Fate/Alpha

So, after reading certain fics, most notably X the Reaper's "Fate/Zero Sanity" which you guys should also check out, I've decided to throw my own hat into the "Replace every servant except Saber, and possibly Rider and Archer, in Fate/Zero" ring.

Note that this fic will be based on my personal interpretation of the Fate series which means certain details, large and small, will differ greatly from the canonical version of the franchise. In addition, certain aspects from one of the new Servant's universe will be added to this version as well.

Also, due to certain issues surrounding the background of one of the other Servants, I will be adding stuff to their background that hasn't happened in their actual stories due to their actual stories still being ongoing.

Finally, I'd like to thank DocHoliday0316 for helping me with this chapter! Seriously, you guys should thank him and the best way to do that is to check his fics out. He also plans to do a Fate fic of his own... though one that's a bit... different than most.

Anyways, with that out of the way, here goes nothing! ...Oh and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Fate series or any of the other series which appear in this fic. Any characters and other related items are the property of their respective copyright holders.

Please fave, follow, and review this story.

Opening Song: "Disillusion 2010" by Sachi Tainaka (Fate/Stay Night)

Ending Song: "Memoria" by Eir Aoi (Fate/Zero)

Chapter 1 - Unforeseen Circumstances

"I am the Alpha... the First... the Beginning"

-Abridged Except from the Book of Revelation 22:13

In a world between worlds, there existed an item, a chalice known as the Holy Grail. Despite what most people might assume, however, it is not the sacred chalice used by Christ and his 12 Apostles during the Last Supper but is instead a magical device created by three powerful families of mages, the Tohsakas, the Matous, and the Einzberns. This device had the power to grant a single wish to whoever uses it, and is the center of a conflict known as the Holy Grail War.

In this war, the Grail chooses seven mages who then summon seven Servants, legendary heroes reborn anew to fight in this war under one of seven classes: Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber. The mages, with their Servants at their side, then fight each to the death using whatever methods they need to win, all for the chance of being granted a wish of their choice upon their victory, whatever it might be.

Unbeknownst to everyone, however, a terrible darkness has consumed the once-pure Grail. After three inconclusive Grail War, and a series of unforeseen events, an irregular Servant who was killed in the Third Grail War, known as Angra Mainyu, had managed to become the consciousness of the Grail, corrupting it to his will. Now the spirit of Angra Mainyu waited for the day that someone would finally break the deadlock of the Grail Wars and set him loose onto the world...

[Unknown Dimension]

Current Time...

...and, after 57 years of waiting, with 3 more years to go until the next Grail War, Angra Mainyu was BORED. Despite being the consciousness of a device that exists beyond time, Angra Maiynu was once human and had to deal with human emotions, or at least his corrupted version of human emotions, and waiting around in a dimension filled with nothing to do for any long stretch of time would cause any human being to feel the worst kind of boredom they could imagine. And this boredom had led to Angra looking to the upcoming Grail War, the Fourth one overall and the first with a corrupted Grail as the unfortunate prize, and the Servants who were to be summoned.

While Angra, or the "Grail" since Angra was now the consciousness, already planned to spice things up by adding an eighth Servant into the mix, he still was unsure about the seven Servants who had been chosen as its thoughts on the roster were, to put it mildly, mixed.

At least three of the Servants, who all happened to be kings, were interesting enough to keep. Saber was a chivalrous badass whose identity had secured his place in the Grail War in Angra's figurative eyes. Archer was a contender for the most arrogant glamorous douchebag in history, but that lent a certain charm to the Servant who was more than able to back up his pride with his awesome power. Finally, Rider was the manliest man of manliness who had a charisma that stole the show, so to speak, wherever he goes and was so badass that Angra wished he could just have this guy be the Rider for every Grail War.

These three Servants clearly made the cut... the other Servants, however, were not as interesting for Angra.

