[FDJ]Chapter 81: The Pallid White in the Dark Night
Suzuki Yuki woke up and found himself lying on an Arabian-style blanket. There were oil lamps lit in the room, and Rider Eleanor was flipping through books.
"Are you awake, Master?" Eleanor put down her book but didn't immediately come over to check. She gazed at the flame in the oil lamp, seemingly contemplating something. "How do you feel?"
"I..." Suzuki Yuki gradually recalled what had happened earlier. After a long silence, he spoke, "I might not be human but an artificially created being." Suzuki Yuki combined his treatment in Chaldea with his formal conclusion, realizing that he differed from ordinary people in many ways. The issue with his Magic Circuits was merely decisive evidence. He had been resisting accepting this fact.
"An artificial being? A product of magecraft? But is that important? The fact that you can't use the highly praised 32 Magic Circuits you possess is the main issue, isn't it?" Eleanor turned her head towards the east, seemingly sensing something.
Having high-quality Magic Circuits but being unable to use magecraft would indeed be unbearable for most people, but Suzuki Yuki was more concerned about his identity. How could a non-human save humanity? Can an artificial being do it?
"I don't know the reason. Whenever I use magecraft, it behaves like an ordinary person, and my magical energy cannot be activated. But in my memories... I should have learned magecraft." A headache struck again, and Suzuki Yuki vaguely remembered fragments of himself learning magecraft in the Chaldea organization. It was more interesting than sitting in an extremely clean classroom studying knowledge about the Holy Grail War, without the need to memorize numerous mundane knowledge points.
"Let's set these questions aside for now, Master. An enemy Servant has arrived." Eleanor said as she pushed open the door. Outside the room, apart from the faint light of torches, it was pitch black. However, the night was not just peaceful; an atmosphere of chaos and fear kept intensifying, reaching a level that would unsettle ordinary people. "The old Knight has already set off. What should we do?"
"We'll support them. If the actions of the Servants from the Kingdom of Jerusalem go against humanity, we must defeat them." Suzuki Yuki, as usual, wouldn't back down even half a step when it came to matters concerning humanity. He didn't even have time to take a sip of water as he followed Eleanor out of the temporary resting house.
A chariot appeared out of thin air, a momentary flash of light triggered by magic. The gilded-decorated chariot still gave off an artistic feeling, and this time, the horses were not illusions constructed by Eleanor's magical power but two combat-ready horses she summoned from nearby stables. This approach was more energy-efficient.
"Master, are you ready?" Rider Eleanor pulled Suzuki Yuki onto the chariot. She stood in a prominent position, her dazzling dress exuding the aura of a battlefield leader. By following her, Suzuki Yuki could also receive all the honors that a knight could obtain.
"No problem."
...
The chariot continued towards the exit of the valley, traversing the flat ground where the soldiers had set up camp. Suzuki Yuki, standing on the chariot, had an even harder time seeing the surroundings. Enduring the dizziness caused by the rapid bumps, his sense of direction was completely disrupted. Riding on Rider's chariot was uncomfortable.
Upon reaching the battlefield, Rider quickly heard the approaching sound of an enemy Assassin. The hidden enemy Servants in the night also noticed her.
"Master, the enemy is an Assassin. You absolutely cannot leave my chariot!"
Rider couldn't capture the enemy's position with the erratic wind. She slowed down the speed of the chariot and drove along the edge of the bushes. This place was located in an open area before the rugged mountain road, and besides the wind that alerted Rider earlier, the natural wind blowing out of the valley provided better protection for the hidden Servants.
At this moment, Suzuki Yuki saw a knight on horseback approaching the chariot from the right side. After a few seconds, he realized that it was the elderly knight he had met after dinner. Rider sensed that he didn't belong to the regular seven Knights, but Suzuki Yuki, relying on his authority as a Master, couldn't see any information about the elderly knight.
"Be careful, they're hiding in the darkness. Assassin's movements are strange, and several people have already died at her hands!" Aphaf, the young girl riding behind the elderly knight, briefly explained the situation to the two people on the chariot.
The elderly knight approached the path leading to the chariot and calmly turned his horse's head in another direction, giving chase. He gradually caught up with Rider's chariot.
The exact location of the ambush from Assassin was unknown, but both knights had a general sense of her position. As long as Assassin dared to fight or reveal herself, she would quickly be surrounded by the two Servants.
The hidden Assassin in the night also sensed the intentions of the two Servants. She ascended in height and took advantage of the situation to change direction. She hovered in mid-air, her eyes beneath the white cloth fixed on the two human Masters protected by the Servants.
Several sharp knives appeared from the sky and, in the next moment, swept across the chariot and the horses, leaving a trail of blood as they embedded themselves in the grass behind the two Servants.
Just as Eleanor and the elderly knight looked up in the direction of the incoming throwing knives, Assassin, synchronized with the knives' descent, finally revealed herself. Boldly, she appeared between the two pursuing Servants, her hands both holding blood-stained blades.
"Curse Curse Curse Mary!"
