Chapter 1, Part 1
soldier and savage dark
Zeroth Blood

[ [ March 13
[ [ 23:58

A flash flew wide.
No, it had been exactly on target, but...
Too slow, was it?
This was much easier when her target didn't know she was coming.
The woman in the white kimono braced herself. A black iron shield came down like a guillotine.
But so are you.
The enemy's blow struck the asphalt. It was as if a comet had suddenly woken up as a meteorite. Shards of dark grey scattered to the air, blending with the moonless dark and breaking like waves against rocks as they collided with the walls of the surrounding shops. The kunai that had been thrown and evaded less than a second ago was exchanged for dozens of crude facsimiles tearing through every direction.
An impressive blow, without question. But it had not been aimed at the pavement.
The woman in white unceremoniously reappeared from the empty air five metres behind her opponent.
"Good grief. Do you have something against retreating?"
The warrior did not respond, instead pulling herself upright. The shield in her hand was larger than her entire body, but she did not seem to have much difficulty with it. Although large in its own right, there was no way that the greatsword in her other hand was enough to balance her body on that alone.
To put it another way, a tremendous strength completely contradictory to her appearance dwelled within a small, somewhat pudgy frame.
Don't honour the mountains just because they are tall, so went the saying, but the inverse was also true.
"I was expecting an easier fight," the woman admitted. "I'll give you that much."
The warrior had not spoken until now, but met the comment with a smile. "Well, y'know. Seeing a pretty girl makes me want to show off a bit."
A sharp pulse of irritation concentrated like the point of a needle, and the woman's left eye twitched.
The praise had not been hollow. She had honestly considered this Berserker to be easy prey. After all, the idiot clearly hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings, focused entirely on her Master like a puppy. It was as if she hadn't even been considering that killing intent might have been pointed her way. But not only had she seen the first attack coming, she had also been on the offensive for almost three full minutes. And on top of that, this flippant attitude…
I can't tell if she's taking this seriously.
If this was all her opponent had, then she could easily finish this just by going all-out herself. Berserker's combat arts were expectedly unsophisticated, relying solely on sheer strength. It was not even a bastardisation of a more competent basis that she would have anticipated from a more skilled hero having lost their mind - this squat little Amazoness genuinely had not honed a single thing but raw power.
She was either a weakling, or she was hiding some kind of trump card. In other words, was she pretending to be nothing but a musclehead just to draw out an opening for an unknown ace?

The orders from her own Master had been simple: scout for enemies, and if there were any whose backs were open, kill them immediately.
Indeed, that was what an Assassin-class Servant did best. The Holy Grail War was hardly so strict a game that its rules could not be bent, but there were a limited number of pieces to begin with. There were some Heroic Spirits qualifying for the class that one could consider unconventional in their methods - after all, it was not often that one made a name for oneself with stealth - but the woman in white was not one of them. She was a standard Assassin through and through.
Unfortunately, those simple orders, in perfect harmony with the stage they may have been, broke down somewhat when faced with a target like this.
And to make matters worse…

"Honestly, how rude can you be?"
The Master sitting side-saddle atop a streetlight hadn't tipped her hand a single millimetre either.
"Haven't you heard of rules of engagement? I can't stand sneaky types who think they're too good for a decent 'hello'."
She had offered no support, nor even instruction to her Berserker. All she had done was leap out of the immediate splash zone.
I'm being tested.
That much was obvious. Because they were so clearly bluffing, she had no choice but to bluff in turn. If Assassin revealed too much too early…
"Apologies," she replied, "but I have no intention of introducing myself, and I already have all I need to know about you, Trithemius Gloria."
With a smug smirk and a flip of her long white hair, the Magus in the pointed hat narrowed her eyes. "Oho, I see you've done your research… So that's why your Master knows better than to be close by, I take it. What a shame. Unlike the rest of you, I am here to make friends."
Assassin's lord had already confirmed everything necessary to deal with each Master individually. Trithemius Gloria, the summoner who had contracted with Berserker, was a particularly troublesome opponent for anything less than a Servant. Simply perceiving her too well opened up even Magi to inexorable brainwashing. For Assassin's lord, whose powers were derived from unparalleled perception, there was probably no opponent more troublesome in the entire world. And that meant that there was no support here from the person who could have easily spotted a weakness or two to exploit.
This was infuriating. A failed sneak attack, and then nothing but evasion, but learning nothing. Every blow was too heavy to reliably parry, and the speed of this accursed lugette was far too inconsistent. Every time Assassin thought she had a handle on her opponent's speed, she was proven wrong. She hadn't successfully managed a single counterattack while pacing herself like this, and she hadn't even successfully crossed blades more than once.

