Chapter 25

He fumed in the showers while Caster explored the workshop. He didn't deserve such an inferior servant. She was a Caster, but she didn't have a basic grasp of magecraft that even the most novice of mages would know. Her style of fighting was so crude, and she was so honest it made him want to vomit. Honestly, he would have much preferred the Witch. Even though there was the ever-present danger of being betrayed by her, at least she wasn't so naive and inept. There were also the Command Seals, which were an absolute safeguard against the Servants in case they rebelled. He could just order her to commit suicide in an emergency.

Suddenly, alarms started ringing outside. Hurriedly, he dried himself and threw on some clothes, running to the main control room in panic. What was going on? Red lights blinked on the ceiling as the hallways echoed with his footsteps and the sirens, as several of his assistants rushed past him. Although there were no obvious signs of penetration or enemies, it was still disconcerting.

"Caster, where are you?" He received no answer, making his heart beat faster. Quickening his pace, he arrived at the control room.

He rushed through the reinforced steel doors to see his assistants panicking, many of them trying to shut down certain systems or activate the security measures.

"What happened?" He grabbed the nearest and shook his shoulders, demanding an answer.

*BOOM*

The ground under his feet shook, the glass overlooking the "factory" in his workshop shaking with the tremors. Several more alarms started sounding, as many more indicator lights on the control panels started blinking rapidly. Several cries could be heard through the speakers, issuing from the "factory" floor. Pushing aside his assistant's roughly, he looked at the screen showing footage from the camera-like familiars placed around various spots in the workshop. Despite being a magus, he wasn't as adverse to modern technology and systems, instead embracing them and heavily incorporating them into his magecraft, which could be readily seen from the entire workshop's design.

On the screen, he could see Caster advancing through the "factory", liberating the raw materials and knocking out the workers that were trying to stop her. Even the gunfire failed to faze her, as a blue barrier was conjured in front of her, blocking the bullets, and then azure explosions popped up around them, blasting them away.

"Caster, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He still received no response, and he focused his will, about to use the Command Seals etched on his hand.

Except, he couldn't imagine her betraying him, unless she had a good reason. Maybe there was something more to this. Gritting his teeth, he decided that if he couldn't mentally talk to her, he would have to do it face to face. He sprinted to the elevator, his body moving fluidly with practiced ease, as he did actually train his body as part of his daily habits. He slid into the box and mashed the buttons repeatedly, pushing them in the vain hopes that it would close faster. When the doors didn't even budge, he realized that she had broken them, and cussed hard, running back out the doors to the stairs.

In the interval while running down the stairway, he heard more alarmed yells and explosions, rocking the ground as dust fell from some new cracks in the ceiling. The lights flickered momentarily, before stabilizing again. What was his Servant doing? Despite the urge to use his Command Seals, he restrained himself. Somewhere deep inside him, he believed that Caster wouldn't betray him for no reason. If it had been Medea, he would have immediately used them without hesitation, but unbeknownst to him, her Charisma had managed to win him over to a certain degree, burrowing into some deep recess of his heart and implanting the thought that she was someone he could rely on in a pinch. In addition, he couldn't help but be reminded of… well it didn't matter right now.

Rushing out the double doors, he ran straight for Caster, sensing her magical signature clear as day. He ignored the workers crumpled on the ground and the materials spilt on the ground, beelining for the blonde haired girl walking ahead with purpose, sowing chaos in his workshop.

She wasn't moving particularly fast, so he managed to catch up to her quickly enough. She made no attempt to stop him when he came within a meter of her, and instead turned around to face him, no longer any sign of the bright and innocent smile she had worn earlier.

"Caster, what are you doing? Why are you destroying the workshop I sacrificed so much to build? This is the culmination of my life's work, the perfe-"

"Sacrifice? Master, the only thing you're sacrificing are these people's lives."

Her emerald eyes now held a steely determination in them, glaring straight into his own sapphire blue eyes and holding him captive. Her tone brooked no argument, simply stating a cold, hard fact. Despite her height, it felt like she was looking down on him. Swallowing his fear, he straightened his back and stared right back at her, refusing to lose to her.

"These aren't people, they're just raw materials for the workshop. In fact, they're being used to make something much more precious than they would ever be if they lived their lives fully. Don't you understand? I'm giving them the chance to be something useful, and this process is surely the peak of modern magecraft, allowing me to completely skip the incantation process. Something like their bodies is cheap compared to what it's able to ach-BWEGH!"

The staff swung in a blur that he couldn't track, colliding with his cheek with a sharp *Crack!* and sending him spinning until he lost his balance and fell to the ground, clutching his stinging cheek as stars swam around in his vision.

