And so the chapter of May arrives!

P a treon: p a Treon.(c om) (backslash) themaster4444

Beta-ed by Draconic


"These clothes feel amazing! Thank you Master," Mordred cheered, a spring in her step as she looked over her new outfit.

Kairi shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It was a necessary expense."

God knew if it wasn't he wouldn't have put out a dime for them. The freelance mage business paid well enough, but money dried up just as quickly as anything else in the world. Like life, it wasn't something to be wasted on unnecessary things. But, Mordred wanted to be able to walk around in public, and she seemed like a good kid. There was no harm in granting her wish.

"It's strange. We came all the way out here to the heart of the enemy. But nobody has attacked us yet."

That too. They thought alike and he could already see that they had a good Master/Servant dynamic going on already.

Besides, he owed her one for backing him up with the priest. Kairi had encountered members of the Eight Sacrament Assembly before, hell he'd even worked with them a few times, and they were never what you'd call normal. Religious supercommandos rarely were. But then, he was a necromancer who made toxic smoke grenades out of peoples' hearts and demanded payment in the form of a dead baby hydra, so who was he to judge?

Even so, something about Shirou Kotomine had just seemed…off. More so than usual when dealing with the Holy Church. The man just seemed too soft spoken, too pleasant. Maybe he was just being polite, but unless he was a saint, that kind of purity could only have been a façade. His instincts had been screaming at him to leave as soon as he could, but they did that with most of the jobs he took. If he listened to them over his logic every time, he'd never get any work.

But Mordred echoing his own thoughts? Yeah, that was a good enough reason to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

The priest had seemed disappointed at his decision, but he had bid them a fond farewell. His Servant, Semiramis, got a bit uppity with him, but she didn't attack him. Acting independently or not, they were still on the same team. They'd hold off any backstabbing until the Black Faction was dealt with.

'And this Third Faction,' Kairi thought grimly.

Hadn't that been a surprise. In addition to the intel on Yggdmillenia and Ruler, Kotomine had informed them of the unexpected addition to the Great Holy Grail War. The priest had sounded pretty sure that the Grail's prana reserves couldn't support more than the one Master, but that didn't put Kairi at ease. Whoever this Master was, they were smart, staying hidden away in some hidey-hole and sending an emissary to collect information from the Overseer in their place.

Normally, Kairi would be concentrating on finding out who this master was and what their Servant could do, but honestly, he was more concerned about the emissary. The red headed kid he'd let walk right past him. The guy with the strange black Command Seals.

Shirou Emiya.

He wasn't surprised Kotomine didn't realize the significance of the surname. He'd thought he'd heard the last of the Emiya name years ago.

Kairi had been one of the best in the business ever since his daughter died, but if anyone were to ask him who was the best in the mage mercenary game, there could only ever be one answer:

Kiritsugu Emiya.

The Mage Killer was infamous in his day; a ruthless assassin who never failed a job. Kairi had had the supreme displeasure of working with him once. It wasn't that he was particularly unpleasant; more that there was something unsettling about the man. Like he was completely empty.

Nevertheless, the man knew what he was doing. He knew how mages thought, almost to a frightening extent, and he was well aware how to use modern technology—and honestly, a little common sense—to get around the most intricate of obstacles. It didn't matter what hexes or bounded fields his target had defending them. Once he took a mark, that person was already dead. Whether they realized it or not.

The target that they had gone after together had been a man who'd slaughtered more than thirty Enforcers. Kiritsugu had made it just a little too obvious that they were coming, which Kairi had found infuriating. It didn't make sense until their target attacked them preemptively. The spell used had turned the surrounding environment to glass from the sheer heat. Kiritsugu fired a single shot in the same instant. And their job had ended before Kairi had the opportunity to do anything. The Mage Killer hadn't batted an eye as the other mage's body tore itself apart at the seams. It took five minutes before the sounds of screaming, bones crunching, and joints snapping finally stopped. When Kairi had looked again, their target wasn't even human anymore.

Humans didn't die like that.

The right arm had turned inside out and was actually inside the man's torso, which had torn open like something out of a horror movie. There were the obvious and bloody signs of a catastrophic aneurism, and half of the joints were bending in the exact opposite direction from how they were supposed to move. Both hands had snapped apart, the fingers shattered like bundles of twigs, barely held together by a few strands of sinew.

All this from a single shot from an old gun.

