Waver's blood ran cold and he froze, his eyes shot open wide and her eyes flicked up to him with a calm stillness about them. His body began to shake and sweat and whatever she had been using to mask herself she released. She was another Servant, and not a weak one either, not that she needed to be to kill him right here and now.
This was it, he was going to die here in a corner of some stupid bookstore in some stupid country fighting in a stupid War with a stupid Servant. And he had to admit, he was pretty stupid himself to be letting it happen. That's why something had seemed so off about her but instead of listening to instinct, because he had just kept putting it aside, what was probably Assassin's replacement he'd detected a few nights ago was probably going to-
"Relax kid," she tossed the book at him and it bounced off of his chest, snapping him out of his gaze and letting him recover fast enough to fumble about with in midair before managing to grab it and hug it to his chest in a hunched position, looking up at her with a worried expression. She was standing with her weight shifted to one leg and her arms crossed, her attention back to the rows of books before her. "There's a truce on while everyone hunts Caster isn't there? Besides, it's daytime and I've seen more than enough dead children to last me several lifetimes and not want to see another, let alone put down by my hand."
Her tone was almost distant, but it was still soft and given the situation Waver couldn't help but be a bit dumbfounded as he looked up at her, still trying to take everything, his brush with death, included. Suddenly her eyes flicked back to him when he didn't respond and he stiffened again with a shiver down his spine simply because she could literally kill him at any moment if she wanted to. He also spotted her hand clenching, a motion he'd actually spied out of the corner of his eye several times now that he thought about it, but it loosened just like the times before and she went back to being still.
Another minute passed by in silence and she sighed, "Alright, good luck to you then, Waver," she said and turned, her finger running down the spines of books and flicking out those she must have spotted earlier to fall into her other hand without breaking stride. When she got to the end of the aisle she set about four books into a basket with a decent number of books in it before hooking it under an arm, standing straight, and walking out of sight without giving him a second glance.
He was sitting there, stupefied for another second or two. Don't do it Waver. Don't do it. Don't be an idiot. He suddenly came to his senses and shook his head, looking down at his book before shooting up, "Hang on! Wait up a minute!"
Waver sat a bit nervously across from the woman he'd ran into a few minutes ago, a cup of coffee in his hands while she sat with a cup of hot chocolate before her, running a finger around the rim of the steaming drink. They were still in the same bookstore but she had agreed to sit with him and talk, setting her rather hefty basket of books on the table to get them both something to drink only a minute before.
The young magus had glanced into her basket while she was gone and spotted a few history books she'd picked out amongst an abundance of, surprisingly, H.P. Lovecraft novels. That had certainly surprised him, a little, having heard of the author and the sorts of stories he wrote he could only wonder what interest she could possibly have in the cosmic horror novels.
After she had returned they sat in silence for a good minute or so while she sipped on her drink and he sat rather tensely. She set her drink back down after another sip, still not really looking at him as her attention was directed more out the window, but honestly he was at something of a loss of words, not really knowing why he'd stopped her or what question to choose to ask.
Finally she was the one that broke the silence, "If you're wondering why I picked out Lovecraft of all things while I'm supposed to be looking for information about old heroes, call it a personal curiosity." She raised her drink again and he stiffened slightly, his finger rubbing anxiously on the coffee mug. "No need to feel guilty about looking, didn't even need to look back to know. Anyone would have if only to get titles for the other books I got." He gave a half-hearted chuckle and rubbed his neck, looking a bit off to the side, not really knowing what to say since she pretty much hit the nail on the head. "Not much of a talker then?" she asked as she glanced over to him with a raised brow.
He was still pretty nervous, for a variety of reasons. Partially because she was still a Servant that could likely kill him in the blink of an eye, partially because he just normally wasn't the most social, and, well, she was somewhat of an attractive woman. She had strong features certainly and the only thing that really stopped her from being beautiful even was the serious, almost dead look in her eyes on top of the gloom that just kinda hung around her.
He finally released a defeated sigh and raised his eyes back to her, "Kinda, just...a bit unusual the whole situation and all. Somewhat out of the ordinary to run into an enemy Servant out on their own in the middle of a bookstore and then sit and have coffee with them." She gave an acknowledging tip of her head and turned her gaze back out the window while she sipped on her hot chocolate. Think of something to say Waver, now might be the only chance to ask her something.
Waver looked around the fairly large bookstore, seeing most patrons going about their business in the store while they sat by themselves in the coffee store area. At least they didn't have to worry about being heard but he'd still set up a small bounding field just in case. Finally, after looking around he thought of something to say, "Are you alone though? Is your Master around here?"
She shook her head, "No, just me here. My Master is out gathering information about Caster's possible whereabouts while I look for information about some of the heroic spirits and possibly do some searching of my own should time allow."
It made sense, divide and conquer and get as much information as possible as quickly as possible. Though it was strange her Master was the one that was hunting information on Caster and not her. He wouldn't ask though if only because he knew she wouldn't tell him and there was no point wasting the breath; at least she was being a bit more useful toward her own Master then Rider was for him. That got a momentary frown on his face but he was quick to clear it before she thought it was directed at her.
Another thought struck his mind, "Wait, so, hang on...Are you that other summon I detected a few nights ago? The same night Assassin died? Are you his replacement?"
