Chapter Text
Northern Italy. Lombardy Region. Suzzara. Population estimate, 21,000 residents.
January 3rdth 2004
2nd day of the Apostle Hunt
The streets were desolate. Dead and abandoned of life. The people that had lived here just days before were gone now. Most of them, anyway. Those that hadn’t been lucky enough to escape the first wave were plain sprawled across the ground, along the road and street path. Corpses, not all of them in one piece.
Some lay there, still like props, eyes open and unseeing, plaid and drained. Others were in pieces, torn apart, bisected, dissected or simply ripped limb from limb… and even more had pieces missing from them. Chunks, as if they’d been eaten alive.
Rotted and stale blood stained the cobblestone, the smell pungent with death and decay. These people have bene the first, when the thing stalking their home had finally revealed itself, but they had not been the last.
Food, the foundations meant to feed and ever-growing host.
And they had been discarded like nothing. Like they didn’t even matter. Their bodies desecrated. Just pointless slaughter by something that enjoyed making people suffer.
Rin turned up her nose at the sight.
She stepped over a body, the tails of her habit swishing as she did, trimmed with blood the same way her boots were. She surveyed her surroundings for any sign of movement. There might not have been anything living here, but the Dead were just as much of a concern to her here.
The first day of the Hunt had been slow. They town had already been lost and cordoned off but a perimeter had needed to be set up to make sure that nothing slipped past and spread this elsewhere. After that it had been a slow encirclement of the area, closing in as much as they could to close off the chances of escape.
There had been a wariness to it all though, more than what Rin was used to on the few of these she’d been brought along for. Like the people leading it were looking for something or, more like waiting for something. That wasn’t something too out of the ordinary. Most people wouldn’t have their bosses or leaders explain everything to them, but Rin had the feeling they were keeping more close to their chest than usual, at least for the time being.
She knew they probably had a good reason for it. The Church wasn’t incompetent by any means, but didn’t make her feel better about the fact that there was a chance she was walking into something more than what she’d prepared for.
On cue with her thoughts, Rin’s head snapped to the sound of a low moan to her left. A few feet away, shuffling and crawling across the ground, pinned under two other bodies was a corpse.
Moving, reanimated. One of the dead. Evidence of a Dead Apostle’s work.
They’d already known one was here, but Rin hadn’t been sure when they’d started feeding and spreading their infection. They’d been careful about it until they’d been in a position to let loose before anyone could do anything about it. The Dead were just a symptom of that, but the fact that a shambling corpse buried under two others told the story of someone that wasn’t being selective or careful about the process any more.
With an annoyed huff, Rin flicked her wrist and a pair of black keys slid along gun metal grey gauntlets, out of her sleeves. With a quick snapping motion she fired the two-foot-long blades and watched as they shot through the air quick whip and buried themselves in the undead things skull.
It stiffened for just second before falling back again, slumped and dead for sure now. She watched a second longer as it’s wound began to smoke, a sign of the holy sacrament infused in the black keys taking affect, before moving on.
Killing a few Dead wasn’t Rin’s idea of doing anything worthwhile, but she knew that if it wasn’t taken care of, then one might slip past. Not just her, but , maybe even the people that were meant to be watching along the edges, and then there would be an even bigger problem. So for now, she’d busy herself with the cleanup work.
It didn’t even take a few minutes waling down that same street to find more of the same. Reanimated corpses stuck or restrained by some manner of thing. Sometimes it was bodies of other people that had been fortunate enough not to have been turned, other times it was fallen debris pinning them down and in one case, a car rammed into a brick wall pinning one to it. It looked as if someone had managed to live a little bit longer and tried to take one down with their car.
It hadn’t worked, the Dead were far harder to kill than what most regular people could manage, and from the way the windshield had been caved in and blood stained the seats, it wasn’t hard to guess what had happened a few seconds later.
Each time, Rin put them down. Methodically and simply. No wasted flair, just a job to be done. Two black keys each time to make sure they were done for good and moving on to the next. One or two manged to pull themselves out of whatever was holding them down when she approached and gave them a target, but they didn’t move anywhere close to fast enough to be a threat to her. She took them out from range, just a few flickers of her wrists. She had plenty of practice to hone her accuracy with her current weapons. Unwieldy as they were, they could be effective in practically any situation once trained with and Rin had a way of always having enough in supply fir when she was brought along on a Hunt.
She out another one down, bringing her count of that street alone up to twenty and watched as the body collapsed and burned into blueish flames at her feet, when she heard something shift behind her.
Blurring as she spun, Rin slid two more keys into the knuckles of each fist and brought them up defensively, ready to lash out the instant she saw anything.
And the girl stumbling over the rubble yelped as waved her hands above her head as she ducked ow.
“Jeez, relax will you, I’m trying not to get impaled if I can help it.”
Rin’s shoulders relaxed and she let out a sigh rolling her eyes and recalling the Black Keys. “For Gods sack, Noel, you should n0 better not to walk up without announcing yourself. I could have hit you.”
“Okay, okay I’m sorry.” The girl grumbled. “I forgot okay, kind of hard to focus on stopping friendly fire with all the blood around here.”
“True.” Rin sighed again, scratching at her arm with an armoured hand as the other girl approached. Noel was a slight girl, an Executor in training like Rin was, but coming from a family without he connection she had. She was a normal girl, brown hair and eyes and always looking like she didn’t quite fit the image most members of the Church had about them, although that could have just been because of the massive axe she swung about that offset her look.
Rin didn’t much care about any of that though. Noel was practically the only girl the same age as her that she knew. The two of them had been friends for years at this point, ever since they’d both been dragged into an abbey and forced to pray along with a bunch of other Sister’s hating it the whole time. Although for Rin’s part, it was because Kirei had thought it was a bright idea to dump her in one for a few days while he went hunting for someone local and she’d ended up saying something snapping to one of the sisters there that they’d taken exception to.
They’d expected the forced bout of prayers to straighten her out a little. Instead they’d only made her more rebellions and netted her a friend that thought said rebellion was cool enough to agree with.
The sisters had been happy to see her go a few days later, which was funny, to see them glare at a twelve year old, and Rin and Noel had kept in contact since. Now, every time they ended up together when Rin was brought along to participate in the Church’s matters, they ended up together.
Rin knew that it was strange, being a Magus and having friends in the Church, but anyone who should have cared tolerated her just fine, so she’d gone along with it just fine.
So yeah, Noel was a friend, one that Rin was glad to see. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be annoyed at the other girl for sneaking up on her.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Rin asked, putting a hand to her hip. “I’m fairly sure this isn’t your area.”
“I didn’t have a lot to deal with where I was.” Noel shrugged. “Heard you were somewhere over this way and came to see if you needed any help. Doesn’t look like it though, you’re done here, right?”
“I am.” Rin huffed before turning to the street corner that led to the next and swiping at the brickwork with a Key. She carved a cross into the stone, marking the area as secure. It would save anyone that crossed back with way some time. “Who were you with though? I can’t imagine you’d have been cleared to wander around the town yourself this early into the Hunt.”
“It’s fine.” She waved odd dismissively. This part of the town in cleaner than most anyway. I’m perfectly safe.”
Rin shot her a look on what she thought of that but gave up with a huff. Noel had enough brains to get out of dodge if a situation did turn bad and complaining about it wasn’t liable to make her think about any mistakes she might have potentially made.
“I got some news too.” noel spoke up, catching Rin’s attention.
“Yeah?”
The other girl nodded, looking suddenly grim. “I heard a count of how many Dead are here, ghouls and otherwise. Somebody said it was close to fifteen thousand.”
Rin didn’t flinch, but it was a close thing, and her face still contorted into something pained. “That’s nearly three quarters of the population. Who could even make a horde that size?”
“You need to ask?” Noel raised a brow and Rin grimaced again.
“A Dead Apostle Ancestor? Here? This close to the Vatican? That’s insane.”
“It’s just what I heard.” The other girl shrugged, failing to act nonchalant as her words tried to make her sound. “A good half of them have been culled already. I think that whoever it was that started this wanted as many bodies in the way as possible because they knew what the response would be. No idea why, and I don’t wanna know.”
“Fair enough.” Rin sighed, running a hand over her headdress. “So what now, are you looking to tag along with me?”
“Thought it would be a good idea.” Noel nodded. “I know you can watch your own back just fine, but I wouldn’t say no to one watching mine.”
Rin scoffed but the slight smile on her face gave way her thoughts and she rolled her eyes. “Fine, just make sure that you-”
Before she could say anything else, a heavy presence washing over them both, grounding down at their insides like it was pushing against their bones. Rin clenched her teeth at the feeling as a warbling sound filled her ears and there was a mighty crashing down to distant south.
Noel groaned, knees wobbling as she dug the haft of her polearm into the ground to keep herself from falling to her knees.
And then the pressure was gone just as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving them gaping form breath. The two girls stared at each other, eyes wide.
Noel opened her mouth, failed to utter a word for a few moments, working it open and closed before she managed anything. “What was that?”
Rin shook her head, she had no idea. Before she could come up with anything, they were interrupted by something else. A sound this time. something far more familiar.
