Chapter 252: Delusional Heartbeat (Zabaniya)
The so-called Assassin refers to one of the seven standard classes of the [Holy Grail War], specializing in covert operations and assassination techniques.
However, being named "Assassin" does not mean that every Heroic Spirit of this class must specialize in assassination over frontal combat. Theoretically, any Heroic Spirit possessing high-level concealment skills can manifest in the Assassin class.
Even if that Heroic Spirit's actual combat ability is terrifying—possessing high-purity "Magic Resistance" and a level of melee skill capable of easily handling even a Saber, the strongest of the seven classes—they can still manifest as an Assassin, though attributes like Strength and Agility would be weakened to a certain extent.
Because of this, Emiya had originally told Zen'in Maki to try working toward the direction of an Assassin. Unlike the [Holy Grail War], which is almost exclusively a one-on-one situation, in battles involving cooperation between several people, a character who can provide a decisive, finishing blow is exceptionally important.
Naturally, he didn't harbor the extravagant hope that Zen'in Maki could become a "hexagon warrior" (all-rounder) in a short time. As long as she could learn to conceal herself perfectly and burst her destructive power to the maximum in a single instant, it would be enough.
However, in the orthodox [Holy Grail War]—that is, the [Holy Grail War] of Fuyuki City—the only ones who could be summoned under the Assassin class were the successive generations of "Hassan-i-Sabbah" from the Hashshashin sect.
The word "Assassin" originated from this sect, and the leaders of the historical assassination cult would all be crowned with the name "Hassan-i-Sabbah," or otherwise known as the "Old Man of the Mountain."
However, what truly made Emiya feel incredulous wasn't entirely the appearance of a Servant named "Hassan-i-Sabbah" before him, but rather the fact that such a Servant shouldn't exist in the world of Jujutsu at all.
Although Servants often possess strong independence—setting aside the need for constant magical energy support and the fact that their bodies are composed of spiritrons—they are almost no different from living deities. But in essence, they are merely special "projections" originating from the distant [Throne of Heroes].
In the explanations of the Magecraft world, the so-called [Throne of Heroes] is the place where those who signed contracts with "Alaya" or legendary fallen heroes reside. Beings who become Heroic Spirits are released from the shackles of time and move to the "Throne of Heroes" located on the Reverse Side of the World.
These Heroic Spirits are not only independent of time, but they are also often unique across countless parallel worlds. A Servant is merely a product created by borrowing information
from the Heroic Spirit's main body on the [Throne of Heroes], pouring that information into the framework of a "Class," and manifesting the result.
The world of Jujutsu clearly lacks such a thing as the [Throne of Heroes]. Furthermore, even if it did exist, the result shouldn't be the kind of Servant Emiya was familiar with...
It couldn't be that the "Alaya" of the Magecraft world had invaded the Jujutsu world, leading to the appearance of this kind of Servant, could it?
The reason Emiya himself could freely borrow the power of "Heroic Spirit EMIYA" in the Jujutsu world was, on one hand, because there was essentially no difference between him and the other, and on the other hand, because parts of his body had been directly displaced by "Heroic Spirit EMIYA," effectively granting him a portion of the Heroic Spirit's origin.
Even without considering these deducible factors, the memories originating from various "Emiya Shirou" that kept appearing in his dreams for some reason could also bring him power.
So, what exactly was the reason a living Servant would suddenly appear before him...?
"What's the deal with this guy, Emiya-sensei? He doesn't look like a Cursed Spirit... could he be a Curse User?"
One couldn't blame Itadori Yuji for judging a person's character based solely on appearance. This guy had been hiding in the woods from the start and only showed himself after Emiya finally called him out. It was far too sinister.
If it weren't for his teacher's reminder, Itadori probably wouldn't have noticed him even now.
Just as Itadori finished speaking, before Emiya could explain or respond, the Assassin suddenly leaped and threw several pitch-black short daggers toward their position.
Though they were just ordinary throwing weapons, as a Servant specializing in assassination, his basic skills were naturally extraordinary—each short blade flying through the air broke the sound barrier like a bullet, and in terms of destructive power, they might even be superior.
Unfortunately, such an attack was somewhat insufficient for combat between Servants. If it were a hidden ambush, it might have caused some trouble.
"This way!"
Even while pulling along a student like Itadori Yuji, who hadn't been able to react at all, Emiya still successfully dodged the opponent's sudden attack.
Thud, thud—thud!
The missed daggers slammed violently into various buildings behind Emiya. One dagger even unluckily struck the center of a lamppost, causing it to lose support and topple onto the empty street.
"No intention of negotiating; instead, he plans to attack directly... What exactly is the Master behind him thinking?"
Unlike the situation in Emiya's original world, in a formal [Holy Grail War], the relationship between the Servant and the Magus who summoned them is purely one of Master and Servant. The Servant often must obey the orders of the Magus—the Master.
