The Holy Grail War was a sacred ritual, and the world of magecraft that created it had to remain secret. Magecraft was only made possible because of Mystery, and the more the world at large knew about it, the weaker it would become, until it died out completely. For that reason, the War could only take place strictly at night, and any instance of magecraft would be covered up immediately.
With all this considered, the Master of Chaldea had to wonder how the hell he ended up witnessing a legendary rematch between a Greek hero and a Greek monster in broad daylight. A few ideas crossed his mind about why Perseus was so lackadaisical about the rules, and none of the answers comforted the boy.
He kept a tight grip on the book he stole from Shinji, his mind racing. He kept his eyes on Perseus, observing every detail he could of the high speed battle. He couldn't see everything, but the small glimpses he did catch helped him slowly build a strategy. If only he summoned the hero earlier, this wouldn't be such a problem.
Meanwhile, a resounding boom echoed. Like a missile, Medusa shot down the road. Her nail positioned to stake the heart of Perseus like he was a vampire. The Greek Hero quickly slid to the left, swinging his weapon at her in one smooth motion. He missed as she suddenly changed directions, vanishing into the distance.
Her speed was incredible. None could keep up with her. With her long hair blown back like a comet's tail, she really looked like a shooting star. However, if she was a shooting star, then her enemy was one as bright and brilliant as her.
He wasn't a mountain, standing in place and reflecting her attacks. Yet he wasn't the wind, chasing after her. He danced in a small area, only taking the smallest of movements to avoid her. To make matters worse, despite the mask hiding his face, Medusa could tell the other Rider's eyes were following her. Even with her insane speed, she couldn't find a gap where she could strike. Without a distraction, her troubles were just beginning.
It was a good thing she had one of those.
Jack appeared behind Perseus, knives catching the sunlight. With no hesitation, she swung at his gut. Without missing a beat, the Greek Hero blocked with Harpe, metal striking metal. A swift kick of the leg, a child crying out in pain.
Perseus then jumped, twirling elegantly as he avoided a speeding missile. Medusa shot past him, coming to a stop next to her false Master. The Master and Servant took a quick look at each other. Both knew how Medusa fought. With overwhelming speed and a gaze that slowed her enemies down to a crawl, the Greek monster overwhelmed her enemies.
A fighting style one could call nearly perfect. However, she was faced with an enemy that perfectly countered it. Winged sandals that matched her speed. A mirror shield that deflected her gaze. A weapon that negated immortality and healing. All wielded by the hero that slayed her in life.
It was easier to imagine Sisyphus finally getting the boulder to the top of the hill than it was overcoming the odds before them.
Still, something bothered Ritsuka. Something wasn't adding up.
"Rider." Ritsuka finally said. "Give it a shot." Medusa turned to stare at him through her blindfold. He could imagine the confusion on her face. Or maybe her disappointment, either applied here, really. "Don't worry, I got a plan, and you have backup." he explained. She nodded, slowly reaching up.
Perseus tensed up as he saw Medusa undoing her blindfold. As the blindfold fell to the ground, Harpe vanished in a golden light. A beautiful shield replaced it, its surface like a mirror. Perseus then quickly averted his eyes, looking at the shield and only the shield.
Medusa took off once again, this time her inhumanly beautiful eyes aimed directly at Perseus. She flew in front of him, activating her Mystic Eyes. Perseus turned, but Jack was already attacking. With a quick flick of her wrist, a knife went for the Greek Hero's ankle. Perseus moved back. A purple comet slammed into his side. The Greek Hero crashed into the pavement.
A magical glow surrounded the shield as it vanished. For a split second, winged sandals appeared on Perseus's feet. He stopped his momentum completely, landing on his feet. Another glow, the shield reappeared.
With the grace of a break dancer, he avoided the combined speed blitz from a serial killer and a monster. No matter how fast, no matter how vicious the two attacked, Perseus didn't look away from his shield. Even without his eyes on them, he avoided every attack. To make matters worse, it didn't seem as if Medusa's Mystic Eyes were affecting him. What could be going on?
Ritsuka thought about the implications. The shield must protect him from Medusa's eyes, even if he didn't understand how. Then why wasn't Perseus fighting back? Surely a warrior like him could handle using both a shield and a weapon at the same time. So why was he only using one at a time?