It was the sound of a cathedral bell.
Both of them stiffened for a second longer before they kicked themselves back into gear.
“Higher ground!” Noel said in a rush as she ran to Rin’s side. “We need to see what’s going on.”
“Right.” Rin nodded, and let mana flow through her circuits, strengthening her limbs, her legs most of all. She wrapped an arm around her friend’s waist and the two of them bent their knees. A moment later, Rin jumped and they both went sailing up into the air, straight up two stores to the top of a house, landing steadily on a tiled roof, the ceramics cracking beneath their feet.
Neither of them paid it any attention, hurrying up the inline to get a better look and turning south towards the source of the sound.
And there they saw it.
The sound came from nowhere, they realised, a symbolic affirmation of the existence of the thing in front of them. Something that gave it power and solidify it in the world, but it was all for a reason.
It was in the distance, maybe half a mile to the south, far enough away that they were in no immediate danger, but the sight of it was enough to root them both to the spot.
A ghostly, translucent wall, ten kilometres in diameter, isolating everything inside form the rest of the world. A bounded field of the heights class, the kind that normal humans didn’t have a hope of replicating. It was something both of them recognised. Not that they’d see it in person before, but they’d been told about it from others that had survived the confrontation linking to it before. They’d heard about it, read about it, and now, they were seeing it for real. The Gothic Fortress sometimes called Cathedral by Executors that had dealt with it before. The fact that it was manifested here, now, meant one thing.
“Chromclay Petastucture.” Noel gasped, sounding far less clam than she had just a minute ago. “The twenty second is actually here? Now?!”
“It’s fine.” Rin said in a rush, more for herself than her friend even. “We’re outside the barrier and far enough away that we wouldn’t be in immediate danger if it goes down and something comes out. We’ll be fine and- look!”
She gasped, pining at the see through wall, through it, where she could see shapes moving inside. Not just dark silhouette, but people she could actually make out thanks to her magecraft. People she recognised.
“Riesbyfe is in there, with a whole contingent of Holy Knights, and there’s others too. nearly fifty Executors just form what I can see here, probably more.” She turned to Noel, with a sharp, animated look in her eye. “They don’t look surprised to be cut off in there. They were ready for it. They must have him cornered.”
“Maybe…” Noel bit her lip, shuffling and fidgeting on her feet. “So… what does that mean for us? What do we do?”
To say Rin honestly had no idea would be an understatement.
“We… don’t have anything that could get us I there even if we want to.” She said at length. “And even if we did, I’m positive we’d just get in the way. If they’re fighting the Twenty Second then all we can do is stay here and wait until someone gives other orders. If things go bad in there and Chromclay escapes with…. Then we need to keep an eye out so we can tell others where he went.”
“R-right.” Noel agreed, nodding her head. “So… so can you see what’s going on in there? Through the wall?”
Rin shook her head, frowning painfully as she did. “I only just managed to make out the details of people in there when they were close to the wall. They’ve moved further in now. I can’t even make out… shapes. Just some flashing lights like explosions. The area inside of the Cathedral is big. Big enough that I’ve lost track of them from here. If I moved closer I might be able to get a better look but…”
“No way.” Noel shook her head. “I’m staying away from all of that, thank you very much. I don’t have a death wish.”
“You’re an Executor in training.” Rin stately flatly. “I’m almost positive it’s implied.”
Noel didn’t respond on account of a bright flash of light coming from inside the bounded field and a shockwave that made the windows beneath them shudder coming out form all sides. The two of them remained there, watching from their perch on the rooftop, waiting for something to change.
Al across the tow, Rin spotted others from the Church doing similar things. Those who had cleared their sections of the town had ascended to the rooftops to get a better view of the barrier, aware that whatever was going on inside was where the most important fight was going on.
The rest of them that hadn’t been caught up in it or purposefully managed to be inside when it had gone up were basically on reserve, whatever that would mean when whoever won came out of there.
Eventually, the of them were there long enough that they decided to get comfortable, and sat down on the roof, knees pulled up against their chests as they watched for any sign or hint of what might be happening in there as the minutes turned into an hour, then two, as the moon began to slowly descend from up high.
“What do you think is going on in there.” Noel mumbled. “It’s been going on for long enough, right?”
“I have no idea.” Rin admitted in a low voice. “If Chromclay had one then they barrier would have gone down by now… maybe. I’m think that it’s a battle of attrition in there. There must be groups cycling in and out to keep him pressured. That’s the smart thing to do, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…. Yeah!” Noel nodded rapidly. “You’re right. They must still be fighting in there, cutting off his options and bleeding him over time.”
The assurances felt weak to both of them, but it was all they really had the energy to talk about, as they waited for whatever the outcome would be. They hadn’t yet been called on to deal with the doubtless thousands of dead still remaining in the town. Maybe they were in the barrier, maybe they were hidden away. It was likely that more experienced members of the Church were dealing with it, rather than leave it to two teenagers, obviously, but even so, Rin was very aware that most were paying more attention to the fight going on beyond their reach.
And then, after some more time had passed, the barrier…. Began to fade. Before their eyes, it stuttered and vanished into mist. Everyone knew what that meant. One way or another, the fight had ended. Rin and Noel sat there, holding their breath, waiting for a sign one way or another.
A green flare shot into the air, and they let out sighs of relief.
“Come on.” Rin stood up, brushing the invisible dirt off her habit before offering a hand that Noel took, hoisting her up. “Let’s get back to base camp. We can find out what exactly happened there, and what to do next.”
Noel managed a smile. “Lead the way.”
…
…
Camp, as Rin had spoken of it was a little more literal than she would have liked, all things said and done. The Church couldn’t set up in the town, when it hadn’t been properly secured, and any number of traps or problems could arise, not to mention the risks of drawing the Dead that remained to them when their guards were down
Instead, encampments had been set up all along the outskirts of Suzzara, on inclines and raised foundations that would help them overlook the town, as well as give everyone some much needed space from the bloodshed.
Rin and Noel had their own little camp, a literal campfire with some logs to sit on. Not much, but enough to give them some light and warmth and for the most part, some peace and quiet.
Beside her, Noel was nibbling on some bacon she’d cooked up over the fire, swearing by it that it was good. Rin didn’t believe her, obviously, and wasn’t willing to get sick in the middle of a Dead Apostle Hunt, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t let her friends suffer a little form her own devices.
Noel was good entertainment like that.
Speaking of friends though, it wasn’t long until Rin noticed other’s approaching their little camp, and when she looked up to see who it was, she smiled.
“I was wondering if you were here for this hunt.” She said in ways of greeting. “It’s out of your ways, isn’t it?”
“Considering the location, not as much as you’d think.” Hansa said, shaking his head with a smile, four women that travelled with him on his own missions – that Rin had privately dubbed the Quartet in her own mind – greeting her in turn with little waves of their own. “It would have bene a bad idea to miss something like this.”
“Yeah.” Rin sighed. “I thought I was crazy when I heard. How could any of them be crazy- well, no, they’re all crazy, but how could any of them be stupid enough to try something this close to the Churches main base of power?”
“That might have been why it was done in the first place.” The man shrugged. “Poking and prodding to see how we would react and testing the boundaries.”
Rin gave a snort. “Well if that was the idea then it obviously didn’t’ work out for them.”
“And a good thing too.” A new voice said. “It’s not the sort of provocation we could ever let slide.”
“Riesbyfe!” Rin’s smile grew. “You’re alright then. I was worried when I saw you in the fighting, didn’t get a chance yet to ask around to see if you made it out.” She looked the Knight over. “You… did make it out alright, didn’t you?” The unspoken question of whether or not anyone serving under her had suffered a worse fate wasn’t hard to parse.
Fortunately, returned the question with a smile of her on and shook her head, setting herself down on a free log as Hansa and the other women took another. “We were more than lucky. A few injures, some of them that might mean some of my people will have to hand up their coats, but none dead or infected. The brunt of the fighting was shouldered by others while we acted as support, for the most part.”
“That’s a relief. with what just happened, I’m glad that we get to celebrate this as a win that isn’t pyrrhic. It’s rare when dealing with one of them.” Noel sighed, before she and Rin noticed Riesbyfe’s shadow. A small girl, who couldn’t have even been a teenager, dressed in a small habit of her own, wide eyes and obviously young in more ways that one.
“Ah.” Riesbyfe nodded, noticing their gazes. She set a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Rin, Noel, I’d like to introduce you to one of our newest recruits of note. Her name is Kiara. A new initiate mentoring under Karabo Framton at the moment, I saw her and thought I’d bring her along to meet people a little closer to her age than what she’s usually hanging around.
Before they can ask more about it though, Riesbyfe leaned her elbows on her knees. “I’m glad you all are well too, but Rin, it’s been ages since I’ve seen you, mind catching me up on how you’ve been?”
“I-” Rin waved a hand in front of her face as if to dismiss the question like smoke. “There’s not that much to talk about recently. It’s been pretty boring all things considered.”
