Chapter 13 – Breaking the Rules
(Published: 10.01.12 - Beta: RavingScholar, Cloud Link Zero)
Rin observed the scenery with a somewhat distasteful glance. The part of the basement where Caster was leading her was damp and cold. It was the spitting image of a holding cell from a history book, and looked exactly as comfortable.
Well, perhaps she had more important things to worry about than her level of comfort: namely, the Servant walking behind her. Seriously, how had the situation gotten so bad? Being the prisoner of a Master with a Servant already summoned was the worst of worst-case scenarios. Frankly, the only thing that could make the situation any worse was if the Master in question was a Dead Apostle Ancestor.
He wasn't, but that didn't really offer her any consolation. Still, there was a single thought about the entire situation that wouldn't leave her alone, and that could very well make a difference in her bid for freedom.
As she expected all the gems she had hidden in her clothes were gone. It was normal that they would be removed, since she could use them simply by vocal activation and without the use of her circuits. Then why hadn't the Servant taken away the gems she had hidden…. elsewhere?
Sure, just about every Magus would have missed them, but there was no way in hell that Caster, the Servant most proficient in Thaumaturgy, would have missed them.
She stole a glance at the human shaped entity behind her and found confirmation of her suspicions in the tiniest of smirks she received back.
She knew. Caster definitely knew of her plans, and yet she didn't take any measures to counteract them, nor had she informed her Master of them. Her impression had to be right. There was bad blood between Master and Servant, and that would come back to bite Guilford in the ass.
"Step inside," Caster ordered when they arrived in front of her cell, a space that wasn't bigger than two meters in each direction and only had 2a simple bed as furniture. She gave Rin a shove, forcing her to walk behind the bars that immediately closed behind her.
"No need to be pushy," Rin complained, massaging her shoulder. "I can walk by myself just fine."
"No doubt," Caster agreed. "You walked into a trap without a problem, little girl. I do wonder if you'll be able to walk out just as easily."
"Are you testing me, Servant?" she asked defiantly. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest course of action, but she needed to understand where Caster stood in relation to her. She couldn't quite ask if she would act against Guilford by letting her go. Not with Yukiko listening anyway. Conditioned as she was, her friend was practically like a familiar. Chances were that she shared at least an emphatic bond with the asshole that had enslaved her.
"Who knows?" Caster replied far less mockingly than what she could have been. "You look like a competent Magus, as far as this era goes. Perhaps you will grant me some measure of entertainment before the night is over."
She then left in the same direction they came from without sparing so much as a glance back at her. Yukiko still remained by her cell like a silent sentinel.
That was it. The confirmation she was looking for. It was a far cry from an alliance, but Caster had made it obvious that she wouldn't hinder her attempts to escape, at least until her Master told her otherwise. There weren't many ways for Servants to escape their Masters' orders so long as a Command Seal was in place.
But at least, with this mysterious intruder keeping Guilford's attention away from her, she could get away undetected and hopefully far enough before he noticed her disappearance.
"That was unexpected," Rin muttered to herself. The entire night had been a constant surprise: her abduction, Guilford's abilities and finally the appearance of a Servant. Admittedly, there were a bunch of things she really didn't and couldn't prepare for, but there was one thing she knew was going to happen beforehand: Yukiko's unwilling betrayal.
Guilford was a fool. He really underestimated her to the point of not realizing that she knew all along that Yukiko was under a compulsion. She was a genius, and not only Thaumaturgy-wise. There were perks to having been trained by an Executor of the Holy Church, and detecting enmity directed at her was one of such things.
She immediately noticed how Yukiko never seemed to lose sight of her when she was around, and how she stared when she thought no one was looking. It felt like she was glaring at a target, waiting for the best moment to strike. Granted, she had expected something more direct, something that would have allowed her to fight back before being incapacitated, but that didn't mean she hadn't prepared for a counterattack in case all of her jewels were taken away from her.
There were a number of ways to prevent Magi from accessing their Circuits that she knew of, and even though the one employed by Guilford was new to her, her contingency plan was still usable.
She'd have to play her cards carefully, though. Moving too early or too soon would mean failure without a doubt. With the grace that was proper of a Tohsaka, she sat on the bed and waited patiently for her chance to strike.
"Shit, shit, shit," Shirou muttered as he ran through the corridors of the second floor, chased by a group of four Chimeras.
Frankly, he didn't expect the one he fought on the first floor to be the only one, but he didn't expect that many more either.
He certainly couldn't fight that many in such a narrow space. Even with reinforcement, he couldn't hope to match that many opponents at the same time. He ran with the intention of exploiting a difference in their speed to engage them one by one, but the Chimeras seemed to have the some kind of pack behavior and didn't stray from one another.
A tactical retreat soon became a run for his life, as he tried to come up with a plan to dispatch his pursuers, mindful of the fact that the longer he took the lower his chances were to find Tohsaka and Yukiko unharmed.
"Damn it," he swore. "If I can't outfight them, then I'll outsmart them."
Now, that was easier said than done. He wasn't quite sure what their capabilities were. Did they have an enhanced sense of smell like the beast they resembled? Or did their human parts grant them a better intellect at the price of tracking abilities?
Well, there was just one way to find out.
The mansion was pretty big, with at least ten rooms per floor, and structured in a series of long parallel corridors connected with one another by shorter ones. That layout allowed him to disappear from the line of sight of the Chimeras for a few seconds when he turned a corner, and he decided to take advantage of those few seconds to try and lose them.
When he was about to reach the end of a long corridor he turned sharply to the left, but instead of running he hastily opened a window and climbed outside, holding himself out of view.
Holding his breath he heard the four growling beasts run past his position and disappear further down the corridor. What do you know? A plan made on the fly actually worked for a change. That had to be a first.
He climbed back inside as fast as he could and after a quick check he left in the opposite direction. Stealthily, he made his way toward the stairs to the third floor, but when he was about to get there he heard the trudging of the Chimeras coming toward his position from the front and from the back. Hoping for the best he dove for a door and slipped into a room without looking inside.
Taking a few steps away from the door he unsheathed Monohoshizao and prepared to fight. If they figured out his position he would at least be ready to engage them. Depending on how they barged inside he could wound or kill at least a couple before he was forced on the defensive.
The tension inside him kept building up as he heard the creatures rustling around in confusion. They sniffed the air, searching for his scent, growling menacingly as they got closer to the door.
He was sure they were about to burst inside. There was no way they could lose is trail now. The hammer in his head was ready to drop, and his Circuits were ready to receive the familiar flood of Prana.
But it didn't happen.
After a little more growling and sniffing, the beasts left in another direction, as if they had been lured by some unseen figure.
"What the hell? How could they have lost me?" he wondered relatively loudly, cautiously stepping toward the door.
"That would be my doing, boya."
To his credit Shirou didn't jump out of his skin, but he still turned around pretty damn quick, weapon at the ready. In spite of being prepared to face whatever threat had managed to get behind him, Shirou didn't expect anything like the person he saw in that moment.
A purplish cloak shrouded the female figure, hiding her feature from sight. The cloth almost seemed to leech away what little light filtered through the curtains, making the room even darker.
There wasn't any perceivable threat in her posture and Shirou had the impression that she wasn't exactly there, but more like a projected image of sort.
"Who are you?"
It could have sounded like a stupid question, but there was little doubt in his mind that the woman was the Magus who created the Chimeras, or else she wouldn't have sent them away. She probably wasn't an enemy either, or she would have attacked him while his back was turned.
There was something about her presence, faint though it was, that made him think that she wasn't quite human. From that cloak shrouded in darkness, the only thing he could actually feel was-
"Names aren't something that should be easily shared, boya," she answered. "You might refer to me as Caster, if you must."
Caster she said. Caster.
Caster? CASTER?
C-A-S-T-E-R?
Shirou mouth snapped close so fast and gritted so hard that the noise echoed in the room.
Impossible. IMPOSSIBLE!
It had to be a coincidence. After all, his alias was the same as a Servant class. Besides, it was too early and Kiritsugu had said that it wouldn't happen again.
But she was there, at least partially, and that inhuman presence was all but confirmation in his eyes. She was a Servant, which meant that the Holy Grail War had started or was about to start again.
No, no, no, no. NONONONONONONONONO!
TragedyPainAnguishDespairHop elessnessHateFuryAngerTraged yPainAnguishDespairHopelessn essHateFuryAngerTragedyPainA nguishDespairHopelessnessHat eFuryAnger.
The tragedy from ten years before flashed before his eyes, carrying the same scorching horror as it did when he had first experienced it. He was forced to hold back from emptying his already upset stomach right there and then. A single word escaped his lips, and it was both an affirmation and a curse.
"Servant."
If he hadn't been paying his absolute attention to her he might have missed the slightest tilt of her head, as if she were pondering the implication of his newly revealed knowledge.
"How interesting," she mused idly. "I did not expect you to be a Magus, and one aware of the Holy Grail War, on top of that. But you are not a Master, not yet. Tell me, boya, why did you come here?"
The situation had just reached an entirely new level of bad. A Magus with a Servant could only be a Master. And a Servant would protect its Master no matter what. Did he have to face such an entity to save Tohsaka? Was this entire situation a strategy by Caster's Master?
How was he going to get Tohsaka and Yukiko out of this crisis? Even by throwing away his life there was no chance he could overcome those odds. Fighting wasn't an option.
It wasn't an option, but perhaps there was no need for that. Once again, he had to remind himself that if she wanted him death, he probably wouldn't even have noticed until it was too late.
"My friends," he began, "your Master took them."
"Ah, so that's how it is. Then perhaps we can work this situation to… our advantage. What do you say, boya: would you be interested in working with me?"
Shirou was no fool. Well, perhaps he was at times, but in that very moment he understood that he was bargaining with his friends lives. He couldn't afford to screw up.
"State your terms," he conceded, and he almost shivered at the predatory smile she gave him.
"I want you… to kill my Master."
All right, he wanted to be surprised. He really, really wanted to be surprised, but couldn't say that he was. Servants didn't just go around making deals with other Magi behind their Masters back if they didn't plan for something like that.
That didn't mean he liked it in the slightest, of course. Shirou wasn't the biggest fan of Caster's Master and he had yet to meet him. Granted, his Magecraft spoke volumes of his character, but Shirou didn't really enjoy the thought of premeditated killing.
"Why would you want your Master dead?"
"I'm dissatisfied with him," she said off handedly. Somehow Shirou didn't believe it was simple as that. A Servant's existence depended on the Master, after all, and if he killed him Caster would probably just disappear.
"Wouldn't that kill you as well?"
"I have enough Prana to last long enough to find another suitable Master. Would you perhaps be interested in taking over the position?"
Shirou thought she was almost joking when she asked, but she was in fact dead serious. There was no amusement in her voice, and yet it didn't actually feel like she was proposing him a contract either.
"Not at all," Shirou replied, surprised by how fast his answer to that question came. He could almost see some honest curiosity on her face at that.
"You… don't? You honestly don't wish to obtain the Holy Grail," she observed, actually sounding surprised by the truth of that statement. "You do realize that is an all powerful artifact that can realize any single wish?"
