Fate: I Will Eventually Become the Hero of Justice

"We're moving out!" said the cloaked man.

"May I ask - what is our objective and who is the enemy?" Sigurd asked.

"The target is Asgard. The enemy is Skadi!" replied the cloaked man.

"Aaaaaa----!!!" Eric Bloodaxe let out a meaningless yet fierce battle cry.

Sigurd glanced at Bloodaxe, then looked back at the cloaked man. "Isn't there an impenetrable barrier between Midgard and Helheim? We probably can't reach Asgard without first destroying that barrier."

The Goddess of Death Hel responded: "You needn't worry about that. Or perhaps, as a famed Norse hero, you feel reluctant to attack Asgard?"

Sigurd's frown hardened. "I have only disdain and hatred for the Norse gods - including you!" he declared coldly, pointing a finger at Hel.

"A satisfactory answer," Hel seemed unbothered, smiling lightly as she replied.

Andersen asked, "Asgard is the realm of the Norse gods. Even if they have vanished as you say, wouldn't their domain still possess formidable defenses? I fear we would be unable to breach them."

"Have no fear, your role is infiltration. As for Asgard..." Hel gave a faint laugh, gesturing to the cloaked man, "No one understands Asgard better than he does - not even Odin himself."

The cloaked man let out a timely cold snort, conveying dissatisfaction at Hel's attitude along with pride in his own abilities. Glancing back at Hel, he stated: "You're here for a reason - not to sit idle!"

"Of course!" replied Hel from her throne. A misty fog swirled and roiled behind her.

Peering into the fog, Adam spotted a stone slab emanating an eldritch glow. Looking closer, he saw it was engraved with the visage of a vicious hound.

Hel turned back to the cloaked man with a smile. "The Council sent you here to help me. How kind of them to send such an encouraging helper. I'm sure mocking me will help us so much to take down Asgard together."

Her words had hit a nerve. Rather than quibbling further over Hel's attitude, the cloaked man turned to the Servants. "The rest is in your hands now!"

The Servants nodded in agreement.

Adam did as well, though his expression revealed nothing.

He planned to find a chance to contact Mr. Assassin using the black mud, relaying everything happening here. The truth was, Adam still didn't understand the details about Asgard or his role in all this. But he knew whatever info he uncovered could be sent to Mr. Assassin through the mud. It'd be up to him what to do with it.

The cloaked man glanced back, his gaze seemingly piercing Yggdrasil to Asgard's peak as he muttered: "Asgard..."

...

Skadi actually treats the prisoners in Asgard's dungeon pretty well. She even had the Valkyries bring Shirou and Kiara some blueberries. But after realizing what those berries actually were, Shirou refused to keep eating them.

As for Kiara...well, forget it. That perv seems able to stay alive just by having her mind filled with dirty thoughts.

Watching the Valkyries leave, Shirou felt along the icy wall behind him. To be honest, he wanted to get out of here now. After all, being stuck with Kiara was...too dangerous given her nature.

"Don't you think you're just like those kids, Mr. Assassin?" Kiara looked at the leaving Valkyries, then turned to the wary Shirou, a charming smile on her lovely face.

He stared coldly back. This perv seemed ready to start her usual antics.

"However, Mr. Assassin doesn't seem to agree. What a shame. But to me, you and those children are exactly the same," she said, still smiling.

Shirou kept his eyes on her and asked flatly, "What are you trying to say?"

"I just want you to stop being so wary of me. I only wish to impart some knowledge to you," a light blush appeared on Kiara's lovely and charming face. Her voluptuous body began emitting an enticing pink glow.

She licked her red lips temptingly, looking extremely alluring. Misty-eyed, she said, "I want to teach you something that will make you feel good."

Hearing this, he was completely exasperated. He had thought this woman might reveal useful information, but it was still just lewd talk. As expected, she was just a big pervert. Unfortunately Shirou was no little perv himself, so they didn't speak the same language at all.

He ignored her and felt along the wall behind him instead, checking if this prison that Asgard prided itself on had any flaws.

Forcing his way out, Shirou felt he might not succeed. After all, this was the main base of the Norse gods. Just the suppression here alone was terrifying enough. If he drew Skadi's attention, it would be completely hopeless.

