Chapter 50 - Shaft
Things got worse.
Through occasional updates from Tohsaka or Einzbern, Risei followed the course of the War. Lancer had finally slain Berserker, although it had taken an entire night, the help of Ruler and the release of his Noble Phantasm. As far as Risei understood it, it had only been once Ruler arrived that the pair had been able to dislodge Berserker from the residential area where Lancer's Noble Phantasm would have caused horrific damage, and from the sounds of it she had arrived in the nick of time to protect the surrounding area from Berserker's own Noble Phantasm.
Once they finally managed to push Berserker into the outskirts of the Einzbern forest, Lancer was able to put him down – but not without cost: unfortunately, Assassin had taken this opportunity to kidnap Tohsaka from his own house, passing through the wards with a combination of luck, skill and tactically applied brute force.
From the sounds of things she and her army of torturers had attempted to coerce him into forcing Lancer to obey her orders via Command Spell, having decided the Servant of the Spear was too difficult to take on directly and too valuable a resource to be wasted.
In the end, Tohsaka had seemingly succumbed and used two of his three Command Spells to ensure obedience, followed by a third to summon Lancer directly to Assassin. However, this had only been a ruse. Tohsaka knew full well that even a Command Spell could never force Lancer to obey a command so antithetical to his nature as to kneel to another, and trusted in his Servant to do what needed to be done.
Lancer had indeed carved a bloody path through Assassin's torturers to rescue his Master. However, Tohsaka was now all but bedridden, and could hardly move without pain.
In time, Tohsaka assured Risei, he would be fine – but he refused to talk about just what he had endured under Assassin. The mental damage might have been even worse than the physical, for someone as security-conscious as Tohsaka Ren to have been abducted without anything he could do about it, never mind that it had been by the Class exalted to the Throne of Heroes for doing things exactly like that. Worse, Tohsaka had not seen Lancer since, and with no Command Spells he could no longer compel him to do anything.
The Masters of neither Berserker nor Assassin had survived to surrender to Risei, which neatly sidestepped the problem of just what Risei was supposed to do with them. Neutrality be damned, he wasn't sure if he could simply say nothing and give sanctuary to someone who had allowed Assassin free reign over his friend. Maybe in a few years he'd be able to dissociate himself enough to bear it, but not now.
Still, Risei's dubious neutrality aside, he did still have a job to do, which is why he was once more on his way to a negotiation. This time, it was the Master of Rider who had requested his presence 'to guarantee a surrender', whatever that meant. The incentive for doing so, however, was significant – a complete cessation of activity from the Celtic warriors who had been causing so much trouble around town.
This was no small thing. While it was true that Risei had had no reports of the warriors directly kidnapping people the way Caster's creatures did, they were still a rowdy menace who seemed to think nothing of looting whatever they wanted from any shop or bar they could force their way into. They also violently clashed with the police whenever encountered, and Tohsaka had had to do some very fast talking indeed to prevent the frantic local commissioner from calling in the Imperial Army to restore order.
And, worse, they seemed to be… evolving? Improving? They had certainly changed since their first appearance, at any rate. The ones Risei had encountered had been tough and fearless, but as subtle as a fist to the jaw. The green-cloaked one that had passed him the address of the hotel he was currently outside, however, had melted out of the shadows of Risei's garden in broad daylight, then disappeared into the woods just as quickly.
As Risei approached the hotel, an honour guard of five more warriors appeared, as if escorting an envoy – or a prisoner, he couldn't help but think.
Inside in the lobby, more of them lounged, drinking, singing, and generally making merry. Despite that, Risei saw, their weapons were never far from their hands, and at least one in every group had their eyes on the entrances to the room at all times. When they saw Risei's escort, they relaxed and waved them on.
Strangely, the hotel's employees were still working there. At first Risei feared the worst, an entire hotel taken hostage and forced to work for a Servant, but though they eyed the warriors' weapons nervously, the staff didn't seem fearful for their lives, instead acting with every appearance of genuine enthusiasm – even a strange kind of deference. Risei filed it away in his head as something to check up on later, but said nothing.
