Vatican City.
Ever since becoming an independent city-state inside Rome, Vatican City's inhabitants have enjoyed greater freedoms. From self-governance to upholding religious tenets, as its own ruling body, the Roman Catholic Church has upheld its identity as a leading spiritual head.
That being said, it's never been made public what said freedoms entailed for… certain cases, notably those that involved dealing with the moonlit world by their hidden side known only as 'the Church'.
While the top dogs of the heretical body of the Mage Association, a group the believers of God had a somewhat tenuous relationship with, centred their power in London of the British Isles, the devout based their influence in the heart of the European mainland. Such a distance required proximity to keep a close eye on the heretics across the channel, yet just far enough to keep the rival groups from stepping on each other's toes. Much less incentivized was a direct confrontation. Heretical though they may view the magi kind, the Church knew better than to wage all-out war.
Still, though neither respected their counterpart's beliefs, both were content maintaining the status quo. Preserving the peace and limiting conflict to plausibly deniable subterfuge was in everyone's best interests. And so they kept a sharp eye trained on the sinners just as keenly as the sinners eyed them from time to time.
Such was a primary factor as to why neither group noticed their influence slightly diminishing to the east, within the central Asian regions. But alas, civil wars receding to a new economic alliance of developing nations wasn't necessarily a cause for alarm, hence the lack of any real concern from the clergy, much less those in the bottom rung of the more secretive sects.
One such individual, who neither bothered nor cared about such things, pushed all worthless thoughts aside during her walk of silence. Within the temple walls of one of Europe's holiest of sites, a young woman stopped before a wooden door.
"Come in."
After knocking, she immediately opened it once invited in. Upon eye contact with an older man clad in red and white sat on the study's sofa, the young lady, more a girl actually, bowed low.
"Good morning, your eminence." Silver hair glinted against the sunlight coming from the nearby window upon showing respect to her superior, whilst her scarf, a deep shade of bloody crimson, hung low from her shoulders. "I've come to answer your summons."
"Hm…" The elder, a cardinal of the Church, smiled while nodding along. "I'm pleased to see you in good health, child. I apologize for calling you on such short notice."
His guest, one Caren Hortensia, shook her head. "The short detour was no trouble, your eminence. I was on my way back from my last mission anyway."
"I heard as much." The elder grinned warmly. "I've already read the reports. Congratulations on another successful mission, young priestess."
"It is all thanks to the will of God." Caren returned the smile to the old man, though it was nought but a polite mask. Over the many years spent serving the Church, the silver-haired youth had gotten used to empty praises and compliments, simply accepting them with silence. What was the point of being friendly and talkative beyond the bare minimum when neither adoration nor gratitude meant anything to her? Caren hid her frigid indifference, portraying a false face of civility while fulfilling her duties.
It wasn't for the sake of some reward or grand ambition. She was just bored out of her mind, that is all.
"Your piety is inspiring as always," the cardinal said. "Regardless, it isn't appropriate to abruptly call someone so soon after completing a dangerous task. That being said, I hope the sights and hospitality of our holy home have been a reward in and of itself."
Internally, she cared little about the grandiose of architecture or the lavishness of the Vatican, the central headquarters of the Holy Church itself. Veiling her monotonous response, Caren replied. "… Of course, sir. This place cannot be compared to anything else, no matter how much I will witness it. Doubtless, all our brothers and sisters in Christ may agree."
"That's great…" The cardinal then fell silent, the now-burdened look on his face drawing the girl's full attention. "Unfortunately, I must be the bearer of bad news."
Caren blinked. "Your eminence?"
"I'm afraid the reason I called you today is a rather difficult matter to discuss. Tell me, Caren… What do you know about your father and grandfather?"
The girl's fake smile died for a moment as her face went blank. With a capricious gaze, she answered thusly.
"… I was told numerous times by my peers that they were two of the organization's best Executors of the last century." Caren bit her lip, feeling a mixture of emotions, none of them overly expressed. "And that I have high expectations to live up to should I wish to follow in their footsteps. That being said, I have never met them directly since being brought into our Lord's graces. And even now, I do not believe I can ever accomplish even half of their individual achievements."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Caren. Despite your young age and relative lack of skills most Executor missions require, you are still one of the Church's most valuable priestesses."
"It is merely thanks to my special gift, your eminence," Caren said dryly. "While I am grateful to the Lord for it, I cannot take full credit for all that I have done thus far with them."
After all, even someone as twisted as the daughter of that man won't admit her power as a blessing. Even if it helps her save others.
The blight—the stigmata—she has to live with, Masochistic Spiritualist Constitution, made Caren one of the best specialists when it comes to sensing and detecting daemons. Thanks to this, she was far more effective at smoking out and locating nearby enemies of humanity than her peers, more so in that she need not take great efforts in preparation. However, the process was far from a pleasant one, even for someone who was rather neutral towards pain.
"Regardless, you should take pride in what talents you've honed over the years. It'd do well to honour their memories for they would be proud at how far their own progeny has come. Ah, Risei and Kirei Kotomine, I miss those two dearly." The cardinal made the sign of the cross before uttering a short prayer. "Let their souls find eternal rest in the Creator's eternal kingdom."
The gesture was quietly disregarded. If one asked the young prestress how she felt about being related to two legends of the Church, the best she could answer with was… 'discontentment'. It wasn't like Caren hated her biological father and the man who adopted him and thus became her grandparent. Yet, at the same time, Caren felt disappointed by the circumstances of life itself that prevented her from meeting either men. She was raised by her mother's family, following her mother's suicide, never meeting her supposed living birth parent. Being only four when he died as well, she didn't have any memories to go by. Only past accolades they kept in the Church's records. Risei Kotomine didn't appear in her life either, but her caretakers spoke fondly of the old priest, far more often than her own father at that.
'Described as a cold and distant man by anyone who met him… I wonder what kind of person you were, Father—' she quickly cut out that sentiment. 'No. Kirei Kotomine. Were you truly an oddball as the others say, or were you broken just like me? Perhaps, is my personality something I inherited from you?'
It was a crude observation. While she heard in passing that she resembled her mother, she hardly learned anything relating to the man apart from his deeds and cold demeanour. It was a shame she couldn't ever learn the answer to her question directly. But, oh well. At the very least, her expectations were low enough that she would not be disappointed by the answer, whatever it may be.
Caren didn't interrupt the cardinal and waited until he finished his prayers. "Forgive me for asking, but what do my father and grandfather have to do with my summons?"
"Do you know how it was that they met their end?"
To this, she nodded. "Yes. In the magi conflict called 'the Holy Grail War'. Despite having the same name as that of the holy artefact of Christianity, the heretical magi from the Clock Tower use it as merely as a nickname for their ritual in the distant lands of the east. The last one took place almost a decade ago, in the Fuyuki City of Japan, where both my father and grandfather were stationed. I was informed that they perished during the infamous Great Fires of Fuyuki."
"That's about right. Sadly, that's the only version of events we and the rest of the Holy Church were made privy to. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to discern more details as to the matter of the ritual's end or the circumstances of their deaths. That includes the identity of their killers. Some believe it was the infamous Magus Killer who was reported to be working for one of the magi clans participating in the ritual. But it would be difficult to pin the blame on any of the other six participants, more so when it was lastly reported to include not just the heretic magi, but a serial killer as well. We cannot conclude who claimed their lives and no means to know for certain… for the moment, at least."
Caren's interest was piqued. That she was called here was not to be told of the publicized circumstances of their deaths. That much, she was already privy to. Which begged the question, why was she called then? "Your grace?"
"… We noticed that for the last few years, our divine organization has started to run into more issues than in previous years. At first, it was matters related to the mundane world. The government had issued restrictions to move and operate within their territory. We believed it was nothing too serious and have stayed our hand from employing… less ethical means. However, we soon started to encounter opposition where normally none would even bother before."
At the admission of the Holy Order encountering difficulties, the young girl's silence persisted. But she raised an eyebrow to feign surprise for her superior's sake.
"Laughable and unexpected, isn't it? We always know that Christianity is unlikely to replace either Islam or Buddhism, and we never aimed to do so. However, instead of mutual toleration, we detected some sense of… opposition at our distant outposts. The abbeys and monasteries that have acted as beacons for those who wanted to learn about the Almighty and his teachings, as well as bases of operations for our field agents… there's something afoot at the reaches of our domain. This opposition hasn't been limited to debates or missionary work. There have been cases of us losing Executors in the Asian continent."
"I'd heard rumours about the Church losing a few of our agents in expeditions to the Middle East. But we were reassured it was merely rogue heretics and their dead apostles research cropping up in small numbers."
"If it were mere heretic magi on the run from their own organization, they would've been easy pickings for our elites." The cardinal's tone was heavy, suspicious maybe. "We do not doubt that some of our operators may have underestimated the isolated heretics, nor will the top brass assume that neither the Dead Apostles nor the Mage Association are faultless. One must always remain wary of the darkness that besieges our faith. However, there may be something more. A third party, perhaps." A moment of silence was spared before the cardinal met Caren's gaze dead on. "You heard about the formation of this political entity known as ACIN, yes?"