Author's Note: So much for weekly chapters, I guess! Sorry about the delay, I'll try to get future chapters out as quickly as possible. Given how my work schedule's been, though, I think I'll have to hold off on making any promises about scheduled releases. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter enough to make up for the wait. Give me all your opinions on the chapter or the story as a whole in the reviews!

Six – Reconnaissance

February 3, 2004

The sensations of heat and cold are at war.

Within Shinji is ice: the chill of death, freezing him in place. He is incapable of the slightest movement, and can only lie motionless on the stone.

All around him swirls an unbearable heat. Inescapable flames form a perfect barrier. Anything that might attempt to pass through would be burned to ash in moments.

And yet, in the midst of this heat his body is untouched. It remains perfectly cold and perfectly immobile, like a corpse in a refrigerated morgue cabinet. His eyes lie open and unblinking, staring ahead at the granite ceiling.

Hours pass. Days pass. Years pass.

Minutes pass. How long Shinji remains in that state he cannot guess, nor can he imagine how long he has been here. The world turns, and Shinji simply remains.

Then, after that interminable wait, the fire parts. At long last, someone has come! Shinji moves to look, and

Woke up. Shinji had been dreaming, he realized. He found himself sitting up in bed, and the golden light of mid-morning was filtering in through half-open curtains. It had been a bizarre dream, to be sure. A prison of fire within an icy cave? He was fairly certain none of the other Matou participants in the Grail War had wound up in that situation. Maybe this was a sign that he was finally having normal dreams…

Looking at the clock, Shinji realized he'd slept until an unprecedented 9:30am! He had been out late last night, and there was no school today, but even so he felt guilty at this violation of his usual routine. He got out of bed and did some quick stretches to roust the lethargy from his frame before moving on to the bathroom. Even after his late sleeping, he observed, he was still a mess. Dark circles were under both eyes, and it looked like he was even more pale than normal, if that was possible. Idly, Shinji wondered whether maintaining a Servant was taking a toll on his health, but it didn't feel like he was giving Rider more od than he could sustain.

After getting dressed, Shinji headed down to the kitchen to see if Sakura was still around. As expected, though, she'd already left for archery practice. Shinji noted that his sister had once again made him no breakfast, as had been her new habit since Shinji had summoned Rider. He supposed that if not making him breakfast was enough to settle her unhappiness with the matter it was a sacrifice he could accept, but it did sting a bit.

Shinji fried four eggs and two sausages. It was more than he'd eat on his own, but over the last two weeks he'd figured out the trick to getting Rider to eat. She'd always demurely turn him down if he offered to share his food or cook for her, but if he made an extra portion without consulting her and then asked her to eat it, she would do so. She even seemed to enjoy the food, a heartening fact given that the only other thing he'd seen her take pleasure in was her fight against Lancer the night they'd gone to introduce register as participants in the Grail War.

Finished cooking the simple breakfast, Shinji divided it onto two plates and set them side by side at the table. He sat down wordlessly and began eating his serving. Taking the hint, Rider materialized and took a bite of egg. As always, she made a strange expression. First there was pleasure at the food, and then a reaction: exaggerated sternness, as if she were angry at herself for enjoying material pleasures despite being a spirit. In this way they silently ate breakfast, Shinji entertaining himself watching as Rider struggled cutely to remain impassive.

Swallowing the last bite of his food, Shinji declared, "With last night's events, we've confirmed that all seven Servants have been summoned. From today onward, Rider, we'll be fighting for the Holy Grail." Rider merely nodded at this, saying nothing. "Up until now," Shinji went on, "I've been content to plan on my own. Before we can move forward, though, I'll need a complete explanation of your abilities. I've seen you fight, but do you have any other skills? I'd also like to know what your Noble Phantasm can do."

Rider gave him an exasperated look, and Shinji supposed that she found it pointless to explain her abilities to him when he could simply read them from her etheric composition by touching her. Shinji preferred to hear an explanation from the person herself, though, as she could give insight into the proper use of her skills, so he simply sat expectantly, waiting out her frustration. Finally Rider sighed and began her explanation.

"As I'm sure you know, Master, as a Rider class Servant I am adept in all varieties of mounted combat. I can ride all manner of vehicles and magical beasts with greater ease than the best human horsemen, and enhance their capabilities by my presence. In addition, I am immune to the lower orders of magical attack."

"Yes," Shinji replied, "Both of those abilities I'm familiar with from my reading on the Servant class system. What I'm curious about are the abilities unique to you personally."

"Very well then, Master," Rider began, tapping her right forefinger against her left to begin a list, "First, I am an expert in the use of all eighteen of the Runes of Origin created by Odin, my father. The Runes of Origin are, as you can gather from their name, the first magical runes ever used. All runecraft since has been no more than a pale imitation or the legendary charms of Odin!" As she spoke of her father's power, Rider seemed to glow with pride. Her excitement was short-lived, though. "However," she went on, "casting them would require more prana than any modern magus could provide me with, so we can put that ability aside." Rider shook her head and turned her eyes downward, looking at nothing. "I'm afraid magecraft has simply fallen too far for the Runes of Origin to manifest in the modern era," she said with a sigh.

Before Rider could continue, Shinji interjected. "In addition to receiving prana from your Master, Servants are also capable of gaining prana by killing people and consuming their od, isn't that correct?" "We can do that, yes," Rider replied, her expression darkening. Though the distaste she felt for the concept showed plainly on the Valkyrie's face, Shinji was too caught up in his latest speculation to notice. "Well then," he continued, "why don't we collect the necessary power for your Runes of Origin that way? From your description, it sounds like you can practically use the abilities of a Caster-class Servant as well as those I'd expect from your class. If we can gather enough power from passersby, it would be a massive advantage."