"It's a lie," Shirou stated cryptically looking at the floor. "The promises of the Grail are just lies and deceptions."
Betrayal, deceptions, and lies.
Medea of Colchis knew all those and more. She had experienced them first hand through her life, and she had revisited them on others time and time again. She had lived an accursed existence, one that she wouldn't wish upon… well, she actually did wish her life on a number of people, but that was beside the point.
The fact remained that if there was one thing that her life had bestowed on her, it was the ability to discern if she was being lied to.
The Magus boy didn't lie. She honestly thought that as far as deception went, he didn't have much talent. Even though he wore a mask, she could tell he wasn't any good at keeping things hidden. He didn't possess any malice and, though he seemed quite strong for a human, he didn't have the presence of someone who enjoyed needless violence.
Yet he was in another Magus' territory, armed and willing to fight, and in spite of being in the presence of an entity far more powerful than he was he didn't back down in the slightest. He actually had the gall to refuse her offer of making a contract with her, though it had only been a way for her to test what sort of person he was.
And he did all of that for the sake of somebody else. That pretty much narrowed down the category of people he belonged to, one she wasn't particularly fond of: Heroes.
She would have considered mocking the boy for his foolishness, if her mind wasn't currently engaged in far more practical thoughts: namely, the newly revealed deception that said hero was positive the Grail represented.
"What do you mean, boya? How is the grail a lie? It is its power that allows my presence in this world. How could that be fake?"
"The Grail…it's just an amplifier," he explained warily. "It's all-powerful in terms of sheer energy, but it doesn't hold the solution to any problem. The only thing it can do is to give you your own answers to your own questions. Not a single drop of happiness can be found in it. It can't realize a wish that you don't know how to fulfill yourself."
She considered his words carefully, and finally released a sigh. It made sense after all. There weren't such convenient tools even in her native era, when Magecraft thrived far more than in the current times. Actually she wasn't all that interested in the Grail, but it was still disappointing that the prize for a bloody war was just an illusion.
"Then what is the reason for its existence?" she demanded. "Why would anyone devise such a complex ritual if it had no point?"
The boy shifted under her gaze, not so much out of fear but rather impatience. He didn't want to be held there. He wanted to leave and return to his silly little quest. The only reason he didn't do so was because he knew she wouldn't let him go until she was done with him.
"Look, not everyone knows this besides the founding families, but the real purpose of the Grail is to open a path to the Root. Only, in order to do that, all seven Servants must be sacrificed. That is the real function of the Command Seal: to force the last remaining Servant to take its own life and complete the ritual."
Shirou had expected a broad range of reactions from the Servant in front of him. He had even expected her to kill him in blind fury, but she didn't. Of all the things he envisioned, her doing that was one he had failed to contemplate.
"Pfft! Ah! Ah Ahahahahaha!"
She laughed. A soft chuckle escaped her lips that soon escalated into full-blown laughter.
But she wasn't amused, Shirou realized immediately. She wasn't amused in the slightest. It was a bitter laugh that only reinforced his initial opinion of her. The overwhelming feeling that she leaked was-
"Thank you, boya," she said once she regained control of herself. "I haven't laughed so much in a long time."
"Are you all right?" he asked in honest concern. Servant or not, the person in front of him had just discovered that the ultimate purpose for her current existence was that of a living sacrifice. No one could be happy with that.
"I am," she answered amused by his apparently unneeded thoughtfulness. "I just remembered something I shouldn't have forgotten." She shook her head as if to get rid of a whimsical thought and immediately returned to her collected behavior. "Returning to our previous topic, I want you to kill my Master for me."
"Even knowing this, you still want him dead?"
"But of course. I have no desire to be bound to such a worthless excuse for a human being, regardless of what the consequences might be. Besides, if you honestly want to help your friends, killing him is the only course of action. The spells he cast on them will break only with his death. You have no other option."
Shirou groaned. He didn't want to kill. He honestly did not want to kill anyone. Just the thought of taking a life nauseated him to no end. He didn't know the details of the other Magus' Thaumaturgy, but it was undeniable that most Magecrafts would simply be undone with the death of the casters. Was there really no other way?
"I can't hesitate, boya. My Master is not deserving of your or anyone's compassion, and if you give him a reason and a chance to use a Command Seal to make me fight you…"
Her statement lingered, but Shirou fully caught the implication of her unspoken words. Truth be told, he had been extremely lucky. If Caster didn't have a grudge against her Master, he would probably be dead by now, and there would be no one left to help the girls.
If her Master forced Caster to fight him the only possible outcome was failure. Was the life of a scumbag Magus who didn't value human life worth risking Tohsaka and Yukiko's?
In a word, no.
"I understand," he finally accepted, clenching his sword tighter. "If that's what must be done then I'll do it."
The feral smile returned at his answer.
"Very well then. Let me give you some advice that you could use."
Vincent Guilford wasn't stupid.
He was arrogant, egotistical and sexist, but he wasn't stupid. He immediately understood that something was wrong when the pack of Chimeras tracked the intruder to a room on the first floor…a room that he discovered to be empty.
Now, his Chimeras weren't the best trackers in the world, but they still shouldn't have lost a trail in a closed environment. Being completely misled was simply inconceivable unless the intruder wasn't as ignorant of Magic as he initially thought him to be.
When the images transmitted by the dying Chimera reached him, he immediately realized the identity of the trespasser. The black mask was unmistakable, especially after the media coverage of the past few days. Archer had found his way to Vincent's home in Fuyuki and that didn't sit well with him.
Initially, he thought that Adachi had tipped off the vigilante as to the real target of his plot, and that Archer was keeping an eye on the Tohsaka girl when his abduction plan reached its final stage. Now, though, he wasn't so.
Even though the boy hadn't used any Magecraft, normal people didn't fight against creatures born from Thaumaturgy, win mostly unhurt and then figure out how to mislead them in their own territory. No, the boy was more than he appeared to be. He couldn't be a Magus though. No self-respecting practitioner of the Craft would fight without employing it on some level, and it was unthinkable that someone who fought on a regular basis hadn't developed at least some degree of combat oriented Magecraft.
No, the boy was no Magus, but he definitely knew of it. Perhaps he was some sort of retainer for the Tohsaka family? It would make sense considering that Fuyuki was their territory. Having a normal human skilled in mundane combat but aware of the existence of Magecraft would grant them a better control of their land and would allow them relax on minor problems that could be handled without Thaumaturgy. It would also create an efficient distraction for the public eye from stranger but less noticeable events.
It would also explain how the vigilante had gotten involved with the kidnapping of Yukiko. Damn it, he had severely underestimated the resourcefulness of the Tohsaka family and the situation at large
But that didn't mean he was going to lose. Even though he hadn't predicted this development, the Tohsaka girl didn't know any detail of his Magecraft until Vincent himself told her of it and she wasn't aware of his status as a Master until a few minutes before.
Granted, he didn't trust his Servant in the slightest. Who would ever be stupid enough to trust the Witch of Betrayal with anything? But even though he couldn't trust her, her existence still depended on his. There wouldn't even be need of a Command Seal to keep her in her place. Not that he was prone waste one before the conflict had even officially begun. That would be the most idiotic waste of an absolute command ever.
Regardless of that he would take care of this nuisance personally. Hmm… if he managed to capture the boy alive he could gain a useful new tool, one with a deep knowledge of the land where the Holy Grail War would be fought. It would definitely make a valuable asset.
Yes, yes. It looked like he would gain even more advantages from this unexpected turn of events. He couldn't believe his luck. From the moment he received his Command Seal things had started going better and better. His family craft had advanced leaps and bounds in a few short weeks, and now he was about to grant himself the possession of an all-powerful device. Luck definitely smiled upon him, as it should.
"Let's go," he ordered to his beast as he turned to search for his soon-to-be loyal subordinate.
Caster watched the Magus boy leave, closing the door behind him with as little noise as possible. Once alone in the dark room she allowed herself to lean against the wall for support.
She should have known better. It looked like she had yet to learn her lesson to the fullest. There was no hope for her. Even after being elevated to the status of a Heroic Spirit, things didn't change in the slightest.
She was used to being used, to being trampled upon and finally discarded. Even the Holy Grail, a mere tool made by Magi had summoned her with the sole purpose of consuming her.
There was no escaping fate, no way to break the cycle of betrayal that made her the witch scorned by all. But then, if she was destined to disappear drowning in anguish and hopelessness, she would make sure to drag her disgraceful Master down with her.
Whether she'd get to deal the killing blow or not, Vincent Guilford wouldn't survive the night. She would make sure of that.
She spared a passing thought for the Magus boy and the two girls. Neither of them was a threat to her as they were, but she was ready to dispose of them at a moment notice if that changed for any reason. She was glad that the boy had decided to follow through with her request of his own volition, otherwise she would have been forced to waste energy to get him under her control and that would have meant a further waste of energy.
Whether they lived or died she didn't care in the slightest. If they survived that would make Vincent's downfall all the more complete, and if they perished…well, that only meant that they'd get to taste a fraction of her pain.
In any case she would have the final word on this ridiculous charade, and with that knowledge she disappeared from the room as if swallowed by the shadows. She had her own part to play if she wanted the boy to prevail over her Master in his own territory.
Shirou was disturbed for list of reasons that grew longer as the night went on. Despite the gravity of the situation he felt like he was floating in a bubble of unreality. Honestly, how could he feel otherwise?
The night had started badly enough when he realized that Tohsaka and Yukiko were in danger, and it only got worse from there. Discovering that a Magus was behind the entire ordeal should have been the ultimate bad revelation but it turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg instead. Putting aside the disturbing workings of Vincent Guilford's Thaumaturgy, the entire night revealed itself to be just the opening step of a sick dance that should have never happened again.
The Holy Grail War.
Fifty years too early and in spite of Kiritsugu's plan to move the leylines with high caliber explosives, the Grail War was about to begin again. The bloody conflict that his father had told him about, albeit not in every single detail, was again looming of over the city of Fuyuki and the threatening the world at large with its aftermath.
Damn it! He should have convinced Kiritsugu to tell him more about the Fourth War, but his foster father hadn't wanted to talk about it too much. He'd said that it wasn't something that would happen again, and his optimism was coming back to bite him in the ass posthumously.
Shirou was utterly unprepared. His fighting skills were not up to such a challenge, and his Thaumaturgy was a joke compared to other Magi and all the more so in the face of the Heroic Spirits that would be summoned for the conflict.
Would the tragedy that turned the city to ashes happen again? Was the curse of Angra Mainyu still lingering inside the Grail or did the light of Excalibur purify it? Could he prevent it from spilling and consume the world as it almost did once already?
He was too weak still too weak, but that wasn't the time to lose himself in such negative thoughts. In order to deal with the oncoming menace he had to face the current issues first. At least he now had a plan and more information on his opponent than what Vincent had on him.
According to the Servant, Tohsaka wasn't out of commission either though there was little chance that she could do something more than escape seeing how the effects of Rule of Blood had sealed most of her abilities. Thanks to Caster's betrayal he had obtained a critical amount of knowledge and with that he had developed more than one way to deal with her Master.
