Fool's World: The Star (ch. 18) (Patreon)

"What do you mean he just left with the Yakuza?!" Nobara heard Rin shout as she was getting dressed after a very long night. Her entire body was sore in a way that she never experienced before, but it was a pleasant soreness. Like she had just gotten a great workout and after the aches in her muscles faded, she would be better than ever. Though, when Rin's shouts reached her ears, Nobara froze.

That fucking idiot! It was like Majima wouldn't be satisfied until he got himself killed with his own pigheadedness. Nobara threw open the door to the admittedly very nice bathroom, half dressed and she saw Rin was shouting at her Servant, Archer. Rider was leaning against the wall, watching Archer carefully.

Archer was a handsome man -- a perfectly symmetrical face with high cheekbones and a strong jawline. His white hair and steel gray eyes, when combined with his deeply tanned skin gave him an exotic look that was very appealing. However, despite what most thought, having a handsome face didn't outweigh a shit personality. Archer was sullenly silent most of the time, and when he wasn't, Nobara wanted to punch him in the face.

"I mean that your ally left with the Yakuza after you were done performing the mana ritual," Archer remarked, his voice decidedly even, with a sarcastic edge. It was easy to replace the words that he stressed with what he really wanted to say, and Archer didn't intend it in a kind way. Nobara got it. Archer wanted Majima, her, and Rider dead because it was the Grail War. He hadn't taken any action yet, but Nobara found it difficult to turn her back on the man. Else she was sure that she'd find a knife in it. "It was a rather impressive display of power on their part, I will admit. Almost like a funeral procession."

"Archer, go protect him!" Rin snapped at her Servant, making Archer cock a silver-white eyebrow.

"He said so himself -- this has nothing to do with the Grail War," Archer said, crossing his arms. His silver eyes flickered to her, narrowing ever so slightly. "Nor am I his Servant to save him from his own foolish mistakes. If he wishes to die, then let him. Your alliance with him extends only to helping each other towards a mutual goal, not to save his life when he treats it so carelessly."

Nobara glanced at Rider, who seemed to be watching Archer like a hawk. "What happened exactly?" she questioned as she finished getting dressed.

"The entire Yakuza showed up at Majima's doorstep," Rin informed, glaring at her Servant, but seemingly unable to counter his point. He did have one, admittedly. It was incredibly annoying, but he did have a point. Especially since Majima wasn't wrong to separate the Grail War from the Gang War. Even still, it felt like he was avoiding using some tool out of moral principle even when his life was on the line.

Nobara frowned, "Who, exactly?" Because Majima going with the Yakuza was stupid, even for him. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Majima didn't want to die. If things were as bad as they sounded, then Majima would have cut and run like the last time the Yakuza had shown up at their doorstep.

Rin glanced at her, frowning. "Some weirdo with an eye patch," she offered.

Ah. "Then I don't think we have anything to worry about. That's Majima's Yakuza dad, pretty much," Nobara informed them, making Rin's jaw drop ever so slightly.

"That doesn't mean he won't kill him," Rin pointed out, but Nobara shook her head.

"Way back when we first left for Fuyuki City, we got a warning that the Tojo Clan was coming after us," Nobara started, and she wondered if Majima suspected what she was about to say. "It was right when the clan was about to implode. The call came from the Majima family. I don't even want to know what kind of super masculine relationship they have, but his Yakuza dad showed his hand. He cares about Majima. I don't think he's going to let him die." At least, that was the hope.

Rin looked a little more reassured by that, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. Nobara thought it was pretty sweet -- Rin was trying so hard to make it look like she only cared about Majima because of the alliance, but she wasn't doing a good job of it. It was easy to see why Majima liked to tease her. "Either way, there's nothing wrong with taking precautions. This is a chance to settle the debt between us -- Archer, protect Majima if his life is in danger."

Archer let out an annoyed breath that almost came out as a low growl of frustration. In response, Rin raised her fist, showing off her Command Seals in a threatening gesture. His lips thinned before he closed his eyes in defeat, "As you wish, Master. I'll protect your foolish ally from the consequences of his own actions," he said, offering a small sarcastic bow before dissipating in golden motes of light. In a moment, he was gone and Rin let out a small breath of relief.

"Aren't you a little too trusting?" Rider questioned, her voice as soft as silk. Nobara and Rin looked to Rider, who regarded Rin with an air of coldness. "Archer isn't wrong to be so cautious. Now you're here, alone, with an enemy Servant. Majima is as loyal as a dog… but he's not here."