That was what it meant to be hunted by the Mage Killer.

Publicly, the Mages Association decried Kiritsugu as a renegade and a disgrace, but behind closed doors they employed him just as much as anyone else. It was also entirely possible that many in the Mages Association just resented him for being so brazenly technologically literate as well. But when you were skilled and efficient, people tended to overlook moral quandaries and personal grudges, and the Clock Tower was no exception. Hell, if he hadn't finally kicked it a few years back, he probably would have been recruited for this Grail War mess. No, not probably. Guaranteed.

And now some kid with his name showed up working for a supposedly impossible Master? That was too much of a coincidence for Kairi.

Whether this Shirou Emiya really was related to the Mage Killer or was just using the name to take advantage of the reputation, Kairi had little doubt he would end up being one of the most dangerous forces in the Grail War.

And that meant the necromancer needed to know who he was and fast. He'd get his feelers on it as soon as possible, but until then…

A line of people with red eyes dressed in spotless white military uniforms occupied the surrounding streets. A dozen hulking rock golems lumbered up behind them.

…he had work to do.

Kairi pulled out his sawed-off shotgun, fully loaded with gandr imbued fingers.

Mordred giggled. "Oh, I get it now. I thought it was just me, but you were a decoy too!" she slapped him heartily on the back—which given her strength, very nearly doubled him over. "Master, you just might be insane!" the Saber declared with a good-humored, almost childlike grin, before letting it twist into something more feral. "I like it!"

Kairi recollected himself and stared down at the force before them. He could already hear the heavy footsteps of their reinforcements coming up behind them.

"You take the golems," he ordered. "I'll focus on getting rid of the homunculi."

"Yeah. And how 'bout that Servant on the roof back there?" she asked, not even gesturing.

Ah yes; their not so inconspicuous tail. Mordred had sensed them when they were getting the clothes, but they couldn't have attacked in the public shop. Once night had fallen, they'd initially waited for the hero to attack, but they never did, seemingly content to watch without taking action.

"Be on guard," Kairi advised. "If they're a Servant of Black, they'll use these guys as an opening. If they're one of the other Servants of Red, they might help us, or stand back."

And if they were a Servant of the Third Faction, who knew what they'd do. Regardless, they needed to deal with the problem in front of them.

"Show me the extent of your power, Saber!" Kairi shouted.

Mordred turned and caught an attack from one of the golems with one hand. She grinned. "Understood, Master!"

They charged into the fray.


FATEFATEFATEFATEFATEFATE

When Saber had accepted the Grail's summons for the third time, she hadn't expected to see any familiar faces. Being reunited with Shirou and Rin was a wondrous surprise that she would be eternally grateful for.

This was… less so.

When she had gone out to buy ingredients for Shirou as an apology for her… forceful handling of the matter of Avalon, the last thing she had anticipated was catching sight of her in a nearby clothing store.

Mordred. The homunculus created from her genetic data. The warrior poisoned against her by her sister's venomous words… and her own, admittedly, subpar handling of the situation.

The knight who demanded to be her heir, and yet brought her kingdom low.

Her son, who she'd last seen when she drove Rhongomyniad through her chest.

What was she doing buying clothes in this time period?

The answer to that was obvious enough. She had been summoned, just as Arturia herself had been, to compete in the Great Holy Grail War. Why she was buying clothes with a large man with three scars over his right eye was more confounding. Could she not assume spirit form, or did she just wear modern clothing so that she could remain materialized by preference, as the King of Conquerors once did?

That seemed fine, but did she have to choose attire that was so… scant? It was unbecoming of a knight.

She should have returned to Shirou and Rin immediately, but against her better judgement, she began to follow her wayward son and her Master. She stuck to the rooftops to avoid civilian eyes as much as possible and tried to suppress her prana, so Mordred wouldn't sense her.

It was surreal to see her again. When she had seen Lancelot in the Fourth Holy Grail War, she had been filled with horror and self-loathing. But with Mordred, her feelings were more conflicted. While she had accepted her decisions and the consequences thereof, she still remembered that Mordred had not only raged against her but chose to start a war that slaughtered thousands of innocents, knights who had been friends of them both.

The title of Knight of Treachery had been well earned.

But had her failure to understand her son not merited the betrayal?

