04 - [Royal Confrontation]

Abel whistled a certain tune as he and his newfound companions walked up the path to Fuyuki Church.

He considered the nearby buildings of Fuyuki City with the perspective of a master architect, and frankly...

Modern architecture seems to be a little boring, no?

Well, at least the food is good...was what he heard from his Tumbling Blade, at least. Abel himself wouldn't know.

He long lost his human taste buds, after all.

But he could still feel the texture of the various foods on his tongue, and pizza had a tasty texture. Abel didn't know what that crazy alien was talking about, Italy was a great civilization!

Err, pizza is Italian cuisine, right? Saber wasn't sure, but it tasted a bit Roman, so Abel concluded that it probably was.

The only thing he didn't like about it was the disgusting cheese, but he just tore off those bits and ignored them.

"Tohsaka, who is it again that you're taking me to...?" Shirou asked with a curious expression as Abel returned his attention to the pair.

"Ah, he's the designated Overseer of the Holy Grail War..." Rin answered back, her eyes giving a side glance at her fellow Master.

"Designated? By whom? The Mage's Association?" He asked again, seeking clarification.

"It's obviously the Church, you idiot." It wasn't Rin who answered, but Archer.

The pair of teenage Masters turned their heads toward the Servant in red.

Archer joined the group back in his material form not long ago, and he seemed to sport an expression of constant wariness when walking beside his fellow Servant.

Saber, on the other hand, looked completely bored out of his mind and hadn't spoken a word, like a child that was forced to attend a boring social event by their parents.

"Yes, it's the Holy Church." Rin nodded in confirmation.

"...The Church? Like the Church of the Vatican?" Shirou gasped, wondering why an organization like the Catholic Church would support a death game tournament.

Well, it seemed to be a somewhat regulated death game, but still, a death game!

"We're all fighting for the Holy Grail, after all. The Church would naturally be...interested." She spoke, hesitant of her last choice of words.

"Is the Holy Grail War such a well-regulated event?" Shirou asked with furrowed eyebrows.

He has a feeling that such a gruesome tournament would only have one real rule.

Killed or be killed...

No way you could have a polite conversation and afternoon tea together with someone you know you would have to kill, right?

Glancing at the girl beside him, he wondered if he'd be forced to eventually...

No, he'd help Rin win the Grail. Shirou himself didn't really have any reason to want the Holy Grail for himself, after all.

'Sorry, Saber...' Shirou silently thought to himself, glancing at the bored Abel behind him.

He'd have to make Saber kill himself then, but Shirou...he didn't know if he could really do that.

Was there a way to win without murder? There surely had to be, right? Shirou didn't want to kill anyone, damn it!

Then again, Heroic Spirits are actually just ghosts, no?

They're already dead, so...was there really a problem in having Saber kill himself?

Shirou still didn't want to do it though, he didn't want it on his conscience.

"As well-regulated as a death match can be, I guess..." Rin said with a shrug as the group finally reached the doors to Fuyuki Church.

But the door seems to have already been opened...

Well, it's a church.

With a silent explosion of magical mist, Archer vanished into his spirit form as he took this opportunity to scout ahead.

Saber meanwhile seemed to have become slightly less bored now that they reached the Church.

The marked man walked ahead, rubbing his large hands on the Church's wooden doors.

His silvery grey eyes then began to emit a soft glow, scanning the building before him.

"Is that...?" Rin muttered quietly, though her words attracted Shirou's attention as the fellow Master gave her a questioning stare.

Rin didn't explain, still uncertain if Saber really was using a form of Mystic Eyes or if it was just some Clairvoyance.

Mystic Eyes could usually be graded by their colour, but what grade would Saber's completely grey eyes even be?

Or was it just a really weird hue of gold...?

"This is no house of God." The marked warrior announced with a sneer as he looked up with his grey eyes, "It reeks of a foul odour, like cheese." He said with some venom in his tongue.

Rin deadpanned at the frankly absurd comparison but Shirou took it seriously as he widened his eyes.

"Is this...one of those Churches that keep kids in their basement?" Shirou whispered quietly to the girl beside him.

"No, no it's..." She paused as she thought about it, "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it was." She said with a straight face, though she didn't seem to actually be serious.

"Never mind that, let's go." She shook her head as with those words, the pair of Master quickly entered the Church as the Saber followed them from behind, his hands behind his back as if he was the American president.

Saber paused for a moment as he stepped foot inside the false Church, the pair of Masters failing to notice this brief halt of movement.

For a second, Saber's grey eyes looked down onto the floor, as if his piercing gazing going past it.

In the next moment, he continued walking as if nothing occurred, yet a slight smirk had made its way onto his face.

At the same time, he had sent an impressed look of fascination toward his own Master, though the only one to notice this was the nearby spirit form Archer, who didn't comment.

"Hey, Priest...!" The twin-tailed girl with blue eyes called out as she searched for a certain someone.

"Tohsaka? Oh, you're here..." Sitting on a nearby chair with an opened copy of the Bible in his left hand and a small golden cross in his right hand was a Priest.

"...And it seems you've brought company." The Priest's hollow eyes scanned the group, pausing on the red-headed Master before his gaze settled on the smiling Saber.

The Priest silently closed the Bible and placed it on a nearby table before he brandished the small cross as a necklace.

He was a Japanese man with hollow and empty eyes, like a walking corpse. Though the constant soulless corporate smile he sported on his face was quite gentle.

With brown hair, a largely ordinary albeit somewhat attractive face, and a rather fit body for his age, which seemed to be in the late 30s or 40s, and wearing those Church robes, he just looked like a depressed Priest, not someone particularly cunning or wicked.

"This is Shirou..." The sole female in the room said as she gestured at her fellow Master, "And that's his Servant." She continued as Saber's smile turned into a smirk.

"He's a clueless amateur and I thought it would be best to bring him here..." She said, briefly glancing at Shirou to see if her vicious lampooning had any effect on the redhead's expression.

It didn't.

Seems like he had embraced the clueless amateur lifestyle...

"Well, then..." Kirei muttered with a gentle smile as he ascended forward from his chair and approached the group.

"My name is Kirei Kotomine, please, just call me Kirei. I am the overseer of the 5th Holy Grail War, that is to say..." He paused for dramatic effect.

"You can rely on me, young man." He said with a priestly smile.

"Um, okay," Shirou responded with an awkward smile of his own as he extended an open hand to shake.

"I am Shirou Emiya, please take care of me," Shirou said innocently as he waited for Kirei to shake his hand.

"E...mi...ya? That's..." The Priest muttered as he paused, glancing down at the young Master's hands.

"That's great." He firmly shook the redhead's hand with a piercing stare.

Shirou paused as he looked down at their shaking hands, silently thinking that perhaps this Priest was a weirdo considering Rin and Saber's previous remarks.

With that realization, he eagerly retracted his hand from the Priest's own, hoping that Kirei's soulless aura wouldn't rub off on him...

Hmm, not like that, no way, that's disgusting.

Shirou cursed himself for thinking like that, as now the image was firmly implanted into his mind like the damn matrix.

His outward expression remained mostly the same though.

"Say, Priest..." The Japanese turned to the side as Saber finally decided to speak for the first time since his initial debut.

As to why he hadn't spoken since back then, that would be a mystery left unsolved. Perhaps the Servant wanted to appear edgy, perhaps he just couldn't care less, or maybe he was retarded.

Perhaps all three...

"You're a man of the cloth, right?" Saber said with a questioning glare, yet his posture was that of someone who would rather be anywhere else.

"Indeed, Heroic Spirit. I am a devout sheep of God's will, and I have been one ever since I could remember." The Priest said with a fond smile, as if remembering some childhood memories.

"Surely one such as you read the Bible a lot, no?" Saber asked again, tilting his head in curiousity.

"Of course, I do." Kirei confirmed with a hollow gaze, "In fact, I have been in the middle of doing so when you walked in." He explaine, glancing at Rin as he said those word.

That was probably true.

Rin Tohsaka looked at the Saber Servant, weirdly. What was this biblical man getting at? Why is he just asking the obvious?

Shirou was also curious, but his gaze was a lot less skeptical as he wondered if his Servant was playing a special checkmate move that only a grandmaster would know or just being cryptic for no reason.

"These words, 'Do not steal, do not lie, do not deceive one another', does your priestly brain recognize them, Kirei Kotomine...?" Saber asked again, this time, his expression shifted into a smirk.

The Priest paused as he considered the Heroic Servant's words with deep though.

