While in the air, harsh winds tried to beat him down as hail pelted him from every direction, but they were the least of his problems, as his control over the air was greater than Arkhangel's, for now at least.
But as the ever-decreasing temperature proved, the Ancestor's dominance over the surrounding area was growing more potent by the minute, a dominance that Shirou was hard-pressed to continue denying with own Authority.
It wasn't quite on the level of a Reality Marble, because then the Vampire Lord's dominance would already be complete, but all the same, Arkhangel was slowly replacing the laws of nature in the park with his own laws through his vile Principle. In fact, Shirou wouldn't have been surprised to learn that the park was already colder than the coldest place on Earth had ever been.
The temperature had gone so far below zero that even most Magi and half breeds would have been unable to withstand it. Even the strongest of protections and the most potent of counter spells wouldn't avail them for long here before the biting cold would cause their blood to start freezing in their veins and their cells to start rupturing
It made Shirou very grateful for the fact that Asgardians had been made to withstand the vacuum and the cold of space, because otherwise, he might have been in serious trouble. He might still be, if Arkhangel could cool his surroundings all the way to absolute zero.
Fingers crossed that that would not happen.
The true power of the Nineteenth Dead Apostle Ancestor, the power that made him a member of the Twenty-Seven, was most terrible indeed. Shirou completely understood now why Dead Apostle Ancestors were so feared. Why it was a policy not to engage them unless you had the support of the greatest warriors that the Church and the Magus Association had to offer.
The fact that Lady Barthomeloi, Lorelei he should say, had defeated three of them on her own, during blood moons no less, was even more impressive a feat that he had thought, and his respect for her increased by leaps and bounds every time he failed to land a hit on his own opponent.
Her incredible feat wasn't just impressive though. It was also hope-giving.
For it proved that the Ancestors weren't unbeatable, no matter their claims.
And with that knowledge in the back of his head, granting him some much needed comfort, Shirou was able to discern that Arkhangel did not seem to be coping well with his own cold either. He was shivering, he was definitely more blue in the face than at the start of the battle, and his fire-powers had pretty much abandoned him.
On one of the few occasions that Shirou had managed to get in close, Arkhangel had tried to ward him off with fire, but the plume of smoke that had been generated wouldn't have chased off a hummingbird, much less a demigod.
The veritable storm of ice spikes that followed had been harder to withstand however, forcing Shirou to retreat anyway, but his theory that Arkhangel was weak to his own cold too had been proven.
He could work with that.
The redhead focused, calling forth the power that swirled within him, and fired his biggest lightning bolt yet at Arkhangel, one that would crumble and annihilate his usual ice walls.
However, as he had remarked upon before, the Ancestor possessed keen tactical sense and a real instinct for battle, so he wasn't surprised when the Vampire Lord recognised the threat and created a veritable glacier in order to protect himself, far greater and bigger than his normal walls.
The lightning bolt smashed over half of it to pieces still, but it was unable to penetrate the massive construct completely.
Rather than dismissing the remaining ice, as he normally did, Arkhangel then threw the remnants of the glacier right at Shirou, and the redhead braced to smash it.
Only for the icy construct to break apart at the very last moment, the shards shooting off every which way, and for Arkhangel to leap straight through the chaos, his blade aimed for Shirou's throat.
Unfortunately for the Ancestor however, while such a trick might have successfully reduced the vision of any other Magus, he had failed to account for the redhead's Clairvoyance.
As such, Shirou wasn't surprised at all by the tricky move and was able to parry the blade with Mjolnir, replicating a technique he'd taken from Monohoshi Zao with the hammer.
Of course, Mjolnir's reach was far smaller than that of the long nodachi, so it was riskier, but in the end, Shirou successfully forced Arkhangel's blade to the side and stepped in close.
Arkhangel then tried to bite him, snapping at his neck with his fangs, and Shirou felt a twinge of apprehension.
While he was reasonably certain that being bitten by a Dead Apostle would have no effect on him, he couldn't be sure, so he didn't want those fangs anywhere near his neck.
But if Arkhangel was so keen on offering his head for a head-butt, Shirou was hardly going to refuse.
He rammed his forehead into the bridge of the Ancestor's nose.
"ARGH!?"
Once more, the crunch of breaking bones was extremely satisfying, as was the ensuing cry of pain, and Shirou lifted Mjolnir, as if to use the moment of weakness to his advantage to finally smash the Ancestor to pieces.
But as he had expected, Arkhangel was too quick to disengage. In the blink of an eye, he'd jumped backwards over fifty metres, creating numerous walls of ice between himself and Shirou to buy himself some time, time he could use to heal his nose and wipe the blood from his eyes.
But this time, Shirou had a different plan.
Arkhangel's Principle was powerful, able to seize control over an area of land and change it into a winter-wonderland, but it also had its downsides.
For one, Arkhangel's mobility had decreased because of the cold, making it harder for him to dodge Shirou's attacks, and for two, it generated massive amounts of wasted Magical Energy, which remained in the air around them.
Most Magical creatures, Dead Apostles included, could sense Magical Energy, allowing them to detect the presence of other powerful creatures and powerful weapons. That was how Arkhangel had known from the very beginning to avoid Mjolnir for instance.
But now, with the Magical Energy in the air distorting such readings, Shirou could finally deploy a certain weapon without having to fear that Arkhangel would sense it coming from a mile away.
Arkhangel couldn't see it, because of the blood in his eyes and the many walls of ice in the way, but Shirou smiled grimly, at last seeing a path to victory in his mind's eye.
He dropped Mjolnir to the ground, for now setting the hammer aside, though it was ready to jump back into his grip at a moment's notice.
Immediately after, a white spear appeared in his hand, one that would have made the surrounding area tremble with its sheer conceptual weight if Arkhangel had not already saturated it with his vile Authority. A weapon that might very well be enough to break the Ancestor's hold over the park had Shirou unleashed its full potential.
It might only be a minor Noble Phantasm, generally unknown by most of the populace, but it was a Noble Phantasm still, and one that was at least six times as old as Arkhangel to boot.
Had Shirou deployed it earlier, the Vampire Lord might have chosen to flee, or at least become much more cautious, which was why the redhead had waited for an opportunity like this.
In pure stats and useability, the spear was inferior to both Mjolnir and Monohoshi Zao, but that was fine. Shirou had not Traced it to use in melee. He was after its special ability, the power that made it a true Noble Phantasm.
Its ability to phase through shields and armour as if they weren't even there.
Walls of ice included.
"Pierce that what lies before and throughout, SARPANITUM!"
With its accompanying chant, uttered in Ancient Sumerian, Shirou activated the Noble Phantasm and threw it at Arkhangel in one smooth movement.
Immediately, the Ancestor's hold over the park, the Authority he was leveraging to bend the laws of physics to his will, was diminished, pierced by the ancient weapon being fully activated.
There was no way Arkhangel could miss it, no way he could overlook that sudden assault on his dominance, but it was already too late to do something about it.
The spear had been thrown, and there was no avoiding it now.
