X. Masters

If one were to sit down and study the mechanisms and systems of Thaumaturgy, conventional wisdom would conclude that the nature of Magi was intrinsically insular.

The Mysteries are a twisting, many headed, hydra composed of a hundred different retellings and a thousand different iterations of each fearsome head. One may choose to tackle one of those heads, to draw blood from it, gain understanding from it and classify it and categorize it, only for it twist and turn in your hands. One may take the head and butcher it, drawing its secrets from the bone, only for a single scratch to sink its poison into your body and end you. Worst yet, one could find an accomplice, one who had been struggling with that very same head for their entire life, only to find that their methods and concepts completely incomprehensible to them. A branch of study both completely anathema to one's own, yet just as applicable as one's own.

So it was that the first of the Magi took the study of Thaumaturgy and devoted to it the study of generations. To breed and create iterations of themselves that would continue on the struggle, that would take their efforts and research and bring it to further heights. A hundred generations, a thousand iterations, the knowledge carved into their own bones until such knowledge became like a second heart or a third eye. Knowledge coiled upon itself again and again and again until such a time that if one would look at where the Magi began and where the Magi ended the difference would be near incomprehensible. Like taking a grain of sand and comparing it to a kaleidoscope.

There had been times when Thaumaturgy was described as a Science, oftentimes by the uninitiated, and it was something that the Magus Association had never been particularly fond of. The very foundational truth of the Sciences was that there was a truth in the first place. Core principals that could be pointed out as impenetrable fact from which one could build upon and expand as a parasite to its host. That parallels were drawn between the methodology of Scientists and Magi were a surface level comparison at best, but he'd always thought the comparison was useful. Not so much from the validity of the comparison of course, but more from who was making the comparison.

You see, the vast majority of the time, when the uninitiated would begin to learn Thaumaturgy, they would almost always be of that sort. The Modern Sorcerers. The Practitioners of the Orb. The Devil's Kin. Mages.

Their origin was simple enough to trace back, at least initially. The Holy Church and the Magus Association had not always seen eye to eye, and there was a time wherein blood was shed, bloodlines extinguished and treasures taken by the victors. Of those, a variety of Mystic Codes were taken by the Church as souvenirs and tools, the artifacts kept hidden in a variety of locations within Europe for centuries. Then, sometime before the dawn of the Twentieth Century, those same Codes fell into the hands of modernists and Scientists.

By all rights that should have been the end of it. Mystic Codes were not some toy to be used by any ignorant fool, but specialized tools with particular trigger conditions. The theft of those artifacts ought to have been discovered, their perpetrators hunted down and extinguished, the Codes returning to the moonlit world where they belonged.

And yet it did not. The Hunters were foiled, either neutralized or outright joining the Scientists in the first place. The Mystic Codes were analyzed and studied, their ancient secrets broken apart and thrown into the light of human rationalism. Their methods extrapolated and tied into the concept of numerology and mathematics, expanded and turned into a modern science.

It should have been impossible, and yet it happened nonetheless. It was the greatest advancement into the nature of Thaumaturgy in the past thousand years. For the Mysteries to expand past the shadow of rumor and fable to instill itself into the collective consciousness of Mankind. A means to avoid the slow decay of Thaumaturgy, a way out of the trap. By all rights as soon as such a phenomenon would have been noticed the Association should have descended upon this new breed of Magi and discover the cause of their aberration.

And what did the Magus Association do? The Atlas Institute? The Wandering Sea? They ignored it. Dismissed it as unworthy of study, unworthy even of observation. They called it derivative, drawn forth from well understood principles and degraded even further by these scientists twisting the mysteries into the realm of conventional logic. Beyond that, it was new, originating from those deemed most inferior, and so obviously their ideas were inferior as well. Conventional logic would dictate that only the ideas of those possessing ancient stature and perfect bloodline should be considered, never mind the ideas of those incapable of magic in the first place. Thus, the distinction between the new breed and the old grew without a finger lifted to stop it, this new breed straying further and further into the light without even an inkling of their origins while the Association saw them more and more as degraded acolytes, refusing even to consider them as kin.

