Day 5: Luvia — Masterless Caster
Luviagelita Edelfelt had begun the night as usual, patrolling the streets accompanied by her Servant, Lancer Rei Ayanami. However, despite patrolling the area where she had last encountered the rogue Berserker, she had yet to see any sign of him. The news had not reported any new killings over the past day, which was good for the residents of the city but also gave Luvia no clues as to where the Berserker might have gone. As she'd pondered her next move, she'd spotted a police car, parked and empty, and the seed of an idea had begun germinating in her ind.
"Hey, Rei." Luvia said. "You said it was possible for you to be summoned in the Rider class. That must mean you have a high Riding skill, right?"
"That is correct." Rei said. "As Lancer, I lack the Noble Phantasm that would allow me to summon my Evangelion as a mount, but I still retain the ability to ride any vehicle or beast, save for Dragons."
"So, even though you look too young to have a license, you'd have no problem driving a car." Luvia said.
"An ordinary vehicle would pose no challenge to me." Rei said.
"Like that one there, for instance?" Luvia asked, indicating the police car.
"Yes." Rei said. "Is it your intention to procure it?"
"The way I see it, a police car would give us two advantages." Luvia said. "One, we can cover more ground, increasing our chances of coming across the Berserker. And two, we can listen in on the police radio. I there's a report of an another attack, we might be able to get there before the Servant escapes."
"I have no objections." Rei said. "However, I must inform you that my ability to ride any vehicle does not allow me to activate the engine without keys."
"Just leave that to me." Luvia said.
Luvia casually walked over to the driver's door of the car, digging in her pockets for a gemstone as she did. She finally selected one of the smallest crystals she carried; this was a task where fine control would count for far more than sheer force. Holding the gem in front of the door's keyhole, Luvia began reciting the necessary incantations. First came Structural Grasp magecraft, to analyze the shape and function of the lock — a rather simple kind of spell, but one which Luvia rarely had call to use and was thus somewhat out of practice at. Then the Transmutation magecraft to shape the gem into what she needed — a more delicate spell, but also a more familiar one. Luvia finished the final words and held her breath in anticipation...
The gem she held between her fingers glowed, then flowed like liquid and changed its shape. It was still made of glittering crystal, but now its form was a perfect match for the car's lock. Luvia grinned and tossed the key to Rei.
"The night is young, and much remains to be done." she said. "Let's ride."
The first couple of hours driving in the police car passed uneventfully, and Luvia began to wonder if she had acted a bit rashly in having Rei steal it. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but many ideas which seemed brilliant at the moment of their conception looked a good deal less so when looked back upon with the benefit of hindsight. Luvia didn't have any place to keep the car, meaning she would have to ditch it when she finished patrolling for the night. And stealing a new police car each time she went on patrol didn't seem very practical, either: having their own property stolen seemed like something the police might take personal offense at, and inspire them to go to great lengths to catch the culprit. A car going missing for a few hours one night might be overlooked as some rebellious youth going on a joyride or pulling a prank on some drunken dare, especially with the police under such heavy pressure to deal with the more serious matter of the ongoing serial killings; but a string of serial car thefts would certainly draw unwanted attention.
Luvia was pondering this matter when a report came over the police radio which jolted her out of her reverie and made her lean forwards to listen. Someone had called the police to report a violent break-in, claiming that the front door of a house had been blown up with some kind of explosive. That was a highly improbable method of entry for an ordinary burglar, but it was likely how someone unfamiliar with magecraft would interpret the destructive flash of the Berserker's Noble Phantasm. Then the officer on the radio gave the address of the break-in, and it was one that Luvia recognized: none other than the Tohsaka family mansion, current residence of Rin Tohsaka.
At first, that made Luvia reconsider the idea that the Berserker was responsible. He had so far only targeted foreigners with blonde hair and blue eyes; as a dark-haired Japanese girl, Rin wasn't likely to have drawn his attention. It was much more probable that the disturbance was a result of another Master battling Tohsaka for dominance in the Grail War. As Rei drove on, however, doubts began to churn in Luvia's mind. In their previous encounter, the Berserker had been infuriated above and beyond his standard madness when he'd seen her use magecraft; and since then, there had been no reports of any further attacks on foreigners. Might the Berserker have been provoked into targeting mages instead? And normal participants in the Holy Grail War usually tried to avoid drawing any civilian attention — wasn't smashing down the door and getting noticed by the police more typical of the Berserker's behavior?
Well, she had decided that she would redeem the Edelfelt family's honor by defeating Rin Tohsaka herself. And if she saved Tohsaka's life, be if from Berserker or the Servant of another Master, the girl would be royally pissed off to be in Luvia's debt. That alone made it worth doing.
