Fate/Extra: Equestria

by ElementBrigade

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Sex, Twilight Sparkle, Profanity, Violence, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Anthro, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy
Length: 64365

Twilight finds herself in the Moon Holy Grail War. Will she be able to survive it long enough to get back to her home?

Waking up in a strange virtual world with no recollection of her past. Twilight is forced to fight for survival in a war she does not understand for a prize beyond value; the opportunity to have one's wish granted. With only a being called a "Servant" by her side she will have to face both friends and foes in battles to the death in order to not only gain possession of the Holy Grail, but also to find the most important question of all. Who is she? And where did she come from?

Crossover: (MLP x Fate/Extra)

Published 2018-11-08 20:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-04-01 21:21:13 UTC

Week One The Princess and The Servant Part Two

Week One

The Princess and The Servant

Part Two

[Rooftop]

Trying to keep a low profile isn’t working when you’re walking through a school as a mythical pony. The humans here kept on staring at me as Saber and I made our way to the rooftop. I mean, I guess I can see why they would be interested in getting to know me. But given the fact that I’m in a war and information is key from what Saber told me, I have to be careful when it comes to giving out answers to certain questions they ask me if I end up having a conversation with them later on. But for now I’ll just enjoy my food, and see if I can get some of my questions answered.

Sakura said that this SE.RA.PH. thing was the reason why my memories haven’t come back yet. Maybe I can ask Saber who SE.RA.PH. is and see if she could help me with this issue?

“Saber, do you know what SE.RA.PH. is?” I asked as she made herself visible next to me.

“SE.RA.PH. is….well, it’s an artificial environment within the Moon Cell we’re in right now.” Saber said as she pointed at the sky. “SE.RA.PH. is pretty much responsible for the summoning of Servants during the Holy Grail War we’re in. It also restrict the exit until the tournament participants are reduced to one, as per the Moon Cell’s rules.” She said, scratching the back of her head in annoyance. “I’m not good when it comes to stuff like this. I mean I know bits and pieces of it. But when it comes to going into great detail like that is not my strong suit to be honest. If you want to know more about SE.RA.PH. and the whole Moon Cell Grail stuff, the library is a good place to start for researching stuff.”

“Okay, I guess that’s a good place to start. Thanks Saber.” With that, she disappears into bits of….something as I open the door to the rooftop. Once I was there, I notice a girl with black pigtails wearing a red long sleeve shirt with a white cross on the front, a black skirt, and a pair of long black shoes.

“I’ve investigated this school from top to bottom, but there’s nothing unique about it.” The girl said, murmuring something to herself as she patted the walls and floors of the rooftop. I continued to watch her in both confusion and interest. Is she trying to find something that she lost? No, then she wouldn’t be patting the walls or floor for a lost item. I was about to take a step forwards, only for the sudden realization to hit me. I’m in the Holy Grail War. As such, everyone is my enemy now. Like the laws of nature itself. It’s kill or be killed. I have to acknowledge that as the truth, no matter how hard I don’t want to. “Huh? Hey you over there.”

“Y-Yes?” Her eyes soften as she looks at me as she walked up towards me.

“Yeah, you. Hmm, I haven’t checked the NPCs out much yet.” She said before looking at me up and down as I notice a grin on her face appearing. “Aha, I know a simple way. Don’t you move.” Unexpectedly, her fingers reach out and touch my cheek. To my surprise her fingers felt so soft and delicate. I never knew that humans can feel like this before, especially from a girl that look like she could knock somepony out if you cross her bad side. “Imagine that. You’re warm and surprisingly soft, though you shouldn’t be.” She said before I felt myself blushing a bit from that comment for some reason. “Huh? That’s weird, seeing a red cheek flush like that…”

Her face is just three centimeters from the tip of my nose. I could feel my heart racing from the closeness. Her breath exhales warmly against my cheek and her hair tickles my bare neck. Her pat-down of my shoulders and stomach seems playful compared to her harsh gaze from earlier. Transfixed by this, I’m unable to move as her pale fingers slide over me.I tried to pull myself away from her...but...those eyes….those strong yet scary eyes she had prevented me from doing so...why do they remind me of somepony I know….but who?

“Interesting. You’re more well-built than I had expected. You look and feel real given how you look like something from out a anime show or manga. Maybe more real than most people.” She said before looking behind herself, scowling. “Hey, what are you laughing at? It’s to our advantage to look into everything, even the NPCs.” Given how she’s talking to someone behind like she can see then, I’m gonna guess that she has a Servant with her and is talking with her. “Huh? She’s a Master too? No...A Master should be more...W-Wait. That means when I felt up-” She must be thinking about it now, because she’s blushing. As am I. Doesn’t really help that Saber is busting out laughing from all this which made me blush even harder.

“Um...yeah…um.” I said as Saber laughed even harder before holding her stomach to our reaction to one another.

“Ugh, how embarrassing.” She said before turning back to her Servant. “Shut up! I can make mistakes too, you know! Don’t call me a pervert!” I’m pretty sure she was addressing an off-color comment coming from her servant just now. “It could have been my imagination. Or a hacker-such a detailed NPC would rarely exist otherwise.” She said before turning her attention back at me. “Anyway, you’re to blame for looking like something out of the ordinary! How can a horse like you become a master?”

“Okay, I take offense to being called a horse. I’m a pony. PONY.” I said pointing at my ears, tail, hooves, and other pony like features that I have. “Also, how is it my fault that you couldn’t tell the difference between a pony and a NPC...speaking of. What is a NPC?”

“It’s short for none playable characters. Think of them as AI, some of them do give you stuff if you help by giving them stuff from time to time.” Saber said as she whispered it into my ear.

“I-I don’t know, it just is!” The girl said before point a finger at my face. “I mean, look at yourself. A black shirt, navy blue colored jean, and black lines under your eyes. I mean really. Were the prelims too boring to jog your memories?” I flinched a bit from that remark as I look down at the ground and gripping my arm before shaking my head to her question. “Uh...No way. Your memories still haven’t returned? That’s...really not good. Once you enter the Holy Grail War, the only way out is to win. Leaving prematurely isn’t allowed. Even without memories, or previous battle experience, you still have to fight.” She said before looking at me again as she shrugs. “Oh well. It doesn’t matter. You’ll be defeated in the Holy Grail War soon enough.”

As the concern disappears from her voice, I glimpse at this girl’s true self, my opponent in the Holy Grail War. I know it isn’t personal. She might considers everyone in the war her enemy depending on who they are. Before I can say anything, I felt Saber appearing behind me as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“As expected from Rin Tousaka. Though she does piques my interest. She will be an interesting foe, should we have to fight her in the tournament.”

“How did you know her name?” I asked as I made my way to the other side of the roof away from Rin.

“I overheard some of the students talking about about how they find Rin so pretty and beautiful. Personally I don’t see the appeal to what they’re talking about. But given the features that they were talking about, I can see why a lot of people find her attractive. Even you when she felt you up like that find her attractive~”

“T-That’s a lie and you know it you jerk!” I yelled before covering my mouth to how loud I was. I quickly looked over at Rin to see if she heard me. To my surprise, she appears to not have heard me when I said that. I sighed in relief before looking over at Saber with a glare as she snickered.

“Oh relax egghead. I’m just messing with you.” She said before patting me on the head. “But in all seriousness. What she said were fighting words. When we meet her in battle, I will give my answer to her and her Servant.” Unlike my Servant, I have no witty response to my future rival. Now that I know what’s at stake. I have to win.

“Well...I guess I pity you. We’re not cracking into the system and destroying it, we’re hacking. I don’t know what’s on the other side of the SE.RA.PH’s wall once it goes down. Didi your soul get jarred after you made it to the main event? If it’s lost or unreadable, then how about you investigate later?” Rin said before shaking her head and sighs. “Well, in any case, you don’t look like you’re cut out for fighting. Even if you are some kind of mythical beast from a child’s story book, having no memories will not excuse you from fighting in the war.”

So I have lost my memories. Who am I? What’s my story? What am I even doing in this Holy Grail War in the first place? All I know is that I’m a Master, with a Servant at my command. With a sigh I decided to make my way to the otherside of the roof, leaving Rin to what she was doing, to eat in peace.

[Evening]

During the morning and midday of school. I spent most of my time brushing up on some culture stuff in the library. Despite having the feeling of some of the student’s secretly looking at me from either behind their books or the bookshelves, I felt a bit relaxed and comfortable within that library. It did sorta help me try not to let the fact of the holy grail war get to me, but that still didn’t help me to remember who I was. With that in mind, I decided to find this Father Kotomine that the teacher suggest I go see if I need to know what to do next. What was her name again? I know she gets angry when you call her a tiger and try to bit your head off both figuretivly and literally the way her name was pronounced was weird. While walking down the hallway lost in my thoughts of how to pronounce the teacher’s name, I accidentally bumped into somepony as I was brought back from my train of thought. Looking up as see a man with brown short hair who was wearing a uniform that was close to a pastor of a thing the humans called a church.

“Congratulations. You have been deemed worthy to be a participant in the Holy Grail War.” The man said as he bowed to me. “You may call me Father Kotomine. I am an NPC assigned the task of supervising the Holy Grail War. As of today you and your fellow magi have been given the honor of fighting in the Arena up ahead.”

“Arena?”

“This war is run as an elimination tournament, with the Grail being awarded to the Last person standing. In other words, the participating Masters will kill each other until there is only one person left. Simple enough to understand, yes? Even a complete idiot should be able to understand the rules.” He said before chuckling a bit. “Masters get a six day preparation period before Elimination Battles, which occur on the seventh day. I’d advise you to use the time given to devise the most efficient means of slaughtering your foe. On the seventh day, you and your foe will fight. The winner lives, and the loser is...deleted.“ By deleted he means dead...I’m really hoping that the Master I’m fighting doesn’t make it on the seventh day. I….just don’t think I can go through killing somepony. “If you wish to make a query, speak now. The right to ask about the rules is given to all.”

“Who will be my first opponent in the first round?” Might as well ask seeing how Kotomine is offering to answer my question.

“You have not yet been informed of your first round opponent?” He asked as I nodded. “Hmm...Wait just a moment…” he said before pulling up a digital screen and began to type on it. “...Strange. There seems to be a system error. I will locate your opponent by tomorrow.” Darn, guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get my answer. Just as I was about to leave, I heard Kotomine telling me to stop as I turned around to face him “One last thing before you go. Masters that continue to advance will be given a private room.” He said before handing a card with the letter PR on it. “Your room will be located in classroom 2-B. Please use this card and enter it into your terminal so that you can access your room.”

I nodded as I entered the numbers on the card into my portable terminal. A chime went off as I did so as the card that I was holding disappeared.

“Well, the time for conversation has come to an end. The door at the end of the hallway behind you will lead you to the Arena. For today, concentrate on becoming accustomed to the inner workings of the Arena. Good luck.” With that, Kotomine makes his leave as my Servant makes herself visible for me to see her.

“Haha! Finally! I get to bust some heads in the arena!” Saber said with a grin on her face while cracking her knuckles. “It’s been a while since I got the chance to test out my skills in this place.”

“You’re saying that like you've been in a Holy Grail War before.” I said as her grin widens even more. Judging by the expression on her face, I’m gonna assume that she has. “You have haven’t you?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Like I said about my name, that also applies to other information about me history wise.” She said before I saw a helmet begin to form around her head piece by piece. “Now come on. Let’s go to the arena and see what it looks like.” With a sigh, my Servant disappeared in a flash and I began to make my way over to the arena.

Arena Level 04
First Chimieric Lunar Sea

[Greed and Lust combine to burst into Brilliance. And lead onward to the sepulcher of the sea.]

Word cannot describe how I felt when Saber and I entered into the Arena. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This place looks like we’re inside a video game from what I read in the library. The weird glowing circuit lines on the walls of this place, the solid visible see through floors and walls, my word this place is amazing...Why am I so excited about seeing something like this is beyond my understanding, but who cares. This place is amazing!

“The Arena is where we are allowed to do battle whenever we feel the need to fight and train. Enemy Programs created by the SE.RA.PH roam the Arena, but don’t worry about them. You have me by your side to deal with them...so long as you stay close to me that is. Otherwise we’re fucked if you die.” Thanks for the boost of confidence Saber. You always have just the right things to say. “Since this will be your first time in battle, let’s just deal with the square looking enemies here today.”

“You sure you’ll be able to handle them?” I don’t doubt that Saber can’t handle herself, but I prefer not to have her overconfidence get the better of her in battle. Faust knows that would lead to us getting killed...wait a minute...Why did I say that name?

“Pfft, as if I don’t know what I’m doing. Compared to you, I’m more likely to survive then you would.” She said as I deadpan at her for that comment. “Relax, I told you before that I’ll protect you didn’t I? Have a little bit of faith in me would you?”

“It’s kinda hard to do that when you keep saying sly remarks like that. But I guess I have no choice in the matter seeing how I’m stuck in this place until we can win this war.” I said as I felt her pat me on the back, which caused me to stumble forwards a bit. Geez, for a girl she sure does have a lot of strength to back up the class of Servant she is.

“That’s the spirit Master!” She said before taking the lead and motions me to follow her. “Now watch as I show you just how strong I am!” As we continued to make our way through the beginning part of the Arena, I saw what appears to be three cube like enemies stretching themselves like a spring floating around blocking our path.

“So that’s one of the enemies in the arena? It looks kinda cute to be honest.” I won’t deny that it does look kinda cute with it’s moving around like that. Makes me wonder if I can get one as a pet?

“Of course you would say that.” Saber said as she summoned her sword into her hand as it gives off sparks of red energy like electricity. Before I could give her a command or order, Saber vanished from my sight before bolting off towards the enemy. Once she was close to one of the cubes, she lifted up her sword and brought it down onto it as it soon bounced off the ground and sent it flying into the arena wall. The cube soon fell to the ground as the crack in the arena wall patched itself up.

“One down, two to go.” Saber said as she quickly avoided the second cube coming at her in a spinning motion. She tried to attack the metallic like string part that kept the cube together, but her sword soon bounced off it as she staggers backwards a bit from the recoil. “Tsh, seriously? Talk about making things difficult in this place.” She said before the third cube tried to attack her with a spring jump like attack, only for Saber to knock it back with her sword and counters with a vertical slash to its frame. As the hit landed onto the third cube, it soon split into two before disappearing into nothingness.

All I could do was stare and do nothing as I watch Saber fight the cube monsters on her own. I’m at a lost for words with what I’m seeing. I mean I kinda assumed that Saber was good, but I didn’t think she was this good. As I was watching Saber fight, I notice the cube that she sent flying into the wall pick itself up and quickly spin toward Saber from behind.

“Look out behind you!” I yelled which, hoping that would get her attention and caused her to move...but that didn’t turn out so well as she was hit from behind by the cube and sent tumbling forwards a bit. She quickly recovered from the tumble before turning around and tossing her sword at the cube’s box like head. Once the sword was impaled into the cube’s head, Saber quickly lunge herself towards it as she punched the pummel of the down causing the sword to cut through the cube’s body.

“Bastard! You thought something like that would hurt me!?” She yelled as she heard the second cube coming at her. She gritted her teeth upon hearing that noise as she balled up her fist, and delivered a strong powerful punch to the cube’s frame causing it to burst into black bits of….whatever it was made of before disappearing into nothingness. Saber took in a deep breath before her helmet came off once she exhaled. When her helmet was off, I noticed a trail of blood going down her head as I quickly rushed over to her.

“Are you okay?” I asked as she simply nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine.” She said before wiping the blood away from her forehead and looked at me with the same cocky smile on her face. “I was not expecting this place to reduce my strength to that of a weakling. Guess you were kinda right about me being careful?” She said before scratching the back of her head. “Dammit, how embarrassing.” Huh, this is a side I would never expect her to have….humility with oneself when their overconfidence gets the better of her...why do I get the notion that I learned it from somewhere or somepony.

“Is there a way to patch up that head injury?” I asked before noticing it healing by itself. “Oh...um...never mind.”

“Small wounds like that are nothing to worry about. Though we do need to stop by the store so you can get some healing items for when I do get seriously injured during battle.” She’s right about that. In my absent mindedness, I forgot to ask the girl behind the counter if I could get some items of healing for Saber. When we go back to the school, I’ll be sure to stock up on some supplies before we come back here to the Arena tomorrow.

“Y-You’re right....sorry for not getting some when we had the chance.” I said as I lowered my head in shame, only to feel her hand rub the top part of my head.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just explore this area a bit before we head back.” Saber said as I nodded in agreement with her. “We should be able to find some treasure around here if we look really hard. That and most of them might be protected by enemy programs so that will help in me getting stronger.”

“This place has treasure?” I asked as Saber shrugs. “You know you could always say yes or no you know?”

“I know. But seeing how you understand most of what I’m saying, I figured you’d do okay with how I respond to most of your questions.” She said before taking the lead again through the arena. I simply rolled my eyes before following after her while keeping an eye out for any enemies nears us.

Night

After a few hours in the Arena, we decided to make our way back to our private room given to us by Father Kotomine. Once we entered into the room, I was kinda disappointed at the fact that there wasn’t much in here bed wise. In a fit of inspiration, I decided to use the desk to make somewhat makeshift beds for us by pushing the desk around with Saber’s help.

“I hate to tell you this egghead, but I gotta say this. While we were in the Arena, I found I couldn’t access my full power. Mostly because of your deficiencies, I’m unable to fight to how I was during my time I was alive.”

“I kinda figured it'd be the case...I mean I’m still trying to get the hang of this war fighting thing. Sorry for not being that helpful to you.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. As time goes by, we’ll get stronger and stronger together. Having my original abilities available for use isn’t important. There’s is no shame in being a novice; in fact, the possibilities of what you may become kinda excites me a bit.”

“You have a lot of confidence in me?” I asked as she nodded and gave me a thumbs up.

“Tomorrow we’ll make another effort in the Arena, and we’ll improve together little by little.” She said before walking over to the closet of the room and tossing me a blanket and pillow perfectly right beside me. “It’s a trivial matter. As long as you have me, we’ll keep going.”

She’s right about that. Today was just the stepping stones to lay the foundation of my goal. Tomorrow will be when I’ll have to take things seriously once I know who I’m fighting against. I can’t afford to buckle under the pressure of killing somepony. I have to know who I am and I won’t stop until I get this question answered. Even if it means I have to kill them in order to exit the Holy Grail War. I looked over at Saber with a nod as she could see the determination in my eyes. Her smile soon turned into a grin as she nods.

“That’s the spirit pony girl. Now get some rest. Tomorrow is gonna be a whole lot busy.” She said before leaning against the wall with her helmet on. I blinked in confusion as to why she was over there, but I simply shrugged and reached for the pillow and blanket. Once I placed them in the appropriate place on the desk, I quickly wrapped myself in the blanket as tiredness took over and caused me to fall asleep.

Author's Note

Matrix Status:

HP: 400/400
MP: 120/120

Strength: 20
Defense: 20
Agility: 15
Magic: 13
Luck: 15

Class: Saber
TRUE NAME: Unknown
NOBLE PHANTASM: Unknown
KEY WORD: Clarent: Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword

Strength: (E) Defense: (E) Agility: (E) Magic: (E) Luck: (E)

Anti-Magic: (B) ???: (?) Mana Burst: (A)

Database

01: Unknown

02: Clarent: Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword: (C)

The sword denoting the right of succession of the throne that was stored in King Arthur's armory. It is described as "more dazzling than any silver, and is a treasured sword with worth excelling or at least not inferior to "The Golden Sword of Promised Victory." Because Mordred stole the sword without acknowledgement, the rank is lower than the original.

03: Secret of Pedigree: Helm of Hidden Infidelity: (C)

The helmet her mother Morgan gave to her along with the words "You must not remove." Within the Status, personal skills, Noble Phantasm and anything connected to the True Name is masked. However when Clarent: Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword is released, the helmet must be removed.

Database 2:

01: Anti-Magic: (B)
Cancel spells with a chant below three verses. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for her to be affected.

02: Unknown

03: Mana Burst: (A)
Weapons and body are infused with magical energy, this instantaneous release elevates ability. In other words, magical energy as jet propulsion. With this is able to fight equally with the King of Knights.

Master's Status:
Name: Twilight Sparkle
Age: Looks to be 18, actual age is unknown
Gender: Female
Species: Alicorn

Mastery Level: 3
Equipment: None

Command Seals: 3

Magic Level: Unknown

Week One: Knowledge is Power

Week One

Knowledge Is Power

[Day Three]
Evening

My ears flicker a bit from the sound of the door to the Private Room Saber and I are in opens. I slowly open my eyes to look out at the window to see what time it was. "Evening huh? I guessed I must've been really tired after what happen yesterday?" I thought as I turn my attention back to the doorway to see Saber walking in with a ton of food in her arms, and her not in her usual knight armor….wait what? Rubbing my eyes, I blinked in surprise to this as my jaw hangs open to this. Saber turned around to see me looking at her as she stared at me like a foal getting caught doing something he or she wasn’t supposed to do. We stared at each other for a moment until she broke the silence with a clearing of her throat.

“......You tell anyone about what I look like, and I will personally kick your ass from here all the way across the school.” Saber said as I raised my hands in defense to her….possible threat.

“It’s not like I can tell anypony what you look like without your armor on.” I said before I felt her throw a Curry Bread at my face causing me to yelp. “Seriously?”

“Like I said before. You keep at it with the pony puns, and I will keep doing that to you until you break from that habit.”

“You’re mean you know that?” I said as I rubbed my nose and unwrapped the Curry Bread she tossed over to me. “So what have you been up to?”

“Other then getting food from your favorite fan in the cafe.” She said in a teasing manner as she placed the bag of food next to my bed. “That and gathering some info on our opponent and his servant.”

“Any luck on that?” I asked as Saber shook her head. “This might be harder than we thought.”

“It’s not that I couldn’t do that. It’s the fact that all the idiot did was walk around and being a jerk towards others...not so much enjoying to watch, more of me wanting to punch his face in.”

“He’s that annoying that I couldn’t stand to follow him anymore. Last thing I saw before heading back was seeing him heading towards the library on our floor.”

“Hm, if he’s heading towards the library, then we might be able to gather more information on him. We should head out and see if he’s still there.” I said before pulling myself from out of the bed and headed towards the door. Only for Saber to stop me by extending an arm in front of me.

“Yeah, you’re not going anywhere unless you want some guy feeling you up while your naked.” Saber said as I look down at myself and blush bright red upon realizing what she meant. How did I not notice that I wasn’t wearing anything!? Saber let out a small chuckle to this as I quickly ran back over to the bed and covered my body with the blanket while trying to look for my clothes. “For a nerd, you’re not really that bright are you?”

“S-Shut up!” I yelled before finally finding my clothes and quickly began to put them on. “You’re a jerk you know that?”

“Not my fault you’re too distracted to pay much attention to yourself.” She said as I quickly took the covers off from me to reveal my now fully clothed body to her. “There we go. Now if we can just figure out what to do about those dark lines underneath your eyes, then you might be normal for once instead of a talking pony that is sleep deprived.” I simply glared at her before heading outside of our room. Once I made my way outside, Saber quickly vanished from sight as we began to track down Shinji over at the library.

As we make our way over to the library, I looked up to see Shinji standing in the hallway talking with someone. Looking over around him, I can see that he’s talking to Rin. Hm, I wonder what they could be talking about. An idea appeared in my head as I secretly sneak up on them to hear their conversation.

“Have you been inside of the Arena yet? Interesting place, isn’t it? I thought it was amazing at first, but it’s really pretty primitive. It’s like an ocean pulled from a story. I even saw a master who managed to summon Armstong. Sorry, I was just messing with you. I dig the sea theme. Overall the game’s pretty well done.” If Shinji thinks this is a game, then he’ll surely underestimate the gravity of this situation.

“What’s this? You actually managed to summon a decent Servant, then. Asia’s premier hacker, Shinji Matou?” Rin said with a slight sarcastic smirk on her face.

“You know, I may have had to take crap from you in the past, but this time the winner is me! With her armada to back me up, I’m invincible. Nothing you can do will be able to even touch me.”

“Oho, you must be pretty confident to give out information about your servant to an enemy, Matou.”

“That's Rin Tousaka for ya. An elegant voice that can crush somebody’s pride with a couple of words.” Saber whispered as I rolled my eyes and continued to watch the two talk. Shinji’s face goes bright red as he suddenly realizes how big of a mistake he just made…..This is the guy I’m suppose to be facing at the end of the week?

“Err...y-yeah. Yeah, that’s right! One-sided fights bore me, so think of this as a gift! But is it really?! I might just be lying. You might want to forget what I said.” Nice recovery idiot. Nopony would possible think to forget that bit of information...Mental note, look up armada when this is over.

“That's true. A single word would never expose a Servant’s true name, after all. However, a class that controls an armada and is tied to a ship will thin out the candidates some. How will she attack? Bombardment, or a frontal assault? It’ll definitely be physical in nature.” She said as Shinji flinched at what she said. “Well, I guess the only thing left for me to do is prepare a great many of physical barriers.”

Shinji’s face goes from bright red to a terrifying shade of blue right before my eyes. Once you learn something about an enemy Servant, you can begin to make plans to defeat them. If both sides are strong, but only one side plans, the results of the battle would be obvious. So that’s what the term knowledge is power means….why does that ring a bell?

“Oh, one more thing. I wonder if the Invincible Armada might be relevant to anything. I mean, others will start making references to that, right? Won’t that just piss off your Servant?”

Matrix Level 2: Obtained!

“W-Well...whatever. Knowledge means nothing if you can’t do anything with it. There’s a good chance that you and I will never have to face each other.” With that final pathetic attempt at a comeback, Shinji turns and starts walking away. And of course he is heading in my direction. As I wasn’t really hiding from the poor idiot, Shinji sees me right off. “You…! You weren’t there the entire time, were you? WERE YOU?!”

“It’s kinda hard not to be here when you’re blocking the way to the hallway.”

“H-Heh...Well. It’s not like you can stop the Invincible Arm-Err...I mean my Servant...Whatever...my victory is all but assured. Catch you later. Oh and try not to disappoint me.” he said before walking passed me and headed downstairs. I soon turn my attention at Rin who sighed in disappointment.

“It seems that there are a great many Masters who don’t understand the stakes involved.” She said as she too walked by me. Before I could think of what to do, Saber appeared right beside me fully armored as she groans.

“I hate agreeing with that harpy of a woman, but she’s right. Our foe doesn’t grasp the power of information. Though difficult, it is vital that we search the Arena and the campus for valuable information. Guess that little tip I gave you really paid off huh Master?”

“.....I’m not praising you if that’s the case.” I said as she gasped.

“Well I never! As if I wanted praise for my help coming from an egghead like you.” She said before turning away from me with her arms folded. I simply rolled my eyes and let out a sigh.

“But I guess I can thank you for giving me that tip about Shinji being here. So….Thank you Saber.” I could see a cocky grin appear on her face as she turned back around to face.

“Alright, for today to make sure we don’t overlook anything, we should search around the campus first before heading off to the Arena. More info could come to light with every new day. Do not allow your diligence to flag, ever!” And with that Saber once again vanishes into digital data from what I can guess. Once Saber vanished, I decided to make my way into the library to look up the Invincible Armada that Rin was able to get out from Shinji. As I entered, I quickly walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a dictionary to the word that I’m looking for.

“Let’s see. Indigo Violet, invisible cloak, invisible underwear….humans are weird. Ah-ha! Here it is. The Invincible Armada, The name given to the Spanish Navy during what is known as the Age of Exploration. With over one-hundred-ton ships and sixty-five thousand crew members, it almost subjugated all of England. Through the might of its navy, Spain was seen as the kingdom on which the sun will never set.” Just as I was about to turn the page to the book I was reading, I blinked in surprise to seeing the next page missing. As if someone ripped the page out of it.

“Looks like Shinji got a step ahead of you Master~” Saber whispered as I felt my left eye twitch a bit before I slammed the book and glared at her. “Hey, don’t give me that look. You really think he wouldn’t plan for something like this?”

“.....I’m starting to have second thoughts about you being my servant.” I said before placing the book back into the bookshelf. “Especially with your underhanded sly remarks.”

“Not my fault you’re new to this and still not used to expecting the unexpected.” Saber said before flicking my ear causing me to flinch a bit. “Remember Master. Other people will do whatever it takes to make sure they win or get an upper hand on their opponents. No matter how new you are to this game, you need to take into account of how smart your enemy is. And just because Shinji is a cocky little rat, he’s still a smart cocky little brat.” Saber is once again right, and I’m starting to hate it when she’s right about certain things. So far the only info I have on his servant is that she might be an archer and she might be the captain of The Invincible Armada. This isn’t going to bode so well when planning for the fight at the end of the week, but I still have some time to get more on her if I can fight or gather more info from Shinji or somepony here if they talked to him or get him to spill the beans on certain things about his Servant.

“Whatever, let’s just head to the arena and see if we can find something else that we missed. That and help you get stronger in the process.” I said before leaving the library and heading over to the Arena.

“Aw, I didn’t know you cared so much about me master~” She said in a rather sarcastic tone. I simply rolled my eyes and continued to the Arena with Saber following behind me while remaining invisible.

Week One: Powering Up

Week One

Powering Up

[Day Four]
Midday

Walking through campus before classes start, I can see various NPCs, who appear as busy students, among the Masters. Not only do the NPCs look slightly different, but their behavior seems a little...off. Maybe it’s their lack of a soul or them being nothing more than data created by this place. To them, this battle is just a string of data variables. Within a small group of gathered Masters, one of them stands out like a sore thumb. Mainly because of that bright orange he has on.

“Oh, it’s you. The one that I’ve been hearing about around the campus.” The boy said as he walked up to me. “I must say, it’s hard to imagine a phantasmal beast to be in the Holy Grail War. They usually remain myths of legends or part of a Servant’s phantasm. No offense to you or anything if I come off offensive.”

“None taken...I think?” I said as I looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow. “Not to be rude, but mind telling me who you are?” I asked as the boy reached for my hand.

"Leonardo B. Harwey. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you my fair lady.” Leo said as he kissed the back of my hand. I can feel my face burning bright red upon him doing that. My attention was soon drawn to a shadowy figure radiating the aura of strength as Leo’s was. The figure is clad in armor and armed with a sword. His aura marks him as his Servant from what I can guess. Leo took notice to me looking behind him as he turns his head to see who I was looking at “Oh, Gawain? Ah, how forgetful of me.” He said as he quickly looked back at me. “Gawain. Introduce yourself.”

“I am his servant, Gawain. I am pleased to meet you, and hope you will be a worthy foe.” As the armored figure nods in greeting, an enigmatic smile forms on his lips. He’s like the exemplar of knighthood and, though a Servant, has the same bearing as his Master...If only I had him as a Servant then Saber….but that’s a dream that’ll never happen anytime soon. Though this is a plus side for me in meeting them both. I’m sure Leo is aware of how much information he’s given me, but he seems unconcerned. It’s obvious that he chooses not to concern himself with much things as subtlety or tactics. I’m guessing for him, if something is destined to be revealed, so be it. From his point of view, his victory is all but assured; his superiority over others reinforced every day since he was born...Why do I have a weird feeling of anger towards this person.

“I must take my leave now. I hope to see you again. Please fight with honor and pride.” With a polite bow, Leo and his Servant turn and depart. Leaving me somewhat dumbfounded for the moment until a familiar voice appeared right next to me.

“Leo!? I knew one of the Harways would be here, but the scion of the family himself.” With that murmured comment, the murderous glare Rin shot at Leo was almost palpable. “The power of the Holy Grail...I guess the plutocrats of Europe see a threat in the SE.RA.PH. But still, to risk him...Oh well, what was borrowed on Earth will be repaid in Heaven...Things just got more interesting, although my powers as a magus are far superior to his!”

“I get the feeling that Leo person has little concern for those like us.” I said, I notice Rin not noticing me to her right. Guess she must be lost in thought and thinking of a way to plan out her attack if she has to fight him later on. Without so much as saying hi, the now fired-up Rin almost seems to stomp away. I should spend some time looking into Gawain’s background...Maybe Saber might know a little bit of him? I’ll ask her once class is over.

[Evening]

“Sorry Master, can’t tell you who Gawain is due to revealing who I am.” Saber said while we were making our way out of the classroom and into the hallway. I kinda figured as much to be honest. The less I know about my Servant, the harder it would be to trust her. But that also means that it’ll be harder to get information out of me seeing how I have little to go by, and I won’t accidentally slip out some information to my opponents. “That and I prefer to tell you when the time is right, and right now isn’t the right time.”

“I...guess that makes sense.”

“Though if it’ll help, I will tell you later on once I see how you do in this war that we’re in. Can’t have a weak master die in the first week of this war. That would suck and be pointless to tell you if that’s the case.”

“You’re not very good when it comes to rallying up ponies. You know that right?” I said as I felt her flick my nose. “Ow! Will you stop doing that!?”

“Stop using horse puns, ya nerd. It’s a bit annoying.”

“I am not going to do that.”

“Then I’ll just keep flicking your nose until you do~” She said as I simply glared at her for a moment until I heard a chuckle from the stairway. Leaning against the wall of it was Rin. Which kinda took me by surprise to see her standing there like that.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear your conversation with your Servant. It’s always funny hearing you argue with your Servant. Makes me wonder how you two can stand each other to be honest.”

“It’s...complicated…” Complicated is an understatement if I’m being frank about it.

“I trust you’re doing well, all things considered?” Rin asked as I hesitantly nodded to her question. “You will never catch even a glimpse of victory if you insist on always running away.”

“Hey, we haven’t been running away from anypony!” I yelled as Rin raised an eyebrow at me.

“So you avoiding Shinji for the past two days isn’t you running away?”

“T-That’s so I can get more information on him. You can’t expect somepony to be ready to fight somepony on the spot like that.” I said as she stared at me more for a moment before shaking her head. I’m guessing it’s because of what I just said or something else that I don’t know.

“Running away won’t solve anything. However, facing a foe you know nothing about is lunacy. In this war, information is everything. To defeat your opponent, learn all you can about them. Their class, skills, even their history. The more info you have, the easier it will be to create a plan and predict your opponent’s actions.”

“Rin does make a valid point. We don’t want to go into battle without know what we are facing. That’s just begging for trouble in itself.” Saber whispered.

“You don’t think I know that? What do you think I’ve been doing during this time?”

“For now, why don’t you go to the library? There’s a treasure trove of information there.”

“Well we were going to go find information, but why are you telling me this?” I asked as a sly grin appeared on her face.

“No reason, really. I just have a feeling that you’ll somehow come out on top. Matou is an idiot, but he has won before. It’ll make things easier if he gets defeated early on. Anyway, do your best.” I might learn a few things about Shinji’s and Leo’s Servants. I’ll take her advice and go poke around the library for what I need...I just hope I can find more on them and not find the pages pulled out of them like before. As I made my way down the hall and to the entrance of the campus library, the door to the library opened as a unpleasantly familiar person was standing in front of me.

