AN: I own nothing, as usual.

Chapter 2

Kairi Shishigou was a frightening man, as was evidenced by the looks of fear that every student in The Clock Tower who passed him gave him. What was not as easily evident was that Kairi Shishigou had no idea why exactly he was so frightening. He wrote it off as a product of his frightening face, and thought, rather naively, that a simple smile would fix his image. He failed to understand that it was everything about his demeanor that frightened others, from his thuglike attire, to the scent of battle that followed him, to even the aura of death that clung to him. Even mages, those who walked with death were rightfully afraid of him, one would have to have a warped sense of danger to not consider him frightening.

Shirou Emiya's sense of danger was highly warped, which was why when Shishigou sat down next to him on a bench outside the door to the office of Rocco Belfaban he gave him a simple greeting, rather than recoiling in terror. As he replied with a not unfriendly grunt, he looked the kid over, red hair, dark pants and a green sweater over a white shirt, not exactly the most intimidating look for a magus. He doubted the kid even had any interest in the path, his eyes lacked that cold, arrogant tint that most mages got after a while. He was knocked out of those musings when he heard the kid ask "Are you one of the other mages hired for the Holy Grail War?"

It took him a moment to find an answer. Holy Grail War? The Association had sent him a message with the broad details of the contract, including the fact that he would be working with a team of mages, he'd assumed to destroy Yggdmillenia, but apparently that wasn't right. Another thing registered after that, "other mages?", which meant the kid was a mercenary. And not one Shishigou recognized.

He realized the kid was still waiting for a reply, "Yeah, guess so. I'm Kairi Shishigou." He replied.

"Shirou Emiya."

Emiya. The Magus Killer. Or his son apparently. That was right, now that he thought about it. He'd read something about that a few months ago during the inquisition about the 5th Holy Grail War. Zeltrech's return and search for an apprentice had buried everything else, but the Emiya name had been a story before that. The magus killer had adopted a kid, according to the report, one who had no interest in mage affairs. That brought him back to the question he'd first had

"Nice to meetcha. Now what'd you say about the Holy Grail War?"

"That would best be discussed in my office." A slimy voice cut in. Shishigou turned and saw Belfaban striding down the hall towards them. "My apologies for the wait, a student had a particularly complicated question and wouldn't be put off. I would introduce you, but it seems you've already met. Please come in." He continued opening the door to his office.

As Belfaban moved to his desk Shishigou instinctively gave the room a once over. The carelessly tossed around ancient scrolls and piles of books on Belfaban's desk weren't worth much to him, but something preserved on a case behind him certainly was. "This place really does have everything, huh." He said as he sat at one end of the sofa in the room. Shirou did the same at the other end.

"Hardly, it is rare but serves little purpose. Is it so valuable?"

"A preserved juvenile hydra? Is 'valuable' even the right word to use?" It was likely the only one in the entire world, valuable barely even covered it.

"It is a forgery." Belfaban chuckled. Shishigou glanced at him, but let the matter drop without any sign of disagreement. "Now on to business, I take it Ms. Tohsaka has already appraised you of the full situation?" he questioned Shirou. After he saw Shirou nod he turned back to Shishigou. "How much do you know about the events with Yggdmillenia?"

"They broke from the Mages Association recently, and took out the hunter squad you sent out to end their little rebellion. I've heard a few rumors beyond that but nothing concrete."

"Then let me clear things up a bit." Belfaban started with a smug smirk. "It wasn't a hunter squad, we sent close to 50 hunters to crush their rebellion, only one returned. He managed to find out that they'd secured a Holy Grail system and summoned a servant."

Shishigou had to pause to even process that, there were so many impossibilities involved. When he'd recovered, he said. "How the hell did they manage that. I thought the only one was in Japan."

"So did we. Unfortunately, there isn't any doubt in the matter. We saw the 49 staked hunters and the one survivor saw the servant and the system itself. Plus there was the message he brought back." Belfaban handed Shishigou a piece of parchment, enchanted to play images from the past. Shishigou would've been fine with a video, but to an old mage like Belfaban that would be anathema.