It suddenly clicked in Ritsuka's head.
"Assassin, Rider!" Ritsuka called out. "He can only use one Noble Phantasm at a time! If you keep pressuring him, he can't reflect Rider's gaze!" The two Servants nodded, Jack vanishing in a puff of mist as Medusa took off once more. The Greek Monster flew through the air, opening her eyes once more at the Greek Hero.
Perseus quickly turned away, barely being able to avoid the first pass of the purple comet. As he avoided it, Jack appeared. Knives stabbed down like fangs. A brilliant shield defended. He couldn't keep up like this. The shield vanished. An opening. The child struck.
Before the knives connected, a mask struck her in the face. In that small gap of time, Harpe reappeared in the hero's hand. One slash. A large gash.
Jack's leg erupted with blood.
The mask landed back in Perseus's hand, but before he could put it back on, Medusa rocketed into his side. The mask shattered from the attack, and Perseus once again was sent flying down the street. The purple haired goddess grabbed the child, running back to her false Master. Cursing under his breath, Ritsuka took off his jacket and tightly wrapped it around Jack's leg. He was so tempted to use the healing function on his Mystic Code, but he knew it wouldn't work.
He looked up in time to see Perseus walking back to the group, looking no worse for wear as he cracked his neck.
"You're not bad, Master of Chaldea. You figured out my gimmick, and you're exploiting holes in it." Perseus finally spoke, the words of praise somehow sending a shiver down Ritsuka's spine. "However, you're missing a very important piece of information." Ritsuka tensed up at that. What could the hero mean? "You see, history recorded that I deflected the Gorgon's gaze with this mirror shield bestowed to me by Athena." He held up the beautiful shield. "But… that's not what this shield is for."
"It somehow allows you to avoid Medusa's Mystic Eyes, but it doesn't deflect it…" Ritsuka muttered. "Her eyes petrify anything that looks into them, even with their mind's eye… then how—?" Ritsuka began, only for Perseus to interrupt.
"Allow me to show you." His tone was threatening as the shield vanished from his hands. With a golden glow, a new Noble Phantasm began to form in his hands. His trump card, a crystallization of his legend in one item. It was… a sack. A very ordinary looking sack.
The sight of it caused Ritsuka's eyes to widen. There was only one thing that sack, Kibisis, could contain. The very head of the woman standing next to him.
Medusa instantly took her nail to her neck. With one smooth motion, she slashed, releasing her blood.
Her blood formed a magic circle in front of her.
Wordlessly, Kibisis vanished from his hands.
A rein formed out of the magic circle, Medusa grabbing them tightly.
A golden glow molded itself into identical reins, Perseus wrapping them around his hands.
"Bellero–" The circle swept back like a scan. Between Medusa formed a horse of pure white.
"Bellero–" The exact same horse created itself beneath Perseus. Its white wings looked like that of an angel's.
"–phon!" The monster and hero roared at the same time, the sound of horses neighing filled the air. The two took off, the ground shattering between them. Trees toppled over, the Master of Chaldea was sent flying. The two combatants now played chicken with the highest stakes on the line. There was no way either could survive an impact at such speeds.
However, both lost the game. At the last second, the two rolled to their sides, avoiding a high speed crash. The two then began to circle into the sky, their trails forming a double helix. The two horses threatened to pierce the heavens with their sheer speed. The clouds parted by their mere presence.
At the very peak, they shot away from each other once again.
In a heartbeat, the two enemies found themselves on opposite sides of Fuyuki. With one final yell, the two spun around and charged at each other once more. The two began to fly faster than any living thing should be able to. Two streaks of pure white, two shooting stars, charging headfirst into each other.
And then the book that Fujimaru held ignited into a purple flame.
The Master of Chaldea dropped the book as fast as he could, the book turning into cinders. As for Medusa, as soon as the Book of the False Attendant was destroyed, a blue sphere surrounded her. The sphere turned golden and collapsed in on itself, engulfing Medusa. All that was left behind was golden dust that was quickly scattered by Perseus's Pegasus.
The Pegasus stopped, hovering in place as Perseus watched the dust vanish in the wind. "Damn that old man." The Rider muttered.
