Walking over to my workshop, I gave the door a few knocks in something that resembled a happy rhythm. "We're in the clear," I added on, just to make sure that they knew it was me.
The door quickly swung open, revealing a somewhat frantic looking Mom.
Her face turned to a grimace, and she quickly snatched my bleeding right arm, causing me to mirror her expression at the pain her action gave.
Perhaps getting Morgan to use Gáe Buidhe on me was a bit much, but I had to make it look real, and stopping it from bleeding would only take some effort as the cuts were shallow. And it made for excellent incentive for Morgan to try and research the spears, as she seemed somewhat interested.
I felt a mystery wash over the gash, only for it to not heal, and that caused Mom's expression to worsen.
Before she could do anything, I grabbed her hand with my other arm, and gave her a small smile. "I'll be fine, and when comparing me with the state Lancer and his Master left in, I wouldn't be surprised if they died on their way back to their base," I said confidently.
That didn't seem to lessen her worry, as she gazed at the many small cuts riddling my body.
Which… admittedly made it look kinda bad, as a good bit of my body was drenched in blood, but only a few of them were made with Gáe Buidhe as I was not suicidal.
"You're bleeding…" she said somewhat absentmindedly.
A snide remark was probably not the right thing to do, so I'd have to handle this with a smidge more tact.
Raising my other arm, I applied some healing magecraft to my wounds, causing them to heal at a visible rate. "See, most of these are just for show, and will disappear with the slightest application of healing Magecraft."
Using my now wound free arm, I pointed at the wound she had failed to heal. "Don't worry, I can still halt the bleeding."
Using a bit of effort, I located and felt for the veins in my arm that had been damaged, and were exposed to air. Hastening the coagulation process, the blood clotted, stopping the free flow of blood.
Altrouge's love for the craft had definitely rubbed off on me, as I had to admit that it was incredibly useful, more than it had any right being.
Shaking the arm, I gave a lopsided smile. "Basically as good as new!" I punctuated my statement with a wink.
Mom looked a bit apprehensive, before sighing in relief. "That's good enough for now…" she said in a relieved tone.
Straightening up, she gave me a slight smile. "We can talk about it when Artoria, and maybe Irisviel come over, as I called them when we hid in here," she explained, causing me to internally groan.
I did not want to be interrogated right now, as I did not have Morgan to cover for me, since she was out doing more important things…
So I'd need to be a bit more careful on what I said, as God knows that with my luck, I'd end up ratting myself out… which means that I need to distract her.
…
There's really only one option that is available to me, so I might as well not clean up the dojo, so as to guarantee that she'll 'discover' another one of my secrets, which would somewhat explain how I beat Lancer… or at least make it more believable.
Fuck it, might as well. The 'bread crumbs' were all over the dojo and the wrecked west wing, so she should be able to piece things together by herself.
Smiling at Mom, I glanced behind her, seeing Vivian carrying Sakura while idly looking at us. She looked a bit dazed, as if not quite there, which was to be expected, as she kind of was not.
I could only assume that whatever consciousness Morgan placed in the homunculus was rather rudimentary, but Morgan would probably just pass it off as shock when she was back in control.
Looking back at Mom, I bobbed my head towards the living room. "How about you continue making breakfast, as Sakura still needs some food, while I go and take a bath," I suggested, causing Mom to subtly look behind her, before facing me and giving a slight nod.
"I'll do that," she said with a nod, before giving me a once over. "Go take a bath, I'll have Vivian bring a set of clothes over, from either your room or the other house."
Looking down at myself, I had to agree… I was filthy…
Blood caked my tattered clothing, and Morgan had sprinkled some dirt and wood chippings on it to make it look a smidge more believable. So it was safe to say that I looked like shit.
A pity too, as I liked the shirt.
Glancing back up at Mom, I gave a shallow nod. "Point…"
Turning to walk away, I gave a stretch, allowing my joints to give a few popping noises.
"Save a few pancakes for me, as I might stay in the tub for a while!"
~~Fate/False Order~~
Shifting the gear lever, Artoria slammed it into gear six, while flattening the accelerator.
