Keep running.
Annoying sweat from his forehead dripped onto his eye, before he hastily wiped his face with his sleeve as he continued to sprint.
Don’t stop running.
The only thing on his mind was to escape.
“Keep on his tail, don’t let him out of your sights!”
The man jumped down into a ditch to get some cover, but failed to land properly and his back slammed onto the ground.
“Agh! Damnit.”
He turned himself upright and crouched lightly on his feet, carefully surveying his surroundings. There was a troop of policemen and SAT units, all armed with some sort of firearm and bright flashlight attachments that blazed through the darkness, searching for their target. He was currently in a rural area, on the side of a wide, plain mountain with plenty of trees, ditches and rocks. This would usually be a grazing place for the animals that the farmers raised, but tonight, it was a searching ground littered with men in blue and black on the hunt for one single man.
An officer shouted through a megaphone. “Okay son, I’m warning you right now to stop trying to resist capture! Let's just keep this easy for everyone and nobody else needs to be harmed!”
As if. He can’t let himself be captured, not now. There’s so much more he has to do for the good of this accursed place, for this reason alone, he can’t stay idle rotting his life away in a cell.
The man took a peek out, and was instantly greeted with the sight of policemen, searching around the fields with flashlights in hand. They scattered around, communicating with and coordinating with each other. this force was seriously hunting him down, even more so than other previous groups. His reputation as a dangerous arsonist seems to have become more than he could handle.
Suddenly, one of the flashlights’ beams suddenly swerved left to his direction, and in that very instant his instincts kicked in and he pushed himself down onto his back into the ditch.
“Hey! I think I saw something move over there!”
Damnit, a small glimpse of movement and they found him. Even if he managed to get out of the ditch in time, he was surrounded by cops in all directions. He had to use force to get out of this situation no matter what. He’d never win under normal circumstances, since he was both encompassed in all directions and vastly outnumbered. However, he was no normal person, after all, if he were, he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. Quietly, he murmured a chant. “Soul to fire.”
Hot magical energy in the form of od began building up and spreading under his skin, as if he opened floodgates to searing energy that spread through his entire body in seconds. He hated this sensation, it was like small channels of scalding water coursing through his magic circuits, but he bore with the pain and channeled the flowing magical energy onto the palms of his hands. The energy swirled and created areas that attracted nearby mana to a pair of gloves that the man is wearing. With that, numerous patterns appeared on the gloves he wore. They were the man’s mystic code, an amplifier that allowed him to harness the one element that his magecraft was specialised for: fire.
As he leapt out ot the ditch, waves and sprites of flame circled in his palm, increasing in strength and size with a sparking sound in front of the shocked policemen that surrounded him. His eyes were filled with stress and exhaustion, but also gleamed with a sheen of frustration and anger. With thrusts of his hands, he unleashed the flames forward, scorching those in front of him and striking them down with enormous force, igniting those that were hit into blazes. The fireballs travelled straight like a double helix before running out of energy, enough to create a pathway for a brief moment. The man didn’t hesitate, and jumped forward through the gap the moment he landed.
The policemen were too caught up in awe from his display of apparent pyrokinesis to react properly, they knew the man was known for committing arson, but they never would have thought that he created it in what seemed to be an act of magic. In that mere moment of mental paralysis, the man once again ran as hard has he could. His aching legs instantly screamed of pain once he jolted his legs forward into a sprint. Once the cops realised what had just happened, he was already making another escape, and some of the platoon began to burn alive.
“HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU-!” A few cops began to chase him as soon as they got back to their senses, until a commanding officer interrupted their charge through the communication devices. “Attention all units! This is your commander speaking! Squad A, tend the injured! Squad B, pursue the culprit! deadly force is permitted if he retaliates further! Chief Inspector Falcom speaking, requesting backup from nearby forces, I repeat, requesting backup from nearby forces!”
