Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 68 of the story! Christmas is almost here and so are the memes and songs we hear every year, but most specially, the Christmas Event (Thsat it's almost ending by the time I'm posting this) Anyways, to those who are about to enter vacations, hope you enjoy it as much as this chapter you're about to read.

Let's start it!

DISCLAIMER: All the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author


Camelot, 5th Century A.D

"The next visitor of the audiction is from the far southeast my king. Hearsay that the man has been on a long lonely journey of a month, doing the whole path by foot, seeking urgently the guidance of Your Majesty."

"Hmm, from the territories of the southeast you say? Interesting. Bring him forth." The woman gestured to one of her royal knights while sitting on her throne with a pose that altough it seemed relaxed and slackened with no intrest in the current affairs and royal duties she had to attend, it also transmited a look of coldness and tempered ruthlessness. Even when not in battle, the king of the britons was frightening to stare at. Her gaze shited to the miserable old man that entered into the hall, stopping right in front of her throne.

"Y-Your Majesty! It is an honour to have been graced by thy splendor!" The old man immediatly kneeled, bowing to his sovereign, forhead touching the tapestry. It was doubtful on wheter he had done it with intention or because his legs had become so limp and weak to stand on their own. As well as if he had bowed down due to respect or sheer fear for the King of Storms.

It didn't mattered. For the king, those two things were the same. "Head tall O faraway commoner!" She commanded with an authoritive tone. "Thou art in the blest presence of thy king, ruler of Camelot and Great Britain, Artoria Pendragon. Thou shalt adress to such figure with the uttermost respect and service when in discussion of thy personal matters with me."

The old stained commoner nodded in understandment, rising his head to look at her. "Thy desires will be granted Your Majesty."

"Proceed." Artoria said, leaning the back of her head on the throne, being 'willingful' to hear whatever reason was that led the old man to walk such lenght in order to have an audiction with her.

"A-As Your Majesty knows, the lands from the southeast have recently been the battlefield for the king's grand triumph against the invading romans." The old man started explaining.

"And?" Artoria replied, knowing that the old man didn't just come all the way to her castle to say something as obvious as that.

"My village and the surrounding ones suffered great damages from the battles that transpired there. We are low on resources to barely rebuild and repair the buildings that have been damaged. Not only that but the fiels also have been having a poor harvest, with the winter coming by. I-If it isn't lack of respect, I profoundly request Your Majesty to-"

"Halt." Artoria ordered him to stop speaking, simply signaling with her hand. "So, if my mind comprehended and interpreted it correctly, thou craves for the loan of more resources from Camelot in order to rebuild and fix thy village?"

"Y-Yes indeed Your Majesty. It has been an arduous journey ever since in hopes that mine and all of the southeast's prayers could be attended by Your Majesty's truly." The old man said in earnest, profoundly pleading to her king for aid.

"Curious." Artoria closed her hand into a fist and leaned her face onto it. "Haven't I lended thee and thy population with resources when the war with the romans ended?"

The old man gulped in slight shock. "B-But Your Majesty, with all due respect, the materials provided by thy and the army's benevolence did not suffice to make up for all the damage! We almost have no food to eat and shelter to sleep! That makes us vulnerable to attacks from wild beasts and bandits alike!"

"So thoust did all that sacrifice of a journey to come see thy king personally just to show ingratitude?" Artoria rised her voice. The voice and face slowly changing to an hostile expression. The King of Storms was displeased on what she had just heard.

"N-No Your Majesty! I and the rest of the southeast vow's our lives solely to serve thee." The old man said otherwise, not wanting to perturb his king. "But it's that...many of our most capable warriors died or have yet to make a full recovery. We don't expect the children or elderly to do the jobs of adult men. As of now, we are a weakened land with few to no way of defense from the enemy."

Artoria ended up sighing, inconveniently annoyed despite doing a good job to not show much of it. "Thou and thy village hath a month."

The old man was puzzled by her words. "A-A month? A month for what exactly Your Majesty?"

"To prove that thy miserable village is worthy to be kept around." Artoria told him with the most calm and stoic coldness she ever could have delivered, to the absolute shock of the old man.

"...What? Sorry Your Majesty, but this commoner wasn't able to grasp fully yet thy words." He said.

"I beg thy pardon? Do I need to be more specific for thee?" The King of Storms took out her back from the throne, leaning her body to the front. "It is on times of great adversity that we see the true value that a person has. After all, difficult times create strong men right?" She said with a small sadistic smirk on her face. "A kingdom with territories that cannot contribute for nothing in return is as good as useless to have it around. Remember, thy purposes as peoples of Britain is to serve and provide goods for the kingdom and me, its absolute ruler. Otherwise, why am I protecting weaklings who can't justify a reason to be under their king's cape?" "

"Please Your Majesty! It is not like that!" The poor man tried to plead. "I-"

"Silence!" Artoria ordered, not giving any chance for the old man to try negotiating with her. "Truth is, thy village and others of the southeast have proven to be very feeble to reconstruct the hometowns alone even with the materials I promplty offered thee. This shows nothing more but of thy ineffectiveness and incapacity to surpass hardships as a community. However, I am generous enough to give you a last chance. I'll give thee a month to turn around the situation."

"B-But Your Majesty...winter will arrive around that time." The old man replied, sweating from his face.

"As I hope so. If thy village is able to send me a letter reporting your status after the time gap of the winter month, it will be proof that thine territories are still worthy of my attention. If not, I will assume that all of thee had succumbed to the harsh brutality of the season and make sure to get stronger and more capable people as replacement for thy villages." Artoria said with a cruel tone, the old man not believing in what his ears were hearing. The King of Storms rein was harsh.

"Y-Your Majesty..." The poor old man's voice trembled as is eyes widened and started to tear up in gloom. "Thour art letting us die?"

"It might sound ruthless, but I am still providing thee of an opportunity. More so that I admired thy efforts of walking all the way from thy village to Camelot." Artoria responded, taking a small pleasure in the old man's trepidation, proceeding to snapping her fingers. "As such, thy journey back to home shall be accompained by a doable amount of food and one of our fittest horses from the stable."

"But I would still take some time going back to my village..." The old man contested, altough not very fiercely.

"Thou can still reach it in a space of a week and half by latest. That is still a handful of time to spread the message to the rest of the southeast and embrace thyselves for the nearing winter." Artoria shut him down, not having the slightest drop of pity or compassion for the situation she was about to put a lot of people in. "Make sure to not dissapoint me." She claimed with a spiteful glare.

"M-My king..." The old man murmured, baffled.

"Thy audiction hath ended. Now leave the castle and go back home commoner. Before it is too late for all of you." She dismissed him, ordering the old man to leave. The decaying state of the southeast territories was their problem to resolve, not hers. Weak people having always to depend on the strong was a weakness itself.

"But Your Majesty-"

"Leave! Do not dare make a king repeat himself. My decisions are final." Artoria replied a bit agressively. She wouldn't let no one below her defy her orders.

Some soldiers approached the old man, preparing to escort him out in case he decided to go against the King of Storm's command.

"N-No...This can't be..." The old man was devastated. All those weeks. All those hours of wondering and wondering endlessly, with the hopes that his and other villages of the region could be saved by his king's support if he told her about the situation in person on Camelot's court. All of that sacrfice, was useless. Wasted by the King of Storm's nature.

One of the soldiers grabbed him by the arm. "Quiet with the suttering old man. Obey Your Majesty and-"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS MY KING!" The old man yelled in anger and dispair, tears running down his face as he pleaded and quickly got away from the soldier's grasp. Even when it seemed his legs had no energy left, the old man put all of his remaining effort into rushing torwards Artoria who was sitting on the throne, much to the soldiers shock. "You are neglecting us! We did everything for the glory of-"

"How bothersome."

A clean cut on the neck with her Rhongomyniad and the old man was down, his lifeless body falling to the ground next to her throne. Artoria remained on her seat, an expression of indifference on her face as she shoved the limp body down the stairs with her feet, leaving a trail of blood behind.

"Dispose of the body." She simply ordered, with every soldier nodding in obedience. She then stood up from her throne. "Also, prepare my horse and some troops. We shall be heading to southeast shortly after. Those territories will get the 'reshape' they so much need." She told them with a somber tone, walking torwards the exit of the hall while every soldier opened way for the king.

Her Camelot and all of Britain was no place for the faint.


London, 1888 A.D

"The signals keep growing. You are getting closer guys." Romani told to the party has they ventured on the large and deep rock tunnels below the Clock Tower. This paths were clearly different from the other underground tunnels that led them to the library once.

