The twilight made the hill of Camlann sanguine red which disguised the blood of Mordred's victim. The battle was over and the Knight of Treachery had won. Surrounded by a sea of corpses, Mordred had impaled his father in the chest with Clarent and it was in that moment that Mordred finally realized he didn't want this. He didn't want the throne, nor did he want revenge against the parent that had scorned him. He just wanted his father's attention, his love, and he wished to free his father from the fetters of her role as the king that stands above and apart from all others.
A cough scattered blood across Mordred's face. King Arthur was clinging to the last remnants of her life with clenched teeth. Her expression as she looked at Mordred wasn't filled with anger as would be expected. Mordred assumed that his father's fury would be directed at him for destroying her kingdom and stealing her life away, but instead she just looked sad and scared more than anything. She was desperate to live and protect all she loved. She refused to just give in despite the futility of her struggling. It was a pitiful sight to see the immaculate king brought down to a bloodied squirming human, and all because Mordred managed to hit with a lucky thrust.
Mordred didn't try to hold back his own tears as he watched his father gradually go limp and slump onto the ground. Her fingers stopped twitching, her chest stopped rising and falling, and her life ceased. King Arthur was dead, Mordred's father was dead. Vomit rose up the treacherous knight's throat and he had to choke it down to not accidentally get any on the corpse he just created. Mordred had gone too far and there was nothing he could do to fix what he had done. Mordred could only stare at his handiwork and bathe in his sins.
The blood on Clarent dried and dusk turned to night as Mordred just kept staring at the corpse of his father. Mordred's soldiers could be heard in the distance, sieging what remained of Camelot with little resistance. Those fools who Mordred rallied to his side made the knight sick to the deepest depths of his being. They were swayed with vapid rhetoric and unfocused passion to conquer an entire kingdom in Mordred's name. It was hard to judge them too harshly without acknowledging that they were just like Mordred in that they were traitors swayed by the manipulations of others. The only difference was that Mordred realized he was being manipulated and pretended not to care.
It was then, under the star spackled ceiling of night, that Morgan le Fay appeared to Mordred. She was monologuing about something or other, but Mordred wasn't listening as he felt the emptiness within him be filled with anger. Words about Morgan's birthright and some such were muffled by Mordred's hatred. Morgan was the one who used Mordred as her instrument of revenge to carve a path to the throne of Britain.
The witch turned to look down at King Arthur and Mordred took the opportunity to cleave his mother in two in a single downward swing. She never saw it coming and likely died before she knew what happened. Getting that simple revenge did not make Mordred feel any better about his betrayal.
It was after that point that Mordred seeked atonement for his action, and more importantly, a way to preserve the legacy of King Arthur. The question was how to do it. How would Mordred make sure that the generations of the future saw King Arthur as a faultless hero who could not be defeated by some swine like himself?
The answer was to make sure everyone believed King Arthur had not fallen. Mordred hid away the body of his father and got to work taking his place. He used the fact that he was a clone of King Arthur to be able to wield Excalibur and Avalon, the latter of which cured him of his shortened lifespan as a homunculus. He began studying his memories of his father's fighting style and personality quirks to imitate her while having a suit of armor called Replica of Pedigree made with magecraft that would make any who weren't already personally familiar with King Arthur instinctually believe Mordred to be her. The last thing Mordred had to do was to eliminate all the remaining members of the Round Table as well as all others who knew the true King Arthur such as Guinevere. And so that was what Mordred did. With each life Mordred ended with Excalibur, the more the holy sword became corrupted while never fully turning impure.
Thus was born the reign of the pretender King Arthur. His rule lasted for many years, only to be quashed by the Pruning Theoretical Phenomenon that said Mordred's history was an incorrect one that didn't deserve to exist.
And so that was the end of the one called Mordred Alter, at least until another Mordred was corrupted by the mud of the Grail. Mordred Alter was given new life with the memories of the Mordred he was replacing. This unaltered Mordred still managed to destroy King Arthur, but then went on to reconcile with him in their second chance at life.
