CHAPTER 3.2 - IRI TO THE RESCUE

Irisviel stood at the back of the castle just outside the Einzbern bounded fields. A complex set of runes were scribed around a medium-sized magic circle. She took a slow, deep breath.

Irisviel then turned on her earpiece, then she said "3...2...1, Now!"

She pumped her energy into the arrays of runes and the magic circle. The arrays began to glow, and in an instant, the Einzbern Castle bounded fields were shut down.

BOOOOMMM!

A sound of explosion roared from the direction of the front gate. That was her signal. She immediately went into action. Her body glowed before slowly dissipating into motes of golden sparks.

Astral Form, a servant's innate ability to hide their presence from the world. Of course, this ability was only useful for deceiving humans. Unless the servant had the Presence Concealment skill, then it would be quite easy for another servant to find them in their astral form.

Astral form was also useful because it allowed her to become intangible and walk through solid objects. Bounded fields were the only things that would stop her in this form, but she just took it down.

Their plan was arguably simple. She would take down the bounded fields, then Kiritsugu would storm from the front gate. He would act as a diversion while she would get Illya out. At this moment, as far as Jubstacheit knew, she was gone. So they would use that knowledge to deceive him with the assumption that Kiritsugu was here by himself.

This whole plan needed to be carried out in under fifteen minutes or less.

Sounds of gunshots echoed throughout the hall as she rushed towards Illya's room on the third floor. She ignored the many other homunculi who ran towards Kiritsugu. She then saw the door to Illya's room and without hesitation, she entered.

There she was, her baby daughter. Illya was in her room surrounded by two homunculi maids who were clearly on guard.

"W-What happened?" Illya said, panicking.

One maid answered, "W-We're under attack, my lady. Please stay here, we will guard you."

"...Yes Illya, it's not safe outside," the other, more expressionless maid chimed in.

Irisviel knew that if she appeared now, the maids wouldn't hesitate to attack her. So she decided to deal with them first.

"Shape Ist Leben..." she whispered.

A long, thin steel wire appeared and slowly slithered its way towards the maids. Then, in one swoop, the steel wire entangled the maids, wrapping itself around their bodies, hands, and legs.

"W-Wha?!"

"Oh?"

The maids' bound bodies soon fell to the floor. Illya was shocked to see her maids being attacked out of nowhere, but then she noticed something.

"That magecraft..."

Irisviel wasted no more time before appearing in front of her daughter. She immediately threw herself around her daughter, embracing her tightly.

"...Illya, my baby. I'm back."

She couldn't stop the tears that fell from her eyes

"M-Mama?!" Irisviel still held her daughter tightly for a moment before reluctantly releasing her hug. She caressed her daughter's cheek and hair.

"I'm sorry it took us this long to come back to you."

"I-I, no—Welcome home, mama!" Illya hugged her back.

Irisviel smiled and hugged her again.

"Where's papa?" her daughter asked.

Irisviel smiled before patting her daughter's head. "Papa is on the first floor, acting as a diversion now."

Putting the two and two together—the explosion, the intruder, the gunshots—Illya was shocked. "That was papa?!"

The 'intruder' who boldly attacked this castle was her papa all along. Irisviel just sheepishly smiled.

She then stood up and said, "Listen, Illya, I will get you out of here. We will move to Japan and live there after this."

Illya nodded, clearly not minding the idea. "Sure, but..."

Illya looked at her maids, who were tied up on the floor. "Can we bring Sella and Liz with us?"

"M-My lady?"

"Oh!"

The two maids, Sella and Leysritt, were surprised by their mistress' words.

"B-But, my lady, what would Lord Jubstacheit think about this?" Sella asked, worried.

Her sister Leysritt on the other hand said."...Hmm, I don't mind."

Sella gasped at her sister. "Leysritt!"

Illya scowled. "I don't care about grandfather! But I care for you two. You are the ones who took care of me when papa and mama were gone, after all."

"Illya, sweetie. Are you sure about this?" Irisviel asked.

"Yes, mama. If you're worried that Sella or Liz would betray us, then don't worry. They're both devoted and loyal to me."

