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On a certain day in February 1991, early dawn.
Chuuouku District, Harumi Pier.
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How should one compare the shadows of the group of buildings, which stretches across the coast line to?
Regarding the present era, since minimum information has been automatically brought, to they who hath materialized as Servants, it is said that we either fall down in impossible to understand confusion in front of seeing something for the first time, or when we don’t feel the shock of surprise towards the unknown―――but I’m unable to say it for sure.
‘Ah, I see.’ I guess he’d become able to obtain a comprehension of some sort.
For example, about the scene before him.
In the darkness of the early dawn which was past midnight, the giant shadow that was formed by the Tokyo Bay Waterfront District’s high-rise building, even as he saw it contrast with the darkness of the sea beneath his eyes, Saber was not particularly surprised by it.
Harumi Pier.
Besides himself on the coastal roads, they were uninhabited.
Saber turns his gaze, towards the beyond.
Above the black Tokyo Bay―――
There, magnificently and even sublimely towering over the surroundings
, he could see a figure of a glittering temple.
But it isn’t just one temple.
Many temples forms its majestic appearance by heaping them into multiple layers, making it an extra-large temple complex. If he assumes that all of the passageways which are visible to his eyes were something that actually exists and are not illusions, then he could measure it with his eyes that it’s something whose over-all length is easily a few kilometres.
Its majestic appearance was as if it had fallen down on top of the sea, just like the starry night.
In this city which has lost most of its starlight because of the light that filled the earth’s surface, it is too ironic.
Without realizing it, he had become captivated by it.
He cannot say that he knows much, in the sense of only having knowledge of a minimum amount of things, although there shouldn’t have been much of a huge difference between it and the shadow of the building which follows the bay.
The cluster of lights floating on the sea, is beautiful.
Without restraining himself, the scene seemed worthy enough for him to value it.
But. However. That was not the shine of a real starry night.
It is merely reflecting the prana brought by the Heroic Spirit whom he must defeat along with its luminescence.
That name―――Truly, this is a large shining temple complex.
Manaka: “Rider’s Noble Phantasm, huh? I don’t, want to let you go into that kind of place.”
Saber: “Manaka.”
While calling out her name, he turns around to the Master beside him.
As she allows the temple’s glittering radiance to be reflected in them, his cloudy eyes were uneasily staring at himself.
For example, if the entirety of this city were not the battlefield for which he would cross swords on while seeking the Holy Grail, then as a knight, it made him believe that he should offer up a poem to her ―――to her eyes, which were filled with such loveliness.
It’s as if the wisdom of the stars dwelt there, in her eyes.
However, they are blurring. They are shaking uneasily.
Saber grasped, that the reason for it, was because of his apprehensions for what the girl was stashing away in the depth of her eyes.
Saber: “That temple was deployed in order to summon me. More precisely, me, Archer, and Lancer. Seeing that the movements of the other two are still unclear, at the very least I must go, otherwise, he might carry out his proclamation.”
Manaka: “You mustn’t. By yourself, how!”
Saber: “I am aware of the danger.”
Rider who can manipulate many Noble Phantasms is a powerful Heroic Spirit even if he is an individual. Moreover, upon establishing that at the very least two of the huge beasts which had displayed its might in the battle the other day were inside the temple on top of the ocean, it’s not hard to imagine that the temple itself is a threat to him.
That temple is, most likely something similar to a reality marble.
Noble Phantasms which are controlled by the Heroic Spirits who participate in the Holy Grail War are all powerful weapons in general, but Rider’s one is in a different order of magnitude. Literally, he can say that his opponent differs in rank from average heroes and great men. It could be a case, where he is just calling himself a “king among kings.”
And, that he is longing for such a title.
By settling it with Saber.
If he doesn’t respond to his
“invitation” to his great temple which is visible from yonder, then he probably will turn the whole of Tokyo into a sea of fire without waiting for the dawn with his flying solar ship. Since Rider has enough power to just make that kind of violence possible, there is only a few facing him in number, but he really feels that this Heroic Spirit is not the kind of person who’d similarly drop threats of only lip service.
Tokyo. This, capital at the end of the east.
It’ll never be Britain to him, nor will the people who live there be his subjects.
Even so―――
Saber: “This is my selfish wish. I, I want to stop him!”
Manaka: “Really, I see. So, even you, can sometimes whine like a small child. “
Saber: “I’m so sorry.”
Manaka: “……. Please don’t, make that face. I’m the one who should’ve been able to do something as your Master.”
Quietly, the girl who proved to be his Master nods.
Originally, they were unbelievable words.
This very young girl, while serving as an enemy who should be defeating the head of a family of mysteries which are controlled by magi that crosses over dozens of names, the one who boasts that she’ll
“do something about it by herself” and so on, even supposing that she had a natural talent for magic, no, first of all, he should probably judge whether she’s speaking the impossible. That family is in the mountain district of the western part of Tokyo, hiding in the depths of their magic workshop which has strong barriers stretched around it.
In a magical fortress, or even in a labyrinth full of death traps.
A frail girl, shouldn’t even be able to sneak in there. Even if she does accomplish it, there should be no way that she could challenge and survive a magic battle with dozens of magi as her opponents, all by herself.
But, Saber quietly informed the girl.
“Thank you.”
Since he already knew, the power of the Master who will face the Holy Grail War together with himself.
Manaka: “Honestly, geez! You really are a very egoistical prince, you know that.”
His Master
―――
Manaka Sajyou, comes and nestles tightly close to him.
