Cross Effects- The RP

[OPOI]

Shirou took the offered .44, slightly surprised by its weight.

"You'll be alright?" he asked, even though he had seen first-hand what Forest could do with her bare hands and a car door.

Suddenly, two vampires charged at them, claws at the ready. Clicking back the hammer, Shirou quickly took aim and fired. He nearly broke his already worn out wrist from the tremendous recoil, but whether due to luck or just innate skill with firearms, the bullet flew true, smashing straight through one vampire's head, the force of it ripping what little remained of the head away.

He quickly turned to the next vampire, who continued towards them at a high speed, uncaring of its comrade's gruesome demise. Shirou narrowed his eyes, and aimed down the sights once more. However, just as he made to fire, the vampire quickly dodged to the right, throwing off his aim once more.

An idea brewing in his mind, Shirou quickly ran towards his adversary, dodging a wild swipe at his neck, before literally axe-kicking it to the ground, placing his foot firmly on its chest, the magnum aiming right between it eyes.

The vampire froze, eyes flickering between him and the barrel of the revolver, evidently calculating if it could get him in time. Before he knew it, a line he had heard from an old movie he'd borrowed once passed his lips, "Go on. Make my day."
The vampire quickly lunged, but before it lost all its senses it heard a loud explosion, followed by extreme pain as its head was completely pulverized.

Shirou walked away calmly, shooting down stray vampires, before quickly frowning. He never said lines like that. Was there another magus around influencing his mind? He cast a suspicious glance at the revolver, before returning to his task with cold efficiency, his face blank as he decimated the seemingly unending swarm.

[Elf]

Archer saw a brilliant flash in the sky as he bounded from rooftop to rooftop with his precious package in his arms.  He gestured and said, "I take it that your friend is that way?"

Part of him was curious to see what caused such a bright flash, and he could feel the blood lust on the air that was slowly starting to blanket the city.  It was like a school of sharks turning into a feeding frenzy with chum being dropped into the water.  The part of him that had been corrupted was starting to respond to it; he felt the urge to join the fray, everything else be damned.

Then he looked at Rin comfortably nestled in his arms and the tiny smile she was wearing.  He had someone precious to protect.  However, Rin did want to help those people, and he supposed he had to help her in that goal to keep her happy.


******

Forest nodded at Shirou's question right before her left shoulder exploded into red agony.  She cried out as she felt stolen blood pour through and coat the katana's blade that was currently in her shoulder.  Smirking behind her was a vampire she estimated a couple hundred years old.  The length of steel was pulled out of her and she cried out even as the wound started to heal from the kick of Faerie blood in her system.

He said, "When I woke up tonight, I didn't expect that I was going to kill Law Unto Herself."

"Because you're not," Forest said, slinging the car door at him.  He cursed and attempted to block it with the Katana, but Forest was already in motion.  Her fist impacted nicely with his face, and while he was bewildered, she yanked the sword from his hand.  She gripped the shark skin coated handle before pivoting and using her wrists to slice directly into his neck.  With a bit more pressure the perfectly sharpened steel sawed through flesh, muscle and bone, leaving his head tumbling to the ground as his body disentigrated into ash.

The swarm was getting more intense, and Forest could see the gray skin of ghouls as well, probably attracted to all the blood shed.  They were like zombies on PCP without the nasty side effect of rot.  There weren't that many, but she knew that the sheer intensity of the battle would draw other creatures as well like werewolves.  She battled with her stolen sword, ending up with Shirou.

She sent to him, We need to cut this short.  If this keeps up, innocent people are going to get involved and a lot of them are going to get a good case of dead.  With a show of enough force a lot of these wankers might turn tail and run.

Then, at that moment, Forest saw a flash of blue, red, and flashes of fire streak towards them.  Vampires were dispatched in their wake, a slaughter of the undead at wholesale.  She blinked as Lancer stopped on her other side, his face smeared with blood that wasn't his own, his hair wind blown despite the pony tail, and his crimson eyes glowing.  He spun his terrible spear in his hands and said, "Fore, you're in a spot of trouble, aren't you?"

"Less teasing and more slaughtering," Forest said, gesturing at the vampires before Lancer took a stance with a smirk.

She blinked as the lance in his hand began to glow with an unholy light as he struck a throwing pose.  The spear was pulling more and more energy from around him, the glow intensifying even more before Lancer hunched his muscles.  He shouted, "Gae Bolg!"

