Chapter 4

This might make it more systematic if I break the previous chapter into two.

At the Hideout

Arturia was roughly thrown on the cold ground like a sack of potatoes along with Taiga. Taiga seemed to have woken up from the impact.

"Huh! Where am I? Who are you?"

She bristled like a tiger indeed.

The earlier head thug seemed to reply to her as he lighted a cigarette.

"Well Miss Taiga, it seems that you have awoken from your beauty sleep. Well our boss would like to speak with you."

Just then a man entered the room. The first thing to be noticed was that he was very very fat with a bald head and a big cigar on his hand. He was wearing a woolen overcoat and black pants which seemed ready to rip off. It seems he could not find the right shirt for him because he was not wearing one, which showed his rather huge stomach with very high amount of hair on his chest. Taiga seemed to gag a bit from what Arturia could hear.

"Well well well look what we have here! The granddaughter of that bastard Raiga."

"Hey! Who the hell are you?"

Taiga tried to struggle out of the rope she was bound in but it was futile. The fat man just smiled and replied.

"Hey, hey, you don't want to struggle young lady if you want to be shot like your friend over there."

"What-"

Taiga looked to here side before paling. There was the unconscious young blond girl she was working with at the school. Her skin looked pale and there was blood on her shoulder. Taiga seemed to be mad.

"What did you do to her!?"

He just grinned.

"Oh nothing. Just she was involved with YOU and now she will die if you don't listen to us."

"….what do you want?"

It seemed that was the reaction that the boss wanted as he started to laugh,

"Hahahahahahahaha! That's right. You see, your grandfather has always squashed any gang that establishes itself in the Fuyuki city. Every single attempt made by us to establish our own faction was met with much resistance. And our backers don't like that. So we have you here under our control then we can bargain with Raiga."

"So you think gramps will let you go in peace after you have established yourself in this place? "

"To be honest, no! but we have you here."

Taiga narrowed her eyes.

"What! You think I will betray my family? Never."

Taiga spoke with such conviction that it impressed even Arturia. But the boss seemed amused.

"As expected of his grandchildren. Well not willingly at least. But we have your friend over here. She dies if you don't do as I say. At least these bunch of thugs were helpful at the least to have captured you two."

Taiga seemed to fidget. On one hand looking at the unconscious girl who was dragged in because of her and in the other her family. She was torn in between the two. The boss then chuckled and laughed.

"Hehehehahahah! Well it was amusing to see but she is not the only method we have here. You see, one of our backers has arrived here. He is an expert in hypnotism. That's right there are many things in this world that you don't understand young lady but that's for another day. He will make sure that you will bend to our will. You would strip yourself if I command you to. You will have sex with all the boys here if I command you to. You would KILL if I command you to."

Taiga looked at him in disgust and Arturia herself found his presence to be ….. affront to her eyes if she were to open them.

'But is he talking about mages? But I thought mages wouldn't involve themselves in mundane stuff.'

Arturia mused inside.

"Oh you don't believe me. Well look here."

He gestured a young girl who looked no older than 19 at his side to him. Taiga noticed that her eyes were quite hollow as she obediently came to him. He grabbed her head and commanded.

"Slave! I order you to beak one of your arms."

The young girl without any hesitation took a metal pipe and hacked at her hand. She continued to do so until a sickening crunch could be heard as Taiga looked on in shock. Then she looked at the fat man who seemed to be satisfied at her and she threw the pipe away to where Arturia could see with her little opened eyes. The girl seemed to have tears flowing from her eyes as the fat man just explained.

"Well quite a firecracker she was. I requested 'them' to make her conscious of her action but cannot do anything to stop her from obeying me. Even if she doesn't want to kill, she won't hesitate to kill someone if I commanded. Just like how I commanded her to kill her family and chop them to tiny pieces. Hehehehehe Well she is of no use to me."

The fat man nodded and gave her a gun before commanding nonchalantly.

"Kill yourself."

And she shot herself in the head without any hesitation as some blood splattered onto Taiga's face. As this was totally unexpected, Arturia could not react to stop the poor girl. The fat man grinned which disturbed the surrounding thugs.

