tl34lt12: I am already writing a story with Artoria and Shirou in a fantastic medieval world that is Fate/ Dragoncrown, I invite you to read it.

I play Total War Warhammer, I also play the old pen and paper RPG and I played the old tabletop figurines battle game.

Boyzilla: You can bet Hakuno won't let herself be arrested for if she can... especially since she'll still summon Servants.

Hollix25: the real world proves it well, people who have a lot of power are rarely the best people or the healthiest of minds. The greater the power the greater the chance that it corrupts you.

Ad perpetuam plaga

(The eternal plague)

Part II

"The most fervent servants of the Horned Rat are known as the Grey Seers. Raised since birth to honor their god master, these Skavens are the spiritual advisors of the Skavens legions. They commune with their Horned God, offer their advice and challenge their leaders that ignore it for their own purposes. Who can stand against the will of a God? Who could expose himself to his wrath by despising his emissaries?»

- Steffan Paulus Adelhof, Wolfenburg scholar

The most holly matriarch Lisegund had listened to Hakuno Kishinami recount how the army of Dammartin's paladin had spotted the imperial caravan attacked by beasts armed with an arquebus.
However, Dammartin's paladin was reluctant to intervene because they were in charge of hundreds of prisoners belonging to Slaanesh's sect. The king had entrusted to the paladin the task of eliminating the sect until the last zealot. The interrogation of the captured fanatics was a priority.

Artoria Pendragon, therefore, proposed to help the Imperials at the head of volunteers.

The surprise arrival of the Bretonnians knights followed by an ambush mounted by the archers put the beastmen in rout. Only, in examining the bodies, Hakuno Kishinami discovered that they were Skavens... creatures that the inhabitants of the Sigmar Empire and Bretonnia took for tales that were told to the children to force them to eat their soup.

The matriarch Lisegund frowned and for the first time asked a question. She of course wanted to know how Hakuno had determined that the attackers were these legendary creatures. The Sovereign of the Moon gave her a demonstration of the Regalia, especially its ability to translate texts and identify objects.

The Matriarch nodded. Hakuno's reputation as a "lady of the Lunar Grail" had already spread to Couronne and its surroundings. The old woman was not particularly surprised.

Hakuno finished her story by recounting her encounter with the priestess Fieseler after the battle. She described her as sick, losing her hair by handles. The Distorting Stone had been cast in a glass cube charged with protecting the priestess from her harmful radiation but this protection was not effective enough. As the Distorting Stones or rather Evilstones were worshipped by the Skavens as creations of their god, the Horned Rat, and were also at the origin of their strange science, they had probably attacked the caravan to take back the cursed stone. Similarly, the assassination of Priestess Fieseler had probably been organized by the Skavens.

Lisegund remained a thoughtful moment. Her face showed nothing of it, but her nervousness was evident in the way she slipped the beads of her rosary between her fingers. Finally, the Matriarch looked up Hakunou and then Artoria:

"Thank you for taking the time to explain to me what you have learned. Would you be willing to help me find this evil stone? You must understand that the Distorting Stone is a dangerous and evil object that excites the greatest lusts. Among other things, this stone is capable of transmuting ordinary metals into gold. When an Evilstone comet fell on the imperial city of Mordheim many adventurers rushed blinded by the desire for wealth. Worse still, the pretenders to the imperial throne like the vampire counts fought around the comet, coveting its magical power to make powerful artifacts, bind demons, or raise undead armies. The war raged for years!"

The old woman had a sad smile:

"This is only one Evilstone. But if the news of the presence of such a stone spreads, it could attract the attention of warlocks and necromancers. So I can't take the risk of asking for help from the Bretonnians knights or the city watch... especially in the absence of King Louen. So people who are already aware of the presence of the stone have to go looking for it. So I can only turn to you, damsel Kishinami. "

Hakuno took a look at Artoria.

