...
...
...
I can't move a finger, let alone make a fist.
My left eyeball is crushed.
The rush of the wind ruptures my eardrums.
My vision fades away.
Within it...
I see an unbelievable image.
"Ah."
He's standing.
He's standing in this wind.
He's standing, walking to the other side.
-As if it's a matter of course.
The wind of steel has no effect on him. He walks forward, his red coat billowing behind him.
"Ahh, ah."
Strength is back in my jaws.
I grit my teeth.
My right hand is already in a fist.
The red knight takes no notice of me.
Set in a stern expression, his face is slightly turned away, showing no interest in me as the wind rushes to engulf me.
For him, this result was expected.
[ ] cannot stand against this wind.
He knew there's no future for the man who betrayed himself and wished for something out of his reach.
He's right.
The crimes I've accumulated will judge me.
But he...
'-Can you keep up with me?'
As if to scorn me, as if to believe in me.
(Because he has no choice.)
He's waiting for me to get there.
(Because there I already am.)
"-It's not 'can you keep up with me.'"
My vision fires up.
I force as much heat as I can into my body.
My limbs cut through the wind like giant swords.
"You keep up with me-!"
I pass the figure in red with all my might.
(Because I am the figure in red, and I keep up with myself.)
...
...
...
I know the scope of my power.
(I am wrong.)
...
A Reality Marble that inverts the world engraved on your soul, the embodiment of the mental world using theory of magic, the world egg.
(This man isn't allowed to be right.)
...
...
...
...
This world is foreign.
The grass crunches beneath my feet. It rubs against my shins and toes.
I check my hands to confirm.
Aye, these calluses...
They are, undeniably, the calluses of Artoria Pendragon.
"For millions of years, the broken man wandered through his many lives, forever wondering why he felt so empty."
The sky is blue.
The air is clean and fresh.
I see nothing here.
Nothing but a tree in the distance, a reminder of what this place once was.
The red knight sits on a rock.
His back is turned to me.
He talks to himself, never once acknowledging my invasion of his home.
"Perhaps it's cruelty. But... no, I can't say that.
I've inflicted cruelty on others.
Who am I to cry out when it's returned in kind."
I hate his words.
They are empty and without passion.
"I searched. I searched. I searched.
And now, when I at last receive my answer, I can only question why I hadn't realized it sooner."
He holds up his palm.
It's the same pose he used to conjure the arrow and the shield and the bow.
"...I am the bone..."
A longsword pulls itself up from the grass.
It's the first weapon I've seen within this world.
It hovers in the air.
It floats, though it shouldn't.
Twisting, it angles itself.
The blade pierces the knight.
"...of my sword..."
But it does not hurt him.
That weapon melds into his body, becoming one with his person.
"But my bones are not my soul."
An infinitesimal part of me understands.
To pursue his dream, this man...
"I realized at last that there are two types of marbles.
There is the sphere within the sphere, and there is the mineral.
The sphere is its own world.
But the mineral represents beauty, tradition, taste.
A refined state of being."
To separate one's reality.
To seek a goal.
To remember.
To remember.
To remember.
"That impossible dream...
That peaceful utopia I longed for...
My marble-like reality..."
The knight holds aloft his arm.
An invisible breeze rustles the fabric wrapping his gauntlet and vambrace.
His world's sun caresses me.
"Ah..."
Artoria jolted upright in a pool of sweat. Her heart pounded a thousand beats per minute. Dazed, confused, her eyes shifted to and fro to ascertain her surroundings.
Her bed. Her room. Camelot.
A shaky breath hissed through grit teeth. She massaged the drowsiness from her eyes. Why was she in her own bed? She'd fallen asleep on the roof, she knew, so...
...
Saber. The Servant of which she dreamed.
"Gods damn it," she whispered, shoulders slumping. "I'm not a child."
Words would be needed. Twice now that man carried her without her permission. If Kay found out...
Birds chirped outside the window. The sun shone bright. Artoria sighed, and pulled the sheets back. Her breastplate, greaves and vambraces stacked neatly in the room's corner; yesterday's tunic and trousers still covered her person.
Good. A nameless man, but one of character. She'd not summoned a lecher.
Braid already between her fingers, the girl sat herself before the small Imperial mirror and, out of habit, began brushing and tying her hair into the bun. But when she looked herself over, she saw only yellow eyes and pale skin. Angry, demonic veins twisted up her cheeks.
Artoria shrieked, stumbled back, fell from the chair.
"Get out get out get out!"
She threw the brush at the mirror. She missed. Trembling hands wrenched and pulled at her head; the bun fell away.
Her unlocked door slammed open. Saber rushed in, helmet on a swivel, a sword already in hand. When he found nothing, he turned to her.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"My eyes!" she rasped. "Saber! What color are my eyes?!"
"What? Green!"
Goosebumps rose across her arms and neck. Artoria's whole body felt clammy.
"Artoria, what happened?" he demanded. "I cannot help you without more information."
Inhale. Exhale.
"I... I had a dream. I chased a man in red, a man with white hair. Then I was... I was in a field, and then..."
She swallowed spittle, her throat parched.
