It was an unfathomable cruelty, this reunion was. Artoria Pendragon, better known as the Saber Servant in this war, hadn't the slightest inkling why she was summoned by another Emiya, let alone Kiritsugu's son. The memories of a decade's past left a stain of resentment and contempt for the man ever since she was sent back to her personal Hell. Only the sound of his beckoning call that gave her a light of hope brought her yearning ideal back to the fore and allowed her to manifest into this world yet again.
She defended this boy, Shirou, from a pursuing Lancer Servant -whom she had easily deduced his identity while he failed to do the same- and let loose pent-up frustration and the angst of failure in her previous participation. It was only through boundless luck that she survived his Noble Phantasm, leaving a wound in her shoulder that slowly healed. Ignoring the blow, she commanded the Master to stay put as she deals with the others; only to find herself in this awkward position.
Adorned in her blue-white dressed gown, she rested on her knees and legs in a resting position before the low-end table as Illya was sipping warmed tea that Shirou had made for all those in the room. The man in red with white hair was instructed to keep watch at the roof, ensuring they wouldn't be ambushed a second time this evening. Unlike the others, simply looking at him didn't stir any memories and that made her cautious around the other Servant; regardless, as long as her Master was hospitable to this girl, she hoped that the unfettered vendetta wouldn't be brought into the conversation.
"So, let me explain some basics, Shirou," Illya turned to look at her host, her neutral expression dictating that she wasn't looking down at him or was particularly impressed with his choice of actions tonight. "That mark on your hand has what's called Command Seals. They are precious resources and allow you to utilize orders on the cusp of True Magic, forcing your will on a Servant to do nearly any pragmatic task required of her. Use them all up, and you stop being her Master in all but technicality, leaving your Servant vulnerable and unable to follow your commands."
Shirou blankly blinked, looking apprehensive at the mark now very much in plain view to himself and Saber. Sure enough there was a faded outline, like rust or crusty flakes of blood, where an etching once was. Rubbing his hand, he could tell it wasn't a scar or that he was in any real pain other than that ominous pulse he felt when he 'commanded' Saber to 'stop'. Looking over at his Servant, she nodded with affirmation.
"What she says is correct," She interceded, her eyes locking with his as pools of emerald glinted behind the stoicism her visage retained. "Without Command Seals, our pact would be limited and there is a possibility that other Masters might take advantage of that."
"H-Hold on!" He exclaimed, looking between the two incredulously. "I-I don't think I like the connotation of me having a servant of anybody; also, how am I in this?! What even IS this?! Why are you-?"
"Shirou," Illya intoned, her voice remaining calm and her eyes staring straight through him. "I know this may difficult for such a novice mage as yourself to understand but you're going to have to sit there and listen quietly. If you don't, I'm going to leave here and you're going to have to deal with your own neophyte status without my help. Is that fathomable to you?"
Saber scowled at Illya, finding her attitude to be nothing like the brief scene she had bore over a decade ago. Gone was the child full of bright light and a hope-filled promise; along with Kiritsugu's dream. At the remembrance of the man who she had mixed feelings about, along with his wife -mother of this child- she looked to Shirou with a reserved expression that hid her emotions on the matter. Closing her eyes, exhaled smoothly from the nostrils, keeping her mind at the task of hand and didn't speak out, even if she desperately wanted to.
Seeing the red-headed boy and his Servant not protest, she continued after another measured sip from the teacup, "To explain in small words for you to understand, what you've gotten yourself into is a magical contest set down by the Einzbern, the Matou and the Tohsaka fam-"
"Wait, Rin's in this too-?!" Shirou began to ask before Illya fixed a nasty glare that made him recoil and halt his wording. Sitting back upright, he sighed and bowed his head in apology. "Please, continue."
"As I was saying, those three families set this up many years ago as a means of diplomatically compromising to acquire a particular artifact of importance in the world of magic: the Holy Grail," She continued, now looking a bit monotone as she explained this part, almost as if she was hiding disgust at the mention of this holy treasure of myth and religion. "With it, any single person winning this conflict -the Holy Grail War-, will be able to actualize anything they desire, provided the grail can factually construct it within its own reason. This is the 5th War and the selection process usually governs the most exceptional of Magus to become a Master, but then there are cases like you who don't have an ounce of talent or skill in the field."
Racking his brain, Shirou tried to understand what this implied. He had wanted to learn the Magecraft since he found out his dad was a Magus, but Kiritsugu refused on principle. Relenting after tenacity, he only taught him so much and he had only done enough on a daily basis to keep himself fresh and active in using his own trade skills. As he stood, his brief encounter with Lancer at his home showed him just how out of his depth he was in comparison to even the staunchest of mages.
Seeing him hesitate, Illya sighed, and waved a hand towards Saber, turning her task of discussion to the patient Servant, "Saber, I'm pretty sure you were summoned unceremoniously and haven't established a solid pact with Shirou. Is that right?"
