Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Fate.
A/N: The Fifth chapter is now out! This chapter may contain some spelling or grammatical errors.
Chapter Five: Two Or Three Assassins?
Assassin takes out his own sword after Lancer leaves. Before long, the Saber charges at him. Assassin easily parries and moves out of her way. After just dodging her attacks, the Assassin starts going on the offensive. He starts slashing at her after deflecting her attacks. Due to Sabers injury she could not fully block all his strikes and she ends up getting some superficial cuts on her arms and face. As the fight continues Assassin wonders when his master is going to reveal herself.
"Saber stop." Both Shirou and Sonoko are now looking at each other since they said the same thing. It took Shirou a while to recognize Sonoko but after he did he seemed confused.
"What are you doing here Sato-san? Are you related to the superhuman people running around?"
"I guess you can say I'm involved. What do you say we stop our servants from attacking each other at the moment."
After Shirou agreed both their servants end up backing away from each other. Everything was silent until Assassin decided to speak up.
"Master, I think we should leave now. There's another master servant pair approaching this house as we speak."
Sonoko thinks for a moment until she responds with "I think we should stay. If anything goes wrong I'm sure you could protect me."
Assassin sighs as he is forced to agree with his master.
Assassin looks at Saber before looking back at Sonoko. "Do you want me to confront the other servant or do you want to leave that to her."
Sonoko closes her eyes and says "I think we should just stay here."
Saber decides to make herself known. "I shall go confront the servant if you can promise on your honor as another Saber that you won't attack my master while I'm gone."
Assassin looks at Sonoko before deciding that he should agree. Looking back at Saber he talks again. "I see. I promise not to attack your master tonight."
After that was said Saber immediately rushes to confront the other servant. Shirou stood still for around 2 seconds before he realized what Saber was planning to do. He started running to the front door and when he made it there he saw Saber and another servant fighting. The other servant was struggling to block Saber's attack.
"Saber stop!" As soon as that was said a red glow covered the area and Saber stopped even though it seemed like she was still trying to attack them.
Saber slowly turns her head to stare at Shirou. "Are you mad master? I could have easily defeated them yet you ordered me to stop."
Shirou tries to calm Saber down. "I have no idea what's going on. If I'm your master, at least explain to me what's happening."
"You would demand such a thing with the enemy before us."
Tohsaka sees what's going on and decides to speak. "Ah so that's how it is. For starters good evening. Emiya-kun"
Right after she said this, Sonoko comes out of the house with Assassin next to her. "So Tohsaka-san it seems I was right about you being a master."
Rin immediately narrows her eyes at Sonoko. "While I would like to say I knew you were a master, I didn't even know you were a magus. It also seems like you're a better magus than Emiya-kun over there."
Sonoko decides to tease Rin a little. "What do you mean you didn't know I was a magus. I emailed you and told you I was one a little over a year ago. Do you not know how to use a phone or something?"
Rin's eye started twitching as she seemed to break out of character momentarily. Shirou, not wanting any more fighting to occur, calms them down and brings them into the house.
When entering the home Shirou notices the cold air isn't coming in the house anymore. He checked the windows as he was coming in and he realized the window was somehow fixed.
After managing to gather everyone in his living room he was about to ask anyone if they wanted something to drink. After he asked, the two other males in the room declined. The one in red decided to go on top of the house and look out for enemies while the other one went to the entrance of the building and sat guarding the house after his master told him to.
Shirou got the two females something to drink before Rin started to speak. "All right, let's get down to business. You don't have any idea what you got involved in, do you?" Shirou responds with a simple nod.
"To be blunt, you've been chosen as a master. Have you noticed a tattoo or a brand somewhere on your body?"
He gets confused. "A brand?" Saber decides to tell him what she is talking about. "She is referring to the command seals, Shirou."
He figures out there probably the marks on his hand. He holds it out and asks if this is the brand she is talking about. Rin confirms that's what she's talking about. "Yes. Those symbolize your status as a master." Sonoko decides to add to the explanation. "They're also spells which bind your servant. Meaning as long as you have one you can control your servant, which is that person over there." She says looking at the Saber. "The command spells are inviolable orders. They force your servant to obey, even if they must be bent to your will. One example of this is when Saber stopped attacking Tohsaka. You only have three so try not to waste them."
