Illusion Breaker

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"Huh? Jeez, so it was just a dumb little joke, huh?" Rin frowned slightly, huffing a bit, before the girl would find herself blushing at Frank's next comment. Though she was considered the kind of school madonna that was the subject of the boys' affections and the admiration of the girls, Rin was never quite used to being complimented like that. There was a compliment like "pretty," but then there was something on the next level like "beautiful," which had admittedly caught her off-guard quite a bit.

"A-Ah, is that so? J-Jeez, fine. Maybe I'll buy this little thing too. I have been having problems with reading lately too... Maybe it's because I've been reading too much in the dark lately," she mumbled, going about and proceeding to purchase the glasses, as well as the items Archer had requested.

After a courteous farewell from the owner, she would take a breath, placing a hand on her hip. "In any case... let's see. Where should we go next?" Rin would ask briefly, "I mean, I dunno if you feel like getting something from the flower shop... though I suppose we could quickly get something to eat really quickly. Or to the mall... or we could just wander around for Archer to more effectively map out the city. What do you say?"​
 
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"What? You don't know you look beautiful?" Frank frowned at her. "Well, you do. Outshine every person in the whole city, far as I'm concerned." The compliment, as with the other one, was delivered with a certain gruff awkwardness but was sincere. He didn't really comment on any of the other things. After she finished, though, he spoke up. "Wait here." After this, he left and quickly went to the flower shop.

A few minutes later, he returned with a small bouquet of various flowers. He held it out to Rin. "Didn't know which ones you liked." The demonstration bore a certain resemblance to him offering flowers to Dlanor in how awkward he was about it, with his typical stoic scowl, but was different in the somewhat fearful look in his eyes.​
 
"I... Jeez, you're just trying to flatter me!" She could only exclaim in embarrassment, not used to this kind of attention. Then again, perhaps she should have expected it from Frank, given his affinity for her. Rin could only stand there, still trying to calm herself down, as Frank would make his way into the flower shop.

"Heh... he really likes you. You know that?"

"S-Shut up!"

Once Frank would eventually return from his trip to the flower shop, Rin would blush significantly more, looking at the flowers in initial disbelief at first.

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"Oh, jeez. Flowers, huh? T-Thanks. You didn't have to go out of your way or anything, but I suppose it's too late to say that," she nodded, graciously taking the bouquet, "In any case, enough playing around, I suppose. Anywhere you wanna go next, or just map out the area with me and Archer?"

Note: Choosing to map out the area will skip over the events at the other places and proceed with the immediate story.​
 
"I think we should map out the area." All compliments and romantic gestures aside, Frank knew there was a hard fight ahead and that they needed to be prepared. The former vigilante was getting twitchy going around like this in public, anyways. While he had established something of a persona, drawing attention to himself was never advisable in any way. Being out with Rin and buying her flowers was one such way. "Not exactly anything in the mall I want, unless you or our new friend need something."​
 
"We already have the silverware, so I'm good," Archer said. Truly, his shopping priorities always came first.

And so, time flew by.

As the day would go about fairly peacefully without any strange occurrences happening, though Rin would let her worries over the lost fake Jeweled Sword slip, she did her best not to let it get in the way of the day. Eventually, night would fall, and by the end of the day, the three of them would find themselves standing upon the rooftop of an old, closed office building.

Rin and Archer seemed to be in the middle of some conversation, the two of them having their attention fixated on the ground far below them.

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"... What kind of Archer would I be if I didn't have good eyesight? See that bridge over there?" The Servant would ask, almost offended that Rin seemed to have underestimated his abilities in the middle of their little conversation, "I can see and count the individual square tiles on that bridge. If there is a target before me, I'll get it."

"Well, would you look at that! I guess the Archer class really is made up of Archers!"

"Are you trying to make fun of me?"

"Anywho!" Rin said, moving on from that topic, "So, now that I think about it, I imagine that was quite the experience for you too, Frank. From what I remember, you haven't exactly been out in the city that often either... unless you've been having some secret escapades without me knowing?" She asked half-teasingly.​
 
Frank just looked at her quietly for a few seconds before answering. "I have." It wasn't exactly a secret. She just hadn't asked. "I had to to get those weapons made." The aging man ran a hand through his hair. "Now what do we do? We wait until everything starts? The sooner we figure out who we're up against, the sooner I just put get a bomb in their home and blow 'em up while they sleep." It was almost impossible to tell if he was joking. "As for tactics..." Frank cleared his throat. "I think you should... hang back and leave this to Archer and I, Rin. If we do this right, it might not even come to an open engagement."​
 
"Jeez... I wish you'd have at least told me. I don't like you going off without me knowing, you know," Rin pouted a bit, crossing her arms, "As far as I know, from what Kirei tells me anyway, I'm the second-to-last Master to enter the war, but since he expects the last Master to make themselves known any moment now, the Fifth Holy Grail War is "on" now for all intents and purposes," she explained.

