The Fool's Gamble

[William de Torquemada]

[Day 3: Pre-dawn]

The Gambler was a strange unit in this game. His power was variable, his skills hard to discern, and his loyalties were nearly impossible to glean from the rooftops. Each subtle movement he made, every glance, spoke of an expert manipulator. He wouldn’t be known in William de Torquemada’s notes as the Gambler if he wasn’t such. As intriguing as it was to find a human that could escape even a Torquemada’s understanding, it would be too dangerous to try to detain this man.

Tonight was not scouting. Tonight was not a mission to capture a potential subject. Tonight, the torture magus hunted other Masters to advance his claim on the Holy Grail. Will’s fingers absently brushed against Nightmare, sheathed on his back, before returning to his note taking.

Going into battle without a plan was not the Torquemada way. The Gambler had yet to show his power yet, meaning that Will would be going into battle blind. Still, there was a lot that he could gather from the way his opponent moved and acted. His careful stride and relaxed posture might have seemed accidental, but Will was trained to find individuals like this one. Every movement the Gambler made spoke of a hidden edge to him. His body was like a coiled spring, ready at any moment to snap.

And therein lied the danger. No one liked to show their hand before they had an idea of what their opponent was holding, but the only way Will could find out what the Gambler was like was to fight him. It was exciting. Battle was always a thrill, but especially when the stakes were high.

Assassin… time to begin the hunt. Why not go welcome our guest?

He would have to be separated from that idiot Adam Wells, of course, but so far Torquemada’s “partnership” with the affable magus was turning out better than expected. The man didn’t know that Will had followed him, of course, but he had an idiot’s luck when it came to finding other participants in their war. As long as he was useful, Will would allow him to live. Assassin had scouted out the silver haired master of the boisterous female Servant as well, but he could be hunted down at a later date. She had detected no form of weaponry on him and his magic was all but non-existant. He would hardly be a threat to a Torquemada, but he was also a waste of Will’s prodigious talents. The magic of his family was designed to kill magi, not pathetic wastes of circuits. Maybe someone would do Will a favor and kill the boy for him.

There was a reason for everything in Will’s world. A nice little world set by numbers. The Gambler would invite the others into his confidence, earning their trust without revealing anything. It was why his Servant was missing for the moment. He wouldn’t reveal anything until it was too late. And that was why Will was allowing Chiyome to make the first move. The Gambler would only call his Servant if threatened by a threat of equal level, but Chiyome was uniquely suited to provide a threat and then slip away after the Gambler had tipped his hand.

Will’s pride as a Torquemada wouldn’t allow him to let his Servant simply kill the Gambler without testing his abilities against the man, but if the other magus was weak enough to not notice the Assassin’s presence, then he deserved a merciless death. It was an honor to do battle with a Torquemada.

Make it convincing, Assassin. He was testing her as well. There was a core of honesty and goodwill that still existed in her despite all the blood that coated her in life. Maybe later he would strive to crush that center and leave her entirely jaded, but for now he had no inclination to do so.

The young magus stood from his rooftop perch and stretched, warming up his muscles in the cool February air. He slid down the side of the building by way of a fire escape, taking a moment to activate his primary reinforcement at the bottom. Magic flowed through his body, bringing his body to superhuman levels. Had he been able to feel, he would also have noticed that the magic was forcing his body to levels where his muscles would tear themselves apart over the minutes he held the spell. It was an acceptable risk. It was only a matter of time before he discovered what he needed and perfected his body.

By now, Will assumed that Assassin would already have baited the Gambler into using a command seal to call his Servant. He would, rightly, guess at her class from the way she approached and assume that her Master would be far away. He would relax, and that would give Will the opportunity to strike.

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

So... today they were really hunting after a magus. Assassin felt no presences of any other Servants, and as such it would ALMOST have been safe for her to merely sneak up on him and kill him before he even realized what was threatening him or calling his Servant. This did, however, carry a bit of a risk if his seemingly open and vulnerable self was actually some form of trap. Assassin had plenty of ways to kill the man regardless and without detection before it was too late. But… her Master had given her a different set of commands. He wanted to fight the man himself while she kept the Servant busy, in order to learn from their opponent. Assassin had obviously advised on the risk of this compared to simply killing him when he was defenseless like a true assassin, but she had gone along with her Master’s intentions like a professional ninja should. There was of course the silent complaint in her mind she was willingly making her chance of winning the war smaller. But she had decided to follow her commands, after death as well as she had in life. So with that, Assassin’s job was something else than killing the enemy.

Firstly, she was going to conduct a test for her Master. It was to see if the enemy at hand was worthy to be a match against him. This Assassin had decided to conduct this test with one of her bows. On a range, she would aim her bow with killing intent to attempt killing the opposing Master. If he was capable, he’d sense her and have the time to call on his Servant to avoid getting killed. However, if he failed to conduct this action, Assassin had permission to kill him. And so it would be. Afterwards, Assassin was going to make sure to get engaged and keep the enemy Servant occupied while Will was to try out his opponent. … Hm. In the case this man’s Servant was something great, like a Saber or a Berserker, this could be slightly troublesome if the Servant truly decided to head back. Assassin was Assassin, after all. This kind of strategy wasn’t actually her main intended use, but she was nevertheless capable. She had made Will aware of such before the battle. But for now, she was merely following her commands.

Acknowledged. I’m on it.

The woman materialized. Her attire had been changed to dark modern clothes with her hair hidden under the sweater’s hood in order to avoid someone needlessly identifying her origin from a glance and to be relatively hard to see in the dark. She lifted her large bow, prepared to fire with killing intent and the prana of a Servant attacking rising in the air. Assassin stood on the roof of a building a good distance away but still so she could look down directly at the target. Wasting no time at all with thorough professionalism, she fired the arrow from the large bow at her target, who would have been able to sense her and call for assistance should he have been a capable enough a magus. Or maybe, was he already under the defense of a Servant and had no such reason to worry? The arrow’s flight in the dark would reveal the answer.

