FBBH 63 (Patreon)

Middle of the month, you know what that means? Chapter. Thanks once again for all support guys, this one was hard to right. It doesn't go as dark as Fate can go, if you know you know, but still maybe the implications in it are dark enough. It is a thing to make a plan, it is another to start writting it.

Fate/Bonds Beyond Humanity

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63- Twenty Four Hour Mystery

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“Ahh~” A yawn escaped Tohsaka Rin’s lips unabashedly. She wasn’t a morning person and wouldn't bother hiding the fact, especially when she was relaxing. “Ahh~” Instead she stretched her arms which comfortably popped in her shoulders before relaxing in her seat with a book. “Where was I?” The young woman asked herself with a smile.

Presently she was relaxing in her family’s garden beneath a large umbrella in a sun chair beside a small table. Dressed in a red light sleeveless shirt and a black skirt, her hair was loose and flowed around her seat. On hand she had a book that would be extremely complicated even if any reference to magecraft was scrubbed of it.

Not for Rin who honestly loved magecraft and practicing the art was one of her favorite hobbies as much as it was work. At least when it didn’t involve anything too dangerous that could place her family in harm's way. She especially loved the manipulation of gems and creation of new jewels, the discovery of new potential in all precious stones.

Studious as she was, Tohsaka Rin would be at home within any lab so long those held no modern appliances.

When not working with magecraft, she was studying it. When not studying magecraft, she was working with it. Pushing the boundaries of what she could do just to see if she could do it. All under safety measures, of course, her family still didn’t have enough money to buy a house if hers caught fire.

At least not a big one as Rin was a little too bold when she was a child and her father never saw the problem in letting a kid experiment with some of his jewels just because they weren’t volatile.

It wasn’t a story Rin liked to tell but she remembered it fondly.

“You could help with the garden, nee-san.” Tohsaka Sakura was dressed in slacks, boots, a purple buttoned up shirt and gloves. In her left hand was a small shovel and her right held garden scissors that were safely stored to the side as she began to fix the soil around a plant. “Come on, you could use a little more exercise.”

Rin offered her younger sister a gentle glare and she shook her head in firm denial. “As the Head of the family I finally can safely say ‘no’ without consequences.”

“Don’t be like that, you liked to play in the garden as much as I.” Sakura replied as she placed the small shovel in her back pocket and collected the scissors. Expertly she began to trim a bush. “I still remember when we tried to make a sculpture of a doggy.”

While the memory was a fond one the older sibling couldn’t help but blush. “That was a disaster that ended up a mixture of a rabbit and a rat.”

“But we had fun~”

“Fufufu, leave your sister alone, Sakura.” The girls’ mother Tohsaka Aoi giggled at the thought of her oldest daughter messing with the earth. Her wardrobe was similar to her youngest child but she also had a straw hat that complemented the look, her longer hair tied safely in a ponytail. “She is just like her father, coming up with excuses to not get dirty.”

“I don’t mind getting dirty.”

“Fights with Luvia-chan don’t count~” Aoi said, both her and Sakura giggling as Rin hid behind her book. “By the way, how is your cousin? Is she better?”

“Don’t call that gorilla our cousin.”

“Luvia-san was growing used to the life of a devil just fine.” Sakura replied, ignoring Rin’s protest with practiced dismissal. She knew her sister didn’t hate Luvia as much as she claimed but saw no problem in keeping appearances. “She at least sounded excited about traveling to the Underworld. Did our cousins send some message about it?” She asked her sister.

Who shook her head with a groan of irritation. ‘Why did Rias leave me to deal with the Edelfelt again? Oh, right, we are family.’ Rin protested at the time but she owed too much to the Heiress to really complain. “Nothing. Ever since the butler left they have been as silent as a mime.”

That could be either a good thing or a bad thing; good because while under the Gremory employ that meant Luvia was safe and her sister wasn’t willing to start anything. Bad because the blonde shared, after Rias’ insistence before delegating Rin the job of liaison, that her twin sister would be very cross with her failure.

As cross as a magus could be as in enough so to perhaps send some assassins after the sibling who failed her obligations and left her to deal with all the responsibilities that she didn’t want.

But there wasn’t much to do on that front and Rin honestly did her best to try and establish some contacts with the Edelfelt Family through some of Tohsaka’s allies in the Clocktower. No reply was ever given and at some point even those contacts, as few as they were, started to claim the Edelfelt seemed to be windrawing from the public eye.

“No news can be good news.” Aoi reminded her daughters with some apprehension. She knew very well how sordid magi could be. “Anyway, do you want a cup of coffee, Rin? Obviously Morpheus still has a grip on you. Fufufu.”

“You two are the odd ones, getting up so early. In the summer nonetheless.” It was like her family was divided in two halves, Rin and her father woke up late while her mother and sister were always up by dawn. “Seriously. We aren’t using most of the garden space anyway. Maybe we should break some of it apart and build a pool…”

As a family of magi the Tohsaka’s of old would be flipping in their coffins if they knew their heir would one day suggest such a thing. By itself the garden wasn’t not only built to maximize the ley line but since the old days most of its plants were ingredients for potions and such.

However potions were always more of a side business, one that grew worse with globalization. Sure rare plants could be expensive but growing them without the proper soil would reduce their efficiency in potions and rituals. Medicine also was easier to procure in the modern world so a garden for that was almost unnecessary.

“Don’t say that. It makes our home look better.” Sakura protested firmly with a harsh look. Rin equaled it to an angry puppy’s. “Our home is such a dull color without the flowers to give it some life. It looks like an abandoned mansion most of the time.”

At Sakura’s point and her mother’s giggle, Rin turned around to look at the big house she lived in her whole life. “Huh, you are kinda right.” Then again the aesthetic, the size, position, everything about their home was about functionality. “Blame our great-grandfather or something." It was just how magi did things.

Sakura raised a brow elegantly. “The house is fine with a garden and you are the one wanting to get rid of it, nee-san.” It was like a punch in the gut for the older sibling. “Also, aren’t you suggesting we get a pool? Wouldn't that cost a lot?”

Another punch but one Rin felt confident about countering. “Well, thanks to Buchou we managed to finally exit the red-”

“And isn’t Jewelcraft going to land us back there if you start spending too much? Like the reforms that it would take to get rid of our garden and then the installation of a pool? Or maintenance?”

It was like Sakura was delivering a high speed sequence of jabs and Rin couldn’t stop the knockout. “Hey, that isn’t fair. It is not my fault that is the craft of our family.”

“But you should still be mindful of how much you are spending…” And the knockout punch came not in the form of words but in the look Sakura had in her face.

The sort of look of absolute understanding that didn’t judge but said enough. “It was just an idea. Besides, we wouldn’t get rid of the whole garden anyway. Just some parts…”

“Such thoughts wouldn’t be welcome in this house if your father was still Head.” Aoi commented with a proud smile. While she understood her husband’s position, she was happy to still be close to her two girls. “But Sakura also has a point, we are out of the red but you still have a lot of debts.”

“Buchou is generous like that. Also I am sure she would give us a discount if I asked.” Rin waved off any concern they could possibly have.

However she did agree with her mother on the fact that Tohsaka Tokiomi, her father, would never agree to such a superfluous idea and usually those thoughts would never cross his magus raised daughter.

That was until she out of curiosity wandered around the part of the town where Emiya Shirou’s residence was located. Rias made no secret she was planning a reform of the place during their stay in the Underworld and Rin was curious to see how it was going and what was being done.

Except it was already done and she could see no difference at first glance.

She saw the changes by using a scrying spell that was only possible because the house was empty and the boundary field around it acknowledged her as an ally. The young woman would admit at least to herself she was a bit jealous despite not being able to see the whole thing.

What she could see was that Rias certainly didn’t pull punches and worked really fast considering everything was done in less than a month.

“Okay, okay. Stop ganging up on me.” Mother and daughter laughed timidly but happily. Rin couldn’t help but smile at such happiness. ‘This is nice.’

It made all the sacrifices she made feel worthwhile as her sister was happy, her mother was happy and while her father was still a bit of a schemer he also grew to be satisfied of not being the Head of the Family anymore, especially when what Shinji did came to light.

He still acted as her proxy, magus or not there were few who would outright respect a girl in highschool when doing business, and that was fine with her until she graduated from highschool and returned after a few years in the Clocktower.

But that was far in the future if Rin had anything to say about it. “So is there anything good growing around here or we need to get new plants?”

“The tomatoes are going nicely.” Aoi commented with a smile and passed one to her daughter. There was a basket half full of them. “But any magic plants… It has been years since anything useful grew here.”

At her mother’s words Sakura frowned. “But tomatoes are useful.” The other women looking at her had the youngest Tohsaka giggling before grabbing the tomato in her sister’s hand and taking a bite. “Better than any in the market, no doubt.”

Aoi appreciated the thought but shook her head. “You know what I mean.”

“It means that we just need to get some new plants around here.” Rin took her tomato back and her bite was far bigger than Sakura’s shy one. “If the garden is gonna stay then we just need to profit from it.”

Her mother shook her head. “Did I really raise my daughter to only care about profits?”

““Blame grandfather.”” Rin and Sakura replied at the same time between giggles. “I am going to get us some tea.” The younger sibling said after. “We already worked enough for today.”

“I can agree with that but we should have some juice instead.” Aoi said with a smile, pushing both her daughters to sit around the table. “You two rest, I will be back in a second.”

And so the sisters did, Rin closing the book to ask, “Do you want to go into town today?”

“Sorry but I can’t. Ayako-senpai and the other members of the Archery Club wanted to get together to celebrate making it so far in the tournament.”

“Right… one of you guys got 2nd place. That is a reason to celebrate alright.” Rin still couldn’t understand how her sister ended up joining the Archery Club but apparently she and Ayako had hit it off somehow.

The older sibling remembered her classmate from Homurahara and how determined she could be so Rin could believe that once she saw Sakura had some sort of talent, how that happened she didn’t know, the girl hunted her sister to join her club.

And with her kind heart it was obvious what Sakura’s answer had been. “Damn, we barely spent the summer together. You always had something to do with your classmates or something else. Even the tournament got in the way.” Rin complained openly. “I mean, compared to you I am a slob.”

Since the ORC went to the Underworld most people Rin actually had connections outside her family were suddenly unavailable and the Head of Tohsaka found herself with little to do. It wasn’t so bad at first, despite her rivalry with Luvia, Rin had friends in Kuoh outside and inside the moonlit world.

Only that most of those inside had their own thing to do out of the country while those outside weren’t really people she could connect with. Sure she spent a pleasant afternoon or another with them, even growing more acquainted with her sister’s new club members when she joined the tournament.

“Sorry, nee-san.” And then Sakura looked like a puppy.

“Hey, don’t act like we never spend time together at all. If I am a slob then it is because I prefer books more than… most people in my life.”

“You really do miss your friends.” The younger sister looked ready to clap.

“Don’t misinterpret it. Sure I miss some of them. Akeno, Xenovia, Koneko-”

“Luvia…”

“... Sakura, do you want to declare war? Fight over my position?” Challenged the older sibling only to receive a warm smile. “Anyway, they will be back in a week or so.”

“Aren’t they going to have a Rating Game in a few days?” Pretty much all allies of the Underworld were buzzing with that news. “Their own tournament as well.”

“The Youth Devil Gathering and yes, they will. Everybody that is everybody, and has nothing against devils, is invited for the pre party and the first set of Rating Games.”

“Why aren’t you going? We could get you a dress.” Sakura looked at her sister with horror. “Or you are going and didn’t tell me so I didn’t help you with the dress.”

“I could go, Rias invited me.” Rin spoke casually but with some hesitation. “I just don’t want to go.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

“Rin-nee-san…”

‘She isn’t going to let this go.’ Rin wanted to let out a sigh but refused to give her sister anything. ‘Can’t tell her that all magicians who are going to that party have Pacts or belong to important positions in the Clocktower while I…’ She sold her soul for her sister and didn’t regret it a single bit. “It is going to be boring, Sakura. Bunch of old farts handing out while the young devils have dick measuring contests.”

“Oh goodness.” A distinct male voice almost had Rin jumping in her chair as Sakura was stunned in place. “Did I make some misstep in your education, daughter? To be speaking with such crude language to your younger sister.” Tokiomi strode into the garden in his preferred elegant red and tie suit with a cane with a huge ruby as support. “I suppose since it is amongst family you do not need to hold back but your sister was always more delicate.”

Despite not being the Head of Tohsaka for about a year Tokiomi still radiated a confidence and elegance that Rin still strove to match regardless of his misgivings. The man made mistakes, his daughter made it clear several times, and yet he never lost his stride or looked worried about anything.

Head or not, Tohsaka Tokiomi still acted like he owned the place, like losing the position was just a minor setback. If it wasn’t for her support perhaps his daughter would be more suspicious. As it stood it was just the natural state of Tokiomi to be that confident, there was no malice and he supported his daughter without second intentions.

It still annoyed Rin a little. "Good morning.” She fixed herself in the chair, refusing to stand up. Father or not the girl still blamed the man for many things and her respect for him was minimal.

“Otou-sama.” On the other hand Sakura stood up and lowered her head respectfully but not submissively.

While the times she feared their father were now past, Rin wasn’t going to complain about how her sister chose to show respect. Mistakes aside, neither could really claim Tokiomi was a bad parent. He tried his best to give his children a future and had circumstances been a little different his eldest could say he did the right thing.

However circumstances weren’t different, her father almost sold her younger sister to a creep and Rin was never going to forget that. “We don’t see you in the garden often. Did something happen?”

“Indeed it did. We have visitors who need to talk to you.” Tokiomi replied calmly with a small smile. “Your mother is already distracting them as they came to request your assistance with something.”

“Usually you are the one who takes care of requests. Most people wouldn’t listen to a teenager, after all.” Her sarcasm was absent but the point was made.

She didn’t blame anyone with such thoughts and her father was the more political savvy of the two, not to mention his skill in magecraft that still far exceeded her own no matter how much talent she had.

“True, true. You have yet to learn the subtleties needed for negotiation.” Tokiomi took some pleasure at the small twitch in his daughter’s face. He knew time was her ally and one day she would surpass him. “Moving along, they are not the sort of people we should leave alone. They are your sponsors, after all.” Didn’t take his enjoyment as a father from playing with his daughter.

“The Gremory?” Not Rias, she knew.

“Subordinates but still Gremory and they insisted on talking with you. It seems there has been an incident in Fuyuki.” At that the man frowned. “The details are scarce but they wouldn’t be here if they had any other choice. You are their future Lady’s direct subordinate and they can’t command you to do anything.”

“That is why this is a request.” Rin stood up and fixed her clothes. Her father quickly raised a mirror from his pocket. “But whatever it is, it must be important.” After her hair was straightened, she began to make her way back into the house.

Tokiomi knew he was being mostly ignored but after the truth about Shinji came to light he couldn't blame her. “Just remember to not accept anything immediately. Those devils have their duty and it isn’t part of yours.”

Rin threw him a look of irritation before saying, “Yes, yes. I know, I know.” She turned to Sakura. “Want to come?”

“No thank you, nee-san… I will… occupy myself until later.” The young girl turned to her father. “Otou-sama.” And departed without waiting for a dismissal.

Neither of the older Tohsakas blamed her and they left the garden without commenting.

They arrived in the living room and Rin tried to remember if she knew any of the three devils present that her mother was carefully antending. Tea had already been served but only the devil sitting on the chair took one as the other two remained behind him with guarded looks.

Clearly the man in the center was the leader, perhaps their King, while the other two were subordinates. Rin took note how the man had black hair much like her own indicating he wasn’t a Gremory by blood at the very least. Also she couldn’t deny that while he was easy on the eyes his demeanor was too guarded.

His shoulders were stiff and it wasn’t because he was in a magus’ residence. Lines under his eyes that contrasted with his youthful looks indicated stress of the highest order.

Besides that he was quite unremarkable as an individual, sure he looked stressed and could outshine any actor in looks alone but there was no great indication of power or caracter. At least none she could see.

Yet he still smiled amicably towards Aoi who expertly didn’t ask any invasive questions while entertaining safe topics. She wouldn’t stray out of them as she wasn’t the Head of the Family nor the person they came to talk with. Thanks to her training Aoi knew how to soothe someone’s nerves and stall as long as it was necessary.

After spending a few seconds studying their guests, the Head of Tohsaka felt she was prepared to greet them formally, her father not pressing in any way and she figured out he made some sort of excuse to buy them time.

