Chapter 202
Beneath the sunshade offered by the large umbrellas, Svin and Rin sat down to eat at a nearby cafe. They were almost done with their reconnaissance, the survey confirming what they had suspected. The land was running rampant with energy, an inexplicable amount of mana that was ripe for use when the Holy Grail activated at the end of the war. If she wanted to, she suspected she could attempt the ritual at her own residence and succeed in summoning the Lesser Grail. Whether the system would accept it though was another matter.
Thinking about it, it could be possible that the unknown Master of Lancer could try doing it, but she quickly refuted her own thoughts. It wasn't common knowledge that the Lesser Grail could be summoned at a few locations, and it wouldn't give anyone an advantage to possess the Lesser Grail when there were Heroic Spirits still running around. That would be like having a key to a door without a keyhole.
"From the readings your Mystic Code gave us, it seems that the Greater Grail has accumulated enough energy to start the final phase. Why hasn't it done so?"
Svin posed his question to Tohsaka, his hands holding a half eaten beef and lettuce sandwich.
The excess energy from the system was also starting to leak from they leylines in some areas, with the common symptoms of mana sickness surfacing near the office buildings they had passed. Personally, Rin thought the leakage was more likely due to the system breaking down and losing it's ability to efficiently process and store mana.
"Svin, how much do you know about the Holy Grail system?"
"If I remember correctly, the Holy Grail system's purpose was originally for reaching the Root, am I right?"
When she nodded, he continued.
"To do this, it summons the souls of seven Heroic Spirits, and then uses them as fuel to activate the wish-granting attribute of the Grail to open a path to the Root."
"That's right, so you would think with the energy that the system is holding now, it would be able to carry out the process."
Rasing her index finger, Rin continued.
"However, the system regards the ritual as 'incomplete'. Hence, it won't activate."
Svin tilted his head.
"To be more specific, there are two buckets in the system, bucket's A and bucket B. Bucket A is the systems magical energy, while bucket B is the magical energy for the final part of the ritual."
"So, you're saying that there is a separate vessel for the magical energy derived from the Heroic Spirits?"
Rin nodded, pleased at his quick grasp of the facts.
"Precisely. Traditionally, there has been a Lesser Grail to hold the Heroic Spirits souls after they're defeated, and once it becomes full then, and only then, can the Holy Grail fulfill it's role."
Svin nodded, cupping his chin as he thought about it.
"I see, it makes sense. Having a Lesser Grail would reduce the burden on the local ley lines, and it also creates a level of insurance if the system was ever sabotaged during the War."
With an external vessel, if the system was compromised then the energy would still safe within the Lesser Grail. Then again, there was also the case where the Lesser Grail was damaged, rendering the ritual moot when the energy from the Heroic Spirits were lost, leading to the development of homunculi as Lesser Grails.
"That's why even if the Grail is corrupted, without the deaths of at least five Servants, the contents of the Grail would still remain sealed within the system. At five souls, it might spill over, and with six it would be possible to utilize the wish function."
"We have two Servants with us, and the truce with the Einzbern's camp would keep the three Servants they have out of the battlefield. So even if Lancer and Rider kill each other, there would only be two souls in the Lesser Grail."
The truce between the two factions basically ensured that five Servants would be alive for the duration of the truce. If Lancer or Rider attacked either side, they would almost certainly be destroyed, and based off the fact that Lancer and Rider didn't seem to be allied during their previous battles that they'd observed, it seemed unlikely they would suffer a joint attack from the two.
That said, the professor had mentioned that they couldn't rule out the possibility. Desperation could push people, even magi, to make decisions they wouldn't make otherwise.
A reedy electronic note cut their conversation short, leading to Svin fishing through his pockets to grab the cellphone.
"Professor?"
"We've been contacted by Gray, it appears they've been attacked by Lancer and Rider. Head over to their location to support them. I've already sent Yvette and Caules to do damage control."
Seeing Svin hurriedly stand up, Rin followed suit.
"What happened?"
"Gray and the other team were attacked. Lancer and Rider."
Her eyes widened. They were working together now?
"Let's go."
Archer, you ahead of us.
She couldn't imagine Assassin lasting long i situation, and Archer would be much faster without having to carry her around.
Understood. Stay safe Master.
Svin quickly hailed a taxi, with the two of them jumping in the backseat and telling the driver to floor the pedal, promising a hefty bonus. The distance between them and Gray was quite far, and a taxi was actually the fastest and most inconspicuous method in broad daylight.
Actually, now that she was sitting and had time to think, why would they dare attacking in broad daylight? That was tantamount to announcing the presence of magecraft to the world, wasn't it?
As if reading her mind, Svin spoke up.
"Professor has already sent people to deal with the non-combatants, but I expect we'll also have to help them evacuate and hypnotize the citizens."
So Lord El-Melloi also realized.
Well, if the battle was limited to a single area than it shouldn't be too hard. Idly, she wondered whether the news report the next day would be about 'gas leaks' or 'unexploded ordnance'.
"Miss Tohsaka, would you mind lending me a lightning colored gem?"
Without missing a beat, she shifted into diplomacy mode.
"Why of course not. We're colleagues now, aren't we?"
Putting a hand on the warded bag, she withdrew a colorless ground zircon gem, the faces refracting light to display a matrix of triangles.
"I would like to remind you however, that this is a loan, ok?"
"Of course, I'll pay you back when you come to the Clock Tower."
Svin didn't take it to heart when he replied, but Rin was already calculating how to best take advantage of this debt her future fellow Clock Tower magus now owed her.
Before they saw the action, they could already here the dull booms in the distance, and their driver stopped a good distance from their desired destination, having a healthy amount of self-preservation instinct despite Rin's lucrative offers.
