Chapter 139 - 48.2

The golden king's laugh was, in all honesty, not unpleasant to hear. It was, like his voice, smooth and silky, and the fact that he seemed genuinely amused and happy, without a single trace of mockery, also contributed to how nice it sounded.

He was handsome beyond belief, intelligent like few other men, his voice was beautiful and smooth, and he had mastery over countless skills by virtue of being humanity's first king. It was almost infuriating, how all those positive qualities were granted to such a man, who was not worthy of them in the slightest.

"A hero!" Gilgamesh shouted once he'd gotten his laughter under control, grinning widely. "You want to become a hero in the modern day! You wish to ascend to the Throne of Heroes even though no one has done so in many years!"

"That is not my priority." Shirou protested, as Gilgamesh made it sound like he was only helping people out of selfish motives. "I want to help people, to save them. I want no one to cry, not if I can help it. It's nothing that special."

"You are not being honest." Gilgamesh shook his head, still with a massive grin on his face. "You don't merely want to 'help' people. You want to make an actual difference in their lives. You wish to relieve this world of needless pain and sorrow. Maybe reaching the Throne is not your primary, secondary, or even tertiary goal, but what you aim for is the sort of thing that will elevate you regardless of your goals."

"I…" Shirou wanted to protest again, but he didn't know what to say, and the king used his hesitance to talk over him.

"I never thought I'd see someone like you, not in these times." Gilgamesh said with genuine happiness. "To think that your motivation would have been such an idealistic goal. It delights me as much as it vexes me. This has not happened since… quite a few years."

The ending of Gilgamesh's sentence was strangely docile, soft almost, but Shirou ignored it in favour of asking another question.

"What would you have done if I had another goal in mind?"

"I would have been satisfied as long as you had any goal." Gilgamesh sounded remarkably cheery, though his voice carried an undertone of danger. "Any sort of purpose would do as long as you are not idle. An idle god would be a grievous insult, one I will not forgive or forget."

"Lucky me then, I suppose."

"You might actually become something interesting in time, if allowed to grow." Gilgamesh went on, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Shirou, those horrible red eyes making the redhead feel as if he was made of glass. "I'll have to keep an eye on you, though you have my guarantee I won't interfere with your affairs until the next War about my Grail starts."

"You won't?" Shirou blinked in surprise when he noticed Gilgamesh wasn't lying.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he had not registered a single lie in anything the golden king had said since their conversation had started.

Was that because he considered lying to be beneath him, or just because he saw no use in lying to Shirou at this point in time?

"Be careful." Gilgamesh suddenly cautioned him, his gaze one of vicious amusement. "You are jumping to conclusions. Your ability is not without its flaws."

"What?" Shirou blinked in surprise at the king's words. "What are you talking about?"

"Watch me closely, boy, and try to see if I am lying." Gilgamesh suddenly ordered, before spreading his arms mockingly. "I enjoyed raising your handmaidens' hopes before crushing them again. I did not enjoy raising your handmaidens' hopes before crushing them again."

Shirou froze, his heart leaping into his throat. Two sentences, one the exact opposite of the other, yet according to his senses, both of them were true.

He couldn't tell if Gilgamesh was lying!

"You have noticed." Gilgamesh laughed. "Yes, although our Divine power grants us the ability to discern truth from lies, this ability is not infallible. We can still be lied to, provided the right conditions are met."

"What are those conditions?" Shirou asked, unable to keep the urgency out of his voice.

"Charisma!" Gilgamesh proclaimed proudly. "You cannot discern whether I am truthful because my Charisma is too high!"

"Charisma? The skill?" Shirou's mind raced at the answer, hurriedly digging up everything he could remember about Servants and their abilities. "It is a skill that is obtained when the Servant in question was a great leader in life."

"Correct." Gilgamesh nodded. "It does not have much use in battle, but it is very convenient for deception."

"So it's efficient?"

"Sufficiently so that I could not tell if Saber was lying unless I fully activated Sha Naqba Imuru." Rather than looking displeased at his own inability, Gilgamesh seemed very happy that Saber had been able to lie to him. "That I could not see through her was something that added to her charm. Even at the last, she still held secrets from me. Oh, how I wished to make her my wife so I could pry all those secrets from her!"

Shirou frowned for a moment, before blinking in surprise when he suddenly felt a possessive anger rise within him. It was a nonsensical feeling, but it took him a surprising amount of effort to suppress it.

"Now then, godling. It is time to address a more serious matter."

The mood in the church shifted so rapidly Shirou always got a sense of vertigo from it. One moment, things between him and Gilgamesh had been strangely light-hearted, almost friendly, as if they were making some kind of oddly intense small talk. The next moment, Gilgamesh had him pinned down with a penetrating gaze, the pressure inside the church increasing by a factor of thousand, almost making Shirou's knees shake from the power behind it.

The golden king picked up the two cups of wine he'd placed aside earlier, and handed one of them over to Shirou. Knowing that it would be unwise to refuse the cup, the redhead accepted it.

He wasn't allowed to drink yet, being too young and all, but underage drinking-laws were the furthest thing from his mind right now. He waited until Gilgamesh had taken a sip, and then took a sip himself.

Vaguely, he registered that the wine was pretty good, if a little too sweet for him, but most of his attention was squarely on Gilgamesh, who was smiling at him again.

"I have answered your questions, and those of your handmaidens." Gilgamesh rumbled, his smile giving Shirou cold shivers down his spine. "It was the generosity of a king. Now it is time you repay me."

"They really are taking awfully long in there." Ayako grumbled, looking with narrowed eyes at the doors of the church. Their boyfriend was inside that church, together with an evil demigod, and it was all the brunette could do to not storm inside immediately, especially when she heard muffled laughter and several cries of surprise coming from behind the door. "I hope everything is going well."

"We haven't heard anything yet that suggests things are getting out of hand." Rin sounded calm and strong, carefully keeping any sign of nervousness or fear out of her voice and mind, trying to be a beacon of strength for the other two. "If things turn violent in there, we would surely be able to hear it."

"But what if Gilgamesh kills Senpai silently?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"He can't." Rin was confident about that much at least. "Didn't you notice? He was much weaker than a Servant of his calibre is supposed to be. He must have been diminished by something."

"So Shirou can beat him?" Ayako asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. In the absence of more evidence, I'll have to remain on the fence about that." Rin admitted, before giving the other two a reassuring smile. "What I am certain of however is that any battle between them will likely take a while and will produce an awful racket. We will be sure to hear it, even from here."

"If you say so…" Sakura mumbled, clenching her hands together under her chin, her lips trembling as she continued looking at the church, apparently not very reassured yet.

"I do say so." Rin declared strongly, coming up to stand beside her sister, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder. "I am certain that Shirou will be fine, so don't worry too much."

Sakura nodded slowly, before turning around and throwing her arms around Rin in a hug. The black-haired girl froze in response, but only for a moment, as she quickly wrapped her arms around Sakura in turn, squeezing her tightly in an attempt to comfort her.

And if the fact that Sakura was just as tall as she was despite being a year younger bothered her in any way, she did not show it at all. She had more self-control than that.

It was a nice scene, and Ayako was loath to interrupt it, but if there was anything she'd learned over the past months, it was that certain matters shouldn't be allowed to fester for any amount of time.

And what had just happened in the church was definitely one such matter.

"Girls, I hate to be the one to address the elephant in the room, but are you going to discuss what that bastard told you back there?" The brunette asked, her voice soft yet insistent. "About your father and all? You cannot pretend it didn't happen."

Rin flinched at her words, and Sakura stiffened slightly, but neither of them made any move to break the embrace just yet.

"I… I don't know what to say." Rin said eventually, her voice devoid of any emotion. "I had already accepted my father was a bad man, and although I foolishly allowed that treacherous Servant to get my hopes up, I don't think much has changed now."

"If we can trust Gilgamesh's word at all." Sakura huffed, sounding more frustrated than depressed. "Or the priest's. From what I have seen so far, it is entirely possible that both of them are lying liars who lie, about everything and everyone."

"To spread as much misery as they can." Ayako nodded, immensely glad both girls seemed to be taking the news with such stoicism. "Really, those two are prime examples of toxic people."

"I'm not sure what that means, but I can take a guess, and yes, Ayako, I wholeheartedly agree." Rin nodded with conviction, breaking her hug with Sakura and taking a step back to clench a fist in front of her face. "They're a fake priest and a… fake king?"

