Hello! Welcome back to my little story! I hope you have enjoyed the read so far!
I will answer a few reviews first, as some good questions were brought up that might need an answer.
SentinalSlice: Yes, this Shirou is mostly from the Fate route, but with the knowledge of EMIYA's destiny from UBW. It mostly sticks to the Fate route, thought.
Camilo navas: That remains to be revealed, even if it were part of the Original, I don't want to spoil anything
The Red Eyes will be explained as the story continues. I promise it to be a worthwhile discovery.
Without any further ado, let us get to it!
Disclaimer: All rights go to their respective creators, and even thought some of the new Servants for this story do not exist within the Nasuverse and are my own creative imput, i still reject all rights and grant them to Type-moon.
"Heracles" The green-haired Servant spoke out as he approached the giant Berserker, his arms crossed over his chest, laying against the white-blue harness he wore, which exposed the upper part of his chest and his shoulders. "For you to approach someone like him with such manner, he must have impressed you greatly."
Berserker of Red just grunted again and tapped at his chest with his right fist a few times, signing 'Heart'.
"I hear you... he does look like the type of fool to jump into a rain of Arrows and throw his own body as a Shield for others." Roland joined on their conversation with a proud smirk on her face. "I know a brave idiot when I see one, and he is definetly top 5 on the list of people I know."
"Oh?" The Green-haired man spoke, slowly smirking on his own. "Then do tell, what are your precise thoughts on him?"
Roland just hmpf'd before she responded. "He does not care for honorifics or hearsay. He does not see us for our pasts, our legends, but he sees us for what we are now. Heracles may have been his enemy, but he was also a stalwart protector and honorable opponent. As such, Shirou never villified or patronized him and gave only the utmost respect at all times, not because of what Heracles stands for by history, but for who he was in the heat of the moment as an adversary. Emiya Shirou does not see names, he only sees actions, and remembers them by name."
Heracles gave an approving roar and banged his chest at the heart-area hard with his right fist.
"Interesting analysis" Suddenly came another voice, this being from a slightly older female voice. The woman in question had white hair and a pitch-black corset dress on herself, her shoulders covered by a transparent veil of black. A thoroughly scorched, visibly damaged sword hanging on her left hipside. "He sounds like an idealist. The kind of dumb clown everyone laughs at, but in the end, he stands the proudest and the tallest of them all."
"Quite right." Saber of Red agreed before her head turned to the right of the Hall, towards the Stairs, as she heard two pairs of steps apperoaching. "It seems we are complete, now."
Sure enough, Emiya Shirou then emerged from around the corner, with Arturia behind him, her hands hidden under the cape which circled forward enough to only leave the central area of her chest and abdomen exposed, allowing her sides to be well hidden behind it.
"Servant Lancer, reporting for Duty." Artoria spoke in a monotone voice before she earned the collective nods from the other Servants in the room.
"In that case." The Green-haired male spoke. "We are complete. We may begin discussing how to approach the Black Faction as soon as our Masters are back. We are likely going to have to resort to escalating this mess into an All-out war."
The Green-haired male, being Archer of Red, then turned to a second green-haired male, this one having shorter, more spiked hair and greek-design armor on himself. "Rider, I would like you to fill in Shirou and Lancer of Red on what we do know so far."
Rider of Red grinned slightly to himself and nodded. "You got it, little King."
Archer of Red squinted his eyes in annoyance and sighed out loudly before he waved with both hands outward. "This meeting is Adjourned. You may return to doing whatever it is you do."
Rider of Red then approached Shirou, together with Berserker of Red. "Yo!" Rider spoke with an ever so bright grin. "Rider of Red, pleased to meet ya! Any friend and worthy adversary of Heracles is a worthy Adversary to me, so I don't mind introducing myself to you by name. So you can call me Achilles!"
Shirou's eyes widened slightly as he heard the name, awestruck at the figure before him. "Achilles!? The greatest hero during the war of Troy?"
"So you heard of me?" Achilles responded with a pang of joy in his voice.
"I read about greek history after the Fuyuki War. Since Greek Heroes seem to be a very favorable type of Servant, I decided to make more detailed research just incase. Our Last war had 3, after all. Heracles, Medea and Medusa."
