Four armies have gathered, on a plain of whispering mouths that endlessly repeat the last words of the forgotten dead. The hosts of Plague, War, Excess and Change are mustered in the fullness of their glorious horror. The fog of memory mercifully blurs their true forms, yet what is visible remains the stuff of nightmares.
Black blades held in blood-red scaled claws, radiating murderous intent. Pincers of sickeningly sweet purple, promising agonizing ecstasy. Bloated, suppurating bellies the color of mass graves left open to the midday sun. Staves of silver topped with blue fire, held up by cackling horrors that foretell a future forged of deceit. They laugh and they weep and they scream, a cacophony fit to inspire madness – and the battle has not even started. They are the Neverborn, the children of Ruin, the footsoldiers of perdition.
They are daemons, the hosts of Chaos, come now to make war upon each other.
Here lies what could be, what might have been, what must never be. The dreams and nightmares of every soul to ever live, along with the souls themselves that have passed from the Materium. It is Hell, and it is Heaven, and it is every afterlife ever conceived by mortal minds desperately wishing for there to be more to their ephemeral existence. It is paradox and impossibility, the antithesis of the reality on which it feeds and wars in equal measure.
This is the Realm of Chaos. This is the Great Game of the Gods.
She knows these things, without knowing how or why she knows them. Here, their truth is self-evident.
Despite all the horror that surrounds her, her gaze is drawn to one who stands under the banner of Change. He is a lord among the horde of infernal rank and file, yet forever marred in their eyes by his origins – for he was mortal once, she knows, and that is a sin the Neverborn will never forgive.
Even as part of himself remains atop his tower in the land of shadow and mist, another part is forever present in that eldritch realm, just as a part of it is forever inside him. It is the cost of apotheosis, that he is called to participate in wars beyond the long campaign of extermination waged by his mortal brothers against the traitorous Fallen. The God that elevated him – first among his kin, second only to his sire – demands his service, and he can do naught but answer.
Though he is neither knight nor sorcerer any longer, the memory of the past cloaks him and shapes his form. He is a dark lord, tall and terrible, clad in armor the color of the woods of a land now lost, decorated with eldritch sigils and the faces of extinct beasts.
He draws a sword that isn't there, raising it high as a silent command to the host of Change. There is a moment of pause, as all the mouths hold their breath.
Then the sword comes down. The armies charge. The battle, which is just one of an infinite number of such battles waged across the Realms of Chaos, means nothing. And yet, it must be fought, for such is the will of the Gods.
But there is one amidst that carnival of horrors that doesn't belong. Besides the towering slave-lord, a smaller figure stands no less straight.
This figure, she recognizes. And with that recognition comes awareness of who she is, and what this is.
This is what haunts her Master's dreams. This is the memory of the Dark Angel given form.
"Shirou !" she calls out, ignoring the fear that she will draw the attention of the monsters to herself. Instead, the moment his name leaves her lips, the whole tableau freezes. He turns his head towards him, eyes widening in recognition.
"Sa-"
November 25th, 2004 AD – Emiya residence
"-ber ?"
The Servant of the Sword blinked, emerging from sleep along with her Master, who was pinned down to the bedding by her body and Sakura's. The pleasant soreness that had filled her body after the exertions of the previous evening was gone, a few hours of rest more than enough for a Servant to fully recover from such delightful exhaustion. She might have lacked any prior experience to which to compare last night, but she'd nothing to complain about in Shirou's performance.
Once Taiga had left, Saber and Sakura had slipped into Shirou's room, after telling Archer and Assassin to stay out of it for the night. By respect for Illya's presence (no matter her actual age, the progeny of Irisviel and Kiritsugu looked and behaved like a child and would thus be treated as such), Sakura had cast a soundproofing ward around the room. Her proficiency with these led Saber to believe that her Master's first lover had used them in the past for the same purpose they had been deployed last night.
"Good morning, Shirou," she replied at last, fully waking up. She still didn't move, savouring their closeness, using it to banish the unease that lingered after what she had just witnessed.
"Good morning, Saber. Did you see … that ? At the end, I thought I sensed your presence in the vision."
"I did," she confirmed, her lips curling into a victorious smile. "Now Archer and Assassin aren't the only ones who shared one of your visions," she added, feeling inordinately smug at the fact.
Without saying a word about it out loud, the two diminutive Servants had clearly been lording that fact over her, despite the fact that SHE was Shirou's first Servant, and the only one who had never tried to kill him. No matter how stupid he acted sometimes.
"Are you okay ? I know it wasn't a pleasant sight."
