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flightworks2010-04-24 12:37 pm
feral-phoenix.livejournal.com) wrote in flightworks2010-04-24 12:37 pm
Entry tags:
[Fate/ninth heaven] Forgotten Wings; Sunlight [route I, day 5]
Masterlist and readme are here.
Sunlight
—This is a story.
This is an old story from days when the world was much younger than it is now.
The scarlet knight overlooks the battlefield, spear in hand.
The corpses of his enemies lie before him, and his will is true. The battle ends as soon as he arrives, and this is something that both sides are well aware of.
Yet, the scarlet knight overlooks the battlefield with empty eyes.
—What is it?
It’s a magnificent image of a victorious hero, and yet it seems so hollow and empty that I feel like screaming out.
Fighting comes to him as naturally as breathing, and yet even I can tell that this is not where he belongs.
—Where did it go wrong?
When did his life become a trap too cruel for him to escape?
Sometimes it surely seemed as though he was simply born into the trap, but even so, there must have been a point where he could have said no to it all.
However, he never refused.
He always continues to look straight ahead, wherever duty points him, and he willingly walks into situations that are dangerous and self-destructive.
“Because this is why I was born—”
He tells himself this.
I can see it on his face.
I could see it on his face before his eyes lost sight of anything but battle and duty.
He marches simply,
magnificently,
down the road to his own destruction.
I cannot yet see the end of the story, but I am certain that this is how it will end.
The scholar who became a hero because it is what he was told to do—will continue walking down this path, striking enemies down, until he arrives at a dead end and loses everything.
Because looking from side to side for an obvious escape would be to betray his duty.
—I want to scream.
I want to scream that this is enough, already.
Why hasn’t anyone told him that this is enough, that he’s done enough already?
He’s simply one soldier out of many, one hero in an army of heroes.
There will always be replacements, so why—?
He needs to be told.
He needs someone to say to him that he’s done well and can rest.
He’s been waiting all his life for those words, and pursues his duty in a vague hope that someone will give them to him at last—
…
……
………
……………I wake up.
I wake up, and head to the bathroom to wash my face and get my dream out of my head.
…It’s too painful to keep dreaming about someone that stupid.
I can’t really remember the face of the hero, but I want to hit him for being that stupid, and say that it wasn’t for nothing and people appreciated him, damn it.
So it hurts that no one is there to do so, even in a dream that I’m having.
I head for the kitchen, where I can already hear sounds of food being cooked. It’s late again.
…I’m a little worried that these late awakenings are going to become a habit, but there’s not much I can do about it now.
“Good morning, Rose, Lancer.”
“G’morning.”
Rose is in the kitchen already, and I can smell things frying. It seems as if she’s preparing a luxurious breakfast for us, as we’ll be heading out to fight today.
Lancer is sitting at the table, holding an open book.
…Come to think of it, there’s a lot of books piled up on the table. Won’t we have to move these when it’s time to put the food out anyway?
“Hey, Rose, what’s all this for?”
“Research materials. I went to the library early, and took some books out on legendary weapons—there weren’t any on Aventheim, but I got some with Aventheim in them just in case.”
I nod and take my seat.
“So are we going to spend today doing research then?”
“Mostly—but by now you and I have recovered enough that we should be able to patrol the city and look for other Masters, so we’re going to do that after breakfast.”
…Certainly, that’s something we need to do.
Even though we’ve already seen a number of our opponents, we don’t even know where any of them are located, or if they have any advantageous bases.
“Still, it’s hard to imagine that any other magi would just walk around in the middle of the day without concealing their prana signatures. Rose, wouldn’t it be better to go at night?”
“Maybe if we were looking for a fight, but right now we just want to know people’s locations, if we can find them. Besides—hey Lancer, do you want to see the rest of town? You might pick things up that we wouldn’t.”
The gold-haired knight looks up from his book and considers us.
“…Perhaps. In any case, I will follow my Master’s orders.”
“I don’t have any plan, so I guess we’ll just do what Rose says for now.”
…Trying to gain information is as good a strategy as anything else, I suppose.
And even though it might get us nowhere, it’s going to feel better than just sitting around and waiting for the enemy to arrive at our door.
After breakfast is finished and the dishes are washed, we set out.
Instead of crossing into Shinto, Rose says that we should explore Miyama for now, and so we head towards the mountain path.
The Ryudou Temple is this way, and according to Rose, this is where the Holy Grail appeared in the last war. If nothing else, perhaps one or more of our enemies will have gotten curious and decided to investigate the same way we are.
…We can’t get too close as we might bother the monks in the temple and besides that there’s a boundary field against intruders, and even though I want to know more about the lake where the Holy Grail appeared, searching for that would take too much time. Maybe after the war is over, we’ll be able to do that.
“This was a good location for a final battle.”
Shielding her eyes from the sun, Rose says so as she looks around.
“Why is that?”
“…Master.”
I hear Lancer’s voice from behind me and look, but he isn’t materialized right now, so I don’t see anything.
“You are slightly more insensitive to mana in the air than most, but if you concentrate your senses you should be able to feel it.”
…?
I close my eyes to block everything else out, and try to extend my senses.
…There’s something strange about the air of this place.
It’s almost as though the mana is more active…, or more concentrated.
“That’s really weird. What is it?”
When I open my eyes, Rose has turned back to look at me with pleased surprise.
“Oh, so you could feel it then?”
She nods.
“There’s a ley line in this area. You remember studying those, right?”
“Something like… a concentrated vein of magical energy that occurs naturally in the earth, right?”
Rose nods again, smiling now.
“Yep. Apparently that’s why the monks set the temple up here in ancient days, although I don’t think the ones today can still use it.”
…Certainly something like that would be useful in manifesting the Holy Grail, and those who could call upon the ley line would say it’s a good place to do battle.
But it still seems a little too close to civilians to really be the site of any major struggle.
…Suddenly there’s a tug from the vague connection between myself and Lancer.
The air shimmers, and Lancer is visible where he stands slightly behind us.
He is staring into the trees with an intensity that makes me feel cold.
“…Master. Do you not sense it?”
As he says those words, there’s a sting of pain in my Command Spell.
“Ow!”
Rose looks at us like being left out is irritating her.
…And then she also turns toward the trees.
“…That prana signature, don’t tell me…”
…That’s when I feel it.
This power,
it can’t even—
…be called “human”—
“We’ve got to go.”
Rose says so with a terrifying expression.
“If we don’t go to them, they might come to us, and we’re right on the middle of the path. People are going to see us.”
Lancer turns towards me.
His eyes are telling me that he’s going to wait for my order.
Steadfastly.
Not even questioning the immenseness of that prana.
Or whether he’ll survive if I tell him to go against it.
…There’s something,
…about this,
that…
“Ein, come on!”
Rose is glaring at me, and I snap back to reality.
…I reach for the branch of a nearby tree and hold it before me like a sword.
There’s no time to spare. I open my Magic Circuit, steady my breathing, and focus as hard as I can.
—The principle of strengthening an object relies on adding to an object that’s already complete as it is. It doesn’t have to be said that this kind of magic directly defies logic.
Therefore, it’s considered useless by many magi, who don’t even need to strengthen items to gain the power to attack.
But for me…,
…this is all I can do!
…The reinforcement, is complete.
I lower the branch that has become my sword.
“Lancer, Rose, let’s go.”
The intenseness of this magic that even I can feel is almost like a heartbeat.
Being in its aura is like being impossibly close to some immense living thing.
…The aura lacks the sternness of Hector-sama’s, but the prana I feel is still incredibly dense, and within this aura is the unmistakable boundless energy that can only belong to a Servant.
We walk through the trees.
Rose has lit up her Magic Crest, and I hold on to my sword tightly.
Lancer has not yet called his Noble Phantasm, but I can feel his own killing intent, a deadly sharp beacon piercing through the aura we’re enveloped in.
—We emerge through the trees into a clearing.
…I say it’s a clearing, but it’s still so covered in the branches of the trees above that we’re still all just barely dappled with light.
Standing in the small patch of sunlight are two figures.
The one in front is a man dressed in black, with long red hair like fire. …He’s tall and imposing, much larger than Lancer.
…The one in back is a slight, pale figure all in white, with empty-looking green eyes.
With them standing like that, it’s hard to tell which of them is the Servant.
Both of them have an aura so immense that to someone like me, it’s like they’re blurring together.
…The one in white takes a small step forward.
With an elegant gesture, the free hand holds out the folds of those skirts to the side, and with a small smile, the figure bends in something like a curtsy.
…There’s no red on either of the exposed arms; this can only be the Servant, then.
Probably Caster, judging from the book the Servant is carrying.
“Thank you for coming up to meet us.”
