(A/N) So after realizing just how long it has been since I've updated, I decided that I should try to quell worries about the death of this story. Either the next chapter or the one after will be the final installment before the prologue comes to a close. Much like the visual novel, the intro has been quite long.

Not much that my sleep-deprived self can say here, other than "Assume that I'm swamped with work if I'm not updating". It's been rough recently, especially since Monster Hunter World received its final update. On the bright side, I won't be beating Fatalis and moving on to other things in the near future. Ha. Haha.

On a more related note, it was upon rereading this chapter that I realized that there are a lot of "background processes" going on in this chapter to the point where I started to worry if I left out too much. Stuff goes by really quickly, and some things will make you think, "Wait, why does that happen?" In the end, though, I settled with this because I wasn't about to shove words into characters mouths for the sake of exposition. As an amateur writer, this is the most cohesive version of this chapter that I could provide through a single character's perspective.

I hope you all enjoy the chap, and please look forward to what's to come.

X

"Put me down, woman!"

I was ignored once again, forced to swallow my own indignance as Barthomeloi by all intents and purposes flew with my person carried underarm.

Damnit! Magical exhaustion was one thing, but why did my legs have to turn to jelly too? To think that I needed to be hauled around like a housecat on a trip to the veterinarian was frustrating beyond words.

The window leading into the Vice Director's office –a good bit higher up than most of the college– was visible about half a kilometer ahead. I braced myself as the air currents carrying us shifted, and we were sped up further.

The arm wrapped around my waist tightened. I could literally feel her nervousness.

We were moments away from crashing through the window. It would make for one hell of an entrance, but I suppose we'd rather be safe than sorry in this particular scenario; if this all ended up being a false alarm, then I could shift the blame onto the Vice Director's granddaughter for causing a commotion.

Yes. That sounded like a fine idea.

Before we made contact, I noticed an orange hue forming behind the window. Had my eyes gone back to normal, it would have slipped right past me. I was lucky.

We were both lucky.

I reached up and yanked on Barthomeloi's collar as hard as I could. It was just enough to shift our trajectory from crashing into the window to crashing into a solid brick wall and god knows what speed.

I grunted as I heard a loud crunch from somewhere within me. Hopefully, Barthomeloi took the hit better than I did.

Despite being staggered for a moment, the woman was able to catch both of us with her magic. She looked livid.

"You–"

The whole sequence of events took less than a fraction of a second, which I'd say was a good thing since our impacting the wall was immediately followed by a volley of fireballs bursting out through the window.

"You're welcome," I drawled.

How lamentable. I was ignored once more.

Her magic pulled us through the now-shattered glass screen, and it didn't take long to put two and two together.

A very tall and very muscular bald man, flanked by two more cloaked homunculi, stood facing the window with an outstretched hand.

He clicked his tongue. "Impressive. I didn't think that your granddaughter had it in her to dodge that, you old bastard."

Lord Barthomeloi who was still sitting behind his desk, scoffed audibly. "Such a base trick would never best one of my own, fool."

My eye twitched. He was wrong. It totally would have worked if I didn't pull us out of the way.

"Shirou," my old man called out to me from his standing position next to the Vice Director. He paused to take an unnecessarily-long drag of his cigarette. Despite myself, waited patiently for whatever it was he needed to tell me.

"You look tired."

I snapped.

"At least look a little worried, will you?"

We must have gotten here just on time because the room –other than the window– was virtually untouched. The pre-emptive strike upon our entrance was probably the start of the conflict.

Despite outnumbering the adversary four to three now, I wasn't too sure of our chances. In my condition, I was about as useful as an anchor on an inflatable raft, the old man was too sick to fight at full strength, and Lorelei Barthomeloi as she was now was wet behind the ears.

On the other hand, the man I assumed to be Agamemnon Christodoulopoulos might have been a match for the Vice Director for all I knew, and those two homunculi with him couldn't possibly be cannon-fodder type if the pair was all that was felt to be needed to take charge of the situation.

