Fate/Apocrypha Vol 4 Chapter 1

OLUME 4

Chapter 1

 

He was in a trance. He was numb. He was in a state of suspension.

The film was cut into disconnected pieces, and the scene changed when he blinked.

 

He felt intense pain in his chest. A feeling of exhaustion and lethargy gripped his entire body.

Just what on earth happened? Before thinking about such things, the first thing he had to prioritize was—surviving.

What he needed in order to survive was medical treatment—he had to close the wound. But intense pain was attacking him every second, and he couldn’t even form a healing spell in his head.

While groaning in anguish, he moved his hand and touched his chest.

Bullets had been shot into his heart—every time the organ pumped blood, the lodged bullets sent fresh pain through him. First, he had to remove the bullets agitating his body.

A healing spell was impossible for him right now. For the time being, he forcefully stimulated his metabolism by forming prana. He had to drag himself up to the point where he could use regular magecraft.

The harmful fog was also a cause for concern. It was accelerating the deterioration of his physical strength.

Though he didn’t even have a moment to relax, he felt surprisingly calm. Prana, prana was necessary. He took a deep breath and gathered prana. His lungs might be inflamed, but this wasn’t a situation where he could worry about that.

For now, he just gathered up prana. He was beset by head-splitting pain, chipping away even the energy to scream.

More, I need more prana. It’s all right, there’s no problem. This heart has the blood of a dragon flowing within it. So what if I’ve been shot by three bullets? Don’t worry. As if I’d die from something like this—!

“Guh…!!”

His heart muscles made a screeching noise as they removed the foreign substance within him. Activating his Magic Circuits, he accelerated the prana circulating through him, and gradually it began to repair his body.

Somewhere in his heart, a voice asked in doubt, ‘Isn’t there something strange about this?’

It was all well and good that Siegfried’s heart was strong.

And it was all well and good that he had just barely managed to hold onto his fractured consciousness even while suffering through pain as well.

But—still, even so. This healing ability was too abnormal. This situation was similar to when he was cut down by Saber of Red, though of course, the bullet wounds he had received weren’t even comparable in terms of destructive power.

However, back then, he had definitely died once even with this heart.

So why was he not dying this time?

—Don’t think about it now.

He breathed in and out again. He gathered and accumulated prana. He had to stand up now. The enemy hadn’t disappeared like magic, and she hadn’t carelessly let her guard down thinking that he was already dead.

Because, even now, she was gazing at him as he repeatedly breathed and vomited out blood—her gaze cold like that of a snake.

 

Screams of agony gushed out from every direction. Due to the fog that had instantly enveloped Trifas, the town had fallen into complete chaos.

Having donned her armor, Ruler frantically ran after Sieg, who had jumped into the fog without listening to her shouted warning. But his figure had disappeared in a blink of an eye due to the fog obscuring her vision.

She heard the dry sound of something being struck. It was similar to the sound of cannons she had heard in the past, but softer.

“A gunsh

ot…!”

She was certain that Assassin of Black was hiding somewhere within this fog. But right now she was more concerned about Sieg.

The fog that Assassin of Black had unleashed had no effect on Ruler besides obscuring her vision. She didn’t even receive a rank-down in agility, thanks to her ridiculously high Magic Resistance skill.

“Sieg-kun!?”

“Help… me…”

The one who responded to her shout was not Sieg, but a young child. Without hesitation, Ruler decided to head towards the child.

However—Ruler instinctively sensed that Assassin of Black was somewhere nearby. Resolving not to let her guard down, she gripped her flag and searched for the location of that voice.

Searching through her hazy vision, Ruler immediately found the child. The child was pressing her head against a wall, holding her chest in pain. Her face—wasn’t visible.

Ruler hesitated slightly. Assassin’s true name was [Jack the Ripper], the name of a serial killer who was once famous in Great Britain, but—

There was no way Assassin could be such a young girl. But no one knew Jack the Ripper’s face or true identity.

Perhaps… Choosing to discard not even the slightest possibility, Ruler touched the girl’s shoulder.

…Instantly, she was filled with relief. She could tell immediately by touching her. The girl wasn’t a spiritual being like a Servant, but a living human made of flesh and blood.

“Mo… ther…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring you to your mother right away.”

Ruler said that and covered the girl with a holy shroud she summoned forth. If she was wrapped in this cloth which protected those who wore it, she would be safe for the time being.

Luckily, the girl didn’t seem to be hurt either…

“Eh——?”

 

She didn’t seem to be hurt.

 

That was completely impossible. Even if it was somewhat weak, this fog had been harmful enough to make homunculi die or faint within less than ten minutes. Yet why was a normal and weak child like this still alive?

At worst, it should have instantly killed her, and at best, she shouldn’t have been able to avoid becoming seriously ill.

“Umm, are you… okay?”

“…Uh-huh. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

The girl replied thus to Ruler’s question. Ruler felt like something was out of place.

“Where did it hurt?”

The girl silently stuck out her leg. On part of her knee, there was a wound of roughly torn skin. A wound from falling over… was what it obviously wasn’t. And of course, she had no wounds from the fog either.

This was—a scar from being cut by something. That’s why she had cried out in pain.

A chill went through Ruler’s entire body. She was struck by a feeling of ‘killing intent’.

Moreover.

It was…

This killing intent wasn’t half-hearted. It felt like sticky coal tar, a spike that burned so brightly it turned white, or a mutated murderous virus. It was an astoundingly overwhelming malevolence.

Even worse, this killing intent wasn’t directed at Ruler herself—

 

If I run from here, the child will be killed.

 

It was directed at the child Ruler was embracing with one arm. Assassin of Black appeared to have overwhelming confidence in his next attack.

“Very well.”

Ruler swore that she would protect the girl she was hugging in one arm. No matter what the next attack was, Ruler wouldn’t fall as long as she had this flag.

 

If Ruler had made a miscalculation.

It would be that, in this instant, she concentrated all her senses on Assassin of Black who was going to attack—and viewed the girl she was holding as someone she needed to protect.

The girl opened her mouth—and put her hand inside it, taking out a scalpel that had been stored in her stomach.