…He’s smiling at us warmly as he says so in a soft voice.
“It would have been a bother to fight you in the open or chase you if you ran away.
“We’re a little busy as it is, so I’d like to get this over with quickly, if possible. I will not concede the Holy Grail to you—it belongs to me.”
His smile grows as he looks up at the man beside him.
“…Or rather, to us.”
Rose makes a scolding sound from next to me.
“You talk awfully big, don’t you?”
…A soft laugh.
Maybe it would be more appropriate to say it’s a giggle.
But in either case, it makes the hair on my arms stand up, and I clutch the branch-sword in my hand until the bark hurts my palm.
“Oh, my. And I take this to mean you two are suggesting that children of magi such as yourselves—barely out of your cradles, at that—will be able to give me sleep?”
“It’ll probably be easier for them to understand if we show them.”
The red-haired man speaks for the first time.
“Small fries like this just won’t accept their place until they’re taught.”
“…Very well. Whichever one of you two is the Master—shall we do battle, then?”
The man in white asks this with an air of indifference.
“—Fine. Lancer?”
…Lancer steps forward, presenting us with his back. His spear is in his hand.
“Stand back, Master. I shall handle this.”
The man in white spreads both arms, and the book he was carrying floats in front of him, its pages fanning out. I can see something red glowing from beneath the front of that dress.
…And the air around the man in black seems to shimmer. I only blink once, but after that, the modern clothes he was wearing are replaced by heavy red armor.
There’s what looks like…, a scythe in his hand.
……A scythe?
Wait a moment.
The three Servants we haven’t yet encountered are Assassin, Caster, and Berserker.
…But there’s no way this man is a magus,
Assassin is supposed to be a Servant weak in direct combat,
and this Servant is clearly sane.
Lancer seems to be thinking the same thing as me, as he is eyeing his opponent suspiciously.
“Just what manner of Servant are you?”
“—Huh. How pathetic can you be, if you can’t even tell that much?
“Still, I can tell you’re Lancer easily enough, and it’s a bit rude to go into battle knowing what you are when you have no idea. You want to tell them?”
The smiling magus tilts his head to the side and touches a white finger to his lips.
“—Very well.
“This is my Berserker.”
“—You cheaters!”
Rose stabs a finger at them like a prosecutor in court.
“How exactly is that thing a Berserker! He’s standing there talking as sanely as anybody!”
…The smile falls from the enemy magus’ face.
“Why, how rude. We most certainly are not cheating; Berserker was properly summoned into his class with the same boundaries as any Servant. Mad Enhancement is just inactive right now.”
—Mad Enhancement.
Berserker is a dangerous, double-edged Servant class to control.
It’s usually a class used to reinforce a weak hero, as the hero’s sanity is exchanged for an increase in all their parameters, but that loss of sanity makes Berserker incredibly taxing to control.
I’ve heard from Rose that in the first four Grail Wars, the Masters who summoned Berserker couldn’t stand the strain and died from the immense prana cost, and it took an exceptionally skilled Master in the fifth Grail War to stop that from happening.
Still, the entire point of a Berserker is to make them impossibly powerful using Mad Enhancement, so why go to all the trouble of summoning one and then not even activate it in the first place—?!
“—You really are amateurs.”
Berserker walks towards us calmly as he speaks, red hair fluttering in the wind.
“It’s useless to judge Servants just by the abilities of the classes. We’re legendary heroes from any era and story you can imagine—we have our differences, unique strengths and weaknesses. In my case—”
There is a flash of light, and then the crescent of the scythe is straining against Lancer’s Lorelei—
“—Mad Enhancement is one of my natural attributes, and my Master and I can control it at will—!”
For a moment Lancer seems to sink beneath the blow, and then Lorelei sweeps up in a red crescent.
“Ein.”
Next to me, Rose is looking at me steadily.
“Just believe in your Servant. They’re strong, but you should know better than anyone how powerful Lancer is.”
And just as she says, before my eyes, the battle that seemed like it would be so one-sided is evening out.
Lancer is advancing with steady strikes, wheeling around Berserker as Berserker pivots in place, fending off Lancer’s attacks with his scythe—!
Berserker is wearing a cold smile as the two of them face off, and Lancer continues to press forward with an intense face.
The feeling from before—that feeling like being next to something immense and alive begins to strengthen.
This aura like a monster’s heartbeat, seems to be focused on Berserker.
…It’s not easy to put in words, but there’s something uneasy about this aura. Something more than you would expect from a mad warrior.
……No, I can feel the looming presence of something very dangerous, and maybe very evil.
…Fire spins through the air along the blade of Berserker’s scythe.
He hasn’t spoken its name yet, so he’s not using his Noble Phantasm at full strength, but just looking at that fire makes me feel ill.
Lancer spins Lorelei masterfully in his hands and pure red fire seems to block off the flames that Berserker’s weapon casts off.
Like complete opposites, the two fires disappear wherever they touch.
…Opposites?
I see.
This means that Berserker’s weapon—no, maybe Berserker himself…, is demonic in nature.
If that’s the case, then this is a battle between natural enemies.
It feels strange that something demonic—not just carrying a demonic weapon like Nana’s Rider—has been summoned as a Heroic Spirit, but that should make it easier to guess Berserker’s identity, shouldn’t it?
…That’s right.
As Lancer’s Master, I have a duty to keep thinking at times like these, and try to find an advantage for my Servant to break through—!
…It sounds familiar.
A demonic hero.
A demonic hero in red, wielding a scythe.
Damn, but Berserker and Lancer are already moving too quickly, and I can’t take a good look. I should have thought about this more while I had the chance—
…Even so, I’m sure there was some kind of coat of arms on Berserker’s armor.
What was it?
…Some kind of black animal…
……Black…, and red.
A scythe being wielded by a demon.
Fire.
I should know this.
I know I should know this.
—So why can’t I call up the name that’s on the tip of my tongue—?!
Then.
Soft…, and yet somehow condescending,
that laughter again.
“—Oh, dear. You certainly are amateurs, aren’t you?”
Berserker’s Master looks down at us with a malicious smile.
“You’ll die if you’re not more aware of your surroundings.”
Suddenly.
Prana swells up in the air like a whirlwind.
It tugs at my clothes and Rose’s skirt, and sends Lancer’s clothes billowing. Berserker’s hair flutters like the flames of their battle.
Berserker’s Master, standing on his toes with arms outstretched, laughs down at us with his white dress tossed about his form.
Like a girl’s doll,
or a child dressed up as a ghost,
or a half-shrouded corpse.
He giggles like a little boy about to pull a prank.
The air—, inverts.
The sunlight seems to disappear as the sky darkens.
And all across the body of Berserker’s Master—,
…red marks.
Twisted glyphs are carved all across his body,
under his skin,
almost like a summoning circle—or perhaps a command circle,
but that’s insane, that’s definitely insane, and it’s so complicated that I can’t make most of it out, and damn, all of this should be beyond Rose’s level too—and the cost of having something like that written on your body, it could drive you insane, it wouldn’t feel like your body anymore to the point you would want to cut it all off…!
But they’re there,
glowing and pulsing like the heartbeat around Berserker,
with brighter marks over his chest in what must be the real Command Spell.
Gently,
Berserker’s Master smiles.
“—You’re still children, after all.
“I regret it a bit, but it can’t be helped; this is war. Still, it’s the least I can do. I’ll stop your hearts so swiftly, you won’t feel it in the least. It may look a little violent, but there’s nothing to fear, truly. I hope your sleep will be a pleasant one—”
That giggle, again.
As if he can’t help himself.
It feels cold all over, like I’m freezing.
Berserker’s Master points at us and moves his finger through the air, leaving bright letters in a language that I can’t read burned in gold.
As he writes, he speaks them, and the sound hurts my head.
We can’t stay here.
That much I know.
I’ll die if I stay here.
No matter how skilled Rose is, she’ll die too.
There’s only one thing we can do.
I grab Rose’s wrist and start to run.
“Ein—?!”
With my sword held to my side,
pulling Rose with me,
I run for Berserker’s Master with all my strength—!!
The sky cracks open.
There’s a blinding flash as the sky cracks open, and the ground rumbles.
I can smell metal.
I think lightning just hit the ground where we were.
We would be dead if we hadn’t moved.
Berserker’s Master is making a frustrated face.
—Oh.
He’s looking like I cheated him out of something entertaining.
…Damn it, a demon like Berserker is suited for a creepy guy like this.
I ready my sword.
Rose is running on her own now, even though we’re still holding each other’s hands tightly, and I can vaguely sense that she’s gathering prana.
…That’s right.
If we’re going to have any chance against someone this insanely powerful,
we’re going to have to be the ones to get in close and strike…!
