"It's really ugly."
In the shadow of the altar entrance, Semiramis crossed her arms over her chest, her long eyebrows tightly furrowed, as if to express her dissatisfaction in this way.
"What 'Shadow Servants'? They are just puppets with empty powers. It's more appropriate to call them 'Shadow Servants'."
"I see. This is indeed a more appropriate title."
The golden spirit particles dissipated, adding a bit of light to the dark space.
Hearing this voice and seeing this light, the empress showed obvious mockery on her face.
"It's rare that you would leave that room."
The room that Semiramis was referring to was the room where the five former masters of the Red Team—Lotwell Berzinski, Kim Ram, the Pantier brothers, and Finder vol Senbelen—rested.
Before the Servants were summoned, they were fed poison and fell into a world of madness while maintaining normal thinking. They were induced and manipulated by Shirou and Semiramis until Shirou took away the Command Seals from them.
They were all first-rate modern magicians, and they had no shortage of mental defense methods. However, these methods were no different from paper armor to the most ancient poisoners. As a result, they were not killed, nor were they given freedom. They were just kept alive like now, no different from waste.
Despite this, Karna still guarded them. When he did not receive orders, he stayed in the room silently accompanying them and silently guarding their position, just as he had promised before.
From the beginning to the end, he never regarded Shirou as his master, and obeyed Shirou's orders only so that he could better protect those losers.
Although there is no difference in the result, there is a hidden danger - if his master wakes up and gives instructions, Karna will undoubtedly betray, no matter what the situation is at the time.
Before depriving the Servants of their Command Spells and Contracts, in order to prevent them from noticing any abnormality, no direct harm was allowed, and even the amount of poison was reduced again and again. Even Semiramis, the oldest poisoner in the world, could not get a satisfactory result under such harsh conditions. In other words, they didn't know when they would wake up.
It would be fine if I woke up after the dust settled, but if I woke up before that—
In order to eliminate hidden dangers, Semiramis thought about getting rid of these five people more than once. But she had to consider Karna's feelings, because he was the last brave general on her side who could charge into battle.
This dilemma made Semiramis very dissatisfied, and she naturally did not have a good face towards Karna.
"Give up, Lancer. They won't be awake during this battle, and you are under no obligation to obey their orders."
"The relationship between a Master and a Servant is not an obligation, but a contract, a bond. Assassin, you probably aren't assisting Shirou Kotomine out of obligation."
"Of course, the relationship between him and me is based on the contract between Master and Servant. But Lancer, your Master should be Shirou, not these guys."
It was a provocative smile that contained a hint of ridicule, something that ordinary heroes would never tolerate. However, facing Semiramis' smile, Karna did not show any disgust at all, but nodded in a serious and earnest manner and replied:
"You are right, Assassin. You are the only pair in this camp that have a master-servant relationship in the most legitimate way. The Master is using you, and you are using the Master. However, there is devotion and trust in each other. You cannot betray him, and at most you are just thinking about it in your heart."
"—"
These words left Semiramis speechless.
Didn't this heroic spirit just point out "something" hidden in the deepest part of me in an extremely direct way
After a period of silence, the empress slowly spoke:
"... What did you say just now?"
"Nothing. You can't betray your Master, and he has placed his complete trust in you, so I was just praising you for having the most ideal master-servant relationship."
Semiramis stared at Karna fiercely, while Karna looked puzzled as if he was puzzled.
He was indeed praising himself, at least in his own opinion. But such a statement—
"What are you... saying?"
"I'm not saying anything stupid. As a master and a servant, you are in the ideal state. You won't betray him, and he won't betray you either. That's not because you will retaliate against the betrayer with the greatest punishment, but because he knows very well that not betraying is the most important and appropriate means."
—He will not betray.
This sentence sounds extremely noble.
Ignoring Semiramis's hesitation, Karna continued:
"I won't ask you to forgive me for this, but you can at least accept my approach, Assassin. The strong prey on the weak is the law of the world - having said that, we are not beasts. We should be covered with a layer of human ethics beyond our instincts, and that is an ethics that is different for everyone. Now, it is this ethics that prevents me from betraying my Master - because this is how I am made. I will be here to protect them, that's all I can say."
"...Is that so...? Well, it's up to you."
"Thank you very much Assassin."
Karna bowed his head deeply.
Semiramis snorted and activated the space transfer magic.
At the moment before her body disappeared, she asked again:
"—Do you really think I won't betray you?"
"Of course. Assassin, are you the kind of paranoid person who wants to kill the person you love?"
Hearing this answer, Semiramis showed unprecedented panic and disappeared in a posture as if she was escaping.
Karna stood there alone and exhaled softly.
"Hmm - this way, Assassin won't have any intention of killing Master and the others."
Unlike him who was relieved, Semiramis looked confused when he returned to the throne.
—You can't betray him, at most you can just think about it in your mind.
What a ridiculous statement. At this point, a feeling similar to anger began to surge fiercely in my heart.
The blood felt so hot that it seemed to be boiling.
"You said I couldn't betray you? I am Semiramis, the empress who controlled the Assyrian Empire by betraying and poisoning her!"
This was ridiculous. The only reason I didn't betray him was because it was fun to stand on the same side with him.
If he became boring to her, she might betray him at any time.
Lancer is so ridiculous. Of course I can betray him, but I just don't need to do it right now.
Otherwise, I will betray you right now and snatch away everything he clings to, turning it into nothing.
That's right, there's no need for me to cater to the boy's willful ideas. I just need to take it away. Just as I have done more than once in the past, with words, fingertips, and sweet poison, I can make everything my own.
You can imagine his expression when he was betrayed. He was stunned and shocked. As he gradually understood the facts before him, his face must have twisted into a look of anger. Then, he would cry out in grief.
"... No, that's not right. That guy wouldn't show such an expression. No matter how you think about it, he wouldn't let himself fall into that situation."
He always looks very capable, as if he has endless tricks up his sleeve, and nothing seems to be able to stop him, even his own poison has no effect on him.
Although he had not yet used Hydra's poison, which even the most powerful heroes could not withstand, would it really be useful
If it doesn't work, then can relying on magic, deception, and temptation really become an obstacle for him
No way.
Definitely not.
From the very beginning, when he resisted his own poison, he vaguely realized that he followed him not only because it was interesting, but also because he had no way to deal with him.
It's really ugly that the Assyrian empress could be helpless against a man.
"But you are wrong about one thing, Lancer. Ever since Ninus took me away, no, ever since my mother abandoned me, I have lost my desire, so it is impossible for me to have a crush on someone."
Absolutely not!!!
Absolutely not.
There is no way...
The empress leaned on the throne with lifeless eyes, embracing a sense of loneliness as cool as a thin cloud, and repeated the same words over and over again.
"Is that really the case?"
A female voice suddenly appeared in her mind without any warning.
"Who is this!!!"
Semiramis was instantly alert. She had powerful magic in her hands, ready to transform into great magic at any time.
At the same time, various detection magics were deployed in the king's room to find the source of the sound.
"I'm sorry, I think I scared you."
The voice sounded very sincere, with an inexplicable affinity.
But the owner of the garden, the Assyrian Queen, not only did not relax, but instead tensed her body, looking as if facing a formidable enemy.
During the time that the voice was speaking, she had already isolated the space where the king was and scanned it several times with magic, but found nothing abnormal.
This means that the enemy either has the ability to break through the blockade of the garden space and transmit the sound directly into her mind; or can perfectly avoid her detection and come and go freely in her home court and her domain.
No matter which one it was, it meant that this enemy was very terrifying. Although she was reluctant to admit it, this was definitely not something she could handle alone, and she needed reinforcements.
Just as she started the communication spell, the voice rang out again.
"Please don't be so nervous. I have no hostility and I have no ability to hurt you. I just want to talk to you."
"Talk? Okay, if you want to talk, at least let me see your true self, so that it can be considered sincere."
Semiramis rolled her eyes and did not rush to activate the communication spell. To be honest, she was very curious about the owner of the voice.
"I'm sorry, I really want to be in front of you and talk to you face to face. But I can't. I'm very far away. What's here is just my thoughts. I have no form and no way to manifest. I'm really sorry."
So she has the ability to break through the space blockade from a distance. No, it is also possible that she is lying, creating an illusion to make me relax my vigilance. To be on the safe side, it is better to inform Shirou.
Semiramis responded while calculating in her mind.
"Really? That's all I can do. There's nothing to discuss with you. Please leave. If you don't leave, I will consider you my enemy."
"Please, please wait, I'm really not your enemy."
The voice in my head became more anxious.
"I won't take up much of your time, please trust me."
Semiramis was a little confused. She was good at plotting and had long been accustomed to assuming the utmost malice from others, but this time she really didn't sense any malice at all - there were more than one way to let her guard down, and there was no need to lower her posture so much.
This doesn't seem like harming anyone, but rather asking for help.
Well, let me see what you are up to.
Thinking of this, Semiramis dispersed the communication spell in his hand.
"Tell me, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"Tell me about him."
"he?"
"It's um... Shirou Kotomine, your Master."
"Shirou?" Semiramis' heart skipped a beat. "What happened to him?"
"He's fine, it's you who's wrong—you just said you won't be attracted to him?"
"Humph, so what?"
"That's not what you really mean."
"What do you want to say? I like him?" Semiramis' voice became sharp. "Don't joke. Everyone in the world is just my plaything. I can turn them into mindless puppets at any time."
"Including him?"
Her Majesty the Empress wanted to answer yes, but she knew she couldn't, so she could only sit on the throne sullenly.
"I just haven't found his weakness yet. One day I will..."
"Haha, that's it."
The smile in the voice made Semiramis feel a little uncomfortable.
"You... seem to know him well."
"Yes, I know him very well. There is probably no one in the world who knows him better than me."
Hearing these words, Semiramis felt a little irritated for no reason.
"So you are his old friend? I will call him here to see if what you said is true—"
"Please don't do this."
"Why, are you deceiving me?"
"I didn't lie to you, but if he knew that I secretly projected my thoughts to him, we might never have the opportunity to communicate like this again."
"Eh?"
"Even if you don't want to trust me, at least let me finish what I'm saying. I don't want you to regret it in the future."
"Regret, how dare you say that, you know me well?"
"I don't know if this counts as understanding, but I have been watching you since this garden between fantasy and reality appeared."
"You..."
Semiramis felt horrified but also uncontrollably curious.
"Who are you anyway?"
"I am his..."
"What!!!"
Upon hearing that barely perceptible word, Semiramis's image as an empress collapsed.
PS: I am very curious about how these five idiots solve the problems of eating, drinking, defecating and urinating.