Vlad III - EXTRA
Scorched Earth
Vlad III: What's wrong? Can't sleep, my friend?
Vlad III: Leave the night watch to me. Humans require sleep. Rest up for tomorrow.
Vlad III: Hm? You want to hear the story of me before I became a Heroic Spirit? You are a peculiar contractor. I must ask your forgiveness.
Vlad III: There are no stories of THIS me worth telling. Nor do I have any feats to boast of.
Vlad III: I donned this armor to purge tyranny from the land...making me no different than those who had fallen.
Vlad III: The Vlad III who was the lord of the land is no more. I stand here before you as a general, a warrior.
Vlad III: The only reason why I contracted with you as a Heroic Spirit was because I sensed the presence of evil.
Vlad III: You fight for justice, and the Lord allowed me to wield my lance so long as it was under your command.
Vlad III: I have neither principles nor ideals. I am simply a machine, impaling your enemies. What stories could such a thing possibly have to tell?
Vlad III: Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps I do have a reason...
Vlad III: Maybe it is just the dying flames of our fire here, but a peculiar vision comes to mind...
Vlad III: Unlike the other Heroic Spirits, I've no need for a second wish. I do not even know why I fight so fiercely after my death.
Vlad III: I lost sight of God's love. I may have believed it was real, but I had forsaken the love that I actually received. Twice.
Vlad III: First was the goodness of the citizens...the virtuous spirit given by the nobility. And second was my other loving half who fell from the tower...
Vlad III: I do not doubt God's love, but I never believed I would witness it ever again.
Vlad III: But...I had a dream.
Vlad III: Hahaha. Even Servants can dream. Our dreams, though, are no more than our way of reliving what happened in our lives.
Vlad III: Yet mine was different. Unbelievable as it may sound, my dream was not about my past.
Vlad III: It was a dream about a woman...a woman who was thinly frail, sickly at heart, who truly stood at death's door.
Vlad III: The woman had lost her beloved child. Stillbirth. The experience likely shattered her heart and mind.
Vlad III: In despair, she refused to eat. In a cruel twist of fate, she found she could only consume those whom she truly loved.
Vlad III: Of course, the woman was exiled from her homeland, a fate she accepted, becoming an outcast.
Vlad III: Humans who do not eat, without exception, fail to survive.
Vlad III: She might have been able to convince herself that it is the natural order of things for one life to take another for sustenance.
Vlad III: However, she did not once consume her loved ones, even to the day of her death.
Vlad III: She chose the lives of others over her own. She managed to avoid terrorizing her loved ones until the end.
Vlad III: This may sound strange to say aloud, but I believe that, through that woman, I caught just a glimpse of the love I'd lost.
Vlad III: Just knowing such a woman exists... I would gladly burn in the fires of hell once more.
Vlad III: Nngh!
Vlad III: What horrendous ghosts! Even after death, they attempt to murder and consume the living!
Vlad III: In life, they attacked others for their own gain, and in death their loathing of the living is born of their own suffering!
Vlad III: Sinners who left your own prayers behind and for whom no one prays for anymore! I do not ask for your repentance! You will be no more than prey for my spear!
Dr. Roman: That's amazing! Truly a storm of violence! Even his armor is a weapon!
Dr. Roman: He's like a hedgehog on fire...or a spinning guillotine...or maybe a human trench mortar...!
Fujimaru 1: Is he like a black stain on a paint canvas?
Fujimaru 2: Like a snowplow train?
Dr. Roman: Yeah, that's it! Anyway, he's just tearing his way through enemy territory!
Mash: Doctor! Master! This really isn't the time to be making abstract metaphors about him!
Mash: Please come back, Lord Vlad! We're detecting over a hundred enemies! We need to retreat while we still have the chance!
Vlad III: Heh. What are you talking about, shield maiden? Do you think a mere hundred enemies is enough to stop me?
Vlad III: It's only a few hundred arrows and a lance piercing my body!
Vlad III: Pathetic. No more than trifles. Smelling salts would sooner go to my head than these enemies!
Vlad III: Gu...ungh!
Fujimaru 1: Lord Vlad...!
Fujimaru 2: Lancer...!
Vlad III: Heh. That was a good strike. Now I'm awake! Time to repay you! Accept my gift from the base of your spine through the top of your head!
Ghost: FiGiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii—!
Mash: ...
Vlad III: What's wrong? Are the rest of these enemies cowards!? Will none of you fools challenge me one-on-one!?
Vlad III: Then there is nothing to do but mow this lot down. They are no more than ghosts, but they did challenge me.
Vlad III: I will rip you apart until not a trace remains!
Dr. Roman: Ah, so that's Vlad Țepeș, the Impaler. He was an evil general, and he protected Wallachia from an army of over a million.
Dr. Roman: I never believed those stories, but now I see the evidence of it with my own eyes!
Dr. Roman: His battlefield philosophy is brutal! There's no surviving unless you eradicate all those enemies or force them to retreat!
Dr. Roman: Obviously, we're in good hands as long as he's around!
Mash: This is no time to be impressed! Master, your orders! We will support Lord Vlad in battle!
--BATTLE--:
Vlad III: It's done. My friend, are you safe?
Fujimaru 1: Of course.
Vlad III: Ah, you are so dependable! I am impressed that you are untroubled after witnessing one of my battles!
Fujimaru 2: Lord Vlad, are you okay?
Vlad III: Of course. I cannot allow my friend to see me bleed. I must confess that last enemy did a number on me, though.
Vlad III: But honestly, this city is quite vexing.
Vlad III: I hear it was once the site of a Holy Grail War, but does the Holy Grail War really bring about so much destruction to one place?
Vlad III: This sight is not of this world. Some other catastrophe must've led to this horrific calamity.
Dr. Roman: I noticed that too. It's hard to imagine even a Holy Grail going out of control could cause all this.
Dr. Roman: Well, the Greater Grail in Fuyuki was a ginormous Magical Reactor Core, so it's at least possible it could blow the whole city up.
Dr. Roman: But for it to keep burning like this... It doesn't make sense.
Mash: Are there other things we don't know? Did you come with us because there's something you sensed, Lord Vlad?
Vlad III: It wasn't for the expedition, as I've no experience or knowledge in such things. It's just that I do not care for the particular contamination in this Singularity.
Vlad III: There's something here. Something I loathe above all else. I'd hoped to find its source and destroy it...
Dr. Roman: Sorry. You're out of time. The Holy Grail has already been recovered from that Singularity.
Dr. Roman: You can't stay there long, I'm afraid. The surplus magical energy sent to Sheba is about to run out.
Dr. Roman: I'm sure this expedition leaves you unsatisfied, Lord Vlad, but can we have you all return right now?
Vlad III: Ah, no need to fret, Romantic Man.
Vlad III: Your spineless personality is deplorable, but your daily hard work and attention to detail are to be commended at least.
Vlad III: Ah, would that all humans were so diligent as you. Such could never be, sadly.
Dr. Roman: Welcome back, Fujimaru. Where's Lord Vlad? Ah...he's back in standby mode.
Dr. Roman: But I never imagined a Servant like him would point out the problem of Fuyuki.
Dr. Roman: Looking back into Fuyuki is on our to-do list, but the next Singularity takes priority.
Dr. Roman: After all, we are approaching the Seventh Singularity in Uruk, during the Age of Gods. Everyone will have to work their butts off, or we won't make it...
Dr. Roman: Oh? Is something on your mind, Fujimaru? If I can be of help, I'm more than happy to lend an ear.
Fujimaru 1: ...I just don't understand why Lord Vlad fights...
Fujimaru 2: I heard this story, once...
Dr. Roman: ...Hm. A Servant's dream...
Dr. Roman: You may be talking about the battle records that get engraved into their soul after they become Heroic Spirits.
Dr. Roman: But I don't think that's a sad story. He said “I would gladly burn in the fires of hell”...
Dr. Roman: He doesn't mean he wants to suffer again. I think he means he's just looking for some hope.
Dr. Roman: Even if she had to do it for her survival, the woman in his story never chose to take the life of another.
Dr. Roman: It wasn't for her dignity or for her humanity...
Dr. Roman: Basically... One doesn't sacrifice the lives of others for their own protection or gain.
Dr. Roman: Obvious human kindness...the way a soul should be...was something he believed in. That goes for both past and present.