Fate/Heroes - Chapter 37

Couple days passed since the Team started renting out the entire floor below Gray’s and on more than one occasion, caught Kara, Cassie and Zatanna in his living room, once on the rooftop, enjoying his pool with the rest of the Team.

He didn’t mind the presence of the Team as the longer he would spend with the teenagers, the more their suspicions would lower about the Pseudo-Servant.

He had already set some ground rules and moved his alcohol several times already to prevent any of the super-powered members of the Team from getting drunk like they did on the opening of his pitch to create the “Akashic Academy”.

Thinking back to the previous day when he caught all the members of the Team using his pool Gray smiled a little and then rubbed his hands together evilly. It was their last day in New York as last night Kara told him that the League had summoned them

“It took three days for the the Justice League to summon them back. By the urgency of the message it seems something big is going to happen soon….”.

Gray knew that if the Justice League was gathering its forces in order to repel a threat to the Earth that he would have to prepare himself as well. Rider and Archer were itching for a battle against someone actually worthy of killing and Gunner and Saber wanted to retaliate if the threat was an extraterrestrial one.

One was an Anti-Anti Human Heroic Spirit the other the owner of a Conceptual Weapon that could kill immortal beings. What could go wrong?

The wind from Miss Martian’s Bio-ship ruffled Gray’s hair as it headed in the northerly direction. As the Martian ship flew further and further away from Gray, his smile grew wider and wider before a bright light came off his body covering him in an eerie black armor. A pitch black robe, darker than the night sky covered Gray’s head and a bone-like mask covered his face, obscuring his looks from the outside world.

A deathly aura came off Gray’s body as his figure vanished as he turned around. A similar figure appearing on a rooftop nearby as the memories from the Assassin Class Card came pouring into his mind.

He created the religious Sect known as the Hashashin, and was the judge, jury and executioner who carried out judgement in the name of Allah against those who dared to stray from the path. He bȧrėd a heavy great sword rather than fighting with hidden weapons and poisons, unlike his fellow Hassan.

His name lost to time, only becoming known as the “Old Man of the Mountain”. He was both the original Hassan, as well as their King.

The Old Man of the Mountain walked a path similar to Mages. He walked on the boundary, the boundary between Life and Death. Becoming an existence who “saw” death and reveled in it.

An evening bell tolled at his arrival. His presence marked the death of anyone who dared to stand against him.

“Can you hear it, the tolling of this bell? Your luck ends here. Accept the release of your soul. That is your last chance for a peaceful slumber as a human being…..”.

Gray let out a deep sigh as the memories of King Hassan flowed into his mind. The legendary ȧssassin which formed the bases for countless legends and tales, drew a remarkable resemblance to the League of Assassins from this universe.

The Old Man of the Mountain handed out judgement to those who had strayed from the path. It was a perfect Servant to use when dealing with the Empty Coffin Gang.

Being an Assassin Class Servant, formerly a Grand Servant, his innate Presence Concealment was second-to-none. Although his style of battle was usually fought out in the open, his title as King Hassan granted him all characteristics of a normal Assassin, despite his battle style.

In just a few minutes Gray had already reached a large nightclub in the basement of a sky rise building. Gray didn’t even need to leave Manhattan to find the Empty Coffin Gang’s hideout.

Even the League of Assassins, with all their skills and technology couldn’t risk revealing themselves to the world by destroying a large-scale gang that was heavily based in New York of all places.

That and their were a few metahumans ȧssociated with the Gang, and it would take more than just a few ȧssassins to take care of half a dozen super-powered humans.

Gray watched as the summer sun slowly dipped over the horizon, materializing his shield and great sword, vanishing like a ghost in the breeze.

In the ears of the Empty Coffin members the sound of an evening bell tolled and a shiver went up their spines.

“We’re under attack! Everyone get ready!”.

The more experienced and higher rank gang members rallied the younger more immature members of the Empty Coffin Gang. Fully automatic weapons and and several high explosives were collected by the criminals, all aimed at a thick steel door.

“Open the door! Open the fuċkɨnġ door!”.

“He’s a demon! A demon!”.

“No! Please no! I have a-!”.

The echoing sound of bullets clashing with metal and bones and flesh been broken and ripped from their sockets caused a gulp in many of the weaker willed members. The six metahumans gathered in the forefront of the rest of the gang members, one whose body looked as though it was completely metal stepped forward, trying to listen for any cries for help from across the door.

“Fire!”.

Seeing the large great sword go through their head of the metahuman who could change his bodies composition to bronze, all the normal humans started firing their weapons at the figure that carved through the metal door, only hitting the figure of their former ally.

A thick smoke filled the room. The scent of gunpowder and blood filled the air. The loud echo of a bell resounded once more.

“What sins hast thou committed in pursuit of such power? To turn thyself into metal, thou is nothing but a whetstone to sharpen thy blade. Nevertheless, hand over thy head”.

Gray’s heavily accented voice when using the Assassin Class Card helped disguise his original one. No-one would relate Lancer, or Gray to the middle-eastern sounding accent of Assassin. Even if his armor already hid his body, there were other ways of seeing behind the mask.

The Pseudo-Servant’s body vanished and the sound of an evening bell tolled in the minds of the Empty Coffin members. Their bodies trapped in fear of the phantasmal being in front of them, all their bullets and projectiles phase through the warrior as if he didn’t exist.

One of the metahumans, one who could manipulate metals so some extent, tried to more Gray’s body by pulling on his sword and shield, but instead meet Gray’s eyes. Those ghostly blue eyes that looked more like fire rather than irises.

The woman was frozen before feeling a sharp pain to her neck. She tried to cover her throat but found that she couldn’t raise her arms, her head hit the floor before the rest of her body did….

Gray moved with the prowess that exceeded even a member of the Knights Round Table. His skill in open combat was able to even match Gawain at the peak of his power. He was a former Grand Servant, a Servant that exceeded all others in their Class.

He impaled a bearded man, kicking his body of his sword and into another man behind him, leaping forward and stabbing them both like a piece of meat on a skewer.

He rammed a metahuman who looked as though he had been the product of human engineering into a wall pinning him before staring at his fearful eyes his sword arm raised and slowly piercing his stomach.

“Thou is a abomination. Thou has strayed from the path…”.

The man started screaming in agony as the blade slowly entered his stomach, going through him before being dropped, crimson red liquid pooling under his body.

“So hand over they head”.

Gray, still with Assassin installed turned around, looking at the only metahuman still left alive.

“Thou will only ask once….. hand over they head”.

The evening belled tolled once more that night.