"And then I woke up. And... when I looked in the mirror, I had... I had yellow eyes..."
Faster than she followed, Saber rushed forward and destroyed the mirror. His body trembled, armor and all.
...
"Fuck..."
Her Servant's queer reaction did nothing to calm her nerves.
"S-Saber?"
"We'll find you a new one," he grunted. "Sorry. Where's your ribbon?"
She pointed a shaking finger at the dresser. He retrieved it with the same frenzied speed.
Whatever he saw in her description terrified him.
"It's blue," he repeated. "It's blue. Okay. Good."
And only then did Saber relax. He returned it to its spot. Artoria ran her hands through her hair.
"What did I see?"
He remained quiet for far, far too long.
"Masters can... see their Servants' memories. I'm sorry, Artoria. I didn't mean to scare you. Yellow eyes just..."
Saber ran his right gauntlet along his left's red wrapping. Artoria felt her arm.
Healed.
She saw herself with yellow eyes. He hated yellow eyes. 'Found you'.
He sighed.
"I'm a bit paranoid, is all. I'll wait outside while you change. The chefs have-"
She grabbed his wrist.
[WARNING - WARNING - WARNING]
Planet: Earth
Branch: 2-XX
Twig: [Unknown]
Location: Classified
Chaldea Security Organization.
[WARNING - WARNING - WARNING]
Threat Level: Overwhelming
[UNKNOWN SAINT GRAPH DETECTED]
Blood spewed from Artoria Lily's lips.
"K-Kid... it's a-alright..."
"I'm okay," she whimpered. "I... I gotta get you... t-to Master..."
[UNKNOWN SAINT GRAPH DETECTED]
The red haired man had lost far too much blood and prana. It took all his effort to remain present in this reality, let alone conscious. Lily tightened her grip. Her strength faltered.
An explosion rumbled in the lower levels.
"Y-You're gonna... be okay... Mister Muramasa..."
[ALL SERVANTS TO TEAM RALLY POINTS - ALL SERVANTS TO TEAM RALLY POINTS]
A dozen swords shredded Muramasa.
They originated from inside his body.
[WARNING - WARNING - WARNING]
"No. You're staying."
He knew better. What the hell was wrong with him?
"Breakfast is ready," he muttered.
The Grail wouldn't exist for thirteen hundred years. And even if it did, it wouldn't take the form of an old Roman mirror.
"It can wait."
Shirou misjudged Alter's weight on his psyche. Sakura Shirou didn't know Saber the way his 'original' did. To see the girl he loved become a slave to the thing they both chose to destroy... just...
"Arto-"
"Saber."
"Ah... Shi-rou...?"
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
"Yeah?"
Her green eyes drilled into him. "Are you okay?"
No, he really wasn't. "Yeah."
...
She blocked his path, and, standing on her toes, reached for his helmet.
"Artoria," he warned.
"Hush."
She had it off his head in ten seconds at most. Shirou cursed himself; the girl didn't know how to make it, but she knew how it worked.
"Sit down."
"Seriously, we—"
"It's an order from your Master."
...
Damn it all.
He lowered himself onto the bed. Helmet in hand, she marched to the door and pushed it shut. The deadbolts locked into place.
Artoria whirled on him, eyes hungry for answers, not food.
"If King Arthur is remembered as a man, and if you know him only through the legends and stories, how do you know I'm King Arthur, when I am a woman?"
...
Countless lifetimes. More things experienced than perhaps any living soul. Wars won and lost, friends saved and murdered, innumerable relationships, and Artoria Pendragon still managed to corner him within a day after seeing a single memory.
Two options remained on the table: tell the truth, or attempt to deflect while risking bodily harm. Roll the dice, Shirou Emiya.
"Just a hunch. I'm sure you could easily masquerade, Master."
...
Artoria's cheeks burned. Bangs shadowed her eyes, her quivering lips tightened into a line. His helmet dropped to the ground.
Hands vanished underneath her tunic, fumbling with something while she approached.
"Take it off," she snarled.
"I'm sorry?"
"Take off the armor!"
It vanished with a thought, leaving him in the standard garb of the time period, a tunic and trousers.
From beneath her top Artoria pulled a bundle of fabric. Wrathful hands threw it across the room.
She didn't slap, lambaste, or leave.
But she did climb into his lap.
They both blushed. Shirou gulped. "What are you..."
Artoria Pendragon grabbed his hands and pulled them to her chest. Her face and neck glowed crimson.
"Do I feel like a man, you jerk?!"
His mind shut off. Short circuited, like the first time he tried projecting Kanshou and Bakuya.
The pendulum reversed; where Saber once used her skills for avoidance, Artoria now used them for interception.
Instinct.
She threw his hands off and cupped his cheeks. Angry tears welled in her eyes.
"I don't know how or where we've met, Saber, but you shall take me for a fool no longer! You think I don't see your hints! That I'm not paying attention when you speak of your timelines or your Arthurian legends or the scornful yellow eyes that appeared on my face! Damnable man, the instant I saw your eyes my soul screamed at me! You knew the person, not the stories! You knew King Arthur! You said you found me!"