On the other hand, the king's duty was to ensure his people's safety for as long as possible. Thus, was it not her duty to deny the throne to a reckless upstart who cared more about having the throne than the responsibility that came with it?

But, was it also not a parent's duty to protect and care for their child? To say nothing of skewering them with a divine artifact?

Ugh! She would be useless to Rin and Shirou if she allowed these conflicting emotions to unbalance her. She needed to deal with them immediately!

Of course, she was alone. Without her Master. It would be improper to initiate a battle when Rin was absent without her express orders.

Yes. She should observe the enemy Servant and then report back with what she'd learned. Preferably without being seen.

The two continued walking down a dark alleyway, only to be set upon by a hoard of homunculi and a squadron of hulking golems. The master pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and charged the homunculi, shouting, "Show me the extent of your power, Saber!"

Hmm, so Mordred had been summoned as a Saber. At least that meant she wouldn't have to deal with her being affected by Madness Enchantment.

Though honestly, it was difficult to tell the difference between her fighting style and that of a Berserker. As she had been in life, Mordred was both utterly bursting with power and completely lacking in any restraint. Her technique, if one could even call it that, was simply to smash the golems with whatever she had on hand. There was no finesse, no precision, and she threw her sword away like a fool!

Still, she was only fighting golems, so her brute force strategy was perfectly sufficient for the task. The homunculi, armed with only bows and polearms, were no match for her Master either, who blew through them with his firearm and a strange grenade made out of a heart.

It was over in minutes. Mordred finishing the last of the golems by carrying one over her head and smashing it into another.

Saber would deny it in the future, but that did bring a smile to her face.

"Looks like we're done here," the Master observed, stowing his gun inside his jacket.

"I'm surprised by your skill, Master," Mordred complemented.

Saber could agree with that assessment. That scarred mage had been ruthless in his attacks, but when faced with multiple opponents, that was perfectly understandable. He had been practical in his strategy, eliminating one group of foes before taking cover so he could evaluate the changed battlefield. It was not a knight's way of battle, but he was not a knight.

Besides, it was far more honorable than the last mage Saber had known who used firearms.

The master rubbed his chin in thought. "But why did they go all out like that?"

"All out? They didn't even send one of their Servants," Mordred whined. "Those cowards."

She glared at the rooftop during that last comment. Saber slowly backed away from the edge. Had she been detected? No. Mordred would never have been able to restrain herself if she knew someone was watching her.

"Let's retreat for today," the Master decided, examining some of the rubble of the golems, particularly the purple gems from their foreheads. "It wasn't a complete waste."

Mordred nodded and then started eagerly patting the man on the back. "So, with that out of the way, tell me. What do you think of my skills as a warrior?"

'Sloppy, overly aggressive, desperately in need of footwork…'

"You're quite good," the Master declared with a smile. "I ended up with a magnificent Servant here."

"Damn right you did!" Mordred concurred. Her lips fell into a more contemplative expression. "I'm the only knight that far surpasses my father after all."

That was pushing it. Nevertheless, Saber knew that if she had been taking the fight seriously, all of those things would have been perfect, though perhaps with a little too much emphasis on using brute force.

Her Master chuckled. "Now, that part where you threw your sword, that may have been a bit much."

"You idiot," Mordred grinned merrily as the two started to walk away. "As long as you win in the end, who cares how you do it?"

Saber had to agree with the Master, that part was incredibly irresponsible. She blinked as a thought occurred to her. Had she been fighting like that because she was seeking approval?

No. Not right now. It wouldn't do to focus on such thoughts.

Saber backtracked and dashed off in the opposite direction, her mind awash with doubts despite her best efforts.

When Mordred had arrived at Camelot, she had been wearing full armor, helmet included. Her deeds earned her a place at the Round Table, but the other knights had no idea what she actually looked like. Saber only found out the day she came to her and revealed their relation. And on her face was an earnest smile.

Saber had been confounded by her enthusiasm and the news of Morgana's manipulations. She had had no idea how to respond to such news, but she had known Mordred, and she knew that despite her noble heart, she did not have the capacity to be king, seeing the throne only as a right and not a responsibility.

The enthusiasm quickly turned to fury and Saber thought to never see that earnest smile again.

And yet, when Mordred spoke with her Master, there it was.

The knight she had called friend, the son she would have been proud to call hers had fate not put the responsibility of kingship upon her, still lived. She was buried underneath the ruthless butcher who thought nothing of razing Camelot for vengeance, but she was still there.