"I have endured the tortures of the Grail, Master," she waved his concerns away. "It was more interesting than disturbing. It all made sense while I was seeing it, but looking back on it now, it no longer does. Is that what it is always like for you ?"
"Yes," confirmed her Master. "These visions are like dreams in that way. Though I would be seriously worried for anyone whose imagination could make stuff like that up."
As a Servant, Saber didn't dream, and she lacked the memories of her mortal life to give her perspective. She hadn't even slept since being summoned by Kiritsugu ten years ago, though she supposed the passage into Spirit Form could be linked to sleep in some ways. In the last three nights she had spent sharing her Master's bed, she had kept watch over him until he woke, but this time, it seemed she had actually fallen asleep, and been pulled into her Master's visions of the Dark Angel's past through the bond they shared.
On the other side of their bedding, Sakura stirred awake and stretched. The girl had been just as involved in their lovemaking of the previous night as she, and Saber was slightly surprised that she wasn't more exhausted. Then again, she did have more experience, even if she lacked the advantages of her Master's or a Servant's constitution.
"Good morning, Senpai, Saber," she yawned.
"Good morning, Sakura."
Before the conversation could continue, the stomach of the two humans rumbled, and the only reason Saber's didn't join them was that she technically didn't require food, especially with her prana reserved topped off by last night's activities. She still felt hungry, however, whether due to her unique circumstances or the fact that food in the Emiya residence was just that good, and it finally persuaded her to get off her Master.
"Well," muttered Shirou as they all stood up, "time to face the music."
Lancer could feel Illyasviel's annoyance as her brother entered the main room, accompanied by his Servant and Berserker's Master. The emotions of the half-homunculus that flowed through their link were mixed. Mostly, she felt jealous of Saber's closeness with Shirou, as well as angry at the reminder, however involuntary, of her condition. The copy of Avalon Shirou had implanted within her might do wonders to keep her alive and comfortable, freeing her of the pain that had plagued her constantly for years, but by the same token, it also suspended her ageing. She might be healthier now than she had been in ten years, but she was also trapped in her child-like body.
It was, Lancer reflected ruefully, the opposite issue of what had afflicted Mordred, who had been a child in a body whose growth had been artificially quickened, but she suspected the psychological impact was equally damaging. Though as far as she knew, Morgan had at least made sure Mordred's lifespan was unaffected – the child had been meant to success Artoria as King of Britain, after all. She had been created as a tool, but not a disposable one.
The King of Knights found that the thought that her Master's blood family was worse than hers wasn't especially comforting. But she would not allow history to repeat itself; she would not let her Master be used as the tool of amoral Magi.
Everyone, Masters and Servants alike, sat down for breakfast, which had already been prepared by Illyasviel's maids. It wasn't quite as good as Shirou's own cooking, but no one was impolite enough to bring up the subject – not when there was something else to address.
"So," said Rin in an easy tone as Shirou brought a cup of tea to his lips, "did the three of you enjoy yourselves having sex last night ?"
The sheer bluntness of the question made Shirou choke on the hot liquid, while a hint of red appeared on Saber's cheeks. Sakura, however, looked utter unperturbed.
"Yes, Nee-san," replied the girl as her lover laboriously stopped coughing. "We very much did."
"Indeed," added Saber. "It was a most pleasant experience, and one I look forward to repeating in the future. You have my thanks, Rin, for helping to train my Master's skills in that area."
"Oh ?" asked Archer, who was looking at the scene with a mischievous smile identical to the one on Assassin's face, while Shirou was struck with a renewed cough at Saber's words. "Tell us more."
"I would think now isn't exactly the time for that sort of thing," intervened Lancer, aware of the blush on her own cheeks.
"And I would argue the exact opposite," answered Rider to her surprise from where she sat next to Rin. While her Master looked annoyed, she seemed positively brimming with curiosity. "It wasn't uncommon for young squires and soldiers to seek comfort during campaigns in my time. Facing death tends to have that effect on people."
"Aren't you the only one who got married here ?" asked Illyasviel, looking up at her. "Why are you of all people embarrassed ?"
"My and Guinevere's union was a marriage of state," explained the Servant of the Spear, mortified. "We grew to be close friends, and she was one of the few I trusted with the truth of my gender, but we weren't … like that."
Rin looked her up and down, before smacking her forehead.
"Right, your body changed when you were summoned. I forgot. Obviously you couldn't have passed for a man if you looked like that, though looking at Saber, I'm wondering if your knights weren't blind not to have noticed the truth."
"Oh, I am sure a few of them did suspect," Lancer replied. "Bedivere almost certainly knew. But at the time, the reveal would have weakened my authority, and I needed every advantage to hold Britain together … not that it mattered in the end."