"I'm pretty sure he actually was a king, Nee-san." Sakura protested, though without much conviction.

"And the fake priest is actually anointed. It doesn't make him any less fake." Rin huffed, before she nodded decisively. "Alright, I have decided. That guy in there is a fake king. No way I'm going to accept a king should be like him. He might have been a ruler, but he was never a king, at least not if his personality was always like that."

"Now you've made me curious." Ayako turned towards the black-haired girl, cocking her head to the side. "What should a good king be like, according to you?"

"Well, they should be courteous, regal, dignified." Rin tried to answer as best as she could, trying to imagine what she thought an ideal king should act like. "They should strive for justice, and do what is right, unafraid to call out even the powerful when they do something wrong."

"Like a chivalrous medieval king?" Sakura asked, before she nodded in agreement. "I agree, Nee-san. A king should be nothing like that…. That man in there."

"Hear hear." Ayako nodded. "Using your parents and your… messed up family situation to try and mess with your heads is just vile."

"He didn't mention mother though, not even once." Sakura mumbled.

"He probably thought she was too insignificant to mention." Rin shrugged, her expression completely straight. "He wasn't wrong."

Rin's mother, Tohsaka Aoi, had spent the last eight years in a mental clinic as a result of injuries sustained during the Fourth Holy Grail War. Rin had told the others about that before but never brought it up again.

Until now apparently.

"Sakura, can I ask you for a favour?" The black-haired girl addressed her sister, suddenly looking anywhere but at the plum-haired girl. "It's a bit sudden, but since mother came up anyway, it might be a good time to… address it."

"Oh?" Sakura made a curious noise.

"You are both aware she is currently staying in a mental clinic because of brain damage, right?" Rin asked, to which both girls nodded. "Well, you see, while she does interact with her surroundings, it is clear she has no idea what is happening around her. She keeps asking about father and how he is doing, and she thinks I'm still seven years old, and that the Grail War never happened, as if she's living in a d-dream world."

Rin stumbled over those last two words, her feelings of impotence getting the better of her, and Sakura was quick to take her other hand, making comforting noises in an attempt to calm her down.

"She's also asking about you." Rin then revealed, looking straight at the plum-haired girl, whose eyes widened in response. "Every time I visit her, she asks where you are, and she cries when I tell her you won't come. She doesn't remember that we gave you away to the Matou, and even if she does, that event clearly holds no meaning to her anymore."

"I see." Sakura muttered, biting her lower lip at the thought of her mother wasting away in a mental hospital, crying at the thought that her youngest daughter wasn't coming to visit her. "Should I…? Would it help if I visited her?"

"Would you?" Rin's voice had turned almost pleading at this point, which made Sakura bite her lip even harder. "I-I don't know if it would help, or if she'd even recognise you anymore, b-but I would really appreciate it."

"I will." Sakura promised, placing a hand on her heart. "I will visit her and be kind to her, whether she remembers me or not."

"The latter's more likely." Rin huffed with fake humour. "She doesn't even recognise me half the time, and I visit her as often as I can. Frankly, I don't even know if it's worth it any-"

"You won't know until you try." Ayako interrupted her, her tone stern. "We are going to visit your mother. Let's take Shirou along as well."

"Emiya-kun?! I'm not sure if-"

"Nee-san." Sakura spoke up, recognising that Rin was not terribly enthusiastic at the prospect of taking her boyfriend to meet her mentally damaged mother. "Please? I do think it would be for the best."

"…Alright." Rin agreed after a few moments, looking as if she'd bitten into a lemon.

Meanwhile, Ayako and Sakura exchanged glances, both well-aware that Shirou, having also heard the story of Rin's mother before, would want to use his Healing power to try and restore her damaged brain.

However, since they didn't want to give Rin false hope, they did not tell her that yet. It could wait until the moment they actually arrived at the mental clinic.

"Ah, but really, how long can those two take to exchange a few words?!" Rin quickly changed the subject from her mother to the ongoing discussion in the Church, and Ayako and Sakura went along without protest. "I'll need to have words with Emiya-kun not to let his girlfriends wait for so long-"

Rin was brutally interrupted by an immense crashing noise from inside the church, as if someone had smashed into one of the inner walls at a very dangerous speed.

"What was that?!" Ayako cried in shock, jumping like a startled hare.

"Senpai!" Sakura didn't bother asking questions. She just sprinted at full tilt towards the doors, having drawn her knife in preparation for combat.

"After her!" Rin barked, upon which both she and Ayako burst out into sprints as well.

Straight at the church.

"You want me to repay you?" Shirou asked cautiously. "For answering my questions?"

Gilgamesh didn't reply verbally, but his smile said everything, though his eyes seemed to narrow the tiniest bit.

"…Alright then." Shirou eventually said, figuring the king had indeed been surprisingly forthcoming with information, before he took another sip of the wine, which suddenly tasted far worse than earlier. "I suppose the information you gave us is worth something in return."

That turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

"Cur! You should be flattered that your king requires your aid!" Gilgamesh's eyes flashed dangerously as he swore for the first time in the conversation, a renewed pressure descending on the church, suggesting Shirou had actually made him angry just now.

Which was perhaps to be expected, Shirou belatedly realised. Kiritsugu had taught him a bit about ancient civilisations, in preparation for a possible Fifth Grail War, so he could better interact with Servants, and there had been a few topics that had been of paramount importance.

One of those topics was debt.

Ancient civilisations, such as the Mesopotamians, the Greeks, and the Romans, took the debt principle extremely seriously. If someone did something for you, then you hadto repay them, no matter what. That was how things worked.

The repayment of debts, good and bad, was one of the most important facets of early civilisation. It was what made people human, what made them developed social creatures that could live together in significant numbers.

That was why it had been acceptable in those times to enslave people who were indebted to you. If you had done something for them, it was only logical that they repaid you with everything they had. The only ones you could take from without giving anything in return were animals, and even back then, people weren't animals.

In essence, Gilgamesh had given Shirou what he wanted, and now it was time for the redhead to return the favour, as was proper.

Add to that the fact that Gilgamesh genuinely believed himself to be the king of the world and it was only logical that he was not happy about Shirou looking reluctant to pay him his dues. It was, in his eyes, nothing short of a direct insult to both his authority and perhaps even his humanity.

Strike two.

"What is it you desire, great king?" Shirou tried instead, in a more respectful tone, having no desire to be speared on a Noble Phantasm over a cultural difference.

"Hm." The anger that had clouded the king's face passed, and he smiled again, though a little less widely than before, indicating Shirou had been forgiven for the moment. "I told you before that I am not as powerful as I should be."

"You did." Shirou nodded, able to see that for himself now. "Because the Grail is dormant, right?"

"Correct." Gilgamesh nodded, looking pleased at the fact he didn't have to explain everything from the start again. "I do possess a great deal of Independence, and Kirei has been diligent in finding alternative ways to provide the 'Magical Energy' I need, but the lack of the Grail is still clearly noticeable."

Well, of course, that was only logical. Gilgamesh probably possessed the skill Independent Action, having been an Archer, and Kirei, being a Magus, could probably serve as an acceptable Master, but the Grail provided the lion's share of the Magical Energy in a Grail War. Without it, the Servant would be massively weakened at the very least.

"Does the fact that you are telling me all this mean you want me to be your Master?" Shirou wondered out loud. He wasn't happy with the idea of bringing Gilgamesh back to full power, but if he got Command Seals and a link to the golden king in return, that would go a long way in-

"Under no circumstances!" The king thundered, looking both amused and affronted at the suggestion. "All I need from you is your power."

"My power?"

Instead of responding verbally, the king gestured with a hand, and right next to Shirou, a golden portal opened, depositing a bronze cup in his hands.

It was a ridiculously large cup, seemingly more fit for a giant's hand than for Shirou's, and a quick Tracing revealed its purpose to the redhead. It was a vessel capable of storing all kinds of energies, both Magical and Divine, for a long period of time. It was actually not dissimilar to a Grail, if far less efficient and incapable of summoning anything like Heroic Spirits. It was essentially a battery for Magical Energy.

"You want me to pour power into this goblet?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Fill the cup with the Divine power you possess." Gilgamesh ordered, confirming Shirou's suspicions. "It shall serve as my energy-source for the coming years."

"And if I do this-" Shirou began, but Gilgamesh didn't let him finish.

