The Tricksters Lionheart Chapter 6, a Fate/stay night + Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka Crossover fanfic

Author Notes

Hey chapter 6 is out so lets get going with the q and a from the comment section to read it.

ShadoWARmada: has Lionheart been telling hes familiar about the king of knights i mean she;s someone hes passionate about right?

man if Ais finds out about artouria blessings that let her walk on water i bet she gona be hella jelly

Answer: Yes, he's passionate about Artoria, but no, he hasn't told the Familia about her, or to be more precise, nothing specific, it just didn't come up. Ais is rather silent and reacts rather than taking the initiate in a conversation so there was simply no reason for it. In addition, heroes do not come up so often as a random conversation topic. Now that will change a bit in the future ... (hint hint.) And yes she would be jealous.

Zerak: I would remove the shoving of potions down his throat, as you only use 1.

Also you gota work on the spelling. Sometimes you spell something right then you go and spell it wrong a few sentences later.

Answer: About the potions it was more than one potion… Health, Mana and so on.

About my spelling yes i know… I say it again not my main language and translater. Maybe then i have completed this story I will go over everything and correct it.

Thus…

Disclaimer I don't own Fate or Danmachi

Chapter 6

Twilight Manor Lokis Office

There was a knock on the door when Leonard stepped into the office of the goddess, he had left his adventurous clothes in his room after showering and was now wearing a simple shirt and wide pants while he went barefoot. His hair was still a bit wet and his braid made sure that some water dripped onto the floor.

"So? What is this all about?" The Demi Servant asked as he sat down on one of the couches.

"All in good time." Answered Loki. "We'll wait until Ais is here, it concerns her too."

A few minutes later the blonde girl stepped into the room, she looked around a bit, Finn was sitting on the chair behind the desk, Loki on the desk, Riveria and Gareth were sitting on one of the two couches in the room, while Leonard was there and had made himself comfortable on the other. With one nod she sat down next to the Demi Servant.

Everyone looked at Loki, wondering what was so important that she had called them all into her office. Even the senior members of the Familia didn't know what Loki wanted from them. "As you know it can happen that every Familia gets a Quest from the Guild."

Leonard's hand shot up. "What is a Quest from the Guild?"

The red-haired goddess looked over at Riveria in astonishment, it was her job to inform the boy about the rules and possible incidents in Orario, and after a year and a half he still didn't know what a guild's quest was right? That didn't sound at all like the green-haired high Elf, she is usually so conscientious about her tasks.

"We just haven't gotten to the topic yet, we've talked about the normal quests but not the specific ones from the guild, that's something I wanted to tell him when he's level 3 because it's unusual to be confronted with something like this beforehand."

Loki nodded, that was understandable. In a large Familia like hers, it was usually the older and higher-ranking members who dealt with quests from the Guild, and the stronger and more competent your Familia was, the more difficult and important the quests the Guild gave became.

"Hmm Ok." Nodded the Goddesses. Fortunately, this quest wasn't too dangerous.

Taking a deep breath Loki looked everyone present in the eyes before she started. "When a Familia reaches a certain level of strength and reputation the guild will start giving them quests, there are in broad terms two types of quests." Loki held up a finger to make her point clearer. "First: the normal ones on a board Tower of Babel are exhibited and everyone can take them." The second finger joins the first one. "And secondly, the ones the guild gives directly to specific Familias, the criteria are the strength and specialization of the Familia, ours, for example, is specialized in research and exploration of the Dungeon, so we have many high Level Adventurers which ensures that our Quests mostly have to do with the elimination of monsters, criminals or the settlement of conflicts where a strong arm is needed. Other families like Hermes have their duties in chasing rumors and information outside of Orario. Understood?"

The Demi Servant and the girl next to him nodded in understanding.

Seeing that they understood her explanation the goddess continued. "In the last couple of weeks a few Amazons have come to Orario, normally that wouldn't be a problem but these two are probably making quite a racket and the guild is now full of all the complaints that the other gods submit about the injuries of their members. The Amazons said they only join those who can defeat them in a fight..." Smiling slightly, she directed her gaze to Finn. "Therefore, our captain here will work out a plan on how we can address the situation... The Guild has not set any conditions how we should solve this, in quotation marks... Problem... only that we have four weeks. " Getting up from her position on the desk the redhead spread her arms. "So my order to my two favoriet and adorable children is to do as Finn says and make sure we complete this quest." Pumping her fist up the goddess finished her briefing.

All eyes turned to the Palum that sat behind the desk of their redheaded goddesses. Sighing, the Braver got up and moved to the front of the table to address the subordinates he had gathered. "First we will gather information on them… I don't want to go in blinde, Riveria, Gareth and I will ask around town while the two of you." The Palum pointed at the two children in the room. " Leonard and Ais will continue to go into the dungeon and check out any information from other adventurers." Turning to Loki the Captain chose to address her next. "I want you Goddess to ask the other Gods that already had an encounter with our targets and ask for everything they know about them…" Taking a deep breath. "And Loki… do you know anything that could be helpful then say it please…" The blonde Palum threw the smiling redhead and exhausted look. "We don't need you keeping things to yourself just so that you can have fun watching us."

