Dreams and unconsciousness were two very different things, it was something he learned after many nights of tweaking death's nose. One guided him to a nightmarish realm that brought no peace and the other was a simple silence, a gentle darkness that he longed for even if it wasn't exactly healthy.
So, when his consciousness started to seep back into reality, he pulled his blankets tighter trying to stay in that warm darkness. This wasn't his apartment; this wasn't his old family home. He wanted to believe otherwise but- he knew.
"Are you awake?"
Marie. Harker sighed and dug his head further into his pillow.
"Unfortunately"
"… not going to look up?"
"No"
He heard her groan before feeling her hitting his shoulder pathetically weakly, it felt like the weakness was due to positioning more than anything else
"By the root, just look at me, you cynical bastard!"
Sighing he looked up from his pillow, she looked- better, that seemed to be the right word. Half her body including her face was covered in bandages and she was currently in a wheelchair, but she looked stable and less fragile. When did she lose her right eye?
"So, how's the eye"
"Really. Fucking hell, you're a bastard"
He tiredly chuckled and covered his eyes with his arm.
"Is there a reason you're here?"
"Beyond checking on you? I want to know how in hell you knew Humanity died"
His heart chilled but he stayed silent. Thankfully she continued on taking without taking any notice
"We had to check using the more delicate instruments we have and then we double checked, then we triple checked- but you just knew?" Her voice started growing thin as the words went along faster and faster. Rubbing his brow, he tried to stop her before it got too out of hand
"Marie"
"Did your family give you orders to intervene?"
"Marie"
"Has the shaman community been dueling with these creatures all this time?!"
"Marie!" Her voice reached its fever pitch as conspiracy theories spilled out of her mouth like rushing magma
"Did the three institutions come together and-"
"Oh, for fuck's sake Marie would you just shut up and listen!"
The room went silent as she looked away abashed.
"I. Am a dreamwalker, when I go to sleep, I enter the dream realm and wander those stupid Plutonian shores. That place is close to death. Too close… for safety or comfort"
He sat up letting the blankets fall off his naked chest and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Usually that place is a psychedelic hell of conflicting ideas and unending nightmares. Side effect of being connected to the entirety of the human experience but when I fell asleep back on the boat- it was still, it was calm. it was clear."
It was like a stagnant pond, no movement in the waters. Empty, cold, desolate. He looked down to his ribs, and pulled away his hand from the four red lines it had just created
"The… parasites that exist there informed me of what happened, and it was clear that the human race had up and died"
She clearly had more questions now but instead of giving in she simply nodded and looked down
"Sorry. it's been stressful dealing with-"
"Everything?"
She chuckled faintly and nodded
"Think you can stand?"
"Please tell me we don't have another mission immediately"
"No- well we do but frankly we need to wait and recover something from all this"
He closed his eyes and thought of the bomb.
"Still in a bad state then"
She bowed her head.
"The engineers have done their best but-"
She looked to his bare chest, to the bandages wrapping around his limbs, and closing her eyes. She assessed them for a brief moment before sharply nodding.
"Get dressed Aldain, it'd be easier to just show you"
She pushed herself to the door, the wheels of her chair slightly creaking.
"And my leg?"
She turned back and rolled her eye.
"You felt well enough to sit up and pull up your legs stop whining"
He snorted and threw the blankets off.
(Linebreak)
"Is that water on your face?"
"Old habit"
His feet still felt somewhat unsteady, but he was an old hand at this, so he easily pushed it to the side and kept going. People kept rushing past with tools and such trying to keep the facility together and then boom resounded across the mountain
"The hell-"
Marie cut him off both curt and terse
"One of the problems we're currently facing but for the moment we should be alright"
"That "should" is not making me feel all that confident Marie"
"That's Director to you Aldain"
"Yeah, yeah…"
Silence continued on as they passed by the empty halls and empty rooms. Marie refused to look at them, refused to count the places where people should have been.
