Chapter 8 - Terrors of the Night
Rin
Rin never liked the temple grounds. Maybe it was this strong atmosphere of Japanese tradition that interfered with her very western magic. Since there was indeed a strong source of local magic to be found there, it could indeed be considered like mixing oil and water. Or at least this is what Rin thought to herself. That this was not a place Rin Tohsaka was welcome at. This, or that it was just a naturally spooky place, especially at night. As Rin climbed the narrow steps, she felt a freezing cold overcoming her and the unkempt wilderness to her left and to her right were only emphasising the darkness that had this place in its grip. Even then, this might be only what she saw, knowing what awaited her. The other people who climbed it alongside her seemed to be more focused on the orange glow that escaped through the roof of the temple like a nightly beacon. Some were chattering in anticipation while others were hurrying, knowing that they were a little late for the spectacle. In any case, it were surprisingly many people.
The last time she had been here with her class on a field trip, the widely spaced plaza within the temple grounds had been empty. But after she now passed the main gate, she was greeted by a dense crowd that completely covered every inch of the place. Just as the old woman had described a large bonfire had been mounted in the centre of everything, but from beneath the gate she was barely able to make out the tip, the rest of her view was blocked by countless people's backs who watched in awe. Only the cackling of the flames and the chanting of a woman was audible as she was unsuccessfully trying to go around the crowd.
This is madness, half of Miyama must be here...
There were many old people, but there were also families with children, singles, couples and people from various professional backgrounds. It was a pretty representative extract of this side of Mion river. And while the religious chants of "Lord of Light protect us" were pretty ominous to Rin herself, most of the gathered people were quite relaxed about the whole issue. They greeted each other, talked about the winter and their hopes for the year, they talked about the neighbours they had seen here, about most recent gossip. There were benches brought out for people to sit upon and there were stands that offered refreshments in drink and food. Like the old woman said, it was a just a fair to them, a festival to come together and connect the neighbourhood. Though they were a little too thickly connected for Rin's liking as she was struggling to pass through the mass of people.
Fine... if I can't get through them with politeness...
"Excuse me! I'm sorry! I'm totally sorry! I didn't intend to, but I have to... I'm very sorry", Rin was dropping a flurry of apologetic phrases as she pushed herself through the jungle of legs, uncaring of the collateral damage.
She was somewhat more successful with this approach and soon enough she found herself nearing the heat and the bitter smell of smoke that filled the night air.
"I'm sorry..."
Then she reached the front row and stood right in front of the flaming inferno that was the bonfire. While everyone around her was casually relaxed, Rin fetched her compass once again. It didn't have the violent reaction her father had warned her about yet, but the needle was still deeply confused, racing into every direction at once.
This isn't right, even with the interference of the boundary field this shouldn't happen.
"Let the blessing of the Lord overflow you, may his warmth protect you of the cold darkness!", a woman's voice was wailing over the crowd, a commanding voice pure as honey and yet with a strong edge. "Darkness may come, the old enemy may try to sow dissent and fear, but light will always prevail!"
Rin found the litany pretty cheesy as she skirted the edge of the bonfire to draw closer to the voice. It was quite distant and yet strong enough to overcome the dissonance of all these people. Meanwhile Rin found herself still pondering about the meaning of the bonfire itself. Her compass seemed not quite as useless as it did a moment before, as it started to fling back pointing towards the centre of the plaza again and again. Soon enough Rin realized that the movement itself, the swaying back and forth between the bonfire and the people closest to her, was not a coincidence, but rather exactly how the flow of mana in this place took place.
Don't tell me...
It was a dreadful thought, one she wanted to deny vehemently. But she remembered what she had overheard from her father's preparations about Servants and Heroic Spirits. About how these Spirits were essentially soul-eaters who could sustain themselves by...
No... no, no, this can't be...
And yet it all made sense if she viewed it this way. The sudden attraction of these people to a foreign religion, the gatherings, the ritual under the supervision of...
"Rin?", a voice behind her called out.
The girl froze mid-movement. The voice was all too familiar.
"Rin, you really are here as well?", Kotone came up from behind. "I didn't take you for the type to like festivals like this."
"And you would be right", she retorted weakly, too stumped to come up with a lie. "But why exactly are you here?"
Kotone shrugged.
"My parents thought it would be a nice change instead of holing up at home. Actually it's our second time here. There weren't nearly as many people here two days ago."
"I think holing up at home would be safer...", Rin said evasively. "I was just about to leave myself."
"Why?", her classmate was genuinely confused. "They are just about to give out the wooden chips."
Rin was impatient to get out of here, she even started to imagine her energy getting slowly drained as she was speaking. And yet she couldn't let Kotone behind.
"What do you mean with chips?"
"It's the main event of the bonfire. We throw them into the fire while praying for a wish the red God shall grant."
"I think I take a pass on that...", she wanted to leave it at this, but unexpectedly, the once so shy Kotone grabbed her hand.
"Since when are you like this? Just try it out! I am sure you feel more relieved afterwards", and with this she dragged her along the edge of the crowd.
Rin was still half in a haze. This sudden and unexpected meeting had somehow managed to throw her out of whack, or at least she felt unable to resist her as much as she would have liked. And this despite her knowledge that every further minute spent here was putting her at risk. After all, she only wanted to find out whether anyone was in danger of the serial killer.
Wait, why do I feel so dizzy?
