Before Sakatsuki stood a petite, delicate-looking loli.
She was an incredibly adorable child, draped in a cloak that covered her entire body. Her silver hair, cut just above the ears, was slightly disheveled, and her ice-blue eyes shimmered in the dimly lit room like a kitten's. Her clear gaze, paired with a small nose and delicate lips, evoked an instinctive urge to protect her.
Any woman would surely feel their maternal instincts flare upon hearing such a loli call out "Mommy" in a voice full of dependence.
Unfortunately, Sakatsuki had no chance to undergo such a transformation. Though he was an assassin, he wasn't a lolicon like Leon. So, the young man simply tightened his grip on his gun's hilt and shook his head calmly.
"Sorry, no."
The moment the words left his mouth, the adorable girl reached for the inside of her thigh, and two silver daggers slid into her palms before she lunged at Sakatsuki.
There was no doubt—those daggers were aimed for vital spots, with pinpoint accuracy and ruthless decisiveness. Anyone slightly weaker would have been killed instantly, without even a chance to resist.
But unfortunately for little Jack, she was facing Sakatsuki—a Servant summoned as an Assassin, one who wielded the vicious martial art known as Bajiquan.
A slide step, a straight punch, and a reverse grapple.
In mere moments, Sakatsuki disarmed the girl. His left hand was still maintaining a healing spell, yet he effortlessly restrained the unruly little Servant in his arms with just his right, rendering her immobile.
"Mmmph—let me go! Let me go!"
The girl grunted, struggling with all her might. But the difference in strength was too vast. No matter how hard she thrashed, Sakatsuki's left arm remained as unyielding as steel.
In the midst of her violent movements, the girl's cloak slipped off, leaving her exposed. Sakatsuki could now clearly see multiple sheaths hanging near her waist—yet she wore no skirt. Combined with the upper garment that resembled less of a shirt and more of a midriff-baring strip of cloth, the young girl's appearance exuded a strangely seductive aura, unbefitting her childish looks.
"Jack the Ripper… Who would have thought? As an Assassin-class Servant, you're nothing more than an amalgamation of the grudges of tens of thousands of abandoned children. That's all."
Jack the Ripper—the world-renowned serial killer. She had murdered five women (all prostitutes) and vanished without a trace despite Scotland Yard's relentless pursuit, becoming an unsolved dark legend of London.
This was an extraordinarily unique Heroic Spirit. "Her" true nature remained unclear, varying depending on the class or the land of summoning. For the Holy Grail, unless the "true Jack the Ripper" was established, the summoned version would continue to change.
And the one who manifested as an Assassin was this seemingly harmless, silver-haired loli—who, in reality, showed no mercy when striking.
In this little Jack's legend, she was a collective of vengeful spirits—children aborted by prostitutes in London's Whitechapel district. After killing several prostitutes, she died. There was no grand reason behind it; some magi had simply detected that these bizarre murders were the work of a demonic entity and swiftly eliminated her. And so, Jack the Ripper faded into the darkness.
"There's no moving past to sing praises of, nor any profound experiences to reflect upon—just the tale of a murderer spawned by the times, killed by a magi. That's all it is."
Sakatsuki scoffed coldly at the girl's tragic circumstances and the weight of that era in London. Hearing this, the girl—or rather, little Jack—protested unhappily.
"We're not bad kids. We just want to go back into Mommy's belly."
"Yet the smaller the wish, the easier it is to be trampled and twisted," Sakatsuki replied coldly, ignoring Jack's violent struggles as he pondered his next move.
Jack the Ripper's summoning had been purely accidental. Though it didn't interfere with Sakatsuki's role as the 'Blue' Master, deciding how to handle her was still a problem.
Should he send her back to the Throne of Heroes? Or, to increase the chances of victory, should he take the enemy as... no, take her as an adopted daughter, find a way to pit Atlanta and Jeanne d'Arc against each other, then have Jack the Ripper commit suicide to ignite their conflict and fish in troubled waters?
Sakatsuki hadn't yet realized just how severe his moral decline was. But before he could make a decision, he felt the struggling in his grip gradually weaken.
Giving up?
Surprised, he looked down and saw little Jack had stopped resisting. Her ice-blue eyes were fixed straight ahead—at the third person in the room.
Namely, the woman who had just finished treatment and was slowly regaining consciousness from blood loss-induced dizziness—Reika Rikudou.