"You were laughing you know"
"Hmm?"
"When we finished the ray shift back you were howling with laughter before you collapsed, terrified Roman to bits"
He kept walking with her, silent but still there. He could only really say one word in response
"Huh"
He inwardly cringed but there wasn't anything to say, he couldn't bloody remember in the first place. He looked around and it was rather unfamiliar to the young master.
"This isn't the command center or the coffin chamber"
"Indeed, this is the workshop"
Harker groaned. He had only been in a mage's workshop so many times in his life and it had always been on bad terms. Still, at least he wasn't going to be fighting to the death this time. Hopefully.
"Great and to which pompous jackass does this workshop belong?"
She snickered.
"I'm so glad you phrased it like that"
Opening the door, it looked like nothing he expected, instead of a cold clinical lab, or some goth dungeon, or whatever creepy design style the magi decided tickled their balls that day it was warm, welcoming, and comforting. Creepy fixtures and disembodied body parts were replaced with art, half made mystic codes, and designs for machines that he couldn't comprehend.
'Is that a jeep?'
He shook his head free of that thought and damn near subconsciously started moving ahead of Marie following that cold tug in his soul. Whispers started to filter into his ears as he drew closer.
"-Really never seen something like this?"
Roman, his voice was- terse but also reminiscent. Strange combination.
"Well, I can tell that it wasn't made by human hands"
A melodic voice rang out right next to the source of the tug. Turning the corner, he saw three people sitting around his sound poking and prodding with different tools. Roman looked about as expected, Mash looked uncomfortable in her uniform likely due to her growth spurt and the third he had never seen before. Beautiful, serene, like a painting given-
"Mona Lisa?"
"Very close but no"
She laughed and dramatically rose onto her chair like a performer introducing themselves onstage.
"I am the wisest of the wise! The genius inventor that knows no equal, the great and beautiful Da Vinci!"
Harker simply stared at the servant before hooking the leg of the chair she was standing on with his foot and pulling the chair away, sending her falling on her ass much to Roman's cackling.
"I see Harker is showing his usual charm"
Marie seemed amused as she rolled into sight. Harker calmly moved to grab his sword, but Mash whapped his hand away.
"We need to know what that is Aldain"
He rolled his eyes with a snort
"And how has that been going so far"
Mash took a deep breath but was cut off before she could say anything
"Well, we were hoping you could help with that-"
"It can wait for another time Leonardo; we've got bigger concerns at the moment"
The servant pouted but relented and gestured to take the blade from the pedestal. As soon as the hilt fell into his hand, he felt strength fill him, and his wounds, while still hurting felt distant and far more manageable
"Harker, this is the third servant summoned by Chaldea, Leonardo Da Vinci a five-star class Caster"
Harker looked on blankly as an awkward silence filled the air and the preening Da Vinci awkwardly stilled. Kyrielight facepalmed with a heavy sigh.
"Director he doesn't know anything"
"How in-?!"
"The Debriefing"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"… Let's just get going"
(Linebreak)
The room they were in was shockingly untouched by the damage that had seemed to permeate the rest of the facility though from how quiet Da Vinci was while fiddling with the panels there were still some problems that were intent on making their lives difficult.
"So, you mind telling me about the whole five-star thing"
Roman turned to him and cleared his throat.
"Basic power rating of servants, one stars are incredibly weak in a stand-up fight most of the time but have incredible situational skills that can turn the tide if used correctly. Twos are generally more useful but are still hemmed into specific roles, threes are the average servant and the most common, Fours are near the top of the pack when it comes to power, but Fives are the apex of servants with phantasms that can often be considered acts of god"
That raised his brow, something like that would have to have a steep mana cost.
"Really?" Marie nodded and pointed towards Da Vinci who was still fiddling around
"Her phantasm is the literal concept of universality given form but right now it's tied up powering Chaldea"
'Okay... then'
"And the powers that be would just allow such power to be concentrated on someplace else?"