It suited the two magi as well, as it was one less person to hypnotize. Having done their preparations on the taxi, they advanced towards the warzone.
"What a coincidence, young Tohsaka. Are you here to fulfill your duties as a Second Owner, or your responsibilities as a Master?"
Before they could take a step, they met with the last person she wanted to see.
"Does it matter? I'm here to put a stop to this nonsense going on in broad daylight, doing what I have to do as a magus. If you're not here to help, then just go back to your church you fake priest."
Huffing, she stormed past him as if he didn't exist. Trailing slightly behind her, Svin glanced at the priest.
What was this thick stench of death surrounding him?
Just as she was about to leave, a hand on her shoulder prevented her from walking any further.
"Kirei, please remove your hand from my shoulder."
"Now, don't be so hasty. I merely needed to tell you something."
Shoving his hand off her shoulder, she spun around, truly annoyed at him as her twin tails shook.
"Now's not the time to be cryptic Kirei! Say what you have to say right now, or fuck off!"
"Very well. If that is what you desire."
The flames in her eyes cooled off slightly as she took a step back, regulating her breathing again so she could activate her Magic Circuits later. Nearby, Svin stared at their confrontation, his own Magic Circuits already on standby.
"Rin, the truth is-I killed your father."
These words, delivered so calmly like he was stating the weather, drifted across the space separating the two and reached her.
First, her eyes widened, then she clenched her fists as she raised her shoulders, trembling in rage.
"Stop playing with me Kirei! If this is your idea of a joke, then it's not funny!"
Her glare was getting hotter and hotter, ears turning scarlet as blood rushed to her head. Unconsciously, she started channeling od through her Circuits, the nerves in her body slowly stirring awake.
"Do you need proof? Then allow me to elaborate further. He had gifted me an Azoth Dagger, and when his back was turned, I stabbed it straight through his heart."
He could feel his pulse starting to race ashe remembered the man's face as he died, a distraught visage of betrayal, disbelief mixed with sheer anger towards the end, and perhaps regret too.
In the present, he also reveled in Rin's emotions as her face turned scarlet, her eyes beginning to change color from the sheer amounts of emotions overflowing which she failed to contain.
"You-!"
A burst of wind cut off her words, sudden movement from the side tearing into her field of vision and slamming into Kirei. The priest was sent flying at a speed she couldn't register, shattering a hole in a glass wall and then bowling over several tables and chairs in the diner. A bag holding some type of powder burst as he smashed into it, shrouding the murky unlit surroundings further as she lost sight of him. Turning her head, she looked at the perpetrator.
Rugged fur and wickedly-sharp claws, with tough sinew and adamant bones. The legs and arms Svin were sporting were not of humankind, harkening back to an era where primal strength of the beasts was king. Looking back at her, Svin shrugged.
"Felt like he was going to attack."
Faced with his initiative, she could only be stubborn.
"W-well, I was going to make the first move but…"
She looked down, thinking back on his words. Kirei had killed her father, his own master? For what? Hadn't they been allies during the last War? She just didn't understand why he had done something like that, and why was he telling her now? What did he get from this?
As she pondered, Svin raised his head and sniffed the air in a beast-like manner.
"By the way, he's still alive."
That's right, she thought. He wouldn't die so easily from something like that. Having been trained by him for the past few years, she knew his skill in martial arts was the real deal.
"Anfang"
Steeling herself, she opened her Circuits properly this time, grabbing a few gems and partitioning them between each finger for easy access. Hesitating for a moment on whether to cast reinforcement or not, she decided to while she could, forgoing the possibility of conserving her od in exchange for being battle-ready as soon as possible.
"Es ist groß"
Shortening the incantation, she selectively reinforced her legs and clothes, opting to use a lower-maintenance spell that still raised her agility and defenses. Rather than going all-out at the start, she would still be able to save energy, and be able to cope with attacks at the same time. It would also allow her to concentrate more on other spells.
"Can you tell where he is?"
"No, his scent lingers but I can't pin down his precise location. At best, I can tell he's somewhere in the building."
Then it would be up to her.
"Mein Auge, schreite voran"
A rock of aquamarine topaz, the exact same shade as her eyes, floated from her hands in a straight line. Smoothly sailing through the air, it entered through the broken window and navigated through the restaurant, going deeper as its master commanded it to. The gemstone wasn't a familiar, but rather a conduit for a precast sensory spell she used that sent back information based on the light that reached the gem, the facets of the gem cut to focus all light at one point within the bottom face of the gem where an eye symbol was carved. It allowed her to see past physical obstacles, which reinforcing her eyes wouldn't be able to do, and she wouldn't have to endanger herself as well.
What it revealed was nothing more than an ordinary restaurant, with a split counter and a cashier that had fallen on the ground with its trays in disarray. Glass and porcelain pieces was haphazardly strewn across the tiled floors, but there was no trace of Kirei or his presence, but as Rin looked closer she noticed that what she presumed to be flour or a similar white powder had landed everywhere, and there were marks on the floor that signified the presence of someone walking through them.
"He's not in the restaurant anymore, but he might still be in the building."
"So should we go after him? Or go and assist Gray and the others?"
Svin added to his question.
"You know him better than me, so you can make the call. If you think that we can match him with the two of us, then I'll gladly follow your lead."
Crunching through the possible scenarios, she rapidly weighed the pros and cons. On the one hand, Gray and her team most likely needed help to evacuate the citizens and hypnotize them about the Servant's battle raging less than a mile from where they stood, as well as support in engaging the enemy Masters. On the other hand, leaving Father Kotomine to run around free was likely to bite them in the ass when they least expected it, and in the larger picture it would gain them nothing as Lancer and Rider would still be alive and kicking with their Master's untouched.