In short, she had lost patience.

A white blur.
Berserker's eyes widened, taking a step back. All too slow.
There was nothing held back in Assassin's dash. There was one thing that she could ascertain without doubt about Berserker's speed: it was far below her own. As the peak of what this era called kunoichi, it was only natural that she would be able to outpace some common soldier.
Berserker raised her shield in panic, and the tips of two kunai scratched against its surface with a shrieking flash.
Not enough.
Assassin had already vaulted over the top, tossing her fangs before the warrior even realised that her defences were useless. The two daggers whistled through the air, swifter than the wind, on perfect course to disable both shoulders. Landing on one foot, she prepared to deliver a killing blow to the back of the neck――
The kunai clattered unceremoniously to the ground.
Two trickling lines of dark red snaked their way from two wounds no deeper than mere paper cuts.
Berserker looked over her shoulder. "Well, that smarts."
Only sheer acuity of reflexes had prevented Assassin from rushing at a window of opportunity that did not exist. If she had taken another step, she would not have been able to adjust to Berserker's inevitable counter.
No, even if she had, the finishing blow wouldn't have made it through. That had been a serious attack. The bullet-like throw should have pierced right through, and yet this was the result. How absurdly tough was that body?
And what the hell is that shield even for?!
"Don't look so shocked," Gloria chuckled from atop her front-row seat. "I might get insulted. This is a Holy Grail War, don't you know?"
Of course. Assassin silently scolded herself. This was no mere routine skirmish, but a battle to the death: a free-for-all between history and legend's greatest heroes.
"What kind of hero would my Servant be if she fell that easily?" the Magus boasted.
To survive such a thing would have been impossible for an ordinary human being. Elevated to a powerful spirit Berserker may have been, but the same was true for Assassin. The playing field remained as even as ever. It was not merely a body composed of Ether that allowed her target to survive, but her own worthiness. To shrug off what Assassin had attempted without flinching was impossible, perhaps, but those who could not embody the impossible when faced with the jaws of death were no more than mere rabble.
She had not been taking this soldier seriously enough.
No, more like――
Assassin straightened her back.
――"My apologies. I haven't been treating you as an enemy."
She wasn't one for formalities. Assassin considered herself a pragmatist first and foremost. Affording respect to those she was here to kill was a concept foreign to her. The apology was not directed at Berserker, nor even Gloria. It probably wasn't even directed at a specific person.
She begged for the pardon of those who were not here.
Her Master, who had gone so far just to summon her of all people.
Those who had praised and feared her life, transforming her into a being that was worthy of participation in this duel.
Her own family, for making such a mockery of their own legacy.
Assassin - no, the Hidden Demon of Royal Grudge - had been treating all the things that led to this moment far too lightly.
"I will rectify this at once."

She vanished.

Natural instincts, honed by years of battle.
The primordial will to survive accumulated over more than three billion years of ancestry transmitted the concept of lethality to Berserker's brain.
It was enough to make her raise her shield again.
An instant later, and her entire upper body would have been reduced to a fine mist.
That was the kind of force she felt coursing through the gigantic hunk of metal that stood as a paper-thin wall, ringing like a bell in her grip, between her and Assassin's barehanded blow.
No. Assassin was not here. She was not merely invisible. There was no presence whatsoever outside of the single instant in which she struck――
Another blow, this one directly to her side. Berserker felt the ground fall from her feet.
Crash.
Shards and splinters of glass skittered across the floor as her body collided with some kind of shelf, sending it flying backward. All kinds of miscellany were scattered to the air.
It did not have time to land. Assassin was already upon her prey, fists cloaked in a pure black darkness as she descended with a skull-crushing blow.
Evasion was impossible. She was too slow. There was only one option available.
Berserker howled, and knuckles met a heel.
The twisting of her body was enough to throw her enemy off-course, and Assassin reeled over her―
"Tch."
―but ultimately landed on her feet.
Berserker hauled herself up again, filled with relief that she had escaped.

