Hello there, I'm The Royal Protector and you're reading my first foray into the Fate franchise! The day has come, after many readers pestered me to watch Fate/Stay Night I finally caved in and watched it…

And ended up loving it.

That was some months ago, now I just finished reading the LN of Strange Fake and thought; why the hell not, let's just jump head first into a fic while the RWBY season is going. And so, this is the result.

It should also be said that this story's premise was somewhat inspired by the story A Desire For Utopia by DeltaKnightRising.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Zero or any other part of the nasuverse that may come up, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this.

Chapter 1: Point Zero

London in the middle of winter was something to behold with its countless holiday decorations still shining through the thin layer of snow covering the streets and buildings of the city. It was mesmerizing in a way few cities were, especially during the night, I mused in my head as I gazed out the large windows of the bus I was currently on.

"Hey Nate, you sure you don't want to come with us? Tom reserved enough places for all of us." The voice of one of my current flatmates, Peter, shook me out of my dazed state. I cracked my neck and turned to face him, he was similarly sprawled across a seat on the other side of the aisle with our third friend, the aforementioned Tom, laid beside him on a seat, nearly passed out.

"And drink until I pass out? Right before my midterm tomorrow?" I responded dryly at the question. I knew my tolerance levels enough to guess that another two to three hours spent with those two would be the end of me. "Thanks, but I'll quit while I'm ahead," I shook my head and moved to stand up, intending on getting off at the next stop.

"If you say so, good luck tomorrow if we don't meet before then," the somehow still full of energy law student said, my poor med student friend beside him slurring likewise. Poor Tom always looked like this, but I guess he should have expected this to be the case with his chosen field.

"I'll take whatever luck I can get at this point, see you later," I grimaced slightly to myself and waved over my shoulder as I disembarked into the chilly weather. It wasn't that I was a bad student that I needed luck, quite the contrary to be honest, it's just that I had next to no time at all to accommodate every one of my studies.

I was a "wandering" student of sorts, spending my semesters in different universities most of the time thanks to exchange programs. So far, I have been to Munich, Paris, Prague, Madrid and London is the latest in the ever-growing list. My studies were no different seeing as my major was software engineering, though I took on history and literature classes on the side as well.

I can freely admit that this scattered lifestyle was hardly maintainable and a bit detrimental to the health, but I loved every day of it. Knowing that every visited place or subject could hide a little adventure of its own more than made up for the sleepless nights, rather limited number of long-term relationships and lack of general stability.

It was my life and I wouldn't change any aspect of it anytime soon.

I adjusted the silver scarf around my neck before shoving my hands into the pockets of my black coat, winter nights could be freezing in this city and I had no intention of staying out for long in this cold. I let out a tired sigh and trekked through the nearly empty streets towards our flat, it wasn't that far away from the stop, maybe a block and a half away but having to endure the cold until then still sucked.

My mind wandered while I walked, mainly on what to do after my midterms. My stay in England would come to an end once the semester was over. I could petition my home university for an extended stay or I could move on to the next one somewhere else. I distinctly remember seeing leaflet about an exchange program to Vienna on the newsboard of my university…

Or I could just finish my studies home, God knows my family would appreciate it if we could get together face to face instead of relying on technology. But honestly even with a tinge of homesickness in my mind, I wanted to keep on travelling around and experience what those places could offer…

I subconsciously felt for my phone in my pocket, I haven't really talked with them for a week, maybe I should call them or something? Maybe it could take my mind off of things for a while? I hesitantly reached for my phone and dialed my mother's number, the international call would be a nightmare to my wallet, but oh well, I could afford it, if sparingly.

My phone rung for a couple of seconds before an error message greeted me with its obnoxious colors.

"No service? What?" I frowned at the screen of my phone. I was pretty sure my provider covered this area as well, but maybe something has changed? "Whatever, I'll just message her later," I shook my head and pocketed my phone, I should be home right about now anyway….

My thoughts trailed off as I noticed something particularly strange in front of me.

"This isn't our building… or even our neighborhood," I stated confusedly as I took in my strange surroundings. The familiar red brick and mortar walls of our apartment building were nowhere in sight, instead the general architecture of the area reminded me of modern oriental buildings more than anything.

