Y/n was frankly at a loss for words. The woman that had his head in his lap was clearly an Oni. A demon from Japanese mythology that loved causing shenanigans.
But this Oni was different. She was gentle and despite her having burning red eyes, there was no sign of any malice from her.
???: "Master? You okay?"
Y/n: "U-Uh, yeah I think so. W-who are you?"
???: "Oh, my apologies. I'm a servant. My class is Archer. My true name is Tomoe Gozen."
Y/n: "Tomoe Gozen!? The warrior Oni that was the concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka!?"
Tomoe: "Yes. That's right. I'm honestly quite surprised you know of me."
Y/n: "I mean. You're well recorded in the history of Japan. Though you look really different in art depictions."
Tomoe: "Doesn't everyone?"
Y/n stayed silent for a minute before he realised that his head was still in Tomoe's lap. The oni archer then fixed her gaze in a seemingly random direction.
Y/n: "Tomo-"
Tomoe: "Shh. Listen."
Y/n focused his hearing and he could hear something coming towards them. Something...loud.
???: "aaaa..."
Y/n: "What is that?"
Tomoe: "No clue..."
???: "aaaaaaaaaa..."
Y/n: "It's getting..."
Tomoe: "Louder..."
???: "aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA..."
Y/n and Tomoe both jumped to their feet and moved out of the way as a black blur shot straight past them.
???: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
*BOOM*
Both Y/n and Tomoe got into a fighting stance as the unknown assailant crashed into the tree behind them. A red glow in the shape of a visor then shone out from the dust cloud.
???: "AHA!! FOUND YOU!! WHO'S THE WHORE!?"
Tomoe: "*inhale*...deep breaths, Tomoe. Don't kill him yet."
Y/n: "Rogue servant, I assume?"
???: "NOT ANYMORE, COCK GOBLIN!!"
Tomoe: "Could you tone the volume down. I'm pretty sure there are dogs going deaf out there."
Meanwhile, at the church.
Cù: "Ugh, whoever's screaming I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS!!"
Gilgamesh: "Tch, I see the mad dog has made a return."
Kirei: "Kariya Matou's berserker? I see."
Cù: "You shitfucks wanna explain?"
Gilgamesh: "You seem to forget your place, Mongrel."
Kirei: "That belligerent yelling is none other than Lancelot in his berserker form. A servant that was summoned ten years ago in the fourth holy grail war."
Cù: "Ah, got it."
Anyway, back to the maniacal bullshittery.
Y/n: "That armour looks similar to Lancelot's."
TotallynotLancelot: "WELL THAT AIN'T ME!!"
...
...
...
Lancelot: "...Okay, yeah that's me."
Y/n: "Huh. A berserker Lancelot and a Saber one. I guess you two are from different periods of your life?"
Zerkerlot: "HE'S THE BETA BITCH!!"
Y/n: "Didn't Guinnivere peg you both?"
Zerkerlot: "...never speak of that again in front of anyone."
Tomoe was struggling to contain her laughter before Y/n started walking back towards Fuyuki.
Tomoe: "Are we going home, Master?"
Y/n: "Yeah. Gotta make sure Jack hasn't killed anyone. Saying that, she's probably been playing with Abby."
Tomoe: "Jack and Abby, huh? How many other servants are in your home."
Y/n: "Too many, Tomoe. Too fuckin' many."
The three started heading home, of course Zerkerlot started belligerently screaming the lyrics to country roads. Of course, Y/n ended up joining in for the hell of it.
It actually proved to be a good bonding exercise for the two.
Meanwhile, at the Matou estate. Assassin was kneeling in front of Shinji in the garden.
Assassin: "My master...is dead."
Shinji glared down at the masked servant. His right arm completely severed by Okita's blade.
Shinji: "Then you'll become my servant."
Assassin: "Your body will not last."
