Sacrifice

Somewhere at the palace.

"I made a mistake... Sorry.... I'm sorry...."

Aria teared up, hugging her knees tightly. In a foggy consciousness, memories flashed before her desperate situation.

'Did you really think Saber cheated on you? You really are a fool.'

'He never did, you ignorant whore. It was me who arranged everything!'

Remembering Maximus' words, Aria tried to speak, but the words stuck.

"Ah...."

Banging her head against the wall, a familiar object fell from the table. Glancing at it, her eyes widened, and her body shook in fear.

'Bitch, you already sucked my juice like last time. Why are you scared of putting this inside you?'

"No!"

'You really won't accept this, won't you? After all I've done to get you? After all your mistakes in the party? You really won't?'

"Please..."

Picking up a dagger on his waist, Maximus slowly pushed in her cheeks, causing it to bleed.

'You can scream all night, but no one will hear you. I'll make sure to tame you today~'

"No! Please don't!"

With that said, Maximus forcefully shoved 'it' inside her.

"Ari—!!?"

"Aaahh!!!!"

Sylvia rushed towards Aria, seeing her in the midst of a panic attack. She hugged her tightly as Aria cried on her chest.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Please forgive me... It's my fault. Everything is my fault... It was my mistake. Sorry.... Sorry...."

While they embraced, a woman entered the room.

"Seraphina...?" Sylvia noticed her, questioning what she was witnessing... What happened to her?

Seraphina's hair and eyes had lost their usual vibrancy. Her once orange hair now disheveled and grey, her eyes turned silver with an indifferent, almost lifeless expression.

Seraphina approached them, looking at Aria in her distressed state for a moment. She uttered, "It's not your fault, but mine... If it wasn't for my suggestion, none of this would have ever happened." With that, she closed her eyes.

"It's not your fault, Sera. None of us could have guess something like this to happen..." Sylvia smiled with a sad expression before returning her attention back to Aria.

After a moment of silence, she uttered weakly in contempt, "If only... I wonder if only Saber is still alive. Can everything go back like in the past?" Sylvia laughed at herself upon saying this out loud, "Maybe not, won't it?"

Aria continued to cry as Sylvia comforted her in her arms. Seeing this, Seraphina shook her head.

"What will you do if you found out if he's alive?"

Upon hearing Seraphina's question, Sylvia hugged Aria's head and responded with a forced smile, "I... I would like to talk to him. I want to bring him back..."

—Naive, Seraphina thought, but this quickly changed after hearing what Sylvia said next.

"However, I won't ask him to bring our party back together. It's beyond impossible, at this point. I just want to apologize for leaving him."

Seraphina looked at her for a second before closing her eyes, "...I see." She shook her head and smiled, "Well..."

While they were talking to each other, none of them noticed a certain woman, who appeared to have a burned scar from the side of her face, eavesdropping outside the door.

"I see..." Saying this to herself, the woman left the three alone as she went back to the room next to them.

...

..

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"It's better if I'm the only one~"

***

In the dimly lit room, a solitary figure emerged – a boy entrapped in the delicate intricacies of unseen strings. His every movement seemed orchestrated, his limbs responding to invisible forces. He was a puppet, a mere marionette in the grand theater of another's design.

Draped in the strings that bound him, he moved with a peculiar grace, his body swaying and twisting to the whims of an unseen puppeteer. The strings, like ethereal threads, crisscrossed his form, creating a surreal dance of manipulation. His eyes, void of autonomy, reflected the puppetry that governed his every step.

In the center of this haunting ballet, he found himself entwined with another puppet – a figure adorned in a delicate dress, a manifestation of the puppeteer's whimsical imagination. The strings that governed them converged, creating an intricate web of control. Together, they danced in the palm of their unseen manipulator.

The room seemed to pulse with an eerie energy as the puppet boy twirled and dipped, a macabre display of orchestrated movement. The puppet with the dress, a silent partner in this dance, followed the scripted choreography with an eerie elegance. Their dance was a haunting duet, a melancholic manifestation of a puppeteer's unspoken desires.

As the strings guided their every motion, the puppet boy's eyes betrayed a subtle hint of resignation. He was a prisoner in this intricate performance, a dance of strings that dictated his every gesture. The puppet with the dress, an accomplice in this silent ballet, mirrored his plight, both bound by an invisible force that wove their fate.

Together, they swirled and twirled, trapped in a dance devoid of free will, a poignant tableau of manipulation and control. The puppet boy, covered in strings, and his silent partner, the puppet with the dress, were but mere players in the puppeteer's enigmatic narrative.

...

..

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While holding a letter, Saber's hand began to shiver as he unconsciously clutched on the paper.

«You are a reader, aren't you?»

After taking in some air, he waited until his heart slow down before reading the next line of the sentence.

«If you're seeing this letter, then that means SHE must have already fulfilled the contract.»

«Do not fear, I am not YOUR enemy. I had sent this letter in order to guide you on how to successfully change the course of the inevitable future of this world.»

«The enemy is not what it seem to be. The Calamity's existence is a necessary part of OUR last chance of survival.»

«If you want to know more about this world, then find my diary. I have kept my secrets there and information.»

«The location of where it is YOUR current destination...»

«I am entrusting my everything to you, Saber.»

...

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«You have to survive this time.»