Then the air, speeding towards the center of a cluster of vampires.  When it hit, it left a spectacular explosion in its wake.  The shock wave shook cars and broke glass before pulverizing dead flesh.  Ashes swirled around the red lance that was still smoldering as it stood straight up in the concrete that it had landed in.

"I'm housing Cu Chulainn," she said, her eyes wide and her voice rising a few octaves before she turned to Shirou and said, "Cu Chulainn is living with me!"

[OPOI]

"What you didn't know?" Shirou asked incredulously, having recognized Lancer as soon as he had seen him back in the alleyway.

"You didn't think he was actually called Lancer did you? Then again it did take me a while to figure out Saber was King Arthur..." he trailed off.

He watched appreciatively as Lancer cut through the horde with ease, before sending a few rounds at a few ghouls trying to sneak up on him.

[Elf]

Lancer smirked and said, "I was keeping it a secret, even though if I would have known this would have been her reaction, I would have told her sooner."

Then he ran off to collect his spear and started fighting the vampires in a more melee style.  He moved swiftly and furiously, but strains of his laughter could easily be heard as he was quickly surrounded by the ashes of dead vampires.

Pink stained Forest's cheeks and she said, "I knew 'Lancer' wasn't his real name, but he didn't tell me who he was!  I mean if I had known that Cu Chulainn was in my house I would have . . . Acted like a dotty fangirl."

Then she kicked a ghoul's legs out from under it before taking its head with the katana.  Her cheeks were still bright red and she said, "Yes, I am a nerd.  Blow me."

[lantzblades]

Satoshi stopped as the steel finished pooling and taking his tools he began forging the builder and the answerer, the suits were simple things, things that, with his magic took no more time then a few moments. Next he created twin suits of armour, much like the previous two they did not need weapons the smaller given a shield and his hulking brother a great smithy hammer.

with such done he breathed life as he had before with Sigard. These four brothers however were not his lost friend, nor would he treat them so poorly. He gave each automaton an order, the shield one and the answerer were to guard the castle gate and ward off those seeking entry into the castle.

The builder and the smith were to construct more armoured suits and having done that Satoshi painted runes on the walls and began meditation.

Alter smelled blood and the sounds of combat rang in her ears, a light in the sky burst forth. She had been however snubbed by that woman forest so she decided instead to investigate the castle that had appeared in the center of town.

[OPOI]

"Eh, everyone's a nerd for something nowadays," Shirou said casually, filing away the information for future teasing, something he'd recently discovered he enjoyed almost as much as cooking. He continued providing covering fire at a safe distance away from the crowd Lancer was engaging, the false bravado he forced into his voice covering the fact that his body wasn't starting to tremble beneath his coat in exhaustion. He couldn't give in to it, couldn't allow himself rest, not when there were still people who needed help.

"Anyone else coming Lancer? I'd like to get this mess cleaned up so we can go after Isa."

[Alice]

Rin saw a bright flash, right where they were heading. Archer gestured towards the source of the light. "I take it that your friend is that way?"

She gave a grim nod in response, her smile fading. "Looks like we really are in for a fight." The young magus put on a determined smile. "But it's probably nothing the two of us can't handle. Let's clean up this mess so we can go back to the apartments and get settled in." Rin didn't mind the upcoming fight entirely, but the thought of getting cleaned up and getting some rest was quite appealing within itself.  The sooner we get this done, the better.

***

Ten Years Ago

Finn whistled a merry tune as he grabbed a soda from the refrigerator, hardly noticing the precipitation that quickly formed on the can. Hot summer's day that it was, it probably hadn't been the best day to take a quick run, but he felt like it was worth it. As he walked by, casually flipping back the tab of his pop can, he heard noises coming from the living room. Curious, he walked over to the entryway and peered inside.

Sitting perhaps a bit close to the TV was his little sister, her eyes narrowed in determination, her fingers dancing over the buttons on the controller in her hand as she pressed the buttons perhaps a touch too hard. She was playing Super Mario World, and she seemed to be in the last stage, and struggling at that. With the sound of the death jingle and a "gah!" from Mille, things didn't seem to be improving on that front.

Weird that she's playing Super Mario World. Lately she's mostly been trying to study Magecraft. Taking a swig from his pop can, Finn walked over to his frustrated younger sibling. "Hey sis. Playing some Mario?"

