Okay so this is the first chap i actually wrote since i ended the hiatus a few weeks ago, the only guys who read this when i wrote it a few weeks ago told me i still got it but pls share ur thoughts on this to let me know your impression
***
21:56, Monday, 12th of April 2004
TAP TAP TAP
Inside of a private rented bus a young man was tapping his foot while trembling in his seat, his face was sweating in a clear show of agitation and panic as he pulled on his collar in discomfort.
"Oddio, oddio…" He murmured, speaking to himself in Italian as his agitation seemed to increase with each passing second.
He was a young man with short messy blond hair, brown eyes and a very prominent thin pointed nose.
He had been chewing on a chewing gum when the trip just started but his seatmate was so annoyed by the loud sounds he made that after scolding him he was forced to spit it out in a paper tissue.
On the outside this might have seemed like just your normal bus trip if not for one little detail.
Every person inside the bus was wearing a priest or nun's habit.
This wouldn't be a strange sight in some other countries but a group of roughly three dozen armed priests is not something that common in an eastern country like Japan.
In this group this one blonde young man was the only one who showed a disarming amount of stress.
"Oh, for the love of the Lord in heaven, stop this!" His seatmate was a middle aged priest with a completely shaved head and a burn scar on his left cheek.
The man was completely fed up with the blonde man's antics after hours of travel.
"Now, now, Father Mael, there is no need to be so harsh on our newest shepherd of God, is there?" As he was about to go on another scolding fit, a hand clamped on his shoulder shutting him up.
Turning around he saw another old middle aged priest standing on the bus passageway. He was a dark haired man with slicked back hair with some hints of grey here and there, with a cleanly shaven face save for the pencil mustache above his lips. On his left eye he wore an outdated monocle which len shone brightly as it reflected the light of the sun.
"Father Mark[1]…" The other priest, Mael, wanted to retort but chose otherwise under the pressure Father Mark exerted on his shoulder with the iron grip of his hand.
"Our youngest here is merely agitated due to this being his first official duty as a messenger of God. Putting him under more duress after this long journey is unbecoming." Father Mark said calmly with a thin smile on his face.
"Tch." In the end Father Mael could just click his tongue in distaste and annoyance at the other priest's words. 'Would you look at this Irish faggot.'
"I was merely teaching him some basic manners, don't act like I was bullying him. He has been keeping this up for hours and hours by now."
"Patience is a virtue granted by the Lord, one we generally manage to instill even in some children at catechism, Father Mael." Father Mark said with a straight face as his smile didn't waver for a single moment and only grew slightly wider. 'French fucker.'
The two then locked themselves in a staring contest. One of them frowning and the other smiling like a child.
In the end Father Mael just turned around grunted to himself as he crossed his arms, unwilling to continue the discussion any further.
"I-I'm so sorry…Father Mael, Father Mark." The young man stuttered as he tried to apologize to the older priests, especially to Father Mark for having to help him.
Father Mark just nodded and went back to his seat and heaved a sigh.
'That boy will really be the death of me…those old cogs must have all gone senile.'
That young man was just too scared…and rightfully so, especially after everything that happened during their voyage to reach this country.
He was a normal person after all.
***
Two days before on Saturday, 10th of April 2004 — London
Father Mark was an executor from the Vatican who had been dispatched months ago to London with the job of hunting a daemon who haunted an old magus' workshop. After accomplishing this job with the assistance of Heine Istari, who unfortunately met a sorry end not long afterward in another accident involving the Ashborn's Adra Castle. Father Mark had been redeployed in London at the end of February under voluntary enlistment.
His job was to keep watch over the situation in the heretical institute of the Clock Tower after the incident of the 5th Holy Grail War and gather testimonies about the whereabouts of the member of the assembly of the eight sacrament Kirei Kotomine and whether he was still alive or not from the sole survivor of the war, Rin Tohsaka.
In the church that Father Mark currently oversaw and resided in the city of London he was hosting a guest in one of the adjacent rooms of the church.
A nun was currently pouring tea for both of them on the side as another quickly set up the table.
In a few seconds they were done and left the room leaving only Father Mark and the guest who came to visit him with two cups of steaming black tea before them.
"So, to what do I owe such a distasteful visit in the middle of the night?" Father Mark took a sip from his cup as he broke the silence first.
