Haruka & the Great Holy Grail War

10Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia's lips were pressed in a thin line as he reviewed the recorded scenes of Gordes's battle with the mysterious red-haired mage. She had considerable physical prowess. Her magical ability appeared to be nothing important until she had cast a spell that opened alternate spaces revealing more Black Keys. Gordes had been badly injured after that spell and had only just recovered thanks to extensive healing magecraft.

"She makes for a formidable opponent at her age," he mused out loud.

"What do you think we should do about her, Uncle Darnic?" Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia asked. Along with the other Yggdmillenia Masters (minus Gordes and Roche), they and their Servants were also with him.

"Saber, have the homunculi bring Gordes in for his side of the story," Darnic ordered.

Siegfried acknowledged Darnic's order with a silent nod, exiting the room.

"Fiore, have you received any information on her from your acquaintances at the Clock Tower?"

Fiore nodded. "She is apparently replacing Feend vor Sembren and was personally recommended by Wizard Marshall Zelretch himself. He claimed her as one of his apprentices."

Darnic gritted his teeth. That damned vampire just had to interfere in his war. "We should upgrade her threat level. She's undoubtedly more dangerous than she has shown herself."

"What about the massive pulse of mana that was felt in Trifas only a few hours ago?" Vlad inquired. "A Servant or something else with the same level of mana was summoned."

At the mention of that incident, all the Masters and Servants tensed. It was unheard of to summon another Servant when all 15 had already been registered. Something with the potential power of a Servant that was summoned after the Holy Grail War had already begun was very bad news.

"A rogue Servant and a rogue Master… the Grail would not allow it," Darnic said. "The Greater Grail would have prevented something like this from happening."

"If that girl truly is Zelretch's apprentice, there is a chance she summoned another Servant," Caules Forvedge Yggdmillenia ventured.

"Idiot!" Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia snapped, causing Caules to flinch. "No human would have enough mana to sustain two Servants even if they used a method like we do! It's also impossible for a contracted Master to summon another Servant!"

"Celenike, Caules may be correct. We hardly know anything about the girl, so her humanity should be questioned. However, your statement on contracted Masters and Servants is true."

"Pardon the intrusion, Lord Darnic, but Master Gordes is here," a female homunculus stated as she entered the room. Behind her followed a bandaged-up Gordes and an ever-silent Siegfried.

"Gordes. I want your report on the girl."

Gordes remained silent for a few minutes before speaking. "She is skilled," he said finally. "Even as her enemy, I am forced to respect her prowess in battle. She admitted that she was inexperienced as a mage, but her raw talent and weapons make up for that. Her seemingly limitless number of Black Keys and her skill at wielding them would have made her out to be an Executor, but no Executor would use Black Keys in such an unorthodox way. Not to mention her casting of spatial manipulation… it is impossible without a ten-count aria if you don't possess the Sorcery Trait Imaginary Numbers. Even with it, you'd at least need a few seconds of casting. She did it instantaneously—-and multiple spaces while she was at it. We cannot take her lightly. Her Servant is also beyond dangerous in terms of skill and legend. I suggest targeting her first before any other Red Servants. I know I left her injured and low on mana—she shouldn't be too hard to pick off now."

"We will have to see about that."

Just then, Roche opened the door and poked his head in. "We've got a report from one of the golem familiars," he called.

Darnic nodded at the young Master. "What is it?"

"An red-haired girl matching the descriptions Uncle Gordes gave has been seen on the streets of Trifas with some guy who's probably her Servant. We've actually been tracking her since earlier this morning since we knew she was a mage, and she first stopped at one of the graveyards. I would have told you, but someone set up a Bounded Field there and the golem couldn't get in. She just reappeared."

"A graveyard with a bounded field…?"

"One of the Masters of the Red Faction is Shishigo Kairi, a mercenary and necromancer," Fiore reminded Darnic.