“Can you see it?” Tokiomi whispered but his daughter didn’t give him a reply. “They are-”

“Nervous, I noticed.” She wanted to chastise him for treating her like a child. Hard to do when he immediately leaned back and gave her the reims. “Good morning, gentlemen.” Rin took that chance and stepped inside the living room with a gentle smile. “Apologies for the delay.” Giving no details, trusting her father’s excuses.

She wasn’t disappointed when the leader stood up and bowed in greeting. A little stiff still, this time because he wasn’t used to bowing as an action, but respectful and considerate of the culture.

“No need to apologize, Lady Tohsaka. We understand how important research is for a magus.” The devil stood straight again and extended his hand. “My name is Nicolay, a humble servant of Gremory and temporary caretaker of Fuyuki.”

“Tohsaka Rin, Head of the Tohsaka Family. But of course you already knew that.” Both shook hands and Rin motioned for him to sit down again as her father positioned himself behind her. Aoi stood to the side ready and waiting. “Not that I don’t appreciate the visit but I doubt you came here to ask about our Family experience managing Fuyuki. It was so long ago that your Clan actually has more than us at this point.”

“Straight to business, huh? Lady Rias warned you weren’t one to beat around the bush.” The man tried to appear relaxed. He was failing miserably. “Usually we try to not involve third parties in our problems but this is a special case.”

Taking pity on the man Rin retorted with, “But I am not a third party, we both serve the same King. Well, I do serve Rias and she will one day be the Lady of Gremory so you can count on me.” She could almost hear her father wanting to protest. She ignored him and smiled kindly. “So think of me as an ally, even if I am not the magician you have a contract with.”

“An ally? Yes, yes I can do that.” Suddenly the man looked much more relaxed and even his bodyguards seemed relieved. “Sorry about my hesitation, things have been hectic lately and the blow back is being felt even here.”

“Oh, can we ask what happened?” Tokiomi couldn’t help himself.

Fortunately Nicolay didn't mind or didn’t know her father shouldn’t be talking at their meeting. “Partially because something happened in the Underworld a few days ago which means that we from the Gremory are understaffed. While the Sitri Clan didn’t mind picking some of our slack, the situation back home ruffled a lot of feathers, even if none of them was called back. Add that to the Youth Devil Gathering and both of our Clans, no, all Pillars are quite busy.” He winced slightly, blaming himself for something the magi in the rooms couldn’t know about. “I digress. The point is that we are short handed and something unusual is occurring in Fuyuki.”

“Interesting. So, without being able to get support from the Underworld you came to the closest allies you had, us.” Rin offered while drinking her tea, prompting the man to do the same. “Can’t fault you there. Don’t worry, my Family will do everything in their power to support our allies in any crises.”

Nicolay was clearly stressed and she wasn’t going to push him. “Thank you, my Lady.” He lowered his head again, showing true gratitude. Obviously the man was a little over his head and any support was more than welcome. “If things were a little different we wouldn’t be having this conversation but…”

“Hesitation isn’t going to do us any good.” Rin spoke firmly and confidently but without criticizing Nicolay. “Just tell us what is wrong and if we can help, we will.”

A pause later the devil began. “It started a few weeks ago, a week after ladies Rias and Sitri departed to the Underworld. Girls of various ages, ranging from 13 years old to their mid 20s started to disappear in random points of the city.” The Tohsaka Family members paused, trying to remember if they heard something about it. “Sometimes they were accompanied by their friends or family, other times they were alone in town coming back from work or just walking around. The most odd case happened to a runner in broad daylight.”

After some consideration Rin said, “We heard nothing about this.” She traded glances with her father and mother, both nodding in agreement.

Nicolay didn’t seem surprised. “We have managed to cover up most of the incidents.”

That made Rin frown. “You are saying we have a considerable number of people missing and you covered it up?”

Quickly the devil panicked and shook his head. “No, no, of course- No. The Gremory has contacts with the police and if we haven’t found any of the girls then we would be worried.”

“But you did find them? All of them?” Tokiomi asked for clarification.

“Yes, we successfully managed to locate and deliver every single one of the girls safely…” Nicolay hesitated as he organized his thoughts. “Perhaps those are the wrong words. We found the girls after whoever took them just abandoned them.”

“Abandoned them?” Tokiomi rubbed his goatee.

“Please don’t jump around the story.” Rin took control back carefully trying to keep her tone even. “You said the girls were missing then you say they were all found. How long they have been missing for.”

Nodding, Nicolay replied. “A day. Every single one of them.” That raised a few eyebrows.

“And that is evidence that they disappeared? How many?” Rin wasn’t willing to treat the man as a fool since his whole demeanor told her there was something else.

“Perhaps if it was just one or two cases. Even ten, with a city as big as Fuyuki, can be chalked up as people going to parties or perhaps just avoiding work…”

“But?”

“But they returned with no memory where they were and in the exact same place they went missing.” Concluded Nicolay which caught the Tohsakas’ attention. “Not only them but the men and the older women also couldn’t remember when or how the younger ones disappeared. In fact the case that caught our attention in the first place was when a young mother vanished leaving behind her daughter of just three in the middle of town all alone.” Folding his hands together he leaned forward. “For 24 hours the police tried to get into contact with her, the father of the child explaining his wife left early to take their girl to the park while he was at work. His story checked out as people from the area had called the police after hearing the girl crying for her mother for a few minutes.”

“They thought she had been kidnapped.” Which Rin believed was true.

"Correct. The event was so odd that waiting for a warrant was deemed pointless and the police quickly moved to investigate. And then she showed up…” Nicolay shrugged, as confused as his audience was. “One moment she wasn’t there and the next she was. People didn’t even realize she was the mother they were looking for until she started panicking that her child wasn’t there, not even aware she was missing for a day.”

“Then you started to look into it and other cases?”

“That is right, we noticed the pattern soon and fast as girls and young women who usually don’t stay out for the night without warning had their parents on police stations pretty much the moment they didn’t answer their cell phones.” Nicolay blinked, remembering something. “Oh, yes, any trinket they might have when disappearing may also return with them or just be gone since one of the girls was having ice cream and didn’t return with it or cell phones which ran out of battery.”

“But not a single call reached them…” Rin already dismissed time anomalies of any sort. “What else can you tell us?”

“Plenty, if you want I can forward a report but that isn’t the reason why I am here… We need your help.”

“How do you need my daughter’s help?” Aoi asked bluntly, a small suspicion growing in her chest.

One that Rin shared. “If only women have been disappearing I suspect some of your team-”

“None so far, that is why we need your help.”

Taking a deep breath, Rin wasn’t surprised. “You want me to be bait.”

“No, we would never…” Nicolay could see nobody, not even his subordinates were believing his words. All sounded better in his head and he knew it. “Look, the truth is that some women in my peerage tried to find whoever was taking the girls but for some reason they aren’t the right kind. We chalked it up to age.”

“And Rin is the right age.” Aoi didn’t like that one bit but a look from Tokiomi held her tongue.

Not her daughter’s. “So you want me to find an unknown anomaly, probably malicious, and deal with it?” She asked rhetorically. “Has anyone else from the moonlit world been caught? And what happened to the girls after they returned?”

“Yes, some of your classmates connected to our world have been abducted. Like the other girls they were returned unharmed and with no signs of anything having happened to their person.”

Tokiomi frowned. “Nothing at all? What did you check, exactly?”

“Everything we could.” Nicolay sounded frustrated, nobody blamed him. “Bite marks, drugs, mana tampering, magic absorption, we even got a Senjutsu user to check for tampering in their lifeforce. We found nothing.” His hands began to shake as he held himself back. “After all that the girls just return, no memory, no alteration we can perceive and no wounds whatsoever. Abe Kiyome, from your school, reported some of her familiars were wounded and one is missing but the fact is that the girl herself is fine.”

Rin held her chin in thought. “But if her familiar was wounded we know there was some sort of memory tampering. Else Abe-san wouldn’t summon a familiar for combat in the first place.”

Outside her friendship circle Abe Kiyome was considered quite strong, a Beast Tamer with the ability to summon dozens of different creatures to aid her in all sorts of situations and Rin could recall from the trials to be Rias’ Magician none of them was weak.

Technically Rin didn’t need to accept the job in any capacity, she was Rias’ subordinate and held the same rank as the devil in front of her for all intents and purposes. However the idea of leaving things unattended, especially when sister could be outside, vanishes and has something done to her. Something that the best of the best in their line of work couldn’t identify.

No, that situation was completely unacceptable to Tohsaka Rin. “Of course I will help. Nothing wrong in helping a coworker in a bind.” She felt the eyes from her family at her back but Nicolay and his subordinates let out sighs of relief. “Did you get Abe-san’s testimony? Checked her familiars?”

“Of course! I mean.” Cleaning his throat the man held his enthusiasm back. “Miss Abe described some of them were wounded by claws and her harpy is missing. She can’t feel any connection so we presume it was killed in combat.”

“That is little more than nothing.” Tokiomi didn’t express his discontent for his daughter taking the job and his poker face was flawless.

Rin could tell he was something between irritated and frustrated. “That is something. Claws indicate an animal of some sort and yet… Possibly someone else’s familiar?”

“We considered the same but this is just conjecture. No evidence.” Admitted the devil.

“Still perhaps that is why Abe-san was dealt with relative ease.” A possibility Rin needed to consider if she found the culprit. And have to face them in battle. “And you are absolutely sure nothing happened with the returned women?”

Nicolay gave her his most serious expression so far. “No, no matter what the specialists said I can’t say nothing happened with absolute confidence. I have my peerage’s familiars, teams of devils and the police watching over some of the girls, especially those with mana or had other connections to the moonlit world.” He shrugged his shoulders and hands, still obviously frustrated. “But there is nothing, absolutely nothing. At least nothing we can find.”

“No one disappears for a day without something happening. At least we are dealing with an enemy with an extremely high skill level of mental manipulation.” One with unknown goals and methods. “Will I have back up?”

“Of course. We already negotiated with my Sitri counterpart and all my peerage will be following you wherever you go.”

“Fantastic.” Rin stood up and the man followed her lead for a handshake. “I will be counting on you out there, Nicolay-san.”

“Us from Gremory refuse to leave each other behind.” The man said with conviction.

“I will need an hour to get everything ready, just in case. I am sure you understand.”

“Your art is Jewelcraft, obviously you are going to need it against an unknown enemy.” Nicolay and his subordinates moved to the exit with Rin and Aoi as guides. “Take your time and get ready. I want to believe that with us watching nothing is going to go wrong but-”

“‘No plan survives contact with the enemy’. It can be a boundary field or some creature's ability. It can be magecraft or maybe it isn't.” All they really had was people disappearing and coming back apparently unharmed. It wasn’t close to enough for anyone to feel safe. “Don’t worry, we are going to crack the case and find the culprit today.”

It wasn’t just empty bravado either as Rin already had several gems that would make it easier to detect boundary fields and mana inconsistencies around the town. About combat she was also well prepared and equally confident as, thanks to Rias and Shirou’s leftover materials, she had several options that could deal with pretty much anyone.

Rin also was gambling that the culprit was a magician of some sort, probably a magus if she had to guess as the MO was too subtle for a spellcaster. Perhaps a Stray Devil could be the culprit but nobody was raising that possibility for one simple reason; nobody died yet.

While the preferable outcome was everyone staying alive, that also implied something had to happen or that those people were living for some sort of purpose.

‘Please don’t be another Fuyuki Fire in the making, I beg you.’ From the outside Rin smiled at the devils. “So I will find you in the main hotel when I am done?”

“No, we are going to wait here just to be safe.” Nicolay said calmly, raising a hand as Rin was about to protest. “You can take your time getting ready but we aren’t going to risk it. As far as we know the moment you leave your residence you may already be in peril.”

Mildly irritated but understanding the devil’s point, Rin nodded and made the necessary calculations to not only prepare her gems but also to dress into something inconspicuous.

“Half an hour should be enough. Do you want to wait inside then?”

The devils looked towards each other and Nicolay shook his head. “Don’t worry about us. It will be a decent break and we are even having a smoke.” The man concluded by revealing a pack of cigarettes.

“Unless you don’t mind us smoking in your house?” One of the bodyguards spoke, a brunette with a small smile.

“Not in this house you won’t.” Aoi replied gently, her poker face as good as her husband’s.

Enough had been said and the devils moved outside of the property while three fourths of the Tohsaka Family moved towards the main office. To say the parents were worried would be an understanding and by the looks Aoi was giving Tokiomi she clearly wanted him to do something.

Problem was the man wasn’t the Head of the Family anymore, Rin who was both the Head and the main source of income for the whole house. Sure he was her father, older and helped with management but that was at her behest. If Rin wanted to do something, while mundane laws would give him arguments, the moonlit world would spit on his face.

He could, however, raise their concerns. “Are you sure this is the best move? With enough time perhaps the devils will be able to do something themselves.”

“You heard them, they exhausted every other resource and outside assistance. They need someone who is the right age and competent enough to hold her own.”

With a wave of her hand the office’s old clock moved to open and reveal a shelf with several sorts of jewels, all brimming with mana. There were bracelets, earrings, necklaces of every kind with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and all sorts of precious stones.

The average person would see it as a fancy locker with expensive jewelry, Rin and anyone who practiced her craft would call it an arsenal.

“Still, you shouldn’t risk yourself. Your duty is to Rias Gremory and only her has your loyalty. There is no reason for you to risk your life and position-”

‘Here we go.’ Rin would have rolled her eyes if they weren’t fixed on finding the best for the job.

“-for every devil who knocks our door, part of the Gremory Clan or not.” Tokiomi hit his cane on the floor to get her attention but Rin shrugged him off. The days she hung to his every word were long gone. “There is nothing to gain on this endeavor other than risk your security and-”

“If you say ‘Tohsaka legacy’ I am stomping your foot.” Rin commented with a ruby in each hand.

Tokiomi took it in stride. “You may not care about your life but we do.”

“It will be fine, nothing is going to happen.” She threw a ruby in a box on the shelf and opened a cabinet full of rings.

“And if it does happen? You are smart enough to know something extremely suspicious is happening in Fuyuki. Right when the Second Owners are out.”

“And I remember you telling me our proud story when the Tohsaka Family was the Second Owner of Fuyuki.” Debating with herself Rin decided there was no problem in taking more than one ring. She had ten fingers after all. “Shouldn't you be worried about Rias getting upset if I don’t help?”

“... I am.” To the surprise of no one. “Our connection with her saved our family from ruin, I will never insult the accomplishments or sacrifices to gain it.”

“Then there is no-”

“Sacrifices your sister will be burdened with if something happens to you.”

Rin paused her search and glared at her father. “That is a low blow.”

Tokiomi smiled sadly. “I will gladly be the villain for the sake of my children.”

“Then you won’t have any problems telling Sakura that she can’t go out with her friends today.” As usual his face presented no changes but Rin counted the lack of an immediate retort as a win.

“Can you two stop the games?” Aoi demanded with a furious but concerned look focused on her daughter. “Rin, this is far too dangerous, magus or not.”

“Oka-”

Aoi gave her daughter a look she never gave before. “Don’t try to wiggle your way out of this. My magical education may be lacking but I am not an idiot.” The sort of look built with pure rage and impotency as she knew there was little she could do. “You are going against an enemy you know nothing about, pretty much alone.”

“The Gremory Peerage will be there to watch my back. Besides, you didn’t complain about the Caliburn Incident.”

“Because we only learned everything after the fact.” Aoi replied with rage that had Rin flinching.

“Also you weren’t part of the main fight and had far more support.” Tokiomi added and his wife nodded before her eyes growing soft.

“You had Gremory-sama’s support last time. Hers, Emiya-sama and his bodyguard.”

‘Seriously, she had to bring that guy up.’ It took a lot for Rin’s eyebrow to not twitch. “Didn’t I say that he only became the Gremory Magician because of me?”

“And how would you have solved Caliburn’s problem without them?” Aoi replied with folded arms. “Could you have done better if you were the Magician of Gremory?”

“That was that. This is a completely different situation.”

“An unknown enemy with mysterious plans. All you need is a Holy Sword missing and it is a reprisal!”

Aoi wasn’t one to raise her voice and she stood there, half stuck, after she had done it. Rin found the whole experience surreal and didn’t legitimately know how to reply.

“Your mother is right.” Finally Tokiomi said softly. “There are too many variables for this to be considered safe.”