But he didn't deserve it. Mordred's sins were unforgivable and the only reason King Arthur forgave him was she simply had too much love in her heart to enact proper punishment. It wasn't just Mordred who deserved punishment, but all of humanity. The human race and their imperfections were the reason they betrayed the perfect King Arthur. They were a race not even a transcendent monarch could bring salvation to. They needed to be wiped out for their sins against King Arthur. Only then will justice have been served. That was why Mordred Alter served the Black Grail.
At least, that was until Mordred Alter laid eyes upon King Arthur, and not just any King Arthur, but the most amazing one of all, one that wielded the Holy Lance and who shone brighter than any star and was truly divine. They were perfection beyond perfection and an existence for which the entirety of reality existed for. Humanity was validated merely by having birthed this king of kings. This is what the King Arthur that Mordred Alter knew could have become if it weren't for his betrayal, the god she could have metamorphosed into. This was not a being that Mordred could raise Excalibur against for the sake of humanity's punishment. This was a being that Mordred needed to serve under in eternal penance for his transgressions.
Among the burning wasteland created by his holy and corrupt lightning, Mordred dropped to his knees instead of preparing for his opponent's attack. This caused the goddess before him to lower their spear out of curiosity for Mordred's submission.
"What are you doing?" It was not the goddess who spoke, nor Mordred, but the Black Grail who appeared behind the kneeling knight. "We need to leave. This Divine Spirit is too much for us to handle at the moment."
"I do not serve you." Mordred looked at the feet of the goddess as his helmet disassembled and revealed his true face and the fact that he was an imposter. "I serve them."
"You are a Servant born from the Greater Grail's mud. My every word is a Command Spell to you, now move." The Black Grail tried to force Mordred's will to bend to her, and normally such a demand would be more than any Servant could resist, but this was a special case. Mordred Alter was a being whose entire existence was born out of obsession for a single entity and that entity was now before him. It wasn't just the entity who was his whole world, but it was the greatest version of that entity that he had ever encountered. This led to a need to serve this entity that was able to overpower the will of the Greater Grail. Such a perfect scenario was a nigh-impossibility due to all the necessary factors that had to coincide, and yet this scenario had occurred nonetheless.
A click of the tongue. The Black Grail left in a spurt of mud without another word while severing her connection to Mordred, leaving him without a Master or a source of magical energy.
The deity wasn't going to stand idly by while the Black Grail rode away on a wave of Grail mud. The Holy Spear was pointed towards the homunculus and a beam of golden light was fired at blinding speed.
A giant mass of Grail curses formed between the Black Grail and the oncoming beam. The black hill exploded in a conflagration that blew away hunks of the land. Out of the smoke appeared multiple giant humanoids made of Grail mud. They didn't possess Saint Graphs, but they were created from alchemy to have enough power to match a Noble Phantasm.
The giants numbered six in total and they all charged towards the goddess who leapt into the air and held Rhongomyniad high. The weapon shined bright and the deity descended like a living missile wrapped in light. Like an embodiment of divine judgment, the goddess shot right through one of the giants and hit the ground behind it. A pillar of light erupted and eradicated the giant while knocking away the other five with the resulting shockwave.
The goddess stood in the crater she created and two of the giants ran for her and jabbed their arms forward in giant jets of mud. Another pillar of light burst from the deity's body and acted as a shield that the mud slid off like water off a raincoat. The spearwoman dashed towards the two giant homunculi while leaving a trail of blue magical energy in her wake. The Holy Spear was thrust as the goddess ran past the monsters and turned them into an incoherent slop before the trail of magical energy behind the deity destroyed the mud on a particle level.
The remaining three mud giants made a pointless attempt to dogpile the goddess who responded by firing a beam of light from Rhongomyniad that pierced into one of the giants and vaporized it. The beam didn't disappear as the deity swung the spear and the beam with it which acted like a blade that cut the remaining two giants in half before the light's divine power destroyed the severed pieces entirely. The laser cut through not only the giants, but also some distant clouds and even the atmosphere itself which created a vacuum that quickly filled with surrounding air. All the giants were gone and the goddess stood tall amongst a flattened forest.
