The Prince Of Magic

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Except for their footsteps and small talk here and there, all was quiet as Hadrian and the others followed Edward Miles around the underwater base of the Watch.

For a brief moment, as they went through a long and spacious hallway, Hadrian felt a certain familiarity, one that he had felt during the grail war.

He remembered the several times of when the last day of the week had arrived, of which was when the time he would finally battle against a fellow Master, face-to-face.

The school was so eerily quiet and devoid of people, except for him, Arturia and a couple of NPCs hanging around the campus.

The sun was bright, sunny, and the weather was literally perfect, but to the Hadrian of that time, he had only felt dread and anxiety as he walked along the empty corridors of Tsukimihara Academy, a fictional place that had existed within the artificial environment called the Moon Cell.

One particular NPC drabbed in a black priest attire had been waiting for his arrival at the first floor of the school near the entrance, and behind him, there was an elevator that was created to deliver the surviving participants of the grail war down to the Arena, which was the place where two Master and their Servants would have to fight to the death.

The longer he survived in the war, the more calm and determined he became to win and get through that horrible event.

At the same time, Hadrian felt that he had lost something as well.

Whether that was his innocuous ideals and morals or his light and peaceful purview of the world being tainted, Hadrian does not know, but what he was sure of was that he was not the same as he was before he joined the war.

Hadrian didn't noticed it himself, considering as he was more worried about planning ahead of the other contestants and keeping himself and Arturia alive throughout the weeks.

However, it had eaten away at him during those times, lingering in the back of his mind like some leech siphoning some of his time and mental energy, distracting from time to time.

He had lost something, this he was sure of, but he can't put his finger on it. Not until a certain cold-blooded priest pointed it out for him to see, that is.

Father Kotomine… that was his name.

An NPC that was made to be the overseer of the Holy Grail War in the Moon Cell. He administered the local Church (that two certain witches had lived in before), which was outside of the SE.RA.PH's jurisdiction. Based on the Moon Cell's reports, his appearance and presence were actually data transcriptions of a man who had once participated in the Holy Grail War many years ago.

Thus, he was knowledgeable about the Holy Grail, the Moon Cell, and the SE.RA.PH. The cold-blooded priest had made a passing comment that if he was Hadrian's opponent, he would be dead.

Needless to say, his cold remark did not endeared him to Hadrian at all, but earned his quiet dislike instead.

Of course, Arturia assured him that she would always remained at his side to protect him, to never let anyone lay a hand on him, including that damn fake priest.

She would even glare at the arrogant bastard whenever it was time for Hadrian and her to go down in the Arena and meet their next opponents.

But, it remained all the same, the fake priest's words got under Hadrian's skin, and that was the moment that made him realized to be extra cautious in the war.

Therefore, it had irked Hadrian to his core that it was the cold-blooded priest who would dare to make him see that he had changed when the war was slowly coming to a close.

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