The Holy Sippy Cup War Chapter 5

5. Unexpected Engagement

“The most dangerous combatant in this war is a well-prepared mage, but a close second is definitely an unsuspecting bystander.” Rin stood with the wind whipping above her, watching a figure below walking along the lamp-lit street. She turned to look at her servant standing by her side. “You’re sure it’s her?” she asked.

Paris nodded, his vision focused on the woman below, he seemed taken by the way her short, light brown hair shimmered in the light of the streetlamps. “I am absolutely sure this woman is the master of a serfant.”

Rin cocked her head. “Do you mean servant?” she asked.

Paris gave a chuckle, shaking his head. “No, serfant–it’s a portmanteau of servant and infant. Clever isn't it?”

The goofy way the archer class servant delivered his line surprised Rin. She’d only met him yesterday and finding out his peculiar idiosyncrasies and his position as a cryer were fairly shocking but she ultimately accepted them. Still, his strange mannerisms were hard to get used to. The way he spoke without much thought or got too eager at the simplest offers of kindness threw Rin off, he wasn't what she'd expected in a servant to say the least.

She was determined not to let any of those things get in her way. Rin had made plans for her stance and tactics in the grail war. A slight change in how it functioned wasn’t going to alter those.

“It’s hard to believe my English teacher is part of this though. I didn’t even know she was a mage.”

Down by the street, Taiga Fujimura walked casually, enjoying the cool night as she headed home. She seemed oblivious to the pair watching her.

“Maybe she doesn’t even know,” Rin said, shaking her head, “from this distance she'd likely be able to sense my magical energy. Either way, it’s important to deal with her sooner rather than later.” She turned to examine Paris, attempting to discern what combat abilities he may have.

“I should have coordinated a battle plan before this,” she thought, tapping her foot on the rooftop. She knew she'd summoned an archer beforehand and now had an understanding of the cryer class’s conditions thanks to Paris's explanation. Still, her servant’s overly cutesy appearance was hard for Rin to take in and she found it difficultto believe he'd be capable of handling himself well in a combat setting.

His yellow dress clung tightly to a lithe torso, its lace accents tastefully arranged and carefully placed. Along the fringes at the top and the end of Paris’s sleeves, soft fur trim capped the fabric creating puffs of softness that encircled his wrists and neck. The bell-shaped bottom of his dress was fringed much the same way, though in the center a large viewing window gave a clear view to the thick diaper beneath and the cutesy sheep pattern that decorated it.

That wasn’t the only comparison one could draw to a sheep either. With the horns adorning his head, the shimmering eyes of a divine beast, and the fuzzy accents mimicking wool–all paired with extraordinary silly and a kind demeanor–Paris was more like a docile domesticated lamb than a fearsome heroic spirit.

He looked at Rin with twinkling amber eyes apparently waiting for instructions. The mage weighed her options, finding the choice to be harder than expected. She had no desire to hurt Taiga and the only confirmation that she was in fact a master in the war was the red command seals on her hand that Paris said he could make out at this distance. That, and the covert information she'd received.

Even that information was suspect at best. Rin had found an envelope in her bag, addressed to her and with two valuable bits of information on it.

Taiga Fujimura—Master of Unknown class

Tamamo-no-Mae—The Matron

She’d felt wary of this information, especially since somebody had managed to get so close to her without her realizing. Paris agreed that it was either a trap or somebody trying to use Rin to eliminate the competition. Discovering Taiga’s command seals was confirmation enough of at least half the information, however.

For a moment she stared at her own command seals, one semi circle eclipsing another, with a trailing line leading toward her wrist. These were her proof as a master that she had dominion over her servant, evidence of the pact made between them. All three were so far kept intact, a fact she was proud of.

She couldn’t take full credit for it though, Paris had proven easy to work with despite his strange Cryer needs and particular personality. “He’s eager to please,” she thought, “no reason to waste seals on him if we can work together.”

“I don’t see a servant anywhere,” Rin noted, returning her attention to the teacher walking home. She’d been feeling out for the magical energies a nearby heroic spirit would put out, “If we’re right and she’s not actually a mage it could mean her servant is having trouble manifesting.”

Paris picked up on Rin’s thought process and nodded in agreement. “Maybe we can take care of this without fighting then,” he said, casting his gaze downward and blushing, “I'm not much for fighting and if we can I'd rather avoid it...”