She shook her head violently. Something was not alright, not alright at all. When her head started to get back on track Kotone had already stopped and they found themselves in front of a red-haired young man carrying a large basket in one hand, giving out the wooden chips inside to the people who had lined up in front of him. These chips were all formed differently, as if they were once a greater thing that was sliced into pieces to create them. Rin had a bad feeling about where exactly they came from.
"Good evening Uryuu-san", Kotone approached him innocently.
Rin felt her throat clenching.
It can't be that Uryuu, can it be?
The man looked down with a pleasant smile as he was recognizing the girl.
"Ah Kotone-chan, nice to see you again. I started to get worried that we have bored you when you didn't come yesterday", his eyes then focused on Tohsaka, he seemed pleasant and without even a hint of malicious intent, but there was something wrong with the eyes themselves, they somehow felt empty. "And you brought a friend, I see? May the Lord of Light protect you as well! For the night is dark and full of terrors!"
He reached into the basked and fetched two chips which he offered the girls so that they didn't have to step into the queue. Kotone took hers immediately, but Rin hesitated. She couldn't take her eyes off his hand. His right hand. With bright red marks burned into the flesh. Red marks just like her father had.
He is a Master... no, he is...
Rin took a step backwards, wide-eyed and feeling cold all over. She tried to get a grasp on her situation, but with people everywhere, making a quick dash for the exit seemed out of the question.
"Don't be shy, take it!", Uryuu kept his arm outstretched, he seemed genuinely distraught at her reaction.
"You... you...", Rin pressed these words through her knotted throat. "You... killed Kensuke!"
The smile of the man didn't even faltered one bit.
"I'm not exactly sure I understand..."
"You are the killer everyone is looking for! You killed our classmate!"
Kotone stepped away from the two of them, obviously unsure what to think of Rin's words, but obviously not lulled in enough as to not realize the implications of her possibly being right. Rin felt a moment of triumph, because it was the proof she needed that the spell that affected these people was not turning them into mindless puppets and that Rin could be able to break them free with words alone.
"My, my, ojou-chan, you should be careful with strong accusations like this", the guy replied soothingly, but it didn't seem like he was intending to stop her by force.
Rin took off her backpack and took out the blood-stained notebook she had found in his house and presented it to him.
"This is yours, I found it in your house! You do remember it, don't you? You do remember that you used it when you killed these people!"
He flinched. For a second it seemed that his empty stare regained focus, but he snapped back so fast Rin started to think that she just imagined it.
"Please, refrain from such reckless accusations when bathing in the light of our god. You just bring disarray to this peaceful gathering", he answered, maybe even more absentmindedly.
Rin turned around, turned towards the queue in front of Uryuu. They all looked at her with visible frowns, some muttering, but most were just annoyed and slightly confused about the delay. Even Kotone seemed doubtful towards Rin's words.
"Please Kotone, take your parents and leave!", Rin pleaded, but the other girl just looked back sceptically.
At once Rin felt awfully helpless. She took another step away, now sure that she had no choice but to retreat, giving up on the people gathered here, giving up even on Kotone. Her heart cramped at the thought, but the only option she had was to reach her father and ask him to intervene immediately.
"Ah, the daughter of the illborn's doomed Master", a woman's voice cut through the night air. "Welcome Rin Tohsaka, I have already awaited you to join our ranks."
... then she came into her view, as if stepping out of the bonfire itself. The red woman. There was no mistaking. She was the one who had been speaking to the crowd in front of the bonfire, the one with the marvellous red dress, flowing red hair, the red ruby glowing at her throat and even red eyes that seemed to sparkle along with the flames. A foreign woman that one might have found beautiful under a different light, but here she looked just red and terrible and red.
The girl's entire body felt frozen in place as she watched the lady Melisandre approaching. Only the violent shaking and sparkling coming from her chest was it that shook her out of it. Her compass was reacting. Danger. 'A magic far greater than you could handle', that was what her father had said about such a reaction. Her legs reacted faster than her mind could. She left Kotone and jumped into the crowd. And as if directed by a magic hand, she managed to find a path without stumbling, without running against any leg that wasn't fast enough to step a side. She wouldn't give up so easily.
"Nobody should be afraid of the light!", Rin heard the red woman's voice echo behind her. "Bring this fearful child me! A great darkness threatens to swallow her, she can only be protected by the warmth of the Lord!"
She darted to the left, to the right, again to the right. People were blocking her way everywhere and Rin soon realized that in her headless flight she had not been able to take the shortest path towards the temple gate, but instead got somehow directed into one of the corners of the plaza. She was trapped. The moment she realized that, a forceful pair of hands grabbed her from behind. Rin threw her head back, she was barely able to realize that a local teenage girl had taken her before her feet lost touch to the ground as she was pulled into the air. Before she could react, she found herself pressed with her back against the older and far taller girl's chest, with both pairs of arms intertwined in a way that she couldn't move hers at all.
"Don't struggle", the girl's voice whispered.
The hell I do!
Rin tried to wriggle herself out of this tight grip, kicking and screaming, but it was like the girl's legs were made of steel. Even before any hope that she would loosen her grip was crushed, Rin looked up and saw the crowd in front of her parting as if guided by an invisible hand. In the middle of it, the red woman walked towards them with graceful steps.
"Well done, girl", these words were obviously pointed at her captor, she wasn't even looking at Rin. "Now bring her to me!"
"I am sorry, I can't do that", the girl snapped back and Rin imagined to see the forming of a smile in the periphery of her view.