What was on it wasn't unfamiliar, a man who looked like he'd been tortured staring into empty space and muttering to himself. The parchment didn't come with sound, so Shishigou was forced to ask "What's he saying?"

We of the Yggdmillennia have freed ourselves from the petty political bickerings of the Association of Magi and aim to establish a new association here in Romania, a place of true inquiry for the purpose of thaumaturgy. For we possess the Holy Grail, and when it is brought to life with the souls of seven Heroic Spirits, we shall be one step closer on the path to brilliant glory…just that, over and over again. He was like that when we found him, he's in a coma now and it will be close to six months before he's fixed."

That brought him back to another thought. "If you want me to fight a servant I'm out. I'm not signing up for a suicide mission."

"Of course not. We want you to summon a servant."

That made sense at least. "Act as masters and win the war. The Grail should grant command seals to some association magi."

Belfaban shook his head at that. "They moved the Grail to a remote region in Romania, and used that to their advantage. They've already claimed seven command seals, The Grail won't brand any of our members."

"So what then, they just plan to kill each other for it?"

"Possibly, or they could just have their servants kill themselves. Either would be justified to reach Akasha."

Shishigou was stunned again. "The Root?" he managed to stutter out. "I thought the Grail was only supposed to reclaim the Third Magic."

"It started out as such, but that's what they intended to use the Third for, to reach Akasha."

No wonder the Mages Association had to act, if an upstart group actually reached The Root that quickly the Association would see a mass exodus. It might even turn into a civil war. But it was just another sidetrack, what he still needed to know was "How do you intend to have us summon servants then, if they already have all the command seals?"

"The surviving mage found the dormant Greater Grail, and unlocked the reserve system."

"Reserve System?"

"A system to prevent all of the masters from teaming up and using their servants to oppose the association. It distributes another set of command seals, and allows for seven more servants to be summoned."

"To oppose the initial seven." Shishigou finished. "But can the Grail Support it?" Summoning fourteen servants would be a massive drain on any leyline.

"The Grail is positioned over Trifas, and has been gathering mana from the best leylines in Romania and the East for 40 to 50 years. It's likely it has an inexhaustible supply of prana with which to summon fourteen servants."

A simple plan then, summon seven servants with higher quality masters than anything Yggdmillennia could produce and wipe them out. That left one final question. "What happens to the Grail afterwards?"

"We'll take it for safe keeping of course, though there may be problems when mages are faced with something leading to The Root."

…There it was. No provision against actually making a wish, whatever happened afterward would be up to them. Not that he wouldn't have a recovery team ready and waiting to move in as soon as the war ended.

But still if it could grant his wish… all he had to do was work around one retrival team. He was knocked out of his thoughts by another voice.

"What if the Grail's corrupted?" Shirou Emiya asked. Shishigou'd forgotten he was there, the kid hadn't said anything since they'd started talking.

"That's why we're sending you, if the Grail is corrupted you should be able to tell, and act to prevent any disaster." Belfaban slickly replied. "Does that allay your concerns?" After he received a nod from Emiya he turned back to Shishigou and asked "So do you accept the contract?"

Corrupted? A wish granting device could be corrupted? That didn't bode well, but for his wish he'd be willing to risk it. If Shirou Emiya got in the way he'd remove him too. But leaping at the opportunity would make him look weak, so he said instead.

"I have a few more questions before I can be sure."

"Of course. Ask away?"

"What about the other masters?"

"All mages of the highest skill." He said handing over a stack of papers. "The Gum Brothers and a representative from the Clock Tower are already there. Gene Rum was in earlier and agreed to the terms, but won't be able to leave until early tomorrow. In addition we have Mr. Emiya for the Tohsaka family and you, if you accept." All first rate magi, and ones he'd worked either with or against, other than Emiya. "In addition the church will be sending a supervisor."

