A/N: (January 19th)
Apologies for the slight delay in upload— this site doesn't like to be nice to me sometimes, lol
But in any case, here we go! Shinji's an ass (again), and the heroes will have to take care of him. I wonder how they will this time?
One response to a review I'd like to comment on was a question about the length of the HGW. Well, let's just say that two weeks in To Aru's timeline is like, the equivalent of five arcs XD. To Aru's timeline is jam-packed, and it's hard to insert a long-form, two week arc when things happen on nearly a daily basis from Touma and the gang.
What I can say is that this arc will be replacing the Academy City Invasion Arc, which took place on September 30th. The story started on September 25th, so that might be a hint as to how long the story could be timeline-wise, although it could be shorter or longer by a few days, who knows?
Another is asking if it's possible to bring back a dead person with the Holy Grail…well, I won't say if it's actually possible with the Grail or not, but what matters is the characters believe so.
Gives them some motivation, yknow?
Alright, let's get into this.
Chapter 12: A Certain Lesson in Humility
P.O.V.: ?
For some strange reason, Academy City decided to grace its morning with the cold air of autumn instead of the last dregs of summer warmth.
A certain young woman huffs in annoyance, re-adjusting her scarf as she walks through the sparse streets. Now that it was past the early morning hours, most students were in session- which meant emptier streets, which also meant a good half hour for her to simply walk and enjoy the fresh air.
The woman is just about college age, with long black hair and gemstone blue eyes, and is wearing a white collar shirt, tie and black skirt under a laboratory coat. The vast majority of the 2.3 million Academy City residents were students, the ones that were not were ones such as herself.
Most work as scientists- working to assist the city in its technological endeavors. She had just recently graduated from one of the universities within Academy City's borders, and thanks to her high grades and letters of recommendation, she earned herself a high-paying, and highly important job position.
'An Esper Trainer, huh…?'
Upon gaining her Esper Ability, the Academy City's scientists marked her as one of the foremost candidates to controlling Espers and keeping them in line.
She had worked as an intern, bouncing from one scientists' wing to another until her graduation. It was only recently, after her graduation with honors, that she was able to establish her own independent practice.
She's known as the Firewall Filter: an Esper that whips other Espers into shape. Whenever Academy City has an Esper whose Ability is going out of control, or is being abused, she's called in to keep them under control.
In fact, today she was supposed to meet with one of those clients in the north end of the city. Checking her watch, she bites the inside of her cheek as she realizes that a typical bus ride with stops wouldn't let her get there in time.
She also had her own connections that she could call, but they would also take a few minutes too long to get here.
"Looks like I'll have to call a taxi…"
She stands at the streetside, at the very edge of the sidewalk, taking in the cool air of the city as she looks up to the wispy clouds and blue skies.
"I wonder how Onii-san is doing…" she wonders aloud.
Just then, she hears an oncoming car. Her ears perk up, and her eyes widen as she sees the taxi symbol on the top. She waves at it, and it pulls up next to her, rolling down its window.
"Hi there." She gives the man inside a kind smile. "Mind if you take me to District 3? I know, it's a little far from here. I'll make it worth your while!"
She holds up a ten-thousand yen bill. Thanks to her bonuses and her well-paying position, she has quite a bit of cash lining her pockets.
The man nods, and lets her in the back.
XXXXX
The fifteen-minute drive to District 3 lets her mind wander as she looks out the window at the passing people, trees and buildings.
'…This city…
…it's pretty different from my life six years ago, huh?'
For one, she lived and went to school in a much more modest area in Japan. While Academy City was a sovereign, and extremely busy city-state filled to the brim with ability-wielding students and scientists, her school was a quiet one built in the mountains, and religiously inclined. The all-girls' school even mandated that they wear uniforms akin to a nun habit.
Upon exiting her second year of high school, her mentor- not a teacher from her school, but rather a person that had taught her everything she knew outside of school- told her that she was interested in Academy City.
"I myself can't really go there…just my presence alone would cause that whole city to be thrown into a panic. You can thank my sister for making our family name so infamous. Hah, Miss Blue my ass…"
So instead, her mentor had sent her to Academy City instead. She was to basically be an 'infiltrator'; to gather as much information about the city and send it to her mentor, for research purposes on her mentor's behalf.
All the meanwhile, she's gotten a rather useful Esper Power. Coupled with her Magecraft, she's become one of the few successful Mage-Esper Hybrids in the world.
This is because she herself doesn't have Magic Circuits that her Esper power interferes with- rather, in order to use her ability, she wears a Mystic Code in the shape of a glove which facilitates her powers.
All-in-all, she's found herself in a comfortable position.
'…I still miss home, though.'
She only visits home once a year, and wishes she had the time to go more. Her brother, especially- she's always been worried about him ever since he got that injury that permanently destroyed his left eye.
And her niece…
She recalls the last things that her niece had said to her.
'…Heh. I miss you too, Mana-chan.'
She feels a nostalgic smile come across her face.
Just as a thunderous boom shakes her right out of it. "Oh, come on-!"
She opens the window to the taxi, and spots a huge plume of smoke, crackling with blue electricity, just a block or so from where they were stopped. "What the heck…?"
She turns to the taxi driver. "Hey um…right here's good, thanks!"
"Wha- but Miss Kokutou, we're not even at your destination, yet-!"
The woman ignores him as she opens the car door and rushes out. Luckily, they were still stopped at a red.
She looks up at the plume of smoke- it's coming from the residential area of District 3. In fact, from her studies of Academy City's layout…
'…Isn't that where the Matous live?'
She only knows their name…because just like her, they were infiltrators from the world of Magic, situated within the City of Science.
Regardless, the explosion was distinctly unnatural in appearance. "It must be the work of some electromaster, judging from the electric shocks…"
'…I'll have to help out. It is my job, after all.'
P.O.V.: A Certain Hero of Justice
Earlier.
"She's at my place.
Don't bring your Servant.
We settle this now, Emiya."
Shirou Emiya's eyes widen as he reads every word, over and over. The number it came from was unknown.
Gritting his teeth, he swivels on his heels and sprints toward the exit, ignoring the pleas of his Servant and ally.
"Emiya-kun, where are you-?! Ah, dammit…!"
He doesn't register Tohsaka's exasperation as he runs out of the apartment and takes the emergency stairs, unable to have the patience for an elevator.
As soon as he gets onto the streets, a blonde figure runs up to his right, easily keeping up with his pace. "Shirou, where is Sakura?!" Saber shouts.
"She's…at her home!" Emiya grimaces as he shows Saber the message he received, "I don't have solid evidence, but I'm pretty damn sure that it's Shinji who has her. He told me to not bring you…I'm afraid he might do something to Sakura, so I don't think I can have you help me out on this one."
"…Shirou, you are aware that it's a trap, right?"
Emiya bites his lip, not caring for the metallic taste in his mouth. "Of course I know it's a trap. But what else can I do? Sakura's in danger, and I can't let that bastard have her any longer!"
He extends his arm out to Saber, coaxing her to let him onto her back. "You can run faster than I can, so take me there. But I have to enter the building alone."
