Chapter XVI
He had been hunting for days.
He had been hunting them for days.
Across two continents and eight countries.
They weren't strong, they weren't clever.
But they were lucky, simple as that.
And all luck runs out eventually.
…
When Kairi rejoined Mordred and Atalanta, he found the Archer Servant anxiously looking and going around at the area, as if looking for something. She was trying to find the kid's tracks, he realized, hoping to find some sort of clue to figure out what happened to the kid or maybe where he'd gone. He looked to Mordred, whose helmet was retracted and was holding the radio and earpiece set that the kid had. Faelan had insisted on the radios just in case something happened and Kairi had been skeptical about it, but now he felt like he shoved his foot down his throat and back.
"Anything?" he asked.
"No," Mordred shook her head, "she's been trying to find any clue to find for at least the direction where the kid's been taken, but it's as if he disappeared into thin air."
"So they flew somehow," surmised Kairi.
"Somehow, yeah," Mordred shrugged, frowning.
"And Archer?"
"I'm more concerned if we don't find any sign of the kid," she sighed. "But it's easy to figure out that either the kid's unconsciousness right now or he's gagged, otherwise he would've used a Command Seal to summon Archer to him."
"Yeah," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "What might make it worse is if they keep him unconscious."
"I found something!" Atalanta called out.
The two rushed over to the Archer Servant, who had been kneeling on the grass, stood up with something in her hand, a note. One that she handed over to Kairi. The necromancer frowned when Archer had wordlessly handed it to him, but he stilled when he saw what was written on the piece of paper.
You won't get in my way again, Necromancer
"What's it say?" Mordred asked curiously.
"I think I may know who took the kid…" Kairi said softly.
"Who?" Atalanta demanded, narrowing her eyes.
Kairi was silent however, glaring down at the scrap of paper.
"Who took Faelan?!" the Archer Servant snarled, grabbing the Master by the collar of his jacket.
"Woah!" Kairi cried out.
Atalanta may have a D-rank in Strength, but she was still a Servant, so she could crush his throat without even breaking a sweat if she desired.
"Oi! Hands off him, Archer!" Mordred pointed her sword at the green-and-brown-haired Greek. "I get that you're pissed, but if you hurt my Master, the only ones saving the kid is my Master and I!"
Atalanta glared at the Saber Servant before she stifled a growl and released her grip on the necromancer and took a step back, crossing her arms. Adjusting his clothes, Kairi gave the Archer Servant a wary look.
"The one who took Faelan, who are they?" she ground out past gritted teeth.
Giving his clothes one last pat, Kairi gave a big sigh, "Alexandria Faust."
"And Alexandria Faust is…?" Mordred raised a brow.
"The one who operated on the kid trying to transplant his magic circuits to her and the rest of her cult," Kairi answered somberly.
The silence that settled was nearly nerve-wracking.
"That person is still alive?!" Atalanta demanded. "I thought you and Faelan's mother saved him!"
"We did," Kairi glared at her. "And we thought that Faust was dead too, a cave-in occurred during the rescue in the cave system where the kid was held and Faust and some of her fellow cult members were in the middle of it. After the rescue, an excavation was ordered to confirm their deaths, but the bodies had been crushed beyond recognition, it was difficult to tell which body ended and where another began."
"So what, is she trying to finish the job then?" Mordred frowned.
"Yeah, I think," Kairi frowned from behind his shades, "but not to transplant his magic circuits."
"I thought that's what the cult took Faelan for," Atalanta furrowed her brows.
"Originally," he grimaced, "but eventually the cult got it into their head that they could simply summon a powerful Servant, using the kid and his blood as a catalyst instead."
"Like Faelan's uncle," Atalanta breathed.
"Yeah, Camden Argantiuss, he was a piece of work," Kairi shook his head. "Anyway, unlike Camden, the cult didn't know how to make the summoning circle properly and even messed up the incantation. So instead of summoning a Heroic Spirit, they summoned a phantom instead. But they screwed that up too as the phantom was an hour away from disappearing." He then looked up at the moon, which was covered a bit by some clouds. "So the cult made another summoning, doing the impossible, and managed to summon a Phantasmal Beast from the Reverse Side of the World, an Amaroq. Chaining the Phantasmal Beast, they managed to force the phantom into the Amaroq and it became… well, even to this day, no one knows really. Not really a Phantasmal Beast, not really a phantom. But what was surprising, was that the Entity fused into the dying Faelan."
"It fused with him?!" Mordred asked incredulously.
"At least we think so," he admitted with a shrug. "What we do know is that his heart, his core had become similar to that of a Phantasmal Beast, but was inert for the most part."
"Does Faelan know about it?" Atalanta asked, rubbing her temples.
"Why wouldn't he?" Mordred looked at her in disbelief. "He was there!"
Atlanta frowned at the blonde Saber Servant, considering whether or not to tell her. But then again, the necromancer was her Master and if she didn't tell her, he would. Releasing a sigh, she spoke, "Faelan's memories were sealed after he was rescued. The trauma of the experience was simply too much for a child and his parents decided to have the memories of what happened sealed. Which were later unsealed when Faelan felt that he was ready to confront the next stage of memories."
"Oh," Mordred frowned.
"Is that what Aella and Galen did?" Kairi snorted mirthlessly. "Well, I don't blame them. If that's the case then, then I don't think he does yet. The summoning of the phantom and the Amaroq happened moments before we infiltrated the cave where the cult was based out of. The new phantom/Phantasmal Beast Entity fused with the kid just before we attacked."
"Then what does Faust plan to do with the kid then?" Mordred wondered, still frowning.
"That's the problem," he shook his head. "We don't know, the notes that were recovered didn't go beyond anything besides the summoning. I can only imagine what Faust plans to do with the kid. The first that I can think of, is that she plans to awaken the phantom/Phantasmal Beast entity and use the kid for her own means. After all, Saber of Black is somewhat the same given that he bathed in the blood of a dragon."
"She could be nearly unstoppable if she were to gain control of Faelan," Atalanta realized. "He won't be as strong as a Servant, but he would be close."
"That is both awesome and terrifying," Mordred frowned. "But the problem is, we still don't know where the kid is."
Silence befell the three as the gravity of the situation weighed them down. Suddenly, Kairi began looking around the area.
"Archer, did you notice if the kid took his phone with him?" he asked, turning his head to her.
"I believe he kept it in one of the pouches on his belt," she frowned. "Why?"
"Perfect!" Kairi grinned before fishing out his phone, not the one Faelan loaned him, and dialed a number. "C'mon, c'mon, pick up! Yes! Galen, look, listen, I need you to locate your kid's phone for me."
…
"No! I didn't lose your son! I can't technically lose him because one, he's a grown adult, and two, you never actually left me in charge of him!"
…
"Yes, you asked me to keep an eye on him, not be his babysitter- No! You know what, we're wasting time! I remember the kid mentioning that the new phones can be tracked. Are you able to do that with his phone?"
…
"Er," here Kairi hesitated. "Faust took him…"
…!
"Yes, that Faust! Look, that's why we need to find the kid fast. There's no telling what plans she has for him."
…
"Well, that's why I'm calling you and not her!"
Both Atalanta and Mordred frowned as Kairi's conversation with whoever was on the other line kept on. That is until Atalanta paled, realizing who the necromancer was referring to. The Huntress distinctly remembered how devious the woman could be when she was just teasing and she was not keen on seeing how that deviousness could turn into cruelty in her Master's mother when she was furious.
"You got it? Where is he then?"
…
"He's where?! That's a two-hour drive, how in the hell did they get there so fast?"
…
"No, no, we'll make it work. Listen, just call me on this number if his position changes."
…
"Right. We'll get him back." Hanging up, he pocketed his phone before looking at the Servants. "All right, I know where the kid is. The kid's father says that his phone is in Bran Castle, a two-hour drive south."
"How the hell did they get there so fast?" Mordred asked incredulously.
"Hell if I know," he shook his head. "Look, the important thing is, we know where the kid is. So we better get there fast before she does anything to him or worse, she moves locations while we're already on route."
"Right," Mordred nodded. "Let's go then!"
Out of the three, Atalanta was the more anxious as she made it to the car with time to spare, way before Saber and Kairi had managed to catch up with her. But the two didn't say anything about it, not even Mordred. She would never admit it, but Archer's Master grew on her a little. And she was hoping that she and her own Master wouldn't have to fight the kid, or at least maybe she and her Master can get the Grail before they had to.
Getting into the driver's seat after dematerializing her armor, she barely waited for her Master to get in the front passenger's seat as Atalanta had already been waiting in the backseat. Switching the gear in reverse, Mordred backed up the car as she turned it around before she gunned it. Her Master said that the drive from here to Bran Castle was about two hours, she aimed to cut that in half.
"Oh no, not again!" Kairi cried out in terror as he frantically grabbed the passenger's side grab handle above the door, holding on for dear life.
…
On a field a small distance from Bran Castle, Alexandria Faust disembarked from the back of one of the helicopters, CH-47 Chinooks, that had arrived. Only the one she had disembarked was the only one whose troop doors had opened as the other three helicopters were containing her recently acquired small coven of vampires. A Mystic Code given to her by Sanlenar allowed her to control the mindless ghouls, though they could only follow simple commands, nothing too complex. But they had numbers and even the strongest Enforcer was no match for a large wave of vampire ghouls, especially if they had nowhere to go.
As her team also disembarked behind her, she glanced back at the stretcher held between two members. On it, was her prize, Faelan Ashford, who had an oxygen mask fixed to his face to keep the anesthetic pumping into his system.. Ten years ago the cult she had been involved in decided to kidnap the first child of Galen and Aella Ashford, at first to use the child as a battery, then to divvy his magic circuits amongst the members of the cult. But to her shame, even she, who was the only second-generation magus among the group, did not know much about the biology behind magical circuits as her father was a poor teacher.
For weeks, she explored the innards of her prize's body in an attempt to at least find one magic circuit. How naive she had been, to think that magic circuits were a physical organ or an organ system. When her weeks of slow and methodical medical examination and operation of the child, the leadership of the cult decided to instead use the child and his blood as a catalyst due to the Lesser Grail War, which one of their members had the honor of being in, that was approaching.
But what had developed as a result of what happened that fateful night, she could have never imagined it. Or how valuable her prize had become due to it. If only that team of mages hadn't come and attacked, she could have had an invaluable weapon that could've cleaved her a path in the Moonlit world for a decade at the very least.
"Get him inside the castle!" she called out to the members carrying her prize between them. "We don't have much time before the environmental factors are just right for the ritual."
"Yes ma'am," the one in front nodded before he and his partner started walking over to Bran Castle's entrance.
The castle was a big tourist spot as it was reputed to have been the castle that Vlad III had ruled from. Complete fiction, which had been started by Stoker's novel and also exacerbated the rumor as well in modern society. But her team had managed to drive off the mundane from the area with runes that she had taught them. She didn't need the police or military involved after all. Following the two carrying her prize on the stretcher, she stopped where her officer in charge of all her living forces stood.
"No one gets in," she told him. "I will come back later to release the ghouls in five minutes after I ensure Ashford is secured and ready for the ritual."
"On it," he replied resolutely. "Not even a rat will be able to get past us."
"See to it, Captain," Faust said before heading into the castle.
"You heard her, boys and girls!" the Captain barked. "Set up on those walls and set up a perimeter, mages get the Bounded Field up! Move it, move it!"
"Yes sir!"
The group of soldiers under Faust's employ were either first-generation or second-generation mages whose educations in magecraft were substandard compared to mages from the Association and had joined the military. None of them were anything special, but they were aware of what truly went on in the world that had long dismissed magic as mere myth. Inside the castle, the two members had placed the unconscious Enforcer onto the table before leaving to join their fellows.
Faust gazed down at him, a hand reaching out to caress his cheek, "Look at how you have grown these past years," she whispered. "You will become an invaluable instrument to me, Faelan, much invaluable." Doing a check of the environmental factors as well as the position of the moon, she left the room, drawing her recently acquired Mystic Code. "But you need one more push." She couldn't help the smile that crept from the corner of her mouth, "And that push will soon be here…"
…
He followed them to Bran Castle, the castle of Dracula according to Bram Stoker's novel on the most famous vampire in human history. It was all bullshit of course as the man wasn't even aware of the Moonlit World.
He shook his head.
No, he shouldn't lose focus.
Staring through the scope of his rifle, he counted the number of soldiers, watched as a large number of vampiric ghouls went into the castle after the woman like cattle.