 

In order to kill this unidentified female Servant, Assassin of Black had taken all possible measures. Her own Master, Rikudou Reika, had dealt with the boy who seemed to be this Servant’s Master.

But even so, this Servant hadn’t fallen into a panic, and instead was trying to find and attack Assassin. Most likely, she possessed the skill [Independent Action], or perhaps—the boy hadn’t been her Master in the first place.

Even so, there was no problem. Without hesitation or mercy, Assassin of Black activated her Noble Phantasm.

“Everywhere except here is hell. We are flame, rain, and power—”

The surrounding dimension twisted and a murder began to take place. The victim is a woman. A ‘woman’ wandering ‘within the fog’ is cut down at ‘night’.

All three of these conditions had been fulfilled. Assassin’s attack was Maria the Ripper: Holy Mother of Dissection. An absolute Noble Phantasm that kills virtually all ‘females’.

 

And now, this Noble Phantasm—a murder—came into existence here.

 

Jack the Ripper killed at least five prostitutes—perhaps.

Jack the Ripper possessed advanced medical knowledge—perhaps.

Jack the Ripper might have been a man, or might have been a woman.

Even though the events of history remained the same, the existence of Jack the Ripper himself was merely vague and uncertain.

No one knew his true identity. No one could figure out his true identity. He might have been a police detective, a private investigator, a poet, a teacher, a doctor, a devilish cutthroat, a psychic, a scientist—or even a god.

There was only one thing that was known for certain about Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper kills women.

 

The female victim’s abdomen split open. The instant the Noble Phantasm is activated, it ends all possible situations.

This was neither an attack by a holy sword nor a series of consecutive attacks by a divine spear—it was the reproduction of a murder.

The victim dies—she is dissected, she has her organs plundered, she loses her blood and, as a result, she dies.

First, a ‘murder’ occurs, followed by ‘death’, and finally, the ‘reason’ for it is drastically late in catching up; that’s what makes it a truly instantaneous attack. Counterattacking, dodging and resisting are all meaningless.

Assassin of Black was certain of this.

She killed her. She definitely killed this Servant. At the same time, she tried to tear out the Servant’s heart.

A Servant’s prana was enormous. Even more so within their heart or brain where their spiritual core existed. Assassin of Black would devour her soul and gain even more power.

 

…If Assassin of Black had made one miscalculation.

It would be that she viewed this woman as just an ordinary Servant. True, Maria the Ripper was an unequaled Noble Phantasm that delivered instant death in a single blow. All the conditions had been achieved as well—‘night’, ‘within the fog’, and a ‘woman’.

But even if one brought about a phenomenon that twisted cause and effect, a foundation, something to serve as the raw material for it, was still needed.

In this case, Maria the Ripper was, at its essence, a [curse]—the collected grudges of thousands of unborn children. That was the true nature of this fearsome Noble Phantasm.

Accordingly, in order to counter this Noble Phantasm, what was necessary was neither luck nor endurance, but purely an absolute resistance against curses.

And the woman she had targeted—Ruler, Jeanne d’Arc, was a saint who unmistakeably had the faith and belief of the world gathered upon her, a Servant with some of the strongest resistance against curses in this world. And what was even more fatal for Assassin of Black…

…was the holy flag she possessed.

 

Rikudou Reika stared at the revolver whose trigger she had pulled. It was an Italian handgun with an extremely narrow gun barrel, known as a ‘Rhino’. Reika didn’t even know the gun’s name in the first place, though. A Romanian gang that Jack had ‘eaten’ had possessed a heap of firearms, and she had chosen this one because it was the lightest and smallest among them.

How strange, she thought. This thing, which was just big enough to fit into the palm of her hand, could steal a person’s life with just the pull of a single finger.

Wasn’t life something precious and sturdy? At the very least, wasn’t it supposed to be that way? And yet, in the course of just a century, people could die just from getting hit in the brain or heart by tiny lead balls.

Naturally, even magi weren’t an exception to that.

She looked down at the corpse—he looked younger than her. But if he was a magus, he might have some kind of rejuvenation spell. However, it was a fact that he had just tried to save her.

“How pitiful. Truly, how pitiful.”

Reika had raided places that magi used as their residences countless times, and had basically grasped their lifestyle. A home expresses the inner nature of the resident. For example, there were many cases where fastidious people had unexpectedly messy rooms. This was an expression of how, though they could pardon their own messiness, they couldn’t pardon the messiness of others.

The homes of most of the magi had been simple and cold abodes. This most likely signified that they didn’t attach importance to their daily lives as human beings.

Reika knew of a similar kind of people. Workaholics… The type of people who simply think of their homes as places to sleep and take baths. Merely a place to rest the bodies of these people who had no hobbies and devoted their entire lives to their work.

On the other hand, each of the magi had ingeniously devised workshops in their basement or in hidden rooms. Looking at those, Reika felt that she understood the nature of magi. It was in those workshops where their passion came out. Their life was in there. A wish similar to a grudge was in there. And at the same time, there was despair in there.

Reika had questioned the magi and learned about their way of life. In order to master the mysteries of magecraft, their passed on their blood and accumulated knowledge from generation to generation, and even while knowing their ultimate goal was unreachable—they devoted their entire lives to it.

To Reika, it seemed like an extremely empty life, but there were certainly such people out there.

However, this boy was still an obstacle to Reika. She felt no emotion beyond pity. Now then, if things had gone well, both this Master and his Servant should have been taken care of by her and Jack.

If she trusted Jack’s words, two or three Servants had died on that battlefield a few days ago.

“There’s still a long ways to go.”

Sighing, Reika was about to leisurely walk away through the fog when—

“Oh my.”

She immediately stopped and turned around. Though blood flowed out from his chest and gushed out from his mouth, the boy writhed and struggled on the ground. It appeared he was still alive.

She should have shot him three times at point-blank in the heart. There was no way a human could survive that.

But that was the kind of being a magus was. Though surprised at the fact he was alive, Rikudou Reika did not panic. Ah, is that so? she thought, simply accepting the facts.

In one smooth motion, she switched out the cylinder of the Rhino, threw away the empty shell casings, and reloaded the gun.