Saber looks at him in hesitance, but relents as she lets him wrap his arms around her neck. Making sure there was no one around to watch, she grits her teeth as she suddenly jumps— cleanly clearing a building's height and landing on the rooftop. "Direct me to where it is, Master!"
"Right!" Emiya points to the northwestern corner of Academy City. "It's in that direction!"
"Should we contact our allies, Shirou?"
"I'm already on it!" Emiya holds his phone tightly as Saber runs nearly as fast as a car through the buildingtops of Academy City, his eyes wincing as he presses on Kamijou's number.
The phone only beeps once, and his classmate quickly picks up.
"Hey Emiya, what's going on?"
"Sakura's been taken!" He's practically shouting into the phone's mic, as the wind whipping by his ears makes it difficult to determine how loud he has to be.
"Wait, she's been what?! By who?!" Kamijou sounds utterly in disbelief, on the other end.
"She's at the Matou residence…and I'm pretty sure Shinji has her."
"Shinji…I should have known he would have done something like this…dammit—wait, Misaka, why are you grabbing my-?!"
The audio becomes slightly distorted for a second, then clears up as Emiya hears a different voice coming out the other end.
"…Where's the Matou house?"
Misaka's voice is crystal clear, and icy cold.
Shirou has a small urge to protest her involvement, since he's aware that she's probably not in the best mental state at the moment.
But…her words send a chill down his spine, and he's not sure if he has the will to deny her. "…I'll send you the address. But…be careful."
"Same to you."
The phone hangs up. Shirou goes on to message Misaka's number the address.
At the very least, they would have additional help to fight against Shinji, and any potential Servants he may have fighting for him.
Shinji was sending him straight into a trap- but he hoped that they could counter it with their own ensnarement.
The thoughts of the events of a year ago come back to Shirou's mind. Seeing Shinji's body, on top of Sakura…
'…Shinji, you goddamned coward. After this…
I'm going to make sure you never lay a finger on her again.'
P.O.V.: A Certain Scientific Railgun
Mikoto Misaka stands on the railing of Kamijou's apartment, looking down at her phone impatiently as she taps the metal fence with her foot.
She's put on plain clothes in order to blend into Academy City's populace: a white and red hoodie, and green shorts. She couldn't wear her Tokiwadai uniform anymore: her and Kuroko's absence from not just classes, but their own dormitory, meant that they were likely starting their search for her, if not were doing so already.
In the back of her mind, she knew that if it got bad enough, then her parents would be informed as well.
But it was ultimately inconsequential compared to what was going on right in her present.
'Shinji is why Kuroko got hurt.'
His Servant stabbed Shirai's leg and injured her badly, after all.
'If he never did that, then…
Then…!'
Maybe she'd be standing by her side, right now.
The balcony door slides open behind her. She doesn't turn around to look. "Misaka…" Saten's voice can be heard, tapping her on her leg. "…I'm not going to stop you. But…you should at least go with Assassin. She can have your back."
"My Master's right." A sound of something shimmering can be heard to her left. "I'll at least trail you, and make sure you don't get hurt."
"…Fine." Misaka sighs, then perks up as she gets the awaited text message from Emiya. "…I got the address. I'm going, now."
Without another word, she pushes off with her foot and falls off the edge. She reaches out with her arm, and an arc of lightning pulses out of her fingertips and latches onto a metal pipe running down a building.
Her descent halts, and instead turns into a swing as she flips through Academy City, using the passing buildings and windmills to sling her toward the marked destination.
'Shinji Matou, right?
…I'm going to give you exactly what you deserve.'
P.O.V.: A Certain Level 0
The balcony door to Touma Kamijou's apartment swings open, and the boy in question rushes through, gently excusing himself past a shocked Saten Ruiko as he leans over the railing and just misses the now miniscule, distant body of Mikoto Misaka vanish behind a building. "Dammit…just missed her!"
He looks at his phone, and reads the address that Emiya had just sent to him several moments ago. From the little he knew: Sakura was taken, and Shinji's holding her hostage in her own home.
While it was daytime, it seems the rules about the Grail War only taking place at night had been utterly broken.
"Assassin, do you think you can-?"
"Take you? Yeah, definitely." The female Servant grabs Touma by the left arm, coaxing him to stand atop the railing.
As they get ready to jump, Touma spots a certain white-haired Nun standing next to Saten, her face full of worry. "Touma…don't end up in the hospital this time, alright?!"
Kamijou gives a thumbs-up. "I'll do my best. We'll all get Sakura back, safe and sound, too."
He didn't know Sakura personally— but there was no chance he'd let an innocent girl like that go into the hands of some scumbag like Shinji.
When Shinji Matou still went to his high school, the two of them definitely shared a friction that prevented Kamijou from really wanting to talk to him. He only spoke to that blue-haired Matou if necessary- and every time he did, he always found him grating.
He had Tsuchimikado's annoying personality, but with none of the charm.
As it turns out, the fact that Shinji was an abuser toward his own family members was shocking; but at the same time, not too surprising to Touma at all.
In any case, he nods to Assassin, then gives one last wave to Saten and Index as she jumps off the edge- taking him with her as he falls into Assassin's arms bridal-style.
This was the second time Touma's been carried like this in the past two weeks; and he didn't know how to feel about it.
"Normally I'd just have you hold onto me piggyback style…but that Right Hand of yours…"
Assassin's eyes start to glow as she peers at his right palm, which Touma makes careful to keep distance from the Servant's body. "…Yeah. It's like my own power…but…opposite, in a way."
"What's your power?" Touma asks.
"Too much to explain in detail, but it can basically do what yours does: eliminate supernatural things. Although instead of punching it, I see it with what's called Mystic Eyes."
Touma nods in understanding just as the two of them land on the ground, as soft as a feather thanks to Assassin's superhuman body. She peers around, making sure no one is around to look anymore, then grits her teeth as she pushes off again, hopping high enough and far enough to clear a city block.
"So…" Touma tries to keep their conversation light, to ease off his own nerves of what he's about to jump into. For all he knows, it could transform into another huge conflict like last night; although this one happening in the daytime. "…what do you think would happen if both of our powers were put against each other?"
From what he's seen of Assassin's power when she fought against the other, fake Assassins, her ability also deals massive damage to Servants; practically killing them in only one or two swipes of her knife. It's a feat that normally should be impossible; since according to Rin, Servants should be wholly immune to conventional weapons like guns, let alone an ordinary hunting knife.
"…Honestly, I don't want to know." Assassin responds, "Two powers that can erase almost anything upon usage…it's something to think about."
She lands again; this time in a commercial district, thankfully mostly empty. The few pedestrians that were around luckily didn't notice two people falling from the sky and landing without so much as a scratch on them.
Just as she prepares to take off again, she glances to her right and notices something in a nearby store. "Hold on, kid."
She puts Kamijou down, then speed-walks toward a store that sells mostly jackets. "Assassin, what are you doing?!" Touma exclaims. "We're kind of in a hurry, here!"
"Relax, it'll only take a second." Assassin pulls out her knife, and approaches the glass barrier that shows off some of its jacket selections to the people outside. She presses her knife against the glass, then traces it in jagged lines that Touma found to be somewhat random.
