The battle would not begin until nightfall. So here he sat on a normal bench waiting and plotting.
For one could not hope for an enemy to simply appear before him and with it being a free for all there was a chance the other servants would all wipe each other out before he even had the chance to fight them all.
It was the worst case scenario.
So he now sat here plotting how to make sure they all found him first. How to ensure he had the chance to be involved in all of the battles to come. When he didn't even have the faintest clue how to find the next master.
In his concern he almost didn't notice Rose Orianna sit on the other end of the bench. "Cid I know you are pure of heart and eager to stand against the darkness. However as difficult as it may be I come to you today with a warning."
"That's nice." Perhaps he could arrange for some kind of disaster to lure the others in and then fight them all at the same time.
"There is a war going on in secret in these streets today, and the battle itself is at a level that even a knight as strong as I am is barely able to take part."
"Good for you." His own battle was where his focus was.
"That is why Cid, I must implore you. That even though I know you spirit burns strong and that none may match you in drive you must refrain from taking to the streets in these coming weeks. It is hard for me as well to be parted from you but for both of our paths this is the right choice."
"Sure I won't do that."
Rose nodded clearly happy with how her end of the conversation had gone and left. Which given that he hadn't been paying attention was the best she was going to get.
A moment later Violet stood standing beside him. "You do realise she just outed herself as a master don't you?"
He nodded. "I still think my plan for starting fires and seeing who comes to investigate is more important. We can't just rely on other masters walking up and introducing themselves to me, where would the fun in that be."
An old decrepit mansion on the edge of the city had burst into flames. On any other occasion she would have ignored it, a chance accident she would have no need to engage in. But on this day, on the eve of the start of a Grail war there was no doubt in her mind.
A beacon had been lit to call who would see it in. A trap and bait yes, but she was a knight so what did she need fear of traps.
"Master Iris we should head out. Although it is a trap that is to our advantage for the enemy will think themselves safe. You need not fear for against me there is nothing they could prepare that would turn the tide."
Iris has smiled back at her without a second thought. "Of course you are the servant I summoned, the two of us are the strongest. Let us make an example from the start and then continue on and crush them all."
For those who needed tricks would always fall to those with true strength.
Minutes later they settled down into the courtyard of the mansion, face to face with the obvious perpetrators. A hooded girl in a long cloak, face covered by the shadows and the knight even as she was smiling.
And the obvious servant a knight in full plate armour whose power wreathed itself through the courtyard as every shadow seemed to dance at his touch. A light hearted grin on a boyish face as he met her gaze without hesitation. "See I told you making the enemy come to us was the right choice."
"So it was." The girl stepped behind her Servant. "And yet such a troublesome figure has decided to turn up in front of me."
"Well then I'll just have to take the lead." The knight stepped forward and for an instant his magic flowed, an overwhelming sense of oppression crashing down that left her master trembling. "I am the Knight, may I assume you are Saber then for there is no better choice of class for Olivier of the three heroes."
She inclined her head. "It seems you have me at a disadvantage for I cannot place you. But then you are a more minor hero I suppose."
"You are unable to from my appearance it is true, but what if I were to draw my sword. This legendary weapon that stands as dark as the night, forged with a droplet of my own blood and made as the perfect tool to reap the lives of all who come before me. Though I only had the chance to whet its appetite on bandits surely its name precedes me does it not?"
It was a truly beautiful blade that had formed in his hand. "Alas that too has faded into the myths of history."
The man grinned. "Well there is nothing for it, for if my name has turned to dust on the wind and all my legend has turned to nothing then I must merely reap the whirlwind once more and carve it into your hearts."
There was at least a certain commendable courage in his words. "It does not intimidate you to stand before one of the greatest heroes of legend?"
"Why should I feel intimidated?" The man seemed amused. "It is said that it took three of you to stand a chance against Diabolos in that era, and yet if I was born at that time know this"
"I alone would have been sufficient."
She set her stance, preparing a charge. "Then let us test whether you are worthy of such arrogance." She blasted forward wreathed in the flames, a single strike aimed to take the head.
