Chapter Thirteen
The afternoon is usually full of parents shopping, teens hanging out, and children playing. However those common traits are missing as of late ever since the new reports. Now people lock their doors and close their curtains. This is especially true near the Matou house. The nearby neighbors were always wary of the place, but now they will do anything they can to avoid the old man and his family including temporarily relocating. The entire block the house is on and the houses across the street are empty. Not even the stray alley cat dares to venture near it.
This works just fine for the group approaching the house. Darth Valia has decided to storm the enemy's base in search of a rematch and the power Zouken hides inside. With her are four squads of specialty troopers geared just for the extermination they plan to achieve. Failure is not an option for her here for death is her only other option here.
As the group begins to surround the house, Zouken is preparing his defense. To a magus, their home is also their fortress and anyone planning on attacking it either is very brave or very foolish. In his experience, the latter is the most common and made for decent subjects for his pit. No one has dared to attack him at his own home in five hundred years and because of that he grew complacent that no one ever would, especially not in broad daylight. Stupid outworlders and their disrespect for the rules of this world. Sure Zouken will break a few rules, but exposing oneself to the entire world? Nobody is that stupid, even a toddler in the lowest of magus families knows this. No doubt if this keeps up then both the Tower and the Church and, god forbid, Atlas (emerging from wherever they are hiding) will start sending people to investigate the Holy Grail War, if one can call this one. They all usually look the other way during the Wars, but if they determine this has a risk of exposing the magical world then they will wipe this place off the face of the Earth and do the same with any evidence, be it a person or otherwise. These Sith are bad for business and Zouken kicked the hornets' nest by attacking them last night and letting them escape.
While Zouken is hurrying around, smoke begins to surround the house. A look outside and he sees that there are a few armored men with flamethrowers setting everything aflame. He clicks his tongue. Of course they came prepared to burn down the house with no regard to anything. Another annoyance is that he is unable to call upon the Shadow. He hates that such a powerful tool is not under his full control. Of course his control on it is more like calling it and guiding it to where he wants it to go. Everything after that is a wild card. Luckily it doesn't seem to interested in people that are tainted like himself as much. Unluckily he can't seem to find it in time. The Emiya house isn't that far away for it not to hear him calling it. So the question would be, where the hell is it?
"So do either of you actually have a plan to get your murder happy sister to play nice?" Rin asks the two brothers as their group walks through the forest surrounding the Einzbern Castle.
"Talk to her and bring her home," Shirou states as if it explains it all.
Rin sighs, "Please tell me you have more than that to go on?"
"Not really," Mason answers, ducking underneath a branch. "We aren't here to pull some cheap trick on her or anything. Talking is the best we have at the moment."
"And how do you know she'll even listen to you?"
"Because if she didn't want to hear what we have to say, we would have already met Berserker the moment we entered these woods." Shirou answers next. "Even if the Einzberns haven't used this castle in ten years, they are still able to detect anyone entering and where they are. The exception being Assassin, but even then Nee-san probably checks her boundary field personally."
"Of course my lady checks her boundary field," A voice tells the group. They look forward to see they have made it to the castle with two women with white hair guarding the front door with spears.
Saber readies her invisible sword and Rin gets into position to fight, but both brothers raise their hands to stop them. "We aren't here to fight. Put your stuff down." Shirou tells the two. They both reluctantly comply and Shirou turns to the guards. "Sorry about that, we are here to talk to Nee-san."
One of them narrows her eyes, "Please address her by her name unless she says otherwise. My name is Leysritt and the other with me is Sella. Only the redhead and the silver haired one are permitted to enter, the rest must remain outside including the Servants."
"Alright," Mason agrees. "Caster, can you go into your physical state to assure them you aren't coming with me?"
Caster materializes, "I can but I don't agree to leaving you alone in there."
"I'm with the mind of Caster," Saber agrees.
"We have come uninvited into her home, so it's only right we go by their rules. Besides, having you guys with us isn't going to stop Berserker from killing us if it comes to it." Shirou explains to them.
Saber wears a disapproving look, "Fine, but the first hint of any danger I'm coming in regardless."
