Chapter 3: A Demi-God, a Hero and a Goddess enter a Mansion…
The sun was shining just above the horizon, the birds were chirping, and the air was nice and brisk.
A perfectly good day for being outside.
Naturally, despite the good weather, the only one awake at Rin's house was the guy who didn't need to sleep.
Shirou Lily quietly wrapped some electrical tape around some wiring.
If he woke Rin up…
Well, the chances of joining Kirei in his 'voluntary participation' in Rin's 'experiments' rose drastically. But unlike the priest, Shirou wasn't a masochist so he'd just suffer as Rin tried to find a way around their pain tolerances.
As for why he was fixing the Tohsaka home up, Shirou hated doing nothing. He couldn't just sit in place and wait for no reason. And as a Servant, exercise or training wouldn't do anything. He could do some sleeping, but…
To say it bluntly, Rin's mansion was old and some things were in need of repair in places and Rin was too cheapskate to hire people to do them until they started falling apart.
Put a guy who didn't like being idle and had home-repair skills into such a place and give him several hours as his Master slept, and let nature take its role.
Besides, Archer Lily could always do the sleeping later in the war when Rin's energy was exhausted from the hard battles ahead.
As Shirou cut the tape, he heard the doorbell ring.
Shirou put down the tools and headed to the door.
Who would show up here? Shirou wondered. Anyone who knew Rin would know that she isn't a morning person and anyone who didn't know Rin wouldn't come.
As the doorbell rang again, Archer pulled the door open.
Outside was a golden-haired boy in brown shorts and a white coat over a purple shirt.
"Hello," Gilgamesh Lily said smilingly. "Beautiful day for doing some early spring cleaning. I hope your Master is in a better mood?"
"We're not even out of winter yet, so just call it late winter cleaning," Archer Lily pointed out as he stepped out, closing the door behind him. "Also, she's asleep. Won't be up for a couple more hours. Sunday, you know."
"Sleeping in? On a day like this?" Gilgamesh gestured to the beautiful weather before clucking his tongue and shaking his head. "Teenagers."
"Not sure if I am supposed to say anything, being a teen right now and all," Shirou Lily replied. "I think it might just be a certain Master staying up past 3."
"Ah, burning the midnight oil," Gilgamesh nodded. "Should have guessed. Magi seem to love the nighttime rather than doing work during the day. But then again, they don't really want to comply with the natural way of things."
"It would prevent them from doing experiments through magecraft at midnight," Shirou agreed. "Almost as if they were doing experiments against nature."
"So what brings you out here?" Shirou asked, getting around to what he was curious about.
"Well, I had hoped to drop in on the Second Owner and ask her about how she would feel about me cleaning up her town for the Grail War. I'm the Overseer for the Grail War," Gilgamesh said, his face turning serious as he pulled up his light coat sleeve to show the mass of Command Seals there.
"Huh, that's a new role for you," Shirou Lily commented as he eyed the tattoo-like mysteries with interest. "Makes sense for you though. Hard to find someone more qualified to preside over a Grail War than someone whose title is literally the King of Heroes."
"Yeah, my thought exactly," Gilgamesh Lily agreed with a pleased smile. "As the King of Heroes, it is my duty to preside over wars between Heroic Spirits."
"I think your older self would complain about having to give away his treasure though," Shirou commented.
"Why would he do that?" Gilgamesh tilted his head curiously. "The contents of the Grail aren't mine and that is what the Grail War is about for us Heroic Spirits. And while obtaining the Grail would be a nice addition for my treasury, it is the joint property of the Matou, Einzbern, and Tohsaka. I would need to buy it from them first or wait for them to gift it to me."
"Which reminds me, I wanted to clean up the being called Zouken Matou." Gilgamesh frowned in distaste.
"Ah, him," Servant Shirou grimaced at the memory. "Going to kill him?"
"Yes," Gilgamesh Lily said firmly. "There are some things which shouldn't be tolerated and what Makiri is doing is one of them. But given he has been here for a few centuries and the Tohsaka haven't done anything about him and his depravations, I was just going to offer my help."
"Rather kind of you," the red-head teen snarked. "I would have expected you to acted without asking. Actually, come to think of it, I'm surprised your older self would have lived in the same town as Zouken for so long without killing him."
"He didn't act out or draw my older self's attention and to be fair, my older Archer self is an idiot. It's like puberty took out over half of his brain cells," Gilgamesh shuddered. "I wished I wouldn't have to go through that."
"I don't think he ever matured as Archer," Shirou commented with a thoughtful look. "He acts like a teen in the middle of teenage rebellion and never stopped. And if wasn't actually a king, he would fit in at a Chunibuyou convention."
"Hey!" Gilgamesh Lily protested. "I'm not that bad! I'm actually all that I say I am!"
"Sorry," Shirou smirked. "But if you weren't actually a hero out of legend, how would you have treated someone who made the same claims as he did?"
Gilgamesh Lily twitched into a pout. "He did have some people who treated him like that…"
"Huh," Archer said. "I'm surprised I hadn't heard of him then. He seems like someone that Taiga would have mentioned."
"Who?" Gilgamesh Lily asked curiously. "Is Taiga a pet? Seems like a good name for a tiger but most modern tigers don't talk."
"Sure, let's call her that," Shirou barely suppressed his smile at the memories of a Taiga crying over being compared to a pet tiger. Yet she still wore clothes that brought to mind the image of a tiger. "But why are you asking the Second Owner? Couldn't you act on your own now that your Master is -ah, occupied?"
"Kirei would have encouraged me, he hates Zouken. I have no idea why he didn't propose disposing of that worm. I think my older self would have done it in a heartbeat," Gilgamesh replied before shuffling his feet. "As for asking, it would be rude of me to act as a judge in someone else's territory without getting the ruler's permission."
"Ah, I keep on forgetting that you are polite now," Shirou realized. "But I think there might be some sort of agreement between the Tohsaka and Matou. Rin might not be able to give permission to kill him."
"Oh," Gilgamesh frowned. "That's bad. Nothing good comes out of agreements to let something like him live in your backyard."