He was led to the elevators (
extremely posh, Risei reflected), and hustled inside, where a warrior carefully pushed the button for the top floor, frowning in concentration as though using a tool he'd heard described but never seen.
Eventually, they reached the penthouse. Any other time, any other circumstance, Risei would have very much appreciated the chance to look around a room – apartment, really – like this. While he had stayed in his share of hotels and bunkhouses across the world, the Church did not generally spring for luxury. The penthouse was opulent to the point of decadence, plush furniture on marble floor, paintings on every wall and sculpture on every side table. One side of the apartment boasted a set of enormous windows, boasting possibly the best view of Fuyuki that Risei had yet seen.
The warriors led Risei through the apartment, and to what seemed to be the master bedroom. Again those huge windows, again the artworks festooning every available surface, but this room was dominated by an enormous bed, large enough for ten people to lie in.
This was not a guess on Risei's part.
Risei was a devoted member of the Church, and a firm believer in the necessity of marriage before sex. That said, he was still a teenage boy, and even if he had practice in not acting on his lustful urges he was self-reflective enough to recognise that he most definitely had them. The scene he had walked in on was one of the most severe temptations he had ever suffered, all the stranger for the fact that he had zero interest in ninety percent of the participants.
That remaining ten percent, though… Risei's thoughts fogged up when he looked at the woman – a Servant, she had to be – in the centre of the orgy. Long, pink hair, a physique seemingly designed to be as perfect as possible, and an impish expression of satisfaction which sharpened to a smirk when she saw him. Risei's heart raced even at the eye contact… and he tried to maintain that eye contact, because the alternative was looking, er, pretty much anywhere else in the room.
"Well, well, Mister Moderator!" she said, in a voice like honey. "I'm ever so sorry, but I got bored while I was waiting for you, and you've found me quite unprepared. You'll forgive me, won't you?" She stood up, and sashayed across the room to put on a silken dressing gown. Risei tried not to stare.
"Yes," he said thickly. "That is, it's quite alright. You seem to have the advantage of me…?"
"Naturally! I
do take advantage, whenever I choose… oh, you meant my name? Silly boy, didn't you just see?" The Servant leaned forward - Risei still wasn't looking! – and lowered her voice to a husky growl. "I'm
Rider."
Risei gulped, and Rider giggled. "Anyway, I hope my braves didn't cause you too much trouble on the way here?"
Somehow, Risei found his tongue. "Uh, no. Not at all." Something tiny in his brain fired, some last grain of truthfulness. "Actually, yes. Your… braves are occupying the city illegally, and menacing the residents. Before we proceed, I'd like to ask you to stop."
"Menacing?" Rider tilted her head, the picture of innocence. "I suppose my braves can be a little boisterous, but boys will be boys. As to my occupying the city… well, yes. This is a War. What else would I be doing with my army?"
… this was going nowhere. Risei got the feeling that Rider would lie, cheat and steal her way out of trouble in a heartbeat if she had to, but he considered himself a decent judge of people and his instincts were telling him that Rider really didn't have any clue that what she was doing was wrong.
"May I please speak to your Master?" he tried. "Perhaps two humans from this era can come to an easier accord."
Rider frowned, and Risei fought down the irrational urge to apologise. "Well, if you must, but you'll have to wake him up first." She gestured at the pile of heaving naked bodies. "He's in there somewhere. He gets tuckered out so easily, he really is no good at all."
"…perhaps later," Risei said.
Rider beamed, and wandered over to a side table, where she uncorked a decanter of dark red liquid. The air filled with the smell of honey, sweet and intoxicating, and Rider's voice echoed just as sweetly in Risei's ears. "It's a promise! Anyway, I bet you're wondering why you're here."
Why, yes, it was so he could present himself to this perfect goddess and beg her to let him serve her forever, right?
No, hang on, there was something before that. Risei fought through the hazy fog his brain had become, and distantly made a connection.