Part of her envied the free-spiritedness of Rider and Saber. Even now, the memories of her life as King influenced her, shaping the way she acted despite her kingdom having fallen to ruins centuries ago. The years she'd spent concealing her emotions behind the mask of a King had affected her social skills badly, and given how her life had ended, she wanted to correct that now.
What she hadn't said, and didn't intend to, was that she did have sexual experience, of a sort. Mordred hadn't come out of nowhere, after all. But no one needed to know about Merlin's juvenile prank, and how it had contributed to the eventual fall of Camelot.
"In any case," she continued before Archer or Assassin could ask for more details, "we do have more pressing concerns than that. Shirou, Archer and Assassin weren't with you tonight : did you have any more visions ?"
When Shirou, Sakura and Saber had failed to emerge from their room in time to prepare breakfast, the two small goddesses had explained that Sakura had asked them to stay with Berserker in Sakura's own room. Apparently, despite having been Shirou's lover since the two of them had started living together, she still had a fully furnished room, which was mostly used to keep up the pretence that the two teenagers weren't sleeping together for their common guardian.
After having met Taiga last evening, Lancer wasn't certain the young woman was fooled.
"I did," admitted the sole male in the room. "But this time, Saber was pulled in."
"What ?" asked Rin sharply. "Explain."
He complied, describing the vision and how Saber had appeared in it, seeing it alongside him before helping draw him out of it.
"The Dream Cycle," announced Rin when he was done. Illyasviel nodded in agreement. "Saber doesn't have memories of her own – except those of the Fourth War, I guess – so your own visions must have … interfered with the link somehow."
"That seems the most likely explanation," agreed Shirou. "As for the vision itself, I think it took place after the Siege of Terra and the exile of the Dark Angels."
"Yes, but this place you're describing doesn't feel like anything that could exist on Earth, even in a timeline where the Age of the Gods never ended," said Rin, sounding distracted. She turned toward the three Gorgon sisters : "Do you remember anything from your lives that was even remotely like this ?"
All three of them shook their heads. Their memories of their lives were not perfect, though that had nothing to do with the Grail's corruption : the summoning process itself blocked certain memories by design, in order to avoid it being abused to learn the ancient secrets of the World. Otherwise, as Illyasviel had explained to Lancer back in the Einzbern Castle, far more Magi would try to summon Servants, especially of the Caster Class, just for the chance to learn long-lost Mysteries from them.
"These creatures in the vision," said Saber, frowning, "these … daemons. They reminded me of the familiars the Caster of the Fourth War summoned."
"They might be related," replied Shirou. "Gilles de Rais became a demonist in his late years, and though I'm sure the distinction between demon and daemon is a significant one, the connection is obvious. Especially since it's almost certain the Grail's corruption is the reason Bluebeard was summoned in the first place."
"I still can't believe the Einzbern were arrogant enough not to realize anything was wrong with the Greater Grail after that," commented Sakura. "You would think the summoning of a Kaiju-sized monster in the middle of the river would be enough for them to get off their high horse and check the work of their ancestors."
Sakura, Lancer had learned quickly, did not like Magi – with her sister being the only exception, and Rin was far from a typical Magus. Given what Saber knew of the other girl's past, such antipathy made perfect sense, and she didn't miss any opportunity to throw an insult their way.
"It could have been the Reverse Side of the World," said Illyasviel hesitantly. "In our timeline, it is where the Mystic Beasts of the World were exiled to following the end of the Age of the Gods, but in the alternate timeline, it could have become something entirely different, especially with the other differences we know about from the other visions."
"Hmm, possible," mused Rin. "I don't know a lot about it, but the laws of physics are supposed to be less static than in our reality. Rider, don't you have knowledge of this place due to your ties to the Wild Hunt ?"
"I do, but as we know, my memories are suspect due to the sundering of our Spirit Origin. At the very least, I can say that I've no recollection of anything as … infernal as Shirou described."
"In the end, it doesn't matter," said Shirou. "For now, we have more important problems to deal with. Archer, Assassin, please stay here today as well and help Lancer defend this place while we go to school."
"Yes, Master," replied Assassin with a dismissive wave of her hand, before turning her gaze on Saber. "But before you go, you must tell us more about Master's performance. Was it satisfactory ? Is he -"
Shirou groaned in dismay as the Servant continued to bombard Saber with questions, while Illyasviel tried to look like she was still focused on eating breakfast and not listening in. Fortunately, it seemed Saber still hadn't forgiven the 'snake's sisters', and was refusing to tell them anything, looking down at them with a smile of superiority.