Rin starts speaking again. "To cut a long story short, you've been dragged into a ritual. One called the Holy Grail War, fought by seven masters. A battle to the death between mages. Think of your servant as a familiar, granted to you by the grail to help you win the Holy Grail War."
"Though they are technically classed as familiars, servants are actually superhuman beings. Heroes from the past."
Shirou seems intrigued at the last bit. "Heroes from the past? Does that mean Saber and the other two people were people who actually existed."
Rin continues her explanation. "That's right. Servants are heroes summoned from legends. Whether they be ancient or modern. They are summoned into our time and given physical forms. It's the job of the master to summon them, upon which they are made manifest through a phenomenon of the grail."
Sonoko notices Shirou is still confused and intervenes. "If you want a more detailed version, you can talk to the overseer of the war. The only thing I know is that you have to fight in this war."
The little group decides to go to the church and let Shirou ask questions.
Before leaving, the Assassin manages to look at Saber. As two pairs of green eyes stare into each other, the Assassin turns away as he tries to hide his amusement. Sonoko, not wanting any hostilities, tells her servant to dematerialize.
When they reached the church Assassin told his master to stay outside instead of going in. Both Saber and Assassin were wary of the church due to the feeling it gave off. With Sonoko and Saber staying outside both Rin and Shirou went in. After a while the duo came back out of the church.
Saber was the first to talk. "Shirou, have you concluded your business here?"
"I have decided to fight as a master. Will you agree with me as your master, Saber?"
After Saber's agreement they started walking back to the city. Rin stopped walking. "No offense, but you should go home on your own. I brought you here because you weren't officially my enemy yet. But now, you're a fellow master, Emiya-kun"
"I have no intention of fighting you, Tohsaka."
After a moment of Rin complaining, Assassin dematerialized and started speaking to his master. "Now that we know he is going to be a master, I say we kill him while he's weak". Sonoko was about to disagree before Archer appeared. "If an easily slain enemy presents itself, we'd be remiss not to take advantage."
Rin responds by telling Archer that she already knows. Archer and Rin continue to talk about Shirou's fate before Archer dematerializes and says "Send for me when you have repaid this debt of yours."
Assassin started talking again. "I can see that the girl has a reason for not killing him but what is stopping you from allowing me to kill him."
Sonoko responds with. "I don't want to fight him since he can be dealt with anytime. It's better if we wait for him to try and take out the competition."
Assassin looks mildly impressed before both him and Saber turn around and stare at the newcomer.
"So, are you done chatting?" The little girl asks.
Rin stares at the servant next to the girl for a while before speaking. "I'm amazed. In terms of raw ability that thing even outclasses Saber."
"Archer, this calls for your class's primary fighting style"
"Then what about defense. I doubt you can take one of his charges head on."
"There are two servants down here. At the very least we can hold him off."
Archer starts jumping to a higher vantage point.
Illya decides to speak after Archer left. "Finished with your little meeting? Shall we begin? Okay, I'll kill you now. Get them Berserker." When she finished speaking Berserker's skin turned red and he managed to break the ground with his strength.
Berserker jumped up trying to attack the group before being attacked by Archer's arrows. Assassin looked at Berserker then clicked his teeth.
"That didn't even affect him. What do you want me to do, master? If you like I can kill his master."
Sonoko started talking to Assassin but her eyes were still on Berserker. "Try to kill him today. He has enough strength to take on most servants of this war. Also try to protect the other masters."
Assassin sighed at his master's request. Berserker got up and within a blink of an eye he was behind Shirou ready to swing his giant weapon. Right before his attack hit Shirou, Saber managed to appear in front of Berserker and parry his blow.
Assassin looked at his master once more before appearing behind Berserker with his sword out. Aiming his sword at Berserker's neck, Assassin plunged his sword right inside killing Berserker. Or at least that's what he expected to happen. Instead Berserker managed to dodge his sword while bringing his axe to where his head should have been had Assassin not evaded the blow.
