Fate/Apocrypha Volume 1 Chapter 2.4

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But Saber knew full well that Shishigou had not chosen this place to be his workshop on a whim or out of folly – not that this made the situation any less aggravating.

After all, his craft is necromancy. It is only natural that graves and morgues, and other such places which have been drenched by the deaths of human beings, will be most fitting for him.

In addition, this underground tomb has multiple exits, making the place easy to escape from as long as the routes are not all sealed at once. And if it comes down to it, one can simply bore a hole straight up towards the surface. It is also difficult to collapse the roof over their heads even with bombs – the tomb is bigger than one might think, so it would require a great amount of explosives or a high-level ritual to blow apart completely. None of this will be an issue as long as they remain vigilant and maintain a watch.

All in all, this place makes a surprisingly sturdy fortress… if you can get past the fact that it is a tomb.

For the time being, Shishigou deployed a detection field around the exit of the tomb. He may have chosen this place to be his workshop, but it is still nothing more than a temporary roost. Shishigou has decided not to lay traps until he is sure that the war will be drawn out, and only when he has the time.

Shishigou then took out a glass bottle from his backpack. It seemed to have managed to draw the attention of Saber – idly watching Shishigou as he labored – and she came to peek over his shoulder.

"…Is that a snake?"

"It's a juvenile Hydra, preserved in formalin. I doubt there's another one in the entire world."

"Huh… and what do you plan on doing with it?"

"Did you forget? You're talking to a necromancer. I'm going to process it."

"'Process' it?"

Shishigou carefully removed the Hydra from the bottle and laid it down on the floor. Just as Saber nonchalantly reached out, as though to touch it, Shishigou snapped sharply.

"Stop! Don't touch it!"

"…What? I just want to take a look…"

Saber said somewhat sulkily. Shishigou sighed and explained.

"Look, Saber… You have knowledge of the legend of Herakles, don't you? So, what comes to mind when we talk about the Hydra?"

"…Well, it has nine heads…"

"And?"

"And it breathes poison… oh."

"Exactly. A Hydra's body is filled with poison. If this were an adult, our lungs would be rotting right now just by being near it. Well, this one's only a juvenile – and it's dead – so it's all right as long as we don't touch it."

Of course, unlike an ordinary man or woman, Saber would most likely not die. That said, the Hydra is still a demonic beast. As the adage goes: 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread'.

Putting on a pair of thick leather gloves, Shishigou carefully removed the heads one by one using a knife. He then took the heads and submerged each in a reddish-black liquid.

"What are you doing?"

"If they were a bit longer, I'd be able to make a bolt. But, considering the size, a dagger is probably the best I can manage."

"Hmph… Will it take a long time?"

"Three hours or so, probably. We're not going anywhere until then, so get some sleep."

Saber, however, chose not to sleep and squatted down next to him.

"Interested?"

"If only. I have no interest in dissections or processes or what have you."

Saber rested her chin on her hands, looking bored. 'Then get some sleep and save me the prana' was what Shishigou wanted to say, but he was positive that she would not listen.

Using tweezers to pick up the Hydra heads from the liquid they had been submerged in, Shishigou held them over a candle's flame. It was a straightforward but extremely dangerous task which demanded his complete involvement.

"…Hey, Master? What do you desire from the Holy Grail?"

Even as Shishigou proceeded in his task – one which required absolute concentration, as a single misstep could lead to his death via the Hydra's poison – Saber asked him a question without a care in the world.

"If you're asking me about the wish I'm going to make to the Holy Grail… I'm going to have it bring prosperity to my clan. I am a magus, you know."

Saber looked disappointed at his rather pedestrian reply. It is only too natural that a magus wishes for the fortunes of his or her clan.

"Is that it? How dull."

"Don't be stupid – that stuff is important. A human being has a short lifespan, you know. You can't even live up to two hundred. But sons succeed the dreams of their fathers."

"Not all sons succeed their fathers."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

Instantly, a scowl appeared on Saber's face. Shishigou apologized with a bitter smile. But she did not respond to his apology, instead wordlessly crawling into her sleeping bag.

While Servants do not need to sleep, it is not without its use in controlling prana consumption. This is especially the case for Red Saber – Mordred – who devours an incredible amount of prana as payment for possessing incomparable strength. Having her save from using prana as much as possible will be for the better. Well… she is only sulking right now.

