Intriguing Possibilities
Medea stared at the paralysed girl lying against the wooden wall of Ryuudou Temple with a bland expression, eyes masked by the hood over her head, "You're..." She touched her purplish lips in curiosity, "Conscious, aren't you?"
It was moments like these that reminded her of the nature of her newest servant, even if it was the first among them. Aston had saved a girl he had no real relation to expecting no recognition or reward, killing Rider and her Master in the process with no real difficulty.
The girl's frightened eyes twitching at her words served as affirmation of her suspicions and Medea would have questioned further if not for her bounded fields alerting her of a new presence, "The knight is back it seems."
Medea stood up to her full height just in time for Aston to appear behind her, forcing her to look up to meet his pensive gaze, "I trust you can dispose of the revolting pests?" He spoke as he took off his helmet, letting it dissipate into bits of magical energy.
"I could." Medea answered in a monotonous tone, "But why would I?"
She was a Caster for a reason and this was shoddy work compared to the curses of her time, but, Medea didn't fail to see how she could steer the situation to her advantage.
The Witch of Betrayal did not however expect the Lancer to smirk in response to her, rather confrontational, statement, "As I surmised, a 'witch' can't possibly understand compassion."
Medea didn't understand why the statement irked her as much as it did, "Was that meant to upset me?" Such a thing was unreal, she'd never seen it... Or at least that was what she'd thought until she met her current Master.
That said, the poor girl didn't deserve the cruelty she'd been subjected to and that brought up memories the witch would rather not recall. So, shrugging her shoulders in annoyance, Medea knelt down on the wood, softly poking at Sakura's cheek.
It was certainly a strange sight for the Caster hiding in the shadows of the dark temple room, illuminated only by a few rays of sunlight that made it through the rafters.
A cloaked witch kneeling next to a girl in a simple dress with a knight in dark observing the ordeal. Aston's, perhaps, sickly skin, dull eyes and colourless hair sharply contrasted with his armour making the scene almost, "Poetic."
Sasaki's remark fell on deaf ears.
"Like our current Master's life?"
Or maybe it didn't.
"Poetic? I never thought you would think of me that way."
"Oh dear, my apologies. I'd heard pathetic, not poetic."
"...."
Medea closed her eyes, muting out the two manchildren giggling like maidens enthralled at their shitty jabs and observed the girl, Sakura Matou.
There was a very apparent infestation of familiars inside her even now attempting to kill her only stopped by a sort of paralysis acting on her whole body but there was also something else.
Something the Witch of Betrayal had observed in the Einzbern Master, Illyasviel von Einzbern, "My..." She voiced her amusement and disgust in tandem.
The makings of a Lesser Grail.
She'd, after investigation, learnt of the corrupt nature of the Holy Grail this entire war was being fought over. It was currently inhabited by something terribly evil and wouldn't grant any wishes at all or rather, it would grant them only through destruction and ruin.
The strange thing however, was that this girl carried shards of said corrupted grail inside of her that were constantly attacking her psyche and Medea didn't doubt that the poor thing had already had a run-in with the damned thing infesting the grail.
It wasn't enough to be trampled and violated, her family's patriarch just HAD to ruin her further by implanting those inside her.
Of course the latter could be thought of as conjecture but Medea did believe her conclusions.
The Witch of Betrayal hummed in thought, putting a hand on her cheek as she parsed the more 'intriguing' possibilities and effects of the Grail Shards. Her gaze landed on her newly acquired servant and she instantly came up with a solution to several of her problems.
The corrupt Grail shards could empower a being but they would also deteriorate their selves.
Removing and transplanting them wasn't impossible for a magus of her calibre and there was a certain person who could use more power and less of their 'self'.
"I'll help."
Aston slightly shivered, and wondered what could cause it before pondering over how the world planned on ruining his day next.
Amidst all this, it was almost funny that the person involved the most had no real say in the matter.
Sakura had just been going about her day, gotten abducted, her 'family' possibly murdered and now was being forced to stay silent and listen as a couple of what she presumed were magi decided how to use her.
It didn't cross her mind that they were attempting to help her because such hope did not exist for one such as her.
*
"What in the name of..."
Rin drew in a sharp breath, forcibly halting her sprint and almost stumbling over her own foot in the process, only saved because Archer decided to be nice for once and grabbed her by the back of her collar.
"This was Lancer?" The Tohsaka mumbled to herself, biting her nail as she took in the sight before her.
The Matou Estate was no longer an 'estate', instead replaced by a charred crater that would make one think it had been bombed to the Imaginary Numbers Space. Fire dotted the landscapes, the Earth was charred and not a single sign of human life remained.
It was simply destruction.
Archer deadpanned, crossing his arms, "It's almost like no one warned you about this already." He spoke sarcastically, running a gaze over the destruction before him.
The Lancer was a servant that never should have been here but then again, the existence of King Arthur's scabbard, Avalon, was enough to draw forth any among the Round Table, loyal as they were.
With twitching brows, Rin Tohsaka glanced back at her servant and grumbled, "Well, I'm sorry for doubting you." It sounded insane but it was right in front of her.
The headless corpse that used to be Shinji Matou failed to much affect the magus, but the scarred Earth and the vestiges of magical power belonging to a servant was proof enough.
"I couldn't hear you right." Archer smirked, amusedly scrutinising an embarrassed Rin's back, "Did the genius Rin Tohsaka actually apologise?"
"Y-Yeah, I did! Is..IS that so wrong?!" Rin's flushed face and her stutter rendered her attempt at a strong front all but useless, the only choice left to her being ignoring the matter entirely and focusing on what their original goal had been, "There's no signs of struggle."
Struggle would mean disproportionate destruction not.. well, this.
"He's called the Knight of Atrocity, this is his modus operandi."
Such sights were commonplace when this particular Knight of the Round Table was deployed. He wasn't particularly intelligent or coy but he was damn good at what he was famous for.
Archer supposed that did make a fair bit of sense.
"I suppose.." Rin put aside her own worries and fell into deep thought, coming to several conclusions of her own, "Are the founding families being targeted?" She wondered to herself, that couldn't be the case right?
His Master would have to be completely insane to target them considering their reputations and influence as well as necessity when it came to maintaining the Holy Grail itself.
Masters being casualties in Grail Wars wasn't uncommon, her own father had become one but that didn't excuse the possible destruction of the Matou Family as a whole.
It didn't make sense though, considering the Lancer hadn't even given chase when she clashed with him and was forced to retreat..., "Unless, he was playing around."
"Not improbable." Archer commented off-handedly, the red haired prick could be like that sometimes, from his own observations at least.
"That makes the next target either.." Rin paused for a bit, "The Einzbern or.."
"You. Do you see now why I insist on an alliance?"
"I was planning on it!" Rin stomped her foot, turning away to leave as there was no point in remaining here any further.
She could only hope she reached the Einzbern Castle before it came under assault as well.
With Berserker's physical prowess and ranged support from Archer, a Demigod and a hero of legend combined, a knight would have to be the one to fall.
* * *
FEEDBAAACK!!!!
I'm actually back this time, for real.
Also with a little question,
Rin Tohsaka
Jeanne D'Arc
Who more waifu?
*
You can find upto 7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap
Completely filled, ahead actually. This arc is about to end over there.