Using her other hand, she sharply pulled the steering wheel to the side, causing the car to skid in the same direction, deftly overtaking the car that was previously in front of it.
Ramping up her speed, she sped past car after car, ignored red lights, and broke close to all traffic rules in order to get to her destination as quickly as possible.
As Saber recklessly pushed the car further than it had ever been pushed, Irisviel was finally getting a taste of her own medicine, as she desperately clung onto the safety handles in pure fear.
They had been on the other side of town when Irisviel had gotten the call, and seeing as it was still daytime, it had forced them to use the car, much to Saber's annoyance, which had forced her to drive in such a reckless way.
As they entered the residential district in Miyama Town, Saber didn't even lower her speed, and in a matter of moments, they reached their destination.
Not wanting to waste any time, Artoria did a full turn, while slamming down on the brakes, causing the car to skid, and slide directly through the open gates, allowing her to slide into the driveway.
Turning off the engine, Artoria practically throws off her seat-belt and kicks open the door.
The sight of Rosalind's home made her frown, as a large part of the west-wing was broken, and had imploded in on itself.
Irisviel staggered out of the car, and moved up next to Saber, while making a slightly nervous expression.
No words were spoken, and Artoria picked up Irisviel, before dashing towards the imploded part of the house.
The two quickly passed through a large hole in the dojo's walls, and Saber placed Irisviel down upon entering, while surveying the room.
The once pristine, polished, and homey practice room, now had much more in common with a battlefield than it had any right having.
Floorboards were ripped off the floor to make room for stone spikes, frost coated the walls and floor, with the odd splotches of scorched wood sprinkled among them. But what made Saber's tension grow, was the splotches of blood that decorated many of the spikes and some of the floor.
Stepping further into the room, she glanced at the door, which had been split in two, presumably by the Servant.
The battle had clearly reached further into the house, and Alistair had clearly somewhat held his own, the only problem was that she couldn't hear anything.
No clashing of blades, nor sounds of struggle.
And that… that scared her.
She had come as quickly as possible, and with this much battle having taken place, there was a decent chance that the Servant's Master had set up a bounded field to mask their presence after feeling Saber's presence getting closer.
She had not been discrete, and had radiated a fair amount of Mana, in an attempt at diverting the Servant's attention to herself, rather than her family.
But time was of the essence, so she couldn't just follow the signs of battle, as for all she knew, the Servant could be somewhere else in the house, or had already left with her family.
Focusing on her sense of smell, Artoria inhaled a deep breath through her nose. Her sensory senses were all top notch, something akin to an animal, however she rarely employed her sense of smell.
This had more to do with how unhygienic most of the people in her time were, and essentially that having a heightened sense of smell around sweaty soldiers that had been marching for days on end, was not a pleasant thing to experience.
Kay calling her a bloodhound, and throwing sweaty clothing in her tent to wake her up had nothing to do with it, nothing at all.
Instantly the pungent smell of blood flooded her nose, and she locked on to three distinct trails… but one of them was really off… as it reminded her too much of her own blood…
Ignoring the one that was probably Alistair's blood, she could smell that the two sources of blood had gone through the door, before returning back to this room, and had left through the broken wall.
It would imply that they had left, but the fact that Alistair's blood was pointedly missing from the trail made her feel a bit uneasy, as the logical conclusion was not one she liked…
"Irisviel, I think the Servant has already left," Saber explained aloud, while eyeing the broken doorway.
The homunculus did not look any more cheerful at the news, as she had probably concluded that the Servant had either killed everyone, kidnapped them all, or at the very least fulfilled his purpose, which would not bode well for the Pendragons.
"We should check if they are doing alright," Irisviel suggested in a slightly relieved tone. While she didn't think that they were still here, it was for the best to not speak such things aloud, so as to not worsen Saber's already tenuous mood.
Saber was grateful that Irisviel wanted them to check in on her family, as the logical and more practical thing to do was to follow the likely injured Servant, rather than check in on her family.
Nodding, Saber moved towards the door, Irisviel in tow.
