When I opened my eyes, I was almost knocked over by the sensation of déjà vu. Aside from the lack of a circle over the sky like in the last three singularities, the sky was perfectly normal. The rest of the surroundings, however, reminded me of my first proper deployment, in the Orléans Singularity. A gentle meadow, interspaced with a few trees of various types and sizes. All in all, a very scenic sight for eyes tired of seeing only metal, linoleum, concrete, or snow.
I wasn't the only one who appreciated the change in scenery, too. Standing to my left (with Mordred having moved instinctively other to my right side like she normally did) was Da Vinci. She stretched, a gentle smile spreading across her lips. "Haven't been outside in a while?" I asked the Caster, and she nodded.
"Hmm, it's been so long since I last stepped outside of Chaldea. The feeling of the earth, the breeze on my cheek," she said with a sigh of contentment. "It's good to be alive, isn't it, Jacob?" This time it was I who nodded. That reminded me.
"Okay, let's get in touch with Roman," I said, raising my left arm and activating the commlink. "Hey, Doc, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Jacob!" Roman's voice came across the line in a crisp and clear manner. Good, no need to worry about signal interference, or at least, not yet. "How's it looking over there?"
"Honestly, a bit like France. Where exactly does Sheba say we are?" Roman didn't immediately answer my question, and instead I heard the sound of the keys on a keyboard being pressed rapidly. I then heard Roman muttered something under his breath before he finally replied.
"Okay, this is unusual, even by the standards of what we've seen thus far! It looks like you are in a mixture of 14th century Italy and 19th century France." Well, at least it's not another Waterworld scenario.
"Picking up any Servant signatures? Or Leylines?" I asked, taking the news in stride. Another brief pause and the sounds of typing preceded Roman's report.
"There's one near where you all are, but it's faint. You might not run into them, but be on the lookout nevertheless. We can't guarantee if there'll be any Servants who could become potential allies this time around. As for Leylines, unfortunately, I'm not detecting any." I exhaled harshly at that last part. Damn, so much for potential reinforcements. Thankfully, I had with me a solid team. Furthermore, just because the acting-director was unable to locate a suitable Leyline location presently did not mean that we wouldn't find one later.
"Understood. Have you deployed Ritsuka and his team yet?"
"We're about to know. I wanted to wait until we got in touch with you, Jacob, before deploying the others. The Rayshift technology's never been tested transporting two separate groups to different locations simultaneously. Under current circumstances, it's better to be safe than sorry. On that note, I'm probably going to be out of touch for an hour or two at most as I help Ritsuka, Mash, and the rest of his team orient themselves and find a base of operation in London. Don't worry, though. You've got Da Vinci to help you out, after all."
"Roger. Tell Rits I wish him happy hunting."
"I'll do so. Roman, out."
Lowering my arms, I turned to the others. "Welp, you heard the doc. We're on our own for a bit. Da Vinci, any suggestions for where you want to start off our search?" The Caster in question hummed softly, looking around before focusing on something off in the distance. Following her gaze, I noticed that there was what appeared to be a medium-sized town.
"Well, that's convenient, if nothing else," Boudica quipped. Mordred and I both grunted in agreement.
"Well, considering that the materials necessary to recreate my genius are not the kind conducive to being outdoors, I see no finger place to start than there. Who knows? We might even be lucky enough to catch our counterfeiter in the act itself!" She practically shouted out with an evil-looking smile on her lips. My Servants and I shuddered again at the sight of it. Good grief, defensive much over her works?
Suddenly, the smile was gone from Da Vinci's lips, and she cracked her knuckles. "Now, come, come! Let's go find that jerk who's making all the counterfeits!"
"Da Vinci's really fired up," Boudica remarked from behind with a giggle. Emiya nodded, a ghost of a smirk on his lips.
"By all accounts, it seems that she's been cooped up in her workshop until now. She's probably both an indoor and outdoor person."
"Well, whatever she can be described as, she's leaving us in the dust!" Mordred interrupted, looking at me impatiently. "Come on, let's go!"
"Okay, is anyone else a little creeped out here?" Boudica asked, stroking the hilt of her sheathed sword nervously. I nodded slowly, equally unnerved by the stillness of the town. Our footsteps on the cobblestone streets echoed like we were part of a marching army.
Not a soul stirred, though. I was again reminded of towns like La Charité or Lyons, where Jeanne Alter and her minions, influenced by that bastard of a Caster Gilles, had laid waste to all. I shivered slightly as the smell of burning bodies, blood, and death filled my senses. The gentle nudge to my side from an armored Mordred helped bought me back to the present.