Said Goddess pouted at the remainder. "Well... They should both be as old as Ais and Leonard, are level 3, quite the problem children and sisters from what I've heard. I do not know more than that."

Finn nodded, while not much this information was better than nothing. If there were really only two Level 3 Amazons, the quest wouldn't be as difficult as he had thought it would be. The only problem now was to find them. That could be more difficult... Orario was a big city, one of the biggest in the whole world, it wouldn't be easy to find two people here. Especially not with all the different races that romped about in the city. Shaking his head the Palum looked at his fellow members. "Have something to eat and rest. Tomorrow we will start looking for information and you two." He pointed to Leonard and Ais. "Tomorrow you have a long and exhausting day in the Dungeon so make sure you get to bed quickly after dinner." With that he stood up and exited the room, the others following him.

As they were on their way to the dining hall Riveria tapped Leonard on his shoulder. "Tomorrow morning we will have another lesson ... It is something that I wanted to discuss with you a little later, because there are some details that take a little longer, but there is no other way."

The blonde boy looked a bit puzzled but nodded anyway. In his eyes, food was a priority. He spent the whole day in the dungeon and only had breakfast so he felt like he could eat a whole elephant. Hunger is the enemy. He thought with a slight smile. It was a saying that just couldn't get out of his head. Even if he admired the King of Knights, he was always a bit shocked how much actually fit into such a small body. Remembering one of his idols, he began to think about telling Ais the story of Arthuria Pendragon after all he had basically taught her one of the Kings Noble Phantasms. The two were in the Dungeon together almost every day, but they didn't really have much to talk about, mostly their conversations resolved around ways on how to get stronger and how to improve their skills. But then again from the few times where she had talked about her own past, he realized that Ais wasn't really a big fan of dragons if she didn't outright hate them. So a story about someone who is said to embody a red dragon would probably not be the best choice. So Siegfried's story might be better. Hmm, something I should think about again later... he thought to himself. Food came first, then he could rack his brains about finding a few new topics for future conversations with his friend/sister.

It was late in the evening when the Demi Servant fell exhausted onto his bed. The dinner was fortunately calm and uneventful, so that he could relax and eat his five to seven servings, only to shuffle fully eaten into his room and head for the fluffy heaven straight away.

Morning Twilight Manor Library

Leonard was sitting with Riviera in the library when the high elf explained the subject of today's lesson. "Let's start with something simple. What do you know about Amazons and the other different Races?" Asket the green haired woman.

The blonde boy began to think a little about what he knew about the different races, it wasn't that much. Even if it seemed interesting at the beginning, he quickly saw that most races could simply be broken down to the fact that they are people with animal ears and tails, or other characteristics, and with all that he had seen during the Grand Order, people with animal traits weren't really so exciting, as such he quickly lost interest.

"Most races are simply people with animal characteristics, Chienthropes are a Demi Human race that have dog ears and a tail, Cat People are a Demi Human race that have cat ears and tails, Raccoons are a Demi Human race that have raccoon ears and tails. Most of them also have some characteristics of the animals due to their various extras. Chientropes and Cat People hear better than normal people, Boaz and Weretigers are generally stronger than normal people, Elves have long ears and high magical potential and so on. I know about the Amazons that they are all born women, have dark skin and are physically superior to normal people, but that can easily change with the Falna."

Riveria nodded along with the explanation the Demi Servant had given her. Even if everything was broken down to the core information, it was still accurate.

"Good, Today we will be talking about the Amazons, as you will meet two of them very soon… Amazons are a female-only breed. There is no exception. Most of them are members of the Kali Familia and live in Telskyura."

"Telskyura?" Asket Leonard with a curious look in his eyes.

Although he had learned a lot during his time as a member of the Loki Familia, geography was not really something in which they had infested a lot of time in, simply because of the fact that most adventurers do not leave Orario and there were even rules from the Guild that forbid adventures to leave the city without a permit from the Guild, at least when it came to higher-ranking adventurers and Families, to which the Loki Familia belonged.

"Telskyura is located on a peninsula far to the southeast of Orario and is surrounded by the sea and harsh cliffs." Explained Riveria. "It is a nation type Familia ruled by Kali that is known for being a country of Amazonesses. Men aren't allowed in the country and any men in the country are either slaves or tools used to create new Amazonesses. Telskyura is a closed country compared to those around it and any outside information about the country is limited. The country is also referred to as the Country of Blood and Fighting and the Amazoness' Holy Land." The high Elf looked at the boy sitting on the opposite end of the table to make sure that he was still listening. "Telskyura is one of the few world powers other than Orario, their strength coming from the fights to the death that happen every day against monsters and even other Amazonesses at the colosseum. Amazonesses born in the country are said to learn how to kill a Goblin before they learn how to speak, with their first trial involving being placed in front of a baby Monster and seeing whether they kill it or get killed instead."