“Hey, look who the cat dragged in. I never expected to run into you~” Shinji said as I glared at him. “Oh, who am I kidding?! Ha ha, I’m just messing with you. The library is the best place to find info. A nerd like you is easy to read, so I expect you to go all out against me.”

“Believe me, I won’t hold anything back.”

“But enough about me. It looks like you’re having a hell of a time finding the book you want. Unfortunately for you, I’ve thoughtfully taken every book about my servant and hid them!” I can feel my left eye twitch upon hearing that as I took in a deep breath and glared at him more intensely.

“Is there a reason why you would do something like that?”

“I thought you’d have more fun this way. Especially after seeing your expression yesterday. Totally worth it. I hid everything somewhere in the Arena. I wonder if a weaksause Master like you will be able to find them. By the way, what does your Servant want in return for helping you? Money, right? I knew it!”

“What the hell are you talking about-”

“Do your best...while you still can. Hahahahahaha!” He said while cutting me off from my question. “Whelp, see you around. Good Luck. I hope you’ll put up a little more of a fight next time we meet in the Arena. You’re starting to bore me!” He said as he walked passed me down the hallway.

“Arrogant asshole.I am now even more tempted to run my blade through that squany little neck of his!” Saber said as she made herself visible to me.

“I was kinda hoping he hid them around campus, but to hide them in the Arena...hate to say it, but it was a smart move on his part.”

“You’re actually praising that weasel?”

“No, I’m just saying it was a smart move. But he also let slip some information about where they are. On purpose or not, we need to go there so we can get it before he changes his mind and moves them.”

“Agreed, let’s not waste any time and go there.” I nodded as I began to make my way to the Arena. Once I reached the first floor of the campus, a familiar fatherly voice caught me off guard from behind as I jumped a bit from that.

“Greeting my child, I heard you already have a cipher key...excellent. You’ll get the other one at this rate.” Kotomine said with a melancholy smile on his face. “The second floor is where you’ll find the secondary trigger.”

“The second floor is available?”

“Not yet, but you should get a message saying that the second floor will be available. Once you hear that, you should be able to go to the new floor. But before I forget, have you set foot in the chapel yet? The system’s jurisdiction doesn’t penetrate that far, but you can strengthen your Servant there.”

“You make your servant stronger than how they are now?” I asked as Kotomine nodded. “Care to explain why you didn’t tell me this Saber?”

“Cause you never asked.” Saber said as I deadpan at her before looking back at Kotomine.

“Thanks for telling me about that Father Kotomine.”

“I’ve said my piece, Go and slaughter to your heart’s content.” Kotomine said as he went back to standing in the middle of the hallway.

“Is he always like that?

“From time to time he can be, but for now we have a new objective. First we go to the chapel, then to the arena.” Saber said as she lead me down the hall. “The chapel is down the hall though the double doors.”

(Chapel)

I push open the heavy door to the chapel and go inside, where it is dark and eerily silent...I get the strange feeling that this place is completely cut off from the rest of the world. There’s no one in the pews As I get used to the dim light, a flash of colors hurt my eyes. As my vision came back, two women appeared in front of me. One had red long hair wearing a black hoodie and white jeans, while the other had blue hair wearing a purple dress shirt and dress pants.

“Hey there, welcome to the chapel. My name is Aoka Aozaki, and the girl next to me is Touko Aozaki. You’ve here to perform an Alteration of the Soul?” The red haired lady said looking at me.

“Ah you must be the new Master that everyone’s been talking about.” Touko said as she looked at me up and down. “I must say, it’s quite interesting to see something that you would see on a children’s cartoon show to be in this place. Well whatever, welcome to the Eden of the East. I assume you’re here for an Alteration of the Soul?” Alteration of the Soul? What is that supposed to mean? Realizing I have no clue as how to answer, she continues talking.

“Um...what does that mean?” I asked as Aoko stared at me in disbelief.

“You don’t know what the Alteration of the Soul is, but you came here anyway? Amateur.”

“Alteration of the Soul? What is it, you ask? Hmm...Simply put, you link your soul to your Servant’s. When a Master’s strength increases, we can strengthen the link. That’s done by hacking into each soul and choosing what to improve.” Huh...that’s very interesting to say the least...why do I have the sudden urge to take notes about this?

“Well, it’s like my sister said. My job is to perform Alterations made possible by various events.” Sister...Are these two really related? I was about to ask if they were really sisters, but a sudden wave of hatred from the two stops me. “You get the gist of it, right? If you want to do Alteration of the Soul, let me know. As for that creature over there, she’s totally useless, like 8-track tapes or the C:/ prompt.”

“And you’re lower than dirt. Don’t screw up or the Moon Cell will come down on you...again.”

“Gah! How many times do I have to tell you that the Master was at fault...that time! They specifically told me to do quasi-legal Alterations, so I added a few...extra skills.”

“Laugh now, but it wouldn’t be funny to the one who lost because of your towering incompetence. Listen well...pony girl. If you value your life, do not put any trust in that -thing’s- abilities. If I were you, I’d go about regaining the spiritual statuses your Servant may have lost.”

“Whatever you prick. Anyway, what do you say we try Alternation right now?” Aoko asked as I nodded. ““Alrighty then. Let’s alter your souls!” She said, pulling up a screen in front of me. “Just select the ones that you want to increase, and I’ll do my magic.” I looked over the screen to see Saber’s status. Have to say, she’s pretty impressive for a Saber class...which makes me wonder why she’s a Saber class servant and not a Berserker class servant given her monstrous strength.

“Hm, well I guess I can increase her Agility, magic and luck a bit.” I said as I typed onto the digital screen for a moment before finishing. “There, that should do it right?” Aoko took the screen away from me as she looks it over with a nod.

“Okay, just have your servant step into the cube on the table, and we can get started.” She said as Saber made herself visible and stands on the table as ordered. From what I could tell, it looked like she was floating in mid air once the cube surrounded her. With just a press of a few buttons, the cube began to glow as the room was filled with a blinding light causing me to cover my eyes. Seconds later the light faded away as it revealed Saber float back down onto the table. “There we go, done.”

“How do you feel Saber?” I asked as she flex her hand with a grin on her face.

“Like I was back in the days of training with the other knights. I feel like I can take on an entire army!” She said as sparks of crimson color lightning escaped off of herself. “I even got back some of my skills too! This is going to make fighting even better!”

“The power of being able to Alter a soul between a Master and Servant. That’s Alternation of the Soul for yeah in a nutshell.” Aoka said, smiling at Saber and I. “If you need your souls Alternated, just stop by the chapel and I’ll work my magic.”

“We will, thanks for the help.” I said as Aoko smiled and waved me off as Saber and I made our way out of the Chapel. As we left the chapel, there’s something going on in the garden. When I go to look, I see Shinji causing trouble...again. It appears that Shinji is being thrown out of the chapel after angering that old colt.

“A chapel is for quiet reflection. I do not know who your god is, but you should know that much.”

“Sorry, my bad! I’m an atheist. Swear to god!” I’m not surprise that he would reply with a comment like that to be honest.

“...Hmph. I have always believed that the Japanese were polite. I guess I was misled. Leave this place at once. The gates of heaven will remain closed to the unbeliever. It appears that in your haste to learn how to fight, you forgot to learn dignity and respect.” With that, the old man walked past me and returned into the chapel.

“I really hate old geezers like you, always talking down on me! When it comes time to fight, you can bet your ass I’ll be teaching you a thing or two!” Shinji said as he walked off back into the school.

“You think that guy wouldn’t cause trouble as much. But then again with an attitude/personality like that, I’m surprised no one hadn't punched him in the face yet.” Before I could reply with a comment to that, I heard a beeping sound coming from my Portable Terminal. As I pulled it out, there was a message on it.

: : The second cipher key has been generated on the second floor. : :

“The second key have been made. Let’s get going to the Arena before Shinji tries to stop us like before.” I suggested as Saber nodded before making herself invisible.

The second key has been created. Looks like this gives us another reason to go into the Arena. Three days left until the final fight with Shinji and I still don’t have enough info to think of a plan to fight him. I hope that we can get the books that Shinji hid in the Arena before he goes in and change their location to someplace else.

Arena

[Greed and Lust combine to burst into Brilliance. And lead onward to the sepulcher of the sea.]

“Dear Celestia! Look at this place!” I said as I looked around at the Arena layout. “It’s like we’re underwater or something and….is that a giant pirate ship!?”

“That's the holy grail war for ya. They always keep things interesting.” Saber said as she drew out her sword. “ But do try to stay focused Master. I sense an unpleasant aura. They must be lurking somewhere nearby. It’d be a catastrophe if they attack us from behind while we return to the campus. We should head-on now.”

“Knowing Shinji, he must have hid the book in a hidden area of the Arena. We should get a move on before they suspect what we’re up to.”

“Smart plan egghead.” Saber said as she took the lead. “Just stay behind me Master, and I’ll take care of dealing with the enemies.” She said as we began our search through the second floor of the arena. During their search for the key and books, we came across a wall that was blocking their path to the rest of the arena. “Dammit, something tells me that Shinji placed this here just to screw around with us.”

“There must be a switch or something nearby. Let’s look around and see if we can find one.” I said as I notice a strange looking crystal standing on a pedestal a few feet away from them. “Hey, there's something over there. It might be the switch to get us through.” As I quickly ran over to the switch, I quickly stopped halfway to see an enemy program in the shape of a blocky snake appear near it.

“Um, Saber! A little help please!?” I yelled as I slowly backed away from the digital monster.

“On it!” Saber said as she batted the program back with the butt of her sword. As Saber took up a fighting stance, the program soon recovered as it started to charge toward us. Saber blocked the oncoming attack by parrying it’s charge attack, and counters with a straight jab to its body following with an upwards vertical slash to its face. The program quickly backed up away from the Servant as it starts to move around in a circle at top speed heading toward her. Saber quickly ducked out of the way as she slid behind it hoping to attack from behind. Only for the program to return by bouncing off the Arena wall and hits her in the back. This caused Saber to be pushed forwards and hit the wall face first.

“You okay Saber?”

“Yeah, just didn’t expect for it to hit me from behind like that.” She said, pulling herself up from the wall as she glared back at the enemy program. The program began its spinning attack again as it headed towards Saber. Saber ready her sword as she waited for the right moment to counter it’s attack as her sword began to glow crimson. As the program came close enough to Saber, Crimson like lightning discharged from it as the Servant quickly spun around to perform an upwards slash causing the program to stagger back. In its stunned state, Saber quickly jumped into the air and brought her sword down cutting it in two as it disappeared into ones and zeros. “Ha! Too easy.”

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but nice work Saber.” I said while walking over to the switch and touched it. Upon touching the switch, the path that was blocked was unblocked.

“Next time when I say I’ll take the lead. Try not to rush off without a care in the world, okay? I prefer not to have you die on me before we can get out of this place.”

“Right, sorry. I’ll make a mental note of that.”

“Just stay behind me and don’t wander off like that. Come on, let’s go find the book that idiot hid inside here.” Saber said as she took the lead and headed down further into the arena as I followed after her. As we continue our way deep into the arena, I took notice of our surroundings. Mostly because from what I could tell, it looked like we’re underwater, but we’re not.

“Interesting…”

“What’s interesting?” Saber asked as I notice her looking over at me from the corner of her eyes.

“I just have never seen something like this before. The underwater theme Arena, swimming fishes going pass us, and the sunken ship. All this is just interesting to the point of this being something out of a dream.”

“What, you think you’re dreaming or something?”

“No, the fact that you can hurt me each time a say a pony pun is proof enough that I’m not dreaming...But all this might give me some idea of how to plan out the strategy for when we fight Shinji. We just need to get the books so I can go over them tonight. That’s if we can find them. Seriously, how hard is it to find them in a place like this?” I said as we continued walking down the arena floor, only to stop as Saber looked over to her left. “Something wrong Saber?”

“Master, there is a suspicious hidden passageway here.” Saber said as she pointed over to my left. “What do you say we see where it leads, shall we?”

“Lead the way Saber.” I said as we went down the hidden passageway. As we walked down the hidden passage, we come across a platform with an orange digital cube floating in the middle of it. “Looks like we found where Shinji hid the book.”

“What makes you say that?” Saber asked as I walked over to the orange cube and tapped on it to cause it to open.

“Because of the color on the boxes we find in the Arena. Blue usually have a consumable item, green would be the key card, and orange would be something important. So seeing how we’re looking for the book of Shinji’s Servant, an orange box would have something like that in there.” I said before turning my attention to the box. As I looked into it, all I could find was a somewhat faded journal.

“That’s what Shinji’s been hiding from us? A torn up looking journal!?”

“It’s a diary.”

“And you know that because?”

“Because it says diary written on the sheaves of parchment.” I said, showing her where it was written as she stares at me with a dumbfounded expression. While she was staring at me, I quickly open the book to see if this was the real thing. To my surprise and relief, it was. “Look at this. This book pretty much has everything written about his Servant. The name of her ship, The Golden Hind, names of several islands, hijacking ships, and date logs of her time out at sea.” I said as I closed the book. “Without a doubt, this must be connected to that Servant in some way. It’s a pity her true name isn’t legible, but this book should prove a useful clue as to her identity once I read completely.”

“Damn! I didn’t expect you to find it so easily, freak.” My ears perked up a bit from that familiar voice, as I turned around I could see Shinji and his Servant standing behind us. Buck me sideway, I was kinda hoping he wasn’t in the Arena. “And I went through all of the trouble of bringing it down here...Oh well, I’ll just have to take it back now.”

“Well look who finally comes out of his hole. Been awhile since we’ve seen you Shinji.” Saber said as she readies her sword.

“Heh! You must be getting really desperate if you’re searching for it in a place like this! Anyway, too bad for you. You came all this way just for me to take that book away from you.”

“You think we’re going to just hand over the book to you? Not a chance.” I said before quickly putting the book in my pocket.

“Well then I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way then. Servant, you know what to do.” Shinji said as his Servant pulled out one of her pistols and fired a bullet at me. Only for Saber to move in front of me and deflect the bullet off to the side.

“Oh, someone has improved since the last time we fought.” The Servant said as she blocked an oncoming charge attack from Saber with her pistols. “Think you can stand on your own little girl~?”

“.....What did you just call me!?” Upon hearing that question, I get the sense of anger and rage coming from Saber as sparks of Crimson colored lightning started to expel from her body. I slowly began to back away from Saber as something tells me that Shinji’s Servant just hit a nerve on Saber.

“What, little girl-” Before she could finish, Saber quickly lifted up her foot as she pushed Rider away from her, and dashed towards her ready to strike at her chest. Rider quickly moved out of the way as a cannon shape door opened up from where she moved, and fired a cannon ball at Saber at point blank range. I was not expecting her to be able to do something like that.

“Haha! Serves you right for thinking you can beat me you little freak. With your Servant dead, you won’t be able to fight me at the end of the-” Before he could finish gloating about his win, Saber appeared from out of the smoke caused by the explosion from the cannon and quickly punched his Servant in the face sending her flying backwards. As the smoke cleared up, it revealed that Saber was not hurt in anyway from the blast to the face as I could hear her coughing due to the smoke.

“Fucking cheap ass fucker! How dare you hit me with a hidden weapon!” Saber yelled as she quickly bolted after the flying Servant with her her sword. Once she was close, she delivered a downwards slash to the Servant’s chest as she was sent falling onto the Arena floor. Just as Saber was about to run her sword through the pirate’s chest, she quickly rolled out of the way as she fired another cannon ball at Saber causing her to be pushed backwards back to where I am.

“You okay Saber?” I asked as she looked over at me. Kinda hard to tell how she’s looking due to the helmet she has on, but I can guess she’s angry. “Right, stupid question. Sorry.” Before Saber could reply to what I just said, the same loud air horn sound echoed into the arena causing Saber and Shinji’s Servant stop. But not before Saber landed a surprise sucker punch to Rider’s face by throwing one of her gauntlets at her face.

“N-No way...how can you two be this strong in less than three days?”

“While you were off goofing around, we've been training in the arena and looking up information on your Servant.” I said giving off a triumphant pose. “We won’t lose to somepony like you who looks down on others.”

“D-Don’t start getting cocky now freak! You’re lucky the SE.RA.PH is watching. I’ll be victorious in the end!” Shinji said as he and his Servant exited the arena

“Coward. Get back here and fight!”

“Let them go Saber. We got what we needed and then some. Thanks to that battle I’ve reached a number of conclusions of what class of Servant Shinji has.”

“Really? What are they?”

“Well only one would do as a conclusion to my guess. Mainly her attire. Given the fact that it’s more towards somepony that could be a general or pirate. And given how she fancies gold over anything else, I’m going with Pirate. Second, her weapons. You said that she was an archer. But given how she isn’t using a bow or a weapon that can hit far away, we can scratch that off the list of Servant class. And her weapon that she used to blast your face with is part of a ship. So the only thing that her class can possibly be...”

“Is a rider class Servant!”

Matrix Level: 3
Enemy Servant Information Obtained!

“Now that we’ve obtained the book that idiot man-child tried to hide, we can leave this place without any problem. Should we go after the trigger key now or go after it tomorrow?”

“Let’s get the key now so we won’t have to worry about it tomorrow. Something tells me that Shinji might have something planned for us tomorrow if we go into the arena to get the key.”

“Fair enough.” Saber said as she took the lead again. “Let’s go.”

Week One: Hunt for the Golden Hind

Week One

Hunt For The Golden Hind

[Day Five]
Evening

Class ended for today as I made my way into the private room. As I entered inside, I was taken by surprise by Saber solemnly staring at me. I get the sense of nervousness due to the strength of her daunting gaze. My questions about the Holy Grail War have only increased since that moment I unknowingly made a contract with Saber...And the war aside, I still want to know just who she is.

“Hey! What the hell are you staring at?” Saber asked as I flinched back a bit from her yelling. “If you have something to ask, this is the time to ask me what you want?” I guess this is a good opportunity to ask. All right, here goes nothing.

“I know this may be sudden, but I have to ask. What is your true name other than Saber?”

“You got a lot of balls to ask me something like that so soon. So not knowing my true name has been troubling you. However, what troubles me is that you do not worry over the battle to come as I do.” She said before leaning back in her seat with a smirk on her face. “Normally I’m not one to talk about the past of how my life was, but seeing how we sworn an oath of fidelity or something, I’ll tell you.” She said as she motions for me to come closer. Once I was close she motions for me to come close again and I did so, only when I did I felt something slimy and wet swirl around in my ear as Iet out a yelp and pulled myself away from Saber. When I was away, I saw her tongue sticking out from her mouth as she started to laugh out loud.

“What the hay was that for!?” Twilight asked, wiping away the saliva from inside her ear as she glares at her Servant in disgust.

“I told you I would tell you my true name when the time comes. Did you really think I would tell you it now when it’s only been five days since this war started. You will learn of my true name once you have become successful as a magus. For now, restrain yourself.”

“....I am so tempted on using a command seal to get you back for this.”

“But you can’t, because I’m sure you’ll be needing them later on during the Holy Grail War~” Dammit, she’s right as much as I hate to say it. I can’t really do anything to her...yet.

“Let’s just go to the arena before I say something that I might end up regret saying.” I said as I made my way back outside of the private room we live in.

“Aw come on, you have to admit I got you good with that right?” Saber asked as she quickly followed after me into the hallway.

“Yes you did, but that doesn’t mean that I like it.”

“Hey, I did tell you that I’ll tell you my real name later on. Just not right now.” She said before taking the lead and begins to walk backwards. “Plus you should’ve expected something like this to happen when it comes to me.”

“That still doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive you for that. I mean really, you’re just as bad as Rainbow Dash.”

“Who’s Rainbow Dash?”

“W…..What?”

“Who’s Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow Dash...that name...it sounded familiar...but why do I know the name of this person when I’ve never met them before. My head started to pound a bit as the sound of what I could guess was static buzzing in my head. The world around me slowly began to go dark for a moment before I heard Saber’s voice calling out my name.“Oi! Earth to horse lady! You in there!?” I shook my head upon hearing Saber’s voice as I blinked at her in confusion.

“H-Huh, what?”

“You kinda went silent on me for a moment. What the hell happened?”

“I...don’t know...what was I talking about again?” I asked as Saber stared at me for a moment before deciding to answer.

“You said I was like this Rainbow Dash person due to me licking the inside of your ear.” ...Right...Almost forgot about Saber doing that to me in the classroom. “Still can’t remember anything from before you came here, huh?”

“Yeah...I still can’t remember.” I said as I felt Saber place a hand on my head and pats it for a moment.

“Hey, cheer up. I’m sure it’ll come back before or after you win the holy grail war...that or when you’re dying.”

“....You’re not very good at cheering people up...you know that?” I said as I continue to walk towards the Arena doors.

“Hey, at least I’m trying egghead. That at least deserve some credit, right?”

“When you do a better job at it, then I might be willing to do that.” The moment I tried to enter the Arena, it felt like I ran into a wall and I was flung backwards. Looking up I can see the doors are being blocked due to some kind of barrier. “What the hay was that?”

“Huh, seems someone is afraid of a fair fight. I can only guess who that might be.” I hear the sound of footsteps heading towards me as Saber vanished. When I turned around I saw Shinji making his way over to me with a smug expression on his face.

“Hey there! Looks like you’ve been hitting the Arena pretty hard. Toughen up yet? I was bored, so I decided to set up a few little surprises here and there. My bad. I’m actually doing bottom feeding Masters like you a favor. The Arena is a dangerous place.” This boy….he is really making it hard for me to not want to...to...I don’t know why, but I really want to hurt him so badly! “But if you must enter the Arena, you’ll need to track down the two magic sigils I set. However, once you make it into the Arena, I’ll crush you like a cockroach. Show up if you dare.” He said before walking off down the hallway. “See you later. Oh, and where are the magic sigils, you asked?”

“I didn’t-”

“Find them yourself, loser!” Once he left, Saber made herself visible to me as I notice an annoyed expression on her face.

“I’d give anything to be able to eviscerate that son of a bitch!” She said as she clenched her fist for a moment before sighing. “Sadly, the rules won’t allow it. Looks like the door is sealed, but it’s actually an anomaly in the area’s programming code. Like a tributaries feeding a river, we need to find course behind the flow of mana filling the barrier. Now if I was a little bitch ass weasel, where would I hide those two sigils?”

While Saber was busy with her thoughts on where the sigils were, I decided to look around the area we were in. As I did, I took notice to two weird glowing blotches. One was upstairs in the classroom I usually go into on the second floor, and another one on this floor at the nurse’s office. Kinda ironic seeing how I was about to head over there once I beat Shinji. I tapped Saber’s shoulder to get her attention.

“The sigils are located on the first in front of the nurse’s office, and another one in the classroom I was in with Ms. Taiga.”

“.....how did you know where they were?”

“I don’t know. I can see some weird colorful blotches so I’m guessing it’s where Shinji placed them.”

“....I’m not even going to question it, but at least we know where they are. I suggest we split up and take them down.”

“Wouldn’t it be a bad thing to do that. Especially when Shinji might end up attack me?”

“I doubt that. So far the idiot isn’t that stupid enough to try and attack you outside of the Arena. Plus it’s against the rules to do that and he would be eliminated from the tournament. So you’ll be safe on your own here in the school then in the Arena.” Saber said as she vanish. “I’ll take care of the sigil upstairs in the classroom, you deal with the one at the nurse’s office.”

I simply nodded as I felt Saber’s presence vanish. I’ll have to ask Saber how she was able to do that once I’ve gain her trust as a master...I prefer not to have her lick the inside of my ear like before. I mean really, who does that to somepony when they want to get to know somepony a bit better. Granted it’s not like we fully trust each other to some degree, but she could at least give me something as means to build a trust bond between us. I’ll be sure to get her back for that one day, but for now I need to take care of the sigil near the nurse’s office. Once I was there, I noticed there was some kind of rectangular piece of paper with circuit lines coming off it.

“Hm, this must be the thing that’s making the barrier in front of the arena door.” As I ready myself to try to pull the piece of paper off of the door, I felt some kind of jolt flow through my arm as I quickly pulled myself away from the paper. Looking at my arm, I notice the same circuit lines that were on the paper are now spreading across my arm. I began to panic as I tried to get this stuff off of me, but to no avail. It continued to spread up from my arm all around my body. “W-What is happening to me!? S-Saber-” My words died upon that last word, as I felt my body getting heavy. Before I knew it, I felt myself hit the floor as my vision before to fade. The only thing I saw before everything faded into darkness, was a pair of black shoes heading towards me.

The smell of smoke and blood filled her nose as Twilight’s eyes shot open upon smelling it. Once her eyes were open, she finds herself standing against a crystal wall of a torn smoke filled throne room. She tried to move her body away from the wall, but couldn’t as she felt a pain surging from her chest. Looking down, she could see a crystal rod like spear sticking out of her chest and possible into the wall behind her from the look of it.The alicorn tried to pull it out from her chest, but couldn’t due to the lack of strength she had in her. Her arms went limp in a matter of seconds as she hear somepony coming her way. Looking up, she could see a cyan colored mare with rainbow colored mane and tail wearing armor heading her way. The mare glared at her while making her way over to the rod as she pulled it out of her, causing Twilight to slump to the ground.

“How could you do this?” The mare said as tears began to roll down her face. “I thought we were friends Twilight? How could you do this to everypony?” Twilight could only stare at the mare with a confused look on her face. She tried to say something, but couldn’t due to feeling blood coming up her throat and coughing it up. The pegasus picked Twilight up by the throat and slammed her against the wall. “Dammit Twilight, say something!?” All Twilight could do was stare at the mysterious mare in confusion. She soon felt herself being thrown off far to the side while the mare picked up the spear and walked over to the alicorn. Once she was over to her, she aimed the spear at her chest and readies to impale her with it. Before she could impale her, Twilight felt herself quickly flipping herself around and fired a crystal in the shape of a sword into the mare’s stomach. The mare’s eyes widen upon getting hit, as she felt the crystal beginning to form around her stomach and spreading throughout her body. The pegasus kneeled down onto her knees as she watched her body being in cased in crystal before looking up over at Twilight.

“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said as she pulled herself up as her wound began to heal itself up. “But you’ll...understand when this is over.” She said as tears rolled down Rainbow Dash’s face before being in cased in crystal. “One down, only five to go.” She said as she staggered to walk off towards the door, only to fall flat onto the ground. She tried to pull herself up from the ground, but couldn’t due to her body reaching its limit as she felt her vision fading into darkness.

[Nurse’s Office]

I quickly shot up from the bed I felt myself in as I began to pant and look around the room I was in. Looks like I’m in the nurse’s office. How did I end up in the nurse’s office? The last thing I remember was...I touched the piece of paper on the door, and those weird circuit lines started to run across my body. Lifting the cover off of me, I can see the circuit lines appear on my body for a moment before they disappeared.

“Geez, you really need to be more careful egghead.” said a familiar voice as I looked over to my right to see Saber standing a few inches away from me as she waved a hand at me. “Had you not bang your head against the door you found the sigil from, the nurse might’ve not taken you inside and keep you safe. Lord knows I would hate to see you get hurt, or worse.”

“H-How long was I out?”

“About an hour or two. Can you stand?” Saber asked as I pulled myself up from the bed. I wobbled a bit, but I was able to stand on my own without help. “Good to see you’re able to stand. So what happened that caused you to get knocked out?”

“I...don’t know. All I did was touch the piece of paper on the door to this room. Next thing I know, weird lines started to appear on my body, and the next thing I remember was everything fading into darkness.” I said as I flex my hands a bit, only to blink in surprise by seeing the circuit lines from before appearing on my hands. I looked up at Saber who walked over to me, and slapped my hands. At first, I was about to yell at her for doing that. But the sudden realization hit me, that didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

“Looks like you just got a boost in your magic kid. Did you put on that formal wear that you got?” She asked as I shook my head no. “That’s....weird. Most humans would have to wear formal gear to be able to use code casting spells...but I keep forgetting that you’re not human. So I guess the rules that apply to humans for the most part is out the window for you.”

“This might be a good thing. Especially when we might get attacked from outside of the arena if the other masters order their servant to attack us.”

“You got a point there, but you might want to put on the formal gear so we can fool them into thinking that.” She said before making her way over to the doorway of the nurse’s office. “Come on, let’s head to the arena so we can get what we need before the big fight at the end of the week.” I simply nodded as I decided to follow after Saber into the hallway and towards the Arena...should I tell Saber about what happened to me in the dream...maybe I should wait until the fight with Shinji is over with. Don’t want anything to distract us from our main goal today

[Arena]

Once we enter into the arena, we saw Shinji and his servant standing in the first room of the place. Knowing Shinji, he must be here to gloat at us with something stupid. With a sigh, saber and I made our way over to the duo with a smug expression on Shinji’s face.

“So you came after all. Don’t worry; I’ll keep the extent of your greed a secret, Twilight Sparkle. Since we’re both here, why don’t we have a little competition to see who can find the most treasure? I’ll be sure to go easy on you, so no need to take this too seriously!” Before I could get a word in, Shinji quickly ran off into the arena. For a moment I just stared at him running off, then looked over at Saber for her input.

“Normally I have no desire for treasure. But seeing how we’re dealing with Shinji, I’ll make an exception for this.” Saber said with a childish grin on her face as she took the lead and motions for me to follow. “Come on, let’s go hunt us some treasure!” I couldn’t help but give her a small smile at her childish personality at the moment, but I quickly followed after my servant into the arena. As we made our way through the arena, Saber either quickly used her sword to cut the enemy programs into pieces or her fist to smash them into dust that blocked our path. Once we reached the halfway point of the arena, we saw Shinji and his servant reach the digital box which had the treasure inside it.

“Alright, this is the first one!” Shinji said as they soon ran off. “Money does make the world go round doesn’t it?”

“Ah, the fresh smell of money. I can feel myself getting stronger by the second!” yelled Rider as she lets out a loud laugh. As she quickly follows after her master.

“Dammit, we were too slow to get the treasure in time.” Saber said as we stopped in front of the empty digital box.

“There still might be more boxes that Shinji haven’t touched yet. If we can get those, then we can finish this hunt and stop his servant from getting stronger before the fight.” I said as I motioned for her to follow me after Shinji. As we continued to make our way through the arena, I spotted another digital box a few feet ahead of us as I grinned in excitement. “There’s a digital box a few feet away from us. We can go there and get it before Shinji does.”

“That or we might end up facing them and have to fight. I am really itching for another round with those two punks.” Saber said as she looked over to her left. I looked over there as well as I saw a pillar of light erupting from the distance. “And something tells me we might be fighting them sooner than expected!” She yelled before bolting ahead of me while grabbing my arm in the process. I let out a yelp as I was dragged like a rag doll along the way before she stopped and cause me to be sent flying into the wall of the Arena. “Oops, sorry Master. You okay?”

“....I’m going to kill you for that.” I said before pulling myself off of the wall. I notice some blood dripping from me as I raised a hand towards my nose to see it bleeding. I turn my attention towards Saber as I gave a deathly glare, which in turn caused her to laugh at my attempt of being deadly.

“Okay, here’s number two. This is way too easy.” Shinji said as we both looked over at Shinji opening the second digital box.

“Yeah, but that’s not going to be nearly enough.” His servant replied as Shinji snorted in annoyance.

“Damn, aren’t we the greedy one?” He commented as they turned around and were about to walk off to the next digital box, only for them to stop upon seeing us standing in their way as Shinji was taken by surprise by Saber and I. “Crap!” he yelled before quickly trying to play it off like nothing happened. “So freak, you somehow managed to make it this far. Well, I have to give you kudos for keeping up with me. It’s impressive, especially for one of the proletariat. But this is where your pathetic struggle will end. You’ve bumped into me, after all.”

“Don’t think that you’ll beat us like last time.” I proclaimed while wiping the blood off my nose. “Unlike last time, we have been working and training to face you both when the final fight begins tomorrow.”

“Sorry, but it’s game over, freak! Alright, get going El...Rider. You got your treasure, so get to work!”

“Jeez, what a pain in the ass. And By the way, this miserable little pittance hardly qualifies as treasure. Oh well, as this is my job...No hard feelings little pony girl!” Rider yelled as she raised her twin pistols at me and fired. Only for it to be blocked by Saber’s sword and deflected off to the side hitting the arena wall.

“Have you forgotten about me?” Saber asked as she charges at Rider with her sword ready to strike. Rider in turn quickly slid to the right as she takes aim at Saber and fires at her. Saber quickly uses her gauntlet to block the bullets as they bounce off as she punches Rider in the face sending her skidding back a bit before stopping.

“Wasn’t expecting that coming from a Saber class like yourself.” Rider said as she wipes the blood from her lips with her sleeve. “This is going to be fun~.” Saber once again charges at Rider once more as she drags her sword along the ground as she tries to slash upwards towards the pirate. Rider sees this as she uses her pistols to block her attack as she counters with a swift kick to Saber’s side. Saber skid to the left from Rider’s kick for a moment before grabbing Rider’s foot and slamming the pirate onto the ground. Slamming her on the ground again she lifts Rider up before releasing her grip, and kicking her in the stomach sending her flying back into the wall of the arena.

“What are you doing Rider!” Shinji yelled as he started stomping his feet in frustration. “I don’t pay you to get your ass handed to you by a mutant unicorn freak and her servant! Get up and take this fight seriously!” Groaning in annoyance Rider pulls herself up from the floor as she was about to take aim at Saber. Only for the SE.RE.PH system to interrupt their fight. Thank Celestia, I prefer not to have Shinji learn Saber’s attack patterns or something along the lines of that. “Dammit, of all the times for it to call off the fight.”

“Saved by the bell huh?” Saber asked as a grin appeared on her face. “You were saying about kicking our asses Shinji?”

“You just got lucky this time freaks. Tomorrow is the final day of the preparation week, so you better be ready for when I beat you in the match. Rider! We’re leaving!” Shinji said as he and Rider disappeared in a flash of ones and zeros.

“Looks like we’re ready to face them in the fight tomorrow.” Saber said as she looked over at me with a cocky expression on her face. “I think we can win this fight with that piss ant of a little man.”

“Just don’t get overconfident. We have one day left once we leave the arena. So we’ll need to get everything set up for our fight with Shinji. So tomorrow we’re going to take a break from the arena so we can relax while thinking of a battle plan.” I said which caused her cocky demenner to vanish as she groaned in annoyance. “Relax, I’m going to be the one who comes up with a plan. You just follow and do them to the best of your ability.”

“....I don’t know if I should be taken offense to that or not. But so long as we can kick their asses, I’m fine with this.” Saber said as she walked passed me and towards where we came from.

“Where are you going?”

“To get the rest of the treasure they left behind.” Saber said as I blinked in disbelief. “What? Don’t give me that look. We might as well take it seeing how they’ll be gone by tomorrow...that and I’m pretty sure we’re running low on funds.” she said as I pulled out my tablet to see what she meant...well she’s right about that. I barely have enough to buy a drink from the vending machines here, let alone bread.

