Act 6: Lancer
He looked as if he had fallen into a bottomless bog.
run run
He dashed through the forest, cutting through the night as he went.
His actions could be described by the simple verb “flee”, but he did
We could well say that the reason he was “fleeing”—
forth.
He was impulsive, not rational.
forward and forward again, on and on.
With every step, his legs cried out in agony. The pain radiated
But he had to keep going. His body did not want to stop, nor did
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Perhaps the endorphins had already cut out. Wave upon wave of
ʔ.
that.
wended his way through the forest, it was like he had himself become
A magically-enhanced bullet pierced through the wind.
Before he could even feel pain, his body was overcome by shock.
battered his body. As if it were comeuppance for the way his legs had
and walloped him.
An unvocalized scream.
would not let him do so.
voice echo out.
level-headed, but beneath his calm veneer, there were clear indications
The man, who seemed like a mage, lowered his heavily-ornamented
and then he shoved the still-hot barrel of the revolver into the open
There was a hissing sound as the escapee’s flesh was scorched. The
The escapee opened his mouth wider than should have been possible
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“This is absurd. Of all the things that could have happened, you
The escapee screamed noiselessly as he thrashed about. There certainly
Spells.
you think I amplified your Magic Circuits to their utmost limit? Why
The mage quietly shook his head and kicked the escapee—still
“...To win the Holy Grail War, I must summon a being that transcends
He walked up to the escapee—and stomped on his face again.
has such power as to be called a god—I cannot hope to defeat those
And again.
being more ancient than the first Hero—one of those of Egypt who
And he trampled him.
latent power of this land, do not suffice to call forth a being so powerful
And he crushed him.
god! Why would you refuse that honor!? You have repaid my kindness
The escapee could no longer even attempt to scream. He could see
own blood.
Even if breathing itself had become painful for him—
tried harder still to stand up.
mage sighed and—
escapee under his weight.
will return the Command Spells to me. Then, you will die. And you
your remains to build myself a new experimental subject.”
The escapee could not care less about the Command Spells and
He did not even know of the phrase “Holy Grail War”, let alone its
live.
within him.
Even then, as the end drew near, those instincts had not waned an
live. live. live.
live. live. live. live live live live
live. live. live. live. live. live. live.
livelivelivelive livelive livelive livelive livelive livelive live
livelivelivelivelivelivelivelive livelive livelive livelive
live livelivelive livelive livelive livelive live livelivelive
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livelivelivelivelivelivelivelivelivelivelivelive
Not “I don’t want to die.”
It was not a desire, but rather a simple instinct,
Had he himself noticed this distinction? Or—
don’t want to die”?
Out of all the living beings in the Snowfield area, his will was the
“ ”
not notice:
That the escapee’s scream was his alone; that it was his own form
That, the mage did not know.
ravine to the north, and—
the sixth Servant.
summoning of Rider, the nature of the summoning ritual had always
But in any case, it was in that moment that—
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A brilliant light shot through the forest, and a mighty whirlwind
The mage was tossed a few meters away by the strong wind. Startled,
magical energy, and so, strengthened his Magic Circuits.
Before his eyes, a being appeared, clad in a simple piece of cloth.
overwhelming magical energy that poured forth from it.
It looked far too plain to be a Hero.
and its clothing seemed rather shabby. Of course, it’s not like
even so, just what sort of Hero would be without even a single weapon?
A woman?
It had lustrous skin and soft features.
wore. Its limbs alone extended outside the cloth, and they seemed to
N-no, wait... that might be a man.... ...? Which is it...?
making it easy to interpret as either a man’s face or a woman’s face.
could likely rocket forth in the same manner. That much was clear to
the same.
The mage felt a twinge of embarassment.
about it. He couldn’t figure out how to describe it, but there
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fect. There was nothing visually out of the ordinary about it, but its
though it were a puppet, in the magical sense.
garments. He became less and less certain whether the Heroic Spirit
else altogether.
That Hero was unbearably beautiful.
of mankind and the immaculacy inherent to nature.
Venus. It was as though the Heroic Spirit’s form defied classification as
With the forest behind it, the Heroic Spirit, a being of perfect harmony,
“Are you... the Master who called for me?” it asked of the wounded
Ah, what a gentle voice it was.
learn its true identity.
of wind that accompanied its appearance, but when he took one glance
The one who stands before me is not my enemy.
For a short while, he suppressed his urge to flee, and gazed intently
His eyes were ever so pure, as if he were imagining what lay within
It quietly knelt down as the escapee staggered to his feet, so that it
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“ ” said it, with words that the mage
The escapee replied to it.
And then, the Heroic Spirit reached out and lifted the wounded
„Thank you. We have formed a contract.“
felt relief.
He knew he would have to flee no more—and at long last, he could
“Im... possible... impossible! This cannot be!” His shouts echoed
Unable to understand what he was witnessing, the mage waved his
“This is preposterous! I will not stand for this!” he yelled.
And at the end of his barrel laid—
the arms of the Hero.
are a mere chimera! And you are a Master!? I cannot believe this!”
careful aim.
the Heroic Spirit, quietly.