Ayako Mitsuzuri suppressed a yawn as she entered the building of the Archery Club of Homurahara Academy. It was early, with still a good half-hour before classes actually started, but there were still a few people in the dojo, practicing a few rounds before the day started. Most members of the club only came in the evening, once lessons were over for the day, but a few fanatics (which included herself) came in the morning as well.
One of those fanatics welcomed her, having managed to arrive before her.
"Good morning, Mitsuzuri-senpai," Sakura greeted her.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan," she replied. "Is Emiya here too ?"
"Right there," Sakura pointed toward the shooting range.
Emiya was showing Watson how to handle a bow, the two of them dressed in the club's practice gear – which, she had to admit, looked nice on the transfer student, but then she suspected Watson could make rags look good. He was holding her close as he showed her how to hold and aim it. Not too close, not anymore than was strictly required, but still definitely in a way that would have made Ayako uncomfortable if he had been her boyfriend.
"Did something happen between the two of them ?" she asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
Sakura simply smiled. She didn't look pissed, so Ayako was probably imagining things. Sure, the younger girl was devoted to Emiya, but surely not to the point of being fine with other girls getting that close to her boyfriend.
... She hoped. If she was, then Ayako was going to be pissed off, for several reasons – some of which she wouldn't admit even to herself.
In any case, Watson was a quick learner, already hitting bullseye while Ayako watched her. Emiya was a good teacher as well as a god-damned prodigy with the bow, but this was still some fast progress. Did Watson actually already know how to use it, and was putting a front to get Emiya to give her some one-on-one training ? After her shocking announcement on the day of her arrival, Ayako certainly wasn't putting it above her to do something like that.
She was drawn from her thoughts by a sudden increase in volume that told her Fujimura-sensei had arrived. The club's advisor walked into the dojo, and Ayako immediately noticed the dark rings under her eyes : the young woman clearly hadn't slept much the previous night.
"Everyone, please pay attention," she called out, and the handful of people in the dojo put down their equipment and assembled in front of the teacher. "You'll hear this again in homeroom, but club activities are cancelled after classes today and next week. You can still come in the morning for practice if you want, but all of you should go straight home after class, and not wander the streets, okay ?"
"What's going on, Sensei ?" asked Ayako.
"There have been unsavoury individuals sighted in the city, and the police are still tracking them down. We don't want you to get hurt, so make sure to be good boys and girls and stay safe !"
Ayako thought the teacher's gaze lingered on Emiya as she spoke that last part, but it must have been her imagination. The boy was far too nice to get involved into anything dangerous, especially with Sakura watching over him and the fact he had just come back from the sickness that had forced him to skip school on Monday.
No, she was probably just worried her ward would get himself in trouble by accident. That or, like Ayako, she was worried about a teenage male staying in the same house as two teenage girls who were obviously attracted to him.
Apart from a repeat of Taiga's announcement and warning against staying out late, as she had told them, the rest of the day passed by without anything of note happening. She had accompanied Shirou and Sakura to talk some more to the teacher during lunch break, learning that her grandfather had begun to take action in response to Shirou's warnings and the destruction of public property caused by their fights against the Ainsworth Dolls, which the media had blamed on gang warfare.
Apparently, the Oyabun had given his grandchild an earful when she had come home late from the Emiya residence, so she wouldn't be able to come and mooch off – visit the home of Saber's Master in the evenings for the foreseeable future.
It surprised Saber that the adult woman would give in to her grandfather's demands so easily, but Shirou had quietly explained later that Raiga had probably threatened to cut off the allowance he still gave to his adult granddaughter if she didn't obey. Which, of course, had only made her surprised about something different.
Saber's Master was relieved that the school was reacting to the situation, even if Saber remembered all too well how little daylight had impeded the monstrous activities of the Fourth War's Caster. She'd mentioned this to Shirou, who had told her the Fujimura Group had deployed men to (discreetly) watch over the other schools. Homurahara Academy, with its hundreds of young men and women, was still the most likely target of an unscrupulous Servant, however, which was why the Masters still spent their day there.
There had been no reports of any anomaly by their Yakuza allies, and no news report which might betray the actions of an enemy Servant. With no lead to pursue, they wouldn't go on patrol tonight : the Masters of the group needed to rest in order to be in top form during the week-end, when they'd planned to comb the city in force and place new Bounded Fields calibrated to detect prana usage.
"Welcome home, Onii-chan !" Illyasviel greeted them as they returned to the Emiya residence. The mix of envy and curiosity of the morning was gone, replaced by the joy the half-homunculus now showed whenever she was in her brother's presence.
"Hello, Illya. I am back." Shirou looked around : only Lancer was accompanying her Master. "Where are Sella and Leysritt ?"
