Chapter 107

The soles of the heeled shoes barely made any sound on the concrete floor as Rider walked through the dimly lit hallways, broom and gun in hand. Passing the dead corpses of the crows and flying insects, she suppressed the urge to clean them up. She was for one reason, and she would fulfill her duty before everything else, even if it was something she had no desire to do in the first place.

The drab grey walls passed by in a flash as she checked every single room she passed, the Bounded Fields easily bypassed with her Magic Resistance, or if they were triggered, her innate resistance combined with her broom and gun easily took care of anything they tried to harm her. A trail of broken rooms were left in her path, deep gashes in the walls, collapsed bookcases and craters in both the ceiling and floor decorated almost every room she entered.

Killing all the mages might have been a difficult task for a human or a single magus, but a Servant was easily able to manage such a feat. It was just that she couldn't immediately find them, unless they actively cast a large spell, so she had to manually search the entire base to locate her targets. Thanks to her physical body given to her by the Grail, she was able to do so rather efficiently and quickly, but it would still take some time for her to finally come across the mages, especially with how big the complex was. It was standard procedure for Luvia to build fully outfitted underground bases that could house a small army in every country that they had long term operations in, but the Fuyuki wasn't the case.

Instead, it was a leftover from the first time that the Edelfelts had taken part in the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, and also their last time. They had gone to great lengths to secure their victory, including using their Magic Crest (Ore Scales) to summon two Servants, of the Saber Class no less, and built multiple bases in the city to serve as command posts. The mansion El-Melloi were living in was one of the backups, but it was no less large and extravagant as a normal magi's main house. The underground base didn't lose out in size as well, being as large as the modern bases that the Edelfelt used, though it was lacking in several facilities that most of the modern ones were equipped with.

The door was kicked across the room with great force, a resounding bang echoing through the hallways as the reinforced wooden door was launched into the opposite wall, the middle bent from the force she kicked the door with. The cabinets shook from the wind that accompanied the flying door, and the Bounded Fields were tripped, prompting an immediate response.

The air snapped, the moisture in it flash freezing as water spurted out from hidden outlets in the walls, instantly turning into ice that coated the walls, floor ceiling. Even the wall in front of the door outside sprayed water onto Rider's back, her entire body encased in a thin layer of ice. For a moment, she stood as still as a statue at the doorway, her body caked in the white dust.

Then large spikes shot out of the ice, coming out from the thin layer of solid water covering her, appearing on the surface of the ice from head to toe. Her shape went from being humanoid to a freakish sculpture, each point deadly sharp and easily able to pierce human flesh, especially flesh that had been frozen and rendered brittle. The ice coating the insides of the room had also sprouted spikes, the entire room turning into a death trap.

A crackling sound filled the air, cracks forming in the ice, then it broke and fell off Rider in chunks, shattering on the ice floor. Pulling one leg off the floor, then the other, Rider walked into the room, crushing the ice spikes underfoot with each step effortlessly. Raising her gun, she placed a shot in each one of the cabinets lining the walls.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

A hole appeared in each of the wooden doors, square in the center of the middle shelf. The bullet easily passed through the layers of ice, wood panelling and reinforced interior that was protected by magecraft. The documents inside were shot through, the papers now sporting a hole in the middle. Methodically, she checked each cabinet, and then after inspecting the room a bit more, she left, making certain there were no magi hiding inside. Walking out the door, she headed on to the next room.

Zouken had told her that they were likely too injured to move far, but she still had to make sure she found them soon, or there was no telling on what they could do the more time they were given.

Several doors away, Ayaka slowly stirred from unconsciousness, her muddled mind returning to the realm of the living. The strain of performing the spell had ruptured blood vessels all over her body, destroyed her nerves in one leg and burnt her back, turned it into a mottled patch of red and pink. It was a miracle she was still able to keep most of her limbs mostly intact. That was the burden of channelling enough energy to kill a Servant, even a weakened one.

The sound of bullets from the next room over startled her awake, and when they repeated again, this time closer, she forced her eyes open, the pain from her entire body rushing to her mind and forcing her to let out a small moan. Blinking groggily, she noticed everything was blurry, and groped around her with a numbed hand, looking for her glasses. It didn't take long for her to find the black rimmed metal wire glasses that had fallen off during the ritual, but after clumsily bringing them to her face, getting the glasses and her face caked with dirt in the process, she realized that one side was shattered.

There was no helping it, she would just have to bear with it until she could get out. Upon the third set of gunshots ringing out, muffled from the body, she pushed herself upright with a newfound sense of urgency, resting against the tree. A sharp shock running up her left arm as she pushed against the ground, and when she looked down, she released three of her fingers had turned black and withered, the discolored skin reaching until the knuckles and stopping there. Looking at other spots on her limbs, she was slightly relieved to find that there were no other such patches, but it was disconcerting to know that this was the price she had to pay for the curse.

A crow flapped down from the tree to land on the dirt next to her, beady eyes staring at it's master.

"Manaka...please get me behind the tree." She said as the fourth set of gunshots could be heard, this time almost as if it were next door.

Feathers wrapped around her, shifting her position and rolling her body around the dirt as the bird spun her towards the back.

The gunshots sounded out right outside the door, the faint footsteps already audible outside the door. Something crashing to the ground could be heard, then the door knob clicked, and the door opened.