"As much as I'm remiss to admit this, yes," Saber lowered her head, looking conflicted at the very least as she confess her feelings on the matter. "I don't know how I should feel about this given we haven't officially made it clear where we stand. And given how limited my abilities are, it'd be dishonest if I couldn't point out that there would be other qualified Masters who could bring out my full potential."
"I'd be more than willing to extend my hand and take you off my sweet Shirou's hands," Illya proffered with a sly grin, making Saber furrow her brows with suspicion at the young woman's taunting expression. She knew of the Heroic Spirit's background as the King of Knights, the alleged 'King Arthur' of history's myth and her yearning for the Holy Grail of actual legitimacy tied her heavily into her desires to retrieve it as a Servant, she suspected. "After all, I'm of a premium breed of Magus that far exceeds Shirou. I don't like sounding mean, but it's just a matter of fact."
"I didn't even know you WERE a Mage until tonight!" Shirou exclaimed, his voice full of confusion and a twinge of betrayal echoed in his eyes.
"Do you advertise your magical talents to just anybody?" She asked, earning a satisfying slump of silence from the sighing red-haired boy.
Finally, Saber raised her blue-sleeved right hand, and closed her eyes as she drew attention to herself.
"It's true, the Einzbern family is an old one and has fostered a heritage of adept magical crafting of specific types that make them an undisputed candidate as a higher quality master," She began, making Shirou twitch a little -was it hurt, or acknowledgement?- but she ignored it as she addressed Illya chiefly between the two. "If I swore allegiance to you, I'm confident that you could bring out my full potential if not produce an even greater quality of my own abilities with your boundless supply of mana."
Smiling with childish pride, she crossed her arms and nodded with affirmation, "I knew you'd see thing from my point of view."
"However," She continued, making the girl's smile diminish and replaced with a look of annoyance as her lips contorted into a grimace. "I think it's unfair for us to tell someone not raised or trained for this kind of divine contest how he should feel about this or whom I should be fostering my trust and strength. It'd be more appropriate and customary to find the mediator of this Holy Grail War, so he can fully explain the proper protocol and procedures," Turning to look at Shirou with a mask of stoicism, she nodded to him with acknowledgement. "If you feel after all is said and done you wish to be kept out of this conflict, he'll arrange for your protection while the war's duration lasts."
Keeping out the part that she'd prefer if the one who summoned her was her Master, Saber studied Shirou's visible pensiveness. Crossing his own arms, he furrowed his brow and closes his eyes, his right leg bouncing a little bit as he comprehended what was discussed. After a daunting minute of silence, she looked over at Illya whose on face was an unreadable indifference but a clear contempt was seen in her deep red eyes; a lingering hatred that burned enough to make Saber's skin bristle at noticing the sight.
"I think I should see what this whole thing is about," Shirou spoke decisively, turning with a determined look at Saber with a hesitant smile. "I may be way out of my depth, but I feel responsible for dragging you into this. I want to know what this is all about before I make any drastic commitment, if you know what I mean?"
"That is a fair answer," She replied, a smallest of smiles gracing her face before blankly addressing the blank-emotive Illya. "Do you know where the mediator presides?"
"I've been here long enough to know the lay of the land, yes," She answered with a chill to her voice, her eyes looking to Shirou with a look of disappointment before smiling almost too sweetly at the pair. "It's not that far away, so let's get to it!~"
Disregarding her flip of attitude, the pair decided to dress for the travel ahead of them. Shirou adorned himself in clothes that weren't so wreaking of dirt and blood from the scrapes he got from his Lancer encounter; a long sleeved collared jacket with dark blue outlines surrounding the white, over a blank white tee beneath and a pair of jeans along with his worn shoes. Due to the limitations of Artoria's condition she couldn't disappear into mana form so Shirou found a yellow poncho to use as a makeshift covering to keep anyone's initial preview unaware of her true origin. Illya continued wearing her purple furred hat coat and skirt with matching boots, trekking lackadaisically ahead of them once they left the Emiya Estate.
The walk was a cool one, the temperature being tolerable for this time of year as the season would be on the cusp of changing into Spring not too far away. Street lights illuminated their path from the suburbs to the riverside road, passing by the bridge with rays of artificial light guiding their paved path while the sound of streaming water and the wind caressing trees to the grass nearby. Illya hummed a melodic tune as she'd occasionally stand on a balance of the rampart between the pavement before hopping in skips between various stepping stones, making up mental kid games on their way forward. It put a smile on Shirou's face, staring idly at the innocent joy the white-haired girl gained from simple things. It was just like yesterday that he took her on a walk by the river the other weekend, engaging in fun odd end activities and general laid back fun.
"You like her, don't you?" Saber's inquiry penetrated his idle walk, making him turn briefly at her direction with owlish blinks. Seeing that she wasn't poking fun -her face again emoting a serious countenance beneath the yellow poncho's hood-, he cleared his throat and kept his voice down as to not alert the girl skipping ahead of them. "How well do you know that girl?"