"I wouldn't expect anything else from you," Shirou tells her. "Come on Mason." The two reach the door which is opened by the two women. They enter with the door shut behind them and find themselves in a huge entrance way. It is exactly like one would expect from a film with a giant stairway and a second floor balcony wrapping around the room. There are numerous hallways on both floors leading to only the owner would know. Sitting just a little ways from the bottom of the stairway is a table set up with three chairs. Illya sits in one of them facing towards them with the other chairs on the other side. A set of tea is already set up on the table with her drinking from one of the glasses. She sets the cup down and gestures to them, "Please take a seat. Even if you are uninvited, you aren't at least hostile at the moment given that you agreed to leave your Servants outside. While bold and stupid decision for you to make in the home of an opposing magus, I'm feeling generous and will attempt to be civil for the moment." The brothers take their seats across from her. "Now before I start to kill you," Berserker appears beside her with a snarl, "I'll hear what lies you wish to try to tell."
"We aren't here to lie to you Nee-san," Shirou tells her while picking up the tea in front of him.
Illya jumps a little after being called that, "'Nee-san' huh? It's weird hearing that from my replacements. Was that Kiritsugu's plan to try and lure me into a false sense of security before killing me?"
"Kill/replace you?" Mason and Shirou ask in unison. They both look at each other for a moment before Mason continues, "We aren't here to try to kill you sister, nor are we your replacements."
"Ha, that's funny coming from the ones who he adopted and spent his last years with." She says with malice. "Five years he left me before he crocked. Tell me how him spending all his time with the two of you instead of someone from his actual flesh and blood isn't a replacement."
"Probably because he cared about you more," Shirou tells her with Mason wincing and looking down.
She remains unmoved from what Shirou said, but she does notice that the air around the two died a little from it. "What do you mean by that?"
Mason keeps looking down and not saying a word, so Shirou keeps talking. "Well Dad never really smiled around us except for the time he found us in the aftermath of the last war. But then again, he wasn't smiling because we were alive but because he found people to save. It was only because Mason was exploring the house and found a picture of you that we learned about you. Dad talking about you was one of two times we actually saw him truly smile with both his mouth and heart."
Illya tries to picture the fake smile Kiritsugu would have pulled, but couldn't properly see it. The only smile she has seen from him is a true one. "Wait if that was one of two times, what was the second?"
"When he was describing Mom," Mason mumbly answers, glancing upwards.
"Mom? I didn't know he remarried," Illya says with anger. How could Kiritsugu move on and forget about Mother?!
"He didn't," Mason says again and keeps his head up this time.
Illya remains confused for a moment trying to figure it out. So if he didn't remarry, who is the 'mom' they are talking about? Is it that one woman who visits their house from time to time? No, that's unlikely since she is only a few years older than them and they don't call her that. Wait a moment, they can't mean…
"It is who you are thinking of," Mason finishes her thought for her.
She flinches from him reading her thoughts before mentally reinforcing her mind. "You must be better magus than I give you credit for if you can read my mind with my defenses down. However, to be clear, are you talking about my mother Irisviel?" A nod from both answers it. "So not only do you take Kiritsugu, but you plan to take Mother as well?" Berserker grips his ax-sword and roars.
The two remain in their seats as Shirou talks from them, "We don't plan to take any of them from you. You're the eldest and have first claim to them. We call Irisviel Mom because of how much Dad would talk about her as well as you."
"He talked about us a lot?"
Shirou nods, "Of course, we would always ask about you. Talking about you was the only time he seemed to be happy and we wanted him to be that way, along with wanting to know about the family we haven't seen. He always talked about wanting to bring you home and used every favor trying to achieve that dream of his. However his curse from the Grail overcame him and he failed to actually find a way to get you."
Her brow raises, "He tried to get me?"
Mason answers this time, "He did multiple times. However there was a boundary field surrounding you and the old man from your family refused to allow Dad in. Dad never did find the opening to the field before his death. After his death, I made my way there as well trying to finish what Dad started. Though there wasn't much a broken thirteen year old could do against an entire magus family. I was quickly chased out of there and nearly died a few times trying to get in."
Illya sits there for a moment letting it sit in. Kiritsugu actually tried to retrieve me? Grandfather didn't tell me this. All he said was that Kiritsugu groomed two new boys to replace me and left me there. Was that all a lie or is what they are saying a lie?
"If I may offer my opinion?" A voice asks her telepathically.
"Of course Berserker," Illya answers.
"I've encountered many liars during my life, but I don't sense that from these two. If anything, I only sense some remorse from them. But if you wish, I can test them through combat to see if that remains true."
