It was the last week of the month. Damian and Kiritsugu are in his room planning their assault on Einzburn Castle. As a magus, there was not much he could teach him. The 9-year-old kid was already good enough to be an enforcer for the mage Association. So, he taught him his tactics and experiences magi and bounded fields. They were confident about their chances between Kiritsugu's methods and experiences and Damian's talent as a magus.
"Alright," Kiritsugu nodded. "Their bound field shouldn't be a problem now. The biggest threat we need to worry about is the harsh weather and their homunculus guards."
"Would it be possible to sneak in? You've lived there. You must know the castle inside and out." Damian asked
"And it's because I lived there that I know sneaking in will be impossible." Kiritsugu shakes his head. "Atch will know we're there the moment we break through their bounded field, if not sooner. The good news is that I where they're likely keeping Illya."
"How strong are those homunculi? Can we handle them?" Damian asked
"A few of them, maybe. But we should avoid them if possible. Some of them can be as strong as an association enforcer. And while the Einzberns themselves are not fighters, I wouldn't underestimate them. The most optimal plan is to move as fast as possible as soon as we break through the bounded field. If we're lucky, which we likely won't be, we can get in and out without a fight."
"If it does become a fight, which it likely will, can you handle yourself?" Damian asked
"Don't worry about me. I may have lost most of my magecraft abilities, but as your parents say, I'm a poor excuse of a magus who relies on guns and explosives." Kiritsugu said with a smirk. "I just need you to break through the bounded field as I taught you, and I'll handle the rest."
"You're still going to need an edge," Damian says as he places a hand on Kiritsugu and uses Reinforcements on him.
Kiritsugu looked at him in surprise. Reinforcing another living person is one of the most challenging magecraft a magus could achieve.
"Surprised, old man?" Damian grinned. "I can't say it's as good as Time Alter, but I think it will do."
"Yeah." Kiritsugu picked up a pencil and pulverized it with a mere flex of his fingers. "It will do just fine."
"Why can't I come if Damian can come with you?" Shirou whined as Damian and Kiritsugu packed their suitcases.
"Were just going on a business trip. I'm taking Damian because he is already a full-fledge magus, and I could use his help." Kiritsugu replied.
"But I'm a magus too! I can help too." Shirou tried to appeal.
"There's nothing that you need to help with. Kiritsugu has some unfinished business out of the country, that all. It's no big deal." Damian tried to talk him down. Bringing Shirou along to raid Einzburn Castle would've been beyond idiotic.
"It must be a big deal if it took months of secret planning for your business trip," Shirou said with a pout making them sigh in response.
Shirou wasn't stupid. He noticed that they were spending more time together. They would often have private conversations and promptly change the subject whenever he was in earshot. He usually gave them privacy at first, but it was only a matter of time before his curiosity got the better of him, and he started eavesdropping.
"Sorry little brother," Damian patted his head. "You're right. It is a big deal. And that is exactly why you must stay. It could take a few weeks or a month at most until we can come back, so someone has to take care of the house and keep taiga out of trouble. Besides, you're the only one of us who could satiate the tiger of Fuyuki. Can you imagine what would happen if you went instead and I stayed behind with taiga?"
At those words, Shirou froze in horror.
After their last food fight, the state of the kitchen had been enough to hurt him physically. If Shirou and Kiritsugu left them alone, they could literally turn the house upside down.
"Fine," Shirou sighed in defeat.
"You're the man of the house while we're gone." Kiritsugu gently padded the boy's head. "I've left enough cash for you to get by. Be good and take care of yourself and Taiga. Don't worry. We'll be back in no time."
"Alright. I don't think I can feed Taiga for long, so you both need to come back as soon as you can." Shirou replied
Kiritsugu padded the boy one last time before turning to leave, following Damian and closing the door behind him.
"Did you get everything ready?" Damian asked one minute after leaving the house.
"Yeah. Got my weapons in the hidden compartments in my suitcase, and our passport should check out."
"Let's go over the plan one more time," Damian asked, trying not to think about the means he got our passports or how he'll get his guns and explosives past the airport. Until recently, he never thought about how easy it would be to commit crimes with magecraft.
The plan they figured out wasn't perfect but feasible. First, Damian would break through the Einzbern bounded field under Kiritsugu's guidance. Then they would get in and out of Illya's room as fast as they could. The Einzberns aren't fighters, so their homunculus guards should be the biggest threat. Damian will act as a vanguard if they encounter them while Kiritsugu provides fire support. While the idea of basically using a kid, no matter how skilled, as a human shield made his stomach turn, it was the best they could do with the hand they were dealt. If only he knew that Damian was a Twenty-six-year-old man in a nine-year-old body.
He didn't like the plan at first, but he had to admit that Damian had a valid point when he said that between his body reinforcements and mystic eyes, he would fare far better than him in close combat against those homunculus guards.
Kiritsugu sighed at his reluctance. Just a few months ago, the magus killer wouldn't give a second thought about using the boy as a tool to further his goals. Now, all he could think about was how he could face Shirou if he came home without him.
"Damn. I'm getting too old for this shit."
"Huh?" Damian asks, and Kiritsugu shrugged
"Nothing. Let's just stay focused on the task at hand. The quicker we get this over with, the better."
