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Fate Coiling Sword Chapter 38: Strange Summoning
🕑 Added 2025-05-16 15:32:42 +0000 UTCBeta read by Shigiya, Gamercrusher55 and Darklord331
Next update is Snafu.
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-Fuyuki, Miyama City, Foreign Residential District, Southern End-
The sound of footsteps echoed through the Fuyuki street, lights brightening the area in the more modern residential district, and one person ran through the night.
“Hah! Hah! Hah! Damn it, hah… should have done this the moment those monsters started showing up!”
A twin-tailed, black haired, high schooler in red ran through the night, her footsteps the only sound in the streets. The only thing the lights on the streets could catch was her swaying hair, her red shirt, and her long legs as they ran nonstop to a destination down south.
A few onlookers who worked throughout the night shift spared her a curious glance, the question is why a student would run so hurriedly and so late in her uniform. She paid them no mind, of course, the worry of maintaining the proper image of a prim and proper lady being the furthest thing on the girl's mind at the moment. Rin was eternally grateful that she stayed fit and exercised every morning.
After the whole disaster and near death experience facing a Berserker of all things and discovering the truth Emiya kept hidden for so long under her nose — she genuinely felt a bit pissed. Rin didn’t waste a single second more, running to her home as if a massive boulder was barreling straight behind her. Several thoughts were barreling in her head as she stayed alert, her body tense as if something could attack her at any moment.
‘I assumed that the Masters would only start fighting after the war had started, but that little Einzbern had completely thrown that assumption out the window. She didn’t even care that we hadn’t summoned our Servants yet; she just wanted to kill us for her own goals.’
If she wanted to be even capable of standing her ground as an equal to any of the competitors, she couldn't waste any more time, she had to get to her workshop as soon as possible and start the process. She remembered the time from Emiya-kun’s house, so she knew it wasn’t two o’clock just yet, which meant she was still a few hours away from having her magical energy at its peak.
Finally, she saw the footsteps to her Western-style house. It was effectively a two-story mansion colored brown and white, her ceilings covered in brown tiles and two chimneys; the whole building itself was surrounded by various trees, flora, and fauna. One could see how the greenery had slowly grown over some parts and windows since she didn’t have the money for complete gardening.
To be honest Rin hadn’t even had any left over money for any type of cleaning service and had to do it all herself after spending a large chunk to buy a supply of gems from that damned Edelfeft heiress… not that she could even complain with the discount she got. But still!
The smug face that blonde showed as if treating the entire deal like a charity case infuriated her to an extreme!
Arriving at her house, she easily passed through the gates and the bounded field around her home. She opened the door as soon as possible, entered inside, and then locked it.
Wasting no time, she went straight to the mansion’s basement, the workshop inherited from her father. Finally coming inside it's safe confines, she took a few deep, calming breaths and looked around. The workshop held no particularly complex design, the room consisting of two parts, starting with a large table in the center.
One end had several tables, cabinets, shelves, diagram tables, and workstations filled with various manuscripts, gems, magical ingredients, and books used whenever she researched her magecraft and experimented with certain spells; and when she wasn’t, they just served as a large source of her magecraft heritage.
The other half, on the other hand, was most defined by the fireplace at the end, several boxes full of relics, antiques, and mystic codes, and a statue. It was mostly an empty area where she used said spells in question, whether it be to check for its destructive capabilities, or to avoid accidentally blowing up her papers. Well, it was either that or for her workout sessions, as her exercise equipment was placed around as well, like the yoga ball, dumbbells, gymnastic hoops, a body-sized heavy punching bag, and a Wing Chun wooden dummy to practice her bajiquan.
The entire surrounding area of her workshop was covered in her books and papers…at times, they were towering piles… seeing this, she really did need to do a cleaning one of these days. That is, if she makes it out of the Grail War alive. Anyway, other than that was the summoning circle in the open section near the fireplace, which she recently refurbished.
