The locals called the forest out to the southwest of Fuyuki haunted. There were dark spirits there, they said, chased out there by the temple that stood to the north – or else there were ghosts, or snow fairies, or monsters.
They were, technically, right about three of the four, and they could be forgiven for mistaking an Einzbern homunculus for a snow fairy.
But the main reason why the place made intruders uncomfortable – and why no-one who did not have business there ever entered – was because there was a spell laid on the Einzbern territory for exactly that purpose. Magi liked to work in private, as a rule.
The initial Bounded Field served as both a deterrent and an early warning system, with a subtle compulsion to leave the area that increased in intensity as one approached the boundary line and a field-based tracking spell that took effect once someone entered. Anyone who was able to resist the first was, more than likely, an enemy – so if they entered regardless the second would both alert the Einzbern magus in the castle and track the location of the intruder.
There were other Bounded Fields within woods themselves, closer to the castle. These were intended to misdirect, to confuse and lead astray. Finding the castle was more difficult than it should have been, even for those who knew where it was. Unwary visitors would find themselves becoming hopelessly lost, as each patch of forest looked identical to the next.
Sometimes, this would literally be the case – Einzbern alchemy wasn't perfectly suited to providing defensive measures, but it was quite easy to alter a forest so that half the trees were exact imitations of each other. Even scoring marks into them wouldn't help, as the curse of similarity would ensure that every tree would bear identical marks.
This was not the only defence the Einzberns had set up during over two hundred years of owning the castle.
This was a wartime residence, after all. Any time the castle was occupied, it would be on high alert. And when it was not, the defences would remain up regardless. The Einzberns had no intention of just leaving the place wide open for the Tohsaka or Matou in between wars.
(Never mind that the Tohsaka had assisted in the construction of the castle in the first place. So far, nothing had come of it, but the first thing Kiritsugu had done when arriving was search the entire place, top to bottom, for any suspicious gemstones that looked out of place. The Tohsaka were magi, and probably too honourable or pig-headed to think that far ahead, but you never knew.)
For an Einzbern Master with a powerful Servant, the defences served as a great way to aim them at the enemy and smash them to pieces. For Serenity and Kiritsugu, they would serve just as well in evading enemy Servants and getting past to the vulnerable Master – not to mention buying time for Serenity to return if the castle should come under attack while she was out scouting.
Now, her need to return was not nearly so urgent. Nevertheless, Serenity flew through the trees, quick and silent as a breeze. As the Einzbern Servant, the defences had no effect on her, other than to inform her Master of her location.
He already knew, of course. Serenity had requested a face-to-face strategy meeting between all four members of the Einzbern team, and Kiritsugu had accepted.
He hadn't asked why. Was it trust in Serenity? Had he been planning something like this himself? Serenity didn't know, but was pleased she hadn't had to persuade her Master. In any case, Kiritsugu had told her where to meet, and was even now sat in the dining room that served as their conference hall, watching his Servant's progress through her eyes. As she ran, Serenity caught glimpses of the bat familiars he employed, tracking her and watching her back in case she was followed.
The Einzbern field would do both of those things, but Emiya Kiritsugu wasn't one to rely on just one solution, especially one he hadn't set up himself. Just like him, to make doubly certain. Just like him, to make sure he had total control over a situation if he could.
This could be a problem.
When she arrived at the castle, Serenity scaled the wall, nimble as a squirrel, and let herself in an upstairs window. Had this been a normal building, she would have dematerialised to go through the walls, but for obvious reasons the Einzberns had woven spells into the foundation that would prevent spirits from simply entering as and when they chose.
Even so, her bare feet made no noise on the bare stone halls, and when she entered the dining room, only Kiritsugu looked up to note her arrival.
"Very well," he said. "What did you want to talk about, Assassin?"
"Kotomine Kirei."
Irisviel and Maiya jumped, not having realised Serenity was there. Maiya's hand twitched towards her knife, hidden in her waistband but plain as day to Serenity, before she relaxed. Kiritsugu's eyes remained as impassive as ever.
