Chapter 1
Grunting to push the stone table from the middle of the room, Tohsaka Rin finishes her work and pauses at the sight of the magic circle that her father had used in the previous war. She was wearing a red turtleneck with a white cross embroidered just below the neckline, with a black skirt, and long black knee socks. Stepping into the circle she starts her final checks to summon her servant for the Fifth Holy Grail War.
"Preparations…ready. Time…good. Wavelength…ideal. By performing the summoning at 2 AM, when my mana's at its peak, I'll get Saber. Even without a catalyst!"
Tohsaka, assuring herself, pulls out many colored stones and begins to speak her summoning commands,
"For the elements, silver and iron. For the Foundation, stone and the Archduke of Contracts. For the ancestor, my great master, Schweinorg. Close the gates of the cardinal directions. Come forth the Crown, and follow the forked road leading to the Kingdom. Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat five times. But when each is filled, destroy it. Set. Heed my words. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer me. I hereby swear… That I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world. You seven heavens, clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding… Guardian of the Scales!"
Dust erupts from the ground around her as she feels her mana sharply decline and fuse with the circle. She falls to her hands and knees, panting from the fatigue. Quickly looking to the burning sensation she last felt on her right hand, she finds her command seals. "That was flawless! I know I drew the most powerful card!" She looks quickly to meet her Heroic Spirit, but sees no one in the confines of her magus study. "Huh?" As if on cue a large explosion is heard above her located somewhere in the large house of the Tohsaka mansion. Rin takes off up the stairs to find the source of the explosion. "Why?!" She thought of the possibility of another magus trying to break into her home, but she would have felt the barrier around the mansion go out if they had the technique necessary to take out such a powerful barrier. Running to a door that she saw smoke coming out of, she began to try to open it. Cursing as it had been damaged by the explosion on the other side. Kicking it down, she stumbles a bit and recovers from her near fall to see the intruder.
The intruder, a man, was in the midst of a coughing fit. The smoke, dust, and debris must have entered his lungs since he was in the middle of it. She heard him mutter something about surviving yet another explosion and he sat down onto the sofa, or what was left of it, to lower his head from the rising smoke. As the smoked cleared, she could see that he was wearing a green hood over his head flowing into a green cloak he wore. She could also see that he wore a studded leather cuirass, fingerless leather gauntlets, boots, and leather chaps with a cotton green material under the chaps for pants. Under the cuirass, as the man started to stand, he wore a faded black shirt made of cotton material and chainmail that looked odd compared to most steels or iron. Looking up to the man's face, she saw a black beard which reminded her of a mountain man, his mouth set in a grim line. His eyes coming into view, as he lowered the hood, revealing his eyes which matched the oceans' deepest blue. The scowl now removed from his face as he raises an eyebrow at her, and he shifts slightly under the weight of her gaze. His raven black hair, a messy mop that feathers out in different directions, following in suit as it falls in front of his eyes slightly. She also notices what looks like—
"A quiver?! Wait, all the clocks in the house were an hour fast today… Which means it's now 1AM. Not 2AM?I did it again!" says Rin out loud, crouching down in disappointment and talking to herself.
The man obviously amused by the teenager belittling herself, chuckles and continues to observe his surroundings taking in the destroyed books and furniture. He notices that Rin has narrowed her eyes at him again.
"What? See something you like?" said the man continuing his chuckle.
Flustered, Rin averts her eyes momentarily, but not wanting to show weakness brings her gaze back. Standing back up, she puts a hand on her hip trying to relax her from the man's teasing comment.
"Well? What are you supposed to be?" says Rin in an agitated tone.
The man answers sarcastically, "Well I hope this isn't how you treat all of your guests that you summon from death."
Rin ignores the man's sarcastic comment, but looks at him with a bit of confusion, "Death— you mean the Throne of Heroes?"
"If you want to call it that, then yes." smiling still he sits back down.
Rin thinking, "This is odd. I would have thought that the servants from the Throne of Heroes would be much more respectable." She continued to ponder his informality. He must have been a Hero who wandered and went against social norms of the times, judging from how he spoke and how he held himself.
The man choosing to speak, "So girly, how do you, wish to fight? For I, have a few suggestions." Rin narrows her eyes at the servant forming a scowl that would lead most men to cringe in fear of what was to come. However, the man just seemed to smile at the look.
"Well, I have a few ideas-", Rin starts, but she gets cutoff by the man continuing over her words.
"As your Servant, I will ask you to not interfere with anything to do with battles. I will personally take care of any planning and preparation."
"Wait-"
"Even if you are a capable mage, a young girl such as yourself, would be seen by the enemy and immediate be targeted an attempt on your life over mine, due to you being a much easier target. I will thus ask you to stay away from any engagement and ask that you find yourself somewhere safe and comfortable to hide." As the man finishes the statement and notices Rin trembling slightly. He stands up and walks closer to her, "Have I angered you?"
"You… Ingrate… I'll just have to show you… I'll have to use it."
The man's eyebrow rose from the comment and he was no longer smiling, "Oh, use what?"
"If you will not respect me then… I command you—"
Reacting far faster than Rin expected from his stance, the servant crossed the gap between them grabbing her hand and looked deeply in her now shocked eyes.
"I would refrain from wasting such a powerful gift, Master." The man had shocked Rin to the bone by how serious he had become. She thought by this point that the servant wasn't capable of a serious conversation. He waited for her to nod her head before he released her clenched fist and began to back away. He waited for her to regain her composure. Rin was still in a shock and swore she saw a tint of red appear; the man however simply began smiling.
"What, cat got your tongue?"
Rin realized that she was again being made fun of, but mentally thanked her servant for earlier, stopping her from such a blunder. "I think it is best that we talk somewhere else. Would you please follow me?"
The man smirked then bowed ever so slightly, "I will apologize for my earlier rudeness, Master. I am little out of sorts, happens when you are summoned in an explosion." He begins walking towards the door past Rin, "Coming Master?"
Rin had a few new tick marks line her forehead, but casual stated, "Why yes follow me." A forced grin reaching her lips, as she began to realize more and more that this servant was going to be a real handful.
