[FDJ]Chapter 33: Assassination

"Assassin, attack."

"I cannot comply."

The Master and Servant were both near Attila's tent. One of them had to take the risk of waiting at the top of the tent due to the command spell, while the other was manipulated by mind-controlling magecraft, causing chaos.

They were both pawns that could be discarded at any moment. Their Magus, Aetius, who held their lives in his hands, would not miss the opportunity for his own Saber to arrive. The two Saber Servants clashed, and the people inside the tent must have been tense, far more than the previous three-on-three battle on the surface. The number of visible Servants had now become four against three, and intentionally exposing Assassin at this moment would force the King inside the tent to personally intervene.

With the advantage of having more pawns, Aetius didn't mind taking the risk of losing one or two to create chaos by force. He didn't just arrange for Assassin to be there with a dagger. Ending the Holy Grail War before the formal battle was Aetius's true objective. He wanted a victory with the minimum cost.

Through the crystal ball, Aetius had already seen the hidden structure within Attila's tent and slightly modified his plan based on the positions of the underground passages. He believed that Attila was not a king who would flee in the face of battle, but he also wanted to eliminate that possibility. As a commander, he aimed for perfection, calculating any resistance the prey could make, without any surprises.

Without hesitation, after understanding Assassin's stance, Aetius deepened his control over Assassin's Master, and the only two remaining command spells immediately faded away.

Assassin, who was still searching for an opportunity to ambush, was forced by the Master's command spell. Even if he didn't want to, he had to make a move. The dagger tore through the tent's fabric, and Assassin immediately looked towards Attila's throne.

The guards inside the tent failed to notice the fabric being cut. In an instant, the Servant infiltrated, and Assassin's movements were so fast that humans couldn't react. The command spell also accelerated Assassin's actions from the side, and the cut fabric didn't let in even a glimmer of light.

Suzuki also didn't realize that a dagger capable of instantly killing him had approached. He was still trying to communicate with his Servant through the connection of the command spells, asking which enemy Servant She was facing and why she wasn't responding.

"Don't bother asking. It must be the same-class Saber Servant that appeared in Orleans," Attila said.

The moment Attila spoke, the infiltrating Assassin raised his hand and descended freely from above, silently and without a sound. Facing Assassin was no different from being a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. The Assassin had concerns about the King of the Huns possibly possessing uncommon strength among humans, but he was confident that even if it were a human with half-divine blood, they would be killed with a single strike from his Noble Phantasm.

Assassin's hand failed to reach its target as the rainbow-like blade brushed past Assassin's black-clothed cloak.

Their eyes met. Assassin still didn't understand at this moment: why was his invisibility seen through?

"Sure enough, that cunning fox holds all five Servants on their side besides us." Attila saw the vague black figure and the momentary glimpse of a skull mask, and with the knowledge granted to her by the Holy Grail, she immediately understood that Assassin's Servant, of the Assassin class, was Hassan, the "Old Man of the Mountain."

"Suzuki Yuki, step back!"

Attila's second sword struck Assassin's raised dagger, creating a crisp sound that attracted the attention of all the guards inside the tent. They couldn't see a person standing in front of the King, only the sound of metal clashing.

Hearing Attila's warning, Suzuki immediately ran towards the direction where the guards were standing. When he looked back, he only saw a vague black figure confronting Attila.

"Assassin?"

Attila's third sword missed its target. She took a few steps back and stepped on the mechanism of the throne. The fabric and ropes that formed the tent disintegrated simultaneously, and the bright sunlight illuminated the previously dim tent.

From indoors to the open "outdoors," the guards still couldn't see Assassin theoretically trapped within their encirclement. They had no spiritual essence, not even a trace of it. If Attila were the same, she would have already been long gone.

However, Suzuki was able to see Assassin's true appearance: the iconic black cloak, the skull mask, and the dagger in hand. Without a doubt, the Servant who appeared here was one of the most common Hassans, an Assassin-class Servant and one of the 18 "Old Men of the Mountain."

This Hassan doesn't have a noticeably large single hand, which contradicts the information that Suzuki initially suspected. His hands are normal, and his stature is slightly shorter than an average person. At first glance, he appears to be a male.

"Everyone, stay away. Don't disturb me," Attila boldly charged towards Assassin, wielding a rainbow-colored stone sword, completely disregarding her safety.

"No, she is not human," Assassin Hassan understood at this moment the reason for his exposure. Humans at their level cannot see through his invisibility, and it is only at the level of a magi that he can be fully seen. Being seen through his invisibility in the originally advantageous dim environment indicates that the person possesses insight no less than that of a Servant. Deducing the result can only prove that Assassin's plan was wrong from the beginning, treating a target who is not human as if they were subject to human-level assassination techniques.

Suzuki witnessed the tentative exchange between the two. Both of them moved at an incredibly fast speed. Assassin took a defensive stance for the time being, using a regular dagger to block Attila's swings, slashes, thrusts, and stabs from various angles. He couldn't believe that Attila, who could fight Archer Atalanta in close combat, could be an ordinary human. He had only heard that Attila's combat skills were on par with Archer's, but he didn't realize that it represented not only training but also real combat.