[Hassan-i-Sabbah the 19th]

It has been a strange scouting mission for Assassin.

Rather, she still isn’t sure if that was a mission or just a ‘friendly meeting’ with prospective opponents. Granted, the occasion has given her quite a bit of information regarding the way other participants (or at least some of the participants, she really doubted that they represent all the participants of a free-for-all battle royale to the death…) thinks and behave. There have been quite a lot of chances that presented themselves at the previous meeting…but she got the feeling that it wasn’t her master’s chosen method. There might be a point to just take advantage of the vulnerable state that the other masters have displayed, but the possibilities might not be as high as she had expected. So Assassin docilely accepted the temporary ‘truce’ while keeping an eye open on the possibilities of the perfect strike…or at least until another opportunity presented itself.

She didn’t have to wait long as well.

It was quite strange as well. A servant not bothering to hide their identity would be a trivial find for her, and he would advise her master against engaging that particular servant directly or retreat as soon as possible. This particular attack however, went largely unknown until the projectile was let loose by the assailant, who stayed in the background. The projectile sailed at the direction of her master uncontested, until a single swipe from the shadows sent it hurtling harmlessly towards the ground, disappearing almost immediately afterwards.

Assassin had her doubts at first, the art of assassination won’t be unknown to modern mortals as well, but after the arrow disappeared into prana she knew that only a servant would be responsible for that shot. Moreover, the way the servant went on that attack suggested a possibility that outweighs other possibilities.

Oooh, a hunt is it~?

Quite so, just be mindful that our priority is Master’s safety. If it’s apparent that pursuing this one is outside of our capabilities then a retreat would be in order.

Yeah yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice.

Beneath her stoic mask, Assassin’s expression is positively giddy at this turn of events. Without waiting for another attack she leapt back into the shadows, moving in such a way that if the other Assassin tries another attack she will still be in range to intercept it. Mr. Masters~, please leave this to us and retreat to a safe place where the servant cannot reach you. It won’t be long at all~. While the mental reminder might not be necessary, she figured going with an obvious advice won’t hurt.

[William de Torquemada]

Bill considered the night a rather successful evening, all things considered. He’d made two contacts and established a tenuous alliance with both, making it possible that they’ll share information about other combatants without having to fight for it. As Master of Assassin, having information would be what kept him in the game.

Assassin was either confused or amused by his actions tonight, but from the faint undertone of his thoughts he knew that she had been analyzing their competition and looking for weak points. That wasn’t unlike himself, though he was more used to looking for tells that would signal when to push and when to fold.

The night air was cool, but it wasn’t so late that it had become uncomfortable. Bill sucked in a breath, enjoying the night, as a twang cut the air.

Will watched with mild amusement as a girl appeared from thin air to swat Assassin’s arrow down with contemptuous ease. With that, all of the players had taken the stage. And then she faded back into the shadows, obviously waiting to see what his Servant would do next. Frustrating.

If the girl had stayed in sight, he would have been able to plan his approach. Instead, she stayed hidden to dissuade him from doing just that. How annoyingly intelligent of her. Continue what you’re doing, Assassin. Will suppressed his irritation, letting the petty emotion flow out of him without taking hold. His rage became icy serenity in an instant. The Gambler’s eyes never left Assassin’s general direction for long, but he began to edge away, looking for a defendable spot to hole up while his Servant fought.

Will wondered absently if it was cowardice or cleverness that moved his hand. His Servant likely would need to hold back if he was around, so leaving would take him out of danger and let her act more freely. The answer to that question would tell a lot about how the man would fight. As he loosened Nightmare in its sheath, Will knew that he would get his answer very soon.

Bill found his way into an alley, ducking back against the wall that Assassin told him was toward the enemy. It would prevent projectiles from hitting him, hopefully, but everything about this was a gamble. Assassin had the edge no matter how good the other Servant was at hiding. She would find the other Servant before being found and, if he was lucky, kill without being spotted. Bill slipped a hand into his pocket and squeezed the little wooden coin, hoping that Lady Luck would smile on him again.

“Seems that my gamble paid off. I thought you’d be coming here. Close enough to turn the flow of battle if you’re needed, but far enough that your Servant won’t have to hold back to keep you safe.”

The voice came from a boy, a short, thin looking boy… except from the waves of prana emanating, he was a powerful magus in his own right and clearly ready for battle; which meant that he was the master of the Servant that had attacked Bill and was here to kill the other master and secure his victory.

Bill shook out the tension in his muscles and snapped his fists into a ready position, leaning back onto the balls of his feet. He wouldn’t be easy prey. Too much was riding on this gamble.

The boy slowly reached up and carefully searched for the sword strapped to his back with his fingers, using practiced motions rather than feeling to draw his blade. It was black as purest night and probably magical too—old blood got all the advantages.

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

... Oh? There had been no Command Spell used. Assassin would have seen that. There was no Servant appearing from a long distance. Yet, what deflected her arrow was without a doubt, a Servant. A Servant that had appeared from nothing, with no spell of any kind. The hooded girl on the rooftop with the bow smirked under her hood, for this made what lied ahead of her a lot clearer. The Master was falling back, the Servant staying behind to hold her off. … Why, that was an excellent strategy. Excellent for her, that is. This meant all Assassin had to do was to be held off, be enough of a threat that it would occur to neither Servant to go hunting for the opposing Master. Since Will’s goal was to combat the enemy Master one-on-one by himself, this was practically the best thing that could happen. … Now she simply had to make sure it remained like this. Assassin jumped to another building that was a bit closer to appear threatening. So I shall, Will.

