Fuyuki's nights resemble those of other small towns. There are more nocturnal and trendy areas and deserted regions, but in a connected world like this, there is one constant: security cameras.
They are scattered throughout the city, and a Magus cannot easily blind or detect them. Controlling Fuyuki's public and private security camera systems will give me a good advantage in the war.
Magus tend to be proud and believe faithfully in their ability to manipulate information. Still, they worry too much about eyewitnesses to events rather than more tangible evidence like videos and photos. That's how I got a lot of the information about the fourth Holy Grail war: low-quality images that would give little credibility to the untrained eye. An average person would think it was a modified video or attribute the footage to another phenomenon, but not me.
Since I already knew of the conflict's existence, it was easier to attribute the origin of the recordings to it. Even though the recordings are of very poor quality, if you can gather enough evidence, you can infer the rest of the events. That was 10 years ago when surveillance was still in its infancy; the cameras were of inferior quality, and most of them were interconnected to private networks without an internet connection.
Nowadays, the circuits are connected to the internet, which makes life easier for people like me. Sitting in one of Fuyuki's busiest nightlife squares, I had my laptop over the table and tried to look as natural as possible. Next to me was a old woman selling okonomiyaki, and I was a customer.
"Studying even in your leisure time? That's commitment!" the lady said as she handed me my order.
"Yes, colleges are getting increasingly demanding, and I've never been very bright," I replied as I continued to type with one hand, and with the other, I began to eat.
A few minutes passed, and finally, the Nmap report was ready. Here was a good place to leave one of my devices. In the area, there were a lot of open networks and most of them were easily hacked with my brute force algorithms, since most of the general public doesn't change the default passwords of the routers. For the few that seemed more complicated, I could use one thing or another of social engineering.
For now, I've been satisfied with that. Most of the city center is already interconnected, and now I have control of about 90% of the city's private cameras. The biggest challenge would be getting access to the public system, but with Rider's help, that would be solved today.
I've finished passing the settings to my PIC16F877-based microcontroller. That was revolutionary. By sheer coincidence, I stumbled upon a scientific paper by a group of Italians. The project was still in its infancy, but I could use the paper to develop my integrated circuit version, focused on Wi-Fi networks and minimal operations. It had a 3G chip for remote access and other small applications such as Aircrack-ng and a Python compiler if I needed to do a more advanced operation in the area.
In a matter of minutes, everything was ready. I closed the laptop and looked for somewhere nearby to deploy the system. With basic settings, the IC's built-in 2000 mAh battery should last at least a few weeks, as I didn't intend to leave the system on for 24 hours.
I positioned the device on the underside of the bench in the square, and it adhered tightly because of the double-sided tape I had placed on the IC. It was well hidden and protected from rain and other outside interference. It was enough. I got up and walked around the city again.
"Can you hear me Rider?" I asked mentally.
"Of course, Shinji." She replied it seems to me that it will take me a while to earn her respect.
"Even after all that, you still don't recognize me as your master Rider?" I asked curiously.
"I only have one Master Shinji, and she's the one who brought me into this world," Rider replied coldly.
"Fair enough. I just want to know your fighting skills, energy reserves, and, if possible, some details about your fighting style; I haven't seen any mounts so far, so I'm curious." I asked her.
"At the moment, I shouldbe able to fight the other servants but if the fight drag's on or other servants appear it might be a problem. Apparently, my magic reserves aren't being replenished as they should be, but I should be able to fight at least once with full force. About my fighting style and my secrets I'd rather not share them with you at this moment." As I expected, she didn't say much about her powers or abilities, but the information that caught my attention the most was the magical reserves.
"How come your magic reserves aren't being replenished? Aren't you getting enough prana from Sakura?" I asked curiously.
"It looks like my master doesn't have enough prana to feed me properly," she replied without elaborating.
It makes some sense. Zouken must be pressuring Sakura's Worm Crest to keep her in line, in that sense this going two ways he will limit my options and keep Sakura on check. It's no problem; there are other ways to supply a servant.
"Tell me, Rider, do you have any problem using human souls to replenish your prana?" If I managed to impress or scare her with the question, she didn't show it.
"No, Shinji." She replied blankly.
"Great! How many souls would you need to access your powers on a regular basis?" I'm methodical. I need numbers to be able to plan in the best possible way.
