Ryuunosuke dreamt of a city in flames.
Not Fuyuki, as it happened. It would have been understandable if he had, but no. The buildings were shorter, older, made of wood and stone rather than steel and glass. The streets were narrow, designed for horse and cart rather than cars, and the people that rushed through them bearing weapons and buckets of water wore peculiar archaic clothes rather than the suits Ryuunosuke was used to seeing.
Japanese history hadn't exactly been his best subject, and he'd never exactly taken an interest in it. Still, even he recognised the temples and pagodas of Kyoto when he saw it. Had he taken a school trip there at some point? Who even knew.
Still, he saw it, clear as day. Too clear. This had the clarity of memory, with none of the symbolism and strange double-existence that objects in dreams had. The sounds of roaring fire and shouting men were distinct and detailed in the way that sounds in dreams weren't; the smell of smoke and burning flesh, even more so. Ryuunosuke would have sworn he was awake… except he had no body, no control over what he was seeing. All he could do was watch.
Ryuunosuke would have been the first to admit he wasn't the brightest bulb in the drawer, but he wasn't stupid. Now, he didn't know the first thing about ancient Kyoto. In fact, he could think of only one connection – his Servant. His Ibaraki was from there, wasn't she? And this dream was clearly magical in some way, which meant that this whole thing was, somehow, to do with her.
At the thought, he relaxed. If it was Ibaraki, he had nothing to worry about. He sat back and enjoyed the spectacle, waiting for her to make her appearance.
He didn't have to wait long. His view focused on a narrow street, packed wall to wall with guardsmen in armour carrying spears. They pressed forward, shouting and thrusting – and were scattered like ninepins. Ibaraki emerged, swinging that great bone blade with reckless delight, an enormous smile on her face. Something was off, though. What was it?
"Wahaha! Fear me, men of Kyoto! The great Ibaraki-douji comes once more to burn your town and steal your treasures!" She brandished her sword, accidentally blowing a hole in the stone wall next to her and causing the building on the other side to shudder. Ibaraki looked at the damage she'd caused, seeming surprised, but rallied quickly. "Er… see how puny your human dwellings are before the might of the Mt Ooe oni! Ahahaha!"
The sword was really too large to use in these tiny streets, Ryuunosuke thought – perfect in open battle, but it only got in the way in close quarters. Still, he wouldn't want to be the one standing in front of it.
The soldiers before Ibaraki quailed, but their captain held firm. "Hold out, men! Buy time for the onmyouji to arrive! They'll seal these demons. For now, steel your courage, and protect the Shogun and the princesses!"
Ibaraki laughed again. "Yes, yes! Give your all, fight and die under an oni's blade, that's how it should be! When your onmyouji come, I'll flatten them as well! Come!"
Ryuunosuke watched the exchange, amused, but still something seemed odd to him. Then he realised. Ibaraki was having fun. Even as she set about the soldiers, scattering them every which way and sending them flying with great sweeping blows of her sword, she laughed with glee and excitement. Even as the captain duelled her with skill beyond any of his men, scoring lines of blood on Ibaraki's shoulders and wrists that flowed down her body to meld with her tattoos, she never lost the joyful enthusiasm of battle.
It was a side of her he'd never seen. In the Holy Grail War, Servant Berserker had fought hard, and with intensity, but she'd always had an undercurrent of grimness to it all. She hadn't enjoyed wrecking Ryuudouji temple like this, or feeding on the patrons of the Copenhagen. When she'd set out to bring Fuyuki to its knees, she'd done it methodically and with great efficiency.
If he had to name an emotion to associate with his Servant Berserker, he wouldn't have said enjoyment, no. What drove his Servant, from the moment she'd been summoned, through her battles against Saber and Caster, that made her act so differently than the laughing demon he saw in ancient Kyoto?
Even in the middle of her duel with the captain, she was forced to defend herself from the soldiers pouring in – and though each lightning-fast swing of her sword held the power of an avalanche and crushed men in armour like bugs beneath a boot there was no end to them. A spear found her side, slicing a tear in her banana-yellow kimono. She incinerated the lucky soldier with an offhand gesture, but the motion let the captain hammer his sword through her guard, sending Ibaraki skidding sideways before she regained her balance and set the street shaking with another titanic blow to create distance. Still she smiled.
