Mercurial Grail War - Prologue (erratum)

Day -2
The sun slowly rose, blinding the chauffeur and making him curse under his breath. But as much as he swore, the severity of his words didn’t even come close to those that dwelt inside of his passenger’s mind. The Fake Priest lay back, reminiscing of the good not so old days when he was still in retirement. His eyes drifted to the Command Spell on the back of his hand. Damn the Grail, and damn this War.
Fake Priest could have refused to arbitrate this fraud of a ritual had the damned thing not appeared. That's what sealed his fate. Frustrated, he adjusted the loose bandages on his hand and focused on reading the report.
The Church was aware of three potential candidates likely participating in this Grail War, though they were yet to register officially. What was known about them didn’t leave him with good impression. Thinking about it now, it could be true that his presence was necessary, but still… Damn it, why did it have to be him and not someone else?! And who knew what kind of monsters these other Masters would be?..
---
Perfection Girl was walking down the street in high spirits. She had finally shown signs of Command Spells forming on her right hand, and so her mind drifted off to future battles and preparations. She'd obviously win, but she still needed to put in effort for it to matter. That was simply what was expected of her, and she was not about to disappoint her parents or teachers.
As Perfection Girl passed by an old hobo sitting by a wall, she turned back and gave him X yen on a whim – an extraordinary sum. Smirking, she told him to get his life in order so he wouldn’t sully her sight ever again.
The Old Hermit took a look at her right hand and smirked back. Neither said anything as they went their separate ways: Perfection Girl because she didn’t notice anything, and Old Hermit because he noticed too much.
He got up and dusted himself off, glancing at the sun high above. He had arrived into the city only that morning, and yet he already had met his first enemy.
The old man took a step into the alley behind him and surprisingly ended up half across the street. Naturally, he himself was not surprised, for interactions with non-Euclidian geometry had long since lost their old splendor to him.
Old Hermit’s magecraft was subtle, and no one noticed his disappearance. Either because he made it look so natural to the bystanders, or because he was an old hobo and they averted their eyes and thoughts from him instinctively. It didn’t matter to him, and he continued his warping steps around town. All he cared for was taking note of the terrain, looking for good spots to fight or hide, and so on. With his ability to twist space it didn’t even take him half a day to cover the city twice over. Of course, traces of his magic were still left for all to see, but he didn’t care. Nobody would be able to wrap their heads around what exactly he did anyway, and so his presence would still remain a secret.
That’s what he thought, anyway.
Or rather, that’s what he would think after he finishes. In truth, he was still walking around, and the sun wasn’t even in zenith yet.
Omniscient Amateur rubbed his eyes, and then wrote down a few words on the piece of paper. Irritated, he crossed out it all and threw the paper into the trash bin, where it joined dozens of its comrades. He had been looking at the future all day long and he still hadn’t figured out the correct path to victory. There was a plan, yes, but it was blurry. Uncertain. Not good enough for him, in short.
Too many variables unaccounted for. Omniscient Amateur couldn’t see anything concrete further than the distance of around two days. He knew who he was going to summon, he knew who others were going to summon, and he knew their initial moves. For a normal Grail War, that would’ve been enough. But it wasn’t.
No matter how far he looked, he always saw a mercurial spider, looming on the horizon. A mere amateur in terms of magecraft, he still knew what it meant, even without resorting to using the Omniscient Star in his brain.
Exhausted, Omniscient Amateur stood up and decided to give up on this for today. Planning could wait; it was time to get to work.
---
The Mage Stealer returned home just around after dinner. There were still some calls she’d have to make, but it could wait until later. She took care of everything from her mundane life that could interfere with her future plans for this unexpected War. The most important thing right now was taking care of her obvious mana issues before they proved fatal.
Stepping onto the grounds of her manor, she was met with a pair of doll-like maids with red eyes. Small smile creeped up on Mage Stealer’s face. Right, she could always use them as a solution.
---
Old Hermit finally settled down in the darkest corner of a random park he found. Not the best summoning ground, but with plenty of escape routes, just in case.
He placed the summoning circle and read the words he knew by heart. It went without a hitch. It should have worked out perfectly.
So where was the Servant?
It should have worked.
It should’ve…
Old man felt uneasy. The lack of sound around him, the pressure gnawing on him – it all sent him into shivers. He sensed death staring in his face. Instinctively, he warp-stepped out of the way… and that saved his life in the nick of time. An unknown attack passed by him.
