From Dusk (II)
The battle at the Fuyuki Memorial Park was in full swing.
A single person was in the open field, facing a tide of murderous creatures out for his blood. The steel from his sword briefly caught the lights from the city before it plunged into the next abomination.
He had been fighting for less than three minutes and already every fiber of his body was screaming for him to stop. He ignored it. He didn't have the time to contemplate the aching of his muscles and the burning of his lungs. There was no break in the endless tide.
He cut and cut and cut without end. Naturally, in this state, his sense of time also stretched uncomfortably. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours.
He chose to fight in this place even though the wide space worked to his great disadvantage for a single reason. It was the closest of the three to the hotel where he had lodged Caren and since he was the only person that knew and could work with her Servant, it fell on him alone to defend this place.
In his estimation, it would take a Servant five to ten minutes to get from the hotel to the park, depending on the route they took and their stats. Caren said that Avenger was weak, so Shirou wasn't optimistic about an early arrival.
He could only hold on for his life one breath at a time and a dozen sword swings each second.
Monohoshizao moved, leaving behind a trail of moonlight and rain of corrupted mud. Shirou had taken to heart the lesson with Berserker earlier and forgot everything about achieving victory.
Only the fight itself mattered. Victory would come as a matter of consequence after shattering his current limits.
He sunk into a state of mind similar to the likes of what he possessed on the archery range. There was no room for anything other than the optimal path of his next swing.
The creatures of mud could not get to him. They didn't possess skills or intellect that could counter Sasaki Kojiro's swordsmanship. All they could do was wear him down little by little. They had the numbers to do it. This battle was one of endurance.
As he placed himself almost underneath the black waterfall, all of the creatures that emerged from it took notice of his presence and didn't reach out toward the city, choosing instead to devour him first if only because he was the closest living thing within hundreds of meters for them to rip into with their claws.
That worked just fine for him, even if that meant he was nothing more than glorified bait. He just had to keep the sharks from sinking their teeth in him.
As the battle progressed, Shirou felt his limbs become progressively heavier. The mind could go to great lengths into pushing the body forward, more so with the backup of Reinforcement. But a human body was still made of flesh and bones, and they were straining under the protracted effort.
A few more minutes and he'd miss a step, or fail to swing through a monster, with the result of getting overrun and torn to pieces.
That's when he heard him.
"Hm. Still alive, eh? It shouldn't surprise me."
A moment later a hail of arrows fell all around him like a rainstorm, and the downpour showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.
Shirou turned to search for the Servant, but he couldn't find him anywhere. He followed the trajectory of the arrows and it led all the way to the top of a skyscraper outside of the park.
'All the way from up there?'
Previously Shirou had seen him fight at close range. Then later he manifested a shield to help him and Illya under the mountain. And now he was sniping with this rate of fire and precision?
'Which part of that is weak?'
Then he frowned.
'How did I hear him all the way from up there? Did I imagine it?'
But before he could think about it any further, he had to focus on the fight again. Avenger's hail of arrows was deadly but his output of projectiles didn't surpass that of the creatures from the Grail. So it was up to him to deal with the stragglers.
At the very least, now he was confident he could hold out until Caster and the others came back.
[br]
At the temple, the stairs leading up to the mountain had been transformed into a bizarre contemporary outdoor exhibit. The horde had been turned to stone and had effectively sealed the way up to the temple.
The monsters that wanted to pass were forced to get through the forest and were therefore drained by the powerful spiritual field that shrouded it. They had no concern for their existence, therefore they rushed through even though it was an act of futility that would guarantee their end.
But despite the seeming ease at which she was dealing with this situation, Rider's instincts were ringing in the back of her skull.
Normally, at this point, a shadow Servant would have shown up. Unlike their lesser brethren, they possessed a modicum of acumen and they wouldn't try to go through the forest. So, why hadn't any of them shown their ugly mugs yet?
What other machinations had Zouken set in motion?
Rider heard it. The sound of something cutting through the air and getting closer from her side. She moved immediately and a moment later the ground where she stood cracked and splintered.
A red spear stood, planted into the ground. However, it hadn't been aimed at her.
A dark figure had been impaled like a gruesome butterfly. Before it crumbled and disappeared, Rider had time to see a skull-shaped mask and a dagger poised to strike at her back.
"Assassin?"
Shadow Servants were inherently weaker than true ones, but the true strength of the Assassin class had always been their Presence Concealment.