I swing my sword.
Next to me, Rose fires off a burst of solid energy.
—There’s a crash.
“Nessiah!”
From behind us, Berserker shouts in a worried voice.
I blink, and the smoke from Rose’s attack clears.
The end of my reinforced branch is bent over like a steel pipe, and Berserker’s Master is holding up both hands.
There’s a thin barrier between us, like the skin of a bubble.
“—I’m all right, Berserker. Don’t worry about me—you need to focus on Lancer right now.”
Berserker’s Master—Nessiah spares a glance for his Servant, then continues to watch us.
He isn’t smiling now.
Instead, he’s considering us as though we’re really his enemies.
…Um.
I look to Rose.
If my sword can’t do anything against this barrier, then she’s our last real defense against anything else that this Nessiah is going to do to us.
Rose lights up her Magic Crest again without a word.
“—It seems I owe you an apology.
“It’s true that you’re children, but it appears you actually have some competence. I underestimated you, and for that, I’m sorry.”
He hesitates.
His expression is very intense, and somehow he seems very severe.
“…For this, as well… I should most likely apologize. But I won’t. It’s a battle, not a slaughter, if you’re at the level where you can defend yourselves somewhat.
“And I cannot lose this war.”
Nessiah raises his hand.
…Oh.
Rose isn’t going to make it.
Lancer…, is still fighting Berserker.
The speed of the strikes behind us increases as though he’s trying to make it through.
But he won’t make it either.
And I…,
…Should I use my Command Spell?
It’s only our second battle, but we’re in danger of our lives again.
Still,
…Once I use this up, there won’t be any more.
It’s the end of me as a Master.
…I,
hesitate.
At that moment,
light rains down from above.
I know this attack.
It’s—
“Are you guys alright?!”
A shout from the edge of the clearing behind us.
I risk a glance over my shoulder.
…Archer is standing on the branches of a stout old tree, his bow at the ready with an arrow aimed just past us, at Nessiah.
I don’t see Vienya, but she’s probably somewhere nearby.
“You don’t have to move at all—I can hit him just fine from here.”
Archer says so with confidence, and points his arrow towards the sky, releasing it.
There’s a fizzling sound from behind me.
I turn back around.
Nessiah has shifted his barrier upwards, and is cringing back with his arms shielding his face and chest as Archer’s arrows slowly tear it apart.
—This is it.
It bothers me a little bit to do this, but like Nessiah himself said, there’s no helping that this is a war, and anyway, I don’t think I have enough force to actually kill someone.
I lunge forward and swing my bent sword…!
The shock from it hitting hurts my shoulders.
Nessiah falls hard with a sound like he’s choking, sprawled on the ground.
I move to follow it up, but he rolls onto his side and gestures through the air.
Something hits me hard, and I stagger back.
…It’s that book.
He pulled it through the air somehow and used it to repel me—
Damn, that was stupid.
I shouldn’t have thought that because of his looks, he wouldn’t be able to hit me from there…
…I fall.
Or, I would have fallen.
Rose supports me at the last second.
“—, …”
Nessiah is running.
But Archer’s arrows aren’t falling far behind him.
Come on, just a little more—
“Nessiah…!!”
The clanging noises from Lancer and Berserker’s battle speed up.
This time, it’s Berserker struggling to get past Lancer, but Lancer isn’t going to let him by so easily, and spins Lorelei hard to block Berserker from getting anywhere.
Berserker keeps fighting with a desperate look on his face, swinging his scythe this way and that, but he’s not moving as fluidly now.
Suddenly.
The sky darkens further, and the air explodes near Archer’s tree, halting his fire.
…Oh. It seems as though Nessiah is gathering himself to counterattack.
And with his insane levels of prana,
maybe he could actually hold off a Servant for real, too—
Then.
I hear running footsteps,
and with a great crash,
Saber arrives in the clearing, just like two days ago.
The girl in white stops short when she sees the battle.
Her blue eyes are wide, and her golden hair flutters around her.
“Lancer!”
She calls in a commanding voice.
“Stand aside.”
Everyone comes to a stop.
Lancer is staring at Saber like he’s not sure what to expect of her,
Archer is doing the same, from what I can see,
and Saber herself looks extremely grave.
Berserker is staring at Saber with a ferocity that truly makes him seem like a demon.
…He smiles dangerously.
“Well.
“I never thought I’d get the chance to meet you again like this, Princess.”
Saber inclines her head.
She does not falter, but only replies in a calm voice.
“Indeed. It seems that fate has determined that we must continue to cross blades. …You seem to have a fine Master, but you mustn’t expect the outcome to be any different from last time.”
Berserker narrows his eyes.
It looks more like a snarl than a sneer.
“We’ll see about that.”
…Like two links of a chain connecting.
Suddenly I understand everything.
Oh…, so this must be…
“Stand aside, Lancer!”
Saber raises her sword.
“Stand aside—this is my battle. If you try to hinder me in fighting this man, I won’t hesitate to strike you down as well.”
…I feel a chill.
She’s serious.
I don’t have to give Lancer any order, though.
The scarlet knight bows his head.
“If that is what you wish. The battlefield belongs to the two of you.”
And the angel returns to my side.
…The clearing erupts.
In actuality, their battle is very contained.
Outside the range of their weapons, no extra energy is spent.
Still, the intensity of their will to see each other dead is enough to make me feel like the scythe’s crescent is pressed to my throat and the point of the sword at my back.
“You’re not going to use your Noble Phantasm?”
The girl’s voice rings high and clear over the maelstrom of their weapons.
“You’re not using yours.”
Berserker says so with a smile.
Somehow, in the midst of all the fighting,
light—Archer’s arrows—starts to rain again, and the air begins to crackle with Nessiah’s lightning spells.
“Master.”
Lancer speaks to me softly, so that only we can hear.
“What is your command?”
“—Ein.”
Rose holds my arm.
“You know what we have to do.”
I feel sick.
I feel sick, but I take a breath and nod.
The path of a magus is a path stained in blood.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
…But, we have to consider what will happen if I don’t.
“—Lancer.”
…I can’t, say it.
Rose sighs.
“Lancer. He won’t give the order, so will you listen to me?
“Go after Nessiah. He can’t handle you and Archer at once.”
The knight bows his head,
and takes off.
Rose squeezes my arm.
It doesn’t feel like a reprimand, but I still feel terrible.
I should be able to do this much.
I should, but I can’t.
…On both sides…, it feels as though I’m in the wrong.
There’s a flash of red,
…and a scream.
“Berserker—…!”
The air cracks.
Lancer’s Lorelei and Archer’s attacks hit nothing.
“Wha—”
Saber’s cry draws my attention, and I turn to see that she’s swung herself off-balance, staggering and trying to compensate for the fact that her blow fell on empty air.
In the sky,
on the level of the treetops,
Berserker is suspended in mid-leap.
The scarlet hair is stretched above him in an arc.
He’s abandoned everything, even his armor and Noble Phantasm, and is dressed like an ordinary young man again.
His eyes are telling Saber that this isn’t over.
His eyes are telling Saber that their battle will have an answer.
But right now, he’s holding his Master in his arms.
Nessiah is cradled to his chest like the most important thing in the world, and Nessiah is holding on to his Servant tightly.
…I see.
So Nessiah must have used a Command Spell to have Berserker save him.
Berserker is holding him with incredible care, so it seems that Berserker wasn’t against the order, but he shouldn’t have been able to make it.
…Rose told me that a Command Spell can be used to defy the laws of the universe itself if used for one single short-term order.
This was probably the only way that Nessiah could have survived.
The moment that the two of them hang in free-fall seems to go on forever, but it’s actually over very quickly.
Nessiah makes another gesture and says something else that hurts my head, and the two seem to vanish before they even touch the ground.
Lancer turns back towards me.
He seems to be asking me what he should do.
“Archer.”
Saber calls out.
“Go ahead back to Roswell and Vienya, and tell them that I’m going after Berserker. I can’t just leave them, and even if I can’t catch them, I might be able to find out where they’re hiding.”
Before she gets an answer, she runs off into the shadowed space between the trees.
Archer nods to the air and disappears.
Slowly, I exhale.
…We managed to escape death again thanks to those two.
“Let’s go home, Lancer.”
Rose nods, suddenly looking tired.
“Yeah, we made a lot of noise anyway. We don’t want to be here in case people decide to come have a look.”
…
……
………
We return home.
Amazingly, we return home before the sun has set, and the sky is still only dyed red.
I double-check the locks and the boundary field, and take off my shoes.
Rose and Lancer have already gone ahead, and when I enter the living room, Lancer is sitting at the table while Rose is in the kitchen, getting out ingredients.
