…How?

How was one man… one, ordinary man… able to cause so much damage?

"Any sign of him yet, Archer?"

"Not yet" came Archer's reply through the cell phone. "Between dealing with Berserker and directing you around, I can't say I've had time to really focus on him though, and you know what that means."

"Means he's given us the slip" I growled. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was a magus… How does he just disappear so easily?!"

"Worry about capturing him later, I say. Cops approaching the area rapidly. You have maybe a minute to get that bounded field up."

"Acutely aware, Archer!"

"Hey, don't take it out on me" Archer protested through the phone. "Can't approach the children for help, and that priest is running around kill- …dealing… with those who did witness things."

"And of course Elias is no help at all" I grumbled, activating the latest bounded field. "Where to next, Archer?"

"Master, can you even manage another field? Even from here I can tell you're exhausted."

"Do I have a choice? If I don't do this, then no one will. If this gets out-"

"We don't have the resources to cover something of this scale up. This blackout thing hit the vast majority of the city, all at once. Credit where it's due, he didn't leave behind any indication that it was caused by magic, from what I can tell, but as bad as the winds are tonight, nobody's going to buy that it'd cause this kind of damage."

"…Do you know how he did it, Archer?"

"Can't say for sure; magic isn't my thing. That said, I can't help but notice that a lot of pairs of shoes that were hanging from powerlines are now suspiciously absent, now that I got the time to look..."

"…He created shoe bombs?!"

"Probably Caster, rather than him, but that's what I'm currently thinking. Explains both why they're missing now, and how no one seemed to notice his preparations. I must say, the scale and subtlety in the preparations of his operation is rather impressive…"

"But you did notice!"

"I noticed shoes were hanging on the powerlines, yeah, but you're the one who told me that was a thing in this land's culture when I first pointed it out! Can't say I was really focused on what pairs of shoes appeared when and where from that point onward! Honestly master, would you have suspected such a thing?"

"Obviously not!"

"Exactly! I may be a Heroic Spirit, but while the grail helps us out a bit in the knowledge department, when do you think I ever had to deal with shit like this?!"

"…Just tell me where I need to set the next barrier!"

"All along this street would be ideal-"

"That's not happening!"

"Then go a couple more blocks. That area there has some of the worst looking damage, outside of Berserker's final resting place..."

"…You're certain you saw Lancer's Noble Phantasm?"

"Positive, though I doubt that's his only Noble Phantasm. Or rather, it's only use."

"Who are we dealing with here, Archer?"

"None other than Sir Percival himself."

"Percival?! As in the Knights of the Round Table Percival?!"

"The very same. Considering he's a Lancer now, I can only assume that weapon of his is-"

"Longinus…" I cut Archer off as the full weight of the revelation washed over me. "Lancer's going to be a problem. A major problem."

"Indeed. He won't get as big a boost from your bounded field here as I do, but Ely is still in Britain. The boost he gets will still be fairly significant, and I'll just say this up front: I can't take him outside the bounded field."

"And inside it?"

"…Perhaps. It'll take all I got, and probably a healthy glob of luck as well, but that's sort of how we mercenary types operate to begin with, so it's nothing I'm not used to. One thing we do have over Lancer and his master though is all our command spells. She had to use one to provide Lancer the magical energy to take out Berserker."

"You're certain?"

"Positive."

…Well, at least tonight wasn't all bad news…

"…Ok, where to next, Archer?"

"Master…"

"I don't want to hear-"

"Master, give it a rest. The only way you could throw up more of those bounded fields is by either tying them directly to a leyline, or by dismantling the one back here. Which would effectively remove us from the war, mind you."

"But-"

"Rider and his master are dealing with the people who saw, and from what I'm hearing listening in on the cops they plan on calling in the… the feds… whatever that means. Point is, while they suspect foul play, they don't suspect magecraft, nor do they have a reason to. With Rider and his master doing their thing, they won't ever have a reason to either."

"You're out and about in the city?!"

"How else did you think I was going to be able to listen in on the police? Obviously, I'm out in the city."

"…"

"Face facts, master. We can't cover this all up, and the war is going to be far messier from here on out to conduct. Take solace in the fact that the secret of magecraft hasn't leaked out, and cut your losses here. The biggest areas have been covered."

"…"

"You've done all you can. Besides, the longer you're out there, the greater the risk of running into Assassin and his master. Unlike Rider and the priest, I doubt they'll care about the bigger picture here and not take this opportunity to strike while you're weak. Mercenaries only-"

"Do as the contract states, to the letter. Yes, yes, I'm well aware, Archer!"

"…"

"…But you have made your point... Very well, I'll begin making my return. Just be sure-"

"I got ya covered, master" Archer had the nerve to laugh a little as I began walking back towards the office tower I'd made into my base. "What kind of Archer servant would I be if I couldn't even provide covering fire for my master?"

"Right, then I'm hanging up here. Be sure to break and dispose of that phone; may not know much about technology, but I know those things are trackable."

"Will do. See you back at camp, master."

The call went dead in my ear. Fighting to contain my frustration, I snapped the cell phone in half and tossed the two bits in different directions.

…To have such a disaster occur, under my watch…

It was a disgrace. A complete, utter disgrace. One I would never live down. Even if those at the Clock Tower couldn't punish me formally due to the secrets of magecraft remaining secret, it was obvious life was going to be hell for me, one way or another, once I got back to Britain.

…No. Not just for me.

For my entire family as well…

"Once this war is over…" I muttered, ducking into the shadows of some nearby debris as police cars drove past, sirens wailing. "Once it's over, and that… file… of his is eliminated…"

I would kill him.

For the devastation he's left in his wake. For the absolute mockery he's made of the Holy Grail War. To atone for this disgrace having occurred under my watch.

I. Would. Kill. Him.


A/N

Just here to answer a question this A/N. Or rather, finish answering the question from last time xD

So, why the 'False Prophet' bit?

Well... I figured since the lance was most famously used for stabbing Jesus, obviously it just HAD to be his blood dripping from the lance (don't know if that's actually the case in the legends, but eh, consider this my FATE liberty take here if it's not).

Jesus is a prophet, so to speak (actually can't remember if he's considered a "prophet" in Christianity, or something else, but he is considered one in the Islamic faith, at least), but when dealing with the cursed aspect of the lance... I wanted to make a clear distinction, so I decided to play to the fact that, to the romans, he would have been a false prophet, spreading the words of a false god.

And voila: Cursed Blood of the False Prophet.

Is it deep? Probably not. Is it creative? I don't really think so myself, honestly. Does it even really make sense (or was it even needed)? Eh... I don't really know.

It's just the first thing that popped into my head that I thought sounded ok at the time, so I rolled with it.

Kinda how I do most of the writing for this story, really (for better or for worse) xD