Arcueid was slightly worried as she stood in the silent night amidst the mystic noise of various battles raging. Besides her stood her partner Shiki who, lacking her long-range sensory abilities was listening for any mundane sounds in the night that might indicate somebody encroaching on their position.
"Any news," he said as Arcueid stood up.
"Satsuki has disappeared," Arcueid said to her servant. "But it felt too abrupt to be death. It is far more likely that she has been sucked into Sumire's Reality Marble. In addition Shirou is also engaging an opponent," the True Ancestor said sighing.
"Do you want to go help them?" Shiki asked as he inspected Arcueid's face. Despite his eyes being covered it seemed like he could easily pick up Arcueid's worry. The True Ancestor smiled as she contemplated the relationship he must have had with her alternate. "We really could have been quite close in another world," she thought to herself.
"No," Arcueid said quietly, yet firmly. "Sumire doesn't want to actually kill Satsuki," she expounded not missing Shiki's look of scepticism. "Whatever Master/Apprentice business they have going on will not result in young Satsu's death," Arcueid said emphasizing Sumire's nickname for Satsuki. "And Shirou probably needs the least amount of help. Despite his occasional recklessness he is fully capable of pulling out a win against even the most powerful of opponents."
Arcueid sighed. "If I'm honest I really don't like the idea of splitting up," she said. "However I do acknowledge its necessity. If we stuck together there would be virtually no progress in hunting down the competition as they would almost certainly retreat and avoid us. We also cannot play defensively. The ritual does not require all servants to be dead and we still have not made contact with the seventh master. Shirou believes that the ritual will be completed within two days by the last day of the full moon and I agree with him on that point. Unfortunately while I hate it we have to go on the offensive and risk our own lives to take them down."
"One more question," Shiki asked. "Why do you look like a fashion disaster?"
Arcueid pouted at that question but acknowledged its validity. Her entire kit looked like it was pulled piecemeal from the garage of a kid wanting to play superhero. A glove of red adorned her right hand and a glove of blue her left. Her shoes were hardy black boots and she wore a fine brown cloak over a skin-tight body suit. While she never felt embarrassed even she had to admit that for anybody else this would be quite embarrassing.
"Mystic codes that were given to me," Arcueid explained. "After I broke his first set of gloves Shirou gave me a few more items that were much more durable. The gloves absorb and return kinetic energy, the boots allow me to stand on air, the suit," she said as she gestured towards the skin-tight bodysuit she had on, "is for protection against conceptual weapons and the cloak is for protection against discharges of mana and od."
"Think it will help," Shiki asked Arcueid.
"Let's hope so," she replied. "Do you know Shiki that I have a very advanced level of proprioception. I always know where every bit of my body is in relation to every other bit." Arcueid pointed towards a random warehouse. "I can sense my hair inside that structure. There is only one person in the world that would ever possess my hair."
"Are we going to have a family reunion," Shiki joked.
"Please don't say that," Arcueid said firmly. "That is not my sister. Currently she is an obstacle that we need to get rid of. I will handle the dog while you take her down."
"What about any backup that she has?" Shiki asked. "We already know Rizo-Waal Strout is participating and he has a servant. Not to mention her own servant. That is five-to- two odds."
"That's not entirely true," Arcueid said. "We also have our own backup to rely on."
"Even if I were to back you up Lady Arcueid," the voice of Nine rang out through the darkness causing Shiki to stiffen slightly. "Those are still terrible odds. I believe my Master would never agree to a fight on these terms."
"Perhaps so," Arcueid acknowledged. "But it still does not invalidate my point. Altrouge is a major player and if we can defeat her then we can finally gain the upper hand in this conflict. I know it's a high-risk, high reward strategy but I really think we can pull it off."
"Let's lower the risk a bit then," another familiar voice came from the dark and the trio turned to see the approaching form of Ishtar.
Arcueid immediately wrinkled her nose at the new smell she was subjected to. "Ishtar, why do you reek of blood? Didn't you have business to take care of?"
At this a slight scowl came over the beautiful servant's face. "None of it is my own," she replied. "And the business escaped by use of a command seal." She folded her arms. "I'm actually very annoyed about it. I broke his boat and his arms and I was busy beating him to death with my bow when he disappeared."
Arcueid's eyebrows rose at this. "Think he will be back tonight?" she asked.