They arrived at another part of the house, a study of sorts, with bookshelves lining the edge of the room, a coffee table in the middle, and two sofas on either side of the coffee table.
The man immediately went to one of the sofas and plopped himself into a comfortable position, smiling of course. Rin took the opposite sofa, after she had grabbed the Book of Parameters from the bookshelf, bringing a hand to the book she dusted it off and opened it. In it she saw a base portrait of her servant with all of his stats blank. She hoped to get some of them filled before she retired for the night. Closing the book-
"What countries Heroic Spirit are you?"
The man smile dropped as he brought his hand to his chin and another to his elbow, "The world's hero." He closed his eyes seemly to go into deep thought.
"That doesn't answer my question?"
"Aye and I believe my answer is not suited for the time of night."
"What?" Rin said disbelieving.
"It is late. My answer would bring up to many questions. I worry for your rest, Master. For it will affect you and me if you don't retire soon." He looked somewhat annoyed by her trying to pry for information and he began looking over his nails disinterested in the conversation.
"Well can you give me something to put my nerves at ease?"
"What do you want a show? Do you want me to dance for you?" He sighed looking off in another direction of the room.
"Of course not, just- show me something with some power to reassure me about you." Said Rin hoping he had something. He was starting to stress her out seeing as she nothing to go on about his ability or who he was for that matter. Also, the little fact that she hadn't summoned the Saber class wasn't helping her nerves.
The man took some offense to her saying that, but instead of commenting about it he snapped his fingers having an idea, "How about I show you the pièce de résistance in my mobile armory?", as he leaned forward standing looking for something in her expression. He wore smile that seemed to be even further exaggerated then thought possible by her. Rin's eyebrow rose at his comment about a mobile armory, but allowed the man to continue instead of him using the same possible excuse as earlier as she began to be somewhat uncomfortable under the man's gaze.
"I guess that may work."
"That's the spirit!" The man straightened out and held out his hand concentrating. As Rin focused at his hand she saw something appearing in his hand.
"Steigen, Bogen der Uralten!" The man whispered a command, but Rin had heard what he said. It reminded her of her spell commands since the word's he was using were German and her word casting was Germanic in nature. What appeared in his hand was what affirmed her suspicions that her servant was the Archer class.
In his hand was a golden bow that looked to be machined, but crafted and etched by hand at the same time. It followed the standards of the European longbow of old mixed with a compound bow of late. The bows grip seemed much larger; you could fit both hands to hold it comfortable if you wanted to. As for the height, it was taller than him by a good three inches. Although, when he held it, looks would say the weight was extraordinary by the size, but he didn't have any effort written on his face his expression was a mixture of peace and longing that reminded her of her Father. Rin also noticed that the string was missing, but didn't say much for the bow inspired awe.
"What, did you call it?" she nearly whispered when she said it, but he had responded immediately.
"The Bow of the Ancients supposedly made during the time when Gods walked amongst immortals and mortals." The voice disturbed Rin for it didn't sound like the smiling man she had been talking to. It was deeper and more serious telling her more to fear the weapon then look at it in awe. She continued to look the weapon over realizing who ever forged or crafted the weapon was very talented.
"It's beautiful." She saw many different runes and glyphs etched into the bow. Nothing that she could comprehend nor any modern Magus.
"Zurück Bogen der Uralten." The bow faded and the man relaxed his left hand by putting it by his side. He looked at Rin, "Now you, off to bed." His tone switching to a more fatherly tone, he began to gesture shooing her, which annoyed Rin slightly, but he was right even if she had more questions about it.
"I expect you fix the mess you made upstairs. No disagreeing." Rin stood and yawned. Working her way towards the door the man nodded slightly.
"Sur- Wait what?" The man tried to change the girl's mind as she was about to close the door.
"Good night!" Rin closed the door before the man could say anything, a small victory for Rin. She heard him curse lastly as she walked towards her bedroom, she being the last to smile.
Rin woke up and stretched. Realizing that she had over slept greatly, she decided that going to school was pointless. Also, seeing as how her servant was keeping information about his origin from her, she would need to get more information out of him today. Standing and walking over to her nightstand she picked up the book from last night and opened it to her Servant's page. Looking at the only information provided under Noble Phantasm bit she saw the Bow of the Ancients. Under the name was a short description of the Noble Phantasm and its rank.
'The Bow of the Ancients forged before mortal man ruled the Realm, but during the time when Gods walked along Mortals and Immortals. Crafted with many different variants from itself to fulfill the purpose, to give Mortals a way to judge the Gods and Immortals as equals. Its twins and itself were sealed away by the Gods, from the Mortals, as the Mortals became more aware of what they were to the Gods. In this way the Gods were forced to turn away from the Mortals to protect them from their power. So the Realms were separated to protect Mortals form Gods and Gods from Mortals. Noble Phantasm Rank: A an ? Weapon'
She pondered for a moment, the weapon very powerful and its history odd for someone who was unbecoming of such a weapon. From the brief story only a God should have the weapon seeing as how it was sealed by them. How did her servant obtain such a weapon? Also, the fact the weapon was still not classified to any specification either was helping at all. It would look like she had more questions for him. Rin sighed and made her way to the restroom to prepare for the day.
After getting herself dressed in her school uniform she put on her usual red overcoat and made her way over to the room she had ordered her Heroic Spirit to repair and clean. Opening the door, which was now fixed, she saw that the destroyed remnants of the room were gone and the ceiling itself was repaired, although the sofa in the middle was reconstructed into a bed. Her servant was casually lying in it with both his hands resting behind his head. She walked over to the edge of the makeshift bed and looked at him callously. She noticed that he had opened an eye to see what had blocked the natural light coming from the windows.
"If you are going to wish me a good morning, now would be the time." said the man breathing the air and stretching, turning his back as he climbed out of bed.
"Well, good to see you are well rested, for I wish to show you the town to give you a good idea of some vantage points." stated Rin plainly.
"Oh?" the man turned to look at his master and eyed her curiously. "Well I can see the famous Japanese uniform that the Americans talk about works its charms as well as they say."
Rin became quite confused by the sudden statement, but then realized what he meant. "Id-Idiot-you lousy ingrate." throwing insults and turning away to hide her flushed face, not that she didn't enjoy the compliment, but she hadn't expected it from a Heroic Spirit.
