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Chapter 7: Little Temptations

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Ana was not sure the loud Irish man could be trusted.

Her senpai said that Setanta was a simple-minded individual with good intentions, and the bespectacled girl could tell the blonde wasn't wrong. The Master of Lancer was indeed a cretin in some aspects, with his goal suspiciously lacking and his animosity towards a really dangerous foe quite... well, perplexing.

The plum-haired girl had many reasons to suspect this was a cover, but Rider was quite convinced that Setanta was indeed more of a 'lost puppy' than a potential danger to her real plans. It soothed her mind a bit, but it didn't completely dispel the unease of having an objectively handsome young man from Europe around her love interest.

Ana felt it was somewhat wrong for her to look up so strongly at her Senpai at times, with the issues drawing from the very moment she met her. Ana Gorgon was once a rather unhappy girl before she found her sunshine: the youngest within the Gorgon family, the bespectacled girl was set up against cruelty and familial bullies from the very moment she could talk, think and walk.

The Gorgon Family was a Magus Clan from Sicily of Greek Descent. Their good standing came to be through their ancestors as they found the means to harness the genetic makeup used by the Gods to create Euryale and Stheno. Centuries had gone by trying to fully replicate the proper biological elements meant to recreate the two Goddesses and that hope fully manifested with the birth of her older sisters: Juliet and Harriet were born. Stheno and Euryale respectively.

They inherited the Goddesses' beauty and psychological characteristics which made them stand up above mere mortals. The proper heiresses to a mediocre clan that had long suffered a steady decline before modernity's pace. And then Ana came along as an 'improved' version of Medusa.

Even as a young girl, Ana knew that she was put through a different shade of expectations. Mediocrity was expected from her, and she upsetted so many people in her own family by not being a mediocre girl.

Ana loved Music, she had a dream of being a professional Violinist and Pianist musician as both instruments settled just right within her handling of quiet and melacholic songs. That didn't stop her parents from breaking both instruments before she had the chance to make steps in that direction. Gardening? The food was poisoned for some reason. Drawing? Overvalued by 'people that did not know better'. And the excuses kept on piling until Ana learned why they didn't want her to get better at anything.

Fear. They were all frightened of her. They were frightened of what her DNA held that wasn't showing just yet.

Papers told her this much, research documents which showed how they learned too late that they had produced a ticking bomb through her. While they managed to curb most of the imperfections from her body, Ana held some primary elements which allowed her to eventually develop in the monstrous form acquired by her 'ancestor'. The tainted blood, which was to be triggered through the beginning of her secondary hunger, the one for blood, would be the thing that could set her up to be the one thing she didn't want to be: the villain.

So, it didn't come as a surprise when her parents accepted her wish to just 'leave'. From Agrigento to Fuyuki, the location in Japan was picked by looking into old properties she could go on and live in for the time being, with the former Matou household being the one that interested her the most due to its design.

Zouken Matou had ditched the place close to a couple of years ago when he suddenly left for Russia. There wasn't much explanation on why, but he reasoned with 'having gone too far' and 'seeking retirement'. A bit of a confusing reasoning considering how stubbornly clingy the man had been on the property, but it gave her the chance to finally move away from the hellhole that was 'home' and set herself a new one... with a containment chamber in the basement.

Ana wasn't sure what once was contained there, but a quick look into it confirmed that it was quite the foul magecraft. And she gave a proper cleaning once she had properly settled down. Her apathy for life allowed her to go through the absurd chore without much of a whine, and yet that grim mood was not bound to last.

She started to go to the local school and there she met her. Her Senpai.

"If you need anything, I can help you around. I know that the school is big and there are so many people around."

A small offer, which turned into a proper reason to interact with her and... then her body reacted to this. Part of her wanted to think it was the tainted blood waking up, but Ana felt no need to spill blood from Ria- no, her Senpai made her heart flutter with wonder and warmth. Ana didn't like to admit it so happily early on when they were just mere friends, but she should have suspected that she was infatuated with the blonde.

The way she needed to stare at her, the fact that she smiled so wonderfully, and then... the way she smelled. Ana knew that was a red flag, but it was manageable. Perceiving smells intensely felt like a tie to her tainted blood, but she could just smell her scent more than the rest. Only hers.

Her senpai smelled so wonderfully and so genuinely. It added more truth in her as she felt it- Ria was tired at times, but so hard-working and kind and nice and gorgeous and- ~~So sexy~~.

The infatuation was quite intense. Her Servant told her this much. Her Tainted Blood was active, but not in a manner foreseen by her family. It was reacting to the attraction, spurring her to be less shy and more active about it. Which she obliged for a sense of deep craving. And even now, as Ana stared at Ria finishing their first meeting as a team, she couldn't help but sigh dreamily at how gorgeous she was. She would be hers, she knew she wouldn't deny her and-

"Are you alright, girly?" Setanta interjected her deep thoughts, the concerned question hitting her like a door slamming on her face.

A blink, then two. "I-I am fine," She mumbled shyly, but the rest of the room was quite opposed to believe her. "W-What?"

"Your nose is bleeding," Saber pointed out, bringing her a handkerchief. It had an odd smell on it, Ria and... him? It wasn't that bad. Wait, why did he smell that good?!

Despite that inner dilemma, the girl picked it up and used it to clean up the blood from her nostril. Yep, she a little nosebleed. Quite silly admittedly, but it wasn't unusual. Whenever she would get worked up, her tainted blood would expel some of her normal one out through her nostrils.

"I am fine," She mumbled, thanking Saber as she gave his handkerchief back.