"Yeah," the teenaged Archer agreed before smiling. "But Archers are notorious for their Independent Action skill."
Gilgamesh tilted his head before the lightbulb went off and he started to match Shirou's grin.
"As a class, we are noted for our initiative and the ability to act without bothering our Masters with the tiny details," the child Archer grinned.
As they walked up to the door, the two Lily Archer Servants were relaxed and stress free. Like they had just shown up to play some video games with Shinji.
Except you know, Shinji was a stone statue on some street in Fuyuki.
Ah well, they could just borrow his PS2. He certainly didn't need it.
As they climbed the few steps to the door, Shirou commented. "You know, the house is worse than I remember."
"Yeah," Gilgamesh frowned as he looked around. "The fact that my older self didn't try to remove this is a major indication of something being wrong with him. You don't leave environments like this around."
Emiya nodded as he pressed the doorbell.
At Gilgamesh's curious look, he commented. "It's good to be polite."
"True," Gilgamesh agreed before rocking back onto his heels to wait. "But the appeal of kicking the door open is rather tempting right now."
The two waited in the dead still silence.
There was no sound of birds here. Not even the hum of insect wings. It was like all life knew that battle was about to be joined and that someone would not survive.
That was to be expected. Zouken already knew they were here. And was probably prepared to receive them. And not in a welcoming reception with cookies and brownies either.
Several seconds later, the door opened.
Today was Sunday, Sakura noted dully as she finished washing the dishes from her breakfast before sitting back down at the table in her causal clothes. Which meant no archery practice, no school, and no going over to Senpai's place.
Just another horrible day at home.
Sakura would sigh but she was used to this state of affairs.
The doorbell rang.
Sakura got up to answer it, her Servant following behind her in Astral form, ready to see if it was the police trying to track down Shinji again.
If it was a door to door salesmen or missionaries… Grandfather had a special fate for them.
Apparently, one of them had interrupted a delicate experiment a century ago and he enjoyed teaching the rest the error of their ways.
Nobody annoyed grandfather and got away with it.
"I'm really tempted to kick down the door," a young voice said from the other side.
"Yeah, that would be cool," a familiar voice said. But why would he be here? "But we don't want to harm the innocents here so let's kick down a different door."
"Oh good. I wanted to try that at some point. It looked pretty cool in the movies."
Sakura hastened to throw the door open while it was still on its hinges to gaze upon the two people outside.
One was a pretty kid with golden yellow hair. The other was her Senpai.
But they were Servants, Sakura realized in shock as Medusa materialized behind her, black robe over armor and lance already drawn. Senpai was a Servant.
He was a Heroic Spirit.
"Greetings Ma'am," the younger of the two boys, the one with the golden yellow hair, at the door said with an easy smile. "We're just two heroes wandering through. We were wondering if Zouken Matou is home? We would like to offer him a serving of 'kill, destroy, and burn'."
"And 'stab'," the Servant that was Shirou Emiya added in, his voice and expression dispelling any doubt that it was just someone who looked like him. "We just want to help remove some evil as heroes of justice."
The younger boy nodded in agreement. "That too. Oh, and as Overseer of the Holy Grail War, I feel it is my obligation to make the war fair. Only one Master per family and his Grail War is long over. Is he home?"
Unfortunately, Sakura hadn't been paying too much attention to their words, too busy processing the shock of seeing her Senpai as a Servant and Heroic Spirit.
But it made sense, Sakura realized as she finally accepted it.
Shirou Emiya was a hero. Sakura knew that. So why would it be surprising that her personal, amazing hero was on the Throne of Heroes?
It really wasn't. Senpai was a hero and heroes go to the Throne of Heroes. She just hadn't considered it that way before.
It looked like Senpai had managed to achieve his childhood dream and become a hero.
At the realization, Sakura felt a mixture of amazement for the great feat he had accomplished, happiness for him to have succeed in his goal, disappointment at not summoning him, scorn at him ignoring her misery for so long, and her usual anger at someone else being happy.
But she had learned to shunt away all of her usual negative emotions and bottle them up inside. The positive ones too.
Unless she was with Shirou, human Shirou, at his home. Then she let the good ones come out.
What would it be like for Senpai to be at her home? For her to let happier emotions emerge from her shell every day?
At the thought, Sakura felt a brief spurt of intense envy towards the unknown Master that had summoned Senpai as their Servant. Who got to come home to him on a more regular basis.
Sakura chided herself for feeling that. And Medusa was her friend so it was bad of her to wish she hadn't had summoned her and instead summoned someone else.
Besides Sakura would just die if Senpai saw her in the pit where she had summoned Rider, now Lancer.
"Sakura?" Servant Shirou asked with concern in his eyes. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," Sakura squeaked as she was reminded that the two Servants had asked a question. "Um, sorry, what was the question again?"
"Is Zouken home?" the boy repeated. "If he isn't, we'd really like to know where he is."
"Um, he is," Sakura answered, now wrestling with the belated shock from people politely knocking on the door to try to kill Zouken Matou. Usually if they were here for him, they were either already dying or busting the door down before dying. "But I don't think you should-"
be here. Please, Senpai. You can't die. My heart will break if you die.
Sakura didn't believe that anyone could kill Grandfather. Not even a Heroic Spirit would be able to defeat him.
Was it correct? No, though admittedly, it would be much harder than killing any other Master. Did Sakura believe it? Yes. Years of torture and submission under his hand had resulted in Sakura believing that Zouken was untouchable, unharmable, and unkillable. No one could defeat him or survive opposing him. That would be impossible.
Kariya, her uncle, had driven that lesson home for her.
"I am Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, owner of every treasure of mankind," Gilgamesh smiles at Sakura, letting his fair youth shine through. "I think I can manage."
"And I'm here to help," Archer Lily mentions. "If you would let us in, we'll take care of him right away."
"But grandfather can't die," Sakura wrung her hands like she was helpless in a doomed situation.