"Well, Da Vinci was considered useless due to a summoning error in the original system-"
"Hey!"
"So, they let It past but for the most part you'd be right we are not allowed to keep five star servants, however…"
"They're all dead so fuck them?"
Da Vinci and Roman laughed together while Marie flushed awkwardly.
"Essentially but I would prefer the more polite "This situation requires all our strength"
A rumble shook throughout the mountain once more though nothing visible occurred. Harker gritted his teeth and looked to the door
"Okay, what the hell is happening out there?"
Mash glared at him as if it was his fault.
"The former professor has developed a grudge. Against you, so he's been pulling forces from across time. To kill you. Bastard was screaming about the entirety of last night even if he didn't appear himself"
…And apparently, it was. More importantly
"We're under attack?!"
Marie waved her hand dismissively.
"Oh, don't worry they can't get through, the protective field is too powerful even with some of the backup redundancies gone. They could pound away all day, but this is the last spot of "real world" their existences are too fragile for true sentience"
And then she tsked in embarrassment
"However, that brings us to a different problem, rayshifting. Once we start the process the shield will be weakened, and they'll get in and slaughter us"
Kyrielight uneasily shifted around squeezing the gauntlet around her hand.
"And without rayshifting the singularities will stay in place and eventually this will be irreversible, and we'll die too"
He let his head roll back and sighed.
"You didn't wake me up just to tell me we're screwed did you" Leonardo's cheerful voice cut through upon hearing this popping up from behind the panels and turning them on causing a great array of lights to flash into awakening.
"Nope! With this baby, we still got a chance to pull off a miracle"
"Well-"
"This is the summoning room where we may pull heroes from across time and space to make sure we don't die while you're making sure humanity is only partially dead and is still slightly alive"
Mash looked confused before quietly responding.
"…That's not a thing Da Vinci"
Her smile didn't drop even a little as she calmly retorted
"Silence Wench"
Harker and Marie rolled their eyes in unison.
"Anyways Da Vinci's right, once we have a few servants we should be safe from the hordes outside but…"
"Let me guess there's something wrong"
Roman sighed.
"Couple of things actually, you won't be able to take any servant with you other than Mash due to the damage in the ray shift room (at least for now) and the explosions targeted this room too, so some damage occurred here"
He leaned back with a small smile.
"Thankfully the protections here were a lot stronger so we were able to repair what was damaged even if we had to alter things a bit"
Caster popped up next to him with her trademark mysterious smile
"Frankly I'm rather excited to see what a shaman can do with a servant, never been one to test anything but I've always been curious if you could channel our power through yourself"
He thought about that for a bit before disgust and horror split across his face
"No! Absolutely not!"
Roman scratched his head in confusion
"Wait but-"
"Hell no!"
Marie grumbled while pinching her brow
"Could you at least explain?"
"Fuck you! Only the stupidest of Shamans would even attempt something so moronic!"
"Really not even one has tried something akin to it?"
"No! The ambitious ones get killed early in the process and while trying something new isn't beyond the norm, doing something so completely stupid would be enough to get a kill order from the other shamans even if they could survive for more than a minute!"
Marie stared at him from the corner of her eye.
"I managed to survive merging with a heroic spirit"
Not missing a beat, he turned to her with a sharp retort
"There's a difference between a designer baby and an actual human!"
He took notice of her flinch and knew his original guess was correct.
"Look here. There is too much history and a soul in a human for it to channel the kind of power and fantasy a servant has without some bullshit true magic reality breaking hack! Our souls would quite literally explode!"
Marie stepped in (metaphorically) with an incensed growl
"Aldain you are way over the line! Apologize!"
"Shove it!"
There was more to this than obvious stupidity, despite everything the teachings still clung to him, made sense in a way considering his father started teaching him in the crib, metaphorically but still.
The very idea of putting a spirit through that kind of pain for a hint of power was just…
Harker stood up to the protest of everyone else, but he needed to leave, his temper was stoked, and he had already let it color his words in a way he didn't mean and that was when he wasn't even trying to be hurtful.
