White Ink

16

Mifune Town (Near Touko's Hideout)
"

So that's the building," the blond vampire peered at the innocuous looking apartment that reportedly contained their target.
"Yup," Shirou replied, "Touko Aozaki is reported to have her workshop in there if your source is to be believed."
Between them a small white haired girl fidgeted looking back and forth between the two.
"No fair," she said. "How am I supposed to see the building from all the way up here at this time of night?"
The three of them sat atop a skyscraper overlooking the currently quiet city of Mifune. In the distance about three kilometres away sat the abandoned building where, according to Arcueid's contact the sealing designate Touko Aozaki was currently stationed.
"This shouldn't be a complicated operation," Shirou said pshycing himself up. "We go in, ask her to transfer Illya to a new stronger puppet body. We negotiate with a portion of the Einzbern's research and we leave. Nothing should go wrong."
Arcueid looked at Shirou contemplating. "Shirou," she mused, "I have a feeling that things are about to go very wrong."
Shirou's smile grew fixed, "I know," he replied. "Honestly I'm contemplating not taking Illya on this mission."
Illya looked up at Shirou smiling sweetly. "I know you wanted to leave me behind big brother," she said her voice dripping like honey. "But as you're bargaining with my heritage, I think it's only right that I be present to ensure that the whole Einzbern magecraft does not become obsolete."
Shirou sighed, "Alright but you will remain behind Arcueid." At Illya's slightly mutinous look he elucidated. "You are by far the least durable of all of us. For your own safety I want you to stick close behind the magic immune tank. Can you do that?"
Seeing her nod Shirou sighed and jumped from the building to the next one, the grey clothing he was wearing rendering him invisible in the black sky. In his peripheral vision he noticed Arcueid pick up Illya and carry her while jumping after him. Landing on the ground in front of the abandoned he bled off most of his momentum by moving the water in his body in the opposite direction of his landing causing him to just lightly touch down as opposed to Arcueid who left cracks in the ground.
Striding forward he examined the bounded field that surrounded the place. It was an amazing piece of work. Both hard to spot and deadly if the wrong move was made. Almost every being would take one look at this field and give up and leave. Shirou's face contorted into a bittersweet smile for a moment as he considered that his father would have just blew up the building or something like that.
Huffing to himself, Shirou focused. "There is no way to disable this bounded field. In addition we have not seen our target leave for the last few days we were in town. I'm going to destroy the bounded field. I can restore it later if our business is successfully concluded."
"Wow Shirou," Illya said. "Using the promise of recreating her boundary field as a bargaining chip to get the new body, won't that annoy her though and make her less inclined to agree."
"Possibly," Shirou admitted, "but she is a professional magus. I highly doubt she will let her feelings interfere with negotiations."
As he said that he reached out to the bounded field and destroyed it carefully saving the various concepts embedded into it so that he could restore it later at his leisure. He decided that he may even upgrade his own bounded field once this was finished. He didn't want to copy the Einzbern's bounded field straight up because it would signal his location to every aware magus in the area and he didn't want to deal with Tohsaka as a magus.
Stepping into the building his arm was grasped by Arcueid. "Shirou," she said seriously, "I have a bad feeling about this." For a moment her face scrunched up as she contemplated something. "It's not that it feels unnatural. It's almost like it feels too natural. I feel like the human order is decaying and I'm more free to use Marble Phantasm."
Shirou's eyes widened at that. Whatever phenomenon that was could not be good. He had no idea what could cause Gaia to react like this but the effect would be devastating on magecraft. Thankfully even if the effect grew worse they would be okay. Him with his magic and phantasmal body and Arcueid with her… everything should be able to steamroll their way through most of the things on the planet. Illya would be useless but it wasn't as if they were going to let her fight in the first place.
No whatever was going on in there it didn't change the fact that they needed to meet with the sealing designate. Pushing open the door Shirou stepped into the entrance room. There was no surprise in his face when he beheld the room. It was dusty and dark; clearly Touko decided that she should make the abandoned building look as realistic as possible. Arcueid followed him with Illya skittering behind the vampire a look of nervousness now present on her face. Even Shirou felt uneasy as he had the distinct feeling he was being watched.
"How's your night vision Arc," Shirou said to the True Ancestor next to him. It looks like we are going to be descending into the abyss."
"You know its good Shirou," Arcueid replied, "Are we going downstairs instead of up."