"Obviously, not enough," He admitted, doing his best to continue walking despite the unexpected conversation piece. "Like, she came to my home saying she was looking for her mother and talked about how it was the last place she knew she was at," He explained, unaware of the sudden paleness overcoming Saber's face as he continued walking ahead and talking without worry. "Pretty sure she made up the sob story about her running out of money and having nowhere to go but...I dunno, I just feel like we've got some sorta tie to each other. Like, call me cheesy, but it feels like fate brought us together and it doesn't feel like coincidence that her mom was here ten years ago at the same time as well the great tragedy."
"Tragedy?" Saber rasped out, her eyes peeking around the corner of her hood and bangs, a little afraid to look him in the eyes as her mind reeled with the implications of what was told to her.
"Yeah, I kinda was in this huge fire and everybody in the fire died...but me," He shrugged, a feigned smile adorned on his face as he looked over at her with a weak chuckle. "I know it's kind of lame to brush something like that aside but it's the truth. And since there was someone else living at my adopted home I can't help but wonder why Kiritsugu never mentioned it."
"I see," She intoned, licking her lips and looking away.
"Why? Did I say something wrong?"
"I'm not sure what to make of it," She confirmed, her gaze steeled towards Shirou with an intense vibe that made him widen his eyes back. "Be careful around that girl. Whoever she was to you before was all an act, I assure you. I don't know what her intentions are but any of them connecting you or I are not in our benefit."
Turning away to look at Illya's back, he'd see her walking backwards, staring directly at him. It almost made him jump if not for the sweet smile playing on her lips and the shine of sparkling rubies enhanced by the moon's light from the cloudy, star-filled sky. Exhaling out, he smiled back and waved at her, earning a wave back before she twirled around on her heel and continued to frolic ahead without worry.
"I'm not sure if that's all true, Saber," He finally answered her, turning to look at the frowning Servant with a relaxed grin, shrugging to extenuate his point. "I mean, she's a bit more sassy and mature than I thought she was, but she can't be evil. Right?"
"You're far too trusting, Master," She replied, sighing before looking ahead at the girl's back, seeing for a moment what Shirou wouldn't. A single red eye looking over the shoulder, glowing past a mask of darkness as the moon is obscured for the briefest of moments and a sly smile enveloped in the wafting lack of luminescence. Emerald eyes blinked, dilating, as the cloud revealed the moon's rays over a innocent smiling girl as her hands swayed gently by her coat covered sides with her skirt swishing to and fro.
Saber hoped she was seeing too much into nothing, but this girl and her own history in the prior war, felt engendered into a far more sinister plan at work.
Their journey continued on, the silence caressed by Illya's singing and humming as she led the way with her Archer keeping watching from a distance. Saber would occasionally regard their current red-coated ally with wariness but since no words were exchanged she chose not to incite a potential argument. She saw the road curve by the river and up a slight incline near a divvying path to a wooded graveyard. Walking past the woods they'd see the steeple of a church in the distance and Shirou raised a brow at this, muttering his confusion about why they'd go there.
"The Church acts as the mediator of the Holy Grail, being the only non-biased faction that can hold the Mages accountable of any egregious actions in the moment before the Association can," Illya answered him, surprising Shirou her awareness to something he didn't raise his voice about. Looking back at him, she giggled and nodded ahead. "The man in charge this time around is Kirei Kotomine. He's the priest whose going to explain the rules, what's involved and perhaps protect you if you don't want to participate."
"Kirei Kotomine is here?" Artoria echoed with worry in her voice.
"Do you know him, Saber?" Shirou asked with curiosity.
"He was a Master in the previous war. He was strong, and dangerous," She intoned back, looking to the red-haired teenager with caution. "Make sure you're on your guard when around this man."
"Is there anyone I shouldn't be afraid of?"
"Not really, no," The blonde, poncho-robed woman replied without skipping a beat. "Safer that way."
"We're here!" Illya exclaimed, continuing to skip ahead till she slowed into a walk, her voice quieting to barely being audible to the two behind her. "And it seems we're not alone."
Arriving at the church, the trio would see something peculiar standing outside its gate. An assortment of armored figures stood in front of the iron gate circling what looked like an impressive sized religious site, all looking in various directions and each other. When they got closer, they all turned and stared, remaining eerily silent. Each of them bore impressive armor of European accent, with flavors of designs and aesthetics that matched their origins. Getting closer, Saber would see each of them wore armor that was recognizable especially to her.
One was a tall mountainous figure, clad in deep emerald sheen of plate-mail, with only the slightest hints of chain mail covering the weak spots and a cone-shaped Bascinet with slits emanating a slight light where the eyes presided and vapor escaping the holes around the aforementioned cone's shell. He had a giant ax of the same hue of his armor, the long pole handle held over his shoulder made a scraping sound as it readied its armored grip over it. It was by far the most imposing of the three.
The second one was a horned knight, bearing red accents over white and grey plate mail over the whole of its body. With angular pauldrons and a jagged point for a breastplate, the kama skirt wrapped around the plated legs down to the boots made for impressive defense all around, and a iconic looking sword whose first few inches from the guard up act almost like a brace or a deterrent sheathe of sorts. With its weapon impaled downward, hands folding over one another on its pommel, it regarded Saber with an unfettered anger that she couldn't place as to why it felt...familiar.