Throughout the meeting, the King of Knights had simply stood next to her, a charismatic and silent presence. Understanding that her Master was asking her opinion, she replied with a slight affirmative movement.
The Inheritor of the Moon smiles at Lisegund:

" Most Holly Matriarch, you can count on us."

Hakuno secretly felt excited about the situation.

She had just been assigned a police investigation.

Well, it was about finding a kind of mutagenic ore capable of irradiating men, killing them, or even transforming them into monsters. In addition, the Evilstone could transform lead into gold, feed powerful artifacts, link demons, and wake up the dead. That's all!

Not one of these uses was really reassuring. Moreover, the Matriarch Lisegund had explained that the possession and trade of Evilstones were prohibited... which could lead smugglers to the stake.
Hakuno had questioned the Moon Cell through the Regalia. The photonic crystal computer had explained to her that the Evilstones were actually a Dhar (black magic) condensate. The Distorting Stones could be formed in various ways. Evilstone dust was carried by the Winds of Chaos, which explains why animals and plants, and even inert matter, were transformed when the winds of madness were blowing over the Old World. Black magic spells sometimes created Evilstone dust or small stones when a spell did not consume all the energy accumulated by the sorcerer.

The first source of the Evilstone present on the Old World was, however, cosmic. As the history of the Mordheim comet illustrated it very well. Meteorites or "comets" of Evilstone fell from time to time on the Old World.

Morrslieb was an important source of Evilstone. The mephitic aura that surrounded the green moon was the result of the high concentration of Distording Stones in this moon.

The parallel between Morrslieb and the Moon Cell Automaton was evident, the two moons being largely made up of "magic" crystals. And in fact, their origin was not very different as confirmed by the extraterrestrial supercomputer.

Long ago, the "Ancients" had created a network of stellar gates to connect the many worlds of their spreading empire. These doors were made of crystal. There were several in orbit of the Old World.

The portals of the Slanns (as the inhabitants of the Old World called them) were connected to each other through a dimension where distances and time did not exist: the Warp! Now, the Warp was the original plan of the Ruin powers, where the four gods of Chaos resided in the company of the legions of Daemons at their service.

One day, the portals imploded. Fragments fell near the north pole of the planet. The crystals had been transformed into Evilstone by the powers of Ruin. Around them, time and space were distorted... creating gaps through which Chaos would infiltrate the world. But most of the debris from the portals merged into a new moon... Morrslieb.

Hakuno was troubled.

Until then, she believed that the Distorting Stones were a consequence of the Chaos's eruption on the Old World. The Inheritor of the Moon was wrong. It was the cause of its coming. She understood better than any use of these "magic stones" would be banished.

The seven weeks spent in the Moon Cell's Grail Wars had trained Hakuno as an investigator. After all, between seeking the identity of an assassin or that of a Heroic Spirit, the method did not differ. In fact, the situation reminded her of the investigation on the first floor of the Second Chimerical Lunar Sea... after Archer tried to assassinate her with a poisoned crossbow. The study of the bolt and the poison had made her understand that Archer could only be an heir to the Druids.

Just that Couronne was bigger than the Chimerical Lunar Seas arenas.

To identify the killer, we had to investigate the crime scene. Except Matriarch Lisegund didn't know where Shallya's priestess had been murdered. She had just received a message from the prévôt (1) reporting the death of fraulein Fieseler and the presence of broken glass near the body... evidently, the cube that had imprisoned the Distorting Stone.

The first task was to find the crime scene.

After a stop at the Hugo Tower to pick up Sir Kay and Sir Gawain, Hakuno and Artoria returned to the caravanserai with them.

The Moon Cell provided the Inheritor with a map of the city of Couronne and Hakuno remembering seeing fraulein Fieseler take a street north of the market square. Therefore, the teenager followed the shortest route to the Shallya Temple.

