"Are you going to be alright, Dad? I know whenever you use magecraft it hurts you."
"You don't need to worry about me Shirou. I'll be fine. Ideally the idea is for me to not have to use magecraft anyway."
Given Kiritsugu's tendency to use a sniper and explosives to eliminate his targets, he was probably one of the only magi that could have his circuits cursed and not be brokenhearted at his inability to practice his craft.
"Who is the client we are going to meet?" Shirou asked, following his father through the Athens airport after a long restless flight.
"Probably the most powerful person you will ever meet. The wielder of the Second Magic, Zelretch the Wizard Marshall."
"The Kaleidoscope?"
"Yes."
"The third ranked amongst the Dead Apostles?" Shirou needed to confirm.
"Mmm-hmm," Kiritsugu hummed, looking around for the right terminal exit where their ride was waiting.
"What could he possibly need us to do that he couldn't handle himself?"
"With Zelretch you need to understand one simple truth. He does what he wants whenever he wants because there isn't much anyone could do to stop him. Having nearly unlimited power at your fingertips tends to have that effect on people. Fortunately Zelretch is more of an observer, or at least a manipulator who uses others to act for him."
"Why?" Shirou asked.
"Why what?"
"With all of that power, he could do pretty much anything. Why wouldn't he just do it himself?"
"I don't know." Kiritsugu answered truthfully. "But aren't you glad someone with that ability isn't unleashing it recklessly?"
"I see your point. It's kind of frustrating though, right?" His father's brow quirked in a silent prompt to continue. "He's so powerful but he doesn't use it to save people."
"Not everyone is out to save the world Shirou. If they were, this world would be in a much better place. But not everyone is evil either, so it's up for those like you to save it."
"You never told me what the job was either."
"Shirou, I know as much as you do. Zelretch contacted me saying it would be in both of our best interests to meet him here. I really don't want to know what his "or else" would mean if I didn't come, so here we are."
"Oh." Kiritsugu snorted at his son's remark. 'Yeah, "oh" is right. This mission probably wasn't going to be easy. The only reason he even considered bringing Shirou along was because Zelretch asked for him by name and…Kiritsugu didn't know exactly how much time he had left. He hoped that a little exposure to the moonlit world at his side would at least begin to prepare him for the darker side of being a hero but he wouldn't get his hopes up.
Time and again Kiritsugu had learned that the world was cruel. Having to murder his own father, mother figure, wife, and proof that he had failed to save his own daughter from the Einzbern's clutches, it was like the world wished to strip every shred of happiness he held in his heart. Perhaps this, more than anything else, was what he feared happening to Shirou. Especially after pushing him to find someone to give his heart too.
The cab ride over was done in silence when the two Emiyas found themselves outside a rentable beach house where the enigmatic dead apostle was awaiting them. Shirou was stunned at the completely ordinary house. With all the rumors he'd heard from his father of the Kaleidoscope he was expecting a haunted house with lightning flashing in the clouds, but no matter how he looked at it, it just looked like a normal abode. Or at least that was his impression until they were ten feet away from the front door.
Shirou slammed a hand into his nose knowingly in a futile attempt to stop the "smell" his senses were bombarded with. All magi had some way to sense magecraft, and Shirou interpreted it through his olfactory senses. His nose was surprisingly adept at sensing foreign spells, just passing by the Tohsaka mansion had his nose wrinkling in warning, but nothing could compare to the power that seemed hellbent on shoving itself into his nose now.
'Zelretch, just what kind of monster are you?' Shirou thought, forcing himself to calm down and follow his father towards the door. Before Kiritsugu could finish raising his hand to knock, the door ominously creaked open revealing a well dressed old gentleman in a dark suit trimmed in silver with an overcoat flung over his shoulders like a cape. He held a cane in his hand though it was clear he had no disability in walking from his straight and commanding posture. His appearance screamed of a kind, harmless, well mannered old man, but his power felt like fangs were a hairsbreadth from his jugular waiting for the slightest provocation to rip out his throat. Shirou shoved the feeling down beneath a veneer of STEEL and looked into the gentleman's red eyes.
They were focused on him, more specifically the brown contacts covering his own golden irises. Kiritsugu had insisted he dye his distinct red hair into a black hue to avoid both detection and memorability. Black haired people far outnumber those of red after all and the less said about golden eyes the better. They were almost inhuman. Kiritsugu didn't realize how different they actually were. His own scans did not reveal anything abnormal but…Kiritsugu wasn't a very good mage. Zelretch smiled benignly at the two and waved them in.
"Please, you are making me feel rude, come in, come in. It is a pleasure to meet you, Misters Emiya and Emiya."
