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Clarent Blood Arthur: A Fate/Stay Night Fanfiction
Chapter 8: A Knight's Pledge
"Ryuudo-kun!"
"Huh?" Issei, who had just walked past the school gates, turned to see the new foreign student known as Leticia Chevalier Delacroix.
As the girl who spilled her bento on him, she certainly made an impression. Even now he smelled like pasta, notably with a hint of oregano and basil thrown in.
"Ah, Delacroix-san!" He greeted her in a surprised tone of voice, understandable due to the fact that not many students stick around around this time of day "What are you still doing here? Students aren't allowed here after curfew, you know."
"I ought to ask you the same thing, Student Council President-san~." The french maiden shot back with a teasing wink.
"Okay, you got me there." Issei sighed while he folded his arms across his chest, his expression thoughtful "If you must know, I had to do some last minute tasks before heading out ten minutes ago."
"I see..." Leticia thought, letting a subtle sigh of relief that Issei didn't detect "That was well before Archer and Rider began their duel."
"Now talk." Issei spoke in his usual stern tone of voice "What are you still doing here, Delacroix-san?"
"Please, call me Leticia. As for what I was doing here, well..." She put a finger on her chin, her expression thoughtful before turning to Issei with a demure smile "I just wanted to get to know my surroundings better."
"That's an odd way of doing so." Issei shrugged, but did not lose his cool facade to the french exchange student "Anyway, considering current events, I think it's best if you went home now, Delacro- I mean, Leticia. Where do you live?"
"Hmm..." She scrunched her brow in thought "I'm staying in an apartment complex in eastern Shinto, near the church on the hill, if I remember right."
"I see." The megane Student Council President nodded thoughtfully. Even if the location in question was well out of his way, he simply couldn't bring himself to leave a girl (and a a foreign one at that) all by herself in a town she had only known for at least a few days, especially with the mysterious murders going about.
"God, I sound so much like Emiya right now." He mentally groaned, his dismayed expression causing the girl to cock her head to the side in confusion. "Very well," he coughed to clear his throat and, mostly, his mind "I can at least take you as far as the bus stop. Will that be alright, Leticia?"
"That would be fine, thanks!" She answered with a smile so warm that the normally stern Issei felt his cheeks redden.
"N-no problem..." He muttered as he beckoned her to follow him. What he did not notice was her looking back to the school, the setting sun casting it's shadow on the building. While her expression was mostly calm and composed, the small frown on her face told much about her anxiety.
"I have done my part. It's all up to you now."
"That's...That's Lancelot? The Servant I was supposed to summon?"
Ilya watched as the Knight of the Lake stood tall against his most hated foe. "H-how can this be?" She asked, her eyes wide in shock due to this turn of events "All the Seven Servants have been summoned, so there shouldn't be any more...right?"
His usual stoic expression had now been distorted into a mask of rage, and who can blame him? Before him stood the object of his scorn, the reason Camelot fell to ruin.
Mordred, the Knight of Treachery and Berserker of the 5th Holy Grail War. Her reaction to this revelation?
She laughed.
All Masters present simply stared at Berserker, who was clutching her sides, shaking and laughing maniacally, as if something snapped inside her.
"Berserker..." Ilya murmured with a worried look on her face.
"How ironic!" The Knight of Treachery grinned malevolently, her glowing red orbs locked onto Lancelot like a beast eyeing it's prey "Not only do I have the chance to slay my 'father', but I also get this opportunity to slay her lapdog as well." Shirou would later note the wild look she had in her eyes "I consider myself fortunate to be a Servant in this War!"
"Silence, cur!" The black knight all but snarled at her "If I had been at Camlann, I would have made sure you did not even reach our king!"
"But you weren't there, were you?"
Lancelot felt her words cut into his heart, the cold reality of his folly sinking its fangs deep into his soul "No, you were exiled." Berserker continued with a nasty sneer "All because the dog had to bite the master's hand. You simply couldn't help yourself, couldn't you? When you ravished Queen Guinevere and murdered her jailers, all of them fellow knights! In fact, one of them was brother to-!"
The red knight was not given a chance to finish her sentence, having to defend from a sudden overhead strike from the enraged Lancelot. Even as she held a deadlock with but a single hand with Clarent in a reverse grip, she did not lose her grin.
