Interlude
The Boy Does Not Believe in God
The wetland mansion.
Go back about half a day.
"Look, boy; your first trial's already arrived."
The words of the Captain, who called himself a shadow of a Watcher-Class Heroic Spirit, caused Sigma to spin around. His gaze came to rest on a lone girl.
She was his enemy — an Assassin Servant summoned by another Master — but the girl sprang into action before Sigma had a chance to realize that. She closed the distance between them in an instant and asked, in a voice stripped of emotion:
"Are you a mage who seeks the Holy Grail?"
Sigma returned the stare of the girl Assassin and, for a moment, accepted his own death. The presence of death hung thickly about the girl in front of him. It was almost as if her magical energy itself was adapted for taking human lives.
Ah, Sigma immediately understood, so, this is a proper Servant.
Every muscle in Sigma's body screamed at him to run, but the instincts carved into his immature Magic Circuits and brain answered that running would do him no good. If he made even one wrong answer, he would lose his life. He had not been able to figure out anything about his own Servant, "Watcher," after a full day of conversation, but this girl, Sigma coldly thought, was genuinely simple and straightforward.
If he fought, he would die. A simple answer.
The instincts and experience he had gained struggling through many battles recognized the strength of the girl in front of him. That being the case, he had no choice but to abandon himself to fate. Sigma simply and easily accepted death.
Accepting death, however, did not mean that he had given up on life. His probability of dying in this situation was just "higher than when he was walking around normally." Sigma calmly went on trying to think of a way to survive. The fact that, moments earlier, the self-proclaimed shadow who called himself Captain had told him to "keep struggling against God" and "never accept fate" might also have had something to do with it.
In any case, although the boy accepted that he was on the edge of a cliff, infinitely close to certain death, he never stopped racking his brains for a way out.
Then, when the girl Assassin was tired of waiting and about to repeat her question, he finally gave his answer.
"…That's probably half right."
"Half?"
"As a mage, I'm half-cocked. Some even look down on me as someone who only uses magecraft. As for whether I seek the Holy Grail, I'm of two minds about whether I should."
Assassin fell silent. It was Sigma's turn to ask a question.
"Now I'd like you to answer my question. What do you plan to decide based on my answer?"
"Whether or not you are an enemy."
"I don't want hostilities. Would it be possible for me to negotiate with your Master?"
"…I have no Master."
Murderous magical energy overflowed from the girl Assassin's body. Sigma was just thinking that he seemed to have asked something he should not have, when the Captain cut in.
"What did I tell you, boy? If you were applying Watcher's power, you wouldn't put your foot in your mouth like that. The girl's Assassin alright, but she was summoned by a bloodsucker. She killed her Master once, but it didn't take. So, she cut her ties. Why not try a lie? 'I'm a hitman who specializes in vampires'?"
"I'm the one conducting negotiations," Sigma told the Captain, wondering why he was butting in so loudly. "Be quiet."
His words, however, brought a suspicious look to Assassin's face.
"Who are you talking to?"
"?"
"…A Servant? You spoke of my Master as well. As I thought, you are a participant in the Grail War…!"
Assassin leapt back several meters in an instant and fixed a piercing animosity on Sigma.
Sigma was readying himself, seeing that negotiation was impossible, when he heard the voice of the boy with the mechanical wings from behind him.
"Oh, sorry. It seems like no one told you… The only one who can see us or hear our voices is you, Watcher's Master. We're just shadows popping directly into your brain due to Watcher's influence."
I wish you'd told me that first, Sigma mentally grumbled. All the while, however, he kept a cool head. He endeavored to observe Assassin's movements, even as his brain processed multiple simultaneous trains of thought — what would Assassin do? Would he have a chance to avoid it? Could he use the nearby table and chairs for cover? Unfortunately, her whole body was swathed in a black robe, and he could not predict her actions based on the movements of her muscles or joints.