"That elevator travel took some minutes." Peko said as he illuminated the path for the rest of the party by conjuring a ball of light to shine on the area. "We must be some layers deep under the ground."

"At least it was good to do some warm ups." Ritsuka told the boy.

"Yep! I feel those warm ups will do all the difference here!" Nala replied, stretching her arms. "No single rusty bone left in me."

"And the muscles?" Ritsuka asked back.

"All exercised as well." Nala told him.

"Sleep?"

"Check!"

"Good nutrition?"

"Check!"

"Blood circulation?"

"Check!"

"Mana circuits energy?"

"Checked!"

"Any pause to go to the bathroom first?"

"Negative captain!" Nala said with a salute to Ritsuka. "I'm all ready to go!"

"Do you remember what I told you back at the elevator?" Ritsuka made her one last question.

"Humm...Ten push-ups...Five lunges, twenty-second plank and...erm...Oh! Ten crunches!" Nala exclaimed, having remembered it.

"Yosh! We got this then!" Ritsuka said happily, high-fiving Nala and patting her head.

"Don't go thinking simple physical excercises will be enough to defeat the enemies we will face ahead. Specially that King of Storms." Hans told them, mentioning Artoria Alter. A servant like that would be no easy task to overthrow.

"But it certainly helps. Altough I kinda understand that someone like you has never excercised in his whole life before." Nala said to Hans with an insult.

"As rare as you picking up a book I bet." Hans insulted the girl back.

"I think this isn't the most appropriate of times to be squabbling right now. Could you two save it for later?" Peko told the two.

"Yeah. I need my mind concentrated here." Mordred added, not having time to hear these types of talks. The knight has been serious ever since they left that old man's house for possibly the last and final mission they would be doing, which was localizing and destroying Angrboda, the steam machine created by Charles Babbage and the instrument behind all of the Demonic Fog in London with the holy grail contained inside.

"Eh, you thinking? That is r-" Hans was abruptly stopped when he felt a slap from Shakespeare on his back. "What the- What the hell was that for?!"

"I saw a fly on your back my dear friend. Decided to get rid of it." Shakespeare responded, hiding his true motive that everyone else silently thanked him for.

Ritsuka then saw Mash's face. She was looking a bit down and pensative. As a leader, he had to know what it was. "Still thinking about it Mash?"

"Yeah." The shielder didn't even tried to deny. "To think he had all of that on his body. That was the price he payed at the end."

"One that Faust himself laments. Playing with dark magic and other cursed magecraft without having knowledge of its dangers is never a good thing." Romani commented. "He learned it the hard way."

"With Mephistopheles being a constant reminder." Peko added.

"He can only blame himself for that. People who think themselves as smart are always the stupidest ones." Mordred replied, continuing to walk.

"But Faust never seemed like a guy full of himself." Peko told her.

"In the past he could be perhaps." Shakespeare told to the boy. "But it is visible that his life went downhill after the pact, changing him." The writer servant closed his hands. "Ah, destroyed by his own ego. Now that would be a tragic tale worth writing."

"Too bad that at this point your version would have too much competition to stood out from the rest." Hans replied.

"Do you guys think Jekyll and Fran will be alright?" Nala asked the party, talking about Jekyll and Fran who weren't present with them.

"I'm sure they will. Jekyll-san has that elixir and Fran is capable to fight from what we saw previosuly. The two together can protect the old man and his house." Mash replied to the girl. Since neither of them were servants and had the least combat experience out of the party, they were left behind with the duty to guard their new base.

"Plus the city seems to have gotten emptier of monsters with Paracelsus and Babbage defeated. There's not many of them roaming around now. Whatever appears, they are able to deal with it." Peko agreed with Mash.

"They believe in us as much as we believe in them." Ritsuka said, starting to see the path in front of them coming to an end.

"You are reaching a larger area, but it doesn't seem the signal from Angrboda comes from there." Romani informed them, viewing the map. "Hm! However, it looks like another signal is emanating on the area!"

"Can you tell us what could it be?" Peko asked to the doctor before bumping into Mordred's back, having stopped walking the moment she stepped inside the enormous cavernous chamber. "M-Mordred?"

"No need for that. We already have it on our sight." Mordred told to Romani, not moving her head to look at him.

"What do you mean by that?" Ritsuka asked her before looking to the place Mordred was looking, quickly understanding why the knight said those words.

Across the enormous cavern full of stalactites and other natural rocky formations, there it stood a singular figure, staring back at them. With the lance in her hand and a dark purple armour on her body. Her pale blond hair and eyes alike that indicated the cruelty and coldness behind them. Just like the servant had said it earlier, she had waited for them.

"It's her! The King of Storms!" Hans exclaimed, already apprehensive. Even if it was a total of seven against one, the dark king was very much capable to still defeat all of them alone.

"Hello there, people of Chaldea and allies. And of course, the abherration as well." Artoria Alter said with a smile that last part, staring at her son. "It is delightsome that you are the type of punctual individuals who don't make a king wait too much. I appreciate it."

"Then you will also appreciate how we are about to beat you down!" Nala exclaimed already summoning her sword.

"Don't charge in without a plan Nala!" Mash warned the younger girl. "Artoria Pendragon was a skillful king in combat after all."

"And what other way we have to defeat her without engaging in combat?" Nala talked back.

"Surely by not attacking recklessly." Peko told her.

"We have to think on something first." Ritsuka told them. "If we find a sort of weakness-"

Nala however didn't seemes intrested on it as she immediatly dashed torwards Artoria Alter, quickly traveling from one side of the room to the other.

"Wait! Nala!" Peko shouted, seeing his sister going torwards the dark king.

"Take this!" Nala exclaimed, charging up her sword to slash Artoria Alter. "Yah!"

"Hmm." Simply putting her lance on the defensive, the two weapons clashed, creating big vibrations across the cavern, causing some rubble to fall from the ceilling. While Nala was doing her best in trying to break her enemy's defense and hit her. Artoria Alter didn't seemed to putting up a lot of work, containing the girl's attack just fine. "Not bad by any means. Albeit it still falls short." The dark king said, deciding to end with the little clash by adding more strenght on the grip of her lance and shoving Nala away.

"Ggh!" Nala landed some feet away from Artoria Alter, frustrated that her initial tackle didn't led to anything. Not even a scratch on the enemy. "She parried it off like it was nothing!"

"You shouldn't have charged like that Nala!" Ritsuka said from behind, with him and the party running across the chamber and joining Nala. "That was reckless!"

"Sorry..." Nala apologized while staring to the floor for an instant, a little embaressed.

"Well, for the positive outlook you didn't end up hurt!" Hans told her. "For now."

Mash prepared her shield. "Engaging for combat! Systems-"

"All of you go ahead." Mordred told to the party, passing by Mash and standing in front of the group, catching their collective attention. "I will deal with her."

The entire party reacted with some bewilderment while Artoria Alter's reaction was just a simple smirk. Good thing that she had the same thought as the King of Storms.

"M-Mordred?!" Mash said in confusion and surprise.

"You're pretending to handle her all alone?" Peko asked to the knight.

"Aha! The feeling of the bitter past has been poking our brave knight for too long with this resembling presence of her father that she cannot contain any longer! I sense a personal family dispute in all of this!" Shakespeare exclaimed.

"I know that you wanted this moment for quite some time Mordred." Ritsuka told her. "But is it really-"

"Shut it! Or do you wanna have me repeat myself like a broken record?" Mordred interrupted Ritsuka, staring at him. "I got this in the bag, zero worries. The rest of you should go up ahead and stop the villain mastermind and the Angrboda stuff."

"And what makes you think she will allow us to just that?" Nala asked Mordred, believing that Artoria Alter wouldn't be so kind to let them pass through. However,,,

"I have no problem with that. You are free to proceed." Artoria Alter gestured with her hand, showing them the path behind her. "I already got what I wanted."

"What?! You really letting us pass?" Hans said in disbelief. This sounded too good to be true.

"What's the trick?" Ritsuka asked to the King of Storms.

"None. I just crave for a battle with the Knight of Treachery. The rest of you are allowed to advance. You have my word, a king's word." Artoria Alter replied to the master of Chaldea, assuring him that letting the rest pass while fighting Mordred wasn't part of some scheme of hers.

Ritsuka took the risk and decided to trust on Artoria Alter's words. "Fine." He said before looking at Mordred. "You got this!"

"Eh, since when I don't?" Mordred replied back with a smirk to him. "I'll be back with you before you start missing me." She touched Ritsuka's chest with her fist. "Good luck ahead!"

"Try not to die!" Nala told her.