Rin agreed, asking if there was something Paris could do that would be more akin to incapacitation rather than harming the teacher. This elicited a smile from the heroic spirit who summoned an object to his hand with a flash of golden magic. It was huge, a long contraption slightly bigger than the spirit himself with two wide limbs connected by a golden string.

The gigantic crossbow dropped a little in the air, its front thumping softly on the bricks of the roof. Paris seemed to struggle with its weight despite one end resting on the edge of the building. In his other hand, he materialized an arrow. On its tip was a white and gold pacifier with a little sheep decal decorating the mouth cap.

“Troia Velos,” Paris said in a low whisper, knocking the pacifier-tipped arrow into the flight groove, “All I have to do is land the paci into her mouth and she’ll gain an obsession with suckling, be it her thumb or the paci itself. It’ll also drain away her magic circuits to the point where her serfant will have trouble materializing.”

Rin was surprised, not expecting such an impressive weapon or well-explained ability. She put her hand on her hip, smiling at Paris. “I see you’re not letting the cryer modifier get to you are you?”

There was a brief pause in the conversation. Paris took just a second too long to answer as he stared longingly at the pacifier tip of his arrow. When he realized he'd left a dip in the flow of conversation he shook his head, almost like he was bringing himself back to attention. “Just like you aren't,” he said a little too quickly, kneeling and aiming the crossbow with one eye closed. His voice filled with resolve as he focused on his target. “I have a wish too master, and I'll try my best in this war so I can make it come true.”

This was the first time she'd heard such strong words of personal resolve with a tone carrying sincere gravity. Even when she first heard his embarrassing explanation that she’d need to change him, Paris had delivered the news with a burning blush and a stammering voice. Seeing his two contrasting sides was interesting to observe. She also made a mental note to ask him about his desire for the grail later.

Rin said nothing in response, simply nodding to her servant to give the go-ahead to shoot. A sparkle of magic radiated around his arrow as he gently squeezed the trigger, letting the soother-tipped projectile fly with a slight whistle as it cut through the air. It looked to be perfectly aligned to hit Taiga’s mouth as she had just begun a yawn.

The pull of the trigger seemed to have a secondary effect that Rin just barely caught out of the corner of her eye. Something passed over the central body of the crossbow, a fluffy transparent cloud that disappeared just as quickly as it’d come. Paris yawned as it passed. “One.” he said quietly to himself.

“I guess the archer class really is made up of archers,” Rin said.

A faint whistling pierced the air as the arrow cut through the night air heading toward Taiga. While the teacher was none the wiser of her situation Rin and Paris weren’t the only ones with their eyes on the projectile. A mysterious figure stared at the arrow from behind the corner. While she watched, it was as if time slowed down for her, though it was possible her thoughts were moving through her head at blazing speeds.

“Mommy is in danger,” The figure thought, shifting on her feet. “I should go out and help… but… if I do she’ll notice me and I won’t be able to watch from the shadows anymore. I like keeping an eye on her.”

That was the kink in her plan: she wanted to help Taiga, to rush forward and reveal herself but doing that would change everything. The Heroic spirit had no guarantee that the teacher would even like her.

“But she is so nice and caring, she takes care of that red-haired boy and teaches so many kids. I’d bet she’d do the same for me.”

While she was thinking the arrow grew closer to Taiga, its pacifying tip on a straight collision course for her parsed lips.

“I can’t let them hurt Mommy, if that hits her who knows what bad baby curse it’ll inflict. I have to save her, she’s supposed to take care of me, how can that happen if she’s acting like a baby too?” The thoughts were coming on more erratically, a stream of consciousness that was becoming more worried and frantic by the moment.

The arrow drew closer.

The heroic spirit’s instincts kicked in and she sent herself flying toward her master with a single push off the ground. In an instant she lost the element of stealth she'd maintained for the last few days, materializing in a brilliant flash. Flakes of golden magic gleamed behind her as she dashed.

Her yellow eyes narrowed, honing in on her target, the arrow. It was dangerously close to Taiga now. “I’m not going to make it," she thought, “It’s too far… I let my mommy down. I couldn’t keep her safe from the other Cryers. I haven’t gotten any headpats yet."