As she did so, her movements were frighteningly calm, possessing not a single bit of confusion or hesitation… It could only be called abnormal.

There were humans who could cold-heartedly fire a gun. But there were no humans who could maintain their calm in the face of seeing someone who should have been killed still alive.

Moreover, Reika was not even a professional, and she had never touched a handgun until she came to Romania. Even so, she could calmly pull the trigger. If it was for the sake of her daughter Jack—she could calmly kill anyone.

“I wonder if you’ll die if I shoot you in the head?”

She approached the struggling boy and leveled the gun at him once there was less than a meter of distance between them. I won’t miss like this, Reika thought.

The boy was still lying face-down, gripping his chest in pain. His breathing was rough and wild, and it seemed he hadn’t even noticed that Reika was pointing her gun at him yet.

Please properly die this time.

With that wish in mind, Reika fired the gun.

The strength from her finger went from the trigger to the firing hammer, the firing hammer hit the detonator, the gunpowder exploded, and the bullet was shot with overwhelming power. It had more than enough energy to destroy a person’s skull. That boy was completely powerless in the face of the bullet flying swiftly towards him.

No… he should have been powerless.

“Straße gehen.”

Just when she thought she saw a pale light suddenly shine, the boy swung out his hand as if to protect his head. There was the high-pitched sound of something popping.

“…Oh my.”

The bullet that should have pierced through the crown of his head had disappeared somewhere. To be precise, it hadn’t disappeared, but been smashed to pieces.

Without hesitation, Reika pulled the trigger once more—and the boy repeated the same words as before, with the bullet vanishing at the same time as he struck it with his palm.

“This is… no good, huh?”

The boy’s breathing was starting to gradually settle down. He was still kneeling on the ground as if prostrating himself, but he raised his body up with his left arm and took a firm step with his right foot. He seemed to be receiving damage due to being within the fog, but—it didn’t seem to be any significant obstacle to him.

“So you’re Assassin of Black’s Master?”

The boy asked that in a low voice.

Now then, what to do—while pondering her option, Reika retreated a step back.

 

Though only slightly, blood flowed out from the nape of Ruler’s neck. The vacant-eyed girl had stabbed her with a scalpel. There was little strength in the attack, and the scalpel itself didn’t have much prana loaded within it either. But the girl’s arm had changed to the color of black, to the point that it was painful to look at.

Spiritual possession—possession by a low-level spirit was a common phenomenon. Dispersing the spirit wasn’t very difficult either. Normally, Ruler would have been able to easily deal with her attack, even if it was a surprise attack.

But on top of embracing the aforementioned girl in her arm, Ruler had concentrated all her senses on the attacking Assassin of Black.

Her thoughts halted for a slight instant at this extremely unexpected attack. That temporary halt in her thoughts was precisely what Assassin of Black had aimed for—

 

Here it comes…!

Here I go…!

 

Assassin of Black—activated her Noble Phantasm, Maria the Ripper: Holy Mother of Dissection.

Ruler—activated her Noble Phantasm, Luminosité Eternelle: God is Here With Me.

All of Jack the Ripper’s preparations were complete. She had prepared a situation where she could use her Noble Phantasm to maximum effect, and had perfectly made a surprise attack by using a decoy.

Therefore, Assassin was one step faster.

Ruler’s Noble Phantasm was slightly late in activating.

But, even so, that grudge did not reach Ruler.

The rushing black grudge tried to possess Ruler, and at the same time tried to split open her abdomen—but Ruler’s Noble Phantasm activated immediately before it could.

“Kuh…!!”

An intense shock ran through the holy flag. As expected, it couldn’t absorb all of the curse and the damage, and numbness ran through her entire body. Different from Berserker of Red’s attack, which was a simple torrent of energy, this was a curse-type Noble Phantasm that followed some form of rules.

It was something that could easily kill and dissolve a normal Servant.

Ruler cried out in anguish and spat out black-dyed blood. But she didn’t bend even a single knee, and somehow managed to hold her ground there.

“Wha———!?”

The one who shouted in astonishment was Assassin of Black, who had just landed on the ground. She had definitely activated her certain-death Noble Phantasm under perfect conditions. And yet it hadn’t even dealt a fatal wound.

“So you’re… a user of evil spirits, Assassin of Black.”

Ruler pinned down the struggling young girl with one hand, and after she touched her forehead, the girl fainted. Ruler then sprinkled holy water from her pocket over her and quickly exorcised the spirit within her. Her blackened arm soon returned to normal—and her atrocious appearance changed to that of a gentle young girl.

“Why… aren’t you dead?”

Assassin’s voice was somehow strange. It was rough and mixed together with odd noise, as if several people were saying the same words at the same time.

Most shocking of all was that she looked just like a very young girl. For a young girl to be a Servant was unusual enough, but for her to be the serial killer Jack the Ripper who once terrorized Greater Britain was far beyond Ruler’s expectations.

Without revealing the surprise she felt within, Ruler replied to Assassin’s question.

“Unfortunately, I possess something with a resistance against curses.”

“…That flag, huh?”

Assassin of Black nodded in understanding. That flag had absorbed Assassin of Black’s attack like a lightning rod. Her preparations hadn’t been meaningless; the evil spirit she had put into the child that she had kidnapped within the town had borne fruit, making Ruler’s Noble Phantasm slightly delayed in its activation.

As a result, the curse had definitely adversely affected the Servant before her eyes—but she was still alive.

“…Onee-san, is your class Lancer? …No. The number of Servants wouldn’t match in that case. Saber, then?”

“No, neither. I am Ruler, the mediator of the Great Holy Grail War.”

Assassin of Black’s eyes widened.

“Heeh. Ruler… so there was such a class as well. I didn’t know,” Assassin murmured.

Ruler glanced at the girl that had fainted. If she had remained possessed by that evil spirit, even her soul would have been contaminated and she would have turned into the living dead.

Ruler thrust her holy flag forward. As if pressured by her gallantness, Assassin took a step back.

“Assassin. The Holy Grail War should consist of only seven Masters and Servants competing over the Holy Grail. Your behavior in dragging an innocent child into this is the worst possible offence. I won’t let you get away.”

