The child staggered backwards, made a couple choking sounds, then fell. Before it hit the ground, a violet and green monstrosity erupted from its chest, spraying blood and viscera into the air. Saber had initially lurched forward to reach for the boy, but froze as she took in the gruesome display. Archer just sighed, closed his eyes, turned to Caster, and opened them again. What little emotion he had allowed to leak during the last minute vanished without a trace.
Saber slashed the beast in two, and turned back to Caster as it collapsed. Just as she opened her mouth to say something the two halves twitched and burst open, revealing two more identical monsters. Archer glanced over, then back to Caster. The mad mage spread his arms and bowed.
"You made a valiant attempt, Red Knight. You almost sealed off my assistance completely. Thankfully, Jeanne was never one for watching innocents die."
Archer slowly moved to put Caster between himself and the mess Saber was quickly escalating. Caster chuckled again.
"Indeed, it would have been quite tragic if she hadn't been freed from her contract with the World. Don't you agree, Counter Guardian?"
Archer stopped dead. His expression hardened for a moment.
Then, he smirked.
"Ah, Caster, you've made a mistake. If you hadn't just mentioned that, I still would have had a reason to hold back."
Caster gripped his spellbook with both hands, and lowered his voice.
"Perhaps. However I just needed to make something very clear. You are probably quite the hero yourself, are you not?"
Archer didn't respond.
"What do you think will happen if I unleash the full power I have available to me here?"
Archer shrugged.
"I don't know, why don't you try and find out?"
Caster shook his head.
"I don't need to, Beast of Alaya. When Jeanne was alive, while we campaigned, she dreamed. Sometime glorious dreams of future victories. Sometimes terrible dreams, where she would be summoned to disasters and become a storm, leaving no witnesses in her wake. It didn't take much research to determine she was dreaming of her own fate after death. I can manufacture a threat to the World in a very short time. Of course, with six legendary heroes scattered around, any possible disaster I cause could be quickly mopped up, don't you agree?"
Archer was still.
"Of course you do. But that's not the question. The question is: what happens to YOU both before and after the threat is gone? Will you be yourself? Or will you turn on everything that lives and breathes and erase this city from the map?"
Caster held his gaze for a moment, then smiled.
"Of course, I have no interest in wasting so much raw material. So, I'll make you a deal. Stop interfering with me, and I'll endeavor not to invoke the Counter Force. Leave me with no hope, and I will make your final hours on this plane Hell."
Archer pretended not to notice the dozen creatures working their way behind him. Saber struggled on, heedless of the growing horde she was creating. Apparently she was turning the encounter into a contest of prana.
Archer spun and flung his swords through the mass of monsters, then projected two more pairs and repeated the process. Every monster he even nicked with the blades fell. He turned back to Caster.
"I get the feeling you'll do that regardless. In any case, I also doubt you could do such a thing right now, and I seriously don't believe you could pull such a feat off without attracting a lot of attention in the process. Go on, do your worst."
Caster squealed in rage and raised the book over his head. Just as it began to glow and activate, a figure dropped from the air behind him and a red lance tip sliced it in half.
Caster fell to his knees and screamed as all the monsters died. Archer released the projection of the various swords pinning the undefiled corpses immediately and nodded to Lancer. Saber marched towards them, but before she made it all the way over Archer noticed the spellbook Caster was hunched over had healed itself.
"Finish him, QUICK!"
Lancer's eyes widened and he brought his lance down as Caster rolled to one side and all the monster corpses exploded into a red mist. Archer cursed and started running back into the forest.
When the mist faded, Saber and Lancer lowered their guards, exchanged a few words, and parted as Lancer dashed for the castle in a near-panic.
Tokiomi sighed and turned to Risei.
They were back in the Tohsaka mansion's study again, monitoring the battle for the forest as best they could. Mostly they parsed Kirei's reports, and occasionally Tokiomi could glean useful information from Archer's senses.
