"Ahhh…" I let out a sigh of relief — finally!
Slowly I put the knife on the floor, then one by one pull off the gloves until on the back of my left hand I find strange red swirls that form a pattern. Hmm, three swirls — three command seals.
"Heh, finally! Command seals." I slowly stand up, straighten, and turn around. "Yes, I am."
My gaze falls on a dark figure in a tattered cloak towering a head above me with a skull mask on his face.
"Hmmm." For a few seconds we examine each other, because my gear is similar — black hooded jacket down to the eyes and a simple black cloth mask.
"Hmmm." My Servant makes the same sound.
"Let me guess. Assassin?" I tilt my head to the side and look at him again — well, I'm not really surprised. "Hmm, Hassan, I suppose?"
"You know me?" He seems surprised.
"More like guessed." There seem to be several different ones, and this one looks like the one I remember from the previous war — could it be the Hundred-Faced one? But I won't ask; if I'm wrong, he might get offended. And I don't need that. "Maybe introduce yourself? I'm Akihiro Yamagi, ugh, apparently a serial killer now."
"Hassan of the Hundred Faces, Master." Hassan bowed slightly.
"Oh wow, so you were in the previous war? Won't you tell me a bit about it?" So I guessed right, ugh, bad. He already lost once.
"Was I in the previous war?" He seems surprised.
"You don't remember?" Now I'm surprised — is my knowledge wrong? Or does he not remember because he died then?
"No, this is my first Holy Grail War." Hassan.
"Hmmm, okay, let's forget about that for now. Maybe I really was mistaken. Will you tell me what your abilities are? In more detail — I need to know what you're capable of." I don't need awkward questions from him; I need to distract him.
"Very well. Minor magic resistance — spells with fewer than three verses don't affect me. Presence concealment — most methods cannot detect me. On the edge — mental attacks do not affect me. Enhanced perception — I can see farther and notice the hidden. Wind resistance — wind attacks and wind magic do not affect me. Master of traps — I can set and detect any traps. And Noble Phantasm — Phantasm of One Hundred Personas." A small girl who looks about 14 appears next to Hassan, in the same kind of cloak.
"Okay…" Sounds not bad. Looking at the girl, I ask a question. "And what can you do?"
"Of course, big brother! Minor magic resista…" She repeats almost the same as the first one.
The only difference I noticed was that instead of "master of traps" she said "Cutie," which made my eye twitch. "Cutie?"
"Yes, big brother." And she did a "cute" pose.
My eye twitched harder. Well, in theory she can be used to lure pedophiles — I tried to find a positive side. "Okay, and how strong are you physically?"
"Are you stupid, big brother?" The girl pouted.
I silently shifted my gaze to the first Hassan.
"She's as strong as a 14-year-old girl." He shrugged. "Her specialty is being cute."
My second eye started twitching. "Let me guess, and you're as strong as a regular trained human?"
"Yes, I'm a master of traps." Hassan answered calmly, apparently not seeing the problem.
Okay, I think I'm starting to understand something. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have 100 personas and the only difference between them is specialization? But in terms of strength you don't surpass an ordinary human of the same age?"
"Hmm, among us there is a strongman and an acrobat, but otherwise yes. You're right, big brother!" The little one continued to destroy my mental peace.
"How many personas can you summon at once?" Well, maybe at least in a crowd they can overwhelm — no wonder he's the Hundred-Faced one.
"12." Hassan.
"12? Why only 12?" If the anime didn't lie to me, there were almost all 100!
"You're weak, big brother! Not enough prana." Another blow to my state from the little one.
I'm starting to think she's doing it on purpose, but right now I need to focus on business. "Does switching personas require energy? And what happens when one of them dies? Do you recover?"
"No energy required; we are only limited by the number based on the Master's strength. Hmm, yes, we recover once per day." Hassan.
"Okay, good. Dismiss Cutie. And summon each one in turn, one at a time. Let them state their specialization." Well, in theory it's not so bad yet; the main thing is to use them correctly. There are no bad subordinates, only bad leaders — in theory.
And the conveyor started: Strongman, Acrobat, Seductress, Poisoner, Blacksmith, Potter… and with each summoned I got more and more stunned and understood why he lost the previous war. This went on for another minute until I heard — Illusionist.
"Stop! Back, the Illusionist." I hope I didn't mishear and she'll live up to my expectations.
"Yes, Master?" A girl in an eastern dancer's costume appeared.
"Are you a mage?" Looks like luck!
"Of course." She lightly shrugged.
"And the others? Are there any more mages among you?" A teacher would be useful.
"No, Master." Hassan-dancer.
What else did I expect from reality? Ugh, okay, let's continue the interrogation. "Too bad. Tell me how to become a mage."
"You can't." I kept staring at her silently, and she continued. "Magic comes from the heart."
"If I transplant a mage's heart into myself — will I become a mage?" My gaze filled with greed.
"Probably…" This sounded uncertain.
A crazy plan was born in my head. "Are there doctors among you?"
"Yes." The first Hassan.
"Excellent. Hide and follow me." I quickly rolled up my flag, out of habit turned on the water to flood the house, and ran home.
Half an hour later, in the studio apartment.
I cleared the floor and found a couple of tablecloths in the closet, spread them out. "Okay, Hassan, I need the medic and the Illusionist! Transplant her heart into me — she'll come back tomorrow anyway."
"Master, this… this is wrong. And dangerous, we are not human." The first Hassan appeared.
"I don't care! If it makes me a mage here and now, I'm ready to risk it! Do it! By command seal I order — do it! Transplant the Illusionist's heart into me!" I had already realized the approximate scale of the mess on the way home; the only evidence of my order was a slight burning on my hand and one vanished swirl.
They have no discipline, no real strength, each with their own personality. And they follow orders poorly, while screwing up. I remembered the moment from the previous war in the anime — they were ordered to watch the city and the port, and a simple mercenary spotted the assassin! Not a mage, a regular trained human! Master of concealment, my ass! And here's a real chance to get what I want with risk, but a chance! I don't believe I'll win the Grail War — I just looked at this circus of freaks and realized I won't win.
I've never had this much determination. I took off my shirt and lay down on the tablecloth; next to me lay the trembling Illusionist. And above us loomed another Hassan, this time in the form of some kind of healer woman. Which made me tense.
"Do you have anesthetic? And can you even pull off the operation?" I remembered this a bit late.
"I can. The alchemist has it. Do you need sleeping pills?" She was laconic.
"Yes, because I'll die for a moment anyway — you can't live without a heart. Summon the alchemist too, let him help." Immediately another Hassan appeared next to us in a lab coat and a towel on his head. "Begin."
I could have asked her about magic and how to use it, but why waste time? She'll come back tomorrow anyway and can teach me — if I survive. And if I don't survive, there's no point in prolonging it. They gave me two vials of murky liquid, which I downed in one gulp — and then there was darkness. My last thought was — I was too biased; the alchemist is actually pretty useful.