"Go on."
"Master, I do not wish to criticise or cause offence. I am your Servant, and my only role is to carry out your orders. But one of your orders was to tell you if I had doubts about your plan. Master, you are becoming distracted by Kotomine Kirei."
"Yes. I assess that he is the largest threat to our winning the War."
"No. The largest threat to our winning the War is the effect you are allowing him to have on you."
There was a brief, tense silence in the dining room, and for one brief moment Serenity worried that she'd overstepped. As the moment stretched on, Irisviel looked worriedly between Master and Servant; Maiya simply watched Kiritsugu. At last, he looked away.
"Irisviel, I have discussed my concerns with you in the past. Please tell Assassin just why Kotomine is so important."
"Kiri…" Irisviel said, looking worried.
"Iri. Please."
Irisviel studied Kiritsugu's face, then turned to Serenity. "I apologise. It is hard for him to talk about, although he is being rather childish about it." Kiritsugu said nothing. "From what I remember… it's about Kotomine's personal history. He kept on almost mastering a field of study, then leaving it aside like it meant nothing. He changed jobs three times before joining his father in the 8th Sacrament. He doesn't seem to have any ambition, doesn't seem to want anything… and yet the Grail chose him as a Master.
"The other Masters are easy to understand, and easy to predict. But we don't know what Kotomine wants, what wish he'll make on the Grail, what he will or won't do to achieve it, nothing. He's a mystery, and mysteries scare Kiritsugu. That fear is why he is focusing on Kotomine above all others."
Serenity nodded. "And what is it you are scared of, Irisviel?"
Irisviel smiled gently. "That all this will have been for nothing. That I will die, and leave this world, and Kiri's dream will remain unrealised. That cruellest outcome… that is what I fear. That is why I support Kiri."
Serenity turned to Maiya, who tensed up under the skull gaze. "And you, Maiya? Do you also fear Kotomine Kirei?"
Maiya looked down, and fidgeted. "I… I fear nothing but that I will not be useful to Kiritsugu. While I work alongside him, what I fear or do not fear means nothing." She peeked at Kiritsugu from under her hair, but he did not seem to notice, his cold eyes watching his Servant.
Serenity nodded. "I also wish to support my Master… to remove all obstacles that stand in his path, even should those obstacles be of his own making… frankly, Master, I am worried about you. Your fear of Kotomine Kirei is causing indecision, and my fear is that when the time comes you will hesitate – not delay, not wait, but hesitate. Today, with the Master of Saber… can you deny that you failed to give an order out of uncertainty?"
Kiritsugu looked a Serenity for a long moment, then gave a curt nod. "I see your point. What is your advice, Assassin?"
That… was a trickier question. Serenity was not strategically minded. She was intelligent, and cunning, and in the tactical arts of killing she had no equal – not in this time, or in hers. But her long-term planning had been limited to the running of her Society and her village, and that was a very different thing to planning a war.
Around the table, Serenity found no help. Irisviel was also intelligent, and had the totality of the Einzbern knowledge encoded into her essence as a homunculus – but in another sense, she was ten years old and this was the first time she had been outside the family home in her life.
Maiya was if anything even less suited to strategic planning. Her life had been as a foot soldier, first in whatever country she had been born in and then for Kiritsugu. She could carry out tasks, and do them well, but she may as well have been a homunculus herself for how much volition she showed.
No. For better or worse, Kiritsugu must be the one to plan and execute this War. All the rest of them could do was support him.
Better do that, then.
"Kotomine Kirei is distracting you, because you fear him… therefore, you are the wrong person to deal with him," said Serenity. "Our only strength in this War is in the preparations and plans that we make… and these must be done without emotion or favour. While your plans include Kotomine, they will never work as well… so do not include him."
"You want us to ignore him?" Irisviel said, aghast. "I… um, Serenity, I'm not sure that's such a good idea…"
"I want Master to ignore him," said Serenity. "I want him to put Kotomine Kirei out of his mind entirely, to focus on the other five Masters in the War. But he cannot do this while the problem remains. Therefore…"
Serenity turned to Maiya. "You will deal with Kotomine."
