Chapter One, The Summoning

Liz sighed and slammed her forehead on the keyboard. "I finally finished at the deadline," she muttered. "Now it's time to submit."

Her cat meowed from behind her.

Liz looked over her shoulder at her ginger brown cat. "Come here, Johnny. Mommy's finished," she cooed. Her cat purred as he walked over and rubbed his head against her leg. "I'm sorry for not giving you enough attention these past 14 days. Mommy's just been working so hard to get this project done. I'll make it up with a bunch of cuddles and food!" Liz exclaimed. She picked up Johnny and nuzzled his nose with her own.

The cat meowed and licked her nose. Liz giggled and cuddled him more. "Okay, I understand. I'll get some food for you and me! What do you want Johnny? Chinese food? Seafood?"

The cat purred when it heard "seafood."

"Seafood it is!" She placed the cat down and walked over to her coat hanger. She nearly tripped over the clothes that were scattered around her room.

Liz was living in a messy apartment with empty cup noodles, empty water bottles, and unwashed clothes lying everywhere. She was working as a game designer with a low pay. Gaining basic needs and necessities was just as hard for her as for an average man trying to buy a Tesla car.

Liz took down her brown jacket and slipped it on while reaching for her purse. "I'll be back Johnny, so don't be a bad boy," she requested. "Goody bye Johnny!" She exited her apartment and closed the door behind her. "I wonder if I should get tuna?" she muttered to herself as she locked the door. "No, that's too expensive. I only have… 40 dollars? Maybe he'll settle for salmon."

Liz walked down to the first floor, still in her house slippers. She wasn't paying attention when she exited with them. When she got to the bottom, something felt off. The owner wasn't there. Hamorand usually hung out in the lobby, smoking his cigar and spouting out excuses to why there wasn't a smoke alarm where he sat. He always claimed that it was perfectly fine, but today, he wasn't there.

Liz looked at the empty counter for a second, but continued on her journey. "I wonder if he's getting fish too," she whispered as she looked up at the camera in the top left corner and waved at it before exiting into the cold outside.

The wind was harsh that day and it was snowing. Her feet dragged against the two-inch deep snow. She shivered and pulled her coat tighter against her body. "It's cold," she said to herself out loud.

Even the streets were covered in snow. There wasn't anyone in sight. Most of the buildings didn't have their lights on except for a few. "I knew that they were closed for a holiday, but I didn't know it was this many buildings," Liz muttered as she walked over to the open seafood restaurant. It was one of the only building with the lights on and open.

She tugged on the door and opened it up. The warm heat and welcoming scent of cooked fish smacked her as she entered. She gave a warm sighed as she stepped in. "It's so nice in here," she exclaimed.

She stomped on the black welcome mat before walking on the newly dusted white tiles. The tables were lined up nicely in front of her. There were three rows of three tables, each with the usual condiments.

The cashier popped up from behind the counter at the front. "Welcome!" he shouted out loud, startling Liz a bit. He wore the most chaotic color-schemed Christmas sweater anyone has ever seen. The front was slightly covered by a nearly see-through apron that was stained with dark red spots. He had messy glistening tan hair covered in sweat and a big bright smile. His arms were huge, muscular, and covered in scars.

"Would you like anything today miss?" he asked with a booming voice.

"Hello," Liz said shyly. She wasn't good with talking to people she didn't know. "Yeah, I would like to order some salmon please."

"Fried, steamed, or baked?" he yelled.

"Uh, steamed please."

"Sie ist hier!"

"Could you repeat that?"

"Coming right up!" The young man gave a thumbs up and walked into the kitchen to prepare her food. "Please, have a seat!"

Liz nodded and sat down in the seat closest to the exit. She fiddled with her fingers while trying to come up with a topic to engage with. She hates socializing, but she hates silence even more.

"Um… so… I see that you're new here," she spoke to the empty counter.

The young man poked his head from behind the kitchen door. "Watcha say?!" he shouted. "Can you speak up a bit?!"

"I see that you're new here!" she softly shouted back.

"Oh! Yeah! I am!" he replied.