"Not in my plans for today shortie." Mordred responded.

"Okay. Let's go then!" Peko speaked as all the party minus Mordred started running past Artoria Alter, heading to the road in front of them.

Yet, the King of Storms still wanted one more thing.

"Gyaah!" Not expecting it, Mash saw Artoria Alter's lance quickly swinging torwards her, forcing the shielder to block with her shield and take some steps back.

"Mash!" Ritsuka yelled, seeing his servant staying behind.

"I forgot to mention one more condition: I also desire to fight this maiden of the shield." Artoria Alter said,staring at Mash with interest. "I would like to test her."

Peko protested that. "What?! But you said-"

"Let it!" Mordred shouted, shutting Peko while staying by Mash's side. "If that's what this asshole wants, she will have it alongside the ass beating the two of us will deliver!"

"M-mordred..." Mash murmured.

"Tsk. I knew this would happen eventually. There was no way you would be able to fly under her radar. Not in the way you currently are." Mordred told Mash before smilling at her. "But hey, what better way to prove you are worthy of the shield than beating up a king right?"

Feeling a strange emotion overcoming her, Mash smiled back to Mordred. "Yes." She responded, to then stare at Ritsuka and the rest of the group afterwards. "I will be fine! You guys must go and get the grail from Angrboda! We stay here dealing with her!"

As much as Ritsuka, Peko and Nala wanted to stay as well to help her, they knew every second was crucial here.

"We're rooting for you Mash!" Peko told her.

"Make sure to put that servant in her place!" Nala added.

"Take care! We will see each other up ahead!" Ritsuka told Mash before leaving the giant chamber alongside the rest, leaving Mash and Mordred to fight Artoria Alter.

"Finally..." Artoria Alter let out a contemptuous breath while exercising her neck for a bit. "The conditions have been met." She said with an evilish smile, her lance releasing some thunderbolts.

Both Mordred and Mash entered their battle positions.

"Ready?" Mash asked to the knight.

Mordred raised her sword, staring at her father. "Ready in a long time."


Having exited the chamber, the now smaller party continued forwards, with Nala spotting the end of the road up ahead.

"We're reaching to another area!" She exclaimed.

"It's the one where the main signal is coming from!" Romani told them. "It's..."

"Angrboda!" Ritsuka speaked, entering on the second cavernous room alongside everyone, coming face to face with a dome of steel on the top of a hill. The entire room was iluminated by the source of dark purple lights that would come out of the giant machine. Some holes could be seen liberating some quantities of fog that would go up the ceilling, entering through some small channels up there.

"So that's how the Demonic Fog has been spreaded across London." Hans pointed out, seeing how the machine worked from afar.

"Impressive creation, is it not? A human's creativity know no bounds when it comes to creat harmful machinery." A voice sounded on the cave, echoing alongside some steps.

"Someone else is here!" Peko warned, preparing his sword as he and the party saw a man appearing in front of them at the top of the hill with Angrboda behind it.

"We finally meet, Chaldea." The man said. Short blue hair, red hairs and a somewhat pale skin. Dressing a nice black trench coat. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will be a short one. Angrboda's power is almost on its zenith."

"Then you are the final leader behind all this project! 'M', right?" Nala confronted the man.

"Ah, you've also brought the royal twins as expected. Very good. With that, my job will be easier to complete and the objective met." He told them, not showing an ounce of a smile.

"You stil didn't told us who the hell you are!" Ritsuka questioned the man, seeing he didn't revealed his name to the group yet.

"I can answer to that. You deserve it after reaching so far on your journey." The man said, deciding to ignore Ritsuka's imprudence. "My name is Makiri Zolgen. The headmaster of all the Demonic Fog Project." He introduced himself to them.

Romani's brain seemed to have clicked in that moment. "Z-Zolgen?! You are Makiri Zolgen?"

"You know him doctor?" Peko asked Romani.

"Now that you say about it, I think I've heard that name before as well." Shakespeare said, putting a thumb under his chin while thinking.

"No kidding! Me too!" Hans replied.

"What?! Then how old is this dude?" Nala asked confused, wondering how both Shakespeare and Hans could have heard the Zolgen's name before. "Is he a servant?"

"No! Makiri Zolgen is...or was a mage. A mage from one of the three magus families that created the modern Holy Grail ritual system. The Holy Grail Wars!" Romani told them.

Da Vinci also appeard on the hologram, having heard the man's name. "Makiri Zolgen is behind this? How could it be? Is this a new way for him to activate Heaven's Feel?"

"H-Heaven's Feel?" Peko repeated that name, finding it weird.

"The name of the Third Magic, one of the five oldest and ancient true magics to ever exist in the universe. They were thought to have been lost in time due to how rare it is to achieve them in the modern era, let alone find a user of it." Da Vinci explained briefly to Peko.

"That sounds quite the complex stuff." Ritsuka commented, wondering how convuluted and full of topics the mage world was of.

"Hm? Is that Leonardo Da Vinci?" Zolgen stared to the hologram image of the inventor. "I imagined you to look different when people would gossip about your deeds when alive. Also, my duty here isn't centered around my sole purpose nor desire to reach the root via Heaven's Feel like previous times."

"Does he knows everyone in the room here?" Ritsuka asked.

"Certainly not you." Romani replied.

"Was that necessary?" Ritsuka stared at the doctor, indignated.

"Then you're telling us that destroying all of humanity wasn't an idea of yours but of someone else's?" Da Vinci questioned Zolgen. "Also, what is the purpose of Peko and Nala in your plan for wanting to capture the two of them that much?"

"Two questions that are interconnected and can be both answered at the same time." Zolgen replied. "To start, you are indeed correct O genius inventor. The destruction of London and by extend the entire of humanity, was never my idea. Rather, it belonged to the one who summoned me here."

"Then there is someone higher giving you orders?" Hans aksed.

"Yes. The one I treat as my king. He initially summoned me, Charles Babbage and Paracelsus Von Hohenheim to this Singularity, tasking us with the decadence of London. As much as we thought about opposing it, the king's aura and power was beyond the scope of our capabilities, and so we complied." Zolgen explained before staring back at Angrboda. "This machine, Angrboda, was our collective work in carrying out the king's wishes. For he has suffered too much with the unpleasent sight that humanity as become, wanting to get rid of it. We invaded the Clock Tower and killed all the mages that would try to oppose us, building Angrboda just beneath it. Then with the grail he had gifted us, we energized the machine with it, using the combination of magical attributes to create the Demonic Fog that would put the city in a lockdown. Then, we started to recruit servants for our cause."

"That explains most of it." Peko said. "But I'm still not understanding why you and the rest of your group wanted us that much."

Zolgen looked at the boy, knowing fully well what answer he wanted to get. "Before leaving, our leader and king told us one last thing. That if two white haired children who happened to be twins were to appear here, we should make sure to sacrifice their bodies to feed Angrboda."

"Hm!" Peko eyes widened in shock as he gulped.

Nala had the same reaction. "You what?"

"Our king told us about them. And now that I have met you personally, I can sense it too. Your mana circuits. Countless of them connected to a Magic Crest on your backs." Zolgen said, eyeing Peko and Nala. "Never during all of my prolonged life have I felt mana circuits as extraordinary and mystical as yours."

Ritsuka immediatly put an arm defensively in front of both Peko and Nala. "Then your intention was to use them as battery!" He raised his voice a bit, genuinely angered by what Zolgen pretended to do with the two. Both Peko and Nala were surprised by this random act of Ritsuka.

"That is quite the stuff of a scoundrel villain to do." Shakespeare added. "Not even I could come up with those idead in my books."

"The moment Angrboda absorves them, so it will do the same with their mana circuits. By doing so, the power that it will gain from it will be enough to smother and destroy not only London, but all of Britain with the Demonic Fog while getting rid of the royal twins as well. My king says that it is of an extreme urgence to dispose of those two children." Zolgen said, making a huge emphasis on the last part. "He tells how they can attract troublesome and unwanted people."

"And he is right to say that if you think we're going to let you take them that easily!" Romani exclaimed, almost yelling. He had heard enough. "Go defeat Zolgen and take the grail from Angrboda as well as destroying it guys! We got all the explanation we needed!" He told to the Chaldea group.

"Was starting to think the same here!" Nala replied, taking a combat stance.

"I guess we all did." Ritsuka replied, preparing his knuckled to punch Zolgen if possible.

"Can confirm that." Peko added, summoning his sword.

"Oh oh! Time to enter the role of support again!" Shakespeare exclaimed happily as he begun to move the pages of his magic book with Hans doing the same. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah Yeah! Don't rush me!" Hans replied a bit annoyed.

