See you again, people! This is a little late, but, happy New Year to you all! Here is the next chapter of this story. This time there is not as much action as in the previous chapter, but its fair share remains. You could say that from this chapter the 'bounding moments' will start.
As for runelt99's question, what that phrase means is that the weapons used by King of Fakers were obtained during his fight with Gilgamesh in my previous story.
Without further ado, let the chapter begin.
Disclaimer: I don't own any rigth over Type-Moon or the Fate franchise.
Things didn't look too good for us. We were in enemy territory, and although our numbers were more or less on par, it was obvious that the servants of the red faction were monsters in every sense of the word. To that must be added that Caster betrayed us. Well, that was within my expectations from the beginning.
Still, showing weakness was the worst thing to do in this situation. Besides, did the priest really think for a moment that I was going to go over to his side? If he want to save humanity, instead of participating in this pointless bloodbath, he should focus on stopping it. He must be really desperate to resort to this method.
I have to admit that the mention of 'saving humanity' might have made me a little angry. That is basically Alaya's undisputed purpose, and her method of achieving it goes against my ideals. Not only erase the threat, but erase everything that has a minimal relations with it, regardless of whether it is innocent or not.
The irritation of the supposed second servant Ruler increased more and more, showing on his wrinkled face. The atmosphere was getting heavier, and hostility grew with each second.
"Caster, we haven't made the pact yet, but could you help me get rid of them?"
"Understood, master." After saying that, the masked servant snapped his fingers and several golems appeared through the door, completely blocking our only escape route.
Just in case we needed more proof that Caster was already planning to betray us from the beginning.
"If you are going to get in my way, King of Fakers, then perish along with Ruler and Saber of Black."
Ruler and Saber turned as they felt the golems approaching and balanced their weapons with all their might. The strong stream of air they provoked drew them back, but it was not enough to destroy them.
"Ruler!"
Assassin of Red did not stand idly by, and various magic circles formed above her. Several prana chains came out of these, all pointing at Ruler. However...
"Trace on."
At the same time, I traced 20 low-rank noble phantasm and fired them in their direction.
The chains clashed into the blades and destroyed each other, filling the room with explosions. But her chains were outnumbered and some of the swords followed their path to Assasssin and Shirou.
That took her by surprise, and by the time she tried to dodge them, it was too late. She had to be saved by Lancer of Red, who deflected the blades with his golden spear.
That was fine anyway. My goal was to distract them to save time.
Balmung wrapped itself in a dense beam of blue light, and Saber swung it horizontally, obliterating all of Caster's golems.
With the escape route clear, all that was left was to get out of here as fast as possible. But that was not something our enemies would allow.
Karna threw himself at me at extreme speed, intending to pierce me with his spear. I was just going to have time to trace Kanshou and Bakuya, and I wasn't sure if they would withstand the impact.
To everyone's surprise, including me, a red blur crashed between Lancer and me. The sparks flew when the spear clashed with a silver sword.
I recognized the servant before me as Mordred, dressed in casual clothes instead of her armor.
"Heh, this guy has a score to settle with me. Don't interfere with that!" After proclaiming that, she forced Karna to retreat with a powerful prana burst.
"I see, so you're the Knight of Treachery, Mordred." Shirou, who had returned to his calm attitude, had no trouble discerning the identity of Saber of Red.
"Don't say my name so confidently!"
"Do you intend to betray us, Saber?" Assassin asked the newly arrived servant with some irritation.
"Are you retarded? You were the ones who tried to deceive my master. It's obvious you're my enemies!"
"Then, as it's befitting for treason, let's behead you!"
"Try it, you rotten bitch!"
Just before they started fighting each other, a couple of metal objects fell between them. These began to release a lot of smoke, clouding the vision of all present.
Mordred stopped charging and turned to us. "Hey, it's time to get out of here!"
I guess the distraction was set up by her master. Without hesitation, Saber, Ruler and I ran out of the room.
Already when we were in the corridors, Jeanne spoke to us. "We could say that the whole structure of the Reds against the Blacks has collapsed."
"They got the Great Grail, there's nothing the black faction can do now." Saber coldly commented.
"I know. But that's not the problem. Amakusa Shirou told me he's been planning this for 60 years."
"A servant who managed to remain in the world since the Third Holy Grail War..." His situation was exactly the same as that of a certain goldie.