"What's your name?"

"Name's John! John Tohsaka!"

Liz started to fiddle with the salt shaker, pretending that the salt shaker was some kind of knight and having it fight against the pepper, which she treated as the evil knight. She wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing though. She just wanted her hands to do something.

"What a unique name," she commented. "I'm Liz Ezinbern. It's nice to meet you."

The white and black knight were clashing against each other, "sparks" flying everywhere. The white knight hopped up into the air and slammed their foot into the other knight's head, making his innards scatter onto the ground.

"It's nice to meet you too!" The satisfying sound of the water being boiled and the fish being prepared made Liz's mouth water.

"Um, so where's Julien, that old man that usually runs this shop?"

"Hmm? Him? He took a little 'break' today, hahahahaha!" John laughed out loud.

Liz felt a little awkward from that joke. She just wanted to go home and snuggle with her cat.

"Alright! Here's your order!" John called as he walked over to her with a plastic bag. "Have a nice day- oh! Be careful about tipping the bag, it might spill out some juice!"

"Oh, thank you for the advice," she said as she took the bag from his hand. "Well I'll be going now, I'll see you later." She got up and made her way to the door.

"You definitely will."

Liz turned around. "What?"

"I'll see you too!" John yelled with a big smile while waving his hand.

"You too," Liz muttered as she walked outside. Once the door closed, she sighed and loosened her body. "What a strange guy," she whispered. She shivered from the cold. "I should get back now." She turned around and looked at the plain landscape in front of her.

There were no buildings in front of her. She turned back around and saw that the shop she just entered disappeared along with the other shops that were next to it. She was in the middle of nowhere with snow as far as the eye could see.

"W-where am I?" she asked rhetorically as she looked around. She took a few steps forward through the snow and bumped into an invisible barrier. "Huh? What is this?" She felt around the smooth "glass" when she looked for an exit. "What's going on?!"

A low rumbling from the ground shook her around. She could feel the violent vibrations shake her entire skeleton. The shaking was so powerful that she fell on the floor.

The snow around her melted and revealed a large red pentagram on the ground that was made out of some kind of red paint. Five black-hooded figures rose up from the ground where the points of the stars were. They all hummed a chant as they got taller and taller. The sixth point of the pentagram was empty.

Hundreds of red chains wrapped around her body and pulled her to the middle. She screamed as she bounced up and down above the pentagram.

The five humanoid figures stopped humming and looked up at her. The fierce cold wind blew her around the pentagram, making her smash into the invisible barriers occasionally.

Liz coughed and struggled to get out. "Where am I?! Who are you?! What are you doing to me?!" she screamed as she wiggled around.

One of the five waved his hand and one more chain shot at her. It wrapped around her neck and tightened its grip. She gagged and struggled to breathe.

"Is this her?" one of them asked. "The failed offspring on the Ezinbern family?"

"Yes, Hujin," another replied. "Her name is Elizabeth Ezinbern. She was born from the false love of a prostitute and a failed businessman who was cheating on his wife."

The one to the right of them chuckled. "How sad, Sacarnes. It would've been better if she wasn't born at all."

"Don't say that Uranus," the next one spoke. Her voice was clearly female. She seemed to be the only sane and sensible one. "She was born exactly for this: to get the Holy Grail for us. Don't you agree with me, Barnerus?" she asked the first one who spoke.

Barnerus sighed. "I guess so, but do you think she's a worthy sacrifice, Gillian? Even though her blood may be of a great mage's family, she herself does not have any experience."

"I'm sure that it'll work, Barnerus," Sacarnes said. He was holding multiple objects in his hand. He held a rusted chain, an old ragged towel, and a jar filled with thousands of tiny particles. He lifted it up into the air and it floated into the pentagram.

"Do you think these will summon him?" Uranus asked.

"'He' said that it would summon the strongest servant class: Saber," Sacarnes answered. He took out another object from his robe. It was the very tip of a blade. It grouped up with the other objects. "Now," Sacarnes looked up at Liz, "prepare the sacrifice."