She moved across the workshop, scavenging through her personal belongings, uncovering a handful of gems of the highest quality. Each was filled to the brim with energy, as she had prepared them to be used for the Summoning ritual. “These would have been useful against Berserker… then again, good thing I do not keep them with me.”
In any case, Rin gathered them and headed into the middle of the summoning circle her father once used during the previous war. Looking at the grandfather clock, and patiently wait and mentally prepare for everything to align.
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Unbeknownst to her, the situation with Luvia had caused her unnecessary distraction, and the situation with Berserker had made it worse…she hadn’t even noticed the mystic changes to her house nor her fathers’s test to award her legacy items as a prize. The clock continued to tick, uncaring of the disruption that would come from this.
(A few hours later, Fuyuki, Miyama City, Foreign Residential District, Between Shopping District and Southern End)
Still on the south side of town, but closer to the centralized area of town, a certain violet-haired girl wandered through the empty streets of Fuyuki, her footsteps soft against the quiet pavement. Now and then, she passed by familiar faces, shopkeepers closing their businesses rather late today, an elderly couple drinking tea while someone lit a small wooden stove in the middle, grilling various foods, each greeting her with a polite nod or a smile. She returned each gesture with the same expression, a warm curve of her lips, yet beneath it all lay a weight so heavy on her chest it threatened to crush the breath from her lungs. She wouldn’t have even given them attention before, but after what happened with her Senpai, she received a much brighter outlook on her surroundings.
She cast a glance behind her. The samurai house, faintly visible in the growing morning mist, still stood in the distance, just discernible enough to draw a final sting of emotion. That place, where she had said her goodbyes, was behind her now. She had taken nothing with her. All the belongings she left behind were things he had given her: clothes, gifts, tiny tokens of kindness she could not bring herself to sully by dragging them back into the shadows of her house. They were precious to her. Symbols of something softer. Something warm. She would not let them be tainted.
"Ah, sorry."
Sakura barely registered her own surroundings at that moment. Lost in her thoughts, she had accidentally bumped into someone. Instinctively, stepping back and bowing, her apology already tumbling from her mouth before she even looked at the person.
And then she did.
The violet-haired woman blinked, startled, not because she recognized the person before her, nor out of any sense of danger. She was taken aback purely by the figure's striking beauty. ‘A foreigner? I feel like… I feel like I saw her somewhere before.’
Golden hair, so lustrous it looked like sunlight woven into silk, framed a face so delicate it might have been sculpted from porcelain. Blue eyes, bright and glittering like polished sapphires, met her gaze for the briefest of moments. The girl's features were small, almost doll-like, as if pulled from a storybook, like something one might see gracing the cover of a fairytale.
The silence between them barely lasted a few heartbeats before Sakura found her voice again.
"Ah, s-sorry, I'm very sorry again. I didn't mean to stare."
Her cheeks flushed as she bowed repeatedly, embarrassment flaring. For a moment, she wondered if the girl was a foreigner and might not understand her words. But her worries quickly dissolved.
"It's fine. It's my fault. I wasn't paying attention either," the girl replied, her voice soft and tinged with no accent — speaking fluently. Her hands rose awkwardly, as if to brush the encounter away.
Before Sakura could respond, the other party tugged her hood up over her head, concealing her golden locks and most of her face. Then, without another word, she moved on, her footsteps brisk, posture stiff with discomfort. Almost like she wanted to disappear. Her retreat left Sakura standing there, puzzled. Had she offended her somehow? Or perhaps the girl was just terribly shy?
She couldn't say. The sensation lingered, unsettling in a way she couldn't name. The girl had felt... strange. Not in any clear or obvious way, hard to pinpoint the exact thing bothering her, but the person felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
Sakura shook the feeling off with effort. The sun would rise soon, and she had little time to waste.
Her steps resumed with more certainty as she continued down the road, eventually taking a familiar turn. The buildings around her thinned with each passing street until only a few structures remained, spaced far apart and heavy with the decay of time. Ahead, silhouetted faintly in the distance, loomed the old Matou manor.