"So she knew he'd be there… without a doubt, she's probably recovered and is back at full health."

Gordes grimaced. If only he had time to cast one more spell. He probably would have been able to take down the girl along with her Servant.

"Master Gordes, you should not blame yourself too much for this failure," Chiron spoke up for the first time. "None of us had any idea about the girl's skills."

"Chiron is correct," Darnic said coolly. "You have seen her skills first-hand, Gordes. I expect you to defeat her next time."

"Yes, Lord Darnic," Gordes muttered. Chiron's words were meant to be reassuring, but Darnic had turned them into a hidden threat.

Failure is not an option.

"As for now… Roche, continue to observe the girl. Tell Caster to also modify some of the homunculi to improve their battle prowess. We have to neutralize this girl before the later stages of the war lest she threaten us all. The rest of you, I want you on standby."

"Standby for what, though? There's some action already going on," Roche said with a curious look. "Teacher didn't tell you that Berserker of Red is currently rampaging through the forest towards the castle?"

"…What?"

***

"I'd give anything to see Mordred's expression again," Haruka crowed with delight as she walked down the streets of Trifas with Karna. "The way she reacted to Arthur was so funny!"

Karna nodded silently, but the beginnings of an amused smile was tugging at the corner of his lip.

"F-father?!" Mordred stuttered.

Arthur gave her a cheerful grin and stepped closer before she could react. He ruffled her hair and then hugged her, seemingly ignoring her embarrassed protests. "Glad to see you're doing alright, Mordred."

Mordred only stuttered further, seemingly unable to form a single word. 

Arthur let go of her and turned to Haruka. "I'm guessing she's not the one who's constantly bugging me and calling me Uncle Arthur?"

"Sadly, no. You can still bond with her, though."

"Pity… well, Mordred is Mordred. Anyways," Arthur turned back to Mordred. "Have you been eating well? Did you tie your hair up properly? And for the love of God, why are you wearing these revealing outfits?"

Mordred only turned redder. "S-shut up, Father! I choose what I want to wear!"

"There's full-on tsundere Mordred mode and full-on fussy mother-hen Arthur mode," Haruka stage-whispered to Kairi. 

"…"

It appeared that Kairi was shocked into silence.

Arthur continued to fuss over Mordred, who could only stutter out responses that didn't sound threatening (even though she probably intended for them to be) and blush harder. 

Haruka coughed loudly, causing Arthur to pull away from Mordred. "Mordred, I understand you're probably overwhelmed, but you should talk with Arthur and understand his point of view. Arthur, for the time being, I want you to stay with Kairi and Mordred. Summoning you definitely alerted everyone else to another Servant in this war, and I'd like to keep you out of the picture for now."

"I see, understood," Arthur said, his voice now calm. "And what will you do, Master Haruka? Chaldea is in a panic over your disappearance."

Haruka laughed sheepishly. "I should have anticipated that… I'm going to keep the Greater Grail from destroying this world and go home with 1000 Saint Quartz."

"Master…" Arthur sighed and shook his head in resignation. Haruka's obsession with Saint Quartz was not to be underestimated.

"Anyways, do you have a Craft Essence on you? "

Arthur shook his head. 

"Hm…" Haruka pulled out her phone, scrolling through her list. "What should I give you… Black Grail? Nah. Limited/Zero Over? Nah. Oh, there's my Kaleidoscope!" Taking it out of her phone, she handed it over to Arthur. "One time use to blast Excalibur without taking any mana from me."

Arthur hesitantly took the card when he saw the image. "That man… he spoke to us through this card and then destroyed it later."

"Zelretch spoke to you guys through this card and destroyed it? I'm not going to question his methods, but did he really have to destroy a Kaleidoscope?" Haruka sighed. "It's okay, just take it."

Arthur nodded his thanks as he pocketed the card. "As I am not tied to Chaldea anymore, I should go into spiritual form to minimize the draining of your mana, Master."

"Oh, it's fine." Haruka popped another golden apple into her mouth. "Go have a nice talk with Mordred. Try snapping her out of her shock while you're at it; we'll need both of you to fight. Karna, let's go explore Trifas."

"As you command, Master."

"…Was it really alright to leave Arthur with Mordred? She is not the Mordred we know in Chaldea," Karna asked.

"It's alright; Arthur knows how to deal with Mordred. Better him than Arturia anyways. It was so tense back when Arthur hadn't been summoned yet… and then he came along and bonded with Mordred so well that it forced Arturia to finally settle matters with her kid. Thankfully I didn't have to use a command seal back then to keep them from killing each other. Unlike some other incidents…"

A dark aura rose off Haruka as she remembered the time she had summoned Hector when Euryale and Asterios were in the summoning chamber with her. The latter two had still held a grudge over what happened in Okeanos, and Haruka had to spend two command seals to keep them from maiming the new Servant. After her two seals were restored, she forced them to talk out their differences under the threat of yet another command seal, and now they were on civil terms. Other incidents included Atalanta, Jeanne and Jack getting into a major scuffle over the events in the Great Holy Grail War, and Haruka had to put off a summoning spree for three days (since she had to use all her command seals) to get the Servants to calm down. Thankfully, using all her command seals didn't sever her contracts with her other Servants.

Karna placed a hand on Haruka's shoulder. "Master, do not dwell on the incidents of the past. You do not have time for that."

Haruka shook herself. "Good point. Now, I'm pretty sure the Black Faction's tracking me. I've revealed myself to them too early and they've already seen all of my abilities. I suppose it's my fault, though. They probably have a huge target painted on my back."

"I caught a glimpse of your spell… What did Medea teach you?"

"Ehh, you saw Black Key Hell? I meant to keep that as a secret. Well, I trust you to keep it from Gilgamesh. I'm technically copying the Gate of Babylon but I'm only shooting Black Keys, not Noble Phantasms."

"And that is your ace? Master, revealing it so early in this war was a terrible decision."

"I would have lost to Siegfried's Master if I didn't do anything else, though. It's okay, I'll just have to stay out of the battles for a bit… Hey, Kairi's calling." Haruka pulled out her chirping phone and hit Answer. "Hello? Shishigo-san?"

"Kairi's fine," the gruff voice said. "We've received some information from the priest. Berserker's currently rampaging towards the Yggdmillenia Castle."

"Eh… what a pain. Spartacus is so hard to deal with. Um… this has happened before. You guys don't have to do anything; he's not going to reach them until nighttime."

"So what should we be doing?"

"Just stay where you are. Karna and I are going to come back and we'll figure out a plan."

"Are you really planning on bringing him back?"

"No. I just want to settle one other incident that's going to happen tonight."

"Well, be careful on your way back."

"Okay."

Kairi greeted Haruka and Karna at the entrance to the mausoleum. "Saber and I were thinking about your proposal and Arthur's words about you further grounded our decision. We… will join you. For now, at least."

Haruka grinned. "That's good news, thanks for that. Although you're also doing this to get away from Shirou, aren't you?"

"More or less."

"Thought so."

"Are you going to attempt to bring Berserker back here?"

"No, he'll get captured by the Black Faction and be turned into a suicide bomb of some sorts. It's alright; it won't affect us much. How're Mordred and Arthur doing?"

"Well, they talked out their differences. I suppose your Arthur's had some experience with Saber, since he's currently fussing over her again, but she's enjoying the attention… I think."

Haruka smiled fondly. "Arthur always did know how to deal with Mordred despite him being from a completely different plane of existence and alternate version of the Arthurian legend."

"…say what?"

"I thought I mentioned it before. Don't worry about it. Shall we go in? I have some plans I need to run by all of you."

***

Upon entering the small alcove, Haruka was greeted with the sight of Arthur braiding Mordred's hair. The Knight of Treachery for the most part appeared to be enjoying the treatment, save for a few grumbles if Arthur accidentally pulled her hair.

Haruka quickly snapped a photo. "Looks like you two are doing well." Mordred started protesting when she saw Haruka's phone flash, but calmed down when Arthur patted her shoulder.

"How was your trip to Trifas, Master Haruka?" He asked, tying Mordred's hair in place. The red knight now had quite a nice braid on the left side of her face, accompanying the rest of her now free-flowing golden locks.

"We didn't do much. I did notice a bunch of golem familiars following us, though. Looks like the Black Faction's on to me. Don't worry, they didn't follow us back."

"You said you were going to make a plan for tonight," Kairi said as he sat down, making himself comfortable. "What is it?"

"Oh, I already thought of one on the way back. We're going to save Siegfried from dying."

"… care to repeat that?" Kairi said slowly. Arthur, on the other hand, simply sighed. Karna remained silent, but there was the faintest hint of exasperation in his eyes.

"Master, I thought we all requested you to not act completely suicidal."

"Hey, this is technically for all our benefits. Well, not the homunculus's, but

honestly, I think the outcome of this war went completely downhill when he got involved."

"What happened in this war?" Mordred asked.

"Long story short, a homunculus—his name is Sieg—escapes but accidentally gets killed, Siegfried gives his heart to save him, and then Sieg gains Command Seals to turn himself into Siegfried for a while. Stuff happens, Jeanne kinda falls in love with him, and he somehow ends up killing Amakusa in the end and taking the Greater Grail to the Reverse Side of the World."

Mordred and Kairi simply stared at Haruka. Karna and Arthur exchanged unreadable looks.

Haruka raised her hands in surrender. "I'm missing a lot of details, I get that. But it's all true. Point is, keeping Siegfried alive is a better option to change the outcomes of this war. Honestly, the way Jeanne and Astolfo described the later stages of the war, it seemed like everything revolved around Sieg. I'm still confused as to how he survived his battle with Amakusa, because he always avoids the subject when I bring it up."

"So you're saying we should keep an enemy Servant alive longer since it'd be more beneficial in the long term?" Kairi asked. "This sounds more insane than it is, but I'll trust your judgement on that. But how are you going to get that to happen? We're in the Black Faction's territory and actively moving around is a bad idea."

"Arthur, would you be able to delay Astolfo and the homunculus long enough for the Black Faction to intervene and then retreat? I'll give you another Craft Essence and call you back with a Command Seal if things get rough."

"Understood."

"Father, why would you agree so quickly?" Mordred asked.

"No one in this war save for all of you know about my existence and appearance. If Master Haruka sent Karna, it would be more suspicious as he is a known Red Servant. I currently appear to be a rogue Servant and unaffiliated with any faction, so my role in this would be to strike doubt into the hearts of the Black and Red Factions alike. Am I correct, Master?"

"Perceptive as always," Haruka said with a grin. "Alright, pass your Kaleidoscope over; I'll switch it with Volumen Hydragyrum. Just in case Vlad tries to impale you."

"Speaking of Craft Essences," Kairi said as Haruka and Arthur made a switch. "How do they work?"

"Each one has a different effect, so I need to be careful when equipping them on separate Servants. Some give extra mana so they don't use up a lot of their own when casting Noble Phantasms, some allow you to increase your damage, and some even make healing spells more effective. For Mordred, I'd probably give you something like…" Haruka trailed off as she looked through her list. "Imaginary Numbers is a good one. You'd get a significant boost of mana once it's activated, and then you can blast your Noble Phantasm after a skirmish or two." She gave the card to Mordred. "It'll activate once you actually enter a battle."

"This looks cool, thanks!"

"Alright, so now all we have to do is wait until tonight."

"What will you do until then, Master Haruka?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Arthur flinched back at the burning flames that had replaced Haruka's eyes. "Roll the gacha."