While she herself was not under Presence Concealment anymore after having shot that arrow, her feet could leave a node from her network Noble Phantasm which would be under concealment. This node would be watching everything that happened and transmit what it saw to Assassin as long as she was within 150 meters, and the distance to the other Servant would be about half that right now. To disguise the fact she had stopped there to drop this node, she simultaneously held up her bow and fired multiple arrows. Since there now was no Master to be seen, they were aimed at the shadow. Simply to tease the opponent with what they could without a doubt resist to gauge their speed and other capabilities they were willing to show. When the node was placed, watching for her to make sure she wasn’t caught by any form of trap and constantly keep check on her opponent when she otherwise would be unable, she jumped down the building momentarily to look in the direction of her opponent.

Should no movement have occurred yet, Assassin would dash for the building on the right side of the shadow (her own perspective) to jump over it and pursue the opponent’s Master. This would force the opposing Servant to stop her or endanger her Master, so Assassin prepared to be engaged. The node would keep check from this side of the building, while she herself prepared needles to throw at her attacker the moment it appeared and prepared to form a certain weapon that would allow her to maneuver in mid-air should the enemy attack her while she was jumping over the building. In her own life only a handful of battles had actually been on fair odds due to her own manipulation of the circumstances like any good ninja, so this would be… interesting to take part of. Very well, enemy Servant. Are you coming?

[Hassan-i-Sabbah the 19th]

There isn’t really that much that can be done to track an Assassin short of possessing the required skillset yourself. No, she has no clairvoyant skills or another sixth-sense tricks she could bring to fore. What she does have however, is the fact that she’s aware of the tactics and habits of those in the same profession as her. Oh sure, there might be some variations here and there, but the basic tenets will generally stay the same, and if she can find the patterns on the other one’s behaviors there should be no problem in rooting it out and hung them out to dry.

That’s your plan?

Worth trying, isn’t it?

…As soon as it fails I’ll take over.

What-ever~

Under the cover of darkness, Assassin stalks the distant figure that is her counterpart. The insistence on the figure’s part to remain at the same spot suggests that the other one’s still angling for a chance to shoot at her master, a chance that goes slimmer by the minute if he heeds what Assassin said. At least, she thinks he’ll heed what she said. Her master might be reckless, but he’s not that stupid.

After a short time of hesitation, the distant figure seems to have sorted the priorities and switched the target towards Assassin, firing her arrows towards her general direction. They never threatened to hit her, impaling the walls beside her harmlessly as she continues to use the shadows to her advantage. To further obscure her position, Assassin crouches on her spot, minimizing her area to hit and readying herself to pounce on her opponent just in case.

A short time passes until the enemy servant jumps down to verify her handiwork herself, though still maintaining distance should it turned out to just be an ambush. It was expected really, now all Assassin has to do is to wait until she turned her back on the shadows before trailing her and strike where she least expects it. Surely enough, she soon turns around to seek the clearer target: her master, instead of scouring the shadows futilely for something that might not even be there anymore.

Silently pouncing out of the shadows, one of her daggers at her right hand, Assassin traces the enemy’s movement accurately step by step while keeping her presence low. After following her quarry for another few seconds, Assassin immediately accelerates, drawing out her intention to kill for her opponent to sense. Assassin’s dagger homes in like a white streak towards the enemy’s neck while her eyes are already focusing on the other’s movement, trying to gauge the servant’s response and the best way to counter it.

[William de Torquemada]

Bill caught the blade with his thick gloves and slammed a foot into the small boy’s side, driving him to the ground, but the other magus made no sound as he hit the ground and rolled, coming up with his sword like nothing had happened. There was never any emotion or reaction to his attacks and it was getting to be disconcerting for Bill.

A thin trail of blood dripped from the smaller man’s mouth, rolling along his pale skin. “Give up,” Bill demanded, with more confidence than he felt. What kind of man could silently climb to his feet every time he was knocked down? Bill had been in his share of brawls and bar fights, but those had been full of noise and shouting and grunts of pain. The utter silence of this fight made him nervous.

The mocking smirk on the boy’s face spread wider. “Give up while the game is just beginning? Have you lost your nerve to risk everything, Gambler?”

Bill put up his fists again, gritting his teeth but not letting his face change at all. That was one good thing about having been a gambler his entire life. He wouldn’t ever let this bastard know that he had drawn blood.

“Let me make a guess. You lost something too important to give up and heard about the wish, decided to risk everything to get it back.” It was too close to the truth. Bill wasn’t going to give the boy the satisfaction of seeing him flinch. He rushed forward, aiming to leverage his superior strength to crush the smaller magus with devastating blows.

Will was pleased to find out that this man was able to contend with Command: Strengthen, seemingly without expending prana. It was possible that the gloves he wore were Mystic Codes as well, of course, but Will didn’t care enough to question it. Still, he was getting extremely tired of the taste of dirt.

“Give up,” the man told him sternly, looking down. Will hated being looked down on, even if his height made it a necessity for most people.

“Give up while the game is just beginning? Have you lost your nerve to risk everything, Gambler?” It was just a casual comment, tossed out to see if it had any effect, but from the slight tensing of muscles and the extra tension in the Gambler’s jaw told Will that he had struck a nerve. The tells were hidden, of course, as would be expected, but he had tortured and killed men like this Gambler before. No one could get rid of their tells, only make them less noticeable.

“Let me make a guess. You lost something too important to give up and heard about the wish, decided to risk everything to get it back.” It was a rather weak prediction, but it was just vague enough to handle several different possibilities for what had propelled this magus into a war to the death.

The Gambler immediately rushed forward, doing his best to crush Will’s smaller frame in between his fists and a wall. It was an aggressive choice, which usually would pay off against a smaller, weaker opponent—except in this case, Will’s body was so filled with prana that he was the stronger.

Instead of being pushed backwards and possibly losing the battle, Will met the Gambler’s offensive with one of his own, blocking the first strike with the flat of his blade and immediately attacking again, forcing the bigger magus back step by step. For a moment, it looked like Will’s attack was going to be unable to pierce the other man’s defense, but a flick of his wrist dropped a knife into his hand. While the Gambler was distracted, the knife arced up and sliced through his unprotected side, deep enough to splatter blood along the ground.

