Return to Null Chapter 5:

Alliance With Berserker

Day 5

The sun beamed brightly inside the Tohsaka manor. Inside the conference and tea room, the head of the household spoke to a young priest, both of them drinking their tea calmly.

"Is there anything our little scout can tell us, Kirei?"

The priest shook his head. "Nothing out of the ordinary, Mr. Tohsaka."

"I see," Tokiomi replied. "Well, with Caster gone the others must be trying to figure out their next move. And so shall we."

Kotomine nodded. It would seem the lie worked. His Servant informed him of a new Lancer coming from the most dangerous red light district the other day with two others. He would rather see how this would play out before he decided to say anything. "What is our plan of action then?"

"The same as before." Tokiomi answered. "We wait until almost all the Masters are out of the way."

"How predictable."

Tokiomi and Kotomine turned to see a man with blonde hair wearing a white shirt and golden necklace standing by the door frame. The man stared at Tokiomi in annoyance, causing the black haired man to get up and perform a small bow.

"Oh King of Heroes, I was just about to-"

"Spare me the details, Tokiomi." Gilgamesh interjected. "I already heard everything, and once more you want to hide like a coward instead of fighting for what you wish for."

Tokiomi raised his head up. "Please, I must urge you to be a little more patient. With Caster dead, it will be only a matter of time for another to follow suit and-"

"Enough!" Gilgamesh said. "You are already wasting my time with your games, so do not presume to order me around."

Tokiomi widened his eyes in shock. The black haired Master dipped down and bowed, holding his breath in fear. "I shall find a battle worthy of you soon, King of Heroes."

Gilgamesh said nothing. The golden Archer simply scoffed and turned to walk away, before stopping in his tracks. "Be sure to not disappoint this time, Tokiomi."

Without uttering a single word, Gilgamesh left the two men alone in the conference room. Tokiomi lifted his head, and sighed in defeat. "How am I supposed to please that man…..?"

"Mr. Tohsaka, maybe you should allow him to fight one of the others to speed things along." Kotomine said calmly. "If he is wishing to fight, wouldn't it be in your best interest to please him?"

"Because we still need to wait for an opportunity to present itself." Tokiomi answered. "We have to know exactly the strengths and weaknesses of each Servant before we can make our next move."

Kotomine did not say anything in response. He simply sipped his tea as he mulled over his ally's response. On paper, Tokiomi's plan wasn't bad, and in fact is pretty smart. However, the plan also had lots of issues to take into account. For starters, Tokiomi is playing on the belief the other Masters wouldn't have thought of the same strategy, making it difficult to find any weaknesses. With Caster's death, it will now be a matter of time before the other Masters also hunker down and wait out the storm. The biggest issue was that Tokiomi summoned Gilgamesh, and the Archer has made it known of his displeasure of this strategy…

"You know, there might be an opponent for the King of Heroes if the opportunity arrives." Tokiomi replied.

Kotomine cocked his to the side in curiosity. "Who?"

"Perhaps that Saber." Tokiomi answered. "She might be to his standards."

"Ah, well Saber does seem to be the strongest out of the bunch." Kotomine replied. "She should most likely satisfy him."

"As long as Berserker doesn't find her first, then things should go smoothly." Tokiomi said.

Unbeknownst to them, Gilgamesh did not leave entirely, and stood to the side, listening in on their conversation. A wry smile appeared on his face as he begrudgingly acknowledged Tokiomi's suggestion.

(Meanwhile)

On the streets of Fuyuki, people gave a man a wide berth as he shuffled slowly and breathing heavily. He wore a dark blue hoodie with white stripes on the arms. He wore black pants and shoes. His hair was white, but so was one of his eyes. He had engorged veins, and though they weren't sure and it was most likely a trick on their eyesight, some people thought they saw something moving underneath his skin. The man took note of the stares glued to him, and he knew he had to hide somewhere to not draw anymore attention. The man found a nice park that was empty, and that would be a good place to rest. The man turned and shuffled towards the empty park, reaching it after a few minutes of struggling. The disfigured man looked around to see where he could sit and relax for a moment but also trying to keep an eye for his invisible ally. He didn't want him to materialize and give everyone a scare, but he also didn't want to faint because if he did, then his ally would torment him in his dreams….

The hooded man found an alcove of bushes and tried his best to reach them. However his body started to fail him as he shuffled closer. The last thing he saw before everything going black was the ground beneath him.