The Demi Servant shocked his head. "That sounds pretty Barbarian to be honest." Fighting before you can even talk? That was a bit much for the boy. Not even Heroic Spirits started their Stories that young, sure there were people that believed that Heracles killed a snake then he was but a baby but that was just disney and not the full story. It was the same with the King of Knights, albeit a little different, yes, she was already equipped with a Dragon Core before she was born, but the real training only began when she was already a child and at that time it was common for the young to learned how to use a weapon if you wanted to become a knight.

Riveria could only nod in agreement, as a high elf, she grew up in an environment that placed a high value on upscale etiquette and good manners. When she first heard about the land of the Amazons, she was shocked that something like this existed at all.

"But going back to the Amazons as people, they are a rather battle hungry race, always looking for strong opponents and only really respecting the strong. There is also the point that they only fall in love with people that beat them in combat."

"What?" The blond boy really did not know what to think anymore. This was just getting ridiculous in his eyes. Respecting other cultures was a given to him but some things were just incomprehensible to him.

"They chose to only have children with men that are stronger than them." Seeing that the boy still wasn't getting it the high elf trough of a way to explain it. "It's more like Amazons will only choose strong and worthy males to fall in love with. It's similar to how some forms of breeding selection occurs in nature with certain animals performing contests of strength to be able to mate with a female, or how in some animal communities, the largest/strongest alpha male will have the right to breed."

Leonard just had a cross look on his face.

"That would be all for Today's lesson, be sure to not forget your task while you and Ais are in the Dungeon."

Nodding the Demi Servant stood up and left the Library all the way thinking on what he had learned today. Even if the culture of the Amazons and their method of having children wasn't really up his alley, he was able to respect their desire for strength and Riveria's explanation why Amazons only accepted strong men unfortunately reminded him a little too much of the way the Magi chose their partners. And I had so hoped to have finally left the crap behind me..

Dungeon 13th Floor

The sound of steel cleaving through flesh was heard as Leonard and Ais tore in the Monster before them. It was already noon as they finally reached the middle floors and the two had nearly completely forgotten their original objective of gathering information on the two amazonesses that they were supposed to confront in the coming days. With a hard swing of his sword Leonard broke through the defense of the Lamia Mormos they were fighting and allowed Ais to stab it in the stomach.

"Tempest." With a simple command the winds that made up Invisible Air bursted apart, expanding in the blink of an eye and causing the snake like monster to swell till it finally exploded into black mist.

"Did you hear anything about the two amazons?" Asked the blonde boy as he bent down to pick up the magic stone.

"No."

Leonard could only sigh. When he and Ais entered the dungeon the two split up to cover more ground and possibly run into more adventurers but at some point during their search for information they lost sight of their real goal and just started to fight every monster they came across. Seeing another Monster the boy took off, Godspeed was already up and running for the duration of his stay in the Dungeon so he was able to reach the Monster in no time. As he began to fight the monster he thought about the impending confrontation with the two troublemakers. Loki said in the meeting that they were both level 3, in the end it made no sense to take him, a level 2 adventurer with them on the quest because he could only lose one way or another. But at the same time this outcome was something he couldn't accept. The Demi Servant understood that there were certain things that could not be overcome with simple skill and strategy, but in his eyes the whole level system was not one of them. Or at least not for him. Faster... He dodged a strike from the snake-like monster's tail. Faster... Left, right, again and again the blond boy dodged and waited for his opportunity. Faster. Slowly but surely, his body began to glow with a licked golden aura. Faster! And suddenly, as quickly as the lightning bolt, he was in front of the monster and swung his sword. The scream of the monster filled the corridor they were fighting on, when the Lamia Mormos lost its head and turned into black smoke.

Ais watched the entire fight between the Demi Servant and the monster. This was not the first time that this golden aura manifested and every time it did the boy had made a huge leap at the next status update. Loki seemed to know what it was about and told her not to worry. But the girl couldn't help it, she saw how deep in thought Leonard was and also the frustration on his face. She didn't like it. Over the time she had already spent with the boy, she had begun to harbor feelings for him, not romantic ones of course, but ones in the direction of a brother. The Demi Servant was always there for her when she needed something and she didn't like to see him so frustrated and restless, he should be calm and always have that slight smile on his face in her opinion. But at the same time she couldn't bring herself to speak to him about it, there was a fire in his eyes that she could only admire and hoped to see more of it.

As for Leonard, he didn't notice the golden aura, all he could feel was that something he hadn't felt for a long time was slowly coming back to him. Like the warmth of spring that slowly breaks up the snow cover of winter and makes the flowers bloom again. With a new goal in mind and with an almost endless motivation, he dashed forward, deeper into the dungeon.

Time Skip 2 Weeks

Evening Twilight Manor Leonard's room

"WHAT?!" Came the scream that shocked the entire Manor. Loki couldn't believe her eyes when she held the status of her favorite son in her hands, in only two weeks he had made a huge leap.

