The moon had reached its zenith and now drowned the empty streets of Fuyuki in a terrible bloody light. A single solitary figure broke the stillness of the city as she dashed through the quiet roads. Suddenly she halted and whipped her head towards something far off and unseen in the distance. To anybody that was not mystically inclined there would have been no indication of anything out of the ordinary but to those who were gifted with extra sensory powers it felt like the world was ending, being crushed between two extremely powerful creatures. Like two dragons venting their vast powers of each other if anybody else were to enter that calamitous area they would be destroyed, torn apart and shredded in the vast confluence of power between the two familiar beings.
"This is really not good," Satsuki thought to herself as she glanced up at the bloody moon. While she didn't know what the mechanics behind the change were it was obvious as to what the result was. Honestly it tore at her pride but she acknowledged that, despite her strength, if she were to interfere in that fight she would end up very dead. Suddenly Shirou changed and in the next instant Arcueid was halfway across the city. Satsuki blinked and in that fraction of a second Shirou had also crossed the distance. She had no more time to watch as a veil of mist converged on the pair of fighters blocking them off from her senses.
"Not going that way," she muttered to herself. Once again she cursed the fact that she lacked the ridiculous sensory abilities of Shirou or Arcueid possessed. As long as the vampires were not causing calamity then she would not be able to pinpoint their location. Grumbling in annoyance Satsuki resolved to go the nearest of the two revealed grail locations, the one that didn't have an explosion go off in the vicinity of it. Just before she was about to head out to the remaining known lesser grail she was interrupted by a ringing in her pocket. Taking out her phone, hoping that it wasn't another telemarketer she unlocked the screen to see a message received.
Fifth grail has fallen. Retreat to house. Final grail is in secret lab. Wait for briefing. Message was sent automatically. Do not reply to this message.
Satsuki wrinkled her brow as she read the message. Shirou had not informed anybody of the location of the grail prior to them defending it. She doubted that anybody else besides her and Nine would even know where Shirou's secret lab was meaning that the others would still not know where the grail was. Wordlessly she teleported into the hallway of the house that she had spent so much time in over the years and headed for the pantry. Following the directions that Shirou had showed her she ducked through the hole and entered the secret lab. She looked around at the various doors that she hadn't explored and the one that she did.
Still knowing Shirou the grail would be behind none of those doors. The Magician had an almost religious disdain towards the concept of fair play. She knew for a fact that he had tried to move the greater grail to the bottom of the ocean when the war had started to go to shit but had been foiled by the confluence of leylines that dotted the temple. Still she took a brief glance around the rooms hoping to see evidence of the existence of the grail. After five minutes she admitted defeat with the knowledge that if she couldn't locate the grail then it would be difficult for the vampires to do so.
Suddenly the wards powered up and Satsuki held her breath. Teleporting up to the front door she summoned the power of her Reality Marble transforming her body into something inhuman. The seconds ticked past and she could feel the bounded field start to lock onto the target powering up to unleash a barrage that would wipe the intruder from the face of the earth. And then slowly, mercifully they powered down. Letting out her breath Satsuki walked towards the door flinging it open and her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the two figures standing in front of the house.
xxx
A few minutes ago
Rin took a deep breath of air that had been extracted from the surrounding water by an intricate use of magecraft and cursed the fact that she had never invested heavily into swimming before. While she was quite fit and had practiced fighting with the priest before; moving underwater was totally different and strained her muscles in different ways.
Thankfully she wasn't in the thick of the fight. Across the room one of the most dangerous creatures in the world fought against overwhelming numbers. The sixteenth Dead Apostle Ancestor lashed out; his body a hybrid of flesh and steel slicing through the water at speeds that rendered him partly invisible. If it wasn't for the ripples that were left in the water by his movements then Rin wouldn't have been able to see him at all.
Opposing him were Saber, Rider and Nine countering his attempts to kill them all with some bargain bin teamwork. Nine was going head on against the Black Wing Lord absorbing blows that would have cut a lesser being to pieces; his body shifting and reforming in a mass of claws, teeth and arms that gave her a slight headache to focus on. Off to the side Gawain was also lashing out with his blade moving in and out of battle in an attempt to flank their enemy and attack from his blind spot. Even then for each blow he landed he received horrific retaliation in the form of claws lashing out and landing gashes on his armour. Rin actually felt a little sorry for that. It was ultimately her mistake that the knight of the sun was forced to fight in these conditions and yet despite his losses he had carried himself valiantly going up against the strongest opponents in order to protect her and doing an admirable job.
The last combatant was Ishtar who also seemed to be doing the least of the three. She stayed out of the fight occasionally landing an arrow against the Black Wing Lord when it looked like he was about to disengage or overextend. But slowly over time her arrows began to deal damage to her opponent and Rin watched as well as she could as the Dead Apostle Ancestor was contained and forced back.
Rin on the other hand was in the annoying position of being able to do nothing. Despite the power contained in her gems and the training she had received as an apprentice of Zelretch she just couldn't perceive or attack fast enough to land a blow against their single opponent. The few times she had tried she observed that her gandr curse behaved slower in water for some reason that eluded her at the moment. The retaliation had been brutal and Gawain retreated to cover her from a barrage of bullets that extended from his hand. Not all of them could be blocked and thus Rin had quickly retreated holding up a shield of magical energy.
The tide of the battle was changed as electricity was discharged into the surrounding water and the Black Wing Lord disengaged. The water rippled with a tremendous amount of prana and shadows arose to cover the world. This stopped abruptly as Gransurg Blackmore was pierced with arrows of light obliterating most of his body. Ishtar had a look of focus on her face as she continued her barrage, her fingers dancing along the bow sending bolt of lights through the clear water. His head regenerated and he was able to doge out of the way of some more of the arrows, only to be sliced deeply by Gawain. Whips of blackness chipped away at his chest causing ropes of blood to decorate the clear water. In a procession akin to a pack of wolves taking down a bear the three of them slowly but steadily chipped away at his defences in a calculated march towards the end of the vampire's undeath. And then everything went to hell.
The only warning that they had was a flickering of the above head lights and a slight tremor and in the next second the roof collapsed exploding inwards forcing tons of rubble downwards on them. Rin raised a shield but she needn't have bothered as Gawain was quickly moving back interposing himself between her and the debris slicing and redirecting the falling rocks. Light coalesced around his blade and the surrounding wreckage was vaporised.
Suddenly all the water that had surrounded them disappeared into mist that faded and Rin stared upwards momentarily entranced by the form of a blood red moon. Quickly coming to her senses Rin turned towards the very real threat in the room only to watch him staring dumbstruck up at the bloody moon.
"He's returned," he said and Rin was disturbed to see that there was wetness from his eyes that wasn't due to the water level. "After all this time. I can't believe it."
"And right now he's fighting for his life," the voice was accompanied by a massive crash as the form of a gigantic furless wolf crashed down onto the floor causing the tiles to shatter beneath it. The wolf turned its head, almost instinctively towards Rin and she felt her heart stop. Her blood went cold and she could feel the air in her lungs leave her. "So this is how it feels to die," her thought sluggishly responded as she gazed upon two purple orbs filled with cruel indifference.
Suddenly air rushed into her lungs and her thoughts sped up again to comprehend that Gawain was now standing in front of her defensively. She gathered all her courage and looked up at the beast. The lupine abomination had lost interest in her and lazily eyed Grasurg Blackmore. On top of its body a raven haired teenage woman sat smiling as she chatted to the Black Wing Lord.
"The best and only solution would be to finish the ritual," she said. "But to do that we need to know the location of the last grail. That's where you come in."
A look of pure hatred crossed Blackmore's face but after a moment it disappeared and he sighed. "Then it seems we have the same purpose," he said. "I've already scouted the location for all the grails a few days ago. The last one is behind some a pretty strong bounded field in Miyama."
"Okay," the raven haired woman said a little too cheerfully.
"You don't know where Miyama is, do you?" Gransurg said flatly.
"It's to the east of the shopping district," she replied with confidence that faltered when the sixteenth Dead Apostle Ancestor said nothing. "No wait I meant to the west of the shopping district. Is it below the shopping district?"
Help me finish off these and I will show you where it is," Gransurg said gesturing towards Rin and the others.
"Are these too much for you," the woman said. "Maybe you've grown too weak after all your years of being unopposed. I hope Crimson Moon won't be disappointed."
"I'm stuck underground so I can't transform," he replied with strained politeness. "The archer prevents me from any attempt to summon my reality marble and I still haven't fully healed from the damage done to me or grown accustomed to these mechanical devices." He then shook his head. "But you're right, the archer is incredibly powerful and I know you recognize the butler."
"Yup," she said. "Mini-chaos, I would have really liked to have Nrvnqsr here in the fight. Even though he was with the old man, I felt like we always got along well." She turned towards Nine who had emerged from the rubble relatively unscathed. "Hey would you like to join our side. Give it a few years and you could become an Ancestor. It's a really cushy job; you can get minions, riches, women and a pretty awesome castle."
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline Miss Brunestud," Nine replied sending a shiver down Rin's chest as she realised who she was talking to. "I'm loyal to my Master and I severely doubt he would advocate joining you."