Hearing Medusa's name made Achilles' expression drop a little. Medusa was regarded as probably the most tragic anti-hero to downright villain, based on whos perspective you take on, and so Achilles had a great sense of sympathy for her. Similar with Medea, thought Medea did consciously succumb to her inner evils at the very end when she caused Jason's death. Those two women in particular were subject to interpretations, and Achilles was rather soft on their particular cases. He saw a bit of himself in them, tragic people who fell to their inner darkness due to great pain combined with circumstances they could not change, but still regretted.
"I understand you, Emiya Shirou." Achilles responded before he sighed out. "Well, it was a smart idea to do some research on Greek History. Our Heroes are mighty and numerous as well."
"No kidding." Shirou commented with a nervous laugh. "You could make a whole top 100 list using only Greek names, excluding the Gods and Titans. It is crazy how many memorable figures exist. The War of Troy alone had more heroes than I could count with both hands."
Achilles and Heracles both felt great pride at the comment, hearing that their homes were remembered so fondly within the new generation. Almost every hero, and particularily every hero in Greece History wants to go down in history forever. Many Heroes means many reasons to be proud, to those two at least.
"But damn..." Achilles suddenly began, scoffing lightly. "Since you won the last Grail War, it means you bested Heracles. And from the way he treats you, I have a reason to believe that you fought him yourself, and didn't just let your Servant do the work."
Heracles proudly roared at that comment and grinned very ferociously at Shirou, signing full approval.
Shirou noted this and chuckled lightly to himself as a result. "All I did was create a weapon to defeat him with. I was so at my limits I couldn't even lift it without Sabe- I mean Lancer's help back then."
"Ha?" Achilles suddenly gasped as he heard Shirou's response. "You mean to tell me that your Lancer was also in the previous War?"
"Your Lancer..." Those words made Artoria smile very lightly. It caused her to remember that night when she and Shirou had their first kiss together.
"Yeah..." Shirou nervously responded. "Thought, in the previous war, she was a Saber..."
"Tch. Seems like you and that pretty girl can't stay apart from each others." Achilles teased slightly, causing both Shirou and Artoria to blush in response. Artoria quickly regained herself before she nodded slightly. "It appears so, thought I am nothing but proud and joyed to fight by his side once again."
Shirou's embarrassed expression changed to a proudful one and he smiled brightly in response. He then decided to turn to his Servant and reach for her hand. "Come, Lancer. We can talk with friendly faces anytime we want. I want to explore the city a bit and grab a bite."
Artoria nodded slightly and took his hand, waving Rider of Red and Berserker of Red goodbye for now.
Once the pair left the Church, Achilles turned deadly serious as he faced Berserker. "Did you notice it, too?"
Heracles grunted in agreement, his eyes never leaving the direction in which Shirou and Artoria went towards.
"Do you have any idea what exactly it might be? This mana... it didn't feel human. It felt like a Servant, almost. Something happened to him that I can't quite explain, but it feels... familiar, almost"
Heracles grunted once again, but this time as a 'no' to the question as he didn't know what it was either. The Berserker could only guess, and he couldn't exactly formulate his words either due to his Madness Enhancement.
"Either way... someone should keep an eye out on him. If you trust him, then so do I, but that won't go for the others. Anyway, we should get back to Assassin and report in. Her short temper will be the end of me..." He joked with a sweatdrop before he and Heracles dematerialized.
"Shirou..." Artoria suddenly said before she stopped. "Since you are a more proper Master this time around, I can de-materialize into my Spirit Form. Appearing in such heavy Armor will be unsightly to the public, not to mention it could attract attention from innocent civilians, the one thing you, as far as I remember your antics from the last war, will try your best to avoid."
"You are right." Shirou said, smiling slightly as he looked into Artoria's eyes before she de-materialized, following Shirou in spirit form for now.
"So..." Artoria began, telepathically communicating with Shirou via their Master-Servant link. "How long has it been?"
Shirou sighed out lightly before he returned his memories to the Fuyuki Grail War. "Over 3 years now."
Artoria sighed inwardly as well. Such a long time... She mourns every second she couldn't spend with him. "Three years is a long time. Many things could have happened by then." She began to try and initiated a more indepth conversation. "You feel much stronger, and you have grown a bit, too. Have you trained every day?"
