Forward Unto Dawn

Chapter 6: Blood and Fire

"A hunt you say?" I was genuinely intrigued, it had been a while since I've participated in a hunt and I wanted to test out my skills.

Aoko nodded enthusiastically allowing her brown hair to bob up and down swaying with the motion of her head. "Yup, a hunt, and a lot of prominent Enforcers were called in, the apostle's pretty strong apparently."

"An apostle?" She nodded at my question. "How very intriguing, a new one?"

She her head, "No, pretty old really, nearly four hundred already. The thing is this guy's been hibernating since his fall more than a century back, Vladmir Brezhnev, named 'Bloodfire Marques' by the executors. You've heard of him?"

"Can't say I have. Russian?" The name wasn't familiar, I've hunted many apostles in my time and some threatened me with names of other apostles who will hunt me, but this one didn't register to me at all.

"Nah, during his time it was all part of the same empire, I'd say German but really, his origin is sketchy at best, I can say he's pretty strong though."

"Depends on how much the Association brought to fight."

She smiled a bit, "A whole lot, twenty six-magi were called, some freelancers including one Fraga."

"A Fraga? Damn, this one's gotta be strong." It isn't entirely rare for Fragas to emerge as freelancers or enforcers due to the ancient family's militant teaching, but that's in Europe, it's definitely rare for a Fraga to travel all the way to the orients.

"Yup, A Fraga, Ava Fraga if I'm not mistaken, one of the wielders."

A wielder of Fragrach, how nostalgic, I fought a Fraga a few years before my demise, he was strong, but I was better. During the fight I did manage to catch a glimpse of Fragrach and record, in fact, I only managed to beat him by resorting to pure hand-to-hand combat after I avoided the counter with Avalon. It was lucky of me really that I had such a cheat code that saved my life many times throughout my life. Well I'm not proud of it I did manage to scavenge a few reinforcement runes from the Fraga I murdered, then again a good majority of it was tied to his blood and was useless to me.

"Bad memories? I remembered there were rumors of a fight between you and a Fraga when you were still active."

I sighed at her mocking, "Yes, it was a fight, a tough one indeed, but the result is that I remain standing and he remains buried."

"No need to get stingy." She chuckled a bit at my unhappy thoughts about my near defeat.

"So this Vladmir, he's really that strong?"

She shrugged at my question, "No one really knows really, from what I heard he fought the Wizard Marshall and survived."

My eyes widened at that claim, to fight a Wizard Marshall to survive was a feat in itself, to fight 'the' Wizard Marshall and survive is nothing short of a miracle, admittedly if I prepared I may have a chance with everything I got but that's another story. "Which one?" I asked hesitantly, the answer will determine whether this apostle was strong, or hyper strong.

"Unfortunately, both of them."

"Fuck." That was the only word that could be used to describe the situation. "Fuck."

"Indeed."

"This is like surprise butt sex. They're so screwed, is Barthomeloi coming?"

She shook her head, "Don't think so, she's not that fond of me ya know?"

"Steal her prey one too many times?"

She laughed a bit, "Not my fault she's so obsessed with vampires, I just hunt what's in front of me."

"Spoken like a true slacker."
"Baka, baka." We both laughed a bit at the cheerful atmosphere of our bantering.

Then I asked the real question that was dying to be asked, "You staying for the hunt?"

She shook her head once more allowing her auburn hair to sway behind her, "I came to inspect the NOVA you know, then I saw you at the clash and yeah, shit happened. I have a job all the way in America ya know, a sealing designate, philosopher-class, doing harm to the public and all that good stuff, ya know the deal."

I nodded in acceptance, "I get what you mean, philosophers, what a menace, I hunted a few down in my career, never die cleanly."

"No shit, a good amount of them were aiming to be an apostle in the long run or stuff like that."

I nodded, philosophers are generally dangerous to the public since they disregard the codes of conduct. A good amount of times philosophers research in vampirism since they want to have more time to further their research, other times they're just plain mad, either way their they tend to be hard to kill or retrieve.

"So twenty-six magi against a very powerful apostles, anyways, why isn't this guy an ancestor anyways? Shouldn't he be strong enough?"

