Dozens of books all around her, spreading like a sea of knowledge on the table. She turned the pages as fast as she read. Concentrating as hard as she could, searching for the description of that person in the Japanese stories of yesteryear. With eyes that seemed to look into the soul. Like a murderous shadow in the night darkness. Someone who thinks only of himself. Selfish and disgusting, but at the same time really mysterious.
'There is nothing...'
No matter when she would search through the pages of books, no matter how much history of Japan she read, she could not find the story of the blissful Servant, Assassin.
Her hatred, with those simple words she heard that night, transformed into the uncertainty that had buried itself in her heart. Those words were still etched in her mind and questions were born from there.
'Who are you?'
It seemed that Assassin never existed in the history of Japan, let alone in the records of the Magus of ancient times. The shinobi originated in the Edo era of Japan and are still around to this day.
'He has the Mystic Eyes. There should be something about his exploits recorded in history.'
Unless the Assassin himself is so little known that his story was never documented. It seemed ridiculous, but she even thought about the possibility that Assassin doesn't belong to this world. Not only was the magic that boy used strange and unknown, but also his eyes, which did not at all resemble the Mystic Eyes of legend.
Those eyes even seemed to have more abilities than just seeing the end of things. With this in mind, surrounded by the yellowish white walls made of wood and decorated with pictures and bookshelves, resting her head on the table, Saber sighed wearily.
"There you are..."
Someone suddenly enters the study. Saber realizes it's Irisviel and smiles as somehow this was becoming a strange sort of habit. Saber is concentrating, thinking and racking her mind with heavy topics, and out of nowhere, Irisviel emerges from the shadows to make her relax.
"History of Japan...?"
She asked. Saber looked at the title of one of the books and nodded.
"I'm looking for Assassin's history."
"Is that to find his weaknesses?"
Saber shakes her head. She wouldn't be able to look for her enemies' weaknesses like that. That would not be gentlemanly.
"The weaknesses of opponents are discovered during battles. What I want to know is beyond Assassin's weaknesses. I just want to know who is or was..."
"Why would you need to know that?"
In her innocence, Irisviel asked her question. Saber, before answering, gave her a glimpse into her own memories. She saw her own mistakes and projected them onto Assassin.
"I..."
There was something she wanted to check.
"I want to know if he's lying."
A person who carries Assassin as a class can't be completely honest, just as she can't be completely deceitful. She was hesitating because of that very thing.
"Assassin was saying very confidently that he would win this war. But when he left he seemed to doubt himself. It may sound stupid, but that doesn't leave me alone since it happened..."
"I understand... Assassin is a very young boy. If I remember his appearance, he looked to be about the same age as you. Maybe that's why you're so worried..."
"Well, he... he called me a child..."
"..."
Irisviel for a moment was silent. Then...
"Pffff... hahahahahaha!"
"Irisviel...? Why are you laughing?"
"Well... haha... it's just... what's wrong with it? It's what you are."
Saber looked away with a bit of embarrassment.
"Well. It's just that he doesn't have the right to call me that when he seems to be the same age as me."
"Maybe he may have had his reasons for saying so. But even if that's true, he's the enemy..."
Saber had forgotten about that because she was so involved in the investigation....
"That's right. I had forgotten."
She looked at one of the illustrations in the book. It was a man with a large cloak covering him from his feet to his neck. She remembered Assassin and shook her head. She finally closed the book and got up from her seat.
"I'll go check on Maiya."
-Southwest area of Fuyuki City-
He no longer had the will to refuse. He was simply yielding to Kirei's command. He walked in the darkness and sighed hot air. His daggers were stained with blood and beneath his feet the corpses of three men who had died drowned in their own blood.
'The loophole in the order...'
There was something that Kirei did not take into account and that Toru took advantage of in order not to kill innocent people. The order said [Murder Fuyuki's people and, taking the mana of your victims, become stronger] But the order was not very specific. So, in this, Toru was lucky. He decided to kill the people he considered evil.
Yes, he has no right to decide who is bad and who is good, but there was no other choice.
'Looks like Kirei wants to cover up my kills with the Caster Master's kills...'
It was a bit of a cheat to do that, but there was no choice. The men under his feet were trying to abuse a drunken woman walking alone through the streets of this city. Toru saw the opportunity and purged the evil in one fell swoop.
'Who are you?'
The drunken woman fell backwards as she saw Toru kill the men instantly.
He just looked at her thinking of what to say.
'Go to the nearest police station. Once there, tell the officers to help you get home."
At that, a clone appeared saying:
"I will accompany you so that nothing happens to you."
The beautiful, black-haired woman blinked a couple of times, confused.
"Am I seeing double?"
"Yes. You're drunk."
She was answered by the clone. Just then, the original Toru disappeared with a great leap.
***
Tonight's massacre started in a dead end next to those three guys lying on the ground and will continue in many other places.
He held the daggers tightly and tried to deny the murderous impulses that compelled him to move forward. It had been quite some time since Toru had killed anyone. In fact, since he killed Danzo, he hadn't killed anyone else again.
He had forgotten what it felt like to have the blood of enemies flowing down his hands. That feeling of extinguishing the lives of those who stand in his way. Maybe that was why Toru, when he was between 13 and 14 years old, so easily killed anyone who crossed him. The feeling that this generated in him....