Then, the glass shatters. Not wildly or randomly, like a stone was thrown at it, but rather in a specific pattern that seemed planned or methodical.
It breaks off in chunks, and falls onto the ground without breaking into shards. The glass was about two centimeters thick- strong enough to not break upon falling to the concrete.
Just as the glass breaks, the store alarms instantly go off.
"Assassin, seriously, what are you—?!"
She puts up a finger to quiet him, as she grabs a jacket off of one of the mannequins and puts it on. It's a red motorcycle jacket, made of leather and with white fur around the collar.
Strangely enough, Kamijou finds the jacket to perfectly complement and contrast the dark blue kimono she was currently wearing. Hastily, she runs back over to Touma. "Alright, I got what I came for, let's go!"
Before the Academy City robots could zero in on their location, Assassin sweeps Touma off his feet and hefts him in her arms, before taking off into the skies again.
"Was that…really necessary, Assassin?"
"…It gives me some peace of mind." Assassin says. "I wasn't summoned with my jacket, for some reason…I feel a little more complete now."
"Eh?"
Touma is, understandably, a little confused.
Assassin lands on another rooftop, then breaks into a sprint as she swiftly jumps off again, doubling their speed. "In any case, apologies for the detour. Let's stop Shinji Matou: together."
P.O.V.: A Certain Hero of Justice
The rush from Emiya's apartment to Sakura's house only took a few minutes at best, thanks to Saber's superior speed.
Shirou Emiya and his Servant stand at the foot of the Matou estate, just outside of its gate, which was left suspiciously unlocked; as if Emiya was being invited into it.
Shirou looks to Saber, who gives him a worried look. Their hunch seems to be correct: he is walking right into a trap.
However, if it meant Sakura's safety would be ensured, he couldn't take the extra risk of bringing his Servant in the building. The others were coming; hopefully giving them the element of surprise, but even Shirou didn't know exactly when they'd show up.
So for now, he was the only one who could face Shinji.
A part of him figured it's better this way. Giving Saber one more nod of reassurance, he passes by her and enters through the front gate.
The thoughts of a year ago are at the forefront of his mind as he walks through the front garden, which was overrun with wildlife. The grass had turned into its own forest, not trimmed in what was probably ages; and the couple trees within the yard had become far too large and overgrown with their branches.
The house itself also had vines growing up its walls, giving it the feel and appearance of a haunted house. Now that Shirou thought about it- he always found it suspicious that the Matou house was always so unkempt, and he blindly and naively believed Sakura's word that everything was okay.
'No.
Nothing was. Her grandfather is a monster…and her brother even more so.'
Why had she kept it a secret from him? Or rather…never told him about her grandfather's true nature?
'No, I can't blame her for any of that. Maybe Sakura was forced to be quiet about it.'
It was the most likely explanation in his mind, and the one he chose to believe. Sakura's innocent; it's her family that deserves what's coming to them.
He only hoped he wasn't too late.
Shirou pushes open the door to the Matou household; again, realizing it was eerily unlocked. Gritting his teeth, he enters the house.
The layout is exactly as he remembered from a year ago: western-style, wooden and lacquered and somewhat decorated, although not overtly so. There was a small, almost unrecognizable rotten smell under his nose that made him slightly queasy. The entire house also seemed as if there was a layer of dust over everything, like it was barely used.
He hears the shuffling of footsteps on the second floor, and Emiya quickly finds the staircase and rushes up it. Each step was creakier than the last, and the dust from the old mansion almost made him want to sneeze.
At the second floor hallway, he eyes down the right side, and sees an open door at the very end. In fact, it was the only open door in the entire hall.
Shirou holds down his fear and steps toward it, not caring about making his presence small or not. Either way, Shinji would know if he's coming.
He walks up to the entrance of the room, and spots a king-sized bed on the other end of the wall, westernly decorated with expensive-looking sheets. Clearly, it must have been the Master bedroom.
The morning light beams through a sunroof and through the windows of the bedroom, illuminating the dark colors of the interior.
And standing, on the opposite end of the bed from Emiya…
"Sen…pai…"
A lilac-haired girl mutters quietly, trying her best not to move a muscle as a small knife is held near her throat.
A boy- roughly Shirou's height with cerulean hair, smirks at the redhead as Emiya takes a step forward.
"Shinji, let go of Sakura. Now."
The boy grins, unnaturally inhumanly. "No…no I don't think I will, Emiya." He gets closer to Sakura's ear, almost as if he's whispering to her. "My Assassins worked too hard to procure her…so I think I'm going to keep her right where she is…"
Shirou forces the lid on his boiling blood shut. He was done playing games with him. "If you want to settle the score with me, then you can do it without her involved. Let. Her. Go."
The Matou brother gives him a look of temporary confusion, then amusement as he cracks a smile. "Oh, Emiya…isn't Sakura why we're fighting?" He moves the knife a millimeter closer. "Don't take another step closer to us, or you're not going to like what happens next."
"So why did you call me here?" Shirou spits out, "Are you planning on fighting me, or what?"
"Me? Fight you? No…nononono…" Shinji's smirk is so wide, it may as well be upside-down. "I'm not going to fight you. LANCER!"
"Wha-?"
Emiya's eyes widen as he senses something approaching behind him. He spins on his heels, only to gasp as all of the air in his lungs is suddenly and forcefully ejected by a foot planted in his chest.
He careens backward, and grunts roughly as the back of his head hits something hard and flat- likely a wall. Groaning, he opens his eyes and tries to right his double-vision as he spots a blurry purple figure rushing up to him with a massive weapon. "Ah-!"
He rolls out of the way, and feels something smooth and metallic slide against his leg as he pushes off with it- barely avoiding getting skewered.
"That's it, Lancer!" He hears Shinji's voice shout from the corner of the room. "Remember our deal! Kill Emiya, and I'll let Sakura go!"
Emiya's eyes widen.
He glances up to Lancer. Although his vision is blurry, he can still make out the pained expression on the young Servant's face.
"I'm sorry…!"
The Servant seethes out as she slashes her scythe down, nearly slashing Emiya in two if it weren't for him jumping backward out of nothing but pure instinct.
"Shinji…!"
Shirou dips under another scythe swing, grabbing a chair in the corner of the room and throwing it at Lancer. Her body- for some reason- doesn't dodge, and she lets herself be hit by the chair and stumble back a few steps.
It gives Shirou a few seconds to speak.
"Not only do you drag Sakura into this-!"
He moves backward as Lancer recovers quickly, and slashes her blade down in front of him. The tip of his nose feels wet- she must have only slightly grazed him- and he was only centimeters away from getting his head caved in.
"…But you force your Servant…to fight for something…she doesn't want to…?"
He almost raises his hand at the bastard, but remembers the knife tucked into Sakura's neck.
'Dammit…I can't let her get hurt…!'
An impossibly huge pain shoots through his body as a foot plants into his stomach again, doubling him over from the pain. It's as if someone twice as strong as even an Olympic boxer had punched him in the gut.
Gasping for air, Shirou claws on the ground as a petite hand grabs him by the hair and pulls him up.
He makes eye contact with the young Servant, whose eyes are a mix of conflicts that Emiya can't begin to describe properly.