Shirou, who started to walk slightly faster towards the Town Center, nodded to himself. "I have. But it wasn't easy. Not having any Servants to fight was relaxing since my progress didn't require me to almost die. But I also didn't have something to measure up towards. The closest I got to testing my Abilities was fighting Magus who were hunting me, but they were not much of a challenge, and I don't mean to sound arrogant when I say that."
"You do not" Artoria quickly chimed in before humming in his mind. "It pleases me greatly to hear that you have made such progress that Magus are of little challenge to you. I could not possibly be prouder of you, my Love."
This comment made Shirou blush very brightly, as he hadn't expected her to call him so intimately. He was used to being called her Scabbard, so that was wholly new.
Artoria seemed to have noticed and chuckled lightly within his mind.
"I missed you, Artoria." Shirou then responded, having composed himself by now and smiling contemptly to himself. "There was not a single day where I didn't think about you. You taught me a valuable lesson and... you became my most treasured person."
If Shirou could see Artoria right now, he would see that she was blushing so much that her face cloud easily create light with how beet red it was. "Y-y-you became good with words..." She responded, trying her best not to make her embarrassment noticeable.
"Well, one of the many things I learned from you." Shirou complimented her with a small laugh. "Your old way of talking helps being upfront when it comes to feelings. I have had less and less trouble being open with my thoughts as of late. There are so many things, small and big, that I owe you."
"You will get ample time to tell me all of it. I am confident in our second set of victories." Artoria proudly proclaimed.
Shirou nodded his head in response, agreeing with her, before he took a turn to get around a street corner and headed towards what appeared to be the outskirt of the town, where a small park was situated with a few benches and a pathway to the immediate forest next to the City's southern corner. Shirou went to one of those benches and sat down, looking up to see that the Sun was starting to go down and people were disappearing inside of their homes.
"I was never really outside of my island on Brittain, so I never got to see other lands..." Artoria began to speak, being able to take in the scenery in her Spirit Form, and let out a joyous sigh. "I never imagined that a sunset could look so wonderful anywhere other than Camelot."
Shirou glanced up towards the Sun and saw that it was disappearing behind two small hills, which did indeed give it a uniquely beautiful shine and contrast. It was almost as if one could see the line between heaven and earth. "Quite right..." Shirou agreed before he closed his eyes to lean back. "I sense no people nearby. I think you can materialize again."
Artoria followed suit and did just that, re-appearing before Shirou before she sat down right next to him, her armor lightly clanking against itself from the shifted position. She immediately leaned into him and rested her head against his before both of them smiled with their eyes closed.
"It feels good to have you in my arms again" Shirou said as he slid one arm around her shoulder to pull her a bit closer before his hand rested on her hip, causing Artoria to blush slightly.
"It feels good to have your arms on me again" She responded sweetly, almost girlishly, which made Shirou have a small chuckle from how cute it was.
The two of them enjoyed their little romantic moment while the Sun fully disappeared behind the Hill. The moment it did, however, they both opened their eyes and got up, their attention sharp.
"Oh my~!" Suddenly came a rather deep and calm voice. Out of nowhere, flowers suddenly started to float around either as singular petals, buds or even the entire flower with the stem on them. Despite being different types of flowers, namely tulpines, roses, lilys and orchids, they all had the exact same pink-ish tone on them. These Flowers all formed a small tornado about 50 meters away from the Couple before they dissipated again, revealing a man to stand in their location suddenly.
This man was very tall, 6'2 to 6'4 from the looks of it, but he was also really thin. He wore a blank white robe that covered his whole body, a small black cape hanging on his back barely reaching along the whole length of his back. His hair was an absolute chaos of colours from green, red, blue and yellow seemingly randomly sprayed along each strand. His eyes were equally a mess of colours. Blood-red sclera, white irises and golden pupils. His Robe's sleeves covered even his hands, which were hanging at his sides, further underlining this already pressing appearance of a mage of sorts.
"Caster of Black, I presume?" Artoria guessed before she drew her Lance, hidden in Air so that she may not be identified right away.
"Why, of course I am. And you must be Lancer of Red?" Caster asked back with a sly smug.
