I don't think there should be any spoilers in this, but if there are, I apologize in advance.
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Heroic spirits and the supernatural. They were things that mages knew well about, but the supernatural part was the only thing that normal humans could at least attempt to comprehend without crossing into the boundary that separated the magus world from the basic one. (Y/n), however, was someone who had held no interest in the supernatural or stories that weren't true. If it weren't for the fact that he had experienced the supernatural and lived, he wouldn't have changed this about himself. But things did not start off with him being as he was now where he currently stood. No, they started earlier that month when he was kidnapped after his afternoon shift at his family's business...
. . .
He had been born to a poor family with few living relatives. The family owned car garage which was his favorite place to be, so when he was asked to work there to help make ends meet for his household, he hadn't hesitated. His father needed more people working but couldn't afford to pay an outside worker, so (y/n) took up the job and was paid minimum wage with the perks of getting a share of the final income from the business each month. He never complained, was always polite to everyone, and did his job well, so it was surprising that anyone would want to kidnap him.
"Just take him. I don't care who he is. The authorities are nothing compared to our association. They won't find him," his kidnapper had said. They'd taken him to a facility he had only seen or read about in fictional works. The scene terrified him and to make matters worse, he was the test subject.
Magic circuits. They were implanting them into his body to use him as a vessel for the holy grail once the war started in a few months. (Y/n) was oblivious to these facts having only known that the person who had him kidnapped was wealthy and feared no form of justice.
Today was his day of salvation, but he didn't know that yet. At the moment, he was encapsulated in a glass experimentation chamber. Being almost entirely submerged in an unknown liquid with a mask over the bottom half of his face for oxygen and tubes connected to him as if he were in a hospital was already torture enough. Then there was the uncomfortable fact that he was entirely bare and constantly experienced what he could only describe as being electrically shocked every five to seven seconds. Plus there was the never changing temperature within the capsule itself.
"Just let me die already," he silently prayed having given up hope on being rescued after the first week had passed. His eyes were devoid of anything but sorrow as he stared off into space. Hardly ever did a thought come to mind other than that same death wish. "Just let me die." He had no power to free himself even from the beginning when he'd used every ounce of willpower he had to fight for his life. They had drained it all from him over the course of time and now he simply wanted to perish. "Just let me die." For some reason, he gave more effort into hoping for this than on other days. Today he wanted it to end for he had been through enough. And so he gave one last hopeful plea before he'd likely lose his sanity from the constant treatment. "Please, just let me die!!"
A tremor shook the area above him and tears of relief began to line his eyes for he thought that his wish was about to be granted. He focused his eyes on the ceiling above his glass entrapment waiting for it to collapse, yet nothing of the sort occured. The tremor that had given him hope ended up betraying him. Or at least he thought so until he heard the scream. It didn't terrify him nor did it ease his constant worry that he might be left there to live in torture.
(Y/n) paid no mind to the sound of what was likely a one-sided slaughter. He began to stare at the metal door across from him that led to the lab he was being held in. Quicker than he expected, the door was opened, but rather than being swung open, it was forced off its hinges and slammed to the ground. Standing in it's place was a woman who immediately stared at him with her cold metallic silver eyes. A sword stained with blood was tightly gripped in her hand as the other was still suspended in the air from having pushed the door down with it.
Strangely enough, fear still processed in (y/n)'s mind despite his still fervent wish. With a head tilt, the armor clad female looked around the room in search for something. (Y/n) kept his eyes on her as she tampered with the various machines in the room, destroying some while tapping random buttons on others. The glass capsule was soon the only thing keeping him contained since the tubes had detached due to system malfunction.
Only then did it hit him. He was being saved. The woman casually walked up to the container and lightly tapped it with the side of her fist. Much to (y/n)'s surprise, the glass shattered and he fell forward as the extra contents spilled to the floor. The woman dropped her sword and caught him with both arms so that he didn't hit the floor himself. "I've come to your aide, Master," she spoke.
He was silent, petrified by both the sudden cold and the fact that he had just been saved by the supernatural. He didn't understand nor did he try to. The woman carefully set him down away from the shattered glass and swiftly left the room. (Y/n) had no idea where she had gone. All that he did know was not weak in the slightest despite being entrapped for so long. His skin tingled and occasionally he saw sparks crackle from it as if he were some piece of malfunctioning hardware.
"I...didn't die," he thought. He was startled when a voice matching that of his savior could be heard in his head.
"Of course you didn't. Why would I allow my master to die after I was just summoned here. Though I'm curious about what all of this really is. Are you human or something else?"