All he could see was anger and sadness, mixed together into uncertain grief. "…I have to protect my Master. You have a good heart…I'm sorry."
She throws him back on the ground, and hefts up her scythe.
Shirou was too winded to move. In less than a second, he'd be cleaved in two, or mercilessly disembowelled.
He closes his eyes.
"What the fuck is that sound-?"
Just in time for the boom of thunder to lash out, and a powerful shockwave to send everything in the room flying.
Shirou winces, blocking his eyes from the dust and debris that blows past him as the shockwave pins him against the wall. The bright light of the sun beams through his closed eyes; that, on top of the fresh air breeze, makes him assume a massive hole had been blown in the bedroom.
The ringing in his ears subsides, replaced by the reverberating noises of electricity sparking and crackling around him. Reluctantly, he opens his eyes.
And meets the gaze of a lost girl.
"Miko…to…"
She gives him one cursory glance, before turning her attention to his right; where Sakura and Shinji were once standing.
Shinji is on the ground, coughing and sputtering as he seems to be trying to put together what the hell had just happened. Sakura lays a meter or two from him, a pained look in her expression as Lancer remains by her side, holding her closely and protecting her from any wild electric shocks.
'Wait…'
Shirou remembers back to what Lancer said about protecting her Master.
And here she was…protecting Sakura, instead of Shinji Matou.
'What the hell is going—?'
"Tell me…"
His train of thought is quickly cut off as a chestnut-haired Railgun picks Shinji up by the collar, and slams his body against the wall without so much as a warning. "…do you know the name Kuroko Shirai?"
"I…I…!" Shinji grabs at her hands, trying to pry her grip off of his shirt, but to no avail. Shirou can see the panic starting to grow in the boy's eyes. "I don't…know who you're talking about…let me go, dammit…!"
He turns his gaze to his Servant. "OI! Fucking stab this bitch, LANCER!"
Misaka turns her head in a panic, and Lancer's body suddenly stiffens as a purple light ensnares her body— the same one that Shirou saw Shinji put on Lancer last night. She picks up her scythe, and almost hesitantly, she spins around and swings it at Mikoto.
Shirou tries to get up to stop her, but he's far too slow. The pain in his stomach still makes him want to vomit.
Luckily, the sound of metal-clashing-metal makes it clear that Lancer hadn't made contact.
Instead, her blade meets something invisible, as a rush of blonde hair and silver armor places itself between Misaka and the purple-haired Servant.
"Saber…!" Shirou coughs out. His Servant gives him a glance, then shouts as she pushes Lancer away with a swipe of her blade. Simultaneously, the air from her sword whips out, creating an arc of wind that crashes into Lancer and breaks the walls behind her, shattering her through several walls of the mansion in a second flat.
"Shirou!"
Saber runs up to him, wrapping his arm around her neck. "I didn't want to jeopardize Sakura's safety by interfering…but your fight with Lancer nearly made me do so. Luckily…"
She looks over to Misaka, who's still holding Shinji by the scruff of his neck. "…it worked out."
Saber peers down, and with her free hand, she grabs Sakura and helps her up to her knees. The shockwave from Misaka's surprise attack had rendered her unconscious, but at least unharmed.
Mikoto's grim face doesn't shift an inch as she slams Shinji against the wall again. "Now…answer me. Honestly. Do you…know Kuroko Shirai?"
"…" Shinji's lip quivers as his eyes dart between the broken, shattered walls where Lancer had been thrown, and the person holding him. "…N-No…I…don't…"
Misaka pauses, her mouth opening slightly as her body freezes.
Although she herself froze, an electric blue aura starts to flicker to life around her. "…She said her name…last night…and you don't remember, huh…?"
The light grows brighter. The lightning starts to accelerate, whipping around her and crackling like a blazing inferno of rage and fury. "…Do you really…not give a damn…about the people…YOU HURT?!"
Misaka screams out, and the burning blue tornado crashes into Shinji's body, and sends what must be an excruciating amount of deadly volts up and through his body. He howls in pain, every inch of himself contracting and limping within fractions of a second as the waves of electricity burn through him.
Only several seconds later did the onslaught stop.
Shirou's eyes widen as he notices Shinji's hair- half of it was a sickly greyish white, and his skin was tanned and pulsing…with something aggressively crawling just underneath, and is digging to get away from the hell that Mikoto's searing onto him.
"Tell me…WHAT KILLED HER?!"
"I…" Shinji's eyes look as if he's seeing the wrath of God himself. "I don't…know…!"
Mikoto takes a breath, and stamps her foot.
The lightning surges again, blasting through his body with absolutely no remorse or mercy. "THEN TELL ME WHERE YOUR GRANDFATHER IS!"
The light fades, and Shinji's limbs start to grow limp. "Ahh…I can't…tell you…he'll…kill me…!"
"…if you…don't tell me…"
Misaka lifts up her hand. "…Then what I'm going to do to you will make you wish he killed you."
"Ah…ah…"
Shinji's breaths grow heavy, and hyperventilated. "Please…stop…"
Mikoto's eyes narrow. "…Did you stop when Sakura asked you to?"
"…"
"Yeah. That's what I thought."
Another powerful surge lights up the room, this one much brighter than the other ones. It's so overwhelming that it almost blinds Shirou's eyes.
Emiya raises his hand. "Mikoto, stop-!"
Shinji's body grows utterly limp.
Misaka lets go of his collar, and lets him fall to the ground.
The Matou's hair is burned and singed in every direction, and blackened as if cooked on a grill. His skin is multiple shades darker than before, and his eyes are rolled to the back of his head.
Shirou looks down at his mouth, and while wide open in horror, he doesn't see any movement or breath coming out.
Just the slight dripping of bloody drool.
"…Ah…"
Mikoto takes a step back. Shirou can see the horror in her eyes. The inhuman look that she had given him before had been replaced by her normal brown irises.
It's as if what she had done only started to sink in after she already did it.
"Wait…what did I just…?!"
She falls to the ground, on her knees. Shirou breaks away from Saber, and reaches his hand out to her. "Mikoto, look at me-"
"Ah…!"
His eyes widen as the same dangerously azure aura starts fulminating aggressively around the Railgun again.
"Shirou!" He feels Saber grab his arm, and jerk him back. "Get behind me!"
The light explodes, and Shirou's met with another blindingly bright light and a deafening ringing as Mikoto unleashes her ability again.
He blocks it as best he can with his hands, trying to see what was going on. He sees the faint shadow of a girl stumbling around, then falling out of the hole that Mikoto had just made.
As soon as she does, the light begins to fade.
The carpet is black and smoking, and the smoke alarms start blaring around the mansion.
Misaka is nowhere to be found in the room, but Shirou quickly puts together that she was likely the one that fell out of the room.
He looks to his right, and sees Sakura still leaning against Saber.
The crystal earring she was wearing before had broken, releasing a weird, semi-yellow liquid onto her skin. Shirou hadn't paid much attention to it before; but the attack from Mikoto's lightning must have broken it.
Luckily, it didn't seem to be anything harmful-
Sakura's eyes pop open.
"Hah…"
She grabs the wall, and her breath grows unstable. "Sakura, are you-?!"