As she entered the hallway, Artoria's head snapped to attention, as her nose had picked up Alistair's trail, but it led in two directions.
Choosing to look down the hallway with the smell of all three's blood, she saw a section where the battle had clearly taken place, where even more blood was split on the wall and floor, enough for it to have been a fatal amount for a person.
But it wasn't Alistair's blood, no it was a mix of a Servant and their Master's blood.
On the wall, there was a small circular hole, where the largest puddle of blood was located, as it surrounded the hole, enough for it to spill onto the floor.
Pursing her lips, Saber knew instinctively what had been used to make that hole, as she had in her lifetime made a few similar holes herself.
Alistair had pulled out Rhongomyniad, and he had successfully landed a hit on both the Servant and their Master… The only question was how…
Turning around, she saw the somewhat nervous looking Irisviel, as she gazed at the pool of blood.
Taking in a breath, Artoria fixed her friend with a placating look. "It's not his blood, it's the Servant's."
The statement made her eyes go wide, and she looked at the pool of blood with shock.
Turning her head, Saber looked down the hallway, where she could spot a few small patches of blood that stained the floor. "He's further in the house, we should check in on him," she said with some degree of eagerness, as she wanted to check in on them.
Following the smell of Alistair's blood, the two quickly made their way deeper into the house, and they started to hear the sound of water running.
When they reached the door where the sound of running water was coming from, Saber frowned slightly.
The smell of Alistair's blood was practically oozing from the room.
While she was sure that he had survived the clash, washing oneself while still bleeding was not a smart thing to do, as it caused you to bleed more, which could make you fall unconscious and die from blood loss.
Taking that into account, Saber gave the door a firm knock. "Alistair!" She said relatively loudly, before knocking once more.
When she got nothing in response, she gave a much firmer knock, causing the door to rattle. "Alistair!" She practically yelled.
This time, her yell caused the sound of wet footsteps to start to echo from the other side, before the door was flung open.
A slightly pale Alistair stood there, wearing a damp bathrobe, while eyeing the two with great annoyance, before changing his expression to one of surprise. "Artoria, Irisviel?"
Relief washed over Saber when she saw him looking relatively unscathed from his battle. "Yes, it's us, what happened," Artoria asked in a no-nonsense tone.
Alistair's lip twitched at the sudden interrogation, before sighing. "I'd prefer if we left that for after my bath," he said in a resigned tone, before continuing.
"But to give you the short version, Lancer and some woman, Sola-Ui I think, came to take us hostage, and kill us if we resi—"" Lancer wouldn't do something so dishonorable!" Saber interjected, and Alistair raised a brow at her sudden interruption.
Tugging up his sleeve, he revealed a gash on his arm that had clearly been recently made, though it had clearly been thoroughly cleaned. "I was slashed a few times with his Noble Phantasm," he explained while poking at the wound. "If you need proof, have Irisviel try to heal the wound."
Saber turned to look at Irisviel, who had already moved her hand to grab at the wounded arm. As she latched onto the forearm, a pulse of green light emitted from the wound, only for it not to do anything.
"It's not working…" she said with worry, before turning to look at a somewhat disappointed looking Saber.
Taking his hand back, he pulled the robe back down to cover the cut, and fixed Saber with an unimpressed look. "Well, I believe you two can draw your own conclusions on what happened thanks to learning of their intentions," he continued, while idly bobbing his head towards the damaged section of the house.
Saber gave a slow nod, while eyeing him with some interest. "And how did you fend off Lancer?" She asked, causing Alistair to groan. "I'm tired, sore, and desperately wish to reenter my bath, I'll give you a play-by-play later, just let me relax," he whined.
Artoria felt a bit bad after hearing that, as even if it was important for her to learn of what happened, she understood that he was tired.
Nodding, she gestured for him to continue his bath. "I shall find Rosalind, and check in on them," she explained, before nodding and taking a step away from the door.
Hearing her words, Alistair quickly cut in before they could leave. "They are in the living room, eating breakfast, but don't you dare eat up my portion of pancakes they've reserved for me!"
