...is nothing id, nothing cosmos.

A feeling of emptiness.

A feeling that fills one who is not needed.

No past. No present. And neither is there a future.

Until the day one is needed.

CHAPTER SIX: Night of an Illusion

'You're one relaxed individual, aren't you?'

The voice of a man whose face could not been seen in such a darkness filled the still air. He was in a ruined church where the smell of rotting wood was prevalent. Part of its roof had collapsed, allowing one to see the night sky from that resultant hole.

The sky had no stars but it had no clouds either.

The moon was present in full but it was dim.

Nonetheless, it felt like a dimly-lit world but the man did not mind that.

He was expecting someone. And that someone was already approaching him from behind.

Though this hooded person appeared to be walking, there was no sound of any footsteps. His visitor halted a few metres behind.

'It's not my style to rush.'

'I see.' He turned behind to face his visitor who was a female. 'Have you did what I've told you to?'

'I have done as according to your orders,' she replied in an arrogant manner.

'That's good,' he approached a broken pew, sliding his hand across the splintered edge carefully. 'It must be hard for you. Especially in that state. You won't last if you are going to continue like this.'

'I have my own way of handling it.'

'That's a good thing to hear,' he turned his back around. 'But I can tell that your constitution is weakening again.'

He dug into his pocket and threw her a sapphire gemstone.

'The drugs needed to keep you going,' he spoke. 'My servant got it specially prepared.'

Before he could continue his words further, he felt the sapphire gemstone being thrown back at him.

'I won't need those anyway, but thank you for your concern.'

She took out a red ruby stone that had been decorated into a penchant.

'This is enough to keep me going until I recover,' she responded. And soon she kept the red penchant away.

'You're not as weak as you seem,' he sneered back.

A third figure emerged from the darkness. He was tall, about a head taller than the man before him.

'I see that you are fast,' he handed the sapphire stone to the tall figure. Without saying anything, the figure took the artifact in his hands. And soon he retreated back into the darkness.

'That's an ideal servant,' the man turned to the other person. 'Without uttering a word of objection, he'll do anything you wish for.'

'I wouldn't want such a servant,' a chuckle could be heard from inside the hood. She turned towards what used to be the church's exit.

'A servant originating from an alternate reality most different from ours,' he folded his arms. 'That is a servant most ideal.'

'That is a dumb comment,' she responded. 'That kind of servant is a counter-guardian pulled out of any alternate-reality or timeline by Akasha. The cheapest way to become a familiar'

And she left the church, leaving the man alone.

'A counter-guardian, eh?'

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The shadow, with its glowing red eyes, charged at the girl with its regenerated lance. The taller figure blocked his attack, slicing through the lance again.

'You'll not pollute my master with your dirty hands,' he warned.

The shadow jumped backwards, holding the severed lance. Within a few seconds, the lance began to grow again, regenerating itself.

There was a swift cut of the air before the entire lance, composed of the shadowy figure's arm, shattered into pieces.

The shadow looked up, noticing how bright the single amber iris of the girl's eye glowed. In her hand was a single dagger, its shape closer to that of a knife.

The figure next to her, the servant, pointed his sword to the shadow.

'Master,' he spoke. 'Your orders.'

She folded her arms and reopened her eyes.

'Stand back,' she responded. 'I'll handle this creature myself.'

She walked forward, approaching the shadow which was in the shape of a human. Its lance had regenerated again.

'Give back everything you've stolen.'

The girl cut through the point at the shadow's leg, effectively shattering it into pieces and causing it to fall onto the ground.

'It's no use,' she continued, taking step after step towards her opponent. 'The more you use it to sustain yourself, the useless your goal would have been.'

The shadow turned its head, noticing the deceased corpse of its victim lying on the floor. The blood flowing from it was slowly drying up but its stench continued to fill the air around.

The broken leg began to regenerate but it stopped halfway soon after.

'I see that you've used up that power,' she spoke in a cold, calm tone. 'It's a dead end for you now.'

She was raising her dagger up into the air when the shadow jumped to the body of the victim and hurling it against the girl.

Skillfully, she dodged it. Without her knowing it, the shadow charged at her at once only to be blocked again.

Her servant was blocking the attack with his large sword. With a yell, he pushed back the shadow with his weapon, hurling it backwards. The shadow hit against a wall but without creating a dent on it.

The shadow got up from the ground it had fallen to after being impacted against the wall. The servant stood before his master, guarding her from any imminent strike from the opponent.

In a sudden, the servant felt a certain presence appear immediately. The attack was swift, racing towards his master.

It was too hard to gauge how fast it was but the girl was quick enough to destroy the attacks which stopped short a few centimetres before her face. Cutting through the points, she managed to destroy the projectile weapons that were about to impale her if she was too slow.

'Assassin,' she addressed her servant. 'You know what you have to do.'

'Understood.'

The shadow began charging at the servant called Assassin by his master. He raised his sword, beginning to launch a quick decisive blow on the red-eyed shadow figure.

The master felt hurls of more waves of projectiles in her direction. With a swing of the dagger in her hand, she managed to destroy many of them. A single projectile shot past her face, creating an instant incision on her skin. Blood began to trickle from the broken skin.

In the direction where she had seen the attacks coming from, there was a glowing ruby-coloured on a fuzzy dark figure.

She produced a smile true from her heart.

'It's you again.'

The figure walked slowly towards her relaxingly. The girl lowered her dagger, standing still. Her single eye still glowed the colour amber.

At the nearest lamplight which produced an orange shade on the ground, the figure appeared before her. From the height, the person was definitely a man who was about two to three heads taller than her.

There was a significant distance between the both of them.

She raised her dagger again, pointing at the person who was definitely related to that shadow figure and a foe as well.

'What is your purpose here?'

The man stared at her. One of his eyes was covered by a large black patch that fitted the rest of his body. The other eye had a red iris the colour of blood. His hair was the colour of light grey, which contrasted totally with the entire black suit he was wearing.

Nevertheless, he did not reply the person before him.

It was as if the both of them had been shut off from the rest of the world with only them staring at each other.

The man began to walk again, passing her without caring whether she was pointing her weapon at him. She turned behind, only to see him heading to where the original shadow figure was.

'If that monster is your ally, I'm your opponent here!' She shouted to him. In an instant, she attempted to cut the air in the direction of a lamp-post in the distance, causing it to topple. But to no avail, the lamppost fell through the figure as though he was transparent.

He turned his head behind enough for him to see her.

'I don't need much interference, little girl.'

And he continued to walk towards the direction of the shadow.

Assassin sliced through the shadow's neck, effecting severing its head from the body. Simply like air, the action was swift. In a flash, the head rejoined with the body. It was an endless battle.

The shadow figure reformed both its arms into sharp lances.

In the next moment, it seared through the air, aiming for the servant's body.

The same presence appeared behind Assassin. He could feel the piercing glare of the person behind him. It was staring not at him, but at the shadow figure. His opponent stopped halfway.

'Dispel.'

As soon as those words were spoken from the person behind, the shadow began to disperse like smoke, slowly disappearing into the atmosphere. In between the smoke, various spheres of light began to float towards the servant. He turned behind as these spheres went past him.

The man in a black suit was holding out his hand palm-wide, in which the several bright spheres rested on it and melted into the surface.

As soon as the last sphere had sunk in, he closed his hand into a fist.

'That was a useless effort to fight a tool,' he spoke behind the cover over his mouth. With a muffled voice, it was obvious that this man did not want to reveal his true identity.

Assassin brandished his sword before the mysterious man. His opponent was indeed tall but only by a few inches. Their vision were of about the same level.

'Who are you?'

The servant's question was not answered. The grey-haired man turned around to see the girl standing before him.

'You have no right to steal those.'

She raised her dagger at him.

The man shook his head a little, folding his arms.

'These are my master's orders,' he answered casually. Digging into his pocket, he swiped out two projectiles in his hand. 'Anyone interfering with my job will be eliminated.;

The girl looked at her new opponent. She took a step forward.