Taiga looked at him, wide-eyed in shock.

"Ah! When you look at me like that you remind me of your mother. Oh how she looked like you. Well nobody knows how she died, including even your grandfather but I do. I was there along with others."

Arturia couldn't help but feel unease at that. There were few enemies who were quite melodramatic in ranting out their inhuman deeds and this too seemed like that case. The fat man confirmed it as he said.

"That bitch killed herself before we could rape her. Hmph! But we did to her still warm dead body. It wasn't that bad."

Taiga seemed to have frozen. Now, Arturia really wished to kill him as she was seething inside.

'To have done the deed was enough reason for me to kill him. To violate such a steadfast lady who was courageous enough to die before her honor was tarnished but to desecrate her body? And to say such things to her child while enjoying it? Absolutely unforgivable!'

When Arturia was about to attack him a calm voice could be heard but it held some….disgust?

"Spare me the speech and tell me, who do I need to hypnotize for you so I can return back."

A tall lanky man with curly hair that seemed to reach his back arrived in the room. He wore suit and a tall black hat which made him look like an aristocrat. The fat man who was gleefully looking at Taiga seemed to have come out of his euphoria.

"Yes, Master Covain. It is she who needs to be brainwashed just like what Master Weinberg did."

Taiga seemed to come out of her shock and struggled hard.

"Now now don't be shy Taiga-chan. We will have loads of fun when you become my bitch. We will try a lot of new ways to have 'fun'."

Taiga seemed to struggled even harder as tears seemed to pour out of her eyes.

"No NO NO! Save me! GRANDFATHER, FATHER, KIRITSUGU, SOMEONE! ANYONE PLEASE SAVE ME!"

The fat man laughed at her. When Covain seemed to move towards her Taiga seemed to struggle more. But Covain seemed to stop suddenly. He frowned and then looked at Arturia who was preparing to escape. She had failed to save the poor girl but she will save Taiga.

"Magic circuits? No something more powerful?"

Then his eyes widened in realization,

"A MAGIC CORE!"

As if that was the cue to start, Arturia flooded her legs with Prana and released her signature move, Prana burst. Suddenly the whole room exploded with dust making it hard to see. As she was not bound by ropes she quickly accelerated towards the pipe nearby her grabbing it with her able hand along with Taiga who was still surprised with tears on her eyes,

"Eh! Eh!"

In the dust Arturia struck anyone in the head to incapacitate the thugs. Her main target, the presumed mage was nowhere to be found as her vision was also obscured but she hit whoever she could find. She did not show them any mercy. She then looked at her ward who seemed to be confused and decided it would be best to retreat. It seems that they were in a big abandoned factory. Arturia then took many twist and turns and after a minute found a relatively peaceful place. She then kept Taiga hidden in the wooden crates, destroyed the ropes that bound Taiga and was about to leave her when Taiga spoke with a hint of fear in her voice. It was understandable as Taiga was still in state of shock. She spoke, a little subdued.

"Where….Where are you going?"

Arturia looked at her in indifferent eyes, a battlefield was no place for hesitation.

"Just to take out some trashes."

But Taiga seemed to be worried. Arturia did not know whether Taiga was still in a state of denial or not but nodded inwardly at the level-headedness she was showing.

"But what about you? There may be many thugs left. You can't defeat all of them!"

Arturia shrugged.

"First of all, I applaud your will after being told of a horrendous deed. But now is not the time. You are currently a liability to me so run away and find help. Their main target is you while I hold them off. Your family may be searching for you. They could send a lot of people to search for you. Find them and come here."

Taiga looked conflicted in leaving her back.

"Just hurry!"

"….. I will be back. You can count on it. And leave that fat bastard alive for me at the least, I still have a score to settle with him."

Arturia nodded. Taiga looked around and said in a small voice.

"…..how am I going to escape?"

Arturia smirked and grabbed Taiga by the cloth before looking at the river that could be seen over the wall as they were in the second floor of the abandoned factory. Taiga looked at her, then the river, again at her and she panicked when she saw her smirk,

"I don't think this is gonna wooorrrrkkkkkk-"

Before reinforcing her arms with prana and flunging Taiga towards the river.