"It is both compensation for answering your questions and your duty to your king." He huffed, before he smirked, pointing downwards at the floor. "If you truly need another incentive however, look no further than below our feet."

Shirou cocked his head to the side, before he indeed looked down.

-And immediately choked on his own breath.

Gilgamesh had to have done something, removed some kind of cloaking Noble Phantasm, because he could suddenly see the church's basement where before he could not.

And in that basement, the emaciated, hollowed forms of seven children were visible, all of them close to death, as they were constantly drained of their Souls, to serve as a substitute to Magical Energy.

Magical Energy that was sent straight to Gilgamesh.

"This is how Kotomine kept you materialised?!" The redhead asked in horror, looking back at the king, his grip on Mjolnir tightening as he crouched in preparation for battle. "Through draining children?!"

"Did you think he provided the energy himself?" Gilgamesh's eyes sparkled in dark amusement, his smile one of utter condescension. "How naïve of you, how fitting for a fool."

"I am taking them away from here!" Shirou spat, already searching for a way down.

"I will not stop you." Gilgamesh nodded once, before gesturing at the bronze goblet in Shirou's hand. "As long as you provide me with another source of power."

"…" Shirou's first instinct was again to tell the guy to stuff it. After the revelation that he'd been draining the life-force of children to keep himself alive, the redhead was not in a charitable mood, to say the least. However, the golden king was still the stronger combatant between them, and if he decided to prevent Shirou from reaching the children, there wasn't much the redhead could do.

And even if he slipped past the golden king, it was still not a wise idea to sour relations between them, not when Gilgamesh had already shown himself surprisingly willing to keep a low profile for now.

Over the past eight years, Gilgamesh had done nothing to cause a stir, and Shirou would really like to keep it that way, at least until he was strong enough to fight the former Archer in direct combat. For something like that, and for the freedom of seven tortured children, a bit of power was a small price to pay.

So he relented, and he started pouring the Mysterious Power into the goblet, though he made sure it couldn't be used for anything except a standard power source for a Servant. It wouldn't work for spells, or for rituals, or for anything else. The only thing he did add though was a tiny bit of Cleansing Power, hoping beyond hope it might slightly improve the king's personality.

Shirou had already noticed that the goblet was inferior to a proper Grail, and that was confirmed yet again when it was filled completely after a surprisingly short amount of time of pouring power into it.

How odd. Shirou had numerous containers in his Vault that could hold a lot more power before they were full.

Not that he was going to tell that to the golden tyrant. He might demand one of such containers, or all of them.

"Here." He spat, holding the goblet out to Gilgamesh. "Your power source."

A golden portal opened in front of him, and he placed the goblet into it, after which the portal disappeared again.

Gilgamesh was silent for a moment, closing his eyes in concentration, and then he opened them again to show his red pupils were shining now, with the power that Shirou had just given him. The weight of his presence increased significantly, and if Shirou could have seen his Servant parameters, he would undoubtedly have seen them rise a rank, returning to what they'd originally been.

"Marvellous." The golden king breathed out, and his golden armour materialised on his body for the shortest of moments before disappearing again. "I had almost forgotten what it was like to have sufficient Magical Energy to operate at full capacity."

"You have your power." Shirou said, cautiously though forcefully. "Please leave now. I really don't want to see you again until the next Grail War starts."

"I shall allow it." The former Servant proclaimed bombastically. "Indulge yourself in your normal life, boy. Go to your school, entertain yourself with your fellows, and make your handmaidens pleasure you. The conflict over my Grail is set to begin soon after all, and I would have you participate with your full strength."

"That is not your call-!" Shirou began his retort, before Gilgamesh's ominous words really sunk in, and he stopped. "Wait, what?! The Grail War will start soon?!"

"Hm? Yes." Gilgamesh confirmed, giving him a mildly surprised look.

For a second, for a single, short second, Shirou furiously hoped that Gilgamesh's sense of time had been warped after four-thousand years and that fifty years was 'soon' for him, but the tyrant's next words immediately stole that hope away.

"After the failure of the last War, the Grail retained most of its power and thus needs far less time to recharge." Gilgamesh explained, making an awful lot of sense. "It certainly will not need sixty years, like the ritual prescribes. It will start sooner."

"…How much sooner?" Shirou honestly wanted to scream in anger and desperation at the news that that wretched slaughter would begin again earlier than it should, but considering that Gilgamesh would likely enjoy such a reaction from him very much, he held himself back. "Do you mean it will start in another forty years instead of fifty, or…?"

"Try less than three years from now." Gilgamesh purred, smirking cruelly when Shirou buried his head in his hands in pure desperation, his resolution to not give the tyrant the satisfaction crumbling into nothing. "What's more, this particular Grail War is going to be… anomalous."

"Anomalous how?" Shirou asked, raising his head again when his desperation was put on hold by another ominous statement from the golden tyrant.

"Even I cannot say." Rather than looking put out at his own ignorance, Gilgamesh seemed to revel in it, smiling widely and happily. "What the future holds is a mystery to us all right now. Literally anything could happen. The world could end, humanity might transcend, the two of us might end up killing each other or we'll be forced to work together. No one can say."

"…" Unlike Gilgamesh, that prospect filled Shirou with a deep dread. A normal Grail War was already damaging enough, especially if another madman like Gilles de Rais would be summoned, but an anomalous Grail War…

It might mean the end of Fuyuki.

"So much could happen." The golden king laughed, before he shook his head, a surprisingly human gesture from a figure that had seemed awfully inhuman so far. "But I must be patient. I have waited eight years, so another three years or less should be no issue. There is still much to do, many things to prepare, and there are few places in the world that I have yet to see before the conflict starts. You will likely not see me again until the Grail awakens once more, godling."

"What?" Gilgamesh casually dropped yet another bomb on the conversation, and Shirou was starting to feel woozy from the constant whiplash. "You are leaving?"

"I am." The king nodded. "I have what I came for, and I will not spend my days until the War in this dull church. The Modern Age has turned the world ugly, but there are a few spots with some shine left to them that I wish to see."

The news that Gilgamesh would be leaving again brought out both delight and great concern in Shirou. On one hand, he hated the idea of having to let the former Servant walk away, free to spread more misery and pain, but on the other hand, he was painfully aware that he did not have the strength to stop him.

But he did have to try. His very nature demanded it.

So he took on a combat stance, and Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed again.

That was strike three.

Shirou was out.

"With our discussion finished, you undoubtedly wish to save the children below our feet." The golden king stated, dropping his cup into a golden portal that appeared next to him. "Allow me to aid you in reaching them quickly."

Shirou had only a fraction of a second to be confused about that statement before Gilgamesh was upon him, his fist raised above his head, showing off the kind of speed that Shirou had never seen before, even in himself and Lady Barthomeloi.

Shirou only just managed to throw up a cross guard in the nick of time, preventing the king from striking his head, but the downwards blow still sent him straight down, where he smashed into the ground with enough force to crater it below him.

The next blow landed a fraction of a second after the first, right into the redhead's stomach, making the crater even deeper and driving all air from Shirou's lungs. The third blow struck his chest, and the fourth would have landed on his face had he not still had his cross guard up.

All of the blows were aimed straight down, and Shirou realised with no small amount of shock that Gilgamesh intended to literally beat him through the floor and into the basement.

Aid him in reaching the children indeed.

Shirou didn't even try to block the fifth blow and instead rolled to the side, narrowly dodging Gilgamesh's fist and creating some space between them, before he flipped back onto his feet.

He then fired a lightning bolt straight at the king, which was blocked by another shield, different from the one before. Shirou did not have time for another attack before he had to use Mjolnir to parry a very mean looking copper spear, a poisonous knife, a golden hammer, and an extremely thin rapier, all of them Noble Phantasms.

That had only been the start though, and the next moment, he was fighting to survive an utter barrage of the mystical weapons.

His father had told him about Gilgamesh's ability to fire Noble Phantasms, but he had massively understated the sheer speed at which he could shoot the damn things. It was all the redhead could do to keep up without being pierced from his blind spot.

Eventually, he spotted an opening, and he retaliated by using a Rune to send a storm of icicles at Gilgamesh, something that a single shield wouldn't easily block. The king wasn't caught off guard though, and used some kind of staff to create a wall of fire, rendering the icicles harmless.

It drastically reduced his visibility however, momentarily halting the rain of Noble Phantasms, and Shirou used that to get in close. Gilgamesh might have just successfully sucker punched him, but that didn't mean the redhead was entirely outclassed physically.