Will grinned. It was ultimately only a flesh wound, but it would burn and sting and teach the Gambler what it was to fight against a Torquemada.

The knife cut into his side, deeply but not enough to kill Bill. The pain only made him more determined to keep going. But this wasn’t going well here—time to make a move. ”Assassin! Where are you!?”

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

Hm. As expected, the enemy Servant dodged her arrows easily. It wasn’t even dodging, the arrows simply wasn’t hitting the flighty shadow. This was simply a very different kind of Assassin. While the girl who had fired the arrows was one used to hiding in plain sight of her target more often than not, this one appeared to have adapted to using the shadows. Well, she had used the shadows in her time too, had given quite a few of her student a proper scare by having their sensei show up from seemingly nowhere and the same with her targets, except those usually never got to get a scare since they died. Hm. Either case, so far… everything was good.

During her run towards the location of the enemy Master as well as her own she would be intercepted just as she had predicted. The enemy had no idea there was a node in place, making her able to watch her own back, literally. She could see the enemy. Gauge her speed. Detect the attack ahead of time. Assassin was prepared for her opponent’s attack, and using her node she could see exactly where the attack would come. She was fast. That could have been dangerous had this Assassin not been prepared. But now, she was.

Chiyome spun at the last moment. A kick with her feet would carry her out of the direct harmful path of the enemy dagger on both their right side as she spun left to face her enemies. Two weapons materialized in her hands. One was a katana, sweeping down in a sideways arc towards the dagger which would threaten to harm should it not be blocked. The other was her naginata, her main weapon of choice, which she had wrapped her right arm around for extra strength as she cut in an arc parallel to the ground at waist-height. If the enemy had simply pressed forward, she would find herself forced to block the dagger and be cut by the naginata. However, this was no normal enemy. It was a fellow Assassin, most likely quite adapt at all arts of killing, possibly even more effective than Chiyome herself. She was not intending on being undone here, aiming a small smirk of the little battle lust she was feeling at the moment.

Should the enemy press on its attack, Chiyome would make sure to jump back a bit. However, from here she would turn the table. Should the other Assassin attempt coming past her to reunite with her Master, Chiyome would be the one blocking the way, the long range of her weapons aiding her in this manner. If it was too far, she could always throw an explosive in the enemy’s way. In any case, she could not allow her Master’s battle to be interrupted. That was the situation. Should the enemy not attempt to come to her Master’s aid, Chiyome would simply press on the battle, the single eye from above watching over them both to assist her to see what she would otherwise miss.

[Hassan-i-Sabbah the 19th]

As Assassin’s dagger closed on the girl’s neck, she bend her body to make the weapon narrowly missed while swinging her leg in a semi-roundhouse kick to create some space for the close-combat focused Assassin to surmount.

Well of course it’s not going to be that easy. The other girl seems to be a professional as well, so she probably have anticipated this turn of events. If anything else, Assassin should praise her fellow Assassin about not reacting in a boring, by-the-book manner that she had come to expect a fellow shadowy killer to employ. A pole arm certainly isn’t what most people thought of when they heard the word ‘Assassin’. Oh sure, she could certainly wield it, but it’s cumbersome, has a huge arc of swing and not concealable. Perhaps it could be effective if you want to assassinate an elephant, but for the most part they’re boorish weapons. Supposedly the ‘concealable’ part is moot if you can materialize a pole arm out of thin air though.

In response at the other Assassin’s weapon brandishing, Assassin took a short hop backwards casually in order to examine her options. Both halves of her mind are racing towards the surest way of handling this predicament. Or at least the path of least resistance. The lack of range on her weapons would imply that she’s in a disadvantage in head-on combat, which is true, but they’re Assassins. If the girl in front of her didn’t expect that something underhanded is about to take place then she had no business walking the shadows. It won’t be that easy though.

Hmmm, let’s try this~…

Twirling one of her daggers on her right hand, Assassin finally adopted a position that could be constituted as ready, eyeing her opponent’s movements (or lack thereof) in anticipation for a strike. Why, her opponent is lucky that she’s in charge, the other one would most likely continue with the sneak attacks until one of them is bored-

Assassin! Where are you!?

The twirling stopped, and Assassin’s face grow stoic as the realization dawned on her. Her master wouldn’t call her back unless he’s in a pinch. That, and combined with his distress tone led Assassin in a split second decision to fear for her master’s safety.

That…

…Idiot!

Without thinking twice, Assassin darted sideways away from her opponent’s pole arm range in a direct bid pass her without fighting.

Master!? Master! Use your Command Seals! Command me to appear right next to you this instant! Master!

[William de Torquemada]

Will stepped forward, pushing the Gambler back with every strike, crushing the man with the force of his every attack. With the added advantage of reach, while fighting with his full strength, William couldn’t be stopped like this. It would take magic to best him, magic that it seemed the Gambler did not have. Even reinforcement would have served to lower the gap between the two men, but either the Gambler did not have access to it or was not able to cast while in combat.

There was a swell of mana centered around the man’s body, seemingly unrelated to a casting—he stopped his attack and jumped backwards as the Gambler thrust a fist into the air. “Assassin! Get over here!”

With a flash of light, the command seal was consumed and the dark skinned girl appeared between them, her shock of white hair standing out against the darkness of the alleyway. “Get us out of here,” the Gambler demanded, turning to run, limping only slightly from the dozens of minor wounds that Will had given him. For a brief moment, the Torquemada heir regretted having not maimed the Gambler, but quickly suppressed the emotion.

Assassin, get over here. William let his immense displeasure filter through his mental voice, not bothering to reprimand her. She would know what she had done wrong.