Then a thought flashed through her mind.
"Svin, did the Professor mention whether Gray was engaging enemy Masters?"
"No, he didn't."
Her suspicion took form in her mind, the lines beginning to link together as she considered the facts. The Church was supposed to be a neutral faction, but she knew Kirei had the potential to be a Master considering his past, and it wouldn't it be too far-fetched to think that he was chosen as a Master again. She had no evidence, but her intuition told her that this was the right answer.
For a brief moment, she thought about summoning Archer to help, but then she dismissed it. Archer was more crucial for the ongoing battle with Lancer and Rider, and while Kirei was strong, she doubted he could handle both her and Svin. It wasn't simple pride, but self-knowledge of her own strength. Adding to that, if half of what Svin's classmates had said about him was true, then he was also an excellent combatant.
"Let's go after him. If both us fight him, we stand a good chance of winning."
Then she stopped and corrected herself.
"No, we will win."
"Alright then. Allow me to be the vanguard."
He sunk into a crouch, getting on all fours as he sniffed the air like a dog, memorizing Kirei's scent to the best of his ability. Having committed it to memory, he stood back on two legs and proceeded into the restaurant, tuning his senses all the while as his ears twitched minutely. Judging that Gandr wouldn't be at as much of an advantage in the closer confines of the indoor space, Rin chose to expand her reinforcement, swapping out some of her more destructive gems so as not to bring the building crashing down on their heads.
Stepping on the sharp glass fragments that remained on the wooden frame, he ducked through the hole and entered the restaurant. The ethereal paws crushed the remnants of the glass on the ground, crunching noisily as he ventured deeper inside. Behind him, Rin entered as well, maintaining the spell using the topaz gem. As they started to near the back of the diner, Svin started picking up a myriad of scents.
He thinks he can hide himself with food?
Even before reaching the kitchen, Rin and Svin could smell a chaotic mixture of ingredients leaking out from the open door. Gingerly, Svin pushed the door open, fur standing on end as he anticipated an attack. When nothing happened, he walked in.
A tomato under his foot squelched as he stepped on it, the juice splattering across the floor as it joined the avant-garde painting stretching across almost the entirety of the kitchen floor. It looked like a starving bandit had run inside and ransacked all the cupboards and shelves, with food of all sorts covering the countertops, stoves and floors. The stainless steel and white tiles were became a canvas, with the ingredients as the paint. For Rin, it was already overpowering, especially with pungent foods such as ginger and natto scattered across the floor. Svin's beast scents turned things up a notch, forcing him to experience the varied smells in excruciating detail.
However, if this was all that the priest had tried to do, then it was too little. The oversensitivity of the senses when triggering his magecraft had been a known element since a long time ago within his family, and he had undergone special training to overcome this weakness. While it was still unpleasant, it wasn't anything that would incapacitate him. Of course, he could also easily distinguish Kirei's personal scent as well between the gaps of the pungent and savory banquet for his olfactory senses, particularly since the man reeked of musty death and wine.
"He's just outside the kitchen backdoor!"
There was a bang, and the topaz gem went flying backwards through the kitchen backdoor in several pieces. Standing there in the doorway, the priest smiled.
"How do you like the feast?"
In response, a guttural howl shook the restaurant.
Svin's head had completely transformed into a monkey's, complete with a rectangular furred head and a large oval mouth that dominated the bottom half of its face. The howl sent cutlery flying and blasted waves on the sauces and powders lying on the kitchen's surfaces, with Rin clamping her hands over her ears at his side. His primary target however, merely left the doorway, sidestepping to the left and cutting the howls potency in half as he only heard echo of it bouncing off the walls. That being said, he was sure the priest was still affected.
Hurtling through the kitchen at breakneck speed, he used all four limbs to clamber over the counters and vaulted straight through the middle, leaping through the space in a single motion and jumping through the door.
Behind him, Rin started to follow him but slipped on some mayonnaise ont he ground, only catching herself thanks to her reinforced legs as she promptly executed a backwards bridge maneuver as she bent so far back her twintails touched the ground.
Ears ringing, she cursed as she righted herself and charged up a gem to throw.
On the outside, when Svin sprang through the door he found himself blasted in the face with some sort of powder. With reflexes drilled into his body and enhanced by the beasts power, his closed his eyes and mouth tightly, holding his breath as he trusted his body and blindly jumped upwards to evade the attack that was sure to come.
That wasn't enough, as he felt two blades dig into his flesh from above, one catching him in the right shoulder and the other on his left thigh near the knee. Grunting in pain, he dug his claws on the walls and pushed off, cratering the concrete and accelerating his body as he performed evasive actions, rabidly bouncing between the two walls in the tight alleyway he found himself in. Opening his eyes again, he dodged the Black Keys coming for his head with a tilt of his head, then his left arm reached out and slapped the blades out of the air as they came at him.
Looking at him, Kirei assessed his movements and came to the conclusion that no matter how fast he threw them individually, they would be dodged or blocked. It was more likely he'd land hits with multidirectional attack that saturated the space around him.
He wasn't given any time to prepare though, as Svin ran down the side of the wall at him, claws gouging into the wall to give him purchase while he ran perpendicular against the ground. Running past a length of pipe, he wrenched free a section with brute force and threw it like a spear, water spilling from the broken ends.
Sensing the weight behind the throw, Kirei wisely chose to dodge instead of intercepting, lowering his body and twisting to the side as he evaded with the thinnest of margins, the uneven edges of the pipe nicking his aramid fiber frock and drawing out a visible line.