This was her last chance to save Senpai. Because Zouken, after defeating these two, would go after mortal Senpai. If they existed, Grandfather wouldn't leave a threat to him live. He might kill them first or pull their strings like a puppeteer until they were no longer a threat.
Or just eat them like he had to numerous women in Fuyuki in order to sustain his long life.
"We have immortal killing weapons," Archer Lily mentions, dropping two copies of Harpe out from thin air into his hands.
"And I have plenty of pesticide," Gilgamesh dropped a box of 'Worm-a-cide' from a glowing golden circle into his hand.
"But, but-" Sakura protested, scared for the health of her Senpai, even if he was a Servant.
"Want any help?" Medusa Lily asked, her cloak vanishing to reveal a few pieces of armor over a tight body suit.
"Lancer!" Sakura cried, spinning around towards her friend.
The two heroes on the front porch looked at each other and shrugged.
"Why not?" they said in unison.
With that, Medusa Lily tugged Sakura away from the door, leaving enough room for the two heroes to come in.
"Thank you," Servant Shirou said, smiling brightly at Sakura.
Sakura blushed lightly even though she knew he wasn't the Senpai she was used to. Yet he was Senpai. From the future.
It was confusing, Sakura decided amidst the chaos of dozens of thoughts and emotions swirling together. Senpai was Senpai and now there was another Senpai who was Senpai too.
"Master," Medusa Lily said, tugging on Sakura's arm a little and drawing her back from her chaotic thoughts. "You should leave the house. It won't be standing after the fight."
"Most definitely not," Archer Lily wrinkled his nose in distaste at the smell. "We'll have to dig through everything to find every last trace of him."
"Heh heh," Gilgamesh Lily chuckled nervously. "And I'm not very good at limiting collateral damage yet. Actually, I don't think I ever learned or will learn how to refrain from collateral damage."
Sakura just nodded somewhat absently as her mind was still reeling a little from all the surprises dumped on her one after another and Shirou being a Servant yet still smiling like that at her.
Archer and Lancer stared at Gilgamesh with a flat look.
"Uh, I'll pay reparations?" he asked uncertainly, wondering what he was supposed to do to geet them to stop looking at him like that.
Hero Shirou sighed.
"Start learning control," he advised. "Wouldn't want to save a town only to destroy it in the midst of your fight, would you?"
"I will!" Gilgamesh Lily protested indignantly. "But I'm a Lily Servant. I haven't learned that yet."
"Will you destroy everything or not?" Lancer Medusa said flatly.
Gilgamesh thought for a second and looked away.
"If I destroy it, I can pay for it," he mumbled.
"Money can't fix everything, but it can replace possessions." Shirou said with a put-upon air. "That being said, we might as well write everything here off. I don't remember much, but Zouken should be a pretty powerful magus."
"So if your older self dealt with him, how did he do so?" Gilgamesh asked curiously as he started walking down the hall.
"Mostly, he ran," he admitted. "Zouken rotted everything that attacked him and was able to piece himself back together. I think his body was killed several times if I remember right, only for him to reform his body from any worms that survived. And even when he didn't have enough worms left to form a body, he still lingered around through any Crest Worm that survived. But if we use the right weapons over every worm we see, it should damage him badly. Possibly enough to…"
As the two Archers walked down the hallway towards the door to Grandfather's basement discussing battle strategies, Lancer started pushing Sakura to the door.
Sakura not really knowing what to do, let the smaller girl push her.
Should she run back and stop Senpai?
But Senpai was fulfilling her secret fantasy. He was saving her from Grandfather.
But she didn't want Senpai to die.
She had to stop him.
But Senpai was now a Servant. He was stronger than human Senpai.
But even Servants wouldn't be able to beat Grandfather.
But Senpai said that Grandfather had died. Without coming back even.
Could Senpai kill him? Was Senpai made a hero for saving her in the future?
No, Sakura scolded her brief flare of hope. You aren't that important. No one would become a hero for saving you. They would be a villain.
Like Medusa, treacherous hope whispered back. She is a villain in Greek myths yet she is your Servant.
Paralyzed by her internal debate, Sakura stumbled as she almost fell down the first step on the front porch.
"Sorry," Medusa apologized.
Sakura glanced over her shoulder.
Senpai and Gilgamesh were almost to the door.
"Now, we can kick down the door," Servant Senpai said with a hint of eagerness.
Sakura hadn't known that Senpai wanted to kick down doors.
Oh, now her lewder dreams would include Senpai kicking down her door before proclaiming his love for her and taking her.
On second thought, it sounded kind of exciting. Must be Senpai's charm.
The blond boy sighed.
"We shouldn't do that to the entrance of a magus's workshop," he condescendingly explained as dozens of golden circles appeared in the air above him.
Then streaks of light flew to the door and a resounding boom shook through the air.
"Spoilsport," Shirou grumbled.
"That's you!" Gilgamesh promptly retorted as he spun around to face Shirou. "You didn't let me kick down the door when we could!"
"Wait outside. It'll be safer there," Lancer briefly said with one final shove towards the gate before turning around and sprinting inside as the two Archers argued about the proper time and situation to kick down a door.
Sakura turned to look one last time.
Senpai and the other Servant were already disappearing down into the staircase. Medusa Lily was right behind Shirou and in the tiny expressions that Sakura was still learning to read, she looked like she was looking forward to this.
The three Servants did sound like a marching band of explosives as things cracked, whistled through the air, and the walls shook as thuds resounded and buzzing was drowned out.
Sakura glanced over her shoulder one last time as the din started. Just in time to see Medusa's Lily pretty purple hair disappear down the stairs.
It is now too late.
Sakura couldn't stop Senpai now.
Sakura stood there on the cobblestones for a moment, contemplating if she should go down there. If she should stop Senpai for his own safety.
But she knew she wasn't brave enough.
Sakura didn't have the courage.
So once again, Sakura gave in and did the easy thing.
She walked forward, towards the gate to the Matou property.
The short driveway seemed to take forever to cross, as her mind buzzed with worried thoughts running in circles like a maze full of rats.