The red woman's features derailed. But before she could react in any kind, Rin felt the air brushing violently across her body as her vision blurred. She and the girl who took her captive were flung into the night air, something so absurd and sudden that Rin was unable to suppress a shriek and then a painful grunt when they landed abruptly on the temple roof with a force strong enough to press the air out of her lungs. Before her mind was able to process what just happened, the whole thing repeated once again, accompanied by the dim bang of feet violently kicking the roof tiles. The next moment they found themselves back on the ground, now on the pavement in front of the stairs leading back to Fuyuki. Even her feet touched the ground again as she was released from that terrifying grip that left her bruised and wobbly all over.
Scared and confused, Rin stepped away from the unfamiliar girl, unsure whether this was a rescue or just a different form of captivity. The girl however seemed bemused about her distrust.
"Come on, don't you remember my face?", she said with a smirk, before rubbing with both her hands over it.
When she removed her hands, Rin felt irritated. A short moment ago she could swear that the one who had taken her was some local girl, but now even in the darkness of the woods she was unmistakably a foreigner. A foreigner she indeed remembered.
"Arya!", she exclaimed in astonishment.
"It is good to see you too, stupid", Kirei's Servant shot back. "But now we should keep going before the red priestess sends her followers."
Rin nodded, clenching her fists. It was this moment she realized that she had lost the notebook of Melisandre's Master in the confusion. She regretted the loss of her best evidence, but there was no turning back. She put one step after another, climbing the narrow steps down into the darkness, hurrying and yet careful as not to tumble. Arya followed easily next to her. There was no conversation and, most of all, no reproaches as she might have expected in such a situation. They were only focused on their flight down the dark and hostile mountain, with every branch of the surrounding bushes looking like it wanted to grab them. It was a long path down, though, and soon enough when the adrenaline subsided, Rin started to hear her own pounding heart as it drowned out even her ragged breath. It was a just gut-feeling for sure, but Rin could swear that they were being chased. By something that soundlessly and tirelessly caught up to them. She told herself that it was just her imagination, but she found her dreadful thoughts confirmed when Arya stopped abruptly and whirled around. Rin herself came to an immediate halt as well, but she could barely hold herself upon her feet after turning around. It was like her exhaustion caught up with her as she found herself gasping for air.
And we are just half-way down...
Rin looked up and a cold shiver went through her spine. There was indeed something that was moving down the hill. But it was barely visible. If it was one large creature or several, she could not see, but she saw several pairs of black arms and legs and yet it was not moving with them, it was more like it was sliding down the steps, hitchhiking on the darkness. No, evem that was not quite right. Their pursuer was the darkness itself that crept forward with surreal speed. And the worst part was the noise or rather the lack of it. No hissing, no whirling, not even a sliding sound of their movements. Just like the shadows they were made of, their enemy seemed intangible and therefore utterly unstoppable.
"Stay behind me!", Arya ordered, unsheathing a slender blade that was shining in the moonlight.
Rin obeyed, even if only because her legs felt heavy and sluggish as clay. So she watched Arya stepping forward and confronting the living shadows which manifested in front of her. Now that they looked more humanoid while standing still, Rin saw that it was three of them facing the teenage girl and her sword with short daggers. Arya then dashed forward, not wasting a single second as she disappeared in a blur, stabbing at the first one and cutting through the other two. It happened so fast they couldn't even counterattack. The whole battle seemed over... except that the shadows refused to die. There were no wounds caused by the girl's sword, its blade just passed through their intangible enemies as if through air and even before Arya could adjust to this simple fact, they lunged after her. The girl evaded the first strike, danced around the second, but when the third came, the first came back to make it double. Without any more room to manoeuvre, the girl assassin threw herself desperately to the ground, only capable of escape by rolling down the stairs right in front of Rin's feet.
"Arya!", she shrieked, fearing that they might have wounded her.
But even though an ordinary human would have ended up covered in bruises after such a stunt, Arya immediately jumped back to her feet with catlike agility. Just in time as the shadows were closing in and Rin saw herself confronted with their otherworldly daggers moving through the darkness. Before it reached her, Arya tackled her out of the way with enough force that it pressed the air out of her lungs once again and she ended up coughing violently after they crashed into a platform quite a bit downstairs. Kirei's heroic spirit might have cushioned most of the fall, but Rin's body still ached all over when Arya untangled herself from her and turned back towards the shadows which were already closing in fast.
"A certain teacher once told me that fear cuts deeper than swords", the girl suddenly said, remarkably calmly even though her eyes were fixated on her enemies. "It means that no matter how much someone could possibly hurt you, giving in to fear would change nothing but take you the ability to fight back."
She readied her sword, taking on a scorpion-like fighting position. The girl who had saved Rin was about to engage in a battle she could never possibly win and yet showed utter determination. Rin was awestruck, but not too awestruck to stop her brain from going through all the possibilities, through all her options. Arya's words rang true to her. She could not just give up and give in to her fear. She had to take everything she got, bet everything at her disposal, because there would be no second chances. She reached into her pocket, desperately clinging to the only thing she found in it. And with the same desperation she held it in front of her. Her quartz crystal. And she shouted with all her might:
"Maximales Licht!"
The crystal flared up and pushed back the darkness with a violence that burned and hurt her eyes. And yet she never dared to close them, so she watched how bright daylight drove back even the living shadows, seemingly swallowing them. Arya took a step backwards and when her own shadow disappeared, the entire pathway in front of them was illuminated even brighter than the day.
"Good thinking!", the girl assassin acknowledged, obviously just as surprised about Rin's trick as Rin was surprised about the fact that it actually worked.
