'Can't breathe!' Trying to struggle out of its grasp, my attempts prove fruitless.

-at will now change, Die!

I was staring death in its face, and it had called my name. His other fist was fast approaching, I probably had one more second to live. '...I'm sorry, Mari-'

Swish! Thunk!

In a near instant, Artoria came to my rescue. Cutting the Rapture's hand off and kicking him away.

That blade…

"Master, Are you alright?" Artoria asks, protecting me.

Taking a deep breath, I'm able to speak without coughing. "Just dandy…"

"Then I shall rely on your orders." Invisible blade at the ready, Artoria waits on me.

"...Go for non-lethal attacks! Our objective is to capture, not kill! Counters! Keep Artoria covered! Wardress! Look for an opening and take it!" Retreating behind them, I rub my sore throat.

""Roger!""

Noticing Morgan's still frame, I get out of cover to get her behind cover too. Dragging her behind a wrecked vehicle, I'm surprised by her unusual quietness. "Morgan? What's wrong?"

"Hm? So you haven't noticed? I suppose your skills as a Magus are still nonexistent." She raises her arm and points at Chatterbox. "That thing has a bounded field inscribed into its body."

"Bounded…field?" The term is completely new to me, and only further confuses me.

"...Just know this, I cannot maintain most of my Magecraft in its presence. Their creator was someone on the level of a Grand Servant…Strange."

Even further confused, I give her the best smile I can muster. "I see. See if you can do something about that… field. Stay safe." Going back to my original cover, I look at the ongoing battle.

Artoria had him on the backfoot by the looks of it, and any attempt at throwing an attack of his own would result in Rapi, Anis, or Neon throwing him off balance.

'Great, this is going great.' Catching the gaze of Mihara, I noticed that she and Yuni had gotten closer. Looking back at Chatterbox, I find him on his last legs.

Giving Wardress the signal, they move in to capture. Chatterbox's body slumps to the ground as Yuni immobilizes him, and Mih-

"No! Get away fro-"

BOOM!

POV - Artoria

The overwhelming amount of Mana released by that attack would be enough to kill the average Magus. Clearing the dust with a wave of my blade, my eyes fall upon the two Nikke closest to the enemy.

Their bodies were broken, but their heads were intact by the look of it.

I knew I recognized that blade.

I was unsure if most of these Raptures could speak, but I hadn't entertained a conversation with it.

Excalibur…What's it doing in your hands? Did he leave it to you?

Gripping the blade tightly, I realize how quiet it has become. "What is this?" The area surrounding us had grayed out, leaving only him and I moving.

So you can speak. Tell me Servant, what is your name?

I don't give him a response, readying myself for combat once more.

You wish to continue fighting? A pity, but I prefer it this way.

I'm unable to perceive his movement as he reappears in front of me. Feeling my stomach be impaled, my body ceases to function properly.

Be born anew, as a servant of the Rapture Queen.

'Mas…ter.' Feeling my consciousness slip away from me, I feel a great shame envelop me.

You failed. Allow me to take your place.

POV - Commander

As the dust clears, my heart drops. Both Yuni and Mihara were broken and beaten, their bodies at least.

And, Artoria…She was…

"-mander!" Feeling something shake my shoulder, I look into Rapi's eyes. "Your orders." Her voice panicked, and it made sense, this situation it was…

"O-Our objective has changed! Retrieve Wardress and Artoria! Kill him if need be!"

Pointless. You weaklings couldn't scratch me if you wanted.

Chatterbox, still holding an unconscious Artoria with its tail, turns in our direction.

Fortunately for you, I can not kill you today. Know this however…

He turns around, ready to retreat with Artoria. "Don't let him get away!" Jumping over the cover, I try to chase him.

""Commander!""

I will kill you.

Before I can even reach his previous position, he's already gone. "Again…Damn it."

Clenching my fist, I throw a punch at the nearby debris. "Damn it! Damn it! DAMN I-"

"Commander stop! Your hand…" Anis stops me from throwing another punch, my blood stains her own hands.

Pulling my arm out of her grasp, I can only look on in the direction they left. "...Anis, Rapi, recover Wardress. We move out in 5, recovering Artoria is still our objective."

"Negative." Wha- "We need to return to the Ark as soon as possible, Mihara and Yuni are badly injured." Rapi retorts, as she picks up a badly injured Yuni.

"Do you hear yourself? Artoria was captured and you expect me to leave her?" I look at her in incredulity.

"Commander! We're not asking you to like it, but what choice do we have? We failed." Anis says, clearly having her own misgivings about this. "We can't let these two die, or there will be hell to pay. Artoria seemed like a good person, but she knew the dangers we'd face."

