Chapter 209: Interlude 2

Today things were strangely calm. There were no enemy attacks, there was no noise anywhere, but there was something that made all the participants of this war frown in bewilderment.

Today Risei officially announced Assassin's death, leaving Kirei out of the war.

Kiritsugu found everything he heard from Maiya strange, as all of Assassin's actions seemed too perfect to be true. Assassin, Asahi Toru, was planning something, but now he is dead. Saber and Irisviel witnessed that.

"Something doesn't add up..."

He too took the trouble to search for Toru's name in the history of this world, but there was nothing.

Everything had become extremely suspicious.

"I won't let my guard down. Just in case."

At that, the phone rings again. Kiritsugu looks at the sender's number and understood that it was Maiya calling.

Click. He answered the phone. Maiya's voice echoed on the other end.

"A mass murder took place last night in the penitentiary of a city near Fuyuki. The victims died from a single cut on their bodies. This is obvious."

"I know, thank you, Maiya."

And with those brief words, he hung up the phone.

His empty gaze looked at the phone for a few seconds and he sighed after coming to a conclusion.

"Assassin is alive."

If the Assassin carried out a mass murder, it is obvious that this one wanted to gather mana. Kirei most likely used all the Command Seals, leaving Assassin without a Master.

Servants need mana to maintain themselves in the earthly world. Assassin is now on his own and wants to win the war alone.

"Asahi Toru. It's too dangerous..."

-Matō Family Mansion-

'She's a brat full of magical talent... It's a waste that she's now part of this family.'

Zōken smiled as he watched Sakura light a flame in the palm of her hand.

She's just a six-year-old girl, but her talent far surpassed the adults of this era. Moreover, she accomplished all this without having a magical emblem except for the worms that dwell inside her.

On her side, Sakura looked at the flame with vacant eyes. Inside her mind, she wanted to use this flame to burn everything and go out to find Toru, but it was too risky since Zōken is no ordinary magician.

If he knew, Zōken would laugh at the gloomy thoughts of this girl. It seemed that Sakura's nature was tied to the "darker" of this world. And that was perfect for the worm emblem's heritage.

"When can you go back to using that magic that turns things to dust?"

Sakura replied timidly.

"I... I don't know..."

She wasn't lying. She really didn't know how to use dust magic.

Zōken wanted to see it again to find the basics behind that magic. Something like that was too powerful for a girl to handle.

Sakura had to learn how to use that magic. With that, she would be one of the greatest Magus ever and would be within the Matō family.

"Then keep studying."

"... Okay..."

-In the middle of Fuyuki-

"I really can't think of what to do for the day."

Toru said, observing the city from the roof of the tallest building in Fuyuki.

There really wasn't something to do if mana is very limited at the moment.

Toru can't use the clones to spy, let alone try to move at high speeds to scout the city fast. Mana is now a resource not to be wasted. So moving prudently and staying in dematerialized mode is the best option to save energy.

'Yesterday I got quite a lot of mana. Maybe it's enough to stay active for a day or two. That's if I choose to sit still like a stone so as not to waste my energy.'

On second thought, this is all a problem.

'I still haven't calculated how much mana I can spend in a fight at full power.'

He can even go so far as to disappear in the middle of the fight if his mana meter reaches zero.

"Haa... how boring."

Thinking about so many things had become suffocating and boring.

But when this is all over...

'I'll have to find a way out of this world.'

Toru doesn't know what face he's going to see Konan with in case he manages to return to the Shinobi World. He died in front of that woman's eyes after promising her that he would be by her side forever.

'I'll have to think of a very big and elaborate apology...'

Maybe Konan won't forgive him after doing something like that to him. Hinata, Hanabi and Ino might also have similar thoughts.

"But if I don't win..."

He wasn't sure if he will win this war. Thinking about that possibility evoked a horrible feeling in his heart.

Toru really started to be afraid of something....

Fear of the future...

-Emiya Kiritsugu's residence-

Artoria looked up at the old walls of this new Japanese-style house. It seemed that the vegetation would slowly eat away at the building, but this, oddly enough, gave this girl a certain sense of comfort.

After the castle had been attacked several times, it was better to choose another base. And this was what Emiya managed to get.

...

Artoria advanced together with Irisviel, but something strange happened just before that. Irisviel for some reason refused to take the keys. Moreover, she also refused to drive the car on the way to this place, when this woman was having so much fun driving that vehicle.

Artoria is not as naive as Iskandar made her out to be. She could tell that something wasn't right with Irisviel, but she still decided to keep her mouth shut and move along with the woman.

"This place... it's pretty big, but everything is very open to the outside."

"You're right. If I want to practice my magic I should do it in an enclosed place with concrete walls."

Places with lots of exits to the outside are not optimal for practicing sorcery. All the mana would leak out and ruin the magic performed.

Among all the keys there was a particularly old one.

Irisviel and Artoria looked at each other when they realized this and went out to the backyard to make sure that what they both thought was true.

To both of their good fortune, there was a very large shed made of concrete.

"This is perfect!"