Sigma was in the process of tracing an escape route in his head when Assassin's lips moved.
"…Zabaniya…"
At the same moment, the Captain's voice sounded.
"Here comes her hair. Look lively, now."
Just as Sigma grasped the meaning of those words, hair really did extend from the shadows of Assassin's hood, aiming to coil around his windpipe. Sigma avoided it by a hair's breadth, and Assassin's eyes narrowed. Apparently she had not expected him to be able to dodge. As a matter of fact, without the Captain's warning, he would not have been in time and the hair would have closed around his throat.
Seeing the hair carve away part of the column he had dodged toward, Sigma felt certain that he had just slipped through "certain death." At the same time, another shadow — the boy with the snake staff — called out to him.
"She has more than ten Noble Phantasms and she's capable of deploying more than one at a time, but she freezes for just a moment when she used a new one. I think aiming for that opening might be your best chance."
Does she even need to use Noble Phantasms to kill someone of my level? Sigma wondered as he dodged the countless lunging strands of hair.
"Not for you," his answer came in the Captain's voice. "She's wary of a Servant attack. Of course, we shadows have no way of launching one."
Multiple simultaneous deployment, Sigma thought, listening to the Captain's stifled laughter. That means that she invoked a perpetually-active Noble Phantasm like that hair in order to protect herself from being targeted when she fires a single-shot technique... If she has a perpetual offensive Noble Phantasm, what about a defensive one…?
"She has one. A Noble Phantasm that protects her by turning her skin into a special crystal."
As soon as he heard the boy with the snake staff's voice from behind him, Sigma stared behind Assassin and shouted:
"Now! Stab her, Chaplin!"
Assassin spun around, raising her guard at what sounded like an order to attack.
"…Zabaniya…!"
The word "stab" suggested a physical attack. She invoked her Noble Phantasm, ready to deal with any blade… but there was no one there, and she could sense no disturbance of magical energy.
When she realized that it was a trap and turned back to face Sigma, she found a black tube with holes punched in it in several places right in front of her eyes. Just as she moved to clear it away with her blades of hair, the cylinder split, and a light more dazzling than the midsummer sun spilled out.
Sigma leapt outside as he hurled the M84 stun grenade at Assassin, noisily smashing through a window in the process. The bang and flash began immediately after, but by that time he had already started to fall. The room that Sigma and Assassin had been in was on the second floor, but Sigma skillfully righted himself in midair and landed lightly as a cat.
I can't hope to damage a Heroic Spirit's eyes or eardrums with a physical stun grenade, but it should distract her for a moment.
I've erased my presence. Now I should temporarily hide myself and…
Sigma got to his feet, hoping that his opponent wasn't equipped with magecraft or abilities for detecting his presence. An unbelievable sight met his eyes.
He saw a woman, fallen down and pressing her hands over her ears, staring at the room where the flashbang had gone off. Going by her clothes, she was a civilian, but her presence outside the wetland mansion at this hour was unnatural. Could she be Assassin's Master, the "vampire"?
"Wrong," the Captain's voice sounded from behind him. "She's not Assassin's Master. She's a poor, poor little lady who got dragged into the Grail War."
"…"
The "shadows" had not lied to him, at least so far, and they had no reason to. Based on their information from the "Watcher" supposedly observing everything from above, Sigma provisionally identified the girl a few meters ahead of him as a civilian. And the action Sigma took toward that "civilian who had gotten dragged into the war" was…
"Run! You'll get caught up in a battle if you stay here!"
He shouted in an emotionless voice, and that was all.
"…"
Regret seized him as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
What am I doing? That shout just gave Assassin my position.
If he lived according to the training he had received in his youth, the correct response would have been to immediately eliminate the witness or to use her as a decoy in order to conceal himself.
…Watcher is already beginning to influence me, then.
"Hey, don't go around putting the blame on people, bro."
Sigma could hear a "shadow's" carefree voice from behind him. He ignored it started running toward the girl.
"A robber is holed up in that house. I'll act as a decoy, so you need to hurry and…"
Before Sigma could finish speaking, a black figure stood between him and the girl.
Just as Assassin was about to thrust a knife hand at Sigma, a leather jacket-clad arm appeared from beside her and held her back.
Assassin glared silently at its owner. The man with red-streaked blond hair who wore the jacket beamed back.
"That strike didn't look like it was aimed at a vital spot. You don't intend to kill him?"
"…This mage had no intent to kill me. I cannot yet determine if I ought to kill him. As long as he is a Master in the Holy Grail War, however, it is necessary to at least halt his movements," Assassin replied. The man in the leather jacket looked at Sigma.
"I don't know about that. He showed no hostility when he saw Ayaka, either. It would be normal to assume that she's Assassin's Master."
"…"
Assassin fell silent. The blond man ignored her and posed Sigma a question as he helped the girl he called Ayaka to her feet.
"I'm a Servant manifested in the Saber Class. Pleasure to meet you."
After casually revealing his personal information, the man continued with a fearless grin.
"For now, would you be mind hearing us out? If you desire a fight, well, it is the Holy Grail War, so I'd be willing to accept, but…"
Sigma eyed the man warily, unsure of his intentions. One of the "shadows," however, laid a hand on Sigma's shoulder.
"Let it go," the old shadow in an outfit that reminded Sigma of a Japanese temple advised him.
"…"
"The man in front of you is probably fast enough to dodge rounds from that 'assault rifle,' or whatever you call it. As you are, you have no hope of victory. If you wish to struggle through certain death, however, if you wish to challenge him as a trial, I will not stop you."
The shadow's way of speaking, as if Sigma would stand a chance eventually, puzzled him. In the end, however, he let out a big sigh and greeted the man who called himself Saber.
"There are guest rooms. I'll show you the way."
Sigma still did not understand what was going on as he headed for the guest rooms. The Captain walked beside him with a quizzical look on his face.
"Still, boy, I'm sure you wanted to shout a plausible name for a Heroic Spirit, but why an actor of all people — and one from an era more recent than mine, at that?"
He must have meant the name Sigma had shouted earlier to fool Assassin. Based on the lack of a reaction from the trio walking behind him, Sigma confirmed that the voices of the "shadows" really were only audible to him. He considered for a moment before answering the Captain in a low voice.
"…He was just the first great man that came to mind."
"…I see. So you like classic comedies, do you? I'd never have guessed."
The Captain stifled a chuckle. Presumably the world had bestowed knowledge of Charlie Chaplin on him through "Watcher." As he vanished, the boy with the snake staff looked at Sigma with affectionate pity.
"In that case, let's work to ensure you can end this war with a smile."
Sigma mumbled something at that, then wordlessly picked up his pace.
He watched comedy films over and over. If pressed, he would have to admit that he liked them. He admired them. Still, if asked whether he had ever laughed with all his heart, Sigma would not have been able to say that he had.
He could not imagine himself with a heartfelt smile — the kind of smile that Saber had flashed him earlier. That had been a smile that seemed to take pleasure in the whole world. How could a Heroic Spirit, who continued to fight even after death, wear such a smile? Sigma could wonder, but he could not come up with an answer, so he silently stifled his heart. All the while thinking that jealousy and longing for people who could smile were useless to him now.
Did he even have a right to smile in the first place?
With such doubts in his mind, he was about to set foot into another trial. All the while feeling faintly irritated by the fact that, despite his contract with Watcher, which claimed to see through everything, he could not even see through his own heart.
Again, Sigma thought.
He did not believe in anything.
Not gods, not Buddhas, not even demons.
He though that, maybe, if he devoted himself to one of them, he might be able to smile… only to realize that, as he did not even believe in himself, he had nothing to offer. Try as he might, Sigma could not find anything inside him that was worth offering.
Originally Posted by You
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