Kiritsugu scanned the house quickly but sat at the offered couch with Shirou at his side. The apostle lounged in his own chair with confidence like it was a throne. He seemed intent on small talk offering them some tea which they declined before getting to the matter of why they had traveled halfway across the world.
"Before you start this job I have a gift to offer you, young Emiya, that I would like you to take."
A swirling light made Shirou wince at the alien colors that assaulted his eyes before it faded and in its place were a sword and spear floating in the air. Structural Grasp was cast before he even realized and their history came to the forefront of his mind.
The sword was a mystic code created four centuries ago by a member of the Barthemeloi family. It specialized in wind magic amplifying their family magic to a terrifying degree. While Shirou had no real capacity to use it in such a way, he could immediately see why Zelretch had offered it to him. As an arrow it could ignore all wind resistance and any mana stored would be unleashed as a cyclone within the target. An instant kill even if it hit a non-fatal area.
The spear was an even greater prize. An honest to God Noble Phantasm! It was the famous Gáe Dearg, The Crimson Rose of Exorcism. The red spear could destroy magecraft. Formerly impenetrable bounded fields had now become a waste of Mana by the casters. Any long preparatory attacks were now vulnerable to dissolution. This was exactly what Shirou needed to combat mages. The weapons disappeared back into the Kaleidoscope, but Shirou retained the weapon forms in his mind, in his soul ready and waiting for him to use them.
Zelretch smiled at Shirou and said, "I think you know how to use them. There is a mage on a local island that has been practicing on its inhabitants in Soul Transference. He hopes to be able to recreate the Third Magic by himself. Instead all he has done is massacre two hundred people. I would like you two to kill him and in return, I will offer you something that will be in your best interest, and in return, perhaps we can make a deal when you finish the job."
"And what exactly would be in my best interest?" Kiritsugu cut in, wanting to direct the apostle's attention back towards himself instead of gazing only at his son. It would make anyone uneasy to see a dead apostle staring so intently at your family.
"Information about the Fifth Holy Grail War."
Kiritsugu froze. 'The fifth? It wasn't supposed to begin for another 58 years! Has something changed?' he thought. After the last disaster he unleashed he couldn't bear to see it happen again.
"Do we have a deal?" the apostle asked rhetorically, extending his hand with a grin.
"You bargain like the devil," Kiritsugu said, shaking the vampire's hand.
"Haha! Who do you think they based him off of?" Shirou couldn't tell if he was joking or not. His smile suddenly turned toothily and he got his answer. Definitely not. He probabily suckered someone into believing they were going to be dragged down to Hell. All he would need is to conjure some chains in the air and throw them into one of his portals and the myth would come alive. Who knows, there may be a fiery world that the Magician had visited to add further credibility.
With a few more details listing directions and the magi's identity, Kiritsugu left with his son in tow to rent a boat to hunt down their resident serial killer. The view was beautiful, the water a clear blue, the sand glistening in the sun, the trees were gently swaying in the wind, the only thing that ruined the picturesque scene and had Shirou's nerves flaring was the smell of decaying flesh that floated on the breeze. They were stopped just off the shore where they could sense a bounded field covering the entire island, it made the island completely invisible and presumably stopped outside communication whilst trapping the inhabitants inside. Without Zelretch's intel, if it could be trusted, they would be walking into this completely blind.
"Shirou, the moment we cross this boundary we will be on a clock. This mage has been very careful in stopping the spread of information about what he's been doing here, but if it got back to the clock tower it is most likely he would be labeled with a Sealing Designate for the potential for exposing magecraft. We also can't completely destroy the barrier or else any remaining people may escape before their memories can be properly altered."
"That means we'll be exposed to his traps, right?"
"Yes. A magus with time to prepare is a dangerous opponent. It is possible he has rigged the entire island with traps, so we have to be careful. Whatever you do-"
"-don't leave your side," Shirou interrupted, "I know. I promise I'll be careful."
"Right. Let's go." With a small intake of breath Kiritsugu transformed back into the Magus Killer, all emotion leached away leaving behind only the machine who wanted to save others. A few minutes later Kiritsugu broke through the boundary with clipped words to Shirou to show how he accomplished it. And then they ran. The two snuck behind abandoned houses towards the heart of the island. Shirou ignored the eerie feeling of walking through a ghost town in favor of reinforcing his ears to listen to the wind.
Shirou shifted his bow in his hands and then shot an arrow almost straight above them. A body dropped to the ground with an arrow between the eyes. Its face was stuck in a permanent scream of agony despite looking like it died weeks ago. It had maggots digging through its cheeks and yellow pus flowed from its bulging neck.
