Chapter 155 - 56.2

Arcueid's first instinct was to shove him away and refuse. Her second instinct was to make it crystal clear to him that she was not someone he could order around. Her third instinct was to just punch him.

But in the end, she suppressed all of those instincts.

"…Fine." She lied after a moment, deciding to just nod along to what he said, though she had no intention of following through. She had a nice job now, with little work and good pay, and if Shiki wanted her to give it up, he had to provide better reasons than he did now.

Better than mere personal complaints.

"Thank you." Shiki nodded firmly, looking relieved she had given in, and despite her determination not to listen to him, that relief did cause her resolve to shake. Especially since it seemed so sincere.

…Perhaps it would be wise to find Shirou and ask about his opinion before she went back to work again. He was smart, he'd know what to do.

"Did you find Roa yet?" Shiki then changed the subject, adopting his normal, business-like tone again. That tone had always amused Arcueid before, as it signified his struggle to preserve his calm and dignity despite being in way over his head, but this time, she frankly wished he'd keep his mouth shut.

Because no, she hadn't found Roa yet.

"I found and discarded several tracks so far, but I haven't been able to locate him." She admitted reluctantly, annoyed at her own failures. "Roa has Reincarnated into a new life over a dozen times and has made enemies during each and every one of them. He knows how to hide his tracks. If he didn't, he would have been slaughtered again long ago."

"Right." Shiki nodded slowly, before he reached up and scratched the back of his head. "But… if he has so many other enemies, then can't you just ask for help from those other enemies instead of me?"

"I have." She replied frankly, which visibly took him aback. "But most of them tried to kill me too, and those that didn't attack me rejected my offer out of hand. So far, only you and Shirou have ever agreed to help me with my hunt."

"Me and Shirou, huh?" Shiki huffed, looking a bit annoyed again, though once more, Arcueid had no idea why. "Well, I'm glad to help, I suppose."

That sounded a lot better than his complaining from before, and Arcueid graced him with an approving smile.

"But if you cannot find Roa, how do you know he's even here in Misaki Town anymore? What if he's already left?"

"I understand your concern, but Roa is still here in this city. That much at least, I can tell for sure." She reassured him, taking a good look around with both her eyes and her other senses, before nodding when she confirmed it again. "He can obfuscate his location, smearing his tracks all over the city like butter over a piece of bread, but he cannot hide his presence itself. Not from me and not from the Burial Agency either."

"…" Shiki didn't respond to her remark about the Church, having realised it was far from her favourite subject, and he instead changed the subject again. "Uhm, Arcueid?"

"Yes?"

"I… I might not be able to accompany you tonight, on your search."

"Hm?" That wasn't exactly welcome news, and Arcueid turned her full attention towards him, wordlessly requesting an explanation.

"My sister doesn't like it at all that I've been staying out so late all the time. I told her that I was staying with friends, and they backed up my story, but I cannot keep lying to her. So for tonight at least, I want to be home in time, to set her at ease."

"Can't you just tell her the truth?" Arcueid proposed, certain that no Magus would take issue with the concept of hunting Dead Apostle Ancestors in their city. Not unless they were actively in cahoots with them, and she couldn't imagine Shiki's family doing anything like that. "I'd be glad to help you-"

"No!" Shiki was quick to reject her proposal however, his eyes going wide in shock. "I can't do that! Akiha has got nothing to do with this! I-I don't want her to know about all this scary stuff!"

"…?"

Yet again, the conversation took a turn for the confusing for Arcueid, but this time, she was able to figure out pretty quickly what was going on.

Shiki thought his sister was unaware of the Moonlit World. He thought she was ignorant, and he didn't want her to learn about it either. In fact, it seemed he was willing to jump through various hoops and even possibly anger Arcueid, Type Earth herself, in order to preserve his sister's blissful ignorance.

Had he been correct in his belief, that would have been an admirable goal. Even Arcueid knew that mundane people should avoid the Moonlit World lest they wanted to suffer an ignoble fate, and she wouldn't have begrudged anyone that much.

But he wasn't correct in his belief.

His sister wasn't ignorant by any means.

According to Shirou, a reliable source, Tohno Akiha was in fact the Second Owner of Misaki Town, which almost certainly meant that she was perfectly aware of the true nature of the world and the actual situation in her city, far more so than Shiki. If the situation was explained to her, she would undoubtedly understand.

"Alright. We won't tell your sister."

But Arcueid decided not to share that with Shiki just yet. He was acting rather strangely today, and she'd rather not do anything to set him off again.

"Thank you." Shiki let out a sigh of relief, because he gathered his courage again, lifting his chin and setting his jaw in a determined expression. "Where do you want to go today?"

"I want to follow my latest lead." Arcueid replied, before pointing off into the distance, towards the tallest building in sight. "Over there."

"The Okura hotel?" Shiki followed her finger, before he blushed slightly. "Y-You want us to go there again, t-together?"

"Yup." Arcueid confirmed, already skipping ahead with a bounce in her step. "My Instincts tell me that the answers lie over there. If we book a room in that hotel, something's bound to happen."

"S-Something?" That word seemed to make him even more nervous, but Arcueid, who had resigned herself to his weird behaviour today, ignored it again.

"Let's go!" She proclaimed, before leading the way.

Leaving Shiki to scramble after her.

When Shirou first laid eyes on Tohno Akiha, he hadn't been too impressed with her.

He didn't mean that in a bad way of course, there was nothing wrong with her, nothing that was really lacking. She just didn't have the sheer gravitas of lady Barthomeloi, or the massive intellect of lord El-Melloi, the immense experience of lady Montmorency, or even the cruel cunning of the Meluastea and their cronies.

If anything, she seemed rather green, even more so than Rin.

That was hardly surprising though. She'd only just taken over as the head of the family, and still had to get used to her new position. No matter how talented you were, getting accustomed to leadership, whether it was in the Moonlit World or in the mundane one, was something that took time. Even the greatest leaders in history had started out as naïve youngsters, so it was hardly Tohno Akiha's fault that she wasn't equal to the likes of Waver.

At the same time however, she shouldn't be quite as green as she appeared to be.

Ideally, someone who was supposed to take charge at some point would be gradually introduced to the trials and tribulations of leadership. In companies, that meant working your way up the ladder step by step, while most rulers chose to hand down their title and responsibilities piece by piece to their heirs while they were still alive to support those heirs.

No one would dare trouble the emperor's heir while the emperor was still alive after all, alive and ready to come out of retirement at any moment. The transfer of power would happen in a controlled fashion, and rivals and enemies wouldn't dare to try and profit from the moment of perceived instability. The heir could then properly consolidate their power before they would have to stand on their own.

Unfortunately however, there were still far too many Magi who did not take such measures. Magi who did not heed their own mortality and didn't prepare for their untimely deaths. They were focused on nothing but the here and now and didn't care one whit for what would take place once they died.

Shirou had seen and heard of many of those Magi in his short life, up to and including Kayneth El-Melloi, and it seemed the former head of the Tohno was also one such individual.

He had died without making the proper preparations and thus left his daughter woefully unprepared.

Shirou would be lying if he said he wasn't slightly worried about Akiha, about whether she would be able to last on her own, with only two maids and one ignorant brother as allies. Sufficiently so that he had played around with the idea of proposing an alliance.

But now, with an intruder in the manor and an emergency on her hands, Tohno Akiha proved that in spite of her being slightly green around the gills, Shirou had nothing to worry about.

Her inhuman blood awakened in a flash, more potent and powerful than anything Shirou had ever seen before in a halfbreed, and she sped off as fast as the wind towards the threat, her Mystic Eyes glowing brightly, signifying their immense power. The scent of blood filled the office and the halls, strong enough to make Shirou wrinkle his nose, and the temperature rose considerably.

Yes, he'd worried for nothing. She might be inexperienced in matters of ruling, but she was clearly strong enough to keep her position as head of the Tohno-family anyway through nothing but sheer might. Enough of it to crush her rivals and enemies into dust.

It was quite impressive really.

Though he wasn't about to let her fight the intruder alone nonetheless.

Akiha was fast, but not faster than him, and he caught up with her quickly, before she could leave the manor. Together, they headed to the mansion's backdoor and into the back garden, where the scent was coming from.

The garden was as large as Shirou remembered, filled with trees and shrubbery of all sorts, and he looked around for the intruder…

Before his eyes widened in shock when he found them, his eyes easily piercing through all obstructions in their way.