"That is unnecessary. If anything, I will deal with them personally."
"Are you sure? The silver one managed to take one of my lives last week."
"That was because we were caught off guard by his power. It will not happen again." Berserker sends a grunt in reply letting her know he conceded to her choice. Satisfied, she takes another sip of her tea. "Alright, let's say I believe you. Where does that leave us now?"
"As a family," Shirou firmly says.
She looks up from her drink, "A family? Surely that is not all you have come here for."
"It's the most important reason," Mason tells her.
Illya sets her tea down. "So there is another reason, however if this is the most important then let's talk about that for now. What do you want from it? Access into the Einzberns out of the technicality of Kiritsugu and Mother being in a relationship?"
"We couldn't care less for the Einzberns. All we want is to finally bring our older sister home." Mason answers.
She stares at them looking for any trace of a lie, but unable to find one. All of this seems too good to be true. For all of the last years I festered hatred for them and prepared to kill them before they could kill me. But here they are saying the opposite and making no move to prove otherwise. Should I take a risk to see if what they say is true? If I find out it's not then Berserker should be able to make short work of them. The three Servants outside couldn't take him before so there should be no reason to assume otherwise. Illya sighs after a few more moments, "Alright I guess we can see where this 'family' thing goes, but the moment I find it unacceptable, we are back to being enemies. Now what are the other reasons you have come here?"
"It's about the Grail," Shirou says.
"What about it?"
"It's corrupted."
"Corrupted?" She asks with confusion. "How can it be corrupted? The Einzberns would have known about it." Shirou pulls out a book and slides it over the table. Illya takes the book and opens it up. Immediately she notices Kiritsugu's handwriting on the first page. She then reads the message he wrote on the first page:
"Illya,
I want to apologize for not being there after the end of the Fourth Grail War. Your mother never wanted you to have the fate of the lesser grail vessel and wanted me to take you away from the Einzberns and move to Japan with you. I tried everything, but it proved to be unsuccessful. There is much I wish to tell you, but I fear I will not be able to tell you in person. One of which is the state of the Grail and I have documented everything I know about it in this notebook along with many more I wish to tell you. However, if there is one thing I want you to know more than anything, it is that I love you my sweet daughter and I wish to see you before I die above all else. If you are reading this however then that means the boys have done what I could not. I do hope you can help them where I could not. I tried my best, but I can see it in their eyes that they know I would rather have you here. Please look after your little brothers and give them the love I wasn't able to fully provide to them, for they already love you without having ever met you. I have already set up a room for you at the house if you wish to stay at the house with them.
With much love,
Your father."
A tear runs down quickly before Illya could catch it and falls onto the page. She holds the book to cover her face from the boys and wipes her face. She rereads the message a few more times before coming to terms with the last words of her father to her. Illya then turns the page and reads over the rest of the notebook.
"Rider," Sakura calls to her servant after placing down the communicator that Valia gave her.
Rider materializes beside her, "Is it time?"
Sakura begins to strip her clothes off, "Yes. With everyone out of the house and Grandfather's attention elsewhere, there is no better time."
"I still have my doubts about this. There are too many risks to this operation not to mention how painful it will be for you," Rider tries to persuade her.
Sakura, now fully bare, lays down on her back in bed. "I am aware of your concerns, however we already went through it and we deemed it necessary."
"You deemed it that way," Rider corrects. "I still think we should wait for Medea to return. No one knows magic more than her nor is there anyone with her power in this time. Removing the crest worms would be both less painful and less barbaric."
"You are only partly right. Her knowledge of magic is definitely unmatched, but she is not the most powerful. With my connection to the Grail, I have unlimited power. I never have to worry about running low nor is there a limit to my strength. I don't mean to sound power hungry, but I have no plans on giving it up. That's exactly what she will do if I let her handle this. The pieces of the last Grail are still inside me and would be hard to miss if she is doing the extraction process of the worms." Sakura informs.
"But-"
"Rider!" Sakura stops her. "Enough, we are doing it this way. Now listen to your Master and get on with it before Grandfather realizes he no longer has a backup plan."
