Fuyuki City Hyatt Hotel.
Both masters and their servants made their way towards the best hotel in the city. According to Kayneth, it was the most tolerable place to stay in this city and that he had higher hopes for a backwards country. Lelouch almost giggled from how the blonde magi froze when Avenger sent him a deathly glare. The red-haired woman was walking next to him in her civilian clothes. While Lancer decided to stay in his spirit form because he was afraid he would affect women. The former emperor didn't understand what he meant but guessed it was something to do with his True Name.
Soon the three of them, plus the invisible man, were inside Archibald's base of operations. Lelouch wasn't surprised to see Sola-Ui there. When asked, the unhappy bride said that she had to escape the moment Rider showed up. The boy noted that she didn't sound too apologetic about leaving them. Her future husband just let out a tired sigh at his soon to be wife's antics. However, Sola-Ui's expression and attitude changed when another servant appeared.
Lelouch noticed how she started to smile when she saw Lancer...and how the male knight grimaced when he saw her. He thought about it for a moment. It was clear that Sola-Ui was not happy with her fiance but now it would seem she found someone more desirable. Lancer's words about affecting women came back to Lelouch's mind. Now it was interesting. Was it because he was a Heroic Spirit from the past or was there something else? The Master of Avenger couldn't tell.
'Now this is something I might use if I get tired of Kayneth's behaviour. Servants can change masters if they find new ones quickly but for now, I won't change anything. I don't know anything about Sola-Ui's abilities as a magi while Kayneth at least can bring something to the table.' Lelouch thought with a small smirk while the blonde magi ranted to his not so happy partner about their latest adventure.
"Waver Velvet! My own student dared to fight me today!"
"Technically he was standing next to Rider. So neither of you exchanged blows today." Avenger pointed out, who was now sitting on a sofa next to Lelouch.
Kayneth was sitting on a chair next to the sofa and groaned before turning to her. "You know what I mean. Back in the Clock Tower, he was nothing but a naive child with ludicrous ideas. Then he stole my catalyst for summoning Rider, which wasn't cheap, and now he has the audacity to participate in the Grail War. I would have laughed, I should, but it would seem he got lucky with his servant. Rider is covering my student's weaknesses and is able to hinder our plans even with a weakling master at his side."
"Iskandar is an experienced leader who led armies during his life. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't the first time Rider had to work with someone as green as this Waver," said Lelouch before accepting, with a smile, tea from Sola-Ui. "The King of Conquerors is known for inspiring his soldiers so it's most likely he is doing the same with his master."
"Forget about Rider. Right now we need to focus on the Assassins." Avenger said while putting down her tea. "At the start of the war, I felt the death of one of the servants. I thought Assassin was dead for good. However, turns out there are more than just one Assassin."
Her master nodded. "It must be some sort of skill. Maybe their Noble Phantasm. Still, they were not as strong as an individual servant." Lelouch brought his right hand up to his chin. "If every Assassin was as strong as a regular servant, they would have been an unstoppable force. Not that we need to underestimate them right now either."
Kayneth stayed silent before speaking. "I took a look of Assassin's parameters. Nothing too impressive but expected from the Assassin class. Still, you are right. They have numbers and are still stronger than normal magi...But why didn't they kill you or me when they had the chance?"
"Because we were with Avenger." Lancer confidently said, but Lelouch disagreed.
"No, they were trying to force Avenger to use her Noble Phantasm." Kayneth's eyes went wide while the ruler of Japan scowled at the plan of these Assassins. "As far as I know, there were only seven servants in previous Grail Wars. And yet I managed to summon a new servant. Understandably, other masters want to learn as much as possible about her before making their move."
The Archibald family mage sighed, "It brings a new issue. Since Assassin is still alive, it means that his master is still part of the war."
Lelouch blinked. "His master?"
Kayneth nodded. "Kirei Kotomine."
Lelouch's eyes went wide while Avenger narrowed her eyes. 'So it means that the priest back in the church who gave us information on the location of Saber was an enemy master.' The former emperor started to think about it.
Her ally noticed it and spoke. "I take it you two have already met him right?"
Avenger answered first. "Yeah. Him and his father."
Both Kayneth and Sola-Ui exchanged looks before speaking. "It would seem the Kotomine family is scheming something behind everyone's back. The Supervisor of the Grail War is supposed to stay neutral during the conflict."
"Can you blame him? His son is a participant as well. I imagine someone like that priest would want to support his son." Avenger said while Lelouch thought of such a possibility.
'Not every father is like mine. It's most likely that Risei used his position to help his son. The Assassins are not as strong as other servants so the safest strategy is to lurk in the shadows collecting information before striking… However, if Kirei seeks to win then why not just kill masters while they were in the Church? It's clear that the Kotomine family doesn't care that much about the rules of this war. Unless...'
