(A/N) Not gonna lie, I fully expected to finish this in one chapter. Perhaps I was a little too ambitious.

Next chap is for sure the last one tho, shortly followed by an intermission that had been stuck in my mind long before this story ever existed. In a sense, you could say that this idea in particular was what inspired me to write a Fate Stay Night story in the first place.

As a side note, I'm aware that Sella and Leysritt were only made two years before the start of Fate Stay Night. For the sake of this story, however, we'll say that they were made immediately following the events of the fourth grail war. But seriously tho, who looked after Illya during that eight-year gap? Random Homunculi? I can't say that I picture Acht as a very capable or willing parental figure.

Big tings happen this chap. Be warned that full explanations may not be given for many a chapter yet.

As always, thanks for reading and please enjoy!

P.s. we've got a forum rolling. Go check it out (in my profile) 😎.

X

Mini-Barthomeloi snarled at the old man's suggestion.

"I will not be used in such a way."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, she'd see things that way. As smart as she undoubtedly was, she was an out-and-out magus. That alone was enough to convince me that she had more pride than brains, despite "brains" not being something that she was necessarily lacking.

"Quit exaggerating," I mumbled tiredly. What was it, three in the morning back in Japan? Since we jumped on a plane to Germany right away, that meant that I hadn't had an ounce of sleep in a good while. This body of mine did not handle sleep deprivation well, as I had learned.

She scoffed. "'Exaggerating'? I'm hardly exaggerating."

Oh boy.

"You delegate to me the role of distracting our foe. A deception. For me to act in such a manner is unbecoming of a Barthomeloi. Such underhanded tactics are beneath us. We are strong. We are steadfast. We are forthright. We are–"

"You're god-damn exasperating, is what you are," I shot at her. I couldn't help myself.

"You…" growled mini-Barthomeloi.

"Shirou," Kiritsugu reprimanded me with but a word.

No. She needed to understand what was going on right now.

"We are doing everything we can to save two individuals who mean the world to me. If we can't rely on you to give this all you've got, then we don't need you," I told her bluntly.

"No, the extra hands are invaluable," the old man contradicted me. I bristled internally, but I liked to think that I did a good job of keeping a straight face. "If you don't want to go through with this plan, then we can think of something else. Maybe we could–"

"I'll do it."

Both of us were caught off guard by her sudden willingness to do things our way. But hey, if she decided that she wanted to be agreeable for once, then I wouldn't complain. Her thoughts and opinions were her own business as long as they led to a desirable outcome.

Lorelei Barthomeloi being able to pull her head out of her own ass for however short an amount of time was as desirable an outcome as any.

That said, I couldn't help but feel annoyed by how easily the old man was willing to let the woman drag our plan through the dirt at the last minute.

He wasn't thinking straight, but I already knew that much. The real question, however, was "How heavily is this moment weighing on him?"

He was probably starting to lose any hope of being able to see his daughter again before his curse finally does him in, so this was literally a "do or die" moment. I could admit that having someone as powerful as Lorelei Barthomeloi at beck and call was kind of uncommon, but I'm here too, damn it!

Kiritsugu breathed out. "Then it's settled. Leave the bounded fields to us."

To me, actually. Not that I would risk widening the already comically-sized target on my back by correcting him. Barthomeloi didn't need to know anything more about me beyond what she –unfortunately– already did thanks to our happy run-in with Miss Marmite.

"Will you be able to hold on for that long?" I asked her.

"No homunculus will ever be a match for a Barthomeloi," she spoke as if it were law. "How powerful they believe themselves to be will not matter."

Hah. Sure, I'll take it. If she gets laid out anyway, it's not my problem as long as she can hold her ground long enough for us to get in, do what we had to do, and get out.

"That settles it then," muttered Kiritsugu. He stood up and walked away from the forest in front of us. I moved to follow. "Let's hurry."

X

We stood a meter back from where Kiritsugu had marked the limit of the first bounded field.

"Go ahead," urged the old man.

I felt my magical reserves take a dip as I projected Rule Breaker, the dagger that was probably the bane of magi everywhere.

The closer we moved towards the bounded field, the more visible it became. Mere inches away, I could make out the ethereal glow of what appeared to be some sort of forcefield.

I wasn't curious enough to find out its true nature. If Kiritsugu said it was bad, then that's all I needed to know.

I nicked the dagger against the Einzbern's defences, and its mystery shattered it just like that.

"You know, that's probably the single most ridiculous trinket I've ever seen," my father commented. "I had to surgically remove two of my ribs to make my origin bullets. I can only use them once, to boot."