"That's disgusting," Shirou muttered, covering his nose at the rancid smell. Now they knew where the smell was coming from earlier. Were they all like this? Shirou tried to count the houses to get an estimate of possible enemies. About 200? Assuming everyone was a family of three, they were looking at at least 600 people outside of the magus and whatever traps he had. This job was looking bleaker by the minute.
Despite the gross sight and smell Shirou forced himself to Structurally Grasp the…(zombie?) for any signs of other alteration. He wanted to know if it was going to explode or something. He didn't see anything other than a singular scent of magic left behind by the mage. Likely whatever he did to bind the soul to this thing's flesh. Shirou's arrow disappeared after the mana ran out holding its structure back from Gaia's influence. The zombie twitched and Shirou readied another arrow in case it decided to get back up, but instead a blue light seemed to pool outside of its wound and then go back into the earth.
'Was that its soul?' Shirou thought. 'The Third Magic was the materialization of the soul. Could it be that this mage actually succeeded in getting it? Or at least a bastardized form if it? Or was it something else?'
A groaning sound echoed down the street alerting the two to more of the zombies.
"We need to hurry," Kiritsugu urged, setting a brisker pace. As they passed a larger building Kiritsugu directed his son to follow him in and up the stairs. They opened the roof of the five story building and got a clearer picture of the situation.
"Zelretch said that our target is in the blue building," Kiritsugu whispered, pointing out the building through a pair of binoculars. "Between us and that building are about a hundred and fifty of those things."
"Are they ghouls?" Shirou asked.
"Ghouls usually take years to develop. It is as if this mage somehow took the process of a dead apostle creating more of themselves and increased it a hundred fold. The dead bodies still have their souls or at least a likeness to it, because they certainly aren't familiars being directly controlled by the mage. Their movements are too irregular and different from each other for him to be controlling them all."
Kiritsugu dropped his binoculars in favor of retrieving his sniper and screwing on a silencer.
"On my mark we start clearing the closest to the right building and then work our way down. We need a clear path just in case they storm us." He didn't see Shirou's nod, but he did hear an arrow being nocked and drawn at the ready.
"Go!" Kiritsugu shot his rifle, turning a zombie's head into a red mist and moved his sight towards another. In the time it took him to aim Shirou had already released two arrows and was nocking a third. All of his son's targets were hit center mass or a head shot. A smirk threatened to break even through his cold mission exterior at the display. It took the nearly brainless zombies almost fifteen seconds to find out where they were firing from and start their shuffle sprint in their direction. Kiritsugu paid them no mind as the two continued to whittle down the undead on the street below. Forty, fifty, sixty were dropped when pounding sounds echoed behind them. The roof door was locked and a shelf barring the door shut, and yet still the zombies pounded on the door punching dents and tearing into the door.
"Dad?" Shirou asked.
"Not yet." The first undead was peeking its head through a gap it tore into the metal and Shirou shot a metal arrow straight through its skull.
"Dad?"
"Not yet," Kiritsugu insisted, as the now useless undead was thrown out of the way as its brethren tried to force their way through. Two were crawling through the gap as a third tried widening the gap further. Kiritsugu switched from his sniper rifle to his Calico and shredded the two with a dozen bullets. Just as the third was making its way forward and the clump of undead thickened on the stairwell did Kiritsugu finally say it.
"Now," he directed his son who was holding a detonator connected to a brick of C4 planted to the ceiling of the stairwell. The blast shook the entire roof sending dust shooting in all directions as the undead screamed in pain as they were lit aflame with some household chemicals they found and laid at the entrance of the door. Shirou then grabbed a premade grapple arrow and shot one half to the opposite roof and one he secured on their own before the two left ziplining in style as the first reinforcements of zombies broke their way onto the roof. They screeched in primal anger that their prey got away as Kiritsugu cut the line away after he landed behind Shirou.
"Well if he didn't know we were here before, he certainly does now," Shirou said. The two raced for the blue building holding the magi's workshop while shooting the few remaining undead left on the street. Kiritsugu primed another bomb on a wall and ducked behind a dumpster just as it exploded…to show no damage at all.
"Looks like he has more wards up. Would you like to use that new spear of yours, Shirou?" Shirou nodded in agreement and brought the spear's blueprint to mind as he went through his seven steps to projection.
'Judging the concept of creation, a weapon capable of nullifying magecraft. Hypothesizing the basic structure, a two meter long red spear. Duplicating the composition material. Created from a fusion of a metal that came from the Age of the Gods and a phantasmal beast. Imitating the skill of its making, the druid Aengus Ód used his magic to create the spear for his foster son. Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. Diarmuid Ua Duibhne wielded the noble phantasm until his death whereupon it was hidden away for centuries. Reproducing the accumulated years and excelling every manufacturing process.' The spear gained marks of battle and the "history" of the spear was recreated within Shirou's mind. He knew how Diarmuid held the spear, what position his feet were in as he activated the noble phantasm, it was all there.
