"My children, what brings you to our church at this late hour?" Kirei Kotomine asked, his expression compassionate as he looked down at the two drunk men before him.
"Father... M-My wife left me for some younger, handsome guy... H-How am I supposed to keep living?" One of them choked out, slumping heavily onto a nearby pew.
"Come on, Tom. Get your shit together, man. Just be so damn happy that you don't even need that shitty wife anymore. That's the best revenge you could ever get." His friend said, sitting beside him and wrapping a reassuring arm around his shoulder.
"It's hard, dude..." Tom sniffled.
"Marital troubles? Perhaps I can offer some advi—"
BOOOOOOOOM!
Stained-glass windows exploded into a hail of shards. The entire church lurched and violently shook, throwing the two men from their seats as they clung to each other in blind terror.
Even Kirei had to brace himself to keep his footing. Stepping over the chaotically scrambling men, he moved calmly toward the church's exit.
Striding out into the night, he looked up at a sky illuminated by a massive mushroom cloud of dust and debris rising in the distance.
Kirei's expression went utterly blank. His eye twitched. Once. Twice.
As a tremendous shockwave of mana washed over him, the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
"Ha... Ha... Ha." Sound tore from his throat unconsciously, a subtle crack in his composed facade.
By now, his smile had turned deeply unsettling.
His shallow chuckles stretched, distorting in his chest before transforming entirely.
"Hahahahaha."
Kirei's laughter grew—louder and louder—echoing like madness against the quiet silence left after that blast.
...
..
.
At the same time.
"Why can't I find any Servants or Masters tonight?" Lancer wondered aloud, walking through abandoned streets and rarely visited areas.
"Have they all decided to take a day off while I'm out here searching without rhyme or reason?" He gazed around, rubbing the back of his head with his spear's shaft.
"Guess I'll have to kee—"
BOOOOOOOM!
A deafening blast resounded.
Lancer snapped his spear toward its source as ground began to quake beneath him, the surrounding walls shedding layers of old mortar and rust.
His footing slipped for a moment, sending a loose rock bouncing straight into his open mouth.
He choked, flailing on the ground frantically after letting his spear clatter from his grip.
Cough. Cough.
The rock lodged in his throat was finally spat out after a deep, labored struggle.
"Who was the bastard who set off such a massive... explosion?" His voice trailed off as the silhouette of a mushroom cloud bloomed across his vision, lighting his surroundings in muted orange.
...
..
.
Similarly.
"Hmm... Hmm... Hmm~" Illyasviel hummed a low tune while walking through an empty park, already fully healed from her earlier injuries.
"Big brother~ Don't blame me for targeting you~ Your Servant is the weakest against my Berserker, after all~" She continued on, her steps cutting straight toward Izuru's home.
BOOOOOM!
She was launched upward by a sudden shockwave as Heracles materialized and wrapped his arms around her, turning his back toward the impact.
Slides, swings, and merry-go-rounds around them trembled violently. A mushroom cloud soon became visible to them.
Illyasviel glanced at it from between Heracles' arms and muttered.
"Which Servant unleashed their Noble Phantasm? Or was it that golden-haire—" Her face went white at the memory, shaking her head to banish it from her thoughts.
She looked at the devastation behind her, and then toward the path leading to Izuru's home.
Her grip tightened over Heracles' arm as she pointed toward the path ahead.
"Go, Heracles. Full speed ahead."
"Ruaaargh."
Heracles responded with an unintelligible growl, moving toward Izuru's home.
Fast.
...
..
.
Simultaneously.
"Ow, ow, ow..." Rin hissed while pressing a cold compress against her still-swollen eye. She had mostly healed from her earlier injuries.
Now, only this small bruise remained.
"Master, are we not going on any reconnaissance rounds today?" Archer asked from beside her, wiping dust from a shelf.
"We're going, just let me get this over with." Rin pressed the compress deeper with annoyance, hissing once again.
"Why are you crying like a child, Master? It's just a bruise." Archer glanced at her, and one of his eyebrows rose.
"What do you know!? I'm hissing, not crying. As if someone like me would cry from just this much." She glared at Archer with her uninjured eye.
"Say that after properly wiping tears from the corner of your eye." Archer's voice carried a sarcastic edge.
"You!!"
"Master, you should act composed in all situations, or your blood pressure will spike." He ignored her outburst and continued.
"I am so going to bash your head in, Archer." Rin had barely finished her sentence when the floor buckled beneath her feet.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
She stumbled. Her compress hit the ground.
From the study, a cascade of porcelain shattered against hardwood—her father's antique collection raining down in pieces.
Archer was already at the window.
Rin followed, her uninjured eye catching a glow first. Then the pillar of smoke.
"Which bastard has lost his mind!!?"
...
..
.
Some time before Impact.
"Useless. Useless. I told you not to come back if you couldn't get me that Master's head! How dare a worthless thing like you show me your face!?" Shinji roared at Rider and hurled a ceramic vase at the wall beside them.
Crash.
"How will I prove myself to grandfather now? Won't he feed me to worms just like Sakura? No... No! He'll give me a last chance... Yes, he'll give me a last chance." He trembled with both fear and a desperate need to prove himself.
"I'll...I'll have this useless thing use her boundary field at Homurahara Academy tomorrow. The rules can go to hell—I'll have her devour everyone at school. Then a whole district. Then another." His hand dragged through his seaweed-like hair, a smug smile spreading across his face.
"I will win this war. I'll get the best magecraft talent from the Grail, and Grandfather will finally have to look at me with approval."
Just thinking about it made him giddy.
"I will win... No..."
Shinji closed his free hand around nothing, already imagining a golden cup resting between his fingers.
"I have already won—"
BOOOOOOOM!
....
..
.
BOOOOOOM!
Across Fuyuki, an echo still hung in the air.
Gilgamesh watched from an elevated position, a golden chalice filled with wine in his hand.
"Nice fireworks, mongrel."
He paused, taking a sip.
"Keep entertaining this king, and I might just leave your ashes intact."
...
..
.
***
[200 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[5 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
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[Authors Thoughts]
How was this chapter? I wanted to try creating a reaction chapter outside of Izuru's pov, would you like more chapters like these? or nah?
Have a nice day to everyone who reads this.
See you all at the next chapter.
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[Blood Fort Andromeda]: This is the Temple of Blood that surrounded the Shapeless Isle which was the home of Medusa and her sisters. The temple, known to petrify those who embark on the island and devour them, was a bounded field constructed by the Mystic Eyes Medusa possessed. It was basically an absorption power that literally "dissolves the body" of ordinary persons without any Magic Resistance.
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I was genuinely not about to upload any chapters today, but then I felt like it and did it. Just consider it as a bonus one.
Enjoy.