The sun had dipped past the horizon only a few hours prior, but the streets were already remarkably void of life.
It was almost as if the general population felt something was wrong and that being caught outside would be unwise. It wasn't quite to the point of panic, as no one seemed to be in any particular rush to get home, but the traffic quickly dwindled to almost nothing compared to the usual amount.
Fuyuki slowly turned into a ghost city with only a few strugglers out and about.
That was just fine in Shirou's opinion. Except that it was a very bad sign that even people with no awareness of the supernatural felt that something was wrong. He was sitting on the porch of his house, arms resting on his legs with beads of sweat running down his face. Just like the other night, only a lot worse. That did not bode well.
"I don't understand," said Rider. "How could anything powerful enough to be felt by humans go undetected by Servants?"
"It's a matter of affinity, not power," Caster replied. "The nature of this force is antithetical to humans. To humanity itself. It won't affect us unless we come in direct contact with it, and I presume the effect of its touch would vary according to our individual weakness to corruption. I'm relatively sure that it wouldn't affect me as badly as it did you."
"Why is that?" she asked.
"I am already a full-fledged Witch."
Meaning that she had already hit rock bottom as far as her existence allowed, whereas Rider in her current state was not even midway through her downward spiral. It was far from a reassuring thought.
"It's almost time," Shirou warned. Having gone through it already once, he had a rough idea of when the event would reach critical mass and burst open.
They looked up to the sky and sure enough, the light breeze that had been pushing the few clouds slowed down until it finally stopped. There was a shift and the wind changed direction heading toward the distant mountain, picking up speed by the second.
"It's going to open over Ryuudou Temple," Shirou concluded.
Originally, there were four places where the Grail could manifest. Above Mount Enzou, the Tohsaka Mansion, the area that was now the Memorial Park, and lastly the hill where the Kotomine Church stood until recently.
They sprung into action and teleported away with a furl of Caster's cloak. They appeared at the bottom of the stone stairs and rushed their way up to the steps. The air was sweltering hot and bubbling with latent energy. It was just a matter of minutes at this point, perhaps less.
When they reached the top, they found that there were two people discussing in the vast courtyard.
"Issei. Kuzuki-sensei. What's going on?" "Emiya-kun," Issei exclaimed. "So I was right." "What do you mean? Where is everyone?"
"They left," the teacher replied. "Issei-kun insisted that we should abandon the premises. It didn't take much convincing, but he seems to know more about this situation than he lets on. Considering your arrival and his reaction just now, I assume it's something to do with the Grail War?"
"Yeah, that's exactly the case."
"Wait, what?" Issei blinked. "Kuzuki-sensei, you also knew about this?"
"This isn't time for explanations, Issei," Shirou interrupted. "You two need to get out of here right now."
"Shirou, there is no time left," Caster warned.
Just as she said so, the critical point was reached, and up above them, a hole tore open in the night sky.
"What the hell is that?" Issei asked.
"Big trouble, that's what it is."
"It is worse than that, Emiya-kun," Kuzuki warned.
"What do you... oh, no. You gotta be fucking kidding me."
Kuzuki was looking past the gate, through which they could see the lights of the Fuyuki down below, all the way to the opposite side of the city, where another hole had opened above the hill of the Church.
Why? Why did two have to appear at the same time, especially now that they were down a Servant? It was as if they were being mocked on purpose.
"Shirou, what are your orders?" Caster asked.
Right. Caster and Rider were his Servants. They would follow his decisions so it was up to him to make the call. Which course of action would they take? How would they deploy their forces? What was he willing to sacrifice?
He only had a few seconds to come to a decision, before it would be made for him.
So he made the most obvious choice for the likes of him, and one that none other would have.
[br]
A gargantuan figure leapt over the roofs of the city, cracking open the ground every time it landed before leaping away once more, too fast for anyone to see any real detail besides the monstrous size. Details such as the white-haired woman riding on his shoulder, unfazed by the speed at which they were traveling.
