"Greetings, intruders!" I stiffened, half-drawing my sword instinctively. At the same time, Mordred placed herself between me and the newcomer, leveling Clarent in the direction of the voice. Thankfully, being roughly eight inches taller than the Knight of Rebellion allowed me to look over her to see the owner of the voice.

It was a young boy. Probably between approaching the age of thirteen, if I had to make a guess. His hair was a rusty red, while his eyes were more the shade of rubies. His hair was done up in a ponytail, though thankfully nowhere near the length of Jeanne's. His clothes were rather simple, a leather crop top that left his navel exposed, with two lengths of dyed red leather forming an X providing further protection. Emblazed on the fabric covering his collarbone was what looked to be a stylized depiction of a sun or a star. A flowing red kilt also complimented his look, and in his right hand was a short sword. The blade was pointed downwards, and the Servant's posture was a relaxed one.

"Who are you?" I asked the question in a polite but firm tone. The Servant merely smiled heartily at us, as if we were long-lost friends or family, or something like that. The boy started to open his mouth, when my commlink let out a chime. I blinked in disbelief, and my surprise morphed into shock as our apparent opponent maintained his relaxed and friendly stance.

"Go ahead, answer it. I can wait." I searched his face for any traces of duplicity on his part but could find none. Either he was a damn good liar, or he really meant it. Seeing how the three Servants protecting me weren't about to let their guards down, I cautiously answered the call.

"Doc, I hope you're able to tell that it's a bit late to be warning us that we're in a building that has another Servant," I said dryly. Roman coughed awkwardly before he answered.

"No, though it is related to your current situation. I just finished scanning him. It's a bit different from the other Servants we've encountered in the previous deployments, Jacob. The readings are a bit cruder. Like parts of his Saint Graph were patched together."

"Crude?" Emiya asked cautiously, refusing to look away from the young Servant.

"Yes. A Shadow Servant is literally a fake. A ghost image modelled after a Heroic Spirit's Spiritual Origin. This is just 'something very similar'. A well-made Spirit Origin down to the details, but not fully."

"In other words, another sort of counterfeit," Da Vinci mused in amazement. Just like the Caster to have her frustration be near instantaneously dealt with the moment she finds a fascinating mystery standing right in front of her. Still, I winced at the comment, looking back at the counterfeit Servant and expecting to hear his words of offended rebuke.

Instead, his smile had adopted a slight sense of sadness to it, and he nodded his head slightly. "Your friend is correct. You may call me Alexander, though sadly I'm not him truly," the red-haired youth reported. My brow furrowed slightly.

Alexander…Alexander…My eyes widened as the name clicked into place. "Alexander, as in the Alexander the Great? King of Macedon and one of the most famous conquerors of all time?" Alexander nodded.

"Yes. I have been 'summoned' if you will, by my mistress as a member of the Rider class" Our first clue regarding the identity of the counterfeiter! "You may refer to me and my compatriots as counterfeit Heroic Spirits. Each of us are technically Servants, yet we are neither pure Servants nor pure heroes."

My eyes narrowed. "So, there are more of you?"

"Around, yes. However, I'm the only one nearby who you must deal with. Go easy on me, okay?" The Rider asked with what seemed to have been a flirtatious wink at me. That's right…the historical records indicated a strong suggestion that the Macedonian king may have been bisexual. Still, it could very well have been an act of charming rather than one of seduction. Either way, I was taken aback by it, though another member of our group had a more visceral (and honestly almost expected) response.

Mordred growled protectively under her helmet. "Oi, back off, shorty! He's mine!" Mordred snarled. I blushed instinctively at the declaration, feeling my heart flutter slightly, even if this wasn't exactly the ideal time for that to be happening. I shook my head and focused on our self-declared opponent.

In the face of her warning, Alexander merely laughed, a rich, genial sound. "I see! Apologies for seemingly encroaching onto your territory, fearsome knight!" His smile returned in full at the same time. Da Vinci sighed happily.

"His smile," the Caster mused. "It's so beautiful!" Huh, it must be the painter aspect of her talking. Emiya crouched down slightly, more focused on the present as Mordred was. The steely eyes were narrowed.

"The spitting image of an enchanting youth," he remarked, before briefly taking his eyes off of Alexander to glance at Da Vinci. "Your opinion as an artist?"

"I'm in love," Da Vinci said. "I'd like to draw him. No, I want to get naked and draw him!"

I almost fell flat on my ass at those words, looking horrified at the Caster. The only redeeming thing I could say about that statement was that her tone indicated that she wasn't thinking of it in a sexual way. Chaldea doesn't need its own version of Blackbeard, damn it! I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled violently. Emiya looked equally as perturbed by the Caster as Da Vinci seemed to realize what she had blurted out and turned a bright red.