"Damn, I can't believe he's survived with all this…." A muffled voice said. The disfigured man could hear his voice, and it sounded like the person was a foreigner.

"Yeah, I know who this guy is." Another voice said. It was definitely someone from Fuyuki, a fellow native. "We might be in luck afterall."

"Is he going to be okay?" A female's voice asked. It was angelic in sound, pure and pleasant.

"His health is in danger here." Another foreign voice rang out.

"Well I can't cure him of his condition, but I'm doing my best to stabilize him." A boy's voice rang out. Kariya could only scoff mentally, it was so obvious the kid was hiding his natural accent. He must be from Fuyuki too, but too embarrassed to admit it. But there was another thing that needed to be taken into account. An important question that would not leave his mind.

Just how many people are with him right now?!

The disfigured man started to stir, the results made him hear gasps from some of his onlookers.

"He's waking up!" The second voice shouted.

"I shall find a first aid kit somewhere to help, Senpai!" The girl's voice replied.

"Don't bother." The first voice said. "Let's just hit him on the head with a vase to keep him unconscious!"

"Are you insane?!" The boy's voice rang out. "That would probably kill him in this condition!"

The disfigured man slowly blinked and opened his eyes as he moaned and groaned in discomfort. The man saw a black haired boy with blue eyes kneeling down and healing him to the best of his abilities. "Did Tokiomi and Aoi have a son I didn't know about?"

A man wearing red with white hair and another black haired man snickered in the background, trying not to laugh. The black haired boy, on the other hand, stared at the disfigured man in annoyance.

"I am not a Tohsaka." The boy said in annoyance. "Now please stay still so I can heal you properly."

"Just tell me who you are and I might comply." The disfigured man replied.

"It is okay sir." A lilac haired girl said. "We are not your foes. You are safe with us for now."

"It's the 'for now' part that concerns me…." The man said.

"Don't worry." The black haired boy said. "You're definitely safe."

"And where exactly are we?" The man asked.

"In a nice shack in the park." A man with blue hair answered. "Your little Servant friend gave us a heart attack until Morgan and Shinkaichi here got him to calm down."

The disfigured man chuckled. "You guys really are bad at being coy, you know that?"

The man in red raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that there are three Servants in the room." The disfigured man said. "And that leaves the healer here, and that girl. How in the world did two new Masters show up?"

"Actually I'm the only Master here aside from you." Ritsuka said. "But please keep that between us? I'd rather we don't have too much attention drawn to us."

The disfigured man sighed. "Well, given our current situation, I suppose keeping it a secret is the least I can do."

"We appreciate the discretion." An older man with black hair said. "Now what were you doing by the bushes like that?"

The disfigured man groaned. "I think that Shinkaichi kid over there can tell you what's happening with me…."

Ritsuka nodded and looked at Waver and Emiya. "He's got multiple creatures crawling in his skin. They're definitely the source of him fainting, and causing him no small amount of immeasurable pain."

"So he's going to die." Waver said.

"How observant of you." The disfigured man snarked. "Do you want a prize, detective?"

"Drop the attitude." Emiya said. "There's no need to be a dick to us right now."

Mashu cleared her throat to lighten the mood. "I am sorry for being nosy, but are you pushing yourself to help someone?"

"That isn't any of your business." The disfigured man said.

"Maybe we should be asking a different question." Cú said. "Perhaps we should be asking you where you were headed originally."

"If you must know, I was hoping to find the Master of Lancer." The disfigured man answered. "I want to make an alliance with him."

The group raised an eyebrow in surprise. Waver could not believe what he was hearing. An alliance between Kayneth and the Master of Berserker…this was definitely not something he remembered happening.

"Do you guys know where he is?" The disfigured man asked.

"We do know." Waver answered. "I'll see if he'd like to meet you."

Waver turned around and activated a Mystic Code to speak to Kayneth. Meanwhile Ritsuka stopped his healing spell, got up and offered the disfigured man a hand. The man refused the offer and slowly got up on his own before hissing in pain.

"Would you like some water?" Mashu asked.

"It's pointless." The disfigured man said. "It won't dull the pain in the slightest."

"Given your situation, it's a miracle you're still standing at all." Ritsuka replied.

The disfigured man groaned. "Can you stop speaking with such a shoddy Tokyo dialect? Use your real one for crying out loud."