"Did I get off at the wrong stop or something?" I muttered to myself, London was a large city with plenty of districts to go around. Somehow ending up in chinatown would be just as embarrassing as it was annoying.

"No, I'm sure I got off at the right stop, the others would have said so otherwise. Great, I have no idea where I am and I don't have service either," I sighed and decided to backtrack towards the bus stop. The situation was frustrating enough as is, I didn't need to add getting completely lost in the middle of the night to the mix too.

I rounded the corner to the street where the bus stop was supposed to be… only to see nothing but a completely deserted street.

I let out a tired sigh, this could take a while…

Somehow, I got the feeling I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

I let out a sigh of resigned frustration and lightly coughed into my fist. The first sign was the lack of signal, the second was the architecture, the third were the traffic signs and street names.

All of them were Japanese.

The combination of those factors was nearly enough to freak me out; since when did getting off a bus constitute as going down a rabbit hole?! It also didn't help that for some reason my skin felt really itchy and just generally uncomfortable to be in. There was even a bruise forming on my left hand. Was it an allergic reaction to something, I thought wasn't allergic to anything? Getting fed up with the whole situation by now, I spotted a random pedestrian on the rather deserted street and quickly made my way over.

"Excuse me, I'm a bit lost, could you tell me where I am?" The person turned around to face me, revealing herself to be a woman of Japanese descent. There was a slight pause and I hesitated a bit, thinking that she didn't understand me, but fortunately she responded in nigh perfect English.

"Shinto, near the harbor." I stared blankly at the unfamiliar words and she took it as a sign to continue.

"Fuyuki city, Kumamoto prefecture," she elaborated, likely guessing that I was some clueless tourist. She wasn't entirely right with that sentiment, but I couldn't bring myself to correct her once her words registered.

"…Could you repeat that, please?" I managed to say with a carefully blank face.

"Fuyuki city-" "-And the exact date… please?" I added weakly at seeing her annoyed expression. She relented with a sigh and spoke words that if even possible, caused an even greater bout of terror in me.

"January 28th, 1994."

…

…

"I see, thank you for your time," I very nearly croaked out my answer, quickly bowed in gratitude and marched away behind the next street corner, where I no longer bothered with hiding my horror-stricken state.

You see, when you don't really have a chance to form long-lasting relationships due to your unique lifestyle, you turn to various forms of media for entertainment. One of those media could be animated series, one of which I just happened to recently re-watch with my flatmates. More importantly it was the source of my recent state that bordered on a panic attack.

Fate Zero was a great anime, a great series and an even greater tragedy where a whole lot of people die, nobody wins and it even gets a repeat not ten years down the line. It was entirely fictional thankfully, which is why hearing the name of the city it took place in barely before it's supposed to start is impossible-.

Pain flared in my left hand and I got to witness my red bruise slowly taking shape all the while brimming with a strange light.

-it's supposed to be impossible.

I stared at my hand for a while, eyes wide and unblinking. This was no prank, no dream, hallucination or something else, it was painfully real. I jerkily shoved my hand into my coat and began marching ahead.

"I have to get out of this town," I muttered disbelievingly, there was no way I was staying in the same city where long dead spirits of demigods and kings fought it out to the death. Staying here was paramount to suicide, especially because for some unfathomable reason that cursed Grail was trying to make me into a Master.

"Alright Nate, shelf the world-shattering implications and mental breakdown away for later, focus on getting out of ghost-deathatlon-town with your life intact first-" I once again coughed into my fist as I felt a burning pain in my lungs. I descended into a coughing fit that lasted for a few painfully long moments and mentally cursed at what I was feeling.

My fingers were coated in a warm liquid. Judging from the searing sensation in my throat; it couldn't be anything but blood.

"What the hell…" I wondered out aloud, only to suddenly feel lightheaded and sway to the side. I managed to catch myself on a wall beside me and use it as support as I struggled to comprehend what was going on with me. Another flare of pain made me release a grunt and clutch my left hand, it felt like my skin would flake away from me at any moment, what's worse; the pseudo-Command Seals were still not fully formed, but for some reason they emitted a strange red energy akin to when used.

This was bad, I was completely inept at magic, due to the fact that it wasn't even supposed to exist, but even I knew that leaking large amounts of magical energy in the middle of the city would ring the alarm bell of a lot people I had no intention of meeting, ever.