Just what had he summoned? Was it that Assassin, the Old Man of the Mountain? Or maybe... He certainly had heard of a Berserker that could not be seen, was that him?
Regardless, he understood the situation completely. The Servant he had summoned was invisible and hostile. If he lost his rhythm for even a moment – it could spell certain doom for him.
Before this unknown Servant launched another attack, Old Hermit fired up his impossible circuits, channeled his magic and started twisting space around him in ripples. As expected, the waves hit something in front of him, clashing like the sea against the shore. A few more pulses and he saw a rough human silhouette.
Archer (for that was who the old man summoned) gave his Master a few more earnest shots which he dodged by warping the course of bullets around. Well, if normal attacks didn’t work, it only made sense to use an appropriate weapon against a dangerous opponent. But before Archer's hand could reach his Noble Phantasm, the Old Hermit made a prayer to the Command Spell, forbidding Archer from harming him in any way.
Irritated, Archer turned away and left the source of his hate behind him, swearing to himself to somehow deal with the bastard magus another day.
The form of his unknown Servant disappearing from the view, old man lowered his hands and breathed out.
Taking in account all that had just happened, he could only whimper.
He didn’t even know what Class his Servant was. He couldn’t communicate with him or even see him. The Servant also tried to kill him. He had already lost one Command Spell. And someone could have noticed this little fight and already be on his tail.
This was a disaster.
Grumbling to himself, Old Hermit disappeared in another alley, hoping to jumble his tracks and confuse whoever could be after him.
---
Late in the afternoon, the Fake Priest finally arrived at the chapel. Briskly walking around, he found himself satisfied with the available tools and headed to the church basement.
A summoning circle was already waiting for him, drafted on the floor by his predecessor. Seeing no reason to put things off any longer, Fake Priest took a stand and started to perform the summoning ritual. He may have been a terrible magus, but there was no real need for one to succeed here.
And of course, he did. A woman stepped out of the circle, announcing herself to her Master and swearing loyalty. Lancer, huh?
Well, no matter. He had no intention of burdening her with this contract. Immediately, he explained that he lacked proper motivation to fight, or even Magic Circuits even if he wanted to. Fake Priest openly told her his intention to transfer her to a worthy Master instead. That is, if he could find one.
Lancer was clearly not amused by this gesture, but reluctantly accepted this outcome. She wouldn’t mind a different Master if she was unwanted. But until such an event came to pass – she would stand ready by his side.
Equally unsatisfied, but holding no grudge towards each other, they shook hands as the last rays of sunlight left the church.
---
It took him all day, but the Omniscient Amateur finally found the perfect spot for the summoning circle. It could’ve been done quicker had he not wasted his energy earlier, but it was still well within his expected schedule, so he ruled it out as a non-issue.
The place he picked was the harbor, a perfect strategic location, and also an important leyline conjunction, which made it an obvious choice in hindsight.
Obvious for anyone else who’d see it too, and this was why Omniscient Amateur spent whole day looking for alternatives. It was futile, of course, but it was worth a try.
He drew the summoning circle with a stick in the sand and placed a cheap tablet with one certain book opened in it on the wooden stump which acted as pedestal. The noisy waves drowned out his words. Under the cover of the night, another summoning took place.
Boisterous voice made its presence known to the world, boldly stating its “True” Name for all to hear. Not that anyone other than her Master could hear – he took care of that ahead of time.
Omniscient Amateur sighed and lowered his head before the face of the radiant False Saber.
He already knew who would stand before him, but he was not about to spoil her fun. Not to mention that it would actually lower her fighting capability if he revealed he knew who she really was. And so he played along and bowed to the “Basileus” he summoned. In response, flustered False Saber told him that there was no need to bow and asked him to stand tall before her.
They smiled at each other, instinctively understanding that at least there wouldn’t be any problems in this relationship, if nothing else.
---
The sun had already left the stage. However, it meant nothing to the man that was deep underground, lost in the work as he was.
In the enormous cavern the Conspirator was weaving his web around an ominous purple-black pillar. He paid no attention to the passage of time, focused only on his modifications to the Greater Grail. It was fortunate that he found the site of the Greater Grail. It was nothing short of a miracle that no one got in his way yet.
His plan may have been monstrous, but his intentions were pure. Anyone with half a mind in the mystical circles was aware that Land of Steel was a distinct possibility. It didn’t matter that humanity may take to the stars before Gaia dies, for Type-Mercury was already here. This all but set everyone’s fate in stone. Nothing could be done so late in the game, and we all might as well be doomed.
