Assassin was hidden by his red wrappings as he traversed moonlit Mount Enzo. It was time for the assault on the Grail and Assassin went ahead to scout things out. He was to give the signal once he made sure the entrance to the cave system was clear and, if possible, figured out the exact positions of all the enemy forces within the cavern. While the surface of the mountain and the forest that covered it was clear of any Servants, the red Servant had a bigger question to answer.
Magical energy had formed inside the mountain and around the cavern system where the Grail dwelled. It was something more than a simple Bounded Field as the caves that were saturated with accursed power could no longer be detected in the slightest. Something had encased the cave system and completely cut it off from everything outside through spatial manipulation. Some kind of defensive Noble Phantasm was implemented to prevent entry into the Grail's domain.
The entrance to the cave was still hidden by a false wall, but behind the illusion was not a simple hole. There was a door carved from wood that fit into the stone as if it had always belonged there. Assassin could tell it wasn't locked or booby trapped and it definitely led to the sealed off space where the Grail's cave was. There was some kind of trap within the bounds of this Noble Phantasm, that was obvious to anyone with half a brain.
Assassin telepathically contacted his allies and told them of the situation. It didn't sound like the Noble Phantasm of any of the Servants of the last war. It was likely owned by one of the corrupted Servants, though Gilgamesh could theoretically pull out just about anything.
"Assassin, can you describe the look of the door? It might give a hint to who it belongs to." Lord El-Melloi II said.
"It is of solid wood, yew if I had to guess. It's been embossed with art of a single individual with a shield facing ten others with various weapons. There's also a bunch of fancy swirls and such that I can't pin the exact cultural style of beyond it being European."
"How big is it?" Artoria spoke with reservation.
"It's the size of the average modern door."
"It must have shrunk to accommodate where it was summoned."
"You know what this is?"
"It's Dolorous Guard, also known as Joyous Guard. It's Lancelot's castle. It was summoned by the woman with Guinevere's face and Lancelot's abilities. It was something Lancelot acquired by defeating the previous owner. The fortress is enchanted to be hermetically sealed and impossible to enter from anywhere but the main entrance. Those who enter must face ten knights simultaneously at the first wall and another ten at the second, finally facing the owner of the castle, Brandin in Lancelot's case and likely Guinevere in ours. Only upon defeating the third challenge can we reach the castle's center where the caves probably are. Those who enter can only fight one at a time, so even if we all enter at once, we'd each need to take a turn facing the entirety of each wave without assistance. The knights are not to be underestimated. Even Lancelot needed to have his power amplified by enchanted shields to be able to overcome both groups of ten knights and Brandin at the end."
"The enemy wants to use Dolorous Guard to tire and even kill some of us before we even have the chance to face the Grail's main force." Rin said.
"Goddess, can you bore a hole through whatever's surrounding the cavern? If we use your overwhelming power to create a new entrance, we might be able to circumvent the fortress' rules." Assassin suggested.
"Not as I am now. If I had my full strength, then it would be easy, but to do so now would require undoing the restraints on Rhongomyniad. That isn't possible since the restraints can only be opened when facing some kind of opponent in a fight." The Lion King showed a tinge of sadness in their otherwise flat voice.
"Should we still go through with our attack tonight?" Sakura said.
"No way." Henriikka barely waited for Sakura to finish. "Our forces would already be strained if we didn't have to deal with this castle, but there's no way we'll win if some of us are exhausted by this castle."
"Is there any way to get around the castle's rules?" Luvia asked.
"Not that I'm aware of." Artoria said. "Did you ever learn of one in your history, Lion King?"
"No, sadly. I think we shouldn't proceed with tonight's assault. We need to take time to reassess our strategy and hopefully determine a method of negating Dolorous Guard's laws."
"We should also use the extra time to prepare further however we can, whether that be by gathering resources or simply training." Lord El-Melloi II's statement was met with various words of affirmation. "Let us regroup at the church then."
Assassin began heading back to the church apart from the rest of his allies, which included his Master. He didn't like being apart from her given the grudges that had fostered over the course of the war. All it would take would be one argument to push someone into acting rashly. The next thing you'd know, Taiga would be dead by the hand of an angered Tohsaka sister. Not only would that be a problem for Assassin since he would have to find a new Master, it would also be a tragic end to Taiga's life.