He wouldn't be able to take them all out, not like this.
He would have to wait for a window of opportunity.
…
"There it is, Bran Castle, home of Dracula," said Mordred as they drove along the road.
"You and I both know that isn't even remotely true," Atalanta scoffed, her eyes narrowing at the castle above from her window.
"Yeah, well, Lancer of Black isn't around to tell me different," the Saber Servant chuckled. "I'll park the car close and then we can kick some ass."
"Whoa, whoa, keep going," said Kairi, peering out his window.
"What? Why?" she glanced at her Master.
"Helicopters," he replied, "military. She might have people with guns on her side plus the ghouls. We're going to have to plan this out. Drive half a kilometer away from the castle, we'll go on foot to approach the castle."
"Right, right," Mordred nodded easily.
"Modern weaponry won't even be an issue for us," Atalanta pointed out.
"Yeah, but this place is a frequent tourist spot," Kairi replied, looking out the window at the Chinooks behind them. "I don't see anyone around them, so they all must be in the castle itself. That's going to be a problem, there aren't a lot of open spaces in the castle and gunfire will attract the attention of the mundane if we don't prepare properly. Archer, I know I'm not your Master, but could you scout it out?"
"Say no more," spoke Atalanta, dematerializing.
"Hey, Master," frowned Mordred, "I know you said the worst-case scenario was this Faust chick using the kid as a weapon, but would fully awakening the Entity inside him really make him a big threat?"
"Compared to the priest? No, not really," Kairi shook his head. "But I feel responsible for this, if I hadn't called the kid in and we dealt with Sanlenar ourselves, he wouldn't have ended like this."
After a moment, Mordred couldn't help the wry smirk forming on her face. "Well, no use bemoaning our fate. What's done is done, the only thing we can do now is save the kid."
"Yeah…" Kairi nodded.
Several minutes later, Kairi and Mordred were waiting in the tree line so as not to be spotted by anyone, waiting for Atalanta to come back with her findings.
"They only have thirty soldiers," said the Huntress as she materialized beside them. "The majority of them are stationed along the wall, however, a small team is guarding a central reactor of what I assume is the main source of power for their less than perfect Bounded Field. I have not spotted Faust, or if I did I wasn't able to tell as all the people there are wearing uniforms. I also haven't spotted the ghouls Faust purchased, but I assume they would be hiding in the halls of the castle."
"Why would they stop here?" Mordred couldn't help but wonder. "If I were them, I would've kept on running. They already have what they want, so stopping here makes no sense."
Kairi frowned, "Maybe… maybe they don't have what they want." Stricken, his eyes widened behind his shades before his gaze shot straight up to the sky. "Oh, shit, the remnant of a blood moon. How the hell could I forget!"
"Forget what?" Mordred raised a brow.
"Faust does plan to awaken the entity that makes Faelan's core," Kairi gritted his teeth. "But the problem is, today marks the ten-year anniversary of when the kid was kidnapped, which also had a blood moon. The phantom the cult summoned was at full power due to the power of the blood moon but like I said, it wouldn't have been able to last long. But the blood moon is also how the cult even managed to summon the Amaroq too. In theory, if Faust does a modified summoning ritual, she can call to both spirits that the Entity is comprised of and pull it out of the kid."
"Is that even possible?" she asked incredulously.
"The kid's magic circuits are high in quality," he glared at the ground, "the Entity could've been gorging itself on the kid's magical energy, stabilizing itself and adapting to this world in the process. A being like that, a phantom and a Phantasmal Beast… it's unprecedented. There's no telling what it's capable of."
To the side, Atalanta had paled. If what the necromancer said was true, then Faust's goal hadn't been Faelan, but the thing inside him. And if she drew the Entity out, then it was more than likely, no it was without a doubt that Faelan would not survive the process as the Entity did act as his magical core.
"Saber, Archer," Kairi glared at the castle. "You two are going to act as decoys so I can sneak in and get the kid. If you can make enough noise to get the attention of everyone there and get Faust to use her coven of vampire ghouls, then I might have a chance to get him out without anyone knowing better until we're long gone." He then began a count of the inventory he had on hand. "I'll set up all the monkey paws I have left to ward off the mundane, so go crazy."
"Music to my ears!" Mordred grinned as she punched her fist into her open palm, donning her arm in a flash of red lightning.
Atalanta shook her head at her fellow Servant, but her gaze trained to the castle.
Just hold on Faelan…
…
"Man, can you believe we came all the way to Romania for some kid," one soldier said to another as they stood guard atop a portion of the ramparts of Bran Castle.
"Well, said kid has an unlabeled entity inside of him," shrugged the second soldier. "Imagine having something like that on our side. Us having substandard magic circuits would be irrelevant and even the Mages Association wouldn't dare ignore-"
Before he could finish, an arrow fired forth from the darkness and impaled itself into the man's throat. Choking on his words and blood, the first soldier who spoke couldn't even get another word in before he too shared the same fate as his fellow. A figure leaped out of the darkness overhead, landed behind them, and kicked both of them over the edge.
"Nice move Archer," Mordred grinned toothily as she materialized beside her.
"It was but a trifle," Atalanta shook her head.
"Now it's my turn," Mordred turned her gaze to the soldiers, materializing the sword that killed her 'father.' "Hey assholes!" she shouted, getting their attention. "You took a subject of my kingdom and as the future king of Britain…"
"Is she related to the Queen of England?" one soldier asked.
"... I won't take such offenses lightly!" continued the Saber Servant unperturbed.
With that, the Knight of Betrayal leaped into the fray. Standing atop the rampart, Atalanta shot at the soldiers that were at the edge of the fight. None of the soldiers were able to even aim, much less fire their rifles at the two threats. If Dead Apostles were no match for Servants, then regular humans were nothing but leaves on the wind that only offered annoyance by obstructing one's vision.
"Twenty, twenty-one, and that's twenty-two!" Mordred counted as the last soldier fell to his knees, holding his wounded shoulder. "Oh, hey, you're still alive! Good on ya!"
"Wh-what are you?" the soldier, the Captain rasped.
Mordred blinked, "Wha? You serious?"
"You killed all my men without so much as a blink, are you vampires?" the Captain coughed up some blood.