"Nope," the Rider said with her arms crossed. "Hopefully that defeat I gave him will stop him coming back forever but I'm not so optimistic. Anyway what is the plan? I can stand here looking beautiful forever but I want to get things done tonight and I'm not joining Shirou's fight for personal reasons."
Arcueid nodded accepting the answer. "Okay then," she said authoritatively. "It is then four vs. five. I'm not going to tell you who or how to fight. You all know your skills better than I do. Are you ready? Arcueid said her voice uncharacteristically serious for the normally laid back vampire.
At four simultaneous nods the True ancestor stood up eying up the building a couple hundred metres away. She crouched slightly and in a single leap angled herself and leapt at the building. Within a second she had torn through the walls of the structure and landed in the interior of an abandoned warehouse. Bracing for a fight she scanned the room only to see that nobody had arrived. Reaching out her senses she instantly came to the conclusion that her hair and therefore her opponent was underneath her. She instantly made the connection and her eyes slid along the floor to a small square hole in the ground covered in water.
"They have some way to trace the grails that Shirou created," Arcueid surmised out loud to her companions that had arrived behind her. "But for some reason they haven't just destroyed the grail and left. They are still down there."
"Do you think it could be a trap?" the refined and cultured voice of Nine said. "If so should we spring it?"
"It could definitely be a trap," Arcueid stated. "That narrow entrance is also a perfect place for an ambush. If I were on the other side then I would pick enemies off one by one when they descended."
"And what would you do in our situation," Ishtar said and Arcueid noticed by her smile and the fact that she was slowly hovering over the ground that she had a very good idea of what the True Ancestor was going to do.
"This," Arcueid said and she plunged her foot down into the ground at supersonic speed causing the floor to be obliterated. The four of them fell downwards for about thirty meters before they came to an abrupt stop as the pieces of the ground piled on.
"Well we've effectively buried them under ground," Shiki said. "Think it will hold."
His question was answered a split second later as a massive surge of prana beneath their feet caused Shiki and Ishtar to dodge to the sides and Nine to stick close by Arcueid as she removed her cloak and spread it on the floor. This defensive action was not a moment too soon as a massive blast of concentrated prana evaporated the rubble beneath the obliterating the ground except and leaving Arcueid and Nine untouched but briefly in the air.
Arcueid swiftly adorned her cloak again as she stood in the air untouched by gravity while Nine grew a large pair of angel-like wings that gently flapped to keep himself aloft. A slight noise came from the hole and both Arcueid and Nine dodged as the expected form of a massive white wolf rose up out of the chasm. An instant later the monstrous Phantasmal beast was joined by four more humanoid figures. The tall dark-skinned man wearing sunglasses and his green-haired servant wearing the black armour were identifiable from briefings with Shirou as Black Knight Strout and his servant Achilles. The white haired man wearing the red trenchcoat over black armour was also immediately identifiable as the servant that Shirou and Ishtar had both fought. However the last one was identified solely by Arcueid because she was the only person amongst them who had ever laid eyes upon her.
"Altrouge," Arcueid hissed at the black haired girl with blood covered eyes. She looked about fourteen and wore a black princess dress that was almost Disney in its appearance.
"Arcueid," the Dead Apostle Ancestor replied. "Who let you go around wearing that?"
"At least I don't look like a gothic version of Cinderella," Arcueid replied back bitingly.
"We are not doing this," Ishtar cut into their words as she drew her bow. "If you're going to banter please do so in a manner that I can relay to my master later without feeling embarrassed for my gender."
The room went silent after that declaration. The standoff between the two sides stretched into long minutes… before it was all abruptly broken by the True Ancestor. Arcueid had often spoken about the usage of Marble Phantasm from Sumire. While both could be considered beings of incredible age the Dead Apostle Ancestor had much more experience than the True Ancestor who had slept for most of her life. The one thing she had learned is that while Marble Phantasm's take a lot longer to use in human settlements they can 'charge' up the Marble Phantasm in a manner of speaking beforehand. Arcueid had been charging up her Marble Phantasm before she started speaking.
An unbelievable force descended among the five opponents. It was a combination of heat, gravity and air pressure that would have obliterated any human instantly. From the beginning the sneak attack had no possibility of killing them but it was still an attack that could not be shrugged off against even the strongest of beings and in that moment when all five of them were entirely blindsided by the attack Arcueid launched a kick straight into the nose of the White Wolf of Gaia causing the massive phantasmal beast to go tumbling through the wall of the building.