Watching his enemies ready to fight, Zolgen decided to call an ally of his. "You all seem intrigued for the fighting." He said, moving his arm to the front as his hand started glowing red. "Unlike my servant, I won't have mercy on you! Come out and help me, member of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods, Barbatos!"

Soon, the shine from Zolgen's hand engulfed the entire area, temporarily blinding the party.

"Nghg! This light!" Ritsuka tried his best to cover his eyes. Thankfully, it didn't last long as seconds after the potent shine had died out, going back to the normal lightening of the cave, allowing him and the rest to open their eyes again. Only to get an unpleasent surprise in front of them.

"Transformation complete. Incarnation finished. Demon God Pillar of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods: Barbatos. Administrative of the Control Tower."

"Another Demon God Pillar!" Peko exclaimed.

"Ugh! Its grotesque aspect truly lives up to the 'demon' part." Hans commanted with the digust by the sight of such ugly monster.

Zolgan was still on top of the hill as he was about to watch Chaldea's confrontation against Barbatos on the lower ground. The machine Angrboda started to make noises behind him as the mage looked to have gave it a new command to it. "Since I'm aware this isn't your first time fighting against a Demon God Pillar, Angrboda will summon a new servant to aid me in five minutes from now."

"What?!" Ritsuka stared at him.

"Even if you end up defeating Barbatos, will you do it in time to stop Angrboda's summoning? Plus, if my servant doesn't waste time playing with her enemies, she will be back to finish the job and complicate the things for you." Zolgen told them, staring back at Ritsuka. "I wonder how you will manage a situation like this one, master of Chaldea."

Ritsuka closed his hand into a fist in response. "I'll show you how then!"


"Make sure to survive long enough for this. A king needs to be rightfully entertained." Artoria Alter speaked torwards Mash and Mordred, releasing some thunders from her lance.

"Oh you bet it! But you are wrong if you think we are going to be the jesters here asshole!" Mordred replied.

"Such unresputive attitude for your sovereign. Which forces me to make this question before I end your life: What makes you hate me that much?" Artoria Alter asked to Mordred.

"What? Aren't you suppose to know that since you are her father?" Mash said, confused by the King of Storms question. Was Artoria Alter pretending to be oblivious to something she would easily know the reason why out of everyone else?

"Is it my face? Does it haunt you? Does it make your body shiver?" Artoria Alter asked with a malevolent smile. "Do I remind you of your king in the same way you remind me of my knight? Foolish. Stubborn. Rude and in need to be corrected. Is that the motive for your anger? That I twarted your plans of taking the throne to Britain all for yourself? That you failed the role of being the useful freak of a tool my wratched sister created? Do I remind you of being what you truly are? A failure?"

"All those questions..." Mash thought about them before coming to a conclusion. "I-It can't be! Mordred, does this means that-"

"Yeah. That's true." Mordred replied to Mash. "We came from different Camelots from one another. So she may be Artoria Pendragon but not actually the one I knew. In other words, this jackass is and isn't my father at the same time. Confusing as hell right?"

"So this version of Artoria Pendragon is not the one Mordred is familiar with but someone from a different timeline." Mash thinked to herself, seeing if she got the right understanding of it. "I think I comprehended more or less of it." She told Mordred.

"As for those stupid questions of yours..." Mordred shifted her gaze to the King of Storms. "Yes, I do indeed hate you. And it could as well be because of the face you have or who you are." She said, tightening her fist. "But no. The reason I hate you is different all together. While it may be true that me and your own Mordred might be the same, you and the Artoria Pendragon I know couldn't be more different."

Artoria Alter frowned an eyebrow slightly. "Hm? How so?"

"Easy moron. The true Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights, would never aid someone in the destruction of their own kingdom and people! That I am sure of it!" Mordred replied, pointing out the important difference between the King of Storms and the King of Knights.

"Now that you mention it, why do you want to destroy London in the first place?" Mash interrogated Artoria Alter. "Even if centuries have passed and things changed since the downfall of Camelot and your own Britain, this land and people are a legacy from that period that look upong King Arthur as a mythical and great ancient ruler. Why do you want to destroy a kingdom that you protected so much before?"

"Ah, that. Hehehe." Artoria Alter snickered at hearing the shielder's question, putting a hand over her face to stop herself from bursting into a full laughter. "I hate how weak this kingdom has become." Artoria Alter responded with a serious face, having calmed down from her laugh. "It needs to be obliterated and reworked from the ground. All of it."

"How can you say that?" Mash said with incredulity, feeling upset of hearing such words from an historic figure she always liked to read about.

"Answer me this: What determinates the value of a kingdom? Being composed of strong citizens who can defend their land or of weaklings who can't contribute to anything of it? Is as simple as that." Artoria Alter made a rethoric question, aware what option Mash had thought of.

"Still...you just can't get rid off of people who aren't capable or too sick to defend themselves! Protecting every person of your nation, no matter if they are fragile or not, is always the king's duty!" Mash exclaimed, arguing with Artoria Alter's point.

"Another question then: What is more threatening and concerning to a kingdom? The death of a hundred nobody commoners or the death of its king?" Artoria Alter replied.

"Nmh..!" Mash refrained herself from answering, knowing what the correct response was.

"When I was summoned to this Singularity. To this London that once used to be the stronghold of Londinium, I wanted to puke." Artoria Alter said with disgust in her words. "Never have I saw such weak and miserable nation before. Countless feebles infesting the streets. Thousands of illsicks and deads due to something as pathetic as 'cold' or 'fatigue'. This city that I was once proud of, now so squalid and repugnant. Even those at the top are nothing more but weak man hidding behind mountains of wealth, pretedning to be greater than those at the bottom. The warrior like people this land once knew are long gone, replaced by mere people who don't know how to even hold a sword or deal with a fog. Britain does not deserve this fate!" She exclaimed. "As its legendary ruler, I shall transform into the proud and mighty nation that it once was! A new regime with no weaklings to hinder it! That is the kingdom and glory Britain deserves!"

"Tsk! Don't come at me with that crap." Mordred told to Artoria Alter. "You don't give a shit to what is best for this land or not. You just care if it's good for you or not!"

"What?" Artoria Alter replied, coldly, showing some signs of hostility.

"Wake up already! I can't believe you gaslighted yourself into thinking that! You just put yourself first and wanna feel at the top of the world moron!" Mordred called her out. "And that is what pisses me off the most. You may have her face and name but you don't know the first thing about being Artoria Pendragon! I might have hated her but I respected that jackass! I can't say the same for you though! King of Storms? You are nothing but a cheap knockoff!"

"!" Felling some fury starting to run through her veins, Artoria Alter tighten her grip on the lance. "You talk too much for an inbred. Your words are as worthy as your paltry existence!" She shouted firing thunders from her weapon at Mordred.

"Look out!" Mash yelled, jumping in front of Mordred to protect her from the dark purple thunders that crashed onto her shield, creating an explotion. " Cough Cough. Are you alright, Mordred?" Mash asked to the knight as she shoved the dust around her away.

Mordred coughed as well, getting the dust out of her eyes way. "I am! That was-"

"Mana Burst!"

Jumping and blowing the dust away, Artoria Alter appeard above the two girls suddenly, with her electryfing lance ready to struck them again.

"Watch out!" Mordred quickly shoved Mash away and clashed her sword against the dark king's weapon. The power from Artoria Alter blow was so much that it easily broke Mordred's defense, exposing the knight for other attacks. "Kkgh!" Mordred still attempted to block the opponent's upcoming blow, resulting in almost letting her sword fall from her hand due to the strong impact of Artoria Alter's lance, not giving a chance and time for the knight to defend it properly.

Still on her onslaught, Artoria Alter fastly swinged her leg torwards Mordred's head, greatly kicking her on the skull, ruthlessly throwing Mordred's body to the side.

"Mordred! Ah!" Mash shouted for her ally before she narrowly dodged from another lightning bolt fired from Artoria Alter's lance.

Dashing torwards the shielder, the King of Storms targeted her weapon on Mash's body, ready to critically injure her.

Fortunately, Mash was able to react on time, bashing her shield against the tip of Artoria Alter's Rhongomyniad, releasing a powerful shockwave of thunders that affected the whole cave they were in. Despite the best of Mash's efforts, this king Artoria was a complete beast, incredibly overpowering the demi-servant who started to feel the pressure of the lance and her legs begun to tremble and fall onto the knees.

"Is this whom the shield went to? It just cannot be." Artoria Alter said, displeased by Mash's demonstration. "Come on now! There must be a reason for why it is in your hands! Don't dare to hold back against your king!"

