There is a strong connection and sense of awareness between a Master and a Servant. The moment something happened to Kuzuki, Medea, who was cooking in the kitchen, sensed it instantly.
She first went to the gate of Ryudou Temple to check if something was wrong with the barrier. However, what shocked her was that the swordsman who should have been sitting on the steps gazing at the moon was gone. In his place, a Japanese sword was slowly vanishing.
In the game, it was supposed to be Arturia and Shirou who witnessed this scene. Afterward, they entered Ryudou Temple and found Medea cradling Kuzuki's corpse. Believing that Caster had killed her own Master, Arturia decisively finished her off.
However, in the movie version, Shirou and Saber didn't appear at all during the downfall of Caster's group. This was mainly because the game used a first-person perspective, requiring the protagonist to be as involved as possible in events. When Shinji adapted this scene for film, he primarily referred to the movie version.
On one hand, Arturia's decision to kill Caster was too rash, and her actions came off as overly authoritarian. On the other hand, Shirou and Saber's hurried departure afterward showed a lack of vigilance, allowing the Shadow to seize the opportunity to claim Caster.
Throughout the entire Ryudou Temple scene, Shirou and Saber were in such a rush to kill Caster that it seemed like they didn't want to interfere with Sakura's plan to take down Caster.
To maintain Arturia's righteous and heroic image, and to ensure the storyline flowed more logically, Shinji decided not to involve her in this segment at all.
But this also meant Medea was left as the sole victim.
Well, not quite.
After all, the gatekeeper and Kuzuki had already met their ends earlier. But that didn't stop Shinji from delivering another emotional blow to the audience.
When Medea realized the gravity of the situation and rushed to the scene of Kuzuki's death, what she saw was Kuzuki, covered in blood, being dragged across the ground like a rag doll by Hassan.
"Let... me go... witch..." Hassan's raspy voice, leaking air as he spoke, sent chills down everyone's spine.
"Hassan is just born for horror movies, huh? His ghostly appearance and voice are on par with Sadako," commented a timid girl, clutching a square pillow tightly.
She wasn't the only one doing this. After that series of eerie shots, many people were holding onto something nearby for comfort. Some who were more familiar with each other even embraced.
Why are they so scared? Alice couldn't understand the reactions around her as she calmly watched the TV screen.
It's just a story, after all. Why are they so afraid of something fake?
On the screen, faced with Hassan's threat, Medea reluctantly chose to compromise and severed the contract that linked him to Kojiro.
Most of the audience understood Medea's choice. These were longtime fans who had watched Unlimited Blade Works and knew what Kuzuki meant to her.
Even those who hadn't seen UBW could sense the bond between Kuzuki and Medea through the affectionate moments they'd shared earlier.
If this were any other movie, and Medea and Kuzuki were the leads, they would've fought through intense battles and emerged unscathed.
But unfortunately, they weren't the protagonists, and so their fate was tragic.
Slash
As soon as Medea activated her Noble Phantasm, a dagger pierced through her chest.
But Hassan wasn't satisfied with just that. After pulling the dagger out of Medea, he stabbed her a few more times. Feeling that still wasn't enough, after confirming Medea was truly dead, Hassan even threw the dagger at Kuzuki, as if worried he might stand up again.
"Sigh, I guess this is my exit," Medea sighed, watching her blood-soaked body on the screen. "Is this my fate? No matter the story, I can never have a perfect family."
"Caster, don't say that," Yan Qing, sitting beside her, tried to comfort her. "That Kuzuki guy wasn't bad, right? You could have built a relationship with him."
Medea slowly shook her head. "It's not the same. Without going through the events in the script, I would've had no feelings for that man."
"I admit he's a decent person, but to pursue him just because of the script—doesn't that feel like couples in mythology who are brought together by Cupid's arrow?" Medea's expression showed a hint of disdain. "That kind of forced relationship feels terrible. I don't want that."
"So, don't you have any other thoughts?" Yan Qing gently asked.
When dealing with people of different genders, Yan Qing behaves in two completely opposite ways. While he often quarrels within three sentences when hanging out with guys like Cu Chulainn, Yan Qing is extremely gentle toward women, earning him the title of the best "guy friend."