As he processed the Hydra, Shishigou chewed on some dried meat and fruits for nourishment. But, now and then, he would shift his eyes from the silently proceeding task before him to the sleeping girl. Every time he looked, he saw only the face of an innocent child – in some way, this depressed him.

Mordred, the Knight of Treachery, was one of those rare villains who, at the very end, managed to tarnish a glorious legend.

Having been left in charge while Arthur was out on an expedition, Mordred saw her chance, instigating the army and taking the throne that she so wanted. Upon the King's return, a battle immediately unfolded between the forces of Arthur and Mordred – what would be known as the great battle of Camlann. Most of the King's famous knights were no longer present at this point and Arthur and Mordred engaged in one-on-one combat in the middle of the blazing battlefield. Even as she was pierced by the holy spear Rhongomyniad, Mordred dealt a fatal blow to the King.

Arthur commanded Sir Bedivere, who remained loyal to the King to the last, to return the holy sword. It is said that Arthur either passed away on the hill or was healed in the Isle of Avalon.

However, the only known fate of Mordred was that she was killed in the duel. But that is only natural – after all, Mordred is the antagonist who deceived the great Arthur Pendragon, the legendary King of Knights, whose name remains carved in Britain even today.

"…Okay, that's all nine. Now for the body."

Muttering to himself, Shishigou immersed himself in his thoughts. His views might be slanted due to how the summoning itself had went, but if he had the choice of having either Mordred or Arthur as his Servant, he would not hesitate to choose Mordred.

Between the King – wielding a shining holy sword as the very manifestation of chivalry – and the rebellious knight who attempted an insurrection with the King's own men, is it not clear that the latter is far more interesting a personality?

Shishigou did not fully understand whether Mordred felt love or hate for Arthur. After all, there is only a thin line between the two emotions. However, it is most certainly true that she was greatly influenced by Arthur. That was why she rebelled – to become more like her father or to deny the King's ways, Shishigou did not know – and, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, that took courage.

"…I guess now I know why I summoned her."

His smile was one of mockery for himself. A magus like him could never have summoned a proper Knight of the Round Table to begin with – so three cheers for the Knight of Treachery.

Having completed his work, Shishigou crawled into his sleeping bag and slept like a log.

Trifas becomes a silent place in the dead of night. There are no lights shining from the houses and no stores that operate through the night. Only streetlamps illuminated the darkness – weak light that can do little against the deep shadows.

Mordred and Shishigou are searching for a place from which they will launch their assault on the Fortress of Millennia. In a regular Holy Grail War, it would be the norm to search for the workshops of enemy magi. But that is unneccesary in this case. After all, it is already certain that they will operate from that stronghold. There is no need to search for them, because there is no reason for an enemy Master nor Servant to be outside that stout fortress to begin with.

In other words, nothing can be done without first attacking that fortress – which means keeping a distance and finding a good place to observe it first.

The fortress is located north-east of Trifas and the three hectares surrounding it are forests. Trifas is situated on a plateau rising from west to east, so one can watch over the entire city from the highest point of the fortress.

As such, Shishigou and Saber began their search south of the fortress. The best choice would be a tall building, not so close to the fortress but not also so far that nothing can be seen.

"What about that?"

Saber pointed to the century-old town hall. Constructed in a Secessionist style, the entire building was made up of straight lines and smooth surfaces – the vividly colored geometric tiles covering the roof stood out in particular.

It is a precious work of art and a historically important building. However, that is meaningless to the pair whose only interest is the excellent view it should provide.

"Looks good. Let's go up and take a look."

Shishigou murmured. But then, Saber grabbed him by his collar for some reason.

"…Uh."

"Let's go."

Getting a bad feeling, Shishigou tried to free himself from Saber. It was too late – with a sound of exertion, Saber used her Prana Burst to leap straight onto the roof. When they landed, the enormous stress pressing down on the back of his neck made Shishigou feel as though his consciousness floated away for a moment.

A brief silence ensued during which Shishigou wondered how to reprimand the smug-looking Saber.

"Don't do that again."

In the end, he went with a simple, harmless complaint. Saber nodded, clearly lacking any remorse.

"So how is this place, Master?"

"Well…"

The castle is close enough for them to watch over but the roof is far enough that observers on the other side should not be able to easily make them out. It truly is a perfect observation post. But…

"No, it's no good."

Shishigou sighed. Saber nodded in agreement with some annoyance. As they stood on the roof, a mass of what appeared to be birds flew out from the castle. Taking a closer look at the tiles beneath his feet, Shishigou saw that there was a disguised detection field spread around the roof.

