Spiders' Island
Out of breath, Tohsaka Rin chased out one of her pigtails over her shoulder with one hand before looking at the magnificent panorama lying at her feet. At the beginning of the 21st century, in her original world, the Akushiro Cliff was a visited tourist site. Not without reason...
The superimposed cliffs formed like the first two steps of a staircase cracked by the passage of time. Trees and shrubs grew along the least steep slopes, even in the cracks of the cliff. In the shade, a few patches of snow remained, while spring had already begun in the valley.
"Archer, where do we go?"
Rin turned to the red-clad knight who stood two steps behind her, arms down, empty hands... but ready to fight. The wind of heights shook his white hair and clasped around his legs the bottom of his Red Plain Mystic Code.
EMIYA took a few moments to think and then showed the valley at the floor of the cliff.
"We must go down."
Rin crossed her arms on her chest and looked away in a bad mood:
"After the time it took us to climb here? I hope you're kidding!"
Archer sighed excessively to show that his Master exasperated him. He replied with that kind of patient tone that one adopted in front of a child who made a whim:
"Rin we did not take this road because it was the most direct route but because it allowed us to circumvent territories at war."
The Servant showed the mountain road... once a hiking trail.
"The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route continues in the right direction but... ends at the Mount Tate glacier. It's a dead end."
He showed a high mountain which one could see further north-east.
"You will go around the whole mountain range, along the coastal plain."
Rin had not moved during his explanation, but a drop of sweat had appeared on her cheek. What happened when she stubbornly refused to acknowledge the true but had nothing to offer to challenge reasonable arguments.
"Rin?"
The young Master blushed violently.
"All right, all right... How do you want to get off?"
"Oh, nothing very complicated..."
Without explaining anything, EMIYA lifted Rin, holding her under her shoulders and ankles... like a princess! Obviously, Rin blushed even more violently... but more for the same reasons.
"Ar... Archer... warn me before..."
"Don't speak, Master, or you'll bite your tongue."
And EMIYA jumped.
It took three days to return to the coastal plain. For a Heroic Spirit, the distance was not very important. By running, with Rin in his arms, the Servant of the Bow could certainly have arrived in less than a day. Alas, the area was patrolled by samurai on horseback that had nothing friendly. EMIYA preferred to opt for caution, moving slowly not to attract attention and avoiding open ground.
After circumventing the ruins of the Ganmokuyama Ryusen Temple, Rin and Archer arrived in an area where the cataclysms of the last centuries had transformed.
In the past, it was the small town of Kamishi... There was nothing left but a few ruins that emerged from a coastal marsh. The disaster, however, preserved the E8 motorway. At the time of the opening of the Rifts, the road network had been completely redone in megacrete, an almost indestructible material. The elevated road had suffered little and offered a dry path through the marsh.
They continued northeast towards the ruins of Namerikawa.
The small town surrounded by wheat fields had also disappeared under the waters of the marsh covered with mists. Only a few megacrete buildings emerged from the waves, often leaning aside, or even completely ruined. Continuing northeast, the E8 motorway crossed the Kurobe River and the town of the same name.
The fog was now so thick that even Archer could not see more than a few steps away. Nevertheless, he was the first to notice a dirt road heading east. As recent construction as the dirt road, a sign indicated a direction. The ideograms painted on the wooden panel meant Tamashī no ido (Well of Souls).
"Rin, I see another elevated road in the fog. I think it's the Toyama Chiho Railroad. By the way, these ruins there, this is the Kurobe-Unazukionsen's railway station.
Rin rubbed her lips thoughtfully.
"The highway is heading in the right direction, but it runs along the coast and there is no evidence that the earthquakes left it untouched. The railroad is... Well, it's also a road that predates the Rifts opening. Remains the dirt road... it's a new road, a post-Rifts era creation, it must lead to a community that still exists. But 'Well of Souls'? It's not a very reassuring name."
Archer was tense, looking around them as if he feared they could be attacked at any moment.
"We are now in an area that is no longer controlled by humans. We are in 'The Zone', the area populated by the Onis."
"You think it's an oni's village," asked Rin.
Archer nodded without a word.
"Let's follow the railroad."
"Well, stay behind me, Rin."
Following the railway, Rin and Archer arrived at the Hayatsuki River. The bridge had collapsed long ago. All that remained were the pillars that emerged... from the sea. Indeed, the coast had moved and there remained only the rusty remains of the Ferris wheel of the 'Mirage Land' amusement park to remind human civilization.