Many ways, yes, but with a single destination, one final result: Vincent Guilford's death
It was a necessary step to permanently free Tohsaka and Yukiko from the power of his Rule of Blood. It didn't matter how much he disliked killing. Guilford wasn't an innocent he needed to protect. He was someone who willingly hurt, manipulated and killed others for his own selfish greed. He was one incarnation of the very evil he had sworn to defeat. The list of his victims was already too long to count according to the Servant and by the impression given by his Craft.
'No more,' he swore silently to himself. No more victims, no more innocent deaths. This time for sure… without fail…
- I'll save everyone! –
It took him almost fifteen minutes, but when Vincent heard his four Chimeras growling louder as they were about to turn a corner, he knew that his target was near. Their steps became more careful, circumspect in response to a threat that wasn't too far away from his position. He knew his creations well enough to judge the distance of his guest by the amount of aggressiveness they expressed, and he could estimate that he was about fifteen meters away from him. Basically, just halfway down the next corridor.
When he finally turned the corner he wasn't surprised to see his quarry standing where he had estimated him to be, but he certainly was about his behavior.
He simply stood there in the middle of the corridor as if basking in the moonlight that flooded the hallway through the many windows that lined the wall. His hand was lightly gripping the hilt of his still sheathed sword, but there was no easiness in his posture. His presence was undeniable, the enmity flowing from his seemingly relaxed stance as cold as ice. And, above all, Guilford noticed the one thing that couldn't possibly be ignored: his eyes.
Golden steel.
There weren't other ways to describe them. They shone so brightly behind that black mask of his that they seemed to put the moonlight to shame.
Vincent was a great number of things: arrogant, conceited, sexist, greedy, and ambitious…but not a fool. Of all the disparaging attributes he could claim to his name, fool wasn't one of them. He knew at that very moment that he couldn't have that boy as a part of his army. That no matter what happened he couldn't hope to bend that steel. Break perhaps, but not bend. He didn't know what had forged it, what sort of resolve could shape that unwavering gaze, but Vincent knew one thing with absolute certainty: only one would walk away alive from this encounter.
Answering an unspoken command, two Chimeras leaped forward. Their purpose: to end the life of the trespasser that dared to endanger their maker existence.
Shirou stepped forward, tightening the grip on the still sheathed Monohoshizao. The two creatures were closing in and would be on him in a matter of seconds. Getting the right timing was an absolute requirement, and in spite of his lack of swordsmanship he was strangely confident in the outcome.
As if calling to him Shirou made a step forward with the foot opposite to his sword and drew it from its resting place in one smooth move. Monohoshizao hissed menacingly and cut through flesh and bones with an ease that Shirou couldn't find surprising.
Blood sprayed parallel to the ground, splattering on the walls and windows with a wet sound. The now four halves of the Chimeras ended their flight well behind him, twitching madly as they tried helplessly to carry on with the orders they received.
'What is this?' Shirou asked himself as he watched a drop of blood falling from the tip of his blade. There was a new feeling growing in him. A sense of expectation that he didn't know before that moment, further enhanced by the ominous felling that Monohoshizao seemed to exude at all times. 'I can do it. With this sword… I can cut through anything.'
With this newfound certainty swelling in his heart he calmly took another step forward, turning Monohoshizao backward and to the side, a position that wouldn't hinder his advance and that was halfway for lateral swing.
The next came much faster than the previous and he managed to read the surprise in Guilford's eyes when he was almost leaped in his face. Only the expected intervention of yet another Chimera saved the foreign Magus' life, who hastily backpedaled to a safer position while his creatures, now a lot more prudent with their opponent were keeping Shirou busy.
"Tch!" the white clad Master grunted, clearly astounded by his opponent level of skill. "AWAKEN!"
His shout echoed thought the halls accompanied by a burst of Prana that Shirou didn't. Just like Caster had said he would do when cornered, Guilford wasn't going to take any chances. Once it was made clear that engaging directly was too dangerous he would employ the entirety of his beastly army.
Of course Shirou wasn't enough of a fool to believe he could take a force of around fifty creatures on his own. He was good, better than he thought he would with a sword, but he was still overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Time to put the plan into motion.
Instead of pursuing after the retreating Magus, Shirou turned around and run down the corridor, with the two remaining Chimeras following in hot pursuit.
Vincent stopped short of breath with his back leaning against the wall only when the first wave of his army run past him and toward the menace.
"Damn it," he swore under his breath. "How can a normal person be that strong?"
"Master," Caster called materializing by his side. "I could take care of this nuisance in matter of second if only you'd let me."
"Feh," he snorted putting some distance between him and her. "Let me guess, it would take just a little more power from me, wouldn't it? Don't make me laugh, Caster. Do you really think I'd give you more Prana than this, when with enough power your Noble Phantasm could easily rescind our contract? Don't make me laugh, Witch. I can take care of this problem myself. Now be gone."
"… As you wish, Master," she acknowledged softly before vanishing again.
With his breath now back under control, Guilford stood upright once more and moved to follow his target. With most of his army now deployed he would definitely overwhelm Archer. Even if he would lose a few units he could always make more.
Perhaps if only he had paid a little more attention to his surrounding he would have noticed the small rune on the wall, drawn in blood right where he had rested his back a few moments earlier. If he did, the outcome of the entire night might have been entirely different.
"GRAAAARRRWWWW!"
The beastly roar echoed throughout the entire basement, almost making Rin jump out of her skin. The chilling roar was immediately followed by the sound of countless feet coming in her direction and a moment later several creatures rushed past her cell. There were too many to count but it looked like Guilford had taken out the big guns to deal with his unexpected guest.
That was the moment she had been waiting for. While Yukiko was pressed against the wall out of her cell to allow the creatures the space they needed, Rin opened her mouth and without hesitation she stuck two fingers down her throat. As expected her stomach churned in response, emptying its contents in front of her feet. The wet splattering sound was broken by a louder clinking noise.
Four bright jewels rolled in the half digest liquid.
"That was so inelegant," Rin commented wiping her mouth with a handkerchief from her pocket. "And disgusting," she added as an afterthought. Inelegant, yes, but effective. Hiding her jewels on her body was all good and fine but any Magus who knew anything about the Tohsaka family Craft would immediately separate her from her jewels if they managed to capture her.
Hiding some in her body, charmed so that they would continue their trip down her digestive trait was an extreme last resort she wasn't proud of, but it came in handy in this kind of situations. She would never show it to her father if he was still alive or she would have been up for a serious lecture on the principle of her family.
Meanwhile, the rush of beasts had finished and Rin took advantage of Yukiko temporarily getting away from her cell to check on the situation to use the first of her jewels in the only way that made sense.
"Sprengkraft!" she announced, throwing the jewel while shielding her face with the other arm.
The metal bars exploded violently in a burst of flames, sending debris against the opposite wall and flooding the corridor with thick smoke.
"Rin! What have you done?" she heard Yukiko ask. Rin didn't bother answering the brainwashed girl. There was nothing she could do for her without having access to her Circuits. The best way to help her friend was getting the hell out of there and back in town. With Vincent busy with the unknown intruder, she was certain she could do it easily.
She was wrong.
She barely had time to move to the side before a fist brushed past her head, slamming against a wall with enough strength to crack the stone.
"Naughty Rin," Yukiko chuckled. "You really shouldn't have tried something like that. Now I'll have to hurt you a little or Master Vincent won't be happy with me."
"Tsk. Reinforcement?"
It was something she had feared. Since Yukiko was a normal person, Vincent wouldn't have assigned her as Rin's warden without giving her an enhancement of some kind. Rule of Blood spontaneously reinforced its host to perform its duties to the best of its capacity.
"Yes," Yukiko chirped happily. "This is the power Master Vincent gave me to serve him better. Do you like it?"
"Not really," she answered flatly. "Don't worry Yukiko. I'm going to free you from that man's grasp very soon."
"Now, now, Rin. Master Vincent would be really angry with me if I let you do such a thing. I'm afraid I'll have to drag you back to him so that you can ask forgiveness for breaking the room he gave you." She lashed at Rin with more speed than she should have been able to.
And found an elbow buried in the stomach for her trouble.
Yukiko fell to her knees holding her stomach with both hands. Rin didn't waste any time pointing out how being a little Reinforced didn't grant any fighting skill. Yukiko's body was faster and stronger than Rin's, but she telegraphed her moves so badly that an amateur fighter could have dodged her blows. For somebody like Rin, who had been practicing martial arts since she was a child, besting Yukiko really wasn't that much of a challenge.
Still, having to hit Yukiko actually hurt Rin more than it did her friend. Another sin to lie at Guilford's feet when she got around to handing out her punishment…assuming that he wouldn't meet his fate at the hand of the intruder.
And speaking of the intruder: who could it be? Somebody with grudge against Guilford? Another Master, perhaps? For a moment she even thought it could be Emiya, but she soon discarded that thought. No matter how skilled he was in combat, he was still a normal human. Faced with the Mysteries of any Magus he would be unable to respond appropriately. Guilford was sure it wasn't another Magus, but who could force him to deploy such a numerous force if not another practitioner of the Craft?
No matter who it was, she couldn't rely on that person to get her out of there. If it turned out to be another Master, her fate was likely to get only more gruesome if they found her there. She'd have to get out with her own strength.
"Rin, stop right there," Yukiko shouted behind her.
"Not a chance," she shot back without turning around.
Good. If Yukiko followed her out Rin wouldn't have to worry about her being harmed by Guilford 's other enemy. It was time to say goodbye to that wretched place.
Shirou ran with the Chimeras following close behind, just as planned. All things considered, even if he had more battle experience than the average Magus his opponent had the advantage of territory and superior number on his side. Well, the former would soon turn on the latter if everything went according to his plan.
He ran toward the stairs to the third floor, but didn't get halfway there before the first group of beasts intercepted him from the side.
'How fast,' he thought slashing at the first unlucky creature that got in range. He didn't even notice how easily he was using the sword in his hand, something that shouldn't have been possible without extensive training. But he was too busy dodging his enemies to lose himself in other thoughts.
Suddenly he found himself facing a group of beasts coming from right ahead while the group behind was rapidly getting closer.
"Screw it," he growled as he accelerated toward the group in front of him. As he was about to slam against them he quickly jumped upward and to the side. Stepping against the wall to his left he then jumped a second time in the air, sailing above the Chimeras, which were forced to stop in their tracks to turn in the opposite direction. It was too bad that their attempts were severely hindered by the other group that, unable or unwilling to slow down their pursuit, ended up crashing against the other ending in a messed pile of limbs.
It was almost comical how they tried to stand up again only to trip on each other and fall again. Shirou didn't consider stopping to enjoy the outcome of his handiwork, busy as he was with yet another pack of Chimeras coming from the side. The situation was getting worse by the minute, but the stairs were already in sight. With one last dash he climbed up three steps at a time.