But as she did, a foreign sensation shot through her right leg.
A dreadful, nauseating agony as though her bones had been hollowed out. Every cell in her leg was screaming as tendrils of nothingness took root in her flesh. Her balance almost collapsed in an instant, and only the enormous shield held against the ground was sufficient to steady her.
"Interesting," Assassin mused. "I knew you were hardy, but this is ridiculous. It isn't as though you hold yourself as some pinnacle of champions either, so I suppose I should commend you for not immediately losing that entire leg."
"What… did you… do…?!" Berserker mustered, hissing through the pain.
The woman in the kimono's expression did not shift an inch. "Consider that my poison, if you like. Hollow attributes are very effective against immaterial beings like spirits. It's just a shame that there isn't any sort of anti-heroic element mixed in as well… If I had something like that, I can't imagine anything other than instant death for the likes of you."
This was exactly why Berserker had been underestimated earlier. Assassin had not been misguided to think of her as weak.
She had realised it with that last exchange. In terms of physical strength, they were more or less evenly matched. For an Assassin, this ninja woman was ridiculously powerful. Likewise, for a Berserker, the soldier girl was paltry. That was the only way that the two could be equal. Even still, although the balance was normally just slightly in Berserker's favour, that shadow… She didn't understand it, but it seemed like her worst enemy.
On top of that, there was no mistaking it. Assassin was Japanese in origin, hailing from this land they fought in now. Heroic Spirits had their relative strength tied closely to their fame in the region they were summoned in. Berserker, meanwhile, was an obscure western warrior whose martial feats were not even esteemed in song. If Assassin was a second-rate hero made first-rate by the stage, then Berserker was a fourth-rate hero with no recourse available. The gap between them was an insurmountable canyon.
Being underestimated, her fortuitous durability, and a lucky blow at a critical instant… Assassin never had a reason to be worried in the first place. Nothing more than fluke after fluke had piled up to keep her alive, and now there was a clear path to her death.
With that dark hand, land just a single blow on a vital point on this one-legged enemy who cannot muster even half of your speed at her best.
That was how simple the kunoichi's victory condition was.

"Good lord."
Click. Click. Click.
High heels split a shard of glass clean in half as the only remaining factor entered the building through the hole where the door used to be.
"This isn't fair at all, is it?" Gloria sighed melodramatically. "Whatever is there to be done about this injustice? Perhaps I should complain to someone."
Assassin narrowed her eyes. "You are aware that my class is one that kills Masters, are you not?"
"Forget me, you're about to make short work of my poor Servant," she said. "I suppose I should have seen it coming, letting someone so weak go up against an opponent without help."
Calling her own Servant weak… Then, she was trying to summon stronger, but failed?
But for someone conceding defeat, her tone was…
Something was wrong. Assassin's legs refrained from moving. Something was telling her that if she struck now, she was going to be in serious danger.
Gloria cocked an eyebrow, as though she was reading Assassin's thoughts. "Yeah, you're starting to get it. I drew this card on purpose. Berserker here is a small fry if there ever was one. If we were in an action movie, she'd get mown down without a single speaking line. But this isn't an action movie, is it?" she smirked. "Let's call it… historical theatre?"
She snapped her fingers.
Berserker jolted, crying out as though her body had been pierced by lightning from above.
No… Perhaps as though it had been pierced from below by…
"Aah, aaaah, aaaaaaaaah!"
A shriek of joy, of euphoria, shook the air. Magical energy surged. Something had been unshackled.
"Even the weakest Servant can win against anyone in the right circumstances," Gloria said. "Imagine being the right circumstances."
This kind of intensity was far beyond what she had demonstrated until now. This was on another magnitude entirely, so much so that it almost didn't feel like a Servant. This gravity felt as if she had transformed into something completely inhuman. It was like staring down a wild beast… or even a demon. The Berserker class had the skill to trade reason for power, but this was no mere skill. This was…
...This has to be a joke.
Did the Master forcibly activate some kind of Noble Phantasm? A legend of this degree existed for a Heroic Spirit so subpar?
Assassin did not command it to do so, but her left foot moved three centimetres back. This was not a scenario she wanted to be in right now. She had learned something. That was sufficient. Without backup, the risk was just too high to take a self-strengthening Noble Phantasm head-on when she didn't know its limits.
Sorry, Master. I'm not fighting against that in this condition.
She had done her best to avoid showing it, but her right arm had taken a strong blow from that kick earlier. Even a mad dash for the Master was too risky here.
"In that case, I'll take my leave before this gets any more chaotic," she said, stepping back, letting herself fall into a shadow that wasn't there. "I wasn't here intending to fight a prolonged brawl in the first place, so I'll let you off easy this time."
The window of opportunity had closed. In recognition of that, Assassin's body began to dissolve, falling away as nothing more than mist in an imaginary wind.