The duration of this great ritual is seven days. The Servants and Masters participating in the war must decide the victor within these seven days and nights, and most people choose to test one another during the first few days to try and analyze the opponent's abilities and intelligence.
Battles between Servants usually don't involve absolute counter-relationships, and even if one is unfortunate enough to encounter such an enemy, one can choose to retreat and let other combinations deal with them... Especially for a Servant like Assassin, hiding oneself during the early stages of the ritual is particularly important.
Although only one pair of winners can ultimately be decided, there is also the possibility of cooperation between Servants to eliminate other powerful enemies first. Betrayal and extreme scheming are also not impossible.
However, having an Assassin—the class that should be hidden most of all—directly reveal himself and launch an attack against an enemy they know nothing about... who would give such an order or make such a choice?
Besides, the two of them didn't look like participants of a [Holy Grail War], did they? Does this guy Itadori Yuji look like a Servant of any class?
"Waaaah?!
He already attacked first... should we take him down, Emiya-sensei!"
Itadori Yuji didn't know anything about a [Holy Grail War], nor did he understand the identity or true situation of the Servant in front of him. He only knew that since the opponent had made the first move, he could begin a legitimate counterattack.
The destructive power the opponent just displayed was indeed decent, but Itadori still believed he should be capable of putting up a fight.
If he threw a few knives with all his might, he could achieve that effect too! Though the accuracy of such a thing might still need some work...
"No, you stay alert in case there are others. I need to finish this guy as quickly as possible."
Emiya decisively rejected Itadori Yuji's suggestion and subsequently focused all his attention on the Assassin not far away.
Indeed, Itadori's current growth speed and strength satisfied Emiya. This strength was perfectly sufficient in the Jujutsu world, or even the Magecraft world...
But in the Magecraft world, especially in battles between Servants, relying solely on pure punching and kicking absolutely wouldn't work.
The level of deviousness of many Magi even surpassed that of Curse Users; it's just that the former didn't focus their minds on combat, otherwise, who knows how strange their methods could be.
In battles between Servants, one of the main reasons intelligence is so vital is the existence of Noble Phantasms and numerous special abilities.
Powerful Servants who can tank a Noble Phantasm are, in the end, a minority. Even if most Servants can suppress an opponent in frontal combat, it doesn't mean they can withstand the power of the enemy's Noble Phantasm upon its release.
Itadori was completely unfamiliar with fighting an enemy like a Servant, as well as the existence and power of Noble Phantasms. Emiya naturally wouldn't be so careless as to let Itadori fight such an enemy directly; that wouldn't count as training at all.
Another even more important matter was that even Emiya himself hadn't figured out where they were or what their current situation was. Having finally found someone who could provide information, letting them go would be too much of a waste.
"Yes, Emiya-sensei!"
Itadori Yuji decisively displayed his character as an incredibly obedient student. He jogged away and hid behind a nearby tree stump, peeking out with only half his head to shout words of encouragement toward Emiya.
To be honest, being cheered on by a male athlete is something Emiya really wouldn't feel any joy about!
"So, only the two of us are left on the battlefield... do you or the person behind you have nothing to say?"
Even though Servants rarely possess absolute autonomy in a [Holy Grail War], Emiya didn't think his words were falling on deaf ears. As long as there was indeed a Master behind the opponent, that Magus would surely have a way to monitor what was happening here.
Whether through a familiar or some other means, a Magus participating in a [Holy Grail War] wouldn't be so unprepared as to lack such measures.
To his surprise, however, Assassin didn't respond to his words at all. Instead, he began to run rapidly around Emiya, continuously throwing countless daggers from within his pitch-black cloak.
As an assassin, he launched his attack in the simplest and most direct manner.
"Refusing to communicate because there's no desire to talk? Or is it... this guy actually lacks any capacity for normal communication?"
It wasn't strange for Emiya to imagine such a possibility. The phenomenon of an Assassin rashly launching an attack and then refusing to communicate was simply too bizarre. Compared to anything else, the possibility that this Servant lacked all rationality was far greater.
The most frustrating part was that, as an Assassin, the opponent had his face completely concealed behind a mask, making it impossible to judge or obtain information from that aspect. He could only rely on guesswork, or rather, actual combat—
Emiya's current state was actually not good at all. Although he hadn't sustained any injuries in the battle against Ryomen Sukuna, he had exerted himself to the absolute limit.
The deployment of the [Reality Marble] and the Sword of Rupture (EA) had nearly drained all his magical energy. Even if the [Reverse Cursed Technique] and nearly infinite cursed energy could resolve that problem, the damage caused to his [Magic Circuits] during that process was difficult to reverse.
The healing effect of the [Reverse Cursed Technique] was currently still struggling to take effect on "pseudo-organs" like [Magic Circuits] that had no physical form. Therefore, the only way for them to recover was to allow the body to heal itself over time.