'Cornered,' Vincent thought as he watched Archer disappear over the stairs. The third floor wasn't like the other two. It was basically a single huge floor that he created after removing the needless wall. It was a room he created to draw the complex Runic Circles that he used to perform his rituals.
Up there he no longer had places to hide, nor corridors to outmaneuver the Chimeras. With so many on his side in such an open space, making short work of the vigilante was an absolute certainty.
"Devour him," he commanded. The creatures that had stayed back immediately rushed after their similar, leaving Vincent with just a handful of them as a personal guard. Not a minute later, a feeling of dread began taking hold over him. What was taking them so much? Skilled as he was, a single human shouldn't be too much of a problem for so many beasts. Even another Magus would have a hard time dealing with them.
The he heard it, the sound of glass breaking above him that signaled something he hadn't expected. He saw Archer fall down from the third floor, something Vincent considered a suicide move…for about half a second that is. Almost in slow motion he watched the vigilante cocking an arrow on his bow. The round shape of its head changed to a pointed one.
'Alteration,' he realized, suddenly hit by the full weight of its implication. The arrow broke through the window and whizzed past him, burying its head in the wall behind him. For a moment, a short naïve moment he actually believed that a person who carried the nickname of Archer could have missed such a shot.
The ridiculousness of this line of thought was revealed to him a second later, when the heavily Prana-charged projectile discharged its energy, lighting up a series of runes on every visible wall. There were too many to have been written by a single person in a short amount of time. Only in that moment did Vincent realize how well he had been played.
"Caster," was the only curse he managed to grow before the walls around him imploded and the ceiling crumbled upon him with thunderous roar.
A minute earlier – Third floor
Shirou reached the third floor but didn't stop running. He had caught a glimpse of Guilford but didn't try to get at him or taunt him to follow. So long as he was at least on the second floor the end result of his plan would take him down too.
In the open space of the floor he was now on, the Chimeras flanked him on both sides, rushing past him and surrounding him entirely. It would have been a pretty fucked up situation if it weren't exactly what he had planned for. He could count over forty creatures, which meant almost everyone according to Caster's information. Now that they were all gathered, he could deal with them and their master in one fell swoop.
Shirou sheathed his sword and exhaled, ignoring completely the menacing growl of the creatures that got progressively and cautiously closer. The moment for him to break through was the same as theirs.
"Trace on!" he announced loudly and the Chimeras took it as their cue to finally tear him apart. What followed would have looked like a scene out of a ninja movie.
Shirou jumped upward and the Chimeras followed. He kicked one and used it as a stepping-stone to push himself away. Another leapt at him and its efforts were rewarded with a swift kick to the face. More and more jumped at him, trying to pin his body and drag him down where they would rip him to shreds. For his part, Shirou focused everything into dodging.
Well, not exactly dodging. Air stepping would be a more appropriate description. For the next twenty seconds Shirou didn't touch the floor, bouncing against the walls, columns or the leaping beasts. Finally, with his target in sight he took advantage of yet another monster to propel himself with both feet toward the large window behind a ritualistic altar. The glass exploded in a guttering shower of minuscule shards, but he paid it no mind.
As he fell to the ground, Shirou twisted in midair and with the smoothness that came with countless hours of practice he grabbed his arrow and changed and charged it as planned. He poured every drop of Mana he managed to gather from the environment and his own Od into that single projectile. The arrow grew and… broke, acquiring almost a scaly aspect.
He only managed to catch a glimpse of Guilford as he released it, but the expression of utter surprise he read on his face gave him a single satisfying thought.
'Gotcha, you son of a bitch.'
And then the arrow struck, unloading the energy into the rune array that Caster had drawn for him. The walls literally imploded and with a groan the roof and the third floor collapsed on the second, burying Guilford and his twisted army under tons of debris.
Victory was his.
-oOo-
The ground shook and dirt fell from several places in the underground ceiling.
"What the…?" Rin wondered as she struggled to maintain her balance. She didn't stop to contemplate what might have caused the earthquake since it was fairly obvious that whatever drama was unfolding upstairs had probably escalated considerably if it had managed to effect the structure beneath the ground.
Getting as far away as possible was beginning to sound more and more like a good idea. With Yukiko still chasing after her she dove into a door that opened on a long narrow corridor. Judging by the length it had to extend far beyond the supposed perimeter of the house. If luck was still on her side, it would probably led to an exit above the ground.
Hearing the approaching footsteps of her friend-turned-pursuer, Rin sprinted even faster down the dark barely lit corridor.
Medea watched from the edge of the property as the house collapsing on itself, burying her Master and his wretched creatures under its ruins. The plan had gone as smoothly as possible, and she had to recognize that the Magus boy had a decent mind that made up for his lack of talent in the field of Magecraft.
Truly, using his limited energies to collapse the territory on the army proved to be an efficient course of action. The act of using an opponent's chosen field of battle against him was something she didn't even begin to consider and it proved that the boy possessed a mind wired for combat that her Master lacked completely. Vincent preferred to rely entirely on the alleged superiority of his Magecraft, overwhelming his opponents with numbers.
His arrogance ultimately proved to be his undoing, but in spite of that she had to at least recognize that he was tenacious. Her contract with him was still active, which meant that under that pile of rubble he was still alive. How he managed such a feat she didn't know. Perhaps she had underestimated him a bit too much, and to make matters worse he had to have realized her involvement in this situation.
The likelihood of him using a Command Seal to force her into obedience was still significant, and if the worst-case scenario came to pass she would be forced to use her Noble Phantasm on herself. The energy required to break the contract was bound to leave her nearly depleted. She wouldn't last more than a few hours after that, but what did it matter at that point?
If the only other option was to be used, abused and finally consumed she would rather go down of her own volition. Suicide was an extremely preferable option to living in servitude to a person she despised utterly. Perhaps if things had gone differently she might have tried her hand in the coming conflict, but she would never accept being bound to another against her will.
And judging by the look of things she would have to intervene directly sooner than later.
Shirou landed on his feet and rolled on the ground, nullifying the momentum of his fall. His reinforced body was more than capable of sustaining the force of a fall from that height, but his engrained training didn't require him to think for such things and his body merely acted as conditioned.
Kiritsugu was crap as a teacher as far as Thaumaturgy was concerned, but nothing could be said about his prowess with tactics and general fighting skills. The plan of dropping the enemy base on top of them was something that Shirou took straight out of his father's book, seeing how it used to be one of his favorite tactics back in the day. Sure, he had to rely on Caster's cooperation because he didn't pack any explosives with him that night (not that he usually did), but in the end it worked just fine.
He felt the need to chuckle when he thought back at her expression when he told her of his plan.
Twenty minutes earlier
"You want me to do what?" the hooded woman asked. She was clearly annoyed by the fact that Shirou was telling her that he couldn't do what she asked without her help.
"You heard me. I need you to compromise the integrity of the second floor walls and columns with runes while reinforcing the first."
"Boya, what are you planning to do? Vincent is extremely arrogant, but not a fool. He would immediately notice if I tried to pull any Prana from our contract. Do you want him to use a Command Seal on me?"
"No," he replied immediately, "The only thing I need is for you to draw an inert array. I'll take care of powering it up myself."
"Do you want to die so badly? Or do you think you have more chance at surviving the collapse more than he does?"
"Uh? Even I'm not that reckless. I don't intend to be anywhere inside the mansion when it goes down?"
"Then please, do tell how you plan to active the rune array."
"I have… more arrows to my bow than you would expect," he said. And he meant it literally.
Caster seemed to ponder his expression through his mask for a long stretching moment before giving the tiniest of nods.
"Very well," she conceded. "I have to trust that you know what you are doing, otherwise the point of this alliance would be moot. I'll return as soon as I'm done."
And then she disappeared into thin air, reinforcing Shirou's thought that she wasn't actually in the room with him but merely projecting an image from a distance. He didn't have to wait long. As expected from the Caster class, drawing a mere rune array without actually powering it up was something easier than breathing and she returned no longer than five minutes later. Actually, given enough knowledge just about anyone could do it but the Caster class could perform the task fast, flawlessly and without the need to double check.
"It is done," she confirmed, reappearing from the shadows.
"I'll be on my way then," he said giving one last glance at the woman before leaving the room as silently as he entered it, secretly hoping that his plan would work as well as he imagined it.
Present time
For once in his life, his plan worked spectacularly. The upper floors went down immediately while the first held strong. It would have been horrible if the entire structure had collapsed on Tohsaka and Yukiko after all. But it worked, even if he was left completely drained. Considering the disproportion in overall offensive strength he came out on top and without a scratch.
All he had to do now was get his friends out of the basement, hopefully without being seen. He would have a hard time feigning ignorance about Thaumaturgy if he managed to take down a Magus and all his familiars. No way she'd buy any story that implied he wasn't a Magus himself. He'd have to be really, really circumspect if he didn't want to be put on the spot.
He headed back toward the house when he noticed something entirely out of place. The four hypnotized men in front of the house were still there drooling dumbly. They should have recovered or passed out from the backlash caused by Guilford's death. If they weren't, then…
"I have you now, you little shit."
He heard the voice just a moment before something wrapped around his left leg with so much strength that his bones would have cracked had he had not been Reinforced. He didn't have the time to move or protest before his body was flung into the air like a twig and impacted with his back against the sturdy stone walls that surrounded the mansion.
"Gragh!" He protested as the air was forced out of his lungs. His vision went white and he had to focus all his might to resist immediately passing out. He watched through hazed eyes a red… whip-like thing that he realized was blood retreating from his body like a living being. Actually the entire upper part of the once luxurious mansion was tainted with dripping blood, no doubt leaking from the crushed bodies of many Chimeras.
Oh, no. No, that wasn't just bad. That was extremely, extremely fucked up.
The blood stopped dripping down the wall and began crawling up instead, flowing between the rubble until nothing was left. Then the pile of debris began to shake and move until an… arm burst out of the top.
Vincent Guilford stood on the ruins of his mansion. His clothes were tattered and disheveled; his once well groomed hair now completely ruffed up. But of course, that was a minor change compared to the rest of his body. In seemed that in order to survive, Vincent Guilford had been forced to push his Craft in a direction previously unexplored.
Both his arms were gone, replaced by furry appendages that were still twisting with sickening crunching noise as they shifted from their original animal form to a shape more reminiscent of human limbs. His legs too were in a similar state, though he didn't seem to bother with turning their articulation into the proper frontward position as was proper for every human being. Through the once immaculate white shirt, now opened in half, Shirou could see several scars healing at an accelerated rate.
He had replaced the parts of his body too damaged with other salvageable parts from the many creatures that died in the collapse.
"Look at what you've done, you shitty brat," he growled with a voice that was no longer human. "Look at what you forced me to become. My body… my perfect body… ruined by a third rate Magus such as yourself."
"Ghh…" Shirou mumbled, getting back on his shaky feet.
"But it's okay," Vincent chuckled. "It's partially my fault, after all. I seriously, seriously underestimated the circumstances. I believed that no Magus would lower himself to use mundane methods, even in this barbaric country, and I really overlooked my Servant's lack of respect for far too long. My oversight. I'll rectify my mistakes immediately. STARTING WITH YOU!"