An incredible crowd was crossing these streets. Carts carried wine barrels, men-at-arms patrolled, bear tamers cheered up the crowds on the squares. Shops opened on the first floor of every house, selling all kinds of things. Children played in the midst of the swine that frolicked freely in the streets, passing among the ladies in robes, the young lords on horseback, the knights in armor, the prostitutes, the street vendors who advertised and the beggars who waved their begging bowls.

However, at nightfall, these narrow alleys abandoned by this eager crowd had to look like dens of cutthroats...
Halfway to the temple, Hakuno Kishinami and her three knights arrived at a street blocked by members of the prévôté. The Matriarch Lisegund had signed a pass allowing them to cross the cordon... However, Hakuno did not even have to show it. The members of the lookout, mere commoners, did not dare to prevent the passage of knights. Fortunately, since they were illiterate, the men of the prévôt would have been hard-pressed to recognize the seal and signature.

The crime scene was a small, poorly paved, muddy street smelling... let's say that with the habit of throwing the contents of the chambers pots through the windows, the passage certainly was pretty ripe.
The victim's body had been moved, but there was enough blood left on the ground to uncover the location of Fieseler's death. As the matriarch had said, broken glass was next to it.

"Code cast: View_Status."

The Code Cast revealed that the glass debris was what was left of the Evilstone prison.
"Damsel Kishinami?"

Hakuno turned to Gawain, the knight leaned toward her with sought-after movements. The Knight of the Sun's lack of spontaneity always gave the impression that he was an actor in a performance.

"Yes, Sir Gawain?"

"Could you take a look at that footprint? It seems strange to me."

Indeed, one of the muddy puddles installed in a rutting street had kept the mark of... well, something that was not a human foot. Four long fingers with claws were discernible. The mark left by the heel suggested that the leg of the thing had to be particularly long.

No doubt, the experts of modern scientific police would have made a molding to reconstitute the paw and deduced which creature it belonged to.

Hakuno's method was simpler, more direct... the method of a Spiritron Hacker:

"Code cast: View_Status."

Without Formal Wear, Hakuno Kishinami was limited to only two Codes cast... fortunately, one of them could paralyze the enemies and the other revealed pieces of information. With her hand stretched out to the trace imprinted in the mud, the teenager in a brown uniform shudders:

"This is the footprints of Skiikt'kiit, assassin Skaven from the litter of Skiikt'tssht, member of the Skyre clan."

Hakuno then went to the members of the lookout. The men immediately lowered their noses to the ground. They had not identified her as "the Damsel of the Lunar Grail" that the people of Couronne have been talking about for a few days. However, since she was escorted by three knights, they had no difficulty answering her questions.

Once they had passed the barrier of language, for they spoke a bad patois difficult to understand, they revealed nothing important to her. They had done a little investigation that would have made any real police officer cry in desperation. While questioning an old woman in a neighboring house, they had learned that there had been screams late into the night. However, she had not gone out to see what was going on, preferring to barricade herself at home.

The clues were not very numerous.

As Hakuno reflected on what she had just learned, a voice cut off her thoughts:

"Can I ask what you do at a murder scene?"

A disdainful young nobleman had just crossed the fence of the prévôté. His face was thin, his hair and his eyes black. He looked at the knights and Hakuno with a suspicious air. His black velvet and red brocard doublet woven with golden flowers must have cost the average worker several years' salary. As for his coat in the latest fashion, he wore furry-edged tears (2). His triangular hat was adorned with numerous pious medals. At his neck, a heavy gold chain held a pendant adorned with the coat of arms of the city of Couronne, visibly the necklace of an important position. Several members of the prévôté, in gambeson and carrying halberds, stood behind him.

Sir Kay came forward to answer. To Hakuno's surprise, he began to speak in a charming voice, very different from his usual barking:

"Young lord whose name I do not know, I am currently at the service of this young lady." he pointed to his Master with an elegant gesture of the hand. "We are here on the orders of an important person and will only reveal our names and identities to an individual with the right and authority to ask us. Would you please name yourself and inform us of your quality in demanding answers from us?"
Kishinami blinked, surprised by Kay's skill. He had managed to postpone the answer without being hostile or insolent, while discreetly warning the arrogant that they were operating at the request of "an important person".