(Y/n) gave a slight laugh but not from amusement. The sound of his own voice was something he had missed ever since he'd stopped speaking. "I must be going crazy. This is all just to much."
"That I can't garuntee you." The woman entered the room again after (y/n) heard her voice. "But for now, put this on so we can leave," she added. She tossed him what seemed to be...a curtain? It was better than nothing, so (y/n) gladly took it and used it like a blanket.
"You're surprisingly calm. Aren't you going to complain about the people I killed?" the woman asked as she led him above ground and into the mansion so they could leave. (Y/n) briefly spared the dead his gaze, but his empathy, pity, or any sort of forgiveness made an appearance.
"It's not my fault that they helped hide me. I didn't kill them so why should I feel bad?" he mumbled. "I want to go home. I haven't been home since...I don't remember." His thought were fragmented and he couldn't keep his mind on one topic. Now that he was freed, there were many things that crossed his mind other than his previous wish to have his life ended. "Who are you?" (y/n) asked.
"Did I not tell you? I am Mordred Alter. I came in response to your beckoning call of despair. You are now a participant in the holy grail war. As for why I answered you...I didn't pity you. Your willpower alone was enough to convince me to aide you," Mordred Alter answered. (Y/n) didn't understand much of what she spoke of.
"The person who had me kidnapped, where is that person?" (y/n) asked as the thought of revenge suddenly weighed heavily on his mind.
"I don't know, but I can practically feel your hatred. You sure you're human? I don't think humans can emit an aura like that. You were in that glass thingy too. But only humans can be masters...I think." She seemed far less intimidating as her features matched the confusion she was experiencing.
"I don't know if I'm human anymore. I don't know what they did to me. I just want to go home now. I missed worked today...I think. My dad is probably struggling to keep the shop open. I hope everyone has been well. Last time I was home, my sister was sick," (y/n) began to mumble. A hand on his shoulder stopped his train of thought.
"Oi, one thing at a time, okay. What's it going to be? Revenge first or family first? I could do both but something tells me that I shouldn't let you go off on your own. I don't doubt you'd end the war before it even begins with that power of yours," Mordred Alter said before going back to leading them out of the mansion. It seemed that only the servants had been home since no one had come to stop them from leaving nor did (y/n) recognize his kidnapper among the dead.
"I don't have any power," (y/n) muttered.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that.. You wouldn't have been able to summon my otherwise," Mordred Alter commented just before taking a detour away from the door large double doors that obviously would lead them out of the mansion.
"Where are you going?" (Y/n) froze when she stared at him.
"What? Do you really want to go out there in a curtain?" she pointed out with an eyebrow raised.
"I...no, I don't," (y/n) admitted as he pulled the curtain around him more closely having become more aware of his current predicament. "But wouldn't it also be strange if you went out like that," he added refering to Mordred Alter's armor. She laughed at him.
"I guess that would be a problem. Let's go see what we can steal and then get out of here. I don't like this place. It's not my style," Mordred Alter announced with a slight smirk. (Y/n) followed after her in silence as he let his thoughts venture again. This woman was not normal. He didn't know where she came from, and she called him "master" whenever she directly referred to him. To be fair, he hadn't given her his name yet. Her name was a much to say at one time.
"Mora. Can I call you that? It's easier to say..." He didn't get an immediate response and assumed that she didn't like the name.
"Do whatever you want. I don't care," she shrugged just before stopping at one of the many doors they had passed that looked exactly like it. The only difference was that this one was cracked open. "Hey, looks like we're in luck. This room belongs to someone important," Mora nudged him forward as she spoke. "Hurry up and put something on. This place is starting to give me the creeps for some reason." Once (y/n) had gone into the lavishly furnished room, Mordred pushed the door back into place and stood outside.
"If we had this much money, maybe I wouldn't have been kidnapped," (y/n) thought as he opened the closet to find a variety of clothes, all of which seemed more than he could afford. "Rich people make me sick." The thought only came to mind since he now despised the rich due to his experience. People with money could apparently get away with anything.
"You gonna stand there and complain all night or are you going to actually put on some clothes?" Mora spoke. (Y/n) had forgotten that she could hear his thoughts. He wondered how she knew what he was doing if she was outside of the room and quickly pulled clothes out of the closet to out on. "I'm actually stealing," he realized. It was more so the act itself that brought it to his conciousness but his morality had already changed. Stealing? That was nothing compared to what had been done to him.
"It's still cold." He realized this as he left the room in a plain white button down and jeans. To his surprise, Mordred also had new atttire almost exactly like his own. The only difference is that she seemed to have cut the jeans to turn them into shorts.
"I can't believe you...why would you button all of them?" Mora facepalmed and dropped her sword. Strangely enough, it disappeared in mid-air as she reached out to unbutton a few of the secured buttons at the top of his stolen shirt.
"But it's cold," (y/n) argued despite letting her do what she wanted.
"Which would you rather be, cold or cool? See, that's better." Mora gave a thumbs up before heading back towards the exit.
"Neither sounds like the best option," replied although his response was a bit late. He saw Mora glance at him with a deadpan but she said nothing else about the matter. Just as they were about to reach the door, Mora went on high alert. She held her arm out in front of him as her sword appeared in her other hand. The doors opened to reveal a group of five teenagers and two adults. All of them seemed to suspect something had happened, but when they saw (y/n), they froze in place. You'd think they would be more concerned about Mora who had a sword in her hand, but their gazes were strangely fixated on him. One of them, a girl, cursed and a few others seemed like they were ready to attack but stayed put because of Mora.
"She's a servant," one of the adults noted. "You're experiment summoned a servant."
"So it worked afterall," the second adult realized.
"But he's not in the lab. Look, he killed all the servants. Don't just stand there. You're going to let my holy grail vessel get away!" a different girl, who seemed to be to be the youngest, whinned.
"We can here you, dumbasses," Mora growled, but (y/n) could tell that the mentioning of whatever a holy grail vessel was had clearly bothered her. It wasn't just her that was bothered. (Y/n) was as well. In fact, he was furious, yet all he could do was stand there and stare with the hatred he harbored burning in his eyes. Everyone seemed to then notice the abrupt change in temperature in the atmosphere.
"It's cold again," (y/n) briefly thought. He saw Mora glance at him and slowly move her arm away from him.
"Master?" That was all she could say as ice began to form on the ground around him.
"You people did this to me," he seethed with a slight tilt of his head. They didn't stay put for long and determined that they would have to fight him in order. Before they could take another step, (y/n) had intensified his glare with every bit of despair behind the attack he had performed. All of them froze solid in an instant. Not a word was uttered yet a spell had certainly been casted. The torture that (y/n) had gone through led to the creation of his mystic eyes, similar to those of petrification but far more cruel.
"You didn't tell me you could do that," Mora mumbled as she looked at the people encased in ice.
"I killed them...? Did I do that?" (y/n) wondered. He hadn't moved so he assumed Mordred had done something rather than himself.
"Let's just go, master. This is likely going to cause some problems." Mora carefully took hold of his arm and led him out of the mansion without touching the frozen victims. They escaped into the night without anymore problems. It was then that (y/n) was granted salvation, but it costed him a piece of his humanity...
. . .
"(Y/n), we'll be late if you insist on standing in front of that shop any longer," Mora commented. Berserker's master had challenged them to a fight but had been too cowardly to come directly to him, so (y/n) agreed to meet up for their battle which most certainly was a trap. Mordred Alter was simply ready to fight. She had already taken down Caster and Archer in this war. Most of the remaining masters feared her.
"Just let me look a little longer. This is where I used to spend a lot of my time. I was happy here," (y/n) spoke as he looked through the windows of the now closed business that his family used to own.
"What, are you not happy with me? Do I not count?" Mora questioned. He laughed at her a bit.
"Of course I'm happy with you, Mora. I just wanted to see this place one last time. After this, I won't be coming back to visit it. After the war is over, assuming we win it, I want to go far away from here." He had found out after escaping with Mordred Alter that his sister had passed away since his father had been unable to buy the medicine she needed. To silence the remaining members of his family, his kidnappers had arranged for an "accident" to happen at their home. As far as anyone knew, he had died along with them. "I'll put this life to good use, I promise," he quietly spoke on behalf of his family.
"Master...are you okay?" Mora stared at him with concern as he finally turned to face her. She pointed at his face, and he reached up to wipe it finding tears there.
"I'm fine, I promise. Let's go. We have things to do. I hope you'll accompany me even after we're done," he said as he wiped the remaining tears. He was met with Mora's grin.
"Anything for you, master. I answered you to begin with, didn't I? No way am I bailing out now," she said. With those words, the two of them headed off to battle. The past was the past. (Y/n) could only move forward. Salvation comes with a cost, afterall.
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Hope you guys didn't mind my choice in Mordred Alter's nickname. Also, with this update came a new book cover. Hope you all like it.