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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Chapter 9: Of Daughters and Monsters
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She was back- their baby girl was back.
Kiritsugu felt a massive jolt through his chest at the news, and a painful one as he had to tell Irisviel about it. Not only because it was her right as a mother to be made aware of this, but also because their eldest daughter's reasons to be there matched with Iri's opposition to the Holy Grail War. It was difficult for Kiritsugu to handle- to know that he was accepting a plan of attack he promised his wife to not entertain as she had shown an absolute hate for the competition.
She couldn't 'recall' why, but in her weakened state she admitted that a whisper was all she remembered. Something that had her so shaken to this very day that she changed from a submissive proponent of the orthodox Einzbern's doctrine, to one that radically rejected any sort of attachment to her 'family'. Estrangement due to trauma was nothing new, but Kiritsugu knew there was more to it- especially due to how their daughter was acting.
Shirou was quite irritated by this, while Rin was incredibly quiet as her brawl with Berserker definitely knocked some of her prideful self away as only surprise and fright remained in her mind while thinking of this. To Shirou, this was a chance to 'save the family', but it was clear that something was driving Illya to try and destroy the grail and to oppose a visit to her parents.
That pained Kiritsugu to an extent, but he wasn't just emotional about it. He could see that something was compelling his daughter to do what she was doing and to pursue a no-contact situation for both himself and Irisviel. And when she brought this up to his wife, the Magus Killer thought the woman would have shown some dismay or sadness about it.
He was surprised when she genuinely smiled and said one word that summarized her thought on the matter. "Good."
That single word coupled with the mysterious smile on her face just left Kiritsugu in an unnerved state of self. It wasn't even something he could bring himself to ask more about as the woman would refuse to elaborate on it. However, he could tell that her idea on the situation was not one meant to hurt him or the rest of the family. She recognized something that Kiritsugu didn't, and it was enough to put her in a peaceful mindset compared to previous months.
And while he was tempted to just let it be for the time being, focus on the war and keep their younger children out of trouble with some proper mentoring, Kiritsugu also felt compelled to give it a try and approach their daughter himself. It could end poorly, but he decided that the best sign of trust was to be the one initiating the approach without carrying anything that would cause any distrust.
It wsa one of those ideas that truly left him in a rather upset mood because as a Magus Killer he never once thought he would go on a dangerous situations without any tool on himself. But he did. He picked the car, rode through the city and then took the road going towards the castle's grounds.
As he found a few homunculi taking guard by the entrance, wielding swords, axes, and other medieval weapons, he nodded as one of those proclaimed what he had been hoping to hear about.
"Lady Illyasviel is ready to receive you, Lord Kiritsugu."
While that may not sound much, there was one thing that this greeting told him. Acht had to be dead, for he would have never had given him that honor after what happened ten years ago.
And as he was being escorted through the halls of the castle he once used as a base of operation for the Fourth Holy Grail War, the old Magus could tell that he was at his most nervous, and right as he was led to the office Illya was waiting him at, he knew it from her face and expression that she was pleased and yet annoyed of meeting him now. But that wasn't what really had him pause.
No, that honor was owed to the sight worth a few tears as the now-grown Illya showed more signs of what Iri had told him they shared back when their daughter was just a toddler. The face was a bit less curvier than Irisviel, her features slightly hardened and that flat stare was just... him. It was the look he had as a youth but with a determined flame he had never thought he would see burn through those eyes.
"Hello father."
"When did that barrier appear?"
Ria's question was met with a frown by her Servant and... Joseph had all reasons to feel incredibly unsure of it himself. It wasn't much on the fact that there was a barrier that had him so perplexed, but the nature and strength of it. Lancer was the first one to spot it and she was quite vocal about it.
"These runes... these are of the Isles," The redhead muttered, frowning at the few incantations that would flash within the protective barrier erected around the church. "Does this mean that Caster is-"
"No," Joseph interjected. "This is not the work of a mere Caster."
And that statement was not one driven by assumption as Rider would soon confirm.
"It's unique- and definitely something only a True Magician can manifest. Which... even as a Servant tied to that Era, any Caster would require an immense amount of energy... no, this system is-"
"Too advanced to be owed by a mere Caster," Joseph reaffirmed flatly, causing the plum-haired woman to offer a sheepish look before nodding in agreement. "So, whoever is behind this is no one we can play around with and... they are not here."
"What?!" Setanta's outburst wasn't too unreasonable. "You mean that some Servant, someone stronger than a normal Caster, not only did this, but is supplying energy to it while being away from it?"
"Yes and no," Lancer replied to her Master's question. "It's not just the Caster. Our targets are not within our proximity. They are not within the district altogether."
Ana frowned nervously at this. "Isn't- Isn't this odd? That the barrier appeared now that we planned the attack?"
"Could it be that this magician was someone hired by Ninsuna?" Ria inquired, but Setanta shook his head.
"Nah, she would have paraded any news like that- and it takes time and money to have someone like that in town. Stuff that she can't do at the moment."
"That sounds about right."
Joseph was halfway nodding at this when he realized that this last agreement didn't come from anyone that he could see. Rather, the source of that mirthful remark came right from-
"Master!"