Will Senpai be alright? Will he die? Would even three Heroic Spirits be able to win against Grandfather?
Did she even deserve to worry about them? She had let them go down. She hadn't tried to stop them.
She hadn't even been able to even say the words.
But Senpai was now a hero. He was going to defeat Grandfather.
And Sakura wanted to believe in Shirou. Really, she did. Her heart was clenched tightly in a desire for hope. But he was going against Zouken.
Even though that Shirou was a Servant and would be stronger than a normal human, that wouldn't be enough.
Zouken wasn't able to die. He had survived four Grail Wars and had helped make the Grail. He was the one who suggested creating Servant Containers for the Heroic Spirits and knew Command Seals better than anyone.
Also, Grandfather had never feared Servants, even during the last Grail War. He had even helped Uncle Kariya summon a Servant despite Kariya's hatred for Grandfather.
As Sakura unlatched the gate, opening it, she worried, her thoughts twisting into circles and her emotions into knots. Her heart seemed to pound in her eardrums with fear.
Which was why, Sakura really didn't notice the house explode behind her.
A few milliseconds afterward though, she did notice the flash of light and the shutter sound of a camera going off right in front of her.
Sakura was brought back to earth, nearly leaping out of her skin, before blinking in startlement at the young elementary school boy who was looking at her in complete awe, slowly lowering the camera held up in front of his face.
"How did you do that?" he asked in amazement. "That was just—PERFECT!"
"Um," Sakura said, wondering what he was talking about.
"I mean, I was just looking for a photo to enter into an art contest for real-life moments and I was walking through this street, and then you came out of your home and then the house EXPLODED into a massive fireball!" the young boy rambled on excitedly, waving his digital camera around in one hand as the other gesticulated everywhere. "I couldn't have done better if I tried! Oh! I almost forgot, Mom said that I should ask if I have your permission to use any shot. Can I, pleeeease?"
The boy put on his best winsome smile that showed that one of his baby teeth had fallen out.
It didn't compare to Senpai's smile or the smile of the Servant he brought with him but it was still a cute smile.
"Um, sure?" Sakura said uncertainly as she turned around to see a cloud of smoke rising high into the sky from her home for the last decade.
Her mind and heart seemed to have frozen in shock. The world should have too.
She means, her home just blew up. With Senpai and Grandfather fighting inside the basement.
"YES! Thank you!" The boy jumped into the air, triumphantly posing with both arms up. "Oh wait, you need the fire department! I'll go call it!"
The boy took off running down the street, camera and strap bouncing around his neck.
He stopped at the street corner and turned around to yell, "Thank you miss who I've never met before!"
"No problem?" Sakura hesitantly said as she stared after him.
The sound of some cracking came from behind her and Sakura turned around just in time to see a wing of the house collapse in on itself expelling a cloud of dust.
Her heart and mind went off of automatic stillness as she regained expression.
"Senpai," she whispered as she thought of him, beneath the stairs, trapped in the pit, house crumbling down around him.
He needed her. She needed to help him.
Sakura stepped forward, back towards the house.
A gunshot, no, greater than a gunshot, cracked through the air as a few long swords flew up, chewing through the wooden rubble and shingles as if they weren't even there.
The battle was still on-going.
Sakura stared, her lungs breathing again.
Senpai was still alive. He wasn't giving up.
Sakura got to watch, almost as in slow-motion as another wing of the house crumbled.
It was weird, seeing something that was older than everyone but grandfather buckle and slide under its own weight.
Then it was toppling over, parts coming free from each into sheets that broke apart as bit by bit, they hit the ground in a continuous cascade of destruction and noise.
Sakura froze mid-step before backing up across the street.
And decided that maybe she should wait out here on the sidewalk of the street.
It wasn't far from the house but it was hopefully safer than here.
But what about Senpai?
Sakura's mind suddenly kicked back into gear and realized that the stairs down to the basement were already collapsed. She couldn't get to the stairs anyway.
She couldn't help Senpai. Medusa Lily and the blond Servant too, she supposed.
So she should be selfish and think of herself.
She didn't want to die.
Also, they had told her to wait out here.
She might as well be the maiden out here praying for the safe return of the heroes. That was what maidens in fairy tales were supposed to do, right?
But leaving aside her worthiness as a maiden in a story, who would even accept a prayer from her of all people?
The gods had long left mankind after all.
And none of them would even consider a prayer from her as worthy of anything but striking down the monster that tried to contaminate them with her dirty wishes.
And then the worms inside of her clutched up, causing an involuntary whimper of pain to break through her lips as like a strong wave, pressure dropped into her mind and onto her soul.
But this was stronger, much stronger, than usual. It felt like an actual attack instead of 'training'. Also, Grandfather didn't attack like this. He usually didn't involve his 'training' of her into the daytime or if she was out in the public at all.
Sakura immediately set herself into the attitude and state of existence she hid herself in when in training. It helped a bit. But she still felt like her heart was being crushed, like a boulder was sitting on her crush and some giant was pushing down on it.
Was this another lesson? But for what?
She knew that Grandfather controlled her. She knew couldn't beat Grandfather. She knew that she couldn't escape him.
The only thing she could be proud of was that Grandfather couldn't break her.
And it was one thing that she loathed. How much easier would it have been if she just, gave in? If she just let herself die and become nothing more than a puppet?
But she wouldn't. She refused to from the very core of her spirit.
Even a dirty spirit, poisoned and defiled to every extremity, would struggle against its death.
'Master,' a thought came through her Master-Servant link to Lancer Lily.
'Master,' Medusa Lily addressed Sakura over their Servant-Master link as her scythe reaped a swarm of blade wing worms only for more to dig their way free from the floor and walls. 'Please wait out there for a bit. Zouken isn't going down easily.'
It was rather amazing really. Both of the Archers were carpet bombing the place and Zouken was still putting up a fight. Medusa reckoned that if she hadn't been nearly insignificant to either side, she would already be dead.
The proof was the battlefield.
The floor wasn't merely a pocket of craters now. The top couple feet of the floor had been utterly destroyed.
