War and Scheme
Fuyuki, Republic of Japan, 110 P.A.
Emiya Shirou opened his eyes in a burst. His heartbeat bumped against his ribs. He awoke confused, with an unpleasant taste in the mouth and a particularly painful headache. But, as he was beginning to get used to such revivals since the Holy Grail War, Shirou stood up and looked around him. He was... in a hospital.
In fact, a large room filled with beds, simply separated by medical curtains. He heard whispering conversations and even his neighbor turning the pages of a newspaper. In the central aisle, a nurse was pushing a piece of furniture on wheels. The redhead scrubbed his neck trying to remember how he got there, but his memory was pretty empty... the headache didn't help. Ah... he was with Saber and Raiga. They were in a warehouse on the docks where his old man kept an arsenal. And...
Shirou pressed his hand over his mouth. His stomach had just turned back and a taste of bile came over his mouth. He remembered. He had just touched the bullets of the Thomson Contender...
It took a few moments for the young man to calm down.
It was still fuzzy in his mind, but he felt that he had absorbed something, a part of his father's memory, something that had to do with the double Origin of Kiritsugu. But the impression it left was more than unpleasant.
Less than an hour later, Shirou was sitting in a doctor's office. It was a room painted in white, with a large table and several posters extolling the merits of medicines. The man who was sitting in front of him was not the doctor who usually used this office, but a military man with a uniform at the collar adorned with the medical caduceus. Captain Mitsushima Arinobu calmly listened to Shirou tell him what he had experienced after touching a "personal object" belonging to his father:
"... and I vaguely remember dreaming about events in my father's life that he had never spoken to me about. How is that possible?"
Captain Mitsushima took out a deck of cards which he placed on the table, spreading out the rectangles of laminated cardboard. Unlike an ordinary card game, each card had a simple symbol: a yellow circle; a red plus sing; blue undulating lines; a black square; a green star.
"You've never seen cards like this, Emiya-san? These are Zener cards, they are used in parapsychological experiments, to test gifts such as precognition or telepathy. Before the city of Hiroshima was rifted to Rifts Earth, such experiences were only a curiosity. The few scientists who believed in ESP (extrasensory perception) abilities had never achieved a convincing success rate. But, in the last fifteen years... almost one in four Japanese have developed psionic faculties, not just telepathy or precognition. Some can move objects by the power of thought. And since their arrival, the people of Fuyuki have also begun to develop gifts of this kind. We assume they were latent among the inhabitants of your world, like those of this world... before the opening of the Rifts. The strange energies that travel through Rifts Earth would allow these faculties to manifest."
The doctor held out his hand to the pack of cards, and the pack floated before him:
"For my part, I am a 'Master psychic' with several different abilities, especially telekinesis. Having several different abilities is rare, less than one in ten is a Master Psychic."
Mitsushima shuffled the cards and spread four Zener cards in front of Shirou. Only the back of them was visible. With a gesture of the hand, the parapsychologist pointed them out to the redhead:
"Touch these cards without turning them over and tell me which symbol is marked on each of them."
Shirou hesitated then obeyed:
"A black square, a yellow circle, has a red plus sign and... a black square."
Captain Mitsushima looked at Shirou for a few seconds and then spoke:
"Are you sure?"
Shirou just shrugged his shoulders... it was just an impression, but he did not hesitate to give his answer because for him it was as clear as spring water. The nature of the cards seemed as written except that he did not see it with his eyes. It was like Structural Grasp Magecraft... except it was an instinctive aptitude.
Mitsushima turned the cards one by one: black square, yellow circle, a red plus sign, and a black square.
"A hundred percent success rate is statistically impossible. You have ESP faculties. It will take more time to know exactly what you are capable of doing, but it is obvious that your faculties are similar to psychomancy."
"Psychomancy?"
Captain Mitsushima smiled:
"The ability to read an object. Objects, especially personal objects used regularly, are imbued with fragments of the memory of those who use them. Psychomancy makes it possible to 'read' this information. For the most gifted, this gift even allows you to control 'smart' machines (like computers) without using a keyboard or voice commands, simply by touching the machine."
Shirou hesitated, seeing his embarrassment Captain Mitsushima encouraged him:
"You have something to says, Emiya-san?"
