"Magus" – Talking

'Master' – Thoughts

"Monster" – Duel Spirits and other beasts talking

'Spirit' – Duel Spirits and other beasts thinking

"Magecraft" – Spells

[Servant] – Bond/Mental speak

Disclaimer: I don't own the Fate series, the Yugioh series, or any of their characters. I only own the plot of this story and Desmond Blake.


Holy Grail War Saga

Fourth Holy Grail War Arc

Chapter 3 – Forceful Recruitment and Justified Murder


10:15 PM, October 3rd, 1994, Shinto, Fuyuki City, Japan

Sometime after the battle at the docks, Desmond and Yubel appear on top of a building not too far away from the harbor in a tornado of darkness. Looking down below to an alley across the street, Desmond watches as his target slowly stumbles forward through the alley.

[That is the Master of Berserker?] Yubel asks, an eyebrow raised in surprise. Desmond can't blame her. Who would have thought that the Master of a BAMF like Lancelot would be someone like the cripple that Kariya is at the moment?

[Yes; that is Kariya Matou. Like I told you before, he's only participating in this tournament because Zouken Matou is holding Sakura Matou – formerly Tohsaka – hostage.] 'Not for long, though.'

[I take it his appearance is due to the Crest Worms you mentioned, Master.]

[Correct. Crest Worms are abominations that only the most twisted of people could ever come up with,] Desmond states with anger. He had never liked those things, unless they were being used as a means to torture someone that really, really deserves it. [Objectively speaking, though, they make for great torture tools.]

Feeling two new spirits forming at his right, Desmond looks to see Necroshade and Sinister Necrom bowing at him.

"Good job, you two. You're dismissed." The two Duel Spirits give Desmond a nod before disappearing back to their cards. Then, manifesting two Monster Cards, Desmond throws them to the ground before starting to chant.

"I call upon you, Elemental Hero Bladedge, and Evil Hero Malicious Edge! Come before your king!"

From the cards, two magic circles appear before two new Monsters take form. One is a muscular male wearing golden armor with forearm blades and a bull-like helmet. The other is smaller and thinner than the first, has purple-black skin, and wears a getup full of spikes.

""I've answered your call, my liege. What is thy command?"" The two 'edgy' Monsters ask at the same time as they bow before their king.

"I want you two to keep busy the spirit guarding the man that I'm will be facing in a moment. Fight only to cripple, not kill."

""Understood/As you wish, my lord/my liege,"" the Duel Monsters reply in unison.


10:19 PM, October 3rd, 1994, Shinto, Fuyuki City, Japan

(Kariya's POV)

Pain is something that Kariya Matou had grown accustomed to over the past year. Having worms literally crawling inside you is not only disgusting on so many levels, but incredibly painful. Few are those that would survive the procedure of bonding with the damned bugs; that Sakura did despite her young age goes to show just how durable that girl is.

'Sakura…' Kariya thought to himself. 'You should have never had to go through that.' Determination flared behind Kariya's remaining eye as he renewed to himself his promise to save Sakura. Said determination soon transformed into hatred. 'It's all Tokiomi's fault! That bastard knew about the Crest Worms! I told him myself! Even still he sent Sakura to Zouken! I'll make him pay for what he sentenced his daughter to!'

Feeling his body spasm with pain again, Kariya leaned against the wall that he had been using as support while walking through the alley. Raising his hand, Kariya looked at his Command Seals. "And, with Berserker on my side, my vengeance is guaranteed."

"Unfortunately, you won't live long enough to kill Tokiomi Tohsaka."

"Who's there!?" Kariya shouted with wide eyes as he looked around the alley for the owner of the voice. Berserker quickly materialized himself to protect his Master and glared at the intersection at the end of the alley. From the shadows there, someone that Kariya only saw through his Servant's eyes came forward.

"Caster!"

"Greetings, Kariya Matou. It's a pleasure to meet you," Caster replied with a disarming smile. He then looked directly at Berserker. "How are you doing, Sir Lancelot? That was a nasty bump you took from Iskandar's chariot."