The walls and domes of ice in the way would have surely stopped or delayed Shirou's other weapons, giving the Ancestor the time he needed to dodge.
But the white spear simply phased through them, unhindered by the objects in its way.
The spear flew true.
And pierced Arkhangel's heart.
"…!"
Arkhangel's eyes went wide in shock and horror, his mouth opening as if he wanted to scream, though not a sound came out.
His hands immediately came up to grab the spear, as if to pull it out, but they soon fell by his sides again, utterly limp.
The strength left his legs, making his knees buckle, and it wasn't long before he fell over, unable to remain standing.
Every construct he had created with his accursed ice promptly collapsed too, from the walls to the titanic dome overhead, shattering and melting so quickly none of the fragments even made it to the ground.
The temperature, formerly so far below zero, jumped up again, from glacial, back to just a minor freeze, and up to about what it had been before.
Within mere moments, the proud Dead Apostle Ancestor at the height of his power had been diminished, leaving naught but a shadow of himself.
All by a single, debilitating blow to the heart.
It was only to be expected though. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that in matters of Mystery and Magic, the heart was the single most important body part in existence. More important than the brain, the liver, the kidneys, the lungs, and everything else. It was the centre of most faiths and religions, the lynchpin of a great many rituals, and the conduit through which Magical Energy was produced.
This was no less true for Dead Apostles.
Having their heart destroyed would be enough to kill most minor Apostles on the spot, and to have it be destroyed by a Noble Phantasm would utterly annihilate all but the most powerful among them.
Vlov Arkhangel, being an Ancestor, yet lived, but he was holding on by a thread, his power leaving him as if it were water leaking out of the gaping wound. The sheer conceptual weight of the Mystical weapon had utterly overpowered him, rendering him near harmless.
His Authority was gone, and Shirou wasted not a moment to use that to his advantage, drawing his favourite Rune into existence.
Sowilo. The Rune of the Sun.
Drawn and powered with every bit of might and Magic the redhead could muster, the Rune turned into a miniature star upon completion, burning away the ice and snow that had given Shirou such trouble before.
The frost on the ground evaporated, the icy shards on the wind disappeared, and the cold finally left Shirou's bones as the temperature in the park rose to far above the boiling point of water. A temperature every bit as lethal as that of the Ancestor, scorching the earth beneath their feet and blistering the Vampire's skin.
Shirou only found it pleasant however, like a warm bath after spending far too much time in the cold.
Once the miniature star was extinguished again, he marched over to Arkhangel, who was still futilely struggling to even just raise his arms.
"You…!" The Ancestor hissed weakly, his voice strangled and broken, before he spewed a plume of fire at Shirou.
The flames lacked any potency however, and Shirou just ignored them.
"S-Stay away."
Another burst of fire, with the same effect.
"Leave me."
Falling onto his hands and knees, Arkhangel tried to scramble away like a dog, but Shirou was faster.
"I cannot die here."
The expression on Arkhangel's face was one of pure frustration and utter powerlessness.
"Not yet. N-Not like this."
But Shirou hardened his heart. He'd been fooled once before by the Ancestor's seeming humanity, by his heart-felt pleas, and that wasn't going to happen again.
"No, please."
Shirou channelled the Cleansing Power into Mjolnir, and as he came to a halt at the Vampire Lord's side, he raised the hammer, aiming to bring it down upon Arkhangel's chest.
"Don't do it!"
It would be a quick, clean kill.
"Please!"
He aimed carefully, and then brought the weapon down-
"HHHSSSHHHHHHAAAA!"
-Only to be knocked away by a body slamming into him from the side.
"What?!"
He came down on his back, utterly befuddled by the sudden twist.
"Who?!"
"KCCCHCHHHSSSSSSSHHHH!"
"Why you!"
Above him- no, on top of him, pinning him down, was another Dead Apostle, one that had appeared out of nowhere.
An Apostle with a spider head.
"What?"
Vlov was every bit as surprised as Shirou at his sudden turn in fortune, and he became even more shocked when another spider Apostle, a second one, approached him too.
For a moment, he feared he was about to be eaten, that his weakness was going to be exploited by an enterprising rival, but then the creature knelt down next to him, preparing to lift him up, showing it held no malice.
Evidently, it was here to help him instead, and Vlov breathed a sigh of relief at that fact.
"B-Bridal carry?!" The Ancestor felt almost affronted however when he was picked up like one might pick up a princess, giving the thrall an incredulous glare. "Excuse me, I am the knight here!"
"KLKLKLCCLLKK." The spider Apostle replied, as incomprehensible as any of its kind, before it shook his head and tried again. "Best… Way… To… Carry… You."
"You talk?!" Vlov spluttered, before he realised, belatedly, that this Apostle was no mere thrall, like he'd thought at first, but a proper and mature Dead Apostle, with a will of its own.
His injury must have affected him even more than he'd though, if he had missed something as obvious as that.
"I… Talk." It affirmed.
"You are no thrall." Vlov was now certain, looking at his saviour in a new light. "Thank you for assisting me."
"Queen's orders."
"I… see." The news that it had been the Spider Queen who had come to his aid was a bitter pill to swallow for the knight-like Ancestor, but a bitter pill wouldn't kill him. The redhaired Magus however definitely would. "Will you fight with me?"
"No. The queen proposes… a strategic retreat." It clacked and clicked in response, its voice becoming smoother and clearer with every word.
"A strategic retreat? What's that?" Vlov asked, unfamiliar with the term.
"It's like fleeing, but manlier." The thrall explained obediently.
"…Do it!" Vlov ordered.
As galling as it was to abandon the battlefield, he had no hope of victory, not with his heart destroyed and the accursed white spear still lodged in his body.
He who runs away, lives to fight another day, and all that. If they ran away now, they could get a head start while the other spider Apostle distracted the redheaded youth.
"SSSSHHAAAAA-gah!"
The suddenly interrupted war-cry attracted Vlov's attention however, and he turned to look at the fight.
Only for his mouth to run dry when he saw said Dead Apostle, the one he'd relied upon to buy them some time, going up in flames, utterly defeated by the Magus despite having the advantage of surprise.
It shouldn't have been surprising though. As much as the spider-creature had been enhanced by its Queen to serve as rear guard, it was no match for a man who could go toe-to-toe with an Ancestor. Not on its own.
The boy was now free to pursue them, and Vlov shivered when that golden gaze was fixed upon him, a terrifying glint in the boy's eyes and that detestable hammer still in his hand.
"Go!" Vlov ordered the spider Apostle carrying him, and the creature obediently broke out into a sprint.
The redhead was faster however, easily catching up once he got going, and Vlov almost decided to make a run for it himself, to abandon his current carrier, when two more spider Apostles jumped from the bushes to ambush the accursed Magus.
A decent distraction, but they wouldn't last long, and Vlov could only hope that they could shake the redhead off in the city itself.
They soon left the park behind, and Vlov gritted his teeth when he realised it was approaching dawn. In his current depleted state, he would be no match against the sun's searing rays. If they didn't seek cover soon, he would die to his oldest enemy.