Looking for her reply, Shinji finally noticed Rider's expression. She was staring hard at him, lip curled in a moue of disgust. "Master," she said, in a voice completely reminiscent of her icy homeland, "As I told you the night I was summoned, I have no wish for the Holy Grail. I am here only to take the souls of great warriors, summoned from Valhalla into this war, and return them to their rightful place. To ask a Valkyrie, even one fallen as I have, to carry the souls of those who are untrained and unworthy into death is the height of disrespect. Though it is not my place as a Servant to refuse any command given by my Master and summoner, I must tell you that I will not do this unless compelled by a command spell."

"I see," was all Shinji could manage for a moment, so taken aback was he by the intensity of her reply. Then he recovered, and internally cursed his ignorance as he tried to patch up his mistake. "I'm sorry to have asked you to do something that violated your code. It's clear that I still have quite a lot to learn about what it means for you to be a Valkyrie. I hope you won't hold this against me." Shinji hated nothing more than apologizing to someone below him, and as he humbled himself for Rider's benefit he made a mental note to find some way of taking revenge without inconveniencing himself in the long run. "Of course not," Rider replied, her usual demure passivity returning, "thank you for understanding, Master. Now, why don't I continue explaining my abilities?"

Rider returned to her previous listing posture, tapping her left middle finger with her right hand. "My second personal skill is to can channel a burst of magical energy into a temporary aura of flame, which provides a shield against enemy attack as well as enhancing my own strength and agility. This ability is still quite draining considering the low amount of prana you're supplying me with, but it is usable in a crisis."

Bringing the forefinger of her right hand to her left ring finger, Rider completed her list. "Finally, as a Valkyrie I am by nature a companion to heroes. What this means is that my own magical energy will harmonize with that of a comrade whom I deem to be a heroic warrior, enhancing his capabilities beyond human limits. Unfortunately, you have quite a bit of training to do before I could consider you a hero, Master." As she said this, Rider looked Shinji up and down, taking in his frail pallor, the circles under his eyes, and the decided lack of barbarian vigor he projected. Her usual diffident expression was replaced by a slight smile as she went on, "I'm sure we can put that ability aside as well."

Before Shinji could speak up to defend his abilities as a warrior, Rider moved on to her explanation's next subject. "Now, you also wanted to know about my Noble Phantasm. I assume you're familiar with the principle behind a Servant's Noble Phantasm, Master?" Still irritated by the usually demure Servant's dismissive assessment of him, Shinji was eager to prove his knowledge and quickly answered, "Of course! A Noble Phantasm is the legendary weapon associated with a hero, imbued with their greatest powers as the culmination of their legends. You can draw out its true power by calling its name."

Rider was unimpressed. "I'm sure that's true of most Noble Phantasms, Master, but not necessarily all of them. I don't know the details of other Servants, but my spear, Brynhildr Romantia, activates on its own. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say its active all the time. The Romantia's power is that its mass is greater the greater my feelings of respect, affection, or love are towards my foe. Of course, because it's enchanted it will feel the same to me no matter how heavy it becomes towards my enemy."

"Interesting," Shinji said, considering the weapon's potential, "so against a valiant hero your attacks would strike with more weight than against an underhanded coward?"

"That's right," Rider enthusiastically replied, "The stronger and more valiant my enemy, the heavier my blade! That Lancer we fought the night you summoned me, for example, seemed to be the veteran of many duels. He had the look of a hero who could hold off an army, slaying one man after another. The next time I face him, I'll crush him with the weight of a falling star!" As she said this, a faraway look crept into Rider's eyes, as if she were even now fantasizing about reducing Lancer to a mutilated corpse. Shinji decided a change of topic was in order.

"I suppose that's everything, then. I'll need to factor this new information into my plans, but first why don't we do some morning training?" As he stood up to head out into the yard, though, Rider stopped him, looking slightly embarrassed. "Actually, Master, I have one more Noble Phantasm. I don't really like to bring it up first, since it comes from a more unpleasant part of my life…" Shinji quickly sat back down. "Go ahead, Rider. What's important to me is that you're my ally now. Nothing that happened when you were alive can change that."

Emboldened by his words, Rider continued. "It's a curse my father gave me, to get revenge on someone. Brynhildr Komedia, Hel's Beckoning Pyre. I would have to disassemble it in order to use the Runes of Origin, but since I don't have enough prana to use those anyway, it's an option as a Noble Phantasm. When I pour energy into the runes engraved on my armor and call its name, my blade becomes empowered with a curse of certain death. Whoever I next strike with it will be burned away by the curse, until not even a trace of their body remains in this world. It uses an enormous amount of energy, though. With your prana capacity, I could draw enough energy from you to seriously harm you when I use it."

"I see," Shinji said, "Definitely a last resort, then. Now, unless you have a third Noble Phantasm you haven't yet mentioned, shall we go out and do some sparring?"

Status Updated

Shinji had made significant progress training his eyes in the time since he'd summoned Rider. He had learned to rapidly circulate prana through his eyes, allowing them to effectively 'strobe' on and off during a fight. This left his perception of time mostly normal, while at the same time allowing him to retain their action if he saw an incoming attack. He'd also made progress in minimizing his movements, so that he could now consistently use the eyes' predictive abilities to slide out of the way of Rider's attacks with no more than a hair's breadth of leeway. This allowed him to reinforce his body less heavily with od, reducing the strain on his soft tissue and removing the constant need to heal himself after a half-hour of exercise. Now he only had to heal himself once every two hours! Progress, of a kind.