"GNghnghaah!" Mash felt that her arms muscles could blow up at any moment from how much brute strenght she was trying to hold back, falling on her knees. "T-This power! It's insane!"

"Hey! Look here bastard!" Mordred sprinted torwards Artoria Alter from the left, ragingly swinging her sword in the trajectory of the King of Storms face, forcing her to dodge and give some space for Mash to breath. The knight's was no longer tied into a ponytail and her head was bleeding because of the damaged she sustained from the kick earlier.

"You get attacked once and are already injured like that?" Artoria Alter mocked Mordred. "And here I thought you'd be more durable."

"Shut up!" Mordred yelled angrily, sprinting torwards the dark king. "Follow me Mash!"

"Sure!" Mash replied, also sprinting right behind Mordred as the two joined to create a combine sequence of attacks on Artoria Alter.

"How wasteless." The King of Storms simply said as she dodged all of the blows and slashes with great mastery. Stones from the ground got torn apart and flew around as she continued to avous her enemies hits. Skillfuly, Artoria Alter dodged Mordred's sword and Mash's shield at the same time, pinning down the knight's sword, preventing Mordred from performing another attack and quickly dodging Mash's shield afterwards, elbowing the demi-servant's open face.

"Kh!" Feeling some bones cracking from the hit, Mash got temporarily stunned as she took some steps back.

"Ma-ghrah!" Mordred was then kicked in the stomach by Artoria Alter's knee, shortly followed by a punch on her back.

Not being done with her, Artoria Alter touched Mordred's plate armor with the tip of Rhongomyniad, sending a powerful electric discharge on the knight. "You're punishment."

"GHGGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Mordred let out a painful scream as her whole body got electrocuted by the lightning of Artoria Alter's lance. She felt all of her nerves inside the body screeching. Once the attack was done, the King of Storms grabbed a fried and awfully injured Mordred by the hair and threw her at Mash who was only now recovering from the elbow she suffered on the face.

"Egh!" Mash only had time enough to see Mordred's body colliding with her, making the shielder fall on the ground as she was caught by surprise.

"Awful. Are my adversaries suppose to be knights or that is but a mere play from your part?" Artoria Alter commented, dissapointed so far at the display of her opponents. "Now I can comprehend why the Camelot of the other me fell quicker." Even if Artoria Alter was on a superior level to that of Mash and Mordred, she was having a huge letdown while facing the two girls.

"You...don't know...jackshit about my father's Camelot!" Mordred told her, trying to get up from the ground while ignoring her wounds.

"Apart that you directly caused its fall?" Artoria Alter replied with a smirk. "No matter how much you tried to do to amend that mistake, and be forgiven by your king, the tragedy of your father's kingdom will always be associated with you, knight of treachery!"

Such grave yet true accusation. That should have made Mordred spiral in anger. To be known as a failure and eyesore that was one of the responsible's for her father's Britain to collapse. "Heh." Instead, she decided to laugh." Hehehehehahahahahahahaha! Make amends? Expecting to be forgiven? What absolute nonsense you are speaking over there hahahaha!"

"M-Mordred?" Mash found Mordred's laughing weird as she begun to get up.

Artoria Alter gave a strict glance at the knight. "What is so humorous about this, aberration?"

"It's that, hehehe, I don't give a shit about what I've done in the past!" Mordred exclaimed out loud. "Regretting it or not, fuck it! That thing is the past and can't be undone! I ain't looking for redemption or any approval anymore! From now on, I'll do things my way! And since you have that jerk's face and wanna destroy London, guess what? I will save this damn city just to piss you off!"

Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OST- Crescent Moon

"How pitiful of you." Artoria Alter said, finding Mordred's words unappealing and witless. "You can go die in the filth you came from then." She started charging up her Rhongomyniad again. "And I will dispose of you as such."

"Come and try it!" Mordred said with a daring smile despite the wounds.

"You have quite the agressive yet honest speech, Mordred." Mash speaked to the knight standing beside her, smilling. "You are a special type of moron eh?" Mash said before suddenly regretting saying that out of nowhere, as if it wasn't her true intention. "A-Ah! That just escaped from my mouth! S-Sorry! I didn't wished to call you that!"

Despite initially staring confused at the shielder, Mordred eventually smiled to her. "Guess some things never change." She said to herself, feeling a bit nostalgic before shrugging it off. "Pff, no hard feelings! How about we kick some royal ass together?"

Mash nodded. "You have my support!"

"That's all I needed to hear! Let's do it right this time!" Mordred speaked, raising her sword in hand, adopting a fighting stance and charging torwards Artoria Alter again.

"Secret of Pedigree: Helm of Hidden Infidelity!"

"Deciding to rush and attack brutally again? How senseless." Artoria Alter commented, moving her lance in order to puncture Mordred with its thunders. "Vanish already." Coldly, the King of Storms fired a powerful lightning from Rhongomyniad torwards Mordred.

But as the electricity approached near Mordred made a perfect dodge, graciously evading all the thunders that came at her, much to Artoria Alter's shock. "As if I'd try to pull the same strategy again dipshit!"

"Ah, so you decided to use your brain for the first time! Do you honestly think that will make a difference yet!?" Artoria Alter shouted, diciding to pierce Rhongomyniad in the ground, summoning enormous thunderbolts in the ceilling above them, making the attacks rain down on her opponents.

Despite that, with the entire cavern getting blown apart and huge debris flying everywhere, Mordred continued to dodge the attacks naturally, stepping from boulder to boulder.

"Yeah. There is no denying it. I've done quite the handful of mistakes."

"Mordred!" Being of aid, Mash threw her shield above Mordred, protecting the knight from being struck by a thunder above.

"Someone borned to please other's intrests."

Breaking and surpassing every obstacle, Mordred was getting closer to the King of Storms who wasn't enjoying the situation.

"Tsk! She's timing the moments of my attacks perfectly! She was able to adapt it very fast!" Releasing more electric discharge on the Rhongomyniad, Artoria Alter fired it at Mordred.

"I screwed up everything in trying to be something else than a mere object."

With momentum and adrenaline, Mordred sliced Artoria Alter's lightning bolt in half with a perfect swing, much to the dark king's shock. "What?!"

"But this time, it will be different. I'll get to do whatever I want when I want!"

"How annoyingly persistent!" Artoria Alter cleenched her teeth, preparing to fire at Mordred again only to be foiled by Mash.

"I'm also fighting you, Artoria Pendragon!" Mash exclaimed as she bumped her shield on Artoria Alter's left side of the body, forcing the King of Storms to tank it solely with her arm.

"I don't care how many times I am remebered for the bad stuff I did! All that is going to be left behind!"

Dodging and blocking a couple more thunders, Mordred positioned herself for the upcoming attack, jumping and about to catch Artoria Alter on the right side.

"Krgh! Don't get in my way, you who are unwhorty of the shield!" Artoria Alter yelled in fury as she abruptly pushed Mash away from her before staring to the right and seeing Mordred fastly running and approaching her with the sword in hand.

"And my first step..."

"Nmgh!" With an instinctive movement, Artoria Alter moved her lance quick enough to repel Mordred's sword.

"...will start right here and now..."

Closing her other hand into a fist, Mordred stared with wild, ferocious animal eyes to Artoria Alter as she directed her fist into the King of Storms who was still opened for another hit.

"with you!"

"Arthuuuuuurrrrrr!" With a powerful and precise movement, Mordred's iron covered punch had perfectly hit Artoria Alter in the face with the strenght being such to send the dark king flying some meters away, crashing down onto some rocks lying around.

Panting but satisfied, Mordred cleaned some bit of dirt from her face. "Liked it 'king'? Consider this my act of rebellion."

"T-That was amazing Mordred! You were able to deal her damage!" Mash exclaimed in joy, seeing their combined efforts having worked.

"Eh, well, I've been training for this moment for quite some time." Mordred replied to the shielder.

As the two had speaked with each other, in the other side of the cave, Artoria Alter was just recovering from the huge punch she suffered, taking her body out of a rock. "Ngh..." Feeling a bit dizzy and with a dazed vision, the dark king softly touched her face with the tip of her fingers, seeing some drops of blood falling into her hand. And it wasn't only that. Some set pieces of iron from her dark draconic crown had also been broken, with her hair having been loosened. "Ah...I got hit."

Closing her slightly shakening hand into a closed fist, the King of Storms started to sense something. A sensation that she thought that had been lost in her a long time ago. "Hehehehe...HahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The maniacal laugh soon got the attention of both Mordred and Mash.

"What a-"

"You performed well! Very well!" Artoria Alter exclaimed, with a smile from ear to ear as she got back up, more lightening surrounding her and Rhongomyniad as she picked that up. "It appears my judgement about you was an oversight!"

Fate Apocrypha OST- The Knight of Rebellion

"This doesn't look good!" Mash told Mordred.

"Yeah. It looks like she's about to go ballistic on us!" Mordred replied, preparing herself from what Artoria Alter could pull out next.

"Oh show me! I want to see it again! To experience once more!" Artoria Alter yelled in insane joy from the top of her lungs as she pointed her lance to the sky. "I want something worthy of a king! A true showdown! The exhilaration of a great fight! All of it!" With a thunderous bang of a bolt, the cavern got agitated into a huge field of a thunderstorm.

"Tsk! There is lightening coming from everywhere!" Mordred shouted.

"It's becoming-"

"Show me the chaotic nature of the battlefield again!"

Right in front of the two, Artoria Alter appeared, mounted on her horse that let out a loud neigh, galloping at high speed.

"HM!" Being the fastest of the two to react, Mash pushed Mordred out of the way, putting the shield up to block the horse's hooves from stomping her body afterwards. Yet, the horse of the dark king didn't stopped the relentless stomping, mercilessly bringing Mash to the ground, trying to break her shield and body with the nonstopping attacks of the hooves. Every stomp felt like a beat, in rhythm to the sound of the thunders.

"Ahahahahaha! Holding yourself pretty well, arent you maiden of the shield?" Artoria Alter asked in an almost euphoric state. She went from being calm and cold to a frenetic and laughing madwoman. All this action was a dopamine to her.

"Erhggh!" Mash felt some of her bones getting fractures as the horse continued to stomp her shield. "I-I won't be able to persist much longer!"

"Hey! Get your horse away bastard!" Mordred came to Mash's rescue, kicking the horse in the face and subsquently slice his body, forcing the animal to get out of top of Mash.

Gaining her horse's control back almost instantly, Artoria Alter directed the animal's attention to Mordred. "Yes! You're the one I was looking for!" She exclaimed, piercing Rhongomyniad near Mordred's feet, damaging and electrifying the ground as the knight dodged away. "You shall provide me with a memorable battle for eternity!"

Artoria Alter and her horse begun on a wild persuit of Mordred, with the knight having to avoid not only the thunders but also the sprints of the horse and attacks from the King of Storms lance as she tried to make some distance between herself and the enemy. "Kgh! I fucking knew it!" Mordred yelled as she repulsed an attack of Rhongomyniad. "You're a fucking nuthead!" She told to Artoria Alter.

This was her most fearceful personality. Her warrior and warmongering side. A trait of a skillful king that used it as triumph in countless battles when rulling her kingdom. When in this state, even allies wouldn't dare to get near her as she would ravage everything in front of her like a storm. Like this, the legendary King of Britain was unbeatable. "What is it? Is the pressure of the fight getting int you, Mordred?!" The King of Storms yelled, dealing damage on Mordred's left side of the chest with her lance.

In response, Mordred took a step forwards instead of retreating and sliced Artoria Alter in her stomach, the cut passing even through her armour. The two didn't stopped from tranding wild blows to each other, with the sound of thunders getting louder and out of control. It was a miracle that the cavern could still be standing. Despite the words, Artoria Alter could see through them. She could see a smile of pure enjoyment from her son too amidst the blows. The two were having legitimate fun despite trying to kill each other. Perhaps killing each othercould even be the reason for that. In the end, Artoria Alter seemed to be as much of a savage as Mordred was.

"I see it now." Artoria Alter stared at Mordred's smile with a twisted sentiment of proudness. "My blood really runs in your veins."

"Take this one to wipe off that smug ass smile from your face!" Mordred exclaimed, powering her sword and directing it at Artoria Alter who also powered up her Rhongomyniad, making an explosion upon the clash of the two weapons.

From the cloud of smoke in the air, both fell to the ground, Mordred more clumsily in contrast to Artoria Alter who landed greatly with her horse.

"Mordred! Are you okay?" Mash asked as she went help Mordred get back up.

"Totally fine. Just a few broken bones..." Mordred replied.

In that moment, all of the thunders in the area strucked down onto Rhongomyniad at the same time, with Artoria Alter raising it in the air. "Who could have known that someone like you and with your fighting skill would be the one pushing me to these bounderies? You have my commendation, Knight of Treachery! Be graced with a view that only a select few of my enemies have witnessed!"

With all the thunderstorm gone, Rhongomyniad begun to release some sparks of the lighening it had absorved, starting to spin.

Mash and Mordred felt an incredible aumentation spike of mana energy right after.

"That power..."

"She's about to release her Noble Phantasm!" Mash said, quite panicked. "What do we-..." Staring at her shield for a moment, Mash bite her bottom lips and took a breath through her nostrils. That was the best of chances they had here.

"We attack her of course!" Mordred responded. "We aren't going to-"

Mash immediatly put herself in front of Mordred, the shield perfectly positioned in front of Artoria Alter.

"Huh? What are you-"

"I got this! I know I have to try!" Mash said, putting all of the doubts in the back of her mind. "It is either now or never! I have to unlouck my Noble Phantasm's true potential right?" She asked, turning her head at Mordred.

"Eh, I'll leave it to you!" Mordred replied, believing in Mash. "I shall also do my part then..."

As turbulent and dark winds reunited around Artoria Alter's Rhongomyniad, circuling into a giant tornado that would become wilder and wilder, the King of Storms stared at Mash and her defensive stance with the shield, causing the dark king to smirk. "Show me if those hands are meritorious of the shield then. Do not fail me."

"If I fail to protect us from Artoria Alter's Noble Phantasm then...Senpai and the others..." Mash closed her eyes. "No! I shouldn't think that! Obstacles were meant to be surpassed! To become better as we overcome them! If I can't defend myself from this Noble Phantasm then I can't defend anyone that I care about! I will do this! For me! For them!" Breathing deeply and empting her mind, Mash faced the impending Noble Phatasm of the King of Storms with resolve. "Lend me your strength, Senpai. Everyone."


"Huh? This feeling..." Ritsuka stared down to see a bright glowing red shine of his Command Seals in the hand. "Is that you, Mash?"

"Cease the struggle chaldeans! Your chances of defeating us will never come reality!"Barbatos proclaimed as its eyes fired lasers at the party. Peko and Nala where on the front while Hans and Shakespeare stood at the back as support.

"Human Observation!"

"Enchant!"

"Over here!" Nala exclaimed as she slashed one of Barbatos tentacles, running around the Demon God Pillar to get its attention.

As one column of eyes stared at the girl, the rest from the other side were focused on Peko, who was slashing and shooting down other tentacles of Barbatos. "We have to reach to the pillar itself if we want to destroy it!" Peko shouted to his sister.

"I'm on it already!" Nala shouted back, a bit annoyed in seeing Barbatos putting a whole new set of tentacles to protect itself from the twins attacks.

"Try as you want! Our essence won't let you two approach us! We can keep going until fatigue starts to kick in inside you!" Barbatos yelled, directing more attacks at Peko and Nala.

From above and near Angrboda, the mage Zolgen continued to observe the battle, cautiously observing the twins skills. "I understand why my king wants to get rid off them. Hm?" Staring more to the background of the fight, the mage noticed Ritsuka standing still, looking at his own hand. "What is the master of Chaldea doing?"

"Lend me your strength, Senpai."

Feeling the connection with his servant, Ritsuka could tell Mash was on a dire situation. One that requested his help. "Ah, understood." He clenched his fist, using not only one but two Command Seals. "You can do this, Mash." He said lowly, a good portion of his mana energy leaving the body, going to transfer it on the shielder.


"Ah!" Mash let out a small gasp, feeling a boost in her capabilities all of a sudden. A sign that her solicitation has been answered. "Heh, thank you Senpai. I'm capable of doing this now." She smiled.

"True Name: Pseudo Register

As Mash begun to chant for her shield's power, Artoria Alter was doing the same with Rhongomyniad.

"Sacred lance, removing restraints


As the red shine on Ritsuka's hand stopped and the help of the Command Seals had been deployed, he lifted his head and met with Zolgen's eyes on the top of the hill. If he was challenging Ritsuka to show what he could do, the master of humanity would gladly show him. He then looked at both Shakespeare and Hans. "Hey, can you help me reach up there near Angrboda?"

"What do we look like to you? Multi-Tasking machines?!" Hans protested. "Lucky for you that we are disposed to be ones in this situation!"

"We and your friends will make sure to open way for it." Shakespeare told him, handing Ritsuka a page. "But take this in case something gets in your way."

"Appreciate it! Make sure to give me guard!" Ritsuka thanked him before starting to run to the front, entering into the fighting zone of Peko and Nala with Barbatos.

"Oh? Is the foolish human heading torwards death?" Barbatos speaked as it saw Ritsuka approaching the area. The Demon God Pillar launched two tentacles torwards Ritsuka, having been stopped by the assistance of Hans and Shakespeare on the back. Both Peko and Nala noticed his presence.

"Ritsuka? What are you doing here on the front?" Peko asked him.

"You can't barge in like that! It's dangerous!" Nala added.

"I need to reach up there! Give me some help please!" Ritsuka told them his motive, quickly gaining the approval of the two kids.

"Sure! Count on us!" Peko replied, proceeding to give cover to Ritsuka alongside Nala, protecting him from Barbatos blows.

"How much insolence! Protect your dear friend all that you want! A pathetic and weak being like him will be ripped to shredds by just one hit!" Barbatos yelled, firing more lasers and tentacles at the trio, targetting specially Ritsuka.

"You wished!" Nala responded, making a huge slash on the lasers and tentacles in front of her, creating an open way to the top of the hill. "Up there Ritsuka!" She exclaimed shortly before seeing Ritsuka himself reaching the top of the hill by using Barbatos's defeated tentacles as elevation to get higher, jumping to where Zolgan was standing.

"Tsk! He made it!" Barbatos cursed.

However, Zolgen stood between the master of humanity and Angrboda, serving as a final barrier to Ritsuka. "Wasn't counting on you to reach here in such an uncareless way. That was certainly an unhortodox methos."

"And I'm still not finished yet!" Ritsuka replied. "I'm going to destroy that machine behind you and recover the holy grail of this Singularity!"

"I would like to see you try." Zolgen said, rolling the sleeves of his suit down, using magic to create some horrific insects from his skin. "But what can a low mana human do when put in a scenario like this one?" He shouted, sending the insects to Ritsuka as he runned torwards them.

It seemed crazy and suicidal. But Ritsuka wouldn't make that type of approach without a plan in mind. Grabbing a page that Shakespeare gave him, Ritsuka trew it at Zolgen's insects. "This!" The page was then bursted, obliterating all of the insects with a rather small but powerful explosion.

"What?!" Zolgen yelled in shock, unaware that Ritsuka had this triumph.

"Just because I am a nobody with almost zero mana..." Closing his hand into a fist, Ritsuka stare at the mage perplexed face, punching right into it. "Doesn't mean you can underestimate me!"


Darkness, may you tear apart the ends of the world!"

I can do this! Unleash the Noble Phantasm!"

A violent, tenebrous whirlwind spiraled around Artoria Alter, with thunders sticking out of it to show the savage and relentless nature of the King of Storms in all her glory.

On the other side, a blue aura emanated from Mash's shield, as her Noble Phantasm was near completion as well.

Mordred stood behind the shielder, trusting in her capabilities. "You ain't failling this! Not as long as that shield is in your hands!"

"The fun can't last forever unfortunately. Honor this king by making a valiant last stand as a gift!" Sure that this would be the attack that would end the battle, Artoria Alter released her Noble Phatasm.

"Thrust and feast! Thirtheen Fangs!

The Lance That Shines to The End of the World: Rhongomyniad!"

Accumulating all the power and intensity of the storm on the lance, Artoria Alter released the thunderous and devastating tornado torwards Mash, evaporating anything that stood in its way.

With an hearbeat, all of Mash's mana got into work as she activated her own Noble Phantasm.

"Foundation of the Human Order: Lord Chaldeas!"

A giant phantasmal and magic circle transmuted in front of Mash's shield, forming a huge blue bricked wall. The highest limit this shield has achieved and could show. The best of Mash's skills as a servant, all put into this defensive spell.

The moment Rhongomyniad crashed into Lord Chaldea, the cavern had a violent shakening.

"Gnghgghrghg!" Mash felt all of the impact hitting her body like a train, almost getting blown away by the clash. Yet, she persisted, putting all of her effort in staying with her feet in place, not being pushed back by an inch as she foguth back against the destructable power of the King of Storms Noble Phantasm. "I won't...fall here!"

"Such struggle! A burning will to live and win!" Artoria Alter exclaimed, admired by Mash's efforts as she put more effort into her Rhongomyniad. "A true quality of a knight! Such shame that it doesn't compare to a king's will!"

Mash felt the weight of Rhongomyniad's force behind the dark king imperious words. Artoria Alter was slowly having the edge over Mash, about to overpower Lord Chaldeas. But when thinking about her duty, her promises, her journey and group, Mash pushed her body beyond the limits of what was possible for her. "Ghgghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Gaining a new fiery will, Mash stood firm on her stance, holding on Artoria Alter's Rhongomyniad.

Mordred was in absolute awe. "This strenght..." The knight then saw someone in Mash. Someone that she had knew during her past life. As if that person was right there, aiding the shielder. "It's really you."

Even Artoria Alter thought she was seeing it. The foggy appearence of a young knight by Mash's shield. It was no stranger to her. "Ah, you always continue to impress me."

And so, Rhongomyniad was totally gone. The King of Storms Noble Phantasm fell short to pierce through the unbreaking spirit of Lord Chaldeas.

Seeing that the entire attack had been blocked, Mash's Noble Phantasm also dissipated away, having fullfil its duty. Mash had done it. She defended herself and Mordred from Artoria Alter's Noble Phantasm by using her own. "I-I did it...Mordred..." Mash said, her voice tired. The shielder let go off of her weapon and fell to her knees. "Now the rest...is up to you..." Mash said before falling on the ground unconscious.

"You've done a great job. Rest easy now." Behind her, Mordred appeard with her sword in hand, being charged and surrounded with red thunders.

Artoria Alter widened her eyes in surprise. "Hm?!"

"Ah, trample that down then?!

This for sure will be the wicked blade that will destroy my father!"

"She...She was charging her own Noble Phantasm during the clash!?" Artoria Alter shouted inside her own head in alarm. This was so out of nowhere and unexpected that the King of Storms didn't had the proper time to dodge out of the way.

Mordred had accounted for this, raising her sword up high. Her adversary was right where she wanted. "Have a nice trip back to hell!"

"Rebellion Against My Beautiful Father: Clarent Blood Arthur!"

Releasing a powerful beam from her sword, Mordred directed it torwards Artoria Alter who still tried to prevent it by using her lance in a last effort. Alas, it didn't worked, with the King of Storms slowly being engulfed by her son's Noble Phantasm alongside her horse. "MORDREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!"

Letting out a furious scream, the beam evaporated the dark king, leaving behind giant clouds of dust as everything turned silent inside the cave. The fight was over. Mordred and Mash had won and eliminated the strongest servant of the opposite faction.

"Uff..." Mordred sat on the ground almost instantly, exhausted. "I think I never sweated that much before in my entire life. But damn if it didn't felt good!" She speaked to herself, regaining her breath and recovering her energy. She then stared to the side to see Mash's body. "Are you still uncounscious?" The knight asked, getting back up. "If so, that's a shame. I'll have to postpone my compliment to y-" Hearing quick footsteps from behind, Mordred quickly turned around in alert.

From the curtain of dust, a severely injured and damaged Artoria Alter appeard, hitting Mordred in the head with an axe handle move. The right side of the dark king's armour was in total shambles, broken into pieces, revealing some of her skin and skin-tight black suit. "You almost got me brat. Almost."

"H-How-urgh!?" Mordred said in distress, having her throat grabbed by Artoria Alter who lifted her up.

"I am a survivor. A king. I don't go so easily down." Artoria Alter responded, tightening her grasp on Mordred's throat, strangling her. "This fight pumped me up alot. I'll give you that. The Mordred from my Camelot didn't gave me as nearly excitment." She speaked while the knight weakly struggled with her arms on the dark king's grip.

"Gnghhrgh d-damn you..!" Mordred felt the hand on her neck getting stiffer, almost having no space to breath. She couldn't believe that despite her and Mash's efforts, they would end up loosing.

The King of Storms endurance was like none other. "Now, before we part ways..." Artoria Alter smiled evily to Mordred, about to take her son's life with her bare hands. "Any last words to your king?"

Hearing that, Mordred smirked and weakly moved her arm, showing the middle finger to Artoria Alter. "All that experience talk and you still don't know to never show your back to the enemy?" She said, moving her arm down and pointing at something behind the dark king.

"Hm? What-urghgh!?" Feeling a sudden sharp blade piercing her back, Artoria Alter turned her head around in agony to see Mash behind her, having struck the dark king with her shield. "Y-you..."

"Together, Mordred!" Mash exclaimed, starting to shove the sharp part of her shield deeper into Artoria Alter's back.

Feeling that the hand of the King of Storms had loosened around her neck, Mordred took the chance to free herself. "Copy that!" Following that, the knight grabbed both Artoria Alter's shoulders and begun to push her against Mash's shield, working as an opposite force.

"W-What are you two doing!?" Artoria Alter exclaimed in anger as she coughed some blood as her back got pierced deeper by the shield. "Cease this immediatly you ignoble scum!" She shouted, grabbing Mordred's head with her hands. She would make sure to smash her skull before Mordred could kill her.

Mordred continued to push the dark king torwards the shield despite that, ignoring the pain that Artoria Alter was doing by trying to squeeze her head. "Shut it already!"

With a last push, Mash used what strength was left of her to pierce the entire chest of Artoria Alter. Mordred did the same on the front, pushing her father's back more into the shield.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"STOP THIS! IT'S AN ORDER! I AM YOUR KING GODDAMNIT!" Artoria Alter yelled, her hands squeezing more of Mordred's head to the point she knight started to bleed again. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL! ALL OF YOU THAT DEFY ME! I'LL MUTILATE YOUR BODIES AND-"

Tearing flesh and bone apart, the shield had gone all the way through Artoria Alter's chest, damaging her Spirit Core. Blood flew from the wound.

"It's done." Mash said, blood soaking her face and hair. "We defeated you for good."

Feeling all of the energy and mana leaving the body in that moment, Artoria Alter gazed at nowhere as her hands let go of Mordred's head and more blood spilled out from her mouth. Once the shield was remove, the dark king's body fell limp onto the ground.

Mash and Mordred panted exhausted, staring at the dying Artoria Alter.

"So this is how I perish..." Artoria Alter said weakely, gazing at Mordred. "If only you could have been my son...Our Britain would be unstoppable to any army..."

"As if I would serve or be the son of someone like you. I ain't yours to boss around." Mordred replied, rebelliously until the end. "It sucks when you can't control someone, doesn't it?"

"How stubborn...But that's probably what makes you strong, right?" Artoria Alter giggled. "Combined with that strength...you would have become an incredible king..."

"Yeah, no thanks. Not interested." Mordred immediatly shoved away any form of praise from the dark king.

Artoria Alter then looked at Mash "C-Curse you as well..." She lifted her arm in the air, trying to touch Mash's face. "Why must have you hinder my plans once again, knight of the shield?...Always a stone in my shoe..."

"Because the way you described how Britain should be ruled, it's just plain wrong." Mash told her, the words occuring in her mind. "Strength isn't the only quality for a kingdom. There is much more to a person than being strong. You can't determine a person's value based only on that. A weak person can still have alot of other great traits. Your Britain should be home to every citizen, not only to those you deem worthy. A true king knows that." She speaked, staring the dark king in the eyes.

"...Heh...Such pretty and idealistic words...could have only came from your mouth..." Artoria Alter smiled warmly to Mash, hearing her words like a deja vu while her body slowly dissapeared. "...That's why you killed me...You were too pure for my Camelot...my knight..." And so the legendary and brutal King of Britons, Artoria Pendragon, had vanished, never moving her gaze away from Mash in the last moments.

With the enemy gone, Mash touched her own back, rubbing it. "Aah, this was excruciating."

Mordred gave her some taps of motivation. "Hey! On the bright side, we are still alive! Also, got any bones broken?"

"No, I think not." Mash responded, causing Mordred to smile even more in joy.

"Even better! You also performed well with your Noble Phantasm! It might still be lacking in some aspects but damn if it wasn't great!" The knight said to Mash.

The shielder nodded with a smile in reaction. "I know. Thank you Mordred. I feel like I've taken a step closer with this fight."

"You sure did! I kne you had it in ya." Mordred stopped giving taps on Mash's back, stretching her arms and legs a bit before picking up her sword again. "Now, how about we join the rest up there and help them defeat whoever is the jackass behind this?"

"Let's go then." Mash replied to her, with the two heading onwards, leaving the area. However, a thought begun ringging inside Mash's mind. "The way she speaked to me as if we knew each other...Why would Artoria Pendragon adress me as her knight?"


"Gnrgh!" Having been punched and falling to the ground, Zolgen watched Ritsuka about to run torwards Angrboda. "Don't do it! If you destroy Angrboda, you will be dooming the entire of humanity to a miserable existence! Is that what you want?!"

"Nice try." Ritsuka responded, not convinced by the mage's words.

"You ignorant fool! How can you be- eh?! My hand is..." Looking to the Command Spells on his hand, Zolgen saw them dissaparing from his skin, sending the mage into a huge dismay as he realized what that meant. "It can't be! The King of Storms has been defeated even with all the mana supply I was giving her!?" He yelled inside with rage. "Grrr, that dimwitted servant..."

"He's distracted with something." Ritsuka noticed, quickly heading is gaze to Angrboda. "Now is my chance to-" Unexpectedly, the entire cave begun rumbling, catching everyone off guard and breaking Ritsuka's thought. "W-What is it now?"

"Hm? The entire room is trembling!" Peko said, trying to maintain his balance alongside Nala.

"Please do not tell me it's another Leviathan thing!" She replied, remembering how their previous Singularity ended.

This whole thing couldn't have been work of Barbatos, as the Demon God Pillar itself was befuddled with the situation. "Why is the cavern shakening? Is this one of your tricks Chaldea?"

"With all the lasers and explosions that have been happening down here, I'm quite surprised the cave didn't started to collapse a lot sooner!" Hans exclaimed, trying to maintain his balance.

"From all forms of dying, crashed and buried by debris is certainly a painful one." Shakespeare commented before looking to the side. "At least not as painful as dying from alcohol intoxication."

Meanwhile on top of the hill, Ritsuka fell on the ground, unable to stay on his feet. Hearing a tearing noise from the ceilling above him, Ritsuka looked upwards to see the top of the cavern falling apart, with a group of giant debris about to fall on the space he was in. "Crap!" Covering and protecting his own body the best way he could, Ritsuka prepared himself for the boulders as they crashed violently on the ground.

With seconds passing, Ritsuka slowly opened his eyes. "I'm okay?" By a great fortune or miracle, he saw that the boulders had all missed him, only falling near him. "Yeah...I'm okay." He cleaned his clothes from the dust that had lifted around him, coughing a bit.

"..Ngh...urgh..."

"Hm? I hear someone." Ritsuka listened to some painful groans. They where close.

"Gnhg...R-Rits..."

"I'm coming! Stay where you are!" As the master of humanity approached to the voice, he waved the dust near him away to see the source of the groans. And by doing that, Ritsuka's heart skipped a beat as he saw the person in front of him.

The alchemist all beatened up, bloodied, with his metal pieces exposed and torned apart. His face and eyes half unconscious.

"Faust!?"

To be continued


And that was it for chapter 68!

And boy if it wasn't a long ass chapter! But take it as compensation for the absence of it on the previous week.

This was basically Lalter vs Mordred (ft. Mash) THE CHAPTER. And that marks the end of Lalter's participation in this version of London. At least here she had more screen, or I'd should rather say, writtingtime. I always thought she had the potential of being a powerful and fearful tyrannical version of Artoria the first time I saw her,which of course it had to be replaced instead with a shallow character who just appears as a random last minute final boss and until today has as much content as my amount of SQ saved.

If it was to imagine Lalter's Camelot/Britain, I would view as some sort of Game of Throne-esque scenario, which means it wouldn't be a place you'd like to live or even go for vacation. In summary, the kingdom would mirror Lalter's personality as of a cruel and cold king. A meritocracy of sorts. I enjoyed writting the fight despite the length. The music helped the sequences turn more palpable into my head.

Zolgen appears and gets punched because fuck Zolgen/Zouken/Makiri whatever name this abomination chooses under the sun. And Faust appear all beatened up once again at the end. Poor guy, never had it easy.

Anyways, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 69! Peace!

P.S:

Nala: Write it!

Hans: No!

Peko: Why not?

Hans: Because its utterly stupid!

Nala (Holds a lighter in one hand and one of Hans's books in the other): Do it

Hans: Grr, how dare you threaten me like that? (Starts writting)

'And so in the end, Kadoc Zempulus turned around and stared at his companion, Ritsuka Fujimaru. "I think this was our fate,Ritsuka. To complete this grand ord-"

(The pen burns and explodes and they all die. The end :)