Chapter Text
By night, Ryuudouji Temple had been kind of spooky – all grand and imposing up on the mountain top, with an impressive gate that seemed to say to Ryuunosuke, stop. You stand on holy ground.
The gate was not so impressive any more.
The sun rose on the courtyard, pale glow washing over grey stone, and revealed a disaster area. An observer would have assumed the temple had been struck by a typhoon that had miraculously spared the rest of the city – as though the holy men had taken the blow upon themselves to save the innocents below. See, they'd say, here was where the wind had ripped the gate from its foundations and blown it clear across the grounds to smash into the shrine. Here was where a mighty branch must have been sent from the woods to rake across the decking and take out the support pillars. The fires, yes, from lanterns blown over and fuelled by the howling gale.
All very explainable, if there had been a typhoon. How lucky, that Fuyuki proper was delivered.
But there hadn't been, and nothing about this had been lucky.
Ryuunosuke leaned against one of the few walls Ibaraki had left intact, and watched his… Servant? Yes, that was what she'd said. He watched his Servant lounge on the steps up to the shrine, cleaning herself in the sun.
Shintoism, or religion of any kind, had never really done it for Ryuunosuke – but nevertheless, he'd still had something of a spiritual experience at the temple.
The first time he'd witnessed a car crash, he was seven years old. It had been a silly, avoidable thing, just someone driving while drunk, misjudging a turn, and ploughing their car straight into oncoming traffic. A simple, everyday tragedy, but Ryuunosuke had been entranced. The sheer power of the forces involved, the way that three fragile little lives had been snuffed out by their own hands and some bad luck… it humbled him. For the first time, he really understood just how small a thing death was. How could a human life be worth anything, compared to the vastness of the forces that could be brought to bear on their bodies?
He sought out more. As a child, he could hardly cause anything, but he searched out news footage or car crashes, train derailments, tsunami, volcanic eruptions… anything in which people died by the hundreds, as if the universe itself was telling Ryuunosuke that no, life didn't matter.
He'd grown up since then – learned to appreciate death as a transition and entity in its own right, and not just as an absence or rejection of life. But watching Ibaraki break a temple gate with her bare hands, and hurl it overarm to crush sixteen astonished monks like it was a paper toy… it reminded him a lot of that feeling.
She'd been a force of nature in her own right. And now, here she was in the morning sunshine, delicately licking blood off her claws with a long, pink tongue, looking like some fairytale princess. Well, if you ignored that she was more likely to slaughter any dragon that kidnapped her and steal its hoard, and then eat any knight that came riding in on a white horse to rescue her.
Was this the 'gap moe' Ryuunosuke had heard about?
Ibaraki looked up, and caught him staring. He looked away hurriedly, then glanced back. She frowned. "What is it, summoner?"
"Nothing. Just… kinda wondering what I'm bringing to the party here, you know?"
"The… party? You wish to hold a revel?" Ibaraki put one bloodstained claw to her lips in thought. "I suppose there is no harm in it, although it would be a lot of trouble to obtain a proper feast, and we would need to silence all witnesses. On the other hand, one problem may solve the other…"
Right. Noted: Ibaraki wasn't very good at slang.
"No, no, no need for any revels. I meant, you're kinda amazing, you know? I'm pretty useless by comparison, but I don't want to just sit around and let you do everything. Is there, you know, anything I can do to help?"
"Nothing. To suggest a human can help an oni is madness." Ibaraki's reply was quick, as though rehearsed – or an automatic response. Well, screw that. Ryuunosuke was having the time of his life, and he was going to get involved, dammit.
"Hey now, no need to be like that. You said there's six other demons and six other wizards, right? What do those other guys usually do?"
Ibaraki regarded him with a cool stare. "If you were a halfway competent Master you would know all this already."
"Well, I'm trying to learn. Please. Just what did I accidentally get myself into last night?"
For a moment it looked as though Ibaraki would refuse him again… but then she seemed to come to a decision. She stood and made her way over, until she came to a stop just in front of Ryuunosuke. Like this, it was apparent how short she was – the top of her head would only have tickled Ryuunosuke's chin, although the horns could still have put out an eye.
"Very well. You wish to understand the Holy Grail War? First, you must understand Servants. Pick me up."
Ryuunosuke's brain had been trying to figure out where this conversation had been heading, but it now ground to a halt. "Um… what?"
If such a thing was possible, Ibaraki squirmed. "You heard me, summoner. Pick me up. It is the quickest way of understanding the difference between you and me, nothing more!"