She didn't know if the False Assassin's weapon could have actually hurt her in its diminished state, but no matter the weapon of these shadow Servants the greatest threat was the mud from which they were made. She would have lost control of herself again if it had managed to grab her.
The false Servant melted away and the red spear took off, zig-zagging into the air until it returned to the hand of its owner.
"Lancer... why?" Rider asked, quickly putting her glasses back on but ready to take them off again just as fast.
Why would Lancer save her? For all intents and purposes, he was an enemy. The ceasefire they had with him had fallen through the moment Kotomine became his Master.
Lancer jumped down and landed on the ground.
"Beats me. That assholeMaster of mine said that I should cover your back. You can bet it's not from the goodness of his heart though."
"WATCH OUT!"
Without moving from his spot, Lancer reversed his grip on Gae Bold and stabbed behind his back.
Another Assassin had been about to sneak up on him. "Haa? Well, what do we have here?"
The second Assassin melted away but both Lancer and Rider saw a third one hide in the shadow of a building.
"There's more?" Rider asked. "So far no more than two have appeared for each Singularity."
"Huh, so you guys have been hogging all the fun to yourselves," Lancer replied. "Well, whatever. How about we watch each other's back against these small fries?"
"I'm more worried about you than them. How can I trust you?"
"You can't. That fucker can order me to kill you with a Command Seal anytime. But I don't think he would have gone through the trouble of sending me here to help you out just to stab you in the back ten seconds later. Whatever he's after this time, it ain't you. But if you wanna fight me instead, I ain't going to say no."
Rider considered her options, but she could see Lancer's point. If Kotomine wanted her dead, he would have sent Lancer to kill her, not to back her up.
"Fine," she agreed
"Tch, I was hoping you'd pick the other option, but whatever," he scoffed, shaking his head.
While they talked, the shadows had clawed their way through their petrified fellows, and they started to pour out on the streets once more.
"Let's get to work," she said. With Lancer at her back, she resumed her mission.
[br]
Through the eyes of one of his countless insect familiars, Zouken observed the situation.
Of course, that damn priest would intervene. He always made a point to meddle, didn't he?
It was only natural, after all. Kotomine was a priest and Zouken was a vampire. There was a reason why the old bloodsucker never tried anything against him.
Nevertheless, even if his strategy here had been temporarily foiled, there was still the other route. It had a lower chance of succeeding, but the reward would be so much greater.
He turned away from Lancer and Rider, and instead focused on the other location, switching focus from one familiar to the next. The biggest meal of them all was there. It would not be easy to swallow, but a man of ambitions like him couldn't just pass it up, right?
[br]
Caster worked as fast as she could, while down below Berserker swept across the ground, clearing it of the shapeless creatures that poured from the Grail. It would take just a few minutes to close this singularity, and then they could move to the next spot as well as assist Shirou.
However, Caster knew they were playing right into Zouken's hand by coming here, so she was on the lookout for any movement on his part. She had severely underestimated the old man's craftiness. Even if he couldn't compete with her as a Magus, she shouldn't have dismissed him so easily.
Cunning was the greatest weapon of all and it was available to everyone regardless of status.
So Caster wasn't too surprised when something impacted the shields she had woven around herself, making her rock in place.
On the roof of a distant building stood a black figure. It wasn't one of the countless rejects that had formed from the mud, but one of the fake Servants made by Zouken's Lesser Grail. It was easy to tell them apart. The former only had the shape of the Heroic Spirit they were molded upon, while the latter could pass as humans at a cursory glance. Furthermore, they didn't attack in a frenzy but employed tactics such as this.
Caster didn't bother firing back. She didn't have the certainty that she could hit the enemy, and it would take her attention off her task. If it had the means to kill her, it would have with the first shot.
"Berserker, watch out!" she called out.
The False Archer couldn't pierce Berserker's God Hand any better than it could her barriers. She knew it, Berserker knew it and Zouken knew it.
So it was a distraction.
It appeared silently. There was absolutely nothing to betray its presence. And yet, upon
seeing it with her own eyes, Caster knew. The Black Grail.
"Don't let it touch you!" Caster warned. "That thing it's an absolute bane to spirits! It will devour you on contact!"
It reached for Berserker, and at the same time, projectiles from the False Archer rained down to impede his motions. Combined with the rush of mud abominations, and Berserker was being assaulted on all fronts.
Only the Black Grail was a threat to him, but the others worked to impede him and slow him down.
Naturally, Berserker was under no obligation to go along with their intentions.
With a mighty jump, he leaped away from the courtyard of Rin's house and landed on the roof instead, cracking several tiles with the landing.
The abominations followed him, frantically climbing over the wall and each other, only to be devoured as the Black Grail closed in on Berserker again.
The arrows from the False Archer kept raining down, following the hero as he moved. The arrows that managed to hit Berserker's body ricocheted all over the place and wound up tearing holes into Rin's home along with the arrows that missed him entirely.
Caster had no pity to spare for the material possessions of a person who bailed on them. Her eyes were focused on the Black Grail while she continued to weave the spell that would close the Singularity.
A few more seconds and it would be done.
But this was still too easy, in spite of the combination of forces working against them. Zouken had to have known this much in advance, therefore he must have planned something else.
They came all at once. Dozens of skull-masked False Servants emerged from the shadows. "Assassins?"
There were too many. How could a modern Mage like Zouken manufacture and control so many Servants at once, even if they were just bad imitations?
But, an Assassin, no matter how many there were, had just as small of a chance of nicking Berserker's skin as every other foe he'd encountered this night, so their target had to be another.
Illyasviel.
A multitude of small, hard-to-detect daggers, cut through the air. Even Berserker couldn't swat them all, not when they came from so many directions at the same time. It would take only a single nick from a poisoned blade to kill his Master, but he could use his gargantuan body and ax-sword as a veritable shield to protect her.
However, that would seal his ability to fight and also limit his mobility.
At the same time, the False Archer kept targeting Berserker with its arrows and the Black Grail drew closer as well.
It was a tight spot, and Caster weighed her options. She could disengage from what she was doing and assist, or she could let Berserker keep handling it. He had yet to ask for help, after all.
The choice, however, was taken from her.
A portion of Rin's home collapsed from the damage it had sustained. Pieces of masonry and expensive furniture fell out with a thunderous crash.
All of a sudden, she felt the new presence appear out of nowhere. And it was a familiar one.
"TAAH!"
With a burst of Mana, the rubble exploded, and yet the sound that drowned out all others was entirely non-magical.
"What the hell happened to my house!?"
"Before that," said Caster with a twitching eyebrow, "where the hell have you been?"
Saber and Rin came out from the smoke that their emergence had caused, looking no different than the last time she had seen them.
"This is no time to be making conversation," Saber replied, taking stock of the situation. "Caster, just this once I'll let you take charge. Who should I strike down first?"
"That black hooded figure over there, but don't get in contact with it, no matter what the cost."
"Understood. Rin, stay close."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" she replied.
However, before Saber could do anything, the Black Grail simply melted away and vanished completely.
"Uh... did it just leave?" Rin asked. "What the hell even was that?" "A Lesser Grail made by Zouken," Illya replied.
The moment the Black Grail left, so did the False Servants. Zouken had evidently deemed this operation a lost cause and cut his losses. There was no point wasting energy on this endeavor anymore and he knew it.
Only the abominations from the corrupted mud remained, but dealing with them was a quick chore by comparison.
"So, where the hell have you two been hiding all this time?" Caster asked while Saber and Berserker cleaned up the place.
"What do you mean, all this time? How long have we been missing?"
"More than a week," she replied. "What happened? Did you get sealed in some pocket
dimension where the flow of time is different from the outside?"
"Yes!" Rin snarled before she obliterated one abomination with her Reinforced fists. "We were searching for information about the Grail inside of a chest left to my family by the Wizard Marshal, but the damn thing was cursed and it trapped us."
"And you got out only because half your home was destroyed?" Caster sputtered indignantly. "Is such a ridiculous development even possible?"
"Well, that seems to be the case, doesn't it?"
"Whatever, we'll talk about it later," she replied, just as she concluded the spell that closed the Singularity. "Two more to go."
"Two more what? Oh, god. What's happened while we were gone?"
"I'll explain later. Let's go."
[br]
Due to the lightened load of enemies caused by Avenger's assistance, Shirou was in a condition to notice that the Singularity over Tohsaka mansion had closed.
He was about to reach out to Caster through his connection when he saw the cloud of dark smoke emerge close to him.
She wasn't supposed to come here, but rather head to the temple instead. Did something happen?
He had his answer a moment later when the figure of the people traveling with her appeared. "Tohsaka! Saber!" he exclaimed.
Saber didn't waste any time and rushed to his side, clearing the few abominations that surrounded him with a swing of her sword.
"Apologies for the wait," she said.
"F-Forget about that," he replied, choking a bit. "You are alright. Thank goodness you are alright."
"Shirou, I'll leave them with you. I'm off to the temple," said Caster, before she disappeared with Illya and Berserker.
As expected, the moment Caster showed up, Avenger stopped all operations. However, Saber was a more than adequate replacement.
"Good evening, Emiya-kun," said Rin as she too joined the fray.
"It's so good to see you, Rin," Shirou replied. "I thought I had lost you both." Despite being in the middle of a battle, Rin blushed and didn't meet his eyes. "Sorry about that. I'll make it up to you later."
"I don't care about that. I'm just so happy that you are both well." "Dummy..." she said under her breath.
Even though he was tired and the battle was far from over, Shirou felt lighter than he did at the start of the night. Monoshizao still in hand, he faced the horde with the support of his dear comrades
[br]
With Lancer around, Rider could no longer use Cybele, which meant that she had to deal with these creatures the old-fashioned way. It wasn't a big loss. The addition of another Servant eased her load quite a bit.
The False Assassins had no way to get to either one of them now. They spotted a few of them here and there but they didn't try anything any longer. As they didn't charge at them recklessly, Rider knew they were Zouken's creations and not the Grail's. Lancer's Protection from Arrows made it difficult for the shadow Servants to use even ranged attacks.
The threat had been all but neutralized.
She was more worried about Lancer. Judging by his character and what they knew of his legend, he wouldn't willingly go against his own word. But it wasn't an absolute certainty, especially with the threat of a Command Seal hanging over his head.
But Rider's worries were dispelled when Caster and Berserker arrived. "Lancer? Rider, what is the meaning of this?" asked the Witch.
"A temporary alliance," she replied.
"Whelp, looks like my time here is over," said Lancer as a way of greeting and goodbye. "I'd love to stay and fight you all, but a certain pain in the ass that just so happens to be my Master is telling me to pull back. Kill ya later."
He returned to spirit form and vanished.
"That man... what's he planning now?" Caster asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine, but he did save me from False Assassin's ambush, for what it's worth." Rider explained.
"Ah, we'll deal with him later. Now we need to close this Singularity. Let's go."
Thus the three Servants and Illya tore open a path up the stairs to the temple and started the ritual to close the second Singularity of that night.
[br]
'So, what the hell was the deal with that?' Lancer asked after returning to physical form and overlooking the city from atop of a skyscraper. 'You aren't the kind of person to help others out of the goodness of his heart, so what's your angle?'
'There is no angle here, Lancer,' Kotomine replied. 'I simply do not wish for that old vampire of a Mage to have it his way.'
"Oh, so you weren't helping their side, just messing with the other one, got it. Still, you promised me a good fight and I haven't got one yet.'
'Don't fret. This stalemate won't hold much longer. Another player has finally decided to make his move.'
'Ha? What the hell are you on about? Another player?'
'You'll see.'
Lancer frowned. Yeah, he was looking for a fight, that was his whole reason for even being interested in a Grail War. He was a battle freak and proud of it. Still, even among the people he wanted to personally fight, there were those he liked and those he didn't like.
For instance, he liked that Emiya guy a lot. The kid had spunk, and he wasn't afraid of getting up close and personal. He liked Emiya enough that unless he got the chance to fight and kill him himself, Lancer would have preferred if he could get out of the war alive and in one piece.
'Good luck out there, kiddo. You are going to need it. And watch your back.'
He was no Archer but from his vantage point, he could see the two battles and he had a front-line view of the events that were about to unfold.
[br]
Bothersome. It was so all too bothersome.
For ten years he had patiently waited. For ten years he suffered the bland trudging of the modern era.
And when the time had finally come to purge the world from all the useless and worthless rabble, the same rabble that was supposed to act as a sacrifice instead banded together to prevent it.
Comptemtable mongrels.
To think that he would be forced to step in and set the Grail War back on track personally... Truly, he had run out of patience. At the start, he might have been willing to be lenient, but the disrespect of forcing him to act personally merited no mercy.
He would personally dispose of them. It was a greater honor than they deserved, but the King of Heroes wasn't above dirtying his own hands to do what his station required.
This would be the day the Holy Grail War would truly begin. [XXX]