"Perhaps I was summoned to stop all this madness. He has gone against the rules of the heroic spirits. Still..." She stopped in the middle of her speech. From the look on her face, her mind must be conflicted.
In the end, Saber and I set out to deliver the dire news to our masters.
In the basement of the Yggmillenia fortress, the remaining masters of the Black faction were arguing with the Homunculi who had rebelled. As a traditional magus, Gordes could not accept that his own creations disobeyed him.
"Calm down, Uncle Gordes." Fiore, who remained calm as her thoughts on the subject were not so traditional, stopped the blond magus before things got worse.
"I understand the reason, but what do you intend to do?"
"That's..." The girl who was acting as spokesperson, the same one who was saved by Sieg, hesitated for a few moments.
The sound of a few steps down the stairs interrupted the conversation. The person who appeared surprised everyone. He was none other than Sieg.
"Is everything all right?" This one asked the girl as she approached her.
"You came back."
"You bastard!" On seeing the man for whom he almost lost his servant, Gordes did not react very well.
This one completely ignored it and turned to look at the masters. "I have to say something to you Yggmillenia. I have become a master." As he dropped the bomb, he showed the back of his left hand.
In this they could see a set of black seals with the appearance of a dragon. One of them had been used. Those seals had appeared after his 'transformation' in Siegfried.
"Excuse me, what did you just say?"
"One of your masters was killed by Saber of Red, so I took her place and made a contract with your Rider. I want to make a deal with you as a fellow master.
The Yggmillenia masters continued to stare at him in disbelief, but before they could say anything, someone else entered the basement.
"I finally made it! Please muve aside!" It was Rider of Black. It passed the Black masters and stood next to Sieg. "Sorry for the wait!"
"Rider, what he says is true?"
"About the contract? Yes, it is supertrue! So now I'm on his side." His voice full of sincerity and unconcern gave no room for doubt.
"You don't stop doing things that go beyond our imagination." The homunculus couldn't help but be surprised.
"I think the same."
Then, the negotiations started.
"Do you want to attain freedom? Even without knowing what comes next? Is it even possible for you to accomplish something without following orders?"
Sieg clenched his fist at Gordes' harsh words. "Maybe we don't deserve something like freedom. But, even if there's no rest after this... Even if there is only despair, this is the path I have chosen to follow, and I will not regret it! They don't need to be saved, they just want the freedom to choose. For that reason, it's worth fighting!"
"Freedom... to choose." Fiore was surprised by his speech, especially because it sounded like something Archer would say.
"Don't give me that crap! You want freedom!?"
"Uncle, count to ten."
"Like that's gonna calm me down!"
Fiore set out to repress him if necessary, but both stopped abruptly in their conversation. Right at that moment, Saber and Archer contacted them to give them the bad news.
As soon as she reached Fort Yggmillenia, Jeanne dragged Sieg to a secluded place to talk alone. And she didn't seem very happy.
Archer at first was willing to help him, but for some reason, his survival instincts told him that it would only make things worse for both of them. So, with a mental apology, he left to accompany Saber as they discussed what to do with their masters.
Caster's goal was clear, to complete his noble phantasm. For that, he needed a talented magus who was quite related to the golems. The only one with such a profile was his master. They couldn't do anything for him, because by the time they started looking for him, he was gone.
With nothing they could do for now, they focused on rebuilding the damaged part of the fort from Espartacus' last attack.
Archer wanted to help the homunculi in the task, but Fiore insisted that he rest since his prana reserves were quite low.
So now he was sitting on the roof, watching the stars. That was something that always helped him relax, besides thinking in swords.
The sound of a few steps made him turn alarmed, but he relaxed seeing that it was Sieg.
"Oh, you were already here, Archer. I guess I'll find another place."
"You don't have to do that. Some of company doesn't hurt."
The homunculus sat next to the servant, and both were silent for a few minutes. The feeling was not uncomfortable, but neither was very talkative.
Finally, it was Archer who started the conversation. "I was told that you became a master, er..."
"Sieg. The name that I chose."
"Sieg, huh? That's a good name. I guess it's in homage to the hero who saved you."
"Yes, I wish I could have paid homage to you, too. I really appreciate the advice you've given me."
