58 A War God's Counsel

Fuyuki, Japan,

Darkness covered the formerly majestic city of Fuyuki, the Sun had set many hours ago and the Moon rose in it's stead, bringing with it the cold and peace of the night. In some districts, the infrastructure did it's job properly, lights illuminated the sparsely populated roads..

Still, that wasn't the case for much of the city.

Miyama Town and the Shinto District lay ravaged by unexplained, tremendous destruction. Tall skyscrapers lay flat against the ground, the ruins of buildings and vehicles dotted both parts of the city and the populace, well, in a completely unnatural turn of events, their minds were dull to all that had ensued during the day with many now within the safe comfort of their homes, either asleep or still awake.

The efforts of the Holy Church had made sure that the city wouldn't be investigated by the Government and the Japanese Magus society knew enough to simply steer clear. Fuyuki was out of their jurisdiction after all. That however, didn't mean that no news had made it out of the city. Asheara Mystras had already reported the situation to her father who had then, promptly delivered it to those concerned.

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Edelfelt Mansion,

The Edelfelt Mansion, currently inhabited by the only son of the Trambelio family, Roman Trambelio, was no different in this aspect. Strangely enough though, the lights, which were usually blaring, were shut off, the curtains drawn, covering the windows... The mansion had earlier been repaired but, it still didn't remove the gaping ravine right by it.

The room Roman had made into his temporary office was still lively to some extent with the Magician still sitting there, despite it being the middle of the night.

"You're sure?"

He asked calmly, his ever-present smile etched across his face as he rhythmically tapped his fingers against the wooden table he sat at. An opened bottle of red wine lay to his right along with a glass filled to the brim.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure. As of today, the Matou family is no longer in this world." The person he was talking to on the telephone was none other than Melvin Weins, a loyal and old friend, "And..." Melvin paused, a bit hesitant to utter his next words, "How much longer? ....I don't trust the Meluastea."

"Don't worry about those lot, the leader's a wimp." Roman reassured, taking off his eyepatch and placing it on the table, revealing a red gemstone instead of an actual eye.

"You know you're talking about a faction leader?"

"Ich weiß."

The Magician brushed off the comment, barely bothered, "Well, I'll be back in a week or two at most. Until then, cheers."

".....Sure."

With that, Roman closed the call and rotating his chair with a small kick to the table, the Magician silently stared at the night sky, his head resting in a hand.... A strange glint flashed through his eyes before he sighed, not knowing what to do about his strange emptiness. Usually the void was filled by extreme squandering of wealth but his current job didn't allow him to do that.

Just as the Trambelio thought of heading to bed for the day, his door being slowly opened caught his attention... Still, it didn't warrant him turning around and he kept his gaze fixed on the outside, occasionally taking a sip from his wine..

"Yo Master, how's it going?"

Nagao Kagetora, casual as ever, not bothered by the death of her fellow servant, took a seat on his table, holding bottles of various types of alcoholic drinks in both hands... She set them down on the table beside her and leaned forward, tilting her body strangely to stare at Roman's face from the side, "Wanna drink?" She'd seen people do that when sad, it helped.

"....." Roman glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "...You bloody stink." He covered his nose, just how long had she been drinking? "And what's with that clothing? You a pervert?"

Confused for a moment, Kagetora stared down at her own attire and finding nothing wrong with it, she turned to her Master again, "What's wrong with it?" A huge t-shirt to cover the important bits, it was comfortable, "....And why are you stingy?" She sighed, leaning against his chair as she gulped down yet another bottle, "You still torn up about Raikou?"

"..." Roman didn't answer, instead shifting a bit from his original position, "Not really... And that's the problem.."

"...Master... You're a horrible person." Kagetora dramatically placed a hand on her chest, putting on a shocked expression....

"..." Roman thought she was sort of stupid for thinking he cared about what kind of 'person' he was, "You retarded? I mean I had my doubts but.... A shame.."