"They finished cleaning up the house to Sella's standards, and they're still working on the notes you asked them to write."
"Ah, good. It's best to get that done as early as possible, just in case."
The notes in question were a compilation of everything the homunculi knew about the Einzbern family, including their castle in Germany and its defenses. The two of them might have been created for the express purpose of accompanying Illyasviel in the War, but they had inevitably gained some knowledge of the Magus family's holdings. Shirou believed, quite rightly in Saber's opinion, that such knowledge would prove useful when the time came to politely ask the Einzbern for their assistance in healing Illyasviel after the Grail War was taken care of.
"Speaking of things best to do as early as possible, Shirou," said Rin, "Rider mentioned that she wants to spar against you. Sakura and I can take care of preparing dinner; why don't you go in the dojo and indulge her while we have the time ?"
"We don't know when things will escalate again, so getting familiar with each other's style is a good idea," mused Shirou. "We'll need to be careful, though – I don't want to have to explain to a construction crew the kind of damage we could do if went all-out."
"Can I come watch ?" intervened Illya with wide eyes turned up at Shirou, in what Saber recognized as a trick that had worked on Kiritsugu just as well as it did on his adopted son. The young girl, already separated from Saber's Master during the day, was clearly determined to stay near him as much as possible.
"Of course you can. Lancer, you've never seen Rider fight either, right ? Do you want to come along ?"
Her older self looked at her Master and gave in to the inevitable with a nod. It was obvious she would come along, if only to keep Illyasviel safe. Shirou would rather take a Noble Phantasm to the chest than let his sister come to harm, of course, and Rider knew she'd have to hold back in any case, but both combatants would feel better knowing someone was there to protect their audience.
"Then I shall also -" began Saber, before being cut off by Rin :
"Actually, Saber, can you stay ?" asked Rin. "I've some stuff I want to talk to you about. Don't worry, Rider won't hurt Shirou. Right ?"
"Of course, Master."
"Well, then," said Shirou, looking at the three girls he'd slept with with the gaze of someone who knew something was going on, but was also smart enough to realize he should get out while he still could. "Let's go."
The three of them sat down, with Berserker materializing and joining them. Archer and Assassin were apparently lazing around in one of the empty rooms, not having bothered to get up to greet their returning Master. Of course, they could communicate telepathically, but their disrespect still irked Saber, although at the same time, the least time her Master spent in the company of that pair of snakes the better.
"You want to talk about what Saber and I did with Senpai last night, don't you Nee-san ?" asked Sakura.
"Want is a strong word," grumbled Rin. "Need would be more appropriate."
There was a moment of silence, which stretched to the point Saber wondered if she should say something -
"I just don't understand," blurted out Rin, and it was as if a dam had broken as she continued : "I'm fine with sharing the blockhead with you because, let's face it, you are the most important person to him, and I'm not so awful as to steal him from you anyway. And he's probably the best catch I'm ever going to find, both from a personal perspective and from a dynastic one."
"Nee-san, what did I tell you about that ?" asked Sakura in a chastising tone.
"Look, Sakura, you don't care about the Tohsaka name, which is fine, but I'm still hoping to redeem it, in every sense of the word. Anyway, that's why I'm fine with being his lover, even if it's already obvious you are going to be Mrs Emiya someday. Even if we aren't married, I know he'd be a great father to my children too."
It was testament to how important Rin considered the subject, Saber thought, that she could speak of such things without even blushing.
"But what about you, Sakura ? You told me why you were fine with me being Shirou's lover when this all started, when that Enforcer came to kill him. But wanting to piss off our father isn't a good enough reason once you think about it. Shirou loves you, and would never do anything to hurt you, so even if he'd somehow managed to pick up Saber's signals, he wouldn't have acted on them without you pushing him."
"He is adorably obtuse in that regard," admitted Sakura with a wistful smile that Saber couldn't help but notice looked a little fragile.
"So why did you push Saber in his bed in sexy lingerie ?! Don't you want to keep him to yourself ?"
It was something Saber herself had wondered about, she had to admit. She'd known, when approaching Sakura about joining her in Shirou's bed, that the other girl would accept, but it was difficult to explain how she had instinctively come to that conclusion.
"I love Senpai." The words echoed with the strength of incontrovertible, unchanging truth. "He saved me, took me into his home, trusted me with all his secrets. I want him to be happy. I want him to be loved."
"That's it ?" asked Rin, not bothering to try to hide the doubt in her voice.