We were not in a ruined town. In fact, it looked like it should have been busy at this point in the day. Bakeries and bookstores appeared to be open, their windows clean as if just washed. There were no signs of any forced entries into the buildings. No sites of mass murder or immolation.
"It's like as if we were visiting a movie set," I finally said. There seemed to be a certain…fakeness, to it all. It had all the hallmarks of a town, save for that critical factor known as humans. "Perhaps this is because of its status as being part of a Pseudo-Singularity?"
Mordred and Boudica both shrugged in unison. Lu Bu and Sasaki were similarly disinterested, while Emiya was more focused on making sure that Da Vinci didn't start kicking down doors and searching each and every building.
"Well, I mean, if we're dealing with a location where counterfeiting is the root issue, perhaps it is natural for there to be facsimile settlements. Da Vinci?" I called out, wishing to aid Emiya in keeping the inventor composed.
It did the trick, and the Caster wandered over towards me, one hand rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "That is a possibility. On the other hand, Chaldea never truly dealt with any pseudo-singularities before now, so for all we know it could be typical."
I frowned at the Caster. "This is the first pseudo-singularity deployment?" I waited and then received a nod before I continued speaking. "Then why the hell did you tell me to call it Pseudo-Singularity C? Wouldn't it have been better to name it A?" Da Vinci rolled her eyes, as if I were acting like the world's biggest manbaby.
"C is for Counterfeiting. Now, come on, chop, chop!" The Caster started to walk once more, leaving me to make strangling gestures at her. Co-worker or not, I was really feeling the urge to thoroughly throttle Chaldea's 'Resident Genius' right about now.
"Easy now," Mordred whispered, gently but firmly clasping right shoulder. "Don't let her rile you up." I sighed and nodded, taking a deep breath. After exhaling, I looked at Mordred with a wry grin.
"Normally I'm the one saying something like that."
"Well, guess it's not a normal day then," Mordred quipped, and we both laughed at it. Our party then resumed walking, soon entering what appeared to be the town's square. Fortunately, the plaza was completely empty of even the stalls of vendors.
I paused, and Mordred and the other accompanying Servants quickly followed. Was it just my imagination, or had the ground shaken ever so slightly under my feet? A second, stronger shake quickly proved that not only had I not imagined it, but that they were approaching us.
I turned to Emiya. "Can you scale one of those buildings? Find yourself a vantage point and report back on what we're facing and how many?" I asked. The red-wearing Archer nodded slightly.
"Understood," Emiya said, before almost turning into a blur as he performed a series of parkour tricks that would have action movie directors jealous. Landing on the roof of one of the houses surrounding us on either side. Less than a minute later, the Archer reported back.
"About a dozen golems up ahead. No Servants or civilians in sight."
"Understood. Keep an eye up there for any reinforcements!" I shouted back, before turning to the other Servants around me. I unsheathed my sword as I did so. While I had no intention to try my luck whacking a construct made of mud and stone, I'd be damned if I stood back without even a chance of fighting back should one somehow make it close to me.
Even then, that seemed unlikely, considering how Da Vinci was just chilling around me like nothing was wrong. I shook my head. Focus, Jacob.
"Get ready for a fight," I called out, readying my sword.
"Finally!" Mordred barked in excitement, her helmet assembling itself and thus obscuring her beautiful face. The butt of Lu Bu's halberd was slammed into the cobblestone road with enough force that not only sparks flew forth, but that the rock itself was shattered.
"Just remember to keep an eye out for any civilians who might wander outside, dear!" Boudica said. I imagined Mordred rolling her eyes at her self-declared adopted mother. However, I knew that the Knight of Rebellion had already taken that into consideration, having confided in me months ago her disgust at the idea of dragging innocent civilians into fights if she could help it. That meant Mordred would not be using Clarent Blood Arthur.
Still, golems were basically walking statues. A tier or two above the zombies and skeleton mooks we've encountered way too often already, but individually weaker than Servants. Furthermore, the terrain actually favored us. If we were in one of the side streets, the ability for Mordred and Lu Bu in particular to fight would have been reduced in our desire to minimize collateral damage.
But here, in the center of the town's square? No such worries.
We only had to wait less than a minute before the lead golem appeared. I raised an eyebrow slightly in interest as I realized that this golem was different from the others that I had so far encountered. The hybrid humanoid-animalistic body was of a metallic grey, instead of rock or stone. It must have been constructed out of iron. Each golem on either side of the first was also made of metal. The rest of the enemy formation, however, were of the more standard variety.
"Wait for them to clear the buildings. Emiya, focus on the rear!" I called out to the Archer in question. The aloof-acting Servant nodded.
"All right then," I heard him respond. I saw him extend one hand, and a yumi appeared. The long, asymmetrical weapon was the traditional bow that had originally served as the main weapon of choice for the first Samurai. Ritsuka had told me about how the famous warriors of his home country had originally started off as horseback-mounted elites who focused on fighting first from a distance, and that archery was still a time-honored tradition in many schools in the form of archery clubs.
Satisfied, I then turned to the four Servants around me and Da Vinci. "Boudica, you and Sasaki will handle first the rightmost iron golem. Then, proceed to help Emiya finish off the others."
"You got it!"
"Hai."
"Lu Bu," I said, next turning to the fearsome Berserker. "Your target is the leading golem on the left. When you're done, watch our rear." Lu Bu gave me both a soft growl and a curt nod of his head, signaling that he had heard and was going to comply with my orders.
In a way, the Chinese warrior reminded me a bit of Mordred. Both were lauded as being treacherous warriors. Both had killed their fathers, though Lu Bu's fathers had both been adoptive when he killed each one. More importantly, both displayed a streak of loyalty to those who had earned it, like me.
Ha, now I was starting to sound old, like Iroh.
"Oi, what about me, Master?" Mordred demanded, and I resisted rolling my eyes at her, settling instead to shake my head in mock exasperation at the battle-hungry berserker of a Saber.
"You get to have the lead golem."
"Heh, hopefully it'll be an adequate enough warm-up!" The trio of metallic golems were just about clear of the buildings as I turned to the final Servant accompanying me.
"And what about me, Jacob?" Da Vinci asked.
"Hanging back with me to provide support should it be needed," I replied. The Caster was unable to deliver her response, as Lu Bu bellowed forth his inhuman battle cry. Not to be outdone, my partner issued out her own war cry just as she activated her Mana Burst ability. Bolts of crimson lightning arced down her legs as she crouched one second. Then, kicking up a backdraft of wind smelling of ozone, my knight shot forward.
The enemy golem raised one crudely crafted arm overhead, swinging it down like a hammer as it tried to intercept the incoming blonde threat. With another roar, Mordred swung Clarent around. I saw a jet of sparks erupt between the two combatants as iron clashed against steel, then saw about a quarter of the golem's arm skidding away to one side.
The golem still had one full hand and three-quarters of its other, however. Furthermore, lacking the survival instincts of a living creature, the construct pressed onwards with its attacks. My eyes flickered away as Mordred rolled past another iron fist, wishing to check on the progress of the others.
To my dry amusement, Lu Bu had basically put his own opponent in a chokehold and was basically braining the metal-made golem with a fist. Even though the Berserker was a Heroic Spirit, and thus possessed an above-average level of pain tolerance, that didn't mean that my own hands ached watching it. Satisfied that the situation there was under control, I then checked on Boudica and Sasaki.
Teaming up, the duo had swiftly brought down their opponent, and were now engaging the eight or so 'normal' golems that had been behind the three iron ones. Emiya had brought down the four absent ones, and before my eyes, a fifth golem scattered into pieces seconds after an arrow that seemed to be some sort of sword flew through its bestial head.
Unleashing his Noble Phantasm, Sasaki carved up a sixth golem into three pieces. Besides him, Boudica let out a fearsome shout as she jumped into the air. Twirling past an extended fist, the British Rider swung her weapon, the Sword of Unpromised Victory, cleaving through the 'neck' of the golem. The head of the seventh golem hit the ground first, while the rest of its body fell limply onto its back.
And then there were two left. Turning back to check on my beloved knight, I saw to my (grim) satisfaction that even though the eighth and final stone golem had slipped by the others to join the lone iron golem in trying to take down the Knight of Rebellion, it changed nothing.
With a Mana Burst-enhanced kick, Mordred shattered the right ankle of the stone golem, causing it to fall onto its knees. Jumping onto its head, Mordred used it as a springboard, while smashing it underneath her sabatons at the same time she propelled herself forward.
The badly-damaged iron golem tried to swat her out of the air, but Mordred was moving too fast. With the familiar screeching sound caused by metal smashing against metal, Clarent punched through the golem's torso. Not finished yet, though, Mordred grunted loudly and yanked her stolen broadsword upwards, cleaving the upper half of the metal construct in twain.
"That's the last of them, Master," Emiya reported a few seconds later, the Archer having landed gracefully after jumping off of his perch. I nodded once.
"It looks like we're on the right path. Considering the lack of inhabitants, I highly doubt these golems were some sort of watchguard force."
"Yeah, the stupid things were probably guarding something," Mordred said causally, her helmet splitting apart and retracting back into her armor.
"We're close. Spread out and look at the buildings here," Da Vinci said. I allowed the momentary replacement of me as team leader. After all, though not a Master, Da Vinci was the most senior official on this deployment. Plus, I trusted the intuition of my Servants, and didn't let pride get in the way.
The next ten or so minutes were spent scouring over the area.
Then, Da Vinci let out a loud gasp of shock and indignation. "I-Impossible!"
"What's wrong?" I asked hurriedly, running over to the Caster. My hands rested on the hilt of my pugio and sword, not quite drawing them, but ready to do so at a moment's notice. I was worried that we were about to be attacked by more enemies, but to my relief, Da Vinci's yelp had been over a simple building. "You recognize this place?"
"I would sure hope so! It's my workshop! Or rather, it looks like my workshop, but I know it isn't! Regardless, we've found our first clue! Come on," Da Vinci declared. Without waiting for any responses from us, the caped Caster stormed into the building, almost kicking down the door.
Okay, it's 100% official now. A pissed-off and insulted Da Vinci is terrifying. As the Caster stormed into the building with her staff in one hand, and Emiya close behind her, I looked at a shocked Mordred, her jaw hanging open slightly, almost a mirror image of my own expression. The Knight of Rebellion then shook her head, recovering her more typical swagger.
"Come on, Master," she said. "Let's not get left in the dust."
"Right. Boudica, Sasaki, Lu Bu, guard the door, please?"
"You got it, Master!" Boudica said with her typical mixture of determination and cheer, while Sasaki echoed the response with more reservedness. My Berserker was curter, simply responding with a soft growl that I associated as a sign of his agreement. I nodded, pleased.
"Great. We shouldn't take too long….I hope," I added the last part under my breath before Mordred and I entered the building.
"Yuck! It looks just like my workshop," Da Vinci bemoaned. Her hands were on her hips as she casted her gaze around the room, her lips curled in distaste. The Caster wasn't wrong. Almost down to the wire, the room looked like a carbon-copy of Da Vinci's office back at Chaldea.
Towards the back of the room, however, I noticed a difference. Several, in fact. A half-dozen or so artists easels had been set up in a messy half-circle. Most of them were covered in pristine, white sheets of canvas or other, similar materials. All of them, save for the one in the center.
I would have been blind to not recognize the picture. Especially considering how the woman in it was standing right next to me. "Okay, there's one of those counterfeit copies of your masterpiece, Da Vinci. Seems like our culprit, or culprits, didn't stop at just that, however."
Growling like a demon, Da Vinci stormed over, shoulders raised and a thunderous expression on her face. Without a word or ceremony, she began violently uncovering each painting or sketch that had been covered. Some of them I recognized instantly, such as the drawing of a man superimposed in two positions, within a circle. Or the painting of over a dozen men seated at a table, the gaze of most of them focused on the man in the center of the painting. Da Vinci let out another growl, louder this time. Her cheeks were now tinged a faint red, too.
"My god, you're right, Jacob. The Annunciation, the Vitruvian Man…even The Last Supper?!"
"Damn it, Da Vinci, watch the volume! We can all hear you!" Mordred snapped. Emiya stepped forward, looking as stern as always as he joined Da Vinci in examining the various counterfeits we had uncovered.
"They're better preserved than the ones that exist in the modern era," my Archer observed. I frowned softly, taking a few steps closer and looking at the nearest painting. On the canvas was a kneeling angel in front of a woman, who had some sort of golden halo at the top of her head. The scene was set in some sort of garden, but I then started to focus on the material itself which composed the art. Sure enough, the Archer's comments were correct. The paint looked fresh. Wait a minute…
I sniffed the air softly, my nose wrinkling. I detected a subtle, somewhat oily smell emanating from the counterfeit before me. It smelled fresh. This was only completed recently! I stood up and turned to Da Vinci to comment on what I had discovered when I saw that the energetic and eccentric Caster had already moved on to another table. This one was covered with books of various ages, sizes, and thickness.
"Hmm?" Da Vinci hummed, this time sounding more confused than enraged as she picked up one of the books. "What's this?" She opened up the book, and began flipping through the pages. She started going slowly at first, but then picked up a faster pace as her brow began furrowing.
"Something else of yours, Da Vinci?" Emiya asked.
"This is my manuscript," Da Vinci said, holding the book towards Mordred and I. "Except, just like with the paintings, it's a counterfeit. See, come here," she said. Mordred and I moved closer, and we began looking at the open pages.
Sure enough, I recognized the backwards lettering that Da Vinci had used to encode all of her thoughts and works. Back when she was alive, the idea of copyright and patents were nonexistent, meaning that it could be rather easy to steal the intellectual property of others. To prevent it from happening, numerous inventive techniques were developed.
For Leonardo Da Vinci, it was mirror writing. A simple yet ingenious technique where one could only read the words on a page if they held it up to a mirror. The counterfeit had copied the technique, but there was also something else that I noticed.
"The handwriting looks different," Mordred grunted. Fortunately for us, I recognized the page, albeit vaguely, from one of the open books I had causally observed when we had gone to pick up Ritsuka's sword. It wasn't the writing that I had recognized so much as the diagram in it, though.
Da Vinci nodded, pleased with Mordred's observation. "Precisely! It almost matches my own handwriting, and all but the most astute, or familiar with my other words, would recognize it."
"This is just the first volume of many, too," Emiya chimed in, flipping through another book. "The manuscripts of Leonardo Da Vinci stretch thousands of pages, and if my intuition is correct, that's what we are looking at here. Even the mirror writing encoding has been copied. These facts mean that the counterfeiter responsible accomplished this with great effort. I could perhaps understand, however vaguely, the idea of copying Da Vinci's paintings and drawings, but why the manuscripts?"
"It seems there's more to this story than a simple change in the history of artwork," I remarked. "The paintings, I can understand. Making them to both prefect one's art skills while making a fast buck or two. But that wouldn't be the case for the books, if the mirror writing technique was maintained, that is."
"You're the self-declared resident genius here, Da Vinci. What do you think?" Mordred asked gruffly, crossing her arms and walking over to the paintings. My knight began examining them, though she was clearly bored. Once more the idea of Mordred having some case of ADHD popped into my head.
The Caster in question frowned, stroking her chin once more. "Yes, that is the question. Unfortunately, the preparator and any of their accomplishes don't appear to have left us behind a clue." I couldn't help but snort in dry amusement at that.
"Well, Da Vinci, contrary to cartoons like Scooby-Doo would like you to believe, most perpetrators don't typically leave behind such obvious glaring…clues…" My sarcastic response faded away, and my eyes instead began to widen. "Oh, shit."
"Jacob?" Mordred asked in concern, walking over towards me. My eyes flickered between the three Servants in the room with me.
"We got to go. Those golems weren't just wandering around aimlessly like we first thought. They were guarding this workshop. And if that's so, then that means that someone was commanding them who was nearby."
"And we're in a potential hornet's nest," Mordred finished up, scowling angrily. "Damn, I think you're right, Master. Oi, Caster, we gotta haul ass and put some distance between here and us." Da Vinci looked longingly at her painstakingly replicated workshop before finally nodding in agreement.
"Okay, let's take these manuscripts with us though. I want to go through them, see if the counterfeiter left some clue behind by accident." I opened my mouth to point out that there wasn't any feasible way of transporting every single copy of her writings, but before I could, my faithful knight stiffened and straightened her back. While she didn't summon her helmet, Clarent did appear in her right hand.
"Might want to wait on that, Da Vinci. We're not alone here," Mordred said fiercely. Further to the side, Emiya held his hands out to either side, and his two short swords appeared once more. "Stay back, Master. Da Vinci, keep an eye on our rear."
"No, we need to grab what we can and retreat. There's not enough room for a battle between Serv—" Before I could finish my counterorder, a youthful voice full of vigor and charisma interrupted me.
"Greetings, intruders!"
Original Endnotes: And done! Oh, dear, I wonder who it is? Moving on from that obvious joke, what did y'all think? I'm basically having to re-work a lot of the Da Vinci and the Seven Heroic Spirit Counterfeit event to work the way I want it to, so I hope you still enjoyed it. In addition, this arc is going to be rather short (due to the event being only of six sections for those who either didn't get a chance to play it or may not remember that). Probably only ten chapters, a little more. I do have a lot planned for the downtime scene though, so hopefully that'll balance out the comparative shortness. Then again, it's more of a quality over quantity matter in the end, huh?
And now, for the question(s) of the chapter! First up: Who here has gotten a chance to watch the new Fate Camelot movie, and if so, what are your thoughts on it and the animation used? Personally for me, I'm not a big fan of the style they used. Feels completely different from the rest of the Fate series. Second question: what are your thoughts on Mordred meeting Mordred Prototype?
As always, thanks for the love and support y'all given me and this story, and thanks for reading! Can't wait to see what you all thought of this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it! Have a wonderful weekend, and see you in the next chapter!
Updated Endnotes 8/4/22: As always, the fully up-to-date version of The Will to Fight can be read on AO3 for those who want to skip the wait here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, have a great day, and see you all next time!