Beowulf was having the time of his life.
After the first few exchanges with his opponent he realized that while he was incredibly skilled his enemy was a coward.
Not one who hides away in fear or one that trembles when faced with dangerous situations, simply speaking he could feel that the person before him disliked fighting any battle he wasn't absolutely sure of winning.
At first it kind of spooked him off, as while he acknowledged that mindset for survival it just wasn't the type of person he was himself and he also somewhat wished to have an all out battle as well. Ultimately this kind of opponent wasn't one he felt he would enjoy fighting.
But he was wrong.
His enemy might not have liked or wanted to fight this kind of battle, but he didn't run away from it once the situation was before him and moreover, on top of everything else, the greatest deciding factor was that the Servant fighting him could be ultimately characterized by the one thing that Beowulf searched for the most in his opponent:
He was strong.
After his enemy realized the way he utilized Hrunting he ended up becoming no different from a punching bag for a moment.
If not for his Instincts helping him he would have died right then and there after being nicely split in half.
And afterward when he took out his second sword he became at least twice as powerful than before.
He had to resort to feeding Hrunting with his own blood and started eroding his sanity a little using Berserk(A) just to keep up with him.
Eventually after many struggles he was finally able to grab onto his ankle, however even in that position Saber was still able to retaliate without difficulty, all he could do was just to barely avoid injuring his eyes while ramming him all over the place.
Most definitely, this was an extremely exhilarating battle.
He was just about to let go of himself and give in to his instincts completely when he was interrupted by a cry for help from his master.
"BERSERKER, HELP MEEEEEE!!!!!!!"
…If not for the fact that he felt the link of his contract delivering the worry of his master he might have mistaken that voice as a young girl crying.
[Come here, now!!! Or I'll have to use a command spell! I'm getting fucked here.]
'He was what now? Ah, nevermind this guy is strange.' Berserker didn't waste any time and released Saber from his grip as he bolted for Haldor's position.
Seeing the urgency of the call, he pushed his strength to the best of his abilities and disregarded any wound on his body and made one straight jump to the elevated platform Haldor was on, with Saber hot on his tails.
It was incredible that he could still keep up with him while his left leg was pretty much mangled.
And in less than a single second they crossed the entire building.
Beowulf reached their position first. He saw the enemy Master holding a bulging mass of flesh that looked like it was about to explode and his own Master standing right in front of him screaming.
Not wasting any time he didn't stop himself in place and just crashed on his own Master, Saber would stop him if he attacked his Master so he just took a hold of Haldor and charged straight past the building's wall, creating a wall that led outside the building.
[You fucking idiot, why did you take us outside of all places! Actually, nevermind, I'm happy to be alive so just ran away before anybody else sees us.]
[Ok.] Beowulf nodded and started running away from the rooftop they were standing on.
The two quickly moved away in order to avoid detection. As they moved away Haldor gave one last look to the hole in the building and could see a cloud of darkish purple smoke come out from the inside.
Of course, he had no delusions like expecting that somehow the other fucker just died in that suicide attack just now. 'If he was so confident maybe he had a way to survive, who knows.'
In the sky Pierre was still following them accompanied by a horde of pigeons, fortunately he also left the building safely.
"Ah pal, what would I do without you." Haldor smiled at Pierre and his flock of birds before switching his attention to Beowulof. "Well, looks like nobody's pursuing us, so counting how our place was busted let's go find a new secluded area where I can patch you up fucker. By the way, good job down there, you were beating his ass."
Berserker's expression scrunched up hearing him say that he supposedly beat Saber's ass. "I wouldn't really say that…actually let's not talk about that. Don't get any wrong ideas though, he was strong, extremely so at that, I can't guarantee my victory against him."
"Are you saying you actually don't want to fight him again? I thought you liked that kind of shit."
"Oh that, nah, I want to fight him again for sure. I just wanted to say that you would also need to be prepared for an all out confrontation."
"No shit, fucker, I nearly got done worse than Pearl Harbor with that kamikaze attack." Haldor deadpanned Berserker before realizing that he should have expected it, counting his personality.
"So, Master, when are we setting up the next Fight Club?"
"What do you mean by that?" Haldor was confused by Beowulf's question and raised an eyebrow at his question.
Berserker blinked at him as he couldn't understand why he was getting asked that question back. "I mean, it worked so well Master, we should definitely set up another one as soon as possible."
"..." Haldor was left speechless as he didn't actually have any argument on hand to refute him counting what just happened. 'Maybe it actually even worked way too well… Bah, I'm not setting up another one after this one.'
"Let's get you healed first. I will think about that later, ok?" Haldor lied through his teeth without an ounce of remorse.
"Yeah, you're right, sorry Master." Berserker nodded and slowed down his peace to let Pierre catch up with them.
"PEEP PEEP." Pierre came down and nestled on Beowulf's head as Haldor was being held like a sack of potato and there was no point where he could sit comfortably on him.
And so the man, the beast and the bird navigated through the back alleys while making sure they didn't attract any unwanted attention.
***
"Master, are you crazy? Why did you let that explode in your hand, are you alright?" Hajime inquired worriedly after he quickly took his Master outside of the cloud of smoke.