"If you want you can stay the night if you feel sick, Ana," Ria offered and Ana squeaked in delight.

"I will accept your humble offer, Senpai!"

Rider giggled, and Saber... smiled in amusement at that cute reaction.

Setanta shrugged while Lancer just... frowned hard at the girl, trying and failing to understand what was going on inside Ana's head.

Truth be told, not many could at this point all with how complicated her romantic and sexual intents were nowadays...

-d-d-d-d-

Kuro hated being a bad guy, but not for the reasons many would think her adverse to her current partnership.

It wasn't like Kuro genuinely cared who was her Master if they weren't dangerous perverts, but she could tell something creepy and sinister was afoot due to her current team. Caster was a bastard, and she didn't mean it because Rasputin was using Kirei's body. Memories from EMIYA and experience in her 'usual' life have taught her to put no trust in anything that closely resembled the 'fake priest'. The man was a dangerous mastermind despite how submissive he sounded around their Master.

Ninguna was clearly too engrossed on their main goal to genuinely care on the ramifications of having a potential backstabber in her team and... how was Kuro meant to tell her this and make it clear it was the truth. After all, Caster had been around much longer than she did, and the Servant had done nothing to warrant any form of suspicions.

A mistakenly-timed accusation could as well end with her termination. Which wasn't an experience she was ready for just yet. She needed proof and she needed time. Both of which the unaware Pseudo-Servant was giving her by acting in his most submissive mask possible to satisfy the blonde's ego and holding back from going through any dangerous plans of his.

But where she had this one issue to worry about, there was also a War to fight and win. And this was nothing like what EMIYA had dealt with. Even the Ainsworth Grail Wars had some sense to them. The first thing that she knew was that Kirei being a Servant and her being around meant that Ninguna had to be Gilgamesh's counterpart.

The arrogance and the boldness definitely made sense through this assumption, but it left open on how much this logic applied to the rest of the war. How many Masters have been turned in Servants and the same went for the opposite of that question. Which is why Kuro looked forward for their first nightly exploration of Fuyuki.

The starry-sky, the lack of people, and the chance to wander around like a harmless little girl through Fuyuki's streets and... things were quite boring. A quick look around, both visually and through her heightened perception as a Servant yielded nothing but just semi-Kirei strolling nearby together with their Master.

Or... that would have been a peaceful walk if not for a large man slamming from above and almost crushing her with its sharp club. Kuro's clothes switched to her EMIYA-like dress, her eyes widening as she realized what she was looking at and... she was rightfully regretting not having a full boring night at this point.

That's Berserker. And he looks absolutely sane and capable of making complex thoughts. Crap, that means Herakles is in full control of his abilities!

How was that even possible? Kuro's hands were already shaking by the sheer pressure exerted by the behemoth, and the man sighed as he recovered from the missed oneshot.

"It's interesting. You look like Master. She may be interesting on that."

Kuro giggled, fear or just bravery she didn't know. At this point, her behavior was at her honest. Flirty, joking and deeply panicking.

"Aw, are you trying to hit on me~?"

"More like hit you and nothing else."

She pouted briefly, dodging another strike by jumping on the side and feeling the missed hit still cause vibrations across her body.

This was not a fight she couldn't even hope of surviving for long if she lingered around in this 'fair setting'. As an Archer, close combat was just not ideal for her. So, she reacted by reaching out for her Master through their connection.

Master~, I found Berserker and I can't fight him on my own.

Ninguna hummed dryly at this.

Then get out of there. Rush for the sewers and then connect with us.

Easier said than done. Kuro jumped over another attempt to slam her down, but swiftly turned and bolted for the closest entrance to the underground sewer system. The manhole she found was easy to crack open and bolt through the small halls that led around the city. The powerful titan on the chase, his speed higher than her, but his capacity to handle the corners way lesser than how Kuro could turn those without losing much speed.

She waited for her Master to say something, but the woman just kept quiet through their connection and- then more shit hit the fan when she was forced to stop in front of another servant. White hair, white robes and a kind but deceitful smile.

"I finally caught you with you, Fake Archer. And here I thought that I would have struggled a bit more about it."

Kuro narrowed her eyes at the potential Servant- another Caster? But right as she prepared to fight her way through him, her eyes widened when she felt Berserker... passing them. As if he hadn't noticed them there. Her jaw dropped at this and she turned at the man, now smiling a bit more at this development.

"I don't seek to harm you, but rather I need help. You see, the Holy Grail is... a bit rotten. Something messing up with the wishcraft and all of that."

Her frown deepened. "And how does that help?"

"Your Master's wish is selfish, and your other ally has bad plans. I am sure you noticed."

"...Something like that."

"Then, here's the deal," The 'Caster' continued. "You help us stop them when possible, and I promise you that this world doesn't collapse on itself by the end of the day."

...

Kuro tilted her head. "Your name. Tell me your name."

He shrugged. "Sure. I am Grand Caster-class Servant, Merlin."

"...Grand Caster? Is that even a thing?" Kuro pressed and Merlin huffed. "What? I have all rights to know who I am trying to backstab my Master with."

"Fine! I am a kind of Servant that normally is summoned in times of needs and... Let's just say that I have been around to monitor a few issues with the Grail. Bigger issues than anyone can expect."

"Like what? Angra Manyu got stuck in the Greater Grail?"

"Hm?" Merlin raised a curious eyebrow. "Initially yes. However, the issue is a bit worse. We... have a dormant Beast within the Grail."

...What?!

AN

Someone forgot to clean the 'Holy Grail' aisle and now we have a Beast sleeping inside the Greater Grail!