'I haven't felt like this in a long time...'
Now that his outlook on life was clearer, extinguishing lives became more important. Perhaps Kirei did him a favor by giving him that order, for those emotions reawakened in the depths of Toru's heart. He, after all, is a descendant of the Uchiha clan and the last son of the Asahi clan. The love of chaos and war courses through his veins. Growing hatred dwells deep in his subconscious and a taste for battles pulsates strongly in his arteries.
"There is more..."
Sudden information came to his mind. There is a group of gang members roaming the area.
"I thought this town was quiet, but it seems that at night it turns into hell..."
He shook the daggers hard to remove their blood and his eyes looked to the right.
"Dansu..."
He stomped his foot hard on the ground.
"Gyakusatsu."
And he propelled himself forward. From one split second to the next, Toru found himself running through the streets like a shadow among the neon lights. He crossed his daggers in front of his face and sharpened his gaze.
[May death dance at the hands of this city and may the blood of the fallen decorate my body with the power of their spirits.]
One of the skills he received upon being summoned activated after saying that. So, like a predator emerging from the shadows generated by the bright lights of the night, he bared his fangs and looked at his prey with a pleasant smile.
Yes, he had decided that he would not kill anyone not involved in the war, but this is an order from the Command Seal. There's no way around it. Still, that order was what awakened that dark side in Toru.
***
And as the killing began, Toru's clone looked at Rin silently, from the shadows. He didn't know why she was here, but he followed her to see if he could discover anything. A child alone in the middle of the night was enough to lure Ryūnosuke.
'I'll take care of her.'
If anything happened, the clone would take care of alerting the original Toru and the original Toru would fly across the city from the sky to arrive instantly.
"Although that order from Kirei sure is troublesome."
***
'The compass has never done anything like that before.'
Rin thought. The compass Tokiomi gifted her was moving. The needle was turning slowly, it wasn't pointing anywhere specific and that was because there are a lot of mana traces.
'Maybe...'
If she follow her path using the compass reactions, Kotone's possible whereabouts would show up. Even if fear whispered in her ear to run away, she advanced with determination.
She moved down one of the alleys, looking everywhere in case anyone saw her. She hid near the garbage cans, behind the poles, watching everything and watching for a compass reaction. As she passed through an alley, the compass needle began to turn a little faster. It was then that, on the other side of the alley, where he entered, she saw a man walk by with two children holding hands.
"Those two..."
She recognized them. They were the children who were bothering Konote on that occasion.
***
'Ryūnosuke...'
The clone's eyes glowed. He narrowed his eyes and exhaled a small cloud of hot air. It seemed that Kirei's command also affected the clones. In him lay the desire to kill Caster's Master, but Rin is also here and, considering that Caster can appear and that Ryūnosuke himself is a Magus, he couldn't risk jumping in and killing.
'What should I do...'
Better to keep watching and see what happened, or just disappear and report back to the original.
The clone took the second option as valid and clasped his hands together. It disappeared enveloped in a cloud of smoke after doing that.
***
Blood splattered after the sound of a gun detonation echoed. There were more lifeless bodies strewn on the ground. All showed signs of resistance. Some had iron bats, others had bladed weapons of different sizes and the last one, who just fell to the ground with his throat slit, had fired a revolver into Toru's face.
"What in Japan was not regularized the carrying of weapons?"
It was strange, but in the astonishment of any country anything can happen. So overthinking that was not the solution to all problems, well, there are exceptions.
"Hm..."
But to interrupt his killing spree, new information came to his mind.
"Rin-san..."
Remembering why he was fighting, he came back to himself. He saw the dead people in front of him. He saw the blood on their clothes, on their daggers, on their hands... He stood there, silently pondering. Even if any of them deserved death, he had no reason to kill them.
'I'm not an executioner, but...'
The fact that it felt good to kill them all was what ignited another feeling in his heart. What do I want for myself, why am I doing this? For a few moments, for being carried away by his darker fascinations, he was sidetracked. Killing to live is a law of nature, but killing for pleasure is something quite different.
"However..."
Her eyes continued to glow with the light of the Shigan.
"I can't stop a Command Seal order by myself..."
That means, if he goes after Rin, he won't be able to control his body because of the order. Then the time had come.
"How much mana will I get from killing the Caster Master?"
Will it be enough to stop the order? He thought. So he turned around, still covered in blood, and took a mighty leap. Rin was not to stand alone next to that assassin, otherwise she will also die.
***
Rin followed the man until she reached a subway. When she went down the stairs, she saw that the compass needle began to spin even faster. So, sensing no one nearby, she opened the door and entered what appeared to be a seedy bar.
'What is this...?'
There were some kids lying on the floor and, among them....
"Kotone!"
She immediately walked over to Kotone and took her in her arms.
"Kotone... What's wrong with you?"
Kotone's eyes were open, but they were dilated. No, she wasn't dead, but she seemed to be in some strange trance that had her that way. Rin worried about that.
"There are more here..."
Aside from Kotone, there were two more children lying on the ground. They were just like Kotone. Rin wanted to help them. Besides, that man seemed to be gone, as there was no trace of him.
"Easy, I'm going to get you out of here."
She said, but instantly felt a shiver down her back. She turned around and there he was. Ryūnosuke was looking at her with a serious expression.
To be continued...