"Hoh."
Then Svin was running up and leaping at his face, claws fully extended and ready to flay him.
"Gah!"
Kirei's chest was merely scratched as Svin was pulled back into a vortex of wind, a sudden vacuum forming that sucked in everything nearby from water spilling out of the pipe, the broken pipe, trashbags and trashcans all flying into the center, where the remnants of an amethyst gem floated. Due to Svin being in the air and Kirei standing with two feet on the ground, one was directly pulled unceremoniously while the other was able to firmly brace themselves against the force. The broken pipe spun end on end, smacking Svin in the face and then contorting itself over the vacuum as it bent.
Smirking at the winds pulling him away, Kirei slowly backed away from the singularity, taking sure steps against the flow of the air currents. Growling, Svin latched his claws on the ground and managed to arrest his momentum, his lower half still stuck upwards. Undeterred, he slowly began to crawl in the direction of Kirei, putting one paw in front of the other as he hammered the claws into the pavement like icepicks.
Meanwhile, Rin was inside the kitchen waiting for the spell to end, ignorant of the absolute incoordination she and Svin had.
Svin was used to having Flat at his side, and his howl earlier would've been easily negated with Flat's own unique magecraft, or he would have acted anyways with his eardrums scrambled. Rin only had experience as a lone wolf up til now, so it was inevitable that she would cause collateral damage when working with another magi.
Her spell did slow down the movements of Kirei though, and it was a race to see if Svin could get close enough to tag Kirei before he got far enough away to disengage.
When the spell ended, three things happened simultaneously.
Kirei reached into his frock, readying to intercept Svin.
Svin went on all fours on the ground, muscles bunching up and tensing for a devastating forward leap.
Rin reinforced herself from head to toe, readying herself to pop out of the door and rain Gandrs on Kirei.
Amidst the miscellaneous trash and water falling in a light shower around him, Svin's body blurred. The water drops were hung in the air, languidly dropping as he smashed through them. His movement was too fast, the water droplets feeling solid as he plowed through them, the air dragging him back until he adopted a sleek, streamlined posed like diver, reducing his body's profile to the absolute minimum. In that moment, he was absolutely on par with a Servant in speed, transcending the physical limits of the human body to brush against the strength of past legends.
It was also awfully predictable.
Trapped in an alley, with nowhere to run, Kirei smiled at the incoming werebeast. Or more accurately, a mage borrowing a beasts strength. Svin also saw his sickening smile, but he doubted there was anything the priest could do. He would slam the priest on the floor and drive his claws into his limbs, rendering him powerless.
It was too late when he noticed the hand leaving the confines of the frock, and an overpowering scent of madness washed over him, the fur on his limbs spiking up like a million needles.
I can't let that touch me!
Calling on all his strength and ability, he flexed his core and wriggled desperately, twisting as much as he could to the right. Dispelling his beast magecraft on one side, he activated the beast magecraft without chanting on only one side of his body, doing his best add weight and shift his center of gravity ever so slightly to the side. Breaking his divers pose, he reached out to the right wall, the claws of his hand getting tantalizingly close to the uneven concrete. On his back, a clump of feathers stretched out, ungainly and crude but functional, angling his body away to the side.
On Kirei's hands, the clump of swirling darkness twitched, violet and burgundy hues leaking out, but to Svin's eyes, he fancied he could see the faces of countless tormented faces with empty eye sockets staring back at him.
Svin's enhanced senses allowed him to watch as Kirei's hands drew closer while his body floated through the air towards him, and the mud on his hand grew small, stubby tentacles, inexorably reaching out their tendrils towards his body. The cells in his body screamed with all their might, the sheer proximity towards the thing resting on his hand turning him nauseous as his eyes, nose and mouth started watering when the rotten smell stabbed into the neurons lining the insides of his nose, his gag reflex acting up in concert with the bile rising up his throat. He was too close, his last-second correction falling just short. The priest has chosen until the very last moment to reveal his hand, and the moment he struck the priest would be the moment he was touched with that abominable thing. If that was the case, then there was only one thing he could do. Mutual destruction.
Unable to avoid contact, he sharpened his claws and transformed his head, using his magecraft to turn his entire body into an imitation of the famed Phantasmal Species. His body was wrapped in fur that was harder than diamond, a lengthy tail that was thicker than his legs bursting out of his back, acting as an extra limb that he could control. The rounded human head stretched out and acquired angular edges, with each tooth lengthening into pointed fangs, planted in neat rows that transformed his slavering jaws into a weapon capable of eviscerating any part of the priests body.
In his hand, he channeled the power within the gem, extending its dyed attributes to his own form.
The curse touched him, slipping past all his defenses purely through its nature as a curse, but so too did his fangs and claws reach the priest.
A snarl thrummed through his chest as he sank his claws deeply into the priests shoulders, passing through kevlar like water. A numbness descended on his body, and he calmly added the fact that he was being shocked to his damage assessment. The wolfs full weight forced the priest onto his back, slamming his spine into the concrete, but the priest shed some of the force as he attempted to the roll to the side, seeking to grapple with the wolf. He was unsuccessful as the tail on its back pressed against the wall, stopping his momentum squarely, and with a triumphant howl the wolf unhinged its jaws and snapped at his head. Lashing in from both sides, Kirei's arms caught him just as he was about to move in for the kill, biceps bulging mightily beneath his frock as he strained against the weight of its bone breaking strength. Slowly, blood began flowing through his fingers as they were pierced through on the fangs, the jaw continuing their slow but steady journey towards Kirei's head. Bursts of electricity penetrated Kirei's body, causing involuntary jerks that hastened his seemingly inevitable demise.