A visual appearance would describe it as a western style mansion that possessed at least three floors, three chimneys, and a large greenhouse connected to it, having its own large glass roof. A white tiled road led to the bricked mansion which was colored mostly black while the roofing and certain parts covering the residence was covered a deep blue. White tiles were framing the windows of all floors on their top and bottom, and one could clearly see the paint on them chipped as if time had not been kind to them. Both autumn colored trees that were out of place when they were at the crossroads between winter and spring and muddy green bushes that could climb over certain parts of the mansion, especially the green house, could both be seen close to walls at the edge of the pale grass yard.
However if one looked closely at the mansion they could notice another set of windows at the bottom of the walls of the mansion, surrounding the entire building. These windows were not covered by glass but by bars, both of which had small enough openings that only something truly small like small animals and insects could squeeze through. All that could be seen beyond those passages was darkness… total darkness and a disgusting stench.
A hellish, almost nightmarish place where her earliest memory was of suffering in a pit of worms. Crying for her mother and uncle to come and save her — back then she had not yet gotten numb to the pain.
And now, here she was. Returning to hell.
The old manor stood like a forgotten monument, unchanged by time, untouched, with its muddy, sickly growth of its vines appearing as if it wanted to cover the whole mansion..
"Hah." Taking a deep breath, Sakura reminded herself why she had come and for whom. Her arms trembled with nervous tension, but she stilled them, pressing down the swirling anxiety. She stepped forward, boots crunching softly against the gravel path, eyes locked on the worn-down home ahead.
She didn’t press a bell. The iron gate creaked open of its own accord, he knew she was here, for that man was watching her ever since she left Shirou's house. The front door lay at the end of a short walkway, its chipped paint and a thin layer of dust making it clear that no one had bothered to clean up the place after she left. She stood still before it for a moment, gathering her breath, then finally raised her hand and knocked.
Footsteps echoed from within, drawing closer with uneven weight. When the door opened, it wasn’t the gnarled old man she half-expected.
But rather a boy with seaweed-like blue hair.
"What the fuck?"
That was the first thing out of his mouth, his face a blend of disbelief, like someone staring down the ghost. His posture stiffened, shoulders rising, eyes narrowing as he peered at her back with alarm and fear. She didn’t return his fear. Her expression remained calm, if strained. A forced smile curved her lips, pale and faint but resolute.
"It's been a while, Onii-sama."
"What the fuck, Sakura? Why the hell did you come back here?" he demanded, voice rising an octave as confusion set in. Then something shifted behind his eyes, panic. He suddenly shoved the door halfway shut again, only a narrow slit left open with his panicked gaze peeking through.
"Shit. You brought him, didn’t you?! Don't play smug just because you’ve got him dancing around like your little boy toy now! I’m warning you, he’s not punching me again like last time! He lays a hand on me, and he’ll regret it! Grandpa won’t allow it!"
His voice was trembling now, flicking his head around as if searching the shadows for a red-haired demon. Even though this happened a while ago and Shriou did say things started to calm down, I guess he misunderstood her arrival and immediately jumped to conclusion.
She found it funny, in a twisted way. The idea of anyone being scared of her senpai was absurd to her. Especially after what happened last night, hard to see him in such a light.
"He’s not here, big brother," she said quietly, shaking her head. "I came by myself."
"You serious?"
"I am."
The words seemed to stall him for a few beats. Then, slowly, he pushed the door wide open again, disbelief still etched into his face. And then, he laughed. Loud, unfiltered laughter that grated in the air around them.
"Hahaha! So it really happened! That guy actually pussied out!”
“N-No, it is not because of that—”
“—acting all high and mighty back then, it's a miracle grandpa did not just kill him immediately. I bet he's crying, right? Since now you’re crawling back here on your own? Most likely huddled up in a corner, sobbing like a baby, begging you to come back—oof!"
A loud slap cut through the air like a whip crack, echoing down the narrow street. His head snapped to the side, and his mouth hung open, stunned in silence.