"Aiieeeeeee…..JUST YOU WAIT! I WILL PRANK YOU SO HARD, MARK MY WORD SO BE CAREFUL!"

Now the innocent was out of the way it was now time to clean up. She checked herself. She had used about 30% of her useable Prana. She must use it carefully while trying to ambush them. The only threat she faced was the one from the unknown mage as well as those with the firearm. She still had a wounded shoulder where she forcefully yanked out the bullet before covering it with a piece of cloth from her dress.

"This will do for the moment."

She could feel the people rushing towards her direction. She looked around, wanting to find something that could hide her and looked up where she saw steel beams hanging loosely connected to each other.

'It could support my weight for a surprise attack as now I don't have armor so I am light.'

She jumped high and reached up just in time as the doors were opened. In came 15-20 thugs.

"I think I heard something over here. Heck how can a small girl run so fast with another person while having a wounded shoulder AND knocking out 20 other people along the way?"

"Don't know don't care. I stopped thinking about it. Could be illegal human experiments. People going missing is not that uncommon nowadays before they show up with fucked up dead bodies."

Arturia looked below at them. Focusing her breathing and reinforcing herself she jumped up and in an inverted position, she stood on the beam facing downwards. But before gravity could exert its effect she pressed on it with one hand and dived right dab smack in the middle of the group causing a shockwave that blew them away. Many thugs were knocked unconscious while the remaining were disorientated. She clenched her hand before bursting into action. Her reinforced body were league above them and reached them before they could blink.

THUK

THUK

THUK

And three thugs were sent into the dreamland. The remaining 3 showed their handguns and pointed towards her before firing. This time she was prepared. Weaving through the gun spray with her reinforced body as well as her instinct she smacked the first gun away before performing a round house kicked the thugs that sent him to the wooden boxes, breaking them. The remaining were just reloading their gun before they too were kicked and knocked out.

Arturia just left them. Her little stunt had made her bleeding shoulder bleed more. She looked at the corridor and saw two thugs with guns coming to her direction. She waited at the corner before crouching. Just as the thugs turned the corner to where she was and she promptly punched his nether region which sent the thug frothing upwards embedding in the roof. The second one was gob-smacked before she slapped him in the face and embedded him at the side wall.

This scene continued as she went deeper and deeper in the factory where those bastards were. She knocked the thugs with her tactics, underhanded the tactics may be, she had no other choice as she was her left arm was handicapped by her wound. She observed from the window that a familiar was flying away, no doubt for reinforcement by the mage. She aimed a brick at the creature before flinging at it as it broke the sound barrier. She had reinforced the brick so it did not crumble. The creature reacted too late as it was crushed by the brick before it could even figure out what was happening.

The final room where she had made her hasty escape was just before her but it was guarded by more than twenty thugs. One of the thugs who had shot her as well as the thug who had kidnapped her was there. The smart thug looked at her then her shoulder.

"Well well well, I sure am glad that you shot her before."

"Eh really boss?"

"Yeah, here we have a, raging monster machine who knocked out or killed more than 50 grown ass men, who cannot use her left arm by judging her wound. I could literally kiss you for making my job easier."

Arturia frowned as she remembered that she had not killed them. Just gave them bruise at best or concussion at worst. Except for that one man which she had punched from his nether region.

"I do not kill unless they give me a reason to."

"It was just a metaphor…."

While the man who had shot her replied.

"Eh but I am not gay, boss."

"….Just shut up, you dumb fuck, and focus on mowing her down with your guns."

Arturia just grabbed the steel pipe and reinforced it before dashing towards them.

With Taiga

"That little witch, does she not know its rude to throw a lady, especially to the river?"

Taiga was grumbling, trying hard to forget the words replayed by the boss about the fate of her mother.

"I just don't have that strong of a will..."

Taiga just needs help now. For her as well as her savior who may still be battling the thugs. She needs to-she must-

"TAIGA!"

"TAIGA!"

She heard the voice of her father as well as her grandfather. She looked up from the riverbank shivering at her father, grandfather as well as groups of her Yakuza family who looked as they were searching for her.