Sella, still tied up, couldn't help but puff out her chest. "Uh, yes, we were created solely to attend to Lady Illyasviel's needs. We would never go against her words."

Leysritt, beside her, simply nodded. "Illya is my friend."

"Please, mama...." Illya pleaded with Irisviel.

Irisviel sighed, "Alright, but we better be quick." She then undid her magecraft and released both Sella and Leysritt from their bindings.

"Thank you for your kindness, uhh Lady Irisviel..." Sella said while bowing.

"Thanks, Illya's mama."

Irisviel smiled at those two. She was thankful that even when she was gone, there were others who stayed by her side.

"We will jump down. Can either of you do that?" She asked the maids.

"Yes, we can, Lady Irisviel."

"That's easy."

Illya, in surprise, blurted out, "Wait, jump?!"

Irisviel then opened the windows in the room. After that, she walked towards Illya and picked her up.

"Hang on tight, baby."

"W-Waii—Aaaaaaaaah!"

Illya screamed as Irisviel jumped out of the window. Behind them, Sella followed suit by reinforcing her body slightly. Leysritt, on the other hand, didn't need to do that; she simply jumped.

Dropping into the garden outside, Irisviel then rushed towards the front entrance. There she saw the SUV Kiritsugu had used earlier.

She looked back at the two maids following her. "Hurry!"

Then she put Illya down, who was still somewhat in a state of shock.

"Whaa?.."

"Illya, get in the back. Sella, Leysritt, you two sit beside her."

"Uhmm, okay, mama."

Illya got into the car, followed by Leysritt and Sella. The two maids sat near the windows, leaving her sandwiched in the middle.

"Oh, look..." Leysritt pulled something up—it was an unloaded rocket launcher. "…cool."

"Put it back!" Sella chastised.

The driver's door was then opened as Iri entered. She looked at her daughter and the maids.

"Hang on tight, okay?"

She then twisted the car key, igniting the engine with a loud roaring sound. She couldn't lie; she was a bit giddy about driving this beast.

In their original plan, Irisviel would just bring Illya out and hide in the forest. Then she would send a signal to Kiritsugu, and he would retreat and pick them up on his way out. But then Kiritsugu noticed that it would be safer if she drove Illya away with the car first, leaving him to act as bait. He revised the plan a bit and finally gave an okay for her to drive the car, albeit a bit hesitant.

Irisviel pointed out that he would need to somehow get out of the castle by himself on foot. Kiritsugu reassured her he would find a way. She trusted her husband.

Iri press her earpiece "Kiri, we're out"

The she slammed the gas pedal while applying some brake and spinning the steering wheel, the car turned sharply towards the front gate and accelerated out.

...

Illya's day was turned upside down. Just as she was about to collapse onto her bed for a much-needed nap after hours of grueling magecraft lessons, the sound of an explosion shattered the silence. Smoke rose from what used to be the front gate, and a speeding car rushed past it.

An intruder? She wondered.

Not long after, the door of her room was hastily opened, and Sella and Leysritt entered. They told her that there was indeed an intruder in the castle. Her two maids insisted that she stay here, which she agreed with.

But then, a steel wire slithered around her maids, tying them down. She was surprised, but she noticed something—it was an Einzbern magecraft. Then someone appeared before her and pulled her into an embrace. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.

It was her mama, holding her tightly.

Now, she was in a car speeding away, leaving the castle behind. She understood quite well what was happening at this moment. Both her papa and mama were trying to take her away from her grandfather.

Well, she didn't mind. No, she was over the moon about this.

Grandfather? Screw him. If papa and mama needed to take this drastic measure to be with her, then clearly something was wrong with him. It made sense, really, when she thought about it. Every time papa was mentioned, grandfather would always show the nastiest scowl she had ever seen.

Mama mentioned something about living in Japan, well, that's okay for her. As long as they were together again as a family, she wouldn't mind moving there. Her future days had never been this bright before.

But there was only one problem at the moment.

"Awawawa, mama, slow down!!"

Her mother's driving was crazy. The road leading away from the Einzbern Castle was also far from ideal, adding to her already terrible experience.

"...Lady Irisviel," beside her, Sella groaned.

"...!" Leysritt fared even worse; she was visibly green.

"Wah! Liz! Don't throw up here!!" Illya shouted in panic.

"Window! Open the window!" Sella hurriedly told her sister.

"...I can't."

CRRAAACCKKKLE

Illya heard something, quickly turned her head, and saw a group of homunculi charging their magecraft.

"Mama! We've got some company, watch out!!"

The homunculi released a dense blue energy towards them.

BOOOOMM!

Then, an explosion happened just beside the car. The car swayed a bit from the aftershock, but Illya saw that her mama managed to dodge it at the very last second.

"Are you girls okay back there?" her mama asked.

"Y-Yeah, somewhat..." Illya replied slowly.

"A bit disoriented, but we're fine, Lady Irisviel," Sella added.

"....ugghhh."

The homunculi gave chase, their bodies enhanced to the point where they started to get closer. Illya saw that the homunculi were charging their magecraft again.

"Uhh, mama?"

"Hold on tight, sweetie."

Her mama abruptly turned the steering wheel to the right, and Illya watched in horror as the forest came into view. What was her mama thinking?!

Their car careened sharply to the right, veering off the road and plunging into the dense forest.

"Mama, wait! We're gonna crash!!"

"Lady Irisviel!!"

"..."

Her mama smirked. "Not on my watch, girls."

Yet, she didn't slow down or swerve away. Instead, she shifted gears and pressed the gas pedal harder. Her hands maneuvered the steering wheel expertly, guiding the car through a wild zigzagging path amidst the trees.

The homunculi followed them into the forest, but it was clear that it was hard for them to utilize their magecraft in this environment.

Illya started to feel sick—her eyes were dizzy, and she wanted to empty her stomach. She looked at Sella and saw that she was trying her best to look composed but failing. Leysritt was paler than usual.

"L-Liz, are you okay?"

"...Illya, if I don't make it, then...I'm sorry," Leysritt murmured weakly.

"No! Liz! Don't die yet!!"

"M-My lady..." Sella's voice quivered. "...why are we heading straight for a cliff?"

Illya's eyes widened in shock, and she turned her gaze forward. Sella was right—they were hurtling toward a cliff's edge.

"M-Mama, a cliff!! There's a cliff!!" she said in horror.

"I know, sweetie," her mama answered.

Rather than slowing down, she shifted gears once more and pressed the gas pedal even harder. The engine roared as the car accelerated. As the cliff edge approached, Illya's panic intensified.

Her mama then cast her magecraft.

"Shape Ist Leben!"

Steel wires burst forth from around Irisviel, shooting outward in a split second. They interlaced and swiftly wove a makeshift road in mid-air, descending at an angle that guided the car downward instead of hurtling into freefall.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"

She and Sella screamed for their lives, with a silent Leysritt beside her completely giving up. Below them was another road that led to a bridge. The car roared and jumped from the makeshift road to the road below.

They were suspended in the air for a few seconds before slamming down onto the road below in a nasty drop. Her mama then drove the car towards the bridge.

"Hahaha, that's fun! Right, girls?"

Illya couldn't even muster the strength to respond. The car drove over the bridge shortly after.

BOOOOOM!

Then something hit the bridge.

CRRAAACKKK

And the bridge slowly fell apart behind them. The homunculi at the top of the cliff had shot the bridge in an attempt to stop them at all costs.

"No, not again!" she said in disbelief.

Her mama, on the other hand, just pouted. "They sure are persistent."

The car then accelerated fast, with the road behind them slowly falling away. Then, the bridge road tilted up.

"We're not going to make it!" She paled.

Her mama stomped on the gas pedal, using the inclined road as a ramp. The car shot into the air, propelling them across the gap to the road ahead. Illya glanced back and saw that the homunculi had given up the chase.

Finally, it was over.

...

Irisviel drove them over to Kiritsugu's safe house. She exited the car followed by Sella, who visibly looked sick, her trembling daughter, and...

THUD

A limp Leysritt that dropped to the ground as soon as she opened the door.

"...ground, I missed you so much," Leysritt muttered weakly.

"Le-Leysritt!"

"L-Liz, don't die!!"

Irisviel tilted her head. What happened to them? she wondered.