She stood before him, her palm still lifted, her face no longer calm like before.
He had never seen her angry. Not like this.
Eyes burning with resentment, breath shallow, her voice trembled with control. "Don’t… don't speak about him like that. I-I didn’t come here because he failed me. I came here for other reasons… to protect him."
She hoped at first he would understand her words, but Shinji always had a temper, something her brother possessed in abundance. His face twisted, blotching with red as a different kind of rage took hold, wounded pride. He lunged forward and seized her wrist hard enough to make her wince.
"You fucking slut," he spat. "Having Emiya hit me was one thing, but now you think you can just slap me too? Where the hell did that courage come from, huh? You get it from spending a few nights screwing him? Does he make you feel brave? Did he fuck you knowing the truth? That you’re just another whore who slept with—"
"Enough."
A single tap of a cane. That was all it took to snatch the words from the boy’s throat, fear swallowing the breath in his lungs. His lips parted, but no sound came. He simply stood frozen, as if the very air had thickened into ice around him. Quickly letting go of her and stumbling backwards just enough for her to see the person standing behind him.
"Grandpa…" Sakura’s voice trembled, her earlier rage dissipating completely, giving place to a familiar emotion of fear born of long years in this man’s shadow. The source of her misery stood before her, unchanged in appearance wise yet strangely different.
"I have returned," she said at last, gaze lowered. She could not meet his eyes.
But there was something odd about him, something she had never noticed before. His face was pale, more so than usual… if she were to explain it, then it felt as if he looked exhausted both physically and mentally. Was it time that had worn him down? No, Zouken lived for centuries and never showed such signs, practically immortal, or was her memory simply betraying her?
"As I said to the boy… in the end, you returned without me needing to lift a finger." His tone, cool and amused, did little to soothe her nerves. "Though I admit, I expected the boy to be the one to bring you back. But I suppose his attention lies elsewhere these days, given the arrival of the Einzbern child."
Sakura's fists clenched, not in fury, but from unease. She stepped further into the mansion, fully aware that he had been watching her all along, had likely anticipated her arrival since the moment she left Shirou’s home.
He always delighted in needling her for his own amusement with such comments. Always striking where it hurt the most.
"I was growing a touch impatient, truth be told," the old man went on. "Nearly decided to make the journey myself. Perhaps bring something more persuasive to the negotiation table. But now that the boy’s a Master, I must tread more carefully, mustn’t I?"
"What? Emiya’s a master? Are you serious!?"
His grandson’s outburst rang out, utterly fixated on a different matter. His fists clenched with fury, his voice rising with rage. "Damn that show-off… I’ll show him. Just because he’s a Master now doesn’t mean he summoned a good Servant! I’ll get my revenge!"
Zouken didn’t so much as blink at his descendant’s rant. His gaze remained fixed on Sakura. “The title of a Master carries more value than just the son of the Magus Killer. Had you gone further, and decided using your body and his love for you — having him join our side wouldn't have been impossible.”
“...”
“Oho~ are you unwilling to do so, child?” He asked with a grin, seeing her darkened expression.
“... I… I-I can summon a Servant, there is no need to have Senpai involved.”
“Do you fear I'll end up controlling him? Or killing him, then stealing his Servant? Come now, you know me better than that.”
She knew him better than most, which was precisely why she'd never allow Shirou anywhere near this alliance. A quick death would be mercy compared to what Zouken did to those who outlived their usefulness. She'd seen it firsthand too many times.
"Now that you've returned willingly," he said, dismissing Shinji's outburst as if it were merely background noise, "we can finally proceed. After all these years of waiting... your body should be properly conditioned now." His withered lips curved into what might have been a smile. "Let us begin the preparations."
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The pit.
The true form of the Matou’s Workshop.
A catacombs underneath the mansion made entirely of stone. The four stone walls, filled entirely with countless row’s of stone passages the size of windows, surround the entire perimeter of the chamber, and stretched far and wide both vertically and horizontally covering every spot in the chamber. To enter any of those passages was nothing, but a fool's errand, a labyrinth impossible to navigate, and they were not even made for people, but for something else, far fowler.
