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[Chat]:
[Stunned]: a MASTER has appeared
[Speechless]: I can't even criticize this. this man is genuinely a Master.
[Philosophical]: is that a person growing muscles, or muscles that happened to grow a person?
[Asking_For_A_Friend]: Max, my friend wants to know — how many training sets does it take to get a physique like that?
[Observation]: the person asking doesn't have a pointed head. it's completely natural.
[Betting]: ten lucky boxes says this is a Chinese Heroic Spirit. every Chinese Heroic Spirit in this game looks like they were carved from a boulder.
[Facial_Recognition]: the face confirms it. that buzz cut — I get that exact cut every New Year at my uncle's.
[Sympathy]: your uncle lives a tough life.
[WAIT]: hold on. hold on. is that — is that William's Servant?? they're giving HIM this matchup right off the bat?
[William_Fan]: William: I'm fighting the Conqueror. is this for real.
[Concerned]: Max please give William a subtle hint. I want to see him in this longer.
[Also_Wanting_Hints]: rich lady, for what it's worth, I'm also small and very cute
[Response]: scram
Anyone watching the chat without laughing had to be going through something serious.
The camera shifted to William's first-person view.
What filled the screen was a man who could only be described as a geological formation that had decided to become a person. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he was still two full meters tall. Sparse beard. Buzz cut down to almost nothing. His lower half wore classic Chinese-style warrior attire. His upper half wore nothing except an arrangement of scars that documented a life of extreme violence, each one a healed record of something that should probably have killed him and hadn't.
He was holding a wine barrel.
Not a cup. A barrel. The kind that would require several adults working together to carry. He was drinking from it the way a normal person drinks from a mug — tilted back, relaxed, completely unconcerned.
"Ah." He lowered the barrel with a sound of mild dissatisfaction. "Foreign wine really doesn't compare. Bland as horse piss — but wine is wine, and I'm not in a position to complain." His eyes settled on William with the particular attention of someone who has been thinking about a question for a while and keeps returning to it. "By the way, kid. Are you really not surnamed Cao?"
William closed his eyes briefly.
"I've told you multiple times. My surname is Wang. No one in my family is surnamed Cao. If you need a Cao, there's one next door."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The laugh was enormous — the kind of laugh that could probably be heard from the adjacent capture point. "Is that so! Excellent! Excellent!"
[Chat]:
[William_Suffering]: he's been dealing with this since the summon
[Lore_Attempt]: okay so this Heroic Spirit keeps trying to figure out if William is descended from Cao Cao. which means—
[Connecting]: —this Berserker served Cao Cao?
[Guessing]: who was Cao Cao's most physically terrifying general...
[Thinking]:
[Still_Thinking]:
This was only William's second time in online mode. He'd been in story mode for a while before that. But he'd already developed a working theory: he was going to keep summoning Berserkers, and they were specifically going to be Berserkers who were completely unaffected by Mad Enhancement. Every one of them lucid, conversational, and with their own fully intact personality and agenda.
This one had almost given the entire Trifas defense team a collective heart attack when he first materialized. The presence alone was enough. But after actual contact — after William realized the man's primary hobby was interrogating people about their family trees and trying to assign them illustrious ancestors — the threat level had settled into something more manageable.
Alcohol helped. Alcohol quieted the ancestor questions significantly.
William watched the Berserker's laughter fill the space and tried not to think too hard about what "Uncle Cao next door" implied about his own family history. He was a precocious kid. He understood the implication. He preferred not to engage with it.
He looked at the wine barrel.
The Berserker, following his gaze, offered it immediately.
"Children shouldn't drink. The Prime Minister always said alcohol in youth damages the developing mind." A pause. "Although — you are probably descended from the Prime Minister, so perhaps a tolerance was inherited. A little should be fine."
"..."
"Why aren't you speaking? Drink. I won't stop you."
William considered this for a moment.
"Since you put it that way—"
He picked up the small ladle sitting nearby, scooped from the barrel, and drank.
"—Ptooey. Ptooey. Ptooey."
He set the ladle down.
"Why do adults drink this. Why does anyone drink this voluntarily."
"You also think it tastes like horse piss?"
"It tastes exactly like horse piss."
"Ha!" The Berserker seemed genuinely delighted. "Want more? I'll get you another barrel."
