"Master, it's time."
ω Saber's cold voice woke Benjamin Palmer. The boy, dazed by sleep, realized that it was still night outside.
"Why did you wake me up now? We have to leave tomorrow, right?"
"Schedule change. I sensed a Servant nearby, I don't know if they noticed us, but we must attack immediately. Are you ready?"
"But we don't even know who they are—"
"It could be α Specter."
Benjamin's blood froze. Th Servant noticed her Master's discomfort and, placing a hand on his shoulder, she said to him:
"You must be strong, Master. If you want to win this war... you have to make sacrifices."
"I know but..."
"But...?"
"Not him," he replied gravely.
"Why? What's so special about the Master of α Specter?"
"He's my friend. I don't want to fight him and above all I don't want to kill him."
Saber reacted as if she had heard words in a foreign language. "Master... you must kill. It's a rule of war and it's necessary to eliminate all Masters to get to the Holy Grail. There's no other way—"
"It doesn't exist? Are you sure? Can't we go there and steal that Grail?"
"Steal?"
"Yes, to avoid—"
A punch hit the boy's stomach. He fell to the ground. He felt as if he had been hit by a brick.
"Why did you do that?" he said painfully.
"I'm a king, not a common thief," she exclaimed with a furious look. "If you want to be like rats, then you're nothing but meat and you will be brutally killed by the other Masters. This is the Holy Grail War and it is my duty, as a Heroic Spirit, to fight with honor and give my all."
Benjamin disagreed, but he was afraid to protest. He was aware that he had no control over ω Saber and, as if that weren't enough, he wasn't strong enough to be able to stand up to her.
The boy got to his feet and apologized to the Servant for offending her. She replied like this:
"Don't apologize to me, Master, apologize to yourself. You must never allow fear to take control of your actions."
Benjamin feigned a smile.
A few moments later, the two left the house and set out in search of the Servant.
Meanwhile, Friedrich Wolff was moving through that forest of buildings to another arena identical to the one in which he had previously fought.
"Why didn't you stop and rest?" asked α Specter. "Considering that you finished fighting just an hour ago, you really need it—"
"No," he replied gravely.
"Do you want to kill that woman that ω Assassin's Master spoke of?"
Friedrich didn't answer. He had left the arena thinking he already knew what to do, but that question got in his way like a concrete wall. He stopped and asked the Servant about it:
"What do you think I should do?"
"I don't know, you're the one who has to make the hard choices," she replied quickly.
"Are you honest?"
"I'm a demon, Master, plus I'm your Servant. I'm not interested in these human affairs. What you do to the woman is your business, I'm here to help you... consider me your weapon,"she explained.
"I started with the idea of killing her... yet... why am I doubting?"
"Because you're a good person, Master."
"Am I really? I mean, I practically killed a man in cold blood. I've never done it before—"
"You'll have to do it again, that's a fact. I hope you're aware of it."
"I would like to avoid it, do you understand? I'm not telling you that I feel particular guilt for what happened to Valfredo, that man was a dog and deserved to die... in the same way Alda also deserves to die... but I don't want to become a murderer . I'm not here for this—"
"You won't succeed," she said sharply.
He arched his eyebrows and turned to the Servant. "So you're telling me it's all in vain?"
"Let's not fool each other, we both know Vergil wants to force the Masters to kill each other in the arenas. You don't want to be a killer, I understand, but you also have to face the reality: if you don't kill... someone will kill you. This war is not made for those who have morals or who want to change the world for the better."
Α Specter's words, cynical as they might be, were true. For Friedrich digesting that bitter morsel was not easy.
"I just wish there was another way..." he murmured sadly.
"Are you thinking about your friend? ω Saber's Master?"
"Yes," replied Friedrich. "I wish one thing was clear, Specter: I will not kill him. Benjamin Palmer will live, whatever it takes. I won't kill a friend of mine to satisfy that Vergil monster..."
"I knew you would say that." Specter sighed and summoned her trusty weapon.
"Specter...?"
"Stay behind me, Master, we're being watched."
Then Friedrich perceived the mana of a magus.
Takahiro Nagasako and α Lancer appeared out of the darkness. The man, with red hair and a cigarette in his mouth, met Friedrich's eye and greeted him with false courtesy:
"Salutations. It's a nice night to take a walk, right?"
"You're right. It's a really nice night... a real shame I'll have to ruin it with a battle. Can I at least know your name?"
"Takahiro. Your name is Friedrich, right?"
"Yes, how do you know?" he investigated perplexed.
"I saw you fighting that other guy... ω Assassin's Master. You killed him mercilessly—that is, technically your Servant did it, but… well, it's the same thing."
