KingVessel: It's been so long, and I apologize~

Chapter 04: Land of Fuyuki

"Everything went splendidly." Tokiomi Tohsaka commented at his Servant's achievement, gazing at the glass of wine in his hand while in his study.

"These games of yours squander my time, Tokiomi." Archer's voice prompted Tokiomi to stand up from his seat and walk away a few steps before turning about as the Servant materialized in a mist of golden motes, leaning against the glass window with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"I am very grateful, your Majesty." Tokiomi thanked the king as he bowed with a small smile on his face. "Such swift elimination was truly riveting to witness from Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes."

Archer opened a single crimson eye in his direction.

"Your actions tonight will establish your prowess as the strongest Servant." Tokiomi continued, not rising from his bow or losing his smile. "Along with also revealing which of our foes to hunt down. Please stay your hand a short while longer."

"...hmph. Very well." Archer allowed in obvious annoyance. "For the time being, I shall amuse myself with some exploring. This era is fascinating."

"Is the modern world to your liking?" Tokiomi asked. As far as he knew, Archer had yet to explore beyond his mansion's street.

"It's unspeakably ugly." Archer answered without the slightest hint of hesitation. "But in it's own way, there are points of interest that I have noted. What's important is whether there are any treasures here that are worthy of being added to my collection. If I find nothing of that sort, you will pay dearly for summoning me and wasting my time, Tokiomi."

"Worry not." The Master replied confidently. "The Holy Grail will surely please you, King of Heroes."

"That is for me to determine. Let's leave that aside for now." Archer declared before walking forward from the glass. "I'll play along with your schemes and cajolery for the time being. Everything of value in this world belongs to me. No matter how precious a treasure this Grail of yours may be, I won't let those mongrels fight over it without my permission. Tokiomi, I'll leave you to your preparations."

And with that said, the king astralized once more in a mist of golden particles. After the Servant left, Tokiomi stood up from his bow position then placed his glass of wine on his desk before sitting back on his chair.

"My, my..." Tokiomi sighed as he leaned back with his eyes closed. "Honestly, Gilgamesh just had to be summoned as an Archer with the {Independent Action} Class Skill."

He opened his eyes to regard the giant crater where the decoy Assassin had died, his corpse naturally long gone. "Well, I can just let Kirei take things from here. For now, everything is proceeding as planned."

Well, almost everything. Not for the first time, Tokiomi found his thoughts returning to Kariya Matou.

According to Aoi, he had rushed immediately for the Matou Estate after learning of Sakura's circumstances from her.

As he had hoped.

Tokiomi may had long despised the man for his weakness, his lack of honor and his cowardly shirking of the heavy burden imposed upon all of magus blood. But even in his most scornful thoughts, he had never wanted wished true ill upon the man.

For all the mysteries that shrouded the logic behind Kariya's actions, there was one thing that Tokiomi knew for certain and couldn't ignore even if he wanted to: Kariya loved Aoi as if she were his own wife and loved Sakura and Rin as if they were his own daughters.

In all honesty, Tokiomi had quietly hoped to provoke Kariya's return to the Matou Family by sending Sakura there. Maybe then, he would have been able to wise up and become a magus worth knowing if he had a responsibility he would actually like to have.

Except his plan seemed to have worked too well? Risei reported that upon returning, Kariya had apparently slain Zouken(which had been confirmed by checking the geas he had signed upon giving Sakura away, the patriarch's name having faded away) and had summoned a Berserker Class Servant with intentions of entering the War.

At first, Tokiomi had wanted to mock Kariya's choice. Then he'd stopped to think upon remembering Risei's description of the Servant.

A female samurai... in Japan... as a Berserker...

He'd barely resisted from bursting out into undignified laughter, but not from scorn. Kariya's Servant being a female samurai meant that she was most likely a warrior who had hid her gender during that very chauvinistic era, ergo making it nigh impossible to learn her True Name unless she gave it herself. A Servant's power and/or Noble Phantasm(s) was influenced by their renown, and a samurai being summoned in Japan of all places would definitely skyrocket it to the limit. And as a Berserker, her {Mad Enhancement} Class Skill would shatter that limit.