"Only… a little further." The spider Apostle grunted, heading into a small side-alley, having realised the same as Vlov. "One… more… minute."
"We don't have a minute!" Vlov snapped, seeing that the redhead had resumed his pursuit again, rapidly gaining ground on them. "Not unless you have two dozen more of your friends to stop him!"
"Yes." There was clear bloodlust in the Apostle's voice, alongside raw satisfaction. "Many… Friends."
They turned a few more corners, and then they arrived in an alley with a view that made even Vlov, wounded and grumpy as he was, break out into a smile.
Dozens upon dozens of spider-like Apostles were standing ready in the alley, on the ground, on the walls, and everywhere else. None of them were as powerful as the one carrying Vlov, but they were all far above mere thralls, together forming an army that would give even a Barthomeloi pause.
It was a magnificent display, but the Nineteenth wasn't ignorant to the sheer price the Spider Queen had to have paid in order to create so many higher-level servants so quickly, a price in blood and life-force, and it made him wonder why she was going to such lengths for him.
They got along fairly well, but they weren't friends or anything like that. They weren't like Merem Solomon and Gransurg Blackmore.
It was odd, and more than a little suspicious.
But in his current state, he had no other option than to gratefully accept her help.
After he and his carrier ran past the formation, the spider Apostles promptly raised a gigantic spider web across the alley, undoubtedly intending to catch the redhead when he turned the corner.
They seemed quite confident about their chances, looking as eager as spiders could look.
Good. The more enthusiastic they were, the more seconds they could buy before they were all slain.
Vlov had no illusions about it. They might be confident in their own power and ability, but frankly, he'd be happy if they managed to delay the Magus for a minute or so.
Vlov and his carrier didn't stick around to watch, and they were already several corners further when the sounds of battle erupted from behind them.
"HHHSSSSSHAAAA!"
"SSSSHHHHHIIII!"
"SHOOOHHHH!"
It started with triumphant hisses, probably because the Magus had walked into their trap.
"IIYYEEEH?!"
"KKYYYYYYEEEH!?"
"SHHYYYYY!?"
Only for those hisses to turn into terrified cries when their attacks proved futile.
Vlov huffed once, and winced when a pillar of fire suddenly erupted from the ambush site, high enough to be seen even with the buildings in the way.
It seemed he had been right.
His current assistant became noticeably more anxious when it turned out the ambush had failed, and the sigh of relief it let out when they arrived at the edge of town was clearly audible.
Vlov himself didn't see anything noteworthy at first glance, but he did notice them passing through several Wards and Bounded Fields, none of which he'd seen from outside, testifying to how cleverly they'd been hidden. Soon after, they entered a nondescript building, an abandoned warehouse to be precise, which he took to be the Spider Queen's lair.
The warehouse in question had been stuffed to the brim with a variety of old junk, ranging from partially-broken cars and stripped dishwashers to cans of empty batteries and heaps of discarded phones.
The spider Apostle carefully manoeuvred around the trash and the junk, heading towards the very back of the building, where a small office was located.
The office had long since been stripped of anything that was even remotely valuable, but there was a door in the right wall, nearly imperceptible unless you knew it was there, which led to a long corridor that headed downwards.
At the end of said corridor, there was another door, which opened automatically to reveal a very small chamber.
No, not a chamber, an elevator, as evidenced by the fact it suddenly descended after the door had closed again, bringing them to a place deep underground.
Once they'd descended almost fifty metres, Vlov finally dared to relax, fairly sure they'd managed to shake the Magus off now. The warehouse was located in a labyrinthic area of the city, it had been hidden even more with spells and Enchantments, every door they had passed through had been hidden or concealed, and on top of that, they had passed through many Bounded Fields and other wards with every step of the way.
A very elaborate defence, but that was hardly surprising. The one awaiting them at the end considered her privacy to be of the utmost importance after all, and she hated uninvited guests.
The Spider Queen was a rather flighty individual, sometimes even careless, but when it came to her own safety, she took no chances. That was the kind of person she was.
The elevator continued going down, before it finally came to a halt. Vlov didn't have the best spatial awareness of all Ancestors, but he estimated they had to be at least a hundred metres deep at this point. Far deeper than any mortal could dig.
The door of the elevator opened slowly, and the spider Apostle, who was still carrying Vlov, stepped inside.
It was awfully casual about it too, but Vlov certainly wasn't. This was the first time in his long life that he'd ever entered the headquarters of another Ancestor, one who wasn't his former master at least.
It was an important moment, and he wished it could have been under his own power, that he could have walked inside with his head held high. Under the circumstances though, he was plenty happy with the fact there was enough of him left to be carried into the lair to begin with.
The Spider Queen had undoubtedly saved his life, and as much as he didn't like the current situation, Vlov was not so boorish as to not feel grateful for it.
Even if it had only been because the Spider Queen wanted to use him for something, which she undoubtedly did.
The spider-like Dead Apostle carrying him slowly advanced into the headquarters, and Vlov saw, to absolutely no surprise, that it was styled like a modern laboratory.
Nearly everything was pristinely white, from the walls, floor, and ceiling to the tables and workbenches that were set up in neat lines throughout the room. Even the cabinets were so white it almost burned Vlov's eyes.
The only colour in the laboratory came from countless shady fluids standing everywhere in sight, filling the shelves, cluttering the tables, and even littering the ground, a testament to both the hard-working nature of their owner, who'd created all of them herself, and to her sloppiness.
Various instruments, ranging from innocent-looking centrifuges and heaters to ominous cutting implements and blow-torches, had also been scattered around, as if their owner had just dropped them the moment she was done with them.
And everything, from the floor to the walls to the equipment, was covered in a layer of dust, grime, and filth, as if it had never been cleaned before.
It was the lair of a brilliant creature, that was beyond doubt, but the less said about her organisational skills, the better.
There were very few sources of light in the laboratory, as all Dead Apostles had perfect night-vision, but Vlov frowned when he noticed that the back wall of the laboratory was cast in shadows so dark that even he couldn't see what was there.
He wasn't overly worried though. He knew exactly why there was so much shadow there, shadow that even his eyes couldn't pierce through.
The Spider Queen was hiding there, in preparation for making a grand entrance, like the drama queen she was.
Vlov had seen it many times before, in the court of the Tsar. Ambitious young fools, with more money and power than sense, who only wanted to enter the throne room if they were accompanied by trumpets and heralds crying their names.
The Spider Queen had much in common with those nobles, more than he was comfortable with, and that meant he could sometimes predict her behaviour rather well.
Indeed. After the door of the elevator closed again, he could spot movement inside the unnatural shadow.
And then, the Spider Queen emerged.
The shadows around her pulled back as she stepped forward, and the light gained in intensity, so as to optimally present her in all her glory. Trumpet music started blaring from a radio in the corner, and countless spiders, previously hidden inside the cabinets, began scurrying around in complicated patterns.