If he could get up close and personal…

He rushed forward, and the moment the golden king emerged from the wall of fire, he went for the throat, while numerous golden portals opened themselves all around them and-

"Enough!"

Shirou skidded to a halt at the shout, immediately ceasing his attack, while Gilgamesh's eyes flitted to the side. He didn't move his head though, as Sakura was currently holding her knife only millimetres from his right eye.

At some point during the fight, Sakura had snuck up on the tyrant, had jumped onto his back, thrown an arm around his neck to hold herself up, and used her other hand to hold a knife at his eye, clearly threatening to gouge it out if he moved a single inch.

"Stop it!" She hissed, moving the knife even closer. "Leave Senpai alone!"

Gilgamesh was clearly astonished, at the fact she had managed to sneak up on him, that she'd be so brazen as to threaten him, and especially that she continued to stare at him without fear, even though they both knew he could easily skewer her before she could even think of moving her hand to stab him.

That astonishment turned into a deep amusement very quickly.

"Heh."

Quick as a viper, Gilgamesh snatched Sakura from his shoulder, her knife clattering on the ground, before he threw her towards Shirou, who caught her as gently as he could.

"So your handmaidens are also your guards." He remarked with clear humour in his voice, the portals behind him closing as the weapon retracted. "A unique choice, though I don't dislike it."

"Then how about you clear off before I give you something to really dislike?!" Rin, who had just entered the church, snarled, raising her hand, in which she held over a dozen gems, more than enough to level the entire church.

"What she said!" Ayako grinned ferally, standing to the left of Rin, though she made no aggressive movements, knowing that there was nothing she could do to harm the golden king. "It seems Shirou is unharmed, so we'll let you go, this time."

"Unharmed?" That seemed to surprise Gilgamesh, and he turned to Shirou, looking him over for injuries but finding none. "Even though I felt your skull fracture and your ribs break? Your healing is impressively fast."

"I know." Shirou remarked, giving no further explanation.

"Hm." Gilgamesh hummed, before he nodded. "Then our ways shall part here. Tis not farewell though, for we shall see each other again. Take heed, for when our paths cross again, I will wield my true strength once more."

"I'll be waiting for you." Shirou promised darkly. "And I will defeat you."

"Grow stronger first." The golden king advised kindly. "No fledgling, no matter how powerful, can hope to fight a hero. The whole reason I am letting you live is because our confrontation during the Grail War will be the highlight of the entire event. Make sure you don't disappoint me."

And with those words, the king departed, walking out of the church and down the hill, before disappearing into the city.

Shirou didn't waste a moment after that. He put Sakura down, checked her for injuries, and then moved towards the altar, which hid a stairway into the basement.

"Senpai?!"

"There are children down in the basement." He explained quickly, dismissing Mjolnir again.

"This place has a basement?" Rin looked befuddled at the information, before she shook her head, realising that that was not relevant. "What was that about children?"

"Kotomine locked up several children in the church's basement to serve as power sources for Gilgamesh." Shirou hastily explained, sinking to his knees before the altar to search for the mechanism that would allow him to move it aside. "They have been drained of their Souls for years, and are close to death."

"He did what?!" Rin cried, her face becoming bright red in anger. "That slimy toerag! That cross-bearing psychopath! How dare he?!"

Rin's reaction was one of outrage, but Shirou didn't pay attention to what she said. He continued examining the altar for a few more seconds, before he decided finding its proper mechanism was taking too long and just tore it from its place instead, throwing it away.

He was sure the Lord would forgive some damage to one of His homes. It was for the sake of dying children after all.

With the altar removed, the stairway leading into the basement was laid bare. Shirou wasted not a moment and flew down the steps at break-neck speed, before rounding two corners, tearing down a reinforced door, and rushing into a hidden room.

There, he found the children, chained to the wall and bereft of everything but their clothes, only their shallow breathing indicating that they were still alive at all.

Years of neglect and cruel Soul-eating had left them little more than skeletons, at the very edge of life and death, covered in filth and grime. It was a heart-breaking sight, and Shirou heard how Ayako gasped in horror behind him, before she threw up in a corner.

He ignored the brunette for now though, trusting that Sakura and Rin would take care of her, and reached out to touch the closest child, who turned out to be roughly the same age as Shirou, though the abuse and the starvation had massively stunted her growth and development, making her appear years younger than she actually was.

She was still alive though, if only barely, and Shirou immediately used his Healing Power on her. He wasn't sure whether it could help when the victims were in such a state, but at the very least, he could mend the most pressing physical issues that were plaguing her.

He channelled as much of the Healing Power as he could, transferring it to the girl's body, and in doing so, he realised two things, one of them good, the other bad.

One, the damage, both to her body and to her Soul, was in fact reparable. With enough Healing power and enough care, preferably from expert doctors, this girl would be able to mostly return to a healthy state. She would never make up for her stunted growth, but she would be able to live a mostly normal life at least.

Two, returning her to a healthy state would likely take weeks, if not months, of extensive treatment and patience.

Her physical maladies weren't the issue, as Shirou had already fixed the most urgent ones and enough food would take care of the starvation. It was her heavily tarnished and tattered Soul that would take months to recover and return to a semblance of a healthy state, even with Shirou's help.

Normally, Souls could recover by themselves. Just by living, human beings generated life-force, which would sustain their Souls, meaning that being drained for a short amount of time would have no long-lasting effects.

These children had been drained for eight years already however, and the resulting damage was so extensive that there was no way in hell they would ever recover by themselves. They would remain as they were now, unresponsive and comatose, even if their bodies became healthy again.

In other words, it fell to Shirou to make sure that the children would be fully healed. He was likely the only one in the world both capable and willing to help them.

So that is what he did. He substituted their life-force with his Mysterious Power, filling up the gaps in their Souls. It was something that would normally only be possible for those wielding the Heaven's Feel, but through his Divinity, Shirou was once more able to mimic its effects.

He finished treating the first child in short order, and quickly moved on to the second, who was in a very similar state, as was the third, the fourth, and all the others.

It was horrific to see. Kotomine had taken these children and then, without any care whatsoever for their well-being, had turned them into batteries, condemning them to a slow, drawn-out death.

It wasn't the cruellest thing Shirou had ever seen, not after witnessing the atrocities committed by some of the Meluastea's flunkies, but it placed well into the top five, perhaps even the top three.

It confirmed that Kiritsugu and Rin had been right all along. Kotomine truly was evil beyond belief.

The unspoken pact of non-aggression between Shirou and Kotomine was broken now, there was no way around it. If that priest dared to show himself around Shirou again, he would pay for what he had done.

Shirou continued healing the children for well over an hour, the golden glow never dying down as he worked. In the meantime, Rin arranged a van to take them all to the hospital later, while Ayako and Sakura tended to the children whom Shirou had finished healing.

"I'll have to send a notice to the Magus Association that we need a new priest here." Rin huffed when she returned to the basement, glancing over at the children again, her expression becoming colder than the Arctic. "Because if that fake priest dares to step foot in my city again, I'll kill him."

"Atta girl!"

"Yes, Nee-san!"

The mood at the graveyard of the Ryuudou-temple was dark, darker even than normal, and that was saying something, considering it was a graveyard and all.

It was mostly abandoned, as it was the middle of the day and most people were working, but there was one grave that had visitors. Quite unique visitors, with white hair, red eyes, and clothes that seemed to have been taken straight from the wardrobes of European nobility.

It was those visitors who were the cause for the dark mood, or rather, one of them in particular.

Illyasviel von Einzbern was staring at her father's grave with empty eyes, her maids standing behind her in solemn silence. The bouquet of black flowers that she had brought with her had already been placed on the grave, as had the small, handheld mirror that had belonged to Irisviel.

Illya had known for some time now that Kiritsugu had died. The Einzbern had never kept it a secret, and Shirou had only confirmed it within minutes of her first meeting with him. The Grail's Curse had gotten the better of him years ago, and there was nothing that could be changed about it.

But even though she'd known, the sight of her father's grave, his actual grave, containing his actual dead body, still managed to make her feel like someone had punched her in the gut multiple times, tears pricking in the corners of her eyes as she tried to stay composed.

Shirou's friend, Issei, was standing off to the side. He'd brought her to the graveyard when she'd arrived in the temple, and now, he was politely keeping her company, though from a distance. As an aspiring monk, it was his duty to make sure she wouldn't break down completely, a task he clearly took very seriously.