Though when the first shock settled down, Rin realized that her simple light spell wasn't quite as deadly as she thought. In the shadows behind stretched out branches and bushes something was stirring and lurking. It seemed like all she did was pushing back the shadows, forcing them to hide in those spots of the pathway her light couldn't possibly reach. In fact, they swayed back and forth with every movement of her hand, mimicking the shadows generated by her fingers gripping the gemstone, waiting for a moment to strike.
"Why don't they just go around us?", she asked awestruck.
"The bounded field of the temple", Arya replied with wide eyes. "I can only enter the temple grounds using this pathway. I have to assume the same goes for them. So... we trap them if we keep this up. How long does your stone last?"
Rin grimaced, her bravery slightly faltering.
"With this output? A few minutes at most! Though I have taken a couple of them with me."
"Better hurry then...", Arya decided, holding her left hand out to Rin. "Does it still work if you give it to me?"
"It is the stone doing the spell, I just released it, so you can have it", she handed over her crystal, carefully making sure that no finger got into the way of the light heading upwards.
Now that Arya had the stone in her steady hand, Rin could let herself get carried by her with her free arm. This way they managed to rush down the steps a lot faster with quick jumps as when they had tried to walk down. Still, the shadows proved persistent and Arya was forced to constantly scatter them and push them back with their light whenever they threatened to catch up. Meanwhile Rin just clung to the girl's chest, clenching her teeth as she watched the eerie dark forest surrounding them rush past her view.
This is insanity...
The quartz wavered and died shortly before they reached the exit of the forest. Giving up on scattering them with such a dim light as the shadows now easily pierced it, Arya saw herself forced to speed up while Rin was taking another one out of her pocket and invoked her spell.
"Maximales Licht!"
Arya turned around and allowed Rin scatter the darkness behind them. They had reached the exit of the forest, but now the true battle began. They had left the protection of the mountain's bounded field, so they couldn't stop the shadows from just going circles around them for a pincer attack. Even worse, the forest wasn't just directly connected to Miyama's foreigner's district, there was a large patch of empty meadows between them and the safety of civilization.
Please let it end... Please...
"Hang on!", Arya urged confidently. "I will have to increase the speed a little."
Rin nodded weakly, a nod that was returned by an eager Arya.
"Don't worry, we'll make it!"
Rin clenched her teeth once again and closed her eyes. That must have been the sign for the girl assassin, as she sprinted onwards. The only thing Rin felt was the heavy wind whipping against her face and the heavy sways of Arya's movements. After a particularly heavy turbulence Rin dared to open her eyes and found herself once again having been flung into the air. And once again she winced as they landed abruptly on the roof tiles of a house.
We already reached- urgh...
She couldn't even finish her thought as just another jump pushed her against gravity's embrace. And then another. And another. And another. At this point Rin pressed her eyes closed once again, but she was certain that Arya kept jumping from roof to roof. Their only certainty was that stopping equalled death.
Please, please...
Tears swelled up in her eyes, but then she remembered Arya's words. It was not over yet and fear cut deeper than swords.
Then came the first soft landing in a while. A landing accompanied by a tingling feeling in her chest. The feeling of a boundary field that they had passed. A feeling she knew all too well, because she felt it almost every day when she returned from school. Rin opened her eyes and couldn't believe what she saw amidst the cold darkness of the night: The proud walls of home.
We made it!
As if to crush her hopes, Arya whirled around and a dazed Rin looked up at what was happening. And to kick her hopes further down, the shadows entered the boundary field as well. Though this one proved less of a stone wall like the one around the Ryuudo-temple and more of a deadly automatic firing system. The first shadow was torn apart by a violet beam, the second one burst into flame and shattered, but through the opening given through their sacrifices the third one rushed onwards towards them, his black dagger in hand. Rin remembered that her right hand still held her second crystal, clasping it so tight that it only made her hand glow faintly. She opened it up, hoping for the shadow to be pushed away like it did on the temple pathway. But instead it just shoved the shadow to the left, where it charged them under the protection of the shadow of her thumb holding the crystal. Arya stumbled backwards, trying to evade, but it was too fast and she was too sluggish with Rin in her arms. The dagger darted forward, sharp and deadly and dark as the blackest night.
A cackling sound appeared and the shadow that had been disturbingly silent so far gave a miserable shriek as it was ripped to shreds from the inside until it had completely faded away. All what was left was a black sword with red ripples running across its whole length. Red ripples which flared up menacingly the same time it touched the shadow, causing it to emit a dirty blood red light. Holding the sword in hand was a blonde teenage boy with a smug grin.
"How pitiful", he sneered. "Half a woman grown and still afraid of your own shadow!"
Arya let go of her, but Rin thought it was a little rough for her liking when she was dropped on the grass.
"You defeated it, how?", she asked dryly.
"How it should be defeated, by hitting it with my sword!", the blonde boy made a swing with the dark blade, the glowing lines had disappeared by now.
"You are lucky it actually worked...", Arya grunted. "If you are so proud about your feat, you can guard our backs while I bring Rin back inside."
The boy turned away from her, staring at the darkness with a pouting face.
"Tch, you are not one to order me around, wolf pup", and yet he remained there, waiting for them to retreat.
Arya rolled her eyes, but motioned to Rin that everything was safe from now on. When she went ahead towards the Tohsaka residence, Rin was still in a daze about the whole thing, but she followed her as if guided by autopilot. She only snapped out of it when the heavy doors closed behind her and her eyes were confronted neither with the creepy darkness of the night nor the straining artificial light of her magic crystal, but instead with the soothingly dim light of an ancient chandelier that illuminated her home.