The Galliasta Family was old, though in the eyes of the Association even his own bloodline was still that of a newborn whelp. In times past his family had toed the line as dictated by the Clock Tower, moving at the Association's whim for even the barest scrap of meat falling from the table of their Masters. It was why his Family had fled from Germania before the eruption of the Great War; beyond the consideration of safety, the Association would have looked unkindly at any Magi Family with even the barest minimal interaction with this new breed of Mage. Perhaps if they'd lived in in Legadonia or Ildoa such a move would not be necessary, but to reside in Germania? The forefront of this so-called magical revolution? Impossible.

Galliasta had often mused what would have happened if his Family had opted to stay in Germania as a few others did. Likely they would have been de facto exiled from the Association proper, but access to Germania and OZEV would certainly have been worth it. Those few Families that chose to stay and attach their fortunes to that of Germania were rewarded richly for it, adapting from the shadows of the Association into the light of OZEV's Establishment. The Forvedges, the Musiks, the Icecolle and others were regarded as less than dirt by the Association's leadership, though Galliasta didn't think that they particularly cared for what the Association thought.

"Sir?"

The Magus opened his eyes. The woman before him was prim and proper, her hair nestled into a neat bun, her helmet nestled between her arm and a cold expression on her Asiatic features. Despite the dour look and burn scar marring a portion of her face, she was still conventionally pretty and she'd worked for him long enough for Galliasta to know that her expression wasn't really an indicator for displeasure at anything in particular. The woman merely walked about as though she held most things as being equally unimportant in her eyes, a remarkably refreshing viewpoint for a Mage that he couldn't help but appreciate.

He shook off the wave of ennui that had been washing over him. Worrying about could-have-beens and should-have-beens was something he was never particularly good at. "It's nothing, Miss Fang. You were saying?"

Fang moved for a moment, readjusting her grip on her helmet and breaking the illusion as she did. Her from wavered, a glaze of static washing over her form as the computation device by his desk whirred and hummed as it produced the holographic projection. A second later and the static was gone, and from an outsider's perspective Fang was standing before him once more.

"As noted, after Sweeper One's interdiction by the Archer entity, Degurechaff broke cover and engaged it in pitched combat with minimal collateral damage. Shortly thereafter, Subject 104 contracted, manifesting the Saber entity which prompted Archer into retreating and Degurechaff into a forced engagement with Saber."

Galliasta allowed his head to rest upon his hand, leaning back into his seat as he did. "And this was when she began conversing with the other Masters, was it?"

Fang nodded. "After a point, sir. Subject 104, Saber's Master, interrupted the engagement. This was followed by a brief conversation with Subject 4, Archer's Master. While I was unable to determine what exactly they discussed, hostilities ceased quickly thereafter. Degurechaff gave orders to the rest of the Tresillo, whereupon she took Squad Leader Laverne as well as the rest of the Masters to a direct bearing headed towards the Kotomine Parish."

A few moments passed, Galliasta seemingly deep in thought before finally chuckling. "I see. From direct combat, to negotiations to an escort of good faith hmm? How remarkable, though I suppose that's exactly what one could expect from a Servant with the highest level of Charisma, hmm?"

The mercenary said nothing, merely staring dutifully onward as his employer mused to himself. The Magus continued, undeterred by the silence. "Nonetheless, it is something of a concern, but nothing truly serious for now. If the Kaiserin wants to play with her food before she butchers them, who am I to get in her way? Continue passive observation, Miss Fang. Thank you for your report."

The holographic projection fizzled away into nothing as Fang nodded in acquiescence. By the time the apparition had disappeared, Galliasta was already inputting a command into his computation device.