She looked over at him with a cocked brow and paused before shaking her head, "Yes and no," she sipped on her drink and the second she spent on it felt like an agonizing one as he waited for her to clarify. "Yes, I was summoned on the same night Assassin perished, but I am not Assassin. I don't think you would find Assassin out and about in a public bookstore sitting having a drink with another Master, let alone leave said Master alive."
"Yeah...heh heh, mmmr…" Waver rubbed at his neck again with a nervous chuckle, not entirely comfortable with the reminder of his brush with death. That still begged the question though… "But wait, if you're not Assassin...and all the other Servants were revealed last night...who are you?" his nervousness fell away at the notion that he could be sitting with a completely unknown class of Servants, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Call me Hunter," she responded idly and sipped on her drink while she looked out the window.
"Hunter…?" Waver frowned and had to think on that. What were her abilities and strengths then? If she could mask herself as a Servant from him well enough and long enough for her to literally stand right next to him without him knowing what she was, what else did she have at her disposal. From what he could tell she had fairly average stats, but that didn't make sense, she seemed a lot stronger when she'd dropped her presence mask from him a few minutes ago. Something was truly abnormal with this woman and he didn't know whether to be intrigued or terrified.
Especially since she knew his name.
"Well, Hunter, being as how you know my name, I guess we can't really formally introduce each other, but I take it you were watching everything last night?"
"Yes," she sipped her drink and he had to wait another few seconds for her to lower it again, "and I will tell you now, you are in over your head."
Waver frowned, it seemed everyone wanted to tell him what he could and couldn't do. "Listen, if this is in regards to my strength as a mage or how idiotic Rider can be, I can promise you that-"
"No, it's not that," her voice had gotten softer as she spoke those words, a bit more distant and there was a certain look on her face as she looked out the window that made Waver calm down a bit and let her speak. "Honestly it has nothing to do with any of that. Even the weakest person can accomplish the greatest achievements if they set their minds to it with enough determination and will to push on. No...it's not that at all...I just don't think you understand what you're getting yourself into."
She paused and sipped on her drink, Waver sitting and waiting, not even thinking about the fact he hadn't touched his own yet. "This event is called the Holy Grail War for a reason, it is war. There is no such thing as a pretty war, in any regard," her tone wasn't hostile as she spoke, just...sad, like she wasn't all there. "By the end of it there will be death and horrors that you'd never thought you'd ever see in your life. I understand if that is something you have come to terms to, but you will never be ready for what you will see, what you may have to do, no matter what you tell yourself.
"And you know...I've said it already, but I'm tired of seeing dead kids, I don't want any more to die if I can stop it and that's why I'm hunting Caster with near every fiber of my being. When I find him I'll make him regret ever walking this earth with the intent he held in his heart, same with his Master. And you…" she turned slowly to him, her eyes seeming a great deal more tired than when they first met, "you have your whole life ahead of you and yet here you are participating in a War that will be one of the most brutal never known to man. Trust me when I say I have seen horrors you could never imagine in your worst nightmares and I don't wish even a fraction of that fate upon anyone except the most wicked, especially not a child as young as yourself."
Hunter's eyes went back to the window and Waver sat silently, really not knowing how to properly digest everything she had to say, how she could say it all so calmly and softly. Suddenly she spoke again, "You haven't even begun to taste the beauties life has to offer and already some of them will be ripped away if not your life itself. I am not necessarily saying you shouldn't participate in the War if that is what you truly desire, but from what I can tell based upon some things you said, you're here to prove a point, that you can be someone, do something great.
"Perhaps your method about doing so would deign you noble to some, but you will not be prepared for what you see even should you accomplish your goal. Do not take for granted the beauties life has to offer you now, Waver Velvet, for even the simplest things you never thought could be taken from you can be and you will miss them every instant they are gone."
Waver thought he saw a tear tracing down her other cheek despite her neutral expression and unwavering voice but even as he leaned a little to see he decided against it and returned to his original position. "I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful it feels to be able to see the sun rise again every morning…" Her voice was a whispered breath and he furrowed his brow and bit his lip, looking away as he thought of what he could possibly say in response to that. Before he knew it though, she was already standing with her basket under her arm, "It is your choice what you do with your life, just try not to throw it away chasing something so easily attainable as that. Best of luck to you, and next time, bring Rider, not everyone is quite as sympathetic as I and I cannot promise next time I will be so lenient. I have something much larger at stake than you and I will not let anyone stand in the way of it."
Waver sat silently at the table, looking down at his coffee before raising his eyes to watch her walk to the front counter where she'd pay for her books. He released a deep sigh and looked to her empty cup, blinking at the small ornately designed music box resting beside it with its lid up. Under its lid was a scrap of paper with a note on it so old and faded he couldn't even make out the language except for two names down at the bottom, Gascoigne and Viola. He hadn't even seen her pull it out and before he could do anything it simply began to play a methodical tune on its own, the crank turning slowly seemingly without any outside assistance.
The tune was...well he didn't really know how to describe it, it was almost like a lullaby. Even as he watched it though the small box began to slowly fade away into purple wisps, the tune haunting the air for a few moments even after it completely vanished before it slowly faded from his ears. He looked up again at the counter but Hunter was already gone and he slowly sat back in his chair, wondering what even make of the encounter he just had with the mysterious eighth Servant.