The servant smiled and chuckled at her reaction, "Other than teasing you this morning and some basic war talk. There was something that you forgot to mention to me last night."
Rin turned her head slightly, "Oh? There were quite a few things you forgot to mention yourself."
"Ouch, the hostility coming from such a fine young women is unbecoming." The man walked around the bed towards her. She turned to face him now realizing he was pulling the same antics as last night and to regard anything he said as sarcastic in nature.
"You haven't mentioned your name to me, as much as I would like to refer to you as, Girly, I think your name would be better given your disposition so far."
She looked at him and sighed realizing she did in fact forget to mention her name last night. Seeing as how he was withholding any information about himself, it might do her good to share some information about herself, even if it was just her name. Although, he wasn't helping the situation with his sarcastic comments.
"Tohsaka, Rin." she offered her hand for the man to shake it. The man brought his left hand to his chin and closed his eyes in thought. He then took her offered hand and shook it.
"Then Rin must be your first name. It fits you, straight forward and sweet. It reminds me of a better time." The man dropped his hand and stared off into space as if remembering a bitter memory.
"Ah, thank you-", Rin trying to bring the man back to reality gesture for him to take his turn. The man smiled knowing exactly what she wanted to hear.
"Look I appreciate your readiness to give your name, but I feel for now my name should remain a secret until we know our enemies better." He saw the disappointment in her face and he sighed, "I have a fear of mind magic, even if you are particular good at resistance to magic I believe the Caster class could possibly have the power to break anyone, even another Heroic Spirit."
"Your fears make sense, but that makes it difficult to plan any strategy against any other class."
"True, but facing any Heroic Spirit now would be a disadvantage to both sides. Neither side could exploit advantages unless they wish to give themselves off to what class they are or even who they are." Rin was seeing more sides of her servant and it was bothering her how different he was acting. One minute he is a comedian and joking trying to get her to react. Other times he was intelligent and serious, nearly by the flip of a switch, it was like he didn't have one true personality.
The man was now waving his hand in front of her face, "Hey Rin, back to reality."
"Oh?! Sorry, was in some deep thought. Anyway, other than calling you Archer is there another name I can refer to you so as to not give your class away immediately."
"Hmm- You can refer to me as Hood." Rin nearly burst out laughing. The man raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What? Is something funny?"
"Hahaha- What do you want me to call you Robin Hood, while I'm at it?" Rin had nearly buckled over laughing.
"I guess? We share many similarities in legend and origin, sort of." The man started scratching his cheek with his finger and seemed to redden a little in the cheeks. Rin seeing this laughed more.
"What, I damage your pride as a hero comparing you to another?" Rin calming down a little looked at her servant. He was obviously irritated.
"I'll make you regret comparing me to that man. We may be similar, but I am on a completely different level then the legend of Robin Hood." The man folded his arms.
"Please, I hope you make me regret them, Robin." She continued to laugh.
"Let's just go and do that thing you wanted us to do." The man started walking to the door, "Coming, Master?" irritation lined his voice.
"Okay, Ro-bin." said Rin in a sing song voice, giggling on the way out.
Rin woke up on time to go to school. She got ready and made sure her servant was following her as she walked out the door towards her school. Surprisingly, this morning, the servant looked far more prepared then she had seen him last morning as she had seen many additions to his armor. He had added a bandolier of small knives that went across his chest, as well as two metal sheets to his legs that had small hooks and small arrows. His forearms also sported a hunting knife on his left and a row of three darts on his right forearm. On his belt he had added a multitude of pouches and the quiver was sporting arrows in them. It was a nice to know that he was taking it more seriously then she thought he was going to seeing as his attitude wasn't serious at all since the entire summoning. Of course the biggest surprise was that he had shaved the beard he had entirely. She had thought then that she was looking at a younger picture of her father when she first saw the dramatic change. His smile was similar now to her fathers with the beard off. Although there was a difference in facial structure between the two his face wasn't as sharp as her fathers. In fact you could call it softer and less intense than her fathers.
As for yesterday's event, she had shown him most of Fuyuki City. She had hoped to ingrain the layout of the city into him so that he could figure out some advantage of positioning for himself, as for she did not know his range of attack. He had explained to her that if he could see it then he could hit it. What she got from that was very little for that could only be several hundred yards, unless he could do something to zoom or extend his range of view.
As the day dragged on he eventually looked very bored and she had went to an alley way to talk to him. When she asked what he wanted to do he had asked if they could go to the commercial district to do something. She relented as she was getting bored with the normal sites of Fuyuki. Upon arriving in the commercial district, the very next thing she knew her servant had phased back into his material body and walked into a clothing shop. Thankfully he had not materialized his weapons and armor at the same time even still, Rin had almost gone ballistic at her servant when he came out. What stopped her was seeing him in brown cargo pants and shoes with a green hoodie over his regular cotton garb. If she was not his Master she could have sworn he was just an average guy taking his time wandering around the district. She had settled then to ask him if he had paid and he had said yes.
He then took her arm and dragged her to a coffee shop. Where he sat her down and ordered the two of them drinks. She was staring him down to death with a glare. He just seemed to stare back with a ridicules grin, his hands folded under his chin, and his eyes closed. As soon as he received his drink he immediately downed it, commenting on how he missed this combination of flavors. This caused Rin to pause as she wondered what he had meant as she too began drinking. Before she could question him she saw him wave down the waitress and ask for some desserts. She didn't mind at first until she realized how much he ordered. As soon as the waitress left she told her servant that she couldn't pay for all of this unless she went into her other budgets. The servant merely raised an eyebrow and simple stated that he would pay for it. Of course this brought her to ask, how? After they had finished, he had then reached into the pocket of his new hoodie and pulled out one small flat disk object. To her amazement it glittered in the light, it was simple a gold coin. She blinked and nearly fell off her chair in surprise. The servant blinked in surprise to her mouth now hanging open and her not being able to formulate words properly. At that point she grabbed her servant and paid their bill dragging her bank-servant home.