Information, such as the fact that he was apparently a Counter Guardian.
"I seem to have been asking the wrong questions, Risei."
Risei wore a mildly bemused smile.
"Next time, will you wait for me to arrive?"
"Yes, I have learned my lesson."
The two men sat in silence a few moments more, gazing at the different facets of Tokiomi's scrying gem array. Tokiomi cleared his throat.
"So. A Counter Guardian."
Risei raised an eyebrow.
"So it would seem."
It was everything Tokiomi could do as he suppressed a shudder.
Archer dematerialized as soon as he was out of line of sight, and diverted his course back towards Kirei. They had a new set of problems, and a quickly shrinking amount of time in which to address them. After he was sure he wasn't being followed, he faded back in and activated his communicator.
"Kotomine. There is a complication." Kirei stiffened for a moment before Archer continued. "Has Assassin located Caster's workshop yet?"
An Assassin materialized next to Kirei and slowly shook its head.
"Not yet. Shall I prioritize it?"
"Yes. Have them do whatever they can."
Assassin, collectively, had no intention of changing up its plans for locating Caster's workshop. It had already analyzed the patterns of the child kidnapping in the media and planted the bait in an appropriate spot, free of any incriminating memory to spoil their plan. It had vanished from their collective senses shortly thereafter. As such, they were more or less convinced they would have Caster's workshop located by that evening, if not earlier. It all just depended on how quickly Caster's Master woke up the fresh wave of . . . materials
Their Master's intense cooperation with Archer had them nervous. They were already uncomfortable with the idea that their master was a subordinate of a rival Master. Thankfully, that Archer deigned to treat them as professionals was a mark in his favor. It would have been . . . less than tolerable if he hadn't shown any respect.
That his tactics were less than conventionally heroic didn't hurt either. Assassin was familiar with heroes, and knew that for every drop of glory there was probably a fistful of self interest or corruption. It's why their order thrived in its time; no shortage of work. Archer didn't purport to be anything other than what he was.
All in all, Assassin really couldn't see itself working with any other Servant in such a fashion. So, the strange orders suggested to Kirei were followed to the letter, with some amount of professional courtesy that assumed Archer knew what he was doing.
Archer's story about his future was, of course, very relevant to Assassin. As was his assertion that the Grail was corrupt. Archer's Master had seemingly dismissed such concerns out of hand, but Kirei seemed to take Archer's word for holy writ. Apparently some of the so-called prophecy he had spewed hit a chord. Assassin had not yet taken steps to follow up on that information, but it would probably be a priority after Caster was taken care of.
Disillusionment and disappointment were two very familiar emotions for any who held the title of Old Man on the Mountain. There were usually good reasons for the assassinations they committed at the time. Politics or economics, religion or sheer practicality. Hassan was known for one thing, and the Hundred-Faced Hassan, while not 'known,' could do many things. Assassin would get to the bottom of the situation it found itself in- and if the contract for the Grail was offered on false premise, someone would pay.
Not Kirei. He was oblivious. Still, someone knew more than they were letting on. Otherwise Archer would be more open with his own Master, rather than vaguely conspiring with Kirei behind closed doors.
All in good time.
Kiritsugu relaxed slightly as Lancer lept back out the window he came from holding an unconscious Kayneth. A pool of abandoned liquid mercury expanded in the hallway, never to form useful shapes again. He ignored the familiar smell of seared flesh and turned to leave.
If he was correct, his moment of mortal terror when Lancer first appeared should have provoked . . .
He felt a sudden rush of wind behind him.
"Are you well, Master?"
He ignored Saber and started marching back to where Iri was waiting.
She was with Maiya, by the crystal ball. A worried frown faded into a smile when he entered the room followed by a slightly smirking Saber.
"Ah, I trust the battle went well?"
He paused.
"Everything except the end. If Kayneth had been capable of using a Command Seal, I would have died."
