When they separated to get better acquainted with their servants, Henry followed Eddie to the garden but went to the other corner with Berserker. “Hey Berserker, you seem fine just that you look like you’re in a biker gang, but the other Berserker that Carter fought was different. That guy was huge, really powerful, and sort of, how do I say it, a raging monster without much thinking capacity. So, my question is, why are you different from him? Not as Berserk I mean.”
Berserker laughed, “Ha ha ha ha ha, that’s what you’re curious about. Alright, I’ll tell you. But first, let me introduce myself again. The name’s Sakata Kintoki, and I’m your Berserker class servant kid.” Henry was dissatisfied with his servant, “I’m not a kid. I’m sixteen.” Berserker laughed even harder to the point that Eddie and Lancer could hear him. “Ha ha ha ha ha, you just confirmed what I said, kid. You may think you’re an adult, but you’re still naïve about the way the world works. Besides, you shouldn’t try to grow up so fast, enjoy the present, you’ll only be this age once. Because when you do grow up, you’ll miss what you left behind trying to get there if you try so hard to grow up.”
Berserker continued their conversation, “as for why I’m not like that. It’s because I don’t like using madness enhancement. It’s a special ability we Berserkers have. It lets us get stronger, a lot stronger, but the trade-off is not really something I want.” Henry was puzzled, “Isn’t getting stronger a good thing. If you have enough power, you could basically bulldoze the entire competition. You could even do whatever you want if you’re strong enough.
”Berserker got off the bench and lied down on the grass looking at the sky. “That is only half true in my case. When I use madness enhancement, just like it states in the name, I’ll be overcome with madness. The trade-off for that ability is my sanity. I can become a lot stronger as the servant with the strongest physical strength but at the same time, I’d lose my sanity. I could go insane trying to destroy everything. I’d no longer be myself. As for the other Berserker, well he was summoned like that. His master probably just wants a mindless monster to destroy everything.”
Berserker was still lying on the grass, but then Henry joined him. “Hey kid, promise me one thing”, Henry was curious why Berserker suddenly changed his demeanor. He became more serious. “What do you want me to promise?” Berserker sighs, “unless it is absolutely necessary, don’t make me use madness enhancement. I don’t want to become a mindless rage monster.”
“I promise. I won’t tell you to use madness enhancement unless I didn’t have a choice.” Henry accepts the promise to Berserker. Berserker closes his eyes, “One more thing kid. Don’t use that command seal needlessly or recklessly. There are just some things I’m not willing to do and you just gotta accept it. Don’t force me to do them.”
Henry was puzzled once again, “What do you mean don’t use the command seal to force you to do something?” Berserker opened his eyes, “I guess that Faker didn’t tell you everything huh. The command seals act as a leash for us servants. It can be used to force us to do something we don’t want to do. But it’s limited to only three times. That’s why most masters don’t use them unless it was absolutely necessary. I heard there was one time where the master’s fiancé was threatened by another master. He made the guy use his command seal and told his own servant. The most loyal person under him, to commit suicide. The master had to make a choice, and he chose his fiancé. With his servant defeated, he was no longer able to participate in the war.”
Henry listens to Berserker’s story, “Berserker, I promise and I swear on my mother’s grave that I will not abuse the command seal and force you to do something completely unreasonable.” Berserker smiles, “We’ll know when the time comes”.
Sara left for the training with Assassin. When she got there, she started training with the DEO’s training simulator. When it activated, she took out her bow staff and started eliminating her targets one by one. “You’re pretty proficient in using your staff master. If I’m not wrong, you were trained by a group of assassins. Not my group of course. We have disappeared from the annals of history. Not much information of us exists in the current era.” Assassin was observing Sarah’s training when he provided input. “Would you like to know this old man’s true name or would you rather it remain a mystery. Because aside from master, all the other servants including that pseudo-servant master should've figured out my true name.”
Sarah stopped her training, “I don’t know about them but it doesn’t really matter what your name is because I’m not going to let an elderly person such as yourself, fight my battles for me. I’ve fought immortals, magical creatures, evil wizards, Nazis, hell I’ve even fought demons. So, fighting a bunch of people reborn as magical heroes won’t be much of a challenge to me. I’m not like the others. I’ve had more experience dealing with these types of situations. So don’t worry, you won’t have to fight these guys because I am going to kick their asses and send them packing.”
Assassin shakes his head at his master’s cockiness and arrogance. “I’m warning you, master. The enemy before you is none like you’ve faced before. Each of them is more powerful than your previous enemies and they each have their own unique Noble Phantasm to defeat you. Did that pseudo-servant not tell you about your enemies? You’re brash, cocky, and arrogant. You might have been able to win before but some of your enemies have power equal to ancient gods. They are not to be underestimated. How about you try and spar with me master. I will show you a glimpse of what you will be up against.”
In another training room, Carter was about to train with Saber. “Shiki, I need a sparring partner. I don’t want to be a master that just sits back as his servant fights the battles. I want to help you fight the enemy servant and not be a burden to you. But to do so, I must be able to fight with a servant. Imprint Saber. Shiki, lets spar, I need to be able to keep up with you at full strength if I’m to be useful to you.” As Carter imprinted Saber, he pulled out Mordred’s sword and got into a fighting stance.
“Very well master”, Saber took out her katana and also got into a fighting stance. Carter rushed at her with a downward slash but Saber blocks it and pushes it away. She countered with a diagonal slash, and when Carter parried it, Saber spun around and targeted his stomach with a horizontal slash. The two of them fought for hours. At one point, Carter tried to punch Saber when he found an opening after she parried his attack, but she immediately grabbed his hand and flipped him when he tried to do so.
“So this is what it’s like to fight an actual servant. It’s completely different than fighting crooks and supervillains, that’s for sure. But at least I was able to hit you a few times Shiki.” Carter conversed with Saber as they head to the meeting room. “You still have some ways to go master.” Both of them suffered some injuries but they were able to recover using magic. When they reached the conference room, everyone was already there except a single master and servant pair, and Joey was hiding behind Caster when he looked at Constantine and Assassin. Carter thought to himself, “He must’ve seen their auras. Yeah, they can be pretty scary for first-timers.” Carter looked around for the master and servant pair. When he could not find them, he asked everyone else, “Hey, where’s Cisco and Rider?”
