Fate: Opression

6

Planet: Earth
Date: May 15 2020
Location: Holborn (London - England)
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Artoria stepped out of the car with a determined look.
The streets of London were silent and empty, a big contrast to the immense traffic and the countless number of people that usually occupied the city during daylight. But it wasn't a surprising thing, actually. It was the middle of night. Ordinary people had already gone to bed, and most businesses, stores and shops were closed for the night. They were alone right now; and they didn't have to worry about maintaining spiritual form to not reveal their presence to civilian and those who didn't know about magic. They could act freely for a while.
Artoria went to the center of a large pitch with a firm step, her armor creaking and making metallic sounds with every step that echoed on the asphalt of the street, observing her surroundings with an attentive eye. Her emerald green eyes darted through the silent streets and buildings with morbid caution. Bevidere and Gawain, faithful as ever, followed her close as she moved further and further away from the car that had brought them here, to the great capital of the country that long, long ago she herself had ruled as a King. She decided it was best to not dwell on this thoughts.
Lord El-Melloi II got out of the car after them, lighting a cigarette and exhaling a tired sigh. Rin and Gray popped their heads out of the windows. The black-haired man watched the three Servants with narrowed eyes as they studied the surroundings.
"This is the place," he said, his voice as serious as ever.
The King and her Knights looked around for several seconds. For as much they expanded their senses and their perceptive abilities, they still couldn't perceive any presence around them. However, a trace of prana was still present in the air. Artoria was certain of it. She could feel it, perceive it faintly; near a manhole on the right side of the main street. Her senses were extremely sharp. A dragon Core had this effect on people.
She moved towards the manhole, her eyes narrowed. "I can feel a faint trace of mana coming from here," she enunciated solemnly.
Lord-El Melloi joined her and the Knights with a deep frown. He then sighed slowly as he looked down the sealed manhole. "I see. The Police found several murdered bodies near this area, and the Clock Tower sensed the threat just hours ago. I guess this is it."
"Do you think the person responsible for the murders is hiding in the sewers?" Bedivere asked, looking at his King.
The woman did not answer. With a twist of her wrist, an invisible sword appeared in her hand, and with one swift, precise movement, she sliced through the metal top as if it was nothing but a piece of paper. The metallic cover was cut in two, falling into the sewers with a loud thud.
"I guess we'd better check it out," Gawain said, summoning his long greatsword.
Lord El-Melloi II nodded. "Gray. Rin. You stay here. Make sure no one follows us."
With a nod of understanding from the two girls, the three Servants and the Teacher from the Clock Tower entered the sewers without wasting time, ready to shed some light on the matter and track down their prey. The sewers were clean and empty, much cleaner than what they thought they would find, at least. It was a long series of corridors that unraveled in a dense network of tunnels and underground chambers that stretched across much of the Central City. Finding a rat hiding inside here would have been impossible for any human being.
But luckily for them, the King of Knights and her faithful companions were not human. They were Servants. And Artoria possessed a dragon Core, making her extremely sensitive to trails of energy and the perception of prana in the air. So, the Lord and the Knights decided to trust her istinct and follow her as she led them through the underground tunnels without even batting an eye. Her face was a mask of steeled decision as she walked in silence.
After five minutes, they reached some kind of underground anteroom, connected on either side by two sets of tunnels that thinned out even deeper into the network of tunnels. But there was a very particular detail that everyone noticed immediately: a mist. A strange, dense and white fog that hovered through the corridors and the great antechamber of the sewers. As soon as they reached it, Artoria and the Knights immediately understood what it was. The air and the mist were soaked with prana. This was the work of a Servant.
Lord El-Melloi II began to cough as soon as he inhaled the air, his throat buring. "D-Damn it," he cursed. "Sulfuric acid. This mist is cursed. It is made so that humans won't be able to pass through." His coughing fits were increasing by the second, so he pulled a vial containing a strange yellow liquid out of his pocket, and drank its content quickly. As soon as he was done, his fits of coughing stopped and the man could breathe again with a sigh. "Fortunately I had a potion that prevents the effects of poisonous gas. I always carry a couple of them with me when I'm on mission."
"This is no simple mist," Bedivere stated, looking around the fog with a serious expression. "It's a Bounded Field."
Lord El-Melloi II narrowed his eyes. A shadow lurked behind him. "What do you-"
Artoria widened her eyes. Gawain and Bedivere followed suit.