She nodded, "He's definitely strong enough to rival most of the less obscure ancestors, as for why he isn't a dead apostle ancestor, well, he doesn't really care about humanity that much, just keeps to himself and all that good stuff."

"Uncommon."

"Yup, uncommon for someone strong, but he has been sleeping for a century now, but before that I think he simply lorded over his birthplace occasionally helping the executors by hunting down apostles in his territory, so he isn't really a threat to humanity."

It wasn't uncommon for some apostles to simply ignore humanity, I'm assuming he just created his own territory and stood on it like a boss. "So why is there a hunt called for him when it's been relatively peaceful?"

"The NOVA." There was slight alarm in her voice, I was confused.

"The NOVA?" I repeated, I have no idea what she meant.

"Yes, the NOVA." She confirmed then went on to elaborate, "When it appeared, as you know Fuyuki city is filled with natural leylines, it suddenly woke and came to Japan, it's totally unprecedented you know, I'm pretty sure Bloodfire Marques never ever set foot on the orient bar China maybe."

"So because he decided to travel we're gonna face him, not saying the enforcers can beat him anyways, but we're gonna hunt him? This is ridiculous, facing an enemy of that caliber the enforcers will be hunted instead."

"Well, there are a few executors coming."

"Wow that's rare, so the Vaticans want a leg up on this apostle as well? To work together, I've rarely seen such an occurrence."

She shook her head, "That's only you. After the first clash there was so much prana left behind by the NOVA that apostles and vampires started being stronger. The saturation of magic is much higher than before, of course we can't really notice it since we don't draw that much energy from the air anyways but the apostles are getting much stronger, and as an affect much more bold."

What she said was true, the air felt heavier, not by much, but it was something. It's like global warming, it may only increase the temperature by one to two degrees every few years but consider the size of the Earth, to increase overall temperature by one to two degrees globally was a big deal. Humans do take magic from the air, but not that much compared to some of the obscure apostles with abilities that draw from nature itself, and definitely not compared to those ancestors who can use marble phantasms. I personally use a lot more od than prana so it doesn't effect me that much, so I didn't really take notice of the difference.

"So the executors and the enforcers work together?" I asked, it wasn't exactly unheard of for executors and enforcers to work together in specific cases, rare yes, impossible, no.

"Not exactly, after the tragic loss during the First Clash they were forced to acknowledge the usefulness of each other, it's like we won't kill each other since magi are so rare nowadays, most of the stronger ones died fighting for mankind and more importantly their research."

"It was a terrible battle."

"It was, wasn't it?" An uncomfortable silence fell between us two, no doubt she was thinking of the clash, how she left during the middle. She had to, her magic was severely limited by the freezing field deployed the NOVA, she'd just get herself killed. No doubt she still beat herself up because of it, she was never able to take losses easily. "I wish I hadn't left."

"Don't, Aoko-san, don't."

"I'm serious." She looked down at her shows, I put a hand on her silky hair, it's hard to imagine someone her age looking so young, must have something to do with her magic, after all who understood time better than her?

"Don't take it there, I asked you to leave, I chose to fight, we chose to fight."

She screamed "I could have healed you!"at me with her face still down, so was this the center of her conflict, that I might not have died due to her magic, like how she saved another nearly a century ago? "I could have saved you." She looked up at me, completely different from what she previously was like. Throughout our conversation she had gone from mentally unstable to normal, now back to breaking point, she really wears her emotions on her sleeves, how un-magi-like. "I could have saved…I could have…saved you…" There was a slight red color around her eyes, her voice was sniveling, choking on her tears.

I stroked her soft hair, soothing her, she was my friend after all. "No Aoko, I wouldn't have wanted to, the price humanity would have to pay in the future, no, I wouldn't dare condemn my race." It was true, the fundamental rule of nature, a gift and a price, to heal me the energy from reverting time would have to go somewhere, or some time. "I didn't mind dying after all, it let me see her." I looked up at the moon, it was dark already, the nearly full moon shining in the distant darkness, "Sakura, I wouldn't mind meeting her again, but Alaya has other plans."