Once home she asked him how he was able to materialize money out of thin air. He had laughed at her comment of money being able to materialize out of thin air; he explained that he had been fortunate enough in his life to become almost nearly free of the burden of wanting money in his life. Thus he was able to save the majority of money he had ever earned or found through exploring and jobs. Now he didn't explain fully what the jobs entailed or what he had explored to get enough money to be free from it. Nor how the money he pulled stay materialized for as long as it did, being away from his touch for so long.
Now she was just becoming more infuriated with her servant's greatest secret that he kept from her; his identity. She had spent the rest of last night, before bed, researching heroes who were Archers that made it well in life and that were not in the upper echelon of their societies. Sadly the best one that fit that description was Robin Hood, which she didn't believe her servant was mostly due to the fact that he spoke German. Of course the servant could be hiding behind that false fact but, she didn't truly believe that a possibility mostly because of magic. Not a lot of summoning commands for familiars or possible even weapons could be summoned with the same words in another language.
Luckily she got a compromise from her servant last night, after much goading. He would reveal his identity upon fighting another Master's servant. Looking at the school of hers she was glad she could now return to some brief normality to relax herself from her servant's stubborn secrecy.
Of course that was ruined by the fact as she took her first couple of steps onto the school grounds she ran into another magus's Boundary Field.
She whispered to her servant in his astralized form, "You feel that?"
"Of course." responded her servant in an equally serious tone.
"When did a magus put up a boundary field? At my school no less." Rin questioned mentally.
"Master the malice I sense in this field, I suggest we take near immediate action to dispel it." The edge in his voice was certain; he wanted to eliminate the threat to innocence as soon as possible.
"Good…" thought Rin, "…we are in the same mind set." From what Rin was feeling from the field, upon its full activation it would drain the life force of the student body and feed it to the user. The effect right now was a slight drain on the life force so the students and staff only felt a little sluggishness in their movement possible meaning it was incomplete for now.
"We can't do anything right now. We will have to wait for the school to close to stop it." said Rin to her servant. "We can't have anyone walk on us while working on the source of the boundary." Rin continued to walk to her locker.
"Right, do you have any specific orders? Or are you giving me free reign?" Rin felt a cold shiver run up her spine at the thought of letting her servant roam at his own will.
"No-Just- Find a vantage point to view the source of the boundary field, but remain out of sight."
"Fine, make it boring." As if a gust of wind picked up behind her she felt her servant leave her side. She sighed knowing that she may have just dodged an explanation and a headache of trying to explain why there was a foreigner in the middle of school that kept disappearing and reappearing elsewhere. As she opened one of the many doors of the school, she paused at wall leaning her back against it trying to compose herself for the school day going from magus fighting in a secret war, to one of the top students of the school. As she began to turn, she heard paper hitting the ground and seeing a very familiar plum colored hair girl.
"Sakura, let me help you with that." Putting on a very polite smile she began helping in picking up the paper.
It was twilight in Fuyuki now as man in a blue full body tights descend upon the school. He was not having a good night, but he had spotted something out of the corner of his eye while scouting for his Master. A lone figure on top of the school dress in a long red coat, as he moved to the only high ground next to the figure he noticed it to be a young girl looking over a magic circle. Judging from the air around the circle drawn on the ground he could tell it was a magic circle that would drain the souls of the area to the user. Well that wasn't something he would expect this girl was capable of. Well looks can be deceiving.
"Let's erase it, then." said the girl. Obviously he had misread the situation. The girl continued,
"I may not completely undo it, but I can throw a wrench in the works."
"What, you're going to erase it?" said he trying to see if she would admit to placing the circle herself, "What a waste." He observed the girl turning in surprise to see him standing above her on the entrance and only exit to the roof. He smiled slightly to put a little more emphases to intimidating her. She was much braver then he had suspected because she had composed herself and stood up.
"Is this your handiwork?" asked the girl in red. He notice a slight shimmering to her left. Oh much better than originally thought, another servant.
"Nope. Stooping to dirty tricks is a mage's role. My kind simply fights when and where we're told. Right invisible buddy?" he replied coolly. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she narrowed them in concentration. Much better then he presumed. This might be a fight he was looking forward to.
"So, you can see Hood, you're a servant!" declared the girl to him. So she was using a pet name to hide his identity and class. At least she had much more forethought than whoever was using the magic circle.
"And if you know that, little girl, can I assume you're my enemy?" He replied teasingly as he stood with his lance relaxed over his right shoulder. He noticed the girl taking in her surroundings. "Impressive. You seem ignorant, but you have the gist of things. Boy, I really blew it. I shouldn't have let curiosity…" He flourished his red barbed tipped lance to show he was ready hoping whoever was behind her was ready for him, "…get the better of me and spoken up." He saw the girl take a step back and begin running for the fence. He smiled, like her speed was going to get her away from him. As he leapt off his position he yelled a furious war cry and plunged his spear at her. She dodged the three attacks that he made at her, to try and coax her servant out. What he hadn't quite expected was for her to use a reinforcement magic to give her a quick boost of speed to the fence line. She immediately jumped down towards the field asking her servant to handle the landing. He didn't waste any more time admiring the young of this time. Seeing as they seemed far more capable then his master. He caught up to her quickly as she was finishing her run off from the risky landing. He made a swipe at her back to only be parried by her servant.
"Now that's more like it." said the man in blue as he observed the other fully materialized servant, "I'm okay with people who get right down to business." He prepped himself into a fighting pose with the tip of lance facing dirt.
"It's the Lancer-class Servant!" exclaimed the girl to her servant. The man in the green cloak and hood in front of Lancer nodded his head ever so slightly to his master information.
"Indeed. Your servant doesn't quite strike me as a Saber, though." He eyed the quiver peaking just past his right shoulder, "Who are you?"
"Heh- Well that is mean to say. Although, I am quite interested on what you can deduct from my look that could possible lead to my class." said the man in green.
"Oh the quiver for starters." said Lancer sarcastically.
"Ah and I was hoping to keep my class a secret." Replied the man in green sarcastically back, as he knocked his head with his left knuckle ever so slightly and stuck his tong at Lancer, "Silly me." Lancer raised an eyebrow over this seeing the man's antics and the short sword in his right pointing at Lancer didn't fit the situation or the feeling in the air. In fact other than humor, the man in green across from himself was able to give the same sense of battle that he himself was.
