Fate: All Riders.
Chapter 4: Fight to Survive.
Aka. The obligatory Rin Chapter.
Avalon was more or less useless at this point. Various tests concluded that even in the presence of Saber it was just a very nice looking paper weight. It appeared that the presence of the real King Arthur was required to power the noble phantasm's healing abilities. Irisviel believed that her husband secretly blamed his servant for being summoned, resenting his very existence. Without the sheath she knew she wouldn't last long after the first few servants would die.
Sitting at a desk with a map in front of him the Magus Killer made a motion with his hand. His faithful friend Maiya came forwards. The Einzbern wasn't sure what to make of the women but she could tell that the girl loved her husband almost as much as she did. Despite this no ill feelings ever had come from her realization, she just wanted Emiya to be happy, if having two women made him happy then she would gladly share him.
Looking over the map Maiya spoke up. "His Servant most likely came from the blind spot here." They were of course speaking of Kariya and Berserker, the whole event was disturbing to say the least.
"Likely but not certain." He replied taking a puff of his smoke.
Officially Risei had declared the area neutral ground because Tosaka refused to leave the area and thus visited often to make sure he wasn't plotting anything. Unofficially Emiya of course had doubts, the church and Tosaka family always had strong ties, for all anyone else knew they could've been plotting together. Not that it mattered anymore.
However despite the grave news it seemed to calm Kiritsugu somewhat. He reasoned that Kotomine Kirei would most likely head for the Matou next, after all the man did just kill his father and Mentor figure. Finding out that they were mentor and student wasn't exactly difficult.
He assumed that this was why he spared his old teacher rather than killing him on the spot. Either that or it was all staged, it was hard to tell but if the mysterious Dragonfly servant was any indication then someone was summoning more Servants, whether it was another heroic spirit or master was of no consequence, at least not to the Magus Killer for the time being.
A red hand floated into the room.
"Oi, why are we waiting around! We should be out there hunting this guy down!" Iri had gotten used to the hand by now, in fact she felt a kinship with it but for what reason she simply had no idea.
"You said this guy has a bunch of command seals right? That means we should kill him and take them all for ourselves!" Shaking his head her husband rejected the idea.
"A Master with so many Seals is simply too dangerous without a plan, however our target isn't him." Pointing at the map he elaborated. "We're going after Kotomine next, he's going to be distracted with Berserker so it would be the perfect time to remove him from the war." She couldn't blame him for being so focussed on the priest, something about him felt off.
"He's dangerous, competent and he has six command seals. Under normal circumstances I would not engage him, however with only one Servant, one of stealth going against Berserker we can kill him with reduced resistance while he's distracted." The red hand seemed to agree with all this, despite being a single limb it was rather emotive.
Frowning Saber got up and spoke his mind. "I know that we have to be a bit unfair sometimes to win but don't you think this is a bit too far?" The red hand simply smacked the back of hero's head as if that was enough to convey the point.
"Ow! And you! Ankh! What's your role in all this, you're not strong enough to fight Servants!" Smirking…. Well they thought Ankh was smirking he revealed his plan.
"Of course you'd think that, even after all the time we spent together you've already forgotten one of my powers, Emiya already put me into account."
"So why aren't we going after Caster? Didn't you guys tell me he was murdering people?"
"You idiot, Magus don't care about that crap, they only care if they get found out! Caster and his master leave no traces of the bodies behind so everyone just thinks they're missing, sure people will investigate but what are they gonna find huh?" Emiya frowned at that. As much as he would like to dispense justice he knew he couldn't, at least not yet. He had to be practical, to save someone you had to kill another and he was going to save the world.
Kariya still had a mission, he had to win the war and give the grail to his father to rescue Sakura. Killing Tokiomi was just a step, a very satisfying step but a single step none the less. The priest, his presence was unexpected but his death was needed. With Tosaka out of the way he could continue his war. However there was one problem, he wasn't much of a Magus at all, he had no idea how to implant command seals onto his own body.
Carrying the dismembered arm of Risei the Matou had limped his way home, if he was to win this war he'd need the command seals and only one person he knew would be willing to help. Gritting his teeth in anger he swore that he'd suffer any humiliation to save Sakura. Berserker was in spirit form but despite this the strain on his body was still heavy, why did the Servant need so much Prana?
"Hey Berserker." He asked trying to distract himself from the pain. "What's your wish?" He of course received no answer. Making it to the front door he slumped against it catching his breath. Standing back up he went to knock but it seemed it was unneeded.
"Ahh my son, it is so good to see that you've returned in good health!" Turning around the old man was outside behind him, how he had got there escaped his senses.
