AN: World's largest orgy this chapter. Descriptions of really fucked up stuff here. You've been warned…
"Dojyaaaaan~" like a magician's trick, Valentine stepped out of the ground. "Saber, Rider," he said, nodding to the other Servants, "I hope you haven't been waiting long."
Both kings had their swords drawn, but Archer showed no sign of worry. In fact there was a self-content smirk on his face, as if victory was already confirmed. And of course it was. He knew that the other Corpse parts were nearby. It was simple fate that they come to him…
"You let Assassin go." Saber stated. Her hand had healed completely, and she seemed angry enough to fight. "Even after the man tried to kill you, and after he shot off my hand… you let him go." That wasn't even mentioning the brutality that Assassin had inflicted on Maiya, or the dishonorable ways by which the Servant seemed to conduct himself. "You should have brought him back to be killed. At the very least, it would have been a step closer towards the end of the War."
"You know why I did that I did, Saber. By now you have puzzled together the answer to your question… the identity of the Corpse is no longer a mystery to you. What will you do?" Valentine spoke to both Rider and Saber now, both had that disturbed look on their face that he was familiar with. Most people were floored when they discovered the true identity of the Corpse.
Rider was the first to speak. He looked uneasy but he sheathed his sword back into its scabbard. "I won't pretend to understand everything about this Corpse… but regardless of its identity, I made a pact with you. And I will not break it. The Corpse will be yours just as the Grail will be mine."
Valentine gave Rider a thankful nod and turned to Saber, expression hardening. "And you? Will you challenge me for the Corpse?"
Of course she would. Rider couldn't possibly understand the importance of the Corpse. The Conqueror King had lived in a time before Christ… to Iskander, Jesus was just another man. But Saber had grown up reading the scripture and learning the word of God. She knew of Jesus Christ the Savior. She couldn't just let Valentine take it for himself. No matter how selfless his reasons may have seemed, no matter how similar her own goals were to his, she could not let him have the Corpse. It was sacrilege, blasphemy even, to believe that one could own the Body of God.
"The Corpse is not meant for mortal hands, Valentine. You should know as well as I that what you speak of is madness."
"Not madness, Saber." Valentine was shaking his head now, frowning at Arturia. "You forget that this is not my first time collecting the Corpse. It has selected me to be the body through which God will perform his good works on this earth. It is no more blasphemous than proselytizing or becoming a preacher. God works through us all; some more than others."
"You're plundering His grave, Archer. You're tarnishing a legacy of hope and pacifism for your own personal gain." Arturia's was steadfast and even in her judgement. Besides Berserker, Valentine was the Servant that Arturia was least familiar with. While Valentine was honest with his intentions and goals, there was a certain amount of deceit that Saber detected over the way that he presented his abilities. What sort of Noble Phantasm could manifest itself as a ghost? And that didn't even begin to cover Saber's confusion over what exactly Valentine could do. Out of nowhere he had produced all the furniture and food for their meeting, and that same power of creation had reversed itself when Valentine and Assassin had disappeared into the void to discuss the Corpse…
"A leader must know how to sacrifice the world for his country… you know this as well as I." Valentine said darkly. "God is on my side, Saber. There is nothing that I cannot do so long as the Corpse favors me… and besides, it isn't as if I am the only one here acting for my own benefit rather than the whole of humanity. Rider wishes to rebuild his own empire. You wish to save your country and absolve yourself of all responsibility and guilt all at one. Assassin wishes to take back his life… each and everyone of us are acting for ourselves, Saber."
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Arturia could not argue with that. No matter how selfishly Valentine acted, the rest of the Servants were doing the same. However you might dress it up or try and mask it, they were still human, and they still thought of themselves before others…
But there was something wrong with that, wasn't there? A ruler should act on behalf of their people: that was the first thing that her father had taught her. The best kings are selfless and would die for their subjects… Arturia had always tried to be such a king, but no matter what she said or did, it wouldn't change the fact that her goal was a selfish one. A selfish goal that had no guarantee at changing the course of history for the better. Only her own life was guaranteed to be altered if she made her wish…
Saber stepped back and away, sheathing her sword. "Leave this place. The both of you. I grow tired of talking. I will respect our ceasefire until Caster is defeated, but nothing after. I will take both the Grail and the Corpse…"
Rider and Archer shared a glance before piling back into Rider's chariot. Yes, the war was beginning in earnest now. The next time the Servants would meet would be a bloodbath...
"Did you see Kiritsugu Emiya while you were there?" Kirei and Assassin sat together. The priest watching as the Servant wrapped bandages around his cut arm. Assassin was slower than most Servants to heal, and it would take a while for him to be ready for combat again.
"No, but I learned much."
"Such as?"
A brief sound of uncontrolled frustration issued from Assassin. "Irisviel von Einzbern is still alive. Three bullets. Holes in her heart and she couldn't even do us the courtesy of dying." Spy sounded disgusted and knotted the gauze bandage around his arm with vehemence. "She'll have to suffer before passing this time around. I don't know exactly how she survived; but it won't happen again. I'll burn her alive if I have to. My marks never survive." Assassin quickly calmed himself and stood, flexing his arm tentatively.
"Her husband is the one we should be targeting. The homunculus knows nothing of the world, she wouldn't survive without her husband and Saber to protect her."
"Then the problem is Rider and Valentine. I am almost certain that they have allied against Berserker and Caster for the foreseeable future. It will be nearly impossible to defeat the three. Valentine especially. I still don't quite understand how his ability functions…"
"How about Rider, then? Is his Master vulnerable? With Einzbern somehow immune to firearms and a capable Magus in her own right, I don't know if the two of us would be able to defeat her and Saber."
Spy shook his head. He was cleaning out his firearms now with military precision. "Think harder, Kirei. There are avenues that haven't been explored yet."
Kirei did as told and thought for a moment. "Another Servant," he said. "Berserker—"
"Exactly." Spy nodded quickly. "Berserker is the one we need to ally ourselves with. None of the other Servants can match him in combat, and I believe his Master to be easily persuaded…"
"You mentioned that Valentine allied himself with Saber and Rider? Surely the three of them could defeat Berserker."
"Not with the two of us targeting the Masters. I don't understand Valentine's Noble Phantasm, but it is unthinkable that he be able to match Berserker in straight combat. He showed little combat ability when compared to the other Servants. While they are distracted with Berserker and the ever looming threat of Caster… we will kill both Waver Velvet and Kiritsugu Emiya."
