Chapter 16: Assassin Approaches
Fuyuki, Japan,
Shinto Area,
An eerie silence enveloped the empty streets of the Shinto District, the two servants stood in silence and while Tamamo was used to the eccentricity of her Master, Diarmuid was certainly surprised, this was a level unexpected from a magus of the modern era. He'd dispelled a Bounded Field instantaneously, not that the Lancer could confirm he hadn't silently been casting all along.
"The news lot are gonna have a field day with this." Roman closed his one eye, smiling at the frozen Kayneth, "So what's it gonna be now? You ready to face the consequences of potentially revealing our world?" An entertained expression formed on the magus' face. With the bounded field gone, people would be here within moments, it was a central business area after all and they'd see the exchange as well as the damages.
It was a rule to not give away the presence of the magical aspect of things to the normal side of the world and a necessity as well, it would result in unforeseen consequences for the magical world after all. Any who risked such a thing had to face serious sanctions from the Mage's Association,
"I imagine your engagement would go poof too." Roman gestured with his hand, the other resting on his cane. Tamamo only smiled and went off to pick up Sakura, the girl was a cute creature, and she honestly pitied her. At the same time, she felt strange about her Master, why was he like this? It'd be easier when it ended if he was just an asshole..... She felt conflicted.
"Master?" Diarmuid looked towards his Master, the desire for an order written clear across his face. He didn't rightly understand what was being implied, but he understood enough.
Several veins popped out on Kayneth's forehead as he clenched his fist, visibly annoyed at how he'd been put on the spot instead. His agitation as a noble at being outplayed overshadowed his earlier shock about what had happened,
"Come back, Lancer." He ordered in an annoyed voice, turning his back to Roman. Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, backed down in this exchange. He couldn't risk the ramifications of fighting in the public eye, not with how things were going for him....
"Aren't you shocked about him blowing away the bounded field?" Sola-Ui voiced her own thoughts, a cold expression on her stoic face, how had the cripple of all people managed something like that? She did know of him, recognised him instantly even, Roman Trambelio, better known as, the shame of the Trambelio.
"It couldn't have been him." Kayneth answered in a dignified manner, his hands behind his back, "That servant is a Caster." A Japanese servant too, it was easy to figure out after seeing the tags she pulled out, "It's possible she was at it from the start."
"....That does make sense." Sola-Ui nodded her head in agreement, begrudging as it was, it was undeniable that the skill of Caster Class servants when it came to magecraft far surpassed the skill of any modern Magi.
Down below, Roman walked away, limping ever so slightly thanks to his disability whenever he put his weight on his dysfunctional leg. The one eyed magus looked up at a black crow cawing just above, "It looks like we'll be having guests."
"Should I kill it?" Tamamo rubbed Sakura's back as she spoke, looking at the black bird in the sky with sharp eyes, her tail moving from side to side. The Caster wasn't much bothered by the exchange of blows from earlier, she hadn't even been scratched after all. Instead, she was just happy that she'd managed to place Sakura some distance away in time.
Roman dismissed her proposal with a wave of his hand, this actually worked in his favour if anything.
-x-X-x-
Fuyuki, Japan,
Miyama Town,
A middle aged man sat in a dark room, his hands locked together in front of his head as he observed the documents placed on the table next to him. He had black hair, blue eyes, a goatee and an elegant air about his person.
Dressed in a fashionable crimson suit with black buttons, a white long sleeved shirt underneath and a blue ribbon, Tokiomi Tohsaka was a handsome and regal man, despite his age. He was the current head of the Tohsaka Family based in Fuyuki, one of the three families involved in the creation of the Grail War system, and the Master of Archer in the current Grail War.
"I see the Master of Caster is not someone that will pose a true threat." He spoke to seemingly no one, there was no way someone like him wouldn't know Roman.
"You are aware of his background?"
It seemed the room which looked empty did have another person in it after all. This person however did blend into the room's darkness. He wore black simple clothes, the only thing of colour being the golden cross around his neck.
"Yes indeed Kirei. He does have quite the reputation in the Clock Tower. It'd be strange for one to not know of him."