Mordred leaned her head down, peering at the man through the eye holes in her visor before she barked a laugh. "Oh, holy shit, you aren't kidding! You really have no idea what we are, dontcha?! Ha ha ha ha! Oh, man this is too good!" She looked over at Atalanta over her shoulder. "Hey Archer, get a load of this horse crap, these guys have no idea what we are!"
"Then they have no redeeming qualities whatsoever," Atalanta scoffed, lowering her bow.
"Ain't that the truth," Mordred shook her head, chuckling before leaning down to the man's ear. "You really want to know what I am? I am a Servant, a hero long-dead brought back to life in order to fight for the Holy Grail. The hero whose sword you have the honor of dying to. My name is Sir Mordred."
The captain's eyes widened before he felt a blade tear his throat. Helplessly choking on his blood as he fell back, his hands leaped to his throat in a vain attempt to staunch the blood. But as the blood seeped through his fingers, Mordred and Atalanta knew that he wouldn't be long for this world.
"Well, well, well. You killed all my soldiers, those men and women had several tours and deployments under their belts, despite being mages," spoke a voice as its speaker walked out of the shadows. "Yet you tore through them like a hot knife through butter."
"And guess what lady, you're next," Mordred pointed her sword at her.
"Oh, is that so?" the woman raised a brow in idle intrigue.
"Very much so," Mordred replied. "See, like I told your soldiers, you took a subject of mine and as the future king, I don't take the act of kidnapping one of my said subjects well."
"How peculiar that Faelan would gain the support of two Servants," the woman chuckled behind her hand. "In fact, I only remember seeing only one Servant in the room when Faelan and his sister were visiting Baile Herculane. Tell me, did you enjoy the hot springs there?" This question, she directed at the Archer Servant. "I heard they were to die for."
Atalanta's eyes widened. She remembered Faelan saying he had seen a woman on that roof where she had fought the lamyros, Toll. She had figured that Toll had been the one who Faelan saw that day the lamyros attacked. Not the person whose actions equated to torture on Faelan when he was a child.
"I'm here to get my Master back," she growled, raising her bow as she pulled the string back on a notched arrow. She really wanted to kill this woman, for everything she did to Faelan. But she and Saber had to buy as much time they could for the necromancer so that he wouldn't have to deal with any ghouls. "Now hand him over or we will cut you down and retrieve him ourselves!"
"What she said," said Mordred, resting Clarent on her shoulder.
"I wish I could, I really do," Faust gave a mock sigh, shrugging her shoulders with her hands out as if she had no say in the matter. "But Faelan is an invaluable instrument, far more than what you are able to see. And it is only I who can bring out his potential."
…
"You know what lady, every word you say seems to just piss me off!" Mordred gritted her teeth, glaring at the second generation magus from behind her visor. She was starting to sound like her mother, the bitch.
"Oh, really?" Faust smirked. "I do humbly apologize for that. Just as you two should apologize for killing my men in a vain attempt to distract me. The necromancer, he should be around here as well, shouldn't he? Far end of the castle for his entry point, yes? Well, it's what I would've done. "
The two Servants stilled, silent.
"Hm, nothing?" Faust taunted, taking out her Mystic Code, tapping it into her open palm. "Oh, very well then. I'll send some ghouls that way, just in case."
Master! Mordred called Kairi via their mental link. The bitch didn't buy the bait, ghouls are heading your way!
Wait, what? Shit!
Modred gritted her teeth and dashed forward, her sword reared back to strike and break the Mystic Code.
"Saber!" Atalanta called out in alarm.
Mordred brought her sword down on the group of ghouls that appeared in front of her before she could strike down their master, and before she could bring her sword up again, a mob of ghouls dogpiled on her. Of course, they were no match for her strength-wise as she was able to knock them off of her easily enough but the rest of the coven came in like a flood.
"Get the hell off me!" she bellowed, flinging off another group that tried.
The mob of ghouls were managing to pull her back more than she was able to advance, frustrating her to no end.
"Hmm, well, the two of you look busy with that," Faust laughed as walked back into the castle, not even reacting when Atalanta fired a set of arrows at her for a group of her ghouls jumped up and took the hit instead in her place. "I'll leave you to it."
"Saber, I'm going for Faelan," Atalanta called out after firing a set of arrows into a ghoul that had climbed up onto the rampart and made a run at her. "Cut me a path!"
"One path, coming up!"
Mordred flung her sword, the edge of the blade near the crossguard biting into the front of the skull of a ghoul as the force of the throw sent the mindless vampiric minion back. However, as the ghoul fell back, the tip of the sword was impaled into the chest of the ghoul that had been behind it. Sprinting forward, the Knight of Betrayal bashed her fist into the chest of the next ghoul, but that had caused a whole line of them to fall to the ground as the initial ghoul was sent flying into the next.
"Archer!"
Seeing her opportunity, Atalanta dashed through, firing her arrows at the sprawling ghouls on her way into the castle.
"Now, you mindless freaks, you're all stuck here with me!" Mordred grinned behind her helmet, ripping her sword from where it had been stuck in the pair of ghouls from before. "Don't die too quickly, I wanna have fun!"
…
He waited and waited.
The castle became under attack.
Servants, two of them, they were massacring the soldiers without even breaking a sweat.
From his current position, he didn't have a good line of sight on his target, the magus who was in charge of the soldiers.
He had to find a better vantage spot.
If he could find one that had a line of sight on the kid they brought in, the magus was spending most of her time there.
He would then just need the perfect window of opportunity.
…
As Atalanta tore through the halls, it was pretty easy to find which way Faust was going as there were more ghouls in her path every time she spotted the psychopath's blonde hair. Compared to the lamyros, Bell and Toll, or even the short-lived coven Lancer/Darnic had made back in the Hanging Gardens, these ghouls were nothing. All she had to do was to beat them and get Faelan back. No, she needed to get him back.
Arriving at the room where Faelan was being held, she burst in as she twisted around with her bow drawn with a pair of arrows notched onto it. Releasing the bowstring, the arrows impaled themselves into the skulls of the ghouls that were guarding Faust, the force so great that the arrowheads went out the back of said skulls. Materializing one last arrow and notching it, she spun around and aimed her bow at Faust who stood next to Faelan, a dagger to his neck.
"Impressive," Faust raised her brows, a smirk on her face.
"Move away from him!" Atalanta hissed at her.
