Act 1 – Treacherous Summoning.
Needless to say, once Waver was done trying to Murder his apprentice for the umpteenth time, the three of them made preparations to head out to Glastonbury that very evening to attempt the summoning ritual.
Their reasons for doing so were to avoid any interference from the other candidates, since it was clear they were already working behind their backs to support the other two Masters, to improve the odds of drawing King Arthur as a Saber Class Servant whilst ensuring they summoned him in his best possible condition.
Setting aside the limitations placed on them by their designated Class, there were a number of factors that could affect the overall parameters of a Heroic Spirit. Case in point, while King Arthur would certainly qualify for other Classes, the Saber class was arguably his strongest due in part to his reputation as the ‘Wielder of the Strongest Holy Sword’, and the sheer renown of Excalibur itself.
While the qualifications of their Master could also have an effect on a Servant’s parameters, their reasoning for performing the summoning in Glastonbury instead of Fuyuki was to take advantage of passive boost the summoning would receive from within his own Cultural Sphere.
Put simply, by performing the summoning on British Soil, where the Legend of King Arthur not only originated, but was cherished in the hearts of many, they not only improved their chances of summoning the King of Knights as a Saber class, but even if they messed up and summoned one of the other Knights of the Round, they would still gain a tremendous overall boost in performance than if the summoning was performed in Fuyuki.
Truth be told there was no specific need for them to specifically perform the summoning at Glastonbury, they could have performed the ritual anywhere in Britain, or hell, anywhere within the confines of Europe, and it likely would have had the same effect. However, given how they still didn’t know what catalyst Kiritsugu had used to summon Saber last time, Glastonbury was their best bet if they hoped to beat the Einzberns to the draw.
After all, it was hardly likely that King Arthur could ignore a summoning when it was literally performed on top of his grave, right?
Glastonbury- Midnight.
‘What a beautiful moon’ Sunset marveled, gazing up at Earth’s natural satellite with a whimsical expression as the smoke from her cigarette drifted lazily into the sky ‘I wonder if the moon back home was ever this beautiful?’
It probably had been, back before the Mare-In-The-Moon had taken up residence there, something that had always confused Sunset, as no matter how deeply she dug into the Canterlot Archives she could never find an explanation for just how the Alicorn-shaped blot had appeared, and any attempts at asking Celestia were met with solemn silence.
She grimaced, the thought of Celestia reminding her of how far she’d come from the naive mare that had leapt through a portal seeking ultimate power, only to wind up in a world where what little power she had possessed would’ve earned her the same level of adulation Celestia did, were it not for the fact she couldn’t use even half of it due the Gaia’s interference.
Refusing to get bogged down by old memories, she instead turned her attention to the present, namely the Holy Grail War, and the very real potential that she would soon find herself facing off against six other Magi and their Servants in a free-for-all battle to the death over a proverbial Monkey’s Paw that would only grant their wishes in the most self-destructive way possible.
‘If it were the old me, it would probably have turned me into the second coming of Nightmare Moon.’ She scoffed, recalling her infantile dream of becoming an Alicorn and shuddering at the horrors the Grail would likely have inflicted upon the world through her ‘Faust I was such an entitled brat back then…’
“It’s time.” Waver called out, snapping Sunset out of her thoughts to find him standing off to the side with Flat, the blonde waving at her energetically, his waistcoat covered in the dust he’d used to set up the summoning circle “The Relic is in place, have you memorized the incantation?”
“Is Trimmau still obsessed with terminating John Conner?” Sunset quipped, earning an exasperated sigh from Waver as he glared venomously at Flat, who merely smiled brightly at his mentor, completely unaware of his loathing “Let’s just get this over with.” She mused, finishing off her cigarette with one last drag before scorching the butt to ash and rising to her feet, striding towards the circle where Waver had already placed the shard of the round table “Oddly simply for so grand a ritual.”
“The Grail does most of the heavy lifting.” Waver explained with a proud sniff, as if feeling challenged by her words “The summoning circle simply provides a beacon for the Heroic Spirit to Manifest.”
“Good to know.” She mused, glancing down at her watch to check the time, releasing a sigh as the minute hand finally hit Midnight, the moment her Magical Energy would be at its peak, and thus the best time for her to perform the ritual if she wanted her Servant at their best.