First came her lower body, then her abdomen, followed by her chest, and then finally, her face.
Then the lights went on completely, vanquishing the shadows and revealing the Spider Queen in all her glory as the music reached a high and the spiders began clicking their jaws to mimic applause.
As far as dramatic entrances went, this one wasn't terrible, certainly better than most at Vlov's old court. There were animals, music, a good use of lighting, and even a good sense of timing.
However, there was one factor that ruined it for the Nineteenth anyway, rendering him unable to feel even slightly impressed by her efforts.
Hideous.
The Spider Queen was horrendously ugly.
There was no overstating it. She was simply revolting.
Her lower body was that of a gigantic, bloated, and pox-ridden spider, carried on far too many malformed spider legs, dozens of them.
Her upper body was human-like, though with three pairs of arms instead of the proper one, and a kind of hairy skin that was supposed to resemble that of a spider but came closer to melted candlewax.
And her head. Oh, her head!
It was shaped like a spider's head of course, but it had been made even more affronting than usual spiders, with over a dozen milky-white eyes, mandibles that were frayed like old paper, and a beak-like mouth that seemed made to gorge on insects and animals alike.
And the stench she emitted! Horrible!
It was enough to ruin her dramatic entrance completely.
But Vlov showed none of his revulsion on his face. She was his saviour today, and thus deserving of his utmost respect.
Besides, in his current state, he could ill-afford to insult her, and she could be surprisingly sensitive about her looks.
So he said nothing and did nothing. He merely waited.
"Mistress, I brought you Arkhangel!"
The spider-Apostle who had carried him so far was quick to place him down on the ground, practically dropping him even, in order to scurry over to its mistress, seeking her praise like a mangy dog.
"Yes." The Spider Queen replied, her voice sounding like that of a cantankerous old man who smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, gargled with gravel in the morning and the evening, and had been stabbed in the throat multiple times. "You did well, young one."
"Hihihihihi!" It was almost disturbing to hear a spider giggle like a school boy, but again, Vlov tried to ignore it. Knights had to treat their allies with respect, not disgust.
"Come." She ordered, and the young Apostle eagerly stepped forward, shivering in delight when she reached down to pick him up, holding him by his shoulders with her three-fingered hands.
She smiled, or at least Vlov thought she did, as it was hard to properly read a spider's beak, and she closed her eyes in seeming happiness.
Before she bit into his neck, sucking him dry in mere moments.
"GLARGH!?"
The spider-Apostle made a wretched sound of confusion and pain, its eight eyes wide open in shock, before it stilled, hanging limp in its Queen's hold as the life rapidly left its eyes.
Its husk, drained of all power and fluids, was discarded immediately after the Spider Queen was done feeding. She cast it aside, and gave it not another glance as it came down amidst her discarded experiments, where it quickly turned into dust.
"Why did you do that?!"
The question escaped Vlov's mouth before he knew it, as he stared in surprise and slight horror at the slain servant's remains.
"He outlived his usefulness." The Spider Queen replied coldly, already having directed her attention elsewhere as she rummaged through her many concoctions. "And I needed the sustenance. I have sacrificed much of my power to create enough servants to save you, Vlov Arkhangel."
"For which I am most grateful of course." Vlov replied, inclining his head as best as he could from his prone position with a spear still lodged in his chest.
"Of course." The Spider Queen tittered, which sounded like rocks being grinded together. "A knight like you wouldn't make light of my efforts, would you, my dear Vlov? You know how much I gave up for you."
Normally, when Dead Apostles created new servants, they only injected a little bit of their blood into a human victim. This victim would then turn into a mindless thrall, one that desperately sought blood to survive. Most thralls died before long, killed by the sun or by the hand of Executors and Enforcers, but there were a few who lasted a bit longer. If they were intrinsically powerful enough and suited to the Dead Apostle who had turned them, those few could, in time, increase their rank bit by bit until they became a proper Dead Apostle themselves.
It was a very lengthy process, and only a few made it to the end, but it had the benefit of not costing the master even the tiniest bit of power. Rather, they gained power from the whole procedure, as a part of the thrall's energy went straight to them.
However, no number of thralls would have been enough to save Vlov from his precarious position, so the Spider Queen had rushed the process. She had taken a number of thralls, and rather than letting them grow stronger by themselves, had strengthened them by giving them bits and pieces of her own power.
This had the benefit of being a very swift method of creating strong, reliable servants, but it was also very pricey. In more visual terms, she had cannibalised herself in order to create a strong army.
In fact, based on what Vlov could sense, the Spider Queen might be every bit as weakened right now as he was. She'd given away so much of her essence that she would need days to recover, if not weeks.
"Thank you for your sacrifice." Vlov professed his gratitude with the utmost sincerity, once more bowing his head as he realised just how much she'd given up. "You have my word I will repay you in full."
It was not a promise he made lightly, especially not since it was glaringly obvious that the Spider Queen had only saved him because she wanted something from him, but his honour demanded nothing less.
And without his honour, what would he be?
Nothing but a total failure.
He'd never be able to face his wives again, never mind his brothers.
"Well, if you are offering, there are a few things I could use your help with." The Spider Queen replied in a, for her, sweet tone, which nevertheless still sounded like a malfunctioning steamroller. "But let's get you fixed up first, no? That spear looks nasty."
"Hrm." The reminder of the weapon lodged in his chest fouled Vlov's mood, and he gritted his teeth as he looked down at it.
"It must be a weapon of considerable power to cripple you so effectively." The Spider Queen sounded very interested, and she turned towards him at last, holding twelve bottles and jars in her six hands. "Let's take a closer look, shall we-? Oh?!"
But just as she approached, her milky-white eyes set in a curious look, the spear suddenly fell apart into motes of light, which quickly scattered and disappeared.
From one second to the next, it was gone.
"Muu." The Spider Queen made a disappointed noise even as Vlov let out a breath of relief. "I wanted to study that."
"…" Vlov wisely didn't react to her statement, as he probably would have said something rather rude. That spear had hurt him fiercely, and despite the fact the damage remained, having it gone was a huge relief. There was no way her curiosity warranted his continued suffering. Not this time.
"Oh well." The Spider Queen shrugged her monstrous shoulders, before she resumed approaching him. "Let's get you fixed up, my dearest knight."
Facing the prospect of being doused in her concoctions made Vlov's throat run so dry he couldn't even swallow nervously anymore. He'd allowed her to experiment on him before, soon after his mentor, the previous Nineteenth, had passed away, leaving him with her title and an Idea Blood he was ill-equipped to handle, and that day had definitely been the most physically painful day of his life. An experience he had vowed never to repeat again.
The mere memory was almost enough to make him run away, to flee from this nightmarish basement, but his rational side knew he needed her help to heal. Besides, he was so wounded he couldn't have run away even if he'd wanted to.
So he tried to mentally prepare himself for the worst, to grit his teeth and relax as much as he could, gathering every drop of courage he possessed.
He could do this. He was an Ancestor, he had survived the battle against that fierce Magus, weathering fire, lightning, and that horrid mysterious power, all without giving up. He could handle this too.