Assassin jumped back while looking at Berserker. "I didn't think Berserker would be that fast. If that was any other servant they'd be dead or at least injured. It seems I will need Saber's help dealing with him."
Assassin looked at Saber and asked her for help. Wordlessly all three servants on the ground moved. Berserker was outnumbered three to one if you count archer and yet none had harmed him. While Saber attacked from the front, Assassin would try from the back and while Assassin held Berserker off Saber would attack.
While Assassin was trying to cut Berserker he realized his sword would not always penetrate his skin. Both Assassin and Saber had amazing skill with the sword but they were still unable to get past Berserker's raw power.
Berserker ignored Archer's arrow and focused on the two servants in front of him. Saber managed to get his weapon stuck in the ground but when Assassin moved in to strike him, Berserker managed to let go of his weapon and dodge both Sabers and Assassins strikes.
Assassin sighed "What type of Berserker is this agile? It's kinda unfair to everyone else." After Saber exchanged a couple of blows with the servant, Berserker let out a mighty roar and swung his axe down onto Saber. Before he managed to reach her he stopped. The reason for him stopping was Assassin's sword in his mouth. His sword went through his open mouth and exited through the back of his neck. With one swift movement Assassin's sword went upwards splitting Berserker's head in two and spraying blood everywhere.
Assassin looked at his sword for a moment before commenting. "I see, While his skin is strong his insides are as weak as a human's." Ignoring everyone's shocked looks Assassin went to go back to his master before he realized Illyasviel wasn't sad.
"Assassin behind you!"
He looked behind him and barely had enough time to raise his sword to block the revived Berserker's strike. With that one strike Assassin was sent flying through the air. He barely managed to get his sword in the ground to stop his momentum.
Before he can do anything Rin screamed at everyone to get out of the area. Within seconds Assassin appeared before his master, grabbed her and ran behind some trees. Saber also managed to get Shirou and Rin away.
A streak of blue lit up the night sky, when the strange arrow hit Berserker instead of bouncing off harmlessly it exploded into a ball of fire and prana. When the dust cleared everyone could see an unharmed Berserker standing in the middle of the flames.
"I've changed my mind about you, Rin. Your archer is impressive. That's enough. Return to me, Berserker. I'd hoped to get the boring stuff out the way first, but my plans have changed."
Rin looked at Illya "Do you plan on running away"
"Yes. I don't care about Saber or Assassin but Archer piqued my interest. So I'll let you live a little longer."
Before long Illya and her servant disappeared and only the three masters and two servants remained on the ground.
"So, now what do you want to do, master?"
Before Sonoko could answer the question Shirou started coughing and he ended up passing out.
After Rin and Sonoko agreed to take Emiya home and not fight tonight, they went home and put bandages on him. As this was happening Archer was thinking about who the assassin was because he didn't remember him.
Assassin looks on top of the roof to see Archer staring at him. Deciding not to fight with Archer today, the Assassin went to sit on top of the front gate.
When the sun rose up both servants heard a sound that seemed to be Shirou screaming. Archer didn't pay attention to it and neither did Assassin. Before long both Rin and Sonoko came out of the house.
Rin and Archer left almost immediately but Sonoko talked with Shirou for a couple of minutes before leaving.
"Let's go Assassin. We have things to do."
Assassin just nodded as he followed his master home.
When they arrived home Sonoko immediately collapsed on the couch.
"Is something wrong, master, or are you just tired?"
"I'm thinking how we're going to win the grail without killing or involving other innocents."
"I see. While you do that I'll make you something to eat so you don't starve."
Sonoko narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying I eat a lot, Assassin."
"No, I am just saying you seemed hungry."
After eating and cleaning up, Sonoko decided to go back into her little training room. She was still trying to figure out how to fire water off at rapid speed. She was not sure how to speed up her training so she went to ask Assassin for help.
"What should I do to speed up my spell?"
Assassin thought for a moment before he answered her. "An aria"
Sonoko looked confused by his response. "Excuse me, what does an aria have to do with this?"