But the Conspirator was an idealist at heart. He truly believed that the power of love could break this fate. If only he could teach it to ORT, then it would overturn the impossible. And that was where the Grail came in – making wishes come true was its primary function, was it not?
Well, it was unable to process things exactly the way he wanted, but the Conspirator was proficient. He merely needed to make an adjustment here and there, insert a few tricks into the design – and it would all go according to plan. Wiping sweat from his brow, he inspected the Grail once again and added the final connecting lines to his work.
The eye of the embryo inside of the Greater Grail followed his every move, knowing, that for all his expertise and cleverness, he didn’t know what IT was.


Day -1
Fake Priest awakened to the noise of honking car outside. He knew what it was: the chauffeur from yesterday had returned, bringing him his promised back up.
After leaving the church building, the one who met his gaze with a smile was an old friend – Comedian Nun. He extended his arm for a handshake, which she promptly dodged, tackling him in a tight hug instead.
Seeing Lancer standing behind him like a shadow, Comedian Nun laughed and said that she didn’t doubt him for even a second, Magic Circuits or not. Fake Priest tried to object that he had no desire to keep Lancer for himself, seeing as he could not supply her with sufficient mana, but Comedian Nun stopped him and made a suggestion. She, as the one who was superior in terms of mana output, would do *anything* she could to assist him in maintaining Lancer, so there was no need to worry. Fake Priest winced at the idea, but Comedian Nun lightly hit him on his chest and winked at him, saying that it was only a joke. He could only roll his eyes at that.
Lancer stood lost in thought as to what to make of this.
---
Mage Stealer was finishing stuffing her maids into the tubes, but she felt sick. Not because of any imaginary pity for the homunculi, no, they were just dolls – so there was no problem with using them as a mana battery. It was the empty gaze of Assassin behind her, who followed her around, that caused her to shiver.
She had summoned Assassin earlier this day, but although she certainly managed to establish a connection with her to supply the Servant with mana, she had failed to connect with her on a personal level.
It felt… cold. Strictly professional. Well, not that there was anything wrong with that.
After making sure that the last tube was safely locked, Mage Stealer turned around to Assassin and asked what she thought about scouting the city.
Assassin mused that it was a good idea, though she secretly disliked the fact that she wasn’t the one who came up with it herself.
As the Servant snuck out of the manor, if anyone else had been there, they would’ve felt that the unsuitably cold atmosphere had gone back to being normal.
---
Somewhere on the streets, a grinding sound could be heard, although its source was invisible to any onlookers.
Archer was grinding his teeth, cursing himself for revealing his existence to his Master, and failing his assassination attempt at that.
His decision had been made in the spur of the moment, but he should’ve thought things through more thoroughly. It didn’t mean he should’ve let his Master live, hell no. But he should have waited to let the old man think he'd simply failed his ritual.
Should have. If. Maybe.
Another grinding sound, followed by the sound of a cigarette being lit.
Archer relaxed. He decided that he simply wouldn’t take anything from the Old Hermit, no energy, nothing. If that meant not using his Noble Phantasm – fine, he’d do fine without it. He could not do anything about that wretched magus, but that didn’t mean he was his only target. The world didn’t end here. He’d let this go. For now his focus could be shifted to other Masters.
Yes, he wouldn’t accept anything less from himself.
Archer spent the rest of the day brooding, wrapped up in his trenchcoat.
---
As the Fake Priest moved the conversation to more serious matters, Comedian Nun dropped her jests and went all business.
Yes, she'd brought the Holy Contract Ledger, as was agreed.
No, there were no other agents dispatched with her, he would have to rely only on those who were already in the city – their spies, the chauffeur he'd brought with him, and some others.
Yes, she had already filled the Flawless Diamond to the brim. That took quite a bit from her, he should know. Actually it was her Magic Circuits’ full capacity. She was “empty” at the moment.
After advising her to take a rest for the remainder of the day and acquaint herself with Lancer, Fake Priest left Comedian Nun to her own devices and moved to the entrance.
There was an unexpected visitor at the door.
---
Perfection Girl compared the picture in her hands to the real place she'd arrived at. Yes, this was certainly the place. She put the photo back in a pocket and marched straight into the chapel, cringing as she opened its doors. Yuck.
