Chapter 198
Inside the city, Archer leapt from building to building, placing the necessary catalysts on the rooftops while also carrying his Master. A colorless gem caught the light in Rin's hands, bending it in such a way that the two of them were a merely a splash of blurred blue to any observers from below.
In contrast, Svin was simply walking around on the ground in plain sight. Under his coat, he was discreetly using the ritual tool on loan from the Tohsaka family to assess the leylines running through the streets.
As they soared in the air, Rin couldn't help but notice Archers unease. His eyes seemed to be focused on something else, though his arms remained tightly wrapped around her.
"Archer, what's on your mind?"
The telepathic bond between Master and Servant was a convenient tool to overcome the interference from wind as they traveled.
"You've been quite distracted for a while now, haven't you?"
Archer looked down at the girl in his arms for a brief moment, before returning to gaze at the next building.
"Rin, don't you feel something is off?"
"What, about this Holy Grail War? Hasn't everything been twisted or changed in someway? Almost all the Servants look exactly the same, and the Holy Grail is broken somehow, not to mention the Clock Tower seems ready to invade the land if things go wrong."
"That's true, but there's something else. I…I can't really explain it, but it feels like something is going to happen soon."
Rin simply gave him a look, but said nothing else.
In truth, the only times when he felt like this was when a critical incident was about to happen during his missions as a Counter Guardian. He had tried contacting Alaya to see if he could receive any hints, but failed to do so. Or Alaya was choosing to remain silent.
What is going on here?
The gnawing feeling in the back of his mind refused to leave, further entrenching his unease as he vowed to protect his Master, at the cost of all else.
Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched, many pairs of compound eyes tracking their every move.
"That old bastard was hiding some useful tricks up his sleeve."
Within the cavern, Angra Mainyu marveled at the expansive surveillance system that was set up throughout Fuyuki. They could understand why the old man was able to scheme and stay ahead of the many competitors of the war, simply through this ability. The bugs provided almost limitless coverage, were hard to detect and low-maintenance to boot. The only problem was that it was severely taxing on the mental faculties to manage such a large network of familiars, but with Zouken's memories they were able to manage it.
There was also another unexpected boon from Zouken's, the army of Crest Worms that remained. Already, there were hundreds of people currently infected by them, acting as undercover agents for him. However, it was necessary to issue orders to maintain a semblance of normalcy, so they were constantly engaged in a back and forth between the many puppets. In fact, they'd relocated most of them to a different safehouses across the city that Zouken had created, so that they wouldn't have to instruct them to move and act. A select few however, acted as key figures in the local government and influential institutions, which they kept in place for the future.
After all, they didn't want magi or other potential enemies swooping in if they caught wind of the things happening around the neighborhood. With Kirei's assistance, they'd managed to pinpoint which people to target and control to keep the information leaking out to minimum, insulating Fuyuki from the outside world as best as possible. In the worst case, they could take drastic measures by cutting electricity and blocking off all transportation routes, along with jamming communication networks, with the personnel they had available. There was also a large-scale Bounded Field that Angra was experimenting on, but it wasn't ready yet.
It was also useful to know how the underlying mechanisms and construction of Command Seals, as they were able to figure out a way to replenish Kirei's stock. Now, he was wielding a full thirty Command Seals, courtesy of energy drained from Zouken's worms. As for themself, they already have plenty of mana from the Grail.
"AAhh! Hee, hiiii! Kahha, s-save meeee!"
Screams echoed in the canyon as Kirei submerged yet another person into the mud, both their mind and bodies melting away as they experienced All the Worlds Evils. His experimentation had been going for some time now, and the joyful smile on his face never went away. Male, female, old, young, he made no distinction. It also created extra bodies for Angra to play around with, so it was a win-win situation.
So far, Kirei had been unable to find someone able to survive after being defiled by the mud like Kiritsugu or Gilgamesh did. Since the the first few failures, he had begun testing the amount of exposure and its effects on people, enjoying himself immensely during the process. He found the mud to spread, even from a single drop, to wrap around the entire body and kill them while driving them into insane agony. Like a deadly infection, black veins began to spread from the infected area, the blood carrying the poison all across the body. Skin began to bubble, sloughing and turning into a tarry mixture at the worst affected areas. A rotten, putrid gas with a scent of sewage, gasoline and rotten eggs combined in a ripe concoction was released, which could combust into into deep violet flames that were potent enough to melt a persons face. He'd found the only cure was to cut the infected area off before it could spread, which meant the window was only a few seconds, at best.
There was someone however, who had managed to coexist with the mud in some form.
"Senpai, please don't overwork yourself."
Standing there with blood across her face, dragging a tied up and gagged lady behind her, Sakura smiled at Kirei with the same face she had shown Shirou.
Kirei took the lady from her and thanked her courteously, placing her next to the other captives who were missing limbs.
Angra looked at her with a resemblance of pity from their throne. The poor girl had gone through so much, as they knew from Zouken's memories, and it was hard not to sympathize with her. At first they had wanted to use her as bait, to lure in Tohsaka Rin or Shirou, but after consuming Zouken they decided to just let her be.
For her current state, Angra suspected it to be what remained of her fragile ego clinging to the only thing anchoring her to a semblance of normality, Emiya Shirou. She had been violated, defiled and raped in every respect from childhood, then when she thought she was freed from her grandfather, he had shown up again. After that, she had almost died, her chest punctured by Zouken trying to escape, before she was injected with mud and had her crest worms crystallized and forcibly ejected. Not to mention afterwards her closest ally Rider trying to kill her, though she wasn't exactly conscious for that.
They glanced to the side, where Rider was currently submerged in a pool of mud, Lancer faithfully watching over the pit. She was already pacified with Command Seals, and Angra had decided to see if they could do anything to Rider with the mud.
Unfortunately for them, the mud was ineffective. It would be like painting a piece of charcoal with black paint. Their Saint Graphs were already overwritten, and at best the mud would only heal their physical containers. Otherwise, there wasn't much that could be done, since they were already corrupted.
That being said, Rider did need healing, since during the pacification process, she had sustained a few more injuries from Lancer. Hence, her current mud bath.
On a whim, they peeked at Rider within the mud. The mud, acting as an extension of their body, allowed them to sense the presence of the slim form floating in the liquid. Rider's eyes were closed, the holes in her body filled with mud as the frilled skirt of her maid outfit lazily swirled in the churning mud, unstained by the filth.
They then turned their attention to Sakura. The girl's body abruptly stiffened as she was walking away, her feet faltering mid-step. A stiff smile she would normally never have was on her face now, stretching a little too wide and too thin.
When Angra had first gained awareness of the connection between them and Sakura, they had endeavored to reach out, to see what they could do. It was a torturously slow process to establish a tenuous link between the Grail and the shards of the Lesser Grail, and then seep out enough mud into her body while remaining undetected. It took a lot of fine control and precision to direct the mud to places where they could hijack Sakura's senses without damaging her, and it took even more concentration to pinpoint the areas of motor control. It was only due to Sakura's ravaged body that she was unable to notice the gradual invasion of her own physical being. Thanks to that however, they managed to pinpoint the location of Zouken's true body, and a plan was hatched to kidnap more Servants and allies.
It was infinitely easier to use Zouken's worm to control people, and they doubted they'd ever use the method they used on Sakura ever again. However, it could be useful as backup plan like Zouken, just in case they ever fell in battle.
At this, Angra shook their head and grimaced.
Fall in battle? Like that would ever happen. Maybe Zouken was influencing them a little too much with his cowardly mindset. For them, victory was the only option.
They would definitely save the world, and grant her wish.