Hassan-i-Sabbah is a name shared by many servants. All belonging to the Assassin Class, having similar appearances and originating from the same sect, but they are not the same person.
For example, if a Hassan was summoned for the 4th Grail War, it may not have the same Noble Phantasm as the one summoned for the 5th as they are not the same people.
Though, the Assassin that was summoned for this 5th Holy Grail War could only be called Hassan, as his own name was lost to time. No one in modern times knows it, nor could he himself seemingly recall what it was either.
Yet, that was what he wanted and wished to gain from the Grail. His wish that made him, one who is loyal to his own Master join together with the corrupted Saber–was the simple wish to find out his name that was lost to time.
Of course, his Master wasn't someone that he would betray unless forced to, but there were some..issues that led to it.
One was that his Master was a magus who seemed rather incompetent in utilizing his skills as an Assassin. Most likely due to him hoping to have summoned a Caster, but was informed that he was too late in that summoning and decided to summon without a catalyst due to constraints in time. Secondly, Hassan couldn't defeat Saber once she gained the Grail, much less any of the others that joined her later on. Lastly, and most importantly, he had changed.
During one of his fights against Caster, he suffered some life threatening damage to his spiritual core. In hopes to fix the damage, he decided to use his [Self-Modification] skill to remold himself using whatever he saw first.-Unfortunately for him, it was one of failed recreations of Angra Mainyu from the Grail.
Such a remodeling to his own body and form was enough to heal him, yet all negative aspects of him increased tenfold. His natural aptitude for evil was intensified and all evil aspects of who he was became far worse than what it was before.
The only thing remaining of what used to be a loyal servant that would always side with their Master was his sincere wish he wanted from the Grail. So, to that ends, he went to seek out the new enemy that appeared.
In order to kill them, present their heads and hope that Saber would be willing to let him use the Grail. After all, he knew without a doubt that if tried to take it from Saber by force, then he would die without ever fulfilling his wish.
"-Zabaniya!" With those words, mana swelled from the very atmosphere and swirled around Hassan as his arm flew through the air towards the unknown servant.
Usually, Hassan would just ignore him in favor of the Master, but something within him stired and desired this enemy. It screeched out that it cannot move forward until he devours the heart of this servant. That this servant was something he needed to devour no matter what.
His arm that was what his Noble Phantasm was only accessible through reached forward. A dirk was in his free hand, ready to throw if the enemy was able to escape his Noble Phantasm.
With a grin on the enemy servant-he took the Noble Phantasm head on as Hassan's hand touched the enemy servant's chest.
Yet, there was no effect. The illusionary heart Assassin made did not switch with the real heart of his enemy.
Before Hassan could register that fact, his leg was blown off by the use of a Gandr spell, and his hand severed by the enemy servant's blades.
"—I'm glad you targeted me. If it was anyone else you targeted, this would be a 'game over'." The enemy servant grinned like a beast, making Hassan realize just what mistake he made.
For this was one of the few enemies he could never be capable of using his Noble Phantasm on. After all-he was already an existence filled with curses that rendered his own curse null and void.
{Master.} A voice reached Shido inside his head as he was being supported by Olga, his neck bleeding from the fatal damage while Camael healed him. A voice he quickly realized was Angra through all the burning pain that flooded his senses from what Assassin did to him.
Pain burned from his neck, a lack of oxygen choking him, but thankfully for him Camael healed him enough to allow for him to finally breathe. Leading to him coughing roughly, spitting out blood and crouching down as he continued heaving.
{I can take his Noble Phantasm head on. You figure out a way to deal him some damage after that.} Following those words told telepathically to Shido, he felt the mana in the air gather around Assassin, making him look at their battle and keeping his eyes on them.
His right arm growing, bulging, expanding and extending. Assassin yelled out the name of his ultimate attack, his Noble Phantasm. "-Zabaniya!"
His arm unraveled from the bindings, and had become a one-winged spear soaring towards Angra. Shido watched with nervousness coursing through him, trying to trust in his servant yet he couldn't help but feel worried if he may not actually survive.
—Yet, he knew that he couldn't just watch. Camael hadn't finished healing his wounds, so he had no way to speak due to the vocal cord that was currently being healed.
{Make sure to get ready to fight after his attack hits, Mash!} Trying to convey that telepathically, Shido watched and felt relieved at seeing Mash nod in acceptance, even if she was abit surprised by the telepathic communication.