Caster rummaged through the fallen bricks and destroyed laboratory. Glass particles and dust floated freely through the stagnant sewer air and the stench of his essential oils was heavy and cloying, nauseating almost.
But it didn't matter. The hideout had served its purpose as storage area, and the perfume was finished. Bottled Love. A hundred and twenty five milliliters. Enough to enslave the entire universe.
"Oh man! Not again!" From behind, his Master cried in despair. First he had been chased away from his quarry by that little girl, and now his hideout was destroyed! "Why they gotta do this? We haven't done anything wrong!"
They really hadn't. Uryuu was perfecting his art craft and Grenouille had been simply making perfume! He was a perfumer for God's sake! How did they expect him to make perfume if he didn't have the ingredients?
Grenouille sniffed at the air and recognized a faint smell of rust and blood.
"The man who destroyed our last home has struck again, Master."
"Man, that's fucked up… I mean, we're living in a sewer! What kind of guy wrecks a sewer? Think about the toilets and shit!"
"There are people who want to kill us, Master." Grenouille toed a broken brick and kicked it to the other side of the room, the crack of stone on stone echoing loudly. "None of that matters anymore. We're going to be kings of the world." Slowly, he brought forth a flacon of perfume from his pocket. This was every hope and dream in the world condensed and bottled. Fifty golden, amber milliliters of pure love. There wasn't enough to put in a spray bottle; and to dilute the pure scent with rectified alcohol or water was akin to sacrilege. This was Grenouille's masterpiece… better than the first time around, strengthened by magic and purified by shavings of the Spine that he held. With this potion, Grenouille would command the love of all the beasts and men of the land and sea and air. Even the farthest reaches of the galaxy would be within his grasp…
"So you're finally done? That took a while, didn't it?" Uryuu made to take the flask from his friend but was swatted away. "I can't even get a smell of it?"
Caster shook his head. "A drop of it on your skin and you'll eat yourself. Whatever is touched by Bottled Love will become divine. The world will fall in love. You will fall in love."
"I've never been in love before," Uryuu said. "Must be a strange feeling."
Grenouille stretched his thin frame, extending his gangly arms and cracking his neck to each side.
"I wouldn't know either, friend." But there was no use in talking about matters as inconsequential as love. It was time to show the world that he, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, was the greatest human being to ever walk the earth. Above the kings and queens and self proclaimed Gods, Grenouille floated higher than even the stars.
It hit the water without a sound. Black as crude oil in the lovely autumn moonlight. The world began to smile. It began to love. Thousands of miles away, pods of whales and schools of fish felt that one, magical drop of perfume hit the surface of the Fuyuki River. Thousands of miles away, across the expanses of ocean and desert and jagged, cruelly pointed mountain peaks, billions of people shed their clothes and took to the streets, looking for love and acceptance from their fellows. What had once been so hard to find became so, so easy. Freely given love. Real love. More real than what mother feels for child. Stronger than the bond between siblings or the connections of marriage. The people of the world didn't know why, but they knew that for the first time in their lives, they felt real, sincere love from those around them. For those they had never met save for these new, exciting moments of intimacy. An orgy erupted, one that spanned continents and timezones…
Ryuunosuke Uryuu fell backwards as soon as Bottled Love was unstoppered. The slightest whiff of the perfume had been enough to break his mind with tenderness. The first tendril of love he had ever felt in his life ended up shattering his rubber soul with its magnificence. His brain dripped from his ears and eyes at the foot of his Servant, the newly anointed prince of the world.
At another time, perhaps Grenouille would have cared about his dead Master; but now, drugged with power and achievement, he hardly noticed. What had Uryuu been to him? The thought didn't even cross his mind. What was one life to a God?
Across the sleeping city, across the tired country of Japan, the entire populace stood to their feet, wiping sleep from their eyes and walking, running, jumping out of their balconies in desperate attempts to find and hand that scent. Mass suicide. Thousands died in ecstasy and those who survived with only broken legs dragged themselves for miles with just their hands, scrambling towards Fuyuki City, their unconscious Mecca. Meeting their fellows on the street, they too felt the tender stranglehold of love…
Throughout the world, love was erupting from one to the other. Man and dog. Dog and woman. Father and virgin son became lover. The priest who swore vows of celibacy sodomized one another and diddled their congregations in exuberant mass ceremonies where they partook in the Eucharist directly from various orifices… This was love, true, real, sincere love. On the streets. On the beaches. People fell in love. Planes crashed as their pilots engaged in sex acts too lewd and terrible to think of. And this all happened far, far away…
It had been early morning in Fuyuki City when the first drop of Bottled Love hit the greasy, polluted surface of the city's namesake body of water. So close to the new center of the world, the Caster that had captured the love and soul of each and every human being capable of smell, the citizens of Fuyuki City marched towards him by the thousands.
Grenouille stood smiling. The river around him had parted, split straight down the middle, creating a huge area of dry land for him to stand in. What fish and aquatic life had lived in the water now floundered on the exposed riverbed, each flop of their scaled bodies meant to bring them closer to the God-like Caster. The trees and plants of the world crept towards him. The very winds and tides favored him, all pointing towards him. Birds began their migrations, pilgrimages really, toward Grenouille.
"Can't you smell that smell?" Grenouille mused aloud as he spied the first of his worshippers approach him. Men and women tore at their clothes, revealing beauty and ugliness alike. Scars and blemishes laid bare before their new object of worship. They screamed in adulation, bearing their love for him, for each other, as they surrounded him, bowing and kowtowing as Caster spread his arms and turned to see the crowds around him.
"Can you smell what the Caster is cooking?"
A naked woman, perhaps of about thirty years old, was brandishing her baby, shaking it about to get Grenouille's attention as if it was a poster or rattle.
"God! Please! My child! Touch my child!"
Caster smiled and kissed the baby's forehead, sending the crowd into new peals of love crazed screaming. It felt better than last time. Last time it had been so fake. The love of the crowd had been different. Fake. Artificial. When Richis had approached on the executioner's scaffolding, Grenouille had been sure that his time had come. But even Richis had forgotten his vengeance and embraced him. Asked him to become the son to replace the dead Laura, Richis' daughter… one of the fateful twenty five that Grenouille had murdered…
"Worship me!" Grenouille cried to the heavens, speaking to God. "Worship me! You angels in your seven heavens, worship me! Sing for your new God! Sing for me!" The night parted for the sun. Heaven itself bent towards him… but Caster was shining even brighter than the morning star. He was wreathed in his own glory, the power of his perfume, his elevation to divinity, his canonization into sainthood.
