Chapter 7 - "A Discordant Cry (Assassin)"
The first thing EMIYA saw upon opening his eyes again was a slimy, slithering snake of a worm in front of him.
His pulse quickened, rage and murder flooding through his mind. He saw red and gritted his teeth, for only half an instant, before putting on his professional cold killer face. Assassin wanted to kill Zouken on sight, but that wasn't plausible. In the first place, he would have to kill Sakura to kill Zouken. And knowing that, he restrained himself and relaxed all his muscles at once, giving the impression of a calm and stoic Servant.
But even just that half of an instant of killing intent was enough for Zouken to have taken notice of.
'So, I've had been summoned to this time, huh?' Assassin though to himself bitterly, '...Well, at least I'll have the chance to kill this twisted worm again.'
Not that he even took any particular pleasure in killing Zouken the first time, but at least this world would be better off without him.
Assassin's face, however, portrayed none of his internal fury nor intensity. He looked entirely stoic, towering over the hunch up old man (worm).
"Hmmm..." Zouken observed, and was pleased, if somewhat puzzled by the result. He didn't know what to expect, besides a Hassin, if the ritual proceeded properly, but this summoning only confirmed his suspicions about this Grail War's abnormal summoning process. What stood before him was not one of the nineteen Old Men of the Mountain, but instead a tanned Japanese man with white hair, donned in black armour, and what looked to be purple Holy Shroud.
"I ask of you," Assassin proclaimed, emotionlessly, "Are you my Master?"
"That's right." Zouken replied. "But, before that..."
Zouken grinned. "You seem to know me, Assassin," Zouken taunted, mockingly, "Have we met somewhere before?"
'Tch!' Assassin mentally clicked his tongue in annoyance. "So the old worm noticed.'
Assassin kept a neutral face while replying though. "No," he said, "I did not personally know you very well. I had meet with you a few times before in the past, but only very briefly."
"And the source of your anger?"
"...You've caused much suffering to the people that I've loved. Naturally, I would find myself displeased at being summoned as your Servant."
"Displeased" wasn't exactly the right word, but Assassin knew he had to downplay the intensity of his rage, lest he be restricted all the more by Zouken. Or even outright killed at once, before he got the chance to backstab and assassinate Zouken himself.
"Ho..." Zouken sounded amused. "It seems you're still hiding something from me, Assassin."
"..." EMIYA chose not to comment.
Zouken chuckled. "Well, fine. I trust you'll have no objections to my using a command spell on you then?"
Assassin knew he was only asking that as a formality. He would use it anyway, but it would be better to pretend to go along with his farce. If he at least pretended not to resist and even agree with the Command Spell, it would at least have a possibility of tricking Zouken into thinking his grip on his Servant was stronger than it actually was.
"Go right ahead, my Master."
Zouken grinned. "Very well."
He directed his hand towards Assassin. "Then, I order you, by the authority of my Command Spell!"
Zouken smirked.
"Don't betray me, Assassin!"
A command spell went off, and Assassin could already feel his murderous impulses being restrained, and his potential actions being limited.
"As you wish, my master." Assessing pretended to go along with. Zouken, as a Matou, would no doubt have all the more confidence in his self-made command spells if he knew his Servant complied. Even for such a wriggly and cautious old worm, even he still had his pride as a magus. So let him think the he had his compliant Servant collared. All the better for when Assassin could take his life without warning.
'Well, it's not like I can kill or betray him directly myself now.' Assassin thought to himself, 'But even then, I can still plot out the circumstances of his demise, and set things up for his inevitable downfall and death.'
If Zouken were more cautious, Assassin noted, then he should've used 2 Command Spells and been more specific by restricting treacherous thoughts and ideas specifically, to make effect even more pronounced.
Assassin sighed, silently. This was going to be a long few days...
But...
'Don't worry, Sakura. I'll end your suffering soon, and Zouken with it.'
Author's Notes:
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Assassin looks like Archer, but with a darker tan (not as dark as EMIYA Alter's, but getting there), slightly longer and spiker and more unruly hair (symbolizing, longer service as Counter-Guardian, more disarrayed mindset), and with purple Holy Shroud, instead of red like Archer's (in remembrance murder of Sakura, his vow and resolve to continue killing as many people as he needs to, indefinitely, in order to protect the human order and humanity as a whole. The will to sacrifice any minority, even his own most loved one, for the majority of people's sake).
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I'm actually surprised by how well Assassin fits Zouken's personality, as a summoning pair.
I didn't even realize it until after I had written this chapter out, but their life paths were extremely similar, in the long run.
They both were originally good-hearted people who wanted the best for others, even at their own expense, but eventually become extremely twisted to the point of becoming unrecognizable, by prioritizing their end goal (saving as many people as possible, reaching the grail) and even living through centuries and decades of suffering and committing monstrous acts in order to try to achieve that end goal, even though they had completely forgotten why they had wanted to seek that goal in the first place (to find happiness, to build a utopia for the good of the people), and in the end, they both end up making choices that are completely at odds with what they originally wanted, what they actually, truly, wanted.
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Servant profile coming later, so look forward to that!
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