Without a second look the White Princess vacated the building but she wasn't the only person who reacted in that very incident. In under a second Ishtar's bow was nocked and ready and dozens of arrows flew out in the direction of the Eclipse Princess. These didn't reach their target as her old opponent, the servant with the white hair, stood in front and blocked the projectiles.
"You can fight her," Altrouge said. "I'm going to continue to try and get through that damn lock." With those as her parting words she jumped down the hole.
"Shirou locked up the lesser grail?" Ishtar asked.
"Pretty thoroughly," the White-haired servant said drawing his pair of white and black swords out again.
A moment's pause and then the fight began between the two. Ignorant of Nine and Shiki's struggles the two clashed and the red-cloaked servants' swords shattered upon the hands of the goddess. A punch lashed out and the opponent Saber was forced to summon a thin silver sword that withstood the power of the goddesses blows but caused his arms to shake.
Ishtar switched it up launching a kick at his stomach that he swiftly dodged but left himself open to a follow-up palm to his chest causing him to slide backwards.
"So tell me," the Babylonian goddess said. "Why would Alaya allow one of its Counter Guardians to be summoned and in the guise of a servant no less?"
The man summoned up a red barbed spear and Ishtar met it with her blow, deflecting every thrust and playing defensively. A build-up of prana and a sudden hint of impending doom and she jumped backwards and out of the range of his thrust firing dozens of arrows of light that honed in on him.
Abandoning the spear a wave of blades materialized around him breaking apart the incoming arrows. This didn't dissuade the goddess as she fired more and more of her arrows until the man stopped summoning swords and instead summoned a large ornate shield dome-like around him that Ishtar recognized.
"The shield of the gods," Ishtar said. "Or a copy of it at least. That weapon existed during my time. It is one step below being a divine construct. That must have cost you a lot of mana."
"Why do you think I am a Counter Guardian," the man said. "He was stalling for time trying to regain the tempo of the battle and Ishtar let him do so.
"Simple," she said. "It is because you're human and because you do not and cannot exist. If you did exist I would have known of a hero with the ability to copy the weapons and combat styles of other heroes. If you were not human I would have thought you were summoned under the aegis of Gaia." She raised her bow. "So I will ask you again. For what purpose were you summoned here?"
The man didn't give her an answer. Well not one with words. A samurai sword materialized within his hands and within an instant he was thrusting the blade directly towards her chest. Ishtar made to block with her bow when a sense of danger came over her and she instead dodged the blow, lunging to the side landing on one of her hands and launching a swift kick at the face of the other servant which he moved backwards to avoid.
"Three simultaneous thrusts," she observed shaking her head. "That is the second time you've attacked me with space bending sword strikes." She pulled her bow out again and aimed it sideways at the servant and in an instant her hands blurred. Hundreds of arrows of light filled the space in a barrage that would not have lost to the Gate of Babylon. "I cannot let you get into melee range anymore," she said.
The servant was forced to parry with his pair of black and white swords but Ishtar did not let up. Her hands moved in more esoteric patterns causing the arrows to curve in unexpected ways and soon enough the servant was forced to summon shield after shield as each of them were pierced by the arrows. Multiple times he tried to summon a more powerful weapon but each time he was unable to activate it as arrows sought his death. It was inevitable that he slipped up and the slip-up came in the form of him misjudging one of the many arrows fired causing the bolt to pierce his stomach. Ishtar upped the pressure at that and in a few more moments multiple wounds appeared on his body as the arrows cut into him again and again.
Suddenly the one-sided beat-down was interrupted by a subterranean explosion that shook the ground beneath their feet causing the swift footed goddess to pause in firing arrows.
"Looks like our objective was completed," Archer said metal sprouting from his wounds.
xxx
Nine and Shiki stared at their pair of opponents. They had both been given the breakdown on the Master/Servant pair they now faced. Shiki took off his glasses and whistled at the lines that sprung to the forefront of his vision.
"The Master's lines are very thin," he stated to his current comrade. "But the servant's lines are centred on his left ankle and I'm not sure I can cut that."
"Leave him to me then," Nine said smoothly. "Focus on Strout."
"Before you finish your planning session," the severe voice of Strout sounded through the warehouse. "I have one question for the butler. Do you know of anybody by the name of Nrvnqsr Chaos?" he said causing Shiki to turn his head slightly showing his interest in the question.