'The only way to get them back is to eliminate you then,' she reopened her eyes. 'Assassin.'

'Understood,' he responded, rushing towards the man with his sword. In response, two of the projectiles came flying his way.

Assassin was about to block the two projectiles when two bright flashes appeared before his eyes. The projectiles were instantaneously shot down by two arrow-like projectiles, falling to the floor.

As the flashes faded as soon as they had hit the floor, they revealed themselves to be simple wooden arrows.

Looking up, there was a single figure standing at the rooftop with a simple bow in its hands. As the figure took another arrow handing from its waist, it began to glow white similar to the attacks just before.

The archer was dressed in a simple Japanese priest dress. He moved his bow to point it at the central figure who was the dubious man in a black suit.

The man gave a slight chuckle before looking at the girl.

'It's not fair to have that many against one.'

He took out a spherical object quickly, and hit onto the ground, causing it to emit smoke immediately. It was no ordinary smoke.

The girl fell to the ground. There was a paralysing effect not on her physical body, but that of her magic circuits. The amber glow in her eye faded, reverting to its normal colour.

Before long, the smoke had dispersed. She got herself up, only to be supported by Assassin.

'Master, are you alright?'

'Go after that man,' she replied in a weak tone.

'I'll go after him,' the third voice belonging to the archer sounded out to them. He landed down lightly on the ground before them.

'Who are you?' She questioned, gaining her own footing independent of her servant's help.

'It's not the time to ask me that,' the priest archer answered. 'A servant's duty is to protect the master first and foremost.'

And he quickly ran past them, disappearing into the darkness.

'Assassin,' she ordered. 'Follow the trail of the foe.'

'Understood, master,' he obliged before dematerialising. The master could only clench her fist at her failure.

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The crescent moon was illuminating the night sky but a bunch of clouds had been blocking it, causing the sky to have a dim effect.

Two people were walking along a fairly quiet road in the suburbs of Tokyo. One of them was wearing her signature spectacles, compared with brown eyes and the other had short white hair obviously.

Shirasaki was using her best ability to try searching for her destination. At such an hour, Professor Moriyama had insisted on her coming to her home with her servant. The only sole reason was just to gauge the amount of magic circuits she had, as written on a note who was sent via Yui. And it still occurred to the spectacled girl on how Yui was always the medium of communication between her and the enigmatic professor.

'Miyuki,' Archer asked after a long silence while walking. 'Do you really know the way?'

His master scratched her head, looking at the information she had saved in her hand phone. Her sense of direction was not working well. Archer had offered to carry her and bring her over to the Professor's home directly but she had declined, insisting by going on foot on the pretext of behaving normal.

As of current, Archer was nothing more than a servant acting as a bodyguard. Up to now there were no strange encounters or any trouble since the encounter with the female delinquent group.

'I'm sure it was supposed to be here...' She muttered to herself, staring at the small shabby house before her.

It was definitely not the Professor's home. For such an abode with lifeless and broken-down features, it was definitely not a place someone could live in in this era.

'Archer,' she questioned without turning behind to face him. 'What can you tell about this place?'

'There's a barrier.'

Whatever it seemed to Shirasaki, she could not tell there was a barrier. But according to the various fantasy novels she had read in the past, this scenario had a high probability that there was always a barrier involved.

She took a deep breath and took a step towards the house. A few centimetres short of the main gate which was rusted, she stopped in her tracks.

She turned around to face her servant.

'Archer, what happens if one touches this barrier?'

'I won't advise you to touch it as it is,' he folded his arms. 'It may disable your magic circuits upon contact.'

'Then what happens if a servant touches it?'

'A servant will be drained of mana,' he approached his master. 'Which in turn he would drain more mana from his source, the master.'

She looked back at the gate before her. It looked rusty and harmless. The colour of it was probably originally black as according to the fragments of paint still lingering on the surface of it.

It was unbelievable how the Professor could return to such a place. The people staying nearby would find it weird too. In short, it was totally unimaginable on why the Professor would put a so-called barrier around her home. The entire thing seemed nonsensical to Shirasaki.

