Chapter 9: Great Holy Grail War(1)

Castle Yggdmillennia, which is the location, not only of the clan members, but also of all the servants of the black faction, important preparations are being made, for the beginning of the battle between the factions.

In one of the many rooms in the castle, a discussion about the coming battle is underway. In the well furnished room sat two men, in front of a table, with a chess board. One is a tall man, with a pale face, and the other is his master, "Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia."

- I don't think we should trust the assassin. - With a pensive face Darnic spoke.

- You worry too much, Darnic. - Vlad replied with a smile. - It makes little difference whether he lies to us about the alliance or not. After all, whether he's with us or not, we won't lose.

- You're right, the red faction, lost their berserker. But, we also lost our saber. - Darnic said, removing pieces from the chessboard.

- He was a hero, and he remained one, even after his death. He's worthy of respect. And as for the red faction, I'm sure their servants are strong, only our servants are just as strong. So hear my words, Darnic. I, Vlad III Tepesh, guarantee us, the black faction an unconditional victory.

Vlad spoke with pride, he was the ruler of Romania. And his lands, on which to fight them soon, gave him great strength, and confidence in his words.

- You are right, my king.

***

At night in the sky, a huge upside-down castle hovered. It was a noble phantasm, the assassin of the reds, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It was of incredible size, its mere sight in the sky inspiring horror, and arousing admiration.

Finally entering the black faction's territory, the Gardens began dropping bones that landed on the ground and turned into bone monsters. Each of them was armed with swords, spears, and daggers made of bone. Creating a large army of bone monsters.

All of this created an indescribable picture. It foreshadowed a bloody war to the death.

At the same time, an army of homunculus, all armed with cold weapons, gathered in front of the castle of Yggdmilenia, dividing into advanced soldiers, with whom the golems stood together, and the soldiers in the rear, which consisted, of homunculus who know how to use magic.

A silence hung before the battle. Just a moment's silence, which meant a bloody battle was imminent. The whole landscape spoke for one thing... Here it was, the true "War for the Holy Grail."

At the top of the castle, all the servants of the black faction had gathered. Everyone stood looking at the place that would soon become a battlefield between the two factions. But also, apparently they were waiting for someone else's arrival.

- Waiting.

- You have arrived, assassin. - Vlad said in a welcoming tone.

Ciel nodded and stood next to the other servants of the black faction.

- Now that we're all here, we can begin. - Vlad III gathered air in his lungs and continued. - Look, we've lost our saber, and the red faction is probably all intact and ready for battle except for the berserker. We're our only hope in this war now, follow the plan, and victory will be ours!

After the lancer's words, the servants rushed into battle after Vlad.

The battle began. The homunculus and golems clashed with the bone monsters. As in the battle clashed, so did the servants. Blood flowed like a river, corpses filled the battlefield, chaos reigned everywhere.

In the castle, of the servants, only the black caster remained.

- Berserker, I'll let you go. Can go to the battlefield.

- I will kill all the oppressors.

- Yes, your enemies are out there on the battlefield. - Avicebron said.

After being freed from his chains, Berserker rushed onto the battlefield, with his mind clouded. He saw only the oppressors in his servants.

***

- So you're the Reds' Lancer? - Vlad asked.

- Yes, and I need to end it with you. I'm sorry about that.

- No, don't be. You need to kill me, and I need to kill you. - When he finished what he was saying, he went on the attack.

Vlad used his Kazikli Bey, a phantasm that could summon up to twenty thousand stakes. The Red Lancer had a hard time dodging them all, and yet the stakes caught up with him.

- Excellent armor, though... Don't expect much use from it.

- Lancer! - Atalanta shouted and shot at Vlad to stop him, but it didn't help.

Vlad was already there, one blink away from piercing Karna. Until he burst into flames whose heat was comparable to the sun.

The battle went on, Atalanta couldn't counter anything against Vlad, so she didn't know what to do. Until Spartacus appeared beside them.

- I'll take on the berserker. - After telling Carne, Atalanta engaged Spartacus in a fight.

No matter how many times Archer shot at the berserker, it didn't do any good. Every part of Spartacus that was shot through, was healing again. He was a berserker whose insane enhancement was incredible, and reaching the edge of insanity, he stopped feeling pain.

- Quick regeneration, then I'll inflict so much damage you won't have time to recover. How do you..." The arrow in her hands began to glow, absorbing an enormous amount of magical energy.

Pointing her bow at the sky-"Phoebus Catastrophe"

After a while, the sky was colored in bright light, a sound similar to falling rain was heard. But instead of raining water, it was raining arrows of light. Which fell on Spartacus like a downpour.

Spartacus' whole body was torn, in pieces. That it was impossible to recognize him as a man.

With a sigh, Atalanta lowered her bow, to signify the end of the battle.

- Was he dead?

Atalanta jumped back, drawing her arrows on her bow. In front of her was a servant dressed in black.

- Why, always, whenever we meet, do you point your bow at me? - Ciel asked incomprehensibly.

Without further ado, Archer fired her arrows, but Ciel repelled them with her sword.

- I said, are you sure he's dead?

- How is that possible? - Atalanta asked in amazement.

As if on cue, Spartacus rose from the ground, his limbs recovering with monstrous speed. He no longer looked human, his muscles swollen and his eyes engulfed in wild madness.

He roared, and with his sword raised he went at Ciel. In a sweeping distance, he sliced him... Or so it should have been, but in an instant, Spartacus' arm flew upward.

- A madman cannot defeat me.

And so began the fight between the three servants.

Spartacus, recovering quickly, went on the attack again. Ciel fought off the archer's and berserker's attacks, and counterattacked them at the same time.

As they clashed, the very ground trembled. Sparks from the meeting of steel swords against each other. Arrows fired that sliced through the berserker's tendons, stopping him for a few seconds. A sword slicing through Spartacus' flesh. Though the fight was between three servants, Ciel and Atalanta united against the berserker without words.

He was regenerating at a phenomenal rate... But there was another feature of what was going on, with each regenerated part of his body, he was getting bigger, and bigger. With each damage he dealt, the magical energy inside him increased many times over. He was like a ticking time bomb, about to explode.

In an instant, Ciel jumped on his neck, and touched his left hand to his head, white magical energy filling his hand, and instilling it into Spartacus' head.

Fully inhabited by the berserker's head, it disappeared. Only Ciel still stood around his neck with a smile on his face.

After a while, Spartacus roared again... But instead of his eyes overflowing with wild madness, they were no longer wild. It was as if he had calmed down a little.

- Spartacus, you're looking for oppressors, aren't you? - Ciel whispered to him. - They're out there... the oppressors, the tyrants, they're all out there.

From the side you could see the servant in black whispering something to the berserker, pointing somewhere with his hand. Atalanta could not understand what was happening. She was only watching, watching what was happening... But as she followed Ciel's hand, she realized that he was pointing in the direction where the two lancers were fighting.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized what this servant was up to. Quickly she drew her bowstring and pointed it in the direction of the berserker. But the arrow did not reach its target, and was knocked back by the servant in black.

Spartacus, with all his strength, ran toward Karna and Vlad. And Atalanta could no longer stop him as Ciel stood before her.

- Don't stop him, please... Atalanta.

- How did you know my true name! - In anger she questioned, the archer.

Ciel responded to her anger with only a small smirk on his face. He raised his sword, pointing it at Atalanta.

- Now, I am your adversary.

He jerked to within swinging distance of his sword, and moved into close combat with her. Atalanta tried to increase the distance between them, but she couldn't do it. She quickly realized that she couldn't run away from the servant in front of her, since he was probably even more nimble than she was.