The scene of Assassin's summoning still remained a vivid image in his mind. Assassin felt Alaya call for him. He materialized in a bright flash and when the dust settled, he was standing in a dusty shed on a dark night. The barest remains of a magic circle was on the ground. The Counter Force activated the circle itself while forcing Command Spells on the nearest person to act as a Master. That person was a woman in a suit who had a fur coat hanging off her shoulders. It was someone Assassin knew, but he couldn't properly remember anything beyond the fact that she was important to him. The Counter Guardian's memories had degraded after so many summonings. One thing he could discern was that this woman didn't give off the same feeling as the person he remembered.
The woman looked appropriately surprised at Assassin's spontaneous manifestation. She was no magus. What she was, however, was a gun owner, as she pulled a handgun out and pointed it right in Assassin's face.
"Who are you? Where'd you come from?"
"I'm a Counter Guardian and a Servant, but you don't know what those are. Let's just say I'm a ghost and a hero of justice for now. You can put the gun down, it can't hurt me. Modern weapons are useless against my kind and even if they were effective, a normal firearm lacks the power to pierce my skin."
"And why should I believe anything you just said?"
"Shoot me and you'll see."
"You think I won't?"
"No, I'm serious. Do it."
The woman obliged and pulled the trigger. Assassin's superhuman senses meant that the bullet looked like it was moving in slow motion as it was propelled out of the barrel and through the air. The bullet hit Assassin perfectly between the eyes, but it just flattened and bounced off. The woman took a step backward upon realizing what just happened.
"If you need any more proof that I'm not normal…" Assassin held out a hand and a sword projected into it.
"What the Hell are you?"
"To put things concisely, I am what's known as a Servant." The sword disappeared. "I am a superhuman being summoned to serve you. You and six others have summoned Servants and are meant to fight to the death. The winner gets the Holy Grail, a device that will grant almost any wish. Following me so far?"
"I think so." The woman nodded. "You're a superhuman and you and I are supposed to kill a bunch of people. Winner gets a genie wish."
"More or less. The twist is that I'm not a normal Servant. I'm what's called a Counter Guardian, which means I'm here to save humanity from something that threatens to exterminate it. Basically, I've got a target I have to eliminate."
"I think I understand. You said you're on my side, but how do I know that's true?"
"I could easily kill you right here if I wanted to. I'm not doing that, so I'm not your enemy."
"Fair enough." The suited woman relaxed and put her gun away. She reached into the inner pocket of her coat and pulled something out. Assassin assumed she was going to take out a pack of cigarettes, it would fit the image she had, but instead she pulled out a rice ball still in its wrapper from the store. The woman scarfed the thing down so quickly it made Assassin wonder if this woman was as fast as a Servant, though maybe that only applied to eating. "I'm Taiga Fujimura. I'm the head of the Fujimura Group, the local yakuza."
"You can call me Assassin."
"Assassin?"
"It's my class. I'll explain soon enough. My actual name is, well, I want to ask you something." Assassin stared Taiga in the eye and saw something familiar in them, but also something fundamentally dissimilar to the image in his head. "I'm only asking because I think I already know the answer. Does the name Shirou Emiya mean anything to you?"
"Never heard of him."
"I assumed as much. Let's head to someplace secure and I'll explain the situation in more detail."
"We'll head to my mansion then." Taiga left the shed and Assassin followed behind her. Outside the shed was a yard and household that was just like the one Assassin remembered growing up in.
"Why were you here by the way? What is this mansion to you if you don't live here?"
"It's a piece of real estate my family owns. We rent out places like this to visiting foreigners who want the authentic Japanese experience. I was just looking this place over to see if anything needed refurbishing. We haven't rented this place in a while and it was starting to fall into disrepair."
"You do those kinds of inspections yourself? Aren't you the boss?"
"Not normally." Taiga's pace faltered for a second and she pulled out another rice ball. "I also wanted some alone time to think. I've had a lot on my mind lately."
Taiga ate the rice ball while she and Assassin reached the front of the house where a car was waiting. A man in a suit got out of the driver's seat.
"Who's that with you, boss?"
"He's an acquaintance. He'll be coming back with us to the mansion."
The driver shrugged and opened the rear door for Taiga and Assassin. They got in and the man drove them to the mansion. They entered the Fujimura compound while men in suits lined up at the entrance and bowed at her return. They asked her how she was doing and who she was with, and she just said it was none of their business and that she wasn't to be disturbed for the rest of the night. As Assassin and his Master walked through the labyrinthine halls of the estate, any men they came across would stop what they were doing to bow to her. Each time it happened, Taiga's teeth would grit so quietly that only Assassin could hear it.
