Chapter 5: Page 5: Asta divine's Gambit
The sun rises from the horizon on the tifas as its lights begin to break through the clouds and shine on the city. Its glow travels throughout the city from the tallest of towers to the smallest of houses, going into the many homes of citizens, covering them in its warm embrace. From man to child, all people living in Tifas felt the tenderness of the light, feeling its eagerness to watch their lives unfold. With sight fluttering open from the slumber of the dark night, the city became alive again, looking at the rising star and smiling in its reverence; morning has arrived. While the city began its life cycle again, a single vehicle was seemingly going against this cycle. It was a pure black limousine; its elegant surface catches the sunlight and showcases its exquisite design to the masses. Moving through the roads with such finesse that many would believe that it was moving on its own, but that would be much more believable than the reality of the situation.
Inside of the vehicle were two men taking the front seat, with one of them driving and the other looking for any danger. They were wearing the same military clothing with the matching colors of gold and white, the same shoes, the same brown berets, and even the same slightly pale skin. Yet there is some stuff that is off about the two men; first, their eye color is ruby. Most people don't have that type of color, so seeing two people with the same color eyes is strange enough, but there was something even weirder with them—their lack of expression. Driving, looking, and even breathing felt like a metronomic rhythm of a clock, each gesture flowing with methodic efficiency that was devoid of any wasted energy, like a hurried breath. If it was like they were robots of metal and wires more than actual flesh and blood—in truth they're not.
Well, to be more specific, their homunculus, artificial humans made in a lab for the sole purpose of fighting in the great Holy Grail War against the other factions with their creator all the way in the back of the limo. Gordes was looking through the window, seeing row and row of trees; memories of the fight were etched in his mind. He couldn't forget them. How could he do nothing but watch as both his servant and the enemy servant fought in a battle of attrition? It was a spectacle just to watch two legends fight with his own eyes, but there was one thing in that fight that frustrated him to no end.
Asta.
That boy was a freak of nature. Not only was he with Ruler when he arrived at the area, but when he stepped in and fought against Saber and Lancer, he made it look like it was nothing! Moving at their speed, dodging their attack without even looking, and that form of his, he turns that fight in his favor immediately as he uses attacks that shouldn't be possible in this modern age. If the fight didn't stop where it ended, who knows what other abilities the boy would have or if his servant would survive it. His demon brother was no slouch either; no doubt he could have killed him if he wasn't there for the fight.
"Asta and your demon broth—whatever! You have incurred my wrath. The next time we meet, I'll make sure that you will feel the might of Gordes Muslik Yggdmili–"
"Sir," one of the homunculi injected.
"WHAT!" Gordes snapped at the homunculus, "Can't you see I'm busy, you insufferable ingrate!"
"We're almost there."
Gordes looks back at the window, eyes lowered in a sickened displeasure as the limo moves to its destination. Standing atop a hill overlooking the entire city was a beautiful medieval castle surrounded with walls that circled the entire castle, a monument of an ancient past filled with knights and dragons that is long forgotten by the people in this day and age. But for the very few, this place was their home ground, their base where they oversaw the great battles of heroic legends to accomplish their goals to reach the true essence of magic. To those few this was their fortress of millennia, and Gordes was one of the chosen to make that dream a reality.
Gordes, however, was not pleased to see that castle mainly because he knew that they watched the fight and their leader wouldn't be too happy about the outcome of it.
Pulling up to the front entrance, they stop at a huge gate with two homunculus guards standing in front of it, wielding massive halberds and staring into the far distance with surgical gazes. Getting out of the car, one of the homunculi begins to walk toward the back of the limo and pull open the door. While Gordes was getting off the homunculus bowed down to him; glancing at the homunculus's gesture, he quickly looked back at the gate as it sat itself awake, gears grinding, pulling the chain back as the gate slowly opened up. With each turn of the gears,Gordes felt his throat tighten like a vice, struggling desperately to pull in any air, and his body was about to rupture from the inside out. Eventually the gate opened and staring toward the open darkness he tightened his suit, smoothed out the sleeves, and began to march toward the castle.