The spear was in his hands with a flash of blue electricity. Shirou ran at the wall and punctured through with ease, with a slight twist of his torso the small hole turned into an x-shape as Shirou sheared through the wall with a small use of reinforcement. An easy punch broke the rest of the wall and the two dashed through the opening to find a large circle activating on the opposite side of the room. Without missing a step Shirou switched his grip and threw the spear into the center of the magic trap and it fizzled out before completion. Just as Shirou retrieved the spear Kiritsugu held up a hand to stop his son.
"Do you hear that?" A thudding sound was steadily growing louder as it neared them. The wall burst open in a shower of chips and splinters and a lion corrupted by the same undead spell tried to gouge out Kiritsugu's throat with its gleaming claws. He raised his Calico and a hail of bullets peppered the lion's side, but most only just pierced the skin. Shirou tried to stab it in the side, but the lion was more intelligent than the undead outside. It used its strong muscles to leap in the air and nearly flattened Shirou, crunching the flooring and scarring the wood under its sharp nails. Shirou swung the spear in an arch scratching the muzzle of the beast showing his spear was much more adept at injuring whatever protection the magus placed over his creation.
Kiritsugu kept the lion's attention by shooting it in the head but before Shirou could capitalize on the opening, instincts not his own told him to roll out of the way just as a panther tried to bite his arm. A jab with Gáe Dearg severed its tendons in the front right leg, but the undead paid no mind to its injury and lunged forward on its three legs. Enclosed within the small room, Shirou could do nothing but keep the spear between himself and the panther as the beast jumped in the air. Shirou reinforced his body as much as he could just as it slammed on top of him. The panther twitched and jerked as it cried out in demented pain and Shirou realized he managed to pierce Gáe Dearg through its heart just before it fell on him.
Despite the panther's death, he still had to deal with the fact that a several hundred pound rotting animal was on top of him. Shirou squirmed to free his pinned arms from beneath its bleeding ribcage. If you think it's difficult to bench 250 pounds as an eight year old, you should remember that it was also irregularly shaped and bodily fluids were leaving all over his hands as he tried to push the hairy monster off of himself so he could slip out before more undead showed up in the chaos.
Shirou observed Kiritsugu had switched from his Calico back to his sniper rifle and three bullets later punched through its thick skull. Shirou smiled at how easily his father had handled his weapon; a new rune combination was engraved on the stock reducing the overall weight letting him hold it like it was as light as his Calico. The runes had been a painstaking task which had taken Shirou over three months to work on at night. He had come up with an unstable version after only two, but for some reason the rune matrix would inevitably fail at random times for seemingly no reason. That night Shirou had scrapped the previous design and was recreating it from the ground up when Kiritsugu had barged into the shed, looked at what he was trying to accomplish, and solved the problem within three minutes. It was quite disheartening to spend months failing and then someone easily proves how easy the issue is. Shirou had put the runes in reverse order which kept destroying the flow of magic, which was why it kept exploding in his face.
"Undead felines. That's unique isn't it?" Shirou quipped, only half joking. If this was going to be a regular thing he encountered on the job he may need to rethink his weapon choice, or at least the battleground location. Fighting large predators in enclosed spaces seriously hampers what techniques to use and causes the least structural damage, he didn't want the ceiling collapsing on top of himself after all.
"Let's just get this over with," Kiritsugu said, dropping his now spent sniper rifle on the ground. "Which way?" Kiritsugu asked, testing Shirou's senses. After a "sniff" to help him focus, Shirou pointed down a hallway to the right. A staircase led down to a cement and stone basement which stunk so heavily of decay it made the surface smell like a summer breeze. The quiet had Shirou on edge as he scanned cracked walls and the peeling, white-painted ceiling. Shirou held his spear in his left hand and projected his new wind sword into his right. The wind should be optimal in the enclosed room, especially if there's a horde of undead waiting like he's expecting.
Contrary to their expectations though, what Shirou and his father found as they crept through the last doorway was their target mumbling to himself in some chopshop mixed with a mad scientist's lab and a large glass case containing a rather beautiful woman. Her Victorian style dress that so many magi favored amongst the aristocracy led Shirou to believe this was the target's wife. Her arms were folded gently on her torso and a navy blue pillow was beneath her head as if she had just fallen asleep. Her chest was barely rising and falling, showing her critical condition.