Tanya von Degurechaff was many things. She was an inspiration, a trailblazer in what the modern mage should be as entire generations of men and women around the world set themselves to her example. She was a visionary, possessed of a chillingly accurate foresight that set plans to motion against tepid opponents long before they knew she was even an enemy. She was ruthless, her actions ravaging her opponent and leaving behind an era of Pax Germannia.

But a pliable Servant? A creature intended to obey her Master without question? Galliasta was smarter than that, it was obvious that Degurechaff would want more, would not be content with anything but the best. It was a reason for why she was allowed the use of some of his mercenaries, a means for her to stretch her wings and be at least somewhat more comfortable within his employ.

Galliasta had almost decided against summoning Degurechaff in the first place. Her relics were too closely guarded by her people, all belongings of note carted away to who knows where. Even the location of her body, even where she died, was shrouded in secrecy. Her tomb was public enough for her admirers to take the pilgrimage to her grave, but his sources had indicated that her actual body was sequestered elsewhere, in a more private, less glamorous setting. Beyond even the practical consideration of obtaining a catalyst, there was the issue of an acceptable degree of synergy between his own mindset and Degurechaff. He had no illusions regarding whether they were a good 'match', so to speak. For all that the woman was a forward thinker, she was still a Mage unused to the sorceries and perspectives of a Magi. That she accepted his research at all was already an achievement and he had no pressing need to push her beyond what she would be comfortable with. Ideally, Degurechaff would simply be a tool that could be directed and applied whenever necessary and with minimal interference, so as to allow the woman the space to carry out her objectives while maintaining professional distance. All troublesome details to be certain, but which would likely prove necessary in maintaining her loyalty.

Nonetheless, for all the troubles that summoning the Kaiserin likely entailed, he was glad that he'd been convinced into summoning her. Medea of Colchis would have been even more difficult to wrangle into obedience, and he had no doubt that a Magus so close to the Age of the Gods would be utterly impossible to deal with. For all the problems Degurechaff posed, she was still a modern visionary, one could still understand her. For a creature such as the Witch of Betrayal, her mind would be so twisted into knots and alien values that he was fairly certain he would have lost the war in trying to control her.

The computation device whirred, a new projection occupying the space Fang left behind. A young man with shaggy hair and dead eyes, one of the mercenaries he'd contracted from the Unified States. He was familiar with the man, aware that he lacked any real consideration for niceties and so proceeded with that in mind.

"Sir."

"The status of tonight's shipment?"

There was a pause as the man reached out of frame for something, the projection glazing over with static for a moment, before he returned with a clipboard in hand. "Ten additional subjects from Fuyuki General Hospital, Fifteen from the Homurahara Elementary with an additional eight from miscellaneous operations around the city. Current total is at thirty-three, though as per your instructions only twenty-nine would be at the purity levels you would require."

Galliasta sighed. "That makes eighty in total now. Time is running short, is there a possibility you would be able to accelerate your operation?"

The pause was longer this time, the man frowning slightly in thought. "Not without violating Isolation protocol. We could draw more from Yatsushirodai Elementary while maintaining Isolation, but travel time may be an issue due to the distances involved."

The Magus tapped his hand across his desk. "Fine. Carry on as you were for the next day or two, but after that I want your men prepared to abandon subtlety and move for a smash and grab, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very good. You're dismissed."

It was unseemly that his family Magecraft relied so much on something as barbaric and inefficient as human sacrifice, even more so when compared to the more elegant mysteries employed by his opponents. It was almost comical in a way, to dare challenge the Einzbern, Tohsaka and Matou and their generational mysteries with something as simplistic as his own pitiful Magecraft. While he had the advantage of wealth for the moment, it was a temporary benefit at best, one that would prove useless if he mis-stepped in any way. In due course, had he simply entered this war with only his Magecraft and his wealth behind him, he knew he would have lost pitifully.

Galliasta reached into his pocket, pulling forth a blood red handkerchief. Carefully, he placed it to the table, opening it gently to reveal a shard of dark grey metal no larger than a fingernail, it's edges burnt and sharp as a knife.