Germany
Kiritsugu and Damian arrived at the outskirt of a forest on a car, located mountain districted near the Rhine River. Their destination is completed, surrounded by powerful bounded fields, a dense forest, and an endless blizzard that isolated the castle. Kiritsugu retrieved his Thomson contender and his Calico M950 from a hidden compartment in his suitcase as they stood a meter away from where he marked the limit of the bounded field.
"This is it. Once we break through that field, there is no turning back. Tell me the truth, Kiritsugu, how are you doing" Damian asks.
"I'm fine. The curse may have destroyed my circuit, but I still have my magic crest to use Time Alter. My motor functions and reload speed are slower than I'd like but-.
"But I can fix that with Reinforcements." Damian cut him short. "I'm not asking about your physical condition but you yourself. Are you ok?"
"I will be as soon as we get Illya back. Remember. When we run into homunculi, let me take the lead and stay close to me. Do not under any circumstances rush of on your own." Kiritsugu ordered.
"Yeah. I heard you the last seventh time you told me."
The two ran toward the forest and got into position to start breaking through the field. A task that would take Kiritsugu in his prime roughly three to six hours, judging by the complexity of the field. Kiritsugu taught him everything he needed to know, but the boy was still a novice. This was the first time Damian ever tried to break through a bounded field. Much to his embarrassment, he still remembers how he only got in Natalia's way she first took him in, so he couldn't help but expect the same from Damian.
Which why his jaw nearly hit the snow in shock when Damian managed to break through the field in forty-five minutes. The blizzard seemed to have ended when they got through, and the Einzbern Castle became visible.
"That was fast," Kiritsugu asked, getting his jaw back in place.
"Mystic eyes of insight, remember?" Damian grinned.
"Ah, right." Kiritsugu almost forgot about that. Damian's Mystic Eye of Insight allows him to understand mysteries after seeing them, and bounded fields were no exceptions. Using his eyes to grasp the structure of their bounded field while using Kiritsugu's methods allows him to break through much faster than even the mage killer could in his prime.
"Well, I should have said so sooner, but you better keep your eyes a secret. Being a magus that can steal mysteries just by looking at it will only-."
Kiritsugu cut himself short, turned around in one smooth motion, and fired a burst of bullets from his Calico above the trees in front of him. A small thud was heard hitting the snow-covered ground.
"Was that?" Damian starts to ask.
"A familiar. We've been spotted already." Kiritsugu cursed his bad luck. A small, overly optimistic side of him hoped they could get in without being spotted, but of course, his life has never been that convenient. "If they know we're here, they know we're here for Illya."
"Then let's hurry. It's only a matter of time before we get swarmed by their homunculi or whatever else they go in store for us."
Damian placed his hand on Kiritsugu's chest and reinforced him before running towards the castle. Mindful of traps and enemies that could appear out of nowhere.
As soon as they Approached the castle's entrance, a group of six Homunculi wielding various sorts of weapons as big as their bodies stormed out the front door. Some had halberds. Some had scythes. All they charged at the duo with an emotionless expression on their face, ready to rip them apart.
Damian reinforced his body to the limit as Kiritsugu unpinned and threw a grenade at the group, causing them to scatter to escape the blast radius. Only two were killed in the blast. Kiritsugu immediately took aim at those who moved on the left while Damian charged at the right.
With his body reinforced with runes implanted on his body and reinforcement magecraft, it took him less than half a second to reach one of the scythe-wielding homunculi as she was about to land after dodging the grenade and ripping her head from her neck with his bare hand. Without missing a beat, he reinforced the severed head and threw it at the nearest enemy as hard as he could, making both heads burst open at the impact.
At the same time, Kiritsugu fired a hail of bullets from his Calico at those who dodged to the left side of the explosion. One of the homunculi was gunned down while the remaining homunculus charged at him. Kiritsugu kept firing, and the homunculus kept deflecting the bullets with his halberd without ceasing her charge and lunged the halberd towards Kiritsugu's neck. But before she could reach him.
"Time alter – double accel!"
Kiritsugu's family magecraft sped up his blood flow and muscle movement, allowed him to dodge the lunge easily, point his Calico directly under her jaw, and pull the trigger, splattering blood and brain matter over the clear white snow.
"Are you ok?" Damian ran to him as soon as their fight was finished.
"Yeah." To his surprise, he was ok. Usually, just a brief use of double accel is enough to push his body past his limits, but he felt fine. "Damn, I wish I took the time to learn reinforcement magecraft. It would have saved me a lot of trouble."
"Do you know where we can find her, old man?"
"There." Kiritsugu pointed to a third-story window on the tower integrated on the right side of the castle. "that's where Illya's room is."
"Instead of walking through the front door, where we'll likely face dozens more enemies, we should get in through the window," Damian suggested
"And how are we going to get up there? It's three stories high." Kiritsugu replied
"Leave that part to me. Let's go!" Damian says as he runs toward the tower with Kiritsugu in tow.
"What if she's not there?" Damian asks as they run toward the tower.
"If she's not there, then she would be most likely in… Jubstacheit's workshop."
Damian could tell from his tone that they did not want to find her in Jubstacheit's workshop.
"Okay, now what?" Kiritsugu ask once they reach the base of the tower
Kiritsugu shudders as Damian firmly grabs his arm with both hands while wearing the evil grin that Taiga had always warned him about. "Do you have any experience in mountain climbing, old man?"