"What do you expect me to say, Nee-san ? That despite Avalon healing all the physical trauma I suffered at Zouken's hands, I'm still damaged psychologically ? That my libido is abnormally high, but the thought of intimacy with any male but Senpai fills me with revulsion, so I'm attracted to girls as well ? That the more powerful allies are bound to him by love, the less likely he's to be taken from me by our enemies ? That if Senpai has a harem, I can be sure he'll never cast me aside to replace me with someone he loves more ?!"
Sakura's expression had grown wilder and wilder as she went on, until she was almost ranting, her eyes wide and her hands trembling, and Saber could feel the agitation of her od.
"He'd never do that, Sakura," said Rin softly, concern replacing frustration on her face.
"I know ! Of course I know. But …"
"Alright, alright. Calm down." Rin engulfed her sister in a hug. "Deep breaths … You're fine. Everything is fine. Shirou is okay, and he loves you."
Sakura was still trembling with emotion, but she calmed down, slowly, in her sister's embrace, while Saber and Berserker could only look on awkwardly.
"If Euryale is in his bed, being brought to ecstasy every night, then she won't shoot him in the heart again," she mumbled.
"I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen," deadpanned Rin.
"Maybe not," Sakura giggled weakly, before pulling halfway out of Rin's arms and looking at Berserker. "You, however, would be a different story. I know you've been thinking about it since he rescued your sisters."
"Master -"
"But," the purple-haired girl cut off her Servant, "you shouldn't do anything like that out of gratitude, Medusa. Helping your family being reunited was reward enough for Senpai. You should only go further if you think it will make you happy, understood ?"
"I don't think Shirou is capable of having meaningless, no-strings attached sex, to be honest," remarked Rin. "He's far too earnest for that."
"That is good," said Saber, speaking up for the first time since the discussion had begun. "I wouldn't want my Master to be a scoundrel like this. A man fit to fight by my side should be able to care for every woman he decides to take to his bed."
"Is that the dragon blood talking, or were you already like this when you were alive and just didn't have the chance to act upon it ?" grumbled Rin, before shaking her head.
"I intend to stay at my Master's side. His power is sufficient that he'll be able to sustain me once the Grail is destroyed, so long as I refrain from using my most prana-consuming abilities."
"That's … It would be difficult, but possible. Sustaining every Servant on our team would stretch our resources, but Shirou and Sakura have a high prana capacity, and Illyasviel was quite literally made for it, while I should have enough so long as I use secondary sources to supplement my own reserves … Wait. Something is happening with Rider," said Rin suddenly, before standing up and rushing out of the room. Saber exchanged a look with Berserker and shrugged : she couldn't feel any danger from the link with her Master.
She still stood up and followed the dark-haired girl, though. Because while she was pretty sure Shirou wasn't in any danger, she was picking up interesting things from their bond.
The dojo of the Emiya residence was clean and empty, as befit a space meant for martial training. Lancer might not have kept the memories of King Arthur's wars, but she did remember the training of her knights in Camelot, and this space was not so different from the halls where her companions had practiced against one another.
As Shirou had said, the fighters would need to keep things down, lest they destroy the building, but then, Rider wanted to test Shirou's skills, not his raw power.
Despite Rider's reluctance, both combatants wouldn't use their true weapons in this spar. Gungnir was far too dangerous to give it a chance to wound Shirou, and whatever Shirou's sword actually was, it had proven capable of killing the unkillable before. Instead, Shirou had used his Magecraft to Trace training weapons for the both of them, taking the wooden swords that were in a rack near the dojo's entrance as a base and adapting the shape until they wielded reasonable facsimile of their favored weapons, Reinforced so that they could withstand the strength of a Servant.
Illyasviel and Lancer stood to the side, with the Servant close to her Master, just in case Rider's excitement got the better of her. Shirou emerged from the changing room, having replaced his school uniform with a more practical garment.
They stood five meters away from each other, and Shirou activated his Reinforcement. Black lines ran across his exposed skin, and his eyes gleamed golden, but the shadows in the room remained unaffected. The young man was only using Reinforcement so that his human body could match Rider's (though even that was, she had been told by Illya, more than most Magi could accomplish with that spell).
"We shouldn't be able to hurt each other with these, but just in case, we'll stop at first blood, alright Rider ?" declared Shirou.
"Fine," replied Lancer's blackened sister, before jumping at Shirou, kicking off dust as she closed the distance between them in an eye-blink.
Rider's spear had slightly more reach than Shirou's greatsword, and the Servant of the Mount was significantly faster than the Master. She moved so fast around him she seemed to be dancing, but each blow she aimed was parried, Shirou's own footwork barely managing to keep up with her. As had been the case for his Servant when she had duelled Lancer in the park, he was forced on the defensive, unable to strike back.