"The summoning. (sigh) it can wait for a bit just… leave me be for now" He tried to make his voice still but from the director's clenched fist he could see his tone was still filled with threat and simmering rage. She was silent for a moment before eventually waving him away dismissively, he walked out of the room chilling sword in hand.
'What now?'
(Linebreak)
Things had been hectic for the Chaldean's these past two days; at midnight the world came crashing down and now they were doing their best to maintain a highly advanced and ridiculously intricate facility with nothing more than a skeleton crew and what amounted to a closet full of duct tape. His life was hell.
'Better than being dead I guess'
Menuire yawned as he opened the door to the mess and groggily got some food, the cook was one of those who were dead because of course so lunch was grilled cheese and juice.
'When I got this offer, I thought it would be low stress most of the time, I was just supposed to be part of the support staff!'
He sat down and began to chew with a depressed grumble, he was pretty sure this bread was stale.
"Ahem"
He jumped with a small screech falling off the bench and onto his ass. Groaning slightly, he looked up to see the person who was sitting across from him. A small smirk crawled up his angular features as a Slightly amused light entered his muddy eyes. The last master sat before him with a glowing sword that terrified him. He could remember that bloody howling laugh as they came into being right in front of them. Cold crept up his spine until he was broken out of his fugue
"Well, it doesn't seem like too much of a waste of a meal"
And he went back to munching on the jerky everyone agreed was off limits. his fear turned into annoyance, and he scowled.
"Most of the food supplies went kaput in the explosions so we're all doing our best to reserve food"
He pointedly gestured to the pile of jerky; he oddly had the decency to look slightly ashamed.
"Well, that explains how little I found. We really have no way to replenish our supplies?"
Menuire thought of the young mercenary and the very small skirmish they had.
"Actually, when we still didn't know what was going on a few beasts slipped in, panicked for a few moments but the remaining merc we had was able to kill them if barely. Dropped a few magical items that Da Vinci said we can transmute into supplies once she gets a few systems going"
"Well nice to know I'm not going to have to resort to cannibalism"
He flinched back, that there only master might willingly do such a thing while not the most surprising (There were some bad tendencies amongst some of the candidates and even some of the workers) it wasn't the most comforting thing to hear. He caught sight of the teen rolling his eyes.
"Relax I'm not interested, only the most human hating shamans attempt such rituals due to some spiritual taboos"
Menuire felt some of his breath reenter his body though still somewhat disturbed, though he could have sworn he heard him mumble something about his sister.
"So, you're a shaman? Never met one of those before"
"Secretive bunch, and no I'm not- well not anymore at least"
He grumbled slightly as he chewed on the jerky.
"Got kicked out?"
He shrugged.
"Left of my own accord, there's uh- not a lot of nuance when it comes to being a shaman apparently"
"Alrig- Hey! Aren't you supposed to be in the summoning room?"
The teen cringed looking awkwardly away.
"It's… been put off a little"
"Ok…ay then?"
He pushed that to the side. He could practically see the silence clouding the air.
"So, what's your name? Can't keep calling you boy in my head"
The younger man chuckled and then outstretched his hand for a shake. He took it.
"Harker Aldain, you?"
"Jingol Menuire"
He felt like slapping his face when heard the teen snigger softly.
"Jingol? Really?"
"Shut up"
The atmosphere lightened a bit which for course was when he made things awkward again
"What was like training to be a shaman"
He inwardly cringed and tried to pull back his words, but the teen had already answered.
"Harsh but in a different way than mages. A shaman who spends his entire time in a lab is a poor one, it's less of a science and more of an art. does that make sense"
"Kinda but-"
"Maybe my sister's very first words to me will make this understandable. "Where mages walk with death we walk with life. Never mistake that for safety"
"She sounds… prideful"
"Yep. For all the parallels between magecraft and shamanism Pride does seem to be a rather strong trait if to different things"
"Could I ask another question?