***
A faint whimper escaped as Reika Rikudou gradually regained awareness.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a girl. The childlike purity in the girl's demeanor was unmistakable, her ice-blue eyes like crystals reflecting Reika's own childhood—that innocent, carefree age.
Reika had once been a well-bred young lady, but after her parents died in an accident, her life began its downward spiral due to various factors, eventually reducing her to a kept woman supported by men.
And then, a man named Hyouma Sagara didn't spare her either, using her as a sacrificial offering in a magecraft ritual.
Now lying in the dust, barely able to crawl out, Reika gazed at the girl before her as if staring at her own irretrievable precious past, unconsciously reaching out a hand.
Perhaps it was the similarity in their professions, or some inexplicable compatibility, but Jack the Ripper stared at this fragile woman and instinctively murmured:
"Mommy."
She wanted a mother. She wanted to leave this world, to "return to her mother's womb" and never be born as an abandoned child again.
This was the lingering grudge of Jack the Ripper as a vengeful spirit—and her trial. The prostitutes whose bellies she had slit open in London had met their end precisely because they refused or showed confusion when faced with this desire, forcing her to physically return them to "Mommy's belly."
Reika, having lived as an ordinary person until now, had no idea how perilous this situation was. The slightest normal reaction from her, and the girl she saw as innocent and carefree would brandish a dagger to dismember her.
And Sakatsuki? He watched coldly from the sidelines.
An assassin had no room for sentiment. His heart held only a scale—if Reika earned Jack's acknowledgment, he would naturally lend a hand.
On the other hand, if this woman failed the test, no matter how beautiful she was, he would only send this Assassin back to the Throne of Heroes after Jack the Ripper killed her.
Fortunately, Reika Rikudou did not disappoint him—she successfully seized her one and only chance.
Though she was being kept by Hyouma Sagara, the magi treated her as nothing more than a tool. They spent most of their time apart, with hardly any opportunity to share a bed, let alone become a mother.
Yet, for some reason, the moment the girl called out "Mommy," something in Reika's heart softened. Now, all she wanted was to hold the girl in her arms, to cherish and protect her.
Filled with genuine tenderness, Reika spread her arms wide, defenseless, and gently embraced little Jack.
"Yes, it's okay. I am your mommy."
The instant Reika answered, Sakatsuki clearly saw Jack's eyes widen in disbelief before her lips trembled, her ice-blue eyes welling up with tears. Like a baby bird returning to its nest, she buried herself in Reika's embrace, nuzzling against her ample chest.
"Mommy, mommy~ Jack found mommy~"
Jack the Ripper—a murderer who had taken the lives of five prostitutes.
That was what everyone said. But beneath the mask of deception, the so-called "Ripper" was merely a lost child with nowhere to return.
Not a single soul had ever reached out to her.
Not a single person had ever shown her kindness.
Yet, centuries later in the modern age, a mother clad in emerald green had finally smiled and accepted them.
—There was a reason they became the most compatible Master and Servant pair in Fate/Apocrypha.
Even such a touching scene only earned a sigh of emotion from Sakatsuki.
Steeling his resolve, he stepped forward, ignoring the wary gazes of the two, and stood at the center of the summoning circle.
The time had come. Despite the time zone difference, Sakatsuki could sense the distant leylines stirring, roaring in excitement.
Hyouma Sagara had chosen a time favorable to himself, thus gaining a step ahead of the other Masters. But Sakatsuki happened to synchronize with the Masters of the Yggdmillennia and the Mage's Association.
Standing within the circle, treating himself as the catalyst in the simplest, most direct way, Sakatsuki raised his hand bearing the Command Spell and recited the incantation in a calm voice.
"—Let silver and steel be the essence."
The magic circle, which had already summoned one Servant, responded to the new call, glowing brightly once more, illuminating the young man's composed eyes and the faint smirk tugging at his lips.
"Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation."
"Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall."
No matter how many times he had spoken these words, no matter how many times he had witnessed this sight—the moment when legends from human history stepped out of the annals of time and descended upon the present—it never failed to stir his heart.
Taking a deep breath, Sakatsuki smiled cryptically and continued:
"Let the four cardinal gates close."
"Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
In response to his oath, the circle blazed with light as a storm of sacred blue surged forth from the ends of the world!
***
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