"I've wondered : where did you learn to fight like that ?" asked Rider as she stepped back from the engagement, neither fighter appearing even slightly winded by the breathtaking display. "There can't be teachers for that kind of weapon in this era."
"Memories and dreams," replied Shirou. "The visions of battle are typically the most vivid ones, and I can use Reinforcement to match the strength of the Dark Angel. Then I practiced the moves here until I build up the muscle memory."
He frowned, pausing in his movement as a thought occurred to him.
"Actually, come to think of it, I might have surpassed it in sheer strength, given that I can match Servants, and it definitely wasn't that strong … at least to begin with -"
He was cut off as Rider leapt back into the fray without warning, and Lancer was once again reminded of the atrophy of her own instincts. She felt she should've seen her counterpart's actions coming, but she hadn't. As Saber had surmised, the sundering of King Arthur's Spirit Origin into three distinct Servants had left her without Skill in that regard, reflecting the fact that she was the 'Artoria of Camelot', as Rin had put it.
Lancer caught a glimpse of Rider's face as the fight accelerated further and further, each side pushing themselves further and further without calling upon the fullness of their power. The other Servant's face was flushed with excitement, a wide smile showing her teeth and her eyes glowing orange. She could feel the draconic power swelling within Rider as the other Servant drew upon the Core Merlin had implanted within them, and her own began to heat up in reaction.
The tip of Rider's spear caught the collar of Shirou's shirt, and despite being blunted, the strength behind the downward blow was enough to tear the garment from Shirou's body …
Oh.
Lancer knew from personal experience that Shirou was strong, but she had assumed it was entirely the result of his Magecraft. And while there was no doubt his Reinforcement was the reason he could keep up with a Servant's might, he clearly hadn't neglected his physical training. His upper body had the kind of muscles she'd seen on young knights, though there were differences that spoke of a different training routine.
There was another brief pause in the fighting as Rider took in the revealed sight. Then, with a roar, Rider threw her spear against Shirou's sword, briefly smashing it aside before letting go of her weapon and tackling Shirou to the ground. Instead of simply falling to the ground, however, the speed at which Rider had been moving meant that Master and Servant rolled over and over on the floor, eventually coming to a stop with Shirou laying flat on his back and Rider on all four above him.
The image of a hungry lioness salivating over a lump of meat briefly flashed in Lancer's mind. She moved her hands to block Illyasviel's vision, not listening to her Master's protests. She didn't think Rider was quite so lost to her own desires to start consuming them right there and then, but it seemed likely something was going to happen.
She tried very hard not to think of how her Master had already seen Shirou being kissed by someone who looked almost exactly like Rider, and fared about as well as she did trying to pretend she wasn't blushing bright red at the sight.
Then she heard rushing footsteps approaching, and turned her head to see the door of the dojo slid open, and Rin entered, only to be faced with the sight of her Servant draped over her shirtless lover on the floor while his sister and her own Servant watched with blushes on their faces. There was a moment of shocked silence, then :
"SHIROU !"
Omake : Chaos Dwarves Campaign Intro for Total War Warhammer III
Bearing the knowledge of Ursun's survival and captivity within the Forge of Souls, I journey to the desolate lands past the peaks of World's Edge Mountains. To free myself of my curse, I need to reach the captive god, but while the Book of Fate has provided me with the knowledge of the paths needed to pass through the tumult of the Maelstrom and access the Forge of Souls, I cannot hope to accomplish such an endeavour alone.
I need allies, and I know exactly where to find ones with the strength and will necessary to pit themselves against the horrors of the Realms of Chaos, at the center of which lays the Forge of Souls.
There are many warriors in the Dark Lands. Tribes of Orcs, Goblins, and worse fight each other for scarce riches, but all live in the shadows of Zharr-Naggrund, whose towers rise high above the blasted landscape. The sound of infernal industry raises from this place of wretched slavery and abject misery, where countless thousands toil under the barbed whips of cruel overseers, fuelling forges and assembly lines with their sweat and blood until they fall over dead, only to be replaced by more slaves. A pall of black smoke hangs over it, choking the light of the sun and further poisoning an already cursed land.
There live the Dawi Zharr, called Chaos Dwarves by the foolish and the ignorant. Long ago, in the first age of blood and fire, they were abandoned by the Ancestral Gods of their kin, and instead swore themselves to the Father of Darkness, Hashut. With the strength of his blessings, they survived here, in this hostile land, and built an empire to rival any of those their cousins in the west built – and one that has endured far longer.