"I should," Nine began. "Considering I was made by the remnants of his corpse." The silence that rang throughout the warehouse was deafening. After a moment Strout snorted in dissatisfaction.
"Fight defensively," he told his servant. "We need only to make time for Lady Altrouge to finish off the Lesser Grail."
The lancer shrugged and merely held out his lance in a form of readiness. Nine sighed and he rushed towards Achilles. When he thrust his spear out however Nine flowed around it, appearing boneless in his movements. He wasn't fast enough to dodge the follow-up stab that cut through his left elbow. Unfortunately this did very little to stop Nine. While wounds that were struck with Achilles' famed spear would normally be rendered unable to heal this was all but useless against Nine who did not heal but actually recreated his body from the chaos inside him.
The discarded arm hit the floor and morphed into serpents that struck at the heel of his opponent causing Lancer to move back. This didn't stop Nine who thrust forward and punched at Achilles, his hand increasing in size until it dwarfed Achille's body. This was sidestepped by Achilles who twisted and sliced off the other arm.
The hero of the Greeks did not have any time to rest as the oversized arm exploded and countless wasps burst into existence darting towards his heel. Darting backwards out of the range he began to strike down all of the wasps that entered his range. Nine let them drop to the floor and re-join his original body.
The two opponents stood there considering the other for a brief moment before Nine once again attacked. He knelt down onto all floors and charged his body morphing into something animalistic. A split second before hitting into the enemy Lancer dozens of hands sprouted from his shoulder and in the same instant they attacked. Nine was skewered hundreds of times, the spear obliterating his heart, dismembering and decapitating him numerous times, but in the end despite the blackness that covered the floor, the butler was able to escape unscathed. Unfortunately for Nine so was the servant unharmed. Despite the tremendously heavy blows that landed on him, blows that shook his frame and caused him to stumble. The servant remained resolute, twisting his ankle to avoid any damage to his heel. In the end when they disengaged both were no worse for wear.
"You fight well," Achille's said smiling at the exhilaration of the fight. "Honestly you would have been an amazing opponent in life."
"I was designed to be," Nine said scanning his opponent.
Achilles smile faltered. "Come on," he said. "Take some pride in your strength. Few men would be able to push me so far. I fully expect to see you on the throne of heroes in future."
Nine smiled. "I thank you for your compliments but they are misguided. I am a mere extension of my master." His gaze sharpened as he eyed down the Greek servant with burning determination in his eyes. "But you are right about one thing. It is shameful to my Master if I don't win here." Prana started flowing out of his body and the surrounding blackness re-joined with the chaotic butler. "Behold my Master's reflected glory," Nine said and multitudes of other voices spoke with him. "This is me at my full power," Nine said stepping out of the blackness his voice a susurration of deadly intent.
Nine's new form stood eight feet tall with four arms that reached down past his knees topped with thin foot long claws. A powerfully built tail dragged along the floor behind him. When he walked it became obvious that the jaws on his knees were inverted and his feet were elongated with three long thin toes. His appearance was made even more monstrous by the serene look on the butlers face as well as his immaculate black suit and red tie.
A moment passed and Achilles was blocking a knife-like set of his claws. Dromeus Kometes his speed boosting Noble Phantasm was active and for the first time in his life Achilles felt outclassed in pure motion. A punch to the throat that would have broken his neck was delivered at such a speed that Achilles was only barely able to avoid and still the wind hit him like a normal punch to the jaw. Blows started raining out at ever increasing speed and while none of them penetrated his skin he could feel the fatigue set in as he fought to not be thrown around like a ragdoll. A clawed thrust to the eyes instinctively caused the Lancer to summon another of his trump cards. His trusted shield Akhilleus Kosmos came to his hand to block the multitude of blows that rained down upon his skull.
Suddenly an explosion caused the ground to rumble and the servant for a brief second lost his footing. That however was enough, as the monstrous butler took advantage of both the lack of stability as well as the shield blocking his sight. In an instant the tail of the beast that had previously been sitting idle amidst the fight lashed out penetrating his heel of the legendary hero causing pain to wrack his body.
He stumbled back losing some of his momentum but bringing up the shield to block the onslaught that Nine seemed intent on delivering upon him. He gained a reprieve as the chaos that Nine consisted of all but imploded in front of his eyes. The viscous black liquid that his body consisted of splattered all over across the floor and the walls.