Artoria suddenly started to shake a little. "Shirou..."
The redhead in question rose his eyebrow and turned to her. "Yes?"
Artoria then lifted her head enough to reveal that obvious fake-smile people have when they are very angry, the hand that held the spear shaking in pure lust for blood. "He reminds me so much of Merlin. Permission to dispose of him right away?!"
"Merlin?" Caster then asked as he chuckled out lightly. "So you know of my Pupil's name?"
"Pupil?!" Artoria thought as she suddenly got extremely serious. She knew, probably more than anyone else, how powerful Merlin was. Even if as a joke or a bluff, the mere notion to be comparable, let alone above Merlin in terms of power was something that had to be taken extremely serious. "I don't believe you. I know Merlin, and from what he told me, he was gifted since birth. Son of a Princess of today's known Wales-"
"And an Incubus that wanders between the Earth and the Moon, I know." Caster of Black finished before a few flowers flew by his left hand, lining up before they glowed in a dimm light, turning into a Sword, which Caster of Black then gripped. "Do you know the Identity of that Princess of the Land now known as Wales?"
At this question, Artoria started to be more wary. This type of question is rhetoric by nature, only asked if one knows the answer to it already. And her suspicion was true.
"A descendant of king Lleu Llaw Gyffes of Wales, whom I helped ascend to the throne during my prime."
"You helped King Lleu?" Artoria repeated with high amount of scepsism in her voice, readying her sacred Lance, Rhongomyniad, to attack.
"Quite right. Giving this information also probably means that you have deduced my Identity by now?" Caster of Black responded, earning a single, slow nod from Artoria. "Then you know that you will have a very hard time beating me. Not impossible, as I don't ride that arrogance like your typical king does, but I will do my best to make it as difficult as possible. Prepare yourself, aquaintance of Merlin." Caster then spoke.
"Shirou..." Artoria spoke, earning her Master's attention once again. "If this man is who I think it is, we have to retreat for now. I need you to keep him at bay and slowly stir our way towards the Church. The other Masters should be returning by now and will have their Servants by their side. We need to avoid fighting this man at all costs."
"Understood" Shirou said and immediately projected a longbow similar to the one Archer EMIYA used during the Fuyuki Grail War. He prepared a few arrows and fired them all at Caster of Black, aiming at non-lethal spots to incapacitate him, such as his knees.
Caster of Black of course parried or dodged them with his right arm and the blade he held while using his left arm to wave it around in meticulous sets of movements, causing more of those pink flowers to float around and begin ammassing themselves. Those Flowers were floating harmlessly at first, but suddenly they accelerated so fast that they punctured solid objects like a bullet. Shirou and Artoria were forced to evade as the Flowers bursted through all of Shirou's arrows, showing that they had the ability to become harder than the material Shirou projected, even with reinforcements added.
"Lliw magenta!" Caster spoke, causing the flowers to suddenly turn a deeper shade of Pink, particularily Magenta. They floated up higher into the air before they suddenly bloomed, pollen beginning to engulf the Area.
Shirou and Artoria knew that this was not good, but the area the flowers covered was too large, too fast, and they had no opportunity to escape the large amount of Pollen. Suddenly, they both fell to their knees, a sudden weakness washing over them.
"Surprised, I take it?" Caster of Black asked as he threw the blade aside before he then waved both hands, his left one straight ahead while his right one circled around before him, then opened itself up to stand straight ahead on its right side, his pose that of someone who is waiting for a hug. The Flowers then concentrated themselves above the pair and the Pollen began to be much thicker and more concentrated. "Flowers are a beautiful thing. So pure, so full of life and the beauty it holds. They are the source of nature's cycle. They birth, they grow, they get old, they create new flowers who continue the cycle. My Sorcery allows me to control Life within my flowers. Those Pollen you are exposed to give my flowers more Life by taking it from you. Steadily, your life force is sucked dry, empowering my flowers, which strengthens the life leeching even more. Just like growth itself. Slow at first, but exponential until it reaches its peak at your death."