Inside the castle was nothing more than gorgeous with its beautiful pillars, glistening flooring, and beautiful chandeliers shining down the hallways like stars in the skies. However, at the center of all of the extravagant architecture was a throne and on top of that throne was a fearsome man. Dressed in robes fit for a warrior, black as a shadow in the dark, in contrast to his ghostly pale face and slick-white hair that scratches down to his back and at the ends of which is a shade of green. As he sat up at the throne, a slight pressure filled the room, not enough to be overwhelming but just enough to be noticed by the person right next to him. That person is wearing the same military suit Gordes wears but wearing a pure white cap that goes up to the neck with a golden sash holding the two sides, sleek black pants and boots, and an ornate staff with an orb at the tip.
Both of them were looking at several images created from magecraft from the fight from last night; more specifically, they were looking at Asta. At first they didn't see Asta as anyone significant, pitying that the boy was going to die to protect the ruler, but as they saw Asta fight against Saber and Lancer, their initial dismissal turned into stunned silence. Seeing this boy being able to not only go toe-to-toe with servants, high-level servants at that, but even surpass them with his demonic-looking transformation, being able to blitz them without them even knowing. Siegfried was getting the worse of it, getting ragdolled on multiple occasions by Asta to the point that if it wasn't for Lancer's constant interruption they would have one less servant in their ranks. Safe to say, the man was displeased that one of his strongest generals was taking a beating and so easily that his hands were digging into the gold handle. Seeing his lord's grimacing face and feeling the pressure from him slowly rising, he needed to do something to get something destroyed.
"My lor–."
A sharp gaze turned to him as the pressure pushed against him, like a hydraulic press pushing him down to the ground. But he maintained composure even though his entire body was screaming at him.
"P-please, my lord. You have to calm yourself before you do something reckless," he begged.
Looking at his hands that were burrowed in the throne handle, he looked back at the man trying with all his might not to face-plant onto the floor in front of his lord. Softening his gaze relieves the pressure coming from him and allows the person to finally catch his breath.
"Sorry about that; it seems that my temper has gotten the better of me at the moment," he clarified, turning to the floor in the center of the room. "And to you, my comrades."
Looking down at his throne, there were other people in the room with the two trying to get their bearings after the man's temper ceased. While most took their time, the one who seemed the least shocked by the warrior was an androgynous young man with a braid that was pink and went to his waist with white streaks of hair up to her head with bow tie decorations on each side. He wears an armor set consisting of black underclothes in a dress with stockings and greaves at the bottom; he also wears gauntlets and hip guards with a central red stripe and golden accents on top. Lastly, he wears a white cap on the outside but red on the inside and at the end has a white fuzzy collar.
"Don't worry, mister boss man, I don't fear you one bit!" the woman said, pointing at herself, grinning all the while at her lack of fright.
"M-Maybe that's because you don't have a lot of sense to fear." Say a woman who was wearing the same clothing as Gordes with black stockings and a black skirt, but she reeked of blood and death, and even with plenty of perfume, she still couldn't wash it away. "Isn't that right, my dear Astoflo~?"
The man now known as Astoflo felt a chill that ran across her whole body and started to freeze up when the flirtatious woman remarked.
"Yeeeeeaaaaahhh, ummmmmmm hey! Chiron and his master, are you alright?" Astoflo asked, trying to ignore his master.
Chiron was a calm man, gentle like the waves in an open sea, wearing leather armor with a grey and gold pattern all over. This appearance was truly fitting for a bowman like himself, as he was the archer of the black faction, and they couldn't ask for a better one since he was the teacher for many famous heroes during his time, those who look very different than in the past since he didn't want his weakness to be known. On the other hand, Chiron's master, whom he was looking after, was Flore Forvedge Yggdmillennia, a 19-year-old girl who was wheelchair-bound because of her condition, but she is an expert of her craft and is the head of her clan.
"Other than the slight headache from it, I think we're fine." Flore answers Astoflo earnestly, "Isn't that right, Chiron?"
"It is, but my lord, you should refrain from letting your temper take over in the future, especially when we're fighting the red faction."
Then another person started to get up from the ground; he was the younger brother of Flore and the spare of the Forvedge family, Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia. Barely standing from the pressure the man was exuding, he got up with his glasses slightly skewed and his hair ruffled.
"Yeah, man, if that lasted a second longer, I wouldn't be conscious of this meeting." He admitted laughing faintly as he tried to fix his hair and glasses.