He was ready.
But then the Spider Queen poured all twelve concoctions onto his wound at once, and Vlov discovered he was very much not ready.
"K-K-KggggggghhhhhaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
His bones twisted and snapped, his skin melted and deformed, his muscles spasmed and tore, and his organs went fully haywire.
Screams of pain tore from his lips, cries of agony and despair, and soon, he tasted blood as his own teeth tore his tongue and the insides of his cheeks to chunks of meat.
He no longer had any control over his body, no more say in what he did, and he could do nothing but writhe on the dirty floor, roaring in excruciating pain as the concoctions wreaked havoc on his body.
"Oh my, how interesting." The Spider Queen muttered as she looked on with slight surprise. "That spear is even more powerful than I expected. To think you had the bad fortune of meeting someone with such tools at their disposal, my sweet Vlov... Did you break a mirror recently?"
There was not a trace of pity or mercy to be found in her voice or in her expression. Only clinical curiosity and slight concern over the fact that there was a Magus in town with weapons that could cause such damage to Ancestors that even her most powerful healing potions struggled to mend the wounds.
She'd only ever seen such wounds before after battles that involved the most powerful weapons that the Church had to offer, and although she was aware that the Burial Agency had a strong presence in Misaki Town at the moment, she hadn't heard anything about those weapons being moved recently.
"I'm sorry, treacle, but this might take a while." She apologised to Vlov, before picking up one of the many notebooks nearby. "I'll be sure to make copious notes though. This will be a learning experience for us both."
She was a true researcher, a visionary, and there was no way she was going to pass up on the opportunity to learn about new things, especially not when they concerned her fellow Ancestors.
True to her word, she calmly recorded every part of the healing process, making meticulous notes of every cell that was regrown and every bone that snapped into place. By the time Vlov was mostly whole again, her six hands had written dozens of pages full of notes.
Needless to say, Vlov was not amused.
"Da… Curs… Lit… Hat…"
"What was that, treacle? I couldn't quite hear you."
"…"
"Treacle?"
"Nothing." Vlov replied gruffly, grinding his teeth together when the last marks on his skin finally disappeared with a sensation that wasn't unlike having it sewn back together with white-hot needles.
"Oh, okay." The Spider Queen obligingly dropped the matter, before taking a step back to look him over. "Hm, seems like you're mostly fine again. How are you feeling?"
"I feel horrible." He grumbled, barely able to move yet because of the stabbing pain in literally every part of his body.
"But are you healed?"
"…Yes." He acknowledged, as he was no longer actually injured. The past minutes had been pure agony, but the medicine had done what had been promised. He had been fixed again, mostly.
"So it's a five-star review!" The Spider Queen crowed, hopping happily in place, and Vlov had to resist the urge to snap at her. He might not know what a 'five-star review' was supposed to mean, but he got the gist from the context. She regarded her medicine as perfect.
Well, it wasn't. It caused great pain, took far too long, and worst of all, sapped his little remaining power to the point where even a middling Executor would be able to beat him now.
He was exhausted, and to Dead Apostles of all ranks, from the mindless thralls to the god-like Ancestors, exhaustion was a lethal thing. Not just because of their many enemies, but also because of the World itself.
Dead Apostles were fundamentally unnatural creatures, by any sense of the word, and that meant Gaia was always trying to erase them from existence. Even though they were the descendants of the being she herself had asked for help, she was fully intent on vanquishing them, like she had vanquished the old gods and the Phantasmal Beasts.
Worse, the higher a Dead Apostle was in rank, the more they were affected by this. The only way to offset the effect was by maintaining high levels of innate power and energy, and that meant they needed to drink copious amounts of blood.
At the moment though, with his strength sapped and with little to no blood in his system, Vlov could almost feel how the World was trying to obliterate him, and he wasted no more time getting to his feet.
He needed to drink some blood, fast.
But unfortunately, he couldn't leave yet.
As said before, the Spider Queen had saved him at great expense to herself, and he would be remiss if he didn't repay the favour.
Other Ancestors wouldn't have worried about something like that. They would have stormed out again without as much as a 'thank-you', off to gorge themselves on the nearest passersby.
But Vlov wasn't like that.
Never.
"Your insistence on holding on to those knightly virtues is going to be the death of you one day." The Spider Queen warned him, sounding almost worried rather than mocking, but she shrugged again when he didn't reply. "Very well. I'm happy you decided to stay. I need your help."
"Name it."
"I need you to be my distraction." She explained, scuttering over to a corner of her laboratory, where a large cabinet full of mysterious vials was standing in prominent view. "For decades, I have been able to do my research in peace, here in this beautiful city, but with all these recent interlopers, I can barely step outside anymore without running into Executors and Magi."
"Then kill them." Vlov replied, ever the practical man. "Or wait here until they have left again."
"Oh, treacle, I do appreciate your confidence in me, but you know I am worthless in a fight." The Spider Queen bemoaned, and her jaws made a kind of movement that almost resembled a pout. "And I cannot wait for them to leave either. I am so close to a breakthrough, and I do not want to sit on my butt until you and Roa finally decide to take your fight somewhere else."
"Leave town and continue somewhere else." Vlov presented the next best solution, but again, she shook her head.
"My experiments are almost bearing fruit here, and I worked hard to create a place for myself. I do not want to leave." Spiders were mainly stationary creatures, not very fond of travelling unless they had to, and the Spider Queen had adopted that behaviour. "But with your help, treacle, I might be able to work something out."
"…What do you want me to do?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Once more, she started hopping in delight, retrieving one of the ominous vials. "Everyone knows that I have a love for potions and concoctions, you most of all, my dear."
"Yes." Vlov indeed knew that, he knew it all too well.
"And I'm especially proud of this one." She continued, holding the vial up for him to study. "A potion that will change a human into a mature Dead Apostle at once, instead of only a thrall."
"I see." Vlov frowned a bit at her boast, wondering why she seemed so proud of that potion of hers. Yes, changing a human into a mature Dead Apostle instead of a mere thrall was fairly unusual, but it wasn't unheard of. Every Ancestor could do it, provided they were willing to invest the necessary power.
By the Twenty-Seven, even the Spider Queen herself had done it just minutes ago to save Vlov from the redheaded Magus. It really was nothing new.
"No, you don't see." She shook her head however, caressing the vial like it was a newborn babe. "With this potion, I can change humans into mature Dead Apostles, Dead Apostles that seemingly belong to other Ancestors."
"What?!" Now Vlov's eyes went wide in shock.
"Yes!" The Spider Queen laughed, puffing out her hideous chest in pride. "With this concoction, I could, for instance, make a mature Dead Apostle with power over flame and frost. An Apostle that seemingly came from your line, treacle."
Now that truly shocked Vlov, at last revealing why she seemed so proud of herself.
Normally, Dead Apostles only assumed the traits of the one who had made them. The Spider Queen's minions for instance gained spider-like traits, while Vlov's minions, should he get any, would have power over frost and flame. In that sense, it was rather similar to a bloodline of Magi, passing on similar abilities to their children.