Home.
She took a deep breath and all tension fell off her. This was her home. The safety of her familiar four walls. Their dangerous flight was over.
"Rin?", another familiar voice, the one of her father.
She turned around and found both her parents standing in front of the door to the living room. Tears swelled up in her eyes. At once she realized the risks she had taken and just how close she was to making them cry instead of the other way around.
"I'm sorry", she said. "I'm so sorry."
There were no reproaches, no angry scolding. Rin just fell into the arms of her mother and cried.
Kirei
Too easy.
Kirei entered the multi-storey car park, easily slipping through the mediocre bounded field erected here and crouched down in the shadow of a nearby pillar. In his days as an executor he was trained with ways to track down Magi, ways he expected to be easily circumvented by an anomaly like Kiritsugu Emiya and yet he found himself able to track down his familiar's mana connection to this location. It was an easy mistake of regular Magi to trust the defensibility of their workshop while they scout the area through borrowed eyes and therefore to neglect keeping their location hidden. An easy way to do that was to create familiars that can be charged with mana instead of forming a lasting contract, this way if it ended up in enemy hands you can cut the connection to hide your traces. An unusual combatant like Emiya would make sure to make just that, even if it is less cost effective than a direct supply line, so the only logical conclusion Kirei came to was that this was a trap. A trap he sprung all too gladly.
He studied Kiritsugu's fighting style against Kayneth. He knew that Emiya's strength lay in his weapons and therefore in the open field where he could make sure to hit his opponent with his magic disrupting mystic code. A mystic code Kirei had no intention to get as much as grazed with, so his only option was to give Emiya an advantage that would have made him consider to take him down with less expensive means and then to dismantle that advantage fast enough to overwhelm him. This was no open field because Emiya wanted to arrange an ambush. So if Kirei played his cards well, he should be able to use his surroundings to his advantage and force him into close-range combat. In that regard he had also observed that Emiya had the ability to make himself unusually fast, but Kirei was confident that he could adapt to that. Therefore he took the camera he had taken from the familiar out of his pocket and looked directly into it.
You are watching me right now, aren't you?
With a knowing smile, he crushed it in his fist and turned around the corner. Kirei noticed there was a string lowered between two cars, something that gave him a concerning flashback to how Emiya dealt the final blow to Lord El-Melloi. Kirei knew that if he was intent on letting the whole building come down on top of him, there was little Kirei could do about it. But when he focused on the mana trail that lead him to this place, there was little doubt.
He is here. Alone, without his Saber.
Since Emiya didn't strike him as the suicidal type, he was ready to take the chance that only the two cars were rigged. Kirei silently crouched back into his hiding spot, summoned four of his Black Keys, two in each fist, and said his prayers:
"Lord, I am your holy servant and agent of your will. Lend me the strength of your angelic enforcers to guide me against all heresy."
The Black Keys glowed softly and then returned back into their resting mode. Immediately afterwards he replaced them with a single fresh one and emerged from behind the pillar to cut the wire with a single throw. The car park was immediately lightened up by a staccato of explosions, not only of the two cars connected to the wires, but by a whole number of them which were obviously connected to cause a chain reaction. Kirei darted behind the next pillar to wait out the explosions.
Is this your way to announce an intruder? Or did you do that because-
A clicking sound appeared nearby as a grenade rolled into his view. He instinctively threw another Black Key to fling it away and darted around the pillar, only for a heavy explosion to make his ears throb. His vision was filled with smoke and fire, but the worst part was that the pillar was severely damaged due to metal bits from the grenade chewing the concrete down to its steel core.
Enough force to punch through my protective robe. He must have learned from even the few shots he got at me in the forest. I have to keep moving.
Kirei made an attempt at judging where the grenade was flung from, darted out of his damaged cover, threw three Black Keys aimed at both the location and two possible escape routes and tried to evade the immediate return fire by sliding behind the motor block of one of the undamaged cars. Ignoring the thick smoke and the cackling of the flames to both his sides, Kirei spoke up:
"No more women's skirts to hide beneath, Emiya. I am surprised you dared to come alone!"
He summoned four Black Keys and threw them away, just in time as another grenade rolled under the car he was hiding behind. Kirei made a wild charge behind the next pillar before his cover went up in flames. His ears were still ringing, his lungs ached with every breath and he was still not any closer to his foe, but so far he kept the pace up.
"To be honest, I've been looking forward to this", Kirei rambled on. "You sparked my interest, Emiya. Magus Killer. The ruthless assassin who pursues his goals uncaring of the consequences."
Kirei crouched down and slithered into the gap between two cars. They would prove no good cover, but it was a risk he had to take when trying to get forward. But the moment he emerged from them, a single loud gunshot echoed through the fiery hall. Kirei tried to evade, found that he had no room to do that and instead instinctively raised his left arm in defence.
"Urgh...", a bullet penetrated his Kevlar-reinforced sleeve, entered his forearm, went right through it and shot through his shoulder behind it as well.
Kirei clenched his teeth, trying to fight on against the crippling pain as he looked forward and stared into the eyes of Kiritsugu Emiya. The Magus Killer had come out of his hiding place, a large pistol in hand that was ejecting the cartridge case of the bullet he fired just in this moment. The man looked more haggard than at their last meeting and stared down the wounded priest with eyes of a strange combination of contempt and indifference.
