Fuyuki Port. A few minutes before that.
The decade has passed that night in port, the one where all servants, except sneaky Assassin, showed themselves. The night that started the Fourth Grail War fully, the night Waver and Iskandar first saw that monster in red.
The night was young as Waver and Rider made their way towards the closed-off areas. Hephaestion would constantly move into spiritual form and sneak behind the corners, going forward while she was invisible to the naked eye. There were still workers since a new shipment was coming in as the master and his servant made their way towards the warehouse, making sure no one saw them. Waver is far, very far, from what anyone would call an expert in stealth. Still, he needed to check if his evidence was correct and even someone like him could manage to hide from regular port workers, granted some magecraft had to be used.
'No boundary fields yet.' Once Faker, now Rider commented as she moved further. "We haven't encountered any so far.'
'The ones we are after wouldn't set their fields this far from the warehouse. If my guess is correct, whatever the shipment is, it will have the weapons that were used to kill Heartless.'
'Bullets, guns, explosives. And something more.' Hephaestion remembered the night she and her former Master were attacked for the last time. 'But are you sure the Sumeragi group is behind all of these?'
Waver narrowed his eyes, his mental link with Rider being silent as he thought about all the evidence they managed to find so far. Ever since he returned to Japan, to this cursed city, he wasted no time and used every opportunity to learn what changed and who might be running things now. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was wrong. A relatively young corporation was quickly amassing strength all over the nation, with Fuyuki being its key center. Pretty much everything in the city was owned by Sumeragi. This port, while officially not theirs, was only receiving shipments from Sumeragi's subsidiaries.
'The Fifth Grail War started forty years earlier, a new corporation taking over the city where it happens all the time and mysterious armed groups capable of taking down a dangerous first-rate magus armed with their weapons.' Such a thing was nigh impossible. 'A former Lord of the Clock Tower who even had a Servant lost to a non-magi group.' Waver bit his tongue. 'Too many things that happened in the same period, it cannot be a simple coincidence.'
'Hmm, I see your point, but we have yet to get into any boundary fields or sense any magi here. This port is full of simpletons, no mana emanates from their person.' Faker pointed out.
'True, the fact any man we hypnotized here knew nothing doesn't help my theory. However, until we have concrete evidence or lack of it, we can't leave the port. Besides, there is little we can do tonight.'
'Well, unlike someone in my presence, I do enjoy flying over the city and patrolling.' Rider smirked. 'You need more exercise. Forget your lungs, the severe lack of muscles in your arms or legs will be the death of you. How do you expect to fight your way out of a life-or-death situation? Give your enemies cancer with your smoking?'
'That would make a morbidly cruel and slow way to kill someone. And what are you for if you get in that situation?! Servants fight, and Masters provide support. Cancer will take years when magecraft alone would only take a moment's slip-up.'
Fake Rider did want to note aloud that Masters aren't supposed to be on the front lines, but said nothing, smiling instead. 'A bit too literal, but at least you're willing to fight alongside me.'
'I can take care of myself if the situation is too hot, but please, make sure it won't come to that, Rider. Or you will lose your mana supply.'
'Aye, aye, not a fan of raw-dogging it dry either, Master,' Faker, who was faking her role, clenched her fist. 'Quite painful experience, let's avoid that.'
Waver maintained composure and not rising to the joke, only nodding once as the two moved further. The silence between containers was deafening. The port has changed a little bit since he was last there. More area, more goods, more of everything. Few cameras here and there, but nothing too difficult for a Servant who could easily jump over stuck containers with her Master in tow. So far, everything felt ordinary, which might have been part of the illusion. After all, if you want to hide something the best way to do so is in plain sight and be casual about it.
'Here.' Rider pointed towards the distant building, no lights were coming from behind its windows. 'It has the Sumeragi logo.'
'Let me see... warehouse eleven.' Waver took a closer look. 'According to data I managed to get from workers, the next shipment is supposed to arrive around dawn. They have been receiving new cargo every day for the last two weeks. They move the majority of it out of port, but some will stay behind.'