His right hand, still encumbered with the mud, was boiling and hissing against the wolfs head as it pressed against it, the wolf demonstrating inhuman persistence in delivering on its bite. On the wolfs side, a red patch of dripping pus angrily burned against its magical body.
Seizing upon his training, Kirei pressed against the ground with his back and legs, using it to leverage as the muscles turned into interlocking levers that multiplied the power exerted through them over and over, following the principles of his Bajiquan. With a grunt of effort, he jerked the wolves head to the right, then rammed his entire arm down the beasts throat.
As a spiritual doctor, he could sense the nature of the magecraft that granted a temporary body through the reconstruction of the flesh in a similar way to the underlying principles that guided his surgical abilities. The flesh and the spirit were interconnected on a deep level, and both were capable of impersonating the other to a certain degree. It was this that allowed him to reach through the body, activating his skill to reach through and touch the core of Svin still located within the enfleshed magecraft. He could feel his hand brush against the hair of the boy, but a shock ran up his arm, shattering his link to the spiritual arm and reverting back to flesh again.
With a bloody rip, his right arm was torn off from above the elbow. Bloody strips of sinew and tendons hung from the stump, and blood flowed freely in steady streams. Staggering backwards, he leaned against the side of wall with his shoulder, purposefully taking measured breaths to fight against shock as he observed the results of his handiwork.
The beast in front of him flickered between turquoise and a red-tinged black, the fur transitioning from lush and wild strokes into a ragged, unkempt pelt as the black continued to dye his exterior, turning his frame lean and haggard. The wild, savage beauty of his form was rapidly desecrated as he howled in fear and hunger, swiping wildly until the walls and floors were covered in claw marks. The vocalizations grew more unintelligible, turning from howls into snort, grunting and low keening as he gradually slumped to the floor.
Satisfied, the priest limped off towards the end of the alleyway, using his hands to stem the bleeding as he walked. He broke into a run when he heard the tell-tale whistle of Gandr shots whipping through the air at him from behind, and despite his grievous wounds, his legs were still hale and healthy. Ducking low, his body sank into a crouch when the spells reached him, allowing them to pass over his head. When Rin tried to adjust her aim and shoot low, she found her line of sight blocked by Svin's wolven form spasming on the floor.
Frustrated, she could only watch when he unfurled from the crouch and leapt high, his shoes making contact with the pipes on the alley walls as he leapfrogged between walls, using the window sills and pipes as platforms. Her Gandrs tracked him as she fired a steady stream of the black orbs at him, but his movements were just too erratic for her to accurately predict. Before she knew it, he was over the lip of the roof's edge and vanishing over it. All he left behind was a puddle of blood, and a single arm covered with half of his right sleeve, the skin losing color as it bled.
"Shit!"
Her mind balked as her eyes flickered between Svin and where the priest had last disappeared. Should she help him, or chase down the traitorous priest?
She glared up at the roof one last time, before lowering her arm and allowing the Gandr orb to fizzle out.
On the ground, Svins body continued contorting, causing no small amount of concern for Rin as it started taking on decidedly unnatural characteristics. From the sides of his chest, his ribs started poking out of the flesh, the skeletal frame extending in ways that that his musculature was unable to conform to. Patches of his fur started falling out on the ground, the shed fur returning to ether while the bare skin underneath was dotted with mud-filled boils.
What is happening to him?
Unable to analyze or come up with a solution for his predicament, all she could do was attempt to slow down whatever was doing this to him. She didn't even try to touch him, her skin breaking out into goosebumps when she looked at the muck covering most of his skin. The mud was All the World's Evils, and naturally any human could instinctively sense this curse, so virulent and concentrated it was made visible and given form.
Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a raw, uncut diamond from her pouch. Differing from her other processed gems, this one had a much higher capacity for magical energy, in exchange for being unable to imbue attributes and being less compatible with her own od. On the flips side, it was much more capable for storing magical energy from other magi than the ones she had already attuned to herself.
"Füllen"
It was a simple spell, drawing in the magical energy surrounding Svin's body into the diamond. This was her specialty in magecraft, and it showed as his bestial features were slowly stripped away and absorbed into the gem, the energy connecting to it in several different ribbons of discordant lines. To her eyes, it looked like streams of small insects flying together in streams, with a few motes of blue essence that could be glimpsed within the clusters of black dots before they were swallowed up again.
The diamond turned black, a muddy core swirling with eddies and whirlpools spawning and fading. Holding the gem in her hands, Rin quickly cast a spell of warding around the diamond, just in case it broke. She wouldn't want the contents to suddenly spill out. Looking back at Svin, she put her hands on her hips and looked down at him. On his head, there was a black mark in the shape of a hand-print. From there, veins of black and red ran down his face, his fair hair falling out in tufts. There was another spot just beneath his ribs, where a black gash leaked out dark mahogany blood, similar veins spreading beneath the skin.
"Blut der Erde, Lebenskraf"
Partially draining a triangular ruby, she sealed up the bleeding wounds on Svin's body, pulling out the Black Keys he'd been struck with earlier and closing his injuries, the flesh knitting itself back together without leaving a scar. In contrast, the black marks refused to cooperate, leaving her with no choice but to attempt a curse exorcism with what little she knew.
Setting up a rudimentary Bounded Field by scratching out the boundaries with chalk on the floor, she placed four different colored gems on the floor within four enclosed circles, then adding a fifth circle that went unfilled. Each signified one of the Five great Elements, rose quartz for fire, blue tourmaline for water, citrine for earth and peridot for wind, and the last was void. For the final element, she cast Gradation Air, using it to form a hollow sphere of carbon that looked like a glass orb. With the setup complete, she chanted the aria. Closing her eyes, she extended an arm outwards and turned her focus inward.