But now the Spider Queen said she could mimic the line of other Ancestors? Copy their inheritable powers?
That was huge!
And also ridiculously dangerous.
For her, that was.
If Ortenrosse found out about this, or Altrouge, they would flay her alive and shove her own bleeding spider-legs down her throat, before crucifying her on the doorsteps of the Vatican, as a warning to all who might think about doing something similar.
Even Vlov didn't like the sound of it, and he had never created a mature minion before.
"This vial contains a concoction that will mimic the bite of our beloved Rita Rozay-en." She continued, and Vlov twitched at the mention of the vilest and most hated Ancestor of them all. "I call it 'Idea Replica', after our Idea Blood."
A simple yet descriptive name. Vlov could appreciate that, even if that was the only thing about the current situation he could appreciate.
"If you, my dear Vlov, could inject one of the pesky Executors in my beautiful city with this concoction, and never mention this to any of our dear fellow Ancestors, you can regard your debt to me as paid. Preferably, you should inject the sexy teacher, Noel, or the one with the child-bearing hips and delectable butt, Ciel, but in a pinch, any of them will do."
"That seems… very little." He replied, now also suspicious on top of being frustrated and concerned, ignoring the names and descriptions for now. "Why can't you do it yourself?"
"Oh, I just don't fancy doing it." She replied dismissively.
That only fuelled Vlov's suspicions even more, and it didn't take him long to work out her reasoning.
She wanted him as an accomplice.
Once he did this, once he helped her, the other Ancestors would regard him as just as guilty to her scheme as the Spider Queen herself. He would be forever tied to her, forced to help and protect her for his own sake as much as hers.
Naturally, he wanted to refuse, he wanted to throw her poisonous offer back into her face, but he couldn't.
Because she had just saved his life. He owed her a life-debt.
She'd been right before. His knightly principles were indeed going to be the death of him.
He accepted the vial she held out to him with clenched teeth, suppressing the urge to ram it into one of those horrid eyes, before he turned around resolutely, intending on leaving without another word. Even if this was going to cement their alliance forever, he wasn't going to pretend to like it.
"Ah, wait!" But once more, she called out to him. "You must regain some strength first. Would you like to have breakfast with me before you go?"
"…" Vlov's frustrations really started to reach their boiling point when he realised he once again wasn't in a position to refuse. He needed sustenance, fast, and if she was offering it, he had no choice but to accept.
"In the building next to mine, there's a nest of Yakuza. Feel free to come with me." She explained, before a cacophony of hisses, cracks, and slimy shudders erupted from behind him. "I just need to slip into something less… noticeable."
Vlov took in a shuddering breath when her last word didn't sound like granite being crushed anymore, but like the soft, velvety tone of a beautiful, mature lady. As if she had suddenly changed forms.
Indeed. When he turned around, he no longer saw the Spider Queen's monstrous true form, the one that had sometimes given even him a nightmare or two, but rather her favourite disguise.
Her favourite disguise of a gorgeous, tantalising dame that pushed every single one of Vlov's buttons.
She was absolutely enticing, and it was maddening that he felt attracted to her despite knowing the horror that lurked beneath that stunning surface.
"Shall we?" She whispered throatily into his ear, before she went ahead, and it was all Vlov could do not to look at her swaying bottom.
This was going too far! He'd clearly been away from his wives for far, far too long, and it was getting to him!
He needed to wrap this up and go home, quickly!
Shirou ran through the maze of alleyways as fast as he could, using every one of his senses in a bid to find Arkhangel again, all while stewing in frustration over his failure to finish the monster off.
He'd had him! He had him on the ropes, victory had been near, but then it had been snatched from his hands at the very last moment by the interference of other Dead Apostles.
His own fault of course. He should have kept an eye on his surroundings, like his father had so often told him. He'd really dropped the ball on that one, and as a result, he was now desperately trying to finish the job despite knowing that his quarry had long since disappeared.
He didn't want to admit it, not when there was still the slightest chance, but when he eventually arrived in an alley next to a main street, having seen hide nor hair of Arkhangel for close to ten minutes and having completely lost his scent, Shirou was forced to acknowledge the painful truth.
The Ancestor had escaped.
"եջշᴦჭ!"
Shirou spat out a curse, his anger momentarily making him forget Sakura's dislike for uncouth language, venting his frustration with the current situation.
It wasn't a Japanese curse, or an English one, or any of the other tongues of men or indeed any language ever spoken on Earth. It was an utterly alien curse, in a tongue that was only fit for evil.
A nearby puddle promptly started smoking, the shoddy paint covering a nearby wall was peeled right off the stone, and the vermin and insects crawling through the street all shuddered and died on the spot.
Shirou didn't notice any of that however, too angry to focus properly, and he stormed off again, in a last ditch effort to find anything of use.
Soon, he came across another group of the Undead, hiding in a nearby alley, and he momentarily perked up, a vestige of hope rising in his chest, before it fell again when he realised they didn't belong to either Arkhangel or the Spider, but to Roa instead. As far as traces and clues went, they were worthless.
Still, he didn't hesitate to destroy them with extreme prejudice, taking his anger out on them.
They didn't see him at first, too focused on the alley's exit, probably searching for prey, and by the time they realised he was upon them, it was too late for them to even think about fighting back or fleeing.
He smashed them into the walls, crushed their heads in his grip, and slammed them against the ground, destroying them faster than even the best Executor with the Holiest of weapons at their disposal.
In the face of such overwhelming violence, the last thrall left seemed to panic, as impossible as that was supposed to be for the mindless creatures, and it tried to run past Shirou, deeper into the labyrinth of alleyways he had just exited.
But Shirou grabbed its throat, lifted it up, grabbed hold of its hip as well, and without hesitation, tore it into two.
Had he done so with a human, it would have resulted in a squall of gore even he would have been hard-pressed to clean up afterwards.
But since it was only an Undead, all he was left with were scattered ashes, which quickly blew away in the wind.
The group of thralls had been exterminated.
"Hm?"
Shirou's eyes flitted to the side when he spotted a sudden movement, a shadowy figure seemingly running away, but it was gone before he could pinpoint the location.
He breathed in deep through his nose, trying to find a scent that might suggest something had been there, but he came up short. All he could smell was Roa, and that was only the residue from the Undead he had just slain.
Unusually strong residue, but residue all the same. There was no one else in the alley, not anymore.
Fighting the Undead hadn't been much of a battle, more of a massacre really, but it had successfully cooled Shirou's temper a bit, and he could take a step back and look at the big picture again.
There was bad news, but there was also good news. Arkhangel had escaped, yes, but he had been weakened at least. The Spider Queen had saved her fellow Ancestor, which was annoying, but in doing so, she had also exposed herself much more than she'd probably intended too.
By sending so many higher levelled servants at him, she'd given him much more to work with in his hunt for her. He now had her Magical 'profile', he had much better samples of her scent, and he knew that she had to be lurking somewhere at the Eastern edge of the city, where he'd lost Arkhangel's trail.