'But why? With how rich they must be, you would think the Sumeragi have no want for storage space within the city. That is unless they don't want this stuff in the city, hide it under the protection of plausible deniability.'
A reasonable assertion.'
Rider was puzzled but not unguarded. 'So far we have yet to encounter any form of defenses here. The lack of actual patrols for their guards as well. If that place truly holds the armory of weapons used to attack me back in London, they would be fools to leave their tools without any guards.'
Waver had to agree, this was too easy. 'Be ready for ambush, Rider. We are deep inside what might become enemy territory in the blink of an eye.'
'Great timing to say it when we're in this deep already, Master.' Rider smiled, her voice inside the mental link sounding too sarcastic. 'Agh, we know what we're getting involved in. Just stay close and if it must come to this, do not hesitate to use Command Seals to get us out of here. If these people are truly the same ones who killed Heartless, your life is in far greater danger.'
"When wasn't it?" Waver sighed, a deadpan expression on his face. 'Getting gunned down by an army of Magus Killer wannabes might be painful but not as painful as anything my 'sister' or colleagues in London might do to me.'
"...none of them knows you are fighting again, are they?" Hephaestion asked with rare softness in her tone. That she didn't keep it to telepathy spoke as much of her exasperation.
Lord El-Melloi II started forward.
"If Reines heard about the war, she wouldn't have allowed me to leave London without her... Same goes for Gray... and a good portion of my students. The last thing I need is a small army of young magi prodigies fighting in this war dying needlessly."
The image alone had Waver freeze, his mind going back to that night, the temple on fire.
*Click*
That sound from ten years ago, the sound of a gun being pointed at you misfiring. Both scariest and at the same time best thing you can hear at that moment. Waver was once again thinking of it, of the final night, a final fight between him and Rider…
'He couldn't allow his students to go through that hell. To be slaughtered by hell spawn.'
"Let's move, Rider. We don't have an entire night to spare." Waver tried to sound calm, and fearless but the thoughts of his past made him weary enough to not watch where he was stepping. This was a port after all and wet ground was always somewhere there, and so Waver stepped onto one before almost falling on his face. He could sense how Rider was smirking, as always someone was getting kicks from his misfortune as she caught him.
"You will make a good jester, but that can wait for after the war ends. Now let's focus on the warehouse."
Waver said nothing but groaned as his servant carried him to the place of interest. Once there, Rider moved into spiritual form before opening the door to her master from within. Once said, both could take a closer look at the secrets this place was hiding.
Wooden boxes, a lot of them and none was opened. Big ones, huge enough to carry enough modern weaponry to arm a few squads. The Clock Tower Lord walked closer and examined the box before checking it with magecraft. Once Waver felt something inside was giving hints of mana, he motioned to Rider to open it. Hephaestion smirked before manifesting her spatha. What they found inside was not the kind of weapon they were expecting.
"Is this a katana?" Waver didn't know what to make of what looked to be a version of the sword Japanese warriors used in the past.
Except it was giant, bigger than human and it was easy to tell it was heavy. Waver carefully touched it, trying to understand what this was for. Normal humans had no way to wield this monstrosity and why would they? It didn't make sense. 'Is it a goddamned art piece?'
Doubtful. He reached out and ran a finger along the flat metal. It thrummed with a soft concentration of energy. Like a medium that's grown saturated with remnant energies that burned through it through constant use. Or was it refinement?
"Whoever attacked you, they couldn't use something like this, unless their entire hit squad could summon a golem to carry it."
And yet there were signs of conflict larger than Waver expected of humans, weren't there. It felt too ridiculous. There they were, examining katana for giants inside the warehouse that was filled with rows of boxes similar to this. He didn't know if it even counted as a weapon if no one could use it properly. Last he checked, this eastern blade had a high skill floor to wield it efficiently. Using it like a medieval sword would have it snapping in half. Rider too was focused on the oversized melee weapon.
"This katana...I feel like something of this size could have been wielded by the things I and Heartless ran into."
Her master narrowed his gaze. "The metal ones you fought with that blasted you with military-grade canons?"
Rider nodded before she looked around, opening other boxes and looking at what they were hiding. Once again they were giant weapons that were used by ancient armies during times of medieval age or feudal Japan. Also one giant shield. Compared to these things, she and her master felt like mice. And it was all owned by Sumeragi.
"We didn't find weapons used by that mysterious strike group then, but these weapons are proof enough that Sumeragi is related to our problem," Waver commented. "No point in staying, let's go, Rid-"
"MASTER GET DOWN!"
Rider shouted as she pushed him aside. Waver hit one of the nearest boxes with his back. Groaning from pain, he was about to ask why the hell she did that if only he hadn't been distracted by the sound of the wall before them getting destroyed as a giant metal hand launched towards Rider. She didn't bother trying to block the upcoming attack, instead trying to move the side and stab the hand as it tried to grab.
However, as her spatha made contact with skin made of steel, it did nothing but create sparkles and only left a scratch. The hand didn't lose a moment and slapped her, sending Rider flying towards the roof of the warehouse and flying beyond it, far away from Waver. Her master shouted, the impact hit hard but he was still conscious.
'Stay down, master! I will get out of here and pick you up!' Even though she launched away, Rider didn't sound panicked at all.
While she was out of sight, the owner of the giant made the hole in the wall bigger, enough for the giant metal head to enter. Waver started with horror at what looked to be some sci-fi robot from children's cartoons.
It was slim judging by its head and its upper torso wasn't seen. He could see black armor and red lines among its main parts. It was kneeling, but standing on its four appendages since it used two hands to stand. He could see the blade, something akin to a mantis blade on its right hand. The head, some sort of helmet looked at Waver, lack of eyes made it hard to understand if it was thinking about anything. Regardless, it would be an absolute truth to say that Lord El-Melloi II was currently petrified with fear.
'It doesn't look like any golem you can create with magecraft-'
KSSSSSSSSHHHH
Its joints hissed as it poised its head towards him, the softest glow of a red light sparking to life before glowing in the shape of an ominous cross. The next instant, it reached out to him as though only figuring out now that he was still there.
'Optical modules? Or is it really a golem?'
He couldn't tell. However, before a giant metal hand could touch him, a bolt of lightning struck its back, making the entire thing jerk from the sudden hit. Waver stared as this metal monster tilted back, silently struggling against the burst of electricity before a familiar woman appeared next to him in a flash.
The different colored eyes of Rider looked at him with concern. "Come, Master! We're leaving! We saw enough for one night."
The professor attempted to stand up, but he was too slow so Rider quickly picked him up and jumped out of the warehouse, creating an exit in the wall behind them with her kick as they went out.
Once the master and his servant were out in the open they could notice a few worrying things.
First, the port that had a number of workers several minutes before was completely empty as though all humans were just gone. No lights were seen or voices were heard, despite the mess they and that thing made in the warehouse.
It was a trap after all.
Rider was about to summon her chariot but the enemy reappeared. Swiping arms where they went. Now they could see this golem, this giant machine in all its size.
It was standing on all fours, making circles around them slowly, akin to a cat that was about to pounce on the mouse before it. Rider couldn't see any weapons on it beyond one mantis blade, however, it was still capable of withstanding her lighting attack, only being hindered slightly. This was bad. Close combat fighting, especially without her chariot, wasn't optimal for her. Moreso with Waver being there, a liability in the fight.
'Master, I will hit it with another lightning bolt before tossing you into the air. Do not fret, my chariot will pick you up-'
"There is something in the water, Rider," Waver commented while his gaze didn't leave the bubbles that were moving over the water's surface, closing their distance.
His servant couldn't take her eyes off the enemy before her, but it didn't change the fact her master was right as two new opponents made their appearance. Another two giant things, clearly more than simple golems just like the first one, jumped out of the water, landing to the side of their comrade.
Both were purple in color, unlike the first they looked bulkier. They had only one orange 'eye', with their heads and shoulders having more edges. However, what was the most important is that these two had more weaponry. Not a mere blade, but each was carrying a katana in one hand and something like a giant machine gun in another. Both aimed their machine guns at Rider and Waver.