"Well, I can't help it. Even I don't remember my own name. But you don't have to thank me either, I helped you because I wanted to. If you want to thank me, start valuing your own life more.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"So, you decided to officially participate in the war, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Even if Ruler insisted that I live a peaceful life, I couldn't do it while all my brothers were sacrificed or forced to fight."
Seeing his face full of determination, Archer sighed. "If that is the path you have chosen, then I will not stop you. However, I will warn you that you may end up like me."
The atmosphere became heavy at the time. Although Sieg did not know Archer's story, he knew that most heroes did not have a good ending. Siegfried and Jeanne d'Arc were good examples.
But, as if he had been waiting for the right moment, Astolfo materialized next to them both.
"What's so serious about? Get up on those long faces! You're going to turn gray if you're like this all the time."
They both rolled their eyes, and then Astolfo realized the Little detail that Archer's hair was already white.
"Oops. Anyway, what were you talking about with Ruler, master?" Both Rider and Archer looked at Sieg curiously.
"She was testing my resolve. After all, when you go into a battle, you have to be prepared to get hurt at least."
"I see, so she was worried about you."
Upon hearing it, Archer and Sieg bowed their heads in confusion. Seeing such density, Astolfo took a step back.
"It can't be... I expected it from my master, but from you, Archer..."
"What do you mean? I just find it odd that Ruler was just worried about him when she seemed pretty angry."
Astolfo put a hand on his face and sighed.
The conversation was interrupted by a huge crash accompanied by a jolt. Astolfo lost his balance and almost fell off the roof.
The three looked in the direction from which it came, and saw a colossal-sized golem who had just crossed the outer wall of the castle. It was humanoid-shaped, with a sort of horns on its back, and some parts that shone with a greenish hue. And on his shoulder was a person they recognized immediately. Caster.
Sieg and Astolfo ran towards the golem, while Archer looked for a better place to shoot from.
The first two arrived in the courtyard, when a homunculus was taking Caules away from the golem. Sieg's eyes opened as he discovered why. In the golem's body, several homuncules were being absorbed to steal his vital energy.
"Caster! So it was you!"
"Rider? I'm glad to see you're okay." Sarcasm was very present in his voice.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
"I will use my perfect noble phantasm, Golem Keter Malkuth, to bring salvation to this world."
"¿Are you crazy!? That pile of filth is not going to bring salvation to anyone!"
"Insolence. They are right when thet say you have no reason in you."
"Precisely! So I'm not afraid of you."
"I see. You're another curse in this world."
Astolfo and Sieg prepared for the impending battle, only to stop when a silver projectile flew swiftly over them in the direction of Caster.
He reacted quickly and made a magic circle appear in front of him. However, the 'arrow' went through the magical circle as if it were not there, and pierced the spiritual core of Caster. It was a completely lethal attack with the ultimate weapon against magus from King of Fakers, Retriever.
Beneath Caster's mask came a great deal of Caster, as his spirit origin began to collapse. Before it, he turned and looked at a nearby tower, where Archer stood with his large black bow.
"You, Archer? Are you aiming at me? Weren't you saying you wanted to save everyone?"
"People like you make that really hard. Besides, you shouldn't be here in first place."
"Still, even if you kill me, my noble phantasm won't stop. My role here is over. I have activated the golem, and I have no regrets. I leave this to you, Keter Malkuth. You can definitely create paradise on earth!"
With those last words, Caster vanished, and the golem released a roar that shook the entire castle. He sank his hand into the earth, and drew a huge stone slab in the form of a sword. It looked like a larger version of the Berserker's axe-sword of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Archer snapped his tongue. Killing the magus was the best method he knew to interrupt his mystery, but this was not one of those cases.
The giant swung his improvised weapon toward Fiore, who was still atop one of the fortress's roofs with his mystic code. Luckily, Archer didn't have to worry since Rider picked her up quickly with his hypogriffin.
The golem tried to reach them as they flew, frantically swinging his blade, but could do nothing against the speed of Rider's mount.
One of the swings ended up pointing towards Sieg, who was still in the courtyard of the fortress. The homunculus saw death descend upon him, but he had no time to evade it.
But, the sword stopped just above him, causing a huge shock. In front of him were Ruler and Saber, holding all the weight with their weapons.
"You must also retire!"
"Ruler?"
"This giant transforms the world in an unchecked way. It twists reality itself. It's a giant that changes the world. That's beyond the scope of the Holy Grail War, so it is my enemy!"