Name: Leonard Marisburo Animusphere (Richard I)

Alias: Lionheart

Familia: Loki

Level: 2

Strength: E492 - D596

Endurance: D538 - C634

Dexterity: A827 - S924

Agility: S903 - S999

Magic: A843 - S949

Development Abilities

Magic Resistance: G

Magic

Spell: Godspeed

Chant: I'm festinate, th're shoul not beest anyone who is't is festinate'r than me as i'm the fastest. With mine own speedeth, i shall leaveth ev'ryone in the dusteth.

Effekt: The longer the battle continues, the more the Agility and Dexterity stat increases.

Skill: All Kinds of Talents, fast learning curve.

Skill: Lionheart, The bravery not to fear anything turned into a Skill. It invokes fear and wariness into enemies and raises the morale of allies

I know he should get stronger over time, but that's just ridiculous... The red-haired goddess shook her head as she hopped down from her child and sat on the edge of the bed.

"What have you and Ais been up to in the dungeon the last few days?"

The boy could only turn away ashamed, in the last two weeks where they were supposed to collect information he had overdone it a bit with the fighting and had let himself be carried away. He only looked for information at the beginning, but as soon as he and Ais stepped onto the middle floors, it was all about getting stronger. Not his proudest moment. He turned his head so that his face was on the pillow and mumbled something.

"What was that? I could not hear you." There was a dangerously sweet tone in the voice of the goddess as she turned completely to her child. "Would you please say that again?" Even if it was a question, it was more of a command from the sound of it.

Knowing better than to disobey his mother if she was like this the Demi Servant looked Loki in her now open eyes and spoke softly. "Ais and I were on the 20th floor to get stronger…"

Loki could only sigh at the behavior of one of her problem children, she loved him like her own son but sometimes she just couldn't understand his obsession with strength. But at least this explained a part of his ridiculous leap in the status update. The new experience on a floor he had never been on before gave him more Excelia. But still… That didn't explain everything.

What Loki did not know was that Leonard and Ais did something that the demi servant knew from playing a few games in his time at Chaldea. Power Leveling. The concept was pretty simple, a stronger adventure brought a weaker adventure to a ground with strong monsters and helped the weaker one to kill the monsters, although it was important here that the weaker one had to give the monster the death blow to get the most excelia Otherwise it's just the same as normal dungeon diving.

Her expression softing, the goddesses cupped the boy's cheek. "I'm happy that you want to help but please don't overdo it ok?" Leaning forward and engulfing her child in a warm embrace the trickster continued. "The 19th to 24th floor are not as forgiving as the others ... Without the Abnormal Resistant skill you could easily die of the poison there and I don't want to lose you." Standing up, Loki gave Leonard a pat on the back and motioned for him to follow her.

"By the way… What happened to your sword?"

In fact, when Leonard and Ais returned to the dungeon today, he was without his sword and had a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

"It… kinda broke?" Came the sheepish answer of the Demi Servant.

The red woman stared dumbfounded at one of her favorite children before just shaking her head and letting out a soft sight. "You know what? Forget it, we will get you a new one tomorrow but don't make it a habit of breaking your weapon ok?" Ruffling his hair the goddesses pushed him to go in front of her. "Dinner should be ready by now so why don't we go out to eat and then you tell me how that happened?"

Nodding excitedly the blonde boy marched to the dinning hall as his mother followed him closely behind. As she watched her son happily skipp down the halls of Twilight Manor the Goddesses of Trickery noticed something for the first time. Right behind Leonard, a silhouette seemed to be manevestading itself, it was the figure of a blond man in armor, from his hip hung a finely graphed sword with a gold-red scabbard, silver full-body armor without a helmet and a red shoulder cape. As the goddess continues to watch the man, he suddenly turns his face in her direction, what she saw was a handsome face with three strands of red in his blond hair and proudly twinkling red eyes, when the man saw her he brought a finger to his lips and gestured to her to be quiet as he turned to Leonard again. A few moments later the man fanished again as the boy turned around, looking at his mother.

"Are you coming?" Asked the boy.

Shaking her head the red haired woman grinned from ear to ear as she ran up to her son. "Not so fast my little lion!" Throwing herself over her son the goddess laughed as she spun him around. Finally letting him down again Loki leaned to his ear. "You will win." She whispered.

Eyes widening for a moment the boy looked at the grinding redhead in surprise.

"You will win. Never doubt that." Ruffling his hair the goddess turned and walked to the dining hall.

The smile on the blond Demi Servant's Face widened as he ran after her.

Time Skip 1 Week Later

Twilight Manor Finns Office

"So you all understand the plan?" Asked the Palum as he looked upon the members of the Loki Familia that were seated on the couches before him.

"Yes." Came the reply of the members.

It had been three weeks since their Familia got the Quest from the guild to do something about the two amazonesses that were causing trouble and the Captain had come up with a plan on how to deal with this quest. That was based on an interesting piece of information that he ran across when he asked around in an adventurer's bar. Apparently the amazons were looking for a familia and many gods wanted the young amazons but the two young ladies made the condition that they would only join those who manage to defeat them.