With that command, the troops were already back into coordination, and to make matters worse, more were coming. He was in serious trouble now, again he had killed just to make an escape, but he couldn’t care less with his goal in mind. He scanned the area for somewhere to hide as he sprinted through the plains, his body aching in pain as he moved it. On the horizon of the hill behind his own, he saw a cottage with a half open shed to its side. The man looked behind him to check on his pursuers, they were visibly armed with rifles and handguns, hunting him down like a pack of rabid dogs. Fury and tears filled their eyes for their comrades that fell in that moment. They began to blindly shoot at him once he was in their sights, screaming with rage and vengeance. Thankfully, that emotion clouded their aim, and thus the man was able to avoid the firepower. He once again charged up od into his gloves, and shot flames at his chasers, igniting enough people to put them into disarray to stall for more time.
He immediately turned around and made a mad dash to his goal. He burst into the shed, swinging the wooden doors open and making them crash onto the sides of the wall. Quickly gaining composure, he quickly brought the door halves together, locked them from the inside, and haphazardly barricaded it with nearby large objects. Tired and aching, he took a minute to catch his breath. His entire body was sweating hard, with muscles that hurt from strain. He was in desperate need of a rest. Surveying his surroundings, he found that the wooden shed was cool in this peaceful night, faint moonlight entered the room through a small window. The shed was full of different materials and tomes. Even in his tired state, he could instantly recognise what kind of place he stumbled into.
“Tch...just my luck.” He had stumbled into a Magus’s workshop, the type of place that he hated with every fibre of his being.
He was likely surrounded, and it probably wouldn’t be long before the policemen broke the door down. His stamina was low, he had just cast two spells and finished running from a long chase, he didn’t know if he would have the energy to endure another.
“Agh, maybe this place has something I could use,” he muttered to himself in pain. He surveyed the table, there were many items as a magus’s table would have. Trinkets, spellbooks, tools, but what picked up his attention was a small stone fragment and the few notes written down next to it. He glanced at the text, and once he read them, his eyes filled with shock. This was no ordinary magus ingredient. This was a catalyst, a small piece of the Sessho-seki, more known famously as the Killing Stone.
What? Then that means…
The man looked at the ground behind him and finally saw the pattern he did not notice since he first came in. It was a summoning circle, used to summon a servant through a summoning ritual to fight in the Holy Grail War.
“What the hell is this doing here?”
Egregiously recalling memories of his magus training, he remembered that the grail wars were meant to have ended since the grail itself was destroyed. A magus should not have been able to participate in the non-existent war, let alone summon a servant.
Is this guy stupid? This fool knows the wars are over right? Unless…
Unless some unknown force or rule had changed, and a new war was starting once again. He recalled the rules of the grail war, how seven magi were to summon seven servants of different class to fight against each other in the form of a battle royale. The reward for winning the battle would be the holy grail, an omnipotent relic that would grant any wish.
Any wish…
Then it clicked inside him, this was exactly what he needed to achieve his final goal.
Suddenly, the doors began to bang hard. Muffled yells could be heard from outside. “HEY! OPEN UP!” “WE KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!”
He sighed. “Well, no time to waste, might as well give this a shot.”
He prepared the catalyst on the summoning circle. Found a nearby blade and slit open his thumb, blood dripped onto the circle, activating it as it glowed a beautiful scarlet. He tried to recall the lines for summoning, and chanted them as fast as his mouth could move in his current state.
“Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let grey the colour I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.”
The banging on the door continued excessively. He began to sweat excessively under the pressure and stress.
“I hereby declare. Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be your spell. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. If you will submit to this will and this reason, then answer! An oath shall be sworn here! I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven. I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell!”
The banging continued, he grit his teeth.
“From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, Come forth from the ring of restraints, Guardian of the Holy Balance!"
A loud noise shook the shed, vials fell from their shelves and glass broke, and the man was knocked back from the sheer force and hit the wall, hard.
“GAGH!”
Yells from the outside could be heard through the wood. “What happened in there?! Get the bastard out!”
The man tried to compose himself, his left hand began to have a painful burning sensation. Turning his head back, he groggily looked in front of him, and his eyes widened upon what he saw.
