Medea felt like she was dying.
Well, that wasn't quite accurate; it was more like she felt she was about to return to the Throne of Heroes.
Just moments ago, she had killed her Master, a man who possessed not a shred of reverence.
After summoning her, he had asked if she could summon a Giant Dragon. Upon receiving a negative answer, he and a group of maidservants had mocked her relentlessly, claiming she was unworthy of the title of an magus from the Age of Gods...
On that yacht, the foolish Magus had even boastfully displayed his so-called technical achievements—extracting crystals of Magical Energy from the bodies of kidnapped children.
Medea didn't particularly care about the lives of those children; after all, she was a witch, no longer the naive girl of her youth. She simply looked down upon the pathetic "results" he flaunted. With a casual wave of her hand, she had condensed a crystal far larger than his so-called masterpiece.
To her surprise, her actions didn't earn her Master's respect. Instead, he harbored a deep resentment, feeling that she had slighted his pride...
Medea was long accustomed to dealing with good people and villains alike, but she could not tolerate fools.
So, she used her Noble Phantasm, Rule Breaker, to sever their contract and then killed the foolish man.
Now, without a Master, she walked alone through the late-night streets of Fuyuki City. Feeling her mana drain away second by second, she let out a sigh.
This Regression to the Living World was truly short-lived; just this brief moment of time...
It wasn't that she hadn't considered finding a new Master, but in this unfamiliar city, that was easier said than done.
"Nothing good happens when you're not home by 2:30 AM."
Just then, a voice appeared behind her. "As expected, it's a golden rule. I just couldn't sleep and came out for a walk, yet I actually ran into you here."
Medea turned around to see a pretty young girl standing under a streetlight, hands behind her back, gazing at her.
"Why so disheveled, Medea?" Xia Yu looked at the staggering Heroic Spirit with a smile. "Where is your Master?"
"You didn't stab him to death, did you?"
"True Name discernment? No, you didn't activate any Magecraft." Medea's brow furrowed as she looked at the girl before her, who didn't possess a trace of Magical Energy. "How do you know my name?"
"Sigh, Heroic Spirits are such tragic existences. Even if we once fought side-by-side, once you return to the Throne of Heroes and come back down, we have to get to know each other all over again." Xia Yu shook her head. "You can call me Firefly. Yes, I know you, Medea."
"..." Medea remained silent. she reached out, wanting to cast a spell, but the mana in her body was almost depleted. Maintaining her very existence was a struggle; if she forced a spell, her Spiritual Core would likely collapse the moment she summoned her Noble Phantasm.
At that thought, a wave of weakness washed over her, and she slumped to the ground. Medea sensed clearly that she didn't have much time left.
"Out of mana?" Seeing this, Xia Yu stepped forward and reached out to her. "Extracting Magical Energy—I don't need to teach you that, do I?"
Hearing this, Medea shot her a look of surprise.
"You're willing to trust me?" Her voice was hoarse.
"At least the days we fought side-by-side were very pleasant," Xia Yu nodded. "Consider it a tribute to a past I can't return to."
"..." Medea silently took her hand and activated a spell, beginning to extract Magical Energy directly from the girl.
This was no ordinary Magecraft; it was a vicious technique intended to turn a person into a withered corpse.
In an instant, a torrent of Magical Energy surged into her body through the girl's hand. Medea was caught off guard; she had opened the "valve" too wide, and for a moment, even she could hardly withstand the intake.
"Ngh..." Medea let out a muffled groan. Feeling the surging mana within her, she looked up at the young girl.
The girl's beautiful appearance was exceptional even by the standards of her memories, yet despite having no trace of mana, she possessed an incredibly vast life force... She realized she couldn't see through the girl at all.
"...You haven't signed a contract yet, have you?" She shifted her gaze from the girl calling herself Firefly and looked down at the back of her hand; there was nothing there.
"Since we're old acquaintances, do you want to do it? You should know my identity. Do you have the courage?"
She wanted to see if this girl, knowing she was the Witch of Betrayal, had the guts to sign a contract with her. After all, appearing before her at such a time and knowing so much was clearly no coincidence.
"Though I'd like to, my current identity seems a bit problematic," Xia Yu scratched her head.
"Heh, as expected," Medea turned her face away.
After all, who would dare walk beside the Witch of Betrayal, especially right after she had committed another act of betrayal?
Xia Yu rubbed her chin in thought, then snapped her fingers. "How about this instead?"
In a mere instant, before Medea's astonished eyes, the beautiful girl before her blurred and completely changed her appearance.