"Bow to me."
And the world obeyed. Small children were trampled underfoot as the mass of worshippers scrambled to make room to prostrate themselves.
"Sing for me."
And the world obeyed. The sound was so loud that it was like the mountains themselves had begun to move, scrap their ancient roots against the surface of the ageless earth.
"Love me."
But there was no command needed. Already the world thought him an angel…
Caster threw back his head, uncaring of the warm rain beginning to fall from the cloudless sky. It was one in the morning and the sun was shining brightly. All was right at the top of the world.
"Archer…" Iskander stumbled from his room, feeling a queasy sort of anxiousness that he was unfamiliar with. "The boy is gone. So are our hosts," Rider fought back an involuntary retch before continuing. "Where could they have gone—" He opened the door to find Valentine in a similar state of nausea. There was a small puddle of yellow bile and vomit on the carpet, staining it a ugly color. "You too?" The acrid odor of the vomit reached him and Rider also expelled the contents of his stomach on the carpet. Servants had no need to eat, but they could still digest…
Valentine shrugged off his coat, for it had been stained with sick, and pulled on a red leather jacket over his plain shirt. "We're under attack. Almost certainly under attack." His stomach convulsed again, but this time Valentine put a hand to his mouth and swallowed the vomit, an uneasy expression of disgust on his face. "And look at the clock, Rider. One in the morning? The sun shouldn't be out." He pointed at the shuttered window, at the sunlight creeping steadily into the darkened room and the birds chirping. "This is almost certainly another Servant's doing."
"Certainly."
The two men took a moment to steady themselves. The nausea never left, but it was buried under determination and a veneer of anger.
In the air, riding, Rider's chariot, the two surveyed the city from their vantage point. An incredible sight. The streets full of human beings. Some nude and rutting against each other, and others running, falling, picking themselves up to vault over the copulating pairs and moresomes to an unknown destination.
"What sort of debauchery is this?" Rider sounded more interested than outraged. "We're never going to find the boy in this mess!"
"Information first, Rider. If this truly is the work of a Servant… we must first identify the who and the why and the how. It certainly seems to be a wide range and does not differentiate between anything." It truly was disturbing to watch. Even from the air, Valentine with his sharp Archer's eyes could make out the various pairings of the people below. Children with animals… Grandparents and grandchildren together… it was disturbing, highly disturbing, and everything in Valentine's Heart told him that it was disgusting what was going on. But that didn't change the fact that an evil little portion of his brain was telling him to partake…
"You feel it, Valentine?" Rider asked. "The tugging at your mind, to debase yourself like the rest of them… I suspect that we are resistant, but not immune to whatever is causing this debacle. We should be careful not to succumb…"
Valentine nodded, glad that he wasn't alone in being affected. "The other Servants then. We should start with them. Saber, Berserker, Lancer, Assassin, Caster. Which could it be?"
"Who else but Caster? He is the one whose capabilities are unknown. All the other Servants wouldn't fit the bill. Saber is too noble to even be able to think of something like this. I'm willing to wager that once she catch glimpse of this spectacle—"
"Concentrate, Rider. I agree that Caster is most likely the cause of this... but neither of us know what he looks like, or where he could be lurking. Magic is a mysterious thing..." Valentine sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I feel bad for the Mediator. To have to cover something like this up would be quite the challenge."
The chariot banked sharply, the divine bulls stamping at their platform of cloud and thunder. Rider slowed down greatly and pointed to a distant spot in the horizon.
"There, Archer. Do you see it?" Rider's face was grim and pale. "There seems to be the center of it all." And he was right. A throng of humans numbering in the tens of thousands. All of them circling and chanting, waving their hands above their heads in worship. Impossibly, they were caught between two static walls of water. The river was seemingly split in half for a distance of over a mile, the gargantuan volumes of water formed a sort of valley for the worshippers to dance in. Even from the air, through the excited moans of the million or so people below them engaged in lasciviousness untold; they could hear the worshipers on the riverbed chanting.
"Certainly not normal." Rider stated.
Valentine found something terribly sinister about the whole situation. The biblical story of Moses splitting the Red Sea... was this the Corpse manifested? Assassin had spoken of a Spine the night before; had Caster developed a Stand? Had that madman been blessed by God?
"Rider..." Valentine's words were hesitant. "There is the possibility that whoever is responsible for this possesses a Corpse part."
"How do you know this?" Rider asked. He was preoccupied with steering the chariot. The closer they got to the river, the more difficult it became to control the divine bulls; a disturbing occurrence. Iskander was the Rider. To think that there was an enemy that could co opt his prodigious ability to control his mount...
"The Corpse can bestow any number of incredible powers, each one unique from the next. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a result of a Servant discovering a piece of the Corpse."
"And you wish to collect something like that?" Rider said with incredulity. He steered the chariot to the roof of a hotel, the bulls too difficult to control now, and cut the air with his sword, dematerializing the Gordius Wheel for later use. "Is your power due to the Corpse then?"
Valentine nodded. "Yes. It is known as a Stand. Some are born with one, others can gain one through strength of character, and still others are blessed with one through other means, such as the Corpse."
"And is there anyway to counter such an ability?" Rider asked.
"There's no way of telling. There's not enough information on what exactly Caster is doing. All we know are the effects… I think it would be best to gather the other Servants. The War is postponed for the moment anyways. Working together we may discover a way to defeat whoever is causing this…"
Never truly asleep, always on guard and ready to fight; Saber had no trouble in responding to Irisviel's cry for help.
"Saber! Help me!" Desperation. Irisviel sounded desperate, as if she was straining with something. "I don't think I can hold him!"
But then a window broke, and Saber heard Irisviel thump to the ground. Gritting her teeth, she put on an extra burst of speed, breaking window glass as she passed.
"Iri! What's wrong!" With a slash of her sword, Saber cut the bedroom door of its hinges. "What happened?" The first thing that she noticed was Irisviel, hands bleeding slightly, but already healing. Then the open window and the absence of her Master… "Where's Kiritsugu?"
Irisviel pointed outward. "He jumped."
Saber quickly made her way to the window and peered out. She still felt the connection to the Magus Killer through the Command Spell, so it was a guarantee that Kiritsugu was still alive, wherever he was. And there was no body at the ground, simple Reinforcement magecraft would be enough to survive the three story drop. But where had he gone? And so suddenly?