The twisted swords soon landed on the head of the golem. All of them low-range noble phantasm overloaded with prana that exploded upon collision. The golem shook, allowing Ruler and Saber to reject his weapon.
Both of the servants rushed down each arm of the giant until they reached its head, and struck it with a tremendous blow that made it stagger backwards.
The giant saw itself overpowered, and tried to escape into the forest where it came from.
"You are not going away!"
But his escape route was cut off by Jeanne and Siegfried.
Archer continued to bombard it with broken phantasm. Its two eyes were destroyed, as was the arm itused to try to cover itself.
But suddenly, the giant began to regenerate at an incredible rate. It was not surprising with the huge amount of prana that came off.
"According to ancient legends, the primordial man would transform his surroundings into the Eden." Fiore commented as she watched as new plants continued to grow on the ground around.
"A unique and autonomous aura, huh? What a pain in the ass!"
Although Archer's rain of swords did not stop, the giant continued to regenerate.
"Nobody can bleed in paradise. Its wounds are denied."
Saber and Ruler also began to attack the giant. Time was against they. If the space around itwas completely transformed, the golem would be unstoppable.
But the giant grew faster and stronger as the transformation was completed. They needed to destroy it in one stroke with a noble phantasm.
"Rider, can any of your noble phantasm deal with that thing?" Fiore tried her luck with the servant at her side."
"Unfortunately, no." The answer came out instantly.
"At least pretend you thought about it a little!"
Discarding that option, Fiore thought of his own servant. Archer's noble phantasm was unknown, they only knew that it had healed the heart of Saber. The projectile he used to damage the enemy's fortress might work, but she didn't know how much prana it required.
"Archer, can you think of any way to defeat him?"
"Maybe I have one, but I'll need some time."
Archer's been thinking it over. Firing one of his most potent weapons, not knowing if he could destroy it in one stroke, and with his prana reserves already depleted, was not a good option.
The problem was the area around the giant, as once transformed, the giant would be invincible within it. It was the same principle as a reality marble. So, if we move the giant to another area outside its domain, then it could be defeated. With the plan already armed, Archer jumped off the tower to land next to Ruler.
"Ruler, I need you to bring another servant. Saber, distract it for a few moments."
"I see you have a plan."
They both nodded. Saber lunged at the giant to gain its attention, while Ruler raised her flag.
"Saber of Red, Jeanne d'Arc summons you to this battle!"
Said servant materialized near them, in her casual clothes and Clarent leaning on her shoulder.
"Here I am, Ruler! What do you want from me?" She spoke casually as she watched the battlefield. In the background you could see the titanic battle between Siegfried and the giant. The forest chunks flew with every clash.
"Ask Archer."
She looked at that servant and frowned.
"Saber of Red, I know it's a lot to ask, but let's put aside our business. Our priority now is to stop that thing."
She remained silent for a few moments, until finally she shrugged. "Fine, let's get along. What do I have to do?"
"Once I finish reciting my aria, I'll need you and Saber of Black to give it the final blow."
"What do you mean by reciting your aria?" Jeanne asked confused.
He simply stretched his right arm forward and leaned his left hand on his forearm. His gaze was fixed on the golem.
"I am the bone of my sword."
With those power-filled words, the ground at Archer's feet was flooded with prana.
"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood."
"I have created over a thousand blades."
"Unaware of loss,"
"no aware of gain."
Archer began to sweat. The giant's own aura tried to repel his spell, causing it to take even more effort.
"Whistood pain to create weapons, chasing an ever distant dream."
With the aria almost complete, the giant recognized Archer as its primary enemy. Its paradise was being sullied by that strange spell. Saber of black did not stand back and stood between them, stopping as he could the immeasurable strength of the giant.
"There are no regrets, this is the path I chose."
"My whole life was... Unlimited Blade Works!"
With the chanting finished, the illusory fire exploded from Archer's feet, enveloping all present and marking the boundary of the spell.
The paradise created by Keter Malkuth was over written to resemble the inner world of King of Fakers.
All were stunned to see the landscape in which they now stood. A barren hill in which no life grew, quite the opposite of Eden. The sky was a constant sunset, covered by a mist of rust. And, as far as the eye could see, there were swords, of all shapes and sizes, mundane and noble phantasms. An infinite number of them. There weren't two alike, but they all had something in common. They were rusty.
It was, in short, a breathtaking yet depressing landscape.
"Where the hell are we?" Mordred expressed the question in everyone's minds, in her own way. Even the giant had stopped completely confused.
The only one who knew this hill was Fiore, due to the cycle of dreams. Her face was a mixture of sadness and understanding.
"A reality marble!? One of the greatest magecraft that allows the user to rewrite reality with the image of the user's inner world. Archer, don't tell me..." Jeanne's reflections were cut by Archer.
"Yes, this is my soul. But there is no time for explanations. I can't keep this up for long, so you have to destroy it now that it's vulnerable."
"Understood." Saber of Black, who had regrouped with them prepared to deploy his noble phantasm.
"Wait a minute. Ruler!" On the other hand, instead of getting ready, Mordred stopped everyone and speak to Jeanne.
"What do you want?"
"My pay. My help is not free. Give me two of your command seals."
"Absolutely not!"
"ROOOOOOAAAAAAR!" As they spoke, the golem had already assembled and started charging towards them.
"Tch. If you're going to start negotiating, do it quickly!" As he said that, Archer gave the mental order for an immense number of swords to fly into the golem.
The giant stopped advancing and began to swing its sword frantically to try to deflect them, but it was in vain. It was in the center of a storm of swords. Blades came from all angles, crashing into its body.
But the damage was only superficial. If they wanted to destroy it completely, they would have to attack its core. Archer himself would, but all his prana was being destined to impose his inner world upon the paradise of primordial man, so he could only throw the noble phantasm and not use them. That's why he needed the help of the two servants Saber.
"You can do it. Masters can do it. There's no way you can't."
"But I can't give you that many."
"Then you can always ask the homunculus here to transform into a copy of Saber of Black, or I'm wrong?"
From the look on Jeanne's face, and how her breathing stopped, Mordred knew she had hit a nerve.
"I can only give you one at the most."
"Okay, One then. Give me one."
"I'll give it to you later! For now..." Ruler's preoccupied gaze shifted back to Archer. This one was sweating a lot, and his face was turning pale.
"Okay. Archer, you time it. Saber, prepare yourself. Is time to cut this giant down." Mordred shouted her commands as she aimed Clarent at the giant and materialized her armor.
Just at that moment he released another huge roar, repelling all the swords flying in its direction.
The two Sabers positioned themselves on Archer's side. He raised his left arm in the air and called the weapon containing the most powerful technique he knew. Berserker's axe-sword. His body successfully reproduced the strength of the black giant, and prepared to rush forward.
"I will leave his core exposed. You keep up with me."
The ground cracked when Archer jumped at the giant at high speed. It responded by swinging its huge stone sword in the direction of its priority enemy. Its intention was clear, to destroy the servant who denied its paradise.
"Trigger off." Upper arm, collarbone, windppipe, temple, diaphram, rib, testicles, and thigh. Archer aimed at the eight targets in his mind, and triggered the technique of Greece's greatest hero.
"Set, Nine Lives Blade Works."
With godspeed, the eight attacks overlapped. The giant staggered backwards, with more than eighty percent of his body shattered. Its core remained intact, so it would regenerate over time, but Archer's goal was met, as it was fully exposed.
Two figures quickly passed Archer's sides, while he was dropping to the ground. The two knights leapt into what was left of the giant. Their auras, red and blue, merged into one.
"A simple puppet who only follows orders will not stand before me!" Mordred began pumping prana into Clarent, and it was wrapped in a huge beam of red lightning.
"Now that I have fulfilled my desire to save someone of my own free will, it is time to go further and save everyone!" Siegfried turned the parts of Balmug's handle, and it wrapped itself in a large beam of blue light.
"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!"
"BALMUNG!"
Both knights swung their swords forward, firing anti-army disintegrator beams. The remains of the giant, including the core, did not last a few seconds. It was completely devastated.
Both Saber landed among the flames and ashes, with their upright postures and their swords held high.
"That's what I call overkill, you filthy lot! Go find your Eden somewhere else!" Mordred announced victorious as Unlimited Blade Works began to collapse.
Moments later, everyone was in the forest again. They had finally succeeded, they had stopped Caster's plan to transform the world.
Astolfo landed with his Hypogriffin where they were all regrouping. All but one.
"Ha... ha... ha..." Archer collapsed on his knees, struggling to breathe. Steam poured from his mouth.
Maintaining the Unlimited Blade Works had already drained him almost completely, and using Nine Lives Blade Works forced his body to the limit even as a servant. The weird thing was that he was still conscious.
"Archer!"
Both Jeanne and Fiore approached him quickly with worried faces, the second using her mystic code.
"I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me."
He tried to stand up, but his legs trembled and Jeanne had to lean him on her shoulder.
"Don't give me the 'I'm fine' of all men. It's obvious you're not fine."
"Well, yes. I've had better days. But at least it was worth it."
They both sighed deeply. He really was hopeless. He even continued to use his own prana reserves to avoid causing trouble to his master.
With the problem resolved, they all returned to Fort Yggdmillenia, and met to discuss what they would do in the coming days.
The red faction had fled with the Great Grail, and Shirou would soon use it to get his wish. The problem with the matter was that, the Grail grants the desires in the way that the one who asks for them knows, so, depending on how Amakusa Shirou asks for the salvation of humanity, that can end up doing more harm than good.
With more than half of the black faction's servants dead, or stray in the case of Assassin, they ended up making a deal with the master of Saber of Red to cooperate. They agreed that they would raid the flying fortress in three days.
And with that resolved, all eyes pointed to Archer. Something that was not surprising. Even the master of Saber of Red witnessed through her eyes the reality marble of Archer, a magecraft that humans who could develop it can be counted with the fingers of the hands.
He simply stepped out of the way by explaining how it worked, without explaining how he got it. He would have had to tell them all about his past, and they didn't have time for that, nor did he remember clearly. Besides, with what they saw, they could get an idea.
Ruler gave Sisigou a command seal as they had agreed during the fight, and she also restored the command seal that Sieg used to transform into Siegfried in his fight with Mordred.
As they theorized, those seals represented the power of Siegfried within him, so that they were over could not be good. From there, they all went to rest.
Kairi and his servant returned to their base at Trifas, and Ruler decided to stay at the fort Yggmillenia.
Everyone had seen the inner world of King of Fakers, in short, they took a look at his soul. With that, the question of where he got so many weapons was solved, but that was the least important.
With such a view, Sieg understood what Archer meant by ending up like him. Just thinking about it made his heart shake. He followed his ideals to the end, and ended up like this. It was truly admirable that he followed them even after his death. Anyone would have given up, but his determination to save them all remained until the end.
Jeanne was in an internal debate. The boy who had suddenly entered the Holy Grail War worried her. She promised that she would make sure that he had a peaceful life, and in the end the boy ended up putting his life at risk, ironically under the influence of the same person to whom she made the promise.
However, what persisted in her head was the image of that sad landscape. To have a reality marble, such an inhuman magecraft, was a clear indication of a huge psychological distortion, And he only had to put two and two together to know that such distortion was the reason why Archer prioritized others before himself.
She'd seen signs of it every time she was around him. She may not have been very good at mathematics or language, but she knew how to distinguish a person's character. Even when Archer told her he was okay when he wasn't, it wasn't because he wanted to act tough or anything like that. She knew he just didn't want them to worry about him.
But the most worrying thing was the meaning of that landscape. A person who devoted his whole life to making others happy, and although he managed to fulfill his dream if that golden sword was any indication, he ended up dying completely alone on that hill of swords.
Their lives were really similar, but in turn there were several differences. She decided to abandon her normal life by hearing God's distressed whispers. On the other hand, he never had a normal life, although it was his decision not to interact with anyone else, you could say that from the beginning he was always alone. Even if she was betrayed at the end of her life by everyone she knew, at least she had her Lord and her faith so she could lean on and not fall into despair. Instead, he followed his path of self-destruction with no one to lean on, and ended up acting more like a sword than a person.
All that, along with her vision of his future, caused her emotions she didn't quite understand. Was it fear? Pity? Or perhaps, were they the feelings of Laeticia?
I decided that sleep would be a good idea to regain my energies. Although the act itself does not help a servant to recover prana, it reduced the in cost to mantain my existence to a minimum.
What I didn't expect was to have a dream about Fiore's past. I knew that the cycle of dreams worked on both sides of the contract, but since servants in general do not need to sleep, I had overlooked it.
In her childhood, her parents bought a dog. She treated him like her pet and ended up becoming fond of him. That would be a completely normal story, if she wasn' t the heir to a family of magus.
Finally what was seen to come happened. Her parents ended up sacrificing the dog for a ritual I didn't understand. Something completely inhuman, but for a family of magus it was something of the most normal. In fact, I'm sure Fiore already knew that was going to happen, and yet she was gentle with the poor animal.
She initially held her brow and did not shed a single tear, but when they were burying the animal, she could not resist it any longer and ended up collapsing in tears.
I woke up at dawn, and immediately went to speak with Caules, my master's brother.
It was obvious that such a good-hearted person was not made to become a magus king. How little I was with her already made me realize that she, however competent she was, could not take the twisted approach of 'the end justifies the means' that most magus have.
To my surprise, he agreed with me, and we agreed to leave the decision to her. According to him, the figure of the younger brother these days was in charge of supporting the older sister in everything he could.
Caules was, by all accounts, as good a person as his sister. I guess my prejudice towards the magus was totally wrong here. At least I know when I'm gone, Fiore will be in good hands.
By the time everyone was up, I joined Astolfo and Sieg to help treat the wounded homunculi. I had to be really insistent as Rider was hell-bent on me resting.
Saber also dragged his master to help as well. Although at first he was quite reluctant, in the end I agreed. Underneath that grumpy personality, there was also a good person. You had to work hard to find it, but it was there.
If you thought about it, the really traditional magus of the Yggmillenia family were the ones who had perished before.
I volunteered to bring in all the mystical codes necessary for the treatment of prana fatigue homuncules. My knowledge of first aid was not very extensive, and that had already been taken care of by the homunculi specialized in it. Like the disaster of a magus I was, this was one of the few things I could help out with.
When I was coming back, I ran into Ruler. She had changed to her casual clothes, which looked like a business suit.
"Oh, good morning, Ruler."
"Good morning, Archer..." She greeted me back as looking away.
She seemed a little nervous, something rather strange, and her face was quite complicated. I can only guess that seeing Unlimited Blade Works affected her much more than I expected.
"Anyway, why aren't you resting? Yesterday you could barely keep standing."
"I can't stand idly by while others are making their efforts. Also, I'm a servant. One night's rest is enough to be in full condition again."
She sighed at my response. She was doing that a lot of times when I was near.
"Then, allow me to help you."
"But..." Seeing the look she gave me, I realized that continuing what I was saying was not a good idea.
I ended up giving her about half of what I was carrying and we headed back to where Gordes was.
When we deliver them, he fired us dry, and with that he had nothing left to do. With so many people working together, this was going pretty fast.
Looking back at Ruler, I thought it was a good time to talk about the issue I had in my head since I was summoned into this war.
"You got a moment, Ruler? I'd like to talk to you about something."
She thought about it for a few moments, until she finally responded. "Well, yes. I don't have any issues that require my attention at the moment. But what do you want to talk about?"
"Of the reason why I could be summoned in the first place."
I don't know if it was my totally serious tone that convinced her, or if she was going to accept my request anyway, but the thing is, we ended up in her room. In mine would probably be Fiore, and I didn't want to overload her with any more business.
She was already busy dealing with the paperwork that came with the death of three magus kings. The crest of Rider's master could still be recovered, but those of Darnic and the master of Caster were lost, that of the first when he merged his existence with Lancer and was subsequently exorcised, and the body of the second merged with the Keter Malkuth, which we destroyed yesterday.
"So what do you mean by the reason you could be summoned?" Ruler started the conversation bluntly. Her former nervousness had vanished and now she had an expression just as serious as mine.
"As you may have noticed, I am not a conventional heroic spirit. Actually, work for the Counter-Force"
When I dropped the bomb, I expected her to ask why a Counter-Guardian was called in a Holy Grail War.
"Why...?"
What I didn't expect was for her seriousness to vanish and look at me in utter shock. I assumed she knew what it meant, but her reaction caught me off guard.
"Eh?"
"Why did you end up being a Counter-Guardian?"
"Well, in my last moments of life, the World appeared to me and offered me a deal. Alaya would fulfill my wish, in exchange for serving her after death. I ended up doing the stupid thing of accepting it, but I wasn't in the best condition to think either. I was bleeding out after my fight with the Primate Murder."
The mention of the beast of calamity made her eyes open for a few moments, but she did not delve into that subject and kept asking.