“…Hmm. Is that so?”

Ruler’s words seemed to touch upon something within Assassin of Black. She looked at the sleeping girl, and then suddenly threw a scalpel at her.

Ruler repelled it with her flag—but she felt something was off. There was no meaning in that attack. Ruler could only think that it was an outburst of anger. No, if it wasn’t an outburst of anger, then—

“Assassin… it couldn’t be…”

“Children are a dime a dozen. If you still want to protect her… then good luck with that.”

Holding eight scalpels between her fingers—Assassin smiled faintly.

 

From the rooftop of Trifas City Hall, Archer of Red watched the disastrous scene below with a dumbfounded expression.

“This is—”

Fog covered Trifas. Even if it was a small town, it was insane for the entire town to be covered by fog. All the traffic on the streets and sidewalks always died out immediately once it turned nighttime these days, but since the sun had only just set, many people who were in the midst of returning home should have been engulfed within the fog.

In reality, screams were rising from all over the town. At first people were confused, then they shrieked, and after screaming, they begged for help with hoarse voices.

…There was nothing she could do.

…And most of all, she didn’t intend to do anything about it either.

“You were all unlucky.”

Archer of Red coldly muttered that. The inhabitants here should have already noticed the abnormalities occurring in this town. They were the ones who decided to go walking at night in this situation.

Assassin of Black was certainly involved with the specific manner of their deaths, but the responsibility of their death lay with themselves, and most of all—they were just fatally unlucky.

…It was a common occurrence. The weak are devoured by the strong due to bad luck, and even the strong were brought to an end by ‘something else’. Therefore, Archer of Red had no intention of saving them.

Her vision was completely blocked by the fog, but if she used her sense of hearing and ability to sense the presence of other Servants, she could roughly grasp the location of each Servant. As expected, Assassin of Black was the only one whose presence was vague and hard to grasp, but Ruler was easy to detect. She was a vortex of light that shined purely and honestly no matter how dark the night was.

Archer of Red could tell that Rider and Archer of Black were searching for her, but they didn’t seem to be able to detect her presence yet. Most likely, Ruler was the only one who could sense her.

But Ruler was sprinting through the fog right now. She was fighting Assassin of Black. In other words, she didn’t have the time to concentrate on Archer of Red.

“Even so… to think that she’s unable to take down Assassin.”

Archer of Red tilted her head in puzzlement. Assassin, just as the name indicated, was the class of ‘assassination’. To them, facing the enemy head-on was the height of foolishness.

For her not to be able to take down Assassin one-on-one, it meant that either Ruler was a very weak and puny Servant, or that this fog gave Assassin a tremendous advantage—

Either way, the time had come for Archer of Red to make a decision on how to act.

Should she throw herself into the fog, or continue waiting and watching like this?

Watching from the sidelines was a valid tactic, but there was one problem… Since earlier, Rider of Black had been actively doing reconnaissance from the sky. Archer was confident that the swiftness of her feet wouldn’t lose to even Rider of Red, but even so, she wanted to at least avoid being pursued by a hippogriff.

A flying Phantasmal Beast born from a griffin and a horse. No matter how much she sprinted across the earth, that thing could easily catch up with her from the sky.

If there was any merit in boldly jumping into the fog, it was that a chance to kill Ruler might appear. Archer of Red had decided to acknowledge Shirou Kotomine as her Master. She didn’t know if his ‘method’ was truly right. But there was definitely truth in his words.

She wanted to believe it. Archer of Red had a wish that she prioritized above everything else.

The salvation of all young children in the world. A world where they are all loved—where they are all happy, without a single exception. The malice in the world said that such a thing was impossible. Everyone devours each other; that was how the world worked. Even Archer of Red understood that.

 

Even so. Even so, she couldn’t help but wish for it… After all, Atalanta herself was abandoned on a mountain immediately after she was born.

 

“A woman is unnecessary.”

 

Her father had said that and abandoned her on a mountain. The moon goddess Artemis had seen this and thought it pitiful, so she decided to send a female bear to raise her.

Protected by the bear, Atalanta grew up on the mountain.

Many other babies besides her were abandoned on that mountain. Most of those infants died due to either being devoured by beasts or starving to death. Even if they survived by chance, their thought processes were exactly the same as a beast’s. Separated from the world, they lived meaningless lives and died meaningless deaths.

Thanks to being raised by the female bear, Atalanta’s life was rescued, and eventually she was found by a hunter.

…She remembered.

She remembered quite well the moment when she was abandoned. As an infant, she had noisily flapped her hands and desperately sought her father and mother—but her mother wasn’t there, and her father had abandoned her.

She remembered wanting to be saved. She remembered wanted for someone to grasp her hand.

She remembered that her wish wasn’t granted, and how she had drowned in a sea of fear—and how she had held out her hands while sobbing.

The wound in her heart from being abandoned never healed.

Even after growing up beautifully and becoming a famous archer—she continued to maintain her solitude.

She had friends. She had comrades with whom she rode the Argo alongside and went through many adventures. But she never found a human she could love to the point of risking her life and didn’t think to have a child either.

She felt that way even more after the competition and struggle over her during the Calydonian Hunt.

But—most likely because of her fame that arose from her adventures, Atalanta’s beauty became known by many people, and in the end reached the ears of her father as well.

 

“Anyone is fine. Take a husband and bear a child.”

 

To her father, his reunion with Atalanta was a joyous event. But that was only because she had grown up to be beautiful and could be used as marriage material.

…Ultimately, the father never loved his daughter, from beginning to end.

After that, she tried to run away from the marriage once she learned the conditions for it, but she was caught in a scheme and ended up marrying Hippomenes.

—She just wanted to be loved.

She wanted to know true love with no strings attached to carnal desire, honor or lust for power.

It would have been better if she could believe that there was no such thing as love. If she could think that this world was hell, that this was a damned world where parents devour their children and children devour their parents—how much better would have been?

But that was incorrect.

There were parents who love their children in the world. It was a free, wonderful love. There were parents who gave up their lives for the sake of their children. There were parents who worked hard their entire lives for the sake of their children and still smiled.