"Is an overseer really necessary for this war?"

The church had been chosen by the three great families to act as neutral party, and arbitrate fairly. Their interest in the 'Holy Grail' had just made it easier to get them involved. An overseer wouldn't be necessary for a clash between the two feuding organizations.

"We can't exactly exclude them. It would only trouble us more if they were to side with Yggdmillennia. We'll use this opportunity to proclaim ourselves the only legitimate thaumaturgical organization."

So the church would support the organization for now. Of course for them it would just be another way to keep the association in check.

"Second Question: you need a holy relic to act as a catalyst in summoning a servant. Have you got something prepared?"

He could summon a servant using himself as a catalyst of course, but there were risks with that he wasn't willing to take. It was likely whatever servant he summoned would be highly compatible with him, but there was also the chance those similarities would cause their relationship to splinter. It would be much more reliable to use a relic to summon a strong servant, and the association should have no shortage of powerful relics.

"Of course we have them prepared for both of you." He pulled out two ebony boxes and handed them to them. Kairi opened his to find a chunk of wood with some markings on it. He thought it was unremarkable, until he went to pick it up and felt some sort of heat within the wood.

"What is this?"

"The Round Table. Where the greatest knights once talked with one another. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee which knight will be summoned" He turned to Shirou next, who was holding the hilt of a broken sword. "That is all that remains of the sword of Spartacus, the greatest rebel in all of history. His summoning should be much more certain. Do you find them satisfactory?"

"Any Knight of the Round summoned would be a pass in my book." Shishigou said. Shirou just nodded once, though Kairi didn't miss how his eyes lingered on the fragment of the Round Table.

"I'll take that as your acceptance then." Belfaban said smirking.

Shishigou thought for a second before responding. Everything had been prepared to summoned a servant, and even though Yggdmillennnia would have summoned a servant to take advantage of their location, it wasn't and insurmountable advantage. They would have seven servants with which to do combat, and even though the other side had the same number it limited the power of any one servant.

Most importantly, though, was Shishigou's wish. One that could only be granted by an omnipotent wish granting device. Something Belfaban knew.

That decided it then. Shishigou pulled out and lit a cigarette before nodding. He took a deep drag, relishing the poison in his lungs before exhaling with just as much force. Belfaban was grimacing now, the man hated cigarettes.

"Then we have our seven masters. The Yggdmillennia clan has seven masters, and so the association shall send seven. Fourteen servants will be summoned, to fight in the Great Grail War."

A seven servant on seven servant war. Nothing in the history of the Grail Wars had ever been similar to this, it had always been a seven servant free for all. He didn't even want to think about the state Trifas would be in when the war was done.

There was only one more thing to secure. "I want half up front, if you're fine with that we can sign right now."

Belfaban frowned. "Is the contingency fee not enough?"

"Job doesn't have a very high survival rate. I'll take what I can right now."

"I take it you already have something in mind."

Shishigou got up from the sofa and walked over to the display case. Without any hesitation he lifted up the case with juvenile hydra.

"This."

"…you would be fine with a forgery?"

He nodded without hesitating. The hydra was the real deal after all. If you sold everything the Shishigou family owned it wouldn't even be worth a third of the price. Belfabans expression turned grim, but he didn't refuse.

"I'll take that as a yes then." He happily carried the Hydra's case back toward the sofa to grab his catalyst and leave.

He heard Belfaban sigh before asking Emiya "I suppose you also have a request about the contract?"

"No, the terms you and Tohsaka worked out are fine." Shirou said politely, rising.

"Off with the both of you to Romania then. I'll be in touch with the overseer. They should contact you after all the servants have been summoned."

"All right." He said as he opened the door to leave. He was hit with one last thought before he left. "What's this priests name?" An assignment this large would merit someone from the Eight Sacrament, maybe even someone well known.