The young magus leapt onto the nearby fire escape, scaling the structure quickly and pulling himself onto the rooftops. He could run along the buildings and keep an eye on the enemy pair, while giving Chiyome a way to follow. Strike before they have a chance to escape. The enemy Servant will have to stop you; and then I’ll kill her Master.

Will was not pleased to have been denied his battle by cowardice. This would not end well for the enemy.

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

Assassin was obviously not going to allow the other Assassin to pass by unnoticed. As she had expected, the enemy had simply jumped back, but this was entirely intentional. What her intention was now was simply to keep her away from where Will would hold his private battle against the other Master. For a number of moments, the two Servants had simply been standing, examining one another. … Why, this one was even younger than herself. This was an Assassin? Either some amusing power was at work, or this one had led a predetermined life. … Assassin was in no position to judge or comment, as she herself had been a teacher who had taught the art of assassination to girls her age. Why, that age was perfect for some more morally uncomfortable missions. Assassin would really have liked to have a chat about their lives with one another… … … But doesn’t seem like that was happening, was it?

The other Assassin darted to pass her by. While the young one (appearance wise) was fast, Assassin was no slouch either. Jumping to intercept, she threw a smoke-bomb at enough speed smash against the ground and explode into a huge cloud of sight-blocking white smoke. Aided by her eye on the building over there, she wouldn’t even need to see to intercept her target, however running through this smoke would be risky for her opponent as Assassin would attack from an unpredictable unseen angle with a longer weapon suitable for stopping her in her tracks. Assassin smirked as she prepared to intercept… when suddenly a light told that a Command Seal was being used. She wasted no time. Assassin spun around and dashed at a speed only an unhindered Servant could hold. The enemy certainly would feel her approach. That was not an issue. What was an issue was how they’d react.

No matter how long it would have taken, given the time-frame it should not have been that far away that the two Williams would have been able to move, Assassin would eventually simply have jumped up on a building, still wearing her darker modern clothes with hair in a hood, now with her katana strapped in a belt by her hip. By the time when she received Will’s command she was already on the way, crossing a large amount of the distance back during the time it took for him to say those three sentences, any displeasure in the tone was ignored. Understood. No matter where she saw them, where she might see their shape, that very moment a multitude of poisoned throwing stars would suddenly take to the skies as Assassin approached as quickly as she could. Assassin had thrown them using only her left hand, her right still holding the naginata. It didn’t matter if she had to follow a fleeing enemy to do it, or if they had stayed around. They would be aimed for the Master. Their intention was to force the enemy Servant to pay attention to her. Her speed to reach the site had been essential, for if not it would have been very easy for her enemy to off her own Master… Of course, if another situation awaited her she’d act in some other way. If so is the case, I will correct this post.

[Hassan-i-Sabbah the 19th]

With a flash of light, space was distorted to allow Assassin to sidestep the laws of the universe in order to instantly appear besides her master. The first thing she noticed is the fact that her master’s body is full of wounds. Numerous laceration wounds by the look of things, perhaps inflicted by the young man in front of him. None of them seemed to pierce his vital organs and they don’t look life threatening (yet), but continuing to fight at this condition would surely lead to more blood loss.

That’s why she has no retort to his command to retreat. Clearly her master’s not in the capacity to fight back, and the other pair need only to target him specifically to crush any attempts of opposition.

“Understood, master.”

Taking extra care not to make the wounds worse, Assassin hauls the wounded man with her left hand while still brandishing one of her daggers with her right. It won’t be much, certainly won’t be helping her chance at fighting off the other Assassin, but at least the stance will allow her to better intercept any attempts on her master’s safety this way.

Without waiting on the other pair’s next move, Assassin immediately turn backwards and dashes away. She caught the vague silhouette of the magus before her ascending the structure around them, no doubt to both pursue and better monitor their movements, but she’d have to deal with his attempts as they come. That also goes for his servant.

Just as she thought that, multiple throwing starts greeted her from the opposite direction. Halting her movement for a second, she twists her body as such that her master is properly protected from the projectiles and at the same time her position allows her to better intercept the projectiles with her dagger. Realizing that perhaps the other pair is moving for a pincer attack, Assassin turns sharply into another one of the alleys between the buildings, hoping to make it more difficult for the pair to track them.

[William de Torquemada]

Bill limped only slightly as they ran. The wounds he had been dealt were intended to hurt, not to maim… that bastard. What kind of person could grin as they cut someone for the pleasure of it? Sure, they were joy in winning, but Bill had never been one to smile as he took every penny from a lesser gambler.

He clutched the coin tighter, squeezing it hard between his fingers. Assassin said nothing as she ran, but he could feel how her attention was focused on everything. They weren’t home free yet. That boy wasn’t done chasing them, then, and Assassin couldn’t hold off him while fighting his Servant.

Bill knew they wouldn’t be able to outrun a reinforced magus while he could barely run. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t throw the dice and see what the Goddess of Fortune thought of him.

Assassin twisted, shielding him with her body and expertly knocking a dozen shuriken from the air with her knife, still emotionlessly trying to drag him along. “No, Assassin. We can’t just let them whittle us down.”

She dragged him down a side alley, where it would be harder for them to be chased, but Bill dug in his heels and stopped. “We need to ambush them. The boy is arrogant; he’ll try to go back to the way we were fighting, but this time, I have a surprise for him.” Bill adjusted the way his gloves fit on his hands, readied himself, took a breath, and began to mumble under his breath.

Bill could hear the enemy servant, but he had to trust that Assassin could hold her at bay. He had given her a chance to fight without heed to him and he needed to earn it. He kept the chant going, feeling the prana burning through his veins as he prepared for the fight that was coming. As soon as the boy magus turned the corner…

There! Bill released the spell, almost one third of his maximum capacity, charging the prana down his legs and into the ground. As the magus landed on the edge of the alleyway, the concrete all around shattered, breaking into pieces as tremors wracked the ground. The boy kept his feet for only a moment before stumbling, falling.