"And what did you ask in return?"
"To be able to continue to pursue my dream even after my death."
Her expression relaxed a little, but it was still complicated. "So, you are doomed to an eternity of relentless servitude."
"If you put it like that, it really sounds pretty grim, but it's not really that bad. Because of my desire, instead of being invoked to 'clean' threats against humanity when there is nothing else to do and the things are already screawed, I am invoked to stop them, without having to eliminate everything related to it."
With that I got her to relax a little, but unfortunately, I had to pick up on the point that I wanted to talk about in the beginning.
"And that brings me to why I was summoned. Regardless of whether the catalyst used is closely related to my legend, I can only be summoned when humanity is in danger".
It didn't take long for her to connect the dots. "Not only did the Holy Grail detect that something was wrong, but the World did too. That means, the wish that Amakusa Shirou plans for the Grail to fulfill is going to put humanity in check."
"That's the only conclusion I could come to. So, Ruler, I want to work with you to stop that man."
She blinked for a few moments, before coughing and returning to her former serious expression.
"All right. I, Servant Ruler of the Great War of the Holy Grail, Jeanne d'Arc, agree to work with you, King of Fakers, and thus the rest of the black faction, to stop Amakusa Shirou."
I felt my lips tilt slightly upward, and to play along with her formality, I reached out my hand for a handshake.
She stared at my hand for a few seconds, her cheeks starting to turn red.
Huh? I screwed up again? Dealing with a woman really isn't my thing.
"Is't wrong to shake hands? Then excuse me-"
"No! It's fine. You just caught me by surprise." Before I could take my hand away, she grabbed it quickly and shook it while laughing uncomfortably.
I tried to make sense of that reaction in my mind, but I failed, spectacularly in fact. Before I could keep thinking about it, I heard my master's voice through our bond.
"Archer, I need you to come to the living room. I have something to talk to everyone about. If you run into her on the way, let Ruler know that I also require her presence."
"Understood, master."
"Well, it looks like my master wants us all in the living room to talk about something. It seemed quite important, so we'd better go as soon as possible."
"You go first. I'll catch up with you right away."
"Okay."
With that, I left the room to head for the living room. At that moment I didn't realize the worried look that stuck in my back as I was leaving.
Setting aside the strange feelings she felt a few moments ago, Jeanne sank into her thoughts. They had to be from Laeticia. Otherwise, she couldn't explain why she was nervous about taking a man to her room, or shaking his hand.
Her thoughts were diverted to the part of the conversation where Archer revealed he was a Counter-Guardian. At that moment, her ability of revelation was activated, showing her a vision of Archer in what you could say was his 'work'.
Although he was completely honest in saying that it could be worse, she would be lying if she said that what she saw was not sad. The hero who devoted his whole life to others and ended up dying alone on the top of a hill of swords, didn't even have the rest of death. Even that was taken from him.
She couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and at the same time, admiration. Admire him for not breaking and standing firm on his ideals all that time.
She knew that if he realized what she was feeling, he would probably say something like 'someone like me doesn't deserve something like that'.
She forced herself to do all that aside. At this point, if she could do anything to help him, it was to keep focusing on solving this whole mess.
Resuming her seriousness , she left her room and followed the same way that King of Fakers took.
And here comes this chapter. What do you think? Did you expect to see the Unlimited Blade Works so soon? If Jeanne is going to fall in love with King of Fakers, then she will fall in love with him as he is. And for that, seeing his soul is the first step.
Well, unlike the original story, this time Sieg doesn't have to transform for the second time, since Siegfried himself was present at the fight. I guess I don't have to say what this will do to him after the war.
In this chapter I put a few references, something I hadn't done in a while. The handshake scene is a reference to the scene of chapter two of the anime of Fate/Stay night Unlimited Blade Works where Shirou and Saber shake hands. I also put some hidden reference to my other ongoing story, which I will certainly not be long in updating as the chapter is almost over.
And it should be clarified that the timidity and nervousness of Jeanne if they are provoked by the body that is possessing, that is, Laeticia. It's not about her being dense, for the moment. The only one dense is still Archer, even though it sounds really redundant.
Without further ado, as always, any constructive review, follow and fav is welcome, and motivates me to continue writing. The exams are already close, so it will take me a while to update.
With this I say goodbye for now. Until we meet again!