If the bottom of the stairs were still there, Medusa could have told you how much deep the floor had decreased.
Only, the stairs were rubble now. Zouken and the two Archers had destroyed the stairs pretty early on.
And as touching the ground meant death to the Servants as Zouken's familiars and spells, not to mention the poison mist that was Archer's worm-a-cide, were everywhere on the ground. Zouken's familiars were dying in droves yet some died only to release some spell that he had intended to use the familiar as a medium for.
The result was that the Archers and Lancer had to find ways to stay in mid-air or else discover what a genius magus could do to Servants.
Archer Lily, the teen-aged-looking red-head that her Master liked, was standing on top of the guard of a particularly large sword. One of several statue-like swords and more were appearing every second so that the old magus wouldn't be able to predict which sword Archer would jump to next.
The blond Archer Lily was flying in mid-air having put on some kind of shoe with wings.
Medusa?
She used her high A rank agility to kick off of another worm, the force of her jump splattering it into a disgusting brown mix of gore.
Sometimes she used worms, which made her grateful for the metal boots she had on. She would hate to have worm guts on her feet.
Sometimes she kicked off one of either Archers' swords or weapons as they flew past her or after they hit the ground.
Rarely did she use the fragile walls.
Regardless, Medusa knew that she couldn't stop moving.
If she slowed down, even a little bit, if she dared drop her agility to the equivalent of B rank or below-
-Zouken would kill her. Only her speed which made her into a very fast blur for Zouken kept him from taking her out in a sudden trap.
And if she tried on her own, he would have been able to eventually figure out her pattern and checkmate her, quickly killing her.
But she wasn't on her own. Instead she was with two very, very dangerous Servants that required Zouken's full attention.
As it was, Medusa knew that she wouldn't be able to defeat either. Especially as they now knew about her Cybele.
Good thing her objective for the Grail War wasn't to win it. She just wanted Sakura safe and free.
Amidst the continuous boom of explosions and golden glow mixing with dark and shadowy mists as well as the poisonous purple mist, Medusa cut a particularly fat worm in half before seeing what had been behind it.
Namely that part of the basement wall had collapsed, opening up a view into a secret room. A room that was full to the brink of, you guessed it, more Crest Worms.
Medusa wanted to sigh. But that would mean breathing the air in this foul place.
However, that brief glimpse wasn't long for the world.
The two Archers were already dropping powerful Noble Phantasms into the extension. More destructive Noble Phantasms than the ones they could use in the very room they were inside.
In other words, the new room was already full of fire, smoke and destruction. Plus a number of exotic effects from the sheer variety of powerful weaponry.
Medusa glanced up, petrifying another Crest Worm with her eyes, as the ceiling groaned, a deep rumbling sound, above her.
Belatedly, Medusa remembered that to keep the ceiling up, you needed walls or pillars or some kind of architecture.
Like the wall which had used to be part of this room.
Medusa Lily got to watch as a section of the ceiling came down with the kitchen cabinet and crushed a group of worms flat before the kitchen cutlery flew out from the now damaged furniture.
Zouken's spells quickly rotted—No, that was wrong.
His spells devoured the wood, the silver, everything. Like his spell was some kind of powerful stomach acid.
It was a monstrous thing. A spell you would expect to find in the darkest corners of the world or with the evilest of gods.
Appropriate for a monster that had consigned Sakura to the worst of indignities.
Medusa's glance saw the last of silver utensils turn into shining dust before vanishing into the gloom. Yeah, Sakura wasn't going to be living here anymore. No silverware at the very least.
Before the last of the rotted metal and wood could vanish,
Then the mixture of Matou decay magecraft and a passing weapon from the ridiculously overpowered Archers destroyed the cabinet into splinters and rot.
The fight continued.
Until it suddenly didn't.
Medusa crouched atop one of the Archer's weapons. She didn't know which Archer, but she didn't want to be on the ground.
"I thought we weren't going to let him talk," the taller Archer reminded the other Archer. "He's a master at using words. If we let him talk, he'll find a way to hurt us or use us."
So that was why the two had immediately started shooting full speed as soon as they shot open the door to the workshop. Medusa had thought they just wanted to be boys and blast the door off its hinges.
"No," the red-eyed demi-god said with his eyes narrowed. "As much as I don't want to listen to this pest's words, we need to. We overlooked something."
"Like what?" Archer asked, eyebrow raised. "We used one of your barrier Noble Phantasms around the area before we even got onto the property. Nothing of Zouken can reach to another house. And if he tried to eat someone, he would still be stuck inside the barrier."
"So, what offense did I do to cause all three of you to turn against me?" The old man, the old monster spoke, as a slop of worms came out into a corner of the room. "I don't think my dear granddaughter would be pleased that her Servant threatens the one who holds her life."
Holds her life… What did he mean?
"We forgot about Sakura!" the red-head suddenly yelled, a look of mortification and self-recrimination sweeping over his features. "She has his worms in her!"
Shirou, that was his name. That was the name of the boy her Master loved.
"There is nothing we can do about her," The other boy said with extreme distaste evident on his scrounged-up face. "All we can do is make her to be the last victim of this monster."
"Can't we save her somehow?" Shirou begged. "We just need to get the worms out of her. Surely, there is something in the Gate of Babylon—"
"Not with him holding her life in his hands," the boy who must be the hero Gilgamesh said, his eyes firmly set on the old man. "He can end it with just a thought. Just a squeeze of the worms and her vital organs will die in just an instant."
"Indeed, young heroes," the old monster mocked. "And even if this acute poison wipes me out, my death throes will undoubtedly involve the worms inside of her raging out of control, consuming her heart and mind until she dies. Will you heroes" And the word was definitely a slur from his mouth. "let the maiden die?"
Shirou was right, Medusa realized. Zouken was going to play off of their good nature and use words against them. He was going to threaten Sakura's life until they let him live if only so that Sakura lived.
"Let her go," Medusa ordered, letting her Siren Song skill play through her voice. "She has no more part in you."
