Let's Kill Zouken!!

The group arrived back in Japan a few days later. Yui stumbled off the plane dizzily. Jet lag again...

When they arrived back in Yui's former neighborhood, they found the former site of the Tohsaka Mansion had been pretty well cleaned up. It pained her a little to see the empty plot of land, but they moved on quickly.

Mari reached her contacts and secured them a place not far from the Matou mansion where they could operate on Ayaka. The girl sat down nervously on a table they had prepared for her.

Kirei checked his robes, making sure he had enough Black Keys. One could never be too prepared. He turned to Artoria and Aaron. "I can go in first and try to get the drop on him. The Servants can stay near the mansion; since the Tohsakas used to live just down the street, he probably won't be suspicious of one or two Servants lingering nearby."

"Sounds good to me," Aaron agreed. Atalanta nodded in agreement as well. Avalon added that she had the weather covered.

Hideto had joined them, along with a few other shifty men in nicely pressed suits with snakeskin shoes. His was a much warmer face, and he held Ayaka's hand.

"It's gonna be all right. Even I got stitched up down here once!" He laughed and kissed her on the forehead. "We'll be right up there, fighting our best so you can just relax and let these guys take care of everything. You're gonna pull through, right?" He looked over his shoulder, his eyes suddenly steel cold, as if looks alone could slice Phillipus and Julian apart. "Right?" Phillipus swallowed hard, clutching the cooler containing the crafted heart and a pair of just-in-case lungs and nodded.

"Of course, sir. We'll be taking every precaution while still exercising the full extent of our abilities." The gangster nodded with approval, and smiled at Ayaka, all sunlight and marshmallow fluff again. Mari snorted lightly, hardly surprised.

"So, strike team. What about us? Wanna send us a signal to start squashing worms?"

"We'll gather close and let Kirei take care of Zouken, then Atalanta will give us a signal to strike," Lazarus informed. "And thank you so much for all your help!"

Kirei quickly moved out with the strike team, leaving the surgery team behind.

Ayaka sat nervously on the surgery table, looking over at Philipus and Julian. "Okay... what do you need me to do?"

"Just lay down and relax," Julian gave her a kind smile. "We'll put you to sleep and get working. And when you wake up you'll be much better." the mage readied anesthesia and left Phillipus to organize their tools and make any marks he needed on her body.

Ayaka nodded and laid down, ready for the operation to begin.

The strike closed in on the mansion. Without Presence Concealment, Artoria knew that a surprise attack by the Servants was out of the question. She hung back near the Tohsaka property two blocks down; at least from here, she could make it to the mansion in a heartbeat.

Kirei inspected the mansion as they arrived--it wasn't too different from the Tohsaka mansion, minus a courtyard. Dining room, living room, and sitting room downstairs, and bedrooms upstairs.

He could see Zouken through the sitting room windows, seemingly sleeping in a chair. He almost looked like a harmless old man from here. Though, Kirei had no compunctions on killing a harmless old man in his sleep to begin with.

He'd have to sneak in. If there were any Bounded Fields protecting the mansion, attacking from outside would only alert him to their presence.

Nodding to the others, he snuck past the gate and onto the property, moving carefully to check for barriers or traps as he made his way inside.

[[Lemme know where everyone is positioned and we can get this show on the road]]

[[The Himeno-gumi are spread evenly around the house - Hideto lurking near the front, Mari at the back, and three mages on each side. Two more mages with stealth experience work on sneaking into the building from the upstairs. Those remaining will move closer to the building at Atalanta's signal.]]

Atalanta hung back, watching over Kirei from a tall tree a little under a mile away with her bow at the ready. She smiled as fog provided by Avalon rolled in, and took a quick glance at the mage in her position next to Arturia. Lazarus, Darius, and Aaron began to move towards the mansion, following the fog and also waiting for Atalanta's signal.

Kirei made it into the house with no problems. There were a few minor traps, but he called in some of Himeno's men to disarm them. In a few short minutes, he was in the kitchen. He made his way slowly to the living room.

He could hear Zouken's breathing, and moved to peek into the room. Before he could though, he heard the old man suddenly stand up. There was a pause, then Zouken shuffled over to the fireplace. Kirei finally peeked in to see the old man staring into the fire. He pulled out three Black Keys.

"Kirei. Did you really think you could sneak up on me in my own home?"

The priest didn't hesitate a second more. He jumped out and hurled three Black Keys at the old man; he might be a powerful magus, but he was no means light on his feet.

The Black Keys passed straight through him, and his form dissolved into wisps of shadow.

Shit.

Outside, a rush of buzzing wings was all the warning Mari had before Zouken's form materialized behind her. The old man smiled and reached for her.

"Welcome home."

Damascus carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

"Fuck that, an' fuck YOU!" She drew back, attempting to jump aside.

fuyumin carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

As soon as Zouken's hand gripped around her wrist, her skin ignited, fire bursting along her arms.

fuyumin carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

Zouken surged water mana through his arm and dispersed the flames around his hand, allowing him to retain his grip. Mari felt blistering pain on her skin as what felt like a thousand stingers dug into her flesh. The pale skin on Zouken's hand seemed to writhe and bubble with excitement as it tasted Matou blood. Zouken's black eyes sparkled.

Kirei, meanwhile, raced through the house, hearing Mari's scream and trying to get there as fast as possible. Six new Black Keys were ready in his hands.

