Ch24: Rin's Reconnaissance

Another day begins. I eat the pancakes Archer prepares and we head off together before our guests wake up. Hopefully, she won't complain about cold food, but considering Archer's skill, it shouldn't be a problem. I walk down the streets with my guardian behind me. It would be around this time that people around my age would be heading to school, but school wasn't my destination. The hero I summoned and the brat I was allied with told me I wasn't taking things seriously enough. That assessment wasn't wrong. There was something I shouldn't have ignored for over a decade. After all, the Holy Grail War was the ritual that took my father's life and my mother's sanity ten years ago.

A story like that isn't special at all in the eyes of magi.

For a magus, pain and death are constant companions. For all our dedication, there may not even be a reward at the end of our study. That was the case with my father and his father. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel it in my arm; the work of all my predecessors carved into the Tohsaka Crest. All of them pushing against my shoulder.

I see her.

As I walk down the hill, the back of that well known first year student comes into view. Even after all these years, she still wears that old ribbon. There were times I wanted to call out to her, but I always held myself back. I couldn't do such a thing without a good excuse and right now, that is the last thing I should do.

Even though we were born from the same parents, I was a Tohsaka and she was a Matou.

Our families formed a non-aggression pact centuries ago and I continued to abide by it. We did not interact with each other unless absolutely necessary, but our families originally made that pact to obtain the Holy Grail along with the Einzbern. Considering how the Einzbern brat I was allied with thinks of the Matou, there was another reason not to follow it now. Sakura was simply another competitor in the game. She was alone right now without a Servant. The visage of that pale haired girl who wore her face resurfaces in my mind.

We trail her on her way to school and nothing was amiss as she enters the building. As we stake out the school, it was obvious nothing was happening, though I did not see either Emiya anywhere. I let out a breath.

"Was that a sigh of relief" Archer asks of me, but I don't answer.

With Sakura out of the way, it was time to move on to what I needed to do.

It was a roundabout trip, but the Matou Residence was in front of us.

It was styled like my house, yet somehow more dilapidated, but somehow the neighborhood kids spread no rumors about them. I take another breath. I resolve myself. No more dilly dallying. I grip the gem sword in my pocket. Even though I possess a trump card, it was a hastily prepared trump card I prepared in response to what Archer had seen. We check for any defenses, yet we couldn't find any despite how keen Archer's eyes were.

"Not even a bounded field?" is what Archer notes. The fact itself was somewhat unsettling, yet I brush it off.

"Zouken barely has enough power to maintain his own body," is the fact I state, but that may have only been part of the reason. If Zouken was being truthful the last time a saw him, then his relationship with Sakura wasn't the greatest, but I already knew that from the start.

I slowly approach the door and open it without paying heed to the door bell, the magical lock or my father's hypothetical misgivings. The lack of proper defenses was unnerving to say the least. We make our way around the house once and I find nothing immediately amiss, but that's how magi operate. We always hide things in plain view and the Matou shouldn't be any different….

"There are a few occupants upstairs…...two blank areas…..There's probably a way to the basement from the second floor ...," is the observation my Servant makes. Whoever was upstairs, it would be best to avoid them. Probably just Shinji and some caretakers after what happened to him. I make my footsteps scarce while Archer trails behind as a wisp. To uncover Sakura's truth was the reason I was here and Archer's instincts proved correct as we uncover a secret passage. Still...

"Smithing and cooking are one thing, but what does carpentry have to do with archery?" I whisper in my mind.

"Save the jokes for later," is what my hero of many talents asks of me before we descend down the stairs and a foul odor assaults my nose.

I walk down the staircase of damp moldy stone. Calling the place a morgue would be too much of a compliment. Each arched cavity in the wall presumably contained a corpse, but this place was no morgue. A morgue is for preserving bodies until burial, cremation or whatever it is that necromancers do, but this place was the final destination.

The Matou workshop…..

There were no books to be seen or projects of any kind, only a mass of worms on the floor. They writhe and coalesce; the Matou specialty. On the surface, the Matou craft centered around "absorption" and they were adept with the use of familiars, but I never thought too hard about what that meant. I stare at my hand and the command spells carved into it. The Matou devised the command spells by which we mortals could bind heroes of legend for the Holy Grail War. Lesser familiars would only be a liability against the Matou and I still remember what Sakura had tried to do against Berserker through Archer's eyes. That Sakura Archer saw wasn't the Sakura I knew, but what did I even know of her? Rather, what did I refuse to see? What did I avert my gaze from? Sakura was born with blue eyes and black hair just like mine, but strangers today would never mistake her for my sister.

