Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Ayame/Zero…NOT

Part IX

An explosion ripped a homunculus apart, followed by two others as glowing rubies thrown with precise aim erupted with enough force to collapse a skyscraper. Craters and bloody remains lay strewn across the ground, along with the weapons of the fallen, while a rumpled Tokiomi stood amidst the battlefield. The stoic façade of complete control and elegant success no longer existed, unable to be maintained when facing artificial Humans engineered to have abilities surpassing that which Humans should have.

Tokiomi's clothes were torn in many places, and he'd discarded his cane after a homunculus had broken it in half with a single swing. And while Tokiomi didn't need his cane to use elemental magecraft, its loss greatly reduced the efficiency of his spells, causing them to consume more prana for the same effect.

Unwilling to fight a battle of attrition, which given Einzbern's superior numbers and the limitations of Tokiomi's own magic circuits put him at a massive disadvantage, Tokiomi had been forced to resort to…basic, if powerful mysteries to win. This usually involved throwing gems as magical explosives. Powerful…but crude, and even wasteful.

It was galling for Tokiomi, a harsh blow to his pride that even with all he had achieved as a magus from a lifetime of work, he had to resort to such measures in order to hold out against the treacherous Einzbern.

For their part, the Einzbern homunculi kept their distance. For the most part; three homunculi would attack at any one time, while the rest of them held back, surrounding Tokiomi and cutting off any potential line of escape.

Tokiomi narrowed his eyes as he saw another trio of homunculi shifting their stances, as though preparing to attack. "This is really wasteful." The thought slipped into the minds of the homunculi. "If you were planning on using conceptual weapons from the beginning, you should have stayed at range, suppressing the enemy with curtain fire while preparing to deploy the appropriate conceptual weapon."

"Standard tactical doctrine dictates…"

"I know what standard Einzbern tactical doctrine states." Black and White interrupted with a mental sigh. "I made a point of completely overhauling it after I took charge…anyway, from the look of things, you guys underestimated Tokiomi Tohsaka."

"That is correct." The ranking homunculus said, he and his brothers and sisters slowly stepping forward and then back again, moving always three at a time, in order to prevent Tokiomi from determining who would attack next. "This level of success was not expected from Magus Tohsaka."

"Well, he is a magus." Black and White said. "Making miracles happen is his business. What else would you call someone like him, an otherwise ordinary Human, not even an arch-magus, able to hold out and even kill a number of combat homunculi who by all rights should be able to fight Servants so long as Noble Phantasms aren't used?"

"As you say, my lady." The ranking homunculus replied. "It is a…miracle. An improbability so great we had dismissed it…to our present detriment."

"Uh-huh…that's, pretty much it. But we can't afford to lose here. Change of plans, friends. Switch to long-range fire, and suppress Tokiomi Tohsaka with curtain fire. All close-combat units are to hold position, and will only engage should the enemy attack. Engage!"

"It will be done, my lady." The ranking homunculus verbally said, before flourishing his weapon and holding out a hand. Prana gathered in his palm, and after a moment lanced out in a powerful beam.

Tokiomi dodged as the beam struck the ground he'd been standing on just a moment ago, and lancing forward gouged a smoking trench through the earth. "Tone down the artillery fire!" Black and White angrily ordered as the other homunculi also opened fire. "I want him alive!"

"Understood." The collective reply came.

The homunculi then turned their hands palm-up, and gathered a ball of prana above. At a thought, small droplets of prana began to fly out at high speed at the target direction, still strong enough to strike divots from the ground, or to batter and heavily bruise flesh, but not enough to kill outside of protracted bombardment.

"GAH!" Tokiomi cried out in pain as he was literally pummeled all over by the Einzbern's bombardment, his coat and trousers being torn to pieces even as he raised his arms to protect his face. Magic circuits flashed as he reinforced his body to minimize the damage, but the rate of fire was too high and there were too many homunculi for it to really matter.

With a snarl of anger, Tokiomi braced himself, feet apart on the ground. Ignoring the pain and the force of multiple impacts, he extended his arms before slapping his hands together in front of him. "Sperrfeld!" he shouted, as his magic circuits flashed.

A translucent dome appeared around Tokiomi, against which the Einzbern barrage splattered harmlessly against. For now, at least: Tokiomi's magic circuits were glowing with the effort to maintain the field, and sweat was visibly running down his face from the strain.

But he wasn't finished. As the homunculi continued the barrage, and Black and White watched through their eyes, Tokiomi began to cast an aria.

"Uh, guys?" Black and White said. "I'd like to wrap this up quickly, before that son of a bitch forces us to put him down, so where the hell is that conceptual weapon?"

"Please wait a moment, my lady." The ranking homunculus said. "As per your orders, we are attempting to restrain Magus Tohsaka. The initially-deployed conceptual weapon would not facilitate such, and therefore we are currently bringing up the appropriate device from the field depot."

"Hurry it up, then!"

"…bei Wind wird Feuer eingezogen," Tokiomi cast. "…und bei Wind gelöscht…"

As Tokiomi continued to cast and prana began to build around him, four homunculi arrived, carrying large, bulky devices. Setting them up at the corners of a rectangle centered on Tokiomi, they placed their devices, which resembled a small, boxy module attached to and behind a large, half-cylinder that resembled the shields of Roman legionaries.

The homunculi inserted their keys, and powering up the mystic codes, activated them as Tokiomi began the last line of his aria. "Gib uns…!" Tokiomi was saying, but before he could speak the last word and complete his mystery, the Einzbern struck.

The shields began to vibrate at extremely high speed, the air and the earth literally shaking at their perturbations. The homunculi were unaffected, though even they jumped out of the rectangle defined by the Sonic Subjugator's emitters.

