The Prince Of Magic

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Arash and Arturia didn't know what happened.

One moment, Archer evaded Arturia's attack and opened his mouth, most likely to call her out

And then, in a blink of an eye, Archer's body stiffened as a number of flashes of light appeared from behind and through him, only to vanish as quickly as it appeared.

The criminal mastermind blinked once, meeting the two retainers' surprised and startled gazes with a dumbfounded look on his weathered face.

When he blinked the second time, his knees buckled when blood began to come out from his neck.

A large, deep cut in the middle of his neck was the cause of his sudden bleeding, but more began to appear all around his torso. Then, Archer's body started to fall to the ground, and his head soon followed as it detached itself from his neck with a disturbing 'squelch' noise.

The two retainers stared at the headless body of their enemy for a few moments, then to the lone head that rolled away a few feet from its body.

Slowly, they turned to look at each other, disgust and bewilderment clear on their faces.

"Well, that was… quite an execution." Arash said slowly, unsure of the outcome.

His comment made Arturia to sigh and rubbed his temple in resignation.

"Must you always do that?" The King of Knights asked, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

Cause if she doesn't, she might give in to the urge and hit the bowman on the back of his head with the blunt side of her sword.

"Do what? I'm just being honest." Arash said with a grin, relaxing now that the battle was over.

Arturia did too, but only a little. She was not sure happened, but just because the enemy seemed dead, it does not mean the battle was over.

Recalling what happened to Rider and Scáthach yesterday in the abandoned asylum, Arturia would prefer to ready for whatever might happen next.

"Do not lower your guard yet, the enemy might still be alive." Arturia warned, sending Arash a knowing look with her eyes.

Arash was about to respond when the appearance of a cloud of black smoke suddenly appeared behind Archer's dead body nearby.

The two servants snapped their gazes to the black smoke, wary and guarded as they readied themselves for another potential battle.

The black cloud stayed there for a few moments, dancing on one spot, then a bright light flash briefly before a shape took form. The black smoke disappeared when someone began to come out of it, and it was only when a pair of eerie blue infernal eyes shone through the darkness of the smoke did the two servants lowered their weapons.

The owner of the blue flame-like eyes belongs to a man in a dark gray cloak.

He stands at 220cm, with broad-shoulders and has a heavy physique. Most of his features were hidden due to the hood he wore over his head, but when he turned his gaze to the two servants, the bearded face of a weary and stern-looking old man in his late fifties was shown.

The large sword gripped in his right hand and the aura of dread surrounding his form would immediately dissuade anyone who would be disrespectful in his presence.

It was 'Hassan-I Sabbah', who was also known as the Old Man of the Mountain.

Arash was the fourth servant to be summoned by the young mage, but King Hassan (a nickname his master gave to Hassan, which the latter took a liking to) was his senior, seeing as the Old Man was the second Servant that was summoned a few months after his master and Arturia had returned to the Schweinorg castle from the Moon Grail War.

Seeing the powerful Assassin before him, Arash recalled how master described to him about the former's summoning ritual.

At that time, after a few months of rest and catching up on his research, his master wanted to test the limits of the Moon Cell's abilities after he was gifted with the Regalia. One of the abilities he wished to put to the test was its ability to summon servants.

The automaton had already displayed its phenomenal abilities in the war, but he had been curious whether it would allow him to summon a Servant.

The answer resulted with King Hassan responding to his call.

Arash clearly remembered how Hadrian once explained to him that it had been an unexpected summoning. He prepared the ritual below his workshop, but a gift from his father (of which had also been a gift to his father from his late uncle before his master was born) accidentally became a catalyst, and in the process, King Hassan came out of the void.

The Persian bowman considered himself skilled and strong enough to contend with the likes of Arturia and the others, but King Hassan stood at the pinnacle above them all.

Truthfully, Arash was surprised to hear Arturia and Scáthach admit to themselves that the Old Man was stronger than them, despite their legends.

How that was possible, Arash had no idea.

But, his master did mentioned to him about King Hassan's Saint Graph being different to all of them, but the tanned bowman had no clue what he meant by that. Even now.

What he did understood was that there was something in King Hassan's Saint Graph that made him powerful and unique than the rest of the retainers.

Arash snapped out of his thoughts when King Hassan took a step forward and stabbed the large sword in front of him, laying both of his hands over the pommel.

"Man, you scared us there, King Hassan." The bowman grinned sheepishly, shoulders relaxing.