"Tell me exactly what happened." Saber frowned heavily. Jumping out of the castle for no apparent reason was not in character for her Master. Even if some emergency had arose, Kiritsugu would almost certainly had told Saber about it, since Irisviel's protection was her duty.
"We were sleeping… I woke up when he got out of bed. I asked him where he was going… but he didn't say anything. He just looked out the window for a while and took these, big, heaving breaths, like he was trying to swallow the world. He jumped right after." Irisviel sounded scared and worried, all understandable; but none of it helpful. "Where do you think he went?"
For the life of her, Saber couldn't even begin to guess. Thankfully they had someone else to ask.
"Perhaps Maiya would know," Saber suggested. The two made their way out of the master bedroom, past the broken door, and down the hall where Maiya had been quartered.
But there was no one there. An empty bed and open window, sun shining bright as could be. Had Saber somehow overslept? Sheets all over the floor in a messy pile. Maiya was usually a very neat person, too…
"Something's wrong." Saber stated in her most grim voice. The soft, fine hair growing on her neck stood on end like a dog sensing some great danger. "We should be prepared for attack at any moment. We don't want to be caught off guard."
"Shouldn't we go look for Kiritsugu and Maiya?"
Saber shook her head. "They can take care of themselves. I think." But there was Assassin and Berserker and Caster to worry about. Those three were the unpredictable ones, and that made them dangerous. They had no compunctions about hunting down those involved in the War, even if they weren't Servants.
"They might be in danger though… remember Assassin? He's been targeting us pretty frequently lately. You said that he attacked you and Archer and Rider yesterday. If he's bold enough to attack three Servants at once, isn't it likely that he'd attack Kiritsugu?"
"Of course I would. But today is not the day."
Instantly, Saber reacted by unsheathing her sword, ready to fight. Whipping her head about the room, she searched for anything out of place, any patch of strange fuzziness that would indicate that Assassin was hiding. But in the dark it was nearly impossible to make those types of subtleties out, even with her enhanced eyesight.
"Reveal yourself, Assassin!" Saber shouted. With her free hand, she pulled Irisviel close to her in a protective gesture. She felt the homunculus shaking in her thin night shift, so fragile, so vulnerable; Assassin had killed her once before, after all… "Why do you come?"
The low humming buzz of Assassin's invisibility sounded. The cloud of smoke parted to reveal Assassin, gun pointed at Irisviel's head, and an angry grin on his face. He had been standing right in front of them, hiding in plain sight.
"Don't bother, Arturia. I don't know how this one," Assassin said pointing to Irisviel with his free hand, "survived the first time, but you move and she gets a hole through her head."
"What makes you so sure she won't survive again? Shoot her and I'll kill you. She'll live just as she did the first time." Saber tightened her grip on her sword and cursed inwardly. Although she was the better fighter in any and all measures, Assassin didn't have anyone to protect and no honor to speak of. Irisviel might have been a capable Magus, but human beings had no place in a fight between Servants. Avalon would almost certainly allow Iri to survive, but if she died again, it would be another failure for Saber. Another person she couldn't protect.
Surprisingly enough, Assassin chortled and lowered his gun, reholstering it and motioning for Arturia to do the same with her sword.
"I'm not here to fight tonight, Arturia. I'm not even here to kill that one for the second time."
"Then why?" Arturia put her sword away. Honor dictated it. Even if Assassin was a sleazy, untrustworthy man, Saber was the King of Knights, and she had to hold herself to a certain level of behaviour.
"You know why." Assassin lit a cigarette and offered one each to the two ladies in the room. "Your loss," he said with a shrug, snapping the lid to his cigarette case closed. "You're true Master is away, isn't he?"
"And why do you care about what he does?"
"It isn't really what he does more than why he did it. The whole city is awake right now, haven't you noticed the sunlight?" True enough, even though it was nearly two in the morning, there was sunlight real and yellow and bright, shining through the small slats of the shutters. "The sun is up when it should be down, and it seems as if the whole city has gone crazy. The citizens are congregating near the Fuyuki River."
That sounded ominous enough for even Irisviel to join the conversation, wary of Assassin as she was.
"Why would they do that? And why is the sun up already?"
"The answer to both questions is Caster." Assassin spoke he had explained everything with just those words.
"You're saying Caster has done something to cause everyone in Fuyuki City to act irrationally? That he was able to make the sun obey him? I don't believe it. It's is far more likely that you've done something to both Maiya and my Master, some other magic is warping the light." In an instant her sword was drawn again, and poised to strike Assassin. "Surely you don't believe me so naive that I'd fall victim to your little lies?"
"No lies tonight, Saber. Remember that the Mediator of the War has called a ceasefire between all groups until the threat of Caster is passed. He has made his move tonight, and so should we. Even as we speak he is doing irreparable damage to the world."
"A ceasefire that you've violated before! Caster is a charlatan. He plays with potions instead of casting real magic. He cannot possibly pose a large threat. The only matter is finding where the worm hides. Besides," Saber added as an afterthought, "you have no way of knowing that he's behind this all."
"I'm telling you that he is at the river. I'm telling you that he is responsible for the disappearance of both your Master and his student. " Assassin spoke patiently like one would speak to a child. "Go to the city and see what you find. I come to you because I know it would be nigh impossible for me to defeat Caster on my own. Not when he's like this."
'Like what?' Irisviel wanted to ask, but held her tongue. She would leave the decision to Saber. She had only met Caster once, and even that hadn't been a combat situation. She had no ideas as to what his capabilities were besides what Saber had reported. The ability to burn things and to summon swarms of insects… and a propensity for violence and murder as seen in the papers and news.
"What do you mean by that? What did Caster do?" Arturia spoke with unmasked interest. In their previous encounters, Caster had humiliated her. That shifty, spineless worm of a man had no business in this War… but Saber knew there was danger in that pointed, ugly face of his. Now there was a man without any principle. Caster seemed willing to do anything and everything to further his goals, whatever they may be.
Assassin shrugged. He had only seen the mass of human beings, writhing and fucking like a tangle of worms. Rats with their tails tied together. Snakes huddling for warmth in the winter. There was no telling how Caster had managed to enthrall the entire population of Fuyuki.
"I haven't been able to approach the man. He is surrounded by his, ah, worshippers. I don't know what he's done, but he's made every man and woman in this city into his slave. They obey him and mill about him. Waiting for handouts, maybe." Assassin finished derisively. "The fact that Servants seemed to be resistant to his pull lets us assume that Caster is using some magic tomfoolery to enslave the population. Magic that we are naturally resistant to." Assassin's glance shifted towards Irisviel and he rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't quite understand why she hasn't responded to Caster's magic. Everyone else has."