“Oh come on.” Hansa laughed. “It’s been literal months since we last spoke to yu. Don’t teenagers have all sorts of drama they like to talk about? What you’ve been up to, what’s changed in the city. Any issues in School, relationships maybe?”
Rin rolled her eyes. “You sound old when you ask questions like that.
Hansa brought a hand to his chest as if he’d been shot, one of the Quartet giggling at his pantomime. “Don’t mean I’m not asking the right questions.” He said after a moment. “Come on, forget about all that Magi secrecy you people practice. Has there been anything going on, anything to complain about.”
“Rin is good at that.” Noel nodded sagely, receiving an elbow in her ribs for the effort from the girl in question.
“Okay, yes, there’s been stuff going on, but nothing major, unless you want to count the fact that I caught Kirei in the middle of another catastrophic financial investment that would have bankrupt me.”
Riesbyfe nodded with an expression that couldn’t be said wasn’t a smile. “Ah yes, that man is almost comically bad with money of any kind.”
“He does it to screw with me, I’m positive of it, we’re all positive of it.” Rin stated flatly. “The fact that I managed to catch him in time before he could do it, again, is something he’d probably wave off as teaching me about bad decisions with money to avoid culpability.”
“Now, now, Rin, Father Kotomine is still an accomplished member of the Church and-”
Hansa stopped when Rin gave him a side eyed look that made it clear he should be very careful about what he said. “But then again being reverent doesn’t transfer into economic knowhow.”
“Yes, exactly.” She responded dryly, before shaking her head. “But seriously, forget about what’s going on with my life for a second, give me a proper introduction to Kiara, will you?”
“U-um…” The little girl didn’t flinch or anything at the attention Rin was giving her, but she fumbled over her words, as if she wasn’t used to speaking up all that often. “Why do you…. Want to… know about me?”
Rin let out a huff, careful not to act overly aggressive towards the girl. It wasn’t her fault for Rin’s scrutiny after all. “I just think it’s a little… strange that you’re out here, is all.” She glanced at the others. A Dead Apostle Hunt isn’t the sort of place that kids your age should be brought along to after all. It’s dangerous at the best of times.”
“That is true, Rin.” Riesbyfe acknowledged, setting her hand on Kiara’s shoulder again and patting it soothingly. Kiara’s a bit of a special case. She’s extremely talented, for one, better than almost anyone I’ve ever seen at her age with the things she can do, and her circumstances for joining were… well it was better she was with us that anyone else.”
“Meaning?”
Riesbyfe glanced at the little girl at her side, who gave a nod so minute Rin nearly missed it. The Knight still hesitated slightly, but eventually she spoke again. “Kiara was… liberated from a cult, hidden away in the mountains.” She said, snapping the two girls’ attention, and those of Hansa and his group, towards her. “They were obsessive in their… ownership of her, and it didn’t help that Kiara was obviously sickly. When it was found what sort of situation it was, the Church members there put a stop to it. More than her circumstances though, she’s got a bright future ahead of herself, if what Cardinal Laurenis has to say is trustworthy enough for you. According to him, she’s practically a modern day prophet.”
Rin didn’t suppress the way her eyebrows raised t that as she looked at Kira was a more discerning eye. “Really? She’s got that much attention on her already?”
“Yes. She’s been an initiate for four months now. Right now, she’s a squire but if she wants it, I’m sure she could be much more.”
“That’s one way to see it.” Rin allowed. “Personally I think you could have let her be something more low key before bringing her along to one of these would have been smarter. Like an altar girl or something.”
“That I can agree with.” Hansa nodded, giving Riesbyfe a significant look. “Not that I’d protest any decision you’d made, ma’am, but it does sound… risky, to have a child along on a Hunt, especially considering who it was this time.”
“Right,” Rin agreed. “I’ve been dragged along by Kirei for a few years now, and this is only my sixth Hunt. Feels like people have got something in mind for her.” She glanced at Kiara again. “Just what is it she can do that makes someone like Laurentis call her something as big as a modern prophet so that everybody hears about it? She must be able to do something big. Right?”
At the question, Kiara managed to finally act out something the way a child would and pouted, glaring heatedly a Rin, for all that a Child lacked intimidation for it to affect the Magus in any way.
“It is important!” She said, not quiet stamping her feet, but talking in a way where it wouldn’t have felt out of place to see her do it. “Mister Cardinal said it was because I was Magus-thing that could use the internet.”
Rin stared at her, baffled.
“The... The internet.” She echoed, not really sure what else she could say. she looked to Riesbyfe slowly, as if to figure out what that could possibly mean. Yes, she wasn’t all that versed in it herself, admitted, almost hilariously bad at using anything more advanced that a VCR set, according to her friends back home, but even if she didn’t have the talent to use it herself she got how it worked, and Rin couldn’t imagine how something like that would be enough for a Cardinal as important as Laurentis to dub a little girl a Prophet in front of his congregation. That was the sort of thing people paid attention to. Not the sort of thing that could just be casually thrown out there.
Riesbyfe must have at least understood some of what she was thinking, because she nodded and answered the silent question. “Yes,” she nodded. “Kiara here as a unique and special talent to spread faith over the internet in a way I can’t really explain to you properly. Honestly, I don’t understand how it works exactly, but it is anything but mundane. When she was found in that cult, they weren’t just obsessed over her, she was the central figure of worship unwilling or not.”
“I… that’s interesting and all, but I don’t see how that’s a massive deal for the church.” She said. “I mean, don’t they already have a department for that growing? With the Internet and all it’s moving parts becoming more attached to how people do things now, I know that getting the word out there is both easier and more important than ever for the church, chances to spread sermons and all that getting bigger, but I don’t see how anyone else couldn’t do that with some training.”
“No Rin, when I say faith, I mean it. Not just talking, or spreading the word, but transmitting actual, tangible faith. Not just words, but the innate feeling of it, empowering peoples already held beliefs and sparking new faiths in others.
Rin eyed Kiara. “And you’re sure that ability isn’t… Parahuman in nature, or something.”
“It isn’t.” The Knight dismissed. “They had people check for that specific thing. Mastering victims would have meant a very different outcome, but the fact that it was magecraft in some innate way makes it a far bigger deal and you know that Mages and Magi can’t be Parahumans.”
“I… yes, I know.” Rin ran a hand through her hair, headdress long removed at this point. “That’s just… wow, I’m not sure what to think of that.”
“I can imagine, but I have seen it at work, and it’s why there are people in the upper ranks that want to make sure she gets the full… education.”
“I suppose they think the risk is worth it then, if she had that sort of potential.” Hansa laughed a little. “I hope you won’t be offended, or that Framton wouldn’t be offended if I say that I’ll be keeping my eye on her to make sure young Kiara is safe for the rest of her time on this Hunt?”
“Of course not, so long as Kiara herself is alright with that.” The Knight said, looking down at the girl holding on to her pant leg.
Kiara shook her head quickly. “It’s fine, I don’t’ mind.”
The Quartet practically cooed at the little girls answer and Rin shook her head. “Oh sure, get all wrapped around her little finger just because she’s cute, not like you were the exact same way with me when we first met. I see how it is, exchanging the old model for the new one.”
“I think you can live with that, Rin,” One of them laughed. “You’re nearly an adult now. You’ll get a different sort of response eventually.”
Noel leaned into her ear, a smirk on her face. “I notice that you called her cute too. Anything you want to say about that, huh?”
“No comment.”
“Ha!”
“Well it’s good to see people in high spirits after all that, I’m glad.”
They all straightened, turning to the new pair that approached the fire. Upon realising who they were, there was a bit of relaxing all around, even still, Rin gave them both respectful nods in greeting. “Bishop Dilo, Miss Ciel, how are you both? I’m hoping it’s doing well, after all of that.”
“Fortunately yes.” The man chuckled. “Hard not to be considering the outcome.”
“True.” Rin hummed, turning to the other girl who looked the same age as her, but who Rin knew was much older. “I heard it was you that went head to head with Chromclay and took on the brunt of the fighting, you git the killing blow too, if I’m not getting my facts mixed up.”
“No, you got it exactly right.” Ciel confirmed, looking pleased over that fact if her smile was anything to go by. “It wasn’t an easy fight by any means, but now that it’s over, I’m glad I was there to take a monster like that down.”
“Far more would have been lost if you hadn’t been” Bishop Dilo said, patting her shoulder. “You have plenty of reason to be proud.
Noel shivered. “I don’t even know how you do it.” She said to the other girl. “It freaked me out just looking at it, the Cathedral I mean, and you were all inside of it. I can’t even imagine what it was like for you, Ciel. You were fighting the thing than made it.”
“It was daunting, yes.” Ciel agreed. “But… well, so long as I have people watching my back, I never have to worry about going down for good against them, and with the fact that none of them have been able to put me down yet means I had to be there making sure others weren’t put at risk. It’s something I’m more than willing to do.”
Noel shook her head, muttering something about crazy women under her breath and Rin pat her back in a comforting manner.
“So what are we supposed to even be doing no then.” Noel eventually asked. “I mean, why are we even here now that the main Vampire is dealt with. I saw a lot of people around, I counted and it has to be at least three hundred. I’m betting there are more I didn’t see on the other side of town, as if half of the Eight Sacrament showed up for this and I can’t even think of why.”
