As the trio arrived at the top of the stair leading to the temple, Shirou took the lead, sniffing for bounded fields. Literally.
"This way - There is a magic residue over here." Shirou led the trio towards a row of guest houses built against the the cliff face, at the far side of the temple compound.
They were almost to the center cottage when, in a flash, a person leaped from the underbrush. His motions were swift and silent, and if his attack had landed, Shirou would have lost his head.
But instead, the attacker was forced to dodge a Chinese broadsword that had interposed itself between him and his target, courtesy of Archer. At the same time, there was a pulse of magic, and the sound of chanting could be heard from the cottage.
"Archer, Sakura - find out what is going on inside. I got this" Shirou projected his own pair of Kanshou and Bakuya as he took a guard stance facing Kuzuki.
Archer nodded and kicked in the door to the cottage. Inside, the back wall of the building was missing. In its place was a tunnel leading deep into the mountain, with the chanting echoing out of it.
-FAR-FAR-
Rin struggled to get up 'Those idiots left without me!' She had picked up enough of the conversation in the other room through her link with Archer to know what the plan had been. Unfortunately, she had fallen asleep (she preferred to call it that rather than 'passed out') before she could get up and give them a piece of her mind.
She reached one of the jewels in her bag and activated it, draining it through a powerful healing spell. "Those half-trained idiots. They forgot to ask the one true Magus in the group if she had any healing spells!"
She grabbed Shirou's bike from the shed. 'How undignified!'
-FAR-FAR-
Shirou blocked another attack from Kuzuki-sensei. Shirou was faster and stronger than the teacher, but not by much, and Kuzuki had more experience. He came in hard and fast, a pair of daggers in his hands. Shirou managed to keep him back by keeping his longer weapons always in motion, making looping swings that swirled around him. His opponent, on the other hand, made sharp, darting attacks that sought to get in through the spaces between swings.
'Since when did my homeroom teacher turn into a psycho-warrior?' There was yelling and the sound of explosions from inside the cottage / mountain, but outside the battle was silent, as Shirou had to use all his concentration to keep up with his opponent, and the severe looking teacher was completely silent.
'I need to get in there and help!' Shirou thought as he barely avoided another attack.
-FAR-FAR-
Inside the mountain, Archer's swords danced as he tried to keep Assassin from getting in close enough to kill Sakura. They were in a large, stalagmite filled cave, and Assassin was using the rock formations for cover, darting out to attack from unexpected directions. Each time, Archer just barely had time to deflect her attack before she disappeared again.
Assassin was no match for him in a straight fight, but she never stayed long enough for him to retaliate. 'She must be hoping for a one hit kill.' Archer got a closer look at her weapon in the next exchange, as she came from the top of a rock outcropping, trying to hit him from above. 'Ah. Rule Breaker. She's hoping to add me to her collection,' Archer smirked.
Meanwhile, Sakura had dropped her bow and was trying to get past Caster's Reality Disjunction. Caster was chained to the wall by one wrist, and looked to be heavily impaired, almost drunk, as she struggled against Assassin's command seal. But nevertheless, she cast spells targeting Sakura and Archer.
Sakura lashed out at the portals and distortions with streamers of inky blackness that burst forth from her hands. As they hit caster's spells, they ate away at them.
Caster was not trying very hard to maintain her spells - as soon as Sakura blocked a spell, she let it dissolve and cast another instead of trying to overcome Sakura's counters. Which was fortunate, as the teen was nowhere near powerful enough to stand up to Caster head on.
-FAR-FAR-
The Servants were locked in a stalemate. Neither was able to score a hit on the other. It was clear that whoever made the first mistake would lose.
Assassin stepped out from a patch of inky blackness and stabbed at Archer's back, but he whirled and blocked with the flat of his sword. As he brought the other one around, Assassin stepped back into the shadow and disappeared.
"Aah!" somebody screamed in pain. Archer's attention shot in the direction of the yell, as he tried to tell if it was Sakura or Caster. Both possibilities were equally bad. During that moment of distraction, he saw motion out of the corner of his eye.
Archer tried to hop awkwardly out of the way as Assassin darted in from the side, but Rule Breaker plunged into his side. Assassin smiled in victory, "Now you are mine!" She held on tight to Archer with her free hand as Rule breaker did it's magic. From a distance, it looked like a lover's embrace.
