Chapter: 23

"You know what to do, right?" The Caster of Black looked at the Berserker of Red who was tied by chains to the ground and said. "Spartacus, I am your Master."

'So I cannot "live" without you any longer?'

"Why? Are you going to attack me?" Caster asked. His hand moved at different locations, unlocking the magic binding the Berserker of Red.

'Foolish. I have to remain in this world for as long as I can. I must defeat the oppressors and reach the hope beyond despair!' His voice echoed within Caster's mind as he undid the bindings. 'And finally! I must massacre the greedy in power who sought the Grail!'

"I see." Caster replied. "Then you must fight that Merchant and Mage's Association that holds the mysteries of this world within their hands. They are the oppressors."

The gate of the castle rose with a distinct sound; small gravel fell beside it.

"Go, Berserker!"

Spartacus raised his head, and both of his eyes were white. He was smirking and taking beastial breaths. He bent down, slightly, before leaping straight outside of the castle.

His laughter rang high in the sky as he ran with an astonishing speed. His destination being the territory raised by Gin!

"Now then…" Caster stared at the running Berserker. He was glad that he was able to convince him, otherwise he would have died. He was, after all, weak. "It is time to raise my golem."

He stared at the Grail which hovered high in the sky.

"Adam… My golem shall be the one to pave the path and end all of this."

+++

"Shall we venture then, Master?"

Her voice held authority and novelty, a regal aura covered her bearings.

She sat over her throne, like always, staring at the holographic screen which showed the scene of the Berserker of Red running and shouting its way toward the Holy Grail.

A strand of hair gently slipped from behind her ear, which she swiped back once more. She turned her eyes away from the screen towards her Master, waiting for his response.

Normally, she would go out and kill the person who displeased her; this time, she allowed her Master to make the decisions for her. It would be the same either way. If her Master ever made a bad decision, that would be the time she killed him or made him her slave.

After all, she was the Queen of Assyria. She was a prideful person. Her allowing someone else to lead didn't mean she wouldn't take the lead herself.

Semiramis enjoyed and liked men with ambition. Hence, she was content with her current Master… for now.

"Spartacus decided to betray us in the end." Her Master said with a smile. "Though I am glad we don't need to fight him ourselves. And he might even help us unconditionally."

"A mindless fool he is. His end was already predictable." The Queen of Assyria answered with displeasure. The fact that Berserker moved based on his own violation, without any command from them, rubbed her the wrong way. If not for the War, she would have personally judged him.

'A poison so vicious that he would beg for death.'

"Hm. Well, that might be right." Her Master replied with an easy tone. "Nonetheless, it is a loss on our side. Thankfully, Black Faction also lost their Saber."

Semiramis remained quiet, observing her Master. He turned his gaze away from the holographic screen and looked back at her, stating. "Proceed with caution then, Assassin."

"Very well." A smirk formed over the Queen of Assyria. She raised her hand and gestured outward. Magically, following her gesture, the fortress they resided in started to move. With a constant pace, it hovered its way within the area, the newly announced territory of Ichimaru Gin, the Merchant who held the Grail within his hands.

"This is…"

Her eyes narrowed, staring at the gentle waves that appeared within the space. It was like when one threw a stone into an ocean and it created a disturbance. Just like that, their fortress was the stone, and Gin's territory was the ocean. The moment it entered it, waves upon waves started to appear in the space, distorting the perception of everyone present within the throne room.

"A dimensional jump, it is."

The moment her voice fell, every Servant and her Master vanished from within the throne room. Only she remained. Still sitting over her throne, she once more waved her hand with the same fluidity as before. The strips of black cloth around her wrists waved gently in the air as the scene over the holographic changed rapidly.

"... What a beautiful control of dimensions." A smile appeared on the face of the Queen of Assyria as she praised the immaculate use of dimensions around her. She could tell that they have entered a pocket dimension of a sort, completely cut off from the outside interference.