Even she knew not where they led, be it a secret magecraft chamber, or a hidden passage to the surface, but the one thing she did know is that, she never wanted to go through it. The only smell that came from them was nothing but rot and corpses.
There were only two structures different in that entire arrangement, a plain stone staircase connected to one wall that led to an elevated floor on another wall-- the only surefire passage out of this maze and to the secret spiral staircase that led out of this wretched place. It also served as a safety area when the pit was filled.
The second was on the opposite wall from the stairs, one small area with no stone passage, but a clear piece of wall equipped with prison shackles and chains designed to stretch and imprison the arm’s of their captor with no hope of escape. A small elongated cube stone jutted out from the floor of it, not even high enough for a chained person to sit on.
Without fail that was the clear proof of the true nature of this place — a prision.
At the ceiling the four sides each had a small green light, with a large green window, at the center of the basement level. Most likely when the moon and the stars were needed for magic rituals, but mostly they just glowed sickly green covering the dark catacombs with sickness.
Lastly at the very center was a small staircase in the floor that led even deeper down, the only thing around it were the high black fence bars on three sides ensuring that whatever raised or lowered could only go one way. Only darkness was beyond those stairs, and a pool of something slithering nesting and breeding. A nightmare where no one could go down.
This was the Matou workshop, a churning, writhing abyss filled with worms. The stench alone could empty a man’s stomach, but it was the sound, the slick, nauseating squelch of flesh and slime, that truly turned one's blood cold. Merely glimpsing it was enough to drain the colour from any soul unfortunate enough to bear witness.
And Sakura knew it intimately. These things had crawled across every inch of her body, inside and out, their vile movements forever imprinted on her nerves. Once, the pain had been enough to break her mind. Now, she no longer screamed. She no longer even reacted.
She had become numb.
Not even when they walked on the catacombs floor did it’s slimness and dark liquid’s were enough to get a reaction from her.
"Normally, a master requires a catalyst to summon the Servant they desire. Avoiding getting stuck with one hard to control or a weak one compared to the other Heroic Spirit." Zouken explained, voice echoing through the hollow chamber. "In the absence of one, the Grail will instead call forth a servant aligned with your self. Compatibility, you see. And given several servants have already been summoned, including Berserker, we need not fear any unruly ones being summoned."
He said it while rubbing his chin, observing the summoning circle to make sure everything was perfect.
"You, in your present condition, can support a Berserker without dying. Your body should be able to sustain the energy consumption of such an entity with ease, unlike your foolish uncle, who needed my help only to just to lose control of his soon after. Rider is out of the picture, so is Caster, and the Servant summoned by that brat accompanying El-Melloi, has been pretty sensitive to the presence of my worms, killing them immediately. I'd rather not push my luck and force the other party to retaliate, but still they remain the one’s I know least of."
She nodded wordlessly, standing at the heart of the summoning circle. It had been carved into the ground with precision, etched between the slithering filth. A small portion of the pit had been cleared for her, but still the worms encroached, inching closer with every breath.
"Since we lack a catalyst, proceed as you are," the old man said. "Let us trust the Grail. It will deliver what is necessary."
Lacking a Catalyst, Sakura knew that was a lie. Her grandfather had once mentioned one, at a time when she was semi-conscious in the pit — a mirror piece, if she recalled correctly. She wondered why he changed that decision, or rather, she already suspected a few reasons.
Another tap of the cane echoed through the chamber. "It's best to have one's magical energy at its peak to perform the summoning, but given the nature of your current body, such matter is of no importance any longer. Although there is still much to be completed, the basic foundation has been laid within you. So, don't waste any more of it, girl. This has been a long time coming." Zouken’s voice was quiet. He stood like a statue, eyes half-lidded, unmoving. Sakura couldn't read him. Not truly. But there was something... off. He sounded almost hurried. That was strange in itself. Zouken was never in a hurry in the past.