A wave of exhaustion hits me, along with a warm feeling in my core. "Bu-" My strength starts to fail me as my legs give out on me.

""COMMA-""

'I'm sorry, Marian, Artoria.'

Rapi

'That Rapture. It could speak. How? No, it doesn't matter now. The only one who can give us an answer now is Syuen.' Laying the Commander on the ground, I check his body for injuries. 'Nothing. Good.'

The Commander's words ring out in my head. 'He truly does care, but his emotions control him at times…'

"Show yourself, Automata." Morgan's voice peirces the silence, her tone showing no clear emotion.

"A servant, huh?" Readying my rifle, I point it at the unknown source. Staring us down from across the ruined street is a white haired Nikke, her hand on her anti-airship rifle, but not making any immediate moves against us. "A word of advice, you'd do well in not revealing yourself to the Ark." She takes a step in the direction Chatterbox went.

"Wait! Who are you?" Getting a better look at her, I feel a hint of…nostalgia? Pushing those feelings down, I notice her piercing gaze directed at me.

"Go home. Endangering that Commander's life any further would be incredibly reckless and stupid." With that, she walks off, none of us were in the state to stop her.

'A Nikke on the surface without a Commander at her side? Not even a mass-produced Nikke at that? Then she was…'

After a moment of silence, Anis speaks up. "...W-Who was that?" She looks towards me for an answer, seeing as Neon was currently protecting our wounded.

"A Pilgrim." I answer, reaching the only plausible conclusion.

???

'This…Where is this?'

Staring at the scene in confusion, the disembodied Commander stares at Artoria(?). Dressed in a white dress and robe, her only piece of armor, her chest plate, shines under the sun's rays.

Pointing her staff at the Commander, or rather what was behind him, she speaks.

"There is no future for … Britain." Instead of the voice of Artoria, Morgan's voice comes out of the Artoria look-alike. "So I shall make… No, that's not right." Lowering the staff, Morgan(?) runs a hand through her hair. "Hm…Uther was always the one who made speeches, I just did all the fighting."

Leaning her back onto a tree, she slides down into a sitting position. "Uther…" Hugging her legs close to her chest, she releases a long sigh.

"Is there truly no future for … Britain?"

"...This is Morgan? But, I thought…"

Confused with the events unfolding in front of him, the Commander leans in closer to get a better look of the Fae.

"I should get going, before I worry ….. and Totorot." She mutters.

The second those words are spoken, everything goes dark for the Commander.

Airport, Surface

Commander POV

Opening my eyes, I'm blinded by the bright light that reaches my retinas. The heat from my body had only intensified since my last waking moment. "...Haa, Haa…" Even breathing was a chore.

BOOOM, BOOOM, BOOOM!

The sound of explosions and gunfire snapped me out of my blazing agony. Standing up off the concrete, my body yells at me, but I'm unable to pay it any mind.

The large storm of Raptures in front of us rocked me to my core. Rapi, Anis, and Neon were doing all they could but…they were in the hundreds.

"In a precarious situation like this, what will you do?" Feeling Morgan snake her arm around my neck again, I feel a strong sense of terror envelop me.

Turning to her, I find myself face to face with the Witch. Her other hand reached out to me as she cupped my cheek.

"Tell me."

"I'll win. I don't plan on dying or letting anyone else die." I respond, removing her hand from my face. "...Will you help me?" I ask, not expecting much from it.

"Swear your fealty, and dedicate everything to me. Only then, shall I help you." Her answer was almost expected. I had the feeling she didn't actually view me as a spouse, only referring to me as such to aggravate Artoria.

"...I refuse. As tempting of an offer it is, I won't give up everything just to survive...Not until I reach my goals." Getting her arm off my neck, I reach into my coat pocket. "Thank you for everything up until this point, Morgan."

Turning back to my team of Nikkes doing their best to survive, I prepare myself.

"Install, Galahad."

The servant card glows brightly for a moment, only to disappear once I'm in the knight outfit. Shield in hand, I jumped over the remaining cover that protected us.

""COMMANDER!/MASTER!""

I'll acknowledge you, just this once.

Slamming the shield in front of me, I breathe in a good amount of air.

"That which heals all wounds and grudges, our glorious homeland.

Manifest yourself,

…LORD CAMELOT!"

The castle walls of the city of distant dreams actualize in an instant, protecting myself and the others. The Rapture's fired their weapons at the walls, not leaving a single mark.

Rapi runs toward my side soon after. "C-Commander, what is thi-"

BRRRTTT!!!

The sound of aircraft weaponry leaves me deaf for a few moments, the bullets kicking up a greater dust storm. After what feels like hours, I am able to hear again. "What was that?" With my focus broken, the castle Camelot de-materializes.

