Chapter 23

You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――！

The incantation flowed from the magus's mouth like water in a stream, demonstrating intimate familiarity with it and confidence. The streams of light swirled around the circle, the fabric of reality twisting in that very spot as the Throne beyond the Root was touched, sending a Saint Graph through the tenuous link into the material reality that was Gaia.

The Grail had finally begun to support the summoning of Servants, and this was the very first Servant to be summoned, barring the exception of Berserker who was a blatant desecration of the rules.

The blonde-haired dark-skinned man smiled at the congregation of energy in front of him, the confidence exuded from him so bright that it rivaled the glow of the summoning circle.

"With this, I'll be sure to win the Holy Grail! Tremble before the might of Caster future Masters!"

The incandescence reached a climax before it faded away, the glow fading to reveal a petite girl with a cheerful smile on her lips.

"Good day! Caster, Artoria, at your service! Actually, I don't really understand being a Servant, but if my piddly magecraft can be of use, please don't hesitate to do so."

Atrum Galliasta stood rooted in place, staring at the results of his summoning.

"Master?"

He quickly reviewed the entire procedure of the summoning that had led up to this moment in his mind.

First, after he had learnt of his position as a Master chosen by the Magus Association for the Fifth Holy Grail War, he had thought about which Servant he should summon. Since he didn't have prodigious reserves of mana, the three knight classes were out of the question, powerful though they were. Furthermore, he couldn't stomach working with some stuck up knight whose pride got in their way all the time. In addition, the Berserker class was not under consideration as well, since he wanted to be able to control his Servant, instead of struggling to tame a wild beast. That left the three cavalry classes, Rider, Caster and Assassin. Assassin was something he wouldn't even think about, since such lowly and cowardly strategies involving Assassin would never be something he'd ever use. If he was going to kill the Master's, he'd do it by himself, in a straightforward duel between mages where he'd prove the superiority of his magecraft. He briefly considered Rider, since they were known to have a wide array of powerful Noble Phantasms, as well as being less mana costly, but in the end the Caster class was what he picked.

The Caster class was the most mana efficient, being able to harness energy sources besides their Master to supply themselves, often even possessing the skill to directly tap into leylines. They could also create powerful workshops that could serve as impenetrable fortresses against the other Servants, and this would fit into his strategy of waiting for the other Masters and Servants to weaken each other before he came out at the end to wipe out the remaining pairs. And after all, if they were also users of magic, then surely he as a magus would be able to get along with them, or at least reach an understanding with his Servant. Who knows, he might even be able to amaze them with his extraordinarily efficient modern magecraft that was perfect in every way!

After picking the class, the next issue was to find which Servant in that class he was going to summon. He wanted a Caster who could fortify their base until it was as impenetrable as the Wandering Sea's base, rumoured to be one of the worlds most unassailable workshops, and it was nigh impossible to find as well. Being able to rely on other sources of mana was also a must as well, as he himself couldn't supply that much, besides using the "materials" that he had on hand. Finally, he also needed a suitable trump card to defeat the other Servants as well, a Noble Phantasm that was guaranteed to have enough power to defeat even Saber, the strongest class in the Grail War. Unfortunately, Caster class Servants tended to lack Noble Phantasms of raw power, instead relying on their territorial advantage most of the time and using their Noble Phantasms as a support tool. But he had heard of some Casters who could possibly summon Phantasmal Beasts, or even Divine Beasts that could level entire towns easily. After all, he had done his research on past Grail Wars, and heard of the fiasco in the Fourth Holy Grail War regarding it's Caster.

Now, who would be able to summon such a powerful creature as a Servant? He could only name a few historical figures qualifying as Casters from the top of his head. Archimedes, Asclepius, Circe, Helena Blavatsky, Leonardo Da Vinci and… it looked like he would have to do some research.

A few days later after poring through mountains of dusty scrolls and books, while also using up favours with people who owed him, he finally found the servant he wanted to summon and procured a catalyst for her as well. Medea, the Witch of Betrayal. The princess of Colchis who had possessed the Golden Fleece, who was driven mad by the goddess Aphrodite and made to fall for Jason, ensuring his mission was a success. Later on she was driven out of Jason's homeland with him by the Argonauts, his former companions, and forced to flee to Corinth. There, Jason betrayed her by marrying the king's daughter, and driven mad with grief, she slew all that attended his marriage ceremony save the bridegroom himself, and left to wander the country, branded as a witch forevermore.

She was certainly a talented mage from the Age of the Gods, with connections to Hecate the Greek goddess of magic and the infamous sorceress and demigod Circe. But that wasn't what Atrum was looking for, what he wanted from her summoning was the ability to summon the monstrous Colchian Dragon, a Phantasmal Beast that had guarded the Golden Fleece in the sacred grove of Ares. With the dragon at his beck and call, and an immovable fortress as his base, he was sure to win and bring prestige to his family. Those old-timers that had sneered and looked down at him would lick his boots when he came back victorious, and he would happily let them do it before he crushed their skulls under his custom-fit Barker's. His position would rise until his family could rival the likes of the Barthomeloi and Trambelio, with him at the head, and maybe, just maybe, the Root would also come within his grasp.

He couldn't help but laugh at the utter perfection of his own plan, his laughter ringing in the empty study.

When the day of summoning came, he had placed the heavily rusted blade without a hilt in the center, chanted the words while focusing his od and Magic Circuits, and the entire ritual had gone as expected. So why was he looking at a bright young girl with blonde hair calling herself "Artoria"?

Unbeknownst to him, his entire workshop was built on the former residence of the most famous magus in the history of Britain, the Magus of Flowers, Merlin.

He had originally chosen it as a prime location where several lesser leylines converged, and he had also sensed the traces of old magic around the place, but in the end he didn't find anything about the place, so he had simply built his workshop there since there was a convenient path to the Clock Tower close by as well.

In this case, the entire building served as a catalyst to summon the person with the closest ties to Merlin, since Merlin himself was still stuck in Avalon. He also wouldn't make an exception for Atrum Galliasta like he did for a certain Master in another timeline. In fact, he had taken one look at Atrum Galliasta through through his Clairvoyance, and promptly said "Fuck you!" before gleefully redirecting the connection to a certain pupil of his in the Throne of Heroes to troll the magus. After which he resumed throwing hands with the fluffy beast trapped with him.

"Come on you little tyke, what's the matter? Can't catch these hands, huh?"

"Fou, FOOUUU!"

*WHUD*

"GAHK!"

Which now left Atrum Galliasta with a Servant of unknown capabilities. The girl continued smiling, though it was rapidly shrinking in confusion at her Master's continued silence.

"Master, are you alright?"

"Gr, GRRAAAHHHH!"

Tearing out his hair with his bare hands, he started rolling on the ground and throwing a tantrum like a baby. He didn't understand at all, how the fuck had his carefully planned strategy failed? What even had happened?

"Awawawa, M-master! I-uh, I'll make some flowers, so calm down!"

If anything, he got even more tilted.

It continued for another 10 minutes, with Artoria flustered and trying to calm him down while he raged on the ground, and a flamboyant magus trapped in a tower bellowed in laughter at the scene as he was punched around by Fou.