Mille had restarted the level, her eyes not leaving the screen. "I'm trying to beat this game all by myself. Every time I've played, it's been with you helping me somehow or you playing as Player 2. I'm trying to be more independant, so I'm starting with something simple."

Finn tilted his head. "But you're seven. Does that even matter?"

"I'm a big girl now. And big girls have to learn to take care of themselves. I can't be all weak and useless. No one likes a weak and useless girl."

Finn frowned a bit. "Huh? You're not weak and useless. Getting help sometimes doesn't make you weak and useless either. You sure you don't want me to help you out as Luigi?"

"No. I'm doing this all by myself and that's that."

"Can I at least give you some tips?"

"No."

"Can I even watch?"

Mille sighed. "Fine. But try not to talk. I wanna concentrate."

So Finn watched his sister play for a good hour. She eventually figured out how to get through the main stage, but kept dying to Bowser. Mille looked like she wanted to throw her controller at the nearby wall. "Arrgh! Stupid game! That stupid lizard's cheating! Why'm I having so much trouble!?"

Finn spoke up. "You sure you don't want me to help? Even big girls don't have to do everything on their own you know."

Mille looked at her brother in exasperation. "I told you, I wanna do this by myself! How am I supposed to be a great Magus if I rely on everyone else all the time?"

So that's why she's doing this. Finn sat down next to his sister. "Actually, I think you try to do stuff by yourself too often. But still, I got faith in ya." Finn grinned at her. "Maybe all you need is a different approach."

"Like what exactly?" she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Try having more fun with it," Finn said. "Don't worry so much about trying to achieve it, just enjoy playing the game and go with it."

"Don't know how that's supposed to help," Mille muttered. But she tried to do as he said, forgetting the consequences and just enjoying the game. It took a few rounds, but she managed to beat Bowser and the game with him.

Mille stared at the credits dumbfounded before turning to her brother, confused. "Wait, when I took it less seriously, it became easier. How did that work?"

Finn grinned. "Because you were having fun. If you take stuff so seriously all the time, you're more likely to get all worried and... stuff. Makes it harder to focus on things."

Mille stared at him blankly. "But that doesn't make sense. Don't you have to take things seriously in order to do your best?"

Her brother shrugged. "Eh, it's kinda hard to explain. It's just something you kinda have to find out for yourself I think. You're super smart, so I bet you figure it out someday."

"I don't know if I ever will." Mille turned off the game console before getting up to leave. "I'm going to try and run a bit. A strong magus also has a healthy body." She turned back to Finn. "And, umm.... thanks for the advice." She hesitated, before giving Finn a quick hug. Her face was flushed embarrassment for doing such a sappy thing as she ran out to take her run.

Finn smiled at his sister as she made her dash for the outdoors. She's way too serious 'bout stuff, but I'm glad she's my little sis. Gotta admire that determination.

He frowned. ....But she's always so worried about doing well in everything and trying to do things on her own. Why's she so worried about it? It's not like anyone but me's gonna see it, and then, why care about what anybody else thinks? ...I don't know, maybe when she's older, she'll start having more fun with stuff and not feel like she has to try so hard all the time.

Finn shrugged. Ah well, time for another pop from the fridge, I'm thirsty. If I take the one behind the milk carton, Mom won't notice and yell at me to drink healthier or whatever.

The Present

The car ride towards the hotel had been mostly silent. Mille had spent most of the ride glowering at the windshield. The atmosphere weighed heavily on Finn as he tried to think of something to break the ice. Finn actually found himself a bit perplexed by his sister's behavior. She'd always been too serious and a bit on the grouchy side, but not to this extreme.

It didn't take him long to think of the most likely answer- The Magus Association. Someone as eager to prove herself as Mille would have a hard time dealing with all the elitism and classism that the Association had running rampant through it like a plague. Mille came from a country that was looked down upon by the Association, her family was fairly new and used an unpopular form of Magecraft, and she was female. In spite of her talent, with all the backwards viewpoints that many Association members held so tightly, it was likely they looked down at her as no more than some very nice breeding stock. Knowing how boneheaded Mille could be about things, she likely didn't even consider any of that and kept trying to impress them anyway. With that all in mind, it didn't surprise him that she was so bitter and angry now.

