Thrice-Glorious Victory

Lancer's Last Stand

Finally, it was time.

The golden barrier flickered once more and then abruptly crashed as if it were glass, the shards disintegrating into particles of prana that quickly became invisible.

All eyes were focused on the king, even now seated on the throne. Harry's hair, once as black as the night sky on a new moon night, was now of a golden blond shade, and that was the most outwardly eye catching change that had occurred to his personality. However, careful analysis by those who knew him well revealed that further change had occurred, as his facial features were ever so slightly different.

Mordred gulped, at seeing facial features nigh identical to her own, if not outright identical. Even having lost her ability to remain steady on her feet to a combination of exhaustion, pain and shock, she could still hold herself up with her hands, for she could not tear her eyes away from her master, as he opened his eyes.

They hadn't changed one bit, physically, but at the same time, they were so different. Were once had been the bright, open eyes of a teenaged boy just starting to come into his manhood, were now the dulled, guarded eyes of a world weary adult, cold and unforgiving.

Harry stood up from the throne. "In response to your plea for Salvation, I have arrived; I am Servant Saver. I ask of you, are you my master?" he asked, his face turning to the right, to address Caster.

"Hm... that's... not supposed to happen," Ruler said, looking somewhat surprised.

Caster smirked triumphantly. "Did you think I'd be so easy to manipulate, Ruler!? I was not unprepared to face your betrayal!" she stated, getting back on her feet. "Yes, Saver, I am your Master. Now, kill all of our enemies!"

"I refuse," Saver said, simply.

"W-What... how... how dare you-" Caster protested, but was cut off.

"You are wretched, treacherous and vile. I refuse to follow orders from one such as yourself," Saver stated, simply.

Caster growled, but bared her left hand at Saver. "By the power of my command seals, I demand that you kill our enemies!" Caster yelled, sweeping her hand at where the Hogwarts students were trying to pull Mordred back. Her command seal lit up and burned itself off her hand.

"I refuse," Saver said, once more, though a grimace of effort showed that the command seal was, indeed, functioning.

With a victorious grin, Caster pointed with her left hand at the same group she had before. "Saver, by the power of my command seals, I demand that you kill our enemies!"

Saver grunted with what had to be massive effort not to act on such an order, but finally turned his head to address the group that Caster pointed at.

"Ruler! Can't you cancel her command seals!?" asked Hermione, as Saver began to struggle to remain in place once more.

"I could, but... though unexpected, this development is not unentertaining. I shall leave you to your business, and observe from afar. Do hope you make it out alive, you've proven to be ridiculously entertaining with the right incentive. You might even have a future in porn," Ruler said.

At this, the three Weasleys turned to look at her. "What," they chorused.

"It doesn't matter! Mordred, we have to run! Get up!"

"No," Mordred said, firmly. "You... give him back," she said, standing up and pointing with Clarent at Saver.

However, Saver remained silent and perfectly still.

"Did you not hear me, Father!? I told you to give me my master back!"

Saver closed his eyes and looked solemn.

"If you won't... then... Then I will take my master back from you by force! I killed you once you bastard, I will do it again!"

Mordred launched herself forward, a streak of red and silver, Clarent already in full swing.

A resounding clang of steel on steel disrupted the silence, as Saver had finally made a movement, one so fast as to make Mordred's Prana Burst enhanced leap seem slow by comparison.

In his hands was a golden, ornate weapon. It was... beautiful. If Clarent was more dazzling than the most sterling of silvers, then the weapon in Saver's hands was beyond the brightest of jewels, beyond the most pure and brilliant gold. It was a weapon so beautiful that it could not come from human hands. A weapon forged by the Fae.

"Excalibur..." Bazett muttered, to the awed gasps of the Gryffindors present.

"Mordred," Saver said, having not opened his eyes since the moment he had closed them.

Mordred tried to press the attack, but failed to make Saver budge. "Father..." Mordred growled. "You won't allow me happiness, will you?" asked the traitor.

Saver, however, continued to be silent, and didn't even seem to actually be putting all that much effort into keeping Mordred from killing him.

"You said that you didn't hate me... but that was a lie. You despised me, despised me because I am the son of Morgan..."

"I told you once," Saver said, opening his eyes. "Never once did I despise you. The reason I never gave you the throne that you so desired, it was simply because you do not have the capacity of a King."

Mordred growled and took a step back, stopping the clash for an instant, before she began to swing Clarent with all of her strength, keeping her blade in both hands as it was meant to be used, and trying to overpower Saver with straightforward combat. Both swords were simply arcs drawn in the air, weaving beautiful patterns as Saver moved to block each and every one of Mordred's attacks, with seeming ease.

"You have grown, Mordred," Saver said, after Mordred once more locked blades with him.