Altrouge Bruenstud stepped forward in the room causing a break in the fighting as the attacking side realised they were once again outnumbered and glanced around to determine who would pick up the slack. However the Vampire Princess didn't look like she felt like entering any battles.
"I've got what I came for," she said. "Let's get out of here." She suddenly smile a brilliant smile. "My show is on in half an hour. Has anybody seen my dog?"
Just then as if by fate her question was answered as the entire west wall of the warehouse disappeared in a flash of light and a massive wave of viscera and organs burst into the room. Walking in after the viscera was the last and greatest of the True Ancestors. Her costume which had seemed so silly previously had been transformed glowing bright white as incalculable amounts of prana rushed through it. A massive canine skeleton burst forth from the blood and organs and with no lungs let loose a howl that caused the ground to rupture from its passing.
This was no match for Arcueid Brunestud as with a clap of her hands the air around her swirled reflecting the sound at the beast causing the bones to splinter before they instantly re-healed. The White Princess scanned the room locking gazes with both friend and foe before she fixed her gaze back on the socket less head of Primate Murder.
With a spectacular burst of prana the bloody remains on the ground reformed into the shape of the White Wolf but this time his form had changed. His growth had not increased and he levelled out at around sixteen metres but his fur was not there to be replaced by armour of bones that covered rotting, emaciated muscle that constantly dripped blood. Only one eye sat in its socket shining a blazing yellow with no discernible emotion. His mouth opened up wider then his face in a weird parallel of a grin displaying teeth that outnumbered a shark. Somehow despite appearing close to death, the very presence of the beast caused painful bursts of fear inside the chests of everybody in the room. Except one.
"Primy did that mean lady hurt you," the youthful looking Dead Apostle Ancestor said. "When you were being such a good boy," she said. "We're done so we can get you home and I will make you a special dinner." She patted the putrid, gore filled skin of the beast. "Yes. Just how you like it," she said smiling. "Then we can watch our programme. If we wait too much longer we're going to miss it." For a moment it looked like the beast was going to attack its own master, then without warning it shrunk to the size of a small dog and was abruptly picked up by Altrouge.
"I have no wish to continue this fight tonight," the Dead Apostle Ancestor said looking at Arcueid. "If you try to battle me then I will show you what it means to be outnumbered and outclassed."
"Outnumbered maybe," Arcueid conceded. "Outclassed never. Let's call it a night guys," she said turning and leaving the opponents. The other three followed her out, Nine reforming as he did so.
"That was quite unusual," Ishtar said as soon as they were out of earshot. "I fully expected you to want to continue the fight."
"I'm afraid not," Arcueid said sheepishly holding up a glove revealing several tears in the fabric. "My things broke and I don't think I could beat Primate Murder without them. How did the rest of you go?"
"It was a stalemate," Shiki admitted. "Couldn't hit him and couldn't let him hit me."
"I was winning," Ishtar said. "The red guy is pretty tough though."
"I managed to land a blow against the heel," Nine said modestly. "His master may have to waste a command seal to fix it."
"And they managed to destroy another of the lesser grails," Arcueid pondered. "I wonder how many more there are."
Suddenly from the shadows an instantly recognizable black cat appeared. Her pom-poms swaying back and forth as she ran to Arcueid and leapt onto the True Ancestors shoulder. Arcueid kept quiet as the feline placed her head on the True Ancestors. A few seconds later Arcueid jerked causing Shirou's familiar to lose balance and tumble into the arms of Arcueid.
"Shirou is down," Arcueid said. "And Aoko is on the brink of death."
Without any conversation or consultation the four of them simultaneously dashed in the direction of the Magicians home moving at speeds born of worry.
xxx
"Being awake hurts," the magician said as he put one wobbly step in front of the other. To his side Rin and Satsuki were still helping him but their speed was not that much greater than a normal humans walking pace. Staggering forward as his house came into sight. Shirou pumped a minute portion of prana into the wall and the defences around the house fell. When they got inside they were treated to the sight of the enforcer trying to create a makeshift tourniquet from the living room curtains.
The three of them just stared at her dumbly for a while. "I liked those curtains," Shirou said eventually causing Rin to physically restrain herself from punching an injured man. "Get me blue bottle," Shirou said feebly gesturing towards the kitchen.
