AN: This work had been edited.(04/21/2019)
Jason proceeded the briefing after Saber calmed down, ordering him to come to the guest room afterwards through master-servant bond. They truly needed the talk, Morgan, Mordred and Jason. The era King Arthur reigned was the final stage of the Age of Gods. A magus should be worried whether there were something wrong in that era or not when Mordred grieved for Lancelot being a Berserker.
"Well, since introductions were made, I let you know about the world of the time. First, about this place."
Jason snapped his fingers. Servants blinked at HUD blueprint of the workshop that floated before their eyes. It showed the regular octagram which had a star of David in the middle of it. It was the dormant information which was given from Jason when they were summoned.
Languages and general knowledge were not problem because Alaya provided them, but details were wholly different case. For example, they knew a car was a means of transportation and how to drive it if she or he had Riding skill. But they would not know the traffic rules, Riding or no.(*)
Thus the details needed to be added. What Jason had done was the manipulation of the provision process. He did not only give them every detailed information he could get, but also made it dormant so that it was offered when needed. Had he not been the magician of the 3rd Magic, it would have been more problematic. After all, it was the manipulation of Legendary Souls in the strict sense of the term.
And it meant Jason could force them to do anything without Commend Spells Ruler had when he willed it even if a servant had high rank Magic Resistance.(**) It was the dominance over souls, that anyone, include Jason himself, did not yet realize─
─except Caster and Archer.
'Uh-oh, it's unexpected.' mused Caster.
'Shall we let him know? Decisions, decisions…...' silently chuckled Archer.
Jason ignored the disturbance in their mind he felt through the bond for explanation.
"This is the Timeless Grand Temple, the workshop of mine and safe house for us that was situated in the Imaginary Number Space. Entry and exit are only possible with permission from me for now. Don't worry, I don't intend to lock you up. I will remedy it."
He highlighted eight spots. Emblems each apex points of the octagram had pulsed in their own light.
On the top of octagram, an emblem of the two cogwheels gleamed grey. A cogwheel lay horizontally and another cogwheel face it like a sun shone upon the altar. The Control Tower that was once reign by considerate Barbatos.
Below its left side, an emblem of the two scrolls shone in gold color. The scrolls were crossed in the shape of X and surrounded by a Ryu(龍). The Intelligence Chamber that was once in the state of energetic silence with kindhearted Flauros.
Under the Intelligence Chamber, an emblem of the lighthouse twinkled in blue light. The Observatory that was once full of scoldings and cheers of susceptible Forneus.
Under the Observatory, an emblem of the smelting flame blazed green. The Blast Furnace that once sang the peace and serenity directed by attentive Naberius.
Below top's right side, an emblem of the shield with a pair of swords and a star twinkled in luminous purple. The swords looked like a pair of angel's wings of the shield with a star hovering over like its halo. The Armory that was once overseen by stoic Halphas.
Under the Armory, an emblem of the lance in the middle of four flowers blazed red. The Satellite that was once gazed by stars and, in return, gazing stars under the commend of philosophic Amon.
Under the Satellite, an emblem of the mountain surrounded by laurels gleamed with the color of brass. The Chamber of Life that was once bustling with all kind of Death and Life that generous Sabnock collected.
And the bottom of the octagram, an emblem of the blazing maelstrom with a octagram core shone with white. The Annulment Pit that was once packed with sad, miserable beings that sympathetic Andromalius consoled.
"Anyway, there were plenty of rooms for you to choose as you can see. You can choose wherever you want to establish your domain as you like at one of these point, but─" Jason snapped his fingers again, snuffing the light of the points. Instead, the Star of David blinked several times. "this axis of the temple we're on is off limit unless the world-ending emergency after this meeting. Questions?"
"You said 'safe house for us' like we should hide from something. What exactly are we alert to?" asked Rider.
"For now? The whole world or, more specifically, Justice League." answered Jason spreading his arms.
With a thought, he signaled Laplace to project the data Tri-Hermes recorded about Justice League. Holograms of major players in the League appeared in front of everyone's sight.