"Saber!"

Before Shishigou could say another word, Saber had already changed into her suit of armor and was ready for combat.

"…Are those hawks?"

Due to the darkness of the night, it was difficult for even Shishigou to see anything beyond vague movements. However, with her extraordinary sight, Saber could clearly see the form of the coming attackers.

"No… golems!"

Four stone golems, seemingly modelled after dragonflies, descended upon them from all directions. Saber leapt and destroyed one, then landed on the closest one on the ground and hacked down the other two.

"Damn… there are more!"

Saber brought her sword to bear without a moment's pause. Humanoid and non-humanoid golems appeared from all around them – they must have been camouflaged on the roofs of the nearby buildings. But there were more – humans gripping halberds appeared seemingly out of nowhere and, together with the golems, surrounded the pair.

No… their faces were too expressionless for humans. In fact, their faces were all so similar to one another that they might be mistaken for siblings.

"They're… not humans. Homunculi, huh."

"…"

Saber stirred slightly at Shishigou's muttered words.

"What's the matter?"

"It's nothing… Your orders, Master."

"My thaumaturgy isn't quite powerful enough to take on those golems… Leave the homunculi to me. You take care of the rest."

"As you command!"

Crushing the tiles beneath her feet, Saber charged at the golems like a speeding bullet. The golems' stone and bronze bodies were shattered as though they were paper and wood. Another golem attempted to crush Saber with its immensely large body, but Saber simply roared and launched her sunken body upwards, blowing the stone puppet aside.

Her motions contained none of the elegance of knights or the beauty of swordsmanship – she was closer to a berserker or some wild beast. Saber swung her two-hander sword with one hand, leaving her other hand open. But rather than throw a punch, she instead threw her sword – the very heart and soul of the knight – at a golem coming from above, skewering it. Stopping the punch of a second golem, Saber gave a shout and threw her attacker away – sending it on a collision course with the skewered golem above and causing both to be shattered. Plucking her sword out from the raining debris, Saber resumed her onslaught.

Against the homunculi, Shishigou took out a large shotgun. Even the emotionless homunculi, slowly edging their way towards him, paused reflexively at the sight of the fearsome weapon.

It is an unbranded side-by-side sawed-off. With both the stock and barrel shortened, it is highly portable and suited to room-clearing, but the effective range is extremely short.

However, the parameters of the actual weapon meant little to the necromancer.

"Boom."

Turning the weapon towards the homunculi, Shishigou casually pulled the trigger. He was not aiming for anything to begin with – the key was that he was holding the gun. The firing pin and other components of his shotgun were treated with thaumaturgical rituals. The shots being fired, not the weapon, were the most important part.

The projectiles that were loaded into this weapon would freeze the blood of anyone who saw it. 'Disgusting' would be an understatement – they were human fingers.

There is a technique called 'Gandr' in Scandinavian runic thaumaturgy which placed a curse on the target by pointing at them. The curse can exhibit a physical force – becoming like a bullet – if constructed using great amounts of prana.

These finger 'bullets' created by combining Gandr and Shishigou's necromancy can only reach subsonic speeds, but they can adjust their course by detecting body heat like a snake. When the projectile burrows into the body of the target and reaches the heart, the curse ruptures – it is a true 'one shot, one kill' demon bullet.

The projectiles traced gentle curves through the air and killed several homunculi in the blink of an eye. But the shotgun only had two shots before it had to be reloaded. Not missing this chance, the other homunculi charged forward. Shishigou, still reloading, paused and took out a bizarre object – something slightly shrivelled and of a dark-red hue. It was a magus' heart.

Shishigou tossed the thing at where the homunculi were most concentrated. With a wet sound, the heart landed beside them – it rapidly expanded and then exploded. The teeth and nails of the magus that had been concentrated inside penetrated the homunculi. They soon died with expressions of agony, as though having been force-fed some kind of poison.

Of the many necromancers in the world, it is likely only Shishigou Kairi who have managed to turn the bodies of magi and magical beasts into such brutal killing devices.

While the homunculi certainly possess some combat ability, to the bounty hunter they are but simple prey. And that seems to be have been the case for Saber as well.

"It's over, Master."

"Yeah, well done."

Having crushed the last golem, Saber returned. She looked around at the corpses around him and let out a breath, sounding impressed.

"Not bad for a necromancer."

"I've seen my fair share of carnage."

As he spoke, Shishigou tore out a piece of parchment from a piece of a shattered golem. There were commands written all over it.