Next to her, Artoria Pendragon smiled and addressed her Master through their mental bond:

[Exaggerated rumors say that my brother is able to stop a dragon in flight and push it to land just by talking to it.]

Hakuno agreed, she wanted to believe it.

And as the young nobleman was not a dragon, he hesitated a few moments before answering:
"I am Estienne de Lamb, Couronne's prévôt in the name of His Majesty King Louen. As this investigation takes place inside the city walls, it falls under my jurisdiction."

The King of Bretonnia was also Duke of Couronne (the land of this name). The eponymous city was of course his responsibility and, in Bretonnia, the king WAS the law since the least of his whims could become a law text. Yet, like all nobles, Louen Leoncoeur had neither the time nor the desire to exercise the enforcement of the laws on commoners.

The prévôt position was created to deal with these unattractive tasks. A member of the nobility of lesser rank, usually a baron or baronet, or even the youngest son of a count, was thus appointed to this post.

In spite of its little interest in the hierarchy of duties surrounding the king, it was a position coveted by the less silver nobles.

Because, you see, the nobles of Bretonnia were not interested in commercial activities... or rather pretended not to be interested. In fact, Bretonnia's laws simply did not recognize the existence of trade! Only property wealth was taxed. The prévôt was therefore in a privileged position to negotiate with the trade associations.

Indeed, in winter the sun went down early and rose late. Working only in the light of day was therefore very inconvenient to the traders. And only the prévôt could issue curfew exemptions for factories and warehouses.

The big merchants, therefore, offered "gifts" to the prévôt in exchange for work permits or for patrols of the lookout to protect their property. The law said nothing about taxes on trade, but offering gifts was an acceptable and expected sign of respect. The tradition had existed for centuries, and as the prévôt received these gifts on behalf of the king, he only directly touched what the monarch had given him "in gratitude for his good office".

Thus the contempt of the Bretonnian nobles for trade and the interests of the Treasury Department were reconciled by a tacit agreement that satisfied everyone.

Sir Kay bowed once again and introduced himself, together with the other members of their small troupe, insisting on the title of "king" of Artoria and that of "Sovereign of the Moon Cell" of Hakuno. The latter then showed Lamb the parchment signed by the holiest matriarch of Shallya.
Young and arrogant, prévôt de Lamb was known for his attachment to the privileges of his office. After all, his position demonstrated the confidence that the king while allowing him to get rich quickly.
Normally, Lamb would have asked for the intercession of King Louen... except that he was absent.
To tell the truth, Estienne de Lamb was very afraid of the consequences that a rash decision could have on his career.

The news of the arrival of Hakuno Kishinami was widely commented in the city. Many considered her a new Lady of the Lake. The fact that Matriarch Lisegund asked her to investigate the murder of one of her priestesses showed that this was a highly political affair. Certainly, the cult of Shallya was little implanted in Bretonnia, but the Matriarch led the whole cult throughout the continent.

The king's provost mumbled some incoherent words about "the duties of his office" and left the premises after apologizing. Not all Bretonnians were proud knights eager to charge dragons head-on...

Sir Gawain returns to Hakuno. Having spent years hunting in the Forest of Britain, he was quite skilled in tracking... Although the men's passage from the lookout blurred the footprints, the Knight of the Sun believed that only one Skaven had operated. He slipped quietly behind fraulein Fieseler and slit her throat before breaking the crystal cube. The killer then fled through a manhole.

As Sir Kay denigrated Gawain's work and Artoria strove to prevent her nephew from striking her seneschal, a messenger arrived. It was a young woman wearing a white nun's dress and a rosary adorned with doves... a priestess of Shallya:

"Damsel Kishinami, the Most Holy Matriarch asks that you come to join her at the temple of the goddess."