"Well then," the crimson-wearing Archer drawled, "do it on your own time. Far, far from the rest of us."

"Ahem, can we ignore that?" Da Vinci asked. Apparently, she was just now realizing what the hell she had just said.

"Your friend there is quite lively," Alexander spoke up, taking the incident in stride. In fact, he looked extremely pleased by it. Well, glad someone enjoyed that cringe-fest!

"That's one way of describing it. By the way, thanks for being patient," I said, though not a bit begrudgingly. Alexander made a friendly dismissive gesture.

"Think nothing of it. I've been waiting for something to happen since my mistress sent me here. This is the most entertaining thing I've gotten to witness since I last saw her!"

"On that note, then," Inspector Emiya, "I request that you tell us who made you, and what the goals of both you and your mistress are. We don't have to fight." I barely managed to stifle down the snort of amusement when Mordred whined softly. She really wanted to defeat Alexander for flirting with me, it seems.

Alexander clicked his tongue and adopted a sterner expression. He held his sword threateningly at us, though not lunging forwards to attack us just yet. "I see. You're just using me, aren't you?"

"No, we—"

"No doubt you plan on killing me after I finish answering your questions, too, I bet!" Shit, this was going downhill faster than Doctor Roman's confidence. Emiya tried again, playing the role of mediator.

"Wait—"

In a case of verbal and mental whiplash, the Macedonian Rider calmed down, laughing softly. In front of me, I could see how furiously Mordred was shaking. She hated these kinds of games, and combined with her earlier reaction earlier, she was just seconds away from darting forwards and relieving the counterfeit Heroic Spirit of his heads. With her hands. I reached out and gently gripped her right shoulder, briefly calming her down as Alexander resumed speaking with his more genial tone.

"Ha, sorry about that. I'm not actually that naïve or anything. I was just fulfilling a role my mistress gave me. Innocence and purity. That's what'll help bring her peace. Sadly, I must admit that all it meant was that she desired my abilities only, with no 'unnecessary' elements. It's fun though, in its own way."

"What are we, in pre-school?" I said, politely interrupting Alexander's monologue. "Can we drop the whole pronoun game, please? Who is this 'mistress' of yours that you speak of?" To my own frustration, the future King of Conquerors giggled softly before wagging a finger at me, as if he were a parent scolding a naughty child.

"Too bad! That's a secret! Right now, I am 'the talented little step-brother who adores the big sister living with him'! Sounds kinda romantic, doesn't it? I see you're all confused by this. If it helps, I didn't quite get that backstory either, but it's her wish! Alright, it's been nice chatting and all, but no more stalling by either of us. Come on, mister, it's time for war!"

"That intensity, and those words," Emiya said with what I suspected was grudging admiration. "Even if you are a counterfeit, you are the man who'll someday become the King of Conquerors." Smirking eagerly, Alexander bowed his head slightly before raising his empty hand. The Rider snapped his fingers, and a flash of light filled the room, temporarily blinding me.

"Come, Bucephalus!" Alexander said in a commanding voice, and I heard a horse whinny in response. When I was finally able to open my eyes, Alexander was no longer a boy standing before us. While his body hadn't changed, he was no astride a sleek and powerful stead. Unlike other horses, however, this one gave off a wave of something almost akin to malice. The horse, Bucephalus, felt more like a tiger than, well, a horse!

Worse was the fact that the mount was so huge in a relatively cluttered area. On paper, one might assume that would be a hindrance to Bucephalus and his young master. However, the obstacles in question were mainly tables and wooden stands, things that could get easily smashed in a battle between Servants.

As if he had read my very thoughts, the massive horse reared up, hooves lashing out as they came down onto one of the smaller tables around the room. Piles of loose paper, bound manuscripts, wooden models, and the odd lit candle were sent flying about as the wood was smashed into splinters. Alexander laughed heartily, as if he were astride a fair animal, and not a beast of war.

"That's the spirit, Bucephalus," he said, rubbing the mane of his mount affectionately. "Bucephalus is my horse, obviously, but more than just that. When I was twelve years old, a horse trader visited my father. Amongst the stock he had brought was a massive horse that the merchant told no one had managed to claim. My father declined to buy it, but I made a wager that I could tame the stallion. Should I fail, I would have paid the price of 13 talents the horse merchant was selling it for. To the shock of my father and everyone else, I did so." Alexander paused and gazed at us sternly.

