Chapter 51 - Stake
Churches were places of sanctuary. For millions around the world, they represented the bastion of faith against the doubts and fears of life. For travellers on cold nights, they stood for shelter and warmth. More literally, every night around the world the Executors hunted down monsters and heretics to help the helpless.
Unfortunately, such sanctuary was not quite so literal as to provide, for example, defence against a horde of tentacled horrors swarming onto the grounds. This was, admittedly, a rather
specific form of sanctuary, but under the circumstances Risei felt it was far and away the most important.
With the deaths of Rider and Assassin, Caster's army could grow without limits. Now the wolf was at the door, and Risei would defend his home or die.
But he did not stand alone.
Risei stood in the centre of the church – lashing tentacles had long since smashed every window there was to smash, and gibbering fiends crawled in from every side. Next to him stood Tohsaka Ren, proud and firm even after what he had endured under Assassin, conserving his strength and moving stiffly but letting loose with blasts of flame whenever one of the creatures made it too close.
Between them lay a simple golden cup.
And, everywhere else, Lancer slaughtered his foes.
No creature survived a single swipe of his spear, and he moved like lightning around the church to fend off the attack from all sides. Before the ichor from one monster could even stain the walls his spear was buried in the next, and he would be across the room shredding more before the first had even stopped twitching. The ferocity and skill of Vlad III fighting in defence of something he cherished was like nothing Risei had ever seen.
But… he wasn't quite as fast as he had been half an hour ago. He bled from dozens of wounds, and though he seemed not to notice, his savage grin had become a grim frown over the course of the battle. No single creature could hurt him – but over time, they would bleed him dry.
And even so, Risei was unsure whether Lancer would last longer than his Master. Already Tohsaka was breathing heavily, despite casting only a handful of spells. When Risei, towards the start of the War, had asked how painful the strain was from maintaining a Servant in battle, Tohsaka had simply responded that it was better for Lancer to finish battles quickly. Risei had heard 'excruciating' and asked no more. Assassin's 'hospitality' had not helped matters.
He wished there was something he could do to help. Instead he simply waited, as the tide of monsters closed in.
Eventually, mercifully, there was a reprieve. Lancer appeared at his Master's side, panting, and the two leaned against each other for support.
All around the trio, horrors lined the walls of the church, surrounding them on all sides – except in line with the door. Any hope Risei felt that they might be leaving an escape route was dashed when the door opened, and four figures strode through, stopping only a couple of dozen feet away.
Two of them were blonde, elegant-looking women, who were startlingly similar in features and wolfish demeanour. The Edelfelt sisters – Risei had only met them when they registered and not since, but Tohsaka had had plenty to say, particularly about the younger, whom he'd clashed with more than once.
But while the Masters looked similar, the Servants were even more so. Both were tall, pale dark-haired men, and were they wearing the same clothes the only way to tell the difference would have been the slight gauntness in one's cheeks – and the glint of madness in his bulging eyes. Instead, that one was wearing blue and purple robes and carried a book, while the other wore dull grey armour and bore a sword.
Caster and Saber. The same Servant at two points in his life, somehow summoned twice thanks to the Edelfelts' Sorcery Trait.
"You," growled Lancer. "You would stoop to attacking a church? Caster I would expect this from, but I somehow expected better from you, Saber."
Saber didn't react, simply gazing at Lancer with morose eyes. "I have a wish, Lancer. In the face of that, aye, I would defy even God."
Caster simply cackled, as though finding it all hilarious.
With obvious distaste, Saber said, "What is so funny, Caster?"
"Why, I am simply delighted that you are finally seeing the light! Surely now even you must accept that God intends to deliver neither salvation to His most pious followers, or judgement to His most depraved detractors. Even as we four, we sinful few assault His very house, still we find no resistance!"
"Do not lump me in with you, monster," said Saber, through gritted teeth. His own Master nodded, although her sister just rolled her eyes at Saber's words.
"See," Caster continued, "They have even prepared the Grail for us! You see, Saber, it is as I said. Our wish has
already been granted! Even now the hand of providence delivers the Lesser Grail into our hands, here, in one of the four locations at which the Greater can be summoned! What better proof that God has long since lost His power to punish sinners?"
This time, Saber's expression was pained. "I wish I shared your confidence, Caster…" Still, he raised his sword. "Moderator, I ask you to step aside. Lancer and his Master must die, but you will be allowed safe passage, should you ask for it."
For a moment, Risei was tempted. Then he saw the mad gleam in Caster's eyes, and the trust in Lancer's, and knew where he stood. For better or worse, it was standing on the opposite side against monsters like that, even if he stood with monsters like Lancer and the magus. He was Tohsaka's ally, neutrality be damned. He shook his head.