"Kayneth." The raven-haired master started. "What do you know about Kirei Kotomine?"
The man in question blinked before putting a hand on his chin. "Eh, not too much honestly. The man is considered a prodigy, being able to master any form of art he studied. Former Church executioner. He also was a student of Tokiomi Tohsaka-"
"Tohsaka? Aren't they one of the founding families?" Avenger asked with a curious tone while Kayneth had to stop himself from cursing at her. The blonde man was smarter than to provoke the servant, no matter how irritating she was.
"Indeed they are. Now, after becoming his student, Kotomine spent several years in the Clock Tower before leaving. There was a rumour that the master and student had a nasty fight. Now, years later when the war started Kirei sends one of his Assassins after hid former teacher to end his life." The master of Lancer chuckled. "At first, I thought that he was a fool for losing his servant at the very start of the war but it's clear that one dead servant means nothing to him." Kayneth wanted to say that he envied the young priest but stayed silent. The British noble glanced at his soon to be a wife and narrowed his eyes when he noticed how his dear Sola-Ui was eyeing Lancer.
While Kayneth was busy with his problem, both Avenger and her master thought about what they just learned.
The female servant was the first to speak. "Master, this smells fishy."
Lelouch nodded. "I agree. Kirei being a master is one thing but him being a former student of someone from the Tohsaka family is worrisome. Hmm, this doesn't seem like a mere coincidence that student and teacher met during the war. Not to mention that Kirei's first choice of action was to send his servant to kill Tokiomi only to get his Servant killed."
His servant nodded. "Hai, don't forget that there might be dozens of Assassins. If we put everything together it would seem that Kirei and Tokiomi are allies. However, in that case, it means..."
"That was their plan all along," Lelouch concluded, a little impressed with the entire scheme. Two allies pretending to dislike each other and even try to kill only to take off eyes from one of them. Kirei pretending to be out of war only to collect information for Tokiomi with the Assassins is a sound strategy. "Of course, it makes you think just how loyal Kirei really is to his teacher if he's willing to go such lengths for him."
"Well, it might be just good old blind loyalty? Kami knows such things helped me numerous times." Avenger closed her eyes remembering her loyal friend who managed to become part of her family. Despite how many times she was betrayed he stayed loyal to her. While the redheaded servant was having a nostalgic trip, Lelouch himself remembered someone who was blindly loyal to him no matter what.
'Jeremiah, huh, I wondered how you are doing right now Orange?' The man once known as Zero allowed himself to smile with a pleasant memory of the cyborg. Lelouch wanted to stop himself from thinking about his old life but both his mind and heart started to wander between his memories. Remembering someone else who was loyal. Violet eyes glanced at his servant. Avenger noticed it and slightly smiled while he remembered another redhead. '...I-'
However, both master and servant were interrupted from their moment by the phone ringing. Everyone in the room turned to the modern device. Kayneth was the first to take it. The image professor stayed silent before answering someone else on another side of the phone. "I see, thank you." Before putting the phone down. He turned to look at them with a thoughtful look.
"Something important, my lord?" Kayneth turned to his servant and nodded.
"Yes. It appears the building is currently under evacuation."
Everyone in the room tensed. Sola-Ui was the first to speak. "What? Why?"
"Fire. That's what I was told." He turned to Lelouch. "I think it obvious what is going on here."
Lelouch nodded. "Another master. But why are you so calm?" Ne raised an eyebrow while Kayneth made his way to a chair to sit down. The older man was calm despite the danger of an upcoming attack from another master.
"Why am I calm? Oh, it seems your family forgot to teach another important aspect of the Moonlit World." Kayneth smiled with closed eyes while Lelouch just silently smiled but neither of them noticed how Avenger dangerously narrowed her eyes. Her master might have been not bothered by the arrogant mage's antics but Avenger was. "Attacking magi at his workshop is both foolish and suicidal. I transformed the entire hotel floor into a labyrinth of traps. Spent a lot of mana but I did my best. Even servants would have hard times navigating it." He snorted, proud by his creation. Lelouch made sure to memorize this information.
Avenger walked over to the window and looked down at the street below the hotel. "There's a lot of people."
"At least there won't be unnecessary sacrifices among civilians," commented Lelouch at least happy by this news. "Less dead people."
"Ha! The only one who will be dying today will be the enemy master who dared to enter my domain!" Kayneth declared ecstatically, his fiancee just rolled her eyes while her charming knight just happily nodded at his master's words. Lelouch and Avenger glanced at each other. "No one will be able to defeat me in my territory. That I can guarantee."
The next moment the entire building exploded.