'In short,' she spoke. 'If a master with probably no magic circuits touches that barrier, nothing will happen.'

Without waiting for Archer's response, her hand began to reach for the rusted surface of the gate in order to push it.

'That's ridiculous.'

A voice sounded from behind, stopping her from what she was about to do. That voice sounded familiar.

Immediately she turned her head behind to see who had just made a sudden entrance into the scene.

'Even as a master with unactivated magic circuits,' the boy with the woollen vest adjusted his squarish glasses. 'The barrier will fry you.'

It was unexpected but the boy she had seen at university was just before her eyes.

'What are you doing here?'

A sudden bright flash caused Shirasaki to close her eyes for a moment. Reopening them, she had saw that Archer had transformed from his normal outfit to the familiar one with the red coat. He had his longbow in his hand, along with the same flashing arrow.

'Are you a friend or foe?' The white-haired servant questioned hostilely.

The boy put his hands on his hips, laughing for a moment. His gaze turned to look at the female master.

'I see you have a very loyal servant, don't you?' He complimented sarcastically. 'As expected of the Archer class.'

'Lower your bow,' she commanded to Archer who was preparing to strike any moment.

'Now wouldn't that be a stupid command, Shirasaki?'

'You knew my name?'

'Is that an offence not to know?' He gave a sinister smile. 'I don't recall it being an infringement of any laws.'

She had no time to hear this person talk about anything like law.

He turned his look to Archer now.

'Aren't you going to shoot?' He folded his arms, behaving as if he would be protected from the attack. 'Go ahead.'

'Miyuki, your orders,' he pulled the flashing projectile further backwards, ready to hit his opponent.

'Archer, lower your weapon,' she ordered again.

The boy opened his eyes, raising up his arm. A green glyph in the shape of a yin-yang symbol formed before his palm like a hologram.

Quickly he smashed his palm against the road, causing a huge dent on it.

'I summon thee,' he cried out causing fissures glowing green to branch out from the impact like the roots of a tree. 'Seiryuu!'

The road broken open to reveal an animal's claw grabbing onto the surface. As the creature got up, it revealed itself to be a translucent dragon.

'This is what your servant will fight with if we had a normal battle,' he spoke calmly to Shirasaki who was taking a few steps back from the large dragon. It was not exactly gigantic but it was the size of an elephant. 'But it would be unfair since Shirasaki-san has not activated her magic circuits.'

'Why did you summon it then?' She looked at him suspiciously.

'Archer's attacks will have no effect on the barrier,' he looked at the direction of the house, and touched the translucent texture of the dragon. 'You'll need an attack higher than that barrier to dispel it temporarily.'

'Temporarily?'

'When Seiryuu has penetrated the barrier, you have 20 seconds to rush through it,' he briefed the master before him. 'That barrier is still too strong for an attack from a semi-divine creature.'

'But...'

'Miyuki,' Archer dematerialised his longbow. 'He is right. The barrier is too strong.'

'You didn't tell me that before,' she stared at her servant. He was definitely keeping a lot of important information to himself. It was highly suspicious whether he was her true servant or not.

'I won't waste any time,' the boy responded. 'Seiryuu.'

The dragon-like apparition leapt into the sky and dropped down towards the house like a comet. As it was about to impact, it hit what seemed to be the barrier of the house. Within seconds the barrier dissipated.

'Good luck on meeting the Professor,' he folded his arms, turning around to leave. 'Send my regards to her.'

'Wait,' Shirasaki stopped him with her words. 'What's your name? Since you already know my name.'

'You don't have time to hear it,' he replied.

'Promise me you'll tell me the next time we meet.'

'If there's a next time, Shirasaki-san,' he began to walk away. Soon he had seemingly vanished into the surroundings.

'There's no time,' Archer warned his master.

The barrier began to reform itself from the top. It was slowly creeping down. Knowing there was no time, Archer grabbed Shirasaki by the hand. She was still standing there, looking at how the mysterious boy had vanished into the surroundings.