"Though I warn you, they are Not our enemies." continued Jason. "They are the potential ally we are to offer our hands at some point of the time as well as guardians of the Earth who stand against Alien God like Darkseid. But alas, there is much possibility that they have moles among them. Conflict is inevitable, that's certain. Among them, I urge you to avoid him especially."
Batman's hologram remained while others vanished.
"Batman─the World's Greatest Detective, Caped Crusader and Gotham's Dark Knight. He is the core and catalyst of the approaching crisis. I'm not saying this because he is my father figure, but because he's a singularity in the Human Order. Alaya has been desperate to keep him alive even in the slumber and is still desperate after awakening. He's not a magus or spellcaster, and not in the state of Active Origin, I checked. And yet, I could not verify the cause of it. But it seems to be connected to how he possesses Mystic and why."
"If it's true, master, avoidance doesn't like the best curse of action." frowned Ruler. "It would be better for one of us to protect him in secret."
"A valid point, but there lies the problem." sighed Jason. "We can not hide anything from him in Gotham, for it is his land. He's Gotham's living legend, its people's hero and the Owner of the land from the bloodline that traces back to the one of its founding members. The Batman is now the common concept the land and its people share that's built by the Land Owner."
Caster paled visibly after a moment of thought.
"Mikong?!"
"Ow, not so loud!" winced Lancer next to Caster. "Explain it instead, why don't you? "
"Oh, sorry, it's just… master's right." she swished her tails absentmindedly. "If it is as he said, Gotham is practically akin to a Reality Marble that revolves around the legend of the Batman.(***) Furthermore, Batman was recognized world-wide as the World's Greatest Detective and possesses Mystic. The moment one of us protects him in 'secrete,' he will find us and about us no matter what happen or because of what happen."
"Aha!" Saber snapped his fingers. "He is the detective, and we are a bundle of potent Mysteries for him. Of course, the detective will try to find us!"
"Exactly." nodded Jason. "The seconds he recognizes us, the enemy will realize what he is and what we are to do. It wouldn't do to poke a sleeping dragon's reverse scale."
He then vanished all HUD clapping.
"This is it for today. Any other details are dormant and yours to bring up as HUD at will. You can spend time browsing through them or go to Laplace for some entertainment. Come to me for materials if you want to start building the domain. Dismissed!"
=Avenger's Rhapsody=
Jason sank into the armchair in front of the worktable. The worktable was littered with an amount of metalwork. Leaning back to the chair, he lifted up his eyes to the artificial sky. The terminal unit of Tri-Hermes was humming, running a test, and his thought crawled back to the recent memory of the talk he had with Le Fey-s.
【"King Arthur, sung as a good and wise king, was not a good and wise one.
Unlike the legend, he was just a tyrant with competence.
King Arthur, Welsh Dragon of Britain, was cunning and inhuman.
King Arthur, Slayer of White Dragon, shows his true color after Vortigern.
Black Tyrant in the disguise of White King
the Vicious Bloody Bear, King Arturius."】
Mordron started as if reciting a poem when Jason asked about the truth of Arthurian Legend.
【"The king exploited the nobility"】 Mordred frowned slightly as he recalled bad memories. 【"Do not let it blind you from what it caused just because he did not exploit peasants, for, by doing so, the king caused strife among people and dwindling military prowess. He did not make an exception for the upright nobility, ladies with integrity and poor noble men. The exploitation of the nobility was not for the benefit of people of the kingdom either, it was all for his gain and his disguise of a good king. Only Camelot remained bright and affluent, leaving other regions dry and poor. Hundreds in capital lived in luxury while thousands in others were starving to death."】
【"It is all that foolish Merlin's fault! The most famous and successful king maker in history? Ha! He's a duncehead with unnecessarily outstanding magical prowess."】 Morgan's blue eyes shone bright with anger. 【"His reputation had benefited from Arthur's disguise. Do you really think there were such a thing like 'chivalry' at that time of Arthur's childhood? A knight was nothing but a ruffian with shining weapons then. Sir Ector was decent enough to be a decent father figure for him, but never enough to learn the meaning of chivalry from. The bumbling fool that is Merlin just ditched Arthur to Ector's household and never once looked out for him."】
【"Lancelot was one of a few knights who saw through Arthur. But he had not done anything against Arthur because of his die-hard code of honor."】 Mordred crossed his arms with a faraway expression. 【"On the other hand, he had done everything he could to control Arthur's ruthlessness through his position as king's best knight and the lord of Brittany. As the lord of fertile Brittany, he was influential figure in the court of the king because the mainland of the kingdom was suffering from famine for years. And as a knight, he had numerous supporters in military ranks. Arthur couldn't dismiss him if he wanted. It seemed to work, controlling the tyrant─"】
He clenched his fists.