There was still a hero hiding somewhere in that armor.

Saber found herself smiling.

But the thought quickly soured.

Whoever this Master was, he was bringing out the best of Mordred, reigniting the kind soul that had first sworn fealty to her, and who had eagerly adopted the values of knighthood. With her new, and admittedly better understanding of her own past, Saber wanted to speak with her son. To try and reconcile after their last battle… but it was more than likely that her presence would simply cause Mordred to regress back to the spiteful upstart she'd been upon her death. No, this was something best left to the scarred mage.

The smile remained on Saber's face, but it was the smile of a person who had a wish they couldn't imagine being granted. She had to stay away from her. The best thing that she could do for her wayward knight was to leave her alone.

Which meant that she, Rin and Shirou needed to leave this town immediately.

Besides, Mordred seemed to be under the illusion she had somehow surpassed the King of Knights. It would be kinder to let her live in that fantasy a little longer.

"Rin," Saber called out telepathically. "Where are you?"

'Saber? Where have you been?! You were supposed to be back hours ago.'

"My apologies, Master. Something… came up. Have you and Shirou secured the necessary supplies and transportation?"

She could practically hear Rin sigh. 'We used up the last of the money from that jewel I sold, but yeah, we've got everything except what you said you were going to get.'

Oh, yes, the groceries. She would have snatch up Shirou's ingredients from one of the closing stores and leave the money behind as payment. Normally she wouldn't ever consider such actions, but… Mordred.

'Other than that, we're just waiting on you outside the house. Is everything okay?'

"Very well, Master. But you should prepare to move out as soon as I return. There is a dangerous Servant in this town."

'You encountered the priest's?'

Saber winced. "Not exactly. I'll explain when we reconvene."


FATEFATEFATEFATEFATEFATE

"What did you mean by 'not exactly?' Saber? Saber?"

"Is something wrong?" Shirou inquired, just finishing up strapping their supplies onto the sidecar of the motorcycle they'd bought. She'd been hesitant about the matter, but getting to Trifas on foot would take ages. She ultimately determined that they'd need to sell more jewels, but when she'd been rooting through her satchel for something suitable, she found a pair of diamonds that she knew hadn't been there when last she'd checked its contents. She recalled what Zelretch had said in his first letter: No sense in forcing you to find your own way there on your own dime. The old man could be counted on from time to time after all. Nevertheless, it hadn't been enough for even a small used car. Thus, the motorcycle.

"She cut off her end of the link," Rin exclaimed. "Saber doesn't do that. That's like something that an angry teenager would do."

"Is she in trouble? I can go look for her," Shirou offered, rising from his station.

Rin held out a hand. "Don't bother. She's on her way. She should be here in a few minutes at the latest."

"Alright then." Shirou leaned back against the motorcycle, gazing at her with worried eyes. "How are you holding up? I know finding out about this Darnic guy can't have been easy."

Rin sighed and trudged over next to her boyfriend. "It's… complicated. I know he didn't kill my family, but they were still Tohsakas. What pisses me off though is that he stole their lives' work, the Holy Grail, and polluted it for his own gains. He dishonored generations of hard work for a power-grab."

That was unforgivable to someone like Rin. Magecraft was an art, a practice to be meticulously researched throughout one's lifetime until their time ended and they entrusted their work to the next generation. Every family spent centuries furthering their research, adding to their magic crests, all of them working to the bone to thrive.

Rin knew there were mages out there who didn't share her principles, who stole the prized research of other families and used them for their own advancement. Even Luvia was better than that. The Edelfelts might have been battlefield scavengers, but in a certain regard, they were making sure that when a mage died without an heir, their research would live on. Darnic killed people so that he could pry their prized possessions out from their lifeless hands after they so rudely refused to hand over literally everything they valued. Darnic's type were scum who didn't deserve to be considered mages. She had slaved away for years, every day since her father died, so that she could call herself that. She would not let Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia reap the spoils of defiling her family, even if it was in another world.

"What do you think he's after?" Shirou inquired.

"The Root, probably. Same as most mages" Rin shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. Even if we can't pull out a win ourselves, there's no way I'm letting him get the wish."

"Tohsaka, you don't have to kill him."

"He's probably the Master of Lancer of Black. It'll be a lot easier to deal with him than Vlad the Impaler."

