The streets of Fuyuki were tranquil on a night as dark as today. There were hardly any people on the streets beyond the poor homeless beggars. Even they seemed strangely silent and cautious. This was probably due to the killer's news who had been kidnapping children and slaughtering entire families. None of them wanted to meet this terrible and mysterious man (or woman).
Luckily for them, none of them were going to meet Caster, who had already been killed by Drako the night before. The common people didn't know it, but the dragon had already managed to restore relative normalcy, eliminating the person in charge of causing nightmares in the city's families.
Drako knew that by killing Caster early, he had saved many lives. And, although this should not have mattered to him at all, he was relatively pleased by that fact.
The statement Father Risei had made did not take Drako by surprise. Since he was a nuisance to Tokiomi (and therefore was also a nuisance to the Church), sooner or later, he would resort to this tactic to get him out of the way. Drako was not bothered by this measure they had taken. In fact, it was of far less importance than he had originally given it.
After all, Father Risei had to be alive to deliver the reward.
The streets of Fuyuki were strangely dark, or so it seemed to Drako. Dressed in a black sweatshirt and black pants, he easily passed unnoticed in the black night.
Walking slowly, Drako made his way through Fuyuki Town from Miyama Town (the location of Drako's residence) and arrived at the Shinto area.
The city's new area was developing favorably in Drako's eyes, and Drako couldn't help but sigh as he remembered that this whole place was going to be destroyed in just a few days. It was a shame, but that was an inevitability to his plans.
Drako stopped thinking about it. It was silly to give the matter too much thought. After all, those who were going to be harmed were not related to him. It was a shame, but Drako had to sacrifice those lives and buildings to achieve his goal. He needed more strength.
If the forces that were threatening him were capable of destroying the entire universe, then they should be stronger than Ophis or Great Red. In fact, they should be much stronger, with enough power to annihilate all the most powerful people in all the universes. They were the ultimate villain.
Being so, to defend himself against them, Drako needed a power equal to or greater than those of these mysterious enemies.
He didn't want to bear the burden of saving the universe. That role sucked. Everything that all these heroes of justice have to put up with to do "good" is pure crap. The quiet days he had lived in the past few years had led him to fondly embrace this quiet life he was coming into so far. But he could not maintain that life, for he knew that trouble would come to him even if Drako did not seek it out.
If trouble was going to come sooner or later, he had better be prepared for it when it did.
The road sloped upward, and Drako found himself climbing a not-too-big hill. The target was at the bottom of that hill, a Christian Church.
Father Risei had offered to give command seals to the Masters who joined in killing Drako and the girls. Knowing the Masters, they would only try to proactively attack Drako if, and only if, Father Risei gave them the command seals. They were magus, and they would not risk doing anything that would not pay off for them.
The problems with this situation that set it apart from the original one with Caster were several.
For starters, Drako wasn't doing anything as horrific as what Caster would have done if Drako hadn't killed him. Instead, he was killing Servants, or more specifically, he was hunting them.
Lord El-Melloi, one of those most eager to get the original story's command seals, was now dead. That is, one of the Masters most likely to try to make Drako's life miserable was already dead. With Waver, something similar was happening, but the conversation Drako had had with Rider and his Master earlier that day had greatly reduced the chances of Rider or Waver joining some other Master.
Kiritsugu was going to just wait, just like Tokiomi. Their strategies were strangely similar, as well as different. Tohsaka was not going to allow any other Master to obtain command seals, so he would wait to finish off Drako with Archer and then finish off any other Servants that had ended up wounded. Kiritsugu didn't care about command seals (a little bit of importance he gave them), so he wasn't going to force any situation that could be minimally detrimental to him and his target.
The only unknown was Kariya Matou. He really wanted to go find Drako and attack him since he could "rescue" Sakura that way. Maybe he is looking for where Drako is hiding to attack him in his own base. But Drako was not afraid of Berserker, much less with a Master like Kariya. The only way he can do any damage to Drako is to hit him in the head. The only problem would be to finish Berserker off before Kariya died himself.
Reaching the top of the hill, Drako set his eyes on the Church in front of him. Assassin was amazing. Drako had noticed that he had been spotted long before reaching the top of the hill, and yet he had been unable to find the exact location of Kirei's Servant. At least, he could sense the presence of Kirei and Risei inside the Church.
With determined steps, and without paying attention to the increasing number of presences watching him (he couldn't know their exact location, but Drako knew they were there), Drako entered the interior of the Church.
It was time to hunt down the third Servant.
Drako opened the Church's doors, finding a setting he had seen many times throughout Fate/Zero and Fate/Unlimited Blade Works.
During the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Church was the base of operations for one of the Masters, Kirei Kotomine. He pretended that his Servant, Assassin, had been killed by Tohsaka while using the many clones he possessed to spy on all the Masters. At first, he only wanted to know the movements of the different Masters. Still, later, after the conversation that Gilgamesh has with Kirei in which he awakens the sadistic side of the priest, Assassin begins to investigate the private lives of all the participants of the war.