"If I were to fight with all my might every night, at least a few hundred a night." Every time I needed to use all of the Rider's capabilities, it would cost hundreds of lives.
For a moment, I gave a faint smile. I would become a Zouken little by little; if I decide to fight this war head-on, I will become my own enemy, and I will probably curse my soul or what is left of it forever.
But is my soul really worth saving?
Hadn't I already decided to do what I could to get Sakura free?
If I need to become a demon and sacrifice hundreds, and if that guarantees her freedom this is a fair price right?
After all, as an ordinary person, how could I win this war?
Just by becoming a demon, someone capable of doing anything for victory, this is the only to be on par with my enemies.
"Got it. For now, you can still fight at full strength once. We have one last place to visit tonight." I continued walking through the city towards the public buildings, more precisely towards the surveillance and public security secretariat.
I needed an internal backdoor in the building, and to achieve this, I had to access the building physically. I stopped in front of the building and asked Rider.
"Can you get me inside the building? More precisely, in the mainframe room in the basement of the building?" Rider nodded. In the blink of an eye, I was already at the front of the room inside the building.
I blinked a few times and let out a slight laugh.
"Wow, is that the average speed of a Servant?" I thought as I made my way to the mainframe.
Upon arriving, I plugged in a USB stick with a customized version of a lightweight, fast-booting operating system, such as a custom version of Linux Live USB. It took me a few minutes to boot the mainframe with my system.
First, I used a known exploit to access administrator privileges. With that, I exposed a communication port and set up a backdoor using Netcat. I configured the backdoor to automatically start with the system, ensuring continuous access.
To mask the port, I associated it with a logging daemon as the main one, and, in case I was caught, had a backup hidden in the local connection network service. If I was careful, it would probably go unnoticed for several weeks, long enough for the holy grail war.
"Now I just need to monitor the connections and make sure the traffic looks legitimate," I thought, pleased with the progress.
I opened the laptop again and tested to see if I had access to the mainframe. A few seconds passed on the service connection, and I was about to start setting up the mainframe again when I finally got access through the laptop.
I was satisfied. With some additional configurations on the laptop, I was able to see the first images of the public camera circuit, and I started to investigate the residential area; the goal was just to test the circuit, and by pure coincidence, I ended up connected with a camera in front of the Emiya residence.
I smiled from the corner.
In front of me were four figures; of the four, two I knew well, Emiya and Tohsaka, from opposite sides, and in the middle of the street, the two seemed to argue; next to each, there were figures at least fanciful.
The taller one was besides Tohsaka, he has white hair and dark skin. He's wearing a long red coat that moves a lot, and he's holding two big curved swords. The outfit looks like some kind of armor or a costume. He seems to be in a battle-ready pose.
The other one was right in front of Emiya, like a knight from a fantasy world. She have blonde hair tied back, and she are wearing a blue and silver armor suit. She is holding a large, ornate sword with both hands, she seem very serious and determined.
Someone could say they were cosplayers, but I knew they were servants.
"Did Emiya really get into the holy grail war? Impressive, I didn't think he was such a good magus capable of summoning a servant on his own, but what impresses me the most is Tohsaka, so she decided to attack Emiya first?"
No, the pieces weren't fitting together.
It seemed that Emiya was fighting with his own servant, and Tohsaka was laughing.
"A misunderstanding, then?" The two approached each other and seemed to talk until they made their way to the church.
I closed the laptop and stood up.
"Rider, I need one more favor if it's possible; I'm curious to see what's is going to happen on the church, I'm sure the interesting things of tonight haven't happened yet," I asked her, and my only response was a nod again.
I collected my equipment, and in a matter of seconds, we were a few meters away from the two of them.
"Being physically in place doesn't help much. I still can't hear what they're saying, and I might need to put a recorder in either of them." The two argued in front of the church while a human figure under an almost ridiculous raincoat watched. I imagine it's Emiya servant.
"Rider that figure in the raincoat?" Ask.
"The servant." The answer comes almost monosyllabic.
After some time, they started to go down the street. They were already walking next to the city cemetery, one of the parts I had the least coverage, since the area practically deserted it only have the traffic cameras focused more on the streets than the cemetery itself.
I just saw someone who looks mysterious and intriguing. She a have long, white hair and are wearing a long, dark purple coat with a matching hat. There's something unusual about her and she seems different from the city people maybe a foreign master?