"Rei!" Luvia shouted. "Take us there as fast as you can, and be ready for battle! We're entering this fight!"
Rei pulled the stolen police car to a stop in front of the Tohsaka mansion. The house was dark, not a single light showing from within. In fact, it looked completely uninhabited. Perhaps Tohsaka had sought a less conspicuous dwelling to be her base for the duration of the War. But in that case, what could have drawn an enemy to this location?
Luvia instructed Rei to be ready to shield her with her AT Field at the first sign of danger, then walked to the front of Tohsaka's house to inspect the ruin of the door. It had been blasted into tiny fragments, in a manner which superficially resembled the damage Luvia had seen at the house the Berserker had broken into. Upon close inspection, however, Luvia saw that the fragments were charred at the edges, rather than cleanly shattered in the manner the Berserker's Noble Phantasm would break things. This was not his work, but that of a different Servant. But even so, Luvia had resolved herself to intercede and wasn't about to back out now. Squaring her shoulders, she walked into the darkened entrance hall, Rei close behind her.
"Show yourself!" Luvia demanded in her most authoritative voice.
There was a seemingly sourceless gust of air, then a Servant stepped out of the shadows and onto the top of the main staircase. The Servant was female, with a slight physique, chestnut-colored hair, and a black cape that billowed dramatically behind her. Luvia identified the Servant as belonging to the Caster class.
"You must be the owner of this mansion." the Caster said. "Sorry to make such a mess of the entrance; I'd have taken a stealthier approach, but that pesky little defense ward left me no choice but to blast my way through."
"I don't care about the door; this isn't even my house." Luvia said.
The Caster's face brightened.
"So, then, you wouldn't mind at all if I took the liberty of relieving the owner of any gemstones I may have happened across?" the Caster said cheerfully.
"I'm not concerned with petty robbery." Luvia said. "Rather, it's the fact that you are a Servant in the Holy Grail War which makes you my enemy!"
"The Holy Grail War?" the Caster laughed. "Listen, I'm not a part of that, okay? So there's no point in you fighting me over it."
"Not a part of it?" Luvia scoffed. "That's impossible. Your Master still expects you to defeat the other Servants and win the Holy Grail for him, doesn't he?"
"What he may have wanted doesn't concern me in the least." the Caster said. "I appeared without a proper contract with him; and before I could make one, he was murdered by this other crazy Caster in a purple robe."
So this Caster, like Lancer Rei Ayanami, was one of the False Servants which had appeared without a proper connection to the magus who had summoned the corresponding True Servant.
"But you must have made a pact with a different magus, or you'd have run out of prana and disappeared by now." Luvia said.
"Oh, please!" False Caster said. "I am the beautiful and talented sorcery genius Lina Inverse; and I neither need nor desire a Master. My Noble Phantasm is the four Demon Blood Talismans, which allow me to draw magical power directly from the Dark Lords of four entire different worlds. These talismans can supply me with an effectively unlimited reserve of prana, meaning I'm no danger of ever disappearing."
"You may not need a Master, but don't tell me that you aren't looking to win the Grail for yourself." Luvia said. "It's the very reason Heroic Spirits permit themselves to be contracted as Servants for the War."
"Well, I might fight for it if I actually believed in it, but... an omnipotent wish-granting device? Please." Lina shook her head. "That sounds way too much like a false rumor someone made up to lure in suckers. You're looking for a new magic sword and just happen to catch word of the legendary Cursed Sword of Bezeld? Naturally turns out to be a trap set by a Demon. Someone looking to hire you for a ludicrously dangerous job on the island of Mipross oh-so-casually mentions the Mipross Spring of Growth, which..."
Lina paused, blushed for a moment, then angrily continue:
"...well, never mind what the Spring was supposed to do, the point is that it wasn't as advertised and I never ended up getting any payment for that job neither! Anything that sounds too good to be true probably is. That's why I've decided I'm going to stay out of this whole War business and concern myself with wealth which I'm certain does exist — such as these gemstones, for a start. "
Lina casually spread her hand, revealing one of the gemstones Tohsaka used for her magecraft between each finger. She then deftly dropped them into the mouth of a small brown bag, which she affixed to her belt.
"So even though you're a Servant, you have no interest in fighting?" Luvia asked.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Lina said. "If this house isn't yours, then you really have no grounds to be complaining about my little break and enter. So I'm thinking it might be best for both of us if we just went our separate ways and pretended we never saw each other. Of course, if you'd prefer I blow you up and loot your corpse, we could do things that way, too."
Luvia shook her head.
"You're not the opponent I was looking for." she said. "And if you're not killing anyone, you can go ahead and rob the city blind for all I care. Just don't try and snatch anything belonging to me, or I may have to reevaluate this little cease-fire. Come on, Lancer; we're done here."
