Chapter 91
An elbow dug into his sides without warning, a shockwave spreading through his body.
A second ago, there was nobody. Next, a tall man in the Church's uniform stood there, in the stance of Bajiquan, his elbow at right angle with his waist, his fist facing upwards.
A trail of blood remained in the air as it flew from Kairi's mouth, his body spinning and tumbling across the forest floor until it came crashing to a stop against a tree.
"―――Urghhh―――"
His crumpled body twitched, his consciousness trying to reassert itself. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and from his nose, combining together on his cheek into a single stream of crimson that watered the dirt his face was resting against.
―――MOVE
His hands reached into his jacket, fumbling in the dark as he did his best to control his floundering fingers, his senses dulled from the blast and the elbow strike. But years of practice aided him, guiding his hand to the wooden handle of the double-barrelled sawed-off shotgun he kept with him at all times, his trusty partner.
*krnch, krnch*
Not yet...
With the necromancer injured, Kirei saw no reason to hide his presence any more, casually approaching the Kairi like he was meeting an acquaintance.
"What is your name, magus? Tell me, so that the Lord may hear and absolve your sins."
When Kairi refused to answer, Kirei smiled.
"If you are unwilling to repent, then you must suffer punishment before you are forgiven."
In the blink of an eye, he seemingly teleported in front of Kairi's prone body with inhuman speed, his foot hooking under Kairi's torso and lifting him up into the air for his shoulder to strike his stomach.
The instant Kairi felt himself go weightless, he drew the shotgun from under his jacket with practiced ease, the barrels swiftly aligning with the priest's body. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
A deafening crack sounded through the forest, reaching Lancer's ears. Her eyes instantly locked onto the two shadows intertwined, deep in the forest.
He's aiming away from me?
Kirei was confused as he saw the barrels tilted away from his body, his eyes telling him that the bullets wouldn't hit. Yet his instincts screamed at him to dodge, and his body obeyed, barely pulling him out of the way of the finger bullets that curved towards his body as they passed him, the closest one cutting a line across the sides of his cassock.
The bullets were able to track body heat and adjust their course accordingly, with the additional property of burrowing into the body to the heart to explode with the 'Gandr' curse, a one shot one kill weapon. It wasn't able to make a complete U-turn in the air though, so Kirei was able to escape death by a hair.
Before Kirei recovered, Kairi pulled out the heart grenade, the dark red shrivelled mass in his hands, and hurled it in front of him. Within his body, the Magic Circuits stirred to life.
"O wind..."
A gust of air blew the grenade right behind Kirei's body, using his body as a shield to block the shrapnel from hitting Kairi while making it harder to get rid of as well. Kirei's eyes tracked the red mass, watching it pass right under his armpit and past his ribs.
This guy...It had been some time since Kirei had to put his life on the line, but he remained calm.
Turning around to crush the grenade would expose his back to the necromancer, but leaving the grenade alone would very likely lead to his doom as well. Within a second, he mind sped through the possibilities, and he opted to retreat, exposing Kairi to the grenade while placing himself out of harm's way.
His feet planted firmly on the ground, pushing against the earth as he was propelled sideways by his right foot, his right leg fully out stretched while his left leg stopped him at the trunk of a tree, bending to absorb the force of his jump.
He fell for it.
Kairi grinned and retrieved the unprimed grenade, the pin still in place. He had purposefully angled his throw so that the priest couldn't see the pin, using magecraft to blow it behind him to further obstruct him from inspecting it. Reloading his shotgun with the fingers, he placed the grenade back into his jacket to draw out the smoke canisters he kept around with him, pulsing black sacs carved off a magical beast sealed within steel cylinders.
There was no time to waste.
With a Servant behind him watching his every move, and a monster of an Executor facing him, the only choice he had was to escape and contact El-Melloi and let him know what was happening. Currently, he could tell that the Servant was holding back since the Master was engaging him, but there was no telling when it would join in as well. He hadn't been able to tell which Servant it was during that blisteringly fast charge, but regardless who it was, they could easily kill him.