Avalon perhaps? Or maybe Irisviel's existence as a homunculus afforded her natural resistance to magical interference…
"Do you feel anything strange? A tugging at the back of your mind, perhaps? That's what I've been feeling ever since my Master disappeared to join Caster's orgy."
'Orgy?' And now that he mentioned it, Saber did feel something strange. A slight throbbing of her brain against the casing of her skull. Insidiously small and barely recognizable, but still existent, and still worrying. If Caster could affect her, with her immensely strong magical resistance… it must have been incredibly powerful, whatever he did.
"I feel it…" Irisviel said quietly. "It's nothing big, but I do feel it. It's like a little compulsion that's telling you to go to the river. Almost like how some people bite their fingernails by habit. It's automatic."
"An apt observation. Seems that you aren't immune after all, just resistant." Assassin frowned. "Still leaves a plan of motion left to decide…"
"Calm down, Assassin. We did not say that we would assist you. You're our enemy. Several days ago you shot Irisviel with the intention to kill. Yesterday you shot off my hand." Saber leveled her sword, befret of its invisibility it was a long length of cold, steely death. "Leave at once or draw your weapon. It is your choice."
Assassin stared at his wristwatch for a brief moment before sighing. "It's two in the morning, Saber. The sun is out. Did you not notice that?"
A chill ran down Saber's spine. Two o'clock. Sun out. What sort of magic was this?
"Maybe now you understand. Whatever you may think of him, Caster has become immensely powerful. The sun itself obeys his command. What do you think of the rest of the world? How will the scientists of the world explain this phenomena? Do you think the Church will forgive this indiscretion?"
"No… of course not." Saber said slowly. "I'll admit that whoever is responsible for this early sunrise is a legitimate threat. But I see no reason to ally with you. I should be able to defeat Caster myself. I know enough of his power to know how to fight against him."
He threw the cigarette to the ground and crushed it underfoot. "And yet you did not realize as your Master and ally fled their stronghold, minds broken by Caster's magic. You did not realize that the morning had come too early. You do not know." Assassin was speaking severely now, highly frustrated. "Recognize that my Master has also been affected by Caster. Every moment he is under thrall is a minute that he could die. The same goes for your own Master. I have motivation to work with you until Caster's defeat."
"We," Saber said motioning to herself and Irisviel, "cannot trust you. You have shown yourself to be dangerous, unscrupulous, and utterly honorless. You will turn on us. I know you will."
"Of course I will. I want nothing more than to kill that little bitch standing there, for having the temerity to stay alive after having her heart destroyed by three gunshots from my Enforcer. The risk is too great right now. If we don't work together and put our grudges aside; Caster will win. No. He has won already because the whole world is on his side. It's our job to sour his victory."
"Leave. You've admitted already that you intend on killing Irisviel. I will not allow you to stand and threaten as you please."
Assassin sighed and turned to the open window, the night that was bright as any day, where the animals woke, confused and dazed to see the sun so soon.
"It can't be helped then. I'll find my own way of dealing with Caster… And of course, since we are not working together; this means if I spy Ms. Hisau or Mr. Emiya, they may meet unfortunate ends…" Assassin took an exaggerated step towards the window before preparing to jump and—
"Wait! Mr. Assassin!" Irisviel stepped from her spot next to Saber, a pleading expression on her face. "Is he safe?"
"Your husband, you mean?" Assassin stopped smoothly and turned back around. A slight smile was on his face, one of his assured victory. "He's having the time of his life right now. This whole city is. You should see for yourself, just what is happening."
"We'll work with you, Mr. Assassin, if it means that you don't go after Kiritsugu and Maiya tonight. Or until Caster is defeated." Irisviel hadn't spoken much during the conversation, but she was now full of vigor and purpose.
"Iri—" Saber began but was cut off.
"Don't worry about this, Saber. We know what he can do now, right? He caught me by surprise the first time… but I'll be careful this time around. We need to work together if we're going to beat Caster."
She was not enthused. But there was no choice, no time to waste. The three of them exited the building post-haste, running to the car to begin their journey for Caster's head.
Sola-ui shrieked along with the best of them. Screaming and drooling were the only way of expressing such pleasure. No need for words. Sultry, lustful looks and depraved moans were the only way of communicating. Lancer was in her again, buried to the root for the fourth time that night. Servants had no need for rest so long as they had mana… and Sola-ui would have died of exhaustion before letting the pleasure stop.
"Fuck!" Seed, thick and hot like melted wax filled her again, stayed in her deepest caverns as Diarmuid grunted his release. His was acting as sort of a plug, stretching and filling her perfectly. "You're perfect, Lancer. Perfect. You're my perfect, perfect—" A hand wrapped around her throat, causing her to gag and clench wonderfully tightly around Lancer's still hard cock. The thrusts began anew, angry and violent and once again perfect. Oh God, she was in love. She loved him so much, her beautiful Servant. So much better than her husband, whatever his name was—
Tears were dripping down her face. She was so, so happy. The world before the sex was less than nothing, not even worth a memory. The now, the pleasure was all that mattered, all that she could think about. Had it been fate that Diarmuid been summoned for her? Was it an act of God that this beautiful man lay panting over her in glorious exertion as her sharp nails dug lightly over his lean back? Questions didn't even cross her mind. One moment they had been asleep in their rented room, in separate beds at Lancer's request, and then at some strange hour of the night (was this all a dream?) the sun had risen and some heavenly scent filled the world, telling them to run out on the gilded streets and celebrate along with the rest of the world. Celebrate for God had finally come to earth again to absolve them of responsibility and fill their hearts with love.
So close they were to the water that Sola-ui could hear the splash of the river as other couples and groups of sex partners filled its banks and moved with fervent urgency.
She let out a squeal, high pitched and surprised as Lancer hooked his arms underneath her legs and stood, driving her downwards with gravity onto his pillar, reaching deeper and deeper— she could barely think. Words became replaced with sensations. Each and every letter a different shade of ecstasy felt in equally amounts of delicious pleasure. 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck,' Sola-ui wrapped her arms around Lancer's muscled shoulders and clenched as hard as she could. She felt her breasts squish together against Lancer's chest and she didn't care about anything at all beside her cunt and how good the world was.
The absurdity of the situation hadn't even occurred to her. One and a half million people all engaged in sex and sodomy and depravity, all of them happy and sharing and kind to one another. All of them in love. Something impossible had happened and they were all the better for it. Sola-ui knew that whatever had happened, whoever had happened, was all for the better. How else could she feel so damned good?
Lancer eased her down and Sola-ui knelt, staring straight up to meet her lover's droopy eyes— eyes that she found so, so enticing and wonderful. She opened wide and swallowed as much of the hallowed column as she could, relishing in the taste of her own lascivious fluids and secretions that lubricated the entire length of Lancer's shaft. She hadn't done this before, but it came naturally, it was natural somehow to be on her knees with cock in her mouth and love in her eyes—
The night (day?) was beautiful. Sola-ui, plastered with sweat and love, looked beautiful. And she was happy. Happy as she could ever be, because the love she felt was real, Real as the sun above and the ground below. So real that it scared her.
There were children being raped to death. Choking on cock and smothered under the cunts of men and women older than them. Sometimes children sought each other out through the crowd. Entire classes of children connected waist to waist or waist to face or ass to waist or ass to face.
A woman stuck her finger somewhere it was not meant to be.
The hearts of old men burst in their chests, simply ceasing to work in their brief, excellent moments of heaven.
A shrinemaiden, young and virginal, took four men at once. Her brother matched her.
There was a kindergartener, short enough to be able to take a man in her mouth without even bending over. She seemed to be in high demand.
Animals began to join the humans, their owners, in the orgy. A boy yelped in glee as his dog, a large doberman, lay draped over his back, finally managed to push the knot through the tight ring of his sphincter.
Even the new cadavers participated, still warm and wet, blood flowing away from their once engorged genitals now that there was no heart to pump the warm life through their veins. The living didn't care so long as the hole was wet and soft. The world was a new sensation, and influenced as they were by Caster's perfume, every breath and touch was sheer ecstasy.
Perhaps a hundred meters away, the only person fully clothed in the sea of naked libertines, Caster, sat on the impossible river bed with an expression on accomplishment on his face. A drop of perfume and the world had bowed to him. Even the Servant of the Lancer class hadn't been immune to the power of scent; resistant maybe, but not immune. The closer one got to Caster, the stronger his influence was… the more one fell in love. Next to him was the body of his Master, Uryuu Ryuunosuke. A dead man. A loyal, simple man who had wanted nothing more than to feel the pleasures of life and to live honestly, making his own art. Grenouille decided to dedicate this love fest to his first and only friend. He'd live on forever in Grenouille's mind as a smell. The best kind of immortality, after all, is to be remembered by God…
Valentine and Iskander had traversed the concrete canopy by leaping and climbing from rooftop to rooftop. Below them in the streets were masses of people, crazed with lust and drunk on pleasure. They were running toward the river, eyes scanning the crowds, looking for Waver Velvet. It was an exercise in futility. Even with Rider's innate link to his Master guiding them, it was near impossible to make out individuals in the crowd. The orgy members were all connected, all sweating and dripping and breathing together like a single organism.
As they grew closer, the pull on their minds grew stronger, exponentially stronger. The pervasive aura in the air unlocked and fed some primal desire to join the people below in their sick pleasure. It was difficult, immensely difficult to resist, and both Servants feared that they would succumb to their latent desires…
"This cannot continue, Valentine." Rider's face was red and flushed as if he was drunk. "The closer we get, the more difficult it is to resist. We will not find that boy like this."
"What can we do? Neither of us have the capabilities for a distance attack, and there will be casualties if we choose to fight here. Caster has this whole city as hostage—" Valentine stopped himself and kicked a small brick off the rooftop, undoubtedly to land on some unsuspecting person below. "Casualties aren't the issue. The fact that Caster has a buffer zone of over a mile is. Which of the Servants would have the range to deal with him?"
Rider grunted and peered over the edge, grimacing at the lewd sight below. The people were ignorant of the danger they were in. Their wills had been coopted in favor of whatever disgusting future Caster had in store.
"Funny how you'd be the one unable to launch a distance assault, Archer." Rider said with a wry laugh. "With my Gordius Wheel I could almost certainly find and kill Caster. It's the fact that even my Divine bulls are affected that prevents me from doing so."
"Then I will gather Berserker and Assassin. You find the other two. Hopefully they are in a cooperative mood…"
Kariya peered out his window, pondering the crowd that had flooded the street, stripping themselves and engaging in passion. At that moment, his cramped apartment seemed the safest place in the world. Sitting on the couch, bending the furniture under his immense weight, was Berserker. For once the Servant seemed calm, responsive even to Kariya's commands. It had been the dreams, maybe, that were strengthening the bond between the two. Every day Kariya found himself waking up later and later, and going to bed earlier and earlier… the time spent asleep was time spent dreaming.
Silent Hill. Other than the various grotesqueries that roamed the town and the initial terrible moment where Berserker had killed the dream Sakura; it was a calm place. The ruins of a town filled with the unrecallable memories of a thousands of lives. Walking through that vast dreamscape Kariya could feel the day to day banalities that the hard working, salt of the earth townsfolk went through. Miners and shopkeepers. Alcoholics and priests. The children scampering about until that day the ground had opened up with the fire of the world and swallowed their lives…
At times he walked through the lonely schoolhouse, abandoned a century ago and gutted by fire, reclaimed by nature. There were vines and flowers growing everywhere through the cracks in the heat warped, scorched linoleum floor. It was a beautiful place where happy thoughts came easily. The laughter of children always played in his mind as he looked over the empty desks and old, broken pieces of chalk still laying in the metal holding shelf under the blackboard. Sakura would have been of age to attend school by now if she hadn't been stuck in the Matou basement, suffering unspeakable injustices and enduring pain, such pain…
It was the dreams, Kariya decided, that had quelled the Crest Worms lurking under his skin. His health was still failing, the bloody coughing and constant vomiting was proof of that. But he felt none of the pain that Zouken had promised would come. Berserker somehow, must have been dealing with it somehow, was the only explanation that Kariya could come up with. Could Berserker perhaps save Sakura from the worms as well? Perhaps…
"What do you think is going on out there, Berserker? The sun's out at two in the morning." The Servant never responded to Kariya's questions, but it felt nice to be able to voice his thoughts aloud with an audience that never interrupted or spoke back. "Almost certainly it's the work of another Servant. But which one…"
Kariya's information on the other Servants was limited. Berserker could hardly speak, and the tenuous mental link that had been forged between Master and Servant only went so far to aid in communication, so all the scouting that the butcher had done didn't really help Kariya. And there was his participation in the War to consider as well… he had chosen to allow the other Masters to direct the course of the War as prolonged combat had a directly negative impact on his health. Thusly, he had no idea as to what the capabilities of the other Servants were.