【"─until it was revealed that Guinevere had paid for Lancelot's 'insolence' in her best friend's stead."】 Mordron continued instead of him, closed her eyes in misery. 【"When his 'insolence' reached its peak, Arthur decided to punish him by 'revealing' unfaithfulness of the queen. It was also to tie the loose end he made by abusing her, for unbeknownst to any of us, Arthur ruptured her womb through physical abuse. It was an insanity in epic proportions. Lancelot, after finding out the truth, lost his sanity and disappeared for three months. It was brother who found him in the forest near the sacred lake."】
【"And it was the lake I visited Vivian in with my daughter."】 sighed Morgan. 【"When Mordred cried out for my help, Sir Lancelot's mind was beyond my reach to save in its entirety. I had done my best, but his guilt and shame were so vast and deep. Its fragile stability crumbled when the tyrant ordered to burn the queen at stake for her sin."】
【"And then,"】
Morgan projected a picture which Lancelot vacantly looked down a proper woman of blond hair. Her blood on his sword, Arondight, was a sign of the fall of the perfect knight. His mind, alongside his magical energy, was blackening the holy sword of the lake, corrupting it to become a demonic sword.
【"everything proceeded as you know,"】 whispered Morgan sadly. 【"except the tyrant's last moment."】
The picture changed into the one of a battlefield.
【"Sir Bedivere died in the Battle of Camlann."】 her voice started to gain some volume. 【"Never had he been present at the tyrant's last moment. Never had Excalibur returned to lake. Thus, never had Arthur been able to rest in Avalon."】
【"…...Do you mean to say,"】 gulped Mordred trembling with rage. His eyes were wide with pupil shrinking.【"Mother, do you mean to say 'he' is around in this era? You do, don't you! It's why you are here, not in the Reverse Side of the World."】
【"Yes, brother."】 nodded Mordron. 【"Someone stole Excalibur. And because of it, God Rhongomyniad that was once King Arthur is wandering around the world, plotting something. However, even as one of the guardian faes of King Arthur, mother have not been able to find him."】
【"Huh, now I know the reason I come."】 smirked Mordred a grim smile.
After hearing it, there was no way for Jason to ditch them somewhere else in the world. Just from their story, he found several focal points in the Order Crisis.
One, Merlin. In the Imaginary Number Space, Tri-Hermes could spot and collect the data of the past, present and future of the world through Tetra Anax because Imaginary Number Space was timeless and outside of the Real Numbers World. Thanks to it, Jason found out Merlin's strange behavior. Merlin was not supposed to neglect Arthur Pendragon, and neither was he to foolish to try to maintain the Age of Gods. But he had done it. The Grand Caster had almost demolished the Human Order.
Two, the theft of Excalibur. Even though Arthur was a tyrant, Bedivere should not have died at Camlann. Whenever Tetra Anax tried to spot the thief and the killer of the knight, it was glitching. The death of Bedivere and the theft both seemed deliberate because thief didn't have a chance to take Excalibur if Sir Bedivere was there with Arthur.
Sir Bedivere was ordinary, plain and normal compared to other knights of the round table, sure, but he was way above any other normal knights' level. You just shouldn't think the one of the knights of the round table to be a weakling whether he was 'normal' or not. He was also a man of the Age of Gods, and that alone must say enough, because Men of the Age of Gods were at completely different level in the means of physical prowess compared to Men of the Age of Humans. Under the same conditions(nutritive conditions, family background, training, weapon and etc.), a man of the Age of Gods could beat a platoon of Men of the Age of Humans as if they were a bunch of unruly children.