He disappeared from Shirou's line of sight with the speed granted by those monstrous limbs. He realized where he had moved only when he felt his claws screech against the still Reinforced structure of his mask, that saved him from having his face carved out.
He rolled on the ground using the strength of the blow he received, shaking his head to get rid of the cobwebs that hazed it. It wasn't time to be shocked of the series of events. He had to come up with a plan immediately.
As Guilford appeared in front of him, Shirou slashed with Monohoshizao but the other Magus simply ducked beneath the swing before returning with a powerful uppercut. It was only thanks to the experience that came from hundreds of hours spent in getting beaten shitless by Kuzuki that Shirou managed to roll with the punch and avoid having his head separated from his shoulders by the vicious blow. Back flipping in midair, he landed and dashed forward, already bringing Monohoshizao forward for another strike.
Guilford retaliated by stepping inside of his guard and wrapping his arm around Shirou's, efficiently blocking the weapon along with it. With no chance to move, Shirou could only suffer under the series of blows that the foreign Magus unleashed on him.
"Ooops," Vincent said letting him fall backward. "I shouldn't go overboard. I have need to keep your body as intact as possible, after all."
"What..?" Shirou groaned through gritted teeth. The effect of his Reinforcement was slowly being eroded. He couldn't take too many hits before his body returned to its natural level of resistance, which meant instant death in those circumstances.
"I have to admit that your physical condition is top notch. Your body will certainly be a suitable replacement for my own. Don't worry, I'll make good use of it. In fact, I believe that I'll be testing those strong arms and legs of yours with our mutual friend. Heh heh heh."
"Y-you… bastard."
"Oh, I have been called worse, trust me. Anyway, I think I'll have some fun before dissecting you for parts."
And that was all the warning Shirou received before the world exploded in pain.
Dojima was almost dozing when he heard the rumble from behind the trees and a cloud of barely visible smoke rose in the moonlit sky.
"What the fu-?"
The noise coming from the mansion in the forest sounded too much like a building collapsing. No way that anything short of that could make so much noise. All right, if that didn't give him enough of an excuse to at least check out the place he didn't know what would. Checking his gun once more, he started running down the path between the trees.
Rin pushed the heavy door at the end of the corridor and entered what looked like a dried up well. Quickly, she began climbing up the ladder on the wall she was almost halfway to the exit when she felt a hand wrap around her leg.
"I've got you," Yukiko exulted. "Now we are going to return to UGH!" She exclaimed when Rin's other foot struck her in the face
"Sorry about that, Yuki-chan," Rin said hastily but sincerely. She didn't like hurting her friend, especially because she wasn't in control of her actions but now wasn't time to be shy. If, in order to help her friend she had to hurt her first, well, she could live with that.
With one last exhalation of effort, she reached the top and pushed open the grid top that prevented people from accidentally falling into the hole. She found herself in the middle of a forest, hopefully the one near Fuyuki.
"Rin, wait," she heard Yukiko calling for her from the bottom of the well. She didn't bother answering, but instead started running once more in a direction that she considered being opposite to the mansion, sincerely hoping she didn't get lost among the trees.
A rag doll; Shirou couldn't find a better way to call himself in the current circumstances. In hindsight he should have seen it coming. All the Prana that Guilford employed to simultaneously control his creatures was now entirely at his disposal and he was using it to Reinforce his body without care.
Why should he care, after all? Even if his arms and legs broke to the point that his healing factor couldn't repair them any longer, he could still easily change them with others. There was no point in worrying about any after effect.
Shirou had tried to put up some sort of resistance, and while he definitely surpassed Vincent in skills alone he couldn't keep up with his speed or strength without the use of his own Reinforcement. That taught him how stupid it was to not have a contingency plan. Eradicating yourself of energy was a successful tactic only if you had time to rest between fights.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! He couldn't die yet. Not without killing Vincent first. If the man lived, then Tohsaka and Yukiko would be forever prisoners of his power and that was something that Shirou couldn't allow.
Finally, it seemed that Vincent had grown tired of playing with such an unresponsive doll and kicked him in the stomach with enough force to slam him against the wall a few meters away.
He had lost. The world was going dark and blood was filling his vision and mouth. Monohoshizao was beginning to slip from his grasp.
"No!" he growled in defiance, tightening his grip around the hilt. He couldn't afford to give up. For as long as he could draw a single breath, he would advance, no matter the cost. He pulled himself to a straight position, breathing heavily under the strain of simply standing upright.
He lifted Monohoshizao to his face, perpendicular to the ground and with the edge turned upward. He could see his beaten up reflection on the smooth surface of the metal. It was the image of someone about to drop dead; pitiful, pathetic, and certainly not the hero he aspired to be.
But being a true hero went beyond good looks. To be a hero he had to unrelentingly push ahead, and that knowledge showed in his eyes. But what could he do? He was completely spent. He didn't have a single drop of Od to start up the simplest spell in his body. The only thing he had left was the sword in his hands.
He lost himself in his reflection on the blood stained blade. He watched it with such a transfixed intensity that he seemed to look through it, or perhaps into the very soul of the sword.
…
…. Sword?
… … … … … … … Sword?
Well, at least he still had the Tohsaka girl and he realized just how correct he had been in not trusting his Servant. Speaking of which…
"Caster."
"Yes, Master?" she answered, appearing a few meters behind him.
"Your participation in this attempt on my life is inexcusable. You have to be punished."
"Master, I…"
"Caster… SUFFER!"
Caster's mind went blank. Her entire existence exploded in a storm of pain the likes of which she never experienced before. Her body was racked under the absolute torment enforced by the Command Seal.
She had underestimated the pride and pettiness of her Master. She didn't think that he would waste one Seal just to punish her, but it appeared that wounding his ego in any manner was enough to override any measure of common sense he still had. No, she definitely hadn't seen that coming.
She gasped for air but her body was too tense to do anything but dig her nails into the dirt beneath her. Screaming wasn't an option. Thinking wasn't even remotely possible.
"Gggghrrrrggggg!" was the only sound that escaped her throat.
She would not beg, she would never beg that disgusting man for release. Even if the pain broke her again and again she would never give him the satisfaction of seeing her ask for forgiveness. Never. Never, NEVER!
She had to do it. She had to use Rule Breaker even if the backlash of breaking the contract while under the effect of a Command Seal annihilated her.
Vincent grinned at the sight of the treacherous Caster writhing on the ground like the worm she was. At that point he didn't care for the waste of a Command Seal. Heck, if he didn't transplant it from what was left of his hand he would have lost control of her altogether.
The price to restore his pride and his dominance over his misbehaving Servant was steep but necessary. That punishment would ensure that she wouldn't try something like that ever again and when she had outlived her usefulness he would use his last Command Seals to really dominate her into submission before using the Servant summoned by Rin to eliminate her.
No one –no one- could humiliate him in such a manner and get away with it. He could have spent the rest of the night enjoying his handiwork, but another sound drew his attention.
Archer was back on his shaky feet again. If anything, his persistence merited praise. He would make sure to use that nice resistance and stamina after he transplanted his limbs. In any case, it was time to put an end to his struggle.
"It has been fun," he said walking toward the unsteady vigilante. "But I really have to cut it short. Now I-"
He froze. His body could no longer advance when Archer stopped shaking and the sword rose menacingly to his face-level. Vincent didn't know much about swords in general. Sure there were some nice Mystic Codes in the shape of swords, but he really never took an interest in them. One of his acquaintances at the Clock Tower had a borderline obsession with blades of all kinds, and had once spent an entire lunch going over their beauty. What he recalled most from that conversation was the so-called Sentience of Steel: a form of minor sentience that ancient blades developed over the course of many battles. Vincent hadn't given much credit to that notion, but in that very specific moment he had to reconsider his initial opinion.
The sword shined ominously under the moon, emanating a feeling of impending death that Vincent couldn't deny. It was almost ridiculous how Archer's battered form seemed to be held by the sword instead of the opposite.
It was dangerous. So dangerous that he didn't dare get closer… but he also realized that if he just stood there, then Archer would come at him. He needed to act immediately.
"Caster, enough with the punishment. Come here and –NO!"
He had barely turned around to address his Servant when he saw the glint of light coming from the tip of the serpentine blade. He didn't have time to react before the knife fell and pierced the Servant's chest with the expected results.
Vincent left hand burned, and the mark of his Command Seals faded away, denied by the nullification power of his (now former) Servant's Noble Phantasm.
"You bitch!" he snarled, moving to kick her still weakened form, but immediately stopped in his tracks when he heard the voice behind him.
"I am…"
... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … _Statics… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Sword
_Statics… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ….. ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Swor Sword _ Sword Sword _ Sword _
… _Statics… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …. … … .. … … … … … … … .. … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Sword Sword Sword _ _ Sword _ Sword _ _ Sword Sword _Sword Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword Sword Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword _ Sword Sword Sword Sword _ Sword Sword _ Sword _ Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword _ Sword Sword Sword _ Sword Sword Sword Sword _ Sword Sword _ Sword Sword _ Sword Sword Sword _ Sword Sword Sword _ Sword Sword _ Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword Sword
!SWORD!
" I am the bone of my Sword."
The words were spoken by his mouth, but they came from a place far more distant and yet exceedingly close. They meant nothing to the world at large but they meant everything to him. He couldn't quite comprehend the magnitude of such a declaration, but he could feel it nonetheless. It was like a switch had been turned on inside of him.
He knew it likeithad always been his even though it hadn't. It was like he was the one who had spent days, weeks, months, years practicing, chasing after something that was supposed to be impossible. Unreachable.
With hands that weren't his, with a sword that was not his own and with skills that he didn't hone, he cut through that which was not meant to be cut. It had taken an entire lifetime, but he did it nonetheless. Such a superb technique would no doubt transcend the ages and become legend.
As such, it needed a name that embodied its sprit, beauty and grace. Of course, considering what had inspired it, it could only be named….
"TSUBAME GAESHI!"
Vincent barely had time to acknowledge that something was happening but couldn't understand exactly what. He saw Archer step toward him, steel in his hands and in his eyes. His sword came, filled with killing intent, from the side to behead him in one fell swoop. It was too fast to dodge, he realized grimly. The only chance he had was to sacrifice his arm to slow the blade before lashing out to kill the annoying bastard.
He put his very expendable limb in the path of the coming blade, but felt no pain when the sword cut through it. No, not cut. It just passed through like it didn't have any mass. Like an… illusion. He turned to the right, just in time to see another blade materializing from thin air like a ghost. He promptly put his other arm in the way, but that too served no purpose as the illusory sword went through without a scratch.
He almost felt silly for a moment so short that his brain didn't even register it. The sound of cut flesh and splattering blood reached his ears and he stared in dumb confusion at the blade digging into his neck, having undoubtedly struck from… behind?
He tried to stop it, to use his hand to block its course but he was too slow. With his own accelerated perception he saw the blade complete its swing. The taste of his own blood filled his mouth. Oddly, he noticed that he didn't like it so much.
He saw the ground getting closer and closer as he rolled in an odd way before stopping a few meters away.
