CHAPTER 6:
THE OPENING SKIRMISH
As Arturia exchanged her suit for her armoured dress, Harry began to move away. However, not long after he did so, he nearly ran into Kiritsugu, and a young woman, both carrying weapons. The woman, Harry knew, was Maiya Hisau. And they both seemed to realise he was there. He hissed, "Kiritsugu, it's me." He then took the Cloak off.
"Hold your fire, Maiya," Kiritsugu said. "Has Saber engaged the Servant?"
"Yeah. He's definitely a Lancer who wields two spears. He also speaks with an Irish accent," Harry said. "Seems to be the valorous type too."
Before anything else could be said, they heard the voice of a man echoing around the harbour. It sounded like a loudspeaker, or maybe a spell-enhanced voice. Kiritsugu then looked at Harry. "He's erected a barrier around the area. Harry, Maiya and I will be heading to vantage points to keep an eye on the battle and look for Lancer's Master. If you can find him, then deal with him."
"Will cutting off his arm do?" Harry asked. "The one with the Command Seals?"
After a moment, Kiritsugu nodded. "That should do it."
"Okay. I'll let Saber and Lancer go at it for a time, but I won't intervene unless either she is in trouble, or Lancer's Master pisses me off," Harry said.
"Why?"
Harry smirked. "I want to see how Saber fights Lancer. Besides, I've got to find Lancer's Master first. I'm guessing it'd be Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, considering we know the other Masters, save for that of Caster. Okay, it could be Kariya Matou, but unless he got lucky, I don't see him summoning a pretty boy like that. Oh, and I'd bet Iskandar might intervene partway through. He looked the type. Very Gryffindor."
Kiritsugu scowled a little at Harry's assessment, but nodded. "If you can take Lancer's Master out of the running, good. Frankly, I don't care how you do it. But if Irisviel is at risk, then you do it, or I will. Understood?"
Harry nodded. Kiritsugu seemingly cared only about a few things in the world, and his wife was one of them…
Harry made his way through the harbour, stopping occasionally to watch the battle. As it turned out, his hunch about the Master being Kayneth was spot on, as a Point Me spell showed that, with a bit of triangulation, he was in the area. He paused briefly to watch as Lancer unveiled his Noble Phantasms. At first, he thought that Lancer only had one, and the other spear was a decoy. The first spear turned out to be able to penetrate magical defences and dispel magical effects, while the other caused wounds that didn't heal. Arturia identified him as Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, someone Harry hadn't heard of, though he guessed it must've been from Irish mythology. Diarmid soon identified Arturia by her title, King of Knights, if not her name.
Harry got a message from Kiritsugu via the gold coin. Lancer's Master on roof of warehouse, northeast of fight. Assassin watching fight from vantage point.
Harry looked up at the warehouse Kiritsugu meant. He was pretty much right next to it, and so he Apparated, concentrating to make sure any noise was kept to a minimum.
By luck rather than design, his Apparition coincided with a great cacophony of thunder and lightning as Iskandar, Waver in tow, made an entrance on a chariot pulled by a pair of oxen. Did anyone order a large ham? Harry thought to himself as Iskandar made some bombastic speech about who he was, and offering the other two Servants an alliance, one both Arturia and Diarmuid rejected (Arturia being understandably angry when Iskandar called her a little girl). He noticed that Kayneth was right in front of him, perched on the warehouse roof like some arrogant overlord. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a haughty demeanour Malfoys aspired to.
"So…there he is," Kayneth hissed quietly to himself. "That arrogant little boy who stole my catalyst, and my Servant." He chuckled quietly and coldly. "I will enjoy making him suffer for his insolence before he dies."
"That's good enough for me," Harry said quietly. As Kayneth wheeled, Harry yelled, waving his wand, "DIFFINDO!"
Kayneth's right arm was cut right through, and rolled and bounced towards Harry, who used a Body-Bind on Kayneth, causing the man to collapse to the ground. Harry swiftly checked the hand, and smiled. There were the Command Seals, like a big red brand. Much snazzier than the Dark Mark, he thought. He cast a healing spell on Kayneth's stump, enough to stop the flow of blood.
"Master?" Diarmuid called from the makeshift battlefield. He must have felt something.
As Harry touched the hand, suddenly, the Command Seals vanished, only to reappear on Harry's right hand with a stinging sensation. Harry looked at the Command Seals, and muttered, "Fuck. Just my luck."
"Master of Lancer, stop skulking about in the shadows!" Iskandar roared.
Harry Apparated down with Kayneth's body, taking off the Cloak, and bringing Kayneth to Iskandar and Waver, Diarmuid, Arturia, and Irisviel looking on. "Sorry, Lancer," Harry said. "But your former Master was kind of a prick."