The last of them stood off to the side, looking between all of them with more alertness than the rest. It bore a sinister energy, almost otherworldly off its ebony dyed armor, plating covering its arms, chest and sides in dull bronze segments while curtain of chain mail protected the pelvis down with the legs armored as much as the rest of its form. Narrow black slits hid its eyes diagonally and black slit where its mouth presided was hidden in shadows, the neck circled by a ring of arched plates. Most intimidatingly was the pair of jagged horns that, unlike the other armored individual, was pointed upward with edges akin to a blade's. Its own weapon was unseen, arms crossed over its chest and seemed to address them sooner than the other two.
"You may enter to see the priest," Its voice rang out, like vibrating steel, pointing its gaze now to Saber. "But your Servant stays. No qualms and we shall remain civil. Pursue this matter and there will be a conflict. Understand?"
"Are you challenging me, tin man?" Illya inquired, turning to look at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
"No, I am merely warning you," It continued to speak, vaporous breath spewing from its ominously designed helm as unseen eyes glared at them. "Our Master wishes not to start anything near the mediator's premises. If you wish to do battle, we will take this elsewhere, but do not disturb this neutral ground."
"He's an honorable guy to not engage us in a fight right away," Shirou thought, furrowing his brow at the other two not making any move to threaten or prepare for attack. "If it was that Lancer guy, there'd be no question about there being a fight. This Holy Grail War is more nuanced than I thought."
"Fine," Illya stroked her hair with a hand in a flippantly dismissive manner. "She'll stay here. We just want to have a chat inside. We won't bother your Master either."
"Follow your Mage Laws and I'll have no grudge to bear," He spoke plainly.
"You heard him," She chirped up, raising a hand to gesture in a beckoning come hither manner while smiling pleasantly at the redhead. "Let's be going."
"Alright," Shirou nodded, looking to Saber for approval. Once she nodded back, he walked up to the gates and pushed them aside, letting Illya walk in step beside him. Taking the briefest of glances over his shoulder he'd take in the scenery of foreboding coming from this holy structure. The grass was neatly trimmed, the air had a certain purity to it and from what he could tell as he walked further there was a magic field surrounding it past the fence itself. No doubt it was to either keep intruders out or inform the caster of its presence.
Approaching the door of the church, the young man took a deep breath. Pushing the large double doors open the pair would see a moon-lit interior, casting dark shadows over the vacant wooden pews lining up from the back, bordered by wooden support columns all the way to the pulpit. Currently, there was a young woman there that Shirou recognized after she turned to look back at him.
"You-!" She exclaimed, brown hair flowing in her twist on her heel, clothed in a silken black hooded cloak over her prestigious Magus red suit-jacket, affixed with a red tie over a white collared undershirt leading to a black skirt with nylon leggings to a pair of fancy brown shoes. Before she could speak aloud, the other figure beside her -a tall man in black-grey apparel with a single cross dangling around his neck of brass hue- raised a hand to stave her immediate reaction.
"Welcome, young Masters," Kirei Kotomine greeted with a pleased smile, cold eyes analyzing them with a hungry curiosity, waving his extended hand with emphasized interest. "Are you here to discuss something in particular. I was just in the middle of finishing a discussion with this fine participant-"
"Sure, barge in why don't you?" She spat, harrumphing with crossed arms and a hair-flipping turn of her head. "It's not like I've been trying to get this man to do his job."
"Like I've said, Rin," He replied informally, making Shirou's left eye arch along with Illya's. "I cannot extend my authority when nothing has happened. The best you can do is find a means of using your family's influence to contact the proper channels and get them evacuated. Unless there's been an actual breaking of grail rules, I cannot step in."
"And I've been telling you, if the Bounded Field goes off as planned it will be too late!" She exclaimed, throwing an arm to the side, unaware of Illya's sudden change of expression. "It's going to kill dozens, if not hundreds of people! And don't give me that bullshit about my family! Your the one who fucked up everything and I can barely use contacts for what I need, let alone get people to move out of an obvious danger zone!"
"I don't think it's appropriate to speak of such tentative matters in front of carnivorous ears, Rin," He calmly asserted back, looking back from her to the pair standing not more than a handful of meters away.
"It's fine," She unfolded her hands, now looking over at them with an intimidating stare at Shirou. "Now I can feel comfortable listening in; equivalent exchange of information, after all."
"What a sly one you are, Tohsaka," Illya thought with a teasing smile, her expression only serving to irk the brunette Magus. "Then again, I'm already ahead of the game in that category."
"With that out of the way," Kirei continued, waving his hand again at the pair. "Let's start over. I'm Kirei Kotomine, the current mediator of the Fifth Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City. I assume you both are here to talk matters about the ongoing war?"
"Yes," Illya began, making a polite curtsy with the hem of her dress plucked by the edges of her fingers. "I'm Illyasviel Von Einzbern and I have with me a talentless amateur who may or may not to excuse himself from this conflict."