Lancer, while capable, was a less interesting carbon copy of both Saber and Berserker who focused too much on his honor and sense of "fairness." Berserker himself would have been interesting, what with his background and relation to Saber, if he had been mentally strong enough to prevent his would-be Master from turning him into a growling psychotic mute like every other Berserker; sadly, this was not the case. Caster, meanwhile, was simply too creepy in all the wrong ways for Angra's tastes while Assassin was the worst of all the Servants, having almost no personality whatsoever, and the little it did have was split among multiple copies. Clearly, in Angra's "mind," these Servants were lacking in many aspects.

Besides, Throne of Heroes wasn't lacking in more interesting heroes to choose from... especially if one counts those heroes from alternate dimensions that also resided in the Throne of Heroes.

Therefore, after considering it's options, the corrupted Grail made a decision.

"Eh, fuck it. The rules are already being bent, so let's bend them as far as possible," the Grail thought.

So the Grail "looked" at the myriad of heroes and choose four new Servants for the Assassin, Berserker, Caster, and Lancer class. As the Grail made its choices, it "grinned" at the thought of how Saber, Rider, Archer, and the masters would deal with these new choices.

Before it was done, however, the Grail made sure to make its pick for the eighth Servant who would fill a new class not seen before in the Grail Wars. Being that Angra was once the irregular Avenger-class servant, it was tempted to have another of his class join the fray but, ultimately, it went for a more unorthodox choice. While the chosen class presented certain risks to the Grail itself, however, its pent-up boredom meant that it couldn't resist the potential entertainment the specific hero chosen for the eighth servant could provide so it choose the class that best suited that servant.

Besides, giving the class it choose for this Servant, it's not like the servant could actually win the War himself.

After making these changes, the Grail "relaxed" as it waited for the Fourth Holy Grail War to come in three years. Regardless of whatever happened, and whoever won, lost, lived, or died, it would definitely be very enjoyable.

[Unspecified Warehouse. Fuyuki City]

Three Years Later...

The year is 1994, and the time for the Fourth Grail War to start was only weeks away. The seven masters had all been chosen to participate and all of them, save for one who, were either actively preparing the ritual or were about to summon their Servant, having already finished their preparations.

Among those in the latter category of Masters was one Kirei Kotomine, a former Executor (basically a person who kills demons and "heretics") of the Church. Despite having excelled in almost every field associated with the Executors, which made him a formidable opponent, he was, in his mind, still unprepared for this conflict between mages.

Complicating things further for him was that, based on what he knew about the Grail Wars, he did not understand why he was chosen by this Holy Grail to fight in the war. The closest thing to a desire that Kirei had was to know why he the way he was, which is something that he didn't want to think about.

The only reason he even bothered to participate in the Grail War, as far as he was concerned, was because of external factors or, rather, one external factor: his father, Risei Kotomine.

When the Command Seals marking him as a master in the war appeared on Kirei's hand three years earlier, Risei brought him to meet a man name Tokiomi Tohsaka, a magus who was an acquaintance of his father and who had good relations with the Church. Tokiomi had explained the entire situation to Kirei. Tokiomi, who was also chosen to be part of the Grail War, then explained why he was telling Kirei all this information and why Risei brought the Executor to see him.

The three families of mages who had originally created the Grail had done so with the intention of reaching something called Akasha, which was also known to the mages as "the root of all knowledge." Over time, however, the Matous and Einzberns have strayed from this goal and now desire the Grail for their own reasons, with only the Tohsakas remaining true to the original goal. As such Risei, knowing that he could trust Tokiomi and that the Tohsaka's goal wouldn't lead to the destruction of the world, decided to cast his lot with Tokiomi so that the Tohsaka head would win the war.

Since Risei could not directly support Tokiomi, however, as he was supposed to be the "impartial" mediator for the Grail, Tokiomi and Risei decided to have Kirei, who was thankfully chosen to participate in the upcoming war, fight as part of an alliance with Tokiomi. To that end, Tokiomi offered to train Kirei in the ways of the Magus so that he could aid the Tohsaka family head.

