It has now been a day since Percy accepted Caren as his 'master' and to be honest, he didn't feel much different. Yes, he did feel a connection to her now, but he didn't feel empowered like she said he would feel.
He was told by Caren that he didn't need to sleep, eat or use the bathroom because he's in a spiritual body and yet he did feel hungry in-fact he was starving!
When he voiced the concerns, she looked confused.
"That's… unnatural," Caren said, putting a hand on her chin while pondering. "Perhaps, there is a malfunction in the grail or maybe the grail just got confused."
Something told him that it was neither the former nor the latter but then again, he had no idea himself. All of this was new to him, and she knew then he did. He was simply trying to win this grail and get back home.
Today they were apparently going to go out and scout for some servants and possibly eliminate them if possible. She told him she didn't have magic circuits and thus couldn't provide him the mana necessary to use any of his Noble Phantasms beside Riptide.
Apparently, the master keeps the servant manifested, and without their constant supply of mana, they would eventually disappear. The Archer class was a different case, however, as they all had a skill called Independent Action which allowed them to stay manifested even without a master for a few days depending on what they did.
Sadly, for him, he was not an Archer and has never successfully landed a bow shot even to this day. But he no longer hit the people behind him so there was an improvement.
"We should leave now... I will be calling you Rider out in public, so nobody knows your true name."
Percy nodded in understanding.
They left the apartment with no problems and were now wandering throughout Fuyuki. It was now nighttime which meant that any servant could attack. Percy naturally stood in the front in case anyone tried attacking him. He was confident that even if an Archer was to try and assassinate his master, he would be ready.
Of course, Percy was in his usual orange shirt with normal jeans. For all intents and purposes, he looked like any normal person around besides being extremely handsome. At least that's what he told himself.
"Do we servants have the ability to sense other servants?" Percy asked.
"Yes, you should be able to sense any servant should they approach. The assassin class servant, however, you won't know until they show the intent to kill" Percy wondered if he would encounter a Greek hero that he may know like Jason or Perseus. That would be kind of interesting to see.
"What do you want with the Holy Grail?" Percy said changing the subject. Although he was genuinely curious about what she would want with the grail of all things. She was a priestess or something so maybe she wanted to speak to god or something? He was so worried about him getting home he didn't think about what she may wish for the grail.
"My wish is quite simple." Caren said stopping and turning towards him "I wish to el-" Percy held out his hand stopping her from saying anything else.
"Someone's here," Percy said seriously. He felt a barrier of some sort form out of nowhere. He put a hand in his pocket ready to draw out Riptide should the situation call for it.
"Well now, what do we have here?" a man said crouching down on a lamppost. He wore skintight blue tights that had lines running down it, grey metallic pauldrons, and a metal plate on his lower stomach. The most noticeable thing about him was his blue hair that was put in a wolf's tail (men refuse to call it a ponytail) and his ruby-red eyes. It honestly reminded Percy of Ares' eyes whenever they glowed.
He was lazily holding a blood-red spear that was as large as he was tall and had veins running down it. Even from down here, he could feel the bloodlust oozing off the spear. He had no doubts that it was a cursed weapon like Backbiter, but he didn't know what curse was inflicted upon it.
The man then got up from his crouching position flexing his impressive muscles. "My master saw you two roaming around and wanted me to bring the little lady in," he said pointing at Caren who had a strange mix of emotions on her face. It was a mixture of worry, anger, and relief?
'He's a Lancer' Caren informed him as she pulled out some weird red cloth which seemingly had a mind of its own. Percy also pulled out his pen and turned it into its xiphos form.
The man turned to him with an interested look before grinning and showed his canine teeth. "Oh, so you want to fight eh lass?"
"What makes you say that Spider-Man?" Percy said referring to his skin-tight outfit.
The man ignored his sarcastic remark and jumped down from his lamppost and readied his lance.
"I see you're just as snarky as Archer eh?" Lancer said dryly. "Since you know my class, I think it's only fair you tell me yours no?"
Percy looked at Caren who nodded.
"My class is Rider"
"Well, go ahead take out your chariot," Lancer said holding his spear out.
"Uh, I don't… feel like it?" Percy said weakly and Lancer shrugged before walking towards him slowly.
The two circled each other before Lancer got impatient and took the initiative, thrusting his spear at Percy who swiped it aside and tried to get inside the man's guard. Lancer surprised him by easily sidestepping and kicked him in the stomach sending Percy back.
"Eh, so you know your way around the sword, do you?" Percy winced as he felt the wound even though he had the Curse of Achilles.