"Then get ready and we'll be on our way in a few minutes." As the gathered members of the Loki Familia stood up from their seats the bond Palum spook up ones more. "Leonard would you please stay a little longer."

Stopping at the door, the Demi Servant turned around. "Is something the matter Captain?"

"Yes please sit down again, i wish to discuss something with you before we start the hunt." Said the young looking man as he gesticulated to Leonard to sit down on the couch once more. As the boy had sat down the Palum took a deep breath. "Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with the plan? Gareth could take over your part without any problem." Even if the plan was simple and usually could be carried out without great effort, Leonard and Loki had made the whole matter a little more complex with the Demi Servant's desire to fight one of the amazons.

Taking on a solemn look the spiky haired boy nodded. "Yeah that's something I have to do... I can feel it." Clenching his right hand into a fist the Demi Servant gave a determined look and without his notice the golden aura began to seep out of him again, laying itself over him like a protective blanket.

Curious… Hearing about it and seeing it are really two different things… Thought the captain as he watched the boy in front of him, this golden aura. Maybe it was an effect of the Demi Servants Skill Lionheart, or maybe it wasn't. Nonetheless, the feeling that this aura radiated gave him the will to believe in the blond boy in front of him and to wish that he would emerge victorious from his endeavor.

"By the way…" Leonard spoke up. "Can i borrow that?" He asked as he pointed to the flag that bore the symbol of the Loki Familia and hung behind the Palum.

Looking behind himself Finn was a little curious why the Demi Servant would want the flag. "Sure but why?"

"You will have to wait and see captain." Laughed the boy as he stood up and grabbed the flag and left the room.

"Remember that we will leave shortly and you have to be at the gate!" Shouted the captain after the member of the Familia.

Dawn Orario

The Members of the Loki Familia had gathered, they all stood at the raddy. Finn, Riveria, Gareth, Ais, Leonard and even Loki herself had come. Before them stood their targets, tho young Amazons. They both shared many traits and facial structure. The one to the left was a young woman in her teenage years, she had long black hair that went smooth down across her back, brown olief-colored eyes and a figure that was quite developed for her age. As for clothes, she wore a typical amazon outfit, mainly consisting of something that was similar to loose towels and tight-fitting underwear-like clothes.

The one on the right looked very similar to the one on the left, she was about the same size and age but had shorter hair, hers only went up to her shoulders and was split into bangs on either side of her head and framed her face, as for her body figure , it was much more in alignment with their presumed age, slim, showing signs of the curves to come, dark skin and olive brown eyes that showed a certain playfulness. As far as her clothes were concerned, she also wore an outfit that was similar to the amazon beside her, hers too, was largely consisted of loose clothes and skin-tight pieces.

A feature that both had in common were the numerous pieces of jewelry with which they had decorated themselves.

"So you are the idiots who want to try now?" Asket the longhaired one rudely.

Finn and Leonard stepped forward, the Palum to the left and the Demi Servant to the right.

"I suppose we are if this is what you would like to call us." Answered the captain with a light smile, but for all that had known the young looking man a bit longer it was clear as day that he was irritated with the behavior of the amazon.

The other members of the Loki Familia stood on the sidelines, keeping their ever watchful eyes on the four.

The clicking of Leonard's armored greaves was the only sound that could be heard. Over the last few days the Demi Servant had decided not only to prepare physically and mentally for the fight, but also to improve his equipment. In addition to the armor over his right arm, he now wore armor over his shins and reinforced boots. The color scheme had not changed but the two biggest innovations besides the additional armor were probably his new sword and shoulder cape, the sword had been made in the image of his original sword that he owned before he came to Orario, a one-and-a-half-handed broadsword with ornate decorations and a red and golden scabbard. In addition he wore a shoulder cape again, something that he had really missed, he couldn't really put it into words but it made him feel proud to wear a symbol of his loyalty again. The shoulder cape was the flag that he had borrowed from Finn's office just a few hours ago and now adorned his left shoulder. The other members had given him a little strange looks at first when they saw him with a flag as an assessor, but a delighted shout from Loki was all that was necessary to avoid any questions.

Finn on the other hand wore his normal adventure clothes, jacket, panse and boots all colored in different shades of violet, on his shoulder rested his ever trusty spear.

As the duo of the Loki familia reached their opponents the Demi Servant could not help himself and stared at the right amazon. The smile on his opponent's face had completely captured him, a large and playful smile that shined in his eyes like a dazzling star.

Stopping just a few feet away from the short haired amazon the boy held his right fist other his heart. "My name is Leonard Marisburo Animusphere, the Lionheard." He held out his fist to the young lady. "May our upcoming fight, be fair."

The young Amazon giggled at his declaration. "Sure sounds like fun." She smiled.

The long haired amazon let out an annoyed sight. "Tiona don't play around and finish this fast. These weaklings are not worth our time." She said as she gave Palum an annoyed look.

"What a bold declaration." Said the Captain as he readyed his spear.