The one who met her at the entrance was the Fake Priest. Before he could even open his mouth to greet her, Perfection Girl had thrusted her hand with Command Spells right before his face. As if saying “There, got it?!”. And then, just as she arrived, she turned around and left. Not a chance was given for a word to be said by either side.
That was one hell of a registration. Both Comedian Nun and Lancer nodded to themselves, hiding in the backroom. The boundary field had alerted them that someone was coming, and so they had plenty of time to panic and run around waving their arms until the Fake Priest directed them to this room.
In the short time Lancer had known Comedian Nun, she couldn’t fight the feeling that she liked the girl. They talked a lot about different things, and although the nun always kept trying to joke around, she wasn’t making light of the serious subjects, and at times her face betrayed its somber nature underneath. They both were reaching the same conclusions in their arguments, and they both felt agreeing with the other in the cases when they weren't.
If they had more time, they could even become friends. Lancer hoped that this future would come to pass after she won the Grail.
Just as Lancer and Comedian Nun stepped out of the backroom, the phone started ringing, causing both to groan and get back into the room. It wouldn’t do to distract the Fake Priest during an important call.
After making sure that no one was listening in, the priest picked up the phone.
---
She got out of the cab and waved goodbye to the driver. Looking around, Combat Monster took a deep breath.
She clearly shouldn't have done that, as the stench from the sewers assaulted her senses almost immediately. But whatever, she was where she needed to be.
After taking in the sights of the city for the whole day, it was about time she got to work. The homunculus opened the hatch and went down the ladder. The sewers weren’t the best place, sure, but who the hell would ever think of establishing a base down there? Nobody, that was for sure. A perfect location no one else would ever think to check.
As Combat Monster disappeared from his sight, the old man observed from the nearby dark alley (which would actually look much further away from the girl’s perspective) and shook his head.
The Old Hermit turned around and twisted the alley further, to move to the other side of the street.
Always walking the non-Euclidean paths, always on the move, never too long in one place.
A shame that although he did control space, the same could not be truly said about time. It was one thing he was running out of. He was old, and had no one to pass on his research. Which was why this Grail War had been a blessing to him. To reach the Root in this generation? Signing on was never even a question in this case.
But this blessing turned out to be a curse.
There was no backing out now. Old Hermit decided right then and here, that he had to fight in this Grail War, alone if he needed to. That disloyal Servant of his would get his due eventually, Command Spells were already proven to work on him, so he could have no Magic Resistance.
The Root was right in front of him, he only needed to reach and grasp it.
---
The Conspirator put down the phone. There was no need for him to register with the Fake Priest, but he did so anyway, for the sake of appearances.
The Conspirator kept on walking until he reached his destination. It wasn’t as good a place as most others in terms of summoning potential, but he couldn’t exactly just summon a Servant inside his apartment, and he was pretty sure that the perfect spot in the harbor was already taken by someone else.
This would do.
He drew the circle with chalk and prepared to chant his spell.
What he didn’t know was that, purely coincidentally, at this very spot, only down in the sewers, Combat Monster had established her lair and was summoning her own Servant at the same exact time.
Two circles in the same position lit up at the same time, and two Servants stepped out into the world. However, both of them were Riders, and they both appeared in the same one circle.
Who is to say what caused it? Was it because the ritual was already broken by Conspirator’s manipulation of the Grail? Could the mud that dirtied the Grail have been the cause? Or could it have been due to the total coincidence of it all? Was it for some other unknown reason?
Regardless, the Conspirator above was left in confusion with nothing in front of him. After a few minutes of stumbling about, he finally decided that the ritual had failed because the place wasn’t perfect, and so he only had to look for another one and try again. The bruise that was about to become his Command Spell was still on his hand, so he should still be a valid Master. It was just a mistake, a fluke he could have foreseen. And it would be the first and last mistake he would ever make in this Grail War, for certain.
Things unravelling at the same time below him, however, were far more fun.

Day 0
Assassin couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Two Riders? How was this possible?
At first she was following the twisted magical trail left throughout the city. While she was trying to make sense of how it came to be, she saw that it stopped somewhere around a hatch that led into the sewers. Giving up for the moment on that trail, she found another one down there, although that one was clearly different. Straying the underground corridors, she came across a summoning unlike any other.
Whoever the Master of Two Riders was, she was clearly a force that shouldn’t be underestimated. To know how to break the summoning ritual and to be able to support two Servants – she should be nothing short of a demigod.
