This is another fanfic I'm making alongside my GintamaXKonosuba fanfic. Once I'm done rereading the F/SN VN and finish writing the Introduction Arc of the GinXKono fanfic, I'll be ready to add the first Chapter.
FATE/ NEXT WAR
"Thirteen years have passed since the Fifth Holy Grail War. The winner, Emiya Shirou, destroyed the Grail and went missing. A few years later, Lord El-Melloi II and Tohsaka Rin, former participants of the Fourth and Fifth Grail Wars respectively, addressed a notion to dismantle the Holy Grail system in Fuyuki. The 'Dismantling War' is the result of the disagreements in the Mage's Association on whether the Holy Grail should be removed or not. In the end, El-Melloi and Rin's request were fulfilled and the Grail system was dismantled.
However, this is not yet the end of the story…"
Prologue: The 6th Holy Grail War
England – the Clock Tower
The Headquarters of the Association has always been silent, but not today. Rumors have been spreading like wildfire since the day before.
Many students were talking about it all day, despite being told not to mention anything about it.
"Hey, have you heard the rumors yet?"
"I thought it was dismantled years ago?"
"Who knows, it could just be one of those pseudo—"
A moment of silence came upon the hallway when a beautiful woman dressed in red robes, probably around late twenties to early thirties, passed by. But it was not because of her beauty that silenced the crowd; it was because she may have something to do with the rumors.
She was walking briskly, as if in hurry and glared at anyone who stares at her. It was normal for her to feel this way. She was informed of the situation just this early morning and had to make calls then rush to the office as fast as she could. Also, it can be said that this black-haired woman, Tohsaka Rin is not a morning person.
She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door with force. Inside, a youngster carrying books was looking at her direction. Behind him was a man around in his early forties sitting on a couch smoking a cigar.
"Good morning, Rin! You look fine today," said the youngster. He was not teasing Rin in any way, it really was just his nature.
"I'm not in the mood right now, Flat!" Rin replied. If this was on another day, she would have greeted him properly as well.
"Rin, take a seat. We're here to discuss 'it'," said the man after placing his cigar on the ashtray. He then turns to his student.
"Flat, leave us for a while."
"As you wish, professor!" Flat replied as he dropped the books to a nearby table and proceeds to the door.
"And no eavesdropping!" El-Melloi tells his student as the latter closes the door.
The man let out a sigh as Rin sits down on a couch opposite to the couch he's currently sitting.
"So, how's the situation in Fuyuki?"
"Not good, apparently," answered Rin, now with a calmer attitude. "A Servant was summoned in the middle of Shinto and killed around a hundred people. From the looks of it, the Servant summoned is probably from the Berserker Class."
"Berserker Class huh?" As Lord El-Melloi said those words, Rin remembered the Berserker from her own Holy Grail War. The greatest hero of Greece, every time she sees the image of that large man along with a small silver-haired girl, cold air reaches her back. She still remembers the destruction it caused in a residential area and the injuries it gave to Saber and her Master.
Saber's Master… I wonder what he'll do if he's still here?
Rin stares at the ceiling remembering the Fifth Holy Grail War that she forgot that she was in a middle of a conversation. She then returned her gaze to the man sitting before her. It seems that Lord El-Melloi II was thinking about something as well.
"Are you sure that it's the same Grail as the previous wars? It could just be one of those pseudo Grail Wars," El-Melloi asked, going back to their conversation.
"That's what I thought so I asked Sakura about it. She confirmed that it was indeed the Grail, however," Rin replied. The man noticed the changing of Rin's tone. "She said that the Grail acts differently than last time and both she and Rider don't feel a connection to it."
Lord El-Melloi widened his eyes and was about to speak but he held back. Hearing the word "Rider" made his heart skip a beat, and then he realized his own stupidity. For him, only one man would have that name, an old friend he longed to meet again for the past twenty years. He almost forgot that other Heroes may bear that title. Returning to his senses, he focused on their conversation.
"How different is it?" The man asked her.
"According to Sakura, most parts are still the same. The Grail chooses seven Masters who will each summon a Servant."
