fighter as she is a magic user or whatever she utilizes. Assassin and Lancer, raw power should suffice in beating them along with great skill.
"Yeah." Shirou's with Ozpin. "I say for now, we put Berserker on hold and think of ways to go after either Lancer or Caster."
"Then I suggest Caster then." Rider gives her opinion to the group. "While I believe it is foolish to face her, if we give her too much time then she'll eventually gain too much power and stop us all."
"There are still people going into a coma because of her, aren't there?" Saber brings up, as they learned how Caster was getting her power. Power from the people to fuel her strength. Shirou nodded, as indeed the cases of people going unconscious are still happening throughout the city. They had to stop Caster before she went too far. "Okay then, the question is, what do we know about her."
"She was able to bring me from my home to her place." Shirou starts it out. Giving a description of how she somehow managed to control him with these invisible magic strings to move him like a puppet and even tie him up.
"She has the power to summon skeletons from what I've seen." Ozpin states as he remembers how he and Shirou have faced them. "Granted, they aren't strong so they should be easily handled."
"She also has laser blasts and some other tough spells." Saber adds in. Believing it would be best to attack her before she could do anything to prepare some deadly spells like say, attacking her instantly.
"Um," Not wanting to be left out and prove his own might, Shinji came in with his words. "From what I've read, Casters aren't known to do well against people who get up close and personal. Heck, while it hasn't been done properly, in the second war supposedly some woman faced a Caster head on and got a punch in."
"What happened to the woman?" Shirou asked.
"...she was vaporized." Shinji relents.
"Well...perhaps we can have Rider attack her in our stead." Ozpin suggests as he and everybody else looks at Rider. "Unlike a person, you're much more durable, correct?"
"Depending on how fast I act, I should have better agility than her." Rider was certain she could kill Caster so long as she got the drop on her. She might be weakened because of her pathetic Master, but she could still handle someone like Caster if she can get the first hit in. Casters were only feared because of their spells, other than that, they were in theory as weak as Assassins. Still, better to just snap her neck than talk to her and then fight.
"And I can handle Assassin." Saber giggles. "Me and that guy, well, I don't really know how to describe it. But we just have to fight."
"Then I suppose that just leaves us three to face Caster's and Assassins Master then." Ozpin said with Shinji then looking up in surprise.
"Wait!" He then points at himself. "Us three!? As in, me!"
"Well yeah." Shirou says as if it were obvious. "I mean, you're a magus, right? Which means you know more of this stuff than Ozpin and I. Don't you?"
Shinji is stuck now. Either he could admit he was no magus, and only had some knowledge of the moonlit world thanks to the books he read...Or continue the charade that he is a magus, lead these losers with him, and potentially die. "Haha. Of course you'll need me."
Shinji instantly regretted it, but he had misguided pride.
"Excellent." Ozpin says with a slight cheer in his voice. "So then we'll go after Caster before she becomes too big of an obstacle. Although, we should probably inform Tohsaka of this, correct?"
"I'm with you there." Shirou agrees. "Better to have her and Archer with us for support. In which case, Saber faces Assassin, Rider can attack Caster head on with Archer as support, and the rest of us find her Master and...get him to stop."
Ozpin noted that Shirou just said get the Master to stop. Not kill him like how the others might suggest it. 'Not that I can blame him.' Ozpin thought. 'If he has lived a normal life before this war, then naturally it would be difficult for him to just accept the prospect of killing someone.'
Even Ozpin, before the days he accepted the deal, was like that at first. Granted, he did kill people when it came down to self-defense or wicked people who truly would do great harm such as that man who locked his daughter away, but otherwise he ensured to just knock out people. His activities mainly being saving them from Grimm or bad people, not killing for the sake of killing. So it made sense Shirou would be adamant to killing.
"In any case, we now have a plan. Or at least a good baseline on what to do." Ozpin says aloud to everybody present. "Later on we can talk to Tohsaka of what our plan is and see how she can add in on it."