"You don't look like an experienced magus. Are you sure you want to face me?"
"We're here to fight, aren't we? So why are we getting lost in useless chatter?"
Lancer took out her weapon and attempted to hit Friedrich, but Specter parried the blow with the blade.
"Not so fast, α Lancer..." Specter grinned.
The two Servants exchanged several blows at very high speed; the impact of metals echoed throughout the city. Lancer distanced herself from the opponent and attacked using kicks and moving her double spear with such skill that it put Specter in trouble.
As soon as Lancer's foot hit Specter's face, a blue flame appeared; Lancer was forced to jump backwards to avoid getting burned. Specter used that opening to injure the opponent in the stomach.
The wound healed in an instant.
Friedrich opened his eyes wide in dismay.
"What's going on, Master?" asked α Specter.
"She... didn't use the magical energy of her Master to regenerate the wound... but how did she do it?"
"Nothing special..." said α Lancer "This is one of my abilities: Magical Healing. I don't need to depend on my beloved to regenerate these superficial wounds."
Specter showed that demonic smile again. "Now I understand... it means I'll have to hurt you more."
Having said these words, the woman tried to wound her opponent with a frontal attack; Lancer, with impressive agility, managed to dodge the blow and counterattack with a kick. Specter fell to her feet, but she was nervous. As swift and deadly as the demonic woman was, she had a hard time hitting this warrior princess whose fighting style resembled a dance. Lancer moved gracefully and dodged attacks with ease, Specter was already losing focus.
Friedrich's Servant was knocked out by yet another kick.
"Is that all you can do?" asked Lancer mockingly. "I would've expected a lot more from someone like you, but you seem to be a disappointment."
"You know my moves very well, you saw me fighting ω Assassin..."
"Exactly. I am not a war woman, but I know how to study my opponent. You know, I'm a little sorry for Assassin... if he hadn't been forced to use his Noble Phantasm he would've surely killed you."
"Maybe... but it didn't go that way and in the end you're forced to face me."
"Don't make it seem like a problem so you embarrass yourself."
Specter jumped and fled from Lancer, she followed her into that maze of buildings.
The two Masters, meanwhile, remained motionless, facing each other, waiting for one to make the first move.
"How old are you?" Friedrich asked curiously.
"Thirty-six," he replied curtly.
"I understand. I don't want to mind your business, but why are you fighting this war? You don't seem like a bad person to me... you are certainly better than Valfredo. You don't come from a family of magi, do you?"
"You're right… it took me a long time to train myself in Magecraft. Magic books, meditation and practice... lots of practice."
"And do you want to waste all this effort just for the Holy Grail?" he asked puzzled.
"What else can we do? We're here now, aren't we? We are forced to fight... so we fight."
"There is always a choice—"
"No, you're wrong. There is no freedom of choice. Freedom has a price and too many people in this world cannot afford to pay for it. Don't tell me we're free, we're not."
"So are you really going to play Vergil's game?"
"Yes."
Friedrich sighed. "I'm not." He ran away from Takahiro.
"Not so fast, you bastard!" He chased after him.
Meanwhile α Lancer was looking for α Specter. She could no longer feel her, but she was sure she was still nearby. Shee didn't plan to kill her, not without an overwhelming advantage, but she wanted to humiliate her and prove to Takahiro that she was a powerful Heroic Spirit.
"You concealed your presence, didn't you?"
No reply.
"Well, do as you please! I'll be able to find you sooner or later, you can't escape from me."
Lancer wandered the streets like an aimless rat. Every time she turned the corner she was preparing for an attack. She searched every building, every street, every roof... Specter wasn't there. Lancer was getting nervous.
"Come out, coward!"
No reply. No movement.
"So this is how you're going to deal with me? Are you hiding like a worm? You disgust me, α Specter. You're a Servant, you should face me—!"
Lancer was wounded in the back.
"Got you!" Specter exclaimed with a demonic grin. "Now you're mine!"
Lancer jumped to dodge the opponent's attack; the wound regenerated, but slowly.
"In the end you showed yourself, demon. You'll pay for attacking me!"
Specter wrapped her weapon in blue flames. Lancer prepared to strike back. The demon, therefore, set off to attack, with the blade unsheathed, but, instead of wounding the opponent, she cut two buildings in half; the impact of the two structures raised a thick cloud of dust.
Lancer saw the enemy's weapon fly at her; she dodged with agility, but was hit by a kick while still in midair. The Egyptian princess fell to her feet and performed a split to avoid the attack of the demonic woman, then she got up easily and, having performed a jump, kicked her face. Specter managed not to fall and prepared to answer.