"Sen…pai…!" Sakura looks into his eyes, pleading at him with just her look alone. "Get away…from me…!"
Shirou glances at Saber, who shakes her head. "Sakura, we're not going to leave you-!"
As his Servant is talking, Shirou notices something…black starting to form behind his own Servant's head.
Saber's eyes widen, as if she had felt something behind her as well. She turns her head halfway before-
Shirou's body kicks into overdrive before he can even think. "SABER!"
The blonde Servant looks at him in confusion. "Shirou, what are you-?!"
He grabs her with both arms and shoves her out of the way.
At the same time, something sharp pierces into his body, causing him to instantly petrify.
He feels his eyes grow heavy as his body falls to the ground.
At the tail end of his hearing, he makes out the cries of a certain girl's voice.
"Senpai…no…no…! NOOOOOO!"
P.O.V.: A Certain Level 0
By the time that Kamijou and Assassin arrived, the plume of electric smoke had already permeated the Matou residence.
They land just outside of the gate, just in time to see a feminine body fall from a giant hole scarring the second floor of the mansion.
Touma recognizes her immediately. "Misaka!"
Assassin swiftly puts him down and jumps at her- out of the two, she's the most fit to catching someone falling from mid-air.
The Servant extends her hands, intending to wrap her arms around the Esper's body and protect them from the fall, but-
"Ack-!" Assassin winces as a blaring blue shock sears her hand, causing her to instinctively pull it away. She places her foot against the Matou wall and bounces back toward Kamijou; unable to catch her as Misaka plummets to the ground.
"Assassin!" He shouts, just as the aforementioned Servant lands next to him, sweat falling down her face as she examines her hand. "Are you alright?"
"…Don't worry about me…she's more of a concern, right now."
Kamijou nods, and looks to see the cloud of dust around the fallen Esper start to dissipate.
On her knees, Mikoto Misaka is grabbing herself, as if trying to hold something back in her body. Her teeth are clenched, and a trail of blood falls from her hair down to her chin; likely from the fall she had just taken.
"Ah…Ahh…!"
"What's…going on with her…?" Kamijou mutters aloud.
'It's not quite like she was back at the Daihasei Festival…but…'
"Misaka!" Kamijou shouts.
…
No answer.
The Railgun's body trembles, shaking and quaking as an azure, coiling energy surges around her in bursts. Her pupils are the size of pins- and while she was looking at the ground, it's as if she wasn't actually looking at anything in the present.
"She can't even…hear us…"
"…She's lost control." Assassin answers. "Her mind is…really unstable, right now. It's causing her Esper Ability to run amok."
"How do we stop it?" Touma asks.
"Well…" Assassin unsheathes her knife, twirling it in her hands. "We both have negation powers, right?"
Kamijou looks at his Right Hand. "…Yeah. I think if I can touch her, then it'll get her to calm down."
Assassin nods, "Alright. I'll cut a path for you."
Touma yelps as Assassin pushes his back, urging him to break into a sprint. He grits his teeth and runs- Misaka was several meters away; at his pace, he could clear the distance in three seconds.
He watches Assassin rush ahead of him, using her knife as a lightning rod to attract the aura that's chaotically burning around her. She slashes the air, the metal blade cutting into the coils and instantly dissipating them.
Touma readies his Imagine Breaker, opening his palm as he nears Misaka. She turns her head at him as he draws near; but he can tell her eyes were glazed over, as if she hadn't even registered who he was.
Multiple fulminations burn toward him. With pure instincts alone, he lifts his right hand at the light. That signature glass-shattering sound rings out, and the lightning dissipates immediately upon contact.
The others- ones that nearly passed his guard, are abruptly cut short as Assassin slashes at their arcs in his periphery, causing them to vanish as well.
He reaches out with his hand.
Just as he's about to touch Misaka's skin, a reverberating boom just above his head throws him off balance, and causes him to stumble backward.
He peers up, and sees the silhouette of two female bodies clashing their weapons together inside of the mansion. Their fight must have shaken the ground, which threw him temporarily off-guard.
'Dammit-!'
"…Stop it…get away…get…AWAY!"
Mikoto blasts an arc of lightning at Touma. At this distance, nearly point-blank, his body couldn't even register the light as it mercilessly slams into his body.
"Gah-!" He feels himself careening backwards, the shock travelling up his body and paralyzing him for a moment. Just before he braces for impact, a warm body wraps around his own, and skids him into a stop before he could crash into the Matou estate's outer wall.
"Damn…no good?" The voice of Assassin asks.
Kamijou opens his eyes, and sees the mature face of Assassin peering down at him. "…She caught me off guard…agh…!"
He feels his stomach, and notices the blast of electricity had burned a hole in his shirt. The sensation was still fresh, sending pinpricks of pain all throughout his nerves. "…I think I can…get her again…"
"…Not in your current condition." Assassin concludes. "Stay put. I might have to take slightly more drastic measures…"
She gets to her feet, her eyes beginning to spark blue again. Kamijou winces as he pushes his torso up with his arms, realizing what Assassin was trying to do. "Assassin, you're not going to…?"
"…I'm not going to kill her, if that's what you're thinking. I'm not a monster…" The female Servant closes her eyes. "…But I might have to take away her power. I can see a Line for it- it would stop her rampage, but she won't be able to use her Esper Power anymore."
"Wait, you can't just…!" Kamijou protests, although his body was still in too much pain to properly move.
He recalls back to his talk with Misaka on the bridge, on the last night of the Level 6 Shift project. Misaka had also struck him with her ability then, but it hadn't been this painful.
'She was holding back on me back then, wasn't she?' Kamijou thought, 'Here…I don't think she knows I'm here, entirely.'
Whatever Misaka was seeing, it certainly wasn't him.
"…I've seen Origins go out of control, before." Assassin comments. "This is roughly how it starts out. Succumbing to one's Origin…it can be self-destructive, and harm not just Misaka, but everyone around her."
"There…has to be another way…" Kamijou mutters.
Assassin shakes her head, turning back to him with those ethereal, glowing irises. "The only other shot we have is your Right Hand, and you can barely stand, right now. I'm not going to risk your life to…save…"
She looks at something beyond Kamijou's vision, and her mouth slightly opens agape. "…Is that…?"
Her eyes turn back to normal.
Just then, Kamijou hears a new voice scream out to his left.
"Taboo: Electromaster!"
He feels a light shockwave pulse outward, and travel toward the Railgun's body.
As soon as it makes contact, Misaka's eyes widen.
The intense electric blue aura suddenly vanishes in a heartbeat, leaving the scars of burned grass, vines, and charred walls.
A trail of blood starts seeping out of her mouth as her eyes start to gain back their light. "What…?"
Misaka looks at her hand, caked in dust, blood, and sweat. "Where am…I…?"
Her eyelids close, and she falls limply to her side.
P.O.V.: A Certain King of Knights
"Shirou!"
Saber grits her teeth, looking between the unstable teenage girl at her side, and the unconscious boy who had just thrown himself in the way of Saber to protect her.
She eyes down that strange, black sphere- floating in the middle of the room, slightly growing in size. Every so often, a black spike would jut from its center, only to reel itself back in, as if it was holding itself back from erupting.