"It's where I would put my workshop, besides I can clearly feel that is where the disturbance originates from." In front of him a staircase headed up but he ignored it. Water droplets minute but uncountable appeared around the room and he closed his eyes focusing on the position of all the droplets. His eyes snapped open. "There," he said pointing towards a random part of the floor. "The trapdoor down is right there."
He walked towards the trapdoor but as he approached it he was forced to jump back as a blast of magical energy struck through the spot that he had been standing in just a minute ago. His eyes scanning the room he came across the sight of a puppet activating. The puppet was a bit taller than him about 160 centimetres and had long red hair. The puppet looked very familiar to Shirou's eyes.
"Wait a minute why does Touko Aozaki have a puppet of Aoko Aozaki." He turned towards Illya's blond bodyguard. "Tell me Arcueid is that normal sibling behaviour." Arcueid gave him such a flat look that he almost burst out laughing before she shrugged her shoulders.
The puppet lunged becoming more akin to a spider as it moved to touch Shirou. The false Aoko was very well made and moved faster than could normally be perceived. Unfortunately it had the misfortune to go up against a true magician and the last true ancestor.
The puppet was pierced by a jet of water and then crushed by the vampires thrust. Its body parts fell to the floor and flopped around trying vaguely to restore some motion. "Well that was underwhelming," Arcueid the friendly vampire said. "Hey Shirou why didn't you pick it up earlier?"
"Firstly it wasn't activated," Shirou defended himself. "Secondly, my magecraft is not as responsive as it usually is." He turned to look at Arcueid, "Did you notice that puppet was falling apart even before we destroyed it. I can still manipulate water but that's mainly due to the fact that I'm a lot closer to a phantasmal beast than a run of the mill ordinary human."
Shirou raised his head and looked Arcueid in the eye. "What I am saying is that there is absolutely no way Touko is doing this of her own free will. Something much bigger is at play here."
"Do you think she has been kidnapped," Arcueid said to the magician. At this Shirou just shrugged and moved towards the trapdoor. He attempted to lift the trap door with his water magic for a bit before giving it up as a lost cause and kicked the trapdoor in. Jumping down into the darkness below he immediately scanned the room for any other hostiles. The room was much neater than upstairs and there weren't any obvious hiding places. Arcueid jumped down carrying Illya and for a moment Shirou believed he could hear two sets off footsteps instead of one.
He swept the room with his water just to be sure and when he got no signal back he decided to ignore his feeling of paranoia for now. Heading through a door into a passageway he was followed by a silent Arcueid and a slightly shivering Illya.
They followed the grey hallway for a bit before Shirou raised his hand. "Stop," he said. "The passageway ahead is warded with countless runic traps. Anybody that were to walk down that hall would be obliterated." Shirou suddenly smiled, "Well," he said, "Almost anybody. Arcueid take the lead."
"Alright Shirou," Arcueid said cheerfully as she strolled down the passageway. Hundreds of traps activated all of them attempting to slice, burn exsanguinate, disintegrate, dissolve, drown, bury and generally make the vampire dead. Unfortunately for the traps the person they were attempting this on was an insanely powerful True Ancestor that had over the centuries developed a resistance to just about every form of magecraft under the sun. At the end of the corridor of death the only damage was to Arcueid's clothes which Shirou happily replaced and took the opportunity to ogle the beautiful walking ball of destruction to Illya's annoyance and Arcueid's apparent indifference.
"Right," Shirou said. "This job is really getting quite fun, don't you think Arc, Illya?"
Arcueid nodded her head but Illya pouted. "Big brother," she said. "I haven't been able to fight anything yet. You and Arcueid fought the puppet and Arcueid fought the corridor but I haven't gotten a chance to shine yet."
Shirou frowned, "Alright," he said. "Next challenge is yours, but Arcuied and I will step in if you can't handle it. If this place gets too dangerous for you I will send you home where it is safe."
Home (Where It Is Safe)
Satsuki was enjoying a lazy night in. When Shirou had asked for help housesitting she had immediately agreed. She had nothing big on her schedule. Her boss had given her time off. Incidentally her boss was Sumire. When she had graduated she didn't know what to do with her life and she felt listless with the contrast between her everyday mundane life and the fantastical friends she met.
She was a magical being; she didn't want to work in a cubicle all day. Salvation came in the form of a letter stating that she had been accepted for a personal assistant position for the owner of nationwide sake production company.