"Rin?" said the man in the Hood.
"Yes?" replied the girl in Red.
"As promised I'll reveal myself to you after this fight."
"Oh, that isn't cryptic in the slightest. How cruel you are to your opponent."
"Please…" Lancer saw the man reach behind his back with his left hand and reveal another short sword. Twin to other in his right, both were oddly generic; "…you're just itching for a fight are you not?"
"Much." Replied Lancer as he charged forward at speeds the human eye could hardly keep up with. The man in green charged at the same instance. When they met it was a flurry of quick jabs and slashes at each other, they then broke to circle each other. Lancer immediately took advantage of his speed to close the gap on the other, as Lancer lunged his spear at his targets center of mass, the man in green, used the very little opening given to him to slide his blades in a cross fashion up the shaft of the spear to get a quick jab in with his free blade. Lancer would have none of it, and used some of his remaining motion to push the man's blades aside and whirling to bear the spear around and crash it into the man's back to bat him away. The man seeing this tried to lessen the impact by putting his blades in the way of the shaft of the spear. Lancer heard the crack of steel as the man was sent flying. The man was able to regain his footing in the act of flying, but was some distance away from Lancer. Lancer noticed then that there were little bits of metal where they had clashed. He looked at the man's swords only to see they were stubs of their former selves. The man casual dropped what was left of the swords to the ground.
"Having a bit of trouble over there are we?" said Lancer with slight mocking tone in his voice.
"Don't worry about me. Just gauging the imperativeness of the situation." said the man calmly. As he reached behind his hips and produced two more short swords. This time they seemed to be larger, poorer craftsmanship, and just plain filthy looking. "I don't personally like this design, but they may last longer than the human made ones." He charged Lancer with same speed as before, which compared to his own, was average for a servant at best. He got a reaction out of the opponent this time by charging him much faster than last, as the man tried to block Lancer's onslaught of blows meagerly. As one of the blades his opponent was holding shattered under the pressure of his blows with his lance, he saw him release the hilt and grab one of the daggers hanging off his bandolier of knives.
He quickly tossed it at Lancer, which he disengaged to block it, his opponent taking the opportunity of the pause to distance himself from Lancer. Lancer expected this and charged the man giving him no pause to produce another pair of blades. Judging from the other man's reaction he was not expecting Lancer to close the gap as quickly as he was. As Lancer put nearly all his force into the jab with his lance at the man's heart, he notice the other man brace with both hands to catch the brunt of the attack with the flat of the blade. The result of the two actions had the man in green sailing into a nearby building, nothing to slow his momentum.
Lancer was honestly surprised the man was able to block with his weapon in such tatters. Looking into the clearing dust he was able to make out a desk being thrown in his general direction, which was harmless to him, but what was not harmless was the group of throwing daggers just behind it. He spotted them as the desk began its descent to the ground. He strained to get his lance to block all five of the daggers coming at him. He was mostly successful, but one did manage to clip his right shoulder. Lancer dabbed two fingers in the cut inspecting it for possible poison, as he did not know if his opponent was of the Assassin class. Tasting the blood from the wound and smelling it revealed no poison in the cut.
"Oh, I'm surprised. There was no poison on the blades." Lancer watched carefully for any new surprises as his opponent came out from the destroyed section of wall and dust.
"Really? I thought you figured me out from my appearance just before we started, must have been my mistake." As the man brought a finger to his chin he simple smiled friendly towards the other servant.
"Tch… I have to ask now kid, what class are you?" Calling him a kid was a bit of a stretch, but at the same time calling him a man was too at this point.
"What it isn't obvious? The class that I am is my class." stated the man-kid, in the green cloak.
"Being difficult are we? From what I've seen, you could be an Assassin or a Saber. As for the quiver on your back that would also have to include Archer class servant. You're purposely trying to confuse me are you not?"
"Hahaha- You're not as dumb as you look Lancer."
"This guy is really starting to piss me off." Mentally raged Lancer
"As for your display of skill, you are obviously holding back, also my master looks like she is going to die of embarrassment if I don't step my game up." Lancer glanced over towards the girl in red and what the man described as embarrassment was very wrong, she looked furious.
"Now-" the man flourished his cloak ever so slightly with his right arm and brought a wooden arm shield from behind his back to his left arm, equipping himself. Where he pulled it out of Lancer didn't know.
"His ass maybe?" questioned Lancer mentally.
"Shield of Oaken Sorrow's, protect me from those who would do me harm." said the classless servant in a sort of plea. Lancer raised an eyebrow at the sound of the wood almost responding to the man's plea.
"I call forth the Sword of the Eastern Shores." If the mystery had to grow any further, there was a longsword waiting at the man's hip, the hilt of the longsword was adorned in all manner of sea life design and shells, as for when he drew the blade instead of resounding sound of metal Lancer swore he could hear the ocean coming from the blade.
As Lancer began to ponder more about the man standing some distance away he saw him smile. This was not a friendly smile; no it was the smile of a fiend, a fiend with a plan, no less. Lancer grimaced and charged the man giving him no time. In his attempt to close the distance he noticed his opponent reaching down with his shield arm and grab something with a handle. Next thing Lancer knew he had a projectile aimed between his eyes. He halted his charge to slap the projectile away from its intended destination with the shaft of his lance. As he completed the motion he was able to focus on what his opponent had.
It was a hand crossbow and it was firing at him again, this time at his center of mass. Lancer deflected it just as easy as the last, but what he hadn't expected was his opponent to charge him firing that damn hand crossbow at him. What was annoying Lancer to no end was the fact his opponent was loading the crossbow with ease, seeing as most crossbows required two hands to operate successfully.
As the opponent fired again Lancer was able to nearly dodge it with just his movement clipping him in the side. Lancer now able to focus on what his opponent was doing, was able to see him now throwing another thorn in his side, so to speak; on the man's shield side was a metal sheet with some type of contraption. All in a downward motion perpendicular to the ground the man was able to pull the string and load the small crossbow with one hand. He was able than to aim and fire it at Lancer, which he did with an almost uncanny accuracy. Lancer swore knowing that the only reason the bolts that came out of the crossbow didn't go to the same intended area of his chest was because the weapon itself was inaccurate and imperfect. As the distance closed the two of them locked there weapons against each other, the man with his almost coral like blade and Lancer with his lance's shaft.