It was Ciel!

The blue-haired nun was creeping through the underbrush on her hands and knees, seemingly following a trail. She was going at it with such focus that she hadn't even noticed Shirou and Akiha yet, and all her weapons were still securely holstered.

It was evident, even without Shirou's budding Clairvoyance, that she had no bad intentions towards anyone inside the manor.

But unfortunately for her, Akiha did not know that.

"Lady To-" Shirou began quickly, hoping to defuse tensions before someone did something they would regret, but he was too late.

Having pinpointed the origin of the foreign smell and knowing only that someone had snuck into her home without permission, Akiha snarled, before she opened her eyes wide.

Her irises flashed bloodred, and then the Magical Energy contained in her Mystic Eyes exploded outwards.

Within but a single moment, Ciel and her entire surrounding area were engulfed in searing flames.

There had been no warning.

There was no beam of fire, no wave of heat.

Not even a laser, magical or mundane.

Nothing but pure intent, and the power to make it matter.

Tohno Akiha only needed to stare at a location, and it burst into flame, seemingly by itself.

It was a power traditionally beholden to great Indian heroes and the Oni of old. An ability that was mighty and terrible enough to lay waste to whole civilisations. Mystic Eyes that were so powerful as to resemble the Authority of high-rank Phantasmal Beasts.

But not powerful enough to contend with Shirou's might.

Not a fraction of a second after lady Tohno launched her attack, the redhead exerted his will and quenched the flames before they could do too much damage, rushing forward to heal Ciel.

Only to blink when he found that she had disappeared.

"Ghk?!"

Shirou jerked around at the choked noise, and he hissed in surprise when he saw that Ciel, a hale and healthy Ciel, had just slashed at lady Tohno with one of her Black Keys.

The redhead wasted no time wondering how she had escaped the flames, and instead rushed back at the two ladies to pull them apart.

Ciel had slashed at Akiha's throat with her Black Key, undoubtedly aiming to kill, but Akiha showed that Mystic Eyes weren't the only benefit of having inhuman blood. She leaned back, avoiding the long dagger with near inhuman grace, before she straightened up, grabbed Ciel's arm, and flung her away into the vegetation, as easily as another might have thrown a hand-sized rock.

Ciel did not take that lying down though, and immediately after, half a dozen Black Keys flew at the young Second Owner, aimed at her eyes, her mouth, her throat, and her heart. It was a masterful throw, and it would have been the end of a mundane person, but Akiha danced in-between the daggers, her long skirt fluttering behind her, before glaring in the general direction which the knives had come from, her Mystic Eyes flashing again.

Once more, a significant part of the shrubbery went up in flames, but yet again, those flames had missed their mark. It was unclear how she did it, but Ciel evidently had little trouble avoiding such attacks.

A moment later, the nun burst out from the treeline, making for Akiha with three Black Keys held in both her hands, and the latter narrowed her eyes, preparing to unleash even more flames, before…

"Enough!"

-Before Shirou took Akiha in a headlock, placing his right hand squarely over her eyes, while he grabbed Ciel's wrists with his left, effectively disarming and restraining both of them in one fell swoop.

"This doesn't help anyone!" He shouted, fervently trying to put a stop to the battle. "Don't waste time on fighting each other!"

"She is an intruder!" Akiha snarled, trying to remove his hand from her eyes by any means necessary, which included clawing at it, making him very grateful for his enhanced durability, as her nails were really, really sharp. "I will not allow trespassing in my domain!"

She had a point. The Tohno-manor was Akiha's home and base of operations. It was her Sancta Sanctorum. Trespassing by a party that should know perfectly well how sacred a Magus' home was to them, like a Church Executor, was not something that could be allowed, or forgiven for that matter, not without a heartfelt apology and a royal compensation from the offending party at the very least.

Ciel was in the wrong here, definitely, by laws both mundane and Magical, and Akiha was completely within her rights to kill the nun for it.

But Shirou wasn't going to let that happen. Immolation through Mystic Eyes was a bit too heavy a punishment for him to be comfortable with. Akiha would have to be satisfied with an apology and another gift as compensation.

When he met Ciel's defiant gaze however, he saw right away that she would not offer any kind of apology, let alone compensation. The nun wasn't struggling against his grip on her wrists, perhaps recognising it would be futile, but she practically radiated defiance. A defiance that was perfectly mirrored by Akiha.

It was almost enough to make Shirou groan in despair. He knew that they were both immensely stubborn, bull-headed women, who probably didn't have the word 'apologise' in their dictionaries, but there was a difference between being stubborn and being insistent on fighting to the death.

The former was alright, but the latter was not going to happen with him around. He was an aspiring Hero of Justice, and that meant it was both his prerogative and his duty to meddle in things that weren't his business.

He had little chance of smoothing the matter over while emotions were still running so high though. Ciel and Akiha were both very agitated, highly strung, and they needed to calm down before any productive conversation could take place.

So he held them tightly for a while, ignoring their hateful glares and protests, until they both realised the futility of their resistance and ceased their struggling.

His purpose must have been clear, because it didn't take long for them to settle down. It was only after half a minute or so that Ciel rolled her eyes at him while relaxing a bit, and Akiha let out a deep and annoyed sigh, sagging slightly in his hold.

Taking that as a sign that they had calmed down, he carefully released them again, though he was ready to grab them again should it be necessary.

When they both merely took a step back and scowled at him however, he dared to relax a bit more.

Better that they be angry with him than with each other.

Now, to smooth things over.

"What are you doing here, Ciel?"

"None of your business." She responded curtly, before pressing her lips together again.

No more information was forthcoming after that, as the Executor proved every bit as recalcitrant as the history of her blades had revealed to Shirou. A small, stubborn lady who was more bull-headed than was good for her.

Fortunately, knowing her history and life story made it child's play to deduce her purpose at the Tohno-manor, so Shirou was able to infer her reasons for breaking in easily enough. They were the same reasons as for practically every other action that Ciel ever took after all.

"Do you think Roa is hiding here?" He asked, and he was proven correct when Ciel's jaw twitched.

"Roa?" Akiha's nostrils flared in indignity for a moment at the notion she was harbouring that monster, before she stilled, seemingly remembering that she and Shirou has already discussed the possible presence of another Dead Apostle Ancestor in her manor.

Her eyes then flitted over to Ciel's outfit, easily recognisable, and despite her not having Waver's intellect, she was able to connect the dots quickly enough.

"Church dog." She hissed.

"Magus scum." Ciel retorted without missing a beat, though her response lacked any heat, as if it were something she'd said a thousand times before out of sheer reflex.

"You thought a Dead Apostle Ancestor was hiding here? In my manor?"

"That's what my information says."

"Your information is wrong!"

"That is entirely possible."

"…It is?"

"We are not infallible. The Burial Agency makes mistakes, just like anyone else."

"Then… Then why are you here?"

"Why do you think? To verify whether the information I received was in fact correct or not." Ciel responded, in a tone that suggested it was obvious, which it kind of was.

"…" Akiha waited a moment longer, but when the nun said no more, she made an impatient gesture. "And? Was it correct?"

"There have been… indications, that suggest the information was correct, yes."

"Indications?" Akiha cocked her head to the side, very much interested now. "What indications?"

"…" Ciel visibly hesitated to respond, looking from Akiha to Shirou and back. "Neither of you are authorised to know."

It was another refusal, but this one sounded much less stubborn than the previous one, as if she did want to tell them but technically couldn't because of the rules of the Burial Agency.

"We won't tell anyone if you won't." Shirou proposed, and it spoke to Ciel's reluctance to follow orders that she actually considered it.

Considered it, and eventually accepted it.

"…My informants told me that… Roa's new identity is…" Ciel spoke haltingly, and it didn't escape Shirou's attention that she was mainly looking at him, as if he were the reason she was hesitating. "They told me that Roa's new host is… Tohno Shiki."

"What?" Shirou froze for a moment, suddenly doubting his own ears, before he shook his head in denial, unable to believe he'd overlooked something so major when meeting Tohno Shiki for the first time. "That's not possible! I would have noticed."

"Yes!" Surprisingly, Ciel agreed whole-heartedly with him, nodding furiously. "Y-Yes, it's not possible for him to be Roa! I tested him multiple times, and there's nothing about him that suggests he has anything to do with Dead Apostles at all! You saw it too!"