The same went for the Executor in front of him as well-wait, wasn't that the supervisor? Now that he had put some space between them, he could see that the priest was Kotomine Kirei, the sharp chin, drawn face and unruly long brown hair perfectly matching the photos he had seen. What was he doing attacking him. Was he the Master of a Servant in this war as well?
Kirei, noticing his face light up in recognition, spoke to him.
"It seems you know me. Would you do me the kindness of telling me your name then?"
Originally, they were supposed to assist Avenger with the fight against Berserker and Ruler, but since Angra Mainyu had said he only needed to help when a signal was given, he was on standby. In the meantime, silencing potential witnesses and gaining information about the other Masters would be beneficial to himself. Based on what he knew, he could hazard a guess that the necromancer in front of him belonged to the Mage's Association, likely working under Lord El-Melloi II, since Bazett hadn't told him about anybody supporting her. It was possible he was a third party, or paid by another Master, but based on what he knew of the other Masters and of the Clock Tower, it was more likely the former was true.
The necromancer was skilled, even after suffering a crippling blow from him, and was still able to stand. That alone was enough for Kirei to tell that he was no normal magus, and the only people who could afford such skilled people were people with deep pockets.
Kairi reloaded his shotgun while thinking about his next step. Considering his current situation, he could only escape, and the off-road bike hidden near his camp was his best chance at escaping. Turning his head slightly to the left, he noted that the bike seemed to have escaped unscathed from the charge, the furrow in the ground stopping just short of the bushes where it was hidden in. Now the only problem was how to get there with a Servant and a grizzled ex-Executor watching his every step...
"The name's Sisigou. Sisigou Kairi."
Playing for time, he decided to answer him.
Lifting his eyebrows, Kirei's smile stretched just a tiny bit wider. During his days training as an Executor and undertaking missions for the church, he had heard of the name of a certain necromancer, travelling many battlefields where normal humans, mages and magical beasts fought, leaving these hellholes alive with the precious bones, flesh and organs of those who had fallen. Whether he actively hunted for his materials, or whether he simply scavenged them off dead corpses was unknown, but the fact was that he had survived such places time and time again, gaining a reputation as a monster that stalked the battlefields who would do anything for the right price.
The reputation wasn't unfounded, with Kairi having killed many magi during his life, utilizing methods similar to the famed 'Magus Killer' Emiya Kiritsugu of combining modern weaponry and technology with his own magecraft. As a first rate spellcaster, the tools and weapons he had created with the body parts he collected were top class, Mystic Codes perfectly suited for his line of work.
"A man famed in the thaumaturgical underground, to the extent that even a humble priest such as I has heard of your name. Tell me, how do you traverse the brutal fields of blood every time without breaking? Surely, you must have seen many horrors and abominations with your own eyes."
Kirei's eyes gleamed in the moonlight, wondering if he was a kindred spirit. He could practically smell the blood and gunpowder coming off of the muscular man, even at this distance, and he wondered what kind of man he was, to do what he did repeatedly.
Kairi raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was asking this question seemingly out of nowhere.
"There's nothing special about it. The more you see, the more you get used to it. I've always known that humans aren't saints, even the best of us. In the end, what matters is what you yourself do. Do what you believe to be correct, and live free."
That was who he was. After losing his stepdaughter, accepting the fate of the curse and turning his back on his family, he had decided to live his life according to his own rules, with as little regrets as possible. The world was transient, and the impermanence of all things the only constant, so all he could do was live life to the fullest.
The only tie to the past he still kept was a faded, scuffed photo patched with tape, sitting in the back pockets of his jacket, a man and a young girl smiling at the camera.
Kirei's enthusiasm dampened, his smile curling less as he decided to settle matters here. Avenger did need their help after all. If he wasn't empty, then there was no point in conversing further.
"I see. Quite wilful man aren't you. I'm sure you've indulged yourself in many sins over the course of your life, so allow me to cleanse them as a priest."