Rule Breaker disappeared.

Well when you put it that way, I suppose it is pretty nifty.

BOOM

The explosion came from about a kilometer and a half south of us, which just so happened to be of a similar distance in a straight line to the front of the Einzbern castle.

It was met by an equally powerful clap of wind. Even all the way over here, I could feel my hair dancing on my head as a result of the disturbance in the air.

Barthomeloi had made contact with the enemy mere seconds after I had disarmed their protective thaumaturgy.

Another explosion, only this time it was visibly closer to the estate.

Another one, closer still.

The bombardments along with our acquaintance's counters were incessant. If anything, they became more frequent as they approached the estate.

Attempts to thwart her attack, as it would turn out, were wholly useless. It took all of ten minutes for the first blade of wind to strike down the castle's tallest tower, and I'd bet most of that time was spent travelling the considerable distance from point A to point B.

Hn. Maybe the girl had her uses after all… as long as she was given the opportunity to go all out with reckless abandon.

"Let's go."

The moment that conflict reached the estate proper, we knew that we were in the clear to move freely. The fact that Barthomeloi managed to make it so far meant that the Einzbern would need to centralize their forces to stop her.

All they knew was that someone had disarmed their bounded field and that a Barthomeloi had decided to attack them– allegedly for trying and failing to kill her and her father. Most likely, the assault and sabotage were led by the same individual.

Not only was it the most obvious explanation, it was the only explanation that they could afford to deal with. A Barthomeloi magus covering the tracks of a hidden enemy? Considering their track record, unthinkable, but also unpreventable.

All in all, it took the old man forty minutes to come up with this plan and to iron out the details– incidentally, it was the same amount of time that we were stuck waiting at the airport for our direct flight from England to Germany.

As a side note, first-class was a pleasant experience, barring the wait time and Barthomeloi's nagging of the flight attendants.

We reached the side of the castle. Kiritsugu lifted a hand over his shoulder, signalling me to stay where I was.

"The walls on the perimeter are three meters thick," he told me. Out from the briefcase he had on his person he took out what must have been more than ten kilos of–

"Are those plastic explosives?" I asked before I could think. "…And didn't you just pass through airport customs with that briefcase as your carry-on?"

"Yes," was his uninformative answer. "C4. Twenty bricks of it more specifically. It's not easy for an old man like me to lug around eleven and a half kilograms of this stuff you know. A good son would have offered to carry it for me."

Ha, ha. Very funny. I'd laugh if I wasn't still trying to figure out how we didn't get arrested.

He attached the detonators and pulled me back.

"We should keep our distance."

Probably hypnotism, right?

From a good few hundred meters away, the explosion produced completely removed a side of the castle for us. Kiritsugu said that it was just a record and file room on this end, so Sakura and Illya would probably be fine.

I tilted my head to the side to avoid a stray slab of shattered stone.

Mhm. Must have been hypnotism.

X

Ignoring the mangled entrance that we made for ourselves, the inside of the property didn't look half bad. I wouldn't go as far as to call it homey, but it wasn't necessarily the cold and drab place that I could've easily believed it to be.

For whatever reason, Kiritsugu couldn't tear his eyes away from the broken wall.

"We'll have to find Sakura first," the old man eventually spoke. "I have a pretty good idea of where Illya might be, so we can grab her on the way out."

"Any suggestions?"

He grunted.

"We don't know what they want from her, to begin with. She could be anywhere: the dungeons, a guest bedroom… Jubstacheit's workshop…"

Not much needed to be said to convince me that we did not want to find Sakura in the Einzbern's workshop.

"Allow me to cut such queries short."

A tall white-haired man walked into the tattered room. He had a hand on the shoulder of a silently trembling Sakura.

A cold sweat trickled down my spine. No doubt about it, this man was Jubstacheit von Einzbern. Why was he here, though? Barthomeloi was literally tearing his house apart.

"I'm not an idiot, Emiya," he spoke condescendingly. "I would never put it past you to take advantage of the rage of a frenzied bull. Not when I have something that I know you want."

Was he talking about Sakura or Illya? Both, maybe. But how did he know that we were working with–

Oh. He didn't. That's right… we were just taking advantage of an opening, for all he knew.

I looked at Kiritsugu from the corner of my eye. Did he know that the Einzbern head was an individual that would rather spite us than guard his own life? Did he know something else that I didn't?

The old man as was stiff as a board. Maybe not, then. "What are you doing here, Acht."

"It's only normal for the head of the house to greet his guests, is it not?"

I'd say the first guest you should "greet" would be the magus tearing your house apart, but that's just me.

Suddenly, the Einzbern laughed.

…Maybe "laughing" might have been an exaggeration, but he did breathe out through his nose with a little more force.

"Tell me Emiya, do you feel accomplished for taking The Jewel away from me? Did it somehow soothe the spite you feel, knowing that you would never see your precious daughter again? You don't blame me, I hope. After all, it's not my fault that you can't be bothered to see your agreements through to the end."

Hold on…

"Kischur's Jewel?" I asked despite myself. "We don't have it."

His stoic expression didn't change, so I thought he wouldn't answer me for a moment.

"No, but after a week without any word from the good Lord Meluastea, I took it upon myself to find out who does. Mister Archis was quite forthcoming– it's unfortunate that there isn't much we can do with the jewel in Aozaki's hands."

The realization hit me. Edor Archis sold her out? So that's why she…

"Of course," he continued to monologue, gripping Sakura's shoulder tighter until she whimpered, "He was kind enough to tell us that the Magus Killer himself had passed by with an equally powerful vessel. I had to take a look for myself… and my, the Makiri sure did make themselves quite the peculiar plaything."

My heartbeat quickened.

"It's not needed, however. Two lesser grails are redundant– Illyasviel is all we'll need for the next Heaven's Feel."

"Bastard," growled Kiritsugu angrily. He already knew all of this, didn't he? "To Illya, you…"

"I did what I had to because you would not. Call me what you will, fool, but the truth of the matter will not change."

My old man took a deep breath and calmed himself quickly.

"You don't have the upper hand here, Acht. We both know that you aren't a fighter. You've lost."

"You're right about me. I'm not a fighter," agreed the white-haired man. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this…

"But they are."

Two men –homunculi– stepped out from behind the elder Einzbern. They both had bald heads and wore some sort of bodysuit.

"You're insane," muttered Kiritsugu. "You're wasting time here. Split forces won't be enough to hold back someone like Barthomeloi. Is keeping Illya away from me really worth losing your life's work?"

Unsettlingly, Jubstacheit smiled emptily.

"As unusual as it must be for someone like you, Magus Killer, you're mistaken on three different fronts. Firstly, this barely counts as 'split forces'. A cripple and a child will be quick work for these two."

Tch. I'll show him quick work…

"Secondly, you either overestimate my attachment to this property or completely misunderstand what my supposed 'life's work' really is. I will retrieve the Holy Grail, and Illyasviel is all that I require to do so."

I kept my mouth shut, but at that moment, I was just as angry as Kiritsugu. The fact that his intentions towards Illya were already clear to me didn't matter.

"Lastly, I'd say it's awfully presumptuous of you to think that I wouldn't prepare for the chance that Christodoulopoulos could not follow through with his plans despite my generosity. I've secured a few… extra hands."

Now that he mentioned it, I hadn't heard the recognizable sound of Barthomeloi's large-scale thaumaturgy in a bit of time. That couldn't spell anything good for her.

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Kiritsugu's plan sounded just fine on the way here, but that was assuming that he had already thought through the more delicate intricacies like he had when dealing with the once-Lord of Kischur. Mannerisms, numbers, and strength of the enemy were things that I fully believed he had under control– even more so considering his past with the Einzbern. I didn't give it a second thought.

I was wrong. Looking at him now, I knew that I was wrong.

Emiya Kiritsugu was not in control anymore.

Was it because of the curse wearing him out? Was it nerves? The latter was much less believable, but part of me was unwilling to believe that he was deteriorating so quickly.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Retrospectively picking our mistakes apart was a wasted effort. All that we could do now was to take one thing on at a time.

As I had anticipated, the homunculi reacted to my increased magical output by rushing straight for me in an attempt to shut me down before I could act. It wouldn't do them any good, however.

I traced their weapons: a zweihander and a mace.

Both copies appeared afloat between myself and their original owners. A zweihander was met with a zweihander as it came for my head and a mace was met with a mace as it came for my body.

The homunculi froze. In part due to their attacks being stopped in full motion, but I'd assume that it had more to do with the black keys that I had traced behind them and stabbed straight into their shadows.

These two weren't my targets. They were just in the way.

I rushed past them and locked on to the man holding Sakura against her will.

His eyes widened in frustration. "Don't think it will be so easy."

The hand around Sakura's shoulder moved up to grab her by the head.

Sakura won't die.

I won't let her die. Right now, nothing else matters.

I couldn't trace a weapon fast enough.

I needed to be faster.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

The words once more felt like they did something. Like they meant something. My soul hardened itself again, though it was through different means and for a purpose that wasn't necessarily similar to what it had been my whole life up until now.

The arm held against Sakura's person was removed from Jubstacheit's body faster than he could react. I grabbed Sakura as securely as my stubby arms would allow and got back to Kiritsugu's side.

A moment later, the Einzbern stared at his stump, then down at the ground where a run-of-the-mill sword was buried next to his severed limb. He didn't so much as grimace, though his expression of indifference became a little more austere.

"You're a strange one, boy."

I cut your arm off, and that's all you have to say? Honestly, for all the inhuman entities that walked this planet, magi really were the weird ones.

I was done talking to him, however.

"Let's get Illya and leave, old man. Those black keys won't last forever."

…

Kiritsugu wasn't answering me. Was he still lost in thought?

"Come on!"

That was enough to snap him out of it.

"Right."

Unnervingly, Jubstacheit just watched us leave.

X

"Are you alright, Sakura?"

She pushed her face deeper into my side.

"I was scared…"

I smiled. Seeing her alive and well brought me indescribable feelings of joy and relief. Honestly, I couldn't remember the last time I felt that way, and I meant that literally.

"It's alright. I told you, didn't I? I'll keep you safe."

We walked back around the castle perimeter, passing by the lifeless vessels of the homunculi that Barthomeloi had already dealt with. Though it was nice to see that she did such a thorough job, it was a little disconcerting that we had lost all sight of her. If she really was dead, then whatever killed her was long gone along with her body.

"Where to, old man?"

Kiritsugu pointed to a tower parallel to the first one that Barthomeloi had toppled. It was the only undamaged part of the estate, and I'd go so far as to say that it was spotless.

"Whenever I try to come for her, Acht locks her away in there," he explained. "The first bounded field was just an alarm, but the thaumaturgy on that end of the castle makes it a veritable supernatural stronghold. We won't be able to break in through mundane methods."

That made sense. No wonder he never had much success on this end, considering the condition he was in. With rule breaker, though, it wouldn't be much of an issue.

Although, if he had had already assumed that much…

"So did you or did you not anticipate that the old bastard would know that we were coming?"

He froze, at a loss for words. "I… I could've sworn that…."

I frowned. Maybe… he really was losing it.

That was a scary thought. What if he screwed up and got Illya killed?

X

Uninterrupted until now, we climbed to the top of the tower. We stopped in front of a pair of large oak doors.

Kiritsugu took a deep breath. I could hear how shaky it was.

I could understand the way he felt. This was probably a moment that he didn't expect to have. He would cherish it, as he should.

Sakura and I stood to the side, letting him enter first.

The occupants of the room were startled by our breaching of their sanctuary. Three white-haired women –a child and two adult maids– looked up from a picture book that they were reading on the bed.

Illya saw the old man. At first, she did nothing. She was as still as a statue, as if scared that a sudden twitch would make him disappear.

Then the tears fell.

"Daddy!" she yelled. Before the maids could stop her, she jumped off the bed and crashed into the man.

He held onto her like a lifeline. From where I stood behind him, I saw his back tense from all the emotions he was forcing down.

"I'm here, Illya. Daddy's here."

"Grandpa," she sniffed. "Grandpa said you wouldn't. He said you left, and you–" a sob "–you wouldn't ever, ever come back. Grandpa–"

She couldn't say anything more. Her words failed her and her cries took over.

Meanwhile, I was locked in a staring contest with two cautious-looking maids.

"…"

"…"

It was a little strange, though. None of them seemed to have been phased in any way by everything going on outside the tower. Was the magecraft surrounding this place keeping it and everyone inside so far removed from what was happening around them?

The narrow-eyed one frowned at me distrustfully.

Hey. Seriously? That's no way to be staring at a seven-year-old. Have some shame.

"Emiya Kiritsugu," she spoke, tearing her gaze away from me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for my daughter."

"Master Jubstacheit has forbidden your entry," commented the strange-eyed one. "How did you manage to reach this place?"

"What!?" shrieked Illya, still held in her father's arms.

The narrow-eyed maid clicked her tongue. "You said too much, Leysritt."

"Ah. Sorry."

Strange. She didn't sound very sorry.

Kiritsugu ignored them, instead taking his daughter by the hand. I saw him try and fail to pick her up, but I pretended not to.

"Let's go, Shirou, Sakura."

Illya noticed us for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"Shirou is my adopted son, Illya," the old man told her softly. "Sakura is staying with us for the time being."

How would she feel about that, I wonder. Spiteful? Envious?

She broke away from our father and caught Sakura and me in a bone-crushing hug.

"You can call me Big Sister!"

Hm?

No.

I kept my thoughts to myself and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Shall I pack your bags, Lady Illyasviel?" asked the blank-faced maid.

I narrowed my eyes in distrust.

"You won't try to stop us?"

The colder maid answered, "We exist to serve Lady Illyasviel. If she wants to go, then it is our duty to go with her… despite our personal feelings on the matter. Trying to stop you here would go against our Lady's express wishes."

The old man and I crossed looks. Well wasn't that convenient?

X

During our escape, we crossed the center of the castle. That's where we found her lying in the cratered floor.

I made my way up to her inanimate form. I checked for a pulse, and luckily for her, she didn't seem to have kicked the bucket yet. She was just knocked out.

I shook her.

"Hey. Barthomeloi."

Nothing.

I nudged her with my foot.

"Barthomeloi. Get up."

She groaned. Her eyes fluttered open, and I helped sit her upright.

"What happened?"

That seemed to shoot some life into her.

"We need to leave!" she yelled, catching all of us off guard. "We can't–"

She stumbled as she tried to stand, and with my weak little arms, I couldn't do much more than slow her fall.

"You weigh too much," I told her while I took the time to observe her condition properly.

It was hard to see through her conservative garb, but her right leg was bent at a strange angle. She was moving her shoulder pretty gingerly, and her breathing was pretty shallow too.

She pretended not to hear me. "Did you find the girl?"

"Yes–"

"Then hurry up and leave. I won't be able to follow."

I blinked.

"You won't have time to escape if you have to carry me," she explained. "My duty comes before my life, and right now, my duty is to make sure that I don't fail my grandfather a second time."

Anger bubbled inside of me. "Is this supposed to be some sort of 'noble sacrifice' to you? Get over yourself. We'll slow down if we have to."

Tough luck trying to get Aozaki's sealing designation revoked if we let boss-man Barthomeloi's granddaughter die on us.

She matched my annoyed expression. "You don't understand, boy. It won't be long until–"

She was cut off as the empty-eyed maid came to her side and quickly tossed her over her shoulder. Barthomeloi huffed in pain from the rough treatment.

The maid looked at me with a nod. "No time… right?"

I was mildly surprised. She was stronger than she looked.

…

Something was here.

"Rho Aias!"

I acted just in time.

A bronze giant was upon us in an instant. Two axes slammed into the petals of the Noble Phantasm, shattering the first layer.

I grunted.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" asked Jubstacheit evenly. He appeared before us flanked by the same two homunculi that I had trapped earlier. The giant made its way to his side.

At this moment, neither Jubstacheit nor the two homunculi worried me. I was infinitely more concerned about the servant that had just tried to kill us.

"Barthomeloi. That's the thing you wanted us to run away from, isn't it?"

"Yes," she confirmed to my complete and utter dread.

She was right. We should have left her and gotten away while we still could.

Those strange weapons in its hands… this was Darius the Third, king of Persia.

This wasn't possible.

"How?" I shouted. "There's no way that the Holy Grail would have enough power to cast the Third Magic so soon."

The Einzbern head scoffed. "It really isn't all that impressive, boy. This thing is no servant. It's nothing more than an empty shell. A powerful shell, but still a shell."

"Master Jubstacheit, please reconsider," asked the prickly maid in an artificially calm tone of voice. "Lady Illyasviel wishes to leave with her father. Surely there isn't–"

"Enough. I made you to look after the girl's needs, not to talk back to me." He hummed. "I suppose that I will be forced to scrap you and start from scratch. I had not accounted for this behaviour."

She looked uneasy, though the one carrying Barthomeloi didn't seem phased in the slightest. Kiritsugu pushed the two scared children behind him protectively.

"And you, Emiya…"

He glared at my father. It was the clearest display of emotion that I had seen from him yet.

"You will be a thorn in my side no longer. I wasn't able to procure enough magical power to fuel this project correctly, and so I was forced to settle for this incomplete product in order to respond to your haste."

This was an "incomplete product"? The bastard managed to summon a servant without command spells, albeit one without its soul projected from the Throne of Heroes. If he had managed to get Kischur's jewel as he had intended… what was he scheming?

The vessel of the ancient king of Persia roared and barreled our way

Seriously… this sort of thing wasn't fair at all. Cut me a break already.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Let's see if we could figure something out.