He was surprised by the politeness with which it spoke, but more
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“As if! What sophistry...”
not difficult to surmise what you have done to my Master.”
solemn expression on its face. “And yet, my Master does not wish you
With that, it turned away from the mage and began to slowly walk
“W-wait! Please, wait! You desire the Holy Grail, do you not!?
the Grail if I were your master, rather than that mangy cur?”
and—
That was all.
hand, he turned his back on the Heroic Spirit and the wolf and bolted
So awesome was the power of interdiction1 in the Heroic Spirit’s
harsh hue from its eyes and set forth towards the river, to heal the animal
It could neither hear the sound of running water, nor could it see
Even so, it could sense the presence of water off yonder. And
It kicked at the ground, gently holding the wolf to its chest, and
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He, who had been the pursuer, was now being pursued, as he wove
Why!
Why was it that... that mangy cur!
Neither the Heroic Spirit nor the silver wolf was chasing him.
muster.
followed him.
point, exited the forest—and remembered that his atelier was close by.
And then, when he had come to a complete stop, he turned to face
“Just... what was that Heroic Spirit!?” he wondered, talking to himself.
to create that chimera. Its body contained far more Magic Circuits
offering and as a living being—was extremely short, but that was alright,
And yet, it, of all things, received the Command Spells.
how a mere beast—one that did not even understand what the Holy
“Was that a Hero with some connection to animals...? But that was
was a Hero with some connection to... chimeras...?”
the possibility that the Servant could have been the hound of
fierce warrior with what he saw of the Heroic Spirit.
No, actually, anyone’s Command Spells will do. I had best get started.
ought to be able to make off with that cur, at the least....”
He truly was worthy of praise as a mage.
“No, sir, we sure can’t have that.”
“We really would prefer not to have any more sources of uncertainty.
bone.
his throat came not words, but warm, red blood.
any Command Spells. It’d be a real pain if you went around causing
Church are trouble enough. We can’t afford to make an enemy of the
Upon hearing him speak, the mage realized that the man standing
Rohngall—a man of the Association by the name of Faldeus.
was the question of how to stop his neck from spewing blood.
desire answer your questions, nor do I plan to let you live. As such, I
Faldeus slowly twirled a Swiss Army Knife in his hand. Drop after
typically used by magi, but rather, an ordinary knife, of the sort one
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“Tut-tut. Even if you weren’t expecting this to happen, you shouldn’t
“ . .” A wheezing sound came from the mage’s throat, but
He was rapidly losing consciousness
you can answer me anyway,” said Faldeus.
he slowly waved his right hand.
And that was the end. The mage’s consciousness left him, never to
When Faldeus waved his hand, innumerably many bullets flew
Faced with that gory sight, Faldeus remained emotionless.
stray bullet would hit him, he did not even breath harder as the bullets
Just like when he had Rohngall’s puppet destroyed, the gunshots
mage’s body.
again.
down on a nearby boulder. His expression finally softened some.
I never know when I’m going to leak confidential information, so I
courteously said to the lump of flesh, which, of course, could not hear,
“I must say, I’m a bit concerned about what the Kuruokas summoned....
I just had a look through your atelier, and... well, I’m astonished
a foul against the system. Didn’t you know that? Wars have rules
to a corpse. His former reticence had vanished altogether.
need you folks to have a bit of self-control.”
an army of underlings surrounding him. Also, he was speaking at a
“I had a look at the footage we took in the forest... And, well, it’s
any case, it’s amazing that it could be summoned as a Heroic Spirit. If
gained the power of a god that you so desired.”
by his emotional state.
face. “Well, the system shouldn’t allow for that sort of thing, but seeing
put too much faith in that. By Jove, someone might have even summoned
Then again, that thing that your pet summoned is quite unspeakable
to an old friend. With a corpse on the ground before him, he spoke to
“To begin with, it was never so much a Hero...
However, it was not human.
the earth to appear within a forest. That doll was neither male nor
It lacked human knowledge, and so, it gamboled about the forest
However, it had power that surpassed human understanding. When
a certain kingdom at the time.
be compared to that of a beast,” said he, refusing even to lay eyes upon
The king believed his power to supreme; that there could not be a
When that beast met a certain celebrated hierodule, however, their
When that genderless mass of clay met that woman whose beauty
As they spent six days and seven nights together, sharing meals
imitate that beautiful prostitute.
that prostitute’s beauty.
much of its strength. In exchange, it gained human wisdom and reason.
Its power still far exceeded that of man.
of a human, stood before that mighty king.
the battle was over, each acknowledged the other’s strength.
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Surely, there could be no beings further apart than they. Nonetheless,
countless many adventures, sharing their pain and their pleasure with
And then, millennia after those golden-and-earthen days—
treated the wounds of the silver wolf—its Master—and laid him
„I must say... I am relieved. I was worried that the whole world had
It looked at the vast wilderness before it. Using the language of
However, its Master had already fallen into a deep sleep, and did
Laughing softly, it sat down, and gave itself over to the sound of
Suddenly, it turned to look northwards.
far, far to the north. A very familiar presence.
Spirit walked out of the cave
Unable at first to believe what fate had wrought, it opened its eyes
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It was sure that the presence it sensed to the north was none other
A short silence.
Bewilderment.
And finally—overwhelming joy.
afforded them another opportunity to engage in mortal combat.
Even if it took his head, and he took its heart, what of it?
Nay, even if they slew one another a thousand times over, they
“Haha...”
and—
that plaza.”
core of its being.
The Hero Enkidu.
of the land that reached every part of the Snowfield area.
And it was also a signal to commence battle.
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Grail War was a false one.
They fought not for the Holy Grail, but for their convictions
That was the spark that began the war.