King of Fakers chapter 9 : Prayers among blue blood.
"What danger? What do I need to save her from?" Sweat dropped from her brow towards her lips.
Sakura Matou was once the sister of Tohsaka Rin.
It was a distant and blurry memory, almost as if it was just a vision of an old dream. She was supposed to have forgotten her, as a magus that was the right thing to do. As a person however...
"As I understand it your parents gave her away to make sure there will be no contesting among the inheritance of this household. The people that you gave her too are atrocious and foul degenerates. I would raze that mansion to the ground and impale those lowlifes but alas I cannot. That is why you must intervene for my solution is quite detestable."
Vladimir then grounded his teeth and a small bulge appear on the right side of his head.
He was actually quite irritated that he could not have mercilessly murdered the Matou household.
Rin's face now ceased to change. She was worried for her sister but she had no idea of what Lancer knew and because of this she chose to run away, she chose to use the excuse of a magus for this affair. She thought the problem was merely that the Matou's were not kind.
A fatal mistake that could come back to bite her.
"I don't have a sister. Sorry to disappoint you but I don't need to save anyone."
Vladimir brought his hands together and looked to the floor. His icy face seemed to burn with some colour. What plagued his heart was not merely anger or shame but a feeling akin to grief and regret.
He let out a long sigh and after a light pause raised his head. His eyes were now of a even colder steel then before.
"I should have - no I had already expected this foul result. I had to try though. Forgive me Sakura... Tohsaka Rin the world has changed a great deal since I lived and for the most part... I agree with these ideas that have emerged."
Rin's ears pricked up and she had forgotten the danger surrounding her. She couldn't help but want to listen to the man, a ruthless warrior of the past actually liked the modern world? Her interest was piqued.
"In my time having to fight family was something that was always a possibility. They were possible candidates to rip away your standing in life. Fighting and death were seen as common and people wouldn't bat a eyelid when they saw a person ripped to pieces, broken or violated.
That as the world I lived in. The generations now though have for the most part abandoned that. The world is more peaceful and accepting. For me that is a miracle, it is no longer necessary for humanity needs to spill blood to solve its problems."
Vladimir took a sip of wine and after wiping his mouth with a handkerchief as well as saying a silent thank you for using it continued.
"Peace was once either a trap or a mere fraction of a dream. Now it is a real reality. I know conflict still exists and what the picture I'm painting is a bright and optimistic one but I really want to believe that humanity can change things.
If we can rise from the shackles of the past and the laws of nature then the world can be at peace. I will fight for that. I only ever had the time to protect my homeland but now I have the power to change the world. I'll drench the world in blood to get there but I already have committed far to many sins. I will for the sake of my fellow man win this war."
Rin and Semiramis blinked a few times and began thinking about how their expectation of this man had been shattered with a single conversation. For a man who made people suffer excruciating from arguable the worst method of torture he seemed to be a pretty nice and almost naïvely optimistic person. This was more or less the thoughts that ran through the women's heads.
"The problem in my time though seems to be the same in this time too.
I have to eliminate them and thoroughly this time... or man can never be equal with one another.
The nobility is a completely human concept and has no place on our world.
It is the horrible politics of these men that ruined my country and forced me to fight with the brother that I had never met in years.
I will not see you fight with your sister. I had hoped you'd come with me to save her but the blue blood never seems to change. I shall save you both the horror of slaying kin. Goodbye Rin."
Rin could not move for she had slowly fallen into half a trance. Lancer's demeanour was a small factor but the main reasons were the spears behind her and his hypnotic eyes.
"When did! I didn't feel a thing from those a second ago!" Caster had not felt the power earlier it was as if he had just developed the eyes on the spot she could not help but curse at how careless she was. She knew what was coming in but a second her master would become nothing but meat on a stick.
The spears crushed through the body of the young magus and her body slowly leaked blood from ever wound and pore. Her body twitched violently and she gasped for air. She was still barely alive and was doomed to die by bleeding out.
"Sorry I should have aimed for your brain. Let me remedy that." Another pike jumped from the floor into the back of her head. A small explosion of fluid splattered over the floor and the body jerked for three more seconds and then slowly curled itself into a ball, or as much as it could considering its position and then became motionless.
Lancer then formed a cross with his fingers, closed his eyes and prayed.
"I wonder how much mana you waste doing that Vladimir dear?" Semiramis smiled triumphantly.
The icy man sighed and then looked at Caster.
"Child's play, dear." She snapped her fingers and the ruined corpse became one of a large bird like creature.