'Ah,' he thought, 'is that my body?'
Indeed it was. He watched in morbid fascination as his still standing body wobbled and fell backward with a loud thump, blood spraying all over the stump of his neck. He tried to focus but his mind felt so dull and distant.
No, he couldn't just give up, could he? With his Rule of Blood attaching his head should be an easy… easy…easy… easy… eeea-
….
Medea gasped for air. She didn't really need the oxygen to exist but the reaction to the sudden realease from couldn't be helped. Her body still ached but she knew it wouldn't subside. She had used too much energy to break the Command Seal and she was now on the verge of disappearing.
'At least I can watch Vincent die,' she thought as she saw the Magus boy approaching her former Master menacingly with his katana.
"TSUBAME GAESHI!" he shouted as he charged.
The blade swung fast. Faster than what she thought humanly possible but what captivated her attention was the blade attacking from the sides at the same time. The first two blows passed through Guilford's body like mere illusions but the third, the one coming from behind, reached his neck and mercilessly cut through it. His head rolled on the ground and his body toppled backward spraying blood from the stump of his neck.
Vincent Guilford died with a surprised expression on his face. His death had been far too painless considered the circumstances but she couldn't complain. She had managed to get back at him from his transgression in her regards and that was all that mattered in the end.
The only thing she regretted was having missed a chance to fight. Even though her wish couldn't be realized she still wanted to take a stand against her fate. Alas, that was not to be. She still could try to take her energy from the heavily gasping Magus boy, who was eyeing his sword as if he was surprised by the very technique he used to kill Vincent.
He was at his limits, but so was she. She didn't have the strength to force herself on him and devour him. Amongst Servants she was the least physically strong, even below Assassin. Her power was in her spells, but she didn't have the energy to even start one up. If she, did her body would disappear before she was even halfway through it.
Gathering what little energy she still had left she stood up again.
"Well," she said to the recovering boy. "It seems that our alliance has reached a conclusion."
"Are… are you all right?"
Concern? For her? How amusing.
"As fine as I can be. My Master is dead, and my time in this world is short."
"… What happened to Tohsaka and Yukiko? What about the others?" he asked.
"Your friends left the property a few minutes ago and with Vincent's death they should have returned to normal. The four men are just some random men that live nearby. If you really care I think I can make them return to their homes by themselves. Tomorrow they'll wake up without recalling a single thing. Consider it payment for your cooperation."
Shirou nodded in appreciation. He wasn't sure he could deal with four witnesses as he was.
"What… what are you going to do now?"
"Who knows? Perhaps I shall watch the sun rise on the sea one last time. I have enough energy to do that at least."
"Wait…" the boy called out to her, but she simply slipped into spirit form and left. Her business with him was concluded, and he had already turned down her proposition to make a contract with her. Without the power to impose himself on him there was no reason to stay. Without looking back, she passed the gates and headed toward the city to fulfill her last whimsical wish.
"Wait…" he said to the female Servant, but she paid him no mind and simply disappeared with a mystical sound. "Damn it."
She was gone. Whatever question he had would go unanswered. He had plenty of them, but first….
"Ghaaawrg!" he fell on his knees and emptied the contents of his stomach. He had killed a man. He had cut his head from his shoulder like a hot knife through butter. He had killed a person: in self defense, in defense of others but he had still killed nonetheless. A man died by his hands. It was no accident like that time with Sasaki. He had moved with the intent to kill, and that intent turned into reality.
He was now a killer, someone who had taken the life of another. There was no way around that notion. At least… at least Tohsaka and Yukiko were safe now.
How did he do it though? The technique he used wasn't something he had even heard about until that moment and yet…. Yet he knew everything about it. It was a technique that violated the laws of the world by striking from three different directions at the same time. It wasn't a Magecraft or Sorcery, but merely a skill so refined that it slipped past all the conceptions that caged even supernatural strikes.
How did he know all of that? How did he manage to replicate the technique that the real Sasaki Kojirou spent his life to perfect? It was like… the sword itself had told him. No, that wasn't true. He knew from the very beginning that Monohoshizao had been used to develop that incredible technique. That information was stored into his mind since the very first time he Grasped its structure because he was able to tap into that knowledge without using it again.
How? That wasn't normal, nor could it be called an after effect of his Magecraft as it was a separate phenomenon. For the first time in his life, Shirou realized that there was perhaps a deeper meaning behind his constant dreaming of swords.
However, that was a thought for another time. Taking a few deep breaths he stood back up. There was no point in dwelling over what happened. He knew that this event would haunt his dreams for a long time…but now he had other things to take care of.
"Argh," Rin grunted as a shot of pain shocked her body. She nearly stumbled, but managed to steady herself against a tree.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Yukiko's scream of pain was bloodcurdling. Rin saw her trashing of the ground like she was being burned alive but all of a sudden she went limp and unmoving. Rin considered for a second that it could be a trap but the pain she had experienced a moment before told her another story.
Running to her hopefully just unconscious friend's side Rin swore to herself that if she was hurt in anyway she'd skin Guilford alive.
… Wait a minute… did she just think that? Without stopping her run to Yukiko she quickly checked herself. Behind a faint and fading numbness she could feel them again. Her Circuits were accessible again, and she could think about hurting Guilford without consequence. Rule of Blood had been deactivated, forcefully if her pain and Yukiko reaction were any indication.
She checked the girl's pulse and let out a relieved sigh when she saw she was just passed out from the backlash of Guilford's Thaumaturgy being disrupted. In all likelihood that bastard was dead, killed by whoever had snuck into his home.
It was too bad…she wanted to have her revenge from him herself, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides she still had other priorities, and getting away from there was still at the top. There was no telling if Guilford's killer was less of a threat than the mage had been, and she had no intention of finding out. Furthermore, Yukiko needed her help.
Even if she was free of the spell that had bound her until that moment, she would probably still remember everything that happened and Rin couldn't allow that: not only because she had to protect the secret of Magecraft but also for Yukiko's mental health. What Guilford had done to her was far worse than rape, and while she might have not believed that while under his control she definitely would when she woke up. Erasing everything about those events was the best course of action.
Reinforcing her body a little she lifted her friend on her shoulders and started walking in a random direction, again hoping not to get lost in the forest.
"Don't move!" a voice shouted behind there along with the sound of a gun being cocked. Oh, no. Had things just gone from bad to better and back to worse?
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The high-pitched scream tore the relatively silence of the quiet forest to pieces.
Dojima wasn't a fan of horror movies. Frankly, he didn't find them even half-interesting. The plot was always the same, and the characters seemed to come from a universe where horror movies didn't exist because if they did, and they had watched at least one, they would have never walked in one of the many situations that led to a very painful and gory death.
He honestly thought that, so he felt a bit of a fool when he turned in the direction of the scream when, according to his opinion, a smart man would have walked away in the same circumstances. A cop, alone in a forest at night hears a woman's scream and goes to investigate? Yeah, if that was a movie how many viewers would bet on the detective walking back on his own two feet?
'Not many, ' he thought to himself. But he still was a cop, and helping people was his job. If he wanted a life without risks he should have gone for another employment. And there he was, checking the surrounding without making any noise. There was no telling what could have happened to make a person scream like that, and if he had to find out he'd rather get the drop on whomever was on the scene.
Noticing some movement he hid behind a tree and noticed girl dressed in red rush past him and to the side of an unconscious girl. He saw her put the other girl on her shoulders with a surprising show of strength for a girl. Well, it looked like with that added weight she wouldn't try to run if he got closer.
He immediately moved out of his cover and pointed his gun for good measure.
"Don't move," he ordered and the girl froze on the spot. "Who are you and what you doing here?"
Slowly the girl turned around. He'd expected her to be scared and perhaps watchful and while the latter was true there was no trace of the former. The girl's eyes shone with a resolve that would have put grown man to shame.
Wait a moment… wasn't that Kazama Yukiko? And the other was… Tohsaka Rin if he wasn't mistaken.
His keen mind quickly caught up with at least a portion of the night's events. The girls had been kidnapped; again, in Kazama's case. Somehow, Emiya had caught wind of it and chased after the kidnappers. The girl had managed to get away, probably thanks to Archer's intervention and they were now trying to get as far away as possible.
"Who are you?" the girl asked evenly.
"Detective Dojima, Fuyuki police department. What happened here?"
The girl didn't relax even when she heard his profession, but answered nonetheless.
"We have been abducted," she explained. "We were held in a big mansion but we managed to escape. Please, you have to help us."
"Of course," he answered getting closer but without lowering his weapon. The girl rubbed him the wrong way. She was far too calm for somebody who had just been through a traumatic event. "What happened to your friend?"
"I don't know, she just fell to the ground and started screaming. Please you have to take her to a hospital."
Damn, he was so close in getting the answers he wanted but he couldn't just leave to girls in a situation like that. He'd have to return to the car and call for backup.
"My car isn't too far from here," he answered holstering his gun. "Let's get back and I'll call some reinforcement. Whomever did this isn't getting away."
"I know…" Tohsaka said with a strangely echoing voice. Dojima found out that he couldn't look away from her eyes. "Take us to your car and drive us back into town."
He nodded. That seemed like the right thing to do. Without a word he walked ahead of them to his car. When they reached it they climbed inside. He helped to put Kazama on the rear seat and then he took his place at the wheel.
"I have to call for reinforcements," he mumbled to himself.
"There's no need for that," Tohsaka said from her seat and he couldn't help but listen to her voice. "Nothing happened here tonight. You just have to drive us back home. Then you can forget all about this evening."
Yeah, that really sounded like a great idea. He started the engine and began driving back to town.
Rin took a deep breath and allowed herself a moment to relax. They were getting away from the scene as fast as possible. Considering the circumstances it had been a stroke of luck stumbling on this detective, though his presence was unsettling and suspicious. She needed to find out more.
"What were you doing in that forest?" she asked with her Prana laced voice. Mind control wasn't her field of expertise, and after being subjected to a particularly nasty version of the Craft she wasn't particularly happy with what she was doing.
"I was following a suspect," the detective, Dojima, answered. The answer was succinct but that had to be expected. That wasn't the kind of thing a police office would normally share with a stranger. She could push for more but…
"Who was it?"
"It was A.. I… don't…," the man eyes seemed to focus back on the situation, fighting back Rin's compulsion. "What… are you...?"
"Nevermind, it's not really important." Like hell it wasn't, but she immediately dropped the subject and the man returned to the depths of his trance. That was the sort of thing that could happen when a person was forced into doing or saying things against his will. Minor things could be easily accomplished through basic hypnotism, but forcing someone to reveal something they weren't comfortable with was a lot more complex.
The man was showing a degree of willpower far above the average and with her level of skill she would probably lose the control of the compulsion and he would return to his senses with many unpleasant consequences.
"Are you involved in any way with the inhabitants of that mansion?"
"Not to my knowledge," he told her with a shrug. That was a fair answer, actually better than a straight out no. To completely deny any connection the detective had first to know who Guilford was. His answer implied a complete lack of knowledge to whatever happened behind the walls of that place.