Entering the house before the barrier touched down on the ground again, the two stopped in their tracks. The interior of the house did not fit the exterior it had. Instead of the expected shabbiness of the interior, a red-carpeted stairway greeted them.

Shirasaki opened her eyes wider, looking around on how it could be an illusion. No doubt, the house was real. It was more of an illusion how neo-Victorian the interior looked.

A sudden bright beam shot out from one side of the room, assailing the both of them. Before it could hit them, Archer shot out an arrow to counter the beam.

The arrow moved against the direction of the beam, splitting it in half before hitting its source to create an explosion.

There was bouts of claps soon after coming from the top of the stairway. The sound of footsteps coming down was getting louder by the second.

'Well-done, Shirasaki-san,' the same old professor walked down the staircase, clapping her hands. 'You passed the first test along with your servant. That was some good teamwork.'

'Why did you get me to come here?'

'There's a very simple reason for that,' the yellow-haired woman explained. 'Well, shall we have a drink to replenish your energy first?'

Shirasaki looked at the strange professor whom she had to meet through such strange ordeals.

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'Thank you, Professor Moriyama,' she thanked the woman before her who had laid down the cup of tea. Shirasaki noticed something was amiss. Turning her head, she could see Archer standing by the couch she was sitting on.

'Archer, you're not going to criticise?'

'I don't criticise something everytime I see it.'

'My my,' the professor chuckled. 'You do have one cold servant.'

'I didn't choose to get him,' the spectacled girl sighed and brought the cup to her lips. 'In fact, I don't even know how he was summoned in the first place.'

'That is simple to understand,' the professor replied, smiling. 'Did you find anything strange after the day Archer was summoned?'

As Shirasaki began to recall, she had found a penchant in her apartment on the day after Archer had been summoned. As she worked through her memory, it was the same penchant that the cloaked figure had stolen it the other day.

'There was a penchant,' she spoke after a short moment of silence of thinking through her memory. 'But it was stolen.'

'Archer,' the professor turned her look towards the crimson servant. 'You do have a penchant with you too.'

'Archer? What does his items have to do wi-'

She froze looking at the penchant which Archer had taken out from within his red cloak. It was not exactly the same as Archer was holding in his hand but it was similar. The design had an uncanny resemblance.

'Is that the penchant you've lost, Shirasaki-san?'

'It...looks the same,' she answered truthfully. 'But...'

'It's not the same penchant,' Archer kept his item back into his clothing. 'This penchant is void of prana and has no purpose.'

'Prana?'

'It's the source of magic in this world,' the professor explained. 'The penchant stolen from you was probably full of prana which managed to summon up Archer.'

'But that should be impossible,' Shirasaki rebutted. 'I didn't know of any way which I could...'

'You must have summoned him up subconsciously,' she concluded. It was definitely impossible for Shirasaki. Archer had been summoned during the time she was out with Yui at a ramen restaurant. There was surely no memory lapses during then.

The professor looked at the brown-haired girl who was deep in thought.

'We'll leave the matter of how you managed to summon Archer aside. As for now, it's a fact that you're a master now. You'll need to learn some sorcery for self-defence.'

'Sorcery?'

'You would have to activate your magic circuits,' the professor got up from her seat. 'In order to acquire them.'

'But how would I be able to activate them?'

'Well, firstly,' she cleared her throat for a moment. 'We'll need to use the od force within your body.'

'The od forces?'

'That is your life force,' she explained further. 'The raw magical force circulating within your body. And in order to allow these od to flow through your magic circuits, you'll need a form of trigger.'

Professor Moriyama's mouth twisted into a slight smile.

'Of course, the easiest would be,' she paused for a minute, looking at the both of them. 'A physical union.'

Shirasaki froze at what the professor had just spoken. A physical union was seemingly like an euphemism for something that sounded more vulgar.

'As expected,' the professor chuckled again at the reaction of her student. 'You must be a virgin from hearing those words.'

The spectacled girl was speechless. She turned to look at Archer who was still in a calm composure. With only two females and one male, it was quite obvious to her that the so-called physical union involved her servant.

