Fate/Zero:Act 2 Part 4

172:38:15

The saying about the hour when even trees sleep doesn't apply to magi and Servants.

The heroic spirit of the shadows, Assassin, has a better grasp than anyone on the complexity of being prepared in the darkness of the night.

Moreso since the magi gathered in the city of Fuyuki have a double interest. Standing on the hill of the Miyama town, neither of the western-styled houses of Mato and Tosaka are left behind in term of splendor.

Masters aiming for the Grail, the two landlords are using, lately, some low-grade familiars to patrol left and right, day and night around their visible castles. Naturally, the master of the mansion must be ready, and stretch around a multitude of bounded fields for detection and defense even inside the mansion; it must be a stronghold in the magical sense of the term.

Stepping unauthorized into the bounded fields is all but safe, all the more for the large mass of prana that is a Servant. Essentially, regardless if it is a spiritual body, it should be just about impossible to slip through the bounded fields of the fortress undetected.

However, the impossible can always be made possible. That is the presence concealment skill of the Assassin class. While he does not excel in battle power, Assassin can suppress his prana emission until it reaches zero to creep in the shadow and reach his target.

Additionally, for the Assassin of this time, Kotomine Kirei's Servant, this night's infiltration operation was especially easy. The garden he is now sneaking in isn't the one of the Mato mansion that has been considered enemy territory for a some time. It is the mansion of Tosaka Tokiomi, who was his Master Kirei's ally until just yesterday. Of course, Assassin too has agreed with Kirei and Tokiomi to deceive the other Masters and remain undercover. Obeying that secret agreement, he has undertaken the guarding of the Tosaka mansion on countless occasions. Knowing all about the disposition of the bounded fields, he is naturally aware of the blind spot.

In his spiritual form, Assassin progressed through the many alarm fields without a problem, laughing at the ironic fate of Tosaka Tokiomi. That arrogant magus has placed a considerable faith in his protégé Kirei, but can't imagine he might be bitten by his dog.

Kirei's order to murder Tokiomi has reached Assassin not an hour ago. He is unsure of what urged Kirei to change his mind, but Tokiomi's summoning of a Servant a few days ago must be when it began. Tokiomi seems to have summoned the Servant Archer, but apparently, that heroic spirit must be weaker than Kirei expected. And as the merit of the cooperation with Tokiomi fades away, he agrees with the decision Kirei took this night.

"Vain prudence is unnecessary. Have no fear of facing Archer. You need to obliterate Tosaka Tokiomi quickly."

That was the order of his Master Kirei. Against the despised, weakest fighter Assassin, he won't be afraid and won't hurry? it should be easy to betray the miscalculations of the heroic spirit Archer summoned by Tosaka Tokiomi.

Halfway through the garden, the blind spot of the bounded field you could just pass through vanished. From there on, the barrier has to be destroyed by physical mean, and you need to progress while removing it. It is impossible to proceed while invisible in spirit form.

Leaning over the shadow of the vegetation, Assassin came back from spirit form to physical form, exposing his bony mask and tall, lean figure. He can feel many "eyes" all over him from afar, different from the bounded field of the Tosaka residence. The familiars of other Masters must be observing the Tosaka residence from outside the barriers. As long as he remains unnoticed from Tokiomi himself, there is no need to worry about any Peeping Toms. Tokiomi's rivals disputing the Grail would never warn him of Assassin's infiltration. If one competitor drops, the others should remain unconcerned spectators.

Snickering without a sound, Assassin extends his hand at the first keystone that binds the barri?

The next instant, that hand was pierced through by a spear flying from above, shining like a flash of lightning.

"... h!?"

An intense pain, terror, and above all, shock. The simple spear strike was completely unexpected, and Assassin swung his head upward, looking for the pitcher.

No, there is no need to search.

On top of the roof of the Tosaka residence, a golden shadow stood magnificently. That divine radiance even steals the dignity of the starlit sky and puts the moon to shame.

The rage of being wounded made Assassin forgot the pain, but he could only fear the overwhelming coercion.