Behind Ria.
The blonde was confused by Saber's remark, but she was even more surprised when he suddenly yanked her away from her previous position... right before a pair of hands could have landed on her shoulders. As she landed back on the ground with her eyes aimed firmly at the source of that alarm.
"Hehe~, who would have thought you still had this impressive reaction time... Jojo~."
Quite short, around Ana's height, a young girl with short white hair, red eyes and a mostly-see through dark-pink/violet dress. A Servant? She was about to rule with that, but there was something unpleasant about this one. The smile, filled with unrestrained malicious intent, carrying something devious that unnerved everyone, even Joseph as he was quite sure he had seen this one before.
"Yo, what is is with this lil one?" Setanta snapped in surprise as Lancer moved in a protective manner to cover for him, same with Rider and Ana.
"Is this... Caster or Assassin?" Ana inquired nervously, but the girl giggled.
"How about you take a guess~?"
Joseph took action to this, and the mysterious girl was pleased as she saw Aurea Mors rapidly rushing at her. She merely raised a hand, a gesture that the Saber thought the result of pure arrogance at work, but where he had his instinct telling him that she was quite a threat, it was only as the blade which he moved with a lot of power was suddenly blocked by the tiny palm.
"Fuh~ Attacking me like that... naughty Jojo. You are so... naughty~!" The demented voice was followed by something stabbing into the sword, a red and black root that tried to spread all across it, weakening it.
The smile on the little girl's face was forced off when Joseph retaliated by cocking his left fist and then hitting the empty spot in front of the girl. One moment she was there, standing smugly, and the next one a powerful gust of wind shredded her up and pushed her several meters away. The intense retaliation was so powerful that her return to the ground had the concrete explode and erupt in dust due to the sheer might.
Joseph spared his Noble Phantasm a quick look, seeing the roots fighting as much as they could but ultimately being overrun by Aurea Mors' complex nature. Still, the fact that it got this close for him to lose his Noble Phantasm to someone that was clearly above a Servant put him in his strategic mindset.
"We need to leave now."
Retreat, Recover, Replan.
This new issue had them in an ambush they weren't prepared to face just yet. She appeared out of thin air without a warning, tried to snatch Ria and then tried to corrupt Aurea Mors. This was not good for them- this was way worse than he had predicted for this mess to be turning into.
"That bad?" Lancer inquired, surprised by my reaction to this, while Parvati-
"W-We need to leave before she gets up. I- I recognize her but- but something is very wrong. She is not supposed to be this strong!"
The panic in her voice cracked at the group's confusion, as Ria nodded and the others quietly followed through with the plan. A cackle was heard coming from where the girl had been thrown at. A shadow-like entity emerged, dark in color with red linings all over, and it soon started to inflate with Mana as energy concentrated within its frame.
Joseph didn't need any further warning to know it was time to get out of that location. He pulled Ria close, lifted her up and, with the Servants pulling a similar feat with their Masters, they all ran as fast they could. Parvati was the last one on the run, with her eyes widening in surprise and dread when the concentrated mana was released in a single condensed projectile rushing at the protected church.
One moment the mighty barrier that would have taken some time for their combined efforts to crack into stood proudly, then next one it was obliterated together with the building it was trying to isolate. The sheer power emitted by that attack could seriously mean a genuine threat to the entire city.
And as a Servant, Joseph had his doubts he could actually handle that sort of threat on his own- heck, he was nervous on trying to take on this dangerous girl with Rider and Lancer as they both were as shaken as he was on the matter. There was some fussing by the Masters over the unceremonious retreat, but the explosion was good enough to silence them until they were back to safety.
Yet, even as they were back to their 'headquarters', both Lancer and Saber took the chance to set up a few boundary fields, several traps, numerous special runes to repel dangerous spirits and more. There was never a reason to play this defensively up until this point due to how secrecy was being uphold, but the chances of this threat teleporting inside their safe spot without warning could present a serious problem in the near future.
But what really irked Joseph wasn't even the hard work he had to put in this, rather the fact that this entity knew of him and had tried to attack his Master first. While one could rule it out as the girl trying to take out the strongest troublemakers in the group, it would have been easier to strike down Ana and Rider first due to how dangerous they would get if Ria was hurt.
Yes, this was... concerning. Something about this Holy Grail War didn't feel right to him.
Something just didn't sit well with him, something big, something... important. But what? And why he had a feeling things were only going to get rougher from now on?
AN
Jojo faces a potential fan. But no, it's actually a 'Kama' situation. But not necessarily Kama. After all, there's a Beast in the Grail, but it's not the Kama many know through FGO.
Also, I know this may sound unimportant to many, but FFN added the feature where you can turn on/off the notification mails. This is normally off and has to be turned on by the profile settings and I've been told many were not aware of this. Also, this feature tends to go 'off' after 90 days of being active, so keep an eye on that too.
Lastly, since the new month started there are a few news: 1) Commissions on Questionable Questing and Furaffinity are now open; 2) There's a voting poll for everyone available on Discord to decide for the story coming after Lovely Morons since I finished that story.