I glared at mini-Barthomeloi –who was still holding me, by the way– from the corner of my eye. Why did we jump in like this again?

Oh. That's right. No time.

As if by some sort of command that I wasn't able to hear, one of the homunculi shot a spell at the Vice Director and the old man. Despite the fearsome appearance of the attack, it was easily blocked and sent right back in the caster's face with a frankly terrifying wind bullet.

The Vice Director's expression, which had been straight to that point, shifted to mild surprise when the supposed deathblow didn't so much as phase the homunculus that stood in front to take the hit.

I was right, then. Not normal homunculi at all.

Eyes narrowed, Lord Barthomeloi stated, "I don't recognize these ones. New followers of yours?"

"They're Einzbern. He's working with them," I interjected.

I had caught the attention of both Kiritsugu and the Lord of Policies, while Christodoulopoulos visibly frowned. I couldn't tell if the homunculi had a reaction because of their dress, but then again I couldn't be sure if they were capable of reacting at all, to begin with.

By virtue of being pressed firmly into her side, I could feel that mini-Barthomeloi wasn't all that comfortable with the eyes on us.

Kiritsugu must have finally put two and two together.

"Where's Sakura?" he asked uneasily.

Christodoulopoulos burst out laughing.

"I see! My daughter succeeded, then. Excellent! I'll make sure to reward her for her efforts."

I couldn't help but to shoot back, "Your daughter's also dead as bricks, so the reward might have to be postponed indefinitely."

The man's laughter came to an abrupt end. He took a moment to process what I had said, then snarled.

"You lie, boy! You expect me to believe that this girl was able to defeat my daughter despite the numbers at her side?"

Maybe it was the frustration finally getting to me, but I smirked as I added, "She's dead, alright. I'd offer to show you proof, but her corpse is absolutely smeared across a tree; I doubt you'd recognize her. Kind of looked like marmite spread on toast, now that I think about it."

My comment must have been a little out of left field, because even Lord Barthomeloi was staring at me strangely, and I couldn't help but doubt that he made that expression all that often. His granddaughter –the one that did the spreading– upturned her nose at the analogy.

Kiritsugu, unflappable Magus Killer that he was, made the best out of the opening provided by Christodoulopous' distraction. From within his trench coat, he pulled out a Calico M950 –a semi-automatic pistol that I could only name off the top of my head because of the literal hell it gave me when Kiritsugu made me tinker with it– and opened fire.

I didn't know what surprised me the most. That he could carry that bulky thing in his jacket without me noticing? That the homunculi were fast enough to step between Christodoulopoulos and the line of fire? That the homunculi still didn't look like they took so much as a scratch?

Luckily, the moment created yet another opening, and Lord Barthomeloi decided to take the fight to Christodoulopoulos while his Einzbern guards were busy taking bullets for him.

The bald man took a step back as the Vice Director crossed the distance between them instantly with the assistance of some sort of wind spell.

The step didn't do much for him, unfortunately, because Lord Barthomeloi was able to reach out and clasp his hand around his adversary's naked cranium with strength that belied his limb's aged appearance.

Not bothering to take the younger man seriously, Barthomeloi looked away to address both his granddaughter and myself.

"It would serve both of you well to step away from that window."

We did as we were told. I didn't know what he had in mind, but I guess we were about to find out.

The bald man growled. "I won't let you!"

His hand burst into flames, and he took a wild swing at the Clocktower Lord. The punch was caught with the older one's free hand.

"Your pyromancy is as mediocre as those pathetic sewn-up sacks of meat you call chimeras. Maybe if you spent a little more time on one or the other, you would have gotten somewhere with your craft."

An unnamed spell rocketed the Zoology mage through the already broken aperture, parts of him clipping and destroying the surrounding wall on the way through.

"I must be out of practice," the elder man lamented. "For my aim to be so poor… how unsightly."

