Prologue: Birth of a Prince
The fields were scorched. Smoke filled the air, and the grounds were covered with bodies. The only life one can seemingly find are the scavengers having their fill of flesh.
However, two horses were galloping through the fields of death. One carried one rider while the other had two.
The one carrying two was at the lead. All three wore cloaks that hide their identities. The riders rode across the desolate battlefield ignoring all the corpses that got in their way.
They rode even when day became night, when dead fields turned to bountiful grass, when hours turned to days. They eventually arrived at their destination: a large cave.
The three got off their horses. One of them got out a sword, making sure the other two are protected. One of the duet was holding a bundle protectively.
The three journeyed into the cave, the sword lighting up to show them the way. The three arrived at a large, cavernous room with odd man-made structures. At the bottom was a lava pit.
The lava suddenly boiled violently before something emerged.
The three moved away, managing to avoid being burned alive by the scattered droplets of lava.
What stood before them is a large red western dragon with a long neck, green eyes, and had red and gold spikes running throughout his body.
The three figures kneeled before the great beast.
"Y Ddraig Goch. It is an honor to be before your presence."
The dragon opened its mouth and spoke:
"Artorius… What brings the fallen king, his queen, and one of his knights to my domain?"
The dragon's voice was deep and masculine.
The leader got up from their position, removing their hood to reveal a handsome young man with short blond hair and green eyes.
The other two followed suit revealing one to be a beautiful young blond girl, who honestly looked to be in her preteens; and the other to be beautiful Caucasian girl who looked to be in her late teens with short, honey-colored hair and sky-blue eyes while having a tall, slim build with an exquisite face like an angel's, displaying all-surpassing purity.
"I have come here to beseech a favour from you Red Dragon Emperor."
The dragon looked at the man curiously.
"Oh? And just what do you need so desperately that would have you so bold as to ask me a favour."
Ddraig casts his eyes on the young girl, specifically the bundle she was holding.
"Could it have something to do with what your wife is holding."
The girl looked frightened and held the bundle protectively to her chest. The Caucasian girl moved forward with her sword at the ready.
Artorius gestured at the Caucasian girl to stop.
He then looked at the young girl.
"My dear Guinevere, show him."
The girl, Guinevere, looked at her husband hesitantly before ultimately deciding to put her faith in his words.
She approached the dragon and unwrapped the bundle a bit to reveal she was holding a baby girl who couldn't be any older than a month or two. The baby was currently asleep.
"This child…"
"Her name is Altria Castus Pendragon. She is my heir and our only hope for Camelot to still live on."
Ddraig leaned down to get a better look at the baby.
"I can sense it inside her…"
It was not a question.
"Red Dragon Emperor, I ask of you to make a [Pact] with her."
Ddraig turned his attention to Artorius.
"Do you know what you ask of me? What you ask of your daughter?"
Ddraig asked.
"I understand the consequences of what I ask but I fear at the rate the World is going she will need every aid she can get."
Artorius bowed once again.
"Please Red Dragon Emperor. I beg you to provide your aid to her so she may survive the events to come."
Ddraig looked at Artorius before looking down at Altria.
"In order to make a [Pact] both sides must be willing without any outside influence. As she is just baby with limited awareness of the world it would be impossible for the two of us to make a [Pact]."
Artorius winced at this.
However, his expression changed when Ddraig pulled something out of his scales.
It resembled a small, shriveled heart yet the trio recognized it for what it is.
"A [Dragon Vein] …"
The Caucasian woman said in awe.
"This is the same [Dragon Vein] that I gifted to your mother Artorius. Before she died, she was able to separate it from herself and return it to me even if it did quicken her death."
He gently placed the [Dragon Vein] on Altria.
"Though we cannot make a [Pact] I will give her my blessing. When she is strong enough it will lead her to me, and it will be up to her on whether she wants to make a [Pact] with me or not."
The [Dragon Vein] glowed before sinking into Altria's body. For a brief second, she gained draconic features and was covered in green jewels. Those features disappeared as soon as they appeared leaving Altria no different than before.
The process woke the little baby. She yawned before opening her eyes curious at the environment she found herself in. When her gaze landed on Ddraig's face she smiled and giggled in delight.
Ddraig chuckled at the baby's reaction.
"She definitely has your heart Artorius."
Guinevere said lovingly.
Altria continued to giggle and reach out for the dragon.
6 years later
There was a loud banging sound.
Someone was hitting a large tree with a hammer. It was a little pretty girl with long blond hair, bluish-grey eyes, and a mole underneath her left eye.