Artoria gave a nod at his words, before moving away, with Irisviel giving a small nod to Alistair before following her friend.
As they moved closer to the living room, they felt the smell of food waft into their nose, causing a slight grumble to emit from Saber's stomach.
Surely Rosalind wouldn't mind if they tried a few pancakes, right?
~~Fate/False Order~~
Slipping on a shirt, I pushed open the door and started idly buttoning it up.
I knew that I had bathed for far longer than was necessary, but I needed to waste as much time as possible, in hopes that Saber would just leave, and hunt for the 'wounded' Lancer.
But taking an hour-long bath was incredibly relaxing, so it wasn't time wasted in my opinion.
My only fear was that there weren't any pancakes left, not that it was a big loss, as I'm sure Mom burnt most of them, but I would appreciate it nonetheless.
Walking over to the living room, I opened the door, causing the five people sitting around the dinner table to look at me.
As my eyes made contact with Saber and Irisviel, they pointedly looked away, while Mom looked a bit sheepish.
Sakura didn't seem to care much, as she sat in Mom's lap, but Vivian was pointedly keeping eye contact with me.
I watched as she slowly picked up the last pancake, placed it on her own plate, and slowly started eating it, all while keeping eye contact.
… This felt rather vindictive, which only meant one thing. {Are you back?}
Vivian kept eye contact. {Yes.}
Well, she was in a poor mood… maybe having her cut me with the spear was a bit much, but it had clearly done its job, so it was definitely the smart thing to do.
{Are they dead?}
There was a slight pause. {They wish they were.} She said back in a frosty tone.
At least there was some good news. I needed to make sure to either do, or give something nice to Morgan.
Breaking eye contact, I gave the five a dubious look. "Where is my portion?"
Mom turned to look at me, and gave me a stern look, but it was constantly twitching, as if she was about to give an amused look. "We have more important things to talk about, so how about you seat yourself."
… I mean we do, but I am hungry…
Where was the justice in this? I had saved us from a Servant, yet I was being deprived of food.
Grumbling to myself, I walked over, and pulled out a chair next to Vivian, and sat myself down.
As I did that, she very deliberately moved her plate of half eaten pancake further away from my seat.
I shot her a look meant to convey just how unimpressed I was with her actions.
Crossing my arms, I leaned into the chair, and fixed them all with an impatient look. "What do you wish to know?"
Artoria leaned forwards, and gave me a serious look, her shame at having eaten my portion of pancakes long forgotten. Not that I wouldn't remind her of her theft, if need be.
"How did you fend off Lancer?" She asked the same question as earlier, causing me to sigh.
Straightening up a smidge, I fixed her with a look. "I thought that my display at the docks would have been enough of an indicator, but I am at the very least comparable to a Caster Class Servant, not to the same degree as Medea, but I am more than capable of holding my own when in my element."
Pausing for a moment, I gave her a serious look. "Though, there are some things I do not wish to discuss in a group like this, but we can do so in private."
A perfect non-answer, allowing her to come to her own conclusions. I'm sure that Morgan is at the very least a smidge impressed, or I at least hope so…
That made Saber look a bit introspective, but she continued with another question. "Did Lancer give any clues to where he was heading, or do you have any idea of where they are heading?"
"I did not see either leave, and neither of them gave a clear indication of where they were going," I explained.
Suddenly, Vivian interjected herself to the conversation. "Well, I actually have an idea of where they are going," she said seriously, and all eyes moved to her.
Raising a brow, Artoria gave Vivian an appraising look. "And why would you have an idea of where Lancer has gone, rather than Alistair?" She probed in a neutral tone.
Sighing, Vivian gave me a sheepish look, before turning to look back at Artoria. "I think Al would have noticed if he wasn't so out of it after the battle, but I will explain," she said, before giving a theatrical cough to clear her throat.
"Al, with a teensy bit of help from myself, has set up a giant Bounded Field similar to a spider's web over the entirety of Fuyuki," she said smugly, and Irisviel, Mom and Artoria's eyes snapped to look at me.
