The Prince Of Magic

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Finally, he turned his attention to the last group, which were Astolfo, Yan Qing and Medusa.

The flow of their teamwork was still smooth and they seemed to be contending against the bloodstained knight well enough.

That was, however, slowly being overcome as the seconds pass.

Even with his sanity and personality downgraded by his skill, Lancer (Vlad III) still remained to be a capable fighter. No, rather, as Hadrian continued to observe their battle, perhaps the deranged knight might even be more powerful than the one he and Arturia had defeated in the war.

Lancer (Vlad III) still appeared to have the same parameters as the one he had before back in the war. Although, his agility had changed from [E] and up to [A] rank, which was a significant boost in his opinion. Along with his agility, his magic resistance changed from [C] to a solid [B] rank.

Fortunately, the rank of his Noble Phantasm, 'Kazikli Bey', remained the same.

It was still dangerous, however.

Kazikle Bey was an anti-army type Noble Phantasm.

With it, Lancer can summon a large amount of black spears to skewer his enemies to death. From what Hadrian can recall, his attack radius was at one kilometer, and the maximum amount of stakes he can create out of thin air can reach up to twenty thousand (20,000).

What was dangerous with his noble phantasm was the 'Sacrifice' curse on his target, which can cause a great amount of damage every one minute.

Hadrian remembered how Arturia nearly got killed by such a curse in the war when they were paired against Lancer and his master, Run Ru, down in the Arena.

It was only by sheer luck that Hadrian managed to remove the curse effect from his servant and healed her, so that she can fight the troublesome knight at full strength.

Fortunately, after that blunder by Astolfo and Yan Qing earlier, they focused on the fight and seemed to be holding their own.

Their teamwork was preventing the bloodstained knight from using the full extent of his abilities.

By the expressions on their faces alone, Hadrian can tell that they sensed that something terrible would happen should they let the enemy Lancer continue to do what he pleased.

There had been a few moments that he almost got one of them, but the other two would jump in before he could land a direct hit.

If Hadrian had anything to say about it, it would be that the chances between them seemed to be even on both sides now that all of them were focused.

Sensing the three retainers work together had put the two servants beside him at ease, for Hadrian knew they were concerned about their fellow allies.

On second thought, it might just be Dia since the knight of the lance was the type to worry about others. His other servant, Kieran, not so much, considering this was Kieran he was thinking about.

If Kieran showed concern about others, it does not mean that he was worried for their well-being. Rather, it was more like he was worried that he might fight the enemy if the others get killed. Seeing as he was still Hadrian's servant, it was expected that he would need to fight if the others are gone, despite not being as commanded by the young magus as often as he did with the others.

Kieran might be keener on his survival than most, but he made a deal with Hadrian and would see it through to the end, even if it comes down to joining the fight and risking his neck in the process.

Hearing the quiet sigh of relief from Kieran, the cyan eyed magus can only shake his head at his servant's (highly possible) line of thought.

Turning his attention to a different monitor, Hadrian observed the battle between Arturia, Arash and their enemy.

Archer (Moriarty) was not much of a threat in direct combat, but in the long run, Hadrian would need to be careful with him, considering his true identity and his unnatural talent for schemes.

From his knowledge of earth's history, people like that were often the most dangerous as they leave most of the hard work to their underlings while sticking to the shadows to avoid attention.

Following that train of thought, Hadrian wondered if he would need to summon Sherlock Holmes to deal with the infamous fictional criminal, seeing as the two were known to be great rivals.

Moreover, he also wondered if that was even possible. But, considering Moriarty's existence, the possibility was highly likely.

'Hmm… something to think about later on…' Hadrian mused, entertaining the idea.

The last enemy servant was a different story, however.

Alcides was on a different class on his own.

All of his parameters were all either exceptionally high in rank, consisting of three [A] and two [B] ranks. His Magic Resistance was at [A] rank, and Independent Action was at [C]. His personal skills are all equally ridiculous as with the others. He has 'Eye of the Mind (True)' at [B] rank, 'Battle Continuation' at [A+] rank, and 'Bravery' at a surprising rank of [E].

What was even more ridiculous about him were his Noble Phantasms, he has multiple of them.

'King's Order: Twelve Glories' and 'Nine Lives: The Shooting Hundred Heads'.