On the other hand, there were parents who oppressed their children. There were parents who treated the children they had given life to like trash.

That’s wrong, Atalanta thought.

That must be corrected, Atalanta thought.

Even though she understood it was a natural part of the world’s cruelty, she still wished for it to be changed.

The reason she was participating in the Holy Grail War was because she had the faint hope that the Holy Grail would be able to grant her wish.

It was a wish that Assassin of Red had called “impossible”.

Archer herself also understood that. She thought that it might be a wish that surpassed the ability of the Holy Grail.

But Shirou Kotomine had showed her a way. That boy had showed her hope. A method to save the world, to save all children using the Holy Grail.

In that case, she would eliminate even Ruler if she became an obstruction.

She was fully aware of the danger in jumping into the fog. She was fully aware, but—

“If it’s for the sake of those children, I have no regrets.”

Archer of Red leaped from the rooftop of city hall and jumped into the fog.

 

He was wracked by intense pain every time he breathed. An ugly scar was spread across his blood-stained chest, a mark from the shots that had hit him. Three bullets had gouged through his chest muscles and reached his heart. If they had been shot at his forehead, he would have certainly died.

But that didn’t mean that he had escaped from death’s door—in fact, there was a gun pointed at Sieg right now.

It would be over for him if he was shot in the head. And the mother in front of him was replacing the gun’s bullets with a single smooth hand motion. Her movements were extremely calm, showing no signs of panic. She’s used to killing… Sieg surmised.

In only a few seconds, this woman was going to shoot him in the head.

I won’t let her. Activate Magic Circuits—concentrate prana in palm—acquire information on lodged bullets—leave thinking about whether or not it’s possible to swing my arm at the same velocity as the bullet and crush it in the instant they touch for later—chant the spell—!

“Oooooooooh!”

The gun fired.

Two bullets were fired, and he repelled each one.

His right arm grated… Abnormalities had definitely formed within the bones. Enduring it, he gritted his teeth and glared.

The mother who sought help. The mother who laughed along with her daughter. Who are you?

A Master, or perhaps someone else? Either way, she wasn’t an innocent person who could be left alone. But, in complete opposite to Sieg’s determination to fight, the woman didn’t pull the trigger any further, and instead suddenly dropped her coat and began running away.

“Wa… Wait!”

Caught by surprise by her attempt to escape, Sieg frantically chased after her. But then a terrible clanging sound cut in between them. Immediately after, two figures leapt out before him.

One was Ruler, and the other was a slender young girl wearing a leather bondage suit. Ruler was running fiercely enough to crush the pavement beneath her and held a human girl in one arm. The other girl climbed up and clung to the wall of a building with clearly inhuman speed.

“Sieg-kun!?”

“Ah…!”

The girl looked at Sieg’s face and slightly widened her eyes, leaking out a gasp of surprise.

Ruler immediately swung her flag—and the high-pitched clang of steel rang out. A crushed scalpel was knocked to the ground.

It appeared the girl had thrown a scalpel at Sieg and Ruler had knocked it away.

“…You aren’t dead. What a shock.”

“Assassin… you seem to have a score to settle with him, but I’m your opponent right now.”

Apparently, that girl was Assassin of Black—in other words, Jack the Ripper.

“What a bad joke.”

In response to Sieg’s murmur, Ruler sighed in agreement. She still held the unconscious little girl in her arms.

“She’s—the daughter of that mother, if I remember right.”

“Yes. More importantly, Sieg-kun, did you find her mother?”

Ruler questioned him while holding her flag ready and cautiously watching Assassin. Assassin was still clinging to the wall, unmoving as she held two scalpels ready. Like a spider, Sieg thought.

“…It appears the mother is Assassin’s Master.”

“Eh? How do you know?”

Sieg silently placed a hand on his chest to display the blood clinging to him.

“She shot me.”

“I see, she shot you… A-A-A-Are you all right, Sieg-kun!?”

In actual fact, bullets had been shot into his heart, so he was far from all right—but he currently felt no significant pain or hindrance to his movements.

“I’m fine. More importantly, Ruler. I’ll chase after the Master, in order to bring down Assassin of Black here as well.”

“…No. It might be better if you let her go.”

As she said that, Ruler instantly swung her flag—and before Sieg could ask why, a jarring metallic sound rang through the area. And then, the shards of a broken scalpel were scattered on the ground near Sieg.

“I won’t let you lay a hand on Mother.”

There was clear killing intent within Assassin’s otherwise exceptionally impassive expression. I see. Sieg immediately understood. If he moved away from Ruler, Assassin would definitely attack him.

Naturally, Ruler would act to defend him, but Assassin rivaled proper Heroic Spirits like the Knight classes or the Rider class when it came to swiftness. In the worst case, if she managed to circumvent Ruler, Assassin would easily kill Sieg.

“Sorry. It seems I’ve become a burden.”

“It’s fine… It’s all right, Sieg-kun. There’s no need for you to transform. If we wait just a little longer, reinforcements will arrive.”

Reinforcements.

…I see. Sieg decided to maintain a wait-and-see stance. Sieg had resolved to transform into Saber should it come to a fight earlier, but he decided to call it off. If he transformed, Ruler’s good will would be brought to naught. Preventing that was very important to Sieg.

Sieg weaved prana and then took out the slender sword from the scabbard that now hung from his waist. It was the sword that Rider of Black had given him before. It was the weapon of a Servant, a spiritual being, so normally, only Rider could materialize it by weaving it out of prana.

But, most likely because it had been loaned to him by Rider’s own will and Sieg himself had become something exceedingly close to a Servant, he was able to materialize it in the physical world using the same trick he used to activate his Magic Circuits.

“We wouldn’t do that if we were you, you know?”

Giving a small smile, Assassin of Black whistled. The sound of pitter-pattering footsteps resounded around them—and then Ruler’s face turned pale.

“Assassin, you wouldn’t…!”

Hearing Ruler’s tense voice, Sieg also became on guard and observed their surroundings. From within the fog, the faint forms of countless children holding scalpels in their hands appeared. Some of them were slightly familiar—among them, there were also children who he had seen playing earlier during the day.