"On a more serious note though, if I can help it, I'd rather avoid killing them. After all, it's not like they're out to get me personally. It's all just a matter of business, and besides, they just wanna win. The Holy Grail is something to be desired, after all. Wouldn't you want the..." She began to ask, before stopping herself. If she'd ask him if he desired a chance to fulfill any wish he wanted, it might lead into an awkward place, so she stopped right there.

"A-Anyway, I appreciate the thought, but without input on the types of magecraft that enemy Masters might try to use, you won't fare for very long. By the time you understand how one's magecraft works... Well, anyway..." Rin said, erasing the thought from her mind, and either way, she imagined Frank didn't like to be underestimated, "I'm keeping around, and that'll be that. We don't have time to teach you all the conceivable magecraft types, like Numerology and Thaumaturgy, so I'll stick around. Besides, I can take care of myself. They say I'm getting close to Kirei's level, so there's that," she smiled somewhat confidently, "You trust me, don't you?"

Archer was staying out of this one. Like, nope nope nope. Not touching that one.​
 
"Wouldn't I want to be have whatever I wished?" Frank thought of the scum of the Earth just dropping dead. A pretty huge portion of the Earth's population. A slight smile spread over his face at the thought, as though the thought was a pleasant daydream. "Yeah, I would." At the rest, he just listened, as was his tendency. When he finally did answer, he was matter-of fact about it. "I don't need to know those things. Silenced .50 caliber. A rooftop. I could just wing them, if need be." His expression softened. "But... yes, I do trust you. If you want to fight, I won't try to prevent it."​
 
"Thanks. After all, if you got my back, then who has yours? Certainly not Archer, I'd say!" Rin said somewhat playfully, looking over at the Servant, who seemed to merely be minding his own business at the moment.

"... No comment. In any case, I assume our job is done for the day?" He would ask, to which Rin would nod in response.

"Yeah, I think we've done a good amount. Maybe we'll do it again tomorrow, but for now, I'm beat," the teenaged girl simply yawned slightly, glancing down at the ground below, "Hmm... that boy is gone. I wonder what he was doing at that hour?" She spoke cryptically, murmuring to herself, as though she were watching someone below while she was speaking with Frank and Archer.

"Set, precedence. Adjust pebble over flesh," an unknown, yet ominous voice suddenly spoke from the shadows.

"Huh? Wh--Ghugh!" Rin began to question, but before any of them knew it, a small projectile, no larger than a pebble, flew at Rin's back, and almost like a bullet, hit through the girl, creating a clean exit and entry wound at her side. From the impact, she would fall off the edge of the building!

"Rin!" Archer would call out. As a magical familiar whose existence was bound to his Master's life, his first priority was supposed to be Rin's life, so thus, without even looking back, he jumped down the building, following Rin down to the ground, leaving Frank alone on the rooftop.

If Frank would look back, he would see a grotesque, goblin-looking man in green robes, grinning from ear to ear like the Grinch, holding a pile of pebbles in one hand and a rusty sword in the other.

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"Tsk, tsk, tsk. How careless," the man giggled in a sinister manner, "And right after she talked about being careful. Just goes to show that younglings these days have no idea what they're talking about. But it's a shame that witch had so many bodyguards to ensure she'd survive a fall like this. I'll have to take care of the man in red after I'm done with you," he spoke, raising his sword in front of him, "My name is Terra of the Left, and by my position on God's Right Seat, I will end your life, non-believer. Set, precedence. Adjust metal below human skin..."​
 
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Frank was caught off guard. A look of shock crossed his face, then Archer dived after him. Fortunately for him, the assailant decided to monologue. He honestly didn't care about his appearance, or anything the creature had to say.

Frank quickly drew his pistol while the man was still talking and fired two shots at his face, before sprinting and sliding into cover.​
 
The man took no measures to block the bullets. In fact, he even removed the sword from the way of the bullets, letting the projectiles cleanly hit his face, but upon impact, they would be deflected, almost as though they hit a hard metal. Without waiting any more, the man ran over to Frank's general direction, before taking a great leap above the object that Frank had taken cover behind.

"Hold still, vermin! I'll make this quick!" The man who called himself Terra of the Left exclaimed, before jumping down above Frank, his sword aimed straight at his head!​
 
Frank took the simple route.

He ducked under the sword and fired the gun into the man's groin.​
 
The bullet ripped through the man's clothing, but just like before, it had bounced off his skin effortlessly. Perhaps this strange phenomenon had something to do with his talk of setting precedence and talk of metal below skin.