"I can respect that," Altrouge said nodding her head. "Primy please kill them."
Primate murder whirled and in the next second two arrows of light bounced off his hide. Ishtar didn't falter as more and more arrows rained down upon the beast with explosive power that failed to penetrate its skin. A few arrows went in Altrouge's direction but they were easily dodged by the female Ancestor. In the next second Ishtar was forced to dodge as a blast of light that emanated from the creatures mouth tearing through the air and carving trenches into the walls. The flow of energy didn't cease as the beast swivelled his head intent on the destruction of the servant goddess.
Gawain leapt into action summoning the sun around his blade and lashed out at the beast and its rider. The retaliation was precise as Primate Murder abandoned his assault on the goddess and bit down on the beam of light; swallowing the whole thing. After a second it vomited out a wave of light that flowed like lava rushing forward and melting the ground and everything in the path of the knight.
Suddenly Rin found herself lifted up and into the air as strong arms encircled her. Looking back over her shoulder she saw the face of Ishtar looking sternly down at the fight. Whipping her head back she watched as black sludge met the glowing liquid holding it off briefly for Gawain to escape. In the next instant Nine was upon the giant wolf abandoning his human form and lashing out with an assortment of limbs that hacked away at the enemy. Wherever the butler cut toxic looking blood spilled out burning at his mass until he was forced to retreat. With a grin the beast was upon him tearing him apart.
"Get out of here," the sword wielding knight said speaking up to Shirou's servant. "None of us can kill that monster. Get to the house and find Shirou and Arcueid. We'll hold them off."
Without another word Gawain was darting into the fray again to attack the monster. The beast lashed out with a paw as he approached and Gawain dodged to the side darting up the beasts arm. Raising his sword he gathered light and cleaved downwards at the beasts neck. Digging his sword into the muscle as the beast flailed to throw him off he flipped above the wolf gathering light into his sword. Using the force of gravity he cleaved down the full might of Excalibur Galatine.
Rin observed in mute horror as two lifeless halves of Gawain tumbled to the ground. Standing up from her comfortable perch for the first time since she had entered the grail chamber was Altrouge Brunestud. Her hand was still extended and her nails were bloody from having bisected the servant lengthways.
"So many people are picking on my little Primy tonight," she said sighing. "I'm going to have to prepare his favourite food after this. Hear that Primy. It's going to be all you can eat pork cutlets for a week," she said nodding. "Seasoned with human blood, just how you like it."
"Go," said Nine as he reformed looking no the worse for wear. "I can hold them off for a bit but I can't defeat them. Go protect the last grail."
Ishtar nodded as she tightened her grip on the younger magus and leapt into the air and Rin blinked as a ship materialised beneath her. A beam of light came from the mouth of the wolf only to be countered by countless beams of light that arose from Ishtar's vessel that matched and exhausted the solitary beam and then then they were away leaving behind the failed attempt at defence.
"Will he be okay," Rin asked as the ground blurred beneath them.
"No," Ishtar said her eyes focused on the place they were leaving behind. "Nine does not possess offensive power enough to kill them, but he is immensely durable. He should be able to last a few minutes."
Just then a roar split the night and a massive… something arose amongst the blood red night blotting out the moon in darkness.
"Apparently I was wrong," Ishtar said and Rin could have sworn she heard nostalgia in her voice. "Apparently somebody can still surprise me after all this time."
xxx
"You went easy on them," Gransurg said with irritation lacing his voice. "Don't think I didn't notice your pet lurking in the shadows, and I don't mean the dog."
"Hmm," Altrouge said not paying much attention as she contemplated the shape of the massive black dragon spiralling in the sky. Next to her Rizo-Waal Strout materialised and gave the Sixteenth Dead Apostle Ancestor a nasty glare. "Say Gransurg," Altrouge said after a few seconds. "You want to do this ritual to revive Crimson Moon, right."
"Why do you ask stupid questions girl," he said. "Yes I seek to revive our god. As should all of us." He regarded the woman. "If the floor is open for personal questions then may I ask what your desire is?"
Altrouge didn't answer for a while and then she smirked. "Just power, you can't really call yourself a Dead Apostle Ancestor if you don't desire some sort of power. And Gransurg if you keep taking your frustrations out on me I'll show you how much I've already accumulated."
Their confrontation was broken off as the area was bathed in black flames that scorched the chamber turning everything they touched into dust. Altrouge snapped her fingers deflecting the onrushing mana with a gust of wind that rivalled the power of a moderate tornado. Landing down on the ground the thing that the butler had become once again breathed fire only for Primate Murder to match and overpower its flames. Rushing forward his bulk was matched by the full power of her friend and Altrouge leapt off. Holding up a hand to forestall the assistance of Strout she watched as they tore into each other for a moment and then sighed. "Something about this opponent must have struck a chord in Primy," she thought to herself. He was fighting with nowhere near its full power allowing blows to fall on him and blunting attacks of his own.
