Finally, all of your preparations were complete. You had prepared the summoning circle and provided a catalyst for it. You also deployed your unique solution for your low levels of mana and even set up a nice spread of food in case your partner was hungry. They technically didn’t have to eat, but you figured you should have some. It couldn’t hurt, and it might actually get them to like you a bit.
All you had to do now was perform the summoning ceremony. Since you didn’t have a catalyst, you didn’t have a specific chant to perform. Which was fine with you, just summoning was hard enough. With nothing left holding you back, you dramatically reach out your hands and allow the circle to absorb your magical energy.
Responding to your latent power, the summoning circle began to radiate with a blue light. With eyes closed in concentration all you could sense was the sound of rushing and its immense power. The sound of the raging wind assaulted your ears, but it did no damage to you and presented no danger. Regardless, your heart was still racing. This was by far the most visually impressive and powerful magecraft you had done. It managed to instill a bit of confidence in you for what was coming ahead.
Soon, an even brighter light than that of the circle managed to pierce your closed eyes. Okay, now you were getting a little nervous. A servant was responding! The last you had heard, the only class that had been summoned was Berserker. So that meant you could be summoning any of the six remaining classes! Sabre, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, or Assassin.
Slowly, the piercing light slowly faded and the wind began to die down. The magical energy flowing out of you abruptly stopped, signaling the end. As if to help confirm that, you heard the sound of someone taking a breath. The sound immediately made your heart race and arms tremble. You had summoned a heroic spirits! You were officially a part of the Grail War.
You forced your eyes to open, eager to see your summon It was a cloaked figure! And they were… not as tall as you expected. Of course, they were still absolutely massive compared to you, but you expected someone bigger than this. It hardly matters to you though. You were eager for them to notice you and to introduce yourself.
The kneeling figure suddenly pulled themselves up to their full height. Turning towards you in a grandiose manner, you got a good look at the person under the hood. It was a young looking girl! It was hard to see in the dark room, her hair and eyes both appeared to be a striking purple-pinkish color. Her eyes were a slightly lighter shade than her hair.
The stoic look she first had when she turned towards you did not disappear, but a change in her eyes showed that she was confused. She couldn’t find you! That was actually kind of a good sign, you supposed. You used your magic to shrink yourself so that your concentrated mana could sustain your servant better. You wondered if it might have any practical uses like stealth, and it seems like it sort of did. You were thankful heroic spirits could naturally sense their masters, or else you’d have an unfamiliar giant superhuman you’d have to get the attention of.
Speaking of, your new partner suddenly approached the counter, bringing a hand up and setting it down next to you. Considering she was looking past you, you guessed that she hadn’t noticed you. You were thankful her errant hand hadn’t landed on top of you. That would have been the end of both of you. Better get her attention before your partner accidentally killed you.
“Hey!” You shouted up towards the girl. “Down here! I’m down here!”
Immediately the girl’s eyes snapped onto you, admittedly unnerving you a little. Something about her eyes seemed to bore into you; petrify you almost. A small gasp escaped her, and her hand retreated away from you.
You smiled, happy to have been noticed. “Hello! I’m here! I’m your master! It’s nice to-”
“You don’t have to shout.”
To your embarrassment, you jumped in surprise when the girl spoke to you. It wasn’t a subtle jump either, considering you nearly lost your balance. Your embarrassment was only made worse by how… persistent the giant girl’s eyes were. You swore they followed your every move, but you were probably just being self conscious.
“Uh, sorry.” You apologize at a normal volume. “I thought I’d have to shout since I was so small.”
“You don’t. Just speak normally.”
She was quite a terse talker, you mused. “Well it’s um, good to meet you!” You greet the giant honestly.
“Are you really my master?” The giant servant’s face remained stoic, but a gleam of disappointment was in her eyes. “I can’t imagine someone so small being able to perform the summoning ceremony. Or being worthy for participating in the Grail War.”