We looked each other in the eye, she asked softly, "You still love her don't you?"

I smiled, remembering Sakura's smile, her violet flowing hair, all her beauty, her gentleness. "How could I not? I betrayed myself for her, how could I not."

She nodded at my proclamation using her sleeves to remove the tears hanging on her face. "Yes, how could you not."

I changed the atmosphere immediately by asking about the hunt "So twenty-six magi against an impossibly strong apostle? That's a menace."

"No, twenty seven." I was a bit puzzled by her reply, 'Twenty-seven? I was sure she said twenty-six.'

"Ah? A new recruit? I thought you said twenty-six." I could kind of expect what happened next, did I like it, no, could I expect it, yes.

She handed me a small card which I received, she smiled at me, her tears gone, her scrunched up face disappearing back to the original Cheshire grin, mocking me, "Here."

I read the piece of paper, it turned out to be my old ID, a very old ID with a few updates, 'Shirou Emiya, Tokyo, 12/12/2038.' "What the fuck? This is…"

"The date of the first clash with your appropriate age." She finished my answer, "An ID for you, you see that symbol, that's the new Association symbol, I had it drawn out for you the moment I saw you during the clash."

"The fuck?"

"You'll need it, just put yourself down as a Freelancer, gluck."

"Wait, Aoko….wait…" I was flabbergasted, but by the time I regained my bearing she was already a good distance away from me, too far for me to return this. "Wait up."

"Hahaha, gluck, the transport is at Ikeburo Station, 1900 hours in two moons, just look for suits, yeah, you should wear one too. Don't be late."

"You witch." I shouted after her.

She's already on her scooter with a helmet on her head, "Thanks, don't be late, save them, fulfill your dreams." At that I stopped screaming, yes, I wanted to save them, yes, I needed to save them. To fulfill my dreams I will see to it that they survive, no matter what it takes.

I looked at her leaving figure, unable to stay mature at her childish actions, "You suck," I called after her.

She visited him again today, she didn't plan to but her obsession took over and she went downtown after her classes at West Genetics.

"Kazuha?" She didn't really dare go in yet, waiting outside leaning to look into the shop well hiding behind a wall. What she didn't realize is her target in question was right behind her coming into the shop from where ever he was, from the smoke wafting of him Kazuha deducted that he was probably smoking.

"Eeeeepppp..." She squeaked turning around to face the tall man with bronze skin and white-silver hair. "Shirou-san, don't scare me like that..." she said in a meek voice accompanying her squeak.

He chucked a bit, "Did you just...eeppp?" He laughed a bit at her response but received a smack on the back of her head as a result .

"Argggg..." She glared at her well having a moment to recollect herself, "What I meant is, what are you doing here Shirou-san?" Her tone changed from a timid voice to her usual confident tone.

"Haha, well I was just catching a smoke." He motioned to his uniform's breast pocket which had a red pack of cigarettes.

"Those things will kill you some day." She nodded sagely, agreeing with her own statement.

He laughed a bit, "Maybe, maybe, so Kazuha-san, what'cha doing here?"

"Nothing, just wondering around."

Snorting a bit at her he asked with a bit of doubt, "So you're wondering here, the end of the shopping district with all that 3C products?"

Nodding well looking a bit embarrassed, "Yeah,I use all that electronics, definitely, just shopping for some electronics."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow in doubt which caused the PANDORA to narrow her eyes into a slit.

"Really really, not stop doubting me and invite me in, your precious customer." She motioned for him to invite her in with a wave of her hand that wasn't clutching her bag.

"This ain't my house you know?" but his opinion was ignored, as always.

The rest of the evening was spent just chatting when there weren't many customers, Yamato-san would cut in and make some lewd comments which resulted in Shirou arguing with him. It was peaceful, hard to imagine a few days ago Kazuha had been ignored by the very man that was welcoming her warmly and talking to her normally. It was also hard to imagine this man, no, maybe not even man was someone capable of defeating a NOVA, two NOVAs. It scared her, how someone so strong could seem so normal, it truly scared her. He seemed preoccupied for some reason but he wouldn't say what it was.