Bill would be sorry if the Earth Breaker affected Assassin, but he would have to apologize later; watching the boy who had done so much damage to him stumble and barely manage to right himself, then stumble again was too satisfying.

Bill waited out the end of the tremors, not moving from his safe platform until only a few seconds remained. The dark haired boy raised his sword as Bill approached, but there was nothing he could do when his footing was this unstable. Bill’s fist crashed into his chest with the force of Resonance behind it. Something broke.

Will touched down lightly, only for the ground to betray him. It was difficult to keep his feet while the ground shook, but at least the Gambler seemed willing to wait for the shaking to subside to attack. The boy felt a desire to curse bitterly about how often he was being denied the fights he desired, but instead began to quietly mumble a spell as he ran about, desperately trying to keep from falling.

He almost didn’t notice that the Gambler had come down from his safe spot until the fist crashed into his chest, sending him to the shaking ground. From the sound, it appeared that one of the metal plates in his jacket had been shattered by the attack. As he lay on his back, the Torquemada heir grinned.

“Hear me, and obey. Command: Heighten!”

The pain was enormous as magic forced his brain to develop new neural pathways, buoyed only by the prana that flowed through him. Stacking reinforcements together only made the difficulties of each worse, but failure was unacceptable.

Will grinned.

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

She blocked the throwing stars, which was quite the intention. Doing so obviously meant that she could not leave her Master alone, and as such the enemy Assassin couldn’t go after her opponent’s Master. The same held true in the opposite direction as well, but by a completely different reason. Assassin couldn’t go after the enemy Master on Will’s orders, meaning all her attacks against him were such she knew the enemy could block. However, for now… the enemy fled down an alley. However… the enemy Assassin had to drag a Master along with her. Her speed would be limited. As such, there was no fear that Assassin or Will wouldn’t be able to catch up. But just in case…

‘Hm, you won’t escape.’ Assassin took a leap up a building adjacent to the one they had fled behind. On the way up, she had grabbed a multitude of needles, holding a number of ten needles. Focusing, she put a node on each single one of them. Together they would only have Presence Concealment of C due to their number, but now Assassin was confident they wouldn’t be able to escape her range. With quick throws, she was able to send the needles flying, etching themselves to buildings comparatively far away, high up on the buildings with the nodes on the needles each watching over a large area and sending the information of what they were seeing back to Assassin. Overviewing the information she was seeing she could quickly conclude that…

‘They are still in the alley, or inside a building.’ Knowing this, and sending the information to Will, Assassin would dash along the building’s height looking down and searching the limited area where they could be. It was possible they could have entered a building, but if so was the case she’d see them with at least one node when they left. Also knowing that the enemy was cornered, she expected that she would be attacked shortly. If she wasn’t, then how would the enemy ever hope to defeat their enemy? On guard, Assassin ran on. At the time that the Earth Breaker took place, I would expect an encounter of some kind would already have taken place, so such reaction will be saved to my next post.

[Hassan-i-Sabbah the 19th]

To be perfectly honest, Assassin could hardly keep track of the movements of the other pair. Her attention is concentrated on keeping his master safe from the retaliation of the other Assassin, and perhaps her master as well. She only caught precious little of the other master, but she could sense the bloodthirstiness on that boy. He’s completely ready to fight, ready to kill, in contrast of her own master back then. However as she makes her way towards the alley in-between the buildings her master’s voice broke the relative silence of the place.

His voice is firm despite his constant and gradual blood loss. It’s not the desperate plea of a despondent peasant trying to make it to a safe shelter. Rather, it’s the determination of a wounded warrior trying to snatch victory even if it cost him his life. It’s not an ideology that she’s used to, but her master seems to be ready to throw his dice at the game of life. Perhaps even for the last time.

That’s absurd. If he wants to counter attack he needs to take care of those wounds first. Not to mention we only have the faintest of information about the enemy’s capabilities. It would be incredibly foolish to jump in like that.

“If that’s your wish, Master.”

…I knew you would say that.

“The pathway’s pretty dark. If you can just hunker down behind something he won’t notice it until it’s too late. If that happens, please hit him with everything you have. Show no mercy, he hasn’t shown you any.”

I’d be quicker if I were you. She might be closing in.

“Please do try to stay alive however~.”

Assassin waste little time before once again cloaking her presence with the shadows. As far as the eye can see there’s only darkness in the alley. The only sound barely audible is the chanting of the magus that soon died down as quickly as it came.

-0-

As the tremors wrecked the nearby and shook the footing of everyone nearby, Assassin struck. As the ground is a hostile territory, she uses the untouched concrete of the structure to propel her upwards, jumping in a parabolic arc in order to sail closely at the other Assassin’s head. With only a sliver of light illuminating it, Assassin’s dagger hisses as it travels in a wide arc, trying to home in at her intended target. From a distance the only thing visible would be the streak of light that serves as the sign that the altercation happened, but the obscured visibility casts doubt on what actually took place.

[William de Torquemada]

William de Torquemada was on his feet before the Gambler could react to his having fallen and Nightmare cut through the man’s leg, a thin edge of prana filling the Gambler’s mind with the phantom image of his leg being severed, blood spurting from the severed limb, painting the ground with blood—!

The Gambler’s fist caught Will in the jaw, sending the boy to the ground again, landing amongst the shattered piece of concrete that was their battlefield. The Gambler was skilled at weaving through the wreckage and using it to cover and amplify his moves. Will had to grudgingly admit that he had underestimated this opponent. That was a mistake. A mistake he would not make a second time.

His thoughts flowed rapidly, finding a dozen pathways through the shattered stones to the Gambler. He had used Nightmare’s kiss once, but he was tired of playing with the man. The next blow would not be so gentle. The Gambler expected the next move and slipped out of Will’s reach, but was not able to avoid the knife in his left hand. The blade cut deep into the Gambler’s arm, breaking his ready posture and dropping his arm to his side.