Reyven sat quietly in the diner Garren had taken her to the day before, sitting in a booth with one leg crossed over the other and a hand pulling lightly at her lip as she thought. She could have killed the boy then and there and gotten rid of Rider and she'd been tempted to try and strike with something poisonous so that even though it was late morning she might be able to get away with it.
However, she couldn't will herself to do it. She had hesitated every time an opening had presented itself and when they'd confronted one another and he stood there paralyzed like a trapped animal and still she couldn't do anything...she had decided just to take her leave. Of course, then he had called after her and asked, if shakily, for a small meeting.
The Hunter hadn't been lying when she said she'd seen enough dead kids. Every time she'd thought about making a move in that store a flash of a bloodstained bow and the look down from a high ladder would flash in her mind and cause her to hesitate. Perhaps when they encountered each other next her adrenaline would be pumping and she would not even have time to think before her blades struck out so what was left of her conscience wouldn't stop her.
Still though...it'd felt good to be able to let go for a minute. Whether it had to been to subconsciously try to get him to drop or because her thoughts had been coagulating on themselves for too long without reprieve she was not sure, but in a way it felt like a bit of a weight off her shoulders for one reason or another. Sighing, she glanced to the clock on the other end of the diner to see it tick to twelve, and sure enough the door to the diner opened and in stepped Garren, looking around for a seat when he noticed her hand raise a bit to get his attention.
The teacher walked over and slid into the seat across from her with a deep breath, setting his journal down and running a hand through his hair, his expression not his usual jovial one. He focused his gaze on her and studied her a moment, though perhaps it was more he was simply spacing out for he blinked several times a few seconds later and spoke.
"So how did your search go?" he asked softly, sounding worn down.
"Decent, though the store did not have as many texts as I would have thought, likely because most of those tales belong to western civilizations but the point stands." Reaching into the bags beside her she pulled out one of the books she'd already cleared about Iskandar, deciding it best to keep her interaction between the two of them for now. He slid it over to his side and opened it while she sat patiently, giving him a few moments before speaking again. "I had time to do a short sweep of the area but even with my abilities I have been having issues finding any abnormal magical traces. What of you...I take it questioning did not go so well?"
"Yes and no...and I guess that's where the problem lies," Garren released a deep sigh and took his glasses off to rub at the bridge of his nose before opening his journal and putting his frames back on. Approaching footsteps drew Reyven's attention to the waitress who came up to give a smile and a bow as well as menus for the both of them now that Garren had arrived. After taking the order for their drinks she left and he cleared his throat to continue. "Not all of the kids were students I had or that even attended the same school, really there doesn't seem to be much of pattern, they're just gathering as many kids as possible from wherever they can find them across the entire city."
The news truthfully didn't surprise Reyven, especially with magic and/or a Servant involved it would be rather easy to kidnap whomever one pleased for they could just be hypnotized to come along or their parents done likewise to make them forget. "Were you able to gather much information about what incidents may have occurred for their children to disappear?"
He nodded, "Yeah, sadly most of the stories are the same: the kid knows better than to go with strangers but still disappears, even though the house is locked up and the kid knows not to go outside the door or window is open come morning and they're gone, or they would even be walking with their parents at night and said parents blink and suddenly their child is gone. Honestly it all points to hypnosis but I'm sure that's to be expected. Still though…" he sighed again and leaned forward some, one hand to his forehead as he no doubt tried to hide his frustration and sorrow.
Reyven only watched her Master struggle with his emotions, though she didn't blame him for having them. As someone whose entire career is centered around children and giving them the information necessary to move on in life, it was of little doubt this would hit him hard. Especially talking with the parents of those he may have even taught on a regular basis. Still though, now was a time to turn the rage and sorrow into motivation rather than weights.
"Mas-" she glanced to the waitress that returned and placed their drinks, asking if they were ready to order: Garren just asked for rice while Reyven asked for soup. The waitress gave them another pleasant grin and a bow and she couldn't help but return it a little as she watched the young woman off. "...Garren, we must focus, if you let your emotions get the better of you not only will it cloud your thoughts but your judgement as well. There is a time for them but right now we must focus on finding and eliminating Caster and his Master so that no more children are abducted. Turn them into a drive if you must, but so long as they are a distraction they are a liability and that is not something we can afford."
It seemed to get through to him some as he slowly began to nod before taking a deep breath and nodding a bit more confidently this time, his gaze returning to his journal to scan the information with a renewed vigor in his eyes. Reyven tipped her head and sat back a little, scanning the diner around them as she spoke, "Trying to look at all the information one story at a time may be one source of finding a pattern but there are always others as I have no doubt you are aware?"
Garren slowly nodded, quite transfixed in his journal but still listening to his Servant. "Yeah...I know it seems all over the place but maybe we should look outside just the words..." He tapped his fingers on the table whilst his eyes furiously scanned the pages before he suddenly flipped to the back of it and pulled a slip of paper out of a small folder tucked away there. Reyven had an idea as to what he was doing, simply because it was what she had in mind, but watched curiously as he unfolded what turned out to be a map and clicked his pen just as their orders arrived.
The waitress curiously peeked at what Garren was doing as he kept glancing between his notes and the map to make another mark upon it. Reyven slid her bowl a little closer with a small thanks and noticed realization settling in on her features as she glanced between the two of them. The Hunter looked up to the young woman to see a sad smile creep up on her face and she slowly turned to Reyven, her smile raising some and she could see the pleading and well wishing words the waitress wanted to say in her eyes. Without a word though she turned and went on her way to direct a small group that walked in the door.