Rin reacted first dashing into the closet leaving Satsuki to support Shirou. The executor whose name none of them knew saw them and immediately went to speak to them but was stopped by a weak upraised hand from Shirou. After a few more seconds Rin ran back into the room carrying a huge collection of bottles in her arms. From whiskey, and vodka to beer and even tequila the bottles resembled an alcoholic's paradise but none of them were blue.
"Is he Irish by any chance?" the executor remarked but Shirou was not in the mood and he took off limping into the kitchen. Suddenly the door slammed open causing the magician to wince in pain at the loud noise and collapse to his knees.
"Shirou are you okay," the True Ancestor yelled out counterproductively.
"Shall I get the blue bottle," the much more sedate voice of nine rang out causing the magician to gratefully nod.
The servant disappeared into the kitchen and returned seconds later with a blue bottle containing a blue liquid causing Rin to frown. He poured out a capful of the liquid and offered it to Shirou who gratefully accepted.
The change that came over him was sudden and dramatic. One moment Shirou was kneeling on the floor and the next he was standing up and inspecting Aoko Aozaki. Inspecting her eyes and laying a hand upon her head he swiftly came to a conclusion.
"Gem please Rin," he said holding out an outstretched arm. At the magus' hesitation he sighed. "I'll compensate you later but right now she's touch and go Rin." After only a brief moment his classmate handed him a precious gem full of high quality mana which Shirou instantly drained and performed magical healing on the neurons of his sister's body. While the poison was in her system for an almost insignificant amount of time it had caused enough pain to short out a lot of her nerves. "A hand," he said to his servant and he ignored the gasps as he received a piece of chaos in the form of a fist. Pumping more prana into it he felt it start to become malleable. With no indecision he shaped it into a spike and shoved it into her skull via the eye.
The gasps of horror came again, primarily from Rin but Shirou thought he could feel Satsuki as well but he focused on the procedure and soon enough the chaos that Nine consisted of was flowed into the brain of his sister reforming the broken connections. With one last motion Shirou drew Nolava II from inside him and stabbed it into the chest of his sister.
Turning away from the operation Shirou was beset by looks of concern and a look of revulsion from Rin, although Shirou couldn't blame her, watching somebody get their brain pierced through their eye was never the most pleasant of sights.
"She should be fine," Shirou answered their unspoken questions. "She will regain full cognizance with time.
"How much time," his servant responded immediately jumping to the heart of the matter.
Shirou grimaced. "Not enough," he admitted. "I can't hurry the healing of head wounds."
"So we've lost a master and a servant today," Satsuki said. "But we got rid of a master and two servants," she continued stolidly looking on the bright side.
"About that," Shirou said. "Neither Heracles or Ortenrosse are dead."
The table was quiet for a moment after that bombshell and then the voices hit all at once.
"What do you mean they aren't dead?"
"There was no body left behind."
"How could they survive?"
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news," Shirou said stoically ignoring the renewed pounding in his head. "But he was an archer, they normally have magic resistance. No matter how powerful those gems were it was not enough to actually kill him."
"So he's still alive," Satsuki said.
"But missing his armour," Shirou rebutted. "I thoroughly destroyed it beyond the ability of any command seal to fix."
"Was his armour that bad," Arcueid asked inquisitively.
Shirou just nodded. "Anyway he disappeared after Rin's gems hit that spot. While I admit to being quite out of it at the present time the only way he could have left unseen was by command seal."
"I can confirm that Master," Rin's servant said appearing from beside the magus, his armour crushed inwards as if he had been hit by a train. "I didn't see him leave the explosion at all."
"Where were you anyway," Rin asked her servant irritably.
"I apologize master," Saber said bowing. "My sword was unable to harm him and he hits a lot harder than I expected," the servant said speaking with no noticeable signs of pain in his voice despite his armour's noticeably concave shape.
"I'm going to get some rest," Shirou said causing the conversation to draw to a close. "You," he said pointing at the executor. "Nine will show you to your room." A massive wave of exhaustion hit him and Shirou stumbled almost unnoticeably. "Help me to my room," he said to his servant. "And Rin," he said pointing at the magus his voice dangerously low. "I said nothing tonight." And with those last words the only awake True Magician went off to rectify the situation.
xxx
A sense of dread ran through Shirou as he beheld the room that he found himself in. He instinctively knew that he stood inside a temple dedicated to the goddess of War and Love Ishtar. Gold covered the room and formed into statues depicting the Goddess in both warlike and lewd positions. Various spectacular artworks littered the room a testament to the finest of mankind, each one of them surpassing every modern masterpiece. A plush red carpet covered the floor dyed in a vermillion so bright you could hardly see the blood that splattered on the ground.