Assassin looks at her before continuing his explanation. "An aria is a simple word or phrase that basically hypnotizes the user to do the spell the aria is connected to. For example if you made an aria for creating the waterball and shooting it off, you would be able to do it much faster and you would be more efficient. After a while and a lot of practicing you might be able to do your magecraft at a higher speed without an aria."
Sonoko looks at Assassin and then she realizes what he said actually made sense. "Wait a second. How do you know all of this? Not many people know what an aria is and you said you're not a magus."
"Arias were occasionally used by some people when I was alive. Also I tried spellcasting before."
"I see. So anyway, I knew what an aria was, I was confused on how to create one."
"Use words that have some sort of meaning to you and the spell."
"You said you were a spellcaster right. If you are, what aria do you use when you do something?"
Assassin thinks for a minute. "The aria I usually use would be the word break before the element the spell is." He raises his hand towards the open window. "For example, Break Air." After that was said a relatively strong gust of wind struck some random tree. "That is what my aria does. Using the aria I just did the steps to manipulate air in an instant."
Sonoko looked surprised that Assassin actually showed her his magecraft. "I see, do you have any ideas for an aria?"
TIME SKIP BROUGHT TO YOU BY ASSASSIN TELLING SONOKO SOME ARIAS.
By 8 in the morning Sonoko was already on her way to class with Assassin next to her in spirit form. When entering the classroom they saw a pissed off Rin looking at Shirou. After avoiding them in the hallway she was forced to work with Rin for class.
After class ended Sonoko ended up staying after school to check if the school was safe. While she was doing this, Assassin was using presence concealment following her. While she was walking up the stairs she heard Rin and Shirou arguing over something.
While they heard Rin say that her servant wasn't around, Assassin could sense Archer nearby. Sonoko told Assassin to watch Archer but not to kill him. Assassin wordlessly disappeared.
Rin started saying something before Shirou ran down the stairs and went right past Sonoko grabbing her as he went.
"Woah, Emiya hold on. Don't drag me around."
Shirou didn't say anything, he just kept running until Rin fired more shots at him.
Sonoko decided to speak to Rin. "Tohsaka, Stop this or at least don't get me involved."
Rin said nothing as she continued firing at them. Eventually Sonoko got tired of running and she turned a corner and started muttering an incantation under her breath while holding her hand out touching the air, after the last words were said a wall of white ice formed in front of a panting Sonoko.
Right when Rin came and broke the barrier with a bunch of spells a loud yell was heard. Shirou immediately rushed to where the scream was heard. When the trio arrived there Shirou said she was just knocked out. Both Rin and Sonoko looked at the body and realized she was drained of her mana.
After Rin stabilized the girl she was about to talk before Shirou started talking first. "Look out!" He held his arm out as something cut him. Before anyone could say anything he got up and left.
When Shirou entered where the trees were he was greeted to the sight of a purple haired servant with a blindfold. Within seconds Shirou was being forced to block and dodge the servants' attacks with a branch that he found. He noticed this servant wasn't as fast or as strong as the other servants he's seen.
"Compared to other servants you seem pretty lackluster, you don't really pack a punch"
"No, this is the end for you. I've had you in the palm of my hand the entire time."
After saying that she pulled a chain and Shirou was forced to hang by his arm. The servant went behind Shirou and put her hand around his eyes.
"I'll start by taking out those eyes that were so dearly mistaken."
Before she could continue, multiple projectiles made of ice were fired at her. Seeing as how there were more people, Rider turned around and left. After Rider left, Sonoko ran up to Shirou and grabbed his injured arm. She said something and his wound started to heal slowly. Seeing as it was taking too long Rin came and wrapped something around his hand.
After making sure no one would fight today Rin said she was once again indebted to Shirou. Rin took Shirou into her home while Sonoko left. Rin explained how another master was planning on using the student's life to win the Holy Grail. Rin ended up proposing a ceasefire with the master of Saber. Shirou agreed very quickly.
While Sonoko was leaving the school area she wondered if she truly had what it took to win the Holy Grail War.
After going home and sleeping, Sonoko remembered she didn't have class today. After getting up she went to the living room to get some food.