"Shirou-san? Shirou-san?" I heard Miya call outside my door. "Shirou-san, it's almost time for dinner."

I was putting a few finishing touches on my equipment that I will be bringing to the hunt. I was nervous, very nervous. This apostle was strong, surviving an encounter with two Wizard Marshals is a testament to that fact. I'd probably need everything I have, my mysteries, my swords, and maybe even my marble. "Sorry Miya-san, I have an appointment at seven all the way in Ikeburo, I think I'll grab something on the way. It was around five thirty right now, I had talked to Yamato-san to move my shift today a bit earlier to work the full eight hours.

"Really? Well good luck, is it by any chance your 'customer'?" She stretched the word 'customer' sounding almost seductive, definitely trying to bring a misunderstanding into her teasing. With a serious tone she followed, "Remember Shirou-san, don't be too rough to her, you might break your 'appointment.'"

"Argh Miya-san, it's not that kind of appointment." I called to her who was probably standing on the other side of the door. "It's not like that."

I could hear a chuckle, "Sure Shirou-san, it's so not like that, but the good thing is your carnal urges won't be released upon a mourning widow and an innocent high school-er, it's a good thing. Maybe it's for the best." I could tell her teasing is really making her happy, she's such a child sometimes.

"It's not like that Miya-san."

"Keep telling yourself that." She kept laughing at me, I could imagine the serene grin she always has when she's teasing one of her tenants.

A few moments later she left, I continued working on packing well listening to her quiet footstep getting softer as she got farther away from the entrance to my room. The main thing I have right now is my runed dagger.

What I did have to work on however was wearing a tie. It's really normal for enforcers to wear formal suits when they go on an operation, it doesn't really help them in defense but really, I have doubts if wearing armor really helps. What I did do however was buying a very heavy suit along with a trench coat, inscribing a rune on it to upgrade its magical tolerance so I can reinforce it pretty hard. I've tested it before, when fully reinforced to the brink of its breaking point it's around as strong as an one inch steel plate, then again I do have some magical resistance properties.

Tugging on my red tie one more time I looked at myself through a mirror finding a sense of irony. It seemed so hilarious, someone who looked like a delinquent such as myself wearing a somewhat formal suit and tie, the image it gives is simply funny. Sighing again wishing I had my red coat and black armor which was pretty much destroyed during my demise it was unfortunate but I had to settle with suit and tie for the upcoming mission, on the bright side I will get paid if I survived.

When I walked out my room and went downstair I could feel everyone's eyes on myself.

"Oh man, Shirou-san, what's with the suit?" Takebayashi-san contributed his thoughts to the four people, including myself, in the room.

I could tell Miya was nodding with approval, "Nice Shirou-san, you'd be sure to impress the ladies with that, ah, Takehito, save your wife from this beast who will seduce women and unleash his primal desires upon them."

Hearing that I could see Ms. Hoover flinch a bit, looking up at me with wide and fearful eyes. When our eyes connected again she looked down almost as if she was in fear.

"Now Miya-san, you know very well I ain't gonna go see some lady."

"You sure? You sure look like you're going out banging." Taro said.

"Very true Taro-san, Shirou-san definitely looks like he's up to no good. What do you say Audrey-san?"

At the mention of her name the redhead looked up immediately and looked at me with a fearful expression, "Ummm...maybe?"

"Arghh, you know very well that's not the case, and no Ms. Hoover, don't be scared..." It might be my louder voice but I could see Ms. Hoover trying to hide behind the table getting far away from me. "No Ms. Hoover, don't be scared."

"Hahahaha, Shirou-san, it's okay, go unleash your manly lust. But let this poor widow walk you to the door as a tribute so you do not come looking for her at night." I only shook my head at her teasing.

Waving my hand in front of me as if to hurry her, "Lead the way, I have to meet them at seven."

She came and put her hand around my shoulders leading me to the door of Izumo Inn.

We walked in silence, as if there was an unspoken question just waiting to be asked, but we were both silent.

It was silent until we reached the door of Izumo Inn. As we stepped into the courtyard that was surrounded by the L-shaped structure she stopped and closed the door, patting me down she felt the knife in a holster behind my back. "So tonight?" She asked, she was calm as she always was.