“Yeesh, that’s a little harsh.” You try to laugh off your partner’s cold remark. “I know I’m not much, but I’m at least qualified to be in the war. See?” You held up your hand to show off your command seals. Two of the marks were curved lines that almost merged into a circle, while the last one was a single thick line set between the two. When you first got it, you thought they kind of looked like an eye.
“I guess you are my master then,” The hand you had forgotten about suddenly came closer, two of its fingers nearly closed around you, “I didn’t know humans could be so small. Protecting you will be difficult.”
“Well, I’m not normally this small.” You explained with a smile. “I used my magic to shrink myself to this size.”
“You did what?”
“I shrunk myself.” You repeat with a laugh. “I don’t have very strong mana, so I wouldn’t be able to sustain a servant for very long. I know you can survive on your own mana, but that makes heroic spirits weaker, so I improvised. Shrinking myself like this makes my mana denser and you can sustain yourself with it more easily.”
Your heroic spirit’s hand moved away from you and back to its owner’s side. “You did this to yourself?” The mostly emotionless voice of your servant now sounded noticeably… irritated.
“Y-yeah.” Your laugh was nervous this time. “I just told you why I did it. I thought it was a pretty good idea.”
“Are you sure you were actually qualified for participating? Another mage didn’t just give you their command seals did they?”
“Huh? Uh, no, no one did anything like that. I was chosen just like everyone else was. I-I’m not the most talented mage, but the Grail still chose me as a participant and I was recognized by the church and the Mage’s Association.”
“Then they really chose wrong.” Now the voice was stoic condescension.
“Ga-Hey! Give me a break! I summoned you, didn’t I!?”
“I wish you hadn’t. Guarding a master as short sighted as you will be a difficult and pointless venture. I may as well have not been summoned, we have no chance of winning this.”
Whoever this heroic spirit was, she wasn’t giving you much of a chance. You expected your plan might be met with some protest, but this was ridiculous. You were getting disowned moments after introducing yourself!
“Come on, me being this small isn’t that bad. It’ll be a lot more difficult for our enemies to find me. You didn’t find me right away after all… so this is kind of stealth magic.” You argue.
“Foolish.” Her stoic voice was starting to give way to frustration.
“Okay, this wasn’t a good idea for combat situations, but that wasn’t the point. This is the only way my mana could sustain your form without leaving both of us exhausted.”
The purple haired girl didn’t respond. Instead, she raised her other hand, which you realized was holding a weapon of some kind! It looked like some kind of scythe or something similar and it appeared to be attached to a chain of some kind. The fact that she was brandishing a weapon, combined with her general attitude towards you, made you a little nervous.
“S-so that’s your weapon huh?” You did your best to not sound nervous. “It looks… interesting. Are you the Assassin? Your weapon and cloak look assassiny.”
“No, I’m a Lancer class heroic spirit.” The girl wasn’t looking at you anymore, instead mulling over her weapon. “And that’s all you’ll learn about me. I’m not revealing my True Name to you.”
“Okay I guess that’s fair.” You respond, honestly not fine with that. “But what should I call you then?”
“Lancer.
You didn’t really like that, but you didn’t have much of a choice. “Lancer it is then. So what are you doing with your weapon?” You were honestly a little scared. Lancer bringing out her weapon in front of you for no discernable reason had deadly implications.
“I’m debating terminating myself.
“Wh-what!? Don’t do that! You can’t just give up!
“I already told you, as you are, our chances at winning are nearly nonexistent. If I eliminate myself I won’t have to waste my time and you’ll be able to live.
Well that was kind of sweetly considerate, in a macabre way. But you still didn’t want Lancer to do that to herself. You still believed you two had a chance of winning this thing. You just had to convince her of that.
“I don’t think you should give up.” You argued weakly. “I mean, you’re already summoned. You might as well get something out of this.
Lancer turned her attention away from her weapon and back to you. The petrifying gaze of her eyes washed over you, contemplating. You couldn’t hold back a nervous gulp.
“I suppose I could play with you a little.” She mused. “After having a bit of fun, I could be on my way.
O-or you could work with me and try to win!
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