"Otou-san … Jii-san…uuuuuuu"

And started bawling, hard. The pressure was too much for her and she cried and cried. Her father hugged her and started to pacify her. After a good minute or two of crying she relayed what happened to her in the last hour or so. As expected after she had recounted her experience the two men as well as the all the members seemed to be seething in anger.

"They did that….to my daughter?"

Her grandfather hid his emotion and just looked apathic. It chilled her. She always hated that part of him because he showed no remorse for what he did: good or bad. He would kill people or skin someone without even flinching in that state.

Her giant of a father did not even say a word. He just looked as apathic as her grandfather. Something she did not even once knew that her father had.

"But we need to hurry! Arturia is still in there holding them back! Hurry before something happens to her!"

"All right. Well boys, escort her back to the house with maximum security."

"No! I will stay here and wait for her!"

Taiga looked at her grandfather stubbornly. Surprisingly, it was her father that spoke to her,

"Go back Taiga. The scene….. will not be good for you. Please…"

Taiga looked at her father in surprise as it was the first time he pleaded to her and she nodded unconsciously. She went along with few of the members but she looked at them,

"Please save her."

Both of them looked at her,

"We will."

At the Abandoned Factory

The fat man could not help but feel terrified. The doors were closed but he and his master Covain were inside the room. Covain seemed to be frowning as his messenger was killed a minute ago. Finally, they could hear screams and gunfire. This lasted for few minutes until it all became silent. Before then the doors that closed was slowly opening. The fat man seemed desperate and asked.

"Hey did you kill the brat?"

Only to be greeted by a young foreign girl with bloody clothes and a metal pipe, which was also caked in blood. Arturia looked at the terrified fat man and the calm mage. She did not show but she was frowning inside as she had 30% remaining mana. The fight had honestly taken a lot from her. Exhaustion and the bleeding wound had taken a huge toll as well. The mage named Covain seemed to sigh before putting his hand on the back of the fat man's head before mumbling something. The fat guy seemed to froth from his mouth and keeled over. His status unknown. Arturia frowned.

"You would harm your ally?"

The man seemed to reply with indifference.

"He was not an ally, just a lackey."

Arturia looked at him.

"Tell me magus, why are you involved in the mundane world. Shouldn't you be inside your workshop, researching for the Root of the world or something?"

He smirked at that as he replied.

"hmmm you seem to be aware of the moon-lit world. It's to be expected since you have a magic core that has not appeared since the migration of phantasmal beast to the reverse side..."

He shook his head in denial.

"As for your original question, that's a privilege for a normal magus. We do not have that privilege ever since we were slapped with sealing designation."

Arturia wasn't surprised at all. With the moral compass of almost having no morality at all, some fools were bound to get punished for their crime. But it was helpful tidbits because it seemed that whoever this guy was a part of meant they were all sealing designee and they were cut off from other influential magus group like the Clock-tower.

But it was also concerning as well because there were few morally loose people out there who didn't give two-bits about normal people's life. She thanked her charisma because it gave her some information about the magus without the magus even realizing it.

"No wonder, morally loose people are bound to get punished after all."

Her goal was to agitate the magus further into giving her more information as well as time to recover her Prana as well. She seemed to get the reaction out of him as well,

"Morally loose people? Hah! Such insolence. I was the head of the House of Elcot. Our magecraft relied nothing but on charms, illusions and boundary fields. Unlike other magus we cared deeply for one another, so much that we do not have history of ever forming branch families. I was even heralded as a genius in my use of bounded field in the Clock-tower. Just then a stuck up mage from a renowned family seemed to want to advance her magecraft using my family crest. But of course I rejected her and she felt 'humiliated' that such a low class family rejected her. She then framed my family for researching into Reality Marbles and falsified evidence caused Enforcers to kill even the children and babies of our house. The others did not even deny because it would mean the resources of our house would go to them. Our house was destroyed and I fled away."

He sported a twisted grin on his face which made him look a bit crazed.

"The world belongs to the strong and I will be strong even if I kill thousands of normal people. After all they are only fodders for superior people like me. And now you will have the honor to be my experiment!"