"The time for talking is done." Lancelot growled, his wrath evident in the fire in his eyes "I will see to it that you do not lay a hand on our king ever again!"
Berserker forced him back with a single push. Still holding her blade in a reverse grip she placed it behind her while the other hand was being used to beckon him, matching the mocking smirk she wore on her face.
"Then come at me, Knight of the Lake!"
And thus did the clash between Berserkers began. Not needing any more prompting, Lancelot moved first, closing the distance quickly and bringing down Arondight with both hands with a powerful overhead strike. Berserker responded in kind by raising her own weapon to shield herself from the worst of the blow.
"Rrah!" She roared as she pushed her opponent back again. This time, she pressed her advantage and charged forward, swinging Clarent wildly with a single hand. Lancelot met her blow for blow, both Clarent and Arondight moving so quickly they looked like splashes of black and red crashing into each other in a frenzy, the sound of steel echoing in the clearing like thunder.
"Unbelievable..." Shirou murmured, leaning on Rin for support as he watched this magnificently brutal duel. It was always awe-inspiring to see to Heroic Spirits clash like this, but a battle of this magnitude was still quite amazing to the lad.
Rin and Ilya, however, were studying this match intently. They both noted that Lancelot was making full use of his height, using that and the length of Arondight to keep Berserker at a distance. It was also note-worthy that the Knight of the Lake was keeping pace with her frenzied assault.
"But Berserker's got the upper leg in brute strength, hasn't she?" Rin thought while gritting her teeth. That much was also true; Berserker's swings had a lot more power than her smaller appearance would suggest. Madness Enhancement alone was able to empower her and force Lancelot back a few steps.
This of course, escalated quickly as Berserker decided to reinforce a nasty baseball swing with Prana Burst. The result was Lancelot flying several meters deep into the forest, taking down more than a few trees on his way.
"Berserker's so amazing!" Ilya thought with a wide, child like grin. So what if the enemy before her was the greatest Knight of the Round? Her Berserker will take on all comers!
The Servant wasted little time, practically sprinting to where Lancelot crashed and leaped into the air with sword raised in both hands, intending to land the killing blow here and now.
Note her surprise as she came down, Clarent clashing with Arondight instead of digging into his flesh.
"Disappointed?" Despite having been knocked off his feet by the devastating attack, Lancelot managed to keep a formidable guard, smirking as he pushed his opponent back. Berserker ended up landing on her feet, skidding on the ground until she came to a halt. The look of annoyance in her face was visible.
"Quite. The fact that you have the gall to stay on your feet is a good reason why." The scowl she wore was quickly replace by another manic grin "But that would take the fun out of defeating you, now won't it?"
As exciting as watching two sworn enemies clashing in a duel to the death sounds, let us turn our attention to the two other Servants that were conducting their own battle within the school grounds at that same time.
The doors to the track field burst open as Rider executed several somersaults, all of them to avoid the speeding arrows Archer was sending her way.
"Heh, even if Shinji's the one's pulling her strings, she's still damn fast." Archer grunted as he walked out the door, a bow in his left hand and a strange looking arrow on the right as Rider landed and went into a crouching position "Goes to show that Medusa the Gorgon's no pushover."
He did not have time to ponder on that point, as Rider dashed toward him, kicking the ground beneath her for a great burst of speed. The red-clad Counter Guardian clicked his tongue in annoyance, quickly firing a shot before casting aside his bow.
The purple-haired Servant shifted her body to the right to avoid the speeding projectile and used that momentum to close in on her opponent in a corkscrew dive, her mane trailing behind her to create the image of a purple drill.
Just before her daggers could find their mark, they were met with a quickly projected Kanshou and Byakuya, the two falchions working in tandem to knock each weapon to the side. This opening in her defenses allowed Archer the time to deliver a swift kick to her abdomen, putting enough force into it to stagger her.
"Trace: Over Edge!" He growled as he reinforced his two blades, each of them grown several inches longer in length as their over-all appearance changed, each sword resembling a wing.
The Servant intended to bring both falchions down with a forceful overhead swing. Not wanting to get bifurcated, Rider raised both her spikes to defend.
Archer's swords, due to the rushed nature of his projection, shattered upon impact. Even then, Rider's superior strength (even with Shinji holding her back) would be more than enough to push him back.