"H-how, HOW DARE YOU!" She took a deep breath, steadying her trembling voice. The sudden outburst shocked Atrum into silence, reducing him to simply staring at her as her entire body shook. Her hands were both clenched tightly into fists as she gazed at him with fiery eyes, flames and something else dancing in the grass-green iris.

"Their lives are cheap? CHEAP? No life is cheap, not theirs, not yours, not mine, not anyones! You think they'll become more precious as a mana crystal? You're wrong! Have you seen the billions of people living on this Earth? Each and every one of them holds potential to be something great, and even if they never realize it, simply living their lives gives them meaning greater than anything a mana crystal would ever achieve!" Tears pooled in her eyes, her nose starting to feel stuff as she felt herself hiccup, but she persisted.

"I was just an ordinary village girl, the type you could find anywhere, but I was still selected by the staff. It could have chosen anyone else, people even stronger and smarter than me, people much more qualified to become the King of Britain. But it chose me, a village girl from the sea shore near Tintagel. Do you know why it chose me?" Atrium could only dumbly shake his head at her furious tirade.

"Because I was me! I was the unique individual called Artoria Pendragon, and nobody else could take my place! A precious treasure that nothing else could ever replace. And the same applies to every single person living on this planet. The beggar on the street? The cook in the kitchen? The mother nursing her babe? The babe being fed? The soldiers standing guard at the prison, and the prisoners in the cells? They're all equally precious, and that's why I want to protect Britain. They are my people, and I will protect them all as if they were my children. No, they are my children. In the darkest of times, when all seems lost, I am the one who will shine hope's radiant light on them. Even as the bell tolls , I will fight along with them and become their strength as they become mine. I want to lead them to an everlasting paradise that will embrace them all, I want, I w-want to-" At this point, she was about to break out into sobs as she poured out all her feelings to her Master. It never happened, as she sucked in the snot in her nose, straightening her back and forcefully stifling her hiccups while she puffed out her chest in a show of strength, even as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I WANT TO SAVE THEM ALL!"

She was just a naive, immature girl from the countryside. An innocent and very energetic one. She had the figure of a perfectly commonplace girl who hated to lose, was strong in the face of criticism and adversity, valued the surrounding atmosphere more than anything else, and hid her true feelings from everyone. Yet in this moment, when she unveiled her feelings, she was like a star. In that moment in front of Atrum Galiasta that stretched to infinity, a brilliant star had descended in front of him. A star of promise, that gathered true knights around the Round Table.

It felt like forever, but in reality it was only a few minutes before he came to his senses.

"Ok." It was all he could manage as his brain struggled to resume their higher functions. Caster stared at him as she sniffled through her nose, desperately trying to wipe away the tears that stained her face and dress, dark lines running down the pristine white. Slowly, he stood back up and approached her.

Caster stared at him warily, but ultimately didn't do anything, still furiously scrubbing her eyes with her gloved hands, trying to fix away the waterworks malfunctioning in her eyes.

"Here, use this." Atrium pulled out a handkerchief from his breast pocket, offering it to her with one hand.

*sniff, hic*

"Th-thanks." She accepted it and proceeded to dab at the corners of her eyes, the rivulets of water quickly soaking the entire handkerchief. In the awkward silence that followed, he waited for her to calm down while she looked downwards, desperately trying to plug the leaky holes in her eyes. After a while, she finally managed to stop, looking back up at her Master, though her nose was still sniffling, and the hiccups continued.

"I'll dismantle it."

Caster stared at him in shock.

"You will?"

"Yes, everything."

"Ah, I-i didn't expect it to work, but I think, um, I mean that's good! Ehehe, I knew that deep down, Master wasn't such a bad person." At this, he turned aside, trying to hide his blush, unable to stand the sight of her innocent smile that beamed with joy from the bottom of her heart.

"A-ah, it'll be such a pain though, having to start from scratch. *Sigh*, seriously I don't even know where to start from."

"A-ah, then maybe I could be of some help? Even though I don't know much about magecraft, embarrassing as it is for a Caster, there could still be something I could help with. Don't hesitate to ask for my help ok? Fuh!" She clenched her fists to her chest, looking determined(and cute).

"Hmph, as if I would ever seek the help of such a mediocre Servant like you. A-at best, I'd just ask you to clean up the failures, or something like that." She was too adorable, he tried closing his eyes to avoid her innocence from bewitching him, to no avail.

"Eeeehh? Is that really how useless I am? Muuuu…" At this, she pouted with teary eyes.

"But, as long as Master is willing to rely on me in something, I'll be happy. I'll say this once more, let's do our best together, Master!" The gentle smile pierced his heart, forcing his lips to twitch upwards in a way that felt alien to him. How long had it been since the last time he had genuinely smiled?

"You had better do your best then." The words seemed harsh, but the face said otherwise. Caster's smile widened as she walked back with him, light shining once more within the blackened heart.