"My, my, my even the most amateur of modern street magicians might have been able to catch that. Well do you wish to dance? Or perhaps you could allow my master and I to stroll away? Or could you kindly take leave of your quite unprecedented residence in our building?"
A spear and a short sword appeared within Lancer's right and left hands respectively.
"You would point those ghastly things at a woman, why I thought you were a gentleman.
It seems we will dance then. Do not disappoint me, I'm not very proficient up close but give me a little space dear, and I'm sure your head will be swimming when we're done."
She then took two steps to the left and outstretched her right arm in a gesture to show she would be leading the "dance" and smiled a wide almost villainous smile.
Vladimir did not need to get close. His noble phantasm made such a action needless and excessive. However his opponent was caster one of the classes that thrived at a distance and were generally incredibly inferior with hand to hand combat.
A close range assault combined with the attacks from Kazıklı Bei should make the fight brief and give certain victory for Lancer, being of of the knight classes he also bore magic resistance. Given the situation and the fact that the once friendly mansion was now completely in control of Lancer, most would see the matter as done Caster would perhaps be able to deal a few instances of heavy damage but ultimately fall for having no less mobility and physical force.
"But then why is she smiling?" Lancer had not yet moved a single inch.
"What's the matter dear? Afraid you can't keep up with an older and more mature as well as refined lady such as I?" Vladimir was no fool and certainly not a person who relishes battle to the degree of someone like Rider, he was a strategist and a leader before a fighter and would not take the bait.
However another possibility was in his mind. That the confidence exuded from Caster was a forgery and she was simply buying time for Rin or herself to make some sort of move.
If he closed in he may suffer. If he waited he may suffer. It may all just be a bluff.
It wasn't impossible that the woman before him may have had some physical skills or perhaps a spell that would devastate him at point blank. Being a seasoned commander though he realised his answer. That to not act held the greatest risk, so spears reached out to wreck the dark haired beauty.
They never touched a cell of her skin. "Gracious, we've barely even met and your trying to stick it to me already? …Lancer it didn't matter if you waited or you struck straight away, came close or stayed afar, I had already won the moment you struck the fake Rin."
The pikes had been stopped in their tracks miraculously by blood.
Blood had entangled and wrapped itself around the weapons and kept it in a choke hold.
The spear may have engulfed almost every single spot around Caster but the prison of metal seemed more like a piece of art when they spiralled around her.
Snap. All of the spears near her snapped in half and fell on the floor.
"Not very durable are they? At least against my magic they aren't. Though by the look of your face these things don't really cost much so I shouldn't have expected much. The broken remains then began to melt and within a blink of an eye became a liquid that joined with the blood, the mixture then floated upwards from the ground and into the shape of a wine glass.
"Want a taste? I'm sure a vampire like yourself would enjoy it, I can assure you it is of the highest class and quality, why it's to die for." Lancer couldn't help but make a disgusted smirk.
"You're not amateur at this, being a hero you couldn't be but this situation... you've had to be up close and personal before. You may be Caster but I think you would make a fine Assassin."
At that Semiramis' smile began even more sharp, "why thank you, and if memory serves me correctly you died at the hands of one, yes?"
The glass of blood bled into the air and then not a hint of red remained.
Lancer then realised what she had meant.
"The air has just been poisoned. I'll have to kill you before it actually begins to hurt me. You're forcing me to either back down or go on a reckless offensive. Not bad Caster but finishing this quickly will be easy for me, I'll show you the limits of my noble phantasm but you shall die as you do."
Vladimir was about to fire all 20000 lances at once to cover the entire building.
There would be no escape. If she survived it would not take much to deal the finishing blow.
However as he was about to attack...
"Lancer what if my Master is about to head to yours and kill her?"
The man of ice froze. This may have all been a diversion. He gave out his master name and now he could pay the price for it. The good will he had tried to displayed could have meant the death of a poor and innocent person for no reason at all.
He trembled for a second. He grounded his teeth so hard Caster could hear it and honestly took a step back. Vlad's golden eyes beamed with new found life. He shuddered and his face contorted into a beastly snarl! Lancer's body exploded into a cloud of mist!
And as quickly as the transformation was he had disappeared.
Caster chuckled. She'd won. Rin had in fact never left the building.
"Well now, I guess I've got some... redecorating to do."
Author's Note:
Yay a meagre update. Made this so you know it ain't completely dead.
You may ask questions and they shall be answered if they're not going to make me spoil my story.
Anything after this one I upload will be at least 5000 words and be proofread.
This is an example of when I don't do that. Sorry. But it's Easter now so I maybe able to get a few chapters out. We'll see. Hopefully.