While he himself had no true desire for the Grail, at least from what he could tell, Kirei decided to take Tokiomi on his offer. Now, after three years of training under the Tohsaka family head, he now stood in the middle of this abandoned warehouse, the preparations for the summoning of his servant. Tokiomi had provided Kirei with the shattered remains of the skull mask of Hassan-i-Sabbah (AKA "The Old Man of the Mountain"), who was the intended summon, keyword being INTENDED, which was placed in the summoning circle located in the center of the warehouse from where the Servant would emerge.

"It is time," Kirei said before he began the chant.

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg.

The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate.

Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).

Repeat every five times.

Simply, shatter once filled.

――――I announce.

Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword.

In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.

Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.

You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!"

Upon finishing his incantation Kirei was forced to shield his eyes as a bright flash of light filled the room before immediately dissipating almost as quickly as it happened, at which point he opened his eyes and got a good first look at his Servant.

It became clear to Kirei that something was wrong, even if his facial expression didn't change to reflect this anxiety. While he didn't know what to expect, it was clear based on appearances alone that this Servant was NOT "Hundred-Faced Hassan"; hell, the Servant was clearly not even of Middle Eastern descent.

What stood in the summoning circle in place of Hassan was a man of Caucasian descent who appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties. The man had hawk-like brown eyes, wavy brown hair, a rather prominent nose, and a goatee.

The man was dressed in a rather bulky suit of armor over grey robes. The most notable thing about said armor was brown fur that was padded around a pauldron and neck. He also wore a red hooded rove, though said hood was pulled down, and a red cape that had gold trimming. Said cape was held in place by a silver eagle on his right shoulder. Completing the armor was a set of vambraces, greaves, and brown boots. On his right hand was what appeared to be a silver metal cestus. On his waist was a belt that contained pouches for various equipment, along with several throwing knives. Asides from that, there was also grey dagger and a very distinct silver sword. The sword's cross guard resembled a spread eagle's wings, and the pommel was in the shape of an eagle's head. Mounted on the right side of his back was a small crossbow pistol.

The Servant simply stood still for several tense moments before he turned to face Kirei and spoke.

"Io sono il Servitore, Assassino (I am the Servant. Assassin.). I take it you are my Maestro (Master)?" the Servant asked in Italian, which Kirei recognized due to his time in the Church, specifically from what he learned during various trips to Italy.

"Yes, I am... Ezio Auditore," Kirei answered, while lifting his left arm to show his Command Seals.

Kirei's observation of Assassin's dialogue, coupled with his knowledge about the Servant's attire and armaments, left no doubt that this was not "The Old Man of the Mountain"... but it also left no doubt as to Assassin's true identity.

"Bene (Good). Then our contract is complete. That said, however, I must ask padre (father)... how you know my name?" Assassin asked, having noticed the priestly attire of his master, with a raised eyebrow.

Kirei, his expression as impassable as it has always been, decided to enlighten his Servant.

"Your exploits are well known to both the Church and the Mage's Association as well as they are to the Assassins and, if they were still here, the Templars; besides, you attire, armor, and armaments were a dead give away based on the records we have. The Grail will grant you knowledge of everything that's happened since your time any moment, though, so its best you save anymore questions that you might have for a little while," Kirei pointed out.

Assassin nodded in understanding before speaking again.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, I think it's time to leave this place and head to your hideout," Assassin suggested while lifting up his hood, which now covered most of his upper face.

Kirei nodded in agreement and motioned for Assassin to follow him before walking out of the building, the former head of the Assassin Order in tow.

While he was still surprised with the Servant he got but, all things considered, he might be better off than if he had summoned the intended Servant.

Assuming the Assassins don't freak out when they found out about this summoning, it ultimately doesn't matter who Assassin is as far as Kirei was concerned (regardless, Kirei knew he had to contact his father and Tokiomi to inform them of this development).

After all, it's not like things could go further astray in this war... right...?

[Penthouse Suite, Fuyuki City Hyatt Hotel]

Three Weeks Later...