Mordred growled, once more resuming the melee combat, before once more ending up with locked blades. "You haven't changed in the slightest," she said.

Saver didn't seem affected. "Before, you fought solely for yourself, did you not? There was nothing but selfishness in your heart. You wanted the throne for yourself. You never understood what it meant to be a King. What it meant to give all of yourself for the Kingdom that you wished to protect. There was nothing or no one that you truly treasured, and for whom you would have given everything," Saver stated, closing his eyes, before almost effortlessly pushing Mordred back, and swinging Excalibur in attacking fashion for the first time since the fight had started.

Mordred had been overpowered and put in a bad spot, out of balance. The attack had caught her completely by surprise, however, it hadn't been directed at her body. Instead, Saver had struck at her sword, at its base.

Where Excalibur struck Clarent, the silver blade shattered into a thousand shards of metal, quickly becoming useless. Mordred did not truly know how to feel about the destruction of her Noble Phantasm. The weapon was a symbol, as much of her legend as it was of her struggle, of her love for her father twisted into her burning hatred for the Perfect King. She'd hated it as much as she'd cherished it, unconsciously. To see its destruction left a bad taste in her mouth.

However, there wasn't much to dwell in, as Saver took a step forward. "But you have found a reason to fight for. A reason to give everything of yourself to," Saver said, raising Excalibur.

"You took him away from me!" Morded yelled, striking with her left fist, striking Saver's unprotected cheek and forcing him a few steps back from the unexpected attack. However, her follow up, when she tried to strike using what was left of Clarent sticking out from the hilt, she was blocked by Saver kicking her away from himself, causing her to land on her back.

Saver took a step forward, and used a single hand to point Excalibur right at Mordred's face, making it clear that any undue movement occurring would mean that Saver would stab forward and end her life. "For that... I can do naught but apologize," Saver said, tilting his head down, before he pulled his arm back.

"Mordred, to me, now!" Hermione yelled.

Immediately after, Mordred disappeared from under Saver, whose arm snapped into motion, burying Excalibur three inches into the stone ground, before he pulled it back.

"Harry... I know you're in there somewhere," Hermione said. "Don't do this... you're stronger than this..."

"Hermione... I am Harry Potter," Saver said. "Just as much as I am Arturia Pendragon. I can't be one or the other any less than I can be the other," he said.

"You're not my master! You're not him..." Mordred said, before glaring at Saver once more. "My master... he was full of warmth and kindness. You're cold. He... he was the first person to ever love me, for who I am, not for what I can do for them..." she continued, shaking her head. "I will not allow you to take him from me!"

"A boy of fourteen years... his personality could never be dominant when the two personalities clashed," Bazett mused, frowning as she looked at the byplay. "But..."

"By the power of my command seals, Saver, I DEMAND THAT YOU KILL THEM!"

With a grimace of pain, Saver lifted his sword once more, prepared to rush forward and end the fight immediately. With explosive speed, Saver dashed forward.

However, just as Saver was about to split Mordred in twain, he was struck by a rushing black blur.

"LANCER!" yelled Bazett.

"Bazett! Take the witch! I'll hold him off!" yelled the blue knight, dismounting his horse as it set about distracting Saver.

"Lancer!? What happened!? you're- you're covered in blood!" Bazett yelled.

"Yeah, about that, I kind of lost, and my death is a foregone conclusion," Lancer said, turning to her with a smile. "Sorry I could never take you on that date I promised, but..."

Bazett took a few steps forward, her eyes tearing up slightly as she seemed about to say something, before she was tackled to the ground by one of the trio of redheads. A pink beam went right through where her head had been just a moment ago.

"Damn- Bazett, you've got to fight the witch. She has no idea how to actually fight in melee combat, you're their only hope! Don't worry about me, I'll buy you enough time!" he said, before turning back around to face Saver. He was soon joined by Mordred, and they both were forced to dodge as Bucephalus was thrown past them, the massive black horse being easily removed as if it were just a nuisance.

Bazett nodded at them, and then went on to charge into battle against Caster.

"No weapon?" asked Mordred.

Lancer snorted. "No weapon yourself?"

"Shit happened, no regrets at all," Lancer said with a small smile.

"Good to know. Don't kill him, my master's gonna need that body intact," Mordred said, simply.

Lancer smiled.

Saver looked at them for a second. "I am surprised you would accept help to duel me, Mordred."

"Were this a duel to the death, I would rather enjoy a one on one duel," Lancer admitted.

"But this isn't a duel to the death," Mordred stated, cracking her knuckles and taking a basic fighting stance. "Like I said, my master's gonna need that body to be intact when he gets it back."