Anyway, Jason found out whose fault it is for strange behavior of Merlin at the very least.
"Etrigan…...!" Jason gritted his teeth.
The day after Merlin was born, the night after his baptism, Etrigan had done something.
He took something from Merlin.
Something crucial.
Something critical.
Jason's mind overflowed with fury that's not his.
Fury that Alaya instigated.
Fury that Eligos encouraged.
Fury that Spectre answered.
The Spiritual Gear had engaged itself before the cursed holy fire erupted from his very soul. Enveloped in bright green fire, Jason tried to calm himself down. It was not time for fury. Now, he needed cool-head with icy clarity.
Sudden chimes brought it immediately. He looked down the terminal unit that completed the test. The test object was some kind of dead skin piece Archer gave him with terse "It's skin of the snake." before he went away for his place.
But it seemed it was not snake skin. The dead skin was from a primitive man. What was worse, it was of a Homo neanderthalensis. As far as he knew, as far as Makarov knew, only a man had this unique DNA.
Vandal Savage.
A man before the Genesis.
A human of the era Deities lived with mortals before they went downward in life of Divine spirits because of Sephyr Invasion.
A monstrous creature in magical means with Mystic that's more potent than Gilgamesh's.
Incidentally, it was not all that the test result showed.
Dielectric substances in foreign origin detected.
Searching for any recorded foreign matters... Found.
Warning: Analogous RNA pattern and substances to Sephyr detected.
"Of all the fucking fuck ups…..." Jason banged his head on the worktable. "A Foreigner, Foreigner before the Genesis. Fuck! No wonder for the Order Crisis! Fuck you, Velber!"
…...He cursed up a storm for whole three hours.
*: Background knowledge include details servants possessed in the Fate series was provided by Grails or Moon Cell. In this story, information Alaya provided is minimal at best, for there was no Grail. So Jason needed another way to give his servants some much needed knowledge.
**: Originally, Command Spells were not mandatory in the Holy Grail War. Makiri Zorgen created it after disastrous 1st war and adjusted the Grail to giving it to masters. Again, Jason did not have the Grail.
***: I looked up TATARI and Ionioi Hetairoi. But it doesn't mean Gatham 'is' a Reality Marble. It made a very potent Cultural Sphere that is almost Deterrent Force though. It's also a reason why Supervillains of Gotham city usually have the upper hand against Heroes from other cities.
For short?
The Deterrent Force(Feat. DC Comics' favoritism toward Batman)*snickering*
[Postscript]
Long time no see, everyone!
I wanted to answer your questions, but [spoiler] about Wonder Woman and unfinished temple.
As for fights for the Servants against the modern heroes…... well, there'll be some. Nothing fancy though, not yet.
Thank you for Favs, Fels and Revs!
Here's Saber's stats.
Class: Saber
Master: Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia
True Name: Mordred le Fey
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic·Good
Hidden Attribute: Earth
[Parameters]
SRT: A(B+) / END: A++(A) / AGL: A+(B+) / MP: A(B) / LUC: D / NP: B
[Class Skills]
Magic Resistance: B
Riding: B
[Personal Skills]
Instinct: B
Mana Burst: A
Charisma: B(C)
[Noble Phantasm]
Radiant Royal Sword of Failing Peace(B): Anti-Unit(Self) Type
Clarent Blood Arthur(A+): Anti-Army Type
Secret of Pedigree(EX):Anti-Unit(Self) Type
[NP Details]
Clarent : Radiant Royal Sword of Failing Peace(B): Anti-Unit(Self) Type
It is a treasured sword that has worth equal to, if not, exceeding Caliburn, that amplifies the authority of the king, the "king's royal aura." It thus raises the owner's physical parameters by one rank and grants and raises the rank of the Skill Charisma.
When Mordred revealed his pedigree and rebelled against King Arthur, people of the kingdom crowned him as their king and gave this sword to him after they raided the armory of Camelot. As a just, rightful king of his people, Clarent grants its power to him. Thus, when he wields it, it raises the rank of his Charisma and physical parameters by one rank.
However, since Mordred is the rebellious king, the sword lost its holy attribute of peace and became a demonic sword when drenched in his father blood.