The thin streak of a harsh cold white light swiped through the dark room, reflecting off of the pristine metal surfaces. The smell of chemicals of all sorts lingered in the room, most specifically the smell of ammonium that flooded the room as if it were pooling around the line of metal tables in the center of the room. Every scalpel, saw, and needle were placed away in organized clear-door cabinets on the right side of the room, and opposite to that was a work station lined with various scientific machines.
The two men clothed in dark clothes scanned the room. They were both nearly the same height, but the one with long blue hair was slightly taller than the other man, who had unruly auburn locks and stockier build. They were extremely silent as they walked past the lab equipment to the back of the room where the metal refrigirated storage units were, piled on one other like boxes, their shoes clacking against the pristine white floor tiles.
"It's very clean in here," the man with the blue hair to his waist sounded surprised. "Are they always this clean nowadays?"
"For the most part, when no one is being examined," the other man replied with his rough voice. The sound of clothing ruffling was heard as he pulled out a box of cigarettes from the jacket's inside pocket. The man then pulled out a lighter from his outer pocket and within a second lit a cigarette.
"Is it really appropriate to smoke in here, master?" The taller man with the softer voice questioned as he lifted a brow.
The smoking man shrugged in reply. "Well, you come to learn that the dead don't mind."
The other frowned as he shook his head in disappointment. "You should try and show a little more respect, master."
"This one, Caster." The smoking man pointed at one of the cadaver storage doors, completely ignoring his servant's statement.
Caster sighed before he opened the latch and a foul stench seeped into the room. He pulled out the sliding table and before them laid a corpse, no ordinary looking corpse, however. A woman with only skin and bones laid before them, as if everything within her had been sucked dry. He frowned in pity and disgust. "How can anyone be capable of something like this?" Caster looked away.
The cigarette glowed as the man took a puff. He breathed out a cloud of smoke. "They're no better than animals."
"Worse than animals," Caster corrected. "I've never seen an animal capable of doing... this ."
"The coroner said this was the sixth body found like this. All women." The master leaned over the corpse and analyzed her, taking note of her sunken skin and horrified expression imprinted on her face, the last thing she saw must have been horribly frightening that she was frozen in such a way.
"Women ? Sick bastard," Caster spat. "All for what? To fuel a servant? How weak must this master be?"
"Or rather how powerful must the servant be that it requires blood as mana daily?" The man took another drag of his cigarette once he pulled away from the woman.
"Do you think they'll prove difficult to fight?" Caster asked.
His master nodded as he tapped his cigarette against his finger and rid it of ash. "Why else would they need this much mana?"
"We need to find the source, they must be the first to go," Caster sighed. "We can't possibly have them going around doing as they please."
"Once the war officially starts, we must get rid of these scum." The master spoke as he turned and took one of the metal tables with wheels.
Caster smirked. "With pleasure, master."
The master searched the cabinets until he'd found what he was looking for: a body bag. He tossed it over to his servant.
The servant caught it and his red gaze drifted back to the body.
"We must cover their tracks," the auburn haired man said, "we need to make sure the authorities don't look into these deaths."
Caster nodded. "What about the other five?"
The man pointed at the bottom row of cadaver units. "They're still here since they've yet to be identified." Then he passed his servant more body bags.
The blue haired servant sighed. "Is there anything you can find out from them, master?"
"Well," the man frowned, "with the amount of damage their bodies sustained and being practically sucked dry of all mana, there might not be much for them to tell." He looked over the body once again. "What's left isn't of use to my magic either."
Caster began to transfer the first body from the cadaver storage to the body bag.
"We need to cremate them once we get to the cemetery." The master spoke as he went to aid his servant in the task.
"Very well, master, may I be the one to do so? I wish to see them off properly."
"Do as you wish, Caster."
——
Artoria's eyes lazily flickered open. When had she fallen asleep? There was a slight stinging in her head, just behind her eyes but it dissipated in a few seconds as she struggled to become fully conscious. She lifted her head from where it was rested as she tried to think about how she'd fallen asleep in the first place. It was only as she tried to move from her scrunched up position that she realized she was still in her servant's arms. She briefly remembered how nauseous she'd felt and how he'd rested her on his lap, but she didn't recall when he'd wrapped her in his cape.
"You're awake, master."
She looked up at his smiling face. She suddenly realized how close they were and embarrassment began to flood her cheeks. She tried to stand but it seemed she wasn't fully recovered so she tumbled back down once her legs gave out. "S-sorry," she mumbled.
"You should take it slow, master, you released a great amount of magic yesterday as you activated your circuits, you still need sometime to recover," Diarmuid explained as he stood from the floor, still keeping her lifted in his arms. "Did you rest well?" He asked.
Artoria cleared her throat. She couldn't dare bring herself to look at him for how embarrassed and weak she felt. She couldn't even stand on her own two feet, how ridiculous. "Yes..." She wanted the earth to swallow her whole. How humiliating ...
Gently, Diarmuid set her down, letting her feet slowly rest on the wooden floor, he still very much held unto her as he knew it was a possibility she could still collapse and he would prefer not to let her get hurt.
Artoria tried to keep herself up as soon as her feet touched the floor. She sighed in relief seeing she could hold herself up, but just barely. She steadied herself with Diarmuid's hand, which was at her waist. "Thank you," she barely had the courage to speak.
"I'm here to aid you, master," Diarmuid said, making sure to not let her go.
If I unlocked my power, why am I in such a sorry state?" She huffed. "Aren't I supposed to be fine?"
Diarmuid replied as he helped her exit the rundown home, "Your body isn't used to such power, it probably isn't able to handle it yet."
Must I be so useless? Artoria closed her eyes.
With one hand, Diarmuid set down his cape on the porch and helped Artoria down to sit. "I'll get you some water."
"There's no need," Artoria sighed. "I'm fine."
"I insist, master. When one is exhausted, one must always keep hydrated." He looked so resolute that Artoria accepted.
She watched as he walked off, back into the house to search for a water bottle. She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, which was now bright blue. The forest was lit with streaks of sunrays that had penetrated through the tall foliage. The breeze was crisp and only the sound of the whispering leaves was heard as the wind brushed through them. It was still quite cold, but she could feel it warming up. Spring was definitely nearer now. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh air that tickled her face.
"Here, master." Artoria opened her eyes to see a water bottle hovering over her. She reached for it and said thank you before she opened it. Diarmuid sat down next to her. "How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Better, the fresh air has done me some good," she replied.
"That's good to hear. I'm glad you're feeling better. Now that you've set up quite the strong barrier, we're quite safe here."
Artoria sighed in relief. "I'm glad I was of some use."
Diarmuid turned to her. He looked stern, with his lips pursed and his eyes filled with gravity. "Master, I have no doubt in my mind that you are the best master in this war."
Artoria scoffed. "Of course you'd say something like that." She rolled her eyes and took a gulp of water.
"Master, look how hard you're trying, I don't need to know all of the other masters to know you are the best." The sincerity in his eyes made her sigh.
"Thank you, Diarmuid," she spoke, knowing he would not be told otherwise. Slowly, she stood from the porch, supporting herself on the wooden pillar next to her. Diarmuid had immediately offered his arm but she hadn't taken it.
She was finally able to stand on her own two feet without falling to the floor. "I think we should go get supplies to clean and food to cook, don't you think?" Artoria raised her eyebrow.
Diarmuid smiled and nodded in reply.
——
Gilgamesh sat on the arm chair, his lags were crossed and in his hand was a glass of wine. He looked out the window of the skyscraper. The flight was barely tolerable but it didn't matter now. They were finally in Fuyuki and he already knew Artoria was too. He rubbed his temple and sighed in annoyance. "Artoria and her mongrel will prove to be a nuisance," he groaned. "I should've killed her in England." His red eyes drifted to the woman who sat on the couch to his right in silence.
He had given her normal clothes but it seemed she preferred her own attire. "Rider," he called.
She turned to him, her long magenta hair swinging to the side. "Yes, master?" She was seated so properly, straight, much like an obedient child.
He stared at her for a few seconds. He didn't know if Medusa was as strong as he'd hoped, but she had already proved useful when she'd fought against Saber, she was skilled enough to last a little while longer at the very least. He did wonder if her eyes could indeed turn people to stone as the legend said. "You promised me victory, correct?"
She bowed her head. "Of course, master."
"What will you do if you fail?" He asked, his head tilting slightly. There was an amused smile on his lips, he was curious as to what her reply would be.
"I will not," she deadpanned.
His smile grew and he let out a laugh. "You're quite amusing, Rider. You have a good level of confidence, but don't let it blind you, Saber was only one of the servants, we still have yet to know how strong the others are."
Rider remained silent and still, as if she herself had been cast into stone.
Gilgamesh swirled the red wine in his glass before he took a sip and raised an eyebrow. "I want you to search for her."
"Saber's master?" She clarified, her head was tilted ever so slightly and he would be lying if he said she didn't look funny.
"Yes," he replied dryly, " Once you locate her...tell me."
"Master, I want to assure you that I can defeat saber, there's no need to harm her," Rider explained.
"Oh," Gilgamesh grinned, "you best defeat him, but Artoria is mine to deal with, don't meddle in my business, servant . Now go , find her."
"Yes, master." Rider stood and bowed before her being dissipated into golden dust.