Fate / Gender Night

“Are you my master?” A tall looming figure loomed in front of me with a bone for a mask covering his face. Beside him stood dozens of figures of various sizes – some tall, some short, some muscular, some lean, some male, and some female. But without fail, every one of them had the same mask made out of bone covering their face.
I backed up, already on my butt from the force of that weird circle that appeared, and stared at the dozens of people that appeared before me. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Who are you people? What was that circle? Are you going to kill me?”
They turned to face each other, and then back at me. “So you’re the master who didn’t cast the spell,” one asked.
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything like that! I was packing up the storehouse, and then there was this strange circle that appeared at my feet, and next thing I know, there’s a million of you guys in here with me! Who are you? Or even… what are you?”
The man walked in front of me. “We are known as Hassan-i-sabbath. What our individual names are, we have long forgotten for that moniker. We are of the order of assassin in the holy grail war, which you have now been drawn into.”
“Assassin? Holy grail war? What are you talking about?”
The man took a knee. “The holy grail war is a war between the great mages of the world to acquire, as you can reasonably conclude, the holy grail. Seven mages summon seven servants to fight their battles, and the one servant who stands victorious will claim the prize with their master. You, as it appears, are one of the masters.”
I struggled to my feet as I attempted to rationalize this situation. “I’m no mage,” I said. “I’m a human, and this magic stuff you’re talking about is ridiculous.”
“So even though you just saw a magic circle forming in front of you, and we’re standing in front of you, you don’t believe in magic?”
He had a point. I folded my hands. “Then if I’m a master, why? Why would I want some legendary chalice?”
“It grants a wish,” said a female assassin. “Your deepest held desire will be granted to you, if you know what it is you want.”
“You have three command spells to command us as you please without question. However, we will obey your commands as far as we are able, as you are still our master.”
This seemed all too weird. How could something like this happen? Then again, they were right about me having a wish to grant. The vision of her formed in my head. Heather, the blonde bombshell in my class, had been my heart’s desire since I had first met her in middle school. Yet, she had always been out of my reach, between her friends blocking my way, and as of late, this accident she had been involved in. If that truck had only watched where it had been going, she wouldn’t be in the hospital as disfigured as she is. But, that was how I knew I loved her. Even with a broken nose and scars all over her face and body, I still wanted to date her and marry her.
“What do we do?” I clenched my hand into a fist. I would ensure that she survived and got out of that hospital bed. “How can we win?”
“That is for you to decide, my master,” said one of the females. “You are the master, and we are the servant.”
I leaned back against a basket filled with baseball bats. “Well, let’s start with a little formality. I don’t really like getting called master. Call me Nate.”
A man nodded. “Nate it is then. But, if I dare ask, why? Most humans appreciate the formality and power.”
I shrugged. “I grew up in a rich household, and everything I ever wanted was given to me. I had servants – of course, not servants like you – but they always would call me master. Nothing I ever did really felt like it was something I had earned, but rather something handed to me. That’s why I’m living in a boarding school instead of at home. Calling me master brings back memories of the time when they would do each and every task for me.”
“Very well,” said a female. “Then, Nate, what would you command us to do?”
I gulped. “Even command is a bit bothersome. I guess I’ll ask you to do things, as we’re in this together. But, I don’t know what would be best. I mean, we don’t even know who these other mages or their servants are.”
“Then do you ask us to find them?” asked a tall male. “We can do some reconnaissance on them if you would like.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s good.” Almost immediately they scattered, leaving me alone in the storage shed.
I blinked, and looked around the room, complete aghast at what had just happened. Did I imagine it? I mean, they’re all gone now, so it’s not like I even had any evidence that they actually existed outside of my imagination.
My hand burned. I pulled my hand up and looked at it, seeing that this was more than my imagination. There was a spiral swirling towards the center, broken up at three separate places. They said something about my command spells, so I supposed that must be what these spells are.
I walked out of the storeroom. Well, stumbled is probably the better way to say it. My legs shook, unable to comprehend what had just happened. More than that, what do they mean defeat the other servants? Do they mean kill them? In that case, if they’re willing to kill another servant, would they be willing to kill another master for their aims?
I stumbled to the dorms and after grabbing a quick sandwich from the cafeteria, headed up to my room. I wouldn’t want anything more than a sandwich today, that was for sure.
I put the key into my door and pulled it open. And when I pulled it open, I nearly fell backwards.
A woman with a bone mask stood there for me. “Nate, I am here to inform you that I have found one of the masters.”
I breathed heavily, trying to recover from the shock. “Please, don’t do that again. Try and give me some sort of a warning! You know, like a tap on the shoulder or something. And tell the other assassins that too.”
“We’re all connected,” she said. “What I know, we all know.”
I sat down on my bed. I didn’t want to fight this any longer. “Then what did you find out? Who is this master?”
She stayed still. “A Mark Bennet, who lives in this very room. I have been unable to discern the identity of his servant.”
I blinked. Mark? Well, he had be away quite a lot as of late, so was this reason? I though he was visiting Heather in the hospital, considering that she was his sister and…
Of course he would summon a servant. He had the same wish I did, although for completely different reasons. “We should team up,” I said to myself.
“Nate, if I may be so rude, I don’t believe that would be the best solution,” she said. “There can only be one servant remaining after all of this, so if you team up, you would be bound to fight each other at the end.”
She had a point. But then again, did I particularly care about these magical constructs? If it meant getting Heather back, I would have no problem with telling them all to kill themselves. I have these command spells, which as they described, have absolute control. It seemed a bit cruel, but I have to remind myself that these people are not alive. They died long ago.