"Damn it!" He cursed mentally as Rider's lips curled into a small smirk. He quickly projected another pair in a rush to defend himself from the daggers thrust at his chest.
Had Rider been acting under her true Master, he would have been dead by now. Thankfully, Shinji's incompetence worked in his favor, as he was able to deflect the nails before they could pierce his heart. This was due to Rider being a bit slower due to her inferior Master, something she found distasteful.
Archer smirked as he swung her spikes aside, making use of this opportunity to leap back and create some space between the two of them.
"Impressive." Rider stated as she went into a crouching position once more "I would have enjoyed this more if my Master was not so inept."
"Oddly, I find myself agreeing with you." Archer smirked back, gripping his falchions tighter in his hand. He thought of Projecting something else more suited for her in particular, but...
"No, using Harpe at this stage would reveal my hand." He sighed as he reared up to throw Byakuya, Rider immediately tensing her body for a dodge. "I'd rather no one knew what I'm exactly capable of...yet."
Both stopped in their tracks, unable to finish their intended actions, when they felt the incredibly spike of magical energy coming from the forest.
"That's..." Rider murmured as she turned her blindfolded gaze at that direction "That's where my Master is hiding..."
Archer just nodded; he knew because he managed to glimpse that little worm from the rooftop earlier. He also knew that his Master and past self were probably there. The question now was: Which Servants were there? Caster would probably still be in her mountain, along with her Master and Assassin. Lancer was also not a possibility; Kotomine was too cautious a man to take that kind of risk. As for 'Leticia', he didn't think she nor her companion would get involved in a battle of Servants, if their claims to be observers were anything to go by.
That left about three others left: Emiya must've drawn Saber in (which worked for him, as the boy probably used a Command Spell), so all that left was who she was fighting against. Gilgamesh would not make himself shown at this stage of the game due to his arrogance. That only left...
"Oh shit."
Without warning Archer began sprinting for the clearing, Rider following behind him. The fighting had ceased at that point, as protecting their respective Masters had taken priority above all else. There was only one Servant he could see fighting Saber and, if what Rin had told him is to be believed, it was the one who had every reason to be out for her blood.
And as formidable as Saber was, she had no chance against Berserker as she was now. At least, unless she utilized Excalibur.
"Of all times to be proactive, it had to be now, Ilya!" The red-clad Counter Guardian cursed as he rushed past the Archery building "Use your Command Seal, Rin! SUMMON ME!"
Archer was right on one count; One of the Servants fighting right now was definitely Berserker.
What he didn't count on was Leticia having a second bodyguard; the black clad "L" who revealed himself as Sir Lancelot, the greatest of the Knight of the Round Table.
As for their clash, it was as glorious as expected from two warriors of their caliber; the very earth trembled when their blades met, cascades of red and black flashing like lightning under the setting sun, the minds and hearts of their wielders simply oozing with killing intent.
Considering this was a battle between Berserkers, such intensity was to be expected.
"Yes!" The Knight of Treachery growled with unconcealable glee, her body becoming an extension to her maddened state as she swung Clarent left and right in a wild series of strokes. Her eyes, normally a lush green like Saber's, emitted an eerie red glow due to Madness Enhancement "This was the kind of battle I had longed for! I will definitely enjoy myself when I kill 'father', but I shall take pleasure in claiming your head first, 'old friend'!"
"You...are nothing but a traitor!" Lancelot responded with a forceful grunt, pushing Berserker off him and taking the offensive "You fashion yourself her heir?!" Despite his rage, he maintained the grace and poise expected of a knight, attacking with swift yet precise blows that kept her on her guard "A worthy successor to her throne?! You are nothing!"
Every swing forced Berserker to take a step back. She who had been on the attack was now forced to defend. While she was able to save herself from the more fatal strike, Lancelot was able to score hits; a gash on her left waist, a cut on her left arm, all this and more was wearing the Servant down, much to Ilya's dismay.
"Berserker, hang on!" the young homunculus was genuinely worried, just about ready to cast a healing spell when she saw a small glimmer of light shimmering in front of her. To a normal man, those would be simply jewels that were flying towards her, a desperate attempt by Tohsaka to keep her from acting.
