Chapter 104
With Shirou in Saber's arms, and Kuzuki running with Caster's reinforcement, they quickly reached the Edelfelt mansion, now a pile of ruins that was visible to the mundane world. Already, there were some people looking at the wreckage, wondering what had gone on, and in the distance sirens could be heard. It was a stroke of luck, or rather part of Zouken's careful engineering, that the battle between the mages and Ruler happened underground out of sight, rather than on the surface. Even for Zouken, the consequences would have been dire if magecraft was exposed.
With the help of Caster's illusion magecraft, they were able to mask their entry into the wreckage, carefully making their way to the underground complex with Zouken's guidance.
Wooden furniture smashed to pieces, plaster and concrete strewn across the grass of the lawn, with barely a single wall as tall as Shirou's chest still standing. It was amazing that the debris didn't fly to the other estates nearby, but the Bounded Fields manages to contain some of the damage moments before they completely failed against Ruler's Magic Resistance, and with the Edelfelt's financial ability, it was easy to buy a mansion that was separated by one road from all other surrounding estates, essentially an island in the district.
Leaping over the well-trimmed hedges and gleaming iron pike walls painted in black, the four of them entered the mansion grounds, with Zouken waiting ahead of them on the driveway, his insect familiars having formed his body already. It was disconcerting for all three when they first saw it demonstrated, save for Kuzuki, who was too busy considering how to maim and eliminate such a creature.
"I felt the disturbances emanating here, and sent my familiars over to check. I assume that something happened to the Bounded Fields that suppressed magical energy and outside surveillance, because I was easily able to view the insides of the mansion, or what was left of it. I managed to catch a glimpse of Ruler entering the ruins, and then she was gone. After that, I sent a familiar after her into the ruins to investigate, but it was quickly crushed by the mages who were fighting against her."
The flow of events were somewhat based on what had actually happened, and was largely true to an extent. Still, Caster couldn't help but look around in suspicion. Would the Clock Tower mages truly attack a Servant just like that? Especially one of the Ruler class, it didn't make sense for them when in previous wars they had simply sent participants to become Masters. Her expression didn't go unnoticed by Zouken, but he remained calm.
Shirou looked at the ruined mansion around, stunned by the sheer destruction wrought by the 'battle' between Ruler and the mages. It looked like a comet had smashed into the center of the mansion, flattening the entire structure, which he estimated to be almost as large as his own residence, if not even bigger. Actually judging by how far the walls on the far side seemed to be, it probably was at least another half larger than his. He barely paid attention to Zouken's words, awed by the sight in front of him. Even though he had seen the immense might of Servants clash against each other before, property destruction of this scale was still something he had seen for the first time.
Saber shared a similar reaction to Caster, but she was also surveying the surroundings as well, looking for clues that might have survived the wanton destruction dealt to the mansion. Looking around, her eyes scanned the broken wall, pillars and floors, searching for something that could prove to be useful to them.
Kuzuki was the first one to see something of interest among the rubble that littered the land.
"Are those still active?"
Indeed, there were the remains of many familiars around them, with an eclectic collection that consisted of clay dolls, miniature golems, cubes, crows and corpses of actual humans. An arm hung over the broken fountain in the middle, the remaining water stained crimson and brown from the dolls and blood from the corpses of the crows. Bent wings, stray legs, an eye that had rolled to a stop against a round golem with half its body missing, it was like a grotesque graveyard for familiars. In fact, the corpses were still moving, though it was only to the level of twitching a finger or flapping their mouths uselessly, or what remained of it. Kairi's necromancy was robust, outliving the man himself.
"Those should pose no harm to us or anyone else with the state they're in."
Zouken's words were correct, though Shirou couldn't help but continue staring at them now that his attention had been drawn to the remains. The human corpses especially, were so disfigured and mutilated to the point that they were barely anything more than sacks of meat given the ability to move.
Nonetheless, it was a sight that all magi were used to seeing, and Shirou quickly tore his gaze away from them. He too, had seen his share of bodies.
Stepping through the smashed pieces of the familiars, and then over the rubble of the mansion, they neared the entrance to the underground complex, with Zouken guiding the group.
Suddenly, Caster stepped away from the group and picked up something from the ground, lifting it out of an overturned wooden box that was splintered on one end after crashing into the wall.
"What is it?"
Kuzuki turned to ask her as the group stopped.
"We should hurry, Ruler may be in danger as we speak."
As if to punctuate his words, outbursts of magical energy could be sensed below their feet, easily on the level of a Servant.
"Let's go."
Caster stuffed the papers into her pocket, catching up to the group as they headed for the stairs. But after catching a glimpse of the contents, she couldn't help but wonder as well.
What were they doing with rough schematics for the Greater Grail? A normal Master wouldn't carry such diagrams around or study them. And now that she thought about it, having an entire team dedicated to one Master was abnormal too. While it wasn't against the rules to have an entire team of people supporting a single Master, it was still unprecedented for the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars. There were examples of having entire groups of support for one Master, such as the True/False Holy Grail Wars where Orlando Reeve created a formidable militia with Clan Catalin, and the Imperial Holy Grail War where the Japanese military was mobilized as combat assets for the Master of Assassin. Though these examples didn't exist in the current timeline, it was obvious that there were advantages to having a large amount of skilled manpower.
Yet the previous Masters had not employed such methods, with most them bringing along one or two assistants at most to assist them. Part of this was due to the pride of the magi that participated, and another part of it was due to the fact that few magi were qualified to take part in a Holy Grail War, and thus were unsuitable for bringing along, at least in the eyes of the elite magi that were chosen. Of course, there were those who simply had nobody to bring, or those that worked better alone, and then there were others who didn't trust anybody and thus worked independently. Whatever the reason, it resulted in the past Holy Grail Wars being mostly consisting of lone Master and Servant pairs, with barely any direct support teams behind them.
Caster ruminated in such thoughts, while they headed towards the underground complex where the magical energy was being released.