They reacted immediately. Gawain sprang hilself forward and shoved the man with one arm, knocking him to the ground just a second before a short, strange knife could sever his neck from his back. At the same time, Artoria shot forward like a bolt of light, sending a side sweep with her invisible sword into the air. There was a high-pitched yelp of pain and surprise, along with the sound of blood dripping onto the ground. Lord El-Melloi II rose from the ground with a tense expression as Bedivere stepped in front of him in a defensive position, his sword in hand and his eyes directed to the left.
Artoria readied her sword along with Gawain. "We know you're here," she stated, her voice cold and solemn. "Show yourself."
Ten seconds of absolute silence passed.
Then, slowly, a small figure slipped out of the mist that pervaded the sewers. The King and her Knights watched the new Servant with narrowed eyes while the human Magus clenched his fists in tension.
The figure almost had the appearance of a child. A white-haired girl with green-yellow eyes, with stitched-up scars on her face. Her upper body was that of a adolescent, while her lower body was more mature like that of an adult, creating an odd juxtaposition to her appearance. She donned a black vest, black panties and black stockings with pink shoes. Both her arms were bandaged, but only her left hand wore a glove. She had a purple oval-shaped 'O' on each of her shoulders. At the small of her back she carrieed a large number of sheathes that holded several knives with different shapes. As soon as she showed herself, Artoria and the others took a defensive position, preparing for a fight.
The young girl frowned, looking at the cut on her right arm caused by Artoria's slash from earlier. Her face made a sad grimance as she glanced at the newcomers. "You cut us," she spoke in a childlike voice, similar to that of a little girl. "What an awful thing to do."
Gawain pointed his broadsword at her, leveling a glare on her little body. "Are you the one behind all the murders that took place in the city during the last two days?" he questioned, his voice loud and firm.
The new Servant blinked for a second, her expression blank. She seemed to be deep in thought. Then, her lips parted in a smile that seemed almost... innocent? "Murders? We killed a few women two hours ago. Oh, and yesterday too! Yep, yep. Why?" she asked.
Artoria and the others stiffened. Lord El-Melloi II blanched. Gawain scowled with anger. "How can you admit such a crime without batting an eye?" he demanded, outraged. "Murdering people is wrong!"
The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Is it?" she asked, sounding confused. "But we want to."
"Who's we?" Bedivere asked.
"We!" she exclaimed again, smiling with a large grin and jumping on her legs. "We kill and cut and shred! We want to return to the warm place!"
The King of Knights stared at her with a cold, solemn gaze. She could clearly see that this Servant was way different than normal. She already looked like a lost cause. Then, she pointed her sword at her, her eyes burning with decision. "Enough. You took the lives of countless innocent people," she declared. Her voice was neither angry nor accusatory. It was cold and icy, as if she was simply stating a fact. "Such a crime cannot go unpunished. It goes against the rules of the Holy Grail War. Prepare yourself, Servant, for today is the day your senselss murders will come to an end."
The girl tilted her head. "Is that a bad thing?" she asked. Then, suddenly, her childish behaviour disappeared, and her expression twisted into a cruel and insane grin. Her eyes sparkled with mischief and cruelty, and the child threw a series of knives at the female King and the Knights, giggling wildly with a twisted face.
Artoria and the others diverted them with ease. But they quickly realized it had been a diversion. The little girl was gone, hiding herself in the mist as the sound of her gigglings echoed in the air from all directions. Artoria narrowed her eyes, moving close to Gawain and Bedivere and as they encircled Lord El-Melloi II to defend him from any possible attacks. The Magus was watching the fog as well with a careful gaze, his hand outstretched towards a pocket on his pants, serching for something.
"Bedivere, Gawain, protect him. I shall deal with the Servant," the King of Knights ordered.
They didn't like her decision. "B-But, my liege-"
"Worry not, Bedivere. I will deal with her in no time," she promised with a faint smile, her eyes never leaving the mist around them. Then, she jumped in the direction of the source of prana without a second thought, more determined than ever to put the enemy down.
Artoria landed in the middle of the anteroom, gazing around cautiously and paying close attention to the fog that surrounded her. She sensed a shift of air to the right, and moved quickly to block a rain of black scalpels that the enemy had thrown at her like flying projectiles. She used her sword to deflect them all effortlessly.
For a second, the little girl from before appeared behind her, holding four scalpels per hand for a total of eight and throwing them simultaneously. The blonde King didn't even blink, turning around swiftly and parrying them with unprecedented precision. The blades hit the ground with a metallic clang that resounded through the sewers for several seconds.
"Haha! You're pretty good!" the little girl spoke amidst the fog. "This is fun!"
