A few hours later,
Black, wearing a black jacket and pants, stood in the middle of the road.
Sakura Matou, in her pristine white gown, was standing next to him, a struggling, nervous expression flashing across her face.
It was the same location in the original Unlimited Blade Works Storyline where Shirou, Rin, and Saber had confronted Kizuki and Caster.
Black hadn't needed to actually arrange the meeting here.
Nor did he have to adhere to the Storyline's events anymore.
However, to prevent the Timeline from using Kizuki to lower his influence on Caster in the beginning phase of his plan, Black had manipulated Leysritt to kill him, pinning the murder on Berserker.
Now that Black and Kai had involved themselves in the mechanisms of Fate because of Fate Borrower Skill, they thought it was better to reenact some key scenarios as a precaution.
The timeline itself had become a distorted version of Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel routes. But, by seeing how much these key scenarios have deviated from their original counterpart, they could then calculate and project deviations for future scenarios as well, despite.
Also, after conversing with King Purple Mist, Kai's plans had changed a lot. To keep things hidden from the Deep Ones and Timeline, he had been repeatedly using Reality Marble in the last 24 hours. Black's sudden invitation for a truce was also a result of those hidden conspiring contemplations.
Surprisingly, they had decided that it was best for Black to not know the full details, ending up causing a temporary Unsynchronization between the two AIs.
Suddenly, a notification bubbled up in front of Black.
…
[
Contestant Kai Stormborn, you have been affected by a Curse
Effect: Luck -5
Time Limit: 1 minute
…
Luck: 50 (-107)
]
…
Selene's Unlucky Gossip didn't affect Kai's Luck for over a minute.
However, to counter this fortunate thing, he had made her continuously use this Skill over the last 24 hours.
Under the Einzbern Castle, the three Selenes were still pouring out random gossip about Kai, making his Luck fall by five points repeatedly. Because of the time limit, the actual rate of Luck coming down was still low. Otherwise, by now, Kai's Luck should have gone to minus instead.
The only issue with this hard-handed way of attracting bad luck was that the Three-Headed Devourer needed to continuously hiss. No matter how strong they were, without an AI, there was no way they could just keep blabbering out words without stopping. And, once stopped, it would make Kai's Luck shoot back up faster than ever.
Luckily, because of hundreds of years spent together on Island X, Selene had much to discuss on her Master.
"They are here…" Sakura said meekly.
Black's eyes landed on Shirou and Rin, approaching him from the other side of the abandoned petrol pump.
The moment their eyes landed on Sakura, both Masters stopped, sharing a confused glance.
…
"Why's Sakura here?!" Rin asked, shocked.
Shirou was asking himself the same question.
Trap or not, neither of them had considered that Black would bring Sakura with him.
"Tell Saber to keep herself hidden," Rin advised, changing plans. "Assassin — did you find anything odd?"
"A Bounded Field just activated," Assassin replied in Rin's mind. "But it's only to keep sound from leaving the region. Nothing special."
Rin shared the info with Shirou, but she still couldn't shake off the feeling that it was a trap.
"Where's Archer?" Shirou asked.
"I made him go back home," Rin replied. "I didn't want him to be near Black… Shirou. Listen. I think…"
Shirou ignored Rin and walked forward, his gaze gaining a hard look. He eyed Sakura, who kept fidgeting, keeping her head low. It was like she could do just about anything to not be here.
"Sakura…" Shirou asked. "Are you alright?"
Sakura lifted her head and met Shirou's gaze, and nodded.
Sensing something amiss, Shirou stared at Black. "Why's she here?"
Black looked at Sakura and then back at Shirou. "… She wanted to see you."
"…" Shirou frowned. He looked over his shoulder and saw Rin frowning as well. Was Rin right? He asked himself. Was this really a trap?
Calm down… Shirou took a deep breath and let it out.
"First, answer me this," he said, staring at Black. "Is Caster behind the disappearances all over the city?"
Black's brows jumped. "Haha…" he let out a laugh. "For what?!"
"Feigning innocence won't work with me anymore, Black," Shirou said. "I know what kind of man you truly are. Caster is taking Mana from people because you cannot supply enough Mana to her. Admit it. You are afraid of losing the Holy Grail War. That's why you are here, aren't you? Because you have provoked someone you shouldn't have…"
"No, it's not that…" Sakura began.
Black put a hand on her shoulder, quieting her. "That's a bold assumption, Shirou," he said. "I did not even know of any disappearances… Still, let me confirm. Caster."
"Hehe…" A giggle echoed across the space as Medea, in her Mage robes, manifested between Black and Shirou. "Your little truce is already hanging by a thread, isn't it, Master?"
"Enough of your nonsense!" Shirou shouted. "We all know humans are no more than sacrifices to you and Caster. And if you have truly given Caster free rein to use humans as she pleases, then you really are the Killer I had thought you to be! I… will not show you any mercy, then."
Silence.
But Medea couldn't hold it for long.
"Hahaha…" She grabbed her stomach, letting out peals of laughter. "Did you hear him, Master? He will not show you any mercy!"
Behind her, even Black held his head, laughing ruefully.
Near the petrol pump, Saber looked at Shirou concernedly. Things had already deviated from what they had planned a lot. First, they hadn't expected Sakura to be here. Now, the truce they had been looking forward to hearing about the most seemed to be dwindling on its last legs, even before beginning.
Plus, Berserker had yet to show himself.
Shirou suddenly took another step forward, picking up a broken piece of iron pipe on the ground.
"I know you are strong," Shirou said, his face lacking any humor. "I was there, too. On that night… I saw you fighting, Black. I saw you killing dozens of innocent humans, willingly or unwillingly. Is that why you look down on me? Let me correct you, then…"
"No…" Rin and Saber almost said together. "Shirou! Wait…"
"I challenge you to a duel!" Shirou said, pointing at Black with the pipe, ignoring Caster. "If you win, I will accept your truce, no matter how much I hate you. But — If I win —
"— then you must let Sakura go right here and now!"
*****************
AN: Original image of Shirou facing Black, Sakura, and Medea is available
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