The fight that ensued was entirely one sided, and not in favour of the duo. It became quite clear that despite his Battle Continuation reducing the effects of the debilitating wounds on him, Lancer was growing weaker as time passed, and was not as much help as he would've been had he been at full health. The fact that his spear itself was gone did not bode well for them.

"Bazett! It was to be expected that you and the mutt would turn on me!" Caster said, as Bazett rolled to the side to avoid another one of her spells. She gestured with one hand to raise a barrier to block the spells that the other wizards threw at her, laughing at their pitiful attempts at magic before turning towards them and smashing their hastily conjured defenses apart with the very same spell they'd tried to hit her with. Bombarda. It took but a second for Caster to learn how to use it better than the very witch who had used it on her.

"I was never your ally," Bazett remarked. "In fact, I was always here to make sure you didn't target the students. You were the biggest threat amongst the summoned servants to the student body. One such as you... I would not be surprised if you had tried to swallow the souls of the students."

"My master wouldn't allow it," Caster said, almost as if she didn't care that she'd just admitted that she'd go on to do one of the most heinous acts imaginable with nary a care in the world, before she raised her hands and the ground beneath Bazett imitated the motion, creating two large hands of dirt to grasp at her.

Bazett grunted and kicked at one while elbowing the other, causing them both to shatter into clumps of dirt, before she kicked off the ground, her right leg forward. Caster raised a barrier in front of her, but the barrier was struck first by four Bombarda spells, causing it to become weak enough to be shattered by Bazett's kick. Once within her guard, Bazett grabbed Caster's cloak and forcefully yanked her off her flight spell, throwing her to the ground. Immediately after Caster hit the ground, Bazett landed, shoulder first, on Caster's chest, causing her to gasp in shock at the pain.

"Even though you are the weakest servant in melee combat... your physical abilities are well beyond that of a normal human," Bazett stated, as she punched Caster a few times while she was down. "But my fists... enhanced by these runes... are stronger than you!"

"That's my girl," Lancer remarked, as he ducked under a wide slash that would've cut his shoulders off the rest of his torso.

"Somtimes I kinda wish my Master could defend himself that well," Mordred remarked, as she noticed Excalibur coming back to strike at her, ducking in a similar way.

Both of the unarmed servants then nodded and charged, shoulder first, landing a double tackle on Saver, though it was clearly proven to be a bad idea as Saver was still significantly stronger than them, stopping them both from pushing him back and then slapping Mordred aside with Excalibur's flat side while at the same time kicking Lancer off.

"Saver, defend me!" Caster yelled, as she realized just how horribly out of her depth she was in a melee fight against Bazett, barely managing to stop her enemy from pounding her face in.

"He literally couldn't," said one of the taller redheads, approaching Caster from the right.

"Even if he wanted to," the other said, his wand twirling in his hands.

"You used all three command seals," Ron stated, as he himself came up from the only remaining direction. Caster was now well and truly surrounded, with one of Bazett's hands choking her and preventing her from casting using her high speed divine words.

Lancer smiled at the sight. "Now, finish her off!" he yelled.

Bazett nodded and raised her right fist to splatter Caster's head against the ground, but when she attacked, her fist struck only the ground, leaving a small crater beneath it. She winced, and looked up to see the Weasleys wince in sympathetic pain. "She got away..!?" asked Ron in surprise.

"Her master probably got her out with a Command Seal," Bazett said, frowning and standing up.

At this, Lancer frowned. "Well... It seems that I'll die the same way I did the first time. Couldn't even keep my promise to see Caster dead before I was gone," he said, shaking his head with a frown. "Saber... you should just run. We can't beat this guy. I'll hold him off right here, so he can't chase you. If you go far enough, the command seal should lose effectiveness."

"Lancer... you..." Bazett began, looking at her servant.

"Yeah, yeah. I suppose that dying in combat to protect the people I care about is the best way to die, so... like I said, I have no regrets," he said, before he grabbed onto the reddest part of his bodysuit and ripped it apart, revealing a large hole where his chest should be. "I've only got at most a minute or so before I fade anyway," he said, as his hands went into the hole to become wet with blood. He winced as he touched the tender flesh inside.

Mordred disengaged from Saver, pulling back. "I can't... I can't leave my master again. If I had just..."

"You're not helping him here," said a new voice, as a man covered in small cuts walked into the room, followed by his master. It was Rider, followed by Cedric. "Discretion is the better part of valor. Even I had to engage in a tactical retreat to regroup and reevaluate the situation every once in a while," he said, smiling.

"Is that... Harry?" Cedric asked, looking at where Saver was, still standing close by the throne.

"So it seems," Rider said. "But that's also a servant... It's confusing, to say the least."