Artoria glanced to her left, then her right. "Come forward and face me directly. Stop fighting like an assassin," she countered without emotion.
She ony laughed louder, even more amused than before. "Huh? How do you know?" she asked her.
"...what?"
The girl appeared to her right. Artoria spun around, sensing the danger, and slashed at her sideways. The white-haired Servant blocked the blow using two butcher's knives, her face twisted into a wide grin and her eyed filled with madness. "We are Assassin!" she declared. "Our name is Jack the Ripper!"
The King of Knights narrowed her eyes. Then, she used more force than before and forced the little girl to distance herself from her with a second slash that nearly severed her leg. The Assassin, Jack the Ripper, did a somersault in the air and landed a couple of meters away on a wall.
"Hey, hey, hey! Can you tell us your name?" she asked, giggling like a madman with her wide eyes and grin. "Tell us! Tell us!"
Artoria charged, delivering a very quick lunge. Jack's eyes widened, leaping out of the way just before the invisible sword could slice her in two. The wall was sliced in half after the blow. The little girl threw yet another series of scalpels, aiming at her face, but Artoria ducked under them and sprinted towards her once again, ready to assault the Servant with a series of thrusts. Jack glared, leaping into the air and hiding in the mist once again.
The blonde womand glared at the fog. "This is useless, Assassin," she stated. "You won't be able to hide forever. Face your end with honor."
"No way," she giggled "Mother doesn't want us to die yet."
From farther away, somewhere amidst the fog, the voice of Lord-El Melloi II made itself heard. "Mother? Who's your mother?"
Jack suddenly jumped on Artoria from a blind spot, trying to stab her from behind. The Saber reacted quickly, pushing her away with a very quick lunge that the Servant could not avoid. Despite her agility, the invisible sword cut Jack on her cheek, causing her to hiss in pain. But she didn't have time to do anything else. Artoria moved her other hand and grabbed her by the arm, throwing her away with precision and a firm motion. The little girl crashed against a wall of the sewers with a yelp of pain, and then she leapt off from another sword lunge that nearly severed her head.
"Why?" she asked, her voice frustrated as she leaped on the walls. "Why are you trying to stop us? Mother asked us. We're doing this for her."
Artoria studied the mist with an intense gaze. Then, as soon as she noticed something, the woman tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword. She sprinted forward in a charge, swift as the wind, and accumulated energy in her sword. The spell that pervaded the blade, Invisible Air, began to generate a gust of air around the invisible sword.
"Wind!" she whispered with a burst of prana, and suddenly a gigantic gust of wind came from her sword, enveloping everything with a blast and a deafening noise. The sewers were instantly filled with the wave of blowing air, dispelling the fog thanks to the wind. And soon after that, in less than three seconds, all the mist that had blinded Artoria and her Knights up to that moment disappeared as if it never existed. The air became clean and visible once again.
Her emerald eyes glared at Jack. The small Assassin remained attached to a wall, with eyes wide and a stunned expression on her face. Artoria pointed her sword at her. "Last chance: why are you doing this, and who's your mother?" she asked, solemn and imperious. Her voice carried all her pride and her power, rising through the sewers like a solemn warning.
Jack glared, before breaking into an amused and insane laugh. "Mother is good!" she answered, sprinting on the female King with a speed worthy of her class. He reached for her like an arrow, trying to stab her in the arm. "Mother is strong! She sent us here! She told us killing is good!"
Saber parried her dagger with a decisive movement and an impassive look. "Then I guess you should be re-educated, child," she merely stated, punching her in the belly. Jack hissed in pain, grabbing Artoria's arm and twisting her body so that she could use it to jump away. Then, she leapt in the air and threw a series of throwing knives at her, using them as a distraction. As Artoria deflected them, Jack landed on the sewer ceiling, accumulating energy in her butcher's knives.
"We don't wanna! We're still hungry!" she giggled with a twisted smile, charging again with a quick dash from above.
Invisible sword met the strange-looking knives in a spark of metal, and the weapons clashed again and again. Still, the difference in skill was abysmal. Artoria was a top Servant. She was the proud King of Knights, one of the most renowned and famous figures in the world. One who had garnered legends over centuries and stories. Her power was enormous, as were her skill with a sword. Jack, on the contrary, was a young Heroic Spirit of only one hundred and twenty years. Even with the fame she garnered that gave her the necessary "monstrosity" befitting of a Heroic Spirit of the Assassin class, she couldn't hope to match a legendary Hero like King Arthur with such little history of her own. It was simply impossible.