Now, for example, Rider was bringing her blade down in a strike. Shinji rotated his body, taking a half-step back and escaping being split in two by a shadow's width. He stepped in to go for a hold, capitalizing on the time it would take Rider to bring the blade back around for another strike, but before his forward foot landed she had the haft of the weapon coming around in a horizontal cut. Shinji desperately shifted his weight back, swaying just past the strike, but Rider transitioned fluidly into a thrust, catching Shinji in mid-motion. She put enough force into his gut to impale him, but he was able to reinforce his abdominal muscles to take the strike, merely being knocked back a meter or so.

Shinji regained his footing just in time to see Rider bringing the blade in for a decapitating slice. He desperately ducked under it, feeling the wind as it trimmed the ends of his hair. Shinji stepped in, faster this time, reinforcing his ankles for the extra pop. Seeing the polearm coming around for another pass, Shinji raised a reinforced right arm to guard. He was inside the blade's range, now, and only had to block the weapon's haft. With his free left hand he went in for a shoulder strike to weaken Rider's carefully balanced hold on the cumbersome weapon. With her stability off, he'd be able to make use of the close quarters to get some solid hits in!

CRUNCH

Shinji's efforts were rewarded with an armored knee to the face interrupting his strike at Rider's shoulder and breaking his nose handily. While he was unsteady from this impact, she followed up with several rib-shattering strikes from the haft of her polearm. Then she deigned to let him heal, and reflect on his mistakes in today's sparring.

For all that he'd improved in his defense, Shinji still had no practical way to attack a Servant. He couldn't close inside the range of Rider's polearm for a barehanded strike or hold, no matter how he tried, and his magecraft really was useless against her. He'd tried throwing out curses, bursts of physical pressure, wind, and even freezing evocations, but she'd shrugged it all off with no trouble. In the end, he supposed he had to admit there was just no way for a normal magus to match up against a Servant in combat. On the bright side, he was sure he'd be able to beat any of the other Masters in a fistfight. He doubted any of the other magi had planned anything as unorthodox as fighting directly when they had their Servants to do so for them. Even if they tried underhanded tactics like those of the Einzberns' mercenary Master from ten years ago, Shinji was confident his Pure Eyes would see the way out for him.

His daily training thus completed, Shinji decided to take advantage of his day off of school by working on the next major portion of his preparations for the Holy Grail War. "Rider," he said, "I think it's time you see the rest of the city. We haven't had time to do much scouting yet, but with the War begun in earnest we ought to get you familiar with the battleground."

Rider gave the idea some thought before replying, "As you wish, Master. If you feel that it would improve our chances of victory for me to know more about the city, I will be happy to perform reconnaissance. As I cannoct act independently of you, however, I will have to ask that you accompany me."

"Of course I'll be showing you around," Shinji half-shouted, voice raised in exasperation and surprise, "There'd hardly be meaning in you wandering around looking at the city alone!" He had hoped his battle-minded Servant would show some excitement at looking around the city she'd been summoned to, or at least some interest in the current state of humanity. Unfortunately, she once again confirmed his previous conclusion that anything other than direct combat failed utterly to arouse her interest, as she spoke up. "Well then, Master, where do you think we're most likely to wind up facing our enemies? Let's look there first."

Shinji wouldn't have things taken out of his hands that quickly, though. He'd been dedicating himself to nothing but school and combat preparation since summoning Rider, barely even spending any time with Sakura, and he was going to get some entertainment out of this if he had to show her the entire city to do so. In fact, that was exactly what he planned to do. "I'm afraid it's not that simple," he said, mock seriousness permeating his tone, "the entire city is the site of the Holy Grail War, as you know. Our best bet in terms of preparation would be to get you comprehensively familiar with the area. Now, let's get started with the residential area, here."

His healing from the morning's spar completed, Shinji got up from the garden bench where he'd been resting and headed out through the side yard, Rider fading into spirit form behind him. Although it was still winter, the bright midday sun made it look more like spring, and the wide variety of evergreen shrubs filling the Matou grounds lent themselves to the illusion. It would be a fine day for a walk around Fuyuki, despite the February chill in the air.

As he made his was out to the street in front of the Matou manor, Shinji noted idly that none of the neighbors were out and about. Of course, most people living in the upscale westernized suburbs of Miyama kept pretty much to themselves, but he had seen the neighborhood families out walking often enough. Today, though, he seemed to have the neighborhood to himself as he began Rider's tour. Fuyuki, the site of the Holy Grail War, he began, transmitting his explanations to the Servant telepathically, is divided into two districts, separated by a river. On the west side is Miyama City, the older part of town. Most of the residential housing is here, along with small shops and the like to serve them. Miyama was here quite some time before the second district cropped up, I gather, so it's fairly self-contained. You can also split Miyama into two or three districts, depending on how you want to look at it. One area, here on this southern hill, is full of old manor houses established by Europeans who settled here in the nineteenth century. Of course, the finest estate in the area is my own, the Matou manor. The Tohsaka house takes second place, though. Ah, here's Tohsaka's house, by the way. As he'd been explaining the residential area's layout, Shinji had made his way to the home of his rival, and now gave it a summarizing look while standing in the shade of a nearby tree and concealing his presence. The house appeared to be shut up and empty, though, and he supposed that Tohsaka was either planning her war strategy with Emiya or doing her own scouting in another part of town. Confirming that he was alone, he made a sweeping gesture towards the manor, encompassing the grounds with his arm. As you can see, its grandeur pales in comparison to our own home. Rider's response was hardly the ego boost he'd been looking for, though, as she answered, I'm not sure what grandeur you mean, Master. Neither seems like a particularly imposing or well-fortified hall to me. I'm afraid both would collapse equally swiftly in the face of a siege.