"You talk too much", he declared, about to reload for his certain kill shot.
Kariya
Kariya's consciousness returned to his aching and deteriorating body that was lying in a back-alley of Miyama's foreigner's district. He had watched the battle over in Shinto and just had to laugh about the prospect of Tohsaka's ally's imminent defeat. This was exactly what he had waited for. No surprises, no outside meddling. A clear opportunity for him to use his trump card.
"Come...", he croaked through his raw throat.
Next to him the lumbering giant with his stained yellow surcoat manifested. Not in spirit mode, but in actual (magically formed) flesh and steel. Kariya grimaced as a wave of pain washed all over him.
"You have been aching for this, haven't you? You must be bored to death", Kariya asked with heavy sarcasm. "But you don't have to wait anymore. You have my order to cut loose, to kill everyone who stands in your way.
The giant nodded and grunted, before turning away and staring intently into the night.
"Yes... there is your target. Go... and do what you can do best, you bloody bastard."
With the sound of air shattering the monster disappeared, leaving a wincing Kariya behind. He felt how every single one of its steps drained his energy, how it killed the worms in his body and how the worms in return desperately consumed him to prolong their life. The agony was maddening.
"Come on... I can't pass out from just this...", he ordered one of his winged familiars to his side and tried to take it over, but it was of no use, he couldn't concentrate on the spell. "And here I wanted to witness my victory..."
Kariya closed his eyes and endured it. If nothing else, he should still be alive afterwards.
If this is over, I can safely stay back and wait for the last survivor to face my Berserker. And then... and then... urgh...
Kirei
"You talk too much", the words of Emiya were still ringing in his ears.
Foolish words that were only causing him to smile back in defiance.
"Do I?", he asked back coldly.
Emiya's stern expression faltered, Kirei felt thrilled watching the realization arrive in his opponent's eyes that he had moved to exactly the place where he wanted him. And that giving away his position through idle talk was part of his plan. How else would he have been able to draw him there if he was too cornered to get to him himself?
The Magus Killer took a step away, but it was already too late. He must have seen at least one of them coming as he pulled his gun between himself and the incoming knife. A metallic ringing echoed in the air as it was knocked out of his hand. Emiya managed to evade the second Black key, but the third slammed into his shoulder and the fourth sliced across his calf, making him stumble. This was the opportunity Kirei counted on. He could heal his left arm afterwards, he didn't need it right now, all he needed was his right fist and with this one forward he jumped at Kiritsugu with all his might, all his speed.
All I need is one strike, one hit to shatter his heart and it is over.
Emiya looked up, seeing him coming with just as much defiance, but at this point there could be no escape anymore.
Rin
Rin was still standing red-faced in the entrance hall, but now that the first wave of emotions ebbed down, she readied herself to tell her parents what she had witnessed.
"The Ryuudou-temple", she sniffed. "The people are gathered at the Ryuudou-temple."
"The work of Caster, yes", her father said solemnly.
She gasped in bewilderment at that.
"You knew?"
He looked down on her with a pained expression as Arya chimed back in.
"Why do you think I was there?", she asked.
"It was actually Risei, Kirei Kotomine's father, who kept a wary eye on the situation at the temple mountain. He is quite concerned about her showing no interest in the grail and spending her time converting people to her faith", her father added to that.
But this was still not the whole picture, Rin had to make sure that he would understand the true peril of the situation:
"This is not all of it. Her Master... he's the killer everyone in town is pursuing! And if we don't stop them, they will suck the life out of their followers! Out of... Kotone..."
Her father nodded, but still looked over to Arya for further reassurance.
"Is that true?"
"It seems to be the true reason for all these bonfires, due to the mindless Uryuu being incapable of sustaining the red woman", she replied gloomily.
Rin's mother then crouched down with teary eyes.
"Still, this is no reason for you to do something so reckless. I was dying of worry when I arrived and you were nowhere to be found."
"I had every reason to come", Rin protested weakly. "He killed Kensuke! I just had to do something..."
Arya gave her a confident smirk:
"Your friend will get justice, I promise that. You can sleep peacefully tonight knowing that."
Rin nodded, still busy rubbing the tears out of her eyes. It had been a long day and she started to feel tired. Very, very tired.
"I have to thank you, Assassin", she heard her father say. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been able to bring Rin back."
"Don't worry, I would never allow that woman to have her way", Arya replied dubiously.
Rin's father then returned his attention to her, kneeling down with a soothing smile:
"You should better hurry, then. You have seen how unsafe it currently is in Fuyuki and I would never forgive myself if you'd come to harm. You are the future of the Tohsaka name after all. So be brave and be strong! And have trust! Alongside Archer, Kirei and of course Assassin I will do everything in my power to win the grail in a way that you can return to Fuyuki with pride. If you do this, I can concentrate on my battle and your mother will have one less burden."
He then raised himself upright, but the way he did the gesture itself stung Rin into the chest even before she realized what it was that robbed her of all confidence. She saw his expression change, first from relieve to surprise, then from surprise to horror, all over the course of a few seconds.
"Run, now!", far from his usual composed self, he shouted this to both her mother and Rin herself.
"What is-", Rin tried to ask, but was interrupted by the entry doors bursting open.
The golden boy, the one who had saved them earlier, had come crashing through it back first and was now struggling to keep himself on his feet. Only then Rin realized that his armour was dented and he was bleeding profoundly out of a gash in his side.
"What is the meaning of this, Archer?", her father demanded, but never got an answer.