"I haven't met him personally… but his name, quite ironically, is Shirou."

Shishigou turned to look at the similarly named master next to him, who just shrugged with a smile. What a small world.

After he'd closed the door to Belfaban's office he turned back to Emiya. "Guess I'll see you in Trifas then."

"Yeah, good luck." He said as he started walking away. It was the goodbye of one ally to another, and that was what they would be. At first. Shishigou had his wish, and he suspected Emiya had one as well. Eventually they'd clash over those wishes, and only one would have theirs granted. Such was the nature of the Holy Grail.

Kairi Shishigou did not meet Shirou Emiya again next in Trifas, like he expected, but instead met him sooner. Much, much sooner.

Shishigou had just settled in his seat on the plane, with all the seats adjacent to him empty (though he couldn't figure out why), and was opening the files the Association had given him on the war when he heard a not unfamiliar voice ask "Do you mind if I sit here?"

He looked up to see a familiar face, red hair, and green cardigan smiling down at him. He responded with an affirmative, and the kid started stowing his carry on above them. He sat down next to him and started reading from the same file Shishigou was. The seats around him gradually filled in as well, the passengers apparently deciding he wasn't that threatening after all. The fact the person next to him looked completely harmless probably helped a bit.

They'd taken off and been in the air for about an hour when he looked at the kid again. He'd read part of the file, the basics of the servants and classes, the remarkably simple summoning ritual and was about to get into Lord El-Melloi II's record of the Grail War before he took a break and looked at Emiya again. To his surprise the kid wasn't looking at the file, instead watching a young family a few seats in front of them with a small smile on his face.

He was about to return to the file to distract himself when he had a thought, why read an account of a Grail War when he had a first-person source right next to him. He could get all the information he needed and more from the person next to him. He cast a quick spell to block the rest of the plane from hearing him and started.

"I suppose you don't need to read a file when you've already been through a war, huh?" he said. The kid was knocked out of his daydreaming and replied "Yeah, most of its stuff I already know."

"Then give me some insider tips." He said smiling. When he saw the confused look on Emiya's face he continued. "We're all on the same side in this war, remember? Yggdmillennia have home ground, so we'll need any advantage we can get."

"That's true. What do you want to know?"

Where to start? "More about servants I suppose. I understand the classes, but any info about the servants themselves would be helpful. Legendary Heroes is a pretty broad description."

Emiya seemed to go deep into thought for a moment before saying "I guess I'd say don't forget they're people." Now it was his turn to be confused. When Emiya saw his face he chuckled a bit before continuing. "They have a reason to want the Grail, and likes and dislikes too. You have to think about your relationship with them rather than just doing things however you want. If you just think of them as a tool it won't end well."

The more Shishigou thought about it the more it made sense, in some weird way. He'd been thinking about his servant as merely a weapon to win the war, not as anything resembling a person. But the servant would be. He'd only have three command seals to compel his servant, the vast majority of actions would have to be voluntary.

The more he thought about it the more his frown deepened.

"So since I have my fragment of The Round Table I'm likely to summon a knight from Camelot. Which means they won't be open to underhanded tactics. They'll want to fight head on in honorable combat." He sighed. So much for having a strong relic, a servant that honest and straightforward might be something of a hindrance if he had to turn on the other masters to get his wish.

"I'd be willing to trade." Emiya offered.

Shishigou shook his head, smiling. But that did bring him back to another problem. Namely that Emiya's servant was far too weak. Spartacus wasn't known for his great victories or heroic efforts, but for leading a failed rebellion and fighting to the bitter end. He wasn't even that famous in Romania. He could guess that that toughness that had gotten him through his rebellions was the main reason he'd been chosen.

In the Great Grail War each servant could specialize more, rather than needing to be well rounded. His servant, which was likely to be Saber, would still be balanced, but as long as there was a tank servant others like Archer or Lancer could be more attack focused. The only possible class Spartacus could be summoned as was Berserker, he had no qualifications for any of the other classes. The class itself would buff his parameters and he could use his mindless perseverance to stand on the frontlines and draw any attack.