The Hunter's eyes lingered on the woman for a few seconds before she turned her attention to Garren and began on her soup. A few more minutes passed, Garren not even looking at his rice whilst Reyven was nearly done with her bowl by the time he finally sat back some to look over his work. Inclining her head some herself to get a glimpse of the map, she saw what he meant when he said the kidnappings were rather all over the place.
Studying the map while Garren finally began on his rice, even if he didn't take his eyes off the paper himself either, there were still a few places where it seemed like a few kidnappings had occurred closer together. "Hrm…" he rubbed at the scruff that had begun to form on his jawline in deep thought of trying to see a pattern, "It seems rather difficult to pinpoint anything concrete but…"
Reyven reached forward and drew a circle with her finger on the map, "Here is the center point for all of the locations. Here...and here are about the center of where most clusters are together." Garren traced her finger and slowly nodded before circling the spots himself, noticing what she meant a bit more clearly. Thank God she seemed to have more of an eye for this than he did.
A minute passed in relative silence as the two of them looked for any more patterns to be spotted but eventually he figured they'd seen all the important spots worthy of note. "Okay, so now the question stands of where we should be searching first since any of these places could yield some results."
His Servant sat back and seemed just as in thought as she was intent on studying the map, "Truthfully, none of them might either. We don't know for certain if they move their locations, use a hub of sorts every night to make a pattern less obvious, or have an underground network they may use." He frowned at that, knowing what she was saying was just a logical line of thought that could very well be true and thoughts they shouldn't be excluding...but that didn't make it any easier to think about. "Were I to give my best recommendation though, I'd say it best to start here first," she leaned forward and tapped the circle closer to the highlighted center.
"It is the best lead we would have as to a possible spot where they at least have been and if that is the case and they are not there, perhaps there is something more we could find to assist in locating them. Though it would all then be a matter of pinpointing that place in question…"
Garren nodded and acknowledged the small amount of defeat in her tone. Hunter as she may be, clearly she wasn't the most adept at mage hunting. "Well, I actually have a trick I learned a few years ago…" she inclined a brow, "My uncle taught me a trick knights way back when used to use to track down witches and warlocks and other magical creatures. It's a bit complicated to explain how to do it but essentially you use a sword or other blade as a compass of sorts to follow traces of magic by sending vibrations down the length of the metal. It works better with longer swords since you have more blade to get a bit more precise but that won't be too much of an option to be inconspicuous."
"Well, if you believe it will work then it would be best to begin searching as soon as we can."
Garren nodded but after a moment rubbed his neck, "Thing is, the ritual takes a bit to conduct to bless the blade…"
Reyven once more cocked her brow and crossed her arms, "How long? Is it not something I can assist with such as giving you prana?"
"Eh, I'd say it'd take till tonight to complete properly and check to make sure it's working, but no, it'd have to be just myself because otherwise something can go wrong and make it go haywire." The answer didn't entirely please her judging from the small frown on her face, "As it is though, you can spend a while looking around the city for anything that might stand out to you or something? Maybe recon the areas we talked about to see if there's anything that might give us a hint as to if it could be worth looking into or not. And hey, you're Hunter right? Surely you got some tricks under your sleeves to hunt a few pesky homicidal maniacs." He gave a smile while she continued to sit expressionless, having no idea just how close to the truth he was.
Garren parked his car on the side of the road, shutting the engine off and getting out to look both ways down the sidewalk before he withdrew the dagger he'd blessed out of his coat pocket. Blessing the weapon had taken a bit longer than he had initially hoped, having run into not one but several of the rare complications that could arise during the ritual mostly thanks to his less than satisfactory amount of mana and not having had the best memory. Still though, he'd pulled it off and despite it being later into the evening it at least meant he had the advantage of there being fewer people around and about.
He had gotten as close to one of the areas Reyven had said she'd marked for him, before she'd gone to track a peculiar trail of magic she'd detected heading out of the city, as he could and figured it'd be a good starting point. "Alright, let's see how well you work…" being as the blade was shorter it would be a bit more difficult to tell if he was facing or near stronger traces of magic residue but he'd added a few measures to heighten its detection capabilities. Another reason it had taken that much longer.
Turning his body with the blade facing outward, he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the blade vibrate down the handle into his hand and feel the sensation grow just a bit stronger as he pointed it down a nearby alley. "Good job Reyven, now let's see how long it takes before we can find something of note…" he muttered to himself before heading down the alley.
As expected, it started to take a while before he could really hone in on something he could follow, lots of backtracking and circles had been required prior, but eventually he began to feel something that really stood out. Many years ago, when his uncle had first taught him this trick, he'd been told the art was all but a lost one and most of the methods along with it were forgotten but even still some of the most basic and simple nuances worked most of the time. Holding the blade with a ginger grip meant one could feel the fainter vibrations until a strong path could be found and when it was if one continued to hold it with a light touch, and it was enchanted well enough, it could even make small motions of its own like a compass to assist in following a path.
As it was, while he was searching and getting ready to move on to another area, the blade had made a sudden small jerk and made a steady, stiff vibration down to his palm. Rolling the dagger into his other hand to shake off the sudden weird sensation and give his hand a rest from all the vibrations for a minute, Garren looked in the direction the blade had jerked searching for a source but didn't see anything in view.
