Chapter 12: Great Holy Grail War(4)

The castle of the clan Yggdmillennia, which is the base of the black faction at the moment, is littered with corpses. And in the center of these corpses, stands a girl with a scar on her face, holding two large butcher knives in her hands.

- They're not here - She spoke with childish displeasure. - Okay, let's look for them over there.

She quickly ran to look around the other rooms, hoping to find masters of the black faction. When she went through one of the doors, she saw a chubby man who appeared to be drunk. Without thinking twice, she plunged her knife into his heart.

The man fell, with a high-pitched squeal of pain. As she pulled her knife from his body, she froze... Behind her, something fell. She heard it clearly; slowly turning her head, she saw a teenager with glasses. There was fear in his eyes, and it cheered Jack up a little...

- Hey, hey, you're a master too, aren't you? - She asked this magician.

Her eyes were innocent, but the blood on her face, made anyone who looked at her realize... She's a killer. Fear had settled into this mage's heart, but he was able, to pull himself together. Quickly rising from the ground, he began to run.

- Where are you going? We're not done yet! - With a sadistic smile, Jack began to chase him.

Cowles ran with all the strength he had, but he knew he could not escape his servant. So he began to shoot back with his spells to buy him some time... It was a desperate act.

Jack, on the other hand, easily dodged, from his electric discharges, throwing his scalpels back at him. Caules walked quickly into the room, and locked himself in with a spell. The Assassin went to the door, and knocked on it... But there was no answer, and she cast the same spell as Caules. The door opened and her eyes saw a sight she hadn't expected to see.

Caules was sitting on top of a huge, glowing vulture, which seemed to be his spirit, which he summoned with a spirit call. It flew quickly at Jack, who could easily dodge it, but the main task of the vulture was to fly away from that place, Caules was not stupid, and perfectly aware that even with his spirit he could not cope with the assassin, so he decided to get out of there.

Jack was surprised, but with all of her levity she began to pursue the mage. She threw her scalpels at him, but she couldn't hit him, and Caules was glad none of her scalpels hit him. Still, he was bad at magic, so his vulture spirit, demanded more concentration from him. He was thankful for his luck, which didn't seem to have completely left him today.

Caules, was already close by... He saw a corridor that he just had to walk through to get to a safer place... to him this corridor looked like a light at the end of the tunnel. And when he was almost through it... A black scalpel, cut his eye, his glasses were broken, and having lost his concentration his spirit disappeared and he fell to the ground.

With the last of his strength, he crawled toward that light... And passing through that light, he found himself where he was so eager to go. Before him stood a tall man, with a serious face.

- So you followed him to bring you to me? - Said the man, with a piercing look in Jack's direction.

- Exactly. - answering Darnic, she threw her knife at the worm crawling in front of her.

Caules, felt an intense burning pain in his back. His eyes were bloodshot... Before he died, he realized that all the good fortune he had enjoyed was nothing but hope, which had only been given to bring him back to the bottom of despair.

- Ah, aren't you surprised? We thought he was part of the clan for you. - Putting a finger to his face, Jack spoke incomprehensible. - Do you really not care about the death of one, of your clan members?

- Of course I don't. - With a sniffle, Darnic replied. - Caules, had no greater talent as a mage, but still, he had a keen intellect, which was very, useful in many ways.

Darnic spoke of him as if he were but a tool in his plans. But, there was one oddity in his behavior that made Jack watch him more closely. That oddity was that he was too calm.

Assassin, threw his knives at him... But, Darnic didn't even move, just stood still. The moment the knives were about to plunge into him, stones emerged from the ground, stopping the knives penetrating force. And next to Darnic, a servant appeared, wearing a gold mask that covered his entire face, with several small holes to keep him from suffocating.

- How? - Jack wondered. - The servants, they shouldn't have reacted so quickly.

- That's right, now, with all the servants focused on the fight with the red faction, no one should have had time. - Darnic spoke as if explaining to his student. - Except, that servant who introduced himself as you, Jack the Ripper. Made two mistakes...

Assassin, watched him, listening to his explanation.

- The first, he said, "How it makes me want to slit all your throats". You see, servants are summoned from the past, the present, and the future... And in order to find out the true name of a servant, you can simply pay attention to his words, his emotions, and things like that. After all, all this, can help to know, the true name of the servant. I didn't trust him from the start, and his words made me even more wary of him, but his second mistake confirmed my hunch... You killed one of my agents, probably to get the spells out of him.

Darnic stood there with a smile on her face, as if to say that our plan has been discovered.

- But I guess I should give you credit for being able to kill three of my masters. - There was a note of anger in his voice. - And now, it's time for you to die here, true Jack the Ripper.

Jack, had to deal with a black castor, and the strongest master of the black faction, it really was, for her, an almost impossible task...

- Ha ha! - Jack burst out laughing. - There's only one servant here, you're sure you can stop me with that alone.

Her eyes were covered with cold, a wild bloodlust was emanating from her, only, that bloodlust had disappeared somewhere. The room was filled with thick smoke, the assassin was nowhere to be seen, only her childish giggle could be heard.

***

The battles between the servants were unfolding, in various places, all over the battlefield. And in one such place, at the moment, gathered, three servants...

Vlad looked at Ciel, and pondered his words...

- I refuse. You need to go to the rider's aid. - Vlad spoke in a commanding tone. - Here, I can handle myself, those who dare trample my lands will be pierced with my stakes.

Vlad was unwavering in his words. So Ciel had to obey... Or rather, he should have done so... But, instead, he stood, with a smile on his face that made Vlad irritated. It was like not obeying, an order from a king.

- What are you waiting for, assassin? - The Lancer of Black, did not understand Ciel's behavior, and began to regard him with apprehension.

They stared into each other's eyes for a short time before the smile left the young man's face... His eyes that were looking at Vlad, as if they did not see him... His gaze was as if something else appeared to him... Ciel's eyes widened in surprise.

"How is that possible? How did he know? Where did I make a mistake?"

In Ciel's mind, there was chaos going on right now, he couldn't understand how Darnic knew that he wasn't Jack the Ripper.

I could still understand that he was suspicious of me, and didn't trust me... But to find out that I wasn't Jack... How?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? - He couldn't figure out where he'd made a mistake. But the answer was not long in coming.

- One word... - Ciel whispered... - ONE FUCKING WORD!

Ciel couldn't understand how he could have made such a mistake, which now, would make it impossible, to eliminate the black faction's strongest servant. Could it be that now he would have to reveal his true name, had he been too presumptuous... Which led to his mistake that ruined all his plans. And as if that were not enough, the sounds of destruction could be heard in the distance, near Castle Yggdmillennia.

Ciel slowly turned his head, and saw what he could not even have imagined...the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, taking the great Grail. His eyes went blank, his entire plan gone to waste. Now the great Grail was in the possession of the red faction, and he couldn't even predict this development.

The Lancer of Black, Vlad was also surprised by this daring plan on the part of the red faction. But he was not as confused as Ciel, and he had already received all the information from Darnic, so now he knew that his enemy now stood before him.

- Your plan, the unknown servant failed. - Pointing his spear at him Vlad spoke. - What will you do now, barbarian, who has set foot on my land?

Vlad had already accepted him as a barbarian who had come to trample his lands, and without hesitation, and without regret, would kill him... But, he noticed one oddity in his behavior... He trembled.

- You are pathetic. You were ready to kill so many people, and now that it's time to die, you tremble with fear? - Vlad asked disappointedly.

- Lancer of Black, I don't think you understand. - Karna answered him, preparing his spear, when Vlad turned his attention back to him he continued. - He's trembling, not from fear but from rage!

Karna knew that something very dangerous was about to happen... For some reason, the young man, though a servant, that stood before him, trembled with rage. Evoked in him, a strange sense of danger...

- HAHAH! - Suddenly his trembling stopped... And he, began to laugh uncontrollably. - Ever since I was drafted into this fucking war, you've been asking me who I am! ...Well, I won't just tell you, I'll show you who I am!

The sword was drawn by Ciel, and in a jerk he was in front of Vlad, he called for his stakes to protect himself from the swing of Ciel's sword... But, all the stakes were split, and only thanks to his high dexterity Vlad managed to defend himself with his spear. But, Ciel didn't stop there, pushing away the Lancer of Black, he headed towards the Lancer of Red...

Now, Ciel was doing the almost impossible, him alone, fighting against two servants, pushing them back... Perhaps it was all, because they didn't anticipate, this level of agility from him. However, it didn't last long, the two lancers, were not seriously wounded by him, and only got away with a couple of scratches that quickly healed.

- You can't defeat us with that. - Vlad said.

- Shut up already.... - answered Ciel briefly, and putting away his sword, raised his hand in the direction of the two Lancers, opening his palm. Magical energy began to gather, in front of his palm, and he began to cast a spell to activate the noble phantasm...

"The Endless World of Despair"