Fate / Sacred Fire

Chapter Fourteen

Neo slowly regains consciousness and finds himself in a living room. He realize that he was lying on a couch with Nia sitting on a chair next to him while reading a book. He holds his head in pain and notice that his head was covered up by bandages.

Neo: Oh...m-my head. Where...am I? Nia....?

Nia was startled by Neo's awakening and drops the book. She sits on the couch and holds both of his hands. He notice that Nia had bandages wrapped on some parts of her arms as well.

Nia: Brother! Are you alright? I was so worried!
Neo: Y-Yeah. I have a little headache but other than than, I'm fine.

Nia helps his brother sit up. Just then Zerra and Jun enters the room. His Servant had two cups of coffee in her hands.

Jun: Looks like you're finally awake. Your sister was really starting to get worried.
Neo: Jun...(looks at Jun)

Zerra hands the coffee to the siblings as she and Jun takes a chair and sits down to join the two. Neo takes a sip at his coffee before giving a sigh of relief.

Neo: Thanks Jun.
Jun: Huh? What for?
Neo: You brought us into your home and even cared for our wounds. You have my gratitude.
Jun: No, no. It's fine. No need to be polite. Besides, you saved my life so I'm merely returning the favor.
Neo: Thanks anyway. You helped us when we were at our weakest.
Zerra: If you don't mind telling us, what happened? You two were a mess. If we didn't treat your wounds, you would have died.

It takes Neo a moment to reply. Zerra can tell that he was hesitating like he was nervous.

Neo: Valerie Calvet....

Hearing that name surprises both Zerra and Jun.

Jun: Valerie huh?
Neo: You know her?
Jun: To tell you the truth, we were already about her. She's a fearsome mage and is participating in the Holy Grail War. She's also suspected as being the ringleader of group that kidnapped civilians in order to use them as sacrifice to summon a Servant.
Neo: So she's responsible. Well, if you already know her, then it makes things easier. A few days ago, she arrived in this city. She didn't waste any time and tracked me and Nia down in order to fight us.
Jun: So that's what happened.
Neo: Yeah. And I'm sure that judging from our poor state earlier, you already knew the outcome from our fight.
Jun: Yeah. You...lost.
Neo: We might have lost but at least neither of us got killed. Knowing that we were outmatched, me and Nia decided to retreat. Besides, with the wounds we got, we wouldn't last even if we decided to keep on fighting.
Nia: That's when I told Kuro to take us somewhere safe. Anywhere was fine as long as we were far away from her as possible. That's when we both lost conscious because the pain was too much to handle.
Jun: But why bring you here though?
Neo: We trust you guys. Kuro must have felt that through Nia.
Jun: I see.
Zerra: Wait a minute. I'm still having trouble believing in something.

Everyone turns their attention to Zerra.

Zerra: You were both fighting Valerie. It was a two-on-one fight but despite that, you two lost. Are you saying that her Servant can handle fighting two other Servants at once?
Neo: Even if it pains me to admit, yes.
Nia: Her Servant was a league on it's own. But that's not the only reason why we lost.
Jun: What do you mean?
Neo: It's Valerie's magic. That was the main problem.
Jun: As I was told, her magic was something about necromancy or something.
Neo: That's right. But during the fight, she didn't use any of that. Instead, she used something more unfair. You could say she was cheating.
Jun: Why? What kind of magic did she used?
Neo: Nullifying Magic.
Jun: Nullifying Magic....? Is that what I think it is?
Neo: Indeed. That kind of magic can temporarily decrease someone's magic capabilities by half. In some cases, it can even completely erase the magic, though the effect is also temporary.
Zerra: That...That really is unfair.