Much like many of her peers, Rin Tohsaka was content to take a wait-and-see approach towards the war within her city. That was to say, heading in blind to a conflict was an idiot's approach. Heading in blind when magi, each with their own heroic spirit, were brought into the equation needed a clinically recorded mental defect.
Thankfully, her servant, rude as he tended to be at times, was more than happy to comply when she proposed that they scout the city. As a servant of the Archer class, he was definitely the most suited of all classes to accomplish such a task. Though it did mean she had to subject herself to the embarrassment of being carried in his arms to truly take advantage of his superior physical prowess. Still, she was Rin Tohsaka dammit, if embarrassment was all she had to suffer for an advantage, then so be it!
For most of the night, the city remained calm. No conflicts occurred. They didn't even find anything out of the ordinary. At one point, it did look like Archer had caught something but he insisted it was nothing, going silent entirely when pressed further. Faced with that, she had no choice but to relent… begrudgingly of course.
Ugh, even Hal was more agreeable than this. No, wait, nevermind, he was worse. Thinking of him annoyed her.
Where did a new magus even get off being that confident about himself?
Seriously, even those pretentious people from the Mage's Association that visited once in a blue moon knew how to better rein in their arrogance in front of others.
"What's on your mind, master?" Archer smirked from beside her, leaning against the wall behind her. It was an annoying smirk, like he knew what she was thinking about. "It wouldn't happen to be… say… a certain unruly…"
Yeah, he knew. Somehow.
Rin shot him a glare. He raised his hands in mock surrender.
"Just stay quiet and keep looking." She ordered with a huff.
"I doubt something will actually happen. Just saying. The other masters, much like yourself, should be magus. They may also be thinking the same thing you are."
"And that is?"
"That it's better to wait for someone else to slip up. Maybe even arrive at the end of a difficult conflict and gut the victor themselves."
That was a reasonable approach to war. But, there was also one critical flaw to Archer's observation.
Rin put a hand at her waist and confidently raised a finger. Of course, before she even opened her mouth, Archer interrupted her.
"But magi also want to show off. I think this war also doubles as a stage to win fame and influence within your circles, so there's also a chance that someone might just get restless. Ah, did you want to say that?"
…This bastard.
She wanted to kick him. She knew it was going to hurt herself more than him too.
After a minute of pushing down the desire to strangle him, she took a deep breath and decided to be the bigger person… totally not because she couldn't do it. She was just a better person like that. Shaking her head, Rin took a look at the city sprawling below her, all the lights and great monuments of concrete and steel. She felt the wind drag across her skin and ruffle her hair.
It'd be morning soon.
"I guess we should head back-"
Suddenly, Archer was beside her again. He held up a finger, and pointed a finger in the distance. Wordlessly, she followed his directions to-…
"What the hell is that?" She felt her jaw go slack.
Off in the distance, brilliant flames rained from the night sky. Bright surges of light carved into the air and the mountains beside the city. Every few seconds, great explosions would drive away the dark of night. The forest beginning just near the edge of Miyama Town burned. Wait… Miyama Town?
"HEY THAT'S RIGHT NEXT TO MY HOME!"
"I don't think that's what you should be focusing on right now." Archer became the voice of reason, "If we can see this, so can the rest of the city."
But, right now, Rin Tohsaka didn't care about reason.
"We're going, Archer."
"What?" He uncrossed his arms, looking at her like she'd said the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. Obviously that wasn't true, since he probably looked at his face in the mirror every day when he was human. "Are we SURE that that's a good idea? I'm not at my fullest due to your… And, I'm pretty sure those servants are out of my league anyway."
"Don't doubt yourself." She gave him a thumbs up.
He deadpanned, and pointed back at the fight, "They just blew up a mountainside. Other masters will also-"
"We're going."
"…Fine, but don't regret this later."
He picked her up unceremoniously and easily stepped off the edge of the skyscraper they were on. What came next was a bit of a blur. Archer was moving too fast for her to follow, launching himself off windows and walls, then it became low rooftops and trees. After what she thought were a couple minutes, he was dropping her on her ass atop an English manse near her own.
Instead of rebuking his rough handling, Rin immediately crawled over to the edge and belched. Nothing came out. She still felt her dinner welling up in her throat.
"Sorry."
He didn't sound sorry at all. The bastard was even smiling!
Wait, that wasn't what mattered right now!