The old man snorted. "I may be a man, but I am not so weak willed to let a Servant charm me into letting go of my granddaughter. What kind of neglectful grandfather would I be?"
Blast. Medusa's teeth ground against each other. He was too strong-willed despite being a rotting soul in possession of an inhuman body. If only she was more like her sisters and had greater charm as opposed to these petrifying eyes—
Her eyes.
"He can't kill if the worms are already dead," Medusa declared as her cloak reappeared around her as she kicked off in her strongest kick towards the doorframe which hung above a few remaining stone steps like a door above a cliff ledge to nowhere.
She had to move fast.
And it was a good thing that the Archers had understood. She would have had a hard time getting past them if they decided to shoot her too.
"So the Gorgon seeks to kill the ones dearest and most sisterly to her. Oh, how the legends play out again," Zouken mocked.
Medusa couldn't suppress her involuntary shudder even as she landed one foot on the top of the bottom stone step and flew forward, up the stairs, Harpe's sharp edge cutting through fallen architecture and clearing a way through the rubble.
She will kill her sisters while lost in mindless anger and bloodlust. Her older self already had even if she, the Lily, didn't remember it.
But this was the only way to save Sakura.
After all, what could worms do when turned to stone?
"How did you forget something like that?" she heard behind her from Gilgamesh.
"Hey, I have more memories of swords than I do of actual life," Shirou protested, his voice echoing up the passageway. "It takes a while to…"
'Master!' Medusa cried as she bounded through the cracks that she enlarged with her weapon. 'Where are you?'
Rin could not ignore the sharp spike of mana being drained from her by Archer.
Even in the midst of her sleep, she wouldn't have.
And at the unholy early hour of 8 am, Rin was forced awake by her Servant doing battle.
She could feel the burn of her circuits as they opened to supply the needy Archer.
"Wha-" she sleepily said.
It was a Sunday, she remembered through the dense fog of her tired mind. No school.
She should sleep.
Rin dove her head back into her fluffy and warm pillow.
'Archer,' she complained. 'Stop that.'
Sleep secured, she went back to sleep, held in the kind embrace of her bed who most certainly wasn't a surprising rude Servant version of her crush, the school's local poster child for being a selfless good boy.
Only to jolt back up as Archer invoked a massive amount of energy, forcing her circuits to open even further.
It was like a slap in the face and despite being rather rude, it certainly caused her to wake up further.
'What?' she said, glancing at her clock.
8 A.M.
Sunday.
Way too early to be awake. She wanted to sleep until noon or maybe one, if she was lucky.
But her bond to her Servant was drawing power like he was fighting.
But it was too early for battle.
She should sleep-
Wait!
Was someone attacking? In broad daylight?
Mortal threat motivating her more than the delightfully sinful beckoning of Morpheus, Rin fell out of her bed, scrambling to find something better than pajamas to wear.
She needed to be presentable—
Wait, where was Archer?
As Rin ran to her closet, only stumbling a few times and she most certainly did not knock over a chair and her lamp while putting on her in-door slippers, she dove into her familiar bond to perceive through the senses of her Servant.
And found herself in what must be the most horrible place on Earth.
It was dark, it was full of mist, and it smelled.
And out of everything, it was simply smelling the room through Archer's nose that woke Rin up like a bucket of ice water to the face.
Figures that it would be her Archer to do something like that. Even if he was younger and closer to her date zone now.
'Where are you!?' Rin demanded as she took in the battlefield. 'How is someplace like this even in Fuyuki?'
She could sense two other Servants near Archer. One was flying besides Archer and was the boy who had handed over Kotomine to her.
And the other was some girl who was bouncing around, cutting down—
Ugh. Crest worms.
Disgusting.
And they made the pictures of the creatures which she had studied to look nice and she had scrounged up her nose when she first saw them.
'Ah, morning Rin,' Archer greeted her almost conversationally. 'Did you sleep well?'
"What are you doing?" she demanded out loud as well, as she grabbed a jacket from her wardrobe.
She might be regrettably awake, but she certainly did not need to be cold.
'Rescuing Sakura,' Archer replied as the boy Servant next to him suddenly stopped firing.
Rin froze in the middle of putting her jacket down.
'SAKURA'S THERE!?' She screamed into his mind, causing Archer Lily to wince as he stopped shooting Noble Phantasms too. 'Where? Rescue her, right now! Do everything you can to save her!'
What was Sakura doing there? She was a Matou, they should be protecting her from even being close to a place like that!
Forget getting dressed. Sakura needed her!
Rin cut the sensory sharing as she ran out of her bedroom, nearly hitting the wall as she turned corners in her haste, not even noticing that she still had her jacket in her hand.
Sakura was in danger. Sakura needed her. She had to save Sakura.
It was in that attire and attitude that Rin ran out her front door, only pausing long enough to put the jacket on so that she could free up a hand in order to pull open the front door.
'Emiya!' she demanded as she ran down the hill towards the Matou mansion. 'Tell me what is going on!'
'Zouken Matou is threatening everybody in Fuyuki, so me and Gilgamesh came to stop him,' Shirou told her calmly. Although the reason for him being calm might just be that he was rather distracted with his battle.
Realizing that, Rin flipped all of her Magic Circuits on. If Shirou was saving Sakura, then he needed all the power she could give him.
'Who cares about him!' Rin flared as she ran at full speed down the slope. It felt rather like falling. 'What about Sakura?'
'He threatened to use the Crest Worms he implanted in Sakura to kill her if we do not retreat.'
Falling's maximum acceleration from gravity was approximately 9.8 meters per second per second if you managed to remove drag coefficient of the air.
That was too slow.
She needed to be there, with Sakura now.
Rin let herself fly down the hill, every step feeling like she would fall over and tumble down, head first, down the hill.
'Then stop!' Rin commanded Archer. 'Don't let him kill Sakura. We can come back another time, when Sakura isn't in danger and after we have removed the Crest Worms in her.'
Crest worms in Sakura! That was—That was—
She didn't have the words for it!