Two singularities had manifested over the sky of Fuyuki. That shouldn't have been possible under normal circumstances, not only because the Grail was meant to manifest in one place at a time, but also because no Servant had died yet. She of all people would know if one had been defeated.
It had become apparent that the Greater Grail was indeed misbehaving. Not that she had many doubts after what happened the previous night, but this was getting beyond ludicrous. It seemed that the constant cheating from the three founding families had finally taken its toll on the ritual.
It was likely that the entire thing would have to be scrapped, which in turn would spell the end of the Einzbern. Without the Grail, their single purpose for existing would be gone.
But that was neither here nor there. The first order of business was dealing with the ongoing disturbance. Illya cared not for the faceless lives of the people of Fuyuki, but she had been instilled a sense of dignity and responsibility.
The Einzbern would clean up their own messes.
But when two singularities manifested at the same time, she had to decide which one to attend first. The mountain was closer, so it should have been the right choice. However, it was also surrounded by a powerful natural barrier that would rapidly drain all spiritual constructs like Servants, or the creatures that were already pouring out of the singularities. They could only come out from the staircase, which meant that they would spread out much, much slower than they would from the church.
The choice was then made. They were headed for the hill on the opposite side of the city.
Berserker was faster than a car and could move in a straight line, leaping over entire blocks without much effort.
It took less than five minutes to cross the entire length of the city, but when they got there, they found out that they weren't the only ones on the scene.
[br]
Rider moved across the ground, steamrolling the shadows like they weren't even there. These creatures weren't a match for her even before, but now that she was closer to the Gorgon, they might very well be made of paper.
Bellerophon moved faster than ever, circling around the area and burning out all the shadows that came in close proximity to it. Not a single one could get through her one-woman encirclement. Not with the power she had currently at her disposal.
But even so, she knew that the advantage would be short-lived. If things went anything like the previous time, soon these weaklings would make room for something far more troublesome and powerful. The last time she confronted one of those, she wound up taking a mudbath that sped up up her degradation.
Perhaps the Grail read her thoughts, or maybe it simply figured out that it wasn't going to break out of her encirclement with any number of small fries, because a new figure burst out from the indistinct black mass.
Rider's swerved Bellerophon away, just in time to dodge a blow aimed to take her head. The white steed took to the skies and away from the newcomer, so that Rider could take a good look at it.
A black knight, wielding an equally dark broadsword. An imposing and menacing figure.
Rider hesitated. If she came in contact with the mud again, she would once more turn into the Gorgon. Fortunately, the knight didn't possess the ability to fly, unlike the chariot from the other night. But at the same time, Rider didn't have the luxury to keep herself away from the ground and use hit and run tactics. She was the only one that could stop the advance of the Shadows. Caster was busy trying to seal the singularity, while Shirou...
Rider looked away, to the distant Mount Enzou.
She turned her eyes back to the Black Knight and the swarming mass of shadows down below. This was no time to worry about herself. If she really wanted to protect that important person, she had to win here and go back to his side.
There was no other way.
"Let's go! BELLEROPHON!"
And with that shout, she charged down. [br]
Caster would have gritted her teeth, if only she wasn't so busy casting spells with her High-Speed Divine Words.
Only Shirou would make such a ludicrous choice. She should have expected nothing better. It was especially frustrating because it was the most tactically sound course of action, and it just so happened that it put him in the most dangerous spot. As usual.
Medea never cast spells that rapidly her entire life. She needed to close this singularity and go back to him as quickly as possible. She had left Rider to deal with the Shadows, forgetting al about the battle down below. The previous time, her spellcasting had gone undisturbed so she wasn't worried about herself.
In hindsight, she had been overly optimistic. She had failed to recognize the trend. The events were on a downward spiral. Nothing was improving and everything was getting worse.
She should have known better than not paying any mind to the battlefield. "CASTER! WATCH OUT!"
She heard Rider's voice and turned, but she wasn't fast enough.
The energy blast hit her squarely in the chest.
"AAAH!"