"It had to be done."

"You mentioned you were a hunter?"

"It is true", I slowly brushed her hand off my hips and felt the knife through my suit and trench coat.

She sighed a bit, slowly opening the door and pointing to a small alter a distance away. It was a typical shrine within a Japanese household to honor the dead, within it was three pictures, a man, a group of people, and the same group of people with Miya herself in it. "They were the tenants of Izumo Inn before. Maybe fifty years ago, a bit longer perhaps." I could feel where this was going. "They were like you, young and foolish. Fighting for a cause they believed in." She paused again to look at me and wearing a sympathetic smile on her visage. "I am not stopping you Shirou-san, but you know you have a warm and loving home to come back to." She looked at me, for a moment I could feel desperation in her eyes. I could feel her longing, her wish for me to stay.

I looked down in shame at the ground, she was beautiful, Miya Asama, the one that looked like Sakura. I was ashamed I could not adhere her wishes. "You know I can't."

She smiled again, her red eyes glittering, I thought it was her supernatural powers sifting through her, then I noticed. It was not energy but tears, tears refracting the light from the moon, making her eyes glittering, unshed tears. "I know. I know." Her tears never fell, she must have felt this pain before, felt this sadness, this situation. "I know I can't stop you, but," she pointed at her house, "Izumo Inn is always open for you, come back."

I nodded a bit looking away, "I know." Then I looked at the shrine again with reinforced eyes. It was a guy with plenty of well endowed girls around him. A blonde, a red hair, a brunette, a raven hair, a girl with white hair, a small kid. It was a picture of a happy guy with multiple girls surrounding him, it was so peaceful, so beautiful, the peace I have always desired. "Where are they now?" I didn't know what I asked when I knew the answer to that question.

A single tear fell from her right eye, she tried hard to hold in her tears, "I don't know, but I never met them again." Her voice was forced, choked. "I never saw them again, those children. But they are why I keep Izumo Inn open."

"Why?"

"So they have a home to return to." I don't know when it was, but a salty taste suddenly assaulted my senses. Brushing my hand on my face I realized tears were falling from my eyes. I don't know when it was but I have started tearing up and crying.

"You have one too you know?" She asked, I couldn't stop my tears now. This was what I wanted all those time ago. I wanted to come home and see Sakura. I wanted to live a normal life and have someone to return to. I abandoned my ideals, my father's ideals to become a hero. I abandoned all that so I could have something to return to. And the kids had the thing I craved, yet they still fought for their ideals and beliefs. The kids have what I craved, and now maybe, just maybe, I will have something to wish for, something other than the cold steel within my body.

"Shirou-san, you have a home, so come back safely." I was so stunned I didn't notice her pulling me into an embrace. It wasn't a hug of the romantic kind, but more of the comforting and caring kind like a few I had shared with Aoko before after a particularly nasty job. I felt her warmth pressing against me. Her warmth, it was intoxicating almost.

After a few moments of silence I gently pushed her away and returned to my full height. I looked her in the eyes, red meeting gold, and smiled, "I'll be back."

She smiled at my words, "I'll be waiting."

At that I left, slowly at first, but quickly after I approached my bike and headed for the nearest station. I couldn't afford to be slow, I felt my glass heart move for just a second, something I cannot afford. I am afraid, afraid that if I stayed by Miya's side any longer I might not have the resolve to move on, she was too much like Sakura. But I cannot have that, a moment of weakness, I cannot.

Softly I muttered to myself, my voice silenced by the wind that carried my chant away from me, "My body is made of swords, fire is my blood and glass is my heart." Feeling more relieved after reminding myself of who I am I continued on, on to the battlefield that's not so far away.