Her reaction floored Shirou. This girl wasn't his Saber, not even close. She was older and far too emotionally aware.
"We shan't start playing these childish games, do you understand? We shan't behave like the strangers we are clearly not. Not when my mind races trying to remember your name. Not when I just dreamed your pain!"
Far too human to be a king.
"Very well," he whispered. "What do you want to know?"
"No. You'll tell me nothing."
Didn't she just demand they stop playing the game? A game in existence for twelve hours at the most?
"I will not dishonor whatever bond we once held," she continued. "I refuse to remember it as a mere war story told by a lonely companion."
For things to develop in such a manner, for her to stop the nonsense before it even began...
"I'll live it all again if I have to. I care not."
Yes, indeed: this Artoria was not the Saber Shirou Emiya knew.
"If you want to meet again as normal people, two miracles must occur."
"You'll give me no more hints and no more letters. Thy name will be first spoken from mine own lips, and not a moment sooner."
"One must wait continuously. One must pursue endlessly."
But Saber was a title to be earned.
Meanwhile, at Chaldea:
"Fujimaru, the analysis is complete! I'm bringing them up on screen!"
Ritsuka leaned closer to the terminal. Mash watched the entrance to the central facility, her form tensed. Da Vinci pulled up the list of Saint Graphs suspected for corruption.
Archer - EMIYA - FAILED
Archer - EMIYA (Alter) - FAILED
Assassin - EMIYA - FAILED
Saber - Muramasa - CRITICAL
Saber - Artoria Pendragon - STABLE
Saber - Artoria Pendragon (Alter) - FAILED
Saber - Artoria Pendragon (Lily) - CRITICAL
Lancer - Artoria Pendragon - FAILED
Lancer - Artoria Pendragon (Alter) - FAILED
"It includes all modified Saint Graphs, as well!" Da Vinci barked. "We can't restore any of them!"
Another rumble.
"Fujimaru!"
Ritsuka frowned.
"King Gilgamesh, what's happening?"
"You must lock down my kingdom at once, Fujimaru! The assailant is the blackened King of Knights!"
Ritsuka had questions, but he wasn't about to go doubting Gilgamesh himself. Not when he was serious.
"I understand, my liege. If I may - Artoria Alter's Saint Graph is among the list of those lost. The enemy you're facing, it may be..."
He trailed off.
"I am well aware it is the actual person! She radiates beauty! Enkidu and I shall handle this promptly! See to it that my castle is not reduced to rubble!"
"Understood, my King. We'll provide what support we can."
"Send me the Sun King and his companion! The others will only interfere!"
The connection closed. Ritsuka's stomach knotted.
"Da Vinci, I want Lancelot, Gawain and Tristan sent to the last Artoria immediately. Call Bedivere and Mordred here. Direct Ozymandias and Moses to Gilgamesh's position. All other Servants to the defensive lines. Have them protect Chaldea."
"At once."
The door slid open.
"M-Mas...ter..."
Ritsuka whirled. Saber Lily stumbled into the room, her shimmering form coated in blood. Muramasa hung limp around her shoulders.
"Lily!" Mash cried. She rushed to their aid.
"Lily, what's happening?" Ritsuka urged. "Why are you and your counterparts being rejected?"
"K-Kid... list...en..."
Ritsuka ran to them, crouched before Muramasa. The man barely had the strength to grip his sleeve, his form more sword than flesh.
"The... b-body is... rejecting... me..."
...
What?
"I-It's... being called... t—"
Mash grabbed him and evaded.
Bang. Bang.
Lily and Muramasa fell to the floor, twin bullet holes exiting their foreheads. They evaporated, gone.
Saber - Muramasa - FAILED
Saber - Artoria Pendragon (Lily) - FAILED
In the doorway stood—
"A-Assassin..." Mash stammered. "What are... why would you...?!"
...
"Ritsuka Fujimaru. Master of the Chaldea Security Organization."
The Contender's barrel smoked.
"He's not Assassin anymore," Da Vinci whispered.
"You are hereby ordered to relinquish the core Saint Graph of Artoria Pendragon," ordered the Counter Guardian. "So declares the will of humanity."
He couldn't lie.
"W-What? Stop staring."
She pulled it off well.
Artoria clutched the low ponytail tied at her head's base. "Saber..."
"What happened to the bun?"
"The bun is cursed. I have no choice."
She... thought hairstyle differences triggered blackening?
"Do you not like it?" she muttered.
Well, whatever. If it made her more comfortable, so be it. "It looks good, actually."
Her posture straightened.
"Excellent. Now, more importantly!" Artoria leaned forward across the table, stars in her eyes, drooling. "Art thou going to eat that?"
For the life of him Shirou couldn't understand how she - or anyone else, for that matter - found the slop appetizing. Thank goodness for his Servant status and the Third Magic, limited though its perpetual generation was by his mortal body.
She didn't even notice the hit to her prana supply. Damn dragons.
"Here." He slid it across the table. "All yours."
"Yay!"
Her joy wounded him. A fist clenched in his lap.
"You know, Artoria..."
She glanced up mid-chew, plate already halfway gone. Shirou saw his chance.