"Geister des Gitters,
Ruft die vollständige Welt hervor.
Die fünf Elemente präsentieren sich
um zu zerstören und neu zu erschaffen
um das Alte zu reinigen und das Neue zu schaffen
entwirren, brechen, nachwachsen
aber ich allein werde die Spreu vom Weizen trennen"
Her personal seven-line aria developed for separating elements within jewels and extracting them, which she now applied to Svin. A luminous glow lit from beneath him, the chalk lines imbibing of her power and transmitting the magic formulae through the space into his body. Each stone shone in concert with the spell, hues of red, yellow, green and blue turning the alleyway into a kaleidoscope of colors, and the wind gently circled his body, caressing her hair as the pigtails swayed.
Mana coalesced within the gems, each individual element working in harmony to empower the ritual as it embodied the microcosm harbored within Svin, influencing what lay within to change the outside. Destroying the world, and then recreating it again to rid of impurities and flaws. Doggedly, the curse clung to his prone form, digging deeper as it squirmed against the thick wall of his skull, the miasma already sinking its tendrils into his mind and warping his consciousness, although it couldn't fully corrupt his soul just yet.
A crack signified the end of the ritual, lines running down the gemstones turning into crevasses that split them apart, rendering them useless. Five piles of shiny dust was all that remained, along with a half faded chalk outline on the floor, and then the gradation air buckled against the will of the world, atomizing the even the dust into mana and returning to the atmosphere.
On Svin's head, the mud still bubbled angrily, his face split in a web of black and red veins.
Panting, Rin leaned against the wall to catch her breath after the amount of effort she spent trying to excise the curse. It had stubbornly withstood all her effort, and for all she could try it was most likely bound to Svin in some way now.
"What a valiant effort. The Grail's blessing however, cannot be so easily lifted."
From behind her, his voice slipped into her ear, his breath tickling against the fine hairs of her skin.
With a start, she leapt forwards, jumping over Svin's body and towards where Kirei had once stood moments ago. There was still a pool of blood, but his arm was nowhere to be found. Turning around, she faced the priest once more. Smiling gratuitously, the priest spread his hands as if praising the Lord.
"Now that he's out of the way, let's have a heart-to-heart talk, you and I."
A sable lance slammed against Archer's blades, Kanshou and Bakuya screeching in his hands as metal scraped against metal, orange sparks scattering on the ground.
With a slight shove, the lance pushed Archer off balance, his arms moving to the side in a reflexive act to stop himself from falling backwards, exposing his chest to a direct attack. Targeting that defenseless gap, the lance mercilessly rushed forward, intent on impaling him.
It whistled as it pierced air, the crystalline spikes grazing the black clad chest of Archer as it fell faster than Lancer predicted, bending his knees and back to lean further back and dodging the thrust by a hairs breadth. With his back braced against the ground, he raised both arms and batted the lance to the side, throwing her off. Despite her strength, the leverage the lance offered combined with the fact that he was using both hands and twisting his torso to bat aside the lance she held with one hand, breaking open her stance. The moment he cleared the lance out of the way, he went straight for the throat.
Steel ringed hooves rose into his face, one stamping onto his chest and cutting his charge short while the other stomped onto his shoulder, the full weight of the horse, its armor and its armored rider threatening to crush him on the ground as he fell back down.
Pulling back his left arm, he hurled Kanshou at the horses throat, while he swung his Bakuya with as much as force as he could while pinned at the horses foreleg. The stallion pranced back by springing off Archer's body, a cough wracking his body as air was squeezed out of his lungs by its hoof. The white blade sailed into the air harmlessly, but the black blade managed to nick the horses's leg, though it wasn't enough to cripple it.
Coughing incessantly, he pressed a hand to the hoof shaped imprint on his chest as he rolled to the side, barely avoiding a burst of lightning that lit up the patch of grass where he had laid. Staggering to his feet, he winced at the sensation of his ribs shifting, meaning they were most likely fractured. Wearily, he resummoned his blade into his hands as Lancer looped around for another charge, her steed carrying her several blocks away in the blink of an eye. Blackened tarmac and melted indentations in the shape of hooves were proof of her previous charges, a total of four lines intersecting at the grassy patch where Archer stood.
In his own estimation, he was very likely to die within the next three charges if the situation didn't change.
As he stood there catching his breath, he leaned out of the way of a stray bullet whizzing past, the back draft tickling his chin as it passed, accompanied with a cool spray. Glancing sideways, he noted that Assassin seemed to be doing better than him, pushing Rider back into a corner both figuratively and literally as the maid desperately tried to force her back with a combination of water blasts, mop work and grenades. Unfortunately for her, most of her attacks were easily diverted with Assassin's unique skills. More importantly, Assassin had a self-professed expertise in slaying what she called 'Saberfaces', and it showed even against a top class Servant like Rider. His best guess was that her parameters were massively boosted when she faced off against such opponents, and it showed as her speed, strength, agility and endurance were all off the charts when compared to their past battle.
He couldn't spare much attention for her though as Lancer would soon be turning around to charge at him one more. Rin would no doubt cry and complain if he got speared through without doing anything.
Gauging the distance between him and Lancer, he smirked when he realized she had gone far enough for him to pull it out. After every charge, she had increased the distance between them to build more momentum and accelerate to ever greater speeds, which was what he had been banking on the whole time.