Slowly, as if reaching out to an animal that may well suddenly bite his hand off, Ryuunosuke placed his hands under Ibaraki's armpits and heaved. She came up easily, weighing no more than the little girl she appeared to be, red clawed feet kicking in the air.
"Very well, now put me down. Down, I say!" Ryuunosuke did so.
"As you see, summoner, I weigh no more than I look. My muscles are as they appear, only a little denser than yours and that due to my lifestyle compared with your own. Now, tell me – " With a violent disruption to the air, a giant blade made of what looked like bone and rawhide appeared in Ibaraki's hands. She twirled it like a baton, then held it out handle-first to Ryuunosuke. "Do you think you can swing my sword?"
"I'm pretty sure I can't…"
"Try."
Ryuunosuke did as he was told. The second his hand closed over the handle, Ibaraki let go – and Ryuunosuke was forced to let go and hop back, utterly unprepared for the weight of what felt like an entire car on the end of his arm.
"Woah!"
Ibaraki smirked, then picked up the blade in one hand and held it straight out. Knowing what he knew now about how heavy that sword was, Ryuunosuke looked for some sign of counterbalance – for Ibaraki gripping the ground with her feet, for instance, or somehow not falling over with a sword heavier than she was held at arm's length.
He saw none. Even physics was apparently scared of the demon he'd summoned. So cool.
"This is the great bone blade, formed from the skeletons of oni – and oni bone is the toughest material above the sea. It is a mass of curses and hate and power that no human can hope to carry. So you see. Servants are powerful, summoner. Beyond you in every way. Stronger than you, faster than you, tougher than you, in ways that go beyond mere physique. You ask if you can be any help? Lift my sword first, then say that."
"Wow. So these other demons are all like you? All oni?"
"Ah… no. I had meant to correct you earlier. In truth, the War is primarily held between heroes, not monsters such as myself. I would be surprised if there were any other oni summoned – the rest will likely all be human heroes."
Questions, Ryuunosuke had so many questions. "How do you know all this, anyway? Has this war been going on since you were around?"
"No. The Grail provides a basic understanding of the War, and the very basics of modern knowledge required, to each Servant – language included, naturally. Or did you think I spoke your pathetic modern mewling in medieval Kyoto?"
Ryuunosuke supposed that made sense. Although it clearly had its limits. Looking at Ibaraki now, he couldn't imagine she'd actually be able to ever blend in, even if he somehow managed to hide her horns, hands, feet, and eyes. She was just obviously different from modern humans in the way she thought, spoke, and acted… even outside the fact that she clearly regarded most humans as somewhere between vermin and food.
Anyway. "So if most of the other wizards are just summoning other humans, how do they stand a chance against you? No human I ever met can do…" he gestured vaguely at the ruins of Ryuudouji temple, "What you can, no matter how heroic." A good thing too, or you'd have cops leaping at least medium-sized buildings in a single bound and running down getaway cars.
Ibaraki looked uncomfortable, chewing on her lip with one massive tusk. "Of course! Oni are naturally superior! …but heroes are troublesome. Be warned, should we encounter another Servant, you will have exactly as little chance of facing them in combat as you would me."
"Huh… so what's the point of the wizards, then? Is their magic a threat to these Servants?"
"It is possible. But unlikely. Generally, if any Master encounters any other Servant, the Servant is sure to win. The point, as you say, is to act as an anchor for the Servant. Without the mage providing magical energy, the Servant fades away. A Master who is having trouble defeating an enemy Servant in battle might direct his Servant to destroy the enemy Master instead. Or, if he is feeling confident, go after the other Master directly, of course."
Yikes. So these Servants were likely to be gunning for his head? Ryuunosuke tried to imagine himself fighting Ibaraki. He couldn't see any scenario in which he lasted more than about three seconds. "Huh. That's… not great. I'm not exactly a fighter."
"Indeed not. Fortunately, you are so weak as to be beneath notice for most other Masters. Any pathetic stream of prana you produce is all being directed into sustaining me. Keep out of the way, and they are unlikely to find you."
Run and hide, huh? That sounded right up Ryuunosuke's street. "Alright. Any other advice?"
"Yes. Your hand." Ryuunosuke looked at it. The marks he'd acquired last night were still there, red and angry. "Those are your Command Spells. Each Master has three. Each of them allows you to give me one absolute order."
"Huh." Ryuunosuke considered. "So, if I wanted you to sleep with me, I could just tell you to do it, and you would?"