She could still feel her connection with her Master, but she could not pinpoint his location at all. It was as if there was this veil obstructing her view or sight from reaching him.

"An ocean? No, this is…" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the ever-stretching ocean and the beach on the other side. "Syrian is it? How unpleasant. Did you read my memories, detestable Merchant?"

"If you put it like that, it makes me sound like a voyeur, Queen of Assyria." The holographic display zoomed onto the beach and found the silver-haired Merchant sitting under the parasol. He wore nothing but shorts, lying over the chair and enjoying the serenity and tranquility of the beach. "It was not me, but one of my Familiars. It automatically checks through the memories of whoever enters my territory and recreates the scene that holds dear the most. I am nothing but an innocent man."

"Holds dear the most? Then your familiar surely fail you, detestable Merchant."

"Surely there is some truth in it, Queen of Assyria." His smile stretched in a teasing manner, making her annoyed. "Mouth can lie, but the heart cannot. Oh well, I will believe whatever you say as the truth."

"... Detestable indeed." She snorted. "What then? Did you summon me to this place to show me your body and have a chat with me? Or could it be that you have been smitten by my beauty that you dare not attack me any longer?"

"Hehehe." A chuckle escaped Gin's mouth as he sipped his juice while staring at the flying fortress in the air. "You know better than me, Semiramis. If I wanted you to be mine, you would be serving me right now, not talking all high and mighty before me."

Purple lightning crackled around Semiramis' throne as an expression of extreme displeasure showed on her face.

"I might have been mistaken, but did you dare to call me a servant? Do you think I am being boastful? Detestable Merchant, I will allow you to take back what you said before I dig a hole for you."

"Oh. You like digging holes?"

"I sure do." A smirk formed over her face as she continued. "And I also love throwing people within the dug holes."

"Scary…" Gin chuckled. "Well then. Rules are the same as 'I' have described before. Defeat me, and I shall give you the Grail. But if I defeat you, everything that you hold shall be mine."

'Is he that confident in his win?' Semiramis remained quiet as she stared at the holographic screen in contemplation. Gin still hasn't moved from his place, still sitting under the parasol and enjoying his drink. From nowhere did it look like he was going to fight her. More like, he seemed to hold her in contempt.

A burst of anger appeared within the heart of the Queen of Assyria, but she held it well. She was a Queen. She knew better than anyone to not let anger hold off her senses.

'Shall we test it then?' She raised her hand as different purple magical circles bloomed above Gin, stacking upon each other while also covering him from all sides. With a single command from her side, purple lightning draped over Gin and everything in between the circles.

A blast occurred, blowing away the sand and the earth.

She calmly waited for everything to settle down. But the moment everything settled down, her eyes widened by a small margin seeing everything normal. The only thing that looked out of place was that everything around Gin was blown and burnt away. Only the place where he sat remained intact.

Seeing this, Semiramis's eyes narrowed in caution. 'Magical Resistance perhaps? Or did he use some kind of barrier to protect himself?'

"Wow. How electric." Gin whistled before he chuckled; staring at the glass of juice in his hand which was emptied of its content. Everything within seemed to be evaporated as a darkish sheen retracted away from the glass. "I would be massively disappointed if this is all you have, Queen of Assyria. Come on, I am sure you can do better."

"... Then die." Holding her anger back seemed to be a useless endeavor now as the Queen of Assyria once again waved her hand, this time a magical circle opened before her as she poured mana into it.

Below the fortress, a canon formed as it started to gather mana at its tip.

Gin, seeing this, dryly chuckled.

'Did I piss her off? She really went for an all-out attack.'

One would be massively mistaken if they thought that Semiramis's Noble Phantasm couldn't be used for offensive purposes. Leaving its versatility of moving aside, it also had tons of offensive capabilities. And one of them was this canon which released a magical beam of EX-Rank Anti-Army which stepped into the realm of True Magic!

It was no joke, even for Gin. Especially when he was nothing but a clone of the original. If he took this attack head-on, he might be seriously damaged.