“Alright, but after we get what we need, we’re leaving...but mind asking me why we’re running low on money?” I asked as I notice Saber pausing for a moment...before making a break for it down the arena hallway. “Hey! Get back here!” I yelled as I quickly chased after her. She better answer my question or else I am going to figure out a way to get payback on her.

Week One: Rest for the Warriors

Week One

Rest For The Warriors

[Day Six]
Evening

“So in this dream you had when you passed out the other day. You were fighting against a creature similar to you, but with rainbow hair?”

“I...believe so. It was kinda hard to make out what it was about seeing how it was just that...You think my memory is coming back?” I said as I took a sip from my drink.

“Possibly...but from what you told me, you sure it’ll be a good thing?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, think about it. If you were fighting against your own kind, wouldn’t it mean you might be...well...evil or something.” I…never actually thought about that to be honest...I mean, it’s not impossible, but I sure I might’ve had a good reason for it...right?

“I’m...sure I had my reasons behind it. But we can’t go on assumptions until I can remember more of my lost memories that I might be able to gather throughout the war.”

“I guess you’re right about that...question, why are you wearing those clothes?” Saber asked as she pointed a finger to what I was wearing. Normally the whole school girl clothes wouldn’t be my thing. But seeing how I’ve been wearing the same clothes for the past six days, and I just found out where to wash my clothes and showers were located. I figure I might as well get them clean up a bit for tomorrow.

“My clothes are in the washing machine in our private room. So the nurse gave me something that I could wear until they were done.”

“Well that’s good. Don’t want to have a master that’s fat and can’t run for her life.” She said as I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Have you seen the stuff you've been eating lately?” Saber said as she pointed at the spread of sweets I had on the table we were eating on.

“What? Tomorrow might be our last fight. So if I’m going to die, then I’m going to eat my last meal in this world.” I said before taking another sip from my drink. “Don’t judge me.”

“Right, tomorrow is the day of the Elimination Battle. Have you done everything you need to do before tomorrow? The enemy Master is vacuous, but underestimating such a competent Servant would be foolish.”

“Right, going into a battle without knowing what our enemy is would be dangerous and reckless.” I said before leaning back against my seat. “Shinji Matou...Well for one thing, he’s an arrogant jerk nuff said. The weapons that his treasured Servant wields is a pair of dual-wielding old-fashioned pistols made during the pirate era of human history from what I looked up before we found that book in the arena.”

“She and socially retarded Shinji make a good pair of troublemakers. Might be a wild older sister to the little jerk if he wasn’t so much of a dick.”

“Let’s not forget about the note that Shinji hid from us about his Servant. From what I’ve read, her Noble Phantasm was some kind of ship. I couldn’t read most of what was written on the paper that much due to it being old and scratchy handwriting. But from what I could read, the ship was called the Golden Hind. Which made sense given her attire.”

“So that means she’s a Rider type Servant?”

“Seems like it seeing how Archer Class Servants don’t use ships as their Noble Phantasm. If she only used her duel pistols, then I would’ve gone with Archer Class. But with the information from what we gathered, and from you getting hit in the face with a cannon. She’s a Rider.” I paused for a moment before reaching into my bag and pulled out the dairy we got from the arena two days ago. I turned to the page where the Rider’s name was scratched out as I glared at it a bit.

“You found something egghead?”

“I wonder if I can use my magic to fix this?”

“You can do that?”

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot.” I said as I placed a hand over the piece of paper that had her name on it. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes for a moment as I felt the circuit lines from the other day appear on my body, and flowed onto the diary. The dairy gave off a spark of light for a moment before fading to reveal a name on the paper I had my hands on. “Francis Drake.”

“Never thought I would see that woman here in the Holy Grail War.” Saber said as I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

“You know who she is Saber?”

“The name yes, though the detail behind her? Not so much...unless you know someone that can help us?” She asked as I thought of somepony that can help us...I’m pretty sure most of the Masters in this school wouldn’t help us due to being their opponent in the next round or fear of Shinji...wait...the students maybe afraid, but not the only teacher in this school.

“I might know somepony-” Before I could finish, I felt Saber quickly flick my snout as I yelped and rubbed it.

“Remember, no horse puns.” She said as I glared at her for a moment before continuing.

“I might know someone that could help us.”

“If you mean another student, then that might be a problem due to them being our opponent in the next round.”

“True, but what if we go ask a teacher for help?”

“.....You sure you want to ask Taiga for help?”

“Unless you know someone that’s informative, then she’s the only woman that can help us. We’ll go and talk to her after I’m finished eating.”

“Nice to see you have your priorities straight.”

“Last meal before tomorrow. I’m going to enjoy this!”

(Classroom, 2nd floor)

“So, you have finally come to seek guidance from your favorite teacher!?” Taiga said as she beamed brightly at me. I wouldn’t say favorite teacher, but she’s the only teacher here we can talk to without worry. “I always knew I was good at my job, but I never thought I was this good.”

“That’s mostly because you’re the only teacher here in this school that isn’t a NPC that can’t talk back to the person.” Saber said as Taiga deadpan at her.

“My point still remains! Don’t ruin my moment!” She said before looking over at me. “So what can I do for you my faithful student?” I blinked at her for a moment upon hearing the last part. Faithful student...where have I heard that line before? I flinched upon hearing Taiga clear her throat before looking up at her.

“Oh, um. I was wondering if you know of a person named Francis Drake?” I asked as I notice a grin appeared on her face.

“Ah, so you’re here for information on a master’s Servant, huh?” She asked as I simply nodded. “Well, I can give you the information that you need. But you’ll have to give me something in return.”

“Okay, like what?” I asked as she walked over to the blackboard and pulled the map that was covering it to reveal a list of items drawn in cartoonish fashion.

“There are certain items that got lost within the arena. I need you to get them for me before they end up disappearing after the week. You get them, and I’ll give you the information that you need.” She said before pointing to a picture of her holding a stick and a round ball. “First on the list. I need you to get my beloved Kendo stick and tangerine that got lost in the arena.”

“....Actually.” I reached into my back to pull out the items that she wanted as she blinked in surprise by this. “I found these in the arena and thought about selling them to the store in the commissary. But now that I know what they’re for, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for them.” I said as she quickly snatched them from out of my hands and nuzzles them affectionately.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! You do not know how badly I missed these.” She said before making them disappear and walk over to the board to write. “Now in return for doing that, I will give you the information that you’ll need to beat Shinji’s Servant tomorrow.”

“Perfect. Better write this down so I can go over my planning tonight.” I said as I pulled out a notebook and a pen as I began to write down the information she was writing.

“Francis Drake, a renowned pirate who circumnavigated the human world around the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.” She said as I tilted my head a bit in confusion. Granted it was a bit interesting. But given how Saber is not good at going into details, I just simply nodded my head for her to continue. “He...or in this case She was an English sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer and explorer of the Elizabethan era. Drake carried out the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580, and was the first to complete the voyage as captain while leading the expedition throughout the entire circumnavigation. With her incursion into the Pacific Ocean, she claimed what is now California for the English and inaugurated an era of conflict with the Spanish on the western coast of the Americas, an area that had previously been largely unexplored by western shipping. Elizabeth I awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581 which he received on the Golden Hind in Deptford. As a Vice Admiral, she was second-in-command of the English fleet in the battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588. Shame that she died of dysentery in January 1596, after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico. Drake's exploits made her a hero to the English, but his privateering led the Spanish to brand him a pirate, known to them as El Draque.”

“Wow...that’s...impressive. Wait, was Francis Drake a boy or a girl?”

“History said he was a man. But here he’s a woman. The Holy Grail has a weird way of summoning servants in different genders. Which is weird, but no surprise.”

“Fair point, I suppose.”

“At any rate, it’s a lucky thing you figured out her true name before the Elimination Battle. Shinji may be a fool at times, but there’s no arguing that he’s a hacker of incomparable talent.” Saber said as she patted me on the back a bit hard as she flinched forwards from this. “You’re doing pretty well for an egghead.”

“I do hope these tidbits of information we gathered can bridge the gap difference in our skill levels.”

Matrix Level: E
Enemy Servant Info Complete

“If you need anything else from me. Let me know and I’ll help out so long as you have the items that I need in exchange.”

“I’ll be sure to do that whenever we get the chance to do so. Thank you for your help Ms. Taiga.” I said before making my way out of the classroom with Saber following after. “With this much info, we should be fine for today.”

“Then I guess we can relax until tomorrow then?” I nodded as I began to make my way upstairs to the rooftop. Might as well get a good look at the setting sun before tomorrow. That and to try and clear my mind a bit. Once I open the door to the rooftop, I looked around to see if there was anypony up here. To my relief, nopony was up here as I decided to walk over to the fence and looked up at the setting sun.

“I have to give the Moon cell credit for making the sun look like it’s setting actually. Though I think an actual sunset is better than a digital one in my case.” Saber said as she leaned against the fence I was near.

“I wonder what the sun would feel like in real life?” I asked as I reached a hand towards the digital sun. “Would it feel warm or something?”

“Your memory loss is really that bad huh?”

“It would seem like it is.” I said before lowering my hand and looked at it. “It’s like I’m trying to find a needle in a haystack. I get a feeling here or there, but it always disappear upon me thinking about it or something. The only thing I have going on is that fragment of that dream I had...it doesn’t help that it might make me a bad pony or something else-” I yelped as I felt Saber smack me upside my head as I glared over at her. “Will you stop doing that!?”

“Not until you stop saying horse puns, and for you to not think about stuff like this.” Saber said as I notice a serious expression on her face. “Look, to me it doesn’t matter if you were good or evil in the past before you came here. What happened in the past should remain in the past. You need to focus on the now, the present and future of this war you’re in. Letting stuff like this get to you will make you have doubts about yourself, and will get you and I killed...and do you really want to lose to Shinji..Shinji of all people to lose to. Is that what you want written on your tombstone when you die?”

“.....No...No I do not.” That would be embarrassing to have on a tombstone. Not to mention I’m sure he would be dancing and mocking me while I’m dead...I can’t afford to lose. Not because of that, but I need to know who I am or was before coming here, and these memories that I might get in my dreams will help.

“Then it’s time to man the fuck up and take fate into your own hand! Don’t just take it like an idiot getting hit in the face with a stick!” She said before giving me a triumphant pose as I felt something burning in my chest. Not heartburn or anything, but a burning desire to win...could she have some kind of Charisma ability or something…? I’ll have to look up on who Saber is when this is over, but for now I’ll focus on what’s important.

“You’re right. We are going to win. And I’ll be victorious! No pony will stop me!” I said as I quickly dodge the oncoming slap to my head as I smirked at Saber. “Ha! Nice try! But I won’t get hit by you ever a-” I reeled my head back upon feeling her quickly flick my nose as I rub it. Seriously, how fast is this girl?

“That’s the spirit Egghead. But don’t get too cocky with the attitude. Overconfidence will get a person killed.”

“.....I hate you so much right now.” I said before storming off towards the doorway.

“Love you too my little egghead~” She said before following after me from behind. I will figure out a way to either block or dodge her hits more quickly then how I am now. I’ll put it on the back burner. For now I have some planning to do.

Week One: The Knight of Rebellion vs The Captain of the Golden Hind

Week One

The Knight of Rebellion

Vs

The Captain of the Golden Hind

[Day Seven]
Evening

“Today is the Elimination Battle. I hope you’re fully prepared?” Kotomine said as we stood in front of the entrance door of the coliseum. To be honest...I feel like I ate a bunch of butterflies and they’re flying around in my stomach and I could barf them up at any moment. Here I am. The last day of the week. A day that will be the last for either Shinji or myself...will someone really die today? I mean...even though I can say the words, the idea that someone’s going to die is just too surreal. It can’t be reality. “When you are ready. You can do something trifling like stop by the commissary if needed.” I looked over at Saber who gave me a nod of confidence as I looked over at Kotomine.

“We’re ready.”

“You will now enter the coliseum and confront the opposing Master. Are you sure you’re ready? Remember, the only way to leave the coliseum is to win. If you are ready, I will open the gate.” He asked as I nodded. “The way to the coliseum is now open, young master. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you will return. Remember: It’s kill or be killed.” Kotomine stood by and watched as I pulled out the two Cipher key cards needed to enter. The cards quickly darted from out of my hand as they placed themselves onto the door. Once on the door, the chains that surrounded the door vanished as they slid open for us to enter. Once inside, we found ourselves in an elevator. And across from us were Shinji and his Servant Rider.

“Look who didn’t chicken out and run away. Ooh right, I forgot following directions is all you’re good at.” Shinji said as the elevator they’re in began to go down. “Get a clue, huh? Well, you can’t say I didn’t show you how awesome I was in the prep period. Never in a million years are you going to defeat me. Shoulda ran away when you had the chance!”

“I won’t know unless I try.” I replied. “I’m going to win this war and return home. No matter what.”

“...Excuse me? That’s some bull! Did you forget how I was able to mop the floor with you when we first fought in the arena? How many times do you plebes have to be reminded that you’ll never be on the level of a genius like me.” Shinji said as he placed a hand on his chin. “But, I guess I better get used to it, since nobody here can defeat me. My Servant El Draque and I are completely invincible. Man you have some seriously shitty luck to have gotten paired with ME in the first round. Don’t worry. Since you’re a creature from another world or something, I’ll make sure you go out with a big bang.”

“I’m starting to get very annoyed at this arrogant asshole.” Saber whispered as I nodded in agreement.

“Oh, hey! Check out my great idea! You’ve gotta hear this. Ready?” Oh this gonna be a good one. I simply nodded while still looking annoyed at him. “Always a goody-two shoes, gotta love it. Well, I hope you’ll take one more direction...Why don’t you lose on purpose this time? Anything else is a waste of time! Obviously even a landslide victory against you will cost me energy. Even decided battles like this one still are unfair because the victor has to waste their strength. That sounds lame, so do me a favor and just throw that match. Then I win, and don’t get hurt, see? Whatcha think? Makes total sense, huh? And you can even feel all warm and fuzzy for helping me out! And there’s something in it for you, right? Cuz if we fought for real, no way my Servant could hold back.Hell, I’ll even throw in some of the prize money I’ll win. All I want is the title, anyway. C’mon, is this a great idea or a great idea? Friends helping each other out and all that jazz.” ...This colt can’t be serious...Whoever raised this colt really did a poor job at it if he thinks I’m going to lose this fight. Especially with how I am now.

“I...reject your offer in letting you win this fight. You really think I’m that stupid to throw this fight, just because of the pointless crap you spat out?”

“You really want to fight me, huh?” Shinji asked as he sighs. “You’re a freaking idiot. I feel sorry for you. All this new power at your disposal is giving you an inflated ego.” He said as he looks over at Saber. “Hey, Servant. Why don’t you try talking some sense into the head of your stupid freak of a Master?”

““....Of all the rare idiots I have met, this is by far the most stupefying. A talking rat. All it mouths is gibberish, but still, a rare and impressive creature. A talking bear would at least be more fetching. This rat revels in slime and filth.” Saber answered as a dumbfounded expression appeared on Shinji’s face.

“Whaaa?! How dare you speak about me like that! You’re just a Servant!”

“Hahaha, they have a point, Master.” Rider added as Shinji turned his attention to his Servant.

“H-Hey! Whose side are you on?!”

“Your side, of course. You paid me, so I’ll fight ably by your side. Letting them throw the match would not satisfy either of us. I dislike giving less than my full effort. Let your winning instincts take over. Everything’s better if you fight for it. Food, women, victory. Besides, we’re villains. That means if nothing else we’re allowed to be splashy. If you’re going to be a villain, might as well be as flamboyant as you please. Don’t hold back.”

“I’m not a villain! D-Don’t call me that, you...evil woman!”

“Hahaha! Temper, temper, little one! You’ve got big balls for being such a tiny man. I admire that.” Rider said as she pats Shinji on the head, only for him to smack her hand away.

“Hey, stop! I said stop! Don’t pat my head, you baboon! And you reek of alcohol!”

“...Is it weird that I see them as being perfect for each other?” I said as I looked over at Saber who shrugs.

“Well Masters and Servants are sometimes paired by compatibility. I’m more worried that their chemistry will be constructive in battle.” Saber answered as we felt the elevator rumbles to a halt. “Guess we’re at our stop?”

“Hmph, I was going to spare your life if you surrendered. But since EVERYBODY insists, I’ll show you the vast difference in our abilities until you cry for mercy. Once El Draque makes Swiss cheese out of you, it’ll be too late!”

(Coliseum)

Once we stepped out of the elevator and down the hall to where the battle was to take place, I quickly covered my eyes at the blinding light that hit me. Once I felt the light starting to die down, I slowly began to open my eyes to see where we were...to my surprise and amazement. Saber and I found ourselves underwater standing on what appeared to be a broken ship. At first, I started to panic as I tried to ask for air...only to realize that I could breathe just fine. I looked over at Saber who was looking at me and trying her best not to bust out laughing.

“...You say anything and I will hurt you Saber.”

“Oh I won’t...but that doesn’t mean I won’t make fun of you for this later on if we survive.” Saber said as she looks around at the coliseum. “This is the Coliseum? Geez, talk about a let down. Would be nice to have some people here to watch the fight take place.” She said before summoning her sword into her hands. “I guess I’ll have to make up for this tackiness of the stage with my awesome display of bravery.”

“All bark and no bite. Right? That’s what they say, isn’t it? Well that’s you!” And just like that, the idiot ruined the moment. “I’m gonna humiliate you so bad that after this game you’ll never crawl out of your mom’s basement!”

“Oh, so your goal isn’t just victory, but humiliation? What a greedy little boy you are, Shinji.” Rider said as she drew out her twin pistols. “Very well, I’ll bring the rope for you to truss them up. Tie them to the mast or whatever your little heart desires.”

“Don’t even think about going easy on them, El Draque. They should have backed down when they could.”

“Hmph, mercy isn’t in my vocabulary. I have a thirst for the finer things in life, and it is all I care for. I may not always have good fortune, but with humans or bombs, there’s a certain fatal inevitability to life. Now, are you ready to go for broke? It’s time to splurge!” Rider yelled as she charges at Saber with the attempt to take her by surprise by hitting her with her pistols.

Saber drew her sword as she uses it to block the surprise attack and tries to counter with a straight jab with her sword. Rider quickly tilted her head to the side to avoid the jab of her sword, and tries to fire at Saber’s ribcage. The bullets bounced off Saber’s armor as Saber counters with a punch to the face, causing Rider to skid backwards. Once she comes to a halt, Rider looks up with a devilish grin on her face.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun~!” The two servants said in union as Saber’s helmet appeared on her head as she takes up a fighting stance.

“Remember the plan Saber! Don’t give her an inch to fire her pistols from a distance!” I yelled as I pulled up a digital screen in ready to heal Saber if need be.

“Quit messing around El Draque! Finish that Saber off and kill her freak of a master!” Shinji yelled as three digital keyboards and a screen appear around him. “Must I do everything myself?” After pressing a few buttons, Shinji slammed his fist onto the keyboard as something was cast onto Saber. I began to scan Saber to see if anything was wrong, only to notice that all her states were brought down as I huffed.

“Switch to defense Saber! Whatever spell he cast, it lowered all your strength and defense.”

“Fucking little weasle. Can’t play fair so he decides to-” Saber was cut off mid-sentence as she felt Rider hit her in the face with her boots, causing Saber to skid to the side a bit. Just as Saber was about to jab Rider with her sword, I soon heard the sound of a gun being shot as I looked over to see Saber’s left leg bleeding from Rider shooting he in the leg with a bullet from her pistol.

“Haha! How’d you like that freak!?” Shinji asked as he gloated at his servant’s handy work. “You should’ve taken my offer and lost the match on purpose!” I deadpan at Shinji for a moment before looking over at Saber.

“You okay Saber?”

“Ha, you shouldn’t be worried about a flesh wound like this.” Saber said as she reached towards her wound, pulls out the bullet, and crushes it. “Though if you wouldn’t mind, I would greatly appreciate if you patch my leg up so that it wouldn’t cause a problem for me.” Oh right, almost forgot that I can heal Saber with magic or items. I reached into my pocket to pull out a piece of candy and toss it at Saber. As I saw it shattered into bits of ones and zeros, I saw Saber’s wound itself patch up as she noticed a grin appeared on the knight’s face.

Rider quickly began to unleash a hail of bullets upon Saber as she quickly took cover behind the mass of the broken ship. As Rider continued her assault on what was the remains of the mass, Saber quickly used her left gauntlet as a mirror to see Rider’s position for a quick second before quickly darting off to the side to get a better view of the pirate.

“She’s over there! Shoot her dammit! Shoot her!” Shinji ordered as Rider looked over to her left to see Saber quickly charging at her as her sword began to glow.

“Got you now! You’re finished!” Saber said as she brought up her sword and was about to slash Rider, only for her to quickly jump backwards as an explosion appeared from where Saber stood causing a cloud of smoke to engulf the area the knight is in. Once the smoke began to clear up, I could see Saber still standing but parts of her armor was beginning to crack.

“Not bad. Didn’t think you would be able to tank a blast like that.” Rider said as my eyes widened upon seeing four cannons appearing around the pirate from some kind of pocket dimension doors. “Guess it’s to be expected from someone from the Saber class servants. But how long can you keep on fighting if your armor breaks from my cannons!” She asked as she took aim and fired a barrage of cannonballs at Saber. She quickly began to dodge & slice the oncoming cannonballs heading towards her. While continuing this tactic for a while, I notice Rider knocking off pieces of Saber’s armor with her bullets. This caused Saber to stagger a bit as two cannons appear on both sides of Saber.

“Oh no.” I said before activating a barrier around Saber as Rider fired the cannon at Saber, causing an explosion to engulf Saber upon making contact.

“Haha! Serves that freak right for thinking she could win with a servant like that!” Shinji said as he continued to laugh and belittle me. As the cloud of smoke started to clear, it would reveal a battered and bleeding Saber with pieces of her armor chipped off. “What the!? How is she still alive!?” To be honest, I’m a bit surprised myself. I mean, I know the barrier I activated thanks to the code cast reduced the damage, but I didn’t think she would still be standing like it was nothing...could it be that she has a skill of some kind that let’s her continue fighting even after receiving damage like this?

“Hm, not a bad surprise attack Rider.” Saber said as she grins like a mad mare. “But you’ll need more than that to take me down.”

“Oh you are just a treat~.” Rider said as she took aim at the knight. “Let’s see how long you can last with that confidence of yours!” She yelled as the cannons from before appeared around Rider and began to fire at her. Saber lets out a primal yell as her body began to glow crimson red as she unleashed a powerful shockwave, causing the cannonballs to be knocked backwards and explode. Once they exploded, she quickly charged at Rider as she readies to strike her down with a vertical slash.

Rider was caught off guard by the speed from Saber as the knight delivered a deep gash towards her chest as she was sent falling down onto the floor and skids backwards a bit before stopping herself with her feet. She looks down at the deep wound on her chest as blood started to gush out a bit from the open wound. I gagged a bit from noticing it as I tried my best not to throw up. Saber would soon decened down towards Rider in an attempt to impale her sword into her chest, only for the pirate to perform a back flip as Saber’s impaled the ground. I looked up to see Rider standing on top of a piece of floating debri that was in the digital sea we’re in.

“Much as I would love to fight you for hours on end, I’m going to have to make this short and end this fight.” Rider said as I noticed the coliseum was getting dark and foggy for the most part.

“Dammit, was hoping she wouldn’t be using her noble phantasm.” Saber said as she took up a defensive stance. While she was doing that, I notice the coliseum we were in disappeared as we were now standing on nothing but water.

“Now you two are screwed!” Shinji said with a smug expression. “Behold! El Draque’s Noble Phantasm!” He said as I heard the sounds of cannon fire going off in the distance. Looking over at the wall of fog, Saber quickly took notice of a stray cannonballs heading towards her as she quickly jumps out of the way of it and lands off to the side of the explosion. Looking over from where the cannon came from, My eyes widened in surprise upon seeing an armada of ships making its way out of the fog like wall. Standing on the biggest ship of the armada was Rider with three large floating cannons around her.

“S-Saber...please tell me you have some kind of powerful move or something to deal with that?” I asked as Saber looked over at me with the same mad grin on her face. “Saber?”

“Nope...but that’s not gonna stop me from shoving my sword into the wrench’s chest!” She yelled as her body began to glow again and crimson like lightning bursting from off her body.

“Remember my name by the death from my passing!” Rider yelled as she makes her way to the front of the ship. “Temeroso el Draque! I am the woman who set the Sun!” She soon looked down at Saber as she along with her armada took aim. “You rascals, it’s time! The King of Storms, a swarm of ghosts, this is the beginning of the Wild Hunt!” With those final words, Rider fired upon Saber with a barrage of bullets from her twin pistols. Upon doing that, the twenty ship armada let loose their entire arsenal of cannonfire at the knight.

Time seemed to have slowed down for some reason because I noticed that her attack was slowly making their way towards Saber. Once they were close within Saber’s range of attacks, she quickly begins to dodge though most of cannon fire while cutting through the ones heading towards her path like butter as she made her way forwards. As Saber continued her forward charge, I noticed the ships were beginning to change their formation pattern as they soon formed a barrakad around Rider’s main ship, The Golden Hind.

“How hard is it to kill that woman!?” Shinji yelled as he started to type on the digital keyboard for a while before disappearing. “Hurry up and kill her already you stupid servant!”

“It’s not like I’m fighting against a human now am I?” Rider said as she ordered her ships to continue firing at Saber.

Saber continued to dodge, parry, and sliced through the hail of cannonfire aimed at her as I notice the same status from before appear on Saber again. Looking up, I notice saber starting to slow down as her reaction time was much slower than before. She soon lost her footing due to the cannonballs hitting the water around her as Rider too the opportunity to fire a beam of what I could guess was magic upon Saber.

“Oh shi-” Before she could finish, she was soon pelted upon by the triple cannon fire. This caused an explosion to erupt from where the knight was standing.

“Haha! That’s right, you should’ve taken up my offer to lose the battle on purpose and let me win!” Shinji said, gloating while busting out laughing. “A freak like you winning the Holy Grail War!? That is so ridiculous!”

“Hm, damn. I was having a good time with her.” Rider soon order the ships to hold their fire as she looks down at us. Once the combination of water and smoke stopped erupting and settled down, my eyes widen in shock upon not seeing Saber standing where she was before the cannonfire hit her. Rider smirked upon seeing nothing left of Saber as she turned her attention at Shinji. Oi! Master! I better be getting paid twice as much for this match!!”

“Seriously!? I already paid you before the match even started!” While the two began to bicker between each other, I looked down at the water to see Saber slowly pulling her head up from the water.

“How did you know you could sink down into the water?” I whispered as she simply shrugged.

“Didn’t think I could do that to be honest. But the moment I notice one of the cannonballs sinking into the water, I figure I could do it myself.” She answered before quickly pulling herself up from the water with her sword in hand. Once she was out, I noticed that she didn’t have her armor on and was now wearing nothing but her usual attire. I really need to ask around the school to see if I can get her something that isn’t so...revealing.

“Fair enough. Think you can still fight?” I asked as she looked up at Rider and nods. “Good. Now take. Her. Down!” Saber grinned upon me saying that as she lifted up her sword and threw it at Rider like a spear.

“Well I want to be paid double for my work! This match was starting to get interesting and I was about to reach my peak of thrill until she died on me! Now are you going to pay me again or-” Before Rider could finish her sentence, Saber’s sword impaled itself into Rider’s chest. Rider’s eyes widened upon feeling the sword run through her as she staggerly looked down at sword before looking behind her to see a watered and blood covered servant smirking at her. Rider smirked back as her noble phantasm began to disappear. “Not bad kid. I have to say that was a pretty good fight. Even if I did lower my guard at the last second.”

“Wh-What the hell?! How did my Servant get defeated by something like that?!” Shinji asked as he looked over at Rider who simply shrug as he looked back at Saber and I. “No matter how you look at it, I’m the best! At everything! I can’t lose in the first round!” He said before looking back at Rider. “It….It’s your fault, El Draque! This happened because you suck!”

“Oh sure, blame the Servant. That would make you feel better.” Saber said sarcastically.

“You don’t have a word in this freak! You must’ve cheated to cheat the system so you could win or something!”

“Huh? Flogging a waterlogged sailor, are we?” Rider said as she shook her head. “It won’t reverse your fortunes, master.”

“Argh! If you got the energy to talk back, then go fight! There’s no way I’m losing this!”

“Hmm, I don’t think that’s happening. Did you forget I’ve been stabbed in the heart? I’m going to disappear.”

“Say what?! You think you can run away and leave me here? I lost because of you!” Seriously...how can there be humans like him in this place. He can at least have some dignity in losing.

“....My fault? Perhaps. Or it could have been carelessness. Or a lack of tenacity, luck, ability, etc..” Rider said with a smirk. “Well whatever. Fortune is fickle and fate is what we make of it. We lost for a reason. We may be strong, but we didn’t have what it takes to win.”

“Why are you making it sound like somebody else’s problem? I did what I’m supposed to do! I’m the best!” He said as he stomped the ground around him. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this. You ruined everything by becoming my Servant! Useless! Damn it! I can’t believe I lost! This game sucks! Suuuucks!”

“Geez, what a sore loser.” Saber said as she grabbed me by the hand and started to pull me away from them. “Let’s go egghead, I’m tired and hungry after having to fight all out like that.”

“Hey...W-Wait! Hey! I’ve got an idea. How about you declare that I won the battle.” Shinji as Saber and I looked at him with tired deadpan expressions. “B-B-Because, you know, you just won this battle by accident! There’s a one-hundred percent chance you’ll lose in the second round. But I’ll win it for sure. Think about it. Isn’t it better for one of us to keep winning than for you to lose in the next round?”

“...You can’t be serious?” I said as Saber and I looked at each other for a moment before looking back at him. “You lost the fight, have some dignity in your loss Shinji.”

“Hey...Wait. I said wait! Can’t you see the equation? I’m saying I’ll share the Holy Grail with you!”

“Cut it out, Shinji. You lost and you know it. You can’t change what happened.” Rider said as Shinji quickly turned back at Rider.

“Shut up! We lost because of you! What makes you think you have the right to act so calm?!” Shinji ruffled up his own hair in anger as he looked back at Saber and I. “Damn it! You may have won this one game, but don’t get a big head over it. In real life, I’m still a champion! Listen, I don’t know who you are or where you came from. But when I get home, I’m gonna figure out who you really are and-” Just as Shinji was about to continue his rant, I soon noticed his hand changing to a different color. It looked like it’s corroding. “-Wha?! Wh-What the hell is going on? M-My body’s...disappearing?! I’ve never logged out like this!” While Shinji was busy looking at his corroding body, a red digital like wall appeared from the side as it soon stopped in front of Saber and I. Shinji lets out a desperate cry as his arms, legs, and torso gradually fizzle into blackness.

“Losers die in the Holy Grail War. As a Master, you should have known that, Shinji.” Rider said as she placed a hand to her hip as she shook her head.

“What?! D-Die?! But just our avatars get erased, right? There’s no way you can die in a virtual world.”

“Yes.You lose, you die. This is a “war,” not a “game.” Mostly everyone who joins this war ends up dead. The sole survivor is the only one who can go home alive.”

“Wha...No way! That isn’t funny…!” Shinji said as he began to tremble in fear from what he was being told. “But it’s a tournament! So it’s a game, right? RIght?! Aaagh...Wh-Why isn’t this stopping?! D-Do something! Isn’t a Servant supposed to help their Master?!”

“If it was easy to break the rules, they wouldn’t have created them in the first place. But, well...the good and bad both are sent off to another world in the end. It’s nothing to complain about.”

“Acting like you know so much…! Aren’t you ashamed at all!? First you lose...and now this…!” A serious expression appeared on Rider’s face as she walks over to Shinji, grabbed him by the collar, and glared at him with her one eye that hasn’t been corroded by blackness.

“Hmm? Am I ashamed? Of course I am. I’m so disgusted with myself that I could throw up. But, remember what I told you when we made our contract, little boy? Be prepared, because a villain’s final moments are laughably miserable!” She said before releasing her hold on Shinji and gave off a hearty laugh as her body was being erased from the system. “Considering the things you’ve done and said, this isn’t such a bad death. Just let yourself go, Shinji.” The Servant said as she looked over at Saber and I. Well mostly me as I tried my best to not burst out into tears at what I was seeing. “And you folks over there, let’s hear some laughter, huh? It’s sad when a clown doesn’t get a laugh.”

What could I say? All I could do was nod at what she said. It’s what I could only do at the time as I tried my best not to cry from what I’ve done. Rider simply shrugs as she grins at me with the brightest of smiles.

“It’s going to be tough from here on out for you kid. This is the outcome for you each time you win a fight with a Master and his or her servant. But don’t look so sad or give in into depression kid. Learn from this fight and press onwards with no regret. I’m sure you have someone waiting for you after all this. May the rest of your journey go well. I’d like it if you ended up stronger than me. In life, I fought against military ships. It’s against my nature to enjoy fighting weaker opponents.” She said before disappearing into black ashes.

“Heh, Even with her heart stabbed and her body disappearing. She still went out laughing like she enjoyed it. That's the world’s greatest navigator, and the first person to circumnavigate the world for yeah.” Saber said as we turn our attention towards Shinji...knowing what happen to Rider, Shinji knows what his fate will be.

“H-Hey! Who gave you permission to disappear like that?! You gotta help me! Don’t leave me!” He said as more and more of his body started to turn black. While looking around frantically for a while before looking at me. “Oh...Oh god…! Then, you! You help me! If it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be in this situation right now! You owe me!” Upon hearing him begging me to help him, I glared down at him in anger. Even if I had the ability to do something like that, why would I save somepony like him? All he did was boast about how good he was and tried to get me eliminated before the finals.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything to help you.” I said as I glared coldly at him. “You brought this upon yourself when you thought this was a game to begin with.”

“No please I beg you! I’m sorry for calling you all thoses names! I’m sorry for cheating and stuff just please help me!”

“Just shut up and accept your death with some dignity you worm.” Saber said as she started at Shinji with malice and anger. “Pieces of shit like you really piss me off. You have no one but yourself to blame for your own defeat.”

“Waah! I’m really disappearing!? Why? Why does it feel like I’m going to die in real life, too?! What the hell?! This is Crazy! Help!” Shinji started to slam his fists against the digital wall in an attempt to try to either break it or for us to help him.“Why aren’t you helping me?! I’m only eight years old. I don’t want to die yet! Help me-!” With one more hit to the wall, Shinji’s body started to give way to his own weight as he soon crumbled into nothing but black ashes. Just like Rider did as her body disappeared. He’s gone...The human known as Shinji Matou has been erased from existence. The only thing that he has left behind...is me. The victor...And so, round one of the Holy Grail War comes to a close.