"You worm crawling on the ground, who's pardon are you looking for?"

The golden man asks indifferently to the Assassin hidden on the ground, looking down at him with a pair of disdainful, burning crimson eyes.

"You can't look at me. Worms can only look at the ground when they die, like the worms they are."

Around the golden shadow, even more glows appeared up to a countless number. Suddenly coming out in mid-air were swords, halberds, not twice the same, all of them treasured weapons with dazzling ornaments. And all of them were turned at Assassin.

I can't win. Without even thinking, Assassin realized it instinctively.

Winning against him is impossible. It's stupid to even think about facing him.

If he is able to hit Assassin, a Servant, it means that golden shadow is definitely a Servant. And if he is stopping an invasion into the Tosaka mansion, then the Master is Tokiomi? in other words, he must be the heroic spirit Archer.

There's no need to fear *that*?

In his pledge to his Master, Assassin knew there was no contradiction in Kirei's words.

In front of such an overwhelming enemy, fear is? yes, there is no place for fear?

There can only be despair and abandon.

Slashing through the air in a howl, an infinity of shining blades started raining down on Assassin.

Assassin felt the eyes. The familiars observing from outside the place. The first Servant to fall in the fourth War of the Holy Grail meets an unsightly end without even a retort, witnessed by the other Masters.

And at the last moment, Assassin understood. The true intention of his Master, Kotomine Kirei, and... of the leader, Tosaka Tokiomi.

                       X                                       X

Relaxing in a comfortable chair of his room, Tosaka Tokiomi listened to the roar of the countless Noble Phantasms drilling the ground as well as tearing up flesh to pieces.

"Well, things are looking up. Now..."

The magus muttered to himself, his profile glowed a different gold from the other one under the lamp shade.

Just by its presence, the golden figure stands out in the dimly lit surroundings, like the one on the roof that just executed the invader. Turning into spirit form to come back to Tokiomi's room, then again in physical form, the Servant Archer stood proudly beside his Master, who bore a satisfied face.

The figure looking around was tall and dignified, wearing golden armor. He is a young man with golden hair standing up like a blazing flame, handsome with an elegant face. His eyes crimson like blood are visibly not those of a human, and whoever is stared at cannot but wither in front of their mysterious radiance.

"You made me do some extremely trifle duty, Tokiomi."

Tokiomi stands up from his chair and bows respectfully, yet elegantly.

"I am sorry for your trouble, king amongst kings."

As a Master to the summoned Servant, those were manners more humble than expected. But Tosaka Tokiomi expressed his gratitude without reserve to the heroic spirit he had summoned. As someone from a valued lineage himself, Tosaka Tokiomi can perfectly discern "nobility" more than anyone. He is the guest of honor Tokiomi has summoned to win this fourth Holy Grail War, not a humble servant, but the greatest hero.

This man, Archer in the present era, is the "King of Heroes", Gilgamesh. The tyrant who ruled the ancient Mesopotamia, part divine, part human. As a hero, he has roots in the oldest origin of mankind, he is amongst the oldest kings.

Tokiomi firmly believes in the value of nobility. Even with the supremacy of the Command Seals, or with the best contract, nothing can surpass ranks. Even if he was a Servant, that golden young man was one who deserved the best honor.

"The outcome of tonight's event will greatly save us a lot of complications. Having witnessed the power of the "King of Heroes", no stray dog will try to bite in vain."

"Mm."

Archer appreciated the truth in Tokiomi's words. Tokiomi and his upright attitude, lost in more flattery than it was necessary, has also no hope in this era. The king of heroes could understand that.

"In a little while, the field beasts will understand who the hunting lion really is. Please have patience until then."

"Very well. I will just walk off my boredom. This era seems fairly interesting."

At Archer's words, Tokiomi glossed over his slight irritation with a sour look.

Certainly, the Servant he has contracted with is the strongest. But he gives him headaches when he wanders away for his selfish curiosity. In the present world, he hasn't spent one whole night quietly in the Tosaka mansion. Tokiomi devoted a lot of efforts to keep Archer inside the mansion for Assassin's raid tonight.