Kirei wasn't the only Master who would learn that the Catalyst they used to summon their Servant were, for all intents and purposes, rendered useless.

Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, the current head of the Archibald magus family, was currently looking at the Servant he just summoned with a confused scowl on his face (a look that his Servant returned in kind). Kayneth's confusion was shared by his fiance, Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri (or Sola-Ui for short), who looked at the Servant with equal amounts of confusion and surprise, though she expressed it by holding her mouth and the confusion and surprise showing mostly in her hazel eyes. One couldn't blame either Magus for their reactions, though, given the context of the situation.

Originally, Kayneth had planned to summon Rider, with the catalyst being a remnant of the cape worn by the legendary warrior Alexander the Great. That plan was shot to hell, however, when someone stole the cape, showing just how bad Kayneth was as safeguarding valuables. Despite this setback, Kayneth, who knew that he had many rivals who might've wanted to pull a stunt like this, was able to shift gears, having acquired a backup catalyst just in case something like this happened. His backup catalysts were the remnants of the mythical swords Moralltach and Beagalltach which would be used to summon Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, also known as Diarmuid of the Love Spot, who would be summoned as Lancer despite the catalysts being two swords instead of spears. Kayneth had performed the ritual perfect and he knew the catalysts were absolutely authentic, having the blades checked again and again to make sure of it, but it was clear that something had gone wrong as the being that stood before him and Sola-Ui was DEFINITELY NOT Diarmuid.

Instead, he got a very large Asian man (who's features made it hard for Kayneth or Sola-Ui to even try to approximate an age), roughly 6'10" in height and seemingly of a very muscular build, with green eyes and black hair that was spiky at the front and tied in a ponytail in the back that reached down in his upper back.

The man wore a fairly bulky suit of black armor that covered most of his body, with the front of the breastplate decorated with golden fittings that took the appearance of a demon's face, save for his head as he wore no helmet. In place of a helmet, he wore a rather elaborate gold and green headpiece that sat on top of his head, right in front of his ponytail, from which seemed to sprout two very long, red, antenna-like (for like of a better term) feathers that draped down behind him and flowing out to either side of his rather large frame, the tips of both "antennae" reaching almost down to the man's knees.

Finally, the man's right hand was grasping a weapon, clearly the Servant's Noble Phantasm, which took the form of a massive golden halberd, with a large red jewel embedded in the center of bladed part (seemingly made from a single piece), which was complemented by a red horse-hair tassel tied just below the killing parts of the weapon. Also located underneath the head of the weapon was a purple grip-like cover which was exactly like the purple grip located near the bottom end of the weapon's shaft (curiously, the man was not gripping the weapon with either grip but, rather, gripped it with his right hand somewhere between both grips).

Overall, the man struck a very imposing figure... and one that Kayneth could easily, possibly unfortunately depending on one's perspective, recognize as the Servant was the first to break the silence... by effortlessly lifting his halberd upwards and pointing it at Kayneth, who was caught off guard, before addressing.

"You there... am I to assume that you're the one who summoned me?" the man asked in very rough voice, a voice that seemingly exuded with strength and confidence (or possibly arrogance depending on one's point of view), although the way the man said it made it seem more like a command than a question.

Kayneth quickly regained his wits after this hostile display and was quick to respond (whilst he secretly readied a Command Seal in case things went south really fast).

"That is correct," Kayneth said, the Magus keeping a calm and collected expression on his face to match his tone of voice, as he showed the Command Seals on his right hand to prove his reply (while being careful to ensure that the Servant didn't notice he had one of those seals ready to activate at a moment's notice).

Kayneth, whilst maintaining his composure despite the now possibly perilous situation he now found himself in (even if one ignored the fact that the spear tip of the Servant's halberd was pointed at the Magus' neck, mere millimeters from his jugular vein and carotid artery), decided to ask the two questions that raced through his and Sola-Ui's minds.

"Before this... discussion, goes any further, I need to know where Diarmuid is and why you were summoned in his place... Lu Bu," Kayneth questioned.

