Snow

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Who knew holding Berserker back was such a hard task. Illyasviel thought tiredly as she spared a glance at her servant. She nursed her broken arm and winced in pain.

Caster's guard dropped slightly but the magical circles still shined and hummed with energy. "An alliance?" she asked in caution. "Why did you take out Assassin then?"

"To get rid of an incompetent guard and opening a position," Illyasviel shrugged. "If you accept, we'll both get what we what and need, sans the grail because we both know how that's gonna end."

Caster started to float down to the ground next to her master.

Souichirou spoke up. "Why make an alliance with us?" he inquired while holding his stomach in pain.

"Oh, to lure in my prize~" Illyasviel responded innocently. "If my calculations are correct, if you continue doing what you are doing and absorbing all the energy to here, a certain magus would come here..."

She hated to admit that her views of him were slightly wrong, he was not a coward but a stupid machinist. Now that she thought about it, wouldn't he enjoy getting tortured? Maybe torturing the Tohsoka or Saber might be a better choice...

Caster flinched when she mentioned the magical absorption. "That's how you found me?" she inquired.

"Well, I figured this would be a good place for setting up your workshop as this is on an old ley line... I found out your absorption project when I came here."

Caster's eyes narrowed. "Then how do you know they would come here?"

"Well cause I said so," it was an answer so childish that even her mother would be shocked.

Reminded that she was in the presence of a child, not an experienced magus, Caster fell silent. "What do we get out of this?"

"Well, you'll live and you'll gain a more competent guard," Illyasviel stated in an uncaring manner. "Before you ask, I spared you because I can't do the whole absorbing thing."

-

Rubbing her temples in agitation, she walked home with a headache. Tch. Killing them would've saved me from this. She thought unremorsefully.

The only reason she even considered doing an alliance was that she needed better protection from attacks from Archer, who could fire his noble phantasm multiple times from a rather extreme distance. If the Tohsoka had enough prana, the bow-wielding servant could spam them creating a siege scenario.

She was confident that she and Berserker would survive but... The other precious people of her life, Sella and Leysritt, were something she would not willingly lose. "Berserker... If Caster ever backstabs us, rip her in two."

"Grr..." was his growling response.

-

She flopped on her bed, the force making her bobble for a little bit before the bed settled. She was so damned tired, with the numerous headaches forming to prana exhaustion, she was drained. Her eyes closed.