With a pained scream, she fell from the sky like a downed bird. Down below, the Shadows were already climbing on top of each other to reach her.
At the last moment, she managed to recover and swerve spinning upward again. At the same time, several more blasts rushed past her, singeing her cloak. She couldn't stop even for a second to avoid the barrage, but she still managed to get a good look at the enemy.
Besides being black from head to toe, like the regular Shadows, this one was a tall man dressed in European-looking clothes and wielding a cannon that was bigger than the creature itself.
The Shadow of an Archer.
"Tch! Who the hell do you think I am?"
With a wave of her staff, she cast several protection spells around her body. The following attacks splashed against her shields. Her defenses held, even though they were pressured.
"I'll show you how it's done."
In the sky at her sides, a dozen intricated magic circles appeared, and as she thrust her hand forward, they rained powerful offensive spells upon the enemy.
It was a barrage of spells the likes of which modern mages couldn't hope to replicate. However, Caster was not an Archer. She lacked in precision. The Shadow Servant dodged
most of her attacks and deflected those it couldn't by matching them with a shot from its cannon.
Cater managed to spare a glance at Rider. Bellerophon was charging back and forth against the Shadow Knight. Perhaps a Saber? Either way, that creature had impressive agility and moved out of the way of each attack. It was hard to believe that it was only a fake made by the Grail. The real Heroic Spirit must have been a powerful one.
Bellerophon was more useful as an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm rather than an Anti-Unit. Its destructive power was of the highest order, but Rider would be better off fighting to the ground against single opponent such as this.
Except that they both knew she couldn't afford that luxury. Another mud treatment and they risked losing her for good. However, as long as the two of them were engaged with the fake Servants, the singularity wouldn't be closed and the lesser Shadows would spread to the city down below.
And then, as sometimes happened, the tide of the battle turned for reason entirely of their own.
Everyone felt it. There was no way that it could be ignored.
The Shadows that had made it past Rider's encirclement and were headed toward the city stopped and rushed back, attracted to the biggest meal of the Holy Grail War.
Herakles landed with the momentum of a falling meteor, smack dab in the middle of the black mass of clawed creatures, crushing them to a pulp with his massive weight and even heavier presence.
His Master, Illyasviel Von Einzbern sat on his broad shoulder. A princess upon her throne. ""
The inhuman roar shook the entire hill forcing the Shadows around him back with the sheer might of his spirit.
"Berserker," she said quietly. "Take out the trash." Thus, the one-sided massacre resumed.
Servants were often thought of as human-shaped natural calamities. However, none fit that description more than Greece's greatest hero. The walking pile of muscle, swinging around a jagged ax-sword was an unstoppable typhoon that swept away everything within its range.
The Shadows weren't crushed. They were vaporized, not leaving behind even a speck of mud. Ironically, they did nothing to defend themselves and merely jumped to their death like twigs inside of an industrial woodchipper.
The fake Servants' attention was similarly drawn to the gargantuan demi-god, both turning away from Caster and Rider in favor of attacking Berserker together.
They should not have bothered.
The black Archer's cannon's blasts splashed on his bronze skin like water from a squirt-gun.
The black Knight performed a bit more admirably. It charged at Berserker from the side like a mad beast. Definitely a Berserker itself. When it came within range of Herakles' sword, it waved and deflected the demigod's attack with incredible dexterity even for a regular Servant, much less a hollow imitation.
That is not to say they were evenly matched. The Shadow wasn't immediately obliterated, that is true, but Herakles wasn't fighting just him. There were also the lesser Shadows coming from every side. In fact, the demigod seemed to pay the fake Servants barely more notice than the rest of them.
"Caster," said the white haired girl. "Cease your witless gawking and return to your job."
"Excuse me?" Medea asked, eyebrow twitching.
"And where is your Master hiding? I thought he would be pulling his weight."
Medea didn't answer, but looked at other side of the city before hurriedly rising to continue sealing the singularity.
Illyasviel caught her glance and frowned.
"You left him with Saber?"
"Saber and Rin are missing," Rider replied.