"Yeah, Caules, we wouldn't want to keel over and faint on us." Astoflo said, going up to Caules and putting his hand on Caules's shoulder. "I mean, it would be a reeeeeeally awkward meeting if you did, isn't that right, Frankenstein?
Standing right next to Caules and Astoflo was a fine young girl clad in wedding dress and soulless eyes by which her long bangs cover them up with only small gaps allowing them to be visible. While being one of the shortest people in the room, in her hands was a large metal mace that seemed to conduct electricity by her mere presence. But now it was acting more than usual as she narrowed her eyes at the pink-haired warrior.
"Grrrrrrrrrrr."
"Woah! Sorry, forgot I shouldn't you don't wanna to be called by your name hehe." Astoflo apologized as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Please just call her Fran or just by her class name. I really don't want her to break another wall again." Caules said, looking at the ground disgruntled, "Nearly took all day just to fix it."
"Yeah, and I have to get my golem to come and fix it when they could be working on something better to do!"
Standing like nothing happened, he was a young youth, younger than most of the masters in the room, wearing a white suit, black tie, black shorts with buckles on the sides, and blonde hair with one strand sticking up, and on his left arm was a waistband featuring a maple leaf, their faction's symbol. He was the hand leader of his clan and the faction's young prodigious golem master, Roche Frain Yggdmillennia.
"If not like we have very amazing golems that need to be worked on every day, you know." Roche sarcastically remarked.
"You know you could take a break from making all those golems, Roche. It's not like we're fighting just yet." Flore encouraged
"I do what? Talk to people and touch grass. Sorry, lady, but I really don't have the time...or the effort to do that, especially when I can continue to hone my craft to become just as great as the master!" He excitedly proclaimed while going down the stair and seeing a person wearing a blue robe. "Isn't that right, master?"
Standing next to a myriad of candles as they were lighting up pictures of the fight was a man wearing a full-body suit with blue and black stripes flowing down to the legs and stopping where there seemed to be golden slits. His arms are covered by a gold-black pattern, and the blue mantle goes down all the way to the floor, letting his yellow hair stand out. But the most interesting thing about him is his mask that has no features at all. He was the Black faction's Caster and a master of golems, Avicebron.
"Hey Master, when can we work on the golem again?" Roche gleefully asked, "I think some of them probably need a relook before they can be sent to the fields."
"Later, student, but right now we have an important thing to discuss about the fight, mainly the boy."
"Hm, oh yeah, the boy that was fighting against Saber and Lancer of red. He seems pretty talented.
"Talented" is an understatement, Roche; he literally was able to fight against servants on equal ground and with what we saw from the fight, possibly even surpassed them. The man with the staff added the photos of the battle snap to other photos by Avicebron's magic. He continued, "He seems no older than Caules and yet fights with such precision, such ferocity, it makes you wonder if he is human at all.
The man at the throne just nodded with the words "Yes, it does."
All of the masters and their servants look at the magic screens to see if there is anything about this boy that could possibly be useful information for their factions. Celenlike was looking at the boy with a sadistic glint in her eyes, just wondering all the things she could do to torture the boy for her pleasure. While Roche was thinking about the golem that needed to be cared for in the holy war. Chiron was more focused on the fight than all the people in the room, given his past life as a teacher in fighting, seeing the excellent prowess of both Saber and Lancer as they clashed throughout the battlefield. But what impressed him the most was Asta fighting; simply put, he was outstanding at the battle. His combat style, quick thinking, spatial awareness, strength, and all of it put together with such fluidity that Chiron won't dare to not see the fight again for even a moment.
It was like a blast from the past as he saw flashes of a little boy with green hair taking Asta's place in those videos. He begins to recall memories seeing that child running through the field of the training grounds as he bashes through all the dummies with a reckless smile on his face. Grinning at those memories, he continued to watch the videos, not noticing that his master saw him. Flore was about to ask him what he was smiling about until.
Crrrrrrrreeeeeek.
The sharp crack of a door opening shattered the tense silence as every master and servant snapped their attention toward the back of the room, eyes searching for the source of the intrusion. Light from the outside world poured through the widening gap, a pale and cold luminescence that clashed violently with the warm golden glow of the chandelier above. The door continued its slow, deliberate swing, inch by agonizing inch, and with each moment the external light grew stronger, brighter, hungrier, steadily drowning out the carefully maintained illumination from within until the room itself seemed to hold its breath. As the door finally reached its full arc and stood completely open, two silhouettes materialized in the doorway, backlit by that merciless blinding radiance that reduced them to pure shadow and mystery.