After all, for all their fame and power, at the end of the day Servants were essentially glorified familiars, and as such relied almost entirely on their Masters for the Magical Energy they needed to not only remain corporeal, but also to unleash their Noble Phantasms, the sheer requirements for which, bar certain exceptions, would severely limit what Magecraft said Masters chose to employ in battle.
This, arguably, was the greatest flaw of the Holy Grail War, as it essentially forced the Magi to take a back-seat, forcing them to rely entirely on their Servants for defense, though admittedly the number of spells capable of actually harming a Heroic Spirit were practically non-existent. While prodigies like Waver’s late master, the previous Lord El-Melloi, had devised means of circumventing this limitation, most other Mages would be forced to limit themselves to the most cost-effective of Spells in order to avoid hampering their Servant’s combat potential.
Needless to say, Sunset was not like Most Magi. Setting aside her, in Waver’s own words, frankly impossible Prana reserves for anyone who wasn’t an Einzbern Homunculus or a member of the Barthomeloi Clan, her training with Kiritsugu meant she was more likely to take out the enemy Masters with a Sniper Round from a distance than some overly complicated curse.
‘If Celestia could see me now…’ she scoffed, already imagining the horrified expression on her old mentor’s face at the thought of her using her talents to kill others, only to shake such thoughts from her head and aiming her hand towards the summoning circle, the moon emerging from behind a patch of clouds as she began to chant.
O Elements of Silver and Iron.
O Foundation of Stone and the Archduke of Contracts.
As she chanted, the Mana in the air began to shift, the circle before her lighting up as bolts of lightning rose sporadically into the air in complete defiance of nature, her eyes narrowing as the summoning circle began to glow an ominous red.
Let Rise a Wall against the Alighted Wind.
Let the Four Cardinal Gates close.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom Rotate.
At the same time, she felt a dull sense of discomfort as her Magic Circuits, the vessel through which all Magecraft were performed, activated in response to the sudden drain on her prodigious reserves.
Let the vessel be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Let it be filled Five-Fold every turn, only to break asunder with every filling.
Normally such an action without her consent would have been alarming, but thanks to Waver’s instructions beforehand, Sunset was more than ready to accommodate the drain, even going so far as to pump more power into the spell in the hopes of securing their desired Servant.
I hereby declare: My will creates your body…and my fate shall lie in your sword.
If you would heed the beckoning of the Holy Grail, then answer!
By now the circle was practically crackling with crimson lighting, the air around them kicking up to the point Waver and Flat were forced to shield their eyes and back away.
I hereby swear: I shall attain all the Virtues of Heaven.
I shall have dominion over all the Evils of Hell.
A part of her, the more cynical part that still gave her grief over her old arrogance from her days in Equestria, couldn’t help but scoff at that part of the chant. For one thing, given her train of thought before leaping into the mirror, it was far more likely she’d have aimed for the latter of the two as opposed to the former, if only because doing so would’ve been the faster option to obtaining the Ultimate Power she believed she deserved.
From the Seventh Heaven, clad in three words of power,
Come forth from the Ring of Deterrence, O keeper of the balance-!
The moment the last words left her mouth, the raging storm of Mana that had formed in the center of the circle exploded, forcing her to snap her eyes shut to protect her from going blind, Waver’s curse and Flat’s cry of alarm all the indication she needed to confirm they were likewise as afflicted by the flash.
“Did it backfire?” she wondered, only to blink as she sensed a subtle shift in the storm’s intensity, her eyes cracking open as she peered into the dust that had formed in the center of the summoning circle, only to blink at the sight of the armored figure kneeling before her.
There was no denying that the figure before her was a Knight, though their stature was decidedly smaller and their armor more intimidating than she would’ve expected from a national hero. Then again, considering how bloody the history of mankind was compared to Equestria, and the more recent trend of removing the gory details from legends to make them appeal to younger generations, it was highly likely that this was precisely what the Knights of the Round Table wore into battle. It certainly looked formidable enough.
“Be careful, Hikaru.” Waver urged her via telepathy, his expression wary as he pushed Flat behind him to keep the energetic blonde from doing something stupid, like try to shake the Servant’s hand “That isn’t the Saber Servant from the Fourth War.”
‘Story of my life.’ Sunset returned while shaking her head with a sigh, the former Unicorn turning her attention to the kneeling Knight in the summoning circle as he raised his head.
“So you're my Master, then?” the Knight demanded, his voice clear and unclouded as he rose to his feet, his armor clinking with every movement as he regarded Sunset through the grates in his horned helm.