Rider sighs in defeat and stands next to Sakura. She produces a knife Sakura has previously taken from the kitchen and moves her free hand to the back of her eye mask. "Alright just remember to only get a glance in when I briefly uncover my eyes and I will place my mask back on to slow the stoning process. With both your body and the worms frozen in place I should be able to remove the parasites from your body. Once I'm done, I'll release you and hopefully you are as powerful as you are claiming to be so you can remove the curse and heal the wounds." Sakura nods and Medusa then unclips her mask and reveals her Mystic Eyes of Petrification.
After Illya is finished skimming through the notebook, she places it down with a note to read it in full later. Shirou and Mason set their drinks down to hear what their sister has to say. "I'll say that this is definitely a revelation. The Avenger from the Third Grail War corrupting the Grail. Of course the Einzberns would be the cause of it. It's no secret my family always has some way of cheating the system every war. We are always setting ourselves up to win each war only to have the carpet ripped out from under us. It seems as if it will be no different this year as I can't allow the monkey paw of a Grail to exist." The boys share a sigh of relief. Illya stirs a sugar cube into her tea, "Now that that is set, let's discuss this little alliance you have been forming. Sella you can let the others in!"
The maids open the doors and the other four of the group outside make their way inside. Illya finishes her drink and stands from the table. "Come, this table is much too small for a group this size." The whole group follows Illya out of the entrance and down the hall until they pass two doors. The maids walk in front and open each door to allow everyone inside. The room is just as big as one would assume for a castle with multiple older style couches around a coffee table. Illya sits down in the head chair with the maids standing behind her and Berserker standing to her left. Mason and Shirou sit across from each other with their respective Servants sitting with them. Rin sits across from Illya with Archer leaning on the wall behind her with his arms crossed.
With everyone seated, Rin then speaks. "Seeing as she is letting us in her castle, I'm assuming you guys actually pulled it off."
"I am not a stubborn child, Tohsaka. The Grail's current state makes fighting between us unbeneficial." Illya tells her.
"The girl is right," Caster agrees. "Last I checked on it, it is becoming very unstable despite it not being filled."
"Actually it has been filled," Illya corrects. "There was a Servant's death a night or so ago. However it strangely wasn't one that belongs to this war."
Saber peaks up, "What? Do you know the identity of the Servant?"
Illya shakes her head, "No I do not. Being a lesser grail vessel doesn't let me know who exactly it was. Only that it was an Archer class." Saber is left with her mouth gaped open with even Archer's eyebrows being raised in surprise. Illya notices the shocked reactions and is confused, "Why are you two acting like that?"
Archer sighs seeing he is to be the one to explain, "Because the Servant you are talking about is none other than Gilgamesh, the Archer of the previous war."
Illya remains confused, "Wait so how did a Servant from the last war survive? There was no winner in the Fourth War nor were any wishes granted."
"Long story short," Archer begins, "The Grail consumed Kiritsugu, Kotomine, and Gilgamesh when it was destroyed. Kiritsugu rejected the Grail and Angra Mainyu, who is still surviving through the corruption of the Grail, cursed him for not being able to be born. The latter two were incorruptible and were casted out of it. This gave Gilgamesh a living body while able to still use all of his abilities."
"Alright that explains him surviving," Illya says after learning more about what caused her father' death. "Now what's this about you both acting that way then? I know he is the first hero and stuff, but is he so powerful that the two of you aren't able to handle his death?"
"He is that powerful," Archer confirms. "He has the prototype of every weapon and noble phantasm in his treasury which he is able to open and fire them out like a cannon or something. His most powerful weapon, Ea, is defined as an anti-world noble phantasm and is capable of such a feat. In the Fourth War, he scattered a reality marble instantly with it."
Saber turns to Archer quickly, "He managed to destroy Iskandar's noble phantasm with it?!" Archer nods.
Illya sports the cocked eyebrow, "Alright I'll relent and admit that even Berserker might be hard pressed to beat him, but there is something else I want to know. I already know that Saber here has previously fought in the last war so her knowing the Servants and events that happened makes sense. However, how do you know them? Because the Einzberns knew every Servant but Archer from the last war and you sure weren't one of them."
"It's because he is me," Shirou answers before Archer could say anything.
Said Servant now sports a scowl, "How about not letting everyone know I diverged from you?"
Shirou shrugs as if there was nothing wrong, "She's our sister. Nee-san should know as much as we do about the war."
Illya and her company look back and forth between the two for a few moments. Illya then face palms, "This war just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Is there anything else I should know?"