That's probably why she has that grudge she seems to have against Tohsaka too, he thought. She has a slightly older family and got pretty successful, so sis probably hates her for that. But that seems too petty for sis. Did the Association change her, or is there something more specific that's the cause?

There was a bright flash of light near their destination, which looked kind of like some kind of explosion. "That can't be good." Finn took advantage of the street being empty to put even more pressure on the gas pedal. "Let's put the pedal to the metal."

"You're already going too fast! What if you hit something?!"

"Your big brother knows what he's doing. Trust me, we'll be fine!" Finn felt bad that this was pretty much the only conversation they'd had the entire car ride, but perhaps now wasn't the best time anyway. He had a pretty big bomb to drop anyway newswise, and he didn't want to distract Mille for the upcoming battle.

Finn zipped and zagged until they reached the hotel parking lot. No one there. They ran towards the general direction of the explosion from before. What they saw was a chaotic mess. Three figures were fighting off a massive horde of vampires: a tall, copper skinned man wearing a red biker jacket and wielding a strange pair of swords, a tall blonde woman fighting quite skillfully with a katana, and a young man with silver hair and a .44.

Mille quickly surmised that the blonde woman must be Forest. She wasn't sure who the two men were, but the tall man looked oddly identical to Archer in a number of ways. One thing was clear though. With this many vampires, the three alone couldn't hold out on their own without falling out of exhaustion.

But as if delivered from on high, the familiar blue clad figure of Lancer swooped down and took down a swarm of undead, the mighty spear tearing the undead asunder in a burst of gore they could see even from this distance.

They saw him readjust his stance and prepare to throw the terrible red spear. From even where they stood, they could hear his shout. "Gae Bolg!" A brilliant burst of red light cut its way through hoards of the undead, magnificent in the destruction and entrails it left within its wake.

Mille looked on for a moment in stunned silence. "It's him then. It's really him."

Finn looked at his sister, confused. "Huh? What are you talking about, sis?"

The magus girl turned around to face her brother at almost inhuman speed. "W-what?! What do you mean you can't tell who he is?!" She pointed rather sharply in Lancer's direction. "That's Cu Chulainn you moron! You know, the one from the stories we heard as kids? One of the greatest heroes in Irish lore? Do you have no pride or respect for your heritage?!"

Finn rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, him. Yeah, I thought that attack sounded familiar. Huh, that's pretty cool. Must be a Servant then?"

Mille pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are you really that stupid?"

Finn shrugged. "Eh, just wasn't that worried about the details. I like to keep things simple and focus on the important stuff. The important thing earlier was that he wasn't going to kill me with that mean spear of his. And the important thing now is that those guys over there need a hand." He took his rifle that he had retrieved from the apartments earlier down from his shoulder and readied it for firing. "So then, what's the plan?"

Mille carefully surveyed the area around her. She noticed that the vampires were mostly clustered around the combatants, so there was a large space near where they were open and clear of the creatures for the most part. Mille retrieved a knife from her backpack. "Get rid of the vampires by way of fire. I'm going to set up a trap over here for them. I'll need someone or multiple someones to lure them over here when the time is right. I'll give you a whistle when I've got it set up. I'll need time to draw all the runes for the circle though, so I'll need this place to stay relatively clear until then."

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Tell the others about my plan if possible. And not die I guess. Otherwise, I got it covered." She gave him a dismissive gesture, almost as if she were shooing him away. "Now get over there, and be careful. Get up on the rooftops if you have to. If this works out the way I have it planned, we should be able to get rid of most of the vampires in one shot."

Finn nodded. "Got it. Don't worry about me, this isn't the first time I've done missions like this." He grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up. "Just leave it to me!"

Mille rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just get going." She sighed. "And good luck, I guess."

Finn nodded and headed off towards the fray. Mille got over to her starting position and began carving runes. The prana cost would be high, and it'd be tedious work, but if she pulled this off, the conflict would hopefully come to a much swifter end.

[Cherry Lover]

"Whining about the skills of others and how they affect you is pointless, that's all I have to say for the moment", Taiga said, with clear annoyance.

Kiyoshi was rather stunned by that response. He'd expect it from an enemy, of course, but this girl was supposedly his friend.

"If you were my enemy then I would agree, but you're supposed to be on our side. Usually you try not to cause harm and suffering to your allies", he said with equal annoyance.

With that, he walked outside, expecting to see people waiting for them as his aunt had suggested. To his surprise, though, no-one was there.