Irisviel was thrilled to see this. So she went inside first and saw the whole inside of the place after Artoria opened the door.

That place...

That special place...

[The place where Destiny begins]

Although at that moment Irisviel made a revelation to Artoria after she decided to ask what's going on.

...

Irisviel is dying.

-At the home of an elderly couple-

"Look at him there, sleeping like nothing matters."

Waver folded his arms as he saw Iskandar sleeping on the floor. The guy was so tall that he took up almost the entire room.

"How long are you going to embarrass me... Wake up, Rider!"

"Uh...Uh? What happened, did they find Oceanus yet?"

The man stood up abruptly speaking incoherently. Waver shook his head wearily.

"Uh, boy, what's that in your hands?"

Waver resigned himself to answer.

"Well. What you said yesterday had me puzzled so I was researching in the library books. What you said was true. Asahi Toru doesn't exist in the history of our world."

"¿And?"

"Which makes me think that he most likely comes from the future, or from a different world or timeline. Maybe Kotomine Kirei summoned Assassin with a relic?"

Rider was confused.

"And what good does that do us? The boy is already resting in peace at the Throne of Heroes. It's better to leave it at that. Talking about him won't allow him to rest in peace."

"It's just that, there's the rub. I tried to remember everything that happened during your fight against Assassin. Don't you think there was something strange?"

"No, nothing."

Waver sighed. He couldn't believe that the guy who occasionally says very wise things was such a fool.

"It all starts with Archer's reaction. Even though Assassin died, he applauded his death saying 'I expected nothing less from such an interesting buffoon' He saw the death as Assassin's act."

Rider raised his eyebrows.

"That sounds very stupid, boy. That's a far-fetched explanation."

"That's not all! Let me talk!"

"All right, don't cry."

"Well. When you Noble Phantasm deactivated, your wine barrel wasn't there. Besides that, use a rat as a familiar to see something after that. Since we broke through Einzbern-san's magic barriers when we entered the forest, it was easier to hide my familiar. It was then that I saw the kunai that Assassin threw at you. That thing was still stuck in the ground even after we left. Of course, the kunai disappeared afterwards because a materialized weapon consumes a lot of mana."

Iskandar frowned. Waver continued.

"And there is more. Just yesterday, in a penitentiary in a nearby city, dozens of dead criminals were found. All were killed with a single cut from a short sharp object."

"You're not implying that..."

"Yes... Assassin tricked us..."

Iskandar folded his arms after hearing that. He pondered for a few seconds and then started laughing.

"Hahaha, I completely fell for it!"

"Didn't you?"

"No idiot! Why would Assassin go and kill so many people? Moreover, how did he manage to trick us? I killed him with my bare hands. I felt his neck through the metal of my sword. It doesn't make sense."

"That's the point... I don't know if this is another ability outside of the Assassin class, but Asahi Toru maybe able to manipulate what people see and feel."

"Haa... this just got really weird..."

"I know. But I don't think Assassin is capable of attacking anyone now. If he killed so many people, then he surely needed mana, that is, the odds that his Master has used all his Command Seals is high, therefore, Assassin has no Master. If we wait, he will disappear eventually or another Servant may come to kill him. By deceiving us, he just bought some time."

"Hm... he is very cunning, I must admit. I'm glad his death is the only thing he dared to lie about."

"What do you mean?"

Iskandar smiled calmly.

"The fact that he tricked us like that so he wouldn't die confirms his desire. He wants to live. So let's leave him alone for the moment. When we're in the home stretch of this war, I'll take it upon myself to defeat him."

Iskandar felt a little envious of that boy. He thought that if Asahi Toru was in the ranks of his army it would be a great thing, but he knew better than anyone else that this boy was a free soul who walks alone on the path of life. He would never give his life for anyone but himself and what he seeks to protect. He would never swear allegiance to a king.....

"So you'd better get ready. We don't know what tricks he might come up with this time, but I hope to see him soon."

Waver swallowed as he thought Assassin would be watching him in the shadows.

-That very night-

"So Caster also has a way to stay alive without a Master, huh..."

Toru looked down from the top of the bridge in his dematerialized mode.

Caster, at that moment, was standing above the water. He seemed to be gathering the mana from his grimoire for some sort of summoning. Toru could recognize this by the strange magic circle glowing on the bottom of the water. The shinobi do something similar to perform summonings.

"No one was late in arriving..."

He sensed the presence of four more Servants besides Caster.

"At last things are starting to get more hectic."

Though on one hand, cold sweat ran down Toru's disembodied forehead, for being in the middle of all this was risky, but it's also the only way to gather information without spending excessive mana.

"I guess this will be my front row seat in this war."

Turning from attacking ruthlessly, deciding to stand aside seemed to be the best decision.

Observe and plan.

"It's going to be a long night tonight..."

Suddenly, in front of Toru, a gigantic monster emerged from the water, which was lifting Caster. The latter seemed to be shouting something, but Toru didn't really understand anything that guy was saying.

"Not even two seconds passed and the first one to launch into a fight is Saber..."

The confrontation begins.

To be continued...