Unable to believe the reality he was witnessing, Suzuki's understanding, repeatedly learned from the Chaldea organization, that humans cannot fight against Servants, was shattered.

"Be careful, each Hassan has unique assassination techniques," Suzuki suspected that the failed ambush Assassin was still seeking an opportunity to kill Attila with a single strike, and he reminded Attila.

It's not Cursed Arm Hassan. Suzuki deduced the true name based on the opponent's attire, which had no other distinctive marks. Throughout the fight, this Assassin only used a dagger and did not reveal his other skills.

Suzuki's shout alerted Assassin, who was still unaware of him because Assassin was busy fighting Attila while also looking for an opportunity to kill him. Since the main mission was difficult to accomplish at the moment, Assassin didn't mind completing a secondary mission.

Attila saw through Assassin's intentions from the subtle movement of his head. She swung her rainbow sword with force, breaking Assassin's dagger.

Assassin dropped the damaged dagger and hid his hands beneath his cloak. "You're not human, are you? But it doesn't matter. I will understand soon enough," he said in a muffled tone, with a disturbing quality. Attila hesitated for a moment, and then she saw Assassin bypassing her and rushing towards Suzuki Yuki.

As Suzuki realized what was happening, Assassin extended one hand. Suzuki instinctively ducked and avoided it, while Attila launched an attack towards Assassin with her raised sword.

"I told you, I will understand soon enough," Assassin calmly turned around, extending his palm towards his back. Attila found herself entangled by invisible shadows, binding her limbs and waist. Her raised sword was unable to strike, despite her brute strength, as she was captured by a special familiar of a certain magus.

Apart from being controlled by his Master, Assassin admired the magus who controlled the shadow familiar from a safe position. The magus controlled a mindless familiar and achieved a level of "invisibility" that was second only to concealing one's presence. Admiring strength, submitting to the strong. That's how simple Assassin was as a Servant.

Aetius witnessed the chaotic battle triggered by Assassin. He had seized the opportunity earlier to let the familiar hidden in the corner of the camp reveal itself and attack Attila. The effect was surprisingly good, weakening Attila's brute strength by depriving her of her strength, while his shadow familiar bound her. Assassin could also take this opportunity to use his Noble Phantasm and kill Attila with a single strike.

That was his plan, but when Assassin activated his Noble Phantasm, Aetius hesitated. The perfect plan, except that the person who should have truly killed Attila was not him, Aetius.

"In the name of the Command Seal, Assassin, cease using your Noble Phantasm!"

It was just a momentary distraction, but unintentionally, Aetius made the controlled Assassin's Master use the third Command Seal. The first one he used was to prevent Assassin from rebelling.

Assassin's reaching hand abruptly stopped, and the shadow familiar that bound Attila's body transformed into spikes, aiming at her chest. It would only take a few more seconds, Aetius thought.

"Not using your Noble Phantasm?" Despite being bound by the shadow familiar, Attila remained visibly calm. Even though she was threatened by Assassin's Noble Phantasm, she knew that Archer's original Master had been instantly killed by Assassin's Noble Phantasm.

The shadow familiar suddenly lost control and transformed into chaotic geometric lines, falling back to the ground. On the other side of the crystal ball, Aetius was knocked off his chair as if struck by a horse. The backlash of the magecraft was not part of his plan because he didn't believe that a mere group of barbaric Huns could rival him in magecraft.

With a single swing of her sword, Attila shattered Assassin's skull mask on the spot, leaving a large gash on his body. If it were an ordinary person, they would have been cleaved in half by Attila's sword long ago.

Assassin screamed and quickly fled. This level of injury wouldn't cost a Servant their life. His screams were only meant to confuse those around him.

By the time Attila gave chase, Assassin had already leaped over the fence and disappeared into the Hun camp.

"Is that all? Just resorting to petty schemes," Attila said, stepping on the uncontrollable shadow familiar beneath her foot. It was as if she knew that a cunning old fox could see everything and she threatened the familiar. "If you have the guts, come out into the sunlight. We'll settle this one-on-one. Don't display your flashy tricks in front of me. Aetius! This time, your magic tricks won't work on me!"

As Attila lifted her foot, the shadow familiar returned to its original form and merged into the ground, disappearing without a trace. Only Suzuki witnessed all of this. The guards only saw their king stepping on her own shadow, cursing the enemy. They believed it was a countermeasure against the evil sorcery of the Roman mage, and their great king, blessed with a divine body, resisted the sorcery.

With the assistance of the guards, Suzuki stood up, cold sweat dampening his back. When Attila was captured, he truly thought he was done for.

"Could it be this savage woman..." Aetius still stared at the crystal ball. He was too engrossed. After falling from his chair earlier, he continued to control his familiar while kneeling, summoning back his precious magical shadow. He didn't believe his intuition's guess, but through his familiar, he indeed confirmed that Attila didn't possess any Command Seals, yet she had a mysterious magical power within her. It was this power that intimidated his familiar—the reflection of Proserpine.

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