He did, however, notice a massive black castle in the distance.

What the hell? he thought.

Then, suddenly, he saw a massive explosion nearby, and felt a shockwave.

What was that?


Rider couldn't help but feel sympathy for Shuya. She knew what it was like to be a monster, to be forced to kill for your own survival. In all honestly, he didn't seem all that different from her in some ways. Both of them seemed to enjoy making others suffer, although he seemed to prefer killing, whereas she found pain arousing.

Still, she knew he would have to be careful around him. There was no doubt he would kill her without hesitation if they ever fought, and she also wouldn't be surprised to see him attack her out of the blue.

"Yes, Kiyoshi is my master's son. Her life is happy, but she earnt that happiness, and I will protect it with everything I have. Still, as long as you have no intention of harming him, I see no reason to fight you. I do not dislike fighting, but I have no desire to risk my life unnecessarily.

And, no, I don't blame you for how you are. I know what it's like to be a monster, and I don't blame you for how you were born. I don't think you're a 'coward' for following your nature. I am not fond of your attitude to killing, I see it as a necessary evil not something to be done for enjoyment, but as long as you leave me and my friends alone I will not fight you.

I don't expect you to spare me if we fight, though and nor should you expect such a thing from me. but, nor should expect me to fight fairly. Only an idiot cares about honour when their life is on the line. I will do whatever it takes to protect my family and the life they have, and to protect my friends and allies."

Then, Rider considered his explantion of what had happened to Isa. His approach to capturing the slavers seemed reasonable enough, although she felt somewhat annoyed at how much danger he'd put Isa in.

"Hmm, well, I understand your intentions with Isa, but shouldn't you have perhaps put her in a bit less danger...?"

With that, she followed the children out of the door, and gestured for Shuya to follow.

"Forest should be waiting just outside", she said.

[lantzblades]

Taiga rolled past Kiyoshi and stopped "given that you failed to remember the person you were just fighting I think it would be best if you stay with your aunt" she said looking at the castle.

"I'm going to find my brother" she stated  rolling towards a crosswalk.

Satoshi sighed finishing the spell causing the ground to tremble. Satoshi opened his eyes seeing his success in bringing a tremendous amount of steel to the magic circle.

grinning he began forging arms and armour.

[Daiki]

The half demon nodded to Rider's opinion concerning his arguments. He was surprised to hear that she could relate somewhat to his situation, but he would never ask about it. Some things were better kept for one's own discretion, after all. Shuya wouldn't have minded exchanging more words with her though, possibly around a good drink, but it will probably never happen. He sighed, almost mocking himself. Who cared if they did or not get along, in the end?  As long as they understood each other's intentions, it was enough. And they apparently had come to an agreement on that.

"Hmm, well, I understand your intentions with Isa, but shouldn't you have perhaps put her in a bit less danger...?

He had a grimace.

"The heck you think I'm searching blondie for?"

He followed Rider outside and was met with a powerful detonation as soon as he stepped out. Eyesight and hearing translating it as something coming from people battling each other. The mixed blood looked intently in that direction before shifting his focus on a large scale dungeon who wasn't there earlier. "Seems like people are messing up with the town more than usual." He said calmly.

I'm going to find my brother.

Shuya wasn't sure how to react to that. The girl didn't waste any time and took her leave with these words. Their options were clear, the choice, not so obvious. The mixed blood wasn't ready to argue with a girl he barely met. Especially if her family was concerned. He eyed Rider with a serious expression, with the intent to let her decide. People were in difficulty not far, but leaving the girl alone was probably a bad idea. The boy would probably run after her too. "Your call." He said apparently unconcerned about it.

He would tag along anyway, not like he felt interested in any of these. His own goal was to find the vampire, after all. Well, he could do with a good fight, but that was his normal attitude towards it.

[Elf]

Lancer nodded and answered, "Aye, we've got all sorts of carvery on the way."  He looked at Shirou, scowled, and said, "And one of them you outta stay far away from."

Forest scowled, looked at Shirou, and said, "Depending on who else comes, we might be able to break away and look for her."

*****

Archer saw the swarm of vampires, Lancer dealing damage, and almost laughed at the sight of a version of himself dressed in a ridiculous biker jacket and leather pants with some magical girl.  He landed with Rin and said, "You neglected to mention that there was another version of me running around."