He then took something from his pocket. A small round ball and threw it on the ground before muttering,

"Fibrio castos"

Then a burst of flame targeted Arturia from where the ball went. The fire swirled towards her igniting everything in the factory causing a big fire. She dodged it before quickly trying to get him in her zone of sight. Her magical resistance had degraded so she was not that eager to get blasted by magecraft. But the man seemed to disappear before throwing another ball and chanting,

"Fibrio castos"

Then a burst of icicles appeared tried to impale her but Arturia dodged it by a hair's breadth. But a shallow cut still appeared on her cheek. Then he casted another from which blade of winds appeared and another where blocks of rocks tried to hit her. Then at the last he revealed another catalyst but this time Arturia's instinct screamed at her to not let him use that. She dashed towards him only for that man to dissipate before his voice could be heard everywhere.

'Illusion?'

"Did you know there are five elements that created this world? Fire, water, wind, earth and lastly this ether element in my hand which was supposed to be extinct. Every time I casted it would work as even a greater catalyst. Since that bitch dared to destroy why house I didn't care even if I dabbled in forbidden magecraft. And after years of research I finally have results and just where I need you to be, little girl!"

The catalyst appeared and hit the other place.

"Fibrio requiem illuminatos dos Sanctum!"

The place where the catalyst hit suddenly glowed bright white, then it created a line that joined the places where others had hit forming perfect circle and the line joined to another creating a pentagram and she was dab smack in the middle. Then world seemed to crack and Arturia felt herself be disoriented. She arrived in snow world where the skies were black with no hint of stars but it was still snowing. She looked around only to see white snow and snow covered coniferous trees everywhere. As if she was in another world.

"Beautiful isn't it? A far cry from Reality Marble but still a sight to behold. I studied about Reality Marbles by exchanging little resources I had left for information on it from other Designee. Though our standing in the Clock-Tower was low but we were still an ancient family. Our crest is strong and my Origin is 'Space', a rare and valuable one while my alignment is 'Break' both non-standard but when used along with my crest and the catalyst I can confuse Gaia long enough to create a pseudo-Reality Marble."

Then spatial tears appeared out of nowhere and Arturia dodged them. Along with many knives flung from somewhere else. She deflected them as the voice of the magus gained more nostalgia.

"This place was our Root. From where our family grew into prominence. Where our ancestors were buried. But now due to the whims of one prideful lady not even the bones of our family remains."

More and more spatial tears appeared as more and more the man's hatred bled out. Arturia was confused as her instinct did not seem to work.

'Are they being nullified?'

She continued to deflect more knives thrown at her.

'These knives don't have much weight but I feel as if they will cut hard if they even graze me. I need to get out of this predicament fast otherwise the pipe won't hold much longer.'

Then all of a sudden her instinct screamed and she dodged to her right only to find a butcher's knife stuck where she had been previously and promptly disappeared as well.

'That came out of nowhere. I didn't even see it!'

'Think think Arturia….wait a minute!'

I was the head of the House of Elcot.

Why was it important?

Our magecraft relied nothing but on charms, illusions and boundary fields

Maybe….maybe…..that's the reason why her instinct did not cry out.

When the next spatial tear appeared she secretly placed a small piece of her hair only to see that it came out unharmed and her eyes shown in understanding.

'That's the reason. This world may be a pseudo one but as it was created by the man it supported his illusion to make it more real and lifelike while man secretly tried to assassinate her.

So she'd have to wait until he reveals himself. She acted as if she was desperately defending the illusions. Her reinforce steel pipe was slowly wearing itself down with all the cracks and dents seen on it by defending against the illusion.

Suddenly her instinct screamed at her but this time she didn't dodge but blocked it. Then she moved forwards using Prana burst, a dangerous gamble as she had only about 15% left. The invisible man seemed to be surprised as he stumbled back and Arturia grabbed his arm using her instinct. Then she sighed before looking resolute. Reinforcing the metal pipe to the absolute limit she whacked on his head. The metal pipe suddenly burst in explosion surprising even Arturia. The world around her seemed to collapse and she found herself on the ground. The man was still alive but his breathing was getting shallower and shallower. She looked at him and knew it that he was not going to live long.

