Inside the Fuyuki Clocktower, all the hunters had left their positions to go and help defend against Rider's assault. The tower shook as the two armies clashed.
Which left the clocktower defenseless for the other team of masters and servants to make their way to the sewers.
"Assassin how much longer till we make it to the maintenance hatch of the sewers?" Maiya asked as the group cautiously walked through a dark hallway, the moon leaking through the windows being there only light. Even with the tower being virtually empty, they still did not know if anything else lurked in the shadows; Caster's preferred attack method. Saber brouught up the front, Lancer the back, a sizeable number of Assassins had the sides while the rest were off scouting the way, and the masters in the middle.
"Not long Master, just a few more doors to pass," One of the Assassin replied. Not too long ago they were about launch the assault on the Clocktower when Assassin suddenly fell over in pain as they begun dematerializing. Whatever happened to Kirei had left Hassan without a master. Everyone else knew that they couldn't just stop the assault now so they had made the only magus that didn't have a servant of their own to be Assassin's servant, Maiya Hisau.
"Does anyone else think that this is too easy?" Tokiomi asked as they passed another door, fully expecting some beastly horror to jump them.
"Whether this is too easy or not we can't just turn back now. We do that, we sign our deaths," Kiritsugu said as he checked the shadows for anything with his Thompson Contender. Even he knew something was wrong with how easy their path was. Years of doing operations just like these had meant one thing, something nasty wanted them to come.
The group eventually made their way to the room that held the maintenance hatch to the sewers. The tower was built before Fuyuki's sewer system was built so it served as the foundation for where the sewer system would be built.
It was evident that they made it to their destination with all the Assassins patiently waiting for them, checking the hallways for any enemies. "Master we have had no resistance so far in making it to this room," They motioned to the door with their head. "This room however, reeks of blood."
Understanding what that meant, the group readied themselves for a fight. Nodding to each other Kiritsugu motioned for Saber to take lead. Moving close to the door, she looked back at the group behind her before slamming her shoulder into the door, opening it wide open.
What waited them was a scene right out of horror film. What once was a rustic room was now a room with its walls painted in blood. Corpses of countless bodies littered the room as each corpse had various parts of their body ripped off of them and guts spilling out. And each body had a bloody streak that was evidence that they had been dragged here from only one place.
The maintenance hatch that led to the sewers.
Irisiviel placed her hands over her mouth as the group stared at the horrifying mess they were witnessing. Tokiomi looked around as the realization dawned on him why they the corpses had looked familiar.
"These are the missing magi from the city," He said out loud as it became clear. Caster had murdered the magus that refused to cooperate and those that had were brought here to take part in whatever twisted games he had them participate in.
The sound of someone coughing redirected their attention to a lone surviving magus. It was clear that he had seen better days with how he was missing an arm that was spewing blood which was a miracle that he was even still alive.
"You're good now, just rest easy," Irisviel reassuringly said as she begun healing the man with her hands glowing green. The man however grabbed her arm to stop the healing. "N-No its no use, no healing's going to save me now," The man chuckled before coughing up some more blood.
After he coughed a sizeable amount of blood, he smiled for the last time. "The reality marble that Caster enacted trapped anyone containing any magical circuits, regardless if they are a magus or not. There were two that were brought here with the rest of us, a beggar and a little boy. I-I can't speak for the beggar if he's still alive but the boy is only alive because his magical circuits are so weak. The beast down there probably can't sense his prana but when that thing gets hungry it'll definitely find him." He coughed harshly once more before looking at the group as his eyes begun to dim. "Please save the boy, please end this nightmare." With one last breath the magus died.
With one glance to everyone, Kiritsugu kicked the hatch open; the smell of waste and blood wafting from the open hatch. "Let's go." Was all he said before jumping in.
They had assumed the same formation they had as they walked through the murky corridors of the sewer. The sewers rumbled occasionally as the battle being fought upwards escalated.
Even as they walked through the sewers, something felt different here. It was like they had entered a boundary field but it seemed like nothing had changed, only this nagging feeling that they were being watched.
"Someone's up ahead," Saber warned as they rounded a corner.
Turning the corner, they saw the beggar that the dying magus had told them about. He was lazily laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling. He was essentially naked with just wearing a white blindfold and raggedy pants. The only strange thing about him was the amount of blood on him.
"Oh, finally other people," He stood up from his position as he greeted the group. "I thought that I was the only one here, thank god for you guys."
Kiritsugu looked at the man, not understanding why he had the urge to shot him in the face. His instincts were screaming for him to kill the beggar in front of him. "No," He reasoned. Just because he looked suspicious didn't mean he would jump to conclusions.
"We feared the worst when someone had said that they didn't know your fate down here," Tokiomi said.
The beggar scratched his neck in embarrassment. "Ah you're embarrassing me, all this worry over a beggar like me."
"U-Um you wouldn't happen to know where a little boy might be?" Irisviel asked.
"You mean that little red head kid yeah I know where he is, just follow me," He waved his hand to follow him as he began walking forward.
As the group followed the beggar, Kayneth tapped Kiritsugu's shoulder as he leaned in to whisper. "I am not the only one wary of our new friend here."