Taking Rin in his arms again, Archer skillfully leaps from one pillar to another moving with high speed and elegance.
However... to the great surprise of the Servant, the waters began to bubble as immense tentacles of the thickness of a human torso came out of the waves to seek to catch them!
"Kraken!"
EMIYA recognized the hideous head of a monster nicknamed "The Arms of Death". This creature belonged to the legends of Northern Europe. It was said that he could sink a ship and that some were so large that the sailors had mistaken them for islands as they swam near the surface. Besides, this gigantic squid must have been two hundred meters long, and it was not even the greatest specimen of its kind!
What was that sea monster doing so close to the coast?
Why was he attacking them?
The Servant of the Bow had no answer to these questions. However, it was not the most important. A supernatural creature as powerful as a Kraken could easily hurt a Heroic Spirit. With Rin in his arms and no solid soil under him, EMIYA was clearly at a disadvantage.
Bouncing against a pillar, Archer rapidly Traced about twenty swords - Mystic Codes- that appeared around him. He projected them with a thought against the nearest tentacles, boiling the water under the impacts.
Taking advantage of the distraction he had just provided to the monster, Archer Traced a shield and jumped on it using it as a temporary platform to bounce and change direction quickly.
With her arms tied around his neck, Rin looked over EMIYA's shoulder:
"Archer!"
"I know!"
Indeed, through his skill Mind's Eye (Tue), the former Alaya's Dog was able to sense the movements of his enemies and predict their actions. He Traced a shield and - again - jumped on it to change direction as the tentacles struck around them.
They were back on the south shore. Running as fast as he could, Archer moved away from the Hayatsuki River... Of course, EMIYA was confident in his abilities. But he was not stupid. There was nothing to be gained by facing a Kraken.
He used to make the menu of the day... not appear on the menu of the day. It was a new experience for the Servant but it was not exactly a pleasant one.
The coastal swamp was a labyrinth composed of muddy islets separated by puddles of water almost as muddy. Apart from the mist and tall grass, there was only this, water and mud. There was no place dry enough to establish a camp, and the rotten pieces of wood found in the mud were too wet to light a fire. After half a day in this environment, even Archer had completely lost his sense of direction.
Holding Rin by the hand, EMIYA walked in front, probing the mud with his foot in search of a path that would not collapse under their weight. They were going around in circles, trying to escape the trap that had closed on them.
As the night approached, a torrential rain began to fall, so much so that the travelers were soon completely soaked. Nevertheless, the shower brought at least one positive change: the fog dissipated.
Strengthening his eyes with Reinforcement Magecraft, Archer was able to discover a hill emerging from the backwater.
In a final effort, they climbed the hill, while around them all the marsh fauna - rats, salamanders, snakes, and giant newts- fled the sudden flood of the Hayatsuki River.
"This quagmire is a death trap," Rin sighed as she dropped to the ground.
EMIYA could only approve.
RIfts Earth was a nightmarish planet... even a Servant struggled to survive in this environment!
While Projecting a tent, two sleeping bags, and a gas stove, Archer looked around him. The hill was a place of no interest. There were only a few trees covered with wet mosses emerging from the uneven ground. However, two of these trees were connected by an impressive spider web... two trees ten meters away!
Cautiously, the Red Knight approached the spider's web. He listened attentively, arms down, hands open, his back muscles stretched like piano strings.
When the ground rose, in front of him, he jumped back and extended his arms...
"Trace On!"
His hands closed on Kanshou and Bakuya emerging from nothingness.
The mandibles covered with the gigantic tarantula's venom slammed into the void as EMIYA stepped aside like a toreador dodging the charge of a bull. The Married Blades described a circle arc rendered fluorescent by the blue prana. He had aimed at the monster's legs, precisely the joint of two of them...
The thick keratin could not resist the Noble Phantasms wielded by a Heroic Spirit. The monster screamed and collapsed sideways, as the sliced legs fell next to him in a splash of a disgusting liquid.
While the monster was pitifully trying to get up, unbalanced by the loss of two of its legs on the same side, Archer threw Kanshou in the direction of the monster's head. The Chinese saber plunged deep between the two central eyes of the filthy creature. Yet that is not enough to kill it.
The monstrous spider rushed forward and Archer made a gesture with his empty hand, clutching Bakuya in the other. And several swords materialized in the air... At first sight, they were Ulfberht-type Viking swords... except that these single-handed swords were three meters long and were almost as wide as a human torso. These were blades used by the giants of Jötunn, the enemies of the Aesir, the gods of Scandinavian mythology.