"I heard some disturbing news earlier of a Master attacking neutral ground killing the overseer in the process." Smiling he chuckled. "Surprised I knew? Your body is mine boy, of course I know what you've been doing, you think all those bugs serve you just because of your shining personality?" That's right, the implants technically belonged to Zouken.
"Well I know why you're here, come now let's see those Command seals and see what we can do with them." The operation was filled with pain, horror, humiliation and many bugs.
Kariya endured it all.
He left as soon as he could, the longer he stayed there the most likely he'd be found. Though he liked the idea of his old man being caught in the cross fire he still had Sakura to think about. Gritting his teeth he limped away into the dark night.
In his civilian form he laid on his back. "Don't know, don't care." He simply said before rolling over for a nap. Gripping his fists tighter Waver groaned in frustration.
"Don't give me that crap! You're my Servant! You should fight other Servants! Don't you have a wish!?" Before he could continue Rider was in his face frowning. Silence followed and the awkward atmosphere fermented until Waver could not stand it anymore.
"Damn it you idiot what's with that look!" He yelled backing away.
Rider continued to deliver his death stare. Eventually he sighed and backed down, intimidating his master was no fun especially when it was so easy.
"Just don't make light of my wish, it's really important." Now that he thought about it neither of them knew each other's wish or why they were fighting. Rider was too caught up in the moment and Waver…. Well he was too caught up in Rider's moments.
"Well what's your wish then?" Sitting down he gave the heroic spirit his full attention.
Pausing for a moment it seemed that the Heroic Spirit was trying to find the words, whatever the wish was it did seem important. Perhaps he wanted to save someone that he couldn't when he was alive?
"Hey kid? You know how the throne of heroes works right?" Nodding Waver of course knew, he had researched the topic extensively before entering the war.
"Well what if I was to tell you that I wanted to remove some one from that place so that they could rest easy? Eyes widening Waver almost chocked, what he had just suggested was almost insane. Even with the power of the Holy Grail such a thing was absurd. Seemingly insulted by his master's reaction he retaliated.
"Well what's your wish then hey? Why do you fight for the Grail?" Stopping he soon realized that he had entered the war simply to insult and show his teacher Kayneth that he was wrong.
"I don't really have a wish but if I did have one I guess I'd wish for respect." Crossing his arms Rider seemed disappointed.
"You dumbass, that's not real respect then! Why wish for something you could get yourself! It's like going to a really nice steak house and ordering toast for your meal it's just a waste!" Grumbling Waver couldn't really argue with that logic.
"Well why should you care? You're here for your own reasons and I'm here for my own besides you should be out there fighting Servants!"
"Again with the stupid Servant talk FINE! I'll go out there right now and fight a Servant you're coming along!" Shocked by his Servant's new found initiative he soon regretted the outburst as he found himself roaring down the road on the Heroic spirit's motor cycle.
Kotomine was on a phone call at the moment, to see the priest with such a modern day device was somewhat amusing. The receiver of the call was none other than Aoi, the wife of the now deceased Tokiomi Tosaka.
"Aoi, I'm sorry to bring you this news but your husband has been killed."
There was silence on the other end, the shock had yet to settle in.
"Th-that can't be…. He had plans, defences h-he had you."
Another length of silence followed.
"I wasn't enough." Soft sobbing followed, Kirei patiently waited for her to process everything.
"I-I'm coming over, I want to see my husband."
"You can't, it's still too dangerous here."
"I'M COMING TO SEE MY HUSBAND DAMNIT!"
Then with a cold voice he answered back.
"You will not, if you do I will desecrate the corpse, I will forcefully rip the family crest from his body and render it inert! I will burn what remains of his body one limb at a time! I will scatter the ashes to the wind in different places, I will turn his house to dust, I will salt the very land he lived on if you come!"
Aoi continued to sob but stayed silent.
"I want you and Rin safe, for that I will do anything, it was your husband's greatest wish that this happen even if it costed his life or his body."
Aoi understood the priest but still she cried.
"I will preserve the body and when there is time send it back so that you may extract the family crest, for the time being I must prepare for the coming war." Lingering he continued to listen to the woman cry. Eventually he put the phone down disconnecting the call.
Coming around the corner and entering the room where his Servants awaited an odd sight greeted his vision.
The Heroic Spirits were playing cards. Where they got the pieces escaped the priest.
"Oh c'mon, this is so unfair you lot always gang up on me!" Shaking his head Archer turned to his Master.
"Well you look like you're in a good mood! Think of a way to kill Kariya I take it?"