I watched the sequence of events with rapt interest. If anything, it cemented the idea that things must have gone differently in another time. Christodoulopoulos was so far below Barthomeloi's level that it wasn't even funny.

Maybe it was the homunculi that did him in? Perhaps.

…No, the homunculi were here for Sakura. They wouldn't be here otherwise.

Or would they?

A strangled sound emerged from my throat.

"Move!" I yelled.

Lorelei, who was still holding me for whatever reason, did the smart thing and listened. She threw herself –us– to the ground, narrowly saving us from being bifurcated.

One of the homunculi threw their weapon at us, thankfully ending up buried behind us harmlessly.

Considering that the halberd was buried into the stone wall up to the hilt, it wouldn't have been so harmless if it landed.

On the bright side, at least one of them didn't have their weapon any–

The other homunculus swung down on us with an oversized kanabo. I couldn't move right now, and the attack was too quick and too close for me to warn my ride. With my meager remaining reserves, all I could do was use alteration on the polearm over my head to bend its shaft protectively in front of us.

It worked for all of a second before the kanabo shattered our only line of defence.

It was to my immense relief that a second was more than enough time for Lorelei to react.

"Andslyht!"

It was shouted with much more urgency than any other spell I'd heard from her, and the difference in power was definitely noticeable. Sturdy or not, both homunculi were taken off their feet and thrown across the room by the powerful gust.

Again, they were undamaged.

They tried to move, but Lord Barthomeloi sent his own wind spell their way. A constant pressure fought against them to keep them in place, but it couldn't push them back just as they couldn't advance.

The man was stone-faced, but how much of it was confidence, and how much was a magus' pride not letting him show discomfort?

Looking at Kiritsugu, I didn't need longer than a second to be able to tell that he was worse for wear. The hand holding his gun was trembling, and I doubted that all this moving about left much in the tank for him, his stamina being what it was.

I bit my lip. How were we supposed to put down these Einzbern superpowers? They were too strong, too sturdy, too–

"Roaaar!"

I froze, and I could feel Lorelei do the same. I broke away from her and crawled towards the window, trying to see what it was that God thought funny enough to send our way next.

No. That's…

"Dragon?" mumbled Lorelei from over my shoulder.

Well, it looked like a dragon, at least. A horned lizard with wings…

Hm? Was that fire in its mouth?

Yes. Yes, it was. The fire was also very large and coming straight for us very quickly.

Lord Barthomeloi thought quickly on his feet. Disregarding the two homunculi that were now at his back, he erected some sort of forcefield around us.

It was just in time, too. I watched with some sort of detached admiration as half the damn building was incinerated in an instant. Thanks to the Lord of Policies, not only were we not burned to death, but we were also floated down the ground below instead of dropped to our dooms.

The forcefield was dropped, and I got a better look at the "dragon" now that we were out in the open air.

It landed not far from us, and I knew straight away that it wasn't actually anything remotely similar to a dragon. Its wings were closer to giant bat wings than wings of a divine beast, and its body looked more the part of an enlarged and spiky lizard.

The second thing I noticed was that a very much alive Christodoulopoulos was standing at its side, as mangled as he was.

He grinned.

"What do you think, Barthomeloi? It's my pride and joy– my greatest creation. My progeny might have fallen short, but this magnificent beast, made with nothing but my own two hands and cunning contributions to my field, will be your downfall."

"How ridiculous. For you to waste my time in such a way– I'm offended."

One moment the "dragon chimera" looked ready to roast us all whole, the next it was a headless corpse letting out gallons of blood into the upturned and scorched earth at our feet.

Christodoulopoulos seemed to be just as caught off guard as the rest of us.

"But…! But you…"

He was babbling. It was completely unsurprising to me that as a magus, he was more upset about the death of his fire-breathing bat-lizard than the death of his own flesh and blood.