The Lancer laughed but then all the emotion disappeared from her face, as if it had never been there, "That would be what a human would take away from your answer... ja?" She imitated his language, tilting her head in an eerie manner..

"I guess." Roman shrugged, taking another sip of wine.. Both of them knew he would be lying if he said he didn't care about the Berserker, "What does the Dragon of Echigo think?" He mocked with a sneer, finding her moniker to be incredibly childish.

"Hmmm..." Kagetora hummed, swaying about a bit, "I think it bodes well. Your anger..." The Lancer placed a hand over her chest, "It was amazing..." She spoke in a strange tone before a massive grin crossed her face, "But, she was avenged. That is all, end of discussion. Learn from it, get over it, let it not affect you in a detrimental way." The 'Dragon of Echigo' banged a fist against her chest, "I find it wonderful."

"...." Roman gazed at her pensively, her thought process was really different yet at the same time, somewhat aligned with his own, "I see."

"Still, I suppose you cheated your way into that.." Kagetora smiled wickedly, her eyes glowing knowingly, the way his anger had disappeared was unnatural, the fact that there was no despair was strange, at least to her knowledge but hey, what did she know right? She'd only spent her entire fucking life on battlefields.

Well, she too was a cheater though. The Lancer knew she didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell at winning against the King of Conquerors in their fight if her Master hadn't provided enough prana for her to quite literally use her noble phantasm over and over again... Even then she only won because the red haired man hadn't gotten enough time to deploy his own noble phantasm... It was still a very real victory though, either of them had used all available to them to fight after all.

"It's magic. I ain't gotta explain shit." Roman chuckled lightly, understanding what she was hinting at. The only reason he felt empty now was because he'd forcefully ejected the lingering anger and regret that should have been there using magic... Roman didn't really care how others would think of him for doing that.

"Getting drunk might help?" Kagetora reluctantly offered him one of her bottles, having returned to her usual self in a matter of seconds.

"I'm afraid that's a luxury I can't afford." It's not that he didn't want to, he just couldn't. Of course he could make it so via magic but again, Roman couldn't be bothered to do that... It was just a simple ability that negated all things that could hinder his thinking.

".....No way.... How do you live with yourself?" Kagetora seemed genuinely taken aback by the revelation, even jolting ever so slightly, "A shame." It would have been nice to get drunk with... him..... Wait... What? The War God of Echigo only silently stared at her Master's face, again taken aback.

Roman shrugged again, "That's just pathetic.." He didn't have a high opinion of those that drowned their sorrows in drinks.

"...It does help though." The War God protested in a low voice, knowing that her protest had no legs to actually stand on...., "That aside.." She grabbed her Master's face with both hands, jerking it her way before staring at his eyes, narrowing her own with a healthy blush on her cheek..

".....Bloody drunkard." Roman commented, slightly annoyed with how she had forcefully grabbed his face.

"The red and gold is pretty." Kagetora huffed before passing out, falling on the Magician, her own lips brushing past his as she fell down to the carpeted floor, completely asleep if the snoring was anything to go by...

Roman blinked several times, touching his lips with his hands, mildly surprised, "Huh." He looked down at the servant passed out on his floor, wondering just how many bottles the woman drank to pass out, what with her being a servant and all.... Where did she even find them? Could servants even get drunk? Had she forced it with her Divinity like she forcefully summoned her horse?

Roman had a bunch of new questions now.

Still, he was well aware she wouldn't think much of what had just happened, that was just how the War God of Echigo was. He too didn't think much of it after all.

"Thea, you're out there, aren't you?" Roman asked, putting his hands together and blankly staring at the ceiling, a part of him wondering how long it would take Tamamo no Mae to stop avoiding him like the plague, was it really that hard to make a decision?

"I think..... I would be affected if Master died."

Roman could only silently listen to the Lancer's sleep talking, "..."

"You called Master?"

"Contact Kiritsugu in the morning, tell him he has till next week to meet me."

Roman ordered calmly, it was time to put an end to this sham of a war. Only three servants were left now after all, two of whom were his own.

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How do you like Kagetora?

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