Tokiomi crumpled, screaming in pain while clutching at his head, his position in the middle of the Sonic Subjugator's area of effect. The vibrations were keeping him from concentrating, no, more than that he couldn't even think at the pounding of the vibrations, as well as the sheer agony as his body was hammered from the outside and sympathetically vibrated as well.

"Oh wow," Black and White said, impressed. "You brought a Sonic Subjugator with you?"

"Yes, my lady." The ranking homunculi. "Should it prove necessary to acquire subjects for questioning it was only prudent."

"True enough."

The Sonic Subjugator (Sonic-Unterdrücker) was a specialized mystic code developed by the Einzbern with which to capture targets and specimens through the application of sound. It functioned by placing emitter devices in geometric formations around a target/s, and then producing incredibly-powerful vibrations. Caught within the area-of-effect, the target/s would be overwhelmed by the pressure, and sooner or later collapse from the strain and then be subsequently captured.

Tokiomi Tohsaka finally collapsed, and the Sonic Subjugator was turned off. Homunculi warily approached, with halberds at the ready, and prodding the man's body, confirmed he was unconscious.

"Collar him." The ranking homunculi ordered, and a shock collar was placed around the man's neck. Should he attempt to use magecraft, the merest perturbation of his magic circuits would trigger the Collar of Restraint (Halsband der Zurückhaltung) which would then administer a powerful electric shock, enough to cause first or even second-degree burns, to force the prisoner to stand down.

"Wake him." Black and White ordered. "I want him awake for this."

The other homunculi nodded, and at a thought the Collar of Restraint was triggered at a low setting. Tokiomi jolted awake with a shout of pain, and after a few moments catching his breath, looked around him. He narrowed his eyes…

…and then shouted in agony as the Collar of Restraint triggered a full blast, when he attempted to cast a spell. Wisps of steam rose from his neck as he fell forward, twitching as his nervous system revolted from the application of thousands of volts, and then he was being hauled up to his knees.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka," the ranking homunculus began. "I am Gunther von Einzbern, speaking for our great and noble mistress, the Black and White Magician. You stand accused of blood treason, slave trading, misleading the youth, and…being a general asshole. How do you plead?"

"…I don't know what game you're playing," Tokiomi gasped out after a few moments of shock. "But I refuse to play along with it! And whoever this…Black and White Magician is, I say how dare you? Don't you know who I am? I am the Second Owner of Fuyuki City, the ranking and recognized magical authority within this territory! I will not stand for this…game, of yours, daring to play judge, jury, and executioner!"

The homunculi made to strike him, but at a gesture from their superior, desisted. Encouraged, Tokiomi continued. "And if we're going to speak of charges," Tokiomi spat. "I would charge you of kidnapping, trespassing on and destruction of private property, breach of secrecy, conspiracy, and murder! What say you to that, Black and White Magician?"

"My lady says you are charged and found guilty of contempt." Gunther said, and the others promptly began to beat Tokiomi. A boot to the gut was followed a blow to the back of the head, and more blows rained down on Tokiomi as he collapsed to the ground. An attempt to use magecraft only resulted in another electric shock, Tokiomi curling up both in agony and to shield his internal organs from the homunculi's blows.

"…bastard…" Tokiomi gurgled out as the beating came to an end, and he was hauled back to his knees. He coughed, causing blood to spray out his mouth, more blood pouring from his nose while his eyes began to swell up from injuries around them.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka," Gunther began. "In the absence of a defense, our great and noble mistress finds you guilty of the charges of blood treason, slave trading, misleading the youth, and being a general asshole. The penalty for such is death, but in her greatness, the Black and White Magician is willing to show magnanimity, and to temper justice with mercy. Therefore, the sentence of death is commuted."

"…you expect me to be grateful?" Tokiomi gurgled, and was met with a hand to the back of his head.

"Instead of death," Gunther continued, gesturing for his subordinates to physically restrain Tokiomi while extending his right arm, torn cloth exposing a faint pattern of lines on his skin: The Tohsaka Magic Crest. "The punishment for your crimes shall be the destruction of your magic crest."

"What…?" Tokiomi whispered, wide-eyed. And then he began to struggle, thrashing and heaving against the trans-Human strength of the homunculi holding him in place as Gunther stepped back, and took his halberd with both hands.

"May the justice of the World account in all balance." Gunther said, and swung down.

Blood fountained and Tokiomi screamed as his arm was struck off from his shoulder. He screamed again as the homunculi crudely cauterized his stump, and again when the Collar of Restraint was used to keep him from falling unconscious out of shock.

"No…please…no…I'm begging you…stop…no…no…NO…NO…NO...NO…!" Tokiomi begged as the homunculi aimed their hands at his arm, and with it, the crystallized legacy of no less than five generations of Tohsaka magi (and through his mother, of the Edelfelt Clan as well).

Prana glowed and Tokiomi screamed with despair and loss, eyes bulging from his sockets as his arm was reduced to ash. For a moment, the circuits of the Tohsaka Crest glowed bright as they bathed in the prana of the Einzbern homunculi, and then they too were gone, burned to ash. Ash that was then scattered to the wind with a gesture from the homunculi, ensuring that there was absolutely no way for the crest to be recovered, much less repaired.

"Justice is done." Gunther said, and as Tokiomi collapsed, weeping in despair, Black and White smiled.

"Yes," she said, staring down at a catatonic Aoi, mystic eyes glowing. "Justice is done indeed."

A/N

Hmm…you hear that? That is the sound of Tohsaka's pride being turned to ash, and the shade of a little girl sold like a piece of meat and left to die in torment by her own family no less finally able to rest in peace.

And no, there will be no 'Tokiomi didn't know about the worms' apologist bullshit here, because according to the Urobutcher himself, even if he'd known about the worms, he would still have sold Sakura to Zouken (spits).