Haruka & the Great Holy Grail War

"Never again…" Haruka moaned as she lay on the ground of Zelretch's rather nice office in the Clock Tower. "Whatever method you used to travel across the Kaleidoscope, it's worse than Rayshifting."

Zelretch laughed at her discomfort. "You're going to have to go through the same feeling when I send you back. Now get up, I need to talk with a few people before you can get Karna's catalyst."

Haruka's eyes lit up at the mention of summoning Karna and sat up, her previous nausea already disappearing. "Who are we going to talk to?"

"Rocco Belfaban and Feend vor Sembren to start, and if too many complications pop up, Lord El-Melloi II."

"Waver's in this timeline as well?"

"He's in most timelines. Now, let's go."

"Wait-wait-wait… oh good, my phone's with me. Wait, how is it at 100%?!"

"I tweaked its functions on the trip here. It runs off your own mana, which shouldn't be a problem since your apples can now replenish your depleted mana."

Zelretch led Haruka out into the hallway and began walking briskly in one direction, the younger female scrambling to follow him as she checked out the new features her phone now had. Looking up briefly as she saw Zelretch turn a corner, she noticed looks of fear and apprehension on the faces of the mages they passed, all of them staring at Zelretch with visible trepidation. Haruka shrugged and went back to farming hands. Magically, FGO also didn't need WiFi to run.

The two stopped in front of a door with the name "Rocco Belfaban" inscribed on it, and Zelretch casually opened it, letting himself and Haruka in.

An old man, adjusting his glasses, looked up to scowl at whoever had entered without his permission. His scowl quickly died away into a look of apprehension upon seeing Zelretch. "W-wizard Marshall!"

"Hello there, Rocco," Zelretch said cheerfully. "I assume you're expecting Professor von Sembren in a few more minutes?"

Rocco nodded slowly, still shocked at the fact that Zelretch himself had sauntered into his office. "Might I ask who the girl behind you is?"

"I'm Haruka, nice to meet you!" Haruka momentarily looked up with a grin before resuming her farming.

"She's an apprentice-in-training," Zelretch said smoothly. "I brought her here for a special purpose. Let's wait for Professor vor Sembren, shall we?"

The bewildered man could only nod slowly as he motioned for them to sit. Haruka, now farming ascension and skill-up materials, grinned as a Forbidden Page dropped from a defeated Spellbook. She had needed just one more to ascend Medea.

Soon enough, a person knocked at the door. "Come in," Rocco called.

The door opened to reveal a black-haired man who had a box in one hand and an arrogant smile on his face. The smile dropped immediately to be replaced with hidden fear as he stared at Zelretch. "Wizard Marshall…!"

"Hello, hello," Zelretch said pleasantly. "Why don't you come in? I was waiting to talk to you."

Feend took the farthest route away from Zelretch as he could to Rocco's chair, placing the box on his desk. "If I may ask, what brings you here today, Wizard Marshall? And who is the girl behind you?"

"She is an apprentice-in-training of mine. And I already said I wanted to talk with you," Zelretch said. "I'll be straight for once. Feend vor Sembren, I want you to drop out of the Great Holy Grail War."

Feend's mouth dropped open, while Rocco simply stared at Zelretch in shock. "Come again…?" The older magus stuttered.

"Y-you can't be serious, Wizard Marshall," Feend stammered. "This is the only chance I have at reaching the Root!"

"Hm. I distinctly recall too many magi saying that and all dying in their quest for the Holy Grail. I will repeat this once. Drop out of the Great Holy Grail War. If you participate, you will lose your Servant even before the war officially starts."

"W-what do you mean? I've already done research on my hero's legend. There's no way I'd lose him even before the war starts!"

"You'd be surprised," Zelretch said calmly. "I will tell you of your fate should you participate: you will be poisoned, have your Servant stolen, and ultimately die before you even meet your Servant face to face. The same fate has happened to you in nearly all the domains of the Kaleidoscope I've visited with the Great Holy Grail War in it."

