Chapter 2, Part 4:
“…The Holy Grail War.”
“Well, that's what it was, yes.” After explaining the gist of the war to Ergo, Lord El-Melloi II shrugged. “Thinking back, it really was incredible. I never could have imagined that I would one day teach another participant of the Holy Grail War. On second thought, though, my teacher did as well. Maybe that's just fate.”
“...Fate, is it?”
“It’s quite important to mages.”
“I still don't understand what's painful to you, Professor.” said Ergo, switching the topic suddenly. So suddenly that the Lord couldn't help but raise his eyebrow. “Maybe there’s a deeper reason why you want to quit teaching, but I only have a few months of memory. I don’t have enough experience to understand it.”
After a pause, he continued in a quieter voice.
“…I’m scared.” He muttered. “Even though I lost my memory, everyone here is so nice to me. The weather is wonderful. So are the people and the food.”
“It sounds like food is very important to you.”
“Sorry.”
He bowed his head again.
“But, what if I killed someone?” Ergo said, one word at a time. “What if I was a terrible person before I lost my memory? What if I made a lot of people sad?”
“……”
Lord El-Melloi II silently regarded the sincerity of the young man in front of him.
“I don’t understand anything. My memory, the invisible arms behind me, my enhanced senses… None of them make any sense to me.”
“Do you not want your memory back?”
In response to Lord El-Melloi II’s question, Ergo looked away. His gaze drifted to the tiny crabs that stumbled drunkenly around on the sand, and then to the sea foam that battered the shore.
“Since I met you, I’ve realized some things, such as the arms on my back, and how I’m always hungry.”
“Hunger, huh.” Lord El-Melloi II muttered.
“Yes. That’s all I can remember.”
The call of a bird rang through the air. It came from a great myna, a species of birds with black feathers and a stunningly yellow beak which was common in this region. Its cry was close to that of another similar species, the common hill myna.
“I don’t know if it will ever be fulfilled, but I must keep walking toward it… I guess that’s how it is when it comes to a dream. I don’t know if you feel the same way.” Lord El-Melloi II said, switching topics again.
“No, it's the same for me.”
Both of them turned to look toward the horizon, where the ocean still churned and frothed.
“Maybe we’re more similar than I thought.”
“Can I join the El-Melloi Classroom?”
“You’re not a mage. I’m only teaching you because I’m traveling.”
“Thank you. That’s enough for me.” Ergo said with a smile, which caused Lord El-Melloi II to look away again.
“As for what you ate…”
Just as he was about to change the topic yet again, the young man suddenly froze. He clamped down on his temples with his trembling hands as his eyes widened.
“It’s...calling…to me?”
“Ergo?”
Realizing that something was wrong, Lord El-Melloi II scanned the surroundings and discovered something strange.
“What’s…this…?”
Something unusual was happening to the ocean— No, that was a severe understatement. Even the beach that surrounded Ergo and Lord El-Melloi II was starting to be affected. Countless white objects were floating up from the water and the sand.
“Bones…?!”
As he said, the mysterious objects were like bones.
Magecraft that allowed bones to be controlled existed, and fell under the category of Spiritual Evocation. However, this was on a completely different scale. The bones that continued to surge forth surrounded the two of them in similar forms of that like a giant spider, a wolf, and a bird, yet seemingly violated the laws of physics all at once.
“…!”
Lord El-Melloi II fired a magic bullet at the mass of bone. Though he was only a mediocre mage, even he should have made an impact. However, the spider deflected his bullet easily. It only left a burn mark on the smooth, gray surface of its limbs.
It didn’t take long for the controller of these creatures to appear from the depths. The strange familiars parted with each of their master’s steps, which sank deep into the sand as a result of its weight.
“A giant…made of bone…?”
“This is a warning from the Atlas Institute, Lord.” declared the giant as seawater dripped from its gleaming body, made of the same material as the familiars that surrounded it.
“The Atlas Institute?”
Ergo seemed to recall Lord El-Melloi II mentioning that name when he was talking to Rin. It was the name of one of the three Mages’ Associations.
“Please hand us that young man, Lord El-Melloi.”