"For almost twenty years he served as my mount, be it against the Greeks, Persians, or others. Sparta couldn't halt our advance. Darius III and his warriors couldn't stop the two of us. Not even the elephants of King Porus of the Pauravas and his countrymen could stop us at the Battle of the Hydaspes. Prepare to join their ranks, mister," Alexander said.

"Da Vinci! Take Jacob and get him outside! Now!" Mordred roared, as Alexander's mount once more reared up menacingly. I opened my mouth to protest when the Caster next to me grabbed my left arm and tugged me backwards.

It was all that I could manage to stay on my feet as Da Vinci dragged me out of the facsimile of her workshop. Behind me, I heard loud crashing sounds, along with grunts, shouts, and metal smashing against metal as Mordred and Emiya fought off Alexander. A few seconds later, and I could see Boudica, Lu Bu, and Sasaki looking at us with alarm.

"Master, where's Mordred and Emiya?" Boudica asked, clearly concerned for her adopted child. I jabbed a hand towards the doorway that Da Vinci had just dragged me out from. Before I could add any words, though, the front of the building seemed to bulge out slightly, before exploding into a cloud of broken masonry.

I raised one arm up over my face as I closed my mouth and eyes, not wishing to breathe in any of the concrete debris. It prevented me from realizing that someone was about to pick me up, however, and I released a choked squawk of surprise as I felt myself being moved further away.

Thinking it was now safe to open my eyes, I did so just in time to witness Lu Bu putting me down. Da Vinci was close behind the Chinese Berserker, brushing some dust off her cloak. "Ah, I forgot how dirty one can get during field operations," the Caster muttered.

"Not the time, Da Vinci," I growled, looking back at the dissipating dust cloud.

To my immense relief, one of the first figures I could see was Mordred. Aside from what appeared to be a superficial cut over her right cheek, my knight was unharmed. Emiya was also in a similar fine shape.

"Orders, Master?"

"Take him down! Emiya, you and Mordred focus on one side! Boudica, you and Sasaki the other! Da Vinci, keep an eye out for any golem reinforcements! Lu Bu, focus on dismounting Alexander!" I barked out the orders, readying the hand bearing my re-stocked Command Seals should they be needed.

Counterfeit or not, Alexander was still a Servant. And I for one didn't buy the idea that he was lesser an opponent because of it for a moment. My Servants exchanged looks and silently communicated with one another, coordinating their strikes.

One of the things I had heavily focused on in training recently was making sure that all of my Servants could fight in a group. Not just in making sure that they avoided getting in the way of another's attacks, but actually combining their attacks, thus forming a more cohesive and deadly force. It hadn't been easy, but in the end, the desire to win and whatnot had overcome any individual quarrels.

Alexander laughed, clearly thrilled to be in battle as he merrily watched his opponents circling around him. And the Macedonian Rider wasn't alone, not as long as Bucephalus was summoned.

Emiya launched the first attack, firing an arrow at the enemy Servant. Alexander's sword came up, and using the flat of his blade, deflected the arrow. Sasaki dashed forward the moment that the youth started to swing his sword, hoping to strike the Rider's back.

Bucephalus noticed, however, and spun around. Rearing up slightly, the horse lashed out with those massive hooves of his. His brow creasing slightly, I watched as Sasaki's brow creased ever so slightly as he leapt clear of the flailing limbs.

Lu Bu then darted in, trying to attack the rear, though any element of stealth was abandoned as the Berserker bellow forth his usual roar. At the same time, activating her Mana Burst ability, Mordred dashed forward from the side.

In a breathtaking display of coordination and agility, master and mount responded as if they were one. Bucephalus's muscles tensed up, and I noticed too late how the horse was balancing his weight on his front legs. The haunch rearing up slightly, the muscular rear legs slammed into Lu Bu's decorated breastplate.

The Chinese Berserker was sent flying backwards, crashing into the fountain at the center of the square, and didn't immediately get up. "Bastard!" Mordred snarled, though whether it was in response to her fellow Servant being injured or (and more likely) over the flirting incident earlier. Jumping into the air, my knight swung Clarent down with a loud growl.

"Hm," Alexander grunted as he managed to bring his sword up and tanked Mordred's blow. I noticed that the Rider wasn't trying to brute force his way past Mordred's guard as the two Servants exchanged a rapid series of vicious blows.

This continued for several minutes, and I had finally bit down on my lower lip hard enough that I tasted a hint of iron in my mouth. This wasn't going well. I kicked my brain into overtime, trying to think of another strategy as Mordred cried out in shock as a hoof caught her right thigh, though she escaped any series damage.