"What an incredible piece of machinery you have there, boy!" roared Lancer at his opponent.
"Heh-This is a piece of bad-assitude, I should show you what I cooked up later in my life!" replied the other man with a nearly equal roar while attempting to push off the lance with the one sword arm. Lancer pushed with an equal amount of force trying to keep the other man close. Lancer knew he had made a bad judgement call as the man's free arm aimed the crossbow at his stomach, he pushed the man away, but even still the man was able to get a clean shot at Lancer, which again he barely dodged having the arrow bolt clip his side. Lancer grimaced further and charged the crossbow man with furious roar. The man keeping cool under the force of the barrage that was Lancer, would block with his sword using the time to load the crossbow and then block with the shield then fire at Lancer. This would then force Lancer to squirm his way out the line of fire. Then the song and dance would continue.
…
Rin at the start of her servant's fight was not pleased, but when he had drawn the sword, shield, and crossbow combo, she would have to say it pleased her to see that he now was at the very least not being thrown around like a crash test dummy. What stopped her from being just plain elated about her servant was the fact he was only scratching the other servant, also the fact that her servant was also being grazed occasionally by the barb tipped lance of the Lancer class. Apparently this fight was going to be determined by the death of thousand cuts.
As the fight continued she saw her servant had switched hands with sword in his left with the shield and the crossbow in his right. The combo was able to continue due to the fact her servant had the same set up on his right side. What was odd to her was the battlefield that was the school track area was strewn with the bolts and metal bits of sword of her servant's equipment. Why some of the remnants didn't fade to Prana was beyond her.
"I swear, if my servant is wasting my Prana needlessly to keep his precious mobile armory alive, I will have to think of a punishment worthy of him." Her thought process was cut off when she noticed her servant pause while aiming the crossbow at Lancer.
"Not, good." She heard her servant audible voice her opinion.
"Hah-Your dead now classless servant!" roaring to life Lancer saw what Rin knew. Her servant had run into a problem she had foreseen her servant running into. Ammo shortage, his equipment that he wore only had finite amount of ammo for each weapon she had seen or she presumed he had. Instead of putting the weapon back like she had thought he might have, she saw him throw or flail the crossbow at the Lancer class servant. Lancer paused ever so slightly which gave the other servant time to switch the sword back into his right hand securely. For as soon as the man in green was ready and onslaught of thrusts and blows came down upon the hooded servant. Lancer didn't relent for he did not want a repeat of the previous combo of attacks.
As the blow after blow landed and were blocked by her servant she gasped, as one of the blows knocked her servant's sword out of his hand landing with the blade in the dirt. Lancer seeing an opportunity put a large amount of power in his next thrust of his lance. Her servant anticipating a large attack put his weight into blocking Lancer's attack. What happened next was the shield buckling and cracking under the pressure of the blow that sent her servant flying over his own sword, but what was eerie was soul wrenching banshee scream that was sourcing from her servant.
"What on earth is that sound!" responded Lancer covering his ears from the sudden heart piercing noise, while attempting to hold onto his lance. Rin had to agree as she covered her own ears, which seemed to do nothing to quell the noise down. As her servant stood she noticed the shield to be broken in half as well as her servant's shield arm bleeding heavily from the gash he had on it, taking his time he reached behind with his free uninjured arm and produced a red vial uncorking it with his teeth and spitting the cork away. Drinking some of the contents, and then pouring the rest onto the wound itself she saw the bleeding stop and skin wrapping itself together. The screaming stopped as soon as he was done putting the vial away.
"That, children, was the sound of an ancient tree spirit dying." His tone was that of a teacher educating a small child as he pushed an imaginary set of glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You just probably shortened all of our lives Lancer. Shame." as he raised and wagged his index finger at Lancer.
"Are you making fun of me?! How did you get your hands on an ancient tree spirit, that you could carry no less, without it having die on you?!" Lancer looked insulted like he had attempted the same feat once in his life. The classless servant merely brushed the reminder of the shield off his arm. He flared his hands out stretching his arms out.
"By the god's power, with magic of course!" said the servant blatantly and simply smiled like he knew better than Lancer.
"That's it nameless servant I don't care what my master wants me to do- You die now!" Lancer charged her servant furiously insane, letting go of any speed restrictions he had. She was actually afraid for her servant at this point, but when she looked at him. He had just smug grin that was growing ever larger. It was then Rin felt a surge of Prana coming from her servant.
"No Lancer- I'm afraid you won't kill me today. Hetzer!Hetz!" Her servant brought his left hand up at Lancer and crushed his visual perspective of Lancer. Rin heard the German language that came from her servant, but knew he was off ever so slightly with the language. Although, that was not what her attention was on. She was focused on the power those words carried across the battlefield as the many Bolts that Lancer had blocked where now rising from where they lay and shot towards Lancer at a break neck pace. The first bolt out of the thirty or so that her servant fired met Lancer in the thigh causing him to blink in surprise, but after that Lancer was a flurry of activity to block the incoming groups of bolts. Spinning the lance to catch as many of bolts as possible he moved his body to dodge the ones he couldn't block by artfully dodging by shifting his positioning slightly.
For the most part he only received cuts from the ones he couldn't completely dodge. Rin noticed her servant moving towards Lancer with the coral sword he just retrieved from where it lay. He charged Lancer as soon as he saw the Lancer struggling to keep balance dodging the remaining bolts, he slashed at Lancer's chest diagonally. Rin eyes widened as she realized the attack was not an ending attack that she hoped her servant could deliver.
…
"Damn, I messed up." stated the classless servant.
