"So… This is the place…" Muni finally lifted her grim gaze from her tablet. Standing before them, rolling out in all directions, was a massive, wealthy estate. Her technological prowess—and Rei's "rich girl network" connections—pinpointed this mansion as the secret hideout of one of the other Master Servant duos of the latest Grail War. Even more importantly, though, rumors whispered that the mansion also hid the vessel of and for the Grail. Maybe Hapiara was borderline insane for challenging such a fierce opponent directly, but that was Rinku Aimoto for you.
"Not so secret anymore!" she singsonged and laughed as she also turned her gaze towards the mansion. "Let's go say hello!"
"Rinku!" Muni reached out in exasperation, but the nimble adventurer had already darted out of her grasp.
"She is right, though," Rei bit her lip as she turned from Rinku to Muni. "We came here on a mission. We cannot turn back now."
"I- I know that!" Muni stuttered, clutching her tablet to her chest like a shield. You don't always have to be so serious, ya know?!
"Woo hoo! Come on, guys! Hurry up! This place is beautiful!" Rinku cried as she danced and spun down the cobblestone path.
"Rinku! Hush! You'll give us away!" Muni whined across the gardens. That was why they'd come at night, after all. Rei could only shake her head and chuckle as she followed quietly after the other two.
When they reached the golden doors of the estate—illuminated gently by lamps hanging on either side of the door—two of the girls felt their stomachs churn as the butterflies and nervousness returned in earnest. One of them felt nothing but sheer excitement. And the fourth, silently watching over them through the first, was nothing but vigilant. The moment her Master excitedly rapped on the mansion door, though, she inwardly stiffened, a wooden training sword being tightened in her grip.
"Is this the humble abode of one… Miyu Sakurada?! Nice place you got here!" Rinku beamed at the camera directly over the door as she pounded on it. Muni could only facepalm while Rei smiled weakly up at the camera as well. After a moment more, someone answered.
"Hullo? Huh? Who are you guys? We aren't accepting any door-to-door salesman this late at night!" The girl was short, and she had large, white pigtails. Her voice was nasally, and her face was scrunched up in a distrustful, wary pout.
"You aren't Miyu Sakurada!" All three of Hapiara stepped back in surprise, but Rei was the only one who fully verbalized her surprise. As Muni noted earlier, Rei's connections to the rest of the local aristocracy aided in the quest to narrow down potential Masters of the Grail War. Sakurada was on the suspect list from the beginning due to their immense wealth, even if they were one of the quieter families, but this girl—
"Yes, I am!" Her grin stretched from ear to ear as she bounced back and forth from foot to foot. "You can't prove otherwise!"
"Well, for one, I know that Miyu Sakurada has pink hair!" Rei insisted, fumbling for her phone in her pocket, praying she had a photo of Miyu on it.
"And we know this is her house!" Muni snapped, shoving her tablet in the little, white-haired girl's face.
"Oh, tracker and GPS, huh? So that's how…" The girl leaned back so she could read the screen properly. "Impressive… I still don't know when or how you managed to slip that on us…" Her voice was still childish, soft, and high-pitched, but now there was a dangerous edge too.
"Step aside, small fry!" Muni commanded grimly, as if to push her way into the mansion. We got a Master to find and Servant to kill!
"Hmph. This is my show, you know?" The girl sniffed as if she'd been truly offended, and she even let Muni shove past her into the entrance hall. "And really, you should stick to picking on people your own size, but… if you insist on a bigger opponent…" She turned around with a sad expression, hands open as it in deference to Muni. Muni was finally suspicious enough to pause in her tracks, turning around, eyes narrow.
"What are you talking about…?" she growled. The other girl was now beaming beatifically.
"This is… Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Kurumi! And my "little" friend is…"
CRASH! THUD!
A bellowing roar deafened three of the four girls at the base of the grand staircase, generating a wind that whipped their hair back.
"Wh-WHAT IS THAT?!" Muni nearly dropped her tablet as she jumped back and shrieked.
