III.
The lighting in the new area was somehow even poorer than what Louise had experienced previously. She had already found it odd before that none of the damage had been fixed right away, but found it stranger still that an area open only to authorized personnel would be in even worse disarray. Another thing she noticed was that the path open to the general public had been purposefully designated to make it difficult, even impossible, for anyone to get lost. The young mage was finding this area to be of a different design though.
The junction where her and Zoe had parted ways was only the first of many branching paths. There were even a few times where Louise had found the path she was following had looped back around to a section she had already been. The young mage was doing everything she could to keep her bearings, and it was only thanks to the reassurances of Rider that he would be able to find the way back due to his own Servant parameters, that she was able to not lose her composure.
Louise had done her best to hide it from Grimaud and especially Rider when she had first woken up that night. She had also made sure to keep an unflappable front up around Zoe as best she could. She had also been attempting to deny to herself how affected and distracted she was by the dream from earlier that evening. No matter what she did, or how much she tried to keep her focus in the present and on the extremely dangerous situation at hand, Louise was constantly pulled back to the events of Rosa's past, of the horrible things the young girl had been part of and of the unnatural creation that was even now eating away at her fragile psyche. But more than that, Louise was thinking of the clearly pivotal part her own family had played in bringing those things to pass. It was impossible to deny that she had seen Alfonso Boxtell there, and that he was the one who had killed Rosa's lover. What was more, Alfonso had made it very clear that the entire project, the concept of stealing people's magical circuits and fusing them together outside of a human body, had been commissioned by her father. Her family had destroyed Rosa's life, and now their decisions were killing Rosa herself.
"Master, you're distracted. Are you that concerned about the de Franchi brothers? Or perhaps the maze-like features are causing you to lose focus?" Rider gave Louise a reassuring pat on the shoulder as they continued their exploration.
"I'm fine, maybe just a little claustrophobic." Louise gave Rider a weak smile as she spoke. The chevalier lowered his eyes at her, the look implying a lack of belief in Louise's words. "Am I that obvious? No, Rider, I am not well."
"Well for the sake of our safety, so that you may return to a more focused state, please, divulge to your humble Servant what it is that seems to be so troubling."
Louise waited several seconds before replying, deciding just how much she wanted to reveal to Rider. "I saw Rosa again."
"It has been several times though. Is now really the time to finally be bothered by a reoccurring dream?"
"It was different this time. I don't want to go into too many of the details right now but..."
"But?"
"I need to help her, Rider. I have a responsibility to."
"Master, with all due respect, you have on your face and hand proof that you are one of the last people who has any responsibility to her well being."
"What happened that time doesn't matter."
"And I say that judging by your maimed body it does." Rider was growing impatient.
"She is dying, Rider!"
"And? Why does that fall on you to resolve? Is that not precisely what happens in a Holy Grail War? People die."
"She was dying before this battle started, Rider." Louise glared at Rider, the power of the resolution she had already reached burning in her one eye. "And it is the Saint-Hermine family whose hands the blood will be on if she does die. She was just a poor innocent girl."
"She has also killed many innocents herself."
"As a representative of my family I will stand to account for what she has done. I truly believe that she is not fully to blame for her heinous acts."
Rider was tempted to continue the dialogue, still not fully convinced of Rosa's true nature. Before he could offer further rebuke though, a noise a bit ahead of them caught his notice, and he signed to Louise for quiet.
Louise immediately ceased talking, and focused on listening as well, having learned that Rider was generally right when he thought danger was at hand. After only a brief pause she began to hear what had caught her Servant's attention. There was a low murmur that sounded not unlike a far-off gathering or party. However the sound was gradually increasing in volume, its source evidently drawing nearer. At first Louise thought there was a chance that it was a group of the archaeology and management teams who handled the research and restoration of the catacombs, but quickly perished the thought. The advanced hour and low number of security personnel that had been outside made that optimistic option incredibly unlikely.
The other thing they both noticed was that, along with the increasing amount of noise, it appeared as though there was also a light source approaching as well. It was not the consistent glow of a flashlight bouncing around in someone's hand though. The glow that was slowly spreading across the walls of the curved tunnels ahead was dancing and flickering, like torches borne aloft by a group.
"I suggest we pick a different tunnel." Rider stated, attempting to stay calm.
"Yes, I think you may have the right idea." Louise, with some trepidation in her voice, quickly agreed .
Both Master and Servant quickly darted down a tunnel to their left as the mob-like sounds advanced from the path ahead. They walked briskly, but were still exerting some caution, not wanting to run and attract unwanted attention. They had only just started their detour though when, up ahead of their new path, they could hear more of the same low rumblings of gathered voices, and the threatening flicker of the torches was once again stretching across the cavern walls.
"Perhaps another left?" Rider offered, a rising note of concern in his voice.