Shinji chose to ignore Rider's comment and continued on his way, now moving towards the crossroads at the center of Miyama. At any rate, he went on, once you get out of the manor district on the southern hill, the houses become more ordinary. As you can see, we're now walking between the homes of ordinary plebeians. Across this intersection is the northern hill, where the oldest homes in the area are. Up there are all the old Japanese-style dwellings, from the Edo period and earlier, including Emiya's house. You already saw that area when we came through here before, though, so we'll continue west. As he walked through the shopping center, the school and Ryuudou Temple, the emptiness of the suburbs gave way to a thin crowd. Young mothers bustled along buying groceries, groups of friends strolled down the lane in search of junk food and merriment, and even the occasional teenage couple on a date could be seen, awkwardly holding hands or sharing baked goods. More than a few times Shinji saw a passing schoolmate and had to suddenly duck out of their line of sight to avoid an unwanted social experience. Although the happy shoppers and brightly painted bakers, grocers, florists and the like all made the scene a tableau of commonplace cheer, Shinji noted that Rider remained silent through the entire walk. Although their telepathy extended only to intentional communication, he still felt as if he could feel her wondering why he would bother showing her such useless scenes of Japanese life instead of focusing on strategy.

And so, feeling Rider's disapproval on him, Shinji's explanations of the town ground to a halt as he walked through the shopping center, until he reached the crossroads one took to reach either the school area (Miyama's elementary, middle, and high schools were all in the same neighborhood, within a few blocks of each other) or Ryuudou Temple. I think that's it for Miyama, he told Rider, if we turn left here, we'll reach my school, but you've seen that often enough as I've been studying there. On the other hand, off to the right is the road that leads up into the mountains, where you can find Ryuudou temple. Frankly, I can't stand that place. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not visit it unless we have no other choice. Hearing no reply from Rider, Shinji turned and made his way back east until they reached the large bridge dividing Miyama from Shinto.

Walking from the opposite end of Miyama, it was mid-afternoon by the time they reached the river, and Shinji stopped for a short time at a small park by the river, to rest and watch its flow. The river that divided Fuyuki was tranquil, but Shinji knew it hadn't always been that way. He thought of the horrors that had transpired on this river, recorded in his uncle's journal. The grotesque, writhing monolith of Caster's antediluvian monstrosity, slogging its way up the river; the aerial duel fought at hurricane pace, between Tohsaka's golden Archer and the Matou's shadowed Berserker; and the titanic wave of light summoned by Saber, destroying Caster and cleansing the river. Shinji supposed that ending could be seen as happy, but as he tried to imagine the event he felt a deep-rooted horror seize him. Saber was some kind of holy knight, he was sure of that. She had brought down that uncompromising wave of holy light, burning away all that was unclean, and the surviving Masters had rejoiced, but now she had returned for another Holy Grail War. Shinji was a Matou, and tied to the same kind of unclean magic that Caster had used. For untold generations his line had dug in the deepest filth of the moonlit world to find their power, feeding their own bodies to parasites in the pursuit of magecraft. The taint of that warped process, Shinji was certain, was what had caused them to decline, and resulted in his own failure to inherit any mystic circuits. Worse, he was a summoner. Like Caster, Shinji brought forth powers from beyond the governance of Earth for his magecraft. Imagining the battle at the river, he saw himself not in Kariya's position but in Caster's, and the horror of that burning light seemed to overwhelm him.

Suddenly, the sun glimmered off a rill in the water, reflecting into Shinji's eye, and he started. He'd been momentarily blinded, his vision filled with golden light. In combination with his reverie, the moment seemed eerily portentous, and so he resolved to move on to other subjects. Today was meant for scouting, and Shinji couldn't let himself just brood! Sorry to drift off for a minute there, he told Rider, hoping to distract himself with conversation, I was just resting for a moment, and got lost in my thoughts. When Rider's response came, though, it was predictably to-the-point and non-conversational. Whatever pace suits you, Master, I do not mind.

Well, whether Rider would point it out or not Shinji knew that the day was getting away from them and they still had half the city to cover. As he made his way up to the path alongside the bridge's highway, he began explaining Fuyuki's geography anew, hoping that Rider might see some strategic use he hadn't noticed. As I was saying earlier, Fuyuki is divided into two districts: Miyama and Shinto. I don't know what used to be in Shinto, or if there even was a town there before the modern development started, but its current form is definitely recent. Fuyuki City Station was put up across the river back in the late eighties, at the height of the bubble economy, and real estate developments sprang up quickly after that. This bridge was put up at that time as well; since it's the only crossing on the river, they made it huge in order to accommodate traffic from all the new businesses starting up in the area.

As he crossed the bridge, Shinji couldn't help being impressed by its sheer immensity. It was hardly his first time crossing the thing, but all the same it never failed. It was totally out of step with the rest of the city, a monument appropriate for a much larger population center than Fuyuki actually was. It had been one of the first major developments after the train station, and Shinji supposed the planners had expected Fuyuki to grow even more than it had. That was the only explanation he could think of for the enormous bridge, anyway. As he was thinking about this, Rider suddenly spoke up. Master, I think we should return to this bridge once night has fallen. Given her silence up until this point, the unsolicited contribution caught Shinji by surprise. I don't mind, but why do you say so, Rider? He thought back to her, wondering what he'd missed. Battles between Servants tend to be explosive, highly noticeable affairs, and I have excellent vision. If we stood at the top of the bridge's arch, I think we could keep watch over the entire city. It was an excellent idea, especially since it would ensure that any Servant they challenged would already be battling another. Good thinking, Shinji replied, once we've covered Shinto we'll definitely come back here.