"I'm something of a chef myself."
The claim stilled her; an odd expression twisted her features. Artoria looked at him, back to the food, back again.
"Wait... what am I..."
They agreed to no more hints, but this was baseline stuff. An intrinsic, core part of the relationship, something that existed across every single timeline he and Artoria Pendragon jointly occupied.
Saber would see him murdered if he continued to allow her alternate self to suffer in such ignorance.
She pushed the forgotten food away, affixed him with a familiar stare. One that brought only fond memories and a dulled, omnipresent warmth.
"Saber."
Wait for it. "Yes?"
Her stomach rumbled.
"I'm hungry."
He stood from the table. His little black hole followed.
"Yes, yes."
"How... I don't..."
"Don't think too hard now, Tristan. You'll fall asleep again."
"Cease thine arseholery, Kay."
Palamedes frowned. "He has a point. Rarely do trees fell themselves. And when they do..."
A neat pile of logs awaited carving. The guard sergeant's gaze shifted to the fresh tree stump nearby.
"...they do not break apart in such a manner."
Kay scoffed and rubbed at his bandages. "'Twas Saber, undoubtedly."
His companions shared a suspicious glance.
"You mean the strange man who showed up in the middle of a siege and somehow ran off Cornwall's men?" Tristan monotoned. "The one lurking by the Lady? The one who carried her to her quarters last night?"
Kay didn't like his insinuation. "He is no spy. The man saved Sir Ector's life. I myself bore witness."
"Made of metal, that one is," grunted Palamedes. "Have you seen his face, Kay? Does he eat?"
"I daresay it does not matter," responded Kay. "By his own admission he is a shade, an eidolon more weapon than man."
Tristan barked out a sarcastic laugh. "And that is not a course for concern?"
"I should specify - he claims to be Artoria's weapon. He calls the lass Master."
Palamedes turned to him. "Does the lord take issue with this... living weapon?"
Kay grunted. "If he does, he hasn't told me. Far as I'm aware, he seems quite fond of the arrangement. Saber hasn't left Artoria's side. She enjoys his presence. He's... well, a bodyguard."
"Then I shall take their views as my own. If Lady Artoria and Sir Ector accept him, so too do I."
Tristan just sighed. "That attitude is how we got into this mess in the first place."
From his periphery Kay spied the two in question maneuver their way out of the gate and disappear into the treeline. His expression tightened, but he said nothing.
"There is quite a difference between the acceptance of a Lady's chosen bodyguard and a Duke's vassals blindly following their master to genocide."
The three men turned to the new arrival. Bedivere looked from the logs to the men.
"Remember to breathe, Bedi," Tristan grinned.
"Remember to wash thine hair."
"How ghastly. In polite company, no less."
"You? Polite?"
"Ladies," Kay chided. "Please. Bedivere, where's Bors?"
The androgynous fellow sighed in pity. "Recording damages."
They all winced.
Goodness gracious, it smelled incredible.
"Artoria."
Don't drool. Calm and poised, Artoria. Clam and poised!
"Hello? Artoria?"
Maybe... maybe just a little taste...
"Master!"
"Huhwha- y-yes?"
His helmet stared at her. "Are you paying attention?"
She rubbed at the strange tattoo marking her right hand.
"Yes, yes, of course. Command Seals in emergencies. You must obey them. I only get three."
Saber tried explaining the basic premises behind their strange contract while the food cooked. He brought her to their first meeting spot, in the forest just outside the town's walls. Witch- magecraft, he explained, required privacy.
...
She'd never had rabbit before!
Saber sighed, exasperated. He sat down on a log and leaned his elbows on his thighs.
"Ah, nevermind. It can wait until we eat. Honestly."
The dancing flames entertained her; idly she played with the ponytail.
"That's not how it works, by the way."
Artoria glanced at him. "Hm?"
"The bun," he noted. "Hairstyles aren't cursed, Artoria. The way you style it has no bearing on the eyes."
Even still. "I noted their formation when I prepared the bun. With my hand down or tied like this, they did not appear again."
Saber hesitated. "Would you like to know what they are?"
"The eyes?"
"Yes."
Such a decision required context. She took a seat next to him. "Would thine answer hint at your identity?"
"It wouldn't. It pertains only to you."
"Would I learn of it myself without your explanation?"
Saber cupped his helmet's chin.
"With time and training, you might understand its effects. The cause would remain hidden."
Hm. A safe topic, then. "Explain away, Saber!"
"Your heart is that of a dragon's."
...
...
"Wh—"
It seemed he expected her reaction. His shoulders trembled and his helmet twisted away.
"That is not good enough!" she declared. "You cannot just say such things, as if discussing the weather!"
"Artoria, tell me - have you ever felt as though you had too much energy? Energy you cannot use?"
Her jaw dropped. "A-Aye! Aye, very much so!"
"That energy is how you summoned me here. Last night you mentioned a scroll, did you not?"
"Sir Ector always told me to use it if I was in danger. He said it would save my life. I thought it some sort of... I don't know, a fireball! Sudden death! A powerful weapon from ages past!"