“What does the Atlas Institute want with him? Why are you even here? This isn’t the Altas Institute’s domain. Is Ergo one of your alchemists?”
“This does not concern you.” Said the giant, not answering any of his questions. “Just give us the boy. Even though we are both from Mages’ Associations— No, especially because we are both from Mages’ Associations, we will not elaborate on our request.”
The army of familiars left no space for negotiation, with armor that could nullify magic bullets and power that probably rivaled modern militaries.
Lord El-Melloi II turned to the red-haired young man.
“…Sir…”
Ergo still clutched his temples. He didn’t understand the situation either. He probably didn’t know what meaning the words “Atlas Institute” held, either. Not even Lord El-Melloi II could make sense of the situation despite his standing in the Clock Tower.
Even so, Ergo smiled weakly.
“Don’t…worry about me…”
“……”
Lord El-Melloi II bit his lip, taking off his sunglasses and removing a cigar from his jacket pocket. Its tip had already been cut off, so he lit it with a snap of his fingers.
“…How unfortunate.” Lord El-Melloi II said in disappointment, letting the smoke calm his trembling fingers.
“A wise choice, Lord.” The bone giant said in the same tone of voice as before.
In response, Lord El-Melloi spoke to the giant as if it was a student that failed the test by a point or two.
“If you had arrived ten minutes earlier, you could have taken him. If you spoke directly to him and not to me, there would have been no room for me to intervene. I always tell my students to take care of the messes they get themselves into.”
“…What do you mean, Lord El-Melloi?”
“Even though it’s only temporary, Ergo is now my student.” Lord El-Melloi II said, staring straight into the bone giant’s eyes as the sparks from his cigar melted into the sea breeze. “I refuse to sell out my students.”
“Lord El-Melloi!”
“You'll have to excuse me, but I insist you add 'the second'. That name alone is too heavy for my shoulders to bear."
With that, he threw his cigar, releasing a cloud of smoke. It was no mere smokescreen. The smoke had been woven with magecraft and could block the bone giant’s senses. It was one of the few mystic Codes that the young Lord carried with him.
“Come on, we're running!” Lord El-Melloi II whispered urgently, grabbing Ergo’s wrist.
“Professor…”
“That’s not an opponent I can beat! We need to think of a strategy…”
“Your assessment is correct.”
With that, an explosion sent the two of them flying. It didn’t take long for Lord El-Melloi II to realize that a few of the familiars around them had self-destructed.
“Blocking my senses does not stop us from crushing you. It may make us less efficient, but we will still take him.“
More explosions happened one after the other. Naturally, Lord El-Melloi II’s defensive magecraft was no match for them. Though, with that in mind, even though it could not stop the impact of the blasts, it prevented shards of the familiars from piercing their skin until the shards suddenly stopped in the air.
Lord El-Melloi II turned to see the Ergo standing next to him with sweat beading on his face, blocking the shards with his translucent arms.
“Ergo…!”
“So that is how your arms can be used. It seems we are not too late.”
The giant parted the smokescreen with a wave of one hand and sent the other plunging toward Ergo and Lord El-Melloi II.
Ergo’s arms moved to intercept them. Three translucent hands met one giant fist with a deafening clang, like the sound a truck would make if it slammed into a gong. It was probably a result of their clashing spiritual qualities. The sand around their feet split as if an asteroid had struck it.
“…Not bad.” The bone giant said, inspecting its hand. Its fingers had been reduced to a mangled mess. If the giant hadn’t been many times larger than Ergo, it might have been swept away instead.
The giant began to move in closer to Ergo and Lord El-Melloi II. Suddenly, a black curse shot through the air, igniting the surface of its skull.
The giant turned to look at the source of the attack, which hadn't come from the land. It didn't seem surprised as a motorboat came into view, carrying the person who had fired the magic bullet.
“I’ve kept you waiting for long enough!” Rin Tohsaka shouted as she prepared for another shot like a gunslinger in a Western.
*
The engine of the motorboat whirred, churning the ocean surface into a white froth.
Rin shouted at the people on the shore as she steered the boat with one hand.
“So that’s why the alarm system was going off! That thing doesn’t look like it’s here to invite us to a party.”