“It is strange.” One of the Quartet spoke up in agreement. “If I’m being honest… with the force brought to bear here, it almost feels like an Inquisition has been formed for something, or an omen for the prelude of a new crusade rather than a Dead Apostle Hunt. I know that this was closer to the Vatican than any have been before but it still feels… worrying.”
Ciel tilt her eyes, eyeing them both for a moment, before she sighed and dipped her head. “I understand how you feel, I was thinking the same way, I’m sure most of the people here are.”
“Do you know anything? Either of you?” Rin couldn’t help but ask.
Dilo and Ciel both shook their head. “No,” the Burial Agent told them after a long minute. “I only know what I’m told, and that’s never much, if I’m being frank. What I’ve been able to gather,” she said, stressing the last word. “Is that a point has been made to make sure that only the people at the top, the leadership, are actually aware of why a reaction like this was seen as necessary. Nobody below has even heard a hint, at least officially. If anyone has managed to pick upon any of the secret details, I haven’t heard yet.”
Rin nodded, understanding what Ciel meant. The Church may have been far more monolithic and loyal to itself and its people than any Magus organisation she knew about, but it was still filled with people, and it was hard to make it so that nobody would be desperately curious enough about a situation like this to try and ferret out a few nuggets of information.
“I’d warn any of you against looking for things you shouldn’t.” Bishop Dilo said, shooting Rin a knowing look that made her flush and duck her head. “I don’t think knowing would be worth the trouble if you upset the important people, now would it?”
“Probably not.” Noel admitted with a sigh, leaning back on the log beneath her and staring up at the stary sky. “Not knowing is gonna drive me crazy though, I just know it.”
“Well, it’s probably a good idea to drop it, just to be safe.” Ciel said seriously, getting a rounds of agreement from everything there.. even if they didn’t all agree, they could understand that getting on the bad side of a Cardinal or whoever had ordered this wasn’t worth the trouble. With that agreed to, Ciel’s expression morphed into a smile “Besides, we have other things we could be talking about, starting with the fact that the reason I came by in the first place was as a little premature congratulations to you Rin, for turning Seventeen soon.”
“Oh yeah!” Hansa blinked, tapping the side of his head and grinning at the girl. “I almost forgot about it, it’s coming up right?”
“Wait, birthday!” Noel shot up, eyes wide, before she realised that Rin was currently beside her and whipped around to face her. “I completely forgot! You didn’t remind me that it was coming up!”
Rin groaned. “It’s not a big deal. “She sighed, waving it off. It’s not even all that soon anyway. There’s still a month before then.”
“A month I won’t get to be there for.” Noel huffed, leaning on Rin’s shoulder as she complained. “It’s so unfair I won’t get to finally go to Fuyuki. I told you I was looking forward to that, right? Finally seeing the place after the last time you talked it up. I wanted to celebrate stuff with you.”
“You don’t need to be in Fuyuki to do that.”
“I mean, she doesn’t.” Riesbyfe agreed. “But part of me can see where she’s coming form, I would have liked to visit to, f only to see the city where Leviathan first- ah” She cut herself off as Rin very minutely flinched at the mention of the Endbringer. “Right, sorry, it’s… probably a bigger deal for you Japanese when talking about them, isn’t it?”
“…Yeah.”
It was more than that, but Rin wasn’t about to go into it. Japan had been hit more than once by the second Endbringer. The monster that had sunk Kyushu. If it wasn’t for the backing the country had, the clans and organisations and all those hundreds of strings being pulled, Rin was almost positive that it could have ruined the entire country all together. As it was, Japan had just barely managed to pull itself back in the five years it had been since Kyushu had been swallowed by the ocean.
Even then, with the economic catastrophe that had threatened to leave Japan in shambles, only prevented by the Public Safety Commission, which at that point had been known as a recently separated branch of the government, had stepped in and salvaged the situation, brining order to what would have been chaos and saving the country form ruin. They’d gained a lot of power from it, basically becoming the de-facto governing body that nobody mentioned as a polite courtesy was practically running Japan now.
At least they were competent and form the looks of it, had the countries interest in mind. They weren’t a tyrannical government and for the past five years at least, had held things together. Rin was honestly holding her breath to see how it would turn out, but so far it had worked.
That didn’t change the fact that for all their successes in the face of a monumental disaster, there were scars now. How could there not be? Nine and a half people dead in less than a day, three million more displaced and even worse than all of that, it was the first bit of land they’d truly lost the fight against the Endbringer’s, and people were afraid now that it wouldn’t be the last of it.
Things like that stuck, and Rin wasn’t exempt form feeling that way, especially when Leviathan had hit her hometown first. She seen the monster that night, when it had first appeared then. Right in the middle of the Grail War.
There were a lot of memories from that two weeks that had forever ingrained themselves in Rin’s mind, some of them good, some of them bad, but Leviathans first ever appearance slotted firmly on the bad side of the scale.
A soft nudge shook her out of her spiralling thoughts and Rin nearly jumped as she turned to Noel, who was giving her a comforting smile, patting her back the way Rin had a few minutes go. “Forget about that stuff, yeah? Let’s not drag everything down by thinking about those things when we could be talking about the fun stuff, yeah?”
“Right.” Rin let out a breath, turning away from the nausea she was feeling. Letting it fade as best she could. “Well if… if you really have to know, int’ not like I didn’t plan on celebrating my birthday when it comes up for real.” She said. “But it’s not like I’m going to make a big deal about it. A few friends I know around home. That’s all.”
“You know we’d come ourselves if we weren’t always being sent off by our bosses.” Riesbyfe offered, to the murmured agreements of Ciel, Hansa and his Quartet. It made sense, considering she’d known them for years at this point, but it was nice to be reminded of the fact that there were people of the Church that genuinely liked her.
Noel nudged her again, huffing good naturedly. “Fine then, if I can’t go to this one then I’ll just deal with it,” She said, before pocking Rin in the chest with one finger. “But don’t think you’re getting out of it that easily. I better get invited to your next one, your eighteenth is a big deal, yeah? When we’re both officially adults!”
Rin couldn’t help it, she let out a little laugh and shook her head. “Fine then, I promise to sent you an invite to it.”
“You better.”
She sighed. “On the condition that you all make sure you can be there for it.” She shot them all a look. “I know that’s easier for some of you than others, but that means all of you staying alive until then. It would ruin the entire thing if one of you was missing from it because of that.”
“Yeah, that would really bring down the mood, I’m thinking.” Hanasa nodded in a agreement before ducking under one of the girls swinging at his head as if to reprimand him. “Come on!” He laughed at the glare he got. “I’m not trying to jinx it, but I find it hard to think up anyone that could kill the likes of Ciel or Riesbyfe here, or even you Rin.”
“Well now you have jinxed it.” she gave him the stink eye. “If something bad happens, I’m blaming you.” She frowned. “Also, I don’t think you can put me in the same sentence as those two when it comes to being strong enough to survive, Hansa.”
“Dunny you should say so.” Bishop Dilo hummed pleasantly. “From what I heard, that’s not too far off the mark.”
Rin blinked, and she wasn’t the only one to turn their attention the old man's way.
“Wait, what? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It must be something.” Riesbyfe eyed him. “I know you well enough that you won’t have just said something like that causally, Father you meant something by it I’m sure.”
“Nothing, nothing.” He shook his head. “It’s just rumours I’ve heard here and there form interested parties, rumours like the fact that I heard from someone that heard from someone higher up that… oh… Miss Tohsaka Rin was… suggested at being a possible future candidate for being a member of the Burial Agency.”
“…”
Huh?
Rin gaped at the idea, even as the others burst into noise at the words.
“You’re kidding!” Noel nearly fell on her face she shot forward so fast. “Rin, a burial agent? She’s a trainee like me!”
Rin nodded her head rapidly. “I can’t think of anything I could have done to have that sort of attention on me.” She said. “I- it’s an honour to be considered for it of course, but I’m nowhere near in the same league as someone like Ciel or the others like her.”
“Of course not.” Dilo assured them all. “I said I heard she was a possible future candidate. It’s agreed that you have the potential to rise to that level, but it’s only meant to make sure that those that would decide such things will pay attention to your growth from here on out.”
“That-” Rin struggled for the words, even if she did relax a little but at the fact that she was currently being recruited into a group as dangerous as that, “That still doesn’t explain why they have an eye on me in the first place. I’m not going to downplay that I’m good enough at what I can do, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near the type of thing that would make people pay attention.”
“You’re being way too hard on yourself.” Ciel cut her off with a scoff. “I’d heard about it too, and I’m sure the rest of the Burial Agents have too at least in part. Bishop Dilo is right that it’s just talk right now and not much of it at that, but I can see where it came from.”
“What?”
The immortal woman rolled her eyes and shot Rin a stern look. “If you were accepted even for candidacy for the position it would still be years off. Maybe even decades, but people that pay attention are aware of your potential, where you are now.
“And besides,” She went on, eyeing Rin with a particular sort of intensity now. “It’s not as if the recommendations came from nowhere. You have particular strengths beyond what you should even with Magecraft. Stronger, faster, tougher than you should be, even if I know you’re rarely in the position to display it.”
Rin suppressed a twitch at that, though for what reason, Ciel couldn’t say. It wasn’t important though, as she pressed on. “Let’s not forget that of the Hunt’s you have been on, none of them were insignificant. I remember someone mentioning that you were instrumental in the killing of Einnashe two years ago.”
“All I did was offer a few ideas.” Rin protested. “Figuring out how to stall that things regeneration might have been me, but I wasn’t involved I the actual fighting, if you remember.”
“Still, it was important, and don’t think I haven’t seen you fight myself. You have talent, and Father Kotomine hasn’t slacked in building upon that with skill. People notice things like that. The fact that you are a Magus that has lent your skills to the Church is just one more positive mark on your ledger.”
“You do remember that I’m not an official member, don’t you?” Rin sighed in frustration, palming her eyelids. “I remember well enough how many comments were made behind my back when people didn’t’ think I was listening. The insults like Heretic are the kind that stick.”
“Not any more, you’ve done enough to prove that.” Ciel shook her head. “And even if they were an issue then, they aren’t now. Not with the good words put in certain people.”
“Oh yeah? Like who?”
“Merem and Cardinal Noi, for instance.”
Rin had no idea what to say to that, and so she just groaned, letting her head all into her hands. Usually, compliments like that, the sort of prestige it would give would have shot up her mood into the stratosphere, but she knew better than that when it came to the Church. She wasn’t really one of them. Not in the way the people around her were. She was a Magus, first and foremost, and that was what she intended to be.
And she knew that as a Magus, having the sort of attention that people like that brought with them wasn’t dangerous. The sort of danger and risk that she really didn’t want right now, or ever if she could help it.
She couldn’t even imagine why they were making it such a big deal. Rin wasn’t someone with a massive heap of humility within her, she knew that she had talent and was proud of the work ethic she had that turned that into ability, but this? This was more than that.
The fact that Rin did have an inkling on why they’d noticed her in the first place just made it all the more intimidating.
She said as much to them then, and Dilo nodded in agreement. “Yes… you are… well, all of your hard work is what kept their attention on you, but it doesn’t change the fact that the reason they looked into a girl like you amongst the hundreds of others in the ranks of the Eighth Sacrament was your history. The fact that you made contact with the Saint of the Risen when you were a child isn’t something to be ignored.” He gave her a searching look, raised eyebrow and all. “The fact that there are still rumours that she gave you a task to complete in secret was more than enough to draw the attention of the higher up.”
Kiria gasped, wide eyes as she stared at Rin. “You mean you-… you meant the Great Saint V-”
“Now, now.” Dilo stopped her. “We don’t say her name aloud. It was a point made by her in fact; that we shouldn’t spread her name so causally, at least while she is not around to have a say so in it. There are consequences to that.”
The little girl didn’t flinch, but she did look down at her shoes at the light chastisement. “R-right, sorry.”
“It is fine child, just something to remember for next time.” He assured her, before looking back to Rin. “As I was saying, that sort of thing makes people pay attention, even if it feels like you have made it a point to dissuade people otherwise.”
“I haven’t.” Rin said stiffly. “But it was a private request. Spilling that to anyone isn’t my idea of keeping with what I’m supposed to do.”
“Fortunately, others agree.” Dilo dipped his head. “And it is because of that dedication, when you could have used it to further yourself with whatever she asked of you, that you hold respect you might not otherwise. Your dedication to it, and to your craft as a Magus even while fighting alongside us, is what makes it easier to overlook the fact that the same devotion is not something you spared for the ideologies of the faith.”
“That’s saying it lightly.” Noel snarked and drew chuckled from the likes of Riesbyfe and Hansa. Ciel and the Quartet shook their heads exasperatedly but Kiara just looked confused at the comment.
“What… does that mean?” She asked in a quiet voice. “Is Sister Rin not one of the faithful.”
“Oh boy.” Noel sighed. “She had to ask and get into that rabbit hole.”
Rin glared her way for a second, before huffing as Noel ignored her and gave Kiara a shrug.
“Listen, something you should know about Rin here is that she’s pretty much the opposite of religious.”
In response to that remark in the presence of the iteral fighting force of the Church, Rin shoved Noel off the log, drawing a startled squawk from the other girl as she fell sideways into the dirt.
“Rin’s situation is more complicated than usual.” Dilo explained for Kiara’s sake. “Being a practising Magus in both efforts and ethics would mean that usually, Rin would be at odds with the Church, tolerated at best and hunted down at worse, however due to her personal background things are different for her. Not just her connections to the aforementioned Great Saint, but as a girl that received tutelage from an Executor of the Church for nearly ten years at this point. That, combined with the fact that Rin has participated in the Church’s Hunts and other such tasks has garnered her plenty of favour.”
“You make it sound like if it wasn’t for those things I’d be hopeless.” Rin huffed, before looking at Kiara to add her own voice to the conversation proper. “Despite what they might be making it sound like, I’m some contrarian atheist that got tangled up in the Church’s business by chance.”
“I’ve seen enough proof of the biblical variety that even if I was a sceptic, it wouldn’t be worth the effort to try and hold on to that sort of thinking. I’m not, to be clear. I’ve seen Demons already when I was younger than you. It’s just that… praying and going to church isn’t something I do for my own reasons I believe in more than just the Abrahamic God, and excluding worship to just them wouldn’t make any sense that way.”
“Besides,” Rin frowned to herself. “The few times I’ve tried worshipping the Christian God just made me feel… weird.”
“So yeah, she’s got a thing if you couldn’t tell.” Noel cut in. “She says all that as an excuse, but I think she’d just make a bad Christian.”
“Is that right?” Rin scoffed. “Well out of the two of us, at least I was blessed will a body that doesn’t need a magical crutch to swing an axe right without falling over on my face.”
“Wha- Hey!” Noel squawked again at jab and the girls distress drew light laughs from the others. It at least gives Rin a moment to roll her eyes at her friend’s complaints but it’s fine, considering Kiara is giggling along at Noels overplayed antics now.
And be glad that she doesn’t have to talk about that sort of thing any more. She really didn’t want to have to explain to the girl in detail how when she did get roped into praying by Kerie or someone else, it always left her feeling sluggish afterwards. Like she’s just done something uncomfortable. Rin had no idea what it happened but it made her think that praying to one god or another wasn’t something she should be doing.
If she had a reason for it, it would have made her feel better, but she knew that no everybody got what they wanted all the time.
“Oh, by the way, Hansa.” Rin spoke up suddenly, remembering something. “I wanted to ask if you could do me a favour as our resident expert of cybernetics.”
“Well we both know I’m not an expert on anything like that, but I get what you mean, sure, what is it you needed form me?” He asked easily.
As an answer, Rin pulled up her sleaved and showed off what was underneath. A pair of segmented plate, gunmetal grey gauntlets that covered from her fingertips all the way up to her biceps; Rin’s own personal Ashlock.
They were a mostly conceptual weapon, in purpose, standard equipment that she’d bene given before she’d gotten a handle on how to wield Black Keys with any sort of skill but when she had learned what she’d needed to, instead of discarding them, Rin had opted instead to give them another use.
As such, they were modified and remade into something that wasn’t just a weapon in and of itself, but something that could act as armour, protection and an addition to her arsenal.
Rin’s Ashlock gauntlets stored a plethora of Black Keys, more than she would have ever bene able to reasonably hold on her person without them. They were stored on the insides of the arms, between the layers of consecrated steel plate segments and upon her intentions and a slight pulse of Od, would slide out and fit right into the spaced between her fingers to hold. That on it’s on would have been useful but Rin had gone a step further with the help of a friend:
The idea of storing her gems in the gauntlet hadn’t been her own idea, but she’d utilised it all the same with an incredible effectiveness so that if she wanted, she could use them like a sort of fuel to imbue individual black keys with the effects that her jewels would have had if she was using them instead. Flames, Barriers, increased cutting and penetrative power, additional momentum and speed or even explosive detonations. All she needed to do was insert the necessary gemstone and cycle them as needed.
It was a weapon of Rin’s own hard work and genius. Noel had her axe, she had her gauntlets.
The only downside was that they were complicated pieces of machinery, the kind that needed maintenance from someone that knew what they were doing. They weren’t black boxed or anything like Tinker tech, but it wasn’t something any engineer or handyman could manage on their own and Rin herself usually needed a little help when it came to fixing any issues that came with regular use.
Hansa had a talent of his own that let him do all that by himself, as was obvious by the fact that he sported his own magical cybernetic arm that he used to great effect.
Which was why he nodded as if it were not big deal, and when Rin equipment and handed them over, he got to work quickly, happy to help, if the affable grin on his face was anything to go by.
“So then,” Bishop Dil clapped his hands, getting comfortable in his own sitting spot he’d acquired in the midst of conversation. “I have seen plenty of recognisable faces these past few days, what about the rest of you? Have you seen anyone you know? Caught up with any old friends?”
Riesbyfe hummed, looking to the sky for a moment “I haven’t spoken to them yet, but I think I did catch sight of sister Ilumina earlier, and Sister Yuika. They were both women I’ve been in Hunts with before now, a few other people as well. But things have been so busy that I haven’t had the chance to say anything to them, or even wave hello.”
“Well then I suggest you make sure you do soon.” Dilo smiled at her. “It might be a while that you are separated again after this Hunt concludes.”
“How much longer is it going on anyway?” Rin decided to ask. “Now that the Chromclay is dead and all I mean?”
“It will probably be one more day.” Ciel said. “I know I usually only takes hours for the Church to score the place for any lingering infections, but with the severity of just who it was caused this, not to mention the proximity to Rome, I think they want to be thorough. It will probably be several teams sweeping through already cleared areas.”
“With that said, I think that’s as good a cue as any.” Dilo chuckled, looking to Rin and Noel. “I think it would be good now if you girls got some proper rest. It would be good to remain sharp tomorrow, just to make sure that nothing terrible happened by mistake.”
“Got it!” Noel cheered, more than happy to take the chance to sleep when offered. Rin rolled her eyes but smiled at the other girl and soon enough, after Hansa was finished with his repairs and she’d given everyone a goodbye for the night, turned in as well to the tent they’d decided to share for the Hunt.
They did their best to get some rest as told to, they knew that they might just need it.
…
…
Northern Italy. Lombardy Region. Suzzara. Former Population estimate, 21,000 residents. New population estimate, 2000 residents awaiting relocation.
January 4th 2004.
3rd day of the Apostle Hunt.
The guess that they’d been on cleanup duty was more or less correct, the next day.
Though Rin knew that officially there might have been other names for it, maybe something like ‘search and destroy’ but at the end of the day, going from street to street and picking ff the remnants of what the Dead Apostle Ancestor had left behind was pretty much exactly that.
If course, that didn’t mean it was peaceful or easy, not at all, especially not when on the third day of the Hunt, several hidden nests were uncovered through the city where they had been buried and hidden underground.
What it meant, was that Rin, accompanied by Noel, Hansa ad his Quartet after they’d agreed to the other night, were fighting through scores of the Dead as they made their way through the town.
Their main objective right now was to meet up with the other teams at the designated centre point where Riesbyfe’s contingent of Vestel shield knights were stations to give everyone a chance to recuperate.
That was for later though. In the present, they had their hands full, and not just with the regular dead, but a few that stuck out.
Rin’s eyes were narrows in concentration as she flipped over a corpse that tried to make a grab at her, severing its head with a Key in the same movement and firing the other two in her hand at the closest others. Cutting through them by rote wasn’t difficult, but what made it worrisome was the sake that most of her attention wasn’t on them, but at more dangerous Dead amongst them. Ghouls and Nightkin used the hordes as meat shields, diving in and out of glancing combat with Rin and the others, never fully committing and more than willing to spend the Dead as pawns to get into better position or save themselves.
They fact that they were here was surprising enough, and the fact that they had some rudimentary command over the clearly recently made lesser dead was irritating and bad enough, but the fact that they’d set upon the Church fighters as if they’d readied an ambush was what really sealed the deal.
“There’s something else going on here.” She hissed, sidestepping a Ghoul as it lunged for her and bisecting it at the waist as it passed. She spun in the same motion, her Black Kyes glowing red as she threw them in a wide spread in front of her. They spun in the air like sawblades and cleaved through a dozen Dead that had been bunched together, their twice dead bodied lighting on fire as they fell.
“You’re right, they’re far more coordinated than they should be.” Hansa admitted, eyeing another bunch of Dead shambling through a destroyed wall. “It’s like they’re being funnelled towards us, and if I’m hearing things right in the radio channels, other squads are facing something similar.”
“Losses?”
“Not many yet, groups started being reinforced the moment the word got out that things were more complicated than just mowing down the stragglers.”
Rin gave a grunt. “How likely are we to get any reinforcements to help us out.”
“I know that’s a jab at our supposed luck, but we do have some help on the way.” Hansa said, smashing his fist through the head of a Nightkin as he spoke and throwing the body into four others, knocking them down so that the other women could stab at their downed forms and finish them off without risk. “I got a message a minute or so ago. They should be at the other end of this street, where it opens up into a market place.”
“Then let’s hurry this up!” Noel yelled from their left. Her clothes were soaked in blood now, and she panted heavily as she buried her axe in a corpse's head, slitting it in two from head to groin. “I’ve had enough of this already, thank you very much.
None of them disagreed and they pushed ahead, fighting their way through more of the Dead, what must have been sixty, seventy of them before they made it to what used to be a market stall. Like Hansa had said, the street ended and opened up into a larger area that looked like it might have been an attempt at a plaza at one point. The details of that weren’t important to Rin though.
What was important, was the hundred or so Dead that littered the ground, and at their centre, a large man standing over a corpse impaled in an iron spear.
Rin recognised the man; Karabo Framton. She knew of the man, rather than having been acquainted to him personally, but even that was enough to know that he was a man that was good at his job. The fact that he’d been a member of the Either Sacrament for over five decades would have been proof enough on its own, but Rin had looked into the man when she’d heard that he possessed jewel-class mystic eyes.
That was the sort of thing you couldn’t ignore without a good reason to, and the fact that Framton was a man that regularly interacted with Magi without killing them on the spot just made him more of a subject of interest. How good he was at fighting, Rin didn’t know, she didn’t even quite understand how his eyes worked, or whatever kind of magecraft he could utilise was effective but judging by the swath of dead around him it was clearly effective.
The old man saw them approach and greeted them with a nod, flicking a black key into the still body of the impaled thing in front of him. She might have given her own greeting in return if only to be cordial, but upon getting close enough to see it properly, Rin’s eyes narrowed at it.
“That’s a Dead Apostle.” She stated, a prickling sensation on her neck.
“It is.” He said. “An inferior strain; weak and juvenile compared to those properly matured monsters, but a Dead Apostle all the same.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Rin glared at the corpse. “A Dead Ancestor wouldn’t causally create ones like this when they could end up as competition for it, and Chromclay never hinted that it was trying to sire an offspring or find an apprentice. Either this is a break from form before his death, or this one came to this town on its own.”
“Indeed, I suspect it was the latter.” Karabo said. “I killed another like it an hour ago, further north of here. From what I have gathered, I am not the only one.
That… didn’t sit well with Rin, and for good reason. The Dead were one thing. Expecting casualties and symptoms of a Dead Apostle arriving in a civilian population, but it was rare for the creatures to ever work together with someone close to their level. Dead Apostles were frequently seen clashing with one another for spoils.
It was just how they operated; greedy, selfish and vicious on a good day. That sort of personality never did well for alliances or cooperation, Dead Apostles were almost like solitary animals in that way. They had to be when they were forced to compete for resources and food… unless they served directly under one of the big names. Under the Twenty Seven, as they called themselves despite not having the numbers to completely fill those ranks for a long time now.
It might have made sense to think that these Dead Apostles were serving Chromclay then, except it didn’t fit the Ancestors profile. They had been a loner. Dangerous and powerful yes, but not the kind that trusted subordinates to serve faithfully. They had been the kind to suspect betrayal, and for good reason.
So this, this didn’t make sense.
Rin said as much to Karabo then, and he agreed.
“I suspect there is more to this than we’ll be able to understand here and now.” He said. “For the moment, I think it would be best of we made our way to the designation point. I have cleared the area I was meant to be inspecting and judging by the fact that you are here, you all have done the same.”
“We have,” Hansa said. “The place is cleared out, as far as we can tell.”
“Then let us go to the designation point. I for one would like to know if anyone else has the answers to just what exactly is going on here.”
The others agreed and soon enough they fell into step beside him as they made their way to the main plaza, cutting down a few more Dead that crossed their paths until they made it there.
They aren’t the only ones there when they arrive: several squads of Executors, Exorcist, Templars and Chivalric Orders were already there. There must have been over two hundred people just in one spot, ready for any orders that came their way so that they could reengage in the Hunt.
Even so, it didn’t take Rin too long to locate Riesbyfe and her knights when she tried searching form them in one corner of the plaza. The knight commander was busy talking to someone, but upon catching Rin’s eye, there was a flash of relief on her face and she waved her over. Rin definitely didn’t have an issue having someone she knew nearby and a quick look at the others affirmed their agreement and they made their way over.
“Father Framton.” Riesbyfe greeted as they approached. “It’s good to see you, I hadn’t realised you had linked up with another squad.”
“Just near the end ma’am.” Karabo answered respectfully. “We met up right as I was… dealing with a particularly irritating individual. I thought it best it I accompanied them here instead of wandering off on my own looking for more trouble.”
Riesbyfe raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t press him on his delivery. She shrugged instead and looked their way. “Good to see you so soon again, and good to know that you all managed fine. Judging from all the blood stains, I’d say you were busy.”
“Very.” Rin sighed, making Riesbyfe’s lips curl up at the edges for a second before she schooled herself and nodded seriously.
“Well then, I’d say you put in the work. Before I go on any further though, I should introduce this one.” She said, gesturing to the man beside her. “This is Sancraid Phahn, a Heretic Hunter that wanted to talk with me about questions of how exactly so many Dead Apostles slipped through and take this town under the Vatican’s watch.”
“Really?” Rin asked, interested in whatever it was they thought was going on here. “Any headway there?”
The man twitched as her attention turned to him and for a good few seconds, he was silent, simply staring at her, to the point where Rin had to suppress the frown that threatened to spread across her face. There was… something else there. Like a weight on her spine from that look he gave. Something hostile and barbed to it. It didn’t take someone with all that much brains to figure out that this man didn’t like her, and from the shuffling from her side, Rin wasn’t the only one to figure that out.
Riesbyfe didn’t have need to hide her own frown at the attitude Sancraid was displaying and let hers show freely. She sighed after another moment.
“Well, I suppose certain things are on a need to know basis, even if I doubt it’s something that should be hidden from any of you. Never mind that now, while you’re here, it would probably make it easier if you told me how things went on your end. So, report.”
Noel straightened up. “Things went about how we expected for the most part, Ma’am.” She began and went on to describe in detail the timeline of events, from their excursion through their designated points to their run in with high classes of Dead and meeting Karabo at the end, as well as the Dead Apostle that had been killed by the man.
By the end of it, Riesbyfe wearing a serious look. “Yes, that sounds like it corroborates what several other squads have dealt with. They’ve been reporting the same thing,” She said for their benefit when Rin raised a brow. “More than a dozen other squads have had to kill their own Dead Apostles, though none of them seem to have bene at the level to cause a panic just yet. If I had to guess, I would suspect that they were all created here..”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t like it though. I haven’t figured out yet how Chromclay was able to feed on so many discreetly and drain enough blood in order to distribute the infection this quickly, and to this level. I could understand if the entire town was populated by tens of thousands of Dead, as tragic as it would be, it would at least be a viable option that I could undertint him taking, but new Dead Apostles still take time to gestate, time that Chromclay didn’t have.”
“I wouldn’t get strung up too much by the how.” Rin shook her head. “People whose job it is to figure that stuff how probably already have a few guesses by now that we’ll hear about eventually. I’m more worried about the why more than anything.”
Noel tilt her head. “What do you mean? It shouldn’t be obvious why.”
“Other than to drink blood and feed I mean.” Rin sighed and Noel paused, pursing her lips in a way that prompted Rin to explain herself.
“We already figured that this was supposedly a break in character for Chromclay, and right before his death too. Say what you will about him being a monster, he didn’t get this far by being stupid. So what could have possibly made him want to build up an army like this in the first place, because to me, that’s what it looks like. Dead as foot soldiers, Nightkin as officers and Dead Apostles serving directly under him to coordinate a larger force.”
“An army.” Riesbyfe uttered, vice low in a horrified sense.
“It’s my best guess.” Rin nodded. “And if I’m right, then it’s not just a break for Chromclay, but for every Dead Ancestor. We’ve never seen them try to make a real army of the dead, and we all know that any one of them could if they were careful and decreet about it, so that just brings up another question; why did he do all this so quickly, in a way that obviously would have drawn attention to him? Again, we know he wasn’t an idiot, but who would be insane enough to make him want to build one practically in the Church’s front garden?”
“…You’re right.” Riesbyfe said, looking grim. “It paints a picture I’m not sure I want to think about, but if even a tenth of what you’ve thought up is anywhere near correct, then it needs to be looked at.” She ran a hand through her hair, sighing. “I’ll bring it up with my superiors to see if they have any answers the moment this Hunt is over with.”
Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and all eyes turned north to the sky, where a white flare burning in the night.
“That’s the call for departing the town.” Riesbyfe announced in a lid voice so that those nearby could hear, as others of a similar position of leadership around the plaza called out similar instruction. “Take an inventory of yourself and prepare to leave!”
The order went out and soon it was a quiet hurry of movement from Rin and the others alongside everyone else as they tried though one of them paths most cleared out, straight south and out of town. Rin knew this part of the procedure well enough. There would be one last inspection of the area by a specialised team and then any remnants of the Dead Apostle and their spawn would be purged from it. After that, she could make a guess that there would be some talks about what would happen to the town, but Rin expected the place to be condemned and raised, the survivors relocated somewhere else after a thorough examination to make sure they weren’t themselves Dead Apostles trying to sneak away.
She couldn’t say it was the wrong choice. With how much damage had been done here, she would expect, let alone want this place to be salvageable. Too many chances that something could go wrong or that something might have been left behind as a nasty surprise. the only question was what would happen next?
The Church couldn’t let something as blatant as this stand without retaliation, but as to how they’d go about doing that, Rin had no idea. They already Hunted Dead Apostles with a fervour, so not much would change on that end.
Whatever the case, Church Politics wasn’t business she wanted to be included in.
Eventually, they made it back out of the town and to the main encampment, where each of them were checked for their own injuries or signs of infection and the end of the Hunt arrived.
Riesbyfe let out a breath, turning to Rin’s group with a determined smile. “This is where I need to leave you for now. I need to give my own report. Despite the terrible circumstances, it was good to see you all well. Hopefully the next time is soon, and without the bloody work included.”
“That being said it think I shall depart as well, there is much that needs to be done, I think.” Karabo said, bowing his head at them. “Our meeting was short, but I wish you all well all the same.”
“I think it should follow that.” Hansa nodded. “I think I’d like to go back to pain for a while and see where I can be of service there for a while. Hopefully there will be far less in the ways of spilling blood for a while.”
“Perhaps I will visit myself then.” The old man said. “I would like to see the sort of fellow Dilo Cervantes raised himself.”
“Ha! Well I’ll try not to disappoint then.”
Hansa smiled, sending a nod Rin and Noel before he turned away and left with the other women, Karabo following suite.
Riesbyfe pat Rin’s shoulder with one hand as she passed by her. “Keep well, Rin, perhaps I’ll see you soon.”
“You as well.” She said. “Try not to get yourself into anything so deadly you can’t get yourself out of in the meantime.”
The woman chuckled and waved as she left, leaving only the trio of them, Rin, Noel and the Heretic Hunter.
Rin took a breath, let it out and kept her voice purposefully flat as she affected a causal demeanour.
“So,” Rin said, turning to Sancraid. “What exactly is your problem with me?”
“Huh?” Noel blinked, looking between them in confusion. “Wait, what’s going on now?”
“Curious.” The man hummed. “Now whatever could make you think something like that of my intentions?”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Please, I’m a Magus, do you really think I don’t know how to sense hostility when it’s directed my way? Something about me clearly disgusts you, so why don’t you just say it.”
There was a long moment, where the two of them stared at one another. Rin held her stare, unmoving, until the Hunter’s placid smile fell into a sneer.
“Of course, as a Magus you would be well used to any form of deception and false humanity, wouldn’t you?”
Beside her, Noel fell back a step, wide eyed. Rin remained where she was.
“But as unfortunate as your association with Magi is, I could have tolerated that albeit begrudgingly. There are some Magi that have seen the righteous path before, but you? You are worse still. A little girl with ill conceived notions of self importance! Speaking out of turn, talking the lead when one such as you has no right to. The fact that you believed you could speak as equals to those around you is hubris of the highest order!”
Rin scoffed. “I’m well within my perve to give my thoughts to people willing to listen, thank you very much. The fact that it upsets you has nothing to do with me.”
“Even now, the arrogance to speak to your betters in such a way!” He grit his teeth, pointing at her as if to threaten her. “Do not mistake your place girl. You are not an Executor yet, merely an initiate. A child training to be one with no right to the title to begin with when you so blatantly show off your allegiances to Magi kind!”
His lips curled into something nasty looking.
“Though in a way perhaps that is apt. The likes of a snake suit Asians like you well. Who wouldn’t expect treachery and disloyalty from your blood.”
Rin stared at him, the outright racism actually taking her aback for a moment. It was said so confidently that she had no idea if she should be upset or offended or laugh in his face just to piss him off more. Scratch that, a part of her wanted to regret the words. She knew she could do it. She could kill him before he’d even know what was happening and even if he was fast enough to react, it wouldn’t have mattered. She could obliterate him without breaking a sweat, of that she was sure.
But as open as his bigotry was, murder of another remember of the Church, no matter how justified Rin would have considered it, would have been a terrible idea. The fact that Noel is looking at Rin with a worried expression proved that. There was concern for her there, worried what Sancraid was saying, but Rin could tell that Noel is more worried about what Rin might do in retaliation and what would happen as a result.
The thought tempers Rin’s anger into a cold fury that she managed to grasp tight and control. The knowledge that she could hurt this man actually made her feel better as she resolved to let him sneer and insult her.
The words are pointless, she knew, things that she can let wash over her and forget about when the man is out of sight. So she stood there and took it, letting Sancraid ramble and spew vitriol that he probably thought was sinking in until the words grew dull in her ears.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get much longer to do so, not when a figure appeared from aside, hands folded behind their back and a blank smile on their face to match their eyes.