Like a steel harrow falling from the sky, the four Jötunn swords pierced the filthy spider, nailing it to the ground.
Archer finished the monster by cutting off his head.
The Servant looked around him in search of new dangers and... he saw more spider webs uniting other trees.
He rushed to the tent and forced Rin to stand.
The young Magus, completely exhausted, immediately fell asleep. Even in normal times, she had trouble waking up. Given the circumstances, Archer had to shake her for a long time so that she finally opened her eyes.
"Rin, the island is a giant spider's den and the water keeps rising, we'll never survive until morning if we stay there!"
Archer raised the shield that he came to Trace. One of the twelve eight-shaped Ancilia (Sacred shields) of the King of Rome Numa Pompilius. The saliva of the giant spider partially covered the face of the god Mars engraved in metal. But thanks to the powerful protections of the Noble Phantasm, the silk did not stick and fell to the ground.
"Stay behind me, Rin!"
He held out his hand
"Trace On!"
And his fingers closed on a medieval sword suddenly emerging from nothingness. Its pommel and guard were richly decorated with Arabic motifs.
It was Tizuna, the Noble Phantasm of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. According to the meaning of its name (old Spanish for 'Firebrand'), the sword ignited as he wielded it.
The weapon did wonders against the giant tarantula and he left his smoking body behind. Nevertheless, the brief battle was enough for the passage he wanted to take to be blocked. Fortunately, the spiders had only stretched a few silk cables between two trees. The sword of El Cid Campeador easily carbonized the obstacle.
Taking Rin by the hand, EMIYA ran down the hill.
Some of the giant spiders chased them to the ground, others moved between the trees, running on the silk bridges that formed a network in the forest.
"Are you all right?"
He turned for a moment to watch Tohsaka. Completely soaked by the rain that continued to fall and refrigerated, Rin replied with a simple nod. Her eyes embedded in the sockets were surrounded by black circles, and her lips were pale as bloodless...
Yet she stretched out her arm:
"Gandr!"
Struck by several black projectiles surrounded by a red aura, a spider the size of a large dog fell from the top of a tree as it prepared to jump. The giant spider turned on its back before frantically waving its legs... and dying.
Archer changed direction.
"Let's go this way!"
With a few sword strokes, he'll rip open a spider webs wall.
Pushing Rin to run despite her exhaustion, Archer pulled the Magus behind him down the hill. They emerged from the forest and found the marsh. Night had now fallen. With the sky masking the stars, the darkness was complete.
However, if one only saw the phosphorescence of the water, EMIYA heard some not very reassuring lapping... and it was not the rain.
Raising Tizuna above his head as if it was a torch, he discovered... a titanic water strider walking on the surface of the swamps!
"Swords Barrel Full Open" shouted the Servant.
EMIYA materialized a dozen of Nobles Phantasms out of Unlimited Blade Works and threw them at the spider that was rushing towards them. The monster literally ends up cut into pieces.
Lifting up Rin, the Wrought Iron Hero ran and leaped, quickly moving away from the spiders' island. Arriving on a stable island, he rested his Master and Traced his big black bow.
His eyes searched the night, looking for a target. There was someone who was running these spiders and had launched this pack of eight-legged monsters after them. And he discovered this leader... in the middle of the spiders there was a creature... the top of her body was that of a very beautiful Japanese woman. The long black hair was styled in a complex way. Her face was white and she had a beautiful kimono covered with floral motifs... but she wasn't a woman. She had four tiny eyes on her forehead, arranged between the main eyes... the same layout as the six eyes of a spider... And, like a centaur, the bottom of her body was that of an animal. In her case, the eight-legged body of a giant spider. She was a Jorō-gumo, the legendary spider-woman of Japanese tales.
A bluish aura surrounded the Servant as he concentrated, reaching out a hand.
" I am the bone of my sword"
He Traced a sword with a blade coiled into a spiral. Caladbolg II: The Fake Spiral Sword
As he took the sword and placed it on the bow rope, the blade lengthened and thinned, turning into a kind of arrow wrapped in red flames. Soon Archer's aura took on the same color and an incredible pressure made the air vibrate as the Servant concentrated on the sword-arrow magical energy that far exceeded the most disheveled phantasms of the human Magi. Using his Magecraft, EMIYA altered the Noble Phantasm for 'Breaking' it so that it releases all its energy on impact.
"Caladbolg!"