Kariya's eyes widened in shock at hearing Caster refer to Berserker by his True Name. "How!? How do you know Berserker's identity? His Noble Phantasm should make it impossible to recognize him!"

Caster smirked back at Kariya as he replied, "Now, that would be telling–" He was cut off by Berserker, who grew tired of all the talking and rushed forward to attack his fellow Servant.

Caster remained still, not moving an inch even as Berserker got ever closer. Before the Mad Servant could cover more than half of the distance between them, however, two individuals appeared in front of Berserker, shocking Kariya. All that he managed to see about them before they moved was that one was muscled and wore a golden attire, while the other was lean and wore a spiked outfit. In the next second, both individuals grabbed Berserker and flew away.

"Berserker!" Kariya shouted in shock as his Servant was taken away. Then, before he could do anything else, tendrils of darkness rose from the ground and wrapped him up. "Shit! Let me go, you bastard!"

"Apologies, Kariya. As it is, I need Sir Lancelot for my plans," Caster told him. "Don't worry, though; I will kill Zouken, save Sakura, and kill Tokiomi for you, in that order."

"What!? How-" Whatever he was going to ask was cut off as Kariya noticed another individual, this time a female one that looked quite demonic, fly down and land behind Caster.

"Is it done?" The Servant of Spells asked as he turned his head to look over his shoulder at the demon.

"Yes, my lord. Berserker is now yours to command."

"Good. Thank you, Yubel."

"I live to serve you, Master Desmond."

Kariya couldn't believe it. This had to be a nightmare. To lose his only way to save Sakura and make Tokiomi pay for his crime so soon… No, he refused to believe it!

"LIES! YOU LIE! LET ME GO, YOU SON OF BITCH! I HAVE TO SAVE SAKURA!"


10:22 PM, October 3rd, 1994, Shinto, Fuyuki City, Japan

Looking at the shouting Kariya with pity as he tried to free himself from his Darkness Chains, Desmond channels darkness to the end of his right index finger, concentrating it into a small sphere as he points it at Berserker's former Master.

"My condolences, Kariya Matou. May you find happiness in your next life."

"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ZOUKEN! I'LL KILL TOKIOMI! I'LL KILL YOU ALL AND SEND YOU TO HELL!"

Those were the last words of Kariya Matou before Desmond fired his Darkness Bullet. The projectile went straight through Kariya's head, a look of pure hatred engraved on his face to show what he felt in his last moments.

With a sigh, Desmond gives his next orders to Yubel. "Take his body to the church. Make sure no one sees you."

"Yes, my lord."

As the Fiend-Type Duel Spirit grabs Kariya's dead body and takes off, Desmond flies to a rooftop nearby. There he finds Bladedge and Malicious Edge looking over a kneeling Berserker. To Desmond's eyes and senses, the Mad Servant seems to be fading away and is losing mana quite rapidly.

Upon noticing his presence, the Warrior-Type and Fiend-Type Heroes turn their attention to Desmond and bow their heads.

""My lord.""

"At ease. He hasn't moved since Yubel bewitched his mind, correct?"

"Yes, my lord," Bladedge replies.

"Good." Desmond then walks closer to the kneeling Berserker. "Sir Lancelot, you are without a Master now. I offer you service under myself until you either perish in battle or this Holy Grail War finishes. Do you accept?"

The Servant of Madness raises his head to look at Desmond, his red visor now orange. Sir Lancelot nods in confirmation of his acceptance and Command Seals appear on Desmond's right hand in a red glow.

Looking at his new Command Seals, which look like the "H" symbol of the HERO archetype, Desmond smirks.

"Just as according to plan."


11:10 PM, October 3rd, 1994, Matou Residence, Miyama Town, Fuyuki City, Japan

With the night still young, Desmond decided to expedite his promise to Kariya. Once Yubel returned from her trip to Fuyuki General, Desmond dismissed Bladedge and Malicious Edge and led Yubel to their current location.

At present, Desmond, with Yubel by his side, is floating above the mansion of the evilest piece of shit in all of fiction that he ever read about. Manifesting a blue-green card in his hand, Desmond channels prana into the card, causing it to glow.