In front of him stood a breathtakingly beautiful woman that covered herself in ornate robes of blue and black, decorated with gold lace. An opening on top of her clothing revealed a bit of her upper body and a considerable amount of her cleavage. Her pink hair was decorated with ribbons and a golden crown with bells hanging of it. She had two orange-ish brown fox ears that matched the color of her eyes, which shone like gems in the moonlight.
“Hmhmm, I’m surprised! I was summoned with three tails this time. This magical energy is something else...you’re an impressive little master aren’t you?” This was his servant, stolen from someone’s preparations, but nonetheless his own.
She spoke again. “Servant class Caster, the pretty Tamamo no Mae is at your command! Are you my new master?”
He was completely in awe with the woman that appeared before his eyes, until the banging outside brought him back to his senses.
“Uh-huh...Alright Caster, I am indeed your new master, and while this is sudden, I’m going to need you to help me get out of a rough situation.”
The banging on the door started to get harder, the policemen were likely using a some heavy object to ram open the door. Through the walls, the voices of the commander could be heard. “Final warning Haruto Kijima! We know you’re in there. If you continue to resist, my troops have permission to use deadly force and you will be shot on sight. Turn yourself in and we might give you a chance at trial.”
Caster smirked. “Haruto...Kijima...ehe! A troublemaker are we? Judging from the way you look, you seem extremely worn out no?”
He sighed, his servant clearly isn’t grasping gravity of this situation. “Cut the small talk Caster, I need your help to get out of this place. A grail war’s going on, right? If you know where it is, then bring us there as fast as possible.”
“Well, you’re quite down to business there, I like it. Alright master, I can sense an immense amount of energy gathering in a specific location, and its patterns are just like that of a holy grail’s. I’ll be able to transfer our physical bodies to that location quite easily due to the immense magical output you seem to be giving me, so I think I’ll be able to make our journey quick and simple.”
As the banging outside was got more intense, the door seemed to be beginning to break in areas. There wasn’t a lot of time before their barricade gave in, and the man named Haruto realised this. “Perfect, please do take us there as fast as you can.”
“Alright then master, then let us make our-”
“Wait a second.” Haruto interrupted. “Let me do something first.”
With this, Haruto chanted the same words he murmured in the ditch once again. “Soul to fire.” Magical energy rushed under his skin and into one of his gloves, and just like before, he gathered mana into his right hand and ignited it, before tossing the fireball at the shed’s walls, splattering flames across the wall as it hit that quickly spread across the wooden planks.
“Wha-?! Master, what are you doing?!”
“No time to talk Caster, get us out of here!”
“R-right!”
And in a flash of light, the man named Haruto and his servant Caster disappeared, leaving the wooden shed to burn down, and the policemen to think that Haruto Kijima had committed suicide.
---
It was a large stretch of a grassy plain, there was no sun, nor sky. There was only blinding light that stretched to the horizons that surrounded that grassy plain, and on it, a young boy that stood in the midst of the bright space.
In this ethereal plane, two figures appeared in front of the boy, a man and a woman. They each took one of the boy’s hands in one of theirs and walked with him in between. They smiled at the boy, to which the boy responded by smiling back. The boy began to laugh, and delightfully swung himself with their hands. They were the very image of a happy family, merely having a walk together. Suddenly, the boy let go of their hands and excitedly ran forward, but when he turned around, the man and woman were suddenly walking in the other direction.
They were leaving him.
The boy’s expression changed from happiness to distress, his eyes widening and his pupils shrinking. He ran at the leaving figures, but they only seemed to move farther away from him. In a final act of desperation, the boy shouted at the disappearing figures.
“Mother! Father!”
A young man jerked up on his futon in shock, sweat dripped down his forehead, his senses raised until he realised what was going on. It was just a dream, just a dream he told himself, but it was dreams like this that haunted the man since childhood. He sat on the futon, wiping his forehead. He was a young, well-built growing man, a little muscular, but not overly so. The girls found him to be an attractive person, but he paid them no such attention, unlike most boys his age.
