Interlude: Huntress and Snare

Castle Yggdmillenia was all but surrounded by a lush, verdant forest, populated by alders and firs, poplars and oaks. The way the leaves swayed in the night wind, were one to observe it from above, was reminiscent of the wind-chopped waves of an ocean; a veritable sea of trees. A single side of the Castle was bare of foliage, flanked as it was by a sheer cliff, but all this did was enhance the impression of Castle Yggdmillenia being an island, a lighthouse of civility and class in nature's oceanic grasp.

Of course, the image projected by those austere walls was a laughable farce, but any normal person who got close enough to learn this was long condemned to an unsightly fate.

The person observing Castle Yggdmillenia now, however, was far from normal. And indeed, she was already keenly aware of the sins perpetrated within the castle...or at least the ones that mattered to her.

The branches of a tall and venerable tree swayed, as though disturbed by a strong wind. The Chaste Huntress, Atalante, bounded through the boughs with feline grace, Tauropolos readied in her hand.

'Caster of Black...I won't let you sacrifice a child for your own arrogance!' Her eyes were green fire, the golden lion ears atop her head were pulled flat against her scalp, and the equally golden lion's tail sprouting from the base of her spine lashed about in agitation.

No mistakes about it, Archer of Red was livid. Indeed, only the fact that Caster of Black had not yet sacrificed his Master prevented her from unleashing her second Noble Phantasm.

The letter that Archer of Black had sent was graphic and explicit in the real and present dangers to the child remaining in the depths of Castle Yggdmillenia. The emotion and fear that the two Masters of Yggdmillenia had managed to transcribe into their letter had tugged at her heartstrings while setting her instincts alight. They had no manner of saving the child as they were due to their position within the Yggdmillenia at the time, but her…

She could not sit idly by while a child was endangered, even if they were a Master of the enemy faction.

And so she surged from the treeline, low to the ground and weaving through the grass between the treeline and the castle. Almost immediately after she crossed the boundary, the ground began to rumble. What had previously appeared to be decoratively arranged, moss-covered boulders were quickly shown to be camouflaged golems, their forms unfolding as they moved to attack the Archer.

Several lumbered forward and swung their bulky limbs at Atalante, while others slumped down and fired volleys of stone shards from their backs at her. The Chaste Huntress danced between the onslaught of attacks, planting arrow after arrow into each of the golems as she avoided their every strike with effortless grace. Each arrow bit deep into the stone, rupturing the dense crystal of their cores and causing them to shut down.

In a span of seconds, two score golems had crumbled into nothing more than rock and moss, and as Atalante continued her inexorable advance, more and more constructs joined the fray, and more and more fell to her arrows. Were she not so focused on reaching the castle, the Chaste Huntress might have noticed how the golems seemed to increase in quality as she neared it...not that this helped them in any measurable way.

…

Unfortunately for Atalante, her keen focus also prevented her from noticing the narrowed eyes carefully following her passage towards the castle.

-x-x-x-

The metal-masked face of Caster of Black, Avicebron, snapped up as a female figure crashed through a high window and landed in the midst of his lab. The bow clenched in her hand marked her as the Archer of the Red faction, and doubtless the reason for scores of his sentinel golems becoming inactive in the past half a minute or so. Even as he backed away from his table, he waved forward a half dozen of his finest golems, wrought not of stone but of magic crystal. "Archer of Red, your act of disturbing me is…an annoyance. I'm in the middle of incredibly delicate but vital work."

The man waved imperiously towards the table before him, upon which rested a great hand of some sort, inanimate like the rest of the giant that it was attached to. His eyeless gaze bored into her as he continued, "More than that, your assault could very well awaken my master. While his enthusiasm towards golemcraft is exemplary, he has all the excitability of an undisciplined child."

"That is because he is a child, you despicable creature!" Atalante roared, loosing a trio of arrows in his direction, which were blasted out of the air by beams of condensed mana. "Do not pretend to care about him; I know what you are willing to do, what lines you are willing to cross in the name of your precious craft!" hissed the Archer, springing forward even as she strung and loosed another arrow.