Saber's expression flashed between confusion, shock, apprehension, and then settled into stoic neutrality.
Iri glanced between Kiritsugu and Saber, slightly disconcerted by his monotone speech pattern and the implications of his statement. Saber's face reddened slightly. She continued.
"Ah. Well, I seem to have learned something of import while watching the battle in the forest."
Saber focused on her as Kiritsugu began disassembling his weapons and cleaning them. Maiya strugged to get up to assist, but ceased when Kiritsugu barely shook his head. Irisviel pretended not to notice. She took a breath, and made her pronouncement:
"Apparently our crimson friend is a Counter Guardian."
Kiritsugu paused in his maintenance for a fraction of a second, then resumed with a noncommittal noise. Saber's reaction was . . . less discernible.
The King of Knights hesitated, then voiced a question.
"Ah, that is usually an element of the world of Magi, is it not? I have limited experience with such ideas myself, and aside from a few mutterings by Merlin . . . "
Iri nodded slowly.
"Yes. Usually Counter Guardians, as incarnations of the Counter Force, are the world's default response to elements that get out of hand . . . " Her tone increased in formality, as if she was reading from a book, "specifically things that threaten Humanity as a whole, in this case. While Magi try to avoid its attentions, the actual Counter Guardians themselves are more often than not contracted individuals that received some sort of boon from the world in life in exchange for service after death. Despite the obvious interest Magi have in understanding their ultimate obstacle in reaching the Root, none of this changes the fact that a full incarnation of the Counter Force is untouchable and undefeatable. All the information about Counter Guardians assembled over the centuries is merely trivia in the face of the fact that no one, ever, has directly engaged the Counter Force and lived."
Saber's face was neutral up to the words 'contracted individuals,' at which point she flinched. She quickly regained her composure afterwards.
Interesting, Iri mused. She continued:
"While I do not have the details, I know at least a few jobs Kiritsugu did before we met involved eliminating a magus before they could do something that attracted the Counter Force. Dear, would you have any relevant information to contribute?"
Without pausing in his work, Kiritsugu grunted. While holding up a gun part to the light, he spoke.
"The Mage Association usually gave the minimum necessary information to its contractors, but they were very specific when it came to those cases. They abandoned their pride and cheerfully supplied all the warning signs of an imminent Counter Force incarnation. Any magecraft that could threaten the earth's biosphere would trigger a response before it completed, and any magecraft that would cause a chain reaction of human death would begin without incident but trigger a response after an unknown threshold was met. Normally they wouldn't care if their hired pawns lived or died, but in these cases they were very particular about telling us to retreat if certain criteria were met."
He chuckled derisively and went on:
"For the first kind, straight assassination of the rogue Magus was preferred. For the second, they recommended the extermination of humans in the area to cut the chain reaction off. Their primary concern was recovery of the research and body of the magus in question with a minimum of collateral damage. The actual human lives involved were an afterthought."
He finished reassembling the weapon.
"Ironically, by the time they responded to a given event like that, the tactics for their priorities matched the tactics for my own priorities, so we worked together without incident. Unfortunately, all of this is irrelevant to the situation at hand."
He set the gun on the table.
"All this means is Archer is weaker than the other Servants. Contracted Counter Guardians did not become legends on their own power, and as such are inferior to true Heroic Spirits." Iri noticed Saber flinch at that as Kiritsugu went on, "He has information. That much is undeniable. However, he should not be a match in combat for any other Servants save Caster and Assassin. As such, he is not a priority at this time. Lancer is. Caster will be a good distraction."
This time, when Hisau Maiya stood up, Emiya Kiritsugu did not stop her.
End of Chapter.
Author's note 9-26-2012: Damn. Half a year. I finally gave up on finding time to spit out a whole chapter while in the zone and concentrated on spitting out bits when I could during lunch breaks at work. Those will get posted as they come to the thread on spacebattles, and whole chapters will eventually find their way here. As always, thank you for reading.