'A physical union can no doubt allow the opening of your magic circuits, but it doesn't mean that's the only way to do it.'

Shirasaki turned back to face her professor.

'Why should I learn to use sorcery in the first place?'

'Do you intend to depend on your servant all the time then?' She interrupted. 'A master can depend almost on the servant but there is a need for some personal self-defence.'

Shirasaki remained speechless. Indeed, she had been depending on her servant for most of the time, or even all the time. Archer had saved her from various perilous situations since he was summoned. The professor was right. She could not depend on the servant all the time.

'For you being a master, it is still strange how there have been a low frequency of attacks on you,' the professor continued. 'But there is someone out there who would definitely seek to kill you and remove you from this distorted Holy Grail competition.'

Shirasaki froze at the word 'kill'.

'If they do know about your weak nature, the only barrier from getting to you would be Archer.'

The professor had a solemn expression on her face.

'Did you read the book I had passed you before?'

She could not tell a lie. The girl shook her head.

'I expected you to not believe in it yet,' the professor responded. 'Have you ever considered why would I send you that book?'

'That's because you had said that Tohsaka Rin used to have an archer-class servant.'

'That's right, and if you have read the book, there was only one single spell.'

'The seal on my door?'

'That was a spell used by the Tohsaka line, according to you.'

'That was an ancient seal used by the Tohsaka line of magi,' the professor's tone took a stern form. 'It was a seal that not even the last of the Tohsaka family had ever used. Only someone who had read the entire book I passed you would know of that spell.'

'Wouldn't someone of Tohsaka descent learn the entire book?'

'It is not possible to learn every spell in that book, and some are obsolete in this era since it can be achieved through modern science.'

Shirasaki blinked for a second.

'Professor,' she stopped the woman before her. 'What does the book have to do with anything?'

The entire conversation had seemingly gone off-topic.

'Since you were able to summon Archer,' the professor sat down on her armchair. 'And you were able to break that ancient Tohsaka seal, the od force within you must have an element that reacted with the nature of the magecraft used by the Tohsaka family.'

'That would mean...'

'I can't conclude anything now, Shirasaki-san,' she interjected. 'Only time would probably tell. The main point is to get you to activate your magic circuits.'

And the professor snapped her fingers. In a flash, the surroundings around them broke as if it was stained glass. In its place, they were in a hall large enough to hear small echoes. It simply did not make sense to Shirasaki.

'Sorry about the illusion,' the professor explained herself. 'But I need my guests to have a good impression of my home.'

'That was expected.'

Archer spoke after a long while of silence. He opened his grey eyes to look at the professor.

'I'm sure this was not achieved by you alone, Moriyama,' he continued. 'There is someone here too.'

'Thank you for your comment, Archer,' she folded her arms, looking at the servant in red. 'Unfortunately my familiar is not willing to see you.'

'But,' she inserted a pause. 'It seems that you're regaining your true abilities.' She took a large superhuman leap back, landing about ten metres away from the two.

'Servus effrego,' she chanted the foreign words out. Shirasaki could not sense anything happening until she looked at Archer's appearance behind her.

He had turned transparent like a ghost.

'That's a spell to prevent a servant from attacking,' the Professor explained. 'It's only good for this situation since it would neutralise any attacks from a spiritual being.'

She snapped her fingers, causing white specks of bright light to float from the bright wooden floor. Their numbers were uncountable but it did give a bad signal to Shirasaki of what they could do.

'Each piece of this will eat away at your od force,' the emerald-eyed professor spoke. 'When all of your od force is gone, you will die.'

She raised her hand, causing one speck to respond as if she was controlling it. She twisted her body, hurling the white speck at the spectacled girl.

The speck moved at full speed, moving towards her body. Archer moved in front of his master, attempting to block her from the attack.

It was no use as the speck shot through Archer's body without much resistance and pierced through Shirasaki's body.

The girl collapsed on the ground, feeling a searing pain that shot through her entire body. Clutching her hand to the part where the speck had gone through her body, she checked her palm.