"Let's see what we can get ourselves into…" he looked down at the dagger in his hand before returning his attention upward, following winding alleys and crossing streets as he tried to keep up with the oddly fluctuating blade. He'd been following it for a few minutes when he heard the sudden crash of a trashcan and other oddities and quickly stuck himself to a nearby wall, feeling the blade pulse in his hand as it tried to face the source it was trying to track.
Garbage sounded like it was shifting in the distant vicinity and he peeked around the corner to see a small figure look around before moving deeper into an alleyway. His brow furrowed and he tried squinting his eyes to get a better look before they disappeared out of sight. Finger tapping on the handle of the dagger, Garren had to debate not only on who he'd thought he'd seen but also what he should do.
Deciding to see what the blade was trying to have him follow, he lifted it and waved it slowly back and forth before it settled on the alleyway the child had disappeared into. Jaw clenching, the teacher looked around before hastily crossing the street and stepping over the trash so as to not make a sound as he pursued what could very well be another kidnapping taking place right in front of him.
His pursuit had him lagging a bit behind for while his knife kept locking in on a strong trail or source of magic, one that the kid seemed to be following for the most part, sometimes the child would go on a near but not exact course and it left him hesitant which he should try to follow. Eventually he began closing the distance with the child and he peeked around a corner just in time to see who he realized was a her and bite down a gasp of surprise.
"Rin...Rin Tohsaka…?" he breathed, watching the girl nervously look down at something she held before moving in a direction. The long black hair and pigtails were unmistakeable to him, knowing her as an exemplary student in all her classes including several of his own, he had the impression she was more than just lost given her headstrong nature. Frowning, he got to the corner she disappeared to and was about to follow her when he knife directed him to keep going straight.
He hesitated. Something definitely wasn't right. While he had come to the conclusion she wasn't the source of the strong magical spike he was feeling, though she had one, it made him question if she was following a similar trail that he was. But if that was the case why did she turn while he was being directed to go straight?
His teacher intuition screamed at him to go get Rin and help get her somewhere safe, but his inner combatant of the Holy Grail War and sense of a greater threat told him to follow and put down the source of the strong magic to make certain she and several others would be safe too. Garren clenched his fist and watched Rin disappear around another corner before sighing deeply and looking down at his dagger.
"Shit...Alright, but this had better be something important."
Lancer felt himself closing in on two Servants as he made his way through the forest at great speed, knowing those present must surely be Caster and Saber. His Master had led them here to an estate belonging to the family which Saber was Servant to saying that he had picked up a lead on Caster. As they had closed in on the property though Lancer had sensed Caster and Saber's presence and was instructed to go after the former so he might lay claim to an extra command seal and replace the one his Master had already spent.
And if time allowed for him to face the King of Knights, all the better.
The closer he got the more eager he was to learn the sort of damage Saber must surely be doing against the Caster, imagining even crippled how she must surely already have the mad Servant on the ropes by now and how he hoped she wouldn't mind him interfering too much. Imagine his surprise and slight disappointment when he arrived to see her in a rather dire situation with odd, though weak, purple starfish creatures with green quills and queerly placed eyes that had her surrounded and bound to the point of immobility while Caster looked on from a distance.
But he couldn't have that now could he?
Lancer threw his Gae Dearg and Gae Buidhe as he lept from a branch and watched the deadly spears smite the creatures which had a grip upon the crippled Saber, causing her to fall to her knees coughing for air. He snatched his red spear from the ground just before he landed just in front of Saber and grabbed his yellow one thereafter, "Rather pathetic. Such swordsmanship is unworthy of the title King of Knights," he teased, glancing over his shoulder at Saber with a smirk and a wink while she returned his gaze with wide-eyed surprise.
"Who are you?!" Caster exclaimed with a voice that made Lancer's head hurt, "And who gave you leave to interfere with our private affairs?!"
Lancer withheld a scoff and raised his yellow spear to point it at caster, his red one already held at length to keep the starfish creatures at bay. "That is my question to you, monster," he felt Saber's back press to his, "It will be my lance alone that takes Saber's life!"
Caster went into what Lancer could only describe as a temper tantrum, literally pulling out his hair as he went on about having his wish granted by the Grail to have brought Saber back to life and how he was hers in painstaking detail. Truthfully he wasn't paying all too much attention to the mad Servant lest he grow a migraine from Caster's mad ramblings as well as his voice.
"Listen, Caster, I am not gonna comment on your bizarre notion of romance here. So if you think you're going to make Saber yours here today then go ahead and try it, but know I, Diarmuid, will never allow you to defeat a crippled Saber in any sort of battle before I can!" That got Caster shrinking. Or at least it seemed that way, his pride said out of fear but he guessed it was most likely anger. Not that he honestly cared which it was but nevertheless.
"You...came to help?" he heard Saber ask and he tipped his head to glance at her casually, smirk once more present.
"Don't get the wrong idea. The only thing that brought me here today was the order to find and defeat Caster. And so, I believe cooperation is our best option. Right?" he added like a playful dare.
He could catch a glimpse of her smile even before she nodded and turned. "Just to be clear Lancer...right now, I can kill a hundred of those things with just my left arm."
His smirk grew at her playful challenge of a tone, "Hmh, a mere hundred is child's play." He was about to take off and get a headstart when suddenly shattering glass and explosions of fire filled the area to their right, toward Caster. Fire doused the slithering creatures and those caught in the flames shrieked and writhed while the others made similar noises and jumped away. Lancer spied the dark figure in the trees as they threw held a bundle of flaming bottles on lines of rope, twirling them before launching it at the horde to force it away.