In Zelretch's bio, Markus Redman and his wife Lily were exemplary magus by the traditional values in the Clock Tower. The Redman family, which Markus married into, could be traced back almost 600 years. While not amongst the top families, they still held considerable influence which could be seen by the large magic crest adorning Lily's arm and back. Specializing in Astral Projection, the Redman family believed reaching the Root would require one to send their soul to the metaphysical location.
Almost three years ago one of Lily's experiments had gone terribly wrong and the backlash of the ritual nearly severed her soul from her body except for a small "tether". Alive, but only just. Ever since Markus has been doing his utmost best to bring her back. The one barrier he refused to cross that he knew would work was to turn her into a dead apostle, but it would pervert her into something else. Markus refused to turn her lest he destroy his wife's memory, but he also could not bear for her to die. Stuck between what he felt as two impossible choices, Markus turned his research towards manipulating the recently deceased as some sort of familiar. It was only once he could restore the soul to perfection without decaying the host body did he dare attempt it on his wife and release the control back to her.
A hint of sympathy was all Shirou allowed himself to feel for the magus before rationality caught up and reminded him of what this magus did to the otherwise picturesque island. It used to be a frequent hotspot for tourists wanting a quiet weekend away from the chaotic city life on a beautiful beach front, and now it would remain as a haunted place for any local brave enough to visit. They would have to burn everything down before they left lest the secret of magecraft get out.
"GGHAAAAA! Why won't you work?" The magus screamed brokenly, looking at a corpse on a plain silver table. Shirou watched in morbid fascination and disgust as the corpse aged before their eyes as a blue mist engulfed the body. It shuddered before collapsing onto the floor and moaned a cracked cry through its decayed vocal cords sending a shiver down their spines.
"I'm sorry my sweet Lily. It won't be long now, a dozen, no three dozen! Yes, three dozen more bodies and I'm sure I'll have the right formula to awaken you properly at last!" The magus weeped over the glass.
If Shirou had any sympathy left for the insane magus it just vanished. He wanted to kill more people. Had he not done enough damage already? Why do magi seem to lack all morals?
Kiritsugu took aim as the magus distracted himself with his wife and sprayed a hail of bullets with his Calico. The magus wasn't so ignorant though, and a shimmering green barrier interrupted the bullets.
"Did you think I had forgotten you assassin?" the magus shouted, turning his demented grin towards them. More corpses dropped from the ceiling and out of the walls, awaiting their master's command. "I wasn't stopped by the enforcers from the clock tower and I certainly won't be stopped by some heathen like you."
"Markus Redman," Kiritsugu said tonelessly, "You won't escape." Two grenades rolled to a stop amongst the zombies and violently exploded them into a shower of blood and limbs. Again, the green barrier protected the magus from any harm. Markus smirked in satisfaction of one upping The Magus Killer.
"Did you really think that would work?" he asked. Kiritsugu's dark eyes blankly gazed into his own.
"No."
The distraction had given Shirou enough time to slowly alter Gáe Dearg into a streamlined arrow. It was still slightly too long for the bow, and thus wouldn't be able to fire at maximum strength and distance, but given they were only about twenty meters away from each other, it would be more than enough. Despite the barrier separating the two, Shirou released his improvised arrow and shattered the barrier like single pane glass as it punched through Markus' chest. Shock colored his features before anger overcame him. What remaining undead limbs around the workshop flew through the air and attached themselves to his body. The bones connecting haphazardly distorting his chest like a child sculpting clay.
The blood on the floor gathered together and formed a whip which Markus swung with all of his might. The blood sheared through the concrete walls as if it was pressurized in an arc. They dove under the blood whip and Kiritsugu fired his Calico again. This time the barrier didn't appear. Instead, Markus summoned more undead to create a wall of bodies to stop the metal and his next swing of his whip bisected the machine gun. Had Kiritsugu been at one hundred percent, he would have used his time alter to get around the magus and fire into his back, instead he would have to rely on his son and attack in a pincer to ensure one of them had a free shot.
Kiritsugu went left after indicating what he wanted Shirou to do and shot a pistol at the magi's face. Again a zombie got in the way, but it was enough to force Markus to focus on him. With all of the undead in the way Kiritsugu couldn't rely on his Thompson contender. So he grabbed a thermite and chucked it at the magi's feet. The explosion of sparks set his clothes alight and he entirely forgot about Shirou in his panic. Shirou had easily cut through the undead's barrage of swipes and punches as he severed limbs and heads before he was only a few feet away from the magus. The release of mana was Markus' only warning. Knowing his death was at hand, he weeped to himself of what he must do to save his wife.
