First Moves

Mordred was in her full battle regalia ready for a fight. A fight, Artoria was sure, Mordred wished for.

Mordred was slightly confused upon seeing the woman before her. She had all the characteristics of her father but was older, more mature, more weathered. As well as more bountiful. That pissed Mordred of even more than she already was as she looked down upon her own assets and compared.

"What the hell that's so not fair." Mordred said to herself before she called out, "Well it is good to see you once again father. I have been wishing for a rematch since our last battle. I hope your rule was ruined upon that day. I hope to finish what I started all those centuries ago."

"Mordred. My daughter. Oh, how I have wished to right the wrongs I placed upon you. Though I know my words are meaningless to you. I wished for you to hear them and understand my sincerity. The way I treated you was in no way the proper way. If I could I would fix that failure above all of the others." Artoria said in a quiet voice filled with emotion.

"Don't give me that bull. You threw me away like some kind of trash even if I was your own blood. You were a king with no emotions." Mordred railed at her father.

"I know this…I know this now. I was a king, one of the best some say. But I was less than human for it. I was driven by my need to protect the people. To fulfill the role that I had been destined for, even at the expense of my humanity. I did not lead as I should have. I did not love as I should have. I did not connect to those around me as I should have. I was an emotionless husk. Leaving you to your pain and loss of purpose is something I will regret to the end of days." Artoria said with all the emotion she kept bottled up for so long.

Tears, this was the first that Mordred had seen them upon her father's face. And their presence shocked her to the core. The white-hot anger she had held for so long dimmed down somewhat as she came to understand more of the person she had always admired and come to hate later on.

Mordred stood with her sword, Clarent, off to her side as she looked upon the one she called her king. She now had some kind of understanding of the life her father had lived. This understanding did not detract from the will to fight though. Mordred readied herself as she asked, "What faction do you belong to father?"

"I belong to no faction. I am the second ruler chosen to oversee the Great Holy Grail War. I am an independent servant guided by the grail." Artoria said. She had not moved from her original position at all.

"Oh? Then I will not bring down the other servants on my head if I kill you then?" Mordred asked.

"No. As I said I am independent. I have no one to support me save for the Holy Grail itself. Though it is up to the others should they choose to intervene." Artoria said.

"Good. Then that means I can fight you with no fear then." Mordred said as her magical energy exploded around her as a red aura with red lightning flowing around her.

Artoria had a pained look in her eyes before she sighed as she too powered up to fight. The battle dress appeared covering her. The crown sat upon her head. Her weapon also appeared. A silver lance of intricate design held in her hand pointed at the ground, Ryongomynaid, the Tower of Light. Artoria's aura overflowed the area. It simply crushed Mordred's with it's size and weight.

For the first time Mordred thought she had made a mistake trying to fight her father. But this thought was ruthlessly discarded. She prepared to attack.

"Saber hold on!" Kairi said as he huffed upon reaching the location of the two servants. He could hardly breathe with the intensity of the magical might that Artoria was naturally giving off. If this was her just normal then what would it be like when she released her noble phantasm? Kirie shuddered at the thought.

"Saber just think about this." Kirie said hoping to keep Mordred's attention long enough to get her to see reason. "We need to wait for this battle. Once we finish off all of the other servants you can fight your father at the end of this war. Please Saber. Just hold off till then. Then you can let loose with your family dispute. Prove yourself the better king by winning."

Mordred who stood in her stance was shivering from holding herself back while also coming to terms with the difference in power levels. It was unreal. The shock of the power differences gave Mordred enough reason to come to terms with her master's words. What he said made sense. If she held out till the end she could get the battle she craved. If she didn't there was no guarantee that she would be able to meet her father again on the field.

"I make a promise to meet you at the end of this war should you survive and still wish to fight. I will then face you as you will." Artoria said as she stood ready.