The problem was there were better choices, even if one was only looking at toughness. A servant with built in protections like Siegfried or Achilles would work far better to withstand the blows that would be directed at the servant. Heracles was renowned for his physical prowess and would doubtless get a huge buff from being summoned in Eastern Europe, but he had been excluded as well. The association should have had no trouble getting catalysts for any number of better defensive servants. But they hadn't. It seemed they'd given him a third-rate servant and a class that was almost useless if the alliance broke down.

All, he suspected, because of a last name. Kiritsugu Emiya might have been long dead, and his son might have inherited nothing from him but the name, but old hatreds still burned. Mages had long memories and the Magus Killer had no shortage of grudges against him. Despite professing to be greater than humanity they had no problem taking out their grudges on a child when the father wasn't available. They wouldn't act directly against him either, that would be far too common, instead they'd give him a weak servant that was only useful for one thing and crush whatever possible dream he was holding for the grail. He wouldn't be surprised if a family had contracted one of the other mercenaries to kill him after the servant died and he technically wasn't a master.

Damn he wanted a smoke, the irony of the situation almost demanded one.

It also left him with a conundrum of his own: Whether to get close to Emiya or not. On one hand, he liked the kid, he was honest, had shared information willingly, and wasn't afraid of him at all. He reminded him of her, in a way. The mage part of him disagreed though, allying closely with him would be a risky bet. If the other mages were against him standing along with him would be a problem, and his servant wouldn't have the power to help Shishigou with obtaining the Grail.

"You don't have to worry so much, most master-servant relationships turn out fine." Emiya said cutting through his thoughts. He was smiling but Shishigou could make out just a hint of concern in his eyes.

Shishigou responded with a wide grin. "My master-servant relationship'll be fine. It's yours I'm worried about. I doubt a great gladiator will want to follow someone as scrawny as you."

"Oh? Maybe I'll just use myself as a catalyst then. Get an appropriately dainty servant."

Shishigou laughed at that but it did provide an interesting possibility. Spartacus wasn't ideal, and if he'd been able to figure it out with that little thought then he bet Emiya had too. It would explain his calm about his servant and the gleam he currently had in his eyes. It also made up his mind, he wouldn't just ignore the kid. If he turned into a liability he would drop him but until then there was no point in breaking relations with him.

A path that minimized losses while maximizing gains, it was one any mage would gladly go down.

They disembarked a few hours later, as the sun was starting to set. They'd passed the rest of the time talking about Shirou's experiences in the Fifth Grail War, and Shishigou'd even learned a bit about his magecraft, a form of improved projection that interested him greatly. He hadn't been able to get much other than the projections were far more stable and long-lasting, but he'd hopefully be able to puzzle it out during the war, a skill like that would be invaluable. In exchange, all he'd had to give up was information that could be easily learned by talking to any of the other masters or reading the information in the file on him. He'd told him he was a necromancer and shared a few stories about his old jobs, though nothing that would give away his abilities.

When they both landed in Bucharest, the moment they stepped off the plane they both felt a stinging sensation on the back of their hands. Both looked down to see a set of command seals on their hands, proof they'd been accepted as masters. With that they parted ways, Shirou heading to an inn to sleep, and Shishigou to a cemetery to summon his servant.

Shirou looked at the map Rin had given him of the city. Several hotels were marked on it, along with a scrawled reminder not to let anyone but him touch his bags. The map only contained information on the hotels, neither he nor Rin had been skilled enough to get price information off the computer, so he settled for just heading to the closest one.

A more skilled magus would have been able to simply trick the manager into giving him a room, but Shirou had nowhere near that much skill, and so settled on paying the (somewhat high in his opinion) price for a room for one night.