A voice called from the hallway. “Sora! Wake up! Breakfast is almost ready!”
The boy shouted a reply from his bed. “Got it! I’ll be there in a bit!”
Alright, time to get up. he thought to himself. He raised himself from the warm futon, and the cool spring air gave him a soothing feeling under his clothes. He walked out into the hallway of his massive house, and took a look outside. The sun was shining bright in the blue sky this peaceful spring morning, the sakura trees were in bloom and covered the view with beautiful pink flower petals. It was a tranquil morning at the Emiya residence, one of many so far.
The boy named Sora strolled into the living room, where a woman with flowing purple hair was working in the kitchen. She wore a white shirt and a skirt that was a similar shade of purple as her hair, but more vibrant. The woman was cooking a bountiful breakfast for two and noticed him entering.
In recognition, Sora greeted her. “Morning Sakura!”
“Ah! Morning Sora, did you sleep well last night?”
“Ah! Morning Sora, did you sleep well last night?”
The question made Sora recall the dream he had this morning, he debated talking to Sakura about it, but decided against it. “Yeah, slept like a log. Spring’s quite a comfortable season to sleep in a warm futon like mine.”
Sakura giggled adorably. Even as a grown woman, Sakura Matou was still someone you would still consider cute. “That’s good to hear Sora~. Now, breakfast is ready.”
Sora smiled, Sakura was an expert at making breakfast. After all, her teacher was Sora’s very own father, Shirou Emiya, who he had heard was a master of the kitchen. Despite his family blood however, Sora did not share the gifted culinary skills his father had, so Sakura usually made his meals for him.
This morning’s breakfast was a stereotypical british style meal: scrambled eggs, baked beans and smoked bacon with toast on the side. It was a simple platter of english food, but Sora loved it. His mouth was watering. He politely said “Thanks for the food.” before he began to gorge on his delicious breakfast.
“How is it?” Sakura asked.
Sora replied with a gleam in his eyes. “Fantastic! Ten out of ten as usual! Your breakfasts always make any morning of mine just feel complete!”
Sakura beamed at the boy’s compliment. “Ehe, thank you!”
Making Sakura happy this morning made Sora equally so. The two weren’t related by blood, but their relationship was a very close one regardless. With how much he treasures and depends on her, Sakura Matou might as well have been Sora Emiya’s foster mother. She grew up taking care of the boy in the absence of his parents. So while not directly related, Sora and Sakura treasure each other like family, and love each other just as much as a mother and son.
The two conversed like normal over breakfast. Sakura talked about her job and her recent increase in sales. After she graduated from high school, Sakura took on language and writing skills, and eventually became a freelance novel writer. Her books had a bit of a rocky start, but eventually, as more people recognised her skill in writing fiction, her stories began to become more popular with young adults, and she eventually became very successful.
After breakfast was finished, they cleaned the dishes together and watched the morning news. While the reporter was idly chatting about the weather, Sora brought up something that was on his mind for a while.
“Sakura...do you know if they’ve found her yet?”
Sakura’s expression shifted, and bit her lip a bit before she gave a reply. “No, we haven’t heard from sister since she disappeared a few days ago. I’ve been hoping that we’d be able to find some sort of lead, but if she really just left without any trace…”
There was a brief silence in the room. Rin Tohsaka was a gifted magus and the the heir to the Tohsaka family. After graduating from the Clock Tower in London, she came back to Fuyuki to study magecraft on her own, and to take care of unfinished businesses. She’d been helping her sister Sakura with her troubles when she returned, and had kept close ties with her since. After Sora reached a more mature age, she eventually became Sora’s mentor in magecraft after much persuasion from him, and had taught him in the ways of magecraft. Her unexpected disappearance a few days ago worried the two greatly, as she gave no indication, hint, or trace of where she could’ve gone.
Sora took the lead to break the awkward silence. “Well, I believe Sensei should be capable of taking care of herself. She’s a very powerful magus, so I don’t think that just anyone can kidnap her, and if she disappeared so suddenly on purpose, she must have a good reason for doing so.”