Despite the pain, there was no bleeding.

'You can't let too many go through your body either even if it doesn't take away your od force,' the professor prepared another attack by controlling another speck indirectly. 'Too much and your magic circuits would be damaged.'

She hurled another speck which immediately went through Shirasaki's arm causing her to shout in pain at the attack. She had never been shot by a gun but this was probably the same feeling she would have if she had been so.

Similarly, there was no blood, as the brown-haired girl looked at the portion where the speck had gone through it. She was beginning to feel weak. It was as if her stamina had been drained.

The stamina must have been originating from this so-called od force in her body.

'...what do you expect me to then...?' She questioned weakly.

'Use your mind,' the professor shouted to her. Shirasaki could sense another attack coming. It was dumb standing in one position waiting to be shot down. She straightened her legs weakly and began to run across the hall.

'Running is futile for this,' the professor threw another speck of white light at her running opponent.

Immediately, the next speck went for Shirasaki's knee, causing her to collapse on the floor. In three afflicted portions, the pain continued to persist no matter how many minutes passed.

'It's only three shots, Shirasaki-san,' the professor shouted to her across the hall. 'When your body takes about five of it, your magic circuits suffer a possibility of being damaged.'

And she hurled a fourth shot of the magic speck towards the spiritually-drained girl. Shirasaki felt a sharp pain at her neck. She could not concentrate anymore. It was too tiring for her to take any more attacks. The fifth one would finish her off.

Perhaps it was good.

If her magic circuits were destroyed, Archer would disappear and she could regain her normal life again. She would have nothing to do with magic ever again.

She could even get out of this craziness that was before her.

She did not understand why she was pulled into this madness known as the Holy Grail phenomenon but it didn't matter to her since she definitely did not have any involvement in it.

It was a road split into two for now. She could just disregard herself from this, or she could fight back.

But what could she fight back with? Archer was disabled and she had no other way of fighting.

The professor grabbed one speck, causing other specks to be attracted to it to form a large sphere of white light. She was probably increasing the intensity of the fifth shot as Shirasaki thought but she could not be bothered.

You're foolish enough to let yourself be attacked?!

Shirasaki opened her eyes. She was in a silence. It was as if time had stopped for her.

The pain was gone. She could stand up normally as before. However, the surroundings around her was pitch black.

A figure appeared before her. It was the all familiar cloaked figure who stolen the penchant. Speak of the devil, the figure raised the stolen penchant before her.

You need this, don't you?

The figure was directly talking to her in the head.

'Why did you save me?'

I did not save you. The only person who can save you is yourself.

'Then who exactly are you?' Shirasaki questioned the figure.

It doesn't matter who I am or whether I'm a friend or foe. I shall ask once. Don't you need this to fight back?

'I don't want to have anything to do with magic!' She shouted back at the figure, directly implying her rejection.

The figure kept the penchant back into her covered shape and turned around.

Do as you wish then, girl.

Shirasaki wanted to grab the figure by the shoulder but it was to no avail as her hand fell through.

The figure soon vanished. However, it was not over yet.

It's up to you.

The disembodied voice sounded through the darkness.

The sound of the former hall began to fill Shirasaki's ears again. She reopened her eyes to find that the pain had subsided. The professor was holding the same gigantic sphere of white light in her palm.

'Are you ready?' She questioned rhetorically before hurling the large ball of light at the spectacled girl.

Shirasaki closed her eyes, concentrating. That cloaked figure whom she had seen had affected her consciousness. There was something amiss about that mysterious person.

She reopened her eyes, concentrating on the large ball of light which was moving at a comparatively slower speed.

'I reject thee!'

She pushed her palm against the large ball which did not appear to sear through her body like a needle. It was pushing back her fingers, almost to the point of breaking it.

A certain jolt of electricity shot through Shirasaki's body. The electricity were moving towards the hand which was in contact with the sphere. Forces in her body were moving towards the sphere, rejecting it like a virus.

Bit by bit, the sphere began to reduce in size, slowly becoming a mere speck. It continued to reduce in size further until it was no more.

