RWOL here with the next story within Project Fate; Fate Antilegomena. This story is takes place completely in the world of Fate Apocrypha, and will have the FA versions of the Fate Stay/Night cast; mainly the FA version of Shirou. For those not in the know, Fate Apocrypha takes place in a parallel world where the Einzberns chose to summon a Ruler-class servant instead of Avenger (this choice being responsible for the worlds of Fate Zero and Fate/Stay Night) and events spiral out of control from there. I don't want to spoil Fate Apocrypha if you haven't read the light novel and manga or watched the anime.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN the Fate Series in any shape, form or fashion. The Fate series is the work of Type-Moon so all rights go to them and Nasu.

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The Greater Holy Grail War Begins

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"Hmm. A very distressing turn of events for us." Rocco Belfaban said simply after reading the report before him. Rocco is the current chairman of the Department of Summoning, who is an old, but straight-backed man in his mid-to-late fifties dressed in an Italian brown colored suit. He was in an unnecessarily large, dimly lit room that was richly furnished with Victorian era furniture and paintings. The table he sat at with his fellow compatriots was an alchemically treated oak with a beautiful varnish that made the vintage beauty of the table even more appealing. In the middle of the sparse table was a single, enchanted candle that provided the only light in the room. "Only one of our agents returned… and barely alive at that." He said almost dismissively in a hoarse murmur.

"Hold your dismissive tone Chairman Belfaban!" The second of Rocco's compatriots in the room demanded. "That man was an agent of my family. I will not let you mock his sacrifice because without his efforts we wouldn't know just how serious the situation truly is!" the owner's voice said in a snarl.

Rocco bowed his head slightly towards his second compatriot. "I mean no disrespect Lord Sophia-Ri."

Lord Sophia-Ri, known by his full name of Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, the current successor to both the noble House of Sophia-Ri and the Department of Spiritual Evocation and a first-class instructor within the Clock Tower looked at his subordinate before giving a slight scoff. He is a handsome man in his late-thirties with bright red hair, sharp brown eyes and refined features and was dressed in an expensive white Armani suit. "I was able to witness the operation through the eyes of a familiar… it was a fearsome sight. To witness the power of an actual Heroic Spirit…" Bram trialed off as even still he could not comprehend the sheer magnitude of power the 'being' that effortlessly slaughtered forty-nine first-class magi had possessed.

"It is both awe-inspiring and overwhelmingly terrifying at the same time." The third and final person spoke up. Like with Bram, he was a handsome man but where Bram was in his late-thirties, this one was in his early thirties with mid-back length black hair, angular face, dressed in a dark turtleneck dress shirt and pants, trenchcoat and bright red scarf. His right gloved hand held an unlit cigar while the left finished leafing through the report before him. "As someone who went through a Grail War, I know and understand the magnificence and unbridled power Heroic Spirits possess." He went on before closing the report.

"Ah yes. You did participate in a Grail War a little over sixteen years ago Lord El-Melloi." Bram mused as the Lord El-Melloi of the El-Melloi Lords Faction, public face of the Archibald branch family of the noble house Archisorte and head of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories lit his cigar using a simple flame spell.

"That is El-Melloi II." El-Melloi II, formerly known as Waver Velvet, corrected his senior Lord. "As much as I appreciate the questionable respect from my senior Lord, who is also my brother-in-law, please keep the 'II'. That name is unbearably grating without it." He explained while taking a puff of his cigar. The reason for them being in-laws as well as Waver being the new El-Melloi was due to a convoluted and petty scheme concocted by Bram's younger sister Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri in order to spite her former fiance the late Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald.

Sola-Ui had never loved nor even cared about Kayneth and secretly sought ways to get out of her arranged marriage with him. So when she heard about how Kayneth had humiliated Waver when the latter tried to publish his revolutionary (and controversial) concept that a magus' power could be increased through effort, experience, and knowledge rather than increasing magical potential through that of a magus' heirs, by tearing up and incinerating Waver's manuscript in front of not only Waver but everyone else in Kayneth's class, without another thought, Sola-Ui saw a chance to kill two birds with one stone.

