The archer's arrow came out of the bow with tremendous speed, and at that very moment, Ezekiel sent a blood-red beam from his guitar's head, which resembled a serpentine skull, to collide with the arrow.
When the two attacks collided together, the blood-red beam seemed to coil around Archer's arrow like a snake. Just seconds after this, there was an explosion so bright that it hurt the eyes of onlookers.
Seeing the explosion that followed the interaction of the two attacks, Bazett and Rin had the same thought.
'How will the Church cover this up?'
After the dust cloud from the impact had cleared, both masters saw that their servants were unharmed from the two attacks. Just as Bazett was about to let Ezekiel use his noble phantasm, a loud noise came from the school's archery club's building amidst the sudden silence.
Taking advantage of this, Rin sent a message to Archer and prepared herself to leave for now.
'Archer! It is not one of my wishes to see the school I'm attending destroyed! I don't know who made that noise just now, but if anything, I can handle it after those two leave.'
'As you wish, Rin.' Archer replied and swept her into a princess carry and, without wasting a second, began bounding across the rooftops each leap taking them farther from the schoolyard.
Ezekiel's eyes on his mask narrowed with a faint mechanical twitch at the sight of the duo departing back, as he rubbed the back of his head and asked Bazett: "Should I go after them master? Wouldn't it be foolish to leave without a result?"
Bazett reinforced her legs and jumped down to the yard from the rooftop.
"Not yet. That girl turned out to be clever. Even if they run away now, my first priority is to take care of any witnesses if there are any. We'll finish them off next time." Bazett said.
"Do you want me to go and take care of it?" It was clear what Ezekiel meant when he said 'Take care of it'.
Bazett tilted her head slightly, gazing up at the school building. "If it's just a normal person with no ties to the Grail War, altering their memory should be enough. No need to kill them. Do you know any memory manipulation spells?"
Ezekiel gave a casual nod. "Of course I do. In fact, you can just head back to the mansion and call it a night. I'll handle things here." Without waiting for a reply, he began strolling toward the school entrance, slinging his guitar-axe lazily over one shoulder like it weighed nothing at all.
Bazett let out a quiet sigh, brushing her fingers against her forehead in mild irritation. "Fine then. Just don't make a mess."
'Let's hope he doesn't cause more trouble than he solves.' She thought, turning away from the schoolyard and making her way toward the mansion.
Back with Ezekiel, he was inside the school going towards the source of the sound, quietly roaming around. Until he heard the faint gasps coming from above the ceiling.
"Let's see what we've got," Ezekiel muttered to himself as he phased onto the second floor. There, panting and visibly shaken, stood a red-haired boy in an orange school uniform. For a split second, Ezekiel froze. That face. That hair. No, maybe it's just someone who merely looks like him. But the resemblance was uncanny, almost mocking.
The boy, still on his knees and breathing hard, hadn't even raised his head when he heard a sharp step hit the ground. A shadow blocked the light above him. By the time he looked up, it was already too late. A gloved hand clamped over his mouth and lifted him from the floor like he weighed nothing.
"Hey, gramps!" Ezekiel chirped with venomous joy. The redhead writhed in his grip, but the hand didn't budge.
"You've aged... backwards. Or maybe I'm just losing it." A snicker escaped behind the mask. "...Shame you lost the edge."
"You're not him. But damn, did you sell the look well. I was almost excited." His tone dropped like a blade, his hand tightening around the boy's head. "Oh, don't confuse your head with all this silly mumbo jumbo. You'll forget it before you know it." He leaned in, muttering ancient words that twisted and folded in the boy's mind.
Having finished chanting, like he'd dropped a rotten fruit, Ezekiel let the boy fall with a thud.
He stood there, unmoving. "If you wake up remembering, I'll fix it permanently." With a last glance, he etched the soul's signature into memory, faded back into spirit form, and departed.
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The first two to escape the school grounds? Rin and Archer. To any observers, it may have looked like they had simply fled but in truth, they hadn't gone far. Concealing their mana signatures, they waited just out of sight, watching. Rin had insisted on this plan, not out of fear, but uncertainty about what Ezekiel and Bazett would do to the witness.
'I really hope this doesn't become the worst-case scenario,' Rin thought as she emerged from hiding. She and Archer quietly slipped back into the school once Ezekiel had left, following the lingering traces of mana. On the second floor, Rin suddenly froze, there was someone inside.
They rushed toward it. When she saw who was lying unconscious on the floor, Rin's heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened with shock, and she immediately dropped to her knees beside the red-haired boy, panic tightening her throat.
"No no no no no! Why should it have been you? What are you doing here!?! How can I look her in the face tomorrow..." Rin was saying this out loud while at the same time checking the boy for any injuries.
"Hah... His mind has been deeply messed with, I can undo the damage, but how...?" A few seconds later Rin had an idea and immediately took out the red gem necklace around her neck that she had hidden in her jacket and put it on the boy body as she closed her eyes and focused.
"..." All the while Archer in his spirit form was watching the unconscious boy on the ground and saying nothing.
Just as Rin's pendant glowed softly against his chest, the lock on the boy's mind began to lift. Faint voices echoed, fading slowly yet one remained clear. A cold, masked voice: "If you wake up remembering, I'll fix it permanently."
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The next moment, Shirou jolted awake in his bed, sweat clinging to his skin. He barely had time to catch his breath when a low, amused chuckle filled the room. A tall figure in a black suit and mask stood by the door of his room, white LED eyes flickering. "You really shouldn't have remembered. Making me work overtime..." Ezekiel said as he stepped forward, each step thudding like a death sentence.