She tore her gaze from the well-kept garden of one of her neighbors to turn towards the booms and the bangs she could properly hear now that they were close enough. If she narrowed her eyes enough, she was sure she was able to make out a crimson figure standing in the air… but only because of the rifles firing off flames all around it.
"So that's the heroic spirit responsible for this…"
She now had a much better look at the destruction unleashed. The roads were scarred by flame, marked and carved haphazardly. Thankfully, the homes seemed to be spared. The servants had clearly taken their conflict into the forest nearby instead. She also noticed a distinct lack of people, as in, the residents of the district unconcerned with their world.
A Bounded Field?
Yes, she felt it.
A curtain wrapped around the immediate area. She couldn't tell just what it did but… she could reasonably infer that it had something to do with altering the senses of those not of their world.
Suddenly, a mad howl struck her senses. She trembled and searched fruitlessly for the one responsible. Then, the very earth shook and a blur shot at the heroic spirit stood in the sky. A series of bangs rang in her ears, and the blur was thrown back to the Earth.
"Well, that was probably Berserker." Archer noted, "Because of the… you know."
Rin nodded, and narrowed her eyes. "That one is like an Archer but it can't be since…"
Her servant shrugged.
"And those are clearly old rifles, aren't they?"
Archer deadpanned, "…How do you expect me to know what any of that means? The Grail provides only basic knowledge."
"They're rifles. That means it's a servant that's famous for using guns."
"Wow. I can see why you're called a genius."
Rin raised a fist.
"What I do know is that they're out of my hands."
Rin let out a huff at his clear lack of enthusiasm, and once more scanned the surroundings. Rather, that was what she intended to do. Instead, the moment she looked down, she spotted a familiar mop of black streaked with white sitting on the sidewalk below them, humming an unfamiliar tune.
"What the hell is he doing here?"
"He also lives nearby." Archer stated matter-of-factly, "This is… a valuable learning experience, I think."
Knowing her disciple's nature… she could understand him just running out to take a look. It made so much sense it made her want to kick him for it.
He then picked her up and dropped her right beside her disciple.
The foreign magus spotted her instantly. He waved his hand in that silly way of his, a childish smile on his lips. He almost looked cu-… He did not look like anything. She put her hands on her hips and leaned down.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Watching. Making sure no one notices since…" He nodded his head at the figures clashing in the distance, "Well, neither of them seem to care. I'm also wondering when that loli from before will come back."
"What loli?"
"That guy's master. Berserker's master. White hair. Red eyes. Einzbern. Said I should know her."
Why was he wearing aviators at night?
What was he saying again?
"First time I've heard the name, but von Einzbern sounds metal."
"Einzbern? So the Einzbern master summoned Berserker?" Rin bit her lip. "Did you see the other one?"
She heard Archer snort behind her, but ignored him.
Hal also looked up weirdly, studying her face in silence, visibly baffled.
Then, he smiled from ear to ear, "Nope~"
…Too bad. But, what she learnt was bad enough. It was fine that her disciple didn't know the Einzbern, but she did. They were one of the three families other than hers that came together to make the Holy Grail all the masters fought over now. That one of them had summoned a servant capable of this much destruction was not good news at all.
Especially when her own was so… ugh.
Before she could question her 'student' further, a great burst of fire shook the very air. Something struck the earth beside them, kicking up concrete and dirt all around. When the smoke cleared, a bloodied giant was lying inside a fresh crater, searing holes in his flesh.
Archer immediately moved to cover her just in time to stop a hail of bullets with a shortsword that appeared in his hand. Bullets that had come from… a young woman that landed atop a streetlight. Around her, matchlock rifles burnt into the air… and to Rin, she was far more terrifying than the creature lying nearby.
"Your ilk are a blight."
She wasn't too tall, or wielding a great terrifying weapon. She wasn't malformed, not hideous… yet, her heart drummed against chest at the very sight of her. In her mind she knew, that calling 'her' a human would be wrong.
Her eyes were wrong.
The grin that split her face was wrong.
And through that, Hal didn't even stand up.
Was he too shocked?
She immediately shook his shoulder with a hand, with more strength than she meant to.
"Hal! Move. Run!"
That probably brought him back to his senses. But, she didn't get to check. The giant lying nearby had started stirring again.
"This is why I wanted us to stay back." Archer grumbled.
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Hope you enjoyed.