Knowing that the then Waver would be understandably upset and wanting revenge, Sola-Ui had approached Waver in secret with an offer to get what they both want. With Sola-Ui's help, Waver had stolen Kayneth's chosen catalyst for the Revived Fuyuki Holy Grail War and become a master himself. With Iskandar as a Rider-class servant and Sola-Ui secretly acting on his behalf during the course of the war thanks in part to Kayneth bringing her along, Waver had felt himself confident in his chances of winning. If only he had known what he was truly getting into. It was a goddamned miracle that he and Sola-Ui managed to survive, especially with the motherfucking Saint of Time (時間の聖人, Jikan no seijin) Kiritsugu Emiya being part of the war.

"My apologies. I meant no disrespect." Bram apologized bowing his head to his junior Lord and brother-in-law.

"Now that Lord El-Melloi II has finally joined the discussion… how shall we proceed?" Rocco asked looking at his compatriots.

The problem they were discussing was two-fold; the Yggdmillennia magi clan and the Greater Grail. Both of which were heavily intertwined together since the Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. When the Third Holy Grail War happened, it happened during the time of World War II, and it was WWII that allowed the Yggdmillennia to get their hands on the Greater Grail. Adolf Hitler, leader of both Germany and the Axis Powers, was, unknown to the Mages' Association, an occultist who had knowledge of the Moonlit World. He wasn't a freelancer or spellcaster nor did he possess any ties with any magical families or magical associations. He was a mundane who was somehow able to acquire knowledge about the supernatural world. Knowledge that led to an obsession… an obsession that Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia took advantage of.

Darnic, using an alias, had infiltrated the Axis Powers and worked his way up until he was Hitler's right hand man. He then manipulated Hitler via his obsession towards the magical world by revealing the Holy Grail and its location, promising that it would allow him the ability to mold the world in his image; the perfect Aryan society. Hitler had acted as Darnic anticipated and deployed a legion of Axis soldiers to Japan (despite the fact that Japan was part of the Axis Powers) under Darnic's command. Hitler had been none the wiser to Darnic's manipulations, manipulations that included lying to the Japanese to gain their support as well. With two of the three major Axis Powers as his pawns, it had been easy for Darnic to make his way to Fuyuki City and become a master in the war. As the war raged on, Darnic had the soldiers given to him to cause as much chaos as they could during the war; targeting the rival masters and tricking the local populace into believing that the Allied Forces had infiltrated Japan and were attacking the Japanese people to harm their government.

Darnic had fought and killed Makiri Zouken (finally ruining the Makiri family for good), nearly crippled one of the Edelfelt sisters, betrayed his fellow master (who was a high-ranking member of the venerable Fujiwara clan (Prince Nijou)) and became one of the two final masters alongside the Einzbern master. Their servants, Darnic's Lancer and the Einzbern's Ruler, fought a bloody death battle… only for it to be rendered meaningless when Darnic had managed to find and escape with the Greater Grail. Thus the Third Holy Grail War concluded with no definite victor, and the exhausted Einzbern, Makiri and Tohsaka families possessed no means by then to stop Darnic and the German Nazis.

But then both Darnic and the Greater Grail disappeared while they in route towards Germany. When the Nazis investigated, it was concluded that that an outside force had attacked and killed that Nazi platoon and plundered the grail for themselves.

The grail had been lost, and those who had aspirations for it lost hope as well. The Einzberns chose to try to create a new Greater Grail, as in their mind since they created the Greater Grail they could simply recreate it. The Makiri died a dog's death. The Tohsaka chose to forget all about the Grail and focus on an alternate path to reaching the Root.