Mordred just watched one of the most magnificent fights he had ever had the pleasure of witnessing. The goddess just destroyed the equivalent of six Noble Phantasms without even needing a fraction of their full power. Odds that would be considered impossible to overcome by most were unworthy of even making the deity sweat a single bead. She did it all in a mere ten seconds. That was enough time for the Greater Grail to escape and hide away somewhere unknown. The Greater Grails' power was radiating throughout and beyond Fuyuki, dulling the goddess' divine senses and preventing them from finding the vessel. The goddess would have to hunt for the Greater Grail and its vessel.
Now Mordred was alone with his deity and he was filled with feelings upon feelings. Admiration, joy, love, fear, curiosity, and awe were all directed towards the goddess, while hate, disgust, loathing, sorrow, pity, and despair were all directed towards Mordred himself.
Powerful steps tramped through the melted dirt as the goddess got closer to Mordred until they were standing right in front of him, looking down upon him.
Mordred was crying as he couldn't bring himself to look up and meet his deity's gaze. His jaw hung open for a moment before all Mordred had done spilled out. He spoke on while rarely stopping for a breath as he confessed all his sins for the first time since he had committed them. He spoke of his uprising, of killing King Arthur and taking his place out of guilt. He spoke of killing the remaining members of the Round Table and Guinevere to silence them.
As Mordred told his entire life's story, the goddess stayed quiet and listened without so much as moving an inch or taking an audible breath. Mordred was praying that the deity was judging him, looking at him with disgust for all his horrid actions and would make him face punishment finally after all this time. He needed to be punished, he wouldn't be able to believe that justice was real if he wasn't punished. Even if he was simply sentenced to death, he could accept that. Mordred's armored fingers grasped the dirt as it gradually cooled and he waited for word from his goddess. Would he finally face retribution and feel peace. Anxiety and guilt intertwined as he kept on waiting for the deity to say something.
"You really never change, Mordred, no matter the history. You'll always be a violent, boorish traitor. You even managed to dirty Excalibur with your impurity. You truly ruin everything you touch." The deep and serene words of the goddess were like law made manifest and they pierced Mordred's heart like the Holy Spear itself. It was the derision that Mordred had long desired as punishment and it brought with it its own sort of catharsis. "And yet I can't help but feel something other than hatred for you." Hold on, what? How? Why? What did the goddess mean? Mordred looked up as his deity had taken off their helmet. They were enrapturing in their elegant maturity that was an optimal fusion of masculine and feminine. Their expression was almost emotionless, except for the slightest movements of their brow and cheeks that most wouldn't even be able to detect. "I used to hate you, or as close to hate as I could feel while lacking true emotions, and saw you as nothing but a self-destructive weapon at best. Then my emotions returned to me and now I remember the pity and regret I felt when I thrust Rhongomyniad through your stomach. I was able to see from your perspective and understand the myriad factors that turned you into the betrayer you were." This wasn't right. Mordred was scum who needed to face retribution. Why was the goddess sympathizing with him? "And now I've been reborn in a vessel, and with that vessel, new memories. I have the memories of a girl named Gray who felt many emotions. She felt great love and sadness, and for you, she felt respect for your strength of both body and will, and she wished she could act as proudly as you did. She admired your reconciliation with another version of me and your willingness to move on from your past mistakes. Thanks to the girl named Gray, I can't help but look upon you in a more complex light than I had previously. I see your many positive aspects, and yet I can't ignore your sins." Yes, don't forgive him, punish him! Mordred needed to be punished! "And so I shall give you a chance at atonement."
"Atonement?" Mordred sounded like a child.
"You have no Master and will disappear if you don't acquire a source of magical energy. If you swear loyalty to me and assist me in destroying the Threat to Humanity that is the Greater Grail, I will provide you with magical energy in a method similar to a Master. I have plenty of energy to spare due to my unique method of manifestation."