Beneath the basement in a subfloor was a dead apostle with its limbs severed and cauterized. Holy scriptures and seals wrapped around its torso continuously burning its skin under its holy light. It was stuck in an agonized hell as it had been so long since it last fed and enduring the holy light certainly did it no favors. Weakened as it was, it could do nothing to reverse time on its body and restore its injuries. Bound to its torture chair, it was helpless for the magic circle activating as the glass case of Lily Redman opening and the near mindless apostle could at last feast on some blood. It just sank its fangs into her neck when another prepared circle activated and exploded its head. But Markus' preparations had been completed. The disease within its fangs spread to Lily and then a miracle occurred. Certain people have the genes to skip the process of a ghoul spending a century feasting on the undead to regain their sanity. She was the 31st individual to do so since the creation of the apostles. For the first time in three years Lily Redman opened her eyes.
While the newly created apostle was awakening, Shirou had not been idle. Spurred on by both his father and duty, Shirou renewed his pace to kill Markus by burying wind and steel in the magi's neck before it exploded. The undead surrounding them dropped to the floor as Markus' skull was turned into shrapnel.
Shirou and Kiritsugu stared at each other covered in blood. It looked like they had just jumped in a pool of it like the legends of Countess Bathory. But before they could think of calling it a day their good luck had run out. A beam of red lightning shot through Shirou's shoulder as a cry of rage echoed through the chamber. Kiritsugu turned to the new threat after a quick glance as his son shakily scurried to his feet. One hand clutching the front of his wound shut.
Red eyes glowed through the smoke as clicking heels warned them of the approaching threat. Lily anguish twisted her features into an ugly expression of rage as she cried for her husband's death. But instinct and emotion demanded his killer's death before anything else…along with the desire to feed. Oh, she was so hungry. It was like an ache within her gut, gnawing at her sanity. Blood, blood, blood. She needed it. SO BADLY! Her nails extended into claws and her fangs extended as she gnashed her teeth. The pain of them extending for the first time was hardly worth the notice in favor of lunging at the bleeding boy. She could smell it so clearly. Fresh meat that was just ripe for the taking.
The clicking of a gun was all that stopped her head from being blown off. With a frown and negligible wave of her hand, Kiritsugu's pistol shattered and he jumped away from her follow up spell. She had wanted to deal with him later, but she could let the weak child run away in fear. The hunt would be all the more satisfactory as he feared for where she could be jumping out of the shadows. Her new instincts flaring in her mind of how best to kill The Magus Killer. Her intellect and knowledge warned her of the danger he possessed, but her instincts could not be suppressed so easily. Deciding on a middle ground, she cautiously dashed forward, her senses on full alert for any trap that he may have laid, but it was not to be. Kiritsugu only brought out a combat knife and sank into a defensive stance.
'Was that it?' she thought. 'The mighty Magus Killer who terrorized the community? A simple, mundane knife was all he could muster?' She was disappointed that she would not be getting a worthy duel after all the hype and criticism the clock tower heaped on the heathen. She should have given those warnings more credibility. Though it burned his circuits and strained his body, Kiritsugu could still use magic.
"Time Alter, Triple Accel." Kiritsugu deployed his innate magecraft through the Emiya Crest and he matched the newly born apostle's speed. Her surprise halted her just enough for him to stab the side of her neck and retreat from her retaliation. Realizing he was actually a threat, Lily fell back to her own prodigious skills as a mage and enacted three circles of lightning, her main element. The red sparks showering the room in a menacing hue of crimson. Kiritsugu did all he could to outmaneuver the attacks by predetermining where she was likely to aim, but in the end, he was trying to dodge lightning. A red beam only slightly dulled by his protective suit pierced through his thigh and Kiritsugu crashed to the floor.
Lily laughed befitting a noble of the Clock Tower, daintily hiding her coy smile behind a hand. Her crimson eyes shining in cruelty belied the otherwise innocent and noble image. She would enjoy torturing him for what he and the boy had done to her darling, Markus.
Five more circles floated by her shoulders ready to unleash on the downed magus, but that was what Kiritsugu had been waiting for. Kiritsugu quickly drawed the preloaded Thompson Contender and a single bullet shot the apostle's heart. The Origin Bullet activated severing and binding her magic circuits into knots and her system went haywire. To any human, that would be more than enough to kill the target, but he was dealing with a dead apostle. While she could no longer use her magic, Lily was far from helpless despite the utter agony her soul was expounding throughout her body.
She screamed her rage for all to hear and lunged for Kiritsugu's neck. Injured as he was, Kiritsugu watched as his cursed and wounded body failed to react in time. The nails were a moment away from slashing his throat when an arrow pierced her eye from behind. It was not just any arrow, it was Shirou's first completed mystic code, a sword filled with runes of fire. A moment after impact, her brain experienced the sensation of melting under 5,000 degrees. She didn't have a chance to react as her entire body turned to dust.