'Lancer has already left to protect Sakura from his threat,' Shirou replied calmly with a grunt as his battle nearly distracted him from the conversation.
At that moment, Rin turned the corner and saw the Matou house down the street.
And two figures, one short and with a weapon staring towards the other, which was a greyish statue.
Odd, Rin thought as she got closer to the two. The statue looks like—
SAKURA!
Lancer Lily paid the utmost attention to how many milliseconds she kept her gaze on Sakura and exactly how much power left her while she did, all the while her heart beat to a nervous tempo.
Right now, she wished that she had her older self's Breaker Gorgon. If all they needed was to keep Sakura sealed away from Zouken, the Noble Phantasm would have helped a great deal.
But Lancer Lily figured that it wouldn't work. The worms were already inside Sakura and Zouken's soul resided in his worms. Breaker Gorgon wouldn't be able to separate the worm from Zouken because they were already part of Zouken.
As it is, petrifying Sakura felt like a tightrope. Not so strong as to render Sakura unable to return back to normal eventually. The effect would wear off over time if the person was not completely turned to stone. But not so weak that Sakura and the worms that were inside of her, would be able to act before being immobilized. Sakura's worms needed to be mostly stone and immobile, but still alive. If they died, then it would have been enough to kill Sakura too.
Lancer didn't like this tightrope. Both she and Sakura were on it and Medusa didn't want to die.
But Sakura was on the rope too and if Lancer made the rope too wobbly…
Sakura would fall off and die. And Medusa would soon follow without a Master.
So Medusa paid desperate strict attention, bending all of her focus and concentration on feeling her Master's life force slow down to nearly a halt through her bond to her Master while keeping her eyes under control.
Every moment had to be evaluated precisely. Every bit of power had to applied carefully.
But she didn't have much choice, Medusa grimly affirmed as she closed the flow of power from her eyes.
Sakura would die if Zouken could access her and the worms inside her. But Medusa would die if Sakura was turned completely to stone and it wouldn't help Sakura at all.
The only thing to do was to hope that her weaker Cybele, that wasn't up to nearly the strength of her future self, would be weak enough that it wouldn't kill Sakura instantly.
But she could still feel Sakura through her Master-Servant bond. Barely. Her Master was weak and in danger, on the verge of death due to Lancer's own eyes having nearly killed her.
But Medusa knew that if Zouken was able to control Sakura, then Sakura would die or Zouken would use Sakura's life as a form of control over the three of them.
And Gilgamesh was not one to be controlled, the goddess knew from legend and story.
Sakura would die either way.
And Medusa knew that she wouldn't be able to defeat Gilgamesh. The King of Heroes was too versatile and strong and she had seen her own Harpe among the weapons he had used.
That blade would enable him to kill her rather easily in an imagined clash between the two of them.
But now that Zouken's worms weren't threatening Sakura anymore, Medusa only had to pay attention to Sakura's recovery.
If Sakura recovered too fast, the worms would recover too. In which case Medusa would have to petrify Sakura again.
But if she petrified her too much, Sakura would die.
It was like pushing the tide to the shore. Push too long and the water washed away the sand. Push for too short of a time and the water would recede and the sand, which was both Sakura and the Crest Worms, would be exposed to Zouken.
Worse of all, this wasn't a cure. The Crest Worms would try to devour Sakura even if Zouken was dead. No, this was only a stop-gap measure meant to keep Zouken from making the situation worse while the Archers killed him.
After Zouken was dead except for the worms inside Sakura, then they could focus on getting rid of those worms.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" A high feminine voice screeched as a few curses flew Medusa's way.
Lancer jumped back across the street, dodging the magical reddish-black bullets. Her magic resistance might be able to handle a few curses but any curse that a magus sent towards what they knew to be a Servant were probably powerful ones.
The curses streamed down towards her like bullets shot out of a machine gun, forcing Lancer to turn and face the person.
It was a girl in partially unbuttoned yellow pajamas with the face of cats on them. A jacket, one sleeve on, the other hanging free, flew out behind her along with long unbound hair. One sandal for wearing indoors was on her foot and Medusa could spy its partner on the sidewalk behind her.
Ah, the Tohsaka Master. Shinji had pointed her out while her older self had been there. But right now, she looked a lot more slovenly.
Yet Medusa had only rarely seen a person look both this enraged and this terrified.
The Tohsaka continued shooting curses at Medusa even as she took up position between Medusa and Sakura, breathing hard from her sprint.
Medusa felt a stab of annoyance.
She was trying to keep Sakura petrified but still alive. She couldn't do that if she had to deal with someone attacking her.
She ran along the wall, jerking and swerving to avoid the projectiles, aiming for a spot that would make sure that Tohsaka alone was now firmly in her gaze. Sakura's body had to be completely behind the other Master.
It felt like she was doing some of the wilder dancing from back at one of those festivals the humans had put on for holidays when she had been alive. Some of the dancing that had amused her older sisters because the humans looked crazy and so foolish doing it. The entire reason that they had gone to those festivals really.
But Medusa couldn't risk hitting Sakura with a strong blast of her Mystic Eyes.
So she danced along the wall, Rin's bullets pounding out the beat, until she was in the perfect spot, where she couldn't see the mostly-stone Sakura behind the living Tohsaka.
It wasn't easy. Tohsaka had quickly caught onto the fact that Medusa wanted to Rin to be in the line connecting her and Sakura and had quickly set to making sure that Medusa didn't get there with a will.
But now Rin was stuck. She obviously refused to step too far away from Sakura. But Lancer was so much faster than Rin that Rin couldn't step out from the middle of the line between the three women fast enough.
Which meant it was now time.
Even as a new flurry of bullets flew out of Tohsaka's hand, at least one aiming for her head, Medusa let her power rage out of her eyes towards Rin Tohsaka, her target.
Rin shuddered but the Magic Circuits flared to life across her body, repelling the petrification before it could set in, her arm moving half as swiftly as before being exposed to Cybele. But the enemy Master didn't fire the spell at her fingertip, only held it there.