Hearing these words Mordred could only loosen her shoulders and allow the sword to drop downward. She knew the promise of the King of Knights is always upheld. "Tch, fine. Till then father. Prepare yourself."

Artoria only nodded as she watched her daughter walk away with her master. Artoria asked herself out loud, "I wonder if there is any way that Jaune would allow me to fix this? What am I saying? Of course, he would. That's just the kind of person he was." Artoria thought happily of the child she had the opportunity to watch grow up. One who met and exceeded her expectations. If only she could do the same with Mordred.

A second chance to be to be a proper family.

A black armored revenant was making its way towards the Yggdmillennia mansion. His presence was all but nonexistent. None of the surrounding servants or masters would be able to sense his presence. He was a wraith on the wind.

His mission now was to find and locate of the black factions masters, servants and homunculus army. Once he did that he was asked to create openings to them so they could make raids or attacks as needed. He was aided by the Shinigami that Tama had created. These Shinigami would rewrite the detection spells so they would be seen as friendlies to the faction in question. He had just made it to the outskirts of the Yggdmillennia domain. A few of the Shinigami flew off to certain places where spells had been places. There were brief flashes of light as the Shinigami rewrote the spell codes.

Hassan moved on to get closer to the mansion. He reached to top of the mansion, in a flash the Shinigami flew from under his cloak. About half the original number left were sent out. With this they would be able to walk in without the trouble of being spotted. Hassan stayed in place for set amount of time and examined the surroundings and the grounds to find out the players in this war.

While spreading his senses Hassan was able to locate the magus and their servants. There were six of the seven said to be in the black faction. The assassin of black was nowhere to be seen. Hassan also noticed the golem factory at the base of the mansion as well as the homunculus cloning laboratory. Hassan took notice of this specifically as he knew his master would want to know about this and likely do something about it.

Hassan's eyes glowed with amusement at the irony of guiding a child and leading him on a path he had been down before. Time was repeating itself. To be honest with the heroes surrounding him, Jaune could be a legendary hero even more than he would have been originally. Hassan had seen when Jaune had held back the evils of humanity. When he earned a spot in the Throne of Heroes but been snatched away by the prying goddess. Hassan had the job of preparing Jaune to make the hard calls and prepare his mind for the kinds of situations where he would get blood on his hands.

Hassan coming out of his thoughts noticed movement. Looking with his perception he was able to see as the masters and servants made their way to the grand hall that looked out onto the wide-open grassland of the Yggdmillennia domain. They were all getting to know one another.

Examining the servants Hassan saw that there was one missing from the grouping. The assassin from the black faction was still not there. The Lancer seemed to be the leader of the group including the masters, Hassan felt as if Lancer had a connection to this land making his abilities higher than they would be at any other location. Knowing his name Hassan examined the old ruler of Romania Vlad III otherwise known as Dracula.

He was a tall and whip cord thin man. He had an aura of a leader as well as a faint taint of darkness upon him which he seemed to suppress with all his will. Even so his moniker he gained left some darkness in his aura. Dressed formally in high court fashion of his age heck an imposing figure.

Saber had a lighting like scar across his chest that wrapped around to his back, he declined to say his name to the group by order of his master. But if what Chiron had said then this would be Siegfried the man who defeated the dragon Fafnir in Norwegian legends. A near invulnerable body with great sword skills. If this iteration follows the same path then Siegfried will offer his heart to one of the homunculus that escapes the laboratory.

Archer was the other version of Chiron that Zelretch had spoken of he would be a hard foe to deal with under normal circumstances.

Rider was Astolfo one of the Knights of Charlemagne, he, and Hassan knew the servant was a he even with all of his woman like characteristics, though everyone there did not seem to notice this. Hassan looked upon Rider and was reminded of Jaune, he thought that the two would hit if off well if they met.

Berserker, also known as Frankenstein. Hassan knowing the legend of Frankenstein found similarities to the girl that Jaune had met in the other world, the only two differences would be the use of advanced technology and the presence of a loving creator over a hateful one. Jaune might want to meet her as well depending on circumstance.