Shido kept his eyes on the fight, watching as Assassin's hand touched Angra's chest as Assassin let out a demented laugh. At least, until Assassin froze in place from shock.
"—Gandr!" Using the opportunity, Olga shot out a bullet of condensed mana from her fingers at Assassin.
It easily tore through his left leg, severing it from his body and his hand that seemed to be what he needed for his Noble Phantasm was torn off by Angra's blades.
"I'm glad you targeted me. If it was anyone else you targeted, this would be a 'game over'." Angra grinned as he spoke, at least until Assassin threw his dirks from his hand, which Angra was able to avoid.
Yet, like it was a gun, Assassin started to throw many of those dirks at a speed that was faster than Shido could see, much less react to. He would be riddled with holes and the dirks would have all caused numerous wounds on his body, if not for Mash who shifted from preparing to attack to instead defending Shido and Olga.
Shido felt relieved when he saw that Angra had made it back to them as the shield defended them from the numerous dirks thrown at them.
"Gandr! Gandr!" Olga peeked from the shield Mash used to defend them, and fired off her spell, which broke through Assassin's dirks and almost hit him, at least before he used his previously bandaged arm and with its hand missing from the wrist, pushed it against the ground.
The push from it allowed Assassin to avoid the spells, despite lacking a left leg. He even started to use his right arm as a crutch to hold himself.
Though, that wasn't for long as he then pushed it against the ground and started using it to escape from the situation, still throwing his dirks as he did so.
Shido tried to calm his mind the best he could in the current situation and focus. Recalling his experience in how he summoned them before, he tried to summon it.
He could see the particles of light that usually appeared when the Angels were summoned appear and start to form the shape. A smile appeared on his face and he felt like he could actually summon it once more and he won't be fully reliant on his servants anymore.
—However, the second he tried to grip the weapon, all the particles of light dispersed into the air.
Does..does this mean I can't call on it now?
Shido knew that the issue wasn't from his misremembering how to summon them, but from something else. He felt it could've been from what even brought the Sephira Crystal back, doing it in a way that may not allow him to use the Angels, yet that didn't make much sense when he could still use Camael healing ability. If anything else, it seemed more like it wasn't ready to be used.
Shido could only clench his fist as he could only think of what may happen when Assassin escapes. Would he tell Saber of his healing ability? Wait until they get tired and kill them? Inform Saber of their identities? Get help from another servant to kill them? Or even Saber herself?
There were no positive possibilities Shido could think of in the case that Assassin escapes. But there was nothing they could do, with the barrage of dirks that would tear their bodies apart if they tried to go after him. Not even Mash, with her high endurance, could chase after him because she was busy protecting them.
"—Don't look so down, Master! It makes me feel like you're a bit less cool than I thought!"
With Cu's voice, Assassin looked shocked just as Cu formed from mud on the ground. No doubt a use of his runes and magecraft that Shido could never hope to recreate himself.
Assassin tried to jump away, but Cu hit his right arm that was used to move with his staff. The hit resulted in Assassin losing balance and falling, at least until Assassin had his remaining leg touch the ground and used it to kick himself away from Cu.
Yet, it was useless as Cu merely raised his staff towards Assassin and one word escaped his lips. "Ansuz."
Upon that word having been spoken aloud, Assassin's whole body was lit alight and not wasting that chance, Cu thrust his staff in a similar manner to a spear, piercing Assassin's heart which was easily crushed by the strength and pressure Cu used in his thrust.
"No need to worry anymore Master. I got rid of those monsters and Assassin." Cu gave off a grin as he stood over Assassin's disappearing body.
"Thank you very much." Mash bowed to Cu, which Shido would try to do if he wasn't still having Camael heal him.
I know it had to be done..but I hate how he had to die..
As someone barely passing as a magus, Shido had hated the idea of having to kill someone and experiencing death, no matter who the person was.
Unnoticed by Shido himself, Angra watched him with an unnerving stare, as if assessing and trying to figure out all about him.
"We're here now. You can rest here for the night, well if it even is night." Cu told them as they walked into a fairly well kept yet somewhat broken open room that seemed to be as big as two of Shido's living rooms combined.
Dragging himself into the room, Shido leaned on the wall as he untied Olga's torn arm sleeve from his neck. Olga kept an eye on what used to be a wound, and started to wipe away the blood from his neck so as to get a better view.