"Missing? Then which Servant have you left with him?"
Medea's answer was a grim silence and an unspoken prayer to the same deaf gods that once spurned and cursed her.
[br]
The wind roared, and thunder struck. A black Shadow was torn to pieces and dissolved into mud that stained a pair of lacquered shoes.Their wearer paid it no mind. His fists moved like a whip, and witch each strike a Shadow was destroyed. One after the other.
They came in droves, and in droves they died.
There was no discernible expression upon the face of the man that was doing the killing. There was no hint of amusement or displeasure. He only had the eyes of a man who had decided upon a path and followed through.
Shirou didn't know about all this, of course. There was no time to look at what kind of face his teacher, Kuzuki Soichirou was making. The Shadows were still coming like a massive flood, pouring from the temple gate down the flight of stairs, where the two of them were being slowly pushed back.
All that mattered was that his fists kept on striking down the enemy, just as Shirou's swords were doing the same.
He hadn't make this decision lightly. Sending both Caster and Rider to deal with the other singularity, while only him and Kuzuki, both Reinforced by Caster's Magecraft, stayed at the temple and held the line.
In truth, they were just buying some time.
Issei had fled to join the other monks. They would stay out of the city for a long time. It was the safest thing at this point.
During the previous singularity, the Shadows were running in all directions at once, reaching for the city and the defenseless people that lived in it. This time, however, they were all going in one direction. The only way down of the mountain that any spiritual construct like them could take.
Because the staircase acted as a bottleneck, only so many Shadows could fit at one time, making it possible for the two of them to deal with them. However, their sheer numbers were still present and the pressure that they were putting forced teacher and pupil to slowly retreat. They were almost at the bottom of the mountain now. At best, they had a couple of minutes before they ran out of time, and the Shadows spilled into the city.
A flood couldn't be kept back with a couple of buckets, now matter how good they were.
Shirou didn't need to look to know that the other singularity was still open, for the moment it was closed, Medea would come back with Rider without wasting a second. He didn't know if he only had the impression that it was taking too long, or if something had gone wrong over there. In any case, there was nothing he could do about it either way.
His battle was here, and it was about to be lost.
"Sensei, when we get to the bottom, I need you to run away as fast as you can."
Once they were off the stairs, the Shadows would surround them and attack from all direction at once. Shirou didn't delude himself that he could deal with their massive numbers, even with Kuzuki watching his back. He could perhaps buy a little time if he turned every single nerve in his body into a Circuit and Projected swords after swords until he burned himself out. But that would get him perhaps thirty seconds.
Enough for Kuzuki to have a decent headstart.
Of course, as the saying goes, no plan survives implementation. "Emiya-kun," Kuzuki warned, "behind us."
Shirou couldn't turn his head away from the flood in front of him. He could only glance down the stairs with the corner of his eyes.
Sure enough, there was someone standing down there, looking up at them.It was dark among the trees, so he wasn't sure what that person could see, but that they could definitely hear the revolting howls that the Shadows were making. Any sane person would run for the hills hearing that sound.
Why were they standing there without moving?
"You! Over there! Run away! Run away now!" he shouted.
But that person didn't run. Instead, they took a step up the stairs.
"Rejoice, Emiya Shirou," the newcomer said. "Your prayers have not gone unheard."
Shirou couldn't believe his ears. Of all the people he thought would appear before him at this time, this was the one he expected the less. But there was no mistaking those silvery hair and that indecent outfit with anybody else
"Caren?"
The nun stepped forth confidently, almost as if there was no infernal horde about to devour
them.
Why was she here at this time? For what reason would a fugitive from the Church show up in Fuyuki during the height of the Grail War?
The reason became as apparent is it was obvious, the moment she raised her left hand, exposing the mark etched upon her skin.
"It's time to stop your freeloading, useless devil." "Hm," a disembodied voice answered.
In the span of a blink, the space behind the Caren became occupied by a towering dark figure. For a chilling moment, Shirou thought that one of the Shadow Servants had appeared behind them and was about to cut them all down.