At that moment, the figure of Vergil appeared out of nowhere. As soon as the two Masters, who had just arrived, recognized the man, they ordered their respective Servants to attack him.
"It's not very polite to do that."
He blocked both Servants' weapons using only his bare hands. The two women, startled, walked away from him.
"There is something really strange about him, my beloved," Lancer said in alarm. "I don't know why... but he looks like a Servant... a Heroic Spirit like us."
"Impossible..." Takahiro commented in a low voice. "And where the hell is the Master?"
"What do you want, Vergil?" Friedrich exclaimed furiously.
"I'm here to stop you from killing yourselves outside the arena," he replied politely and outspoken. "It would be a real shame if your deaths were wasted. Every departure, after all, has a value. In this wonderful war, everything must go perfectly. I cannot let our destinies be shattered by wrong... choices."
"Go to hell, monster! I'm not going to play your fucking game—!"
"You always use that word to describe this war... I'm really worrying about your sanity. How can you define war as a 'game'? War is tragic and should not be treated as if it were a joke."
"You talk as if you were a normal person... but you're the same stuff as Yukiko. You too, like her, are only looking for destruction—"
"And this is where you're wrong, Friedrich. I'm not looking for destruction... I want to create a new world."
"Impossible. I know how the Holy Grail of Yggdrasil works... it cannot be used to fulfill wishes. As soon as you summon it, Nidhogg will come out of there and destroy the world to create a new one. It is stuck in an infinite cycle due to the 'miraculous' power of that Grail."
"Someone has done their homework." He smiled showing a false complacency. "The problem is that you have studied the wrong books. What you know... what you think you know is not the truth. The truth is more complex and much more fascinating."
"What are you talking about...?" he asked puzzled.
"Do you want to find out? All you have to do is join me at the top of the tower. But the way won't show if you don't kill. As easy as drinking a glass of water. I'll wait for you, my dear little cub."
Vergil disappeared.
Friedrich noticed that Takahiro and α Lancer had also left.
"So what do we do, Master?" asked α Specter.
Friedrich was stunned by Vergil's words. In that sea of questions that stormed his mind, only one thing was certain: he had to find out what was really going on.
"Let's go on," Friedrich replied firmly.
ω Saber's cold voice woke Benjamin Palmer. The boy, dazed by sleep, realized that it was still night outside.
"Why did you wake me up now? We have to leave tomorrow, right?"
"Schedule change. I sensed a Servant nearby, I don't know if they noticed us, but we must attack immediately. Are you ready?"
"But we don't even know who they are—"
"It could be α Specter."
Benjamin's blood froze. Th Servant noticed her Master's discomfort and, placing a hand on his shoulder, she said to him:
"You must be strong, Master. If you want to win this war... you have to make sacrifices."
"I know but..."
"But...?"
"Not him," he replied gravely.
"Why? What's so special about the Master of α Specter?"
"He's my friend. I don't want to fight him and above all I don't want to kill him."
Saber reacted as if she had heard words in a foreign language. "Master... you must kill. It's a rule of war and it's necessary to eliminate all Masters to get to the Holy Grail. There's no other way—"
"It doesn't exist? Are you sure? Can't we go there and steal that Grail?"
"Steal?"
"Yes, to avoid—"
A punch hit the boy's stomach. He fell to the ground. He felt as if he had been hit by a brick.
"Why did you do that?" he said painfully.
"I'm a king, not a common thief," she exclaimed with a furious look. "If you want to be like rats, then you're nothing but meat and you will be brutally killed by the other Masters. This is the Holy Grail War and it is my duty, as a Heroic Spirit, to fight with honor and give my all."
Benjamin disagreed, but he was afraid to protest. He was aware that he had no control over ω Saber and, as if that weren't enough, he wasn't strong enough to be able to stand up to her.
The boy got to his feet and apologized to the Servant for offending her. She replied like this:
"Don't apologize to me, Master, apologize to yourself. You must never allow fear to take control of your actions."
Benjamin feigned a smile.
A few moments later, the two left the house and set out in search of the Servant.
Meanwhile, Friedrich Wolff was moving through that forest of buildings to another arena identical to the one in which he had previously fought.
"Why didn't you stop and rest?" asked α Specter. "Considering that you finished fighting just an hour ago, you really need it—"
"No," he replied gravely.
"Do you want to kill that woman that ω Assassin's Master spoke of?"
Friedrich didn't answer. He had left the arena thinking he already knew what to do, but that question got in his way like a concrete wall. He stopped and asked the Servant about it:
"What do you think I should do?"
"I don't know, you're the one who has to make the hard choices," she replied quickly.
"Are you honest?"
"I'm a demon, Master, plus I'm your Servant. I'm not interested in these human affairs. What you do to the woman is your business, I'm here to help you... consider me your weapon,"she explained.
"I started with the idea of killing her... yet... why am I doubting?"
"Because you're a good person, Master."
"Am I really? I mean, I practically killed a man in cold blood. I've never done it before—"
"You'll have to do it again, that's a fact. I hope you're aware of it."
"I would like to avoid it, do you understand? I'm not telling you that I feel particular guilt for what happened to Valfredo, that man was a dog and deserved to die... in the same way Alda also deserves to die... but I don't want to become a murderer . I'm not here for this—"
"You won't succeed," she said sharply.
He arched his eyebrows and turned to the Servant. "So you're telling me it's all in vain?"
"Let's not fool each other, we both know Vergil wants to force the Masters to kill each other in the arenas. You don't want to be a killer, I understand, but you also have to face the reality: if you don't kill... someone will kill you. This war is not made for those who have morals or who want to change the world for the better."
Α Specter's words, cynical as they might be, were true. For Friedrich digesting that bitter morsel was not easy.
"I just wish there was another way..." he murmured sadly.
"Are you thinking about your friend? ω Saber's Master?"
"Yes," replied Friedrich. "I wish one thing was clear, Specter: I will not kill him. Benjamin Palmer will live, whatever it takes. I won't kill a friend of mine to satisfy that Vergil monster..."
"I knew you would say that." Specter sighed and summoned her trusty weapon.
"Specter...?"
"Stay behind me, Master, we're being watched."
Then Friedrich perceived the mana of a magus.
Takahiro Nagasako and α Lancer appeared out of the darkness. The man, with red hair and a cigarette in his mouth, met Friedrich's eye and greeted him with false courtesy:
"Salutations. It's a nice night to take a walk, right?"
"You're right. It's a really nice night... a real shame I'll have to ruin it with a battle. Can I at least know your name?"
"Takahiro. Your name is Friedrich, right?"
"Yes, how do you know?" he investigated perplexed.
"I saw you fighting that other guy... ω Assassin's Master. You killed him mercilessly—that is, technically your Servant did it, but… well, it's the same thing."
"You don't look like an experienced magus. Are you sure you want to face me?"
"We're here to fight, aren't we? So why are we getting lost in useless chatter?"
Lancer took out her weapon and attempted to hit Friedrich, but Specter parried the blow with the blade.
"Not so fast, α Lancer..." Specter grinned.
The two Servants exchanged several blows at very high speed; the impact of metals echoed throughout the city. Lancer distanced herself from the opponent and attacked using kicks and moving her double spear with such skill that it put Specter in trouble.
As soon as Lancer's foot hit Specter's face, a blue flame appeared; Lancer was forced to jump backwards to avoid getting burned. Specter used that opening to injure the opponent in the stomach.
The wound healed in an instant.
Friedrich opened his eyes wide in dismay.
"What's going on, Master?" asked α Specter.
"She... didn't use the magical energy of her Master to regenerate the wound... but how did she do it?"
"Nothing special..." said α Lancer "This is one of my abilities: Magical Healing. I don't need to depend on my beloved to regenerate these superficial wounds."
Specter showed that demonic smile again. "Now I understand... it means I'll have to hurt you more."
Having said these words, the woman tried to wound her opponent with a frontal attack; Lancer, with impressive agility, managed to dodge the blow and counterattack with a kick. Specter fell to her feet, but she was nervous. As swift and deadly as the demonic woman was, she had a hard time hitting this warrior princess whose fighting style resembled a dance. Lancer moved gracefully and dodged attacks with ease, Specter was already losing focus.
Friedrich's Servant was knocked out by yet another kick.
"Is that all you can do?" asked Lancer mockingly. "I would've expected a lot more from someone like you, but you seem to be a disappointment."
"You know my moves very well, you saw me fighting ω Assassin..."
"Exactly. I am not a war woman, but I know how to study my opponent. You know, I'm a little sorry for Assassin... if he hadn't been forced to use his Noble Phantasm he would've surely killed you."
"Maybe... but it didn't go that way and in the end you're forced to face me."
"Don't make it seem like a problem so you embarrass yourself."
Specter jumped and fled from Lancer, she followed her into that maze of buildings.
The two Masters, meanwhile, remained motionless, facing each other, waiting for one to make the first move.
"How old are you?" Friedrich asked curiously.
"Thirty-six," he replied curtly.
"I understand. I don't want to mind your business, but why are you fighting this war? You don't seem like a bad person to me... you are certainly better than Valfredo. You don't come from a family of magi, do you?"