"Huh, if this is all you could produce from that then you are dead in this war!" Lancer brought his lance around to continue where his onslaught had left off against this nameless bastard. Oddly he was not angry at the other servant. He was obviously not a knight whoever he was, nor a Saber. Although, he did seem to have some honor and swordsmanship, if not skewed. He fought with some reserve of power, holding back not wanting to dominate his opponent much like Lancer, even if he was previously ordered by his master not to fight at full strength, he would have not fought at his full power only to enjoy the battle longer if possible. Although, this opponent was not physically strong more mentally sharp. There was a battle cunning going through his opponent mind. Hell, the whole acting like an idiot on the battlefield was probably to get him to charge at him angry not thinking of what was happening. Shit, this guy could be a Caster class servant with the way he fought, although Lancer nipped that one in the butt not too long ago. As for his opponent right now, his sword was failing him again against Lancer's lance. It was chipping and cracking under the blows that were blocked by the other servant with it. If any of these weapons were Noble Phantasms they were most likely E-rank or D-rank.
He lunged, hoping his opponent would do something that would keep himself alive long to for Lancer to get back to his battle lust. To his surprise the opponent fell towards the lance catching it between his arm and side. What happened next was Lancer getting a face full of a left hook. Now that was a surprise to Lancer, not only was this guy weapons talented, he was a brawler. The other servant immediately back pedaled knowing the surprise wouldn't last long with his lack of strength.
"Nebel des Krieges!" shouted the servant while holding his hand out with the palm facing the ground. Lancer now a little angry that he just got punched was now faced with a fresh blanket of a fog bank.
"What are you now some terrible Caster class!" yelled Lancer in frustration.
"Don't worry it will lift eventually. I just need some time to re-equip some arms of mine." explained the other servant. If it wasn't for the fact Lancer couldn't know which direction the voice was coming from he would have charged him. He calmed himself knowing that he could stop the bleeding on the chest wound given the time he had.
"Lancer."
"Ah, if it isn't my incredibly lazy master. What do you want? I am busy if you can see." Lancer knew he could see, because for half the battle his master was prying onto the fight through Lancer's eyes.
"There is a change of plans, kill this servant." Now that wasn't something Lancer was expecting.
"Are you sure master? Because earlier you said not to kill anyone's servant tonight. In fact you said for me to run when the other servants would start getting nasty." Honestly Lancer didn't give a damn whether he had to kill this guy are not, he just was giving him the same crap his master most likely would give him if he changed his mind.
"By the power of this Command Seal, kill that servant using your Noble Phantasm." Whatever, the other servant did to upset his master's master plan, Lancer didn't want to know. Once you ended on this master's shit list there was no way you were getting off it without being dead.
"Heh- better get started then." Lancer got into a wide stance and with a quick rune he got a gust of wind to clear the fog. When it cleared he saw his opponent who was standing crossed armed about thirty feet from where he stood, between his master and Lancer.
"Oh, I thought you were going to draw some new weapons?" Lancer goaded his target.
"I was, but then I felt an enormous amount of killing intent coming from you. What changed?" The tone was oddly serious compared to the last few exchanges of banter between them.
"My flake of a master wishes me to end this fight early. Shame we could have had a more enjoyable fight if this dragged out longer."
"Ah, I suppose he used a command seal for that purpose?" there was a slight smile on the man's lips, but it disappeared as quickly as it was there. Lancer just nodded and got himself ready channeling Prana into the tip of his spear.
"One last question classless servant, who are you?" Lancer was not expecting a serious answer, but he did hope he would at least get an answer so he would know who he fought and killed.
"Heh, my name is King Arthur, King of the Britons, Sovereign of all England!" The way he said it was extravagant and theatrical. His left arm rose with hand open above his head and his right covering his heart in a fist.
"Hah, that is funny kid. I most warn you this next attack will end you. So prepare yourself."
"I guess that joke is kind of wasted on you, I admit. I thank you for the warning and I shall heed it." His right hand was now scratching his cheek and his left now rest on the pommel of a sword. The sword immediately drew the eyes of Lancer. For when he drew it, the awe it inspired was impractical. The guard was colored gold, with lines that could represent mountains. As for the blade, an ancient language was scrawled down the parallel of the blade, as well as the blade met near symmetry. He held it with both hands and shifted it to his left side in stance that look like it would cleave a mountain. Lancer shifted his own stance prepping his attack as the Prana gathering at the tip continued. What nearly broke some of Lancer concentration were the orbs of light now gathering on the other servant's blade. Lancer could hear a dull roar coming from the other servant's weapon.
"Lancer, be glad that I pulled this weapon out for it is a weapon that I hope to perfect with your death."
"Heh- may you die in peace!"
"Proto-", the blade shimmered an even brighter gold now.
"Gae-", the tip of the lance condensed the Prana into itself forming a streamline.
"Ex-", he raised the blade over his head ready to release the stored energy at Lancer.
"BOLG!" Lancer threw his lance into the air, now just a point of killing intent towards the nameless servant.
"CALIBUR!" the servant brought the blade pointing at Lancer, a slash of holy energy erupted from the blade.
…
From the resulting clash Rin was holding her breath. She was surprised when her servant had pulled one of the famous swords of myth, Excalibur. As for the Lancer servant his attack was just as powerful and as mighty. Except now her servant's attack was being pushed back by the opponents. Rin saw it happen and didn't believe or more she hoped her eyes were deceiving her, the golden slash of energy cracked and split into multitude of slashes that crashed into the ground harmlessly around there intended target, Lancer. As for the red point of killing intent, it snaked into different direction turning ninety degrees in some places until she saw her servant attempt to block the point of energy with his the tip of the Holy blade Excalibur. She saw the clash energy and metal and hoped that the energy would dissipate before the blade was knocked from her servant.
She gasped as the servant relented and attempted to block it with the edge of the sword instead of the tip, one could call it an attack at the point of killing intent if they wanted. Unexpectedly the sword shattered, not break in half or split in three different parts, shattered. Her servant seemed to just stop moving then and accept what was about to happen. As the point of energy slammed into his chest picking him off his feet and shook him in the air. As the attack ended it threw the body of her servant towards her landing a few feet from her with his face was in the dirt. She observed Lancer catching the last of energy which returned to being his lance. She almost ran to her servant, but didn't for fear of Lancer taking it as an act to aid her fallen servant and thus killing her.