Caster had a decent amount of Prana at this point. More than enough to use his most Noble Phantasm several times over but despite this he continued needlessly murdering civilians.
Uryuu Ryuunosuke was overjoyed when Caster announced that he no longer needed to feed men to his Contract Monsters, this meant more corpses for art. To celebrate this event the two of them went on a kidnapping spree. If killing a family was fun, then killing dozens upon dozens of them at the same time was sure to be a party!
Maybe he'd let his monsters loose to scare the children, have Venosnaker spit acid at them. Perhaps Uryuu could do something with that and make it more pretty. It was strange, the idea of battle still excited him but more and more he found himself making excuses to not participate. Not because he was scared but more because he liked Uryuu's company, it was as if the guy understood him.
"Oi Ryuunosuke, take this." Handing his master a card with the image of a pink manta ray on it he stretched his head.
"If you carry this then the contract monster will follow you around, should keep you safe." Smiling Uryuu pocketed the item before thanking Caster and setting off.
-Some time later-
This was a pretty small haul honestly. Without Caster helping he found abducting children was quite hard. In fact it was harder then he remembered it, perhaps having a demon around made him lazy? Nodding his head he mentally agreed with the assessment. Crouching down he beckoned another child closer.
"Hey kid I have something cool I wanna show you." The naïve child simply chose to believe the stranger ignoring the warnings in his mind that his parents had given him. Before he knew it the stranger had pushed something against his mouth and nose, the strong smell knocking him out instantly. Grabbing the small child the orange haired psycho quickly dragged him into the alley to tie him up. Taking the small bundle he quickly ran to his hide out.
A dusty abandoned bar. Leaving the kid next to a chair some movement caught his eye. Thinking that he had been discovered he quickly turned realizing that it was just the Manta Ray. The monster was content to just watch him from inside the mirror.
"Geeze, don't scare me man!" He said quickly calming down. Despite being the least magically inclined of all the Master's he had adapted very swiftly to the idea of magic and by extension monsters and demons. "And thanks for your hard work! I'm sure your Master appreciates it!" Though unaffected by the praise Uryuu complimented the thing often as if it was a friend.
Rin couldn't believe it, she would not believe it! After secretly listening on her mother's conversation with Kotomine she couldn't stand it anymore. "That damn fake priest!" Clutching her fist she made her plans, she would find the truth, if he was still alive then he'd need her help. If the priest was telling the truth though…. She didn't want to think about it at all.
While her mother grieved Rin made her escape. Through the night she ran through the streets, the simple magic compass that her father had given her guiding the way. Said compass detected the presence of magic, he had warned her that if it started reacting erratically then whatever it was detecting was out of her league and that she would run.
But tonight retreat was out of the question. It was her family that was on the line, she would not run away. Through twisting streets and bending roads she eventually found herself outside an alley way. Outside a young orange haired man walked out of a nearby building. Noticing her presence he smiled and kneeled down to her height.
"Hey kid, does this rag smell like chloroform to you?" Seriously who fell for that kind of trick, it was so stupid that Rin couldn't frown, so stupid that her only choice was to smile.
"Oi oi kid, that's a pretty nasty expression you got there." Somewhat intimidated by the little girl he stood back up. The compass kept pointing towards the man and that's when she saw it. Red markings on the back of his hand, he was a master!
When her father had entered the war Rin studied all she could about the contest. The Grail, the hero summoning system, the classes everything! So when she saw those markings she instinctively knew he was a master. Was he the man that killed her father? No her dad was much too smart to be killed, too smart to be killed by this master at least. Coming closer towards Rin the orange haired man extended his reach.
"C'mon little girl, just take a whiff of this, I'm telling you that it smells nice, like BLOOD!" He seemed to genuinely believe that blood smelt good, this didn't calm her down at all. Taking a step back her compass began to go nuts, streaks of electricity arced out striking the nearby ground.
"What IS this?" Yelling in surprise the man began to back off. "Hey hey Pinky help me out here!" Then as if by some magic the Manta Ray appeared slipping into reality via a discarded mirror next to a trash can.
Tripping over Rin fell backwards, was this a Servant? So much power! But this couldn't be a servant father had told her that Servants were Heroic spirits from ages long past, heroes like Hercules or Gilgamesh! Something like a giant pink Manta Ray could never be a Servant!
Slowly but surely the beast closed the distance ready to devour the girl in front of it ignoring the sparks of electricity coming from her amulet. Then lightning struck a more powerful thunderclap louder than the ones that her compass emitted.
Looking up to where the sound came from it seemed her sight was blocked by a cloud of dust.
Before the smoke could clear a voice rang out from the darkness.