"It seems like you're perfectly healed from Camael." Olga muttered as she got close to Shido's neck and examined it. "Though, even if it can seemingly heal all your wounds, don't become reckless. We have no idea why you can use them again, and the reports state that it's healing ability isn't limitless, so try to avoid any further situations where you might die, okay?"
Shido nodded his head and gave a "Yes." in response.
That feels like something Kotori would say. Though, I guess it makes sense considering how their positions would cause them to have the same outlook on certain things..
"This is your secret base? Seems pretty lame. It would be way cooler if you had some dead bodies or blood flooding the place."
"It isn't a 'secret base'. This is just some place I found and spruced up with some of my magecraft just a little before I found you guys."
"Why did you need one though? Aren't servants capable of living without such a thing?" Mash tilted her head as she asked her question, which was something Shido himself also wondered.
"Yeah, but it's not like it's good to stay out in the open constantly during a time like this. So, I usually clean out certain parts of some buildings, use runes to reinforce them and make sure they are unnoticed by all the others." Cu gestured to the very clearly woven runic symbols embedded into the walls. "But they usually end up being found and destroyed by one of the servants. Most of the time being Archer shooting from a distance or Rider who just ends up finding me randomly."
"Rider? Is she still that snake chick or not?"
"'Snake chick'? Who is that supposed to be?"
Angra sighed as he roughed up his hair. "Doesn't really matter. She's probably the same one anyway."
"-Hello? Ah, I'm glad you guys are alright." The hologram of Romani appeared once more, making Shido give a relieved smile at seeing that it seemed like things were calming down on their side. At least judging by how he now had a cup of coffee in his hands and looked a bit more relaxed than earlier, even if he did have some eyebags that showed his clear exhaustion.
"Romani. Were you successfully able to cryopreserve them?" Olga crossed her arms, which made Romani notice that her sleeve was torn off and how Shido was holding the sleeve that was now bloodied.
Smiling, Romani nodded. "Yeah. We were able to successfully cryopreserve them and the injured staff have now been stabilized. Man, am I glad that we got those medical Realizers."
"Indeed. Those Realizers helped to save some more lives. Though I feel frustrated that I didn't come up with the idea for them first." Da Vinci bit her lip in frustration before waving her anger off.
"Blame Isaac for that." Adding that comment, Shido groaned at being reminded how despite how twisted Isaac was, he was ultimately a genius that helped progress many beneficial technologies that wouldn't exist otherwise.
"Doctor? Was there a reason why you contacted us? Did you figure out anything new?"
Romani shook his head in denial upon hearing Mash's words and looked a bit dejected. "Sadly, no. We can't really find out anything new, not that we even could try learning much with how much of our resources were damaged. We're barely recovering as is."
"Wow!" Angra whistled and let out a small chuckle. "You guys are pretty fucked up, huh?"
"Yeah. We pretty much are. The bombs were even planted in some of the key areas for the generators and almost completely destroyed them, if not for some added protection that Woodman had secretly added." Romani admitted how bad their situation was without any sugar coating, which made Angra let out another laugh.
"Oi. Doesn't that mean someone set you guys up?" Cu cut into the conversation, making Shido pause and swallow a lump in his throat.
..I thought that too..but I didn't want to think that someone truly wanted all that death..
Shido recalled walking around the charred bodies and broken pods, cursing himself for ignoring such an obvious thing.
I have experienced it before, when I found out about Reine..Why did I ignore it again? Especially when it was so clear..! I..can't keep being in blissful ignorance anymore. I have to be ready for anything and accept all that is going to happen for what it is.
"I thought that too, but the question would be who.." Olga side-eyed Mash for a moment before turning her head to the thinking Da Vinci.
"Well, we can figure that out later. Right now, you guys should get some rest if you can."
Olga glared at Romani upon hearing his words. "Why? Do you think that I can't handle it? That I'm too weak to continue?"
"T-that wasn't what I meant, Director.." Romani was nervously sweating bullets as he held his hands up in surrender.
"Olga. I'm sure he's moreso talking about me than you. I mean, I just suffered a fatal wound and need some more time to recover. So how about we rest here for the night?" Smiling at Olga, Shido covered for Romani the best he could as he gestured to his newly healed neck.
"..Fine. We'll rest here and then we can continue to where Saber is."
"That's a great decision, Director. I was feeling a bit tired myself." Mash added on with a smile, trying to make Olga feel a bit better, yet that seemed to cause the opposite effect from how she tightened her grip on her arms.
Ughhh..What time is it..?