Finally they jumped down in the small patch they had scorched for themselves and Lancer himself raised a brow at the woman who stood, curiosity piquing, especially when he heard Saber beside him grow tense and mutter, "Hunter…"
"Rrrr! Another interloper!" Caster shrieked, arms held shaking furiously at his side.
Lancer ignored the mad fool though and kept his eyes trained on the new arrival with a flat expression, not entirely certain how he felt about another person tagging along with their fight. She had silver hair just like Saber's Master and wore peculiar clothing with baggy sleeves and a curious hat all the while wielding what looked like a cane in one hand a large flintlock in the other.
She was facing Caster but glanced over to Lancer to meet his gaze, his brow raising, "As much as I hate to side with the insane one over there, who are you stranger? I don't recall ever seeing you before and while I'd prefer saving fighting you for after we put down this crazy monster, know that I have no qualms putting you down alongside him as well.
She turned her head more fully to him and he could see her grey-blue eyes going over him, though he got more of an impression she was sizing him up. "Lancer…" he heard Saber mumble and glanced to the knight to see her eyes locked on the new stranger with a hard gaze. "That is Hunter...she is the eighth Servant you no doubt sensed the night Assassin was killed…"
That got his brow piqued and he turned back to this 'Hunter', "Eighth Servant huh? I would have thought she was Assassin's replacement, especially with all the doom and gloom hanging about her, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt of having more pride to stand out in the open rather than skulk about in the shadows." Keeping his short spear trained toward Caster, he turned his other arm to point his red spear more toward Hunter, "Though as I said, do not think I will hesitate in putting you down if you seek to try and take on either of us as well as Caster."
She simply shook her head and spoke with a voice whose softness was unbefitting of the eyes she had, eyes that he could tell had seen unspeakable horrors and tragedies. "No," she looked at Saber, "I understand your reason for hostility, Saber, and it is not unreasonable, but tonight I am here for him." She raised her cane and point it at Caster, "I have heard of the things he has done and both my duty and sanity cannot allow me to stand idly by without putting down such a beast." The venom which coated the word was a bit of a sudden surprise but Lancer merely smirked and gave an acknowledging tip of his head.
"Well Caster, you certainly seem to be in a bit over your head tonight, it would seem your chances are falling by the minute."
Hunter whipped her arm down and the cane she held made a sudden transformation, its straight edges becoming multiple angled ones and Lancer quickly became more curious as to what else this woman had in store. "It's been a while since I have hunted simple beasts like this, I wonder if they will be as engaging as the others."
He smirked, he could at least appreciate her spirit even if it didn't sound the most engrossed, "Only one way to find out then!" Lancer suddenly took off with Saber close behind, Hunter already twirling around to whip at the things around her. Lancer paid an eye to see how her weapon of choice worked to see that as she raised her arm and brought it down a cord of some sort extended the angled blades outward so every time she slashed the blades would whip out and slash apart multiple foes around her in a particularly bloody fashion. The razors must have been exceedingly sharp to have been able to slash through so many opponents without catching or getting meat stuck to them to clutter it. There was a brief thought of really not wanting to find out what happened if it managed to per se wrap around a limb but he put that thought away and began striking at the creatures as they got in his way.
His initial dash was right for Caster as the Servant simply seemed to stand in one spot brooding but as soon as he got close the creatures would become exceedingly dense to the point it was risky to try and push too hard against them. He decided then to instead focus on thinning the herd a bit, every motion calculated and concise, blood spilling and creatures falling with every twirl, every thrust and slash.
All three of the Servants struck down the abominations at what could be considered an alarming rate. Saber's powerful strikes cutting through them like butter and with expert precision. Hunter's swings were wide and devastating, those that weren't killed by the haphazardous blades flying through the air on a cord of razor or fired bullets were left limbless or bleeding profusely and that she didn't mind the blood splattering upon her in increasing amounts was a bit worrying to Lancer with regards to her sanity but he could digress for the moment. He himself was killing at a rate equal to both of them combined, his red spear able to strike the same number as Hunter's wide swipes while also carrying Saber's strength behind it and cut foes to pieces while his short yellow one was a good backup to finish off anything that got too close.
Indeed, the fact they just kept coming was the truly worrying part for even as many as they would kill the things would just regenerate back seemingly just as fast and possibly in greater number. It eventually got to the point Lancer almost would have called it a war of attrition if it didn't appear that everyone could go on as long as they liked, Caster with endless mana while they had endless stamina. Neither was necessarily true, but given how much action was taking place with neither side giving any ground or breaking a sweat it may as well have been.
A few more minutes of the slaughter continued before at last the three teamed combatants were pressed back-to-back. Lancer glanced over his shoulder to see Saber strike down a group of three of the monstrosities that had drawn to close and flinched a bit at the sight of Hunter who didn't even seem to notice the amount of blood on her person. She slammed her cane down point-first onto a rock and it sealed itself into a perfectly straight and seamless formation once more, using its point to stab forth and impale one of the things that jumped at her. The point went through its open mouth and through the large singular eye that was inside and she appeared to tilt her head before her attention was drawn to somewhere else and she discarded the corpse back into the writhing masses around them.