One figure stood short and broad shouldered, posture rigid as iron, with the outline of a coat barely clinging to one wrist as if caught mid removal. The other rose tall and sharp, stance absolutely unbreakable, a sword shaped shadow stretching across the floor like a brand, silently demanding respect and obedience from every soul present in that room. As both figures began their approach, footsteps echoing with terrible finality, the blinding light gradually released its hold and the silhouettes dissolved like smoke, revealing at last that Gordes and Siegfried had finally arrived at the meeting.
"Ah, so you have finally arrived back home, Gordes."
"Indeed I have, Danic,"
The man with the staff, now known as Danic, smirked, seeing the discomfort in their eyes as all of the master and servant knew what happened during his leave to bring the ruler to their side. Danic then slowly walked down the stairs with such elegance that he seemed to float above each step he took. Getting to the floor of the room, he looks directly at Gordes and speaks, "While you fight with Lancer or Red and the boy, Asta. Saber was...how should I put it, less than abmin–"
"You guys got your butts kicked!" the pink-haired adventurer interjected, shouting out as he got right in front of Gordes and his servant. "I mean, like, wow, I knew the lancer guy would be pretty tough since he has the gall to go fight the ruler and finish her in one blow and was able to block two of your strikes with ease. But when the kid came into the battle, I was surprised, and then I was even more surprised when he was actually keeping up against you guys and even bested both of you when you had to fight him alone." Astoflo commented while moving all over the two of them like an excited dog.
Gordes was getting more and more annoyed at Astoflo; hearing the boy getting praise for taking on the impossible with no problem makes his blood boil as veins appear on the side of his head.
"And the fact that you were scared straight by some small demon was the most hilarious thing I ever sa–."
"ALL RIGHT, RIDER, WE ALL GET IT NOW!" Gordes exploded at Rider, spooking him, making him fall flat on the floor bottom first. "You have all seen the battle, so can we please move on from it?"
"I don't know about that. You also seemed to piss yourself when that demon was threatening you." pointing at one of the videos. "Do you need to change your adult diapers?"
"What was that, Cele? Like! I'll–"
"ENOUGH!" Danic demanded and thrust his staff onto the ground, making everyone go silent. "As I was saying, your performance at the battle was less than ideal for us. If it wasn't for Lancer's intervention, we would have lost our saber and thus a major part of our fighting force. You should be more aware of how important it is to be a master of this most powerful type of servant. Correct?"
Gordes hung his head low; he knew how important it was for his team to have a Saber, since Sabers are the best servants and usually are the ones that win in a grail war the most. Losing that means the Black faction would most likely lose the war and everything they sacrificed would be in vain.
"But."
Gordes raises his head in surprise.
"At the same time, however, this first battle was completely irregular." Pictures of Asta then appear in all of the magic videotape. "This boy's fighting was, to put it simply, phenomenal. Wouldn't you agree, Sage?"
"Yes, I would, Danic. Asta was it; have put up skills that rival even my most successful students." Chiron then starts to explain. "His strength and speed are no doubt excellent, using them to keep up against the like of Saber and Lancer. But his quick thinking must not be underestimated; using tactics like using his giant sword to block Lancer's foot from moving, making him off-balance, allows Asta to get a strike in. Then before even that, when he was launched, he somehow managed to get back and use the flat side of his giant sword to not only repel the saber attack back at him but also use that as a boost to clash against Lancer.
As Chiron was explaining, the magic videos show even more of Asta's exports. From shooting Demon-Dweller from the grimoire to not only block Lancer's attack but also retaliate with a black slash, to using Demon-Dweller to absorb Lancer's flames and shoot them back at him, to even showing the demonic form Asta took during the near end of the fight.
"To think someone with this much skill in combat is probably at the same age as my master or her brother. This is quite a fascinating time to be living in, isn't that right, Master?" Chiron inquired.
"Yes, it is indeed." Flores answered, turning to see her brother, "That also means that you can't be slacking off like before, brother. I hope to see you be half as good as Asta in the clips," she says with a playful smile.
"Sigh, can you please not tease me like that, nee-san? You know the relationship between me and stuff like that."
