Fire and Shadow (Battle)
(Matou house)
(?)
It was, perhaps, a measure of threats encountered and overcome, that even two Servants breaking into his house did not elicit immediate alarm. Well, it was likely they were intending to fetch items from the girl's room, or perhaps had left something of their own two days ago. However, when the small one walked directly to the door loading to the basement stairs and kicked it open, shattering its lock in the process, he realized that something had very much not gone to plan.
(Caladbolg)
Holding the spike-like sword like a lawn dart, Kuro tossed it down the stairway into the basement's door, which the exploding Noble Phantasm atomized, regardless of any magical Reinforcement or wards. A second sword followed the first into the gaping opening, clearing a large area beyond the doorway. She turned to Kojirou, pulling out her black bow while doing so.
"Enemies all over, but mostly down there," Saber said, with his weapon out. Now that they had already made their intentions clear, speed and throughness was of the essence.
"Right. Cover my back." Fitting the last two pre-prepared arrows to the bowstring, she jumped lightly down into the cavernous basement that had been painstakingly hollowed out in secret below the Matou house.
To the eyes of the magus down below, his enemy was clearly illuminated by the cold light coming off her two missiles. To her (Mind's Eye) empowered senses, he and the numerous guardians rushing towards here were as visible as under noon light. She drew her bow back in a single smooth action, then loosed.
(Caladbolg III, Double Fake Spiral Sword)
The two projectiles shot forward, the air the pair rocketed through whistling with a pitch like a scream as they spun wildly, their spin causing them to veer unpredictably to all but the one who had shot them. A mass of worm guardians flung themselves sacrificially at the arrows, which separating, went wide before inexplicably curving back to converge on their target.
Instinctively, he raised a hand as well as magecrafts and wards. However, the lot and he were wiped out instantly upon impact, the blast wave continuing past his disintegrating body, hitting the rear wall and then reflecting back towards his attacker with hardly diminished momentum due to the confined space.
(Kuro)
Perhaps a Noble Phantasm that destroys land was not the best choice, even if not at full power, she thought while hopping up past the destroyed stairs to rejoin Saber. A whirring sound like razors crashing against one another followed close behind as a number of flying insects who had survived the overpressure chased the invader.
"Help please!" Kuro ducked under Kojirou's sword and made her away behind him as he adjusted his facing to meet the oncoming swarm.
Even a single one of the Blade Wing Worms could easily kill a man, however as they rushed forward, Saber's weapon began flashing to match them. They might as well have been charging into a blender for all the effect they had. Less, since a blender's blade would have broken or at least chipped. Various broken insect parts rained back down into the burning basement.
"I don't think you got all of them," he commented as the tide abruptly ended, leaving the way clear. Kuro kicked a few stray insects away, making a face as the old house made an alarming creaking sound. "I think the whole place is going to collapse on them."
As if to reinforce the point, she looked at the much larger worms trying to make their way up towards them, and sent another Caladbolg down. Though the massive abominations had somehow survived the blast pressure and flying debris shrapnel thanks to their thick chitin plates, the Noble Phantasm mulched them with its explosive power. In response, the dust had that been falling from the ceiling and everywhere else exploded, throwing everything that remained back down into the basement and leaving the Servants with ringing ears. The original structure had been up to specification, but age and lack of maintenance along with the modified basement undercut that greatly.
Multiple Noble Phantasm detonations below and a dust explosion through its two floors sounded the death knell for the Matou house. Saber looked about, accessing the situation before re-evaluating the relevance of his earlier comment. "This is probably what Caster expected. Let's go."
The two of them entered Spirit Form as the house finally gave in to gravity and collapsed into the large pit that had once been Zouken's hidden Workshop. It wasn't long before the fire department arrived, but by then the pair were already back in the Emiya estate.
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(Matou Zouken)
Overconfidence is easily and painfully shown up by over-preparation, and this was perhaps one of the few times he had been on the latter rather than the former side. As his hazy and distributed-over-many-surviving-familiars consciousness stabilized, he considered the absurdity of someone sending not one, but two Servants to assassinate him, with Noble Phantasms at that.