Missed by a hairs breadth even as she twisted around his retaliation.
She blasted forward again, the full force of Muspel crashing into his guard and sliding off to the right even as she jumped over his retaliation.
A third strike parried ever so slightly past, the fourth driven wide as he danced out of reach.
She bunched up more power, poured out more mana and single strike containing everything as the flames burned around her.
And he leaned in blade pushing her along the path as she overextended. A sudden pain and she was bodily thrown across the courtyard, blood pooling around her waist. "A second blade."
The man merely grinned and showed his left in a knife hand. "This body of mine was trained through countless hardships, it is only natural that every part of my body is a weapon in its own right."
She grit her teeth in response staring at her opponent, and the city behind him. Ideally her swordsmanship would be enough and she could have finished it in one more swing. Ideally they would not be caught in the crossfire of her path to victory.
Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. "Ignite, Muspel."
The runes sang as one as she poured magic in. A flame all encompassing rising up to tear over the world as the edge transcended the sword itself and reached out across the divide. The very essence of fire turning all who faced it to ash.
One finger caught it. "Is that all?"
She wrenched the blade back, letting the first manifestation fade from existence even as she shouted again. "Ignite Muspel." An endless tide of flames and destruction spilling out like a river of lava as it crashed down towards the solitary figure.
A simple finger holding a tiny ball of magic on the end met it.
And the river of flame stopped in its tracks as overwhelming force buckled and broke against a true immovable object. Her Noble Phantasm not enough to break through his defence.
"It seems you really do only amount to this much." A simple swing shattering her manifestation entirely. "Well it seems I will at least show you my noble phantasm in exchange."
The black blade rose and even she could see the immense mana contained on the edge. "Atomic Excalibur."
Her sword rose, the blade ready to meet it perfectly as it came in.
It didn't matter.
It was a battle in which Iris couldn't hope to intervene. The two of them flickering this way and that as they crashed through buildings with abandon and flames sparked through the night.
It was also a battle she didn't truly need to intervene in, for the enemy was before her and if she could kill his master then the battle was as good as won. "Iris Midgar, the strongest knight below a servant in the kingdom."
Her stance was flawless as she announced the start of her own duel.
The lady resting in front of her smiled dismissively. "Yes the strongest master who cannot intervene in a battle between servants. I think that title might be less impressive than you think it is."
She ignored the words and charged, the sword taken from the altar to match her servants wreathed in flames as she tore across the gap.
"Enough." A scythe of blood appeared and spun and she braced herself to meet it. Because such a light grip could never hope to withstand the force of a true charge.
She crashed back and felt pain.
"Do you see the difference now?"
It hadn't moved at all when she hit it, had crashed through her defence without even trying. A trick to make up for her lack of skill, but now that she had seen it she rose. Prepping for another round. "Truly a powerful artifact but I fight on."
The kingdom itself needed her to win.
Within the confines of the courtyard there was plenty of room to move around. All she needed was to find the right angle, against someone so reliant on the overwhelming force of her own weapon a single slip up would let her drive through and crush her.
She flickered this way and that, bouncing off the ground to always get more movement.
To the point the girl couldn't even catch sight of her as she merely closed her eyes and stood motionless. Even if that scythe was wicked, born with power no man should have it could only be in one place at a time.
And when her sword crashed past it she would find.
A second scythe slamming her across the courtyard once again. The floor meeting her face as she bounced through the bushes around them and felt only pain.
Yet she was not defeated, dragging herself up to see five new scythes spinning around the cloaked girl even as she spoke. "This battle really isn't going to change its outcome no matter how hard you try. Perhaps believing in your servant is the best you should hope for."
She bit back a retort and then trembled. An overwhelmingly powerful wave of magic sweeping above their heads as the image of a sword carved itself across the sky, overwhelming power crushing everything before her eyes.
Such a devastating array of power could only come from a hero who could face Diabolos itself.
The lady across from her shrugged. "No that one is mine, Olivier is not capable of such feats." There was a certainty there unfounded as it was. Because Olivier was one of the three heroes, the strongest team.
Olivier was crashing down from the sky, or at least her torso was. The upper half of her servant bouncing along just like she had a moment earlier.
This wasn't how the war was supposed to be.
He preened in admiration of his own blade, that perfect horizon cutting image emblazoned for all to see as he let himself fall back to stand behind Violet. Even as the next blast came in and fire raced down to meet him and he casually caught it within his cloak. "To see we managed to attract more than one servant."
There were three in total. The brutally injured Saber, a series of mechanical weapons on legs darting through the hedges towards him from someone he didn't know. And finally a girl with a lance, sprinting across the gap.
Who to fight first?
"You don't really need to block those attacks they weren't able to harm me." Violet grinned back.
"And still call myself a knight, it would be outrageous if I were to let even the weakest blow fall upon you milady." He let magic fall into his cloak as he tore a piece loose wrapping it around her. And turned back to the two new adversaries.
The three as the girl with a lance had merely touched Olivier and seen her made whole again. Well he could do such a thing too so it hardly mattered. "I see three heroes gather to dare try and challenge this Knight and yet it is futile to stand against me. Why if I merely unleash my full power I could win the war in one night."
He blinked. Running his own words through his head as understanding dawned upon him.
He turned back to Violet a grim expression on his face as he whispered. "If things continue like this the whole thing will be over without any time for intrigue or other fun and games."
Violet laughed. "Is that so well I guess that would be rather less dramatic than you seem to like." She paused putting on an imperious voice of her own. "It seems that you need all three knight classes to even hold a candle to my knight. Truly the heroes of legend struggle to live up to their names."
"Let it be said that rather than them being too weak. Perhaps instead it is that I am too strong and truly only the dragons themselves can be considered my equals."
"Quite so." Violet let a hand rest on his shoulder. "But it seems that too many have begun to gather and soon our moonlit war will be exposed for all to see. We will be taking our leave on this day, until next time little heroes." She motioned.
And he swung her up into his arms.
One of the machines spoke. "You think you can escape?" A horde of miniature mechanical wonders sprung up a web of magic filtering between them as a net to bar his passage. "Let us see how when I am here."
His cloak writhed in response even as he laughed. "You are not qualified to bar my path."
And then moved.
And endless swirling darkness reaching out to cut down everything around them even as his cloak twisted into two wings of darkness, the ground left behind as he flung them both into the sky.
Lilli looked between Olivier and the mechanical dog that had remained with them. "Olivier you are Saber aren't you? Then as Lancer it seems that Knight must really be Archer in the end."
A voice came from the edge of the courtyard as a tall man in a lab coat draped over armour stood. "I am afraid not for I am Archer."
Lilli paused and smiled in greeting at the new arrival. "Ah but then we have all three of the Knight classes already accounted for."
"Perhaps he is Rider then?" The man seemed to consider it. "I would think he was too lucid for Berserker and I dare say an Assassin or a Caster shouldn't be that strong in straight up combat. Although then we have to face the worst possible answer, that his mount is a dragon."
Olivier dragged herself back to her feet. "Isn't it unwise for an Archer to stand unarmed in front of me at this point."
Archer shrugged. "I like to consider myself a smart man, and when faced with an insurmountable foe isn't it only natural to seek out allies. For even if we cannot stand together at the end, I don't see any reason to offer up our necks alone when such an obvious monster has appeared before us."
Lilli grinned. "We can be like the hero expedition again. Standing against the darkness, no matter what monsters rage against us, even if an army of vampires were to stand against us we will be the light the world needs."
The other two stared back at her for a moment. Then locked eyes with each other. A silent query passing between them before Olivier finally shrugged. "Yes she is always like this. But it doesn't matter for she is strong and the best healer in history."
AN: I am still working on the chapter for my main fic. But next Friday is really the earliest.
Anyway this is a small romp piece. A fun thing when I am not in the writing mood to write truly complicated stuff, its updates will probably be pretty sporadic as I get inspiration for it.
Still a fun piece for me.
Go forth little piece from the depths of my inbox out into the world.
Also we have no Aurora in the character tags, this is truly terrible.