"I-I did." Her fervour took Shirou aback a bit, as did the relief in her eyes, as if his agreement had released her of some sort of terrible burden.

"So my information was definitely incorrect." Ciel concluded, a small smile gracing her face.

A small smile that expressed happiness, satisfaction, and above all, relief.

Relief that Tohno Shiki was not in fact Michael Roa Valdamjong.

Not an emotion he'd have expected from an Executor, though it did give Shirou a clue as to what might be going on here.

"Do you know Shiki?" He found himself asking, and he nodded when she winced ever so slightly. "Do you see him as a friend?"

"…I do." Ciel replied after a few moments, her expression hardening as the defiant look returned. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all."

Once more, Shirou had to adjust his opinion of Tohno Shiki. He'd seemed like an average Japanese teen at best when the redhead had first met him, but after defeating Type Earth herself and apparently also managing to befriend the most prickly woman Shirou had ever met, there was no way he could be considered average by any meaning of the word anymore.

Well, good for him. Shirou was only happy to see his fellow men rise in the world.

With the matter now largely settled, Shirou turned towards Akiha, fully expecting her to nod in agreement too, or perhaps even express anger over the fact that they had ever suspected her brother of being a Dead Apostle Ancestor in the first place. She seemed like the protective sort after all.

But he found neither agreement nor anger.

Instead, she looked as pale as a sheet, her breath coming out in short rasps.

"Lady Tohno?" Shirou asked in alarm, and she flinched ever so slightly in response.

Though to both Shirou and Ciel, she might as well have let out a cry of shock through a megaphone.

She was evidently hiding something, but she relented under the combined glares of Magus and Executor.

"Your…" Akiha began to speak, sounding both fearful and rushed, though her voice broke after the first word, forcing her to start again. "Your information wasn't incorrect."

"What?" Ciel looked equal parts surprised and offended, her hands balling again as her anger returned, but she didn't get the chance to say anything else before Akiha continued speaking.

"I have two brothers, one older and one younger than me. Y-You know the younger one." The lady revealed, making both Shirou and Ciel freeze in place. "They are both named Shiki."

Her statement rang through the air like the sound of glass being shattered, shrill, loud, and impossible to ignore.

Shirou's mind rushed to make sense of what had just been said, to connect all the dots and bits of information he'd collected so far, and with his enhanced brain, it didn't take longer than half a second before he understood.

The Burial Agency had been right all along. Roa had indeed Reincarnated in the Tohno-family, and he now bore the name of Tohno Shiki.

The elder Tohno Shiki.

"Where is he?" He demanded, his voice allowing no backtalk or protest. "Where is Tohno Shiki?"

"He escaped." Akiha replied, a helpless look in her eyes. "He was locked in the basement, but he escaped, several weeks ago."

So around the time that her father was killed. It was a connection that Shirou was able to make immediately, even if he couldn't substantiate it.

"So you don't know where he is?" He asked, just to verify, before pursing his lips when Akiha nodded. "Then we'll have to track him down. Ciel?"

"I can do it." The Executor said confidently, already studying the ground again as if it held the answers to all her questions. "Now that I know what I am looking for, and more importantly, what I am not looking for, I can find him within a few hours, tops."

"Do you want me to-?"

"No."

"…Very well." His offer of aid was rejected at once, and Shirou didn't push the issue. When she crossed the garden and hopped over the wall, he merely watched her go, reasoning that he'd catch up with her later.

At the moment, there were enough people hunting Roa anyway. Between Ciel, Arcueid, Shiki, and the other agents of the Burial Agency, they should have the matter well in hand. There was no need for him to drop everything he was doing to get involved too. Especially not since he wasn't supposed to kill Roa anyway.

Rather, he should focus on the Spider Queen and Arkhangel. They were in Misaki Town too, terrorising the populace, yet it didn't seem like anyone cared particularly much about them. Not when Roa was monopolising everyone's attention instead.

So it fell to him to deal with them. Exactly as he'd been doing before Ciel had suddenly broken into the manor.

"Lady Tohno, let's pick up where we left off." He turned back to the lady of the manor, who was still rather pale, though she snapped at attention when he spoke to her, apparently craving any kind of distraction. "There is still the matter of the Ancestor in your manor, the Spider Queen. I need to take another look around, if that is alright with you."

His reminder that her home had been infiltrated by yet another Dead Apostle Ancestor was yet another blow to poor Akiha's mental state, the latest of a great many today, but she managed to cope admirably well.

"Yes…" She nodded after a moment, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "Yes, you should take another look around. I-If there are more Ancestors here…"

She didn't finish her sentence, unable to put it into words, but Shirou could infer the rest, giving her a reassuring nod.

"I'll take care of it."

She didn't acknowledge his words, but her shoulders did get a little less stiff.

Silently, she led him back to the manor, where the maids, Hisui and Kohaku, were standing just outside the back door, waiting for her. Frankly, Shirou had half expected them to rush into battle as well, to support their lady, but it seemed that unlike Sella and Leysritt, they had little knack for combat.

Instead, they seemed eager to take care of the post-battle treatment.

"My lady!" There was nothing left of Hisui's composed demeanour as she rushed forward to fuss over her mistress, switching between nervously rubbing her hands and coming very close to touching Akiha's skin, though she didn't dare go all the way. "A-Are you well?!"

"As well as can be expected." The maid's behaviour managed to do what Shirou could not. It eased Akiha's worries slightly, even managing to elicit a small smile from her. "In the end, we barely fought. The intruder turned out to be an… ally, of sorts."

"An ally?" Kohaku asked curiously, also coming forward, before she took Akiha's elbow to support her, deftly ignoring her sister's shocked and affronted stare at her forwardness. "Couldn't they have come through the front door then?"

"That would have been the rational thing to do, but Executors are rarely rational." Akiha huffed, and it spoke to her strong bond with the maids that she was already cracking small jokes again.

"An Executor…?" Kohaku blinked in slight surprise, and it was clear she wanted to know more, but decorum obliged her not to press her lady for answers. Instead, she merely inclined her head in acknowledgement.

"They are hunting for the Dead Apostle Ancestors that currently haunt Misaki Town."

But Akiha gave her more information anyway, readily informing her maids of everything that had taken place in the past hour.

"Lady Tohno." Shirou interrupted her however, still on a mission of his own. "Can I be excused then?"

"Yes. Feel free to search the manor for whatever trace you can find." Akiha nodded, glancing back at him, before her eyes flitted over to Hisui. "But Hisui shall accompany you at all times while you are inside. That is non-negotiable."

"Very well." That he wouldn't be allowed to turn the manor on its head without a chaperone was only logical, so Shirou accepted the condition.

"My lady?!" Hisui wasn't nearly as accepting however, clearly confused by the fact that Shirou, the immensely rude visitor they had all hated together before, was now suddenly allowed to stay in the manor.

"We have been betrayed." Akiha replied darkly, her eyes flashing an ominous red. "Betrayed and infiltrated by Dead Apostles. Shirou-san is here to find and eradicate the traitors and vampires alike. Assist him to the best of your ability."

"I… Yes, I understand, my lady." Hisui didn't seem entirely happy with the orders, but she accepted them with nary a hitch. Her mistress wanted her to serve as his tour guide and minder, so that was what she'd do. "Follow me then, Shirou-san."

Her tone was perfectly polite as she addressed him, but she could not hide her distaste and displeasure from him. The dissatisfaction of having to show him around while her sister took care of her beloved mistress.

As Shirou had said once before, this one was never going to like him.

But that was fine. As long as she wasn't actively malicious, Shirou couldn't care less about people liking him or not.

All that mattered now was finding the Ancestors and slaying them.

Deep inside one of the Burial Agency's most secret locations, in one of its most well-defended and heavily guarded bases, lay a room that most of the agency's operatives would rather pretend did not exist.

It was a room filled with all manner of tools, devices, and artefacts, each of which fulfilled important purposes for the Church, and each of which contained some manner of foul heresy.

There were relics taken from sworn enemies that had turned out to be surprisingly useful, evil pieces of machinery that fulfilled vital tasks, and even several cursed objects that had been crafted by those who had rejected God in His entirety and had embraced the Devil instead.

All of these items were foul and despised by all, and if they hadn't been so genuinely useful, they would long since have been destroyed in the Sacred Flames of the Vatican.

