After the first servant's death

A truly pathetic sight greeted the eyes of the many facets of the Hundred Faced Hassan, the Assassin class servant with 100 bodies that reflected his schizophrenia in life. What was once an orderly study, well furnished, tastefully decorated, and filled with books on a variety of subjects (save for magecraft books, which were kept in the basement workshop of the Tohsaka manner), was now something of a disaster area, reflecting the mental state of its master. Said master was currently sitting at his desk, held in the firm grip of vineyard spirits and a general loathing of life. It was thus quite surprising that he responded to Assassin revealing himself at all.

"And why do you intrude upon me this foul night, Servant of the Dagger?" asked the drunken mage. "Come to haunt me, like Poe's Raven?"

Sighing, the masked Servant replied, "Master Kirei sent me after you cut off communication with him. It is the opinion of both Master Kirei and Father Risei that you withdraw to the Church. Without a Servant, you are no longer safe in this manor."

Tokiomi didn't seem to pay any attention to this response. "It's because he was an Archer, that must be it. Only with the accursed ability of independent action could such a tool become so troublesome. First blatantly flaunting his powers for all the world to see, then wandering off and getting himself killed while I sleep! I'll have to warn Rin of that, no Archers, they aren't worth it."

Assassin: "Lord Tokiomi..."

Tokiomi: "And because I was asleep I don't even know who killed him or how, so I can't tell Kirei either! Oh Gilgamesh, truly you were the worst of all heroes I could have selected...."

Tokiomi took another swing of wine, then looked Assassin in the eye. "...And why do you intrude on me on this foul night, Servant of the Dagger?"

Assassin's patience was maintained mainly by the fact that with Gilgamesh out of the picture, Assassin himself now had a chance for the Grail. "If you will just follow me..."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The next morning, in the basement of the church, the officially eliminated Tohsaka camp gathered.

"With Archer out of the picture, it should go without saying that the plan has altered considerably, young Tokiomi," spoke Kotomine the elder. "From here, we can either cut the cord completely or continue with my son's Assassin."

Tohsaka Tokiomi could only sigh in resignation, "Surrender is not an option. As an apprentice of house Tohsaka and as a man trusted by the church, I'm afraid we have no choice but to ask more of you Kirei."

The younger Kotomine nodded. It was not as if he had some other calling to heed besides the orders of his father and magic teacher after all.

Kotomine Risei smiled, "Well despite the rather major setback, there is good news as well: first of all, Lord El-Melloi may have been taken out of the running."

"Oh?" responded a mildly surprised Tokiomi, "I had believed there was truly no greater mage in this war than he. What happened?"

"Emiya Kiritsugu happened," came a response but from the younger Kotomine this time. "My assassins witnessed it: the hotel was destroyed by a bombing. It is unlikely, albeit possibly, that Archibald and his fiancee survived. None would use such tactics save the Magus Killer."

Tokiomi: "And what of the locations of Waver Velvet and the unknown master of Caster?"

"Waver Velvet proves difficult to track for the moment due to Rider's high-speed Noble Phantasm, but I have at least determined their base to be in Miyama, but the more troubling matter is Caster, who appears for the moment to have simply vanished. Her insect familiars can be seen flitting about the city, but there's no discernible pattern to their movements, nor a point of origin. However... one of my Assassins may have pinned her as Archer's killer."

"Caster!?" exclaimed the Tohsaka head. "The King of Heroes was slain by a mage?"

Placing a hand on Tokiomi's shoulder to calm him, Risei asked of Kirei, "When and how did you arrive at this conclusion my son?"

Kirei: "Shortly before this meeting, Assassin reported Fuyuki police gathered in great numbers around an area with horribly disturbed prana. Based on observations, it was the site of a great massacre that culminated in numerous corpses piled into a room locked from the inside. Traces of both Caster's strange magical power and the energy of the Gate of Babylon lingered in the air."

To Kirei, who viewed the Grail War and magic as merely more tasks heaped upon him by the Church, it was merely a routine observation of the strange magical contest. Tokiomi, whose scheming had been thrown into chaos, the witch's leftovers were of much more personal concern. "A massacre? Did she kill Gilgamesh using Grand Thaumaturgy via mass sacrifice?"

"More importantly," Risei interjected, "the act of murder itself is disturbing. Some collateral damage is inevitable, but if a Servant exists who is willing to deliberately create such strange slaughters, it will draw even more attention to this small city. We already have that serial killer running loose, and if the Einzbern's hunting dog is willing to start leveling skyscrapers, I may not be able to convince the government, Church, and Association to stay out of this. We must be more wary, particularly since the Hundred Faced's offensive power is so small."

As Kirei watched his father and mentor debate how he and his Assassins would move in the future, he had to wonder at one small detail: Why would Caster lock the room from the inside?