Nobara shifted, but Rin appeared undaunted. "Because, we have a shared goal," she informed Rider, her voice confident.

"Oh? What would that be?" Rider questioned, an outright deadly edge in her voice. Nobara became increasingly aware that her hammer and nails were resting on the dresser on the other side of the room. The air in the bedroom became thick with tension, as it seemed an unstoppable force met an immovable object.

"Sakura," Rin answered, and based on how Rider seemed to still, it was the right one. "I sent Archer away because he wouldn't be willing to take part in the mission. Not without good reason."

"And what is your reason, then?" Rider questioned, taking a step forward and the tension between them seemed to swell.

Rin placed her hands on her hips and cocked them dangerously, "Because I want to help Sakura," she seemed to force the words out in bluster. Almost daring Rider to contradict her. Her eyes were focused into a glare, her lips a thin line, and her body almost seemed to tremble with tension. It seemed like it wasn't an easy confession to make, not one she would make normally. Majima's influence? "I know about her grandfather. Majima said he was going to kill him, but he has enough on his plate."

Nobara smiled, raising a hand, "I'm in," she voiced, while Rider digested that. "I like Sakura -- plus, I think she and Shirou would look cute together. But, having a grandfather like that is way too much baggage for a new relationship. Better we take him out of the equation so she can start fresh." Rin appeared a little more at ease with her quick acceptance.

Rider was quiet for a moment longer before she looked to Nobara, "Your magecraft will be the key to killing him. But, we must kill him quickly." She was on board. It seemed that she was being honest when she said that her wish for the Grail was for Sakura to be happy.

Nobara gave her an easy, confident smile -- it felt like she was putting an old pair of shoes on. Like this was another curse that needed to be put down.

"Way ahead of you."

…

The Matou manor wasn't far away. According to Rin, the road that they walked on was a Leyline with an intersection nearby, which made it perfect real estate for a magus. It's why old Majima had set up shop here and why the old Magi families had settled down as well. The Tohsaka had managed to snatch the actual intersection because this was their 'territory.' The Matou, however, were practically their nextdoor neighbors.

The Matou manor was an old English style manor -- compete with stonework framed windows pretty much everywhere, European statues in the front yard, with the entire building being distinctly non-Japanese. Nobara decided that she liked it -- it had that foreign feel to it and she had always wanted to go to Europe. Paris, the city of romance, was at the top of her vacationing spots. Though the curses speaking in French or German, or whatever language was in use wherever she ended up traveling to would be annoying. Then again it's not like she listened to what curses had to say anyway.

"He knows we are here," Rin muttered to herself as the three of them stood before a cold iron gate. It was all that stood between them and the front door of the manor.

Nobara felt it too as her gaze drifted from one nook and cranny to another, spotting something lurking within the shadows. She bounced her hammer on her shoulder, eager to get this started, but Rider was right -- her abilities were their trump card in this scenario. She couldn't just brazenly charge in as part of the frontline.

"Ready?" Nobara asked, and in response, Rider pushed on the gate, her full lips thinning ever so slightly when the gate swung open on rusted hinges, releasing a painful squeak. Rider led the way, her weapons materializing in her hands. Nobara and Rin followed behind her, peering into the shadows. When they reached the door, they found that they just weren't expected, they were practically being invited in, because the door was unlocked. It swung open to reveal a dimly lit interior, a foyer with cream colored walls that were lined with paintings and furnishings.

Like a proper haunted house, the door closed behind them with a loud thud after they all stepped inside. Nobara rolled her eyes at the blatant attempt at intimidation as she glanced at Rin, trying to get the girl to loosen up. Rin was understandably tense to be willingly walking into another Magus' territory, but Nobara was worried that she was too tense. It was important to be alert during a fight, but if you were wound up too tightly then you'd jump at every noise and distraction. It was a weakness that a cunning enemy would be sure to exploit, and then you were dead, because of one mistake and a halfsecond distraction, too busy jumping at shadows to see the knife sliding between your ribs.

"This is an unexpected surprise. For what reason, I wonder, are you here, Rin Tohsaka?" A disembodied voice echoed through the dark halls. There were two hallways on the left and right, and a staircase leading upstairs. Beneath the stairway, there was another hallway that seemed to open up to a living room of some sort. "Has Mikoto Majima lost his spine and sent you to kill me in his stead?"