Rin was half way up the stairs to Ryuudou temple when she collapsed from a sharp pain in her arm, like burning lead being poured on her hand and running up her arm. She watched as her command seals faded away, 'oh, this is bad.'
The moment the Command Seals appeared on Assassin's arm, she pronounced, "now, kill the girl!" she smiled up into her new Servant's face expectantly.
"Assassin, did you know that I'm not a Saber class Servant?" Archer asked calmly.
"Eh?" Assassin paused and frowned at the odd non-sequitur.
Archer stepped back from her embrace and brought both his swords in a flat arc in front of him, making a scissoring motion across Assassin's neck.
"I'm an Archer, and we have Independent Action." He finished as Assassin's head fell off of her shoulders and bounced twice.
Kuzuki felt Assassin die through his Command Seals. It was just a momentary distraction, and it usually wouldn't have bothered him, but he was out of practice. He had gone soft, become a teacher, and for just a moment, he mourned the loss of the woman he had come to care for.
A moment was all it took for Shirou's broadsword to lop off his outstretched hand. Before he could recover, Shirou's other sword came up and across his torso.
Shirou looked at the body of his teacher dispassionately. He wished he could have saved him. 'But being a Hero means that somebody out there is the Villain.'
-FAR-FAR-
As Caster slumped to the ground, Sakura looked over at Archer to see if he was ok.
"Matou-san, you still have a command seal?" Archer asked as he walked up, "Please take Caster as your servant."
"Maybe we should let her die, then Shirou would be done with this Holy Grail War." Sakura countered.
"Not going to happen," Archer growled. The two continued to stand like that, deadlocked with Caster slumped in front of them, as Shirou ran in.
"Caster! We have to do something before she fades away!"
Sakura took one look at Shirou and turned to Caster, "I ask, are you my Servant?"
"Yes" Caster replied in a hoarse whisper. The Command Seal on Sakura's arm flared, and life returned to Caster's eyes. "Thank you." She turned to Archer, "What about you? How long can you go without a contract?"
"Long enough," Archer smiled.
Caster took another look at Archer. He could have made a contract with Sakura instead of her, but instead he had all but guaranteed his own loss in favor of helping her. 'Maybe I don't know him as well as I thought.'
Sakura glanced down at her arm, and then at her new Servant in wonder. She had a servant. Neither Rin nor Shirou had one anymore. Now she had the power - they couldn't continue in the Holy Grail war without her help.
"Archer?" Rin staggered into the cave and collapsed.
"Rin? What are you doing here? And why are you out of bed?" Sakura turned in surprise, rushing over to the other girl to help her up.
Shirou took her other side, somewhat surprised at Sakura's reaction. In the past, she had always been slightly aloof towards Tohsaka, and he had assumed she disapproved of or maybe even disliked the acerbic school idol.
"You can't just leave me behind. I can be of help!" Rin slurred. Apparently racing up the mountain after casting a powerful healing spell had been too much for her.
'Huh, that sounds familiar,' Shirou thought, as Sakura gently replied, "Rin-Sempai, you are no longer a Master. You don't need to be here. I will take care of everything."
"Let's get out of here" Caster stood up and cast a spell that lifted all of them into the air, "This place disgusts me."
-FAR-FAR-
"Well, that just leaves Lancer and Berserker" Rin sipped her tea. The three humans were seated around Shirou's dining table again.
"I say we deal with Berserker next. We know who his master is, and I think I can find where he is hiding." Sakura replied.
"Are you ok with fighting your own grandfather?" Shirou asked tentatively.
"Oh, yes. It will be no problem," came the immediate reply. Even though there was no rancor in Sakura's voice, something sounded off to Rin.
"Sakura - when you healed me - you released some sort of powerful phage into my body. Where did that come from?" Whatever magic Sakura had used had been extremely painful, and Rin had a sneaking suspicion that it had come from within Sakura, that it was something the younger girl had to live with on daily basis.
"You don't need to worry about that, Rin-sempai" Sakura replied, "But you are correct - it was something that Grandfather gifted me with."
Shirou just looked puzzled by this exchange.
-FAR-FAR-
Meanwhile, Caster and Archer were sitting on the porch, their feet dangling. "So you have given up on your wish?" Caster finally asked. There was no way that Archer could win the Holy Grail war in his current condition.