Maiya's lips parted in shock, and she looked uncomfortably at Kiritsugu. "I… if Kiritsugu commands me, then I will, but… he seems to have hidden himself extremely well, with the benefit of local knowledge, and… and I am not strong enough to fight an Executor."
"I am not strong enough to fight Saber… but I could have killed them tonight, nevertheless. You have worked with our Master for long enough… you will find a way. If needs be, you can use me, if I am not otherwise occupied. But it must be you, and not our Master."
Maiya looked at Kiritsugu. "Then… Kiritsugu, is this your will?"
Kiritsugu rubbed his eyes. In that moment, he looked very tired indeed. At last he answered. "Very well. We will try it your way, Assassin. If Kotomine appears before us, we will fight – we must fight. Until then, I will disregard him." He sat a little straighter in his chair. "Alright. Maiya, inform me if you require Assassin – in other words, if you are discovered by Kotomine before you are ready. Otherwise, I will delegate him entirely to you. Iri, remain in the castle as much as possible and co-ordinate with Maiya. Equipment, information, communications… do what you can."
"Ooh!" said Irisviel, waving her hand in the air as if in a schoolroom. "Can I be her getaway driver? We can be partners in crime! She's got the muscle, I've got the brains, neither of us have anything to lose!" She finished with her hand in a gun shape next to her head, and a fierce expression on her face.
Kiritsugu didn't answer, but Serenity saw his cheeks tense in what could have been a smile. He carried on as if nothing had happened.
"Assassin, we will focus on discovering Berserker's lair. The chance to control who gets an extra Command Spell is too important to pass up. Follow Saber for now. Archer will be better at hunting Berserker, but as tonight has shown, she can still be shaken – not to mention that Berserker seems unlikely to fall to Archer. El-Melloi will be better at tracking down Berserker's Master, and finding where they are holed up… as well as dealing with any defences they may have set up. I will follow and provide support or a distraction if necessary. Otherwise, I can continue to scout using my familiars.
"We are also missing any information on Caster, and we have only minimal information on their Master. Waver Velvet… in any case, they seem to be lying low for now, and conducting a harassment campaign against El-Melloi and Saber. If you see the opportunity to learn more, Assassin, take it. Otherwise, the hunt for Berserker is where the pace of the War is being set."
Kiritsugu stood from the table, and looked around the room, lighting a cigarette. "It makes me uncomfortable, to ignore Kotomine… but if this is Assassin's recommendation, I am willing to try. You have your orders. Rest for now. We begin our search in the morning."
Serenity bowed. "Yes, Master." Her skull mask hid her relieved expression. This, this was how she had needed her Master to be.
She just hoped he hadn't regained his focus too late.
Ryuunosuke ducked back out of the doorway, and the plate shattered against the kitchen wall. There was furniture and equipment in pieces around the room, and the trail of destruction led all the way to the temple entrance, now a scorched and blackened ruin smoking in the rain.
Ibaraki was taking her loss to Saber better than he'd expected, honestly.
Debacle wasn't a word that Ryuunosuke had had a lot of cause to use in his life, but he'd always kind of liked the sound of it. And now he had a legitimate cause to use it! So, after the debacle at the bridge, Ryuunosuke had snuck off as soon as he heard the sirens. He'd not worried about Ibaraki – partly because he could hear a steady stream of ancient Japanese curse words being poured into his head and partly because well, what on Earth was he supposed to do to help?
He'd made his own meandering way back to the temple, trudging through the rain. He'd checked for anyone following him all the way, and had still arrived before his Servant. The first indication of Ibaraki's return had been a wave of malevolent aura that hit the place like a tidal wave and sent birds flying for their roosts in alarm.
The second had been a small tree hurled against the temple wall.
That had been a few minutes ago, and Ibaraki's tantrum had already started to die down. Ryuunosuke poked his head back in. Ibaraki sat silently at the table, with a mostly-devoured packet of convenience store mochi in front of her.
"Um," he started. "You okay?"
Ibaraki turned one baleful eye on him, then huffed and returned to her sweets.
Gotcha. Sulking and comfort-eating. He could deal with that. He'd been a pretty moody kid, what with the whole obsession with death, but his mother had always managed to break him out of his funks and cheer him up again. Looks like he was going to have to play mother here.
He wandered into the kitchen, past his Servant, and didn't turn around when Ibaraki gave a low snarl. "I'm making tea," he said. "I'll make enough for two."
There was no response from behind him. The kettle had been a tragic victim of the mighty oni's rampage, but there was a pan and a pot that had survived the onslaught with only minor wounds and chipping. Ryuunosuke lit the stove, and began boiling the water.
The soft bubbling of the water was the only sound in the tiny kitchen. Ryuunosuke didn't push to make conversation. If Ibaraki wanted to talk, she would, eventually. He was pretty damn sure he was more patient than the Servant of Madness.
When the tea was done, he set a cup down in front of his Servant. She didn't thank him, only glared with one reptilian eye as he filled it up. Ryuunoske responded with nothing but a smile, and sat down across from her, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.
The tea wasn't great, but it hit the spot. It had been a long and cold night, and a hot drink was exactly what the doctor ordered.
"Sugar."
"Hm?" Ryuunosuke opened his eyes. Ibaraki was pointing one claw at her mug.
"I require sugar, summoner. Or honey, if you must." Ibaraki scowled. "It is a way of retaining what little prana I have, nothing more!"
"You got it. Coming right up." He got up and started rummaging around the drawers for sugar. Why wasn't it kept with the tea? Stupid monks, he was glad they were all dead.
Eventually, just as he was worried that monks didn't do sugar for some stupid reason like 'ooh, the pleasures of the tongue are a small step from the pleasures of the flesh, and one should strive for the pleasures of the soul instead' (Ryuunosuke wasn't very good at Shintoism) he found a small ceramic pot filled with honey. He placed it and a spoon in front of Ibaraki.
"Just honey, I'm afraid, but it should do."
"You would make the master of this mountain prepare her own tea? Move swiftly, summoner, or what follows will be dire!"
Ryuunosuke tried really hard not to chuckle. It wasn't that he wasn't scared of Ibaraki, because she was a mighty demon and he was a squishy human. But she was also acting like a petulant child, and something about the disconnect was really tickling his funny bone. Well, he was under a lot of stress.
When he was done, Ibaraki seized the cup in both claws and took a long draught. "Acceptable. Tea is not what I would have chosen, but this is… acceptable."
"I guess you'd have preferred something stronger, huh?" Ryuunosuke said. He didn't know much about oni, but everyone knew that.
"I would have preferred to be drinking sake, that is correct. I would have preferred to have my band of oni at my back, instead of fighting alone." Ibaraki sighed, eyes downcast, and a light heat haze blew out through her tusks. "I would have preferred… to have my friend and sister in this situation with me, and not a pathetic human who cannot- cannot even make proper tea…"
Ibaraki looked so miserable that Ryuunosuke just wanted to put his arm round her and tell her everything would be okay. But he was about five thousand percent certain that was a good way to lose that particular arm, so instead he sat back down.
This was no good. Ibaraki was his tiger in human form, his perfect predator who inflicted death without a second thought. They were going to have a blast together and paint the town red… but not if she stayed like this. If Ryuunosuke was going to have any fun anytime soon, he was going to have to – he shuddered – cheer his Servant up.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" he ventured.
Ibaraki glared at him, a defeated expression on her face. "What good would that do, summoner? You are not one of us, and would never understand. Were it Shuten here with me, we would laugh and rage and fight against all the forces arrayed against us, and beat them all and return for revels on the mountain until dawn. Instead, I am alone, and weak. Far too weak, for what must be done."
Ryuunosuke did his best to try and look comforting. "I thought you did fine! You were up against two other Servants at once, and still managed to match that Saber blow for blow. Well, up until the end, the whole debacle with the rain of arrows and that weird silver blob. But you'll know to watch out for that trick next time, and she won't catch you off guard again." Or he? It was really unclear.
"Saber is not the issue," growled Ibaraki. "They will get what is coming to them, and burn in the Flame of Mt Ooe. The issue is the bounty they mentioned." Her forehead creased, folding the tattoos into odd shapes.
"Oh… I was wondering about that. So, what is it? Money?"
"Fool!" Ibaraki's eyes flashed. It was scary, but it was better than her being miserable. "What good is your modern money to a Servant? There are only two things that motivate Masters and Servants to work together – either the promise of a Command Spell, or else a monster so awful that the War must be placed on hold," Ibaraki sneered.
Ryuunosuke winced. "I, uh, I guess we attracted a bit more attention than we thought with our attack on the Copenhagen. That's, that's my bad." Darn, and he'd been so proud of his idea.
"It was a foolish move and you should feel ashamed," snapped Ibaraki. "But, in this case, I do not think it was your fault. Even if you were not careful, I was. I am as sure as I can be that no-one observed us, and the evidence cannot be traced back to us. We have not been so indiscreet as to warrant the Moderator calling for our heads… unless he is not as impartial as he seems."
This was all getting a bit confusing. "So… it wasn't our attack on the Copenhagen?"
Ibaraki waved a hand dismissively. "It may well have been the excuse. But if not that, it would have been something else. If I were to guess, he had some other reason for either uniting the other Masters or giving out a Command Spell or both. My question is, how did they know about the attack?"
Ryuunosuke tried to follow. "They… couldn't? Because you were super-careful, right?" A thought occurred, the twist that would naturally follow in a murder mystery. "Which means… one of us let him know? It wasn't me, I swear! Don't kill me!" He waved his arms frantically.
Ibaraki snorted, and flicked a finger against his forehead. It felt like a hammer blow, and Ryuunosuke felt his chair tip back. "Don't be foolish, summoner. We were observed. And since I felt nothing, I have only one suspect."
Ryuunosuke snapped his fingers. "Don't tell me, don't tell me… Assassin, right?"
Ibaraki smiled sweetly. Or at least, she showed her teeth.
"Yes. Some nasty little spy has been meddling in the affairs of their betters. And how like an Assassin, to tattle to the Moderator and make all the other Servants do their dirty work."
That was kind of smart actually. Ryuunosuke would totally have done that if he'd thought of it. "Despicable," he said. "So, um, where does that leave us?"
Ibaraki's feral mood soured. "Too weak, as I said. One Servant, I could have handled. Two, I can survive. But all six, united against us? It was an alliance of heroes that destroyed Mount Ooe, and an alliance of heroes threatens us now. By calling on the Moderator to unite the War against us, we are almost surely doomed. But, we now have one advantage."
That was good. Ryuunosuke didn't see how, but if Ibaraki could see a bright side then he wasn't going to argue. "What's that then?"
Ibaraki smiled, and her tusks gleamed. She clenched one claw. The tea cup fell from her hands as powder.
"There is now nothing more they can do to us. We are both of us condemned for our crimes. Only death awaits us. They believe we have broken the rules already? They have no idea what is coming."
Ryuunosuke was liking the sound of this. "So… we don't have to be careful anymore?"
"No!" Ibaraki slammed her hands on the table, and a spiderweb of cracks spread from the tiles underneath. "We must be more careful, if we are not to be defeated. The Servants are just as dangerous as before, and all of them will be focused on our defeat. We will need to pick our battles, or we will both die. But all the rules that held us back, everything we did so as not to draw attention… yes, I think we do not need those anymore.
"Come, summoner. In the morning, the oni will rampage through the city, one last time. And we have our first target. We will turn this city upside down, and when we find a certain creeping, sneaking, spying Assassin…"
Ibaraki cackled – and it was a proper cackle, high pitched and uncontrolled.
"We'll rip them apart."