Ritsuka stared at the ashes of the book, a pit forming in his stomach. He quickly put Jack on his back and turned to leave, but Perseus dropped from the sky, landing in front of him.
"I… don't suppose you'd just let us go?" Ritsuka asked with a shrug. Perseus simply spun Harpe around and aimed for the Master's legs. "Didn't think so!" Ritsuka called out as he jumped over the weapon and hit the ground running. The Servant turned to chase the boy down, but saw the Master be engulfed by sudden thick fog that appeared around them.
"So… this is how we're going to do it…," Perseus muttered as he brought out his shield and walked into the fog.
Shirou sighed to himself as he sat at the table. Bazett was doing her laundry, and he finished all the chores, so there just wasn't enough for him to do. He looked at the clock, clicking his tongue. When was Tohsaka coming back?
He took a moment to look around his house. It was odd. He wasn't used to it being as noisy as it was in recent days. Now that it was gone, he found himself missing it. Still, there was an easy way to fix that.
He reached under the table, grabbing a gem Rin left behind for him. He took a deep breath, narrowing his eyes. The image of a gun appeared in his head. The hammer of the gun went off, and the mana flowed through his body. The gem, like many other times, began to glow. He stared at it, focused. A bead of sweat trickled down his face. He needed to make sure he did this right, he had to take another step.
The path of a hero wasn't closed off to him. He could do it, the last few days showed him that. If he could overcome this small obstacle, then it would be the first step on his journey. He watched as the gem glowed. This time, instead of exploding, or the light fading away, the gem just kept emitting that soft glow.
Shirou let out a soft smile at this. He finally managed to pass Rin's exercise. Sure, he'd probably have to do it a few more times to prove he had it down, but this was progress. He placed it back on the table just as he heard the front door slide open. He stood up and walked to the door, seeing Rin walk in, looking exhausted.
"Tohsaka? How did your… investigations go?" He asked. Rin sighed, resisting the urge to scream.
"I didn't get any real solid answers… but I decided to trust Fujimaru for now." She admitted. Shirou nodded to himself, as if this was the outcome he expected. Ignoring this, Rin decided to push on. "So, have you practiced while I was gone?"
"Yes. In fact…" Shirou walked back inside, Rin following close behind. He led her to the table, proudly showing off his glowing gem. Rin looked at it, humming to herself.
"Well, you did it…," She muttered to herself. She thought back to how Ritsuka was acting when they fought. He was really concerned about Shirou getting a Servant… maybe it was better to try now than later? "Hey, Emiya, do you have anywhere isolated from the rest of the house? I think now's the time to prepare for summoning your Servant."
Shirou's eyes lit up at this as he nodded. He knew the perfect place to try it out. He stood up, motioning for Rin to follow as he headed outside. He looked behind his shoulder to see Rin scribbling on a piece of paper as they walked. Perhaps it was instructions of some sort?
He led her to his shed, opening the door and staring at the mess on the floor. Quietly, the boy moved to clean it up, unwilling to look at Rin as he did. It was slightly embarrassing that the place looked like this. He was usually better about it.
It didn't take long to finish moving everything, a wide open space left in the center of the room. Rin looked at the floor, thinking to herself. This did seem like the best place in the house to do it. She handed him the piece of paper.
"Be sure to memorize it. You'll need it to summon your Servant." She explained as she walked to the center of the room, bending down and beginning to draw on the floor. Shirou looked at the paper, blinking as he saw the words.
It almost looked like a poem, but it made next to no sense to him. It used a lot of weird words as well… Shaking his head, he sat on top of some boxes as he quietly spoke the words to himself. Repeating the words, making them second nature. He didn't have a lot of time. He wanted to get it right the first time.
Looking up, he saw Rin finishing up the circle, placing the gem he filled in the center of it.
"Alright Emiya," Rin stood up. "Preparations are ready. Now we just need to wait for 2 AM to do the summoning."
"2 AM? That's pretty late, isn't it?" Shirou asked, tilting his head.
"Yes, well, everyone knows 2 AM is the optimal time to do a summoning." Rin explained. "Who knows what might happen if you summon at the wrong time."
"Not that you would know anything about that, right Master?" Archer stood in the doorway, surprising the two. "You wouldn't make such an amateur mistake, after all." Rin's ears began to turn pink.