When she was adopted by the Matou, she had to become a Matou by taking in Matou essences…...

I try to steel myself as if incanting a spell, but my body shudders and grows nauseous regardless of my efforts. Maybe I was naturally someone who always failed at the last possible moment. I take a breath and stare at the motionless worm affixed to the wall and I couldn't avert my gaze. To have the family magecraft carved into one's body wasn't strange at all; that's what Magic Crests were and these "Crest Worms" were the same I tell myself, but I couldn't accept that reasoning.

The end may have been similar, but the intent behind them couldn't be farther apart. The one of a kind Tohsaka Crest was carved into me for my sake; to aid me in my endeavors as a magus, but Sakura was offered to these innumerable worms for the sake of the worms. Pragmatic it was not. It was needlessly sadistic. Who could continue diligently studying the art if this was all they knew of it? I realized I was no longer shuddering. My hands were clenched tight.

My own biased memories did not matter. When it came to damage, there was no distinction between ignorance and evil. The truth was laid bare and it was a truth I had to swallow. Sakura had been suffering all this time and I was ignorant of it. No it was worse. Her suffering was a truth I always suspected, but always brushed it away to protect my own shallow feelings.

As I continue to take the worm into my view, bile pools beneath my throat, but I was forced to swallow my unease as my red knight materializes himself.

A well-kempt samurai stares down on us from the entrance way we came in from with a long curved blade on his back…...of course…

"Assassin I presume?" is the remark Archer makes as he materializes his twin swords. He did not look like an "Assassin" in my eyes, but the fact remains that we failed to detect an enemy Servant which provides some credence to Archer's deduction.

"That is the role I was given by the Grail however unsuited I am for it, but right now I am stuck here as a mere home security guard," he says as he brandishes his long curved blade from atop the stairs.

"How's that working out for you?" is the quip Archer makes.

"To tell you honestly, I miss the temple gate," is the honest truth our assailant dispenses.

Temple Gate? This samurai must be a Servant Sakura had stolen like she had tried to do to Berserker. So, our worst fears were indeed true, but that was another matter right now. The time to exchange words had passed.

Archer takes a step forward, but his opponent does not show any change, except for that killing intent.

The intent to kill eventually boils over. Robes flutter and blades fly. The sparks of blades clashing illuminate the Matou dungeon.

For a moment, the samurai stops his blade and simply observes the red knight I commanded with an expression I couldn't read. In front of me was Archer's back with his twin swords at his side. The very ones Emiya liked to wield. Maybe our assailant was merely perplexed. He glances for a moment at the wall before turning back his gaze down at us.

The following strikes were faster than any that came before.

Hopefully, it is not Archer's warmth that spills in this bout, but ...it wasn't looking very good. Even if I knew little of swordplay, Archer's skill with his twin swords seemed ordinary compared to the inhuman finesse of his opponent.

That long blade flashes in and out of my vision. An illusionary blade that was everywhere, but also nowhere all at once. Even so, that blade is battered away countless times without fail by the dancing twin blades.

Archer did not fall. My guardian did not falter to the unrelenting storm of strikes from above. His opponent's sword descends like lightning. Branching out in unpredictable ways and crashing down faster than light, yet Archer's swords receive as if they were lightning rods.

"Assassin" tries to push my guardian back, yet his defenses remain stalwart.

The distance between them does not change at all. Archer could receive his opponent's attacks, but not once did Archer even attempt to make an attack of his own. If Archer makes a single slip up in this dance, our fight will be over. I contemplated providing fire support, but I knew their fight was not within my domain of expertise. I was confident in my long range spells, that's why I originally wanted to summon a Saber-class Servant, but I realized how arrogant I was.

All I could do right now was put faith in the hero I had managed to pull. With the gem sword in my hands, Archer shouldn't have any problems with unleashing whatever Noble Phantasms he needed, yet he continues to block with his twin swords even as the killing intent in the air grows sharper.

Ironically, in terms of reach, the Servant of the Bow was at a disadvantage, but who wouldn't be when facing that comically long blade? As long as "Assassin" was here, we could not escape from where we came. We could not push him back as long as he held the high ground.