"Very well."
Saber flashed forward. There was no fancy swordplay, no flourishes, no display of inhuman skill. Had he duelled Lancer alone, he wouldn't have lasted a second.
But Caster pointed a hand, laughing, and the chittering horde surged forward.
Lancer thrust and checked and swung and stabbed, but no matter how fast he was he couldn't be everywhere. The fiends couldn't co-ordinate with Saber, or even each other – they just mindlessly came on, reaching for Lancer with dripping tentacles, forcing him to abandon his offense to save himself.
Tohsaka grunted, and waved a hand to summon a wave of fire. It drove back the closest creatures, but only for a moment – they were some kind of sea beast, and did not burn easily.
With a thrill of terror, Risei realised that they couldn't hold. The horde crept closer, and closer, and even though Lancer's ceaseless defence sacrificed his chance at a killing blow on Saber to split dozens open like overripe fruit, Risei and Tohsaka were being overrun.
Finally the creatures were so close that Risei could have reached out and touched them. Lancer had been able to keep them back, or protect himself, or fight Saber – two out of the three. Now, his choices had narrowed to one. He chose to lash out at the thrashing tentacles, keeping them off his Master and Risei for just one second longer.
Saber punished him for it.
His sword thrust through Lancer's heart, and Lancer stilled for a moment – before his eyes flashed red and he carried on as if nothing had happened, pushing Saber back and whirling his spear to make up for the delay. Still, with horror, Risei noticed the first few motes rising from Lancer's body.
Risei had to do something. He made to scoop up the Holy Grail, but jerked backwards as the closest creature scuttled forward. Before he could recover, it wrapped its tentacles around the cup and vanished back into the mass of horrors.
"No!" shouted Tohsaka.
"
Yes," sneered the elder Edelfelt. "Well done, Caster – now finish them quickly. If your familiars find Ruler quickly we can end this War tonight."
"I agree," came a voice from the door. "One way or another, this will end tonight."
Ruler stood there, in full armour, her flag unfurled, and her expression deadly serious.
Risei sagged in relief, and he could see Lancer and Tohsaka felt the same way. With two Servants on two, they could make it out of here alive.
Caster, for his part, immediately spun round and sank to his knees in a bow. "O Holy Maiden! Forgive me for concealing myself from you throughout this long War. It pained me to do it – but I felt that you would not want to see me. After all, you found your own blood-soaked monster as a replacement!" He gestured wildly in Lancer's direction. "I wanted to tear him down before I presented myself to you, to prove that I was the only one worthy to stand by your side. I have failed you in that, Jeanne, but give me a few moments more…"
Through all of this, Saber had simply stared in utter disbelief at Ruler.
"J-Jeanne," he said at last. "Is it really you?"
"It's me, Gilles." Ruler's expression, which had been hard and unyielding through Caster's raving, softened a touch as she looked at Saber. "What have you done to yourself, my old friend?"
Saber's sword fell, the tip clattering against the stone floor of the church. His instincts as a knight were the only thing preventing him from dropping it completely, if Risei was any judge. "Jeanne… they killed you, Jeanne. Everything you did for them, everything
we did together, it meant nothing… so I… I… all I wanted, my only wish, was just to see… you…" he looked round at Caster, who was still smiling ecstatically. "You! When you said our wish was already granted,
this was what you meant!? You
knew? Knew, and kept it from me!?" As Saber grew more and more angry, his eyes bulged, and the resemblance to his Caster self grew more and more pronounced.
"I did not want to distract you," Caster said innocently. "My poor self, my poor weak self, who still cleaved to his faith in the Lord, how could the truth not break you? That our Holy Maiden was still bound by God's false promises, that even now she threw herself into the fire to save those beneath her in every way?
"Split as we are, we are weak! You needed to focus, to help me take back the Grail from all those who would steal it from us when it had already chosen us, just as the king stole our lands from us on trumped up charges. The only one in this world who deserves the Grail is Jeanne, and we will be the ones to present it to her."
Saber looked at his Caster self as if seeing him for the first time. "Aye… aye, she will have the Grail. And the next portion of blood to fill it will be yours! Jeanne, I fight at your side once more!" He snatched up his sword and levelled it at Caster, who seemed unworried.
"Don't be ridiculous," sniffed the elder Edelfelt. "Just who do you think is in charge of this partnership, anyway? I knew Caster made the right call in not telling you."
The younger gasped, stepping back from her sister and towards Saber. "Wait, sister, you knew too? How could you not share something like that?"