Kurumi cackled as she held open her arms. "Oh, Ber~ser~keeeer!" she sing-songed, and the fiery beast on the stairs roared again before easily leaping the entire staircase in one, simple bound.
CRASH! THUD! For a second time, the behemoth shook the mansion; it was a miracle the titles didn't break beneath the monster's massive feet. Its skin was the color of fire—red and orange with hues and flicks of yellow—and it had long, wild, dark red hair whose tips burned with endless flame. Its face was contorted into fury, mouth full of razor-sharp and bright white teeth. It wielded a large, metal sword, crude, like a giant slab of metal molded slightly in a rectangular shape. It was a slab of iron, lined with dents and scratches from ages and battles past.
"B-Berserker…" Rei's knees knocked as she clutched her chest, looking seconds away from fainting.
"Of course!" Muni despaired at their rotten lock, arms falling to her sides as her knees also knocked. S-so… THAT little brat is the Master?!
"Wow!" Rinku, meanwhile, was starry-eyed. "What a big fren!"
"She IS, isn't she?" Kurumi crossed her arms and smirked. "My friend, Haruna! A famous leader from AGES ago; a Chairm—!" Berserker bellowed again, interrupting her Master. "Ugh, yes, yes, yes, all right, all right, I get it, you don't like that name, it's too… stuffy. You want to be called "Berserker" because that's what you are!" She strode past the petrified Muni and Rei, facing her Servant with a likeminded Hellfire in her eyes. "And who am I to deny you, fren? I only give you a hard time when it's just us! But with guests? Well, be mine…"
With a wicked snicker that eventually devolved into a full-blown cackle, Kurumi pranced over to Berserker's side and happily climbed onto the giant's shoulder. "It's time to play!" she sing-songed, pointing at Rinku. "Berserker vs. Saber!" My big strong Deborah! Sting like the bee that you are! You overthrow ancient tribes and literally struck the fear of God into their hearts, but you were a hero to your people!
While Muni and Rei continued to panic behind her, Rinku fist-pumped the air. "All right! Let's go, Maho! Saber vs. Berserker!" The red Command Seals on her arm glowed red, and a moment later, a young woman only a few inches taller than Rinku materialized before them, clad in a simple gi and wielding a bamboo training sword. Kurumi scoffed and cackled again.
"You have Saber, but Saber only has that twig?"
Maho steadily beat her palm with the bamboo blade, eyes narrow and grim, drifting from Kurumi to her Servant. "You, of all people, should know not to underestimate your opponents, Ms. Shiratori, no matter how small they seem" she remarked coolly. A flicker of fear, insecurity, did indeed surge through Maho's body. It was true that she was a newer Servant—once a woman named Nakazawa Koto—a Japanese swordswoman and Onna-musha of the Bakumatsu period. She died in 1927, almost a century ago, but she could sense that her opponent, Berserker, was far, FAR older...
And unlike her Master, she is wise. She will not underestimate me, even though it would be understandable if she did. She understands that I have a hidden strength in the very fact that I am a young Servant. She doesn't know my style yet. No one does. That didn't guarantee Maho would be strong enough to outlast Haruna, but perhaps she could outwit her…?
"Come on, Rinku!" Maho waved her sword.
"Huh…?" Kurumi, Muni, and Rei were all surprised, but none more so than Kurumi. She fights WITH her Master…?!
"You got it!" Rinku flashed Maho a thumbs up before spinning away, towards Kurumi and Haruna, but veering to the left as well.
At the same time, Maho plunged her bamboo blade into the tile floor of the Sakurada mansion. Finally, it shattered, and a shockwave blasted from the blade. She made sure that Muni and Rei were safely behind her, and Rinku out of the blast radius. "HAPPY QUAKE!"
Kurumi and Haruna weren't so lucky. "Grrr!" Kurumi growled and clenched her hands into fists. Ooooh, did she hate to lose or be taken by surprise! It wasn't so fun when the pranks were turned on her! "Go, Berserker, go!" she commanded. Haruna roared again, the fire at the tips of her hair brightening, then she lunged at Maho.