He uttered the True Name of the Noble Phantasm while releasing the bow rope. Caladbog rushed towards the sky, like a kind of meteor wrapped in red energy, and fell back to the ground. Archer had a smirk when he saw the Spiders scattering in all directions in a panic. An expression of horror distorted the face of the Jorō-gumo as she watched her punishment illuminate the night.
A moment later, a violent explosion formed a sphere of light too blinding to be watched. The mushroom of flames and smoke which succeeded the collapse of the plasma sphere burned the spiders' island to the ground, leaving only a smoking crater quickly filled by the boiling waters.
Archer lifted Rin unconscious and jumped to escape the tsunami generated by the explosion.
Throughout the Republic of Japan, seismographs reacted.
The curves that were imprinted on the computer listings did not correspond to an earthquake.
By comparing the readings, they defined the deposit in Toyama Prefecture.
According to experts, it was an explosion equivalent to 1KT of TNT, like a small nuclear tactical warhead.
When he landed on an island, EMIYA sighed.
Of course, spiders were no longer a problem... but Rin was in bad shape. The young Magus needed care, food, and above all rest in a dry and warm place. Except they were always lost in a swamp in flood, in the middle of the night...
"Nice place," say Emiya laughing at himself with his habitual smirk "a real tourist trap..."
Rin awoke feverish and exhausted.
The Tohsaka heiress opened her eyes to discover the ceiling of a natural cave. She was lying on a camp bed. Her stomach rumbled and the young Magus discovered that she was starving.
No doubt she had been on an empty stomach for a long time, but it was also the result of the appetizing smell that had awakened her.
At the entrance of the cave, on a wood fire, was cooking a white stew, a recipe typical of modern - post-Meiji- Japan (the white sauce being a Japanese adaptation of the French béchamel sauce).
Seeing his Master standing up, Archer smiled at her.
"Rin, don't leave the bed."
He rushed to her and crammed a few Traced pillows into her back so that she could sit comfortably.
He watched her eat with a little concern. He had to adapt the recipe to his means. Admittedly, he had found onions, carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. These vegetables returned to the wild were common around the old human settlements. But he had no butter or olive oil. As for the chicken, he had replaced it with small birds that he had hunted in the vicinity.
But Rin nodded enthusiastically and ate as if she had fasted for two days... which was really the case.
While she devoured her meal, Archer explained to her what had happened in class since she had lost consciousness.
"I carried you until the morning and the rain stopped falling. The water level dropped and I finally found the remains of an elevated road. I ran to the foothill of Mount KyukiKura. Then I looked for a cave and changed your clothes."
Realizing suddenly what these last words meant, Rin blushed violently and turned her head to cover her embarrassment. She breathed in, breathed out, and decided she was angry... because... because... she was right all along and that idiot Archer didn't listen to her:
"We should never have left the mountains!"
Archer remained for a moment surprised by Rin's sudden vehemence... and sighed before acquiescing.
"Yes, Master. I was wrong."
Rin crossed her arms and sniffed haughtily.
"Of course I'm right! Have you forgotten who I am? I'm the Tohsaka heiress, I'm a genius Magus! And you are really the worst of the Servants, arrogant, unreliable. When I think that Shirou travels with Saber!"
She stopped for a moment, having broken down her frustration, also realizing that EMIYA knew her too well to believe that she was really angry for not having predicted a sequence of... coincidences?
Rin had an arm past her belly and rubbing her lips. A usual attitude when she was thoughtful.
"Hopefully, it was only coincidences..."
Archer approved with a head move. He had made the same thought. Samurais were patrolling the area, the ruins of the old railway bridge were defended by a Kraken and a torrential storm had begun as they entered a swamp where giant spiders lived.
Even for his E-rank Luck parameter, it was a lot of bad luck.
Sitting on a hideous throne, in a dark room lit by only a few braziers, a figure dressed in a black monk's robe was intensely looking at a metallic cauldron on a copper tripod.
The cauldron was filled with a luminous liquid that brought forth shifting shadows as if the hideous rococo ornaments that covered the walls and columns were moving slowly.
In fact, this basin allowed using divinatory magic that allowed the Archdevil to see other places and even to have glimpses of the future.
Currently, the individual dressed in a black monk's dress was watching and listening to Rin and Archer in their cave.
As the Master said, "Hopefully, it s was only coincidences..." He chuckled.
"I think your bad luck will continue for a while, Tohsaka-san, but rest assured not very long... only until the grave. But as your life is almost over..." He left the rest of his unfinished sentence with a low, threatening laugh.