…Come to think of it, we probably should eat something now that we’ve had to fight.
This is a war after all, and we need to keep our strength up.
“What a disaster.”
Rose says so with a sigh.
“We wound up finding another Master after all, but that Nessiah isn’t one to sit back and let his Servant do everything for him… even if Lancer hadn’t had any trouble with Berserker, we would’ve been finished if Saber and Archer hadn’t showed up.”
Lancer is silent, and I don’t have anything to add either.
It’s obvious that the Master of Berserker completely outmatched the both of us.
And even surrounded by three enemy Servants, which would be absolute death for anyone else, they still found an opening and escaped.
—A powerful Servant and a top-class Master.
We’ll be in trouble if we come up against them as we are now.
…However.
I pick up one of the books that are still stacked next to the table.
It’s a book concerning the legends of an incredibly ancient country, close to the age of gods, and it should have everything I need.
I flip through the book quickly but carefully and examine the diagrams.
Just as I thought.
“—You’re wrong, Rose. We found out something important today.”
I close the book with a snap as Rose turns to stare at me.
Lancer is also watching me intently.
“I didn’t really have any idea before, but Berserker was just too obvious. It was the way that you fought him that gave it away, Lancer.”
I explain about the fire and my theory that Berserker’s abilities are demonic.
Really, this is the last confirmation I have to wait for.
“Certainly, Berserker’s abilities seemed to have a demonic origin.”
Lancer says so assuredly.
I nod with relief.
“Then, I’m sure.
“I’ve found out Saber and Berserker’s identities.”
Rose stares at me with an impressed face.
“—I said before you were an expert on heroes, but I didn’t think you’d be able to figure something like that out so easily. Well, don’t leave us in suspense, who are they?”
In order to explain, I open up the book.
That land became known as Ancardia after it became peaceful, but before then there were a lot of wars fought there, so there were many heroes.
The last war in what people call the Thousand Years of Strife was fought between the kingdom at the center of the continent, and the empire to the north.
It was a complicated battle and a lot of things happened, but the two leaders of the countries are still known today.
“Look here. Saber’s sword matches most of the records, so I’m sure. The physical descriptions fit, too.
“Saber must be the Queen of that era, Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz.
“—Berserker is her rival from the legend, Gulcasa the Blazing Emperor.”
It was another story I liked as a child.
Well, personally, I preferred the stories about Ragnarok, and this one went over my head the first time I ever heard it, but the more I learned about it, the more it made me think.
It was a story of two heroes who continually fought until one of them fell.
If you looked at things from one country’s side, the opposing hero was the villain, but both of them were brave and noble.
—On one side, a man whose birth itself was a miracle.
He rose up and saved his country from oppression, and was loved by everyone around him. In order to protect his happiness and the happiness of his people, he didn’t lay down his weapon, and marched forward to conquer the rest of the world.
He decided that he would become the strongest and use that power to save his people, no matter how bloodstained his own hands became.
—On the other side, the princess of a country conquered by the man.
She lost everything except her own sense of justice, and carrying her family’s holy sword, she raised an army so that she would be able to rescue her people from the hands of the enemy and avenge the deaths of her parents.
Against all the odds, she was able to push the man’s army back.
…The fighting went on for a long time, but in the end the princess became queen, and crushed the empire completely.
At that time, the legends say that she no longer desired war and understood that there was no difference between the two of them.
Still, both of them were determined to see their people safe from every threat, including each other, and so their course was set.
Neither could resume a peaceful life while the other was alive.
…To be honest, the story always made me kind of mad because it wasn’t fair.
Even in a story, two good people couldn’t manage to reconcile what few differences they had and live peacefully.
Well, that’s the case.
The important thing is that if we know who Saber and Berserker were in life, we might be able to know how to fight them.
“So? It sounds like you know what to expect from them, so tell us about it.”
Rose folds her arms and nods at me, and Lancer watches me intently.
“—Saber is human, but her sword… her Noble Phantasm is what made her an invincible warrior in the story.
“Like the legend says, it’s a holy sword that’s supposed to have been forged and given to her family by angels. Lancer himself said that it’s really powerful, and even I can tell that it’s strong. She was able to hold off the Riders and compete with Berserker at full strength, so she’s definitely not going to be an easy Servant to face.
“And Berserker really is a demon like we thought.
“His ancestors were humans that made a contract and received the blood of a demon god, so Berserker has the strength and powers of one. According to the legend, he was more demon than human when he died, and he was the first person in a long time to have full demon blood where he came from.
“On top of that, he’s strong enough that he was able to fight off Lancer, and Lancer is a full Grim Angel. Berserker is like Lancer’s natural enemy. I don’t know how things will change if the two of them bring their Noble Phantasms into the equation, but then there’s the fact that Berserker’s Master could activate Mad Enhancement at any time… it’s a problem no matter how you look at it.”
Rose nods.
“Still, at least now we can take a better look at the books and find out the properties of Saber’s holy sword. If we wind up having to fight her, it’s going to be important to know what to expect.”
…The rest of the day goes by like that.
Lancer looks over the books while I reminisce about the legend, and Rose makes dinner.
It’s a hearty dinner with a lot of meat over rice.
At first I doubt that I can finish it, but it seems I’m hungrier than I thought as I’m able to eat everything in my bowl.
…Lancer uses Western utensils again, and eats very quietly.
It seems that his usual serious demeanor won’t be shaken by such a thing as a meal.
“By the way, Ein.”
Unfortunately, there’s none of that from the devil in black, as usual, who sees no issue with teasing me over the food.
“You said we learned something important today, but you skipped over the most obvious thing, didn’t you?”
…Man, I’m not sure I want to hear this over my food.
“About Saber and Archer. You’ve realized it, haven’t you?”
She sets her chopsticks down with an unmistakable air of smugness.
“Their Masters have to be cooperating. That’s the only real explanation for the way that they keep showing up together like that.”
“Hold on a moment, you mean Masters can cooperate in the war?”
“Well, of course.”
Rose nods as if it’s only to be expected.
“It’s easy for two people to decide that they’ll deal with each other after they’ve cleared out the more dangerous opponents first. They’ve made a temporary alliance, and it’s easy to see why, what with cheaters like the Riders running around.”
…Come to think of it, we did talk about how the Riders would be impossible to deal with unless you had more than one Servant, and it would also be easier to deal with the enemy if you applied that same advantage to your own battles.
“Huh, I never thought about that before, but you’re probably right.”
“Aren’t I? The only problem is what’s going to happen if we wind up having to deal with them while they’re allies.”
Rose complains with a sour expression now that she’s no longer teasing me.
…I also hope that we won’t have to fight Saber and Archer.
In addition to them having the advantage of numbers, it’ll probably be hardest to deal with people like them who act on fair play in a war like this.
…The day ends uneventfully.
After dinner, I run the bath and get clean, then leave the water for Rose to use, and Lancer if he wants it.
I change into my night clothes and head to my room so that I can meditate and get to sleep.
As I stand in the doorframe,
“Master.”
I hear Lancer call out to me.
…I turn around.
The scarlet knight is standing in the hallway, watching me.
…It’s a very strange feeling.
No matter how you look at it, Lancer in his red cloak and dark priest’s clothes just doesn’t fit into a modern setting like this, and the way that he ignores his surroundings makes him stand out even more.
And beyond that, simply the fact that he’s concentrating on me so strongly is almost uncomfortable.
…What is this feeling?
It’s the same kind of wonder that overtook me when Lancer was first summoned.
That kind of awe that I doubt I’ll ever be able to properly describe—
“Anyway, what did you need, Lancer?”
Lancer turns slightly and looks at me appraisingly.
His dark eyes are silent and hold their secrets. I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
“Earlier today, you took the initiative well.
“…Master, you have reflexes and the intuition suitable for battle. Rather than fighting from the back like a true magus, it would do you well to learn more about combat and pursue the path of the warrior.”
“Lancer…?”
…I don’t know what to say.
First of all, hearing from my own Servant that I’m not suited for magic is a little deflating, but there’s also the fact that one of my own childhood heroes has told me that I have the potential to do what he does.
……I don’t know what to say.
“—However.”
Lancer’s posture is stern.
The tone of his voice is even and he looks more like a marble statue in this moment than a young man close to my age.
“Hesitation like that is unacceptable, should you pursue that path. Should you continue your studies as a magus. On the battlefield, there is only those who are weak and those who are strong. The weak perish, and the strong survive. If you see an opening you must pursue it ruthlessly, no matter who your opponent may be.
“—Regardless of your own ideals. Sparing the enemy is naïveté, Master.”
Lancer nods to me once.