"We thought the same thing about Mr. Kuzuki and Caster, and look how that turned out," Shirou reminded her. "Rin, I agree we can't let him get the grail, but I don't want you to become obsessed with vengeance against a guy you've never met."

"Obsessed with vengeance?" Rin gave Shirou the stink eye. "Shirou, I am perfectly capable of annihilating our enemies without letting my personal feelings get in the way. God knows I'll need to if we're going to get out of this alive."

Shirou frowned worriedly. "If Kirei had survived what happened with Lancer, would you have been able to put things aside then?"

Rin had no answer to that, but she couldn't avoid the question, so she answered it with a question of her own.

"Would you, if Caster had killed Ms. Fujimura?"

Shirou stared at her a moment, then sighed. "No. I don't know what I would have done if things had turned out that way. And that terrifies me, just like I'm terrified at the thought of what you might become."

Rin smiled and kissed his cheek. "And I love you for that, you idiot. But this isn't some drive-in movie where I throw away everything for some meaningless revenge. I'm going to make Darnic wish he never heard of the Holy Grail, but I'm going to do that because it's what we need to do to win and go home. Though I can't say I won't enjoy it."

Shirou raised an eyebrow, but he did have a ghost of a smile. "Alright, if you're sure. Just know that I'm always here for you."

"As if I could ever forget," Rin chuckled. She took his hand in hers. "I've got any world's biggest bonehead by my side until the very end."

Shirou grinned. "Always."

The two leaned in to kiss…

…And were interrupted by Saber landing next to them, grocery bags in her arms.

Rin instantly jumped away from Shirou, her cheeks blushing. "Saber, you're back already."

Saber briskly handed Shirou the groceries. "I'm truly sorry for the delay, but we need to move out immediately. Oh!" she noticed the motorcycle. "Is this our transportation?"

"Yeah. I needed to dish out two more jewels, but at least we have some money left over.

The Servant actually looked rather excited about being the driver. She must have wanted to finally put her Riding Skill to use. Still, something was definitely off and it wasn't just her being giddy over getting Avalon back.

"Shirou should protect the food in the sidecar," she said, handing her shopping bags off to him, "Rin, you are behind me."

"Saber wait, what's—"

"Shirou get in the sidecar!"

Saber must have used her Rank B Charisma in that shout, because Shirou was in the sidecar faster than Rin could blink, and he looked as surprised about it as her. Soon, she found herself sitting on the motorcycle behind her Servant as the group raced out of town.

Once they were on the highway, the wind blasting past their faces, Saber closed her eyes for a moment, her brow creased in concentration. A moment later, a cone of high-pressure air erupted around them and gleaming silver armor materialized over the motorcycle, as well as the sidecar. The wind was roaring past them now, but strangely, it wasn't buffeting them directly anymore.

"Saber!" Rin inquired, the wind howling far too loudly for her words to be heard without shouting. "What's going on?!"

"This is a byproduct of Invisible Air, Master. By using it to cover our vehicle, I can keep our wheels firmly on the road with the pressure while decreasing our air resistance to zero to increase speed. The most accurate name for the final result would be 'Motored Cuirassier.'"

Rin frowned. "Not what I meant, but good to know!" Her expression shifted to one of worry for her Servant. "Saber, tell us the truth. This isn't like you! What's so dangerous about this Servant that has you so rattled?"

"Whatever it is, I doubt it's anything the three of us can't handle together," Shirou assured her.

Saber sighed, reducing their speed to something more comfortable. "I'm sorry. I should not have acted so brashly. No matter our familiarity, you two are still my Masters. I have no place ordering you so."

"It's fine, Saber" Rin promised as they blazed down the road, a pickup truck racing by them in the opposite direction. "Just tell us what's wrong?"

Saber paused a moment, but eventually spoke up. "The Servant I saw in town. It was someone from my past. Someone I'm… not quite sure how I feel about or how to deal with."

"Who?"

For some time, the only sounds that could be heard were the rumble of the engines and the wind rushing past them.

"Saber, who was it?" Shirou asked.

Saber sighed. She just couldn't say no to him…

"Mordred."

Rin was so stunned that Shirou actually answered before she could. "Mordred? Your son?"

"Indeed. The homunculus offspring that Morgan le Fey created from me. The one who I believed was not capable of being king and so refused to acknowledge as heir," Saber lamented. "In the end, we slew each other at Camlann."