"Oh?" The Priest breathed out with amusement, smiling a bit twisted in a way that was almost mocking to the red-haired boy's eyes. "While it is true that in the rules stated that one may disqualify one's own participation in the war, you forfeit any potential of reentering or acquiring the prize. Leaving so soon before the war has even amounted to a single causality is unheard of for this conflict, but I'd allow it if that's what you truly wish...?"
Hearing the man pause with an incline of his head, Shirou scratched the back of his head and awkwardly introduced himself, keeping a wary eye on Rin's everpresent stare at his face, "Uh, yeah, not really liking how you're putting it but it's not inaccurate. I'm a bit in the dark on this whole thing due to the fact my father taught me little and didn't speak much about it," He spoke briefly, earning a slight pinch to his side that he grimaced at. Looking to Illya, she made a motion of her curtsy as she glared in a head-cocking fashion to the priest and he palmed his face, turning to look back at Kirei. "Right, you might not know me so my name is Shirou. Shirou Emiya."
"Emiya?" Kirei inquired, almost in sync with Rin as she now fully recognized the high school boy's name. "As in, son of Kiritsugu Emiya?"
"How do you know that name?" Shirou asked, blinking warily as Illya's features immediately became alert to what was said.
Chuckling gutturally, Kirei put his hands behind his back, clenching the leftmost palm with the right as he looked at him knowingly, "It's because Kiritsugu Emiya was the name of the man who fought in the previous Holy Grail War; the very same one that took place ten years ago."
"Ten years...ago?" Shirou mouthed, eyes dilating and his mouth parting. "No. It can't be!"
"What?" Rin asked in particular, wondering what this subject that left her in the dark was about. "What happened ten years ago?"
"The Fuyuki Fire," The boy answered, making the brunette girl recoil at the mention of the tragedy that transpired in the last decade. "It happened so quickly and without warning that there was hardly anyone left standing from the ruins. They chalked it up as an unexplained quickfire, started from some unnatural weather phenomena but..."
"Ah yes," Kirei answered with a grim smile on his face. "That is the result of the failure met by your father. I remember it as if it was seconds ago," Looking past the boy, he saw the outline of the man as if he was standing before him. There, in that illuminated basement, his wild hair and loose black suit with a single Thompson Arms Contender aimed at him. A flood of blood-like ooze swept over them, a shot to the heart...and then, he awoke. "He was a ruthless assassin who showed no quarter, no mercy and used any means to dispose of his opponent. I found my equal in him, in ways not just physically but ideally. He wanted to save the world, and he and I nearly held it...but...it fell out of our reach. Thus, the unleashing of the grail's incomplete state ransacked Fuyuki and slew five hundred in its wake, injuring nearly a thousand more in the collateral."
Everything suddenly became clearer to Shirou's head.
Illya's mother coming here to the home he and Kiritsugu would live in was perhaps where she stayed with him as well. She must have died in the resulting conflict, and that's why Illya came to him years later; not only that, but she also came knowing this grail war would come about in the same place. The failure to acquire the grail must have been what had made his father so sad, and empty, only finding peace when Shirou made that promise. And if this grail was really at fault for that accident that robbed him of his previous life and led to Kiritsugu's demise, then...
"We're not here for a history lesson of your incompetence, Overseer," Illya spat venomously, stirring Shirou out of his trauma fueled stupor and bringing both a gawking Rin and a humored Kirei at the icy look she gave the priest. "We're here for you to explain what the grail war is."
Grinning crookedly, he bowed his head, "Apologies, this old man can hardly stop himself from indulging in a little tale of the past. In regards to you, Shirou Emiya," He looked to the conflicted boy, turning around and walking towards the pulpit, allowing his voice to echo about the church's interior. "This is a clandestine tradition that's been taking place for hundreds of years here in Japan. The founders of this event created it in the purpose of achieving an ultimate wish-granting device, fueled by the ritual sacrifice of astral projected representatives of mythological and historical creatures, characters to icons and symbols of human kind. Seven Servants are summoned and, depending on preparation and catalyst involved, are arranged in the Seven Classes.
"Saber, Lancer, Rider, Archer, Caster, Berserker and Assassin. With these spiritual beings given cognizance and purpose by the holy grail, they're meant to help the master to find victory in combat against all other masters. The victor is decided after six Servants are eliminated, leaving the Master and his or her Heroic Spirit to acquire the Holy Grail so they may each be granted a wish. Your Command Seals are proof that its abilities are beyond the Modern Thaumaturgy abilities conceived by the Magecraft you or I would use.
"If you were to embark on this harrowing journey, you must keep in mind the Mage Laws of the grail war. You are discouraged from fighting in daylight, for obvious reasons of exposure. Secondly, involving a tantamount of civilian casualties is forbidden, so keep collateral damage to a minimum and preferably fight where no one can see you. Lastly, if you are seen, eliminate the witness if you can because it's a headache if too much word is gotten out.
"Now, is that everything? Or do you have any questions for me?"
Shirou thought long and hard throughout the debriefing. This was a contest he considered akin to a underground fight tournament but involving monsters of incredible power and their familiars to kill as they see fit. He was lucky he was the only person that Lancer saw, knowing others in his school might have not been as lucky as he was in avoiding being slain by him. Then again, just how many more fights were going to happen that he could help prevent?
