Wow. I'm actually impressed by the positive response this fic got from you guys, and I'm grateful. However, I should point out here and now that there is no guarantee of Destruction's Heralds being posted as a full story. Three chapters are complete as of posting this, true, but I prefer to get at least 6-8, preferably 8, before I go posting a story. If I can't manage that much, then I'm sorry.

Still, I hope you enjoy this.

DESTRUCTION'S HERALDS

CHAPTER 2:

THE SUMMONING

Now, I don't actually have the ability to use magic. I have a lot of magic flowing through me, comes from being a cambion, but I can't use it to make spells or anything like that. But that's okay. If what Zelretch claimed is true, that's all I need to summon and sustain a Servant without having them nom on human souls.

I went to Romania on a private plane chartered for a man who was gonna be my comrade-in-arms for this little jaunt, Kairi Sisigou. When we first met, after a moment to get over the fact that I'm a big red guy with horn stubs and a tail, we hit it off. Apparently he's a bounty hunter and necromancer, one who looks like one of those American outlaw bikers, what with the leonine scarred face, the beard, and the leather jacket.

As it happens, Kairi knew about the BPRD, as well as myself, albeit by reputation. We swapped anecdotes about our various missions and misadventures. He wanted to know what the Torch of Liberty was like, and I learned of a job he collaborated with the infamous Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magus Killer. I'd met the guy once when I was last at Clock Tower. Looked like he was on the verge of a burnout.

The flight was certainly lightened up by the stories we swapped. Then, we reached Romania. Now, thanks to Zelretch, I had an enchanted bracelet that would conceal my appearance. For some weird reason, he made me look like Ron Perlman. Go figure.

Anyway, once we'd summoned our Servants, we were supposed to go and rendezvous with some priest called Shirou Kotomine. Apparently, the Church acted as a referee in the last Grail War, but with Ruler being summoned, they were sending a representative to act as a coordinator of the Red Faction. The fact that this guy had summoned an Assassin for the Red Faction sent alarm bells ringing through my head.

Now, when summoning a Servant, you can do it one of two ways. Many Magi get a catalyst of some sort, to try and ensure they get the right Servant. Kairi was given a fragment of the Round Table as his catalyst. He could get Arturia, or any Knight of the Round Table. The other way is to go for pot luck: you may not get the Servant you wanted, but you'd generally get one compatible with you, which is why I refused a catalyst. I'd prefer a Servant who's got an accord with me than one who is powerful but is wilful. I want to have someone who'd have my back.

I was also a bit disturbed at what I heard from Zelretch. Firstly, Ruler. Generally, a Ruler, according to Zelretch, was a saint of some sort, a Heroic Spirit with no wish on the Grail, so that they be an impartial adjudicator. While a Ruler needn't be a religious saint, they were high on the list of those who'd be chosen.

Now, you'd think this to be weird, coming from a guy who was born in Hell, but I was actually raised a Catholic. So I'm understandably a touch worried that Ruler might take issue with me being a Master, to say nothing of this Kotomine guy. I've met quite a few understanding priests in my time, true, but most want to break out the holy water and the crucifix. Doesn't help that my right hand seems to be the key to kickstarting the Apocalypse.

Plus, Zelretch passed on some disturbing information. Hyouma Sagara, a Magus with known links to Yggdmillennia, had just been found dead in Japan by Enforcers sent to check on him. There'd been circumstantial evidence that he was summoning a Servant, but his corpse was several days old, with the heart torn from his chest. Intercepted communications suggested that he was going to summon Assassin of Black. Clearly, it backfired, and Assassin of Black had a new Master. Something to investigate if more weird stuff happened in Romania.

Our first port of call was to a graveyard, one which Kairi, being a necromancer, intended to make our base of operations, at least initially. While creepy as fuck, I understood his reasoning. The crypt he intended to have us bed down in was easy to defend both physically and magically, and the leylines it was built over would help us replenish our Servants without them having to consume our own magic too much.

I watched as Kairi drew out a ritual circle, intoning the ritual as he did so. "For the origin, silver and steel. For the cornerstone, gem and the Archduke of Contracts. For the ancestor, my great master Schweinorg. The colour I pay homage to is Red. The alighted wind becomes a wall. Close the gates in the four directions. From the crown, come forth. Trace the three-forked road leading to the kingdom. Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat fivefold, and when each is filled, destroy it."

A pretty simple ritual, for something that was supposed to bring back the dead. It may not have seemed simple, but we would have been here all year if the Greater Grail or something similar wasn't around to act as a catalyst. After Kairi was done, he said, "Well, you can go first."

"Me? What if I snag a Servant you want?"

Kairi shrugged. "If you get a Saber, that's fine. I don't think the other Masters of Red have summoned them all yet. Besides, I reckon, aside from Saber, you have possibilities like Berserker or Lancer or even Archer amongst the Knights of the Round Table. Hell, King Arthur was supposed to have a lance called Rhongomyniad. Besides…I need a bit of a mental run-up for this. You okay with that?"

"Sure." With that, I went over to the ritual circle. It felt weird, really. I came to this world via being summoned, thanks to Rasputin and Project Ragna Rok. Now, here I was, about to summon up a long-dead hero. I wondered whether it'd be Lobster Johnson or the Torch of Liberty? I wonder if they resided on the Throne of Heroes?

After an embarrassing moment, I fished around in my coat for a piece of paper. I needed it for this ritual. I can pick up stuff pretty quickly, true, but for a ritual like this, I needed crib notes to get the wording right. I put my right hand, the thick, stone-like one, out, and drew upon what I hoped was my power (the fact that the ritual circle began glowing crimson was a good sign, right?), and began reciting the words.

"Heed my words. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning! I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world, that I shall defeat all evil in the world! Seventh Heaven clad, and the great words of power, come forth from the circle of bindings, Guardian of the Scales!"

Well, what happened next was admittedly very impressive. A crimson pillar of light belched into the night sky. Well, that ain't conspicuous at all, I thought to myself sarcastically, even as I felt something tug on my soul.

As I blinked away the afterimages, I saw a form appear from out of the light, a cloud of dust partly shrouding it. Then, a low, gentle voice spoke from the dust cloud. "Servant Saber has answered your summons. I ask of you, are you my Master?"

I couldn't help but stare. The figure revealed as the light faded and the dust settled was definitely a woman. Hell, while she didn't have much of a bust, if that was a guy, I'd be very surprised. Her skin was a shade of brown, not African, but closer to something not unlike the Middle East. Her beautiful, if impassive, features were framed by shoulder length white hair, while ruby red eyes peered at me, only subtly betraying curiosity.

She wore a shawl that vaguely reminded me of a wedding veil, but aside from that, she wore very little, aside from what looked like a breast band and a G-string. Despite being rather slender, that frame actually had a somewhat athletic feel, as if there was muscle rather than any fat in there. Clutched in her hand was a strange-looking sword, with a blade that seemed like a crystallised rainbow. Oddly enough, there was a strange sense of…familiarity? I dunno. It was almost as if I knew her.

I held up my hand and checked. My right hand was a wash, but that was fine, I didn't expect any on that. On my left hand was a tattoo, a darker red than the rest of my skin, elaborate. The tattoo was actually a triptych of Command Seals, special magical thingies that allowed me to give an absolute command to my Servant that, depending on their willpower, they could not ignore. Once I used them all up, not only were they free to do whatever the hell they wanted, but I would no longer be supplying them with mana.

"Yeah, I'm your Master," I said. "Nice to meet you, Saber. Now, this guy here, he's Kairi Sisigou. He's going to be our ally, along with the Servant he summons, so try not to kill him or his Servant. By the way, Kairi, sorry for drawing the Saber card before you."

"Heh. That's fine," Kairi said, walking over to a stone bench he was going to use as a makeshift altar, before taking out a shard of the Round Table, my Saber walking out of the ritual circle, watching him carefully. "Nice to meet you too, Saber. Nice sword."

Saber nodded, but she seemed wary, albeit in an understated way. "So, you are my Master's ally? Then as long as you do not betray him, I shall work with you as well."

"I'm flattered," Kairi said, before he began his own ritual. Once more, there was a burning pillar of crimson light, before a figure emerged in the circle.

The figure was short, clad in frankly intimidating armour, the helmet horned. It had crimson elements. The kneeling knight then got up with a clank of armour. "…And you are?" Kairi asked.

The figure, after briefly looking at us, eventually seemed to come to a decision. The helmet began to disassemble itself, coming apart and slotting into place on the front and back of the armour. To my surprise, and no doubt Kairi's, the face revealed was of a girl, perhaps in her mid-teens. True, it was a very tomboyish-looking girl, her wild blond hair done up in a ponytail, framing beautiful features that nonetheless had a feral nature to them, but it was a girl all the same looking at us with emerald eyes.

"You can call me Mordred Pendragon, the rightful heir to the throne of King Arthur!" she declared. "So…I'm guessing you're my Master?"

In the silence that followed, the armour dissolved off Mordred's form, revealing clothing almost as skimp as Saber's. She had a breast band, what seemed like a loincloth, leggings, and that was about it. Kairi seemed to find his tongue, and said, "Yeah, that's right. So, what class of Servant are you?"

"Berserker. My Madness Enhancement isn't on that strongly at the moment," Mordred said, before she looked around at the graveyards. "…What a dismal place to be summoned in. A graveyard. Meaning you're a necromancer. Figures I'd get a freak…"

"Wow. First of all, that actually hurt. Secondly, hi there! The name's Kairi Sisigou, and I'm the freak who brought you back from the Throne of Heroes. Thirdly, you're not what I'm expecting either. I mean, when someone claims to be King Arthur's son, I don't expect them to be a teenaged girl!"

This was clearly the wrong thing to say, as Mordred snarled, bringing her sword up to his neck. Saber intercepted it in time with her own blade, but Mordred merely shot her a glare. "Oi, Saber, or whatever class you are, this was just a warning. If he brings up the fact that I'm a woman one more time, I'll make him one with Clarent." Her eyes returned to Kairi. "Am I understood?"

"Fine, I've got it!" Kairi said, holding up his hands in surrender.

"…Good." Mordred, thus mollified, took the sword away, calming down with a sigh. She then looked at me. "So, I'm guessin' that you're Saber's Master, right?"

"Yeah. You can call me Hellboy. Hi there, Auntie Mordred!" I said with a broad grin. I guess Zelretch's propensity for being a troll rubbed off on me.

She stared at me in shock. "…Auntie…Mordred?" she bit out, torn between rage and sheer incomprehension.

"…Well, yeah. I'm apparently descended from your mother via my mother. It's a long story."

"…Well, related or not, don't call me Auntie again. Otherwise, alliance or not, I'll shove Clarent so far up your arse, you can use it as a toothpick."

"Heh…I'm probably way older than you now anyway," I said. "Still, I wasn't expecting to meet any old relatives, from my mother's side, anyway."

"…Me neither. Still, what kinda name is Hellboy? It's pretty cool, I guess, but your parents must've hated you."

"I'll show you later," I said, walking over and pocketing the shard of the Round Table. I didn't like the evil look she was giving it.

"So, I'm guessing your wish is to take Arthur's place?" Kairi asked.

"I don't intend to use the Grail to supplant my father on the throne," Mordred said, huffing a little at my rescuing the shard of the Round Table. "I wish to have a chance to extract Caliburn, the Sword of Selection, from the stone, just like my father did. He did not consider me worthy, but I will prove that I am by such an act."

Hmm…not what I was expecting from the infamously treacherous knight. So she wanted to prove herself worthy by taking the Sword from the Stone? I turned to Saber. "And what is your wish…uhh…"

"I do not wish to divulge the name I was known to by history yet. However, I do have a name I prefer to be known by," Saber said. "I am Altera. As for my wish…I wish to be something other than what I am."

"And what are you?" Mordred asked, curious.

"…Destruction."

The ominous silence that followed was broken by Kairi. "Anyway, before we go charging off to battle, well, you'd better put on your Sunday best, you two. We're heading to church…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Hellboy has summoned Altera. But why?

Some of the dialogue from this scene was adapted from BlueDrakmaVA's Fate/Apocrabridged. While only two episodes are out as of writing this, it's still pretty damned good.

No numbered annotations this time.