Feend stared at Zelretch in shock. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Drop out of the war. Let Haruka here participate for you."

Haruka finally looked up from her phone, waving at Feend. His face darkened into one of disdain and skepticism, but Haruka simply stared back. She had to deal with Alter Cu glaring at her in Chaldea, and his death glares were much scarier.

"What can this child do?"

"Like I said, she is an apprentice-in-training of mine. Not officially at least, but in her domain of the Kaleidoscope, she is much more capable than most magi in the Clock Tower. I assure you, she is stronger than she looks. Anyways, I believe you have a class soon?"

Feend sputtered incoherently, while Rocco was still stuck in his shocked state.

Zelretch grinned at their expressions. "Let's give them a few more minutes, shall we?"

Haruka groaned. "Now I know why you're such a troll."

***

"Uwahhh! So this is Karna's catalyst?" Haruka said in excitement as she gazed at the tarnished piece of golden armour.

"Of course," Zelretch said. "Didn't you use the same thing to summon him to Chaldea?"

"I stole a piece of his bodysuit in America for a catalyst," Haruka admitted. "So, how does a summoning for a Grail War work?"

"You're going to directly summon him from your Chaldea so that there won't be any complications. You already have the 500 quartz with you, so the rest of this job is for you to do."

"Oh, so it's easier then!" Haruka took 3 quartz out of her phone and tossed it into the middle of the circle along with Karna's catalyst, and then activated her circuits, sending a burst of mana into the circle to activate it. The circle glowed with rainbow-coloured orbs, spinning rapidly before converging in the centre of the circle. 3 circles of light expanded around the circle, indicating the appearance of a Servant. Haruka squealed in delight as a figure began to materialize. After a few seconds, the light died down to reveal Karna, the merest trace of confusion in his aquamarine eyes.

"Master Haruka…?"

"Karnacchi!" Haruka gasped in delight.

Karna looked around, taking in his surroundings. "I do not know of the circumstances that caused me to be summoned as a Servant when I was already summoned in Chaldea… yet I can tell that this is Holy Grail War. Haruka, what did you do?"

"I accepted Zelretch's offer to participate in the Great Holy Grail War for some Saint Quartz," Haruka replied. "Have you guys realized I disappeared yet?"

"No," Karna replied. "Drake and Robin told everyone that you were sulking in your room, and Mashu said not to bother you until the next day. And Haruka, you were talking about the Great Holy Grail War, right?"

"Eh? Oh, yeah. Your former Master's alive and not a participant in the war, if that's what you were asking." Haruka knew Karna had been deeply loyal to Feend in the Great Holy Grail War that he remembered, even if the magus and Servant had never met.

"Is it really all right to abandon your mission to Chaldea, Master?"

"Only for a few days, right? Don't worry, with your help and my knowledge of the Great Holy Grail War that I got from you and the others, I think we can shorten this war according to my agenda."

"While the circumstances for this War are different… I will say this. My spear is yours, Master Haruka. I swore that when you summoned me to Chaldea, and even now, I am your Servant. I will aid you in this quest."

"Yay! You're the best, Karnacchi! By the way, I didn't pull you away from anything that would trip the alarms, right?"

"I do not think so, but I was sparring with Siegfried when you summoned me here. He would have raised the alarms."

"Oops. Oh well, let's just get this over with, then!"

"So you're all set?" Zelretch asked. "One more thing, Haruka."

"Eh?"

"You may have partial knowledge of the goings-on of this war from conversations with other Servants, but if you want to survive, you will need full knowledge of the entire event. So here." A large book materialized in Zelretch's hands and he tossed it at Haruka, who staggered under the weight of it. "Well then, I'll take my leave. You'll get your 500 quartz once the war's over." And with that, Zelretch disappeared.

Haruka stared at the place where Zelretch disappeared. "… He's worse than Merlin."

"…"

"Anyways, Zelretch was nice enough to give me first-class plane tickets to Romania. Let's go and throw wrenches in everything that happens, shall we?"

"…"