Luvia turned her back on the Caster and began walking back to the entrance of the mansion. It looked like this little excursion had been a complete waste of time. She wondered if it was worth using the police car to patrol some more, or if she should just return to her hotel room and think up a new strategy. Either way, she figured she should probably move it somewhere else, as police would be arriving soon to investigate the report of a break-in and finding an empty cop car might cause them to jump to conclusions and make the situation worse. If they didn't yet realize it had been stolen, they might assume that the first-responding officer to arrive at the house had gone missing, which would cause a huge furor over what was really just a minor theft. It was best for mages to cause as little trouble for civilian authorities as possible, so Luvia figured she had a responsibility to take care of the stolen car.
"Get the car, Rei, and—" Luvia began.
An enormous wolf fell from the sky, landing squarely on the stolen police cruiser and crushing it like a tin can. For a moment, Luvia could do nothing but stare in shock. The wolf was gargantuan, bigger than the car; that and the fact it had two tails indicated that it was no mortal creature but a Phantasmal Beast from the Age of Gods. A small human figure clung to the scruff of white fur at the back of the wolf's neck; it turned to look at Luvia for a brief moment, and Luvia saw that its face was covered by some kind of war mask. Then the wolf's powerful legs uncoiled like springs, sending it leaping high into the air in a great arc that took it over Tohsaka's house and out of sight.
A mere moment after the wolf had leaped, a dozen shining swords fell from the sky and pincushioned the remains of the car. There was a great flash of light and heat, then the shockwave of the explosion blew Luvia off her feet. As she struggled to sit up and blink the afterimage of the fireball from her eyes, Luvia saw a man with blonde hair dressed in a black leather jacket and pants casually stroll up to the burning wreck. His eyes were red and slitted like a snake, and he seemed to give off a golden aura. Luvia's instincts immediately screamed danger; however casual he may look, her senses as a Master told her that this was not a human but a Servant.
"What a persistent mongrel." the man said. "Even without a Master and desperately starved for prana, it managed to get away from me. Normally I would not tolerate such an insult, but it will likely soon perish on its own regardless, and it seems there are other mongrels here in dire need of my judgement."
He gave a smirking glance at Rei, then his eyes moved past her and settled on Lina, who had come out of the mansion to investigate the explosion. His mouth immediately twisted into a sneer.
"I remember you, from the church." he said. "You are the lowlife scum who would dare steal the king's treasure. You evaded punishment once; but this time, you will not be so lucky!"
Lina had evidently also recognized the newly arrived Servant, and had decided not to waste time with threats. While he was angrily addressing the Caster, she was quickly chanting an incantation.
"Dragon of darkness who sleeps in crimson flame, burn my enemy with your fiery roar!" she intoned. "Gaav Flare!"
She extended one hand towards the Servant, and a spear of spiraling blood-red flame shot towards him. The Servant, however, merely calmly snapped his fingers. There was a ripple of golden light, and a mirror set in a golden frame inset with eight gemstones appeared floating in the air between him and the oncoming attack. There was a brilliant flash of light as the spear of flame struck the mirror, then it was reflected back at the Caster traveling at twice the speed. Lina barely managed to dive out of the way, and there was the sound of an explosion from behind her as the spell tore another hole through Tohsaka's house.
Meanwhile, Rei had apparently identified the new Servant as a threat to Luvia, and was moving into action. She hefted her lance and drew it back, the twin points of the forked end curling around one another and tightening to a single point.
"Lance of Longinus!" she called, and let fly.
The lance shot forwards like a bullet, faster than human sight or human reflexes could follow. But, despite his casual modern dress, the golden Servant was not human. With similarly blinding speed, he whipped out one hand and caught the lance as it flew for his chest. The Noble Phantasm seemed to twist like a living thing in his grasp, struggling to accelerate forwards and pierce him; but his grip was as steady as iron, and he only smirked at the lance's struggles.
"You dare waste my time with third-rate attacks such as this?" he asked. "I shall have to punish you for your insolence as well."
Lina spread her hands towards the enemy Servant and started incanting
"Wind, crimson flame, grant the power of thunder to my hand..." she began.
"Still haven't learned your lesson, mongrel!?" the man asked.
He extended his other hand and the shining mirror which had reflected the Caster's first spell once more positioned intself between them.
"Dig Volt!" Lina called.
A bolt of lightning leapt from her outstretched hands, towards the mirror. However, as it neared the target, it abruptly curved, arcing to the near end of the long metal lance. The electricity traveled up the shaft and into the Servant's hand, causing him to yell in pain and outrage. Shouting a venomous curse, he flung the lance away, and it swiftly returned to Rei's hands.