"What are you doing here, Archer?!" She shouted.
"I was just checking on you two." He answered nonchalantly. "You never know, not with all these unusual things going on in the war." He shrugged and turned to walk away. "I'll let you know when it's two. Just make sure he doesn't flub up the words. Who knows what he could summon if he messed up?"
"Just go away!" Rin called out, looking around. She was tempted to throw one of the pipes at the back of his stupid head. Shirou chuckled at this as he adjusted himself on the boxes. As he looked over the words, his mind couldn't help but drift.
He hoped Ritsuka was able to do his summoning.
Ritsuka's heart pounded as he ran through the fog. All he could hear was his own footsteps. That didn't last for long, however. Echoing through the fog was another pair of footsteps. He couldn't tell how far away they were, or where they were coming from. They were loud, as if amplified by a speaker.
He knew logically that there was no way they could be found. Jack's mist would cause the Servant to get lost, wandering around as they made a break for Rin's house. They were safe.
So then why didn't he feel like it?
The second set of footsteps stopped suddenly, making Ritsuka pause. He could almost feel his ears straining as he tried to hear anything from the fog that surrounded him. The silence was heavy, it almost felt as if the silence had physical weight on his shoulders. '
Just as suddenly as it came, the silence vanished, a scraping sound now filling the air. Ritsuka spun on his heel to see Perseus rushing out of the fog. Harpe's blade scraped against the ground, eating through the road like the claw of a monster. Ritsuka moved to avoid the attack, but Perseus swung early. The blade sent rocks flying like bullets at the boy. Caught off guard, Ritsuka felt a rock strike him on the forehead. Pain exploded in his temple as he fell like Goliath struck by David's stone.
Thankfully, he only fell on his butt, not crushing the child on his back. Perseus swung downwards, Ritsuka rolled out of the way. He scrambled to his feet, backing away from Perseus. How the hell did the Greek Hero find them? If he ran away, would they be found again?
Did he have any other choice?
Ritsuka took off once more, the fog engulfing him. As he ran, he looked down at the Command Seals on his hand. Maybe if he summoned some Shadow Servants… He closed his eyes and focused. A dull pain slowly spread through his arm, feeling like a pressure building right where his arm was snapped. He grunted, focusing harder, but all that accomplished was a more intense pain.
It sucked, but he couldn't summon Shadow Servants with a broken arm.
To make things worse, he realized the rock had left a cut on his forehead, and now blood was flowing over his eye.
He suddenly felt a great force pushing against his back. He flew forward, falling on his face as he landed. Looking up, he saw Jack had spun around on his back and held her knives in a defensive position. Worst of all, he saw Perseus having finished a swing of Harpe. Jack must have blocked a sneak attack.
This still left the question of how the hell was Perseus finding them within the fog?
The hero walked towards them, twirling his scythe in his hand. Ritsuka once again moved to get back on his feet. But then, to his surprise, Perseus paused, staring at something at the ground. Ritsuka's gaze followed the hero's, soon seeing what had captured Perseus's attention.
A Saint Quartz had slipped out of his pocket.
Ritsuka's eyes couldn't help but to widen, something Perseus noticed right away.
"Well, that looks important." Perseus commented as he raised Harpe over his head. Quickly, Ritsuka took a risk. He quickly swept out his leg, kicking the Saint Quartz like a ball. The precious gem went flying into the fog, vanishing quickly. His leg barely missed being sliced by Harpe's sharp edge. The blade embedded itself into the concrete, shattering the stone as the impact let out a bone rattling BOOM!
Capitalizing on the few seconds it would take the Servant to pull out his weapon, Ritsuka rushed off back into the fog, following the disappearing Saint Quartz. As he ran down the road, he realized something was off. He was hearing a new noise.
Not a sound like footsteps. Not the sound of high speed movement… no… it sounds like an engine.
Ritsuka noticed two beams of light piercing through the darkness, shining in his face. He froze, mimicking a deer caught in headlights as the car rushed down the street towards him. The car went faster and faster, swerving from side to side uncontrollably. Whoever was behind the wheel was obviously not in control.