Sakura looked down in worry. “I hope so. I really don’t want anything to happen to my sister...even though…” She cut herself off and began to blank out, tears soon welling up in her eyes.
Sora knew this was rough for Sakura, Rin was her biological sister, and the two had gone through very rough moments in the past. Since then, they were able to reconcile with each other and bury the events that happened before, to start anew as older, matured siblings. So Rin’s sudden disappearance had taken a very large toll on Sakura,. In an effort to make her feel better, Sora got up and gave her a warm hug of comfort from behind. She was a bit shocked at first, but eventually melted into it.
“Ah...thank you...”
Moments passed since that time and it was approaching afternoon. With the morning done with, Sora was about to go out for a walk before Sakura stopped him.
“Sora, wait a moment”
Sora quizzically looked at her, “What is it Sakura?”
“Uhm, I forgot to tell you this...but before sister disappeared, she told me to relay a warning to you.”
Sora’s expression turned serious. If Rin was concerned for him, it was likely due something related to his life in magecraft. “What is it?”
Sakura looked at him straight, “Do you remember what the Holy Grail War is?”
The Holy Grail War…
Of course he knew. The battle royale between 7 magi and their servants in a fight to the death. About 20 years ago, his father Shirou participated the fifth one with his servant Saber. Rin and Sakura had told him stories of his achievements in the grail war, defeating powerful enemy servants like the Gorgon sister, Medusa and her pegasus, Herakles, the demigod son of Zeus with twelve lives, and even the almighty Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes with an infinite amount of noble phantasms.
Despite their powerful enemies, his father Shirou had triumphed over all of them with his Saber class servant Arturia, more well known as King Arthur. That same man took pity on and saved a homunculus girl named Illya after her servant Berserker was beaten, defeated a warped priest with the help of an Azoth Sword given to him by Rin, and finally, he destroyed the corrupted grail threatening the lives of millions of people in a mere two weeks. These stories of his deeds and achievements were told by both Sakura and Rin since he was young, usually before bedtime. He learned that his father had done all of this because he strived to become a hero of justice, an ideal passed down to him by his grandfather Kiritsugu of helping and saving others no matter the cost.
It was this very ideal and the achievements that his father gained that led Sora to idolise him. He looked up to the person he barely remembered, but knew well from the things that Rin and Sakura told him since childhood. Stories about how stupidly stubborn he was, and how he never once gave up his dream. He entered the heart of his servant Arturia, and saved her from her own warped ideal, allowing her to achieve peace and happiness by the end of their time together. It was because of all this that Sora respected him more than anything in the world, and saw him as an ideal person. It was because of this respect that he begged for Rin to take him as her student, and teach him in the ways of magecraft. It was simply so he too could chase the ideal of becoming a hero of justice, and follow in his amazing father’s footsteps.
As Sora was lost in thought, he snapped back when Sakura continued. “Well she wasn’t sure, but she seemed to have theorized the return of the holy grail...and that a war is likely going to start again.”
This shocked Sora greatly. “Another war?! Didn’t dad destroy the grail during the fifth one? How is it possible that another one’s starting?”
“Yes, we thought it was strange too. But the energy patterns were too similar, and Rin wanted to warn you that the chance of you becoming a master is very likely.”
If the last reveal shocked Sora, this was a whole new level of danger. “Me?! A master?”
Sakura spoke again, anxiousness clear in her voice. “Yes, with your father’s magic crest, you’re able to use his unique ability of Tracing, which is a complex form of magecraft. Not to mention, the summoning circle from two grail wars ago is still in the backyard shed. So my sister wanted to warn you that while the grail war is going on, you should try to refrain from attending school or going out, since Fuyuki will likely become a lot more dangerous.”
Sora was taken aback by the sudden revelation, perhaps this was related to why Rin had disappeared and why Sakura was so worried about her. The grail war would be dangerous, he knew that. But if he could become a master in this war, he could follow in his father’s footsteps and save people as well.
