FSF Chapter 13 part 2



"So, that's his game!"



Jester Karture immediately realized the bowman's intention and destroyed the water tower beneath him with a stamp of his foot. Some power allowed him to freely control the water that gushed out and made it leap at the oncoming arrow.

There was a watery explosion. Droplets scattered like fireworks under the city lights. The arrow missed by a fraction, scraping off part of the hospital roof and then vanishing into the sky.

"Good grief. What's wrong, police? I'll be in trouble if you don't work harder."

Jester flashed a sarcastic grin and sighed as he cheered on the police force he had nearly destroyed with his own hands a few days earlier.

"Kuruoka Tsubaki will be safe for now if I make her one of my kind The problem is, if I do that, Assassin won't hesitate to kill her. That wouldn't be any fun."

When Jester was done muttering to himself, he realized a vital fact and shook his head.



"No, with her strength, the girl's body might not be able to stand it. She'd die before she changed "



X X



" Some species of demon?"

Alkeides, atop Kerberos' back, turned his attention to the being that had erected the thick shield of water. Seeing a man shrouded in the aura of neither a Heroic nor a Divine Spirit, he warily descended to the ground.

"Kill all who stand in your way."

Kerberos, the guard dog of Hades he had once captured, summoned through the Noble Phantasm King's Order. Alkeides issued instructions to the gargantuan beast not of this world and carefully surveyed his "enemy" on the roof of the hospital. He readied his bow to seriously destroy the building himself.

His presence is not that of a Servant. It's not that of the woman who calls herself a goddess, either. He's most likely some beast birthed by the planet a man-shaped Nemean lion.

Remembering the lion to which the hide that covered his own face had belonged, Alkeides further heightened his vigilance. He was wondering if he should materialize anything else with King's Order when a light impact ran across his back. Of course, it only felt light to Alkeides  properly speaking, the impact had enough force to pierce through the body of an armored car.

The thing that the Nemean lion's skin deflected was a spear hurled by one one of the police officers.

" Damn it Shrugging it off's not fair This again?! Why? Why the hell? Are you another one of those Dead Apostles or whatever, you bastard ?!"

As if in answer to the officer's scream, the rest of the nearby force poured out what seemed to be ranged Noble Phantasms one after another.

" Dull."

Alkeides swatted them aside with his bow. The shot he fired through the gaps between them produced another crater in the road.

What is Kerberos doing?

Despite the fact that he had just given the order to kill, the police force's numbers showed no sign of decreasing. In fact, they seemed to be growing.

" What?"

Alkeides realized that there were indeed more police officers than there had been. Moreover, Kerberos was indeed doing as Alkeides had ordered it. There were several human bodies in each of its three mouths. More than a dozen officers were pinned beneath its feet. And yet, they still resisted.

It appeared that the officers had also noticed something unusual about the scene.

"H-hey "

" Who are those guys getting eaten?"

Alkeides heard the confused murmurs and furrowed his brows. Then

Another dozen or so officers appeared before his eyes and immediately leapt at Kerberos. They did not appear to have any weapons that could be Noble Phantasms. They rushed to challenge Kerberos with nothing but pistols and batons. It was almost as if they wanted to be the first to be eaten.

"Absurd "

There's nothing absurd about it."

Alkeides turned at a voice from behind him. There stood a perfectly ordinary police officer, watching countless identical authors be devoured. He spoke with a grin heavy with madness.

"I am originally a criminal who claimed to come from Hell, a murderous fiend whose sins are beyond redemption.



"Being continually gnawed on by the hound of Hades suits me perfectly."



The officer squared off against Alkeides as he spoke. Armed with nothing but an ordinary pistol and baton, against a fiend more vicious than Kerberos.

"I doubt it, but, seeing as you're accompanied by that devil-dog of the underworld, I don't suppose that Hades himself can have manifested?"

In an instant, dark fury shrouded Alkeides. He addressed the officer in a voice thick with hate.

"Weakling No matter how much mightier than yourself I appear, do not group me with those fools, the gods. If you commit the same mistake again, your reward shall be more profound than death."

"I hoped to sound you out," the officer replied with a fearless grin. "I apologize if I have committed an indiscretion. I see. It appears that you are indeed no god. If you were a relation of a god, I might have been able to force cause and effect together and become you "

" ?"

"But it seems that I can't. Still I've grasped your essence. Factoring in Kerberos and your hatred of the gods, I can make a rough guess at your identity. A great hero who has denied the gods, although I suspect their blood once ran in your veins."

It seemed that the officer had, by some means, probed into Alkeides Saint Graph. And despite knowing Alkeides' strength, the thing in the form of a police officer still leapt at him, weapons ready.

