Chapter 3: One down

Chapter 3: One down

"Have you prepared any plans, master?" Saber remained standing as Julius grabbed a chair to sit on.

"Yes, I have. I have information on all the Masters who are participating, as well as the class of their Servants." He revealed without hesitation. "I have some proficiency in the art of divination, mostly through Astromancy magecraft."

"That's good." Artoria nodded. "Are we going to attack someone soon or do you prefer to wait?"

Julius put his hand to his chin as he thought. There were events that would complicate the plot and that he could avoid, but he would prefer that it not be discovered that he knows more than necessary.

"Excuse me one second." He got up and went to open the curtains in the room.

"Master?" Saber was confused by the magus' actions.

In the sky, the stars shone brightly. Julius stared up at the sky for ten seconds before closing the curtains again.

"Let's go." His eyes glowed with layers of blue. "I have decided that we will be the first to strike."

In a dark alley, a scream was heard, though it was so spontaneous and short that anyone who might have heard it would take it as their imagination.

A woman with long purple hair was kneeling before an ordinary-looking girl. If one inspected closely, he could see how the first woman was drinking the girl's blood. A few steps away from her was a boy with blue hair.

"That's enough!" Artoria's voice echoed down the alley, alarming the purple-haired woman. "You dare to involve innocents in this war? You have no shame!"

"A Servant?" The blue-haired boy backed away in fear. However, he quickly seemed to gather courage. "This is good! I've always wanted to see a battle between Servants!"

The purple-haired woman got into a battle stance.

"Your master isn't even present? He must be a coward." The master took a book from his jacket. "Anyway, it's normal to be careful when facing the firstborn son of the Matou."

Artoria said nothing and simply made her invisible sword appear. The other Servant disappeared in a burst of speed, a chain appeared that surrounded Saber. She tried to grab the chain, but her arm got caught.

"Go, Rider!" exclaimed the blue-haired master.

Then, a burst of cerulean magical energy exploded from Artoria. She slammed her arm down, causing Rider to crash to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The blonde Servant grabbed the chain and yanked on it, pulling Rider in like a doll.

With a swing of her sword, she was sent flying, coughing up blood in the process. She hit the wall and left a small crater.

Rider's master stayed for a second without moving, trying to understand the situation.

Then, he headed towards the place where his defeated Servant lay.

"Hey, who told you that you could lose?" He asked. "Get up."

The book he was holding in his hand glowed and electricity coursed through Rider's body, causing her to scream.

"That's not good." A new voice came from the roof of the building. "If you mistreat your Servant like that, you can never win, Matou Shinji."

The boy got scared and looked up.

"It's not like you could win, anyway." Julius looked at him seriously. "You understand what is about to happen, right? You have involved civilians in the war, I will take care of applying the punishment myself."

"Wait! I am the magus of the Matou, if you kill me my family will dedicate all their resources to avenge me." He declared with a crooked smile.

Julius snorted.

"Zouken Matou, take revenge for you?" The Abraham's blue eyes narrowed with pity. "Do not make me laugh."

The Servant suddenly got up and moved towards Shinji. Using a speed worthy of a legendary character, he disappeared from the sight of the two.

"Do I chase them, master?" Artoria questioned, preparing to go after them.

Julius shook his head.

"Needless." A calm smile appeared on his face. "You know, I specialize in Bounded Fields."

Artoria's eyes widened as she noticed something.

'There is a field around us! No, there are several of them.' She looked at her master. 'But I didn't even notice them?'

Julius noticed that she wanted to ask.

"You didn't notice them because I used a spell from my personal magecraft, it's called Disruption and it allows me to alter the mana perception of people who are within a certain radius of me." He explained. "It doesn't make it undetectable, it just overrides any alarms a magus might have when coming into contact with unknown mana. That's why you were able to detect my Bounded Fields as soon as I told you that."

Artoria seemed to get excited at the prospect of this.

"Amazing, master!" she exclaimed. "It seems that you are much more powerful than I thought you would be, we can win this war!"

Julius nodded.

"Indeed, we can win. However, let's not become arrogant, even if you have Avalon." He commented, and Saber agreed.

Medusa kept running, but somehow she didn't feel like she was moving forward.

'I've seen this building before.' Behind the tape, her eyes widened in realization. Then she stopped.

"What are you doing, Rider? Don't stop!" Shinji ordered. His book had fallen along the way.

Whitish fog began to surround them, narrowing their field of vision far more than any natural fog would.

'The enemy master took advantage of our battle to trap us, we have fallen squarely...' Medusa pursed her lips, thinking of another girl with purple hair. 'I'm sorry, master, I don't think I'll get out of here alive.'

"Don't worry Rider." Julius's voice came from all sides in the mist. "I know about your true master."

Medusa trembled. "Do not you dare!"

"I said don't worry." A sigh sounded. "In this Holy Grail War the Matou family will fall, I'll take it upon myself to help that poor girl. It turns out that I already have another guy that I owe something to, and I'm sure they'll get along just fine."

The Servant was surprised and dropped her guard for a second.

"However, you two only made it this far." At Julius's words, an electric current stunned them.

"No, no! Wait! I don't want to die!" Shinji cried out for mercy, but there was a flash of silver that sped off.

Artoria swung her sword and split them both in half. The young Matou died instantly, but Medusa resisted for a couple of seconds.

"Take care... of that girl." She managed to utter before disappearing into golden lights.

"It's in my plans to do it." He answered. "One down."