With the dust clearing, I noticed the aircraft in front of us, along with three Nikke.

"Absolute. Our backup." I hear Rapi answer from beside me.

"Absolute? Who's that?" I ask, confused.

"They are Ely-" Before Rapi can answer, she's interrupted by one of the Absolute members. The one with a big…forehead.

"Elysion's top squad. Just what the hell kind of Commander doesn't know that?" Grouchy too.

"...Thanks for the backup?" I try adding, though it isn't received well by…forehead. 'I can't keep calling her that…'

"Tch. Don't thank me. I was only following orders." Blinking in confusion, I notice her glare boring through Rapi too.

Before I can even respond, Rapi is suddenly ambushed by…Damn! "Rapi! How have you been?! We've missed you so much!" Enveloped in a hug by…the woman with two large personalities, Rapi looks over in my direction for help.

Doing as any Commander would, I help my team. "Ahem. Right. Cutting introductions or reintroductions short, we need to get going. Our injured are severely hurt, if we don't get them help soon, they will die."

"Tsk. Just get on the plane."

Cuffed to the table, I stare the judge in her eyes. She herself didn't do the same.

"First. You embarked out to the surface without submitting any prior report." She pauses for a moment, but doesn't bother giving me the time of day once again.

"Second. You brought seven Nikke's along with you. Far too many than necessary. This action costed us, the Ark, a new generation Nikke, Artoria." At the mention of the loss of my first servant, I feel my stomach swirl around, a horrible taste left in my mouth.

"Third. Despite this, your intentions were for the good of humanity." Her eyes finally met mine, I could only assume my punishment was already decided.

"On the basis of these facts, I hereby pronounce your sentence, which is as follows: Commander …. will be banned from all operations for two weeks." She quickly disregards me soon after. "Next, I shall pronounce the sentence of the Nikkes involved."

'Fuck…' Feeling my body calm itself, I look over at the table where everyone from Counters was.

"You realized the mission violated the command system, and yet still carried it out." A bad feeling soon started creeping up on me, her pause as she came to a decision was absolutely gut wrenching.

"To prevent such a case from reoccurring in the future, I hereby pronounce the following sentence: Given that Rapi, the captain of Counters, was the primary instigator behind this mission. She shall have her memories erased."

'...Erased? But, Rapi…she didn't…It's all my f-'

"That is all."

"Like Hell It Is!"

To Be Continued…

A lot of stuff happening, huh? Had to keep the Absolute introduction short, due to chapter…11 and 12 already gave them decent enough screen time. So I'll give it to them then.

I will slow down how fast I'm going. It's just most of the earlier Nikke chapters were pretty short or just:

"Commander, Raptures ahead of us."

Fight begins and ends.

"Raptures defeated."

Mission End. Repeat 12 times.

Wonderland will be longer, because Ludmilla is best girl.

Was planning on writing Artoria vs Chatterbox, but… I have a reason for not including it.

Snow White and Chatterbox know what servants are?! Shocker.

Artoria…Sadge. Well too bad, now all Cummander has to do is summon Lartoria. Lol.

Now, I'm obviously trying to give Cummander more "character" I guess. He's obviously a sort-of blank slate in the beginning and only gets better as time goes on, but even then it's not enough to make him different from other blank slates.

So I'm adding a few things to him, but not enough to change him entirely. Hopefully it doesn't go wrong somehow.

I don't have shit to say at the moment, so Review Time.

Hantsu: I'm going as fast as I can, please understand. I'm already juggling a lot of other works alongside this one.

iSee21: More Seibah faces, but not actually Seibah? The selection is pretty limited, but let me list them off the top of my head.

Mo-san.

Okita.

Okitan.

Jeanne.

Nero.

Arc. (Not happening, never played tsukihime.)

Lakshmi Bai? Nah.

Mysterious Heroine X/XA. Maybe…Idk if I want to add servant verse.

Artoria Caster? Technically she isn't Seibah, but is actually a fae of Avalon.

No one else comes to mind. Oh, and let me say this. Some of these are contenders for some servant spots.

naufalrakha0104: Indeed it does.

longbowchris50: It's not like they're all going to be on the battlefield, at most 5 will leave the outpost with the Commander.

spartan-140: Unfortunately, I cannot confirm nor deny any possible Servants/Installs/Includes.

Guest: …I'm sorry to hear that. Have a nice rest of your day.

Guest/Stranger: Thank you for defending me, but I wasn't offended by what they said. Stories like these aren't some people's cup of tea.

Done. Other than that, I don't really have much else to say. So, bye.