"cough cough…. hehehehehehahahHAHAHAHA! What a fitting end for someone like me. To be outsmarted by a kid! I knew I had a loose mouth but something about you seemed to trigger them to no end."

"Why….Why did you attack this place. There is a second owner in this place who may have ties to both the church and Mage association. So why did you try to attack this place?"

The man showed hints of coherence and madness.

"Spite? No no no maybe I was already a dead man walking. A final battle? Yes, to meet my maker. I needed a reason to die. I just didn't want to die of old age. Maybe I wanted to die by showing my masterpiece. You know go out in style. My leftover pride demanded it. Maybe I thought you would be the one to end me. You...I don't know why but you seem like a good person, decent at least in this shit-hole of a world. The way you carry yourself says it all. So how was it? My masterpiece."

Arturia showed a conflicted face. She wanted to deny his request but at the same time wanted to carry out the request of a fallen foe. He showed his true face for the first time. A man who was 'broken' inside and messed up just as she was. The whole place was crumbling down as it was burning and she did not have time but she'd make one for him.

"It was good, all of it seemed real. If it were not for the fact that you had revealed that you relied on illusions and my instinct I would have been trapped until I was exhausted. But it is still far cry from the real one. You couldn't confuse all my senses."

After all, she had been trained by Merlin. He chuckled.

"Ahhh….HEHEHE I knew it! It is still a far too large of a gap to cover it. After all I had only researched for a few years on it. Say grant me another last request. Please let this body die here, be burned here, my last stand. Don't let my body be desecrated by the magus fools. Those that came here, now they are the real monsters. I may have used to experiment on humans but only those that truly deserved it like criminals but they were the ones that experimented on normal people."

His voice was tired. In her time as a king she had heard this tone many times. A person who didn't need salvation. Arturia couldn't help but say.

"Wouldn't you want to be saved? To survive? To live for another day maybe to get a fresh start?"

He looked at her incredulously.

"A fresh start? Are you serious? I will be hunted for all my life so will be my kins. I do not wish such a life for them."

Then the man looked at her. Seeing her expression, he realized something and laughed.

"Hahaha….a idealistic person eh? But let me tell you something girl, a valuable thing. Remember, you cannot save someone who doesn't want to be saved. It will be inevitable that you make a choice no matter what and stick to it to the bitter end. A path of no regret. My choice is to die here so let me die in my glory. Finish me, girl."

Arturia looked at him sadly but she too respected his decision. She could do that. She used her remaining safe prana to flair of creating a golden aura around her. Her hair as well as her clothes seem to sway gently in the air. The man seemed to be surprised at first and looked at her incredulously.

She did not have Excalibur nor did she had Dragon blood to give her surplus amount of Prana. She may have magic core but she had normal human blood. Maybe that was why she was yet to be erased by Gaia as it could percieve her having Dragon blood in this day and age as an anomoly. She tried to emulate what her Excalibur could do. Give him hope in the last stage of his life so that he may die in peace. Even though she herself wasn't sure, if her hope was enough. After all, she was dying in regret of her own rule, her only hope was to rely on this instrument called the Holy Grail to undo her reign after taking the help of Counter Force.

"I may be far cry from what I used to be but it's the least I can do at this stage. It may not be as grand as the real thing but it is still a crystallization of my hope as King Arthur Pendragon, the once and future king of Britain."

She then bowed her head a little. Many people would think that it was for a petty reason that she did what she did. But no matter what it was the first time in her second life that she had seen such a steely resolve. The man looked at her carefully before it all clicked up in his mind, regal? There's no man more regal than him in Arthurian legends. Proud? No man as proud as him. Honorable? He defined the word honorable. Also he had heard about the holy grail war where the Einzbern had summoned King Arthur. No wonder no wonder indeed.

As he was enveloped by the warm golden light, he could see his family in the background. His broken eyes regaining some semblance of feeling as he smiled for the last time before he died.

Arturia looked at his corpse before it was swallowed up by flames.

Well I will continue to write the story