Mason raises his hand reluctantly, "Well there is currently an alien death cult that is currently fighting for the Grail to bring their world-eating leader back to life and is undoubtedly the reason Gilgamesh is dead."
Illya whips her head around to him and gives him a strange look, "Hold on now, aliens?"
Mason nods, "Yep. By the way, I'm also technically an alien since I came from space before Dad took me in."
Illya slowly moves her head forwards while keeping the very confused and strange face. "Berserker, can you bring the table to me?" The Servant follows the orders and the table is moved to her legs. "Thanks," She tells him before repeatedly banging her head on the table.
"My lady stop!" Both the maids exclaim, rushing to her side and pulling her from hitting her head again. Even Berserker places a hand on her shoulder to prevent Illya from continuing. Her forehead is now red and her head begins to swirl around her shoulders.
Rin shakes her head, "Great job guys, you broke her."
Darth Valia grins at her current conquest. The Matou house is now a smoldering rubble without a hint of it ever being a house. The Matou head is currently glaring at her as he crumbles apart into worms and forms back together. "Where is your bravado now hermit?"
"You stupid outworlders," Zouken spits out, "You have no idea the forces you are dealing with! There are a rule in this world for a reason and your group is just fucking all around it! At this rate the world will devolve into chaos and will be left to be either destroyed or restarted!"
She scoffs his warning away, "As if I care. Once our Lord Nihilus rises again, he will devour all life from this world completely. This planet will be nothing but a desolate wasteland and we will be long gone by then. The Sith Empire will return and there is nothing that will stop that. All you pitiful varmints on this world can only hope to delay it, not that it will help."
His brows shoot up, "So that is your plan? To raise an unholy devourer of life just to revive some empire? Do you honestly know how stupid that sounds?"
She bends down and flicks away a crawling worm, "Here I was led to believe humans were the only ones able to come close to rivaling a Pureblood Sith, and yet it seems this backwater planet has only made your species more idiotic simpletons. How your race has fallen since the days of Revan. Hopefully his only remaining descendant has kept his senses and join us." The Sith then taunts, "Perhaps we can also bring along the girl as well. For all your filth, a weapon such as her would be your only redeeming feature."
"Hg, I believe she will be more trouble than you think bitch," Zouken grunts. "She may be a weapon, but she is not one easily controlled. Otherwise this assault would have ended differently had she been here."
"Oh but you are wrong about that Grandfather," A new voice enters. Valia holds a holo-communicator with an image of Sakura in a blue hue.
The old man glares at his adoptive granddaughter, "If you know what is good for you then you better get your ass over here before-"
"Before you have the worms kill me?" Sakura answers with a tilt of her head. Red markings begin to appear across her cheek and her hair goes white. She holds up a hand to show a dead crest worm. "I'm afraid they are no longer able to answer you any longer. Your threat on my life no longer holds any meaning."
Shock shoots across his face and he tries to reach out to confirm if it is true. To his displeasure, there are no signs of any of them still working. However he still has something to give him some relief, "You seem to have forgotten about the anchor."
Sakura sighs, "It is regrettable that we were unable to remove that as it is located on my heart, but it will be dealt with in time." She then looks at him with a wicked smile, "I hope you squirm and fester in that disgusting body of yours Grandfather, because your end is near." Sakura turns to the Sith, "Do with his body as you wish, just remember to destroy the pit and his workshop in the basement. He will have only what he is currently able to carry, which won't be much to threaten you with. I will have your payment ready when it is done." The device switches off afterwards.
"Sweet girl," Valia says, retaining her grin. She puts it away and looks over to a nearby trooper. The trooper already knows what he is to do and commands the demolition team to follow him. The Sith turns back to the one laying on the ground, "Your source of power is already being dealt with and your granddaughter has given me full permission to play with you as long as I wish." She outstretches her hand, "You may not be killable as you are, but that doesn't mean you won't wish it." Valia's grin grows even brighter as blue lightning leaves her finger tips.
Illya sighs as she finishes off her new cup of tea. Being bombarded with information she never expected to hear demanded a few more drinks. Sadly she is not old enough to drink alcohol so tea will have to do. She is now settled and ready to continue. "So we have a corrupted Grail; an alien death cult trying to revive a world eating Sith; Makiri, or Zouken as he is calling himself now, doing shady stuff in the background; a Black Shadow running rampant around the city that Makiri has created; and lastly we have you guys trying to gather up all the Masters. Do I have everything?"