She wasn't fool enough to miss that, whomever this suspect was that he had been following, it was the same person who had broke into Guilford's place. He might not have known one party but what of the other? She already knew that asking for the identity of that person would likely snap the detective out of her hypnosis but she had at least one thing to clarify.
"Does Magic exist?"
"There's no such thing as magic," he scoffed with a smile and a still glazed expression in his eyes. Rin was pleased with his answer. Dojima probably didn't really know a thing. Maybe he knew the name of Guilford's killer or his presence had been simply an unlikely coincidence. She would have really liked to know who to thank and watch out for, but she realized that she didn't have the skill to get the name out of Dojima at the present time.
Certainly she could try to get the information later, after she expanded her repertoire in mind-affecting spells, but that would mean leaving Dojima's memories of this night intact. She couldn't afford to have a police officer suspecting her. For the sake of keeping the secret of Magic, she would have to forfeit that opportunity. It was extremely annoying but couldn't be helped.
"Does anybody know where you were tonight? Did you leave any writing or other recording that could help make you remember that you came here later on?"
"No... I'm not officially on duty tonight. No one knows I came here because it was a spur of the moment."
Good enough. That meant there were no other loose ends, and a simple memory wipe of past few hours would resolve the issue with Dojima. Too bad about losing the chance of finding out the identity of the other Magus but it really couldn't be done any differently. She'd have to brush up her skills on the mental manipulation field…especially the defensive kind.
On the back seat Yukiko was still unconscious. Her case was a lot more complex and would probably take the rest of the night to deal with. Her memories of the events Rin needed to erase spanned back several weeks, and they would take a great deal of effort to seal away properly. Luckily she had supposedly been unconscious most of the time during her kidnapping, and while that was probably a cover story made up by Guilford it worked to Rin's favor at this point. Erasing memories she wasn't supposed to have in the first place would help insure that her friend didn't go looking for them. It was a small consolation, if nothing else.
Pondering the procedure to relieve her friend of the horrid experience, she paid no mind to first droplet of rain that began falling on the windscreen as the car approached the city.
Half an hour later Dojima's car parked in front of Rin's house under the now pouring rain. Still under her compulsion, the detective helped her carry the unconscious girl into one of the many guest rooms. Her breath was steady and she wasn't likely to wake up anytime soon, but Rin still strengthened her slumber with a spell of her own. It wouldn't be a good thing if she woke up alone and went into a panic over the things that had happened to her.
Closing the door behind her she escorted Dojima back to his car and gave him one final order.
"Return to what you were doing before following your suspect. You will remember nothing of this night and will just think you have fallen asleep."
The wording of her command was a bit dangerous. For instance, if he had been driving when he began his chase, then he would have no recollection of stopping the car and falling asleep. Of course, \ he would eventually chalk that up to exhaustion. The only thing that mattered was breaking his connection to events he shouldn't be aware of. If he ended up with some unanswered questions, then it was acceptable.
Dojima nodded and returned to his car, leaving behind the female Magus to proceed with the procedure to heal the other girl.
After having restored a little bit of his Od, Shirou cautiously entered the half-collapsed building. The Reinforcement of the critical points of the structure still held so he wasn't going to be buried in there anytime soon. Now that he no longer had to hide his Thaumaturgy, Shirou approached the nearest wall and Grasped the structure of the building. As predicted, the upper floors were completely gone but the basement was still accessible from a secret entrance behind a shelf in the mansion library.
Not five minutes later Shirou was in the torch-lit basement. It didn't take him long to find a cell whose bars looked like they had been wrenched out by an explosion. Knowing that it was most likely Tohsaka's handiwork, he didn't dwell too much there and continued forward.
He finally reached a sturdy looking door around which still lingered a quickly fading trace of Prana. The Bounded Field around Guilford's Workshop was collapsing after his death. It didn't take too much strength for Shirou to break the last enchantment, but he still took a careful approach in entering the place.
His stomach almost emptied again when he took sight of the room beyond that door. It was extremely large and filled with all sorts of materials, mostly of the biological sort. Several cylinders filled with liquid were lined against the walls, and in that liquid were floating parts from different life forms but mostly human parts. Bloodstained surgical tools were scattered over an operation table, which was also covered in blood. It was like stepping onto the set of a really nasty horror movie, only it was real. Shirou hadn't expected much better from Guilford's Workshop, but it was still a disgusting scenario.
Ignoring his nausea he moved to the real target of his exploration: the manuscripts containing the results of Vincent research and the other books he had brought with him from his home country. There wasn't much about Bounded Fields, much to Shirou's dismay but there was still a vast amount of knowledge he could use to expand his own. There was also a few tomes on mythologies from all around the world, no doubt something he prepared for the coming conflict.
He also found a few cases of different materials. Metals, woods, crystals, rocks, all of which stood out by the heavy spiritual influence they had been subjected to. No doubt those kinds of materials could be used to craft some really powerful tool.
On a table there was a small sack containing a handful of heavily charged gems. They contained enough Prana to fuel some very advanced spells. Heck, every single one contained several hundred times his maximum Prana capacity. They were undoubtedly Tohsaka's judging by what he knew of her family's Craft. It wasn't like he could return them without raising suspicion, so he would keep them from the time being.
All in all it was quite the haul. Magi valued their workshop more than they did their lives for good reason, and while Shirou had no use for most of that stuff it still made for a valuable bargaining material that he could trade for other stuff later on.
The next half an hour was spent moving all the things he considered useful into the black van used to kidnap Tohsaka. It was big enough to contain all the stuff he needed and still have some space to spare. The four guys had already left as instructed by Caster's hypnosis, probably on foot since they were supposed to live not too far away. When he was finished he was about to deal the final blow to the mansion when his eyes met the beheaded corpse of Guilford and stopped.
The idea that crossed his mind was sick. Something he would normally not even remotely contemplate, but the sudden events had brought forth more than one question that needed answering as soon as possible
'… Could it work?' he thought to himself. The concept disgusted him to no end but that was likely the only way he had to test his theory without hurting anyone. Shirou had realized that when he first traced Monohoshizao, he had somehow acquired the knowledge to perform the technique created by its original owner. The question now was: could he do the same with every tool he came across, or it had been just some unexplainable fluke? What if his lack of talent in ordinary Thaumaturgy was caused not by a lack of ability, but by some obscure talent that narrowed his fields of application?
Magi were born with a certain element, which is to say their propensity to use a certain branch of Magecraft over the others. Kiritsugu had never been able to tell Shirou what his element was, managing only to exclude the main fives but other in depth analysis required rituals he could no longer perform.
The matter needed thorough investigation because it could be a breakthrough in his Magecraft, and while he didn't care about it in the way other Magi did he still had to admit that the success of his mission hinged heavily on its development. Being squeamish was counterproductive, to say the least.
With those thoughts in mind he slowly approached the corpse and with as much care as he could muster he dragged it to the underground Workshop.
Shirou's lack of repulsion in front of a human corpse was the first heritage and one of the biggest signs of his childhood trauma. Compared to the infernal scenario of charred bodies that was his oldest accessible memory, Vincent's beheaded corpse was not as disturbing as it should have been.
It was an advantage considering what he was about to do, but his own lack of sensitivity over such things was a disturbing notion in its own right and something that had to be used carefully. In any case, it helped a lot when it came to placing the corpse on the table used not too long before to dissect other people by the very same person that was now resting on it.
"I wonder if you would appreciate the irony," he asked to the unresponsive corpse in an attempt to drown the disgust with some dark humor. It didn't work nearly as well as he had hoped. "Probably not," he concluded returning to his business.
Going for the tools that had obviously been used to enact things he would rather not dwell into, Shirou gripped the mean looking scalpels that looked the most worn out and did one thing he knew he'd come to regret.
"Trace on," he muttered under his breath and began dwelling into the information that poured into his brain like a river. Everything from its composition to its forging procedure was broken down into information that Shirou's mind absorbed like a sponge. Everything proceeded without a hitch until he moved to analyze in depth the history and the experience the knife had gone through during its existence. A split second after he did that Shirou's eyes shot open in horror and his arm shot out. The knife was sent clattering against the walls as he muttered, "Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god."
He had to stead himself against a shelf or he would have ended up on the floor. He felt like he had drowned in a sea of blood, and it took him a long moment to get back on his feet. So many people… slaughtered like cattle only to satiate a crazy Magus' thirst for new discoveries. Hundreds…. Hundreds had died screaming under that blade. So much blood, pain and anguish were recorded into it that Shirou was too overwhelmed by it to realize his attempt had been successful until he managed to choke it down.
On the bright side, seeing in his own particular way what Guilford had done with that tool completely erased whatever inkling of sympathy Shirou might have had for the dead Magus.
Shaking his head he took a deep breath and considered his options. The first stage of his experiment had been successful. Grasping the recorded history of a given item was definitely possible. The second part, replicating the engraved techniques was theoretically more difficult. And yet…
Recovering the knife from where it had fallen, Shirou returned to his experiment. After witnessing the depths of Guilford's depravity, he no longer had qualms in revisiting on his corpse a tiny portion of the horrors the dead Magus had forced upon others.
Tuning out unnecessary thoughts like any Magus was trained to do, Shirou isolated the portion of knowledge that was now deeply embedded in his mind. His hands began moving with a precision that belonged only with experienced surgeons. The knife dug into the skin of the beheaded corpse with ease. The incision followed a line only Shirou could see, and five minutes later the portion of the corpse's chest where Guilford's Crest was located had been extracted. Slowly, he reached out for one of the unused containers, filled it with the same liquid as the others and then placed the removed Crest into it, closing it with its pressure lid.
When he was done, his focus returned to the knife he used to perform the surgery and without a second thought he flooded it with Prana. The metal expanded and screeched under the strain as if it possessed its own cursed life. Its metallic pleas fell on deaf ears, and with a final groan it cracked and fell onto the ground in pieces.
"Good riddance," Shirou said to no one in particular. It was just a knife, but it had gone through too many horrible things to remain as a testament to its owner's wickedness. It had to be erased from the world, just like everything else in that place.
There was no hesitation when he set out to accomplish exactly that. It took over an hour to set a Bounded Field to contain the flames and actually draw the simple but extensive array that would make the flames spread properly. It only took a small amount of Prana to ignite the chain reaction that would sustain itself from the ambient Mana instead of any other combustible.
That particular Boundary Field was a standard tool for the Organization's enforcers. It was designed to contain the flames and the energy they emitted inside while allowing oxygen to pass unhindered. It would ensure that the fire would burn everything to ashes while leaving no trace whatsoever. The rain that had started falling would also help to smother the resulting smoke, making it all the more improbable that the authorities would notice what happened anytime soon.
When he was done he climbed inside the van and left the premises without looking back at the blazing inferno, stopping only to pull his bike out of its hiding place. He would have loaded it on the van but it was already too stuffed with other materials so he was forced to move it in the woods on the other side of the main road, far enough from the crime scene that no one would notice. He didn't know if Tohsaka would be coming back to investigate, but he didn't want her to find it. There was no connection between Emiya Shirou and the bike, but he wouldn't risk anything if he could help it. Furthermore, he liked that bike and didn't want to lose it for nothing.
