"Is that the place?" Aruna gestured towards a window three stories from the ground, exchanging glances with her Servants pointedly.
"You got it Master~! What do you want us to do? We can fill them up with holes if you want.~"
"Should I use my magecraft to kill a spider while you're at it? You all can stand back. I can take care of them."
Aileen had to get up now, even if that just meant in her closet. Her cat was hissing and trying to hide, and she was experiencing something she didn't know how to describe. There was someone here. It was a weird knowing that she could feel and see at the same time. Her hand with the mace shook.
"Bend." Aruna effortlessly shattered the closed window, manipulating the fragmented glass to slice through whatever was inside.
"Lancer, what is their status?"
They shook their head, showing they found nothing of note inside.
Aileen was barely even breathing. She heard her window shatter and she could've swore she somehow saw the glass fly around her room. That makes no sense.
There were three of them, and they were definitely not just here to rob her.
Her cat's claws dug into her leg, and she held in a squeal, letting air hiss through her teeth instead.
The raven stared through the open window, waiting for her target to come into view.
"Did I go overboard?" I have to check though. I can't have witnesses like this.
If she could've, Aileen would've answered "Of course!" She couldn't even think of a reason why someone would want to kill her, nevermind fling glass shards all around her room! How did they even do that? Was it a weird weather phenomenon that just happened to occur right as these people got into her room?
"Archer, go in there and check for a body. Waiting here all night isn't worth it."
"Hey, wait just a momen- where are you touching?! Oi this body isn't built for- th-that tickles! Stop! Wait wait wait don't throw me!" Heedless to his protest, the smaller Archer was chucked through the window and landed with a soft thump.
One of them was entering her room. They were going to find her, she knew it. Well, actually, Aileen wasn't sure like she had been before, but logically they had to check the closet, right?
Wow, they were tiny! Was it an extremely agile 2 year old? Wouldn't be the weirdest thing at the moment.
"That woman… what does she think I can do?!" Archer scanned the room, letting his eyes land on the closed closet. "Hey kid, I know you're in there." Open the door, I can't reach the knob...
A very well versed 2 year old.
Shit.
"I-I have a gun!" Aileen stammered out. She did, in fact, not have a gun.
"Now you're just pulling my leg. What self-respecting Magus has a gun?"
"Magus? Like in video games? Are you a LARPer or something? Dude I think, uh, I think you took it too far. N-no need to get shot over this, okay?"
"Are you even speaking english? Well, I warned you." Archer heaved his small mace over his head, bringing it down on the flimsy door.
Aileen screamed and her cat jumped out of the door, yowling and running away. She sprayed the strong 2 year old with pepper spray and ran out of the closet.
Archer stalled for half a second, before catching up to the girl. "Why do you people always have to make it difficult…"
"Mom! Dad! Help! There's a crazy toddler on 'roids trying to kill me!"
"For gods' sake." Archer's body went limp, falling flat on the floor like a doll. This is so humiliating. Master better be grateful…
Her parents walk out, somewhere between tired and pissed off beyond belief.
"What is this about, Aileen?" her father questioned.
"And what is… this ugly doll?" Her mother picked up the small archer and held it to her face, sniffing it, then gagging, "It smells horrible."
Are you bad-mouthing me?! Old hag you're not easy on the eyes yourself!
"No, that thing was just chasing me! It broke my closet door!" Aileen exclaimed, "No, Mom! Put it down, it'll-"
Her mother cut her off, "We'll talk about this tomorrow."
And with that they went back to bed. Taking the weird toddler doll with them.
Oh my God.
Archer's limp body was thrown against a dresser without a second thought as the pair returned to sleep. I'll kill you all, I swear!
Aileen grabbed a kitchen knife off of the counter and walked quietly to her parent's room. She had a really bad feeling about this.
The small figure climbed onto the bed, looming over Aileen's mother's face. Archer brandished his club, preparing to smash it against the woman's face.
Aileen ran into the room, and screamed "Stop!"
Her parents woke up at her yell and her mom shoved the archer off of her. Now everyone was screaming.
They were so getting evicted.
"Yeah, yeah, scream, scream. Gods you people are so loud!" Archer's frustration reached a breaking point and the poorly constructed act broke. "Shut up and die quietly!"
"Mom, Dad, c'mon!"
Now they were running towards the front door, but of course once they got there the door wouldn't open, stupid buggy handle.
"Master would get angry if I went all out here, but man, civilians are a whole other beast." Archer was beside the trio in an instant, casually saying his thoughts out loud. "She wouldn't want to deal with this being messy would she? If that was the problem she should've sent Lancer, the prick, I'll be nice so do you have any last words?"
"H-how? And why do I know exactly what you're about to do?"