Zeus. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
She was a child; her Mystic Eyes weren't as strong as they would be in the future. If she hadn't been affected by the potion of youth, Rin would have needed the equivalent of C rank Mana to resist being turned instantly into stone.
But for Rin to not even be slowed down to a crawl…
Rin must have strong circuits.
Rin's eyes narrowed. "Petrification by means of Mystic eyes. Only one being in legend is famous for having the eyes of Cybele. Medusa."
Medusa tsked.
Rin not only was stronger than she expected, but she was in between her and Sakura and now knew her True Name.
Things just wouldn't be easy, now did they?
"Wee-wah! Wee-WAH! WEE-WAH!"
Rin froze as she heard the familiar sound.
It was the sound of a fire truck. One that was getting closer.
And despite staring at Medusa, who looked like she was summoned into a Lancer class, Rin could easily see the flames now licking the Matou Mansion behind the Servant.
Wait, why were people aware of what was going on?
Rin groaned as she realized something.
Shirou Emiya, her Servant, must not have put up a Bounded Field to obscure what was going on inside the mansion. Despite being a modern magus with magecraft skill, he hadn't set up a protection against mundane attention.
Now because of his failing, everyone now knew that the Matou Mansion was suffering from fire and-
CRAAASSH!
-structural damage, to put it lightly.
How were they going to hide this?! Kirei would—
Oh wait. The overseer was a prisoner in her prison—she means, she was hosting the overseer while he was in a state that he couldn't carry out his duties.
Which means she would have to cover this up.
"Archeeeerrr," Rin growled as she realized how much work it would be to cover this up.
"WEE-WAH! WEE-WAH!"
The fire truck was getting closer and she didn't have the time or resources to cover this up.
Which meant she would have to break off this fight with Medusa.
"Tch," Rin clicked her tongue as she let her Gandr dissipate.
Wouldn't have done any good. Medusa's Magic Resistance would render her curse useless.
Rin guessed that Medusa didn't realize that or she would have just taken the curse head-on and ignored everything.
But she couldn't hold a bluff now. Not with the need to hide magecraft from everyone coming.
Opposite her, Medusa's eyes darted to the where the sound was coming from, before astralizing into something that could only be detected through magical senses.
The Servant didn't leave though. She just jumped diagonally across the street to the same side that Rin was on.
Which meant that Rin couldn't leave either.
She refused to leave Sakura out here where the hostile Servant could kill her.
Okay, that's most of them, Archer Lily commented suddenly into Rin's mind, making her jump. His soul should be in pieces now that all of the worms here are dead. We'll still need to hunt down the rest but shouldn't take long as he can't leave the estate.
Archer! Rin demanded. What is going on and why did a Servant attack Sakura?
Hmm, Archer hummed in though. Oh, you're talking about Medusa. Yeah, she decided that in order to remove the last of Zouken's worms out of Sakura, we needed to stop him from killing her or having the Crest Worms eat her. Medusa seemed to have a plan so we let her go take care of that.
Wait, what? Rin asked as the fire truck turned onto the street. Medusa just petrified her! Also, the fire truck is here!
WEE-WAH! WEE-WAH! WEE-WAH!
Oh, Archer commented. Well, I guess we should make sure that the—Hold on. That doesn't sound good…
Rin took a chance and dove through the familiar bond to perceive through Archer's senses even as odd creaks and pops started to mix with the sound of sirens.
Rin had just enough time to see the entire ceiling of the room Archer was in fall down towards him.
Rin opened her real eyes in time to see the entire Matou Mansion vanish.
Into a brand-new sinkhole.
Guess we shouldn't have used so many Noble Phantasms, Shirou Emiya remarked as he astralized to avoid getting hit by a mansion.
Gilgamesh sat upside down on his ship.
Well, he was sitting right side-up. But only from the perspective of Vimana which was upside-down to the earth.
You see, since he was in a human body, he couldn't astralize. Since he couldn't astralize, he couldn't do as the Archer of the Fifth War had done and just shift his existence out to avoid getting hit by mortal matter.
And he really, really, really didn't want to touch the ground of Zouken's basement.
So flipping Vimana upside down was the best call he could make to protect himself from the falling wood, rocks, and everything else that made up a mansion.
Okay, he could have pulled out a shield or something, but sitting upside down on Vimana was cooler!
"Well," He said to the empty air as he pulled out a satellite connected wireless laptop. "I did warn them that I might do some collateral damage."
Opening up the first-rate, mystical laptop, the boy started typing.
Nobody asked me to hold back, you know.
Wait, what, that isn't what I-
If nobody cares about the Matou mansion, why would I care about leaving it intact?
I think I-
So nobody should be surprised that I ended up destroying it. Be grateful that I let you see such a spectacular explosion.
Wait, are you talking about the explosion when Sakura walked out of—HOLD ON! WHO IS WRITING HERE?
And I'm bored.
Gilgamesh?! Who let you at the computer?
I let myself!
Aren't you a child now? And inside the story?
Fool, nothing, not even age or being changed inside a story can restrain the King of Heroes—ACK!
"Gilgamesh, your mom wants you to finish your vegetable! Then you can go outside and play!"
Mwahahaha! I have brought forth my secret weapon, Enkidu!
NOOOOOO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME EAT MY VEGETABLES!
(Author's Mutterings: I'll have to rewrite this section so that nobody knows that Gilgamesh hacked my story.)
By the way, the boy got second place in the art contest when he submitted his photo.
The comments were "That can't be real." "Wait, is this why the fire department was out that day? I remember them going past my house." "Very fortuitous timing, young man. Very fortuitous." "Excellent contrast. The sudden end of peace in a single moment. And yet, it is an event that happens daily." "Too bad this is a contest for everyday moments. You would have taken first place in any other contest."
And of course, "Rejoice, shonen."
Actual Author's Note: I have to say, this chapter took a while. Having to go on hiatus for the last month or two did not help.
Also, if anyone really wants, they should make a drawing of the Matou house blowing up behind Sakura.
Some images are just meant to be. And it is a tragedy that this one doesn't exist.