Crossing the bridge, Shinji made his way into Shinto itself, and was again almost alone, walking the streets. It was mid-afternoon, and in downtown Shinto almost everyone was at work. Looking up, Shinji could faintly make out the forms of dedicated office workers behind the glass and steel edifices of the futuristic office buildings that made up most of Shinto's architecture. He wandered around aimlessly for a while, explaining Shinto's development to Rider. Earlier, I said that Shinto had been developed in the eighties, but that's not quite true. Most of that development was actually destroyed in the massive fire at the end of the last Grail War, ten years ago. What you're looking at now has all been built since then, which is why the area has such a uniform look. I've heard it was even mostly done by the same construction company, just farming out bid after bid to all the corporations that lost their offices in the fire. It must have been a hell of a work cycle, rebuilding the whole area in a few years.

As he was explaining this, Shinji arrived at the destination he'd been gradually making for: the park in the center of Shinto. It was the only wide open space in the highly developed area, and although it looked like a beautiful verdant field at first glance, one could feel the pall hanging over it after a while. Normal people just got uncomfortable hanging around the place, but Shinji, as a magus, could sense the grudges hanging over it more clearly. The regret and fury of the people who'd died here were thick enough almost to take etheric shape as ghosts, and he was sure a magus who specialized in the energy of the dead could have a field day at this park. This is the heart of Shinto, he told Rider, it's the easiest place from which to branch out and look over the rest of the city. It would also make for a good spot to battle without involving passersby, since it tends to be empty like this. For a moment, Rider was silent. Then she spoke up, her comment was so similar to what Shinji had been thinking that he once again had to wonder whether or not the telepathic bond with his astralized Servant went deeper than silent communication. This was the center of the blaze you mentioned, wasn't it? I can feel the souls of the dead heavily in this meadow. Many of those who passed into Hel in this city did so here. Cut down in fire, with no battles to face or enemies to blame. Their resentment has gathered at the site of the fire, with no real target. Rider's voice, projected in Shinji's mind, held a note of deep pity that he hadn't heard from her before, and the image from his dream, of being trapped in a prison of flame, suddenly came to mind.

Before he could respond to Rider's question, though, Shinji was distracted by a new presence. He felt an etheric presence, and eyes on him, from behind. Without warning, Shinji whipped around, hoping to catch the observer out. No one was there, though, but a large, grotesque beetle clinging to one of the trees. Its carapace was covered in odd spikes and blades, and as Shinji looked at it the thing chittered. Unmistakably, it was one of Grandfather's familiars.

"So, the old man doesn't speak to me for a month, but he'll watch my scouting? Typical." Giving voice to his scorn, Shinji half-turned back to the rest of the park, before spinning back around and planting a reinforced kick on the tree's trunk. The insect was crushed satisfyingly, although Shinji immediately regretted it, as the sole of his shoe was now plastered in the thing's filth.

With his anger now fully vented, Shinji answered Rider. You were right about this park. It was the epicenter of the fire, and they turned it into a memorial instead of rebuilding here. I'm surprised you can feel the spirits so clearly, though. Is that an aspect of being a Servant?

That's only partially right, Master. As Servants, we are spiritual entities ourselves, and we're sensitive to other spirits and spirit fragments. I doubt any other Servant would be able to do so with as much precision as myself, however. As a Valkyrie, I have a unique sensitivity to the dead. In fact, you could say that dealing with the afterlife is even more of a specialty of mine than fighting.

Although this aspect of Rider's identity intrigued him, Shinji had to put it aside as he made another significant realization. He was getting hungry, and not just slightly. He was starving. He'd had a light breakfast followed by intense sparring, and then walked around all day, missing lunch. It was around four, but it felt like he hadn't eaten in days. Shinji cursed himself for forgetting to pack a lunch or buy something at the shopping center. Although he would have loved one of Sakura's sumptuous boxed lunches, even a snack from a local bakery would at least have filled him up. Well, it wasn't like things were a lost cause. Even in Shinto, he knew a few decent places. Rider, I'm getting hungry. There's a pretty good Italian restaurant near here. Let's get something to eat and then I'll show you around the rest of Shinto.

As they walked to Shinji's favorite downtown restaurant, Rider surprised Shinji by manifesting, out of her spirit form. Her armor, however, was lacking, so that she wore only her black pleated dress. The similarity to a sailor uniform struck Shinji again, and for a few minutes he was too surprised by her sudden appearance to comment. When he did find the voice to ask why she had come out of astralization, the only answer he got was that she "thought Italian food might be interesting to try."

And so, over the next few hours they had dinner and walked around the remaining landmarks in Shinto, mostly large office buildings and apartment complexes. By the time they'd covered most of the town and made it back to the bridge, it was well after dark. Shinji sat on the highest arch, dangling his feet in the wind and resting after the harrowing series of jumps he'd had to make to get up here. Rider had insisted that he match her and make it up without climbing, so he'd had to push his leg reinforcement to its limits. Beside him, Rider stood and surveyed the battlefield to come, looking for any signs of conflict between Servants. Although he mostly admired the tableau of the city at night seen from the air, Shinji kept finding his gaze brought back to his Servant. As the wind fluttered her clothing and made her long, iridescent hair flow out behind her, Shinji couldn't help but remember how he'd been spellbound just after she'd been summoned. She was so still, surveying the city, that she appeared almost a statue in the moonlight, with luminous marble skin and eyes of shining amethyst.