"Because the Grail matched you with that weak Saber, that's why. Just look at him! I knew he was perfect for you as soon as he opened his mouth – just like you, he's too softhearted to do what needs to be done."
"Elegance is not a flaw, sister," the younger Edelfelt said stiffly.
"No.
Losing is." The elder Edelfelt glanced at Caster. "Caster… I think it's time."
Caster's smile stretched wider than ever. "Oh, my Master, as ever, your clear sight is your virtue. Jeanne, I apologise that you need to see this – it is quite unseemly for a man to be at war with himself in the presence of a lady."
"Nevertheless, I trust that your better nature will win out, as I always have," said Ruler quietly.
Saber beamed at Ruler, then took a stance, expression resolute. "En garde."
Caster blinked, then giggled. "Just so!" He snapped his fingers – and before anyone could react, tentacles emerged from underneath Saber's cloak, wrapping around his throat with deadly force. With a
wrench, his neck snapped.
As he began fading into motes, the younger Edelfelt backed away. "No… Saber…"
Her sister shot her a nasty smile. "Too noble to even consider the possibility of betrayal… it makes me sick that I was ever like you. This once, I think the Edelfelts can do with a single heir. Caster."
With a wave of Caster's hand, the tentacled beasts surged forward again – at Saber's former Master. She shivered and backed away, but held firm. "You're wrong, sister," she said. "I may never have imagined that Caster would go this far… but I have never once felt safe around
you since I was four years old."
Jewels gleamed in her hands – and explosions rocked the church as she flung them into the thick of the horde. She followed up with a spray of black-red shots that hurt Risei's eyes to even look at, each one felling a creature… but it was clear that no magus could last long alone.
To Risei's utter bewilderment, though, she was not alone.
"Hold on!" shouted Tohsaka, of all people, hobbling into the fray, a blast of fire clearing the way. Where the cautious young magus would usually have weighed up every option before taking the risk, now he seemed almost frantic. "Lancer, Kotomine, with me!"
Risei went, covering his head with his hands to protect against the sprays of ichor coming as Lancer slaughtered every monster in reach, motes still flaking off with every movement, still slowly but more and more with each passing minute. Together, they reached the shocked Edelfelt sister, Tohsaka already standing back to back with her to fend off creatures from all sides.
"Ren…" she whispered, eyes wide.
"Shut up," he said, blushing and looking away. "I'm not doing it for you. We just need all the help we can get against Caster, okay?"
Risei fixed his friend with a sceptical look, because that was obviously false even for him. It sounded like there was a history there… but there was no time to explore it. As the final motes that used to be Saber faded away, Caster gave a hoot of triumph and held the Grail high. It had started glowing, a pure golden radiance.
"It begins!" he raved. "Five Servants fill the Grail – soon, it will be complete. Jeanne, witness it! Witness the blasphemy I make of the Grail before I lay it at your feet!"
"Enough," Ruler said, stepping forward. Her flag slammed into the floor of the church, squashing a tentacle monster that had not scurried out of the way in time. "Gilles, enough, please. I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, but this isn't you." Her face fell, though she immediately raised her head to look Caster in the eye. "No… that's what this is about, isn't it? This is you. The hurt and pain left behind after you'd lost me. I'm sorry, Gilles. I ignored who you were for so long, but that's not fair, is it? You were crying out for someone to see you. Well, I do now."
"Jeanne…" said Caster, reaching out with both hands.
"And I forgive you."
Caster froze.
Risei could feel in the air that something had changed.
"You… forgive me?" Caster said.
"Of course I would," Ruler said, smiling. "Gilles, even as the people shouted, and threw stones, even as they lit the fires under my feet, I forgave them. How could I not forgive my oldest friend, when it was my fault for not being there to guide him?"
Caster pulled at his hair, muttering. "No, no, no, no…"
Ruler tilted her head, puzzled, apparently finally realising something was off. "Gilles?"
"No!" Caster screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. "You think I want your forgiveness?! You think I want you to take my sins as your own?! Jeanne, Jeanne! You, of all people, must condemn me! You are the only one who can! Even if God fails to punish me, you, Jeanne, must make up for his mistake! You
cannot forgive me! You cannot forgive France! You cannot forgive the world that took you from me!"
Ruler seemed taken aback. "But… I'm sorry, Gilles, but I do."
"You can't!" Caster raised his head and screamed to the heavens. "
I won't let you!"
And the flood of tentacles poured over Ruler. She swung her flag, slaying three with each stroke – but she was not the fighter Lancer was, and she drowned in the stinking mass before anyone could react. When it receded, Caster held her by the throat, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Jeanne… my perfect Jeanne… it's alright," he sobbed. "You always needed me, to make the choices you couldn't, to be the villain you could never be. But Jeanne, they killed me too. I'm only a ghost now, only a ghost… you can't rely on me forever." He smiled through his tears. "
So I'll fix you."