“Would you like me to continue my reconnaissance?” asked the assassin. “Or, would you rather I stay with you for protection?”
She had a point. “So I really am in danger then.”
“It is not uncommon for the only surviving servant to serve the only surviving master,” she said. “After all, any master can continue to make contracts so long as they have their command spells.”
I leaned back. “So there’s really no way out then. Even if I told you guys to unbind yourselves from me, the other masters would kill me because of the marks on my hand.”
“No,” she said.
“But didn’t you just say they want me dead because of them?”
“Indeed, they do,” she said. “But they wouldn’t have the chance to, as we would kill you ourselves if you made that command.”
I gulped. “Why would you…”
“We desire the holy grail as much as you do. If you break your contract with us, you are nothing more than a coward who deserves to be murdered in the most brutal way possible. None of us would hesitate or regret your death for a second.”
A shudder passed over my body. I never thought of it like that. These servants are scarier than I would have ever imagined!
The rattled as a key went in. That must be Mark! “Quick, hide!” I shouted. I looked around the room. “Oh, where can you hide?! Damn these small dorm rooms!”
The assassin chuckled. “You forget our class. We are the masters of concealment, and even with a master as weak as you, that is no exception.”
Sure enough, she walked behind a coat rack, the most clumsy of concealments, but she was completely invisible save for me. Nobody else would ever suspect her of being there.
The door flung open and Mark stumbled in. “Sheesh, what a day,” he grumbled, falling face first on his bed.
“Visiting Heather again?” I asked him.
He held his hand up next to his body to acknowledge me. “She’s not really doing any better. The doctors said it could be another week until she comes out of her coma, and then there’s months of rehab to follow. If only she could recover sooner, I really could relax.” He turned over and held his hand up. “Not to mention, there was some weird lady on the streets. I swear, it was like she was following me or something. I’m glad she didn’t mean me any hard and…”
“Because you’re a master?” I asked.
He froze, confirming my suspicions, and the assassin’s report. But he put on a forced laugh and dropped his hand. “You’re the rich one. You’re the master here. I’m nothing more than a servant and…”
“Where’s your servant?” I continued.
He sighed. “If you know all that, I suppose that means that you’re my rival now. Why? Why did you form a contract?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t the slightest clue. I was putting stuff away in the storage shed when a big circle appeared in front of me, and there were all these masked people with dark skin and black cloaks in front of me.”
He snapped his finger, and a pale woman walked in. She had a bow draped on her back, along with a quiver filled to the brim with arrows.
The instant she saw me, she notched an arrow in her bow and aimed it straight at my chest. I held my hands up, knowing full well that if she unleashed that arrow, there was no way it would miss.
“Hold, Archer,” said Mark, holding his hand up. He turned to me. “We don’t know what his goal is in telling us this. So, Nate, why are you revealing yourself to me? If you know about me being a master, then you’re either challenging me to a fight, or want to team up.”
“It’s the latter,” I said.
A smile formed on his face. “And why should I believe that?”
Great, it wasn’t going to be easy to convince him. If it was, then the situation would’ve been tenuous at best. Now I know if I convince him, he’d trust me with all his heart and soul until the last day of the battle.
“We have the same wish,” I said.
“How do you know that?”
“You wish for your sister’s health, right? I mean, is there anything else more important than that to you in the world?”
He cast his eyes aside. “Well, in a way, yes. But, that’s irrelevant. Continue.”
I was curious on what he meant, but with Archer’s (for lack of a better name) bow pointed at me, I really didn’t want to push the matter. “I wish for her health too,” I said. “I don’t…” No, I couldn’t tell him that I love her. He might go into a brotherly panic and order my death on the spot. “I don’t want to see you upset about her anymore.”
He got up out of his chair and lowered his arm. The archer lowered her bow and sheathed it behind her back. “Very well,” he said. “An alliance then? We’ll fight together until the end, and then the best one of us will win and get her healthy again, all right?” He held out his hand.
I grabbed it and patted his back. “An alliance indeed!”
I waved to the coat rack, and the female assassin walked out. She turned to look around the room awkwardly, as if she wasn’t used to these sorts of situations.
“Assassin?” asked the archer.
My servant bowed. “A pleasure to meet you, Archer.”
“Why don’t you call each other by your names?” I asked. “I mean, wouldn’t it be easier to introduce yourselves by name instead of class?”
Mark burst out in laughter. “You really aren’t used to this world at all, are you?” he asked. “I guess you really weren’t a mage but the random person chosen to participate.”
I cocked my head. “What do you mean? They told me enough and…”
“The servants are heroes from the past, present, future, or even fiction. If you know their identity, you know their strengths, their weaknesses, and even their special abilities. It’s the most guarded secret of the holy grail war.”
I smiled. “Then you really are an ally.”
“I told you I would be.”
The window opened, and a male assassin crawled in. He bowed to the archer, but there was no need for a greeting. After all, the assassins are all connected by mind. “I finished my reconnaissance,” he said. “The master of the saber class servant is the pastor at the local church.”
“The church?” asked Mark. “That’s impossible! They’re supposed to be neutral overseers in this fight!”
“It’s happened once, it can happen again,” said the male assassin. “Saber seems to be a real feisty one as well.”
Another female assassin crawled in after. “The master of lancer has been discovered,” she said. “The English teacher at this school is commanding him. He seems to be a very large man, to the point where I’d say he’s almost mountainous. We should probably avoid him until the end.”
Mark lay back on his bed. “So assassin, archer, lancer, and saber. You discovered them the first day you became a master, and it took me close to a month to find rider.” He clenched his fist. “Why do you have all the luck?”
“What are the other two servants?” I asked.
“Berserker and caster. Caster is always a problem because they tend to be very cunning, while a lot of the others are without honor. But we can deal with her, or him, later for that matter. For now, I’m mainly interested in that saber.”
“Shall we go?” I asked, getting up off my bed.
He cocked his head. “I mean, I suppose so. Though, do you have a plan?”
“If I may,” said the female assassin, “saber usually is bound by honor and loyalty. Our clan of assassins know no such thing, and have a natural advantage on her. We would be honored if we could handle her on our own while you two make plans for the lancer.”
Mark stared at me. “It’s up to you,” he said. “But it’s a noble idea.”
I smiled. “Very well. You go do it, but I don’t want a single one of your dying because of me. If the situation is too tricky, run and come back here.”
The males jumped out the window, but the female stayed behind.
“Not going to join them?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “I will stay back for your protection unless you order…” When she saw my scowl, she changed her tune, placing a hand on her mask, “… ask me otherwise. And if we specifically need more mana from you, I will be here to fulfill that duty.”
“More mana?” I cocked my head. “What do you mean by that? I’m no mage, I can’t…”
Mark burst out in laughter. “Oh, I would love to see that.”
“What are you talking about?”
He smirked. “She means sex. The best way to restore the mana of a servant is a link, like any of the mages would have, but without mana, you would have to have sex with her when they run out.”
I could feel myself turning a bright red. “I’d never do that,” I said. “I’m saving myself for… for…” I can’t say it.
“For marriage?” he asked. “You’re really a pure man, you know that?”
Well, I suppose that could work. I really wanted to say “for Heather,” but he’d probably punch me in the face or worse if I admitted something like that to him.
We sat on the edges of our beds and faced each other. “So, you have the identity of rider?” I asked.
He nodded. “It is, or well, was John Hart from down the end of the hall.”
I gulped. “What do you mean by that?”
“I came back from my battle with him,” he said. “My archer really did a number of him. An arrow lodged in the wheel of his servant’s horse was the end of him. He wasn’t strong at all once he was dislodged.”
I put my hands on my knees. “Who was he?”
“Have you ever heard of the headless horseman?”
I nearly burst out laughing. I could picture it now. They fought and when the horseman was dislodged, all he had was a pumpkin to throw at the enemy. “So he gave up his command spells then?” I asked.
Mark shook his head.
“Don’t tell me that you… killed him…”
“No,” he said. “I didn’t. But John is no longer with us.”
I gulped. “What happened?”
He bowed his head. “We had our fight, and I left victorious. But I was too stupid to demand he give me his command spells. I went back to him to demand it, and a huge hulking figure was standing over his body, with a large sword in his hand.”
“That would be lancer,” said the female assassin.
“But he had a sword, so would be be…” I said.
She shook her head. “The definition of our classes is very loose. He must have sparred in the past, but preferred to use a sword.”
Mark folded his hands. “Listen, Nate, I think we need to leave. We should submit an absentee form to the school and congregate at your house until this war is over. There’s too many people here. If the teacher is the master of that beast, and you’re the master of assassin, and John is, or well, was… I wouldn’t be surprised if the master of caster and berserker were somehow related to people in this school as well.”
He had a point. “What about that saber with the pastor? Wouldn’t she…”
“She’s dead,” said the female assassin. “She never expected us and died without a fight.”
I blinked. “That was fast.”
She bowed. “My clan asks for the next request you may have for us.”
“Find caster and berserker. You’ll come with me as we head back to my house.”
“As you wish,” she said, disappearing into the shadows.
Mark and I threw a few pairs of clothes into our bags, and headed outside. Archer didn’t walk with us, instead deciding to jump along the rooftops.
“Will she be all right up there?” I asked.
“She’ll have to be,” he said. “And we better hope nobody sees her. There’s an ancient law that anyone who sees a servant who is not a master must be killed. Servants will even go so far as to stop fighting each other if that law is broken.”
“I see,” I said as we walked down the street. My classmates were all over chatting and laughing with each other. Yet it seemed strange to think that any one of them could be a master, and their servants could be lurking in the bushes waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
We came to the entrance of my house, a long gated driveway in front of me. My family rarely ever spent any time in the house, since they were always away on business trips and political lobbying. But the servants in the house never left, spending every moment of the day cleaning it. I rang the bell.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Oh, master, good to hear from you!” came a voice on the other side. “I’m opening the gate. Please hold on for a moment.”
The gate swung open, allowing us entry.
“Shall I bring the car down?” asked the servant.
I clicked my tongue. These people though I was completely helpless. “I can walk, thanks.”
About halfway up my driveway, I wished I did take them up on their offer. The driveway was super steep, and both Mark and myself struggled to make it up.
“Welcome home, master!” said the head servant. “We’ve been waiting for you!”
I stared at him and the rows of maids and servants dressed in their casual outfits.
“Shall we change to more formal clothes?” he asked.
“You know I don’t really care about that,” I said. “My parents are the only ones who demand that, but you can stay in jeans and sneakers, I don’t care.”
“May I ask what brings you here?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “All you may know is that all servants are forbidden to use the north wing of the mansion. You shall call us when food is ready, and we will pick it up ourselves. Any servant who disobeys this order until I leave shall be fired on the spot. Understood?”
The head servant blinked. “I mean, I understand, but… why?”
“I don’t need to give an answer. I pay you, after all.” I hated ordering them around like this, but from years of experience, I learned that they will never listen unless I treat them like true servants.
“As you command,” they said as they bowed.