Why now? What was he rushing toward?
"Does that mean I’ll finally be a Master?"
From the far side of the room, carefully keeping a generous distance from the writhing pits of worms, Shinji’s voice rang out with all the pomp of a boy pretending at glory. He stood by the stairs, arms folded, his tone brimming with anticipation.
Zouken only gave a brittle chuckle in response, a sound like dry twigs snapping underfoot.
"If the Heroic Spirit summoned by your sister is not particularly strong-willed or difficult to control, then yes."
He said it without looking, almost dismissively.
Sakura did not like that idea, the fact that Shinji may end up controlling the Servant at first. Knowing her brother, the moment he received a Servant, he would turn on Shirou with the eagerness of a starving dog. That much was certain. But the issue remained of his lackluster Magic Circuits that had atrophied to such a degree that not even her grandfather bothered to teach him magecraft — instead focusing purely on changing her body to be able to use signature magecraft of the Matou family.
Whatever Servant under his control after she relinquished hers would be drastically weakened due to not having enough Magical Energy from the Master to sustain themselves. That lack would gnaw away at them, demanding sustenance from other sources, most likely.
It would be the birth of a Soul Eater, if nothing was done to stop it.
"Enough of this. Proceed."
The order cracked through the silence like a whip. And so, with trembling hands pressed tightly around the contents in her pockets, an item she had selfishly taken as a way for her to keep her cool, Sakura stepped forward. She had no idea what kind of Servant she might summon. Not really.
Someone like Rider was the best-case scenario. A person who could understand her.
“Would you like to strip, it would be beneficial to ensure nothing you possess can interfere with the summoning.”
“That won’t be necessary grandfather, I have nothing of value to do so.”
Even though Rider had every reason to turn on her, she hadn’t. She'd spoken kindly. Fought fiercely. She had been a rare comfort in an endless cycle of pain, acting almost like an older sister at times… or a friend. But Sakura knew better than to hope for such kindness again.
So instead, she held onto memories.
To warmth.
To his face. His voice. His touch.
She reached for those precious fragments, letting the weight of them anchor her as she stepped into the circle.
Her voice was quiet, but steady.
"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation. Let the great ancestor of magic (Schweinorg) be the origin..."
The chant spilled from her lips, flowing like ancient poetry, the magic surging with it.
"Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reach unto the Kingdom rotate. I hereby declare..."
The circle at her feet began to glow, its etchings pulsing like a heartbeat beneath the floor. Magical energy thickened the air. Dust lifted. The temperature dropped.
“W-Woah!”
A bit overwhelmed by the sight, Shinji ended up leaving the catacomb, perhaps thinking she was going to fail and have the place blow up based on that look he gave. His action earned a faint sneer from Zouken at his descendants' cowardice.
"Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you heed the Grail’s call and obey my will and reason, then answer me."
Each word tightened the air further, as though the very fabric of the world began to strain.
"I make this oath. I am the one who commands those remembered by the Throne."
At nearly the same moment, far across the city, another voice completed the same ritual but with a different incantation. A twin-tailed mage, having waited for the right moment until the clock's hour hand hit two, she whispered the last lines of her own incantation deep in the dimly lit basement of her home. Two sisters. Two circles. Two hearts were thrown into the ritual with different hopes.
One awaited her Servant with bright-eyed ambition to push past the boundaries of her current self and restore her family's position in the eyes of the Clocktower — to reach the ultimate summit of her craft.
The other, with a desperate need to save he who she held dear. Not wanting to reach the root nor achieve what all mages sought in their lives.
The circles did not consume that much magical energy as she anticipated.
Sakura closed her eyes.
Just like Shirou had shielded her, she wanted to shield him too. Not merely a girl in the background. Not just the one waiting to be saved. She wanted to stand with him. Fight beside him.
But even as she clung to that dream, she knew the truth better than anyone.