He squeezed, ignoring Ruler's frantic kicks and struggles.
Lancer, gritting his teeth through the obvious pain, made towards her – but the wound he had taken from Saber made him slower, weaker. If Tohsaka had still had a Command Spell… but it was no use wishing. Lancer carved through the monsters in his path, but he was not fast enough.
Ruler dissolved into silver motes, and was gone.
Caster withdrew the Grail, now a beacon of pure gold. "It is done! Six Servants have been defeated, six Servants sleep in the Grail – and my wish can be made!"
"What?" said the older Edelfelt, grabbing Caster's arm. "Caster, no! My wish, first!"
Caster threw his Master off him without looking. She disappeared into a mass of tentacles, and screamed only briefly.
Lancer redoubled his efforts, but he was too late. Caster raised the Grail above his head, even as he too began to dissolve. "
O Holy Grail, I wish for justice! I wish for salvation of the Holy Maiden! I wish to resurrect Jeanne d'Arc so that she can take revenge on this cruel world!"
Even Risei felt the outpouring of magic that accompanied Caster's wish. At first a simple pressure in the room – but quickly accompanied by heat, and a malevolence that took his breath away. Silver motes danced in the air in front of Caster, slowly taking a female shape… and slowly turning black as pitch.
"Master…" said Lancer, looking back one last time. "I apologise that I could not win the Grail for you. But my promise to protect your lands has not ended. That, I will fulfil." He looked at Risei. "Risei, my friend… thank you."
"The pleasure was mine, Lancer… Vlad," said Risei.
Tohsaka, still holding on to the younger Edelfelt girl, nodded. "You have been everything a Master could wish of his Servant. I hope… I know we will meet again."
Lancer nodded, and turned back to Caster, who was staring in wonder at the image of Ruler taking shape before his eyes. "Caster… I believed I was a monster. I believed I knew the darkness at the heart of men. But you are more of a devil than I will ever be, and so for the first time I invoke my Noble Phantasm in the full knowledge of my righteousness. For that, if for nothing else, I thank you."
Caster laughed, disturbingly unrestrained. "You are too late, Lancer! My Jeanne returns to the world once more, the strength of a wish guarantees it! How do you think you will stop her?"
"The same way she perished in life," said Lancer. "
The stake.
Kazikli Bey."
And, for the last time, a thousand spears exploded from the ground. They skewered monsters by the hundred. They drove into the steadily reforming shape of Ruler and dispersed it entirely.
And they pierced straight through Caster and the Grail he was holding.
There was a shudder in the air, as though all the magical energy twitched in pain. Then, Risei had to shield his eyes against a blinding torrent of golden light – not flowing out of the Grail, but flowing into it, as everything made of magic immediately turned into golden motes and was drawn in.
Dimly, Risei noticed streams flowing in from the open windows, as Caster's remaining fiends were captured by the Grail too. The Grail itself floated on the stream, blindingly bright.
"The Grail is trying to repair itself!" Tohsaka shouted. "It's still trying to incarnate Ruler and complete the wish! But it can't! It's too damag-"
With shocking suddenness, the torrent stopped, every scrap of magical power in the church consumed. The Grail hung in mid-air, making awful creaking noises – before imploding, leaving absolutely nothing.
The Third Holy Grail War was over.
After that… well, there was a lot of pieces to pick up. Police to reassure that, yes, the gang war really was over, and no, Risei couldn't tell them how. Scared locals to coax back into normal life. Newspapers to tell about the pack of bears that had escaped from the zoo and caused havoc, probably due to global warming.
And, while Risei technically had no reason to stay in Fuyuki now that the magical artefact he was looking for would reappear no sooner than sixty years in the future, he found he didn't want to leave. He was always welcome at the Tohsaka house, where became a mentor and friend to Tohsaka's young son Tokiomi. He couldn't think of a better place to raise his own son, and did just that when Kirei was born.
After long years, the horrors he'd seen of the Third War faded into distant memory. Even when Command Spells appeared on young Tokiomi's hand, Risei's first feeling was of nostalgia – Tohsaka Ren's had looked almost the same. After all, despite the terror, had it not been one of the most important experiences in the teenage Risei's life?
And, he told himself as he met Tokiomi's new and uncertain Rider, he was much older and wiser now. He wouldn't let things get to the same state they had before.
Surely the Fourth War couldn't be anywhere near as bad as the Third.