“Which is why the devils came to us. To me.” Rin made sure to look at both of her parents. “So I am going to do this, because the idea of leaving things unattended leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“I see.” Aoi didn’t like her husband’s resigned tone. She liked even less when he broke the gem on his staff and offered it to their daughter. “Here.” Rin blinked, surprised and not knowing what to do.

“Tokiomi.” It has been a long time since she chastised him in any way but the mother looked ready to have a fight.

Her husband shot both of them a look before saying, “‘To be a magus is to walk with Death’. This is just another challenge that our daughter found herself in and as any proper magus we must do whatever is necessary to maximize her chances of success.” He offered his gem again, a huge ruby the size of Rin’s fist, and she took it. “I have been filling it with extra mana since the conversation turned to a deeper investigation. Most of it had to be focused on a single spell.”

Rin studied the ruby with all her senses, her eyes growing wide with how much mana the precious stone had before they turned to Tokiomi. His posture was as elegant as ever except she could see the signs of exhaustion on him. It was a small thing, his shoulder slightly down and his skin a little pale, but it was there because the man couldn’t hide them.

Not that she could blame him as the ruby was brimming with mana, enough so that Rin knew it had to be at least half of her father’s reserves. That wasn’t there before, previously the ruby on his cane was more of a medium, a magic wand for some spells with the gem carrying the burden of casting instead of his magic circuits.

And he had done it smoothly while standing in the meeting and keeping up conversation like he wasn’t actually transferring mana inside the gem so discreetly that nobody, including his daughter, detected it.

“Since it is a fire spell I also would recommend carrying with you the proper protections.” He continued, not bothered at all by her silence. “Thanks to my contributions while Head you have plenty of options. I also recommend you take something to deal with flight, either for pursuit or your own escape.”

“Thank you, Otou-san.” Rin couldn’t help herself as he was giving her his best weapon while also giving legitimate good advice.

Tokiomi nodded, turning to Aoi when the woman looked more confused. “As it stands our daughter is already a grown up. We can only trust her.” His wife nodded and he looked back at Rin. “Now, if you could just start negotiations to get a husband-”

“Here we go again.”

“I am just saying that thanks to many factors you have plenty of quality candidates for a husband if you are so interested. Even if not for love then you should start considering the idea of continuing our lineage.”

‘...5, 4, 3, 2, 1…’

“And from what I gathered the Mage of Swords remains single and-”

“Oh stop it already.” Rin was just a step away from throwing a spell at her father to silence him.

The man took the hint, raising his now gemless cane in surrender before looking at her with worry and shaking his head. “Funny how you are so excited to do some parts of your duty and ignore the others.” His expression grew serious again. “But I expect you to return from this mission, Rin. As the Head of Tohsaka you have an obligation. Certainly you don’t expect your sister to take that duty.”

“Again, low blow.”

Face unflappable, Tokiomi lectured. “Which you should expect, especially if your opponent is a magus.” His daughter gave him no reaction but the man knew she was listening. “We already established it isn’t a spellcaster and a magus is the most logical outcome. Some sort of ritual may be at play again in Fuyuki. This may be a coincidence…”

“Or perhaps not…” Rin paused to hold her chin in deep thought.

Aoi quickly realized what they were implying. “You think the person responsible for the fire is back?”

While not a part of it, none of the Tohsaka Family was, they all remembered the tragedy and consequences of the Fuyuki Fire. The Mage of Swords, the sole confirmed survivor, came close to having an attack of some sort in their own house because of said ritual.

“The devils didn’t mentioned that-”

“Because they may not even have considered it.” Rin explained to her mother, her jewelry selected. As his daughter began to wear the precious stones that may save her life, Tokiomi approached to help fix them. “If Rias can be used as exemple, most devils don’t care about rituals, at least not of the magic kind. They are too focused on their own magic and politics to develop anything new.”

“But that-” Aoi feared the possibilities.

Another fire, another tragedy and her daughter was throwing herself at it.

“It is just a hypothesis.” Tokiomi pointed out while stepping back. “And a very improbable one at best. The previous ritual left too many victims for the methods to change so drastically.” He wasn’t just saying it for his wife's sake either, it was his honest opinion.

Rin for her part would just accept his words anyway. “Whoever they are, I will deal with them.” She turned around confidently, each finger with a gem brimming with mana, earrings stronger than grenades and her necklace capable of taking down a building. Throwing her father’s favorite gem up and down, she smiled. “Now I will get some pants to hide this.” She loved how her father frowned and how she was treating his ruby.

Elegant or not, Tokiomi had his limits and Rin was starting to learn all the right buttons to push.

…

“I already said you girls are worrying too much.”

“Sorry to say, Master, but we aren’t. Last time you left our sight you ended up kidnapped.”

“She has you there, Shiro~” His arm grew heavier as his first lover hugged it tightly. “Besides, you already got bathroom privileges. Outside of showers, at least~”

A grunt escaped Shirou’s lips as he massaged his face and Rias giggled by his side. The two were walking around Gremory Castle, exploring mostly as the Heiress wanted to show her lover everything she could. Their pace was slow despite Shirou already having recovered from his ordeal.

In Rias’ words “You worked the whole summer. Time for a break or I swear I will tie you up to the bed and force you to relax.”

Proof of her commitment to relaxation was that contrary to Xenovia, who was walking with Durandal every day and ready for anything with different versions of her combat uniform beneath normal clothes, she was dressed for a stroll and relaxation.

A simple wine colored top and jeans were all she chose for the day, as she did many others. During training she explained that Kiritsugu hadn’t enforced any sort of dress code but the training itself had demanded baggy clothes for protection and survival. And most of them were destroyed during it but the redhead didn’t mind the losses.

No, she was proud of her accomplishments and the only reason why she wasn’t celebrating surviving the Magus Killer training regime was because her training had been cut short a little earlier when Shirou was teleported into Gremory Castle while having a seizure.

Odin himself said the Mage would need his rest, or better yet, Azazel claimed the god had said and Rias wasn’t going to let Shirou do anything himself for days if she could help it.

Didn’t help matters that pretty much everyone, including his father, agreed with the Crimson Princess of Ruin’s feelings. Kiritsugu didn’t stay long once he knew that his youngest child was safe but he made sure to tell him, in no uncertain terms, that if he tried to get any work he would hear from his mother.

At which point the Mage of Swords knew he was absolutely without allies as Emiya Kiritsugu passed his son’s protection to Rias without ceremony in a huge show of confidence that had the Heiress nodding stoically but resolutely.

It was easy to see that the two bonded, somehow, during their training as while Kiritsugu was as expressive as ever Rias understood him enough to agree wholeheartedly without words.

She even called him ‘father’ and Kiritsugu even accepted the title much to the actual son’s surprise.

On one hand Shirou was proud that Rias managed to get along with both his parents on the other he was afraid to ask details about their training when one night she jumped up from bed with a huge ball of mana ready to blow up part of the castle’s wall when Xenovia showed up to ask if she could join them.

At the time Shirou was too weak for them to be doing anything but the bluehead wasn’t interested in that. “I left him out of my sight for a second and things went to shit. Not on my watch, not again.”

Suffice to say if there were any doubts that Rias wasn’t going to approve of Xenovia’s relationship with him they died then and there. However she added a proviso that if possible she wanted to have children first and the two went on a round of negotiating that Shirou tried his hardest to ignore and sleep by.

The reason for his mental fatigue wasn’t just the torture either but what Odin did to him just as he met the god.

Later Medusa did her best to explain what exactly had happened and why he now had an encyclopedia of rune knowledge of which he could only use to write one when putting it all together.

‘Goddamned they are still swerving on my vision.’ Shirou took advantage of the hand already on his face to scratch his eyes.

“A headache?" Rias asked immediately upon seeing his expression. “Did Odin actually screw up? Should we call the doctors-”

“No, no. I am fine. They are still jumping on my vision. Azazel said it would take a few days for the information to settle down.” He also recommended Shirou to write them in some blank swords on his Reality Marble to try and streamline the process.

If it was working or not the redhead couldn’t affirm or deny.

“Maybe I should call Asia a little sooner.”

“Buchou, you may have finished your training but Asia is just finishing hers.” Xenovia shot the idea down bluntly, her eyes scanning for threats.

The bluehead swordswoman was far less jumpy than she had been the day Shirou woke up, blaming herself for him falling on Lakmia’s trap and then losing consciousness because of a god’s whims.

Took some effort from the redheads to calm her down but she was still watching everywhere despite them being in the castle and one of the most secure locations on Gremory Territory. Zeoticus personally swore that nobody of his Clan would ever harm Shirou again, lowering his head more than a Lord should all the while begging for his forgiveness.

Even if they couldn’t see them outside they knew there were extra patrols flying around as a small army ran around Runeas to hunt Lakmia’s allies and contacts. The woman’s death didn’t help matters as there were many stones to turn, some of which revealed the extent of her crimes which in turn made Zeoticus feel worse for not catching her earlier.

Shirou didn’t blame the older redhead, nor his lover who was still concerned for his health. “But maybe Asia can help him. Twilight Healing-”

“Can’t heal fatigue.” The Mage of Swords pointed out. “Besides, I am a lot better already. It is just runes jumping around because Odin is a careless son of a bitch.” Suffice to say that from all gods he had met he still only liked Medusa.

Xenovia nodded in agreement behind them. “True. That old bastard could at least have given a warning, poor Rossweisse.” All her sympathies went to the Valkyrie who half panicked with what Odin had done and begged for forgiveness before leaving because her god was bored. “Master is strong anyway. A little exhaustion won’t have him down for long.”

“Enough for you two to let it go as well?”

““Rejected.”” They replied with the same thing.

The duo’s relationship had changed now they both shared the same lover and if anything Shirou was surprised by the development. He didn’t exactly expect a fight, Rias made clear she wanted him happy at all cost and didn’t mind sharing him, but they grew to be great friends in a matter of days.

Previously the Heiress of the Gremory treated Xenovia cordially but distantly, not bothering too much with her outside of her own whims. The former Exorcist was Shirou’s subordinate and so she got special treatment but not by much and besides taking her shopping to play around their contact was rather minimal.

For her part the knight dreaded whenever Rias wanted to take her somewhere shopping and also kept a polite but professional relationship with the redhead because of her position on Shirou’s circle.

Weeks went by and they lived in the same house together without picking many fights, being friendly but not being overall friends.

That changed and now they were without a doubt friends, of that the Mage knew as a fact. They laughed more when together, actively seeked one another even when he was in the room and even gossiped to each other. Xenovia wouldn’t touch gossip with a ten foot pole before but if it was about him apparently she was fine doing it.

Because the two learned to get along from their, to quote, ‘share struggle to stop a fool from being a fool’ as Rias had told him out loud when he asked. Then they laughed and the redhead was just happy they were happy. He also laughed out loud the first time Xenovia asked if the three should share a bed and Rias actively stuttered.

All the bluehead had done was being her usual self and Rias was completely caught off guard as the idea of laying with a woman as well had never crossed her mind. The knight had explained she only wanted to be around as a guard either but things got even funnier for the Mage when she mentioned she did wanted to try and have a threesome.

Good thing Shirou had recovered enough by then because he laughed so hard that he almost passed out again.

“Maybe Asia’s sacred gear can work against mental fatigue.” Rias insisted on her previous suggestion. “No, wait, she went to spend time with doctors and not psychiatrists.”

Mage and knight look at each other with mirth before the latter said, “I don’t think that is how it works. Or is it?”

"Definitely not.” Shirou replied to the best of his knowledge, letting out a sigh. “All things equal, Asia will be back here in a few days. Let it go already.”

“Maybe I would if you go back to bed.” Rias suggested, a coy smile on her lips. “I can make it worth it.”

“Let me stretch my legs a little, woman.”

Xenovia raised a hand. “When is it going to be my turn?”

“You had a month with him and he had to rest for a day.” The Heiress replied with a pout.

The blue haired woman accepted the argument. “Two more days and I get him then?”

“Sure.”

“I will-” Slowly Shirou lowered his finger. “Just accept that.” Considering the lovers he had no argument would get him a win. “But I should remind you girls that Akeno also has her turn.”

“Speaking of her, we should be close.” Rias whispered with a smile. “Just around this corner…”

Didn’t take long for Shirou and Xenovia to hear music playing from a distance. There was the sound of a piano and a voice that while melodic also was a little parched for the lack of use on certain tunes. The singer was doing her best but certain pitches came higher than they should be.

They all knew who was singing already for it was by a goddess decree that person would sing, both out of dedication and also as punishment. Some enthusiasm was being applied to the task but it was unfamiliar enough for the singer that she was failing in some places far and between each other.

Yet she kept going with dedication singing a simple lullaby for practice, the sort of song that a mother would offer to her child to keep nightmares away while being accompanied by a piano which played every note perfectly even when the singer lost her rhythm or helped the singer recover her bearings.

Soon they reached the end of the song.

“Very good, very good. You are getting better at this, Akeno.” Venelana gentle and sweet voice reassured the girl.

“Can I get some rest now?” Akeno requested kindly and almost fearfully.

“No, because you are still being punished. That will teach you to not walk into obvious traps.”

“Or wait for reinforcements.” Rias added to the goddess' words as they entered the music room of the castle.

As far as rooms went that was one of the biggest in Gremory Castle with lots of seats for a small audience and orchestra. There was a small stand with three steps and a few meters of length, enough for a small band. In the shelves around the room there were several cheats of music or pictures and paintings of people with instruments.

String instruments and its cases rested to one side as a piano dominated the center of the room. It was a huge thing made of black wood and very well polished. There were some traces of magic around it but it was just for preservation and restoration as those of its kind weren’t made anymore.

“Shirou-kun, they are being mean to me.” Akeno stated dramatically, throwing herself in his arms and hiding her face in his neck. She was in a yellow short sleeved shirt and shorts.

“We aren’t being mean, just making sure you don’t go down a dangerous basement again.” Medusa stated while sitting in a comfortable chair in her usual clothes. “That and also getting some practice in.”

Turning around the ravenhead let herself rest on the Mage’s arms who chuckled as she held her forehead dramatically. “But it is so much. Singing is too exhaustive…” Opening one eye she looked at Medusa defiantly. “Also I don’t remember agreeing with this when I asked to be your priestess.”

“Well, you are the High Priestess, I am your goddess and you are singing.” There was some humor in her tone but also held a challenge.

A challenge that Akeno refused to rise against directly. “What a demanding goddess I have.” Most of the room couldn’t help but chuckle.

The purple haired goddess glared at her protector who shared in the majorities’ mirth. “I blame you for this.”

Shirou shot back with, “It is an honor,” making the goddess pout and priestess giggle before her expression turned serious.

“How have you been doing, my protector? Still feeling the urge to draw runes?”

“You know I am.” Lamented the redhead for that was what bathered at his mind constantly, runes and the need to work with them. At least one of them, the only Primeval one he received. “It will work, won’t it?”

“Yes, of that I have no doubt.” Medusa replied with a smile. “Despite his careless and obnoxious nature, Odin is a real God of Knowledge and the information he gives can’t be faulty. Perhaps a lie or a trick, or being given under bad circumstances…” It was her dig at the Old Man of the North for forcing Shirou to pass out after his ordeal. “But never faulty by itself, such is the nature of a God of Knowledge.”

Previously the purple haired child had explained how Odin’s Domain gave him abilities different from hers in the deepest levels of their existence. Where she could Charm a crowd or ease their minds to see her point of view, the Former King of Asgard can Teach them anything he knew to an extent.

There were limits to how much the mind could process and with how exhausted Shirou was a whole new alphabet finally hit his limit but the point was that the intent wasn’t harmful by itself since the goal of Knowledge was to eventually be shared.

“I doubt he could harm you with too much information even if he wanted.”

“Because Knowledge by itself isn't harmful.” Shirou shared his thoughts.

“Pretty much. That or your mind would shut down before too much information got in. Just be careful to not pass out on me again.” Medusa commented with humor and a giggle.

A giggle shared with the person on the piano. “Undoubtedly that won’t happen as the Mage of Swords now knows the Old Man’s tricks. But let's talk about a more pleasant subject.” Her eyes rested on Akeno who was tired but knew from experience that practice was not over. “I have been intending to teach the art of music to someone in Rias’ peerage for a while. The most that I got was to give Kiba a few dancing lessons.” Venelana said in a long purple Victorian dress. “So for that I shall be forever grateful, Lady Medusa.”