The master could tell just by the man's attire. due to having read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (he had a copy of the work which he had acquired as a gift through a mutual business contact; it was one of the few books he had that wasn't related to Magecraft), that this was not Diarmuid of the Love Spot, but was, fact, Lu Bu, the mighty warrior from the period of China's Late Han Dynasty/Early Three Kingdoms Era. He knew that, as a warrior, Lu Bu was nearly unparalleled, his abilities possibly rivaling even the strongest demigods and, coupled with any enhancements he gained as a Servant, this meant that Kayneth had possibly one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Servants in this war. Unfortunately, Kayneth was also aware of the fact that Lu Bu was famous for backstabbing almost everyone he ever allied and/or served under which, coupled with his ego, meant that he (Kayneth) might be in greater danger from his own Servant than from the other Masters and Servants. Despite this sudden and expected danger, or likely because of it, Kayneth knew he had to swallow his own pride for the moment and handle this situation with restraint, lest he end up like so many of Lu Bu's masters.

The Servant, for his part, let out a scoff before answering Kayneth's question.

"I know nothing of this Diarmuid you speak of and I don't know what became of him. I can assure you, though, that he's most assuredly nothing compared to me," Lu Bu replied. He then moved the tip of his halberd just a little bit closer to Kayneth's neck before he continued speaking (cutting Kayneth off from whatever he might've been getting ready to say).

"Listen to me, Magus, and listen well for this with be the first and only time I shall say this. You may have summoned me to fight on your behalf, but do not for a moment think of me as a mere Servant. I am no mere lapdog you can whistle for, nor am I a mere tool for you to use as you please, for I am Lu Bu, the greatest warrior to ever live, whether in this world or my own. I am the one who conquered all the lands of the realm you call China. I am the one who ousted the weak puppet that was the Han Emperor and who founded a new dynasty through my strength and the strength and cunning of my armies..." Lu Bu began... before Kayneth cut him off at the end of that sentence.

"Wait just one moment. With all due respect, you say you conquered all of China but, last I read, that's not how your story went. From what I recall, you were captured by Cao Cao and Liu Bei at Xiapi before the former had you executed," Kayneth said with caution. His statement eerily matched Sola-Ui's thoughts on the matter (the woman having read Kayneth's copy of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms one day when she had nothing else to do; she was, therefore, also aware of Lu Bu's story); just what delusion was Lu Bu living with?

To the surprise of both Magi, Lu Bu, rather than getting angrily provoked Kayneth's response, merely smirked at this before giving a response that, figuratively speaking, raised eyebrows for both Magi.

"You are most certainly referring to that pathetic failure that bares my name from this world. I can assure you that I am nothing like that worm, either. That one was nothing but a pathetic, foolish rat who had neither the strength or sense to conquer. It does not deserve to call himself Lu Bu but still dares to have the gall to call himself by that name. I am far greater than that dog or anyone else summoned to this war and, because of that, you will remember what I'm about to say," Lu Bu replied before making sure he had the full attention of Kayneth and Sola-Ui. When he was certain that this was the case, he continued his demands.

"You may have been the one to summon me and you are the one who is anchoring me to this world, but do not think for a moment that I am a Servant ready to do your bidding, or that you are the Master of me. I will fight with you, accept your council whenever I find it acceptable to do so, and ignore when I don't, and in turn, as my time as Emperor is over and I am no longer a living ruler of men, you will treat me as you would any of your peers, accept my decisions on how I choose to fight this Holy Grail War when I reject your council, and you will not use those infernal Command Seals unless to increase my might or to summon me to your side in case you are in danger. Finally, I will not call you my Master but address you by your name and, in turn, you will not address as a "Servant" or any title of similar meaning; you will either call me by my name or, if that is too much for you, you may call me Lancer. Those are my terms for our contract. Agree to those terms and stick to them, and we shall have no quarrel as I slay all in our our way on the road to victory; refuse these terms, or violate them at any time, and I will crush you the same way as I crushed those miserable Ten Eunuchs, that fat pig Dong Zhou, or any of those who were foolish enough to oppose me in life and lost. Do we have an agreement, Magus?" he demanded.