Turning his head back to his work, Avicebron's fingers clicked as they danced about the back of the hand. His head quirked to the side as he continued, "Children are to be seen, not heard, Archer of Red. More than that, my work here is necessary. To drag humanity from its sinful malaise and into Eden… Can you think of no higher calling?"

Atalante gripped her bow so hard it creaked under the strain. "If such a calling requires the sacrifice of even a single child, then I'd rather consign the world to Tartarus!" Her voice started as a growl and ended as a feral scream, her mana darkening with each passing moment as it flared wildly around her.

"Noble Phantasm: Agrius Metamorphosis!"

A dark light flowed over her body, and when it cleared, Atalante was changed. Her skin and hair had paled considerably, and her green gown had vanished, replaced by a furred covering that would have been skimpy, were it not growing out of her flesh. Her hands and feet, in particular, were changed, becoming clawed and hooved, respectively. Finally and most distinctively, a boar's head was mounted on her right shoulder, violet runes gleaming on its flesh.

In the next instant, she exploded into motion, the ground shattering beneath her cloven hooves. In the span of a second, two of Avicebron's golems were shattered against the ground, and one more was launched at its master by a two-hoofed kick. The thrown golem was caught by another of its kin, even as the Caster turned to look at Atalante properly.

"Fascinating. A spirit core and Saint Graph capable of rapid and fluid transmutation between Servant classes, exactly the sort of material that would be useful for perfecting Adam. While my Master's magic circuits, or those of that homunculus would be wonderful for its completion, your spirit core would be an interesting variable as well."

If Atalante registered anything that Avicebron said, it was the implication that a child's safety was in danger. Of course, under the effects of the Boar of Divine Punishment's madness as she was, this only served to spur her on even more. He legs coiled beneath her, and the next second, she exploded through both of the golems, tearing through the air towards Caster claws-first. "CASTER!"

As she careened through the air towards him, a new voice cut through the din of battle. "Atalante, by the power of all three Command Seals, I order you to carve out your spirit core and present it to Caster of Black."

The Archer's arm slammed through her chest in an explosion of gore, her face twisting in confusion and betrayal as her flight came to an abrupt end and she slammed into the ground, her spirit core outstretched towards Avicebron. Collapsing to her knees as blood dripped from her nose and mouth, she craned her head around to look at the source of the voice, betrayal painted on her features like the blood on her chin. She took a few hacking breathes, trying to keep herself from falling apart as she tried to drag her way towards her newfound enemy.

"Kotomine… How? Why?"

Atalante's body broke down into golden flakes of light as Avicebron gently took the spirit core from her outstretched hand, scrutinizing it quietly as he made a satisfied noise.

Standing almost nonchalantly amongst the menacing golems was the one who had ordered Atalante to commit suicide, the man who had taken control of the Red Faction, Shirou Tokisada Amakusa.

He was harried and tired, his hair disheveled and his clothes rumpled, looking very much like he was on the verge of collapsing. Despite all that, the incarnated Ruler was smiling at Avicebron.

"You too, are a man of the Lord, who seeks to bring his glory unto this sinful world. With the miracles granted unto me by the Lord, and the golem you're creating, we'll pull humanity from this mire of sin that they've fallen into."

The Caster eyed him for a few moments before holding it up to mimic a toast as he replied, "A fellow man of the Lord, in search of bringing about Eden…yes, I believe that you and I will have a fruitful relationship."

At that moment, a small blond boy stumbled into the room, rubbing at his eyes and looking around the damaged lab. Avicebron vaguely registered that his new conspirator had vanished, sparing him the need to explain anything to his Master.

How considerate.

Roche, after staring at the not-inconsiderable damage, asked, "What happened, teacher?!"

"Nothing you need to worry about, Master. An enemy action was thwarted," the masked Servant remarked as he reached out with his free hand and gently rested it atop the child's head. A sound escaped the man's helmet, a breathy chuckle as he gave the hair beneath his covered fingers a ruffle. "Nothing you need to worry about at all."