"What the hell... such a strong opponent so early on!" Shirou cursed as he slowly forced himself up on his feet. He grit his teeth, trying to remain strong, not giving in. Then, something hit him suddenly, a thought. He reached for Artoria and helped her up against the weakness. "You said that your flowers absorb Life Force, right? But you never said anything about Mana!"
Artoria immediately understood and prepared her Lance, aiming it straight at Caster of Black, her Lance preparing a powerful Mana Burst.
"Which means we are only getting physically weaker!" Shirou added before he began to project large numbers of weapons above them and the flowers, thin and pointy swords pointed downwards, piercing the flowers one by one. If regular material didn't damage the flowers, then heavier, sturdier material did, thought it drained a lot more Mana from him, visible by his weakened expression suddenly worsening a lot, but the task was done by the amount of Pollen decreasing bit by bit until the life leeching from them was manageable.
Artoria, feeling secure enough to charge ahead, nodded at Shirou, who went to his knees before she charged forward, her Lance firing a powerful Burst of pure energy straight at Caster, who evaded it by turning his own body into flowers which flowed out of the way.
Caster of Black suddenly re-appeared right next to Artoria, flowers amassing next to her to shape his form, and he jabbed his Blade into her leg, straight through the Hamstring, causing her to yelp out in pain for a fraction of a second. He disappeared again and re-appeared once more at her other side, using another blade formed by the flowers to jab it horizontally through her Abdomen. Then he disappeared a third time right behind her, his left hand around her face to cover her eyes as his right hand jabbed a third blade through her torso, right below the second blade, creating a cross with the swords that was jammed into her body.
All three jabs were done in the fraction of a single second, so fast that Shirou barely registered what happened until Caster of Black stopped moving, revealing that Artoria was punctured by three blades.
"ARTORIA!" Shirou screamed, but felt a lot weaker suddenly from the Mana Drain.
"Oh, don't worry. She won't die from these injuries." Caster of Black spoke before he started to disappear once more. "This was just a warning. I am too fast for you and know perfectly well how to fight you. However, as I have figured your identity out, I cannot kill you. That will be the task of our Saber of Black. I enjoy witnessing heartbreak and toying with people's fates, so I will only organize your clash for the sake of my amusement. Be seeing you, King of Knights..."
With those words, Caster of Black disappeared completely, not re-appearing again from the looks of it. Shirou further confirmed he was gone due to all the flowers suddenly dying and falling harmlessly to the ground, the pollen disappearing almost immediately.
Artoria, injured by three blades jabbed in her, fell to the ground, coughing out some blood before she slowly pulled them out in the order they were inserted into her. The Third Blade she had to push out by the tip of the blade sticking out in her abdomen due to being unable to reach behind her far enough to grip its handle. Once done, she coughed up some more blood and fell to the ground completely.
"Artoria...!" Shirou shouted again before he slowly got up enough to walk over to her, kneeling next to her before he then focused on channeling Avalon within himself, laying both his hands against her stomach to get those injuries dealt with first. While Shirou couldn't use Healing Magic, he learned in the last 3 years how to project the healing factor from Avalon into other organic bodies, using its innate energy to stir regeneration. And indeed, his hands began to glow in a very dimm light, which was followed by Artoria's injuries visibly closing, but the damage in her gear remained for a moment. It would restore by itself, but not right away, as Shirou remembered.
"Cursed may he be..." Artoria spat as she moved to sit up suddenly, Shirou helping her by laying a hand against her back to push her up a bit.
"I am sorry, Artoria... I didn't think he would act so fast. I wasn't prepared."
"Nonsense" Artoria responded before she moved to stand up, Shirou at her side, holding her arm under his head to help her out. "You did the best you could. We both couldn't know that he would use such a cheap trick, nor could we know that his flowers could beat your arrows..."
"Still... I fought in a Grail War before. I should of known better than to hold back... I should have used Cadalborg or Hrunt-"
"Shirou" Artoria interjected before she suddenly smashed her lips against his to shut him up, catching the redhead entirely by surprise. She kept the kiss for a moment before she pulled away. "We survived, even if only by his whim. Next time you will do better, so don't beat yourself up about it... that's something you taught me, isn't it?"
Shirou felt the source of his shame shift, from feeling like he let Artoria down, to feeling like a hypocrite. It was true, he taught Artoria to not be burdened by her past and to move on to new chances, yet here he was, beating himself up over this fight. He shook his head and clapped his face with both hands before he let out a sigh. "Sorry, Artoria..."