Shido rubbed his eyes open from his slumber as he looked around him. He could see he was laying on the ground, sleeping on his own arm and his Chaldea uniform blouse that acted as a blanket.
Mash was sleeping a bit further away from him, Angra alongside Cu were not visible and in their Spirit forms, while Olga was gone.
...Wait. Where did she go!?
Shido instantly stood up and went to the door, opening it and looking for Olga.
He could see the broken shards of glass and cement that were gone from the room that Cu selected as a makeshift base. Not only that either, as he saw nearby a broken window, Olga was leaning on the wall and shaking as she held her hands together.
"Olga?"
"—hk!" Olga looked shocked and raised her hand as if to fire off a Gandr spell, yet stopped and her breathing calmed down as she saw it was Shido.
"Please don't kill me." Shido gave a smile and spoke his request like a joke, as he believed Olga would never kill him due to what he understood about her.
"I wasn't planning on it. But I may consider it if you don't go back to sleep now."
Shido got rid of his smile and made sure his expression was showing how serious he was at the moment. "Well, I would normally but I wanted to talk with you for a bit."
"..Okay. Say what you want then go back to sleep."
Shido saw how Olga tried masking her nervousness as he walked on towards her. Making it near her, he leaned on the wall right next to her.
"I want to ask you something, Olga." Shido closed his eyes and mustered up his courage to have this much needed conversation with her. "—Why are you hiding your emotions? What is the reason that you don't show your emotions to anyone? What is that you fear right now?"
Olga grit her teeth together and her hands tightened its hold on itself. "..I don't know what you mean."
Her subtle actions were clear indicators of her growing anger and how she was trying to hide her emotions. Something that he knew, and yet only spurred him on to continue persisting as he stopped leaning against the wall and stood infront of her.
"I mean there is no need to hide your emotions. What is there that would force you to hide something as important as your emotions? Are you afraid of being seen as..weak?"
Olga glared at Shido and pressed her hand against his chest. "—You seriously are saying that! Do you think I can show my emotions to them!? If I show the slightest sign of weakness, then I won't be able to push on!"
Olga took a step forward and Shido was forced to take a step back.
"You have no idea what pressure I have to take up my father's mantle! I'm already looked down on for my small number of magic circuits compared to other highly known magus families! That's not even counting how they view me when I'm not compatible as a Master myself!"
Another step backwards.
"Then they look down on me for not being as capable as my father! To the entire magus world, I am a pathetic excuse of a magus that doesn't deserve my title nor family name!"
Another step backwards.
"They all watched with disappointment in their eyes as I grew disgusted at what experiments they did to create the demi-servant that is currently under your command! They had gossiped and spread the word how I was unfit to be a magus! They were condemning me with their eyes from how horrible and terrible of a magus I was!"
Another step backwards.
"If I showed any more moments of weakness, if I let those within that cutthroat world see my emotions, my weakness, I would be killed! I bet that Mash girl hates me and is preparing to kill me when I go to sleep!"
Another step backwards.
"I can't trust anyone! I can't show any weakness to anyone!"
His back hit the wall.
"How can you lecture me about anything when you don't understand what I go through!? What pressure I face! You can't understand a thing about it!" Olga started to catch her breath from all her raving, and Shido watched her.
Taking a deep breath, Shido gently put his hand to Olga's cheek and had her look him in the eyes.
"..Olga. You're right." Shido placed his free hand on Olga's other cheek, smiling as he saw her clear confusion at his actions.
"I have no idea what it feels like to live in that horrible world that constantly pressures you on who you can trust and if you may die. I don't have a clue just how much they looked down on you for not living up to your father, having less than expected magic circuits or even your weakness as a magus." Olga grimaced at being reminded of her failures, her expression hurt yet accepting of the fact.
"—Despite that, I love it."
"—Huh?" Olga was in shock, eyes widened as Shido moved his face a bit closer to Olga's.
"I am not a 'true' magus, so those so-called 'weaknesses' of yours are things I can't help but love. Your ability to feel disgust from whatever they may have done to create Mash, you not accepting whatever horrid things they did. I love that part about you."
"Wh-what do you mean!? It's unacceptable for a magus to be so impacted by those things!" Olga gripped Shido's hands, applying enough pressure to where Shido winced in pain, yet he did not stop holding her face and making her look him in the eyes.
