"B-but isn't that strange? She doesn't look anything like the genuine article, yet she's a body double."
I couldn't help but interject.
I just couldn't accept what Master said. I couldn't understand how she could be a body double when her appearance and gender did not even match.
However, in a calm voice, Master continued his explanation.
The term 'body double' refers not only to a person's physical appearance. In ancient times, when there were no photographs, it was a rather imprecise term. After all, If Iskandar's true appearance was never known to the masses, there was no need for her to look like him.
“...That is true, but still…”
"Besides, in her case, it probably has a different meaning than that of the ordinary body double. Possibly there is an example from ancient Mesopotamia..."
"...You are roughly 80% correct."
Interrupting Master's words, the female Heroic Spirit affirmed.
She admitted that she was Iskandar's body double.
Impostors. Substitutes. "Faker" is the class associated with such people.
"However, the remaining 20% is wrong. That is the limitation of whodunit. As a deduction brought about by motive, it is correct. Yet it doesn't arrive at the truth itself. The name of Hephaestion belongs to my brother, but I have borrowed it from him on occasion."
“Brother?”
"I do not wish to listen to any more of this nonsense. Is that alright, Master?"
Faker's expression showed that there would be no more questions and answers.
“Oh dear,” Heartless waves his red hair.
Then he slowly looked around.
"Hmm, as far as I'm concerned, I'm fine with fighting here."
He turns to face the Ral Zeppelin conductor.
"However, it would cost numerous Mystic Eyes. Even though I have long since retired from the Clock Tower, I cannot bear such a tragedy as a magus. Therefore, shall we move out from the Pandemonium Room?"
It's a selfish argument.
When you consider that this is the same person who killed Trisha because he didn't want the incident of seven years ago to be investigated and also brought all of us into danger by summoning a Servant and the Child of Einnashe, it's clear how outrageous his words are.
However, with a Servant as support, there is tremendous power behind his outrageousness.
Wherever one looks in the Pandemonium room, there are Mystic Eyes.
Each and every one of them was of value, as the auction had just proven. I didn't even want to imagine how disastrous it would be to fight in this environment.
“...That would be good,” the conductor nodded, and there was immediate movement.
The ceiling of the Pandemonium Room swung wide open. Perhaps it was a doorway to transport large cargo. Several twinkling stars could be seen across the night sky.
After saying thank you, Heartless called out to one girl in particular.
"Yvette. What are you going to do? Are you coming with me?"
“I’m fine here.”
Yvette, who was still bound by Hishiri's magic, swung her pink twin tails to the side.
"Our agreement was only to work together for the loan, wasn't it? From now on, you will be judged by the Department of Law, and I think I'll just tell them everything without complaint. Regardless of the fact that you are the former dean, I will not be a part of your fugitive lifestyle."
"Ahh, I've been dumped."
Faker took hold of his hand, and as he raised one eyebrow, she jumped all the way to the rooftop lightly.
"Let's go..."
Master squeezes the armrests of his wheelchair.
Master, who had been confined to the wheelchair, finally stood up.
Of course, his wounds were not healed. He must have replaced his nerves with Magic Circuits, just as Melvin had done. Master was concentrating so hard that he was dripping with thick sweat.
"Caules, Gray. Let's chase them."
"Instructor, but..."
"I understand."
I nodded, which was in contrast to Caules, who hesitated.
Perhaps that made him more determined as Caules stepped forward as well. Together, we both put our hands around Master's waist and then he jumped up by 'reinforcing' himself.
On the roof of the train, we landed.
Right in front of me, an exasperated Heartless looked back at us.
"Good grief, I really do think it would be wise for us to part ways at this juncture. As I told you earlier, I don't intend to kill a Lord here."
"I can't let that happen."
Master said, casting his head down in pain.
Although I tried to land on the ground with as little impact as possible, just standing like this was a definite burden on Master's injured body.
"You never gave back the relic you took from me."
"Ah, I see. I see. That's quite right. Certainly, it is of no use to me now that the summoning is over."
Then, the man took out an old vermilion rag.