'Why is the curse not nullifying the damage?' Ever since the fight with the big dude, his Curse has been acting up and not working how it usually did. He wondered if maybe he lost it once again somehow.
He also felt weak for some reason, a lot weaker than he did when he first manifested fighting the Berserker.
Nevertheless, he rushed towards Lancer in a burst of speed and aimed Riptide at the man's neck who blocked it easily with the side of his spear then whirled it around lightning fast and tried to hit him with the sharp part of it. Percy however, in a quick show of pankration, slammed into the man and grabbed him by the wrist and flipped him over his shoulder.
The two charged again in a blur and were so fast Caren couldn't even tell what was going on. Finally, they withdrew.
Lancer for his credit rolled with it and landed gracefully. "I'm impressed. You have quick reaction speeds and decent skill" before sighing. "However, my master wants me to finish this as fast as possible so unfortunately we can't enjoy this to the fullest"
Lancer didn't say it, but he was confused. The rider shook off his kicks like they were nothing. While he wasn't the strongest servant around since that was reserved for Berserker, he still had B- ranked. The Rider looked to be in his late teens and yet his blows shook him to the core. He was stronger than he looked.
Getting into a stance Lancer pointed his spear downwards and grasped the handle tightly. A red aura appeared around the spear that screamed bloodlust. Percy stepped in front of Caren even though he wasn't sure he could block this.
The man was about to unleash attack until he suddenly sighed. "Ugh, my stupid master wants me to retreat again. Unfortunately, we will have to put this match on hold for now. Hopefully, next time you can use your chariot" with that Lancer retreated into spirit form.
Percy collapsed on the floor. He felt terribly weak even with this short fight. He felt… empty.
Caren looked concerned before widening her eyes "I don't have magic circuits so I can't provide you with the mana necessary to use your true strength or your Noble Phantasm" Percy sighed.
'Of course, I knew this was going to be difficult'
"We need to head to the ocean" Caren looked confused, so Percy explained "Oh, I forgot to explain to you. I am the demigod son of Poseidon Percy Jackson."
Caren nodded in understanding as they walked to a nearby beach. The beach was far out according to Caren, but he didn't mind. This would give him a chance to interact with his master and find out more about her. To be honest, he really knew little about her and she was a very reclusive girl.
"So how do you know where to go? Do you have a map or something?" Caren shook her head.
"The lord is guiding me" Percy comedically backed up a little bit from her. She was one of those people his mom warned him about. Those who believed the lord would guide them through every situation. He would stick by her though as he had already taken an oath to aid her in the holy grail war even if it were for his own benefit.
After a while of walking, they finally found the beach as Caren said. He briefly wondered if she knew where she was going or if she was literally just leaving it to 'the lord' as she said.
Looking at the beach he was relieved to see the ocean once again.
"Finally! Wait right here master I'm going to take a dive" she nodded. Without even taking off his clothes he jumped right into the ocean earning odd looks from the other occupants of the beach. He ignored them though and enjoyed feeling the mana course through him and the fatigue fade away. He felt he could summon Blackjack again if he wanted to, but he knew if he did it would only drain him once again.
Caren up on the beach docks shook her head as she watched her servant play around in the water. She supposed he deserved it having fought a servant as tough as Lancer was.
She was glad she picked up such a powerful servant and even though she could barely see their movements she could make out him easily parrying the large spear of the man and counterattacking. In fact, whenever he swung his short sword the ground around him shook violently. He didn't even seem to realize it himself.
"It seems there's more to this servant then meets the eye," she said to herself idly watching him like a hawk. "The Lord has provided me with a servant that will win the holy grail for me."
He would be essential to her plans in killing her father. She knew the moment she saw the servant that he was her father's servant and he was incredibly strong. He would be one of the main obstacles to getting to her father, so he had to be eliminated first.
Unfortunately, for her, she couldn't provide mana for her incredibly powerful servant, and hearing that he could replenish himself simply by bathing in water made things easy for her.
Her face took on a sadistic edge that Percy couldn't see. She would really hate to have him feed on souls to replenish mana. While she would do it happily since the lord requested it of her, it would be a shame to have a bad reputation with the sea god.
After all, he was her pawn.
Her amber eyes glowed.
A/N: That's a wrap. Things are now heating up with Lancer's confrontation with Percy.
Of course, Percy had little mana and couldn't use any of his abilities at all but neither could Lancer. The next time they fight it will be a lot more interesting I can guarantee you that.
Also, as you may have noticed this is a different route. There will be...different servants and different outcomes in the war which I will explain later on.