"Your days in the land of the living are over, Zouken Matou."

Throwing the card down at the mansion, Desmond calls out its name to activate it.

"Heavy Storm!"

From the glowing card, a torrent of wind is let loose, quickly turning into a massive tornado that fell upon the Matou Residence. Strangely enough, the ferocious winds don't damage the mansion in the slightest. This is expected, of course, as the objective of these winds is not physical damage, but magical. In the Duel Monsters card game, Desmond's Spell Card has a simple effect – 'destroy all Spell and Trap Cards on the field'. As a real-life spell, this card's effect translates to 'destroy all magic in the blast radius'.


11:11 PM, October 3rd, 1994, Matou Residence, Miyama Town, Fuyuki City, Japan

(Zouken's POV)

Zouken Matou wasn't surprised by much these days. With over five hundred years of life experience under his belt, he could say that he had forgotten about more than any person – barring exceptional people – would ever learn. He had also amassed an enormous amount of knowledge, be it mundane or mystical. In short, very few things in the world nowadays could surprise him.

Kariya coming back after the boy all but burned his ties with his family hadn't surprised Zouken. The man knew about his son's affections towards Tokiomi's wife and the Tohsaka scions and the brat would do anything to 'save' them from Zouken's clutches. Speaking of Tohsaka, getting Tokiomi to let him adopt one of his girls had been quite easy. A word here, a comment there, and the man was giving the life of his second-born away to someone that Tokiomi knew – or at the very least suspected – was a monster. Truly, that man was more of a Magus than a father.

Zouken also wouldn't be surprised if Kariya lost the war. With old age came wisdom and an appreciation for long term planning. Kariya was a side project, a step in the main plan. No, Sakura was where Zouken was putting a good portion of his bets. The first step of breaking the girl had been easy enough. Still, Zouken knew that Kariya coming back had given her a sample of hope of being freed. And Zouken didn't mind that, he had expected it even. A person only really breaks when you give them hope and then take it away.

Getting back on track, Zouken hadn't known what shock felt like in a long, long time. Having all of his mansion's magical defenses destroyed – not simply broken, but completely annihilated – at the same time isn't something he had ever thought could happen. Thankfully, with a long life span also came a lot of experience in emotional control, so Zouken quickly overcame his shock. Getting up from his bed, Zouken created a clone made of his Blood Worms and sent it to meet with the intruder while he went down to his workshop in the basement through a secret passage he had built into the mansion. He had centuries of experience with this particular spell, so controlling two bodies at the same time was as easy as breathing.

As soon as his second body arrived at the entrance hall of his mansion, Zouken watched as the doors were blasted off their hinges and sent to collide with the walls on either side of the staircase.

'How uncouth. Clearly whoever this invader is, they are not from a noble family. No rich snob of a magus would ever act so brutishly.'

His vision as good as that of a cat's in the dark, Zouken watched as an armored figure made its way inside his mansion. Having been in the presence of a Servant more than once, Zouken easily recognized the feeling of the armored knight's aura. And considering that they looked nothing like Berserker, this left only one possibility towards the intruder's identity.

"What right do you have to so rudely invade my home, Caster?" Zouken asked through his second body at the top of the staircase.

"I'd return that question by asking what right you have to live, you piece of shit, but we already know the answer to that, don't we?" Caster replied as he looked up at Zouken, who smirked back.

"Is your Master that egotistical to think there won't be retribution for this blatant attack?"

"As much as you are for thinking that you'd never get punished for all the crimes you have committed through your very long life. Or is it unlife? You may be no vampire, technically at least, but you sure aren't a living human either, mongrel."

Though he made sure it didn't show in his facial expression, Zouken was once again surprised that someone else knew enough about his method of prolonging his life to compare him to a Dead Apostle. He had never shared his secrets with anyone so someone knowing his biggest secret shocked him for the second time in less than ten minutes.

"Such hostility. Whatever have I done to your Master for him to send you seeking revenge in his name?"