"It doesn't do much, as like a spider's web it is made of thin threads, made to be tripped if certain conditions are met," she paused for slight suspense. "Like when a large mass of Mana walks through it, or in layman's terms, when a Servant walks through it," she said smugly, and the three women's eyes widened even more.
I tried my best not to react, as this is top tier bullshit, but Morgan could pull it off, so I'd need to play along.
I gave a slight nod to convey that it was true.
"B-but how?!" Irisviel exclaimed. "A Servant should have discovered it, Caster for certain, and even then, how did you get around the Magic Resistance, as it should have interfered, if not outright destroyed the field?"
Vivian looked smug as she answered. "For one, Magic Resistance is less of a problem than you'd think, as by merely destroying a 'thread', it would indicate where the 'severing' point was, giving us a pinpoint location of where they were."
"And for two, Caster has been tapping into it for a while, but the information available is close to worthless, unless you are at the center of the 'web' where all the threads connect, which happens to be this house," she said with clear pride in her tone.
Saber wet her lips, and turned to look at Vivian. "This should have taken days, if not more to set up, so when was it done?"
Vivan smiled and gave a shrug. "We started to set it up right after the last Servant was summoned, as we came back to Fuyuki on the same day, and we only recently finished setting everything up," she smoothly lied, before waving her hand.
"But that is besides the point! Thanks to Al not being in the right state of mind, he didn't notice that a second Servant signature popped up, before vanishing with Lancer and presumably his Master," she continued, but this time in a serious tone.
"And there is only a single Servant that I know of that consistently teleports all over Fuyuki…"
That statement caused Saber to clench her fist hard enough for me to hear it from where I was sitting. "Caster…"
I subtly glanced at Saber from the corner of my eye at the action.
It would seem Morgan had pissed her off more than she had led me to believe… Impressive, I know…
"Alistair, Vivian, could you tell us where they have gone with your field?" Irisviel interjected, causing Vivian to nod.
"Normally, I'd say no, as the Geass Contact Al has signed off on, we had our hands bound, but with Lancer attacking Al…"
Her words trailed off, and she turned to look at me. "You have been attacked by Caster, Berserker, Assassin and now Lancer, which means your contract is now invalid," she explained, causing me to give a slight widening of my eyes.
Assassin did not try to attack me, but I liked where she was taking this… so I'd play along.
Turning to look back at Irisviel, she continued. "So, I can give you a rough approximation at where they are," she said, before frowning slightly. "But only Caster and Lancer, as we'd rather stay as partial as possible," she explained seriously.
Saber interjected herself into the conversation, before Irisviel could speak up. "We thank you for the help, Vivian, Alistair," she punctuated it with a slight nod to each of us.
Smiling back, Vivian gave a slight sheepish smile, before continuing. "It might be a bit unreliable, as Caster has blocked out a portion of our surveillance web, but before she did, she used to stay at Ryuudou Temple, and the blocked portion just so happens to cover it."
Irisviel leaned back in her chair, and looked somewhat miffed. "Of course she would set up her base there… she has silently occupied one of the places the Grail can manifest, while allowing her to sap the Leylines to power herself…"
Mom and Vivian shot her an intrigued look, and I quickly followed, as I obviously shouldn't know the Grail could manifest.
Noticing the slip-up, Irisviel gave a sheepish smile, before raising a finger to cover her mouth. "Pretend that I didn't say that."
Saber quickly took control of the situation, and gave a loud cough.
"While I thank you for the information, would it be possible to have that private conversation you offered earlier now?" She asked, while pointedly looking at me.
Shit. Of course she had remembered the offer.
Smiling, I gave a nod. "Though I think Mom should be present, as some of your questions would be better directed to her, I suspect," I added, and Mom gave us a confused look.
Saber glanced over at Mom, and gave a slight nod. "That would be much appreciated."
Sighing, Mom patted Sakura on the head, who had just been idly sitting in Mom's lap. "You sit on Vivian now, please," she said in broken Japanese, but Sakura seemed to understand her.