With that not-so comforting thought at the forefront of my mind, I forced my body to move without any particular destination in mind, all I focused on was getting as far away from downtown as possible.

Assassin silently observed their target from the rooftops, as they have done so for the past ten or so minutes. When they had been given the order to investigate a strange mana signature from their Master, Assassin had been expecting to find the work of another Servant or perhaps some foolish magus who had yet to vacate the city before the ritual began in earnest. Finding a soon-to-be Master making their way out of the city however was a boon neither they or their Master expected.

At first, they had thought the fleeing man to be a magus of no consequence, but that opinion had changed the moment they had gotten close enough to feel the mana leaking from his still-forming Command Seals. Upon closer examination, he appeared to have an injury of sorts, judging by his uneven breathing, minute sway in his gait and the pauses he took to accommodate his coughing fits. Perhaps he had already gotten into an altercation, even before the war began and were making their way towards a safehouse of sorts? They relayed their observations and thoughts to their Master who has asked them to shadow the unknown Master while they conferred with another allied Master on the matter.

"Assassin."

"Yes, Master?" Their Master's voice roused their attention as they waited for orders.

"You are to capture the unknown Master and bring them to us, failing that you are to acquire their Command Seals and dispose of the remains." The command was spoken plainly, without much emotion as they have come to expect from their Master. The order made sense, killing Masters before the war would be pointless as the Grail would just select new ones to fill in the ranks, however keeping them as a docile asset could yield numerous benefits. It was a commendable order, as far as they were concerned, not that it was their place to question orders.

"As you command," Assassin responded curtly and descended down buildings towards their unaware target. The two of them were near the river, in the harbor district where residential buildings met warehouses, navigating the area came as easy as breathing to Assassin, allowing them to quickly close the distance and leap onto the unsuspecting Master.

The target must've had keen senses to notice their approach, but all it afforded him was the chance to turn in their direction before they landed upon him and grabbed their head to bash it against the pavement. Their pale skull mask and blue eyes met in that moment and Assassin could see the confusion, shock and unadulterated fear flash in the man's… no, on closer inspection the target barely qualified as a man, at least concerning mannerisms. Physically adult or not, they were too young to participate in a war. This wouldn't be any different from kidnapping a child, they thought briefly, not that they would have had many reservations about the fact even if it wasn't a direct order.

Their hand clasped around the target's skull, Assassin shoved him into the pavement to knock him out-

Only to notice that his expression evened out in less than a split second and that his eyes looked at them with a sort of tired resolution-

The target's skull met the pavement.

…

He was still conscious.

Last minute reinforcement? To be able to cast it at less than a moment's notice spoke of- no something was amiss, his eyes moved faster than even a Servant's in that split second-

The unknown Master's left hand shot up to grasp the arm holding his skull in place, a set of fully formed Command Seals visible on his hand.

"Robbanj!"

An overwhelming amount of mana flooded their arm and quickly reached a boiling point, causing their arm below the elbow to explode.

Pain flooded their nervous system at the loss of a limb, but they didn't cry out and instead leapt back a few meters to create some distance between the two. Assassin narrowed their eyes under the mask; the loss of an arm was vexing but ultimately not an obstacle, their class lacked the Magic Resistance skill so it was even expected. No, something was definitely not right. No magus should be able to react to a Servant with the element of surprise on their side; to be able to turn the tables, even momentarily, warranted caution.

If he could do it once, he may be able to do it again.

The Master got to their feet and shot them a resolute glance that was a far cry from their previous shock and fear before turning tail and running deeper into a cluster of warehouses. A set of dirks appeared in Assassin's hand and they gave chase by jumping on a nearby rooftop.

"From the Crown, come forth and follow the forked road to the kingdom- Ahh!" One of their dirks embedded themselves into the leg of the Master, forcing them to stop with their murmured incantation and fall to the ground. The young man grasped the offending knife and pulled it out with a pain filled cry.

"S-shut, fill, shut, fill…"

They reappeared some ways away from the downed Master, knowing better than to get too close carelessly, and slowly made their way towards him, dirks at the ready to counter any attempted offensive spell. The injured Master spotted them and sent a glare their way, then struck the ground between them with their open palm.

"Robbanj!"

