Tokiomi frowned at the continued ringing of the telephone. An unpleasant thing, a reminder of the world away from the magecraft to which he devoted himself. And, for several minutes now, it had not stopped ringing. He carefully suppressed a sigh - elegance in all things - and walked out of his study, down the stairs, and stood at the table that held the one telephone in the entire house. As he glowered at it, however, it ceased ringing. His frown deepened and he turned away - only for the ringing to begin anew. He picked up the receiver and brought it to his ear, his mind formed the words he was going to say -
"Papa!" His calm demeanor cracked at the sound of his daughter's cheerful voice.
"Rin!" Before he could scold his daughter, however, a different voice giggled - still childish, but not his daughter's voice at all.
"Oh, don't worry, Tokiomi. I haven't touched her, and she's not here. I considered it, of course, but … not this time. Maybe another." His eyes narrowed at the calmly-delivered threat, and he felt his Servant appear down the hall, watching him.
"What do you want?" Another laugh, this time a dark chuckle, dripping with menace.
"He is there, right? Down the hall, perhaps, or behind you, watching and waiting, arrogant red eyes narrowed in hostility. You give him a message, Tokiomi. If he is fortunate, this time there will be two corpses. You tell him that." The other line disconnected and, frowning, Tokiomi replaced the telephone on its cradle. His eyes crept to the Servant in the hall, the sunlight reflecting off his polished gold armor.
"Well, Tokiomi?" What did his Servant know? What did he suspect? Tokiomi bowed slightly - the proper display of reverence for his Servant.
"I was told of a message for you - that if you are fortunate, this time there will be two corpses." He opened his eyes and stood straight, looking for any effect the words had on his Servant. But Archer - Gilgamesh, the oldest Hero and the strongest Servant - simply stood there, expressionless, eyes distant. Tokiomi's own eyes widened in surprise - that Archer was expressionless …! Then the Servant sighed quietly and turned around and began walking through the house. Tokiomi followed him, curious and unnerved - and he grew worried when a certain "key" appeared in Archer's hand. "Archer!" The intransigent Servant ignored his call and stepped outside the house, ignoring the rules of the Holy Grail War, and Tokiomi fought down his anger. He could use the first of his Command Spells, of course, but so soon, and for what could possibly be nothing. Might be nothing ….
He followed his Servant outside, watched as Gilgamesh drew forth the "sword," the unstoppable Noble Phantasm. "Enuma Elish." The words were spoken calmly, the "sword" thrust forward without violence, but even so Tokiomi flinched and covered his eyes at the pouring light and the tearing sound. And when they faded he stared aghast at the path of destruction, the line of annihilation that led from his home through the city of Fuyuki … straight to the church. Stunned, beyond words, he slowly turned his head to the golden Servant, desiring an explanation - but Gilgamesh was already walking forward, his "sword" put away and the telltale ripples of the Gate of Babylon forming around him. He advanced into the destroyed area - and there he stood waiting.
How long had they stood there? An interminable amount of time, it seemed. And then he saw the figure that Archer stood waiting for. He frowned, trying to make it out, but it seemed … false, somehow. Human, but not. Beautiful and bestial. Perfectly precise and perfectly wild. And … a Servant. A Servant covered in hair one moment, dripping wet mud the next, and at the same time, impossibly, inhumanly beautiful. But not a Servant he could identify, one that refused to abide by the rules of the Grail War …. And then the Gate of Babylon opened.
A torrent of weapons burst out, hurtling toward that solitary, distant figure. The Servant seemed to hesitate - then flung itself toward Archer. The multitude of weapons did not bother it - Tokiomi's eyes widened as he sought to discover how it was protecting itself from the infinite flood of Noble Phantasms, but it seemed as if it was simply shoving them aside! Was there a chain floating about the Servant, or was that just his imagination? Was this strange Servant really so powerful as to simply ignore the threat posed by the Gate of Babylon? He started to raise his staff, perhaps to lend some feeble aid to his own Servant - as if he could do anything to add to that - but his arm began shaking before he could even come close to claiming he was ready. What was going on?
And then the strange Servant broke through the wall of weapons, hurtled toward Gilgamesh, an expression of - Joy? Sorrow? Fear? Pain? And Archer did not flee, but raised his arms - and when the strange Servant slammed into him, Gilgamesh threw his arms about it, and the two wrestled. If it was bothered by the armor, by Gilgamesh's seemingly unfair advantage, the strange Servant did not show it. And as the two Servants silently grappled and slammed each other into the ruined ground, Tokiomi's eyes widened and his face paled. There was only one being that could do such a thing -!
"Yes." The childish voice behind him somehow did not surprise him. "My Berserker. With such a perfect catalyst, who else should I have chosen? Of course, this one hasn't been broken by a whore. No, this is the true form, wild and untouched, of the world and of the gods." He turned slowly, not curious, but still wondering why - "Because Berserker might still lose. And as a Master, I have the duty to prevent that, if I can." The pale, silver-haired, leather-winged child held up her left arm - what would have been her left arm. Instead of flesh and bone, there was simply a forearm-shaped swirling mass of blood and power, and inscribed upon that swirling mass were three Command Spells. The creature grinned and sighed before turning to look at the dueling Servants. Her voice turned from serious to whimsical. "Really, though, it's kind of a shame the internet is so undeveloped at this point in time. Can you imagine what it would be like if people livestreamed this on YouTube? Haha! Oh, that would be great. Ah, don't worry, though. Look up there." Blankly, Tokiomi looked up into the sky. A … balloon? An airship? "A zeppelin, of course! With cameras. Oh, don't worry, they'll get the word out before the Church or the Association can do anything." Tokiomi's mind froze.
"What? You …." He turned, tried to continue his line of thought - but a tearing sound interrupted him, and then the creature's wing fell off. She stomped the ground.
"Gah! Stupid bitch-goddess. Yes, yes, fuck you very much, too. I'll be done in a few minutes, then I'm tossing my Grail into the sun, so you can stop trying to kill me." She glared down at her feet, then smiled up at Tokiomi as he tried to understand everything that was going on. It was … impossible. "Don't you worry, Tokiomi. If anything tries to kill me, rest assured you'll die before I do." A final thudding slam from the dueling Servants drew their attention. The strange Servant had bested Archer, held him down - but Tokiomi could see … tears. "Well, Berserker? Kill him. By my Command: Berserker, kill Archer!" The strange Servant shook and shuddered, but somehow refused the order, and Gilgamesh slowly raised one hand to gently brush away the tears that streamed down its face. "… By my Command: die, Enkidu. By my Command: die, Enkidu." The strange Servant shuddered, then relaxed, released from its burden of servitude - and as it faded away, a black spear whistled down through the space it had occupied and split the skull of Gilgamesh. Tokiomi looked at his hand, saw the Command Spells fade. He looked around at the devastation of his city, at the ruination of his yard, at the destruction of the spells that had warded his home ….
"What now?" The sound of the creature vomiting drew his attention - a black mud that burned away the earth beneath her feet. But she stood up, threw away the parasol, and her wing and arm grew out from her body, seemingly formed from that same strange mud until they assumed the same appearance of the rest of her body. She laughed malevolently.
"Okay, so I lied. Hmm … Illyasviel!" Space tore open at her side, and an Einzbern homunculus - a child - stumbled through, eyes wide at the ruin around her. The creature grabbed her shoulder and hauled her to her feet. "There. Assistance granted. Now - we go home!" And space tore around them again, bearing them away to some unknown destination. Tokiomi swayed, then collapsed, his staff forgotten as it slipped from his hand. For some reason, he felt like laughing.