"I'm honestly stunned," he stately simply when they had a break between assaults, "There's no end to these things."
"It's that grimoire…" Saber responded, glancing to Caster and causing Lancer to raise a brow as he did likewise, noticing the tome the madman held close to his chest. "Lancer, Hunter, as long as he holds that grimoire our situation will not improve."
"I see, so that's his secret…" Lancer was about to make another witty quip when both knights were taken off-guard by a girlish giggle.
"Heeh heeh." Both blinked in surprise and looked between each other before turning to their compatriot to find her facing Caster with her shoulders hunched and shaking as she giggled before throwing her head back with the back of her hand to her forehead as she laughed like she heard the best joke of her life.
"Uh...Hunter?" Lancer asked cautiously, his features hardened and he gripped his lance tighter, ready to strike out at Hunter or whatever had taken away her likely already loose sanity.
The woman dropped her head down again and moved her hand, smearing the blood both on her forehead and glove, as her laughter slowly died down to a chuckle, "I can't believe it…" she breathed and dropped her flintlock and stabbed the point of her cane into the ground so it stood on its own. Her face held what he could only describe as a drunken smile and he remained ever on guard to strike, not doubting Saber was as well, because of it. "I can't believe I hadn't even noticed it till now," Hunter lifted her right hand and used her other gauntleted one to remove the her glove and expose the untouched pale flesh underneath.
Suddenly the woman shifted her fingers and snapped and everything grew still and silent. Lancer froze and Saber gasped, both their eyes wide as they looked at the creatures around them now stock still as though flash frozen in ice.
Caster himself seemed taken equally off guard, looking around agape and shaking. Finally he recollected himself and growled, "Rrrr, what is the meaning of this? What have you done?!"
"All this time wasted and I never realized you were trying to use my own arcane abilities against me." Lancer had to take a step back and truly look the woman over on that one, unable to hide the shock on his face. "Well, I suppose they aren't necessarily mine and what you are doing here is such a twisted take on what once was, but the point still stands."
She began walking casually toward Caster, leaving her cane and flintlock where they sat not to mention Saber and Lancer who continued to stand there dumbfounded and uncertain what to do. Caster shook furiously and grit his teeth tightly, "No! The grimoire is mine! I will not let your insolence taint it!"
The book flared up in his hands again and a pulse was released, the warped creatures resuming their slithering and twisting and two of them lunged out at Hunter. The first one leaped and she shifted her upper body and redirected it with her bare hand, doing likewise to the second one as it crawled toward her and lashed out with one of its tentacles. As soon as her bare skin had touched them the things shrieked and flailed, a handprint which held what looked like it held stars within them where her hand had made contact with them. Each monstrosity looked like it was falling apart in a mix of smoke and light before both of them spontaneously erupted in a burst of blood.
Caster looked taken aback as the two creatures didn't regenerate, as though the mana sustaining them had been suddenly cut off and destroyed their forms. She was closer now, too close and he shouted in anger and fear, "No! Die! Die! Die!"
More of the creatures leaped at her and she stopped where she stood, holding her right arm out and taking a bracing stance before a white light formed on her finger tips and four long, thick tentacles sprouted forth much to everyone's surprise. Two of the tentacles swiped the lesser creatures out of the way for the other two, one which reached out and slammed right into Caster's chest with enough force to knock him off his feet while the last tightened around the grimoire and tore it from his hand.
All happened in the span of but a handful of seconds and all of the gruesome tentacles returned to the white light in Hunter's hands and when it vanished she was holding the grimoire made of human flesh. All at once the creatures surrounding them all screeched and spasmed before bursting like bubbles of blood, the two knights blinking from their trances and moving to avoid the torrents which spilled to the ground around them.
Hunter casually opened the book and began flipping through the pages, pausing for one second per page before swiping to the next, all the while approaching where Caster was getting up, tears streaming down his face as he pulled at his hair.
"No! This is my Grail wish! That is my grimoire! You shouldn't be able to even touch it!" Hunter was now standing pretty much right in front of him though seemed heedless of his shouts. "Stop it now you unholy heatheeeen!" He made the action to lash out at her when she suddenly looked up and placed her bare finger to the middle of his brow and gave him a push before returning to the grimoire. Lancer and Saber could only watch as Caster suddenly began screaming, holding his head in both his hands and stumbling around, unaware of the plight he now suddenly faced.
As soon as the witch had touched him unholy thoughts began to fill his mind. Horrors he had never seen or imagined, twisted realities so terrifying he felt as important as a speck of dust, truths which crawled so cruelly under his skin and clouded his vision that he wanted to tear apart his skin to get them out, rip out his eyes so he wouldn't have to see them. All of a sudden, when he felt like his very being would explode with the extent of the inhuman knowledge filling it, his eyes fell upon her.
Her.
As soon as she was in his vision everything went silent, all the voices, all the visions, all that was there and important was her. Was she...God? The voices told him no, but 'Great One' they whispered to him. No, she was not God, but she radiated beauty even greater than his. If she was not him then she was his clarity, only she could soothe the demented thoughts which plagued his mind.
But she held his grimoire.
No, that was not important. She could hold it, read it, surely she must be God's clarity if she could do that. No, all else would be driven mad by the truths it held, that she read it like it was a Sunday novel meant it had no affect on her surely and only the clarity of God Himself could allow that.