They arrived at Taiga's office, a spacious room with a desk at the back and a pair of couches in front of it. There were wall scrolls showing pieces of traditional Japanese artwork and calligraphy, as well as many sheathed katanas. Taiga sat down at her desk and Assassin sat on a couch, arms resting on the back of it.
Assassin proceeded to explain the Holy Grail war in detail, as well as his personal mission as a Counter Guardian. Taiga listened quietly with closed eyes. It made Assassin wonder how much she was paying attention.
"I can choose if I want to participate?" Taiga finally spoke, eyes still shut.
"That's right. If you choose not to, you will have to stay at the church until the war is over since its neutral ground."
Taiga's jaw moved side to side and she tapped the table in front of her.
"Assassin, what are the limits of the Holy Grail? What wishes can it grant and what wishes are beyond its power?"
"It's something that works on a case by case basis. In the end, the Grail is just a source of a large amount of magical energy. It needs to be given not just a wish, but directions on how to achieve that wish. Do you have a wish in mind?"
"I wanted to do my life over." Taiga opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
"You'd probably have to either change the past, or reverse time to go back to a previous point in your life. Those are the domain of the Fifth Magic. I don't know if the Third Magic is capable of replicating those effects. You could also try shifting to another reality where you made different choices, but that's the territory of the Second Magic. Any of those methods might work, but I can't guarantee it. Maybe if you have all the Servants die, including me, then it would be possible. At that point, the Grail would be powerful enough to reach the Root, so it should be capable of something akin to what you want. You could have your soul materialized by the Third Magic and have it ascend to a higher plane. Such a realm would be transcendent of time, so you could descend back down to our dimension at any point in the timeline."
"So it's possible?"
"Probably."
"Would you be willing to die for my wish?"
"I just need to get my mission done, I don't have a serious wish, so sure."
"I'll participate then." Taiga stood up and walked over to one of the scrolls. It displayed art of a monk lecturing their students.
"I'm guessing you're not satisfied with your current life if you want to have a do-over." Assassin looked over his shoulder at his Master.
"That's an understatement. Do you know what my life mainly consists of?"
"Since you're the head of a yakuza family, managing the businesses and affairs of the family. Occasionally having to get your hands dirty with people's blood. Indulging in whatever your wealth can buy during your free time."
"I think about death. I think about killing people and industries that get people killed. I buy whatever I want, indulge in delicacies, all while subconsciously thinking about how I'm just distracting myself from my sins and my own inevitable death. Do you know what I wanted to be?"
"What?"
"A teacher." Taiga laughed as she said it. It was a dry laugh mixed with a sneer. "I wanted to be an English teacher. When I was in high school, I met these two foreigners. They were nice and the whole encounter made me realize how important communication is. That's why I wanted to teach English. My family wanted me to become the new boss when I was old enough, but they said they'd let me be a teacher if I could prove I was good enough. I studied and studied as hard as I could. I stopped practicing kendo and hanging out with my friends, all so I could hone my craft. I pushed myself to the limit. Guess what?"
"What?"
"It wasn't enough. I wasn't good enough. Maybe I needed a better teacher to guide me, but I just wasn't good enough. And so I had to give up on my dream and become head of the family. This life…" Taiga grabbed the sleeve of her coat. "isn't me. This isn't me. I wanted to nurture the next generation, I wanted to help people grow and lead happy lives, not cut lives short and make people miserable for profit. I hate my life. I hate it so much." This was the most emotional Assassin had seen Taiga. Her voice was a mix of a growl and a whimper. "I don't want to do this anymore, be this anymore. I just want to be a teacher. That's why I want to go back in time and do my life over again. I want a second chance to be who I really am. I'll study even harder, I'll get the best tutors, and if It still isn't good enough to convince my family, then fuck 'em. I'll run away and become a teacher anyway. Even if I'm terrible at it, I want to help people. If I manage to help one kid reach their potential, then it will all have been worth it. What kind of life is one where you don't make the world a better place? Who actually wants to profit off people's pain? This isn't living. I want to live."
It was then that Assassin realized that he wanted his Master to win. He was looking at someone he once knew who had gone down a different path, one that destroyed who they truly were. Taiga was a good person deep down, but she had been corrupted by a career predicated on cruelty. It was eating her alive. This couldn't continue. For the first time in a long time, Assassin felt motivated. He wasn't just doing his job, he was going to save someone. That was all he ever really wanted to do with his life, save people. He would do whatever it took to win, for Taiga, for big sis Taiga.