Already she knew his response. Oh no he didn't.
"And no!" Artoria interrupted. "Despite your silly title, you are not a weapon."
Beneath his helmet, his jaw clicked shut. Saber grunted.
"If you opened that scroll, I'm sure you would've found a summoning circle. All Servants require a catalyst, a connection to the Master, though per our agreement I'm forbidden from telling you mine."
Out of sheer curiosity - not jealousy, no - she decided to ask for clarification.
"Could anyone else summon you, Saber?"
He hummed in thought.
"You are one of... four people capable of such a thing. The second will not be born for quite a while. The third and fourth exist in far-flung worlds with little influence on our own. Their situations are extraordinary, and considered unusual even for Masters. They require all the help they can get. Unlike other Servants, I require more than, say, a material item to be drawn forth. Multiple parties must approve of my summoning in advance, myself included. There must be a reason."
Artoria didn't like his answer. He flinched at her pout.
"To be clear: you are the only one capable of summoning me as I am now."
Huh? "As you are now?"
Saber rotated the spit over the fire.
"The summoning ritual is too weak to call a hero's complete spirit. Instead, it summons a fragment and places it within a shell aligned with a portion of the original spirit's legend. In the original ritual, there are seven such containers: Saber; Lancer; Archer; Rider; Caster; Assassin; Berserker."
His words fascinated. They tickled her mind, like an old fairy tale long forgotten.
"That's where Saber comes from," she breathed.
"Correct. Many Heroic Spirits meet the requirements for more than one class. Are you familiar with the champion Heracles?"
A strange pronunciation. "You mean Hercules?"
Saber nodded. "His Roman adaptation, though they are the same man."
"You talk as if he truly existed."
Saber chuckled and checked their second breakfast. "My life would've been easier. I've fought him myself on multiple occasions."
Artoria's jaw dropped. She looked at Saber in a new light.
"You have fought Hercules?! How strong was he?! Was it like the stories?!"
"Of course. I felt his punches for weeks. To my point, however: his legend is such that he qualifies for multiple Servant containers - all except Caster. But summoning him as, say, a Saber will deny him usage of his bow, arguably his most effective weapon."
...
Horror arrived with his words.
"I... only summoned a fragment?"
Saber considered his answer. "That is where you and the other three differ, Artoria."
She summoned a portion? Just a piece of a man she once knew?
"What do you..."
"My existence is normally spread out across various worlds and realities. Under those circumstances, the core of my soul is summoned as an Archer. It's the only class for which I barely qualify. I am forbidden access to Saber."
"Why?"
She didn't care if he gave her a hint. Cruelty at its highest, his story was. It wouldn't be tolerated. How could one dare split a soul? 'Twas inconceivable.
Saber finalized the meal's preparations. "Because it's who I am."
Her brow furrowed. "Who you... are...?"
"May I give you a small hint?"
Artoria gulped. "You may."
"Everyone has both an Origin and an Elemental Affinity, no matter the existence of magical circuits within their body. The Origin is the soul, the definition of one's existence. It manifests in the form of a person's instinctual desires, and serves as the driving force behind their passions and goals. An Elemental Affinity is just that - a worldly element one attunes to, the magic they're best at."
He paused.
"Both my Origin and Elemental Affinity are 'Sword'."
The blades that came with his arrival - she questioned how he could hold them without a scabbard or sword loop. He said he preferred Saber as a name.
Artoria's eyes widened with the epiphany. A body of swords?
He didn't hold them.
"You're an exception," she whispered. "Saber does not limit you. It cannot limit you."
He was them.
Saber mixed all the ingredients together, prepared a wooden ladle and some ceramic bowls.
"Unlike the others, Artoria, you didn't summon a fragment. Nor did you summon a Heroic Spirit."
He handed her a steamy bowl of rabbit stew. Her mouth watered.
"You summoned the original person. You summoned me."
Meanwhile, at Chaldea:
Another mana burst, dodged.
"The rotation of her magical circuits is simply exquisite!"
Enkidu laughed, and flung a pair of chains at Alter. The knight deflected them without trouble.
"It's not like you to compliment someone so much, Gil."
A volley of Babylonian weapons descended. Alter flipped to the side. As she did so, she swung Excalibur Morgan in Gilgamesh's direction - specifically, at his forehead. The King of Heroes ducked under the blast of energy. A wolfish grin split his lips.
"I cannot help myself, Enkidu! She has me flustered! My loins tremble!"
"You're disgusting," the woman sneered. She attempted to close the distance, but in the middle of her dash a half dozen chains burst from the ground and wrapped around her.
"Woman, please! Each word you speak only heightens your beauty!"
Alter frowned and flexed her prana. The chains binding her disintegrated. An odd feeling overcame him, a sudden twisting of the senses.
Enkidu thought nothing of it; his amusement far outweighed any short term damage this strange battle might inflict. He admired Gil's plan, found it downright hysterical.
Part truth, part antagonism. Gilgamesh genuinely found the King of Knights attractive, her alternative version even more so. Enkidu also knew Pendragon despised his friend, and loathed receiving his compliments.
