And I don't know all that much. "Hm, the Master's Shinji Matou—a regular human, but he has a Magical tome with him that controls Rider—destroy the tome, you win. He charges the tome using Rider's vampire abilities, kidnapping classmates and draining their strength from them, then rapes them—so I'd kill him if I were you. He's hiding in the local school now, having set up some weird barrier—given her blood-related abilities, it's probably a vampire, and the barrier's likely meant for mass student deaths during class and a sharp Servant boost."
"Scum!" Rin interrupted me sharply here.
Hm, in principle I could risk commanding a bit more since it worked. "Though I don't rule out it damages any intruding Servant and Master too. I'd not risk entering the barrier if I were you—and Rin seems ready to disable it for you to avoid student casualties."
"Yes, I'll disable the barrier." Rin clenched her fists belligerently.
"Good—there are 5 key barrier anchor points: on the roof, in the gym, 1st floor storage room, 2nd floor classroom, and 3rd floor men's toilet. Her Servant looks like a girl with knives and an eyepatch—given how Servant summoning rituals sometimes twist appearances, no idea who it is, never cared. Gave out a lot of info, but questions might come. "Oh, almost forgot—consolation prize for Rin. You want to save your sister—Sakura Matou?"
"What's with her?!" Rin perked up.
"Sister?" Japanese MC trope finally looked away from Artoria.
Seems I hooked them—also distracts from skimping on Rider info—for an all-knowing entity like I'm pretending to be, it'd look weird. Well, time for prepared homework—though I thought they'd handle it without losses, but even better! "Hm, hard to say—I didn't look into it much and barely understand your magic. You know the Matou family's magic quirks?"
"No." Rin.
"Insects—demonic insects more precisely. Anyway, to the point—they implanted Magical worms in her that devour her body; right now they occupy about a third. Due to madness fits and trying to regain some flesh—she goes out at night and eats people. How aware she is—I don't know; what's important is it wasn't to boost her as a magus, but to drain power—to sustain her grandfather's life, and at this rate she won't last long. So I'd negotiate with Shirou if I were you, and after disabling the school barrier." I glanced out the window—dawn soon. "Probably today daytime—after tonight's events, hard to predict how Rider's Master will act. So after disabling the barrier for Illya, then tonight when school's empty, she can fight Rider without witnesses. You could head to Matou Manor to kill the old man and find a way to heal your sister. Think Shirou will lend you Artoria, and he can watch Sakura after school while you're busy. You'll take care of the girl, right Shirou?"
"Yes!" Japanese MC trope looked too perky—apparently forgot about dead Kirei.
"As you see, reason to help each other a bit more. And I'm finally free—farewell. Oh, almost forgot—search the building, might find survivors." And with that, I dispelled the Glamour and went invisible.
Bliss—can't believe it's working so far! Original plan was different, but this is fine—main thing, they're splitting up! Now just wait—when Illya goes to kill Rider, after she wins, just slit Illya's throat and wait for Berserker to rampage—then finish him and snag the heart. Experience shows sneaking up on Illya is easy—surviving after is hard.
Khm, well, guess I'll lose one clone—but acceptable price. And I can snag Rider's heart too! Though gotta dispose of Illya's body—so they don't learn of her death! Grail appears only with one Servant left, so better they think Illya and Berserker are alive somewhere.
True, the biggest thorn in my ass... khm, soft spot remains. Japanese MC trope with Artoria—right now I doubt he's leveled up much to be a real threat, and I hope the NEH that's Sakura kills him herself. Or he dies solving her issues.
Speaking of Artoria and Rin—during the raid on local boss Grandfather Matou, they might die. Which solves almost all my problems! Though I doubt I'll get that lucky, but even so—Artoria weakens more, and Rin grabs new magic books—which I can read too. Either way—I benefit!
Though it's all shaky and could turn unexpectedly. Perfect in my thoughts, but reality's a bitch with character, yeah. Anyway, I'll watch events unfold—and whatever plot armor Japanese MC trope has, he's mortal. So nighttime throat-slash with a knife? Doable.
With those optimistic thoughts, I kept watching them—they really started searching the Church while chatting and discussing future op details. I'm here for a reason—scouting is everything first, and if they change plans, I wanna know. Second—Church might have magic books or artifacts.
*10 minutes later, basement.*
Mda, creepy room—dimly lit space with a creepy seal in the center and 12 stone tubs with corpses. No survivors apparently, as this is the last un checked room—from the sad, no books or artifacts found by them or me. Nothing more to do here—I exit to the corridor, dismiss the clone and the 12 recently summoned clones, leaving just one on the nearest lamppost for periodic area checks.
Oh fuck, my back—whole body stiff. Doing a light warm-up, I go make food, mulling future plans.
*5 minutes later.*
"Eeeeeh..." Fuck, feel like an old grandpa.
Finishing warm-up, I get to what I'd been impatiently putting off—a new clone! Em, call it spear clone? Mda, naming issues—but luckily not sharing. Sit comfy—here we go.
Mentally flip through clones till I hit the right one. In my mind they're like a stack of blank sheets, but special ones stand out—hard to describe, but flipping you know—this one's different! Summon and inspect—hmf, looks same externally as others.
Switch to spear clone—no big changes, though something flickers on the edge. Something like how I select clones—I grab and yank the feeling—hand feels the touch and reflexively grips. Yes, baby! Spear! Dismiss and summon it a few times to get the feel.
And tests begin—other clones can't summon the spear, but can hold it, and it doesn't vanish when spear clone is dismissed! Also tried swinging it hoping for miracle—no miracle, spear's secret stays hidden.
While experimenting, noticed new sense—not the spear, turned out Blink. Well, not quite Blink—more teleportation, or summoning one clone to another. Why need it—when I can make any clone from inside one, however dumb that sounds.
Didn't get it at first. Then tests showed summoning—call it that—lets you take other stuff along! Tested on a pebble—uncontrollable joy rush was long—and reason simple: no more half-hour treks winding 20km through forest! Just grab from shop and summon clone to me!
Calmed down, thought I can not just steal but fetch stuff too! First thought—bomb and blow Shirou and house to hell! But calmed, remembered barely got pistol from local police station—no grenades there, let alone exotic! And no Military base nearby.
But ability still useful! Though sensing the catch like with mage clone—summoning works only if spear clone is in reality. While in standby—impossible.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan