Fate/Strange Fake Vol 1 Chapter 3

Act 3: Assassin

That was all. That was the whole story.

And so, the people scorned her as a zealot.

upon her with contempt.

The people only hated her because she was yet weak of faith.

The zealot forged on, pushing herself even harder.

recreated every last one of them.

It was far, far too weak.

her.

My faith is weak.

zealot, and died as a zealot. Not as a martyr. She lived a life of nothing,

And yet, the zealot did not begrudge the world.

the maelstrom of faith once again.

drew her ire.

That was the whole story.

—until the moment when the false Grail chose the zealot.

Nighttime — Eastern Snowfield — the Marsh District

home to many crystal-clear lakes.

roads was knitted through the district.

Marsh District—was likely the most developed; even so, there was not

homes.

home.

man were able to detect the home, he would be unable to bring himself

Architecturally speaking, it really was in bad taste. Compared to

designed with black and gray motifs.

In the basement of the house, a number of magi were present. They

The summoning was a success.

thereby completing the contract.

This is strange.

quizzically at the Heroic Spirit he had summoned.

And in the center of the summoning circle stood one other figure,

An air of intimidation, infinitely deep and pure, emanated from a

She seemed quite young, but it was difficult to be sure, since she

Right then, Jester felt a severe sense of foreboding.

For the most part, it is impossible to pick the class into which a

But there are exceptions.

to summon either Assassin or Berserker, each of which has a special

Accordingly, Jester chose to summon a Servant of the Assassin

By their very nature, only a small number of Heroic Spirits can be

being at the center of the summoning circle seemed to be one of those

I was under the impression that Assassins always wear a white

Heroic Spirits of the Assassin class all clad themselves in a black

from his earlier research.

wear a white mask. Her actual face was visible from between the layers

In that case, am I supposed to pose the question...?

War. Of course, this Holy Grail War was an imitation from the beginning.

differ from the War in Japan.

war—the stars of the show—had yet to reveal themselves. Jester assumed

been involved in the creation of something so grand and elaborate as

fitting that description.

watching from afar.

a move.

form was reflected in her pupils.

Her gaze was as powerful as she was intimidating: deep and infinitely

The mage unwittingly let out a quiet murmur as he chuckled softly,

“Are you... the mage... who has summoned me... to attain the Holy

She rubbed the black cloth wrapped around her mouth and spoke

Relieved that she had finally spoken, Jester stepped forward. Brimming

her into this world.

【......Delusional Heartbeat......】

Jester felt something brush against his chest. He lowered his head

What’s thIs͌?

NOTIC̙ eD Th̘aT iT ̿wAs in͐ facT HOlDing o̮ntO ̜̊soMeThInG rEd,͊ANd̊

h͖͖

hI̭Ng͐̾ ̜̯ͣ

L ͭ

͖ͧhe̪̐ ḁ̄ r͎̆ T,͔͐ ̙̆A̩ͤ

He did not raise his head back up. Jester’s body collapsed to the

“How...!?”

disciple-mages panicked. Their eyes grew wide as they looked at the

A third arm, red in color, had sprouted from the woman’s back. It

chest—

crushed it.

woman, their gaze flitting back and forth. They cried out, frenziedly.

“What did you do to Lord Jester!?”

As they panicked and shouted, the mages armed themselves with

As she looked upon Jester’s disciples emotionlessly, the blackrobed

Indeed, it was ephemeral.
61

Perhaps they heard her, or perhaps they didn’t. Either way, one of

to impale her through her back.

A wet, aberrant sound echoed around the chamber as her shoulders

Her left arm reached backwards at an abnormal angle and ever-sogently

【......Fantastical Cybermind......】1

accompanied by an explosive noise, as if his head had itself become

Hearing the blast and seeing a flash of light, the mages all cowered

Only two of them had perished—but that was enough to convince

against which they were utterly powerless.

As she spoke deliberately, she stood still, not moving for some few

It seemed like she was allowing the magi time to flee—but they did

force of their magical energies on the women.

her head, an almost-despondent look in her eye—

【......Illusional Ependyma......】2

The black-clad Servant was surrounded by the corpses of magi.

2夢想髄液

her had, for some reason, been consumed by their own mighty flames.

The only one who had any idea what happened was the Servant.

She reverted to her spirit form, and, unseen by anyone—

direction in her life, had finally found a definite purpose.

The zealot sought proof.