According to Shirou, he'd probably give her some spiritual advice later on as well, to help her with processing her loss. It would be her choice whether to accept it or not, but she was going to get it either way.

That was fine. Illya didn't hate it or anything. In fact, seeing someone act so dutiful about tending to graves and grieving relatives was a nice contrast to how the Einzbern treated their dead, with nothing but contempt.

For now though, she appreciated that Issei kept his distance, just as she appreciated the fact that her maids were perfectly silent. This was a private moment, or at least, as private as could be, and she didn't want to talk to anyone.

She just wanted to remember the best moments with her father again, so that she would never forget them, and would never forget him.

Illya was also very glad that her father had a proper grave now. Old Man Acht had often talked about how Kiritsugu would end up in a ditch, or how he'd be eaten by dogs, or some other humiliating end. The fact that he was lying peacefully in a temple was far better, and also a good snub to her grandfather.

Her mother hadn't gotten any kind of grave after her death though. Her body had been used to complete the Heaven's Feel ritual, leaving nothing behind after it was finished.

Illya wondered if it would be possible to put Irisviel's name on Kiritsugu's grave as well, to reunite them in some way, like a loving husband and wife. It was something to think about, and perhaps discuss with Shirou and Issei.

Those matters and many other ones kept playing on her mind, and it was only a solid thirty minutes later that Illya managed to wrench herself away from the grave, taking a step back.

"Einzbern-san." As she had expected, Issei immediately approached her, his eyes set in a very serious expression. "Have a cup of tea before you go."

It was less a suggestion than it was an order, and Illya, knowing that Sella and Leysritt agreed with the aspiring monk, nodded her assent.

She was then taken away from the graveyard and towards the main hall, where she was offered a seat in a corner, away from any possible prying eyes.

"Here you go, Einzbern-san." Issei said, handing her the promised cup of tea. "It can't have been easy, visiting your father's grave for the first time, so please take as much time as you need to recover."

"I will." Illya nodded, taking a sip of the tea. It was still very hot, but in all honesty, she liked the painful sensation of the fluid going down her throat. It distracted from all the other pains. "Shirou told me you would have snippets of wisdom for me, Ryuudou-san."

"Did he now?" Issei huffed, a glint of amusement entering his eyes. "I don't have anything prepared, but I can try to improvise a little, if you want."

"Please do."

"All life moves in a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth." Issei began, his voice soft and at least an octave lower than before. "Although the separation of death can be painful for those who stay behind, it is not the end of the world. It was merely your father's time to move on to the next part of the cycle, and although his current form is no more, you can rest assured that he is still with you in spirit if nothing else."

"Hm." Illya was probably even more aware of that than the monk, since she had literally been visited by her father's spirit, several times even.

"As long as we carry them within our hearts, no one is ever truly gone." Issei continued, making a sign with his hands. "That goes for both loved ones, whom we should fondly remember so they will stay with us, and those we hate, and thus should forgive to make them go away."

"Forgive our enemies to get rid of them?" Illya huffed, her grieving momentarily disrupted by the odd comment. "Really?"

"I believe that forgiving one's enemies is a general tenet in most religions and spiritual movements." Issei smiled, before holding up a finger. "After all, one forgives one's enemies not for their sake, but for one's own. Carrying hatred in your heart poisons no one but yourself."

"…I suppose." Illya herself certainly hadn't been the sanest of people while she'd been in the middle of her Shirou-hate episode, so maybe the monk was on to something. "Sometimes though, there are scores to settle. I don't think I can forget that."

The Einzbern for instance were people she'd never forgive or forget, to say nothing about Angra Mainyu.

"Even then, there are several steps you can take to mitigate the damage to your mind." Issei, ever the practical man, easily ignored Illya's acerbic tone. "Just ensure that you keep justice in mind when you strike at those who have hurt you. Don't do it for yourself only, but also for the people they might hurt in the future. That way, you might find some righteousness in your quest."

"…!"

Oh good Heavens, that was brilliant! Of course Illya's reprisals against the Einzbern wouldn't be revenge! They would be justice for herself and other victims, as well as protection for those who would be hurt in the future!

When she would cut off their heads and put them on spikes, it wouldn't be an act of senseless bloodthirst or foolish vengeance, but a heroic deed that would protect the innocent people they would undoubtedly harm later.

She gave Issei a beaming grin, and the monk, who had been smiling a bit before, now looked very concerned, his natural ability to read people suddenly telling him he may have just made a huge mistake.

Naturally, as he was a dutiful person, he tried to amend his statement, to make Illya see sense again, but the white-haired girl wasn't listening anymore, too happy with her own conclusions to let anyone bring her down.

Issei would normally have been aided in his attempts to correct the girl's misconceptions by her maids, but they were currently otherwise occupied, and thus unable to provide assistance.

Sella and Leysritt had been standing at a polite distance from Illya, from where they couldn't overhear her every word but were only a few seconds away should she need them, when suddenly, an unexpected visitor arrived.

This unexpected visitor was a tall, thin, and very serious looking man, with cold eyes the colour of ice. He was dressed in simple robes, similar to Issei, and carried no weapons of any kind. In other words, he seemed to be nothing more than a random temple-inhabitant.

His unsettling aura spoke to differ however, as did the fact that his eyes were not only cold, but also very calculating and measuring, as if he was constantly looking for escape routes and killing opportunities.

Something most often seen in war-veterans and assassins.

The man had wanted to enter the main hall, but Leysritt hadn't let him. Judging him a possible threat to her mistress, she'd put herself in his way and had refused to budge ever since. Perhaps it was a bit rude, but she had no intention of stepping aside and letting the man enter until Lady Illyasviel had left the hall.

Unlike most other people, the newcomer hadn't reacted with outrage or shock when his way was suddenly barred by an overenthusiastic maid. Instead, he had immediately adjusted for the new obstacle, had clearly recognised Leysritt as a capable warrior, and had engaged the maid in a staring contest, something she'd happily reciprocated.

They had been standing there for a while now, neither of them moving a muscle, staring each other down as they waited for the other to give in.

Sella could only look at the scene with a bemused expression, wondering if she should perhaps intervene and tell Leysritt to let the man pass for now. Yes, she too had recognised the aura as that of an assassin, but considering the man had walked up towards them in plain view and showed not a hint of aggression, she did not think he was there for their mistress.

Rather, he appeared to live in the temple, if his robes and garden hoe were any indication.

"Kuzuki-Sensei." Ultimately, Sella didn't have to do anything, for the showdown was interrupted by the young monk Issei, the valued associate of Lord Emiya, who had just finished setting Illya straight again. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm? Ah, no, not necessarily, Issei-kun." The man, Kuzuki, replied in a monotone but focused voice, shifting his gaze towards Illya, who had followed Issei to the door. "I was just wondering who these people are. They do not seem like the usual fare who visits the temple."

All of that was said with the bored intonation of a man who was watching a documentary about snails after not sleeping for forty-eight hours but with the focus of a samurai staring down three enemy warriors.

Sella was deeply impressed.

"They came to visit the graveyard." Issei said by ways of explanation.

"I was unaware we have European nobility buried here."

"European nobility?" Illya looked confused for a few moments, before her face lightened up. "Oh, because of my accent and my maids? No, sir, it's nothing like that. My mama was nobility, but papa wasn't, and he is the one buried here."

"I see." Kuzuki-Sensei mumbled, immediately accepting Illya's explanation. "I have not seen you here before though."

"I only recently moved into town." Illya explained, not showing a hint of apprehension even though the man's eyes were fixed on her with a laser-like intensity. "Some trouble back home. I'll be living with my brother now."

"She refers to Emiya-kun, Sensei." Issei elaborated.

The assassin stiffened the tiniest bit when Lord Emiya was mentioned, indicating he'd met the redhead before and was aware of his power, at least to an extent. That only improved Sella's opinion of the man though. He wasn't in any way involved with the Moonlit World as far as she could see, but he did recognise unbeatable opponents when he saw them.

She could respect that.

"I wasn't aware that Emiya-kun was European nobility either." The man admitted after a moment.

"He is my father's adopted son." Illya answered the unspoken question. "So he is not nobility. I'm sure mother would have adopted him too, but she passed away before Shirou entered the picture."

"There is actually a long story behind all that." Issei supplied, well aware that Lord Emiya's life story was a complicated one, even without the Mystical aspects. "I'll tell you about it some other time, Sensei."

