A blurry image appeared; it wasn't me, but a child. This child was Assassin when he was only about four to six years old.
He had blond hair and red eyes. His face was incredibly neutral, but inside he felt disgust and sadness.
Around him, people dressed like him, as if they were astronauts, were denigrating people with chains on their limbs and feet.
A life of luxury and excess, where people felt superior simply for being born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
The scene changed; Assassin had grown into a tall young man wielding a great sword.
Beside him were two men and two women, along with a raven.
The young man was no longer sad; he was happy and cheerful, but inside he felt uncertainty, anguish, and a desire to forget; most likely, it was the past that weighed so heavily on him.
The adventure group traveled the world trying to achieve one goal: to save as many civilians as possible in a world filled with chaos, greed, and deceit. But deep down, Assassin knew that wasn't the real objective; the true one was more complex than it seemed: atonement for the guilt he felt within himself.
The scene shifted again, showing Assassin standing before his brother's corpse; his sword was stained with his family's blood.
It had been a battle for survival, a way to rid himself of a burden, but for Assassin, there was no happiness or peace in having killed his brother. He knew that this had been orchestrated and directed by a man who had filled the mind and body of the corpse lying on the ground with pure rage, anger, and pain.
Finally, the scene showed Assassin badly wounded in a completely destroyed country. His traveling companions, two dead and two critically injured, had taken this path to save the life growing within their remaining companion.
That was one of the worst moments for Assassin, as he felt that his actions would once again harm his loved ones.
Everything around me vanished, leaving Assassin alone in a white, empty space. I watched as he gripped his weapon tightly, raised his head to the sky, and opened his mouth to let out a heart-wrenching scream.
My body reacted with a jolt; I awoke from my dream.
It was midday. The place was destroyed: houses, some still with their walls and roofs, others completely collapsed, with nothing left to salvage.
"A nightmare?" I heard a voice.
I looked to my side and saw Assassin sitting about two meters away, staring at me.
Now I remember that, after eating a small breakfast, Assassin and I sat down to rest, and that's when I fell asleep.
"I..." I said, carefully considering what I was going to say. "I dreamed about your life again."
"Hmm, I hope you only saw good things, like my great achievements, or maybe what I did when I was drunk. Sometimes the others didn't tell me what I did when that happened, and I was always curious about what went on in those moments."
"I don't know if I could call them your achievements, but I do know they weren't your drunken escapades," I said, giving him a strange look.
"So what did you see?" Assassin asked.
"Various parts of your life: childhood, youth, and adulthood, in fragments, but I did notice something," I explained, looking him directly in the eyes. "You killed your brother, didn't you?"
This was important to me, since my current goal in this war is to gain the power and prestige to become the leader of my family clan again.
Assassin sighed at my question.
"What do I get out of telling you this?" That question caught me off guard. I hadn't expected him to ask for anything in return for his story.
"What do you want in return?" I began the negotiation, curious to know what had happened.
"I'll answer something from my life, and you answer something else."
"Deal," I concluded.
"Good," he said, changing his voice, "it all started when Gol D. Roger sailed the seas and, along with his crew, became the Pirate King."
"I'm talking about your situation with your brother, you idiot," I retorted.
"Fine, I'll give you the summary," Assassin complained. "The world wasn't a pretty place to live, and my family was one of those who attributed that the most, mainly to where they were born."
After a lengthy account of Dante's early life, his relationship with his brother, his escape, his heroic journey, and finally, his reunion with his brother.
Of how his older brother, fueled by hatred and envy, tried to kill him under the pretext of returning him to his homeland.
Of how he had to kill him, something he would later regret.
"It always crossed my mind that maybe things could have been different," Assassin remarked. "I never hated any of my brothers, not even Ramses. I knew why he was the way he was, and maybe if I had let him live, things would have been better; of course, he would have hunted me down high and low, but honestly, I'll never know."
Assassin's entire story left me thoughtful, a life spent trying to atone for something that, all things considered, was never his fault, or at least that's how I see it, unless he's hiding something else from me.
I can't help but think of my younger brother and, for some reason, put myself in those situations. Would it be different or the same?
To be honest, nothing tells me that reaching the root will make me the family heir again; in fact, I don't even know if I'll be able to return once I reach it, since no one knows for sure what happens.
"I remember you saying your desire was to reach the root, but to be honest, I don't think that's your desire; in fact, I don't think you belong in this world."
"What do you mean?" I asked Assassin, somewhat annoyed by his words.
"What I mean is that the mages or sorcerers of this world are very twisted and immoral beings, something you possess, so I'd say you're a rather mediocre sorceress."
"But what the hell—" Just as I was about to lose my temper, he raised his hand and showed me his palm, signaling me to calm down.
"I'm only talking about you as a sorceress in society; I think the best thing you can do is distance yourself from all of that but still remain a mage outside of that world that dictates the rules you must follow. This is just my point of view, but I feel it's what's best for you."
Assassin's words left me pondering.
In fact, everything Assassin says makes me think, maybe because I'm so young and he's like an old man, kind of like a disciple and master.
"Thinking about it, since you're 40, maybe it's not such a good idea, given you don't have much time left and no husband or heir; perhaps that's what you should ask the Holy Grail for, not some strange magic."
That's where all the respect I had for Assassin vanished.
"DIE," I said as I fired a magic bullet straight at his head.
"Not in the face," Assassin complained.
...
"So... why do they call you anomaly?"
After a brief back-and-forth, I calmed down, only to become slightly flustered again. This time, it wasn't mockery; it was just the way things were going on. I could see it in their eyes. It was teasing, but out of curiosity, that's all.
Being a woman of my word, I had to tell them.
"Well... I—" I barely started to speak before embarrassment washed over me. I took a long breath and composed myself. "When I first entered the clock tower, I was always very nervous, which caused me to overload my magic formulas, making them explode. Back then, I didn't realize it, and my teachers didn't know why it was happening even though I was doing everything right. That's why I was nicknamed Anomaly, since everything I made exploded. Later, a teacher figured out what was going on, but even with the problem solved, nothing could take the nickname away from me, and it's stuck to this day."
I closed my eyes, waiting to hear the jeers or laughter, but I heard nothing. I opened my eyes to see Assassin, and he was very serious.
In fact, he was too serious, not moving at all. At first, I was touched that he wasn't mocking me, knowing what kind of guy he is, but that feeling faded when I realized he was squeezing his thigh so hard it bled.
"It's normal for these things to happen," he said in an almost robotic, soulless voice. "The important thing is to keep going and grow as a person."
I just glared at him, since I'd realized he was self-mutilating to avoid laughing at my story.
I think I'll change my Holy Grail wish to obtain the root to revive him so I can kill him with my own hands.
...
As time passed, those of us who remained gathered.
Wright-san, Tohsaka-san, Chiaki-san (who didn't want to give her last name), Archer, Assassin, and I.
The moment we formed a circle, I took a look at each of them. They all looked quite tired.
I noticed that Wright-san only had one Command Seal on the back of his hand. If I'm not mistaken, when we were searching for Berserker's master, he had two; now he only has one.
(Note: I used the first one when I had to withdraw Archer when he fought Kiss-shot, and then Berserker returned, in case you were wondering.)
"Alright, here's the map of Fuyuki. We know Berserker's master is hiding in the village, so if you want to attack him, we need to lure him away from Berserker. We'll use Archer and Assassin to move him to the far side of the forest," Tohsaka-san announced seriously.
I could see from her expression and the way she spoke that she was taking all of this very seriously.
Besides, Berserker's master must have been here in Fuyuki for several months, or even years, to build underground tunnels without him noticing.
To have his territory invaded like that is an insult and a disgrace to both him and his family name. I think it's understandable that he wants to kill him, and ideally, it should be before he possibly wins, since no one knows he's going to lose. And if he can break his invincibility, Tohsaka won't be able to settle the score with that sorcerer.
At that moment, Tohsaka looked at Wright.
"I've already sent my familiars to search the area Assassin indicated to see if we can find any place with even the slightest trace of mana, prana, or ether—something that should be there, since Berserker must be hiding there, so my summons should be able to pick up a trail."
"Are you sure they'll find him?" Tohsaka asked.
"Trust them; the only one who wouldn't be able to find him by searching is Assassin, but that's due to his class ability; everyone else will track him one way or another," Wright replied.
"I hope so; if not, we'll search the surrounding area. Once we find him, we'll hope it's nighttime and go in."
No one really questioned why it would be nighttime.