A display of deference that doesn’t fit with the harshness of his own words.
…Before I can say anything or even attempt to defend myself,
the scarlet knight disappears into the room beside mine.
—This is a story.
This is an old story from days when the world was much younger than it is now.
The scarlet knight overlooks the battlefield, spear in hand.
The corpses of his enemies lie before him, and his will is true. The battle ends as soon as he arrives, and this is something that both sides are well aware of.
Yet, the scarlet knight overlooks the battlefield with empty eyes.
—What is it?
It’s a magnificent image of a victorious hero, and yet it seems so hollow and empty that I feel like screaming out.
Fighting comes to him as naturally as breathing, and yet even I can tell that this is not where he belongs.
—Where did it go wrong?
When did his life become a trap too cruel for him to escape?
Sometimes it surely seemed as though he was simply born into the trap, but even so, there must have been a point where he could have said no to it all.
However, he never refused.
He always continues to look straight ahead, wherever duty points him, and he willingly walks into situations that are dangerous and self-destructive.
“Because this is why I was born—”
He tells himself this.
I can see it on his face.
I could see it on his face before his eyes lost sight of anything but battle and duty.
He marches simply,
magnificently,
down the road to his own destruction.
I cannot yet see the end of the story, but I am certain that this is how it will end.
The scholar who became a hero because it is what he was told to do—will continue walking down this path, striking enemies down, until he arrives at a dead end and loses everything.
Because looking from side to side for an obvious escape would be to betray his duty.
—I want to scream.
I want to scream that this is enough, already.
Why hasn’t anyone told him that this is enough, that he’s done enough already?
He’s simply one soldier out of many, one hero in an army of heroes.
There will always be replacements, so why—?
He needs to be told.
He needs someone to say to him that he’s done well and can rest.
He’s been waiting all his life for those words, and pursues his duty in a vague hope that someone will give them to him at last—
…
……
………
……………I wake up.
I wake up, and head to the bathroom to wash my face and get my dream out of my head.
…It’s too painful to keep dreaming about someone that stupid.
I can’t really remember the face of the hero, but I want to hit him for being that stupid, and say that it wasn’t for nothing and people appreciated him, damn it.
So it hurts that no one is there to do so, even in a dream that I’m having.
I head for the kitchen, where I can already hear sounds of food being cooked. It’s late again.
…I’m a little worried that these late awakenings are going to become a habit, but there’s not much I can do about it now.
“Good morning, Rose, Lancer.”
“G’morning.”
Rose is in the kitchen already, and I can smell things frying. It seems as if she’s preparing a luxurious breakfast for us, as we’ll be heading out to fight today.
Lancer is sitting at the table, holding an open book.
…Come to think of it, there’s a lot of books piled up on the table. Won’t we have to move these when it’s time to put the food out anyway?
“Hey, Rose, what’s all this for?”
“Research materials. I went to the library early, and took some books out on legendary weapons—there weren’t any on Aventheim, but I got some with Aventheim in them just in case.”
I nod and take my seat.
“So are we going to spend today doing research then?”
“Mostly—but by now you and I have recovered enough that we should be able to patrol the city and look for other Masters, so we’re going to do that after breakfast.”
…Certainly, that’s something we need to do.
Even though we’ve already seen a number of our opponents, we don’t even know where any of them are located, or if they have any advantageous bases.
“Still, it’s hard to imagine that any other magi would just walk around in the middle of the day without concealing their prana signatures. Rose, wouldn’t it be better to go at night?”
“Maybe if we were looking for a fight, but right now we just want to know people’s locations, if we can find them. Besides—hey Lancer, do you want to see the rest of town? You might pick things up that we wouldn’t.”
The gold-haired knight looks up from his book and considers us.
“…Perhaps. In any case, I will follow my Master’s orders.”
“I don’t have any plan, so I guess we’ll just do what Rose says for now.”
…Trying to gain information is as good a strategy as anything else, I suppose.
And even though it might get us nowhere, it’s going to feel better than just sitting around and waiting for the enemy to arrive at our door.
After breakfast is finished and the dishes are washed, we set out.
Instead of crossing into Shinto, Rose says that we should explore Miyama for now, and so we head towards the mountain path.
The Ryudou Temple is this way, and according to Rose, this is where the Holy Grail appeared in the last war. If nothing else, perhaps one or more of our enemies will have gotten curious and decided to investigate the same way we are.
…We can’t get too close as we might bother the monks in the temple and besides that there’s a boundary field against intruders, and even though I want to know more about the lake where the Holy Grail appeared, searching for that would take too much time. Maybe after the war is over, we’ll be able to do that.
“This was a good location for a final battle.”
Shielding her eyes from the sun, Rose says so as she looks around.
“Why is that?”
“…Master.”
I hear Lancer’s voice from behind me and look, but he isn’t materialized right now, so I don’t see anything.
“You are slightly more insensitive to mana in the air than most, but if you concentrate your senses you should be able to feel it.”
…?
I close my eyes to block everything else out, and try to extend my senses.
…There’s something strange about the air of this place.
It’s almost as though the mana is more active…, or more concentrated.
“That’s really weird. What is it?”
When I open my eyes, Rose has turned back to look at me with pleased surprise.
“Oh, so you could feel it then?”
She nods.
“There’s a ley line in this area. You remember studying those, right?”
“Something like… a concentrated vein of magical energy that occurs naturally in the earth, right?”
Rose nods again, smiling now.
“Yep. Apparently that’s why the monks set the temple up here in ancient days, although I don’t think the ones today can still use it.”
…Certainly something like that would be useful in manifesting the Holy Grail, and those who could call upon the ley line would say it’s a good place to do battle.
But it still seems a little too close to civilians to really be the site of any major struggle.
…Suddenly there’s a tug from the vague connection between myself and Lancer.
The air shimmers, and Lancer is visible where he stands slightly behind us.
He is staring into the trees with an intensity that makes me feel cold.
“…Master. Do you not sense it?”
As he says those words, there’s a sting of pain in my Command Spell.
“Ow!”
Rose looks at us like being left out is irritating her.
…And then she also turns toward the trees.
“…That prana signature, don’t tell me…”
…That’s when I feel it.
This power,
it can’t even—
…be called “human”—
“We’ve got to go.”
Rose says so with a terrifying expression.
“If we don’t go to them, they might come to us, and we’re right on the middle of the path. People are going to see us.”
Lancer turns towards me.
His eyes are telling me that he’s going to wait for my order.
Steadfastly.
Not even questioning the immenseness of that prana.
Or whether he’ll survive if I tell him to go against it.
…There’s something,
…about this,
that…
“Ein, come on!”
Rose is glaring at me, and I snap back to reality.
…I reach for the branch of a nearby tree and hold it before me like a sword.
There’s no time to spare. I open my Magic Circuit, steady my breathing, and focus as hard as I can.
—The principle of strengthening an object relies on adding to an object that’s already complete as it is. It doesn’t have to be said that this kind of magic directly defies logic.
Therefore, it’s considered useless by many magi, who don’t even need to strengthen items to gain the power to attack.
But for me…,
…this is all I can do!
…The reinforcement, is complete.
I lower the branch that has become my sword.
“Lancer, Rose, let’s go.”
The intenseness of this magic that even I can feel is almost like a heartbeat.
Being in its aura is like being impossibly close to some immense living thing.
…The aura lacks the sternness of Hector-sama’s, but the prana I feel is still incredibly dense, and within this aura is the unmistakable boundless energy that can only belong to a Servant.
We walk through the trees.
Rose has lit up her Magic Crest, and I hold on to my sword tightly.
Lancer has not yet called his Noble Phantasm, but I can feel his own killing intent, a deadly sharp beacon piercing through the aura we’re enveloped in.
—We emerge through the trees into a clearing.
…I say it’s a clearing, but it’s still so covered in the branches of the trees above that we’re still all just barely dappled with light.
Standing in the small patch of sunlight are two figures.
The one in front is a man dressed in black, with long red hair like fire. …He’s tall and imposing, much larger than Lancer.
…The one in back is a slight, pale figure all in white, with empty-looking green eyes.
With them standing like that, it’s hard to tell which of them is the Servant.
Both of them have an aura so immense that to someone like me, it’s like they’re blurring together.
…The one in white takes a small step forward.
With an elegant gesture, the free hand holds out the folds of those skirts to the side, and with a small smile, the figure bends in something like a curtsy.
…There’s no red on either of the exposed arms; this can only be the Servant, then.
Probably Caster, judging from the book the Servant is carrying.
“Thank you for coming up to meet us.”
…He’s smiling at us warmly as he says so in a soft voice.
“It would have been a bother to fight you in the open or chase you if you ran away.