He had been admiring the artifact daily, wondering at how such a small thing could have been found in the first place, the journey it took before it settled into his palm. A casual observer might consider such a thing worthless, but to a true Magus? To a true Magus it was a near priceless catalyst, withdrawn from the ruins of what had once been a great battlefield. All that remained of a rifle once possessed by a young Mage, her power so mighty that the weapon cracked in her hands before obliterating her foe and the mountain range behind her.

No, it was perfect that he had summoned her instead of Medea. In the world of Magecraft, symbolism was everything. The themes and symbols one carried into battle nearly as important as the efficacy of their effects. With that in mind, what better symbol was there to assault and shatter the Old Order that these tired old men and their useless puppets represented than with the Devil herself?

I

The city streets were, surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, slowly filling up with people. While one could have expected fairly empty roads and such for how late it was, it was somewhat more difficult for people to sleep through the sounds of magical explosions and a roaring fire, never mind the ashfall that occurred soon thereafter. It wasn't particularly difficult navigating those roads, dodging or passing through the slowly growing crowds, though it was significantly more difficult for Emiya and his Saber. For some reason, an aspect of the unique nature of her summoning had resulted in her unable to turn into her spirit form. This, atop the Saber's unwillingness to blend into the crowd, meant that travel was significantly slower than usual.

This didn't particularly impact their journey to the Kotomine Parish. Rin had vouched for the fact that if Kotomine wasn't already a vampire he soon would be, and thus would likely be awake by the time they arrived at the Parish.

What this did mean, however, was that some people managed to have the opportunity to finally talk.

A dry, vaguely amused, tone echoed within Rin's mind. "Should I be worried, Master?"

"Oh, you think you have something to worry about? Perhaps about how utterly humiliating your performance was against the Kaiserin? Or maybe about how you acted oh so cool and mysterious, only to flop at the very first fight of the war? Maybe even about how I nearly died just getting onto the battlefield because you couldn't chase down two measly people properly?"

There was a pause, deep and pregnant with tension and scorn, before it disappeared entirely and Archer sensed a sickly-sweet intent emanating from his Master.

"No, of course not. Why should you be worried?"

Archer sighed, a long-suffering sound, as Rin continued leading the others with an angelic smile on her face. It had been perhaps half an hour now since the battle at the Emiya residence had taken place, and the Tohsaka Heir seemed in no mood at all to be particularly forgiving as to her Servant's failure.

"I have no idea why you'd think that way, Archer." Rin thought, even as she smiled and took to the front as she led the group to the church. "Is there something you'd be aware of that makes you think I should be worried? Perhaps you were actually weaker than all that supremely irritating aloof crap you had when I summoned you? Or perhaps what with all your many words about how I should stay in the back and not make a nuisance of myself in this war, the moment I arrived because of a call you made, I nearly died?"

Rin stared forward, eyes gleaming in barely constrained fury, and if Archer had standing right in front of her one might imagine the Servant combusting into flames at the heat in the girl's eyes. A few moments passed before Archer spoke, his voice echoing behind her in that irritatingly self-assured tone.

"Ah, you're absolutely right, Master. Thank you for putting my mind at ease, I was worrying about nothing at all."

"Mind at ease!?" Rin screeched aloud, turning to Archer in a fury, eyes gleaming with violence, before stopping herself short. Instead of the tall, crimson clad, presumably smug face of her Servant was the slightly concerned, piercingly blue eyes of the Servant that had gutted him so thoroughly. Tanya von Degurechaff stared at the Master, a puzzled look on her face as Rin felt blood rush to her face with the realization she'd actually spoken that aloud.

"Mind at ease?" Tanya mused, frowning in thought as those disconcertingly blue eyes studied the Tohsaka. Rin yelped, hands unconsciously flattening over her skirt even as Archer's laughter echoed in her thoughts.