"Mm, I don't think I will. You care more for you Master than a Servant normally would, I can see it," Faust taunted, grinning with a demented look of glee as she moved her dagger so that its curved point was at the side of Faelan's neck. "Do you have feelings for him? Answer me truthfully."
"I will not tell you a second time!" the Huntress of Artemis snarled.
"Oh, you are so dreadfully dull," Faust rolled her eyes. "But tell me, do you think you can really save Faelan with my dagger positioned like this? The moment your arrow hits me, the force behind it will cause me to go backwards, for a lowly human such as I would be no match for a Servant's power, thereby slicing his throat. As you aren't a Caster given your bow, I doubt there is anything you can do to help preserve his life before the necromancer arrives."
"Are you truly so petty?" Atalanta gritted her teeth.
"Of course!" Faust laughed. "Faelan is my prize and my prize alone, do you really think I would let anyone else have him? The role to polish and unlock his potential belongs to only I, no one else, alive or dead. In fact…" Her eyes narrowed at the Hunteress, "The pelt of the Calydonian Boar, Atalanta the Chaste Huntress, pull it out."
"What?" Atalanta's eyes widened a fraction. How did she know her True Identity?
"Surprised?" Faust grinned in sadistic amusement. "Did you really think there wasn't a reason why I left that note for the necromancer? Of course, I needed dearest Faelan here, but what is a locked chest without a key? I must confess that I was most curious as to who you could be the first time I spotted you with Faelan in Baile Herculane, but when a friend of mine told me your identity, I could not help but find it amusing. Out of all the heroes on the Throne, I would never expect Faelan to summon you. I expected him to either summon Gilgamesh or Enkidu."
Atalanta kept silent, so she knew that Faelan had some relation to Gilgamesh but didn't know that he wasn't the one who summoned her in the first place. But what she said… was she the one who Faelan saw back then? She had thought it had Toll given that she and her partner had attacked when she had gone over to investigate Faelan's suspicions.
"The pelt," Faust insisted, moving her wrist so that her dagger's point was at Faelan's jugular and pressed against it enough that a line of blood came from the minor wound. "I won't ask again."
Biting her lip, Atalanta scowled at her. "Do you really think I won't be able to kill you and save Faelan? If you know my True Name then you must know that I was the quickest footracer in all of Greece in my time, I can easily move to the side and fire at you without having to worry about inadvertently hurting him."
"You use his name instead of calling him "Master," eh?" Faust noted. "Well, that answers my question if you have feelings for him. As for your point, it is an excellent one, which is why…" Here, a formless being fell from her sleeve, forming two finger-like limbs and taking Faust's place holding the dagger before forming several pin-point needles at his throat as well. "A little something I stole from the last El-Meloi head after he died," she admitted with a grin as she moved to stand in front of the table Faelan was set on before walking over to the Archer Servant, not even heeding the arrow pointed at her throat. "Of course, I tinkered with that fool's Mystic Code since he died and now it will move autonomously as long I give it orders mental or spoken, of course. Such as… kill Faelan should I perish," she told the mercury-based Mystic Code.
"You bitch!" Atalanta growled.
"You know what I want, Servant," Faust narrowed her eyes, holding her hand out.
Biting her lip, Atalanta maintained her scowl at the blonde woman. She needed to buy time to figure out a way to save Faelan, to stall for time for Saber or the necromancer to back her up. Relaxing her bowstring, she raised her right hand, and a moment later, the belt of the demonic boar that ravaged the lands of Calydon appeared in her grasp. Reluctantly, she handed it over.
Prior to taking it, more of the mercury Mystic Code appeared from Faust's sleeve and covered her hand as she grasped the Magic Beast pelt. She admired it for a moment before looking back at the glaring Servant.
"Thank you," Faust dipped her chin. "To repay your cooperation, I will tell you what I will do with this as even you Servants will be powerless to stop me."
"Are you really so arrogant?" Atalanta bit out.
"Hahaha, no I am merely confident!" Faust laughed. "For I will finish what that cult and I had intended to do the night we were attacked by Faelan's mother. But this time, I will summon a new kind of Servant."
Atalanta's eyes widened, confusion clear in her eyes. "You haven't even drawn a summoning circle," she scoffed dubiously. "And you will be mistaken if you think I will allow you to do so."
"Oh, I don't need a summoning circle for that," Faust chuckled sadistically, delighting in the Servant's astonishment. "After all, the Servant is already here, right in Faelan's heart. All I need to do is awaken it so that Faelan's body is consumed by it and he becomes a part of it. And this pelt will do quite nicely as the perfect catalyst to draw it out."
"That will kill him!" Atalanta protested, horrified.
"Have you so little faith in your Master?" Faust raised a brow in wry amusement as she turned to Faelan's body, holding the pelt over his heart as several magic circles were drawn just below the pelt. "To think that this chain we had used wasn't the Chain of Heaven, but the chain that had tethered the great Wolf King. Figures those fools didn't know what they were doing." A chain soon leaped from the bottom-most magic circle and latched onto the pelt of the Calydonian Boar. "Now I will finish what we started ten years ago. Lobo, spirit of the vengeful wolf that once prowled the lands of Currumpaw, awaken!"
She then slammed the hand holding the pelt downward. However, before it reached Faelan's chest, the window shattered as a bullet tore through and went through one side of her neck and out the other, an expression of confusion on her face.
Reacting quickly and ignoring what had just happened out of nowhere, Atalanta grabbed the Mystic Code over Faelan's throat and slammed it to the ground, and fired an arrow into it for good measure. Looking back at Faelan, her eyes widened in horror as the last hairs of the pelt disappeared into his body.
"No!" she whispered, horrified.
At first, nothing happened, but a moment later, his body twitched once, then twice before it began to convulse violently as Faelan's magic circuits glowed between two colors. At first, it had been red before it changed to a dark purple and alternated between the two colors. It was then she realized that the Calydonian Boar pelt was trying to assimilate itself into a body that wasn't meant for it.
"No, no, no," she uttered, placing her hand over Faelan's heart, calling out to her second Noble Phantasm. "No, please… please…" she pleaded desperately as nothing happened, no matter how much she called to her Noble Phantasm, no matter how much she tried to pry the pelt from him.