"So you're the new recruit?" Someone asked me, it was 19:20 by now and I had arrived at Ikeburo nearly thirty minutes ago. Like Aoko said I looked for suits, and I found the lot of magi with the help of my senses as well as a general idea of what enforcers look like. The person that asked me was most likely the leader of this operation, he called himself Samuel Nightingale, an English magi sent as an enforcer from Clock Tower, obviously. I've heard of the Nightingale family, it seemed that this was the second son, the one that didn't become an heir, but his blood and circuits were thick enough for him to still become a magi from what it seems, and a pretty competent one if his appearance here is any indicator to his abilities. Then again maybe he was sent here to die, it wasn't that uncommon really, to send the second son on hunts so they would die.

From what I remember the Nightingale family were one of the more prominent within Clock Tower, a family rooted within Great Britain herself. They practiced magic that has to do with darkness as implied by their name but no one is really sure what their mysteries really are. I personally never met a Nightingale before this but what I know is that they are pretty pesky opponents with a fair amount of defense and offense combined.

"Yeah, Shirou Emiya. At your service." I held out the ID Aoko got for me, it'd be awkward if this didn't work.

He took the ID I held out for him, examined it a few times and gave me a piece of parchment to sign. Without much care I got the scroll from him and quickly signed my name as well as my occupation 'Freelancer.' He nodded a bit and moved on to the next guy. The document I signed is pretty much a recording of who showed up for the hunt and is legible for rewards. Hunts are called, and some may be specifically invited to join, but those who reply to the hunt and arrive here without specific requests just sign the sheet which records all the magi present. I didn't seek Aya Fraga's name on it, I'll assume he was invited, well, a man of his caliber probably was.

A few minutes later the Nightingale led us all out to a park and deeper into the park to a place where a magic circle was prepared. Ushering us in with a wave we all stood within the circle. This was a pretty normal spell utilized by enforcers sent by the association, a mystery named "Ladder of Air." It's concept was pretty simple, using pressurized air to send a enclosed bounded area to a specific target at a fast speed, since we aren't going very far we got there in a few seconds. It's pretty common for hunts where a huge amount of people need to be transported at the same time, it wasn't a hard mystery to make, just inconvenient to set up. It takes hours to get the circles drawn and linked, and someone has to be on the other side.

He stood there on a podium at our destination, clearing his throat to get our attention, he spoke, "As you all know, we're here to hunt an apostle." There were slight murmurs amongst the audience but not much. He continued without waiting for silence, it's really normal for the leader to make 'inspirational speeches' before an apostle hunt since no more than half are expected to survive. Against sealing designates it's more of just hunt 'em down, but against apostles it actually takes planning and all that good stuff. There won't be much of a plan since no one wants to give away their mysteries but there will be a general overview of the information on the apostle so we'd be better prepared. "The apostle we're hunting today is Vladmir Brezhnev, or 'Blood-Fire Marques'. From what the association along with the Church has gathered, he specializes in magecraft related to blood and fire, from what he showed a century ago he has the ability to spout flames from his own blood." Stingy, blood magic is rare and dangerous amongst Magi. Blood carries a lot of mana, and most people aren't willing to part with it, an apostle on the other hand..."So from what he showed during the last confrontation he can make fire, and he can somewhat control blood in the air, making mists of red matter and making it physical in structure. From what was recorded his blood is highly toxic and you must make sure never to let his blood mix with you, or you're over." There were again more murmurs amongst the crowd, from what I figured a few people came in small teams that are well familiarized with each other's mysteries, they're probably planning for the best course of action. I on the other hand came alone, so I just listened. "He has a black dagger, beware of that, there's no records of what it does but it may be a conceptual weapon or just a weapon of choice, watch out for it, and he has mystic eyes with unknown abilities. From the few apostles we've interrogated it seems that he has a reality marble of some kind but this is not confirmed." It wasn't rare for the twenty seven dead apostle ancestors to have a reality marble but seriously? A dead apostle having a reality marble is really bad news.

He went on talking a bit about the physical appearance of Blood-Fire Marques, how he's sort of caucasian with shoulder length blonde hair. The description from last century showed him with a beard but really, these info are really inaccurate since they are a century old. Blood-Fire seems to refer to his ability though, some sort of blood magic with fire, a fearsome combination if anything.

By the time we set out it was 21:00, I'm not really sure why we're hunting an apostle at night, fuck logic, in my opinion it's much better to go kill them when their sleeping, if we know where they are which we do.