If there was something he didn't like, then suicidal attempts like this were certainly a good candidate.
"It's fine Saber, this one is not like the other grenades, this one is a curse that makes someone sleep in a state of apparent death. More importantly check if they actually left." Kairi said as he waved his hand trying to show it wasn't actually that big of a problem.
"Don't worry about that, they definitely left. But why did you use something like that, wouldn't you also have fallen asleep inside of there?"
"Ptuui." Kairi spitted a brown circular pill out of his mouth on the ground. "Not if I swallowed that thing. It's pretty much packed with so much caffeine that you would be able to resist any sort of tranquillant."
"Master-chan…" Saber furrowed his brows at his answer but still went back to his normal way of addressing him. "...are you sure it's safe to actually eat something like that?"
"No, not at all. But I have a few things to help me deal with the aftermath and if it ever got too bad, I could just ask for a favor from my dealer." Kairo just shrugged at Hajime's worries, not thinking too much of them.
"But enough about that, let's get out of here. I don't want to linger here." Kairi looked at the paper talismans on the ground and then decided to make their exit from the scene.
"Also the other Servant was bleeding all you roughed him quite a bit, good job. Is your leg fine though?"
"Yeah….. kinda, let's just not talk about that, Master-chan. Actually, let's try to focus on assassinating masters in the future, this really was too much for lil poor ol me." Hajime dissolved into spirit form leaving the clothes Kairi lended him to fall on the ground.
Kairi picked them up and left the building while cautious of his surroundings.
[By the way, what dealer were you talking about earlier?] Once they were a safe distance away from the battle site Hajime curiously asked who the person he mentioned before was.
Kairi reached for his breast pocket and took out one of his packs of cigarettes, he usually always had three packs on him, two from a brand you could buy from any tobacconist and this special one he just took out.
On it the name of the brand Dragon Smoke was visible written in mandarin. "The one who provides me with this of course."
[And who is that?]
"Well, I think I coincidentally mentioned her before but her name is Touko Aozaki." Kairo nodded.
[You mean the one you said could fill an entire city with puppets?]
"Yeah, exactly her. But don't worry she has no interest at all in something like the Holy Grail. If it could grant the Fifth True Magic things would change, but that's not the case. If there was the risk of her participating I wouldn't even have considered coming here." Kairi as he shrugged his shoulders.
[Does she scare you that much?]
"You have no idea what kind of monster she is, trust me. I wouldn't put it past her to stall a Servant in one vs one, if the match up is lucky enough she might even win." Kairi laughed, recalling the scary scene of a certain suitcase he had once seen in action.
[Are you actually being for real?] Seeing his expression Hajime was actually taken aback by the fact that Kairi seemed very serious about what he just said.
"Let's go back to the cemetery, I'll help you with your leg and then we will rest for the rest of the day."
***
"Didn't you say we were going shopping, Master?" Hector's brows twitched as he asked that question.
"Eh? But isn't that what we are doing?" Yvette brought a finger to chin as she tilted her head dubiously as she pointed to the pile of bags that Hector was holding for her.
"How is sending me in spirit form to steal gems and jewelry doing shopping?" Hector clearly voiced the obvious irregularity in the current situation from the one she described.
"Mmm." Yvette hummed in thought for a bit before brushing it off. "But we are still using money to buy things like clothes and necessities in the other stores. So we are indeed shopping."
"...you mean by using the money we have stolen from elsewhere?" He couldn't help but give her a deadpanned expression at that.
"Yup, like that we are even helping those poor shopkeepers make more profit."
"...whatever." Hector just gave up on the matter with a sigh. He knew that whatever he said would hardly work on her anyway.
"Come on let's go, I want to try to buy some lottery tickets before going back." Yvette, seemingly not having had enough after her terrible streak at the pachinko parlor, decided to try her luck once again
Hector on his part could only respond with a resigned nod, he had accepted his fate and knew there was no escaping it. The two of them were about to make their way when they were suddenly addressed by an old man.
"You sure look like you are having fun young lady. It appears that you have been enjoying your holy grail war this far." The voice came from an old, hunched man with a bald head and wearing a yukata while standing with the help of a stick.
"And who might you be?" At the mention of the holy grail war Hector immediately dropped all the bags he was holding and stood defensively in front of his master. If this man knew about the war he was at the very least a magus, in the worst case scenario he might even have been a Master.
"Oh, so this must be the servant you have summoned, his presence is incredible indeed." The old man smiled amicably as he gave an approving nod. "Well, as for your question you can inquire further about it to your Master, but you can think of me as the host of this ritual."
"My name is Matou Zouken." The man introduced himself in a manner that mixed mannerism and the kindness of an elderly as he used both his hands to hold his cane. "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Servant from a distant era."
"...the pleasure is all mine." Hector could find nothing suspicious about the old man's behavior, he looked and acted like a normal elder who smiled fondly of young people.
However, maybe due to his experience as a politician, Matou Zouken felt somewhat…strange.