"Hey Assassin." Assassin looked at her so she continued speaking. "After yesterday and the fight with Berserker I realized if a servant comes to kill me I'll die. Knowing that I want you to train me so I can at least call you to my aid before I die."
Assassin looked at her before he sighed and started speaking. "If that is what you want, meet me in the training area."
After cleaning up, Sonoko went to the training area to see Assassin waiting for her.
"So what type of training did you have in mind, Assassin."
"We will start off with a simple spar. You will try to attack me with everything you have."
After nodding, Sonoko immediately backs away creating a shard of ice then launching it at Assassin. Before Sonoko realized her attack missed, Assassin was in front of her. With a swift hand movement Sonoko was thrown at the wall.
While she was getting back up, Assassin was just standing there. While getting up she started muttering some words. After a couple of seconds, multiple shards of ice appeared and attacked the Assassin. Assassin swiftly dodged the barrage of ice and entered back into Sonoko's personal space. Sonoko saw his hand come up to hit her but her body wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack. This went on for a while before Sonoko tripped and was thrown back into another wall.
After getting back up she realized she could no longer safely use mana. Assassin just stopped attacking her. "You should take a shower. I'll make something to eat in the meantime." She nodded and she left the room.
After eating she went to ask Assassin what the point of the sparring was. He simply told her "Everytime you could start seeing my hands, I increased the speed a little. As of right now if you reinforced your eyes to the limit you will be able to barely see a servant's attack. You can't really do anything though. Your body just isn't fast enough yet."
"I see, so does that mean I should work on increasing my speed."
"Yes, that is what I recommend you do."
After the weekend passed Sonoko finally had to go back to school. This time she planned on keeping Assassin around her the entire day. When she arrived near the school Assassin spoke.
'Are you sure coming to this school is a good idea.'
'Why, what's wrong with school?'
'Listen to me master, there's three to four masters who know who you are. It isn't difficult to rig the school so everyone inside dies.'
'You think someone rigged the school?'
'Maybe, I'm just warning you about something that might happen.'
'Its fine.'
After that short conversation Sonoko walked into the school and noticed there was a bounded field set up. She could make out that the field was dangerous. She briefly wondered how the Assassin was able to sense it from far away. After she asked Assassin what she should do, she decided to erase the sigils that powered the field.
After waiting for class to finish she went to the roof looking for sigils with Assassin. On her hunt for sigils she was able to find out Assassin was able to sense mana/prana to a frightening degree.
Soon she ended up in the library. She found Shirou and Rin there already. After realizing that they were looking for sigils too, she helped them out. After most of the active sigils were dismantled Rin left saying she had something to do. Sonoko also left after thinking about training more.
When Sonoko went to sleep, Assassin started scouting the known master's houses. Arriving at the Emiya's house he noticed recent use of magecraft. He also realized Shirou was not in the house. He saw multiple lines of mana connecting this house and the temple. After thinking for a while Assassin thought this was the work of the caster class. Deciding against doing anything he contacted his master.
'Master, Wake up.'
'Mmhh, I'm up. What's wrong, Assassin.'
'The Caster has made their move and captured the Emiya kid. As of right now I am following Saber and Archer without them noticing.'
'I see, keep me updated'
A couple seconds later Assassin talked again.
'There's fighting now. Saber is fighting an Assassin(?) while Archer is fighting Caster.'
'Return after the fight is done. If you can kill Caster, do it.'
Assassin mentally nodded while watching the fight between Archer and Caster.
Archer wasn't doing anything other than talking and dodging Caster's beams.
All of a sudden Archer crouched down and notched a sword as an arrow. He muttered something under his breath then released the arrow. After the resulting explosion Caster was badly damaged yet she was healing. Archer seemed to be satisfied and he prepared to leave.
When Caster stood up and started talking, Assassin appeared behind her and his sword pierced her heart effortlessly. Everyone that witnessed it was surprised. After Assassin took his blade out Caster laughed as she left.
Assassin Sighed "It seems I failed to kill Caster. Oh well, I'll have another chance."
Shirou, seeing how Assassin and Archer weren't going after the Caster started to get mad. "Why aren't any of you going to find Caster."