Will stepped forward to continue his attack, using Nightmare to force the Gambler off balance and following up with his knife. This ended now.

Bill was doing everything he could, but he was outmatched. Fists were a poor weapon to fight against a blade with, and on top of that the boy was stronger, faster, better trained, and not even the crumbled pavement around them was slowing his footsteps. It was like the boy magus was thinking so quickly that none of Bill’s feints or misdirection would work. It was like playing against someone who could see your hand; no matter how good you were at bluffing, you couldn’t lie to someone who knew that you were lying.

There was one last shot. One last bet. One last risk, one last raise. Bill went all in, letting the sword cut into his side. It had cut through him once, made him think that his body was wounded when it wasn’t, so maybe the sword itself was only to distract from the knife. Bill called the bluff.

He gasped at the pain as the sword bit into his side, cutting halfway through his body with the force of the swing. Bill prayed that the pain would fade and that it would just have been another illusion, but it didn’t, even when his fist met the boy’s solar plexus, driving him back with the sound of shattering metal The young magus heaved in a breath and rose, flicking blood off his pitch black sword.


Bill slumped to a knee. His left lung was split in half by the blade and the muscles in his stomach were too torn to support his body any longer. So this was what dying felt like. Bill felt only anger and… disappointment. This was too early to fail. He shouldn’t have bet so outrageously when he didn’t know what the boy was capable of.

The dark blade aimed itself at Bill’s face and a hint of breathlessness entered the boy’s voice. “Painless deaths are not the way of the Torquemada family.” He shifted, adjusting his jacket and ripping open the armored plates, then pulling a few shards of steel from his chest and dropping them disinterestedly. “But you have earned my respect. I will grant it to you.”

Bill stared up the blade into the merciless face of a magus, of someone who had no qualms with dirtying their own hands for power. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out the wooden coin, running a finger along it. I’ll see you both soon…

* * * * *

The Gambler reached for something in his pocket, so Will cut his throat with the tip of Nightmare. It was only natural. The magi slumped to the ground, dead, finally, and the small, wooden coin slipped from his hand and rolled across the ground, as yet unstained by blood.

The Torquemada heir bent down and lifted up the coin, brushing a finger along it. He took a moment to read what was written, then rolled the cooling corpse over with a foot. “Dad”, and a crude approximation of his face. Whoever had drawn it could have used some practice, but practice was a hard thing to come by when there was so much more to teach.

“Is this why you fight?” Will couldn’t understand. But he did understand determination and fighting for something that was more desirable than life itself. He slipped the coin into the Gambler’s vest, above the wound that wept blood onto the shattered ground.

The enemy servant should be weakening. Her Master is dead. Withdraw, my Assassin; there is no point in taking unnecessary wounds.

William de Torquemada found a bum sleeping in an alley and slammed him into a wall, slamming a hand over the man’s mouth to prevent him from crying out. “I was never here,” he stated in perfect Italian, his voice thick with hypnosis. “There is a man nearby who died. You’re going to get him a proper burial. You’re going to do your very best, because every time you think to escape notice or not do right by him, you see a shadow out of the corner of your eye. And it will know if you try to avoid doing this. And it will show you more pain than you have experienced in your entire, miserable existence before now.”

Will dropped the man, who crawled away, crying, the hypnosis already driving him towards where the Gambler still lay. He wouldn’t fail, because his own mind would torture him for even attempting to.

Finally, Will stopped the flow of prana to his reinforcements and slumped against the wall as the extra strength left his body and a severe headache started inside his skull. I believe it is time for us to go.

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

A tremor. A tremor of powerful magnitude. Assassin furrowed her brow just the slightest at this display of power. The female Servant wasn't even the slightest perturbed by the shaking, but could her Master survive such a spell? ... Undoubtedly. What she had analyzed of his style of fighting and body-shape, her Master was among those most likely to survive such a thing, assuming nothing unaccounted for had taken place. The bond between them still existed, so Assassin did not worry about it. Quite on the contrary, the one she should be worrying about was none other than herself.

Her spread nodes gave Assassin a lot of vision everywhere around her. However, even with that in place, the only thing she saw was a small white streak and quick killing intent from the Servant's assault. Assassin was unsure if she could assure her survival from such an attack should she have been taken by surprise. The enemy's agility was truly fearsome. However... however, this time, the ninja had been prepared for an attack. As someone well-versed in human weak points, that sliver of white light was more than enough for her. ... Hm, she thought something similar to this not too long ago, didn't she?

She kicked the underneath of the roof sticking out on the side over the building. Crouching while pulling herself downwards underneath to roof-edge, Assassin would have pulled herself out of the knife's arc. ... And just in case something was trying to follow her, a bamboo explosive had been lobbed back at her side from her left hand, ready to explode in the face of her attacked should she continue her blows while the thrower would protect herself from it using the building as she pulled herself down using the ledge as an anchoring point using her left leg. After having heard the blast, Assassin would easily be able to identify her opponent's current position from the supplied vision of the nodes on the needles she had spread out. Even if all they saw was the briefest of a shade, Assassin was more than capable of reading this information to a conclusion. She'd swing herself up using the same leg that had carried her down to slice at her enemy's torso from the side using her naginata with both hands, the pole-arm like weapon ready to cleave into her side. Of course, if the enemy had jumped down to intercept her, the naginata would have struck there instead, due to her overall vision Assassin would be prepared for both. It didn't matter if the enemy figured out that she could see from all sides, fear from such a realization would be to her advantage.

Of course, her being another Assassin, this most likely would not harm the opponent. They could continue this dance for quite a while, probably. Eventually, the ninja would hear her Master's call of his victory. About time, too. She couldn't have guaranteed the winner of a prolonged battle with an eventual victor. Her opponent had undoubtedly felt that, too. A small giggle went through their mental communication line. Your Assassin has understood, my Master. Good work. In case the other Assassin was still there and had not escaped the moment her Master's connection disappeared and not attacked someone in rage or similar (in which case I will adjust this post from this point), Assassin would turn to say a friendly word to her, with a smile on her face and still holding the length of her naginata with her right hand.