She was apparently not an ordinary girl since she managed to hide her presence from both until Tohsaka, who was in front, suddenly stopped.
Perhaps she had finally noticed the girl?
Her Servant materialized behind her, but there was no sign of a fight.
They were arguing for a while until I saw something else appear from the side of the girl who was followed them almost without any sound it appeared.
Tall, with muscles that didn't look like humans and a gigantic stone sword, the figure made his shadow appear behind the girl; now, it was, without a doubt, another servant.
Perfect, in one night, I managed to find out the identity of half of all the other masters; all that remained was to know what their classes were, and with any luck, the girl was confident enough to start the fight right then and there.
I was lucky she was very confident in her Servant, and the fight started. Initially, I thought the girl's servant was from the Saber class. Of course, the stone sword and the physical characteristics fooled me right, but as soon as the fight started and the warrior moved with such brutality and madness, I let it escape.
"Berserker... Can you analyze the fighting capabilities of the servants at this distance Rider?" I didn't have confidence in my observational skills, whether or not my eyes alone could abstract the most crucial information.
"If we were closer, the information would be more accurate; my vision at the moment is compromised; I can navigate using my other senses; the closer we are to the battle, the better." To get closer, is it? We may be detected or, worse, sucked into this battle.
"Is there any reason you're blindfolded?" I expected her not to answer me, but I had to ask.
As expected, I didn't get any response.
I needed to get as much information as possible, and this was the perfect opportunity; even with the risk of being detected, we could just retreat. I doubt that the Berserker master, after having all the trouble of cornering Emiya and Tohsaka, would give up on them so easily. It was probably my best chance.
"Let's get as close as possible, Rider. If we are detected by any of the masters or servants, we will retreat at the same moment, understood?" I gave her the instructions.
"Alright, Shinji." She nodded, and we moved closer to the conflict. Standing in the cemetery's trees just a few feet behind the little girl, I could finally hear something. At that moment, I started to write down everything that was said on my small notepad, I couldn't use the computer since the light of the screen would probably give us away, and it wouldn't be wise of me to trust my memory. I needed to study that first encounter as much as possible.
The battle was frantic; the servant, clashing head-on with the Berserker, was thrown from one side of the battlefield to another, and she had difficulty taking the initiative.
"It seems to me to be the Saber class servant, Shinji." It was the first time the Rider spoke up without me having to ask, but I was too absorbed to pay attention to that detail.
"How can you be so sure? I can't see the weapon she's using from here," I said.
"I can feel that it's a sword, to be more precise, a weapon of the holy type." She was more specific.
"Holy... a servant of the Saber class with a holy sword is it? It's already something; keep watching, and if you see anything interesting, let me know right away." I continued to pay attention to the fight.
While the powerful slashes were exchanged between Saber and Berserker, the servant Saber got a slight advantage after Berserker misses a vertical slash toward the ground. She stepped on the stone sword and, with a side slash, tried to strike his throat in an attempt to decapitate him.
The warrior dropped his sword and unleashed a series of bare-handed attacks that pushed her away from him.
Then Saber thought out loud.
"Even engulfed in insanity, the dexterity with the sword was not lost, impressive."
Frustrated, Rin screamed.
"Archer, assist!" in a matter of seconds, an arrow crossed the entire battlefield, hitting the Berserker and creating a small explosion, but to no effect.
Perfect. Now that I knew the class of the 3 servants, Archer, Saber, and Berserker, counting with Rider, I only had to identify 3 more servant's: Caster, Assassin, and Lancer.
The fight continued if the fight continue like this, Saber would be defeated by Berserker.
"The end has come; finish her off, Berserker!" The girl orders Berserker.
At that moment, Tohsaka runs towards the Berserker, and Emiya screams.
"Tohsaka!" She approaches and hurls some gems towards him. As the gems stand just above him, they crumble, and immediately afterward, a gravitational field forces the Berserker to its knees.
"Archer!" Tohsaka screamed, and soon after, a powerful volley of arrows fell on Berserker, causing another explosion.
However, after the smoke cleared, the imposing figure of the immortal warrior remained standing.