Fortunately for Ilya, she sensed the dangerous amounts of mana stored within them, each of them primed to explode like grenades. She quickly manipulated her wires to form a barrier that enveloped her, shielding her from the resulting blast.
"Tohsaka..." She gritted her teeth as the wires disassembled, revealing the smirking twin-tailed magus.
"Tch, I actually wanted to take her out." Rin gritted her teeth, her feral smile hiding her disappointment. "Sit this one out, Shirou." She said without facing him, instead turning her focus to the scowling silver-haired girl "I'll take care of this runt!"
"Tohsaka, wait-!" Shirou was unable to stop her from leaping into action, taking out more charged jewels from her unform pockets and tossing them at Ilya, who formed another shield with Transmutation.
"You..." The girl growled once she had blocked another attack, red marks glowing all over her body as she responded in kind with a powerful blast of magical energy headed straight for Rin "Don't get in my way!"
"Woah!" Rin was barely able to duck under the blast composed of sheer mana, watching as it collided and ripped a tree in half.
"What a dangerous little girl." she gritted teeth, but that did not deter her as she as she fired a Gandr shot that bounced harmlessly off Ilya's transmuted shield, thus beginning a battle between the Masters of Tohsaka and Einzbern.
"Ilya!" Berserker called out to her Master out of concern, making the huge mistake of shifting her focus away from Lancelot, causing her to take a misstep that took her off-balance, giving the black knight an opening.
"You are nothing but a pretender!" Lancelot growled as he took his chance and brought Arondight down in a two handed swing with every intention of splitting her in half "In the name of King Arthur,I sentence you to death!"
"BERSERKER!" Ilya shrieked in concern, unable to cast act due to having to defend herself from Rin. From the eyes of every Master present, she was done for.
Imagine the look on their faces when Berserker managed to shift her body just enough so that Arondight sunk into her armored shoulder plate instead, the ebony long sword penetrating the steel and cutting into her flesh.
For that moment, there was absolute silence, all fighting had ceased as they witnessed the scene. Such stillness that the rustling of leaves was audible, as was the footsteps of the approaching Archer and Rider.
"You...say I am a traitor? A pretender?" Mordred growled, her feral grin now a scowl as she gripped Arondight's blade with her gauntleted left hand "Tell me, Sir Lancelot...Why did the people rebel? Why did I lead an insurrection against our king in the first place?"
Once she saw that he did not answer her, she saw it fit to continue while attempting to shove the blade that had dug into her shoulder off "I will tell you: For all the claims that she was a righteous, pious king, she did not understand the people's suffering."
"And you claim to?"
"Aye, I do." Berserker shot back with a defiant smirk, blood beginning to flow from her shoulder as she was slowly but surely extracting the sword "As a knight under her service, all I had done was to earn her approval. I, like her people, yearned only to be acknowledged and for the king's love and understanding. And did we get it? Nay!"
"Berserker..." Ilya murmured, sensing the emotion backing her words.
Shirou, for his part, was watching mystified by what he what witnessing. "Did Saber really..." he pondered for a moment, but decided it would be best to ask her later.
"All we have gotten was condemnation from a king whose lofty ideals deemed her above the masses she swore to protect! I, who share the people's scorn, know this!" Berserker continued, making no effort to hide her bitterness as she was finally able to yank Arondight from her left shoulder and push him back, the blood trickling freely from her wound matching the glow from her eyes. Her voice was dripping with fury now, leaving her foe unable to speak with her next words "So I ask you now, Sir Lancelot; who is the pretender?!"
She clenched Clarent with her good arm, heaving with all her might as she swung in a powerful arc that bore the full brunt of her wrath. With a mighty roar, she shouted at the top of her lungs:
"WHO IS THE BETRAYER?!"
Lancelot answered with his own cry, using both hands to swing Arondight with all his might.
"This next blow..."
"Decides this battle." Ilya and Rin murmured at the same time, both of them transfixed by what they were witnessing along with Shirou, who was struggling to stay on his feet, and Shinji, who was cowering behind a tree while waiting for Rider to save him.
Sure enough, the loud clanging of steel sounded out, signifying that blades have indeed struck. However, there were no expressions of triumph; only shock when they saw that a man with blonde hair and clad in armor white came between them, a third sword holding both Clarent and Arondight downward so that neither could be raised.