Then three months ago, Darnic and his clan Yggdmillennia had ceded from the Mages' Association with the intent of forming their magical organization. At first the Association had merely wrote the Yggdmillennia off as a non-threat… until Darnic revealed he had the Greater Grail. The very same Greater Grail that went missing nearly ninety years ago during WWII. Darnic had been the one responsible for its disappearance as well as the one who had leaked the information regarding the basis of the ritual to spread which caused imitation rituals to spread throughout the world, leading to the creation of the Subcategory Holy Grail Wars as named by the Association and Church.

Darnic had needed both the Mages' Association and the Church weakened for they were the only true threats to his plans, so he created the Subcategory Holy Grail Wars to make the two organizations exhaust themselves in terms of manpower and resources. And now with both greatly weakened, it was the opportune time for him to strike.

Barthomeloi Lorelei, the Vice Director and infamous Wizard Marshall of Clock Tower, had taken severe offense to Darnic and the Yggdmillennia's audacity, mostly due to the fact that a member of her prided Chelon Canticle Brigade had entered one of the Subcategory Holy Grail Wars and lost due to the creator (an agent of the White Wing Lord's faction) of that particular grail activating a hidden self-destruct spell built into the grail to escape his failure. The explosion leveled the entire city the war was held in, killing several hundred thousand (and was only covered up by the story of an extremist terrorist cell using stolen Soviet-era nukes who were later caught and 'publicly' executed). A loss that the Barthomeloi Head believed had tarnished her reputation (mainly due to her irrational hatred towards the Seventeenth of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Trhvmn Ortenrosse) and so desired recompense from the Yggdmillennia. This lead to her appointing Bram, El-Melloi II and Rocco as overseers of the operation as Bram had volunteered hoping to curry favor with the Vice-Director, thus leading to the failed operation. Now here they are, trying to come up with a solution that would not only end the Yggdmillennia threat but also save their collective skins from the wrath of their dreaded Vice-Director.

"For one," El-Melloi II said after taking a puff from his cigar. "We'll have to think outside of the box on this. With the actual Greater Grail there, the Yggdmillennia can summon True Servants, just like the Fourth Holy Grail War of the Revived Fuyuki Holy Grail War, but not like the wraiths summoned for the Subcategory Wars." He went on. "It's clear that we'll have to call in outside help for this if we want to succeed."

"Are you saying that we should lower ourselves to asking Freelancers for help?!" Bram demanded slamming his fist on the table. Rocco merely steepled his hands as he waited for El-Melloi's explanation.

"We don't have much of a choice." El-Melloi II countered evenly, unfazed by Bram's outburst. "We sent in fifty first-class magi and all but one was annihilated by the servant the Yggdmillennia summoned. Yes that survivor managed to get close enough to the Greater Grail to activate its reserve system, but now what? Word has already spread throughout London, and no one will be willing to send anyone to go after the real thing as there are more pressing concerns like: choosing the successor to the family crest, following through on a major breakthrough in their research or just outright lacking the combat ability we need. We barely have anyone else prepared for combat on such a grand scale and any half-wit magus sent in will die. And let's not forget that even the surrounding area of Trifas is under their control." El-Melloi II explained, taking a moment to enjoy a few puffs before continuing on with his explanation.

"We have a limited number of Enforcers and even they will likely say no. What we need are Freelancers, specifically Freelancers who have been in and survived grail wars. They'll know what they're doing and it'll be a move that the Yggdmillennia would not expect." El-Melloi II explained to his senior Lord. "After all, who would you bet on to win a 'duel'; a first-class magus with minimal combat experience or a Freelancer who is skilled in the art of not only anti-magus combat but other forms of combat as well?" El-Melloi II asked Bram who, while still somewhat reluctant, was beginning to see where El-Melloi II was coming from. They were in a tight spot when it came to both manpower and resources. Freelancers, while pricey, had combat capabilities matching or at times outright exceeding even the Mages' Association's Enforcers and Church's Executors and thus were the more viable options for master candidates. Coupled with top-class servants that could work well with them then you had dangerous combination.