She kept banging the tree until she was spent and collapsed on the ground.
"How many hits does that make?"
Another girl who was laying down on the ground sat up and checked the markings she made on the ground.
This girl is also blond though her hair is a fair bit shorter than her companion as well as brighter. She also has emerald, green eyes.
"That would make… fifty hits… and only twenty-five actually landed on the mark."
She slumped in disappointment.
"Hey Isabella, are you sure that's good practice for becoming a [Blacksmith]?"
She looked at Isabella questioningly.
"Yes, I'm sure! I need to build up arm strength for when I finally get to work on the forge. Not all of us are born with freakish strength like you Artoria."
"Well, I guess that's true."
Artoria said smugly causing Isabella to pout.
"But anyway, we should go. Laeticia is waiting for us, and she'll get angry if we keep her waiting too long."
Artoria helped Isabella up and the two quickly ran to their meeting spot.
Waiting for them was another blond-haired girl with amethyst eyes. She was glaring at the two.
"What took you so long?"
Laeticia asked.
"Sorry about that. Isabella was practising her blacksmithing skills."
"You mean she was needlessly and uselessly banging a hammer against something large."
Laeticia stated blankly.
"Yep."
Artoria said with a grin.
"For the last time it's legitimate practise!"
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night."
Isabella glared at the two which instead of intimidating just made her look adorable.
Laeticia and Artoria giggled at Isabella's 'glare.'
Isabella and Artoria were looking quite grumpy.
The reason for this was because they were forced to carry large baskets filled with fruit making the load quite heavy for them.
Laeticia on the other hand looked cheerful and was holding a small basket of fruit.
"So, remind me why we're doing all the heavy work?"
Isabella whispered to Artoria.
"Apparently this is punishment for being late… but I think this is just Laeticia's excuse to work less."
"Did you say something you two?"
""Nothing!""
Artoria sighed.
"You know we should stop and rest a bit. We're still a long way off from the village."
Laeticia and Isabella thought about it before they agreed with her. The three sat by the nearest tree, being covered in its shade, and took out some fruit to eat.
The three relaxed, enjoying their time together.
"Hey Arturia, I was wondering… Just what do plan to become when you grow up?"
Laeticia asked and Isabella also looked curious.
"I mean we already know Isabella here wants to become a [Blacksmith] and then a [Knight]. But what do you want?"
Artoria gave the question a thought.
"I never really gave it much thought. I mean a [Knight] sounds appealing and yet I feel like other prospects might also suit me like [Assassin]."
"You? An assassin? That's like the world being flat."
"Well, it can happen. Just because a lot of strong people are knights that doesn't mean the job itself makes people strong."
"Well, you have a point there…"
Laeticia and Isabella are aware of how strong Artoria is, much stronger than even an adult man despite her size.
It always baffled some of the older villagers as to how it was possible. They at first thought she was somehow subconsciously using magic but the few magic sensors in the village claim that despite having large magic reserves, it is all natural.
"Speaking of strength… how about we take a detour."
Laeticia and Artoria looked at Isabella questionably.
"Why would we do that?"
"Well right now we're near an old cave and I heard stories about how it leads to a cavern filled with precious metals. I wanna see if I can gather any of the materials."
"You sure about that? I mean if the stories are true than it's likely the cave was mined for everything it's got already."
"Well, it probably would, but we live so far away from any city that they wouldn't waste resources on some expedition based on a rumour."
Laeticia and Artoria still looked skeptical even though they acknowledged Isabella's point.
"Come on it won't hurt to check it out."
Laeticia and Artoria looked at each other.
"Well, it's not like we have anything better to do today."
"Plus, if there are precious metals than the blacksmiths might be able to make something sturdier than the usual tools we have."
Laeticia and Artoria came into agreement.
" "All right let's go.""
The trio were inside the tunnel, Laeticia at the front illuminating the path with a bit of light magic.
"You sure we're going the right direction?"
"Well, there's only one direction to go to so yeah."
"But we've going forward for hours, and we still haven't found this cavern of metals ya know."
While Artoria complained and Isabella tried to placate her Laeticia noticed something.
"Hey guys keep it down; I think I see something ahead."
The two followed Laeticia and the trio came upon a large, cavernous chamber that was made of clear diamond-like substance.
"Isabella is this…?"
"Yeah, I think it is…"
The three stared in awe at the beauty of it all. The three went to a nearby stalagmite. Isabella examined it closely but then frowned.