Kiritsugu saw Shirou maintaining the stance of Zanshin, the eighth step in the art of Kyudo, Japanese archery. Despite his wounds, Shirou never missed his target, straining his reinforced muscles to ignore the torn flesh that was his shoulder and fire his unique bow. He chuckled at the stoic look on his son's face and dropped his head to the floor. Every muscle and bone in his body stung like a bitch, but he wouldn't complain. They were alive and their target wasn't. Heaving himself up to retrieve a small first aid kit from his many coat's pockets, Kiritsugu got to work in staunching his son's bleeding, wrapping a dozen rolls of gauze around a thick pad on both sides of the wound.
"Thanks for the save," Kiritsugu said lightly, a small upturn of his lips revealed his honest gratitude.
"I guess that means I've saved my first person as a hero," Shirou said, wearing a megawatt smile. Kiritsugu chuckled again and rubbed his son's head.
"I guess that means we're even. Come on, let us get off this island. First we need to collect his research and then burn all his remains of magecraft. After that we can grab our transport and learn what we need from Zelretch, hopefully without any further trouble, and then we can go home."
If only dealing with Zelretch was ever that easy. They did indeed find his research and easily set it aflame, but the process of collecting all the undead bodies took a considerable amount of time. While creating a mass grave for them might seem conspicuous, it would be easier for the government to explain to the populace that an incurable disease or virus was the cause and only the quick attempts of quarantining the island and burning the bodies was all that stopped it from spreading. People are a lot more forgiving for actions taken if it meant their continued safety. It would go down in history as just another number lost amongst countless other tragedies.
Kiritsugu set fire to one of the bodies and they left in the direction of their boat. It was then that he nodded for Shirou to do his part. His wind blade was traced once more before being altered into an arrow. With a moment to correct his aim, Shirou released the arrow and the small fire was turned into a great conflagration, the wind acting as a bellows further oxygenating the flame and the sand's surface glassed beneath the bodies under the intense blaze. Soon the rest of the island was alight, burning whatever they had possibly missed in their search.
As Shirou stared into the blaze, he couldn't help but think back to the Fuyuki Fire. Fire was so easily spread. It brought destruction in its wake destroying countless families lives and valuables. If a disaster like this was so easy to create, then as a hero of justice it was his duty to come up with a method of snuffing such a blaze. If oxygen could fan the flames, perhaps he should try to create a vacuum. Or the equivalent of a massive rain or flood? But he didn't have any element or mystic code that could accomplish those tasks. Resolve surged within him. If he didn't have such an item, he would just have to make one from scratch himself.
However, what two Emiyas had been unaware of was that they weren't the only ones contacted about the rogue magus. A day after calling Kiritsugu, Zelretch sent word to the enforcers about the Redmans' location and a certain magus of Irish descent was the first to pick up the job. She arrived on the island and broke through the bounded field in no time with her skill in runes just in time to see it go up in smoke. She was surprised to see The Magus Killer himself strolling by with what she believed to be an apprentice at his side. Emiya pulled up short and tensed at her arrival.
"Fraga," he said, hiding all his anxieties behind a mask.
"Emiya," Bazett Fraga McRemitz nodded her head in respect towards her fellow freelance hunter.
"What are you doing here?" Kiritsugu asked.
"Zelretch," was all she said. It was enough. Sighing, Kiritsugu tipped his head back to the sky as if asking, "Why me?" before reengaging the enforcer in conversation.
"What happened?" Bazett asked.
"The situation is under control. Redman and his wife have been disposed of, along with the apostle. The last of the evidence is burning as we speak."
"Why did he ask me to come here if it was already taken care of?" she muttered to herself. Kiritsugu didn't have an answer. Zelretch would forever remain a mystery because to understand him meant you were as insane as he was. The Emiyas boarded their boat and sailed away back to Athens as Fraga inspected the rest of the island for any possible clues or forgotten magecraft.
It would be a week later when she returned to the Clock Tower to report her findings that the information finally spread, "The Magus Killer has an apprentice," sending the nobles into chaos. The destruction of the Archabald's Magic Crest had most of them fearful that their own lineage was at risk. Hundreds of years of research and effort, snuffed out in a blink of an eye. They couldn't risk it. They sent out feelers to their contacts hoping for some more information, but little could be found. All they knew was the apprentice had black hair and brown eyes of Asian descent, hardly an uncommon trait. But it started a chain of events that centered around Fuyuki. Fuyuki was now being watched by everyone in the know with a wary eye.