"No. But I never needed the Holy Grail for my wish to come true."
Caster turned to look at Archer, puzzled, "And what is this wish, that you can achieve of your own power?" she asked, a slight sarcastic tone creeping in. It was a defense mechanism against all those that challenged her.
"Simple. That you get your wish." Archer smiled sardonically.
Caster froze for a moment. "You aren't joking, are you?" she finally said.
Archer just smiled.
Caster frowned, "Are you hitting on me?"
-FAR-FAR-
"Hold the cup steady" Sakura instructed Shirou. He held a tea cup half full of oil under Sakura's outstretched hand. Taking a deep breath, Sakura ran through a short aria, and then pricked her finger with a knife, allowing three drops of blood to fall onto the oil. The oil sizzled and smoked for a moment.
Rin stood behind the other two, feeling very odd. She was used to being the most knowledgeable magus in any group. But here, Sakura was usurping her role, teaching (rather disturbing) new magic to Shirou. It was not an experience she much enjoyed. "I have never heard of a spell like this. Where did you learn it?"
"It is not a very useful spell," Sakura replied self-deprecatingly, "it's based on Similarity. It only works if there is a strong connection between the caster and the object of the search spell." she looked at the cup in front of her expectantly, "Give it a moment to settle down, and then the droplet should move in the direction of Grandfather."
"Unless he has a bounded field up to screen him from detection."
"Oh, there is no way he can hide from this. This spell is perfectly attuned to his magical signature." Sakura smiled mysteriously, 'How could he hide from me? After all, a part of him is inside me.'
The small ball of blood floated on top of the oil instead of sinking like it should have. It slowly blackened until it looked like a bead of black glass.
And then it rolled to one side and stayed there, no matter how Shirou tipped the cup.
"Let's go."
The three teens and two Servants filed out of the house, following Shirou as he piloted via the magic teacup.
Soon, they were back outside the Matou mansion.
"Really?" Rin asked, "He's that arrogant that he didn't even try to hide his base of operations?"
"Um, Tohsaka? We're still working out of my house too." Shirou interjected.
Rin rolled her eyes, "whatever".
Caster leaned over to Archer and stage-whispered, "They're such a cute couple."
Shirou's head whipped around, a denial ready on his lips when Sakura caught his arm. "Careful, don't spill the spell, sempai." She smiled to show she wasn't angry, despite her sharp tone 'I should have let her die up in the Temple.'
Rin cast a sidelong glance at the Heroic Spirit, 'I wish Sakura had let her die up on the mountain.'
-FAR-FAR-
"There is nobody here" Archer pronounced after they had searched the whole of the Matou house.
"He's here. He's hiding in the basement," Sakura replied after consulting the tea cup. "I'll show you." She led the group down into Zouken's magical sanctum.
Sakura could almost feel the chains that grandfather had used to constrain her life and her very being start to snap. Chains of upbringing and habit and self loathing.
She was a real magus.
SNAP
She was in charge.
SNAP
Onee-chan was following HER lead.
SNAP
Shirou was looking at her and smiling.
SNAP
Grandfather was going to die.
Oh, SNAP.
Just as they approached the bottom of the stairs, they were confronted by a pale little girl dressed in rags. She couldn't have been more than ten years old. "I'm sorry, you can't come in here." She had a delicate, elfin look.
"And who are you?" asked Archer, stepping forward.
"Why, silly, I am servant Berserker." She smiled wider than a human could, and tilted her head oddly, changing her from cute looking to disturbingly in-human. Her eyes were just a little too big, her black curls too shiny. And her hands distorted as her fingernails twisted into impossibly long claws.
Archer leaped forward without any warning, his paired swords swinging, only to be met by a growling dog. As he slashed the dog in two and landed, more of the dogs appeared from thin air, followed by other animals, ranging from raccoons to bears. All the creatures roared and foamed at the mouth as if mad. Some attacked Archer, while the others leaped for Caster and the humans.
Caster was hard pressed to stop the crazed animals - the spatial distortions didn't appear to confuse them, and only marginally slowed them down, forcing her to use strikes of lightning from her hands to destroy the vicious monsters.