Carefully and quietly, Assassin withdrew and went looking for other, less dangerous things to investigate.
---
Heavy clouds lay overhead like a thick carpet made out of lead. It looked like they’re on the verge of pouring out. But Omniscient Amateur knew that it would take at least one more day for it to rain, though he had never been any good at predicting the weather further than a day in range no matter how hard he looked.
Omniscient Amateur closed his eyes and sighed in relief. At the very least, False Saber taking control of the harbor early on had delayed ORT from appearing by one day. He didn’t know how or why, but it worked, and so he absolutely had to choose this path.
In the real world he found himself being suddenly shaken by False Saber, who was complaining to him that he was daydreaming and not listening to her. He wasn’t, but he had already seen what she would say to him, and so simply repeated her question back to her. Shocked, False Saber apologized to him for thinking that he wasn’t paying attention to her. Omniscient Amateur merely scratched the back of his head, awkwardly.
But it was true that what she'd just said was important. False Saber had just established her Temple in the harbor and fortified its access points. Not with real fortifications, of course, but with invisible bounded fields and other traps. However, for all of the strategic potential of this location, they still couldn’t afford to just sit holed up in here.
False Saber wanted to go out into the city and look for trouble, so to speak. And frankly, Omniscient Amateur simply couldn’t say ‘no’ to her when she was looking at him with such a face. He gave his approval, she beamed at him, and that was that.
---
Things were proceeding not as planned.
Combat Monster decided to keep away from the world and the Church so that she could have a chance to bide her time in peace and quiet until the later stages of the Grail War.
This was the opposite.
She didn’t know how she'd gotten Two Riders. At first she'd thought that it was a happy little accident. But then she found out that both Servants were weakened due to their power being split. And then she found out that neither could even use their Noble Phantasms. And then when she tried to fix the problem by performing mana transfer, she found out that it didn’t matter since she had basically nothing to transfer in the first place. It was obvious in hindsight, but it took her a few tries for each Rider and with different methods before she came to that conclusion.
Combat Monster barely had anything to support one Servant, much less two. She knew that, but hoped that it could be resolved by her aforementioned methods.
And now she sat amid stench of the sewers and the noise these two were making. Rider of Stars was loudly complaining that he didn’t have his Pioneer of the Stars EX rank Skill, whatever that meant. And Rider of Dreams was utterly insane, babbling something about some Sancho Panza being unable to materialize or even speak, which apparently meant that she was even weaker than she would in this situation.
They kept arguing about nonsense and making so much noise, everyone in town could probably hear it.
She had a headache. No, wait, she got two. Actually, it was a real, physical pain. The drain was getting to her. In frustration and unable to think straight, Combat Monster swore that she would go out at night and murder the hell out of the first random bystander she'd meet. Also because she could use them as a sacrifice to fuel the Riders. They might complain, but who cared, it was not like they were drowning in ideas or anything. She was the one with the Command Spells.
Although at this rate she wouldn’t last much longer.
---
Perfection Girl recalled her teacher who'd fought in another offshoot Grail War and perished. She wondered if he'd ever gotten into a situation like this.
She went to the harbor, thinking she would be the first to claim it and summon her Servant. Imagine her surprise when she came face to face with a Servant on the way there. Worst of all, that bitch clearly recognized that she was a Master and introduced herself to her as Servant Saber.
Oh, she'd tried to reason that there was no point to kill her before she performed her summoning, since the Grail would simply pick someone else to give the Master rights. But no, the dumb meathead Saber wasn’t listening to any of that!
The world clearly conspired against her. But she wouldn’t break that easily.
She retreated to the back and hit the wall. Unbearable stench of the sewers, piss, and garbage was surrounding her. She would die in such a dump? Feeling shaken, her gaze fell down to the floor as if giving up. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the thing at her feet: a summoning circle! It didn’t matter who made it and why it was abandoned, the stars were looking brightly in her favor. Desperately, Perfection Girl started chanting the spell under her breath.
---
False Saber had felt that there was something wrong with the land even back when she was establishing territory, but dismissed it for the time being – there were more important things to take care of, like planting traps, gathering enough energy for her trump card, and other things. And now that she found herself in the middle of battle, she simply couldn’t afford to split her attention any further.
The girl who fought against her wasn’t too bad at all. She would’ve praised her for the courage and ability to stand tall against a Servant if she wasn’t her opponent.