Diarmuid glared at Harry as Harry dumped the body onto Iskandar's chariot. "What trickery is this? I am honourbound to serve my Master, even if he and I do not see eye to eye."
"Yeah, sorry, Lancer. I dunno how, but, well…" He held up his right hand, showing the Command Seals pointedly. "If it makes you feel any better, he wanted to make Waver there die a slow painful death. Your former Master has only lost his arm and a bit of blood, plus his dignity. He didn't have any honour to lose, in my opinion. I could have just killed him. I know a good curse that can make him crap out his own bowels, quite literally."
Waver looked at his paralysed teacher with astonishment. "You did that? But…how? I mean, thanks for helping me. I don't think I could have faced him."
"You are brave enough to ride with me in the Gordius Wheel, boy," Iskandar said. "Whereas this man lurked from the shadows, pulling the strings. At least 'Caster' here, or whatever his name is, was willing to emerge once he had dealt with him."
"Saber, are you all right?" Harry asked, noticing her holding her left hand oddly.
"Lancer's spear, the Gáe Buidhe, has injured my hand, in a manner that cannot be healed, but I can fight well enough without it," Arturia said. She then frowned. "What will you do? You are now Master of Lancer."
After a moment of thought, Harry muttered, "Shit." He looked over at Diarmuid, who seemed ambivalent, torn between defending his old Master, and preferring his new one. "Umm, you seemed to be enjoying yourself against Saber. You want to have a rematch, you know, one on one or something later? I mean, we've got the gooseberry here being a nuisance and crashing the party." He indicated Iskandar. "I'd call him a ham, but you can cure a ham(1)."
The silence that followed was broken by a roar of laughter from Iskandar. "I like the cut of your jib, 'Caster'," Iskandar said. "In any case, I think it's past time the other Servants emerged. Saber, Lancer, your duel was truly magnificent." He emphasised his point with a thumbs-up and a massive grin. "The symphony of your blades has no doubt attracted others, others who even now skulk about."
Harry debated with himself whether to reveal the continued existence of Assassin, before deciding he'd probably pissed off Kiritsugu enough by becoming, albeit accidentally, the Master of Lancer. "Well, if the fight didn't, your voice did. Do you have an indoor voice?"
"No," Waver lamented.
Iskandar ignored them, before roaring to the heavens, "Hear me, Servants still lurking about like thieves in the night! Show yourselves, or suffer the perpetual scorn of Iskandar, King of Conquerors!"
A few seconds later, Harry was astonished to see that it worked, that a strange mist of golden particles was coalescing into the figure of a man in golden armour. Proud and arrogant was his bearing, crossing his arms, glaring down at them with baleful blood-red eyes that seemed to have a reptilian or feline slit of a pupil. He had blonde hair, and a pair of golden earrings. He seemed to glow even in the darkness as he perched on a streetlight. Harry got the feeling that this was the Archer who was Tohsaka's Servant: he was too calm to be a Berserker, and that golden armour would not be an asset to stealth, so he was no Assassin.
"Oh? And who are you, to offer me scorn? I see naught but a pair of pretenders to majesty and kingship, ones who do not recognise their true king," Archer retorted, his voice oozing with disdain and arrogance.
"Oh dear Merlin, it's a Malfoy in solid gold armour," Harry muttered quietly in despair.
"Did I give you leave to wag your tongue, mongrel?" Archer asked, having heard Harry's remark.
"The better question is, do I care?" Harry asked, moving away from the others in case Archer attacked. After a moment, Diarmuid followed, ready to interpose himself between Archer and his new Master. Arturia moved to protect Irisviel.
The smile on Archer's face was utterly mirthless, filled with more teeth than good cheer. "I see the insolence of the filthy, uncouth masses has but increased over time."
"I ask that you answer me, why call us pretenders?" Iskandar asked, looking to defuse the situation. "I merely introduced myself as the King of Conquerors, an undeniable truth, so why object to that?"
"Why? I am not on the same base level as you curs," Archer sneered, the light he was standing on cracking and flickering out.
"Then would you be so kind as to introduce yourself?"
"If you cannot recognise me based on my majesty, then you are not worthy to know my name, mongrels," Archer retorted.
"He's probably been forgotten by history," Harry muttered quietly.
"I find your insolence vexing," Archer said with considerable understatement, the air behind him glowing. It began to warp, ripple, before what looked like the points of a sword and a spear emerged.
"And I find your armour pretentious," Harry snarked unwisely.