Shirou counts each off with his fingers, "That seems like it- No wait, we also have Servants from the past war coming back."
"Oh that is happening?" She asks curiously. "That's understandable given the situation."
Saber gets confused, "Um, how is that understandable?"
"Oh you guys don't know?" Illya looks around the room and the silence is the answer she needs. "Really? Even you don't know Tohsaka?" Rin shakes her head. "Alright I'll explain it to you. See the Grail has a failsafe system if the Masters decide not to attack each other and fill it with the dead Servants. It will allow for the creations of more Servants to try to fill itself. No doubt it is using Servants from the last Grail first as it was filled but not used. It is not limited to just past Servants though and can resort to alternate versions of the current ones or completely new ones if it deems it. However if it is just resorting to the past Servants then we have the advantage of already having knowledge about them."
"We can use all the advantages we can," Caster agrees. "I don't know about everyone else but we don't need the Grail to start creating Gods as Servants to deal with us. Hercules can agree with me that they suck." The hulking Servant grunts in confirmation.
Archer nods along, "True enough. Rider is the only divine spirit I want to deal with." All eyes turn towards him. "What?"
"Rider is a divine spirit?" Rin asks her Servant.
"Yeah," is all he says.
Caster smacks her head, "Well which one is it, sword shooter?"
A tick forms on his head after hearing that nickname, "It's Medusa."
"Is it me, or is having half of the Servants being Greek weird for everyone else?" Mason asks out loud.
Caster ignores her Master's question and continues with Archer, "If Rider is Medusa then shouldn't she have been much stronger than she was when you and Saber faced her?"
"She isn't in her Gorgon form if that is what you're concerned about the most, but as to why she was weak before well it's the fact she was handed to a weakened and useless Master. I mean she had to resort to creating that boundary field and feed off of students to sustain herself. However now that she is with her true Master, her strength has no doubt soared what it once was. As to how strong, I can't answer that. I never faced her in this war or my younger self's war at her full power. What I can tell you is that her weakened form's noble phantasm is strong enough to have gone up against my Saber's noble phantasm and left Saber in a critical state afterwards. Rider was of course killed, but that should give you some idea of what she has now surpassed." Archer explains.
"Well it's a good thing we aren't planning on facing her then," Shirou comments. "If anything, having her stronger would only benefit us when we convince her Master to join us."
"That is if you can figure out who that is," Archer tells him. "Even I don't know how that is. Well I have an idea, but we shouldn't rush after it since my memory of this time has greatly faded and I could be thinking of the wrong person."
Rin gets curious on the last line, "Just how faded is that memory? Surely you didn't live too long to suddenly get a hazy memory."
"Well for one, everything I have told you of my time is filled with hazy memories and I have been guessing the gaps." Archer corrects. "And for another, while I didn't live a long regular life, I did 'live' long as a counter guardian. I have easily a couple hundred years of memories at least from it, so excuse me if remembering something I did centuries ago is a bit hazy." He snaps.
"Well setting aside the sad life of my grown up little brother," Illya calls out. She sets down her cup and stands with a focused expression. Berserker snarls as he tightens the grip of his weapons in response to his Master. "It seems we have company."
"Um, Nee-san that face you're making means it isn't good company is it?" Shirou asks cautiously.
"No, it seems the alien death cult Mason was talking about is stopping by to visit. Let's go greet our guests." She tells him as Berserker lifts her on his shoulder. Everyone shoots up in action and follows her out. Rin, Shirou, and Mason activate their suits along the way. The group makes it out the door and Berserker leads them through the large property that the Einzbern Castle surrounds itself with. They appear near a lake with a big opening from the trees. Awaiting there is Darth Skorr along with Lancelot, Commander Miller and several dozen of his troopers. Rin takes a step back after seeing him again and Archer grabs her hand for comfort.
"Ah my future apprentice," The Sith calls to Mason. "How nice of you to deliver the Einzbern girl to me. Have you given much thought to my offer?"
Everyone turns to the one-eyed boy. "Apprentice? What offer is he talking about, Master?" Caster asks with a little anger.
"If he hasn't told you then he has deemed you as worthless for input, tool." Skorr tells her. "However, seeing as the offer has a time limit, I will spill it. I offered him a place by my side as my new apprentice when I entered one of his dreams."