She had been only partly surprised to find out the enigmatic owner of the company was Sumire. To be more specific the owner of the company was a lady by the name of Sumi Rie. However just because they were good friends, practically sisters, did not mean that she let her off easy. Sumire worked her to the bone showing her the ins and outs of the company and how it was managed and she often left feeling exhausted after each day.
However she also had a soft spot for Shirou so when Satsuki mentioned she was housesitting for him she gave her the time off without question. So that's how Satsuki found herself relaxing in front of the TV watching her show when the bounded field alarm went off. The bounded field only reacted to users of magecraft or those who contained sufficient mystery that weren't registered. She jumped off the couch quickly donning protective outerwear and headed for the door. She didn't get to the door before the entire door was blown off his hinges.
She jumped back to avoid the flaming wreckage and she saw two men enter the doorway.
"Hello, I am looking for Kiritsugu Em..." the blond one started and immediately stopped the sentence as he had to dive out of the way of a couch that was thrown towards him. The second one wasn't so lucky and got clipped by the couch on his way and he fell to the ground clutching his side. Satsuki immediately charged the duo but was forced to retreat as a wave of flames hit the position that she was in a few seconds ago. She attacked multiple times but the blond haired man instantly set her spot alight whenever she charged in. So far it was only the mock battles that she had with Sumire that kept her alive.
Things took a turn for the worst when the second one recovered. In his hands he held a metallic segmented object that bumped together. As soon as he waved it Satsuki had a feeling of disorientation come over her and she paused just in time for a wave of flames to wash over her.
Her last thoughts before the fiery conflagration engulfed her were her hopes that all her friends were okay.
Touko's Hideout (An Okay Place)
"Should we help her," Arcueid asked looking at the little magus in concern. "She looks like she's having a hard time."
"She'll be fine," Shirou said absentmindedly scanning the room. "She has the best circuits I've ever seen. She was trained in the Einzbern's magecraft since she could walk she's got this."
"Shirou help!" Illyasviel von Einzbern yelled out running from the mass of teeth and eyes her bird familiars doing little to slow down the monstrosity. The girl had been so confident when she started and when that thing had emerged she confidently bombarded the creature using her four familiars. This however had done little to slow down the thing and Illya had spent the last ten minutes dodging and weaving through the many attempts to grab and devour her.
"I suppose the fun's over at that Arcueid," Shirou sighed. "Would you do the honours, your marble phantasm at the moment is stronger than my magecraft. Arcueid nodded and stepperd towards the mass of teeth. In an instant the creature had refocused on Arcueid and in the next instant it was shredded by the very air around it. The few remnants that survived Arcueids initial blow scurried back into the shadow to a place it could bother somebody else.
"Shirou," Illya panted out, "you meanie."
"Have you learned something Illya," Shirou said the faintest tinge of a smug smile upon his face. "Things like leave this sort of stuff to the professionals and don't take on things much stronger than you."
Striding past Illya he opened the door into the next room and was confronted by a red cat like being. "Arcueid why don't you have this one," Shirou said. "Don't worry you can easily beat it. Just stick to your strengths.
Arcueid stepped forward intent on putting the cat in its place when there was a violent sound of metal on metal and the cat disappeared.
Shirou sighed, a noise of plain unhappiness and said, "So you've finally decided to show your face. I thought if I made you wait long enough you would lose patience and appear. Your impatience is one of your many personality disorders."
"My, my so it was not incompetence but callousness that caused your sister to nearly die. Every time I hear you speak you always appear less and less impressive. Without the fourth you would be nothing but your average ordinary human and the thought terrifies you."
These words were said by a familiar green eyed youth. Then she smiled.
"On the other hand there is no increase in the chance of becoming a monster in future. Well done for not breaking and massacring humans. I'm so proud of you.
"Narbareck," Shirou said his face a blank mask, "why are you here?"
"Well I found out from one of my subordinates that the True Ancestor is looking for the oldest Aozaki." She lifted her hand to her chest. "Naturally I had to make sure there is no chance she is now regarding humans a s prey so I arrived. Also," she looked a little reluctant to say so. "My instincts were telling me something terrible was happening here. Naturally as the leader of the burial squad I had to make sure it was not happening to humanity."
"I don't believe it would be wise to try and force you back," Shirou started, "especially since we are already in such a hostile environment. So by all means come with us. Just don't expect any of us to bail you out when you inevitability bite off more than you can chew."