Suddenly she turned to Shinji, and the spell was broken. "Master," she said urgently, "Look at that building, there! There's magical combat going on inside, you can see someone launching projectiles!" Following her pointing finger, Shinji could see no such thing. Even reinforcing his eyes, all he could make out was a distant office building with its lights off. He wouldn't be much of a Master, though, if he doubted his Servant's judgement. "Alright, Rider. Let's make for it and catch them before the fighting is over!"

Rider and Shinji raced to the building she'd indicated, but by the time they arrived everything was silent. Even from outside, though, Shinji could feel powerful magic permeating the place. It had been the site of a large-scale spell, he was certain of that. As they entered through the (oddly unlocked) door, the state of affairs became clear. Throughout the building's lobby, people were collapsed. Men carrying clipboards and cases dotted the floor, as if they'd passed out while en route, and the receptionist was slumped over her computer. The room was permeated by a miasma of some kind, which Shinji could feel sapping his prana. He quickly erected a portable bounded field around himself to block off the miasma, and made his way upstairs. With the immediate threat seemingly gone, Rider dematerialized so that Shinji could remain as stealthy as possible.

As Shinji investigated the second, third, and fourth floors he found more of the same passed out office employees and poisonous miasma; added to this, however, were strange fragments of bone. They seemed to be humanoid skeletons, strangely discolored and warped, along with crude weapons. In short, bone golems. They'd been shaped from ether and earth, he could tell, but the composition of the spell was a mystery to Shinji. As for their destruction, it seemed to be some kind of magic that had delivered kinetic force. As Rider had said, a projectile. Of the person who'd fought the bone golems Shinji found no trace, but he was increasingly certain that this was the site of a battle between Masters. Shinji continued investigating the ruined office building until he reached the topmost floor, where the miasma was the thickest. Now certain he'd missed whoever had been battling here, he projected an evocation circle of compression onto his mirror and placed in the center a small flask. As he poured prana into the circle, calling Neptunus forth, it glowed faintly, and wind began circling around Shinji, pulling the previously stagnant air into a vortex. First the wind, and then overwhelming pressure sucked the miasma into the flask, compressing it from a shadowy gas into an inky black liquid. When Shinji got home, he'd analyze the stuff and hopefully discover whether it was the work of a human magus or the Servant Caster.

Just then, he heard the clanging of a metal door, and fast-moving feet descending stairs. Damn! There was a stairway up to the roof around a corner that he'd missed on his first pass around the office! One of the magi who'd been fighting must have still been around, collecting his thoughts on the roof, and Shinji had left himself wide open to detection with that spell! He tried to fade back into the shadows and erase his presence, but it was too late. Before he was more than half done, the magus came around the corner and stridently called, "Who's there? Are you the one responsible for this obscenity in my territory?"

It was Tohsaka. Tohsaka, in a fetching red sweater and black miniskirt that accentuated her thighs, seeming, in Shinji's opinion, quite unsuited for combat. Tohsaka, with the magic crest on her forearm illuminated and primed for an attack. Tohsaka, who knew him personally. Once again, it seemed like Shinji's plans were in danger of being thrown into total disarray. He just hoped he'd managed to get far enough into the darkness that she couldn't recognize him.

As these thoughts were running through Shinji's head, he heard Tohsaka mutter "…white hair," under her breath. Oh no. Then she was yelling again, in a tone of triumphant confirmation. "Matou! I knew you were a Master! Still, to think you'd sink this low. Are you really so desperate for power that you'd feed an entire building's worth of people to your Servant?"

It was his god damned hair that had done it. Even if he'd managed to hide the rest of himself in the shadows that bone-white hair had stuck up like a banner, saying "Here I am, the only white-haired student in town, Matou Shinji!" Not for the first time, Shinji cursed what the mystic circuit implantation had done to his body. Now the jig, at least in terms of his identity and status as a Master, was well and truly up, and to make matters worse Tohsaka had apparently decided he was responsible for this mess. At this point it was too late for Shinji to run or lie his way out of this, which meant there was only one option left for him: to show bravado.

"Hah!" Shinji let out a harsh, derisive laugh, filling it up with scorn he didn't feel and parroting his grandfather's contempt as best he could. "I hadn't figured you for such a soft one, Tohsaka. It's only common sense for magi to use up mundanes in our research. Human experimentation is a standard, everyday practice at the Clock Tower from what I've heard, and yet you're flinching and snarling at the consumption of a few office workers now, in a war? Your father must be rolling in his grave."

Tohsaka's expression darkened, fury and contempt contorting her beautiful features. "So that's how you look at things, is it, Matou? Ordinary people are pawns and resources to be used whenever you please, and so long as you make sure everyone dies there's no worry of the moonlit world being discovered? That's idiotic, and it'll get you a sealing designation one day, if you ever get strong enough to deserve one." Shinji wasn't done, though, and if she was going to throw out accusations of inhumanity knew just how flimsy her moral ground was. "Oh, and tell me, Tohsaka, how full of warmth is your heart? You condemn me for the sacrifice of these people, but don't care that your own family profited from the sacrifice of your sister? Have you ever protested the fact that your father sold her to Matou Zouken? Have you ever visited her, or even spoken to her at school about her situation? Don't bother answering, I already know you haven't. Just how hypocritical are you, to play the humanitarian over the death of these mundanes when you haven't enough care for your own family to try to get your sister back?"