Faelan's body then stilled as the glow from his magic circuits began to die and his body slumped. Frantically looking at him, Atalanta brought her ear to his mouth and despair filled her when she couldn't feel or hear him breathe. Worse, she could feel her connection to him beginning to ebb away.
"No…" she whispered mournfully. "No, please no. Don't do this to me, Faelan. Please don't go… please, not like this."
That was the scene that Mordred, her helmet retracted, and Kairi had arrived to when they came to the door of the room, the Saber Servant's armor covered in blood while Kairi looked no worse for wear. Mordred made to step in, but a hand on her shoulder from the old necromancer stopped her. She was about to protest, but it died when she saw the somber expression on his face as he stared at the scene or rather, at the kid.
"He doesn't even have my crest," Mordred heard him whisper, though she had to strain her ears to hear it. "Is my family's curse so potent that the kid would be affected too…?"
Unable to say anything, Mordred's shoulders slowly slumped as she looked back at the scene. She had seen a lot of dead bodies, seen both enemies and friends die in front of her, it was nothing new to her. But that didn't make this one any harder…
"C'mon," Kairi gently urged. "Let's give her a moment to say goodbye…"
"Right," she nodded, her eyes downcast as the two of them walked away.
Atalanta's shoulders were slumped down as her lion ears were downturned, easily reflecting her grief and sorrow. She shouldn't have given Faust the pelt, all of this was her fault.
"I'm sorry, Faelan…" she whispered, blinking through the tears that were starting to gather in her eyes. It wasn't long before those tears began to fall as she lowered her head, pressing her forehead onto his shoulder, unable to keep herself upright. As a Servant with a high rank in Independent Action, she would be able to stay in the world for some time. Not a lot, but she intended to use that time to ensure that Faelan would go back home, she owed him that much. But for now, she could only mourn.
…
Unknown to her, however, the magic circuits around Faelan's heart flashed. Once, then twice, then it flashed in time with a standard heartbeat until slowly but surely, the rest of his magic circuits in his body began to glow. Feeling the heat from those circuits, Atalanta moved back, startled by it.
"Faelan…?" she dared to hope.
Then to her shock, Faelan sat up with a large gasp, his eyes glowing a dark purple as his magic circuits began to glow the same color.
"No," she whispered, her hopes crumbling.
An aura of magical energy soon began to form around him as he leaped off of the table, his teeth bared in an animalistic growl. Before Atalanta could react, however, she was knocked into the wall as the possessed Faelan ran towards the door, his hand smacking her out of the way as easily as she could with a mundane human.
"How…?"
"What the fuck?!" came Kairi's surprised yelp.
"Master, get back! There's something wrong with him!"
Atalanta ran into the hall as Faelan barreled through, not even heeding the walls and furniture that he had crashed into. Just like the Boar, Atalanta realized in horror.
"Archer, what the hell happened to him?" Kairi coughed as he picked himself up off the floor, staring in the direction Faelan had gone in confusion.
"Faust, she was somehow able to put my other Noble Phantasm into Faelan's body," she replied quickly.
"What kind of Noble Phantasm is it?" he frowned.
"Agrius Metamorphosis," Atalanta answered, ill at ease. "It manifests initially as the pelt of the Calydonian Boar and then I take it into myself, giving me the power of the Magical Beast that left the lands of Calydon in ruin."
"Ah, don't tell me this is the same thing like with the fake Saber," Saber groaned.
Atalanta really didn't want to entertain that thought. It was clear that Siegfried's heart would inevitably change Sieg into the famous dragonslayer sooner rather than later, that or something else. And she was not keen on hunting down Faelan to prevent him from causing the same amount of destruction the Boar, whose pelt now resided in him, had committed.
"Either way, we got to stop him," Kairi gritted his teeth. "If he gets past the castle walls, there's no telling what kind of destruction he can cause to the town!"
Following the trail of destruction the possessed Faelan had caused, it didn't take them long to find him in the courtyard with all the corpses of the soldiers and ghouls, poking and nudging at them. But he had changed somehow in the short interim they had seen him last. His form was human in shape, but he was covered in dark fur and a pair of tusks had grown beside his mouth.
"So what's the plan?" asked Mordred, readying Clarent in front of her.
"I can contain him in a barrier," said Kairi, "but I need time and it would hold better if he was weakened. Archer, is that alright with you?"
Atalanta grimaced, "Yes, it pains me to see him this way, but if there is even a sliver of a chance of returning him to what he once was, I will steel myself." Raising her bow, she had to suppress a wince as she fired a set of arrows at the possessed Faelan.
"Graarghh!" Faelan released a demonic roar as the arrows impaled themselves into his body. His glowing purple eyes then trained on Atalanta and not a second later, he charged toward her with his hands out to grab her.
"Don't forget about me!" exclaimed Mordred as she slammed into Faelan with her elbow, sending him flying into a piece of equipment the soldiers brought. "Sorry about that kid," he told the possessed Master as he flung pieces of machinery off of himself. "But this is for your own good!"
For several moments, that was how the battle continued, Atalanta would provoke Faelan with her arrows, though the arrows themselves did little to no damage. This was seen as the possessed Ashford would pull the projectiles from his fur and toss them aside, not even bleeding a little. Mordred would come in and hammer him with a fist or a kick and given that she was still in her armor, it was at least doing some kind of damage to him for he appeared dazed every time she struck him in the head.
However, even animals learn.
Ducking under the newest set of arrows from Atalanta, Faelan surprised everyone by grabbing Mordred by the collar of her armor and dragged her along the ground.
"Let go of me!" Mordred cried out as she found her footing and swung with the flat of her sword aiming towards Faelan.
However, the possessed Falan twisted his body in order to avoid the strike. Unfortunately, the way he did meant that he would instead be struck with the sword's edge. Mordred tried to pull her hand back, but it was too late as the sword bit into Faelan's flesh, searing a small cut into his chest.
"Ah, shit!" Mordred bit a curse as she jumped back.
Again, they were all confused for another moment when Faelan seemed to have reacted rather negatively to the rather minor wound as he had fallen to the ground, sprawling around in anguish as he clawed at the area around the cut.
"What the hell?" Kairi frowned.
"Should I do it again?" Mordred asked unsurely.
Kairi and Atalanta shared a look. Neither really wanted to wound Faelan any more than necessary, but these were some extreme circumstances.