"Don't worry about me," Narbareck said, "I'm sure I will be the last one to die. If movies are to be believed I'm the only one making it into the sequel."
"Excuse me," Arcueid said breaking up the fight. "The feeling I get is strongest behind this door. Whatever is causing the disturbance is probably in the next room."
"Well then we better get going before we talk each other to death," Narbareck said heading for the door.
"Wait," Shirou said, "Do you have an idea of what is causing this mess.
"Narbareck stood still as stone for a moment and then she replied her voice sounding smaller than it had ever sounded before. "Yeah," she said, "but if its what I think it is then were all dead.
Without further waiting she grabbed the handle of the door and ripped it right off the hinges. Following her into the last room Shirou immediately noticed it was the cleanest and most well-mantained of all the rooms. Projects lay around the room and notes were on the tables indicating that this place similar to a workshop.
However one sight capture Shirou's eyes. Kneeling down a few metres ahead of him was Touko Aozaki. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hands were shaking. She was chanting something when she came in and the sudden appearance of Shirou and Narbarecj caused her chant to skip a beat. After a moment of her chanting more frantically she gave up. Standing up she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her jacket and lit one up.
"Ohh, Touko Aozaki," Narbareck said. "I heard the mage association were hunting you down. I wonder what they would think to know you were hidden in Mifune town all this time."
"Don't waste your breath on threatening me. Everybody in this room is already dead."
Illya looked aghast, Arcueid's eyes widened but Narbareck didn't seem surprised.
"I see," she said. "Is there no way to contain it?"
"No it's free now," Touko replied. "It should be out any…."
Touko was interrupted by a rumbling. The rumbling did not occur in the ground or in the sky but the very marrow of the group shook and space and time contorted. Shriou's circuits shook. They vibrated at such intensity that the effect was almost physical.
Its appearance was utterly unclimatic and partly inconsequential. It appeared with no fanfare, nor was it's appearacnce even necessary for one such as it.
It stood eight feet tall and was covered in fur. Even through the fur bulky muscle could be seen. Two massive ram horns sat atop its head. Its had four arms and each arm had wicked talons. It's hands were bare but wrinkled and had four fingers. Its face looked vaguely reptilian with all of its scales yet with rows of serrated teeth similar to a shark. It had yellow compound eyes and a snout like a dog and emaciated cheek bones. Lastly it gave off an aura of power and domination so strong that Shirou almost dropped to his knees.
"Careful," Narbareck muttered to him, "that things no your ordinary demon."
The creature raised its head and roared sending shockwaves throughout the world and causing time and space to stutter.
Shirou could see what Narbareck meant by the thing not being an ordinary demon.
Regular demons were benevolent to humanity and had to possess a human host to interact with the world.
But this creature had no need to possess anything. It stood there fully incarnated without a single problem yelling it's defiance at the laws of the church and man.
And right now Shirou would be prepared to bet any amount of money that thing was not going to sit them down and have a teaparty.
Author Note: I have finished my exams and now have a small amount of time to write. Not my easiest or best chapter but I need to get back into the swing of things and write something down.
KRKing The Wolf Paladin I'm not going into Kara no Kyoukai. It's too episodic and long for me to get into. The reason why I used Cornelius Alba and his reason for trying to capture Kiritsugu is because he is a cocky shit and was involved in putting down Kiritsugu's father Norikata. Guy with him is a random OC.
sandmanwake I like those two characters and I semi-regret not including them. However Nine didn't kill them. He killed two random homunculus mooks. Neither Liz nor Sella have been created yet.
The Rupture Jubstacheit sent out a last message to the Einzbern family at the clocktower stating that he was being attacked by the magus killer before he confronted Kiritsugu.
TJG I prefer that the dead remain dead. Otherwise I feel it undermines the story a bit.
Yeah it sounded like an anime catchphrase so I just assumed it was Haiyore!. I haven't actually read the mountains of madness. I do like lovecraftian themes but I was never an avid reader of H.P Lovecraft. Maybe I'll do something lovecraftian for my third fanfic.
Finder18 Yes and my own.
Vault166 Actual reunion would probably involve more explosions.
Please read and review. As an aside I was thinking of including a lemon/sex scene in future chapters. To do this I believe I would have to raise the rating to mature. Could somebody with the blood of an oracle please explain the content rating to me so I don't screw up and get taken down.