"The heavens cry out!" The smoke began to clear.
"The earth cries out!" The glint from his helmet could be seen through the dust.
"The people cry out!" A black haired boy began to get off the bike.
"They cry out for me to destroy evil!" The smoke had mostly cleared up by now to reveal a bug like face.
"Listen up, evildoers...I am the warrior of justice, Kamen Rider Stronger!" A wind passes by flicking the white scarf he wore behind him in a dramatic fashion.
The orange haired man wasn't sure to make of this so he tried to find out. "Hey what's going o-"
"KABUTOLAW THUNDER!" he shouted as he drove his bike off the roof. His body surged with power, his bike hummed with lightning! The glowing motor cycle struck true ploughing right through the pink Manta Ray throwing it back into the mirror world broken and defeated.
Skidding to a stop he pointed at the Orange haired master.
"YOU THERE I AM RIDER! GO CALL THE GUY WHO SUMMONED THAT PINK MONSTER!"
"You mean caster?" A dumbfounded look was plastered on his face.
"YEAH THAT GUY GO FIND HIM AND TELL HIM THAT A RIDER OF JUSTICE WANTS TO FIGHT HIM GOT THAT?" Nodding to the heroic spirit he was more than happy to carry out the order, he did remember hearing Caster talking about how fun it was to fight Riders back in the day and it seemed that this guy was one of them.
Running off he was soon gone, the black haired boy had his palm against his face for some reason.
"Little girl I am Rider, Shigeru Jo, you can call me Uncle Shigeru or just Mr Jo, I don't mind which." This, this was a real servant, her compass finally decided to die. Stuttering to a halt it no longer pointed to anything but the ground. This was a Heroic spirit right?
"You're a hero right?" She asked with conviction in her voice.
"Well of course!" He quickly answered. Waver was climbing down the building at this point.
"This means you fight for justice right?" She continued to stare at the Servant.
"Well yes, as a Rider I am a hero of justice!" He proclaimed proudly.
"Then you'll find the person who killed my father and avenge him!" Such a question from such an innocent looking girl surprised him.
Pausing for a moment he stared at her. "Of course I will." He promised her grasping her hand.
"My father…. He was a master in the war you know." The black haired Master himself stopped, he was planning to erase her memories of the event but if she was part of a family of Magus then it wouldn't be needed. Regardless he felt he needed to do something for the girl.
Scolding Rider the boy spoke. "She must mean Tokiomi Tosaka then Rider, the one killed by Berserker. He was the one that you didn't care about and didn't want to fight." Rin kept staring at Rider not once paying attention to the other Master.
"Very well, as a Rider I promise you Rin I will bring justice to the one who had killed your father but first I must find and defeat Caster, I don't want to see a child hurt and captured." Rin accepted this promise. Something in her head clicked.
"Wait Rider, the master, he came from inside there, maybe that's where his hide out is?" Nodding the Servant stood up and made his way over the abandoned bar.
Suffice to say many families were reunited with their children the very next day.
Stretching his neck once more Caster felt frustrated, the Manta Ray he had sent to protect his master had been defeated. Feeling the drain on his life force he continued to feed the contract monster Prana, he'd have to find more people to replenish it later.
"Are you sure this guy called himself a Rider?" The question itself was laced with feelings of hope.
"Yeah and he was talking about justice and stuff, he had a bike to!" That was nostalgic.
In a war fighting someone called Rider for a wish. It was even better that this Rider had ideals of justice. To fight such an opponent again was something he looked forwards to. How would he kill him? Would he mash him to a pulp? Would he slice him into tiny little pieces? Would he just sick his contract monsters on him? But first he'd need Prana to heal his monster.
"How vexing."
Kayneth didn't like surprises, he didn't like being hurt and he certainly did not like Kiritsugu Emiya after the whole fiasco. What other word did justice to the event that had transpired last night? Using mundane explosives to combat a Master, had the man no honour to speak of? For any other master this would've meant death. However the whole mess was simply a road bump on his road to victory for Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald.
Surely his brilliance knew no bounds, with his mastery of magic he had used the mystic code Volumen Hydragyrum to engulf him and his fiancé to protect them from the attack. Lancer was excluded for obvious reasons as he himself was a heroic spirit so Kayneth lost no sleep over the Servants supposed safety.
Focussing on the present Kayneth checked his clothes, everything as far as he could tell was in pristine condition. "You better prepare yourself Magus Killer for soon I'll be the one known as the one Magus that even you can't kill, in fact I'll be known as the Magus who ended your life!" Entering the Einzbern bounded field he announced his presence boldly.
Emiya wasn't the only person who could fight dirty.