The temple of Shallya was the motherhouse of all the temples of this goddess in the Old World. Nevertheless, it was not the largest of her temples (3). It had the characteristic shape of the buildings of this cult, a rectangular enclosure delimited by a white stone wall. The ensemble surrounded several courtyards hosting chapels and the districts of priestesses. The Great Temple was in the central courtyard, adjacent to the hospital and nursery where the women came to give birth.
In the middle of the large courtyard, a sacred fountain flowed. It was the object of worship. All around, hundreds of sick or mutilated pilgrims came to bathe in a pool fed by the miraculous water, hoping for healing.

Following the priestess, Hakuno and her knights arrived in a room of the hospital. The matriarch and several healers were trying to help two men. Their condition was appalling. They were delirious, their bodies were mottled with bloody lesions, and their hairs were falling off.

Lisegund turned to Hakuno:

"Damsel Kishinami, the guards of the Big Butchery district came to bring us these two sick people. They were exposed to an Evilstone... you see the result."

The Sovereign of the Moon Cell swallowed. She was uncertain of what she could say and unable to watch the horrible spectacle of poor people dying. Fortunately, Artoria took her by the shoulder and passed behind her... a little ahead of Gawain who had had the same reaction:

"Most Holy Matriarch, do you have any idea how they were contaminated?"

Lisegund shook her head, showing a sad and worried face:

"Alas, no... When they arrived here, they were already out of their minds. We couldn't get anything coherent from them."

Hakuno shook both hands on her chest, and then took a step forward, raising her chin:

"There's nothing you can do to help them?"

The Matriarch had a sad smile:

"We do everything we can. Alas, as wise as the prohibition of any research on the Distorting Stones is, it also has negative consequences. No one knows how to cure the effects of these cursed stones... except the gods of Chaos."

Hakuno approached the two beds and raised the hand that carried the Regalia:

"Moon Cell, do you know a cure for Evilstone irradiation?"

A virtual window opened above the ring... a red panel surrounded by a yellow and black border. Some lines appeared in the language of the creators of the Photonic Abyss:

[Alert: presence of Chaos detected]

[Attention: corrosion of the laws of causality... spatio-temporal uncertainty...]

[Analysis: failure...]

[Analysis: failure...]

[Analysis: failure...]

...
[Cause of failure: undeterminable]

[The Moon Cell is unable to obey the Sovereign's command.]

Hakuno opened big surprised eyes. Since... always... the teen girl was surrounded by the presence of Moon Cell Automaton. Although far from liking it, the certainty that the photonic crystal computer knew everything was at the center of her existence.

Yet... there were things that even the Moon Cell could not understand.

By nature, Chaos met no rules.

The irradiated that had approached the Distorting Stones were more than "sick", they were imbued with the changing nature of Chaos! Neither their body nor their mind could resist it; hence the horrible result before her eyes.

As this "disease" was constantly changing, the Moon Cell could not understand it and even less cure it.

Gawain had devoted himself to staying close to the dying. Hakuno had been literally dragged out of the room by Artoria and was now waiting in the Matriarch's apartments. Helpless and angry, Kishinami crossed a real emotional rollercoaster turn in turn prostrated or circling in the room.

She did not even notice the attentions of the present priestesses or their anxious looks. Although saddened by the behavior of her young Master, Artoria had a brief smile. Despite her expressionless face and unstable emotions, Hakuno Kishinami was adorable... even more, adorable than a lion cub (4). As she was innocent, Hakuno attracted affection and desire to protect her.

As Saber addressed a glance to Kay, leaning against the wall next to the window, she saw that he wouldn't let their Master out of his sight... Most people thought her brother was an insensitive bully. That was not true. On the contrary, he was far too emotional and protective, at least in the presence of those he loved. Artoria and the beautiful Andrivete of Northumbria (5) were among the few to know the truth.

Eager to hide what considered a weakness, he was as unpleasant as possible to prevent others from attaching themselves to him.