"We'll explain later," spoke Hermione. "We need... we need to get to Ruler. I'm sure he'll know a way to save Harry."

"Can we even trust that guy? He set all of this up!" Ron asked, nearly shocked that Hermione would suggest such a thing.

"Pulled the wool," Fred said, frowning.

"Over our eyes," George added. "We're both new to the Tournament business," he continued.

"But even we can tell a Prank Master when we see one," Fred finished.

"He might like you two," Hermione said, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter... I think I might know a way or two to entice him, if I've judged his character right... But we need to retreat. We can't defeat Harry here and he's compelled by all three of Caster's command seals to kill us all."

"I can't abandon my master again..." Mordred muttered to herself, glaring at Saver.

"If you stay here, Harry will be forced to kill you! Have you thought about how much THAT would hurt him?!" Hermione asked, sending a stinging hex at Mordred as she couldn't slap the servant over a distance. It fizzled against Mordred's magical resistsance, but otherwise achieved its purpose of gaining her attention. "We'll get Harry back. I swear... Even if I have to personally kill King Arthur to get my best friend back, I will!"

"You know, it's kind of blas.. balas..." Ron began, struggling to get the word he was trying to get from his brain dictionary.

"Blasphemous," Hermione provided.

"Right, blasphemose for us to fight King Arthur at all," Ron said, cheekily.

"But when has a little rule breaking," Fred commented.

"Been something to stop us?" George added.

Bazett laughed. "I suppose you must be the famous Weasley twins I've heard so much about in the castle," Bazett said, before shaking her head. "It's not time for your antics right now. Can you apparate yet?"

"Yeah, but the place is warded. We tried," Fred said.

"I can bring down that ward," Lancer said, smiling. "Grab someone who can't apparate and get them out of here. Go!" he said, as his fingers drew a rune in the air with his blood, which quickly began to glow and then disappeared, taking out the wards with it. Then he drew three more runes, and elemental explosions began to assault Saver, who seemed to merely take the attacks without flinching in the slightest.

Probably very, very high magical resistance, Lancer mused.

It only made sense.

Fred, George, Bazett and Cedric all grabbed onto someone who could not Apparate under their own power and immediately moved as far from the underground lair as they possibly could.

This left Lancer alone with Saver in a catacomb that was burning, frozen in places and shredded in others. "Heh. Would've been fun to try and fight you for real," Lancer said.

Saver merely raised Excalibur to show he was on guard. "If nothing else, you have my respect for your sacrifice."

Lancer laughed and began to draw another rune in the air with his blood, as Saver dashed forwards to end his life.

An insanely loud explosion rocked the world beneath the escapees' feet.

"Lancer is dead," Bazett said, looking at the ground and away from where anyone could see her face.

"He died a hero," Hermione said, frowning.

"He died on his feet," Bazett said, lifting her head and looking at the distant skyline. "Fighting for us. For me..."

"He would've been a fine soldier for my army," Rider said, closing his eyes almost as if in mourning. "He will not be forgotten."

Bazett shook her head. "You're right. He won't be forgotten. And he would laugh in my face if he knew I'd shed even one tear over his death," she said, raising her wrist and cleaning her face of tears. "Come on... let's not waste his sacrifice. We might not be out of Saver's range yet, the Command Seal could still be effective."

And so they parted ways, with an agreement to meet back up the following day for a strategy session. Mordred revealed the position of the room granted to her and Harry by the grail, figuring that at this point it was pointless to keep the secret.

Hermione Granger chose to spend the night in Harry's room, in Mordred's bed, as Mordred slept in Harry's own. Or rather, Mordred sat on Harry's bed through the night, simply waiting.

"You can't sleep?" Hermione asked, after an hour of deafening silence.

"How could I? How... how could I sleep when I know my Master... I... I'm confused, angry and tired, and I can't make sense of what we just went through," she stated, holding her head as if to ward off a headache.

"I was surprised too. The Harry I met... he was an awkward little boy, who didn't match at all with the legend of the Boy Who Lived. And then I began to know him better... he is brave and kind... even though I'd been nothing but a horrible, annoying know it all to everyone, he still cared enough about me to go running to me to warn me about the troll, even though it'd put him in danger. He even convinced Ron to help him, even though Ron hated my guts at the time... I guess that he's always been special like that, but I never knew..."

Mordred shook her head, but remained silent.

"I'm sure we'll be able to save Harry," Hermione said, smiling a strained, weak smile, product of her tiredness and the fact that she herself didn't have a lot of confidence in that. "He's too tough to just disappear forever like that, right?"

Mordred remained silent the rest of the night, but Hermione soon began snoring softly.

"I hope..." Mordred finally muttered, closing her own eyes and laying down on her master's bed.

No matter what she did... it felt very cold.