Week Two: The Hero of The Forest of Sherwood

Week Two

The Hero of The Forest of Sherwood

2. arousal/border equestrian alliance

A journey without a destination;

A voyage at sea with no map

What awaits after drifting lost

Is only a miserable death.

...And yet

You draw sustenance from fish,

Memorize the pilgrimage of the stars,

And land upon nameless shores.

We start as novice navigators, but…

Rudderless boats never find the grail

2nd week
The Second Selection
Combatants Remaining: 128-064

Night

The fight is over...I have won and Shinji has lost. And so, Shinji will meet death...Can it be true? I know what I saw, but it doesn’t feel real. Has his life been lost forever? Just because I won? Without any explanation or greater meaning?

“It appears that the first round is now over.” I wonder how long I stood there, dumbfounded. When I finally came to upon hearing that familiar voice. Looking up I saw Rin Tousaka was staring at me. “Even though Shinji was the one who chose to fight you, he’s the one who ended up dead. The reigning game champion of Asia is defeated. The moron didn’t have a clue how to fight for his life. Such is the fate of any magus who treats the Holy Grail War as a game. A pathetic way to die, no?”

“Maybe, but even he didn’t deserve a fate like that. N-No pony should.”I automatically opened my mouth to defend the dead from desecration. Only to receive a smack to the head by Saber.

“This place is a battlefield. What sense is there in exalting someone who was dealt with defeat?” The look in her eyes and her words drove home a message: on the field of battle, losers die. It should’ve been obvious. But apparently not to Shinji and I. “The winner of the Holy Grail War can be granted any wish. But there is only one winner. Everyone who enters has wishes and dreams, things they desire to have at any cost. Things worth dying for. You don’t seem to have regained any of your memory yet, right?” I looked off to the side for a moment as she lets out a sigh. “...It’s better that way. To lack a motive, that is. But you should at least be mentally prepared. If you’re not ready to kill or be killed, it’d be better to go hide under a rock.”

Much as I don’t want to do this, and I know I should be prepared. But I have no choice but to be ready to take the life of any pony that stands in my way of getting to the bottom of who I am and how did I end up here.” I looked up at Rin and spoke.

“I’m prepared.”

“Right...as long as you mean it.” Rin is right about everything. Everyone who makes a stand here fights with a strong will. There’s not a single one I could defeat without a hard fight first. I have my reasons to fight. And I can’t afford to lose it. Even if I have to trample other people’s dreams. I will make it to the end...even if I don’t like the outcome of it.

[Day One]
Midday

I am a bundle of mixed emotions. I feel ripped apart to the core. There’s Shinji’s death which I feel both satisfied and sad about, and there’s what Rin said. She’s right. I know it’s logical. But emotionally, I can’t deal with it. Unable to let it pass unnoticed, Saber appeared next to me as she placed a hand on my head.

“I understand your need to lament over what you did. I know the feeling all too well when I had to kill someone in the name of Camelot. So do not worry about the way you’re feeling. That Rin girl seems to have gladly abandoned civility, but I will not.” Honestly, I’m surprised. I didn’t think Saber would have anything comforting to say to me.

“W-Why?” I asked as she gave me a grin

“I like those who are kind. Seeing you on the verge of crying really annoys me. I can’t put it into words, but after this fight, I do believe I trust you a bit more...even if you are an egghead.” Saber swells with pride, I can’t help but laugh at the way she was acting. I mean, she spoke so confidently even though it’s something she herself is unsure of. “I’m mostly doing this so I know what your past was like before coming here. Good or bad I don’t really care what your past was. I’m just curious as to what it was...It’s kinda nice having a goal like that. Makes me feel proud to have a master like you.”

...She says that I’m kind. Then am I shedding tears of empathy? I’m not sure I’m that kind. Still, Saber’s words soothe me a bit. But I can’t allow myself to feel too much. I can’t advance through the second round on kindness. Before I could think of anything else, right when I was about to leave the classroom, I hear an electronic noise from my portable terminal.

: :The next combatants will be announced on the second-floor bulletin board : :

Guess it’s time for me to see who my next opponent is. I gather my stuff before heading out to the bulletin board. Just as before, my name is listed next to another on a sheet on the bulletin board. My name is listed first, and next to it was my next opponent.

Master: Dan Blackmore
Battlefield: The Second Chimeric Lunar Sea

“...Hmph. So you are the one who will be my next opponent.” said a voice next to me as I looked over to my right to see an elderly gentlecolt standing next to me. His mane is pure white, and his face withered with marks of aging. But, though he’s clearly aged, he doesn’t seem the least bit frail.

If I had to describe the way he wore his years, I’d say it was like a tree’s rings. His scars have become a solid and tough bark. It is impossible to see his age as a weakness.

“You look like you’ve been and seen your fair share of battles creature. But you’re still green. Whatever you may think, you lack experience. That you have let your opponent’s appearance shake your resolve is proof enough of inexperience. And your eyes...they’re lost...broken...You are beyond hopeless. Entering the battlefield in that state will prove...disastrous.” He said before walking off down the hallway. Once he left, Saber made herself visible to me as she glared at him from behind.

“He is a seasoned warrior, prepared to die should orders dictate it. Fighting this Master will force you to refine your crude fighting style, willing or not egghead.” She doesn’t even mention how outclassed I am here. She probably believes she can overcome my weaknesses. Personally, I’m not so optimistic. Mostly in terms of battle prowess. I lack not only strength, but drive. I hate to agree with what Dan said, I’m lost. Am I really fighting to get my memories back, or am I just saying it for Saber’s sake and mine. I don’t know what I’m fighting for, and that’s an obvious handicap. But, for my reason to have been so easily cast aside, just how strong could they have been?

“Yo! Egghead. You in there?” I blinked upon hearing Saber’s voice as I looked over at her in surprise. “You really need to pay attention to your surroundings...have you been skipping breakfast or something?”

“Oh...Um, no. Just...lost in thought is all. Nothing to worry about.”

“You sure. You still look like you about to fall asleep...or is that how you always looked?” She said in a joking manner as I punched her in the arm. “You really need to work out more if that’s how strong you are.”

“I’m starting to hate you right now, you know that right?”

“I know and I love you too my beloved master. Now, how about we get something to eat before the bell rings for you to return back to class.” She said before vanishing into data...should really get to work on plotting my revenge on her...I just need to figure out what she’s afraid of or what can freak her out.

Evening

After my opponent is revealed, I recalled something. I think of the girl who gave me advice when I didn’t know left from right...Rin Tousaka. Maybe she’s on the rooftop again. I should check to see if she’s there. Once the bell rang, I quickly gathered my books and quickly made my way to the rooftop. Once I pushed the door to the rooftop, I smiled upon seeing Rin in her usual spot on the rooftop. Just as I was about to walk over to her, she quickly turned around in my direction.

“I heard about your opponent in the second round. He’s a decorated soldier, although I believe he’s retired now. He’s a sniper from a kingdom that is allied, whether they want it or not, with the Harway plutocracy. Things, like crawling over a mile or sniping an enemy commander, are par for the course for him.” She said before I notice a stern expression on her face. “Get it pony girl? He’s of a completely different caliber than your first-round opponent.”

“I..Kinda figured as much given how he snuck up on me when I was looking at the bulletin board.”

“Hey, have your memories come back yet?” Should I tell her about the dream I had...I mean she did help me out with Shinji...best wait until I can fully trust her before telling her about the dream. I looked at Rin for a moment before shaking my head no to her question. “Sheesh, you really are pathetic. Your memories haven’t returned, and you’re weak on top of that. I don’t want to preach, but without memories...without your reason to fight...you’re dead in the water.”

The ratio of put-down to advice is kind of wonky there. I do get that Rin says I have a handicap. The Holy Grail is won by individual motivation. To lack the core of that motivation is a problem.

“Only soldiers fight solely out of obligation. For the rest of us, we need to keep our eyes on the prize. You’re not a strong-willed creature or a soldier. By now, you should know that’s a weakness. Even if you’ve got the strongest Noble Phantasm out there, he’ll still make quick work of you.”

“Noble...Phantasm?”

“What’s that confused look for? I’m talking about Noble Phantasm...Don’t tell me you don’t know? It’s like King Arthur’s Excalibur. A Noble Phantasm is a power that makes your Servant a Servant.” Noble Phantasm? Makes my Servant a Servant? Given my confused dumb like expression that Rin’s seeing, I do believe I rendered her speechless. “...You don’t have a Noble Phantasm?”

“No...No I do not.” I answered as I took a step back a bit. I’m a bit worried about how she would react to my reply.

“That would mean you aren’t making full use of your Servant’s powers, and yet you defeated El Draque? And here I thought you’d relied on a really potent Noble Phantasm to defeat El Drague...Hmm. I might have to rethink my opinion of you. But, more and more, I’m getting the feeling that something’s very off about you. I mean, your memories didn’t return after prelims, and you can’t use your Noble Phantasm, either. You’re a troublesome individual, you know that? Maybe a bug damaged your personal data when you exited the prelims. Possibly your Magic Circuit isn’t functioning right. In any case, you have to fix the issue.” She said before pointing a finger at me.

“Meanwhile, you better keep using your Servant and update their Alteration of the Soul. You may be able to use their Noble Phantasm as you strengthen your bond with your Servant. The SE.RA.PH is supposed to treat all masters equally. If the SE.RA.PH sees that you can’t use your Noble Phantasm, it will take corrective action. One more thing. Defeating an enemy isn’t an invitation to forget that enemy ever existed. It’s helpful to know about who you’ve fought, so take the time to look over your Matrix.” She said before turning back around to stare at the sky. Well, she’s not wrong about that...I’ll have to look over the information I got from fighting Shinji and use it to my strategy. Just as I was making my way towards the door to the rooftop, Saber made herself visible next to me.

“Don’t look so pensive. Have those words from that girl struck you that deep?” That’s right. This proud woman is a Servant, one just as capable of displaying incredible powers. Now that I’m a Master, of course, I can’t avoid my curiosity about this Noble Phantasm thing so I simply asked my servant what it is. “A Noble Phantasm is the symbol of a legendary soul. If used, it will disclose my identity. It will be usable in time, but it should not be exposed on small fry in the first round. Plus I still don’t trust you completely to be able to use it. So when the time comes for me to reveal it to you will be the day when you’re in danger.”

“So until you fully trust me, you won’t use your Noble Phantasm?”

“That’s correct.” I guess I can understand how great warrior’s tactics and tools could telegraph their identity to a wise Master. It will be most advantageous if I wait as long as possible to use the Noble Phantasm...Before I could ask her something else, the computer in my bag began to beep. Which means that the cipher key is up and this conversation comes to an end for now. I’ll learn Saber’s identity in due time. She says I’ll know eventually, so I don’t think it’s right for me to keep questioning. Pulling out the portable computer I have I looked on the screen to see what the message it has on it.

: : The Primary cipher key has been generated : :

I let out a sigh before placing the device back into my bag before scratching my head due to an itch I felt.

“Time for our favorite part of the Holy Grail War. Cipher hunting.” I said sarcastically.

“Our task has been laid before us. Completing it is more worthwhile than Noble Phantasms blather.” She said before disappearing into data. Well, she’s not wrong about that. I better head over to the arena and get the cipher key. Once I made my way over towards the arena entrance, I can feel a presence near the entrance of the Arena and crouch down almost instinctively. It was the old man I had spoken to earlier, Dan, with his Servant more than likely by his side.

“I’ve just learned the identity of our next opponent. Though young and mysterious, they did survive the first round. So be on your guard always. And I will not tolerate you acting solely on your gut feelings.” Dan said as his Servant sighed in annoyance.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I don’t care who our opponent is, my only goal is their death. And anyway, they’re already killed once, have they not? Anyone who made it through the first round is worthy of a little respect. Or is that just me…?”

“Your arrogance will be the death of us. I need you to obey my commands if we are to survive. No more acting on your own like the first round. Winning battles is meaningless if we lose the war. Do you understand me? I will not tolerate your insubordination a second time.”

“I got it, I got it. Jeez old man, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.” said the Servant as I heard Saber appear behind me and began to whisper to me.

“It seems that man in green is our next opponent. It appears that he is more bully than soldier. An ass he may be, he has emerged victorious from the first round. That being said, he might be more a source of amusement than an actual threat.” She said before I notice my opponent enter into the Arena. Just as I was about to follow after them, I felt Saber place a hand on my shoulder as I looked over at her. “Just like with Shinji, we’ll probably encounter them once inside. So be prepared for anything that might happen inside. Got it?” Saber asked as I nodded. “That’s good to hear, Master. This foe will be different from what we faced before. Stay alert.” She said before disappearing as I entered into the Arena.

[Arena]

[The Glory of the Night-Shrouded World and the Defiled Faceless Hero. What is Justice, and at the cost of whose Pride?]

The moment I entered the Arena, the very atmosphere sends warning messages screaming throughout my brain...Don’t stop-. However, I can’t bring myself to move. It feels like both of my feet have been nailed to the floor. It’s almost as if my body and mind have become disconnected and fear has taken over my basic instincts. I know that I have to get away as quickly as possible. The longer I stay here, the faster that death will come to claim me.

“Shit! This area is infused with poison! To think that I would have to deal with another poison user again in this life. Fucking coward!” The sound of Saber’s voicing her opinion brings me back to reality and frees up my previously paralyzed thoughts. I’m okay for now seeing how I can move my hooves and hands. But we need to find the source of this poison before my body succumb to it. “This must be the Servant’s Noble Phantasm. I can feel an aura of death even here.”

“I had a feeling it was that. We need to find the source of it to make the poison dissipates.” I said before we began to walk through the Arena. Once we were further into the Arena, I notice something off in the distance. I squinted my eyes to try and get a better look, but so far it didn’t help. This thick fog of poison is making it hard to see almost anything at a distance. “There’s something over there in the distance.”

“Seems like that Servant’s Noble Phantasm is that tree. That must be the source. Destroy it and we obliterate the poison.”

“Right, time to go lumberjacking....Get it?” I said as I felt Saber smack me upside the head. “Ow! What was that for!?”

“For that lame pun...where did you even learn that from?” Saber asked as I reached into my bag to pull out a book for her to see.

“I found it in the library next to some history books. Puns and Jokes for dummies.” Saber stared at me for a moment before reaching for the book I had and tossed it against the wall as it fell out of the Arena. “Hey! I just got that!”

“Well too bad nerd. You’ll have to find another one, which won’t be happening anytime soon-” Before Saber could finish she placed a hand over my mouth while quickly pulling me near the corner of the labyrinth. Before I could even muffle out a word, I heard the sound of two voices engaged in conversation at the end of the hall. Those voices can only belong to two people that I know of. It has to be Dan and his Servant. “How convenient. Looks like we can take them out before the finals.” Saber said as she started to draw her sword out. I restrain the belligerent Saber while trying to quiet my breathing underneath her hand covering my mouth. Attacking now would be a bad idea since I can learn a lot just by listening.

“What is the meaning of this?” Dan asked as his Servant raised an eyebrow at his master.

“What’s that? I put up this little barrier so that you’d win, boss. Why wait until the Elimination Battle now, it’ll be an easy victory for us.”

“...Who gave you the command to do such a deed? Even scavengers such as vultures that feed upon carrion have at least a single shred of dignity.” It’s obvious by the heat in their voices that they disagree about the strategy they want to follow. “The use of the yew tree is unnecessary for this fight. I thought I forbid you to use it...It seems to me that you lack the most important traits: Pride.”

“Pride, you say? Sorry, but I just can’t see myself seeking something as useless as that. I mean, I’m all for it if that’s all we need to win this whole thing. Really, it’d be the best thing in the world if our enemies would just kill themselves in the face of our Pride! Sorry, I’m not nearly the man you are. I’m just a pragmatist that’ll resort to poison if it’ll guarantee a kill.”

“...I see. Violation of trust. Ambushes. Betrayal. These are the things you rely on in battle.” So the Servant put up the poison barrier on his own. Given the argument they’re having, it’s obvious that there is disagreement about his actions.

“Seems those two do not get along with each other. I can empathize with what that old man is trying to say. But I can also empathize with his Servant’s actions in wanting to get things over and done with depending on the situation. Not to mention, there are far better poisons he could’ve used. Compared to assassin of red’s poison, this is nothing.” I heard Dan lower his voice, although it’s hard to determine whether he’s doing so from scorn or disdain.

“I will not order you to lower this barrier now. However, should you choose to disobey me again-” After a somewhat petulant reply of “Gotcha,” the sense of their presence disappears and I let out a sigh of relief. So there is discord between my enemy and his Servant. While the differences in ability between us are great, this might be my key to victory in the second round. Once they left, I felt Saber remove her hand from my mouth.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t attack them. Otherwise, we wouldn’t get some interesting information from them.” I said before I notice Saber walking towards what I can guess was the Yew Tree.

“This must be it. The source of the barrier, the yew tree.” She’s right. The magic flowing from where the tree towers over the Arena. Kind of amazed that a small tree like this could produce this much poison. There’s so much of it that those who are unprepared would drown in poison...how am I not dead by this much poison. “What an eyesore. Assassin of red had a better-looking means of producing poison.” She said in disgust and in one swing, her blade slices down the source of the poison. The destroyed tree vanishes, as if nothing had ever been there. The moment the source of the poison disappears, so does the pressure and pain crushing my body. This might be a problem. With something like this...we need to watch out for this Servant.

“We need to get the cipher key and get out of here asap.” I said before shaking my head from the headache I’m feeling. “I have a feeling that our enemy Master and Servant have clashing views on battle from what we saw.”

“Guess your reliance on brainpower over ability or philosophy really comes in handy for me. Indeed, I entrust myself to that brainpower of yours, egghead. Since those two cannot understand each other soul to soul, they rely on faulty words and emotions. We can totally take advantage of this and in doing so, we’ll grasp victory. We’ll have to observe those two closely-”

Saber’s voice started to go down in volume as it was replaced with a high pitch sound. I felt my legs give way as I fell to the Arena floor. I notice the same magical circuit lines from when I touched that paper tag thing from Shinji. Only, these lines were green instead of that magenta color one. I notice Saber rushing over towards me, but I couldn’t hear a word she was saying as my vision slowly faded into darkness as I passed out.

Author's Note

Status
Master Level: 10

Equipment
Phoenix Scarf

Servant's Level

Strength: 26 [D]
Defense: 30 [D]
Agility: 25 [D]
Magic: 17 [E]
Luck: 23 [E]

Skills
Rebellious Spirit:
Increases her strength

Blood of the Round:
Inflicts physical damage to an enemy be it close or at long range.

Week Two: The Knight of Treachery

Week Two

The Knight of Treachery

The smell of apples and wheat filled the alicorn’s nose as it caused Twilight to slowly wake up. Upon waking up, she finds herself in a field of wheat as she begins to look around at what appeared to be an endless sea of wheat. With the exception of a few apple trees sticking out around the field.

“Another dream like before...but this one is different.” She thought while pulling herself up and began to look around the area. “Though, this seems to be better than the last dream I was in.”

“So you really are going through with it, aren’t you Twilight?” Twilight’s ears twitch upon hearing a southern voice as she turns around to see herself walking down a field with an orange-colored mare with a blonde colored mane wearing western cowgirl clothes. “And you can’t think of a way to fix what’s going on with you with magic?”

“It’s not that simple Applejack. Using magic to operate on my brain would require me to open my skull open while trying to ignore the pain from it.” Twilight said as the real Twilight took notice of the image of herself with the sclera of her eyes being black. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get this...sickness from out of my brain for the past few months. But due to an alicorn’s rapid regeneration, it would be impossible to do it by normal means.”

“And you can’t ask Celestia to help?”

“I did, and she said there was nothing she could do. Mainly because she doesn’t have the knowledge in the medical field, nor are there any tools or magic that can halt the regenerative healing process of an alicorn. Sure, there are cursed items that could do that. But the damage from it can’t be healed. So the surgical damage will be permanent, and it would end up making me sick or worse.” Twilight said as she staggered slightly as Applejack quickly caught her. “It’s been six months since this ailment affected me. And so far, it’s getting harder and harder to try and keep myself together. The lack of sleep isn’t making it any better either.”

“I thought we told you to get some sleep or at least try to relax?”

“...I can’t.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“I...I can’t go back to sleep. The nightmares...the voices...the images of ponies & humans getting brutally killed and murdered...I can’t go back and see them again. I-I just can’t.”

“Can’t Princess Luna do something about the nightmares? She is the ruler over the dreams of everypony, right?”

“She can, but she can’t keep them at bay for long. It’s most likely due to the ailment that I have, And remember, I’m not the only one who has nightmares in Equestria. Maybe not as worse then anypony else, but I can’t be selfish and ask Luna to do this for me every time the dream spell wears off. ” She said before pulling herself together. “Listen AJ, I know this plan is reckless and stupid on the level of Rainbow Dash. But I need you to do this for me.” The image said before handing Applejack a map and a purple glowing crystal. “Once you have the item, give it to Celestia asap. She’ll know what to do when the time comes.”

“...I get the feeling no matter what I say, you won’t change your mind about this?” Applejack asked as the image of Twilight shook her head to the country mare’s question. “...Alright. Anything I need to know before I get going?”

“Make sure you don’t tell the others about this. Knowing how they are, they’ll try to find other means to find a way to fix this sickness I have.”

“We are your friends Twilight. You know that we would do anything to help you, right?” Applejack said as the alicorn nodded. “So why don’t you let us help you with this problem.”

“Because sooner or later, my sanity will end up breaking. And I know my first targets will be you girls. Which is why I’ll be sealing them away with my magic. Only you will know the locations of them when I send you a letter.”

“But won’t you also know where they are as well?”

“Not for long. After I cast the forget me spell on myself, then I won’t know where they are.” She said before placing a hand on Applejack’s shoulder and smiled. There was a moment of silence between the two as Applejack noticed black color tears flowing down from her friend’s face as she tried her best to keep her smile upon her face. But she couldn’t keep it up for long as her smile turned into a frown and tears began to flow down her face more like a damn bursting with water. “I know this is asking a lot. And the girls might end up hating you for this, but you’re the only one that I can trust with this request. So I’m asking...no...begging. When the time comes, you don’t hold anything back when I’m no longer myself. I-I don't want to hurt or kill anypony, especially you girls.”

“....Alright. I’ll do it.” Applejack said, pulling the scarf around her neck and giving it to Twilight to clean her face off of the black gunk from her eyes and cheeks.

“Thank you, Applejack. This means a lot to me.” She said before handing it back to her, only for the farm pony to raise her hand to stop her.

“Keep it. I got a lot more where that came from.” The earth pony said before looking over the crystal, then back at Twilight. “How do I get this thing to work?”

“Squeeze the crystal and it will teleport you to where the item is located. Fair warning, you only have enough to get there and back. Teleport somewhere else and you’ll have to hoof it back.” Twilight said as the farm pony nodded and teleported off. Once she left, Twilight kneeled down to the ground with a hand to her head while panting a bit. “And so, my plan for death begins.” She said before looking up at the sky with a melancholy expression on her face. “Mother...Father...everyone. Please forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

“Is this what happened to me before coming to this war?” Twilight thought as she tried to take a step forward. “Was I...on the verge of becoming evil?” Just as she was about to take another step forward, she felt the ground underneath her instantly shatter as she began to fall down into the darkness below. She began to scream while flailing around in a frantic manner before her vision went dark.

[Day Two]
Morning

“Well isn't this a lovely sight to see.” My eyes shot open as I felt the side of my face pressed against something hard. With my vision clearing up a bit, I found myself halfway off of the makeshift bed. Guess the dream I had caused me to fall out of my bed. “You should really try and make the bed much bigger if you toss and turn in your sleep.”

“Kinda hard to do that seeing how we don’t have that many desks.” I said before pulling myself off from the floor and back onto the bed. “W-What happened?”

“You passed out once again. Just like before when you touched that talisman that Shinji made last week.” Saber said after appearing next to me. “Lucky for you, I was able to get the key that we needed for the final fight with our opponent.” She said before pulling out said key card from out of thin air. Guess that answers a few of my questions. “I get the feeling you had another dream like before?”

“W-What makes you say that?”

“Just a hunch is all. Or am I wrong about it?” Well, she wasn’t wrong about me having another weird dream. “Well?”

“Yeah, just like before. But this dream didn’t involve me fighting with some...one. This time, it was a girl named Applejack.” I said before going into detail about the dream I had. It was weird, but at the same time sad and relaxing. Was it because of the setting that made it relaxing, or was it because I was friends with that mare? It’s hard to make sense of it all with just that to go by. Are my memories coming back whenever I touch something that’s required to take down my opponents? I’ll have to test this hypothesis next time if I survive this week’s fight.

“Hm, it seems like you’re getting small pieces of your memories back. Not a whole lot, but only a small amount.” Saber said as I noticed her handing me some kind of bun with some kind of weird looking dark brown colored disk and apple juice. Lifting the bun I took a whiff at what it was. It smelled good but I’ve never seen anything like this before. “What? Never had a hamburger before?”

“Ham….what?”

“Pretty much meat, cheese, latus, and tomatoes. All underneath a bun so you can eat it.” It seems a bit odd that it would be made like this. But if my servant says it’s okay to eat then it shouldn’t be a problem. I took one more whiff of the food before taking a bit out of it...huh…this stuff takes pretty good! “I’m a bit surprised that a pony like you can eat meat.”

“At this point, I don’t really care. I mean, it’s not like it’s made out of ponies like me.” I said while taking another bite out of the burger.

“True...just a bit surprised that you would eat something like that. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Seems like you’re getting your memories back when you touch certain things or something along those lines.”

“So pretty much be careful with what I touch then?”

“Mainly when it comes to items from the other masters and servants.” She said before walking over to the closest of the room and tossed over my baggy looking clothes at my face. “Now get yourself dressed. It’s time to make up for lost time when you passed out yesterday.”

“Nice to see you are concerned about my well being.”

“Oh, I am concerned about you, egghead. But keep in mind that we’re in a war. Your enemies won’t relax even though you’re knocked out.”

“....Fair enough.” I said before putting the clothes she tossed at me on. “Did I miss anything while I was knocked out?”

“Not really. You’ve been knocked out since yesterday. So nothing really changed.”

“Good to know.” I said before I finished dressing myself. “We’ll have to head over towards the church so I can get your strength up. Especially seeing how we’re dealing with a servant that we have no clues on what he is.” Saber quickly disappeared into data after opening the door to our room and began to make my way through the hallway. All of a sudden. I hear voices down the hallway. One of them is familiar.

“Greetings, Sir Dan Blackmore. It’s an honor to meet a knight of such renown.” That’s definitely Leo giving the refined greeting. His servant is at his usual post behind him, looming there like a silver shadow. Gawain preserves his silence. So the next voice is not his, but that of a man near Leo.

“The honor is mine. To meet the lord successor to the Harways in a place such as this.”

“Certainly you’re not surprised. I am just here to retrieve what is rightfully ours. I am a novice to the battlefield, but my family decided that I was to be the one to go. It’s an embarrassing confession to make to such a seasoned knight.”

“The almighty Grail...The Holy Grail is to be yours?”

“Of course. We Harways must have it under our control, especially if its guardianship is vacant. Something so divine does not belong in the hands of a normal man, but in the embrace of a king. This Holy Grail War is annoying, but what can you do?”

“You speak of the divine right of kings. Yes, I can see that’s where you’re coming from.”

“What a load of crap.” Saber whispered as she made herself known to me. “Who does that snot-nose brat think he is? Claiming something like it’s his birthright? What’s really pissing me off is the fact that he thinks he’s doing this for everyone’s well being and a self-proclaimed hero ...reminds me of my father.”

“...Why do I have the feeling that you saying that will come back to bite you?” I asked, only to receive a smack to my nose. All I could do was glare at her...even though she was invisible before turning my attention back towards Leo and Dan’s conversation.

“So, the Holy Grail is legitimate. To tell the truth, I was rather dubious on the whole...Oh no, I feel unsuitably roused. To think that at this age I would see the honor in questing for the Holy Grail!”

“Of course the Holy Grail is real. To your country most of all.”

“Ohhh? And how have you arrived at that conclusion?”

“Because of you, Sir Blackmore. You are not only a veteran but a knight decorated by the Queen. The fact that a man of your rank has been dispatched is proof that the Grail is real.”

“What are you saying, young king? I am just an old soldier. The Queen could not spare a young life for this battle royale, hence I was called upon.”

“You’re close to the Queen, so you must have heard her displeasure at a certain allied organization.”

“Well, the Queen’s intentions do not reach a simple soldier’s ears.”

“Ah, I see. I beg your pardon. I shall take my leave. Let us be off, Gawain.”

“As you wish.” After bidding farewell to Dan, Leo notices me and stops. “It’s been a while, Twilight. I’d heard you passed the first round. Congratulations. Are you ready for the second round? I’d wish you luck, but...it’s strange. The black knight’s lance has splintered. No, perhaps he has exchanged it for a sword. If his conviction is no longer what it used to be, then perhaps...you have a genuine shot at victory.”

Leo doesn’t elaborate any further before leaving. Seems like Dan also left as well while I wasn’t paying attention to him. I didn’t really understand what they were talking about. Might be due to the fact that I’m not from their world perhaps? Ugh, the harder I try to understand, the less of it makes sense. All I really grasped was that they both really want the Holy Grail. Any normal human might not believe in a magic dream-granting cup out there. But given how I’m here, a magical talking pony with wings and a horn. That could give some people some kind of idea that it’s real. Before I could take a step forward, I saw Leo’s servant Gawain staring at me...well not me, but more towards Saber. Even though she’s invisible. He kept looking at her for a moment before shaking his head and walking off after Leo.

“...Do you two know each other or some-?” Just as I looked over at Saber to ask, Saber made herself visible to me with a surprisingly pissed off expression causing me to flinch a bit. Not her usual facial expression, but more pissed off like she was about to kill somepony, in an unbridled rage of anger and sadness. “You okay? You seemed more pissed than you usually are.”

“I’m...fine...Let’s just go before I end up doing something that you’ll regret later on.” She said before making herself disappear. Was she like this before when we first met Leo and his servant Gawain? Maybe I should ask her about this before the fight with Dan and his Servant start. For now, I should head over to the church to increase her strength before we head off to the arena.

Evening

The class felt like it was going on longer than usual...or is it just me feeling it? It’s kinda hard to tell seeing how I’m in a world of ones and zeros...which begs the question why I need to eat if my body is made out of that stuff? Before I could think any further about the subject, my ears twitched a bit from hearing Saber appearing beside me.

“Not going to lie. Beyond the discord between those two is the evident gap in skill between you and that old coot of a knight. We best head over to the arena so we can fill in that gap between you two.” Saber’s right. If I don’t get my abilities up to par. I won’t have a chance at winning. Just as I was about to get up, I felt Saber place a hand onto my shoulder. “We need to talk. Head over to our private room so we can talk.” She said before vanishing. That’s odd. Saber never acted like this before...oh dear. Is she sick or something? Or did something happen to her while I was knocked out? In concern for my servant, I made my way over to our private room. Before I could enter my room, I heard a voice coming from the side of me as I looked over to said direction of the voice.

“Good day.” She said in a mechanical speech and expression. Who, or what, could this girl possibly be? “I believe that this is our first time to actually converse like normal people, is it not?” She said before looking at me up and down. “My name is Rani. Like you, I am here for the purpose of obtaining the Holy Grail.” Hard to believe that humans can be this beautiful and exotic. I mean I have seen her around the school, but how did I not notice her until now? Though it does give me a sigh of relief knowing that she has some kind of emotion after hearing her speak her name out with such pride.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rani. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” I said as she started to walk in circles around me. I’m going to guess that it’s because she has never seen somepony like me before.

“I’ve been scanning the stars for clues about you. Unlike the other Masters, you are an enigma. Mostly because your star burns brighter than anyone else's.” She said before stopping in front of me. “So I wish to ask you directly, and please answer honestly, this question: What are you?” I blinked for a moment upon hearing her question, which took me by surprise seeing how I’m still trying to remember who I am.

“Um, Twilight Sparkle...I’m an Alicorn?”

“Hm. So, you will hide your identity? Even after exposing yourself to Blackmore’s Servant yesterday?” Oh horse apples, somepony saw me?! There shouldn’t have been anyone else there besides me and my opponent. “No need to be so suspicious. I assure you, I’m not your enemy. I did not watch your battle. I am simply relaying what it is the stars say about you. I’m looking for the newborn chick my professor spoke of. The stars have aided me in that task. I am not sure if you are who I seek, but…” So she’s an astrologer, but I don’t really understand her, she seems...mostly harmless, though. “I must study the heavens further. But I must ask you to tell me more about Blackmore's star. It may seem like I’m asking for a lot, but the knowledge revealed will benefit you, I think.”

“I’ll be sure to do that when I can find some information on him.” I said before seeing a small smile appear on her face.

“And as per Atlas, I wish to show you the true value of knowledge and will share my findings. I’ll use you, and you’ll use me...What do you think? Will you accept my request?”

“Hm, an interesting and beneficial request. But why are you telling me this?”

“This is what he said: As a doll, you must find someone who is truly alive and observe them. I believe that he wants me to find out, by watching humans, what it means to be alive. I don’t know if you are the one seeing how you’re not human yourself, but perhaps...your star will shine apart from the others.” She said before adjusting her glasses. “I must...observe other people. You, and Blackmore as well. That is why I need your help. Please bring me a relic of his. I will be waiting at the far end of the third-floor hallway. When you come to see me, we will gaze into the heavens together. I’m sure you see the value in learning what Blackmore’s star will have to say, right?”

“You do make a valid point. It would be helpful to know what or who he is.”

“The best time to read his star will come in three days. Please find a relic of his by then.” With a final “until we meet again,” she gives me a last smile before turning her attention back to the sky outside the window. A girl of many mysteries. And oddly enough...I couldn’t detect any animosity from her. If it’ll help me learn about Dan, I’ll be sure to find something and bring it to her asap. While she was busy looking at the sky, I turned my attention back towards the door to my room and entered it. Once I entered, I quickly closed the door behind me and saw Saber sitting on the makeshift bed she helped me make when I first got here.

“Good to see you’re here.” She said before motioning me over. “Seeing how you won the first match of the Holy Grail War. I’ve decided to share a bit of myself with you. And before you say anything, I’m still not going to share my real name.” Dammit. “Yeah, jokes on you egghead. You’ll either have to wait until the end or figure it out yourself with the clues I give you.”

“You’re mean, you know that?”

“I know. And thank you.” She said before clearing her throat. “You asked me if I was okay earlier when you notice Gawain staring at me right?” I nodded my head to her question. “Well, if I’m being honest. I wasn’t okay...I was pissed.”

“So you did know him, correct?”

“Yeah...his name is Gawain, one of the Knights of the Round Table that appeared in the Arthurian legends, also known as the White Knight of the Round Table. I too was once a knight of the round table, led by my father. King Arthur, by the public name. But her real name is Artoria from what my mother told me.”