Shinji: "You think I care!? No. I'm gonna get back at that fucking cocksucker Y/n. I'm gonna make that bitch of a servant of his scream right in front of him."
With those words said, Shinji stormed back into the house.
Assassin was left to contemplate his choice of master.
Assassin: "...why must I get the cruel ones?"
???: "At least you didn't have a facet sacrificed for the hell of it, Cursed Arm."
Assassin's eyes widened behind his mask as he saw another masked assassin.
Cursed Arm: "Hundred Faces!"
Hundred faces removed her mask and looked down at the cloaked servant.
Hundred Faces: "Look at you, Hanam."
Cursed Arm: "Don't! I am still a Hassan-i-sabbah. My old name is no longer who I am."
Hundred Faces laughed before taking a seat on a tree branch.
Hundred faces: "I sensed two other old men of the mountain when I materialised here."
Cursed Arm: "My master was decapitated..."
Hundred Faces: "Then the great founder is here."
Cursed Arm: "What of the other?"
Hundred Faces: "My bet is on Serenity. Multiple men have fallen victim to a powerful poison as of late. If it isn't her, then there's only one servant I can think of."
Cursed Arm remained silent before standing up.
Cursed Arm: "My new master is reckless. If he sends me to kill the Alter-Ego. I will die."
Hundred Faces: "Heh. There is a way to fix that and turn on the lopsided child."
Cursed arm's interest was piqued as Hundred Faces explained her plan to him.
Back at Y/n's house. The place was livelier than it had ever been. Sakura and Medusa were relaxing in the living room while Gareth, Abby, Jack and Gawain had a snowball fight in the backyard. In one of the larger halls, Scàthach began training Y/n, putting him through a series of workouts and having him test his magecraft.
He demonstrated his family's magecraft which he had named: Reshape.
It was simple, but it explained his magecraft well. It allowed him to take an object and reshape it to how he desired. Hence how he was able to make a wooden katana as sharp as a steel one.
Scàthach had Tomoe spar against her master. She may have been an archer but she was adept with multiple forms of weaponry.
She was fierce enough to keep Y/n on his toes, but was holding back so her master at least had a chance.
Tomoe struck downwards with her katana to intercept a strike from Y/n's sword. Scàthach watched while mentally taking notes on Y/n's form and where he was making mistakes. It was thankfully a short list so far.
Tomoe then cranked up the difficulty and used a bit more of her true strength. She was slowly allowing Y/n to acclimate to her fighting style before unleashing more of her true strength little by little.
Her strikes were almost blindingly fast, so much so that Y/n struggled to keep up. Okita watched from the side as Tomoe thrust her katana forward. She miscalculated the speed of the thrust however and almost cut Y/n's face open, thankfully Okita used her nodachi to block it.
Okita: "That's enough. You almost sliced his face."
Tomoe: "Yes, I realised at the last second. My apologies, Master. It won't happen again."
Y/n: "No need to worry about it. I'm kinda seeing where I'm comin' up short here."
Scàthach: "Yes. When your enemy is as overbearing as Tomoe then you tend to lose your footing. I'll have that trained out of you by the weeks end though so don't worry too much. As for your swordsmanship. You're clearly not professionally trained, however you have a clear grasp of how to use that sword properly. You're relying quite a bit on your physical strength as well. While that can be advantageous, you'll want to use your magecraft just enough to balance the scales. I'm sure Merlin wouldn't mind helping you there."
Y/n nodded before Scàthach walked over to him.
Scàthach: "I'd also recommend knowing your limits. Once you know them then we can work around them."
Y/n nodded again before putting his sword down and heading into the living room.
Zerkerlot and Saberlot were both in the backyard taking part in the snowball fight, though Zerkerlot was louder about it.
Y/n then headed into his bedroom so he could take a nap. As soon as he was ready to catch some Z's, Tomoe walked in.
Tomoe: "I imagine you're going to rest yourself?"