Instinctively, she grabs Shirou's body and jumps out the way- sensing that staying near that black nothingness would spell danger for even her.
As she backs away, her suspicion was right: the black sphere shrinks inward, and releases several long lances of blackness that pierce any loose matter and material nearby it. It suddenly implodes- taking the matter it had stabbed with it as the air and loose dust and debris fly toward it and vanish into its point.
She feels her mouth slightly agape from what she had just witnessed. 'What is that?'
From her rudimentary knowledge of modern technology, she could only describe it as some sort of black hole- but its semi-intelligent design made her think otherwise.
She looks at Sakura, who's clutching her body and breathing heavily. The lilac-haired girl makes eye contact with her, her eyes filled with fear and dread. "Saber…get Senpai…out of here…!"
"Sakura, I'm going to get you out of this too, don't…!"
She trails off as her Instinct makes her sense something horribly wrong going off just behind her.
Saber rushes to the other side of the large master bedroom, and as she swivels around to spot the danger, she sees another black mass starting to coalesce into existence, its very presence causing the floors and walls to vibrate unnaturally.
She sets Shirou down as she realizes what Sakura meant.
'…This is her doing.'
The Servant looks between the black, spiky void, and Sakura herself. The girl is looking at it, wincing as if trying to will it back into its cage, but she simply cannot.
'…Sakura…she's…'
A dreaded thought pops into the back of the Servant's mind.
'…If she can't control it, then…what will happen?'
The small balls that Sakura was currently making were enough to kill a person individually, maybe multiple.
If they're allowed to run amok…
Saber bites her lip, and summons her sword of victory in her hands. 'I…don't have any other choice.'
Sakura's outburst could risk many lives.
The only choice she had, was to…!
"Don't even think about it, Saber."
"…!"
Saber senses the attack a millisecond before it comes, and lifts her sword to parry. A violet scythe crashes into her invisible blade, and pushing against her appears a petite Servant with piercing eyes.
"Lancer…!"
The small Servant grits her teeth as Saber swipes her sword, forcing Lancer backward and landing her on the other end of the room.
"…Are you thinking of cutting down my Master, Saber?" Lancer tilts her head, just as an iridescent aura starts fuming around her body, as if challenging Saber to approach her.
"…At the very least, I must stop her rampage." Saber replies, and gets into a square stance with her blade at the forefront. "…If that means I must injure…what I assume now to be your true Master, then so be it."
It's clear, from how Lancer was protecting Sakura, and seemed hesitant on following Shinji's orders, that…
'…Sakura was her Master, all along.'
Saber gives a quick glance to the teen in question, who's still breathing heavily as she crawls behind Lancer for protection.
"Lancer…don't…don't hurt…Senpai…" Sakura mutters weakly.
"…I can assure his safety. But his Servant…"
Lancer gets down into a low stance, and readies her scythe and chains. "…She means to harm you. And so…I will do what I can to protect you."
Lancer's body turns into a blur, and Saber grits her teeth as she rushes forth as well to meet her.
Metal hits metal as their weapons collide, sending golden sparks flying through the room. Saber spots the black sphere in the corner of the room, slowly growing- and a second and third growing on the ceiling and on the floor to her left.
'…I can't afford to get caught up in those…!'
They both push away from each other. Saber's eyes narrow, and she thrusts her sword out quickly, trying to skewer Lancer and end the fight early.
Instead, the smaller Servant parries with her scythe, hooking it with its curved edge and forcing Saber's hands up into the air.
With her body exposed, Lancer twists her body and slams her foot into Saber.
However, unlike with her Master, Saber wasn't as prone to hits such as those.
She only backs up a step or so, and Lancer's forced to release the sword from her scythe's vice and slash it downward. Saber forces her body rightward, and winces as she feels the edge of Lancer's blade slide against her clothes, cutting the cloth and chipping the armor.
Her sword in hand, Saber swiftly recovers and slashes her own blade, the tip searing the air as it breaks the sound barrier from the absolute speed.
It was too fast for Lancer to completely dodge, and Saber can see visible pain grow on her enemy's face as her invisible sword cuts a shallow slice along Lancer's flank.
For all intents and purposes, Saber realizes that they are equals in almost every way.
Despite her small stature, Lancer held superior strength, likely due to her Monstrous Strength skill. On the other hand, Saber has higher reflexes and agility- able to dodge and parry most of her attacks thanks to her high levels of Luck and Instinct.
'How much longer…'
Their weapons slam into each other, again and again.
Saber winces as the scythe effortlessly cleaves through her armor, almost piercing through her arms and body if it weren't for her dodging at the last moment to minimize harm.
'How much longer are we going to fight?!'
The Saber Servant thrusts forward again, forcing Lancer to jump out of the way and flip in mid-air.
'Why is she gaining distance?
Wait-!'
"Got you. Again."
Saber grits her teeth as she hears the wrapping of chains around her arm, forcing her sideways.
She looks to where she's being ragdolled— and her heart drops.
A black sphere of darkness awaits at her destination, growing slowly in mass. Lancer's planning to toss her right into it.
'If I touch that…!'
Saber plants her feet into the ground, and her eyes widen as she forces her Dragon Core to accelerate its output. Her body glows red, and her muscles burn to life underneath her armor as she wills with all her strength avoid falling into the nothingness.
But still- Lancer's leverage and her chains prove to be just barely too strong.
Ever so slightly, her body inches toward the vortex.
"Curse you…Lancer…!"
She turns her head, and sees Lancer emotionlessly watch her meet her doom.
That is, until a spark of light causes the both of them to swivel their heads in confusion.
"Trace, ON!"
Saber spots a certain redhead in the corner of the room, leaning himself against the wall as a crackling white light coalesces into his left hand.
It forms into the shape of a sword. With a clench of his teeth, the boy pushes himself off the wall as leverage as he throws the blade straight across the room.
Its shape is of a short single-edge, and its color is pristine white. A yin-yang symbol can be seen, decorating the hilt.
Saber recognizes the sword immediately. '…Is that…Archer's-?!'
The sword careens into the chains binding Saber, slashing them in two and immediately setting her free. Without a moment to waste, she puts the thought of her Master in the back of her mind as she focuses back to Lancer.
Just then, Saber notices her opponent had her hand lifted up to her eyes. Ancient, glowing runes around her head slowly dissipate; as if Lancer had lifted a restraint placed upon her.
Saber recognizes the danger immediately.
'Should I use my Noble Phantasm…? No, it'll harm Shirou, too-!'
"Noble Phantasm…!"
Lancer's eyes start sparking to life, giving Saber only seconds to hash a decision. In her restricted state, she couldn't do much, if anything, to protect herself.
In the end, she hefts up her blade with her free hand, and prays to the winds to swirl away. "O Wind…!"
It's the best she can do without harming her own Master; but she wasn't sure if it would be able to strike before Lancer's beam of petrification.
Saber pushes her sword forward, and the mansion groans as the air within it is sucked into her blade's vortex. The room picks up everything loose and forms a powerful, yet concentrated tornado of wind- aimed solely at the enemy Servant before her.