Archer kicked off of a bear that was trying to grapple him, leaping backwards towards the wall. He flipped in time to push off of that as well, leaping over the whole mass of animals, straight at Berserker.
As he swung Kanshou at her, she ducked and her claw-like fingernails lashed out at Archer, scratching him lightly on the cheek. As Archer landed, the animals swarmed him, but now he was barely able to fend them off. He staggered as if drunk, and his eyes would not focus. The cut on his cheek throbbed, sending out red tendrils across his face.
"I think that's Lyssa, the Greek personification of madness," Rin called out between firing off gander shots at the animals that managed to get past Caster.
"Caster, use your portals to sweep away the animals!" Sakura commanded.
'To cover that much area will drain my prana very quickly. I'm not certain if I can get all of them before I run out.' Caster replied silently.
"Do it! I can supply you with enough prana."
Blue portals appeared around Caster, and spat out in all directions. Any beast that was swept up by one disappeared. But the portals were shaped like rectangles the size of a doorway, an awkward shape to scoop up animals with. The beasts were able to dodge around them, forcing Caster to summon more and more, so that soon streams of doorways were radiating out from her, drifting across the room.
At the same time, more and more rabid creatures bust from Berzerkers shapeless rags.
Sakura strained to provide enough prana. Her reserves were depleting quickly. She took a deep breath and reached to her core, searching for the last iota of power.
As the magical duel continued, Archer tried to fight his way to Berserker, but he wasn't able to make out which way was which: the room continued to spin and tilt, and it was all he could do to defend himself against the few rabid animals that managed to get past Caster's portals.
Meanwhile, Shirou and Rin defended Caster and Sakura from crazed sparrows and streams of rats and other small animals that were able to duck around the portals.
Sakura was running out of prana. She couldn't sense any more inside her. But she knew there was more. She reached out 'there!" the Crest Worms. they were made of raw magical power. She tapped into those, and pushed, pushing beyond just the worms and into all of Zoukon's vast magic reserves, feeding his prana to Caster as quickly as she could.
-FAR-FAR-
The worm mage was in hiding, his body spread out amongst all the worms hiding around the Matou property and beyond. There was no way that he could be harmed, even if his Servant was defeated.
But suddenly, his contentment was shattered as he felt a second drain on his magic reserves. Something was siphoning - no GULPING - his power.
-FAR-FAR-
Caster's eyes got big as she felt the huge swell of power coming to her. 'Now this is more like it!'. Instead of drifting lazily, her portals began to spin around Caster, scooping everything in their path. They just barely dodged Archer and her allies.
Berserker roared in rage as she commanded her animals to carry her bodily towards Caster. As the tide of animals supporting her surged forward, she reached out with her foot-long claws, reaching for the Servant of the Spell. Each time a portal approached, she lashed out at it, shredding it into nothingness.
-FAR-FAR-
Zouken tried every trick he could think of to stem the flow of power from his body, but his servant had activated her Mad Enhancement, and was not responding to his commands. He needed to break the contract with her, but to do that he had to be incorporated into something resembling his original body.
And he wasn't even certain where that second drain was coming from. He tried cutting off those worms that were being tapped, but the drain was spreading faster than he could contain it.
Worms began to die. At first it was only the ones at the periphery of his consciousness, but then more and more, as they were drained of all power and shriveled up.
-FAR-FAR-
Berserker had smashed her way almost all the way to Caster, who was frantically alternating portals with blasts of lightning, when Shirou began pressing in on Lyssa from the side.
He chopped through the beasts supporting her, causing Berserker to stagger. Caster pressed the slight advantage, warping the space around Berserker, trying to seal her off in her own pocket universe.
-FAR-FAR-
Zouken desperately held on to the strands of his prana. He was down to his last dozen worms, and it was getting harder to think, as he lost more of himself, and more of Berserker filtered back up their link.
Another worm disappeared.
And another.
Soon he no longer remembered why he was struggling to hold on to the worms, he just knew that he had to hold on to them.
So it was with only a mild sense of disappointment that he watched his last worm shrivel and die.
-FAR-FAR-
All of a sudden, Berserker broke apart into motes of light and faded away. At the same time, Sakura collapsed.
Caster froze and turned in horror to her master. "She's not breathing!""
.
Yes, this is a 'Sakura Rising' style story. I love that genre