It wasn’t until they cleared out of the wing completely that Mark and I breathed a sigh of relief. He waved, and archer and several assassins enter into the wing.
“Nate, we have news,” said one of the assassins. “We have discovered caster and berserker at the same time.”
“Same time? What are you talking about?” I demanded.
He bowed. “As has happened in the past, the caster wound up summoning her own servant, who became the berserker class. The caster is making no attempt at hiding her identity as Morgan Le Fay, murderer of Merlin.”
“We believe that she is too powerful alone,” said a female assassin as more of my assassins poured into the wing. “And with berserker at her side, she may as well be unstoppable.”
“Then how are we supposed to win?” asked Mark. “I mean, if she’s not even hiding her identity, there must be no doubt of her confidence in victory.”
A male assassin bowed. “If I may, I believe her weakness lies in her master. He is a man named James Conway, and he’s a rather weak mage and a weak master. If we could eliminate him, both she and her servant would crumble.”
Mark and I sat down in the chairs around the fire. “So, what do we do?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we have to defeat these guys somehow or another. And neither of them sound easy.”
“We’re in the holy grail war,” said Mark. “Did you really think anything was going to be easy in here?”
He had a point. I leaned back and looked at the intricate designs on the ceiling. “Well, we should probably try and find the least hard one first. What sounds worse? That mountain of a man, or a witch controlling a berserker?”
He shook his head. “If only we had more details on that mountain of a man, maybe we could figure something out.”
I folded my hands. “Are you guys able to get anything else?” I asked the assassins. A whole bunch of them had arrived in the time we were talking, and gathered around the room as still as statues.
“We can get information on their location and mannerisms,” said one of them, “but as for his identity, that remains a mystery even to us.”
I got up and shrugged. “Then let’s head to him ourselves.”
“Are you mad?” asked Mark. “That’s suicide!”
“Only if we die. But we have to get some information on this man, and we’re going to have to face him eventually, so why not now?”
“Nate,” said a female assassin, “we will follow you as far as you wish for us to go, but we will not throw ourselves into a suicide mission like this. You have to be insane if you think that we’d go through with this willingly.”
I folded my arms. “I thought you were on my team.”
“We are, but we have wills of our own. We do not wish to give up the grail so carelessly.”
I sighed. Well, so much for the idea of a headlong rush. “Then what do you suggest?” I asked.
“We suggest sleeping for the night while we gain some more information, and then when we’ve identified his weakness, we will strike,” said a male assassin.
He had a point. But then again, servants can detect the locations of other servants. The assassins may be different, but we had archer here. She had stood silently at the doorway, searching for any possible intruders or eavesdroppers.
“We could,” I said. “Or he could strike us while we sleep.”
“How do you know that?” asked a female assassin.
“I don’t, but it’s simply a possibility. Therefore, we’ll go out and face him tonight, and all of you are coming with me.”
“We refuse,” said a male assassin.
I smirked and held up my hand. “You will, as I command you to follow me tonight and fight by my side.”
One part of the spiral lit up, and in that instant, the spell disappeared.
“How dare you…” said one of the assassins.
I headed out the door. “Well, let’s go. We’ll figure this out tonight even if it kills us.”
Begrudgingly, the assassins filtered out after me. And next to me was Mark, whistling.
“You’re coming too?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Your ideas are always crazy, but they usually work, so why not? Besides, I never particularly liked that English teacher.”
“You’re not planning on killing her, are you?” I demanded.
He shook his head. “I’m a master, not a murderer.”
That was a relief to hear.
We headed out of the campus ground and to the part of town known as “teacher’s row.” The school gave every teacher a house to live in so long as they taught at the school. Some called it a measure of goodwill from the school, but anybody who went to the school knew that it was nothing more than a way to ensure that the teachers stayed at the school until the day they died.
“So, this is the house,” I said as we stopped by her mailbox.
“What do you command us to do?” asked one of the assassins.
“I told you it’s not like that. I’m going to ask you to do stuff unless you force me to like earlier.”
The assassin placed his hand on his mask. “You commanded us to follow your tonight and fight for you, so it is not a request tonight. You are commanding us as we speak.”
I suppose he had a point. “Then I’d like you to find this mountain and bring him outside. I’d rather not have to deal with repair bills in her house.”
“Seriously?” asked Mark. “You could die here, and you’re worried about repair bills?”
“It’s not like I could afford it anyways.” I look up at the roof. “Have your archer keep watch in case caster or berserker decides to join the party. We’ll go ahead and greet her and pretend that we need some extra help.”
I walked up to the door and hit the doorbell.
The door opened and a young woman with long blond hair answered, with a chest made out of pure gold. If we weren’t in school, we’d be all over her and ask her for dates. But, unfortunately, she was our teacher.
“Oh, Nathaniel, Mark, what a pleasant surprise!” She wiped a hair out of her eyes. “What’s going on with you two today?”
Mark got on his knees. “Please, we need you back! The substitute is so awful that we can’t learn anything without you!”
That’s right, she had been out of school the past week. I supposed that meant that she was fighting the war and called out sick to enable that.
She patted his head. “Don’t worry, I should be back on Monday. I’m sure you’re making great progress in ‘Of Mice and men’?”
He shook his head. “I don’t get it at all. Please, I need you to tell me what the significance is of their lives as migrant farmers.”
The most boring subject to a student can be the most thrilling for a teacher. Her eyes lit up, eager to teach us about something like that. “Come in! I’m sure I can help you understand what you don’t get.”
Perfect. We walked into her house, which to our surprise, was a lot messier than I had imagined. Then again, as an English teacher, she was an author too. The pages scattered all over the floor would be her notes and scribbles for whatever her next novel would be.
She settled into a seat and folded her hands. On the side of one, I saw the first clue of what I was trying to find. There was a figure imprinted on it, and to be honest, it looked sort of familiar. Instead of the intricate patterns on my hand and Mark’s, there were three dogs jumping parallel to each other. She really must not be suspecting anything to show us that.
Where did I see that symbol before? I scratched my head trying to figure it out.
“So, what about the concept is bothering you?” she asked. “Is it about their travel, their food, or their way of life?”
I shook my head. “Do people like that really exist?”
“Of course they do! There are millions of migrant workers to this very day, though they tend to be undocumented immigrants instead of people like in the story.”
At least my question went along with the story. For I had started to piece it together and blurted out my thoughts. I knew that command spell, which was actually a sigil. It was one of the first books I had read in high school.
I got up out of my chair and walked back.
“Nate?” asked the teacher. “Where are you going?”
I clenched my first. “There’s something in the backyard of interest.”
She blinked. “How do you… how do you know…”
Well, it was too late. I had spoiled all chances of surprise with those words. But it didn’t matter, and I ran to the back to see what was happening.
The mountain stood in the middle of the backyard with a sword so large that no normal sized man could dream of picking it up. His entire body was draped in metallic armor, and I couldn’t come close to seeing his face thanks to the bucket-styled helmet he wore. It was just like in the television series I had watched after reading the books.
“Ser Gregor Clegane?” I asked.
An icy hand gripped on my shoulder. “So you tricked me,” said the English teacher. “You and your friend both. You may be clever, but you’re certainly not powerful. You’re nothing but fools.”
I tried to bat her hand off, but it did nothing but cause her to clench harder. The icy feeling seeped deep into my pores and began to spread. I shrieked as it dug deeper.
“Freezing the blood,” she said. “Quite an interesting ability of mine. I’d say it about five minutes, the frozen blood will reach your heart and tear it apart, so long as I don’t let go.”
“I’ll… I’ll fight you!” shouted Mark, throwing a fireball at her.
But she was too quick and pushed it, and him, away. “I’ll deal with you later,” she said.
I tried to think back as I watched Gregor Clegane swing his sword around. My assassins stood no chance. Whenever they got too close, he’d swing his sword into one of their chests and they would burst in a flurry of shadow. My hand ached with each one of them getting destroyed.
How did Ser Gregor die? It was the Red Viper that killed him. It was…
“Elia Martell!” I shouted. “You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children!”
Ser Gregor froze and an assassin drove a knife into his armor. But it didn’t do much as the armor was too thick.
“Who are you?” he demanded, staring at me.
I smiled. “Poison your blades,” I said to my assassins.
He walked towards me. I had to keep taunting him, just like the Red Viper had.
“Elia Martell!” I repeated, keeping his attention. An assassin walked up towards him, silent as a shadow, with something green dripping off his blade.
I collapsed as the icy grip spread to my chest. If I didn’t do something, this would be it.
“You raped her! You murdered her!” I shouted.
The assassin lifted his blade.
I smirked. “I command you to pierce his armor.”
My hand burned and lit up again as another command spell disappeared. The assassin stabbed down with inhuman might, driving the dagger impossibly through the armor. Ser Gregor screamed in agony as the knife drove into his body.
He swung his sword around maniacally, striking the last assassin. But it was too late, and he collapsed to the ground and dissolved into dust, his life over.
“No…” said the English teacher, releasing her grasp on me. The cold in my body disappeared instantly, and I took a deep breath, knowing somehow that I was still alive. “No! Gregor!”
Mark whistled, and archer leapt off the building and aimed her bow at the English teacher.
She put her hand on her heart. “How… why…”
“Because we have a wish too,” said Mark.
She bowed her head. “I guess this is the end for me. Well, I hope you enjoy your substitute.”
“Give me your command spell,” I said.
She blinked. “What? Your servant is gone! What use is that?”
“We want you out of this war. We don’t want you dead. Give me your command spell,” I repeated.
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to summon another servant, aren’t you?” she asked.
“How? I’m not even a magus!” I shout.
She looked at Mark, who nodded, and then back at me. “You’re going to fail this year,” she said, grabbing onto my hand. Yet, the spiral rematerialized, and I was left with a full array of commands to use.
“We’ll see about that,” I winked. We headed out her door, leaving her there sobbing.
Mark looked at me aghast. “How… how did you know who that person was?”
“Come on Mark. You know how much of a Game of Thrones geek I am.”
He chuckled. “Then that only leaves Caster and her servant and…”
I shook my head. “Only Caster and her servant. I’m out of the war.”
He sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Shame we couldn’t get some sort of reading on where they were before they died.”
“Actually,” said Archer, surprising both of us as she spoke, “I know where she is.”
“Really?” I asked. “How?”
“She’s making not attempt at all to hide her mana. She’s at the temple in the middle of town. If my guess serves me right, berserker is there too.”
I looked at Mark. “So, do you want to wait for more information, or charge in recklessly like with lancer?”
He shrugged. “It worked last time, so why wouldn’t it work again?”
Archer sighed. “I don’t know how you two were chosen as masters. You’re both idiots.”
Mark smirked. “Sometimes an idiot succeeds where a genius fails.”
We headed into the middle of town to the temple. But before we went to the temple, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the local fast food chain.
“So, any idea on how we can deal with them?” I asked.
“Well, honestly… no,” said Mark. “The master may be weak, but that’s probably who she has berserker guarding. She’ll be on the full out offensive on us, which Archer can probably absorb.”
“So it’s a stalemate?”
“No.” He took a slurp of his shake. “Her master will have magical powers, no matter how strong, and will have no need to worry at all about his defense with berserker defending him. We’d be at an immediate disadvantage.”
He had a point. “So then we’re going to need a sneak attack?”
“That one worked with Assassin,” said Mark. “Archer cannot conceal her presence like they could, so they’d be very aware of it. In fact, they might be aware of our proximity already.”
I bowed my head. “So it’s a loss either way.”
“Not quite,” he said. “There’s a way we can win still.”
I blinked. “How?”
“Every servant has a special ability called a noble phantasm. Hers is a little bit special, but it’s a trump card, so I’d rather not use it unless the situation really gets dire.”
I smiled. “Then that’s what we’ll do!”
“What?”
“We’ll charge in blindly and if needed, we’ll use the noble phantasm. It’d be an easy solution to all our problems!”
“Nate, I don’t think you quite understand how something like this works…”
I smiled. “Did I ever? Come on, let’s go win this war!”
He sighed. “Well, fine. You did manage to kill saber and lancer with your recklessness, so why not win the entire war with it. To the temple!”
Sure enough, when we got to the temple, there was no surprise. Caster stood on the alter with her arms folded across her chest. To her right was a rather timid looking man, along with a bulky green beast standing in front of him.
“The hulk?” I asked.
“I can’t see who else it’d be,” said Mark. “Though, did he even have any weaknesses?”
“Enough chatter,” scowled Caster. “I’m sick and tired of waiting for you two idiots to get here. It’s time to end this war and bring back my master.”
She flung her wand out, and a beam of blue light flew out towards me. Archer was too quick, and jumped in front with her shield in front of her.
“Oh,” said Caster, “interesting. The light of God as your shield? And who might you be?”
“Those with no honor do not deserve to know my name,” she said. She charged at caster who threw out another beam of light, knocking her back.
As Mark had projected, the two of them were in a stalemate. Every arrow Archer fired, Caster would parry. Every charge she made, she pushed back.
And yet, Mark was stuck trying to attack the master. I think I knew who he was. He was that anime loving nerd from downstairs. I suppose he probably learned his spells in Japanese or something just to say he did it. If these things even require spells.
He muttered something, and a bolt of lightning charged towards us. Mark threw up a shield of light to protect us, but it cracked almost immediately. Before he could get another one up, another blast flew through the air towards us.
“See?” he said. “Utter madness!”
The boy laughed. “Caster, command berserker to attack.”
She blinked. “You can’t be serious! If he attacks, nobody would protect you and…”
“I don’t need protection against these weaklings,” he said. “Go on, send him. I’ll be fine. We need to finish them off.”
Caster bowed her head. “You’ll need to use one of your command spells to make me.”
He lifted up his hand to show all three still available. “Very well then. I order you to.”
It burned, and caster’s own hand burned, destroying a command spell on each. Berserker screamed, “You won’t like me when I’m angry!” and charged towards us.
“We’re gonna die!” I shouted.
Mark nodded. “Yes, we are. Archer! Noble phantasm!”
He hand burned as his own command spell burned. And then archer lit up.
Flames lapped around her, and I swore I could see a stake of light behind her. And above it was a cross.
Thousands of phantoms rose around her, each one clearer than the rest, and charged heedlessly at the Hulk.
“This is…” I said.
He nodded. “Jeanne d’Arc. She was burned at the stake, and the people won the war because of her.”
“Then that means…”
“Yes,” he said. “We’ll survive, but we lost.”
The army stormed and swept the Hulk up in their grasps. He shouted as they charged, and together they disappeared into nothingness. The only ones left in the room were Caster, her master, and the two of us.
“We… won?” asked Caster.
Her master nodded. “So it would appear.”
Caster gulped. “Then we need to find the holy grail to grant our wishes and…”
“No,” said her master.
“What do you mean no? Oh, do you want me to kill these two impudent fools first?”
He smiled. “I’m going to have you grant my wish.”
“What are you talking about? We’ll head to the holy grail site, and you’ll have your harem and…”
“Nah, I’ve seen what happened then. There’s a reason why I summoned you in particular.”
She really looked afraid. “What… what do you mean?”
He pointed at the two of us. “I command you to use your phantasm on these two and destroy yourself in the process. They shall be bound to me!”
“What?” I asked.
But it was too late. The command spells burned on his hand, and Caster screamed as they bound her to his will. She jumped off the altar and charged at us, and with every step she took, she became less and less solid. It was as if she had a trail of smoke flying behind her, and then she became the smoke itself. We held out our hands to try and block her, but she flew right between them and into us.
And I didn’t tell that wrong. She literally flew into our bodies.
At first, nothing happened. The two of us looked at each other, completely unsure of what was going on, but then this started getting weird.
My entire body tingled. It was as if a million feathers had been created from pure air and tickling my entire body from head to toe. I laughed, trying to diffuse the sensations, but it wasn’t enough. If anything, it was almost torturous to feel the unrelenting attack.
And then I saw what was really happening. All over my body, my clothes were dissolving. My pants, fiber by fiber, ripped, tore, and disappeared, leaving me with nothing but capris… and then shots… and then stuck in my boxers. My shirt ripped and folded, followed by my boxers which folded themselves up and left me purely naked. When I turned over to Mark, I saw something I didn’t want to see from his crotch and turned away from it.
“If you wanted us naked, then you could have asked!” I shouted.
“Would you have obeyed?” asked the victorious master.
“Of course not! But there are better ways of doing this either way!”
The master laughed. “Well, isn’t it a shame that my wish wasn’t to get you two naked.”
I blinked. Well, that was what happened, right? What else could it possibly be?
My body itched again. My eyes darted all over as I tried to scratch my itches. But they didn’t turn red. Instead, some of my hair came out with every scratch and fell down by my side.
My skin seemed super dry. I had to find out what was causing this if it killed me. I continued to scratch, trying beyond hope to get to the bottom of all of this. Yet, the only thing that seemed to stop my itches were when my hair fell out of my skin. I panted as my arm became smooth and bare from top to bottom.
“No, stop scratching,” I said. Both arms were bare, and even weirder, there wasn’t a trace of the hair on the ground anymore.
I kept my hands still, despite my itches. But that didn’t stop the process. Instead of scratching the hair off, the hair seemed to recede into my body. The dark curls of my chest sucked in, as if there was somebody on the inside pulling on them. I wouldn’t say it hurt or anything. It tickled a bit, I suppose. But it was far too weird.
“What are you doing to us?” Mark shouted.
“Oh, just wait and see,” said the master. “After all, who’d want to spoil the surprise?”
I tried to get up, but I was met with another force pushing on my stomach, almost like a punch to the gut. I collapsed to the ground a cried out, my voice in complete falsetto.
“Oh, Nate, Nate, Nate. I told you to relax and let the magic happen. Don’t worry, I’m giving you what you always wanted.”
The punch in my gut left in indentation. But more than that, it didn’t go away. Instead, it seemed to actually expand. I didn’t ever have a particularly large gut, but I had been meaning to lose some weight eventually. Yet, it was doing the job for me, pulling in several folds of skin. My stretch marks faded as my body pulled itself in, until I was so thin that I thought I could see a part of my ribcage. Not only was I smaller up and down, but it seemed like I had lost some weight side to side as well. I took my finger, which seemed to have become a bit longer than I remembered it, and ran it up my side. There was an unnatural curve to it, going in at my waist and out to my hips.
“You wished me to be naked and thin?” I asked, blinking. “I mean, thanks, but doesn’t that make you… gay?”
I didn’t dare look over at Mark to see what was going on with him. I didn’t want to see.
The master laughed. “You think that’s all that I have? I wouldn’t waste two command spells for something as silly as that!”
And then I heard a loud crunch in my back. It didn’t hurt, but rather it felt like a bit of a relief. My body jumped nonetheless at that sensation, and I could feel my back was no longer straight. It seemed to have some sort of natural arc to it. Great… And I had just finished my scoliosis treatment.
But there was more changing in my body than just my back crunching. All my bones in my body were shifting and crunching. It didn’t hurt, but it certainly felt weird for my legs to creak and crack.
And as they crunched, I noticed that my body in general seemed to be different. My feet seemed to be a lot closer to my head than before, as well as every other part of my body. Not to mention, even my head felt a lot smaller than before.
I stared at my hands, which had turned slender and elegant, and put them inquisitively on my head to try and figure out what was going on. But when I touched my head, I didn’t feel the usual bristles of my crop top. Instead, I felt what seemed to be long silky hair flowing down. I traced the line of my hair, and found its ends right around my shoulders. I cupped my hand underneath and a bit of it pooled into them. So it was still growing, by the looks of it.
When I looked back at my body, I saw just how baggy my skin looked. I supposed that made sense, as I had obviously lost a lot of weight and height in the past few minutes, even if it felt like an eternity. But the bagginess wasn’t going to be permanent in the slightest. The folds of skin rippled across my body, gathering in several areas – namely my thighs and my chest. That’s weird. Why would they…
And then my chest folds spread out, becoming a little tauter. I put my hand on my chest to find out what was happening, and felt a firm lump underneath the skin that was pushing itself out.
I gulped, and realized that there was no longer an adam’s apple there. Yet the gulp made my chest push out even further, pushing against my hands.
The folds could no longer obscure the growing mounds pushing against my hands. There was no doubt what they were. Breasts.
I wanted to yell at the master about what he was doing, but the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. Instead, the rather small mounds continued to push out further, becoming rounder and smoother. The more my skin stretched, the better it felt. It was as if the mounds had finally come in contact with the nipples and had started to push against them. But the nipples were different. One touch of them made me shudder with pleasure. I gasped to stop myself from moaning.
They kept growing, pushing out and obscuring my vision of the rest of my body, until finally settling in at what had to be a pair of D-cups.
The tingling stopped in my upper body, allowing me to sit up. The unknown weight of my chest almost caused me to do a somersault. If not for the arc in my back, I’d never be able to stand with these.
The tingling spread to my legs. My thighs began to push out. It started subtly at the knee, which became a little bit narrower and smoother. Yet as if somebody had been pumping my legs with silicone, they began to spread. Just above the knee became maybe a quarter of an inch higher, and then an inch above spread even further. They began to become massive, and honestly, sexy, as they got higher. By my groin, they almost wound up touching each other – but in the end they stopped just short. I could tell that if I wore a skirt, I’d have some sort of thigh gap.
Skirt? What the hell? Why would I wear a skirt? This guy is a pervert, and I won’t let him see me as a girl! I’m a guy!
Yet my body said no. My butt began to ache, and as if I couldn’t control myself, my hands grabbed onto it to rub it. With each motion, it became softer, and there was a lot more to grab. Before I knew it, I had a full bubble butt to sit on. I collapsed on it, and my hair brushed across my back. I pulled it in front of me and saw that it had turn a sort of rusty red, and was a lot longer than I had ever imagined I’d have.