“We’re a little busy as it is, so I’d like to get this over with quickly, if possible. I will not concede the Holy Grail to you—it belongs to me.”
His smile grows as he looks up at the man beside him.
“…Or rather, to us.”
Rose makes a scolding sound from next to me.
“You talk awfully big, don’t you?”
…A soft laugh.
Maybe it would be more appropriate to say it’s a giggle.
But in either case, it makes the hair on my arms stand up, and I clutch the branch-sword in my hand until the bark hurts my palm.
“Oh, my. And I take this to mean you two are suggesting that children of magi such as yourselves—barely out of your cradles, at that—will be able to give me sleep?”
“It’ll probably be easier for them to understand if we show them.”
The red-haired man speaks for the first time.
“Small fries like this just won’t accept their place until they’re taught.”
“…Very well. Whichever one of you two is the Master—shall we do battle, then?”
The man in white asks this with an air of indifference.
“—Fine. Lancer?”
…Lancer steps forward, presenting us with his back. His spear is in his hand.
“Stand back, Master. I shall handle this.”
The man in white spreads both arms, and the book he was carrying floats in front of him, its pages fanning out. I can see something red glowing from beneath the front of that dress.
…And the air around the man in black seems to shimmer. I only blink once, but after that, the modern clothes he was wearing are replaced by heavy red armor.
There’s what looks like…, a scythe in his hand.
……A scythe?
Wait a moment.
The three Servants we haven’t yet encountered are Assassin, Caster, and Berserker.
…But there’s no way this man is a magus,
Assassin is supposed to be a Servant weak in direct combat,
and this Servant is clearly sane.
Lancer seems to be thinking the same thing as me, as he is eyeing his opponent suspiciously.
“Just what manner of Servant are you?”
“—Huh. How pathetic can you be, if you can’t even tell that much?
“Still, I can tell you’re Lancer easily enough, and it’s a bit rude to go into battle knowing what you are when you have no idea. You want to tell them?”
The smiling magus tilts his head to the side and touches a white finger to his lips.
“—Very well.
“This is my Berserker.”
“—You cheaters!”
Rose stabs a finger at them like a prosecutor in court.
“How exactly is that thing a Berserker! He’s standing there talking as sanely as anybody!”
…The smile falls from the enemy magus’ face.
“Why, how rude. We most certainly are not cheating; Berserker was properly summoned into his class with the same boundaries as any Servant. Mad Enhancement is just inactive right now.”
—Mad Enhancement.
Berserker is a dangerous, double-edged Servant class to control.
It’s usually a class used to reinforce a weak hero, as the hero’s sanity is exchanged for an increase in all their parameters, but that loss of sanity makes Berserker incredibly taxing to control.
I’ve heard from Rose that in the first four Grail Wars, the Masters who summoned Berserker couldn’t stand the strain and died from the immense prana cost, and it took an exceptionally skilled Master in the fifth Grail War to stop that from happening.
Still, the entire point of a Berserker is to make them impossibly powerful using Mad Enhancement, so why go to all the trouble of summoning one and then not even activate it in the first place—?!
“—You really are amateurs.”
Berserker walks towards us calmly as he speaks, red hair fluttering in the wind.
“It’s useless to judge Servants just by the abilities of the classes. We’re legendary heroes from any era and story you can imagine—we have our differences, unique strengths and weaknesses. In my case—”
There is a flash of light, and then the crescent of the scythe is straining against Lancer’s Lorelei—
“—Mad Enhancement is one of my natural attributes, and my Master and I can control it at will—!”
For a moment Lancer seems to sink beneath the blow, and then Lorelei sweeps up in a red crescent.
“Ein.”
Next to me, Rose is looking at me steadily.
“Just believe in your Servant. They’re strong, but you should know better than anyone how powerful Lancer is.”
And just as she says, before my eyes, the battle that seemed like it would be so one-sided is evening out.
Lancer is advancing with steady strikes, wheeling around Berserker as Berserker pivots in place, fending off Lancer’s attacks with his scythe—!
Berserker is wearing a cold smile as the two of them face off, and Lancer continues to press forward with an intense face.
The feeling from before—that feeling like being next to something immense and alive begins to strengthen.
This aura like a monster’s heartbeat, seems to be focused on Berserker.
…It’s not easy to put in words, but there’s something uneasy about this aura. Something more than you would expect from a mad warrior.
……No, I can feel the looming presence of something very dangerous, and maybe very evil.
…Fire spins through the air along the blade of Berserker’s scythe.
He hasn’t spoken its name yet, so he’s not using his Noble Phantasm at full strength, but just looking at that fire makes me feel ill.
Lancer spins Lorelei masterfully in his hands and pure red fire seems to block off the flames that Berserker’s weapon casts off.
Like complete opposites, the two fires disappear wherever they touch.
…Opposites?
I see.
This means that Berserker’s weapon—no, maybe Berserker himself…, is demonic in nature.
If that’s the case, then this is a battle between natural enemies.
It feels strange that something demonic—not just carrying a demonic weapon like Nana’s Rider—has been summoned as a Heroic Spirit, but that should make it easier to guess Berserker’s identity, shouldn’t it?
…That’s right.
As Lancer’s Master, I have a duty to keep thinking at times like these, and try to find an advantage for my Servant to break through—!
…It sounds familiar.
A demonic hero.
A demonic hero in red, wielding a scythe.
Damn, but Berserker and Lancer are already moving too quickly, and I can’t take a good look. I should have thought about this more while I had the chance—
…Even so, I’m sure there was some kind of coat of arms on Berserker’s armor.
What was it?
…Some kind of black animal…
……Black…, and red.
A scythe being wielded by a demon.
Fire.
I should know this.
I know I should know this.
—So why can’t I call up the name that’s on the tip of my tongue—?!
Then.
Soft…, and yet somehow condescending,
that laughter again.
“—Oh, dear. You certainly are amateurs, aren’t you?”
Berserker’s Master looks down at us with a malicious smile.
“You’ll die if you’re not more aware of your surroundings.”
Suddenly.
Prana swells up in the air like a whirlwind.
It tugs at my clothes and Rose’s skirt, and sends Lancer’s clothes billowing. Berserker’s hair flutters like the flames of their battle.
Berserker’s Master, standing on his toes with arms outstretched, laughs down at us with his white dress tossed about his form.
Like a girl’s doll,
or a child dressed up as a ghost,
or a half-shrouded corpse.
He giggles like a little boy about to pull a prank.
The air—, inverts.
The sunlight seems to disappear as the sky darkens.
And all across the body of Berserker’s Master—,
…red marks.
Twisted glyphs are carved all across his body,
under his skin,
almost like a summoning circle—or perhaps a command circle,
but that’s insane, that’s definitely insane, and it’s so complicated that I can’t make most of it out, and damn, all of this should be beyond Rose’s level too—and the cost of having something like that written on your body, it could drive you insane, it wouldn’t feel like your body anymore to the point you would want to cut it all off…!
But they’re there,
glowing and pulsing like the heartbeat around Berserker,
with brighter marks over his chest in what must be the real Command Spell.
Gently,
Berserker’s Master smiles.
“—You’re still children, after all.
“I regret it a bit, but it can’t be helped; this is war. Still, it’s the least I can do. I’ll stop your hearts so swiftly, you won’t feel it in the least. It may look a little violent, but there’s nothing to fear, truly. I hope your sleep will be a pleasant one—”
That giggle, again.
As if he can’t help himself.
It feels cold all over, like I’m freezing.
Berserker’s Master points at us and moves his finger through the air, leaving bright letters in a language that I can’t read burned in gold.
As he writes, he speaks them, and the sound hurts my head.
We can’t stay here.
That much I know.
I’ll die if I stay here.
No matter how skilled Rose is, she’ll die too.
There’s only one thing we can do.
I grab Rose’s wrist and start to run.
“Ein—?!”
With my sword held to my side,
pulling Rose with me,
I run for Berserker’s Master with all my strength—!!
The sky cracks open.
There’s a blinding flash as the sky cracks open, and the ground rumbles.
I can smell metal.
I think lightning just hit the ground where we were.
We would be dead if we hadn’t moved.
Berserker’s Master is making a frustrated face.
—Oh.
He’s looking like I cheated him out of something entertaining.
…Damn it, a demon like Berserker is suited for a creepy guy like this.
I ready my sword.
Rose is running on her own now, even though we’re still holding each other’s hands tightly, and I can vaguely sense that she’s gathering prana.
…That’s right.
If we’re going to have any chance against someone this insanely powerful,
we’re going to have to be the ones to get in close and strike…!
I swing my sword.
Next to me, Rose fires off a burst of solid energy.
—There’s a crash.