"Listen girl, I am only going to say this once. Run to the church and give your right as master over to them. Your servant is as good as dead, and I wouldn't like a pretty face, such as yourself, to die to this war over the fact of you being sore about losing." Rin wasn't listening to Lancer, she was angry at the fact she would lose so early in the war for the Holy Grail. She was angry that her servant was a classless mess. She was angry that he died holding onto the secret of who he was. She wouldn't allow someone under her service to die nameless. Then she did something stupid.
"By the command seals bestowed upon me as master…"
"Look girl command seals may be-" She ignored Lancer focusing the power of the command seal.
"…I order you, my servant, to stand and face your opponent!" Rin completed her command knowing it was a little childish, but she was angry and she was venting the only way the situation would allow without her getting killed.
…
Lancer was a little jaded at the girl using the command seal as vaguely as she did to revive her dead servant. He sighed knowing it was probably just the girl's disposition; she looked like one that wouldn't give up until her dying breath. Shame she was someone he hoped he would have been summoned by in this war. He began turning to leave when he felt something at his neck. Bringing his hand to the source he found a small dart in his neck, his eyes widening to the possibility of dying by poison.
"Don't worry Lancer the dart is harmless, although you may be hindered by the anesthetics in the dart."
"Impossible-no one can-"He looked at the corpse surprised to see it moving pushing itself off the ground to a kneeling position. He felt the effects of the anesthetics creeping on him.
"Heh, my master is someone who will not let even the dead sleep." He got to a standing position and began pressing one of his hands where Gae Bolg had hit him. The odd thing was that there was no blood, just a large bruise.
"Nasty curse you got on that thing, healing spells don't seem to work, guess I'll have to use one of these." His hand shifted to a chain neckless around his neck that was now exposed on his bare chest. He began to pray.
"I ask of you Pelor, to heal what has been lost and to mend that what has been broken." In response one of the many symbols that hung from the necklace, a blazing sun, raised and began to glow dispersing into a brilliant light. The bruise that Gae Bolg had planted on his chest turned back to what his natural tone of skin was.
"WHO IN THE HELL ARE YOU?!!" Lancer tempered boiled over into roar. He was fighting the effects of the anesthetics quite well. He could defend himself and move, but fighting a man like this was going to be a pain.
"I guess my actions are not hints, I've given you enough, but I guess the time you have been shown in your life didn't ever show or speak of me. Fine, I feel it fair to at the very least give you one of my titles to see if you know of me. I am the Archer of Weaponized Diplomacy, all who brought harm upon my domain would know my wrath, but those who were willing to speak of harm would know a similar wrath of words." Lancer thought the man to be crazy, he never heard of such a man. He did get though that the man was serious.
"You have given me much to ponder, Archer of Diploma-"trying to by some time for the drug to wear or just lessen.
"Weaponized Diplomacy, thank you." This was going to be too easy.
"But, that still doesn't answer my question."
"Really? Well how about, One Shot Dragon Slayer of the Land of Fiore?"
"Still, no." Why was this working…
"Hmm, Killer of Thousand Demons?"
"Nope." Lancer didn't believe…
"Slayer of the Thirteen Armies of Hell?"
"Bullshit!" Lancer questioning the man's sanity…
"Yes. How about, Never Miss Quinn?"
"That's a title?" Okay now he was feeling played with…
"No you're right, more of a nickname…" bringing a finger to his chin, Rin now interjected,
"How many titles do you have?"
"Oh, I don't know. How many countries are there in the world?"
"I don't know there is an ever changing amount."
"Then that's how many." replied the classless servant to Rin.
"I believe we are off track here. Can we get back to the fight, like now?!" Lancer withheld a faceplam from the entire conversation. The anesthetic hadn't worn off, but at least this guy was more entertaining than Lancer's master.
"Well if the fight is all you want then I can oblige. I summon the twin swords from the Children of the Letherna, from the Realm of the Raven Queen." Two scimitars appeared from two dark circles rotating just above the man's hands. The blades themselves seemed to hug darkness around them. As for the design of the guards, skulls lined the guard of the right blade, while the left seemed to have ghastly looking specters trying to escape the guard, and both of the pommels had the head of a raven. Lancer felt a certain aspect inside himself seem to writhe away from the blades as if they were diseased.
"A bringer of death, are you? This should be interesting." Both servants got into battle stances. Lancer his signature stance, while the other had his left foot and sword forward while his right foot was away with right protecting his inside. Both servants heard a twig snap off from the field of battle. Lancer sighed knowing his master would not allow the eyes of world know about this myth like battle. He dashed after the noise leaving the field of battle still feeling the effect of the anesthetic.
"Sorry, buddy I have other things I need to attend to."
"Hey-"
"You can follow if you want; I would love to continue are battle once I'm finished." Lancer took off after the poor sap who laid eyes on their fight. Oddly he caught glimpse red or auburn hair. How odd.
…
Rin ran up to her servant, "You going after him?" Her servant sheathed his swords behind his hips, not surprisingly there were two sheaths there for him to use.
"Give me some time; it is not easy recovering from that." Rin saw that her servant nearly sagged down to the ground as Lancer leapt out of sight. She grabbed his arm a slung it over her shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Look, whoever Lancer just went after is part of this school and I won't allow him to do as he pleases with them."
"So my master does have a soft side- Owowowow- That hurts Rin!" Rin finished with tweaking her servants arm, assisted him in walking into the school.
Author Comments:
Well thanks for reading the first chapter of my first listed Fanfiction. I've spent several weeks trying to figure out what I wanted from writing a crossover between one of my favorite animes, Fate Stay Night, and one of my favorite games, Dungeons and Dragons. It should be fairly obvious that I don't own any of the characters from the Fate series. However I will say that the character I've have started to introduce is in fact mine, an OC if you haven't figured it out yet.
SO NO TOUCHY! I'm half kidding. I would be flattered if you wanted to use the character in any of your own writings. Just PM me if you have any interest. As for what route I'm basing this story off of, well I would have to say it is heavily influenced by Unlimited Blade Works. However I'm going to take some liberates to change some of the story, so the added personalities will have some influence on the story. Well thanks for reading the comment section here hope to hear from you guys soon, and the next chapter is already in the process of being made.