His aggrieved snarl suddenly flipped into a smug sneer, and I knew something was wrong.

Turning around, I cursed upon seeing the two homunculi walking towards us.

Were they sheltered within the forcefield as well? They were not, if their tattered mystic codes were any indication. Somehow, the fire was damaging enough to burn even that, but their skin was entirely unblemished.

I was beginning to fear that they really were indestructible in every way that mattered.

"Kill them!" shouted Christodoulopoulos, practically frothing at the mouth. "Kill them all now!"

Ashamed as I was to admit it, a part of me feared that they might succeed. I was useless, the old man was useless, mini-Barthomeloi was useless, and Lord Barthomeloi could only do so much on his own.

Was pride and ego the only reason Lorelei and I came here? Save them? What a joke. It wasn't even as though we had an inkling of a chance to be of any help in the exhausted state we were in. If I were fresh, maybe there were some Noble Phantasms that could make quick work of these two, but even then there was a chance that the exertion would kill me. I might've bitten off more than I could chew.

Another strangely childish mistake that was unbecoming of me.

My rumination was cut short by a hand on my shoulder. Kiritsugu looked through me with great intensity.

"…"

"…"

"You said Sakura was taken by the Einzbern. They're here for her, correct?"

I didn't really know why that mattered anymore, but, "Yeah, that's right."

"Alright. We'll gather our strength and take a flight first thing tomorrow. We don't have time to waste, so we'll have to worry about Aozaki's request some other time."

I blinked.

"We'd have to live until tomorrow for that to happen, old man."

"Why wouldn't we?"

I was about to comment on his dismissal of the current clusterfuck, but then I physically felt a stupidly large amount of magical energy emanating from the Vice Director. Usually, my magical sixth sense would be lead by smell, but the sheer amount of mana and od condensing around his person was so thick that it was tangible.

He waved his hand, and a tornado appeared.

It wasn't a miniature tornado, either. It was large enough to shut down a city and prompt an evacuation.

But it was controlled. It was directed.

At the homunculi.

I watched, mind utterly void, as the homunculi I thought to be indestructible were torn to shreds in a fraction of a second. The spell dissipated immediately after.

The man still didn't even look winded.

Did my current state make me overestimate the homunculi, or did it make me underestimate the Vice Director?

The bald man trembled. "No… No! There can't be this big of a gap between us! It's a trick! Back in the office, you–"

"Back in my office, I wanted to keep the furniture clean, you knave," finished the Vice Director. "That's no longer a concern of mine, unfortunately."

Hah. Only a magus would have such skewed priorities.

I was sure of it now. There was no way that this was the point in time where the old Vice Director lost his life. Not to this man, at least.

"Now. Begone with you."

A snap of the fingers. That was all it took for the man to be killed by the crushing weight of an invisible force. The ground cratered under his mangled body.

There was silence, then the man hummed, stroking his beard.

"It will take some time to restore this side of campus, I suppose. Follow me; I believe there is a vacant office in Mineralogy that we could occupy for the moment."

Kiritsugu nodded silently. He wasn't anywhere near as surprised as I was, which meant that he was likely fully aware of the Vice Director's capabilities.

Lorelei picked me up again and followed along.

"Why, damn you!"

I can walk now, sort of! Let me be!

I was once more speaking to a brick wall, but I had a feeling that it had more to do with her not having registered that I said anything rather than her ignoring me. She seemed to be deep in thought about something.

X

Lord Barthomeloi sighed into his interlinked hands. He leaned back into the chair of the Department of Mineralogy's head office and closed his eyes.

"I think I understand now. You're saying that in exchange for assisting Christodoulopoulos' paltry attempt at taking my life, the man helped them kidnap the girl?"

"That's the gist of it."

"I see. Lorelei."

The girl both straightened and squirmed once addressed. "Yes, grandfather."

"I asked you to look after them, didn't I?"