Modern sorcerers are critical thinkers, so they're constantly questioning things. No one knows the specific commands Berserker's Master uses on his Servant; all that's known is that he disappears at dawn.
It's entirely possible he can't move or survive in daylight, so if we enter those tunnels, Berserker can move around and, by default, attack us from less-than-ideal locations.
That's why we should first wait for Archer and Assassin to distract Berserker to ensure our safety.
The idea is quite simple. If Archer and Assassin can't eliminate him, they should keep him occupied while the rest of us, except for Chiaki, eliminate the Master.
Once Berserker's Master is dead, his Servant will return to the Throne of Heroes by default. After that happens, we'll take a break before the final battle between Assassin and Archer to see which Master will claim the Holy Grail, thus fulfilling Assassin's promise to Archer.
"Before nightfall, we'll position ourselves in this safe place, where we'll leave Chiaki near some barriers and marked-off areas, since you don't know what will happen during the two parallel battles, and we can't take her to either side." Tōhsaka indicated a specific location on the map, one end of the village near the Einzbern castle, which is the other end from where they should guide Berserker.
"Once Berserker moves away, the three of us will approach the point or place where we suspect he might be, and we'll begin the operation; everything's clear."
At that moment, Assassin raised his hand, like a child.
"Yes?"
"Why doesn't Don Albus summon an animal that can dig tunnels leading to Berserker's master? I sense he's not moving; he's standing still in place."
"My summons use my mana to be here and use their abilities. Asking one of them to dig a hole would drain a lot of my magical energy, of which we only have a little. So we'll use the method that costs us the least energy to reach our enemy," Wroght replied.
"So you can?" Assassin asked directly.
I stood beside him and hit him on the head.
"Behave yourself. You're embarrassing me. Just do what you're told and don't meddle in things that don't concern you."
With that reprimand, Assassin looked at me as if a little dog had done something wrong and knew it, causing him to go to a corner and whine silently.
Tōsaka sighed.
"We hope Wright's family members come back feeling better."
With that, Tohsaka left, massaging her head.
...
While we waited for further instructions, Assassin and I started playing a guessing game with Chiaki to try and lift our spirits.
"So I'm not a person," Assassin said, trying to figure out what character I was. On my forehead was Jupiter, which Chiaki had written.
"Exactly," said Chiaki, who had a piece of paper on her forehead that said "Princess," which I had written.
"Am I a wolf?" Assassin asked.
"Nope," I replied.
"My turn," the girl announced. "Am I related to magic?"
"Nope," said Assassin.
"Am I alive?" she asked hesitantly.
"Wrong," I said. "My turn, does it have to do with my gender?"
"Ha," she agreed in German.
The thought of being a babysitter crossed my mind, but then I saw Assassin's mocking smile and remembered that he was the one who wrote who I was" on my forehead.
With my hair covering my eyes, I took a chance.
"Am I a widow?"
"Wow, Aozaki, you're really good at this. You were the first to guess," Chiaki congratulated me.
I quickly removed the paper from my forehead, and sure enough, it said widow.
Without a second thought, I lunged at Assassin, trying to smash the face he sometimes boasts about.
"Do you want me to gouge your eyes out, scum?" I threatened, grabbing his mouth and trying to hold him down wherever I could since he was putting distance between us with his arms.
"Forgive me, Akane-sama, I won't do it again, I swear on Diego Maradona."
"Hehehe." I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard Chiaki laugh, laughing at the stupid things we were doing.
At that moment I realized that sometimes the absurd and the ridiculous are necessary to make the day better and not make the atmosphere so heavy with the rest of the day; I think it was Assassin's idea to do this to cheer up a little, even if it's just Chiaki.
But that doesn't stop me from turning his face into fists right now.
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This chapter is a bit shorter, but that's to leave the action for the next one and avoid such an abrupt ending.
As I said, the fight scenes will be more focused on the battle between the Masters, occasionally showing what Archer, Assassin, and Berserker are doing, since it's not very different from what I've already written, except for the ending, or in other words, when the confrontation between the Masters concludes.
It's not quite like that, but I won't say more so you don't get any ideas about what I'm planning.
This was mainly a transitional chapter, to avoid too much action and fighting in consecutive chapters.
I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, all support is appreciated, both direct (comments and power stones, which I still don't know what they're for) and indirect (simply reading the fic).