He always hated being teased by his older sister when they were young, simply because in terms of athletic capabilities he was well... less than average. Like that one time where there was a catch with a baseball, and Flores threw the ball directly at him. Having no time to react, all he did was put the glove in front of him and pray he would catch it, and he did.
With his face, however, causing him to become comatose for the entire day.
"And besides, even if I did physical training all my life, I don't think I can ever match this guy. I mean, look at his sword; that thing is taller than him and most likely weighs heavier too, and yet he can swing that thing like it's nothing, and he has another sword as well.
"Speaking of his swords." Chiron interjected, "His are strange, stranger than most swords I've seen; they seem to be dull and rusted, and yet they produce some type of demonic energy, and when he goes to his demon-like form, the larger blade becomes completely black and his edges become sharp. Even weirder is that he can somehow change the shape of the blade to make it grow bigger while still wielding the thing.
Everyone thought the same thing: those swords shouldn't be able to do damage to servants, much less heavy armor. yet how come they can do so much damage against Lancer and especially Saber since he was taking the brunt of Asta's attacks? It didn't make sense; something was not adding up, so all of them then turned to the two people who were at the war. Siegfried looks at his master for his order as Gordes closes his eyes and sighs.
"Give them your answer. Saber."
The dragon slayer nodded his head and looked at his allies as he began to explain. "While we were fighting, I noticed something about his swords. Each time I put more power into my sword and clash with his, it begins to waver and disappear, and then when it hits my body, which should have blocked that attack, instead it cuts right through it like it was nothing, and the wound, which should have been healed instantly, is not healed or is taking a long time to get healed. So I think that those swords have the ability to.
His eyes go stone cold. "Nulify or completely erase magecraft at the level of the age of gods."
Everyone in the room becomes frozen stiff; it is as if the temperature drops to zero just by those words alone. Sure, the power to nullify magecraft was a thing, but that was only reserved for servants, not some kid with a giant sword, and yet, in addition, having that type of power was strong enough to bypass Saber's armor, which was formed from dragon blood. It was very dangerous news for the Black faction since most of their weaponry, equipment, and even servants all come from magecraft; if he finds out where they are located, who knows what could happen. That possibly shocked them to their very core.
"What shall we do, Grandfather?" Flores asked.
Danic was in a bit of a bind here; on the one hand, his boy is clearing a danger to not only the Black faction but the entirety of the war itself and could leave it in ruins, and he will not let this war he spent so long to get ready be destroyed by some boy. But on the other hand, for after videos after the battle, he clearly doesn't know about the holy grail war or anything resolving magecraft in general, and with his skills being clearly shown to him, killing him would be too much effort when they have more important stuff to deal with. So after thinking about this for a good minute, he sighs and answers.
"While I usually don't do this, we leave the boy to his own devices."
"B-But Grandfather–"
"But, if he ever decides to try and disrupt this war for any reason, he will be executed on the spot." Danic says in a frighteningly calm manner. "Isn't that right? Lord Vlad III."
"Yes, indeed."
As the man now known as Vlad stands from his throne, all of the servants bow below him, and all the masters look up to him. He raises his hand and points a finger directly at one of the magic mirrors showing Asta many faces.
"We are Servants of the Black Faction, heroes carved from the bedrock of myth and legend, etched into the very memory of humanity itself. And if this boy dares believe he can disrupt the Holy War that grants us the purpose for which we were summoned, then he is gravely mistaken! By my father's name, by the blood of Wallachia, I will not allow anything to divert me from my rightful path, the path of the one true king of all Romania!"
And Vlad gave off a hearty laugh, shaking it across the entire room like lightning as the pillars shook restlessly and the chandelier swung back and forth rapidly. His laughter was so loud that it spread all over the caste, causing everyone who wasn't in the room to hear the king's voice. While the servants continued to bow before him, the master was still thinking about the boy: if he was capable of challenging a servant, then who knew what he had in store for more powerful foes or if he was capable of summoning a servant? But that was impossible because both the black and red factions already summoned all the servants for this war, so there couldn't be any more mana for a summon. So with that thought to the back of their minds, they continued on their mission to crush the red faction and win the holy grail.