"But I need to be punished! I killed you, and the Knights of the Round Table, and Guinevere, and the Lady of the Lake, and hundreds of other people! I destroyed Camelot and impersonated you! I ruined the World so badly that my timeline got pruned from Proper Human History for being so fundamentally wrong! I don't deserve to atone, I deserve to be tortured and killed! If I'm to serve you, it's as a dog, a slave!"
"Punishing you will not help me, nor anyone else. The only reason you want to be punished is for your own sake. You wish for your own suffering only to make yourself feel better. Your desire borders on masochism and is not something I will waste my time on." Mordred was dumbstruck and yet he couldn't deny anything the goddess said. He wanted to be punished so he could feel a sense of release after having gotten away with so many sins for so long. He wanted to satiate his own guilt and that should not have been his goal. His goal should have been to make up for what he had done, to bring so much good into the World that it overshadowed the evils he created. "Once again, I offer you a chance at atonement." The goddess held Rhongmyniad aloft and it glowed brighter. "Accept my Gift and become a Knight of the Lion King."
How could anyone say no? It was time for Mordred to really make things right. There was evil to be combated.
"I will serve you until the end of days, my king."
Mordred got on one knee and bowed his head. The Lion King brought down their spear and touched each of the former traitor's shoulders before Mordred kissed the weapon's tip. Divine power infused into the kneeling knight as he received his king's Gift.
"Your Gift is called Loyalty. You will be able to absorb magical energy from the environment to amplify your abilities whenever you follow my orders, especially your defense which will make you able to endure all but the strongest assaults. It is essentially a Command Spell that is constantly making you stronger as long as you don't disobey me."
"Thank you, my king."
"Stand. We must move."
"Where are we going?" Mordred got to his feet.
"The easiest way to handle this situation would be to destroy all of Fuyuki and the Greater Grail along with it. The issue is that my humanity is preventing me from going through with such a tactic like I normally would. The next option is to go to the overseer and force him to show us the Grail's location. We will use the same tactic our…family was going to use. You will go into the middle of the city where a lot of people are gathered. I will confront the priest and tell him to show us where the Greater Grail is or you'll use Mystics in public."
"Understood."
The Lion King parted her lips to say something, only for her to stop herself and look at Rhongomyniad. She looked sad for a second before steeling her expression. The Holy Spear's light dissipated as it returned to its seal. The blue box named Add returned and sat on the Lion King's palm. It regained its consciousness and looked at the king.
"Hey." Add said. "Is Gray still in there at all? Even a little?"
"Not that I can sense. I'm sorry."
"Did you take over Gray on purpose? Did you intentionally do this?"
"No. My Saint Graph was summoned into her and everything that followed happened on its own."
"I get it. Apology accepted in that case. Is this permanent?"
"As far as I'm aware."
"Fuck."
"Indeed. Will you serve as my armament and allow me to access Rhongomyniad? I understand if you don't, considering it's because of me that Gray is gone."
"You can use me, don't worry. You're trying to stop the Greater Grail and you'll need Rhongomyniad to do that."
"Thank you for being so reasonable."
"No problem. I have a question."
"What is it?"
"When the Greater Grail's destroyed, what will you do? You don't have a kingdom to rule and you don't have a family to live with, unless you plan to live with Gray's family."
"I doubt that would go well. I would be an eternal reminder of all Gray's family has lost. Once I am done here, I will leave to find a place that needs to be saved."
"So you'll be some kinda superhero?"
"I suppose."
"Take me with you when you do. If I stay with the other Artoria and Illya, I'll just remind them that Gray's gone like you would if you stayed with them."
"You can stay with me. I'll need your help to defend people after all." A sigh escaped the goddess' nose. "Let's be off." Dun Stallion, the loyal steed of King Arthur, materialized and the Lion King mounted him while putting his helmet back on. In contrast to the white horse, the goddess also summoned the black horse Llamrei who Mordred got atop.
A crack of the reins and both steeds ran at hypersonic speed towards Fuyuki. Mordred followed behind his goddess with resolve in his heart to destroy the Greater Grail and make amends for his past actions. From there, he would follow the Lion King wherever they went as their eternal knight. It was supposed to be atonement, but it sounded more like heaven.