"I remember you always wanted to find your ideal partner, right?" Yan Qing asked.
Hearing his question, Medea instinctively glanced at Shinji and then shook her head slightly. "Forget it. I have no interest in men who are playboys."
Yan Qing rubbed his chin and smirked. "I figured."
At that moment, Yan Qing suddenly thought that being a close, understanding male friend wasn't so bad—at least he got a lot of gossip from others.
While Medea herself seemed emotionally stable and unfazed by being threatened and brutally treated in Heaven's Feel (HF), an ordinary viewer like Shibamatsu was not.
Medea's exit, especially after being stabbed several times, left him feeling unsettled.
After all, Hassan not only stabbed her twice but even landed another blow on Kuzuki's corpse as if to ensure he wouldn't rise again.
This kind of ruthless action—killing not only the body but also the heart—left Shibamatsu visibly disturbed. "This is too much! No, it's not just scary; it's cruel. They were just enemies, right? How deep was their hatred?"
But that wasn't the end. As soon as Hassan left, black tendrils crept out from the hallway and dragged Medea's broken body into the shadows. Then, a haunting BGM played as the camera slowly zoomed out, revealing the full view of Ryudou Temple.
Thus, the first episode of HF ended with a dark and terrifying atmosphere.
Only then did everyone realize that they had been watching for an hour and a half.
"Damn! Shinji really knows how to leave us hanging! And what the hell were those black ribbons?"
No one could answer Shibamatsu's question because everyone was equally shocked by the horror-like conclusion.
"Damn! This guy is the master of cliffhangers!"
After confirming that there were no post-credits scenes or previews for the next episode, the audience on the sofa started to curse Shinji.
This cliffhanger was brutal, leaving so many unanswered questions—how was Hassan born, who was his Master, and what were those black ribbons?
"Does anyone know when the next volume of HF will be released?" someone yawned and asked.
"It shouldn't be too long, right?" another magi replied. "I heard HBO is releasing one episode per month, so the OV (original video) release should follow a similar schedule."
"But we still have to wait a whole month…"
"Alright, it's late."
Alice turned off the TV and stood up. "Let's all head to bed. We can discuss HF and our guesses about the next episode tomorrow."
"Wow, it's already this late."
"Okay, Kuonji-san."
"Yeah, sleep is important. Can't lose my life over this."
Everyone looked at the clock on the wall and stood up, following Alice's lead.
When Alice and Aoko had designed the Magus Club, they had considered such situations, so they'd prepared rooms in advance. While there weren't many, everyone could squeeze in for one night.
Since Aoko didn't come today, Alice had their room to herself. That was supposed to be a good thing—after all, she could sleep peacefully alone—but today was different.
"...Can't sleep..."
Lying in bed, Alice stared at the dark ceiling, her mind filled with the image of Hassan committing murder. The sound of the blade piercing through flesh echoed in her ears repeatedly.
While Alice had been unfazed while watching the movie, with no trace of fear, now it felt like the horror had caught up with her—like eating spicy food or drinking alcohol, where the aftereffects hit later and with full force.
"I should... sleep... stop thinking about all this nonsense."
She muttered to herself, closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind. However, the human brain is a curious thing. The more you try not to think about something, the clearer it becomes in your head—especially when you're lying in bed, doing nothing but trying to sleep.
"..."
Thanks to the vivid images of the cloaked assassin running rampant in her mind, Alice opened her eyes again. This time, she noticed a mark on the ceiling that looked suspiciously like Hassan's skull mask.
"It didn't look like that before..."
Alice pursed her lips.
The closed room, dim environment, and eerily silent space...
A minute later, unable to bear it any longer, Alice threw off the blanket and got out of bed. She reached out to turn on the light, flooding the room with brightness once more.
"That's better... I'm not scared at all," she muttered to herself, calmly closing her eyes again.
Across Japan, Alice and her group weren't the only ones staying up all night watching the movie, and they weren't the only ones struggling to sleep after being spooked by Hassan.
It was easy to imagine how lively the Fate forums would be once the sun came up.
Actually, they were already bustling, filled with fans too scared to sleep.
<+>
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