But it was not the first time his main body had been 'killed' and the very reason for having many other worms spread out around Fuyuki. However, unthinkable amounts of his research had been wantonly destroyed, and reforming an appropriate new body without already preparing for the process would be painstaking to say the least. However, as it frequently did, opportunity showed itself in a chink in the enemy's plans.
Though one might expect Caster to have magically isolated Sakura, he could sense some of his finest creations, the control worms that had been implanted and fully matured inside the girl. It was practically heaven-sent, if he had believed in such things. She was a Master and, as he had been thinking before the attack, the Grail's corruption had been largely cleared in recent days. After all, he had prepared her for such an eventuality as this, and the irony of her co-operation having been a likely contributor to the attack which necessitated this contingency was amazingly fitting.
A relatively complete human body would serve well, and though he hadn't really intended a gender-change it hardly mattered since there were no other options available. As his consciousness pooled together and solidified, he appreciated how complete these particular familiars were in terms of supporting him. Now, first to take full control over Sakura's body, then after that he could...
"Well hello," Caster said with obviously feigned cheer from across a shimmering magic field, interrupting all his thoughts as the world went black.
Although he didn't know the details, it was clear enough to guess that Emiya's Caster had reverse-engineered enough of his magecraft to consider killing him. While pondering this, a cloaked figure revealed themselves, hypnotically unnatural purple eyes giving away her identity despite her definitive form.
Medusa. His outreached hand was pulled back just in time to avoid being removed by the sudden flash of a weapon. She frowned, reading to strike again as he saw an opportunity to interpose himself between her and the Grail. Yes, it should not be too hard, indeed even if it held only temporarily, once he had Sakura's body then he could simply use her Command Spells.
Steeling himself to take a hit if need be, Zouken lunged at her to make the necessary contact. But right as the pair made their moves, a third party tripped the magus sending him to the ground, losing precious seconds.
"Now!"
(Caress of the Medusa)
About the time he had gotten to his knees, the long curved weapon arced forward, slicing, and then faster and faster several times as if in an attempt to match the 'speed' of Sasaki Kojirou's technique. In what could only be a fraction of a second, she effortlessly took him apart. A small shower of body parts fell onto the blackness that was the 'floor'.
"Well," Sasaku nodded in satisfaction, looking down on the mess with approval. "I guess you and Kuro weren't just playing chase."
"What."
"This isn't the time," Sakura said, appearing from the surrounding shadows and raising a hand. Doubtlessly preparing magecraft. "This is a day of-"
Foolishness. In the waking world, as soon as Sakura's black filaments pierced the worms hosting Matou Zouken, they in turn unleashed black spikes in retaliation as both sides used the same connections to overtake the other. Sakura's mindscape, attacked from the outside, gave way.
Hm hm hm..
He practically laughed as the two of them, less the troublesome interfering Servants, were dropped into a replica of a place he knew full well, though it no longer existed 'outside.' His now-destroyed Workshop in the Matou basement.
You left yourself open, he thought with increasing clarity as the added consciousnesses of his many other worms started piling in, making themselves known in a tide that rushed onto the girl. She fell under their mass with a shriek as another group of worms rushed to join themselves to Zouken's dismembered parts, putting the magus back together.
As his familiars shredded whatever Sakura had on and began devouring her, he considered the various options. If he acted quickly once her mind gave way, Medusa could be used to take out Caster just as quickly as she had him. At that point, it was all upside, with the exit of simply assembling a wholly worm-based body still available in the last case if Sakura's was destroyed by Archer or Saber. That was all well and good, but...
His worms broke their teeth on something hard just under the girl's skin. A ward? Or perhaps a simple mental defense. Regardless... Planning done, Zouken prepared a final binding spell to finish it once and for all.
The writhing heap of worms that had piled onto the fallen Sakura shook as thousands of black filaments pierced their way through them. Not so simple... Dying worms went flying, their connections to him fading away as they perished in the waking world from the fatal feedback of Sakura's attack reaching their physical bodies. Like a rising avenging spirit, she got to her feet, spitting out a mass of shredded flesh; a worm that had forced its way into her mouth before the metamorphosis.