"It's adamant." She looked at the floor and ceiling. "This entire chamber is made of adamant. It's basically useless to us."
Contrary to what she said adamant is extremely valuable however the villagers have no means to actually harvest the material due to it literally being the strongest material to ever exist.
Isabella looked sad that this was ultimately a wild goose chase.
"Hey, don't be so down." Artoria tried to cheer her friend up. "I mean sure we can't harvest anything but at the very least we can pick a few rocks and pebbles for trade."
She picked up a fist sized adamant piece to emphasize her point.
"Well, you have a point…"
Isabella smiled a bit. Afterall there were some fragments here and there and even fragment as small as a pebble was worth a lot of money.
Artoria noticed a stalactite that looked a bit loose. She tossed the fragment, with all her strength, towards the stalactite. With a loud bang it shook wildly but still remained on the spot. The fragment fell down and landed on something that sounded like a pile of metal.
The trio looked confused and followed the sound. They came upon an even greater surprise: A large skeleton of a draconic being laying on a pile of treasure and scrap metal.
"I think we found what we were looking for…"
Laeticia commented.
The three went towards the picking up and examining each item. Isabella looked as if her birthday came early for her.
Though Artoria looked at the heap of treasure, she noticed some of these metals are worth almost as much as adamant, her interests were mostly on the dragon skeleton.
"I wonder… what could've killed this dragon…"
The bones looked old and there wasn't any trace of scales or rotted flesh which means this beast was either slain a long time ago or someone managed to strip the body of everything it had with the latter being unlikely.
"Whoever or whatever did this must have been very powerful. Or at least had a very powerful [Dragon Slayer] at their disposal."
Laetica answered. However, she then noticed something that caused her to get nervous.
"We may have a problem."
"What is it…? Oh…"
The three saw that around the chamber were multiple tunnel entrances.
"… which way did we come from again…?"
The three felt dread when their situation finally hit them.
"You sure this is the right way?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"You said the same thing for the last three tunnels."
The trio were trying to find the way out and so far, they've met nothing but dead ends. This latest tunnel so far seemed promising in that so far, they haven't come across a dead end yet.
The three continued forward until they saw a light at the end. Excited the three ran towards it thinking it may be an exit. However, when they reached the end, they saw that it was AN exit… but not theirs's.
What they witnessed was a hellish landscape: The skies covered in ashen clouds, the landscapes bared of any life with cracked hills and deep scars on the ground, all while covered in rivers and lakes of black goo, tall spires made out sick-yellow crystals and the overall area just being covered in black mud, pus, and tumour-like growths.
The girls stared at this hellish environment with pure shock. The three had never seen something like this before. They were so used to their peaceful landscapes and the most danger they ever experienced were either some wild animals or bandits.
"What… is this…?"
Isabella approached a crystal-like growth, yellow in colour, curious on what it's made out of.
"Don't touch that."
Artoria pulled Isabella away from the dark crystal.
"I have a bad feeling about all this. It feels like we walked into… some sort of disease…"
Before the two could comment on Artoria words they suddenly heard explosions. The three looked up and witnessed two great beasts fighting in the air.
One of them was a magnificent griffon-like creature with white fur and golden feathers.
The other was some sort of horrible parody of a dragon: completely covered in the black sludge, looking like a rotting corpse .
The beasts fought ferociously, each collision creating shockwaves that almost blew the trio away.
At first it seemed the two were equal however Artoria was able to see that the griffon was losing ground as it was getting tired from, what she assumes, to be a very long fight while the draconic abomination still looks as if it was ready for the beginnings of a showdown.
The griffon managed to put some distance between it and the dragon. It glowed before using magic to shoot light bullets at the dragon.
The bullets collided and actually caused heavy damage to the beast as it shrieked and agony and crashed into the ground.
The griffon took advantage of this and flew away as fast as possible, although she noticed that it was lagging.
The dragon had crashed near them, knocking them off their feet. The dragon struggled back up, the black goop struggling to reform parts of the body. The dragon roared viciously, too angry to notice the helpless victims behind it. It managed to reform its missing parts but looked more horrifying than before and flew off instantly after the griffon.
The trio can hear the battle continue once more though now the two beasts were too far away for them to witness.
"What in the name of Gaia was all that?!"
The girls could hardly believe what happened. A small part of their subconscious reminded them that it was pure luck that they managed to come out of this unscathed.
"I don't know… but I think we should get out of here."
They agreed on the suggestion.
Laeticia noticed a crystal near her and kicked it away.