The creature, apparently unused to its body overextended and Primy took a bite out of its neck, holding back only to avoid decapitating it. Retreating and allowing its neck to heal their opponent took to the skies once again breathing down another wave of flame that she neutralised.
"Primy finish him," Altrouge said after only a moment's hesitation. "We've already spent too long on this fight." Her friend turned towards her gauging her resolve and saw cold steel in her eyes. Letting out the canine equivalent of a sigh he looked up at the shape in the clouds and opened his mouth. He held nothing back as a comet of white extended from his maw launching into the atmosphere and striking the dragon. Altrouge watched rapt as the third most powerful explosion to ever occur on Japanese soil lit up the sky eclipsing the red moon and for a few seconds turning night into day. Altrouge swiped a piece of inky chaos out of the air and watched for a few seconds as it burnt before she deliberately extinguished the flames and slotted it into a pocket in her dress.
"Shall we go get that last grail now," she said more to herself than anybody else in the room.
xxx
"So Nine's fighting alone now," Satsuki said to the Babylonian goddess. "Is there nothing we can do to help him?"
"He's probably already dead. Did you not see that massive flare of light about a minute ago," Ishtar said bluntly. "To not use this time to fortify the house would spit on his sacrifice."
"I was in Shirou's lab," Satsuki defended herself. "Light doesn't exactly reach down there."
"You know where Shirou's lab is," Ishtar said with some surprise. "Did you see the grail?"
Satsuki shook her head. "So what's the plan," she said with some faint hope.
"There is none," Ishtar said walking to the couch and putting her feet up in a way that brought a blush to Satsuki's face. "The defences of this house are at the strongest they can ever be. Without Shirou to supply me with extra mana I cannot use the full measures of my powers against the enemy. You and Rin have both lost your servants. If they manage to get through the wards then we will all die and the grail will be destroyed. There is nothing we can do but to wait now."
"So there is no way for us to do anything," Rin said her voice empty of hope.
"You can try to pray," Ishtar said sardonically. "But take it from me when I say that most gods aren't worth the trouble. At this point we need Shirou or Arcueid to not lose."
As if to betray her words the ground shuddered and a screeching sound like nails on a chalkboard rang throughout the house setting the three of them on edge. To the mystically sensitive the entire house lit up like a bonfire and both Ishtar and Satsuki found themselves reeling from the sheer power of the attack.
"I think they're here," Rin said with only trace amounts of sarcasm. "How long did you say that this barrier would hold out against them?"
"Between thirty seconds and the rest of the night," Ishtar responded casually. "It implements the Fourth Magic in the design, don't ask me how. Basically the only way to get past the barrier would be wishcraft of the type that the Beast of Gaia uses and how long we have depends on how long it would take him to realise…"
The only warning was the sudden death of the alarm and then Ishtar was on both of them, grabbing both Satsuki and Rin and summoning her boat before the world was engulfed in light. After a few seconds the white was replaced with red from the moon and she was able to see the remains of Shirou's house scraped clean as if a god had plucked the building from existence. Turning backwards she saw a terrible flat plain, revealing nothing remained of the many houses shops and lives that dwelled there beforehand.
Ishtar let the boat return to the form of her bow casually stringing an arrow as she did so. Four figures stood before her, three who she might have been able to defeat, one who she could not. "If any of you gods are listening," she said with no hope in her voice. "Now would be a good time to help."
Author Note: Still not entirely happy. I seem to be slowing down as the end approaches. If you can't guess what the first and second biggest explosions on Japanese soil were I'm afraid you're not going to get a good history mark.
hyperomegasonic26: Good idea I corrected the title of the chapter.
SentinalSlice: He doesn't need to at this point. His body contains a huge amount of water that he regularly from and generates more adding to clothes would be inefficient. Shirou actually only makes his clothes extra durable. He doesn't add extra runes to his clothes like Bazett or try to apply concepts because over the years he's learnt to do without most of his mystic codes.
DPSS: He actually allowed Satsuki to invade her own soul a few chapters ago so he's done it before if not to that extreme.
: Godhood and immortality would do nothing by themselves. Gods can't exist in the world and immortality doesn't mean being able to endure hits. But strength and power are definitely among the concepts he has imbued himself with.
Please Read and Review. How badly did switching perspectives in this chapter annoy you? I'm trying to build suspense. Is it working?