Dismissing his dual blades, Archer stood tall in the face of his imminent death, casually raising his left arm and holding out. In his hands, the faithful black bow that could be said to be one of his only original weapons hung between his fingers, sporting a deceptively simple design that held no cogs or extra strings. There was only a black curve broken by a silver arrow shelf in the middle, and the rounded grip behind it. A single string sat taut between the limbs, ready to be drawn at any moment.
Where there was a bow, there was an arrow. Letting the bow fall to his side, he searched through his memories, selecting the sword with the highest Mystery that could stop Lancer dead in her tracks with raw power. A familiar spiral sword twisted into being from ether, the sword a full hand longer than his favored blades. The air at the tip shimmered, a false heat mirage created by the weapon itself. All the pieces he needed were present, and now all he needed to do was execute his plan.
The alteration of the sword was smoother than anything Shirou had achieved, a mere few seconds proving enough to turn the sword into and arrow. All it's bulk was condensed at the tip, the thinned out structure still maintaining folds that marked out a spiral from top to bottom, the hilt had disappeared save for twin bits peeking out from below as golden fletching. Two grooves appeared at the very end of the handle, allowing Archer to slot his fingers in place and nock the arrow with ease, firmly securing on the string with a slit added to the pommel. The bows heft pulled his arm down, reassuring him with its weight, and he gazed at the direction Lancer was going to come from.
By now, Lancer was only a speck in the distance. Once she had seen Archer summon the bow, she had Llamrei gallop even further away, in order to make sure that this charge would be the last one. Accepting his challenge, she would defeat him and his arrow head-on, crushing his futile resistance with the fury of the Wild Hunt.
With his sight, he could see Lancers eyes through the slit of her helm, boring into his own. He felt his whole body break out in goosebumps, like he was doused in ice water. Killing intent like this was unfortunately a rather common occurrence for him though, the experience of facing against foes more vicious and stronger than her allowing him to master his body and calm his hearts palpitations down. All that was left was to go through the motions that he had had honed over and over again, from the school range to the battlefield. There was no need to panic. He had time.
He inhaled.
He raised the bow, letting out his breath trickle through his lips, before drawing in a deeper breath that penetrated to his diaphragm.
There was a straight line. His imagination, his greatest weapon, drew it for him, and he placed his body on top of it. One foot forward, one foot back, shoulder length width in between. His chin went over his shoulder, eyes razor-focused on Lancer. Pushing his hips forward, his ribs, shoulders and chest automatically hunched down slightly, the upper body flexing each muscle to fully engage the core. His back was an iron rod, a straight line perpendicular to the ground. Anchored to the ground, no matter how hard he shot, his body would not waver.
Now, all that was left was to draw the string and release.
Everything else was blocked out as he sharpened his focus until even the gunshots and humming lightsabers were silenced. The dust that hung in the air, the last bends of the light as the sun shimmered orange on the line between dusk and night. A red and yellow izakaya sign that offered free beer on Fridays. An errant feather of a pigeon, dragging lazily across the ground with the winters breeze. The cracks on the concrete, and a few stray ants scampering in a frenzy. He could see it all.
Standing at the crux of his focus, Lancer lowered her body and raised her lance. At the same time, he drew back the string, his fingers taking it past his nose, cheek and ear until it was almost past his head. The string keened, a high-pitch squeal at the weight it was forced to bear. On his back and arms, he could feel his muscles catching on fire as he held the pose, molten magma sloughing through his skin with each second.
Not yet. Lancer hadn't charged yet. He needed, absolutely needed, for her to commit to the attack.
Between them, a blade of desiccated leaf danced in the air.
For a brief moment, it fluttered between Lancer and Archer, the flimsiest of walls between the two. Unable to defy perspective, Archer lost sight of Lancer. His bloodshot eyes traced the lines of umber veins along the leafs cracked midrib, the muscles on his face growing taut as the leaf flipped over in slow motion.
"I am the bone of my sword."
It cracked, the legendary armament of Fergus Mac Roich which had sliced off hilltops. There was no glory, no honor to be had, and so it would be broken for the sake of victory.
His keen sight, a monstrous pair of eyeballs that surpassed an eagles, saw the black spikes of her helm hunch down as the lone leaf raised the curtains on her full glory, floating away in a desperate bid to escape the monumental clash that would occur. A vortex of gale and lightning gathered behind her, Llamrei's hooves sparking as it pawed the ground. Under her helm, she spoke, anticipation leaking into her voice for the first time since her summoning.
"Give me a duel to remember, Archer!"
"CALADBOLG!"
Faster than the wind, mightier than the surging floodwaters, her charge broke every pane off glass as a shower of shards tinkled down onto the melted tarmac, turning it into a night sky with thousands of glittering stars. All the cars along her path smashed into the buildings next o them, exposing their bellies as they were lifted bodily by the wind and hurled askew. If Caladbolg was a handheld drill, then she was a mountain-boring beast. With the tip of her lance pointed squarely at Archer, she bore down on him with the full force of her steed, a stupendous charge that would give even Hercules a pause.
In defiance of the billowing winds and tendrils of lightning webbing the air, the arrow-turned sword sliced through all intervening obstacles, ignoring the shifting currents that sent cars flying. It's aim flew sure and true, leaving in it's path a thin line of astral energy that glowed cyan to the naked eye, an ephemeral path that quickly dissipated as the ether diffused into the air. It was because it was falling apart, a 'broken' weapon that spilled it's contents as it raced forward, a suicide bomber with their guts hanging out as they crawled towards the enemy.