“In that case would you be interested in joining my new religion?” Medusa raised a book from somewhere. It had less than one hundred pages, a purple cover with two snakes dancing and the goddess was proud of it. “We incentivise the arts, knowledge and beauty.”

“Oh, really?” Venelana sounded legitimately curious and didn’t hesitate to grab the book. “‘Hair care and its importance’ has its own chapter?”

Medusa nodded with great confidence. “Of course. It is a symbol of status and beauty.”

Approaching her lover’s ear, Rias spoke loud enough for everyone close to hear. “Is she trying to convert a devil?”

“Apparently.” Akeno sounded amused and endeared. “She has been working with most of your staff since yesterday. Didn’t you notice?”

“I have been…” She started by looking at Shirou who raised his eyebrow daring her to use him as an excuse. “Busy keeping this guy from working again.” He let out a sigh and the girls smiled. “In either case, how is practice going?”

"Poorly.” Akeno sounded mildly depressed.

“Are you kidding? You were doing great.” Shirou commented honestly, Xenovia nodding by his side.

“Your voice is much better than before. No doubt the voice of an angel.”

Seeing Akeno glare at Xenovia and Rias almost laughing. “Fufufufu, that is something devils like us are often left behind.” She hugged her Queen’s side. “And you are just going to get better. Who knows, maybe when Medusa is in power we will have a devil singing in churches?”

“You know I am not really…” Then Akeno noticed the expression Rias was doing and let out a sigh.

“Hybrid or not, you are always going to be a sadistic devil in my eyes.”

Akeno smiled at her best friend. “Thanks for the compliment.”

“Of course.”

Smiling at the interaction, Shirou looked around before frowning. “Where is Liz? Did she run to the kitchen or did Medusa try to rope her in dancing again?”

Venelana turned to the Mage pensively. “Young Gasper requested Leysritt for some training. The poor boy is frustrated because he needs to be carried away, calling himself weak.” By her tone she was slightly concerned, something Rias shared. Then the Matriarch of Gremory smiled. “It is good to see you on your feet, Shirou. Apologies for not visiting much.”

‘She dropped by four times in one day.’ If he stayed longer he had no doubt only Rias and Zeoticus would be around for longer in his bed, both feeling extremely guilty for Lakmia’s actions. Although he also was sure Rias would be glued to him anyway due to how affectionate she was. “I am fine, ma’am.”

“No, no. None of this ma’am business. Actually, come here.” Approaching faster than anyone expected Venelana seized Shirou’s arm and dragged him deeper in the music room, almost dropping Akeno on the ground. “Your father wasn’t able to tell me this but do you play any instrument, Shirou?”

“Ah, no. I-”

“And singing? What about singing?” At her mother’s question Rias fully understood what was going on and found herself uncertain if she should stop the next sequence of events or grab some popcorn.

She compromised into folding her arms and watching as her mother dragged him to the piano and began to instruct on how to play it. “Oh my, are we really going to let this happen?” Akeno asked, interrupting Rias’ train of thought.

“Don’t know why you are so amused.” Began the redhead with a smile. “You are going to sing whatever he plays, no?”

“But he is going to need some time to play right. Maybe a couple of hours?” Commented the Queen with dancing eyebrows that had both of them giggling.

Xenovia stepped past them and sat next to Medusa. “Does Shiro also need to learn how to play because he is your Champion?”

“I never considered it but it would certainly be optimal.”

The Mage heard both conversations and felt slightly betrayed. ‘Really wishing that I had tried to pick a violin when Setsuna offered.’ Then at least he would have some argument to jump off what he would expect was a car racing to a crash. “Ma’am-”

“Call me Lana. We are going to be family one day, at least I hope.”

“... Lana-san.” The brunette looked pleased by it. “I am not the most musically inclined person. Never really took the time to-”

"Nonsense. For generations the Gremory and their consorts have all mastered at least one type of instrument and composed some sort of music.” With a wave of her hand a music sheet flew from its resting place to her hand. “Every Clan has their own traditions and thankfully ours has one of the best that gives birth to gems like this one.” She offered it to him.

Unfortunately the redhead couldn’t read anything, not the letters from the Underworld’s alphabet nor the typical notes that could be found anywhere. “Sorry but what is this?”

“An opera written by my beloved Zeoticus to me during the days of our courtship.” Venelana was extremely proud of the fact. “Like any who carries the name Gremory he was taught music from an early age and managed to compose this piece when he offered me his heart. To me it is the most sweet of melodies.”

While her mother was reminiscing a very pleasant memory Rias approached her lover and whispered. “It is a good one, not spectacular by any means but still a good few hours if you are interested.”

“Maybe later. For now it is time for Shirou to learn how to play an instrument and I can’t think of one better than the piano.” Venelana said while patting the thing affectionately. “This one has been in our family for generations, one of the first of its kind. Both of my children learned much from it.” Her voice was full of nostalgia.

One could see Rias shivering if they paid attention enough.

Venelana wouldn't see even if she wasn’t lost in her excitement. “As a future consort of the Gremory it is only appropriate that you also learn per tradition.”

Turning around Shirou said to Rias, “Did Riser have to do the same thing?”

It was supposed to be a joke that while his lover caught it, Venelana looked a little upset by the comment. “I haven’t the slightest idea but almost everyone from the Gremory can play an instrument or another.” Still the idea of the Phenex fumbling learning an instrument made her smile. “While some nobles and other Clans also value other skills besides combat, music was always something we always prided ourselves of.”

“I am really starting to like this Clan.” Medusa sounded chipper and excited, the idea of asking more of them to join her new religion growing stronger.

“Everyone?” He turned to Akeno.

Who raised a finger in protest and let a spark of Lightning for all to see. “Yes, Shirou-kun? Anything you want to ask?”

“Just gonna say you already had the makings of an idol.” The teasing was interrupted when Venelana cleared her throat.

“While we could take some time to speak of Akeno and her harp,” the Matriarch pointed to the instrument resting on a corner and it was the ravenhead’s turn to shiver, “we must get practice fast if we want to help her voice to reach the level of a diva.”

“Absolutely.” Medusa was all for the idea.

Shirou wasn’t so sure. “Then, if it is for Akeno’s sake, shouldn't you be leading?”

Hands landed on his shoulder and the redhead didn’t need to guess who they belonged to. “No, no, Shirou-kun. Please give us your best effort.” Akeno's smile was both beautiful and dangerous. “Do your best.”

Clearly she wanted a break from her lessons and, with a sigh, Shirou wasn’t going to deny her that. “Where should I start?”

“Try and play something.” Venelana’s reply surprised the magus. “Some people are able to play by ear or just learn by doing. Give it a try.” She played some keys and a simple but nice melody escaped the instrument. “Try and repeat that or even mix other notes if you feel like it. Then we can talk about how to read music notes and everything else.”

Shirou had a distinct impression that ‘everything else’ was going to be a lot and he wouldn't have time for it. Still he made his best effort, repeating her moves flawlessly while also experimenting with some keys. Contrary to the melody Venelana presented him with, his own attempts were poor at best.

No one complained about his lack of skill, at least until he started to look uncomfortable. “Shiro, try like this.” Rias sat besides in the piano’s bench which had enough space for them and one more. “Follow me and try to not fumble~”

Contrary to her lover’s attempts, Rias’ was pretty much perfect.

It was obviously born of practice by how her fingers seamlessly moved around the keys with precision, contrary to Shirou’s attempt where he kept stumbling and looking where he was pressing.

Didn’t take long for the Heiress to finish the song and a small clap to fill the room as Venelana, Xenovia and Medusa congratulated Rias for her small presentation.

However Shirou could see that his lover really wasn’t comfortable with it. “You really don’t like the piano.”

“Oh, I hate it.” Admitted Rias with her shoulders dropping. Akeno almost couldn’t help herself and had to hold back a laugh.

Venelana sighed in familiar disappointment. “I don’t know why. You grew quickly skilled with it. A real master if I can say so myself.”

“With how many lessons you gave me, mother, anything else would be a disappointment even to myself.” Rias said while relaxing her head on Shirou’s shoulder. “So many hours of torture…”

The Gremory brunette rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. Your brother didn’t complain that much and he still works on his music whenever possible.”

“Lucifer writes songs as well? Does he do it to sell and gather souls?” Xenovia asked half jokingly.

That one got Venelana chuckling. “My son doesn’t need proxies to show his talent. His plays and music are always hits. Had he been born outside of the Gremory he would have reached fame with his musical talent alone.”

“As you all can see, he is the talented one.” Rias stated with pride as she pointed to several musical sheets, all penned by the same hand with Sirzechs’ name from what all could understand. “Mother is right; if he didn’t need to be Lucifer or a Lord, onii-sama would get rich by just selling these. Instead he gives them away to charity. Lots of people pay to see his work.”

“And that piano was the first step on it? Fascinating…” Medusa came closer to inspect the instrument. “His hair is also of excellent quality and care. Perhaps I should approve of men in my religion after all.” Then her eyes landed on Rias. "Although, Rias’ hair is still more luxurious and bright. Are you sure you don’t want to join?”

"With Akeno as my High Priestess? She is never going to let me live it down.”

“I certainly will not.”

Both women were playing around, earning a pout from Medusa who was being serious, but Shirou’s mind was far away from it as he stared at the piano and an idea clicked in his head.

‘Rias, Sirzechs, Zeoticus… This piano is old and many people played it. It has a History.’ Staring at the piano the idea’s roots spread faster in his mind. ‘It is all connected, the past builds the present.’ His fingers gently brushed the keys and his circuits grew warm.

All conversation stopped as Shirou began to play a tune with far more consistency than before. It was fast paced too, something he had failed to produce just a few seconds ago and yet this time he was succeeding even if his movements were still stiff. The devils quickly recognized the music while Xenovia was sure she heard it somewhere before on TV.

“What is this song?” Medusa questioned as she studied her protector’s moves. ‘His eyes are closed?’

“That is from Carmen.” Venelana identified quickly. “Are you a fan of operas, Shirou?”

“No, but you are.” Shirou replied playfully, Akeno already suspecting something fishy as her senses warned about his use of mana. “What about this one?” His hands moved a little and the tone grew louder with a slower tempo.

But was immediately recognizable. “That is Tchaikovsky.” Venelana got it right again.

“Just hearing that has me wishing to blow up the Old Bailey.” Xenovia commented off hand, earning a look from the other women in the room. “What? Ever since I left the Church I got the chance to watch a lot of movies… And read some comics.” She wasn’t made of iron but the reference was still mostly lost to those present.

“Just warn me if you need a Guy Fawkes mask.” All eyes turned to Shirou who chuckled. “Dad likes to watch movies from people trying to take down governments and point out what they are doing wrong.”

“He does?!” Rias was shocked as the image of her most recent teacher, the Magus Killer, having fun like that could never cross her mind.

Which didn’t surprise her lover. “Sure does. You only met him during ‘work’. Just wait until we can all spend some time together without worries and you will see how laid back he can be.”

Then the melody changed again as Shirou began to play a happier, almost whimsical beat. Mana was practically dancing on his finger for enough people to notice he was actively using it.

However Akeno was the one who caught on first. “Shirou-kun is cheating.” That surprised the members of Gremory while Medusa chuckled upon deducing the same.

“I would call it ‘faking’, thank you very much.”

“You are using Structural Analysis to reproduce the piano’s History. That can only be called cheating.” Akeno revealed, helping the Gremories and Xenovia realize exactly what was happening.

“Oh no, that is just cheating alright.” Rias grabbed her lover’s cheek and pulled just to be a bother. “So you are using our skills to play better? The first one was my mother’s and I remember playing Tchaikovsky when I was learning.”

Had pain not been an old friend, Shirou wouldn’t be able to reply, “To be fair that is a really complicated song once and couldn’t do it without you.” He finished it quickly before moving to one of her favorites, one of the character’s themes of her favorite anime. “Perhaps a golden wind will cheer you up?”

“Don’t be coy.” Still the Heiress let his cheek go with a smile. “Still, to think magecraft could be used to learn music.”

“Oi, this isn’t learning at all and a piano isn’t a sword.” Shirou reminded her. “Unlike swords, this isn’t compatible with me at all. The moment I take my hands off the piano,” and he did just that for effect, “I lose the skills you guys develop on it.”

Venelana, who knew little about magecraft, approached with wide eyes.“But you can get them back just by touching it, right? Just by touching it?”

Akeno was also curious and used her own Structural Analysis to see if she could get anything. “Not necessarily. Shirou-kun’s skill is off the charts when it comes to Reinforcement so besides seeing the History of the piano he is also capable of replicating the effects down to the letter.” She let it go a second later. “I doubt anyone else could do the same unless they also specialize in that particular discipline.”

“Therefore nobody else can since my protector is a ‘third rate’ magus with just a couple of spells.” Yet Medusa couldn’t help but smile. “Look at the bright side, my protector, the skill you developed solely for combat actually has another application as well.” Without hesitation she played a couple of notes masterfully, repeating his movements with far more elegance. “You can also bring music to life.”

Smiling at the thought he patted the goddess’ head. “Nothing that a recorder can’t do. Or heck, maybe a real pianist. Compared to the memories on this piano I am even below a third rate. Still, thank you for the compliment.”

“At least learning to play will be easier.” Rias suddenly said. He gave her a betrayed look and she hesitated before massaging his shoulder. “Hey, it will be faster than I did since you just need to get your muscles used to-”

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiih!” Venelana suddenly exclaimed in excitement while clapping rapidly and almost jumping in place. She looked like a child that just discovered the joys of candy. “You can do that with any instrument, right?” Her eyes fixed intensely on Shirou’s.

“Ah, I mean.” He and Rias shared a look, the girl shaking her head slightly and hoping that if her lover would lie it would be just that once. “Sure?”

Since he wouldn't, it was up to her to save him. “But we should focus on only one thing. Like the piano.”

“But of course. He doesn’t need to learn many instruments. In fact a piano was just what I had in mind.” Venelana’s reply surprised her daughter but the woman just began to move around. “But that also means we don’t need to stop Akeno’s training at all.”

“Eh?” The Queen fought to keep her posture but she was shaken. “But Shirou-kun-”

“Can play enough that we can gather more people and help with more instruments to make better music. Rias, since you don’t want to play the piano you wouldn’t mind the flute, right?”

Seeing her best friend’s desperate face softened the blow that she would have to play too. “You know I dabble.”

“You do more than just ‘dabble’, dear. Xenovia, do you play something?”

“No, ma’am. I sung in a chorus when I was little but never-”

“Would you like to learn any?”

The question surprised Xenovia but she surprised everything else, including herself, by replying with, “Actually yes. Can I learn the saxophone?”

“Of course.” Venelana produced one from somewhere. “We are going to have to go slow with you but you also shall learn. Lady Medusa-”

“I have some skill with a harp.” The goddess replied excitedly.  “Granted it has been years since I played but since Akeno isn’t going to play this time...” She gave her High Priestess a smug look, telling her there was no escaping.

“You will do great.” Venelana teleported a harp closer to Medusa’s chair. “Yes, yes. That will work. Shirou, please choose a song with a slow tempo that a woman can sing, there must be plenty on the piano since my children used to practice together when young.” What they didn’t know was that this improvised band practice was just a trial for a greater plan. ‘If this goes right then I need to make some requests and adjustments for the Youth Devil Gathering Ball.’

But if everything worked well, she knew, it would be the greatest ball in the History of the Underworld.

Everybody began to move into place, Akeno taking a last little sip of water before resigning to her Fate. “I didn’t even get a ten minute rest.”

“It is going to be fine.” Medusa said while sitting beside her. The harp was easily double her size, much to the small goddess joy. “Use that hybrid resistance of yours and push through.”

“I am pretty sure that isn’t how it works-” Their conversation was interrupted by Xenovia’s attempt to play the saxophone that let out a huge guttural noise almost like a starving beast ready to pounce. “My goddess, is everything really going to be fine?”

“With her I am… uncertain.”

However the bluehead girl’s difficulties did nothing to dampen Venelana’s mood. “Almost there, Xenovia. Just move your finger like this and blow with all your might.” The next sound was more pleasant but just too loud. “Okay, not all your might, then.”

“Are you ready, Akeno?” Rias asked while finishing preparing her flute.

“No.” The Queen replied dryly. “Maybe I would be feeling better if someone stalled for a little while.”

“He he he.” Shirou let out a pitiful attempt of a laugh that showed more remorse than humor.