The battle was fierce, and despite Berserker's obvious size and strength advantage, Saber held her own against the raging warrior.
"But it won't matter if we never get anywhere!" Muni fretted as she ducked, dived, and dodged the literal earth-shattering blows the two Servants exchanged. She grabbed Rei by the hand and dragged her down yet another long, winding, elegant hall, the floors shaking no matter where they ran.
"Remember! I believe she is trying to draw something out of Ms. Shiratori and her Servant by insinuating that Rinku is critical to her battle!" Rei reminded the shorter girl breathlessly as the mansion continued to collapse around them, the sounds of battle rising and falling intermittently.
Rei was referring to part of Nakazawa Koto's story. Koto was proud as a swordswoman and decided she would only marry a man stronger than she. However, apparently no living man was able beat her in a duel, so she remained single all her life. In fact, when Rinku summoned her for the first time, it was quite by accident. Even Nakazawa was surprised, not just because someone like Rinku was her Master, but that she was a Servant at all. The last she remembered of the world, it was October 12, 1927. Now it was almost a century later. This was her first Grail War. But as all of Hapiara was slowly learning, part of the reason Rinku summoned her of all Saber Servants was…
"I think you're the one… who could take me to the places I've always wanted to go…!" Those were some of her first words to her new Master, and it had been a fast friendship ever since. Granted, Rinku befriended anything that moved, but Saber quickly found that she had an excellent synergy with her Master. That was invaluable, for the strongest Master and Servant would be rendered weak if they lacked a genuine bond. Rinku and Saber's bond was more than genuine. Even now, although Saber loathed putting her Master in danger, she understood that it was a good battle tactic. And I'm counting on you to be that warrior stronger than me! You can do this! You can survive this fight, magic or none!
As their battle against Kurumi and Berserker—also an odd couple with a stranger synergy—continued, Maho shouted commands to Rinku that were ultimately meaningless, but all served the purpose on deceiving Kurumi and Berserker into thinking that Maho truly did rely on Rinku during combat. Not only would that divide their attention, but especially if the rumors were true about the Grail's vessel residing within the mansion, Maho wanted to see if coming up with a similar story about Rinku would evoke any reactions out of Kurumi. Kurumi definitely had the spirit of a Berserker, but unlike Haruna, she lacked the centuries of the fires of war it took to temper her into a slightly more controlled warrior.
Haruna bellowed again, shattering the windows closest to her. Smirking, Maho brandished her sword while Rinku ran away behind her. She knew Muni and Rei were still looking for a place to hide, and more secrets to steal. If they had to be trapped in the mansion, the least they were owed were a few clues for their troubles. And little did they know, they were about to get exactly what they wanted. As the mansion continued to quake and groan beneath the strain of the battle raging on within its walls, a new pair of eyes pierced the late-night darkness.
There were indeed far more people in the mansion than it seemed. Kurumi and Haruna were but humble gatekeepers. Deeper within was a tiny blonde and a pink-haired girl—the real Miyu Sakurada—but they were not alone. Others sat and whispered, the air full of magic and Traces. A ritual, a secret ceremony, was happening beneath the foundation of the estate. The newest Grail was forming…
AN: I've been toying with a Kurumi-Berserker!Haruna fic ever since realizing how similar that could look to Illya and Hercules, LOL! The difference, though, is that Kurumi isn't the Grail Vessel. In this canon, it's either Miyu, or she's helping the one who is.
And Hapiara is Shirou, Saber, Rin, and Sakura, LOL!
Also Haruna is Deborah from the Bible (see Chap 2 of this fic)
Also also this breaks the rule of Masters and Servants not being in the same unit, sorry, LOL! But it keeps the DJs-only for Heroic Spirits! And I almost gave Maho to Muni or Rei to avoid making the vocalists the Masters, but Rinku as Shirou fits too well, LOL!