With some luck, finding her would be much easier now.
But he couldn't just mindlessly storm off in pursuit. Dawn was close, the first rays of the sun already threatening to peek over the horizon, so Shirou had to make himself look presentable before he gave the upcoming morning crowd a reason to call the police on him.
He dismissed his armour and Mjolnir, removed the residual blood from his body, and used a Projected comb to straighten his hair.
But although his outward appearance had been corrected again, his mood could only be called foul still. When he left the alley in favour of the main street, it was with a firm gait and a thunderous expression.
Frankly, he wanted nothing more than a rematch, against either Ancestor, but he couldn't pursue Arkhangel or the Spider Queen during the day. They would be lying low, and the chances of civilians getting involved was much too high.
Instead, he'd return to the Tohno-manor, the place where he had first encountered Arkhangel a few hours earlier.
And, more importantly, where he had smelt residual traces of Dead Apostle activity before. Residual traces he hadn't considered important back then, believing them to be the remnants of slain Undead, but could now link directly to the Spider Queen herself, having encountered several powerful servants of hers which had given him her 'profile'.
He'd made a mistake earlier, believing that the Tohno weren't involved. With the new information at his disposal, he now knew that the Ancestor herself had definitely been inside of the walls of the Tohno-estate, and quite recently at that.
Tohno Akiha had some explaining to do, and if Shirou had to pull rank to convince her to cooperate, if he had to reveal he was a Sorcerer, then he would do so-
"Kyaa!"
Shirou's dark thoughts were interrupted when he bumped into someone going the other way, effectively knocking him out of his funk.
Predictably, he knocked them over, but he managed to grab hold of their hand before they could hit the ground, pulling them back to their feet.
"Oh, pardon me!" They apologised, before letting out a small sigh of relief when he steadied them again. "And thank you for catching me."
They turned out to be a young girl, about Shirou's age if he had to guess, with brown hair done up in twin tails and brown eyes. She was rather small, though in fairly good shape, with a muscle definition that was somewhere between Sakura and Ayako, leaning more towards the latter.
"It's fine, and you're welcome." He replied, burying his last vestiges of anger so not to unduly scare her, before he frowned. "What are you doing out here so early?"
"H-Huh?"
"There is a serial killer on the loose." And by serial killer, he meant countless Dead Apostles and Thralls, among them the very group he had just dealt with. "You shouldn't be out here on your own, at this hour. What are you doing here?"
"O-Oh, uh, ah." The girl spluttered, a blush of embarrassment appearing high on her cheeks. "I-I was going to a c-classmate's h-house, s-so we can w-walk to school t-together."
"This early? On your own?"
"W-Well, uhm…" The girl's mouth opened and closed as she tried to come up with an explanation, but in the end, she let her head hang in shame. "S-Sorry."
"Don't apologise to me! Just make sure it doesn't happen again!"
"R-Right!" She squeaked, her head snapping up again in acknowledgement.
Shirou was being hard on the girl, he knew that, but he felt it was warranted. Everyone knew the casualties in Misaki Town were stacking up, to the point where the city council had already issued warnings not to go outside at night, especially on your own, yet this girl had ignored all those warnings and put herself at risk anyway, all for some boy she appeared to be sweet on.
If Shirou hadn't been present, if he hadn't destroyed the group of Undead in the alley back there, she would almost definitely have been killed by them, or worse even.
So he scolded her without mercy, to ram it into her head that she had to be more careful, that it was her life at stake here.
She seemed to quickly get the message, and once he was certain that she wouldn't forget his warning any time soon, he sent her on her way. By now, there were plenty of other people out and about as well, so things should be relatively safe again.
Once she was gone, Shirou too continued on his way back to the Tohno-manor, still in a foul mood and with a bad taste in his mouth.
He'd promised the girls that it would be a short mission, a few days of work before he could come home again, but he'd been in Misaki Town for a full night already, and he hadn't made much progress at all.
It was truly vexing, and his frustrated expression made more than a few poor innocent salarymen scramble to get out of his way.
But ultimately, he was being too hard on himself.
Since entering Misaki Town, Shirou had met up with and reconciled with the city's Second Owner, he had found and healed the Ultimate One of the Earth, discovered she held the information he was after, and gotten a clear and defined end goal for his mission: killing Roa.
Furthermore, he had crippled Vlov Arkhangel, the Nineteenth Dead Apostle Ancestor, he had forced the Spider Queen to expend so much of her power she too was practically crippled, he had slain countless thralls, depriving their masters of much needed resources, and on top of all that, he had saved an innocent life.
He had saved Yumizuka Satsuki's very humanity without even knowing it, preventing her from becoming a Dead Apostle herself.
All in all, it had been an extremely successful night, even if he couldn't see it.
Waver liked to think he had become fairly accustomed over the summer to the idea of having a Sorcerer in his office.
Granted, he had been as surprised as anyone else when Shirou had turned out to be a True Magician, but by the time that came out, he and the lad had become close enough that it was more wondrous and amazing than it was shocking and alarming.
It had taught him that True Magicians, for all their power and Mystery, were just humans too, with their own needs and wants, who could be reasoned with like one could reason with most other people.
They were still standing on their pedestals, high above the petty crowds, that would never change, but they weren't gods or demons or anything like that. Their mindsets weren't inhuman by any standard.
Waver actually felt pretty good about having realised that, and it might, just might, have lulled him into a sense of complacency, feeling like he understood Sorcerers, if only a little bit.
But then a second Sorcerer had arrived in his office, and rudely shocked him out of that complacency, as he was slapped across the face with the fact that, just like with Magi, no two Sorcerers were alike.
Shirou had always been pleasant, kind even, and had thus been relatively easy to get along with. It hadn't taken long for Waver to get a handle on him, and he was pretty sure lady Barthomeloi and lady Montmorency had similar experiences. Even Grey considered the redhead a friend of sorts, though one she had a healthy respect for.
But although Waver's current guest was similar to Shirou in that they were both True Magicians, that was where the similarities ended.
"You seem to have done very well for yourself since the last time I saw you, Waver!" Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg guffawed, his laugh doing absolutely nothing to set Waver, Grey, or Bazett at ease. "I don't pay attention to you for only a few months, and you manage to pinch yourself two extra Departments and a wife on top of that!"
"Fiancée." Waver corrected him automatically, the matter of his upcoming marriage to Marianne still heavy on his mind.
"Fiancée." Zelretch accepted gracefully, grinning widely as he leaned over Waver's desk. "I trust I am invited to the wedding then? I promise to bring worthy gifts for you and the blushing bride."
Waver didn't doubt for a second that the Kaleidoscope's wedding presents would indeed be phenomenal. The man was renowned for the quality and quantity of his gifts. In fact, the left side of his desk was cluttered right now with various trinkets and baubles that the Kaleidoscope had presented to him under the guise of an apology for not checking in for so long.
