A chill breeze wafted through the park, carrying the scent of wet earth and rotting bark. Dead leaves began to rustle as a meagre annoyance welled up within my heart. The teenager watching me was not the cause, nor was the nature of this world I'd woken up in.
No, I was beginning to run out of patience with myself. The little pussy way I kept reacting to every little thing. Yes, my life was in constant danger. Yes, I did not like venturing into the unknown without some degree of preparation but... I'd never known I was this scaredy a person.
Had years of a monotonous, sedentary and clammed up lifestyle culminated in this? A person who grew fearful at the drop of a hat? That, I could not approve of at all. It was unmanly and unsightly to behold. Such were my thoughts.
The immediate next ones were that I was going to force myself out of that pattern no matter what it took. I think that sort of coping method was called exposure therapy... but I couldn't really be sure, since words didn't really have much meaning on the internet lately with how insistent people were upon using them for no particular reason.
Gah, there it was again. I was derailing.
Slapping myself on the cheeks to curb my rampant musings, I immediately glanced at Shuwen.
"Not to worry, master." He calmly withdrew a hand from his back, "That one did not see me. You are not yet sensitive to the flow of Chi beyond your own so you can not notice it, but the world does not notice my presence if I do not want it to."
I spoke my next words through our mental connection, "The Assassin Class skill?"
"Ah, Presence Concealment? I do not possess such a skill."
My confusion must've been apparent, as he continued, teaching even on the cusp of a potential battle.
"The Sphere Boundary. That is what allows me to do this. To her, I must appear as nothing but air. A part of nature. I can also read the flow of Qi around me, thus I know her servant is right beside her. Possibly considering if you are the same as her."
Despite how impressive Shuwen's understanding of Qi sounded to me already, I doubted I was even close to comprehending the true depths of just what that truly entailed.
Nodding my head, I stared right back at the person I assumed, no, knew to be Rin Tohsaka. The Master of Archer, an unreasonably powerful servant, and the definitive 'Lord' of the entire city of Fuyuki and its surroundings. From what I remembered, she was a somewhat reasonable person. Just how reasonable, I couldn't say.
"Can I help you?" I asked calmly.
Her eyes widened faintly, seemingly surprised, "Do you think I'm an idiot? I saw you look at my command seals."
Hmm...
"Command seals? What are those? I just thought it was strange for someone your age to have tattoos." I shrugged, putting on a composed expression as I held my chin and lied right through my teeth, "Chuunibyou? I didn't expect that."
"Wha-? That won't work on me, alright?"
I even craned my neck, 'confused' by her totally odd (correct) behaviour.
"Well, I guess you can expect much from a sixteen year old."
"I'm seventeen." She said that like it changed anything at all. "That's irrelevant. I don't think you seriously expect me to fall for this, right?"
"Are you insane, lady? Leave me alone."
She grit her teeth and raised a fist, visibly embarrassed. To her, it must have seemed like she made a rather idiotic mistake... Of course, if she were a more reasonable person, she'd probably back off... but Rin Tohsaka was Rin Tohsaka, someone who unabashedly called herself a genius. She couldn't possibly make a mistake like this.
Before I knew it, she was marching over, crushing dry grass underneath her boots.
"Show me your hand."
"Ew."
"D... Did you just say ew to me?"
I stared at her blandly. Then, slowly, I took a step back, shoving my hands into my hoodie, "Are you some kind of pervert?"
Her eyes widened to the utmost.
"You-... Listen-"
"No, you listen. You can't just solicit random people in broad daylight to feed your weird hand fantasies. I'll call the police if you don't leave me alone."
"I'm not-, I don't-" She stumbled over her words with red ears, closing and opening her fists, "I... I'm sorry for my behaviour, mister."
Likely, Archer had said something to her as well, seeing as she became even redder out of nowhere. I scowled and turned to leave. It was a bit hard to understand what happened next. I knew for a fact though, that it was not just the wind, no matter how much it looked like it. Empty air tugged up both of my sleeves at the same time, and I most certainly wasn't quick enough with my reaction to hide the marks under my forearm.
Then, I had to take the initiative, while she was still subdued.