"I concede to your wisdom Lord El-Melloi II." Bram said with a sigh as his shoulders slumped slightly. "I'll assume that once you've chosen the Freelancers, it'll be up to me to find suitable catalysts so they can summon top-class servants to serve them." Bram said straightening up and getting a fire in his eyes.

"Before we get ahead of ourselves," Rocco began getting Bram and El-Melloi II's attention. "We have two problems that need addressing; the Church and the Einzberns." He said getting a grimace from Bram and a look of thoughtfulness from El-Melloi II. "We will need the Church to fully ally with us instead of being a neutral party as they have for the Subcategory Holy Grail Wars. The Yggdmillennia have done as much damage to them as they have to us, the Church would want recompense for all the lost agents and resources, again just like us. Then we have the Einzberns, who despite their failure at recreating the Greater Grail over sixteen years ago in the Fourth Fuyuki Holy Grail War, still seek the grail and now that the original Greater Grail has been revealed they will attempt to take the grail back by any means." Rocco said.

"I see." El-Melloi II said with a sigh, blowing out a small cloud of smoke and looked forlornly at his now dead cigar. "Trifas is officially recognized as the spiritual land under the jurisdiction of the Yggdmillennia by both the Mages' Association and the Church, and only with permission from Darnic can the Church have any authority to act inside said region. The Yggdmillennia would refuse to hand over the grail for safe keeping and will likely reject the Church as official overseers of the ritual." El-Melloi II elaborated on why they needed the Church as true allies. "With the Einzberns, their single-minded obsession towards the Greater Grail makes them… unpredictable to deal with it. Even though they did allocate many resources into creating a new Greater Grail, its failure was a absolute blow to them. But now that the real Greater Grail has returned, their… obsession has been reignited and they will seek to take it back no matter the cost." He said with frown marring his features.

"Is it safe to assume that we'll approach the Einzberns with deal of some sort?" Rocco ventured getting a grimace of distaste from Bram.

"Unfortunately we don't have much a choice. I can assure you that the Einzberns are already preparing to storm Trifas to take back what they believe is rightfully theirs. We don't need them countermanding our own operations when we strike back. No we need the Einzberns to work with us, just long enough for the Yggdmillennia to be defeated. Then we can discuss who will possess the grail afterwards." He said with a sigh knowing that the next several nights for him were going to be sleepless ones. "Lord Sophia-Ri and Chairman Belfaban, the two of you will find the finest catalysts you can because we'll need elite, top-class Heroic Spirits to counter the ones that the Yggdmillennia will no doubt summon or already have. As for me, I'll work on finding us the best Freelancers out there as well as working on a deal with both the Church and Einzberns. I don't have to remind you two just how much is riding on us and this newest operation." El-Melloi II said grimly.

"You don't." Bram said just as grim. "Let us ride forth and succeed! Inform us of when you gather your Freelancer team and I'll have suitable catalysts ready for them." Bram said as his fellows nodded before the redhead blew the candle out.

"Did you have to blow the candle out before we leave the room?!" an annoyed El-Melloi II asked.

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(Clock Tower: El-Melloi II's Private Office; one month later)

"Thank you Trimmau." El-Melloi II said graciously to his trusted Maid Golem as she finished pouring him a cup of Earl Grey. After his ascension to El-Melloi II, he had inherited everything from his predecessor, which included his mystic code Volumen Hydrargyrum. El-Melloi II had modified it into a golem so it could act is his personal assistant, thus Trimmau the Maid Golem was born. She was of average height with a body composed entirely out of mercury, wearing the common maid outfit. While Trimmau had quickly proven herself to be an excellent maid and assistant/goffer, there was one glaring flaw in her programming. During her development, El-Melloi Ii had allowed her to watch various movies and read books about the Sunlit World so she would have common sense and act properly when out and about with non-magi. Unfortunately one such movie turned out to be a porno about a wealthy young nobleman having sex with his beautiful maid servants.