Shirou gets defensive, "And what does he have to warrant it and what do you benefit from it?"
Skorr muses, "Why Mason has the potential to become powerful as the last descendant of one of the strongest Sith Lords in history, Darth Revan. If he accepts my offer, I also extend my hand to his loved ones into the new Sith Empire. He gets power plus his loved ones protected and I get possibly the greatest successor I could have ever asked for. I know Lord Nihilus would be pleased to have the blood of a rival Sith Lord serving under him." He extends his hand forwards, "Now Mason, what will it be?"
All eyes return to Mason to await his answer. The silver headed teen looks around at his surroundings to take in his options. Moments later he takes a breath in, "Your offer does sound very tempting. I have found myself in question of wanting more power as I am currently not as strong as I hope." He glances at Saber and remembers his lost spars with her. Mason then glances to Illya and Shirou before continuing. "And the safety of my family would be appreciated." He takes one last glance at Caster. "However I have a promise to keep and joining you defeats any chances of me completing it. Lastly, even if I accept, none of my loved ones would join you and I would be forced to fight them." Mason unclips his lightsaber and points the ignited orange blade towards him. "So I will have to decline your offer, Skorr. If the time of the Jedi is at an end, then so will it be for the Sith!"
Skorr retracts his arm and bows his head. "Then so be it." He brings out both of his lightsabers and ignites them both. "I offered you friendship and you spat in my face. Let it be known that mercy has been declined." Numerous blasters rise throughout the troops behind him. The Sith then takes notice of something particular between Shirou and Archer. "Commander, I want you to handle the boy."
Miller gives a curious look to his leader, "My Lord you know I will do so, but may I know the reason?"
"Their Force signatures are similar. Almost too similar. The Servant's feels much older and deluded, but there is no denying the two are connected somehow. It's possible they are related or the same person." The Sith explains.
The Commander of the Cult gets a greedy smile behind his helmet, "A prepubescent Servant in the making to fight? My Lord, you spoil me." He primes his blaster rifle and readies for battle. "Dead or alive?"
"Your discretion."
"I don't think they know they are outmatched in terms of Servants," Sella states aloud.
Suddenly a powerful presence makes itself known in the lake. Everyone looks out to see the lake has turned purple and the plants around it have died. In the middle of the like lies the Shadow. Two red and black cocoons rise and break to show two figures Saber immediately recognizes. The Rider and Caster from the Fourth War are shown, however their appearance has changed. Gilles de Rais appears even paler than before and his outfit is now pitched black with red corrupted lines along his body. Iskandar is in a similar situation on top of a horse that shares his fate. Both Servant's eyes are yellowed and their hair has paled from their original color and both are no longer surrounded by a mist in their previous shadowed forms. The Shadow has given them proper forms that are twisted with its power.
"You just had to say something," Leysritt tells her counterpart.
Author's Notes: Hey here's another chapter for you guys! Not action packed as the last few, but set ups for the future ones. Now to address a few things. No Zouken isn't defeated, his anchor is still in Sakura so the lost of his workshop and the worms is just a set back for him. So yes he lost a battle, but is still in the war. He survived HF as just a tiny worm until Kotomine finished him off by kicking him into a pit of lava or whatever hot thing he fell into. Next while I was researching the relationship between Illya and Berserker I found that after their encounter with the wolves, Illya took on some of his madness enhancement and Berserker was then able to speak to her. But he only spoke to her and not anyone else except for the two times Shirou defeated him. Those were the main two things I wanted to clear up before I leave you with the cliffhanger of a three-way battle. You didn't think the Shadow would do nothing to Iskandar and Gilles after shallowing them did you?
keybladelight: Well hopefully this chapter answers your question about how they convinced Illya. I do have a plan for Mason and Skorr's fight, though which SW lightsaber battle they reference may differ from your idea. I may use your idea to have Shirou use a lightsaber if I can fit it in since I'll admit I'm now interested in seeing that as well. For the holocrons idea, it's decent but not something that I'm able to fit in the story. What I do with Nihilus, who knows? He may appear and he might get his resurrection cocked blocked.
Kyle V: Glad you're enjoying it! Sakura is definitely being pushed and Shinji had his comeuppance. And I do make tons of references in my stories, whether someone recognizes them is another story and always appreciated!
That's it for me folks. I hope you look forwards to the next chapter as I am. Thanks for reading and I'll talk at y'all next time!