"Shoot"
"What the hell was up with Cessair? We couldn't get a proper read on her"
"What do you mean?"
"Like her class; we couldn't get a proper read"
"Ah well she introduced herself as a rider"
Maybe it was just the inexperience of the tools but something about it just felt weird, none of the parameters were stable, hell the only thing that did stay the same was her name which implanted a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't really her name.
"I should probably go apologize for implying Kyrielight was less than human"
"Oh, sure go ahead"
The young man stood up quietly and walked away leaving some jerky for Menuire to happily munch on them before fully processing that sentence
"Wait what!?"
(Linebreak)
He quietly walked through the empty summoning room, it didn't really surprise him that they were gone, probably off to complain about him(rightfully). He could have gone after them, but he still didn't know how to navigate this fucking mountain even with some passages collapsed so for the moment he just walked to the summoning panels and softly hummed in contemplation.
"Query. Designation?"
He jumped a little as one of the screens lit up and those lines appeared.
"What the-"
"Designation?"
He stared for a moment before closing his eyes and nodding.
"Alva "Harker" Aldain. May I have the honor of knowing the entity speaking to me"
"Designation. Autonomous Observation type Proof of Existence. Code Named Mnemosyne. Prototype AI for monitoring master candidates' position in singularity events to prevent erasure of master existence due to temporal paradox"
"… nice to meet you"
"Master candidate 49, Query. Why have I been awakened?"
"I- don't know from what you said it seemed like you were always supposed to be awake"
"Negative. Caster #127 aka Leonardo Da Vinci determined my existence to be a waste of resources due to unknown factors"
Could a robotic voice tremble? It was so very slight that he could almost but still before that he couldn't sense the slightest bit of emotion.
"Well shit just hit the fan so we need all the hands we can get to deal with it, imagine that was enough of a reason to get her to bring you back online"
"… Query"
"It's a colloquialism Mnemosyne"
"Apologies. I have only had consciousness for about thirty minutes"
He shrugged and began to fiddle with the dials as an idea began to unfold in his head
"So how does this summoning system work?"
"Hold. Examining. Cross-referencing. Examination done. Originally the Guardian Heroic Spirit Summoning System designated "FATE" it was patterned after the old heroic spirit summoning ritual using the shard of the round table found in REDACTED. It had only successfully summoned three servants before the damage done during Lanuir's betrayal render it inoperable"
Inoperable? Why would they keep-? Da Vinci must have altered it to make it operable once more.
"That's… who were the three servants?"
"First successful summon: REDACTED.
Second successful summon: UNKNOWN. Implanted in Mash Kyrielight and faded away without ever giving its identity
Third Successful summon: CASTER #127, identity Leonardo Da Vinci, currently serves within Chaldea as engineer and advisor"
How much were they hiding? Oh, who was he kidding, more than he can see or even guess. They're mages after all
"Did she revamp the system?"
"Affirmative. CASTER #127 has adapted summon to be more reliable, no longer reliant on possibility jewels known as Saint Quartz for summoning; however, it has come with several drawbacks. This new Retroactive Obduracy Adversity Recall "ROAR" relies on a human's memory and experience to call forth servant from the throne doing so with an unyielding certainty however it cannot bring forth servants one has never encountered"
He tapped his finger against his lip as he thought it over.
"A roar against fate, fitting I suppose. This system would be absolutely useless for anyone else wouldn't it"
"Affirmative. CASTER #127 decided to your unique duties you would be coming into contact with many servants weak and strong. She seemed oddly upset despite the certainty this system gives"
He thought about it for a moment before snorting a little and rolling his eyes,
"Probably wanted me to scream in frustration after a failed summoning. Anyways, how do we start this up?"
"Query. Why are you in a rush to summon a servant?"