It just tickled Akeno the right way for her to actually forgive him. “Don’t think you are escaping punishment, mister~”

“Your day is just before the ball so make sure he is in one piece when you get back.” Rias reminded her friend, sitting beside Shirou but in the opposite direction. “Then he will be my date.”

“Yes, yes, Buchou.”

Clapping silenced the room. “Everyone ready?” Venelana asked with the excitement of a child. “Shirou, can you tell us what song you are going to play?”

“I don’t really have the names down.”

The brunette nodded in understanding before turning to Xenovia. “Remember to go steady with your breaths and just try to follow us. The rest of you, I know this is a bit unorthodox but try to figure out what Shirou is playing and go along with it.”

“Are you going to tell us your plans, mother?” Because Rias was sure the former Bael had something in mind, for good or for ill.

The older woman just laughed and pulled a thin batton from her magic circle. “And where is the fun in that?”

“And now we know where Rias got that from.” Medusa joked and earned a look from Rias as well as smiles from everyone else.

Including Venelana who tapped her baton. “Let's start, everyone.”

“This is going to be chaos.” Rias commented while raising the flute to her lips.

She was right, it was chaotic and disorganized to the point that everyone was doing their own thing. Nevertheless no one would claim nothing was accomplished.

Akeno got her practice, Medusa a new follower, Xenovia got to try something new, Venelana and Rias shared a family moment.

For his part the redhead magus stopped seeing runes everywhere as the distraction accomplished his goal and put his mind at ease.

At least until he was back in Fuyuki and his workshop where he planned to try out the Primeval Rune that could only be translated as ‘Reforge’.

He knew it would work, his very soul sang to it. A part of the World that a god shared with him.

…

‘It has been hours! When is that bastard going to attack me?!’ Rin was starting to lose her patience as she stopped in a coffee shop for a small lunch. ‘I fit the profile of most targets perfectly and have walked around half of the town!’ Yet she failed to find the kidnapper.

Nor trace or sign of the culprit was detected by her or the devils tailing her shadow pretty much everywhere. They were far enough that Rin couldn’t see them but since they were the same people who dropped by her house to ask for help she could detect them with some effort. As always Fuyuki was rich in mana but compensating for that wasn’t impossible.

“Here is your order, miss.” The cashier’s voice distracted her thoughts.

“Thanks, keep the change.” Usually Rin wouldn't be throwing mana around but with how many gems she was carrying she needed to present the image of someone well off or attack unwanted attention. She wanted to be seen, especially to find the kidnapper but glares and insults wouldn’t help. ‘Or maybe they do. We still have no pattern other than the victims were women and their ages.’

Sitting on an empty table Rin picked up her coffee bagel combo and started eating slowly while keeping her eyes open. She looked for anything or anyone out of place but after hours she knew it was for naught. The most out of place group in that coffee shop was a bunch of students and that was only because it was summer.

She could hear them moaning about summer school too so the reason for their uniforms was obvious. ‘Either you start studying seriously or you will get summer school next year as well. That or repeat a year. Or both.’ Rin began to massage the bridge of her nose. “Get a grip on yourself, Rin.”

Keeping up a state of constant alert was tough enough but keeping it going for hours without end while taking in lots of information was just too strenuous. Rin did her best and could claim her guard had been high for all of her search but she was growing tired and the lack of progress didn’t help matters.

‘Perhaps I should call the others and we focus on one area. Just wandering isn’t good enough.’ She noticed a couple of boys who looked interested in talking to her but a small hypnotic suggestion sent them away. Rin wasn’t taking any distractions during a mission. ‘What we need is another hint or clue about the culprit… The best thing would be their reasons.’

They had already checked the town center and the park where the Fuyuki Fire began despite the devils confirming there were no kidnappings around the latter. Part of Rin was ashamed of the relief she got when the idea of this case being related to the older tragedy was discarded but the problem remained.

With no clues or direction someone else would be kidnapped before they found the culprit and that wasn’t an outcome Rin wished to accept.

Finishing her bagel and coffee, the Tohsaka Head rested in her arms in deep thought. ‘Maybe I am looking at this from the wrong angle; I can’t find them by walking around. It is just too improbable, perhaps impossible to get a lead like this.’ Her right eye opened with new resolve and her mana began to involve her like a cloak. ‘What I need to do is draw their attention.’

Mana in great quantities was visible even to the most mundane people however if the build up was slow and careful then a skilled user could push their aura out of her body without alerting anyone.

And Rin was skilled enough for such a feat without a doubt.

*Miss Tohsaka! Did something happen?* She heard Nicolay’s voice from the devil’s communication spell in her ear.

Flipping up a cell phone, an old model, Rin pretended that was how they were talking. “Change of plans. Going to try and attract the target to my location. Warn the others that I will be building up my power steadily to save energy and preserve secrecy. It will be better than just walking around aimlessly.”

Closing her phone she still heard Nicolay’s protests thanks to the spell but didn’t bother to reply. Instead she just made her way out of the coffee while keeping her mana as thin as possible so as not to warn the innocent souls about the moonlit world. Some heads still turned but that wasn’t a surprise.

Mana was much like air in some cases, always present and necessary if in small quantities. Much like the lungs can’t take the whole planet’s oxygen supply, a magus’ circuits couldn’t take more mana than they can support. But it was always there, a part of the world, and everyone had contact with it.

But when there was too much in a single place those with more affinity could easily tell it was there or that something was different. It wasn’t odd that there were people not in contact with the moonlit world that turned towards her with curious looks, recoiled in fear or hesitated at its presence.

That sort of sixth sense actually wasn’t uncommon around Fuyuki, thanks to its rich ley line its inhabitants were more attuned to mana than most and it showed by the number of heads turning in Rin’s direction.

That didn’t mean any of them could see the mana shimmering around her or that they understood why they were suddenly paying attention to an unknown girl. More than one girlfriend slapped her man because of the twintail haired girl’s looks, suspecting inappropriate thoughts that the boys couldn't explain anyway.

None of that was in Rin’s mind as she began to walk around looking as carefree as she could manage while keeping up her mana aura inconspicuous to the masses but not to those who could also use it.

Indeed she saw some people giving her strange looks and raising their guard but none of them were who she was looking for, at least she guessed they weren’t by the lack of a kidnapping attempt.

Rin began to wander around again as Nicolay tried to dissuade her from that particular course of action. *You are probably spooking our target.* Was the argument that had the magi fishing for her cell phone.

“If they aren’t spooked then finding the culprit would be easy.” She stopped around a red signal, the traffic moving slowly as the town center was full. “There is no way they don’t know you are investigating.”

*... We can’t possibly know that.*

“I would if I was in their place.” Rin stopped in front of a store and took a look while also fixing her hair a little. Mana still poured from her skin and she stopped to breathe, avoiding letting out too much and becoming a bright beacon in the middle of town. “Just looking around isn’t working. If things don’t change, something irreparable may happen.”

*If something happens to you Lady Gremory will have my hide.* Nicolay admitted with a shiver.

“Then you shouldn’t have called me in the first place~” Rin started walking again with a devilish grin on her lips. “Besides, Rias will be far more upset if we let someone play around her territory and harm her citizens.”

*Typical Gremory then.* The devil replied in a playful but half depressed if not uncertain tone.

Which made Rin pause. “Wait, you don’t know her?”

*Not personally.* At her silence he added, *I saw her once or twice.* When she remained silent he felt judged. *It is perfectly normal. Gremory has thousands of employees and not everyone gets to rub shoulders with the top brass.*

Still the man was trying his best and even called for help once he realized the possible catastrophe in his hands. “Promise to speak well of you to the boss.”

*Really?*

“You are competent enough and Rias can always use more trustworthy people around her.” The conversation almost broke Rin’s concentration and she frowned. “But enough chit chat. We have a kidnapper to find, possibly a magus. Keep communications to a minimum.”

*Roger.* Nicolay replied before going silent.

Rin took it as a complement, closed her phone and focused on inspecting the area while keeping the mana flowing gently in her circuits. Two people, not together from what she could see, started to follow her but the magus suspected they were just being cautious because of her actions.

Either way she trusted that once they got too close the devils would act so she kept going around the most busy side of Fuyuki for an extra hour before jumping inside a bus and picking a random direction.

She dropped off in a random residential street, moved around and found nothing.

Repeating the process Rin found herself close to the docks and detected nothing.

Going around one more time the Head of Tohsaka ended up in the mall and wasn’t approached at all.

On the outside she maintained a stoic disposition and elegant posture. ‘For fucks sake just show up!’ On the inside Rin had officially lost her patience. ‘I have been looking for over eight hours! It is already night!'

Calling off the search was up to her discretion but as many women had disappeared at night as during the day. It wasn’t part of the pattern so giving up was an option Rin could take.

Except that giving up left a bad taste on the black haired magus’ mouth. “Okay, back to the bus? Maybe I should pick a train and go to the other side of the town?” She waited for Nicolay’s reply and her eyebrow ticked as the man stayed silent. “There is no one else around right now. We can talk normally.”

“‘No one else’? That is rather rude.” A voice replied playfully on Rin’s ear, the wrong ear that didn’t have the communication spell and neither should simulate the warm breath she felt even if it was the right one.

It was also feminine, the voice of an adult woman no doubt, and not one she ever heard before with a seductive but dangerous tone that the magus couldn’t help but find exciting for a second before her mind snapped back to reality.

Quickly Rin dashed away from the woman while feeding mana to her gems. “Who are you?”

A hand on her hip, the strawberry haired woman gave her an amused look. “You really are rather rude. But also interesting.” She licked her ruby red lips and Rin couldn't stop herself from blushing.

Once upon a time the Head of Tohsaka thought Rias Gremory was the most beautiful woman she had ever met and many in the world would certainly agree. A perfect womanly shape, a voluminous perfect red hair, an hourglass figure that the magus could admit have envied once or twice.

Then she met Medusa and while the goddess held the form of a child there was something in her that made her stunning in a different way. Perhaps an effect of her charm or just the purplehead’s nature, her beauty was beyond what people could see. Not the peak of what a woman could be as she looked too young but a category of beauty of her own.

The redhead before her had both devil and goddess beat at their best and just by looking at her Rin could feel herself flush even if her mind kept screaming the woman was dangerous.

In a white toga that showed her navel, perfectly held her breasts, envious hips, feet had open heels that accentuated her legs with perfect nails polished in the same color as her lips and hair, the woman was a vision amongst visions that went beyond anyone else Rin had even met.

Her red hair was slightly longer than Rias, just going past the unknown woman’s lower back, and shone like if there was woven in glitter.

It made her color go beyond the color red and for a second a thought crossed Rin’s mind. ‘She can’t be human.’

A small smile grew in the woman’s lips. “You are right.”

Suddenly Rin felt a shiver run in her spine as fear began to grasp her throat. “You- did- Did you-”

“Read your mind?” The woman asked with a chuckle. “Your attempt to protect it was so cute that I couldn't help it.” The magus began to shiver before slapping herself. “Oh.” The mysterious woman looked more interested.

“I don’t know what sort of tricks you pulled but I have something to ask.” Rin tried to keep her mind empty and protect it with more mana in case of hypnosis. ‘Where are Nicolay and the others?’ The area around the mall was completely deserted.

If she paid more attention she would notice there was not a single person in any direction, even at the mall which just had bright lights.

“Rude.” The mysterious woman replied playfully. “First you demand to know who I am without introducing yourself then you demand to ask something. Really rude.”

“Are you the one who has been kidnapping girls all around Fuyuki?” Rin asked, ignoring everything else. ‘She must have some sort of trick or illusion-’

“Really? ‘Some trick’? Fufufufufu.” The black haired magus bit her lip as the woman began to laugh. “I have to say you are the most entertaining person I have met since I arrived in this town.” She waved at the obviously younger woman. “Let's trade, shall we?”

“‘Trade’?” Rin was still on guard but the word seemed to calm her down.

“Yes, trade. You are doing a decent job of blocking me from accessing your mind. Quite skilled for someone your age.” The woman revealed but Rin felt she was just playing around. “So we trade. Information for information. Isn't that how you magi do it?”

Using one of her earrings Rin allowed its mana to flow around her mind. ‘So she isn’t a magus?’ A lack of reaction calmed Tohsaka down. ‘No, wait. She offered it to me for free. Still wants something…’ The redhead had a small grin. “You are looking for something.”

“Someone. My turn.” Still conflicted, the magus nodded in agreement. “What is your name?”

“Heh?” Caught off guard, Rin couldn't help herself.

“What is your name?” The redhead asked again with mirth. “You were so rude to not introduce yourself that I decided to ask.”

“... Tohsaka Rin.”

“I see… Tohsaka Rin…” The woman said the name slowly, almost tasting it. “Among all magicians of this land you seem to be the most competent one. At least enough to resist me.” Chuckling again the redhead studied the other woman from head to toe. “And such a pretty face as well.”

Another shiver passed her spine. “My turn!” Rin demanded and the woman nodded without hesitation. On the contrary, she looked even more amused. “Did you kidnap-”

“Such an ugly word.” The interruption didn’t bother the magus, the attitude did. Rin hated feeling like someone’s plaything. “I just invited them to ask a few questions and starve my boredom. It is my greatest defect that I bore rather easily.” Admitted the woman with a shrug as she began to pace around. “Every single one of them was returned safe and sound, weren’t they not?”

Holding several gems in her hands and flooding her rings with mana, Rin refused to take her eyes off the woman. “They didn't remember anything and disappeared for 24 hours. You must have done something.”

“Just asked a few questions and showed them a good time. Like I am doing you now.” Rin didn’t notice when the woman got inside her comfort zone nor when she caressed her cheek. “Interesting.” The twin tailed magus jumped back again, breathing hard and fighting back a panic attack. “Very interesting. Almost like you are already used to my presence.” Her smile turned malicious for an instant before it settled back in her natural beautiful self. “Tell me, is your mistress doing fine? Has she recovered from her previous ordeal?”

Those questions helped Rin raise her defenses once again. ‘She knows I work for Rias. That can be a bad thing or a really bad thing.’ Considering the woman was avoiding devils there was no good scenario. “Last time I heard she was enjoying a vacation in the Underworld. Maybe you should come back later and try again?”

“So she is in the Underworld. Hmm~ That explains why I couldn’t find any other followers. She took her main retinue with her and you are just… either the most expendable of the bunch or just someone to hold the city.” At the sight of Rin gritting her teeth, the redhead grew more amused. “Am I wrong? I doubt it.”

“What do you want in Fuyuki?!” Rin was about to attack, patience spent. ‘Where the hell is Nicolay?’

“In the beginning just to find your mistress. Just cause… you don’t need to know that.” The redhead said with a shrug and an amused grin. “Now? Since she isn’t here and will only show up when the defenses are a bit tighter, I will just have some fun.” Once again it was like distance didn’t exist for the woman and she held Rin’s chin out of nowhere. “Would you spend the night with me? I promise that even if you forget it, you will love it forever.”

Faster than her brain could process Rin threw a punch at the woman that the redhead evaded easily and with a laugh. The magus didn’t hesitate and stepped forward with a firm core stance to launch her palm towards the other woman’s stomach who just stepped back just as easily.

That didn’t stop Rin who began to move in a familiar sequence born out of hours of practice, throwing several punches, palm strikes and even a kick to try and reach the mysterious woman.

Every blow was dodged with great ease but Rin didn’t allow her frustration to build up. ‘She uses illusions and mind tricks. Possible Mystic Eyes.’ A claw went for the head but the woman ducked. Lowering her center of gravity the magus threw a kick that the woman seemed to float away from. ‘With focus on those disciplines then hand to hand capability must be low.’ Mana gathered in her hand, ‘And low defense,’ a curse flew in the redhead’s direction.

She spinned in her heels and allowed the attack to fly away. “You are quite feisty.” A fireball came next and the woman danced around it. “I like that.” Then she approached and looked at Rin’s eyes. “But we could be doing a far more pleasurable activity, couldn't we?”

For a moment the younger woman’s eyes lost focus before they snapped back in place and her gems unleashed a high voltage barrier to force her enemy away. It was successful even as the woman looked unharmed and her smile remained in place.

“Truly you are the best magician I have met in a long time. Fufufu.”

Settling in a fighting stance, Rin prepared herself. “What are your real intentions here? I refuse to believe you are just after Rias.”

For the first time the redhead lost her smile. “Who is Rias? Is that the name Medusa is using?” Rin couldn’t hide her surprised reaction but the woman ignored her. “Aren’t you one of Medusa’s devotees? Or did she feel so far from being a goddess that she isn’t even trying to gather followers.” She was starting to sound upset.