"Is this all you have, warriors of the capital? Why, even the children on Mt Ooe put up more of a fight when we send them to bed!"
The soldiers quaked, but held fast. The captain held his sword up in a guard position. "You'll be sleeping in the ground soon enough, demon. While I am here, no oni will ever set foot in the Imperial Palace!"
"Oh?" a voice answered from behind him, and Ryuunosuke's mind froze. "Then where did I find this princess?"
The voice was like honey, smooth, sweet and sultry. It dripped into his ears, and his brain melted at the sound of it. His vision – so clear before – went hazy. Details blurred, colours became hyper-saturated, and he felt his point of view spin slowly. With the voice came a gentle smell of fruit.
With the smell of fruit came madness.
The captain and his soldiers collapsed. Some convulsed. Some screamed. Some clawed at their own faces until blood dripped down their chins. Some simply stared blankly, eyes filled with the horror inside their heads.
All Ryuunosuke could focus on was the monster, stalking out of a side street.
It was tiny, shorter even than Ibaraki. It looked at first glance like a beautiful woman, with slender pale limbs and short dark hair pierced by a pair of horns flowing naturally from its forehead. It was barely-dressed, a too-short purple kimono vaguely tied with a sash around the waist. Where Ibaraki had tusks, the monster had fangs, which it bared in a sickly-sweet smile as it emerged from the shadows.
In one delicate hand, it held a young girl by the hair, dragging her along the street. She was still alive, but if Ryuunosuke was any judge, that wasn't out of any sense of mercy. The girl's face was a mask of terror, and she huffed out shallow breaths at irregular intervals. After a moment, Ryuunosuke realised she was trying to scream with a voice that had long since howled itself hoarse.
Ryuunosuke had never been so frightened. Ryuunosuke had never been so fascinated.
"Oh, Ibaraki, you have been busy," the monster purred, looking at the carnage. "You work too hard, you know…"
Once again, the voice oozed like sweet poison into his mind, and melted everything before it. Ryuunosuke told himself this was only a dream – only a memory, of long ago and far away, and that it couldn't hurt him. He wasn't sure he believed himself.
Ibaraki blushed, and rubbed the back of her head. "Stop it, Shuten… this is all for your sake, you know."
The monster – Shuten – shrugged, one pale bare shoulder rising and falling. "I'm sure I never asked you to come along… all I said was that I was going for a trip. You turned it into a full-on raid by the Mt Ooe oni all by yourself. You really should try to cut loose a little more, Ibaraki. Being so serious all the time can't be good for you…"
"You should be a little more serious sometimes, Shuten! If you keep on running around doing whatever you want like this, that stupid onmyouji will find out it's you and send that cow and her Four Whatsits after us." Despite her scolding, Ryuunosuke couldn't help but notice the dopey smile on Ibaraki's face. Was this the reason she'd been fighting? "Honestly, I don't know what would happen if I didn't keep on covering for you like this."
"Oh, it would all work out. They're only humans, Ibaraki."
Ibaraki fidgeted. "Well, yes, of course. Nothing can stand before the might of the oni, that's obvious… but even so…"
Shuten stalked past her, patting her on the shoulder. "You worry too much. If anyone makes trouble, we'll just kill them… hm? Ibaraki, I might be imagining things, but have you found a toy for yourself?"
"Huh?" Ibaraki cocked her head. "I… no? What do you mean?"
The monster Shuten-douji looked directly into Ryuunosuke's eyes – and he was caught. His world narrowed to a pair of violet eyes, while everything else became nothing but a blur. His heart hammered in his chest, and seemed to distort everything in mad ripples. He fell, deep into those pitiless eyes…
… and woke up in a cold sweat.
He looked around frantically, and found himself in the room he'd been staying at in the temple. It was pretty spartan, even by the standards of, you know, monks – just a little cell, with four bunks and nothing much else. On the other hand, he didn't have a whole lot of possessions, so hey, maybe he was cut out for the monastic life after all. He breathed deeply, trying to shake the smell of fruit from his mind.
