Land of the Blades

27. Exchange

I looked at the person in front of me with eyes full of disbelief.

—The point of this... grail war is to revive humanity?

—Yes. More specifically, to bring the souls trapped in the black box the Lunarians found in the moon and make them reborn on this planet, where they could live long happy lives and have big families.

—Caster could have done that without having to do all of this!

—Yes, she could have, but she wouldn't. Her more prominent facet is that of a goddess, once she had fully regained her powers, she would have set the world as she wanted it, and we mere "mortals" wouldn't have a chance to oppose her. The rest of the Servants aside from you and I are the same, everyone is too inhuman to understand us, per the Lunarians' forcefully request. The gods are capricious beings, we can't trust them.

—If what you are saying was truth, why did you ordered Rider and Caster to take Ghost away?

—Ghost? ...Oh! One of those Lustrous beings you have being living with. I didn't realized you had really lost your memories, so I thought you were acting all this time. Taking one of them would have convinced the Lunarians that was the case, so they would have let me work in peace and find some way to get rid of them. They would also had their hunger for hunting the Lustrous satisfied for some time, they get anxious whenever they don't capture one of them after a few weeks.

—And just like that you were going to sacrifice a life?!

—A life? They aren't alive —she said—, they are barely more than machines, only reacting to exterior stimuli, without thoughts of their own. If the Lunarians were to stop hunting them, they would just sit around their precious leader and let the centuries pass. They wouldn't develop a civilization, technology, or arts, nothing at all.

—That's not true! —I yelled.

Goshe and Morga cared about each other, and Morga loved to tease the others. Bort was an idiot who always said things in a mean way, but wasn't an idiot or a bully... not entirely. Antarc was like a big brother, who tried to take care of everyone even if he thought it was a dull chore, and she loved Sensei. Ghost had a small presence and was taciturn, but she wasn't shy to speak her mind, and she really loved Phos. And Phos... she was my best friend, someone who I could trust without any doubt.

—You only see them that way because your vision is screwed —Franny said, as if she had been reading my mind—, it is all because of those eyes, they work as tainted glasses. You'll understand, as soon as I get rid of them.

She reached out and her fingers were almost touching my eyes when the ship shook as if something had hit it. Franny tried to recover her balance, but after a moment she jumped away from me, just in time to avoid a red spike piercing through the wooden floor. After the first one a thousand more followed, sprouting like the branches of a three. That was without any doubt the special attack of the Gae Bolg.

Franny seemed to recognize that, and she reacted by pointing towards the other ship. As if by following her commands, that vessel aimed its cannons against the bottom of the ship we were currently on, most likely where the other end of the red spear was. But before the other ship could shoot, it was hit by a stream of water that blew a big chunk out of it, and soon the ship started falling towards the ocean.

The spear retreated, and instead, a fluid-like golden arm held to the railing and pulled the rest of the body to the deck. Phos was standing in front of me, doing her best to save me, and I couldn't help but smile. Even after we had gotten this far, she had still come to help me.

—I will not let you take him away! —Phos growled.

—We were in the middle of our conversation, move aside —Franny calmly said and raised her hand against Phos like she had done against Caster, but the gem was prepared and just before she would be pushed away, she pierced the floor with the spear, anchoring herself to it.