An immense amount of mana filled the imperfections of the concrete in a large area and quickly grew to levels too high for the ground to handle. Assassin could easily see it coming, but could do nothing to stop the spell without maiming the magus and potentially damaging the Command Seals in the process, so all they could do was leaping away to a safe distance. Predictably, the area between the two erupted with mana and flying debris. A dust cloud formed, obscuring their vision for a few brief moments.

"Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail…" a trio of dirks hit the ground where the downed Master was supposed to be, only to sink harmlessly into the ground as their target was nowhere to be seen. Assassin reappeared at ground zero and took note of a patch of blood left behind by their target, a brief glance revealed a trail leading to one of the nearby warehouses-

The metallic clang of a gate closing made their head turn in the direction of the disturbance, another glance showed the trail leading in the same direction. They narrowed their eyes, what was the magus hoping to accomplish? This confrontation may have been dragged out by the strict parameters of their mission and their adversary's unexpected competence, but he must've realized he stood no real chance at victory. There was no mana signature nearby, except for the magus who was constantly leaking immense amounts of it-

It didn't matter, their mission was absolute and it would end now.

Assassin moved in the blink of an eye and kicked down the large gates of the warehouse. They were fast, fast enough for them to knock back the Master by accident and make him painfully land on his back.

"-come forth from the circle of restraint-" Assassin froze at the grunted words of the young magus, finally realizing his intentions. Their eyes met again and this time, the Master was glaring at them unflinchingly, mouth already moving to finish his incantation. Their hand blurred for another set of dirks, fully set on severing the magus' arm.

"-Guardian of the heavenly scales!" A whole set of dirks were hurled forwards in sync with the last words of the summoning ritual. They flew unabated until a sudden blinding light illuminated the entirety of the warehouse from the inside.

A series of metallic clangs sounded out from the light, followed by the clattering of metal as the knives fell harmlessly against the ground. As the light receded, Assassin could make out the cause of their attack's failure; a violet shield of mana inscribed with strange writing and a similarly colored cloaked figure standing behind it with a raised hand.

Assassin tensed at the successful summoning of a hostile servant and leapt back out of the confines of the warehouse. The figure lowered their hand, letting the shield fade from view as they turned to address the young Master.

"Tell me… Are you supposed to be the magus that summoned me?"

Her first impression of this new era was that of a disgusted sense of disappointment. The air around her contained so little mana that for a brief moment she considered the influence of a Bounded Field, however the state of their surroundings disproved that notion. To think the magi of this pitiful age could summon someone like her despite that limitation…

The set of flying blades were dispatched with the attention they deserved; a bare flick of her wrist. If that was the extent of her first opponent's attacks, she would eliminate them now just for the War's sake; only the highest quality of Heroic Spirits were allowed to compete after all.

Her assailant retreated at having caught sight of her and she let out a mental scoff, at least they realized that it was best to run away from her if they wanted to live. She lowered her hand and looked over her shoulder to take in the one who has called for her. He wasn't much to look at, both in terms of looks and attire; fair skin, silver-blue eyes and slicked back, dirty blonde hair. His attire was similarly plain for a magus, even for the modern era if the Grail was to be believed; blue jeans, a black coat and a silver scarf.

"Tell me… Are you supposed to be the magus that summoned me?" She asked calmly, not having the slightest intention of calling an inferior magus "Master". The question itself was merely a formality in itself, she could clearly feel the flow of mana between them anyway. The man hesitated for a moment as he looked her over before answering.

"I guess you could say that, though I hardly qualify as a magus to be honest…" She must've showed her displeasure over the fact on her face as he quickly continued. "Look, could you take care of the enemy Servant outside first before we continue with the introductions? Knowing their identity it should be easy enough for you." She considered it for a moment, taking care of vermin was something that was below her, but she could let it slide for the duration of this war. It seemed that winning the Grail would be impossible otherwise. She sent her summoner a brief nod and followed the enemy Servant outside.

Stepping out into the cold winter night, she could see no sign of their assailant. Doubting that they would just leave so easily, even if it would be the correct choice when facing her, she quickly deduced the identity of their attacker.