My Crest came alive and cursed energy rushed to my arms as I spun halfway, bringing down my hand in a winding chop aimed at her shoulder. Rin reacted out of sheer instinct and raised both her arms at the same time just in time to block my strike. Though she intercepted it, her forearms bucked and began trembling under the weight of the impact.
Rin Tohsaka hissed sharply from the sudden pain but kicked at the ground to throw herself backwards. She rolled backwards and stopped only once there was a distance between us, though she remained on her knees, cautious and observant. There was clear apprehension on her face now.
"I don't want to fight you, but I will if you force me to." I dusted off my hand against my stomach.
She pursed her lips, "You have some gall saying that after attacking me unprovoked."
Dead leaves rustled by the wind passed by us.
"Rushing towards someone that way's considered assault too." I pointed out.
Rin seemed to consider my words a moment, but I doubted she would ever back down. That was just not the kind of person she was. I was. But, strangely, the thought of having to run away again began to upset me.
"Is that so?" She said finally, "Well, we can just both call it even this time. It's not like we can actually fight during the day."
...?
Ah, she didn't know what servant I possessed, and still doubted just how strong her own was. I put a hand against my chin, rubbing the black marks along it. For some reason, that seemed to put her even more on-guard against me.
Shuwen... did he really stand a chance against Archer? Sadly, I was unable to muster up confidence in that possibility. Actually, as the master of Assassin, the only way of combat suited to me in this war was decidedly watching the others fight, and seizing the opportunity to jump an already weakened servant for a kill.
All the servants were rather powerful in their own right, after all.
Or, if Shuwen could distract Archer long enough, I could outright attack Rin here and now. Strangely, I had no apprehensions about that at all. I somewhat liked her as a character though... and it wasn't like she done me any harm.
"I'm fine with that." I agreed, "Though, I'd prefer not to fight with you just yet."
Her gaze sharpened, "And why is that?"
I racked my mind for an explanation, running through all that I recalled. One immediately rushed forth. That was,
"Berserker. Annoying as it is," The words flowed too smoothly, "I don't think I can overcome Heracles."
The Berserker-class servant summoned in Fuyuki was Heracles.
Her eyes widened. "Heracles? That Heracles? The greatest hero of Ancient Greece? Son of Zeus?"
I only gave a small nod.
The only scenario in which that servant would lose was one that only came about as a whimsy of another servant, Gilgamesh himself. I couldn't see him losing against any one servant otherwise.
"You're free to not believe me but, he's here, beyond a doubt."
More like his master was more than happy to reveal the identity of her servant... but, to be fair, Heracles was strong enough to warrant that level of confidence.
"And I don't think he's going down without several servants teaming up."
I could veritably see the gears in her head turning with every word that left my mouth. Deep down, Rin Tohsaka was a magus. She indeed possessed the ability to pragmatically consider a situation for an ideal, and victorious outcome.
"Then, we should-"
I cut her off, "You should confirm it for yourself before we discuss anything further."
Mostly because I needed to make some considerations too, I did not doubt Archer's abilities, but I doubted that even him and Shuwen together could defeat Heracles completely. Maybe, just maybe if another servant were added to the mix.
Two people came to mind.
Bazett, and Shirou Emiya, the main character himself.
"Alright." Rin agreed faster than expected. "I'll do that then."
"I'm willing to help if you find another servant too."
"Why-... No, I get it. It's ideal for both of us if other conflicts are two-on-one."
My chances of victory would increase exponentially. At the same time, if I had a flimsy alliance with another master, I could count them out as potential threats at least for a little while. Though, truth be told, most of my strategy was based on what I knew of them through a screen and little else.
Of course, Rin remained apprehensive. She had no reason to trust a stranger.
Thus, I extended an olive branch.
"Watch out for Caster. She's attacking indiscriminately." I inclined my head, "Civilians too."
Now that she no longer had access to the Assassin servant, she'd likely seek out another master candidate. That was, hm, wait a second,
"Wait, I think we might be able to ambush her." I raised my hand.
Rin did not answer, waiting for me to explain.
If I remembered right, there was only one other person she could possibly go after to acquire that extra servant she wanted. That meant...
-
Hope you enjoyed.
Please do comment what you thought, and be sure to tell me if there's any differrence in quality.
You can find a couple chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap. Again, not that many rn, but should be fixed by next week.