After making sure that nothing could lead any eventual investigator to him, he turned his newly acquired vehicle toward the city, noticing once more how Kiritsugu's training in mundane things was proving itself to be extremely useful. Fortunately, the bad weather conditions and the late hour made it rather improbable being stopped by a patrol, so his trip back was the quietest moment of the entire night.
She laughed. In the dark, wet night she laughed without restraint. It wasn't a joyful sound but a desperate cry. The rain washed away her tears, as if the world looked down at her, washing the evidence of her sorrow as soon as it left her eyes.
Even her last wish to look at the sunrise one last time as a free person had been crushed into the ground mercilessly. The cruel Gods were supposed to have disappeared from the world since that time and age, but Medea of Colchis would have sworn otherwise.
Once more she was trampled upon. Once more her desire was denied. Once more she was to be scorned by fate for sins that were not just her own.
So that's how it was. That was the only ending that waited for her behind every corner. Every glimpse of hope was wrenched from her. But it was fine. It would all soon be over. Her strength was already leaving her, pain shaking her body in a futile attempt to warn her of her of her incoming demise. It didn't matter to her anymore. All she wanted was let the tears roll down her face now that no one could see just how much pain fate had bestowed upon her.
And so she cried, and cried, and cried for hours on end, until the world became a blur and her knees could no longer support her weight. Medea slumped against a wall like a broken doll, discarded after being used for all of her life, slipping into a cold slumber that didn't bring any rest.
"…"
She could hear someone talking, but the meaning of the word escaped her.
'At least let me die in peace," she managed to think from the depths of the darkness her mind had receded into. But once again her wish was unheard.
"…"
Again she didn't respond. She no longer cared about anything that happened to her. At the bottom of despair, she wouldn't look up anymore. The World and the Gods could have her way with her for all that she cared.
"…"
She was barely aware of something grabbing hold of her and lifting her from the ground. The feeling of cold rain on her skin and the pain of her existence failing smothered everything else. She was being moved, to a place she neither could nor wanted to know.
For an indefinite amount of time she floated until her body was taken out of the rain. She couldn't tell what was happening around her. Someone moved around in haste, tinkering with all sort of things that made many different sounds. She could hear the pages of a book being turned rapidly until all noises stopped.
She was about to completely lose the last strands of self-awareness when something wet and warm splattered on her lips and into her mouth. She didn't have the chance to taste what it was but as her mind shut down completely she barely registered that she no longer felt cold or in pain.
Perhaps death was welcoming her better than life ever had.
Despite his best hope, Shirou's night was far from over even though it was so late it could be considered morning.
In order not to bring too much attention to himself by driving a van to his house in the middle of the night, Shirou had parked the vehicle in a small warehouse left to him by Kiritsugu where all of his weapons had been stored after the war. It doubled as a safe house in case any of them had to flee from the Emiya estate.
He would move the materials he retrieved to the Workshop under the shed later on with several small trips that wouldn't make anyone suspicious. He had a lot to ponder about his newfound abilities before moving onto other stuff anyway. At any rate, he was dead tired and in no mood to unload all those crates.
All he wanted to do was take a bath and then sleep as long as he could. No way he was going to school the next… well actually that morning.
He changed into normal clothes, took out an umbrella and headed home. If his mind hadn't been so blank from accumulated tiredness he might have missed the subtle tinge in the atmosphere. He stopped in his tracks and lifted his nose as if sniffing the air.
His Magic attuned sense had once more picked up on something. A feeling to be precise, that filled the air like a plea for help. It was familiar, if only barely, but Shirou couldn't mistake it for anything else. Without even thinking about it his feet moved down empty roads, increasing his speed the closer he got to the source. He turned a corner and he wasn't surprised by the sight that welcome him, although the image burned itself in his mind with more strength than he cared to admit.
Caster was slumped against a wall. The hood that hid her face for so long was pulled back, revealing purple hair that framed an ethereal beauty of elfin traits. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was almost non-existent.
Although Ghost Liners and Heroic Spirits were things he had studied only in passing as a way to broaden the horizon of his education, Shirou knew enough about the theory behind summoning rituals to understand that there was just one explanation for Caster's condition. Without a Magus to provide her with Prana, her existence was being eroded away by Gaia, and she would soon disappear into nothingness. As he got closer to her unconscious form, Shirou was once more overwhelmed by the intense felling she emitted that was now no longer smothered by the inhuman aura of a full powered Servant.
Sadness. If there was one emotion that could describe the sensation she gave him, that was it. To Shirou it felt like an acrid scent that tickled the back of his throat, leaving an aftertaste of saltiness like swallowed tears.
Now that her hood was removed it was all the more intense, and it was reinforced even further by the tinge of red around her eyes in clear contrast with her rapidly paling complexion. A clear sign of the tears she had cried, no doubt.
Right there and then Shirou was faced with a choice of extreme importance, one that would influence the lives of many regardless of what he picked. On a side he could do nothing at all; simply let the natural events run their course. Caster would soon disappear, and with one less Servant around there would have been fewer confrontations between superhuman entities, which in turn would mean less bystanders being caught in the crossfire. On the other hand, he could assist the person, be she human or not, that was about to die and vanish in front of his eyes. One life versus eventually many others.
Such a choice would have been a no-brainer for an Emiya Kiritsugu in his prime. If taking one life would ensure the safety of more people, then it was the right thing to do.
But Emiya Shirou was not the Magus Killer. He was a human being that couldn't ignore the pains and plights of a single person in front of him. No matter what was at stake, he couldn't just disregard the life of a person who, to the best of his knowledge, had yet to willingly harm a single innocent. It was the principle that made him different from his father.
Instead of taking a life to save many, saving a life to save many was his single-minded belief.
"Hang in there!" he told her closing the distance between them. "I'm going to save you."
She was completely unresponsive to his words. Perhaps it was already too late, and he had no idea how to provide her with the energy she needed to survive. He couldn't establish a contract with her being unconscious and the alternative was... Nevermind. It wasn't something that could be done under the rain.
"I won't let you die here," he affirmed once more, scooping her up in his arms bridal style.
She was lighter than he thought she would be, maybe because she was already slipping out of existence. He didn't know, and he didn't have time to find out. Forsaking his umbrella, he once more took the short route over the buildings. Luckily, his Prana reserves had recovered plentifully during the trip back from the mansion; otherwise he would have had a hard time getting home in less than an hour.
He was again glad for the time and weather that made it improbable to be spotted by others. He ignored whatever precaution he usually employed when he was around his place and flew right above the walls and into the garden, landing in a half crouch with a wet thump.
Without breaking his stride he ran into the shed, still open from his hurried departure, and with a foot he nimbly lifted the trapdoor to his Workshop. He almost slipped and fell down the stairs in his hurry, but managed to catch himself before he ended up rolling down and killing himself.
Cutting off his Circuits, he gently placed Caster against a wall in a sitting position before moving to a side of the room to retrieve a series of drawing tools and a few book. He wasn't an expert on Rituals and he had to check out a couple of tomes on the subject to be brush up what he knew.
The circle he was looking for was rather simple to draw, as its only purpose was to facilitate the transfer of Prana from a Magus to his familiar. Normally a spirit of a Servant's level would reject the transfer from anyone but their contracted Master in order to avoid all sorts of tampering that could influence them, but with Caster on the verge of disappearing her resistance should have been close to nil.
Once finished, he moved her in to the middle of the circle, paying extra attention as not to accidentally delete any of the inscriptions with his feet or her body. She was getting lighter by the minute and if he waited too long she would be gone.
Watching her defenseless form on the floor of his Workshop breathing heavily under the strain of maintaining her existence against the corrosion of Gaia, Shirou understood that no matter how wiser it would have been to let her die he could never bring himself to allow such a thing.
"Trace on," he affirmed aloud as if confirming his choice.
The circle in front of him began to shine lightly, bathing the room in a soft blue glow. Taking a small knife from the toolbox, he ran its blade on his left palm with enough strength to cut through the flesh and draw blood. He then poured every unit of Prana he had into his veins and carefully he kneeled over Caster, letting the supercharged drops of blood fall into her mouth. He didn't like the procedure much considering how badly blood had been used around Caster up until that night. Not that he had much of a choice anyway.
The whole procedure took around ten minutes, and by the end of it Shirou was feeling a little light headed from the loss of blood and his body was overheated by the constant stream of energy that had ran through his veins. Caster, on the other hand, had stopped struggling and her face had regained a little color. It was a far cry from a permanent solution and miles away from an efficient system to exchange Prana, but so long as she didn't overexert herself she should be fine for couple of days.
When she regained consciousness they could discuss other options, but at least she was safe for the time being. With that out of the way he had to focus on more mundane matters: namely, where to put his unexpected guest. Leaving her on the cold floor of the Workshop wasn't an option, so had have to move her into his house. Luckily there were more rooms than people living in the Emiya household, so hiding Caster from the eyes of the other visitors shouldn't be too much of a bother.
What bothered him was having to dry Caster's wet body. He was fairly sure that Servants didn't get ill, but it had to be uncomfortable to sleep like that. Problem was that she was obviously a woman, and a beautiful one at that, as he noticed now that he was no longer in a hurry. Shirou was not one to ogle and he had no experience with girls beyond friendship, but he was still a healthy teenage male.
It was both inappropriate and… disturbing for him having to undress her and dry her body, but the option was actually even worse. The lack of excess blood was the only reason why there was no visible reaction on his face. Not that anyone would have noticed it in there.
Those were the times he regretted being solely a combat oriented Magus with no talent for other branches of Magecraft. He could accomplish most of the things he needed to prepare himself for a certain situation with a good application of Runes and Boundary Fields, but those were fairly high end Mysteries that served no purpose in everyday life.
The simplest things, like a spell for drying clothes weren't something included in the instruction he received from Kiritsugu, nor was it examined by the tomes in his possession because they were things that could be accomplished with mundane tools and for which using Magecraft was quite a waste.
Of course, he knew enough about the principles of Runes to make up his own spells, tweak a certain type of Boundary Field and some such if needed be, but that would have required several hour of experimentations, and considering the situation at hand made it exceedingly impractical and even more stupid, especially when a good old towel and some rubbing would do the trick.
Resigning himself to his fate, Shirou scooped up the sleeping woman and headed back to his house, wondering if this sudden turn of events counted as being blessed or cursed. Perhaps it was just a matter of perspective, but he couldn't help but think once more that no good deed goes unpunished.
XXX
AN: All right. I wanted to write around 5 to 7K word per chapter but this one totally screwed my average. 20k for a single chapter is way over anything I planned to write short of a one shot, so don't expect another chapter this long in a while.
That aside, am I the only one that thinks Shirou would make for a terrific surgeon? With his ability to replicate all the techiques applied to every blade he has seen, Shirou should be capable of jumpstarting his learning process by simply tracing used scalpels. He would still require to learn the basics of anatomy, that's true but he could accelate the progress greatly.
Just a thought.
Anyway thanks for reading and for reviewing.
See ya.