Realizing what he had to do, he held up his marked hand and said with determination, "I'm going to fight as a Master!"
"Are you serious?!" Rin shrieked in sync with Illya, causing both girls to glare at each other for a moment before turning back to Shirou. "Didn't you hear anything that Kirei said? Monsters wearing human skin are fighting in this war. You will be slaughtered!"
"I'm not disagreeing with Tohsaka here. This is a bad idea, Shirou," Illya advised with a wary stare.
"This isn't just about whether or not I win. I just want to keep whatever happened ten years ago from ever occurring again!" Shirou turned to look at Illya, saying with an intense insistence that made her pause. "I don't want that kind of trauma to happen to anyone else! This war will not end like the last one and I'll make sure that I keep a massacre from happening!"
"It may be impossible," Kirei warned, getting the teenager's attention as his smiling face turned to address him from the pulpit. "Are you sure you want to take such a harrowing journey?"
"I'm sure!"
"Then I wish you the best in your efforts of securing the Holy Grail," He told him, nodding his head to the three present. "Now, it is late and I wish to rest. Go ahead and head on home you three; war's just begun and you have a long road ahead of you. Of that, I am sure."
Illya bit her lip and suppressed the urge to strike at Shirou. This was her opportunity to bring her a step closer to ending the war in a decisive maneuver. If she possessed someone as powerful as Artoria Pendragon, she'd be unstoppable. Clenching her fists she turned away from Shirou as she began to walk out with Rin trailing behind, leaving the redhead in the middle.
Exiting church, they'd leave Kirei Kotomine turning his back on them, smiling with carnal delight at the thought of seeing another Emiya in this war of his.
Saber had waited tortuously long. With the silent three armored guards all glaring at her she felt like she was in a terrible position. The best she could hope for was that the meeting wouldn't take too much longer and they can leave to a place of fortuitious space and open terrain. If she was to fight them, she'd appreciate the assistance of Archer, as fighting all three of them in current condition would be potentially perilous for her. Examining their mana leaking of the three's prana, she was able to deduce something interesting about them.
None of them were truly Servants. They had the make-up, build and aura of Servants, that was true, but they didn't seem to command an authority or iconography that spoke of one wielding an authentic Noble Phantasm. Imitations or duplicates, they seemed more like from the way they had almost a united foreboding silence that seemed to be their joint personality. The only one that spoke and seemed more alike to herself in both mana and form was the black plated knight that continued to keep his posture from earlier.
Hearing the doors of the church, she turned around to see the three walking out. Illya looked like she was barely containing the obvious foul mood she was in. Shirou looked a bit nervous but, calmer, than when he entered. The third was the woman she hadn't seen before but she could tell was perhaps the three armored entities' Master.
But upon her looking at the armored specters, they had completely evaporated without a trace. The sight was unnerving but she felt no trace of their presence, as if their duty had concluded and so too was their presence at the front of the church. With the gate pushed aside, Illya groaned as she kicked the ground with Shirou walking a little past Saber, Rin just barely registering in her periphery as she pulled back her poncho's hood.
"Have you reached a resolution, Master?" She inquired, ever curious about the outcome of what went on inside.
"I've...found out some things inside. Rough things. Some of which involved Kiritsugu," He said, letting the cool wind of the night air blow his hair and ruffle his long-sleeved jacket. "But, now a lot more things make sense. The fire wasn't just random coincidence but something went horribly wrong. That's why," He turned, addressing Saber with an extended hand, grinning confidently at her. "I'm choosing to fight with you officially. It doesn't matter what my dad was, I'll fulfill his dream of becoming a hero down this path and keep history from repeating itself in my home."
Smiling back, she grabbed his hand with an armored gauntlet and shook firmly back, nodding to him with acknowledgement, "Then I shall fight to the best of my ability until my dying breath for you, Master."
"Eh, if you'd be okay, I'd prefer Shirou instead."
"Ah, if that's what you wish, I shall make it so," She replied, almost too obediently. "Shirou."
"Well, that was fun," Rin mentioned, causing him to look at the popular girl of his school with a raised brow. "Just for tonight, I'll take it easy on you. Given we use the same road to go home, I think we can just enjoy a casual stroll without blows being exchanged."
"That sounds okay," The red-haired Magus nodded with a half-smile. "Thanks, Tohsaka."
"Don't mention it, Emiya," She hair-flipped, walking ahead of the pair by a few meters. "I am your enemy, after all. Consider this some mercy for being so open about your intentions."
"I'm standing right here," Illya sneered. She felt incensed at being ignored in favor of the weaker Master who just had a humored grin on his face at the rich girl threatening his life. Looking at him, the red-haired teen looked around and recoiled, surprised at the angry look she had from her normally soft ruby eyes; now a blazing crimson through sheer will.
"Let's get going," Saber proffered with a flip of her poncho hood over her head. "I'm still not fully recovered from my battle with Lancer and I rather not dally while we're out in the open in the middle of the night."