Still, Tokiomi was indeed intrigued as to just why Roman had his daughter with him. The girl was given to the Matou, they'd see her brought up right and the decision practically guaranteed her success as a magus. This made him want to converse with the Trambelio, to ask him about it.
At the same time, the sudden disappearance of Zouken Matou was strange so he was a bit cautious when it came to going out in person. That Master was still out there... While they didn't for one moment think that the man was dead, the matter as a whole was still strange.
"I see." Kirei Kotomine answered in his usual voice, a monotonous and disinterested yet attentive one. The young priest was slightly curious about this 'famous' magus.
"His stubbornness is quite impressive, as is his tongue. Still however, he is a failure."
"Failure, sensei?"
"For someone from a great noble house, his talent is meagre, comparable to first generation magi not to mention his physical debilitations.... At the same time, killing him can't be risked. The Trambelio are his family and the Weins and Edelfelt support him. Lady Bartholomei seems to keep track of his activities from time to time as well."
"..... I see...." Kirei fully understood why he was a well known name now. For a failure to attract such attention was unheard of, this did make him an intriguing person.... Kirei wanted to converse with him, see what he was like.
"Send out assassin, we'll deal with him immediately. A Caster shouldn't pose much of a threat with a sneak attack." Tokiomi ordered sternly, he needed to get Sakura back to the Matou and his familiar had confirmed that the Bounded Fields around the mansion were of low quality, definitely not the Caster's own.
It was slightly weird how a Caster had set nothing up but the magus wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.. Assassin was expendable as well.
"As you wish." Kirei bowed with a hand over his chest and turned to leave, fully intent on carrying out the orders he'd been given.
-x-X-x-
"Roman, I'm never listening to you again."
".....Why the fuck are you being salty about getting to be lazy?"
"....We're in the middle of a war!"
"And your point is?"
"Ugh.." Waver facepalmed, rubbing his forehead with a defeated expression on his face, this guy was way way too eccentric for normal people to be dealing with. Him and Rider had spent the whole day at the mansion, yes the whole day seeing as the Sun had already set now, doing literally nothing other than prancing around. Rider had passed his time playing video games while Waver only spent his time thinking about all that could go wrong, realising that a LOT could go wrong in their situation.
"Hey, take a deep breath. I found out Lancer is with Kayneth. We know Saber is with Irisiviel. You and I have Rider and Caster. Archer is with the Tohsaka, and Assassin is with a priest. Berserker is dead as hell and I have his command seals. That's bloody progress if I've ever seen some." Roman talked in a calm and elegant voice, sipping on the glass of red wine in his hand as he looked at the ceiling with a lazy smile.
"Are we going to ignore that the dining room is ruined because your servants couldn't decide who would take care of the gir-... Where did that girl even come from?!"
"...Don't mind the small stuff."
"That's not small stuff! Ugh, what is with you?"
"Stop being a pussy." Roman snickered, turning his gaze to the window or rather, the starry sky right outside.
"You're an idiot."
"Says the guy who messed up Golemancy."
"....." Waver kicked the table, "Ow!" Before grabbing his hurting foot, wincing in pain.
"...." Roman snickered louder than before..... It didn't last long though as he soon stood up, looking around with alarmed eyes.
"What happened?"
The one eyed magus pointed at the unusually dark night, a small grin slowly crossing his face, "They're coming."
Waver understood his words instantly, his posture changed to a more serious one as he looked at his companion and ally.
"Tell Rider to have some fun."
Roman sat back down, the encounter had refreshed his memory and the Assassin's multiple bodies had given him an idea. Quickly, the magus got to dialling a number on the telephone nearby. Of course it was there, they'd been in his office all along after all.
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Chapter 17: A Promise
Fuyuki, Japan,
Edelfelt Mansion,
In the dark, silent night, a single figure passed from shadow to shadow, avoiding the light of street lamps and any other sources. It wasn't apparent if the figure was clothed or not, covered by a mantle of darkness that would make it impossible for one to even see them.
The few people out at night failed to even notice a change in surroundings, sometimes feeling a slight chill as this entity passed from nearby at incognisable speeds but ultimately chalking it up to the coldness of the night and going about their days.