'This isn't working, guys. Fall back. Sasaki, you go first, Ready your Noble Phantasm and cut down either Alexander or his horse. Boudica, assist Sasaki should Alexander escape any lethal injuries. Mordred, can you and Emiya distract him long enough?"

'I'd rather rip his head off,' Mordred said angrily, but before I could respond, she continued. 'But if that is your order, Master, then I'll follow through.'

'Thank you. Anyone else have their issues?" I ask, pausing for a moment. Upon hearing none, I continued communicating with my Servants. 'On the count of three. One, two, three!'

At the signal, my Servants began breaking off, following my plan to the letter. Alexander didn't seem to notice the trap and began chasing after Mordred and Emiya when the Saber and Archer finally broke off their attacks. I watched as they continued leading the Macedonian Servant closer to my position, I looked at Sasaki and called out to him.

"Now!" I roared, and Sasaki nodded, angling the long, curved blade of his sword . Alexander and Bucephalus continued charging forward, and I could have sworn that there was now a hint of desperation amidst his confidant and exuberant grin.

"Hidden Sword," my Assassin began to chant, tensing up as the enemy Servant was about three dozen yards away. Alexander let out a cry of alarm as he tried to pull back on the reins of Bucephalus, but the mighty horse had built up too much momentum to come to an instant halt. Two dozen. Six yards. Now or neve—"Swallow Reversal!"

Bucephalus let out a painful shriek of pain as three long, deep gouges suddenly appeared on his barrel-like chest as Sasaki's Noble Phantasm fatally injured the horse. Alexander shouted out his beloved mount's name as the horse reared backwards, forelegs flailing helplessly as the beast fell to the side. Bucephalus's young rider was thrown to the side.

"Boudica, your up," I said softly, and Boudica nodded grimly, darting forward in a blur. Regardless of whether Alexander was a Servant or not, I found ordering the striking down of a child-like person to be rather distasteful. However, as history and my Servants had reminded me, when two or more Servants meet on the field of battle, only one side would remain alive.

I closed my eyes as I heard the pained cry escape Alexander's lips, followed a mere second later by the sound of leather and skin being run through by steel. I felt a metal-cladded hand gently gripping my shoulder, Mordred no doubt trying to comfort me.

I opened my eyes in time to see Boudica finish pulling out her blood-stained sword from Alexander's chest. The Rider then gestured for us to approach now that the battle was over, and we did so. Already, the body of Bucephalus was gone, and I knew that his Master would soon join him.

"D-Damn," Alexander groaned, sounding more like the boy he looked like instead of the king he would become for once. And who could blame him? The whole thing about facing death stoically while impaled on one or more blades was utter bullshit if you asked me. You could power through it, but unless you had suffered severe nerve damage, everyone felt some degree of pain from that.

"You fought well," I said. Even though he was a Servant, Alexander still looked like the young lad he had been at the start of his rise to power. Furthermore, I never really understood the reason for why some, Masters, Servants, and regular people alike, felt the need to taunt or belittle a worthy foe. A mortal enemy, or scum, yes, but not regular foes and all.

Alexander looked up with a frail smile, shrugging with a painful-sounding cough. "H-Ha…I guess that's it then," he said rather blithely, before laughing softly. "I figured it would be hard to actually win, even when it remained a two-on-one. To get so close, yet still be so far….that's what is sad about being a fake, isn't it?" The dying Rider asked mournfully.

"That's not true," Emiya interrupted gruffly. "It was a battle between Servants, and you lost. That's all."

"Yeah. For a shorty, you did put up one hell of a fight," Mordred added, though the compliment sounded almost dragged out of her. Alexander shot us a lopsided smile.

"Thanks. I wish I had a chance to win, though. Real Heroic Spirits are always so amazing, huh?" Sasaki and Emiya exchanged knowing looks, though for what purpose and why, I knew not. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Da Vinci shivering slightly, and I turned to check on her, concerned that the Caster had somehow been injured.

"Oh, how I enjoyed watching that. A young man, his trained biceps pushed to the limit…how wonderful!" Unfortunately, that was not the case. Emiya continued speaking, playing much the role of a grizzled drill sergeant at bootcamp. He jabbed a hand at Da Vinci.

"Look. She may be real but look at her. It's fine to worry about where you came from, but stupid to compare it." Left unsaid was the implication of whether Alexander really wanted to be measured up against Da Vinci. The future King of Conquerors blinked slowly. He reached up to scratch the side of his head, but stopped, noticing that his hand had vanished in the cloud of golden light that was now traveling slowly up his forearm. Instead, he settled for letting out a long sigh.