"I second that," He murmured, walking beside his Servant with Illya marching ahead and Rin already several more strides ahead of the rest.
Following her lead, they'd use the road to walk on home, feeling the coolness of the air waft over them in a gentle breeze. The goal of theirs was uncertain with revelations unveiled and more questions left unanswered, but determination swelled within the man of interest. A pact solidified by a promise, Saber's resolve would strengthen her place in this world and give her confidence in the battle ahead. There was hope among the pair where there was doubt and infuriation shared by the other two young women.
Then, Illya felt her own stewing mind broken by a ringing of Archer's mental link provoking her attention.
"Archer, what is it?"
"Sorry to ruin your foul mood, but we've got a situation," His voice seriously intoned, making Illya stiffen and look to her left. Just as she did, Saber herself and Rin turned.
"Shirou, someone's using Magecraft not of this party nearby," She informed him aloud, causing Shirou's mood to twist into alarm. Fists tightened at his sides as his eyes locked onto hers. "Your orders?"
Inhaling deeply, he sighed and nodded to her with affirmation, "Let's check it out. Lead the way."
"Of course. Keep close," She cautioned, rushing ahead with him as Rin and Illya all ran off the path towards the woods.
A winding path for hikers was seen, partially illuminated by lunar rays spreading through the skeletal tops of trees, foliage and soil crunching noisily as they rushed towards the site in question. Coming ever-so closer they'd feel a sudden ominous pulse which all three Mages remembered from the school. Shirou shuddered, Rin glowered and Illya pondered on who was responsible. Coming into a clearing overlooking a graveyard, the red-cloaked back of Archer was seen, his eyes fixed grimly at a grisly display of macabre cruelty.
Of whom it was on made stomachs lurch and heads spin; with an exceptional one find amusement.
A young man in a student's uniform was strung up on a crucifix stand of bloodied, jagged spikes. Hands were stretched out to either side, palms pierced from the ground up while the feet were pierced along with the legs up to the thighs. Shoulders hooked him on a stand that held him upright, his head hanging as his crown was dirtied with soot and dried blood, showing his head injury to be older than the rest. Rasping for air, the group could see the faintest of rises and falls of breathing from the strung up teenager.
Raising his face up, Shirou's face contorted in horror while Rin's looked with fright.
"S-S-Shinji?!" He cried out, already moving to free him. Stopped by a raised arm of Saber past her poncho, he exchanged a wide-eyed glance with the stoic glare of Saber that looked on with seriousness. Grimacing, he plead with her with a turn of his body. "Please, let me go, Saber! That's my classmate! Sakura's brother and my friend!"
"It's not safe, Shirou!" She insisted with a raise of her voice, looking back at the pierced boy with sternness. "Did you not feel the Bounded Field? Someone set that up, more evidently to keep people from coming in and to lure Mages like you here. He's a lure for an inevitable trap."
"She's right," Rin motioned with her head. She grimly put a hand over her mouth as she tried to keep her wits about herself at the unholy posture of even an unsightly boy like Shinji. "It's sick, but effective. He's more than likely has some sort of spell that'll be set off the moment we get close enough to free him."
"Then we put him out of his misery," Illya responded despondently, side-glancing Archer with an authoritative air about her that Shirou's never seen before. "Finish him cleanly, if possible."
"Hey, let's talk about this-!"
"Are you sure that's wise, Master? What if the Spell rebounds my arrows if I strike him?" He argued, ignoring Shirou with an emphasized gesture.
"Then what do you suppose we should do? Just walk away?" Rin asked, now crossing her arms and frowning at Archer. "Is that how you handle all your problems or is cowardice part of your flighty nature, Archer?"
"No, I'm just thinking pragmatically," He corrected, unfettered by her sharp tongue. "Ordinary Magecraft could be dealt with easily by someone of my caliber. However, a Servant's power is at work here. If we act too carelessly, we could accidentally trigger something we can't undo and we'd all be in trouble."
"Then let's test that theory of yours," The Tohsaka jeered, raising her right arm and bracing it with her free left palm at the inside of the elbow. A burgundy orb glowed around the fingertips, exciting the air as it became the size of a baseball. Priming it, she was about to launch it when a rasping voice caused them all to stop cold.
"S-S-Sa...S-Sa..."
"Shinji?" Shirou turned, Saber unnerved by the craning motion of the cobalt-haired boy looking up in their direction. His eyes, even from this distance, had a distilled look and had the faintest of red in his irises. Gritting his teeth, he ducked beneath Saber's arm while she was disturbed, causing the Heroic Spirit to gape and cry out after him as he slid down the dirt hill in his attempt to approach him. "Hold on! I'm going to get you free!"
"That idiot!" Illya heard Rin say, her own eyes wide rubies at the boneheaded look while Archer bared his teeth with visible frustration.
"S-Shirou," Shinji choked out, his face construing into an expression of fear and shock. "S-SAK-!"