Ibaraki's reptile eyes blazed. "Indeed I would. And after the third time you ordered me to disgrace myself so, I would rip your head from your shoulders, safe in the knowledge you no longer had any power over me."
Noted.
"So, what are they usually used for?" asked Ryuunosuke, choosing to move the conversation on quickly. "I'm assuming wizards aren't so stupid as to waste them like that."
"Quite. The authority of the Command Spells empowers a Servant. Tell me, 'Strike him true', and no matter my skill or my opponent's speed, I will land a perfect blow. Tell me, 'Come to me', and I will bend space to appear before you. Tell me, 'Defend this hill', and all I do in pursuit of that goal will be greater and easier. This, I suspect, will be your main contribution to the War."
That sounded fair enough. It wasn't like he actually wanted to make Ibaraki do anything, anyway. She was perfect as she was, his natural predator, and he had no wish to spoil that. But defeating these other Servants sounded like it was going to be tough for him, so having three cheat codes would help massively.
"Sounds good to me. Um…" he cast around for something more to say. "So, you were the leader of your oni clan, right? You're going to be better than me at this whole war thing, so I guess I'll just follow your lead."
Ibaraki preened a little, smiling and nodding. "Good, you do know your place. Oni are not used to taking orders from humans. It is well you did not try."
Hah. Flattery would get you everywhere, with demons as well as humans, it seemed. This suited Ryuunosuke perfectly – he'd always been charming when he wanted to be.
"Well, it's just common sense, isn't it? You've got more experience than I do in this kind of thing, so I'd be crazy not to let you be your best. So – what should we be doing, Ibaraki?"
Once more, Ibaraki paused for thought. "You are a pathetic Master – weak in magic and unlearned. This is not your fault, but it does mean I lack access to magical energy."
"Is that a problem? You seem pretty kickass to me so far."
Ibaraki raised an eyebrow at 'kickass', but apparently chose to let it slide. "I am more powerful than I otherwise might be, as a Japanese demon summoned in Japan. However, as a Kyoto youkai summoned in Kyushu, it is hardly a great boost. And even so, I need magical energy to act. It is as though…" Ibaraki seemed to search around for a comparison. "Ah. Yes. It is as though I am a 'car', operating without 'fuel'. My relative infamy gives me a more efficient and powerful 'engine', allowing me to do more with less – but I cannot run on nothing at all. And yes, to extend the analogy, I have so far been 'running on fumes'."
"Um…" Ryuunosuke looked around at the devastation that happened when Ibaraki happened to buildings. "Really?"
Ibaraki – Servant Berserker – smirked, and stalked a distance away. "Oh yes. Prepare yourself, Master – this may hurt a little." And before Ryuunosuke could ask what she was about to do, she hefted her great bone blade in one hand and blurred it forward in an overhand strike to the ground.
The paving stones… evaporated. The ground beneath… crumbled. The earth parted like water. What was left of the buildings shook in their foundations. A great cloud of dust exploded from the point of impact, forcing Ryuunosuke to shield his eyes against the blast. Some shrapnel must have hit him, because he felt cuts like lines of fire against his body. When the blast cleared, a furrow fully twelve feet deep and twice as wide ran from the edge of the temple grounds up to Ibaraki, her sword now the centre of a crater.
She'd practically split the mountain in half, and didn't even look tired.
Ryuunosuke panted, inexplicably exhausted – and those damn cuts were burning worse than before! He looked down, and saw… nothing. He wasn't bleeding. So why the hell was his body on fire?
Ibaraki looked on, pitiless, as he squirmed and writhed. "I have just used Mana Burst, a skill to enhance the destructive power of my blows using magical energy – yours, in this case. You have very little to spare, and your body is drawing what it can from your own reserves. The pain you feel is your measly excuses for circuits overloading – spiritual organs in a physical body never designed for them, overheated and burning you from the inside out. The agony… it must be exquisite." The savage gleam in Ibaraki's eyes sent a shudder down Ryuunosuke's burning spine, and he wasn't a hundred percent sure why.
So cool. Not safe, but so cool.
"So…" he panted, trying to keep his voice under control. "Wh- ah – what do we do?"
Berserker smiled, that mad glint still there in her reptile eyes. "I can feed on souls, as any Servant can. The people of this miserable city will provide the sustenance I need to raze it to the ground, and everything I need to crush the other Servants and win the Grail. We will rest here for the day. Prepare yourself, Master. We rest here for the day, and come the night, mankind will once more learn to fear the wrath of the oni."
Ryuunosuke grinned, he couldn't help it. "Shit yes. Let's have a night on the town."
Tohsaka was the first target.
