The Prince Of Magic

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Hadrian was in a dilemma.

After spectating the battles on the island through the monitors, he switched his focus on his two other servants who were busy entertaining the intruders above.

Although, while the new group of hostiles were concerning, Hadrian was not that worried about them. No, he was more concerned about that old mage, Jester Karature.

His retainer, Kieran had killed the old mage, but that was not the actual truth.

Jester was playing dead, fooling everyone in the room he was in.

The old mage didn't even seemed to care that his soldiers were getting slaughtered by the amber eyed servant, whose sadistic nature continues to show and grow the longer he played (torture) around the remaining soldiers within the vicinity. Hadrian was not overly concerned with the retainer's seemingly unusual behavior, considering as he already knew about it when they had met.

One might have been wary about his retainer's true nature, but not him.

Kieran had been upfront with him regarding his true intentions when they were first discussing the conditions of his service to him. The former told him the truth, including his past, true name and so on. It was the first honest discussion they had with one another, and it was why Hadrian began to give him the benefit of doubt.

As for the reason why the retainer was behaving sadistically now, it was mainly due to his true identity.

The ancient Persian God of Darkness, 'Angra Mainyu'. That was Kieran's true identity.

Hadrian found him by accident when he was sent to investigate an ancient castle in ruins that stood on top of a mountain in Fuyuki City of Japan.

His grandfather asked him to investigate there when the old mage had detected an unknown surge of magical energy creeping about in the mountain. He had been informed that the ruined castle once belonged to a well-known noble family with a magical bloodline, the Einzbern.

But, it was destroyed during the time of when the Holy Grail wars were still active.

When Hadrian arrived to the location, all he had found was a ruined castle beyond repair, soot and ashes among the white snow.

There were scorch marks and deep gauges on the walls and ground, which were obvious signs of struggle. The automaton was also helpful enough to inform him that several battles between servants had occurred within the castle, rendering the structure to take damaged in the process. That, and a servant was the one who literally burned the castle to the ground.

Surprisingly enough, even though the building was in ruins, the Bounded Field that surrounded the perimeters of the castle was still there, albeit weakened.

The Einzbern were well-respected for their knowledge in alchemy and their unique spell-casting, but their talents lies in various branch of magecraft as well, including making custom Bounded Fields. It had been a surprise to Hadrian that the Bounded Field surrounding the castle managed to remain active for many years, despite the lack of maintenance.

Although, there were many rips in the Bounded Field, which was caused by absence of someone to keep it in check.

It was also the main reason why his grandfather had managed to locate the source of disturbance from within the ruined castle back then, to which he had sent Hadrian to investigate the matter.

With Arturia in tow, Hadrian went to inside and straight to the source of the issue, but what he found was quite unexpected.

In the middle of the vast hallway of the ruined castle, there was a Holy Grail placed atop of a broken pillar. The golden chalice of the biblical myths and the origin of untold brutal events was just sitting there, glittering prettily under the bright rays of sunlight, as if innocent from all the bloodshed.

What made the highlight of his day during that time was the rogue servant that merely strolled in to the room, as if he owned the place.

Said rogue servant was hostile, crude and bad mannered.

He neither cared about other people's safety nor does he have a good moral compass, only caring about his own well-being and keeping the Holy Grail to himself. He needed the grail to continue his existance in the present world, but Hadrian had told him that it was not possible.

When the former asked why, Hadrian had explained to him that the Counter Force would be sent after him since he was deemed an anomaly by Alaya.

Due to his unique position, his grandfather often acted as a liaison to Alaya and Gaia whenever the two were in a disagreement over matters that concerned humans and the world.

How that had came to be, Hadrian had no idea, but what was important was that his grandfather would always be the first to handle any issues that threatened the safety of humans and the stability of the world.

In turn, it was a responsibility that was extended to the members of his family as well as those who work under him.

Thus, Hadrian had been the one sent first to test the waters, mainly due to his status as the heir to the Schweinorg house and the old mage's trust in him.

If he was unable to handle the matter, then the Counter Force would be sent to clean up the mess, which was the reason why he and the old mage had to work hard to prevent it from happening.

Of course, the rogue servant did not took to his response well, retaliating violently almost right after he explained the situation to him.

A fight broke out and the ruined castle became even more destroyed in the process. It had been a good thing that Hadrian had the foresight to raise a multilayered Bounded Field before he went inside, or the locals nearby would noticed the disturbances inside the perimeter of the barrier.

The rogue servant had put up quite a fight, despite having manifested independently.

But, his opponent that time was Arturia and she had a Master by her side. Therefore, the battle did not took any longer than a few minutes at best before Arturia had beaten soundly.

He had been close to death's door at that time as well, and it was only thanks to Hadrian order that Arturia stopped before she could end his life.

At that time, Hadrian had already taken the Holy Grail, thereby cutting off the rogue servant's source of magical energy. But Hadrian also healed his injuries, which would still give him enough time to maintain his physical form before he ran out of magical energy.

Although, he was restrained to the floor by Hadrian to prevent him from escaping.

The young mage didn't want the rogue servant to think about using the locals nearby to replenish his magical energy, so he had to restrain him.

With the rogue servant held down, Hadrian went and had a one-on-one talk with him.

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