“I am.” Sunset confirmed, nodding her head in greeting before holding up her Command Seals for him to see “Judging by your attire, I’m guessing you’re a Saber-Class?” she asked, glancing at the beautiful longsword the Knight was wielding.
“Isn't it obvious?” the knight scoffed mockingly, resting the blade on his pauldron for all to see “You must have poor eyes and a poorer mind if you see me as a Caster or Assassin. Not that there's anything wrong with an assassin who clangs through the front door wearing a set of armor, but could it be I’ve been summoned by a fool?"
‘Arrogant much?’ Sunset scoffed, wondering what all those romanticists would think if they could hear this. Then again, unlike in Canterlot, the historical knights of Briton were nowhere near as chivalrous as they were depicted “Fool or not, I’m the one with the Command Seals.” She reminded the Knight “I don’t particularly care what you think of me so long as you follow my orders.”
“Hoh? Rather big mouth you’ve got there, Mage.” The Knight noted, though Sunset could tell from the underlying amusement in his tone that he wasn’t overly offended “Perhaps this won’t be so boring after all. You have a name, fire-hair, or shall I give you one?”
“Bansho Hikaru.” Sunset supplied, giving her alias in this world as opposed to her actual name, as Command Seals or not she wasn’t about to trust this thing any further than she could throw it “And would you care to introduce yourself? For that matter, are you doing something to suppress your stats?”
Aside from the Command Seals, one of the many benefits accorded to Masters by the Grail was the ability to ascertain the overall parameters of the Servants, both their own and those of their opponents, at a glance. While more in-depth information, such as their abilities and Noble Phantasms, would require more in-depth research, at the very least they could see how their own Servant stacked up compared to their opponents, so as to better pick their fights.
Yet for some reason, the only thing Sunset could see whenever she tried to examine Saber was the mental equivalent of an <Data Not Found>, which meant one of two things. Either Saber possessed a passive skill that concealed their stats from view, or it had something to do with their Noble Phantasm.
“Ah, it’s most likely this.” The Knight admitted, tapping an armored knuckle against his helm for emphasis, Sunset’s brow quirking as the metal split and shifted like something out of a transformers movie, the entire helm merging with the rest of the armor, revealing a youthful face set with a confident smirk and framed by wild golden hair tied up in a ponytail.
“My name is Mordred!” Saber boldly declared, resting her, for indeed there was no denying she was a girl no matter how you looked at it, armored gauntlets on the pommel of her sword “The One True Heir to the King of Knights, Arthur Pendragon!”
‘Fuck my life…’ Waver swore, suppressing the urge to rip his hair out as the Servant finished her declaration ‘Of all the Knights the relic could have summoned, why did it have to be that one?’
Sir Mordred, the Knight of Treachery, the bastard child of Arthur Pendragon, the Once and Future King of Knights, and his older half-sister, Morgan Le Fay, the Witch Queen of Albion and arch-nemesis of Merlin. While there was no denying his, her rather, position as a Knight of the Round Table, indeed, you could even go so far to say she was arguably the most infamous member of that legendary order, the fact remained she hadn’t earned her title as the Knight of Treachery for nothing.
Hell, according to the legends her very conception was, in itself, an act of betrayal, although in Arthur’s defense, the King of Knights had not done so knowingly. While the details behind her betrayal were sparse, indeed for all intents and purposes Mordred’s loyalty to Arthur had originally been second to none, serving without question as an ideal knight, even going so far as to arrest Queen Guinevere, as ironic as that sounded, for 'dallying' with Sir Lancelot.
In the end, however, Mordred had betrayed her sire, instigating a rebellion during Arthur’s expedition to Rome, placing herself on the throne only to meet her death on the fields of Calmlann, struck down by the King of Knights mere moments before landing the blow that took Arthur's life.
Simply put, so far as Waver Velvet was concerned, out of all of the Knights that could have been summoned by the fragment of the Round Table, Sunset had drawn the absolute worst card possible.
‘Perhaps it’s because we used a fragment of the Round Table as a catalyst?’ he pondered, glancing towards the shard with a frown. After all, while it could be argued that Sir Lancelot and Guinevere’s infidelity sowed the seeds of Camelot’s downfall, it was Mordred who was arguably the most famous for bringing an end to the legend of the King of Knights.
‘Still, at the very least we’ve ensured that Excalibur is out of the game.’ He mused, taking a drag on his cigar as Hikaru and Mordred continued to shoot the breeze ‘And as the Knight who slew King Arthur, Mordred’s parameters should be just as good, if not superior, to her father…mother?’. He scowled as he tried to wrap his brain around how to best refer to Mordred’s sire, only to give up as it began to give him a headache.
“Fucking Merlin…” he swore, a sentiment that had, ironically, been almost universally shared amongst the residents of Camelot, deciding to set the matter aside for now, instead turning his attention to Flat, who was beaming at Saber with unparalleled glee “And what’re you so happy about?”
“It’s Mordred Professor!” Flat exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in jubilation like the excitable man-child he was “One of the actual Knights of the Round Table! The Greatest Knights to ever exist!”
“Yes, yes, it is.” Waver sighed, noting out the corner of his eye that Mordred was listening and seemed to be preening slightly at the praise his disciple was heaping at her feet, though she seemed oddly annoyed when he mentioned the Round Table.
“This is so cool!” Flat cheered excitedly, practically dancing as he pumped his fists in elation “I always wanted to meet a hero of legend and here’s one in the flesh! And she’s a girl too-!”
It was testament to Waver’s experience in dealing with Servants that all it took was Hikaru crying out ‘Saber!’ for him realize something was wrong, the Clock Tower Lord cursing as he threw up a magical barrier just in time to save Flat from being bifurcated by a gleaming silver longsword, wielded by a suddenly enraged Saber.
“Stand down, Saber!” Hikaru commanded, holding up her hand so the Servant could see her Command Seals when Saber refused to capitulate “I said stand down! Don’t make me use one of these for no good reason!”
“Tch-!” Saber cursed, and for a moment Waver feared she was going to refuse, only to sigh in relief as the Knight of Treachery drew back her sword, letting it rest over her shoulder “You, Blondie.” She barked out, glaring down at the shocked form of Flat “The next time you call me a woman, I won’t be able to restrain myself. Understand?”
‘That was her showing restraint?’ Waver deadpanned, sighing in exasperation as Flat, rather than being cowed, simply started showering praise on how fast the Servant was whilst asking all manner of questions about how she stacked up to the other Knights of the Round ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, if she’s anything like her ‘Father’, she probably could’ve killed both of us before Hikaru could call out.’
“Enough!” Mordred snapped, clearly having had enough of Flat’s questioning, though she thankfully refrained from lashing out with her sword again “Don’t dare to presume that I was of the same caliber as the rest of the Round Table! As the one true heir of the King of Knights, none of them could hold a candle to me!
“But…if that’s true then why did you rebel?” Flat wondered, earning a glare from the Servant, though it soon faded when she detected nothing but innocent confusion in his eyes “I mean, he was your father, right? Why would you want to betray him?”
“He gave me no choice.” Mordred replied bitterly, turning her face away in anger “I served my King loyally and without question…no-one loved him more than I…” she clenched her armored fist “But Father…would not accept me. No matter how hard I fought, no matter how many of his enemies I slayed, no matter how many traitors I brought to justice, nothing was ever good enough for him.”
‘Sounds about par for the course for the legend.’ Waver mused warily. Oh there was no denying he didn’t trust the Servant before him any further than he could throw her, but it was still interesting to hear things from the perspective of one of the participants of the story.
“Despite his blood coursing through my veins, Father never saw me as anything but a servant…” Saber continued, the coldness of her tone a stark contrast to the burning anger in her eyes and the trembling of her body, a clear sign of her barely suppressed rage “after everything I’d done, he refused to see me as anything other than the son of that witch!”
“Mordred’s mother was Morgan Le Fay, Arthur’s older half-sister.” Waver explained to Hikaru at her quirked brow, wincing slightly as Saber shot him a glare at the mention of her name “According to legend she enchanted the King to conceive Mordred for the sole purpose of destroying Camelot.”
“Hah! Is that what they say about her?” Mordred scoffed with a self-mocking sneer “Well I guess I can’t blame them for thinking that, she certainly didn’t earn herself any favors down the line, but it was I who instigated the rebellion, not her. She’d have been perfectly happy with me sitting on the throne.” Her eyes narrowed in contempt “but after father refused to accept me, I decided to teach him a little lesson, to drive home just how worthless his reign truly was!”
‘She’s just like how I used to be.’ Sunset realized, the former Unicorn gazing at the Knight of Treachery as she finished her proclamation. Though their circumstances might differ, in the end both Sunset and Mordred had sought nothing but approval from the most important people in their life, to claim what they believed to be rightfully theirs, only to be denied, cast out and in turn forced to betray them out of spite.
“I see…” Waver mused, snapping the former Unicorn out of her thoughts to see him eyeing the Knight of Treachery calculatingly “Going by that logic, should I presume you seek the Holy Grail in order to become King?”
“Don’t insult me, Mage.” Mordred scoffed imperiously “Even if I were to ascend to the throne using the Grail, my Father would never truly acknowledge it.” Her eyes narrowed in determination “No, my wish is far simpler, I seek to undergo the same trial the King of Knights once did and challenge the Sword of Selection.”
“In order to become King of Britain, Arthur had to draw the holy sword, Caliburn, from a stone.” Waver explained for Sunset’s benefit “The sword was enchanted by Merlin so only the ‘Rightful King’ could draw it.”
“Sounds sketchy to me.” Sunset opined, having read up on Merlin during her time as a Student in the Clock Tower, partially out of a desire to learn more about the ‘Most famous Wizard of all time’, and partially to see how he stacked up to what she recalled of Starswirl the Bearded “I mean, wasn’t Merlin famous for being a trickster?” she asked, earning a nod of confirmation from Saber “Then Isn’t it entirely possible he enchanted the sword so nobody but Arthur could draw it?”
“That’s…certainly not implausible, given what we know of his history with Arthur.” Waver conceded uncertainly “It is said Merlin played a direct role in Arthur’s conception, and while Vortigern was the one who hammered the sword into the Anvil in the first place, Merlin was supposedly the one who prepared the sword beforehand.”
“So there’s a good chance the selection was rigged from the onset.” Sunset posed, turning to regard Saber, who was looking between the pair with a troubled expression “Even knowing that, do you still want to try and contest it?”
In a sense, Mordred’s situation was far more daunting than Sunset’s had ever been. After all, the very fact that Cadance, a Pegasus, had managed to become an Alicorn was living proof that it was possible for Sunset to do the same.
However, even if Merlin hadn’t rigged the election, there was no guarantee that Mordred would be able to draw Caliburn from the stone when countless others had tried, and failed, to do the same. For her to have gone through so much to earn her father’s approval, only to be denied at the last moment…Sunset couldn’t imagine a more heartbreaking scenario if she tried.
“Of course I do!” the Knight of Treachery proclaimed, shocking the assembled Magi with her unwavering determination as she clenched her fist “After all, if Father only became King because of Merlin’s mischief, then that just proves he wasn’t suited to be king!”
“And if you fail to draw the sword?” Sunset queried, though honestly, she already predicted what the Servant’s answer would be, given how similar she was to her old self.
“That won’t happen.” Mordred scoffed, puffed out her chest with pride as she grinned confidently at the redhead “Given my pedigree, there’s no way the Sword will refuse me!”
‘Well she’s certainly confident, I’ll give her that much.’ Sunset scoffed, earning a glare from the Servant at the assumed mockery while Flat proceeded to gush on the sidelines ‘Heck, if confidence were all it took to be King I wouldn’t be surprised if she could pull it off…however-’
“You should give up on the Grail.” Sunset opined, holding up a hand as Saber opened her mouth to protest “I’m not saying I’m saying you can’t do it, heck, as someone whose been in your shoes, I can respect you for wanting to find a legitimate way to prove yourself worthy.”
Faust only knew the old Sunset Shimmer hadn’t. Seriously, what the hell had she been thinking, breaking into the forbidden archives and then expecting Celestia to capitulate to her demands? Mordred might be arrogant, but her reasons for seeking to challenge the sword had less to do with succeeding King Arthur, and more to prove to her father that she was, indeed, worthy of bearing his name.
“Then what is the problem?” Mordred demanded, though her annoyance was a far cry better than her earlier anger “If you’re worried that I’ll keep the wish for myself-!”
“I wouldn’t wish on that thing even if it could make all my dreams come true.” Sunset spat, reigning in her temper as she fought down the memories of that night from ten years’ prior “Look, there’s something you need to know about the Grail…about this entire farce of a war really.”
Saber frowned, and for a moment Sunset feared she was going to be stubborn, only for the Knight of Treachery to lower her sword, resting both hands on the pommel as she took a seat on a nearby boulder.
“Explain, yourself, Master.”