It rankled the Executors and Exorcists deeply to have to use them, and it was no secret that the Pope himself disapproved of their continued existence, but they had little choice if they wanted to keep the upper hand in the battle against the monsters of the dark. They had to stain their hands in order to preserve the law of God.

Among these many hated objects was a set of precisely twenty-eight infernal devices, devices that had been built for a single purpose only.

To indicate and verify the complete and total destruction of one of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, plus Roa.

Each of the devices had been linked to one of the Ancestors, and should one perish, the corresponding device would be destroyed as well. It was the most reliable way the Burial Agency had to make sure their most hated enemies were truly vanquished and thus some of the most valued objects within the secret base.

Some of the most valued, and some of the most 'popular', by lack of a better word.

They were watched over constantly by a warden appointed by the Pope himself, and not a day went by that not at least one Cardinal or Bishop inquired about the state of the devices, and whether one hadn't perhaps self-immolated since the last time they'd asked.

Most of the time, the answer was a negative, but there were instances when the news was good.

Over the past ten years, four of the devices had been destroyed, which was an unmitigated triumph for the Burial Agency, which was normally happy if they could see one destroyed every four decades. Even the fact that Lorelei Barthomeloi, the Queen of the Clocktower, had been single handedly responsible for three of those victories did nothing to numb the Burial Agency's delight every time it happened.

But even though they had scored four massive victories in the past decade alone, the infernal devices still numbered twenty-eight in total today. Though four Ancestors had been slain, they had been replaced quickly, bringing the total back to its original state and forcing the Burial Agency to craft more infernal devices.

The current warden had been overseeing them for many decades now, and in all that time, he'd never witnessed a position among the ranks of the Twenty-Seven stay empty for long. There were just too many power-hungry contenders, standing up every time a throne came to be vacant.

But even with those sad facts in mind, the Warden didn't give up hope. He continued staring at the devices, praying to the Lord that they may soon drop in number again.

Unbeknownst to him, his prayers were heard this time.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" One of the Tohno-family members cried in a mixture of indignity and fear, attempting desperately to keep his ground even as Shirou glared threateningly at him. "I-I would never work with Dead Apostle Ancestors! Never!"

Having been suddenly ambushed in his own room by an unfamiliar Magus and one of the family-head's personal maids, the poor man was desperate to attest to his innocence. Fortunately for him, his words rang true, and Shirou let up on his glare, giving the man a small nod of acceptance.

The redhead then turned back to Hisui, ignoring the massive sigh of relief from behind him, only to find her looking rather displeased with the current situation, seemingly not at all happy with the fact that her lady's relative wasn't guilty of something that basically amounted to high-treason against humanity itself.

For the past few minutes, she'd led him around through her home, guiding him to relatives who were also staying at the manor, so that Shirou could interrogate them, using his ability to discern lies from truth to efficiently gather as much information as possible.

But by now, they'd spoken with everyone in the manor, and none of them had any knowledge about Ancestors whatsoever, let alone helped any of them into the building. They were truly innocent, at least of this particular crime.

That wasn't a relief however, not to Shirou and not to Hisui either. After all, the scent of the Spider Queen still permeated the manor, having even seeped into the walls and the furniture. It was faint, so faint that Shirou could barely smell it unless he was actively looking, but it was present everywhere he went.

And if no one had helped her get inside, that meant the Ancestor had entered the manor all by herself.

Hisui had bristled in anger at the very notion, wanting nothing more than to reject it, but in the absence of any other explanations, that was what had seemingly happened.

"Even the most powerful defences can be overcome." Shirou spoke softly to her, urging her to acknowledge the fact that no place on Earth was truly unbreachable, including the Tohno-manor. "And I imagine that Dead Apostle Ancestors are most adept at entering places where they aren't welcome."

"…" Hisui gritted her teeth, unwilling to admit weakness to a veritable stranger, even when that weakness was glaringly obvious already.

"Uhm, e-excuse me?" The man whom Shirou had just interrogated then spoke up, stepping forward with a worried look on his face. "I-Is this true? Is there a Dead Apostle Ancestor inside the manor?"

"…Not at the moment." Shirou replied when Hisui remained silent, turning towards the man to better face him. "But yes, one has been inside quite often over the past few years at least. Their traces are everywhere. You wouldn't have happened to have noticed anything amiss, have you?"

"No, sir, I have not." The man promptly shook his head, denying everything by instinct, before he actually took a moment to think, and then amended his statement. "Well, unless you count… B-But no, that's impossible."

The man almost looked contemplative for a moment, as if he had realised something of importance, but then he hastily backtracked for some reason.

That was suspicious to say the least, and Shirou was about to press him for answers, before he realised that the man was looking straight at Hisui, as if her presence was what made him clam up.

That piqued his interest, and he decided to subtly send the maid away.

"…We should search the premises more thoroughly then." The redhead suggested after a moment of thought, speaking directly to the maid, who reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Could I ask you to get me a map of this place? Preferably one on which you have marked the areas I am not welcome in?"

"A map?" The young girl blinked at him as if he'd spoken Ancient Greek, but she recollected herself with admirable speed. "Yes, right, of course. I will arrange it. Meet me in my lady's office in ten minutes."

She didn't even wait for him to nod before she stormed off, quite unwilling to remain in his presence a moment longer and all too eager to get back to Akiha's side. Any excuse was good enough, it seemed.

She really disliked him a lot, but Shirou didn't let it get to him. She was gone, as he had intended, leaving him free to conduct a proper interrogation.

"There was something you wanted to say." He spoke to the owner of the room, who froze in surprise at being addressed again.

"S-Sir?"

"Just now, you wanted to say something to me." The redhead clarified, making an impatient gesture. "Something miss Hisui wasn't supposed to hear?"

That jogged the man's memory, and he turned a bit pale for a moment at having been seen through so easily. Not for long though. After he verified that Hisui wasn't standing behind the door, listening in, he became quite eager to share what he knew, stepping closer to Shirou and leaning in to practically whisper into his ear.

"…Can I assume, sir, that you have questioned every member of the family currently living in the manor?" The man began his answer with a counter question, one that Shirou nodded to. "Then, have you also spoken to doctor Arach?"

"Doctor Arach? No, I have not spoken to anyone by that name."

"You should." The man urged, his voice becoming even softer and his eyes flitting around as if he feared that the very walls had ears. "She is… She is trouble. She has been trouble since my brother brought her here."

"Your brother?"

"Makihisa." The man clarified, before he went on, not giving Shirou even a moment to process that he was speaking to the brother of the former head of the family. A brother who had apparently been unceremoniously banished to the attic by his own niece. "Doctor Arach… She is bad news. She twisted my brother, sir. She twisted him into something unseemly, and she is doing the same to Akiha. She skulks around this place day and night, doing whatever she pleases. I-If there's anyone who would help an Ancestor, it's her, definitely."

"I see."

"She came here over twenty years ago and never left." The man continued, still looking around as if he feared being overheard. "She… She acts perfectly sensible, but there is something wrong about her. Like everything she does is just an act. She is up to something, I am sure of it."

"Have you told this to lady Tohno?" Shirou asked, though he could pretty much guess the answer already from the way the man acted.

"She won't hear of it." The man shook his head, as the redhead had expected, though the look of regret and morosity that appeared was a surprise. "Doctor Arach… She's a manipulative one. She's got Akiha all twisted around her finger, thinking she's been good to her. She hasn't been good to my niece though, sir, certainly not, she's been terrible to Akiha, but she gave her the attention she needed, the attention that others did not give her. Because of that, Akiha has now accepted her as a close confidant. If it's my word against hers, I will lose."

"Hm." Shirou made an understanding noise, though he remained on the fence for now. His ability to discern truth from lies told him that the man hadn't spoken a single lie nor omitted any vital information, but without any supporting evidence, it was still possible he was just imagining things. The only way to find out would be to investigate this 'doctor Arach' himself. "Where is the doctor's room?"

"You mean you believe me?!" Delight came to the old man's face when he realised Shirou wasn't blowing him off, and he rushed towards the door as fast as he could. "F-Follow me! I'll show you where to go!"

"Thank you." Shirou nodded politely, not commenting on whether he indeed believed the man or not.

It wasn't a long walk from the man's room to doctor Arach's, but it did lead them into a different part of the building, one much more luxurious and much closer to the manor's centre. Clearly, the doctor was indeed held in much higher regard than the other relatives, if the location of her quarters was anything to go by.