Gloria simply watched, taking care to keep her acute disappointment in check until the woman had completely vanished from view.
"Talk about blue balls."
She snapped her finger again, and Berserker almost stumbled. It was no wonder - the instantaneous removal of pleasurable static sufficient to fry the brain was probably harder for a Berserker to adjust to than it was for an ordinary person.
"A-ahaha…"
But perhaps the ability to adjust to that was just another part of her Noble Phantasm. The shape of humiliation set into her expression, and her shoulders relaxed a little.
"Easy there. Don't get too excited," the Magus said. "Fight's over."
Berserker's eyebrows knitted regretfully. "I really wanted to show her what I could do though…"
"Well, we'll go looking for a rematch some other time, I suppose."
Eye contact was firmly eschewed. Gloria's attention was more focused on their surroundings. It would have been something of a nuisance to start fighting at even just an inkling of Berserker's full power in the middle of a convenience store anyway, she reasoned. The last thing she needed was the Overseer on her ass…
…No, scratch that. I definitely want her on my ass.
But it would have been a little irritating to have to deal with the fallout of levelling an entire building, even a relatively small one. A half-assed restoration spell would be enough to only clear most of this damage, let alone if it got any worse. She didn't particularly give a damn about this town or the people in it, but a pain in the neck was a pain in the neck, and the Church and Association alike sure knew how to be one.
...Forget it.
"I'm gonna go find the frozen foods," Gloria declared, sauntering off down the aisles.
Berserker blinked, shield and sword dissipating as she trailed behind. "M-Master?"
"What? We chased off our first enemy. That's something to celebrate. I want pizza."
"You're just making up excuses to shoplift a single pizza…?"
"Not at all. I'm making up excuses to shoplift at least three pizzas, and maybe some beer if they've got any," she shot back. "That's what being an adult means."
Berserker already knew full well that her Master was an adult in age only, but didn't say anything. "Well… I guess a feast is a feast, but…"
"What? If you're gonna say 'we didn't even kill her' or something, I literally could not care less," Gloria sighed. "That's why it's called an excuse. Go find something you want too."
"No, I was actually gonna say that stealing is bad…"
The Magus stopped, and gave a bemused smile over her shoulder. "I forgot how precious you can be. Look, isn't it far easier if we steal some stuff? If there's a hole where the door was supposed to be and they're missing some inventory, it's much easier to rationalise than if nothing else is wrong. This whole thing is supposed to be a secret, remember? Now go get something you want to eat."
She sighed, conceding, and turned on her heel――
――"Ow."
"Oh, right. I guess that leg still hurts? Go spirit form so you don't have to walk. Maybe we'll amputate it at the neck when we get back," Gloria snarked absentmindedly.
Watching her now as she searched blankly for her spoils… she was probably the least intimidating person imaginable who could still be called a Magus. It was shocking how quickly the lethality in the air had dissipated. In hindsight, Berserker wasn't sure if her Master had even held an iota of killing intent that whole time. Perhaps it really was just down to laziness on her part, but it crossed Berserker's mind how thankful she was to have been summoned by someone gentle.
But gentle or not, she could see the gears in Gloria's head turning, and she doubted it was about pepperoni.
No matter how quickly the battle had vanished to the wind, no matter how much her Master tried to make it out to be no big deal, no matter how little it had felt like the beginning of something…
Just now, didn't someone fire the first shot of this whole war?
It felt almost… ordinary. Almost routine.
Perhaps it was just because she was a soldier herself.
"Save it until we get home to think about something perverted," Gloria said, not even sparing the Servant a glance.
Berserker almost choked on her own breath. "I wasn't thinking anything like that!"
"Uh-huh."
"I really wasn't!"