Chapter 71

Kirei sat in the backroom of the church, a bottle of wine open on the table in front of him, his right hand swirling around a red glass of wine. The dim lights barely illuminated the room, the wine merely a dark liquid with a slight red tint under their glow.

"Ruler…"

To think that the class would appear in this war. Normally, a Holy Grail War would never have such a class manifest. They only appeared in dire times, when the Holy Grail War was perverted to such an extent that it couldn't be ignored, with a powerful overseer required to rectify the errors and ensure the rest of the war carried on normally. Even when Avenger was summoned, and when Caster summoned the abyssal monster in the middle of the city, Ruler still wasn't summoned. Though the lack of Ruler class Servants could also be due to the presence of the overseer from the Church, who filled the role that the Ruler class would hold should it be summoned.

In any case, he could only think of one major reason that would cause Ruler to be summoned by the system itself. Her words only confirmed his suspicion.

Avenger was here.

Although, he was quite certain that she wasn't referring to the thing in the heart of the Greater Grail. If it had manifested in the material world, he was sure he would have known by now. Instead, it had most likely attained a puppet that would act according to its whims, allowing it to operate in the physical realm. This was most likely achieved by summoning the Extra class Avenger, and this flagrant disregard of the rules had most likely triggered Ruler's appearance. There were still some mysteries about her appearance though.

For example, her bunny suit.

He couldn't even begin to come up with a reasonable deduction concerning attire. In particular, Lancer had reported her using cards, or playing cards to be exact. It left him worried about what exactly her abilities were. After all, it was highly likely that they would face each other sooner or later. If she was seeking to destroy Avenger, then he was going to protect Avenger. He would do anything within his power to make sure the abomination was born into this world. It was the answer to his question he had carried throughout his entire twisted life after all.

It would be nice to see what exactly she looked like though. Lancer had mentioned that she was the Servant closest to her in this war amongst all the other Artorias she had seen.

Regarding the identities of the other Servants, besides Archer, all of them were reported to be Artorias in one way or another. While he had questions regarding some of them, especially the maid version, their origins and why only Artorias were summoned for this war were things he couldn't answer. Perhaps it was karma for destroying the Lesser Grail and preventing Angra Mainyu's entrance into the world. Regardless of the reason, all that mattered to him was that they died and fed the Grail.

Although, he supposed he could always ask his Servant about her own origins. If nothing, it would at least be entertaining to find out her weaknesses and torment her with them. So far, he had been unable to find anything about her that he could mess with. She had been extremely cold and professional, to the point that he wondered if she was still human at all. At least he had no problems working with her, but it would be nice to be able play with her.

She had been going out into the city a lot recently. Perhaps he could ask what she was doing there in her spare time.

He jumped to his feet, his Black Keys already drawn before the glass of wine shattered on the stone floor, the red liquid spilling out and touching his boots.

He hadn't felt anything physically. There had been no crashing noises, no whispers of footsteps. He hadn't felt the ground tremble, nor had he felt the cold steel of a blade to his neck. Yet, his body moved all the same, reacting automatically before he could form a coherent thought.

Then it hit him.

"Guh!"

His vision wavered, the world suddenly tinted blood red, his mouth dry as his throat struggled to swallow his spit. Sweat dribbled down his back as his nose flared, his eyes widening then closing as he tried to blink off the haze that was covering it. His ears felt like they were packed with cotton, his body stiff like a wooden board. If he still had a human heart, he was sure it would be beating as fast as a running rabbit's. He had only felt a reaction close to this before after losing his heart, which was when he ate Mapo Tofu.

But his mind remained clear, and he was able to force his body to turn to the left.

Standing there, it's body barely reflected the yellow lamps glowing on the walls, despite it being fully clad in black metallic armor. Kirei was reminded of the appearance of Berserker from the past Grail War he had participated in.

The moment he saw it, the killing intent directed at him lessened, though it was still there. His body became able to move more freely, and he decided to sheath the Black Keys he had drawn. If it wanted to kill him, it would have done so a long time ago.

"Are you Avenger?"

He could feel his heart spasming in response to the creature in front of him, the mud animating him squirming just from being close to it.

Like a rusted chainsaw moving again after years of disuse, it spoke.

"I aM AveNGeR."

Avenger's voice grated on his ears, but he could understand it with some effort.

"What do you want from me, a man of the cloth?"

He could barely conceal his satisfied smirk at seeing it, but he still had to discern it's intent. Additionally, he could feel irrational wisps of hatred growing inside of him, most likely due to Avenger's influence.

"YoU. TelL LaNCeR. WE kILl RuLeR."

Kirei didn't even need to think as he replied.

"Is that all? Then consider it done."

If that was what it wanted, then he would comply with it. Originally, he was planning on killing Ruler after stealing her Command Seals and weakening her, but if Angra Mainyu was sending Avenger to attack her, then her defeat was possible. After all, her Command Seals were made to work against the seven regular classes, but she had no such power over Avenger.

The Servant gave no indication that it heard his reply. Instead, it turned around, and walked off into the shadows of the corridor leading downwards. The armor made no sound at all, even when they seemed to rub against each other, the parts silenced like they were coated in rubber. Disappearing into the shadows, he felt the killing intent and hatred stirring inside him die down as it left, his body returning to normal.

Despite that, he couldn't help but feel joy spewing out like a fountain from the bottom of his heart. To think that even just a puppet could be like that. What then, would Angra Mainyu be like when it was born into the world?