"You had a little girl, a child, raped by your disgusting worms. If nothing else, that is more than enough reason to kill you as painfully as possible. Unfortunately, you are much too useful for me to kill. Besides, I really want to perform a certain experiment, and you are the perfect lab rat."

Zouken chuckled. "You will have to catch me first, Caster."

"I intend to," Caster replied before turning into black mist.

Though surprised once again, Zouken had too much experience under his belt to let his guard down, especially when his opponent is a Servant. Having had his second body reinforced the moment Caster had burst in, Zouken managed to jump to the side once he saw, through the worms that formed the back of his body, Caster reform behind him. While in mid-air, the once Makiri Zolgen sent a bunch of Blade Wing Worms from his sleeves at Caster.

With a swing of his arm, Caster sent blades of darkness at the flying bugs and killed all of them. He then ran at Zouken, who tried to jump away again but found his feet stuck to the ground. Looking down, Zouken saw that his second's body's feet were trapped in shadows. Looking up at the Servant in front of him, Zouken was surprised once again when Caster showed him a blue-green card.

"Brain Control!" The card glowed and Zouken lost control of his second body.

Down in his workshop, which is beside his Worm Pit and was once hidden by a powerful Bounded Field, Zouken Matou grunted at having lost his second body.

"Damned Caster. Even with my trump card, I'm not too sure of my chances. Better I retreat now. Too bad I don't have time to grab Sakura."

Along with the hidden passage he had built in his room that led to his workshop, Zouken had also build another secret passage that connected his workshop to a plot of land outside Fuyuki, to act as an escape route in the event something like what happened tonight ever came to pass.

Getting up from where he sat behind his desk, Zouken turned around and came face-to-face with what he could only call a demoness. His eyes widening in shock for the fifth time that night, Zouken saw the demoness' eyes glow orange.

"You shall obey the Supreme King."

"…Yes, Mistress."


11:18 PM, October 3rd, 1994, Matou Residence, Miyama Town, Fuyuki City, Japan

(Sakura's POV)

There were moments that Sakura Matou, formerly Tohsaka, would never forget.

The day that Tokiomi – for she had stopped calling him 'Father' a long time ago – gave her away to the Matou is one of them. The way she was treated as a possession; being given away just because she was born second to Rin because Tokiomi feared that she and Rin would fight over who should inherit the Magic Crest of the Tohsaka… She will never forget nor forgive Tokiomi for that. Just like she will never forgive nor forget Aoi or Rin, both of whom did not fight for her and let that bastard send her away to hell.

The day that she was first sent to the Worm Pit is another that Sakura will never forget. The feeling of being violated by hundreds of worms for hours upon hours. The pain, both physical and emotional. The way the worms burrowed into her. Zouken's laugh echoing across the pit as he laughed at her screams and taunted her cries for help, for someone to come and save her.

This day is another that Sakura will never forget. Being woken up by the sound of ferocious winds outside and the sound of things being broken outside her room wasn't something that she had expected to happen. The smidge that remained of Sakura Tohsaka wanted to believe that it was her family coming to save her, but her murmurs were drowned by Sakura Matou.

Hearing her door being opened, Sakura expected to see Zouken enter. Instead, what she could only call a she-demon entered her room. Her appearance would send any child into terror, but Sakura had stopped being a child the moment she stepped into the Matou Residence. Instead, she looked at the three-eyed demoness with a look so blank that one couldn't be blamed for thinking she was a lifeless doll.

"Hello. Have you come to take me to Hell?" Any sense of hope or optimism had long since been beaten out of her by Zouken, so that was the only logical reason for a demon to come to her room, in Sakura's opinion.

The demoness looked at her with a raised eyebrow, probably surprised that she wasn't shaking in the corner, crying and screaming like a six years old girl normally would in such a situation.

"No, I'm here to take you to my Master. We're taking you away from Zouken Matou for good."

The moment Sakura heard those words, she concluded that she was dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time that she had dreamt of being saved, though that it was a demoness doing so instead of Rin or Uncle Kariya was new and a bit ironic. Nonetheless, Sakura went along with it. Deciding to enjoy the dream for as long as it lasted, she nodded to the demoness and let herself be grabbed and lifted into her arms.