What was that?
The door opened, and a beautiful dark-haired woman entered, bearing a tray of tea and toast.
"Morning, sleepyhead!" she said. "Well, calling you 'sleepyhead' is a bit cheeky of me, since I was the one keeping you under… and it isn't actually morning, either… um, let me try again! Good afternoon, Master of Berserker! Pleasant dreams?"
He shuddered, violet eyes flashing inside his head. He grabbed a mug of tea and sipped it, grateful for the distraction.
"Not so much, hm? Not to worry, dear, dreams are just that most of the time. Unless you got really unlucky there should be no lasting side effects. Now, what's the last thing you remember, my love?"
The last thing he remembered? At the moment he was having trouble remembering anything but the monster from his dreams… but slowly it began to come back to him. Berserker was ripping up the town, she got in touch to make him use his Command Spells to get him out of a sticky situation, and then…
"She knocked me out!" he blurted. "I thought Servants couldn't do that!"
"Oh, no, we can," said the woman. "There's not a lot of situations where we'd want to, but the only thing that really stops a betrayal is the Command Spells, and unless you're expecting something most Masters aren't quick enough on the draw to stop us… oh, where are my manners? I'm Servant Caster, dear, and I'm the one that controlled your Berserker to get you out of the picture for a while."
The woman smiled genially, and Ryuunosuke felt his stomach drop. He looked with panic at the tea.
"Oh, don't be silly, I don't need to feed you anything to bend you to my will," said Caster with a fond smile. "The tea is just tea, I promise."
Berserker! Called Ryuunosuke inside his mind, with rising panic. A little help! This crazy bitch has me captured!
There was no reply.
"Yes, I'm afraid I've sent Berserker on a little errand," said Caster. "Now, we don't want her getting distracted, so I've cut off the connection between you two. Yes, Command Spells too," she added, as Ryuunosuke looked at his hand.
When he eyed the door of his cell, trying to work out if he could risk making a break for it, Caster sighed. "Oh, relax. Honestly, if I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't have woken up. Oh dear, that sounded like a threat, didn't it? It really wasn't meant to be…"
Ryuunosuke eyed her warily. "So… you said you were keeping me asleep? Does that mean you woke me up? Why?"
"Ooh, you are a sharp one. Actually, I'd thought you were dumber than that … well, maybe it's just long-term planning you're not very good at…"
There was no point in strangling her, Ryuunosuke reminded himself. It was never good to just murder someone out of passion without any planning or forethought, and besides he'd probably turn into a newt before he finished the job.
"But, yes. There's someone here to see you! So, drink up and make yourself presentable, there's a dear."
Ryuunosuke swung himself out of bed and rubbed his eyes. No point in arguing. He didn't want to find out what Caster did to stubborn Masters. But there was no reason he had to like it. "You can't just fairy-godmother me into a pretty dress? Sheesh, what kind of witch are you?"
He was rewarded with a genuine laugh, Caster apparently taken by surprise. "Would you like that?"
"Hey, I'm not just talking any dress here. Full-on Disney Princess, or nothing."
"Well, I can certainly manage one of those…" Caster said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
Despite himself, despite the fact that he was a prisoner, despite how his Servant was God-knew where, Ryuunosuke felt the tension he'd been feeling lift. Was it just another magic thing? He hadn't seen Caster do anything…
Out of nowhere, a question occurred to him.
"Hey, Caster…"
"Mm?"
"How does someone become a wizard?"
Caster stilled, and peered at him. "Now that's a question. Why do you ask?"
It was the obvious response, but it still threw him. He took a moment to arrange his thoughts.
"Look, before all this, I was just kind of coasting through life. I had my interests, but no purpose, you know? Then, I tried a demon-summoning ritual, just for fun, and suddenly there's this whole world out there, that I never knew about. Magic, wizards…" A pair of violet eyes rose up in his memory, and his vision swam. He shook his head, and violet turned to yellow. He smiled. "…monsters. It's goddamn terrifying, but I gotta know more. No way I can just forget all this exists."
Caster looked thoughtful. "Mm… there are worse reasons for getting into this world. Unfortunately, I can't help you."
"That's OK. No worries. Just thought I'd ask, cause, you know, you're probably the best spellcaster around."
"Top three in the world right now, actually… oh, this is so frustrating. It's not often you see someone come along with a motivation like yours, and I'd like to see what you could make of yourself. But I can't. Really, I'm tempted to take you under my wing, but I'm already busy with one student already, and, well, Berserker would probably get all jealous if I took you away from her…"
She put her knuckles to her head in thought, seeming to genuinely struggle. Ryuunosuke couldn't help but smile.
"Hey. Like I said, no worries. I'll figure something out."
"Hmm, yes, but I'd like to have helped at least a little… well, I'll have a think and see what I can do for you. It's such a shame, but you'll probably be dead by the end of the war, anyway."
That brought Ryuunosuke up short. "Huh?"
"Oh, yes, you and Berserker haven't made a lot of friends, you know? I understand everything, of course, but off the top of my head, Saber and Rider are especially angry at you. Well, mostly Berserker, but she's a tough cookie, and it's always easier just to go for the Master. I'm afraid you don't stand a chance against either of their Masters, so all they have to do to get rid of Berserker is stall her long enough for their own Master to find you. And, well, you've rather made that their priority with your gamble today. Now, you would be safe, because no-one knows who you are, but… ehehe…" Caster fidgeted, and poked her fingers together sheepishly.
Ryuunosuke didn't like where this was going. "What did you do?"
"Um, you know what, we're wasting time here, and this is all really something you should bring up with the Moderator, he's the guy that's waiting to see you, by the way… out you go, young man, chop chop!" Caster chivvied Ryuunosuke out of the room, and he let it happen – apart from anything else, the Servant was vastly stronger than he was.
He'd gotten used to the explosive force Ibaraki's twig-thin arms could generate, but then she was always supposed to be a front-line fighter. He'd had an image of Casters as the nerdy bookworm Servants, but it looked like even they were beyond even most human weightlifters.
There was no other word for it. This world was so cool.
There was something melancholic about Ryuudouji Temple, Risei mused. He wasn't about to tell anyone else how to run their religious sites, but seeing it all dead and empty was sad. It ought to be, if not full of life, then at least tranquil.
The only signs of life were Caster and her Master, working in the open space of the courtyard. What they were doing, Risei couldn't say.
The place was half-destroyed. The temple property was encircled by a high stone wall. This was still intact, but the torii gate had been left where it was, hurled across the courtyard to lie embedded in the public-facing shrine. The temple complex had once stood as a handful of ancient buildings made of stone and wood, surrounding the temple itself. This now sported a hole large enough to drive a truck through, the stone of the walls blasted through to wreak havoc on the interior.
The beams and posts that had supported the buildings had been strewn around the courtyard, nothing more than splinters. Risei picked his way through it, avoiding sharp spars of wood, and the dark stains on them. Wind whistled through the macabre forest, and through holes in the structure, and Risei pulled his priest's robes tighter around himself. It really did look like some natural disaster had hit the temple.
But no. Berserker had wrecked this place, just as she would go on to wreck all of Fuyuki. If Risei had paid more attention, if he'd kept a better eye on things, would he have been able to see Berserker's rampage coming? Could he have reacted better to it? There was no way to know. Risei said a prayer for the monks, and made his way to the kitchen – one of the only parts of the temple left intact.
Caster had woken Berserker's Master and left him there to get his bearings before fetching Risei. For his safety, or so she said. Risei wasn't entirely sure how much he trusted Caster. She was entirely too happy to admit to casual mind control, and seemed to have a penchant for deception and trickery. Not to mention, if she was to be believed, she was the one that had forced Berserker to hurt him, back in the church.
Risei rubbed the burn on his cheek absently. It would leave a horrid scar, if he ever made it through this mess. With one final look back at Caster and Waver Velvet as they picked over the wreckage of the shrine, he opened the kitchen door and went in to meet the Master of Berserker.