"…Assassin." No one could evade her senses unless they possessed the Presence Concealment skill, in which case…

"Tyfu. Ceisio. lladd," she chanted under her breath and lifted a pale hand before her. A small sphere of violet energy appeared in her palm that grew more and more agitated with each word spoken. The turbulent sphere was then dropped on the ground where it quickly grew to spread around area with writhing, vine-like tendrils of darkness. They covered every surface and reached into every crevice like cursed weeds pulsing with tainted mana. It didn't take long for the spell to carry out its intended effect, she could already hear the sound of rapid footsteps on the rooftops above her.

She turned her attention upwards to see a cloaked figure fleeing from a writhing mass of her tendrils, but no matter how hard they tried to outrun or cut away at the spell, they could just not shake it off. In fact, as the seconds ticked by more and more tendrils were joining in on the impromptu hunt. Still, she had to acknowledge Assassin's agility, if only for its annoying ability of slipping out of the tendrils' grasp whenever they attempted to strangle him.

All that said, she was growing tired of entertaining this mockery of a battle.

"Rhewi!" She motioned in the direction of Assassin, who was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in that moment. Without the interference of any sort of Magic Resistance, the spell took hold without delay and Assassin never touched the ground. Space itself froze around the Servant, causing them to hang in the air for a brief second before a dark tendril impaled them in the chest and threw them back before her feet.

"And here I was hoping to encounter genuine Heroic Spirits in this war," she leered at the dying Servant before her. Oh, what she wouldn't have given to examine a Saint Graph back when she was flesh and blood, but now she honestly couldn't bring herself to care about the one lying before her in its own pool of blood.

"H-how did you find me?" The downed figure croaked out, turning their cracked skull-mask in her direction.

"Your Presence Concealment only hides you from living beings, to a semi-sentient seeker spell that searches for mana in the environment itself you are nothing more than an ambient source of food," she indulged the question with a bored tone. There wasn't any reason not to tell them. In fact, their shocked eyes even brought her a sliver of cruel pleasure.

"Now that this farce is over, get out of my sight," she intoned and formed her hand into a fist. The next moment, dozens of dark tendrils impaled and bound themselves around Assassin's body, only to rip it apart an instant later. Blood and viscera splashed around the vicinity and slowly evaporated into fading blue particles.

"…Well, that was something." She dismissed the tendrils with a flick of her wrist and turned back towards the warehouse she had been summoned at. Her summoner was leaning on the indented gate, looking over her fading magic and Assassin's remains with a slight grimace. "Could have done it in a less gory way, though."

"If this is enough to upset you then you can't even call yourself a third-rate magus, let alone hope to win the war," she rebuked with a frown.

"Well, I already told you I wasn't one," he shrugged.

"So you weren't jesting." She said in an annoyed tone. Now that she was face to face with her summoner she could take the time to examine him closer.

"You're injured," she stated matter of factly after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, I had to fend off Assassin on my own for a while," she heard him say. Now that she thought about it, they did have a missing arm, was that the work of her summoner? To be able to hurt a Servant, no matter how weak, spoke of talent in magecraft and yet he claimed otherwise.

"…What manner of spell did you use against Assassin?"

"Uhh, I guess a variation of the Gehen spell? Calling that a spell is pushing it a bit I though, it's really just flooding something with mana until it explodes after all," he shrugged and she hummed in agreement.

A few moments passed in silence with nothing happening, only the distant sounds of the city could be heard. Her summoner soon grew restless and opened his mouth to speak.

"Is everything alright-" "-You have no magecraft training and don't have the stomach to see battle. You lack several vital qualities a Master should possess," she cut him off with an icy glare before he could finish. "Tell me a single reason why I shouldn't just take over your mind or seek out another Master." The blunt threat was accentuated by a long dagger appearing in her hand.

Her summoner looked taken aback at her tone and the sight of the blade, but simply blinked as her words seemed to register.

"Oh, that's actually quite simple; because I'm your only hope for winning the Holy Grail," he replied simply with a shrug. She let out a scoff of derision in response.

"Please, I already killed one opponent on my own, my chances are-" "Yeah, you killed them once, you only have to do it again another 79 times."

…

"Excuse me?"

"That was Hassan-i-Sabbah of the Hundred Faces. That's why I said it was something, I didn't expect his bait to work so well on you. Now they know we have a way to get around their Presence Concealment."