Ritsuka's mouth hung open in disbelief. "Okay is there like a sign somewhere that says I'm using a fake dialect? Because the amount of times people have continuously brought it up is ridiculous."

"Maybe they wouldn't if you'd just talked normally." The man countered.

Ritsuka sighed. "Fine fine, I'll just resort to soundin' like a damned mobster. That good enough for ya?"

"Much better." The man said. He then turned to Emiya with a curious gaze in his one good eye. "I heard you saying you know who I am."

"I had a feeling you were listening in." Emiya replied.

"And who exactly are you?" Cú asked. "You do look familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

"My name is Matou Karyia."

"Well we at least know the name of Berserker's Master." Ritsuka replied.

"And now for the real question." Cú said. "Whatever is inside you will kill you soon, so why are you fighting in a Holy Grail War when you might not even see the end of it."

"That's my business." Kariya said. "But now that you know my name, its time you all tell me yours. And for that boy, his real name, not his home district."

"Emiya Shirou."

"Cú Chulainn."

"My name is actually Mashu Kyrielight. I apologize for any deceptions with my alias…."

"Fujimaru Ritsuka. Now which Servant were ya lookin' to…..take care of?"

"I have one particular Servant in mind." Karyia said. "But the details of who that is will be reserved for Lancer's Master if he agrees to meet with me."

"Fair enough." Cú replied.

"Okay, Lord Kayneth has agreed to meet with you." Waver said as he deactivated his Mystic Code. "However, he has a few requests before you meet with him."

"Let me guess, Berserker is to remain outside the room when we talk." Karyia replied.

"That's one of them, yes." Waver answered. "The next request is that you refer to him as Lord El-Melloi."

"I'd be stupid to disrespect a Lord of the Clock Tower, so that shouldn't be too difficult." Karyia said.

"The last request….is for you to tell him of your condition."

Kariya's good eye widened in shock. "You told him?!"

"Actually no, he had a couple of familiars keep tabs on you for a bit before you went off the grid." Waver said. "Regardless, those are his terms."

Karyia nodded. "If it means I get an audience with him, then I will agree to those terms."

"Before we go though we have to deal with Berserker." Emiya said. "He'll draw attention if he's not in Spirit Form."

"He's smarter than he looks." Karyia countered. "Now let's stop wasting time and head over to him."

Ritsuka nodded and opened the door to the shed. The black haired boy waited for everyone else to get out of the cramped space before closing it behind him and catching up with the others to head over to Kayneth's suite.

Off in the distance, a lone Servant watched them leaving their abode. The person wore a black cloak with a skull mask. They continued to watch them in interest as she saw Ritsuka walking towards the others. The Servant tilted her head in curiosity as she sensed something within the boy. It was familiar, yet also astonishing when she realized what it was. He was a Master. The woman decided that it was enough of an investigation, and left.

She had to report this to her Master Kotomine.

It took only about twenty minutes for the Chaldeans and Karyia to reach the hotel and head up to Kayneth's suite. In order to make sure Lancelot wasn't by himself, Mashu volunteered to stay behind to keep him company, with Cú deciding to stay with her just in case anything happened. That left Ritsuka, Waver and Emiya to join Kariya as he proposed his alliance with Kayneth. The white haired Master had agreed to keep their real names a secret so as to make sure the meeting went well, and was surprised to see Kayneth had one of his familiars prepare tea for them.

"I can't believe I'm sayin' this, but ya actually make some good tea." Ritsuka said. "And now I'm complimentin' ya…..what is this world comin' to?"

Kayneth chuckled. "Well, someone like me has to know how to appreciate the finer tastes in life. However, I used to have an assistant who I wanted to do things for me, but I got rid of them just ten minutes after I hired them."

"Why would you fire them?" Kariya asked in curiosity.

"They made the most horrendous tea imaginable."

Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. "How bad are we talkin'?"

Kayneth shuddered. "To begin, they merely dipped tea bags in the water before taking them out a few seconds later."

Waver raised an eyebrow. "Why would anyone do that? You have to let it sit!"

"That is exactly what I told them after their biggest mistake." Kayneth replied.

"Biggest mistake? I'm almost too scared to ask…." Emiya muttered.

"Well they asked if I take milk, which I do…..and they just poured almost half a gallon of milk into the beverage!"