The porno, which at the time El-Melloi II didn't know was a porno, was a gift from his most problematic student Flat Escardos. Flat was a prodigy the likes never truly seen and with a level of power rivaling the Vice-Director herself. Unfortunately Flat lacks the intelligence and commonsense to properly utilize his monstrous talent. He is whimsical in nature, and his overall temperament is unlike that of a magus. Another flaw was that Flat jumped to, frankly speaking, stupid conclusions. After seeing Trimmau once, Flat came to the conclusion that his teacher El-Melloi II had a maid fetish and so got him a porno (and several others) dealing with maid fetishism.

So thanks to Flat, Trimmau would from time to time try and fuck her master because she thought it was her duty as his maid to do so. Despite this flaw, she was still the best damn assistant El-Melloi II could hope for.

The ringing of his office's doorbell brought his attention from his relaxing tea, sighing even as Trimmau moved to the door of his office.

"Well, time for business then." El-Melloi II said placing his tea cup down on his desk and straightening himself in his posh chair. It had been an exhaustive thirty days since the failed operation and like he anticipated, he had many sleepless nights. The first thing he and his cohorts had to do were report to the Vice-Director who had been none too pleased to hear about the failed op and even more displeased to hear that the trio had planned to not only hire Freelancers to fight on Clock Tower's behalf but also fully ally with the Church. But after listening to El-Melloi II's explanation on why the Freelancers and alliance were needed, the Vice-Director had begrudgingly agreed but warned them that she would not tolerate another failure from them or both them and their families would pay the price for their incompetence.

After that El-Melloi II had spent the following month using every resource of not only the Archibald and Sophia-Ri families but also the Association's trying to find any Freelancers who had been in and survived Holy Grail Wars and after finally tracking them down sent messages via fax or telephone (because El-Melloi II was one of the few Clock Tower magus capable of using electronics due to his love of video games) to them requesting a meeting for a contract. And after that was reaching out to both the Church and Einzberns to bring them into the fold. While the Church had been the easiest, the Einzberns had been just as difficult as he had anticipated but thankfully they had agreed to send a representative.

"Master, your guests have arrived." Trimmau said in a bland, emotionless voice as she led her master's guests into his office.

The first was a woman who could be summed up in two words: sexy librarian. She was in her late-twenties to early-thirties with her long brown hair worn in a simple ponytail that reached her waist, had bright yet stern green eyes behind semi-rimmed glasses and wore simple golden loop earrings. Her outfit consisted of a green long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body is covered in a white high-waist pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black stockings with black knee-boots having bronze heels protecting her feet.

This was Jean Rum, a first-rate magus and freelancer known as Gale Wheel, a well-earned epithet due to her first-rate mastery of Wind Magecraft and her chosen weapon the chakram, which El-Melloi II saw was hanging on her right hip.

Behind her were two well-built and exceedingly tall men whose heights and physiques reminded El-Melloi II of his former servant/inspiration/King Iskandar aka Alexander the Great. One had short slick-backed hair with a single antenna-styled forehead bang, three dots in a vertical line on his forehead, a handle-bar mustache and wore a white, form-fitting, high-collared tunic with red trim, a jinbaori-styled cape with a red inside and white knee-boots. The man next to him had brown hair in a short ponytail with two antenna-styled forehead bangs with three dots in a triangular shape on his forehead and like his brother wore a white, form-fitting, high-collared tunic with green trim, a jinbaori-styled cape with a green inside and white knee-boots.

These two were the Gum Brothers – Cabik and Deimlet Pentel of House Pentel. Funnily enough it was the Gum Brothers' relatives, the sisters Nazica and Radia Pentel and El-Melloi II's Brand ranked-students, who told him about the Gum Brothers and helped getting him in contact with them.