"I want mangoes"
"I fail to see the correlation"
"Apparently Da Vinci can turn the monsters attacking us into food and so we remove a threat and I get my mangoes so win-win"
"I see. Very well. Press the button to your left and to the right there should be a handprint for you to place your hand against"
SCHLICK
"GAH! FUCK!"
A blade shot through his hand somehow missing both bone and muscle yet still coming out on the other side.
"Do not be alarmed the blade will not cause permanent damage"
He glared at the screen and hissed as the blade retracted back into the panel.
"I would have appreciated a warning; it isn't exactly a pleasant sensation to be stabbed!"
"I- shall take that into account for later instances"
He grunted and rubbed his hand after a wave of energy from his sword quickly healed the small wound.
"Servants available for summoning Cu Chulainn: Caster, Emiya: Archer, Medusa: Rider, Angra Mainyu: Avenger, Artoria Pendragon(Tyrant): Saber. Unable to summon Herakles: Berserker, Cessair: ERROR! ERROR! DELETING CORRUPTED DATA"
'The hell?!'
The screen glitched out a few times briefly flickering into an image? He couldn't quite tell but something about it made his hairs stand on end.
"Apologies that was… unforeseen"
"Are you alright?"
He was somewhat surprised by those words but brushed it aside.
"I am fully functional, and the summoning may begin"
"I didn't ask if- alright fine doesn't matter. Summon them"
He briefly wondered about Cessair put pushed aside, he would make do
"Acknowledged. Beginning summoning"
A reddish light filled the room as red balls of light began to circle about before slamming together and causing rings to explode out.
"Summoning successful"
She needn't have said anything, their presences slammed into his senses before they acclimated.
A tall and dark man with grim silver eyes bearing two swords that brought to mind light and dark. Somehow, he knew the man's soul would be the same.
"Servant Archer. I answer to your summons"
A cocky blue cloaked druid with a mysterious glint in his eyes he was the same as he last saw him but still different in some intrinsic way that he could not perceive.
"Really a Caster? Fine… At least I get to be a part of this big fight"
A beautiful woman with long flowing purple hair, her eyes were bound, and she seemed distant and cold but was that who she was or who she learned to be?
"The Rider of the Shapeless Isle. I'd ask why you would summon a monster like me, but I suppose right now you don't have the luxury of choice"
A child-like figure that seemed like a hole in reality, vileness and shadow extended from his very presence, but Harker felt no imminent threat. That and he quite easily seemed to be the weakest of the bunch here.
"Hey there! The weakest Heroic Spirit Avenger has answered your summons!"
And clad in dark ice stood a tyrant, perhaps he should have worried about its loyalties, but he knew that tyranny didn't necessarily mean inefficiency, and killing him would be inefficient. it stared down at him with baleful orbs reminiscent of frozen stars, he could have sworn that they flickered to his blade. The silence lengthened before it nodded and took off its helmet making the Archer raise his brow in muffled shock.
"You have called me, and I have answered. I am Arcturus. Prosecute this war well Master"
"All servants summoned and ready Candidate 49, If I may ask what your plans are?"
He grinned at Mnemosyne's screen. his hand tightly gripped his sword. He turned his head toward the general direction of the gates. They had work to do and mangoes to eat and there was a great way to get one to lead to another.
"We got some visitors at our door, what kind of hosts would we be to not greet them?"
(Linebreak)
She hated that man. She tried not to, he was a necessity, and it wouldn't be honorable- she gripped her skull and hissed. His fault. This pain, these memories, this loss of what little Mash Kyrielight existed! All his fault.
"Hey. Mash"
Roman put his hand on her shoulder but then she jerked it away. Her face twisted into a frown. Another thing to blame on Harker, this instinctual flinch away from even her pseudo father
"Is he right? Am I really less than human?"
Roman plopped down right next to her and sighed.
"I don't think he is the authority on what is and isn't human Mash"
"But he does seem to understand what should happen when you can slam a human soul together with a heroic spirit"
"Can't deny that and he isn't completely wrong, you were altered to give yourself the best possible chance, but you are still human, that's not something that can be so easily stripped away"
She turned to him with golden eyes shadowed by bone white hair.