"You dare!?" the Servant demanded, his face twisting into a mask of blind rage. "You, a mere thief, dare raise your hand against the king? You are worse even than a mongrel! You are a vermin! This whole world is my garden, and you are pestilent filth which pollutes it with your mere presence! But that is a situation which I will soon remedy. For your insolence, I will bestow upon you a death so terribly wretched that all the other mongrels in this war will commit suicide rather than face my judgement. Such is the king's decree — so mote it be!"
He spread his arms, and a dozen shimmering gold portals opened in the air behind him.
"I recommend immediate retreat." Rei said.
"Agreed." Lina said. "Flight spell, coming right up. But three at once is tricky, so I'll need a few seconds. Lord of Darkness of the Four Worlds, I call upon you, grant me all the power you possess..."
The crystals in the four talismans she wore began to shine brightly with magical energy. The enemy did not wait for her to finish casting, releasing a volley of Noble Phantasms from the portals behind him. Rei's AT Field instantly snapped into place, and a varied assortment of swords, spears, warhammers, and other unusual weapons ricocheted off the hexagonal orange barrier at supersonic speeds.
"You think your shield can withstand my treasures?" the man snarled. "Know your folly!"
He held out one hand palm-up, and a golden portal opened above it to drop something into his grasp. It was a hollow, twisted ram's horn, bound with spiraling golden bands. The metal was engraved with shining runes in Enochian script.
"Ray Wing!" Lina called, completing her spell.
A powerful wind whipped up and enclosed Lina, Luvia, and Rei in a transparent sphere of roiling air. The sphere lifted off the ground, and the three of them began flying through the night sky at great speed. Behind them, the Servant faded to a speck on the ground. Luvia did not see him raise the horn to his lips and blow — but she heard the noise that followed.
It was not so much a sound as a vibration, one which she felt resonate within every bone in her body. It built in intensity until she feared her teeth would crack, then finally reached its climax. Rei's AT Field shattered like glass, exploding into thousands of glittering fragments, and Luvia saw her Servant display an expression of bewildered shock for the first time. Then another volley of weapons shot at them from the distant ground, streaking through the air around them like they were in the center of a meteor shower. They had put enough distance between themselves and the enemy that most of the weapons went far wide. One, however, was different: a heavy mace engraved with the image of a winged lion. It curved around and bore down on them like a guided missile, aiming directly towards Rei's head.
"Look out!" Luvia yelled.
In response to her urgent cry, one of the Command Spells on the back of her hand flared brightly and disappeared. Rei vanished a moment before the heavy mace shot through the space her head had occupied, warped away to safety by the irresistible power of the Command Spell. But as the mace flew through the gap that had opened between Luvia and Lina, it punched holes in the bubble of wind that held them aloft. The spell burst apart, sending its helpless passengers plummeting into the cold, dark waters of the river far below.
Luvia dragged herself out of the water and flopped onto the river bank, shivering in her soaked dress. That's what she got for trying to do a good deed for a member of the thrice-cursed Tohsaka family, she thought. She was searching through the gemstones in her pocket with numb fingers, trying to find one that would help her dry off before she froze, when a pleasant wave of heat rolled over her. Looking around, she was the Caster Lina Inverse standing nearby, a large and bright fireball gently flickering between her hands.
"I've got to thank you." she said. "Goldie back there really had it out for me. If your Servant hadn't shielded me, I'd have been toast. So, I figure I owe you one. I don't like being in anyone's debt, so if there's some way I could help you out, let me know."
"As it happens, there is a little project I could use a hand with." Luvia said. "The reason I went into that house and met you is that I've been trying to track down a particular Servant, a Berserker."
"I'm not interested in getting involved in this Grail War nonsense, so don't expect me to help take down your opponents for you." Lina warned. "I'd like to repay you, but my generosity has limits."
"This isn't about winning the Grail." Luvia said. "This Berserker has been ignoring the rules of the Grail War, showing no interest in fighting other Servants and killing innocent civilians instead. The other Masters all busy fighting among one another to spend time worrying about a rogue Servant; but before my late and still somewhat unofficial entrance into the War, I was given a mission to stop him. I'm confident that my Servant is strong enough to beat him, but since she doesn't have any particular skills in the area of tracking we've having a tough time hunting him down. I figure that long-distance information gathering is a specialty of the Caster class, so maybe your magic could give me a little help in that regard."
"So, something like a tracking spell, then?" Lina asked. "Well, exceptionally talented sorcery genius that I am, I happen to know a trick or two for tracking things by their magical energy signature. If you'll let me crash at your place for a while so I can keep out of that golden lunatic's sight, I'd say we have a deal."
Luvia grinned and extended her hand.
"Welcome to the team, partner." she said.