"It seems to me that only blows from noble phantasm can hurt Berserker. It seems that any lower-level attack is simply ignored; it can be a noble phantasm of his." Rider speaks without showing much interest, and I quickly write down the information.
The fight intensifies, and soon, Saber and Berserker head towards the graveyard, but there are some loose ends. I would love to look at the battlefield of the two servants and try to find some clues about the jewels Tohsaka used, but Emiya ended up being left behind in shock.
It doesn't help that Tohsaka and the other master got separated and headed towards the woods near the cemetery. We must separate.
"Rider, keep watching the fight between Saber and Berserker. I'll try to get more information about Tohsaka and the other master." I opened my backpack and grabbed the Glock G19. I had just brought an extra magazine, me and my overconfidence. I put the gun on my back, and I took the little Karambit knife. I didn't intend to get into that fight at all, but going unarmed against two experienced mages was a death certificate if I was caught.
I finally left the backpack on top of the tree. The moment after I stepped on the ground, I felt the tree move. The Rider must have moved to observe the fight more closely; without me, she should have been able to get closer to the two without being detected.
I ran towards the forest, which was not an unusual area for me; in fact, I had spent a few nights in that region, I never thought that the time I spent alone as a child running through the forests would be useful to me.
It took me only a short time to track them down. Tohsaka wasn't careful, and in an attempt to chase after the other master, she left traces. After a few meters, I was standing in front of both.
Tohsaka positioned herself with her left hand supporting her right arm, with her right hand pointed directly at the girl's back. Without hesitation, she fired at her.
Red orbs go at a frightening speed for their size. They should be the same speed as paintball bullets.
The attack was inefficient; small birds that seemed to be made of crystals dispersed the attack.
"Oh my, that was scary, so scary." Still lying on her back, the girl spoke with a hint of humor; then she turned over and added.
"Attacking without warning? You are behaving like an animal, Rin, or is this the renowned fighting style of House Tohsaka?" She gave a cruel smile.
In theory, I would have the advantage. At the moment, I am on high ground and have full vision of the two; it is unlikely that the girls will stop fighting each other. However, I need to know my enemies better and especially accept my limits. Even armed, any magic that hits me with a graze will already be enough to kill me. I need more information.
I need to know my enemy better. The more I know about him, the greater my chance of success.
"Ha! You've already declared the start of the battle yourself, Illyasviel. Once the battle begins, don't you expect aggression? Or are you planning to make another grand entrance?" Tohsaka retorted, causing the girl's cruel smile to fade away.
"Introduce myself again? If it were someone else, I might consider it, but since it's just you, I'm not in the mood. Besides, saying my name to someone who's about to die is a waste of time. So, out of respect for you as a representative of the three great houses, I, as a representative of the Einzbern, will finish you right here." The girl said, now turning completely around.
The battle started again with magic projectiles, but the only thing I could think of was the three founding families: Matou, Tohsaka, and Einzbern. From what I read in the library, they were the ones who developed the ritual for the Holy Grail War. Probably the two most powerful mages in the conflict were before me. I did the right thing not to start this battle.
The little girl began a relentless series of attacks with her familiars on Tohsaka in order to prevent her from being able to have a clear field of vision, which caused her to trip and fall into a slope just below the ground.
She spent some time there until she finally got up and came face to face with the Einzbern again.
"A direct attack? It's bravery but foolish of you, Rin." Einzbern responded with surprise.
Taking advantage of the apparent surprise, Tohsaka began to run to outflank her. The little girl only redirected her familiars to attack.
But before the attacks could get there, Rin responded by throwing some green jewels into the air and shouted something I couldn't understand, probably German.
The stones turned into a rectangular shield, and she used the protection to destroy the familiars more effectively, managing to kill some.
But when she was about to shoot down other, the bird turned into a sword and quickly pierced the rectangular shield.
"You may have been able to defend yourself from the Zelle, but block the Degen, you won't, and I thought you were going to put up a good fight. Anyway, you don't get past here!" She turns another familiar into a sword and fires at Tohsaka.
In mid-air, the sword is intercepted by two arrows. It goes towards where I was hidden, and by a miracle, the sword only cut my cheek slightly; for a moment, I thought my position had been discovered, but it was impossible; if that was the case, one more arrow would be enough to end my life.
After that, the two retreated. I was going to take advantage of it to analyze the terrain and understand the two's abilities. The battle between Saber and Berserker will be the focus of both. They must have regrouped in that direction.