"I... my faculties are not limited to saying what symbol is on the card. I... I... I felt more things. Like... like the fact that you've had these cards for several years. And... how am I going to do that? I'm going to keep seeing other people's memories every time I touch something?"
Mitsushima immediately lost his smile. He understood how the young man felt. A gift like a psychometry could seem astounding, exhilarating... but unless you were a voyeur, it was mostly a source of embarrassment. No one normal could feel comfortable with the idea of receiving fragments of a person's memory by touching an object that belonged to them.
Captain Mitsuhima Arinobu placed four new Zener cards in front of Shirou:
"Emiya-san tell me the symbols on these cards."
The former Master sighed and touched the back of the cardboard rectangles, started again, leaving the hand on every card for a longer time, frowned before looking at the doctor with a puzzled air:
"I... I don't perceive anything. Cards are like... empty... there's no memory."
Mitsushima shook his head and says:
"I am a Master Psionnic. I have a talent called Nega-psychic, the ability to block the faculties of a less gifted psionic."
Shirou's initial relief turned into embarrassment:
"But it only works if you're close to me."
"Blocking the faculties of other psychics is only possible for a Master Psionic... but any psionic can learn to block his own. The theme of our first lesson is everything: how to control one's faculties."
The taxi dropped Shirou in front of his house. He felt exhausted. Her headaches were starting to dissipate thanks to a new kind of medication prescribed by Dr. Mitsushima, nevertheless, memories that were not him continued to torment Shirou. The memory of Kiritsugu... Even if he had just discovered this 'gift' of psychomancy, Shirou had already understood one thing. Memories 'inscribed' on an object were always related to the thoughts that an individual had when using it. This was logical.
So it was better to touch the bedside book of a serial killer than the weapon he used to commit his murders... And the bullets from the Thompson Contender had made him discover the worst aspect of his old man. Kiritsugu's double Origin reflected his adoptive father's obsession: to repair the world. And how? By cutting off the corrupt parts... that is, by eliminating the Magi that Kiritsugu considered a threat to world's peace.
Killing to bring peace... As a spectator of memories of the Magus Killer, Shirou understood the absurdity of his father's life. Kiritsugu had committed many crimes in the name of a notion as smoky as the common good. But in the end, Kiriitsugu had only destroyed his life, made the people he had loved to suffer and all in vain. His actions had not made the world a better place. The worst was that his foster father had become, in the eyes of the Magi community, one of those lawless killers he was chasing.
Lost in thought Shirou had entered the property and followed the graven alley that led to the entrance. But as he reached out his hand, the door opened itself.
He jolted, surprised to be in front of Saber and, two steps back, Sakura. The female knight looked at him with the serious look she always had when she hid her worry. As for Sakura, she pressed her hands against her chest, looking at him with a sad look on her lovely face.
"Um... Konban wa... (Good evening)."
"Shirou, are you okay?"
Saber's question took him a little by surprise. But not giving him time to answer, she went on:
"I wanted to look after you, but the doctors didn't want me to stay in the hospital, despite my insistence."
The young redhead had a slight smile, imagining the scene without difficulty... Saber had a rather overwhelming presence sometimes... well, all the time.
"You would have interfered with the doctors' work and other patients, Saber."
"That's what the doctors said. But my duty as a knight requires me to stay close to protect you."
"Saber, the Grail War is over."
Surprisingly, the young blonde woman shook her head:
"I have just received a message from Rin. It may well be that the worst is yet to come."
Sakura had prepared the evening meal. As always, it was delicious. The young Matou was not yet a chef equal to Shirou, but she was not far away. Shirou had helped her do the dishes and then they came back to the table to have tea while listening distractingly to the Otomo Shogunate's tv. They had first discussed Shirou's medical check-up. Saber and Sakura had shown visible relief when they learned that the redhead was not sick. The young Matou had asked some questions about psychometry and seemed troubled (1). Shirou then came to talk about his discoveries about his father and Saber listened with a closed-in face. Apparently, Shirou's discoveries did not surprise her. When he remained silent, clenching his fists, Saber touched his hand.
"Shirou, that's not the memory you need to remember from your adoptive father. The fact that he managed to make you who you have become proves that he was not a bad man. He was wrong and he paid it. But it must not become the image you will retain of Kiritsugu. Nor must you try to 'repair' your father's mistakes. As a Servant, as a dead woman returned to the living, I am better placed than anyone to understand that the dreams and hopes of the dead belong to the past. It is up to the living to decide their lives, their future. We are in a new world with its challenges, its stakes, its rules, everything is different now. For all of us, this is a blank page. You mustn't let Kiritsugu's failures determine who you are. The past should serve only as a reminder of mistakes not to commit, it should not be a charge that immobilizes you. That's what you made me understand. And that applies to you too. Don't forget who you are."