"Very well. I should not pry." The man nodded, before turning around with the efficiency of a robot. "I will speak with you later, Issei-kun, when your guests have left."

"Until later, Sensei." Issei replied politely, not looking at all put off by either the man's aura or the abruptness of his departure.

"Ah." Leysritt on the other hand looked quite despondent that her opponent had suddenly left without continuing their showdown or even acknowledging her again.

"Just see this as your victory." Sella offered, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder, trying to cheer her up a little. "He knew he couldn't match up to you, so he wisely left without even trying."

"Yes." Leysritt nodded, the light returning to her eyes as she squared her shoulders, and Sella couldn't suppress a fond smile.

Her sister was so easy to manage sometimes.

Rin had always known that the fake priest was bad news.

Admittedly, she had never really been able to back up that claim before. Kotomine was tall, handsome, charismatic, dependable, and strong, which should at first glance make him quite likable. He had also been her father's trusted apprentice, which should have made him seem even more amiable to her, like a big brother of sorts.

However, even though most people, including her mother and her father, insisted he was a good man, Rin had never been able to shake the impression that he was hiding something.

From the moment she gained the awareness to understand who Kotomine was, she'd disliked him, and that had continued all the way up until the present. In fact, her dislike had only grown stronger over the years, going from a slight distaste to full on revulsion at his presence.

He might never have done something to warrant her suspicion and distaste, on the contrary even, he'd always been perfectly helpful and mostly cordial, but there was something about his mannerisms and facial expressions that was just… wrong.

And now she had her confirmation.

Kotomine had killed her father. Gilgamesh had straight up admitted it, admitted that he'd let it happen too. Kotomine had acted the part of her father's apprentice for years, and had then brutally betrayed the man's trust, stabbing him in the back both literally and figuratively.

He'd betrayed his own teacher, before making said teacher's daughter dance to his tunes for years, raising her with nary a complaint, all while silently gloating over the fact that she had no idea what he'd done to her family.

Furthermore, the fake priest had kidnapped children, innocent orphan children, and had locked them up in his secret basement so he could drain them of their Souls and Life-Force to sustain his partner in crime, Gilgamesh.

For close to nine years, he had tortured them, and if it hadn't been for Emiya-kun's presence and special abilities, they would have been completely beyond saving when they had been found.

If there was anything that showed that Rin's bad feeling about the priest were warranted, anything that proved he was evil, even to people who didn't care about Tohsaka Tokiomi's death, it had to be that.

Not that she could feel particularly vindicated about being right though. Not when her father was still dead and the children were still in critical condition. Gloating about it just felt wrong.

At the moment, she was sitting in the guest room of the city's best hospital, together with Sakura and Ayako, waiting until Shirou returned with news.

After their boyfriend had managed to stabilise the children and heal the worst of their physical and spiritual injuries, they'd taken all seven of them to the hospital in the van that Rin had procured for them. Fortunately, Shirou knew how to drive, and they'd had the luck not to encounter any police on the way who might have asked him for his non-existent driving license.

At the hospital, it had taken a bit of Hypnotism and some prodding and bribing, but eventually, they'd been able to find a spot for all the children without too many inconvenient questions being asked. The children were now safe and sound and were being cared for by professional doctors who had been trained in treating starvation.

The reason the four of them were still hanging around now was to make sure Shirou's special abilities were really no longer needed. He might have missed something after all, a pressing issue to either the children's bodies or minds, that normal doctors could not heal. In such a case, he'd have to quickly take care of that himself.

In the meantime, while waiting for the doctors to finish their examinations, he was wandering the hospital, sneakily healing every patient he came across, while the girls hung around in the guest area, doing their best to dodge awkward questions from staff members who wondered who they were.

The children's doctors must have worked fast though, because it was barely twenty minutes later that Shirou returned.

"Senpai!" Sakura rose from her seat to face him, clasping her hands together in worry. "How are they?"

"They have all woken up, and they are well, mostly." He replied, reaching out to comfortingly pat her head. "As far as the doctors can see, they are mostly healthy, and I cannot see any more marks on their Souls either. As for their minds…"

"The trauma is going to be quite a thing." Ayako finished for him, pursing her lips.

"Actually, it's not that bad." Shirou shook his head, surprising all three of them. "It appears they have no memories of what happened. All they know is that they were caught up in the Great Fire eight years ago, followed by a large blank space, and then they awoke in this hospital."

"That must be the priest's doing." Sakura mumbled pensively, before she sighed. "It might be for the best that they don't remember anything."

"Definitely." Rin agreed, rubbing the side of her head in agitation. "Not in the least because it spares us the trouble of having to adjust their memories to preserve the Secrecy of the Moonlit World."

"It wouldn't be so much 'adjusting' as it would be wiping, Rin." Shirou sighed. "They spent all of the past eight years in that basement. There's nothing for us to adjust. All we could have done was remove every single memory of those years completely, which is bad, as you very well know."

"Believe me, Emiya-kun, I know that perfectly well." Rin retorted, her expression tightening. "There is no one happier about us not having to wipe those children's memories than me."

"Uhm, care to fill us in?" Ayako asked, raising her hand as if she was in class. "This sounds rather serious."

"Removing eight years' worth of memories at once, even if those memories are all of a single basement, will leave those children little better than toddlers in intellect." Rin explained readily, taking on a lecturing pose. "Hypnotism, while harmless in small quantities, still involves the practice of reaching into someone's head and warping their minds. Too much of it would result in injuries that are not dissimilar to brain-damage."

Those last two words immediately made it clear why Rin didn't like the concept of removing too many memories at once. The possible result of brain-damage was something that struck very close to home for her, considering what had happened to her mother.

"Anyway, I think the best you can do is let the professionals take care of the children from here on." The black-haired girl continued, looking back at Shirou. "They do not remember anything, so the Secrecy of the Moonlit World is not in danger. Emiya-kun, did you make sure the doctors did not get a good look at your face?"

"I did." Shirou nodded. "Even if they are directly shown a picture of me, they won't recognise me as the one who brought the children here. I also made sure to fool the cameras and the receptionists. As far as anyone knows, these children appeared here out of nowhere."

"Good." Rin nodded approvingly. "Then we shall leave at once."

And so they did. They quickly though discreetly left the hospital, returned the van to its rightful owner with the tank full, and then returned to Shirou's house on foot.

The walk back was marred by silence however. After meeting Gilgamesh at the church, learning of Tokiomi's heartlessness and Kotomine's utter betrayal, discovering the fact that the Grail War would start within a few years, and the rescuing of the children, none of them knew where to even begin striking up a conversation.

And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that Rin's mother had come up yet again, which was always a mood-killer, no matter the situation. The circumstances were just too tragic for it to be anything else.

The silence lasted for several minutes, and then Ayako, who was always the life of the group, couldn't take it anymore.

"Rin, about your mother…" The brunette started carefully, taking a step closer to Rin to hesitantly take her elbow in a show of support, slightly startling the girl with the suddenness of the motion. "Is she staying at that hospital we just visited?"

"No, she is not staying at that hospital." Rin shook her head, allowing Ayako to continue holding her arm, looking like she very much needed the support. "Hospitals are for emergency treatment and for patients who can recover in time. Mom is currently in a clinic for mental patients just outside the city, where they keep the hopeless cases."

"Right, you told us last time that she wasn't in the city itself." Ayako recalled, before giving the black-haired girl a sympathetic look. "Is it a good clinic?"

"It is of decent quality, though it offers different care-packages, from the cheapest to the most expensive." Rin explained softly. "The quality of care depends on how much you pay. Unfortunately, I have never been able to afford more than the cheapest package."

"Sakura, when you took over the accounting for your mother's bills, did you switch to the most expensive package?" Shirou asked immediately. He had been picking up the bill for Rin's mother for a few months now, though Sakura had made the arrangements, and this was not the time to be stingy.

"I did, Senpai." Sakura nodded with a grin. "I also made a generous donation to the clinic, to ensure they treat mother even better. We are rich customers, so we get preferential treatment."

"O-Oi!" Rin spluttered, turning towards them with a complicated expression. "Y-You don't have to-"

"Money should be spent, Rin." Shirou cut her off, placing a hand on her head. "I have more than enough anyway. Heavens, I earned even more over the summer by selling a few trinkets."