Instead, with an explosive step, the Servant rushed forward and confronted the black horde using
"Ugh!"
Shirou recoiled back with a groan. For some reason, simply laying his eyes upon this Servant made his head ache painfully. He couldn't bear to look at him.
"At least try not to get in the way," he said disdainfully.
And in just one sentence, Shirou knew exactly how Caren had summoned this guy.
Of course he was in no position to rebuke him. They needed all the help they could get, even if it came from this asshole. Thus he decided to ignore him and doubled down on his own offensive.
With the arrival of a Servant, the advance of the Shadows was halted. Shirou had no idea whether this was Archer or Assassin, and he couldn't exactly try to figure it out. Seeing how he was fighting in the open and at close range, he fit the description of neither Class.
In any event, this was no time to find out. However, Shirou did notice something strange.
The other night, the Shadows were drawn to the Servants like moths to the fire, whereas this time they didn't seem to even notice this Heroic Spirit. In fact now that he focused on him Shirou couldn't really feel his presence the same way he did with the other Servants.
No, that was wrong. It wasn't that he lacked a presence. He couldn't get a read on him because he gave off the same vibe as the Shadows. For the same reasons, the Shadows didn't really seem him. In their eyes, he was one of them.
Archer or Assassin. What if he was neither of them? What if he actually was...
"Shirou! We are here!"
From above them, came the familiar voice of Caster and a split second later, high rank spells bombarded the staircase in rapid succession, clearing the path all the way up to the temple gate.
"Hmph. So you are still alive."
That voice belonged to none other than Illyasviel Von Einzbern and it came just a second before the gargantuan shape of Berserker landed in front of him, cracking the already battered stone with his weight. Illyasviel sat on his left shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She barely glanced down at him, with a look he couldn't quite place.
"Master, are you well?" asked Rider, swooping down from the sky on Bellerophon's back and landing gracefully next to him.
"Yeah, we are fine. Barely."
"It's incredible you managed to hold the line all on your own."
"Ah... that's not really the case. We'd have been done for if not for... uh?" He blinked. Caren had disappeared, and so had her Servant.
"What is it?" Rider asked, looking around.
"No... it's nothing," he replied, shaking his head. He didn't know why the nun had made herself scarce, but it wasn't time to look for answers. "Come on, let's got close this singularity as well before anything else goes wrong. Sensei, thank you for helping. I wouldn't have made it on my own. Please retreat and let us handle the rest."
The teacher nodded. "Do be careful, Emiya-kun."
Shirou nodded. It might have seemed somewhat cold to leave Kuzuki behind now, but he was a man that fought for specific reasons, not for pride or amusement. Asking him to continue now that it was no longer required would be far more callous.
Together with Rider they went up the stairs, following after Caster and Berserker who had already made their way up to the temple and were busy dealing with Shadows and the singularity they came from.
Shirou spared one last glance behind his back, but of the indecent nun and her mysterious black Servant there was no trace to be found. For a moment he wondered if he had dreamed it all, but his own continued life was proof enough of the contrary.
He would find all the answers in due time. [br]
"Didn't you want to talk with that guy, Master?" Avenger disembodied voiced asked to her Master, who was leaning in the darkness of a house, not too far away from the scene of the fight.
"The chance was lost the moment you came out," she sighed. "I would have had to make explanations that wouldn't stick. It's such a troublesome ability to have."
"Hm," h e agreed. "It doesn't help having a conversation, I admit as much. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to look for a way to destroy the Grail. That's the only thing we have to do."
"There is no way it's going to end well. You know that, right?"
"We all have our tribulations, Avenger. Salvation is found by traversing them."
"Well. I suppose that to a woman of faith like you, falling in the service of your God is the same thing as being saved."
Caren did not reply. After all, Avenger had already said it all. As for which outcome she would get, it was all going to be as God willed. Such was her way.
She spared one last glance to the mountain, where the battle still raged on, before turning around and disappearing into the night.
[XXX]