The sword of black and red disappeared out of his hand, getting replaced by an ornate crossbow. Two golden beams of light shot out of it in rapid succession, disappearing through the smashed doors out into the night. Then came a third bang, a bang caused by something entering and crashing into the boy at impossible speed, with both him and the intruder disappearing in a blur. When the dust settled, Rin found both of them at the wall opposing the entrance, with the boy being pinned against it by what appeared to be a giant encased in steel.
"The Mountain...", Arya whispered next to her, just as aghast.
Only then Rin realized that the boy was on eye-level with the attacker due to his legs having been lifted from the ground. He was only kept in place by the greatsword that skewered him in his chest, right through his armour.
"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!", the boy cursed, again and again and again.
Rin's heart felt like bursting. He had saved them from the shadows just moments ago and now... he was already dead. He might still struggle, but this wound was one a person, even a Servant, couldn't possibly survive. A heavy, ragged breath escaped her. This was death. The death a Magus needed to accept, to walk with. She should not allow herself to be swallowed by it. And yet...
Fear cuts deeper than swords.
Her father must have realized the situation as well. Two green gems landed on the floor.
"Mauer des Lichts!", he chanted.
The gems projected a barrier of beaming green light that cut the entire hall in half. It was transparent, so they were still witnessing how the murderous giant pulled his sword back and the dying boy slithered down to the floor in a pool of his own fluids. Meanwhile Rin's mother turned to Arya:
"Take Rin out of here, please!", she begged.
For a moment Arya looked unsure how to act. Something told Rin that she would have liked to make a stand just like she did with the shadows. But instead she complied.
"Right away", she said tersely. "Hold tight!"
Rin felt like a lifeless doll that was roughly picked up from the ground when Arya once again lifted her into the air. She immediately realized that her escape would mean abandoning her parents in a way similar to how her father had screened them off from the fate of the boy, therefore she was just about to protest when she suddenly realized that she was slipping out of the girl assassin's hands.
"No", Arya screamed furiously. "Not nooooow!"
But it was too late. Arya's hands disappeared, no, the entirety of Arya evaporated into nothingness, causing Rin to tumble down to the hard ground. Aching from the new bruises this had caused, Rin pushed herself back up and looked around. The girl, their only remaining protector, had disappeared.
Kirei
A red shockwave. The moment Emiya realized that Kirei was making his final charge at the Magus Killer, a red shockwave broke away from his hand. And long before Kirei would have reached him, he found himself facing a grinning swordsman that materialized in between them, a sword flashing through the night air. There was nothing he could have done to avoid it, except...
Assassin!
He felt his second command spell burning off. Regrettable, but still better than an early death.
"Nooooooooo!"
Kirei didn't quite know what came first, the scream or the rough impact of the super-powered girl that crashed into his side and flung him out of Saber's path with so much force that he felt one of his ribs cracking.
"What have you done?", Assassin asked furiously as she came to a halt in one corner of the burning car park. "We have to help-"
"We have to get out of here first", Kirei interrupted her as he saw Saber turning back towards them. Curiously enough, the knight once again ignored Assassin and went straight for Kirei instead.
Kirei himself pointed towards the entrance from which he came and the girl made a dash for it, having the wounded priest thrown haphazardly over her shoulder.
"Don't let them escape!", the voice of Emiya sounded from behind him.
He thought about any kind of distraction to busy their pursuer, but he might have had the best chance by attacking the already heavily damaged pillar that used to be his cover with an overcharged Black Key, but he had seen this one pass by in a flash when Assassin ran right past it with impossible speed. He wouldn't even have had enough time to apply the necessary sacrament.
Urgh...
The girl made a rough zigzag course while rushing out of the access ramp, barely able to duck under the blade that was clearly meant for Kirei. The latter realized that even though she should have been faster than the heavily armoured knight, she also clearly had trouble picking up speed while burdened with him.
"There is an entertainment district nearby, go for it!", Kirei urged.
Assassin had no chance to take the route over the roofs, any jump would have given the knight the opportunity to cut them down. So she instead made a cut through a number of side alleys, kicking over trash bins and cutting apart a whole fire escape ladder to come down on the charging knight, just to buy a few precious seconds before the two of them went sliding out into a crowded pedestrian precinct, where they collapsed in a mess of arms and legs. Kirei gritted his teeth as his wounds were throbbing with overwhelming pain.
"Hey man, everything alright?", a young voice appeared, obviously offering assistance. "That was a pretty terrible fall."
"It is... alright... thanks...", a groaning Kirei replied, pushing himself upwards.
He was still alive, so that must mean that Saber had hesitated to come for the killing strike. The reason was obvious. Now that they had quite literally crashed into one of the core places of Fuyuki's nightlife, a whole lot of people gathered around the two of them. One person was helping up Arya, while othesr were looking quite worried at Kirei, even though nobody could really tell where exactly they had fallen from.
"It doesn't look alright at all. You are bleeding badly!", the youngster observed.
"Just a scratch...", Kirei tried to be evasive, but he knew very well that it was this attention that saved their lives.
He looked back into the alley from which they came. Silver armour was reflecting moonlight even in this darkness and a pair of green eyes glared at him murderously. But after a while he just disappeared, seemingly giving up on his prey.
"You sure someone shouldn't call an ambulance for the two of you?"
"It is alright, I can still walk", Kirei insisted. "I am already going myself."
Sighing, he made his way away from the place they crashed into, expecting their interest into the odd pair to wane, but not enough for them to not shoot a few confused looks at them. In any case, he had no intention to leave the sight of any bystanders.