Artoria parried all her strikes with little effort, and used her sword to fling the little Assassin away from her. Jack screamed as she flew in the air, more in shock than pain, and crashed into a wall with a loud explosion of debris and mana.
The Knights watched the scene with solemn eyes, their minds pervaded by memories of times long past. Times in which they had watched and witnessed many legendary battles of their King. Her fighting style, her power, her resolution. And now, now that they were seeing her power and strenght once more, now that they were witnessing her fighting abilities again with their very own eyes... they felt a small, hopeful smile curl their lips. They simply couldn't help it. It was too much. And a great feeling of hope, nostalgia and happiness began to fill their hearts at the same time. Because this... this was exactly like the old times.
And they had missed those times dearly.
But the battle wasn't over yet. Artoria watched with a solemn gaze as Jack rose slowly from the rubble. Her body was battered and filled with cuts, but she was giggling madly with her head bowed down to the ground. The sound of her giggles echoed through the sewers with an almost unnerving intensity. The Knights and Lord El-Melloi II stared at her in confusion.
"Hahahah! You're strong! You're strong! This is so much fun!" Jack the Ripper giggled, her body shaking in laughter and amusement. "And you're a woman! You're a woman too!"
Artoria narrowed her eyes. This child was completely crazy. What was she talking about now?
Jack snapped her head up and smiled, her face twisted with madness and cruely and rage. "If that's the case, yeah! If that's the case, we can use it! Mother will approve!" she declared, her childish voice more crazed than ever. "Mother will be proud!"
Neither Artoria nor the others had time to ask what she was referring to with that statement. Not even a second later, in fact, Jack readied her butcher's knives once again, bending her legs a little and starting to chant with a solemn gaze.
"This is Hell, Hell starts here," she intoned with a grin. "Let's murder it!"
"We are fire."
"We are rain."
"We are power."
Something happened.
While she was chanting, her blades suddenly started to pulse with energy, and her eyes changed from yellow to red. A strange, dark-red aura of malevolent and creepy prana began to pervade her body, so cold and dense that it was horrible to even stare at it. The mere sight of her was becoming more and more creepy by the second. Artoria had to repress a shiver of repulsion. As soon as she sensed the current of energy of the enemy, she had to fight the instinct to bend down and vomit.
Because she wasn't looking at a single, little girl now.
He was watching a mixture of roaring and creepy souls joined together within her.
"Let the slaughter begin…"
Jack grinned, releasing all of her energy with a sick, twisted grin. "Maria the Ripper!" she hissed, dashing towards the blonde King at top speed and aiming her flaming blades at the neck and abdomen to eviscerate her alive.
Artoria reacted on instinct.
With a sudden dash and unmatched speed, she charged in advance and thrust her sword into the little girl's chest before she could reach her full. Her speed and powers were still superior to her opponent's.
The Assassin stopped abruptly, spitting blood from her lips with a stunned face.
Then, her body exploded into a mass of fog and energy.
Artoria jumped back and stared with wide eyes as an immense mass of glistening and roaring souls began to coagulate on the spot where Jack had been since a moment before, filling the air like bolts of light shooting in all directions. They were screaming and yelling and wailing in rage and sorrow, crying to the heavens an horrifying moan that filled the sewers for several seconds.
The souls stirred, darting wildly in the air and screaming their fury with an horrifying screech. The sound of their screams was so loud that Artoria and the others had to cover their ears, leaping away from them in fear that something terrible could happen.
But then, in just a moment, it was over.
And the souls disappeared like they had never existed.
Silence reigned supreme. Seconds passed, followed by minutes. And yet, nobody dared to move for a long, long time.
Bedivere swallowed, his face relaxing when he realized it was over. "W-What was that?" he asked, sighing in relief as his King moved to join them with furrowed brows, her mind filled with questions.
"Those were undead souls," explained one of them. Artoria and her Knights turned to look at the solemn face of Lord El-Melloi II. He was paler than before, they noticed. "A collection of Wraiths enclosed within the body of a Servant. I... I've never seen something like this before. I saw some Wraiths, sure, but never so many." He sighed all of a sudden, reaching for a cigarette in order to calm down. "That Assassin, Jack the Ripper... she was a collection of resentment and hate that the souls shared among them, forming the shape of a human."
Gawain swallowed, looking around the underground tunnels with attentive eyes. "Is she dead?" he asked, voicing the silent question that still lingered in everyone's mind.
Artoria dissolved her sword, clenching a fist in solemn decision.
"We can't say for sure yet."