The girl’s green dress overlaps, with his blue and silver armour.
To make him not feel the weight of her body, that is undoubtedly her intention. Although they have gotten much closer recently, Manaka, has consistently never directly
touched Saber by herself.
Manaka: “You can’t get enough of saving others, can you? They’re so fragile and fleeting, humans that is.”
The girl’s pure white fingertips, the palm of her hand, turns towards his silver coloured breastplate.
Like that she places her palm against his chest.
The truth is, that is, while stopping a bit on the brink of it……
Manaka: “You always make me worry about you.”
Her cheeks puff up a little.
It was a charming gesture. Were it not for this dark slaughter and so on, if it’s certainly fit for a flower garden with bright pouring sunshine in it, then it’s the gesture of a flower that reminds one of brilliance and innocence.
After that, she, suddenly looks up at Saber’s face in a
‘I just had an idea’ kind of manner.
Slightly, her expression darkens.
Manaka: “I worry about you. I worry, and worry, to the point where I might cry, but……”
As it is, with a smile on her troubled face.
Manaka: “But you know, the me who isn’t worried, is here somewhere in my heart too. Because I know you won’t lose, no matter what kind of Heroic Spirit you face. For the sword that you wield, will tear apart all of your enemies, the radiance that you flourish, will smash up all of your enemies. Hey, Saber. My Saber. Even if the Holy Grail War were to perhaps be carried out
again, I―――”
Saber: “You won’t lose. To anyone, right”
Quiet words.
His voice fully melts into the night sky, where a few number of stars contrasts with the ocean’s surface.
Directly after that―――
The presence of a giant body, comes flying out.
As if on reflex, he spins his arm around Manaka’s waist, taking to a defensive stance.
He counter-attacks without thinking, while planning only of the perfect defence for his Master, he sharpens his gaze. Without 2 seconds lapsing, the shadow is visible in his field of vision. The gigantic body which probably came flying drawing an arc from above Tokyo Bay,
lands clearly, in front of his gaze.
Its huge body which is more than a semi-trailer, was easily landing without even so much as an impact.
Its speed and mass, disregards the lethal amount of energy which ought to be taken to both its giant body and the hard road surface, killing the laws of physics, while spreading just enough wind to softly
rustle the girl’s skirt.
It was a human face.
It was a lion.
With a face that wore a characteristic headdress on it, it had the body of a lion which is the king of beasts.
Gigantic. A giant body. A huge frame.
A miraculous beast that was endowed with overwhelming mass.
It, with a quiet look which made one feel as if it had a type of sacredness to it, was looking down at Saber and Manaka with a pair of lightless eyes. A scout, or a vanguard? Or is it an intentional messenger who’s here to inform him of his second invitation?
Saber: “Rider’s Sphinx―――”
The giant beast’s name escapes from Saber’s lips.
It is the name, of something which shouldn’t be stepping firmly on the earth in this modern era.
A legendary monster spoken of in Babylonia and Ancient Greece, as a human headed-lion bodied Chimera. In the further distant past, in Ancient Egypt of a few thousand years ago, it was a legendary quadrupedal beast that was feared as the manifestation of raging wind and flames, the incarnation of Horus in the surface world who governs the heavens.
Its other name, is said to be Abū al-Hawl
[1].
A beast with many legends running from the Mediterranean Sea to West Asia.
If an inexperienced Magus was the one in this spot, then they might have misunderstood it right away as “
What kind of Monstrous Beast has he summoned,” however, there is utterly no reason to fit
this into the container of a Monstrous Beast.
So then, what is it?
That is―――
A thing that dwells within legends.
A thing that sleeps within illusions.
A thing that exists within myths.
A Phantasmal Species.
A beast that has been imagined. A being only spoken of within old legends.
Not equal to any well-known life-form, these beings who have transformed themselves into the form of mysteries themselves, has been classified according to court rank
into ‘Monstrous Beasts,’ ‘Phantasmal Beasts,’ and
‘Divine Beasts.’
In that case, this…... This huge beast is something else.
It is something, that makes demons fall prostrate, destroys illusions, and governs the earth’s surface with its sacred might.
A Divine Beast―――
Falling under the undoubtedly highest rank if one excludes dragon kin, it’s a holy beast!
Sphinx: “■■■■■■■■■―――――!”
The huge divine beast roars.
It’s face which should’ve been silent is twisting angrily, affixing a bestial expression with its teeth bared in a form
similar to a human with animosity on its face, it howls at the sky with a few stars in it.
The stillness of Harumi Pier, gets torn in that instant.
Saber: “Please go. Manaka. I shall proceed to Rider’s temple and settle this.”
Manaka: “Saber.”
Saber: “Manaka. Please.”.
I, guess I shall probably never become a refined knight.’
Half-automatically, he thinks in a small corner of his thoughts and intellect which instantly specialized towards combat.
In a situation where he must show one smile towards the girl who is concerned for the knight's safety, like this, he just thrusts s a sharp glare at the monster.
In return, Saber slightly shifts his hand from around the girl's waist, to gently touch her shoulder.
Manaka: “……. I, I understand.”
The girl, quietly nods.
From his opened lips which just wanted to say something, are just words of affirmation.
“No, I won’t let any of you escape.”
Raising a roar as if he is telling him this,
the giant beast
merely controls his glare as Saber prepares his invisible sword.
And then―――
[1] Abū al-Hawl: Father of Terror
Originally Posted by SmartCable
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