"N-nothing!" Rin spun back, fleeing from the Kaiserin's gaze with all the elegance of a tumbling giraffe. The girl caught a brief glimpse of Emiya, a friendly yet confused look on his face, and Isabel, a far less friendly frown on her's, before she turned her sights ahead of her once more. Archer chuckled.

"There, are you feeling calm now?"

"Calm? Fury more like. I'm impressed though, I've never heard a dead man talk so confidently."

She seethed quietly.

"Fury is good enough." The Servant noted, the humor in his tone draining away as he spoke. "But as amusing as it is letting you rant and seethe, we do have bigger problems. What's your assessment?"

Rin bit back her instinctual response, swallowing her irritation before mentally recounting the details she'd studied. The nice thing about watching two Servants fight each other, besides not being threatened by either, was that it gave one a suitable opportunity to study them both.

"The Saber's a powerhouse." Rin noted. "A+ in her Noble Phantasm, A in Mana. B in Strength and Endurance. C in Luck. D in Agility, which you'd think would make her easier to run from, but what with that fight against Tanya and how she was flying around I have my doubts. I'm not sure to what extent Emiya's been trained in, but considering that he's never come to me before now we can presume he's a rotten magus."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"The Tohsaka Family hold Fuyuki City as our territory."

Rin thought loftily in her own head. "Any magus entering the city would need to contact me for my permission, any magus embedding itself into the city for any period of time would need to meet with me personally. Emiya's never done any of that, so obviously he's not a magus worth anything. What a waste."

"Right."

Archer replied dryly. "When you say 'waste', I somehow doubt you're talking about him."

"Obviously."

Rin rolled her eyes. "If that Saber's parameters are that high with a talentless simpleton like him holding her reigns, can you imagine how much more powerful she'd be as my Servant? We'd have won the war by now! We would have won the fight against Tanya, and I wouldn't be stuck with a crippled Servant more interested in mocking me than winning the war!"

"Who knows, Rin. Perhaps if you hadn't been distracted saving the boy from Tanya's Master and just shot her in the head like we discussed, we'd have won by now."

He noted airily. "I believe you said something like: 'I can handle it', 'A single Master couldn't possibly beat me', 'I'll show you what I'm made of'. I imagine it must be embarrassing to you, being beaten by the woman who summoned your idol."

Rin gritted her teeth. "She is not my idol, just someone I looked up to when I was younger, that's all!"

Archer's tone turned triumphant, a strange sort of smugness suffusing through his words. "Oh? Good girls shouldn't lie Rin, I saw the pictures you know. You looked adorable as a blonde."

This time, there was no response from his Master, and a curious look towards her revealed something the Heroic Spirit wasn't entirely sure he'd ever seen before. Cloaked by the night, the rest of her body relaxed and calm so as not to arouse suspicion from her companions, Rin Tohsaka was making an admirable performance toeing the line between utter embarrassment and mind shattering rage. Her eyes were wide, staring straight ahead in an unnerving gaze that, for the briefest of moments, prompted Archer into considering whether he'd gone too far.

The moment passed, and Archer's grin widened. "I wonder what the Kaiserin would give me, in exchange for delivering those pic-"

"If you want to live past tonight, never mind until the end of the war, you're going to shut up and never mention the pictures again."

Archer's chuckle echoed across Rin's mind and in a fit of pique she chose to ignore it. She continued to walk, her Servant invisible but unfortunately not inaudible as the Master led them onwards to the Church.

The journey was quiet for the most part, with the occasional muttered conversation that Rin made sure to always overhear. Emiya was the noisiest by far, in that he occasionally made small talk to anyone within his immediate vicinity. His Saber seemed content to speak more freely with him, her tone somewhat less distant with him compared to the cold demeanor she held for anyone else. The other Master was less outwardly cold but more subdued overall, constantly by her Servant's side as she walked beside her like some subservient pet. The boy didn't ask a lot of questions towards Rin herself, though she noted that he maintained a closer distance to her than the others.

Then, finally, there was Her.