The piercing screech that penetrated their souls abruptly halted the horses on both sides. As expected, all three warhorses fell to the ground, bleeding. The elderly knight embraced his Master and quickly distanced themselves from the ambush of Assassin. The Assassin they encountered was highly aggressive, willing to expose her position to fall into a double encirclement to seize the best opportunity for a surprise attack.
"Master, are you alright?"
Aphaf, still in a state of confusion, only realized what had happened when the elderly knight put her down. If it weren't for the protection of the Servants, a magus of her level would also be considered a sacrificial offering in the presence of Assassin.
"I can't hear now. Assassin used her Noble Phantasm just now. Vivar, be careful of the enemy's curse."
"Understood, Mi ama (my mistress)."
The elderly knight temporarily put away his spear and drew his sword, charging towards Assassin. He also felt the curse that pierced his soul, but fortunately, his Master was prepared in advance and applied magecraft to hinder the curse's effect. Unfortunately, the horse he was riding didn't have such protection and had likely already perished.
On the other side, the chariot came to an abrupt stop. Eleanor immediately retracted the reins and summoned two new illusionary horses composed of magical energy. It was rare to encounter an Assassin capable of area attacks. She had initially thought it would be a Hassan-type Assassin wearing a cloak, but based on the current situation, the opponent was not a Hassan.
"Master, are you alright?"
The chariot shielded Suzuki Yuki from the relatively low-level curse. Suzuki Yuki covered his ears, unable to hear the cries of his Servant. Enduring the pain in his head and ears, he looked up in the direction where Assassin appeared. He saw the terrifying white Assassin enveloped in a curse-like power. If it weren't for the faint glimpse of the panel data of the figure, Suzuki Yuki would never have referred to that existence as a Servant.
The female Servant dressed in a white gown had her originally exposed arms and head wrapped in white cloth. Her long hair danced like snakes in the wind, and her hands with multiple sharp blades further emphasized her inhuman nature. Just by looking at her from a distance, one could feel the fear and unease that reached the depths of the soul.
Anyone familiar with occult knowledge would immediately recognize encountering an evil spirit. Just the presence of that white-clad female Servant floating in the grass spread fear and curses as if the Servant was entirely composed of these negative emotions.
The screeching sound echoed once again. The elderly knight endured the noise from Assassin's Noble Phantasm and charged to a position less than 2 meters away. He thrust his drawn sword directly at the female Servant's chest.
Assassin floated away in a bizarre posture, avoiding a confrontation with the elderly knight's sword. In the next moment, Assassin disappeared on the spot and released multiple throwing knives, scattering them in all directions.
"Master, can you discern the true name of the opponent?" Rider Eleanor stood guard by the chariot, not daring to move far from Suzuki Yuki without knowing the details of Assassin.
Suzuki Yuki, enduring the discomfort caused by the fear, although he couldn't hear his Servant's voice clearly, had already been contemplating the true identity of the Assassin who launched the surprise attack. A female in the form of an evil spirit...
Suzuki Yuki suddenly remembered the words Assasin uttered when she appeared, the true name liberation before activating the Noble Phantasm, "Curse, curse, curse, Mary?"
"Mary? Master, are you referring to Bloody Mary, one of the queens in English history?" Eleanor, relying on the knowledge granted by the Holy Grail, had a rough understanding of some future common knowledge. Little did she expect that someone in the future would accomplish things she could never achieve in her lifetime.
Eleanor watched as the throwing knives scattered around, causing no harm to the charging knight but managing to reach behind him. Assassin reappeared and moved towards the Master of the elderly knight, Aphaf. "It seems somewhat possible... Assassin possesses a similar ability to my 'Crown of the Queen,' but her level is exceptionally low."
Suzuki Yuki finally recovered from the dizziness. He heard the information provided by his Servant and various famous female monarchs or ruling queens from history gradually flashed through his mind. Mary I (Bloody Mary) was the first suspect, but the whispered voice during the activation of the Noble Phantasm sounded more like a curse on Mary.
"Curse, Mary, throne, evil spirit..." Combining the only clues with the eerie form of the Assassin that Suzuki Yuki witnessed, another possibility emerged in his mind. Although Chaldea only vaguely recorded information about Bloody Mary's Servant, during the history lessons, they mentioned a tragic woman known as the "Nine Days' Queen." She was a close relative of Bloody Mary and was executed after her failed attempt to claim the throne.
Examining the unremarkable panel attributes of Assassin's Servant, Suzuki Yuki stood upright and declared her true name.
"That Servant is... Jane Grey, the Nine Days' Queen!"
The blade-shaped claws swiped through the air, but Aphaf, facing the Servant directly, remained calm and used exquisite multiple hindering spells to block her path.
"Vivar!" Aphaf called upon her Servant and unleashed two consecutive wind projectiles that struck the hindered Assassin. The elderly knight turned his head and rammed into the hindered Assassin, successfully inflicting a wound.
Appearing as an evil spirit, but in reality, she is powerless in the face of the battle between Servants. The cursed figure broke free from the magical obstruction and distanced herself from the elderly knight. Drops of red blood fell as a single sword strike left a wound on Assassin's body.
After Suzuki Yuki announced the true name "Jane Grey," he finally saw the complete information about Assassin's Servant.