"Heh, so you say," Alexander said with a bit of childish dismissiveness in his voice. "Thanks for the nice speech, and the fight. In exchange, I suppose I can tell you what you want to know. Sadly, I'm afraid that will only really be your next destination."

"That'll do. Now tell us," Mordred said gruffly. For her lack of tact, she wasn't wrong. Most of Alexander's extremities had vanished. The Counterfeit Servant did not have much longer left to impart to us his knowledge. Alexander rolled his eyes at my lover, but thankfully resumed talking.

"There are several counterfeit workshops all over the place. That book your artist friend is holding has the locations for where you should go next. They're for spreading fakes of Da Vinci's works, little by little. Before you ask for what end, sadly, I can't say. I don't know her goal, not in the slightest! Why, you might ask? Because my job's to be innocent! I haven't been told anything regarding what goes on behind the scenes. Granted, it's not that hard to figure out, but it would be rude to tell."

"So, you won't talk any further on this, will you?" Emiya said in his stern manner, and Alexander nodded heartily.

"Nope. Besides, don't bother with any sympathy, please. I don't enjoy that, and neither does she. I'm just a fake, so I'll disappear when my expiration date arrives…"

With those final words, and a sad smile on his lips, King Alexander the Great vanished in a cloud of golden dust, leaving my Servants and I once more the sole occupants of the counterfeit town. I exhaled slowly.

"Well, that was a thing. Anyone hurt?"

"Nah, just a few scratches and dents to my armor," Mordred said honestly, albeit in a tone that was also boastful. The other Servants quickly voiced similar thoughts. The only Servant to have suffered any serious injuries was Lu Bu, it turned out. Even then, it was only a few sword slashes and a pair of broken ribs courtesy of Alexander's demonic-like horse. Injuries that would finish healing within the hour. I nodded my head slowly, looking up to notice that the sun was starting to set overhead.

"We should find somewhere to set up a campsite. We could try to use one of these buildings, see if they're empty. I'd rather make our own campsite a dozen or so miles away from here, however. There's a chance that this 'mistress' Alexander spoke of will send the other Counterfeit Servants to investigate the loss of her Rider."

"You're trying to avoid a fight then?" Emiya inquired politely, and I shrugged.

"I'm trying to avoid leading us into a situation where we're caught with our pants down and our thumbs up our asses," I responded, and it wasn't just Mordred who snorted in amusement at my crass response. "That, and we don't know how truly stable these buildings are." Almost as if on cue, smoke started to leak out of the shattered entrance of the workshop. It seems that a candle or something had been knocked over during the initial skirmish between Mordred, Emiya, and Alexander, and the scattered mass of papers and wooden models and oily paintings had started to catch fire.

"That…is a fair point," Da Vinci said. "Just give me a few minutes to grab a few more of the other manuscripts, if any are left, and we can go."

Original Endnotes: And done! What did you guys think? I didn't focus to heavily on the fight description itself, because, well, even with Bucephalus the outcome was pretty much guaranteed, even if you took away the plot armor Mordred especially has right now. Plus, I'm trying to not use every last fight as some sort of filler. Obviously, some of the later fights will be more detailed, but that's for other reasons. More importantly, did you enjoy reading it? Also, I wish I didn't have to write Da Vinci acting like Blackbeard, but for those who haven't played the event, there's a line where Da Vinci goes 'I'm in love. I want to draw him naked. No, I want to get naked and draw him". Obviously, I tuned that down, but still *shivers*. Also, who enjoyed seeing semi-Yandere Mordred reacting to Alexander being his friendly/flirty self towards Jacob? It was bound to happen, so I hope I lived up to the expectations of it.

As for Sasaki and Boudica dealing the final blow, well, recently, I felt like I was having Mordred killing the enemy Servants almost constantly (which is the end goal of a fight in the Fate Universe-killing your opponents). However, if it's only Mordred doing it, then why the heck are the other Servants being summoned? So in this arc and going forward, I plan on introducing more variety to the element, like back in Orléans.

Now, for the question(s) of the day: First off, did anyone roll for the Saber class summon the past few days, and if so, did you get anyone good? I got my second Gawain, my third Saberlot, Nero, and Siegfried. For those who aren't rolling, which class(es) are you planning to roll for and who are you hoping to get?

As always, thanks for reading, and thank you everyone also for the constant support for this story! Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments down below, and I look forward to reading them! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in Chapter 90!

Updated Endnotes 08/05/22: As always, you can view the fully-updated version of the story on AO3. I hope you enjoyed today's update, and see you in a few days in Chapter 90.