"You're right… it took me a long time to train myself in Magecraft. Magic books, meditation and practice... lots of practice."
"And do you want to waste all this effort just for the Holy Grail?" he asked puzzled.
"What else can we do? We're here now, aren't we? We are forced to fight... so we fight."
"There is always a choice—"
"No, you're wrong. There is no freedom of choice. Freedom has a price and too many people in this world cannot afford to pay for it. Don't tell me we're free, we're not."
"So are you really going to play Vergil's game?"
"Yes."
Friedrich sighed. "I'm not." He ran away from Takahiro.
"Not so fast, you bastard!" He chased after him.
Meanwhile α Lancer was looking for α Specter. She could no longer feel her, but she was sure she was still nearby. Shee didn't plan to kill her, not without an overwhelming advantage, but she wanted to humiliate her and prove to Takahiro that she was a powerful Heroic Spirit.
"You concealed your presence, didn't you?"
No reply.
"Well, do as you please! I'll be able to find you sooner or later, you can't escape from me."
Lancer wandered the streets like an aimless rat. Every time she turned the corner she was preparing for an attack. She searched every building, every street, every roof... Specter wasn't there. Lancer was getting nervous.
"Come out, coward!"
No reply. No movement.
"So this is how you're going to deal with me? Are you hiding like a worm? You disgust me, α Specter. You're a Servant, you should face me—!"
Lancer was wounded in the back.
"Got you!" Specter exclaimed with a demonic grin. "Now you're mine!"
Lancer jumped to dodge the opponent's attack; the wound regenerated, but slowly.
"In the end you showed yourself, demon. You'll pay for attacking me!"
Specter wrapped her weapon in blue flames. Lancer prepared to strike back. The demon, therefore, set off to attack, with the blade unsheathed, but, instead of wounding the opponent, she cut two buildings in half; the impact of the two structures raised a thick cloud of dust.
Lancer saw the enemy's weapon fly at her; she dodged with agility, but was hit by a kick while still in midair. The Egyptian princess fell to her feet and performed a split to avoid the attack of the demonic woman, then she got up easily and, having performed a jump, kicked her face. Specter managed not to fall and prepared to answer.
At that moment, the figure of Vergil appeared out of nowhere. As soon as the two Masters, who had just arrived, recognized the man, they ordered their respective Servants to attack him.
"It's not very polite to do that."
He blocked both Servants' weapons using only his bare hands. The two women, startled, walked away from him.
"There is something really strange about him, my beloved," Lancer said in alarm. "I don't know why... but he looks like a Servant... a Heroic Spirit like us."
"Impossible..." Takahiro commented in a low voice. "And where the hell is the Master?"
"What do you want, Vergil?" Friedrich exclaimed furiously.
"I'm here to stop you from killing yourselves outside the arena," he replied politely and outspoken. "It would be a real shame if your deaths were wasted. Every departure, after all, has a value. In this wonderful war, everything must go perfectly. I cannot let our destinies be shattered by wrong... choices."
"Go to hell, monster! I'm not going to play your fucking game—!"
"You always use that word to describe this war... I'm really worrying about your sanity. How can you define war as a 'game'? War is tragic and should not be treated as if it were a joke."
"You talk as if you were a normal person... but you're the same stuff as Yukiko. You too, like her, are only looking for destruction—"
"And this is where you're wrong, Friedrich. I'm not looking for destruction... I want to create a new world."
"Impossible. I know how the Holy Grail of Yggdrasil works... it cannot be used to fulfill wishes. As soon as you summon it, Nidhogg will come out of there and destroy the world to create a new one. It is stuck in an infinite cycle due to the 'miraculous' power of that Grail."
"Someone has done their homework." He smiled showing a false complacency. "The problem is that you have studied the wrong books. What you know... what you think you know is not the truth. The truth is more complex and much more fascinating."
"What are you talking about...?" he asked puzzled.
"Do you want to find out? All you have to do is join me at the top of the tower. But the way won't show if you don't kill. As easy as drinking a glass of water. I'll wait for you, my dear little cub."
Vergil disappeared.
Friedrich noticed that Takahiro and α Lancer had also left.
"So what do we do, Master?" asked α Specter.
Friedrich was stunned by Vergil's words. In that sea of questions that stormed his mind, only one thing was certain: he had to find out what was really going on.
"Let's go on," Friedrich replied firmly.
 |
| 'The Egyptian princess' by BikoWolf |
I loved describing the fight between Specter and Lancer. I have a weakness for those fighting styles that combine martial arts and dance.😋 Anyway, if you want to read Fate/Yggdrasil you can download the PDF on this page to discover the prequel.