But it's not fast enough.
"Caress…of the Medusa—!"
"GANDR!"
Just as Lancer's eyes reach a zenith of brightness, they fade as quickly as they came.
Saber stops her Strike Air, the powerful winds calming in mere moments as she watches Lancer seize and shake helplessly.
Her body trembles, and shakes as reddish, cursed light burns all around and throughout her body. Saber looks to the massive hole that Misaka had made moments ago, and spots a certain red mage pointing her hand right at the enemy Servant.
"Just…in…time…"
Rin Tohsaka's stocking-covered legs are alight with a greenish aura. Saber can sense mana strumming through the girl's arteries, likely powering up her muscles to make a last-ditch effort up to the second floor of the Mansion.
Medusa crumples to the floor, gargling and gagging as her Servant body tries to fight the painful curse that Tohsaka had just shocked her with. The Gandr was potent enough to kill a human- and to a Servant, it would still cause massive pain, and at least render them incapacitated.
"Lan…cer…"
Saber peers up, and spots a certain lilac-haired girl crawling toward her Servant, her hand outstretched.
Tohsaka's eyes widen in terror, and she outstretches her arms at the younger girl. "Sakura, don't touch her—!"
Sakura's hand makes contact, touching Lancer's head of purple hair.
The red light surrounding Lancer suddenly spreads up Sakura's arm.
A horrible scream pierces the air, and Sakura's eyes roll to the back of her head as her body limply falls.
Saber looks around, and finds the black spheres that were starting to scatter around the room had abruptly disappeared.
Lancer stares at her Master, in what Saber could only assume was pure horror. Despite their differences, and their fight just then, Saber could at least acknowledge Lancer's admiration and will to protect her Master.
To see Sakura like that, must be…
She sees Lancer's body start to glitter into blue. Not gold- reassuring Saber that Lancer hadn't suddenly lost mana.
The Servant vanishes without a word, stopping herself from touching Sakura any longer as the reddish light dissipates from around the girl.
Rin rushes up to her before Saber can, getting down to her knees and attempting to put some sort of healing spell upon her.
With Sakura tended to, Saber finds her own highest priority.
"Shirou!"
She un-summons her blade and armor and kneels next to her Master, whose skin is pulsing with veins along his arm and neck. "Are you harmed?"
"Ah…I don't…think so…" he winces, "not…badly, I mean…"
Saber helps him up to his feet again. "Shirou…I have a lot of questions."
"…About the sword?"
"…Yes." Saber nods. "But for now, let's worry about the injured. I want to make sure young Mikoto is all right, as well."
P.O.V.: A Certain Level 0
"Misaka…!" Touma grits his teeth, forcing himself up to his knees as he starts moving toward the collapsed Esper.
He had no idea what just happened- but at the very least, he needed to make sure she was okay.
"…It's alright."
That same voice from before taps him on the shoulder, and helps him up to his feet.
He recalls what she had said just before Misaka collapsed:
"Taboo: Electromaster!"
"…She'll be alright. I gave her minor internal bleeding…but it's nothing that a hospital trip can't heal."
He turns to meet the new girl's gaze.
A little shorter than him, with raven black hair and blue eyes, similar to Rin Tohsaka's. She's wearing a lab coat over some pretty formal clothes- leading Kamijou to believe she was a scientist of some kind.
"My name is Dr. Kokutou." She says, with a serious smile. "I'm an Esper Trainer. Now…can you tell me what's going on, young man?"
"Um…" He turns his head around, to try and ask Assassin for help.
But for some strange reason, she was nowhere to be seen; as if she had made herself scarce. 'But…why, though…?'
"It's a little hard to explain, but…"
"…Well," The woman named Kokutou sets him back down gently, letting him sit on the grass as she makes her way toward Misaka. "I can hear the details later. For now…I think we need to help out your friend, there."
"Are you…" Kamijou coughs out. "Are you sure…she isn't still dangerous…?"
"Shouldn't be." Kokutou says, without turning around. "My Esper power should have prevented her from acting out again."
The woman kneels down next to Misaka, and places two fingers at her neck for a few seconds. "Still has a pulse…and…"
She holds her hand in front of the young Esper's mouth and nose. "…Still breathing stably. Good; I didn't overdo it."
She picks up Misaka bridal-style.
"Ah-!"
The woman yelps, almost stumbling as another tremor shakes through the nearby earth. Kamijou peers up, and sees a huge cloud of dust and smoke billowing from the massive, car-sized hole in the Mansion.
Honestly, he was surprised at how well-built the house was, to be able to maintain its foundation and structure despite what was likely happening inside.
"What's going on up there?!" Kokutou-sensei asks, her voice strained as she runs over to Touma to get Mikoto out of danger.
"I don't know, exactly…!" Kamijou answers honestly. "But I think…"
He clamors to his feet, ignoring the pain in his arms and legs as he maintains his stability. "…There's people fighting, in there."
"Fighting?" Kokutou asks.
As if on-cue, a moment later, a few figures hop out from the dust cloud and onto the grass.
Rin Tohsaka appears first, her legs glowing with green lines as she carries the unconscious body of Sakura Matou in her hands.
She sets her gently on the grass, just as Shirou Emiya's Servant hops out with Emiya himself in tow, his arm wrapped around her neck.
"Emiya!" Kamijou exclaims, limping his way over to them. "What…happened, exactly?"
"Hold on." Saber sets her Master down, then turns back to the open hole in the mansion. "…I'm still missing someone."
She jumps up back into the hole. It only took her a second to find what she was looking for.
The blonde Servants hops back out, holding another body in her arms.
Although this one…
Upon Saber setting it on the ground, Kamijou could barely recognize the person.
They had a mix of ashen grey and blue hair, their eyes rolled to the back of their head. Their skin was scarred, singed and burned; as if they had spent the last few minutes of their life in a furnace. "Is that…?"
"Shinji Matou." Tohsaka answers, crossing her arms as she studies the damage herself, hesitantly. "Judging by his injuries…Misaka-san must have gotten to him before Emiya-kun did."
Now that Kamijou thought about it, he never remembered seeing Tohsaka enter the building. He must have been too distracted trying to save Misaka to notice her.
"Alright, alright!" Kokutou-sensei steps up, and surveys the unconscious, injured, and even…dead bodies. "…After seeing all of this…I have a feeling I know what's going on."
Kamijou and Tohsaka glance at each other, then turn to the Academy City doctor. "You…you do?" Touma asks.
Kokutou nods, then reaches for something inside of her pocket.
Pulling it out, Kamijou only recognizes it as some sort of medallion. Kokutou tosses it over to Tohsaka, who catches and inspects the metal symbol closely.
"…No way…"
Tohsaka's eyes widen in surprise. "You're a Cause Rank…in the Mage's Association?"
The doctor smiles and nods. "That's right."
Just from the mention of the Mage's Association, Kamijou knew that this woman was a part of the Magic world. At the very least, it means she was aware of the Holy Grail War— and it meant that they didn't have to jump through any loopholes to explain what had been going on.
She looks around for a short moment. Kamijou can hear the blaring sirens of Anti-Skill in the distance- they would be converging on the location in a minute or so.