Finally, Sir Gawain entered the room, closing the door behind him. Serious and solemn, he bowed with his usual stiffness:

"Master, My King, it's over. Morr's priests say that their souls have gone in peace to the kingdom of the dead and that they are beyond the reach of Chaos."

Hakuno leaps on her feet like a spring, clenching her fists with anger:

"Sir Gawain, tell me you have learned something that will prevent this tragedy from happening again."
"Indeed! Most of what they said was inaudible, but they talked about a burning stone carrying death and a well."

"A well?" exclaimed Hakuno.

The young Master reflected feverishly:

"A well... like those that supply the city with water?"

The matriarch gasped understanding the concern of the Sovereign of the Moon Cell:

"The city is supplied with water from several sources. These sources were channeled by the High Elves who founded the city. The water supplies the city's sewers and wells. One of the main supply basins is in the Great Butchery district."

Artoria Pendragon stood up. The Skavens wanted to pollute the well water with the Evilstone. But the Great Butchery district was named... because that's where the meat and also the fish came to Couronne and were cut and sold to restaurateurs as well as to merchants who resold them to the inhabitants. If they washed fish and meat with irradiated water... all the inhabitants of the city would be poisoned!

In an instant Saber had become King Arthur again, the brilliant warlord who had led the British to victory:
"Sir Gawain, with me, Sir Kay stay with our Master to protect her."

"At your command, Your Majesty!" the two knights replied simultaneously.

Standing in the middle of the room, Hakuno Kishinami watched the many translucent screens floating around her. Her gaze jumped from one to the other with superhuman rapidity.

Being a program of the Moon Cell having acquired consciousness, her mind worked with the speed and precision of a computer.

She looked at the graphics, the pages of text broadcast by the Moon Cell, and the images of the ongoing battle.

Artoria Pendragon and Gawain ran into Couronne's basements... and faced a real army. They were crawling like maggots on pheasant meat... hordes of rats standing on their hind legs. They arose from darkness or suddenly came out of the stagnant water of the ancient elven sewers unless they fell from the ceiling.

But they could not surprise Hakuno. They were so slow... at least for her. Her precise mental orders failed the ambushes.

Then they attacked in waves, a crowd of hooded fighters, clothed in stinking rags and armed with rusty swords. The only difference in the result was that they now fell ten at a time under the blades of the Knights of the Round.

Saber jumped to avoid the attack of a monster similar to a huge rat-man. Twice the size of ordinary Skavens, his body was a hulking mass of muscle. Fighting with his bare hand, he scratched the air... unable to touch the King of Knight.

Lively and light, she seemed to dance around her slower opponent. In her hands, the invisible blade whistled... and the monster collapsed in two. According to the Moon Cell, it was a Rat-Ogre! Posted at the edge of a lateral channel, Gawain held a horde of opponents, his blade described arcs of fire, burning flesh, melting weapons, exploding shields.

Angry squeals attracted the attention of Artoria, who turned to discover the arrival of another group of enemies. She frowned. In the front row, a Skaven wore a primitive gas mask connected by two pipes to a large tank in his back. The two-legged rat pulled out of a satchel a glass globe filled with green gas... the same color as the Evilstone.

He launched the sphere and around Artoria the wind swirled... sending the projectile back to the sender. The glass sphere burst, releasing glaucous vapors among the Skavens. These humanoid monsters were not immune to their own concoctions. Apart from the creature in the gas mask, all the rat-men struggled, tensing their paws on their throats or truffles, rolling their eyes... then collapsed, foaming green bubbles between their chipped fangs.

Sir Gawain, for his part, faced a double row of arquebusiers, the first row a knee to the ground. They were commanded by a Skaven wearing armor and a rusty helmet that wielded a sword. Squeaking, he commanded the volley. Primitive firearms fired releasing clouds of green smoke.
Apparently, the Knight of the Sun remained motionless, almost bored. There was a moment of silence... Then Gawain reached out with his left hand in front of him:

"You've lost something."