"Are you trying to break out of here, Mr. Assassin?" she laughed, "Don't waste your energy. This place is filled with the Norse Gods' suppression runes and bounded fields, maintained by that Ice Queen's divinity. As long as she lives, this place is impregnable. Otherwise I would've left long ago."

He paid her no mind. This woman had nothing but dirty thoughts in her brain, and her words sounded just as filthy, not credible at all. Most importantly, he was stubborn - the type who wouldn't give up until the bitter end. Unless facts stared him directly in the face, he wouldn't stop trying.

"Instead of doing pointless things, why don't we watch what foolishness that silly Kiara is up to now? It's pretty fun. And don't you want to see what Mordred's doing in Chaldea?" she asked, smiling.

He stopped his hand and turned to look at her.

She patted the ground next to her and said with a laugh, "Come, sit over here and we'll watch together."

"Hey, can you just behave?"

"Don't be so uptight~," she cooed. "Come, sit next to me. I can tell you all about myself slowly. Aren't you curious?"

Seeing Shirou give no response, she grew more aggressive. A faint glow began emanating from her body, reaching toward him like a wave of black mud.

Shirou tensed, raising his Spear of Endless Light.

And at that moment—

"Thud, thud, thud!!!"

From deep within the darkness of the prison came strange knocking sounds.

"—!!!"

Both Shirou and Kiara turned sharply, gazing into the pitch black darkness.

He raised his brows and asked Kiara, "Are there other prisoners here?"

"No one else. If there were, I wouldn't bother with you. After all, you're too tsundere, Mr. Assassin," Kiara said, looking surprised. Like Shirou, her abilities to sense and search had been stripped away while imprisoned here.

"Can you stop annoying me?" He couldn't stand her anymore.

"That voice..." An extremely familiar cold voice came from the darkness. "Is that you, Eternal King? Are you here?"

This voice was... "Saber? Is that you?"

"Yes. It's me. Wait, almost...got it!"

Shirou: "?"

"EX―," 

"―Calibur!!!"

A dim light flickered amidst the darkness. With a loud "boom," a pillar of light suddenly surged from the darkness, briefly illuminating the dungeon.

In that darkness, a faint silhouette could be seen. 

It was none other than Salter.

"I finally found you," Salter hurried over, holding the black sword.

"How did you get here?" he asked in astonishment. Wasn't Salter still at the Bifrost after being stopped by Hildr?

Hearing this, the usually indifferent Salter complained, "You tell me. Why did those Valkyries attack me shortly after you left? If I hadn't run fast enough, they would have killed me."

Shirou wasn't surprised. After all, Skadi had seen through his disguise. So it made sense that Salter was attacked. What baffled him, though, was that Salter had managed to escape the Valkyries' pursuit in Asgard of all places!

Could she somehow be immune to Asgard's suppression?

"What suppression? I didn't feel anything at all. Besides, that Valkyrie Hildr suddenly rushed off somewhere, so I took the chance to get away."

This was too bizarre! Shirou's frown deepened. He and Kiara were already being restrained by Asgard, allowing Skadi to easily imprison them here. Yet Salter felt nothing of the sort? What was going on?

Could the suppression somehow be selective in who it targeted? For example, perhaps Salter's Saint Graph wasn't reactive enough to trigger it?

Wouldn't that be too absurd?

"Huh? There's food here? Great, I'm starving," Spotting the blueberries on the ground, Salter snatched them up and stuffed them in her mouth, wolfing them down. Clearly, her Alter version had no restraint when it came to appetite.

Seeing her devour the fruits so hastily, he asked in puzzlement, "Didn't I leave most of the blueberries with you before I left?"

"Ate them all. Barely filled me up...so hungry..." Salter mumbled as she kept eating.

"Wai- Wait a second!" Kiara finally spoke up, dumbstruck until now. She looked at him and pointed at Salter. "Mr. Assassin, shouldn't you be asking how she even got in here?"

Impossibilities ran through her mind. She was truly trapped in this prison, unable to escape on her own. Before Shirou arrived, she had thoroughly explored every inch only to confirm there was no way out unless Skadi met her end.

Yet Salter had somehow blasted straight into this impenetrable cell from who-knows-where...

This had to be a joke!

...

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