He choked on that last word as his mouth puked blood, his body twisting about as dozens of more spiked protrusions ejected from his body in an eviscerating explosion of shrapnel that all fired in an uncanny flight towards him and his nearby Servant. Skidding on his heels, he raised his arms up in a futile defensive posture, feeling the metal grip of his Servant on his collar and throw him back into the hillside. The bloodied projectiles were deflected in an array of expert swordsmanship, arcs of air and light shattering the crude spears in their wake with only a few scraping by her armored shoulders and sides, exploding the dirtied hillside and soil nearby.
As the dust formed a cloud over them, Shirou felt both foolish and mortified. The man he's known since he was young was brutally murdered right before his eyes, calling for his help and unable to rescue him. Pushing himself up from the soil, he gingerly touched his left shoulder, feeling the force he was thrown had bruised him but he was none worse for wear. Peering through the dust cloud, he thought he could see clearer once it dispersed; instead, a fog began to roll in, following a sudden change in atmosphere.
Breathing out vapor, he'd see that the clouds were obscured and a daunting shadow rose up in an amorphous creeping unison, a disembodied voice calling out to them in a way that entranced and petrified the boy.
"It seems I judged you correctly, Shirou Emiya."
Emerging from the darkness came a tall figure, wrapped in a cloak of black whose tatters ended in shreds that ebbed in shadow and mist. Beneath it was a suit-jacket of sorts, bearing a collar of old fashioned tailoring and stripes enamored down its surface with a fur-lacing along the outlines of the shoulders down the front of its unbuttoned press. With similar seamless slacks down to rich traveler boots, pale skin enamored the face of this tall man with a sharp visage, the strong nose resembling the angle of pointed ears with cheeks having lost all semblance of normal hue eons ago. Framed by silver hair whose locks draped over his shoulders in front and down behind his back, the man spread his teeth, revealing pronounced canines akin to knives that made Shirou's blood run cold and his face darken with sweat beading down his brow.
"To think you'd boast such a formidable Servant is quite fortunate for someone as unfortunate as you, young whelp," He commented with a haunting laugh, his golden eyes shifting to red as he looked at the blonde woman and the others observing from the hillside. "You've certainly came with quite the crowd, though," He'd briefly raise his voice, his sight set on those standing on the hill. "Perhaps you'd all like a chance to cross blades with me?"
"That depends," Illya called out, her eyes narrowing skeptically at the new Servant. "To whom do we owe the pleasure?"
A chilling laugh bristled the cold air, making Rin look dubiously around the graveyard as mana began to circle around the grave. As his laugh swelled, his aura discharged outward, mana spiking in such a dramatic fashion that it looked like an inferno of black ebbing blood dyed fire. Rising up from the old resting places they assumed was untouched upon arrival, far more bestial and monstrous looking forms all crawled out and hunched over with snarling, drooling visages with faces akin to more like shrunken man-bat hybrids than anything else. Numbering up in the dozens, they soon were greeted by a small army of ghouls, fueled by mana and ravaged by the age-old disease that sparked paranoia and fear centuries longer than this Servant's legend has existed.
The Legend of Vlad Dracule, Son of the Devil.
"Now please, do keep me entertained!" He challenged loudly, the moonlight peeking out from the clouds, revealing the decrepit and decaying flesh of all those creatures of the night facing the assortment of Masters and Servants. The handsome, chilling visage of who Illya could only assume was Berserker, grinned ear to pointed ear as he waved to them in a beckoning manner to all Servants standing before them. Rin readied to let loose spells or contact her Servant, Illya her own fluent magic and Archer his bow. Even Saber looked stoic in the face of such terrifying odds and implied horror awaiting her.
The only one who stood, paralyzed with fear and uncertainty, was Shirou Emiya.
A/N: And, here's where I'll end it! Yes, I'm sure you all have been dying (pun intended) to know what was to become of Shinji Matou or when Berserker or Rider will show up. Well, I answered at least some of those questions at least in ways I'm sure you didn't expect. Shinji's death has been something I've been planning since before I started this story, but various cuts (Ha!) were thrown out for a more thematic piece that'd set the stage for the fight that'd replace Ber-ser-carr and I thought what better way to start it then a brutal murder of someone EVERYONE hates?
In regards with Vlad here, I found out that no one has ever done (both in Nasuverse and out) a proper Berserker Class of him. His FGO version is one of those weird Hybrid Classes where he's both Lancer AND Berserker(?) so I chose to nix the Lancer half and recreate my idea for how he'd work. Due to the method of his summoning and his allotted Master, this guy is going to be a menace in every sense of the word. I hope you'll enjoy just how many problems he'll create just by existing in this war.
The three armored knights will be explained later, they do tie into Rin's Servant for sure so trust me on this that I do have plans for her and where that Servant is concerned. Whereas Illya's involvement will be pretty significant, Rin herself will not be prominent at the start (because this is Illya's 'Route'/Story, after all) but I'll try not to shove her to the wayside like Heaven's Feel did for the most part, or the latter part of Stay Night. Rider itself has been laid in the ground works since Chapter I, so I'm quite confident how that's going to pan out.
And until next time, we'll pick up with the badass fight near the graveyard! See you all in the next update!