"Here it is." The man, whose name Shirou still did not know, mumbled when they arrived at their destination.

Doctor Arach's room.

Having never met the doctor before and having only heard of her existence mere minutes ago, Shirou hadn't known what to expect. She was, to him, a complete unknown. She could be a perfectly honest person, a scammer on the hunt for money, or a Dead Apostle Ancestor for all he knew.

But when he entered her room, unlocking the door with a small application of power and ignoring the Magical defences that tried to assail him, the scent in there alone was enough to tell him all he wanted to know.

It was the scent of the Spider Queen, more concentrated than anywhere else in the building. Sufficiently so that Shirou wondered how he'd overlooked this place until now.

Of course, scent alone wasn't definitive proof, but if doctor Arach turned out to be completely innocent at this point, Shirou would eat one of Issei's ridiculous monk-hats.

In any case, he needed more evidence, so he stepped further into the room to gather said evidence, taking a good look around.

It was fairly spacious, though not overly so, and although it couldn't be called tidy or neat, it wasn't exactly a dump either, nor was it poorly cared for. Nothing seemed out of place, nor were there any obvious signs of Magecraft having been practiced, let alone any dark arts.

There was a bed, a nightstand, two wardrobes filled with women's clothes, a desk and matching chair, and a bookcase holding various books on a plethora of subjects. The floor was covered by a soft, multicoloured carpet and the room was lit by a tastefully designed lamp hanging from the ceiling.

There were several pairs of high-class shoes standing near the wardrobes and a satin shawl was hanging near the door. A few pieces of expensive jewellery were lying on the nightstand, as if they'd been placed there when the owner went to bed, and the smell of expensive perfume permeated the room.

At the back, there was a door leading to a bathroom, with a huge bathtub and a couple of toothbrushes in a cup next to the sink.

The room wasn't very personal, and it didn't look very lived in, but there weren't any torture devices or mysterious substances standing around either.

All in all, it painted the picture of a moderately rich woman who didn't much care about expensive trinkets and excessive luxuries, but did like her small comforts.

But a picture was all it was.

Shirou saw it immediately. Everything in sight was just a show that had been put on for possible visitors. A front that had been carefully but artificially erected. A thin layer of veneer that was meant to hide whatever lay beneath.

The clothes in the wardrobes had never been worn, nor had the jewellery on the nightstand. The satin shawl had never touched human skin and the books had never been opened. There wasn't a drop of water in the bathtub, nor any indication it had ever been filled, and the toothbrushes were brand-new and untouched.

This room was hiding something, something dark, and Shirou was willing to bet his entire fortune that the Spider Queen was involved somehow. She had to be, considering the scent that was still permeating the room.

So he set out to pierce the layer of veneer.

He looked beneath the carpet, under the bed, behind the nightstand, and at the back of the wardrobes. He checked the floor tiles in the bathroom one by one, verifying there wasn't a loose one among them, and he meticulously inspected every inch of the walls to make sure there weren't any hidden doors or secret stashes.

Over the course of his career as a vigilante, he'd learned much about the way in which people tried to hide things, things like money, drugs, and information, and he used that knowledge to his advantage here to rapidly search the room.

Eventually, it paid off. He found something interesting, hidden in a secret compartment behind the mirror in the bathroom.

There, protected by a few minor spells, he discovered a single, sizable syringe containing a mysterious, red fluid.

Blood would be anyone's first impression, so too Shirou's, and a quick Structural Analysis confirmed that the fluid was indeed blood, which was as ominous as it was damning in the current situation.

Worse, it wasn't even human blood, but the blood of a Dead Apostle, one so powerful that they could very well be an Ancestor, though Shirou did not know that for sure yet.

There weren't many reasons why a person living inside a Magus' home would have a syringe filled with Dead Apostle-blood, and none of those reasons were legal.

This was evidence enough. It seemed Akiha's uncle was right and Doctor Arach was indeed the fly in the ointment.

Or rather, the spider in the ointment, considering her name. Arach was almost definitely based upon Arachne after all, which was the Greek word for…

Spider.

…No.

No way.

She wouldn't be that brazen!

Would she?!

Impossible!

"I knew it." Akiha's uncle suddenly muttered, having entered the room as well, looking at the syringe in Shirou's hands. "I knew it! That woman…! She's evil!"

"Perhaps." Shirou allowed, not yet willing to jump to conclusions, though he could feel sweat drops forming on his brow at the hypothesis he was now entertaining. At the thought that an Ancestor could be so immensely brazen as to do what he now suspected she'd done.

"You should take this to Akiha." The man, whose name Shirou still did not know, urged him, also looking rather off-balance, though there was a glint of determination shining through. "She needs to know what her father took into her home."

That he used the word 'what' rather than 'who' to refer to Doctor Arach was a good indication that the man also had a theory about what was going on, and Shirou nodded in agreement.

The urge to take in the syringe's scent and track down its origin immediately was strong, but he knew he could not leave now without informing the lady of the manor of his findings first. To do so would be yet another insult, and he had insulted her quite enough over the past few days.

It would be one thing if she were an irredeemable villain or a confident lady who could let insults slide off of her like water off a rock, but she wasn't either of those. She was a young woman who was in over her head, and who didn't deserve being trampled over, least of all by those who saw themselves as aspiring heroes.

So he set out to look for her, followed closely behind by her uncle.

Finding her was simple enough. She was in her office, as she had told him, together with her maids, a map of the manor lying open on the desk in front of her.

"You're late." She frowned at him, though she did not seem overly bothered, before she lifted an eyebrow when her uncle entered the office as well. "You brought him here? Why?"

"Because he provided me with some valuable information." Shirou explained, which made her other eyebrow lift as well in slight surprise. "You should have told me about Doctor Arach, my lady."

Akiha froze stiff, as did her maids, but whereas the lady of the manor looked shocked and scandalised, the maids soon adopted slightly hopeful expressions, as if hoping that he'd found some dirt on the not-so-good doctor.

"I trust doctor Arach." Akiha said eventually, her tone very short and clipped, showing that the little rapport that Shirou had built up with her was in extreme danger of being wiped out on the spot. "There was no need to investigate her."

Shirou did not reply verbally, knowing that words were naught but air in this case, and instead held out the syringe.

The young lady practically snatched it out of her hand, eager to prove her doctor's innocence, but her face soon twisted in dismay when she realised what she was holding.

"This was planted." She stated quickly, which got her incredulous looks from both her uncle and her maids.

"It was not." Her uncle replied, holding fast even when his niece glared at him. "It belongs to her, and you know it."

"No."

"Look, I know I have talked about this before-"

"You have always hated her, you mean!" Akiha suddenly snapped, her voice rising in anger and denial. "Always! From the moment father took her in!"

"Yes, and rightly so!" Her uncle raised his voice in turn, not even trying to deny the allegation. "That woman is bad news! She twisted Makihisa into a wreck of a man, she messed up this family, and she couldn't wait to get her claws into you too!"

"She helped me when father did not-!"

"She was the very reason your father treated you like he did! When he was worried about your blood acting up, shewas the one who encouraged him to raise you harshly! Everything he put you through was her idea!"

"Lies! Father was an evil man-!"

"He was!" Once more, Akiha's uncle didn't even try to deny it. "But that doctor actively made him worse! She is the spider in your bosom, Akiha! Everyone can see it! Everyone but you!"

The young lady almost reared back, before her eyes flitted over to Shirou, who nodded, then to Kohaku, who nodded as well, and finally Hisui, who inclined her head in agreement.

They were indeed of one mind. Doctor Arach was bad news.

And together, they managed to crack Akiha's defensive shell at last.

Magi were generally not very emotionally healthy, quite the opposite rather, having the tendency to bottle up their emotions in self-defence, and Shirou saw that happening in real-time now, as Akiha went through the five stages of grief in record time, before she slumped in her chair, all vigour leaving her as a perfectly neutral expression settled on her face. The expression of someone who'd forcibly suppressed every emotion imaginable.

Betrayal was never easy to deal with, Shirou knew that perfectly well, and it seemed Akiha took it particularly badly.

It was awful to see, and he wanted nothing more than to help, but he had no idea how. Emotional support had never been his strong suit after all. He couldn't punch emotions like he could punch villains.

When his girls were feeling down, he'd try to cheer them up with a big hug, something that wasn't verbal, but he wasn't sure whether that would be appropriate here. He barely knew her after all.