‘Good work. You were an admirable opponent, young one. Unfortunately, it seems my Master has won. May I know your name? I wish to know who you are. If I could I would have wanted to chat with you, but our situation has made this impossible, it would seem.’ For security reasons, Assassin obviously couldn't tell her own name. Who knows who could be eavesdropping? But this young Assassin interested her, and as such she wanted to know who she was. Just idle curiosity. In reality, she wanted to have a long conversation about the contents of each other's lives, but they had neither the time nor the situation for that. Her Master was waiting. Wait just a moment more, my Master.

(after the other Assassin's post, I intend to make a second post immediately returning to my Master, he does not need to be forced to make a post of waiting for me)

[Hassan-i-Sabbah the 19th]

She knew that the opponent won’t fell with just a few swings of her dagger. She knew that as it stands there’s little chance of her to finish the opponent in the small time it would take for the enemy master to finish the already wounded magi. What she could do given the situation is to keep her opponent occupied for her master to take on the other master and win…or perhaps die trying. It’s pathetic isn’t it? She was supposed to give her master that little unseen threat, a guided weapon meant to strike swiftly and deadly. She cannot even do that in the end.

All the explosives and the swing of her pole-arm wouldn’t deter Assassin in the slightest, as they are easily triggered by the application of thrown debris and the telegraphed swings of the blades are as predictable as ever. It was to her understanding however, that those are what her opponent’s goal is. After all, what is there to lose? She have seen how her master fared and won against this current opponent. This time it’s in addition with the hindrance provided with the opponent’s ongoing injury. All she needed to do was to buy some time until the inevitable victory.

That was then when Assassin heard nothing from her master anymore. Not even another thought telling her to buy him one more minute in order to complete this last stand. The complete silent on her part is complimented by the smile on her opponent’s face. She knew it too. She wouldn’t need to continue this meaningless dance anymore, and her offered congratulation reeks of pacifying the defeated enemy, metaphorically letting them pass on with a smile on their face. After all, why wouldn’t she think of a master-less Assassin as harmless?

“My…name?”

The shadows start to engulf Assassin once again like a cloak as she fades into the background. Her skull mask then materializes on her person as the only indicator of her current location. Assassin speaks once more, her voice oddly monotonous and as icy as her expression concealed behind the skull mask.

“I don’t have a name to give to you. Those of the shadows abandoned their name long ago. Surely you understand that, do you?”

After she uttered those words, the figure of Assassin seemingly dissolved into the shadows, leaving no trace of her body anywhere in the vicinity.

-0-

Assassin watches as the bum carries the body of her former master. No man under a spell will outdo her in the burial effort, but the man will have to do for now. Now she have another choice to make, to fade away accomplishing nothing as she did a long time ago, or somehow find another anchor to sustain her existence. Time will not wait for her answer, and the possibilities are getting smaller and smaller by the minute. It’s almost like…gambling, isn’t it?

[Mochizuki Chiyome]

‘Yes...’ Assassin nodded, with a nostalgic and somewhat sad smile, towards the disappearing other Servant as she had spoken. ‘I understand perfectly.’ She watched the younger girl vanish from sight, leaving those few words for the Japanese kunoichi to mull over. ... She knew too well the nature of those in the shadows. The only reason her own name, Mochizuki Chiyome, had not been forgotten was because it had been leaked by captured students. Had that never happened, her own name too would have forever been lost to history. Just like every single one of her students, those whose names and faces she knew them all, and yet they had no names as soon as they stepped out into the world. Always new identities needed to be taken, only at home could they safely be called what they really were named, sometimes even that. The girl who had vanished... if she truly didn't have a name, then she was just like Assassin's students, lost to history, only existing like a phantom on history that had influenced the future in just their tiny little way... ... ... The comparison might have been completely wrong, Assassin didn't know anything about the deeds which this girl had been involved with in her life and how much she had changed, but the reminders of her own students was enough for her to feel her mood drop by the nostalgic feeling, a reminder of exactly why she was doing this... ... ... Maybe she should extend her wish, and not only wish for her own students to be remembered, but for all who have in secrecy acted and influenced the world? Including this girl... ... ...

Now she was thinking too much in "could-be"s. Assassin spun around and ran with considerable speed, already having wasted a moment exchanging a few words with the other Servant and thinking about them afterwards. First, she needed to eliminate all the nodes she had spread around this area to track her enemy. Seeing no immediate threats to her visibility, she made use of her Servant speed to pick up every needle she had thrown and remove the nodes on them, vanishing faster than a human eye would have been able to follow to pick up the next. It wouldn't do for an enemy Servant to find all these of her needles spread around and holding her Noble Phantasm nodes, now, would it? Since she naturally knew all of their locations, the female Assassin was able to plot an efficient route and pick up every single one along these blocks, before dashing back to her Master, slipping the needles into her clothing. Soon enough, she was standing beside him, still dressed in these modern dark pants and sweater with a hood, she had fought in these during the entire battle due to the presence of another Servant making taking use of The First Kunoichi Noble Phantasm rather hazardous. In either case, she was ready now, standing beside her Master with a small smile, inspecting him.

‘... My, have you taken a slight beating, Will?’ Slumped against the wall like that, not to mention the destruction that had been done to the ground over there, and all around it... They were victorious, and Assassin could tell her Master wouldn't die from this, but... ‘Would you like me to assist you in getting back to our current lodging?’ Only right to ask. After this, she would have to examine his injuries too, just to be safe. Among other things, she was rather used to treating injuries and other things her students or herself might possibly have sustained, only natural for a ninja. All a part of Expert of Many Specializations. ... But getting him home first seemed appropriate, his damage wasn't that threatening.