"So, Miss Tanya-"

"Yes?"

Her tone was clipped and forward, not so much rude as it was terse and uncompromising. Emiya seemed hesitant for a moment, before steeling himself and reaching towards his pocket. Isabel started at his movement, though Tanya looked on curiously, her brow twitching as the boy pulled out his wallet and began withdrawing bills.

"If you think you're going to return the money I gave you, then you truly are daft." Said She-Who-Once-Ruled-Europe.

"It's not right." He maintained stubbornly. "I was only doing my job, I shouldn't be excessively rewarded for just doing my job."

"You were rewarded for doing your job well, such that you went above and beyond the norm." She replied. "You're going to need it, considering what is to come. If it turns out we won't be allied, you can just think of it as you getting one over on a foolish opponent."

Emiya frowned. "But I don't want to fight you. I don't want to fight anyone."

Tanya scoffed. "How admirable, but unfortunately the world is filled with people that want to fight you. You're going to need all the help you can get, keep the money, I insist."

Conversation between the two had been curious, with Emiya resolutely believing Degurechaff to be an innately good person, with Tanya herself being almost in a state of confounded puzzlement at his assertions the entire time. Archer seemed to note Rin's distraction, his voice settling down next to her ear.

"She's an interesting one, isn't she?"

"Obviously."

Rin snapped, hand waving the Servant away, though there wasn't much heat to her words. "She's Tanya von Degurechaff."

Archer was quiet for a while as the hill grew steeper and steeper, the lights of the street slowly giving way to the darkness of the Church up ahead. It was only as the Church grew larger in the distance that Archer spoke again.

"We'll need to kill her one day. Maybe not now, but eventually she'll need to go if you want to win."

"I know that."

She growled, and this time there was a spark of anger there. "But I saw the way she fought. I'd rather have her on our side, fighting our enemies, than have her at our throats. I'd prefer we not fight her until absolutely necessary, and when we do fight, in a battleground that limits her maneuverability as much as possible. With how fast she was going, it'd be impossible to pin her down long enough for a kill if the sky's above her."

"Agreed, though that isn't the only problem is it? What do you have for me?"

If she could have, Rin would have sighed "Parameter wise, she's fairly solid. B in Mana and Agility, C in Endurance, D in Strength and Luck. Surprisingly decent, considering she's died so recently."

"Her stat spread complements her style of attack."

Archer mused. "Long range fire, ablative magical shielding and maneuverability combined with her parameters means that she can fly and fire for a functionally unlimited period of time. What weaknesses she has physically can be augmented by her magical abilities, that maneuver she pulled with breaking my arm was her funneling her magic into a kinetic strike, not so much relying on her own Strength as that of her magic. I thought she was a Rider at first, but that's not the case is it?"

"No. Her class parameters are Item Construction and Territory Construction, both at B+, so she's a Caster."

There's a pause as Archer hums in thought. "It would be unwise to rely on that. There are certain Servants whose capabilities are wide enough that they can qualify for skills outside their immediate class. Semiramis of Assyria was an Assassin capable of drawing forth the capabilities of both an Assassin and a Caster. Considering her history and how she fought, I wouldn't be surprised if Degurechaff was a Caster capable of drawing forth her capabilities as an Archer."

"So an Archer doesn't actually have to be an Archer, huh?"

Rin smirked, with Archer making a vaguely affronted sound beside her.

"Don't be smart with me."

"Impossible, I'm afraid."

Rin mentally shrugged with a smile. "But we'll have to consider that all this information may possibly be counterfeit. The Kaiserin was famed for deceiving and outmaneuvering her opponents in life, and for all we know she has some personal skill that allows her to bypass my magecraft."

"That doesn't mean we should dismiss what we've seen, and I will operate with the information available. We can't be drawn into a battlefield she had prepared if her Territory Construction is as high as it is, and her Item Construction could explain why her Master's weapons were as effective as they were. Then there's her personal skills-"

"There's no way of knowing the effect of any personal skills she may have."