"Oh, it's the scrawny old man. How have you been doing? You sure are looking more and more like a mummy." Yvette seamlessly greeted Zouken without batting an eye as she both inquired about his health and insulted him in one breath.
"Hohoho." Zouken laughed fondly at her comment as if brushing it off like a joke. "I am certainly doing very well right now young girl. The Servants were summoned quickly and the war started without a hitch."
"Is that so?" Yvette clapped her hands and then gave him a thumb up. "I guess you must really be happy that people are about to butcher each other left and right, right?"
The lively tone of her voice was in great contrast with the brutality of the things she said.
"Well, in a ritual like this accidents and casualties are the norm. This is a ritual of magi who wage war on each other, if someone didn't possess the right mindset in the first place…" Zouken paused briefly, probably trying to emphasize his words, all the while keeping his smile on his face.
"...then they shouldn't have participated in such a matter to begin with. My poor grandson also ended up meeting an unfortunate end for the same reason. You should also be very careful if you wish to come out on top."
[Master, this man acts well but he gives me a bad feeling, be careful when you talk to him.] Hector's voice echoed in Yvette's mind thanks to their link.
[Don't worry Lancer, I know it.] Yvette reassured Hector as she could understand why he would be worried, the old man also gave her a bad feeling since the last time she met him.
"Oh, thank you for the warning. I'll make sure to be extra careful then." Yvette, still keeping her overly friendly and easygoing attitude, thanked Zouken for his concerns. "Anyways, what is an old guy like you doing in a shopping center? Do you need some help picking up some new diapers?"
"No, I just lost sight of a friend of mine and was searching for him when I spotted the two of you." Zouken ignored the slight insults thrown his way and responded to Yvette kindly.
"Then maybe you should keep on looking for him. Who knows if this friend of yours needs your help?"
"Indeed." Nodding wisely, Zouken tapped the floor a few times with his cane before turning the other way. "I guess it's indeed time I go find my friend. He has a poor sense of direction after all. I once again wish you good luck in the war, young lady."
"Bye bye." Yvette waved him goodbye as Zouken made his way out of the shopping center.
Now that they were left alone, the two turned their attention back on what they were doing before, Hector picked up the bags and Yvette made her way to buy some lottery tickets.
However as they chatted casually about their doings they were actually talking through their mental link.
[Master, who was that man exactly?] Hector immediately inquired about the identity of the old man seeing if there was anything he needed to look out for.
[We will talk about that more later when we get back. For now just think of him as the one who invited me to participate in the war and as he said the host of the event.] Yvette answered him as she bought the tickets while speaking out loud about hoping that her luck reset from last time.
[I see, I honestly couldn't find anything wrong with his mannerism or behavior but I can't help shaking the feeling that there's something wrong with him. Also do you have any clue on who this friend of his might be or if he actually even exists?]
[Nop, not a clue. Should we try to follow him and find out? With you around I don't really need to fear any traps right?] Yvette shrugged as she gave in the lottery tickets to the cashier but unfortunately she won nothing and started pulling on her hair.
[Even if a magus can never defeat a Servant we can't just be so reckless Master.] Hector patted her shoulder trying to soothe her hunger and telling her that she shouldn't continue to gamble as it might develop into a bad habit.
[For all we know either him or his friend might also be Masters or maybe even both. Even if that were not to be the case a good enough trap might hinder me enough to give the time to assassinate you before you can use a command spell to call me back. It's not worth risking it.] Hector advised Yvette on the matter telepathically while trying to convince her to go back home on the outside.
[I guess you are right, grandpa, good job.] Yvette nodded fervently to Hector both mentally and outwardly, they already took everything they needed and getting away from the place where you met a suspicious individual should of course be a priority.
[Yes indeed… wait, what did you just call me?] Hector was nodding in agreement until he realized she had just called him grandpa.
[I got inspired from the old bag of bones just now and realized that if you insist on acting like such an old man then you must be a grandpa.] Winking at him Yvette made her way out of the shopping center jumping on her steps.
[On top of it you are also a bit grumpy, very lazy, you ramble about your back or age and…] Yvette listed all the behaviors Hector showed during the nearly two days since they met each other but he didn't really take it that well.
[...] Hector was speechless as he received the barrage of insults, thinking it would stop soon.
[...You are somewhat annoying, you definitely act worse than a homeless bum, and you also….] But Yvette had ammunition to go on for days.
'What did I do to deserve such a roasting…I can't even argue because she isn't exactly wrong.' Hector felt like he had never been verbally trashed like this before in his life.
As the two made their way back to the underground jazz bar Hector's mood worsened as Yvette continued complaining every single step along the way.
'At least Achilles killed me before humiliating me…'
***
Author here, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
The battle between True Saber and Berserker ends in a tie with both parties injured, so both of them will most likely be more prudent for next day or two.
On the other hand Yvette and Hector met the old worm himself. I'm really curious what he might have been up to....ah wait I do know it, lol.
Anyway we lost enough time on these people. So let's go and look at the main character..........
Or not unless you take dream sequences with gilgamesh as the same shit. Next dream sequence will last 3 chapters.
Also chap came out late cause the timer malfunctioned.