“Nessiah!”
From behind us, Berserker shouts in a worried voice.
I blink, and the smoke from Rose’s attack clears.
The end of my reinforced branch is bent over like a steel pipe, and Berserker’s Master is holding up both hands.
There’s a thin barrier between us, like the skin of a bubble.
“—I’m all right, Berserker. Don’t worry about me—you need to focus on Lancer right now.”
Berserker’s Master—Nessiah spares a glance for his Servant, then continues to watch us.
He isn’t smiling now.
Instead, he’s considering us as though we’re really his enemies.
…Um.
I look to Rose.
If my sword can’t do anything against this barrier, then she’s our last real defense against anything else that this Nessiah is going to do to us.
Rose lights up her Magic Crest again without a word.
“—It seems I owe you an apology.
“It’s true that you’re children, but it appears you actually have some competence. I underestimated you, and for that, I’m sorry.”
He hesitates.
His expression is very intense, and somehow he seems very severe.
“…For this, as well… I should most likely apologize. But I won’t. It’s a battle, not a slaughter, if you’re at the level where you can defend yourselves somewhat.
“And I cannot lose this war.”
Nessiah raises his hand.
…Oh.
Rose isn’t going to make it.
Lancer…, is still fighting Berserker.
The speed of the strikes behind us increases as though he’s trying to make it through.
But he won’t make it either.
And I…,
…Should I use my Command Spell?
It’s only our second battle, but we’re in danger of our lives again.
Still,
…Once I use this up, there won’t be any more.
It’s the end of me as a Master.
…I,
hesitate.
At that moment,
light rains down from above.
I know this attack.
It’s—
“Are you guys alright?!”
A shout from the edge of the clearing behind us.
I risk a glance over my shoulder.
…Archer is standing on the branches of a stout old tree, his bow at the ready with an arrow aimed just past us, at Nessiah.
I don’t see Vienya, but she’s probably somewhere nearby.
“You don’t have to move at all—I can hit him just fine from here.”
Archer says so with confidence, and points his arrow towards the sky, releasing it.
There’s a fizzling sound from behind me.
I turn back around.
Nessiah has shifted his barrier upwards, and is cringing back with his arms shielding his face and chest as Archer’s arrows slowly tear it apart.
—This is it.
It bothers me a little bit to do this, but like Nessiah himself said, there’s no helping that this is a war, and anyway, I don’t think I have enough force to actually kill someone.
I lunge forward and swing my bent sword…!
The shock from it hitting hurts my shoulders.
Nessiah falls hard with a sound like he’s choking, sprawled on the ground.
I move to follow it up, but he rolls onto his side and gestures through the air.
Something hits me hard, and I stagger back.
…It’s that book.
He pulled it through the air somehow and used it to repel me—
Damn, that was stupid.
I shouldn’t have thought that because of his looks, he wouldn’t be able to hit me from there…
…I fall.
Or, I would have fallen.
Rose supports me at the last second.
“—, …”
Nessiah is running.
But Archer’s arrows aren’t falling far behind him.
Come on, just a little more—
“Nessiah…!!”
The clanging noises from Lancer and Berserker’s battle speed up.
This time, it’s Berserker struggling to get past Lancer, but Lancer isn’t going to let him by so easily, and spins Lorelei hard to block Berserker from getting anywhere.
Berserker keeps fighting with a desperate look on his face, swinging his scythe this way and that, but he’s not moving as fluidly now.
Suddenly.
The sky darkens further, and the air explodes near Archer’s tree, halting his fire.
…Oh. It seems as though Nessiah is gathering himself to counterattack.
And with his insane levels of prana,
maybe he could actually hold off a Servant for real, too—
Then.
I hear running footsteps,
and with a great crash,
Saber arrives in the clearing, just like two days ago.
The girl in white stops short when she sees the battle.
Her blue eyes are wide, and her golden hair flutters around her.
“Lancer!”
She calls in a commanding voice.
“Stand aside.”
Everyone comes to a stop.
Lancer is staring at Saber like he’s not sure what to expect of her,
Archer is doing the same, from what I can see,
and Saber herself looks extremely grave.
Berserker is staring at Saber with a ferocity that truly makes him seem like a demon.
…He smiles dangerously.
“Well.
“I never thought I’d get the chance to meet you again like this, Princess.”
Saber inclines her head.
She does not falter, but only replies in a calm voice.
“Indeed. It seems that fate has determined that we must continue to cross blades. …You seem to have a fine Master, but you mustn’t expect the outcome to be any different from last time.”
Berserker narrows his eyes.
It looks more like a snarl than a sneer.
“We’ll see about that.”
…Like two links of a chain connecting.
Suddenly I understand everything.
Oh…, so this must be…
“Stand aside, Lancer!”
Saber raises her sword.
“Stand aside—this is my battle. If you try to hinder me in fighting this man, I won’t hesitate to strike you down as well.”
…I feel a chill.
She’s serious.
I don’t have to give Lancer any order, though.
The scarlet knight bows his head.
“If that is what you wish. The battlefield belongs to the two of you.”
And the angel returns to my side.
…The clearing erupts.
In actuality, their battle is very contained.
Outside the range of their weapons, no extra energy is spent.
Still, the intensity of their will to see each other dead is enough to make me feel like the scythe’s crescent is pressed to my throat and the point of the sword at my back.
“You’re not going to use your Noble Phantasm?”
The girl’s voice rings high and clear over the maelstrom of their weapons.
“You’re not using yours.”
Berserker says so with a smile.
Somehow, in the midst of all the fighting,
light—Archer’s arrows—starts to rain again, and the air begins to crackle with Nessiah’s lightning spells.
“Master.”
Lancer speaks to me softly, so that only we can hear.
“What is your command?”
“—Ein.”
Rose holds my arm.
“You know what we have to do.”
I feel sick.
I feel sick, but I take a breath and nod.
The path of a magus is a path stained in blood.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
It feels wrong.
…But, we have to consider what will happen if I don’t.
“—Lancer.”
…I can’t, say it.
Rose sighs.
“Lancer. He won’t give the order, so will you listen to me?
“Go after Nessiah. He can’t handle you and Archer at once.”
The knight bows his head,
and takes off.
Rose squeezes my arm.
It doesn’t feel like a reprimand, but I still feel terrible.
I should be able to do this much.
I should, but I can’t.
…On both sides…, it feels as though I’m in the wrong.
There’s a flash of red,
…and a scream.
“Berserker—…!”
The air cracks.
Lancer’s Lorelei and Archer’s attacks hit nothing.
“Wha—”
Saber’s cry draws my attention, and I turn to see that she’s swung herself off-balance, staggering and trying to compensate for the fact that her blow fell on empty air.
In the sky,
on the level of the treetops,
Berserker is suspended in mid-leap.
The scarlet hair is stretched above him in an arc.
He’s abandoned everything, even his armor and Noble Phantasm, and is dressed like an ordinary young man again.
His eyes are telling Saber that this isn’t over.
His eyes are telling Saber that their battle will have an answer.
But right now, he’s holding his Master in his arms.
Nessiah is cradled to his chest like the most important thing in the world, and Nessiah is holding on to his Servant tightly.
…I see.
So Nessiah must have used a Command Spell to have Berserker save him.
Berserker is holding him with incredible care, so it seems that Berserker wasn’t against the order, but he shouldn’t have been able to make it.
…Rose told me that a Command Spell can be used to defy the laws of the universe itself if used for one single short-term order.
This was probably the only way that Nessiah could have survived.
The moment that the two of them hang in free-fall seems to go on forever, but it’s actually over very quickly.
Nessiah makes another gesture and says something else that hurts my head, and the two seem to vanish before they even touch the ground.
Lancer turns back towards me.
He seems to be asking me what he should do.
“Archer.”
Saber calls out.
“Go ahead back to Roswell and Vienya, and tell them that I’m going after Berserker. I can’t just leave them, and even if I can’t catch them, I might be able to find out where they’re hiding.”
Before she gets an answer, she runs off into the shadowed space between the trees.
Archer nods to the air and disappears.
Slowly, I exhale.
…We managed to escape death again thanks to those two.
“Let’s go home, Lancer.”
Rose nods, suddenly looking tired.
“Yeah, we made a lot of noise anyway. We don’t want to be here in case people decide to come have a look.”
…
……
………
We return home.
Amazingly, we return home before the sun has set, and the sky is still only dyed red.
I double-check the locks and the boundary field, and take off my shoes.
Rose and Lancer have already gone ahead, and when I enter the living room, Lancer is sitting at the table while Rose is in the kitchen, getting out ingredients.
…Come to think of it, we probably should eat something now that we’ve had to fight.