In front of him his guest remained silent for a moment before smirking. He was a middle aged man with shoulder length brown hair parted to his sides symmetrically, he was wearing a black business suit with a cross like pin on his neck tie. "What's with this cold reception Father, aren't you happy to see an old colleague?"
"Well, you certainly are no pretty lass visiting me for the night, so most definitely not. Nor are you even pleasant to look at in the first place but alas even the Lord, in his wisdom, must ration his… blessings." Father Mark retorted as he took another sip from his tea. "And if you have come for the children in my basement I'm afraid you've arrived too late, I've already exhausted my supply."
"Now that is a real pity… hold up right there, I'm not even bad looking now am I?" The other man said with a light chuckle.
"The Lord is merciful enough to grant the unfortunate a generous portion of ignorance to lessen their pain, I suppose." Father Mark shook his head as if pitying the other man.
"At least I don't try to flirt with girls that could have my daughter's age." Who in turn spat back with a snort.
"That's because you are a heathen whose standards appear to collapse somewhere around the age of ten, my old friend Manuel." Father Mark scoffed while curling his lips.
"That is pure slander." The other man, Manuel, made a spit take with his tea before speaking up.
"As a faithful man of the cloth, standing within the house of God, I speak only the truth, to guide the unfaithful and the struggling." But the priest just shrugged his shoulders non chalantly with a smile.
This was exactly why the man was against being the one sent here to talk with him. Heaving a sigh filled with complicated feelings that mixed annoyance, anger and exasperation the man brought forward the main topic about why he had come here.
"You have new orders from the Vatican." Manuel said seriously.
"..." Father Mark in turn did not answer, his eyes narrowed slightly and his silence turned into a gesture for the man to continue with his words.
"You are to be relocated to Japan, to investigate suspicious movement in the country's capital, Tokyo."
"..."
"..."
"Tokyo, huh." Father Mark finally repeated as he refilled his cup using the teapot. His spoon clinked softly against the porcelain cup as he added sugar before stirring his tea in slow rhythmic swirls. "How… exotic. I hear the cherry blossoms are lovely this time of the year. A pity I might be a little too old for this kind of job. I fear you will need to find a replacement for me as I am simply unfit for the job."
"Why so pessimistic my friend? It's not like they are intending to send you alone on this mission, don't worry." Manuel ignored his subtle evasion, making a cross sign with his right hand before using it to give him a thumb up.
"Now that sure is reassuring." Father Mark shook his head in dismay. "And how many abled men would I allegedly have as companions on this delightful pilgrimage to my afterlife?"
"Around twenty senior executors, more than ten of the young recruits and a few others from another order."
"?" This actually took him aback. This was not a so insignificant number or resources to kill off especially all at once. If that was what they were trying to do they would have first attempted to squeeze as much value from each of them first before picking them singularly.
However this didn't remove the possibility of these companions to be not the ones to accompany him in the journey but the ones seeing him off instead.
"You don't need to worry if you are thinking this is another one of Laurentis' schemes to dispose of you for brut-coff accidentally making some of his precious children into casualties." Manuel said with a hint of mockery in his voice.
"It is not as though he lacks from an abundance of such bastards. Also it was nothing but an honest mistake made during a work done in the name of God back when I infiltrated in the IRA so it was nothing worth being so angry for." Father Mark ran a hand through his hair to give them a fix to their backward style before sighing regretfully. "That aside, you omitted one certain delicate concern, how can you be certain the Cardinal's… unfortunate senility will not provoke me further pains in my rear?"
"Because Cardinal Laurentis is currently bed ridden after losing all four of his limbs."
"...Manuel my friend, it seems you are getting worse at your jokes with old age."
However Manuel's face remained serious this time, he was actually serious.
Really serious.
"While I would like to interpret this as a sign of God's show of kindness to a devout believer such as this old charitable priest, I fear that it is not the case this time around is it?"
"No, I fear that it isn't the case." Manuel shook his head but didn't elaborate on it any further than that.
Silence lingered inside the room as both of them didn't utter a word for a good few seconds. Father Mark decided not to pursue the news, mentally making a note to drink one to the senile Cardinal's plight.
Finally heaving a sigh Father Mark spoke first, breaking the silence. "Well then, who are these friends accompanying me to do the work of the Lord?"
"I'm so glad you asked." Manuel nodded and fished out a wrinkled and crumpled poorly kept stack of papers.
***
"Father Mael… why is that wimpy french son of a bi–coff coff must have been the wind, it's so noisy here in London. Anyway, why have we been assigned the same mission, Manuel?" Father Mark was looking at the list of all the executors assigned to the same job as him.
Father Mael Castaigne
Father Mateo Alvarez
Father Ignacio Cruz
Father Tomasz Kowalczyk
Father Viktor Szabo
Sister Beatriz Navarro
Sister Agnes Vermeil
Sister Caterina Rossetti
Brother Billy Butcher
Brother Junpei Yoshino
Brother Caleb Morris
…
…
Deacon Paolo Volker
As he checked all the names his eyes stopped dead in their tracks.
He had read the last member's file but he couldn't believe it. Thinking he had been mistaken he read it once again to check that he wasn't just imagining it due being maybe a little tired due to the current hour.
The file depicted a slender man with short messy blond hair, brown and a long pointer nose with an uncomfortable expression on his face as he looked at the camera.
His name was Paolo Volker.
He was born in the year 1982 on the 15th of April, about to turn twenty two years old in a few days.
His father was from Germany and his mother from Italy, they were normal civilians without any sort of mystical or clerical background. His father died prematurely due to a car crash and he was raised by his widowed mother alone since he was four. His mother also died due to an untreated tumor last year. He had no other living relatives.
He was a normal person and had never even received formal training and was made a Deacon without any sort of ceremony…
…On top of that he had a precedent of having been sexually assaulted by the priest overseeing his town back when he was eight years old who attempted to rape him.
"Pray tell...Why is someone like this on this list?" Father Mark had to double take before rubbing his chin with his left hand as he chuckled. "Actually better yet, why is he even a member of the church? And a Deacon no less."
He would have actually resumed suspecting this job to be one giant trap had it not been for every other name in this list. From experienced Executors to even a few knights of the church Chivalric Order.
Everyone on this list was far too valuable to not make extensive use of before even trying to get rid of them.
All bar one this one outlier.
Manuel gave a complicated smile as he carefully considered his words for a while before opening his mouth.
"Well, you see the fact is…"
***
Sunday, 11th of April 2004
Half a day after his meeting with Manuel, Father Mark met with the group of people he would have to work with in Germany after he took a flight to Munich. There inside the Cathedral he and the other senior executors and the hateful Father Mael planned their traveling route to reach Japan.
They quickly made use of their connections to secure thirty seven flight tickets to the first plane directed to Hong Kong where they would then take another for Tokyo and were ready to board in less than one and a half hour.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly other than the rather masked unfriendly verbal spats between some of the senior executors. But everything quickly went to a rather intricate situation.
Their plane had been marred with explosives and they nearly didn't make it.
They somehow all survived thanks to the timely help of two heretics from the Clock Tower.
One of them was an acquaintance of Father Mark, his name was Henry Smith[2], a young man gifted with a rather decent pair of mystic eyes who detected the explosives thanks to them and alerted everyone.
He was followed by a screaming overly joyous blonde boy, Flat Escardos.
The two of them were students of the El-Melloi II classroom of modern magecraft theory.
At first a conflict nearly broke out between the two groups but Father Mark decided to voice for them even if just for the fact that it gave him a reasonable excuse to argue with Father Mael.
Eventually they couldn't figure out whatever the attack was directed towards the two magi or themselves so they parted each to their own destination with their own methods.
The church cohort left the scene opting to leave the dealings of the aftermath to the local church personnel.
They took a train to another city intent on taking a new flight there. Everyone was still fine despite the attempt so they simply continued with the only hindrance being how fearful and shaken Paolo had become after the plain incident.
But troubles didn't end there.
During their train journey suddenly they were suddenly ambushed by a group formed by a dead apostle and his two knights, their leader being a rank VI dead apostle and the two kinghts were rank V, the rest were simply familiars.
The train was derailed and three of their members died due to the sudden attack, most of the train passengers also died or were turned into ghouls to use as meat shields against the executors.
However under the relentless assault of the church cohort they were all exorcised in the end.
During the battle Paolo, paralyzed by fear, had nearly died had he not been lucky enough to be saved by a black key thrown by Brother Junpei who happened to be targeting the familiar who was gunning for him.
This did not escape from any of the members of the church cohort and from this episode Father Mael's displeasure with him grew exponentially together with that of a few other members.
Afterward they called for the nearest city church and requested the local priest to send some to recover them.
The recent accidents made everyone suspicious but they did not talk about it more than necessary. Deciding that Germany was not safe to depart from, they decided to go to the neighbouring country of Poland and take a flight from there instead.
By nighttime they were finally in the airport of the city of Wroclaw after changing means of transport multiple times.
After taking a plane directed to Seoul in South Korea, which they first inspected for any tampering, they had a relatively calm flight without any sudden attack or explosive and made groups to keep watch in turn to give the others time to rest.
The only one who couldn't sleep at all was Paolo who trembled in fear the entire flight scared that he might suddenly die.
Once they landed they paid a few taxis to Busan where by midnight they then took a ferry for Fukuoka in Japan.
However a few hours into the sea, half way to their destination, a group of terrorists suddenly blew themselves up making the entire ship sink.
All the passengers died this time unlike with the train accident and of the church cohort some had been injured by the explosion while one of them died due to a piece of the metal railings impaling him in his forehead and piercing his brain.
The surviving and injured members of the church cohort had to swim their way back to the island of Tsushima with it being the nearest piece of land in their range.
With everyone left to their own devices and in a perilous situation no one bothered to think about Paolo mentally taking his death for granted. Before departing Father Mark spared a moment to look at him and apologized to the young man telling him he couldn't drag him for such a long distance and that if he wanted to stay alive he would have to do his best to reach the shore with all his strength.
One of the younger sisters from the Chivalric Order had tried to help him at first but with no one to give her change she had to leave him to his own devices after a while.
Three hours later they had reached the coasts of Tsushima.
And to everyone's bewilderment Paolo had somehow also reached the Island by swimming albeit at slower peace than them, he was in an incredibly sorry state with his entire body spasming as lied on the sand gasping for air with a face as blank as a corpse.
As the rest of the cohort looked at him in genuine shock, making even the one sister who had helped him before actually cry at his survival, Father Mark looked at the young man with an unreadable expression marring his face before he started rubbing his temples as if he were having a sudden headache while heaving a sigh.
Things were getting really troublesome for him.
He should have feigned sickness instead of accepting this job.
***
Back to the present, 22:01, Monday, 12th of April 2004
Once was happenstance.
Twice was a coincidence.
But three times…
By now it was all but certain that someone was actively targeting them to impede them from reaching their destination.
With that certainty they treated their wounded and after taking another boat to Fukuoka rented a bus to drive everyone through the highway.
'Manuel was right, someone has been targeting the church and they also aimed at us as soon as we departed for this mission. Is Japan correlated to these accidents or were they just waiting for someone to take any mission at all to target our members? What a mess I threw myself in.' Father Mark pondered in his seat inside the rented private bus they were using to reach Tokyo.
RING RING
RING RING
Reaching for his pocket, Father Mark retrieved a burner phone he bought in Tsushima.
Back in Tsushima he used it to quickly contact Manuel to report the third accident in a row and asked him, if any new information about what was happening in Japan ever reached him, to call him immediately.
Pressing on the call button and bringing the phone to his ear the line connected.
[Oh, you picked up pretty quickly. Any new accidents over there?] From the speaker Manuel's voice came with a yawn and a hint of mock surprise.
"None for now but I sure hope one more just went in a certain direction." Father Mark answered back in a chuckle.
[It seems the trip hasn't been so lovely for you my friend.] Manuel blurted as if trying to act compassionate.
[Anyway I am calling you now to tell you that we have finally received news about what seems to be happening in Tokyo… in a sense your mission could actually already be considered over.] Manuel said in a troubled tone, the way he said it didn't make it seem like it would be good news for them.
Hearing him say that Father Mark quickly made a gesture to the driver to find a spot to stop their bus and park there.
The driver, one of their younger recruits nodded and proceeded to cross the emergency lane in the highway to stop in an emergency spot. Everyone on the bus shifted their attention to Father Mark but seeing him on the phone they kept quiet and waited for news.
"What happened?"
[Apparently there is an unsanctioned Holy Grail War going on in Tokyo, right now. It has been going on for three days now.]
"...I see." Father Mark said gravely.
This mainly did bring up two major issues for their group.
First off their mission was over before even starting and they already lost four members.