"What if he had come after us and killed all these people?", the girl assassin hissed as they walked away, with Kirei softly applying one of his least conspicuous self-healing spells.
"It was a gamble", he replied matter-of-factly. "While Emiya is unscrupulous, Saber showed hesitation when it comes to killing you. I just betted on him showing the same restraint when it comes to the killing of innocents."
Arya's anger was palpable and Kirei expected her to condemn him for his own callous calculation, but instead she showed remarkable restraint or rather an urgency he had rarely seen before.
"We have to get back to the Tohsaka residency, now!", she insisted.
Rin
"The workshop!", Rin's father screamed. "Take Rin and barricade yourself in there.
"What about you?", her mother demanded.
Instead of a reply, he just turned around, clenching his staff with both hands.
"Just hurry!"
"No", Rin begged miserably. "Please don't."
It was madness. He had to run himself. He had to escape with them. There was no point in... dying.
"Erwache, oh gnadenloses Höllenfeuer. Feuer ist mein Leben, Asche mein Vermächtnis", he chanted all the while drawing a magic circle into the air with the afterglow of his staff's ruby.
"Please...", Rin cried, but her mother had already picked her up and rushed into the living room.
The monstrous giant never bothered to strike down her father's magic barrier, it just walked through it, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
"Absolutes Inferno!", Tokiomi Tohsaka shouted.
The beast disappeared in wall of flames that engulfed the whole entrance hall. This was the full power of his staff, she knew. The lifetime of a Magus poured into one priceless jewel, all released at once. She already knew that this was the end of her home, this would incinerate the whole mansion. But it was not capable of incinerating the monstrosity that was demanding their lives. Like a fiery demon it walked out of the hellfire, its armour scorched, its yellow coat burned off and flames flickering out of its helmet.
The last thing Rin saw before the entrance hall disappeared out of her sight was a sword coming down on her father.
Before she had struggled and fought against her mother's grip, now she just slumped down and buried her face in her chest. She could not think, she hadn't even enough strength left to be afraid. Only despair remained. She did not know how they were able to take the steps down into her father's workshop. She only knew that suddenly she found herself sitting on the cold stone floor, watching her mother moving a shelf to the side, revealing a small niche with a small chest that had a complex looking lock hidden behind it. It looked like some kind of buried treasure and the thought bemused Rin in this moment of utter madness.
"Come!", her mother urged her to climb on top of the chest.
Rin obeyed in spite of her shivering body.
Fear cuts deeper than swords...
"Whatever happens, close your eyes and ears and don't make a sound!", her mother advised, she kissed her on the forehand and retreated, already starting to push against the shelf to shove it into its initial position.
"But you-", Rin's throat clenched.
"I love you. Never forget that", and with one final push the shelf hit the wall, sealing off the tiny crevice Rin found herself in.
There was still a narrow gap through which she could see much of what happened outside. She saw her mother stepping back from the shelf and straightening herself in spite of her tears. Rin was tempted to close her eyes as she was advised, to drown out everything of what went on outside, but she couldn't. The moment she closed them, heavy metallic sounding footsteps were ringing in her ears and she was overwhelmed with dread. When she opened her eyes again, her mother was facing the monstrosity that was still out of Rin's view. But here in the echoing stone chamber that was her father's underground workshop, she could hear its ragged breath and feel the terror of its presence.
"You are too late", Aoi Tohsaka declared, staring the Mountain down. "Only I am left here."
More footsteps, each time it touched the ground Rin winced with a cramping heart. She felt cold. She felt helpless. The giant now stepped in front of her mother, his armour still scorched and his sword still dyed in red.
Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords.
"Heh", a dim sound escaped its helmet.
Another step. It closed in as her mother was stepping back, even though her eyes were still fixated on him. The giant could have ended it swiftly, just like it did with the boy or her father, but for some sick reason it took its time now. A metal gauntlet darted forward, grabbing the head of Rin's mother and effortlessly lifted her into the air. This was the time Rin pressed her eyes closed again. She knew this would happen, she knew it was inevitable, she only wished that it was already over, that she was awakening from this sick nightmare.
The biting sound of steel ripping through flesh made her nauseous. The scream accompanying it even more.
Fear cuts deeper than swords! Fear cuts deeper than swords! Fear cuts deeper...
Rin pressed her hands on her own mouth, desperately suppressing the shriek that would have escaped it otherwise, clinging to the hope that the beast hadn't heard the muffled noise.
Then... nothing. There was the dim sound of a corpse hitting the ground, but that was nothing she didn't expect. Afterwards however the only sounds she heard were the frantic pounding of her own heart and her ragged breath that seemed far too audible to her liking. When she opened her eyes, she had the faint hope that everything was over, that at least some kind normalcy would return to her life. But instead she nearly winced again as she found herself watching the mad giant once again. He hadn't moved an inch, he was still standing in the middle of the workshop, with his blood-stained sword in hand and with his helmet tilted to look down on what she assumed was her mother.
"Heh", it made that sound again. "Heh... Heh. Heh..."
Is he... laughing?
The helmet moved again. It was raising his head, looking over the workshop with all the forbidden and not so forbidden tomes that had been her father's pride and Rin's playground.
"Heh."
The helmet turned. It turned towards her. And before she could react, she found her eyes meeting his. Her heart was skipping a beat.
Fear cuts deeper than swords.
Author's Note: I guess this is the moment where playing "The Rains of Castamere" is appropriate...