Soon, a mansion came into view, surrounded on all sides by brick walls and two stories tall, it's lights were on indicating that people were indeed living inside and a young man could be seen staring out of the window of a room at the posterior end of the place. Tall, well painted, complete with a fountain to the front and gardens to the back, this place seemed to fully exude the wealth of those that inhabited it.
Yet, it didn't seem to dismay the figure in the slightest. As it entered the light, even it's physical form seemed to disappear, blending into the constantly changing surroundings. It prowled to the back, jumping the fence around the garden and made it's way to one of the windows, avoiding things like flowers and plants as it extended a hand, slowly opening the window before creeping inside.
"Young miss, it's time for dinner." A kind and warm voice, one that seemed to hold an air of elegance, came from one of the rooms to the side. The figure stopped for a moment, silently peering in to see a pale haired maid shaking a small girl with a smile on her face.
It's hand made it's way towards one of it's dagger, gripping the hilt of the blade as it readied itself for an attack..... but then, it loosened it's grip, deciding against killing unnecessarily as was it's nature and crept it's way through the empty corridors of the mansion.
Just as it was about to make it's way up the stairs however,
"Oi, Master! I think I found our intruder!"
"Get rid of him, Rider!"
"You got it!"
Just as the figure turned it's head to face those who had caught it, a massive fist coated in lightning collided with it's face with a boom sending it crashing into one of the walls, only, the wall couldn't handle the impact and shattered, throwing the dark figure to the next room, neck bent the wrong way and body spasming.
".....Didn't Assassin die too easily?" Rider, a massive man with wild red hair, commented with curious eyes, scratching the back of his head.
"Assassin is the weakest class." Waver walked up to him, nodding his head with closed eyes as he looked through the hole in the wall, "It's dead alright... but did you really have to destroy this wall?"
Thus the dark figure that had sought to sneakily attack the Caster of this war found itself dead at the hands of the King of Conquerors.... Or so it's fading body would indicate.
"This piece of char has multiple bodies." A one eyed man walking with the help of a cane, Roman made his way to the room as well, reaching it moments later with an amused expression on his face. Still, he admitted the death was quite authentic so far as servant deaths were concerned.
Before Waver could ask what he meant, "Hassan of the Hundred Faces, a delusional fuck with personality disorders." The Assassin Class servant in this Grail War was Hassan of the Hundred Faces, a servant that had expertly made use of having multiple personalities in his life as an assassin. As a servant however, he could manifest each of these personalities as complete individuals, this was also his Noble Phantasm. It wasn't quite hard to recall the Assassin that got trashed by Rider.
"....." Waver felt the Noble Phantasms of servants were a little too removed from what was realistically possible..... But then again, even that was a blurred line considering they were magus.
"What happened, Master?!" Tamamo no Mae practically shot towards Roman, holding out her hands protectively to either side, her mirror floating around her as she looked around for any signs of... "Oya....What is this?" The Caster curiously looked at the destroyed wall, placing a finger on her lower lip.
"We've been attacked." Waver left for his workshop, "I'll reinforce the Bounded Fields and actively monitor the situation." He needed to do his part, they would win this war.
"Tamamo will help!" Her ears twitching, the fox servant followed behind the short statured magus with a spring in her step, creating their territories was what Caster Servants specialised in after all and attacking one in it's own was a stupid move.... At least that's what it was like for a traditional Caster, Tamamo sucked at making them.
"Guess it's just us." Iskandar looked down at Roman, curious about what they'd do next.
"Man, that was underwhelming..." The one eyed magus sighed with slightly droopy shoulders, "Sogar enttäuschend."
"Haha, I agree." The Rider reared his head laughing, it truly had been disappointing for a battle between servants in a Grail War.
"Wanna play a game?" Roman looked up at the servant, "I can show you true skill."
"I accept your challenge!"
With that, the two men made off for Iskandar's room. He'd conquered most of the known world and he wasn't going to lose to a magus...
-x-X-x-
In another part of the mansion, Thea calmly stood over Sakura, unbothered by the explosion that had occurred earlier, already used to it; she'd seen her Master do much weirder stuff before. The jovial shouting following after confirmed that it was no real problem.
The gaze of the homunculus maid was fixed solely on Sakura, or as she'd been told Sakura Trambelio now, the girl appeared to be no older than 8 and was eating in silence..... Obviously however, she was having difficulty.
Perhaps it was because she was used to Japanese cuisine? The maid was curious. It couldn't be the taste could it? Thea was of the belief she was rather good at making a wide range of foods, she was also confident about her resourcefulness seeing as she'd brought along most of what she needed to prepare her dishes beforehand....
She'd prepared waffles with honey and some fresh orange juice for the child, not quite knowing her palate.
Initially, she'd held a bit of distaste for the purple haired child, now she felt something else. Why? Well it was because she'd realised that this was technically her Master's daughter now, spoiling the girl was priority number one.
"If you'd like for the Master to be here, I can call him." Thea proposed with closed eyes, he was just procrastinating at the moment.
"....No, it's fine." Sakura answered in a hushed voice, quietly eating her food. Understandably, the girl hadn't quite gathered herself after crying out all that had happened to her so far on the shoulders of the strange one eyed man, she didn't remember much after that. Next thing she knew, she was being woken up and dressed by a maid.... Something she'd never had before.
Sakura.... felt conflicted.
Busy and conflicted, she accidentally knocked over the glass by her side, spilling her juice all over the floor. With her past experiences, and all the times Byakuya Matou had hit her over the slightest of mistakes, the girl teared up,
"I-I'm sorry!"
She repeatedly bowed her head, tears welling up in her eyes, she was going to be hit again right? These were magi right? She'd thought she didn't care anymore but...
"Young miss, please calm down. It's alright." Thea spoke in confusion, what had this girl even been through? Still, her voice came off as usual, cold and disinterested.
"It won't happen again!"
"It's alright. This wasn't much..." The maid tried to calm her down, placing a hand on the girl's trembling shoulders only to feel strange when the girl recoiled, lowering her gaze.
Before she could do anything else, the door burst open, "What the hell happened?"
Thea panicked, looking at her Master with guilty eyes, this would clearly be interpreted as her fault right?
"Wrong reaction, Thea. That'll just make it look like it's actually your fault." Roman whispered in a low voice, lightly bumping his cane against the maid's shoulder before kneeling down next to the again crying Sakura, "Like she said, it's alright. Hell, it'll be alright if you throw a diamond in the trash. No one is going to tell you off anymore." He smiled politely, closing his one eye as he softly placed a hand on her head, "You can do whatever you want, you're a Trambelio now and we're haughty cunts."
Sakura stopped crying, gazing up at the magus in complete confusion, what was going on?
"Of course, I have enemies, I'll have more once this war ends and they may try to harm you, I apologise. But I promise you this, so long as I live, you'll want for nothing and have nothing to worry about." He wrapped a hand around her head, hugging her with a closed eye. He was an asshole, both by nature and by desire, he didn't care for much after all... But still... He couldn't describe why he did stuff like this...
"....." Thea watched her Master quietly, standing in a corner of the room, she knew of this side too. There was a person under all the annoying and off putting traits.
".....Master.." Tamamo spoke in a strange voice, holding a hand over her beating heart, she'd rushed here after hearing the girl scream and.... Her Master... He was something else..
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Time for another glorious author note.
Now then, lately I've noticed mfs calling him dumb for not making connections when young. Firstly, read the story again you blind cunts.
Secondly, if you just scroll up to the chapter name, right by the name, you'll see a number. Now I know you lot have trouble with basic arithmetic and reading but still, try to read it and then maybe realise how bloody retarded you are.
Thirdly, Roman, is by no means the calculative genius you seem to have the hots for and want to suck off but still, if you did actually read what's written somehow, you'd get he's not exactly what you call a dumbass.
Fourth, for the geniuses that have been saying he's just an idiot being used.... Bloody hell, have you seen his personality and what he's doing? I thought I was the dumb one.
Lastly, what's up with calling what he does edgy? I swear to God it's like bloody 9 year olds dominate the age groups when it comes to readers. Lately it's been getting worse. I noticed some dimwit calling a dude edgy for smoking... Mf what? Bugger off.
Now, can I get some reviews? Mhm, they feel good to read.
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