Morgan Le Fay

"What can I help you with today Zelretch?" I say as I inscribe the final rune, and put the finishing touches on my current project.

It has been about two centuries since Crimson Blood's defeat and it is around the middle of the fifth century, years before the birth of Arturia. How many? I have no idea, especially since I am honestly not keeping track. Do I care enough to alter her legend? Not even remotely. Am I going to avoid changing it? Absolutely not. I will do as I have always done, live and enjoy my life, and if I happen to change something then so be it.

Having finished with my current work, I turn to face Zelretch and raise my eyebrow at him in question.

"Can't a man visit his best friend?" he asks as he walks up to me and looks down on the piece of clothing on my workshop table.

My workshop is located in the basement of my personally built castle, somewhere north of Uther's kingdom surrounded by a forest.

The castle itself was made with a deliberate use of earthbending, alteration, and runes. It has four thick, square towers surrounding the castle in almost a perfect circle, they are connected by big, narrow walls made of light red stone. Refined windows are scattered thinly around the walls in fairly symmetrical patterns, along with huge crenelations for archers and artillery.

It has a vast gate with thick wooden doors, a drawbridge, a moat that protects it, and is the only easy way in, any other side would be futile.

Huge statues of people important to Scathach and I decorate the bridge outside, memories of glories of the past. The castle is relatively new and has runes that will keep it that way for thousands of years, especially since it is built upon a major leyline.

It was Zeretch who gave us the idea of building it.

Studying Zelretch now compared to when he made that suggestion, I cannot help but notice the small differences in his body.

Due to not being turned into a Dead Apostle, Zelretch has aged like a normal human. However, I was able to come up with a temporary rune suit to stop it completely for a century at a time. After a century passes by he would have to come receive a new one.

Unlike when we first met, Zelretch now looks like a man just entering his middle ages. He has grown a bit, and now stands even taller, at around six feet seven inches, he still looks attractive, and with a stronger physique. He has dark hair that constantly blends with his low top hat, a strong jaw with the same beard from canon, bold eyebrows, and slightly luminescent green eyes. Over his strong build, he wears a burgundy form fitting tuxedo with a white button down shirt and burgundy tie. In his hands he wears white formal gloves, and brown formal shoes on his feet.

"What is this?" he asks as he picks my finished project.

"That is the completed version of the Soul Preservator. It is yours." I tell him.

"Oh. This is a permanent version of the one I am currently wearing." he says as he examines the mystic code.

The mystic code is the culmination of all my research on how a dead apostle's healing works mixed with my incomplete form of the Heaven's Feel magic. It is made of the same materials as my rune suit and has the same transformative, self cleaning, and body cleaning functions. Unlike the rune suit however, this mystic code's purpose does not lie in the field of combat. Rather its purpose is to keep the wielder alive by keeping the soul from degrading and keeping the body in its current physical shape.

"The suit has three main functions." I tell him as he goes to a side room in the workshop to put it on. "The first of the main functions and it focuses on the preservation of the soul. When one puts the suit on and activates it, this function will do exactly as it says and stop all forms of degradation in the soul."

Coming back from the room, Zelretch looks exactly the same. However, I can tell that he is currently wearing the rune suit and just transformed it to look like his previous tuxedo.

"How do I activate it?" he asks me.

"Be patient, and listen to what I have to say. This suit comes with its own sets of dangers." I firmly tell him.

Seeing him sit down on a bench near the table and look at me expectantly, I continue with my explanation.

"The second of its function is to keep the suit itself from never failing, whether because it is damaged or due to the ravages of time. By studying how a vampire's body turns its time backwards to heal, I was able to implement a similar function on the suit so that it may never fail. Similar to how a vampire's immortality is flawed, so is this one. It runs on blood and magical energy from both the environment and you. Unlike a vampire however, the suit will only need one pint of blood every six months while the magical energy from you and the environment will do the rest. It is also how it achieves its third function, keeping your body in its current physical shape."

"So the suit cannot break?" asks Zelretch.

"It can. However, only through the same methods that it takes to kill a dead apostle however. Also it does not heal injuries. It only stops your body from growing older and weaker." I reply.

"Alright,-" he says as he scratches his beard. "-what are the dangers of it?"

"Honestly, there is only one. However, it is a major one. You should avoid taking it off." I reply.

"It is the world's own adjustment that is the problem isn't it? If I take it off, my body will age to match what it should be." states Zelretch.

"That is correct." I answer with a nod. "However, I found a way to circumvent that, which is why I said avoid taking it off. In order to avoid the wrath of the "world's own adjustment" that sets in when the field is removed you should draw a dragon enveloping the rune array which passes from the rune suit to another object that is of similar size to you, but that you do not care about. On this sacrificial object, inscribe a Gebo rune lying in opposition, when the Stasis Field is removed the adjustment of your body's "incorrect time" will pass from it to the sacrifice instead, causing it to rapidly age and to break down. If you do not do this, then your body and soul will rapidly age to match what it should rightfully be."

"I see. That leaves me with one question however." he says. "How come I did not have to do that for the previous suits?"

"Because I did it for you, and whenever I attempted to teach it to you, you would run off to Jupiter knows where." I answer with annoyance clear in my voice.