As the sun sit on its throne high in the heavens, its warm glaze washes over everything below. From the grass to the trees, the buildings and roads, and even the animals and people, everything is enveloped in its gentle embrace. It feels as though God's grace is being draped softly over His creations like an invisible tapestry, shielding it from any malice that might touch their daily lives. Some places, however, seem to hold more than just divine grace. At the edge of a city, where the trees whisper hymms with the passing wind and countless stone steps climb the side of a hill, ancient and worn from years of erosion—there stands a church. It rises with an imposing yet serene presence, its walls marked by the scars of weather and time, but still standing firm. With the clouds floating just above its roof, the entire hilltop feels transformed, as if one were stepping into God's own dominion to seek forgiveness for their sins.
Inside this building were rows and rows of wooden seats, and above them were stained glass windows of Jesus Christ doing his most famous miracle. From walking on water, turning water into wine, healing the blind, and feeding the 5,000 people with only 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and each one so meticulously crafted it was like there were photos taken during his miracles. But the front of the church stand, made with the finest stained glass, was the most famous action Jesus has ever done to help humanity, sacrificing himself for all of humanity's sins. It was so beautiful that when the sunlight reflected on the window, it was like Jesus himself was still living, still in pain, but contemptuous of his actions. But standing below this stained window frame, however, there was a person silently praying.
He was a tanned-skinned youth and had dark golden eyes, and his hair had become white over the long years she spent during his time in the Middle East. He wears the vestments of a priest, which consist of a black suit that goes up to his wrist, long black pants, a golden cross around his neck, and a type of shroud given to him by the Holy Church that he wears over his cassock. Despite being over a year younger than Asta and Caules, he carried a sense of formality with him, like he was much more mature than he seemed. Just when he was about to be finished with his prayer, small flickers of light started to appear, and as more and more started to get like a constellation, they formed into the shape of a person as Karna appeared from these lights.
"I have returned from my mission. Shirou Kotomine."
"Ah, I see." Shirou then got up from his prayer and turned to look at Karna with an innocent-looking smile on his face. "So what happened during the mission? Given the fact that the ruler is still alive, I guess that it didn't go so well.
Karna nodded his head. "Yes, that assassin report was correct in that the ruler was coming to Tifas through a vehicle; she forgot to mention one thing.
"Huh, and that is?"
"There was another person traveling with her."
Shirou was surprised, to say the least. A person traveling with a servant that was not their master was not something he could have expected, especially with a ruler trying to go to their intended location. This could be a problem for Shirou since he is the mediator for this Great Holy Grail War, and if anyone that is not a master or part of the world of mystery magecraft were to decrease in power. His job was to make sure that not a single normal person found out about the war between servants, and this boy would have probably seen Karna if the ruler didn't stop them.
"Well This is troublesome, but you didn't hurt him, did you? I wouldn't want innocent people getting hurt because they wander into a situation they shouldn't be in.
Karna shook his head dispassionately. "No, he did not; on the contrary, he put up quite a fight during our battle."
"huh?"
Now Shirou was completely baffled. What does he mean the boy put up "quite a fight" during their battle? Did the boy actually manage to fight a 1v1 against the legendary Karna? Something like that shouldn't be possible. A normal human shouldn't be able to contend against a low-tier servant, let alone a top-tier one, and yet in Karna's own words, he says the boy did the impossible. He needed to know more about the boy because in any other situation he would have kind of dismissed it and focused on it later, but if this boy can truly fight against the best humanity has to offer, then he needed everything about this boy before he'd do something that could potentially end everything Shirou has worked so hard for. But just as he was about to ask a question, another voice came up.
"A boy fighting against servants. Surely you jest."
When both men heard the seductive voice coming from the shadow, they looked back to see someone materialize from it. Just as the light hits the stained window, she appears with a dress as dark as the night skies and her beauty surpassing any supermodel in modern days. Her beauty was so majestic that any normal human would think that she was an incarnation of the goddess Ishtar herself. But she was much more than that; she was one of the oldest heroes in human history and the world's first poisoner, the Queen of Assyria, Semiramis. Walking toward the duo, one of her dove familiars lands gently on the assassin's palm as she begins to softly caress the bird's feathers, the bird cooing in delight.
"Well, I didn't know you were listening in on our conversation, assassin." Shirou said, still retaining his joyous smile.
"Hmh, why wouldn't I be?" she scoffed as she let the bird fly from her hand. Hearing that boy who just so happened to be with Ruler when I was spying on her being able to go against Karna of all people. HA! That's utterly ridiculous."