El-Melloi know this part very well, in a Holy Grail War, Servants are copies of Heroic Spirits prepared by the Grail to participate in the Holy Grail War:
Saber, the knight of the sword
Lancer, the knight of the spear
Archer, the knight of the bow
Rider, the mounted knight
Caster, the magus
Berserker, the mad warrior
Assassin, the silent killer
The Servants are summoned by magi known as Masters who possess the Command Seals, the mark branded to them which can be used to order their Servants.
"Here's the new part," Rin continued, "When a Servant dies, it doesn't disintegrate yet for another day. Then the Master may use their Servant's remains as a catalyst to resummon them again at an expense of a Command Seal."
"Interesting, but the new rules will be useless as most Masters with defeated Servants are killed immediately. Although this could prolong the War and the Masters will have more chance of winning," El-Melloi said while putting the cigar back to the ashtray. "Any idea who the mastermind this time?" he added.
"I have no idea. But since the Grail appeared in Fuyuki, people would assume that the masterminds are at least one of the three families," said Rin. Her expression from when she entered the room earlier returned. "Of all the three, only one I suspect would restore the Grail System…"
"Einzbern," El-Melloi replied with a grim voice. If the Einzberns are the masterminds of this Holy Grail War, it should be no surprise. Out of the three families, they were the only ones who opposed the dismantlement. After all, they were the ones who wanted to get the Grail in the first place, the Tohsaka and Makiri only helped in creating the ritual.
"Well, because of this situation, I am forced to stay here and watch," Tohsaka angrily said with crossed arms. If she joins the Holy Grail War this time, the enemies they made during the Dismantling War would brand her as a hypocrite and would suspect that she is one of the masterminds of this war.
"So what would you do now, Rin? If you want me to join in your place, I must apologize in advance. All Lords are prohibited to join the war after Lord Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi's death during the Fourth Holy Grail War," El-Melloi said in a worried voice as he sips a tea sitting at the table.
Suddenly, Rin's face changed from depressed to confident.
"Oh, that? I already sent someone to Fuyuki to join in my place."
"Hm?" The man wonders as he continues to sip his tea
"He was being annoying, so I threw him to Japan and just gave him a dog food as his catalyst," Rin said it with an emotionless face.
Lord El-Melloi II almost choked from the tea he was drinking when he heard Rin's words.
"Rin, don't tell me you sent your apprentice to join the war?"
"I did."
At the same time – Fuyuki City
The full moon shines at a large hole where the Tohsaka Manor used to stand. It was just destroyed by a large muscular man to hunt down the magus the Tohsaka family hired and kill him before he could summon a Servant.
However, it may be too late.
A smoke covers the area as the large man searches for the magus. Dragging the chains cuffed at his wrists, he moved around the place which used to be the Tohsaka's workshop.
Earlier, he heard the magus' voice finishing the summoning chant even while escaping from his wrath.
Then something slashed his chest from his side.
As the smoke clears up, a young man stares at the figure in front of him. In a desperate attempt to save himself a moment ago, he chanted the summoning ritual while evading the large man's attacks. Once he finished the chant, the attacks stopped. On the magic circle his teacher made to summon the Archer class from the previous war, a man stands holding a shortsword at his right hand. Beside him is a large dog with strange markings all over its body.
After ten seconds of silence, the strange man opened his mouth to speak,
"Rider Class Servant has answered your summons," He announced, then turning to the boy behind him, "I ask you, are you my Master?"
The answer is obvious; but the young magus had only one thing to say for this kind of situation,
"IDIOT, BEHIND YOU!"
"Eh?"
Blam!
Before Rider gets to turn around, Berserker punched him from behind and was thrown out into the sky.
-Prologue End
Servant Status
CLASS
RIDER
Master: Rin Tohsaka's apprentice
True Name: ?
Gender: Male
Height/Weight: 160 cm 51kg
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
STR: B MGI: C
END: A LCK: B
AGI: C NP: A+
Personal Skills:
?
Class Skills: Riding (A)
Noble Phantasm
?