"Yeah. Best to do this only when she's with us." While Shirou felt somewhat certain they could do this attack now with the people they had, Shirou didn't want to leave anything to chance. Best to have Rin be here and aid them as even a single person can make a difference in the battle. "I guess for the time being, I'll cook us some food once Sakura gets back so we'll be ready for tomorrow."
"Oooh." Saber then looks like she might just drool a bit. "Then make something tasty Master. My mouth is already watering."
"Sure." Shirou shrugs. Shinji on the other hand slapped his own face.
"Really Emiya. I just told you Servants don't need to eat." He berates his fellow Master.
"Nothing wrong with feeding her though." Shirou rebutes. Plus, he just couldn't ignore Saber's wide eyed face that just begged for food. It was a bit rude to think and even consider saying aloud, but Saber was kinda like...a cute dog. 'Yeah. Best to keep that to myself.' Shirou thought as he did not want to invoke Musashi's wrath.
Either way, Shirou was just glad that things were looking up just a bit. While Berserker attacking them was unexpected and certainly invoked fear in him, they all survived. Nobody was grievously injured. Plus they now had a plan that just might take out the other Servants in this war. Things may not be perfect, yet certainly the situation is far from worse in that regard. As such, Shirou was glad that at least everything was okay for the time being.
"I'm home." Shirou's lips then turned to a smile. Seems Sakura was back, and with food to boot. While it might be a bit silly and his time could be used on better things like training his aura and reinforcement...For now, Shirou just felt like cooking with Sakura.
"Come on in Sakura." Shirou then calls out as he goes to meet his younger classmate. "Let's make something good to eat."
Things had certainly been busy for Shirou alongside the rest. The day had been full of surprises, especially when Berserker came. However, the group living in the Matou home was far from the only person to have an interesting day.
"Gra!"
Shing!
In an alley somewhere within Fuyuki, Archer stood tall as he had mercilessly killed a werewolf of sorts with Rin watching. The body split in two before dissipating into black smoke. The young magus clicking her tongue as she saw the smoke vanish away.
"So the rumors are true." As the owner of Fuyuki, Rin believed it was her responsibility to deal with any messes here that could dishonor her family and ruin the people's lives here. As the owner, she must deal with these problems personally. So when word came out that strange black beasts were stalking the night, Rin decided to check it out. And behold, the rumors were true.
"I must say, for creatures resembling mythology they certainly aren't very strong." Archer said as he dematerialized his blades. "Still, against regular people, I can see them being a nightmare to face."
"That strong?" Rin asked.
"Against Servants and a trained Magus, then no." Archer replied to her calmly. "Normal people though will stand little chance." That made sense. To investigate, upon finding the creature Rin let it attack a wall and saw it break through it like paper. These things had greater physical ability and heightened senses. That wasn't even mentioning the other creatures she kept finding. One was a boar. Another, a group of birds.
All of them being seen in the night of the city mainly, where while thankfully there were few people, they still struck in the shadows for some reason. Meaning they must be familiars of sorts. Which meant one thing. "Caster."
"It does look like it." Archer says to her. "However if you recall the report I gave you, some of these beasts attacked her as well."
"But who else could be summoning these things?" Rin then shot back at Archer. "I can only see the Caster of this war being capable of summoning these familiars. If anything, isn't it possible she just lost control of these things?"
"Maybe." Archer can see that as a possibility. After all, just because Casters were seen as those who held greater knowledge than modern day magus, didn't mean they couldn't make mistakes themselves. A bit rare, but it can happen. "Still, the chances of Caster actually losing control while foolishly summoning more of these things doesn't sound like her."
Plus these things were doing more than just killing. Archer wasn't sure why, but while they weren't gathering mana from the ordinary folk, they seemed to be...searching for something. While rumors were spreading about them, in truth these creatures mainly came out at night and seemed to stick into the shadows like alleyways or empty buildings. Meaning they were being commanded by someone alright, but it couldn't be Caster unless she was playing the long-con.