Once he was in the room he started going through the travel bag he'd packed. A few changes of clothes, some essentials, and a bag Rin had given him were all that was inside. It was the latter he need right now. Inside were all the materials he'd need to perform the summoning. Materials for the summoning circle, a few gems, the catalyst he was supposed to use (he took that out), and a note from Rin. A perfect picture of the summoning circle, a chant in German, and the chant he was supposed to say were at the top of the paper a long with a note from Rin at the bottom.

Emiya,

I've prepared everything you should need for the summoning, since I'm certain you haven't. Make the summoning circle out of the materials provide, EXACTLY like its shown and you should be fine to summon a servant. Use the gems to establish a bounded field to keep people away. Repeat the German above after you've place four of them in a square around the summoning location while funneling prana into the fifth and it should make a bounded field to keep wandering townspeople out. There's a map of leylines on the back for you to choose a location from. Good luck.

Rin Tohsaka

P.S. Don't forget to call after you summon your Servant, Sakura's worried.

P.S.S. Don't forget to pick the gems back up after you use them, they're expensive.

Only Rin Tohsaka would attempt to micromanage that much from thousands of miles away. Besides he hadn't been completely unprepared, he had what he needed for the summoning ritual, and the chant and design were in the associations file. The leylines and bounded field would've been beyond him though, he could admit that.

He looked at the other gem Rin had given him, one that had 6:17 etched into it. Rin had stuck it on his arm and told him to wear it for 24 hours to find his time of peak magical energy. The clock nearby said 8:22 so he still had a few hours. Plenty of time to sample the local foods, the plane's food hadn't been anywhere near his standards.

It was several hours, a fair amount of Romanian food, multiple attempts at sleeping, the arrival of the seventh red master, 7 servant summonings, and one very awkward meeting with a priest before Shirou Emiya found himself climbing a hill to summon a servant. He'd chosen the hill out of all the possible locations, it felt right both for summoning her, from what he'd seen in his memories, and for him for reasons he couldn't quite explain. As far as hills went it was wholly unremarkable, it wasn't particularly tall, and its only notable feature was an ancient tree planted at the top. But still it felt right

He set the 4 gems around the hill and chanted the incantation Rin had given him while channeling prana to the fifth gem. The gem glowed before shattering, and he felt a field go up around him. He found a relatively even part of the Hill and started sketching the summoning circle. He'd memorized the chant already, including the additional line to denote the side he'd be on.

That left only one thing to do. He'd left the association's catalyst at the hotel, he'd take no chances with summoning the wrong servant, there were already far too potential problems there. Instead he focused on summoning her sword. The sword would be a projection, which meant it might call to Him just as strongly, so Shirou focused on his memories of her. They hadn't had much time together, but they had spent enough for there to be several strong memories. He took them and added them to the sword, beyond even its own history.

Caliburn fell into his hand, and he stabbed it into the ground before turning and exiting the circle. Once he was far enough out of the circle he turned back and focused once again. He focused on the image in that shed, forever burned into his memory, of her in the moonlight.

With that in mind, he began to chant.

On another hill, in another time, a knight despaired and wept.

The knight was alone, only corpses and steel for company. The strength she'd always shown in her rule had fled as well. She wept over her failure to protect her master. For whatever cursed reason she could remember everything from The Holy Grail, even the parts she'd rather never happened. She remembered the mud corrupting her, remembered attacking her master, remembered his anguished face as he'd finally ended her.

She had failed as knight, completely and utterly. For the first time, she understood Lancelot's madness. How this need to repent, to fix, to do anything to make things right could drive one insane. To not be condemned by the one you'd wronged was agony on top of that.

And so she prayed for a chance to make things right. To protect a Master and win them the Grail.

That the Grail might be corrupted didn't matter.

Her own wish barely entered her thoughts.

All she wanted was a chance to atone.

And the Holy Grail answered.

With a flash of light the Holy Grail summoned the sixth Servant of Red.