…

"Not to mention that without my help you wouldn't be able to circumvent Lancer's magic nullifying spear, Saber's A rank Magic Resistance and Archer's Noble Phantasms," he tilted his head to the side with a wince. "I may have little experience in magecraft, but I can win us this war through other means."

"…How do you have that information? Most Servants haven't even been summoned yet," she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Something wasn't right; her summoner claimed he wasn't a magus, yet he was able to summon her and could provide more than enough mana to sustain her even in combat. He could hold off a Servant for a limited amount of time and had information that no one should. "…Who are you?"

"Right, we haven't even introduced ourselves properly," he snapped his fingers and cleared his throat. The nonchalant action wasn't helping her nerves, but she did lower her blade for the time being. "My name is Nathaniel Blake, I'm a 24 years old university student, and as for how I know these things… Well, honestly I have no idea how to explain it, but if I were to guess it must have something to do with the Kaleidoscope… and maybe Magic Blue but I'm not really sure." He sent her a helpless shrug.

"…You expect me to believe you interacted with not just one, but two of the five True Magics?" She did her best to keep her voice level, but her irritation was rising again in earnest.

"Says the Heroic Spirit incarnated by the Third," he countered with crossed arms, making her pause for a moment before begrudgingly nodding in acknowledgement. Evidently, encountering the True Magics was more likely in a Grail War. She still believed that what he was saying was ridiculous, but she could leave it be… for now.

"There is still the issue of your capability as a Master, in fact, how are you keeping me supplied with mana if you're just an ordinary student as you say?" She frowned again and decided to examine their bond. Focusing on it she could feel an abundance of mana flowing between them, but something with it was amiss… Normally a person's mana would have a unique texture to them, but his lacked it- no, if she focused more closely she could make out a pattern of sorts…

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she leveled a cold stare at him again.

A pattern, his mana had more than one texture.

"Are you some sort of experimental homunculus? Or a Dead Apostle?" He seemed uncomfortable at her questioning but didn't answer. Sneering, she pulled down her hood, marched up to him and gave him a withering glare. Her summoner pressed himself against the gate and looked at her like he just saw a ghost.

Not willing to indulge a moment more of this standoff, she gathered mana into her hand and thrust it against his stomach. Her summoner let out a pained yelp at the intrusion but didn't resist the probing. Different emotions flickered on her face as she continued to closely examine his magic circuits until finally she decided she had seen enough and took a step back.

"Ow, what was that for?" Her summoner complained lowly as he righted himself. She reigned in her rampant thoughts and gave him a flat stare.

"What the hell are you?"

On closer inspection, the anomaly she found wasn't simply a pattern containing a few textures, but a kaleidoscope containing an untold amount, the more she focused on a single segment of it the more and more textures she could make out.

So much in fact that she stopped keeping track of them after she reached the thousands.

This… kaleidoscope manifested itself into 100 magical circuits of a quality she had never witnessed in humans. If he were to use all of them simultaneously, his output would be rivaling that of a smaller magic core.

"Ah, I recently became an Agent of sorts, but that's enough about me, what about you? Who are you?" He waved away her question and curiously regarded her. She remained silent for a moment, pondering if she should even give her strange summoner a chance, before letting out a sigh.

"I've decided to gift you a chance to prove your worth. If you prove yourself to be a capable Master, then I'll allow you to fight by my side for the coming war." She purposefully left out the alternative, in which case she would destroy his mind and use him as a mana battery for the duration of the war. "You may call me Caster." She left it at that.

Her summoner didn't.

"That won't do, how am I to strategize if I don't even know my Servant's capabilities?" He hummed to himself and stepped to stand in front of her, hand on his chin in a thinking expression.

"Let's see, you seemed familiar without the hood, like a saber-face." She had no idea what a 'saber-face' was, but she had the feeling she should feel offended. "You are a Caster, so that narrows our options a bit," he declared as he began circling her like she was some statue. "Did I summon you as an alter?" He abruptly stopped to look at her curiously.

"I have no idea what an 'alter' is supposed to be," she replied with a frown, not liking his train of thought at all.

"Oh, so you're naturally like this," he nodded to himself and she got the feeling that she was insulted, somehow. "You have greenish-blue eyes, so you can't be Nero or Castoria… but that face and pale blonde hair is unmistakable, you have to be related. That would mean you're…" He trailed off and came to a stop before her, features frozen in what she assumed to be shock. He then slowly blinked and regarded her with a wary look.

