20. All the Servants Gather

Rider showed interest in Saber's declarations and raised his eyebrows.

"How surprising. The renowned King of Knights is actually a young girl."

" – And would you like to try the blade of that young girl, King of Conquerors?"

Saber lifted her sword as she lowered her voice. Her left hand was still powerless to hold the sword; its four fingers were just resting on the hilt. The fighting spirit that rose wavering from the blade, however, was more solemn and majestic then when she fought Lancer. Rider furrowed his brows and let out a long sigh.

"A breakdown of my negotiations, is it? What a waste, that's too bad."

When Rider looked down and mumbled to himself, he found the glance that was full of hatred, which looked up from beside his feet.

"Ri.. de.. eeer..."

He had the pain that came with his swollen forehead, but his regrets were more tragic than that pain. Waver's deep cries passed through the air.

"Nooow what? Talking again and again about the 'conquest', and people still dislike you... do you really think you can beat Saber and Lancer?"

The bulky Servant faced his master's questions with no sign of remorse, but began to laugh heartily.

"Er, well, wasn't there a saying that says actions speak louder than words?"

"And your action is just to say your true name out loud like that!?"

Waver was so angry that his head began to feel dizzy. Using his two weak fists, he continued to hammer at the breastplate of Rider, who was just standing there, and started to cry tears. Looking at this sad situation, Irisviel felt neither contempt nor sympathy. She just felt that she couldn't take it anymore.

The atmosphere that had subtly relaxed –

"Oh? It is you, of all people."

– Suddenly became tense again with the low, resentful voice that crept along the ground.

It was the still-concealed Master of Lancer. Ever since he had urged the Servant to use his Noble Phantasm, the observation had been very quiet. Now he was interjecting to ask Waver's purpose in coming here.

It was a sound that was completely different from the tone used before; something that exposed a heart drunk with hatred.

"And here, I was wondering for what reason, you stole my Holy Relic for, in your outrage – I didn't think you would actually have the guts to join the Heaven's Feel on your own, Waver Velvet."

Waver heard someone calling his name with malice and knew that he was the subject of that hatred. Not only that, Waver may be able to guess the owner of that voice.

"Ah... uh..."

How could he not predict it? With his rank as high as lecturer of the Clock Tower, Holy Relics for other Heroic Spirits can still be prepared even if Alexander's cloak was stolen. Therefore, at the land of Fuyuki, it is not a surprising thing to have this man standing before Waver as his enemy...

"What a pity. It's a shame, really. I actually wanted my poor beloved student to be happy. Waver, someone as mediocre as you only deserves to possess the calm and stable life of the commoners."

Waver was dazed with delusions, unable to determine where the voice came from. He no longer knew how many times he had experienced the nauseating feeling in his stomach – Lecturer Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. The feeling of having those crystal blue eyes that held a mixture of humiliation and pity, which glared down at Waver from the lecturer's mean and slender face somewhere above the boy's head – he felt it acutely once again.

Waver wanted to return some smart remarks to the lecturer. Waver had, (before even his own lecturer had managed to) skilfully made the Heroic Spirit Alexander into a Servant that obeys him. Was that not the best revenge for the humiliation that he suffered at the Clock Tower for such a long time?

Yes. It is no longer a relationship of teacher and student. He is now my enemy in true sense of the word. I can hate him as much as I want, even going as far as taking his life. Now, he is undoubtedly my real opponent.

During the few years that Waver spent at the Clock Tower, he had always hated that haughty lecturer in every waking and sleeping moment, even considering killing him for a few times – yet, it was the first time that he was faced with such enmity from his lecturer. The youth Waver experienced the gaze of a true magus that was full of the desire to kill for the first time.

However – the reverse is also true.

The owner of the voice saw the petrified fear on Waver's face with his sharp sight. With a tone of icy mockery that sent Waver's hair to stand on its end, he continued to speak as if toying with Waver.

"Well, I can't help it, Waver-kun. Let me give you some extra tutorials. The true meaning of the "slaughter between magi" – I will pass the terror and the pain of the kill onto you without any reservation. You should be proud."

In fact, Waver was already shivering with fear, not even paying attention to the humiliation brought on by those words.

To become a true magus, one must be prepared to be killed... A theory that was usually comprehended through books was keenly felt by Waver. The glare that the man shot from who-knows-where was more lethal still. The moment when a magus wanted to kill is the moment when the death sentence is pronounced – Waver did not know that until now.

Then, something enclosed the slender lone shoulders of the boy, which was shivering from terror, in a gentle and powerful embrace.

Waver was befuddled of the rough yet gentle touch. The hand of the stalwart Servant – with coarse fingers that are thick with calluses could only induce dread from the short Master.

"Oi, magus. If I understand correctly, you were supposed to be my Master instead of that kid, apparently."

Rider called out to the unseen Master of Lancer. In fact, his face was covered and twisted by a huge smile of malevolent pity.

"That thought is beyond ridiculous. The man that deserves to be my Master should be a warrior that rides with me into the battlefield, not a coward that doesn't even dare to show his face."

Silence descended; only the anger of the unseen Master could be felt spreading along the night air. Rider suddenly laughed into the empty sky, a roaring laugh that exhausted the airs in his lungs.

"Come on out! There must be others. Friends that are hiding in the darkness and spying on us!"

Saber and Lancer were both shocked.

"– What are you doing, Rider?"

Facing an inquiring Saber, the King of Conquerors did a thumb-up accompanied with a hearty smile.

"Saber and Lancer, your frontal battle is most excellent and fine. The clear sound made from the clashing of sword and spear would perhaps attract more than one Heroic Spirit, don't you agree?"

Irisviel was trembling at the thought that Kiritsugu might have been discovered in his unknown hiding place, but Rider only had other Servants in mind. Rider wanted to deliver the deafening sound to every corner of the surroundings, and bellowed once again.

"What a shame. What a shame, really! The heroes of might gathered at Fuyuki! Seeing the prowess displayed here by Saber and Lancer, does it not invoke any sentiments from you? Having a name that deserves praise, yet concealing yourself and spying in secrecy; what cowardice. Even Heroic Spirits would be troubled upon hearing this, huh?"

After another fit of laughter, Rider tilted his head with a fearless expression at the corner of his mouth, and ended with a challenging glance.

"The Heroic Spirits invited by the Holy Grail, gather here at this moment! For those cowards that fear to show their faces, spare yourself the humiliation that Alexander, King of Conquerors, would deal to you. Prepare yourself!"

Rider's enthusiastic speech even passed to Emiya Kiritsugu, who was hiding in the distant container port conducting his observation. It was also heard by Maiya, opposite Kiritsugu's position.

The minds of ancient heroes were so far removed from Kiritsugu's own that he couldn't even sigh in response.

"...That fool managed to conquer the world?"

"..."

Opposite the intercom, Maiya also appeared like she could not understand the situation.

Like Kiritsugu and Maiya, the secretly-observing Kirei also saw all of Rider's actions and heard his senseless words through Assassin's eyes and ears. At the moment Kirei was at the distant Fuyuki church, and Kirei had told everything he saw and heard to Tōsaka Tokiomi through the jewel communicator beside him.

"... This is bad."

From the distant Tōsaka residence such an irate sentence was heard.

Although Kirei knew the speaker couldn't see him, he furrowed his brows and nodded.

"Indeed it is."

Tokiomi and Kirei did not disregard Rider's nonsense talk like Emiya Kiritsugu did. The reason was that they both thought of one particular Heroic Spirit, who would never ignore something like Rider's challenging words.

—------

"are we really doing this, I think this is a bit excessive" Kariya said with anticipation and tiredness, "don't worry master...I've done this often..I'm a professional"

currently on the other side of the bay, Kariya and Jibril were getting ready to show off the grandeur of their arrival when he heard Rider's insults

Jibril's face immediately filled with anger when he heard it "you uneducated caterpillar...even creeping insects know what 'politeness' is..."

"Master's change of plans....we will immediately attack from above" Kariya who heard this looked relieved.. "So all these black feathers and fireworks are not needed, right?" Jibril glanced at all the materials he wanted to use for the show ~the descent of the holy angel and his guardian knight (kariya)~ in an annoyed tone said "it's no longer needed...just throw it away"

"If we don't come soon then my title as an exterminator will be tarnished "

As the "last unit" of Flügel, Jibril was able to kill Gigant, Dragonia, and Phantasma in a separate solo campaign. However, his failed attempts to do so were twenty-nine times more (simply put: out of 90 attempts, 3 were successful)