A brief but very uneasy silence followed which lasted for a very tense few seconds before Sola-Ui, who had been silent up to that point, decided to address her beloved(NOT!) fiance.

"Kayneth..." Sola-Ui said rather curtly.

"Yes, Sola-Ui?" Kayneth said even as he was still facing Lu Bu.

"You and I should just agree to Lancer's terms. Refusing him doesn't seem to be an option here," Sola-Ui said rather dryly.

"Agreed. (he now speaks to Lu Bu) I'll agree to your conditions, though I expect you'll be able to back up your boasts and then some in return. Does that sound fair to you?" Kayneth said to Lu Bu.

"Heh, sounds good to me. And you'll see soon enough that I my might is more than real... Kayneth," Lu Bu scoffed.

At this point Lu Bu, after holding his halberd way too close to Kayneth's neck for the Magus' liking, ever so slowly lowered his weapon until Lancer was holding it as he was when he was initially summoned, before said weapon seemingly vanished into thin air. With that out of the way, both Magi finally eased up now that it seemed Lu Bu was not going to kill them (for now, at least).

At this point, Lu Bu spoke up again.

"Now that our 'contract' is completed, what happens now? I'm itching for a fight," Lu Bu proclaimed, his voice filled with a great deal of intense eagerness that some might compared to a predator on the hunt for prey. Kayneth sighed at this; even if this was a different Lu Bu to the one from this world, as he claimed to be, the love of battle seemed to be a trait both shared in seemingly equal abundance.

"I'm sure you are, Lancer. The war doesn't officially begin for a few days, though, so we must wait a bit longer before the fighting can begin. I was going to have us begin formulating a strategy to win this war once I had completed the summoning ritual... but it's been a long day and I've just used up what energy I had left for the day and am now too exhausted to bother right now, so we'll save that for tomorrow, if that's alright with either of you," Kayneth said. When both Lu Bu and Sola-Ui nodded in response, he continued to speak.

"Very well, then. I shall retire to my quarters for the night. We have a big day tomorrow," the Magus said said before he turned around and began heading to the bedroom he had reserved for his use in the penthouse.

Once he entered and closed the door behind him, Sola-Ui turned to speak directly to Lancer.

"Please forgive Kayneth, Lancer. As he said, it's been a long day and the fact that your summoning was unexpected was a bit of a shock for both of us. In any case, let me welcome you to our world. I am Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, though you can just call me Sola-Ui. I will be providing you with most of your Prana during the war," Sola-Ui began. Lu Bu, who had turned to face her when she began speaking, raised an eyebrow at that last part, which Sola-Ui immediately caught on to.

"Forgive me for the confusion. You see, the system used to summon you is different when compared to what most Magi use to summon Heroic Spirits. Due to these differences, the duties normally assigned to just the one Magus were split. To make a long story short, it means I will the one providing you with the most energy needed to both sustain your existence and to power your abilities instead of Kayneth," she explained.

"I see..." was all that Lu Bu said in response, as much of a confirmation that he understood Sola-Ui as she would get.

"Anyways, I hope you will fight your best in the Holy Grail War, Lancer. Now with all that out of the way, is there anything you would like before I retire for the night as well?" Sola-Ui asked.

At that moment, Lancer held out his right hand as an object appeared out of nowhere and fell into said open hand, revealing itself to be a pouch filled with gold coins.

"I have access to that waste of space called the royal treasury and no empire that I need to fund with it. As such, I have plenty of money so I might as well get some use out of. How does one procure a strong drink in this world?" Lu Bu asked.

Sola-Ui spent the last moments of the night before she went to bed showing the famed warrior the menu for room service as well as showing him how to use the phone to call up a drink, or food, to be sent to the room. Even as she did so, however, she (like Kayneth and many others) began wondering why the summoning ritual had gone astray and what it meant for them and the Grail War as a whole...

[Secret Cellar, Matou Residence]

Two Days Later...

With only a day to go before the Fourth Holy Grail War officially begins, it was now the time that those Masters who had yet to summon their Servants were about to "fix" that issue, including one Master who had very personal stakes that forced him into this Grail War, said Master being Kariya Matou.

Despite being chosen to participate in the War as a Master, Kariya had no real desire for the Grail and, in all honesty, would have never gotten involved if it wasn't for a horrible revelation he got a year earlier. As a member of the Matou family, Kariya was the only one who had any potential for magecraft in a Magus family who's capabilities as mages had been weakening over the decades. Given the horrific nature of Matou magecraft, however, the young man wanted nothing to do with it and walked away from that life, hoping that the horrible secrets of Matou magecraft would die as a result.

Kariya's hopes were dashed, however, when he learned, to his horror, that Sakura, the daughter of the woman he loved but could never have lest she suffered the fate that any Matou had to face to learn their family's magecraft, had been given to his family to be raised as their heir, if one can call it that. For a Matou, being "raised" meant going through "training" to learn their magecraft. For Sakura, this meant being both tortured and violated by the abominations that were the worms used in Matou magecraft, all at the hands of the decrepit vampiric worm that was the Matou family head, one Zouken Matou.

Kariya, who saw both Sakura and her sister by birth Rin as daughters and cared for them and their mother more than anything or anyone else, was forced to make a deal with Zouken: Zouken would free Sakura if Kariya agreed to undergo the very "training" that he despised and won the Grail. And so, for the past year, Kariya had been forced to undergo the intense torment that was the training to learn Matou magecraft, with untold numbers of the worms being forced into his body.

These worms, which were forced into Kariya in greater amounts than was safe due to the time constraints and his lack of training, had eaten away at Kariya's body and, after almost a year, it clearly showed; his black hair had turned white, and his veins were enlarged and pulsed as the worms moved around inside of him. In his current state, he would undoubtedly die due to the worm's damage within a month at best, so time was of the essence for Kariya and he knew it.

Thankfully, he had been chosen as the Master of the Berserker-class Servant which, while costly in terms of Kariya's remaining life span due to the amount of mana said class required, was the most powerful of the Servants which helped improve his odds of winning. To further improve his chances Zouken provided Kariya (though not for reasons of empathy, as one could imagine) two additional lines to the summoning incantation that would imbue the Servant with the Mad Enhancement skill, trading the Servant's sanity for greater power. Zouken also provided Kariya with a catalyst in the form a piece of armor used by Lancelot, the greatest of the Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legend.

Now, with the war only a day away, Kariya was inside the basement of the Matou mansion preparing to summon his Servant, with Zouken watching over him, much to Kariya's disgust.

"So, are you ready?" Zouken asked in a smug tone as he looked down on his "son."

Kariya turned to face the Matou head, his expression clearly filled with bitter hate and disgust even under all the changes to his physical being.

"Yes... let's just get this over with," Kariya spat out.

Zouken flashed a smile, pissing Kariya even more as the Master contemplated the possibility of killing Zouken the moment he saved Sakura.

"Then let us begin. You can start with the summoning," Zouken said with his very creepy tone.

Kariya clenched his fists and turned away from Zouken, while trying to calm himself down, to face the summoning circle and, after taking a deep breath, began the chant.

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg.

The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate.

Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).

Repeat every five times.

Simply, shatter once filled.

――――I announce.

Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword.

In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.

Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.

You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!

Yet, thou serves with thine eyes clouded in chaos.

Thou, bound in the cage of madness. I am he who command those chains."

For a few seconds, nothing happened... then, out of nowhere, a blast of blue light erupted from the circle, which also incinerated the piece of armor that had been placed in the center of the circle. After a few seconds, the light dispersed, allowing a good look at the Servant who had been summoned. Like with Kirei and Kayneth almost three weeks ago, Kariya was quick to realize something was wrong. While the Servant standing before him was a male Caucasian and wore a suit of black armor (the armor piece used as a catalyst for the summoning was clearly black in color) it was clear that this was not Lancelot of the Lake.