For that reason, Archer retreats down the steps, but "Assassin" does not take the opening. Placed in the middle of the steps was Archer's black sword charged with energies to the point of bursting as the red hexagonal pattern distorts into a flash of light and dust.

I lose my step.

The explosion erases the staircase and the falling stones scatter the chitinous bodies below. Archer grabs me with one arm before I hit the ground, but I'm quickly tossed aside as he materializes a white bow as our opponent lands on his feet.

The loss of his high ground does not disturb our opponent in the slightest as he readies his absurdly long sword as he smiles. I check my surroundings. I realize there was no wall impeding his blade anymore and realize how outmatched Archer was when it came to the blade….

But, as absurdly long as his sword was, the range of a bow dwarfs that of any sword. That was why he did not reveal himself until we entered the building. At range, a sword cannot beat a bow.

That is common sense, but heroes are remembered because they are not bound by it.

Clutched in Archer's other hand was still the white sword he had been fighting with and not an arrow. The samurai wastes no time in erasing the distance. Archer did not have enough time to even project an arrow.

"Tsubame Gaeshi," was the sound that was only dread to my ears as the world seems to warp as a single blade becomes three.

I hear the sharp snap of metal and the match was over.

The two figures were still standing, blood pooling beneath their feet. Neither had lost a limb or their heads. The samurai's blunt tipped knife which was what remained of his blade failed to penetrate the metal plate Archer wore on his collar. In terms of reach, a knife cannot beat a sword. That was why Archer's stout white blade was in his stomach right now. The kimono he wore offered no defense compared to what adorned my knight.

"That's no bow," is what escapes the dying man's lips along with his blood as Archer steps back unscathed. The white sword still lodged in his gutt, was it pulsating?

Archer tosses his "bow" on the floor and the stone beneath it shatters. The bow Archer normally used was unlike any bow of this era or any era I knew of, but the "bow" he had used in that final clash was no bow.

"It's a shame your sword could not keep up with your technique," were words spoken with no emotion.

"What do you know of technique? You're neither a swordsman or bowman," were the bitter words of the loser. The glowing white sword lodged in his gutt meets the same fate as its partner. An explosion that leaves no trace.

The only thing that remained of the samurai was the broken tip on the floor, but it quickly dissolves. It was surreal, but that was how Servants meet their end. Their time on earth had already passed long ago. Heroic spirits were nothing more than fleeting illusions.

I could sense no other Servants other than my Archer after Assassin's defeat and Assassin was the only Servant who could conceal his presence, but someone else makes his presence known.

"You certainly pulled a sly Servant, Second Owner. Quite the gamble. Betting on his blade breaking," was the guttural buzzing of many insects that surrounded us.

Coming together, coalescing, the many chitinous bodies form swarm around the white "bow".

"Hmm, this paperweight is made of pure Rhenium isn't it? Brings me back," was the buzzing of the Matou head.

Rhenium, rarer than tungsten and three times as dense as iron. It wasn't something an ordinary blacksmith would work with and even if they did, they would be hard pressed to find a customer who wouldn't complain about the heft. It was merely something Archer used to break his opponent's blade.

That was Archer's intent from the very beginning.

Despite how readily they seemed to explode, the stout twin blades Archer wielded were at the peak of what humanity could produce. His opponent's long slender sword was fragile by comparison. While my Servant had an unlimited supply of such blades, Assassin only had a single blade despite how quickly he could swing it. Even if Assassin could overwhelm my hero with an infinite number of strikes, he only had one blade.

A warrior's weapon is his lifeline. A rule that was true in the age of firearms and it was true in the age of cold steel. It was a bad match up because that age old rule did not apply to Archer. If Archer's swords broke, he could simply produce more; and with the gem sword in my hands he had no issues with the amount of magical energy he could shape. He had no issue smashing his blade repeatedly against his opponent's. That samurai must have known that, but he could not fulfill his duty as a guard without attacking us. Though we could not retreat, he was under the same condition. For every moment the fight went on, the life of his blade was being diminished. That was why he needed to force Archer down the steps into open ground to make full use of his technique and end the fight quickly, but it was all according to Archer's plan.