"Yeah you're not the only one," He replied.
"Good this man is not what he seems."
"Then we watch him carefully," Kayneth nodded as he relayed his concerns to Lancer, who was ready to strike at moment's notice.
Kiritsugu looked at the beggar as he started a conversation with Irisviel. Why did he not trust him?
"Don't you remember Kiritsugu what I taught you?" A familiar voice called out to him.
His breathing quickened for a split second before he controlled it so no one could notice. No she couldn't be alive, he shot the plane down in a fiery explosion.
"You can't be alive, you're just a figment of my imagination," He reasoned to the voice of his dead mentor.
"You haven't dulled you senses over the years, good." Natalia Kaminski was a freelance mercenary that had found the young boy during the incident of the Alimango Island fiasco. His father's potion had turned the entire island into ghouls and a manhunt had been made for Norikata Emiya. Imagine to her surprise when Norikata's own son would be the one to kill him. Taking off island she was further surprised by the boy's willingness to be her assistant on her assignments.
Taking jobs and killing magi, the two built a familial bond that Kiritsugu never had and would cherish for as long as he lived. Natalia was the mother that he never had.
That all ended when a hunt for Odd Borzak as his assassination had resulted in an entire plane being turned into ghouls. The only way to contain the outbreak of ghouls was for Kiritsugu to bring down the plane with everyone in it.
Including Natalia.
"How are you here?" Kiritsugu asked as the group rounded a corner.
"I don't know really but I think it's due to someone's Noble Phantasm. Don't worry it's not harmful or anything but from what I can tell it brings forth the past to bleed into reality. Almost like you're seeing a real-time video of what happened long ago."
"Why are you here?"
"Hmph little brat, I just wanted to see you again with what little time I could get." Already her voice was starting to soften as the beggar told the group they were getting near to where the boy was. "Death is a very a lonely place to be in, I hope you cherish the little family you have here Kiritsugu," With that Natalia disappeared back into Death's embrace.
"Goodbye...mother," Kiritsugu said his own farewells before re-focusing on the task at hand.
They soon made way to what was a very massive sewer room. Multiple sewer tunnels connected to this room while the stench of blood overpowered the stench of sewage waste. Blood decorated the walls as other bodies hung from the rafters. On the other side of the room a large pile of bones with fur just laid there.
"Assassin do you see the kid?" Maiya asked as they slowly walked in.
"No, he may be where the bones are, the other Assassins will soon be here," Since the sewer system was so huge that most of the Assassins had been sent out, leaving about ten to stay with the group.
"H-he-l-p m-me," A voice cried out as the group looked up to see one of the hanging bodies from the rafters. Various claw marks marred his body and his face had all been smashed in
"D-o-n't t-trust the beggar," Was all he could say before succumbing to his wounds.
It took only a second for them to realize the true threat here.
"Lancer!" Kayneth instantly called out as Diarmuid raced to stab the beggar with Gae Buidhe, who was in the middle of the group. As Lancer shot at the beggar, he expected to see the yellow spear to pierce the man.
He had not expected the beggar to catch the spear with a single hand with surprising strength.
"Have you got a screw loose?" The beggar 's now beastly voice rang out throughout the room. " Or is it your... animal intuition? " With a mighty throw, the beggar threw Lancer into Kayneth, Maiya, and Assassin. Within a miniature smoke cloud, the beggar revealed his abhorrent beast form.
"DIE!" He roared as electricity rolled off of him into the nearby machinery. Sewage tunnels opened up as Loran silverbeasts began crawling out into the room. They screeched as their electricity begun to fill the room with static.
"Maiya!" Kiritsugu yelled as he raced to help his partner, only for Saber to push him back as a gate came sliding down; effectively separating the room in half. The Magus Killer placed his hands on the gate bars as the beggar began fighting with the people on his side of the room, his lackeys joining in.
Kayneth finally released his Mystic Code to protect him and the others as the orb of mercury begun responding to its master's call. "Fervor Mei Sangus!" He called out as the orb liquidized in a puddle before crawling up the walls and impaling any silverbeasts that were caught in its spikes.
Assassin and Maiya were skirting around the beast as they used their range weaponary to try and wear down the beast while Lancer was up and close with the beast as it snarled as the force behind every strike shook the room.
"K-Kiritsugu!?" Irisviel worryingly called out as Tokiomi ignited his fire staff. He cursed a bit before pulling out his Thompson Contender as he looked what was wrong.
The seemingly innocent looking pile of furry bones began to shift as the sleeping beast announced itself. The skull face of Paarl looked down to see its prey before roaring its own electrifying roar into the room. With its fur sticking upright and its electricity lashing out at anything that comes close the darkbeast pounced on its opponents.
Chapter 16 done! Now that I have Faction of Ash running, I feel so much more energy to write both stories now. So, I have both the beggar and Paarl in this rather short chapter. Needed a way to introduce the fight scenes for future chapters.
Hope you guys are staying safe in these trying times
Welp that's all for now and as always...
May The Cosmos Shine In Your Favor This Day!