In a room made of wood, a figure sat next to a relatively humble bed with a book in hand, the only source of light coming from a small candle on a desk close by. On the bed laid a few items that would cause one to raise an eyebrow; on the left, there was a slightly tarnished bronze cross, a couple of scrolls containing text of Holy Scriptures and a bottle of holy water. On the right, a few polished daggers with Latin words etched on the blade laid next to a sword scabbard, a few pieces of paper with runes written on them, and finally a silver Desert Eagle fully loaded and kept in its holster.
The figure continued reading in silence while subtly checking the clock on the wall. He had received a message from one of his higher-ups of a possible mission he was to participate in. Quite frankly he was surprised to have gotten involved with such a mission, but they were very adamant that he joined in. So without much choice, he agreed with the condition that he was allowed free reign for his own actions. He did not want innocent blood on him.
At least he won't be alone on this mission. Apparently, one of the original members in question was killed a couple of months ago, and the small group did not have anyone else that could handle the rigors of the mission or deal with the questionable thought patterns of some of the others, so he and another person got called to make up for that loss.
Further thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door knob turning and the door opening quickly, throwing a bright light into the room and forced his eyelids to nearly shut themselves to reduce the glare. The person who was currently standing at the door frame had his figure outlined by the bright light behind him, obscuring his facial features.
"Lyle, we have been summoned by old man Galilei." The figure at the door said as he threw a card at the person who merely raised a hand to catch it by his fingers. "It is confirmed, we are heading out to grab the Excalibur Swords."
By that message, the reader closed his book with a bit of force and looked up to look at the other fellow.
"So it begins."
...
"So, you have passed the message to your informants?"
"Yup, and they have passed their bits to those two groups, so we should be seeing some action soon."
"Still I must confess, the idea of telling both the Khaos Brigade and Galilei remains somewhat illusive to me. Why do you want to gather both groups at Kuoh Town of all places?"
"You should know why, what with all the chatter we have been hearing and the message from the others."
"Shirou Emiya, you want proof."
"Exactly. We keep hearing words that he may be in the area and what-ifs. Some presume to be him to be the version of this world, others say otherwise. I want to see for myself, so I decided to use those two to find out."
"Khaos Brigade I can understand, since they have very talented spies, but why Galilei and in extension Kokabiel? How do they come into the picture?"
"I need bait, and that old man has the bait I need."
"Ah I see, the man's obsession with that sword then?"
"Exactly, if this is the Shirou Emiya we know, he would have to come out to face both Galilei and Kokabiel when they execute their plans, and he would see the sword of this world. No doubt he will be very angry."
"You should know, since you were the one who tried to create a pseudo-Excalibur by seeking out the graves of the associated Knights of Camelot and tried to rob the grave of King Arthur. If I recalled correctly, Shirou Emiya was rather pissed to the point that he totally leveled your island and turned it into a small lake."
"Hmph! I would be able to see whether or not this is the same Emiya from his reaction alone, not to mention some reference for my projects."
"That may be the case, but do not forget, not all who arrived here have the same mindset of wanting to kill or have our revenge on Emiya. Some want to have a rematch, others wished to have a certain 'connection' to him."
"Ah yes, how can we forget those people, not to mention the few females in our presence? They do seemed a little obsessed with the lad. Wasn't there an Archibald heir around as well?"
"He is still around and one of the few who wanted a rematch with him. Quite frankly I am surprised that he is really different from his clan members; I think he is the only one not trying to end the legacy of the Magus Killer, rather he is simply interested in fighting Shirou Emiya is he is."
"Yeah well, I will never understand those individuals, and I am sure as hell not getting in the way of at least two of the females after him. They are really messed up in the head."
"Those guys and girls are one thing, the ones we must watch out is that group currently residing at the remote regions of Europe."
"You mean Shirou Emiya's former Executor and Exorcist fighter buddies? Yes, they would be a problem, especially that man. He was the one who mentored Shirou Emiya during his time at the Association."
"Not to mention that their reasons for wanting to find Emiya are totally different from us, considering that there was not much bad blood between them even when he had defeated and sent them here. And if that individual meets that boy, our plans will go to waste."
"Well then, it would be best to make sure that they don't find him in time then."
"Indeed, let's hope this plan of yours works."
"Oh it will, that is certain."
...
Edward Galahand was currently regretting his earlier thoughts of being lucky.
In the morning, he and a few of the others drew lots for the duties to be performed for the day, and to his surprise, he bagged the one job that many felt to be the easiest but at the same time, most important duty of them all: guarding one of the greatest relics in both human history and Christianity, one which motivates men and women alike to give their lives for a cause.
More precisely, one of the Seven Excalibur Blades.
Edward always felt great pride for the blade that the King of Britain used to protect the country of invaders and cleanse it of the demons that threatened its populace. Even when it got broken and reformed into the seven blades, his admiration never stopped. He would occasionally take a longer route to his apartment to walk past the cathedral where the blade was being stored, just so he could feel energized by the end of the day. Granted he only caught glances of the blade in question, but it still lighten his heart from a hard day's work.
So he was very pleasantly surprised to have taken the job shift for guarding the blade; that meant he could get up close and personal with the blade in question!
Of course, it was not all fun and games when it came to guarding one of the biggest relics of them all. He was to be partnered with 3 others in a group and they were to constantly radio in their positions every half hour for accountability, also to ensure no one tries to invade the inner sanctum, they have a separate team stationed closest to the blade. The numerous guard posts they were to be stationed at were regularly rotated to ensure there was no set pattern to the shifts and there were enough defensive spells in place to ward off some of the more determined intruders to the church.
Still, as many have stated time and again, they were in the most closely guarded area of the Vatican, with arguably more protection than the Pope's security detail itself, and most attempts of breaking and entering would get thwarted at the first gateway alone. So it should be the easiest duty around.
Boy was he wrong about that.
The first sign of trouble came in the late afternoon, when he and the others had to gather at the grand hall to allocate the shifts. At the roll-call, they found 4 people missing for over an hour. 3 of them were dismissed, since two were rookies who started out a couple of months back, and the third was a well-known slacker who would run off at the first chance of getting a break.
The fourth on the other hand was the one that got everyone's attention. He was a senior who was known to be earnest in his duties and always completes them without a complaint.
He might be late for a couple of minutes, but never for an entire hour. So everyone split up to find them while leaving behind a small group to watch over the blade.
It was roughly two hours later when a squad found their mangled bodies.
At the very least, Edward was glad that he was not the only one to have puked his guts out at the state of their bodies. They looked as though someone had meticulously used a blade to surgically their limbs at their joints, then fed their bodies through a meat grinder that had mismatched teeth, before using something to remove their eyes and tongues brutally.
Whatever the case, there was one more thing that got everyone's attention: a message drawn on the wall with the blood of the fallen men. It simply read:
"Prepare yourselves, or your precious Excalibur gets taken."
...
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