There was a moment of silence, Shirou was immersed in deep reflections and Saber waited for him to emerge. Near them, Sakura... Sakura had listened. Her experience was different from that of Shirou or Saber, but she also carried a heavyweight. Abused children never resented their executioners. They believed that they were guilty and that they were fully responsible for their 'crimes'. And Sakura suffered without being able to talk about it, without wanting to talk about it. She wanted to keep her secret, but... what would happen if her secret was no longer a secret? Who would she become? Would she feel free? She did not believe it. Sakura thought on the contrary that something horrible would happen... Of course, the teenage girl didn't know what would happen, it was just a feeling... a certainty. If the truth about 'Sakura Matou' spread, the people she loved... would suffer. Sakura felt it without knowing why. So her secret had to remain a secret. She stood up and decided to change the subject:
"Senpai?"
Shirou flinched and turned to her:
"Sakura?"
Immediately, the purple-haired girl smiled, this shy but radiant little smile that was so characteristic to her. Whenever Shirou said her name, the young Matou felt a delicious heartthrob and she felt happy. It was this happiness that she wanted to protect...
"Saber got a message from Rin, it's important."
Shirou turned to the Knight in petticoats. She nodded:
"It's true, very serious things are happening in Kyoto..."
She began to recount the theft of the treasures of the coronation.
Again Shirou thought feverishly, trying to find a solution to his dilemma. His forehead folded. Although he was not intellectually inferior to Archer (how could he be?) his lack of experience and impetuosity often led him to make hasty and ultimately more dangerous than useful decisions.
The few weeks of relative calm, since the end of the Grail War had at least had this positive effect that he had time to reflect on this problem. He scratched his head... Ok, rushed decision equals 'bad'. But even when he took the time to think, his answer remained the same. He wanted to leave Fuyuki to join Rin... except that Archer had clearly explained that he and Saber had to stay here. And of course, his (self-proclaimed) 'intelligent' version has highlighted perfectly logical arguments. At the time, Shirou had found nothing to complain about but... at the time, Rin was not at the focal point of a civil war threatening to destroy the New Empire.
He crossed his arms and sighed. Surely there had to be an intelligent way to solve the problem?
Despite the situation, Artoria bit her lip not to laugh. Shirou was still Shirou... She speaks with a gentle smile:
"Do you think we should join Kyoto to help Rin?"
Emiya quivered:
"Uh... yes."
"I agree with you."
This time, Shirou understood nothing:
"I thought you wanted to stay here and protect Fuyuki."
Saber nodded:
"As my Master said and of course that's what I'm trying to do. But is staying here the best decision? Takamatsu is already ravaged by civil war, now it is the turn of the New Empire. This succession of attacks is not the result of erratic events. Someone is working in the shadows to weaken the Japanese states. And it is not by waiting here for the next attack that we will be able to protect Fuyuki. Iriku Ō is or is not the author of this plot, but it is certainly an essential part of it. We must defeat this infernal being and bring back the treasures of the coronation to Kyoto."
On hearing Saber, Sakura felt a moment of panic. Shirou and she were going to leave Fuyuki. For a moment she wanted to say something to prevent them from leaving, but she opened her mouth without being able to say a word.
It was selfish of her.
Saber was right, they had to leave, but...could she go with them? No, that was stupid too. They would refuse. She was not a real Magus. She had never learned Magecraft, she would be an embarrassment.
Why was she always helpless?
Sakura felt deeply vulnerable... if only... if only Rider were still there!
Feeling a sudden pain in her right hand, Sakura rubbed herself mechanically and was surprised to feel the dampness of the blood on her fingers. She looked at the back of her hand and opened big surprised eyes.
As if invisible scissors were at work, a gray drawing was cutting off on her skin... a Command Seal still inactive.
The Grail had just chosen the second Master of the future Grail War.
Kyoto, New Empire, 110 P.A.
For the second time in two days, Tohsaka Rin was in an elegant tea lounge facing an important character. The only difference is that - this time - it was not she who received. The dragon Lo Fung sat in seiza by her side and peacefully discussed with an important minister of the Tennō named Mishima Akira. The man dressed in a particularly sumptuous red silk kimono and eboshi (a high black hat) fanned himself by listening to the dragon talking to him about unimportant things.
This kind of conversation was usual before entering the hearth of the matter, but Rin had to force herself to remain smiling and take part in this sterile discussion. She was clamping at the bit. Rin wanted to scream that it was not the time to stupidly waste time as well.
[Calm down, Rin! Don't forget you're here to ask for a favor.]
[Actually, no, I'm here to help them.]
[Against reciprocity] insisted Archer. [And you must present this as a service that you ask them so that Minister Mishima does not lose face. I doubt that we will have time to wait until Minister Mishima is seppuku and his replacement is appointed to ask for returning the sacred treasure.]
Rin refrained from sighing and drank a sip of tea while faking a kindly smile to the minister. Luckily, the Tohsaka heiress used to pretend to be a perfect girl...
[I remember what we agreed to. I'm not going to improvise, rest assured.]
Fortunately, Minister Mishima had finally decided to talk about important things:
"But you came to me for a favor, you told me. How can a minister of His Majesty the Tennō help, a powerful dragon is as honorably known as you are."
Lo Fung smiled and drank a sip of tea:
"This humble monk does not deserve such compliments. I thank you for having accepted to receive me and to respond kindly to my unworthy request."
With a gesture of the hand the chiang-ku dragon pointed to Rin:
"Tohsaka-san, is the Second Owner of Fuyuki, the ultimate authority on magic in this region. Unfortunately, she faces a serious problem that requires significant magic support, a Leyline Walker able to use the Open Rift ritual, to be precise."
Minister Mishima opened big surprised eyes and waved his fan:
"As you know, opening a Rift is dangerous."
He turned to Rin:
"Tohsaka-san, I could possibly sign a decree authorizing you to open a Rift, but why do you want it?"
Rin answered without lying:
'It is imperative that I reconnect with my homeworld. Some of the magic problems I have cannot be solved without it, Mishima-dono."
"I see."
He thought for a moment:
"It is indeed an important service that you ask of me, Tohsaka-san. It's not an easy task to convince the Tennō, you would have to do us an important service."
They had arrived at the decisive moment when everything would be decided. The Tohsaka heiress smiled with confidence:
"I would be glad to oblige. I am a talented Magus and I have at my service two Servants, spirits of heroes of the past invoked at that time. If there is a quest you want to entrust to us, as hard and impossible as it may seem, we will be able to succeed."
Mishima remained to ponder for a few moments. No doubt the negotiations that preceded their meeting had already informed him that Rin offered to go in search of the treasure of the coronation because he did not hesitate:
"The New Empire is in terrible danger. The government of His Majesty the Tennō is slowly losing control of the country. Some daimyos seek to detach themselves from the empire to form independent states; those who have broken the alliance are already plotting against His Majesty. In addition, hordes of bandits rushed from the Freeland, supported by the barbarians of the North. Our weakness is visible to everyone and everyone rushes to attack and tear us apart."
The minister hid his face in his sleeves as a sign of shame. He spoke again after a few moments:
"Magus Tohsaka, this soulless dog Iriku, is trying to pit shoguns and daimyos all over Japan against us. It's his entire fault, but how defeats a demon? He lives hundreds of leagues from here, safe in his fortress of Oniraku. Only a hero could succeed in going to such a place to find the treasure stolen by this infernal being."
Rin smiles:
"Archer and Saber are heroes, entrust us with this desperate mission and we will accomplish it, Minister Mishima."
The man nodded and folded his fan in a dry slap:
"So be it! If you succeed, no one in the New Empire will dispute that you are our friend, and in this case, the Tennō will allow you to open a Rift to your homeworld."
Rin bowed deeply:
"I am grateful to you, Mishima-dono. I accept this mission, may I deserve the benevolence of the Tennō."
North-East border, New Empire, 110 P.A.
Shūto Castle was an impressive square fortress. In its center was a tower with multiple curved roofs and walls painted in white. At each corner, a smaller tower with many windows was held by archers. The walls were low, made of irregular stones carefully assembled. But unlike a western stronghold, there wasn't really a walkway. In fact, the volume inside the ramparts had been filled with earth and the soldiers gathered behind the parapets were on the same level as the inner courtyard.
The garrison was substantial, nearly 1,500 soldiers. The infantry included yari samurais with spears, yari ashigaru, seigen swordmaster with two-handed no-dashi, Saika matchlock gunner (2) mercenaries' arquebusiers, no-dashi samurais, Teppo samurais armed with matchlock guns, and naginata warrior monks. The artillery consisted of eight Namban bombards. As for the cavalry, it included Horos samurais, spear-armed cavalry units, and Yumi cavalry samurais trained to aims and fire a bow with ridding.
The walls of Shūto's Castle were shaken by short-range missile explosions fired by launchers on all-terrain vehicles. And two gigantic battle robots towering near ten meters above the ground advanced firing rockets and bursts of shells fired by rail guns. Simultaneously, a tank opened fire on the front door with a powerful laser gun.
These modern weapons could not open a breach.
Behind the walls, Magi recited incantations:
"Armor of Ithan."
The missiles aimed at the ramparts collided with bluish energy covering the stones. The explosions did not cause any damage, although the faces of the Magi are covered with sweat and tense under the effort required by concentration.
At the main gate, another group of Magi was at work:
"Imperious to energy."
This time the laser gun was completely ineffective. This spell made an object or person invulnerable to energy weapons.
Around the antique-looking cannons, Japanese warriors wearing Do-Maru (metal plates armor protecting chest and abdomen) prepared the cannons of the castle. Despite their archaic appearance, they were very powerful weapons not requiring gunpowder. As a cannonball was placed in the tube, an officer carrying a war fan made a sharp gesture:
"Ute! (Fire!)"
The lying monster roared, while the fire elemental bounded to the artillery tube spat the cannonball.
There the projectile hit a combat robot in the torso. In a metallic crash, it wavered. Damaged, the robot turned around and riposted with the rail gun he held between his arms.
For more than an hour, the exchange of fire between the assailants and the defenders continued. While the fire of the mercenaries in Otomo's service failed to attack the castle's defenses, the response proved very effective. The two giant robots and the tank were reduced to the states of smoking wrecks, destroyed by archaic artillery pieces. As for the all-terrain, they had fired all their missiles without much result.
Nevertheless, the assailants refused to give up, the mercenary infantry advanced towards the walls to take on the arquebusiers.
The arquebusiers were well protected behind the parapets pierced by narrow windows. Clad in Hara-ate armors (lamellar chest protection with tight guards) with Kote (armored sleeves) and Sune-ate (shin guard) they wearing Jingasa helmets (helmets of the same shape as the typical Asian conical straw hats). They would reload their weapons squatting out of the embrasure and only get up to aim and fire.
In spite of the rails-guns bursts of projectiles directed towards the windows, the mercenaries of the Otomo Shogunate had to advance in the open and the shots of the TW Fire-Breathing Arquebus wreaked havoc.
Nevertheless, the mercenaries reached the walls and raised ladders. The direct assault was greeted by Ashigaru warriors armed with Yari (straight spears). Held shoulder to shoulder, they formed a wall of spearheads. Despite the use of grenades and plasma incinerator guns, the initial assault was bloody and the assailants only established a bridgehead after heavy losses.
But more and more infantrymen were heading towards them as the Yumi samurai turned in the courtyard, mounted on their nobles horses, shooting arrows over the walls at the soldiers massed at the foot of the ladders.
The battle around the beachhead was a close contact one and the mercenaries were neither as trained nor as well equipped as the samurai for this type of fighting. They fought bravely but eventually lost their footing and fled.
The battle had been won by the defenders, the mercenaries of the Otomo Shogunate were barely able to retreat, leaving more than a thousand of them on the ground, while the losses of the Imperials did not even amount to two hundred dead.
But the war was just beginning and a hundred times more mercenaries converged on the border.
(1) Sakura had a few things to hide, such as her relationship with her brother, or that Rin is her real sister or even her grandfather's behavior towards her.
(2) The New Empire used Techno-Wizards (TW) Fire-Breathing Arquebus and bombards. This weapon uses binding fire elementals to metal replicas of European 16th-century muskets, canons, or Chinese arquebuses (bell-shaped, short-range shotguns/mortars) to replicate the effect of gun powder, but with much more power (in terms of Rifts Rules, they are Mega-Damage weapons).