"Indeed." Arturia agreed with a sigh of relief, closing her eyes for a brief moment of respite. She opened them again and looked to the tall, imposing form of the powerful Assassin. "Speaking of which, what are you doing here? In fact, how did you even arrived here?"

"Through a Command Seal." The Old Man of the Mountain answered, his tone was curt but precise.

The tone of his voice as he spoke would have offended other people, but not the two servants present.

They were already used to his stern way of talking. In fact, most of the retainers were amused by his archaic way of speaking, but none dared to show it on their faces as it might offend the silent and stern servant, something that they would rather avoid wholeheartedly.

The Old Man might not be as skilled as some of them, much less famous in legend, but his ability to chop off the heads of his enemies with a mere swing of his sword was simply too terrifying for Arash and the others to even dare consider teasing the weathered assassin.

His fellow retainer, Kieran, would be more mindful of his words whenever King Hassan was in the area. To the point that the cynical servant would not even so much as curse in his presence.

The founder of the Hashashin was that intimidating.

Arash and Arturia nodded in understanding, not minding that the assassin turned silent and gave no further explanation.

"Then… Master sent you here?" Arash asked, scratching the side of his head with the b.u.t.t end of an arrow held in his left hand.

"Correct." One dull eye met his gaze as the cowl of his cloak hid the other.

"I see." Arturia said, then nodded to him in gratitude. "I thank you for the assistance."

"Yeah, thanks. This bastard was quite tricky, so we had a bit of a trouble knocking him out. Better that he's dead instead of alive and potentially escape in the future." Arash agreed with a sigh.

"Tis of no matter." King Hassan stated.

"So… what now?" Arash asked, glancing to Arturia then King Hassan and back. "This guy's dead. Should we just leave him here?"

"Never mind that, what about the others?" Arturia asked in return, brows furrowing in thought.

Surprisingly, it was King Hassan who answered her.

"Thou shalt not need to worry." The tall, imposing assassin said, eyes closing briefly. "The young mage hast set forth to come here."

"Eh? You mean Master's coming? Like here, here?" Arash asked, dark brown eyes wide in surprise.

"Why?" Arturia followed after, concerned for her liege.

"He shall explain that himself soon." King Hassan responded calmly, eyes opened and met their gazes. "Thou shalt have other concerns than the young mage."

"What do you mean?" Arash queried, confused.

*Thou shalt see soon enough." King Hassan announced, much to the two servants' confusion.

As soon as he said it though, a loud series of cracks snapped through the clearing, startling the two servants before they turned their gazes to the left where they heard the noise.

It was as if something delicate (like glass) broke and a domino effect occurred.

Then, the ground beneath feet rumbled, further adding to their confusion and apprehension.

A high pitched scream caused the three servants to break into a run, with Arturia and Arash leading the front charge while King Hassan followed after them.

Just as they were about to enter a forest of tree crystals however, a certain pink-haired servant suddenly appeared into their sights, trailing closely behind him were Yan Qing and Rider.

What worried Arash was the obvious anxious expressions on their faces. Rider still remained calm, but there was a sense of urgency in her movements, as if she wary of something.

Yan Qing was cursing under his breath, but Astolfo looked rightly afraid. There was a hint of tears pooling in the corners of his eyes, threatening to fall as the situation turned even more intense.

"The hell is going –" Arash was about to ask them once the trio got close enough.

But, he was ignored as the three ran past him and the others.

"RUN!" Astolfo shouted over his shoulder.

"F.U.C.K.I.N.G RUN MAN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Yan Qing added through gritted teeth.

Rider went by without so much as a word, which didn't really made Arash feel any better about the situation.

Bewildered, the Persian bowman turned his gaze to where the trio had come from and found the source of their anxiety.

It was something dark, tall and menacing. The size of the creature would tower even the tallest of man. It was also powerful in terms of magical strength, and appeared to be very, very hungry.

It let out a loud screech that cause the ground to rumble and distorted the air around it. The noise it emitted alone nearly made him deaf and left his ears ringing, causing Arash to grit his teeth.

Increasing his apprehension was that the thing was not alone. There were more behind it, equally famished and vicious in behavior. Clearly, they were hungry for flesh and blood, and their meal had just ran away from them... and now they are giving chase.

Needless to say, after taking a glance of what was chasing after the three, Arash was quick on the uptake and was right on his friends' heels.

But, not before he took an item that fell out Archer's pocket. His master might need to take a look at it later.

First and foremost, he would need to survive the current situation with the others.

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