It’d kind of look cute in twintails, wouldn’t it? Like, if I got a few hair ties and took care of them…
Shut up! I’m going to chop it all off once this is over, bind my breasts, wear guy clothes, and try to find the reversal of this curse!
But the changes weren’t done, and I knew what was going to happen. My hands shot down to my manhood, which had already begun to shrink. I wasn’t going to let it slide into my body. I was going to force it out, even if I have to grab it so tight it hurts.
But, some sort of slippery mucus had spread itself all over it, so when I tried to grab it, it simply slithered between my hands. I couldn’t get a good grip at all. It grew harder, but at the same time, shrunk, slinking down into the recesses of my body. I groaned, unable to control myself. This felt too good to ignore. Yet, it was extremely creepy to watch it shrink like this.
In an instant, I thought whether it would actually be so bad to accept my feminization. After all, I had always felt like a girl on the inside and…
No! I’ve always felt like a guy! What am I thinking about?
That instant of confusion was all I needed to lose focus. A subtle “pop” brought me back to my senses as I watched my manhood retreat into the depths of my body into a hold. My testes followed shortly after, and they began to rearrange themselves inside my body.
I gritted my teeth as the cramps came. I thought they’d never end, but sure enough, they did, leaving me lying on the ground catching my breath as an undoubtable female. Everything looked different – not just my body, but my surroundings as well. They seemed so much more colorful, as if I’d gained nearly double the sight as before.
But that moment was short lived. My butt began to ache again, as did my head. Something was pushing against both places, trying to erupt. Tears welled up in my eyes, but that was useless. Something burst through, and blood splattered beneath me.
I stumbled to my feet, feeling a strange sensation behind me. I wagged it, and the weight followed. I felt behind me to find…
“A tail?” I asked. I jumped when I heard my voice and how high it had become. Wait, if that was the pain in my butt, what was the pain in my head?
I put my hands up to my head, and two pointed fuzzy pointy things brushed them. They must be ears.
I looked over at the stained glass and got a look at myself. “I’m a fox girl?” I asked.
“Tamamo no mae,” said the master as he walked down the altar. “And you’re going to be my lover, along with Nero Claudius over there.”
I turned to the man who used to be Mark. At least, I’d assume that was him, but it was impossible to tell. He was a lot shorter than before, and his hair had turned blonde. He tied it in a tight bun behind his head, which accented his rich green eyes. “Why… why are you looking at me like that?” she demanded.
I turned to the master. “What did she do? Why?”
He smiled. “You’re my servants now, and bound to my command spells. Or, well, your own command spells which I stole from you when you turned. And you’re going to love me.”
“I’d never!” I shouted. “You may’ve given me a girl’s body, but I’m still a guy!”
“Oh really?” he asked. He held his hand up. “I command both of you to forget that you were ever a guy.”
It was as if a million pounds of pressure was going against my head. I screamed from the pain, but there was no denying it. After all, it was getting rid of silly things that I had remembered. After all, why would I need to remember my old baseball games? Why would I need to remember my trophies and hours spent on the couch in front of the television? Why would I need to remember the sensation of my chest exposed to the open sun while wearing a bathing suit? I’m a girl, after all. In fact, what was I even forgetting? Well, it’s not like I could remember what I forgot. Forget what I remember? Oh, whatever, I don’t care!
But what’s going on with my body? I mean, a good wife should be naked for her future husband, but considering that he is clothed I should probably put something on.
As if by my thoughts, little strands of fabric appeared around my body. They sewed themselves together around my body, forming a wrap-around tunic. In the front it barely covered my privates, but in the back there was a long piece that fell down my legs. Two detached sleeves formed around my arms, and a soft pair of panties covered my privates.
“Oh, did you make these for me, master?” I asked my master. My eyes must have glistened as I looked up at him. I ran up to him and hugged his arm. “Oh, I’m so happy! You’re so good to me. What would you like me to do for you? Would you like me to cook dinner for you or maybe warm up the bath or something?”
He laughed. “Silly Tamamo, we’re not even home. But you ought to say hello to your sister.”
“Sister?” I asked.
When I looked around, I saw her. She was dressed in a red dress, and her face was red and fuming. “Get away from Praetor, you fox!” she yelled.
“Fox?” I asked. “Oh, that’s so cute! I love it! We’re going to get along so well, shorty!”
She growled. “I thought I had declared that no comments shall ever be made about my height!”
I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It’s cute.”
“I don’t mind it, but it’s still only for me to declare. After all, I am an emperor, you cur!”
I had to giggle. She was really quite cute. It’s just… “You know you’re missing the entire front of your dress, right?”
For I could see her legs all the way up to her panties. She laughed as haughtily as she could. “You think that was a mistake? I do not make mistakes! I am letting you see these because I choose not, not because of some act of God! Now, kneel before me.”
I smiled. “We’re going to get along so great!”
I turned to my master. “So, master, where shall we go? What shall we do?”
He laughed. “Yes, this is perfect. You two really are Caster and Saber, there’s no doubt about it.”
I blinked. “Well, why wouldn’t we be? You summoned us to serve you, and serve you I will! And you don’t even have to worry about me wanting anything, as all I want is to be a good wife for you.”
“Don’t be so arrogant,” said the girl who must be Saber. “Or I’ll cut you to pieces and claim the servant hood for myself.”
“Oh, I think not,” said my master. “I order both of you to never physically damage each other. You’re my harem who happens to be servants, not my servants who happen to be my harem!”
Another command spell disappeared. What a silly use of one. I’d never dream of going against his orders!
“Come on,” he said, “we’re going home.”