Far from the wounded look Shinji had expected from Tohsaka, her expression now became one of dawning understanding mixed with disgust. "I see, you must be jealous of Sakura for inheriting the Matou magic, and fighting in the Holy Grail War to try and take back your position as the heir. How pathetic of you, trying to convince me to feel sorry for her! I'm proud of my sister, able to inherit the techniques of a noble line of magi, and I know my father did her a favor by sending her to become the heir to the Matou. You, on the other hand, are a disgrace to your own name. At least now I understand how a powerless apprentice incapable of magecraft was able to summon a Servant. I suppose you called out Caster, and figured you could take advantage of her magecraft to make up for your own lack of energy, right?"

Now it was Shinji's turn to get angry, and when he responded there was no falsehood in his rage-filled shout. "You don't know a thing about what Sakura goes through! Proud indeed. Well, I doubt you'll believe me at this point, so we can wait on that discussion. As for my being powerless, just how the hell does that rumor get around? I suppose the priest told you, did he?" Shock really did cross Tohsaka's face this time, but Shinji just rolled over it. "Oh, don't look so surprised, I know about the alliance between the Tohsaka and Kotomine families. I'm sure you figured you had everything sown up with the arbitrator on your side, but it didn't help your father and it won't help you. I'll show you whether or not I'm a magus, you arrogant witch. Now come at me!"

Shinji readied a circle of evocation that would call forth a torrent of ice from his mirror, but before he had time to use it Tohsaka's red knight was streaking towards him, a bolt of red light with both swords drawn. Shinji was caught off guard, and would have been killed then and there if not for his own Servant's sudden materialization. Rider appeared just in time to intercept Archer, bringing up her blade in a vertical slice that would use his own momentum to bisect him. A look of total shock crossing his face, the red knight blocked, crossing his falchions over one another, but the force of the blow still knocked him back to Tohsaka's side. Then the two Servants dashed towards one another again, and the battle was joined.

As Brynhildr sped towards her opponent, she watched him set himself up for an attack coming from both directions, an overhand chop with the blade in his right hand followed by and upward slice with its twin. As she entered her own range, she planted her feet, counteracting his telegraphed attack with a thrust towards his raised hand that would flow into a chop of her own, digging into his shoulder. It never came, as the red knight dropped his right hand to catch Brynhildr's blade on his falchion's edge and channel it upward, allowing him to come in with an eviscerating blow from the lower blade. That wouldn't do. Brynhildr took a quick backstep and kicked her enemy's white blade from his hand, embedding it in the ceiling. With the black blade still over his head, he was wide open, and his movements were slower than her own. She spun her weapon, rapidly bringing the massive blade around in a crescent behind her, coming from over her head to a forward stance in front of her in a moment, and thrust forward, impaling the red knight before he had time to bring his right hand down to parry. Or, that was what should have happened. Somehow, he had another white falchion in his left hand, and used it to guard his gut, spinning on his heel as he did so to try and close the distance again. Not to be caught in his parry, Brynhildr stopped her thrust on a dime and pulled her polearm back into a nearly vertical stance, blade to the ground and hilt up, ensuring she'd be ready for close quarters fighting. It didn't seem like this was an enemy she could easily keep at range.

Brynhildr could tell that this would be a harder fight than she'd faced against Lancer. Although this new foe, Archer, lacked the raw strength and speed Lancer had possessed, he made up for it with an incredibly unorthodox fighting style. He would strike and defend hard enough to disarm himself or break his blades when their weapons clashed, only for new weapons to take shape instantaneously in his hands. This allowed him to remove a significant portion of the movements involved in fighting, making sudden parries as he had a moment ago, and constantly advancing inside of her range. In short, this was Brynhildr's natural enemy in terms of fighting style. It would require all her skills to take him down.

Brynhildr dashed forward, closing to the ideal range for her rotational strikes, and hit Archer's blades with two quick vertical slices. If she couldn't win a defensive battle, she'd just have to show some aggression of her own and see how many falchions he could bring out! She fluidly continued the rotation from her vertical strikes to come around for a high horizontal strike against his neck, then a low one going for his knees, followed by a third and fourth targeting his chest. With each strike, Archer had to block with both of his falchions, shattering them and pulling forth a new pair. Brynhildr was putting all technique aside now, taking full advantage of her superior strength and speed to overwhelm Archer's defense. As her blows hammered home one after another, Archer was slowly driven back towards his Master.

Status Updated

With Rider and Archer occupied, Shinji took his chance to strike down Tohsaka. He pumped od into his legs, reinforcing them to their limits, and dashed around the battle, closing the distance with speed momentarily approaching that of a Servant. Tohsaka saw him coming, however, and planted her back foot while striking out with her wrist in a palm strike that would use Shinji's oncoming force to impale him, or at least leave him doubled over and puking his guts out. At the last moment, Shinji pivoted in his advance, sliding past Tohsaka's thrust to go in for a strike to her neck. Tohsaka parried, knocking his attack aside and retaliating, and before long they were in a flurry of blows, strike and parry, counter and dodge. Tohsaka was using some kind of Chinese kenpo, and Shinji was sure she'd trained just as thoroughly as he had.

As he crisply dodged a knee-blow, countered with a leg hold, and felt Tohsaka snake out of his grip, Shinji reflected that they were quite evenly matched. It seemed he'd have to use magic to finish the battle, but how could he get the range he needed to concentrate on powering it? As he tried to develop a plan, Shinji swayed out of the range of a palm strike Tohsaka had meant for his nose. Before Shinji could ready a counter, though, his vision was momentarily obscured by darkness and an impact like one of Rider's strikes slammed into his face. That was when he realized he'd been dodging a strike from the arm that carried Tohsaka's mystic crest. Damn!

