Chapter 2:
Interlude:
I woke up, in the middle of the night. My mind was very tired, after summoning my Servant, so it was pretty strange for me to be awake. Looking around, millions of little red lights surrounded me. Each one of them burned my eyes, so I (He?) didn't look at them too much. Lower, at my feet, two man were talking. I suppose I was up, in the sky maybe. I couldn't see them clearly. It was as if my vision was unfocused, maybe because, after all, I really was tired. Or maybe, it was just a dream (was it?).
The first man, he was tall, and he had a sort of old fashion hat, like the ones that my uncle used to have. He brought with him an air of overconfidence, it made him look so frail to my eyes. The other man, instead, was short, shorter than an usual man, maybe around the 1.40 cm, or even less. He was kinda fat, but... It was pretty obvious he was the boss, looking at how the taller one was wary of every movement he made. Both of them looked around, watching the red lights, and talking about something I couldn't grasp.
Then the fat one, looked in my direction.
I couldn't see his face, but just his glance from the shadow made me sweat. The fat one started to talk to his subordinate "He... hmm, yeah. Proceed as usual... his name? S**** huh." when I couldn't tell clearly what he was saying, but I could tell that he wasn't sane. I tried to open my mouth, but I(he?) couldn't respond. "Keep him under strict surveillance... yeah,... So, S****? think you can Kill me?" the fat man man asked me, in a low voice. Unwillingly, my (His?) head moved, negating his answer. Then, I heard a third voice, but it seems like only I could hear this voice. A dark, deep voice, answered the question "I do not think, I WILL!"
INTERLUDE: END
Shin woke up, sweating a lot. His Servant just woke him, a bit preoccupied, as he was sweating with no apparent reason.
"Master? Are you ok?" Assassin asked him, trying to get some sort of reaction out of Shin's pale face.
"A-assassin. M-Mh, I'm ok. It seems the ritual drained me a bit too much. I just had a bad dream."
Shin dismissed his servant. As his mind started to get more clear, he remembered what happened the day before: He passed the exam to participate the Holy grail war. Until the end of the war, all the participants were to remain on this resort, built appositely for this war. He was given a room, and a phone, where he would receive notification on when and who he should fight. Still day-dreaming, Shin asked to his Servant "Oi, Assassin? I suppose you won't tell me your name, isn't that right?"
"Y-yeah, Master. And, even if I told you, I don't think you'd knew me. I'm a low rank Servant after all." Assassin said while shrugging a bit.
"Very well. You've said the truth. You're not the greatest Servant around. That much is for sure. But, Tactics are the base of the war. And for me to evaluate and develop a proper tactic, I need to taste your power first hand." Shin said, almost as if he was mocking his own servant. "You see, I'm a calculating person, and that is one of my top skills, to adapt my tactics based on who I'll fight. Still, I know what I can achieve. On the other hand, you..."
Assassin smiled at him, understanding completely his point.
"You would like to know my skills and mindset in fight, right? Well, get a pen and a block note, this'll be a bit difficult to explain" Assassin said, showing confidence in what he was about to show.
Assassin cleared his throat, and started his explanation...
"You see, it may not seem, but I am quite powerful. My name, what I did in the past though, are not what determine my power. This is a power I had in life, and that can be too much of a threat. So, the Grail system made out a sort of... Lock? To arrive to the full extent of my power, and my Noble Phantasm, I shall pass this locks."
"I-i see. What kind of lock is it? Does it have conditions?" Shin asked, memorizing whatever his servant said. Each peace of information may be useful for him to archive the victory.
"Yes, one, inevitable condition. Time. Each lock has a time limit. For a lock to be broken I must stay in fight for a set time. The Representation of this locks, called Moon, is this." In Assassin's hand, out of thin air, appeared a knife with a yin-yang symbol on it.
"With this, the first lock is broken. The next lock will break only if I'll stay in fight for more than 5 minutes. Then another one, after 5 minutes. From then on, until the last lock, 10 minutes must pass. In total, those are Seven Moon, like the name of this knife here." Said Assassin with a grave face.
"Huh... So, let me recap. Your knife is the starter, then after 5 minutes you get a boost, another one is got after 10 minutes, from there on, at 20 ,30, 40 ,50 and 60 minutes will give you a ulterior boost? A total of seven boosts, huh?" Said Shin, while taking in this complex Noble Phantasm his Servant had. To have such a lock on his greatest weapon, something told him that it wouldn't be the normal kind of weapon he was thinking about.
"May I continue, Master?" Assassin said, while looking straight into his master's eyes, through his eye bandages
"Aside from the lock being removed, do you gain something from this?"Shin said half amazed.
"Yes, at each Moon, I obtain a skill, that can help me to fight better." Assassin said, now smirking.
"But, I wont tell you them. If you wish to know them, you must force me to tell you, and a single Command Seal will not be enough. Heck, if I'm serious, I'd be able to resist all three Seal..." Assassin laughed giving this phrase a strange sound. Shin couldn't understand if he was joking or he was serious. After all, almost half of the Servant's face was covered with bandages.
Still, Shin didn't falter, and responding with a smile, said to his Servant:
"Oh yeah? It's a fight you want? A fight you'll get!"
Chapter 2: End