"Isn't it though?"
He ruffled her hair with a smile causing her to pout at him
"You are you, Mash, that's more than enough for me so what if he says you're less than human? Screw him and his negativity"
Her lips slightly curled upwards and opened her mouth-
"Warning: the front gates are open! I repeat the shield is down and the front gates are open!"
The two looked at each other in a panic before in a subconscious thought she shifted and brought forth the knight from within and she began her rush to the gate leaving Roman in the dust. It still felt strange how different this was from her original suit, that had been an admittedly lewd set of armor that didn't really feel protective, but there hadn't been much that she could do about the situation (A hold over from the spirit in all likelihood) this armor actually felt like armor with the skin below her neck at the very least covered by cloth if not steel. She disregarded these thoughts; they were irrelevant, and she needed focus if she was to stop the slaughter.
She reached the main gate fully expecting a horde of monsters and a slaughter of humans but instead the workers of Chaldea were watching with awed looks. Her fist clenched the handle of her shield. Servants, actual servants, were butchering a horde of monsters. They were Stronger, faster, fluid, harder than she could ever dream of being. She should be happy but-
'Will I be left to just rot in some corner alone and unwanted?'
She dispelled the shield and sat down watching the remaining crew cheer at what must have been the first physical victory they've seen Fuyuki happened, but it was still kind of distant for them something, only really experienced on a screen.
"Cmon you fuckers! Who's next"
A familiar mocking voice called out and her sight snapped towards him, cutting through the beasts with an almost practiced ease. He wasn't as strong or fast or magically adept, but he was still fighting, killing, being of actual use.
"Well, here we were worried for nothing"
Olga's voice caught her by surprise, and she turned to see her being rolled up by Roman. They didn't notice her on the ground.
"You aren't upset that he risked all our lives?"
"Frankly I'm more upset that he used the summoning system without our permission or help. still don't know how he did that, Da Vinci mentioned something about a prototype system that turned on but…"
She sighed and rubbed the place where her missing eye would be.
"We need him to fight this war leave, it be"
Mash turned her head to the figure raising that strange blade in triumph and despite herself, a single tear fell.
He was needed.
She wasn't.
FINALLY, after a year of procrastination and rage, the prologue is done! I really need to update more if I ever plan to get to the more interesting servants before Nasu releases them.
Couple of notes.
No gacha in this story. So, at last somewhere, there's a place without the dread salt demon
Mash's viewpoint is blatantly wrong, she is needed but to get that through to her especially with a character such as Harker? That would be difficult even without him being a factor. People have a way of reinforcing their negative views even without evidence.
Next up is the burning skies of France. Thank all of you for sticking around, especially considering how long it takes on average to update!
Artoria Pendragon the King of Nothing
Class Saber 5 stars
Gender:Female
Source: Arthurian Myth
Region: Britain
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Parameters
Strength: A+
Endurance: A++
Agility: D-
Mana: C++
Luck: E-
Noble Phantasm: B+
Passive skills
Magic Resistance: A
Active Skills
Unnatural Constitution: A-
Her body has bathed in the energy of that relic from the depths of the shadowlands for decades. As such her body has been altered and is capable of rapid regeneration
Memory of the Slain: B+
Artoria can call upon the souls of the slain to momentarily grant her their skills and memories. In a sense, it works like imperial privilege but is more limited due to Artoria mostly killing warriors, mostly.
Knight Slayer: B-
After killing so many knights Artoria had gained the opposite of Knightly Tactics, those who fight under a knightly code of honor will suffer debuffs when facing her.