"You certainly misbehaved, didn't you Sir Lancelot?" The blonde looked at the black knight with a teasing smile.
"Gawain..."
There were various looks of disbelief coming from both Masters and Servants who had just arrived alike, all with varying reactions.
"No way..." Ilya murmured, her ruby red orbs widened in shock.
"Gawain?!" Rin squawked in annoyance much to the chagrin of Shirou and Archer, the latter who had arrived by her side the same time Rider began tending to Shinji who was all but shivering in fear due what was unfolding before his eyes "The Knight of the Sun and of the Round Table?! THAT Gawain?!"
"Good to see you too, Master. I'm glad you're well enough to rattle my eardrums." Archer answered in his usual snarky tone, earning him a slap on the arm from his Master. He turned to where the three knights of Camelot of standing, his jesting smirk vanishing immediately once he saw the blonde.
"Do not stop me, Gawain." Lancelot grunted as he struggled to wrench his sword free from the three-way deadlock "Do not deny me my chance of redemption again!"
"Rest assured, we will avenge our king." Gawain spoke while he shot a brief glare at Berserker "But do you remember what our duty is? What we pledged under her service as knights, vowing to do what is just not for ourselves, but for this world?"
"I..."
"Then for the sake of that pledge, stay your blade for now." The other knight implored him with smile "Our role as her enforcers dictate that we cannot directly involve ourselves in this war, after all."
"...Very well."
With a scowl, Lancelot wrenched his blade free as soon as Gawain released his own. With one swing, he dematerialized Arondight and stood to the side, keeping a wary glare at his hated foe. Berserker for her part fell on one knee and used Clarent as a support, the injuries she had sustained taking their toll on the Servant.
"Berserker!" Ilya ran to the red-clad knight's side, her worry plastered on her tiny features as she tried to support her.
"I am fine, milady." Berserker murmured back, her pride refusing to allow her to succumb. With a scowl, she looked up to see Gawain. Should their eyes have met, the red glow on hers was gone, replaced by those lush green orbs characteristic to Saber "What...are you doing here?"
"I will be getting to that in a minute." He spoke before turning to all the Servants from Archer to Rider, staring at them intently before speaking in a loud, clear voice "Hear me, Servants of the 5th Holy Grail War! As decreed by Servant Ruler, I declare this battle at an end!"
"Servant...Ruler?" Shirou asked stupefied. He had turned to Rin for answers, only to see the same dumbfounded expression not only on her face, but on everyone else's save for Lancelot's.
"That's impossible!" Shinji spoke for the first time since this entire fight began, trying to keep up his haughty appearance despite his quivering legs making it difficult for him to stand "Are you telling me that there are EIGHT Servants in this War?!" This was a statement Ilya found herself agreeing to.
"I am, and you would do well to remember it, Master of Matou." Gawain shot him a glare that rooted him in his place "For now, all Masters and Servants are to cease battles for the night and return to their homes. Any violation of this decree will be dealt with accordingly, so I suggest that you use this time to recuperate from that rather strenuous 'exercise'. With that, a good evening to you all."
With a light smile and a bow, Gawain turned to walk away, vanishing almost as quickly as he came. Lancelot gave Berserker a nasty glare, which she returned, before disappearing as well. By then, the sun had already set, both literally and figuratively for this battle.
"Can you stand?" Ilya asked her battered Servant as the stars began littering the sky.
"I can try." The Knight of Treachery grimaced as she attempted to get to her feet, only to find difficulty doing so.
"Here."
To the surprise of both Master and Servant of Einzbern (and Rin), the red-headed boy they were actively trying to kill moments before walked up to Berserker, hooked her left arm over his neck, and gently helped her to her feet. To say that the blonde knight was dumbfounded would be like saying that Rin was bad with computers.
"But...why?" Both Berserker and Ilya murmured
"Do I need a reason to help people?" Shirou answered back with his trademark serene smile "Also...if what you said was true, then I don't think that you're the villain history painted you to be. If anything..." he pondered his next words carefully as he released her, allowing her to stand on her own two feet, then stepped to the side with that same smile plastered on his face "You're just like Saber, in a way."