"No way… I don't- but how-? Right, the Grail of course, it did the same with Gilles…"

"Do try to make sense, summoner. Speaking like a man possessed does nothing to earn my favor," she voiced her displeasure over her contractor's tirade. It seemed to do the trick as he took a breath and gave her a hard stare.

"Why did you answer the Grail's call?" He asked with a surprisingly steely voice.

"To fulfill my wish of course, what else?" She stated impatiently, what kind of stupid question was that? Why else would a Heroic Spirit choose to participate?

"You'd be surprised…" He grumbled to himself. "And what is your wish exactly?"

"That's none of your concern," she suddenly shot back with a surprising amount of venom, enough to give her contractor a pause. "More importantly, you seem to have reservations about my identity, assuming you guessed it correctly." This time it was her who was glaring at him daringly.

"I was right, your stat sheet just confirmed it," he let out a resigned sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess it doesn't matter, at this point the only thing that matters is winning the war."

"Good. Make sure to keep that sentiment and we can avoid future issues that may arise," she sent him a challenging look. "Now, I do believe you said you would be useful this coming war, so go on then, I'm listening." Her summoner nodded at that and thoughtfully looked past her.

"Alright, we'll need a base of operations that wouldn't be compromised… Ah, that's it. Come on, follow me," he snapped his fingers and waved at her to follow. She did so silently after a moment of contemplation.

"Reservations about my identity, yeah that's one way to put it," I grumbled under my breath as I led Caster towards the river in inner city. I used what little control I had of mana and channeled some to my eyes to briefly glance at Caster's robed form.

True Name: Morgan le Fey

Servant Class: Caster

Stats:

Strength: D

Endurance: D

Agility: C

Mana: A+

Luck: A

NP: A

Class Skills:

Item Construction: A

Territory Creation: A

Personal Skills:

Mixed Blood: B

Tainted Mystery: A++

Noble Phantasms:

Erosion: Penetrating Blade of Gold (Anti-Unit): B

Dwyn Gwrach (Anti-Unit): A

Between nigh unbeatable demigods, great kings, ruthless assassins and mages, arguably the most powerful witch in history and all the world's evil, ironically my only chance of survival and possibly getting home was by not only participating but by winning. But at least I had a week to plan ahead and increase my chances of winning one of the deadliest Holy Grail Wars in history.

How did Sun Tzu put it? Know yourself and your enemy, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles?

I hope to heaven he was right, because I was about to test that hypothesis for all it's worth.

And that's part one of the prologue done!

A few things some may find confusing in this chapter;

Nathan's sudden and seemingly inexplicable appearance in the nasuverse. I assure you there is a reason for that which will be revealed much further down the line.

His obscene mana capacity and sudden understanding of basic magecraft. Again, it has an explanation and it will come sooner than you might expect. For now, let's just say he became an Agent.

No, he has nothing to do with the Kaleidoscope (though he does secretly suspect Zelretch of foul play).

If it wasn't obvious, Assassin was handling him with kid gloves for fear of accidentally damaging him or the Command Seals beyond repair, plus his stats were reduced due to being only a fragment of himself(?). The moment they got serious, they could have slit Nathan's throat before he could blink.

He managed to summon a Servant with only the incantation. The summoning ritual in Fate is BS. Shirou managed it with only a summoning circle and no incantation, so even from that we can deduce that it's based more on intent than anything. As Kiritsugu said, the Grail does the heavy lifting. (In Strange Fake they even call this out; Flat manages to summon Jack with only a thought and Prelati themselves with a half-assed chant.)

Doesn't making him have 100 EX rank magic circuits make him OP? No, not really. Like I said he only knows some basic stuff and right now he's nothing more than a glorified mana battery in terms of combat. Also don't expect him to become someone on the level of Kiritsugu or Kirei in the span of two and a half weeks. No, just don't. He will become a force to be reckoned with in his own right at the end, but don't expect him to go toe to toe with Servants and the like.

Translations:

Robbanj! (Hungarian) – explode!

Tyfu, ceisio, lladd (Welsh) - grow, seek, kill

Rhewi! (Welsh) - freeze

Until next time!