“Hold on for a second. I have some questions about that part. One, If your father...mother...whoever he or she goes by is King...wouldn’t that make you a princess? Then again you being princess-like is way out of the category. Seeing how you don’t have ladylike features and-” Before I could finish, I felt Saber smack me on the nose. Looking up at her, I noticed she had a deadpan expression as I chuckled awkwardly. “Right sorry. Um, second. Your mother and father are both females, so unless there was magic involved. It would be impossible to give birth to you.”

“My mother, Morgan le Fay told me the truth about how I was...conceived. My father and mother are sisters, and basically, through unorthodox...and incestual methods. Artoria, who was originally a female, was a pseudo-male at the time due to Merlin’s Magecraft, so Morgan enchanted him, I mean her with a spell to extract his...well.”

“Babymaker, jizz, custard to his donut stick, his load?” I could go on at this point, but the anger on Saber’s face is pretty much saying I should stop before she tries to kill me in my sleep.

“ARE YOU DONE!?” Saber yelled as I noticed her face was blushing red from my response. I couldn’t help but chuckle and nod to her question before her face color returned to normal as she continued. “Anyway, yes. She pretty much had sex and gave birth to me. A homunculus clone of my father. Throughout my childhood, for the most part, it’s just been Morgan and I. Living in secret, learning how to fight, read, cook, and all that stuff. It wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t keep going on about wanting to take over Artoria’s kingdom almost every day and was strict with how she raised me.”

“So you were pretty much born out of wedlock by a sister who was jealous of your father for being king of...whatever place he was ruling.”

“She ruled over Britain from the castle of Camelot. I along with the knights of the round table served under her rule for a very long time...that is until the battle of Camlann.”

“Would tell you more...but that’s all you’re getting for the time being.” Saber said before pulling herself up from the makeshift bed while stretching her limbs. “When you win the next round, I’ll give you more about me.”

“Aw come on! You have to tell me more! It was getting interesting.”

“Sorry, have to wait until next week for the next bit of information from me.” Saber said before disappearing once again into ones and zeros. “Now I believe we have to go to the arena, egghead.”

“One of these days, I am going to get you for this.” I said before letting out an annoyed sigh and began to leave our private room to head over to the arena. Might as well see if I can find something there about Dan’s servant.

Week Two: Hunt For The Faceless King

Week Two

Hunt For The Faceless King

As I was about to head into the arena, I heard a familiar voice followed by foot steps rushing from behind me. Turning around, I saw Taiga rushing over towards me only for her to fall face first in front of me and Saber who appeared beside me and began to laugh. I couldn’t help but wince from the pain she felt from a fall like that and quickly walked over to help her up.

“Twilight, thank god I found you! I need your help! It’s an emergency! Do you think you could help me out?” She asked and I nodded. She did help us in the last round, so I couldn’t really say no to her asking for help. “You’re a god sent angel! Well, a persimmon that a friend gave me as a gift somehow got sent to the arena by mistake...But I don’t know whose Arena it was sent to. So I’m throwing up the Taiga Signal to all students. So, do you think you could help me out by searching your Arena?”

“Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thanks, you're a lifesaver. It’ll be two days before it gets reported as a system error, so please get it before then.” I looked over Saber who nodded before disappearing as we made our way into the arena.

[Arena]

“So care to explain why we’re here again?” Saber asked as she appeared beside me. “I know we’re here for that teacher’s persimmon, but what else are we here for?”

“We need to find some information on Dan’s servant. Mainly something that his servant left behind so I can bring it to Rani. The first place we should search would be where that tree was that produced the poison.”

“You think there might be something there?”

“It’s better to check. After all, you have possibly the smartest pony as your master.” I said before noticing a deadpan expression on her face. “What? I’ve gotten us this far right?”

“I wouldn’t say you’re the smartest. But seeing how you’re a new species, I guess that would make you the smartest of your kind...just not on human levels of smartness.”

“...You just can’t let me have my moment can you?”

“Can’t let you have a big head. Less you end up like Shinji.” She said before taking the lead into the arena. I soon followed after her while keeping my eyes on our surroundings, which didn’t seem like much seeing how Saber sliced and diced her way through the enemy programs. As we made our way through the first section of the arena. I noticed something shiny off in the area that the poison tree was placed. I quickly walked over to it while Saber was busy killing off another enemy program to see if there was anything left behind by Dan’s servant.

“This is the place alright.” I said while carefully looking around the place where the tree used to be in. While looking, I soon notice something giving off a dull flash. Looking down I picked up what appears to be an arrowhead that belongs to an arrow. The source of the barrier, the remains of the arrow. The arrowhead in my hands looks antique.

“Not a bad find, egghead. If we look into this, we will be closer to uncovering his identity.”

“There may be something more that Dan’s Servant left behind. We should keep looking around.” I said before seeing Saber take the lead towards the other room of the arena and quickly followed after her. “H-Hey! Wait up!” Once we got to the second room of the area, my eyes caught something glowing off to the side. Looking over I squinted my eyes to see that there was a rod laying off to the left corner of the room. From what I can tell, it looks like the shaft part to the arrowhead I found. “Looks like we found another bit of proof left by Dan’s servant.” Just as I was about to take a step forward, Saber placed a hand in front of me causing me to stop as I saw an enemy program appear in front of us.

“Just a reminder, do not walk full heartedly into an area that has programs appearing out of nowhere.” Saber said as she quickly charged at the enemy program. Once close, the program turned its attention towards Saber as it lunged at her in an attempt to bite her. Saber quickly moved to the side to avoid the program’s bite, as she quickly drove her sword into its side. Once the blade is impaled inside the program, crimson color lightning erupted from it as it soon exploded into bits of data. “Ha! This is way too easy.”

“To be fair, you do have the strength of a berserker class servant. But I’m not complaining. It makes things much easier for us to make our way through the arena to get what we need.” I said before picking up the shaft part of the broken arrow. “There may be something more than just the two pieces that we found.”

“Seriously? Isn't just those two good enough?” Saber asked as I shook my head.

“I have a feeling that there’s one more piece that we might miss. I prefer not to go back to Rani and not have the materials needed for her to read Dan Blackmore’s star.”

“So she’s an astrologist. I can see why you’d accept her help. But what’s in it for her?”

“Don’t know. Other than wanting to know who or what I am...She finds me rather interesting given my pony like appearance.” I said before placing the shaft into my pocket and began to make my way into the next area of the arena with Saber next to me.

“Well, looks like you’re just a magnet for people that might find you interesting. Though at least this time, they didn’t place their hands on your face like Rin did that one time.”

“Don’t remind me. It was weird...yet oddly nice.” I said as I noticed Saber raising an eyebrow at me. “D-Don’t get any ideas! I-I just never knew humans have very soft hands, that’s all!”

“Hey, I’m not one to judge...but do expect me to tease you for your weird human hand fetish~” Saber said before taking the lead once again as I glared daggers at her from behind.

“I do not have a weird fetish! What’s the matter with feeling a comfortable sensation of having soft hands touch your face like that!?”

“Oh nothing...if you’re into that weird stuff like that...weirdo~”

“....I hate you so much right now.” I said as Saber looked behind me with a smug grin on her face.

“Love you too egghead~” ….Mental note, find a way to make her pay for this...at any cost. As we entered the last section of the arena, I noticed the same dull light off in the distance. Squinting my eyes once again, I see a magnificent feather. It must be related to the poison barrier that the Servant left. Without a second thought, I quickly rushed over to where the feather was located. When I look down, I see a magnificent feather.

“Haha! Another clue to our mysterious servant.” I said as I picked up the feather carefully and placed it into my pocket for safe keeping. So far I think that’s everything I need to get from here for Rani to help us. All we have to do is wait for the appointed time to go to her to study the stars of Dan Blackmore. “Only thing left to do is get Taiga’s persimmon, and we can call it a day.”

“Still makes you wonder how Taiga’s friend could mistakenly send an item into the arena. I mean, I don’t know much about digital stuff. But wouldn’t it seem less time consuming to give said item to them in person?”

“True, but you have to take into account if the pon...person might be someplace else.”

“Nice recovery, but where else would said person be? Especially seeing how we’re stuck in a school?”

“Um...maybe on the other side of the world we’re in?” I said as Saber gave me a deadpan expression along with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t give me that look. You can’t expect me to have all the answers.”

“Well you are into the whole learning stuff. So….yeah.”

“You shouldn’t assume something like that. Granted I’m smart, but bare in mind that a lot of my memories are gone.” I said before motioning for her to follow me through the arena while I keep an eye for the persimmon.

“Anything new besides what you told me this morning?”

“No, nothing else happened to me during that time… But at least I’m getting some of my memories back...I think.”

“Still weird that you’re getting them back either due to encountering an item from a master or servant. But that might be a good thing to some degree. Though we might not want to have you get hurt by them.”

“Hm. We’ll have to test that theory out next time, but for now let's focus on getting those persimmon.” I said before seeing a digital box in front of us. “There it is. That has to be the item we’re looking for.”

“Yeah, shame it’s being blocked by a monster.” Saber said as I squinted my eyes to see the same monster from before. “And it’s the same monster that I fought before.”

“Think you’ll be able to take it out without a problem-” Before I could finish, Saber quickly vanished from beside me with her sword raised above her. Once she was in front of the enemy program, her sword soon was coated in a crimson color like energy as she brought it down onto the program. The impact caused an explosion as she forced me to stumble backwards from the force behind her attack. “Could’ve given me a warning that you would do something like that!?”

“Sorry, couldn’t risk the opportunity to surprise attack it!” She yelled while laughing. “Stupid thing didn’t see it coming.” I rolled my eyes to her comment as I pulled myself up and brushed the dust off. As I did that, I looked over at Saber who opened the box. Once it was open, a box of persimmons appeared floating next to her as we both blinked in surprise by this. “Um...didn’t she say that it was just a persimmon? Not a box of them?”

“Perhaps she wasn’t clear on what her friend sent her. But, we got the item that we need.” I said before walking over and collecting the box. Upon getting it, the size of the giant box shrunk into the side of an apple and placed it into my pocket. “Lets head back. I think we’re done for today.”

“About time. I was beginning to think that we'd have to keep looking around more for anything else. Which was pretty much the boring part of this little adventure.”

“Hey, gathering information can be fun. I mean look at what we got so far. Charging into battle without a plan may work for some people, but given how we’re facing people with the same intelligence as my kind. We’re going to need some means of an advantage.” I said before moving past Saber and began to walk towards the exit of the arena. “Why don’t we stop by the church early in the morning so we can power you up if it makes you feel better.”

“It's a weird feeling whenever we go there and have them mess around with my body like that. Not in a bad kind of weird, but strangely comfortable when you’re behind the ropes doing it.”

“Aw, you really do like me~” I said before feeling Saber bonk me on the head with the flat of her sword. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Just keep going egghead.” She said as I stuck my tongue out at her as we left the arena for today. We got the materials needed for Rani to read the stars with. Now all we have to do is just survive long enough to get the information we need on Dan and his servant...I’m hoping this will workout well.

Week Two: The Hunters Become The Hunted

Week Two

The Hunters Becomes The Hunted

[Day Three]
Evening

Ever since I woke up this morning, I feel like I’m being watched by somepony. Like, I know they’re waiting for the right moment to strike when I’m not looking. So far I’ve been able to make myself stick around crowds so that whoever is watching me doesn’t try and attack. But I can’t keep this up for very long. Mainly because as the hours go by, more and more students are making to their private rooms for today to either rest up, train in the arena, or think up a strategy for their own fight to come.

M...Maybe I’m overthinking things. I should head over to the lunch room and get something to eat. That should clear my mind a bit. I began to make my way out of the classroom and head down to the first floor. The moment I set foot on the first floor foyer, a sudden chill runs through me and freezes me in place. I tried to say something or at least try to move my body, but I couldn’t. I can feel myself sweating, my heart beating as if it’s about to explode, and my brain telling me to run. Before I could even think of anything else to do, Saber appeared in front of me.

“Do not look behind yourself egghead. Should you do, then I can tell you that you’ll be dead upon seeing whoever is behind you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I need you telling me that to know that someone’s behind me getting ready to kill me.” There’s no doubt that I’m being stalked by a Servant. That would explain why I couldn’t smell who it was seeing how humans would have a scent coming off them.

“So far the servant can’t hear us talking seeing how he’s at a distance. Breathe slowly and quietly. Do nothing that will draw attention to yourself as much.” So far the servant hasn’t made his or her move yet, might be due to the fact that I’ve been keeping myself around other people and I’m in an enclosed area. Heading out to the schoolyard would lead to a bad end, especially given the rules that we’re not allowed to fight outside of the arena. The Arena will have to do, seeing how we’ll be able to follow the rules and he or she can’t hide behind anything. I took a few deep breaths to calm down and prepare for action as Saber and I made eye contact.

“One...two...three!” I yelled as Saber and I bolted towards the Arena.

(Arena)

Together, Saber and I make a mad scramble for the Arena entrance. If we’ve come this far, maybe the servant followed us here as well. Before I could look at Saber, she soon took the lead as I saw her helmet appear onto her head.

“It’s too soon to relax, Twilight. I still sense that someone is out for your blood. We’ll have to get to an open area so that I can see where this coward is hiding. Talk about the hunters being the hunted. Not something I enjoy, especially when I’m the prey in this game.”

“Let's head over to the open space where I found the second proof of Dan’s servant. You’ll be able to retaliate there and might be able to see where the Servant is.” I said as Saber laughed in excitement.

“Smart move egghead. Hold on tight.”

“Wait what do you-” Before I could say anything, I felt Saber picked me up onto her shoulder and began to bolt it towards the open area from yesterday while taking out a few enemy programs along the way. In a matter of seconds, we made it to the area that I found the shaft to the arrow. I’m on full alert, a voice screams inside my head that I have to keep running, but I can’t. Would we even be able to get away from this servant if we did?

“So called that. Thanks for being such an easy-to-read Master.” My ears twitch upon hearing that familiar voice. It was Dan Blackmore’s servant. The moment I heard where his voice was coming from, I looked up to see him off in the distance of the arena. The moment I locked eyes with him, I could see an arrow heading towards me. I let out a yelp of surprise as Saber quickly moved in front of me and deflected the arrow off to the side.

“Ha! Nice try, bastard. Shooting from her blind spot was a smart move. However-!” Saber was able to block the arrow that had been aimed at me the moment we entered the Arena...or so I thought. A sharp pain started to spread throughout my body as I kneel down onto the floor. When I looked over myself, I saw two deep gashes on my right shoulder and right thigh. I felt myself getting nauseous...more nauseous than seeing the deep wound like that would warrant. Saber stopped the surprise attack, but while I was focused on running away, there was a second arrow. Well, two more to be accurate.

“Three arrows!? Laced with poison. The enemy’s an archer!” Saber said as I try to struggle to stay conscious as the poison starts to course through my system. Whoever that Servant is, they landed a really good shot. There’s no doubt that the enemy is an Archer. Especially the arrow I found. But what good is knowing that going to do me if I die? Before the poison spreads. I have to retreat to a safer place.

Matrix Level 1: Obtained!

“Egghead, can you stand?” Saber asked as I nodded a bit while pulling myself up. “Okay that’s a good sign, but can you move?” She asked as I tried to take a step forward, only for my legs to give way and caused me to fall onto the floor.

“Y-Yeah...I don’t think I can move that well.” I said before my ears twitched again upon hearing the sound of arrows being fired. Looking over to my left, I can see roughly three arrows heading towards me as Saber quickly deflected them off to the side.

“Bastard! Stop hiding like a coward and fight me!” She yelled as the archer laughed upon hearing that.

“I prefer not to have a full out battle. Especially with someone that I know could beat me in a fair fight. Plus, my goal is to make sure you both are eliminated before the final battle. Just to make things easier for my master.”

“This is another reason why I fucking hate Archers. They don’t know what it means to be in a real fight.” She said before grabbing me by the back of my shirt color and placing me under her arm. “We can't do much so long as he’s fighting at a distance and I’m not at full strength to use my Noble Phantasm at him. For now, we need to get the hell out of here before the poison takes full effect on you.”

“You think I’ll let you get away just like that?” He said as I heard him fire off another set of arrows at us. Saber quickly bolted to the left to avoid the arrows heading towards us as she quickly jumped into the air to avoid another set of arrows from behind. “You may be able to deflect my arrows, but all I have to do is keep you from getting to the exit long enough so that the poison can take effect.”

He has a point. Given Saber’s current level and the surprise attack from the Archer, I’ll be dead before we can get back to our safe place. Only option is that Saber plows her way throw the oncoming assault, but I don’t think she would be that reckless or stupid to-

“Better hold on egghead. Time to book it and run for the exit!” Okay, I stand corrected she is that reckless to do something like this. I was about to say something in response to this, but was cut off by a surge of magic expelling from her body as she began to bolt it down the hallway of the arena. While she was running, I could hear the archer’s arrows being fired from behind us, two of them hit Saber in the arm while the others hit someplace else...Don’t know what it hit, but I was able to hear it hit something...fleshy? It’s kinda hard to focus when the only thing you can hear is a high-pitch noise in your ears.

“Hang in there egghead, we’re almost there!” It was hard to hear Saber talking, but I could somewhat see the exit in front of us getting close. I can feel Saber’s speed decreasing as I notice her deflecting the arrows heading towards my head.

“Stubborn bastards aren’t you?” He said before firing another volley of arrows at us, only for Saber to quickly gather magic into her sword and unleash a shockwave with it by slamming the ground with her sword. Unknowingly to Saber, this was a smart move on her part. Mainly because her attack created a crimson colored dust cloud. Which gave us an advantage as it blocked Archer’s view of us so he couldn't take aim at us. “Dammit, you gotta be kidding me.”

While the dust cloud kept us hidden, we finally made it to the exit. Archer’s poison pretty much paralyzed my body. It took all of my strength just to stay conscious. At least we know something about Dan’s Servant, they are an Archer class servant.

Night

We finally made it back to our private room. It’s a good thing that nopony can enter into the room. That would be a huge problem, especially given the state that I’m in right now. Still, I’m a bit surprised that Dan would have his servant attack me like that. From the way he spoke and acted, you would think he would be the type that would fight fairly and without any underhanded tactics. But then again, I’m in a war. So it’s to be expected that something like this would happen.

“The enemy Servant seems to be an Archer, with poison arrows at their disposal.” Saber said before placing me in the makeshift bed that I usually try to sleep in. “That gray-haired knight is not as honorable as I imagined. He has been corrupted by the holy grail if he does something as underhanding as this. Fucking archers are almost as annoying as me trying to figure out if Tristan is awake or asleep at times.” I tried to say something, mainly asking her a question as to who this Tristan person is, but I think all that came out was something incoherent. “Save your strength egghead. The pain should go away seeing how you’re on school grounds, but we’ll have to head over to the nurse’s office so she can treat the poison. Even though the school ground will nullify the poison, that doesn’t mean it won't be a problem if you go back into the arena.”

Can’t deny that. There’s not much I can do at the moment. Especially seeing how I feel like my body is made of heavy lead. I let out an annoyed sigh as I felt my eyelids feeling heavy. Just in case, I’ll get checked out at the nurse’s office. If nothing else, I’ll worry less afterward. With that in mind, I let sleep take over me as I was knocked out into dreamland.

“Is this really how you want to do this Twilight? Isn’t there any other way to cure you of this sickness?”

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself in another dream like before. Only this time, she found herself in what appears to be in front of a school similar to the one she’s currently in, but much different. Looking around, she found what looked like a dark skinned human with similar hair color as her own, though there was two purple colored horns sticking out from the side of her head. Her supposed counterpart is talking to a girl with long red and yellow color hair as the two were standing in front of a statue.

“I’m running out of options, Sunset. The plan I had Applejack do didn’t pan out so well seeing how Celestia forgot that Princess Luna can read ponies minds via dreams. And because of that, I had to...alternate the plan.”

“Basically asking me if I had any cursed magical items from Equestria that I brought here due to...wanting to get revenge on Celestia.” Sunset said as Twilight nodded. “Surprisingly I do have the dagger you’re looking for.” She said before presenting Twilight a black colored dagger.

“Perfect! This is just the weapon I need!” Twilight yelled as she grabbed and examined it. “Now I can complete the final stage for my plan.”

“Twilight...is this really the way to go? Can’t you just use the elements of harmony to..uncorrupt you.”

“We did, and the outcome was that I looked like a demon. Not to mention it made things worse.” Twilight gestured to the horns on her head. “The voices and the visions, I’m able to see them when I’m either awake or asleep. It’s been nine months since I’ve come into contact with that black sludge substance that mysteriously appeared in manehattan. And so far, I’m losing more of my sanity as time goes by. And right now, I’m on the verge of breaking within one week.”

“M-Maybe the girls and I can do-” Before Sunset could finish, she felt Twilight pull her in close to her by her throat.

“THIS IS NOT UP FOR DEBATE SUNSET! I’ve been in a constant state of paranoia for the past nine months since that bitch of a Princess, Celestia got me into this mess and isn’t doing a damn thing to help me. Now because of her stupid cuck of a sister Princess Luna, my previous plan was thrown out the window! So right now I am desperate for a means for my friends or somepony to kill me when I do break! So you better not get involved in this or I swear to Faust herself. If you tell anyone about this. I will come to this world, make you my bitch of a slave to do as I please, and kill every last human on this planet! DO YOU HEAR ME!?”

“T-Twilight...I-I...Can’t...B-Breath.” Sunset said while trying to gasp for air. Twilight’s eyes widened upon realising what she was doing as she released her hold on Sunset, who took in a breath of fresh air before coughing vigorously.

“S-Sunset….I-”

“I-It’s fine...I know it wasn’t you that did that.” Sunset said while slowly collecting her composure. “J-Just take the dagger and do what you need to do.”

“Yeah...I’ll do that...Thank you Sunset.”

“When you do end up...breaking. Are you going to come here last?”

“I’m planning on destroying the machine that allows us to visit each other. You’ll still be able to visit...just every thirty moons.”

“...So...this will be the last time I’ll see you again...Are you sure there’s no other way to cure you or something?”

“I can’t find anything about this sickness I have in Equestria, nor do I hope to find one here in the human world from what you told me in the journal. This is the only method that I have left.”

“....Will Celestia and Luna survive this?” Sunset asked as Twilight stared at her for a moment before turning around to head towards the statue. “Twilight, answer me!!” Twilight stopped as she turned her head slightly for Sunset to see a tear run down her face. Sunset’s eyes widened at the realization as she tried to take a step forward, only for her friend to quickly enter through the portal of the statue. “Twilight! Wait!” Was all she could hear as she ran through the portal to the other side. Once Twilight was back in her world, her horns began to glow as she quickly fired off a beam of magic at the machine parts around the mirror. Once it made contact, the machine parts instantly turned to dust as she soon teleports the mirror to the crystal empire.

“I’m sorry Sunset. But what’s about to happen here...it’s going to be a bloodbath.” Twilight said as a wicked devilish grin appeared on her face. “A very...glorious fun...bloodbath.” While the memory of herself staggered off towards who knows where, the real Twilight watched the scene play out as she tried to move towards the memory of herself walking away. Only for her surroundings to start fading away into darkness.

“No! Not yet! I need to know what happens next! Just let me see more!” She asked only for it to be answered by feeling her legs sinking into the darkness. The alicorn began to struggle in an attempt to try and free herself, but all it did was make her sink more and more into the darkness. “No, let me go! Saber! Somepony! Anyone! HELP!” She yelled as she felt hands appear from the darkness to grab onto her and pulled her down into the darkness. The alicorn felt her throat burn from the stinging sensation she felt from the black sludge filling up her lungs. Twilight tries to struggle against the hands pulling her down deep into the darkness, but felt her strength quickly disappearing along with her vision slowly fading. “C-Celestia….”

Week Two: What an...odd glorious morning

Week Two

What an...Odd Glorious Morning

[Day Four]
Morning

My eyes shot open upon feeling the dream ending as I frantically flailed around in the makeshift bed. Looking around I could see that I was in the private room, which was a good sign seeing how I’m not hallucinating...as much as I was when I was poisoned by the archer. Still, my body feels like lead and I can’t move as much as I normally do.

“Guess the poison is stuck in my body like Saber said. I better get to the nurse’s office-” Just as I reach out to pull the covers off of me, I notice that the color of my arms were glowing green, well the magic circuits that were inside me were glowing green and purple. I blinked in surprise as I quickly pulled the covers off to see that my entire body was covered in magic circuits. “Oh dear...please let there be no horns growing out of my head.” I slowly reached for the top of my head, only to sigh in relief that I still had pony ears and my unicorn horn. Looking behind myself, I can see that I still have my tail and wings still on me...just covered in magic circuits...Yeah I got to go to the nurse’s office. Before I could do anything, I heard the door to the room open as Saber entered with a bag of food in her hands.

“Hey! Egghead! It’s time to wake…” Just as Saber looked upon me, her eyes widened as she dropped the bags she was carrying onto the ground. “Wow...didn’t think the poison would do this to your body....”

“...Nice to see you’re as blunt as always.” I said while struggling to get out of bed. “At least you brought me something to eat this morning.”

“Well seeing how we need to get the poison out of your system, you’re going to be at the nurse’s office for a while. So I figured I'll get you some food to last through the day.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” I said while staggering to my feet and began to make my way over to the nurse’s office...though I can hear Saber making snickering sounds from behind me. That might be due to the way I’m walking because of the poison. I turned my attention to her who quickly looked off to the side, but I can see a smile on her face. “You're a jerk sometimes. You know that?”

“I know, and I’m not sorry about it in the slightest.”

(Nurse’s Office)

Getting to the nurse’s office was a pain. Mainly because of the poison that was still inside my body...which might explain why it felt like I was dying in the dream I had last night. But thank goodness that the archer didn’t try and attack me while I was in the hallway, otherwise I would possibly be dead.

“This is taxine, a toxin from the yew tree. It’s quite a terrifying natural poison.” Sakura said while showing me a bottle of the sickly greenish purple substance. “I don’t know much of it I can treat with my abilities, but I’ll do what I can. But you can’t let this happen to you again. You only have one body, okay? Treat it well.” She said while administering a detox treatment to me on the bed in her office. Bits of digital like squares appeared around my body as I felt myself feeling a bit better.

“What about the magic circuits? Surely this isn’t a normal thing that they’re glowing like this?”

“I’m afraid that I don’t know how to fix that problem. Maybe if the poison leaves your body, then it should go back to normal. Sorry, but given the fact that you’re not human and have more magic circuits within your body, It’s kinda hard to get the right readings on what’s wrong with you.” She said before walking off. Guess it would make sense. I’m not human so it would be hard for her to figure out what the problem is with me. Maybe this world is causing the sudden change happening to my body? While I dwell on that thought, the doors to the nurse’s office open, admitting a surprise visitor. I turn my attention towards the door as my eyes widen upon seeing Dan Blackmore entering the room along with his Servant appearing next to him.

The unexpected caller is my enemy Master. I tried to ready myself, but I couldn’t say anything due to the fear I was feeling from seeing the archer and from the poison sapping away most of my strength. However, his actions greatly betray my expectations.

“You got some nerve showing your face here you bastards.” Saber appeared next to me as she glared daggers at the two. “What? Here to try to attack while she’s down?”

“I’ve destroyed the Noble Phantasm, the source of the poisoned arrows. Their effects should dissipate.” He said while bowing his head before me. “Plese, accept this token of my apology, if only to humor me.” Saber and I looked at each other with shocked expressions on our faces before looking back at Dan and Archer...Wait, what does this man standing by my bed mean that he disabled his servant’s Noble Phantasm? “And, Archer. I’m disappointed in your use of underhanded tactics without my permission. To break the sovereign rules of the battlefield is to sunder the fabric of your character. This war is between individuals, not countries. There is no longer any need to resort to savagery.”

A quiet confession. There’s something unshakable about the conviction underlying those solemn words...Looks like Saber was wrong about Dan being dishonorable.

“Archer. Your Master, Dan Blackmore, commands you with the force of a command seal. I hereby prohibit any attacks on enemy Masters with your Yew Bow while on campus.”

“What!? Are you crazy, boss…!? I thought you wanted this to be an easy win!” He said as I noticed Dan’s hand glowing for a moment.

“Of course. And I will not lose. My victory is the natural outcome of the situation. However, Archer, I speak only to my own resolve. My fight and yours are separate. There are circumstances in which we may not win. My victory is not the same as yours.” he said as Archer glared at him silently before disappearing. The Command Seals. The three absolute commands that a Master may give their Servant. Astonishingly, this old knight in front of me just used one of his Command Seals to force his own Servant to fight fairly. “Please understand that my Servant acted improperly and against my deepest wishes. I intend to grasp victory only on the battlefield proper. I hope you can forgive this incident. Especially given how the poison turned you into what you are.” That said, Dan turns around and walks off.

Matrix Level Two: Obtained!

“Hmph, I guess I’ll have to retract what I said last night. This man is worthy of the title of knight. Compared to me, he proved his honor by apologizing with a command seal, and revealing the name of his Servant’s noble Phantasm...Which explains the color of the poison that Sakura pulled out from your body.” Saber said as I looked over at her. “The Yew Bow. The wood used to make the yew bow was taken from a specific tree located in a specific forest that a man used as his base of operations. The bow has the power to identify and amplify any impurities both physically and mental, causing them to explode with incredible force.” She said as I quickly pulled out a notepad to write this down so I can put it on my terminal for later.

“The Yew Trees have many mystical and religious connections attributed to them by Celtic beliefs, and the act of making a bow from the wood of a yew was seen as a contract to “Become one with the Forest.” It was also believed the yew trees served as signposts for the deceased to guide them to the afterlife. It was this connection between the yew and death that caused the man to remark he wanted to be buried where his final arrow fell. To nobody’s surprise, it landed at the foot of the yew tree where he first got the wood to make his bow...really wish I knew that guy’s name from what father told me once.”

“....How am I not dead if that’s the case!?”

“Well it could be the fact that we’re in a digital world, or the fact that you’re a human-like animal.” Saber said as she shrugs. “Or it could be your weird amazing luck that you have in surviving this long.”

“Some help that is.” I said before slumping back into the bed I was in.

“What do you want from me? I’m not a nerd with all the answers that you need like you are. I prefer to kill first and ask questions later.”

“Makes me wonder how you ended up as a heroic spirit.” I said before an electronic chiming sound came from my terminal. I reached into my pocket to pull it out to see words appearing on it.

:: The secondary cipher key has been generated ::

The second Trigger has appeared. Guess I’ll need to find it first before the Elimination Battle begins. Better head to the arena while I still can. Just as I was about to pull myself out of the bed, I felt Saber place a hand on my chest, and pushed me down onto the bed with little to no effort.

“Much as I want you to be up and going. Right now, your body needs to recover from being poisoned from Archer’s poison.”

“But-”

“No butts, butts are for sitting. And your fatass needs to sit down and relax for the time being. We’ll go to the arena when you’re well rested.” Saber said as she walked over to the doors that led outside of the room. “And to make sure you don’t try anything, I’ll be right here keeping an eye on you.”

“....Fine....Thanks.”

“No problem, egghead.”

“How long are you going to keep calling me that?”

“Until you give me a reason to acknowledge you as a master. At this point you have part of my respect after the first round. Now rest up until the afternoon.”

[Afternoon]
[Hallway]

“Okay, so we have some information on Dan’s Servant. Thanks to your knowledge about the poison of where he got it from, we only need one more piece of information before we figure out who he is. Still a shame that you don’t know his real name even though you know about the weapon he’s using.”

“Yeah, sorry. Father told me about his name one time, but I wasn’t paying much attention seeing how it didn’t seem like it was important to me during that time.”

“Really helpful on that part Saber.” I said in a sarcastic tone which caused her to flip me off with her middle finger. “Rani might help out with that lack of information on your part, but we’ll have to wait until the fifth day so she can read the stars to figure out something.”

“Star readers in a nutshell. They’re good at gathering information, but it takes a hell of a time for them to get it due to the star of said person they’re looking for.” Saber said as we made our way over to the arena, only for her to pause in the middle of the hallway. I raised an eyebrow at her as to why she stopped, only for her to point a finger down the hallway. Looking over to where she was pointing at, I saw my homeroom teacher Taiga looking around trying to find something or somepony. When she made eye contact with me, she smiles and quickly rushes over to me.

“Ah there you are my favorite student! Were you able to get the persimmon?” She asked as I presented her said box of persimmon as they appeared out of ones and zeros next to her. “Ah, my persimmons! So it was in your Arena after all! Thank you so much for getting it for me!” She said with a grin on her face. “Heh heh! I can finally share this with everyone. Oh, I just remembered something.”

Upon hearing this, she turns her attention towards me as she dawns an innocent expression on her face...I get the feeling I’m going to be her little errand pony.

“Twilight, a student asked me for help, but you’d do a better job. So could you help me instead? I promise that I’ll give you a reward later on~.”

“Sure, why not? Not like I have anything better to do.”

“You’re a lifesaver! It seems one of the girls dropped her glasses in the Arena. She said they dropped to the bottom of the arena’s second floor, but she isn’t sure. It’d be great if you could poke around the second floor of your arena as well. She lost them on the second floor. Please try to find them sometime during the second round. Thanks!” She said before grabbing the box of persimmons and headed off to the second floor.

“You’re too nice for your own good. You know that, right?” Saber said as I rolled my eyes to her comment.

“Can’t really deny something like this. Do you know how hard it must be to not be able to read without their glasses? This is something I must do for them.”

“For one nerd to another, right?”

“....Let’s just go to the arena before I do something I’m going to regret later on.” I said as Saber vanished from my side as I resumed my walk to the arena.

Week Two: Fight with Honor

Week Two

Fight with Honor

[Day Five]
Midday

Yesterday’s adventure through the arena was somewhat successful. We were able to make some progress in exploring the Arena, so that was a good thing. Though I had to pull out of the place seeing how there were a lot of strong enemy programs and I forgot to head over to the chapel to power up saber so she can stand more of a chance against them. So I decided to head over to the chapel during my break time from class. Once there, I ended up encountering a familiar man dressed in green. Dan Blackmore.

“Sorry about yesterday. I do think that the fact your wounds didn’t threaten your life is a silver lining, however."

“Hey, Knight. I don’t really care about your servant, but I’m a bit impressed by your attitude. However, I am a bit curious. Why did you use a command seal to assist us?” Saber asked, which took me by surprise. Wasn’t expecting Saber to ask something like that. But I do want to know why he would assist us.

“Yes. I have been questioning my actions as well. To use one of the three command seals given to me to help my enemy, of all things…” Command Seals...the irrefutable commands given to all the Masters in the Holy Grail War. If it’s within the rules, they will guarantee that an action is performed, whatever the cost. It’s a bit unsettling when you think about, hence why I’m not planning on using them anytime soon...I hope. “But it was the right thing to do. Also, I’m here on behalf of her Majesty, the Queen...It has been a long time since...No, this is the first time a fight has been for personal reasons. As a mere soldier, I’d have praised Archer’s actions. As a knight, I must condemn them. And as I did, I could almost feel as if the spirit of my wife approved, and was proud of me.”