"Doesn't seem like anything the knight classes would manage. They're supposed to be fighters, not whatever this is. Even the other classes, Assassin and Rider, they don't match this either. So it must be Caster, right?" It was straight up disturbing what was happening out there. Seemed like the whole city had come out to engage in depraved, brutal sex with one another, with everything and anything that could breath or had a pulse; many times even those basic conditions were forgotten… it was sick to watch. Even the children were—
Children were out there. Children were with dogs and old men and each other, learning what their bodies were made for. Losing their innocence. Bleeding from everywhere and screaming alternatively with new pain or acquired pleasure. Did that mean— it did mean that Sakura was likely out there being defiled in new, but no less depraved, ways— oh God. Kariya didn't know why he hadn't been affected by whatever it was making everyone act so strangely, but he knew it was his duty now to save Sakura, save Aoi who might also be out there under some strange man or woman, panting and crying out in adultery...
"We're going out!"
Berserker grunted, the only sound he could really make besides screaming, and ceased to wipe down his knife. The two stood side by side, Kariya with disgust and anger on his face and Berserker, unreadable as always. There would be violence tonight…
He didn't even feel bad about it now. The adultery had been so… painful in the past. A reminder that one day he'd betray Irisviel and send her to death, all for the sake of the world. Those nights had been practice, he told himself, practice for when he had to stare in Irisviel's eyes, those bright and innocent eyes that had seen so little of the world… he would have to look her in the face and tell her she would die and that he had been working towards it all along. For the greater good. It was an excuse as much as it was Kiritsugu's justification for doing everything.
The past was dead now. The present was what mattered. And in the present, Kiritsugu could only think about the woman underneath him, a stranger, a brunette with a plain face, hard body. Here there was no guilt, no regret or even thought of his wife. Just the immeasurable happiness that had come when the sun rose in the night sky. Night to day. Guilt to joy. Pain to joy. All thanks to that man, no angel, that had been born today.
There was no use for the Grail. His dreams of world peace were already accomplished, weren't they? The Angel had brought love to the world. Everyone, everyone was in love, falling in love, had been in love with each and every living thing. This was true peace. A world without conflict or pain. Just a simple peace.
Occupying the space of sidewalk directly next to Kiritsugu, Maiya mewled as her fourth partner for the night entered her sopping cunt. Maiya Hisau, usually so serious and proper… she too was happy. Nude and quivering in the night's sun, she squirmed as the young man servicing her flipped her over so that her she was laying face down. The boy was muscular, perhaps in his second year of highschool, and all too eager to satisfy. With hands, trembling with anticipation, the boy straddled Maiya's thighs and spread her firm buttocks to reveal her trembling insides, pink and lovely like a flower…
This was life now, wasn't it? She jerked her hips backwards to meet her partner and let out such a moan when they finally connected. Drool and sweat beaded and fell to spot the ground. Was this was happiness was? She turned her head weakly towards Kiritsugu, who was busy with his own pleasure. The two met eyes briefly and impossibly, their smiles got brighter and their hands snaked together, fingers intertwining in intimacy past intimacy. Whatever feelings may have existed before were unimportant. They were together now and love was not just an emotion, it was the iron law of the night.
Love. Kiritsugu had never loved Maiya. The relationship the two had did not even extend to that of student and teacher. They may have had sex in the past, but his heart had always belonged to Irisviel… He had even whispered Irisviel's name into Maiya's ear one of those nights in the dark, smoky hotel rooms, much to Maiya's despair.
But now, the sun made all clear. The world, Maiya, Kirtsugu, they had all found love in the strangest of things. Something invisible and intangible… all because of a drop of perfume, molecules of scent stolen from the bodies of young girls, they had learned to love one another.
"Fuck!" Kariya clutched at his head as Berserker stepped on yet another person, a man, this time breaking an arm under his immense bulk. "Don't do that! I keep telling you to be careful!"
But an order without the threat of the Command Spell was merely a suggestion. Berserker reached his foot back and kicked, hitting the man square in the forehead, ending his misery and lubing the asphalt with bone fragments and so many different flavors of brain matter. Pyramid Head seemed to be enjoying himself, going out of his way to injure the oblivious sex fiends tangled on the floor, on the roofs of cars and in heaps of trash, all of them going at it as enthusiastically and vigorously as pornstars.
"Just…" Kariya screamed in frustration, kicking away the reaching hand of a cooing bleach blonde. "Be more careful."
Berserker grunted and cut a man's foot off on complete accident. He had been using his knife as sort of a cane and it had fallen just right.
"Oh man… just go invisible, can't you do that?" But Berserker shook his rusted head no and continued on his merry way, breaking bones with every tottering step.
Kariya cursed under his breath and followed along, alternatively ignoring and apologizing for his Servant's behaviour. Why he wasn't on the ground with the rest of the people of Fuyuki, he didn't know…
"Ah, what do we have here?" A regal, authoritative voice called out over the moaning. "Berserker, I believe? And his Master? What a strange night we meet on."
Strangely, surprisingly, Berserker did not attack. The mad Servant simply stared, or did as close as he could to stare with the helmet on his head.
Kariya jogged forward, almost tripping on a couple that had been making out on the ground. "It is a strange night, what, with all this… lovemaking. Who are you?"
"In this life, the Servant Archer. In my past, I was Funny Valentine, twenty-third—"
"Of the United States, yes, I'm familiar." In his childhood, Kariya had been enthralled by the stories of Steel Ball Run. Out of all the American Presidents, Valentine was probably the only one that Kariya could name, besides Clinton, the current president. "Nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Kariya Matou." They shook hands and Kariya motioned to Berserker, who had been standing by, silently. "This is Berserker. He doesn't say much, but I've taken to calling him Pyramid Head."
"You're awfully forthcoming, considering that I am a potential enemy. What if I were to attack you?"
Kariya laughed, an awful, hacking sound due to his poor health. "Here? I doubt you would choose to attack here," the Magus nudged a young boy, who had been bouncing a top of a man who looked to be his father, with his foot. "Besides, Berserker would kill if you tried anything."
"Would he now…" Valentine stroked his chin and the trio walked through the sea of mating, rutting people together. "I've come searching for you to offer an alliance. Rider and I have determined that Caster is the one responsible for this false, dirty night. Considering that the Mediator has called for an official ceasefire until Caster's defeat, we found it logical that the Servants work together."