'But, well, the premise being that it hits me…' As he thought so, the Garden released the condensed magical beam at him. The incoming magical beam seemed to steal the light of the world, making it darker than before as it hit its target. A deafening boom resounded. A huge mushroom cloud rose as the whole seacoast seemed to be reformed. A huge hole opened at the place where Gin once sat, from which one could see the seabed as waves raged around the ocean.

A soundwave produced by the impact continued its way destroying the forest in its way. It was as if someone dropped an atomic bomb at the site, destroying everything.

"Did I get—"

"So cool." Semiramis didn't get to finish her sentence as a voice that seemed to annoy her resounded in the air. Once again, the scene displayed by the holographic screen changed and now it showed the man standing in the air, some distance away from her Garden. "I really wanna learn these highly overpowered beam attacks. At this rate, you might really make me interested in you, Queen of Assyria."

"Humph." Semiramis snorted before a smirk appeared on her face. "Are you sure? Do you think you have what it takes to make me yours? I thought you were more intelligent than that, detestable Merchant."

"Hehehe. Well, only time will tell." Gin smirked. He raised his hand and pointed it toward the sky. "Then allow me to attack too."

In front of the stunned gaze of Semiramis, a titanic demonic energy burst out of Gin's body. The space around him cried as it started to get distorted just by the mass of pure demonic energy.

"Come, Kiffa-Ater."

A silence appeared between Gin and Semiramis, both of them silently "staring at each other". One with a smile and the other with an unamused expression which took a turn of 180 when she felt a high-pitched sound of friction between air and something else.

Her long elf-like ears twitched, stealing the attention of the silver-haired man as she looked above at the sky. As if a divine judgment, the clouds in the sky parted showing a colossal sword falling towards her Garden.

The colossal sword released a crimson aura as it cut through the air and made its way toward the Garden. It was still a hundred miles away from them yet it looked colossal to look at. Semiramis could only imagine how big it was from close up.

Not daring to look down upon it, she raised one shield after another around the Garden. Not for a second did the Queen of Assyria think that the sword could destroy her Garden.

It was her Noble Phantasm! It could easily take a hit even from a meteor and come out unscratched! Hence, she never would have thought that a scene where her shields would be useless would transpire in front of her eyes.

With a single command from the smirking Merchant, the gravity of the coming sword changed thousands of times more. To the point where it once looked hundred of miles away from the Garden, it particularly blinked its way in front of it!

The tip of the crimson "beam" touched the shields around the Garden, shattering them with such ease that it looked like a joke.

"Impossible!" Cried the Queen of Assyria in disbelief, but it was too late to even do anything as the sword hit dead center in the Garden, where her throne room was.

Another blast occurred, much worse than the previous one as it stole the light from the world. All one could see was crimson light which lasted for some seconds before starting to die down.

Standing in the air, Gin calmly stared at the flying woman whose body was riddled with wounds. Her Garden, her Noble Phantasm that she took pride in was utterly and completely annihilated. The only thing left was the debris still falling down the air, into the sea.

Semiramis's beautiful body was filled with wounds. Her breathing was heavy as her bountiful chest heaved up and down with each intake of air. Her lustrous black hair was messed up as she stared up at Gin with inexplicit emotions. Never had she thought that she wouldn't even take one hit from Gin.

If her Master hadn't used Command Seal at the end, she would have died along with her Garden. Yet, even though she was saved, there wasn't much she could do now that her Noble Phantasm was destroyed.

She was like a soldier without a gun now. Though she could still put up a fight, she dared not to believe she could defeat him. One of the signs of a smart person was that he knew when to retreat. And she knew that she cannot defeat Gin, the only viable solution was retreat indeed. Yet this detestable Merchant blocked that too!

The only way for her to leave this space was if her Master used Command Seal and summoned her by his side, but due to all the dimensions here under Gin's control, the spatial jump was impossible.

It was a checkmate! An utter defeat with no retreat.

…

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