The moment Sacarnes spoke those words, Liz felt a painful split form on her stomach. She tried to scream in pain, but her throat was still being crushed. Blood poured onto the floor and even some of her internal organs were starting to slip out. She was starting to faint from the pain. Her head drooped down and her breaths became quick and sharp.

"Drop her, there's no need of her body any more," Barnerus said. Gillian shivered from the sight. She snapped her fingers and the chains broke and let her fall to the floor.

"Now the chant," Uranus said as he raised his hands. The other four followed.

"Let silver and steel be the essence.

Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.

Let blood red the color I pay tribute to. Let my great Master Matou be the ancestor.

Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.

Let the four cardinal gates close.

Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.

I hereby declare.

Your body shall serve under me.

My fate shall be your sword.

Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail .

If you will submit to this will and this reason…

Then answer!"

The pentagram glowed a bright red and a tornado of red light encircled Liz. The five hooded figures gasped at the sight. They were so entranced by its beauty that they didn't even notice Liz doing her own little summoning circle in front of her with her own blood.

When she was little, her mother would always tell her strange stories and even stranger tips for when something like this would happen. She would tell her this exact chant to say, what to use, and who to summon.

"Remember Elizabeth," her mother whispered in her ears one night, "love all life, and he will love you back."

Liz's memories came flooding back to her as she reached for the catalyst in her pocket. She took it out: a single gold-diamond-shapes blade. She placed it onto her tiny pentagram and chanted what does men did, but changed it up just a bit.

Her lunch bag started to glow a bright gold. It steamed and started to infuse with Liz's pentagram.

"Come to me, protector of my family, protector of all. Your chains that bind the earth will chain my will, as my fate chains yours to mine. Come to me, sacred prostitute," Liz chanted under her breath. While she held her wound with her right hand, her left hand reached out to the air. Her left backhand started to burn and three red marks burned into her skin.

Liz's eyes glistened with hope as she gained her command seals. "I did it," she muttered.

The tornado exploded and slightly pushed the five hooded figures back, but they held their ground. Crouched over in front of Liz was a lady with long straight green hair. She had a necklace with the tip of the blade Liz placed at the end of it. A long oversized cloth was the only thing covering her body.

The lady's body steamed. There was this strange powerful aura surrounding her. Liz couldn't see it, but she could feel it's powerful presence. The green-haired lady stood up and looked around. She then turned to face Liz.

"Are you my Master, summoner?" the lady asked. Her green hair waved in the wind, slightly covering her face. Her clothes fluttered from the gusts, but she didn't seem to be cold. She was calm and calculating. Her expression was emotionless and doll-like.

Liz stared at her in amazement. She was stunned by her beauty. Even though her face was emotionless, her eyes were filled with life and love for everything.

From the back, one of the hooded figures laughed. "Do you not recognize our strong magical presence?" Uranus announced.

The lady ignored him and kept staring at Liz, waiting for an answer.

Liz, still in amazement and pain, finally nodded. "Yes…" she gave a weak answer, "I am…"

The lady nodded and crouched down. "Then our contract is complete. Our fates are sealed and intertwined. May we win this war, Master. My name is-"

"Wait a second!" Sacarnes yelled. "We're your summoner! Why are you talking to the sacrifice?!"

The lady kept her attention on Liz. "What is your order, Master?" she asked.

Sacarnes growled and clenched his fist. "Hey! Listen to me you deranged Servant!" He raised his arm and revealed the hundreds of bugs crawling within him. "If you don't obey us, we will send you back to the throne room!"

The other four exposed their skin, revealing their decaying bodies that were crawling with millions of bugs.

Liz was starting to faint, but she pulled herself together to utter one last sentence. "Please…" she rested her head against the cold ground. "Save me…" She closed her eyes and passed out.

The lady nodded and stood up. "Listen here, Mages of the Matou family!" she shouted in a calm voice. "If you do not retreat and leave me and my Master alone, I will have no choice but to resort to violence to exterminate you."

The five mages backed up and hesitated to fight. The bugs from their body shot out of them and circled around the lady and Liz.