The trio got off the ground and quickly got back in the tunnels.
5 Days later
"Is she still sick?"
"…yeah."
The trio had managed to find a way out. The three were quite annoyed when some animals got their baskets. At least the journey was not a total loss as they did gather some treasure and pieces of adamant. The villagers were more relieved that they were ok than their spoils of adventure.
Everything seemed ok however Laeticia suddenly fell ill.
It would not have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that symptoms appeared near instantly, her body weakened at an incredible rate, and no one knew just what she was infected with.
The nuns, priest, and doctor tried everything they could do to cure her, but nothing worked. All they could do was sent out some of their fellow villagers, taking some of their spoils to pay for some of the best healers.
They were met with failure and the few that they did find had no clue just what was wrong with her.
All they could do was isolate her in one of the Church's guest rooms in case whatever she has was contagious. That didn't really stop others from seeing her though.
Artoria shivered at the memory of Laeticia's current appearance.
Practically all color had seeped off of her, she could no longer stay awake, she was constantly shivering, and she could no longer eat or drink on her own. Overall, she looked like a starved victim who hadn't seen the light of day in months.
"Do you think this has anything to do with that black stuff we found."
Artoria gave Isabella's question a thought.
"I don't know… I'm pretty sure we didn't touch any of it… But…"
The two couldn't be sure if they had touch any of the black stuff. They had told the villagers about their discovery of the sickly lands and their encounter with the dragon that was covered in the goop.
Some of the villagers did not believe them while some did and tried to investigate but could not find the tunnel without the risk of getting lost. At the very least they were able to gather some more treasure and adamant.
The two suddenly heard the neighs of a horse snapping the duo out of their thoughts.
A villager had come back and was riding with what appeared to be a Knight wearing pristine silver armour.
The two could only stare in awe at seeing a Knight for the first time in their lives.
The Knight and the Villager stopped by the Church, the two getting off the horse. A nun was there waiting for them.
"She's in there?"
The Knight asked with a deep voice.
The villager nodded.
The Knight went in, guided by the nun.
The girls looked confused. The villager noticed this.
"While I was searching for a Healer the Knight overheard my pleas. He wanted me to explain Laeticia's situation and when I did, he claimed that he might know what was inflicting Laeticia and that if it is what he thinks it is than he might be able to do something about it."
The girls were shocked that quickly changed to happiness. They now had a chance of their friend getting better.
After a while the Knight came back out carrying an unconscious Laeticia. Who looked far healthier than she was these past few days.
The girls and nearby villagers crowded around the Knight grateful for his deeds and happy to see one of their own seemingly cured.
"This girl has an incredibly strong will. If it had been anyone else, they would have immediately succumbed to [Corruption]."
"[Corruption]?"
The Knight looked at the villagers.
"What ailed her was not a disease. Not in the conventional sense. Somehow this girl was inflicted with [Corruption] a plague-like curse. It infects the target through physical contact, at times it may seem unnoticeable; it slowly changes the host, all of their negative emotions are amplified, their innermost desires and guilty desires come to light, and at the end when they are fully corrupted, they are no longer recognizable of who they once were; feral tainted beasts that only care about destruction and chaos."
The girls remembered the abomination of a dragon and paled at the thought their friend would have turned into something like that.
"As far as we know… there is no cure for this curse. Even now…" He gestured to Laeticia. "… All I could do was slow down the [Corruption] in her body. However, there is a way to completely halt it and seal it away."
The girls looked hopeful once more.
"This does however require me to take her with me back to Headquarters."
"Eh? For how long?"
"I cannot say for certain. It could be days, weeks, months… even years…"
The girls looked shocked and devastated from the news. The villagers were shocked and murmured to each other.
The Knight examined the villagers before speaking.
"I swear upon my honor that when the [Corruption] in her body is dealt with I will return her as soon as possible."
The villagers looked at the Knight. They knew that breaking an oath would be the highest dishonor.
The group parted away, trusting the Knight's word. The Knight nodded at them before hopping back on his ride, Laeticia still in his arms.
"Wait!"
Before the Knight could leave, he was stopped by the two girls.
"Could… could we at least have time… to say our goodbyes?"
The Knight nodded and let the girls approached their friend.
"Laeticia… I hope you get better soon. Afterall without your bossy attitude everyone will get lazy."
"Laeticia… even though you'd probably disagree… I can't but feel that if I kept my mouth shut about the treasure… than none of this would've happened."
Isabella looked like she was on the verge of tears while Artoria comforted her friend, assuring her that it wasn't her fault.