If Kiritsugu thought the second meeting with Zelretch would be any easier, he clearly forgot who he was talking to. Zelretch led them into his office with the usual flair of dramatics he was known for, and directed them to sit into the offered chairs. They sank into the black leather cushions which were more than comfortable after an exhausting hunt. While more than eager to get some sleep, Kiritsugu couldn't wait any longer until he heard what secrets Zelretch was hiding about the next Grail War. Zelretch sat in his own chair with a small frown gracing his features as he contemplated how to direct the meeting.
"In my travels across the Kaleidoscope I have seen many variations of you, young Emiya, and perhaps the most common is your desire to become a hero. One even managed to reach the Throne of Heroes, however his tale was most certainly tragic."
Zelretch withdrew a card holding a picture of an archer and red lettering stating what he was.
"This is known as a class card. It is connected to the Throne and houses a copy of the spirit's memories and abilities. Under normal circumstances, it would be useless to anyone else, they would be incapable of properly aligning their soul with the one contained within. You however, being as young as you are and housing the same 'identity,' are capable of syncing up with said spirit and temporarily deploying his abilities as your own."
"Such an ability would usually come at a high cost," Kiritsugu said.
"Indeed it does. The more he uses it, the more the spirit's memories will overtake his own. One day, Shirou might use it and find himself as someone else. Even if at the end of the day they are technically the same person, I don't think you want your identity to be replaced."
"If I use this card…will I be able to become a hero?"
"...undoubtedly," Zelretch conceded at last. "But you will also be subjected to the horrors that Counter Guardian EMIYA did in both his life and afterlife. Centuries of being deployed in crises' and subduing whatever threat posed a danger to humanity, oftentimes being the humans themselves. He was more of an exterminator than a hero."
Silence permeated the room as that bombshell was absorbed. After a minute Zelretch deemed them ready for the rest.
"That was my first gift of our deal. Now comes the second. Information about the Fifth Holy Grail War."
Kiritsugu sat up straight and directed his attention to the vampire.
"During the Fourth War, you experienced what it was like seeing the Lesser Grail manifested. When you ordered Saber to destroy the grail, it was only a small fraction of the true power contained within. The rest of the energy is contained within the Greater Grail beneath Ryuudou Temple. Over four wars of spirits have been added to the grail, that's almost 30 Heroic Spirits housed within. If it is improperly handled the entire world will experience a similar fate to Fuyuki. I think we are in agreement that this cannot happen."
Zelretch smiled, seeing them shaking their heads.
"That brings me to the next problem. As you may know, a magus belonging to the Yggdmillennia family fought alongside the Nazi's to attain the Greater Grail during the Third War. While he was ultimately unsuccessful in obtaining it, he did manage to escape the war with his life intact. He has found out the Grail will not be activating 60 years after like it has in the past, but 10. Meaning that in 8 years your son will be chosen as a master in the Fifth War."
Kiritsugu grit his teeth at the information. 'So soon? I thought Shirou would have even more time than I to prepare for this war. He won't even be out of high school.'
"In the interest of schooling…" Zelretch started, signifying he knew what Kiritsugu was thinking, "I have an offer to make."
He turned to the golden-eyed boy with a bright smile.
"How would you like the chance to be my apprentice?"
"Huh?" Shirou intellectually answered. Zelretch's smile broadened in response.
'This was going to be fun,' Zelretch thought, planning all of the ideas he had in torturing- I mean teaching his newest student. The thought that he might decline not even once crossed his mind. After all, it is not like he really has a choice anyway. He was far too amusing. Zelretch saw what changes happened to Shirou during the Fuyuki fire that Kiritsugu's limited understanding of magecraft could not. The connection formed between him and Arturia Pendragon.
[AN: Before anyone gets angry saying Shirou's too OP or anything going forward, I want you to remember two things: Gilgamesh exists as a character who was said to be able to almost fill the grail with his mana if it was completely empty and the second being that Shirou is fighting against servants who are described as natural disasters contained in the vessels of humans. So if I add one or two changes to his craft because I don't want a character to only survive because of luck or the enemy doesn't think it's worth the effort (Ilya in UBW when Berserker blew open his stomach (which should have done a lot more damage considering every swing destroyed those tombstones and he did not apply reinforcement, but sure whatever) or for amusement purposes like Medea after capturing Saber or Gilgamesh just showing up, etc.
So, in short, what I'm trying to say is if you want a canon-accurate character why are you reading fanfic in the first place? I have a great cast of servants lined up. Spoiler: They are not the same as the normal routes.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! HOPE YOU LIKED IT. REVIEWS FOR IMPROVEMENT ARE ENCOURAGED!]