"Do it," Kairi nodded, "I may not know healing runes like the kid, but I know enough healing magecraft to fix a body even if the body is literally flattened."
Atalanta hoped that wasn't what it took to save Faelan.
"Gotcha, Master!" Mordred exclaimed as she made a mad dash for the possessed Faelan who was still sprawling on the ground. And before he could react, she cut the same place again, making the cut longer and wider as she passed by.
Landing on the other side of the courtyard, her expression turned to confusion once more as something seemed to be coming out of the wound she had made bigger. An aura of magical energy seemed to seep out of the wound, but it seemed to have a mind of its own, for it looked like it was a head moving about as its "head" regarded all three of them.
"Graarghh!" the possessed Faelan roared, gaining the aura's attention.
The aura being then began to pull itself out of the wound and before everyone's eyes, the aura's form began to expand and materialize, forming four great limbs, a muscular body, and a tail, all covered in pale white fur. And soon, a lupine head materialized last as the great wolf beast raised its head and let loose a howl.
"The fuck?" Mordred blinked, stupefied.
Adding onto the confusion, the wolf glared at the possessed Faelan, who had managed to get back onto his feet.
"Graarghh!" Faelan released a roar before charging.
Growling, the wolf smacked the possessed Faelan with its paw and while the possessed Faelan was in midair, the wolf bit down on him and pulled. However, instead of a part of Faelan's body, what the wolf tore was the Magical Beast that had possessed the Ashford Enforcer.
"Faelan!" Atalanta cried out before she dashed forward to grab his body before it could fall to the ground.
The Calydonian Boar pelt had kept the form it had taken when it had possessed Faelan's body as it managed to free itself from the wolf's maw, slamming its fist against the wolf's jaws before elbowing the wolf near the eye, causing the wolf to reflexively let go. Landing on the ground on all fours, the living Pelt reared back to release another roar, its glowing eyes glaring at the wolf who had shaken its great head before it glared at the Pelt with a growl, its hackles rising.
"Graarghh!" the Pelt roared in challenge.
The wolf answered by merely pulling its lips back in a snarl, baring its fangs.
"What the hell is going on?" Kairi frowned as he ran over to Atalanta who held Faelan in her arms. "Archer, how's the kid?"
"His breathing is erratic," Atalanta said in worry having taken him to the side where they wouldn't get caught in the battle between the wolf and the pelt. "How is this happening?" she uttered as her gaze turned towards the pelt.
"Who knows?" Kairi applied all the healing magecraft that he knew on Faelan, but nothing was taking. He shook his head before he turned his attention to the kid and stood up. "Dammit…"
"Where are you going?" Atalanta frowned.
"Going back to the room," Kairi said as he looked back in the direction of the castle. "Hopefully Faust kept her notes on her at the very least since it wasn't on any of the helicopters she came in on. She must've had some theory as to what would have happened by putting a Servant's Noble Phantasm into a person."
"Right," Atalanta nodded, though she looked doubtful.
Kairi returned the nod and ran back into the castle. The Archer Servant was about to grab the stretcher, however, before she could, the pelt had been slammed into the wall in front of her. The pelt growled as it got back up and leaped at the wolf, however, the wolf grabbed the pelt by its middle with its maw and crunched its jaws together. Releasing a whine, the pelt thrashed around as its body was cut in two before the two halves fell to the ground. The upper half tried to crawl away, but the wolf slammed one of its paws on it and its bared teeth from its jaws glinted in the moonlight as it tore off the Pelt's head and swallowed it whole. Adding more to Atalanta's shock, the wolf gathered the remaining pieces of the pelt into its mouth and swallowed them as well.
After that, as the wolf licked its lips, it then noticed Atalanta, who had materialized her bow as Mordred came to her side.
"Don't even think about it!" Mordred narrowed her eyes at the beast in front of them.
The wolf regarded the two Servants for a moment with its pale yellow eyes, before it snorted in clear dismissal as it stepped over them and walked over to Faelan.
"Did you just dismiss me?!" Mordred called out incredulously.
Atalanta however, was more afraid for her Master as the wolf stared down at her Master's unconscious body. She fired a set of arrows at the beast, but it disregarded her attacks and ignored them, its fur flashing a dark blue for a mere moment. The wolf gave the Servants one last baleful look before it brought its head back in Faelan's direction and reached down to press its snout against his forehead.
"Like hell I'm going to let you eat him!" Mordred exclaimed, rearing her sword back as she dashed forward towards the wolf.
However, to the Servants' surprise, the wolf touched its nose to Faelan's chest and its form began to dematerialize into motes of mana that converged onto Faelan body and disappeared into it. As a result, Mordred went through the disappearing wolf and landed some distance away. Once the last of the motes were gone, Faelan released a gasp while still unconscious, before he settled down, his breathing returning to normal.
"... what the hell?" Mordred raised a brow incredulous and shocked.
Atalanta ran to her Master's side, confirming his condition. "He's fine," she sighed in relief. "Thank the gods, he's fine."
"Oi, Archer, aren't you wondering what the hell just happened?" Mordred frowned at her as she walked in closer. "Because that shit wasn't normal, even by Holy Grail War standards! Hell, not even by the standards our Grail War ended up in!"
"I am," Atalanta admitted, sending a contemplative frown at Faelan before she walked over to the stretcher that had managed to survive. "However, right now, what's important is getting Faelan to a safe place. After that, we can speculate as to what occurred."
Mordred raised a brow, but nonetheless shook her head and walked over to help the Archer Servant. Come morning, she was going to the bar to drink whatever this was away, regardless if the bar was closed.
...
Arriving into the room, Kairi frowned at the corpse of Alexandria Faust, whose blood had pooled around her corpse from the gunshot wound in her neck. He spotted Mugetsu and the sidearm the kid liked to carry to the side, so he went over to pocket the 5.7 pistol and strapped the sword over his shoulder. Thank the Root, the kid added the strap to the sword's scabbard.
Unheeding the blood that had gotten on the soles of his boots, Kairi then proceeded over to the corpse and searched her body, eventually finding a small notebook in her pocket. Flipping through the pages, he noticed that while they weren't notes on Faust's magecraft, they were notes on her project concerning the kid. Pocketing the notebook, Kairi looked at the gunshot wound in Faust's neck again before he looked around and spotted the shattered window.