"Though I do not know your friend…" The Knight spoke. "… I do believe that she would not blame you for this misfortune."
He gestured to an unconscious Laeticia.
"I can tell that this girl has a noble and selfless heart. If she was one to blame you for actions unseen than she would just be another casualty of [Corruption]."
He got ready to leave.
"I promise that the next time you see her, she will be fine and healthy without any worry of the [Corruption] in her body ever harming her again."
The Knight rode off, leaving the village with the comatose Laeticia, while all Artoria and Isabella could do is wave goodbye to their friend and the Knight who promised salvation.
A few days had passed since then.
The villagers went on with their lives, relieved that one of their own is the right hands, a promise of better health.
The elderly was resting or sleeping, the adults were doing their jobs, and children were running playing games and overall having fun.
All was the same… except for a small few.
Isabella was practicing her smithing skills on the large tree again while Artoria was helping with the count.
Though neither were truly into it. Still thinking about the temporary loss of their friend.
They were anxious, worried, wondering how long it would take before Laeticia can return to them.
Artoria suddenly sat up.
"Ya know…"
Isabella stopped with her practice, looking at her friend curiously.
"We shouldn't mope around like this…"
Artoria let out a small grin.
"If Laeticia found out we were moping, can you imagine what'd she do to us?"
Isabella let out a shiver and a half groan half snort though she lightly grinned.
"She'd lecture us like no tomorrow and make us do all her chores for days on end."
The two chuckled, their spirits raised up.
"So, what in the world are we doing moping around?"
Artoria got off the ground staring at the sun peeking out of the large tree, Isabella following her gaze.
"Instead of wallowing in self-pity we should be busy getting strong, in making our dreams come true."
She turned to look at her friend and give her a wide smile.
"So that when Laeticia comes home she'll be proud to call us our friends."
Isabella smiled at her declaration and nodded in agreement.
"Right."
The two vowed to train and to make their wishes come true. To show Laeticia how much they accomplished when she comes back.
However, Isabella did not know that she would be losing another friend quite soon… and that it will take a long time before the two reunite once more.
Author's Notes
Glad I got this one out of the way.
So yes rather than just the usual Self-Insert/ROB sort of thing I decided to go with an Isekai type genre.
As you can tell this is a DxD/Fate crossover. As such I will try to retain the lighthearted, ecchi, harem antics of DxD while retaining the dark grim themes of the Fate series.
I will use certain elements of other series to fill in the gaps such as Campione!, Darksiders, and God of War to name a few.
So yes the main character is a composite of Saber (in terms of name, looks, and heritage), Issei Hyoudou (in terms of having Ddraig's powers and being a harem protagonist), Mysterious Heroine X (in terms of modern looks), Saber Lily (in terms of her inexperience in certain things and being hopeful and happy), along with 2 other Nasuverse characters that I will not say as that will spoil things.
Isabella is not an OC, rather she is a genderbended Yuuto Kiba who never experienced the Holy Sword Project and as such never became a devil or received a name change. Isaac was Yuuto's original name so I went with Isabella.
Laeticia is a composite of Laeticia (the ordinary girl who became host to the Heroic Spirit Jeanne d'Arc), Jeanne d'Arc (Fate) and Jeanne (DxD).
So yes Artorius is the name of the real life Roman General who was said to possibly inspire the legend of King Arthur.
The name Altria is how Saber's name was originally supposed to be spelled but much like Siegfried's hair Artoria became popular and official. Castus is a referenced to Artorius' name.
So to clear some things out this is a mostly fantasy type deal which means the gods are not a bunch of alien machines, super weapons, or alien viruses and are genuine divine mythical beings.
Because of the nature of this fic certain characters of DxD and Fate are still alive and active and are not sealed away in Sacred Gears or dead. Also because of this being a crossover some characters will be composites such as Tiamat (Fate) and Tiamat (DxD) being the same character with all of their powers.
There are no Sacred Gears however certain items and weapons will bare their abilities and some characters will have powers akin to certain Sacred Gear abilities. Noble Phantasms is not a term that will be used.
So yes Corruption is basically a composite of Ahriman's Black Mud and Absalom's Corruption.
Oh yeah this will be placed in Fate Grand Order crossover section which reminds me...
Why the hell are there so many Fate Grand Order and Fate Extra in the Fate Stay Night section?! There are already sections for Fate Grand Order and Fate Extra yet people are still putting them in the Fate Stay Night section!
Anyway until next time ;)