The Demi Servant took a deep breath and drew his sword. "I'm festinate, th're shoul not beest anyone who is't is festinate'r than me as i'm the fastest. With mine own speedeth, i shall leaveth ev'ryone in the dusteth. Goodspeed." With his magic casted and the spell taking hold of him, he was ready.

With a quick jump the Demi Servant was in front of the amazon and swung his sword. The short-haired girl did not even twitch as she blocked the sword strike with her own weapon. Her weapon of choice was a double bladed sword, as long as she was tall.

"We are starting already?" Asket the amazon as Leonard struggled to overpower her.

"I suppose we do." Came the reply of the Demi Servant. With a grunt he concentrated Mana in his arms and managed to push the girl back a bit.

Sliding along the stone street they were fighting one, she smiled. "Well if that is the case." And with one step she was in front of him. "Don't mind if I attack this time."

Leonard just barely managed to avoid the blow by a hair's breadth. Steel flashing in the setting sun the blonde boy stuck again with his sword, but his opponent doged, not giving her time to counter the Demi servant continued to swing his sword at her, but every strike was either doged or deflected.

"By the way…" The blond boy tried to step her in the left leg. "From what I have just heard is your name Tiona right?" He asked.

"Yes why?" The amazon deflected the strike, but this time pushed her blade forward into a blade lock.

"Just because…" The boy struggled to not get overwhelmed with the strength of the girl before him. Tiona heh… Fairy Queen… As he continued to push against the sword of his opponent he did not notice the incoming fist that buried itself in his gut. With a silent scream he was thrown backwards across the street and only stopped as he collided with the wall of the house behind him. The impact was strong enough to rattle his bones and force him to cough out blood. Ahh man that hurt… Slowly he pushed himself up from the ground and onto his feet again. But i am not done yet! With a shout he pumped all his Mana through his body, forcing it to become stronger, more durable and faster. The Magic Crest on his forehead began to shine like a piece of jewelry as it became visible for the first time in a fight since he came to Orario and his body started to give off a golden aura like mist. Fast as the wind he was upon Tiona again, raining down sword strikes like a storm.

"!" Surprised by her opponents sudden increase in speed and strength the amazon struggled to defend herself against the onslaught, but could not help herself and started to smile wildly. That was it, that was a fight that could get her blood pumping, a fight that her nature as an amazon longed for. Laughing out loud, she gave up her defense and went on the offensive. For the first time since the start of the fight, she grabbed her double-bladed sword in both hands, pulled back and swung her weapon with all her might. The resulting wind was strong enough to stop the Demi Servant and give her some space to take off.

"You are good…" She complimented the Demi Servant. "What Level are you?"

"2."

"Heee? Level 2? Then how were you able to keep up with me till now?" For the young Amazon it was quite surprising to hear that her opponent was only level 2 and was still able to keep up with her so well.

Leonard shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know, maybe i am just that lucky."

Tiona giggled. "Maybe… What was your Alias again? Lionheart right?" The Boy nodded. "That really suits you… Hahaha Lionheart I will remember it." With that she attacked. Each blow forcing the Demi Servant to mobilise more and more of his strength to defend himself.

"Thank you." He winzed out. "Fairy Queen." The incoming strike stopped midair.

"Fairy Queen?" The amazon asket with a bit of a pink hue on her cheeks.

"Yes." The blonde boy grinned. "It's the meaning of your name."

Blinking the short haired amazon smiled before continuing her strike, even if the strike had lost all of its previous momentum it still was strong enough to let the Demi Servant skipp across the ground by a few meters. "My what a charming Lion you are… Nevertheless it all ends now." With new vigor she attacked again, this time with much more speed and strength.

Leonard could do nothing but deflect and doge her attacks, hoping to stay in the fight. Just how strong is she?! It took his all, just to survive her attacks before, and now she got even faster? Leonard did not know what he should do now, Goodspeed was working overtime to increase his speed as fast as possible and his Mana was beginning to run low. All Kinds of Talents was also not helpful this time around, even if he could predict the amazons next moves, he could not react in time to fully counter them and even if he managed to get into a good position to counter, the difference in strength made it impossible, in the end he would only leave himself wide open for the next attack.

With the Members of the Loki Familia

"This is not good." Commented Gareth as he watched the ongoing fight between their Demi Servant and the short haired amazon. "He is beginning to lose."

"What do you mean?" Ask one of the random members who accompanied the group as a back up. "From what i see the fight is far from being over."

It was Riveria that chose to answer. "No, Gareth is right… Leonard had to give up his offence and put everything into his defence. It is a despirated tactic…" She watched as the blond boy barely deflected a strike to his midsection. "At the moment the amazon is just too strong, all he can do is defend himself as best as he can and hope to survive."

They watched as the blond boy was pushed back more and more. With every strike he blocked they could see him getting more and more exhausted. His armor getting more and more cracked the more he used it to deflect incoming attacks.

"This really is not looking good for him." Came the voice of Finn as he walked up to the group, beside him was the battered form of the long haired amazon, while he himself did not even have a scratch on himself. As he observed the fight he noted out of the corner of his eyes that Ais's hand was slowly inching closer to her rapier, and to be honest he could understand her, he was sure every member that had come with them could understand her, Gareth's hands were already on the handle of his Axe and he could see the knuckles of Riveria's hand slowly turning white from the amount of force she was gripping her staff with. He himself also had to hold himself back from jumping into the fight.