And the moment the Heretic Hunter noticed the man, he went silent, and his already chalk white face goes an even more pallid colour.
“Sancraid Phahn, I’d ask you not to insult my apprentice.” Kotomine Kirei said, like he was talking about the weather. “I would think it bad form to bring up all the ways you believe she is a detriment to the church.”
He didn’t tilt his head, that sort of expressiveness was absent for Kirei, but the way his eyelids crinkled might as well have been the same thing. “Although, if you would like to prove your claims of such deficiencies, I would welcome you to see for yourself just how well Rin has been trained. A demonstration would be in order, against her, or if you wish to see for yourself how her education is performed, against her teacher directly.”
Rin didn’t even try to deny the thrill of spiteful amusement and vindication that flowed through her as Sancraid didn’t even try to respond and hurriedly scurried away like a rat, glaring at Rin as he did so.
She answered his look with a grin she was sure he’d seethe over for days.
“Don’t be smug.” Kirei chastised as he stood beside her. “It makes you seem petty.”
She snort and rolled her eyes. “You would know all about that, wouldn’t you?”
She turned to Noel before he answered. “You should probably get going, your own mentor is probably looking for you by now. It would be a bad idea to get lost here unless you wanted to book a plane ticket home for yourself.”
“Y-yeah.” Noel swallowed, looking down at her feet and shuffling on the spot. “I um… right. Rin I’m… sorry that I didn’t stick up for you just then. I should have.”
Rin waved her off and shook her head. “Don’t be; we’re both apprentices. If he was fine talking down to me like that he would have done the same to you, maybe caused more problems if he thought he could actually do something to you. Trying to argue wouldn’t’ have made things better and I wouldn’t want you getting into trouble for it in the first place.”
The other girls’ shoulders sagged in what must have been relief and she bobbed her head. “Right... right, thanks. I’ll… I’ll get going then. I talk to you sometime later Rin, I’ll try to meet up with you sooner than it took since last time.”
“Good.” Rin smiled and gave her friend a wave as Noel scampered off to look for the one she’d come here with, leaving Rin and Kirei alone at last.
“Such a strange girl.” He noted. “You would think that with her history, she would have a more intense fire within her, but every time I see her I’m reminded that some people don’t have it in them to fight with certainty.”
“Stop criticising my friends’ motivations.” Rin sighed, turning away from where Noel had left and walking on. Her guardian walked in tandem to her, as they made their way through the camp to where many were being led and directed to transport. It was as good a sign as any that the proper Hunt was officially over.
“Some will stay behind.” Kirie confirmed when she said so. “I suspect they will want to monitor this situation in particular, and burn anything that might have been left behind. Something of this size threatens a breach of secrecy if not managed properly.
Rin hummed as they made their way back to Kirei’s own transport. They hadn’t come along with a lot of the other Executors considering they were from out of the country. Her teacher had opted to hire a car instead. A little hatchback silver Ford Fiesta, which Kirei knew Rin hated.
From there, Rin knew they’d take the car back to the hotel rooms Kerie had rented until their plane was ready that next morning and Rin didn’t have to pretend that she was looking forward to being home. That was for later though, as they got into the car, Rin slumped back into her seat and sighed.
“So,” she began. “What’s the official result of the Hunt? There were a few things that weren’t adding up, and I wasn’t the only one to see it. I know plenty of people were wondering why a Dead Apostle Ancestor thought it was a good idea to start something like this so close to Rome and the Vatican.”
She eyes him darkly. “An attack like this is just too brazen and I know you somehow found out more than you should know. So spill.”
“There is such a thing as being too nosy in matters like that, Rin.” He drawled, not looking away from the road as he started driving. “You might find out things you don’t want to know, or that other people don’t want you to know.”
“And you’ve cared about that since when exactly?” Rin scoffed.
“True enough.” Kotomine acknowledged. “Fine then, if you really want to know, I may have managed to glean things I was not meant to find out about with a little bit of… subterfuge. Mixed of course, with the fact that it’s very easy to act like you belong somewhere you know you don’t so long as you don’t act affected by anything.”
“Get on with it.” Rin groused.
He sighed. “Fine, if you really want to cut to the chase then here it is: The Church is preparing for an upcoming crisis within the next few decades, or even few years, because Altrouge Brunestud and Trhvmn Ortenrosse were reported to have been in contact with one another.”
“WHAT!?”
Rin shot up straight in her seat, eyes wide and face rapidly paling as her head snapped to stare at him. “But that- they’re on- Please tell me you’re screwing with me Kirei.”
“I am not.” His lips curled down. Despite his usual apathetic attitude, even he could acknowledge what such a thing might lead to. “The reasons for it are not known yet, as far as I can tell, but the respective self-proclaimed King and Princess of the Dead Apostles met not in Suzzara itself, but somewhere close by.”
Kirei shook his head. “I suspect many were worried this might become another French Incident, and from the body count here, it might be in some ways, but there are a few that suspect that Chromclay’s actions here can be explained by the idea that he was tasked with drawing agents of the Church away from their meeting by acting as a more immediate threat. Or, perhaps this was some sort of power grab by the twenty-second if he believed that whatever meeting those two could have would end with one or both of them dead or injured enough to give him an opening. Neither option has been fully closed off as of yet.”
“As of now however, the two of them have parted ways.” Kirei said. “They left for their meeting place on the mid-day of the second day of the Apostle Hunt. Whatever it was they discussed, or whether or not they got what they wanted from the talk is unknown, but considering there have been no reports of catastrophic death tolls across Italy, it is safe to assume they were at least satisfied with their discussion. Something that I’m sure you’ll agree is bad for everyone else.”
“Altrouge and Trhvnm were close by.” Rin muttered to herself in a gaze. “They were in the same country at the same time as me, and I’m somehow not dead.”
She put a hand over her eyes, as if trying to pretend she hadn’t heard what she’d heard. Like she could act like nothing had happened. Evidently, it didn’t work, because she sagged, falling back into her seat and staring up at the roof.
“So nobody knows what two of the most powerful, dangerous people on the planet were doing less than a hundred miles from the Vatican, or what made them decide to put their personal war on hold long enough to talk about something?”
“Unfortunately, no.” The priest shook his head. “All the Church has is what they think happened. Suspicious and suspect whispers from a handful of those that managed to sense the two and got an idea of what was happening while everything else was going on. The best guess is that whatever it was the King and Princess vampires spoke about, there were some agreements some disagreements and a resolution. From what I heard, there is a suspicion that the two of them agreed to speak more at a later date as well.”
“That means is something collaborative.” Rin swallowed. “And that it’s something they plan on actively taking part in.”
“Yes, and if that is the case, then it is something they are not content to wait around to happen on its own. It is something that they are working to carry out, whatever it is. though considering the longevity of their kind, ‘soon’ is a relative term, this the Church don’t know if whatever it is they want is something they believe will occur in the span of a single human lifetime or three.” He shrugged. “Someone will probably call for Merem to eventually give his perspective on matters, but I doubt he will have much to go off of considering he is not in contact with either faction regularly.”
“So what does that mean then?” Rin asked. “For everyone else?”
“Well, I suspect that all the questions being left unanswered and threatening as they are now are bound to drive Narbareck mad for days on end, and I’m sure she’ll make plenty of people’s lives miserable as a result.
The younger girl sighed. “It all sounds like it’s going to be a disaster. One that I’m glad I’m not going to be a part of when we get back to Fuyuki tomorrow.”
“Ah, did the news that two terrifying vampiric overlords are plotting something that none of us have any comprehension of really put such a damper on your mood? I had thought you had been in such a cheery disposition despite the dreadful work of the Hunt, all because you got to spend time with a few of your friends. Aren’t you sad that you had such little time?”
“Is this really the moment to be making fun of me?”
“It’s important to search for the little joys in life, Rin.”
She glowered at him before she shook her head. “I was actually planning to see if any of the others had a night more to spend before they go off again. I thought I’d give Noel or Hansa or whoever else and go out somewhere I could actually appreciate Italian cuisine considering I haven’t had the chance to since we got here but now with knowing what I do… It just feels wrong.”
“It is for the best, perhaps.” He hummed. “I know you don’t need me to tell you that I already know you would rather be anywhere but closer proximity to me for extended periods of time, but Church Agents will be on alert for anything and everything. Best to keep out of anyone’s attention for now. Either way, we leave for the airport tomorrow.”
Rin looked away, staring out the window, tracking the lights in the dark as Kirei drove through the night. “Yeah…” she said. Back to Fuyuki… back home, and then… there’s another big problem to deal with.”
“Oh?” The priest raised an eyebrow. “What would that be…” he trailed off, gaze sharper now, as Rin took off the black gloves she’d been wearing since the night of the first Hunt.
“I saw it randomly appear while I was working. I didn’t even feel it or first. Didn’t even notice it, but I already checked to make sure it wasn’t a trick. That it was real.”
She raised her hand, showing off the three red seals imprinted on the back of it. The sign and symbols of a Master.
“The Grail War.” She said, voice solemn. “It’s starting early.”