During this process, while Emiya wasn't completely unable to mobilize the magical energy in his body, in order to avoid causing irreversible damage to his [Magic Circuits], it was best not to perform actions that would consume a large amount of magical energy, such as releasing a Noble Phantasm.
"Trace on!"
Quickly projecting Kanshou and Bakuya, Emiya brandished the blades to precisely deflect all the incoming daggers. He then immediately accelerated to close the distance to Assassin and swung his swords downward without hesitation.
Clang—!
Kanshou and Bakuya, swung simultaneously from two different directions, were both blocked by just one of the opponent's arms. The reason this bizarre scene occurred was—the opponent's arm was simply too strange.
A normal person's arm length at most reaches just past the hip, but the right arm of the Assassin before him far exceeded the level of his knees. He could even press his palm completely against the ground while standing upright.
The moment he saw this strange right arm, Emiya immediately realized the opponent's true identity—
"Cursed Arm... Hassan?"
The accumulation of numerous memories originating from "Emiya Shirou" gave Emiya a high level of understanding regarding Fuyuki City and the [Holy Grail War] here, reaching a level where he could analyze information just by looking at the opponent.
Cursed Arm Hassan, one of the 19 leaders of the assassination cult who inherited the name "Hassan-i-Sabbah" throughout history. And just as the name suggests, Cursed Arm's true abilities and Noble Phantasm originate from his right arm.
That rod-like, deformed right hand was obtained by using the Middle Eastern magecraft [Delusional Hand], which is specialized in cursing others, for self-modification—a result only achievable at the end of that path. It involves taking the soul of the arm of a non-human entity—the demon Shaitan—and synchronizing it with one's own arm, allowing it to take flesh within a part of one's body. This could never be accomplished without unimaginable pain and obsession.
Perhaps this process of incarnation was somewhat similar to the "Incarnation of Cursed Objects" in the Jujutsu world, but the demons of the Magecraft world were not just illusory products confined to mythology; they were mysterious lifeforms that could be manifested.
At the same time, incarnation here was often not as merciful as in the Jujutsu world, where the consciousness and control of the body could be seized the moment the body's owner was unable to resist. Under normal circumstances, an ordinary person who accidentally became involved with a lifeform like a "demon" would gradually move toward death amidst boundless agony.
The purpose and meaning of these demons touching humans was to endlessly torture their souls. Simply being tainted by a fraction of a demon's power could subject the body and consciousness to constant torment. Even simple death was not the end; even the soul would be tortured for an eternity.
One can imagine just how much suffering the original Cursed Arm Hassan endured to finally obtain this arm originating from a demon. This kind of asceticism was countless times more difficult than the training of Jujutsu sorcerers.
And as a reward for this asceticism, the arm of Shaitan also brought Cursed Arm Hassan a powerful Noble Phantasm—Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat.
Cursed Arm's own combat capability had a certain gap compared to normal Servants; it was this special Noble Phantasm that gave him the ability to contend with other Servants, or even kill them in a counter-move.
When the power in the arm is activated, a "dual existence" identical to the target is reflected from a mirror. The dual existence has the property of resonating with the original; if the dual existence is harmed, the real person will be harmed as well. This belongs to an extremely high-level [Sympathetic Magecraft].
The demon's arm uses this to grab and crush the heart of the dual existence, thereby causing the target's heart to be completely destroyed while the surface remains unharmed. Against this curse-attribute special Noble Phantasm, any armor or physical defense is meaningless. It is another conceptual "one-hit kill" different from the "Gáe Bolg: Spear of Impaling Barbed Death." If there is a major drawback, it is probably only that this Noble Phantasm is specifically effective against humans and is difficult to use against completely non-human entities.
Emiya could have silently digested all this information in his heart, but he still chose to directly reveal the opponent's true name in a sense.
Unexpectedly, as a Servant who should have placed extreme importance on intelligence, the opponent showed no reaction whatsoever.
"As expected, is he in a state devoid of any consciousness... what's going on?"
The previous suspicion was confirmed, which meant it was almost impossible for Emiya to obtain any further information from the Assassin in front of him... it would be better to just finish him off without hesitation.
Bang—!
After the arm hidden under the cloak was inadvertently exposed, Cursed Arm immediately used the dagger in his other hand along with his hardened arm to force back Emiya's blades. As he leaped backward, he threw off the cloak from his shoulders, scattering countless daggers to cover the area where Emiya stood.
"Even without rationality, does he still maintain some of his combat habits from life?"
Clearly, Cursed Arm himself knew the gap between him and the many heroic Servants was vast, so he never engaged in close-quarters combat with the enemy. Instead, he used precise throwing to interfere with and injure his opponent.
"Not good...?"
Just as Emiya shifted his attention to the flying daggers for a moment, he saw something unexpected happen to Cursed Arm...
In the instant he was falling toward the water surface upside down, Cursed Arm's right arm suddenly became as blood-red as gore. Subsequently, it twisted and elongated in a bizarre manner, surging straight toward Emiya.
"Zabaniya."
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