Chapter 123: Holy Grail War (1)

Chapter 123: Holy Grail War (1)

~Third POV~

[The Next Day, Near Sighisoara]

When Shirou and Semiramis at the room, some members of the Red Faction appeared waiting patiently with the Saber of Red present with them. Shirou smiled at her joining them with a pleased tone, "Thank you very much Saber of Red for taking care of the Servants of Black thus far and your Master for providing the information. I can assure you made the right choice trusting us in his care."

Mordred clicked through her teeth but wasn't left with much choice on the matter after her Master had been knocked out. Not knowing when the enemy would attack again or if there were more, she had no choice but to request assistance from the Red Faction.

To Mordred surprise though they accepted them within Semirami's flying fortress in the hopes of coaxing them to their side later. The thought of eliminating the Master passed their heads.

However, Shirou couldn't afford to eliminate Mash or the other Masters for that matter playing his act was necessary. Yet with Mordred defending her Master and staying by his side it truly didn't matter much to him in the long run.

Victory was within their grasp and the confirmed elimination of Assassin and Saber of Black that Mash and Mordred did certainly well. That and he wasn't sure how the other Heroic Spirits of Red would react denying an ally that assisted Archer and Rider of Red in battle would react if he denied them.

Mordred didn't like the idea of asking for their assistance but with the lack of information and failure to protect her Master from the attack busy handling Chiron, she could only be blaming herself for allowing this to happen.

Ignoring Mordred Achilles and Atalanta were relaxing as they pleased. Achilles was lying down and looking up at the ceiling, while Atalante was sitting on the floor and roasting an anime she seemed to have killed herself, eating the meat on a skewer as Shirou apologized to them, "Oh my, I apologize for making you both wait."

Semiramis merely gazed at Rider and Archer with evident annoyance on her face and said in an annoyed tone, "Hmph. What are you saying, Master? By the looks of things, they were just self-indulgently passing time."

Rider and Archer turned their faces away with a 'humph' at nearly the same time. It seemed the two of them had no intention of paying respect to the queen as Shirou held Semiramis's hand heading towards the throne above.

Soon enough Shakespeare and Karna appeared both seeing Saber of Red joining them. Shakespeare spoke happily opening his voice, "Oh, 'For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright'! 'Who art as black as hell, as dark as night'!"

Every one of the Servants of Red all-eyed Shakespeare with Semiramis speaking in an indifferent tone, "Are you referring to me?"

Shakespeare nodded his head making a slight turn and responding in an overdramatic tone agreeing with Semiramis's words, "Who else could I be describing, Queen of Assyria! … No, no, sorry about that. I was in high spirits, and it just came to me. I had the pleasure of writing for the first time in a while, you see. Ah, Father Shirou. Though it's a bit sudden, there's something I want."

Listening to him caught Shirou a bit surprised with Shakespeare continuing in an excited tone, "According to the knowledge I've been given, there is a device that lets one type letters with just the stroke of a key, is there not?"

Quickly Shirou realized what Shakespeare wanted in a surprised tone, "… Ah, you mean a computer."

Shakespeare nodded as he continued by saying in an upbeat tone, "Yes. Could you lend me the money to buy one?"

Shirou agrees to Shakespeare's demands in a friendly manner, "Sure, I don't mind."

However, this action seemed to annoy Semiramis speaking to him in a stern tone, "Caster… don't forget the Great Holy Grail War."

Snapping his fingers Shakespeare nodded his head already agreed in an overdramatic tone to his peers, "Of course, Empress. This is a war correct? A battle where heroes compete and barbarically fight to the death is about to start, right? I, Caster shall… watch over it with all my might!"

This caused everyone to stare at him keeping a neutral expression only to be broken by Mordred asking what everyone thought, "You will not fight yourself?"

Shakespeare's eyes darting towards Mordred shamelessly agreed nodding his head and having a pose directed at Mordred much to her annoyance, "That's right Saber of Red! The truth is that I'm extraordinarily inept at fighting and magecraft. 'But you, gods, will give us some faults to make us me.'"

Mordred couldn't help but ask growling annoyed by Shakespeare's theatrics in a cold tone clenching her sword, "No one would mind if I dice the bastard up would you…?"

Shakespeare calmly took this moment to carefully step back with Shirou denying with a light smile betraying Caster in a brief second, "I wouldn't do it if I were you Saber of Red. He's an important member of Red after all… but if you feel highly annoyed who am I to stop you."

Semiramis merely laughed amused by Shakespeare's silence taking a step back and returning to the situation of all of them present in a serious tone, "Heh. Good jokes aside everyone here is present. Thanks to the efforts of Saber of Red and her Master Saber of Black and Assassin have died. And our preparations are complete, making this the perfect time to strike. Since we're waging war, we should do it flashily, do you not agree?"

Achilles scratches the back of his head confused about what Semiramis meant in a baffled tone, "So you say, but didn't you go out of your way to make this fortress to barricade ourselves here?"

*RMBL*

*RMBL*

Semiramis smiled as the whole fortress began to shake alerting the Servants present as she responded cooly at Rider's words, "Barricade? Rider, your very premise is mistaken. This is my Noble Phantasm [Hanging Gardens of Babylon] doesn't exist for the sake of protection. It's a Noble Phantasm for the sake of attacking."

The whole Fortress of the [Hanging Gardens of Babylon] shook levitating into the air defying the concept of gravity itself at Semirami's command with Mordred turning to leave to check on her Master with the rest of the Servants of Red watching.

Shirou simply left Mordred closing his eyes and leaning back voicing his opinion to the other Servants in a neutral tone, "Leave her be. She's checking on her Master after recovering from Archer of Black attack."

Listening to his words they all nodded with Shakespeare smirking happily keeping his thoughts to himself of the development unfolding, 'This is a sudden twist that no one could predict is but one of the elements of a compelling tale! Life is ever so full of twists and turns, and this should be no different!'

With that, they all began to formulate battle plans as Mordred frowned underneath her helmet checking on her master as she sighed thinking in an angry tone, 'Damn it Master what the hell happened?'

/////

~Mash B. POV~

[Flying Gardens]

Argh…

Waking up feeling a headache I sat up… what appeared to be a bed. With a cross symbol in the room, I felt my headache with Fou sitting around the bed what –!!

Suddenly flashes of what happened appeared in my head my eyes widening coming to a single conclusion. I failed. Failed fucking spectacularly.

Slamming my hand to my face I groaned realizing immediately why I didn't wake up. The shock of seeing Reika and Jack in front of me is gonna traumatize me that's for sure. I can't even…

Sigh… curling up slightly I frowned expecting the enemy to fucking snipe me, much less even succeed to boot. Oh man, Mordred is gonna kill me.

*Thud*

What do you know? Speak of the devil and she shall appear in a midget in armor as she spoke to me in a neutral tone seeing my frown, "Sup Master. You sure seemed to have gotten down since being sniped. What the hell happened?"

Despite the neutral tone I can tell her emotions are filled with worry with my [Soulwashing] detecting her emotions as I sighed in a disheartened tone, "Sigh… I fucked up. I underestimated my opponent big time."

I heard her snort at my words eyeing me differently from before in a harsh tone, "Yeah, no shit dumbass. That's war things like this happen for those who aren't prepared for it. And even more so when you could've ended it."

I flinched as she raised her voice annoyed by recent actions and choices. I can feel her heated glare even through her armor as she continues surprising me with her words that made me freeze, "Master let me set something straight with you. I've seen what you can do. And I mean ALL that you can do asleep. Two-way memory sharing through our link is the same and you know what I have to say? You're pathetic."

I couldn't help but look at Mordred with shock as I muttered out loud, "… What?"

Not realizing I had my fist clenched Mordred explained it to me straight revealing her face with an annoyed tone jabbing a finger at my chest waking Fou, "I've seen it in your head Master. You want to be strong because of them, right? However, you fear becoming strong because of them; how stupid. Deep within, you believe that if you access the full potential of your Authorities, you'll become something they won't accept, something they might come to despise."

I glared at her gritting my teeth and formulating a sentence with her not realizing what she meant in an annoyed tone, "… You don't know jack shit what you're talking about Saber. You haven't seen nor heard their actions. You haven't SEEN their atrocities up close and personal."

By then, I meant the Witch Cultist Sin Archbishop. Devouring the Sin Archbishops Gluttony I've seen what they have done and only have done up close and personal. It's exactly why I'll never use… that 'form' on principle.

I don't want any connection to THEM in general. However, Mordred has a way of shocking me apparently as she scoffed at me calling me out in disgust, "Tch. Instead of ending your fights immediately by utilizing your power, you lower yourself to your enemy's level, and for what? For a false sense of humility, to make those you want to protect comfortable. You spineless coward."

She edges closer grabbing her face and dragging it up to hers. Mordred's angry expression grabbed ahold of me through gritted teeth, "You're not being humble; you're being a fucking coward, Master. If you had any real spine in you then Assassin of Black and her Master would be alive and dandy wouldn't it if you didn't hold back? But we can't have a nice life like that can we?"

I had to hold back. If I didn't, I would end up killing someone I didn't want to kill. I must restrain myself, my every move…

Or… at least that's how it used to do; it's been a while since I think of the consequences behind my actions. I only looked down dejected and ashamed of myself because no matter how much this annoyed me that my Servant said this to me…

… It's nothing but the truth. As if reading my mind Mordred let go of my face calmly inhaling and exhaling giving me advice, "Reaching your full potential and becoming a monster are two entirely different things, Master. You simply need to take control of yourself. Remind yourself to not fuck up like this ever again. If you excuse me, I have a war to fight."

She turned around to leave as I was left to collect my thoughts. Gazing down on my hands clenching tightly her words irked me greatly. I could only frown and think deeply about her words…

Have… no. When have I decided to take this world lightly? When have I started treating life like a game…?