"And yet I saw him fight with my own two eyes. You dare disregard the truth of my words, Queen Semiramis?" Karna queried calmly while looking at her stone face.
"!? why YOU—"
"Woah, woah, woah, calm down, everyone there's no need for violence. Especially inside a holy tomb of his grace." Shirou said as he tried to stop the both of them from getting into a scuffle and potentially taking down the entire building with them, and he didn't want to pay for the damage.
"Sorry about that, Master. It seems that I also lost control over myself," she apologized with a light flush of red on her cheeks. "That was very unladylike of me.
"You do not need to apologize for that, Semiramis; besides, we're all on the same team here, so having multiple witnesses means that we have a lot of evidence of the event, even if they may contradict each other," putting on a wry smile as he scratches his head and continues on. "So Karna, what else was there during the battle with...actually, I never asked you of the boy's name?"
"His name is Asta." Karna clarified then started explaining. "During my mission, Ruler came to me alone, seemingly trying to understand why I was here. After a short chit-chat I was about to strike her down, but she dodged out of the way, but just when I was just about to hit the ground, Asta rushed toward me faster than anything in my life and blocked my strike with a massive rusted broadsword.
"Wait, wait, wait. Hold it right there?" Semiramis stops Karna in his tracks. "What do you mean he uses a rusted greatsword? The last time I saw him, he wasn't carrying any weapons."
"Well, that was where your report was wrong, assassin; just because there isn't a weapon on a warrior doesn't mean there isn't a weapon on them."
"?"
"What I mean is that he can store weapons to use them later in fights."
"Wait, how!?"
Seeing both Shirou's and Assassin's confused looks, Lancer sighed in disbelief. While he knows that both of them are not warriors on the level that he is, doubly so for assassins, they still are more cautious about their surroundings because even if this is a silent proxy war between master and servants, there is no guarantee that it would stay that way for long. Then again, a human having the skills to go against servants on the like of him is something that no one would have been able to count on since rarely, if ever, would a normal human be able to do things like Asta did.
"By using his grimoire. It seems like the book is able to store different weapons no matter the size, then bring them out the weapon at anything time by calling its name."
"Well, this grimoire, you saw it a lot differently than other grimoires I've seen." Shirou added, "But what happens after you clash with Asta?"
"Saber of black and his master came."
"!"
"After our first clash I was about to use my noble Phantasm when Saber stopped me from using it, then his master tried to use Ruler to fight alongside Saber to attack me. Ultimately it failed, so he just used Saber against me. But just as I was able to fight off my opponents, Asta decided to join the battle and wanted us to fight in a free-for-all.
"What!"
"Well, that was unexpected."
"Indeed it was for us as well, because at first I thought he was merely putting on a brave face to save the ruler from death. A courageous but foolish notion. But when I looked into his eyes, I knew that this boy was different, and if I didn't put anything less than my full effort into the battle, not only would it wound his pride, but mine as well, so we did battle."
As Karna begins to explain what happened during the battle and asta mysterious power, he begins to reminisce about the fight. It was a marvelous clash of combat that only warriors who have surpassed the limit of humanity can achieve. Saber was extraordinary with the blade, as each swing of his sword would send a carve through boulders like there was nothing, and his armor is nothing, so to scoff at being able to take his blows and still live to tell the tale is never sort of incredible. He was definitely a servant worthy of being in the Saber class and a worthy foe during Lancer's brief time on earth a second time. But Asta, this boy, was nothing short of a master in his work.
His fighting prowess, endurance, speed, agility, strength, reaction, balance—everything about Asta was marvelous to witness; it was like every bit of the boy was made to fight from the muscle down to the very bone. His best skill, however, was his swordsmanship. Not only was he able to dual-wield two massively different weapons, but he could fight with them with such fluidity that it was almost mesmerizing. He was the lead dancer on the stage, and Saber and Lancer were only supporting dancers in Asta's play, especially during its final act. For Karna this was a fantastic fight that tested his skill, and he was eager for the next chance to face Asta again and use his full power to bring him down.
For Shirou and Semiramis, let's just say that now they have an even bigger fish to fry.
"After the battle was finished, we all left the destroyed battleground, and now here we are."
