"At the highest point of the lush canopy of a tree, under the starry mantle of the night, knelt a figure, their silhouette barely visible among the dancing shadows cast by the leaves swayed by the gentle night breeze. Clad in dark robes that merged with the darkness of the surroundings, their posture was that of a solitary observer, a silent witness to the world unfolding at their feet.
With their gaze lost in the distance, their eyes shone with an enigmatic intensity, reflecting the silver light of the moon filtering through the branches of the tree. Their hands rested on their thighs, knuckles tense with anticipation, as their mind delved into a sea of deep thoughts and intimate reflections.
Not far from them, a group of five people remained silent, their figures barely visible in the shadows. With meticulous gestures and penetrating gazes, they seemed to be analyzing every detail of the surroundings, as if seeking to decipher some hidden enigma in the night.
Among the group, a diversity of expressions could be perceived: some showed curiosity, others caution; some more, a certain dose of disbelief at the scene unfolding before them. However, they all shared the same purpose: to unravel the mystery surrounding that enigmatic being, whose presence defied the laws of the night and gravity itself.
Some exchanged furtive glances among themselves, as if silently discussing the meaning of the scene before them. Others kept their hands near the hilts of their weapons, ready to act in an instant if the situation required it.
Taking his chin in hand at the sight before him, he thought about the best way to act to end the Magi quickly. He could play with his prey, but that would be too risky in his current situation, even with his expanded arsenal after his rejuvenation.
Ten years had passed since the Fourth Holy Grail War, in which he had participated alongside his wretched father. Since then, he had learned that he couldn't trust anyone, not even his supposed allies. He had learned this lesson too late, but it had helped him strengthen himself, making him even stronger than he was in that war.
His physical abilities had skyrocketed to superhuman levels after being bathed in that strange mud, without needing to use mana to reinforce his muscles to increase his speed. Now he could easily surpass the reaction time it took for the brain to send a command, from 0.5 seconds to 0.1 seconds, a significant margin to be able to assassinate his opponent with a single attack.
Adding to the fact that his rejuvenation by that mud came with a gift, a kind of killer curse that clung to his body, trying to kill him at first by sucking his mana like a parasite. But fortunately, the cursed thing had a physical body, which showed itself when it was absorbing. He quickly captured it with a bewitched object, forcing it to bond with him, a slave to master pact. It took him some time to do it, but it was worth his time when the curse served him as an infinite weapons storage bag and a few other tricks up his sleeve.
One could never be too cautious when it came to hunting Magi. Since his near-death experience ten years ago, the Magi had become quite arrogant, especially the Clock Tower, which believed itself untouchable since the death of his master. But that was their big mistake because six years ago when he became active again, he started hunting them one by one, earning the nickname that ironically belonged to the bastard who almost killed him, better known as Kiritsugu Emiya.
He was irritated when they started calling him that nickname because he wanted to cut all ties he had with that man who betrayed him in the past. But it seemed that the past always caught up with him, the remnants of that man were still in this world, now in the form of what seemed to be his replacement student, Shirou Emiya. The brat not only had the surname of that bastard, but he was also his student, being taught magic, something that Kiritsugu never did with him, only training him in the use of firearms.
If asked if, despite the years that had passed, he was still resentful of that man, he would say yes without a doubt. Infantile on his part? Perhaps, but who could judge him? The bastard was the only father figure he had since he was ten years old, rescuing him by chance before he was sold like cattle for who knows what experiment by twisted Magi. Being the only figure to follow he had at that time, he grew fond of the man, even though he was cold. But he taught him to defend himself, and that was in the past because the bastard was already dead from a curse that had been haunting him since he met him.
But now that was the past; the bastard would stay dead, and he couldn't take it out on a dead man. Nor was he so barbaric as to murder his daughter; the brat wasn't to blame for being born, including his mother. He didn't hate the woman, but they didn't have the best relationship, at best it was stable because they only had one or two interactions because he was on mission after mission. He was sure that was because of Kiritsugu, who kept him away from his wife to avoid establishing a real bond, and his death went as planned so that he wouldn't feel sad. But now who would deny him having some connection with that woman, and well, as the saying goes, every woman has her needs, isn't that right?