"Apology accepted." She said in a simplistic tone before she let her arm loose from his shoulders and head, standing on her own, holding her torso. "We will both be fine..."
"You said you have an idea on who he is, right?" Shirou then commented, shifting the topic to try and forget the fight itself and focus on the enemy instead.
"Indeed... if he said the truth, then there can be only one identity that we can assign to him."
"Then who is he?"
Artoria let out a loud sigh before she recalled the legend behind his name. "His name is Gwydion fab Dôn."
Shirou started to think for a moment, but nothing came of it. He never got into english history beyond Camelot, so he was functionally clueless to this name.
Artoria saw his expression and explained. "In Welsh History, a few centuries before Camelot, there existed a King by the name of Math fab Mathowny, who was said to face certain death unless he either join fights in War or lay his feet to rest on the lap of a Virgin. This Magician tricked him by convincing him to go to war, so that when he returned, his virgin was deflowered by Gwydion's brother, promising certain death. So the King had this Mage, after punishing him, seek out a new virgin to take his feet as a rest, to which Gwydion suggested the King's sister, Arianrhod, who gave birth to a child after she was tested for her Virginity via magic. The Child was born of Magic, and as such, Arianrhod retained her Virginity. After this child died a few years later, Arianrhod ran to her chambers in shame. Legends say that on her way, something fell out of her, which Gwydion picked up, wrapped it up and placed inside of a chest. A few days later, cries of a child erupted from this Chest, cries from the child which then became King Lleu Llaw Gyffes, whom Gwydion raised and protected, even ressurecting him from death after a conspiracy to kill Lleu."
"Wow... that sounds..." Shirou didn't exactly know what to say, other than "That's kind of a screwed up history... why such an obsession with virgins?"
This completely understandable question made Artoria laugh out loud to her heart's content. She never before laughed even close to this, but when Shirou is as oblivious as this, it was just so cute that she couldn't keep it in to herself, much to Shirou's dismay, who just pouted in embarrassment. "Your question is fair, but Curses are weird. Math was cursed to die unless he rests his feet on a Virgin's Lap, so until he could grant his throne to a successor, he had to stay alive. Whoever cursed him made it so specific for a reason meant to be abused. You don't make this type of specification unless you want to enable enemies to make use of it."
"But still... Gwydion is a weird one..." Shirou commented afterwards, earning Artoria's approved nods. "From what you said, he is a trickster, so he probably has layers upon layers of plans on what to do and how to deal with both us and his other allies to secure the Grail to himself... not to mention he is a really powerful magician. I don't like this at all..."
"Legends say that he is able to create virgin births with his flowers, so it is strongly suggested that he was actually Lleu's father."
"Which would, if his information is true, make him Merlin's biological ancestor..."
"Quite right. It could explain the source of Merlin's powers... many magicians in old Brittain inherited their powers rather than being taught or given. Merlin told me he had his abilities, most prominently his Clairvoyance and Prophecies, since birth. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes... specially since Merlin's magic also handles around flowers..."
Shirou and Artoria let out simultaneous sighs of slight annoyance. This was a complicated and, for lack of better words, fucked up development that they had to deal with. So the first step was to inform their allies.
"We should get back to the Church, let everyone know that we know Caster of Black's True Name." Shirou said, to which Artoria nodded before she de-materialized.
"You let them live!?"
Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia was absolutely Furious. He expected many things from his Servant, Caster of Black, but not for him to spare a Servant he was perfectly able to kill.
"But of course. It was not my place to kill the enemy Lancer." Gwydion simply retorted with a bored shrug as he looked at Darnic, who stood next to to the Throne.
"Silence, both of you." The Voice of the Throne's occupant spoke. This Servant was a female who was dressed in very extravagant clothes that beamed in red and white, a fashionable dress that at the same time was revealing and modest, depending on where one's eyes went. She had long, blonde hair, tied to two pigtails that ran behind her back. She held a golden cup with wine in her hand and sipped from it before she set it aside on the armrest. "Caster. I expect a full explanation on why you spared the enemy. I believe you when you say it was not your place to kill her, but I wish to know why."