He came quite close to hugging Akiha nonetheless, if only to do something to support her, but he was headed off by Kohaku, who took the initiative first, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her mistress.

It turned out to be the right thing to do, as the young lady buried her face in her maid's shoulder, her body shaking from muted sobs, which only intensified when Hisui placed a hand on her back.

It was a very private scene, and Shirou felt incredibly awkward as he looked at them, quickly averting his eyes, wondering if he should leave.

"Boy." Akiha's uncle whispered into his ear, taking hold of his shoulder. "Leave this to us. You go and find that vile doctor, and make sure she never darkens our doorstep again."

"Right." Shirou whispered back, quite satisfied with that division of roles. "I will."

He quickly extracted a drop of blood from the syringe, taking in its scent, before he boiled the drop to a fine mist, eliminating all its Mystical properties. He then made to leave the office, to track down the origin of that smell.

"Please, Shirou-san…"

He stopped however when Akiha called out to him, wincing at how weak and pained her voice sounded, and he turned around to face her.

She'd lifted her head from her maid's shoulder for now to speak with him. Her eyes were already red from crying, tear tracks going down her cheeks, but Shirou pretended not to notice, waiting patiently until she managed to formulate what she wanted to say.

"My brother… Please keep him safe."

"Of course." Tohno Shiki already had a very competent guard in the form of Arcueid and an ability that would give a Phantasmal Beast pause, but nevertheless, there was no harm in keeping an eye on him. "I'll have him back here by sunrise, safe and sound."

"And doctor Arach… When you find her, please ask her… Please ask her why."

"I will." Shirou agreed, understanding immediately what she was asking. It was the least he could do after all she'd been put through, and frankly, he also wanted to know.

He wanted to know why the Spider Queen, a Dead Apostle Ancestor, would ever pose as a normal doctor and go live with a Magus-family under the name of Arach.

"Uh-oh." Arcueid's ever-present smile suddenly dropped, making Shiki freeze up in alarm next to her. "We've got trouble incoming."

"Trouble?!" Shiki asked nervously, glancing out of the window of the hotel room they had just entered, all the way up on the seventeenth floor. "What kind of trouble?!"

He had only recently learned about the existence of the horrifying monsters known as Dead Apostles, now seeing bloodthirsty vampires in every shadow, so the last thing he wanted was more trouble, especially right after sunset.

"The Ancestor-kind." Arcueid grinned, peering out of the window too. "It's the Knight. He has come to kill me, or us, rather."

"W-What?! T-Then we should run!" Shiki cried, grabbing her wrist again to pull her along to the elevator, but this time, she did not budge a millimetre. "Arcueid!?"

"Why should we run when this is an excellent time to tie up some loose ends?" The Moon Princess turned towards him with a bloodthirsty grin, her face and body-language the very picture of confidence. "Between the two of us, we can deal with him just fine. It'd be nice to have him off my back. He's been buzzing around me for far too long now."

"A-Are we strong enough for that?" Shiki asked doubtfully, before he winced again when Arcueid laughed merrily.

"I might not have been, if I'd had to heal myself from the wounds you inflicted on me." She casually and unintentionally guilt-tripped him. "But since Shirou healed me, I am in… uhm, how do you say it again? Ah, yes. I am in top-condition. I can handle one fresh-faced, Upstart Ancestor just fine, especially if you use that talent of yours to help me."

Shiki still wasn't comfortable with the idea, having been a regular civilian until mere days ago, but he also recognised he didn't have much of a choice. Even if Arcueid would let him flee, he was realistic enough to know that the Ancestor downstairs definitely wouldn't.

Monsters never let someone escape.

"Let's go and intercept him before he can prey on the other guests." If they waited too long, the hotel would turn into a bloodbath, and while Arcueid was opposed to that mainly because it would give the Knight more power, she also didn't really want other people to die needlessly.

It was a burst of empathy and pity, and although most monsters and villains would claim those emotions made you weak, Arcueid liked them well enough.

They were a strong source of motivation if nothing else.

Which was why she triggered the fire-alarm on her way downstairs.

It didn't take Shirou very long to find the scent he was looking for, the scent of the blood in the syringe.

Compared to the scents he'd been working with over the past few days, the scents of Ancestors who knew perfectly well how to hide and cover their tracks, this one stood out like a beacon in the night.

Either the Spider Queen had completely forgotten to cover this particular track, or she didn't care about hiding it. Either way, it was nice to finally have a strong lead.

The scent was so strong in fact that Shirou felt secure in taking flight rather than sticking close to the ground, and he was now soaring above Misaki Town, relying on the falling darkness of the late evening to hide him from sight.

At first, the tracks took a few twists and turns, meandering through the city without a real destination, but at some point, they suddenly straightened out, as if they'd found their target.

From that point onwards, the origin of the scent had made a straight beeline towards one of the highest buildings in town.

A hotel, by the looks of it. A high-class, stately one. It was quite the sight, even from above.

It was also on fire.

Upon seeing that, Shirou promptly accelerated, making a beeline for the building too as he put the scent out of his mind for now. People might need his help, and that took precedence over hunting Dead Apostles.

He rapidly circled the burning hotel several times, searching for anyone still stuck inside, before he breathed a sigh in relief when he confirmed that the building was empty.

All the guests had been evacuated already, standing a good distance away from the hotel, looking confused and affronted by the inconvenience.

Well, they were going to have to deal with even more inconvenience, as Shirou called forth rain clouds and made it pour, both to help the firemen douse the flames consuming the hotel and to prevent the fire from spreading.

Mentally apologising to all the people desperately seeking cover now, Shirou continued to make it rain until he was certain that the firemen had everything well in hand. Only then did he leave again, returning his attention to the scent he'd been tracking.

Only to be surprised when he realised that the origin of it was close-by. Very close-by.

In fact, if his nose could be believed, it was located in an alley adjacent to the hotel even, where it remained stationary for now.

Shirou promptly swooped down, straight at the alley in question. He came down hard, bending his knees to absorb the force of the impact, before he looked up and found…

A corpse?

Yes, a corpse. A single dead body, lying in the middle of the alley, half-covered by a black cloak.

The first thing Shirou noticed was the knightly outfit.

The second was the white hair.

Then he saw the familiar features, and he nearly gasped as he realised who it was.

It was Vlov Arkhangel!

The Nineteenth Dead Apostle Ancestor.

And he was as dead as a doornail.

A thousand emotions rushed through Shirou when he realised the Ancestor was lying dead there like a victim from a robbery-gone-wrong, from utter shock to pure delight, but the main emotion, the strongest undercurrent, was undeniably a sense of disappointment.

Disappointment that there would never be a rematch between them.

But Shirou quickly shook off that disappointment, recognising that it was ridiculous to feel that way. A Dead Apostle Ancestor dying was always good news, and he should not regret it merely because he wanted to kill this one himself.

Besides, Nasu had told him that he shouldn't kill Vlov Arkhangel, and now he hadn't. Everything was still as it should be.

But even though Arkhangel appeared to be dead, caution was still in order. He might suddenly revive after all, or he might only be pretending to be dead. Ancestors were tricky, treacherous creatures, and there was no such thing as being too careful around them.

The redhead slowly approached the body, not lowering Mjolnir until he was certain that the Ancestor was truly deceased and not about to get up again. Even then, he still placed Mjolnir on the Vampire Lord's chest, thereby pinning him down.

Only then did he dare to kneel down next to it, to study the body carefully, wondering what had killed him.

It took him a few moments to give the corpse a proper once-over, but in the end, he found but two injuries on the body. Arkhangel's right arm had been severed, and he'd been stabbed in the left kidney.

Odd. Neither of those were fatal wounds even to a mortal man, let alone a Vampire Lord, yet Arkhangel had perished all the same, his expression of terrified surprise still frozen on his face.

It was no trick, no ruse to get the drop on Shirou. Arkhangel was really, genuinely dead, from what seemed to be mere pinpricks.

It was only when Shirou placed a hand on his chest that he realised how that was possible.

These wounds… They were of the exact same nature as those that had been dealt to Arcueid! The unhealing, Reality-deep kind!

So the one who had killed Arkhangel was...

Tohno Shiki.

Shirou let out a slow breath through his nose, unsure whether this was good news or bad news. On one hand, his fellow teen had just slain a horrible monster, which was good, but at the same time, his terrifying ability, one that could deal devastating wounds to supposedly-immortal creatures, seemed to be getting stronger by the day.

