39 The Holy Grail War.

Ruler took a moment to steady herself as she stared at the kneeling man before her. And it wasn't just her, Lancer of Red was also dumbfounded at the turn of events.

A servant had, from the looks of it, just willed themselves into existence to interrupt their battle and made an oath of allegiance to the Ruler of this Grail war. This was a very strange turn of events and not supposed to happen within the rules of the war.

"Master, this is the part where you say 'yes'." The man spoke.

"I...um....yes?" She stuttered out, noticing the etching of the command seal into her right hand.

"Wonderful, our contract is now complete." Alex spoke as he stood up, coating his blade once again in the bounded field of the wind king. "From what I understand, Ruler is supposed to be a neutral party and this servant has initiated combat against you. Shall I remove this rule violator from the war?"

As he finished speaking, he flared his mana up and turned to face the golden servant who took a stance in response.

"It matters not I shall remove you then deal with Ruler per my masters order." Karna declared.

As his words finished, his lance started to glow red and the area started to heat up. The hero of charity became engrossed in fire.

Alex stared down his foe. He coated his blade again not to hide his identity but for the effect that the bounded field brought. While it was a much weaker weapon, it's utility would be beneficial at the moment.

A simple horizontal swing of Alex's blade was met with the staff of Lancer's weapon. The force knocked back any loose debris in the surroundings.

Karna followed up by knocking the blade away and exploding in a torrent of flames as he pushed Alex back.

As Alex regained his footing a few dozen yards away, a barrage of fireball like projectiles rained down.

"Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King"

He unleashed the power of the bounded field as the torrent of air cleaved through the barrage and made it's way towards the lancer.

Karna was able to dodge out of the way with ease. Him being of the lancer class afforded him a much higher agility than Alex.

His flaming lance struck down on his wind blade as the collision destroyed the nearby street.

They continued to trade blows as they didn't stray too far from one another, each swing of the blade met with a deflection of a lance. The tip of a lance pushed off by the guard of an invisible blade. They were competing in pure martial prowess at this point.

While Karna held the advantage in speed, Alex held the advantage in Endurance. They were about equal in physical strength which was unusual for a Lancer like him but it just went to show the level of this servant.

In the midst of the exchange, Alex activated his reinforcement, adding that extra bit of speed and strength unto his blows catching Lancer off guard.

Alex was able to deflect an oncoming blow easier than anticipated by his opponent and he followed up with a quicker and stronger slash towards the golden hero's chest.

Lancer jumped back as the blade tip seeped into his flesh, creating a bit of distance between them.

A small line of blood ran down the edge of the invisible blade as Alex looked at his foe who also eyed him with a strange look.

"Truly, your armor is powerful, to reduce any damage to but a 10th of it's original value. I will be hard pressed to defeat you without using something more powerful." Alex stated.

Lancer looked down at his chest as the small cut was already healed, it was still a bit surprising he was injured in the first place. Even if the blow was not reduced to such a low level, it would have healed in but a moment.

It was only a few seconds later that all eyes turned in the direction of a fat man waddling over as he gasped for breath. A servant materialized at his side.

"we...….we've come to help you Ruler." The man blurted out after gasping for breath.

The man was mostly ignored as everyone was staring at the new servant that arrived. Silver hair that ran down his back. Black and silver armor that was sewn together, reminiscent of the Saxons. The glowing tattoo-like mark on his chest. The blade that he was carrying was all too familiar to Alex.

The knight smiled as he saw the new servant that arrived.

There was a mild amount of instinctual danger the man presented to him. He who had the aspect of a dragon implanted on him and standing before him was a dragon slayer. But still, he was a bit excited. To meet one of his favorite heroes, if he wasn't trying to keep up the appearances, he may have been showing a bit more excitement.

"The help is appreciated, but I believe I have it under control." Alex stated.

"Who are you?" The master of the new servant asked.

"I am servant of Ruler. Her summoning was done incorrectly so I was brought forth to assist her in keeping the rules." Alex replied.

The man looked at him with a bit of shock. He hadn't been informed that such a thing could happen and now this new wild card was added to the board.

"I believe our fight is over." Karna interjected as he noticed the sun rising over the horizon. The fight had gotten him a bit excited, but it was now too late to continue even without the intervention of another servant. All fights were generally kept to night-time to avoid exposing the war.

"It appears so." Alex replied.

"What is your name, servant of ruler?" Karna asked.

Alex thought for a moment on whether to give that information out.

"I guess it is only fair since I already know your identity, Karna"

"I am Arthur Pendragon."

"The King of Knights!?" Lancer asked in shocked, though it was more rhetorical.

Alex merely nodded at his question.

A small smile formed on the demi-god's face. "I look forward to our next battle, King of Knights." At that he astralized and left.

"Y….you! How did Ruler manage to summon you!?" The master of the newly arrived servant stuttered.

Alex was a bit taken back by the response, though maybe it was to be expected. If he were a servant that was rightfully summoned with his true stats, he would be a top-tier servant under the saber title.

He ignored the man as he looked over at the servant. "It's an honor to meet you, dragon-slaying hero." Alex said as he walked towards him and extended his hand.

The servant of black looked at him with a bit of surprise at his identity being revealed so suddenly.

"The honor is mine Sir Arthur." The man replied as he grasped Alex's hand.

The master of black approached Ruler as he just ignored the two servants having their conversation.

"Ruler, I would like to extend an invitation to stay with our faction." The fat man said.

"I appreciate the offer master of black, but I can not choose sides in this war."

"But it would be for your own protection, you can oversee the whole war from the safety of our castle."

"That will not be necessary I believe myself fully capable of protecting my master." Alex interjected.

The master looked at Ruler's stoic expression. " …..Fine." He said holding back his anger. "Come Saber, we're leaving."

The Saber of black astralized as his master walked off.

"Well…..that was interesting." Alex commented as he looked at his new master. "I believe you have some questions, yes?"

"How did you get summoned, I know for a fact that the grail did not have a hand in it, and I don't even feel you draining my prana nor your connection with the grail." Ruler stated.

"That my master….is complicated and I would rather not reveal it. But I swear to you that I have no intention of going against your orders, you even have command seals to order my death should I do something you do not like." Alex replied. That was technically true, but also a bit off. While she could use the seals to order him to kill himself, he could ignore it. The seal's can't force him to do something he doesn't wish due to the fact that he is a heroic spirit in the flesh and not a servant. His sheer existence is on a higher level than the seals can manage. But they can also still be used to aid him as well, such as teleporting him or enhancing his own abilities. But that's not to say he has plans on going back on the promise he just stated. It was merely a precaution.

She looked at her hand and stared back at her new servant.

"Very well Sir Arthur I shall trust you. But you do know that being a servant of mine means that you will not be able to claim a wish on the grail? For what reason did you come forth?" She asked.

"My wish does not need to be made on the grail, for participating in this war I can fulfill my wish without going against the rules."

"What is your wish Sir Arthur?" She asked, a bit confused.

"I wish to make amends with someone I wronged…..someone who is a participant themselves." He said, a bit of sadness in his voice.

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At a certain church, a priest was sitting as he looked at a magical screen that displayed the fight between Karna and Alex.

"This is an unseen turn of events." He said as he turned to look at his companion.

"For Ruler to summon a servant, she must have been desperate. And to think she summoned King Arthur of all people." The woman next to him stated.

She had a regal air about her with a hint of danger lurking about. She had long pointy ears and was donned in black.

"Is something wrong master?" She asked, as she looked at the priest who wore a contemplative expression.

"I can't divine anything about him..." The priest stated.

"That is concerning." The woman replied. "Yet….i can't help but feel a little excited at the prospect of an unknown."

"How goes the preparations for your garden?"

"Most of the supplies have arrived, it should be ready in a few days."

"Then that will mark the beginning of our victory." The priest stated.

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In another location, a similar magical screen was being displayed in a great hall of a castle. There were several servants present along with their masters.

"Hoh, I didn't think that Ruler would summon a servant, and a strong one at that." A person with pink hair stated. "What do you think Archer?"

The eyes in the room turned towards a tall man that was standing next to a girl in a wheelchair. He had long brown hair and armor that could only be described as Greek in nature.

"I am unable to see through him, something is not quite right with that servant." Archer replied.

"What do you mean?" The girl in the wheelchair asked.

"When I try to use my 'wisdom' I get a strange feedback...it almost feels like I'm looking at a divine spirit."

"Are you saying he is a god?" Another master asked in surprise. It was the woman sitting next to the pink haired servant from before.

"No, I've been around gods enough to know the difference...but his 'existence' feels close to one like he's a-"

He was cut off by another servant, who was sitting on a throne a bit higher up as he overlooked the hall.

"Heroic Spirit." The servant stated.

"WHAT!?" Several people shouted in unison.

"Are you saying that Ruler managed to summon an actual Heroic spirit into this world, not a servant!?" The pink haired servant asked in shock.

"I don't believe so, a heroic spirit would easily beat any servant in a fight like that. His strength was obviously still within the realm of a servant." Archer replied.

The servant that sat on the high up throne began to laugh. "This war has become much more interesting."

As the initial shock wore off, a few of the other servants also adopted similar expressions. They were heroes, legendary figures. They would not be put off by such even if it was a god who descended. It would be but a new challenge for them to face.

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There was one last place that received the information about what happened earlier in the night.

Two people sat in a crypt at the edge of a town that had been reinforced and booby-trapped.

It was a male with a scar over his eye with long-messy brown hair. One of the few magi that used modern weaponry as he had a sawed off shotgun hat fired gandr shots.

The other person present was a petite girl, blonde hair in a pony tale and a familiar green colored eyes.

The man sat looking at a strange device, it was comprised of what looked like bones and it's purpose was that of a magical fax machine.

A bone-like hand began to scribble words on the paper that was present.

The man looked over it as he eyes widened.

"Whats wrong master?" The girl asked.

"Ruler summoned a servant and fought the lancer on our side."

"Oh? Who won?"

"They both retreated when the sun rose."

"Awwwww, that's boring." She said with a slight pout. "Did you find out the name of the new servant?"

Her master looked at her with a serious expression. "I'm going to need you to stay calm."

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"Promise me…..as a knight, you won't run out and do something stupid." He stated.

"Do you think I'm a berserker!?" She said with a bit of annoyance.

"Mordred….."

"Fine fine, I promise on my honor as a knight that I won't rush off and do something stupid." The irritation was clear in her voice.

He handed the paper over to her so she could read it for herself.

A moment later the crypt lit up with a red lightning as it streaked outside.

"ARTHURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" She roared in rage.