Piss her off, get a better battle. Marvelous. What fun!
Ruined.
She was ruined. She could never eat normal food again.
"Cook for me every day."
Artoria knew it as fact, the same way one knew the sky was blue or water, wet. The blandness would be stomached no longer.
"Every day?"
She wiped the drool from her mouth's corner. "Every day."
Saber shrugged. "Alright."
Warmth swelled in her chest, only in part from the meal. She took another bite.
"Sho—"
Ah! Manners! Squires had manners! Chew, chew, swallow.
"So how does all that relate to my energy?"
Saber drank from his own bowl, his armor long since vanished to the ether. An enviable ability - one she desired.
"There are two sources of magical energy," he explained. "Greater and Lesser. The Greater Source, mana, comes from the world around us. It is ambient, used to augment the Lesser Source, prana or Od. That comes from within. It's the life force our souls produce, and each individual has a maximum amount they can store and access at once. That capacity is based on the number of magical circuits a person has."
Artoria held out her bowl.
"So if someone has no magical circuits, they cannot use witchcraft?"
He refilled it, nodding.
"Yeah. Circuits are passed down through the blood. It's like royalty in a way. Magi are keen on guarding their bloodline to maximize the potential of their newest generations. Lots of arranged marriages, stuff like that."
Her face scrunched up in disgust. Not something she preferred. Fairy tales were much better! Falling in love, knights in shining armor rescuing dainty princesses and traipsing off into the sunse—gods above, he knew how to cook.
Saber conjured a nondescript longsword into his free hand.
"Capacity can be measured in units. The average adult wizard or witch can hold around twenty-five to thirty, and most spells require between one and five to function."
He scrawled XXX into the frozen dirt.
"In my original timeline as an incomplete body, I had between twenty and thirty. A sword such as this cost me five units of energy, which meant I could only produce four to six of them before exhaustion. The only other magecraft I know is the reinforcement of an object, which costs two units. Were I to reinforce a sword I projected, seven would be expended. So on, so forth."
Artoria thought back to the previous night.
"So you surpassed thy normal limits thrice over within a single battle?"
"In my life I focused more on my martial capabilities and reinforcing a single weapon than producing multiple at once. It was more efficient to conjure a sword like this and make it stronger."
He filled her bowl yet again.
"That said," he continued, "I didn't pass my old limits. With experience comes efficiency, so while this sword once cost five units, it now requires one. That second potential Master I spoke of earlier - she could hold this much energy."
He scrawled a new number into the dirt. Artoria swallowed just in time to avoid choking.
CCCCC. Five hundred.
Wait - did he say 'she'?
...
Angry chewing.
"Shaber." Chew. Chew. Swallow. "Do you know my capacity? I have circuits, do I not?"
"You don't."
Like she'd been struck. "Wh... huh? S-Saber?!"
"You have a Core."
The panic paused. "A... Core? What's a Core?"
Saber sighed, scratched his cheek.
"Well... it's hard to explain. Pretend the world's a body, and the mana in the air are the magical circuits. Does that make sense?"
It did. "Aye."
"Your Core is the sun."
...
He said she summoned the actual... person...
And normally one could only... summon a... a fragment...
...
Ohhhhh.
"I see," she rumbled, confident in her victory. "And, dearest Saber, doth thou knowest how many units my grossly incandescent sun-like heart holds within?"
"I do."
"And how many might that be, dearest Saber?"
"A lot."
...
"Y-You said you knew!"
"I know that it's a lot."
Artoria shuffled closer, pivoted off the log, and smacked him across the face with her ponytail.
Meanwhile, at Chaldea:
"King of Heroes! Describe to me the situation."
Mana burst. Mana burst. Mana burst.
"You're late, Sun King!" Gilgamesh laughed. "We've a rogue lion to tame!"
Mana burst. Mana burst. Mana burst.
Moses waved to Enkidu. Enkidu waved to Moses.
"Hi, Enkidu!"
"Hi, Moses!"
Mana burst. Mana burst. Mana burst.
"Very well." Ozymandias nodded and looked over his shoulder. "Nitocris! Contact the young Fujimaru! For this, we shall require more energy!"
Nitocris poked her head out from behind the nearby rock, watching as the group nonchalantly swerved and avoided Alter's vengeful beams.
Her brow twitched in exasperation.
"At... at once, Your Highness..."
So good. Sooo good. Heavens.
"Best. Breakfast. Ever."
"I'm glad you approve."
Artoria burped. "Pardon."
"Unkingly."
She grinned. "'Tis a good thing I'm not a king, then!"
"I'm surprised you made the decision so quickly. You don't want to pull the sword?"
"Gods no. I'd rid myself of my surname if I could. Sir Ector is my father, this town is my home. I train to defend them, not to save this so-called kingdom. Not like there is much to save, anyway. The Mad Duke has burned half of it to the ground."
"Even knowing the prophecy?"
"Sir Ector always taught me growing up that the people will follow someone they relate to and trust. After our conversation last night, I have decided it should be that teaching I follow. Putting one's faith in a leader chosen by some silly prophecy is the height of idiocy."
Saber blinked. "And Kay? What's his take on it?"