Indeed, Kariya had most definitely summoned the one Servant that could challenge Archer, and if Risei was right, had much better control over her than he did over Gilgamesh.

It was many years late, but Kariya was finally stepping up. "I guess I can truly relax with Sakura in his care now."

"Assassin got killed?!" Waver Velvet shouted in shock, having watched the entire thing through a mouse familiar. Cutting the connection, he turned to regard Rider with his glee overriding his shock over how fast and brutal the whole thing had been. "One of the seven's already been eliminated!"

However, Rider didn't seem to have paid him attention, choosing to instead stuff more of Grandma's rice crackers into his mouth while watching the TV, dressed in only the upper half of his armor and the pair of shorts beneath his absent kilt.

"Hey." Waver deadpanned, frowning when he only got a few mumbles as a response. "Hey! Don't you get it?! Assassin's been killed off! The Holy Grail War has finally kicked off! I've been out, gathering information and fortifying the house however I could..."

Waver grimaced as Rider still didn't pay him any attention, utterly rivetted with the TV. "Yet day after day after day, you just sit around eating the rice crackers Grandma made for me and watching videos! You're worse than a familiar! No, a rat even! Also, didn't I tell you to take spirit form when I don't need you?! I have to supply you with more prana otherwise, you know!"

"Boy, nobody cares about Assassin." Rider finally responded, slightly turning his head back for his eyes to meet Waver's with a lazy tone. "He's only good at skulking in the shadows. Someone like that could never pose a threat to me."

Waver's jaw dropped from his Servant's confident declaration. Had this man never been targeted by assassins as a king?! As far as Waver was concerned, the guy one would never see until after they'd landed their killing blow was the scariest of them all.

"More importantly, boy... This is truly what matters!" Waver snapped out of his thoughts as Rider pointed his finger towards the television as it showed a black jetfighter. "This big black they call a B-2. It's magnificent! I'm thinking of buying around ten of them. What do you think?"

Rider thought he could buy ten Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirits?! "If you have the money to buy that many stealth bombers, it'd be less trouble to buy the countries you want to use them against."

"Oh, I see..." Rider sat down from where he'd been squatting before the tv and crossed his arms, his heavy weight causing many objects in the room to jump in place, Waver included. "So it's a matter of funds. Were there some affluent capital like Persepolis nearby, we could simply go forth and raid it."

Waver sighed in exasperation. Did his Servant even still care about the Grail War?

"For now, it seems our biggest obstacle will be this 'Clinton' guy!" Waver blinked as the tv showed American President Bill Clinton. "He might prove to be a more formidable opponent than even Darius III."

Waver sorely thought that Clinton, and every unfortunate soldier between him and Rider, would simply rather kill themselves. "R-Regardless, I'm personally glad that Assassin was the first to go. You're the type to always take the enemy head-on, right? So its good for us both that the Heroic Spirit exceptional at sneak attacks is out."

A rustling sound was heard along with a small grunt from Rider, making Waver open one of his closed eyes. Apparently, his Servant was up close to the television again as he held it close with his hand having a good look towards the screen, completely ignoring his Master. "This Tomahawk thing looks useful, too!"

Waver snapped and slammed both of his hands on his bed. "So far, we've confirmed Archer and Berserker's Masters up close, which only leaves the Einzbern Servant. Even if they're as... terrifying, we'll still need to-"

"How did Assassin fall?" Rider suddenly cut Waver off, confusing him. Despite the seriousness of his tone, Rider still hadn't turned away from the tv. "You mentioned Archer just now, so I assume that he was the victor of that match? You saw how it went down, right?"

"Well, considering his appearance to defend the Tohsaka Estate, I assume that was his Servant." Waver replied a little unsure at the sudden mood change. "His appearance, his attacks, everything about him was gold and flashy. It all happened so fast, I couldn't tell..."

"Fool!" Rider yelled out, disappointed as he finger flicked him in his forehead, it being enough to fling him backwards from the powerful impact.

When had he even moved so close?! Why was even a finger enough to cause him pain like this?!

"Am I not to later battle the victor of that battle?!" Rider declared as he placed his fists against his hips and raised a brow towards his bruising Master. "Why weren't you paying closer attention to him?"

"B-But it all happened in the middle of the night..." Waver looked away, unable to give a proper answer to Rider. "It was over in an instant..."

Rider raised his hand, preparing to give the young man another finger flick making Waver flinch fearfully and hide his forehead. To think he'd fallen so low that he'd fear finger flicks of all things.

"Hey, Rider, a Servant normally only has one Noble Phantasm, right?" Waver quickly changed the topic, hopefully trying to avoid another painful hit.

"As a general rule, yes." Rider confirmed with a raised brow, thankfully relaxing his hand. "However, numbers aren't exactly the right way to conceptualize Noble Phantasms. As you may already know, Noble Phantasms represent facets of a Hero's legend or abilities manifesting into physicality. It's varied enough to the point of ridiculousness."

Waver then gasped at recalling what he saw in through his familiar. "Then would there be a Noble Phantasm that consists of firing dozens of swords at an opponent?"

"A weapon that splits into many copies, huh?" Rider hummed at the possibility. "That's very possible. Something like that would still qualify as a single Noble Phantasm."

Waver's widened at the response, the moment of Assassin's destructive demise still sharp in his mind. "But those weren't copies... I'm pretty sure every fired weapon was unique from the other..."

Rider let the information sink in before giving his answer. "Ah, whatever. We'll learn the enemy's identity when we encounter him as we did with Berserker."

Without warning, Rider playfully grinned as he slapped Waver's back powerfully enough to empty his lungs and slam him face-first onto his bed.

"D-Do you think we'll be as lucky as we were with Lord Kariya?" Waver groaned raspily, desperately sucking in oxygen.

"Of course not! Actually, it'll be more fun this way!" Rider confidently replied with a big smile as he moved to squat so that his face was level with Waver's. "Food, sex, sleep and battle... Whatever one does must be something to be enjoyed thoroughly. That is the secret of life."

Waver hoped that his expression conveyed how fully he disagreed with that philosophy.

"Now, let us go find some entertainment outside." Rider ordered as he got up, enthusiasm filling his voice. We're heading out, boy! Prepare yourself!"

"H-Heading out? Where?"

"Somewhere, anywhere..." Rider casually replied as he popped his neck.

"Oh, come on!" The Master whined at that unsatisfactory answer. Was he going to break into another place?!

"You weren't the only one watching Tohsaka's place." Rider pointed out. "This means that everyone else must now know of Assassin's death, including that Kariya fellow. Things of all sorts are going to start happening all at once and we can't fall behind."

Rider walked to the window and used his index finger and thumb to separate the blinds so he could see through to the outside. "I particularly hope to run into that Berserker again and show her that she isn't the only one to be descended from a god of thunder."

"You gearing for Berserker right from the start..." Waver sat up as he remembered the samurai woman from before. Her amazing body aside, she certainly hadn't felt like a pushover... "That won't be easy. If knights are those built to be sturdy, samurai are those built to be swift. She could probably decapitate you faster than you could see her unsheathe her blade."

"Ha! A valid point, but I am Rider." Rider announced his Class with a proud grin. "My mobility won't be beaten any other Servant."

Almost immediately, Rider reached behind and drew his sword(Waver knew that Servants had a subspace for their stuff, but it was always still boggling to see Rider so casually mess with the Second Magic), the blade beginning to glow-

"Wait, wait, wait! Not here! You'll blow the house away!"

"My Servant has been lost." Kirei Kotomine dully reported to his father, reprising as they had planned before the Church's entrance. "I have forfeited my right as Master, and can no longer participate in the Holy Grail War. In accordance to the treaty, I, Kirei Kotomine, request that the Church shelter and protect me."

"Your request is granted." Father answered. "In my role as the Overseer, I, Risei Kotomine, will guarantee your safety. Now, come in."

Kirei followed after into the church until they reached the platform. "Father, isn't anyone surveilling this church?"

"No, this place has been declared a neutral sanctuary. The Holy Church will censure any Master who defies the decree."

"Then, it's safe here..." At his father's hum, Kirei became dissatisfied and turned to regard his Servant. "Keep watch, just in case. Post one of you to keep watch here at all times."

"Yes. Understood." Assassin materialized from a burst of darkness, this particular female having been the decoy's second-in-command persona.

"Who was watching the battle?" Kirei asked.

"I detected the presence of familiars from four separate Masters." Assassin answered.

"That should be Matou, Einzbern, Lord El-Melloi and Rider's Master." Father pointed out. "Two days ago, I confirmed the summoning of the final Servant, Caster, but their Master still hasn't notified the Church..."

Kirei's eyes narrowed at the thought. "One unaccounted for, huh? I was hoping all the Masters would bear witness to it."

"At this point, any self-respecting Master will be surveilling the estates of the Three Families for their own Servants." A new Assassin materialized, tall and hunched over in the black hooded robe that covered his body.

"If they can't think to do at least that much, it wouldn't occur to them to guard against us Assassins anyway." A third Assassin materialized while sitting on a pew, chuckling at his words as he bit his thumb.

"The Masters will have their guard down, believing Assassin to be dead already." A fourth Assassin appeared behind the cloaked Assassin, ridiculously short compared to him.

"And this time, we shall truly act as our Class and Name indicates, striking down our foes in the veil of shadows."

Kirei frowned as they all manifested, all of Assassin darkening the Church with their killing intent all but directed at him.

His father may have believed them dramatic, but was their unnecessary materialization of Zabaniya(Delusional Illusion) to leech at his prana their subtle retribution for their comrade's death?

"The War has officially begun, and the 4th Heaven's Feel will finally begin." Father declared with a proud smile on his face. "These old eyes of mine will finally see a miracle incarnate."

Kirei lowered his gaze. A miracle, huh?

*Knock-knock, knock, knock-knock*

Kiritsugu Emiya knocked on the door of Room 703, it opening to show Maiya's face. Naturally, she'd didn't fully unlock it yet, only enough to confirm his appearance before letting him in.

"The equipment you requested has arrived." Maiya reported as she walked up to the video player connected to the television. "Madam and Saber have arrived as well and are making their way together. That way, the other Masters will assume Madam is Saber's Master."

"Good." Kiritsugu acknowledged. "Has anything of note happened?"

"There was an incident last night at the Tohsaka estate." Maiya knelt before the video player to switch it on, starting up a recording. "Here is the footage I recorded."

Kiritsugu frowned as the footage played, showing the pinned Assassin quickly being eliminated by Archer's projectiles. Too quickly. "What do you make of of this?"

"It seems too good to be true. The time lag between Assassin's intrusion and his defeat by Tohsaka's Servant was too short." Maiya confirmed his suspicions. "Assassin was supposed to have a Class Skill that hides their presence, making it hard to believe that he was actually detected in advance. It makes more sense that Tohsaka would've been expecting that assault."

Kiritsugu nodded in agreement. There really was no other way to look at it. But still... "In a battle among Servants, its critical to conceal the identities of the Heroic Spirit. Why would Tohsaka expose his Servant for all to see?"

"He was showing off, maybe." The woman proposed.

Kiritsugu nodded at the answer before another thought occurred to him. "Maiya, what became of Assassin's Master?"

"He escaped to the church last night. The Overseer decreed him under his protection. Assassin's Master is, or rather was, Kirei Kotomine."

Kiritsugu's eyes widened. Of all Servants to own, Kotomine's had been Assassin? Add in the possibility of the Grail War's first battle being staged... "Maiya, send a familiar to watch the Fuyuki City church."

"Are you certain?" Maiya asked. "Within the neutral zone that surrounds the church, Masters are forbidden to operate."

"Keep it at a reasonable distance so that the priests will be unable to notice it." Kiritsugu instructed before moving towards the bed with his weaponry. "Treat it as you would a side job, so don't put too much effort into controlling it."

'"Very well. Understood." She complied as she shut off the video player.

Kiritsugu took a good look at all of the firearms before running a quick but thorough inspection of them all: Three Model 7290 Flashbangs, one Calico M950, one Steyr Aug A1, one Walther WA 2000, four M67 Grenades, and two blocks of Plastic Explosives.

As a rule, magi were generally negligent due to arrogance. They lived with the absolute certainty that the only beings that could threaten them were fellow magi, and thus, were only overly sensitive to the presence of other magi.

Thus, it was only natural that most of their arsenal would be tools that operated without prana or magecraft. Astonishingly very few magi could comprehend the danger of a firearm being pointed at them.

"Where is the thing I left with you?" Kiritsugu finally asked before setting down the Walther.

"Here." Maiya set down a smaller briefcase, watching as he opened it to pull out his personal Mystic Code.

His modified Thompson Arms Contender.

Grabbing hold of it, Kiritsugu breathed deeply as muscle memory reminded him of how many times he'd used it... and of the first time he'd used it.

Kiritsugu didn't do anything for a moment, then he suddenly opened the bullet cartridge, immediately pulled out the used bullet shell still inside, then quickly reloaded it with a new bullet before locking the gun and aiming at his invisible target.

"Two seconds to reload, huh?" Kiritsugu noted with some surprise. "It's gotten worse, hasn't it?"

"Indeed." Maiya confirmed as Kiritsugu returned his Mystic Code to it's case. "You've dulled."

"Illya's body... weighs less than that Walther." Kerry suddenly spoke, his family's fate looming once more. "Yet... She's already eight years old..."

As the Master's head was still down low, he felt Maiya wrap her arms around his neck, guiding him from his crouch to behold Maiya as she kept her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Focus only on what matters now." Maiya said before kissing him softly. Her lips were different from Iri's, cool where she was warm, steady where she was dynamic, dark where she was bright. Then she pulled away from him, the woman that was his tool.

Until Iri met her and pulled them both into forming the weirdest throuple ever. It didn't mean that Kerry would regret or reject any of it.

"Kerry isn't needed right now, but Kiritsugu is."

Maiya was right. Kerry wasn't needed right now.

Magus Killer Kiritsugu Emiya was.

It was time.

Berserker had stilled before reporting the pulse that had no doubt been broadcasted to the other Servants.

After letting Byakuya know that he was leaving, Kariya looked around for his Power Battery, only to find Sakura waiting with it in her hands beside the door, barely able to carry the large object.

"Are you going out to fight with Berserker?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Kariya went down on a knee before her, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "I'll be back, as I always have."

"I know." Sakura hummed into his hands. "Be safe."

"I will." Kariya leaned forward and pressed a kiss against her forehead. "I love you."

"Me too." Sakura replied.

Smiling at her, Kariya held up his ring to the power battery's core and invoked his oath. "No matter how high the heaven or deep the pit, no evil before me shall ever be acquit. To those who who demand that the innocent submit, be engulfed in the Emerald Light that I emit."

Kariya welcomed the familiar flare of willpower manifest as his civilian clothes burned away in a burst of emerald flames to reveal his Lantern uniform, surrounded by a usual halo of jade light.

"Shall we?" Berserker opened the door for him, leading the way out. "Battle awaits us."

"Ring, locate the entities bearing energy signatures similar to Berserker." Kariya ordered before whispering a little. "Also, is that other Assassin still watching my house?"

"There are four non Assassin-type signatures converging at the Fuyuki harbor." His ring reported. "The Assassin-type signature observing your residence has moved thirty meters away from their previous hiding spot, now observing Berserker in particular."

"Fine, then." Kariya levitated off the ground after stepping out and locking the doors and wards behind him, prompting Berserker to astralize. "Let's go."

And then he blasted forward, a streak of green across the night sky. Below, Berserker followed after as she astralized with a brief streak of lightning.

KingVessel: Green Lantern incoming~ Leave a review! Also, I personally find the whole cheating on Irisviel with Maiya as a 'punishment'... to be the third most nonsensical stuff I've ever known of Fate/zero, right after Kiritsugu's 'try and fail to be a machine' despite his love for his women and daughter, and Kariya's designated loser status. Kiritsugu could've been Nasu's equivalent of Batman(with guns) and Kariya, despite his completely reasonable hatred for Zouken, was still raised as a magus and could have developed some magical skill of his own in all the years he was away due to him being extremely aware of all the dangers in the world.