They wore open-mouthed and empty expressions, their entire bodies convulsing in spasms, and their arms holding the scalpels were turning black… Assassin of Black was an aggregation of vengeful spirits. Those spirits appeared to have possessed these children. The separated vengeful spirits were weak enough on their own that a saint like Ruler could easily dissipate them by reciting holy scripture, but Assassin wasn’t using them as soldiers, but rather as mobile hostages. Since Ruler was a saint, she had to protect the children… or so Assassin had judged.

“Hmm, then Ruler, and also the, umm… Master over there? Try protecting every single one of them.”

“Sieg-kun!”

No need to even ask, Sieg thought as he moved. He repelled the thrown scalpels and at the same time knocked down the children who rushed at him. The children weren’t attacking by their own will, but rather that of the vengeful spirits that possessed them. They were unconscious from the start, so making them faint was useless, and he could only buy time by knocking them down.

But as he desperately pinned down each child, Assassin’s scalpels came flying. Moreover, they were aimed mercilessly and incessantly at the children.

“Kuh…!”

A thrown scalpel stabbed into Sieg’s left arm. Defending against scalpels without knowing when they would come flying while also dealing with the attacking children was, as expected, beyond Sieg’s capabilities.

Though Ruler was able to dispose of the scalpels, she was forced to take a step back for every one she took forward, preventing her from getting near Assassin. If Ruler carelessly approached, Assassin would easily rain scalpels down on the children.

For an instant, Ruler thought about using a Command Spell, but the female Master who had run away was a problem. Based on Assassin’s behavior, her relationship with her Master was closer to that of a mother and daughter rather than Master and Servant, and as such they probably wouldn’t be stingy about using a Command Spell depending on the situation. It was likely that any order that Ruler gave for Assassin to commit suicide or hinder her would be immediately canceled out by her Master’s Command Spells.

The situation was in a complete stalemate, but Sieg’s exhaustion was steadily increasing. It was a battle of time. Either Rider would plunge into the fog, find them and join the battle first, or Assassin would kill Sieg before then.

 

Even if defeating Ruler was impossible, Assassin determined that killing Sieg would be easy. A surprise attack was already impossible in this situation, but even so, she could easily strike at his openings.

Assassin threw down a rain of scalpels and began driving Ruler and Sieg apart, though the pivot of her plan merely required that she drive Sieg far enough away that Ruler couldn’t reach him in a single jump.

She controlled the children with her vengeful spirits and gradually separated Ruler and Sieg. Even as she threw her scalpels, Assassin moved to a location from which she could kill Sieg with a single strike.

Ruler purified the vengeful spirits possessing the children one by one.

But the children were many, and most of all, their value as hostages remained even with the vengeful spirits dissipated. It made protecting them easier, but that was all.

In the midst of that, Ruler realized.

“Sieg-kun! Get back over here!”

Hearing Ruler’s shout, Sieg also finally noticed it. He and Ruler had become completely separated by the attacking children between them.

Even if Ruler tried to protect Sieg from Assassin’s attack, with over a dozen children acting as a wall and blocking her way, she would be unable to protect Sieg for the span of an instant.

“Too slow————!”

Assassin jumped off the wall and charged at Sieg. She held a butcher’s knife in each hand, and moved to cleave off Sieg’s head with them.

Her absolute confidence in victory.

The despairing sound of his defeat.

But there was something even swifter than Sieg’s decision to transform or Assassin’s motion to cut off Sieg’s head.

 

An arrow shot by the god-tier bowman—Archer of Black—tore through the fog enwrapping the town like a ferocious shark.

It was too late by the time Assassin noticed it. The arrow, filled with prana, exploded like a cannon shot. It was strong enough for the aftershock to blow away Sieg too and send him tumbling across the ground. Assassin, who was directly hit by it, had part of her body blown off.

“Ugh, guuuuuuh…!!”

Howling in anguish, Assassin still managed to jump away. She leapt from building to building and tried to escape somewhere safe.

“—You’re not getting away!”

Ruler dashed towards her with the speed of a shooting star.

Because Assassin was concentrating on running away, the movements of the possessed children became dull, and having noticed that, Ruler dashed across the surface of a building’s wall and brandished her holy flag at Assassin of Black.

Assassin tried to directly block the attack with the butcher’s knives in her hands, but the holy flag didn’t have a sharp edge like a blade. It was a weapon that blocked attacks and knocked down the enemy with its steel pole.

Furthermore, Jeanne d’Arc’s flag was a holy treasure that had always accompanied her on the battlefield and was treated as a symbol even now.

Jack the Ripper’s knives were symbols of fear—but still, there was no way they could win against a holy flag that had won great fame on the battlefield.

 

Assassin of Black fell. With a strike strong enough to make a crater in stone pavement, she was rendered pretty much incapable of any further fighting.

The sorrow of the Assassin class was that she didn’t have the endurance to trade direct blows with those of the three Knight classes or the Ruler class.

“Guh… uu, uuu, uuuuuuugh…!”

Even so, Assassin of Black continued moving and tried to escape. Ruler glanced at Sieg. The possessed children were all falling to the ground as if their souls had come out.

Ruler guessed that Assassin of Black’s injuries were probably the cause. There was no error in her conclusion. Assassin of Black had weakened to the point that she had to call back and gather together the vengeful spirits possessing the children.

Even the fog created by her Noble Phantasm was gradually clearing away.

“Mo… ther… Mother, Mother…!”

While fallen to her hands and knees and trying to run away using only her arms, Assassin of Black called for her mother. Ruler couldn’t help but feel pity for her.

If someone asked whether Assassin was a perpetrator or victim, she was unmistakably a perpetrator. But most likely, her origins had begun from being a victim.

Looking at her form and hearing her voice, Ruler came to such a conclusion.

And—even so, she was evil. If left alone, the phenomenon known as Jack the Ripper would probably swell and grow until it could no longer be crammed into the frame of a Servant.

She was a unique, abnormal monster that existed outside conventional boundaries.

Ruler cut in front of the crawling Assassin of Black and placed a hand on her face in order to sublimate her with a Baptism Rite.