"Then I shall treat you as a human and kill you as a human!"



X X



"It's not an illusion. What is it ? Solid bodies are actually appearing and being eaten by Kerberos."

Watching the scene unfolding on the street below, Jester furrowed his brows.

The mystery police officers had appeared just when he was wondering whether to mount a serious counter attack or to abduct Tsubaki and make his escape. At first, they had made for Kerberos, identical officers appearing one after another and keeping Kerberos' claws and mouths in a state of saturation. Now they were attack the unnatural bowman as well, swelling their numbers as they continued the fight.

"Is there a Heroic Spirit like that ? What country's hero could it be ?"



X X



What am I looking at?

John Wingard, member of Clan Calatin, had only just obtained his new prosthetic hand. What he saw was a police officer who looked identical to him.

But that officer wasn't one of his comrades. He was appearing around the bowman, being struck down, disappearing, and then appearing again unscathed and unnoticed. No matter how many times his body was twisted apart or pierced with arrows, the same officer continued to challenge the Heroic Spirit.

Watching him, John returned to his senses.

What am I spacing out for? I've got to hurry and back him

He was about to run in when someone laid a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. When he turned to look, he found a man with the same face as the officer who was fighting the bowman.

"That's my 'prey'; hands off. Fall back to somewhere safe."

"B-but "

"Your job is protecting Kuruoka Tsubaki. Don't waste my Master's resolve."

Hearing that, John understood. This man was that young man called Flat's Servant. John did not know what kind of being he was, but perhaps he should leave this place to him.

Just as John and the other officers were starting to think that, the bowman opening his mouth.



"Weakling tell me your name."



At that, the officer took a step back and replied with a broad grin.

"I have no name."

Before they knew it, there were two of the officer. Both spoke with the same voice.

"Great hero, being who lives on in myths of the Age of the Gods, changing your form and refining you great deeds with the ages, I, who am but an insignificant criminal, have but one thing I can say to you."

The officers multiplied again. Four of them now declared to the bowman from four sides.

"I suppose you have fitting reasons for your resolve However, if you say that you will deny the power of the gods with it! If you try to deny and abandon all the gods' deeds, evil and good alike!"

The eight "somethings" had taken a variety of forms besides police officers. Their shouts echoed on the city street.

" However mighty you are, you are now, as you wished, a 'human.'"

Sixteen bellows addressed the bowman's soul.

"Hero who has fallen to become a rogue, to become human! No matter how great a hero you are! Even if you have the power to destroy the world!"

Just when it seemed that thirty-two fearless grins ringed in the bowman all the figures vanished, as if they had been absorbed back into the first one.

"As long as your essence is human you will fall victim to a mere powerless 'killer.'"



Then, before the eyes of the police and the reddish-brown bowman the nameless Berserker  the murderous fiend Jack the Ripper  shouted the name of the Noble Phantasm whose release should lay bare his own essence and end the life of a great hero.



"From Hell!"



Then, in the gap between the hospital and the church, hell on earth was made manifest.



X X



"It can't be It can't be, can it?! Is that what it is?!"

On the roof, Jester's eyes sparkled as he flashed a pleasantly surprised smile.

"Jack Jack, Jack, Jack! Jack the Ripper!"

Jester had drawn that conclusion from the fact that the Servant had called himself a "killer" and the name of the Noble Phantasm he had shouted.

Looking at the "world" that had just begun to unfold before his eyes, Jester shouted in frustration with an ecstatic grin on his face.

"Oh! Oh! Beautiful Assassin, why aren't you here?! Why aren't you seeing this with me?!"

He almost used a Command Seal in spite of himself, but the desire deep in his guts allowed him to barely hold onto his reason.

"N-no, I can't waste any more Command Seals. No matter what, I have to save two to make her fall into despair and finally commit double suicide with me "

When he was done moaning in apparently heartfelt regret, he turned defiant and shouted:

"Then I'll burn this scene into my eyes! I'll tell her later!"

He went on to make the praises of Jack the Ripper resound across the hospital roof.

"Oh, Jack! Jack! Jack! The world's most impure thrill seeker! Pure demon raised by human delusions!"

Jester, a hematophage, went on extolling a worn out urban legend, spreading his arms and spinning with supreme delight on his face.

"You scrap of folklore that filled the night with terror despite being a powerless anti-hero! You personification of viciousness spread fear through the world at speeds that even that Wallachian Night can't match! No, show me! Will you crumble pitifully in the face of a true legend, or will you score a blow as the new darkness?



"This is what makes the world so fun! O beautiful Assassin, I dedicate this comical hell to you!"