Ephemeral Dream

VIII: Freedom

It was the second time in such a short period that I found myself feeling a bit groggy as I woke up. I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes and surveying my surroundings.

I was in my room. Exactly as I'd left it before I'd gone out for my day with Ruby, though that hadn't been too long ago so it wasn't too much of a surprise.

What caught me off guard was the woman sitting beside by bed, one leg crossed over the other. She had dark skin, smooth and beautiful, with silver eyes staring straight at me. She quirked an eye as she observed me, an amused smile on her face.

"Are you finally awake now, Master?" She asked me, sending a small shudder down my spine.

"... Lancer...?" I asked a bit wearily, able to recall the ending of my fight against my mother when I summoned her.

"Indeed," she nodded. "I am Lancer."

It was a bit hard to believe. When I'd summoned her, she'd had this... Presence to her. As if Death itself was coiling around her, ready to strike at anyone. I didn't feel that now. Instead, she just felt like any other person, continuing to smirk at me.

"Take a picture," she told me. "It will last longer."

I blushed warmly, turning my gaze away from her, before my eyes focused on the screens in front of me.

[You have defeated Aurelia Arc in a Covenant Duel.]
+10,000 EXP
+1 Perk Points
+10 Luck

[You have levelled up by five.]
+3,000HP
+3,650MP
+36 Stat Points

My eyes widened as I stared at the screens in front of me. The five levels were a shock in and of itself from the EXP, but why the hell did I just get a perk point!?

[When the player faces an enemy of a higher level than themselves, if the enemy is at least twenty levels higher than them, they will receive 1 Perk Point for defeating them.]

Okay... So, my mother was at least Level 30 possibly higher, so I got a Perk Point for winning. That was... Actually, very useful to know. It meant that I now had access to another perk should I need it. Though I planned to keep this perk point safe unless I absolutely, truly had no choice but to use it.

Why did I win though? Didn't Lancer interfere...?

Wait... Was it because I'd summoned her? Did the duel count her as part of me, or an extension of my power and therefore skirt around the rules of the duel?

God, I was lucky... My mind was so filled with desperation at that point, that I hadn't even considered the fact that the Covenant could have taken that as interference and had me lose.

"Master, why are you staring into space?" Lancer's voice shook me out of my stupor. "Is something the matter?"

"Ah... No, Lancer," I told her. "Just... I wasn't expecting to summon so pretty..." Why did I say that!?

A light red hue dusted Lancer's cheeks. "Oh... That's sweet of you, Master. Don't think that flirting with me will get me to do anything you want though."

"I... Didn't think it would..." I looked at her, a bit confused, before shaking my head. "So... Lancer? That's not your real name, right? Mind explaining that to me?"

The red hue left her face as she raised an eye at me, before shrugging. "Servant, or Heroic Spirits, are summoned- usually- into one of seven main classes; Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Rider, Caster, Berserker. Almost always, a Heroic Spirit will be summoned under one of those."

"How is an Assassin a hero?" I asked her, tilting my head in confusion. "And a Berserker?"

"Assassins who became famous because of their assassinations," she responded. "Berserkers are heroes that fell to madness, usually through betrayal or treasons done against them. There are some Berserkers that are people who are simply crazy in some form or another, but most Berserkers usually qualify for other classes, with those 'other classes' being the hero they were before the madness."