The blow from Tohsaka's spell knocked Shinji to the ground, but it was only after that impact that its real effect took hold. Chills started running through Shinji, he flushed, and waves of nausea assaulted him. He knew the spell by reputation. Gandr, an old Finnish curse of illness, strengthened to the point that it had a physical impact and would immediately afflict the target with a nasty set of flu-like symptoms. Shinji had no idea where the Tohsaka had gotten their money-grubbing hands on the technique, but it apparently served as the primary combat technique of the current generation, since he could now tell he was suffering the effects of the same curse that had shattered the golems. It was a mercy he'd been reinforcing his skin for defense during the fight, or he'd probably be dead.

Things were looking dire for Shinji. He couldn't stand, much less muster the concentration to use retaliatory magecraft, and his Servant still hadn't broken out of her stalemate with Tohsaka's Archer. If he didn't think of something quickly, he'd be killed by Tohsaka. Just like his uncle had been driven to destruction by her father, just like Sakura had been abandoned by them both, Shinji would fall before his rival's magical line. Then, as he was almost ready to give up and despair, the idea came to him.

Shinji enjoyed using glass bottles in his alchemy and in those aspects of magecraft that required containers. He knew metal was more practical, but glass held a certain aesthetic appeal that he just couldn't put aside. Because of that particular inclination, Shinji had compressed the miasma that had infused the air not into a metal flask closed with a screw, but into a corked glass flask. Now, that fondness for glass, as well as its biggest fault, would save Shinji's life. It was really quite simple. A glass bottle, if impacted, would shatter.

As Tohsaka walked towards him, preparing to deal the finishing blow, Shinji reached into his coat. With the last of his strength before his body gave way completely to the Gandr's curse, he reinforced his arm and flung the bottle of concentrated at Tohsaka. It flew straight and true, striking her square in the face. Or, it would have hit her face if she hadn't brought her arms up to protect herself, anyway. Block or no block, though, the bottle shattered and soaked Tohsaka with the stuff that had been eating away at everyone in the building. The effect was as immediate as it was brutal. Tohsaka screamed, a harsh, throat-tearing sound, all agony, with none of the showy fear put into it by the actresses Shinji had heard screaming in films. This was the guttural, intolerable shriek of one whose whole world has momentarily become a universe of pain. Shinji could almost see Tohsaka's prana being drained by the fluid, and as it did its work the curse effecting him diminished significantly, allowing Shinji to regain his feet.

Evidently the prana-draining effects of the poison had had an impact on Tohsaka's Servant as well, as Shinji heard a cry of shock from his left before Archer came sailing through the air, to smack into the wall and land near his Master. Although Tohsaka was soon able to cut off her scream, she remained unsteady on her feet, breathing heavily and darting her eyes back and forth. All the confidence in her stance was gone, and Shinji could watch her gauging her chances of escape. Seeing the pathetic state the pair had been reduced to was all he needed to bring back his confidence, and Shinji forced a smug grin onto his lips despite the shudders that the reduced Gandr continued to send through him.

"Looks like I have the upper hand now, eh, Tohsaka? You caught me a good blow with that Gandr, but you aren't the only one with tricks up your sleeves." Evidently, though, Tohsaka wasn't going to give Shinji the pleasure of watching her break down. As he watched, she steadied herself and did her best to bring the mask of the "School Madonna" to her face, laughably out of place as it was. She smiled sweetly at him, and said in a tone dripping with polite contempt, "Matou-kun, please go ahead and kill me if you're going to. I really couldn't bear sitting through a pathetic, trite, gloating monologue from you at this point."

Shinji burst out laughing. He couldn't help it. After everything that had happened this evening he was simply overwhelmed. The fever he was running probably contributed as well, but he didn't think of that until later. "Oh, Tohsaka," he sighed, once he'd gotten his laughter under control, "Keeping up your façade to the end, huh? Well, don't worry. As much as I relish the thought of killing you, I'm not going to do it tonight. It just wouldn't be fair to Emiya." Ignoring Tohsaka's visible shock at Shinji's knowledge of their meeting, he went on. "You see," he said, a sarcastic tone of mock-sympathy permeating his voice, "He's a friend of mine, and you're the only ally he has in this war. Without you, he'd be all alone and lost, and I just couldn't do that to a friend. On that note, I'm sure it would devastate him if he discovered I was in this war, so I'd appreciate it if you could just keep mum about this affair."

"Now then, Servant," he said, redirecting his gaze to Archer, "I think you'd better get your Master home soon tonight. She seems to be in quite a state, and if you two stay here much longer without helping her, she'll soon end up like the corpses all around us. One more thing you'll want to note. I didn't carry out the ritual that happened here. I'm sure if you analyze it you'll find it doesn't match my family's magic. Just a piece of advice, in case you're interested in chasing down the one responsible."

Wordlessly, Archer slung Tohsaka over his shoulder, ignoring her embarrassed yelps of protest, and leapt out a window. Shinji was at last alone. He staggered over to a wall and slumped onto it, sliding down into a sitting position. Not bothering to take out his mirror, Shinji projected a mystic circle of healing in silver on the ground underneath him, and let it do its work forcing the curse out of his body. Once that process had begun, he turned to Rider. "I'm sorry," he said in a shaky voice, with none of the bluster he'd forced into it when dealing with Tohsaka. "I should have let you finish your fight with Archer. I just wanted to show I could fight beside you, beat her myself…" He trailed off, feeling totally drained. The fight had taken everything out of him, and even with Neptunus' power healing him he was fading fast.

The last thing Shinji heard before he slipped into unconsciousness was Rider saying, "You fought well, Master. What matters most in a warrior is bravery, and you…" Rider kept talking, but Shinji couldn't make out the words anymore, and slipped into darkness. This time he hadn't been a disappointment, and that was enough.