One moment he was there, the next he was gone, his body slipping into a stance faster than Kairi's eyes could register, the fist of the eight extremities transferring maximum force to from the ground to his feet, waist and chest, sending him forward with his fist poised to strike.
Tilting, creaking, the tree behind him cracked and then fell, the inner heartwood riddled with cracks from the force he exerted on it.
Doesn't seem like the Servant will intervene if he's fighting...
With that in mind, Kairi raised his shotgun and fired at him, the leaves stirring to block the priests vision as they flew into his face with a strong breeze as Kirei uttered a short chant.
Out of the desiccated leaves, silver blades with curiously shaped red handles were flung out, slender rapiers aimed at his vitals to skewer them. Far too fast for him to dodge, he deflected one with the barrels of his shotgun, while one sinking into his shoulder and another into his thigh, twisting his body just enough to avoid having them hit any fatal areas. They sank deep into his body, the tip coming out the other side.
Then Kirei was on him, having ducked so low to the ground that his chest skimmed past the tree roots and dirt on the floor to avoid the bullets that curved down on him, only to hit the floor. With three Black Keys in each hand, he slashed at Kairi, his range increased. Unable to reload or shoot, Kairi parried the first trio with his shotgun, then ducked under the second, using his free hand to push around the tree as he twirled his body around to use it as a shield.
The fist that slammed into the tree was as loud as the concussion grenade Kairi detonated earlier, the bark splintering slightly, with the internal trunk heavily damaged as the rings of wood were vaporized with one strike. Following the laws of physics, the tree tilted and broke at the point of impact, crashing onto the ground.
For his part, Kairi was already moving, having just thrown an enhanced flashbang to disorient Kirei who had already moved into place to strike him who was behind him even before the tree fell. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled the one of the two grenades he had left, the one he had used to fool Kirei earlier.
Kirei grimaced and shook his head, the metallic dust packed with the ground bones of magi disorienting him further than a normal flashbang would, his skin prickling and his nose itching like never before. Focusing his Magic Circuits and the remaining Command Seals he had, he 'flushed' his system free of the concussion, his senses returning to normal, though a slight headache remained.
What a monster that guy is...the flashbang could keep the average magus down for a minute, but Kirei recovered in seconds. The sight only affirmed Kairi's desire to use one of the trump cards he had kept in reserve for emergencies. Sticking the grenade into the ground, he pulled the pin and leapt behind a tree for cover.
Kirei, who was already on his way to fight Kairi, swerved out of the way after throwing his Black Keys, the weapons embedding themselves in the tree trunk he was hiding behind.
*Dossh*
The grenade was muted by being half buried in the dirt, a small hole forming in it. A purple haze settled around the immediate area, the grass shriveling and the roots bubbling wherever it settled. Jumping away from the haze, Kirei stood at the edge and peered into the depths, trying to ascertain the blurry shadows within it.
"There."
Seeing something move, he threw Black Keys in his hands towards it, six blades flying into the smoke, blowing away it away with sheer speed they traveled at, creating small tunnels in the haze.
"Presence in the wind..."
Gusts of wind blew into place, clearing the smoke up with a spell similar to what Kairi had used earlier. When that was gone, all he saw was the Black Keys sticking up out of the dirt and trees, with Kairi nowhere to be seen. However, Kirei knew he couldn't have gone far.
Crackling, like the sound of bones snapping and reforming, suddenly sounded from the dirt where Kairi had placed the grenade. The dirt shifted, the roots ripped out off the ground, as something appeared from the hole the grenade had made.
Kirei raised his head to stare at the monstrosity that had suddenly appeared in front of him, the sight of a monster with beady eyes and exposed white skeletal structure with flesh stuck on it entering his eyes.
"HSSssssssHHRrrrrrssSSSHhhhhsHH"
The best he could do to describe it was as an undead lizard man, though even that seemed to do it injustice.
Flicking the Black Keys into his palms, Kirei eyed the familiar in front of him, prepared to test its strength.