He let go of it, and it blew right up to Master with the wind, and he took it.
Master's lips pursed as he checked the relic that had returned to his hand. He took out another handkerchief and folded it carefully inside before putting it away in his pocket.
"I have one more thing I’d like to discuss."
"I'd love to talk to have a leisurely talk with you, but I'm afraid I don't have the time..."
“I’m not talking to you,” Master shook his head firmly. “You, Faker.”
By class, he called out to her.
Faker, not Hephaestion.
"I told you I'm not going to listen to your nonsense."
Master continued undeterred in the face of the female Servant, who made no attempt to hide her hostility.
"You said that about 20% of what I said was wrong. You also said that you sometimes borrowed the name of your brother. ...So, you are his twin."
“...”
With a twitch, Faker's fingers stirred.
Not missing her agitation, Master spun some more words.
"In those days, it was not unusual for one twin to be raised with decency while the other was left in the care of dark magic. Especially since Iskandar's mother, Olympias, was an ardent follower of the Dionysian cult."
── "Originally, I was put to work as the chaperone of that man's mother."
I remembered what she had said in the cave.
Moreover, Melvin had also talked about it. Iskandar's mother was in charge of the religious ceremonies in Macedonia. If that was the case, then what was the significance of a child being raised and chaperoned by his mother?
"For some time now, I have thought that the name Hephaestion seems strange. Traditionally in Greece, a normal man would be named Hephaistos. The moment someone goes to the trouble of making a derivation with the name Hephaestion, both gender and origin become unclear. In fact, there was even a queen of the Amazons by the same name. —According to one theory, the name 'Hephaestion' means 'one that makes an offering to the gods.'"
He must have been looking into it for a long time.
Whenever it concerns the Heroic Spirit of Iskandar. Regarding the years that Iskandar has lived. Master always casts a faraway look when he contemplates the history of Iskandar. As he faces the far-off ancient era that has long since passed, he also reverts to the spirit of his youth.
That's why I know for sure.
"A king needs subordinates who will never betray him in order to wield his power. It is no wonder that Olympias, who had been working all along to make Iskandar the one and only king, would try to raise a loyal subject from an early age. I think it was that kind of name that was given to your brother."
"─Shut up!"
The furious female heroine draws her sword.
Before her thunderous slash, she was interrupted.
“Add!”
“Hihihihi! I’m here!”
Absorbing the surrounding magic, Add unfolds in my hands.
The first stage of the practical limitation seal.
A great barrier.
Just as I narrowly protected Master, a tremendous shock struck my shield. The blow was so heavy that it seemed as if the anger of the Heroic Spirit was directly applied to the shield, and it was like my whole body might melt.
“...I’m sorry, Gray.”
“I’m fine.”
Holding my shield poised, I made it clear.
"This much is fine. So please, Master, say whatever you want to say."
I somehow understood what my master was trying to do.
Heartless said that the command seal is one that can only be used three times. Only three times. One of the three times was just used to summon Faker. Therefore, he would want to continue on without using it again as much as possible.
This is why Faker, provoked by Master, is difficult to control here.
This is because Heroic Spirits are not mere familiars and have their own personalities, making them difficult to control. But at the same time, Master knows better than anyone just how to deal with Heroic Spirits.
"...When I said that Faker was probably Iskandar's body double, I was not referring to physical appearance."
Again, Master brought back the earlier topic.
"Even though that period was already drawing to a close, it was still a time when magecraft was at its peak, also known as the Age of Gods. Magecraft was more powerful then, and much of it was considered magic. Powerful kings always had priests and wizards available to protect them from curses. Going back as far as ancient Mesopotamia, there was even a ritual to bring in a substitute king. Apparently, in order to escape a bad omen, an unrelated farmer was appointed king, and once the calamity had passed, the substitute was killed."
A substitute king.
A ritual, to avoid calamity.
“...Then, what you are saying, Master is-”
"She is not simply a body double. She is some kind of magical substitute," Master declares.
“That’s enough…!” Faker’s movements accelerate.
Dodging my large shield, she swung herself around the outside of the train, which was still in motion. Her outstanding mobility allowed her to manoeuvre with almost no regard for the laws of physics. Her speed was so overwhelming that even my own reinforced eyesight could not keep up with her.
（I can't get there in time...)
Yet, in an instant, a lightning net ensnared her body.
"────Ah?!"
"...Haha, I guess I was able to do it one way or another."
Caules had been ahead of the train and set up a trap.
A thin electric current was running between his fingers. The thread of electric current stretched like a spider's web across the roof of the train, entangling the entire body of Heroic Spirit.
"Combining my own body's magical energy with the Primeval Battery, I intensified my power over galvanism. I've been practising this with the instructor for some time now."
It was like Galvani's battery experiments which also inspired the novel, Frankenstein, to be written. It was from the perspective of bioelectricity that led to the development of several magical arts between Master and Caules. In that sense, it was a technique that was appropriate to be known as Modern Magecraft.
Full of tension and his own characteristic fastidiousness and pride, Caules spoke.
"Perhaps I shall name it the Crafted Tree (Electric Death By Hanging)."
"...Wa," Faker gasped.
The lips of the smiling spirit were about to murmur something.
"Gray, she’s consuming the magic!"
His voice pushed me forwards.
Swiftly, I transformed from the great shield and swung my Grim Reaper at an oblique angle.
Exactly as he said, she was focusing on consuming the magic around her, rather than attacking her opponents. Inevitably, the magic of the Primeval Battery was also unleashed, but a completely different kind of magic - the kind of magic that was concentrated inside a Heroic Spirit of the world, also came out and hit back at his energy, which formed arround her sword held high that clashed with my attack.
In the aftermath of the collision, a tornado blast of wind blew around.
However, more than just its power, I was more horrified by the sheer amount of magical power I had just been hit with.
“Right now, that was…”
“Very, dangerous,” Master finished.
“Gray. Caules. She’s a magus!”
With a pop, Caules blinked.
He looked incredulous. His eyes widened as if to say that he had been prepared to fight a Heroic Spirit, but those words were a complete surprise.
"A magus from the time of Iskandar... I-Instructor that is..."
Caules said in a muffled voice.
"A magus from, the Age of the Gods...!"
"If you want to be a magical substitute, the shortcut would be to be a magus yourself. A magus from a time when magic was far more versatile than it is today."
Without pausing, Master lifted his eyes at Faker.
"Ah, Olympias, who had wished for her son to be king for some time, must have wondered at the sight of those young twins. ‘If one of them is a general and the other is a magus, then he would have the loyal servants he will need.’ It is only logical to think that she wanted to provide a reliable magus for her son as early as possible, as well as a general. It is no wonder why they would be so valued. He and she would be the best general and magus for him. Thus, they would be prepared, educated, and trained to serve the king.”
I was deceived.
"Or, perhaps I should say, I was mistaken. I had simply thought that she was a general who had fought alongside Iskandar, wielding a sword, because of the previous battle. The fact is, among the tens of thousands of Iskandar's men, Hephaestion is the one general whose name shines brightest. However, if her true identity was not Hephaistion, but the double of the king—"
“—I said shut up!”
“Add, consume!”
Breathlessly, I slash at her with the Grim Reaper. If Faker is a magus from the Age of the Gods, then she will be able to use it without fail. That would be like reducing the chances of us winning, which is already near nil, to begin with, down to a complete zero.
Thankfully, it seemed that as long as she continued to absorb magic power, she would not be able to use her magic.
But instead, the velocity towards me was increasing more than ever.
"Yippeeeeeeee! This is amazing! I don't care about the quantity, but this quality of magic power is rarely seen in the modern world!"
I can see that Master’s words have made her go into a state of rage.
Otherwise, she would not have used the same move a second or third time when her magic had been nullified the first time. However, even so, there would be no fourth time. Having given up on magic, she returned to her sword and struck back at twice the speed of ours.
The core of my body was hot and tingly.
My Magic Circuits, running at a higher level than usual, have boosted my muscular strength, agility, and senses to a whole new level. No, surely there is more to it than that. The warrior spirit of the hero before me was blowing me away, making me realize that I couldn't afford to be frightened by my own strangeness.
Behind me, I heard the voice of Master.
"You would have continuously spread false information about what Iskandar looked like in order to avoid curses. No, in fact, you probably even acted in Iskandar's name. Therefore, the image of Iskandar passed down to posterity was mixed with a lot of what was really you."
Black hair.
Gold and silver Heterochromia.
A small body for a man.
Suppose they were entirely due to intelligence operations at the time?
No wonder Iskandar took her with him on his many battles. Whether on an expedition against the ancient magic of Egypt or against the hereditary magic of India, she was the conqueror's trump card for protection.
And, because it was a trump card, her true identity was concealed.
Master is now exposing the secret that Faker had kept until his death, or rather, even after her death. It could even be called an incision. I realized that I was barely able to withstand the onslaught of this Heroic Spirit only because of the cruelty of his words.
“...It’s a real dismantling, eh?”
Heartless, who was watching, suddenly muttered.
Master's words dismantle her mystery. Upon observing the scene, Heartless gave it that name. Master’s method was to dismantle.
Suddenly, Faker took a big step back.
She tried to catch up with him but spun back with something that was not a spell.
“...I must correct you.”
A brooding voice broke out from the female Heroic Spirit.
"If only for an impression, we used to really look alike. At least enough to be his representative. The fact that I was made to be a substitute was only an extension of that. ...It was my brother who was mistaken by the mother of Darius."
Faker says, baring her teeth like fangs.
Her eyes were filled with intense hatred. Eyes that were a mixture of murderous intent and hostility blended into a black ball that absorbed all light.
"Ah, this no longer makes any sense. If you want to hear it so badly, I'll tell you. I didn't have a name to begin with," she confessed.
“...No, name?”
"I was made to be a body double of the king, but I had no unique name, for, without a unique name, I would be a complete body double of the king. I could be a flawless shield against any and all curses that might befall king Iskandar. Hahaha, Olympias raised my brother to be a general while drugging the young me to prevent my useless ego from being born."
In magic, it is a taboo for private information to be divulged. In certain magical systems, it is said that the accuracy of curses increases dozens of times just by knowing a person's name.
If so, then simply don’t name someone.
She only needs to be an object that takes on the name of Iskandar when she is needed.
A shiver ran down my spine. It was something similar to fear, but a little different. Perhaps it was something close to that wish that I would become King Arthur, who had died so long ago.
"The king nevertheless tried many times to give me a name, but each time I strongly refused. When I needed a name other than that of the king, I borrowed the name of my brother Hephaestion. That is all there is to it. That's all there is to it, magus."
"Well, that leaves one last question."
Without missing a beat, Master interjected.
"Why didn't you appear in the Ionioi Hetairoi?"
Faker's visage becomes dyed with fury.
Her blade accelerates into a seething murderous rage.
Realising that my Grim Reaper could not deal with this, I returned Add to being a Great Shield.
A thunderous roar resounded as the Great Shield crashed with her sword. The sound, which became a series of echoes due to the sheer velocity, resembled some kind of orchestra. A powerful blast struck to the core of my 'reinforced' body, making me grit down on my back teeth in order to hold my whole body together.
"You said that the king wanted to give you a name!"
Master shouted as he spat out blood.
Although he was protected, the many reverberations over the entire rooftop were enough to open his wounds. I could faintly smell the scent of blood.
"If that is so, then he couldn't have accepted your situation! He could not tolerate the fact that you were treated as a nameless thing! not be able to take his place if you did. No doubt, you were one of the few truly loyal subjects of King Iskandar. As such, the reason you were not in the 'Ionioi Hetairoi' is-"
“Shut up!”
With a roar, almost as if an oversized bell had been rung, my body was blown away.
“(T-that was… too fast…!)
The moment I thought of falling off the train, I felt pressure on my back. Caules, who had been 'reinforced' in advance, had been able to catch me. However, this meant that there was no one left to protect Master.
“Master!”
With my entire strength, I jumped.
Faker's blade swung down towards Master's brain.
"It is because you yourself hate the 'Ionioi Hetairoi'...!"
Possibly, those words momentarily slowed the sword of the female Heroic Spirit.
To seize that one moment, I threw Add in the Great Shield form. The crash of lightning explodes the entire rooftop. A ricocheting Add flies back to me, drawn by my magical energy. Master was thrown back from the other side of the rising dust, and his body stopped halfway across the train.
His glasses, which had fallen from his eyes, fell from the train.
There was so much sticky blood that it looked like a puddle.
I watched with bewilderment as my master slowly picked himself up, clutching his knees.
And then, “You have stood proudly,” Heartless murmured, impressed.
"But I see now. Despite knowing the same Holy Grail War, there is a big difference between a spectator who has only witnessed its aftermath and a survivor who has actually experienced it. You certainly know how to deal with Heroic Spirits. It seems you know how to face them as they are, which is a strength that cannot be measured by modern wisdom."
“I’ve been through many things.”
The master laughed bitterly, exuding pain.
I can't say whether it was emotional or physical pain.
Heartless nodded a few times, then scratched his cheek.
"Unless I do something about you, Faker won't let me leave this place. As you can imagine, I can't just use another Command Seal here because if I do, our relationship will become irreparably damaged. Making an enemy of you has become quite a pain."
Even at this stage, the red-haired man laughed softly.
"So it can't be helped. Any more of this is an obstacle, so allow me to put up a fight as well."
"You as well?"
"Yes, just like this."
Heartless's hands gently pressed against where his heart should be.
“Turn around, my heart,” he sang a melody.
Suddenly, I felt something turn inside out. Not me, but outside of me. I felt nauseous for a moment, as though the world had inverted its skin.
I could sense its direction, too.
In the darkness of the night, in the path of a travelling train, something was born.
“Now, what?”
“It’s not quite an imaginary element, but I can bring out something similar to that. Instead of a heart.”
Quietly, Heartless murmured.
In place of what was lost, there was also something gained. It is likely something different from normal magic. Invoked by means of incantation and gesture, and with the driving force of a spell or magic foundation, it calls forth a falsely similar series of phenomena.
An irreplaceable perk acquired in exchange for being kidnapped by fairies.
"Incidentally, did you really think that the Child of Einnashe had vanished so easily? Even if the child is no match for the main body, it is still a Great Mystery that won't be destroyed so easily."
The magic that swelled up at the end of the track gave me a sense of déjà vu.
It was a feeling I had experienced only half a day before.
"Heartless...!"
"I secretly retrieved the damaged nucleus of the Child of Einnashe and sealed it up in an imaginary pocket. Just a few moments ago, I liberated it in front of this train. After all, they're tough to kill, to begin with. So the more they are hurt, the more they will charge after their enemies."
With these words, a strange noise echoed.
Coming from the other side of the tracks were tendril-like tree branches. Its icy exterior was unchanged, yet its bark was clearly visible, pulsating with blood-red vermilion, it was as if the wounded Child of Einnashe was morphing into a new form under the extreme conditions it was under.
"It has changed from before. Under these circumstances, it has become starved more than ever. Now, what is the thing that has the most magical power in the vicinity?"
Such a thing was obvious.
The Rail Zeppelin was now being devoured by the Child of Einnashe as it was wrapped tightly in the icy branches.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
Hishiri quietly put her glasses back on.
The deadly struggle taking place on the roof of the train was reaching her with a terrific roar. However, apart from that, she also felt the emergence of a formidable magical force.
She moved closer to the elegantly decorated window and opened it briskly.
On the other side of the track, she sees a strange, tentacle-like branch stirring.
"Well, well.'
Hishiri shakes her head in dismay.
"Yes. I knew he must be up to something, but I didn't think he was planning to reuse the Child of Einnashe. As expected of the former dean, I should say."
"You mean, the Child of Einnashe...?! It got out?!"
The bound Yvette reacted to her words.
Her eyes were sealed shut, so she had no way of checking, but it seemed that she had not forgotten the horror she had experienced in the previous breakout.
"──By no means are you calling the Department of Law inept, are you?"
Reines teased in amusement.
After having exercised flight magic from London to here, Reines had almost no reserves of magical power left. That is why she had given up on helping her step-brother, Lord El-Melloi II, but that was also why she felt a strong sense... to at least do something about this situation.
In contrast, Hishiri turned to one magus.
"In the meantime, we will need your help, Jean-Mario."
"Um, me?!"
Jean-Mario held his hands up as high as he could and made a hold-up-like motion with his head. His expression was not as carefree as his gestures, but rather he looked so gaunt that he looked as if he might die at any moment.
"Your familiar would be great for checking the situation. I mean, you've likely already done that anyway."
"...Well, at least about eighty-seven of them anyway."
Small jet-black particles spilt from his sleeve.
Miniscule spiders were slipping outwards through gaps in the train. He had observed many things with these familiars before the auction, so this kind of preparation would have been natural for him.
"Then, first of all, we need to deploy as many wards as possible outside the train─"
"...That serves no purpose, Miss Department of Law."
And then, a voice crept across the carpet in a low tone.
Hishiri looks back.
The silver-haired girl had spoken with a depressed look on her face.
"Is there a problem?"
"I have been looking through the Ley Lines before you. This is the most effective technique. I can do this best if it is the Child of Einnashe we're dealing with."
"I see, so you can see from the sky using the Ley Lines. I'll leave it to you then. Is that fine with you?"
The girl nodded, "...I'll be fine."
Her gaze was fixed on the head of Trisha Fellows, which was still on the carpet after the disappearance of Heartless and his Servant. Having picked up the head and gently placed it on a chair, Olga Marie faced it for a moment.
"...Yeah. I… surely, want to do this."
She whispered to herself.
Hishiri then went on to question the conductor.
"What are you going to do about this?"
"We will not interfere with a quarrel between magi."
The conductor spoke in his usual emotionless voice.
"However, we cannot allow Rail Zeppelin to be disgraced any further. Particularly if it is a bastard child of the Dead, who is the same as us. We shall deal with this one in our own way."
He answered firmly and spun on his heel. They probably have their own ideals. A fight based on their own beliefs, different from those of the magi, yet equal in their own way.
Once he was seen off,
“...Hey, Mr Hishiri, can I do a plea bargain?"
Yvette cut in.
She was tied up behind her back, and her tone was very light. It was as if to say, 'Yesterday I ate your lunch without your permission, so today I'm going to share mine with you.'
"A plea bargain, is it?"
"Yes. To begin with, I wasn't involved in the summoning of Heartless' Servant, was I? I didn't go along with him when he asked me, and I don't really think it would be that much of a problem from the Clock Tower's perspective if I just score some points here, do you?"
“...Fine.”
Hishiri shifted her palm as if to look up.
At the touch of a gentle breeze, the fabric that had sealed Yvette was untied and lay at her feet.
"Fufufufu. You foolish sorceress, you have freed my seal! ...Wait, don't leave me in the dark! Don't look so serious and leave without me! You'll miss me! Oh, God, she can be so flippant. Ah, yes, Melvin, I helped you with the Child of Einnashe before, so you can let me go, right? Please!"
"I have no choice. I'll help you. It seems you're involved with Waver too."
Having been forced into the conversation, Melvin shrugged his shoulders.
However, the young man felt that he had no choice but to agree with her.
Melvin opened the violin case he had been carrying all along.
The contents appeared to be a nondescript violin, just as one might imagine. With the violin poised on his shoulder, the pure white young man spoke in a very condescending manner.
"I very rarely use tuning devices for free unless my mum asks me to. So I urge you to listen now with an open mind."
The magi looked at their roles and were about to make their move.
However.
Another figure took advantage of the opportunity and came running in.
It ran with astonishing speed into the Pandemonium Room and ripped the transparent tube that had been left on the platform next to the auctioneer, who was still standing.
"The Mystic Eyes of, Transience....!"
A mournful voice echoed through the carriage.
Originally Posted by Arashi_Leonhart
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