As long as Tohno Shiki remained of moral character, that didn't have to be a problem, but if he did not, if he decided to use it for selfish gains…

Then Shirou might have to worry about what that power would do to him.

But that was a matter for later. For now, he had his own investigation to conduct.

Arkhangel's smell, that of frost and ash, was fading rapidly, just like his corporal body, but the scent of the blood in the Spider Queen's syringe, the scent that Shirou had tracked here in the first place, was still as strong as ever.

At first, he thought the Spider Queen herself might be around, hiding somewhere near, but he soon realised that the scent was actually coming from Arkhangel.

More specifically, from one of Arkhangel's pockets.

Now, Shirou might be quite resistant to various forms of Magic and Mystery, but that did not mean he was just going to stick his hand into an Ancestor's pocket. There could be all manner of traps in there, and even if they did not hurt him, they could very well destroy the evidence.

So he tried the simplest solution first, grabbing the Vampire Lord's leg and lifting him from the ground, upside down.

And as he'd hoped, gravity made the object in Arkhangel's pocket come falling out, allowing him to catch it before it hit the stones below.

Was it undignified towards the deceased Ancestor to have his corpse treated like that? Well, yes, certainly, but that was hardly relevant at the moment.

Now that he had successfully extracted the object, Shirou unceremoniously dropped the body again, instead focusing on his newly-obtained clue, which turned out to be another syringe, nearly identical to the one he'd found in Arach's room.

The new syringe was also filled with Dead Apostle blood, and when Shirou carefully extracted a drop, he concluded it was even more potent than the blood in the old syringe.

That was ominous, doubly so because Arkhangel had been carrying it around, likely with the purpose of using it on some poor soul. Perhaps even Shirou himself.

But did that mean Arkhangel had been the one to prepare this syringe? Or had he gotten it from the Spider Queen? And if so, was she the one who decided who their target would be?

And most of all, why didn't they just use their own blood if they wanted to change someone into a Dead Apostle? Why go through all the trouble of putting it in a syringe?

There were questions upon questions, and it seemed that with every clue he found, the web of mystery and intrigue grew a little more complicated.

Though Shirou did take solace in the fact that Arkhangel at least was dead. He would never again be an issue, nor could he muddy the waters again.

That left only the Spider Queen.

Oh, and Roa of course, but that went without saying.

In any case, Shirou should continue his search, but first, he needed to deal with Arkhangel's corpse.

Tohno Shiki's method of killing was clearly a very potent one, and the redhead estimated that the likelihood of Arkhangel somehow resurrecting, as Ancestors were sometimes wont to do, was slim to none. However, his body could still be used as a powerful catalyst in all sorts of evil rituals, for instance by the Spider Queen, who had already shown herself to be an aspiring Mystical scientist of sorts.

So Shirou burned Arkhangel's body, dousing it in his hottest flames, letting them consume it whole until there wasn't even a speck of ash left, the nearby raindrops sizzling as they evaporated from the heat.

The fire must have been more visible than he'd thought however, because a few moments later, someone came running into the alley.

For a moment, Shirou tensed, fearing he might have to deal with panicked civilians, but once he recognised the newcomer, he relaxed again.

"Shirou!" Arcueid, for it was her, called out happily, waving at him with her characteristic smile as she walked up to him, followed closely behind by a companion, one whom Shirou recognised quite well. "I thought that was you!"

"Arcueid." Shirou greeted her back, also with a smile. "You thought correctly."

"We killed the Knight!" Just like before, Arcueid wasted no time on pleasantries and got straight to business, before she blinked when she noticed the Ancestor's body was gone. "Eh, where did he go?"

"I burned the body." Shirou explained, gesturing at the scorched stones next to him. "It didn't seem like a good idea to leave it here."

"Oh, good thinking!" Arcueid praised him, before gesturing behind her, at her companion. "This is Shiki. You knew each other already, right?"

"We met once." Shirou nodded, giving the younger Tohno a friendly smile, hiding any apprehension he might have felt about the boy's extremely lethal ability beneath politeness and hospitality. "It is good to see you again, Tohno-san."

"…Yeah." It was a lukewarm agreement from Shirou's fellow teen, whose facial expression could only be described as grumpy. "I suppose."

He seemed to be in a bad mood, which Shirou understood perfectly well. Fighting a Dead Apostle Ancestor next to a burning hotel only days after first learning about the Moonlit World would wreak havoc on anyone's mind, so it was only logical that he was rather stressed at the moment. Too stressed to be polite.

On top of that, it was still raining heavily, and Tohno looked drenched to the bone, which probably didn't do his mood any good either.

As such, Shirou paid his curtness no mind, instead turning back to Arcueid, who was also drenched, yet didn't seem to care one bit.

"Your work?" He asked, jerking his chin towards the hotel.

"Ahahaha… Yeah." To her credit, the blonde looked rather remorseful over the destruction of property, fiddling a bit with her hands. "But it was the Knight's fault! He started throwing flames around everywhere! Shiki and I only tried to dodge it!"

"I understand." Yes, Arkhangel did like using fire, Shirou knew that all too well. "But it seems you got him in the end."

"Shiki did. He was amazing." Arcueid looked back at her companion again with a beaming smile, praising him into the sky, though her smile shrunk considerably when he failed to reciprocate, instead continuing to look grumpy. "Shiki?"

"That's one Ancestor down, but two more remain." Shirou said quickly, pulling her attention back to him. As nice as she was, she didn't seem very capable of reading the room, so he tried to give his fellow teen a break. "Have you found any trace of Roa or the Spider Queen?"

"No." It clearly pained Arcueid to admit it, but she didn't dance around the matter. "I still don't even know the identity of Roa's new vessel."

"I do." Shirou had just had a rather productive day, and he didn't hesitate to share what he'd learned. "Roa's new vessel is Tohno Shiki."

"Huh?"

"P-Pardon me?!"

"The elder Tohno Shiki." Shirou clarified quickly, holding up a hand to stave off their inevitable protests. "Your older brother, Tohno-san."

Within a fraction of a second, Shiki went from looking affronted and confused to going white in shock, gaping at Shirou as if the redhead had just murdered his sister in front of him.

"W-What? N-No, that can't be. I don't have… a brother? W-W-What?!"

Tohno Shiki was evidently much less aware of his family's dynamics than Tohno Akiha, for the revelation that he had an older brother almost knocked him flat on his back.

"So it was Tohno Shiki after all!" Arcueid gasped, as if everything suddenly made sense. "So that is why I got his name from mother!"

Apparently, Arcueid had, just like the Burial Agency, somehow learned that Roa's new vessel was named Tohno Shiki, and after the younger Tohno Shiki had at first put her on the wrong foot, again just like the Burial Agency, she now knew what was going on.

Shirou was just going to ignore her use of the word 'mother' however, for his own peace of mind if nothing else.

"This will make the hunt much easier." Arcueid grinned viciously, undoubtedly already imagining how she would rip Roa to pieces the moment she found him. "Does the Burial Agency know about this?"

"They do. Ciel was there when I learned of the elder Shiki's existence."

"Crud! Then I haven't a moment to lose!"

Having declared that, Arcueid made to grab Shiki's hand, probably to pull him along, but Shirou quickly stepped in between them.

"Give him a moment." He said sharply. "He just learned that he has a brother, a brother who needs to be killed. Let that sink in first before you go yanking him around."

Suddenly learning that you had a brother was not an easy thing, and learning, pretty much at the same time, that said brother was also the host of Roa could only have made it a thousand times worse. The last thing Shiki needed now was to be dragged off somewhere to go and kill what remained of his older brother before he could work out his emotions.

Arcueid didn't seem convinced however.

"He doesn't actually know the other Shiki though." She protested, showing that her childishness wasn't just cute, but could also be rather petulant. "So it shouldn't be a problem."

"It is clearly a problem!" Shirou almost couldn't believe that she thought otherwise, with how shaken poor Shiki looked, his glazed eyes a sure sign he was taking an unpleasant stroll down memory lane. "Other people have emotions too, Arcueid! And emotions aren't always logical!"

"…I knew that." Fortunately, Arcueid didn't persist in her petulance, backing down surprisingly easily. "Then… Then I'll go ahead, and the two of you can follow later."