The Servant standing before Kariya and Zouken looked relatively young, easily being somewhere in his twenties though, to the untrained eye, he might appear to be in his thirties. He was a rather large man, standing about 6' 3" with a very muscular build. He had short, mostly black, hair styled in constant, short pointy spikes, with a few strands at the base of his hairline, some of those strands being white in color, hanging just above his forehead. His face was without wrinkles but had clear signs of damage from past wars in his life in the form of a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose and a right eye that remained closed as if he were blinded in that eye but had not bothered to cover it up. His left eye was open, however, allowing Kariya and Zouken to see it's brown color and steely gaze that almost made both of them back up in fear with its intensity.

He wore a long black cape over his other attire with a hood that was pulled down. Underneath the hooded cape, he wore a suit of fearsome-looking black armor. Strapped across the armor's chest plate was a brown strap that holstered several knives; around his waist there was another strap that held several pouches, which Kariya assumed were additional weapons of some kind.

There were two things that stood out to Kariya that were also the reasons why he rightly guess that this wasn't Lancelot. The first thing was the left arm which was clearly a prosthetic of some sort which, despite the medieval armor that the Servant dressed in, looked unusually advanced and gave the impression that it was more than just a replacement for a lost limb. The most telling feature of this Servant, however, is the blade he carried on his back, which is presumably his main weapon and Noble Phantasm, as it was clearly nothing like Lancelot's Arondight. This Servant's sword was MASSIVE, being even taller than its apparent wielder (just like Lancer's halberd) and was large enough to make a crossguard pointless, and looked more like a massive slab of iron with a double-bladed edge and a hilt than an actual blade. Besides it's size, however, there was a strange sensation emanating from the blade, as though it were somehow of this world yet not of this world at the same time.

Overall, if this Servant's power matched this intimidating appearance, Kariya's chances of winning were very good even if this wasn't the person he intended to summon, a thought that Zouken was quick to voice.

"It looks like you aren't a complete failiure after all, Kariya. You summoned a servant, a powerful at that... even if it isn't Lancelot."

Kariya glared at Zouken as the mysterious servant turned to face Kariya and spoke, which he did in a rather rough sounding voice.

"I am the servant Berserker. I assume that you were the one who summoned me?"

"Yeah," Kariya managed to grunt out, while showing the Command Seals on his right hand, before he went into a coughing fit.

However, something unexpected happened as Kariya's legs suddenly gave in and he collapsed on the ground. Apparently, the summoning ritual had taken a lot more out of him than expected. Berserker raised an eyebrow at this as Zouken spoke.

"Hm, perhaps I spoke too soon."

Berserker look over to the source of the voice with a look of disgust on his face, the Servant clearly taking a dislike to the Matou head almost instantly. This became obvious when he pointed his prosthetic arm at the ancient mage.

"Who or what the hell are you?" Berserker sneered.

Zouken didn't answer immediately, causing Berserker to narrow his eyes as he prepared to launch an attack... until Kariya, who just got to his shaking feet, spoke.

"Don't... bother, Berserker... he won't die... regardless of whatever attack you use... We should just... leave this place and..." he said weakly before his legs buckled underneath him, the Master having yet to recover from the drain on him caused by the summoning of Berserker.

Before he could fall to the ground, however, Berserker grabbed his Master, lifted said Master's left arm over his shoulders in order to carry his master, and started walking towards the nearest bedroom, his Master in tow.

"You're out of your mind if think you're in any condition to do anything but rest... so that's what you're going to do, got it?" Berserker said rather bluntly.

As Zouken looked on at this he, like many of the other Masters, could only wonder what had transpired to have this being summoned and what it could mean for the war to come...

Next Time - The Seventh & Eight Servants!