"A… surrender?" he said. Risei took a deep breath to focus – a mistake, as his lungs just filled with more of that
incredible scent. Still, he managed to make another connection. There didn't seem to be anyone else here, so how could he fulfil Rider's wish by helping her with this surrender? "Whose?" he asked.
Rider giggled. "Why, yours, silly!"
Part of Risei felt he should be terrified. But the much, much larger part was ecstatic at the opportunity he was being offered – he would have the chance to serve Rider after all!
The mystery of the hotel staff downstairs was easily solved. Risei nearly offered to join them himself, but it seemed like Rider had other plans for him.
"What…" he licked dry lips. "What would you like me to do? I'm hardly anyone special."
"Oh, I don't know about that…" Rider purred, stalking closer. "Shirt off."
Risei almost tore it in his haste to comply. He shivered as Rider ran one perfect hand down his shoulder, then his arm – then gasped in pain as the Command Spells there responded to the foreign magical energy.
"
There it is," said Rider, a greedy glint in her eye. "I do love treasures, Moderator, and the power to compel Servants is a treasure indeed. Won't you give them to me?"
Risei nodded. What on earth was he thinking of, letting these Command Spells just go to waste like this? They were meant to be used, and he could think of no-one better than Rider.
"Excellent! Master, come here, the Moderator has some presents for us."
Rider's master lurched to his feet. He was fit, and clearly in excellent shape, but he looked exhausted, the bags under his eyes deep enough Risei would have been surprised if he'd slept more than a few hours since the start of the War. Wordlessly, he offered his arm to Risei.
Risei focused on the Command Spells, and began the incantation to begin their transfer. "
Take, eat; this is my blood-"
And then, without warning, that huge window blew in – not just the window, but almost the entire wall. There, a bloodthirsty angel with spear in hand, stood Lancer. His long coat swirled dramatically in the cold night air whipping through the room, and silhouetted against the night sky of Fuyuki, all Risei could see of his expression was sharp teeth bared in a savage snarl.
"Jezebel!" he thundered. "Unhand my friend, or face judgement!"
"Unhand?" said Rider, giggling, seizing Risei's arm with an iron grip completely at odds with her slender physique. "Chopping bits off the Moderator seems a little dramatic since he's being so co-operative, but if you insist. Does anyone have a knife?"
Hearing that, Risei struggled – and only realised as he was doing so that he was able to conceive of resisting once more. Lancer's entrance had dispersed whatever Rider had put into the air that had made him act like that. Under the circumstances, then, screw neutrality.
"She has some kind of mind control," he blurted. "That liquid, in the decanter…"
"That's quite enough out of you, I think," Rider decided, pulling on his arm – only to let go with a yelp as Lancer's spear thrust between them. "Hey! Those are my Command Spells! Get your own!"
Lancer reached out with his free hand and pulled Risei behind him. "Command Spells? A chain for a beast. If the bond between Master and Servant is true, there is no need for such a thing."
Risei had ducked behind Lancer, but these last words confused him. "But… after Tohsaka used his Command Spells, you left. We thought… we weren't sure where you had gone."
Lancer looked surprised, before nodding in comprehension. "Ah, of course, I had not contacted my Master when you last spoke to him. I was hunting down Assassin once and for all, and felt my Master could use some rest after his ordeal." He looked… hurt, if anything. "Was your faith in me that weak, my friend? Command Spells or no Command Spells, Tohsaka Ren is my Master, matched with me by the Holy Grail itself. I promised that I would defend his lands, and a king never breaks his promise."
"I didn't know what to think," Risei said. "But you are quite right. I should never have doubted you, and I apologise. But how did you find me?"
"Ruler had a vision," Lancer said, as if that explained everything. Perhaps it did, come to that. Whether the revelations Ruler received were genuine miracles or not was something Risei was hardly equipped to judge – but whatever their provenance, she certainly believed they came directly from God. In the circumstances, Risei was not inclined to argue.
Rider backed away, looking extremely annoyed. "Well, not that this isn't lovely, but you've quite ruined my evening. I hope you're proud of yourselves. But don't go getting cocky now." She reached behind herself, and Risei opened his mouth, but not fast enough. "After all, you've only had the barest taste of
My Red Mead."