Archer sneered, but before he could unleash a blizzard of pointy metal death, there was a burst of what looked like black mist from the ground, a little too close to Harry. As it cleared, something emerged from that dark mist. Something…disturbing, to say the least.
"Berserker," Arturia muttered.
Harry stared. It was clearly a knight in full armour, the helmet completely covering the face. But few details about the figure could be discerned. A writhing mass of black smoke or mist curled around it like a living being. The surface of the armour seemed to flicker, like the grain of old film. The visor of the knight's helmet glowed blood red. An eldritch growl, sounding like nothing remotely human, emanated from the figure.
"Boy, can you tell anything about Berserker? You're a Master, you should be able to," Iskandar said to his Master.
"I can't. I can tell it's a Servant, but…I can't tell anything about its statistics or attributes," Waver said.
"I think it's a curse," Diarmuid said near Harry. "It must be obscuring Berserker's attributes."
Archer noticed that Berserker was gazing up at him. Baleful red glare met baleful red glare. "Who gave you leave to gaze upon my majesty, rabid cur?" The ripples in space shifted around, the weapons aiming now at Berserker rather than at Harry. "Perish, and hope that you give me some paltry entertainment with your demise!" With that, the two weapons shot out at blinding speed. Harry jumped away, only to watch as…did he imagine that? He thought he saw, albeit at ridiculous speed, Berserker snatch a sword out of the air, the same one that had been fired at him, to destroy the spear fired at him.
Iskandar muttered, "Alacritous for a supposedly mindless warrior, snatching the sword out of the air and destroying the spear."
"You bore and vex me both," Archer sneered at Berserker, who was staring at him in an unnerving (and possibly mocking) manner. More weapons appeared.
"Tactical withdrawal!" Harry said to Diarmuid, getting closer to Arturia.
"Don't you mean retreat?" Diarmuid demanded.
"Tomayto, tomahto," Harry said. He was immortal, but he wasn't going to expose that to the enemy Masters or Servants so soon. Plus, it wasn't like he actually liked dying anyway, even if it was only temporary. "Do you want to get between a mad dog and an arsehole?"
As he got to where Arturia and Irisviel were waiting, he turned and watched as Archer fired weapon after weapon against Berserker, only for the dark knight to dodge or snatch the weapons to use it for itself. Archer was getting more and more annoyed, before he ran out of weapons. He had to leap off the streetlight he was standing on as it got sliced up by Berserker throwing Archer's own weapons back at him.
"How dare you bring me down to your base level?!" Archer snarled, and yet more ripples appeared. But even as he prepared to attack Berserker, he suddenly scowled, even more than he was. "Damn you, you dare bring me to heel like a pet cur?"
Must be talking to his Master, Harry thought.
"This is far from over!" Archer snapped, before dissolving in a mist of golden particles.
"It seems that Archer's Master is somewhat less bold than his Servant," Iskandar mused.
"Well, that's as maybe," Harry said, looking over at the dark knight that was Berserker, "but is it me, or is it looking at us funny?"
"No, far from it," Arturia said. "I believe its attention is on…me."
Now that Harry came to think about it, Berserker was looking at Arturia with a rather fixed gaze, or glare. It certainly looked that way with that helmet. "You know him, Saber?"
"I would hope not, but…" Arturia was interrupted when the Berserker spasmed, tendrils of darkness like black ribbons sprouting from its back, before it roared once more. It dashed for the remains of the streetlight, grabbed a metal pole, and lunged for Arturia, who blocked the pole with Excalibur. But Harry was astonished that the pole didn't get sliced through by Excalibur. In fact, it seemed to be darkened, with glowing red lines.
"I get it now," Iskandar said. "Whatever he takes hold of becomes a Noble Phantasm."
"Oh, bugger me sideways!" Harry groaned, before whipping out the Elder Wand. "EXPELLIARMUS!"
The spell caught Berserker by surprise, sending the scavenged streetlight flying. Berserker actually looked at its gauntleted hands, before it had to dodge Arturia's attack. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Harry sent another spell, but the Body-Bind didn't affect Berserker. A bit too much to hope for.
Berserker seemed torn between attacking Harry and going after Arturia, so Harry said to Diarmuid, "You wanna help out?"
"You want me to help Saber? I can get behind that," Diarmuid said.
"No, allow me!" Iskandar roared, before he sent his chariot to run over Berserker, sending the armoured figure flying, rolling along the ground. The armoured figure twitched, tried to get off the ground, before slumping, disappearing into the same dark mist that it appeared from.
"…Look ma, I'm roadkill. Ha ha ha," Harry said, completely deadpan(2). He looked over at Diarmuid. "You're fine with him stealing your kill?"