Allah’s people. Nothing more.

for proof was itself evidence that her faith was weak.

name that would serve as a proof of her faith.

would have to attain power—power enough to perform a divine miracle.

It had to be a miracle that could bring death, swiftly and reliably; a

She was a member of a sect that pursued such miracles: the Hashshashin,

Even in the innermost circles of the cult, however, she was scorned

The past grandmasters of the cult had all performed a miracle

Each and every one of them was shocked by her deeds.

She was but a young girl, a mere lamb—

18 grandmasters?

Herculean of efforts.

blood in the process.

“What have you accomplished? You have imitated miracles already

you are unable to bring forth a miracle of your own contrivance.”

That is to say, she had talent enough to master the abilities of all

she went through as she mortified her flesh. She had the fortitude to

endowed with the talent needed to bring about a miracle of her own

That was only half the problem. Her ability to master so many

a lifetime—that was the other half. The people may well have feared

years.

grandmaster unto one such as yourself.”

I see. My faith is not deep enough.

miracles of the former grandmasters.

own abilities.

She saw that he was capable of all manner of things, things she

her own impiety.

into the mists of time.

But, what a quirk of fate! When she was summoned by the man

and immediately came to know her destiny.

naught. That was all she desired.

all sought it—

She did not resent those grandmasters. Neither did she revile them.

were worthy of her respect.

Holy Grail War.

hastening forth in search of the Holy Grail.

of magical energy.

When the flow of magical energy came to a complete stop, she

Would that happen after a few days? A few hours? A few seconds,

But it mattered not.

Even if her body was a mere apparition—

Believing that the piety of at least those who, like herself, had been

She, without a moment’s hesitation, made the Holy Grail War itself

In the basement of the lakeside cottage where the nameless Heroic

By the time Assassin departed, this became an even more certain

“Kha!”

But the truth was what it was.

“Khaa! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

from the bottom of its heart; but at the same time, it was warped—

But the truth was still what it was.

“Wow, that was a surprise! To think that the Holy Grail would

The man bounded up like a jack-in-the-box, the Command Spells

“How beautiful....”

Grail and living to see this tiresome world be destroyed, but....

He trembled, beset by emotions—

In that room, there were no men; only corpses.

The mage Jester Karturei, now choked with emotion, was, at this point,

“What pathos! What pulchritude! How bewitching, resplendent,

when I once had so much time and so little to do, I should have mastered

Jester was having the time of his life. Paying no heed to the corpses

emblems appeared on his bare chest—emblems that were entirely

It was a ring of six red marks, similar in form to the cylinder of a

However, one of the six marks—the one closest to his left breast—

“She crushed my concept-nucleus with such ease! I was as careful

even a being far stronger than me to naught!”

fingertip was sucked into the skin of his chest. Strangely, not a drop of

the muddy flesh-colored morass and squelched at his own innards.

Then, like a gear, or indeed, like a revolver, the six marks rotated,

his left flank, loading a new red mark on his left breast.

And then, somehow—just as those six marks had moved, his body

different man.

seal at his side. He was in a state of ecstasy as he rubbed his finger

“That concept-nucleus was shielded by countless many layers of

than nothing with that red arm. Her fingers reached the very core of

thus!—it is beautiful! A Noble Phantasm—what a thing!”

clear, resounding voice. Of course, they did not respond.

without hesitation, and so many times at that. Had she access only to

surely would have run out almost right away.”

continued to talk to himself in a booming—and almost bewitching—

“I suppose I need not tire of the world quite yet.... That beautiful

That—was a statement that could only be made by those who had

Via the linkage of magical energy that connected a Master and

though they were dreams.

If Jester spoke true, it would mean that he had learned of her faith

“I shall grant you a name! Your beautiful face; your beautiful soul;

defile them and derogate them and debauch them and degrade them

He laughed heartily. His visage gradually took on a wicked color.

Servant kneel before me, and I will destroy her faith, and when I

Jester’s heart beat to a euphoric rhythm as a shadow extended from

It was a red shadow—a red as supremely deep as the emblems on

When the shadow finally wrapped itself around the bodies of all

crimson wave that engulfed the countless many corpses.

As it did, it was a yet-deeper red than before.

that inexorable shadow.

wonderful! This, I grant! But what trifles they are! They are mere

And then—

taste of the Servant’s blood, as his dead eyes glowed bright with life.

Khahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Assassin’s Master infused the Holy Grail War with a toxic darkness.

1吸血鬼
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Chapter end

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