Not for elimination; that would come later. In Kiritsugu's vision for the first part of the War, he and Assassin would remain entirely out of sight, making the most of their stealth advantage to gather information on all other Masters and Servants. When they were ready, they would strike – unforeseeable, irresistible, and aimed at what the two of them, in their considerable experience, considered to be the greatest weakness of each pair. But not before. Certainly not in the very first few nights of the War.
No. For now, the game was gathering intelligence.
Kiritsugu would start with the two known factors – just like the Einzberns, Tohsaka and Matou were guaranteed a place in each War. Thus, they knew precisely where two of their enemies lived. The reverse was also true, of course, which was why Kiritsugu had purchased, under a false name, a second house in the suburbs west of Fuyuki.
It had been assessed that the Tohsaka house would be better defended, and better shielded against people trying to gather its secrets. For one, the Tohsaka specialty of manipulating magical energy meant that a broad suite of effects could be achieved, and empowered through their secret Jewelcraft. For another, the Tohsaka family itself was in the ascendant, while Matou had been in a long slow state of decay for as long as it had been living next door to one of its main rivals, who owned the land they lived off. Curious, that.
In any event, Kiritsugu would control his bat familiars and scout the Matou mansion – each equipped with modern video cameras, the best that money could buy, which was to say that the cameras were actually small enough that a bat could lift them with some effort. Serenity, by far the more effective even compared to an entire colony of bats, would observe the Tohsaka. She was to pay special attention to any Servants seen, and also to any avenues for infiltrating the house itself.
She had declined the use of a long-lens camera, to record her observations for posterity in the same way the bats would; her memory was trained towards recalling exactly this kind of thing with perfect clarity. Besides, there was no need to waste a perfectly good camera. Like most everything else, if she handled it for any length of time there was a risk that poison would linger on the object and harm the next user.
So, Serenity sat, perfectly still, on a rooftop overlooking the Tohsaka house. She was in spirit form, and with her presence fully concealed – as far as anyone or anything else was concerned, she simply wasn't there. Even so, she instinctively huddled in the shadows, her silhouette obscured by the chimney behind her, her mask removed to reduce the risk of shine. There was no point getting sloppy, after all.
She had been here for four hours now. Twelve hours, the night before.
Most Servants – even some Assassins – would have gotten bored long before now. But where others might have seen a deserted street, she saw a wealth of information and possibility. She may not have been the fearsome Servant in a fight, but at espionage, reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, it was undeniable: Hassan of the Serenity, the Old Man of the Mountain, was in another league.
One man, late thirties, passing in front of house from west to east, she sent to her Master, telepathically. Assessment: Salaryman, drunk, returning home after work night out. Conforms to analysis of foot traffic for the past hour. Assess peak time for potential witnesses is still 12 midnight to 0100, least disturbed time is from 0400 onward. Expect ambient light levels lowest in one hour, forty-five minutes, based on cloud cover and moonset.
Acknowledged, sent Kiritsugu immediately. If he was getting tired from the constant, mind-numbing vigil, he didn't show any signs of it in his mental voice. Quietly, Serenity was impressed. Not many could handle the strain of staring at nothing in particular for so long.
That said… Serenity was close to done with the Tohsaka house, without an actual sighting of the Servant. If they didn't show their face tonight, she would move on and survey another of Kiritsugu's known Masters. Tohsaka was the top priority for the certainty that he would be involved, but Kotomine Kirei was a close second. For some reason, he unnerved Kiritsugu: he hardly showed it, but it was obvious to Serenity. Since her Master was hardly one to scare easily, she'd made a mental note to treat Kotomine with particular caution. First, though, Tohsaka. The fact that his Servant hadn't shown themselves yet was… worrying.
The attack, when it came, was overwhelming.
From a clear sky, arrows suddenly rained down. A hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, more – beyond counting. They filled the sky, and shortly filled the ground as well. To dodge was impossible: one may as well try and dodge raindrops in a storm. Serenity could only watch, even her composure startled into breaking, as the sky turned green and fell.
On the Tohsaka house.
The green arrows slammed into a barely-visible barrier of magical energy, which rippled like water under rain. As the distortions grew more and more violent, the arrows were knocked back off-course or caught and diverted into the ground.
Serenity was no magus, but she could see the idea. Rather than stopping every projectile, the barrier was designed to dissipate its force to where it was needed most, with the initial energy supplied from a jewel – in this case, the sapphire glowing brightly on its pedestal in the courtyard. Clever, efficient, and elegant. Classic Tohsaka magecraft, in other words.