'And yet just another thing that's different here.' Archer grumbly thought. It was starting to become clear this war...isn't his war. Yet then again, did that really matter? While it infuriated Archer yes, so long as he killed that foolish boy and his pathetic ideals, then Archer can still continue onward. Still though, that didn't mean he could ignore whatever this is.
'If Caster isn't the cause of this, then what is?' From his and Rin's investigations, these creatures all appeared in random areas, yes. Yet they all seemed to originate from one area specifically, as if wandering too far. The temple Caster resided in. Naturally, it made sense for one to believe this must be Caster's doing. Why, if Archer hadn't seen that massive boar attack Caster's home itself, he might have believed she's the cause of all this.
Yet these creatures' movements were sloppy. No form of tactic seen in them. Wandering while somewhat carefully, didn't seem to bother much with any purpose that would benefit anybody. No way would Caster have utilized such creatures that did nothing but wander and kill. Yet there's no denying they were coming from the temple.
'Or what lies beneath it.' Archer thought as another possibility came to mind. That maybe, just maybe, the source of these abominations came from that for an unknown purpose. Yet, no Servant has died just yet, meaning it shouldn't be active. Yet these familiars had to come from somewhere, with a purpose beyond what they were doing now.
Perhaps his answer will come if he visits Caster's base of operations another time and check it out. Not that it'd be easy since Caster would detect him and throw whatever she had against him alongside Assassin. Despite being in one of the weaker Classes, Archer has seen Assassin's swordsmanship and it was something he likely couldn't win against head-on. Best to snipe him and put him off balance or have Saber face him.
"Saber." Archer then says with a slight grumble. Having thought she would show up and not some other Saber.
"You say something Archer?" Rin then asks when she heard Archer say something.
"Oh nothing. Just that Saber might be the best bet against Assassin. Those two seem to be related." Archer replies to his Master. "In any case, for now we should go to the others and tell them we should attack Caster and Assassin." Best to nip them in the bud before Caster made her stronghold even tougher than it is now.
"Got it." Rin could agree with that. With three Servants against two, it should be a bit easy to deal with Caster and Assassin. They just needed to make a plan and everything should be alright. "Hopefully Emiya and the others will be ready." She then starts exiting the alley while Archer dematerializes himself. "Because it's time to hunt a witch."
"-we also have reports of a brave young man saving three men from a polar bear." stopped as she then heard a rather ridiculous statement and turned her head with Archer doing the same. That sentence couldn't be ignored. Where there on the screen, there was a house that was broken where three familiar men could be seen on the screen.
Ozpin. Shirou. Shinji.
An image of some guy then came up that neither recognized who then spoke. "I was just driving when I see some little girl dressed like it's for winter riding on a polar bear chasing three dudes. So, while I might have panicked, I just rammed my car against the bear and shoved it away or whatever...thank goodness I have insurance."
The television then showed the newsman who said, "Nobody knows where a polar bear came from, but police are doing their best along with animal control to find it and the girl."
A picture of that brat Illya was then shown. "If anybody sees this girl, then report to us immediately."
Rin blinked as she saw this. How now, Illya, with potentially the strongest Servant in this war...is now wanted where people are likely to report her for an action that caused serious problems for the young Einzebern that would affect her ability to fight in this war. Knowing this, Rin did only one thing she hadn't done in a while.
She laughed.
Nice for Rin to have a good time after having to deal with a lot of crap. More so since as the owner, she has to deal with the Grimm who, if you paid close attention, aren't acting like their usual self for some reason. How very strange.
In the meantime, Shirou and the others now have a plan of sorts to face Caster and beat her before she becomes too powerful. A little training might be needed, and maybe an interruption from a certain 'dog' will occur. But until then, the gang is going to move out.