From behind her back, Rider swung out the decanter, spilling mead in a dazzling arc – even in the dim lights of the penthouse the drops of liquid shone like rubies. The smell of honey and perfume slammed into Risei's mind like a truck, and he started forward, intent of getting a taste for himself. He would do
anything – sell out his own mother, trample on an image of the Lord, kill a kitten without a single question, anything just so long as Rider would consider granting him even a single drop of the divine liquid-
Lancer's outthrust arm blocked his way, and when Risei tried to push past anyway it may as well have been an iron bar.
"Hold on, my friend," Lancer said. "Rider, your blandishments have no effect on me, for faith is my shield. Release the Moderator, and I will make your end swift."
Rider huffed. "Ugh… one of
those types. You really are an incredible bore, you know that? Braves! Can someone kill this grumpy old man for me? I'd be ever so grateful~!"
Warriors leapt to their feet, and more poured in from the stairwell, and in seconds the room was filled with armed men, each and every one howling for blood. Risei was frantic – with all this competition, how was he meant to be the one to kill Lancer? He'd never get Rider's reward at this rate!
He needn't have worried, though – because as fast as they came, they died.
None of Rider's 'braves' were a match for Lancer. Not the swordsmen, who died before even coming in range. Not the archers, whose arrows Lancer batted out of the air contemptuously. Not the mage-types, whose spells Lancer simply ignored. That oddly crooked metal spear flashed and flickered, faster than Risei could follow, and wherever it went dead Celts followed.
Rider stomped her foot, seeming more annoyed than anything. "Grr… fine! I'd wanted to keep him in reserve, but… go! Kill him, Archer!"
From nowhere, a figure in a green cloak appeared, firing some sort of wrist-mounted crossbow. Again Lancer's spear flicked out to deflect it – but the force nearly jolted it out of his hands, and Archer had already ducked and weaved away from the counterstrike, his hood falling from his face.
Archer looked
awful, twice as bad as even Rider's Master had – red hair lank around a pale face, drawn and emaciated. Risei didn't know how Rider made her braves, but it didn't take a magus to figure out why her later models were suddenly expert woodsmen. Just how long had he spent as her captive?
He had no time to worry – Archer shot twice, and though the first was deflected once more by Lancer the second flew straight at Risei. Lancer was out of position to block it, and Risei ducked knowing it wouldn't be enough-
Without hesitating, Lancer stuck his arm in the way, the arrow lodging itself in his wrist. Rider cackled.
Lancer looked at his arm as though it belonged to someone else, then back up at Archer. "I am sorry for what has happened to you, Archer," he said. "I would have preferred an honourable duel."
Archer actually cracked a grin at that. "
I wouldn't," he said. "Have you seen me? Have you seen you? The only time I'd usually go up against a monster like you is if you were caught in a pit trap full of poisoned spikes, and even then it'd need to be a pretty deep pit. But, well, the lady's got orders, you know how it is."
Risei nodded, despite himself.
"A shame," said Lancer. "Your old Master knew how to use you far better. In our entire duel, at the start of this War, I caught only a single glimpse of you – and that was what saved you. Rider, you are a failure as a queen and a failure as a commander."
Rider pouted. "Rude! What would you know about it, anyway?"
Lancer bared his fangs. "By my skill, by my legend, by the grace of God and by the valour of my armies was a great empire halted. I am the
only true military commander in this entire War. I am Vlad III Tepes, called the Impaler, and I will show you
why."
The sudden panic in Rider's eyes as she seemed to realise what Lancer was about to do was shocking for how quickly it replaced the confidence. "Archer, save me!" she shrieked. "
Fergus, My-"
"
Kazikli Bey."
Then, everything was spears.
With the death of Rider, Fuyuki was no longer patrolled by packs of roving Celtic warriors.
Within a day, Risei had cause to regret that.
As the sun rose on the final day of the Third Holy Grail War, Caster's creatures could be found across half the city.
And on the final night, the siege of Kotomine Church began.