"...If I had not been damaged from this battle, I would cut you down where you stand for comparing me to her." She growled, causing Rin and Archer to tense in response. She had let out long breath before her next words "But...if it is okay with my Master, then I shall retire for the evening."
She turned to Ilya expectedly, who was flustered by everything that had happened. To be fair, it was with her expectations with Shirou as well as this new 'Servant Ruler'; she had expected the red-head to be some despicable little wretch, scum to make into a new plaything until she had gotten bored with him for taking her father from her.
She didn't expect him to be...so nice.
"Ugh, this is so confusing!" Ilya groaned aloud in annoyance, earning her surprised expressions from everyone else "FINE! I'll let you off for the last time!"
With a nod, Berserker turned incorporeal, no doubt to recover from her grueling duel with Lancelot. The irritated little girl stomped her way out of the school grounds, but not before turning to the group one last time.
"Ooh! I'll make sure I get you next time, Oniichan!"
Archer could only chuckle as he too went into spirit form and watched the purple clad homunculus make her exit. "Seems you're turning into quite the tsundere, Ilya-chan." he mused amusedly as he watched Shirou and Rin discuss what the hell just happened.
"Any sign of Shinji?" The aspiring hero asked his ally, who shook her head in answer.
"He must've slipped out with Rider after Gawain and Lancelot had left." Rin answered back as she furrowed her brow "Two extra Servants... and now a Servant Ruler...Geez, this is so confusing! Why the hell did that fake priest not mention this?!"
Archer probably should mention that Kotomine's hiding the Archer from the last War as well, but that would only cause her to pop a blood vessel. In the end, he decided against it.
"Perhaps he didn't know." Shirou suggested, hoping to calm his fired-up comrade down "At any rate, we should return home. If this Ruler-san is to be believed, there won't be any battles tonight. At any rate, we could use the rest and Saber's probably worried about us by now."
"I suppose you have a point." Rin nodded in agreement. No words were said as she and Shirou began to make their way home, with Archer following them as a spirit.
As for his thoughts, he now knew for sure that this was not the Grail War he remembered. With unknown factors such as Ilya's Berserker, that butler, and now Servant Ruler, he'd have to make several adjustments to his final plan.
Of course, that was only the tip of the iceberg.
"How interesting."
From the moonlit rooftop of Homurahara Gakuen, the King of Heroes had been spectating. Even if he was clad in a black jacket and pants, his golden hair and blood red eyes shone distinctly in the night.
He had come for the Faker, his mind set on punishing her in the worst way possible for hurting Saber, for scarring what he considered his greatest treasure. He intended to make her suffer a punishment fitting for one who had the gall to besmirch the king's property.
That was, until the mad dog from his Grail War appeared out of the blue, something he considered an oddity due to the Seven Servants having already been summoned. He decided to observe further, and was rewarded when another Servant, one who was also a loyal knight to Saber in life, showed up.
What piqued his interest most was the words he had uttered.
"So...Servant Ruler, was it?" Gilgamesh slowly stood up now that the play was over "Perhaps I shall see this 'Ruler' and teach him his place. After all..." he turned to leave, gold dust lingering in the night as he disappeared.
"Only I, Gilgamesh, can be called 'Ruler'."
End Chapter 8
A/N: And that's a wrap! First, I want to congratulate Ms. Rin Tohsaka for her new starring role in Ufotable's upcoming Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, debuting October 4 later this year!
Rin: *raises fist in joy* For too long, I have been overshadowed by Saber as Type/Moon's female lead! Well, no longer! It's MY time to shine, bitches!
Oookay, moving on...I know that I lot of you were pretty hyped about the Mordred vs. Lancelot duel, so I hope I did justice and made it a battle worthy of two Heroic Spirits.
Mordred: Though I still wish you did not make me wear a maid uniform in that Carnival Phantasm knock-off of a fanfiction you update.
Geez, you're still sore about that? Also, just to clarify, Ilya's always been able to just blast magical energy at someone. She attempted to do so to Gilgamesh during the Fate route...with poor results.
Ilya: Please don't mention that. Not one of my proudest moments...
Well, that's gonna do for now, so I leave it to Mordred, Ilya and Rin to announce the next chapter.
Mordred, Ilya and Rin: Next time on Clarent Blood Arthur: When the Waves Die Down!