Grasping a rod Ikiru Ō ignited one end and then plunged it into the liquid of the basin while murmuring incantations for a new curse.
After the flood, the giant spiders, and the Kraken, it was time for something really dangerous. Archer had proved far more powerful than the king of the Onis had thought.
Fuyuki, Republic of Japan
The crypt under the Matou Mansion looked like a hypogeum. In the walls, there was a succession of openings like loculli, underground tombs... except that they were not simple holes. They were underground passages that allowed the despicable insects controlled by Matou Zouken to circulate throughout the city.
But tonight, we didn't see any of the monsters used by Matou's Magecraft. There were only two men present.
The first was the housemaster, the terrifying Zouken Matou, an old and ugly man with a bald head and hunched over. He was wearing a green and brown plain kimono.
The second man was standing in front of a magic circle that Zouken had just drawn on the ground with human blood. Fei Fong Li the Geo-Immortal was a Chinese man falsely young, wearing traditional Chinese mandarin Hanfu (dress) and a black mandarin hat adorned with three peacock feathers.
The Matou's patriarch spoke:
"I changed the circle so that you would summon a Berserker, as we agreed."
Fei Fong Li nodded.
He didn't really participate in the Rifts Grail War to get the wish of the Grail. However, if that happened, it would be a bonus that the Geo-Immortal would not refuse. It had been sent to Fuyuki by the Otomo's Shogun. The latter had entrusted him with the mission of provoking unrest... so as to divert the attention of the Republicans while the Otomo Shogunate invaded its neighbors. In the eyes of the Geo-Immortal, it was a limited and infantile objective, perfectly laughable. But it was above all a perfect opportunity to destabilize Japan... the real goal of Fei Fong Li. This chaos would benefit the Ba'als, the true masters of the Geo-Immortal.
Matou Zouken knew the true goal of Fai Fong Li. Contrary to the pawns the Chinese used, the Matou elder was a true ally (for the time being in any case) both men were selfish, never hesitating to sacrifice others to achieve their ambitions. And this old ghoul asked in exchange for his help that the Ba'als make him immortal... because Zouken was terrorized at the idea of his own death.
The two Magi were at the center of a whirlwind of intrigue and manipulations uniting the jealousy of a human sovereign, the desire of an Archdevil to open a door to the netherworld, the imperial ambitions of other mortals. They were manipulating each other, each of them believing to be the true puppeteer.
They were all wrong.
They were only the puppets whose threads were drawn by the terrible Ba'al who reigned ' through the glass darkly".
Fei Fong Li breathed in and held out his right hand towards the magic circle. In the other, he held a catalyst, a fragment of Ming-era armor... Normally the Fuyuki Grail accepted only the Westerners and Christian Servants but... since the Einzbern had invoked Angra Mainyu this restriction had been lifted.
Slowly, the Geo-Immortal began to speak, reciting an invocation:
"Hear me, your envelope will belong to me, my destiny will be entrusted to your blade if you submit to the call of the Holy Grail. If you agree to submit to my will then answer, I swear eternally I will incarnate good, and eternally I will submit evil. Ô, you one of the seven deities who carry the three magic words emerges from the circle that imprisons you. Protector of the scale bends to my will and I will entrust my destiny to your blade."
From the first words, the circle of invocation began to radiate a blue light that soon turned orange. Swirls of blue prana formed above the ground pattern before an evanescent silhouette emerged and gradually materialized.
The being that had just appeared was not human, it was some sort of mechanical centaur with four arms! His breastplate was adorned with vicious spikes but nonetheless had also the look of traditional Chinese armor. The face was hidden by a white mask with horns at the temples. His hair was brown and very long, resembling the tail of his horse part. And in each of his four hands, the servant held a sword.
The Heroic Spirit spoke in a calm voice, without any emotion:
"Servant Berserker, are you my Master?"
The Geo-Immortal showed his Commands Marks on the back of his left hand.
"Yes, I am your Master. My name is Fei Fong Li."
The Berserker-class Servant crossed its blades on his chest and bowed.
"I, Xiang Ji Yu, recognize you as my Master. I would fight for you and obtain the Grail for you. I would serve you and obey you. If you hold out your finger and say 'kill', I'll kill."
The Grail had just invoked one of the most terrifying warlords of the Ming era. A man considered mad by his contemporaries because of the senseless massacres he had committed... a man? OR rather a kind of machine. Unlike the classic Berserker, a rabid fighter, Xiang Ji Yu was a cold and methodical man, devoid of human feelings.