He could finally become the hero of justice he wanted to be.
“Okay Sakura...I’ll be careful. Thanks for telling me this, although it’s a lot to process right now.”
“That’s no problem, but try to be back as soon as you can, and please...take care.”
Sora grinned to lighten the mood. “Alright, I’ll be back by 3:30. See ya later!”
Sakura smiled back and waved as Sora walked out of the house, “Goodbye~!”
Leaving the gate, Sora began to walk down the long path to the shopping street. Miyama town was a considerably sizeable town, which was to be expected, as the slight majority of Fuyuki consisted of it. Despite its size, Sora had always found it easy to navigate, it didn’t take very long to get to places that he wanted to, and it didn’t take him very long to find out where he wanted to go. Today he merely planned to go shopping anyways, so he didn’t need to stay outside for very long. Because of that, he hoped he could get back home safely without any issue. With Rin’s warning, Sora knew this wasn’t something he could simply jump into without knowledge. The Holy Grail War is a dangerous ritual, and the events alone could cause massive damage and ruin to the city.
Casualties are a definite loss to factor in, a battle like this would mean that some people will get killed and die. Sora knew that not all of the masters wouldn’t be fighting with honor or pride, some people will use as many dirty or underhanded ways to get their way, and with a prize like the Holy Grail, you could hardly blame anyone for holding back that way. Even if they did use honorable tactics, would their wish be a just one? Their wish could potentially cause more destruction due to the nature of the Grail. If only there was a person who could fight against corrupt masters, a person who would do their best to protect the innocents, a person who would willingly destroy the grail and make sure that more people could continue living their happy lives.
If only he would be there to act as a hero of justice during that inevitably harsh time.
“Ah, I’m here already.”
While he was caught up in his thoughts, he realised that he had already arrived at the shopping district.
It was bustling with people walking around with bags of goods in their hands, the sounds of salesmen, and customers exchanging and buying goods. It was an average day at the shopping district, as expected. Sora smiled, it was a relaxing atmosphere in a strange way, possibly because of its sense of familiarity. He breathed in the market air, “Welp, time to get our food for the next few days,” and with that, he pulled out his list of things that he needed to buy.
He spent about an hour in the shopping district searching for the groceries. Fish, potatoes, daikon radishes and other goods filled his bag. By the end of his errand run, he had a bag full of food and other minor things he thought would be useful. He began to walk out of the shopping district with the intent of heading home until he heard a familiar voice call his name in a particular fashion. “Emiyan! Hey, Emiyan!”
The voice belonged to a woman named Otoko Hotaruzuka, more known by her nickname Neko-san. She was the owner of Copenhagen, a liquor shop that Sora’s father Shirou worked for during his youth. After her father retired, Otoko took over as the owner for store, and continued to allow the place to have prosperous business even after his retirement. Just like his father before him, she nicknamed Sora ‘Emiyan,’ a pun with her own nickname. Sora didn’t expect to see her out today, so he didn’t even have time to reply before she had made her way to him.
“Whew! Hey there Emiyan! Heh, glad I managed to catch you.”
Somewhat taken aback, Sora managed to blurt out a reply in his surprised state. “N-Neko-san! Good afternoon. Is something the matter?”
A big grin on her face, she laughed. “Haha, nothing much, nothing much. Just walking around the district. How’s Sakura?”
“She’s fine physically, although I don’t know if I can say the same for her emotional state. Ever since Sensei disappeared, she’s become a lot more paranoid and depressed.”
“Ah...yeah, that makes sense. It’s sad, I hope nothing serious happened to her, but in this day and age you really don’t know…”
Neko-san noticed Sora’s face was beginning to darken. “Ah-ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to dampen the mood!”
Sora pulled out a smile before wistfully looking at the sky. “No...it’s fine. I just hope they manage to find her and bring her back safe. It’s really been affecting Sakura and it...it just hurts to look at her like that.” Sora let out a stressed sigh before he found Neko-san rubbing his head.