'If the War's supposed to be a secret,' Kamijou thought, 'then we don't have a lot of time.'
Kokutou blinks at him. "Oh, don't worry about Anti-Skill. I can find a way to smooth things over…make it seem like an accident of some kind."
She sighs, then resets herself. "So this is the Holy Grail War that Aozaki-sensei was talking about…" Kokutou muses.
"Aozaki?" Tohsaka blinks. "You…you know the Aozaki family?"
"Yep." Kokutou says, "I can explain all of that later. For now…"
She picks Misaka back up. "Let me take care of the injured. This is Mikoto Misaka, right?"
She gestures to the unconscious girl she's carrying in her arms.
"…Yeah." Kamijou says.
"…And judging by that boy's injuries," Kokutou turns to Shinji, "She must have been the one to kill him…I heard she was also missing from Tokiwadai Middle School today, so if Anti-Skill were to find her…"
A lump grows in Kamijou's throat.
"Um…Emiya."
Kamijou turns down to his classmate, who had been tended to by Saber this whole time. The two of them remained relatively silent- only really listening in on Kokutou and Tohsaka's conversation.
The redhead looks up at him in acknowledgment. "…Is it true…that Misaka killed Shinji?"
Emiya looks away, but ends up nodding his head. "…Yeah. I don't think it was premeditated…at least…I don't think so…"
"Either way," Kokutou-sensei interjects, "unless I do something about her, then she's probably going to be on the hook for murder. Luckily…I can help with that."
Kamijou and Tohsaka raise a brow.
"…I'm an Esper Trainer, you see." Kokutou explains. "If you'll allow me to have Misaka under my custody, then I'll be able to get her powers back under control. Also, Anti-Skill won't have any authority to apprehend her. Being a high-ranking Academy City scientist comes with its perks."
'More like corruption, but…' Kamijou thinks, but drops the topic immediately. He's had his run-ins with messed up scientific experiments before, but it seems like Kokutou in particular wasn't like those scientists…at least, he hoped.
"…How do we know we can trust you?" Kamijou asks.
Kokutou ponders on that thought for a moment, then says, "Well…that's up to you to trust me. But it's either she goes with me, or Anti-Skill arrests her…and I don't want that to happen to her, either."
Kamijou feels the lump in his throat, again.
However, Kokutou-sensei walks up to him, a gentle smile on her face. "…I'll at least have you follow me to my facilities. Here, you can carry her."
Touma yelps as the doctor suddenly drops Misaka into his arms. Luckily, she was surprisingly lighter than he expected.
Looking at Kokutou-sensei up close, Kamijou can make out something behind her eyes.
There wasn't a hint of malice. Rather, a sparking sense of justice, and kindness.
"…Alright." Touma nods. "…Let's go."
P.O.V.: A Certain Seer of Death
Standing atop the stone gate of the Matou mansion, Assassin peers down at the blaring Anti-skill vehicles as several armed units make their way inside the premises.
All of her allies- Emiya, Kamijou, Tohsaka, and even Saber raised their hands up to tell the officials that they weren't a threat.
Saber in particular looks directly at her, and gives her a look of suspicion. Her gaze was a question: "Why are you hiding yourself, Assassin?"
Despite being invisible to all human eyes, Assassin had kept a close ear to…Kokutou-sensei's conversation with Tohsaka and Kamijou.
She watches as the raven-haired woman speaks to the Anti-Skill lieutenant, giving him the full explanation of what had just transpired.
A fake version of it, in any case.
"So Shinji Matou, the boy who had sexually abused his own sister, had illegally broken his restraining order and invaded this house…then Mikoto Misaka stopped him, but got caught up in her own anger, which is why you have to take her in?"
"Yeah, that's the full story." Kokutou nodded. "You can ask everyone else, there, too." She points to the small group still in the front yard of the Matou manor. "Mikoto Misaka and Sakura Matou will be under my supervision from now on."
Kokutou-sensei pulls out her wallet, and shows the officer her identification.
"…Well." The lieutenant sighs, and orders his guards to put away their weapons. "…We'll handle the cleanup, but I suppose I can leave these people in your care, Firewall Filter."
Kokutou and the Anti-Skill officer shake hands. It's only a few more minutes until all of the officers quit their investigations and start to exit the premises. After Kokutou and the others left the scene, is when they'll clean up the destroyed mansion and do their side of the investigation.
If she had to admit, Assassin found that entire system shady. For some reason, certain Academy City scientists had a special level of immunity- that even made them above Academy City's own police forces of Anti-Skill and Judgment.
'In any other situation, I'd find it corrupt, but…' Assassin sighs, 'I guess it works out for us in the end.'
She watches as Kokutou gives the others a hearty thumbs-up. Not wasting a beat, a civilian truck drives up to the scene, and a couple other emergency vehicles.
Kokutou directs them into her assistant's car, while Misaka, Sakura, and Shinji's body are placed into ambulances, ordered to follow her. "Alright, I'll take you all back to…Kamijou's residence, yeah?"
They all seem to agree.
"Cool. Before that, I'll show you my facilities just so you know Misaka-san will be in safe hands."
Kokutou enters the driver's seat herself, and drives off without a hitch.
To be honest, Assassin was taken aback by the whole conversation. There was one thing she couldn't do, however; that being revealing herself.
'Yeah…I would definitely confuse her if I were to show myself.' Assassin concludes. Kokutou was the reason they all got out of there without much issue, after all- she knew that she might not be able to focus if she were to suddenly meet her out of the blue.
'I'm supposed to be somewhere in Mifune…definitely not wandering about in Academy City.'
She has a mental thought of what it would be like to meet her actual self, but decides against it for similar reasons of not wanting to meet Kokutou.
But still, she found it quite amusing- and even impressive, that the girl that she had deduced to be Mikiya's annoying, yet charming little sister, turned out to be such a powerful, and important person within Academy City.
Assassin hops off from the fence, and follows the truck and ambulances closely as she runs through the rooftops. As she thinks about the girl driving the truck, a smile forms across her face.
'…You did well for yourself, Azaka.'
*pops champagne* WOOOOO HE'S FINALLY GONE! YEAH!
XD I know how much a lot of you don't like Shinji (I don't either, I also dunno if there's any genuine fans of him that aren't Fate/Extra Shinji fans…if there are, I'm concerned), so this must have been cathartic, huh?
This was also the introduction to a certain new character: Azaka Kokutou, from Kara no Kyoukai. I hope you enjoy how I interpreted their character to change since the original work they were from.
I do believe that if she continued under Touko's training, she'd go especially far in her Mage Training and would at least be somewhat up the Association ladder. Cause Rank isn't very high, so at 22-23 I think is believable for her. Ritsuka got their's at like, 17 (tbh they saved the world so they get a pass lol)
Oh also: one beta-reader of mine called BS that she has a PhD in her early 20s. Well, let's just say that there's reasons why she has one at a younger age, lol.
Alright, as for writing: currently finished another chapter! Two more chapters, currently working on a half chapter. My goal is to finish Act II's writing by the end of this month, hopefully I get there.
I'll see you all next time.
Next Chapter Name: "A Certain Heart-to-Heart" (January 24th)