"This is old… over eight hundred years old."

Time was of exceedingly high value in thaumaturgical applications. A mystery strengthens the longer it has existed. For example, a family's thaumaturgical crest becomes strong by having new accomplishments added to it by every generation to have received it. With eight-hundred-year-old parchment, one may forge a golem that can easily destroy one or two experienced magi.

However…

"How were those golems, Saber?"

"This was my first time facing these stone puppets… but they did better than I expected. The last one managed to endure three blows."

"A golem made by a modern magus couldn't possibly last even two hits from you, not even if he spent his entire life working on it."

There are exceptions, of course. The world is a big place and it is possible that a magus exists who can create golems on par with Servants. However, it does not seem likely that one would exist among the Yggdmillennia. The best golemancer within their clan is Roche Flyn Yggdramillennia and as good as his golems are, they will not be able to withstand even one of Saber's swings.

This means that the creator of these golems is not a modern magus.

Just as Shishigou was taking a closer look at the parchment in order to examine it in further detail, a great heat washed over his face.

"Ouch!"

He recoiled and let go of the blazing parchment. It was not only the piece that Shishigou picked up – all the parchment in the area around them were going up in flames. The remains of the golems quickly weathered and turned to dust.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, it just stung a bit. Careful bastards – there goes our clue. Looks like we can't set up here, not if they were ready with an ambush."

The Yggdmillennia had obviously considered the strategic importance of this place. Trifas is, after all, a small city. It would be best to think that the enemy already has some presence at every single location that could prove useful in the assault on the castle. And they did not simply send one or two defenders but a deluge of highly engineered homunculi and golems.

If they stand around looking confused for any longer, the Yggdmillennia may just send a Servant out to meet the attack. For now, it seems their only choice is to send familiars into the air to observe from a distance.

"I suppose we have no choice but to head back now?"

"Well, we did learn one thing."

"And that is?"

"Their Caster – or one of the other classes, but it has to be a Servant – is a heroic spirit skilled with golems."

That lowers the number of possibilities by a fair amount. Golems themselves are hardly rare, but there cannot be many individuals who were so deeply involved with them that they would become heroic spirits.

"By the way, Master, did you get the feeling that we were being watched?"

On the way back to the workshop, Saber suddenly said this as though she had just remembered it. Shishigou nodded in agreement. It was likely a magus utilizing some sort of far-sight thaumaturgy or sharing the senses of one of their familiars. Essentially, he and Saber had been watched in order to judge their combat strength.

"Well, as long as you wear that helmet, the information that we don't want anyone to know can stay that way. You can take it off now, right?"

One of Saber's Noble Phantasms,

Secret of Pedigree

Helm of Hidden Infidelity

, is able to hide certain sections of her parameters. While general data such as statistics and class skills cannot be hidden, this useful piece of armor can keep her true name, Noble Phantasms and unique skills a secret.

While her strongest Noble Phantasm cannot be activated in this state, it is an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm – it should be used when it is certain that the enemy will be destroyed. Once it is revealed, the target must disappear from the world.

"It's all right if I remove it out of combat, yes?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

A happy Saber began to whistle. Obviously, Shishigou is not permitting her to reveal her parameters. It seems that her statistics and data are only released for the first time when she 'takes off' the helmet while it is 'set' in the armor. Even if she were to remove her entire suit of armor and clothe herself in her modern costume, as long as she does not hold her weapon, the concealment continues to function even without the helmet.

As such, Saber immediately changed back to her clothes from before and sighed.

"That armor really is uncomfortable, isn't it?"

"It's only a matter of becoming used to it… but I feel much more free with it removed."

Saber gave a big stretch and skipped to the middle of the street where she spun round and round. The battle might have improved her mood, Shishigou thought faintly.

Stopping herself with one foot, Saber turned back to him and asked.

"Oh, yes – how did I do, Master?"

"Hmm?"

"What I mean is, what do you think of my fighting abilities? Well, the enemy was not a Servant, so I could not use my full strength…"

"Ah, that… Well, I'd have to say that you were incredible. You definitely showed me why you are a Saber-class Servant."

Saber puffed up proudly, looking satisfied.

"But throwing your sword at the end there? Really?"

"Don't be a fool, Master. The only thing that matters is that I win – nothing else. Swordsmanship is just another option in combat. I will punch, kick and bite if that is what it takes."

"…I agree completely."

Her mentality is so very close to his own that he almost wanted to shield his eyes from it.

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(To be continued.)

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