"I…"

It didn't take a genius to make out the mortification plastered across her face. I kind of understood that she wanted to please grandfather dearest and all, but the poor woman looked like she was about to pass out.

I was starting to get second-hand embarrassment from it, actually.

"Don't hold it against her," I mumbled. "I did something stupid, so she was stuck making sure that I didn't die."

I felt her eyes boring a hole into the back of my head, but I ignored it. I was more worried about the intense, calculating way that tornado-man was looking at me.

I couldn't tell if he was the sort of man to blame a seven-year-old for his inability to prevent a kidnapping, but I wouldn't find out today. He brought the conversation elsewhere.

"What is it about this girl that makes the Einzbern think that it's worth risking my ire?"

"Now that's the question, isn't it?" I replied almost instantly.

Once more, our gazes were locked, I sincerely hoped that eons of experience would help me keep a straight face here.

He broke away first, and I almost sighed in relief.

"Emiya," he addressed Kiritsugu, who stood to my left, "You'll be going after this girl of yours, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you will be attacking their estate in order to accomplish this, correct?"

"At this point? We might have to."

"Excellent," concluded the Vice Director with a nod. Personally, I didn't really know which part of this sounded excellent, but I wasn't about to ask for clarification. "I'd like to make a deal, Emiya. Concerning our earlier topic of conversation."

Amusingly enough, both Kiritsugu and I reacted with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll consider revoking Aozaki Touko's sealing designation under two conditions."

This was it. I didn't know how we managed to get to this point, but this was it.

"First, I'd prefer if you caused as much property damage as you could during your… let's call it a siege. From what you've told me, you were planning something similar either way, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Petty, but understandable. I'd be upset too if someone tried to kill me and ruined my stuff as a means to other ends. It wasn't as though a stealthy extraction was an option anyway, so what was the harm in planting a few extra bombs?

"Second, I would like for the boy to lend himself to the faculty part-time."

What?

What?

Why?

As discretely as I could, I tried to read into the Vice Director's stoic expression, but it bore no fruit. It didn't make sense… At no point did I do anything that would have properly caught the man's attention.

At least not to this extent.

Was I missing something? Did I say something? Do something?

Regardless, this was bad. "Lending myself" to the faculty was such a vague statement that I couldn't begin to guess what it was supposed to mean. Research? Human experimentation? It sounded like a shitty way to get myself killed, in all honesty.

"He has classes during the school year. There are circumstances that prevent him from staying here," Kiritsugu argued.

Good thinking, old man. I hope you've got more excuses from where those came from.

"That's fine. He'll come during the academic year-end, then."

Kiritsugu looked my way for less than a second.

"That's fine."

Oh. Never mind.

…I wanted to say that I felt betrayed, but I really didn't. I understood, really. If my life were weighed against Illya's, then there's no doubt that Illya's life is more important to both the old man and myself. I might have been thrown under the bus, but it wasn't as though I wouldn't do the same thing in his place.

I had half a mind to ask the Vice Director why it was that he wanted me around, but I could tell right away by the look in his eye that I wasn't going to get a straight answer. And so, I didn't bother.

Hah. What a truly terrible father I have.

"Everything's sorted out, then," I concluded. "Should we head out? I'm tired."

"Grandfather!"

The three of us –even the older man in question– were caught off guard by the girl's sudden exclamation.

"What is it?"

He looked ready to scold her for the outburst but wanted to hear her out, apparently.

She took a breath, then took a moment to make sure that her shoulders were properly squared.

"Please allow me to join them. It is my fault that things happened as they did. I wish for the chance to redeem myself."

He hummed, thinking it over for a moment, before addressing Kiritsugu, "I'll leave the decision up to you, Emiya."

For the umpteenth time this past hour alone, the old man and I exchanged looks. I tried to convey as well as I could that the girl had a head the size of a blimp, and that taking her with us would be a tragic decision on his part.

"She would be a great help," Kiritsugu agreed.

Fuck you, old man.