This little miss Perfection was very persuasive, and she would’ve let her go if only her words had held any weight. Sure, killing her this early in the war wouldn’t change the total number of Masters in the slightest. That, however, wasn’t False Saber’s intention. She wasn’t able to claim being an extraordinary magus of myth and legend, but she was confident enough that she would at least be able to tear off the potential Command Spells off of Perfection Girl and gift them to her own Master. So there was never any point in negotiating. False Saber could only sadly smile at her desperate enemy.
All this would-be Master managed to do so far was constantly delay her by drowning her in the flashing lights magi nowadays called spells, as she was retreating further back. And Perfection Girl clearly knew where she was going, there was a summoning circle waiting for her. False Saber bit her lip. Had she been baited into falling into a trap?
Willing to risk it all, False Saber rushed to finish off the girl.
But just as her sword was about to connect…
It was blocked by a lightning strike of another sword, with the speed equal to hers. That ashen blade introduced its wielder to her as the True Saber, throwing her a few meters away.
For an instant, False Saber considered disengaging.
But she could afford to continue. Moreover, her pride wouldn’t let her live with herself if she ran away like a coward after going so far in pursuit of Perfection Girl.
So, as was proper, False Saber announced her name and Class to the enemy who stood in her way. Alexios Komnenos, Saber class Servant. And make sure you remember this name.
She enjoyed the visible confusion on the face of True Saber. It was all worth it just for this moment alone.
False Saber gripped her sword tighter and closed the distance once more. With a wicked grin, she acquired Mad Enhancement from the pool of Skills her Imperial privilege made available to her, adding it to her already taken Eternal Arms Mastership.
In the last moments of her evaporating sanity, she heard flabbergasted Perfection Girl complain.
What, you’re a Berserker now?!
---
This didn’t make any sense whatsoever. First Two Riders, and now Two Sabers? What was next, Two Assassins?
Assassin had stopped caring about logic at this point and hurriedly made her retreat back to her Master’s manor.
She didn’t buy it one bit, but she had to report back to Mage Stealer about this. On her way Assassin addressed her Master through her link, and heard her answer.
To her surprise, Mage Stealer displayed only skepticism at her retelling of the events, saying that Assassin had gotten something wrong. It's impossible, she said.
Damn right it was impossible, but what the hell did this mean then?
She should’ve been watching through her eyes the whole time, what was she wasting her time on back there? Assassin let go of her annoyance and decided to just ignore the truth she saw for now and resolve her issues with her Master first.
They’d have a long talk, find the root of the problem and get over it. There, so simple.
But once Assassin got back, she hadn’t confronted her Master, and Mage Stealer said nothing to her either. However, the air in the room was so tense, you could hang clothes on it.
---
True Saber was facing a formidable opponent. This… Berserker? Saber? Enemy. This enemy was clearly surpassing her in terms of raw strength, and her finesse was so far above True Saber’s even in the depths of rage, it wasn't even funny. She simply wasn’t able to keep up with her even with Mana Burst.
She found herself on the defensive. The terrain of this battlefield wasn’t favorable either. Her shaken Master was behind her, and there was nowhere to run.
Her enemy left her with no choice but to use her trump card right off the bat. True Saber smiled ironically: probably not many Servants used their Noble Phantasms the very moment they were summoned.
This smile was quickly wiped out by a blow to the face she failed to block. Blood splattered on the ground, and True Saber heard her Master gasp behind her. It was no time to play around. She raised her sword above her head in the brief opening False Saber was showing and unleashed its true name:
[Ashen Sword]
And then the flames swallowed the world in front of her. There was no surviving that, neither for her enemy, nor for the people behind her who lived in the houses mowed down by flames. There was no other choice, but at least things were settled now-
Splash.
Red blood drew a pretty picture on the wall behind her.
A sword cut the smoke and flames before her apart, burned to a crisp False Saber still attached to its grip, her mad grin long gone from her face.
True Saber felt her body being split vertically in two and fell to the ground. Seconds later, the other Saber’s body followed her example.
---
Archer watched from the shadows as two Sabers died. He had been tailing Perfection Girl for a while now, and this endeavor certainly bore some fruit.
Knowing that two of his opponents were already out of the game was certainly relieving. Sure, their situation was pretty unique, but they were dead now, so what did it matter.
He took a look at the Perfection Girl who was brokenly sobbing on the asphalt. The sirens were already going off in the distance. Someone could see him if he went after her head now. And she wasn’t even worth killing at this point.