“The Lord forgives all injustice and forgives all calamities. And he frees your life from the grave, feeling love and compassion—”

 

Perhaps sensing something, Assassin’s ice-blue eyes widened in fear.

“No…”

Without responding to Assassin’s words, Ruler commenced chanting.

 

“No… no… no, no, no…! Stop it! Stop, stop, stop! Mother…! Save me, Mother…!”

 

Ruler gritted her teeth and continued the chant, but suddenly sensed a massive outpouring of prana.

“This is—a Command Spell!?”

“Motheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer1!”

Instantly, Assassin of Black disappeared. The Master had mostly likely sensed that her Servant was in danger and used a Command Spell. Just as Ruler thought, she appeared to be watching Assassin’s condition from somewhere. Her lack of effort to hide their murders might have disqualified her as a magus, but it seemed she firmly understood the system under which the Holy Grail War functioned.

Ruler faintly sensed traces of Assassin of Black’s presence. She was mostly likely still somewhere in this town. Now that the fog had cleared away, searching for her would be easy. They couldn’t allow her to slip away here.

“Let’s chase after her, Sieg-kun!”

Sieg nodded and began running after Ruler’s wake.

 

Rikudou Reika used the Command Spell because the fog had cleared away. The fog dissipating meant that Jack’s power had considerably weakened. It was easy for Reika to imagine that she had fallen into a dangerous situation.

“Mo… ther…”

As Assassin of Black cowered in pain, Reika quickly lifted her up. Though she was a Servant, her weight was the same as that of a young girl. Assassin was extremely light, so much that it made Reika wonder if she was completely empty inside.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t talk. Now, go to sleep.”

Reika began walking hurriedly as she spoke. They had to withdraw from here. Luckily, their hideout was nearby.

“Mother… what should we do next…?”

“Let’s think about it after you’ve healed your injuries. For now, you should rest.”

While saying that, Reika kept thinking. They wanted to obtain the Holy Grail, and those people they had fought were an obstacle to that, but eliminating them would be even more difficulty after this. Perhaps the two of them should give thought to a drawn-out war and withdraw from Trifas.

Fortunately, there would be no trouble obtaining information as long as there were magi around. No matter where in the world the Holy Grail was, they should definitely be able to track it.

“…Hey, hey, Mother. I want to hear, the piano, again…”

Hearing that childish request suddenly come from Jack’s mouth, Reika giggled. Though she was in pain, Jack whined charmingly while smiling.

“All right, I will.”

Prioritizing Jack’s words was more important than thinking of a battle plan to Reika right now.

Seeing Jack smile despite the pain made Reika feel relieved. The fog had literally vanished like mist. If they didn’t hurry, they might be found again—

 

Reika was hurrying down a narrow street only wide enough for a single car to pass through. There were people collapsed on the ground here and there, but she ignored every single one of them. Her heart felt nothing for them, merely discarding them with the thought ‘They were unlucky’. Right now, giving her daughter in her arms the chance to rest was prioritized over everything else for her.

One of the street lamps, which had just come back on, illuminated the glass window of a shop she happened to be passing by.

By the chance, the reflection of the light showed that to Reika. A human form, wearing strange clothes that clearly looked like those of someone from an entirely different era. And that person had nocked an arrow on a bow and was aiming it in her direction—it was unmistakably an enemy, and the target of the arrow was Reika and Jack in her arms.

She was forced to choose. At this rate, that arrow would definitely pierce through both her and Jack. She didn’t know about Jack, but she at least would experience near instant death. Relying on luck was useless here.

She couldn’t escape, and fighting would be difficult as well. There was no way the enemy would show mercy.

In other words, she had no means of stopping it. Therefore, there was no meaning in what she was about to do now

“…Yeah, it can’t be helped.”

There truly was no meaning in doing it. But I have to do it, thought Rikudou Reika.

Any further thought ended at exactly that instant for her.

Reika suddenly spun around and released Jack from her arms. Naturally, Jack fell on her back onto the stone pavement. Having suddenly been thrown away, Jack looked at Reika with a dumbfounded expression—and froze.

“Mo, ther…?”

She felt sharp pain for an instant, but even so, Reika managed to understand instinctively.

I can’t be saved.

—From the beginning, it was a battle with slim chances of victory. Since the Assassin class itself only showed its true worth in a battle royal, Jack was unable to fight fair and square no matter how much she struggled.

Killing the Masters was also difficult considering how they were holed up in the fortress. Furthermore, her Master Reika wasn’t a magus and couldn’t supply prana, the source of a Servant’s power.

That’s why, from the start, they were at an overwhelming disadvantage. If Reika knew who was managing this whole affair, she would have seriously lodged a complaint against them.

But Reika hadn’t minded at all.

She didn’t mind killing people. She had killed both the sinful and the innocent alike, but she still didn’t worry herself over it—she felt some pity for the victims, but that was all.

There were only two important points for her.

Jack the Ripper had saved Rikudou Reika. She had granted Reika’s wish to live.

And, though it was only for a short time, she had enjoyed the days she spent with Jack more than anything else in her entire life.

No matter how bloody, no matter how cruel Jack was—

Rikudou Reika had enjoyed being with her from the bottom of her heart.

 

—Mother.

 

A little girl had called her that with an innocent voice. No matter what her true identity was, Reika didn’t care. Just that alone made her happy. Just that alone made those days together so wonderful.

The happy dream ended.

She had a mountain of regrets—but there was no use regretting.

It was a happy dream.

While her thoughts were still clear, Reika murmured that in her mind.

As she fell to the ground face-up, Jack frantically approached her.

“Mother…!!”

Reika put a hand on Jack’s cheek—she had enough time and strength left to do that at least. She smiled—she somehow managed to do that much. As for final words—that was pointless. There was something more important she needed to say right now.

She had two things to say.

“I order you with two Command Spells. [Even if I’m not here anymore], [you’ll be fine]… Jack.”

It was useless to keep these Command Spells at this point.

She used up her remaining two and tried to boost Jack’s chances of survival even a little. As always, she didn’t understand magecraft very well.

She didn’t understand it, so she used it as a stand-in for a good luck charm. Like how a mother reassures her fearful daughter, Reika used her remaining Command Spells.