Climbing out of Mom's lap, she stepped up to Vivian, and gave her a flat look.
{I think she wants you to pick her up, and place her on your lap.} I dryly informed Morgan.
Following my instructions, Morgan placed her hands under Sakura's armpits, and lifted her onto her own lap.
Standing up, Mom gestured towards the doors. "Let's get this over with then."
Mirroring Mom's actions, Artoria did the same, and we followed her out of the room.
Setting up a bounded field for privacy, we started walking through the halls. "So what do you wish to know?" Mom probed, causing Saber to sigh.
"I wish to know what has been done to Alistair's blood," she said gently.
This caused Mom to stiffen, and me to sigh. Morgan and I had specifically allowed my own blood to be used to draw her attention to this, as it would help in the explanation on how I had done what I did, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow to lose another secret.
"Nothing has been done, I was born this way," I explained tiredly, causing the short king to look up at me with a frown, as if scrutinizing what I had just said.
"You wish for me to believe that you were born with dragon blood, in this day and age, without having gone through any experiments and the like?" She asked with a hint of suspicion.
"It's true," Mom said while sighing. "I discovered it early on, but I can confidently say that it is natural, and not a product of experimentation."
Saber turned to look at Mom with a somewhat surprised look, before frowning. "Then have you been to the reverse side? As the only explanation I can believe is that Alistair's father is somehow a dragon" She asked with mild confusion.
Mom gave a slight groan at Saber's theory, which was honestly not that bad all things considered. Certainly more believable than the truth.
Placing a hand on her face, she started massaging her brows. "No! Alistair was conceived and brought into this world in a normal way, and I have not had intercourse with a dragon, or any phantasmal creature for that matter," she bit out.
Maybe this was not all that bad… as I could totally hold this over Mom's head for a while.
Removing the hand she was using to cover her face, she gave Artoria a miffed look. "We concluded that he somehow inherited it from you. How? No idea, but it's the best we've got."
Saber looked somewhat mollified at the answer, as she lowered her head, clearly thinking.
"I suppose that explained his strength, though it is somewhat lacking…" she said aloud, but it sounded like she was speaking to herself.
…Why am I catching strays?
Saber fixed me with a serious look, and grabbed my hand. "You seem healed up enough, you will accompany me to the dojo," she demanded, causing me to mildly panic as she started suddenly dragging me.
"But it's broken, we can't train there… and I am tired and hurt!" I spat out the first excuses I could, only for my arm to be yanked forwards.
"Excuses are the enemy! You are too weak, so I shall remedy that!" She proclaimed aloud, while not even breaking her stride.
The fuck is this bullying?
Turning my head, I met Mom's amused face, clearly content to leave me to the wolves, or rather lioness…
Raising a lone hand, she gave me a small wave, while wearing an incredibly infuriating smile.
"We shall pick up where we left yesterday, no Pendragon under my watch will not know how to wield a sword," she said passionately, causing me to turn my head to look at her.
Why was she suddenly so gung-ho on training me? She wasn't this excited last time we trained, the fuck changed?
"Artoria, Vivian and I were planning to take it slow toda—""Laziness is the enemy!" She rebuked in all seriousness.
Why the fuck are there so many enemies, and where the hell are they coming from?!
At this rate, I won't be able to keep up my end of the bargain with Morgan…
Why did today have to turn into such a shit day… The morning was so promising…
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65 Hours, 23 Minutes And 38 Seconds Until Zero
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A/N
Welcome back, my reader Overlords, please add this to your library and give me some comments, stones and Reviews, as it would be much appreciated.
Ass-kissing done, now I can move on to more important stuff.
Any impressions? Any thing you guys wish to see in the next chapter, as it is still in the works, so things can be added.
But I'd love to hear your thoughts, and do not worry, the action should pick up next chapter.
Btw, I have made a Discord server for the fic, come on and chat with me!
https://discord.gg/y9HdZ9WN
Now I'm tired and have a fuck ton of Uni stuff to do, so have a nice day, and send me some stones or some shit, I need motivation, or some shit like that.