For a creature of Hell, the demoness was very tender in her hold, almost motherly. Such a feeling was almost foreign to Sakura at this point. The last time she felt such warmth was from Aoi, long before she was given to the Matou like an unwanted doll.

Looking up at her savior, Sakura decided to mind her manners, even if she was dreaming.

"What is your name?"

"Yubel," the she-demon replied as she took Sakura out of her bedroom. As Yubel walked through the mansion, Sakura quickly recalled the path they were taking and that its destination would lead to the Pit. Even as she didn't show it, dread filled Sakura. She had been too optimistic, too naïve. A demon saving her? No, it seemed that not even in her dreams could she hope for salvation.

However, as Yubel approached the door that led to the Pit, Sakura smelt something that made a small part of her dread turn into confusion: smoke. Specifically, she smelled something burning. And, once Yubel opened the door, Sakura felt something that she hadn't felt in quite a while: pure shock.

Down below, the whole pit was on fire. Purple flames devoured the hundreds of worms, letting none escape their hunger. The creatures that terrified Sakura like nothing else could, except for Zouken, were being burned until not even ashes remained.

"Ah, I see you have brought our little damsel in distress, Yubel," Sakura heard someone say, their voice deep and gravy. It was then that Sakura managed to break her gaze away from the flames and notice that someone was standing in front of them at the top of the stairs.

He, for such a deep voice could only belong to a man, stood clad in an armor of the deepest black Sakura had ever seen. The golden trim made a great contrast with the black, making it pop to the attention of any observer. The red cape added a touch of royalty to the armor, making the man look like a demonic king when one took into account the crown-like helmet and the spiked pauldrons.

All of this went over Sakura's mind. All of her attention was instead on whom stood in front of the armored man. Being held up by what seemed like living shadows was a beaten and bloody Zouken. Such an image shocked Sakura to her core. For the past year, this monster had been her boogeyman; the thing that terrified her so much that she couldn't sleep for the first week of her new life at the Matou Residence without having a nightmare. To seem him so weak, so vulnerable went against everything that Sakura had come to believe since Zouken had broken her. It was impossible, and it was that impossibility that made Sakura recall that this was all a dream; a very vivid dream.

"Rejoice, Sakura Matou! Today, your nightmare ends!" The black knight boldly declared before he turned to the barely alive Zouken. "May you burn in Hell for all of your sins and feel all of the pain that you have dealt to every innocent person you come by, you bag of shit." His piece said, the black knight then commanded the shadows to let go of Zouken before he spartan kicked the monster down to the burning pit below.

As she heard the screams of pain from Zouken as he was burned alongside his worms, Sakura knew one thing…

Dream or not, she would never forget this moment.


Shorter than I would like, but I thought that this was the best spot to stop at.

So, not what you were expecting is it? As I pointed in the past chapters, Desmond is a gangster, so don't expect him to act like a hero. He's more of an anti-hero at the moment, for now at least. I also hope you liked the small fight scene between him and Zouken. I was split between making it bigger than it was or not. Zouken is over five hundred years old, so he should know tons of spells, dangerous wards, and all kinds of magecraft. The wards, however, were sent flying thanks to Desmond's Spell Card – hope you liked how the effect translates to real-life combat – and the spells, he forgot most of them due to his declining sanity. Now, I also believe that, as the inventor of Command Spells, he would have a way to deal with Servants; he is the guy that made that book that Shinji used to command Medusa after all. However, something like what I imagine he would have would take time to use or set up, time that he did not have because Desmond did not underestimate him as most Servants would.

Now, I have to admit that Zouken's and Sakura's P. were what I liked most about writing this chapter. Must be because I'm more at home writing in the third person.

Also, I hope I didn't make Sakura OOC. Do keep in mind that this is six years old Sakura, not the sixteen years old that we are used to.

Well, I don't have anything else to say besides please leave a review, favorite and follow this story if you haven't already. See you all next chapter.

Ja ne!