Slowly he opened his fingers... and the bullets bounced off on the wet dock's pavement of the canal.
"It's my turn!"

Sir Gawain raised his sword. A moment later, a wave of sunlight swept the ranks of two-legged rats... leaving only ashes and melted weapons.

This demonstration of force caused the demise of the surviving Skavens.

Many things could be said about the Skavens.

They were cowardly, cruel, selfish, petty, schemers.

The average Skaven was no more dangerous than a goblin.

Their strength came from the number, their evil magic, and their advanced technology... nevertheless; even in their favorite fields of expertise there were Old World peoples who dominated them, like the Elves and the Dwarves.

You'd think the Skavens were a minor threat.

But you'd be wrong!

There was an area in which they outperformed everyone.

They swarmed in darkness... listening... spying. Then they came out... to hit the weak spot they had discovered... and disappeared without leaving any witnesses behind. That's why the inhabitants of the Old World thought they were legends.

From the oasis of Khemi in the Tombs Kings' kingdom to the Cathays Emperor's Palace, the Skavens were everywhere.

They knew more secrets than any other people in the Old World.

Of course, they had taken an interest in Hakuno Kishinami and learned that the weakness of any Servant was his Master.

[Threat detected on the Sovereign.]

The mental voice of the Moon Cell made Hakuno tremble. The moment after a blue energy shield surrounded her. Three daggers balanced for throwing broke on the translucent defense.

The creature that had thrown them fell from a tiny vent... to climb there; he had contorted himself over more than ten meters. But this Skaven had nothing ordinary. He wore a tight black jumpsuit and a... ninja mask? A rat-ninja, seriously? It looked like a joke, except that he wielded three falchions. One in each hand, a third surrounded by his tail!

He wanted to jump on the Master. But Mainmorte, the sword of Sir Kay whistled in the air... the murderer fell back into a puddle of blood, drawing an ironic grimace from the Seneschal:

"Oh, you play dead? Good Skaven!"

The next minute, he was throwing himself sideways, swearing, while three daggers were poking into the floor. Two other Skaven assassins had just entered the room. One of them seized a vial on his belt and threw it on Kay who again dodged.

The projectile exploded, splashing furniture close with a thick green liquid... and the chairs started smoking, gnawed by a product ten times more corrosive than hydrofluoric acid.

But they were not the only ones who were attacked. Screams were heard everywhere. Sick and priestesses were massacred in the halls of the temple.

While taking care not to weaken the energy shield that protected her, Hakuno showed some images of the carnage. Bretonian's Men-at-arms and Skavens clashed in the nearby streets and in the temple of Shallya. The men-rats used arquebuses, gas globes, and even flamethrowers capable of carbonizing knights and mounts.

[Threat detected on the Sovereign.]

[Solution found: sending enemy_programs.]

[Please wait a minute.]

By the hundreds, effigy suddenly appeared in the streets, on the ramparts. These strange creatures looked like blue-grey crystal puppets. Some had swords, masses of weapons, even spears or bows. Many also appeared in the room, helping Sir Kay eliminate the assassins.
Unfortunately, the reinforcements sent by the Moon Cell were few compared to the hordes of enemies who continued to come out of the sewers.

King Arthur's Seneschal sighed:

"And I hate fighting in the front line... well, when you have to go, you have to go."

Kay stood up and held his sword to the sky:

"Camelot Image: Fleeting Forgotten Castle!"

A complex symbol appeared in the air, in front of Kay, as woven with moonbeams and drops of blood. The ground began to tremble... then the reality shattered like ethereal towers came out of nothingness and ghostly walls were forming.

The temple of Shallya had disappeared, replaced by a magnificent castle with high walls and numerous towers clattering banners... but it was a spectral fortress. The Skavens rushed forward, seeking to storm the rampart. Some fired... and their attacks were sent back to them.