"I might know, but I don't care to explain. If that's all then," Archer leapt up, bringing the wooden mace down on their heads, or at least where their heads had been.
The three ran for the fire escape outside of Aileen's shattered window.
"Hey, when we get out there, run as fast as you can, jump down the last two steps…" she paused, thinking for a brief moment as they reached her room, "And fall to your bellies."
She couldn't explain how she knew this, but God she hoped it worked.
"Well, will you look at that. Archer is good for something." Aruna spoke to herself, watching the three figures scramble around the exposed room before hiding from her sight. I want to go back home, I'll end this quickly.
"Bend." the fire escape contorted, twisting the metal beyond repair, taking out large chunks of the wall with it.
"Bend." The newly exposed floor closed in on itself like a fist, producing a loud series of crunches as bones snapped and organs were reduced to mangled lumps of useless meat.
For a moment, nothing happened. The concrete sphere simply fell to the ground across from the Master of two Servants. Blood dripped from crevices in the concrete, and silence fell.
Just as it was natural to let down her guard, however, Aruna found herself bearing witness to a pattern of light forming over the surface of her closed concrete fist.
A pattern that looked suspiciously like Magic Circuits.
All the metal around her simultaneously began to creak, then groan, then rumble.
Then spark.
The concrete shell crumbled.
A blast of lightning roared down from the sky, striking the ground exactly between Aruna and the intact girl named Aileen.
A near-invisible, enormous humanoid figure began to emerge from the light.
"Mmph. So then! You see fit to summon me, King of the Rider Class, girl?" a low voice bellowed. "Is what I would say. It seems like you already have two Servants of your own, young madam. Isn't that against the rules on its own or something like that?"
Aileen wasn't… fucking dead? Her brain was kind of doing flips, but then she realised her parents didn't experience the same. She screamed.
"Who can say, Rider." Aruna gave the Heroic Spirit a tight smile before turning back to its Master. "You have quite a set of lungs on you don't you? Keep it down or your neighbors might complain."
"What the fuck is going on?" the poor girl cried out.
The figure, materialising into the shape of a huge man in red, stroked a rather manly red beard as he looked at Aileen up and down. "I see. So you would be my Master, then?"
Aileen couldn't do anything but stare up at the man in fear and confusion.
"I just forced your hand. This is a war. And you, are on the losing end of it."
"Now, hold on here. This short one is clearly rather traumatised. Do we have to fight right away?" he asked, rubbing Aileen's head just slightly harder than was comfortable with a hand so huge the palm alone covered her scalp.
"What would I get out of a ceasefire, Rider?"
The huge man took a moment to consider this. "Well, I wouldn't have to use a full stock of mana to wipe all three of you out right away. It's a win-win, I think."
"What do you mean three of us dammit?!" The forgotten presence made itself known, none the worse for wear and still thirsty for blood.
The shout attracted some attention from Rider, who looked around inquisitively before spotting the small Servant.
He looked at him, then at the woman in white, and then back at the small one again.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Ended up a little submissive after all, did we, Archer? If Aristotle himself… No, if Homer had written this, I'd have dismissed him as a lunatic! Yet here is lunacy incarnate! Wahahahaha! What a sight!"
"SHADDUP! Archer! Get him!" The fuming Servant took one leap and landed on his female counterpart's shoulder.
"You got it Darling!~" The woman nocked her arrow taking aim before Aruna smacked both of them, causing the readied arrow to be let loose at the building rather than the large Servant. The arrow lost considerable momentum but plowed into the structure all the same, Causing a sizable crater to appear on its sturdy foundation.
"Who do you think the Mage Association would blame for the chaos you idiots would cause! We're retreating." The raven met Rider's eyes and gave a small nod when she turned to leave with Lancer at her back, keeping a silent watch on Rider as they left.
"In case you wanted to know," she added as an afterthought, "Saber is in Central Park."
"Hmph. Thank you, indeed. I'll be sure to give them my regards should we run into one another. It's rare to see such a level-headed Master in a ritual such as this. Why, it almost makes me want to fight you last," he chuckled, before turning to Aileen. "Girl. Are you alright?"
"My parents..." she mumbled, too shocked to cry. The arrival of her survived cat seemed to help her regain her speech, and she had a million questions, starting with "Who are you?"
The man stood up straight, beating his chest with a fist hard enough that Aileen could physically feel the air move in response. "I am Rider, King of Conquerors, Lord of Asia, and Servant to you, Master. And who would you be?"
In a better moment, Aileen would've chose to be a smartass and say something like "I am Aileen, Queen of the NEET, Lord of running from terrifying toddler dolls on steroids," but that was impossible for her at the moment, so she instead just said her name.
"Very well, Aileen. Let's first get you somewhere safe."