“So, you had a wife?”

“It’s the same story every old man has. It’s been so long I’ve even forgotten the sound of her voice...It’s an obvious truth. As a soldier, one is required to abide by military regulations. There are no allowances made for even one such as myself to go beyond what is permitted. You should take care, to. The ends don’t always justify the means. Regret is an insidious thing. If you let it, it will blind you to the future and all it holds. So knowing this young girl, I will never condone any conduct that would stain my conscience.”

Nothing more came from what seemed to be an apology of sorts. And beyond the journey itself, the path to the Grail lies in dignity and self-respect. Hard to believe that this man can be so honorable...why does he remind me of somepony I knew...but I can’t put a finger on who he reminds me of. Before I could get lost in my own thoughts, I heard Dan speak up again.

“It’s odd that I’d speak like this to you. You’d do well to laugh at the musings of this old man.” With that said, the old man closes his eyes. It’d be the worst form of bad manners to disturb him while he’s praying. It’d be better if I just leave. Looking over at Saber, she nodded with an expression that said “we should leave him to pray.” I nodded back before she and I decided to leave him to his prayers and headed over to the two girls to power up Saber.

[Evening]

Class had finally ended for the evening. Though it wasn’t so bad...just wish Saber kept her mouth shut and not made rude comments about the teacher. Which thanks to her it got me a smack to the head by her weird wooden sword thing. I’ll be sure to remember to figure something out revenge wise to get payback on Saber. Just as I was about to pull myself away from my seat, Saber appeared next to me.

“Hey, Egghead. It’s the fifth day. Shouldn’t we go see that Rani girl and hear what information she has for us?” Oh crap! I almost forgot about that. “Now that we have her cooperation we should definitely speak with her on a regular basis.” She said before vanishing. Thank Celestia that we have Rani on our side for the time being, especially seeing how she’s offered to help us without any strings attached. I quickly gathered my belongings as I quickly made my way to the third floor to meet up with Rani. Once she saw me, she gave me a small smile before speaking up once I was close.

“Good day. I see you’ve brought something of Sir Blackmore’s, as I had requested?” She asked as I nodded and presented her Archer’s arrow from his yew bow. “I give you my thanks. You brought it at the right time as I can read Sir Blackmore’s star today.” She said she wishes to learn more about people and humanity in general. But still, I wonder if what I am doing is really okay. As a master, I feel uneasy having another Master help me, especially as we might have to fight one another...I hope I don’t have to fight her or Rin later on in this war.

“My professor’s words are my guide. He told me specifically to learn about humans. So please put your mind at ease. You have nothing to worry about from me seeing how you’re not human. Learning more about Sir Blackmore will help your cause as well, correct?” With her mechanical reasoning, Rani examines what was Archer’s arrow. She mumbles and then nods in understanding. “With this…” Brushing the object softly with her fingers, Rani closes her eyes and turns her face to the sky. “The fate of which the stars speak, you can learn many things if you simply open your mind. The star which governs Sir Blackmore’s Servant shines brightly in the heavens today.”

To be honest, I have no clue as to what astrology is or what it’s supposed to accomplish, but she claims that today certain portents can be read in the stars, and I believe that she can see things about his servant.

“Astrology is weird and confusing. All I can see in the sky are just stars. Don’t see how you can read about them. It’s not like they’re books or anything.” Saber said as she folded her arms in curiosity. “However, I am curious about this “professor.” As for this girl’s motives, I wish to know more. For today only, I’ll just play ignorance on this matter of the stars.” She said before looking over at Rani as she spoke.

“I find myself in a...forest? It’s deep, dark…” Running her hand along Archer’s arrow, the now entranced Rani begins speaking in a quiet tone. “An incredibly...dark color. At times a harbinger of infamy...A life spent in darkness...Admiration mixed with trepidation, the color of the solitary path he walks. His green-clad form blends in with the forest. He snipes his enemies from the shadows…”

it seems that the Servant’s way of life created a Noble Phantasm that would conceal him. A life that consisted of cowering in the darkness, shooting his enemies from afar. It seems totally at odds with Dan, who would fight with dignity and honor.

“...I agree. I think that there must be some sort of longing hidden deep within his soul. A desire to live an honest life, out in the full light and warmth of the sun.” I wrack my brain trying to think of a hero out of legend who’d fit such a description. I start with those who are heroes because they were named so. Although, that’ll take a while seeing how I haven’t checked the library fully in my spare time due to fear of Archer attacking me from a distance or worse.

“So we have an enemy who could only play the role of the hero, but never be one himself.” Saber said as she began to think. “Why does this sound so fucking familiar.” I wonder if the legendary soul I find myself allied with shares the same bleak history. As I try to follow this line of thought, Rani begins to speak again in the same quiet tone.

“This may not be the one that I’m searching for...To say clearly, I’m not sure though. Longing, is the reason for this fissure. This is something told by my professor, a part of humans that I understand. I can feel him deep within the second floor of the Arena. Maybe you should talk to him directly?” After lowering her head in a bow and thanking me again, she once again turns her eyes to the sky. A mismatched cog. I wonder if I’ll mesh with anything. With my servant, with all that’s happening around me.

“Egghead...much as I hate to admit. I’m a bit moved by Dan. Both his sorrow and his resolve. But now is not the time for sentimentality. Let us go to the Arena; there is still much to do.” Saber said as I nodded in agreement. She’s right. I can’t let sentimental feelings like Dan’s story get the best of me or cloud my judgement. I came here for a reason, that reason is to figure out who I am and survive this war until the end. No matter who blocks my path to the truth. With that in mind, Saber and I began to make our way back to the Arena. To get the second trigger card and to face Dan and his servant.

[Arena]

[The Glory of the Night-Shrouded World and the Defiled Faceless Hero. What is Justice, and at the cost of whose Pride?]

It never ceases to amaze me as to how the Mooncell can make the arena look so amazing like this. First a pirate themed arena, and now something that looks like it was from the medieval ages from what I looked up from the library’s books I’ve been reading. It’s hard to believe that a place like this actually exists...it’s even harder to believe that I’m in a world like this. You think I would be dreaming or something. But given how things are, this place is real. After we got the trigger card and the girl’s glasses that Taiga asked me to get for that girl, we made our way through the arena, but we took a quick stop at a nearby fountain that I used to help replenish our lost strength.

“Gotta say, these fountain things aren’t so bad. Especially in your case egghead.” Saber said as I rolled my eyes before taking a huge drink from it by sticking my head into the water. Couldn’t really care so much for her comment but right now, I was really thirsty. “Should’ve rested a bit longer before coming here. The poison may be gone, but your body is still weakened.”

“And miss out on getting what we needed from here? I think I made the right call in this.” I said after pulling my head out of the fountain. “My mistake was not taking into account that I needed to drink some water after being poisoned by that archer. That and it didn’t help that I had another dream again.”

“You mean like before or something else?”

“Part of my past from what I’m getting at. But it seems that I was turning into a monster of some kind.”

“By force or was it of your own accord?”

“Hard to say. Everything is just a bunch of shattered fragments. One dream I’m talking to a mare I know of, then next I’m in a world where I look like a human with a different skin color.”

“Geez, seems the Mooncell is giving you your memories back. But it seems like it’s only certain fragments of it from what you’re telling me, and from what I’m seeing.”

“Think this might be a problem with the Mooncell?”

“Possibly, then again it could be the fact that you’re not human. So the Mooncell might be having a problem trying to give you back your memories or something.” Saber said as I felt her place a hand on my head while I was still on the ground. “But hey. Whether you’re good or evil during your time back where you came from, you’re still good in my book of eggheads to be partnered with...then again you’re possibly the only horse like human I’ve ever been partnered with.”

“I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment...but thanks for the boost in confidence...I think?”

“I’m not good with words or morale boost and stuff. Mostly I just punch them in the face so they’ll get over it and that seems to work...twenty-five percent of the time.”

“....Should I be worried about that?”

“Not so much.” Saber said before her helmet appeared on her head and drew out her sword. “But back to the matter at hand. I can feel both Dan and his Servant near the exit of the Arena.”

“I get the feeling you want payback for what his Archer did to me?”

“Damn right I do! Now that they’ve been given a penalty, this may be a good opportunity to attack them.” I deadpan at her comment, but I wasn’t against the idea of fighting them. Unlike Saber who wants revenge. I’m simply doing this to learn more about him and his Servant for information. Before I can take the lead, Saber quickly bolts it towards the arena exit as I quickly follow after her so that she doesn’t forget that there’s still enemy programs within the area we were in.

Once I caught up with Saber, I soon noticed Dan and his Servant standing in a room Saber was looking from. It looks more spacious than normal. A slender man clad in green and the knight he serves. Yep, it’s Dan and his Servant.

“What do we do now, boss? They did appear right in front of us.” Archer said as he placed a hand to his weapon. My Servant locked eyes upon hearing Dan’s and Archer’s words.

“Finally get the chance to get payback for trying to poison and kill us, bastard. You archers really piss me off when you attack from afar and scurry away like a mouse stealing from a giant.” Saber said as she pointed a blade at Archer. “But now you’re out in the open. And my blade is itching for something to cut in two.”

“You’re one to talk. Who was the one hiding in the shadows before?” Archer said which caused her to look over at me. All I could do was give her a sheepish smile. “But no worries, feel free to hide wherever you wish.”

“Cocky little bastard. The only one who feels the need to hide is you, hunter of the gloomy forest~” Saber said as it caught Archer by surprise as if touching his very core. For a moment, his normally calm demeanor became incredibly flustered. “Hiding while mortal, hiding now in the vast sea, you have nothing of value save your skills at Subterfuge. But you’re fine with that, aren’t you Archer? In this battle, there is nothing for you to protect. How about you try for a certain amount of gravity and decorum now? I will gladly hear you out.”

“Ha! I have no idea what sort of halcyon days you lived in. But you really seem to enjoy talking down to others, you arrogant knight.” Archer’s eyes shine with evil intent. As he reaches under his cape, I fear he may unleash his Noble Phantasm. “I will hide myself just as you asked. Now experience the slaughter of the Sherwood Forest!” He yelled as he was about to attack, only for Dan to stop him by putting his hand in front of him.

“Calm yourself, Archer. Your behavior is completely out of character.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know...Sir Bossman, your request is kind of a pain in the ass, you know? You do realize who I am, don’t you? Asking me to fight toe-to-toe...Are you drunk or something?” He asked with a slight chuckle. “I really don’t get it. If you take away the element of surprise, what else is there left for me? My looks, maybe? My sweet, handsome face? Alas, its powers only work on simple village lasses.”

“You wish to complain? Is your prowess as a hunter so dependent upon the power of the Faceless King?” Dan asked as Archer turned his attention to him.

“Ah...no...well, I mean...Even I get nervous around that, okay? I do have pride in my archery skills, though.”

“Then fight with that in mind. A sniper such as myself would know more than anyone else about your skills. And what I know would send chills through most people. I have confidence in you, Archer.” Dan said as his Servant turns his attention back onto Saber and I.

“...it’s not like i have a choice. I disapprove of all of this, but I will obey. He is my master, after all. Fortunately for me, my opponent is a mere animal. I rarely attack directly, but it shouldn’t matter in this case.”

“....I feel like that’s both offensive and racist towards my kind...should I be angry at that statement?” I asked which caused Saber to smack me upside my head. “What was that for!?”

“For asking a stupid question to an obvius answer. Seriously, how can you not take offense to that?” She asked as I rubbed the back of my head a bit before doing the same to her, only that was a stupid mistake on my part as it cause me to yelp in pain as I forgot she was wearing armor. “Haha! Not the smartest move to do, huh egghead?” She asked as I glared at her and kicked her in the shin...which was another stupid mistake as I fell to the floor from the pain I felt in my leg.

“...Your master isn’t that bright is she?” Archer asked as Saber simply shrugged.

“When she wants to be. But she manages to pull off amazing feats when the moment calls for it.” She said as I slowly pulled myself up from the ground “But it is all right; I will not complain of the excitement added to this droll fight with a frail man. You will recant your haughtiness when I have your liver on my blade.”

“And you say I’m the haughty one? Hey, animal girl. You need to put a muzzle on your pet. When it comes to regrets, I’ve already been down that road. Don’t care anymore. Besides, are you telling me to regret winning? What kind of reverse psychology are you playing at?”

“...Oh I am going to enjoy impaling you with my sword and leaving your body to rot for the crows!” She yelled as mana erupted from her body.

“Damn, kid. This pampered knight of yours is less a gaudy lapdog and more of a feral pooch.”

“Oh you’re dead!” Saber yelled as she launched herself toward Archer. Once she’s close, she quickly brings her sword down upon Archer. Only for him to quickly dodge to the left and fire a volley of arrows at Saber. Saber was able to deflect most of the arrows that would have hit exposed parts of her body that didn’t have armor covering.

“That should take care of your mobility-” Before Archer could finish his sentence, Saber flung her sword at Archer which was inches from his face before quickly dodging it at the last second and rolled to the right of where her sword landed. Saber quickly lunges herself over to her sword to pick it up and charges at the archer with the intent to impale her sword into his chest. Archer places a hand to the ground quickly as Saber quickly brings her sword up to block a burst of thorns shooting out of the ground and pushing her away from Archer and land’s next to me.

“You okay?” I asked as I used my cast code to cure the poison that was flowing through her body.

“I really hate archers. Especially when they keep moving like that.” She said before quickly tackling me to the ground. Looking at her, I noticed a green and purple colored arrow sticking out from the ground from where we were standing as it started to ooze out poison onto the ground a bit. Both Saber and I looked over at Dan and Archer who was preparing to fire another poison arrow, only for Saber to raise her fist up at Archer and fire her gauntlet off like a rocket. Archer quickly fired his arrow at us, but was brushed off to the side as Saber’s gauntlet hit him straight in the gut as he was sent flying backwards into the Arena wall.

“Nice shot Saber...Wait, you could do something like that before?” I asked as Saber shrugged.

“I saw it from a weird book about robots when you were busy looking stuff up about human history. I figure why not do the same with my armor.” Saber said as her gauntlet materialized back onto her hand as she looked over at Archer. “Bet you didn’t see that coming punk ass bitch!?” she asked as she was about to charge at Archer, only for the Arena alarm to go off. “Damn, guess our time is up.”

“I’m tired of this.” Archer said as Saber and I looked over at him staggering to his feet. “Really, this whole deal is totally a waste of time and effort.”

“I will not allow vulgar and petulant language, Archer. As my Servant, I wish for you to behave as a knight.” Dan said as Archer lets out an annoyed sigh.

“Ugh...You sure are suffocating, Mr. Boss Man. I know, I know, foul play and stuff is a no-no...Jeez, cut off my arms and legs already. Ever heard of those things people have called personalities? Well, if I have to, the best archers can shoot with their teeth. Ha, pretty hardcore! All right, I’ll be your knight in shining armor. I’m not so hot as being a knight, but I’m not too bad with a lance.”

“Excellent spirit. We are already en route to the next battlefield. Do not let your focus sway.” With that said, both Dan and his Servant vanish from the dungeon. I let out a sigh of relief as I turn my attention to Saber who made her helmet vanish.

“Looks like we made it through intact.” Once we’re sure that Dan and Archer have left, Saber relaxes a little.

“So, he used to live in the Sherwood Forest. It was a bit vague, but the astrology reading from that Rani girl did come in handy.” I said as I notice a small grin forms on Saber’s lips

“Dan also mentioned a fairly important keyword, the Faceless King...that name sounds really fucking familiar...we should ask Taiga tomorrow seeing how she might help us out seeing how we helped her out with this request of hers.”

Matrix Level: Three
Enemy Servant Info Obtained

“Yeah, lets head back to the campus before anything else happens.” I said as we both exited the Arena to head back to the campus. Only one day left before the elimination match begins. We did everything that’s needed to get ourselves prepared for the week. Now all that is left is organize the information we gathered and see this week’s fight through. I just hope that we’ll win this.

Week Two: Preparing For The Hunt

Week Two

Preparing For The Hunt

[Day Six]
Evening

“Tomorrow’s finally the day of the Elimination Battle.” Saber said as we entered Taiga’s classroom. “Since the enemy already used a Command Seal to our benefit, I doubt we’ll have much trouble. Still, in order to win this, I may need to step it up a notch or two.” I get the feeling that she means her Noble Phantasm. We’ll definitely need it as a means of a trump card. But there seems to be some hesitation from Saber as I looked at the expression on her face.

“If you don’t want to use your Noble Phantasm-”

“N-No, that’s not an issue or anything. I am a Knight of the Round Table, and it’s my job as a knight to protect you. So don’t worry about it. I’ll win with or without the need of my Noble Phantasm.” The issue drops, but some unease lingers in my brain. Some day, I may make the decision to use my Servant’s full abilities, but for now I’ll put my trust in her brute strength.

“If you say so...on a different note...shouldn’t Taiga be in here? I mean we did give her the item that she needed, so she should give us something in return for it...right?”

“So, you have graced me with your presence again, my favorite student!” The door to the left side of the room opened up quickly as Taiga entered the room spinning around like a top for a moment before stopping and pointing a finger at me. “Well as a way to thank you for fulfilling my request. I shall give you the last piece of information you need.” She said before reaching for a piece of chalk from off her desk and walked over to the blackboard behind herself. “All right, let’s review the information that you were able to gather, shall we?”

“Dan Blackmore. Our opponent this time is a veteran soldier. Since I could never hope to make up decades of experience in a week, he’s clearly got the advantage over me. But that doesn’t mean he’s perfect. We were able to figure out that his Servant is an Archer class servant.”

“What makes you think that?” Taiga asked after finishing writing what I said on the board.

“That day in the Arena, the Servant fired a poison arrow at me. That kind of precise marksmanship was enough to tell me the enemy’s class category.”

“Not to mention that it also shows that the Servant and his Master don’t have the best bond between the two. Given how Dan is more of a knight and fights fair, Archers prefer to snipe people from a distance and stay hidden. Like a hunter trying to hunt for an animal to eat.” Saber added. “He also forbade his Servant to use his bow to fire poison arrows. That bow he has is his Noble Phantasm, the yew bow.” She said as Taiga continued to write on the board. “Bastard used that bow on egghead during the prep period. Which made Dan utilize a Command Seal to disable its further use. Telling him to fight fairly. Which I’m not against fighting face-to-face.”

“Okay, anything else that you gathered? I think I might know who this Servant is, but I need one more bit of information to know who he is for sure.” Taiga said as I picked up from where Saber stopped.

“We did ask for some assistance from a girl named Rani. We brought her Archer’s arrow and from what she was able to find out from reading the stars, he’s from a forest called The Sherwood Forest.”

“And with that, we have our answer. The legendary hero of the Sherwood Forest! Robin Hood! While the origins of the legends of the chivalrous thief who dwelt in the Sherwood Forest are a subject to constant and spirited debate, it is generally acknowledged that there was an actual person who held the name Robin Hood and that he died at the hand of his aunt, the Prioress of Kirklees, who is believed to have bled him to death in guies of administering aid for his wounds. However, many of the exploits attributed to him are a curious amalgamation of Celtic, Greek, and Druid mythologies. One of the most persistent of the Robin Hood legends identifies him originally as a faceless hero who was born from the prayers of residents of British Isles. Weary of the seemingly endless incursions and invasions of their country, they asked the heavens for someone to fight off the foreign invaders. As concurrent legend pegs Robin Hood as a representation of the “Green Man”, a spirit of the woods who would carry out the actions and deeds that the common layperson couldn’t. It was this belief that transformed the name into a title assumed by a number of nameless, faceless heroes who took up the mantle of protecting the people.”

“Huh, never knew something like this was in human history.” I said while writing down the information Taiga was giving to me.

“Those who assume the identity of Robin Hood ten to be very conflicted young men. Incredibly virtuous and honorable, yet always working out of the shadows like an assassin or thief, there seems to be a slight tinge of cowardice to their makeup. To cover the self-loathing that also seems to be part of every Robin Hood’s personality, they all uniformly adopt a somewhat combative and derisive attitude. And though every person to adopt the Robin Hood persona truly values life above all else, they have little appreciation for their own. Like the original Robin Hood, he is under the protection of the fairies and is well-versed in the archaic lore of the Druids. And like all “defenders of the forest” his knowledge of naturally occurring medicines and poisons is second to none.”

Matrix Level: E
Enemy Servant Info Complete

“Well damn. Guess he was around during my time when I was still alive back in Camelot.” Saber said as she folded her arms in amusement. “Glad I wasn’t around when he was still living. Pretty sure that punk would’ve been dead by my hands.”

“Once again, you’re a lifesaver.” I said before bowing my head to Taiga. “Thanks, um. Ms. Taiga.”

“Again. I’m always willing to help when needed, so feel free to come my way so I can give you what you need in return for helping me with my request~” She said as I nodded and began to make my way out of the classroom.

“Now that we have what we need. I can think of a plan for when we have to fight Dan and Robin Hood tomorrow...I better get some kind of Code Casting to deal with curing poison...wait, is it possible to make coding in curing poison?”

“I don’t know. I mean it should be possible seeing how you're in a digital world or whatever. But knowing you, I’m sure you can think of something before tomorrow.”

“Hm...I’ll have to look into this...Saber, I need you to go to the commissary and get a lot of food. For the rest of the day, I am going to be tinkering with some of the formal wear that we got from the arena.” I said as I noticed a grin appearing on her face.

“Planning on doing an all nighter like before?”

“I do have a battle strategy ready and I’ll be sure to go over it with you. But I’ll need to see if it’s possible to augment the Code Casting on the garments and clothes we got from the Arena. Hence why I’ll be needing food...a lot of it.”

“Alrighty then, I’ll meet you back at our private room egghead.” Saber said before vanishing from my sight. With her gone, I began to make my way back into the private room to see if I could tinker with the code casting on the items we have.

Night

“This is just amazing!” I said as I did the finishing touchings of my new formal wear. “To think that it would be possible to go into depths of magic on a digital like scale! Why hasn't anypony done this before!?”

“If you mean humans. Then you’re a bit late on being the only one doing something like this when studying magic. Now if you’re referring to your own race, then that’s a different story...though it kinda does surprise me that you can adapt so well with tech like this.” Saber said as I continued to type on the digital keyboard I have set up.

“I honestly don’t know how I’m even doing this. I don’t remember doing this, but maybe my body does so it’s doing stuff like this on it’s own?”

“Weird, but as long as it means that we’ll win the next fight, then who am I to complain.” Saber said before moving next to me to see what I was doing. “...Hey, um...is this armor you’re making?”

“Yeah, expect me to wear it from now on. Mainly due to getting shot at from Archer’s arrows...plus I figure i could fight alongside you when training in the Arena?”

“...Did hell freeze over...because no offense egghead. But you don’t look like a fighter.”

“And what makes you say that!?” I asked as Saber pointed over to the three bags of trash off to the side of the private room we’re in. I could feel a blush appear on my face before returning my attention to the screen I had up. “T-That doesn’t count seeing how it’s my last meal before my fight tomorrow!”

“Whatever you say thunder thighs...but if you’re serious about actually fighting alongside me, then I guess we can do that in the next round...that is if we survive that long.” Saber said as I paused and looked over at her.

“You really mean it?”

“Yeah well, can’t have a weak horse for a master. Plus you could use the training, it might help with getting your memories back along the way...Though if I could make a suggestion on what the armor should look like. Try making it based off of mine...just don’t make it similar to mine.” She said as I looked at her armor for a moment before going back to work.

“I didn’t think I was allowed to do that seeing how it’s your armor and all...I was basing it off of Gawain’s armor a bit, but seeing how you’re willing to let me do this, I’ll change it up a bit...oh wait, I can do both!” Knowing that I can make stuff like this within the range limit of not breaking the rules of this place, I can pretty much make just about anything clothes and possibly augment the stuff I get...wait a minute. “Hey, Saber. Is what I’m doing legal to do?”

“Oh yeah, what you’re doing is fine. SE.RA.PH only attacks if you try to tamper with the system. Like say trying to cheat your way to the holy grail, or try to enter into an area that’s off limits. What you’re doing is within SE.RA.PH’s rules seeing how you’re making something that helps you hold some Codes Casting...plus I’m sure the system's already taken some of your funds so you’re safe.”

“Wait what?” Pausing at what I was doing, I quickly checked to see if what she said was true. Once I brought up how much money I had left, it was down from one-hundred thousand to ten thousand. “Huh, guess that would make sense that the system would take money from what I’m doing.”

“See, you’re in the clear. So go ahead and make your Formal Wear for tomorrow.” Saber said as she made her armor disappear and hops into the makeshift bed of her own. “Try not to stay up too late. Don’t want to get too tired that you miss your match.”

“I won't be up for long. Just need to make a few adjustments to the code casting and I’ll be done for tonight.” I said as Saber went off to sleep. As she did that, I turned my attention back to the gear I was making as I made the finishing touches to it. Mainly adding Code Casting in offense, defense, and support. “That should do it for tonight. Let's hope this will give us an advantage for tomorrow.” Having said that, I turned the screen off and headed off to sleep for tonight. Tomorrow’s the Elimination Battle with Dan Blackmore and his servant Robin Hood. One of us will win and go to the next round, while the other will...No, can’t let that cloud my judgement. I have to win this if I’m going to figure out who I am and how did I end up in this place...n-no matter how bloody my hands get after all this.

Week Two: The Knight of Rebellion vs The King of Thieves

Author's Note

(What the armor looks like, only the cloth parts are dark purple. I'll draw a picture of what she would look like once I have access to my drawing tablet.)

Week Two: The Knight of Rebellion vs The King of Thieves

Week Two

The Knight of Rebellion

vs

The King of Thieves

[Day Seven]
Evening

After talking over the battle plan with Saber and putting on my new formal wear that I made last night. We began to make our way down to the first floor of the school where Kotomine usually is. Once we made it to the first floor, we walked over to the man of the cloth as he smiled at us both.

“Today is the Elimination Battle. I trust that your preparations went smoothly?” Kotomine said as we stood in front of the entrance door of the coliseum. The same feeling as if I ate a bunch of butterflies and they’re flying around in my stomach again along with the feeling I could barf them up at any moment. Here I am. The last day of the week. A day that will be the last for either Dan or myself...This is wrong...very wrong, but I don’t have a choice in this matter.

“W-We’re ready.”

“You will now enter the coliseum and confront the opposing Master. Are you sure you’re ready? Remember, the only way to leave the coliseum is to win. If you are ready, I will open the gate.” He asked as I nodded. “The way to the coliseum is now open, young master. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you will return. Remember: It’s kill or be killed.” Kotomine stood by and watched as I pulled out the two Cipher key cards needed to enter. The cards quickly darted from out of my hand as they placed themselves onto the door. Once on the door, the chains that surrounded the door vanished as they slid open for us to enter. Once inside, we found ourselves in an elevator. And across from us were Dan Blackmorei and his Servant Archer.

“Geez, I get that the man is made of stone; but damn, statues make poor conversation partners. Oi! Servant. You look like a jester that would play in the city of Camelot. Why not put on a show for us or something?” Saber said as Archer snorted at her with a smug expression on her face.

“Huh? What’s the point of talking to someone who’s about to jump into their grave?” He said before folding his arms. “Although, I’m about ready to chew my arm off to get away from grumpy here. The guy doesn’t even fart without a purpose. I’ve given up trying to make small talk with him.” Archer soon turned his attention on to me before speaking. “Hey, horse girl. Why don’t you try talking to Grumplestiltskin over here?” ….I mean, I could give it a try. Couldn’t hurt to ask him something.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you fight?”

“There is no “why” in war. Once one enters the battlefield, they only fight to achieve their objective. A soldier does not need-no, cannot have-a reason to fight. That is how things were when I was a soldier...Though my life has changed much since that time, I’ve never needed a “why.”

“Don’t you hate it when you’re right? Like I said, the guy’s a steel trap. Thanks for trying to pry him open.” Archer said as Saber smirked.

“I can respect the guy given how he’s a vet and what not. But it doesn’t help that he’s paired up with an impish legendary soul. Hell if I’m complimenting someone, I’d say the master would’ve been a better figure as a Servant than you.” Saber said as Archer laughed a bit.

“I wish! My Master’s so straitlaced that an atypical legendary soul like me gets tied up in knots. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Not all of us legendary souls were noble in life. That would be boring. Oh, and on that note, careful you don’t get nailed from behind again.”

“Well you’re not wrong about that. Hell I’m not noble myself seeing how it was hard work that got me to be a knight. So I can sympathize with you on the whole legendary souls not being born in nobility and stuff. But that doesn’t change the way I feel towards you. You seem to be an Archer Assassin. Which are very annoying to kill seeing how they keep hidden in the shadows. But unlike most who would be killed by you, the egghead is not the type for such methods. She’s too much of a good pony to do something like that.”

“Heheh, what’s this domestic strife I’m sensing over there? You don’t care for surprise attacks, Master? How far is too far? No foul play? No dirty tricks?”

“I’m not the type to do something like that. It doesn’t feel right and it seems like...well not very fair.” I said which caused Archer to sigh in disappointment.

“Man, you’re so uptight. Good luck with that.” He said as Dan began to speak.

“Don’t get carried away, Archer.”

“You call that getting carried away, Master?”

“You’re plundering our enemies for entertainment right before the battle...Yes, that is excessive.”

“Ding! Correct! If you don’t like it, then go put on a helmet that matches that horse girl’s armor and drown out the sound. But, I want to talk to our enemies. Why don’t you listen in? Learn what kids these days are into. Cuz if you got any more ancient, they’d have to put you in a museum.”

“...Your poorly-phrased advice is duly noted, but mutual understanding will come on the battlefield.”

“Haha! You have no idea how to have fun! With all this killing, killing, killing, a guy’s gotta unwind. A bowstring that’s wound too tight snaps. Isn’t that right?” Archer said as he looked over at me for an answer.

“Well I’m not against having a little bit of fun after getting what I need to get done over with.”

“See? Even she agrees. Life’s hella hard, and then you die. If you don’t enjoy yourself then you’ll just die miserable.”

“...Will you never gain the proper attitude to fight?” Dan asked as Archer groans in annoyance.

“Lighten up, Master! Things would be so much easier for us if you just accepted life has funny parts. I’d go wh-tsh! on that undefended back of yours. That’s how an archer should fight. I have to be nimble on my feet. Chivalry and ideology are all stiff and would just slow me down.”

“...Listen, Archer. You will fight as I direct.”

“Ugh, not again. Fine, fine. I get it. Your wish is my command.” Archer said before looking over at Saber and I. “That’s my Master for you. He can’t keep his chivalry in his pants even with a kid like you around. I just wish he would understand that not everyone can take pride in their lives.” A sudden rumbling snaps me out of the spell my opponent’s words had put me under. We’re at the battlefield. The time to fight a warrior of unparalleled determination has come.

“Let’s go, Archer. The time has come to embrace the battlefield once again.” Dan said as we made our way through our respected doors and entered the battlefield.

(Coliseum)

As we entered and once my vision returned after the blinding light vanished. I noticed that we were standing on a stone floor with pieces of broken castle around us in the background of the battlefield we’re on. I still can’t get over how amazing this Mooncell is able to make something like this look so real, even though it’s in the realm of data.

“All will be settled here, Archer.” Dan said as Archer adjusted his bow.

“You said it. It’s about time we gave this half ass knight’s just deserts!”

“Half ass? Bitch I’m more of a knight then you are!” Saber said as she aimed her sword at Archer. “I’ll be sure to gut you with my sword by the end of this match.”

“Geez, that part you found offensive. Makes me wonder if you were a mistake to be given a loser of a master like her with someone with a personality like yours.”

“Shut it scum. You got some nerve insulting the egghead like that. Especially given the hard work she put into getting us this far in the war. Sure she may be mediocre in both performance and appearance. And she may look like a mutant horse.”

“Are you trying to compliment me or insult me? Because so far it seems like you’re insulting me more than complimenting me.”

“Just being truthful, egghead. But I can say that you did a...pretty good job with getting us this far. Not to mention that you’re pretty much above the Archer’s Master, that might be Because in spite of your lack of experience, you put in a hell of a lot of hard work...it’s oddly adorable in most cases.” Saber said as I blush a bit from her comment. “But your master. He looks like he’s about to give up. Dying raven, do you even have the strength to fly?”

“....Your insight is surprisingly keen. Hard to believe you're the bastard child of the king of knights that led the rebellion against him, but I can see that you deserve to be a legendary soul.”

“Don’t be so humble, Master. You’ve got a wish too. No one has the right to scoff at that.” Archer said before glaring at Saber. “And you better shut your trap, Saber! Unless you want me to nail your tongue to the floor with an arrow!”

“And here I thought you didn’t care so much about your master. Guess I was mistaken given your personality. But whatever. Get ready to die loser, because you won’t be hiding from me within the Sherwood Forest!” Saber yelled as a burst of mana erupted from under her and bolted off towards Archer with her sword raised above her. Once she was close, she brought her sword down upon Archer only for him to quickly dodge it by doing a backflip into the air.

Once he was in the air, Archer fired off a volley of arrows at Saber as she quickly used her sword to deflect most of the arrows heading towards her while quickly dodging the ones she couldn't deflect. As Saber was dodging, she used this to her advantage as she brought her sword up surging with mana as she fired off a beam of crimson energy at Archer from a distance. Archer quickly barrel rolled to the left to avoid the beam as he countered with an arrow laced with a purple & green aura heading towards her and hit her in her right leg.

“Good luck trying to move with poison flooding your body knight.” Archer said as he landed and tried to fire another poison arrow. I raised my hand towards Saber as I summoned a barrier around Saber to protect her from the poison arrow. While the barrier was still up, I took the opportunity to use a curing code to heal Saber of the poison flooding her body.

“Don’t think you can take us by surprise like last time. Thanks to the information we gathered from you from the times we fought against you, we made counter measures to deal with your poison.” I said as the barrier vanished. I got about five rounds for each category of offense, defence. and curative. If push comes to shove, I can use items to heal and cure Saber of the poison for a while. Putting all that money into this formal wear really put a damper on buying items from the commissary. But for now, we need to end this battle asap before they realise this factor or get the idea of a war of attrition.

“You may have found a way around my poison, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few tricks up my sleeve.” Archer said as he placed a hand on the ground, causing the giant platform we were on to glow for a moment before pulling himself up with a smirk on his face.

“Don’t know what you're planning Archer, but don’t think that’s going to stop-” Just as Saber took a step forwards, tree-like roots shot out from the ground as it caused Saber to quickly skid to the right at the last second. “....Cheeky little bastard.” She said as I noticed a deep scar on her armor followed by some blood dripping from it.

