These are both pretty short chapters, so I decided to double load this story. In response to one of the comments on the last chapter, I would like to say, I have no plan to alter or undermine any canon information except that which I expressly said I would. Anyway, I hope you read and enjoy this.
Master will be quite enthused. I thought to myself as I looked down upon the parking lot of the school. Go figure that there would six masters who went to his school with him. Sure, two of them were his allies, but that still left three others available to be defeated. Only one of us had issues with harming the masters too. Only the Rutherford girl. How somebody as weak-willed as her ended up with a mighty servant like Assassin Anubis is beyond me. My master might not have been the most powerful magus, but he had more than enough od and force of personality to replenish my prana without having to resort to foul means. Not like the Rutherford girl.
Ulf would certainly be able to push me to my greatest levels. To the levels I was meant to reach. After all, I was Rider, the most powerful of the Gorgon sisters! Men trembled in fear just thinking of seeing me. I filled our island home with stone statues of a thousand warriors who thought to eliminate the threat of our existence.
He understood that, understood me. I could, I would destroy his enemies for him. I would grant him the victory he so rightfully deserved.
From my position on the wall of the school, standing horizontal, I could see all below me. My master running out on the field during gym class. Baggy shorts and shirt flapping wildly as he sprinting at the head of the pack. An easy contest for him. He was no traditional magus. Most used their magic circuits to convert energy into magical circles of destruction, like his friend 'Ry' did so easily. Fire, lightning, death incarnate. Ulf's was different, far more subtle and all the more powerful because of it. Ryu surely understood, but the other girl wouldn't be able to figure it out on her own, no matter how much time she had to learn.
The Rutherford girl thought that Ulf was just as magic inept as she was, probably thought that he needed to spread his prana through lust like she did. But he was capable of channelling his prana to me with ease.
His magic could even be used without fear of being caught, unlike his friend Ryu's. He was using it right now, to make sure that everybody in school recognized him as the best. On his back, beneath his class shirt, and invisible when not in use, his family's magic crest was tattooed in almost pure prana.
By channeling prana into it, he could activate any of the hundreds of spells that his family had developed over centuries. Some were as simple and tapping into the all-powerful wells of mana littering the world, just a small trickle, but a mighty resource nonetheless. The more powerful involved converting prana, whether it be mana or his own od, into a large boost to his own abilities. During class, he used it to key into his memory, so schoolwork was a simple matter, on tests, into his raw intellect. Or times like now, when he triggered the crest to allow him to move at speeds rivaling a servant. But moving at that speed would certainly draw the wrong kind of attention, so he only used enough so thathe was still far beyond the other students.
And it wasn't as if he could only use one part of the crest at a time. He could power up all of them at once if he truly wanted, however, even using one could drain his energy quickly.
I smirked. A final dash had just sealed his reputation in the class's track and field unit. The other students were looking upon him now with envy and anger, as he rightly deserved. Being the best meant that every lesser around either hated him because of their jealousy or that they would come to hate him because of his overwhelming skill. A good master for a servant such as I, more monster than hero in anyone's opinion. A monster in human guise, and a humanoid monster, a perfect partnership.
Another of the students, one I knew of to be a magus, an enemy magus, was almost within range of my master. I could do nothing now, hidden behind my power to make me invisible to the eye, but there was little risk of him being taken out by a classmate during school hours.
I grinned at that thought. There was little risk of him being taken out by a schoolmate in any case. Sure, Ry might put up a fight that could match a servant in power and sheer force, but the next strongest was surely the Rutherford girl, and she could barely tap her power. Still, she had to be one of the better magi of the school, since both Ry and Ulf thought that it was a good idea to team up with her.
I slid my dagger's chain through my fingers, allowing it to hang freely like a pendulum. I spun it slowly, loosely, letting it whip around my head fast enough to rip the air with a whistle.
If only he had not deemed this school a protected zone. Then I could use my powers to drain the other students, gathering up their blood to turn into prana. Unfortunately, it was still better for us to feign innocence. Moving too quickly or too drastically could end our choice. I was powerful, but still no more than any other servant. If we made a large scale attack such as that, we would become targets of all others, because the increase in power would bring me to the forefront.
No, we couldn't have that. Not yet.
My Blood Fort would have to wait until the fight had moved beyond this beginning stage. Even midway through the game, that power would be a lovely boost, enough to win us our victory.
I looked up to the sky. The sky was a violent red, fitting for my hopes for the evening. I knew my master, and his lust for violence was nearly as great as my own.
We were a great pair, and we had kept from fighting as much as possible, letting Ry take up the largest burden of combat, in an attempt to test his servant's capabilities. But we already knew mine, and there was no reason for us to need to test them. We would strike hard and fast at any who came to contest us, and we would annihilate them.
As was only right for us, the obvious victors at the end of this all. We would take the Holy Grail and I would destroy all of those fool men who had once yearned to take my life from me. All I had ever wanted was to life in peace with my sisters on our island home. Now, all of man would suffer for that. I would have my vengeance!
I stopped my spinning. He was here. That Caster from the night a few days back, when Ry was testing the limits of his Saber. Really big red flag.
I knew from our connection that Ulf had already sensed his presence. He was on his way already. I turned around and climbed back up to the roof, where the Caster now stood. Ry had faced off against this Caster by himself, not much worse for wear from it, so even alone, I should be able to manage it too, and Ulf was already coming to reinforce me.
Between the two of us, no matter how powerful the opposing servant, we could take down any single adversary, even a mighty Caster.
I started walking up toward the roof, where I could sense the Caster. Luckily, it seemed like the master wasn't there too, otherwise we could really be in trouble. Although the master might be somewhere else. Trying to set things up to better his odds for later. That's what Ryu was doing, setting up fighting locations far from groups of people. Setting traps up all over those areas to better his own odds of winning. Knowing him, probably a hundred or more different areas all set up to ruin his opponents.
More than likely, most of the masters were trying to set up places to have their battles, while us servants were digging back into our pasts, pulling forth our powers and tactics from centuries before.
Going back to my tactics from centuries before, back on Shapeless Isle. Lure one alone and away from the others, disable him with my dagger and chain, eliminate him with my noble phantasms. It wouldn't take very much to do so anyway. If I could get a hit on an opponent with one of my phantasms, it basically spelled out the ending for them.
I stepped carefully over the top, using a small amount of prana to remove my cover. No longer invisible, I immediately drew his attention, as was expected.
"Ah Bella." He smiled at me. His accent was thick, but not impossible to decipher. "It is so good to see you. I'm sure that your master will be soon to join us yes?" His tone was annoying, and the accent was only just making it worse. I really wanted to hurt him. "Unfortunately for you, you won't be here when he arrives." His lips rose in a wicked grin and then he spoke the name of his noble phantasm. In that moment, I knew exactly who he was, but that information would no longer do me any good.
"Il Purgatorio."
Then I was back on Shapeless Isle...
