The headless figure grinned, or at least it tried to. Avenger was a unique case of servant, more akin to a gag than a historical figure like so many others were. If the likes of Sasaki Kojiro, a man who hypothetically existed was allowed to be a servant, then could that same logic be applied to Avenger? He's truly a skewed, once in a lifetime existence.

But that makes it funnier. These two boys had the audacity to say they'd "shatter his illusions". It was funny, to Avenger. An insurmountable force, and someone dared to challenge it. It reminded him of himself, in a way. During his era... Avenger was prone to fighting a myriad of freaks and monsters in that prison. He shared a similar disposition to those two boys there.

"Alright. Let it be said that I tried to make it easy for you lot. It's sad that it's come to this, but in a way it's exciting for me." He wasn't lying, he was truly excited. He hasn't seen combat for ages.

Avenger rushed towards Kamijou, slashing at him with that rusty, broken blade. The boy was moving on a different level entirely, being able to just narrowly avoid the servant's attack. The air where Avenger had slashed smelled of rot and rust. What kind of person was this servant, huh?

As Kamijou backed away to evade, Hamazura dumped his entire magazine at the servant. He'd had no idea how the Avenger worked, but bullets would hurt him just like anyone else, right?

Wrong.

The bullets simply sank into his flesh and melted into his skin. Avenger turned his head toward Hamazura, that eerie look comparable to a grin back on its face. "Two can play at that game, boy."

Hamazura, arm as distorted as it was, was still focused on one thing only. Making an opening for Touma to work his usual business. The Avenger was odd, as it had such a wide arsenal at its disposal, almost like a certain king of heroes but on crack, as one could say.

It was odd. It was not right, truly. The weapons it pulled out did not match at all. A glowing glaive born of light? Was that really fair at all? As Avenger let the glaive fly, hot plasma and gas flared off of it, scorching the ground along where it flew, just barely missing Hamazura, who ducked to the side.

Kamijou ran back in, which was admittedly foolish. But this is the same boy who faced down a god, won, and then went out of his way to save said god soon after. "Foolish" was his forte. "Foolish" is what led to him beating the infamous "One-Way Road". He'll do what he has to.

And surprisingly, his punch connected. Avenger wasn't surprised at the punch connecting, no, he'd let that happen. Avenger was surprised at the pain. The searing pain soaring through his abdomen. He was a heroic spirit, there's no way he'd be hurt by a simple boy?!

But the sound that rang out alongside that punch. The sound of the supernatural being removed from the world... It was deafening, but it seemed like it had limits. Kamijou seemed to realize that himself.

Imagine Breaker negated the near-immortality of a heroic spirit for as long as his arm was in contact with them. Essentially:

Kamijou Touma could win if he were allowed one good punch. One good punch was all he needed. Though that was easier said than done.

It seemed like the Avenger was done entertaining them, though. It seemed almost offended that it was genuinely injured by the boy. It took all matters of offense, why wouldn't it? The Avenger turned its flaming plume that it called a head toward Kamijou, and it was there that its fury became apparent.

"Alright. I'll admit, I got a bit off track there. I don't have time to be losing to some inexperienced boys now, so I'll have to truly dispatch you now."

Avenger pulled out a almost comically large spear, and pointed it toward Kamijou.

"I'll tell you my true name, since you're bound to die soon. My true name is barely a name in itself, but it is simple. I am The Beheaded. Or, if you'd prefer, The Prisoner. Or if you'd also prefer, The Fallen One. I know naught of my origin, truly, but I do know one thing."

The Beheaded prepared to throw his spear.

"This is the end. I bid you adieu."

And it was there that a deafening noise rang out, and the spiky-haired boy slumped over.

The battlefield is cruel.

The world is cruel.

"Father, how could you be so cruel!"

All this child wanted was their father's recognition. To be acknowledged as a rightful heir. To be treated as a son. But that was never to be. And so, the son that was wronged had what could be referred to as one of the most consequential tantrums in history.

The Knight of Treachery.

Saber of Red.

Those were the names this person was familiar with. But this time would be different. After a myriad of summons, a myriad of wars, and an almost infinite time to reconsider their entire life, this servant came out differently. Spiteful. Bitter. Cold. Calm. Collected.

Yet, the class did not match any of this.

Formerly known as Saber, Mordred Pendragon arose anew as someone entirely different to an unlikely master. A corruption from within the throne of heroes stained this heroic spirit, and altered their spirit origin. The battlefield became aware of a brand new monster born of regret and scorn.

"Sorry I was late, Master."

Ash blonde hair turned up in a messy ponytail. Sharp yellow eyes. Pale skin, and thin rectangle frame glasses. A dark leather jacket worn over a cropped black shirt. Worn, durable black jeans. Heavy boots, and fine leather gloves.

Simply put, there was no way at all that this person could ever be a knight.

Their arms were raised, pointing at the Avenger before them. What was in their hands was no sword. Two heavy, decently sized guns rested in their hands, smoking from their use. One was a precious silver and red, reminiscent of a certain treacherous blade. The other was a simple black and red, reflecting a certain tarnished holy sword.

Clarent and Morgan. Those were the names engraved on the side of the large pistols. They truly did not match at all.

"I'll make things quick, so that you can rest easy. My name is Berserker." Kamijou, who had felt a wave of exhaustion come over him, could only nod from his position on the ground.

The Beheaded's spear was in the wall a bit a way's away from him, a bullet of supernatural origin firmly planted in the handle. Far too precise for human calculations.

The person, no, the woman standing before Kamijou and Hamazura was nothing short of a master. Truly a different being altogether compared to that simple Avenger. A certain necromancer would almost grin at her appearance. But this was neither time nor place.

The one named Berserker fired off more bullets in the direction of The Beheaded, who was forced to evade every single one. Each bullet was supercharged with red-hot sparking electrical mana, which this servant seemed to have more than enough of. Kamijou, and even Hamazura, could only look on in awe.

The Beheaded latched itself onto a building, running up and away. Clearly, things didn't go the way it or its master wanted to. He didn't utter an "I'll be back" or anything in that vein. He simply narrowed his... Eye. And ran away.

Mordred turned to Kamijou Touma, her face as unreadable as they came. "Greetings, Master. We should probably head to your base of operations, and get the both of you healed. That Avenger class servant was playing around far too much with you. If it was truly focused, you would have been dead."

Touma knew not of anything that was happening, and he could only nod slightly, before letting exhausation claim him. Morded sighed, throwing the boy over her shoulder. She gazed at Hamazura, her emotions unclear. "Follow along."

Hamazura didn't dare question the woman who dual wielded magical fucking guns. He was stupid, not that stupid though. Somehow, Mordred knew where to go, and that was yet another thing no one dared to question.

Misaka Mikoto never got around to looking for Kamijou. Why was that, one would ask? Well, because her phone rang right before she set foot out of the dorm owned by the boy. Sure enough, the caller was Kamijou Touma, and at that she was more ecstatic than she let on. However, the voice on the other end was not who she expected. All it said was:

"Make way."

She didn't know what that meant, but watching the 5'0 woman in all black walk in and place her crush on the table with a blonde dumbass in tow was enough to get the message. She couldn't even formulate the words to ask what happened, yet the woman answered for her.

"He was attacked. I saved him. All there is to it. He's a bit drained from my summoning, but that's about it. I do need to heal the other boy's arm, though." And she did just that, somehow. She placed her hands on his arm, and a reddish mana bathed it, before his arm forcefully rearranged itself with perfect accuracy. Did it hurt like a bitch? Yes. But he was spared a doctor's visit.

Hamazura, Kamijou, hell, everyone in that room knew nothing about what was going on, or who the strange woman was. It would take a long explanation to get up to speed.

Author's Note time.

So uh, a couple of things. Original servants and servant concepts will be used in this fic bc why the hell not, I guess? There might be a few spelling errors and that's okay, I do go back and read these a couple more times even after posting.

The Beheaded is most definitely just the Dead Cells protagonist ripped and altered for the story, so my apologies for the confusion. Avenger is most definitely an original case.

As for Mordred, for any original readers, you'd be aware that dear Kamijou's original companion was in fact Jeanne d'arc Alter instead of the infamous Knight of Treachery. Why the change? I felt Mordred's personality, especially the Alter I came up with, would probably fit better with Kamijou.

I want to keep you guys aware though, this Grail War will be a bit different than normal. Hell, some of the participants just don't belong. But that's besides the point.

Shouldn't we be more concerned that the king of misfortune himself is fated to take a life? That's pretty ominous, ain't it? Maybe Touma will be able to do what Shirou wasn't able to. And yes, I know Shirou is in the tags and hasn't appeared yet, I'm workin' on him. He'll appear in the next chapter though, which will be longer. I just wanted to get the first three or so out of the way. My ideas were rocketing around in my skull for the past couple of days.