After days of trekking through the inhospitable plains, I reach at last the gates of Zharr-Naggrund, and present myself to those who guard its gates. Thankfully, my frail body is of little interest to these pitiless slave masters, and their curiosity at my presence buys me time enough to make my case. The Dawi Zharr are well versed in the arts of the arcane, for they have built mighty engines to harness the powers of Chaos to their indomitable will.
The book I bear earns me passage past the grim guardians of the gates, and audience with Astragoth Ironhand, High Priest of Hashut, and the closest thing the fractious Dawi Zharr have to a king. He looks down upon me from his throne. After a thousand years of practicing Chaos sorcery, his body is more stone than flesh due to the curse that afflicts all Sorcerers among his kin, but a twisted contraption of sharp metal envelops him, an engine of woe and war as much as it is a replacement for his petrified limbs.
One mistake, I know, and I will be hurled into the sacrificial cauldrons, where I will burn in molten iron to appease the ravenous hunger of their Dark God. I kneel before this dreadful lord and reveal the secrets I have uncovered, holding up the Tome of Fate as proof of my words.
"All the knowledge of the Forge of Souls, and the power of a god, yours to do with as you please," I finish. "What dark wonders would your people be able to create with such things in your grasp ?"
"A tempting offer," he replies, and my old bones shiver at the power in his deep voice. "With the power of Ursun, we could fashion engines to conquer the world, and there might be something in the Forge of Souls we haven't discovered for ourselves yet. We could claim vengeance on all those who've wronged us at last. But what, human, would you ask in return for this great bounty ?"
"A single drop of Ursun's blood, oh mighty lord. That is all that I ask."
Though I keep my head down, I can feel his gaze upon me, scorching my skin with its intensity.
"Very well," he says at last. "Guide me to the Forge of Souls, and you shall have your blood. But fail me, or betray me, and I promise you, the torment you feel being bound to this tome you bear will pale in comparison to what I shall inflict upon you."
Struggling to keep my shock at his casual knowledge of my curse, I abase myself further.
"I shall serve you well, my lord. You have my oath."
AN : One month, but here is an update ! Gods, that month passed by quickly, and not just because there was only 28 days in it. I'm going to try to be faster with the next three chapters, which are all part of the same 'block'. Once they are done, I will turn to the next chapter of the Roboutian Heresy, and after that ... well, we'll see. I still intend to write that Ciaphas Cain, Warmaster of Chaos story, because it's not like the world needs any less humor now than it did when I finished Warband of the Forsaken Sons, is it ?
The lore revealed in the last chapter was well-received, which I'm grateful for. One guest mentioned that it contradicted Bazett's monologue in chapter 9, when there Ancestors are mentioned as one of the possible causes for the literature presenting vampires as romantic figures, while Waver made it clear there are no such beings in the timeline, since all vampires go mad with the Thirst and end up causing their own destruction. I went and changed that to "a particularly clever bloodsucker".
Another thing that's often mentioned in reviews is the fail-safe mentioned in Fate : Apocrypha, which triggers a 7 vs 7 war if the Masters try to keep the War on hold. In ABR, the Greater Grail is contaminated with something which has already proven it can twist the rules on their head : this fail-safe, if it even exists in this AU, will only be triggered if what waits within the chalice wants it to.
The omake was inspired, obviously, by the release of Total War : Warhammer III. If you haven't played or seen videos of the introduction of the various campaigns of this game, it probably left you very confused. I tried to make what's happening as clear as possible, but to clarify for those who haven't played any of the games : the narrator is known in-game as the Advisor, and he serves both as a tutorial guy and narrative device, offering his services to whoever leads the faction you're playing as. As one might expect, this tends to create ... interesting first meetings. If you think the Chaos Dwarves were bad, check out the intro cutscene for the Ogre campaign, or the Khorne one. Hell, even the Kislevites aren't particularly welcoming.
Apparently, Chaos Dwarves are one of the races most likely to be added to the game later on, when the DLCs start being churned out by Creative Assembly. I look forward to seeing what they do with it, since the Chaos Dwarves are one of the factions Games Workshop has teased over the years (even in Age of Sigmar), but never really explored.
I look forward to your reactions to this chapter. Handling Sakura's attitude is a tricky thing, since she has such an utterly tragic backstory. I don't want to cheapen her character, and harem stories do have a tendency to do that to the girls in them. Hopefully I succeeded.
Oh, and one more thing. According to this website, I have about a hundred readers in Russia, and a dozen in Ukraine. To the former, I would like to say that your government is lying to you about pretty much everything these days, so please don't believe what little it is telling you about current events. And to the latter, please, please stay safe. To both, I hope reading this chapter made your day even a tiniest bit better.
Zahariel out.