If Drako remembered correctly, this conversation took place after the first day of the Fourth Holy Grail War. So it had already happened, and Assassin should have many of his 80 bodies watching everyone involved.
Including Drako.
If Tohsaka Tokiomi had agreed to Father Risei giving the order to attack Drako, it was because Kirei knew where the dragon was residing. Drako was practically convinced of this. However, he was also certain that the young priest had not told his master all the details.
Assassin was a threat, and he had to finish him off quickly. Drako had previously considered the Servant to be the weaker one, so no important attention should be paid to him. However, he had already discovered his mistake. Drako was very wrong; Assassin was easily the most dangerous Servant in this war.
No Servant could defeat Drako in fair combat. That was the reality. His true form, along with Laevatein, was too powerful for either of them to truly defeat him. The problem was that Drako couldn't sense Assassin's presence even when he knew that many of them were watching him at the moment. Not to mention Mordred or Zoe, could Kuroka sense their presence with Senjutsu?
Probably not, as she had not informed him at any time of this Servant's presence. That being the case, the Servant could make a surprise attack at any moment of carelessness. Even if Drako was confident that his three Servants could fend off the enemy, he was worried about one person who was completely incapable of this.
Sakura.
Drako was afraid that something bad could happen to Sakura. Kirei was a sadist, and he wasn't going to kill the girl. At least not right away. He would use her against Drako, finish him off, or use him in any of his plans. Drako could abandon Sakura if he didn't want to be manipulated, but was he capable of it?
That's why he had headed in the middle of the night to Fuyuki Church when this thought woke him up in cold sweats. He hadn't even explained to Kuroka what was going on as he quickly dressed and went towards the place where Kirei was hiding.
"To what do I owe this late-night visit, young man?" Said an elderly priest.
The man looked to be around 80 years old, despite his bulging musculature. It was indeed hard to believe that a man could retain his physical body so adequately, but Drako knew of a person in DxD of a similar age whose body was much more powerful.
Risei Kotomine was the person who had officially given the order to attack Drako. The incentive he used to get the Masters to obey him was the command seals he maintained as war supervisor. So, if he was dead, the rest of the Masters should not actively seek trouble with him. At least in theory.
Drako smiled as he walked over to Risei.
"I beg your forgiveness Father, for I have come to God's home to commit a grave sin."
With his calm voice, and filled with what seemed to be regret for defiling a sacred place, Drako let Father Risei learn that he had not exactly come to pray.
Drako could see the fear in Risei's eyes. Perhaps the priest hadn't expected him to go straight to the Church, although it actually made quite a bit of sense. In the original story, Risei was never in any danger from the order he gave to attack Caster. The eccentric Servant and his Master were never aware of this order. Even if they knew, they probably would never have done anything against Risei.
Risei took a step back. Drako didn't need to use Senjutsu to know that he was terrified. With his age, it was possible he would die of a heart attack before Drako got to him.
"I implore you to think about it. God is always watching us and will punish us for our sins. However, you can always try to fix this by doing good deeds."
"If God wants to condemn me for all my sins, performing one more or one less will not change my fate. The blood on my hands is far greater than you can ever imagine, the same color as the hell my soul will burn in when I die."
As much as Drako had killed evil and corrupt individuals inside for the most part, it didn't change that he had committed countless murders. Of course, this was important if he was a religious person. Unfortunately for Risei, Drako did not believe that God would punish him. For several reasons, but the main one was that God was dead in DxD (if Drako was going to die somewhere, DxD was his only option). The second main one was that God probably didn't have the strength to punish him without getting seriously hurt or dying once again.
Drako stood in front of Father Risei and placed a hand on Father Risei's chest.
"Please..."
Risei could not finish his prayer, as blood began to gush out of his mouth. He lowered his head with an agonized groan and stared in terror at the hand-sized hole through the place where his heart should be. Barely a second later, his limp body fell to the ground.
Father Risei was dead.
Drako felt no sorrow. He had never felt any for those who had opposed him. Having become a monster years before, he had still hoped that at least his heart was still that of a human. However, that useless thought had only brought him trouble and had almost cost him his life.
Drako had learned that a monster's heart was not so different than a human's. Probably that's the reason for his confusion at the beginning. But Drako had lost many of the emotions he thought he wanted him to have in his previous life (at times, he wished he could remember it. At times, he didn't care about that human life).
Pity was one of them.
Drako directed his gaze around the Church. From left to right, he looked at every corner, every place with a shadow. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there.
Assassin had not tried to protect Risei, though Drako had already expected this. Kirei didn't feel any kind of love for his father. His twisted personality didn't allow him to feel affection for anyone. Probably, he is regretting not being able to kill his father personally.
Drako summoned Agni Gandiva and pointed through an exact spot on the walls of the Church.
"Why don't you stop hiding? Let's play a little."
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GOT IT