A blue dress, light blue long hair, a massive Gem at her waist, and a lovely face... she had turned into a completely different person!
"Now, my name is Furina de Fontaine. You can call me Miss Furina," Xia Yu reached out to her. "Come, Medea, let's sign a contract."
"You truly surprise me, Firefly... no, Miss Furina," Medea's eyes were filled with a thirst for knowledge. Even as a magus from the Age of Gods, she couldn't discover how the other had achieved this.
"Should I say a few lines of an oath?" Xia Yu pursed her lips and smiled. "Yeah, I probably should. It adds to the atmosphere."
"Declaration!"
"Thy body shall be under my command, and my fate shall be with thy sword."
"If thou wilt submit to the call of the Holy Grail and obey this will and this reason, then answer me."
"I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world and I shall defeat all the evil in the world."
"Thou art the Seven Heavens clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the Counter Wheel!"
"Submit to me; my fate shall be decided by thy sword!"
"Guardian of the scales!"
"How was that? I didn't get it wrong, did I?" Xia Yu looked at Medea with excitement.
"...It doesn't really matter," Medea shook her head. "Actually, only my response is needed."
"It makes it feel more official," Xia Yu said with a grin. "Since I'm finally participating in a Holy Grail War as a Master, I need a bit of a sense of ceremony."
She had achieved the feat of participating in the same Holy Grail War as both a Master and a Servant in one go!
"Then, Master," Medea stood up. "Do we have a base?"
"I do have a base," Xia Yu said. "But as for that base... it's not very suitable for you to go to."
"Oh? Is it because you fear my title as the Witch of Betrayal?" Medea tilted her head.
"No, it's mainly because my Master might have a big problem with it," Xia Yu said solemnly.
"Wait, what do you mean your Master?" Medea was bewildered.
"Wait, I guess I haven't told you yet," Xia Yu switched back to Firefly's body. "I am the Berserker of this Holy Grail War!"
"Berserker?!" Medea froze on the spot. "How is that possible? You don't look like a Heroic Spirit at all!"
"Oh? Then take out your Noble Phantasm," Xia Yu shrugged.
"My Noble Phantasm?" Medea pulled out Rule Breaker, the dagger shaped like a bolt of lightning.
This was the Noble Phantasm Rule Breaker, a conceptual tool that was the manifestation of the witch Medea's life. A short sword capable of breaking all forms of Magecraft, it could return objects strengthened by Magical Energy, relationships formed by contracts, and life forms created by mana back to their original state.
"Then, Reincarnation Pandora: Usurper of the Celestial Wind!" Xia Yu reached out and activated her own Noble Phantasm. Instantly, Medea felt her connection with her own Noble Phantasm vanish.
"Wait, this feeling..." As a member of the Argo's voyage, she was naturally familiar with this sensation. "You're Heracles?!"
"How is this possible!"
She never imagined that the girl's claim of having fought by her side was actually true! And that she was that very Hercules?
But... but... how could Heracles possibly be a girl? And such a cute girl at that!
I must be dreaming.
I'm definitely dreaming.
My mana has actually run dry, and I'm about to return to the Throne of Heroes. My consciousness is blurred, and I'm having hallucinations.
Haha, how could Heracles be a girl?
She thought so, but the mana filling her body and her experience as a magus from the Age of Gods told her that this was reality.
But Medea couldn't accept such a reality. Heracles being a cute girl... she'd rather not have this kind of reality!
"Wake up to reality," Xia Yu shrugged upon hearing this. "I'm not actually Heracles, of course. But, well, the Throne of Heroes doesn't seem to think so. So I have this Noble Phantasm, and I became the Berserker of this Holy Grail War."
"Even though I'm still alive."
"How can such a thing exist in this world?" Medea still couldn't wrap her head around it.
"Sigh, if you can't figure it out, don't think about it," Xia Yu patted her shoulder. "I'm too lazy to waste brain cells on it."
As she spoke, she deactivated the Noble Phantasm's effect, and Rule Breaker returned to Medea's hand.
"Master is a very mysterious person," Medea said, watching her.
"A little mystery makes one more charming," Xia Yu switched back to Furina's body. "Hey, I just had an idea. How about I go snatch two more Heroic Spirits and have a Holy Grail War with myself?"
"Hmm, not great. Acheron is too strong; it would ruin the balance. Besides, I can't gather all seven..."
"If that's the case, then perhaps I can help," Medea said thoughtfully, looking at the Noble Phantasm that had returned to her hand.