The first was a manifestation of his ability to summon twelve Noble Phantasms that were the proofs of him completing the twelve labors. Although, it seemed that he was limited to using all of the items as there were only two on his person, such as 'Pelt of the Nemean Lion' (which allows him to withstand any weapon wielded by man) and 'War God's Sash' (increases his power via divine aura).

The automaton informed him that using more than two might cause the death of Alcides's master via insufficient magical energy. Thus, he was limited to using two.

Nine Lives appears to be a technique turned Noble Phantasm, which can be performed in various ways with a weapon or even barehanded.

The range can be as occasion demands, depending on the maximum power of the weapon and the attack can go from anti-unit to anti-army, and up to sieging.

It was an amazing technique that compliments the servant's prowess in battle.

Hadrian almost felt jealous.

Alcides was a renowned Greek hero, and his impressive stats and skills showed as such.

However, Hadrian found something eerily wrong about the servant in question.

He had wondered why his 'Bravery' skill was at an [E] rank, considering as this was Heracles he was talking about. The famed Greek hero possessing a low 'Bravery' rank skill, and the same one who had surpassed the twelve labors.

Then, as Hadrian recalled the details of Alcides's stats again, he found his answer…

The servant was distorted, as in a literal manner. He even has it in the form of a skill.

'Distortion' was a skill he received as a result to the botched process of his actual. He was originally the same class as Moriarty, an Archer, but for some unknown reason, he received another class in the process, which was 'Avenger'. Conversely, he received both classes, but he received no skills from latter and his 'Independent Action' dropped to [C] rank.

Also, Hadrian get the sense that his 'Bravery' was at [E] rank due to the forced distortion as well.

Either way, Alcides was simply too dangerous to be left alone.

His retainers, Charles and Scáthach, might be doing well against him for now, but he knew that the situation could turn at the flip of a hat once the enemy servant start to use his noble phantasm.

Not that he has little faith in them, but he felt that he might even have to join the two retainers to help them win against Alcides.

Suddenly, the image of a certain King of Heroes and the gifts he bequeathed upon him weighed on his mind.

Hadrian's brows furrowed slightly, lips thinning as he thought about the two weapons that his benefactor cherished among all of his treasures combined.

The idea he had once, such as him having so much power and objects of great powers, quickly became a distant afterthought as he watched Alcides fight.

'No, not yet. Scáthach is there with Charles, her skills and abilities alone should be enough to match the likes of him. But if they do get in trouble somehow, then…' A pair of cyan eyes narrowed as he stared at the battles through the monitors. 'How would I do it without letting that person watching me see what I can do?'

A familiar prick ran along the nape of his neck, causing Hadrian to pause and close his eyes briefly.

Then, he willed for the automaton to search the building.

His intuition was warning him of something terrible that might potentially become dangerous soon, and his intuition had never prove him wrong. It helped him greatly to listen to his intuition and be quick on the uptake.

After a few moments, the automaton found the source and sent various images in his mind.

Someone was about to infiltrate the headquarters, that was what the automaton was telling him.

Slowly, Hadrian opened his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

Seeing how the people within the room were acting, recording and relaying reports to the Chief Director every now and then, it seemed that he was the only one aware of it for the moment. Planning on his next course of action, Hadrian came into a split but deliberate decision.

"Kieran. Dia." The young magus called, surprising the two retainers out of their reverie.

"Yes, milord?" Dia inquired in a polite tone, curious.

"Whassup, Boss?" Kieran asked.

"We are about to have an uninvited guest." Hadrian stated, smiling faintly at their alarmed expressions. He pointed an index finger upwards. "Why don't you two give them a warm up there?"

In an instant, Dia straightened his shoulders with a solemn look and gave him a small bow.

"As you command, milord." The knight of the lance said, looking calm yet determined.

"Yo, Boss, do I haf ta go too?" Kieran protested, appearing reluctant.

Hadrian almost chuckled at the amber-eyed servant's somewhat terrified façade.

It was quite obvious to him that Kieran was scared to join the fight. His speech pattern changed as well, which was an obvious implication of his inner distress.

"Go with him, Kieran." Hadrian insisted gently. "I'll pull you out if something happens."

And by 'something', he meant if his life was in danger.

The petulant pout on his Kieran's face was enough to tell him that he understood what he implied.

However reluctant and anxious his retainer may be, Hadrian has faith in him to follow through command.

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