There were redness on Shirasaki's palm as she fell on her knees, looking at what she had just done. The professor moved her hands around like a conductor, slowly raising all the remaining white specks.

'Well-done,' she commended on the girl's actions. With a swift movement of her hand, all of the specks began shooting towards the brown-haired girl. 'The final test to activate your magic circuits!'

Shirasaki got up from the floor again, preparing herself to block the attack.

'I can't give up my magic circuits for now!' She shouted across, revealing her resolution. 'I reject!'

It was too difficult for her to block all specks of the attack. The numerous amount of white light entering her eyes were blinding her. She could not forecast how many she could block unlike the large one previously.

A dark shadow jumped in front of her, blocking her from the attacks. She blinked her eyes for a moment, and stared at the familiar black and red attire the person was wearing.

'Archer?!' She looked at how her servant was blocking with a large transparent-like shield. It was beautiful, for it had the patterns of flower petals. The most strangest thing was that he was no longer transparent, which he should have been weakened by the spell casted previously.

Each white speck light vanished as soon as it came into contact with the summoned shield.

As soon as the attack had dissipated, Archer summoned his black longbow, aiming it at the Professor.

Professor Moriyama clapped her hands slowly and with increasing frequency.

'Well-done, Shirasaki-san,' she stopped her clapping, standing calmly before Archer's longbow. 'Your magic circuits have opened within such a short time. End of practice.'

Archer pulled the arrow back and released it directly shooting it at the professor.

'Archer!' Shirasaki shouted out at what her servant had just done.

The professor turned behind to look at the approaching weapon. She smiled, turning fully to face the bright flashing arrow.

Instantly before her, a large hole with a gaping black interior opened up, absorbing the arrow and closing up again.

'Your servant is agile and quick,' the professor responded. 'As expected of an archer class servant.'

'Your familiar is equally the same, Moriyama,' Archer lowered his black longbow. 'It's a pity he cannot be involved in the Holy Grail war.'

'That's true,' Professor Moriyama lit a cigarette. 'He doesn't fit in the seven categories besides. And even if he did, he would spoil this game.'

Archer gave a smirk before dematerialising into a spirit form.

'It seems that your servant has enough mana to dematerialise into a spirit form,' the professor commented, grinning to the spectacled girl.

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In a large park which had been abandoned and disused by the public, there was the sound of a fight. It was not really a fight, but rather a group of people attacking one person.

From a distance, a person was watching them. She was accompanied with a small girl and a person who was wearing a free flowing dress.

'Hazuki senses someone in danger!' The little one cried out.

'Hazuki-chan,' the person who had hidden her face in a hood. 'Do what you must do.'

'Thank you, onee-chan!' She chirped brightly, moving rapidly.

'Are you sure it's good to let her loose?' The tall woman behind her questioned.

'A trap is always needed before you get your prey,' the hooded person chuckled.

A group of delinquent girls were hitting a boy with their wooden baseball bets. The boy was injured to the extent of having a bloodied white shirt which could seen from within his black overcoat.

The leader, who had the longest hair, stepped her foot on the side of his face.

'Well aren't you sleeping already, eh?' She questioned sarcastically, scratching the sole of her shoe against the face of the boy.

It had appeared that the boy had fainted.

'Onee-san is bullying onii-chan,' a young voice sounded out which caused the girls to look at a young girl in a white dress.

The leader of the girl group, placed the baseball bat on her shoulder, laughing at the kiddish figure before her.

'Hey little brat,' she pulled the collar of the kid's dress by the hand. 'Don't mess with us big girls.'

Hazuki gave a smile. Her single eye turned to a bright amber colour.

'Shall we play, onee-san?'

The little girl pulled out her short knife, seemingly cutting randomly in the air.

It was followed by a scream from within the girl group.

And followed by the strong intense smell of iron in the air.

In the distance, the moonlight illuminated on the hooded figure's chin, which had a grin on it.

The blonde-haired woman behind her shook her head and walked away into the darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED