A diffrence of ideals.

Antares POV

"So, what do we have on her?" I asked.

"Not much really, before marrying Uther Pendragon, she really hasn't done anything significant. Her background consists of simply going to school, practicing kendo and swordsmanship. Perhaps the only special thing about it is the fact that she is from a family rumored to be descended from Sasaki Kojiro. But even then that is only rumored, not confirmed." Answered the milf in disguise, Kaya.

"So, she is some kind of secret agent of church?"

"I wouldn't say that. I would simply say she is suspicious."

"how so?"

"Well, when you look at for example.....Sirzechs Lucifer's background, everything is detailed quite nicely. He was born at this date, he was about 50 years old when he had a fight with a descendant of Beelzebub in which Grayfia Lucifuge had to be involved and it goes on from there. Everything is nicely put and detailed. However when you look at Lady Pendragon's background, it feels summarized, and it seems like it had a bunch of time skips in the middle of it. These time skips may be clues that this person's profile has been tampered with. When you see a time skip like....she went to school and practiced kendo before marrying Uther Pendragon, chances are there were some things that happened in between her education and their meeting, but someone removed those details, making her a bit suspicious."

So basically, there is too little information about her, which makes her suspicious.

"Can we determine her goals in anyway?" I asked.

"No, we cannot. Her allegiance to the church is questionable, she has been married to Uther Pendragon for 16 years now, so it is likely that she may have sided with them and betrayed the church over the course of time. But even then she is still an enemy. The only other possibility is if there is third party interference." She concluded.

"Well, there is third party interference. We are the third party. Hypothetically, the question is if i can interfere, then what if someone else is also interfering. A fourth party."

"Hypothetically, through process of elimination, it wouldn't be Grigori, fallen angels are a lot more direct with their approach, choosing to kill people like psychopaths and then scheme. It wouldn't be the old satan faction either, satan descendants are too prideful to ever think of a human as anything valuable. So unless we are counting some rogue terrorist group, we are down to our own faction, or another mythology entirely. In which case i would say the chances of some noble devil from underworld being involved is higher than the chances of another pantheon being involved."

"So we can conclude that she is an enemy in any hypothetical case right? There is no reason to care about her motives, just determining our approach when it comes to dealing with her." I asked, getting back to the original subject of conversation.

"We can pretty much conclude that she is an enemy regardless of everything else. There is no hypothetical case in which she suddenly becomes an ally to us, and even if that case existed, we wouldn't have enough evidence to trust her anyway." Kaya concluded.

That said however, we should still know her goals if we are going to safely deal with her.

"Kaya, what is the most likely scenario you can give me, that explains both her allegiance and her motives." I asked.

She was silent for a half a minute, thinking about her answer.

"The most likely scenario, is that she is working for her own benefits. She joined the church at some point, that much is for certain. But then, she accepted to infiltrate the Pendragon family, not only because of the church's orders, but also because of her own personal benefits. Perhaps they have something she wanted. So her personal goal, happened to match that of the church. Thinking about it this way, it is even possible that she wasn't a member of the church.

Another scenario, she married Uther Pendragon for her own personal reasons, and the church simply made contact with her and turns out their goals aligned with each other. The most likely scenario is that she is working for herself and using the resources of the church." Kaya finally answered.

Her own goals huh. So Kaya is thinking that she may not be a pawn at the end. But then, the problem with that theory is that, what goals does she have that has taken her 16 years to reach?

"It might be for the best, if you talk to the second sister. She is the one who spent the most time with their mother, she might know something." Kaya suggested.

Well that makes things simpler. I was going to talk to her anyway.

"Anything else i should be worrying about?"

"Stella reported that tomorrow is the day of ceremony. They will begin at early morning."

Great. Time limit is the one thing i was missing.

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(Artoria POV)

Reaching the dinning hall with my mother in tow, i mentally prepared myself for the conversation ahead of me. It is important to prepare, you won't get so angry or pissed off if you already know its gonna happen. So mental preparations before meetings like this are needed.

Doors open up, and i get to see servants roaming around, my attention momentarily goes to the peculiar maid, before landing on the man sitting at the head of the table, my ultimate headache.

"Welcome darling, Artoria. The food is ready to be served. Don't let it go to waste." He says with a polite smile that didn't exactly fool anyone.

Accepting the offer, we both sat at the table and starting eating the deliciousies prepared by the servants. The food is good, much better than the church's food.

A tense silence forms in the room. Everyone waited for the other to start a conversation, finally Uther began.

"Artoria, preparations have been done for tomorrow. You will officially become the next head of the family and the wield of Caliburn. I want you to know i am proud of your achievements daughter."

I took a moment to swallow those words before responding.

"What will we do with the fragments of Excalibur?"

"The 3 that were collected by you, were given to our best alchemists after tomorrow's ceremony. They will be combined with Excalibur ruler to become something greater than before."

Giving him a nod of acknowledgement, i ask a question that has been lingering in my mind for the longest time.

"Will my sister, Morgan be able to enjoy tomorrow's festivities as well?"

It is not as if i hadn't accepted my father's attitude towards my sister, but rather, that i am curious to know the reason behind it. A desire to seek closure you could say.

"Morgan will not be able to witness the ceremonies as it may be dangerous for you." He explains.

"Dangerous for me? What kind of danger are you talking about father?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"It is my duty in this household to protect and nurture you to be the perfect leader daughter. And Morgan is a threat to that, so obviously she is deemed to be dangerous."

I gritted my teeth on that. Threaten? The perfect leader? What is this guy on about?

"when you look at me, what do you see Artoria? How do you call me?" Perhaps seeing through my thoughts he decided to ask that question.

"I see the head of Pendragon family, i call you Uther Pendragon." I responded.

"Exactly. Uther Pendragon, that is my name. I am not truly the head of this house Artoria. Merely a person holding the seat for the true head."

After saying that, he fell silent for a few seconds before continuing:

"The true head of this family, has always been Arthur Pendragon. It has been decided so since the moment you were born my daughter. I, Uther Pendragon, merely have the responsibility to clean the path for you, to nurture you towards becoming the perfect leader, and give the seat to you. Naturally, it is also my responsibility to empower you, that is why i asked you to gather the Excalibur fragments. It is all for the good of you and the family. At the same time, it is also my job to take care of things that may threaten you in any way. This is why your sister will not witness tomorrow's ceremony. In fact i would like it if you would cut your connection with her entirely. The witch has reincarnated, this is a serious threat to the current Arthur Pendragon. A threat i will not allow. I will not repeat the same mistake my ancestors made my daughter. I will ensure this family's safety. I will not allow her to bring you to ruin."

Silent.

I kept the observation haki focused on his body the entire time. There was never any sign of him lying.

This man... he actually did all of it for my sake?

This is his life's work?

I simply sat there and silently swallowed his words. Their meaning, his motives, his actions, everything.

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Is this what they call, unwanted or misdirected love?

I never asked for this.

I finished my food and excused myself. Not even in the mood to ask for seconds.

I went back to my room, a storm of thoughts in my head.

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At the same time, Stella and Emilia were also on the move to fix some last minute problems.

Calmly walking out of the dinning hall, Stella changed her direction from the kitchen to the room where she had last felt the presence of 3 fragments of Excalibur.

An irritating smirk on her face as she thought of what she is about to do just now.

Reaching the room, she put up a barrier that disables detection from physical and magical puppets.

Not even bothering to knock anymore, she just busted the door open. Coming face to face with a bunch of people in lab coats, researching the fragments and the holy energy emitting from them.

Not wasting time with chitchat, She immediately sped towards them and knocked them all out with a punch to the face.

Poor researchers did not even notice what had hit them.

After knocking them out, she pulled out a flier and put some power into it, resulting in a circle appearing in the middle of the room. Just then, 2 people came out of the circle, a blonde but sadly flat chested beauty carrying a big bag with her, along with a purple haired busty girl.

These 2 were Astrid Purson and Clara Eligos.

They gave Stella a nod of greeting before each getting to their work.

Astrid opened her bag and took out 3 swords that were exactly identical to the 3 that the alchemists were looking at. These were fake Excalibur swords made to replace the real ones. A result achieved by a combination of her own skills, clan trait and a nerfed essence of mad doctor.

Theoretically speaking, there should only be 2 differences between the fake ones and the real ones.

Firstly, the real swords were made by using alchemy to turn the shattered fragments of the original Excalibur, into 7 swords. The fake ones do not have those fragments but they still possess their abilities.

This leads to the second diffrence. Since the swords do not posses the fragments, it is fair to say that they do not originate from the same pieces. This results in them being impossible to merge, unless the person doing the job also possesses mad doctor's essence. This way the true Excalibur will never come to fruition.

According to their master, this had to be done in order to reduce the political headache, whenever the church figures out they were robbed. And to also ruin some unfortunate individual's future plans.

Replacing the swords, her job was done here.

On the other hand, Clara was here to clean their tracks. Her power over memories allowing her to change these researcher's perception of the last few seconds of their lives.

They will now think that they were simply working on the swords. No memories of a demonic maid busting in and knocking them out. And certainly no memory of Excaliburs being diffrent in any way. This was just to be careful. Maybe the real Excaliburs had reacted to some materials that the fake ones won't. If that does happen then the plan is busted.

But didn't we just establish that the fake ones have only 2 differences with the real ones?

Well, it is important to pay attention to the word 'Theoretically'. Its not like Astrid had access to the real swords.

Perhaps at some point, someone would figure out these are fakes. But at that time, it wouldn't matter anymore. They wouldn't be able to trace it back to Antares and Artoria would become his knight, giving her the necessary protection to avoid any sudden consequences for these actions. If anything, they would just blame the Pendragon family.

Finishing their jobs, the teleportation circle once again lit up, and moments later, they were both gone again.

Stella put the researchers back on their chairs, fixed the door and then walk away after dissolving her barrier.

Mission accomplished.

On the other hand with Emilia, things were a bit more complicated.

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The situation of this room was.....questionable. The best way to explain it would perhaps be saying, "all of my sexual fetishes in one picture."

In a rather dark room, litted only by some candles, 3 people were naked as the day they were born. 2 males and 1 female. They had blindfolds on their faces, their hands were chained and legs spread out. Lots of 'tools' all around them, and some traces of blood could be seen around them as well.

In front of them, was a beautiful nun. The red color of blood on her hands and some on her face, only serving to make her even more beautiful. A long nail was in her hands as she once again got close to the chained woman in the middle.

"I don't understand. You all do realise why you are here, i have explained it to you. You all also wish to get out of here as fast as possible, i can feel the desire to run away. So then, why do you keep insisting on continuing the same game. It has been 5 days now you know? Well, five days inside that is." The nun said.

As she said this The room lit up for a moment with a bunch of crystals going green. This room uses the Agares family's technique and the evil piece's crystals to manipulate time. It was put together just in case the 'questioning' took more time than expected. There are also 3 barriers around the room, the first of which was sound proof, making sure no amount of screaming would get anyone's attention.

"The other 2 idiots talked and then they walked out of here you know. You should follow their example too. It won't take much, just answer a single question. Everything you know, about Miss. Alessia."

It is worth mentioning that the 2 other idiots had nails stabbed in their brains, instantly killing them, with none being knowledgable about them.

"I don't really get it. Why do you refuse to talk? Is it loyalty? To whom? To the lady of the house? I don't believe that. You were a nurse before becoming a maid here. Your entire career took a very sudden change because you helped a single woman deliver a child. Your feelings should be conflicted at best. So then is it because of a spell? If that was the case, then you don't need to worry about anything at all. I have already fixed that, there is no spell on you. So the only thing left to consider would be if you are loyal to the little girl herself."

As the nun said this, the woman slightly flinched, not too experienced in keeping her emotions in check while being tortured.

This of course caused the nun to smile widely.

"Ah so that is the case, i see. Well, it does make some sense when you think about it. you were there from the moment she was born. You were her babysitter, her playmate, the one who cooked and took care of her, i would even wager she calls you 'mom' sometimes."

As the nun was monologuing, the woman was getting more and more scared, it was evident from her body shaking a bunch of times.

"Well, you don't need to worry about anything at all. In fact we are here to protect that child and her sister. You see my master has developed a good relationship with the older girl, so we will help them both get out of here. Maybe you will come with us too? Get to call her you 'daughter' for real?" The nun continued.

The woman stopped shaking entirely, for a moment it seemed, the fantasy of getting away from here with her 'daughter' seemed too beautiful for her mind to comprehend.

The nun removed the blindfold from her eyes, staring into her teary eyes.

"This could become so much more peaceful. If you just speak let us take care of the things you cannot do."

"Witch..." The woman finally muttered in a low tone.

"hmm?"

"A witch, she is a witch. I have seen her using spells on the servants of the house. She used one on myself, but Morgan broke that spell. She said not to get close to Alessia, because she is a witch."

The nun, silently contemplated on her words. Minutes passed but the nun didn't speak. Finally the silence was broken when the door was opened. Revealing a beautiful girl in maid outfit.

"Are you done here? We don't have time to invest in this anymore." Said the maid, Stella.

"Yes i believe so, please destroy the bodies and teleport the woman somewhere safe, i am not well versed in magic." Replied the nun, Emilia.

That was the moment when the woman finally looked to her right and left, finally finding out that the 2 man weren't allowed to leave the room at all, and that she was tricked. For a moment she wanted to scream in both fear and desperation. But suddenly the nun's hand came and grabbed her mouth, stopping any of her attempts.

"I assume this one is somehow useful or important to us. Very well, i will do the rest from here." Said the maid.

The nun, nodded her head and walked out the room, leaving the maid with only the 2 dead bodies she recognized as that of the 2 exorcists, and a terrified woman.

Inwardly letting out a sigh at her partner's taste, she got to work.

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'Master, from what the church exorcists have said, there are 2 artifacts and 2 holy sword the church is mainly after. There is Caliburn, Excalibur ruler, Avalon and Rhongomyniad. This mission was issued for them to rob the artifacts and allow Artoria to come into possession of the holy swords with which, she would then support the church. But of course, things took a turn when Artoria proved to be too hard to manipulate.' Reported Emilia, inside of my head.

Those are all some very nice things i could rob. Though, just to make sure.

'Tell me what Avalon and Rhongomyniad both. do.' I mentally asked.

'Avalon was said to be a sheath capable of infinite regeneration and immortality, as long as the user is capable of fueling it with energy. Rhongomyniad is actually a very simple holy lance. It's power is comparable to the original Excalibur. The main ability of Rhongomyniad is it's ability to pierce any defense. Or so thats what we are taught at the church.' She responded.

'Alright. Try to find the location of these artifacts them.'

'On it master.'

With that we cut the connection.

Standing in front of a door leading to a special girl's bedroom, i prepared myself to give her an early christmas gift.

I knocked on the door, waiting for a reply with my long ass gift in my hands.

Opening the door is a girl that looks identical to artoria with the only diffrence being her hair is a bit more pale and she has a diffrent eye color.

Its like someone told them 'You don't look like siblings' and their genes decided to take that personally.

Immediately after seeing me, she went on guard and even made a magic circle behind her dress just in case.

"Who are you?" She asked.

Pretending fright, i responded:

"I am a kind little faerie who has come here to play with a girl my age. I have heard she is called Morgan. Did i come to the wrong room? I even got her a present." I said with tears threatening to come out of my eyes, while showing my present.

Insert cute childlike noises and depressed pouting at the end.

"Ehh... no this is Morgan, you have come to the correct place, i will play with you, please don't cry now, its in the middle of the night." She responded, while waving her hand in the air.

Yeah, i have gotten way too good at this. Its actually kind of concerning.

Going inside, i see a room obsessively decorated with blue and white colors which only served to make her more in sync with everything. Making a scene of art.

"You really do have a present. Are you sure it is for me though? I only recieve presents from one of the servants here. Besides, tomorrow is my sister's day, could it be you have come to the wrong person?" She said, curiously but also with a tinge of sadness in it.

"Hmm, i was told i will be playing with a magic girl, you know the ones that can do awesome tricks, so i decided to get her this." I told her as i unwrapped my gift, showing off a beautiful magic staff that also has a small sword sheathed in it in case of close combat. Perfect for a little magic girl.

As i handed her the staff, i saw a shocked expression on her face, before a tear uncontrollably dropped from her left eye.

Sheltered, abused children and all that huh.

As she went to grab the staff however, our hands touched, and in that moment, Archmage helped me sense something i wish i hadn't.

A sigil. A purple sigil was placed on her very soul. I didn't need Archmage to realise that a sigil on a person's soul can only be dangerous. It can never be anything good.

By the time i came out of my thoughts, she had already took the staff and hidden it under her bed.

Smart girl.

"You have....lots of dolls around. Do you have some kind of game you would like us to play with them?" I asked.

Her eyes went wide with excitement at that thought, before she pulled a big unicorn from the side of her bed, and another dragon like doll beside it.

So dragons knights and princesses huh.

"Here, you will be the knight that will ride this giant Unicorn. Isn't that amazing?" She said with excitement. Too pure.

Unicorn's only allowed female virgins to ride them no?

Anyway, i will humor you for tonight.

With a gentle smile, i joined in her fantasy.

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After hours of playing with her dolls, she fell sleep on top of her dragon doll.

Its ironic you know?

How life can show you such beautiful images inside such hellish places.

The sigil placed on her, was analyzed during these hours.

It is in fact a sigil used to switch souls. In other words, body jumping.

I couldn't find the other end of the sigil, but it doesn't really take a genius to put 2 and 2 together.

I have my answer now. This was the objective that took 16 years for mommy to complete.

Looks like i will be very busy tomorrow.

Satan damn it. This is some Kenjaku level bullshit.