"We are the proud Matou family! We will not fall to a second class Servant like you!" Barnerus yelled. "Attack!"

The bugs charged at the lady.

She sighed as her eyes closed. "I was going to actually let you go too, but I guess that humans in this time and age are just as stubborn." From around her, dozens of golden portals surrounded her. They shot out gold chains from the portals that exploded the bugs. At the tips of the golden chains were diamond-shaped blades, the same shape as her necklace.

When the portals ran out of chains to spit out, the chain would disappear and another would take its place.

The millions of bugs that surrounded her were now a pile of strangely colored snow and tiny corpses.

The mages backed up while shooting worried glances at Sacarnes. He looked back at them. "Don't look at me! Fire at her!" he ordered.

The mages nodded and faced the Servant. They placed their hands on the ground and summoned huge bugs, as big as busses to their sides. There were 20 of them, all shaped as centipedes. They roared and charged at her.

"Useless!" the Servant yelled and jumped up into the air. The centipedes followed her movements, but when they did, their underbellies were penetrated by more golden chains. Then from behind, more sets of chains wrapped around them and tore them to pieces.

As the Servant landed on the ground, bug blood sprayed everywhere and their dismembered body parts rained all around her.

The mages yelled in fright and started to run away.

"Come back you fools!" Sacarnes yelled, but his voice ended short when the Servant's blade entered his chest from behind. A sword made of pure light penetrated him. He spat out blood and looked back at Liz's unconscious body. "Curse you Ezinbern!" he yelled a she was torn to pieces.

"My name is Enkidu! I am the weapon of the gods! The indestructible chains that binds the heavens to the earth!" Enkidu announced as she charged at Uranus next. She slid underneath him, leaving a trail of golden light behind. The trail exploded into hundreds of blades, stabbing his back. He didn't even have time to scream in pain.

"I am a weapon, a destructive tool used by the gods!" She jumped into the air and pointed her palm at Barnerus. A bright beam of light shot out from her palm and evaporated the land. It made its way to Barnerus as he tried to run away.

"NOOOO!" he screamed as he turned to dust.

"I am Gilgamesh's most sacred weapon and treasure! His strongest foe, equal, and best friend!" Enkidu targeted Hujin next. As she fell down towards the earth, dozens of portals surrounded him. The portals shout out their chains and stabbed him in his neck, chest, and legs. They then retracted and ripped him apart, limb from limb.

"And I am also the protector of this planet's natural life." Enkidu landed in front of the last mage, startling her.

Gillian fell backwards and shrieked. "Please don't hurt me!" she cried as she covered her face. She was shaking from fear of being killed like the others.

Enkidu looked down at her, the Servant's clothes and face covered in stains of blood. "Say sorry then. Say sorry to my Master you tried to kill," Enkidu ordered.

Gillian nodded and turned to face Liz's unconscious body while still shaking from fear. She was so scared that she already wet herself.

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry…" she muttered while groveling on the ground pathetically.

Enkidu nodded. "Good, you may leave." She stepped to the side to allow her to leave. Gillian looked up and nodded while crying. She ran through the snowy storm back home, leaving a trail of yellow snow behind her.

Enkidu looked at Gillian run through the storm, the wind blowing through her hair. Her eyes were filled with nothingness. "I am Enkidu," she told herself. "I am a Lancer class Servant, and I am a weapon made by the gods, a weapon of destruction and death." She looked down at her hand that was stained with frozen blood. "That's who I am…" she clenched her hand into a fist. A golden aura waved through her body, down to her feet, and traversed through the snow. It made its way in front of Gillian.

Once she stepped onto the bright light, a huge blade as tall as a small building protruded from the ground and sliced Gillian in half. Gillian gagged as her heart was cut. Her front half fell onto the ground and bled as her second half fell back.

Enkidu sighed and relaxed her body. She looked around at the destruction that she had laid upon them. There was blood and inhuman body parts everywhere. "That's who I am…" she muttered to herself again while walking over to Liz. She picked her body up and cradled her like how a mother would cradle a baby.

She began her journey back to Liz's town.