Caster was the one in charge of the golem factory and had a part in the cloning laboratory. He seemed to be looking for a reactor core from what Hassan had gathered. Hopefully this time they could save the member of the Yggdmillennia family from Chiron's wish. But if Caster succeeded in creating his Noble Phantasm then he would become the greatest threat of this Holy Grail War. Hassan would have to keep an eye on this Caster to prevent that from happening. He would hold position for a while to see if there are any divergences to the previous Great Holy Grail War that Chiron had participated in.

While he was here, Scathach was with Jaune at their headquarters training him and searching for the two divine beasts that Zelretch had told them about. Shirou would also be there in the event another servant appeared he was also in charge of defense and training especially now that the war was about to start. Jaune needed to keep up his training. Jaune also needed to learn some strategies and tactics to help him survive this war with Chiron's help.

Chiron's knowledge of the war was the focal point of Jaune's and the heroes' plans. They had been told by Zelretch that the knowledge of the Great Holy War was a boon from Alaya so that Jaune could deal with the divine beasts without the need for much conflict with the 15 servants and their masters, save Ruler. But due to Alaya's oversight of Jaune's soul fusing with the Holy Grail, the creation of a third faction changed everything that Alaya planned. Now Jaune was in a far more precarious position than he would have been originally. His life was in more danger than any other master in any of the previous Holy Grail Wars.

Hassan hoped he could fulfill his role as Jaune's Assassin in this war. He would do his utmost to make sure Jaune survived and returned to his world. Be it divine beasts, servants, masters or Dead Apostles. He would defeat them all.

In his momentary lapse of controlling his emotions Hassan's massive amount of killing intent was released.

The servants and masters all quickly got into their battle stances feeling the immense killing intent that Hassan released unconsciously. Hassan seeing the servants rushing to his position turned and fled until he was lost to the heroes and masters. Luckily with his measure of mastery in concealment he was able to erase his presence very quickly. Still on the Yggdmillennia's grounds he continued to watch and prepared to share any information that deviated from the previous war.

Tama was relishing her time as a physical manifestation. It had been a long time since the last time. She was enjoying the physical sensations. Currently she was following the trail of prana or magic that came from the Red faction's location. She had just reached the outskirts of the town and was making her way towards the huge bounded field she found after she used her sensor magic when Jaune found a suitable headquarters.

Tama was humming as she reached the bounded field. She scanned the bounded field and noticed that the makeup was of Assyrian design. With this knowledge Tama was able to find certain openings she could exploit. She would have to be careful, so she didn't alert the Red faction to her actions. Using a cloaking magic Tama was able to conceal her presence from the servants and masters.

Once she pierced the bounded field Tama entered and sent out a few of her Shinigami to find suitable hosts. These Shinigami were similar to golems and would appear when Tama called them. Tama also set up plenty of sigils all over the place in hard to see and hidden places to cause trouble when she wanted.

Tama finished with her work began to leave the Red faction. As she was leaving Tama felt the ground shake as a golden haired giant of a man was running out of one of the buildings in the bounded field. The man was ashen skinned and had a mad smile on his face with a leather face mask covering his nose and forehead. He was yelling out to the world, "Oppressors you will be brought down!"

"Crap." Tama said as she tried to escape from the mad man's path. However her movement caught the eye of the mad man. She had just exited the bounded field and rushed away from the mad man.

"Blue faction oppressor give me your blood!" The man called out.

"Well crap. Now I have the Red faction Berserker on my tail." Tama said as she kept running away irritatingly twitching her tail. Luckily she was still in her disguise which hid her fox features from everyone. That way the others would likely not find out about her background.

As she ran she tried to think of her options and remembered the fact that Berserker went after the Yggdmillennia faction at the beginning of the war. Seeing an opportunity Tama turned her direction to the enemy camp.