It wasn't exactly as he remembered. Her armor had changed, the dress was shorter in the front, and flared toward the back. There was more armor than he remembered, and it looked heavier. She was illuminated by the early light of dawn over the hills, rather than moonlight through a shed door. He could feel the connection between them more strongly too, a flow of prana from him to her.

But there was no doubt. The face, the sense of determination, everything about her bearing. It could be no one else. She opened her eyes and said.

"I ask of you. Are you my master?"

The moment was broken when she realized who was in front of her. Her composure cracked and she asked in a quiet voice, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing "Shirou?"

He nodded. "Its good to see you again, Saber."

He saw a smile of pure joy come to her face at that. "It is indeed."

"Though I fear you'll have to get used to calling me Rider."

AN: And we're through the summoning.

A basic rule for this fic is that if I don't mention it changed, it didn't change. Shishigou's summoning and meeting with Shirou Kotomine went roughly the same, and so there isn't any real point in just retreading cannon. Assume they went roughly the same with no major differences. Gene Rum's delay is for a reason, and it'll become clear later. Speaking of retreading sorry about the office scene after last times exposition, it need to be done to get Shishigou the information and introduce him to Shirou, but its still burdensome on the audience. No more exposition scenes for awhile, hopefully. There's been a small change to chapter 1, the last hunter I said was dead turned out to be both still alive and plot important, so I've changed it so Rin says he's alive. Sorry again.

One difference worth mentioning is who got what servants. Shirou got the Spartacus relic, which means the servants will be under different Masters. Saber is now Rider. The old Rider is now Berserker, Spartacus is gone, and everyone else is the same. I'll explain why in detail below, but it involves spoilers. The basic reason is balance and the conflict later in the story. If you want the more exact reasons go below the spoiler break. If you haven't read Apocrypha, and don't want to spoil yourself don't read it. Before that, though, two more things.

I'm aware I broke a rule with making Artoria Rider, but it had to happen. The story wasn't interesting at all if she was anything else. As a side note to the guy who asked, when I said Blue Saber I was referring to Artoria, not another faction. Her Rider armor, for reference looks like Artoria Lancers from Fate/Grand Order in her first form, minus the helmet and fur. Riding in Artoria's regular attire would be strange, and that armor looks much better for riding a horse. Shirou is dressed like he was in the last episode of Unlimited Blade Works, because it just kinda fits him.

Finally I have to give credit to CanonRap from Beasts Lair, whose translation I used/borrowed from to do the office scene. I used his word for word translation in parts and edited it in others, but I still couldn't have done it without the translation. All credit to him and his hard work for that. Now into spoiler territory.

Thanks for reading!

SPOILERS

-SPOILERS-

So Artoria is now Rider to balance the sides later in the plot. As you hopefully know Shirou Kotomine will become the vilian and it will go from Red Vs. Black to Jeanne vs Shirou. Artoria can only reasonably be summoned as Saber, Lancer, or Rider. All classes with characters that are story important. The big problem is putting her in any of those classes prevents either good character interactions or Shirou Kotomine's status as a threat. Shriou and Artoria will side with Jeanne and things get too uneven at that point. All Kotomine has at that point are either Karna or Achilles, depending on who I replace with Artoria, Atalanta, Semiramis, Shakespeare, and himself. In comparison to the completely stacked team of Jeanne, Seig, Artoria, Mordred, Shirou, and Chiron. He wasn't a real threat at that point, he needs Karna and Achilles. I tried half a dozen different ways to balance it, even trying to find an assassin for Shirou to steal to replace Black Assassin, but nothing really worked. Karna was more powerful so initially he was going to stay and so I settled on Rider Artoria. Then I realized Achilles could probably be a Berserker, confirmed it on the wiki and went into business. He went on an impressive rampage after his friends death in the Trojan War, and thats going to be the basis of his Berserker personallity. Spartacus was only important to the beginning part, and his actions could be changed/replaced and so he was cut. Sorry big guy. With that balance for the main conflict was better and the story could go on.