Her feelings of distress started to the resolve she had to save her master. She’d not even gotten very long to be with Taiga but for her it was crushing to think that their time would be cut short because she’d not acted quickly enough.

The summoning was accidental, with Taiga having picked up a random book from Shinji Matou’s desk and read a few passages absentmindedly. She hadn’t known about the failed summoning circle in the empty classroom next door or her own latent, albeit weak, magical abilities.

That didn’t change what it meant to her servant, who saw not only her Mommy because of her Cryer classification but also the reincarnation of her one true love. It made for a powerful bond, even if one-half of it had no idea it was happening.

The arrow drew closer.

Suddenly the atmosphere around Kiyohime shifted. Her despair melted quickly, her self-pitying thoughts dispersing as she thought about losing all of that because she was afraid to show herself. “Unacceptable. Which fools would dare take her from me?”

Flames lit along the fringes of her long kimono sleeves, spreading over her body like a warm blanket. Her first step out of hiding had only placed her halfway toward her destination with no chance to block the speeding arrow.

As the flames of her bratty rage flared, Kiyohime took a second step and her rush toward her master was accelerated exponentially. With an explosive burst of speed she came to a skidding halt in front of Taiga. She stood fiercely and boldly in front of her master, her arms outstretched to protect her.

The arrow drew near.

“She is mine!” Kiyohime yelled, opening her fan. “Mine mine mine!!”

Just as the arrow looked ready to connect with the raging Cryer’s mouth she knocked it away with her fan, all while stamping her foot on the ground in defiance of her attackers. She glared up at Paris and Rin with an attitude that could only be described as fuming, though the puffs of smoke emanating from her clothes may have been responsible for that descriptor.

Paris took in the intense outburst before him, admiring the long white hair and gold ornaments tucked behind her multi-pronged black horns. The sleeves of her Kimono billowed in the wind, fanned by the flames. Rather than the traditional long bottom to match her sleeves, the elegant gold and black material of her outfit stopped abruptly at her waist, cut off to reveal a thick cloth diaper stuffed between her legs.

The outer diaper cover was made of the same silk as the rest of her outfit but its design was more simplistic. The surface had golden bells decorating the exterior of the silky cover that enclosed the thick cloth stuffers beneath it. While lacking the distinctive crinkle most cryers exhibited, the elegant cover and cloth diaper fit the woman’s classical Japanese aesthetic well. White stockings covered the rest of her legs, protecting them from the cold, though with the flames licking her clothes Paris imagined that wasn’t much of a concern for her.

“What’s going on?” Rin asked, unable to see the situation as clearly as her servant at this distance, “Did her Servant appear?”

Paris's head bobbed in the affirmative, loading another bolt in his crossbow, “Yep and she looks mad, We might want to try and run.”

“We did try and attack her master,” Rin replied, gathering her things, “I suppose that makes sense. Can you tell what her class is?”

The archer shook his head, “I can't, it's like she appeared out of nowhere! From what I can tell she knocked my arrow away with a paper fan.”

Rin shook her head, considering the information, “Well we heard that outburst from here and if she did it with her something as basic as a fan she’d have to be strong. I think she’s the Berserker.”

Paris lined up his shot, taking aim at the combatant. The rage in her eyes was a fact in favor of that assumption, something that worried the archer. At close range he stood no chance against a force like that.

He locked eyes with the servant on the ground, who was still fuming. They had entered a stalemate, with neither sure who would attack first.

Despite his hesitance, Paris was the first to break the stand-off and pulled the trigger on his crossbow. An arrow flew free toward the firey figure next to Taiga. The little plush sheep that heralded his oncoming exhaustion passed over his bow again, looking a little less transparent than it had a second ago.

“Two.” Paris said, his eyes fluttering slightly.

Halfway through the arrows flight Paris’s target disappeared, and in another moment his arrow was gone, used as a stepping stone for the bratty berserker flying at him.

Upon seeing Paris fire his bow Kiyohime felt her energy spike, growing tension in her stomach driving her to aggression. She wanted to protect her mommy and show the mean people who’d threatened her not to try and hurt her again but all the while she could feel something was building within her. A nagging urge she couldn’t attend to because she was so busy focusing on the archer attacking her.