“You always have to have a backup plan if you can't poison your foes. Though this would be used as a trap, it can also be used for offensive purposes if need be.” Archer said before taking aim at Saber and fired off another volley of arrows at her. Saber was able to deflect some of them like before, but some were able to graze the cloth part of her arms and areas that didn’t have armor protecting her. Just as Saber was about to fire off another crimson like beam at Archer, I noticed that the arrow he was about to fire, the tip part of it was in the shape of an X.

“Saber, watch out!” I yelled as he fired off the arrow with the X shaped tip like a bullet. Just as Saber deflected the last volley of arrows that he fired off, the arrow he fired off made contact with Saber’s helmet as it caused a thick cloud of poison to explode from it. The force behind the explosion caused me to tumble backwards a bit as I stared in shock at what happened.

“Tsh, would’ve been a headshot if it weren’t for that helmet she was wearing.” Archer said as he tapped his foot on the ground, causing the roots from below to hit Saber out of the cloud of smoke and impaled certain parts of her body. I tried my best not to get sick and throw up from seeing Saber’s body banged up like a piece of animal meat in a butcher shop as I quickly began to heal her injuries as best I can, but due to the roots impaled in her abdomen I can’t heal up the hole so she wouldn’t bleed to death. “You might be able to heal her of the poison and other injuries, but I doubt you can stop her from bleeding from multiple areas on her body.”

“Saber, you okay!?” I asked as she didn’t say anything, let alone move. “Saber, get up! You need to pull yourself together!”

“Don’t bother, getting hit by my noble phantasm like that pretty much knocked her out..that or it killed her in an instant.” Archer said before taking aim at Saber. As he did this, the roots from below the ground started to flow into the arrow as a sickly purple and green colored aura developed around the arrow as the tip of it formed into an X. “Looks like you were all talk and no bark Saber.”

“This can’t be good.” I said as I raised my hands to cast a barrier around Saber along with increasing her physical strength and continuously healing her injuries as best as I can. Just as he fired off the arrow, it hit the barrier that I placed around Saber. As it made contact it caused me to stagger back a bit from the force and pain of trying to keep the barrier up.

“Wow, gotta say. You’re pretty good for a horse. But even I know you can’t keep that up for long. Everyone has their limits, and I’m sure yours will end soon-”

“Archer, behind you!” Dan yelled as I looked over at Archer and blinked in surprise as I saw Saber behind him and was about to impale him from behind with her sword. At the last second Archer was able to dodge her sword, but ended up losing his arm seeing how the sword missed its mark and caused him to jump backwards in pain and to get some distance from her.

“Dammit, didn’t know you can use your armor as a decoy.” Archer said as he glared at Saber for a moment before blinking in surprise at what she looked like without her armor. “Wow, didn’t think you were a girl underneath that...not that appealing if I’m being honest.”

“Hey fuck you bitch!” Saber yelled as she fired off a beam like wave at the arrow he fired at the barrier causing it to be destroyed. As I felt the pressure and strain leave my body, I began to pant and kneel down onto the ground as Saber quickly moved over next to me to help me up. “Sorry about that. Didn’t want Archer to notice me sneaking up behind him while I was moving through the poison cloud he made.”

“I-It’s fine.” I said before deactivating the barrier around her armor as it soon appeared back on her body. “I really need to give you more credit. I didn’t think you would come up with something like that...or did you not think you could do that?”

“Pretty much like it was with fighting against Rider for the most part.” Saber answered as she flexed her hands a bit. “Sorry you had to use some of your casting on my armor. Guess that put a huge dent in your plan.”

“For the most part yes. But seeing how you did...well cut off Archer’s arm, I guess that will make up for that.” I said before looking over at Archer as I noticed a green aura around him. Looking at where his arm used to be, I notice that the blood dripping from it stopped. Dammit, guess I forgot to take into account that Dan has some healing codes as well. I turn my attention back on Saber as I cast a healing/curative code on her.

“I have three defensive codes, two healing codes, and four offensive codes left. So far, we were able to cripple Archer thanks to your stunt. So right now he’ll use the faceless king to hide himself from our sight. He also might use the roots he planted underground to make trees so he can use them for cover fire.”

“I hate fighting against Archers, especially if they have skills similar to assassins.” Saber said as she got back into a sword stance just as Dan was finishing healing Archer. “So what’s the plan, egghead?”

“We need something that can take care of the trees he’s going to make. Got something that burns or destroys the roots?”

“Sadly I don’t, but I’m sure I can wing it like before.” Just as I was about to ask what she meant by that, she quickly bolted off back into the fight as she charged at Archer with the intent to cut his other arm off, only for him to vanish from sight as her attack missed its mark. Just as Archer vanished, the ground began to shake as giant trees began to erupt to form a forest around the battlefield. Just as I thought. Seeing how he’s missing an arm, he’s planning on using the trees as coverfire to reload his arrows and fire them at her while he’s invisible.

“I have to admit. You really got me good there. Using your armor as a decoy and then attacking me from behind like that. Had the poison cloud become bigger in area wise, then my Master wouldn’t have been able to warn me about looking behind me.” Archer said as I looked around the forest we were in to try and find where he is. “But now I’m going to have to make a change in tactics.” He said before making himself visible as he was flying towards Saber with the intent to kick her in the face.

Saber quickly turned herself around and used the flat part of her sword to block the oncoming boot to her head and pushed Archer away from herself. As he was sent flying backwards, he fired off three poison laced arrows at her as Saber quickly cut them in two with her sword as she bolted after him with her mana burst skill. Once Saber was close, she brought her sword down as she landed a deep vertical slash onto Archer’s chest. Archer let out a painful grunt as he retaliated by using the roots from underground and impaled her in her left shoulder, right thigh leg, and grazed the side of her helmet.

“Bastard!” Saber yelled as she used her own strength to break the roots impaled into her body. Once she was freed she quickly grabbed Archer’s cape and slammed him onto the ground multiple times before throwing him into the air. Something was off about Archer. If I assumed how he was personality wise and what not. He would use the faceless king's ability to make himself invisible and fire off arrows from the shadows...I guess he’s taking the whole being a knight thing seriously, or Dan must’ve used a command seal to make him fight with honor and dignity...I’m going with the first one of my assumptions.

I soon turned my focus back onto the fight as I saw Archer flying into the air by Saber throwing him up. While he was in the air, Archer fired off a barrage of arrows down upon Saber. My Servant quickly jumps backwards to avoid the arrows from above as she fires off a beal like blade at the airborne Archer. The crimson color energy collided with Archer just as he was about to land and caused him to be sent flying backwards into a nearby tree he made thanks to the roots he placed underground. Saber saw this as she quickly lunged herself onto a nearby tree and used it to launch herself off it like a bullet. Archer quickly recovered from being slammed into the tree behind him as he took aim at Saber. The roots that were in the ground shot out and flowed into the arrow.

“Yew Bow!” He yelled before firing off the X tip arrow at Saber at the same speed Saber was going. Once the arrow was within her striking range, Saber brought her fist up to punch the air as it caused it to explode and make a poison cloud upon impact. I was about to yell Saber’s name, but I was taken by surprise as I saw her continuing her speed towards Archer as she raised her sword and impaled Archer in the chest, mainly his heart. The sound of flesh being impaled by a sharp object echoed throughout the battlefield as it caused me to shiver. Because that’s the same sound I heard when Saber fought against Rider. I looked over to see that Saber impaled her sword into his chest. Saber delt the finishing blow. It feels like I’m watching it in slow motion as Archer’s chest is impaled.

I looked over at Dan who was in a daze of some kind. He’s staring at Saber as if my Servant is some divine being even with her armor badly damaged. My attention soon turns back to Saber as she pulls her sword out of Archer’s chest as she walks back over to me covered in blood and poison. I let out a sigh of relief as I began to heal her wounds and cure the poison coursing through her body.

“Crazy…” Archer said as he staggers over to Dan as he kneels down beside him. “How did we lose!? My master has more ability and more determination than you. So how-?” Before he could finish, a red wall appeared in between us on the battlefield. Just like with Shinji and Rider, black spots appeared on Dan and Archer’s body...it was time for them to be eliminated.

“No, Archer. It seems I still lack experience. I doubted myself too greatly in this tournament. It seems having a reason to fight is not the same as truly believing in that reason. I never doubted my desire to be a warrior, but...that life has given me regrets. I wanted the Holy Grail to bring back my late wife...What a silly delusion.” Dan said as more of Dan’s body became corrodied. “My whole life I praised myself for giving up my individual feelings and aspirations, like a good soldier. Only at the very end did I dare to have my own goals, and decided to abandon military life. I can’t believe I was trying to fight as just a man.” he said before kneeling down from what I could guess was from the pain he was feeling. “It was foolish of me to pit my pride as a knight against my feelings as a person...so foolish...I just want to get back what I had lost, before the end...But...I wonder which one I wished for? My late wife...or the person I was before I became a soldier.”

The elderly knight falls into silence. Both he and his Servant continued to disintegrate in front of me. To my surprise, Dan stood up from the ground as he turned his attention from the ground towards me.

“...But, I’m surprised by you. The way you became prepared for this fight and how much trust you put in your servant is something I haven’t seen in a very long time. Even though you can’t describe what it is yet, there must be something that gives you a purpose...My wish...A wish to bring back the dead was nothing to boast about. Though your trials are many, keep living, young madain. Your struggles will steel your determination...Now. I apologize that you have to see me like this, but...I am at peace in my defeat. Because, for the first time, I am the ground from which a youth with a bright future might grow.”

A smile appeared on Dan’s face. It wasn’t a smile of regret, or a facade of any kind. It was a smile that beamed with gratitude. He no longer had a stern serious expression, but a kind and grandfatherly one. I tried my best not to cry upon seeing this, but I just couldn’t hold back the tears I was feeling coming down my face.

“...I’m sorry, Master. I knew I wasn’t cut out for a fair fight.” Archer said as he grunted in pain while standing up. “You needed someone better than a charlatan like me...I’m so sorry. Another Servant wouldn’t have failed you like this.” He said as Dan turned his attention onto his Servant.

“No, I’m the one to blame, Archer. Restricting your actions was selfish and damaging to your dignity.”

“...Bit late for that now, Master. You have no idea the torment you’ve been putting me through. Why are you apologizing anyway? You’re making me sound like a moron here. And why do you care about me? Whether we win or lose, I still vanish at the end. I mean, I did have a wish of my own, but I was more interested in having a good time. Gotta tell you, it’s been rather boring to fight for you, Master.”

“Haha, there’s something else to apologize to you for. A warrior’s pride must’ve held no value to you.” Dan said as Archer turned his back on his Master.

“Hmm...As long as I don’t have to do it everyday, it’s a decent change of pace. Boring as it’s been, playing the knight was a healthy thing for me to try, you know? Well...although I was never given a chance, I’ve always wanted to try being a badass knight.” Archer said as he looked down in embarrassment. He mumbles under his breath, as if he doesn’t want us to hear. “...So, really. Don’t apologize. We had a good run, and there’s nothing to feel ashamed about...Jeez, I didn’t even think I’d be able to pull off a single battle in this stupid tournament. In life, I had everything I wanted. Wealth, fame, friendship, success. But...A fair fight was the one thing I never had. So, it’s okay...I finally did something I was never able to do.”

Like he said, it was the end. Moments later, he vanished. He looked at peace. He lived his life in the shadows, protecting his village without acknowledgment. in his final moments, it seemed that he had found a way to get beyond the bitterness he felt.

“...I’m sorry. Thank you, Archer.” Dan said before turning his attention back on Saber and I. “Twilight, could I trouble you to listen to the dying words of an old man?” he asked as I nodded while wiping away the tears flowing down my face. “From here on out, no matter what enemy you may encounter or who you may have to defeat. Feel it. Think about it. Process it. Accept your doubts, but don’t be crippled by them. Above all, accept the consequences of your actions, and turn all you learn and feel into strength. If you wait until the end to think, you’ll end up with regrets...And, if possible. I’d like you to get meaning from your battles. Through combat, find the reason you fight, and the reason you can’t lose. Find your answers. It’s your responsibility to have the answers when you survive this war. Do you understand, rising star? Don’t...forget…” He said as he was straining himself to continue talking as corrosion continued to cover his body.

“Finally...I’ll be able to see her again. It’s been too long, Anne…” He whispers a woman’s name...it was spoken in a hopeful tone. With his answer warming his heart, Dan Blackmore disappears….with that, the battle is over. With Saber’s help, I managed to survive this week’s elimination match. I looked over at Saber who made her helmet disappear as she smiled at me. I smiled at her in return as she spoke to me.

“I gotta say, you really are something egghead. Taking down a seasoned warrior is a huge accomplishment that most people in your case wouldn’t survive. But you shouldn't let that get you full of yourself. You’re green when it comes to fighting and what not. Shinji was an exception, but with Dan. I can’t let something like this slide.” Even though Saber’s criticism is...somewhat harsh, her praise is kind of...sweet….she did say she wasn’t very good at this kind of stuff. “The master of Archer, Dan was it? Did you happen to gain any impression from fighting him?”

“Yeah...I did.”

“Hmm. Alright. If you believe as such, it is all well and good. I’ll be sure to see what you have or have not gained in the fights to come.” Saber said as she began to walk towards the elevator that we came out of as I quickly followed after her. The next battle...Right, there’s a third round, and then a fourth, and so on. I’m still kind of lost for the most part. But if that’s the path before me, then I owe it to the lives lost so far to keep fighting. Right or wrong, that’s one way to think about things.

.dead end(overture)

Existing to exploit.

Choosing prosperity.

That deed was savage-

-but it was true.

...What is won in the abyss of death?

[Day Zero]
Midday

Thank Faust that they give masters a day off after finishing their matches. Goddess knows that it might cause some problems for me if I don't get a break or two from all this fighting. At least Ms. Taiga gave the day off from class when she saw that I was having problems trying to answer her questions...Though now I owe her half of the food I get from the commissary. Just as I was making my way down the hallway, I soon stopped upon seeing a group of dead bodies laying on the ground

“...Oh sugar honey iced tea.” I said as I suddenly felt the fur on my body rise. I’m overtaken by an eerie chill. I don’t even have time to call my Servant, get my armor on, or brace myself. All of a sudden. I’m flung backwards. As if by an invisible hand. The moment I looked behind me, there’s a wall behind me. “I’m going to crash into it!” I yelled before closing my eyes to brace for impact. The moment I felt myself hit the wall, there was no pain from it. I opened my eyes to see that I was inside an unknown area that looks like a battlefield. “W-Where am I?”

My head’s spinning trying to keep up, but it seems like I was somehow teleported elsewhere….Wait, I’m getting deja vu. This is the Coliseum that was used twice. The details are different, but the framework is the same. If this really is the Coliseum, there must be an enemy nearby. My thoughts froze and my breath hitch when I realized this. The moment I look around, I see a sinister man with piercing eyes who’s wearing clothing that looks aflame. I go numb with fear. He intends to kill me, that much is unmistakable.

He’s like death personified. I‘ve only heard of Assassins, but I have no doubt he is one. If I take my eyes off him for one second, I’m a goner!

“Human life is fragile. Even if you are a magus, you look like a meat puppet to me. I’ve grown tired of strangling cormorants. For once, I wanted to feel what I was doing...Want to feel something, creature?” He said before charging at me and tried to slam his fist into my chest. I quickly activate a barrier around myself to block his attack by raising my hands in a defensive manner. The assassin slightly recoils before continuing his assault on the barrier. As he does this, I can see and feel the barrier beginning to crack.

“Get away from me!” I yelled as my horn began to glow. A burst of light erupted from me as the barrier began to burst, causing the assassin to slide backwards from the force behind the burst. “Ooh, a spirited one. I’m glad you came this way, creature. What a shame, we’ve run out of time. The system’s limits saved your life. Hopefully, we’ll fight again some day. I’m looking forward to it.”

Just as I blinked my eyes, I found myself standing where I was before. But I’m not out of the woods yet. Things are still pretty bizarre. Even though the hallway looks normal, there’s an ominous weight in the air...

“How did someone like you manage to evade that?” Upon hearing the voice, I quickly turn around to see a man cladded in black appear a few meters behind me. Sinister eyes from under a mop of black hair direct a piercing gaze my way. “I thought you were a small fry. Maybe you have a superior Servant or hidden abilities...Either way, you managed to survive the demon’s fist." The Man’s aura changes. It sharpens, honing into a point as if it were a wicked blade. One directed straight at me. “It’s ideal to dispatch you here.”

He’s looking at my neck. I can feel beads of sweat dripping from my face and off my chin As he takes a step forward toward me. This is bad. Saber is still knocked out after I finished detoxing her of the poison, and it took everything I had just to protect myself from the force of Assassin’s fist colliding with my barrier. It’s hard to believe that’s how hard Servants hit when they’re driven to the intent to kill someone. I’ve got one barrier code left. Better make it count! Just as I was about to raise my hand, a familiar voice caused the man cladded in black to stop.

“Aha. You’re the psychopath who’s been killing Masters after school. I thought so.” The girl in red clothes appeared out of a classroom where none should have been. Rin Tousaka.

“...Rin Tousaka?”

“My reputation precedes me. I see the intelligence network of the Harway Foundation has been busy. Although I’m pretty hard to miss. You tell me Julius Berkisk Harway. Since you’re from the foundation’s counter terrorism unit.” Rin asked as the man named Julius looked over at her with a thin smile and answered.

“...It’s risky of you to save an enemy. Do you intend to make this creature your ally?”

“How absurd. She has nothing to do with this. In fact, why haven’t you killed her yet?”

“Um...ouch? I’m right here you know?” I said with a deadpan expression on my face.

“I’ll be laughing when you end up stabbed in the back, terrorist.” A cruel smile plays over his lips as he continues walking towards the end of the hallway. He sends a cold glance my way. “So...you are called Twilight...I shall remember this.” his predatory pupils still trained on me, the man disappears into the wall as if melting away. I let out a sigh of relief before collapsing to the ground from both exhaustion and feeling the grip of death around me vanish.

“So he’s been hacking the system’s character profiles to his heart’s content, I see.” Rin said as I looked over at her. “With an unscrupulous enemy like that, I better be on my guard at all times in this school.” The girl starts talking to herself after the man has faded away. Then she turns towards me. She has a cold look in her eyes...not all that different from the look in Julius's eyes. “What’s with that look? I didn’t come to save you. I wanted to say hello to the Harway’s Assassin. You’re my enemy, too. It’s not like I care if you died now…I’m impressed you made it past the second round. I didn’t think you had it in you. I mean, you kind of had a rough time. That’s why I-Er, what am I saying? Later, then.” She said before turning around to walk down the stairs. “Be careful not to lose the life that just got saved for you in the third round!”

“....I think I’ll just stay in my room for the rest of the day. I’m not in the mood for anything that involves surprise attacks, or attempted assasinations.” I said before pulling myself up and staggering back to my room….I’ll get Saber to go to the commissary to get us some food.

Week Three: Down the Rabbit Hole

Week Three

Down the Rabbit Hole

3.disillusionment/suspended alicorn

Lament Death.

There is no shame in mourning

If death is inevitable,

and strife fosters it,

then hate fighting.

Accept death, and quell the fighting.

3rd Week
The Third Selection
Combatants Remaining: 064-032

[Day one]
Midday

:: The Next combatants will be announced on the second-floor bulletin board ::

“Looks like my next opponent is up. Better check and see who it is.” I said as I placed the terminal back into my pocket and headed out of the classroom to see the bulletin board. Posted on the bulletin board are two names, as always. One is my name, of course. The other is a human named Alice.

Master: Alice
Battlefield: The Third Chimeric Lunar Sea

“...So you’re going to be my new playmate?” My ears twitch upon hearing a young girl’s voice as I turn around to see a girl that looks to be ten years old.

“You’re very pretty for a pony. Are you just like Alice, lady? If so, Alice thinks you and I can be friends, lady. Finally, Alice will have a friend of her own.” She said before moving up close to me and hugging me by my waist. “I was so sad and lonely by myself. But when I came to this place, Alice was lucky enough to meet Alice. Alice is Alice’s only friend. Alice finally found a friend in Alice.”

“Oh, well that’s good to know that you made a friend here in this place.”

“That’s why even if you do end up leaving or disappearing, Alice will have Alice. Nothing else matters.” She said before releasing me from her hug she looked up at me and smiled. “But you are my next playmate, so I guess I’ll have to play with you. Try not to die too quickly, Alice will be sad. Alice will be bored.” With that, Alice soon skipped her way down the hallways as Saber just appeared next to me. She’s like a doll only seen in a dream. I don’t feel threatened as I did with Dan Blackmore...but her mindset is a bit...off. Even if she is a kid.

“Don’t let her appearance fool you, egghead. She’s already killed two Masters so DO NOT let your guard down.”

“Saber, come on. If I jumped out of a bin at her wearing a scary mask and yelled ‘boo’ she’d probably cry for eight hours. Dial it down a bit.” I said before asking her a question. “I assume you have no problem with fighting against her?”

“She knew what she was getting herself into. She seems to be a prodigy amongst the many players in the war. And if she made it this far, then she must be one hell of a master.” That’s right. Only the strong survive here. She may be much stronger than Dan was. But the question that remains for me...Can I fight without holding back? My opponents up until now had an aura of power. It was easy to see them as worthy foes...But things are different now. Can I do to this little girl what I did to the others? I know that if I don’t, I’m as good as dead, but still…

[Evening]

(Classroom)

An electronic chiming sounds from my terminal. I began to reach for it as I saw a message from it.

:: The primary cipher key has been generated::

Regardless of who my opponent is, time in the SE.RA.PH passes at the same measured pace for all. The message I received informs me I’ll be erased if I fail to find my Triggers and gather info on my foe. Still...having to fight against a child...it’s still unsettling. M-Maybe if I can gather some information on her, then it might help me out a bit when I have to fight her at the end of the week...Better talk to a few people first, but those acquaintances I’ve made are probably of dubious reliability. As I began to make my way to the first floor of the school, I soon noticed Alice standing in the middle as if she was waiting for someone. Specifically, me, to be accurate.

“Hey, play with me! How about we play tag? Yeah, I want to play tag!” The little human girl in front of me is supposed to be my enemy, but her innocent smile holds no malice...Though I can’t shake the feeling that her naivete is a ruse...can't lower my guard with her...but this might help me get a beat on who she is, or at least her servant. “You want to play with me, right?” She asked as I nodded.

“S-Sure, why not?” Upon hearing that, Alice’s eyes widened in excitement.

“Yay! I knew that you’d play with me! She is me, and I am her! We are ourselves! Let’s start now!” She said before lightly tapping my hip and running off to the Arena. “Tag, you’re it! Alice will be waiting for you in the Arena. Hurry up and come get me!”

“...Well...I said I’d play with her, so I should probably go to the Arena and chase her down.” I said before noticing Saber appearing next to me.

“So, they want to play tag huh? I guess we can play along with this little game of hers. But don’t expect me not to show her what happens when you play games in a war~” A devilish grin appears on Saber’s face for playing along with this game tag.

“Wow, you’re even more excited than usual. You must be happy to find an intellectual equal.”

“I’ll say...HEY! Screw you yeah bucktooth mutant horse!“ Saber yelled as I busted out laughing from her reaction. Just as we were about to head run off to the Arena...mainly to escape Saber’s wrath, we heard the voice of a familiar teacher yelling my name. Turning around, we saw Taiga running over to us. Only for her to trip over her own feet and crash face-first onto the ground. I looked over at Saber, who looked over at me with a deadpan expression as she walked over to Taiga and helped her onto her feet.

“Thanks, glad I caught you two before you headed off into the arena.” She said before looking over at me. “Twilight! I have an important mission for you today. Do you wish to prove your valor today?”

“Um...sure, I guess?”

“Very good. I will now brief you on your upcoming mission. I have received word that a student has smuggled an illicit magazine onto the school grounds. Your responsibility is to track down this miscreant and take possession of the said magazine. This mission will be valid for three days. On the fourth day, I expect a full report. Dismissed!” She said before running off to who knows where.

“....Maybe we should look for this magazine first before heading off to the Arena?” I asked as Saber had a blush appear on her face. “Is something wrong?”

“Huh? What? N-Nothing! I’m fine! Let’s go find out where this student is and make him or her hand over the magazine.” ...Okay? Something seems off about this. Saber isn’t always that excited about small stuff like this...she must know something about this magazine.

“Alright...let’s head outside and see if we can find some clues as to where this student might be,” I said before motioning her to follow me outside of the school.

(Arena)

[Pray For Escape through a Mirror into Wonderland. And a Lucid Dream. The Shimmering of the moment, either Laughter or Tears.]

“Oh come on, I thought you would know what Taiga meant when she said illicit magazine.” Saber said as I simply glared at her in both anger and embarrassment. Had I known that the so-called teacher wanted me to get something like that, I would’ve said no to... the dear god of this world! How can humans have something like that….Oh god, do they have stuff like this in the library!?

“Everything I knew about humans is a lie! How can humans have stuff like this made!?”

“Oh come on. It’s not like where you’re from doesn’t have porn-related stuff.”

“Of course not!” I said before pausing. “At least...I don’t think so...Again, I don’t have many memories of my past...so...shut up! I’m still angry at you for not telling me about that.”

“Don’t be angry at me for your lack of human anatomy.”

“Aren’t you human too?”

“Homunculus. So I’m not technically human.” Saber answered with a smirk on her face. “Anyway, we should focus on the task at hand.”

“R-Right, right. We need to find Alice. Do you know where she went?”

“I suspect she is nearby. That’s what my intuition is telling me.” She said before licking her lips as a devilish grin appeared on her face again. “Reminds me of the time I had to hunt down some rogue knights for my father. We’ll hunt her down and ravish her bones…” Saber said which caused me to stare at her in utter shock. “Uh, not the way you’re thinking!”

“Saber what the actual buck!?”

“I get excited and say bad words, okay!? Don’t judge me!”

“Pretty sure I can, given what you just said,” I said before taking the lead and dawning on my battle garments. “Let’s just go and find Alice...and not ravish her.”

“I wasn’t going to have sex with her...just impale her with my sword until she’s dead...and by sword I mean my actual sword, Clarent. Not my-”

“OKAY! I GET IT! PLEASE NO MORE STUFF LIKE THAT!” I yelled before taking the lead and heading into the Arena. As we made our way through the arena, we stopped upon seeing Alice appearing out of nowhere in front of the hallway that leads to the next section of the Arena.

“Ah, pony lady, over here, over here!” Alice yelled while waving at me. “You’re “it”, pony lady. If you can catch Alice, you win, lady! All right, ready...Go!” She yelled before turning around and running down the hallway before vanishing.

“Kid got guts for facing up without her servant next to her. Let’s go get her, egghead. Any child that presumes to say I’m it, needs to be knocked down a peg or two.” Nice to see Saber is composing herself. I can see why she was willing to do this...I think. Being addressed as “It” didn’t sit well with her. As long as she’s willing to play along, there’s no need to clear up that misconception...I think...better make sure she doesn’t go overboard or worse. Moments upon making further into the first floor Arena and killing enemy programs along the way, we soon notice Alice off in the distance as Saber was the first to speak up.

“There she is. Those white frills could only belong to her.” She said before bolting toward Alice in an attempt to apprehend her quickly. Only for her to vanish as Saber plows through an enemy program and crashes into the wall of the Arena.

“You okay Saber?” I asked as she slowly pulled herself up from off the wall. She deadpans at me as I pull my hands up in defense. “Right, a stupid question on my part.”

“I’m going to kill that kid when I find her.”

“Wouldn’t it be against the rules to kill her before the fight?” I asked as she once again deadpans at me. “What? I prefer not to die from breaking a rule or something along those lines of rule-breaking.”

“Just tell me where she is before I throw you at a wall or something!” Saber yelled as I scanned the area to see where Alice was. Off in the distance, I noticed the familiar color of Alice’s outfit as she was far off on the other end of the arena. From what I can tell, it looks like she was near the exit.

“Over there,” I said pointing to the location of where the girl was. Before I could move, I felt Saber lift me off my feet. Looking over at her, I notice that a surge of magic erupted from her body as she rushed over to said location within a matter of seconds. “Y-You could’ve warned me when you were about to do that!” I said before feeling Saber placing me down, though I fell to my knees due to the sudden feeling of nauseous washing over my body.

“And let that girl get away?” She said before grinning at Alice. “End of the line kid. Now get ready for a beat down.”

“We can’t kill her Saber,” I said as it caused her to glare at me.

“I know that! You don’t have to remind me!”

“Oh no! You found us!” Alice said while giggling in glee. “But, that was fun, lady. Hey, lady. Do you wanna hear Alice’s story?” She asked as Saber and I looked at each other with confused expressions on our faces. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Alice, who lived in a country far, far away from here.” As she was talking I noticed bits of data appear from her body before a second Alice appeared beside her. Only this clone’s color theme was black and magenta.

“And then, a scary country came with their tanks and planes and metal helmets and guns.” said the other Alice in a carefree tone in her voice. “The sky got red and then my house got black. Then I woke up in a white room. Nothing ever changed. I had no friends. I had no mommy or daddy.”

“Daddy always said that when I got hurt I should tough it out. Daddy got mad if I said it hurts. But something happened that hurt so much that I couldn’t tough it out. Then I woke up.” said the original Alice as they both vanished from our field of vision. It was only when I heard their voices from behind us was when we turned around and backed away from them. “But, it’s okay. It’s really fun here. There are hunches of nice people.”

“Uh-huh, that’s right, Alice. You can play as hard as you want here, right?” said the other Alice as the original looked over at her.

“Yeah, but if I play too hard, I break my playthings. I don’t want their heads and arms to come off.”

“Don’t be silly. If we break them, I can sew them up with the needle and thread mommy gave me.” She said before making a needle and thread appear in her hands. “I’m not very good at sewing, but I’m sure I can, at the very least, stitch them together.”

“As long as they’re in one piece, I guess it’d be okay.”

“Of course, it'd be okay.” The clone said as the original smiled.

“What a relief. I wouldn’t want to make mommy mad again.”

“...The fuck is up with these two idiots?” Saber asked as I felt uneasy upon hearing the girls' plans for me.

“I don’t know. Though I find it messed up that they think that sewing my limbs back onto my body will fix me…if anything it would just become infected if not done correctly. Not to mention they’re too young to learn how to properly sew back a limb onto a pony’s body. You would have to reattach their nervous system, muscles, veins, and-” Before I could finish, I felt Saber flick me on the nose as it caused me to yelp and rub it from the pain I felt.

“Now’s not the time for you to get all science nerd on me, egghead.” Saber said as the two girls giggled from what Saber did.

“This master isn’t like the two before. We can touch this master and they even have warm blood.” The other Alice said as a sickly smile appeared on her face. “Hey, let’s see if he wants to play too~”

“Yeah! That’s a good idea.” With that, the original Alice raised her hand. In doing so, the arena floor, the walls, the air. It all shakes under the influence of a huge influx of power. I looked behind myself upon feeling this influx of power as I saw a hulking humanoid-like beast standing near the exit.

All that was going through my mind was run…run away from this hulking monster and not look back…but I couldn’t move. My body was frozen in place by the fear and overwhelming aura this monster was giving off.

“Isn’t he neat? He’s Alice’s friend.”

“Play with him, lady.” The other Alice said before they both disappeared. Leaving Saber and me alone with this monster. Just as they left, the monster soon appeared in front of me as he was about to deliver a powerful punch to my face. Before the fist could collide with my face, I felt myself being pulled out of the way of the punch as it collided with the wall of the arena, causing a shockwave to erupt from the force behind it, and sending us both tumbling backward. Looking up I saw the enemy program’s fist punching through the wall, but was having a hard time pulling it out.

“Get your head together, egghead!” Saber yelled as it caused me to snap out of my fearful daze. “Much as I would like to fight that thing, we’re not strong enough to face it.” She said as I noticed a disgusted expression on her face. If Saber’s admitting that this program is too strong for her, then this is a fight that we can’t hope to win. For now, the wisest course of action is to retreat.

“R-Right, right. I know you dislike having to retreat, but we need to leave and think of a plan of a counterattack against this thing.” I said before pulling myself up. Just as I was about to turn around to run for it, Saber picked me up once again as the surge of magic appeared from her body and quickly began to bolt it out of the arena. From behind, we both heard Alice speak.

“Huh? You’re leaving?” Alice asked in a pouty tone of her voice. “Aww, boring…Well, he’ll be here until the magic we gave him runs out, so come play again!” she said before we were out of range to hear her.

“Horse Apple…this is a disaster,” I said as Saber continued to make her way through the arena at breakneck speed while taking down a couple of enemy programs. “The cipher key is on the other side of that monster, and we can’t get it because of it.”

“I know, but there’s not much we can do until we can get past that thing. Fighting it would be suicidal on our part. I may enjoy the thrill of battle, but even I’m not that excited to die in a one-sided fight. But besides that, did you learn anything about the enemy that I might not have noticed?”

“There are two Alices. They both act the same, have the same voices, and wear the same outfits, but the second Alice’s colors are black and magenta. I can only assume so that people don’t get confused. But which one is the servant and which one is the master?”

“You don’t think that hulking monster isn’t the servant?” Saber asked as I shook my head.

“I doubt it. Though it did give off a hulking presence like a berserker from what I read in the books at the library, it didn’t give off the magical energy of a servant like you do.” I said as I felt Saber stopping at the entrance of the Arena. “We need to gather more information on Alice, but we’ll have to do that tomorrow.”

Matrix Level: One
Enemy Servant Info Obtained

“Great, not only is our opponent’s a child but one with a screw loose…We keep getting the short end of the unfortunate opponents.”

“Yeah…This is not going to be a cakewalk.” I said as Saber and I made our way out of the Arena…My opponent's a child…a child that I must kill to get my questions answered…but is it worth it?

Week One The Princess and The Servant Part One

Week One

The Princess and The Servant

Part One

1. awakening/binary pony heaven

The mare of the everyday sloughs off.

A war between magi.

The Wheel of fate turns.

Weak one, temper your sword,

and defend the value of your life.

1st week
The First Selection
Combatants Remaining: 999-128

Twilight’s eyes open as she finds herself laying in the middle of a burning city that was once known as Canterlot. She tried to pull herself up, but her body felt heavy. Tried as she did it felt like someone or something was keeping her down on the ground against her will. She lifts her head up a bit to see if that was the case, only to notice the giant blood leaking hole on her abdomen. The alicorn soon placed her head back down as she noticed a strange shadowy figure standing over her with visible tears running down it’s face, and falling onto Twilight’s face. As she felt the tears hit her face, she couldn't help but cry along with the shadowy figure as she soon heard a voice echo throughout the burning city she was in.

The Sky Burns

Houses and Homes Collapse into ruin.

Ponies fall to the ground.

Roads come to an end.

The Conflict started here.

In this small peaceful city.

With this, the world that was will be restored.

It is here that I alone had survived

Don’t remember/Never forget.

Oblivion is salvation and sin.

Never forget.

I was born from Destiny

this must be a nightmare.

This had to be somewhere;

it could be anywhere,

these events that occurred in

the true memories of foalhood.

A torrent of blood flows from my wound,

and a voice resonating with bitter

resentment can be heard.

Lives fade away without a thought.

My friends, family, strangers: All gone.

Soldiers with swords,

families trying to hold together,

A grotesque struggle to the last,

until a gentle peace descends

as death comes to claim them.

-I have no regrets for what I’ve done.

The question of “why?”

never left me.

Even with the divide between

conflict and catastrophe, why

did such a tragedy occur?

No, more importantly-

why has this world been turned

into tartarus on Equis?

As the mare continued to wonder what this dream is all about, she soon took notice to the flames covering the city started to slowly die down. Looking up at the sky, she felt raindrops hitting her as it began to rain down upon her and the ruined city.

A gentle rain begins to fall.

All things once living fade away,

leaving only me and the shadow behind.

Amidst the helplessness and

despair, I feel their soul’s last

feelings are of rage and regret

The rain wets their cheeks as

their eyes close one last time,

dying forgotten and alone.

Seeing this, I felt tears roll down my face

and smiled upon what I have been shown.

If I can live again,

I will definitely-

But there are no second chances.

And before long, the rain has

cleansed the scorched earth.

A blinding light fills the area she was in as she quickly closed her eyes to protect her eyes from being blinded from the light engulfing her and the shadow.

Never forget.

I was born from Destiny

What that means-

Somehow, please do not forget me.

[Day One: Morning]

[Nurse's Office]

I felt something warm hit my face as I slowly began to open my eyes and started to rub them so my vision could start to clear up. What was I dreaming? Was it a dream? It didn’t feel like a dream given how twisted and distorted it was. It felt like it was...real. To see if it was a dream, I pulled the covers from the bed I was in off of me to see if there was a hole in my abdomen. I let out a sigh of relief as there wasn’t any hole or injuries of any kind. With that aside, I finally took notice to the room I was in. Judging by the way the room looks and how they’re medical supplies in here. This must be a nurse’s office.….No. This nurse’s office feels different then the one I know...At least...I think I know what a nurse’s office looks like. It’s similar, but off, somehow.

“So you’re finally awake. I was beginning to think I needed to get a bucket of cold water to wake you up.” I hear a rather tomboyish voice in the room as I began to look around to see where it came from. Once I looked to my left, I let out a small yelp and jumped a bit upon seeing the being behind the source of the mysterious voice.

“It was kinda boring seeing you unconscious like that. The only thing I could do was just watch you as you slept like a baby.” She said before glancing at me up and down. “Never thought I would have a mythical beast as my master. But hey, who am I to complain about it. I’ve seen weirder things then this.” She was...watching me while I was asleep...I don’t know if I should feel creeped out by this or impressed that she didn’t go stir crazy from watching over me like some kind of knight or something. It’s weird. This being looks like a human, but she’s giving off a strong presence of something abnormal. I continued to stare at the human cladded in armor for a bit before she looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I looked away with a blush on my cheeks.

“You’re a weird one aren’t you? Well it doesn’t matter. Let me be the first to welcome you to the Holy Grail War horse girl!” She said as I stared back at her with a confused expression on her face. She takes notice to this as she scratches the back of her head. “Hey, you are fully aware of what the Holy Grail War is, right?”

“Holy Grail War?”

“You don’t know anything about the Holy Grail War!? Why the hell would you enter something that you know nothing of in the first place!?”

“I….don’t know to be honest.” I said as I lean back in the bed I’m in. It’s weird, how did I end up in this place to begin with? I tried my best to remember anything that could give me a clue as to how I ended up here, but all I can remember is my name...everything else is just a blurry haze.

“Do you atleast have a name ya nerd?” The armor clad woman asked as I nodded.

“T-Twilight Sparkle.” I answered as I noticed the woman staring at me for a moment before looking away and...is she laughing? “A-Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah….Yeah….just...give me a sec to...um...get my thoughts straight.” She said while still trying not to laugh. She turned her attention back onto me with a smirk on her face. “While pitiful, I’m pretty sure ignorance is not a sin. I will inform you in layman's terms. Okay, so the Holy Grail is said to have held the blood of a savior and has the power to grant wishes. The original has been lost to time and all that remains are counterfeits. Honestly it doesn’t really matter to me to some degree. The Holy Grail for which you are fighting for is a different object altogether.”

“Wait so I’m in a war to get the holy grail to obtain a wish?” I asked as thewoman nodded.

“Glad to see you’re catching on what I’m saying. Early on, the Holy Grail War was the name given to the ceremony magi held to gain the Grail. In truth, it was a bloody melee from which the sole survivor would be granted the Holy Grail. In simple terms, the tournament you’re now in is an approximation of the original Holy Grail War. Now new magi have emerged in a time in which thaumaturgy has all but faded away.”

“Me, a magi? Although I can hardly believe that I am one, I’m having a hard time believing that I am one.” I said as I moved over to the edge of the bed I was in. “I mean, I don’t even know who you are and you’re telling me something that I should already know by now.” The woman paused as she looked at me with an suspicious expression on her face as I blinked at her. “Is something the matter?”

“Geez, I drew the short straw with you huh horse.” I feel like I should be offended by that statement. “You’re hopeless. To make a long story short weather you know this or not. Here, to win is to live; to lose is to die. There is only one way to avoid death.” She said before leaning against a wall with her arms folded. “The rules are simple. Two magi are assigned to fight each other using their Servants as weapons.”

“Servants?” I asked as she pointed to herself as an example...I get the feeling that she’s not the type that does well at explaining things.

“We Servants are the only line of defense from when fighting other master’s Servants. The Magus who loses to their opponent is stripped of both their Command Seals and their life.” As if I was going to ask her what she means by command seals, she pointed a finger towards my left hand. My eyes are drawn to my left hand where I’ve been marked with three strange symbols. I ran a finger along the symbols as they quickly began to glow for a second before returning to normal. “You will face a series of battles before you reach the Holy Grail. But the details really don't matter. The only thing that you must do is win. Simple, isn’t it?”

“I doubt it’s that simple. But I’ll take your word for it seeing how you know a lot more than I do.”

“Hey I’m giving you some of the basics of how this war works. As long as you understand the basics, that’s enough for now...Please tell me you know what a Servant is?”

“I want to say yes...but that would be lying.” I said, which caused her to facepalm and sigh in annoyance.

“Is there anything that you do know!?” Oh no, she’s angry. Quick! Think of something nice to say to her!

“Um...I do know that you have nice sturdy armor?” I said with an awkward smile on my face. To my surprise her attitude changed as a smile appeared on her face from what I said...I’m not complaining, just roll with it Twilight.

“Geez, something must have happen to you if you can’t remember any of the stuff I’m saying.” The Servant said as she continued on explaining. “Servants are legendary Souls called from the past to help Masters win in the Holy Grail War. Only those whose deeds are acknowledged long after their deaths become Legendary Souls. The Servants recreated here by the Holy Grail are drawn from those whose legends endured. Servants are basically soldiers, there to guide and protect the magus who summoned them.”

“Okay, I guess that makes sense when you think about it. Is there some kind of category for Servants? I mean judging by the way you look, you look like you’re a knight of some sorts?”

“For a girl with no memory of her life, you sure are a smart horse.”

“Can you please stop calling me a horse? It sounds a bit...insensitive to be called that.” I said as she place a hand to her chin.

“Okay, how about pony then. Does that sound like an okay thing to call you?” Well it doesn’t feel offensive, so I guess that’d be okay….for now. I simply nodded to her question as she smiled again with a nod. “Okay pony. To answer your question, yes. Servants are divided into seven classes. Originally, the classes of Legendary Souls were hidden, but things have changed over time.” She said before walking in front of me with her sword in hand. “Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Caster, and Assassin.”

“Okay, I take it by the sword you’re of the saber class Servant?”

“Correct egghead.” She answered with smug smirk on her face. “It is said that those of the Saber class are far superior to other Servants. I must say. Even though your a egghead, you’re doing well in the whole listening and asking decent short questions. I can sense some kind of potential in you...even though you are a humanoid like pony creature.” ….I’ll take that as a compliment. “Now then, from this day forward, you may refer to me as Saber.”

“Is that your real name?”

“No, it’s just something so that the other master won’t figure out my true name and look up information of my true identity. A Master who knows my true identity spells trouble for me and my Master. Which is you by the way. So for safety reasons I won’t tell you my name...unless you beg for it that is~” Saber...this woman’s personality is going to be difficult to deal with, but she seems like decent person to have as an ally….I think?

“I take it you won’t tell me your real name anytime soon?”

“I will share my name once I have learned a little more about you.” Well it was worth a shot to ask. “I can understand your unease at knowing nothing at all. But rest assured, I will tell you later on. For now let’s focus on the holy grail war. Basically all I know is that it grants wishes and creates Servants using famous figures from human history.” Saber said as a confident grin appeared on her face. “With your brains and me being the mightiest of Legendary Souls by your side, the Holy Grail will be ours! Ah man, I’m getting so excited just thinking about winning this war!”

“Um...that’s good I guess.” I’m not going to lie, all this information that Saber told me about is...a bit confusing and unsettling for the most part. Holy Grail War, Legendary Souls, The Grail. What am I even doing here to begin with. More importantly...who am I if I’m being perfectly being honest about it? I don’t remember anything other then my name and some basic stuff about...weird pony stuff. But other then that, I don’t remember anything else. Just as I was beginning to lose myself into my own thought, I felt something hard hit my head as I let out a yelp of pain.

“Oi! Are you even paying attention egghead?”

“What the hey was that for!?” I yelled, rubbing my head from what I can guess was her fist hitting the top part of my head. “Don’t you know hitting somepony on the head is dangerous!?”

“You were staring off into the distance and ignoring me when i was calling out your name. Why wouldn’t I hit you on the head like….wait did you say somepony?”

“Yeah I did, why?” I asked as she stared at me with a deadpan expression on her face. “Um...did I say something wrong?” Saber didn’t say anything other then flick me on the nose as I yelped again and covered my nose from the pain.

“It’s pronounced somebody, not somepony. You say puns like that every time, and I will flick your nose each time until you learn not to do that.” Who does this jerk think she is treating me like I’m some kind of young foal. I have half a mind to….well I don’t know what I could do to her, but I’m sure I’ll think of something. All I can do now is simply nod before seeing a smirk appear on her face as she patted me on the head. “Good, now with that taken care of. It’s time for us to have a look around the battleground.”

With that, my Servant disappears from my sight, but I can feel her presence nearby. This must be a means for Servants to stay out of sight when they’re not needed so their identity can’t be compromised. But how can somepony guess who they are just by their appearance is beyond me. Just as I go to stand up from the bed I was in, the door to the room I’m in opens. I look over to the doorway to see a girl with long purple hair enter into the room as she smiled upon seeing me standing up.

“Ah, you’re finally awake? I’m so relieved.” She said before walking over towards me as she eyes me up and down. “You don’t seem to have any injuries from where we found you, so feel free to leave when you feel like it. But before you do that, you might want to put on some clothes before you leave.” I raised an eyebrow to this as I looked over at my reflexion in the window behind me. My eyes widen to the sudden realization of this as I quickly grabbed the cover of the bed I was in and used it as a means to cover my...exposed body. The girl that said this giggled at my reaction as she walked over to the closet in the room and reached in to hand me a set of clothes to put on. All the while I can hear Saber laughing at me in the background.

“T-Thanks for the pair of clothes….um.”

“Sakura Matou. And you’re welcome.” She said as I began to quickly put on the spare set of clothes she gave me. “If you haven’t noticed by now. Your memories should be restored by the SE.RA.PH. So do not worry. Any magi that seek the Holy Grail have their memories suppressed and are given false ones of that of an average high school student. Only Masters who managed to recover themselves are allowed to enter the main tournament.” She said as I pause upon hearing her say that and looked over at her. “Now that you have regained your memories, please try to review them to make sure they’re complete.”

That would makes sense as to why I can’t remember anything from my past other then my name...But if that was the case, then why haven’t my memories return yet? Outside of my name, I can’t recall anything of my past. This isn’t good, not good at all if I cannot remember a single thing that happened to me before then! I shook my head to get my thoughts straight as I asked.

“What if your memory isn’t restored? Because I can’t remember anything about my past, nor anything else besides some basic knowledge that’s common to me.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot help you with that. I, Sakura Matou, am just a custodial AI.”

“.....You’re a what?”

“An AI. Artificial intelligence is what the term AI means. All I can do is heal people when they’re sick, injured, or if they need a med kit to help treat their wounds themselves. If you don’t have your memories back, then there might have been a glitch with SE.RA.PH. that might have caused this.” So in short, she can’t help me get my memories back from this SE.RA.PH. person, and I’m going into battle with little to nothing on me….this is not helping my boost of confidence any better then how it is now. “But I can give you something that might be able to help you in the tournament.” Sakura said as she reached into her pocket to pull out a strange light blue object and handed it over to me as I just finish putting my clothes on.

“What is that?” I asked as I hesitantly took the strange object into my hands and began to look it over. Once I tapped on it a bit, the object quickly expanded as I gasped in surprise.

“It’s your portable terminal. As a participant, you should pay attention to any messages that appear on your terminal. This can also be used to store information on the Masters and their Servants for when you have to fight them.” She said before going back to her desk. “Do your best in the Tournament ma’am. And I hope you come out on top.” All I could do was nod as I make my way out of the nurse’s office and into the hallway.

“Well she may not have been able to help me get my memories back, but at least she gave me something to help me hold on to information. I said before pressing the portable terminal as it return to being a small rectangular object and I placed it into my pants pocket. Once I placed the terminal into my pocket, my stomach began to growl. Guess I haven’t eaten anything in quite some time if I’m getting hungry.

“Getting hungry I take it?” Saber asked as she appeared beside me as I nodded with a blush on my face. “Wouldn’t be surprised, you have been sleeping for the past twelve hours or so.” Well that answered one of my questions. “Let’s get you something to eat before we have a look around the school.”

“Do you know where we can find some food in this place?” I asked as she points a finger towards the staircase off in the distance.

“There’s a cafe down those stairs in the school commissary. They should be able to give you something to eat...I mean if they look by your horse like features that is.” Saber said before disappearing in a flash. I nodded as I begin to make my way to the stairs and headed downstairs to the commissary. Once I step foot into the room, the room quickly fell silent as I saw what I can guess were the combatants of the holy grail war looking at me. “Wow, never expected for this to happen. Guess this is going to be a normal thing for you until they can look passed the fact you’re a talking mythical creature.”

“Well don’t I feel special.” I let out a sigh as I began to make my way over to the female student behind the counter off in front of me. Once I got there, I noticed she was busy doing something seeing how her back was turned to me as I tried to get her attention. “Um, excuse me ma’am. Is this the place to get something to eat?”

“Yep, we sell both foods and items for you and your-” Once she turned around, her eyes widen in shock upon seeing me. I gave off an awkward wave along with a smile, as I tried my best not to be threatening or anything to that matter. To my surprise she dawned on a rather excited expression on her face as I notice her taking a step back and lunge herself at me. I let out a loud scream as I felt her tackle me to the ground and begins to...cuddle me and pinch my cheeks. All the while my Servant pretty much laughs at my expense from seeing this human hugging me like I was her pet or something.

“OMG! You are so adorable! Is that a cosplay you’re wearing!? OMG that would be so cool if it was!” The human said as I tried my best to push her face away from mine as I tried to answer her question.

“I...don’t know what cosplay is, but no. This is what I look like.” I answered as her hugging strength increased even more. For a human, she has such amazing strength! “S-Saber….help me please!” I yelled as I could feel the air in my lungs being pushed out from my body. “Dear Faust! I can’t breathe!” Just as I said that, I felt the human’s grip lessen up as I notice Saber appearing with the human in her hand and away from me.

“Please try not to hurt my master. I kinda need her if I’m gonna win the Holy Grail War.” She said before placing her behind the counter she lunged from. The human let out a gasp as she bowed her head toward us.

“I am so, so sorry about that. It’s just that your master looked like something I would see in a manga and I couldn’t help but do that to her. I hope you can forgive me for doing that madam?”

“Just....ask before doing something like that again please?” I said as I took deep breaths while pulling and brushing myself off. “Anyway, is this the place where I can get something to eat?”

“Indeed it is.” The human said before pointing to a sign behind herself. “In hell, money conquers all, welcome to the Tsukumihara Academy Commissary! How can I help you two today?”

“My Master here requires food. Do you have anything that might be suitable for a horse.” Saber said as I glared at her. “I mean, for a pony….a talking pony with wings and a horn on her head.” I simply snorted in annoyance before looking over at the human girl who was reaching for something in the display case.

“Well, the only thing I have available for food would be Yakisoba Bread and Curry Bread.” She said before showing me what they look like. “They may look weird looking, but they do taste good with a drink to go along with it. And it’s made fresh so you don’t have to worry about coming here and getting it when it’s cold.”

“Perfect, then she’ll take those.” Saber said as the human handed them over to me.

“You’re just going to give me these just like that? Don’t I have to pay for them or something?” It would be rude if I were to just take them without having to pay her back for it.

“Oh don’t worry about paying. Think of this as an apology for tackling you like that. Plus I get the feeling that you’re a new master in the holy grail wars right?” She asked as I simply nodded. “I figured seeing how I’ve never seen someone like you before. I kinda thought you were a Servant given the way you look. But when I saw that you had a Servant of your own, I guess I was mistaken for assuming that.”

“Oh, well thanks for the food I guess?” It feels kinda weird that I would let somepony give me something for free. But if she’s okay with this, then I shouldn’t be complaining about it.

“You’re welcome! Be sure to come by my shop if you need some more food or supplies to help you in battle~” I nodded before waving good-bye to the human as I head up the stairs.

“That was weird and bizzare on so many levels of weirdness.” I said as I started to pull the wrapping off of the Curry Bread as I continued to walk up the stairs unknowingly.

“Well you can’t blame her for doing that.” Saber said as she made herself invisible while following after me. “Girls like that will find someone like you adorable to the point where they will do that. So be prepare to see that happening a lot depending on who the person is.”

“She could’ve at least asked before doing that to me. I mean really, hasn't anypony heard of personal space?” I said before feeling Saber flick my nose before I took a bite out of the curry bread. I glanced over to her with a glare as I rubbed my nose.

“Like I said, I’ll keep doing that until you break that nasty habit of saying horse puns.” I’m starting to have second thoughts of having her as a partner right now.

“Before I say anything that I might regret saying later on. Is there a place where I can eat in peace without humans looking at me?” I said as I walked by some of the students in the hallway looking at me as if I was a target for something or somepony.

“The rooftop should be an okay place to eat. Just continue up the stairs and you should be there.” Saber said as I gave her a small smile before heading upstairs to the rooftop.

Author's Note

What Twilight Looks like.

Week One: With Every loss, You Gain More Wisdom

Week One

With Every Loss, You Gain More Wisdom

Day Two

Alright, after the second hug tackle from the girl behind the counter at the cafe. I was able to get a good amount of Ether Shards to heal Saber when we go to the Arena this evening. Still wish that everypony in this school would stop staring at me like I’m a plague victim, but I’ll push that to the side and focus on the task at hand. Just as I was about to leave Taige’s classroom, I hear an electronic noise. It seems to be coming from the portable terminal I stashed in my pocket. When I remove it, I see some words displayed on the screen.

: :The next combatants will be announced on the second floor bulletin board : :

Combatant announcement…..Oh wait! This must mean who I’m going to battle one-on-one with. Hm, I’ll head over to the second floor bulletin board to find out who I’m fighting. After gathering my notes and my bag that Taige gave me, I made my way outside and headed towards the bulletin near the steps. I was a bit reluctant to look over at the board, but I mustered up the courage to see who I was going to fight in the first round. On that now dreaded white piece of paper posted there, two names have been written. The first name is my own. The other name is-

Master: Shinji Matou
Battlefield: First Chimeric Lunar Sea

“So...you’re my first opponent? I’m surprised that a horse like you managed to qualify.” My ears twitches upon hearing a young but male voice coming from behind me. Looking behind myself, I see a young male student with royal blue hair wearing this school’s uniform walking up next to me. I’m gonna take a shot in the dark and say that this is Shinji Matou.

“But I guess here, all things are possible. Hey, you might even be the most powerful magus here.” He said in a sarcastic tone. “Oh who am I kidding. We’re at different levels even though I’m a human and your a horse. But still, I should congratulate you.”

“Congratulate on what?”

“I guess being a mediocre has its advantages. You get all of these handicaps and whatnot. Keep in mind that this tournament is all about true strength, so don’t get too overconfident. But I do have to say that the guys who’re running this are geniuses. Just look how intense the first round is.” he said as I raised an eyebrow towards him. “Come on, I mean forcing people to give up friendships in order to win? That’s pretty insane. Oh what a cruel mistress fate can be, right? Even me, the strongest Master here, is pained by this.” I’m finding it hard to believe that he’s conflicted by this war. If anything, it looks like he’s enjoying this way too much. After that little outburst, Shinji puts on a plastic smile and pats me on the shoulder. Well, let’s keep things clean, okay? It should be a good fight. After all, you’re a Master, too. When we see each other again, it will be as enemies. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re an animal.” Shinji said as he extended a hand towards me.

I was hesitant at first about shaking the human’s hand. But after thinking it over I was about to shake it, only for Shinji to move his hand out of the way. I was taken by surprise by this as I looked up at him as he dawned a smug grin on his face. With a flick from his hair, Shinji simply laughs as he made his way down the hall….I have to fight Shinji and his servant. No matter how many times I repeat myself, the meaning of those words fail to register in my brain. Do I have to kill him, a creature from another race, when I don’t have any clue as to why? This whole situation has fast become a nightmare. If Shinji’s making light of the situation, why do I feel like I’m trapped in Hell…

“Cocky little brat.” Saber said as she appeared right next to me with her helmet on. “How dare he treat you like you’re not a threat and make fun of you. I have half a mind to run my sword through that fucking bastard’s body.” she said before summoning her sword into her hands. I yelped as I stood in between her and her target which was Shinji.

“You know you can’t do that while on school grounds! Do you know how much trouble we can get into if you attack him?”

“...We could always find a place here no one will notice.” She said as I shook my head no, which caused her to sigh and dismissed her sword. “Fine, lord knows I wouldn’t be able to do it anyway what with SE.RA.PH watching everyone and stuff.”
.

[Evening]

I’m still finding it hard to believe that classes are still being held even though there’s a war going on. I mean, I guess it makes sense if you want to learn some things about the human history. And for some reason it’s a bit relaxing to be here, but I think it’s a bad idea for them to have classes during the war. Well it’s not my place to say what’s wrong and what isn’t. Class was over and I have more important things to focus on. Mainly Shinji and what his Servant is. While I was about to be lost in my thoughts, an electronic chiming sound came from my terminal as I pulled it out to see what it has to say.

: :The primary cipher key has been generated: :

Primary cipher key…? What the hay is that supposed to be? I guess it’s suppose to be a key of some kind, but to what I wonder...Maybe I should ask Father Kotomine about this message. He did say that all participants have the right to ask about any of the basic rules of the tournament. Maybe I can find him standing in the hallway like he usually does? Once I gather all of my belongings, I made my way out into the hallway and headed towards the stairs. Once I was there, I soon saw Kotomine making his way upstairs as he dawn on a fatherly smile.

“Ah, the young Master from yesterday. I have a few things to say to you before you head over to the Arena.”

“You mean about the Cipher key thing right? Because I was about to come and find you so I can ask you about that.”

“Then that means the computer registered that your Primary Trigger has been generated. Two Triggers must be retrieved by the end of each week, if you mean to participate in the tournament.”

“Tiggers?”

“A trigger, or cipher key, is a key to the Coliseum and a way to cull weak Masters. All Masters are required to obtain them during the course of the preparation period. Fail to obtain the Triggers in the allotted time, and it will be...game over..as most people put it.” He said which kinda got me worried on the matter of the game over part….I prefer not to think about it. “Don’t look so worried. It’s a simple task to prove you’re ready for the Elimination Battle.”

“That’s...reassuring.” I said as I shook my head to get the thought of losing out of my head. “You said I have to collect two of the keys, what do you mean by that.?”

“The Arena itself will be divided into two floors. And one Trigger, or cipher key, is generated per floor. So obviously, that results in two per match-up. It’s the job of the Master to go and retrieve these cipher keys. For convenience, everyone refers to them as Primary Trigger and Secondary Trigger. You will be notified through your portable computer terminal when a Trigger generates.”

“Thanks, I really need to know what they were before heading off to the Arena.” I said as Kotomine simply nodded.

“One more thing before you go. Combat between Masters is prohibited in the Arena and on campus at all times. If for some reason a fight occurs, the system will shut it down within one minute. As a penalty, the status of any Master caught fighting on campus will be downgraded.” He said before walking past me. “Good luck young Master.”

“Geez, this place and it’s rules are starting to annoy me on so many levels.” My ears twitches upon hearing Saber’s voice as I began to make my way downstairs.

“Well it’s a good thing I didn’t let you go and kill Shinji. Otherwise we both would be in trouble huh?”

“I’m still saying that we can still do it in secret. We just need to find a way to do it without the system knowing it.”

“Saber….”

“Alright, alright. Geez, I was just joking….mostly.” I rolled my eyes to her joke as I made my way down to the first floor of the school. Once I was there, I took notice to Shinji standing there looking off in the distance towards the arena. Well he was until he heard my footsteps and looked over at the steps that I was coming off from.

“Twilight, going to get the Trigger? Well, it sucks to be you. I’m going in right now, too.” A total cretin like you won’t be able to find it, but good luck anyway! Hahaha!” He said laughing while walking to the Arena. It was then that my Servant made herself noticeable as she appears next to me.

“Snot nose little punk. Immature though he may be, we cannot let an insult like that pass. His total lack of respect and maturity is truly disgusting! He needs to be beaten thoroughly.”

“I’m pretty sure doing that wouldn’t help in his case. But fighting him in the Arena can be helpful seeing how we’ll be able to see what his Servant looks like.”

“Then let us be on our way. It’s time to educate that vermin on talking shit about us with the blade of my sword.” She said before disappearing. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit scared about fighting another Master. Especially if this Master is in a league far beyond mine, but I can’t afford to give in to my fears. I’ll see how he fights first before I think of a battle plan. I took in a deep breath to calm myself before putting on a determine expression and making my way to the Arena.

(Arena)

Once I entered into the Arena, Saber appeared right in front of me with her sword at the ready. I’m a bit surprised, normally Saber would appear beside me and say some kind of backhanded comment about myself, but seeing her with a serious expression on her face took me by surprise.

“That aura...Exercise caution Master. That weakling Master and his Servant are somewhere nearby. But like you said pony. This may be a good chance to obtain information. Why don’t we follow them while they’re in the Arena?” Saber asked as I nodded in agreement. “Be sure to take careful observation of both the Master and the Servant. Because you need to know what they are and can do before the end of this week. Otherwise it will be difficult to fight them on the seventh day.” She said before taking the lead and headed through to the first section of the arena from yesterday.

Once we walked toward the second section of the Arena, I saw two figures blocking our path. The one on the right was Shinji, while the on his left was a woman with long magenta colored hair and was wearing….is that a pirate outfit that she’s wearing?

“There they are; that ignoble little punk and his Servant. I’m gonna enjoy ringing that little neck of yours when I get my hands on you!” Saber said as she aimed her sword at Shinji.

“You’re late Twilight. While you were crawling along like the slug you are I obtained the Trigger!” He said as he showed me the Cipher Key while laughing. I was at first impressed by how fast he got his Trigger, but was soon unamused by this due to him showing it off like it’s something to brag about to his friends. “What’s with that look? Your skills are pathetic compared to mine, so don’t be so harsh on yourself! And speaking of you losing, let me introduce my Servant. I’m going to win; it’s not like it matters to me. If you can’t even get your cipher keys, you might as well accept your game over right here and now!”

…..I’m starting to dislike him more and more by the second...Calm down Twilight, I’m sure he must have a nice side to him. He’s possibly just pretending to-

“Seriously, feel free to turn her into a bullet-ridden corpse whenever you feel like it!” Never mind, my compassion for him has gone down the drain real quickly. I soon look over at his Servant who smirked at his order and flicked her hair.

“Okay, but are you sure you’re done gloating? I found myself enjoying your meaningless chatter.” She said before looking at me. “As you can see, when it comes to talking to others, my Master is a total social retard, right? Seeing him actually having a conversation with you, I thought we could settle this peacefully.” Was kinda hoping for that as well. But giving how this conversation is going, that isn’t going to happen if we keep meeting each other like this.

“Where in the hell do you get off analyzing me!? She is my enemy! Will you hurry up and maim her already!?”

“Look at the tough guy! I have to admit I admire the fact that you’re evil enough to give a girl like her a beat down. The darkness of your grubby little soul is impressive, Shinji. Oh yes, I expect a generous reward later!” She said before taking out a pair of pistols, aimed them at me, and fired. I let out a yelp as Saber’s sword blocked the path of her bullets as they were deflected off behind us.

“Your fight is with me Pirate!” Saber said before bolting off towards Shinji’s Servant while deflecting the oncoming bullets that the pirate fired upon her. Once Saber was close, she quickly tried to bring her sword up to try and slash at the Servant’s chest. Though her attempt was blocked as the pirate used her pistols to block the sword and counters with a kick to Saber’s head. I winced at Saber’s head hitting the Arena wall as it left a small crack on it, only to repair itself as she quickly tackles the pirate to the ground and delivers a barrage of punches to her face. I was a bit impressed at Saber’s speed and power behind her punches, but I was even more impressed that the pirate was able to dodge them with little to no effort as she kicks Saber off of herself and counters with a bullet to Saber’s shoulder causing her to stagger backwards.

“Cheap shot, bitch.” Saber said as she cracks her shoulder. I notice the same crimson color lightning coming off from her body as she bolted off once again, only this time it was like a bullet getting shot out from a gun. Before I can register what happened, I heard the sound of metal clashing with each other as Saber was attacking the pirate servant while the Servant was parrying & countering Saber’s blade each time she uses it to try and cut her. Just as Saber surprised the pirate with an uppercut to her chin, the sound of an alarm went off within the Arena as both my Servant and Shinji’s returned to us. Once Saber returned, I soon fell to my knees and began to pant. T-That’s weird, I don’t remember doing anything that required my strength or anything. So why am I this tired?

“Crap...it looks like the SE.RA.PH has its eye on us. Oh well, there’s no need to take her out right now anyway.” He said before looking at me with a smug expression on his face. “You know, I like seeing you grovel in the dirt like trash. Beg hard enough and I might make you my underling. Who knows...I might even share some of the prize money with you.” Shinji laughs to this as he and his servant quickly disappeared from our sight. I Soon felt Saber walk over to me and helped me up to my feet.

“Damn, I really have gotten weak in this place if I couldn’t hold my ground against some of her attacks. That and syphoning some of your magic in order to do that really did make things difficult for you if you’re quickly tired from this.” Well that answers one of my questions on why I felt somewhat drained from the fight….wait I have magic?

“What do you mean you-” Before I could ask her what she meant by that, I was soon cut off by her talking again

“But I think it was worth it. Because it was foolhardy of him to exhibit the extent of his power merely for sport.” She does have a point there. That pirate servant was using a set of pistols so she might be an Archer class servant maybe? I’ll see if Saber might agree with what’s on my mind about it.

“That and if his Servant uses projectile weapons it’s possible that her class might be Archer?” I asked as Saber shrugs.

“Maybe, but Archers usually shoot from a far away distance and try to conceal themselves.”

Matrix Level 1: Obtained!

“Once again, having an egghead as a Master really does pay off. A bit slow in most parts, but as we progress throughout the week you’ll start to get the hang of things about how the Holy Grail War works.”

“....You know I can’t tell if you’re praising me, or just messing with me when you say stuff like that.” Which I’m sure she should realize it by now that I can’t tell the difference between the two...well I can, but with her it’s kinda hard.

“I know, that’s what makes the expression you have on your face priceless to see.” Saber said as she laughed...She reminds me of somepony….but I don’t know who though. “Anyway, enough with the idle chit-chat. Let’s go and get that Cipher Key thing and then head on back to our room so you can recover for tomorrow.” She said before walking forwards into the arena. I simply let out a sigh as I began to follow after Saber, while keeping an eye out for anything that might be useful in our fight with Shinji at the end of the week, or just some enemy programs that might sneak up on us.

Night

Today was finally over once we found our Cipher Key. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that I was running out of steam after the fight with Shinji and his Servant. It was a bit risky for us to fight them seeing how we didn’t know how they fight and what not, but I guess in this war we all have to make risky choices in order to win. Once we entered into our Private Room, I quickly rushed over to the bed Saber and I made and collapsed onto its as I groan.

“You really need to work out more if you’re this tired.” Saber said as I looked up at her with a deadpan expression on my face. “But I guess me draining you of your magic didn’t really help with that either.”

“Yeah, about that. You never told me that you Servants could syphon off magic...I didn’t know I had any inside myself.”

“Should’ve told you about that, but I guess it slipped my mind due to thinking you knew about magic seeing how you’re a unicorn...pegasus...pony thing. Sorry about that.” She said before a let out a tired sigh. “But hey, now’s a good time for me to explain it. Or what code casting is.”

“Code Casting?” I guess that’s another term for magic here seeing how we’re kind of in a giant super wishing computer.

“Think of it as a means of supporting your Servant in battle. You can only use them if you have a formal wear gear on.” She said before reaching into my bag and tossing me a scarf with a phoenix like theme pattern on it. Once I touched it, I felt a strange surge of energy coming from it as I quickly moved it away from my hands. “Most Formal Wears is infused with powerful special abilities referred to as Code Casts. Of course, you’ll have to put it on if you want to be able to use magic like that here.” I’ll put it on tomorrow, right now I just want to relax and rest for tonight along with looking over some things on what we gathered from the Arena.

“Saber, on a scale of one to ten. How badly was it when facing Shinji?”

“On a scale of one to ten….zero if I’m being honest. We’ve failed miserably today.” I kinda had a feeling that it was like that. “But don’t let that bring you down. If we could get more information on them, then we could make a plan to where I can make them taste the sharp end of my blade. After all. One cannot be a hero without their name being known. That’s why thanks to Secret of Pedigree, I don’t have to worry about my identity being discovered by other Servants and/or their Masters.” Almost forgot about that. So long as her helmet is covering her face, I don’t have to worry so much about it. But that doesn’t mean I have to lower my guard because of that. Tomorrow will be day three of the preparation period. We’ll have four days left to figure out who Shinji's Servant is and plan out a perfect attack plan for when the seventh day arrives. But for now, I’ll worry about it later. I felt my eyes getting heavy as I let myself drift into slumber.