Gwydion simply nodded his head and bowed low in respect before he spoke. "Because she and our Saber of Black have close history I wish to see resolved. Call it a Trickster's passion-project. The Chaos we could create with the clash of those two would open up many opportunities. Particularily separating Master from Servant. From what I have gathered, Lancer of Red's Master is quite the handful. He possesses very advanced projection magic and excels in ranged combat, while Lancer can attack enemies up front, making them a very powerful duo."
The Throne's occupant seemed interested at the answer and she leaned forward. "Then speak. What is the Lancer's name? Your strategy is based entirely around knowing the precise relationship between Saber of Black and Lancer of Red."
Caster of Black nodded his head and turned his head to the right, where he saw a specific Knight in grey and red armor stand in attention. He just smirked at her knowingly before he turned to the Throne's occupant. "Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot and Knight of the Round Table."
As if on Cueue, Saber of Black grit her teeth, her expression speaking bloody Murder. "Father...!"
"Quite right, Saber." Caster responded before he turned his eyes to the blonde Knight once again. "I think the two of you are long overdue for a very intimate discussion about parenthood and the doom of Camelot. What do you say?"
Saber of Black, Mordred, Grit her teeth tighter, to the point where Darnic worried she would file her own teeth off. She then approached the Trickster-Magician and aimed her blade at him. "You will point me towards the way, and then you stay out of it. Father is MINE!"
"Permission Granted, Saber." The Throne's occupant said before she turned her head to Darnic. "On another matter, is Rider's master ready?"
"Oh yes!" Darnic then said. "This Homunculus is very special, beyond anything we have seen before. When we thought he awakened prematurely, we assumed a malfunction, but instead it was actually a huge success, a unique mutation in his genes. He has developed sentience and empathy on a scale never before seen in any Homonculus. And his Magic Circuit acceptance is astounding. His body hasn't rejected a single one of the 3 implants you have suggested."
"Good..." The Throne's Occupant responded.
Darnic, however, had some questions. "But how did you know that the Homunculus would not reject the Implants?"
The Woman sighed out loud before she playfully waved the cup with the wine around in her hand. "I specialized in the Human Anatomy. Back in my time, I was able to make a poison out of virtually anything thanks to my unrivaled knowledge of the human body. I was the most perfect Assassin in History as a result, and not one of my kills could be traced back to me because I knew exactly how to administer what to which body to create a circumstance where I had the perfect Alibi. As such, my knowledge of the human body, even an artificial one, vastly exceeds anything modern humanity knows. This was one amongst many reasons why Emperor Nero befriended me. So awed by my knowledge and my willingness to use it for the greater good of Rome, I was given full reign to do as I pleased, and do as I please I sure did. My experiments were vast and fruitful, and my understanding as long since transcended humanity. You will find yourself impressed by my knowledge of Homunculus Anatomy a few more times throughout this War, so just do as I say and your Army of Mana-batteries shall be stronger than anything this world has ever seen."
"Of course. Nothing less to be expected from one of Nero's closest friends and loyalists. The 5th Emperor really had an eye for the good stuff." Darnic responded in a compliment.
"I will allow this shameless bootlicking of yours for now." The woman responded, causing Darnic's expression to suddenly turn more serious. "But don't test your luck. I am only this throne's Placeholder until Lancer is back from his spar with Archer. So you are well advised not to treat me like Royalty. My place will forever be at Nero's foot, an assassin to the Emperor, a soldier to the Kings I serve under, not a King myself.
Darnic gulped lightly and nodded his head, bowing in respect. "...I understand. I will be more wary of my transgressions."
"More wary? There better be none at all. Dismissed."
As Darnic left the Throne Hall, The Woman looked towards Gwydion and Mordred, who seemed to be getting quite chummy with one another, probably due to Gwydion really enjoying his little scheme with wanting to see Lancer of Red and Saber of Black kill each others in a fit of heartbreak and pain. "What a sadistic piece of shit he is... Let's hope we find a way to kill him." She mused to herself before she resumed slurping her wine.
This would be it for the Pilot Chapter. I hope that this read was enjoyable. Please leave an R&R if you either love or hate it and let me know why.