Chapter 4
"Shiro…"
Saber lowered her sword after witnessing Shiro's actions against Caster.
Shiro, too, remained silent as he released his grip on his blade, which dissipated into the wind along with Caster's body.
"I followed what I thought the best course of action was," Shiro explained after a brief pause, walking towards Saber. "I know that striking my opponent unawares does not befit a Hero of Justice… but…"
"No," Saber replied, interjecting Shiro's attempt to explain himself. "Honour bound as I am, I must accept that you have indeed pursued the best course of action." Putting her hand on Shiro's shoulder, Saber smiled. "I must thank you for protecting my ideals."
"Your ideals are what caused your downfall, Saber," Rider groaned softly as he laid on the ground. "King of Knights… I care not for your epithet or your position… but a failure is a failure!"
"How has your ideals worked out for you, then?" Shiro replied. "Besides, you have much more to worry about other than Saber's ideals."
"What is it to you, kid?" Rider replied indignantly. "I call a spade for what it is; a spade."
"Weak ideals or not, Saber's still in good fighting shape," Shiro retorted. "I can't say the same for you now." Striding over to Rider and Bram, Shiro kneeled beside them. "I ask you again; How has those ideals of yours worked out for you?"
Rider growled as he attempted to raise his hand against Shiro, but Shiro easily brushed Rider's hand away.
"As much as this would annoy Lord El-Melloi II, we are going to spare your lives," Shiro continued. "We would even heal your Master right now and he can do whatever he can to save your life."
"We don't need your help!" Bram replied angrily, coughing as he struggled to reply.
"So you'd rather die than to complete your noble quest for the Association?" Rin questioned, tilting her head sarcastically.
"The Association changed their minds!" Bram grunted. "They have decided not to have anything to do with the Grail ever since all these things happened!"
"A crying shame, then," Rin replied, kneeling beside Shiro, pulling out a gem from her pocket. "This fight between you and Lord El-Melloi II now holds no meaning, so ideally, this farce needs to stop. In the end, we're all colleagues in the Association, not enemies."
"And here I thought that Emiya Shiro was the idealist," Bram retorted. "I care not if the Association holds no desire for the Grail… I will still stop you from destroying it, and bring the Grail back to the Clock Tower!"
"Neither you or your Servant here is in any shape to do either of those, if I must remind you," Rin replied, breaking the gem she had in her hand and starting the process of healing Bram. "Just like my Shiro said, healing you right now just so you can stop us will earn us Lord El-Melloi II's ire… but we're doing so anyway."
"Feel free to stop us," Shiro continued, standing up. "But you will definitely need your Servant with you to stop us, so we'll have a head start by going on ahead once Tohsaka is done healing you."
Shiro started walking away, but stopped after taking a few steps.
"I forgot something."
Turning back to face Bram, Shiro pointed at an unconscious Mikhel. "We did you a favour by stopping him too. But I'd prefer if you spared his life. He doesn't have any more reason to oppose you now that he's free of Caster's influence."
"I won't spare his life, after what he's done to Viola!" Bree snarled at Shiro, interrupting Bram before he could respond. This whole time, she had been silent as she was busy tending to Viola and largely stayed out of the way of the conversation until now. "You don't get to decide who lives and who dies!"
"Neither do you," Shiro responded simply.
"You are the one who's taking lives as if they are not worth anything to you, Emiya Shiro!" Bree retaliated. "You're the one who killed my Servant! If the reports are true, you killed Assassin too, and you just killed Caster as well! You must be so very proud of being able to kill Servants now, are you?"
Shiro said nothing as he listened to Bree.
"Even without counting your actions in this War, you have quite the reputation… getting paid by the Association to kill rogue magi!" Bree continued, emboldened by Shiro's silence. "Someone like you has no right to tell us what to do with Mikhel!"
"Kill him, and you will carry the weight of that life you took for the rest of your life," Shiro replied, glaring at Bree. "Can you live with that?"
Bree laughed at Shiro before she returned Shiro's glare. "Well spoken, for a hypocrite like you!"
"I don't deny that," Shiro responded.
"Speak ill of my Shiro like that anymore, and I will not let that slide," Rin interjected, having finished with healing Bram, who was now busy trying to heal Rider. "What do you know of my husband… tell me, if you would be so kind. Do you know whether he is able to face our children after completing a contract? Do you know if he is able to get any sleep at night? You have no right to talk if you do not know him as well as I do."
Grabbing Shiro's arm, Rin began to walk away from Bree, pulling Shiro along with her and motioning for Saber to follow them.
"Mikhel should be dealt with by the Association. Not you," Rin continued as she walked away from Bree. "I would recommend you to turn him over to the Association… but he's now in your hands. We can't stop you from doing what you want to do, though."
Shiro, Rin, and Saber approached Luvia, who was sitting a small distance away from them, with a downcast look on her face.
"I'm usually not one to offer you kind words, given our rivalry," Rin began. "I must tell you that I'm sorry about Archer," Rin said simply after a short pause.
Luvia did not reply, but merely nodded her head.
"It's not very nice of us to press you into action right now when you need some time for yourself, but we need to go back to Mount Enzou to deal with the Grail," Shiro said, motioning for Luvia to get up. "You can't stay here right now at the mercy of Bram and his faction."
Luvia, who was still silent, got up and prepared herself to leave.
"Saber, you should take Tohsaka and Edelfelt-san with you and go on ahead to where Lord El-Melloi II is," Shiro said. "I will find my way back there on my own."
"I can come back for you after I bring them there," Saber replied.
"No can do, Shiro responded. "Once the three of you arrive, you need to figure out how to destroy the Grail together with Lord El-Melloi II, and you have no time to spare."
"It's a long way for you to get there," Rin replied. "What if Bram and his faction attacks you while they are on the way there?"
"I'm staying here to keep an eye on them," Shiro answered.
"Don't be daft, Shiro," Rin replied, looking both irritated and worried at the same time.
"Don't worry, I know what I need to do," Shiro assured, turning to Saber and motioning to her to take Rin and Luvia to Mount Enzou. "The only enemy Servant alive now is Rider, and he's not in any shape to fight, at least for the time being. If he were pressed into fighting me right now, I have ways to deal with him. Besides, they have to deal with Mikhel first, and I know that they are going to take the opportunity to kill him instead of turning him over to the Association to be dealt with."
"I used to look up to Tohsaka Rin, but I cannot acknowledge her anymore, thanks to that sanctimonious talk of hers, and that of her husband's!" Bree seethed as she held Viola close to her. Viola was now in a restful state as Bree had placed a spell on her to allow her to rest after the ordeal she had to go through with Caster and Mikhel.
"Tohsaka Rin is merely an apple that did not fall far from the tree," Bram commented, sharing Bree's irritation. "The Tohsaka family loves nothing more than to lord it over the other families that theirs is one of the three founding families of this Grail War."
Bram sighed as he got up, having only managed to heal Rider just enough for him to be out of danger.
Under normal circumstances, a healing spell is considered basic knowledge which any third rate magus could carry out, but Bram had only just come back from the brink of losing his consciousness due to the severity of his injuries earlier, and despite receiving aid from Rin earlier, his prana was still spent after having gone through the major fight with Caster, and receiving some grievous injuries in the process.
"At any rate, we need to find out where they are headed towards," Bram finally said. "Without Viola, we are not able to determine their whereabouts, and I'm afraid we may already be several steps behind Lord El-Melloi II."
"We don't need to determine his whereabouts," Bree replied. Remember the report from the Mediator? The Greater Grail is located right on the main leyline of Fuyuki City, which is in a cave beneath a temple."
"Ah, I remember now," Bram responded, stroking his chin. Unfortunately, Rider is still not completely healed, and I'm expending whatever prana I recover for the purpose of restoring Rider into fighting shape. We will have to proceed there on foot."
"What about Mikhel?"
"Use your stone golem to crush his head," Bram replied without hesitation.