This is a war after all, and we need to keep our strength up.
“What a disaster.”
Rose says so with a sigh.
“We wound up finding another Master after all, but that Nessiah isn’t one to sit back and let his Servant do everything for him… even if Lancer hadn’t had any trouble with Berserker, we would’ve been finished if Saber and Archer hadn’t showed up.”
Lancer is silent, and I don’t have anything to add either.
It’s obvious that the Master of Berserker completely outmatched the both of us.
And even surrounded by three enemy Servants, which would be absolute death for anyone else, they still found an opening and escaped.
—A powerful Servant and a top-class Master.
We’ll be in trouble if we come up against them as we are now.
…However.
I pick up one of the books that are still stacked next to the table.
It’s a book concerning the legends of an incredibly ancient country, close to the age of gods, and it should have everything I need.
I flip through the book quickly but carefully and examine the diagrams.
Just as I thought.
“—You’re wrong, Rose. We found out something important today.”
I close the book with a snap as Rose turns to stare at me.
Lancer is also watching me intently.
“I didn’t really have any idea before, but Berserker was just too obvious. It was the way that you fought him that gave it away, Lancer.”
I explain about the fire and my theory that Berserker’s abilities are demonic.
Really, this is the last confirmation I have to wait for.
“Certainly, Berserker’s abilities seemed to have a demonic origin.”
Lancer says so assuredly.
I nod with relief.
“Then, I’m sure.
“I’ve found out Saber and Berserker’s identities.”
Rose stares at me with an impressed face.
“—I said before you were an expert on heroes, but I didn’t think you’d be able to figure something like that out so easily. Well, don’t leave us in suspense, who are they?”
In order to explain, I open up the book.
That land became known as Ancardia after it became peaceful, but before then there were a lot of wars fought there, so there were many heroes.
The last war in what people call the Thousand Years of Strife was fought between the kingdom at the center of the continent, and the empire to the north.
It was a complicated battle and a lot of things happened, but the two leaders of the countries are still known today.
“Look here. Saber’s sword matches most of the records, so I’m sure. The physical descriptions fit, too.
“Saber must be the Queen of that era, Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz.
“—Berserker is her rival from the legend, Gulcasa the Blazing Emperor.”
It was another story I liked as a child.
Well, personally, I preferred the stories about Ragnarok, and this one went over my head the first time I ever heard it, but the more I learned about it, the more it made me think.
It was a story of two heroes who continually fought until one of them fell.
If you looked at things from one country’s side, the opposing hero was the villain, but both of them were brave and noble.
—On one side, a man whose birth itself was a miracle.
He rose up and saved his country from oppression, and was loved by everyone around him. In order to protect his happiness and the happiness of his people, he didn’t lay down his weapon, and marched forward to conquer the rest of the world.
He decided that he would become the strongest and use that power to save his people, no matter how bloodstained his own hands became.
—On the other side, the princess of a country conquered by the man.
She lost everything except her own sense of justice, and carrying her family’s holy sword, she raised an army so that she would be able to rescue her people from the hands of the enemy and avenge the deaths of her parents.
Against all the odds, she was able to push the man’s army back.
…The fighting went on for a long time, but in the end the princess became queen, and crushed the empire completely.
At that time, the legends say that she no longer desired war and understood that there was no difference between the two of them.
Still, both of them were determined to see their people safe from every threat, including each other, and so their course was set.
Neither could resume a peaceful life while the other was alive.
…To be honest, the story always made me kind of mad because it wasn’t fair.
Even in a story, two good people couldn’t manage to reconcile what few differences they had and live peacefully.
Well, that’s the case.
The important thing is that if we know who Saber and Berserker were in life, we might be able to know how to fight them.
“So? It sounds like you know what to expect from them, so tell us about it.”
Rose folds her arms and nods at me, and Lancer watches me intently.
“—Saber is human, but her sword… her Noble Phantasm is what made her an invincible warrior in the story.
“Like the legend says, it’s a holy sword that’s supposed to have been forged and given to her family by angels. Lancer himself said that it’s really powerful, and even I can tell that it’s strong. She was able to hold off the Riders and compete with Berserker at full strength, so she’s definitely not going to be an easy Servant to face.
“And Berserker really is a demon like we thought.
“His ancestors were humans that made a contract and received the blood of a demon god, so Berserker has the strength and powers of one. According to the legend, he was more demon than human when he died, and he was the first person in a long time to have full demon blood where he came from.
“On top of that, he’s strong enough that he was able to fight off Lancer, and Lancer is a full Grim Angel. Berserker is like Lancer’s natural enemy. I don’t know how things will change if the two of them bring their Noble Phantasms into the equation, but then there’s the fact that Berserker’s Master could activate Mad Enhancement at any time… it’s a problem no matter how you look at it.”
Rose nods.
“Still, at least now we can take a better look at the books and find out the properties of Saber’s holy sword. If we wind up having to fight her, it’s going to be important to know what to expect.”
…The rest of the day goes by like that.
Lancer looks over the books while I reminisce about the legend, and Rose makes dinner.
It’s a hearty dinner with a lot of meat over rice.
At first I doubt that I can finish it, but it seems I’m hungrier than I thought as I’m able to eat everything in my bowl.
…Lancer uses Western utensils again, and eats very quietly.
It seems that his usual serious demeanor won’t be shaken by such a thing as a meal.
“By the way, Ein.”
Unfortunately, there’s none of that from the devil in black, as usual, who sees no issue with teasing me over the food.
“You said we learned something important today, but you skipped over the most obvious thing, didn’t you?”
…Man, I’m not sure I want to hear this over my food.
“About Saber and Archer. You’ve realized it, haven’t you?”
She sets her chopsticks down with an unmistakable air of smugness.
“Their Masters have to be cooperating. That’s the only real explanation for the way that they keep showing up together like that.”
“Hold on a moment, you mean Masters can cooperate in the war?”
“Well, of course.”
Rose nods as if it’s only to be expected.
“It’s easy for two people to decide that they’ll deal with each other after they’ve cleared out the more dangerous opponents first. They’ve made a temporary alliance, and it’s easy to see why, what with cheaters like the Riders running around.”
…Come to think of it, we did talk about how the Riders would be impossible to deal with unless you had more than one Servant, and it would also be easier to deal with the enemy if you applied that same advantage to your own battles.
“Huh, I never thought about that before, but you’re probably right.”
“Aren’t I? The only problem is what’s going to happen if we wind up having to deal with them while they’re allies.”
Rose complains with a sour expression now that she’s no longer teasing me.
…I also hope that we won’t have to fight Saber and Archer.
In addition to them having the advantage of numbers, it’ll probably be hardest to deal with people like them who act on fair play in a war like this.
…The day ends uneventfully.
After dinner, I run the bath and get clean, then leave the water for Rose to use, and Lancer if he wants it.
I change into my night clothes and head to my room so that I can meditate and get to sleep.
As I stand in the doorframe,
“Master.”
I hear Lancer call out to me.
…I turn around.
The scarlet knight is standing in the hallway, watching me.
…It’s a very strange feeling.
No matter how you look at it, Lancer in his red cloak and dark priest’s clothes just doesn’t fit into a modern setting like this, and the way that he ignores his surroundings makes him stand out even more.
And beyond that, simply the fact that he’s concentrating on me so strongly is almost uncomfortable.
…What is this feeling?
It’s the same kind of wonder that overtook me when Lancer was first summoned.
That kind of awe that I doubt I’ll ever be able to properly describe—
“Anyway, what did you need, Lancer?”
Lancer turns slightly and looks at me appraisingly.
His dark eyes are silent and hold their secrets. I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
“Earlier today, you took the initiative well.
“…Master, you have reflexes and the intuition suitable for battle. Rather than fighting from the back like a true magus, it would do you well to learn more about combat and pursue the path of the warrior.”
“Lancer…?”
…I don’t know what to say.
First of all, hearing from my own Servant that I’m not suited for magic is a little deflating, but there’s also the fact that one of my own childhood heroes has told me that I have the potential to do what he does.
……I don’t know what to say.
“—However.”
Lancer’s posture is stern.
The tone of his voice is even and he looks more like a marble statue in this moment than a young man close to my age.
“Hesitation like that is unacceptable, should you pursue that path. Should you continue your studies as a magus. On the battlefield, there is only those who are weak and those who are strong. The weak perish, and the strong survive. If you see an opening you must pursue it ruthlessly, no matter who your opponent may be.
“—Regardless of your own ideals. Sparing the enemy is naïveté, Master.”
Lancer nods to me once.
A display of deference that doesn’t fit with the harshness of his own words.
…Before I can say anything or even attempt to defend myself,
the scarlet knight disappears into the room beside mine.