Assassin looked at Archer and Shirou before he started talking. "I don't see why I should go find Caster. All I was told was to kill her if I got the chance. I don't have the chance to kill her right now so I'll wait."
Shirou looked at the Assassin then the Archer. "Don't either of you care about the innocent people Caster's going to kill."
Archer responded with "I don't care. Allowing her to live means there's another threat to Berserker. If she has to kill innocents to kill the Berserker, so be it."
Assassin continued without missing a beat. "Their death doesn't affect me. I don't know if you noticed yet, but I'm an Assassin. I've killed innocents in order to kill my target before. None of this is new to me."
Shirou started trying to go to Caster before Archer stopped him. After Archer realized Shirou wouldn't listen he cut him with his swords. Assassin meanwhile watched and told his master as all of this went on.
'Assassin, return home.'
Assassin started walking toward the front gate. When he reached there he saw the other Assassin, next to him was Saber holding a bleeding Shirou. All of a sudden Archer fell from the sky intending on killing Shirou then and there. In an instant Kojiro's sword was out and blocked the strike.
Assassin looked at the other Assassin before walking past him. Before the Assassin could leave Kojiro was in front of him. "I let Saber go but I can't let you guys go." Assassin stared at Kojiro before saying "Do you really think you can handle both me and Archer?"
Kojiro shrugged before he attacked. He went to attack Assassin before he was intercepted by Assassin's katana. While Assassin and Kojiro were fighting, Archer went to attack Kojiro. The duo quickly overwhelmed the fake Assassin. After they managed to throw Kojiro to the ground both servants ran away.
After arriving back home Assassin went to check on his master.
"So master, did you enjoy looking through my eyes during the fight?"
"Yeah, whenever a strike is made your eyes manage to adjust and follow the sword. Isn't that what you made me do during training."
Assassin nodded before speaking. "Yes, that is what I did. So anyway now that the battle is done, you should go back to bed."
Sonoko nodded before going back to bed.
Assassin sighed as he started to think about how there was another Assassin. "Hah, If another Assassin gets summoned I wonder, can we call this the Assassin grail war?".
When Sonoko slept she did not see the Assassin's past. Instead she saw her own past. She saw her parent's playing with her, she saw how the inhuman thing appeared out of nowhere and started killing everything in sight. She saw how right before she was about to die something happened and the monster froze. The thing ran away after her bracelet started glowing.
Sonoko remembered how confused she was about the bracelet. She remembered how scared she was. She remembered how sad she was when she realized everyone she knew was dead. She remembered how sad she was when she figured out her family was dead, but the one thing that stood out the most was how she remembered the bracelet glowing green.
When Sonoko woke up she was once again greeted by the sight of breakfast made by Assassin. After eating she told Assassin to investigate the temple today. He nodded and she left.
Class was normal until lunch. Before lunch she was just going through class without Assassin standing over her. When the lunch bell rang the school was engulfed in some ominous bounded field. Within seconds she started generating mana through her body. In less than a minute the door to their class was opened and Sonoko saw Rin and Shirou.
Sonoko started talking first. "The master of Rider did this bounded field. It drains people of their mana."
Shirou looked at the people before speaking. "It's not too late to save them. If we manage to stop the bounded field they should all recover."
Rin looked at Sonoko before figuring something out. "Sato-san, I propose an alliance till this bounded field is removed."
Sonoko agreed and the 3 masters moved to look for Shinji. When they left the classroom they started being surrounded by golems.
Both Sonoko and Shirou decided to use a command seal to summon their respective servants. As the command seals grew red they both summoned their servants.
"Saber!"
"Assassin, come to me."
All of a sudden the hallway was lit up by a bright light. When the light disappeared the golems were gone and Assassin and Saber stood in the middle.
Assassin started right at Sonoko before speaking. "What did I say? Told you not to come to class when there's a bounded field active."
A/N: This is the Fifth chapter of my story. This chapter was about a lot of small things. It took quite a bit longer than usual to create this chapter. I also wasn't sure if I should add two Assassins. This chapter explored a bit more about Assassin. I wasn't sure if I should follow canon or not so I followed canon for this chapter.
Comment are appreciated, bye