Aberoth Greenham was an above average enforcer. A third generation magus born of a family of 'modern' magi that focused on combat rather than research. His father had been an enforcer, his mother had been an enforcer, his grandfather had been an enforcer, hell, his whole family breathed enforcers. He himself was especially glad when he finally made it into the...well...enforcers. He practiced magecraft that centered around his elemental affinity of earth and relied heavily on his family's reinforcement mysteries imbued within his crest. He's always been above average, doing well in the enforcer corps, hunting sealing designates and an occasional apostle, but nothing prepared him for what he is seeing.

Twenty-six, wait no, twenty-seven since another recruit came, magi appeared for the apostle hunt, this is a ridiculous number. Any number above five was quite huge, enforcers tend to work solo or in pairs, a rare team may be formed if they knew each other during training. Twenty-six? That was ridiculous, at the time he took the job he laughed, the apostle in question should run as fast as he can with tails tucked between his legs, he's about to get done in by humans.

All that silly presumptions were unfortunately, destroyed. One apostle, Vladmir Brezhnev simply breezed through the enforcers. Aberoth had gone on the job with his trusty partner Lance Locksworth, an American magus that joined the Clock Tower as a second generation magus, decent overall without much family exclusive mysteries, but decent overall. Then the duo had paired up with two other duos and a three manner, whose names he never cared to remember, to hunt this 'Blood-Fire'. Despite only having around thirty enforcers these soldiers tend to not know each other very well. They traveled around hunting, taking mercenary jobs, pretty much never seeing each other unless summoned by the Clock Tower. Imagine traveling pastors, just more blood.

Aberoth Greenham had thought nine fighting centered magi were absolutely enough against this apostle, it should be given any other circumstance, but they never got the memo this guy was as strong as the ancestors. It had started out bad when one of the duos acting as scouts got cut down immediately after making visual contact with the enemy, then as the group of nine now seven magi circled the apostle, it got from bad to worse.

"Fuck." Aberoth screamed as he held his magical crest-incrested left hand up to cast, "Crush!" He screamed, activating the magical crest his father and mother both passed down onto him. His magecraft was Earth based, centered around the word 'crush'. As the word implies his mystery, well, crushes. It utilizes the elemental prana of earth to create a crush affect by creating an explosion in the air. "Crush," he cried again aiming his left hand at the shoulder length blonde with red eyes. The main problem with the Greenham's 'crush' was its ridiculous cast time of three second. Upon pointing it needs time to invoke an explosion in thin air, so for that three seconds Aberoth was vulnerable, and of course the apostle knew that after the first exchange.

"Arghhh..." The human screamed as the vampire struck him with a fist in the stomach causing him to double backwards in pain. "Fuck."

The apostle only grinned and rose a single eyebrow. "You okay there human?"

"Fuck you. Crush"

Before his spell took effect he felt a force on his hips as he was thrown outward by a simple kick by the immortal. "You're not so strong are you?"

"Reinforce body." Greenham uttered as he reapplied the reinforcement spell after his 'armor' broke from the latest exchange. Driving his hand onto the ground he screamed his second mystery, "Spikes." And earthen spikes started protruding the surface expanding outwards in a circle. The Greenham family was not centered in any specific style, whatever that could be used to fight was used. This was a basic application of alchemy with Earth prana, causing spikes to rise from the ground.

Unfortunately, the speed of the spikes was no good as it simply broke on contact with the apostle's hard skin. But Aberoth was only buying time for himself to gather his bearing. His whole team of nine now one magus had been slaughtered, his distress signal had been sent minutes ago, now he needed to stall for backup. Putting both his reinforced fists in front of him the enforcer took the stance of a boxer with low center of gravity and slightly crouching.

"Ah, there's still fight in you, Bravo. Bravo." The blonde vampire said as he watched Aberoth get into his stance. "Worry not my friend, as I had said, I shall use no magecraft on you." This apostle was proud and egotistic, upon contact he claimed he didn't need to use magecraft to kill the 'lower race'. And true to his word he's been killing the magi with pure physical capabilities along.

Then he disappeared.