Louise wordlessly followed along with the suggestion, both of them moving down the nearby corridor. The duo had only gone a few steps however, when the path ahead was once again filled with the foreboding signs of what was clearly starting to look like a threat. There was another problem that accompanied the oncoming horde. There were no other branching paths between the Master and Servant and the newest source of noise and light. They could also clearly hear the mobs from the other directions coming closer as well.
"I don't know that we're being left much choice on what to do." Louise said to Rider, her tone a mixture of concern and imprudent excitement.
"Yes, it would seem that whatever it is that lays before us, we are destined to face head on. I was hoping to avoid any pointless conflict, but-" Rider drew his sword from its sheath. "So be it."
Following Rider's lead, Louise engaged the mana blade on her left hand and adopted a ready stance, waiting to see exactly what was going to come around the bend ahead, while her Servant took up position behind her to watch for what they knew was also coming from that direction.
What did appear was not exactly what Louise had expected to present itself. A large group of people was slowly and with stilted, awkward steps, making its way down the tunnel towards her. Beyond their uneven gait, what struck Louise as particularly odd was the juxtaposition of their average, modern clothing, and the archaic and out-dated weapons they were carrying. Every one of them was dressed and looked like just another average Parisian one might encounter on the streets above, but the tools they carried; rusted scythes and flails, rotting cudgels, chipped axes, and blazing torches looked of a bygone era in both appearance and quality. It was as though someone had taken weapons looted from some ancient battlefield and put them in the hands of the modern citizenry.
Louise was still examining the mob when Rider's arm came into view from behind her, pointing his pistol at the group ahead even as he kept watch in the opposite direction. "Wait." The Master said. Try as she might, Louise could only barely sense any magic on or around the mob that was slowly approaching them. Even if they were created by some sort of Servant ability, the amount of magic that would be required to manifest that many phantasmals would have been impossible to mask. The closer they got, the more Louise could make out their features. All of them that she could see had a far off look in their eyes, their glazed over features implied very little cognitive activity on any of their parts.
Louise could see Rider starting to exert pressure on the trigger, only moments away from loosing a deadly shot on the enemy ahead. "Don't!" Louise shouted to him.
"What!?" Rider responded.
"There's no time but, don't hurt them. We're leaving, right now." Louise disengaged her mana blade and began gathering magical energy into her palms as she issued the order.
Before Rider could question his Master further, a single voice rose above the incoherent mumbling of the others in the crowd. A hand from the mob raised and pointed at Louise and Rider as its owner shouted. "Kill them! Burn the heretics!" It was a war-cry that seemed to infuse the others around it with a strange sort of energy. Their failing and awkward steps gained a supernatural urgency, as they were soon barring down on the pair.
Moments before the attacking horde reached Louise she unleashed the gathered magic from her hands in a magnificent purple wave that washed over the aggressors and forced them up against the walls of the tunnel, parting the crowd and clearing a path for her and Rider.
"Come on!" Louise shouted to her Servant.
Louise led the way as the two of them charged ahead through the winding tunnels. They were taking turns that appeared sometimes at random, other times in response to running into another group of the enemy mob. The words of "Heretic" that had been called out had apparently worked as a sort of warning alarm for all the others gathered in the tunnel. Because every group they did meet reacted immediately to their presence and echoed the sentiment.
"They are here! Come countrymen, there is work to be done. The heretics must die!"
Louise didn't want to admit it, but they were being slowly encircled by the oncoming aggressors. At one point when they had turned a corner a group had been so close at hand that Rider had no choice but to kick one of the members with full force into his companions to stop them from grabbing hold of Louise.
Louise was growing tired from all the running, but their pursuers were giving her no time for rest. Every turn or branching tunnel only revealed more weapons and torches, or resounded with more cries calling for their deaths. As they continued Louise could see the path ahead choked with the mob and worse still, could see that for the first time some of these were armed with antiquated firearms.
"Master!" Rider called out a warning, as he pulled Louise down the only available detour to their right. Shots from the muskets created a cacophonous echo as they fired, filling the space Louise had just been standing in with deadly lead shot.
Louise and Rider had earned no reprieve by dodging the fatal barrage, the turn they had taken had put them immediately face to face with another mob, all of whom were moving to attack. Louise ducked one strike from a pole-arm and delivered a quick series of jabs into the stomach of its wielder, but the thwarting of one attack had left her open to a strike from another. The cudgel came swinging at her with inhuman force and the only thing Rider had time to do to protect his Master was to place himself between the attack and her. The force of the blow knocked the Servant hard into Louise which sent the two of them flying backwards together into the wall of the tunnel they had only moments before left.
Louise heard a deafening crack as they collided with the stone wall. The impact was not as she expected, followed by the two of them slumping on the floor and being peppered with bullets. In fact, Louise didn't even feel the falling to the floor part. She felt almost weightless for a moment, as if hanging in a void. It was only then that she realized that the stone wall had crumbled from her and Rider impacting it and they were now both falling through the darkness into a chasm below.