"Oh yes, you told us about that." Ayako recalled, before cocking her head to the side. "You never did tell us how much you earned with that though."

"I didn't?" Shirou blinked in confusion, before his eyes cleared up. "Oh yes, it got overshadowed by that Wraith-business, so I forgot to tell you about it."

"How much was it then?" Ayako asked with some eagerness. "How much did you earn?"

"I gave about half to Lord El-Melloi, and I already spent some of it in London, but ultimately, it should be…" Shirou ran a few mental calculations. "About four-hundred-and-eight billion Yen."

It was silent for a few seconds following his declaration, and the girls all stopped walking, making Shirou stop as well.

"Four-hundred billion!?" Rin then choked out, sounding as if someone was holding her throat shut. "Billion?!"

"I could barely believe it myself." Shirou nodded, rubbing the back of his head with a pained smile. "But apparently, amounts like that are quite normal in the upper circles of the Moonlit World."

Rin's lips moved, but no sound came out, and some lip-reading revealed that even if she'd spoken, it would have been nothing but gibberish.

Ayako on the other hand looked very pleased.

"Does that mean you can buy a lot of gifts for me?" She asked coyly, leaning forward while linking her hands behind her back, making herself look extra cute.

"That is exactly what the money is for." Shirou nodded. "If there's anything you want, just say the word."

"Well, if you're offering, I noticed that the costume store we sometimes visit has recently added a sexy bunny outfit to their supply…" Ayako trailed off meaningfully.

"Done." Shirou nodded immediately, making a mental note to buy three, before he turned to Sakura. "Is there anything you want?"

"Oh, you're surprising me a bit there." Sakura looked a little woozy still from hearing about Shirou's newfound wealth, making her reaction a bit slow. "I'll let you know if there's anything I want."

"Excellent." Shirou nodded, and then he looked at Rin. "What about you, Rin? Do you have your eye on anything?"

"…" Rin looked at him with an empty gaze for several seconds, before she lowered her head. "You already pay for my mother's treatment, you gave me countless gems, and you let me use your materials at your house. I cannot keep accepting charity, Emiya-kun."

"There's nothing wrong with accepting gifts from your future husband." Shirou teased her lightly, and he was rewarded by the sight of her ears becoming red. "Let me know if there's anything you want in the future."

"Hmpf." Rin made a displeased noise, lifting her head to glare at him. "Y-You… You rich poser! Wealth has clearly made you insufferable."

"Ahahahaha." Shirou laughed uncomfortably, well aware that his casual displays of wealth could very well be seen as him showing off. "Well, I-"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with being generous." Ayako piped up, quickly coming up next to Shirou to cuddle up against him, looking at him with puppy dog eyes. "I really like receiving gifts, you know."

"Noted." Shirou nodded, placing his arm around the brunette's shoulders to pull her against him.

"Don't be so blatant in your gold-digging!" Rin fumed, making Ayako laugh heartedly. She was quickly joined by Sakura and Shirou, and before long, Rin too had to crack a smile, despite her best efforts to stay mad.

And just like that, the brunette had massively improved the mood again.

In the Black Forest in Germany, in a medium-sized, fog-covered clearing close to the French border, a tense stand-off was taking place between two large groups.

It was still completely dark outside, as the sunrise was several hours away, making the lanterns and Magical lamps of both groups the only sources of light, casting the situation in an ominous, foreboding glow.

No weapons had been bared yet, nor had any spells been cast, but it was clear from the hostile atmosphere that that could change in the blink of an eye.

Senseless violence was not far away, and the only thing that could prevent a fight from breaking out was the negotiation that was currently taking place between the leaders of the groups, who'd met in the middle of the clearing.

Though calling a negotiation might be a misnomer.

"Get out of here, Magus! That rampant Chimaera running around in these woods is mine! I was here first!"

"By no means! If a Magus has lost control over their creation, the responsibility of putting down both beast and master is mine!"

"Pah! If you truly meant that, you would have stopped the master long before its creation ran rampant, you idiot!"

"Ridiculous! I cannot punish people for crimes they have yet to commit!"

"Oh, how proper of you! I almost cried from how sincere your words are!"

"I request again that you leave this forest immediately, lest I remove you myself!"

"Ahahahaha! You sure talk a big game, miss Director, but I can handle you!"

"I am the Vice-Director, and you may test that assumption at your own convenience!"

Instead of a negotiation, it might be more accurate to call it an argument, one that got progressively more ridiculous as time went by, to the ever-increasing embarrassment of their subordinates.

On one side of the clearing, a group of Enforcers from the Clocktower, numbering about twenty, stood looking at the argument. On the other side, a large team of Executors, about thirty of them, was also bearing witness to the display.

At the beginning, both groups had been standing ready for battle, glaring at each other with utmost concentration, ready to start the inevitable fight between them over who would get to stay and complete the hunt and who would have to leave in disgrace.

Now though, after having to listen to their leaders argue like children, most of their spirit had vanished. They were professionals, so they still watched each other and their surroundings carefully, but there was nothing left of the hostile atmosphere from before.

If anything, the two groups were now united in their desire for their leaders to stop squabbling already.

The group of Enforcers was led by Lorelei Barthomeloi. They had arrived in the Black Forest that same day, on the seventh day of her latest hunt, to hunt down a rogue Chimaera. Over the last week, they had already destroyed several Dead Apostles, a couple of Wraiths, and a few Ghouls, and they had been more than ready to add a rogue Magus and their rebellious pet to the list.

But when they had arrived in the Black Forest, they hadn't found either Magus or Chimaera, but the forces of the Burial Agency instead, led by Ariadne Lissenbaum.

Lissenbaum was very much Lady Barthomeloi's counterpart within the Church. Where Barthomeloi was the Strongest Magus of the Modern Age, Lissenbaum was considered the Most Powerful Executor of the Century. Lady Barthomeloi hated inhuman creatures with a passion, and so did Lissenbaum. Lady Barthomeloi was a leader within her organisation, second to no one but the Director, and exactly the same went for Lissenbaum, whose authority within the Burial Agency was second to no one but the Pope's.

Ariadne Lissenbaum was a tall woman, with long, white hair, blue eyes that were permanently set in an intense expression, and a face full of scars that spoke of her extensive combat experience. Her body was lean and lightly muscled, and currently covered by a long overcoat, coupled with thigh-high boots, black gloves, and a tri-pronged, black hat adorned with raven feathers.

Because of an old injury to her throat, her voice was permanently hoarse, though according to her admirers, who were not few in number, that only made her more attractive.

With so many similarities between the two women, one would have expected them to get along just fine, but nothing was less true.

"So typical for you, Barty, that you're here again to steal my prey!" Lissenbaum yelled in her hoarse voice, her eyes blazing with possessive anger.

"You appear to be confused, Lissenbaum!" Lady Barthomeloi said snidely, her own eyes flashing in anger as well. "It is you who steals my prey at every opportunity!"

"You have a very selective memory!"

"And you still have a penchant for projecting your own flaws onto others!"

"Bitch!"

"Tsk!"

It was a clash between sworn rivals, a fight over who would get to hunt the prey, and all their subordinates wisely retreated a fair distance in case sparks would really start flying.

Their worry was of course for naught, as neither woman was willing to cause a massive diplomatic incident by picking an actual fight, even with their tempers flaring, but since they were both strong enough to lay waste to their surroundings even with a short, non-serious spat, nobody wanted to take the risk of standing close to them.

That also meant however that there was no one who could snap them out of their argument, and several Enforcers who had also been present for the Purge of the Meluastea found themselves wishing Shirou Fujimaru was with them, to smooth things over. The lad was utterly fearless, and had a decent relationship with Lady Barthomeloi on top of that, so he might be able to intervene and settle things.

The redhead wasn't there though, and that meant they all had to wait until the boss-ladies had gotten their frustration out of their systems.

"Fuck this! We'll settle it with a competition!" Lissenbaum eventually arrived at the obvious conclusion. "Let's see who gets this Chimaera first! We start now, we avoid bystanders at all costs, and we don't interfere with each other!"

"I accept your terms!" Lady Barthomeloi agreed, still shouting, as that was the way the conversation was going. "Undoubtedly, it will be me!"

"We'll see about that!"

To the immense relief of their subordinates, the two women distanced themselves from each other again, returning to their respective teams, though they kept glaring at each other with such intensity that sparks almost seemed to be shooting between them.