“No, don’t go, don’t go, Mother! No, no, no…!”

You’re a smart daughter, thought Reika.

She was losing consciousness and drifting away from the world—she closed her eyes. Her hearing was faltering, and she couldn’t even squeeze back the hand that held hers.

She could no long feel or even think anything.

 

At that moment, Rikudou Reika merely wore an expression that somehow seemed to fit the situation… a smile.

 

Archer of Red shot down Assassin of Black’s Master. Even if she had left them alone, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Rather, it would have been better for Archer’s side if Assassin and her Master fostered further chaos that way. The only ones bothered by the fact that they were murderers and deviating from the rules of the Great Holy Grail War were magi. It had nothing to do with Archer of Red.

But—Assassin of Black had involved children.

At that instant, Assassin and her Master became enemies to Archer of Red. The Master was especially unforgivable. Assassin was a child, but her Master was an adult—and she had allowed her Servant to involve children.

Archer had nocked an arrow and intended to end both Assassin and her Master together. But surprisingly, Assassin’s Master, perhaps because she was trying to protect the Servant in her arms, had turned in Archer’s direction.

Coincidentally, theirs gazes met.

She did not have the appearance of a crafty magus, but rather wore modern clothing—she was clearly an ordinary woman.

The woman had worn a fleeting look of sorrow, and then, without resisting at all, simply waited for the arrow to be shot. No, that wasn’t right. It appeared the woman was trying to protect Assassin.

—Even thought it was a meaningless act.

Archer of Red didn’t waver. If her target was letting herself be shot, Archer wouldn’t pass the opportunity up. Neutrally, emptying herself of all sentiment, she shot the arrow.

The shot was more than enough to kill a single person. The arrow pierced the Master’s chest, and Archer of Red could sense from the feedback that it had killed Assassin’s Master.

“Mother…! Mother, Mother, Mother…!”

Assassin’s Master placed her hand on the cheek of the young girl that was desperately calling out to her, and murmured something to her before finally dying.

A feeling similar to guilt gouged Archer’s chest, but it didn’t move her heart. Even if she was a child, Assassin was a Servant. Servants were beings summoned in order to win the Holy Grail War.

Even if she took the form of a child, that was simply the form of her heyday in life.

…Though it was irregular, there were such cases among Heroic Spirits.

Assassin of Black merely stared at the corpse of her Master in a daze. She would disappear eventually at this rate even if Archer let her go, but even if it was a one-in-a-million chance, another Master might appear to make a contract with her.

I’ll get rid of her here and now, Archer decided, nocking another arrow and immediately shooting it. Assassin didn’t move an inch from her kneeling position beside the corpse. Perhaps she didn’t even understand that an arrow had been shot at her.

It’s better that way, thought Archer. It would be better if she just let it all go like this. All of Assassin’s regrets, hopes and despair would be irrelevant if she disappeared.

Assassin merely convulsed for an instant when the arrow pierced her heart, not even letting out a scream.

Puzzled, Archer of Red approached her. The arrow definitely should have destroyed Assassin’s spiritual core. But she didn’t display any response to it.

There was no sign of pain, or of her body fading away and vanishing. It was an abnormal sight. Assassin was merely looking up at the sky. Her blank face made it clear that she was no longer capable of fighting.

And yet, Archer of Red felt a chill go down her back and started to feel fear towards something she couldn’t place.

Heroic Spirits were those who had become figures of bravery by conquering fear in all forms. Naturally, as a Heroic Sprit herself, Atalanta understood that well.

She didn’t fear the darkness of the forest deep in the night. She hadn’t feared the giant boar that a god had released on the earth.

She could even laugh and overcome battlefields where a single instant’s decision could lead to death. That shouldn’t have changed in the Great Holy Grail War either.

There was no room for her to feel fear in this situation. She had shot down the enemy, and even if she hadn’t, Assassin was on the verge of death. This was enemy territory, but she was confident that she could make her escape on her swift feet. Even if everything proceeded in the worst possible way and she perished on this battlefield, she would have regrets, but she would accept it.

That was the karma of battle. Any Heroic Spirit had at least that much resolve.

But…

Archer of Red took a step back. No, the thing that conflicted her right now was something decisively different from that kind of fear.

It was the feeling that, just by remaining here, something would end.

What was there to fear? Assassin of Black no longer had any means of counterattack.

Just what kind of threat could a Servant, who’s Master was dead and who couldn’t use her Noble Phantasms, pose?

There was no threat. There shouldn’t have been, and yet—

Assassin of Black’s head spun around her neck like that of a doll’s, and turned to face Archer of Red. Archer couldn’t help but think that her blank eyes were beautiful like blue crystals.

Assassin of Black opened her mouth.

 

“Why?”

 

After Assassin spoke that single word, a stream of black mud-like mass spewed out from her mouth.

Archer of Red frantically jumped away, but her reaction was fatally too slow.

“This is…!?”

Summoned as Assassin, Jack the Ripper was an amalgamation of vengeful spirits. The unborn children who had been abandoned in the Whitechapel district had merely temporarily materialized by taking the form of a young girl.

Archer of Red’s arrow just now had released all of them from the focal point known as [Jack the Ripper].

Looking like a thick fog, the vengeful spirits attacked the nearest living being, Archer—and completely engulfed her.

—In that instant, Archer of Red saw hell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question: What is hell?

 

Answer: Eternally continuing torture.

Answer: Eternally repeated slaughter.

Answer: Eternally unending despair.

Indeed, each and every one of these can be called hell.

However, there are actually a great variety of hells in this world.

The city of fog, London, the Whitechapel district—to certain people, that place was definitely hell. Just living was difficult, and it was impossible to have a life you could take pride in.

How could there be pride in a world where nine-year-old girls sold their bodies on the street? The stench of the tanning factories and meat processing plants always filled the air, and rats and cockroaches rejoiced in this society. There was no such thing as the ‘strong’ there; everyone who lived there were miserable weaklings, pitiful victims and cruel assailants.

Yes, it was hell.

Hell, this is truly hell. Children, there are children, so many children.

Their eyes are dead. They understand that there is no love in this world. No, that’s wrong, th

Chapter end