As long as that sword was, it was painfully ordinary. Our opponent wasn't a Saber after all. The superhuman feats performed with that sword were purely the result of the wielder's skill. Even if it could cut steel in his hands, it would break when struck against Rhenium, but who could blame him? It was only common sense for a sword to be able to cut through a bow, but my Servant wasn't a mere bowman. The gem sword in my pocket that I was tightly clasping was proof of that. Even if Assassin was a peerless swordsman, the make up of bows were outside of his domain.

The chitinous bodies continue to swarm. Popping out from a hole in the wall was the supposed head of the Matou family in all his wrinkly diminutive glory, Zouken.

"To what do I owe the pleasure heir of Tohsaka? To show up unannounced, what would your father think? Right now, you're actions are the farthest thing from elegance," is what the old worm tells me.

"Elegance?" is what Archer tells him in response as his eyes darted around the Matou "workshop" before settling his sights on the old monster.

"Be kind to this old man. It gets harder to keep up appearances as you age," is the excuse Zouken gives, "but you can't use that excuse can you Tohsaka? No greeting? No advance notice? Even after committing murder in my own home? You must really hate me, but who do you even like in the first place?" were words directed at me.

There were probably a myriad of things I wanted to ask, but no words came out of my mouth.

"So, you broke the pact between our families, but the fact you aren't attacking me right now must mean there is something urgent you want to discuss?" the old worm continues to talk paying no heed to me at all. As if he believes everything happening around him was someone else's problem. The fact that a Servant was slain before his eyes doesn't phase him at all. My words would probably have less effect, but...

"Pact? What you did to Sakura, that wasn't what my father agreed upon," were words that carelessly leave my lips.

Sakura was the one perpetually at the forefront of my mind it seemed.

"I fulfilled my side of the deal to the letter, but since Tokiomi has passed, it's not something worth debating over," is what Zouken dismissively says about the matter.

"T-that's all you can say?" my voice was louder than I thought it would be.

"You intruded upon our home and committed murder, so I'm the one in position to be asking the questions. To what do I owe the pleasure Second Owner?" he says with a grin.

"With the Holy Grail War underway, it isn't unthinkable that I would do some investigation on the other participants would I?" is the truth I tell everyone in the room.

The old worm ponders a bit.

"Investigation? I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you some things because of our shared interest," is what he finally decides to say, but that just unsettles me more.

"Shared interest?"

"Like I said before, as hard as I tried to raise her, that girl has grown to be quite rebellious and I can't control her at all. As the Second Owner and her older sister, it's your duty to discipline her during such troubling times isn't it?" were words pinning his problem onto me.

"And you're supposed to be the Matou family head?"

"You overestimate my abilities. What could I do when faced with the power of a heroic spirit?" is the excuse he makes.

"Were you not the one who devised the command spells we use for this ritual?"

"Yes I am, but I had no hand in making those cards of the Emiya," was something I couldn't help but take note of.

"Cards?"

"Haven't you faced the Emiya in battle? In fact, the way your Servant fights is suspiciously similar," the pile of rotting flesh ponders.

Those suspicions I did not want to accept are confirmed once again. To invoke a heroic spirit's power using oneself as a medium. A normal body could only contain one soul, so using such a method carried an undeniable risk; the risk of losing oneself. That little Emiya girl who cycled through three different heroic spirits so far without any discernible side effects may not have been human, but Sakura was….. I still remember the alien who wore her face as my Archer ran...

"A heroic spirit's power distilled in its purity without the ego, something the Magus Killer would have preferred in his own Grail War, though Sakura's may be a bit defective. If you want to know about those cards, try interrogating Emiya. He should be upstairs sleeping in Sakura's room," is that small bit of info that replaces my unease with impatience.

That boy was supposed to be the saving grace in Sakura's life. That was why I tolerated him for so long, but...

"Archer," I call out.

Me and my hero were of the same wavelength. I grab hold of him as he leaps as I leave the old worm a tip.

A tip that just happens to explode. I hear the sound behind us, but I do not look back. Zouken could be dealt with later. There was a more pressing matter.

Emiya Shirou was alone right now.

Whenever I saw her at school, it was rare for an Emiya not to be around her. Either flirting with the older one or doting on the younger one as they shared the bento boxes they prepared together. They would come to school together and leave school together. She was cast away from the world the Tohsaka saw, but was able to find a new one. I told myself that she was happy and that I had no right to intrude on it. There was no place for me in Sakura's world, but …. I needed to know if that world was a complete lie.