Thanks to Lord Revan; ColcytusRising, Krzysztof Wierczyński and Delirios de un sonador, Hexamon, Emiya Archer, 3loc, Calvert K Hose, Lustful-Angel96 and now CanSerBero_1

Chapter 12: An Executioner's Blade

EMIYA'S POV

The air smelt like iron and water, and like salt and earth.

The ground under my feet was shaking, and was slippery, and the tiles were cracked, while pieces of racks, of knives, and of teeth and bones lay there.

I could taste that bitter feeling of familiarity, while also the dryness of my mouth made it feel like sandpaper.

The wails of the injured at my feet broke up the unnerving silence, far words not even being registered.

And I didn't stop to look at the girl I had severely injured, or at the minor noble phantasm wanting to be again bathed in her blood, almost like it had its own mind, or at my own hand trembling.

I needed to remain composed, or even more than three deaths would come due to my own stupidity.

I immersed in that feeling, and planned:

"I am aware." I started, leaning at my unnaturalness, Reinforcing my vocal cords to make my own voice reverberate, while waving the Paramerion around to add to my own feeling of feigned uncareness: "That you aren't the ones that made such an ambush possible. Not only you don't seem to really be that." Add a little pause, even if the mother is already scared, any little thing will help, and stress the word: "Prepared to fight. You barely have been able to keep up with me, after all."

A whimper, the girl.

Ignore it.

Walk forward, and make sure to bump against the leg of the girl, now you need fear, fear enough to make them talk.

"So, why don't we cut to the chase and you say who was the one who helped you, hmm? After all, it seems quite strange that you were all prepared, and with such interesting weapons."

I kicked one of the sicas on the ground, an old curved knife used by Thracians and then exported all around by the Romans, and now back here in this place.

"So, how did you do this?"

The woman stayed silent for many seconds, the dripping of the blood and the moaning and the loud silence from the other, scared, people being the only thing that gave a rhythm to the passing of the discourse.

But I only needed to lower my left hand just a bit:

"We knew you were coming! I don't know how it was done, but our contact said that three of the western demigods would come here, and if we stopped them enough it would weaken the Greek Gods!"

The mother said such a thing the second I moved the longer sword, fearful for her child's fate, while the people behind me inhaled sharply, but wisely didn't try to run away.

Good.

Maybe I can work with this.

"You haven't given a whole lot to work with, lady. I know you can do more."

Wave the left hand a little bit lower, just close enough.

"It was an attracting magic! And some drowsiness curse! And something about "homing" or whatever! that would act more and more the closer you got to one of our strongholds! That's how we did that!"

I stopped at that.

A tracker?

How didn't I feel that?

Had I become that complacent, that foolish, that incompetent?

"Who gave you that? How did they do it?"

Keep the cadence slow, do not let anything colour your voice, find anything that can be used to plan, and continue to look at her in the eyes.

I knew about a traitor, but it could be closer at home, and if the brat's prophecy was right, this may as well be the defeat-

No.

Don't trust prophecies, other than to prepare for something to hit.

"I…cannot say it." The woman spoke, her eyes immediately darting down to the child.

I lowered my left arm a bit more, now the sword's edge almost an inch to the back of the young kid, the sword almost jumping at the prospect of more blood being spilled.

The woman's eyes widened, and she moved her hands forward, making her weapons fall down, and opened her mouth:

"It was-AAAH!" the woman tried to speak, then a red blood rune array appeared around her throat, and she started to claw those runes.

Two omegas at the ends of the red array, like two ends of a chain, while in the middle of those a Lambda.

The woman clawed and scratched and heaved and choked, her eyes bulging out while her face became first red and then blue due to lack of oxygen, falling on the counter and making all that was on it clatter on the ground.

The child below my sword tried to get up, but a bit of pressure from my left foot was enough to stop her, and could only whisper "No no" without stopping.

Then the moment it appeared, it vanished, leaving the woman heaving, while no one else moved, too afraid of me to help their comrade.

"A Geass." I murmured, not having moved from my own place, a good idea of what had just happened.

Damn it.

I could hypothesize that it was of Greek origin, I could go even so far as to think it was made by a God.

But nothing more than that.

"When did you do it, then? When did you make this pact you are talking about?"

A timetable, to at least know who could it be.

"I made it in October. That's all-"

Then the runes around her neck flared again, and I was now again in muddy waters, her words stopped before the Geass activated again on its own.

I wouldn't use Rule Breaker, not without a strong Geass that I wouldn't be able to formulate in such a short time, and I don't think promises on the Styx would work when they were part of a different pantheon.

Nor did I want to find out if it worked in such a situation.

Now. Only one thing remained to be done.

You always go there, don't you, failure?

I had blood on my face, it had now become sticky and its warmth was fading.

"The situation is such that I cannot trust you to not try this again against us, or even not to speak with our own traitor." I said those words evenly.

Saying that you need to do something, but then not trying to find any alternatives.

The bodies, unbreathing and unthinking, were looking at me, their eyes dark and judging while I went on:

"So let me be completely clear: try to hurt us again, try to find us, try to do anything, and I will kill all of you."

That the only thing you should do is the most logical, and that you shouldn't risk.

The air smelt of death, and of shit and of piss.

I pierced the bloodthirsty sword right beside the young child's head, who whimpered at the action, and finished, keeping my voice even:

"I hope I don't encounter you ever again, or I will make truly sure there won't be a third time."

I was already aware that it would be a mistake to let them live.

Dead men tell no tales, and me being able to fight them would immediately tip off the traitor.

But I was tired.

"Now, give me back the pendant, I will not let you get anything more from this."

The woman, fearful, threw the ball of silver at me, and I put it inside my pocket.

I turned my back towards the woman, leaving the bloodthirsty sword there, as a way to make sure they didn't have any bright ideas for the next few minutes, and passed through the silent survivors, the injured still moaning.

My pendant was already activated when I watched those people, clutching their weapons like they were safelines.

When I was almost outside, I took off the shoes and traced another pair, without the blood, and went on to walk to the pickup truck, a few swords flying against the few cameras still present before they could record me, my body and mind doing all these actions automatically.

I saw some boars on the outskirts, looking at me and the snorting and running away like they were laughing at me and found me an amusing sight.

The warm liquid on my face had become far less warm with the morning air, and I could feel my hair being wetter than I thought I was.

The pickup had been turned on. Incredible that it worked, all in all.

The brats had started it, then, good.

I opened its door, its sounds of breaking making me shudder for but a moment, and then sat down, the red on my hands still dripping all over.

I quickly traced a rag and cleaned them. I would dispel it later on the road, somewhere without people, so that the blood would become more flakes and wouldn't be traceable.

Another rag soon found itself on my hair, from some hands I didn't turn to look at.

"You idiot, you will get sick like that." The brat I had trained spoke up, and started to dry me while I started driving the car, now in silence, the only sound was the old engine and the far owls of the winds and coming rain.

The blonde brat was staring at me, her eyes wide and scared, while the brat I had trained, the one I had possibly ruined from a normal life, was helping me.

Maybe, at the time, I should have been concerned, or outright anxious, by her own lack of reaction, but I didn't t notice that.

Another failure on my part.

"You did what you could, old soul" a voice spoke up in my mind, her feminine tone full of something more akin to sadness than the anger or disgust she should feel.

I felt them, after all.

Medusa's POV

"We are going too fast!"

I was clutching the handle of the door like it would save me, while the red "convertible" was rushing down the road towards my home, and littler older sister Euryale was laughing merrily on the passenger's seat.

Older older sister Stheno was driving like a maniac!

She took each turn like she was a professional driver, and tried to be on a formula or in Le Mans, while the stereo was to the max volume with some kind of Rock in it!

"Slow down, please!"

And I could feel that headache, that pounding, and the feeling of saliva gathering.

"No can do, little sis! We want to get to your home fast so you get at least some more clothes! I don't think you want to be in a hospital gown for our first trip in forever!"

That was the other reason I wanted her to slow down! It was raining, and it was becoming concerningly sticky in there, and kind of cold!

"Go faster Stheno, or did you become so much of a slowpoke that I need to show you how to go fast?!" Euryale shouted, making me feel like the blood was draining from my face, and something else going up from my stomach.

I thought, and I would have to stress the thought, that we were in the forests near my home, and workplace, and…hunting grounds, but I really didn't want to look too much above the line of the door, to not feel like I would be thrown away by the wind and rain.

Then older sister Stheno slowed down suddenly, making me almost hit the seat of older sister Euryale, if I didn't have the seatbelt on.

*TWHACK!*

Big sister Euryale didn't have that seatbelt on, and faced against the front window.

She remained in that position for some seconds, which ticked off like minutes for me, while big sister Stheno tried to hold off her laughter.

Then, with the sound of a cup getting pulled away, big sister Euryale pulled herself out of the window, going over the door with some difficulty due to her...being smaller than average.

And started whacking with her fists big sister Stheno, who started to laugh evilly, the birds flying away around us and the deer running from their hidden spots to the open just to not be in the same place.

"Why-did-you-stop-like-that!" shouted Euryale, not stopping her assault.

"There is the mortal police down the road, near dear Medusales house. I don't want to start our first girls' trip with a mugshot, do you littl'Euryale?"

Euryale, at that, stopped her assault and then, slowly, put her seatbelt on and crossed her arms in front of her, grumbling all the way about "unfairness" and "you were born two minutes before".

With a far slower pace, and I will thank Father and Mother for having at least made sure we weren't so foolish, we went closer and closer to my house, a police car still in front, alongside two unmarked black cars, and a lot of yellow tape.

I gulped, and hid a bit more down.

"Oi Medusales, did you do something to the feds?" Big sister Euryale asked, turning towards me and taking out one of those Blackberry phones.

I shook my head.

"Uh, yeah, you always were the goodie girl. Come on, let's get down so we avoid having to kill them if they shoot at us."

"And damage my car, Euryale. And damage my car. That's the important part, little sister." Stheno chimed in, tapping on the wheel, and opened the door locks.

There was one problem, though.

"I am still in a hospital gown, big sisters!" I didn't quite shout that, but it was a close thing, while I continued to slide down more and more.

Now I could only see the dashboard, and my knees were painfully pressed against the seat in front of me, trying to find more space to impossibly hide.

"I don't think you can go lower, you are too tall, you boobie monster." Came the deadpan from big sister Euryale, who then sighed, making her mortal brown hair fly in front of her face, and added: "Stay here, I will take care of them. Without killing them." She added the last one as an afterthought, maybe seeing my face.

I had made a strange one, I think.

Then she jumped down, without opening the door, and I saw from my position only her strolling down for a few seconds before her diminutive (sorry big sister) height was gone from my sight, the only thing remaining were the steps, the sounds of bird, and the lack of incredible hearing that I had before.

It made me feel..weaker. But now I had my sisters back!

A warm hand touched my head, and started mussing my hair: "Don't worry Medusales, we will get your clothes as soon as…What is that idiot doing?"

I got a bit more up so I could see what big sister Euryale was doing, and then I blanched a tad.

There were policemen, and agents in sunglasses and neckties and black jackets, all the typical things of FBI agents.

Or CIA.

They were moving around my shop, and my house, and my café, and my tables, looking at where I had been defeated, and found,

And big sister Euryale had taken the tie of the biggest of the agents, and had dragged him to her level.

"Let us enter, mortal! My little sister needs her clothes, and I won't let you stop our girl's trip!"

The guns were pointed immediately at her, and I heard, even from this far, the clicks.

My heartbeat sped up.

They were threatening my sister.

"Stay down! The cameras have shown three children enter here, they were the ones-"

Big sister Stheno sighed and then, with as much elegance she could muster, she whispered: "Come on, little sister, we made sure you were…" Her words became muffled by that bumping sound.

That pulsing movement, made my head ache so much, and made my vision, warped by the glasses, go red.

I got up, I was the strongest one, I knew that.

I wouldn't let anyone touch them.

I was sure that big sister Stheno had said something, but I didn't listen, wasn't able to listen, the only sound I was able to hear was the sounds of the cops shouting and aiming at my sister.

I moved slow.

I was slow, and had to cover from the wind, and had that feeling of weakness.

The glasses were getting fogged, I moved to take them off.

"Your treachery befits your lineage. You will be hunted as a monster, for this is what you became."

-and I stopped, but went on towards my sister.

I wasn't a monster. I wasn't.

"I am the owner-"

*Bang!*

"What the hell! Central, call-"

A burning sensation against my shoulder.

A shout from my sisters.

Sudden pain, burning pain.

The glasses fall down, I feel misty eyes.

I no longer was that strong.

I no longer was Medusa the monster, I was Medusa.

"Come on, you will feel good, believe me."

Then, twin war cries, flutter of wings, and shouts of fear, and of pain, and of begging.

Then, nothing.

Just me trembling, weak again.

Not being able to move

Alone again.

"Agent Smith, this is control, we have found a clue somewhere near Chicago, somewhere called West-"

Sound of broken electronics, then two sets of heavy steps.

Four arms encircled me, while two pairs of wings covered the sky, and two voices spoke in unison:

"You aren't alone, Medusalesssss. We won't let anyone touch you again."

I cried, feeling too weak again, but finally being able to be close to my sisters.

AN

It was an interesting week, shall we say.

Naturally, after posting the chapter (of Sword of the imperium), I felt a tad under the weather. Nothing major, so I go to Civil volunteer service, do my work, go home for the weekend.

Boom, Saturday I had high fever.

And Sunday I was recuperating.

Naturally it couldn't come during the week, too lucky.

Then, in Wednesday and Thursday, a storm hits Lombardy.

"Most rain in the last two centuries".

I dunno about that, but I do know that it took two hours each day to get back home from work.

That along with a broken dishwasher (repaired myself).

So yeah. Finished this chapter in the three days I didn't have anything happening.

Now, thanks for reading!

P a treon . com (slash) Manram

Ko-fi . com (slash) manram

Up here are the links for the sites to help me financially, and please review, follow and favourite.

Have a good week (next time Sword of the imperium).