"Absolutely not. This amount is fine. Enough to feel something without losing focus."
[Chat]:
[William_Is_A_Good_Kid]: he tried it. he hated it. he still wants to keep his head clear for the battle. responsible child.
[Berserker_Energy]: the Berserker's joy at finding someone who also hates the wine is very pure
[Still_Guessing]: Cao Cao's generals, Berserker class, massive physique, Chinese warrior...
[Someone_Got_It]: I think I know but I'm not saying in case I'm wrong
The wine-tasting episode settled. The Berserker's laughter faded into something quieter.
He looked up at the moonlight.
There was something in his expression that hadn't been there a moment before — a weight, distant and involuntary, the kind that appears on a face when a person stops performing contentment and just exists for a second.
William noticed.
He looked up too, then back.
"What's your wish, Uncle?"
The Berserker was quiet for a moment.
"My wish." He turned the word over. "To return to the Prime Minister's side. Drink together again. Fight together again."
William considered this. "Wouldn't it be faster to just wish for everything at once? The Holy Grail can supposedly grant anything."
"Ha — good question." A slow smile. "And maybe you're right. It would certainly be more efficient." The smile settled into something more thoughtful. "But I'm a crude man. I don't know whether the Prime Minister would want something obtained that way. Better to bring the cup to him and let him decide. He was always the one who knew what was worth wanting."
He looked at William.
"What about you, kid? What's your wish?"
William scratched the back of his neck.
"It's not a very impressive wish." He kept his eyes level. "I just want all parents to be able to stay with their children while they grow up."
A beat.
"And beyond that — I don't want the Holy Grail to fall into the hands of someone who'd use it to hurt people. That's all." He glanced sideways, slightly self-conscious. "Not a very satisfying answer, probably."
The Berserker looked at him for a long moment.
Something in his expression shifted — recognition, maybe. Or memory. The shape of a face seen before in a different era, a different context, carrying the same quality of eyes that don't waver even when the words are humble.
He dropped the wine barrel.
It hit the ground with a sound like a small earthquake.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
William startled.
"How could that be unsatisfying?! That wish is good! Very good! I like it very much!" The Berserker pointed at him with complete certainty. "Kid — you're going to be a King one day."
"I — me?"
"Yes. You're young still, but the path is there. I never misjudge people." He was already moving, rising to his full height, the smile still on his face but the eyes already tracking something in the distance. "Alright. Get ready. The enemy has arrived."
Thunder rolled across the sky.
There were a lot of lightning-associated Servants active tonight.
Through the gap in the city walls, the shape of an ox cart was visible on the horizon — moving at a pace that was dignified rather than fast, but closing the distance steadily. Behind it, the unmistakable silhouette of a rider who took up more horizontal space than most vehicles.
The Berserker's grin widened.
He reached to the side and lifted a set of pitch-black armor from where it had been resting — piece by piece, methodical, unhurried, the way someone puts on work clothes before a shift they've done ten thousand times.
[Chat]:
[Conqueror_Spotted]: there he is. ox cart confirmed.
[William_Situation]: William is defending Plains City against Alexander the Great with a Berserker whose identity we still haven't confirmed
[Clue_Review]: served Cao Cao, called him "the Prime Minister," enormous physique, Chinese warrior, Berserker class, scars everywhere, drinks like it's his profession
[Getting_Close]: I think I have it
[Don't_Spoil]: don't say it let people figure it out
[William_Quote]: "you're going to be a King one day" — the Berserker just told a middle schooler he has kingship potential and William's response was "me?"
[William_Is_Good]: he really is. the wish about parents staying with their kids. that's the whole character right there.
[Conqueror_Arriving]: Northern Star is going to see this armor and either be very excited or very concerned
[Answer]: probably both simultaneously
The black armor settled into place.
Plains City had a defender.
Time to march.
FA Chapter Status Update:
Capture Point Status Castle (East) ✅ Black faction (main base) Trifas City (West) ✅ Black faction (Maverick's group) Mine (South) 🔴 Red faction (Gilgamesh + Little Cat) Fields (North) TBD Plains City (Center) ⚔️ Contested — William + Mystery Berserker vs. Conqueror + Northern Star
Eliminations so far:
Victor (killed by King Hassan — self-faction) Randy (sniped by Maverick) Ushi Gozen (killed by King Hassan)
[End of Chapter 165]
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