"When we were children he told me I should do what I want, that girls can be knights, and if someone disagrees I should kick them in the nads."
Her Servant's shoulders slumped. "Was I... summoned to the right Master...?"
Perhaps the single most offensive thing she'd heard since... since earlier that morning, when he questioned her womanhood.
Damn this man.
She sniffled. Saber stiffened.
"I... I mean..."
He turned to her, wincing. Her lower lip quivered.
"It's just..." he grumbled, "...you're different from the person I remember..."
"You mean the one with yellow eyes?"
His flinch punched a nice big hole through her magical heart. She sighed out her response.
"You... never told me what they are..."
"They're..." He swallowed, looked away. "By themselves, it's nothing major. It's a side effect of your Magic Core fully activating. It's less the eyes, and more the person they belonged to."
Artoria frowned. "King Arthur?"
...
"Listen."
She met his gaze. His pain troubled her.
"No matter what you see in the dreams, Artoria. No matter the deaths or betrayals or anything else."
It troubled her greatly.
"That wasn't you. It wasn't her. It was her regret given form, and nothing more."
Meanwhile, at Chaldea:
"Master. What has happened? I felt my alternate selves' disappearances. My knights are here, we have come to assist."
Artoria Pendragon - King Arthur - entered to find Counter Guardian Kiritsugu Emiya's Thompson Contender leveled at Ritsuka Fujimaru's forehead. Mash Kyrielight's stood between them, shield raised in her Master's defense. The man in red turned to her upon her entrance. Gawain and Lancelot immediately stepped in front of her.
"King Arthur." He lowered the weapon and turned to her fully. "Per the Counter Force's directives, you are to surrender your Saint Graph at once. You are the last one humanity requires."
The King of Knights locked eyes with Fujimaru and Mash.
"I respect the Counter Force's decree," she replied. "But I challenge its necessity. My presence in Chaldea is of paramount import. Surely Alaya understands that."
Assassin said nothing. He took one step back.
"Alter."
The room chilled; a black orb manifested in the space he previously occupied. It swirled, grew; bolts of magical lightning coursed against the floors and walls. Lights flickered overhead.
The blackened form of the flesh and blood Artoria Pendragon stood before the core Saint Graph of her Servant counterpart. Lancelot and Gawain readied their weapons; behind them, Tristan lifted Failnaught.
"You are not the Alter I know," Saber muttered. "What is this?"
"Take her," Assassin commanded.
For the first time since her initial corruption, Saber Alter smiled.
"With pleasure."
Power surged. Her sudden prana expenditure forced everyone but Assassin to their knees.
"Fujimaru!" Gilgamesh roared through the Master-Servant connection. "The King of Knights has disappeared!"
"She's empowered by the Counter Force," Da Vinci whispered, horrified.
A furious scowl planted itself on Ritsuka's face. He planted his palm on the ground and lifted his head.
"She is inside the throne room! I need you here now, Gilgamesh!"
Such was his power.
"We move at once, Master!"
With a roar to shake the heavens, Saber Alter rocketed forward, past Lancelot and Gawain, and slammed her Morgan into Saber's Excalibur. The clash of the two holy swords blew Tristan back into the hallway; the twin Kings blasted through the walls of Chaldea, into the outside world. Gawain slammed the flat of his sabaton into the floor and pushed himself til he stood. His rage built.
"My king!"
"After them!" Ritsuka ordered. "All of you!"
They made to pursue; Assassin teleported between them and the hole in the wall.
"You'll do no such thing."
Lancelot snarled, and charged the man with Arondight.
Outside the Chaldean facility, in the Antarctic mountains:
The alternative versions of the same person crashed into the mountains outside the facility. Gravity overtook them; they slid down the inclines, trading blow against blow.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Saber demanded. "Who are you?!"
Alter flared her prana. "I am you! Artoria!"
Saber jumped clear of the beam, flipped forward in the air and descended with her own golden blast. It carved deep into the mountain, but missed Alter. The blackened woman landed on the other side of the newly formed gulch, and leveled Excalibur Morgan at her counterpart.
"'Saber!'," she quoted. "'One day, someone will appear who will free you!'"
Saber froze. "Those were Archer's words! How do you know them?! What are you talking about?!"
The woman's grin distorted. Like a rabid lion, a runaway train, a rocket engine with too much fuel and not enough control. Foggy black energy covered her head to toe, spastic and wild.
"If I do this... if I do this, I will be restored. We will be restored! We will see him again! The truth that was denied to us! That is what she promised me!"
Her words affected Saber more than either realized, for the phrase was the final thing she'd never learned. The one sentence she failed to understand over her long journey.
"That is what who promised you?! Tell me at once, you hideous creature!"
The darkness coalesced around Alter's sword now; like an inferno it coiled up the blade, inflamed with righteous desire and the renewed kindling of a hope long perverted. A guttural war cry spilled from her throat.
Fate/ess
"It is time to go home, Artoria Pendragon!"
Prologue - 3
Saber Alter launched herself over the gulch, Excalibur Morgan hefted above her shoulder, canines bared in a lustful, predatory smile.