Having as a last bonus that there was the boy Shirou being the last student of his master. Why not teach him what the big leagues were? He had a whole feast to enjoy to mess with his master all in front of him, something he wouldn't miss and would enjoy every moment of playing with the brat and Tohsaka, well, she was merely someone who shouldn't have been there at the moment with the wrong place.
But now that he was fully paying attention to them, he could see the brat Illyasviel if he didn't remember badly with his servant who more than a man seemed a beast ready to unleash chaos at any moment. It didn't take a genius to realize that that servant was a Berserker class. Annoying if he had to face him but knowing facilitated things when the brat ordered the beast to find them, making him have to act intercepting Berserker.
Starting a battle where they unleashed blows destroying the place where they passed, but Berserker who was on the offensive all the time made Saber have to dodge to give a precise blow. Propelling himself from a tree to jump in the air, he went straight against Berserker, colliding with both their weapons until he grabbed him by the foot, slamming him to the ground a couple of times until he threw him against a wall, receiving great damage undoubtedly due to the significant strength difference, although he was sure that was more due to the weak master than Shirou.
He could have mocked internally more about the pathetic master that someone like Saber had but his instincts warned him of imminent danger not far away, making him clench his fingers at the interruption but acting quickly, he moved from tree to tree using the branches as support, leaving the explosion radius generated behind him. The dust wave that rose took a few seconds to dissipate, but he could see them clearly, the idiot Shirou had tried to protect Saber, knowing she could recover with some mana, but it didn't matter, the fool had fainted from the damage he received to his person.
Both Saber and Tohsaka went to help him while Illyasviel was on Berserker's shoulders, that could be the best opportunity to kill three birds with one stone, but what fun would he have in doing that when he wanted to play with his prey? So, without wasting time, he jumped from tree to tree until he ended up near enough to them to see them better.
But he wasn't so stupid as to rush at them head-on. He could clearly feel the servant who launched the previous attack, probably Archer by the distance he covered and the precision given to Berserker by them. He only took a gun from his back, a simple pistol that he aimed in Tohsaka's direction, aiming at her head without waiting a second more to open fire, seeing what he wanted, the bullet was about to hit Tohsaka when a weapon intervened, deflecting the bullet, making Archer have to show up, looking in his direction like the others by the sound of the fired gun.
"You know, it would have been better for you if you died with that shot, it would have been one less problem to deal with."
"Wh-who the hell are you, you're not a master, what are you doing here?"
Smiling mockingly at Tohsaka's nervousness at the clarification that she had almost died if it hadn't been for Archer's timely intervention against his shot, aiming his weapon at Saber's clear face of shock at seeing him alive after being pierced through the chest by his sword, he decided to satisfy her question merely out of whim.
"Here our dear mutual friend Saber knows the answer, why don't you enlighten us, dear Saber."
"Y-you shouldn't be alive... I saw you die pierced by my sword..."
"Aaaa right, your beloved Excalibur sword hurt like shit, you know, being pierced like cheese is not fun as you think."
"you should be dead, how are you alive, no... if in any case, you survived that you shouldn't be the same as ten years ago."
"if our last time together wasn't the best way, right, especially for your beloved master, but now that doesn't matter because why don't we pick up where we left off ten years ago right here."
Tensing at his words, Saber didn't hesitate to stand in front of Shirou to protect him, making Archer follow his example because he didn't recognize anything about this new variant in the war, and Saber knew her from a previous war, which meant that she was dangerous because the previous Holy Grail War had been the most destructive of all.
They saw how some kind of creature in the form of a worm began to climb his leg, winding around it until it reached his torso, climbing higher, passing through his left shoulder until it finished on his right shoulder, showing his face being that of a baby or something similar where he put his hand introducing the weapon he had previously removing it, which was a kind of knife.
" I hope you're ready because right now you're my prey."
Seeing him smile predatorily, Rin tensed up seeing Saber who he was dealing with now because six years ago someone started to become famous, someone who was hunting Magi of all kinds throughout Japan, including Fuyuki some months ago. The Clock Tower alerted all Magi that this new wizard hunter was worse than his predecessor, and if this was that wizard hunter, they were screwed because none of his victims had survived to know anything about his abilities.
He was confident in the two servants, but for nothing, this wizard hunter had become a feared name among all the Magi of Japan and beyond, so he would try to get out of there running with Shirou when he had the opportunity given by Saber and Archer.
And end of the chapter."