Rin gulped. She didn't know too much about the details of Saber's death beyond what the legends said, but anyone that could mortally wound her must have been a dangerous foe. "Is he dangerous?"

"Mordred? Not as I am now. She is certainly talented, but without a way to overcome Avalon, I need not fear her. Nevertheless, it would be in both of your best interests to stay out her way."

"If she's no danger to you, then wouldn't you just be able to defend us? Why did we rush out of town?"

"Because—"

An explosion rang through the night before she could reply. Ahead, Rin caught sight of a cloud of smoke rising from the road by a highway sign.

"Oh look, an explosion. We should go ensure no one was injured."

Rin scrunched her face in fury. "Saber, you aren't getting out of this that easily—"

A spike of prana surged through the air, the likes of which Rin hadn't felt since the corrupted grail nearly manifested. The brisk night air was suddenly replaced with a heat wave so dry, the young magus frantically glanced about to make sure the grass beside the highway hadn't shriveled to ash in the sudden shift in temperature.

"Tohsaka. Do you feel that?" Shirou asked, a hint of worry in his voice. "We… should probably make sure no one got hurt."

Rin gulped. If even Shirou could understand the threat ahead, it was truly something they should avoid. Even if Saber had Avalon, they shouldn't charge headfirst into danger just because someone might need their help.

Oh wait, she forgot who she was with.


FATEFATEFATEFATEFATEFATE

Jeanne's grip on her flag tightened as Lancer of Red glowed with power. Her True Name Discernment skill instantly relayed his identity and abilities to her.

Karna, Son of Surya the Sun God, Hero of Charity, a legendary warrior with few equals even in the vast expanse of the Throne of Heroes.

The Ruler had sensed his presence easily; it wasn't as though he was trying to hide it. He had provided her with ample time to know he was there and warn the civilian who was giving her a ride to Trifas in his truck. She'd sent the kind old man back the way they'd come and prepared for a battle.

A moment later, the demigod had dropped from the sky in an attack that the Maid of Orleans had only just managed to dodge, crushing the asphalt with his impact and sending a cloud of smoke and dust into the sky.

"Lancer of Red!" Jeanne called. "I am Servant Ruler. True name, Jeanne D'Arc. I am the Arbitrator of this Great Holy Grail War. Do you understand the meaning of baring your fangs at me?"

"It is unwise to ask questions to which you already know the answers," Karna replied calmly. "It should be obvious that my presence is a declaration of war."

Jeanne narrowed her eyes. The legends of Karna spoke of him as a man of near limitless honor and kindness. He wouldn't attack her without good cause. "What is your purpose for wanting to dispose of me?"

"Truthfully, I do not know" the Lancer admitted. "My Master commanded me. As per our contract, I simply act as instructed."

A Master's command? It was inconceivable that a Heroic Spirit as bound to virtue as Karna would lie to her, but it made no sense for a Master, any Master, to want to kill her. While gaining Ruler as an ally would be beneficial to either faction, her death served no purpose so long as she remained neutral, as was her duty.

'First, my summoning through Laeticia, then those strange revelations, and now this? What is going on in this Great Holy Grail War?'

Lancer's golden spear ignited in an inferno of crimson flames. He raised it into an offensive position. "Let us proceed. Considering your special privileges, I have no need to hold back."

Jeanne grit her teeth as she raised her flag. While it was true that those of the Ruler class received a sizeable boost to their parameters, she was still far below Karna's level. If he deemed to use any of his Noble Phantasms, he would annihilate her in an instant.

And yet, she could not let herself die. Not when humanity was still in danger.

It was her duty to protect them.

"One attack as a tribute," Lancer declared. "That should more than enough to finish this duel. Prepare yourself—"

"Saber, get him!"

"Rin, take the wheel!"

"Saber, what are you—ah!"

Twin blurs, one silver, the other blue, sped towards Lancer from either side of the road. The demigod saw both coming and kneeled to the ground, spinning his spear to deflect both swords that came down on him. The Servant rose back up and repulsed both assailants, who stood protectively before Jeanne.

One was a tall man wielding a massive greatsword. Upon his head was a wild mane of unruly silver hair, with scale like gray armor coating a good deal of his body. His bare chest was engraved with what looked like a strange glowing scar of some sort. His stoic face gazed impassively on Karna, though he did raise an eyebrow at the other who stood beside him.

Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungenlied. Saber of Black. A noble and strong hero if Jeanne ever saw one.

The other figure had a facial structure similar to Jeanne's own. She was far shorter than Siegfried but no less stunning. Starlight gleamed off the woman's silver armor and blue dress, her eyes hard as she observed both Karna and Siegfried. Her hands were positioned as if they were holding a sword, but to all appearances, she held nothing but empty air. Though given her knowledge of her identity, Jeanne guessed her blade would be too recognizable.

Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights. Saber of…

What? That… that couldn't be right.

Jeanne blinked and gazed at the Servant again but her True Name Discernment did not give her any new information.

This was… utter nonsense. There were only supposed to be two factions in the Great Holy Grail War. And even if there were another side involved somehow, certainly it wouldn't be called… that.

Both Siegfried and Arturia warily eyed each other up, subtly shifting their forms so that they would be prepared for an attack from either Lancer or their surprise assistant.

Karna observed the two sword masters impassively. "You must be Saber of Black," he remarked of Siegfried. He turned to Arturia. "Does that make you Berserker of Black? Or perhaps I've simply confused one of you for the other? …No, the two of you are much too cautious of each other to be allies. How curious."

"That was a close one, Ruler!" A rather obese man with a thick blond mustache under his nose and a rather obvious combover jogged over to Jeanne. His hand was raised in greeting.

"I take it you are Saber of Black's master?" Jeanne inquired.

The man panted from his run but had a proud smile on his face at Jeanne's words. "That is correct. I am Gordes Munsik Yggdmillenia. It is a pleasure to meet you. Now then…"

He whirled on Karna. "Lancer of Red! We arrived just in time to clearly witness you attempting to murder Ruler. Plotting to eliminate the Arbitrator of the Holy Grail War is—"

"Saber!" A piercing screech stopped Gordes mid-speech.

Jeanne and the others all turned their eyes to behind Ruler. A young woman with long black hair and a red sweater rose from a motorcycle that was turned on its side. A boy with red hair followed her after righting a sidecar that had detached from the vehicle.

Jeanne's eyes widened. Both of the mages, for what else could they be, bore Command Seals on their hands, though the boy's were strangely black instead of the usual red.

The girl stomped up to Arturia, whose regal face suddenly looked quite panicked. "Rin, I'm terribly so—"

"No, Saber. No," the master, Rin apparently, declared. "I am used to this kind of reckless stupidity from Shirou, but I'm not letting you start acting like a fool too. I get what you're dealing with, but having conflicted feelings about something is not an excuse to hand me off a magically enhanced motorcycle with barely a second of warning."

The King of Knights winced like a scolded child. "You cannot deny that this was almost certainly an emergency of unprecedented scale. Nevertheless, I am sorry, master." She closed her eyes a moment and then gazed at Rin like the fierce king she was. "I swear, from this point forward, I will put you and Shirou first, as both a Servant and a knight should. As I should have already."

"You should probably measure that vow," Karna advised. "If your Master cares enough to comfort you on your own feelings, it is unlikely that she wishes for you to close yourself off to them. She cares for the person you are after all, not the weapon you could be."

Arturia's eyes widened. She looked to her Master with glistening green eyes, touched.

Rin on the other hand, was beet red. She glared at Lancer furiously.

"Hey! Just who do you think you are? You don't just butt into people's private conversations like that, jerk!"

"My apologies. Though, if you wished for your words to be private, perhaps you should not have shouted them in our current location."

"Excuse me!"

"What is going on here?" Gordes roared. He pointed angrily to Rin and Arturia. "Who are you? Why did you call that Servant of yours Saber? I wield Saber, so you can't unless… unless you are a Master of Red! But… but then why did you attack Lancer?"

The Yggdmillenia smirked gloatingly. "Could it be that you Mage's Association dogs are already turning on each other? How pitiful."

"Actually, no." The boy with red hair walked up next to Rin and Arturia. "Sorry for the confusion, but we aren't affiliated with the Red Faction at all. We're an independent third—"

"Shirou!" Rin whined. "You weren't supposed to tell them that. The Yggdmillenia didn't know. We could have had him worried about Lancer of Red teaming up with us."

"Lancer was trying to kill Ruler. Why would we team up with him when he was trying to hurt someone who protects the innocent?"