"You said Servants, but what about the Masters? Have the others agreed, or are the Servants working independently?"
Valentine kicked over a woman who had tottered to her feet, trying to hug him. Such dirty people… she hadn't even been attractive.
"The other Masters, I assume are part of the crowd." Valentine said gesturing towards the orgy. "Rider's Master was affected, and I assume that mine would have been as well, if he weren't dead." They were making good time through the crowd, Berserker was several meters ahead, clearing a path, pushing and stomping people out of the way.
"Dead? How are you staying materialized? Isn't it that a Servant is dependent on the summoner for mana?" Except of course for Berserker. Kariya hardly felt any drain from Berserker, powerful as the Servant was. "And who was your Master, if I may ask?"
"No one you know probably. I feel that he thought himself much more important than he actually was…" Tokiomi Tohsaka. The value that man had was the fact that his family had collected three whole parts of the Corpse. Those were now in Valentine's possession; and if Spy was to be believed, Tokiomi's daughter had another piece of the Corpse. "His name was Tokiomi Tohsaka."
Kariya stopped walking. Aoi's husband. The father of Sakura and Rin. He was dead? Kariya had never liked the man, in fact, Kariya had hated Tokiomi for marrying Aoi, for selling Sakura, his own daughter to Zouken… Tokiomi had deserved to die.
"Tokiomi Tohsaka, huh?" Kariya let out a huge, shuddering sigh. Try as he might to contain himself, he could not lie: the news excited him. "How'd he go?" At Valentine's withering stare, he quickly elaborated. "The reason I joined the War was because of something he did. Something terrible."
The president murmured to himself. "It was suicide," he stated finally. "He caused his own death."
"That makes it sound like he didn't actually kill himself."
"If you knew the truth of what happened, there'd be no other way to classify his death. Tohsaka killed himself. I am only able to stay materialized because of external factors."
Had Valentine found a new Master? Kariya didn't quite know, but he felt guilty for being so happy over the man's death. Zouken would probably never let Sakura go, but now that Tokiomi was out of the picture, rescuing Sakura might be easier. He might even be able to attempt it tonight, with all this confusion. He hoped that Zouken had somehow restrained Sakura, as terrible it might sound. This false morning was nowhere for a little girl to be… but they were everywhere. All those grade schoolers becoming adults far too early.
"Then, if you know so much about Tokiomi, could you perhaps tell me where to find his daughter?"
"Which one?" Was Valentine also looking to rescue Sakura? Did the president have a heart under his calm and steady exterior?
"Both of them. I have need for only one, but I do not know which one I need. You see, I'm searching for something, and it seems that part of it has fallen into the hands of the one of the Tohsaka children."
Disappointing, but it was to be expected. Kariya had been hoping that Archer also be wishing to free Sakura from her bondage, but it seemed not to be. Perhaps he'd be able to recruit Valentine regardless? He put his most serious expression on, a stern face made terrifying by the tuber like lumps of wormflesh hiding under his skin.
"How about a deal then? I'm also looking for one of the Tohsaka daughters. My problem is that I'm trying to save her. That's why I joined the War…"
"Save her from what?" Valentine asked.
Kariya sighed and began the lengthy explanation behind how exactly Sakura came to live with the Matou family. He began the story with Zouken's lack of a suitable heir and Tokiomi's overwhelming ambition to have his daughters become great Magi. Rin, the elder would grow to be the heir of the Tohsaka family, and Sakura would foster with the Matou clan until she one day grew to be its head… a good plan if it weren't for Zouken's intense, sadistic, disgusting training. Then Kariya explained how he had joined the War to win the Grail and to relieve Sakura of the burden of having to stay with the Matou family, away from her mother and sister and devoid of all happiness in her life. Tortured everyday by biting worms that crawled into her body, under her skin, all with the intention of strengthening her magic and making her feel like shit.
"Will you help me, Valentine? I can't offer much, but my goal is to free Sakura. With your help, I might not even need the Grail to do so. I've risked so much, you understand. I was never trained to be a Magus. My father had to give me these Worms, to strengthen my magic. I summoned Berserker when he fully expected me to die, be eaten by the Worms because I was too weak. Even now I'm dying. Look at me." Kariya motioned to his face, so gaunt and pale that it seemed like the sun could shine through all the skin and bone and flesh of his head, like putting a flashlight to the hand to watch the blood glow red.
"I have conditions, Kariya." Valentine didn't seem moved at all by the story he had just heard. "You allow me to look through your family's belongings. Part of the artifact that I am gathering was found in Tokiomi's office. I can assume that as one of the major magical families, the Matou family may hold more pieces of what I look for. Secondly I will require that you assist me in finding Rin Tohsaka."
Kariya wasn't so sure if he could fulfill that first condition, but he didn't care. As long as Valentine helped him save Sakura, he'd do anything.
"Deal."
They walked over carpet of bodies, all of them joined in some intimate way, laid bare before the sun and so, so in love. Berserker headed the group, and Kariya and Archer shook hands. But saving Sakura would come later. After Caster was dead…
AN: Reminder that the mass orgy is canon in Perfume. A single drop made an entire city full of people start having sex. Here, a single drop of Grenouille's perfume was enough to make an orgy that spans the entire world.
I tried to make it clear that this wasn't because it was some smutty porn type of thing. The orgy is absolutely terrifying if you think about it. Grenouille's perfume is stated to have the power to make people fall in love, or more accurately, allows Grenouille to control what people love. That's a freaking OP ability. It gives you a huge army of people that will listen to you forever, keeps their moral super high, turns your enemies to your side if they breathe the perfume, etc. People under the effect of the perfume think that Grenouille is literally a divine being that deserves to be worshipped. Maiya and Kiritsugu weren't exempt.
No one is immune to the perfume; unless they don't need to breathe. Just that Servants have high resistance to it. If they got closer to the source, they would certainly join the orgy. Sola-ui and Lancer were near the river where Caster is when he first used his Bottled Love. That's why they were affected while the other Servants were not.
Irisviel is resistant to the perfume because of her status as a homunculus and because of Avalon being inside her body. If she got closer to Grenouille, she'd succumb.
Same goes for Kariya. He's resistant because of Berserker, which will be explained later in the story.
EDIT: fixed naming error. Thanks to a reviewer for catching it.
Thanks for reading. Please review and leave comments on what you liked in this chapter.