FATE\Deus Decipit

Chapter 79: Inferno

...

Shenghuo regarded the new figure.

He was, in a word, unimpressed. Though a Servant he certainly was, his boyish figure and severe injuries left much to be desired. This was a Servant so weak that he found himself confident that he, with all his current equipment and magecraft, could defeat the assumed-to-be Saber with ease, disregarding his Noble Phantasm, which was always a Servant's hidden ace.

This apathy drew his attention to his sister, rattling in her upside-down cage like a hysteric parrot. She was drawing attention to herself, playing a pitiful part to earn the favor of her rescuer.

Bile rose in his throat, but he forced it down. In his distraction, the injured boy-Servant was already halfway off the floor; regarding him with rose-colored eyes.

"Should I be congratulating you, Saber? You made it all this way, after all."

The intruder's legs shook like thin reeds as he assumed some sad approximation of a fighting stance, "Master of Archer, I presume?"

He cracked a smile. Something in that note of fear caressed his ego pleasantly.

"And you presume correctly. But, before we begin, tell me: did my golems put up a fight at least? I'd like to know how they performed against someone like yourself- for future reference."

The boy's body seemed to stabilize, and the mage's trained eyes couldn't help but notice the thin veil of gold that clung to his body, and that the multitude of burns were slowly fading, revealing youthful, pale skin underneath. As if to add a point to his rising health, light formed and solidified in his hands: creating two sickles of gold, black, and electric magenta from handle to blade.

"...Golems? Is that what you call them?"

"For now, though I can understand the confusion. The Hebrews made theirs from clay. Through the Silk Road, my people learned to make them from iron and steel. As far as I know, I'm the first to make golems from non-solid matter- plasma no less. That in mind, I would like to know how they did. What improvements must be made?"

His eyes darted around the room as they spoke. Shenghuo himself was torn: he'd like to buy time for Archer, but, if this boy was healing like he appeared to be, then he needed to pluck the fruit before it ripened.

"That so? I have to say, they don't seem very practical- unless you're trying to burn your house down."

"Perhaps. Although, once flame golems are mastered, air, lightning, and even pure-ether golems are sure to follow: each with their own purpose in mind. Still, I'd ask you to not get too snarky with me: this is beyond our little conflict; this is for science.

"No... I think that's enough games. We're on a schedule."

He wondered briefly whether Saber was, in fact, working against Lancer, but that seemed too far-fetched a theory and was dismissed immediately.

"Very well. It hardly matters, anyway: the results of a trial are only valuable if you can repeat them."

From his boot he sent a current of mana into the paths marking the floors and walls of his workshop. The orange-red circuitry webbed across the room before collapsing in above the doorway- the exit. Steam fissed from the ceiling as two more orbs dropped down.

-

The problem with repetition is that it must always be repeated with a new group of subjects, lest the results of the former study interfere with the latter, as it did with Saber and the flame golems. He knew exactly how much time he had, and, the moment the ball dropped, leaped into the air, dealt a decisive kick to the wooden beam above him, and flipped in front of Heping as her and her chains fell limp onto the floor.