Noble Phantasm
Requiem, Lingering Memory-Unit B+
The hulking greatsword that was her downfall is not Excalibur's equal, it is not a dream given tangible form, it is not a final prayer for victory, and on its own, it cannot vanquish armies. What it does is grant its wielder power, each foe slain grants a sliver of their strengths to her, each foe grants a soul to power sorceries and skills, each one grants memories to draw upon and use as her own. It is not Excalibur's equal but woe to those who do not respect its power and woe to those who die upon its edge for there they shall remain until the blade lays broken.
Biography
After that fateful duel with Pellinore that ended with the breaking of Caliburn, Artoria would wander the land for that sword symbolized much of her rule and who she wished to be. It was her closest companion and the loss of it forced her to reevaluate much of his ideals. In another life this would be when the Lady of the Lake and Merlin would grant her Excalibur but not this one, this one she would discover a hulking greatsword the color of black ice, she would call it Requiem. From their things swiftly began to change as consumed with power Artoria's empathy and feeling began to dim amidst the shadows she became a tyrant who upheld peace and order at the cost of everything else. She lost sight of her dream after years of war and rebellion and only caught sight of it once more with the death of her brother by her very own hand but by then it was too late, everyone she had ever called friend was long dead and all she had to show for it was an orderly kingdom that was cold and silent. Her people feared her and she knew that nothing she did would be able to change that so after putting up a new system of governance she left, left to a silent Isle of the dead where a queen of shadow lay in wait.
Personality
If summoned at the height of her kingdom she would be a quiet but very arrogant king without much care for advice or the aid of others, it would be probable that she would kill her master and try to win the grail on her own, thankfully the version of her summoned is the one summoned at her twilight knowing all the mistakes she made and the folly of her deeds. This Artoria is a cynical and lethargic woman preferring to sleep and eat rather than go out and fight, if Dinadan were here(And were brave enough to make a joke about Her in particular) he would say that his symbol should be a certain bear with a red shirt instead of a dragon. The metaphor is rather apt considering her fondness for honey and bees as well as her preferred name but it would be best not to say it to her face for obvious reasons
In combat Artoria is a knight's worst nightmare, lacking any and all sense of honor combined with the skills and experiences of hundreds if not thousands of knights allowing her to exploit their every move. Efficiency is key with her, if a deplorable tactic will lead to a quicker and less energy-consuming ways she'll take it, such is the nature of the Knight-slayer
Her opinion on his master is rather dependent on the master themselves, on someone with darker intentions or the arrogant, contempt will be her treatment of them, he'll do exactly what's asked of him and nothing more; sometimes even letting them die on purpose; he does not like seeing people who remind him too much of what he was. The more pragmatic will find a more agreeable servant willing to do dark deeds and heroics alike, still, apathy would be her general attitude, she won't go out of her way to betray her master but won't shed a tear should it come to that. The truly altruistic will make her rather uncomfortable and will force her to a crossroads where she will either kill them or find some semblance of light within her soul, should this happen masters will find a reliable servant who will often act as a mentor trying to impart what wisdom she can pass on to them in the hopes that they turn out better than she had.
She feels somewhat unworthy of the name Artoria instead choosing to use Arcturus instead
Her wish for the grail is a rather simple one, to speak with her brother and allow him to impart any punishment he thought just
Hobbies
In Chaldea, she is likely to just watch tv in her room eating honey, that or sleep, all of that with her jar of honey
Quotes
'Thrash, flee it all ends the same'
"Requiem hungers"
"I am the Tyrant of the Black Sun, I am the King of Nothing"
"You shall know my Cruelty first hand"
"You wish to live then stay out of the way"
"Bow down before your King"
Bond Craft Essence
An Old Throne
It was lopsided, the carvings barely looked like animals and the entire thing looked like it would snap in two now, badly made. An insult to thrones everywhere yet this memory will stay with me forever. Why? Because it brought to mind a simpler time, a stupid time, a hopeful time a time where I- where I….. he kept it throughout all these years as a reminder of the girl she had once been, his sister, his friend. I had lost my way and now I have lost my brother. No. Not just that, I have lost myself.
Kay.
Forgive me