“Hehe, you’re a good boy, Emiyan, just like your father. I know that until Tohsaka comes back, she’ll be able to depend on you like always.”
Sora let out a genuine smile. “Thanks Neko-san, that means a lot.”
His reply made her grin wide. “Don’t sweat it buddy. Oh right!”
She reached into her bag and grabbed a big bottle of fine, expensive looking wine.
“Here, give this to Taiga for me. I was planning to bring this to her, but since you’re here, I might as well have you do it for me.”
“No problem! I’ll make sure I’ll do that.” Sora replied.
Smiling, Neko san handed him the bootle. “Thanks Emiyan. I’m gonna have to go now, I’ll catch you later.”
Sora waved as she began to walk away. “Thank you, goodbye Neko-san!”
Holding the bottle of wine, he put it into his bag of groceries, it was a really heavy bag, but he should be able to manage it well. He checked the time on his smartphone, it was 3:15. He’d have to book it to get back home in time, and that certainly wasn’t happening with a full bag.
“Well, it seems there’s no helping it.” He messaged Sakura that he was going to come back a lot later than he promised, and began to walk the trek to the yakuza hideout.
As Sora walked back up the hilly road to his house, he went back to thinking. The fact that the peaceful town of Miyama has not only took part of one but two Holy Grail Wars in such a short time was a bizarre event in itself, so Sora was even more trouble that there was another one taking place so soon. Why would that be? There was definitely some outside force that was causing this change, let alone allowing a new war to happen in the first place. The last grail was destroyed by his father, so could it possibly be a new grail causing this? If so then who created it? The Einzberns were meant to have given up on the ritual after the fifth one, so this wasn’t something they had a hand in, so what was it.
As walked to the yakuza place with only his own thoughts to keep him company, he found himself alone on a small road. Here, he managed to feel eyes on him, a presence that he noticed instinctively, but had ignored until now. Since he was a child, Sora was a very sensitive person, able to react to things well, a skill that Rin had honed when teaching him to be a magus. It was almost on the level of a servant with the Instinct skill, which came in occasionally well for detecting danger or sudden movements. However, there was nobody else on this barren pathway, yet it felt like something, someone, was monitoring his actions. As a quick wind blew, he turned around quickly and surveyed the area.
Nothing.
It may have just been his imagination, but in a time where the grail war was taking place, naively thinking that way could be fatal. So even if he was currently an innocent bystander, he had to have his guard up at all times as servants could always be watching his every motion. He double checked the area around him, looking around to make sure he was truly alone, before continuing down the path. As he continued, eyes hidden under bandages could be seen in the shadows, speaking to themselves as quiet as a whisper.
“Sora...Sora...Emiya...”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Statistical Updates:
Caster:
True Name: Tamamo No Mae
Master: Haruto Kijima
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Height: 160cm
Weight: 49kg
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: D
Noble Phantasm: B
Class Skills:
Territory Creation: C (Because it seems that her personality is not suited for it, Tamamo-no-Mae has difficulty in even manufacturing a workshop.)
Personal Skills:
Divinity: A (A wakemitama of a certain Divine Spirit... Of course, she has a top rank of Divinity. This current level is the result of repeatedly putting seals on seals on her Divinity.)
Shapeshift: A (Tamamo-no-Mae knows a shapeshifting method used by Daji of the Shang Zhou Revolutionary Period (Fengshen Yanyi), but she doesn't feel like making much use of this due to a trauma in her past.)
Witchcraft: EX (Her style of Witchcraft is the Dakini heavenly methods. It includes methods to discern one's time of death and secret arts to obtain influence, such as methods to attain status and fortune (for men) and methods to gain the favor of influential individuals (for women). Lamenting harshly on and learning from the experience in her past, she does not feel like making much use of this.)
Fox's Wedding: EX (A form of the Item Construction skill tampered by Tamamo. By lopsidedly declaring a wedding, a sun shower of blessings is shed and souvenirs are pushed on ally-like individual in congratulations; truly a Cheat Skill that can only be described as miko-fox.)
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