Two figures stood in the centre of the room, a man and a woman. The woman inspired a potent feeling of familiarity within Shirou and with a start he realized that it was Ishtar. She had her bow drawn and pointed at the man although her fingers trembled as she aimed it. The man took a solitary step forward and instantly thousands of arrows were fired towards him, each with the potency to destroy mountains and remodel the landscape.
But the man did not falter under the onslaught. Instead Shirou watched in disbelief as every single arrow curved away from him. A glint was all that clued the Magician into what the man was doing. With the utmost of incredulity he realised that the man was manipulating small bodies of water in such a way that each and every single light arrow was refracted around him causing ever thing else in the room except him to be obliterated. The mind that it would require to compute the vectors of thousands of arrows was immense and Shirou watched as the man raised on arm, idly noticing that there were signs of scales on his hands before he felt the small amount of water compress into a form that he had never witnessed before and in the next instant Ishtar was pierced through her ribs by a bolt of water.
She coughed blood and made to draw her bow again when the blood from her mouth reversed and impacted on her chest causing her to go tumbling backwards. She turned it into a graceful manoeuvre landing on her feet and in a second her bow had taken the form of a boat and was blasting toward the man.
He barely reacted however as a pillar of ice rose from the ground and he hopped off as the boat closed on his location. The boat burst through the temple and took off into the sky as the goddess engaged the man in hand to hand combat. It took only a few seconds before Shirou had concluded that whatever skill in combat his servant had was quite degraded or she had been sandbagging far too much. Shirou wouldn't have put any solid money on Arcueid even being able to beat her.
And it still wasn't enough. The man fought defensively with minimal effort he managed to redirect the blows until Ishtar froze for a second and the man launched a single solid strike that caused an audible crack as he struck her ribs.
Ishtar fell back spitting out more blood that fell upon the deck of her boat. Gazing up at the man she asked a single question containing a single word. "Why?"
"Why," the man said his voice containing an undercurrent of hatred. "Why you ask," he said shaking his head. "When you caused devastation amongst the land in retribution for the crimes of a single man I warned you but forgave you," he said his voice full of scorn.
The goddess got to her feet but the man thrust his palm out and a lance of her own blood struck her chest piercing through her lungs. "When you dragged the entire domain of fertility down to the underworld, I saved you and yet rebuked you giving you another chance to make up for all the evil you did."
The woman pulled out the spear from her lungs and dodged back drawing her bow again but there was an audible snap and Shirou could make out the sight of broken fingers. "When you set the Bull upon the human world because of the rejection of a single man, I begged you Inanna. I begged you to see reason. To show mercy."
The woman collapsed and to Shirou's surprise he could see regret in her eyes and pain. "And finally when you decided to kill of humanities final defence against the gods I gave you an ultimatum." Shirou then managed to get a good look at the man's face and he was struck by a realisation. All this time he had though that the opponent hated his servant, but the endless tears pouring down his face told a different story. Suddenly his hatred of the goddess became hatred of himself for his actions, his slow killing of her became his reluctance to do the deed, and his mocking denouncement of her deeds became a fervent wish that there had been another way.
"I'm sorry Inanna," the man said as water formed all around him.
"I'm sorry Enki," the goddess responded and Shirou realised that despite having spoken the words did not reach each other. Each god remained set in their ways unable to change their course and a moment later the deed was done and there was only one god on the boat.
Enki fell down to his knees and started to cry and at the same time Shirou felt a deep ache in his chest as if his heart had been pierced by infinite icicles. Crouching down he stared at the face of the God of water and like a still pond he looked into his reflection.
xxx
Shirou woke up in the middle of the night filled with nothing but pain and memories as he stared at the scales on his hand.
Author Note: This chapter took a long time to write due to busy days at work.
The Rupture: In the end Lorelei stood no chance against both the Dead Apostle Ancestor and his servant. One thing that I do tend to do is portray deaths as either glorious or anti-climatic. Such is the nature of endings I think.