But that wasn't Rin’s problem even if the misunderstanding gave her an opportunity. “Medusa? Here? Why would the Greek Gorgon be in Japan?”

Deceiving people was something any magus did on a regular basis and Rin liked to believe herself quite good at it. She also made sure to open her mind a little and allow several thoughts of confusion to reach the surface as she looked at the woman’s ruby-like eyes.

The redhead grew amused again. “Do you think those empty lies can deceive me? Cute.” She said playfully, not at all offended. “You may not be a follower of Medusa but you know about her.” While Rin gave no indication the woman was right, both knew it was the truth. “Say, wouldn’t you tell me about her? I promise-”

When the woman was about to reach Rin again this time she managed to land a kick on her midriff, catching the redhead off guard. The magus didn’t waste time and bright lights flew from her rings as a huge blast of mana was unleashed at point blank range which resulted in an explosion considerably big.

Rin didn’t fight her blast and used it to fly as far away from the woman as it was safe. “That will teach you to not mess with a Tohsaka.” One of her rings ran out of juice but the other nine, necklace and earrings were still ready. ‘Nicolay you better have seen this.’

Smoke was floating around and there was a fire going. If the attack didn’t outright kill the mysterious woman then at least it would be seen by half of the city.

“The audacity!” The redhead’s voice filled the area and Rin felt an inexplicable sense of dread even before seeing the woman again. No wounds or burns nor a single scratch, the woman was as pristine as her first appearance, the smoke’s sooth practically avoiding her. “To think- kukukuku, to think someone would dare to attack me like this.” There was humor in her gaze but also an emotion that scared the magus more than anything. “Oh, such audacity.” Took her a moment to recognize it. “Back in the day I would kill for far less~”

It was the eyes of someone so above everyone else that they could only look to others like bugs or worms. That was how Rin felt as the redhead’s eyes landed on her again, still amused like the most fascinating insect had just crossed her path.

Before Rin had her passing interest, now she had her attention.

Biting back the growing fear in her gut Rin asked, “Who are you?”

“With the demands again? When was the last time someone showed me such disrespect? I honestly can’t remember. Fufufufu.” The woman took a step forward and Rin took one step back, aqua eyes jumping around for reinforcements or an escape route. “Truly you are rather rude but amusing as well. Say, do you really think those devils can get in my Mirror World?”

“‘Mirror World’?” Rin didn’t know what that meant but she knew it had to be bad.

“Oh, my apologies. You must have never heard the term before. How old are you? Less than two decades right?” The redhead asked, intrigued. “Even younger than the blonde familiar user. She was also a feisty one too before she fell.”

Rin didn’t think anymore, just acted by channeling mana in all of her rings and unleashing several blasts of power from all Elements an Average One like her had access to. If the explosion from before was big the follow up destroyed the whole street and anything around her target.

“Mirror World, some sort of boundary field.” Deduced Rin before turning around and starting to run. ‘I can’t beat her.’ The reality of the situation was almost crippling but getting rid of some sweat and turning on a street, she focused on escaping. ‘I need to get into contact with Rias. We need a Maou or something to deal with someone this powerful.’

Then she took a curve and stopped in shock, her eyes growing wide at the devastation surrounding her.

“What the hell?” Rin began to look around and noted how the passage was familiar. Extremely familiar. “It can’t be…” She rushed back the way she came and soon saw the same scene in the opposite direction. “How?”

While she didn’t expect an answer, Rin still got one. “Mirror World is a spell. Something created for those who envied Reality Marbles and wished to make their own. Or an envious god who didn’t want to wait for his pair.” The redhead woman was unharmed and the amusement wasn’t gone. It just grew. “It needs a lot of power to use and it isn’t much bigger than a few kilometers. I heard devils use it to model the pocket dimensions for their games.”

‘How much of what she is saying is true?’ Rin asked herself.

“All of it.” And yet the mysterious woman answered.

Rin then decided to take a gamble. “Would you be so kind as to tell me how to escape?”

The redhead woman blinked in surprise before laughing out loud. “Hahahahaha. Seriously? Hahahahaha.” Brushing off a tear, she finally replied. “Sure, why not. Lets give you something to struggle for while you try to break my Mirror World. There are two ways you can escape from the inside.” Commented the woman as she raised two fingers. “One you can overpower my creation and break through.” With a thumb she pointed to the destruction behind her. “If that was your strongest attack you can give up. That is too weak for my Mirror World.”

Her fist closed tightly as Rin held her tongue and tried to determine if there were any falsehoods in the redhead’s words.

“Two; you knock me out. This isn’t a boundary field or a barrier, I need to actively keep it up.” The redhead revealed easily. “So, ready to talk about Medusa now?”

‘Most of her energy must be in this Mirror World… unless she has far more than a human should.’ That possibility meant Rin was already defeated but she wasn’t one to surrender her friends and took her fighting stance once again. “Sorry but I think I will break out from this place.” Mana circulated around the magus as she prepared to unleash her spells.

The redhead found herself more amused than she expected. “Fufu, so you chose death then.” Her smile was honest and her power began to build up into a crescendo that threatened to eat Rin alive. Then it vanished. “A pity because I am not giving you this choice. You will talk.”

It was like her mind began to catch fire and Rin could feel her mental defenses being assaulted from every conceivable direction. She wanted to tell the woman everything, to please her, give her everything she wanted and then receive her gratitude in turn. Gratitude which would culminate in a reward.

Rin grabbed her head and began to hold it tightly as the woman’s presence kept goading her into complying. The redhead’s appearance didn’t change but in the aqua pair of eyes could only see the woman as perfection incarnated as her mind was pressed by something. Logic kept bringing Tohsaka back to reality thanks to the reminder that the other woman wanted something.

Something that went completely against her principles; the betrayal of a friend.

At some point the redhead started to grow annoyed. “You know this is inevitable.” Her voice was even but to the magus it was like a shout that echoed in her mind. “Just give in, Tohsaka Rin. Give in and we can have all sorts of fun.”

So sweet was the tone, so innocent, that for a second Rin completely forgot the woman’s crimes and cruel actions. For a split second she caved and opened her mouth ready to sing if asked.

Only to bite her lower lip so hard that it began to bleed immediately, surprising the mysterious redhead. She was even more surprised when Rin jumped in her direction and headbutted her hard enough that the older woman couldn’t help herself and took several steps back.

She was still unharmed and watched as the magus stood up again, cleaning the blood in her mouth. “I won’t give you anything.”

“Oh dear.” The redhead sounded truly impressed but a little sad. “You really think you can defy me, don’t you?” After using a moment Rin smiled as mana circulated around all her gems. “You really do. That is so cute!” The magus almost jumped back at that reaction as the woman used a hand that failed in hiding her laughter. “Just so cute. You humans- It has been so long since a human has been this interesting.”

‘Not good.’ Despite her current predicament Rin didn’t hesitate and unleashed an even bigger blast of mana towards the redhead.

Not knowing the limits and powers of the Mirror World as it was called, Rin at least trusted it would protect Fuyuki properly and let out a truly humongous attack that covered the other woman in a blinding light that kept going until it destroyed a building behind her.

That was when she felt the area shake and wave in a manner that should be impossible if it was real. “Can’t break out you say? We will see about that.” Rin said with a grin, her confidence growing.

The magus began to focus mana again. “I decided.” The redhead’s voice interrupted her actions with a shiver. Mostly because where it came from; above and behind her. “I shall be keeping you.”

Rin turned around and saw the woman flying without wings. It would be more appropriate to say she was standing on air.

Her smile looked even more beautiful. “Yes, that sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Unlike all the other women in this city, you are more than worthy of becoming my newest follower.”

“Feh. Not happening. It doesn’t matter who you are, as the Head of Tohsaka I can’t forgive anyone who threatens the citizens of our town.” Already Rin could feel herself growing more bold as the woman clearly needed to dodge the previous attack if she ran that far. “Besides, I already sold my soul to another redhead.”

“No, you didn’t. It is still yours.” The woman replied with a certainty that was frightening. “You still want to fight, it seems. Hum~ I could keep forcing the issue but with your personality and power… No, that won’t be any fun.”

The redhead looked pensive and Rin moved to strike again by drawing one of her gems. It was soon covered into a ball that combined mana, fire and wind to create another gigantic attack by a far smaller cost.

She threw it at the unknown woman and the ball created by many factors coming to play at the same time quickly enveloped the redhead fully to then explode. The blast was bright and the world around her shook again but didn’t break or crack.

“For a Mirror World it really is too tough.” Rin exclaimed while moving, grabbing the small ball of mana in her ear. “Come on, come on. We can’t be in a whole separate dimension. Can we?” She ran inside one of the buildings in the area, noticing how it was completely empty with just some lights. It was also falling apart because of her attacks. "Damn that woman… Can she be-”

“So you really want to fight?” The voice seemed to fill the place and Rin swiftly placed the communication spell back in her ear before racing towards where there should be a set of stairs.

Should be because when Rin got there all she saw was a wall. “Of course the floors are real but there is no way to get there. Of course.” She complained before running in another direction and exiting the building on a more intact street. “I need to find some way to contact Nicolay and-”

“Oh but no devil in this town can save you, Tohsaka Rin.” The woman was behind her again and she jumped forward, rolled to then turn with a ball of black cracking mana sent the redhead’s way. “Then again perhaps I should have gone after them,” the black mana hit her body but the redhead didn’t show any signs of discomfort, “maybe Medusa joined with the devils somehow since you know about both. That would certainly be new.” She frowned as Rin began to accumulate mana. “You certainly want to fight, don’t you, Rin?”

“I hardly seem to have a choice here.” Taking a few steps forward the magus kept preparing the spell.

“You could tell me about Medusa. Where is she? What has she been doing?”

“And then you will let me go? Just like that? I really doubt it.” Every instinct told her to please the woman but her brain, the logical part of it, told her there was no winning either way.

Suddenly the redhead smile grew bigger. “Then we are at an impasse. How I love those.” Raising a hand she pointed at the twin tailed magus. “Tell you what, just winning isn’t fun so I will give you a chance to escape if you stop trying to demolish my Mirror World.”

‘She is lying.’ Nothing told her that but Rin refused to believe the redhead. “And I won’t have to betray my friend?” She put emphasis on the words ‘betray’ and ‘friend’ to both give the woman something and show reluctance. ‘If she isn’t… I need her to let me go…’

“Sure, sure. No betrayals and we are going to do what you want. We shall have a fight.” Rin’s mana began to fluctuate, preparing to attack, but the redhead laughed. “Not me, unfortunately. Fighting isn’t part of my nature, you see.” Snapping her fingers the woman called for a bright light that soon dropped a monster in front of her that had Rin’s eyes growing wide. “Instead why don’t you play with my new pet? Kiyome was so kind to give her to me as a gift and as a good owner I should let her have some exercise.”

A huge harpy, a creature with a woman’s head and the body of a bird, twice as taller than Rin, with blue feathers and claws for feet, shrieked furiously. Her voice sounded odd and inhuman but there was no pain or hatred. At least not until the redhead’s stopped talking and the harpy locked eyes on Rin.

The mysterious woman began to pet the creature’s short hair, calming her down. “So, are we in accord?”

Not seeing any other alternative Rin smiled before saying, “Don’t blame me if I kill her.” She took a few more steps back and studied the street. ‘Either way takes me back to the destroyed street and there are a few cars. I doubt any of them work.’ Not that she could drive but the magus was trying to plan for anything.

“I will be impressed.” Taking her hand away from her pet the mysterious redhead watched as it charged at full speed.

Rin didn’t hesitate and turned tail to run while trying to remember all she knew about harpies which wasn’t much.

Flipping herself over a car Rin moved fast enough that the harpy ended up calling with it which gave the woman an opportunity to compare the vehicle with its real counterpart. The thing barely moved which showed weight and so the magus dropped a solitary gem beneath it before racing to the right.

The harpy shrieked and jumped over the car before pursuing her again in a straight line, just as Rin expected. “Eat this!!”

Unleashed several blasts of mana the magus watched the harpy stumble on the air and crash on the ground with the woman’s face showing pain and panic. The creature used her wings to protect herself and for a second Rin felt like she was attacking an innocent animal and stopped her onslaught.

“Just stay down and nothing-” The harpy glared and she let out another shriek that revealed her shark-like teeth before charging again. “So much for being nice!” Rin complained as she rolled to the side and the monster passed by her harmlessly.

“Harpies like her aren’t really smart.” The redhead woman explained, sitting on a window with one leg over the other. “She is from a less developed species, not different from normal animals, really.”

“Just way uglier.” Rin tried to ignore the confort she felt at hearing the redhead, cursing her silently and focusing on the logical side of her mind.

She returned to the damaged car and waited as the harpy took a long turn before flying in her direction once more.

Rin waited with her legs ready to spring, staring at the harpy and refusing to move until the time was right. “Explode!” Ordered the magus in german and the gem beneath the car did just that as she jumped to the side.

The car came flying faster than the harpy could react and the creature found herself crushed in the pavement with lots of broken bones. A pool of blood began to form but Rin didn’t think about how human the creature looked when she realized her demise or how bad she felt about it.

No, her focus was on surviving and the redhead woman was still sitting down several floors above her head. “There! I won! Now let me go!” Not even for a second Rin believed it was going to be that easy.

She was soon proven right. “That was boring.” Said the mysterious woman capriciously. “You are too powerful for such a simple creature.”

“Well, I don’t care! Just let me out of-”

“Fortunately that can be easily rectified.” From her indicator and middle finger the woman let out a red beam of light fly towards the ground.

It was faster than Rin could react but she still tried to jump away for the sake of escaping. It was unneeded as she was never the target and the beam disappeared inside the upside down car. Then it began to glow in a similar light before the color changed from red to gold and then white.

Turning around and taking a few steps back Rin stood on guard for whatever was coming but soon the light disappeared from the car and enveloped its real target; the harpy.

With a triumphant shout, and it was a shout even if there were no words, the harpy pushed the car away as her bones settled back in place while her body changed thanks to her owner’s power.

Previously the harpy’s existence was simple; she had a bird’s body, a woman’s head, and wanted to eat, sleep and please the redhead ever since she met her. That had changed with the light as her body stopped being of a bird’s and became more similar to a woman’s with the figure to match.

A beautiful woman with more than two meters of height revealed herself to Rin but the magus knew it was still a harpy for even if she now had a woman’s body there were too many things that revealed her origins.

Naked as she was, there were still plenty of feathers protecting the creature’s tights and arms, arms that were almost as big as her and could be easily called wings for that was what they looked like.

But calling it just wings would be wrong for the harpy now had hands or claws, yellow claws similar to the ones in her feet previously while the claws in her feet looked more like feet themselves but still having huge sharp nails as big as knives.

The face also was different, sharper and more elegant in a way that invoked real beauty as the shark-like teeth stopped being a thing and her smile would be welcome in any woman’s face much like her long red hair that was similar to her owner’s but less vibrant.

Finally with her transformation complete the harpy took flight and let out a melodious roar that echoed in the area. Rin covered her ears from how loud it was but the harpy then began to laugh and fly around, experimenting with her new form.

“What do you think? Not bad for a whim, Mmm?” The redhead asked as she watched her harpy. “Now it is going to be a fair fight.”

“I lost one of my jewels in the last attack.” Rin complained under her breath.

Not expecting the older woman to hear. “Hum, true. But then again, she doesn’t actually know how to fight like that. Instincts are not going to help her, after all she is now a completely different species of harpy.”

“Any particular differences I should know?” Rin asked out loud with hopes the woman would tell her out of amusement or a sense of fairness.

With a giggle the redhead complied. “Oh, you know how it is. Her species from before are more or less like animals. Had it not been for their faces they wouldn't even belong in the moonlit world.” Looking at Rin, the woman’s smile was playful. “But now she isn’t just any harpy but the same ones originally from Greece. Have you ever heard about Odysseus? He met some of them on his trip.”

‘I am going to have to fight against something straight from the Odyssey?’ Rin’s hand shook with fury before she calmed down and took a deep breath. ‘No, complaining isn’t going to help here.’

“Have you calmed down?” Aqua eyes looked up in a panic as the redhead looked even more amused. “Good.” With a grin full of emotion and expectatives, she said. “Kill her and earn your freedom!” The harpy shouted in acknowledgement.

“But you wanted information!” Rin prepared herself as the mythological being charged.

“But if you don’t fight to kill this won’t be fun.” It wasn’t as much a reply as it was a joke on her part.

Rin didn’t care, turning around to run again planning to buy time and come up with a new plan to take the creature down. But the harpy's new form was much faster than her previous one, so fast in fact that she flew past the magus and Rin stopped to stare as the harpy looked around in confusion.

Before quickly realizing what happened and turning back with a smile as she looked at Rin like one would a piece of meat. Another roar of triumph shook the place but this time the magus could tell the Mirror World was less affected.

Deducing what was happening she turned to the mysterious redhead again who retained her smile. “Are you sure you have time to admire me?” Asked the woman, amused. “Then again, if you beg I may save you.”

“Bite me!” Rin would rather die than beg and turn around just in time to see the harpy attacking.

The magus didn’t waste time and several sorts of blasts at the harpy, the former familiar first reaction being to stop to protect herself. The creature landed and took several hits in her wings with Rin quickly shaping a huge ball of flames in her free hand to complement her attack.

When she threw it, Rin also took the opportunity to run away again, not bothering to turn at the explosion that followed her attack. Instead she focused on taking off her rings and throwing them to the sides while approaching another car and hiding a gem beneath it. She half hoped for a repeat of the previous trick but that and was willing to gamble on it.

Then a shriek of triumph warned her that the harpy was coming, unhurt despite the fiery explosion the magus had left her in. “She is more powerful.” Clapping hard twice, the gems around the area began to glow. “But won’t help her! Capture!”

Most of her jewels jumped at the command and flew towards the harpy at speeds faster than the human eye could perceive. However the former familiar could see them coming and moved around erratically to avoid the hits. Unused to her new intelligence she was unable to avoid them all, one of the rings blowing up upon contact while the others stuck themselves in her feathers.

The harpy paid them no mind and just let out a scream of pain that turned to fury as she continued her attack. Rin didn’t stop moving either, looking back to know for sure which of her rings managed to catch the former familiar. She needed at least five of them on the creature but only two had struck successfully.

Claws were also about to tear her apart so Rin dove right to dodge, still getting scratched on her arm but keeping her hands together. She was bleeding but no amount of pain would break her focus. The harpy then did a new maneuver by landing on her feet and turning quicker than before, abandoning flight for a moment. Obviously the harpy was learning.

Rin just focused on repositioning until she was close to her rings again. “Capture!” Ordered the magus while stomping the ground and sending more mana to her weapons of choice.

Gems glowed in multiple colors and renewed their assault as the harpy tried to speed up to escape but her previous stop meant she needed time to get back in the air, time she didn’t have as six more rings connected with her body.

While keeping her fingers touching Rin opened her hands and channeled mana. “Net!” Around the harpy’s body the rings let out strings made of several elements that began to burn, cut and press her body from various directions while tying her up. “Explode!”

Stomping the ground again the gem beneath the car did the same thing as the first and set it flying towards the harpy. This time the former familiar wasn’t flying so the vehicle wouldn't hit as naturally as before but the necklace around Rin’s neck began to shine and sent a light in the car direction.

It increased the gravity around the car, forcing it to fall down and slam in the harpy. "Bullseye!" Rin was already feeling herself sweet and hands moved to knees as she struggled to stand. “So, anything else?” Asked the magus to anyone who could hear.

She half expected the redhead to reply but found herself surprised when the car she threw at the harpy was lifted from the ground by the creature. What was even more surprising was that the newly evolved monster was still tied up and was bleeding a lot but able to move. She even managed to lift the car with her back all the while Rin’s creations kept trying to rip her apart.

‘Trying’ was the keyword as Rin finally noticed a sad truth. “She isn’t taking any damage?!”

“Hahahaha! Did you really expect a creature Odysseus feared to be weak? Kinda sad, Rin.” The redhead commented with a smug smile. “Lucky you, she doesn’t know how to use her new body yet.”

Rin bit her tongue and threw several spells towards the harpy to make her budge and drop the car on her own head. It wasn’t working as the mana seemed to bounce away from her skin.

“Magic resistance? Of all things-” The magus shut up and ran to the side as the car came flying in her direction.

When it crashed on the ground the car's existence broke apart like a shattered mirror but Rin didn’t have much time to study the phenomena as she felt her ring’s power breaking.

It wasn’t quick nor easy for the former familiar, like the redhead had said the harpy didn’t know how to use her body, mostly the arms as she was still threatening them like wings and not using the elbows correctly.

Fortunately for the mythological creature she eventually broke free with a scream of pure fury that had Rin’s ears buzzing. It lasted a whole minute and for a moment the magus felt her mind slipping again as she felt some sort of mental attack. It was different from the redhead’s but still had some effect.

It was Rin’s turn to be fortunate as she knew what was happening immediately. “Need to close my ears.” With little effort she modified the devil’s communication spell in one ear while using her earring to create a buffer on the other. ‘Odysseus used honey to protect his crew so…’ She could still hear the scream but it was muffled and her mind unaffected. “This is enough.”

Then Rin moved her right hand up and held it with her left as the harpy began to take flight again. Wind gathered around her arm as the girl focused a piercing spell to deal with the harpy’s improved defenses.

Like she suspected the mythological creature charged one more time, no strategy whatsoever despite her new intelect.

Which was great for Rin because her aim with wind spells wasn’t the best. “Gale!!”

The wind flew true and hit its target on the chest. The harpy lost control of her flight as the projectile did its best to pierce her body but her skin was tough even without magic resistance.

Still that was the sort of spell made to break defenses as the winds turned into a spiral that kept pushing through the harpy’s chest, forcing her to dodge or die. It was inevitable that the still most animal brain of the harpy chose the path of less resistance and dove down to escape pain.

Rin was already running in that direction at full speed with three gems, two rubies in her right hand and one emerald in her left, refusing to give the former familiar any time to recover.

With the emerald she felt herself grow lighter which allowed her to reach the harpy in a slip second, raising the rubies high while shouting  “Just die already!!” Demanded the magus while throwing the rubies at point blank to make sure there was no escaping this time.

The explosion of some of Rin’s best gems shook the Mirror World again, much to the redhead’s delight who realized it was a two pronged attack. ‘She went for the kill while attacking my world at the same time. Truly you are worthy, Tohsaka Rin.’ Thought the woman with a giggle as she watched the aftermath.

From the smokescreen Rin emerged unharmed as the emerald’s wind had protected her from the worst of the blast and its fires. Didn’t mean the girl wasn’t feeling some great degree of pain as her bones were rattled by the impact and she felt a little dizzy.

The harpy on the other hand was very much dead as the corpse laid there with several burns and missing most of its limbs. Its once beautiful feathers were gone and only the remaining wing gave any indication what it once was. Her face, once beautiful, ended up in a silent scream of pain that never left the throat.

The sound of clapping filled the Mirror World, the redhead wasn’t disappointed. “Congratulations, Rin! You sure earned your freedom!” She clapped louder for good measure, almost laughing at the skeptical look on the younger woman’s face.

Rin glared at the redhead, knowing it was all a lie. “So the order was really for me?”

“It was fascinating watching you resisting my Charm for so long but you still followed the order to the letter.”

“I just didn’t want to die.” Rin commented as she drew her last few jewels from her pocket.

Only for the woman to say, “Throw those away.” Rin obeyed reluctantly, unable to put up any real fight. “But you obeyed, dear. That is the point.” The magus gritted her teeth and the woman laughed melodically. “Don’t be like that. This is for the best. Now you get to follow me without the need to,” in less than a moment she was beside the girl with a smile and holding her hand with an arm around her shoulder, “lose your brilliant curious mind.” Their eyes met and the woman chuckled. “And tell me what my old pal Medusa has been doing those days.”

“Why do you want toooooooo-” Rin couldn’t help herself as the woman kissed her neck. “Stop- Stop it.”

“Why? You like it.” She could feel the redhead’s smile. “I am not forcing that.”

Doing her best to focus by using the burned corpse’s smell Rin tried to fight back. “You are-”

“Not intentionally. And not forcefully.” She touched Rin’s body slowly, lovingly caressing her midriff. “You appear to have an interest in the fairer sex?” A blush and a thought had the woman backtracking before smiling again. “Oh, boys too? You and I have more in common by the minute. Unfortunately I made promises and can only find my company here to be girls. Which, to be fair, helped me in tracking someone who knew Medusa~” She tickled the black haired girl’s body, making her knees weak. “Ready to talk, or do you want a little more Charm?”

The stench of the harpy’s corpse kept her grounded. “You are a goddess.”

“Aren’t I? Obviously I am.” Her hot breath played on Rin’s ear. “I could only be. Now, tell me-”

"Aphrodite!!" Rin proclaimed out loud, making the redhead step back in surprise. “You are Aphrodite.” Some of the fog left her mind. ‘Need her distracted.’

Only to grow denser as the woman held her face. “My, my. You got it right in one. How did you guess? No, wait.” Her finger rested around Rin’s lips and the twin tailed girl wanted to kiss it. “Not a guess. You are too smart for that.” She stepped away and the magus fell to her knees. “So, how did you do it?”

Looking up at the goddess Rin managed to reply. “Your Charm. It is like Medusa’s but stronger.”

"Obviously. She still is just a little goddling.” Aphrodite allowed her power to manifest and the Mirror World shook. “While I can only be a true goddess. I am Aphrodite of the Twelve Olympians. Goddess of Love and Beauty!” It was like all the world, even the building, were bowing to her. Then she added playfully. “And much, much more than that.” Her smile was the most beautiful thing Rin ever saw in her life.

If her body wasn’t perfect before then the reveal of her true name, true nature, elevated Aphrodite’s appearance beyond Rin’s comprehension. All she knew was that the woman before her was perfect in all accords. No, that she already was but only knowing the truth Rin’s mind could start to see how.

The magus in her was fascinated, the woman in her was lost.

Tohsaka Rin hated that feeling and still fought.

“You wanted to know about Medusa so you could only be Greek.” She started slowly, building up her mental defenses again but they were torn apart just by glancing at Aphrodite. Worse was that the girl couldn’t look away. “This whole time Medusa feared that you Olympians would come for her so there was that.”

“Smart girl. Seems she learned something from last time.” There was amusement on Aphrodite’s voice but also something else, something Rin felt was out of place. Pride of some shape that the magus couldn't identify. “Not that she needed to, Zeus is far too busy to worry about her. Continue.”

Aphrodite’s expecting look took away the need for any Charm. “The power, the attitude, this whole time you were playing with me, us! Every girl in Fuyuki that you got your hands on.”

“And they loved every minute.” Clearly indicating the young woman before her was next.

Pushing past the teasing, Rin focused on escaping for she knew there was no winning against Aphrodite. “The main problem was who you could be. Had you been less promiscuous I would say Athena-”

Delicately Aphrodite’s hand pushed Tohsaka’s chin up. “Rin, you are doing a good job to show how smart and beautiful you really are.” Her smile gentle, her eyes dangerous. “So don’t compare me to that prude virgin who knows nothing besides war. And not even that much of it.” There was a confidence there that a Goddess of Love shouldn't have. “Now, please, keep going~”

There was a threat there but it only went half heard compared to the sweet temptation of pleasing the goddess but the magus latched to neither of them. While the command was obeyed Rin knew she pushed something that could help get her out even if just for a second.

A second was all she wanted. “Couldn't have been Athena, at least not when you appeared yourself and talked the way you did. Too distinct, too social, too different from what one would expect of a Goddess of War.” Aphrodite nodded at every word, pleased by them. “Also the plan was too simple.”

“What?” Annoyance or fury, Rin wasn’t sure, but something unpleasant hid behind those blood pools that were the goddess’ eyes. “Simple?”

“Simple. No elaborated strategy or maneuvers nor multiple goals to be reached. You wanted to find Medusa and looked into whoever would be her followers at the moment, maidens and women of youthful appearance and nothing else.”

There was no pattern not because the target was unknown or there was a hidden goal but because Aphrodite didn’t bother to streamline her search. Rin could see the goddess’ logic, how any of the women in Fuyuki, or perhaps even all of them, could be a Medusa’s worshiper in disguise.

But there were many subtler ways that Aphrodite could have searched which wouldn't have caught the devils’ attention, her attention. “You used too much brute force to be something from a Goddess of Knowledge. Sure it worked and you found me but I just know Medusa, not worship her.” Rin smiled at the redhead’s barely concealed fury. “I mean, you only caught me because I work for the devil who runs the place and-”

“Quiet!” There was some Charm in the command but power filled it more than anything else. “You dare to belittle me, girl? A goddess? I have been in the world longer before your ancestors left the mud.”

“... I thought older women didn’t like to talk about their age.” For a moment Rin thought she just had killed herself by the face Aphrodite was making.

Then came the massive Divine power that threatened to crush her into a paste. “Fool! My age isn’t a point of shame but pride!! Pride that many goddesses, including your Medusa and Athena, can’t boast to have more than me! For I was there before Greece and I shall be long after that piece of dirt sink in the waves!!”

‘Then why is it a sore spot for you?’ Rin knew the goddess had to be reading her mind and that was confirmed when Aphrodite let out an elegant ‘humph’ and stepped back to calm herself. ‘That bought me a-’

“Less than a second.” Divinity contained, Aphrodite turned back to Rin, smiling once again. “What are you planning, Rin? Do you honestly believe you can beat a god?”

“No. I know I am pretty much screwed if you decide to crush me beneath your heel.” Aphrodite grew smug over the acknowledgment and a bit distracted. Mana spread on Rin’s circuits as her hands rested on the ground. “But I can do a thing or two!”

From the tip of her fingers a web of mana ran through the fake asphalt and connected with several of the gems around the area, both those Aphrodite ordered her to throw away and the ones she had used against the harpy.

The goddess had enough time to raise an eyebrow before a light bright enough to affect her was unleashed blinding her. Aphrodite couldn't believe a human could produce such a phenomena as possible and her eyes watered for a moment before she managed to open them again.

Only for another flash to hit them and the goddess couldn't but let out a scream of frustration while Rin crawled away, her hands still letting out mana to any close gem as they blew up in their last service to blind Aphrodite for an extra second.

However there was no escaping as Divinity flooded the area and crushed the already empty jewels into dust. “There goes my paycheck.” Rin couldn't help but say as she felt the goddess coming closer.

“Your attempts to escape have since long stopped being cute.” The tone of warning made the magus shiver. “Look at me.” And the Charm slammed on her again but Tohsaka resisted. “I said look at me.”

Slowly Rin turned, almost crying herself as the pain of denying the command was no different to ripping off her own skin. Yet she refused to surrender or submit.

“I can’t wait to-” So Rin drew her last card, her last jewel still brimming with mana, enough so that made Aphrodite pause with panic. “Don’t do it!!”

The command left too late as Rin unleashed the spell her father gave her, breaking it and setting free a gigantic torrent of fire that transformed into a pillar whose purpose was to consume everything in a five kilometer ratio.

The result of Tokiomi’s efforts and years of accumulated knowledge was unleashed all at once in a desperate attempt to keep a goddess at bay but his daughter had miscalculated on several levels.

Rin quickly activated her remaining jewel, the one resting in her necklace and unleashed all its power the second she activated her father’s gift. The emerald she had already utilized would have offered better protection but Aphrodite forced her to discard that one and she failed to recover it in time.

Unfortunately that gem wasn’t made for defense and the best that it could do was affect gravity around her enough for a modicum defense as it would certainly fail to deflect the flames.

In her mind Tohsaka Rin knew she was already dead and her life flashed in her eyes, her friends and family as her last memory. ‘Sorry.’

She waited for the end at any second. Surely it would be fast enough she wouldn’t be able to even wonder how it was to die.

But it didn’t happen and instead of the flames Rin felt absolutely nothing as she stumbled and fell on her backside. Finally she noticed that the flames weren’t advancing but instead retracting inside themselves, pushed back into the gem which gave them life by a force far stronger.

Divinity, the power of a god, and Rin didn’t need to guess who it was.

Aphrodite stood there with an expression of exertion that was still perfect in every metric. She was sweating, frowning and was still a Goddess of Beauty. Her appearance wasn’t dissimilar to a woman working out at the gym except that instead of working out she was manipulating the fires of hell.

Her hands waved around the fire like in an exotic dance that entranced Rin and she didn’t even notice her eyes fixed on every movement the goddess made not to study but to just watch.

Aphrodite’s look of concentration wavered and a smile grew as the fire fell under her sway. If the flames could speak they would reveal they were utterly Charmed for the goddess was so beautiful that even the Elements recognized her loveliness. Her control over her Domain and Authority were also greater than many if not all her peers.

For that was a truth about Aphrodite many struggled to acknowledge; she wasn’t just powerful but also extremely skilled both thanks to her age and her Core as a goddess.

Perhaps it was because of the air she exuded, one that told all who saw her doing things with ease, or because she was considered far more whimsical than most gods, even gods of Love but Aphrodite was more.

Much more and so much so that the Goddess of Venus had already mastered all about herself and her power. Fire obeyed her not because of Divinity but because of how it was used and it truly fell in love. Despite its inability to think, to feel and with a life that could not go beyond burning whatever crossed its path, fire fell in love with Aphrodite.

It should be impossible but then again what was impossible to a god would always be up to debate.

And Rin witnessed it as the flames of her father's jewel converged in Aphrodite's hands but always refusing to touch her. There was nothing protecting the goddess as far as it could be seen and still the fire didn’t approach, choosing to rest just above her palm as it became smaller.

She sat down there as all fires in the area were playthings for the goddess and nothing more.

An attack that could demolish a part of Fuyuki that certainly would have broken the Mirror World apart was reduced to a small flame unable to even boil tea, such a small thing that was barely bigger than a golf ball.

Tokiomi’s ruby was nowhere to be seen and all that was left from the valuable jewel and all the power he had accumulated before giving it to her daughter was smaller than an eyeball.

Aphrodite stopped to admire her hand work with a smile as the flames seemed to try and caress her face, still completely under her Charm despite being nothing more than a chemical reaction being fed by the last vestiges of mana previously on the ruby.

Fire still loved Aphrodite anyway but she couldn’t care less for it, just closing her hand and extinguishing the last flame.

Just like that Rin’s last trump card became nothing but smoke with nothing to show for it, not even a burn as the goddess opened her hand to reveal her unblemished skin before blowing it in a show of dominance.

“That was fun.” Aphrodite started, approaching the magus with careful steps. Rin crawled away, realizing how bad her predicament was. “You have been the most fun mortal that I have met in centuries, millenia even. Ah, ever since the days of Rome I haven’t had such a competent worshiper.”

Rin wanted to deny the goddess but her tongue was stuck in her throat as panic settled. ‘I need to get away.’ Fear, confusion and hopelessness started to devour her as the extent of the goddess’ power started to sink in. ‘I need to run. Think. You can’t win, you have to run.’

Gulping and gathering her courage Rin dared to look around to try finding something, anything, that could save her.

Her gems were destroyed, either in her attempt of blinding the goddess or by her flames, the world was fake, a spell sustained by Aphrodite and Rin feared to think how much mana was needed to keep it up or having it survive the pillar of fire.

In reality it didn’t matter how much Rin had pushed during the fact the Mirror World only bended because Aphrodite wasn’t giving it too much attention. If anything the young woman before her had it all and both of them knew that whatever the goddess wanted from the magus she was probably going to get.

Realizing the futility of her struggle the black haired girl abandoned every semblance of pride she had and jumped to her feet fully intending to run.

When Rin turned it was to the arms of Aphrodite who had moved faster than the magus could comprehend. The young woman couldn’t even stop herself as the goddess embraced her tightly and whispered in her ear. “You are mine.”

Rin felt the fog taking over her mind and she didn’t have any energy to fight it off. Her eyes became half closed and her breathing became erratic with excitement.

Excitement and arousal as Aphrodite filled the young woman with her own emotions. “Now…” She grasped Rin chin again, aqua eyes half open, face red with a flush. “Before we talk, why don’t we get more acquainted with each other.”

Aphrodite kissed her new lover and the last one she would take in Japan as her Divinity modified her Mirror World in a more comfortable setting for exploration and to give the girl her blessings.

…..

Rin’s eyes snapped open and she felt her sore body all over. “Auch. What the-” She realized she was lying on the pavement in the desert street, two corpses beside her and no jewels in her person. “Did I- Whaa.”

Slowly the magus got to her feet and tried to remember what exactly happened.”Miss Tohsaka?” Only for a familiar to have her turn around, noticing the street wasn’t as deserted as she thought. “Is it really you? Thank Goetia!” Nicolay and another five devils, two she knew from earlier and other two she only knew were devils because of wings, approached her. “Are you alright? Are you harmed?”

“Calm down, lord Nicolay. Speak any louder and you will wake up the neighborhood.” One of the devils said, a woman with long pink hair and dressed similarly to the others.

“Where is Martio? That Bishop is never around when we need him.” Another devil complained but Nicolay glared at the man before approaching Rin.

He studied her condition carefully before approaching and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Miss Tohsaka, are you alright?”

Remembering the conversation of that morning Rin knew the man’s concern was genuine. “Sure am. Why are you asking?” She gave him a playful grin and folded her arms. “Did you think the bastard could take me or something?”

All devils but their King traded looks as the Gremory’s representative kept his eyes stuck on hers. “Miss Tohsaka, you disappeared hours ago.” Aqua eyes blinked and the man frowned. “We have been looking for you for several hours with no sign or clue of your whereabouts. Worse, you have failed to reply to any attempt of contact.”

“Feh, I am sure you are exaggerating.” She said dismissively but noting how worried he was. “Come on, I know I must have lost track of time a little but-”

“You were missing for over six hours.” Nicolay’s whisper was almost a hiss as he was trying to convey his frustration but not scream.

“I did?” The memories began to flow and Rin could almost feel a headache coming. “Oh yeah, I suppose I did. Huh, I didn't even notice that much time passed. Say, do you know a spell called Mirror World?” Considering what she went against, the young woman was legitimately curious about it.

Nicolay and most of his peerage didn’t seem to recognize the term but one of the bodyguards that visited her home did. “Yes, I heard about it. It is a complicated magic that they use to create blueprints for the arenas on Rating Games.”

“How do you know about that?” Another devil asked, Nicolay’s eyes still fixed on Rin.

“Oh, I dated a girl who works on them. She dumbed it down for me but basically it is just a way to create a temporary world, small thing, before they build an arena proper.”

“Why not use this Mirror World then?”

“I asked the same thing. She said it is because it eats too much mana to just create a few meters of space.” The devil winced, clearly remembering something unpleasant.

“You told her she was either weak or exaggerating.” One of his colleagues predicted with a smile.

“Lay off, will you!”

“Silence.” Nicolay spoke softly but the reprimand was noticeable. “Miss Tohsaka… Rin, are you alright.”

“Well, I am not wounded, am I?” The magus replied but doing a twirly to show she didn’t have even a scratch. “Just ran out of mana on most of my jewels. Say, can I get new ones for a job well done?”

“What happened?” The Gremory King asked, only sparing a glance to the corpses behind the twin tailed magus.

Rin was proud to say, “Exactly what it looks like.” She pointed a thumb for one of the bodies behind her. “I found the culprit. And his new pet by the way. Mirror World was how he was kidnaping the girls and hiding from everyone.”

Quickly the devils moved to the corpse with only Nicolay remaining close to Rin, not taking his eyes from her. “Was he a-”

“A magus, yes. He was trying to conduct some sort of ritual but I couldn't get all the details before, you know, killing him.” Rin shrugged nonchalantly, a small voice on the back of her head told her she should be more disturbed about killing a man. Only for it to be silenced by a sweet reassuring tune from a lovely woman she couldn’t place a face on. ”When he caught me he got way more than he could chew.”

One of Nicolay’s subordinates created a magic circle over the charred corpse. “This isn't human.”

“That is Kiyome-san’s harpy the man had taken and modified with said ritual.” Rin supplied easily, not remembering when she had figured that out. “He is the other one.” That devil moved to examine the other body while another pulled a pamphlet and called their allies.

A few minutes later one of their Bishops, Martio who had a mustache and long blond hair, said, “No offense lady but I don’t think a human would have the mana capacity to sustain a spell like Mirror World.” The fact he was kneeling close to the corpse made him look smaller than he already was and his office worker build didn’t help matters. “That sort of spell would eat a magus alive in minutes unless they have enough power to keep a town up by themselves. It is why we use Mirror World only for blueprints or to create a base for what we are going to build, not for Rating Games themselves.”

“And the fact it is quite fray has nothing to do with it either? Not like he was doing an unknown ritual in a city with a big ley line. Not at all. Completely unrelated, right?.” Rin asked rhetorically and the man glared before returning to his work. Nicolay studied his ally a little more but she seemed fine and after his other Bishop finished a check up he was satisfied. “Anyway, about Mirror World, I had to use all my jewels and couldn’t break the thing.”

Martio shrugged a shoulder as he still studied the corpse of the supposed magus. “If he was still feeding the place with mana it would be mighty indeed.” His eyes shifted to the older corpse. “And he made the harpy evolve, you said?”

Rin remembered distinctively the magus bragging about his research and casting a spell that made the former familiar change. “A sample, not the final result. That thing packed quite a punch.”

“And yet you have no wounds.” Martio commented and his King glared.

Rin was unphased, the answer leaving her lips without much thought. “Yeah but that is because I ran around the fake cars around the fake Fuyuki.” She rolled her eyes for good measure.

Nicolay glared at the corpse with hatred. “Did you ever figure out why he was kidnapping women? Was for something-”

“Just a ritual. He didn’t give details but from what I could understand his goal was to evolve the harpy over there,” she said pointing to the other corpse, “and was planning to create an army of mythical beasts, sacrifice them and produce enough power to reach the Root.”

“Would that even work?” “How was he using the women then?” Nicolay and his Bishop asked at the same time.

The replies came easily like they were rehearsed. “Probably not. And I have no clue.” She said while shrugging her shoulders. “I mean, the guy could possibly be lying but besides the harpy-”

“The harpy that was from Kiyome Abe? That wasn’t involved in this until its disappearance.”

“Martio, stop-”

“Nicolay, none of this makes any sense. Even her story is full of holes.” All other members of the peerage stopped to watch the interaction as their Bishop glared at their King and the magus.

“Hey, it wasn’t like I had time to interrogate the guy. I was fighting for my life.” Rin shot back with a glare.

“And that is another thing; you don’t have a single scratch.” Martio said while waving at her. True enough Rin was unharmed and even her clothes weren’t ruffled or damaged in any way. “Not just that but your mana reserves are unaffected, too unaffected for someone who fought for six hours.”

Rin rolled her eyes. “I didn’t fight for six hours. I ran around, made a plan and executed it. The plan was to not die, getting away without a scratch is a bonus.” She said the last part while fixing her hair.

That just infuriated the man further but Nicolay stepped forward. “Okay, okay. Settle down. So far miss Tohsaka’s story makes sense.”

“By the sweat I am smelling it sure does.” Another member of the peerage, one of the Pawns, said with a smirk.

Rin resisted the urge to smell herself but didn’t doubt his words as her body felt sore and she remembered how much she ran around before winning the fight.

“But this story about a ritual makes no sense.” Martio stomping around, enraged. “The women from before, and her, they lost nothing. There was no cost.” He said while pointing to Rin. Some of his group agreed by the pensive frowns on their faces. “Think about it, whatever they lost would have to be undetectable and powerful enough to turn an average harpy into- into- I can’t even say what it was.”

“Same species from the Odyssey.” Supplied Rin with annoyance.

“So says you, so said him according to you.” The Bishop complained, clearly suspicious about the whole thing.

“And yet I lost every single gem I brought to do your job for you!” Rin shouted with fury.

“Miss Tohsaka calm down-”

“That was years of effort, years.” To her credit she did lower her voice. “And I lost every single one of them, a small fortune, really. Not even mentioning the research value. And you are saying I didn’t lose anything? Bah.” Rin waved him off with a glare. “Shows how little you know about magicians, especially magus. Here is a summary; we aren’t the most sane ones, spellcasters usually take less risks, but we are the ones who invent the best new stuff and usually turn into sorcerers.” She pointed at the corpse, still glaring at the Bishop. “I have no idea what that bastard did with the other girls but he didn’t get me, I got him first. So instead of accusing me of something, why don’t you just thank me for a job well done and let go.”

Something shifted on Martio’s face as the man seemed ready to complain and keep the discussion going but either hesitated or changed his mind. Not even knew what happened as he still held doubts and questions, too many to count. Yet he just did as he was told and let go, turning around to the magus’ corpse and back to work.

Nicolay didn’t notice anything odd, it was too subtle and he wasn’t the target. All he knew was that his Bishop lost the argument. “Miss Tohsaka, we are sorry that we failed to support you as promised-”

Rin brushed him off. “It is fine. Nobody would expect a Mirror World from what you all said.”

“Still it was our mistake, my failure.” Clearly Nicolay was beating himself over it. Rin almost forgot he had six hours to try and find her only to fail. “In any case don’t worry about your gems. I will pay for new ones from my own pocket if I have to.”

“Sir-”

“You don’t need-”

“But I do.” Nicolay said suddenly and softly, interrupting one of his Pieces and Rin.

A huge feeling of guilt assailed Rin’s heart and she felt her skin crawl for reasons that she couldn’t comprehend. “It is fine. Forget it.” She felt an unbelievable urge to take a shower.

“Miss Tohsaka-”

“Forget it.” She repeated sharply, feeling uncomfortable and strange for feeling that way.

“I just can’t. You fought a criminal by yourself because of my carelessness and some sort of compensation needs to be given.”

The sentiment was appreciated but his voice was annoying the magus. “Not your fault. He was smarter than we thought. It happens.” She tried to remember more details about the deceased criminal but all she got was generic banter and an annoying voice. ‘He isn’t important enough to remember.’

As soon as the thought popped in her mind Rin felt confusion followed by satisfaction and a pleasant tingle in the back of her neck that pleased her without end despite that never happened before.

It was short lived as Nicolay wasn’t ready to let go. “Still honor dictates that I pay for the services.”

“Pft, honor. What is it good for?” The words surprised Rin more than anyone else even as some looked at her with horror. “Goddamned I am tired.” She didn’t feel like it but blamed exhaustion anyway.

“Do you want me to escort you-”

“No, I will be fine.”

“It would be for the best and we could discuss payment-”

“Can you forget it for goodness' sake?!” Rin snapped and Martio was offended by his King who just looked at the magus with concern. “Sorry, sorry. I am just a bit tired.”

“Not your fault. You were captured in a nefarious trap and had to fight your way out.”

“Just forget about it. If it isn’t my fault it isn’t yours either. Besides, I still have an arsenal back home and Rias pays me well enough.” Massaging her eyes the young woman felt she should demand more. ‘Since when I am so greedy? It may take a while but I can rebuild easily enough.’ As Rin made her mind, any exhaustion was suddenly gone and she noticed Nicolay’s concerned face. “Stop worrying already. I knew the risks and everything ended up fine.”

“As the responsible for Fuyuki’s security and the one who called for your assistance I must bear the costs. You did use your jewels to do my work, after all.”

“Doesn’t matter. I just…” Rin just wanted to go home but she couldn’t say it for whatever reason. A sigh later she added, “Look, just clean this up and send Rias the bill. Maybe I will get a raise.” The other devils made all sorts of faces at the thought of sending their future Lady the ‘bill’. “Now if you'll excuse me I am going to bed.”

After a shower, a long shower Rin wanted desperately, even more than any sort of rest.

She didn’t know why.

Already calmer with the magus’ reassurances, Nicolay couldn’t help but point out, “I used to think humans slept just at night.” By her glare it took a lot for Rin to not call him a moron. That just lifted his spirits a little. “Have a good morning, miss Tohsaka.”

“But it still is-” Then Rin noted how the sky was growing more blue and the lights of the street went off. “It is already dawn…”

“Sorry that you lost your night.” Nicolay also sounded incredibly tired and not just because it was his time to rest. After Rin had disappeared he went on to try and find her frantically. “I could still escort-”

“Sorry but your hair isn’t red enough for me to even consider it.” Once again Rin was surprised by her own words. Even more so when thinking about redheads and images of both her boss and her Magician came to her head in a passionate liplock. ‘The hell?’ Shaking her head she banished the image and marched. “Just need some rest, a good night of rest.”

Rin was unable to realize what she lost or that her life had changed in ways she couldn’t comprehend by another redhead, this time a far more selfish one who didn’t hesitate to take what she wanted on matter how much the young woman didn’t want to give.

And she left a mark as any god would upon passage, a mark that was unseen but already took root in the young magus’ very soul, changing her outlook about certain things while also taking more.

For Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love and love could be quite cruel.

…..