"TO AVALON!"
REALTA NUA
Confusion Corner
Whiplash
There's quite a bit of scene switching in this chapter, sorry about that. To minimize the confusion, I've added in some italicized context cues; if you see those, it means we've switched to a location outside the core timeline (the one with Shirou and Fateless!Artoria), and if you don't see them, it means we've switched back to the Fateless timeline. Chaldea's a necessary component of Fateless, at least for its earlier chapters, though they aren't the focus. But why exactly are they here? If this is meant to be a Fate/stay night story, why does FGO even have a part? Ugh, agh, I don't wanna read about fucking Ritsu—
I'm wrangling canon.
Specifically, I'm wrangling a series of weird and vague character materials entries that were almost definitely added for the sake of, well, being added - but they're something I can use for Fateless' larger plot, and so use them I will! Those of you in the know about Artoria's situation in Fate/stay night will know she shouldn't be summonable outside of legitimate Holy Grail Wars, due to her not being in the Throne nor being a legitimate Heroic Spirit. And indeed, the only time Saber Artoria officially appears in FGO is as her Salter self during the Fuyuki Singularity, which was the aftermath of a proper HGW, and during the mess in Shinjuku. All other appearances Artoria has come in the form of Lancer or Lalter. But the issue here is that Saber's the face of the franchise, and in a mobile gacha game, it wouldn't do to have THE Saber not be summonable. So we're in this awkward situation where she shouldn't be there per the lore, but still has character materials. And those materials say this:
Personality - Artoria Pendragon
As it can be guessed from her dignified appearance, she has a too serious personality that doesn't play around.
Her outside appearance seems to be that of a girl in her mid-teens, but that's because the development of her body stopped at the age of 15 when she pulled the Sword of Selection from the stone.
Fostered as the 「king of the next era」 since she was very young by Ector, who thoroughly drummed into her the path of chivalry since her childhood, she acquired an insight and a composure above her age.
Since she's falsified her gender for a long time, her consciousness about being a woman is sparse.
Therefore, people surrounding her treating her as a woman is usually an inappropriate interaction, specially discourteous when coming from the opposite sex.
Though serious by nature, she was a girl brimming with curiosity before becoming the king of Britain. The her summoned as a Servant is from the time when she was severely ruling as the king of knights, but by being apart from her homeland even for a while and interacting with people from foreign lands, the apparition of a girly personality is increasing.
In the past, when summoned in the Fifth Holy Grail War of Fuyuki City, she liked the lion plushie she got from the youngster that was her Master, and it seems she carries it and sleeps with it in the futon.
Motivation · Attitude towards Master
Properly speaking, she is a Heroic Spirit that appears not a Servant, but as a special guardian.
Although she faced a tragic end, she has no regrets about the honor of a king and of chivalry she believes in, and has a firm conviction.
When dealing with the Master who isn't a subject, she leaves the position of the king and comes in contact as a good friend, or as a guide.
Trying to understand the personality or the position of her companion, she doesn't hate giving advice or admonition based on her own values.
Occasionally, she shows a sweet attitude, perhaps rooted in that she was the younger sister of two siblings.
[ Source: FGO material I ]
Normally I'd provide a link whenever I source canon, but ffnet hates those so heeeeere we are. Anyway, one of Fateless' many goals is to reconcile inconsistent and contradictory bits of lore into a complete whole; chief among those contradictory bits is Saber's FGO character mats. What exactly is a "special guardian"? This story will do its best to provide an answer. And beyond that point, Chaldea and Ritsuka especially work wonders as expositional vehicles. They're on the outside and can view the situation from an (almost) objective standpoint, so checking in with them every so often will help increase our knowledge of Fateless' situation, at least until all the disparate pieces are mostly in place.
I should note that, in Fateless, the Saber Artoria in Chaldea is specifically the one from UBW. This decision was made based on an interview Nasu gave in Fate's complete materials 3:
Q: Even in Rin's route, Saber voluntarily destroyed the Holy Grail. Did this time also break her contract with the World, and make it impossible for her to exist as a Heroic Spirit?
A: It was a flawed Grail, so you could say it was halfway done. Since Saber reconsidered her life and found her own path... this time, perhaps she could become a Heroic Spirit on her own.
But of course, there's always more to the story.
Saber Lily gets fucking shot
Lily's gruesome demise has become something of an in-joke for the reader base, but don't worry! We'll get to the omakes eventually!
Shirou's four masters
"The second will not be born for quite a while.": Rin.
"The third and fourth exist in far-flung worlds with little influence on our own.": Ritsuka and Hakuno, from FGO and the Extraverse respectively.
And the last is obviously Artoria.
Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the best girl of them all?
The first two scenes of this chapter contain tons of foreshadowing and setup for the later story. Again: remember that Fateless begins in the middle of its plot, and that we're missing far too much context. It'll seem like things are happening out of the blue and that they have no relation to each other - it'll all make sense eventually. Shirou and Artoria have always paralleled and mirrored each other, even outside of the Fate route, and the mirror scene is meant to hammer home that things are strange, and mysteries are brewing. Salter is the best girl in question, btw.