There would come a day when she might lose control, a day where she might fight against him instead. And yet, she had chosen this path in the hopes of a better outcome.
This was her gamble, she was willing to take it.
She drew one last breath and let the words leave her lips just as the mana in the room began to spike. The worms recoiled from the raw amount, twisting in apparent discomfort, though Zouken seemed unmoved. If anything, his grin widened, eyes glinting.
"The fifth war will belong to the Makiri."
He whispered. She caught every word, wondering how he could sound so certain when monsters like the Einzbern’s Berserker were still in play, one even Rider had shown wariness toward.
"You, seven heavens clothed in the three great words, come forth from the circle of restraint — Guardian of the Scales!"
The final chant echoed through the chamber. Her heart thudded, her gaze fixed on the glowing summoning circle. She waited. Every second crawled, stretching her nerves to the breaking point. She clutched her arms to her chest, breath shallow, a light sting at the back of her palm failing to catch the woman's attention.
The pattern for the Command Seals coming to life.
Yet despite that…
“...”
Nothing happened afterwards.
The circle, once ablaze with magical energy, began to dim. The hum of energy softened. One second passed. Then another. The light flickered once more and finally went out.
It returned to its original, lifeless state.
No figure emerged. No aura filled the room.
Silence.
She blinked.
"What?”
Had she… failed?
The same sentiment seemed to cross Zouken’s eyes until he gazed at the pattern on the back of her hand. “Strange, the summoning ritual went mostly well without any lacking elements, but why hasn't any Heroic Spirit appeared?”
Both ended up halting that train of thought as soon as they heard a loud noise coming from above.
Crash!
“Hyaaaaaa!”
The sound of wooden boards breaking, followed by something heavy crashing into the living room that happened to be right above her, accompanied by Shinji’s terrified scream. Momentarily at a loss, Sakura looked at her grandfather, searching for answers — only to see a murderous look on his face.
“That woman dared to attack me at this moment in my own territory!?” In the next moment, his figure disappeared with a swarm of worms heading upstairs, leaving the girl alone till she decided to follow along as well. A strange sensation was settling in her gut, fearing that this commotion was due to someone else entirely.
‘Please don't let it be Shirou, please don't let it be him. Rider gave me her word… You mustn't come here!’ Her heart was beating mercilessly, goosebumps spreading across her skin as she rushed as fast as her legs could take her. She made her way up to the hallway and ran to where the commotion came from.
There she saw her grandfather standing in the middle gazing at something on the other side with her brother having fallen on his butt, trembling while being covered in sawdust and black soot.
“Wait, grandfather! Don't hurt senpai! Let me talk to him first!” She screamed out loud, having concluded that this had to be none other than Shirou. Right as she reached the old man's side, hoping to stop him before he could attack, she ended up seeing a strange sight from the corner of her eyes. “—?”
The rooftop of their house has a large hole in the middle with something big having fallen through. Their living room was in complete disarray, with broken furniture and shards of glass everywhere. A cloud of smoke filled the area, and in the middle, she barely managed to spot a tall figure getting up on his feet while dusting off his shoulders.
“Hn, another botched summoning.” A deep voice she did not recognise came from this person as he then sighed, unfortunately, she was barely able to hear what he whispered exactly.
As the dust started to settle, bit by bit, she started to see his figure more clearly, the first thing catching her attention being his height once more. Even from afar she could tell he was at least two heads taller than herself, then finally it was the white hair and red clothing tightly covering his arms and back and the black armour beneath it.
‘A S-Saber? Lancer?’ She tried to guess which class he belonged to, though there were not many clues on his appearance to suggest anything conclusive. Yet for some reason, the closer she looked at his face, the stronger the nagging feeling at the back of her mind became.
Having most likely heard the sound of footsteps earlier, he turned around to face them, and she got to stare back at sharp steel gray eyes, the latter of which immediately zoned in on her face. Widening at first before reverting back to something calmer.
Even without having introduced himself, Sakura already knew what this person was.