However, before he could give Frank a chance to think clearly, Terra of the Left, without any hesitation, continued his assault, feigning a left slice, only to spin around and perform a right slash, his weapon aimed for Frank's jugular vein!

"Useless, useless, useless!!"​
 
The former vigilante leaned back, the sword barely missing him. Well, that wasn't working. Time to adapt. Frank fired a bullet into his face, purely to distract him for a moment. He was practically backed into a wall. His next move was a gamble at best, as Frank knew he couldn't dodge for much longer. He fired the gun with the precision that let him tag the likes of Spider-man and Burnout at its eyes.​
 
Though he moved to react a little, one bullet managed to nail him right in the left eye. With a pained scream, it seemed like the bullet finally managed to dig into its target! As blood would fly from the wound, Terra of the Left would reel back in a mixture of agony and shock, somewhat blinded now that one eye was shot out.

"D-Damn you!! You'll pay for that, unholy fiend!" The goblin-like man screamed in anger, taking several more steps back, away from Frank, and dropping the pebbles on the ground. Digging his hand into a pouch, he would pull out what seemed to be flour, before quickly speaking once again, "Set precedence. Adjust flour above human skin!" He yelled, and with that, he would throw the handful of flour right at Frank. For every little piece of flour that hit Frank, it would almost be as though they were bullets from a shotgun.

With that, he would make a brief retreat, taking cover and mumbling incoherently to itself. It was a mystery upon whether he was performing another spell, or simply raving like a lunatic, but either way, he was at a disadvantage with an eye being shot out, it seemed.​
 
Frank had dodged point blank machine gun fire before. Dodging the telegraphed flower throw was easy enough. A few caught him in the arm, however, making him grit his teeth in pain as they tore through him. The former vigilante had been analyzing the man, as he did with all of his opponents. The question was if he could accurately predict his dodging patterns now that the man would defend himself. Now it was time to fight dirty. Frank scooped up some of the pebbles with his free hand and came barrelling down on his opponent. Before coming within range of his sword, though, the man threw the pebbles into his opponent's face. This was immediately followed through with a bullet at his other eye.​
 
To Frank's possible surprise, the pebbles had as much effect on him as normal pebbles would, softly bouncing off his hand, which he would instinctively use to protect him. Thus, when Frank would follow up with gun shots, they would once again be deflected off his hand, which covered his remaining eye.

Terra of the Left would proceed to grin ear to ear, showing off his impish teeth. Attempting to take advantage of what he perceived to be Frank's misunderstanding of his use of magic, he would rush forward, thrusting his weapon forward, aiming for his side, and kicking him away before Frank could recover and attempt to counterattack, creating decent distance between the two of them.

"Gahaha! That's just the beauty of Execution of Light! It only sets precedence for one thing at a moment! But of course, you don't even know what that is! Nonbelievers could never hope to understand magic!" He exclaimed madly, "Kneel before the flesh of Jesus Christ, our lord and savior! The source of your damnation!"​
 
He had been going for a more 'dirt in the eyes' type response, but it wouldn't have worked either way.

Frank sidestepped the thrust, but was sent srawling by the kick. He recovered quickly and was assessing the situation. "... I'm Catholic." Came his answer. It was the truth. Frank had almost been a priest. There didn't seem to be a way out of this one with what the vigilante had. But his expression and tone remained cool and disslasionate. He didn't fear death. "You want to kill me? Come try."​
 
A certain priest elsewhere let out a small sneeze at the thought of dear Mr. Castle being a priest.

Back on the rooftop, Terra of the Left gritted his teeth, grunting loudly like the madman he looked like. "You'll regret goading me! Set precedence. Adjust metal one-hundred, flesh one!" He exclaimed, charging forward with frightening speed. Using the magic that he called Execution of Light, one could deduce that it meant that the strength of metal like on his sword had increased in great potency against human skin, meaning if Frank wasn't careful, he might very well get his arm sliced off with little physical effort on Terra of the Left's part. But what about against other material?

Meanwhile, behind Frank, within peripheral vision, he'd be able to see the bag from the antique shop earlier that day, with the handle of what seemed to be a butcher knife sticking out. Hint, hint!​
 
Frank leapt out of the way of the sword. He looked around and saw the knife. Well... it was worth a shot. The former vigilante ran over, doing his best to avoid any oncoming attacks. His arm snaked out and scooped it up. Almost immediately, he ran back at his opponent, firing bullets at his face.

He did his best to parry any attacks coming his way and drove the knife up at the man's groin. Interest in getting information overrode his interest in killing the man.​
 
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