Chapter 02: Bitter Truth

It's too good to be true, this fairytale.


"Is this Shielder?" Valance thought in awe

"Huh?" Inez thought

The young male raised his head and looked at both Valance and Inez. He then asked a question

"I ask, which of you, is my Master?"

"Master?" Inez said in surprise

"How did she... do that?" Valance thought in disbelief

"Your servant, Shielder has come in response to your summons" The young man said

"I ask once more, which of you is my Master?" The Young man asked.

Utter silence filled the room as both Valance and Inez were stunned to see a young man appear out of nowhere.

"Shielder, Who knew she could summon him?" Valance thought

Inez gazed at Shielder and Shielder gazed at her. Their eyes met and they both knew what has become.

"I'll will ask again, Are you my Master? Young lady?" Shielder asked Inez

"I bet he thinks I'm his master, but I can't get myself to say that I am" Inez thought

"What the hell?!" Valence thought

Shielder continued to look at Inez straight in the eye, It gave her goosebumps.

"Ow" Inez held her left hand. As the pain subsided quickly she saw a mark on her hand.

"What is this?" Inez complained

"Those are command seals, it is a Master's power to compel their servant" Shielder said

"Command Seals?" Inez thought

"I'm convinced that you are my Master" Shielder stood up and walked towards Inez.

At 5'8 Shielder stood at the same height of Valence, and could cover Inez with his whole body.

"I am your Shielder Class Servant, as such call me Shielder" Shielder said

"This is bad, real bad. I could die here!" Valence thought
Valence decided to start walking out of the room as quietly as possible but Inez looked at him. She looked extremely confused.

"Or maybe" Valence thought

Valence walked towards her

"It'll be alright, first introduce yourself" He said gently

Inez looked at Shielder and mustered enough courage to say her name

"Inez Fairfain" Inez said quietly

"Inez... Fairfain..." Shielder said

"I'm Valence Arthur, High Class Magi" Valence boasted

"Valence... Arthur..." Shielder said

"So what is your business here Magi?" Shielder seemed to be threatening him

"I'm Inez's teammate, so don't do anything bad to me" Valance put his hand on his hip.

"Is that true, Master?" Shielder asked Inez

"Uh... Yes! Inez replied however she is diffident

"Um... I have no idea what's going on" Inez continued

"You're now part of the 9th Holy Grail War Inez" Valence said

"War" She stuttered on saying the word alone

"Yes, Seven Masters are chosen by the Holy Grail to fight in this war. Masters are aided with familiars or heroic spirits from the past or future. Basically the objective is to defeat all the other masters and be the last one standing." Valence hoped she wouldn't break down from hearing all that

"Master, I sense an enemy approaching" Shielder interrupted

"Wait, I'm having problems processing all this and I'm not a proper master or whatever you call it" Inez exclaimed

"I know you aren't a proper master, however you still are my master." Shielder replied

"Uh..." Inez is definitely speechless

"It's too late, I'll take care of this Master. Shielder took a step back and raised his right arm to the ceiling. Shielder started to shine brightly as he said

"Henceforth my Shield will be at your side, Henceforth your fate is my fate. The pact is now sealed."

An extremely bright light blinded Valence and Inez for a moment.

Shielder jumped straight out of the ceiling breaking through the walls and debris started to fall onto both Valence and Inez. Valence immediately got Inez and dodged the incoming debris.

The shield and spears collided with each other, steel against steel, servant against servant. Shielder gracefully blocked and dodged all of the attacks, no matter how swift, Shielder nullified it. Shielder threw his shield and wounded Lancer's rib, blood spilled on his dark teal outfit. Both servants hopped back, Lancer touched his wound and looked at Shielder.

"Hah, you managed to wound me, Shielder." Lancer said

"Two spears" Shielder thought as he gazed at the long crimson spear and the golden short spear.

Their weapons clashed upon each other multiple times. At different rates of speed and force, both servants proved to be deadly.

Both servants, now ten meters apart from each other, glared into each other's eyes.

"RAH!" Valence roared, destroying the debris blocking their way with his magic. He grabbed Inez by her forearm and rushed outside. They stepped on broken pieces of wood and glass. Valence saw the moonlight grow brighter and ran even faster, keeping a tight grip on Inez. He immediately stopped in his tracks, seeing two servants who are currently in possible combat. Inez panted from the smoke emitted from Valence's attacks and the unbearable run though the debris, She raised her head to see Shielder and another person with intentions to kill.

"One more question, since it's our first time meeting, would you be interested in calling it a draw?" Lancer asked Shielder

"I don't mind calling it a draw for now." Shielder replied

"Alright, but when we meet again, there will be no draw!" Lancer immediately dashed out of the premise.

Shielder dropped his heavy gold round shield and fell down to his knees.

"Probably, this my chance!" Valence realized upon seeing Shielder exhausted.

"Inez, I think Shielder's out of mana" Valence said

"Huh?" Inez wondered what that meant

"He won't be able to survive for long, allow me to be his master and he will live!" Valence insisted

"Hold on a minute, I still have no idea what's going on Valence" Inez thought

Inez just stood there wondering what she should do. She looked at Shielder, drenched in his own sweat, his hands on the ground and breathed intensely. Inez felt bad to see him fighting in the war. She doesn't know how many wars Shielder has participated in, but she knew that he deserves a better master.

"Maybe it's better for Shielder to become Valence's servant. He seems to know better than I do after-all." Inez thought

"Alright, become his Master" Inez decided

"Yes!" Valence thought in joy

"But first we'll do something about him" Valence pointed at Shielder

"But..." Inez wondered what Valence is thinking

Valence approached Shielder and handed him a special candy from his pocket. Shielder accepted the said candy and ate it. Inez walked towards Shielder, till she was in – front of him.

"I'm sorry, Master, I couldn't finish off my opponent" Shielder struggled to say

"It's okay, just rest for now." Inez kept her hands to herself and allowed Valence to care of everything concerning Shielder.


Remains of Valence's House, 6:45 PM

"You get what I'm saying right?" Valence asked just to make sure

"I don't get what you're saying at all, Valence." Inez said

"Huh? What do you mean you don't get it?" Valence asked

"Because you said I should take Shielder home" Inez replied

"That's it?! Out of everything else I said!" Valence thought

"But he's your servant and I have to meet up with the Overseer of the Holy Grail War, to dissolve your contract with Shielder " Valence said

"Yeah, but still... Shielder will be better under your hands." Inez tried to convince Valence

"What I'm saying is that you have to give me time, before I'll be able to dissolve your pact with Shielder. That means I can't babysit Shielder" Valence said convincingly

Inez let out a sigh

"Okay, I'll do it" Inez said quietly

"Alright, I'll call you once we can dissolve your pact." Valence said proudly

"Yeah, well it's getting late so I guess I go home then" Inez said

"Don't forget Shielder, He's outside already" Valence reminded her

Inez stood up and nodded at Valence and proceeded to leave his house.

"I still don't get anything, what happened today doesn't make sense." Inez thought

"Heh, I'll finally get Shielder as my servant! But I have to fix my house first." Valence thought

Inez wore her shoes and opened to the door and closed it as she exited Valence's house.

"In the mean time, I have to find a way for Shielder to get into my house, without my parents noticing" Inez thought

"Master" Shielder said

Inez looked at Shielder and noticed that he's alright unlike a few moments ago. She tried to bring out a smile, but she couldn't find it in herself smile at all.

"Call me Inez, Shielder" Inez said

"As you wish, Inez" Shielder replied

"Shielder, the truth is I'm giving you to Valence" Inez stuttered on each word


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