He reached out to her with shaking hands, tears still streaming down his face as he smiled a blissful smile, "You are...so...beautiful, God's-"
She did not look up from the grimoire as she paced with it in her hands, her face flat. "Shut up," she stated and his mouth snapped closed, "Sit down," he blinked and he was on his knees.
While all of this was happening Lancer and Saber simply remained where they were standing a small distance away, watching everything from the way she simply dispelled his creations with little effort, how her single touch had driven the madman even crazier to the point his mouth was moving a thousand meters a second saying things neither of them could make out or begin to understand before falling silent as he laid eyes on Hunter. Who, all the while, had been simply reading his grimoire at an alarming pace with little to no side effects with the straight face Lancer thought was more her natural state than the somewhat hysterical one from a few moments prior.
Saber saw the look in Caster's eyes as they fell upon Hunter, it was a look she knew too well for they were the eyes he ogled at her with whenever he gazed upon her and tried to convince her she was his Jaune d'Arc. That she had so much control over the situation, over him mere seconds after she had only touched him...it...well it terrified her even if she buried the feeling and did not let it show.
"Saber…" she heard Lancer mutter, helping her pry her eyes away from the sight before her to look at his own hardened expression, "I think our friend, Hunter is much more powerful than she is letting on."
Saber knew exactly what he meant, while she seemed of a power level equivalent to that of a weaker to moderately powerful Servant, her speed, the surge of power she felt in the air when the woman used mana, how she seemed to be able to read her so easily during their first encounter after simply avoiding her for the first minute or two, and now able to drive a madman further into the depths of depravity with a mere touch...Something greater was at work here and she was fearful, not for herself, but for Irisviel who was made her target.
Hunter continued to pace around in front of Caster and his eyes never left her, staring at her with an expression of bliss until she began to walk in a circle around him. As soon as she left his vision his face contorted with fear, agony, rage, pain, everything he clearly wasn't feeling an instant prior and he began shaking almost violently seemingly trying to keep still and quiet.
No. No. Where had she gone? She had walked out of his line of sight and though he could feel her presence, because she wasn't there the voices grew louder. The truths they whispered grew darker. Reality began to boil and split in the darkness that was his vision. And the eyes...dear sweet and merciful God, THE EYES!
There she was again, walking back into his sight opposite of the side she had disappeared from and it was like he had once more reached serenity. The voices faded, reality became whole, and the eyes, though they stared and filled his mind with even more and even darker truths, slowly all closed and once more did not exist in the unimportant nothingness around Her.
At last she got to the end of the grimoire and she closed it, tossing it down beside him. He wanted to be angry, it was his grimoire, but he couldn't be. No, not only because he did not want to spur her ire but because so blissful and serene was he he just couldn't find it in him to be.
"So blind are you," she began, her voice like the gentle caress of the moon, so soft and beautiful, "and so twisted are the truths you thought you knew, that though your mind is already broken by the concepts and surface of the reality, it shatters to dust before the light of the forbidden truths." She came closer and slid her gloved hand up his jaw. Oh how he wanted to lean into her bosom and embrace her beauty and majesty, hoping to possibly be worthy enough to glean even an ounce of her clarity and love. But he could not move and he simply leaned with great affection into the hand she held him with.
"I'd almost pity you…" her voice as soft and gentle as her caress but he couldn't close his eyes to enjoy it lest she not be there and he would have to face all the horrors again, but that was fine. His unworthy eyes were locked upon the unending beauty of her face, hoping it would never leave his gaze for as long as he lived.
As it was, he still did not notice her other hand sliding the silver blade from the sheath upon her thigh, "If I did not already know you were not worthy of it."
AN: Well, there's chapter four for you all, hopefully it isn't too terrible. I had so many ideas and concepts floating around in my mind about what would happen in this chapter and whether they would be good when I finally put them all together that hopefully the slowness I feel is still there is at least hopefully compensated by something. Honestly this chapter was extremely important to me to try and nail down right because from this point on is when I wanted to try and take the story in a whole new direction, finally start to shape into something of my own and set it apart from everything. At least enough to be more of a reason to read other than just because 'but it's the only that's being updated so i'll put up with it'.
Beg pardon if I go off on a small tangent to explain that the reason it may be going a bit slower than necessary is that with this story, Fate/Zero's story more specifically, is one that takes place in a very small time frame. It's one where event matters, where every encounter could be a life or death situation or one where valuable secrets are spilled which can lead to the next having great alterations to what it could have been. I try to write everything with a purpose and with a story so well written as Fate/Zero's, driven by both characters and plot, that I want to take my time with it, make everything count, even if it does go a bit slow at times.
I guess in the end we'll have to see how it all goes, but with that out of the way thank you so very much to everyone who has reviewed, faved, and followed. Really every one of those that I see, though few and far between at times, are appreciated far more than you know. I also hope you all understand that when I ask for reviews it's really not just to get a bolster of pride at an admittance that you think it's well done, that on its own is a treasure enough that's greatly valued, but leaving a review of what you think works, what doesn't, what I can do to improve, or even a few ideas can go a very long way for both myself and the betterment of the story. It is always your choice to leave it but it is simply something I encourage for that reason.
Thank you all again, simply for reading my story and getting this far and I hope that I continue to hold all of your interests for as long as I can. I look forward to the reception and hope to further get this story rolling soon. You all have my best of wishes in all regards and that you all might have a wonderful day/evening/night.