The man did nothing else than give, at every conceivable opportunity, yet all the same, Waver knew he would not make himself popular in the Clocktower if he did invite Zelretch to his wedding.
Because unlike Shirou, Zelretch was utterly unpredictable, immensely capricious even on the best of days, and had a reputation for driving unworthy students mad.
No matter how hard you tried, it was impossible to get a handle on Zelretch, and that meant you couldn't help but feel scared of the man even when he was being perfectly pleasant.
Even now, after Zelretch politely entered his office, hung his coat on the rack like a normal person, sat down properly in the appropriate chair, presented lavish gifts, and had done nothing but smile, laugh, and praise, Waver still had to consciously prevent himself from trembling like a leaf.
"I'm sure you have better things to do than to attend a wedding." Waver tried to refuse politely, before he almost flinched when Zelretch threw his head back and laughed uproariously.
It was another example of how unsettling the Kaleidoscope could be. Even though it was only the amused laugh of a boisterous old man, Waver still felt like he was about to be dropped into an interdimensional hole full of Eldritch horrors.
"You can refuse to invite me if you don't want me there. I know I am not the most popular figure around." Zelretch assured him after getting his laughter under control, and this time, his words actually did provide some relief. "Though frankly, I don't want to miss it either. It's not every day a friend gets married. How about I disguise myself during the wedding itself and only come out during the afterparty to liven things up a bit?"
"…That would be acceptable." It still wasn't ideal, but if Zelretch really was set on coming to the wedding, it was probably the best deal he was going to get. Besides, with some luck, the man would be distracted by something new soon and forget all about Waver getting married.
As said before, his capriciousness was legendary.
"Splendid!" Zelretch grinned, before he quickly sobered up. "But that's not actually why I am here. I'm sorry to say this, old friend, but this is not just a social call. I am here on business."
"I see." Waver had already assumed as much, but he made sure to keep his expression neutral. He had a pretty good idea of what the Kaleidoscope wanted to talk about, but it was safer not to make any assumptions before the man had spoken.
"I heard you found yourself a new Sorcerer. I was hoping you could maybe tell me a little bit about them."
Waver's suspicions were confirmed. This was indeed the conversation he'd been expecting since Fujimaru had left the Clocktower a few months back.
"You are talking about mister Fujimaru." Waver made sure not to sound too familiar with the lad. While he didn't exactly distrust the Kaleidoscope, he also didn't just want to hand over all information he had, and the easiest way to avoid getting interrogated was by pretending not to know anything of use.
"I am indeed." Zelretch confirmed, folding his hands below his chin as he peered at Waver with a discerning gaze. "As I said, I have been off the grid for a while, pursuing some pressing matters relating to a certain Ritual. As such, I'm sure you understand I was rather shocked to hear of the appearance of a new True Magician, one who wields the Third even, a Magic I was sure had been lost forever centuries ago."
"Is that so?" Waver asked neutrally, not averting his gaze for even a fraction of a second. "He must be quite an impressive young man then."
"A young man who studied here under no one else but you, Waver." Zelretch pointed out.
"I did not teach him any True Magic."
"But you did teach him."
"Only a few lessons in Modern Magecraft."
"All the same." A slight frown parked itself between Zelretch's eyebrows at Waver's recalcitrant behaviour, before it quickly smoothed out again. "I think you are misunderstanding something here. I don't want to know how he learned the Materialisation of the Soul, or what your role in it was, nor do I want you to give me any personal information about him. All I want is for you to tell me your impression of young Fujimaru as a student and when I might be able to meet him for myself."
"As a student?" Waver blinked at those words, before he realised what the Kaleidoscope was hinting at. "You want to take him on as your apprentice?"
"Perhaps, as an unofficial one." Zelretch confirmed, before making a so-and-so motion. "If he is willing, and he is of moral character. As his senior, there might be a few things I can teach him that will make his life a bit easier."
"…" The old man sounded sincere enough, and his offer wasn't even all that bad. Likely, the only people who could effectively guide Sorcerers were other Sorcerers, so in that sense, Shirou might benefit from Zelretch's guidance. "You can guarantee that becoming your apprentice will be his choice and his alone?"
"You have my word." Zelretch swore, placing a hand on his heart.
"…He is a good student." Waver took a moment to collect his thoughts, before he began describing Shirou. "He is very sharp and intelligent, has many talents, and is very serious in his work. He is also very dedicated to justice however, to the point where he allows others to use him in the pursuit of it, and he has no compunction about dropping everything he is doing to help someone in trouble."
"Hm?" Zelretch blinked once at Waver's description so far, appearing a bit surprised.
"He is very stubborn, and thus also dedicated. If he agrees to be your apprentice, you can be certain he will work very hard." Waver continued, before rubbing the back of his head with a sigh. "Though again, helping others will always take precedence."
"Helping others?"
"He has mentioned, more than once, that his dream is to become a Hero of Justice."
"What?!" Zelretch's mouth suddenly fell open, his eyes going wide in shock, which in turn shocked Waver. "A Hero of Justice? Did he really say 'a Hero of Justice'?!"
"It is a verbatim quote." Waver nodded, wondering what had taken the Kaleidoscope aback like that. Certainly, a childish wish to become a hero wasn't the strangest thing the man had ever heard?
"Waver, I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer me honestly." Zelretch demanded, all traces of jovialness disappearing from his demeanour. "Fujimaru's real name, is it Shirou Emiya?"
Now it was Waver's turn to freeze in shock, and he heard how Bazett, very familiar with the legend of the other Emiya, gasped softly.
"Your reaction tells me enough." Zelretch huffed, his expression rapidly becoming too complicated to read, as if he wanted to laugh, cry, scream, and shout all at the same time. "And here I was, thinking I'd get a bog-standard version! Shirou Emiya, a Sorcerer! What's next?!"
"You know him?" Waver asked, rather redundantly.
"I know of him." The Kaleidoscope replied, already in the process of getting up from his chair. "And I must make preparations, pronto! I'll go and see him straight away."
"I don't know if-"
"I'm sorry, Waver, but this cannot wait! I must go at once." Zelretch quickly shrugged on his coat while waving away Waver's protests, before turning towards his hosts one last time. "I wish you much happiness in married life, Waver. Bazett, you be careful of scammers trying to sell you magical internet-money, and Grey, keep your chin up. Don't listen too much to your grouchy mentor. You can be proud of your appearance."
Then, there was a flash of rainbow light, and once it died down, Zelretch had left.
"…Magical internet money?" Bazett was the first to break the ensuing silence, sounding puzzled by the advice.
"…" Grey clutched her cloak even tighter than usual, as if scared it would fly away.
And Waver remained still for a while, trying to process what had just happened, before he rose from his desk.
If Zelretch really accepted Shirou as his apprentice, shockwaves would ripple through the political landscape of the Magus Association yet again. Before that happened, they needed to take measures, so he had a lot of people to talk to right now.
One of them being Shirou himself of course. If Zelretch was after him, he needed to be warned well in advance.
It seemed like another big mess was coming soon.