I need to study the battle marks while they are still fresh to better understand their capacity for attacks. I will start with Einzbern, as she seems more dangerous to me at the moment.
I checked the small craters that the birds' lasers made. They were a little stronger than I expected, the size of a pen. I stuck my finger in to try to see how deep the hole went, and I was startled. It penetrated several inches into the earth, even though it was a soft earth, and the fact that it had been several minutes, the earth was still hot.
"If I had been shot like that, it would have gone through my body like it was nothing. Depending on where it hit, it was certain death." I thought aloud contemplating Einzbern's capabilities.
So the shield that Tohsaka summoned earlier will be capable to repell the bullets from the G19… Great, just getting better and better.
As I looked to the side, I saw the size of the crater created by the sword.
The speed at which the sword shortened the distance was frightening, almost as fast as a bullet, you could say as strong as a cannon shot and with the size of a European sword.
I let out a smile.
Perfect they are even stronger than I expected, a mobile cannon that switches between calibers in a matter of seconds and an unpredictable mage that can use jewels to create different effects on the battlefield.
So far, Rin is able to fire projectiles from afar, create shields, and even create zones of increased gravity; things are getting more and more complicated. What's left to happen? Will anyone be able to fire a nuke?
I heard the wind howl, I saw what seemed like a shooting star crossing the heavens, and the next moment, hell was summoned on the earth, a gigantic explosion practically destroyed the center of the cemetery; the winds almost threw me backward, and I was left without reaction.
For a moment, I fell to my knees and left without action.
How could I win this battle?
What were my advantages?
A laugh began to wash over me as I shed a few tears, win would be almost impossible.
How long had it been since the explosion?
How long had I been there?
My questions were not answered, but my thoughts were interrupted when Rider appeared in front of me.
"Are you okay, Shinji?" The question caught me off guard, and I answered.
"Worried?" I tried to be funny, but I couldn't get any reaction from her.
"Anyway, that explosion, do you know what that was?" I asked and Rider responded immediately.
"A noble phantasm probably Archer." I had already inferred this, but it's good to be sure.
"Do you think you could survive this attack?" The question finally managed to elicit some emotion from Rider.
"Don't... impossible. If I had been hit by that, I would have been defeated immediately." So, fighting Archer would be bad if we can't fight in a limited place.
"And Saber do you think you can beat her one-on-one?" I had some hope for the next question. Shirou is the best target now, especially if I want to keep him out of combat; it's better that Rider and I beat his servant before things get worse.
"If I use all my powers, and Saber hasn't hidden her abilities in the fight against the Berserker, I'd say yes." Rider's answer gave me some peace of mind.
No... I'm not being rational enough; Berserker's master has some kind of personal anger against Shirou; if I remove his servant from him, his safety would be my responsibility.
The best way to do this is to ally myself with the two of them; maybe together, our 3 servants can stand up to Berserker and with that I gain more time to study both Archer and Saber and maybe I can find their weaknesses.
"Good to know; let's go to the crater; I want to understand the full power of this noble phantasm." Rider disappeared, and I headed toward the graveyard, approached the crater, and looked toward the bottom.
The hole was almost two meters deep, but what impressed me most was what I saw inside. There were several glimmers in the center and around the crater that seemed to reflect the moonlight. I approached and was amazed by what I saw.
The glowing stones were Alamogordo glass, a residue only produced by atomic explosions. Are you telling me that that noble phantasm has the concentrated power of a nuclear explosion?
But it didn't seem so destructive to me. Maybe the force is concentrated in a small radius to maximize the energy value of the explosive charge.
Great, one more problem to solve better not stay here too long; I also have no idea if there is still any nuclear waste or something worse.
As I left the crater, I was startled: a man with a red spear and blue-collar was in front of me.
"Wow, you're pretty observant, aren't you? But I don't think you're a master... at least I can't feel any prana coming from you" Damn a servant, the next moment Rider materializes in front of me.
"There's no way we can end the night without a fight? I can pass on to your master the information I have obtained." I couldn't let Rider fight, especially a pointless fight like this.
"Oh, you're one of those guys, aren't you? Driven by logic, but unfortunately for you, I only care about a good fight!" Said the Servant Lancer excitedly, running towards Rider.