Tama seeing her cover was blown sent out sensor magic. With it she found she was being followed by two other servants of the Red faction. If she was right, then it would be Rider and Archer. Hopefully Rider would keep back otherwise she could be in some trouble. With a flash of green light her hopes were dashed as Rider appeared not to far from her location.

"Well who do we have here? Definitely not one of the Black faction servants. So, you must be from the Blue faction." Rider said as he held his spear on his shoulders. "Now which servant would you be? Definitely not Berserker, not Saber or Lancer, that leaves Rider, Assassin or Caster."

Tama frowned at Rider quickly she gave a look behind her and saw Berserker and Archer following her a few hundred yards away. She had to be wary of Archer's attacks while facing Rider. Berserker would also be a problem when he got close but hopefully, she could escape before that happened.

Tama smiled at Rider and said, "I am not telling." She pushed her tongue out at Rider. "Besides Mr. Immortal I planned on seeing your capabilities for my master. I am also surprised you wanted to work with your enemy from so long ago. I thought you two hated one another."

Riders face froze and his grin turned sardonic as he replied, "Seems you have some good information on us. I wonder who your source is."

"Not telling." Tama said as she smiled and giggled. She sidestepped and an arrow shot into the ground in front of her halfway between her and Rider.

Rider's eyes widened at this and his smile returned. "Well, now I know you have some ability for a proper fight. I will enjoy defeating you." After he finished speaking, he got into an attacking stance.

Tama who was watching Rider while also scanning behind her prepared for the confrontation. With a wave of her hand the metal ringed staff appeared. Tama thrust the base into the ground producing a jingling sound that echoed out. Around her sigil paper flowed from her wide sleeves. Quickly she was surrounded by the pieces of paper forming a sphere of multiple rows of sigil paper.

"Then you would be Caster. Interesting. I wonder how you will get out of this situation then." Rider said with a smirk.

"Don't know. Maybe look at your feet." Tama said with an equal smirk.

Rider shook and looked down. He saw a sigil paper was on the ground near his ankle. His eye widened before he leaped away with all his strength. A second later the sigil paper exploded in a bright flash. Tama swung her staff and set of pings resounded as two arrows were blocked. With the force of the arrows Tama was pushed in the opposite direction towards an opening she gladly took. Tama rushed away with the sigil paper surrounding her. A few of the pieces of paper flew in the direction of Berserker and Archer. Each flew at a fast speed. Berserker just swung his sword at the paper.

Upon contact the paper exploded and Berserker just laughed.

Archer on the other hand shot at the papers knocking down many of pieces of paper but not all of them. Each exploded with a fireball. The few that reached her position exploded releasing fire that singed the edges of Archer's cloths. Archer growled as she tried to find a better position to fire from. She was hesitant to get close to the papers after seeing their destructive power.

Rider seeing he was nearly defeated so quickly changed mindsets as he ran in the direction of the Caster of Blue. Surprisingly he was having a hard time catching up to Caster. He wondered how powerful this caster was.

After a few moments of the chase Tama had just entered into the domain of Yggdmillennia. Now she had to be vigilant of the Yggdmillennia family and their servants. Tama frowned at this situation and decided to call in backup.

The servants of Red had just past the boundary as well and kept up the chase. Tama seeing them not giving up kept running as she thought of a place to create a confrontation between the Red and Black factions.

As she ran Tama released multiple pieces of sigil paper into the surroundings. They would sit and wait for an opportune time to be used. Tama ran for a few more seconds before she turned and slid a few feet.

Rider, seeing that Caster had stopped, slowed down until he was ten yards away. He worried about a trap but there was nothing he could do about it. He started to circle Caster giving Archer an opening and leaving the war path open for Berserker.

"Finished running? Now what do you plan to do?" Rider asked.

"Yeah. I'm done running." Tama said to Rider as well as Archer and Berserker appeared. "I plan on letting you guys duke it out while I escape." Tama said with a smile as multiple people appeared.