"Very good." Shirou nodded, lowering his voice again. "Though I will be searching for the Spider Queen first and foremost. You, Ciel, and Shiki can deal with Roa."

"Aw, but I was hoping-"

"You can always call me if you need help." Shirou interrupted her, knowing what she wanted to say. "And once I'm done with the Spider Queen, I'll come to reinforce you as fast as possible."

"Hm, fine." It was clear she wanted him to come along right away, but Arcueid took what she could get. "I'll be going now then."

"Good luck. I'll stay here with Tohno-san for a while, until he's ready to go after you."

"Thank you!" Though her mood was still a bit down, Arcueid's exclamation of gratitude was as sincere as always. "Please take good care of Shiki."

Then she was off, rushing out of the alley again, in pursuit of her prey.

The redhead didn't know precisely how she'd track down the elder Tohno Shiki, but since she was the Ultimate One of the Earth, she probably had plenty of tricks up her sleeve now that she knew the name of his new vessel.

A name was a powerful thing after all.

Once Arcueid disappeared out of sight, Shirou turned to Shiki again, to see if he wanted to talk. The teen still didn't look capable of coherent speech though, so he gave him another moment, taking stock of his current situation instead.

As the fire at the hotel was now largely doused, he dismissed the clouds again, putting a stop to the rain. The fire brigade could handle it from here, so there was no need to further inconvenience the people who had just been evacuated, most of them still in their nightclothes.

Speaking of, those people were receiving aid and warm clothes at last, but even so, since he'd just drenched them, Shirou increased the temperature around them a bit, just to be on the safe side.

Meanwhile, he safely stored the syringes with Apostle blood away in his pockets, each in a separate one, to ensure they wouldn't bang together when he walked. Frankly, he'd rather destroy them, but they were valuable clues for now.

He didn't get the sense there were more of them out there, at least not as far as he could smell, so they couldn't lead him back to the Spider Queen, whose scent was actually rather different to begin with, but even so, they might come in handy, later down the line.

That pretty much wrapped up all the business he had in the alley, but Tohno Shiki was still off in his own world, looking at nothing in particular as he struggled to make sense of everything he'd learned over the past few minutes.

That had gone on for long enough now though. Shirou might have told Arcueid to let Shiki be, as properly processing one's emotions was healthy, but at some point, it just became akin to brooding.

So he prodded the other teen's shoulder to snap him out of his flashback.

"Hah?" Shiki started, looking around wildly as if only now realising that he was still in the alley with Shirou, before he stared at the redhead with eyes filled with confusion, concern, and…

Was that frustration?

"Where is Arcueid?" Was the first thing out of his mouth, his foremost priority, which would have delighted the blonde woman if she were here to hear it.

"Off to hunt down Roa." Shirou replied, gesturing in the general direction she'd stormed off to. "She said you could follow her once you felt better. On that note, how are you?"

"Fine." Shiki replied quickly, too quickly. "She left me here with you?"

There was a strange emphasis on the last word, one that Shirou didn't quite know what to think of, but the redhead ignored it again.

"I insisted on it. Arcueid would rather have taken you with her, but I asked her to give you a moment to process everything you'd learned just now."

"What?! I didn't ask you to do that!"

"…No, I suppose not." Shirou was now really starting to wonder why the other teen was being so hostile. He'd reasoned at first that it had to be a bad mood, but this went beyond mere frustration and came awfully close to enmity. "I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds. You can still catch up with Arcueid if you hurry-"

"You should stay away from her."

"…Pardon me?"

"Y-You should stay away from her." Shiki repeated, confirming that Shirou hadn't misheard him. "I don't want you to be around her."

"Well, I am sorry, Tohno-san, but that is not up to you." Shirou slowly shook his head, not even entertaining the notion. "I don't know why you'd even ask me that-"

"You are bad for her." Shiki accused him, pointing a finger at his face. "Y-You encouraged her to let strange men take pictures of her!"

"Are you talking about her work for that modelling agency? Because I don't see anything wrong with that. She was just earning some money."

"I-It's work for l-loose women!"

"Nonsense." Shirou summarily rejected that claim, frowning at the other teen in disapproval. "And frankly, that is quite an awful thing to say."

'Loose women' might not be the worst insult ever, but from Shiki's tone, it was evident he meant it in the worst way possible. It was insulting, both to Arcueid and all other women in the business who were just trying their best to make a living, and Shirou could not let it pass without comment.

Shiki did not take the chastisement in stride however, and he blew up at Shirou.

"I am saying awful things?! What about you?! Arcueid has been suffering for hundreds of years, being forced to fight those 'Ancestors', and you just encourage her to keep doing it! Do you even care about her, or is she just a convenient weapon for you to use?!"

"What?" That Arcueid was being forced to hunt the Dead Apostle Ancestors was honestly news to Shirou, especially since she hadn't given any indication of being reluctant to carry out her duties, but… he had to admit it didn't sound entirely illogical either. "If that is true, then I am sorry, but I don't think I have that much of an influence on her. Arcueid is perfectly capable of making her own decisions-"

"Of course you have an influence!" It seemed Shiki was determined not to let Shirou finish his sentences today, once more shouting over him. "You are all she talks about! From the first moment she dragged me along on her hunt, it was 'Shirou this' and 'Shirou that'! All! The! Time! Just stay away from her!"

"…!"

Suddenly, everything clicked into place, and a lightbulb went on inside Shirou's head.

The other teen didn't shout and glare because he thought Shirou was using him and Arcueid or because he thought he was in league with the Dead Apostle Ancestors. What he saw in Shiki wasn't hostility or distrust.

It was jealousy.

He was jealous, plain and simple.

Jealous that Arcueid and Shirou were being so friendly with each other.

It made perfect sense. Jealousy would explain why Shiki was so against Arcueid working at the modelling agency, and it also explained his dislike of Shirou, after Arcueid apparently spent quite a lot of time talking about him. It explained everything the redhead had noticed about his fellow teen so far.

But that it made sense didn't mean it was okay, and Shirou's own stubborn streak flared up in response.

"Arcueid and I made a deal. I would help her find Roa, which I am doing now, and in exchange, she will give me the information I am after. That deal is still on, and you are not breaking it. Especially not over petty jealousy."

"But-"

"That is final, Tohno!"

Annoyance made him shout louder than he'd intended, and Shiki jumped back like a startled deer.

"Go!" Shirou snapped at him, pointing in Arcueid's general direction. "Make yourself useful. Find and kill Roa, preferably without endangering any more civilians!"

"Endangering civilians? I never endangered civilians!"

Shirou blinked, before he gave the other teen an incredulous look, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, towards the crowd of guests standing outside in their nightclothes, looking at the smouldering remains of the hotel.

"Oh…"

Yes, 'oh'.

To his credit, Tohno looked a bit guilty about forgetting them, and he wasted no more time afterwards. He turned around and left, to find Arcueid and help her defeat the Serpent.

Frankly, Shirou was glad to see the back of him, having realised he'd misread the teen's character.

There was a kindness in him, certainly, but also a great deal of jealousy and a callousness towards strangers that Shirou did not appreciate.

Of course, such a view on life was not unusual by any means, as most people found it hard to really care about strangers, but Shiki had great power, and that meant great responsibility. Responsibility he seemed reluctant to accept.

They were never going to be friends, that was certain, and Shirou resolutely put the other teen out of his mind, focussing on the matter at hand again.

When he had arrived in Misaki Town, three Ancestors had been roaming about, practically unchallenged. Now, about two days later, the situation had changed radically.

Vlov Arkhangel was dead, Roa had been forced out in the open and was being hunted by both the Moon Princess and the Burial Agency, and the Spider Queen had overplayed her hand.

Shirou now knew where she'd been hiding, what she'd been calling herself, and he had two syringes that had been prepared by her personally and were thus covered in her tracks.

With so much information at his disposal, and knowing that Arkhangel had likely come straight from her lair, he should be able to track her down before sunrise.

He didn't doubt however that she knew that too, so he had to hurry, before she could escape. The Ancestors were a crafty lot, and if she managed to get out of the city before he tracked her down, he'd never find her again.

With a bit of fortune and some hard work though, she too would find her end in Misaki Town.

And if Arcueid, Ciel, and Tohno Skihi also managed to kill Roa, it would be a massive, unprecedented victory for humanity.

Three Ancestors dead in one night.

Music to Shirou's ears.