Archer deemed Perfection Girl too pathetic to amount to anything after this event and left the street.
---
Omniscient Amateur could only imagine the excruciating pain False Saber had surely gone through. He was still unable to use his Omniscient Star to confirm the future, at least until the day ended.
All he could do now was stand and wait.
And sure enough, purple haze formed right before him and his Servant rose from the ashes like a phoenix. She displayed no discontent at having just been killed, proudly standing as if coming back from the dead was just what should be expected from her. He knew this was just hollow bravado.
Omniscient Amateur stood confidently, but his voice betrayed his true emotions. He let her go, he should have known that things would end up like this, his meddling caused True Saber to be summoned, so it was his fault that False Saber had gotten hurt. He told her everything, slowly breaking down as he did. He shouldn’t have chosen this path to the future, there should have been a better way, and he was simply not good enough a mage to find it.
False Saber simply smiled and placed her hand on his head, gently ordering him to calm down, keep it together and just rely on her to get things done from now on. True Basileus was always generous and forgiving, so she couldn't be anything else. This was fine. Hush.
She could take much, much worse than that.
---
Her Servant was dead.
Her Saber had died right after she'd summoned her.
Unbelievable. Was this how the story of her family’s greatest scion ended?
Perfection Girl felt like she was cracking. Her worldview was slowly falling apart right before her eyes. She was supposed to be the best, so how did things end up like this? Was she simply not good enough to handle it?
Lost in despair, she didn’t even notice that the corpse of her Servant hadn’t disappeared yet. She paid no attention as it stitched itself back together until it got back up right in front of her.
True Saber cracked her neck and stretched out as she apologized to her Master - the circumstances had prevented her from explaining her full powerset before she put it to use.
A giggle rung out. Then a laugh. And then Perfection Girl started madly shrieking, drowning out the sounds of the burning disaster in front of her.
Just like that, any change she might’ve felt happening in her inner world – utterly gone. Her confidence was restored. She was right all along.
Her Servant was immortal.
She could not be defeated.
This was perfect, she'd gotten the exact best card she deserved and desired. So what she was crying over just now?
This was all too funny to her.
---
Unlucky chauffeur who was previously in the employment of the Church twisted his body in agony, unable to scream. As his convulsions subsided and his heart stopped beating, Combat Monster felt relief for a moment.
He had simply been in the right place at the right time.
He shouldn’t have been the first person Combat Monster saw after getting out of the sewers, but he was. She should’ve been wiser and avoided crossing the Church, but she wasn’t.
It was what it was.
On the positive note, at least she hadn’t needed to spend any Command Spells to convince Rider of Dreams to turn on the guy. Maybe his hands weren’t clean enough for her to see him as a monster. It didn’t matter.
Rider of Stars refusing to participate in this dirty business was what mattered. She had supplied Rider of Dreams for a day by doing this, but Rider of Stars was still empty, for the lack of a better word. She needed another solution.
Combat Monster felt her headache return and cursed under her breath.
---
Fake Priest felt that he'd signed up for something that was way out of his league. First came the notice that someone had successfully summoned Two Riders, which was unheard of. Then Comedian Nun had returned to report that there were Two Sabers out and about. And then he learned that someone had destroyed two buildings in the residential area, with an unknown number of people wounded or dead. This fact Comedian Nun had confirmed as a likely result of the battle between two Sabers, so it fell to him to keep things under wraps.
And now… this.
This Grail War was a trial unlike any other, clearly sent to him by God. There was never any choice other than to rise up to the task.
Having made his decision, the priest gave Lancer the order to move out into the city and deal with this nonsense.
She smiled, as sitting all this time in the chapel had made her grow restless. Sure, the company she had all this time was nice, but she was here for a purpose. And now that she had been given free reign, that purpose was about to be fulfilled.
Someone had been stupid enough to summon a servant under the Class of Avenger just now, so all she needed to do was remove them from the game.
---
Avenger’s first cry is that of despair. She weeps at the world, and the Greater Grail seemingly hums in response, or is it only an echo that vibrates throughout the cavern?
Certainly, using the Greater Grail itself as a catalyst for his second summoning attempt was a wonderful idea. He was first frustrated at his previous failure, but it turned out for the better. It may be a bit late on the schedule, but it worked out all the same.
Conspirator marvels at his success and looks up at the ceiling. Although his words couldn’t be heard by anyone , they were not lost.
“Now then. Shall we begin?”