Even while galloping at full speed, so fast that their the distance of a mile could be swallowed in a few seconds, her eyes didn't fail to notice the distortion wobbling at the tip of the arrow as it drew closer and closer. Or rather, the air itself was breaking apart in front of it. There was a reason it had a drill shaped exterior, expressing it's purpose as a weapon of distortion that twisted space itself, concentrating it entirely in a warping fracture localized at the tip. The most famous owner of the Noble Phantasm was able to rupture the ground and cause earthquakes, but Archer went the opposite path. Instead of whole-scale destruction, he specialized it into an anti-personnel unit, or an Anti-Unit Phantasm. Sure, it was still capable of exploding over an area, but that was merely a side-effect of sheer magical energy being released in an instant. What he valued was it's ability to cut through any and all obstacles, both magical and physical. In practical terms, it couldn't be blocked, though things like the great shield of Ajax could conceivably defend against it. For Lancer who wouldn't dodge, it was the first solution to come to mind for him.
When the two forces collided, he had already turned away, shielding his eyes with one hand. From where he stood, a brilliant glow of white light washed over the ground, bleaching his surroundings thoroughly. The residual blast of wind washed over him, ruffling the grass and sending loose chunks of dirt tumbling past his feet. It was far enough away that he didn't have any ear damage, but there was some ringing in his ears.
When he lowered his arm, the sight that greeted him that was that of absolute devastation. The buildings nearest to the collision were collapsing, and as he watched one of the floors fell to the ground, joining the piles of debris lying there, rebar and pipes poking out of them. There wasn't any large craters, but the ground after the upheaval was broken up in many places, and Archer suspected that they may actually have been a gas leak from the broken pipes underground, given how the air was shimmering. Water was also pooling from the pipes, turning the site muddy.
There was no sign of Lancer anywhere, and he couldn't feel her spiritual signature. Loosening his stance, he shifted into spiritual form, conserving energy to order to aid Assassin with a surprise attack.
His hopes were dashed when Rin's voice came through their mental link.
A-archer, I need you to come to me
Her shaky voice, combined with an undercurrent of pain, was enough to spur him into action. Without taking another look at the battle behind him, he left in haste.
When he arrived at the destination she specified, an alley in the middle of the city, he found her accompanied by a familiar face, holding her up by the neck like a lost kitten.
Unexpectedly, Archer merely relaxed his shoulders and suddenly smirked, putting his hands on hips.
"'Release her, now!'Is that what you expected me to say?"
Closing his eyes, he shook his head and raised his palms, shrugging his shoulders.
"Unfortunately, I'm not that type of Servant. If my Master was defeated, it was merely because her strength as a magus failed her."
Kirei stared at him with a now impassive gaze, his hold on Rin yet to loosen.
"Is that so? I pity her then, to have such an unfaithful Servant."
Kirei adjusted his grip, then abruptly threw her against the wall. With a sickening crack, her face slammed into concrete. As she slid to the ground, a trail of blood was left from the point of impact all the way to the bottom where she now lay, and although Archer couldn't see her face to assess the damage, there was a pool of blood clearly spreading beneath her head.
That being said, Archer didn't even look in her direction, merely staring at Kirei with an impassive gaze and a slightly amused smirk, as if a child had just thrown a teddy bear in tantrum. Kirei noted his lack of reaction, shaking his head with mock disappointment.
"What a pitiful start, to have summoned a Servant so unloyal to his Master. She was doomed to failure from the very beginning. Ah, if only I had tried to protect her from this senseless violence earlier and taken her Command Seals, then she could have avoided all this suffering."
Letting out a deep sigh as he spoke, as if he truly cared for his charge's well-being.
"So, does that mean you are to be my new Master?"
Archer spoke casually, utterly ignoring Rin's battered body on the ground.
"Yes, however there are some things I would like to clarify between us first."
Raising his hand, Kirei spoke.
"You cannot kill me."
Two seals vanished.
"You must obey my every command."
Five seals vanished.
"You must fight for the Holy Grail War's completion, that is to slay all other Heroic Spirits, and finally yourself."
Two more seals vanished.
Deep in his core, he could feel the commands layering onto his psyche, twisting his mind and funneling his thoughts toward one singular purpose. Kirei didn't miss his teeth grinding together as the orders went into effect, and a hint of a genuine smile crept through as his lips stretched just a little bit wider.
"Was that last order necessary? I would be fighting for the Holy Grail either way."
"Ah, that was merely to strengthen your actions in battle, a boost to abilities so to speak. I apologize if you felt your resolve was questioned."
Kirei paused.
"Do you feel offended by the first two commands?"
Archer cocked his head.
"No. If anything, I would be loath to follow a Master to who blindly trusts a turncoat Servant. Such naivety is reserved for idiots such as my former Master."
"I see. I'm glad to know you agree with me. Then, let us depart. We have much to do."
Lifting a leg, Kirei deliberately stepped down on Rin's legs, his full weight bearing down on her tibia. The flesh and bone desperately held against the pressure, but to no avail. Unable to reinforce or tense her body, his foot sank deeper as the bone cracked, a sound like celery snapping coming out. However, it was overshadowed by the pained squeal that followed, a wet snorting sound followed by feeble sobs that wracked her chest as the pain wrested her mind from unconsciousness. All traces of the proud magus and model student were gone now. Stripped of them, all that remained was a broken, pathetic little girl.
Kirei inhaled deeply, as if savoring a delectable treat. Closing his eyes, he lifted his other leg and stepped over her prone form, the pressure leaving her leg eliciting another shock of pain up her nerves as a thin keen left her throat.
Archer had already spiritualized the moment his new Master said they had to leave, his physical presence gone. Without another word, Kirei left the alley, feeling Archer travel alongside him.
Unseen by Kirei in his spiritual form, Archer's eyes lingered on Rin until she was out of sight.