Rin concluded. "For someone as storied and long lived as her, she could have any number of skills relating to her accomplishments and victories. I'll give it a look and do a deep dive in my library later. The Tohsaka collection is large, and even if Kotomine 'borrowed' some of the books I'm sure we can figure out something relating to her-"

"Miss Tohsaka?"

Rin blinked, turning aside to find the Kaiserin disconcertingly close to her, ice blue eyes staring into her eyes. The magus felt her heart beat faster, a strange sort of fight or flight reaction that colored her cheeks slightly before she could get a chance to respond. From beside her, Rin heard Archer's long-suffering sigh.

"Yes, Tanya?"

"May I take it that you are communicating with your Servant at this moment?"

For a moment Rin's mind leapt back into the past, to all the stories about Tanya von Degurechaff. That she was a clairvoyant beyond compare, that she could read minds just from a casual glance, that she always knew more about you than you could possibly know about yourself. She remembered thinking how silly all that talk was, how foolish all the people seemed to be for falling for such obvious lies.

Rin found her lips to be uncomfortably dry. Smiling, she willed her heart to slow to a more reasonable pace even as she was surprised that she hadn't dropped dead from a heart attack yet. "And if I was?"

She-That-Once-Defeated-A-Country-In-A-Week smiled, and Rin found that her throat was dry now as well. How remarkable. "Yes well, considering the rules of neutrality regarding the Church, and also that we ourselves are currently in a temporary truce, I wonder whether I would be able to talk to your Archer for a while? Obviously, you Masters would enter the church and converse with the Priest as you like, but I'd rather not pass the time by staring into the darkness for an attack that wouldn't come."

The Master found herself blinking quickly, confusion evident in her face as she realized she hadn't angered the Devil in some way. "I…excuse me?"

The Kaiserin sighed, a surprisingly human sentiment that aroused some degree of empathy from Rin. Empathy that was quickly squashed as she rationalized that it was probably just another ploy to generate that sympathy in the first place.

"I suspect that as you Masters converse with the Priest, that we would likely become bored while waiting you see. Considering that, I thought that why not us Servants have a chat of our own while our Masters talked inside! I'm sure there are vanishingly few occasions when Heroic Spirits like us would be summoned, and it would be such a shame that we would spend an entire war without being able to talk to each other no?"

Rin's mind swirled, her thoughts travelling back to the stories. Of how Tanya had talked and swindled the diplomats of three different nations to ensure her country's independence. Of how Tanya, through sheer dint of diplomacy and magnetic charisma, had shattered the communist bloc into a dozen different pieces, absorbing more than half into OZEV itself. Of how Tanya had been in politics for the better part of eight decades, and that letting such a political animal have the ear of her Servant was a spectacularly bad idea-

"I'd be delighted to." Archer said, smiling as he manifested himself and Rin suppressed the urge to curse aloud. "She's right you know, Rin. There's just not a lot of opportunities for Heroes like ourselves to just sit back and relax."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Tohsaka." Emiya-The-Idiot spoke aloud, smiling towards his own Servant who merely looked on, impassive and uncaring. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Didn't you say that with three Servants in a single location, people would be crazy to attack us? I'm sure we're all perfectly safe."

Tanya smiled as well, and unlike Archer's smile which just seemed to be nearly mocking, and Emiya's which was just some idiotic, trusting, grin, she couldn't help but sense some degree of polite viciousness in the girl's smile. No doubt it was just her imagination, or perhaps she just needed some sleep, but this couldn't be a good idea, right?

The Kaiserin waved as Emiya almost literally dragged her to the church, Isabel walking professionally beside her as they entered the parish grounds and the gate slowly swung shut behind them. Rin watched with horrified eyes as the Devil turned to her Servant, speaking something just out of ear shot. Absurdly, Archer smiled, a low chuckle echoing across the lawn as a chill went up her spine.

This…. was definitely not a good idea, right?