"Interesting," he murmured, though what he meant by it was unclear. He stepped forward, paying no mind to Zouken or Shinji, one hand resting on his hip as he studied her with a faint frown.
"I ask of you… Are you my Master?"
{Break}
-Fuyuki, Miyama City, Forested Area, Western End -
While the two sisters finished the summoning ritual in their individual homes, the same figure Sakura would have immediately recognised from the earlier encounter walked to the forest clearing where Sakura, Rin, and Shirou had faced Illya before.
Even with not a soul around, the girl still chose to keep her hood on. Though her mind was instead focusing on something else entirely. “I should also start wearing a mask now.” She whispered to herself, still feeling a sense of uneasiness at her earlier meeting with the violet-haired woman. Though her appearance had changed recently, Shirou would have recognised her as well.
“It appears we have arrived here too late, Master.”
Gray shivered as she heard the voice, clenching her fist before glaring at the person behind her. Another hooded figure just like herself, holding many similarities from the shape of their faces to the same blonde hair colour and green eyes. The sole physical trait distinguishing them was a faint white line across Gray’s face, a remnant of a recently inflicted light wound that had not completely healed yet.
And the dark circles around Gray's eyes suggest several sleepless nights.
“Don't… don't come any closer to me, please,” she said, barely able to disguise the anger in her tone. Her answer did not offend the person behind her as she nodded and took a few steps back, having clearly gotten used to the treatment of her Master ever since she was summoned. “... Hah, did you sense how many of them were here?”
Yet despite the harsh treatment, there existed nothing but acceptance and sorrow in the Servant's eyes as she looked at the figure ahead.
“Hard to tell given how far away we were, but from the damages I can guess probably two of them. Doesn't seem like it was a lengthy battle; most likely, both Servants were sizing each other up instead of trying to kill one another, maybe. I can't tell where they must have gone afterwards.”
“Is that really all you can give me!?” Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, but her anger managed to slip by, and she ended up shouting at the other person.
“... I'm sorry, Master.”
“Damn it,” Gray exclaimed with frustration. She wanted to get done with this war as soon as possible, even if it put her own life at risk. She did not care, time was no longer on her side, and with every passing day, she could almost feel a tiny piece of her disappearing bit by bit.
“Maybe we should seek potential allies who may help us with information.”
An ally? As if something like this were possible during a Holy Grail War, in the end, every Master's goal was to kill the competition, and she doubted anyone would help her without trying to backstab her at the end.
“It's possible that one of the Servants might still be in the area. I may be able to sense them if we are close enough.”
Truthfully, Gray did not want to spend another second with her. But she also knew that she had no other choice but to get done with this matter as soon as possible, and she was her only ticket out of this mess.
“Alright, just… go look around, I'll stay here.” She said, wanting to have a moment of peace away from her. Her Servant did not try to argue with the request, nodding before walking away. Now all by herself, Gray felt her legs turn into jelly, forcing her to lean against a tree, sliding down until the girl was sitting on the ground. Unconsciousness threatened to overtake her at any moment due to the lack of sleep.
From a pocket, she retrieved a cage with a cube that made no sound, looking completely lifeless, unlike how it was before. She placed it in front of her, her fingers lighting across the metallic surface while she silently whispered.
“Please wake up, Add.”
Yet nothing happened. All she got was silence as the Mystic Code remained unresponsive. And the only person she had to blame for this was her own Servant.
Comments
NimtheWriter
Poor Shirou lol But yeah, BB would bring a lot of chaos and making things interesting.
SsanghwaSilver
It would have hilarious and interesting if Sakura managed to summon BB or one of the Sakura Five.
TAB Kg
So Garcher for Sakura and Artotia for Gray. Wonder whom Rin summoned? Probably lancer
AngraMayu777
es archer¡¡¡ la pregunta que invoco rin es la duda
Cody
This is getting interesting. I do wonder who Sakura summoned but hey whoever it is at least now they will be able to get here out of that hell hole. God how I hate Zoken. Excited to find out what happens next.