Reacting based on instincts and hoping for the best Aberoth turned and punched. "Crush."

True to his predictions he caught Vladmir as he tried to blindside the human, the human's fist making contact with his outstretched arm. "Argghhhh..." The vampire screamed as Aberoth's magic took place instantly. What Vladmir didn't know was that the Greenhams had been close ranged fighters. Their mystery's cast time was completely removed if used through contact.

Capitalizing on the vampire's sudden pain and dropped guard Aberoth followed with a left jab and a right hook, a typical one-two combo. "Crush, crush." He screamed as his mood started alleviating, he was making contact, doing good damage.

"Fuckkk, fuck..." The vampire screamed as his hand was shredded as two more explosions rocked into him. His lack of concentration resulted in another punch in the face with the accompanied 'crush'.

Feeling the blood of the vampire wash over him Aberoth was relieved. 'Success, I killed him.' He cried to himself, he, a human, killed an apostle that destroyed his team, how great. His final hit was a good finisher, the Greenhams mysteries were truly fearsome at close range. "Yes." He loved the feeling, the feeling of adrenaline as he bathed in the blood of his downed enemy.

Then he froze, "Yes what?" Aberoth turned to the downed corpse he had punched away with his three hit combo, instead of finding a lump of dead meat he saw Vladmir standing there, grinning at him with the same smile and a raised eyebrow as if he was sympathizing with the human enforcer. "It actually did hurt a bit human, for that I'd have to commend you, and you forced me to use my magecraft, how very interesting." The last thing the heir of Greenham saw was his adversary snapping his finger, then he felt as his body was on fire.

A/N:

I noticed I cut it off as a cliffhanger, or would be but it really isn't climaxing yet

I wanted to make it longer but I'm not sure when I'd update then, hella busy

I'm not sure about this myself but I believe the DAA are like aristocrats within DAs, I'm not sure what the requirements are, but I'm just making so that this one can rival the other DAAs in power since I believe the ancestors are supposed to be like hyper strong even compared to the DAs.

There isn't much to say about this chapter, a bit of character development, Shirou not being a jerk anymore, some more Seikirei references which i promise isn't really part of the story, it just felt like it fits

I originally wanted Aoko to join the hunt with Emiya, but felt that there might be too much collateral damage.

There hasn't been many negative reviews, or any reviews for that matter, am I disappointing anyone?

I know someone really hated how Sakura died and shit, but yeah, shit happens.

I appreciate anyone who supports this story, takes the time to read and review, I appreciate it

Right, there was this flame that i never got to reading...wait a sec, let me go read and respond here

Here:

The Hero of the End: umm chapter 3 it says so it's about Emiya's assimilation in society

I agree Aoko is strong, but I mentioned the Freezing field fucks up magic, makes it slower, so yeah, even AOko would have massive problems, along with all the other non enforcer magi who fought with strong long range spells trying to snipe the enemy like a cannon. These strong spells A-rank above and sht will get its energy siphoned the longer it travels through air (assuming it's like laser) and it gets slowed so the more time nature corrupts it, and NOVAs have a shield around them ( at least the newer ones do).

About capturing it, well try capturing a 50 stories thingy, you could probably hollow out the corpse and make a building right there

I never mentioned Zelretch cause he wasn't there, to tell the truth he doesn't really care, this is just one of the many worlds he's been to and it's just a speculation but there is a chance he isn't even from this world since his origins are sketchy at best.
ONe of the main reason the normal magi of clock tower failed is how they fought. They fought like cannons, using their mysteries from far away and the NOVA's March(i forgot what I called it) creates soldiers with physical aspects of the dead, which is pretty strong, many times stronger than a human, and has no regard for its own life.

I'd say if they rematched the magi can probably find a way around the freezing field and stuff, but when taken by surprised it's just "surprise butt sex."

OK, done with that, hope he was reading since I didn't reply to him :O

UMM, I dedicate this chapter to my first fanfic ever Deprived (Harry Potter fanfic), forgot the author's name, it's good but discontinued

Yeah, R&R I like reviews, I respond to them most of the time

YAYYYY :P

R&R

-Wiltheavatar