At the top of the great keep of Camelot, Hakuno turned to the seneschal.
Kay grinned, face covered with drops of sweat:

"As long as I keep my Noble Phantasm, no one will be able to get in... Except that it won't last very long."
Hakuno acquiesced and raised her hand adorned with her Seal of Command similar to a red fleur-de-lys:
"By my first mark of command, Berserker fights with all your strength!"

The brand sparkled with a red light before turning gray, while red arcs suddenly enveloped Kay, driving his fatigue away.

In the depths of the city, Artoria and Gawain continued to advance despite hundreds of Skavens who continued to attack them. Fortunately, the Moon Cell guided them through Hakuno. The photonic crystal computer had located the Distorting Stone. And the rat-men who carried the evil stone had not yet arrived at the basin that collected the water from the spring.

While the Knight of the Sun cut the escort, two Rats-Ogres, and several Skavens with very well-armed black fur, Artoria faced the Distorting Stone and it possessor, a Grey Seer armed with a Mage Staff.
Saber staggered like the mighty priest of the Horned Rat directed upon her the evil energies that bubbled in the green crystal, illuminating the underground with a stream of mephitic light.

The body that the Moon Cell had given to her was made up of Spiritrons, the quantum particles that form the substance of the soul. As the creation of the Order, these particles were antinomic to the powers of Ruin. Despite her resistance to magic, she felt the stone trying to break the bonds that allowed her to exist in this world. The enemy wanted to return her to nothingness!

She lifted Excalibur above her head:

"Sacred Sword release!"

The wind sheath of her sword dispersed and she struck her arm screaming:

"Excalibur!"
The mighty sacred sword liberated a flood of golden light that collided with a shield of greenish energy that the Grey Seer had risen using the cursed stone. It was a duel of power. The Sword of the Promised Victory against the Power of the Ruin...

The golden light...

Greenish lightning flashes...

The ground trembled, stones fell from the ceiling, and water from the canals was boiling. Everywhere, the rat-men fled in panic.

The two forces were frozen in an uncertain arm wrestling. Then...

"Excalibur Galatine!"

In the Great Butchery district, the ground exploded like a volcano, expelling two pillars of golden clarity that wrapped around each other. One was just light; the other seemed to be made of solar fire.
They pushed far into the sky a sphere of a mephitic green that projected flashes of the same color.

There was an explosion...

The detonation illuminated Couronne with an unbearable clarity that blinded the townspeople a few moments before the blast threw them to the ground.

When the people rose, a rain of golden particles fell on the city.

The garrisons surrounding Couronne had finally reacted and thousands of men-at-arms and Knights were now storming the streets. Deprived of the power of the Grey Seer, decimated by the resistance of Hakuno and her Servants, the Skavens fled in panic.

(1) Chief of the Urban Watch. The Urban Watch (or Prévôté) is at the same time the medieval equivalent of the police and firefighters. At nightfall, the members of the lookout enforce the "curfew" which is literally the prohibition leave a flame uncovered ("couvre-feu" in French)... these risking to start a fire. At night, the members of the Urban Watch travel the city to enforce the curfew. Since they are supposed to prohibit movement and the thieves are mainly active at night, they have become a police force.

(2) The knights of Bretonnia who participated in many battles take some pride in their coats torn by the blows of swords. And then they present themselves to the king in court dress, they still wearing capes reduced to the state of rags. The young nobles of the court imitate them by wearing voluntarily torn coats. Like claiming heroic feats they have not accomplished would probably want them to duel to the death against real knights, the tears of their superb coats are lined with fur to show that these are voluntary tears.

(3) The largest (and most luxurious) of the temples of Shallya is in Altdorf the capital of the Sigmar Empire.
(4) More adorable than a lion cub? Its official, Artoria has just succumbed to the Head Tilt Noble Phantasm... What will happen now? Will Artotria Pendragon convert to the benefits of the fast?

(5) Kay's lover... yes, even he found a woman who loves him. When she was taken, he went to deliver her and showed by his exploits that he deserved his place at the Round Table.