"Hmm…"
…
He finally got his target.
But he was too late to save the kid.
If only he hadn't hesitated, waiting for the Servant to kill her.
He was always too late when it actually mattered.
He watched as the Servants and the Master go after the possessed kid and fight him.
He had been tempted to shoot the kid.
If he got loose, there'd be no telling how many lives the kid would take.
…
Was that a giant wolf?
He watched as the wolf tore the pelt from the kid, fighting it.
Was all that even possible?
"Thought you'd be here…"
The man, wearing a black trenchcoat while carrying a Walther WA 2000 in his hands, turned on his heel, a Calico M950 in his left hand as he aimed at the voice's speaker, but hesitated when he saw who it was.
"Oh, it's you…"
"Hey Emiya," Kairi nodded with a casual wave, "been a while."
"Sisigou," Kiritsugu dipped his head in return as he slipped the Calico back into his coat.
"Nice shot on Faust," Kairi complimented the fellow freelancer.
Kiritsugu simply nodded again in reply before he placed his Walther WA 2000 in a carry case which he slung over his shoulder.
"How long were you on her trail?" Kairi asked.
"A week at most," Kiritsugu shrugged as he took out a pack of cigarettes, Dragon Smoke.
He took one out for himself, after placing it in his mouth, then he offered the pack to Kairi. The necromancer nodded in thanks and took one before taking out his lighter. Lighting up his own, he then offered his lighter to Emiya, who politely shook his head as he had his own lighter already in hand. Their respective cigarettes lit up, the two stood for a long moment, letting the nicotine burn their lungs.
"How's the kid?" Emiya eventually asked. "It was Ashford, wasn't it?"
"My Servant tells me he's fine," Kairi shrugged. "It's confusing the ever-living hell out of me, but he's still somehow breathing. You see what happened in the room? I was too busy dealing with a pack of ghouls."
"I saw," Kiritsugu nodded.
"To which?" Kairi raised a brow from behind his shades.
"Both," Kiritsugu blew out a ring of smoke.
"What, no help for old time's sake?" Kairi grinned.
"You had it handled," Kiritsugu shrugged. "Plus, the priority was Faust and the kid."
"Right," nodded Kairi.
"It'll be interesting," the Magus Killer noted, "seeing what the repercussions will be, having someone in this era with a Noble Phantasm coming from a Servant in their heart."
"Yeah, well, at least the kid has Barthomeloi buffering for him," sighed Kairi. "Otherwise, Enforcer or not, he'd be on the dissecting table faster than anyone could blink without having the Vice-Director's support."
"Don't forget about the kid's mother," Kiritsugu commented wryly.
Kairi grimaced, "Oh, right… she's not going to be happy when she hears about this."
"Good luck with that," Kiritsugu gave a small smirk.
"Pfft, you're not getting out of this easy, Magus Killer," Kairi scoffed, "I'm telling her that you were here and wasn't fast enough to intervene."
"You wouldn't," Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes.
"It's called self-preservation," Kairi grinned.
Kiritsugu opened his mouth to say something but seemed to have thought better of it as he closed it before shaking his head. "I swear, that woman should never meet my wife…"
"What? Is your wife a handful?" Kairi raised a brow.
Kiritsugu shoulders slumped a little, "You have no idea…"
A moment of silence passed as the two freelance mages continued to smoke the rather rare brand of cigarettes.
"So what now?" Kairi asked. "You gonna grab Faust's crest and be off your merry way?"
"That's the idea," Kiritsugu nodded as he frowned at the castle.
"Well, you don't have to worry about the clean-up," sighed Kairi as he jammed his cigarette into the portable ashtray he kept on himself. "I called in a favor with an associate of mine with the church."
"Thanks," Kiritsugu nodded.
Kairi simply gave his hand a wave as his reply as he turned on his heel and started walking towards the direction of where the car was.
Kiritsugu glanced at the leaving necromancer before he started his own trek towards Bran Castle. He needed to hurry up and finish this job if he wanted to be on time for his daughter's birthday.
…
When Kairi got back to the car, he saw Saber back in her modern clothes while leaning against the driver's door with her hands in her jacket's pockets. A glance inside the car revealed Atalanta seemingly fretting over the still unconscious Faelan who had been set to lie on the back seat with his head on his Servant's lap. Well, seemingly, for it appeared that she had no idea what to do with herself to help him.
"So, Master, what took you so long?" Mordred asked curiously.
"Hmm, just meeting with an old friend," Kairi shrugged as he walked over to the front passenger side and got in.
Puzzled, Mordred got in the driver's seat. "Out here?"
"Yeah, surprised me too," he chuckled.
"It's three in the morning," she pointed out. "Who'd be up at this hour?"
"Mage life, what can I tell you?" he shrugged with a smirk.
Mordred looked at him dubiously for a moment before shaking her head and turned on the car's ignition.
…
It had been waiting…
Waiting for the Servants and the necromancer to leave…
Waiting for the assassin to leave…
Waiting for the right moment…
Waiting until it could get its prize…
AN:
Sorry about the late chapter, like I said in the last chapter I posted, my schedule is kinda filled up and writing takes up a lot of time. A time of which I have to allocate to my research paper instead. This is probably the only chapter I'll post for the rest of the month, so don't expect another one until the first week of May.
As for Kerry showing up, well it's amazing how much inspiration one gets while watching other Fate series. Though don't expect UBW to make its debut much in this story. The Shirou in this story isn't the same as others. If anything, expect the Shirou in this story to be like the mundane Shirou from Fate/Kaleid.
In FGO news, I've been farming QP, daily materials, and a crap ton of embers. If you're friends with me on said game, you may have noticed that I got lucky and managed to summon Enkidu and MHX Alter, the reason why I've been farming more. Guess the hungry Sith will replace Nyalter as my boss killer. But don't worry, Nyalter, I still love you. Also, I'm sure my fellow FGO players know that the GUDAGUDA Legend of the Imperial Capital Grail rerun is almost upon us. It'll be fun to test out MHX Alter in this event. Though I may or may not try my hand in rolling for Okita Alter. Her regular counterpart is on my list of wanted Servants for the crazy NP gain with a double-Skadi setup but I'd be glad to get the "Devil Saber" if I could. My luck has been better than it was last year, so it'll be a coin toss.
Everyone stay safe and I'll see you all next time!