"... Does this era please you?"

"Its ugliness is beyond help. But it does hold love as it is.

What is essential is whether there is or not a treasure worthy of my fortune."

Bragging with a cynical smile, Archer gazes at Tokiomi with his red eyes full of divine authority.

"If there is not a single thing worthy of my favor in this world? the price for summoning me in vain will be heavy, Tokiomi."

"Rest assured. The Grail will definitely catch your attention, king of heroes."

Confident, Tokiomi replied without fear.

"That will be mine to decide. ... Well, this is fine. For the time being, I will do as you say. Every treasure in this world is mine. Depending on what kind of treasure this Holy Grail is, I will not overlook mongrels fighting for it."

With that haughty declaration, the king of heroes turned his heels and cancelled his physical form, vanishing like a mist.

"I will be your lion, and I expect to be amused. I will leave the details to you, Tokiomi."

Tokiomi dropped his head at the shadow voice without a shadow. He didn't stop his reverence until the presence of the heroic spirit had disappeared from the room.

"... Well, well."

The magus sighed deeply when the pressure from the golden man went away.

Servants receive certain skills when a class is attributed for the heroic spirit in the present world. Those skills are abilities such as Assassin's "presence concealment", Caster's "territory creation", Saber's and Rider's "riding". By the same way, a Servant being assigned the class Archer in the present world possesses the unique skill of "independent action".

This ability means he is capable of being severed from the Master supplying prana and act in autonomy; this is useful, for example, if a Master needs to concentrate all of his prana for a single large spell, or if the Master is injured and unable to supply enough prana. Yet on the other hand, it becomes harder for the Master to have the Servant accompany him and be completely under his control.

As an Archer, Gilgamesh's skill of independent action is ranked A. With this alone, he can use Noble Phantasms at will in battle and remain in the present world, without the Master's back-up... But by having this, the king of heroes was able to ignore Tokiomi's inclination and stroll in Fuyuki city as he wished. Constantly apart from each other, Tokiomi can never be aware of his own Servant's whereabouts, and of what he is doing.

Having not a single interest in his own world, Tokiomi cannot understand what amusement a man like the king of heroes can find by walking around to watch people's lives.

"Anyway, for now, I can have Kirei handle it. Everything is going as planned for the moment."

Snickering, Tokiomi looks down at the garden through the window. The excess of destruction gouged when Assassin crept in made the scene look like it had been bombed.

                       X                                       X

"Assassin― has been killed?"

Disappointed by how quickly it had ended, Waver Velvet opened his eyes.

Until a moment ago, he was spying over the complete turn in the scene at the Tōsaka mansion, and his vision now comes back to the room he has gotten used to ― on the second floor of the house of the old couple he lives at like a parasite. The image that was behind his eyelids until just then was coming from the vision of a rat familiar. That kind of magecraft is nothing spectacular for Waver.

With the opening of the Grail War, the first step was obviously for Waver to start by observing the Matō and Tōsaka mansions. There is a detached villa owned by the Einsberns in the forest on the outskirts, but the magus from the North hasn't arrived yet, so there's no reason to observe an empty place.

Nothing had moved yet from both houses, and the Masters were growing tired of waiting, wondering about raiding either the Tōsakas or the Matōs; that was only wishful thinking to ease the observation, but they didn't expect it to actually happen.

"Hey Rider, here's something new. There has been one loss."

The giant, despite being called, was lying there on the floor, and only responded with an "Hmf" void of motivation, not even turning around.

"..."

Waver was downright pissed.

He had been doing nothing but rest his pained muscles all day in his room ―strictly speaking, that was someone else's room, but let's put that detail aside― but Waver couldn't settle down. Even though he had ordered him to go back to spirit form when he wasn't doing anything, Rider had refused, saying he felt "more comfortable in materialized form", and so he has been showing off his giant body all the time. Just dragging on the materialization means a large prana loss for the Master to supply to his Servant; that isn't too much of a problem for Waver, but in those circumstances, Rider is quite unmindful.

Harder to forgive was what Rider was doing while spending Waver's prana, which is... well, nothing, in fact. Even with Waver scorning, he was just resting, relaxed, nonchalantly picking in a dish and watching a rental video. Can you believe that Servant?

"Hey, you heard me? Assassin got done in. The Holy Grail War is starting!"

"Hmm."

"... Hey"

As Waver was rising his voice with excitation, Rider finally turned around half of his body.

"Yeah, what about some assassin guy? A rat hiding is not much of an enemy."

"..."

"Anyway, boy, what's amazing is that, here."

Rider turns back to face the CTR as he speaks more heatedly. The cassette is playing "an authentic account on the flight force of the world, part 4"... With a mania for military affair, Rider has put his hand on everything related, books, images. Of course, providing all of it is Waver's problem. Otherwise the giant Servant would walk in a library or video store, which isn't fine with the Master.

"There, that big black B2 thingy. It's wonderful. I'm thinking about buying ten of those."

"―Just go and buy a country if you have that money."

Waver spat his answer out of frustration, and Rider made a serious face, moaning "oh yeah..."

"Of course, funds is an important matter... Maybe I should plunder a city rich as Persepolis."

Apparently, that guy, Rider, has seriously considered conquering the world and done researches on the wars of the current era. Even the information he has received from the Grail has limits. For one, he doesn't know the price of one stealth bomber.

"For the most urgent matters, this Clinton man is a formidable enemy. He might be a stronger enemy than the king Darius."

"..."

Waver has endured stomach aches ever since he has summoned that Servant. He’ll have a stomach ulcer by the time they get the Grail.

Shutting the giant in front of him out of his consciousness, Waver tried to think positively.

At any rate, it was a good thing for Waver that Assassin was the first to fall. Waver is aware that his own Servant, Rider, with his battle abilities, is the type to go full frontal in a fight. With that in mind, an enemy who can plan out clever tricks is a bigger threat. And Assassin was pretty much the definition of that. An unknown Caster Servant is also a problem, but an Assassin who creeps up without revealing himself was the most direct menace.

The three main Knight classes, Saber Lancer, Archer, then Berserker who just riots his way, are nothing to be afraid of. Rider's abilities and Noble Phantasms are enough to push them back and win. It only leaves finding out Caster's true name―

"― So, how was Assassin killed?"

Sitting up cross-legged, Rider throws a surprise attack at Waver with his sudden question.

"... Eh?"

"Yeah, the Servant who beat Assassin. Didn't you see him?"

Waver faltered. He did see him― but, just what did he see?

"Must be that Toosaka Servant... I guess. Looked strong and aggressive, showing off with a lot of shiny-goldy things. It took only an instant, so I'm not sure..."

"That's what mattered, fool."

Along with his shocked voice, something burst in the middle of Waver's eyebrows. The completely unexpected pain and the surprise make Waver fall off then tumble flat on his face.

That was Rider's middle finger. Holding it bent by the thumb then shot forward: that's a flick on the forehead. Of course, there is no strength in that. However, when it's Rider’s finger hard as the root of a pine tree, Waver's skin swells red from the force.

Violence again. Corporal abuse again. Waver is confused between fear and frenzy, and loses his words. This is the second time he is hit by his Servant. This is the second time in his whole life. Unable to breath properly because of anger, Waver opens and closes his mouth like a fish. Ignoring how upset his Master was, rider drew a deep, grand sigh.

"You know, if I fight, it's to win and survive. What will happen if you can't observe properly?"

"... h"

Waver didn't reply. Rider is right. He didn't want to hear it from a Servant who does nothing but lie down, eat tea cakes, watch videos and read, but it's true that there are enemies who can become a problem.

"Oh well, nevermind. That shiny-goldy or whatever, what impression did he give you?"

"I, I told you that..."

How could he have understood anything in that instant?

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