The voice seemed to emerge from everywhere in the house, making it impossible to pin down the source. Nobara's grip tightened on the haft of her hammer, frowning ever so slightly at the remark. Rin on the other hand was like a coiled spring, gripping a jewel with white knuckles, her expression set into a scowl.

"Perhaps the haunted house routine would have scared us before horror movies, but you're playing into old tropes old man," Nobara spoke up, her tone dismissive. The old man might not be a Curse, but she leaned into her training and experience. Most curses couldn't speak, but they understood a taunt when they heard one. It made them angry and stupid, and that made them make mistakes that would get them killed. The same trick that the old man was pulling -- trying to scare them and piss them off. "You didn't make it this long by being stupid. You know exactly why we're here. The question is, what're you going to do about it?"

There was a low hacking chuckle that echoed in the darkness, the old guy sounding genuinely amused. "The naivety of youth never disappoints me. But, I suppose if you're that eager to die, we can continue this discussion in the basement-" he spoke, a faint whisper in her ears.

'Huh, well someone's confident.' The exact same moment that Nobara began to question how easy that was, Rider spring into action.

Nobara hadn't seen the dagger that would have killed her until Rider batted it away in a shower of sparks. It slammed into the ground, along with three other knives as Rider put herself infront of her and Rin. Not for the first time, Nobara spared a thought about how stupidly overpowered Servants were. They were all pushing into Special Grade, for sure. A low buzzing reached Nobara's ears as her and Rin regrouped.

"It's Assassin," Rider noted calmly, wielding her nail and chain. She watched the dark corners of the house carefully and Nobara caught a vague shape shifting down the hallway from where the knives had been thrown -- a black cloak that blended in seamlessly with the darkness, except for a white bone mask stood out ever so slightly.

"Kill him, Rider," Rin ordered, boiling hot anger in her voice at her brush with death.

Rider shifted into a stance, "You aren't my master, but I'll obey that order. With pleasure," Rider spoke calmly, her foot snapping a floorboard as she prepared to throw herself at the enemy. "The basement can be reached through the double doors in the living room."

"Got it-" Nobara began, before Rider threw herself at Assassin, all but vanishing in the darkness of the house. Nobara caught a glimpse of the fight as it began, the shower of sparks of two weapons clashing casting a brief light over both of their figures. But before she could catch another glimpse, Nobara pivoted on her heel and sprinted towards the living room alongside Rin. The buzzing sound that she hadn't even noticed until now grew more pitched, and she identified it as the chittering of dozens of angry insects. As they crossed the threshold of living room, vaguely in the heavy shadows, Nobara saw the small forms of insects crawling on the walls.

They were huge in the creepiest way ever -- about the size of her hand with a wingspan twice that. Their bulbous little heads were almost entirely mouth, filled with needle-like teeth. Their front legs ended in serrated claws made for rending flesh. Their torso was long and thin, and between their hind legs rose a tail that ended in a nasty stinger that looked distinctly phallus in nature. Nobara hated them the moment that she saw them. Then they lunged off the walls and descended upon them, and Nobara had a good reason to hate them.

She lashed out with her hammer, tearing through one of them and getting supper gross insect juice all over her hand and wrist, but she ignored the cold shiver that raced down her spine and reached for her supply of nails. Even without using her cursed energy, she was a fantastic shot, sending nails into the insects' bodies. Three fell to the ground, but there were dozens more.

"Gandr!" Rin shouted, black energy tinged with red erupting from her fingertips decimating the insects. Nobara felt her in the battle shift, so she stopped hammering nails and started swinging her hammer. Rin was long range and she was close range, picking the ones that Rin had missed. With each flash of the bolt of energy, the high Victorian style living room was briefly illuminated. The room quickly fell into disarray. Rin's Gandr tore holes in the paintings and punched holes in the walls, sending shattered glass flying as they stomped all over Matou's bugs just like they deserved.

Sure, she played with horn beetles as a kid, like every girl in the countryside, but she drew the line at dick-bugs.

Her hammer flashed back and forth through the air, keeping the handful of insects that got close at bay. Despite never fighting together before, she and Rin had good chemistry, and made a good team. Nobara could adjust her plans easily because she had a lot of fighting experience. Rin, while obviously not as experienced as she was, was a powerhouse of a mage and she used her magic and intelligence well. In a handful of minutes, the dozens of bugs guarding the basement doors laid dead at their feet. But Nobara still heard the sounds of more buzzing in the house. A sinister undertone to the battle between Rider and Assassin, who that slammed through a wall in the aftermath of a heavy clash of weapons. By the look sof it, Assassin was fighting for his life and trying to get away, no match for one of the Knight Classes in a direct confrontation.

"Come on," Rin told her, leveling a hand at the double door that Rider had spoken of. It was treated almost like the main fixture of the room. Similar to how a TV would take centerplace, where the furniture and decorations were centered around being able to look at the TV. The two doors were reduced to splinters as Rin fired what amounted to magical buckshot into the heavy oak doors.

Instantly, Nobara was hit with two things -- the overpowering stench of rot and decay, and a deafening drone as her ears were bombarded with the sounds of what had to be thousands upon thousands of insects. Her lips thinned at the noise -- of insects squirming, clicking their mandibles or the sounds of their exoskeletons shifting against one another. Rin gagged, caught completely off guard by the smell, but she didn't vomit. Though, the blood did drain from her face as she looked down the steps that the sound and stench emanated from.

Idly, Nobara recalled a lesson that Touko had imparted onto Majima before their brief tutelage came to an abrupt end -- that an enemy Magi would never be more dangerous than when they were in their own workshop.

Taking in a deep and bracing breath, Nobara readied herself. All things considered, this was good. Cursed energy was fueled by negative emotions -- frustration, irritation, anger, pain, and hate. She didn't know the specifics of Sakura's situation, but the small glimpse she had seen so far was more than enough to make her want to kill Zouken Matou.

Rin seemed to decide that there was no time to wait, taking the first steps down into workshop that reeked of death. Nobara cast a glance over her shoulder, listening to Assassin and Rider fight. Or rather, Assasin trying to get away while Rider chased him down through the house. Nobara wondered if he was just a distraction to get Rider out of the way as she followed Rin into the workshop. The staircase was carved out of stone, a narrow hallway that curved down into the depths of the earth at a sharp turn.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Nobara saw a scene that made Matou's workshop seem like a literal pit of hell. Rin walked in silence, the sounds of thousands of insects echoing off the stone walls drowning out their footsteps. The basement was dimly illuminated by magic lanterns or something like that, but there was just enough light to let them see the squirming bottom of a crypt-like pit that was filled with crawling insects. But that wasn't all.

It wasn't the first time Nobara had seen hell. Curses were fond of inflicting pain on humans -- they fed on it. A Curse might turn a girl inside out in front of her father, just so that it could feed off of his pain as he was forced to watch. They did all matter of unspeakable barbarism to their victims.

And still, as she looked into the pit and saw that there was someone inside of it, her stomach clenched.

"Shinji?" Rin muttered, breaking their shocked silence as the bugs shifted, as if proudly displaying their handiwork to them. It was that guy that Majima had punched at Shirou's school -- the purple haired blowhard.

However, now, his hair was stark white. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth open in a silent scream, because his lungs didn't seem to have the air in them to vent his anguish. He was naked by the looks of it, letting them see the insects moving beneath his skin. He was almost unrecognizable. He hardly looked like the same person. If it wasn't for his twitching when the insects crawled over or through him, Nobara would have suspected that he was dead.

"My bloodline truly has met a most pathetic end," Nobara heard, the insects rising up in the pit to condense into a hideous old man that looked half rotten himself. He poked Shinji with the point of his cane, and hardly even got a reaction from the boy. "The last son of the Matou. He barely lasted two days before ending up like this. Your sister, she was made of sterner stuff. Even as a little girl, it was a whole three days before she even stopped screaming. She didn't break until much later. It didn't matter what I did to her, she just endured. It's remarkable really." Zouken Matou spoke, letting out a rattling laugh.

Nobara looked into the pit and pictured Sakura in it. Naked, with bugs crawling in and out of her. Doing unspeakable things to a child.

Yes. Majima wanting to kill him made a lot of sense now. Luckily, she was here to do it in his stead.

"Let him go, Matou," Rin snarled, taking aim at the man standing over his defiled grandson. A black ball tinged with red energy condensed before her pointer finger.

"Such anger," Zouken chidded, monologuing like a cartoon villain. In her experience, people only did that when they were planning something. To that end, Nobara made her own preparations, one of her hands going to her belt to retrieve a half dozen cold iron nails. She considered the entire situation, emotions giving way to the cold logic that kept her alive as a jujutsu sorcerer.

She needed fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds for her nails to find their place, and to activate her sorcery. It wasn't a lot of time, but in her experience, five seconds might as well be five minutes in the middle of a fight.

"Your father died when you were so young. I suppose it would make sense that you aren't a proper magus. It's a testament to your raw talent that you've made it this far," Zouken continued as Nobara's grip on her hammer tightened. "You must idolize him. I imagine it would hurt a gentle girl like you to know that everything I've done was done with his express approval?" he said, not just poking a nerve, but jabbing a knife in one. Rin didn't flinch, but she bristleed, her expression becoming livid with anger. "Only the fool died so quickly, and I never had a reason to teach Sakura any magecraft at all. Your father gave Sakura to me for no reason. She suffers for no reason."

Then he caught himself as he gave Rin a toothless smile, "I suppose that isn't true. She suffers because I find it amusing."

"Fixierung, Eile Salve!" Rin snarled, a jewel shattering in her hand to become a hundred motes of light that shot down at Zouken. Nobara's lips thinned as Rin let herself be provoked, forcing her to start her sorcery -- her nails floated up, kept aloft by her cursed energy, before she hammered them towards the corners of the pit. The insects, almost as a single mass, surged upwards in a flurry, crawling up the walls and flying through the air.

Rin's spell cut through a bunch of them, punching Zouken to pieces in the process, but his body just reformed, replenished with the insects that crawled over him. Two of the six nails she sent didn't make it to their destination. "I need a path, Rin!" Nobara told her, her stomach rising to her throat when the insects spilled over the lip of the pit.

"I wonder what expression he shall make," Zouken spoke to them through a thousand mouths as Rin fired off another spell, clearing a path for her nails. She sent a dozen hurtling behind it so the two that she needed would look like misses. Misdirection was a sorcerer's greatest ally. "Men like young Majima are so convinced that because they are strong they can protect those that they care about."

The insects surged forward, throwing themselves at them- "Acht!" Rin shouted, throwing out another jewel that cast a bright blue barrier around them, causing the insects to bash their heads in on its surface and splatter. But there were so many of them that there was more where they came from, and they pushed down on the barrier with the immense weight of their numbers. In a just a second, it started to crack.

"People like him are my favorite to torment. It's why I gave him Shinji's Command Seal." Zouken continued, sounding as if he felt the battle was already won. Nobara was forced to pause her preparations, hammering six nails at six points within the barrier, and using her cursed energy to reinforce it. "His despair will be exquisite when he discovers your defiled bodies after he realizes what you have done. Then all three of you shall serve as breeding grounds for my insects. Perhaps I shall start my anew bloodline with one of you-" he taunted and taunted.

"Resonate!" Nobara shouted, interrupting his little spiel. As she spoke, her nails sparked to life, coated with blue cursed energy that was outlined with black light. The pit became outlined with that same blue energy, an advanced curse taking shape at her will. It wasn't one that she was supposed to know, Nobara would admit. But getting kidnapped and summoned from across the multiverse had to have some perks.

Her nails exploded, unleashing a torrent of blue cursed energy that washed over the insects. It didn't jump from body to body as a normal fire would. Her attacks targeted the soul. With his insects all his familiars, that connection killed him. She could have just targeted one and it would have eventually killed Zouken, but things moved a lot faster when she killed the main nest first and let the fire spread to the peripheries.

All around them, Zouken's voice screamed at the top of his nonexistent lungs, his rotten soul was reduced to ash as his bugs burned. Hundreds of them that had escaped the blast ignited as well despite not being caught in its range, and the faster they burned, the faster the fire spread. The insects screamed as one, writhing with agony as they shared Zouken's pain, before being burned into nothing. With the way his voice echoed around the room it felt like his screaming lasted for hours, but it couldn't have been more than a short few seconds.

At the end of those seconds, the pit fell silent. The stench of death and rot was replaced by the smell of ash and the charred remains of his insects.

Nobara took in a deep breath, recognizing it as the smell of victory, "What a chump. He talked a big game, then got one-shotted," she said as the barrier fell around them. Rin looked at her with a calculating look, apparently completely reassessing her view of her. An odd thing to be doing now, considering what they had gotten up to last night.

Rin worked her jaw for a moment before she nodded, "We should go help Shinji. And find Sakura to give her the good news. He is dead, right?"

Nobara was certain of it, but when she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out. Her hammer fell from her hand, clattering to the ground as both hands went to clutch at her heart. It hurt. It felt like she was getting stabbed right through her heart, and she had no clue how it was supposed to beat with a knife inside of it. She dropped to a knee, her heart somehow chugging along, but the pain was intense. It… this…

She knew exactly what happened even before Rin spoke.

"What do you mean Majima is dead?!"