Diarmuid shrugged. Iskandar, meanwhile, said, "I will not fight with either of you until your own battle is finished. Consider it a boon from me. By the way, 'Caster', or whoever you are, would you mind dealing with your waste?" He picked up the still-paralysed Kayneth, and threw him out of the chariot. Harry realised that someone, probably Waver, had taken the opportunity to spit on Kayneth's face.
As Kayneth glared up at Harry, Harry sighed. "Legilimens," he muttered, looking into the man's eyes. He looked through the man's memories, to find where he was based. As he did so, he realised this guy was somewhat like Malfoy and Snape. Not quite as nasty as either, but certainly more than willing to kill to get his own way, and he did so before. And what a self-righteous twat he was too. At least Kiritsugu, from what he could tell, never claimed his actions were righteous. But Kayneth's mind had the smell of one of those blood purity idiots back home. The arrogance, the self-righteousness, the thoughts of the superiority of magic.
He also saw the arranged marriage he had to a woman, Sola-Ui, the woman who, until Harry took the Command Seals, had been acting as Diarmuid's mana supply. Sola-Ui was still at the hotel Kayneth had made into his base, and perhaps the only thing Kayneth cared for, even if it wasn't reciprocated. And he saw the Mystic Codes, the magical artifacts that Kayneth brought over, including a magical mass of mercury known as the Volumen Hydragyrum.
Still, he now had enough information. After he withdrew from Kayneth's mind, Harry looked down at him. "I'm going to send you back to your hotel. Take the opportunity to withdraw from the Grail War while you still have your life."
As Harry took a rock from the ground, the Body-Bind on Kayneth wore off, and he snarled as he got to his feet, clutching at his stump, "You stole my Servant, and you're the second person to do so. I refuse to suffer this humiliation again!"
"You have no choice. Fuck off back to England, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald," Harry said. "Otherwise, death will come for you on merciless wings." He then threw the rock, turned into a Portkey, at Kayneth, who vanished. In the silence that followed, he said, "That was too portentous, wasn't it?"
Arturia nodded, though a slight smirk came over her features. "Aye, it was."
Kiritsugu was not happy. Well, that was his default state of being. But he was a bit more annoyed and angry than usual. The reason was that Harry had now become Lancer's Master. And that meant that he was a potential threat to his goal of getting the Grail. In removing Kayneth from the equation, Harry had moved himself to greater prominence as an obstacle.
This was an unwelcome development. Time would only tell if it caused a hindrance to his plans…
CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:
So, the first big departure from the storyline of Fate/Zero has arrived. Harry has become Lancer's Master. Now, keep in mind, Lancer's only going to go along with it as long as Harry promises a duel between him and Arturia. Lancer, from what I read about Fate/Zero, is honourbound to Kayneth, so Harry will need some time to win Lancer's trust.
In addition, we haven't seen the last of Kayneth. His assault on the Einzbern Castle will still happen, albeit for different reasons: he'll want revenge on Harry, and his Servant back.
Review-answering time! A few of you were saying that Harry boasting about the Basilisk was out of character. I should have made it clearer, but he was not actually boasting, but trolling Waver. Yes, he actually did kill a Basilisk at 12, he only mentioned the fact to scare an already terrified Waver, albeit for shits and giggles. He actually likes Waver, but that doesn't mean he won't tease him. I edited the chapter accordingly to make it clearer.
ShwaigerLuke: I'm hoping to have Kariya survive this, but even if he doesn't, Sakura will be taken away from the Matous…and Harry will annihilate Zouken.
No Fanfic No Life: This is a Harry broken by his life, and he copes by being vulgar. It's a way to cope with the pain of loss. And yes, I did semiconsciously intend it as a contrast with Arturia.
Thunder Dragon: In answer to your questions: One, yes, he would be a Caster in all likelihood, or an Assassin. Two, I'm unfamiliar with how magecraft in general works in the Nasuverse, and I'm basically having Harry unable to do magecraft proper as his source of magic is incompatible with most magecraft. Not all: his magic ability is actually better for Servants, so he has less of a drain on his reserves, and his Servants, if he gets any (he has Lancer/Diarmuid for the time being, and I intend for him to be bound to Arturia by the end of this fic) will be at their peak performance. He may be able to emulate some magecraft (I'm considering having him emulate Kiritsugu's time magic) and he can still use Mystic Codes to a degree (I'm even considering having him steal Kayneth's Volumen Hydragyrum), but magecraft in general, he can't use.
1. Anthony Ainley (who played the Master in Doctor Who in the 80s) once said that of himself.
2. Harry is referencing The Mask. Namely, the line when Ipkiss becomes the Mask for the first time, and pancakes himself on the street after leaping out of a window.