Still, it had limits. The arrows that made up the storm weren't particularly damaging… by Servant standards. But even so, the green barrage tore the ground around the barrier to shreds, and shattered every window on the street with the mere shockwave of its passing. The Tohsaka's barrier shook ever more violently, and it was clear – sooner or later, the barrier would collapse altogether. When it did…
On the other hand, maybe the arrow rain – surely Archer's work – would cease before then. With this many arrows, Serenity almost hoped it was a Noble Phantasm, and would therefore run out of magical energy quickly. The alternative was mildly horrifying.
But, an opportunity was an opportunity. With all its power directed at defending an attack from the sky, the shield had weakened considerably at the sides. Serenity flung a knife. For a moment, it was visible only as a faint white streak – then as a smooth distortion as it passed through Tohsaka's barrier with hardly a ripple.
The sapphire shattered, and the shield froze in place. Without its ability to redirect force, the barrier was crippled. Brittle.
Useless.
With a sound like breaking glass, it exploded, directing all its remaining energy outwards in a last-ditch attempt to scatter the arrows. More gathered overhead, and Serenity reflected that one knife to bring down Tohsaka's house was a pretty good deal.
And Tohsaka's Servant finally showed her hand.
"Tarrasque!" called a female voice.
What looked like a turtle shell – enormous and spiny, dark red – appeared above the Tohsaka mansion. It hovered, looking like a cross between some bizarre zeppelin and an umbrella, shielding the house from the last of Archer's assault. Eventually, the last arrow bounced uselessly off the turtle shell, and it vanished into a mass of purple-blue motes.
Serenity watched to see if there would be any more.
Nothing came, for long moments. Slowly, Serenity relaxed.
Master, your assessment? she asked. She knew he'd have been watching through her eyes.
The arrows were almost certainly Archer's work, Kiritsugu sent. I'd be surprised if that were not their Noble Phantasm, but without hearing it invoked nothing is certain. I would have guessed the protective shell was some sort of spell, suggesting Caster, but that name…
Tarrasque. Serenity hadn't heard of it in life, but her status as a Servant – called from the Throne of Heroes – had a number of advantages that weren't immediately obvious. Among them was the ability to access something of the legend and history of a Heroic Spirit one was unfamiliar with in life, given certain cues. Invoking a Noble Phantasm was a near-certain way to announce your identity, and Serenity hadn't missed this one.
Tarrasque: O Dragon's Shield that Shall Not Let a Blade Pass. A Noble Phantasm that draws on the shell of the dragon Tarrasque to greatly increase defence for the owner and her allies, and act as an impenetrable shield against physical force. Its owner, Saint Martha of Bethany, who witnessed the Prophet Isa raise her brother Lazarus from the dead, and who later travelled to France and tamed the Tarrasque. If I had to guess, Master, she most closely fits the Rider class, associated as it is with beasts and monsters.
Agreed. There was a pause in Kiritsugu's mental voice, as though unsure as to how to proceed. It was barely noticeable, though, and he continued on, as professional and confident as before. Given that, do you have any theories as to the arrows that forced Martha to such extremes as to deploy her Noble Phantasm?
None, said Serenity, without shame. Being honest, and correct, was more valuable than deluding yourself into thinking you'd seen clues you hadn't. I apologise, I was focused on the Tohsaka house and missed where they originated.
As to that, I may have an idea, Kiritsugu said.
Serenity waited patiently.
When the attack on the Tohsaka house began, I moved some of my familiars out of cover to observe. As soon as I did, they were destroyed – fast enough that not one managed to record any of the others' destruction, even after I began moving them in groups designed for maximum oversight. Given my proximity to the Matou house, common sense would suggest it was their Servant. Given their ability to accurately target and destroy my familiars, no matter how widely-spaced, common sense suggests that their Servant is the mystery Archer.
It wasn't watertight logic… but often you had to work with what you had. Sure, it could have been some unrelated, very fast and stealthy Servant, active in roughly the same area and exactly the same timeframe as Archer, taking advantage of the distraction. It wasn't impossible – in fact it was a perfect description of Serenity's own actions tonight. But Archer being the Matou Servant was, by far, the more likely scenario.
In which case, the opening salvo of the War had drawn pretty clear battle lines. The Matou – if it was truly them – had gone after the Tohsaka at the very first opportunity, with maximum force. They'd already cost the Tohsaka their home's defences, and forced their Servant to identify herself. (Well, with a little help from Serenity.)
This time, it seemed, the Matou were determined to see Tohsaka fall.