He eyed the girl wielding Ruby and said, "However he seemed to trade down with his Master."

The sight of Lancer dealing death with Gae Bolg wasn't a surprising one.  However the attractive blond teenage girl with the katana and tattered clothes standing by what looked like some version of Emiya Shirou.  From the white hair, Archer reasoned that the young alternate version of himself was already damned from the path of the hero.  He could also sense that he was almost out of prana, and that the girl with the katana wasn't human.

He traced his beloved falchions, threw Kansho in a graceful arch, letting it behead a few vampires before guiding back to his hand.  He looked at Rin and said, "Your new little apprentice is planning something.  We have better things to do than deal with these pathetic excuses for Dead Apostles."

[Alice]

Rin looked down at the massive battle occurring below, spotting just about everyone they had left behind in the process except for Rider and Isa. The enemy was coming in thick and fast, and she could already tell that the combatants below seemed exhausted.

Archer landed with Rin on a nearby rooftop that gave them a good view of the events transpiring on the ground. He turned to look at her. "You neglected to mention that there was another version of me running around." He turned away from Rin herself to eye Ruby's latest victim. "However he seemed to trade down with his Master."

Rin looked down for herself and found herself glowering at the stick in the girl's hand. Ruby just had to choose someone as inexperienced and vulnerable as Kishinami-chan, didn't she? She'd take care of that nuisance after this mess was taken care of.

"She has potential, but unlike Garrison-chan, she doesn't have much in the way of training or experience as far as I can tell. So I suppose you can say that." Her eyes lowered a bit. "He seems pretty happy with her, though...." Realizing that she'd neglected to answer his first question and also realizing she perhaps said too much, she perked back up. "A-and as for the other Archer, I-I didn't think it was important at the time! B-besides, his Master isn't hostile and he's not under my control, so I thought it wasn't important, really!" Rin realized that her face felt like it was on fire. She turned away from Archer to look down at the ruckus once more, ashamed.

Thankfully, Archer changed the subject as he allowed Kansho to gracefully behead some of the vampires. He looked back at her and said, "Your new little apprentice is planning something.  We have better things to do than deal with these pathetic excuses for Dead Apostles."

She looked over and saw that Mille seemed to be drawing something on the ground in the distance. She couldn't tell what they were from this far away, but knowing what she did from Mille's file, they had to be runes. "Garrison-chan's family specializes in rune magic. They're great at creating barriers, so she must be preparing to create one." She frowned. "I'm not sure what she's doing though. I guess she could be making one for us to retreat to, but I'm not sure how much good it'd do us or why it has to be so large."

"It's not meant for us, actually. It's meant for the vamps."

Rin cried out and jumped back at the sound of Finn's voice. "Y-you moron! Why didn't you make yourself known first, for all we knew you could have been a vampire!"

The young mercenary grinned. "Heh, you sound like my sister." Finn rubbed the back of his neck in casual embarrassment. "Sorry about that. Didn't realize I was so sneaky."

"What are you even doing up here anyway?"

He gestured to his rifle. "Better place to shoot vampires. Plus I'm under orders from Mille to tell people about her plan, so here I am."

"So what is her plan exactly? A large barrier to trap the vampires by itself isn't going to do us much good."

"Well, from what I gathered, my sis isn't stopping with one ring of runes- she's going with two. Making it so we have a vampire barbeque in there."

Rin quickly put the pieces together. "So she's making a second ring of runes to set them all on fire once they're all trapped inside the barrier."

Finn nodded. "Yup, that's the gist of it. Sis wants us to lure the vamps to the rings once she has them set up. She's going to give us a whistle once she's ready." He turned to look down at the combatants. Finn's cheeks flushed faintly. "Huh, that blonde lady with the katana sure is something. Who is she?"

"That's Forest, our Landlady." Rin gave him a mischievous smirk. "I take it you want to check out more than just a room from her?"

His flush deepened. "I just appreciate a woman that can hold her own, that's all."

"Uh huh. You weren't drooling over her at all. Just admiring her swordsmanship."

He grinned faintly. "Well, give me some credit, there's plenty to drool over."

"Shouldn't you be getting down there and telling Forest about your sister's plan instead of gawking at her?"

"Yeah, probably. Anything else you guys need from me before I go down there?"

