Bab 34: Chapter 33: First Blood(2)

As the doors fell with a clang, the magus killer scanned the area for any kind of alarm built into the ward but to his surprise there was none. He walked into the cell followed by shirou who stood back to back with him.

As the smoke cleared the pairs saw each other and awkward silence filled the room, the pair from Clocktower were wary of the intruders while the said man and child just looked at them as if searching for a breach in their defence.

Breaking the silence the older emiya asked while pointing at the white-haired man.

"Melvin Weins the tuner from the branch family of the Trambelio."

Within this time frame, Melvin has disregarded the threat posed by the opposing pair and asked with eyes shining with an unhealthy interest.

"Yes, I am. Are you here to kidnap me? Is it a fractional dispute? Are you perhaps from the church?"

"Are you mama`s opponents? Or are you related to some girl infatuated with me? "

This barrage of questions left the 3 other people in the room speechless, kiritsugu processed this as a form of the eccentricity commonly found in mages, while Waver just sighed. Under his son`s curious gaze, kiritsugu said

"No, I am none of those but a client in need of your expertise as a tuner. But 1st we need to get out of here."

Melvin smiled and was about to answer but was interrupted by Waver, who stated

"So you are Melvin`s client then what about the magus besides you?"

Waver`s question reflected his suspicion of wordplay by kiritsugu, he didn't trust the appearance of things after the holy grail war, especially after facing Saber the demon hiding under the skin of a teen. Hearing this question kiritsugu considered rectifying the misunderstanding as the best course of action and said

"I am kiritsugu emiya a spell caster and behind me is my son shirou emiya. We both are clients of Mr Weins." after this, the introduction began with shirou, waver and Melvin introducing themselves as they left the cell and walked further into the cave corridor that led the father and son to this cell.

Waver`s name immediately triggered in memory of kiritsugu and he matched the name face and characteristics of the man and asked.

"You are Waver Velvet the student of Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, and the master of rider class heroic spirit in the 4th holy grail war."

At this the atmosphere between the 2 men became tense and Waver asked.

"How do you know?"

"I have my ways." replied kiritsugu. Then he asked about the reason why the pair were held in a cell.

After learning that Melvin whom he had been tracking for weeks was just kidnapped for an idiotic reason, the blood pressure of the magus killer had a sharp rise. Then he learnt about the incident of being captured by Barzan as research material.

As they talked about this they reached the end of the corridor leaking a lot of light. Cautiously walking out they surveyed the area and were astonished to find that it was a crypt inside the ruin that had transformed into a dig site with magic circles drawn around on the ground and when perched together they formed a rudimentary formal craft ritual.

When inquiring about the purpose behind Barzan`s action, Melvin revealed the info about the egomaniac digging into the tomb of Iskander the Conqueror claiming to uncover the treasure. Hearing this waver shouted with his voice filled with rage.

"You all can go but I am staying here! I will make sure to bury this site along with that 3rd rate scum."

"I will not let the likes of him disrespect the tomb of my king."

Looking at the genuine bond between master and servant kiritsugu introspected, he remembered his behaviour with sabre. Thinking if it was for the shake a small atonement of his mistakes in the Grail war he considered helping waver. Pulling him out of his thoughts Melvin`s excited shout rang.

"No way I am going away from this leaving you here alone." this concern made waver feel warm only to be shattered by the next sentence.

"Besides I can't forgo a chance to see such a spectacle when I have a VIP seat."

Seeing this scene Kiritsugu Emiya said that they should survey the area 1st and slowly crawled down towards the crypt while in stealth. After meeting back at the starting position and discussing the info they collected he said

"So our next course of action is to demolish this area as well as kill the magus Barzan who has a pair of mystic eyes of suppression type."

Seeing all the people ready to help him waver felt a sense of gratitude and thought.

Waver then intercepted the planning and began giving his views as well as plan to interrupt and reverse the ritual while simultaneously burying this crypt under rubble by interfering with leylines.

Following the plan waver went into the open stood in front of Barzan and shouted.

"Hold it! What you are doing here is a violation of the 2nd of 3 foundational laws of the clock tower. We are supposed to be concealing the mysteries of magecraft hence I can't ignore your actions."

Hearing this barzan expression changed from anger to disdain as he said

"Are you being serious right now?"

"What kind of idiot are you? You could have taken the chance to escape but your common sense needs a lot of work."

With his eyes glowing red, he exclaimed as he put a hand on his forehead and activated his mystic eyes while mocking.

"Did you forget about my mystic eyes?"

Waver was paralysed again but he saw kiritsugu aiming at Barzan from behind his back. Looking at the condition of the ex-prisoner, Barzan began monologing.

"You might be a third-rate but your magic circuits would be useful to light up this place. Don't worry I won't waste a single one."

Snickering with effort the bound magus said

"Was that supposed to be an insult senior? Because I know I am third rate but so are you."

"My mystic eyes are invincible," said Barzan diminishing the seed of anger growing in him from Waver`s words.

"Once I have Iskandar`s relic and along with my mystic eyes, I would surpass even the clock tower." said the fool with idiotic dreams born out of ignorance.

Waver looked at the man with a look of pity and said

"Let me guess this is a "clock tower didn't recognise my genius" thing or "I would show their place to those who despised me" tantrum."

"I have seen it all. The magecraft you use is a mere copy of the lord`s published public works."

"What do you even know about my magecraft!!" yelled Barzan and simultaneously a gunshot echoed.

Barzan with his mystic eyes activated was not able to move in time as the 1st bullet hit him in the knee. Screaming with pain he collapsed on the ground. By his side shirou held his pistol with its barrel scattering smoke.

Aiming his gun at the collapsed barzan he thought.

With these thoughts, he pulled the trigger thrice delivering 3 shots to the fallen fool`s head heart and neck hence killing him for sure. As the spent rounds hit the ground kiritsugu who was looking at his son from the beginning felt like his heart was stabbed by a knife.

As the magus killer struggled with sacrificing his ideals again Melvin looked at this scene with excitement. To him, blood was nothing new and he knew about even younger children conducting genius experiments. Hence he only felt the excitement of the events happening as it satisfied his carvings.

Waver looking at the boy putting his gun back into its holster was weirded out at 1st then thought.

< I even lacked the courage that a young boy has. Pathetic, being alienated from someone who just helped me minimize the risks of a selfish as well as foolish action I took.>

Looking at the man`s corpse waver said to the father and son pair.

"Let's run, melvin should have finished drawing the formulas into the circle to reverse it."

Hearing this kiritsugu slid down the slope from his sniping spot, sat on a motorcycle and drove it towards his son who quickly hopped on while strengthening himself. Meanwhile, the place began to quake as debris began falling and Melvin rushed a similar motorcycle towards Waver.

(A/N: people suggest what should i do. Describe the types of magecrafts mentioned in the chapter in the author's notes here or include them in the lessons that shirou would take in the clock tower.)