Before the car could hit Ritsuka, it swerved sharply, crashing into a pole. Ritsuka's eyes widened as he instinctively ran to the car, his brain forgetting about the danger he was in. It took not even a second for him to cross the distance, looking into the vehicle. Inside was what looked like an average family, but they were all knocked out. Or… at least he hoped they were. But what could cause this to—
The answer hit him like lightning, and in that moment, he made a hard decision. "Jackie, you have to turn off your Noble Phantasm!" Why didn't he think about it before? Sure, Jack's Noble Phantasm The Mist was useful for quick escapes, but it was meant to be a trap, and it could easily kill any normal people caught in it. The burning of their throats, the festering of the eyes… the thought alone was enough to make his stomach turn. It usually wasn't an issue out in Singularities and Lostbelts, but he was in the middle of a populated city!
He was sure if he could still contract the Wandering Sea, they would have warned him about this.
Despite his command, the dense and deadly fog still persisted around him. He looked over his shoulder at the young child on his back. He couldn't see her face since she buried it into his back, but he could feel her tears soaking into his Mystic Code.
"He'll find you Mommy. The bad man will find you!" She cried. Ritsuka sighed, adjusting her on his back.
"I know, Jack, but it's okay. We'll figure this out." He told her. "We can't let other people's mommies die because of this." His voice was gentle, and Jack's grip tightened on his back. However, the mist vanished leaving the two exposed to the world. It didn't matter to Ritsuka, not since the small family in the care was safe.
At least, that's what he thought until he smelled gas in the air.
"You have got to be kidding me right now!" Ritsuka grumbled as he backed away from the car. He barely had time to consider his options when the loud sound of something landing on top of the car. Looking up, he could see Perseus perched on the car. Instead of attacking Ritsuka, he reached over to the back door, punching his hand through the window and gripping the door. A loud mechanical scraping like a giant can being torn in half rang out as Perseus ripped the door off the hinges and tossed it down the road.
Ritsuka took a step back as Perseus jumped down, reaching in and grabbing every person in the car, throwing them over his shoulders. "I'd run if I were you." The Servant stated as the winged sandals appeared on his feet. He took off with a sonic boom once more, throwing Ritsuka to the ground. The boy landed on his back, wincing a bit as he felt Jack under him.
"Sorry!" he called out as he rolled off the small child. The two laid there for one second before remembering that the car behind them was likely about to explode. The two dragged themselves onto their feet, pushing themselves to move forward despite their wounds. Thankfully, they managed to push themselves far enough that when the car erupted into a ball of fire they weren't hurt, with the exception of their ears.
Jack fell over, unable to keep walking on her bad leg. However, she landed next to the Saint Quartz Ritsuka kicked away. She scooped it up quickly as Ritsuka walked over, picking her up and placing her back on his back. "Alright Jack… let's get out of here before—"
Perseus crashed from the sky once more, the winged sandals vanishing as Harpe reappeared back in his hand. "This chase is done. Game over." Perseus commented as he moved forward, rearing Harpe back.
Ritsuka watched as Harpe came down, the weapon catching the sunlight as it drew closer. He closed his eyes, a natural instinct he couldn't suppress. He braced himself for the pain that was sure to come.
A second passed.
Two seconds.
Three.
No pain. No blood, no scream to bite down. No, the boy heard metal striking metal. Slowly peeling open his eyes, he saw a shield standing tall, unwaveringly blocking Harpe.
It was her.
The raven haired girl turned, her golden eye looking at Ritsuka. It looked him up and down before turning back to focus on Perseus.
Correction.
It was him.
"Are you alright?" Galahad asked as he began to push back.
"I-I…" Ritsuka took a deep breath before finally replying. "I've been better." He admitted. Galahad nodded before pushing with all his might. Perseus slid away, still standing on his feet, but with distance now between them.
"Then allow me to help you for now." Galahad stated before their color shifted, turning back to the piercing red. "After I help you… you'll help me." the girl Galahad was possessing said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"Alright, deal." Ritsuka replied as he stood up, adjusting Jack on his back. Perseus simply sighed to him.
"Your luck is rather unbelievable, Fujimaru Ritsuka." Perseus commented. "Let's see how long it lasts." With that, Perseus spun through the air like a drill, his weapon drawn once more.