Crash! Leonard was thrown into a building from the force of a sword strike.

As Ais was about to jump into the fight a strong hand on her shoulder stopped her, whirling around she came face to face with Loki who shook her head. "Don't…" A pained smile made its way onto the face of the goddesses. "This is something he has to do alone or it would become meaningless to him."

And the fight between the two adventures continued to become more and more brutal over time, already could they see the blond boy bleed from various gashes over his bode, his armor layed shattered and broken all over the street, he was panting loudly, his Mana reserves there used up and he had dropped to one knee.

Leonard vs Tiona

"You know… You could just give up now." Stated the dark skinned young woman as she looked upon the downed form of the Demi Servant. Please give up… She thought. She did not want to hurt the young man in front of her more than she already had. Their fight already lasted half an hour and he was covered with large and small wounds, bleeding all over the street, while she had only sustained minor wounds.

Please give up… She thought as she saw that the Demi Servant was again standing up on his shaking legs. It was just like in one of the stories she loved to read. The knight would continue against a foe he could not defeat, no matter what, but he continued to push forward, never giving up. It shone brightly in the eyes of her opponent, the determination that she always wanted to see just one time for herself, to see if out there really existed such people and now that she saw it, she did not want to be what snuffed that light out. Please just give up… Slowly her opponent lifted his sword up. The amazon gritted her teeth. Give up…

Leonard was panting, he could not feel his limbs and at the same time every nerve in his body was screaming at him to just stay down. Is this really all I can do? The Demi Servant asked himself as he readyet his sword one more.

Please give up… Tears of frustration and sorrow were building up in Tionas eyes, she could see what the boy before her was doing to his body by standing up over and over again. She was trained to fight to the death and grow up with it. Should this fight counting then surely the boy would die. As he took his fighting stance again her frustration reached its boiling point and she snapped.

"GIVE UP ALREADY!" With all her strength she punched the boy in his stomach, lifted him up from the ground and threw him into a wall.

The impact was strong enough that Leonard lost his breath and blood erupted from his mouth. His bloodshot eyes stared at the angry face of the shorthaired amazon before him. So that's it heh? He tried to stand up again but his legs gave out under him. Why… Angry and frustrated he balled his fists. Why… Trying again, he lifted himself up from the ground, his vision was blurred and he could no longer see clearly. Lifting his sword up again, the only thing he saw clearly was the frustrated look in his opponents face as she rushed towards him, just as her blade was about to connect with his left shoulder he was blinded by a flash of white.

As he opened his eyes again all he saw was a pure white sky, lush green grass and flowers blooming.

"So what if it looks hopeless." Came a voice behind him. "If you were me, I still wouldn't give up."

Behind him, with his back turned towards the Demi Servant stood a man in his early twenties, blond hair that was bound into a braid, with several streaks of crimson among them. He wore a shining armor of silver color, over his left shoulder hung a cape like mantel that gave him the look reminiscent of an "old Western aristocracy or royalty" and his ruby red eyes shone like that of a beast.

"Richard." Leonard whispered.

"Maaaan... That girl really did a number on you." The Saber Servant laughed, but just as quick as it appeared, just as quickly it vanished. With a somber look Richard the First turned his head in the direction of his former charge. "Can you stand?"

With great difficulties and with painful realzings, the blond boy braced himself on his sword and slowly clung to his feet again.

"Good… Now stand tall."

When Leonard tried to follow the order of his long-term companion, his legs threatened to give out under him as he let go of the sword that he had previously used as a support. Just as he was about to sink back to the ground, an armored hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back up.

"Say… why did you volunteer yourself for this fight?" Asket the Servant.

"I don't know... " Came the unsure reply. "I… I suppose it was so that i could get stronger… No that's not quite it." Leonard shook his head. "I really don't know… I just followed a feeling."

Richard had a hard look on his face. "Do not think about other things, there is only one thing you can do. So master that one thing. Do not forget. What you must imagine is always that you, yourself, are the strongest. You do not need outside enemies. For you, the one you have to fight is none other than your own image. That is what the annoying Archer said right? Well... Even if I don't agree with everything he says, there is some truth behind it. The only opponent you must never lose to, is you. Forget all other enemies." He rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I am not good with that kind of stuff to be honest, but don't worry… You will get it in time."

Silently the Demi Servant nodded, completely trusting the older man behind him.

"That being said… About the Fight… Well... " Richard smiled teasingly at the boy. "You need a hand with her?"

Leonard smiled lightly and shook his head.

Still smiling, the Saber Class Servant continued. "You already beat opponents many times stronger… This should be a cinch."

The blonde Demi Servant pulled his sword out of the ground and took his fighting stance again. "Yeah."

Losing his smile Richard turned his gaze back to the horizon, as if he saw something there that only he could see. "Leonard, you still remember what I told you before our battle with Goetia?"