Random scraps of torn clothing lazily fell, floating to the ground like some obscene commentary on the now-exposed glassy obsidian surface that had replaced her skin. Trails of dark blood rolled down here and there in the grooves which were the only result of his worms' teeth. Not paying attention to him for the moment, she batted around herself, clearing the area of his worms before another round of filaments fatally pierced them.
No. No! In a sudden flash of insight, he realized that the reason he couldn't earlier connect with the many other familiars placed in her body wasn't because they had somehow been removed. That was impossible given the time frame involved. She had taken them over somehow. She simply intends to kill off all the others, so that the remaining ones in her will trap me.
It was indeed a reversal of sorts, but he was too calm to give in to panic. In its purest sense, binding to oneself went both ways, and it depended greatly on who had the advantage. Mental or spiritual strength, knowledge, practice, magical circuits, Command Spells and so on. He sent his attack towards the dark shadow opposing him, as she did. Sharp spikes met piercing filaments, as the two sides reached out to and into one another.
...
An arm went around his neck, and a moment later a knee to the back snapped him in two. Zouken had the odd experience of suddenly having his vision flipped upwards as Sakura's attack closed in on the pair.
"But you'll be hit too," he muttered. Rather than the attack directly inflicting damage, it was the distraction that sealed his fate. The Caster with unfitting black eyes just smiled cheerfully as the two of them were riddled through. "Yes."
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(Sakura)
She blinked as her eyes focused on Sasaku's dark green pair that was scrutinizing her.
"How are you feeling?" Caster asked, a tinge of worry in her voice. Sakura would have nodded if it was possible, but instead sent over the agreed message. It is finished.
Medusa sighed in relief as the magic circle faded back to its unenergized state, freeing her Master. Sakura quietly glanced downwards at her arm, which appeared normal enough.
"What will happen to all his other bound familiars now that you have his consciousness trapped?" Caster asked, sliding around her to take a look at the back of Sakura's neck just in case. There was apparently nothing that caused her concern.
"They will likely simply perish," she replied, seeing that the pair were not aware of the latter half of the battle that had taken place. "They are parasites, unable to normally support themselves without additional magical energy from another. In their now feral state, starvation will occur."
Nodding, Medusa helped Sakura to her feet. "What about the ones you bound earlier. Any trouble from them?" She shook her head after doing something like a roll-call of the lot. Though they might present a potential weakness to anyone who knew about them, the special three worms she left to trap Zouken could not be removed until she had ensured his soul was, in fact, fully trapped. Ideally shredded into bits, each one kept in its own little Imaginary Space prison.
Her copy of Caster was practically nodding in approval. It was likely that Zouken, via his worms had taken over multiple other people in the Matou line or simply re-inserted himself back in rather than actually reincarnating or transferring his soul after death, but jailing him was safest and in the event of her death, would be at worst the same as killing him at that later point.
Not to mention we can research souls and so on in that time. She was about to reply to her Caster but, upon opening the door, had her attention grabbed by Shirou who was just outside. He looked thoughtful. "I suppose this was part of your plan?" he asked, pointing to the living room, where by the sounds of it, the news caster was reporting on an explosion that had just taken place. The Matou house.
"It was necessary," Rider replied for her simply. "Some infestations need fire."
He simply shrugged. "I guess you two will be staying here longer, then."
Sakura reached out and caught his hand, a sparkle in her eyes as she made for the next door down. His room, or rather, theirs. "There's a lot I need to tell you."
"Hm." He turned to look at Caster, who was already stepping back into her room to work on something else. "I'm all yours, dear." Though he was 'conveniently' facing the other way, she knew that he had been waiting. "I know."
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Notes:
That double shot is just a play on the copy-of-a-copy-of (or Fake Fake) Caladbolg. Because magical archers always have a multishot, or so Kuro would say.
Getting hit with a magecraft that binds you to the attacker obviously doesn't do much if you're already part of them.
Various debriefings next time.