Jeanne smiled at Shirou's query. Not only because he stood up in favor of her, but because of his genuine concern for the innocents that she protected. It was a rare thing for a modern magus to care for those uninvolved in their work and the Saint was glad to see that compassion had not died out completely.

However…

"I cannot aid you in this fight," she informed all parties, Gordes and Rin's mouths both dropping in shock. "Lancer of Red making reckless threats against my life and a battle between him and the Sabers of the other factions are two completely separate matters. As Ruler, I must remain impartial in such events unless they threaten the sanctity of the war itself."

"But, Lancer just tried to assassinate you!" Gordes protested. He glared at Rin's group. "And this so called third faction's arrival is too precise to be mere coincidence. They must be in on the plot."

Shirou narrowed his eyes at the other master. "I would never try to kill someone who protects innocent people."

"Indeed," Arturia concurred. "The mere suggestion of using such despicable tactics is an insult to my Masters' honor. You would be wise to keep such thoughts to yourself in the future, mage."

Rin snorted. "Unlike some people, we don't need to try to cheat others to get what we want, Yggdmillenia."

"You… You dare!" Gordes whirled to his Servant, a vein pulsing in his forehead. "Saber! Kill them! Slaughter Lancer of Red and this interloper!"

Siegfried raised his sword but made no attempt to advance on either Karna or Arturia. A wise decision, since to move on one would have meant showing his back to the other, and as his legend went, that was where his weak point lay.

"A third faction? Intriguing. Though it would have made little difference even if you were allies," Karna remarked. His gaze concentrated on both his opponents. "Your eyes, both of you possess eyes quite similar to a man I once knew. A man who was undeniably a great hero. To meet not one, but two foes approaching his caliber… This battle was not mere coincidence. It was predestined."

With a flourish, his entire form lit up with the brilliant flames of a crimson star. "My name is Karna, Son of the Sun God," he declared proudly. "If you do not fear my lance, then fight me."

"I am the wandering knight of the Netherlands. I am Siegfried," Saber of Black responded dutifully.

"I am—"

"Saber don't you dare!"

"But Rin," Arturia turned on her master with pleading eyes. "They have both divulged their true names. I am honor bound to follow suit."

"I did not grant you my name as a means of coercing you into doing the same," Karna informed them. "If your Master forbids you, then your first loyalty should be to her, not me. Do you concur, Saber of Black?"

Siegfried nodded wordlessly.

The King of Knights frowned. "Still, you have both been highly accommodating. It would be disgraceful of me to not grant you some manner of referring to me."

"Your traditional class title will suffice," Karna assured her. "Though, even that will require the name of your faction."

Rin froze, her eyebrows shooting up in trepidation. "Our name?" she squeaked out.

"That seems reasonable enough," Saber concluded. "Do I have your permission, Master?"

"No! That is completely out of the question! Just call her Saber!"

"Are you deliberately trying to cause trouble?!" squawked Gordes.

"You surely realize that such a careless arrangement will cause some confusion, as they are both Sabers," Karna pointed out.

Rin growled at the Lancer, but crossed her arms in embarrassed worry.

Jeanne didn't understand why. Sure, it was not what one would consider a traditional faction color, but she could think of no real reason to withhold it.

"What's the harm, Tohsaka?" Shirou asked. "They were going to find out eventually."

Rin grit her teeth, but after a few seconds under Shirou's gaze, her resolve crumbled. "Fine. Fine, use the name."

Arturia smiled gratefully. "Thank you, master. I promise, I will do you proud."

"Tohsaka?" Gordes mumbled under his breath. "That's impossible."

The King of Knights raised her invisible sword and proudly faced her fellow heroes. "Heroic Spirits of Black and Red, I wish you good fortune in the war to come. Tonight, you face Servant Saber of the Periwinkle Faction!"

For some reason Jeanne could not fathom, Rin wailed towards the sky.


And so the war begins.

Arturia and Mordred is always one of my favorite relationships to examine and here is no different. The two of them are going to do a lot of circling before they meet, but my god is it going to be fun.

Rin shows her strength of character and common sense in not letting vengeance consume her in the mater of Darnic, while Shirou shows why Rin/ Shirou is my personal Fate OTP.

And Karna and Sigfried show up! I love the former so much and I look forward to diving into the latter a bit more that canon was able to in this story. Especially the whole dragonslayer versus Saber, who has dragon essence, thing.

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!