Saber caught the signal and leapt forward, flying down the street at an incredible pace.

Aaron and Lazarus followed. Lazarus ran in and past zouken completely, finding the center of the house over the basement and blowing a huge hole up and through the roof.

Aaron ran in to support Mari, launching a wind bullet and using his extra mana to rush it.
Kittenboxxing carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

Zouken managed to flit out of the way while still keeping a hold of Mari. He growled. "The insolence of youngsters today." He tightened his grip on Mari's arm and began to slowly draw blood from her.

Kirei and Artoria both arrived on the scene an instant later, but hesitated upon seeing him holding Mari. An errant Black Key or sword swing could be too dangerous.

Yui heard the commotion start from a distance and turned to Phillipus and Julian. "It's started! Let's do it!"

Solomon:
Damascus carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

Zouken:
Damascus carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

In a burst of fire, Zouken's arm blew apart at the elbow. He screamed and stepped away from Mari. Solomon, arriving behind Artoria, smiled faintly.

Aaron leaped to tackles Zouken, vines extending with his arms to grapple him and keep him in place for Kirei to get with his keys.

Kittenboxxing carried out 1 launched of one (CLASH.) :

Zouken tried to leap out of the way, but wasn't quite fast enough. Aaron's vines grasped around him and held him fast. Zouken growled as cracks appeared in his skin--his body about to come apart into its worm components.

Before that could happen, three Black Keys found their place in Zouken's shadow. He was fixed in place, trying to disperse into his worm form to escape, but not quite being able to.

"Damn priest!" Zouken spat. "I will eat you from the inside out!"

One of the Black Keys trembled. Kirei quickly began chanting the first line of his Baptism Rite. He had been confident before, having restrained a fully mature Dead Apostle, but now his blood pressure steadily increased.

Mari squeezed the tears out of her eyes. Thank God... or King Solomon, or whatever the fuck ever. She'd rather burn alive than let that bastard take her.

Meanwhile, in the operating theater, Phillipus had drawn up a plan before starting, and the steps were hung on a board by the table. The tools were laid out, including duplicates and a sterile bin. As soon as Ayaka was asleep, her body would have to be put in stasis - something achieved with a simple enough sigil, but afforded them mere minutes of time. He looked up at Julian and nodded, ready. The anesthesia was hooked up and ready to deploy.

"Close your eyes and count back from thirty, dear. Nice and slow." As long as the anesthesia was working, she would be out before twenty-five.

After a moment, he spoke the command word and the sigil under Ayaka on the table flashed. Her blood stopped in her veins, and even her eyes stilled under her lids. Working quickly with the Azoth blade, he made incisions in her abdomen, using a gem projecting images onto a mirror as a laparoscope.

"Beginning cardiac incisions." The white worms embedded in Ayaka's heart were ghostly against the red muscle; they seemed to see the blade for themselves and thrashed. Chanting quickly, Phillipus made his fingers more dexterous and agile, fast enough to cut through the vessels before the worms could destroy the muscle or surroundings any further.

Julian assisted, the both of them working deftly to remove the worms. He was very impressed with Phillipus' sigil, he'd have to ask him about it. Not to mention the sword. He himself used a simple enchanted scalpel. He couldn't move as fast as Phillipus, but his surgery skills were excellent.

As soon as the hole to the basement was open, Atalanta jumped to the mansion. She wanted to make sure her noble phantasm didn't hit anybody. Aaron left Kirei to deal with Zouken, and headed down the basement with Darius, Lazarus, and Mari. Worms were absolutely everywhere. They made his skin crawl. He ordered Darius to start hacking as he began blasting fireballs into the writhing mass. Atalanta let loose her Pheobus Catastrophe, raining destruction down upon the worms.

"Uooooh!" Darius was happy to have something to kill, even if it was just a bunch of worms. They dove onto the Servant to try and consume him, but found no purchase on the Heroic Spirit's magical body. He hacked with his axes while fire and arrows rained down from above.

Zouken continued to struggle, gritting his teeth and trying to break free of the Keys. "Idiot priest!" he growled, then laughed. "I know why you're here! If you're trying to save that girl, it's too late!" Kirei wanted to drive more Keys into his body, but couldn't afford to stop chanting at this point. Zouken's body spasmed again, more cracks appearing on his skin.

Back in the surgery lab, Ayaka suddenly jerked. The worms went into overdrive, writhing in her flesh and digging into her magic circuits. Suddenly, they were eating Ayaka's blood and mana at an incredible pace. Ayaka started to thrash on the table, her eyes bolt open but whited over.

"Scheisse!!" He removed the heart as quickly as he could and put it in a steel basin with a mixture he'd made himself, designed to devour and purge the familiar worms. "Kill them and replace the heart!!" Phillipus swung a tray of syringes between them and started picking them up one by one, plunging more of the fluid into her flesh.

At the Matou mansion, Hideto sent balls of fire crashing into swarms of worms, watching the cinders fly into the air. At one time he'd called this place home. The place where he and Byakuya studied and played, the place he loved... The place he gave up on years ago. He knew that if he closed his eyes, he could remember every nook and cranny as if he were a boy again.

There was a certain catharsis in seeing the night sky through the roof, as if nature itself was spilling in to cleanse the profanity within. Three generations of Matou in one mansion, a place that would never be the same. He closed his eyes, smoke rolling around him.

Well, old man... This is what you get.