Chapter 94
Sitting in the mansion all day wasn't exactly what he had expected to do when his mentor asked for his help, but he supposed in hindsight there wasn't much else he could do, since he was well versed in electrical magecraft and modern technology.
Adapting his spells as Bounded Fields to protect the mansion and initiate surveillance of the city by hacking it's electric grid was an advantage most of the Masters probably didn't have, with the ability to see through the surveillance cameras installed throughout the city. It was also convenient for powering the other Bounded Fields and Mystic Codes in the manor, since he could set them up in such a way that the energy siphoned from the electrical power lines could be converted into magical energy to power them.
Stretching his arms above him, he sighed, tapping a few keys to switch between the different views of the cameras overlooking the streets near the academy that the Tohsaka Master attended, before checking the ones they discreetly installed near the suspected Master's houses. He had repeated this routine through the past few days, performing routine maintenance checkups on the Bounded Fields and equipment in the mansion as well. Despite having seen the battles after they were recorded through the use of familiars, as well as on some of the cameras, he hadn't really seen any action in person.
I wonder if Flat finished reading Shounen Jump yet.
He was actually the one who suggested getting the manga magazine first, and Flat went out to buy it in his stead, getting hooked on it in the process. He hoped he could get his hands on it soon to tide over his boredom. Looking around the room, he noted that there was a plate of dark brown cake crumbs left on the table in the center, a silver fork resting on the side.
Org was probably in the next room over, messing with the model of the city they had constructed as an experimental Mystic Code with water magecraft.
"Come on, at least remember to clean up."
It was a bad habit of Org's to leave things lying around randomly, like dirty laundry and stationary. He'd had to put up with it a lot in the shared student dorm back when they were studying in the Clock Tower.
At least Ayaka was more neat, and she helped deal with the debris left behind by Org as well. She didn't talk much, even less so than Org, but he could tell she was more at ease, or comfortable here than she had been back in London when they had first met. Maybe it was because she was back in her home country?
Although, he couldn't really get along well with her ever since the glasses incident. It was kind of embarrassing, instead of the usual fights to the death that you would expect between magi, and was a dark history that he preferred to keep locked up in the deepest recesses of his memory.
*ding*
The sound of a crystal bell being tapped gently floated in the air, alerting him to an arrival at their doorstep. Looking at the monitor, he saw a tall man standing at the door, clad in a black leather jacket and wearing sunglasses, even when it was cloudy outside.
"Mr. Sisigou? He's back before they even returned."
Reaching for the magic circle that toggled the hole in the Bounded Fields protecting the house, he suddenly hesitated.
He hadn't spoken the code word yet.
They had set up several layers of Bounded Fields, and the first layer that could be perceived, the most outermost one, was deactivated by the person entering the house, before the person inside the house could let them pass through the rest. There was an override for him of course, used when Ruler came to visit them, but for the rest of the instance when they entered or exited, such as when Gray brought Tohsaka to rest at their manor, they had to say the code word they had agreed upon.
Frowning, he activated the voice intercom.
"Mr. Sisigou? Do you have the books?"
It was a way of discerning whether the party attempting to enter the manor was under mind control by another magus, or if they were compromised in some way.
"I bought three of them on discount." meant they were completely fine.
"I bought three, but I dropped one on the way home." meant they were being coerced to do so, but they were able to control their own bodies and minds.
Anything else meant that the person standing at the door was a threat.
"―――█████."
To his growing horror, a slimy, scaled insect crawled out of his throat and fell on to the ground, wriggling in a puddle of fluids as it pitifully tried to turn itself over.
"ORG!"
At the same time, he placed his hand into the magic circle controlling the Bounded Fields.
"Binary line!"
The dormant Bounded Fields and other features incorporated into the extensive defense system activated, walls sparking into life as they became visible above the manor, covering the structure in domes of purple, pink, blue and other hues.
Familiars rose from the flower beds, surrounding Kirei as a mixture of electricity animated puppets, crows and golems rose up out of the dirt. Several turrets, installed by Caules himself, lifted out of their pods and appeared at various points around the manor, including the roof.
By this time, Org and Ayaka had been alerted by the alarms set up in the manor, both of them running to the control room where Caules was at, and also the safest place in the manor, fortified and buried under at least a hundred meters of dirt below the mansion. The structure was built out of the toughest materials money could afford, further reinforced with magecraft, and equipped with two different escape paths to boot.
Would it hold up to a Servants attack? Probably not, especially if they something like an Anti-Army or Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. But it would at least buy them some extra time to escape.
The entire process took seconds, and by the time the final preparations clicked in place, Caules was anxiously looking at the monitors in front of him, gripping his pants to keep his hands from fidgeting.
*Bang!*
He jumped in his seat when Org slammed the door open, who rushed over when he saw Caules.
"What's going on-"
The entire house rumbled, dust falling from the basement control rooms ceiling as cracks spread across the reinforced concrete. A dull sound like an explosion or a peal of thunder could be vaguely heard in the room as well. Two of the three monitors that Caules was using turned into static, with only the central computer left. Caules himself almost fell out of his chair, while Org barely managed to catch a grip on the doorframe.
"Shit, was that a Servant!?"
Tapping at the keyboard, Caules desperately tried to bring back the camera feeds on the surface, but they were all cut, his efforts unable to bring back vision.
Org went over to check the magic circle, placing his hands in it.
"देखो "
The circle lit up, bathing his hand in a pale green glow. A moment passed, and then Org's face grew pale.
"Caules...they're gone."
Caules turned to him, pausing in his attempts to link up with the other devices connected to the terminal.
"What's gone?"
Org swallowed, then looked back at the circle his hands were in.
"The Bounded Fields, enchantments, familiars, curses, everything…they've all disappeared. Vanished into thin air."
His heavyset face betrayed the uncertainty he felt, the spells he had set in place himself also gone, but he didn't understand. How could they disappear so quickly?