“…How do you know how to drive that?”
“It’s much easier than driving a car! Although, I had to keep repairing and replacing them, so it cost me a fortune.”
Though she had only been around pirates for half a year, it seemed that she had mastered motorboat driving. It was probably also the result of magecraft, considering that reducing the friction between the boat and the water or adjusting the pressure of the wind was a piece of cake for her.
The bone giant’s familiars reacted to Rin’s presence and swooped toward her from behind.
“Anfang!”
In response to this attack, Rin fired a stream of Gandr bullets without even looking at them and chanted a three-count spell.
“
Identify, confirm, and fire continuously
Identifizieren, bestägen und kontinuierlich feuern—!
”
More Gandr shots appeared, battering the birds with power no less than that of a Gatling gun. The curses, which were powerful enough to have a physical impact, shattered the swarm of familiars. Her first attack succeeded in regaining control of the air.
The giant turned to the motorboat that had wiped out its first wave of familiars and turned the tables brilliantly.
“Do you plan on interfering as well, Rin Tohsaka?”
“Oh? So you’ve already done research on us? I should have expected that from the Atlas Institute.” Rin said with a satisfied smile.
“It was easy to identify you using magecraft, an amateur who arrogantly calls herself the pirate consultant, as well as the Lord who came all the way from the Clock Tower.”
The giant glanced towards the familiars surrounding the two people on the beach. At this signal, they narrowed their circle further, as if they were signaling that they could kill their victims whenever they wanted.
“Well? What will you do now? Do you plan on destroying my familiars from over there?”
“There’s no need for that.” Rin’s smile widened. “Gray!”
Hearing her signal, I leapt out from the mangroves, slashing the familiars surrounding my mentor and Ergo into pieces. At her instruction, I had snuck into the forest when the giant was distracted. Bone spiders were parted from their legs, while wolves slid onto the sand, motionless.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, I grabbed my mentor and Ergo and jumped with my enhanced feet.
Before we landed, I swung my scythe again to clear away the bone familiars that had gathered, telling them with my eyes and my blade that I would not allow them to lay a finger on my mentor and Ergo.
“Thank you, but could you be a little gentler next time, Lady?”
“I will if I can.” I said, standing next to my mentor kneeling on the ground, coughing.
I frowned. Something about the familiars seemed strange.
“They’re not undead…!”
“Exactly,” my mentor said, nodding as if he had expected it. “The Atlas Institute doesn’t treat Mystery the same way we do. Though some work has been done on those familiars, they are only bones, constructions of calcium phosphate.”
—
“I’ve met an alchemist of the Atlas Institute before. They use a mixture of modern technology and magecraft.”
I finally understood what my mentor had meant. This came as a relief to me. It might sound weird, considering that I was once a grave keeper, but I had a deadly fear of ghosts and spirits. Even now, simply sensing their presence was enough to send shivers down my spine and freeze my heart with fear.
Against these opponents, though, I was not scared at all.
“Ergo, can you protect my mentor?”
“…I think I should be able to.” The young man said with a slight nod.
It was at this point that I finally noticed a change in him.
(--
At this point in time I might as well assume that imgur will never work.--)
“Have you cut your hair?”
“Does it look weird?”
“No. You look just as kind as I imagined.”
Though I considered myself to be shy, I found it easy to talk to him. Maybe it was the result of the same attributes that made the children like him.
However, for some inexplicable reason, I felt just as stiff as I did when I fought spirits.
“Strange,” Ergo said, feeling his stomach. “Every time I’m around you, I feel hungry.”
Though he had probably said it without thinking too much, his strange statement left a larger impression on me than it should have. Regardless, now was not the time to ask about it.
“If you can move, Ergo, you should go as well.” Said my mentor.
“But Sir—“
“That giant is too powerful to be defeated by one person. I know how to run away. I’ll be fine as long as you two can deal with him.”
My mentor had a point. It was worth the risk.
“—Let's go!”
With that, I leaped into the air again, cutting down more bone familiars every time I landed. If they were only structures made of bone, there was no use trying to get rid of all of them when they would just spring right back. All I needed to do was clear a path for myself.
I cut down one, two, and then a third. But before my scythe could reach a fourth, something else knocked it away.
It was Ergo’s phantasmal limbs. He had caught up to my enhanced pace by simply running. I knew he had superhuman abilities, but I hadn’t realized that he could be this fast. Though I didn’t know how to use proper magecraft, I could enhance myself better than most mages. I hadn’t thought that he would be able to keep up this easily.
“I’ll deal with that one!” Ergo shouted. His translucent hands crushed the familiars in front of us.
The speed, strength, and reach of his attacks were also stunning, as if the fact that he had many translucent hands on his back was not surprising enough by itself. He was able to flatten the familiars from tens of meters away, leaving only debris behind on the sand.
With his help, I would be able to reach the bone giant controlling all the familiars, I thought.
“Add, release first stage restrictions!” I shouted as I made my decision.
“Ihihihi! Yes, that’s how you should deal with a big guy like that!”
My scythe transformed into a hammer as big as a battering ram before Add could finish his sentence. As its form suggested, it had the destructive power to batter down the gates of a castle.
Magical Energy spewed from the back of Add, transforming acceleration into centrifugal force. At the same time, I felt the bone giant’s fist pass by millimeters from my face. I endured the wind pressure, which nearly knocked me away, and smashed my hammer at the bone giant—!
The sound that the impact generated split the ocean’s surface. It was not only a result of the hammer, but also because the giant had been blown into the water.
Even so, the giant was still intact. It had probably increased its defense moments before the impact. Though I hadn't expected my blow to be lethal, it should have been strong enough to shatter the armor of a tank. What kind of technique had it used to make its bones so strong?
Something didn’t feel right.
It was as if the giant had known that I would attack with my battering ram from the very beginning.
Cradling its injured arm, the giant stood up to its waist in the water. However, before it could do that—
“—Rin!”
The motorboat had turned around, and was now charging toward the giant at full speed like an arrow. Atop it, Rin raised one hand.
“Ugh, so annoying! In that case, I’ll use the attack I’ve been saving!”
The gemstone between her fingers began to shine with the colors of the rainbow.
“Anfang!”
With this, her Magic Crest was activated. I could see a complicated pattern that glowed with faint blue light appear on her left arm. Magical Energy was being drawn out from the engraved pattern and into the gemstone.
“You said I should believe in my magecraft and keep refining it, right, Sir?” Said Rin. Then, she began to incant.
“Vierzehn, neun, acht. Drei Schwerter, Synergie, eine Mulde!”
A spiral made of overlapping light appeared in her outstretched hand. It was the highest amount of power a modern mage could hope for. Though the power of the superimposed gemstones reached the realm of forbidden magecraft, Rin was able to fully master them.
Her attack made the giant shudder violently for the first time. However, it still did not fall.
“How sturdy are you!?” Rin complained. “I don’t even think Hercules could defeat you without dying once!”
“So your attribute is conversion? Interesting.”
The giant had definitely been damaged this time. Its head had caved in, revealing nothing but the sky peeking out from the other side. Then, the hole disappeared like a video being played backwards.
“It’s not because it’s sturdy.” I heard Ergo mutter. “There’s nothing there.”
What seemed like a giant was only a shell. Its true body was somewhere else. If the giant was only a puppet, it made sense that it could regenerate itself indefinitely.
“Gray! Rin!”
My mentor’s warning came a second too late.
Suddenly, white chains erupted from the ground and captured Ergo and I. They somehow managed to keep us trapped despite my enhancement and Ergo’s translucent arms. From the corner of my eye, I could see that Rin had also been restrained.
This trap had probably been set up from the moment I sent the giant flying with my battering ram. Though Rin was usually cautious, she let down her guard at the sight of her opponent being blown away.
Thoughts raced through my head. It should have been the first time our opponent had seen my battering ram and Rin’s magecraft. How had they prepared for it as if they knew that we were going to pull these tricks?
“Gah…!”
Some air managed to escape my compressed lungs. Though I had been able to avoid being completely crushed by jamming my hammer between myself and the chains, the alarm in my head was shrieking at maximum volume. The chains continued to tighten with enough force to crush iron.
“OwowowowowImgoingtobreakimgoingtobreak!” Cried Add.
“Add…!”
I desperately tried to think of a way to prevent myself from being squashed. If the true body was indeed somewhere else like we had guessed, the giant did not have any vitals. Though it might have had something like a core, I didn’t know how to identify it.
In that case, what if I just pulverized the entire giant?
Since the battering ram hadn’t been able to turn the giant’s bones into dust…
I clenched my teeth, letting my Magic Circuits run at full capacity and forcing myself to breathe to bring more fuel to power my heart. It wasn’t for my lungs, or for my red blood cells. I was turning my heart into a Magical Energy Reactor through breathing.
If those chains of bone could crush iron, this could melt steel. “Power” surged through my Magic Circuits like a charging dragon, or a roller coaster through lava.
My existence was slowly being replaced from its core. This dazzling “power” was pushing against my sense of self. Even so, I grabbed onto the wick that was about to disappear as I resisted the pressure of the chains around me.
Gradually, the pressure eased. The battering ram in my hands also began to transform into something else.
“Sir, please give me permission to unseal the holy lance!
[1]”
White light gushed from my hands, bringing with it power that I could barely control. It was Add’s hidden true form. A hurricane of Magical Energy whirled around the rotating box. Before, I could only activate the second stage by consuming the Magic Power of the surrounding area. Now, I only needed myself and Add.
“
Darken Celebrate
Gray…Rave…
” I chanted in a trancelike state.
I only needed one word from my mentor to unleash its final form.
“
Want Corrupt
Crave…Deprave…
"
“That’s enough.” Said a calm voice.
It had come from a person with long blue hair who looked about twenty-five. Though the person’s features were androgynous, her slender body told me that she was a woman. Her unnaturally blue hair and purple eyes also fit the atmosphere she gave off. A navy blue tie fluttered in the wind from the collar of her uniform-like coat.
The constant swaying of her tie and hair made it feel as if she was floating in the sea breeze. Combined with her beautiful pursed lips, which were reminiscent of those of a Greek sculpture, I found it hard to believe that she was a living being like myself.
She almost looked… artificial.
However, these thoughts were quickly tossed to the back of my mind.
My trump card had been deactivated before it could be unleashed.
That was because the sword made of bone in the woman’s hand was pressed against my mentor’s throat.
*
I need to…save him… thought Ergo despite the blinding pain.
Ergo had only known Lord El-Melloi II and Gray for a few days. Rin, no more than a month.
To Ergo, they were all there for most of his life. In the brief time which he had gotten to know them, they had become irreplaceable.
I need to save him…!
This thought was the only thing that drove his body to move. His phantasmal arms wrenched open the chains bit by bit.
However, that thought suddenly vanished from his mind.
His gaze was wrenched away along with his consciousness. He even forgot about the chains that restrained him.
He was looking toward the brilliant light that the gray girl had unleashed. It was hard to imagine something like that from someone who was always so shy and self-conscious.
An unknown urge appeared in Ergo as he beheld the light, which shone like lightning that could tear the sky apart.
That urge was like a disaster, like a disease, like hell.
No!
The young man let out a pained cry as he desperately tried to resist it. It was futile. The impulse tore through his body and electrified his brain. Reason was long gone, replaced by hellfire that burned through his bones and nerves. It ravaged his blood vessels like a meteor turning hotter and brighter as it sailed through the atmosphere.
It was the same as the power that had struggled out from within the girl’s body just then.
…It hu…
Nebulously, it took form.
The voice he so desperately wanted to shut out.
And yet, he didn't even have the strength to cover his ears. All his phantasmal hands, all of them sealed, unable to even breathe. Even the flow of blood was blocked, his face going near-purple in an instant.
…hurts… It hurts…!
The more he trembled, the more intense the desire became.
A feeling he never wanted to feel towards that girl. And yet, in front of the light pouring from that girl, his ego melts into the void like a dusting of frost in the sun.
“Ah…!”
Inside Ergo, only one concept, one singular thought remained.
The desire to devour.
———
[1] Alternatively, weigh anchor? (抜錨)
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