"Sure, they may condemn you, think you're not fit as a magus, but why does that matter? They could hurt you? I'll make sure to protect you from them. They may denounce who you are? Then I'll stand up for you. They'll try to kill you? Then I'll stand in their way." Shido gazed into her eyes, trying to make sure he properly gets his message across. "So please don't hide your emotions. Lash out in anger, smile, cry, hate and show love. If you can't show that to others, then at least express that to me. Let me be someone you can rely and depend on."
Shido didn't want Olga to only rely on him, yet he knew it is unreasonable to expect her to suddenly express herself to everyone considering how despite what he may say to her, she will still undoubtedly have suspicions and be fearful of others at times. It's not like her whole mindset could change after just one night after all.
Still, he knew that if she started to open up, if only to him, she would eventually learn to open up to everyone. No matter how long it may take, he is committed to help her along the way until she can freely express herself and overcome her insecurities.
"I-I..I'm scared! I don't want to be here! I miss Lev so much!" Olga started crying, and without any waste Shido pulled her into a hug. Her face pushed into his chest, tears started seeping into his Mystic Code while he stroked her hair.
"I hate this! I hate it all! Why did this have to happen to me! What did I do!"
..
..
After a couple minutes of Olga venting to Shido, she had stopped crying and before he knew it, she fell asleep as he hugged her and stroked her hair. He had gotten through to her, but Shido was well aware it was only because of how stressed out she was, her fear and most importantly, the loss of the one person she seemed to care for the most.
Still..it's sad how she never heard those words before now..
As Shido looked down on her sleeping face, he wiped some tears from it. Continuing to do so even as he heard a whistle from someone that just exited their Spiritual form.
Sighing, Shido finally lifted his gaze towards Angra. "What do you want now?"
"Nothing. Just thinking that you really are a playboy, aren't you? What next? You gonna make that shielder fall for you? Or," Angra gave a look of mock shock. "are you going for me next?"
"You wish. And I don't plan on making anyone fall for me." At least anymore, as he doubted he could even use his sealing ability on servants.
Shido lowered himself before he put his arm under Olga's knees and lifted her up using all the strength in his body, having her in a princess carry now to make it easier to bring her back into the room.
"Wait Master. I want to confirm something with you real quick." Sensing that this was a serious topic, Shido decided not to go back into the room and waited for Angra to continue.
"—Are you going to accept what you will have to face from now on?"
Shido tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Twirling one of his blades, Angra then shifted to pointing it at Shido. "I mean that throughout your journey, you will have to accept death and suffering as a constant. If what I learned about these singularities is correct, then time and time again you will erase altered events at key points in history and make it so that it never existed to begin with. Essentially, you will be killing everyone once you're done. The version of themselves during the singularity will cease to exist."
Shido felt his throat suddenly become parched, his lips dried and he licked them as his emotions churned at being confronted with this reality.
"Not only that either. I'm sure that you hated those corpses we passed by on the way here, yet I'm sure that there'll be even more dead bodies moving forward. You may even see someone die right infront of your eyes." Angra looked at him with a seriousness that was unheard of beforehand.
"So, I'm asking you what path you'll take. Either to drown out the sins you'll carry on your back, or be crushed under the weight of them. Which will you choose, you annoying self righteous Master?"
"—I think you misunderstand who I am. Angra, you see that I'm not really some sort of person that can be described as a 'hero'. I don't have some lofty goal like saving the world or making sure no one ever suffers. The only thing I truly want is to return to my daily life. A chaotic, messy and ultimately, enjoyable life. Where I have fun waking up in the morning, making food for my sister and heading off to college. Maybe going out on a date with those girls that still love me despite how indecisive I am." Shido had a nostalgic smile on his face as he imagined that normal life he loved so much.
"So sorry, but I can't choose either. Instead, as a normal human, all I can do is push forward in the hope that I can return to that life of mine. —Though, that doesn't mean I'll forget about what I experience or do either. I will push forward and make up for all the sins that I commit, all the people I kill in order to return to that life I cherish so much." Saying those words with determination, Shido stared at Angra in the eyes.
Angra grinned at that like he found it to be the funniest joke ever. "Then, I'll make sure to do my best to push you forward until you eventually break and crack under the pressure."
"—Now, let us start this Holy Grail War of which the likes has never been seen before. Until you fall into insignificant little pieces. Kakakakakaaka…" Angra let out his vile sounding laugh, as Shido Itsuka, the one who calls himself a selfish human being for his simple wish and Angra Mainyu, someone so twisted and demented that he would gladly kill others for no real reason, had truly become Master and Servant.