"Right. My apologies." he says with absolutely no sympathy or apology in his voice.

"Right." I say sarcastically with a roll of my eyes. "What is it that you originally came for?"

"There has been a split in the Association. One faction wishes to continue researching magecraft from the Age of Gods, while another wishes to research more practical, and modern magecraft." answers Zelretch.

"And that concerns me because?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

I have no idea why he is bringing this to my attention. As far as I know the Mage's Association is barely an organisation right now, and I have absolutely no interest in dealing with mages full time. Even in this time, mages are still arrogant, and I would not be surprised if the faction of those who hate me wish to elevate themselves by bringing me down. Especially since I had to be saved by Zelretch in my battle against Crimson Moon. It has somehow become a misconception that while I am powerful, as long as I do not master a True Magic, I will always be an obstacle that can be defeated eventually.

The one time that I decide not to correct people's misconceptions, and it backfires on me. Secluding myself in the woods behind formidable defenses, for them anyway, most likely did not help my situation. They see me as the pinnacle of what a magus can achieve without mastering Magic.

"The second faction wishes for you to back them." he says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I raise an eyebrow as I contemplate what he just told me. He would have thought that the faction that is to become the infamous Clocktower would actually respect me and look towards me for guidance. It began as a rumour. Someone managed to find out that Scathach and I were the very same Ambrosius and Scathach from the legend of Cu Chulainn and spread it. No one believed it at first, and it was easily dismissed as false.

However, they had proof and spread it to the most prominent mage families in the Association. As it turns out, many of our battles throughout the years were witnessed by the familiars of mages who were attracted by the sound of battle and magecraft being used. Throughout the years, Scathach and I have never bothered to change how we fight, especially not what magecraft we use.

All it took was for those mage families to exchange information of our sightings with each other, and our identities were no longer secret. Ever since then, I have been somewhat of a leader in that faction. Of course as with everything there are skeptics, those are the arrogant mages that are in denial. They firmly believe that I am a descendant of said warrior at best, and a faker at worst.

With a shake of my head, I push those thoughts to the back of my mind.

"What do they have in mind?" I ask Zelretch.

"They are currently planning a meeting for sometime near the end of the century on how to proceed with magecraft. Especially since the last remnants of the Age of Gods are leaving." he says.

Before I can answer him, the bounded field around the castle's land alerts me to an intruder in the woods.

Connecting to the bounded field, I examine the intruder and cannot help but be intrigued. The intruder is female, clearly of fairy origins, and is doing a surprisingly good job of getting through my defenses. Granted there was absolutely no effort put into implementing them. It is impressive regardless due to the fact that to be able to do so one must be at least as physically powerful as a servant with C rank in all attributes. However, I can easily tell that the intruder barely qualifies as D rank in physical parameters, and is using some crude, yet impressive enhancement magic to make up for that.

Eventually the intruder makes it to the drawbridge of the castle and stands there to catch their breath.

"It looks like I have a visitor." I say as I turn to face Zelretch.

"They certainly aren't from the Mage's Association. Even the faction who despises you know that you are an existence that they cannot antagonize." he answers.

"Let us see who they are, and what they want." I say as I grab his shoulder and teleport us to the drawbridge, in front of the intruder.

The intruder is a woman, tall, beautiful young woman with long pale hair and blue eyes wearing a form fitting blue dress and shoes. Her eyes are full of sadness and denial, yet there is a certain conviction there that I have only seen in those who have gone on to become legends. She carries herself with a certain amount of pride that can only come from being part of a nobility. She honestly reminds me of Lancer Artoria, only with a smaller breast size.

What really draws my attention to her however, is her magical energy. Even though her circuits are currently dormant, I can feel the dense and plentiful magical power rolling off her in waves.

"Welcome." I say as I appear in front of her and startling her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Are you by any chance Ambrosius Malphas?" she asks with her proud and enchanting voice.

"Indeed I am, and the fool next to me is Zelretch." I answer and ignore Zelretch's indignant cry. "How may I help you?"

"Please take me as your apprentice!" she exclaims as she bows towards me.

"Unfortunately, I cannot do so. It would be a waste of both of our times." I tell her.

She looks up at me, and immediately I can tell that she misunderstood my meaning.

"You see, I do not believe that I would be a good teacher for a mage as talented as you. For you see I heavily specialize in rune and soul magecraft." I explain before she can say anything.

"Regardless, I need to be as powerful as you to achieve my goal. So please, teach me!" she exclaims one more time.

"While I would not be a good teacher for you, I do in fact know someone that would be perfect for the task." I tell her with a smile. "Follow me and I shall introduce you."

With wide, thankful eyes, the young woman straightens herself out and follows me, her steps easily telling me that she has some experience with combat and is not just a naive noble.

"By the way,-" I say as I turn to face her. "-you never did introduce yourself."

"Pardon my lack of manners. My name is Morgan, Morgan le Fay." she introduces herself.

While I manage to keep my composure, the connection still hits me like a truck. It explains why she reminded me of lancer Artoria. I am about to have Morgan le Fay apprentice under Scathach of all people. May the gods have mercy on the world.