Waver stared at him in slight confusion. "Are you saying that that's how he made the tea?"

"Yes."

The three men stared at Kayneth in horror. Waver stared at him with widened eyes, while Karyia shivered at the response. Emiya nearly choked on his tea in disgust, but Ritsuka, on the other hand, went pale and covered his mouth as he started to heave.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…." He muttered.

"That assistant is no true British man in that case!" Waver shouted.

"Indeed." Kayneth replied. "Now, let us get down to business. Matou, why do you want this alliance?"

"I want to take out Archer."

"Get in line, we all do." Emiya replied.

"Ah, but you all don't have a counter to his fighting style, now do you?" Karyia countered.

Ritsuka said nothing. He heard from Emiya about Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, and how the white haired man can counter it with his Reality Marble, but in order to make this alliance possible, they would have to keep this secret for now…..

Kayneth, on the other hand, grinned at Karyia's response. "Now you have my attention. Do go on and explain."

"I….cannot explain it in detail as I do not know my Servant's name, Lord El-Melloi." Karyia answered. "But all I know is that he can use Archer's own weapons against him."

Kayneth chuckled. "That is a good trick of yours! I must commend your wisdom in coming to me to propose this alliance."

"I suggest we hit him two nights from now if possible." Karyia said as he slowly attempted to get up from his seat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to-"

"Not so fast now." Kayneth said. "I do recall one of my demands for considering this alliance was for you to tell us of your condition. And I do not intend to let this opportunity slip through my fingers."

"You should be able to tell with your own eyes." Karyia said in annoyance.

"I know you're dying." Kayneth countered. "What I want is details. How you are dying, and why. I mean, why fight in your condition if you won't see the end of the Holy Grail War?"

"Tch, fine, guess it was going to come out at some point…" muttered Kariya, milky eye shifting to the center in festered anger, "Guess the quickest way to explain it is with these."

The Matou scion raised his hand, palm upwards, and began to draw from his pitiful reserves of magical energy. It was relatively easy in theory, but never became less painful. Within a second, a lump could be seen emerging and pushing against the skin until the man's body could no longer restrain it.

*SPLAT*

Using a rudimentary barb, a worm burst through Kariya's skin. It was an obscene shape, resembling an erect human phallus with countless barbs and sharpened teeth nested in its lamprey mouth. It screeched in a shrill voice, hungry for more magical energy to fuel its growth but lacking an easy meal.

"Gross…" muttered Ritsuka, who had seen the entire display.

"That familiar…" muttered Kayneth, cold blue eyes putting together the facts he had just learned, "That worm…it consumes human flesh to convert it into magical energy and fuel its growth. I would suspect that it could also take several forms depending on its intended function. However, the fact its default shape is-"

There, Kayneth stopped, his mind already reaching an uncomfortable conclusion. Waver shifted his feet unconsciously at the sight. Kayneth really was a researcher, thought Waver, and dissected the Matou Magecraft at a single sight…and came to the same result Waver had upon his second trip to Fuyuki to disassemble the Greater Grail.

"Yeah, I feed them with my body, and they fight for me." confirmed Kariya, dropping the juvenile worm onto the floor.

Without any further meals, the worm fell pathetically and began winding on the floor, seeking flesh. It became more pale, losing whatever vigor it had before, until - eventually - it shriveled up and died on the cold surface.

"Disgusting," commented Emiya, steely eyes repulsed by the sight, "That shape…is it fair to assume that their preferred targets are women?"

Karyia gritted his teeth and turned to face the red-garbed Servant. He didn't want to drag Sakura into a meeting with unknown Mages and Servants…but if they had already figured this out, it wouldn't do well to hide at this point.

"Yeah, they're apparently quite fond of females. That's why-" started Kariya before being cut off by another voice.

"You're tryin' to save someone, aren't ya Matou-San?" asked Ritsuka.

"...I left the Matou family when I was young. I wanted nothing to do with it, even though I was the first one in the family to be born with halfway-decent Circuits. I turned my back on everything, never once thinking about what the old bastard would do." explained Kariya.

"Bah! You're now in a war with Mages despite turning back on our world! What could compel you to come crawling back?!" asked Kayneth, vein bulging in his head at the Matou scion's lack of Magus mindset.

"The Tohsaka, Tokiomi, gave their second daughter to the Matou. Tokiomi, that bastard, gave Sakura to those disgusting things!" yelled Karyia, practically snarling in response.