"Ugh, great, just great. Dealing with seven servants wasn't enough; now we have a kid that can not just go toe-to-toe with servants but having this power to negate all forms of magecraft including servants themself." Agitated over the war going off the rails before it could officially begin, she looked toward Shirou and asked, "So what are we supposed to do dear master? Because we can't just leave him alone as he is now, right?"
"..."
"Right?"
"Well, we definitely can't let him ruin our plan to get the holy grail." Shirou hesitated. "At the same time however, he probably doesn't know anything about the Holy Grail War since he didn't know the person he was talking to was Ruler and the fact that he didn't know what servants are. So we just have to wait and see what he'll do.
Both Karna and Semiramis were shocked at Shirou's answer to letting the boy live during their war. I mean, sure, the boy didn't know anything about the Holy Grail War, but he is still a potential threat to the war if he is left unchecked.
"Master, are you sure you're okay with this?"
"Well, this is a somewhat reckless decision, but hopefully the boy will leave, and then we will return to our plan to capture the holy grail for ourselves." Shirou proclaimed.
"Well, I hope this gamble of yours pays off; otherwise, we will have a much bigger problem to attend to. She then disappears into blue particles as Shirou then turns back to Lancer. "You may leave as well, Lancer."
Karna bowed his head and disappeared in flames, leaving Shirou all alone with his thoughts about the battle. This was certainly an expected turn of events for this great holy grail war; hearing that a human was able to fight servants is not something you hear every day. But it doesn't matter whether the boy or the master of the black camp would stop him from getting the miracle that he needs in order to save humanity from its own evil, and if that means killing an innocent kid, then so be it. So he looked back at the widow where Jesus was crucified as he raised his hands into the air.
"O' Father, I just promise you during the final hour of my life, I will never again lose sight of the big picture. I will create a pure world for all of mankind, and I will do it by any means necessary."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH COME ON!" slump over a water fountain. "I spent over an hour trying to find somewhere to live, but in every place I visited all the rooms are all OCCUPIED!"
After the intense first fight he had in this new place, he tried to find a place to stay for a little while until he found what he was looking for, but every, Single, Time, he finds somewhere to stay; he gets denied because all of the rooms are full. What's worse is that he didn't know anyone from this city, and people he did know were either nowhere in sight or hundreds of miles away. He had nothing but his intuition, but in this concrete jungle where the unknown was behind every crevice of the stone trees and solid ground, intuition wasn't going to get him far. Taking a glance at the back of his left hand just above the sigil he made with his brother, he sees something that he just noticed a while ago: red markings.
Specifically, it has three parts to it; in the middle it looks like a blade with four points, three at the top and one on the bottom. Secondly, the marking at the top looks like a handle to the blade with horns sticking out from the bottom and side of it, almost looking like a devil. Finally, at the bottom, there are two lines going away from each other and the first mark, and all the marks together make it look like a sword piercing the ground, cleaving the earth in two while all of it is covered by a deep shade of crimson.
Asta didn't know how these markings came to be; it was just one moment his hand was perfectly fine and the next moment proof these markings just appeared on his hand. Moving his hand toward his face, he tries to find anything that can tell him about the tattoo.
"Hey brother."
"Yes, brother?" Asta replied, still inspecting the mark as Liebe reappeared in his chibi form floating with his tiny wings. "Still looking at those red markings, I see."
"How can I not? These markings just appear on my hand and I have no idea what they are or how they work because I have never seen something like this before in my life."
"Hmmm, have you tried rubbing it off or washing it down?"
"Yep, tried both of them, but nothing happens." Asta answered, "I also try to use mud, sand, and something called dish soap and then wash them down, but still nothing works.
"Hmph, well, that is certainly strange, but have you even tried to use anti—"
"Anti-magic," Asta interjected.
"Yeah, that." Liebe said.
"Well, I have tried it, but the results were...let's just say it gives more questions than answers."
Liebe didn't know how to respond to that. Just what does he mean by that? Sure, these markings were certainly something that either he, Asta, or anyone from the four kingdoms knew about, but given that they spawned out of nowhere and that no one around them seemed to have the same mark, it made him believe that they were magical in origin. Where they came from was still a mystery, but magic is magic, and if something came from magic, then anti-magic should be able to destroy it, but Asta's wavering face begged to differ.
"What do you mean by that?" "Liebe," slurred as worry tightened around his voice.
"..."
"Asta?"