Bree wasted no time getting up to carry out her task. To an uninitiated, it appeared that she was eager to do so.
Just before the stone golem was able to crush Mikhel's head, however, the golem was promptly destroyed by a projectile that was shot from a distance.
For Bram and Bree, they did not have to guess who their assailant was.
"Why are you always trying to stop us, Emiya Shiro!?" Bram growled incredulously.
"Where is he!?" Bree demanded.
Bram was quick to scan the surrounding area for any traces of prana, and before long, he was able to locate Shiro, who was moving among the trees, circling them.
"Go, take him down with your stone golems. I will kill Mikhel myself!" Bram ordered.
However, just as he took a step forward, Shiro quickly traced an arrow, nocked it to his bow and fired it at Bram's foot, pinning him to the ground.
Bree seethed through her teeth as she watched those events unfold.
"How dare you attack sir Bram, knowing that he can't even fight back!" Bree muttered, summoning two stone golems in order to track down and pursue Shiro.
One golem was promptly destroyed by a sword projected by Shiro, and Bree was prompt to send the other golem into the forest in search of Shiro.
"It's no use, macBranain-san!" Shiro called out from within the forest. "You already know that I can stop your golems, even if you sent 10 of them after me!"
"... Fine, then!" Bree sneered, summoning all of the golems as her remaining prana could allow. "Let's see you can stop 100 of my golems at onc-!"
A series of explosions rocked the space around Bree, knocking her off her feet. As she landed on her back, a quick glance revealed to her that all of her golems were promptly destroyed by Shiro's projected swords. Her eyes widening in disbelief, she cursed her inability to mount a serious challenge against Shiro, and for losing the fight in such a one sided manner.
As her vision blurred, she was able to see Rider step beside her, clutching Bram by the back of his shirt. She could faintly hear Bram saying something to her before he was placed on Rider's horse. Rider quickly mounted the horse and set off towards Mount Enzou.
For a magus like Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, getting himself into the thick of the action and receiving bodily injuries was a situation he never expected to find himself in.
His understanding of being a magus was that he could stay out of harm's way and allow his magecraft to do his actual fighting, and that magi who specialised in direct action were stupid for risking their own lives when they could be fighting from a distance.
For whatever reason, which he could not comprehend, his paradigm seemed to have changed.
From the time Bree's golems first engaged Caster's puppets until now, when he had his foot pinned to the ground by Emiya Shiro, Bram felt nothing but the thrill of battle and experiencing the action directly.
That change of heart made him feel stupid.
But that change of heart seemed to have ignited a spark within him as well.
And this was the moment that Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri had an epiphany.
Stretching forth his hand, where there was only two remaining Command Seals, Bram uttered the words which he used once;
"By the authority of the Command Seals, I bid you, Rider, to heal yourself!"
Prana burst out from his second Command Seal as it dissipated, and from that surge of prana, it quickly took the form of Rider's hulking figure and before long, a fully healed and rested Rider materialised before him.
Rider at first said nothing as he approached Bram and swiftly pulled Bram's leg upwards, allowing the entire shaft of the arrow to pass through Bram's foot, eliciting a pained protest from him.
"Shut up, Master," Rider grunted. "As illogical as it seems, that was the least painful way for me to remove the arrow from your foot!"
"... Fine!" Bram replied sharply. "Besides, there is something else we need to do."
Bram turned around and pointed at Mikhel's direction. "We need to kill Mikhel, but Emiya Shiro is stopping us from doing so!"
Rider glanced at the direction Bram was pointing at for a moment before looking back at him.
"The master of Caster is no longer here."
"What!?" Bram exclaimed. Taking a closer look, he realised that Mikhel was no longer lying at the place he was last seen at.
"Those explosions must have jolted him awake and he took that opportunity to escape," Rider mused.
"Emiya Shiro!" Bram bellowed. "Are you happy now!? Huh!?"
"Instead of asking that, you have to decide now, Master," Rider replied strongly, grabbing Bram by the shoulder. "There is still the Grail up at the mountain, and you have Caster's Master. You can't go after both at once!"
"No! Both must be dealt with at once! Bram replied sharply. We shall have to go separately in order to- ouch!"
Rider was quick to give Bram a painful flick on the forehead, stopping him from speaking further.
"Let me tell you a lesson we learned as children of the steppes, Master," Rider chided. "He who pursues two hares catches none. Now, choose which of the two objectives is more important to you!"
Bram gritted his teeth, annoyed that Rider's words carried truth and that he had to abandon either the Grail or Mikhel. If he ignored Mikhel for the Grail, Mikhel would escape and thus get away with all of his treachery, but if he ignored the Grail, Lord El-Melloi II will succeed at dismantling the Grail, and he will no longer be able to obtain it and use it to further his ambitions.
"Fine! We go after Lord El-Melloi II and stop him from destroying the Grail!"
Rider nodded. Grabbing Bram by the back of his shirt, Rider summoned his horse and was about to mount the horse when a series of large explosions nearby attracted their attention. Turning at that direction, they could faintly make out the figure of Bree, who had just fallen down due to the combined effects of the explosions as well as her prana reserves running low.
"Take me there first before we set off," Bram ordered Rider.
"Bree, you've done enough. Rest now, and when you have fully recovered, take Viola with you and meet me at the temple on that mountain," Bram told Bree, who responded by nodding very slowly at him.
"Let's go, Rider!"
Othar neighed loudly as he reared up, prompting Rider to dig his heels into Othar's sides, spurring him into a full gallop as they set off for Mount Enzou.
Shiro slumped to his knees in the aftermath of his engagement with Bree and succeeding in his task to prevent neither her or Bram from killing Mikhel, who managed to escape in the midst of the confusion. Now that Bram and Rider have firmly set their eyes on stopping Lord El-Melloi II from dismantling the grail, Shiro was relieved that he already sent Saber to Mount Enzou. Getting up on his feet again, Shiro proceeded to head out of the Einzbern forest and towards the mountain.
As he made his way out of the forest, Shiro made an attempt to communicate with Rin telepathically.
"Bram and Rider are headed your way, Tohsaka."
"Eh? So quickly?" Rin replied.
"To cut the long story short, I briefly fought against Bram and macBranain-san to stop them from executing van de Wolff-san, until he woke up and ecaped," Shiro explained.
"Wait, van de Wolff escaped?" Lord El-Melloi II asked.
"He did, but it was for the best, because Bram used his second Command Seal to fully heal Rider during the fight, which would have been really bad for me," Shiro replied.
"How does that help you?" Rin asked, sounding confused.
"From the looks of it, Rider must have told Bram to decide between pursuing van de Wolff-san, or to stop you from destroying the Grail, which of course, Bram would pick the latter."
"Hm. Fine then, Saber will put a stop to Rider," Lord El-Melloi II replied. "I have already gotten past the Hermetic Disjunctional Seals that protect the Grail, and all we need to do now is to break past 50 meters of bedrock, and therefore exposing the Grail so we can dismantle it."
"I don't really know what you said, but it sounds like we are close to our goal," Shiro responded, perplexed by Lord El-Melloi II's somewhat lengthy explanation.
"One more thing, Shiro. Luvia and I have also managed to separate the Lesser Grail from Sakura," Rin added.
"You both managed to do that in such a short time?" Shiro asked. By this time, Shiro found his way out of the forest and had to find a way to get to the mountain quickly, having left his motorcycle behind in the city.
"We only did the necessary. The fact that there are only two Servants remaining already caused the Lesser Grail to take form, which made it easy for us to separate it from Sakura."
"That's good, I will have to meet you all later. I don't have a way to get there quickly."
"You could Reinforce your legs so you could go faster," Rin responded. "You'd best be quick; Rider has just arrived, and Saber has gone out to stop him."
Author's Note
We're so close to the end! Just one more chapter before I wrap it up with an epilogue chapter (or two). I will be taking a short hiatus because my wife is about to give birth, so I shall return after the baby is born!