"Please calm down Mr. Matou." Waver said.

"Calm down? That's easy for you to say." Karyia snarked.

"Your sentimentality is becoming quite bothersome." Kayneth replied.

"You don't understand!" Karyia shouted. "A girl's life is in danger! My father had no intention of passing down our Magic Crest to his successors! He intended to take over their bodies and possess them!"

"Then why didn't you just kill your father when you summoned Berserker?!" Kayneth asked.

"I already thought of that." Karyia answered. "But he was already ten steps ahead of me and made sure those worms would eat my brain or heart if I tried.…."

Kayneth said nothing. The blonde Master stared at Karyia with interest as he tried to piece everything together, and none of it was pleasant in his opinion. If this man's father thought this far ahead, it meant that he was purposefully setting up his own son to fail and die, and possibly torment him for his own amusement. But the real matter of concern is the old man's plans for this Sakura girl…..if he was intending to possess her with those worms…. Kayneth shivered at the implications. Ritsuka saw this and began thinking of how to approach this issue.

"I can save her."

"But my father would stop us." Karyia said. "If she's rescued he'd know that I told someone!"

"Don't worry about that." Ritsuka said. "I have a place or two in mind for Sakura to lay low until Archer is taken care of."

"And how do you intend to deny Karyia's involvement in all this?" Kayneth asked.

"What makes you think he's comin' with us?" Ritsuka asked.

Karyia raised an eyebrow. "I…don't understand…"

"Then allow me to explain." Emiya said calmly. "What Shinkaichi is suggesting is that while a group of us go rescue Sakura, you stay somewhere else far from the household. That way he can't pin this on you."

"But he'd most likely figure out that he had some involvement since you'd be taking this girl away from him." Kayneth countered. "Who else would know of her situation but Matou here?"

"That's only if we just saved her." Ritsuka countered. "I've got a few ideas to make this look like an accident."

The male Master looked around curiously before returning his gaze to Kayneth. "Do ya have any spare long coats or somethin' that I can borrow? It's gonna be cold tonight."

Kayneth raised an eyebrow. "What on earth do you mean by that?"

"Please, just let me borrow a coat." Ritsuka said.

"I may have one for your size, but whatever you are planning, do not over do it."

Ritsuka nodded as Kayneth pointed at the closet to his left. Ritsuka got up and took a look at the closet, checking each jacket to see which one suited him best. The black haired boy saw a dark blue overcoat that struck his fancy, and put it on with enthusiasm. He then turned to Emiya with a determined look. "We're gonna need one other person to make this work."

"Let's get Morgan on this one." Emiya said. "Having another girl there might calm Sakura down."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Wait a minute." Karyia said. "Why are you going out of your way to do this? I just proposed taking Archer out, so what do you have to gain from doing this?"

Ritsuka cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Gain? What do you mean gain?"

Karyia raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that you're doing this because you WANT to help?"

"Well…..yeah? I mean a little girl's life is in danger. What more reason do I need to help in rescuin' her?"

The two other Masters stared at the boy with their mouths agape. This boy is unlike any Mage they have ever encountered before. Karyia, on the other hand, also felt something he hadn't felt since he first entered the Grail War. He felt hope.

"How can I help?" He asked.

Ritsuka got a piece of paper from his pocket alongside a pen, and wrote something down before handing it to the white haired Master. "Go to this location. This is where we'll bring Sakura to lay low for the time bein'. And until this Grail War is over, we'll be bringin' her to different safe houses to keep her away from your old man."

Karyia nodded and took the paper from the boy and took a deep breath. "Just make sure she comes out of there alive…"

"Oh don't worry, she'll be in good hands with us." Ritsuka said. The black haired teen looked at Emiya with a knowing smile. "Are ya ready?"

Emiya smiled back. "More than ready."

"Then let's stop wastin' time! We have a lot of work to do tonight."

Without uttering another word, the two men left the room, leaving the two Masters in silence as they watched them close the door. Ritsuka and Emiya found Mashu and Cú standing near Berserker with curious gazes as they turned to stare at them. Ritsuka simply looked back at Mashu with a calm gaze. "We're going to need your help with something."

"Senpai, where are we going?" Mashu asked.

Ritsuka grinned and took a deep breath.

"We're going to save Sakura, and stop Zouken in its tracks."