"...I do, those are the words mentioned in Leviticus 19:11. Why do you ask..." Kirei paused as he glanced at Saber's Noble Phantasm that was attached to his back, "...Saber?" He asked, not quite sure about Abel's actual Class.

"Yes, I am indeed a Saber, Priest." Saber confirmed as his hands grabbed something out of his cape.

And in the next moment, Saber proceeded to pull out a peculiar object, seemingly from his own cape.

Which was weird since that thing couldn't possibly fit back there unless Saber was storing it in his ass or something...

It was huge, the size of a man, yet the Servant handled it as if it were a lightweight dagger.

But it was not a dagger, it was a large cross, one made of a completely black, non-reflective material that much resembled glass, just not transparent.

"There is no icon or symbol in this false Church that contains the will of God," Saber said, holding onto the cross before pointing it upside down like a sword.

"But what I'm holding in my hand does." He said, caressing the cross-cum-sword.

"So what I'm getting at is..." He paused, adopting a gentle smile.

The same kind of smile that Kirei previously.

"Will you lie in front of God...?" He said, his smile transforming into the grin of the devil as he stood before the Priest.

"No, I won't," Kirei answered immediately without a second of hesitation, almost surprising the Saber with his speed.

"I see..." He smiled before retracting the cross back to his cape.

"Then may I ask you a question, man of the cloth?" Saber asked with a straight face.

"And what would that be, Saber?" Kirei asked, his expression still hollow of any real emotion.

"Will you fight back if cut off the arm with all of your Command Seals?"

"Wait, what are you doing, Saber!?" Shirou's panicked words fell on deaf ears as the biblical figure continued his questioning.

"...Will you?" He asked, leaning forward with a gaze that could only be described as less than human.

"Will I...?" Kirei wondered out loud as well.

"I surely can't match up to your might and prowess, Saber. I'm just a human, and you are a mighty Heroic Spirit. So what would be the point?" Kirei asked with a smile.

"That's correct, you are not strong at all," Saber confirmed with a gentle chuckle.

"But I do have someone to call for if that happens..." Kirei continued, pulling on his sleeve to reveal a hand full of Command Seals!

"Kirei, you're actually a Master!?" Rin exclaimed, her expression that of shock and disbelief.

"How could a Master be the Overseer? That doesn't make any sense..." She hissed as she stepped back, mentally calling for her own Servant as she realized a confrontation would most likely occur.

"Why yes, young Rin." Kirei said with a hollow gaze, "I've been one for a while, actually." He further explained as his Command Seals started to emit a soft hue of red.

"Shirou!" Rin shouted at her fellow Master, "Hide behind your Saber, he's going to—"

"Appear before me and protect me from the enemy Saber, Archer!" Kirei declared as his hand erupted in scarlet light and smoke.

And only a moment after...

"Kirei, you actually dare to call upon me with that disgusting Command Seal?" An overly arrogant voice resounded through the Church's interior as a man clad in what could only be called the most extravagant set of golden armour appeared in the middle of the confrontation.

"No matter, it seems you've at least managed to bring some entertaintment for me..." The proclaimed King of Heroes commented as his form began to be more visible in the smoke.

"Oh? So it's you..." Gilgamesh smiled, no, he smirked as he realized who it was that was in front of him.

"You look shorter in this Class, Goldilocks," Saber responded with a smirk as he took out the Tumbling Blade.

Only to pierce it onto the ground the next second.

Instead of using his most beloved Azi Dahaka, Abel merely plunged both of his hands deep into the shadow of his cape.

In the next moment, a pair of black sabres were in his hands, truly fulfilling the name of his Class.

Gilgamesh snorted at the marked man's mocking remarks but showed a smile in return.

"And you're still as much of a joke as you were in the past, Habil." The King of Heroes mocked, lifting his left hand to the air as dozens of circular gates resembling pools of gold manifested behind him.

"At least, people like jokes, Gil," Abel responded as he slapped his blades against each other, producing a clang.

"Well, let's just get this over it. Don't use that Ea sword of yours, or whatever. I don't want a boring fight."

"Of course, of course, I am a king who plays fair. After all..." Gilgamesh paused as he pulled out a Noble Phantasm spear from his Gate of Babylon, "...You are weak, are you not?" He said with a mischievous smirk.

"..."

"Fuck you."

"I don't like men, Habil."