The groups went in opposite directions, eager to create more distance between them, but even that wasn't enough to prevent several more comments from being thrown to and from.

"Don't start crying when you lose pathetically, Barty!" Lissenbaum called out just before they disappeared out of sight.

"The only one who will lose is you, L-Lissy!" Lady Barthomeloi countered, stumbling slightly over the demeaning nickname, as she wasn't used to shortening people's names like that.

Whatever Lissenbaum said in response was lost as the distance between them had grown too large, and before long, the group of Executors had disappeared into the fog.

Only then did Lady Barthomeloi turn back to her team.

"You know the mission." She barked, clearly still in a bad mood. "Over the recent months, there have been reports of people being attacked by a large, bear-like creature in the Black Forest. Since this creature has shown itself capable of tearing open vehicles, demolishing trucks, and utterly wiping out multiple groups of armed poachers, my informants have concluded it is likely a form of Chimaera."

Chimaeras were artificial constructs, amalgamations of body-parts from different animals, created by Thaumaturgy. Chimaera-building was one of the more distasteful fields of Magecraft, as it caused great suffering for the animals, but as long as no human body-parts were used, it wasn't actually illegal.

Designed with a capacity for great violence and boosted by spells, Chimaeras were often used as extremely efficient guard beasts, and it was not at all unlikely that one would have the strength to demolish trucks, tear open vehicles, or kill armed poachers.

It was a bit unusual for such creatures to go on a rampage, as they were programmed for obedience, but it could happen if the creator was careless. In such a case, the Chimaera would be put down, and the Magus punished, possibly with death if the damage caused was extensive enough.

Lady Barthomeloi generally did not enjoy such hunts, as the Chimaeras were always victims rather than perpetrators, but she would do her duty without fail. If they threatened humans, she would end them, it was as simple as that.

"We will search the forest meticulously." She commanded her group, specifically addressing the trackers. "A creature like this is guaranteed to leave traces. Find those traces, track the beast down, and then we shall dispatch it."

"Yes, ma'am." The head tracker nodded. "We shall find this Chimaera in short order. It shouldn't be too difficult, as such creatures are incapable of hiding, and attack everything in sight without regard for their own well-being."

"Find it as fast as you can." Lady Barthomeloi ordered. "Preferably before Lissenbaum does."

"We'll do what we can."

"Hm."

Their plan made, Lady Barthomeloi and her team headed back into the forest, on their way to one of the sites at which the creature had struck, where they could begin searching for tracks.

The Enforcers left the clearing and disappeared into the dense fog, leaving the open space completely bereft of human presence.

For a few seconds, it was silent.

Then a large shape emerged from the bushes at the side of the clearing.

As large as a bear, with thick fur, large claws, and enormous paws, this creature was clearly the one that had caused the disturbances over the past months. This was the beast that had torn open cars, demolished larger machines, killed all humans daring to bring guns into the woods, and had even chased off all wolves and bears that came too close.

The creature slowly made its way around the clearing, its pitch-black eyes set in a ponderous look. It had been lying in wait in the bushes since the argument between the female humans had started, and it had watched patiently until both parties had left, unnoticed even by the best trackers the Clocktower and the Church had to offer.

While the creature had been waiting, it had also listened. It did not understand human speech very well, but it did understand intent, and thus, it knew that the humans were here to hunt something.

To hunt it.

The creature let out a snort of displeasure at the thought. Most of the humans in the clearing had not been particularly strong or threatening, but the two females were both extremely powerful and extremely dangerous, to the point where they presented an actual threat to the creature.

The creature did not want to fight them. Actually, it did not want to fight humans at all. It merely wanted to protect its territory, and it would have been content to be perfectly peaceful if the humans had proven to be good neighbours.

It had even made sure to select an area as deep into the forest as possible, where humans had no business being, but even though it had gone out of its way like that, its territory had still been invaded, forcing it to take action.

The creature wondered for a moment if it should follow either of the groups, before deciding that it would be better to return to its territory. For now, it was content with playing it defensively.

With some luck, the humans wouldn't be able to find its nest, and would leave without forcing a battle.

If they did force a battle though, they would have to be killed. As much as it hated senseless violence, the creature had no other choice.

It had to protect its lair, at all costs.

"So you absolutely have to leave, Caren?" Bazett asked, helping the nun with transporting her suitcases to the taxi waiting outside. "There is no way you can stay for a bit longer?"

"Yes, I do have to leave." The white-haired nun nodded, smiling serenely at the kind Enforcer she had grown to like over the past months. "I was only here to address the issue of the mundane Dead Apostles, remember? Now that the perpetrators have all been purged, my reason for being here is gone, and I have to return to the Vatican for my next assignment."

"We could make up some kind of excuse to have you stay longer." Bazett offered, but Caren shook her head before she had even finished speaking.

"The Burial Agency doesn't like it when its agents spend too much time in enemy territory. Even if you fabricated another emergency, they'll likely swap me out for another agent." She explained, before her smile twitched slightly. "In fact, you could say I have already been replaced."

By which she referred to the team of Executors attempting to investigate the Clocktower from the inside.

"So this is farewell." Bazett sighed in resignation, before she nodded. "So be it. Take care of yourself, Caren, and don't be a stranger. You can always send me a letter."

"Or you can send me one." Caren suggested, knowing that she'd likely forget about sending that letter for months. Her memory wasn't great, never had been.

"At the Vatican?"

"No, I won't stay at the Vatican for long this time." Caren shook her head. "I have already been given some details on my next assignment. It seems that for the foreseeable future, I will be staying in Fuyuki."

"Fuyuki?" Bazett blinked in surprise. "You mean, theFuyuki? Where-"

"Where your beloved lord fought his war?" Caren finished for her, enjoying how Bazett blushed at the insinuation that she saw Lord El-Melloi as more than just an employer. "One and the same. It seems the former priest in Fuyuki, Kotomine, was involved in some very shady business and has been chased out of the city by the Second Owner, not long ago. The Burial Agency now needs someone there to continue supervising the Grail, and they picked me."

Frankly, it did not surprise Caren one bit that her father had been involved in something evil. If anything, she was more surprised by how long it had taken the Second Owner to finally get rid of him.

They had to be a person of few moral scruples themselves to tolerate Kotomine Kirei for so long, something that did not exactly make her look forward to the coming months.

"But, oh dear, this is actually rather classified information." Caren pressed a hand to her mouth, as if stricken by guilt. "I shouldn't have told you this. Please, don't tell anyone else."

"I can at least promise it won't go any further than Lord El-Melloi." Bazett told her shamelessly. "I will have to inform him, I hope you understand."

"Exchanging secret information for headpats? I suppose that is acceptable." Caren nodded with a completely serious face, before blinking once when Bazett blushed slightly again, looking to the side in an awfully suspicious manner. "Wait, that's actually what you're planning-?"

"Oh look, there's your taxi, time for you to go!" Bazett rattled, hastily pulling Caren through the gate of the Clocktower and towards the taxi waiting for her. "Nice you were here, looking forward to seeing you again. Bye bye!"

"Ah, bye." Caren responded as she was thrown onto the backseat and her suitcases were hastily put into the trunk, before Bazett waved at her as she rushed back inside the Clocktower.

"To Heathrow then, miss?" The driver asked, glancing back at her, speaking in an oddly soft tone.

"Yes please." Caren nodded, recognising the look in his eyes as one of care and concern. It was a look she often got from people around her, and it usually meant she had a large discount or a small gift to look forward to at the end of the trip.

She didn't know exactly why people were so inclined to charge her less than they did other people, or why they kept giving her candy, cakes, and other food, but she certainly wasn't going to complain about it.

The drive towards the airport was calm, and the driver didn't try to make conversation, leaving Caren free to consider her upcoming stay in Fuyuki.

According to her superiors, the duration of the assignment hadn't been determined yet. They were quite open about Caren being only a stopgap until they had found someone better, but since the Heaven's Feel ritual wasn't due to start for another fifty years, they weren't in any particular hurry to find said better person, especially not since she was the one who was going to hold the fort over there.

She was still as disliked as ever after all, so her superiors were only glad to dump her on the other side of the world. Likely, they wouldn't start seriously looking for an actual Executor to take over the position for at least another decade.

As for Caren herself, she just hoped there would be nice people there. She didn't hold out much hope for the Second Owner, not after they had tolerated her father for so long, but maybe there were a few congregation members whom she could tease and befriend, in that specific order.

She could always hope.