Rin immediately noticed the missed shot and headed Paris’s advice, turning to the propped open door at the other end of the roof. She paused for the briefest of moments. “Archer! Let’s go!” she shouted, indicating that Paris should follow. That turn was just quick enough to see the servant with her black and gold Kimono and matching diaper cover to smash the short brick wall in front of Paris to bits with an opened fan.

The fluffy archer flew back from the impact, having just barely dodged the blow in time and loaded another arrow into the hefty crossbow. Rin watched in stunned amazement as he fired it within seconds, this one sticking their enemy perfectly.

An explosion of white powder radiated from the berserker, filling the air with the gentle scent of baby powder before dissipating into the cool night. Rin had missed whatever the arrow had been tipped with, as the entire exchange had lasted less than a few seconds but she was generally impressed with the ability of her servant and his quick thinking.

Paris landed next to her by the exit door on the roof, letting out a tired “three” once his feet were on the ground. He shook his head in disbelief, unable to believe that firing a random shot had worked as well as it had.

From Kiyohime’s perspective, the arrow fired from the crossbow hit her diaper head-on and knocked her back slightly. For that brief millisecond, she was virtually unfazed by the blow and poised to strike back. The explosion of baby powder that followed threw her off guard and her clenched fist loosened as the magic of Paris’s arrow set in.

That poof of powder heralded another strange effect, a sudden sensation between Kiyohime’s thighs. Unfamiliar bulky material appeared out of nowhere and enveloped her diaper like a tight hug, adding to the thickness between her thighs. This new mass pushed her legs apart further before another, similar one was stacked on top of it, and another still after that.

When the fog of powder finally cleared from the air around her Kiyohime felt her feet touch the ground, through her haze of berserker rage she could feel annoyance. “Why is my stance so wide?” she wondered.

Rin stared at the pair, studying their movements as best she could given how fast-paced the battle was. It surprised her how quickly her archer had stopped her in her tracks with one well-placed shot. Around the Berserker’s waist her gold and black bell-covered diaper had been covered with multiple other layers of padding, all stacked on each other. It almost caused Rin to snort in amusement, the bulbous shape of her multiple diapers reached to her mid-thigh and must have jutted outward from her hips and behind her several inches.

While the mage seemed to think it was okay to stop and gawk, Paris knew better and was actively tugging at her arm. “We have to go Master, even with four layers of diapers she can still get us! I’ve only slowed her down momentarily and I… getting… sleepy…” The words coming out of Paris’s mouth became slower and strained, he even let out a weak yawn to punctuate his point.

He was right, the multiple layers weren’t slowing her down much. It mostly altered her berserker rage-induced sprint into an annoyed waddle that bought them seconds on the clock at best.

The pair passed through the doorway leading to a stairwell, with Rin slamming the door behind her and turning around, in between her fingers she held three red gemstones. Paris turned to look at his master, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.

“Master!” he called, stopping on one of the steps, “We have to go!”

Rin smiled to herself, extending her hand with the gems toward the door. “Don’t worry Archer, I’m just showing you I can buy us a little time too! Vier Stil Erschießung!” The incantation sparked the magic in the gemstones, quickly turning them into spinning bullets of energy that flew towards the lock on the door.

Three loud bangs filled the stairwell at the magic exploded against the lock of the door, melting it and part of the heavy metal door to the frame of the entryway itself. With a satisfied nod, Rin followed her servant down the stairway. Moments later a dull thumping sounded against the door above them.

Kiyohime slammed her fists into the door, willing it to move with nothing but her bratty baby rage. “Let me in! Letmeinletmeinletmein!” she demanded, landing blow after blow into the solid metal obstacle.

Dents formed under her blows but she could feel her power waning, the raging flames of power that fueled her strength were dimming now that she couldn’t see her target, without a clear enemy to face she had no one to direct her bratty energy at.

No feeling of satisfaction washed over her, and to put it mildly Kiyohime felt unfulfilled from the battle, like she’d been cheated out of a victory. Not only that but the tension in her stomach had reached new heights, a fever pitch of cramps and gurgles that signaled the need to use her diaper, though no such relief came.

“At least Mommy is safe,” she grumbled, returning to the edge of the roof.

Down on the street, Taiga stood in stunned silence, her eyes wide and unblinking. “What the hell was that?” she asked.