A look between happiness and an unyielding determination settled onto the Demi Servants face. "That's right… I am your living legacy." With that a golden light sweeped over the two men.

Loki Familia

The entire group was shocket. Even if the probability that the Demi Servant would win wasn't great, everyone had hoped for it. Now he was lying on the floor, with wounds all over his body and his armor shattered.

Ais had a blank expression on her face as she watched the amazon approaching the group.

Finn and Gareth both had expressions of deep concentration on their faces as they got ready to show why they had been given the aliases Braver and Elgram.

And Riveria, well, her staff now had some cracks with how firmly she gripped it and her magic could be seen as a deep green, flame-like aura that slowly threatened to grow out of control.

Only Loki had an expression of complete serenity and calm on her face.

"Oh?" Asked the goddess. "Are you sure you want to do this?" There was an amusement in her voice that her Familia could not classify, they only knew that it was better to distance themselves from their goddess in such moments. "It is always foolish to turn your back on your opponent." That stopped the Amazon in her tracks and Loki's smile treated to split her face in two.

The moment the amazon turned towards them, Loki had noticed that her mana reserves were being drained, curious and looking for a distraction, she followed the trace of her mana until she saw her favorite son absorbing it. Then she remembered what Leonard had said about Heroic Spirits and their weaker variant, the Servants, how they needed an anchor in the form of a master to stay in the material world who provided them with energy and even if though she was sure that neither her nor the Demi Servant had ever signed a contract with one another, she found out that it didn't bother her.

Her son would get up again and not give up. That was all that mattered to her at the moment.

As Tiona turned around she saw the young man she had fought just moments earlier stand up, he was completely covered in a golden aura. Blood still ran down his body from the numeros wounds, his braid flapt in the wind, his glowing ruby red eyes were half lidded and stared at her with an intensity that sent shivers down her spine. But the most eye catching thing was his sword, it shined with an ethereal light, she did not know what that light was and what it meant, she could only feel a deep part of her, in her very souls resonating with it, as if all her prayers that she spoke since she was a but a small girl would come truth, as if there was no way the wielder of this light would not obtain victory.

Then, in the blink of an eye the Demi Servant disappears, only leaving a deep crater where he once stood, the force with which he accelerated was big enough to throw any rock and debris away.

The amazon was barely able to register that the young man was now standing next to her, his sword in attacking position and as quick as lightning did he strike. One, two, three, like raindrops during a heavy storm, the sword strikes rained down on the short-haired young woman and like a whirlwind they came from all directions.

How?! Screamed the short haired amazon in her mind. He was half dead just moments ago, so how can he be this strong now?!

It was true, just mere moments ago Tiona could fight with Leonard and win easely, sure he was good but not good enough to truly harm her, now on the other hand the table had turned.

Damm… Her arms shook from the strikes and she could see cracks forming on her double bladed sword, but it was not just his sudden increase in strength that gave her trouble, no, it was his ever increasing speed, from second to second he became faster. One instance he stood in front of her and the next he stood behind her, her head was starting to spin from the rapid movement she had to perform just to see from where the attack would be coming from.

Then, in a moment of desperation she swung her sword with all her strength just to give herself a bit of room to catch her breath but this decision should be her downfall. In a flash of gold Leonard's sword struck truth, intercepted her blade, and with a loud crash he shattered hers. Not even blinking the Demi Servant ballet his free hand into a fist and struck her in the stomach, the force of that one strike eclipsed all the strikes he had performed before and it forced the amazon into the air, knocking the air out of her and nearly caused her to black out. With a dull thump she landed on the hard stone street, her vision blurred.

"Do you surrender?" Asket the young man.

When Tiona looked up at her opponent, she couldn't help it. The image burned itself into her memory, the blonde hair that was blowing in the wind, the moon that had risen and now illuminated the night sky, the intense red eyes, the light yet charming smile and the golden glowing sword whose light made him feel like something more than human. All of this burned itself into the memory of the young Amazon. Just like in the Story… The Hero that wields a golden sword and obtains victory against all odds. With a bright smile the young woman laughed. "Yes I surrender, Brave Knight."

Taking by surprise at the way he was called Leonard let out a bright smile.

Upon seeing the smile something clicked in the heart and head of the dark skinned girl. So that is what it was… Hehe a Hero… Yes he is the one.

And so the two people that just a moment ago fought a fierce battle now stood both still, just staring into one another's eyes.

An excited shout brought them out of their trance like state as Loki raced over to her favorite son. "You did it!" She shouted as she jumped onto the back of her child and brought him into a fierced hug.

"Yes…" Murmeled the Demi Servant as the adrenaline and mana that was numbing his body began to leave, slowly but surely he started to feel the pain and stain he had put his body under.

Even more cheering was heard as the other members of the Loki Familia got over their shock and raced up to the Demi Servant to congratulate him on his victory.

"What…" His vision blurred, the Demi Servant began to stagger as everything slowly turned to a blank black and then, he collapsed.

Leonard Stats: