Chapter 6 - The Salad (Confrontation, Servant VS Servant)
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The first thing they both noticed on school grounds was the eerie silence and lack of life about the area.
All the students and teachers and staff, as they had discovered them slowly, had all fainted within the classrooms.
Carefully and slowly, they managed to tracked down the source of it all, back to the archery clubhouse.
Proceeding carefully, Shirou cautiously slid open the door, Tohsaka and her bow and arrows hidden a far distance behind in the schoolyard's shrubs, ready to snipe at a moment's notice.
"Shinji?! Sakura?!"
Of all people, Shirou hadn't expect his old friend and his kouhai to be responsible for this mess.
From behind the bushes, Tohsaka froze up too, at the sight of Sakura, though she quickly re-steeled herself.
"Yo, Emiya-kun." Shinji greeted, "I see you've finally found us."
He stood there in black robes, his left arm abnormally much longer than usual, holding a small book in his still normal right arm.
But beyond just his friend's costume change, something about him seemed different somehow.
He gave off the impression of being more cool-headed and confident, maybe.
Slightly less of an arrogant air about him.
Though a presence that somehow still somehow managed to seem at once condescending and yet also deadly, as though he was holding Shirou's neck at knifepoint and could slice through it at any moment.
Sakura was also there, clothed in tight-fitting robes and blindfold visor, with spiked chains in hand, and also felt colder, deadlier.
It was a strange thought to have in an extremely tense context, but Shirou couldn't help but notice that she seemed sexier or more seductive, somehow.
He immediately pushed that thought away though, shaking his head. It would've been an inappropriate thought even at any other time, but right now especially wasn't the time to be thinking such thoughts.
Still though, he was shocked to see Sakura here, as well.
Shinji, he might've been able to handle as being behind the culprit. But, for Sakura to also be guilty of this?
He would never have imagined it.
"Shinji...!" Shirou growled, "What are you playing at here? Getting all of our classmates caught up in this?"
Shinji grinned.
"What?" Shinji asked, "Out of everything, that's the first thing you ask about? What a boring question. Well, as expected of a goody-two-shoes like you, I suppose."
His grin widened, "It's simple. I'm just gathering energy."
"Gathering energy...? You would risk people's lives just for that...?!"
"Yes!" Shinji laughed, "And I'll be sure to put it to good use, too! By defeating you and that Tohsaka bitch, together!"
And with much swiftness, Shinji suddenly quickly charged right towards Shirou.
*CLANG*
An arrow blew past him, but was deflect before it could hit him, parried as it was by an impossibly fast chain-whip.
Surprisingly, Shinji didn't even flinch as he rushed towards Shirou.
Shirou braced himself, gripping his sword at his, but then all of sudden, Shinji disappeared right before his eyes!
"?!"
Shirou swiftly looked around, but couldn't find him, Shinji masterfully concealing his presence.
Still, he could hear Shinji's mocking voice echoing through out the clubroom.
"How nice of you, Emiya-kun..." Shinji mocked, "To have brought Tohsaka along with you as well. Now I can kill the both of you at once!"
Shirou grit his teeth.
"Shinji...!"
But, unexpectedly, Sakura also spoke up.
"Nii-san! You promised you wouldn't hurt Senpai!"
"Tch!" Shinji clicked his tongue, "I know! You don't have to remind me!"
Shirou, though, took the chance to ask Sakura, "Why are you going along with him, Sakura?! I know he's your brother, but that doesn't mean you approve of this, do you?!"
"Senpai..." Sakura looked away, "I..."
She hesitated, "This field, it hasn't killed anyone yet! And if you would just give up your Card, then..."
Shirou was relieved to hear that, but, his card?
Did Sakura also have a wish to fulfill? One that she would want so badly, as to endanger all of the students here?
"Ha!" Shinji mocked, "Or so my cute little sister says, but if we continue at this rate, they'll be dying pretty soon, Emiya."
Shirou looked over to Sakura, hoping it was only a bluff. But looking to her, Sakura only turned her head away in shame, confirming Shinji's words implicitly.
"Please, Sakura!" Shirou pleaded, "You have to stop this! Even if you want the grail that badly, this isn't right! Sakura!"
Sakura shook her head, "No, senpai, that's - "
Shinji interrupted them.
"Stop it? Oh, of course we'd be willing to stop it..."
Shirou tensed. He could sense a implied condition being attached, from Shinji's tone of voice.
"But, only if you're willing to hand over your cards. Your's, and Tohsaka's, that is."
Shirou considered it, though hesitantly.
Like a dagger, Tohsaka's voice suddenly cut through his indecision.
She had closed in during their conversation earlier, though she still managed to remain hidden under a different cover, a distance away.
"What are you hesitating for, Emiya-kun? There's no way Matou-kun of all people would honor his promises!"
"And more importantly," She continued, "Without our cards, we would be as good as dead before other masters, who would try to kill us anyway! Even as reckless as you are, you wouldn't want to stand before Ilyasviel as just a normal human like that, would you, Emiya-kun?"
Ilyasviel...?
...Oh, the Berserker girl who had Mordred's card!
Yeah, going against her without his card would be bad.
It would be, but...
If this could save all the students here without a fight, then...
"And, Emiya-kun," Tohsaka addressed, as if she somehow knew what he was thinking, "Even if we did give up our cards here, we wouldn't be able to stop other inhuman masters from sacrificing human lives, like how Shinji and Sakura are right now! You made up your mind about that back at the church, didn't you?"
Realizing she had a good point, Shirou nodded.
"Well, there you have it, Shinji! Sakura...!"
Shinji just laughed, "Then I guess that just means that we'll have to take them by force, after all!"
Not bothering with him, more importantly, Shirou turned to Sakura, "Sakura...! This field, can't you stop?!"
Sakura hesitated, looking troubled.
"Sakura!"
Shinji cackled maniacally.
"As always, you just don't understand, Emiya-kun." He mocked, condescendingly. "She's my puppet! She can't disobey me, as long as I have her command spells on me!"
Sakura lowered head.
"It's true..." She confirmed.
"Command spells...?" Tohsaka voiced to herself, silently, "...But, in this war, they shouldn't be a factor..."
'Unless they prepared a method of sealing command spells into something beforehand!'
In which case, they should be in some sort of portable form, that Shinji must be carrying with him.
Could it be? That book?
"You know, Matou-kun, you're a real idiot." Tohsaka taunted, "To let us know your weaknesses along with everything else."
Shinji just scoffed, justifying himself, "Well, you'll both be dead soon anyways, so it doesn't matter, anyway!"
"Nii-san!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Shinji corrected, "Well, Emiya, at least, I'll leave alive!"
"Anyways!" He continued, "Sakura, you take care of Tohsaka, as agreed! I'll handle Emiya. You got that, right?!"
Sakura very reluctantly complied, nodding.
"Then, Tohsaka-senpai," Sakura addressed, directly to Tohsaka, "Let's keep this outside."
She didn't want senpai to see her ugly side, after all.
"Is that alright with you, Nii-san?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Shinji confirmed, "Emiya and I have personal business to settle anyways."
Without warning, Sakura suddenly rushed past Shirou before he could stop her, at a blindingly fast pace.
Shirou blinked as Shinji laughed maliciously at his failed attempt to stop his sister.
"Now, while we leave them to that," Shinji mocked, "Let's play, Emiya!"
"Shinji, you bastard!" Shirou called out, "Forcing Sakura to do something like this!"
The Sakura that Shirou knew, was kind, was kinder than anyone.
And he knew she would never have wanted to hurt anybody else, no matter.
And to think that now, she was being forced to drain others, and to fight and to kill!
He always knew Shinji was a bad brother! But to this extent!
It seriously pissed Shirou off!
Shinji just continued laughing, mockingly, "Coming from you, who stole my favorite toy from me? That's rich!"
Shirou gripped the handle of his sword.
Calming himself, he focused on trying to find Shinji, ignoring his worthless taunting.
He normally would've been able to pinpoint Shinji's location from his voice, but now Shinji was using some sort strange technique to echo it all throughout the place.
Even focusing and sharpening his senses as he was, Shirou was hard-pressed to spot even the slightest hint of any trace of Shinji.
Hiding and ambushing others from the shadows, Shirou as a classical knight-type Servant like Saber was a bad matchup for Shinji, especially in an enclosed area like this.
If he was stronger or better at detection, than he would easily be able to overcome Shinji, but unfortunately, with this card, Shirou was only on this level of strength, matching at best, only that of a very weak Servant's.
...
Rin retreated, but to barely any effect.
Sakura was blindingly fast, charging right at where she was, even though Rin had thought that she had hidden herself pretty well!
She had quickly jumped far away several times, continually sniping at Sakura all the while to keep her distracted and force her away, but even so, Sakura quickly caught up to her, either deflecting or parrying all of her arrows.
She barely even had any chances to snipe!
And even when she did, Sakura evaded them with extreme ease, parrying her trickshots and the homing arrows with ridiculous levels of accuracy.
How was her instinct so sharp to even be able to tell apart from her normal shots, anyway?! Was her compatibility with her Servant so great that it even sharpened her instincts that much?
"Tsk!" Tohsaka clicked her tongue in frustration.
And what was with this ridiculous speed?!
Rin couldn't help but think back to Ilya, and her ridiculous power and durability and speed as well, though unlike Ilya, Sakura didn't even need to use bursts of mana to reach her so quickly.
"Ah!"
In what seemed like only a few seconds, Tohsaka was cornered, and Sakura about ready to kill her.
"Don't worry," Sakura said, reassuring her, "This won't take long."
"Huh?"
"Just stay still, and it'll all be over soon," She said, removing her visor, "I'll hide you somewhere safe, where no-one will find you, until the war is over."
Suddenly realizing what she was about to do, and the true nature of Sakura's Servant, Rin suddenly got an idea.
"Wait, Sakura! You don't want to keep obeying Shinji, do you?"
Sakura hesitated, slight, "Well, no, but..."
"Well, just hear me out!" Tohsaka said, in a rush. "We might be able to take him down without a fight, and help out Emiya-kun in the process, too!"
Sakura paused, "...I'm listening..."
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Bon Appetite!
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Author's Notes:
Next chapter will be posted tomorrow. Originally only one chapter, but had to cut it short because I was running low on time, today. Next chapter will up around the same tomorrow.
Look forward to it!