Secondly there was a Grail War but no one involved the church meaning that…
"You sure bring me such bad news Manuel."
[Yeah, good luck. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now]
"Neither do I with yours but for me it's a rather perpetual thing. Your shoes are terrible even just to look at, must be another factor of your horrible and questionable tastes in women, wearing them would be hellish even for a man with my level of endurance."
[What is wrong with my shoes?]
"Father Mark! Stop messing around and waste time uselessly, if you are done end the call and tell us what happened." Father Mael yelled from his seat in anger when he saw Father Mark joking on the phone.
"Tch." Clicking his tongue in distaste to the Frenchman every vocal sound Father Mark decided to be over with so that he wouldn't have to hear that old crybaby complain further.
"Anything else that I would need to know?"
[Well, not much, the war had apparently been set up by a man called Matou Zouken, we are unsure of pretty much anything involving this war from how it was set to everything else. You will have to find out the rest all on your own. Good luck.] Saying so Manuel cut the line and ended the call.
Pocketing his phone Father Mark turned to his fellow church members and said level headedly. "Our mission is over."
"!!!" All the younger members of the groups had shocked expressions when he said those words, especially Paolo who had a sort of hopeful glint in his eyes at those words.
On the other hand all the senior members of the group grew more serious at that.
"The Vatican received news of what is happening here in Tokyo which was originally the scope of our task. Now, while our job is technically over there is another problem." Father Mark explained as his figure was illuminated by the bus' dim inner lightning and the passing cars' headlights.
He took a single moment to let the silence linger before intending to speak up once again but he stopped himself from doing that because–
'Why am I shining so brightly now?' Suddenly, Father Mark was radiating light as if surrounded by a white aura that illuminated the entire bus and nearly blinded everyone inside.
"Is that truck going against traffic!?" Rising to his feet Paolo screamed as he pointed behind Father Mark from his seat by the window.
"Good heavens." Briskly snapping his head to look behind himself Father Mark exclaimed in surprise before hurling himself out of one of the windows on the bus' right side with haste.
Everyone else inside also followed suit as they had been quickly snapped out of their daze from the light when Paolo screamed.
Due to Paolo being in his way between his escape route and the window Father Mael had grabbed him as he broke through the window with his left foot and took him outside with him as well as the young man screamed in terror.
A second afterward a massive truck barreled straight toward their bus and with its momentum crashed the highway's railing, smashing as the two vehicles flipped while they went off road on a grassy ground.
"This is not good."
"Dammit."
"Another ambush!?"
"Damn heretics, it must be their work."
Father Mark sighed as various other members of the cohort cursed at their assailants as they looked around at their surroundings.
The highway looked the exact same as before bar the damage to the railings the truck crashed into as it dragged their bus out with it.
But while it might have looked the same there was something that had changed about it now, apparent enough for everyone to notice.
"W-where did all the cars go?" Paolo muttered under his breath as he looked around while still trembling from shock.
The highway was empty.
Not a single car or any sort of vehicle could be seen travelling on the road.
Only them and two crashed vehicles.
"Haaa, what a mess." Fixing his monocle Father Mark whipped his right arm sideways, and like a sleight of hand trick, three 'T' shaped red objects appeared between the crooks of his finger.
All the other members were also prepared. Like Brother Butcher who took out his gauntlet shaped Ash Lock or Brother Junpei who unfolded his bondage shaped Ash Lock loosely along his arms, the members of the chivalric order each whipped out a foldable shield and a weapon of their choice.
Everyone other than Paolo of course.
He had no weapon to begin with after all.
"Show yourselves heathens!" Father Mael barked as he whipped an octagonal spiked mace from who knows where.
As if taking prompting to the letter an army of puppets started approaching as if appearing out of thin air. They were surrounded on all sides by at least a few hundred of such puppets.
They were human shaped puppets made of a material that was hard to distinguish between waxed wood or metal by appearance alone, their shoulders blazing with blue will o' wisp like flames and a yellow bandana covering their forehead.
"Never heard that silence is gold you french rat?" Father Mark scoffed at the French priest despite the situation before them.
"Shut up, you Irish faggot."
***
Hello, hope you liked the chapter.
Leave some comments and maybe a few power stones pls
[1] og side character from the fanfiction fate/world by Bleap
[2] Main character from the fanfiction fate/world by Bleap