***

Mille had gotten a quarter of the way done drawing her first circle of runes when she spotted a group of figures coming out of the hotel in the distance. She eyed the group warily as she continued her work, hoping none of them were hostile.

[Cherry Lover]

As he watched Taiga begin to leave after insulting him once more, Kiyoshi was highly tempted to just let the annoying little brat go.

But, even with the power of her mystic eyes she had, she was still an eight-year-old girl. However much of an annoying, stuck-up bitch she was, he couldn't just leave such a young child alone and vulnerable. Whilst her eyes would keep her safe in most situations, what would happen to the girl if she came across someone who could resist them? And, where would she stay? He doubted very much if she would be able to find her brother, and even if she did there was no guarantee he would keep her safe.

With a sigh, Kiyoshi chased after the girl. Swallowing his pride, he apologised for his actions.

"Look, I'm sorry, OK.

I know you think you can defend yourself, I know your eyes are powerful, but what happens if someone resists them, or finds away around them? What will you do then?

And, where will you stay? It's late, and you have no house to go to.

I understand that you miss your brother, but you can't help him alone. If you try, he'll only end up killing you, and that will hurt both of you. Aunty Rider is strong, she can help you save your brother. Please, stay with us. Let us help you."


As she moved outside, Rider felt an explosion coming from nearby. One which had a very distinct magical signature.

A Noble Phantasm..., she thought.

There were only two people who could have produced such a thing, and if either of them were fighting then, most likely, so was Forest. She knew she should head in that direction. But....

"I'm going to find my brother", Taiga said, before wheeling herself in the direction of a crossroad.

Damn it.

Personally, Rider was quite happy to let the girl leave, given the attitude she seemed to be taking to Kiyoshi. But, unfortunately, she knew that her master's son would not feel the same way and, aside from taking him away by force, there was little she could do but follow in his footsteps. Her worries were confirmed when he walked towards the girl.



She turned towards Shuya, noticing the castle in the background.

"Yes, that castle seems rather odd, doesn't it...", she said.

Rider looked at it more closely. It was clearly not natural. Indeed, it looked like it had been made using her own master's magic.

Angra Mainyu....

She was unsure of how the castle had come into being so quickly, but it was clear that whoever had built it was using Angra Mainyu's cursed magic. Which meant that there was a high chance that Satoshi himself was there. And, Taiga seemed aware of this.

"Your call", Shuya said, his indifference clear.

But, Rider knew that the decision would not be in her hands. Kiyoshi would never let the girl walk off alone. Indeed, Kiyoshi had demonstrated that quite handily with his words to her.

"I can't leave the girl. Kiyoshi would never forgive himself if any harm came to her, and my master would not be too pleased about it either", she said, before walking towards her.

Then, she addressed Taiga.

"Your brother is in that castle, isn't he?" she said.

"Do you really think you could get in alone? You need our help...."

[lantzblades]

Taiga looked at Kiyoshi and then rider.

"Medusa was killed by Perseus, my brother hung him from a tree by his feet on principle alone when he was barely strong enough to defeat Kotomine, now my brother can effortlessly beat Gilgamesh. Unless your help includes a noble phantasm which banishes evil I fail to see how you can help me" she replied  pausing to look at the castle.

"my brother is that castle, he has extensive skill in the use of barriers you won't find a way in if you go, family comes first, that's what uncle says, even cursed big brother will remember that, I won't be hurt" she stated pushing the cross walk button.

Sakura was a bit overwhelmed by all the prana flying around so finding the tallest building she headed for the roof.

Satoshi continued to forged armour as the builder started putting together the finished pieces.

[Daiki]

I can't leave the girl. Kiyoshi would never forgive himself if any harm came to her, and my master would not be too pleased about it either.

Shuya looked at Rider, Kiyoshi and the wheelchair girl. He had a feeling it would turn like that.

He was already getting annoyed. Not so far from them, a fight was occurring. He resisted the urge to drop Isa without a care and to go join the melee, barehanded if needed. Eventually, he heard Taiga words and frowned.

"Why the rush?" The half demon walked up to the others. "Get that you wanna see your brother but, care to explain yourself a bit?" The words of Taiga may have made sense for Rider, but for him it was like being dropped in a foreign country without knowing a word. "What is it about Medusa and Perseus? Gilgamesh? What's a phantasm thing? And finally, what kind of evil are we talking about?"

All those were legitimate questions for someone not familiar with the Holy Grail Wars.