Y/n: "Yeah. Lancer was right, Scàthach's training's solid."
Tomoe: "Yes. I was slightly concerned when she asked me to spar against you, however I knew that with Alter-Ego on hand, you'd be kept safe."
Y/n: "Don't count on her too much. I've caught her falling asleep while standing up."
Tomoe laughed as Y/n pulled the covers over himself.
Y/n: "I'll see you in an hour or so, Tomoe."
Tomoe: "Rest well, Master."
Tomoe stood up and headed for the door as Y/n allowed himself to drift off.
He was able to sleep comfortably until a voice started to speak. In fact, there were multiple voices.
He could hear Gawain and Zerkerlot easily. Okita was in there as well, but there were others that he didn't recognise.
Tomoe: "Master is currently asleep, Jack. Please try to keep it down."
Jack: "Kay!"
???1: "Are you sure about this?"
???2: "Why wouldn't I be? I'm merely going to pay a visit to my younger self before I put the mongrel that serves as his handler in his place."
???1: "You really are hopeless, huh?"
The voices changed to a more energetic female voice.
???3: "Buu...it's so boring around here! Avenger hasn't done anything yet!"
Y/n was going to speak, but he remembered that the servant could probably hear him.
???4: "I see that thou remains here."
???3: "Oh, hello Assassin king!"
???4: "Thou art certainly energetic as ever, Ruler."
Y/n heard Ruler laugh before the voices changed again. This time, it was a pair of female voices
???5: "We've checked everywhere there's water."
???6: "Chin up, Mary. We'll sort it out. We just gotta find Master!"
???5: "Look at that, yet again you've chosen another man to seduce...Yay~"
???6: "Well...you're not wrong. But it's only because I'm low on mana right now."
Y/n was then snapped out of his dream by one of his servants. Tomoe and Okita were both at his bedside.
Tomoe: "Ah, you're finally awake."
Zerkerlot (distant): "HE WAS NOT CROSSING THE FUCKING BORDER!! FUCK YOUR COMMENTS!!"
Did he just-
Anyway, Y/n sat up slowly before rubbing his eyes.
Y/n: "What's up,? did I oversleep?"
Okita: "No, Miss Rin has come to speak with you. She believes she has some actionable intel."
Y/n nodded before getting out of bed and pulling some clothes on.
Meanwhile, at the Matou estate, Shinji pulled a jacket on and headed to the dock.
Just as Y/n arrived in his living room, he saw the cloaked assassin in the backyard. Rin was glaring at him as well.
Y/n then walked out.
Y/n: "Assassin."
Cursed Arm: "Y/n L/n. My master has asked that you meet him at the docks tonight. He wishes to settle things once and for all."
Y/n was silent for a while. He then raised his head to the sky.
Y/n: "Your name. What is it?"
Cursed Arm: "Call me-"
???: "Hanam."
Y/n's eyes widened as Hundred Faces dropped into the backyard.
Hundred Faces: "He is Hanam. Calls himself Hassan of the Cursed Arm though. As for me, I am Hassan of the Hundred Faces. Shinji Matou wants you down by the port. But I've got an idea. Hanam here doesn't wanna work with Matou, so we decided to stage a coup of sorts."
Y/n: "Oh?"
Cursed Arm: "For the last time, Hundred Faces. Stop using that name!"
Hundred Faces: "Eh, you're a servant now. The names can be interchangeable."
Cursed Arm: "THEN WHAT OF YOUR REAL NAME!?"
Hundred Faces: "Well, my main facet is called Asako."
Cursed Arm: "...shit."
Hundred Faces: "Anyways. You wanna hear our plan, Master?"
Y/n: "...What do we need?"
Cursed Arm: "A really big wolf."
Hundred Faces: "And I know exactly where to find one."
Y/n nodded and the Hassan's plan was set into motion.
End of Chapter.
Rogues Remaining: 15
Next Time: The Hunter Becomes the Hunted.