Behind the Gum Brothers was another woman who had El-Melloi II flashing back to the grail war in Fuyuki due to woman's frightening resemblance to Irisviel von Einzbern. She had long silver-white hair reaching her hips and bright ruby red eyes set in a perfectly sculpted face. The distinctive hair and eyes only enhanced her natural, ethereal beauty. Her attire consists of a white, glittering dress with a sweetheart neckline, and a white, tulle petticoat. A white ribbon is wrapped multiple times around her waist, and over the outfit is worn a slightly sheer long-sleeved white shrug fastened at the collar with a large ruby broach that has three pendants dangling from it. The skirt of the dress is floor-length with a split to her thigh on left side. White, wedged heeled boots that are higher at the back than the front and have a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red finished the outfit.

This was Annaliese von Einzbern of House Einzbern and their chosen champion.

After her was a man in late thirties with ginger hair in an Afro and thick pork-chop styled side burns. His outfit looked like it belonged in America's disco era because it was a tacky white disco suit, a bright neon-green Saturday Night Fever shirt with an up-turned collar with the top buttons left unbuttoned so his chest and his fist-sized silver lizard chain could be seen, white bell-bottom pants and white platform dancing shoes. He finished the disco-styled look with retro-futuristic wrap around disco glasses with a red lens.

This was Rottweil Berzinsky the Silver Lizard. The reason for such an epithet was due to a rumor that Rottweil had used body modification magecraft to splice lizard DNA into his own to give himself a lizardman-type transformation to use when in battle and that while in that form his scales are silver in color.

After him was a man nearly as tall as the Pental Brothers with a fiendish appearance like that of an American outlaw. He has a scarred face, razor-sharp eyes with a noticeable gaze from behind his shades and a muscular frame. He wore a black, heavy duty leather jacket fashioned form the hide of several magical beasts and features a built-in military grade Kelvar vest, a rust orange V-neck shirt, black combat pants tucked into his black combat boots. Strapped on his right thigh is a handgun, while unknown to everyone else an unbranded side-by-side sawed-off shotgun was hidden in his jacket.

This was Kairi Sisigou, a feared freelancer with a first-rate mastery of, in El-Melloi II's personal opinion, disgusting magecraft of Necromancy.

And finally was the Church representative, a handsome young man in mid-twenties with dark/tan skin, white spikey hair, and pale yellow eyes. He wore a fully garbed cassock with a bright crimson mantle-like cape. Shirou Kotomine was his name and he was a member of the both Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament and former Executor. After the group took their seats, El-Melloi II started the meeting.

"I thank you all for coming, with a few doing so on such short notice." El-Melloi II began. "The reason I called you here today is to form a contract. I do not know if you know, but four months ago the Yggdmillennia magi clan left the Clock Tower and revealed that they had the Greater Grail that had been missing for nearly ninety years as well as being the masterminds behind the false Holy Grail Wars that have plagued us and the world." El-Melloi II paused in his explanation to see if they were following along and given the narrow-eyed looks he was getting, they were. "One month ago, we sent a group of fifty first-class magi to Trifas in order to apprehend the Yggdmillennia leader Darnic and confiscate the Grail but it turns out the Yggdmillennia have learned enough about the grail because they summoned a True Servant, not a Wraith, and said Servant slaughtered all but one of the magi we sent. That magus was somehow able to make it to the grail itself and activate a fail-safe allowing for the summoning of up to fourteen servants." El-Melloi said looking at the Einzbern champion.

"The fail-safe was created in case either an outside force infiltrated the Holy Grail War and created an alliance or those already participating formed an alliance of their own in a foolish attempt to share the Holy Grail." Annaliese spoke in a tone that somehow was both bland yet sensual.

"Basically the fail-safe gives those that want the war to continue as it should the means to expel the alliances and bring the war back on track." Jean deduced as she adjusted her glasses and getting Annaliese to nod. "I am to assume that you called us here to act as your agents in this grail war that the Yggdmillennia are 'hosting'." the prim woman stated than asked.

"You assume correctly Ms. Rum." El-Melloi said with a nod. "The Clock Tower is willing pay each of you handsomely for your participation in this operation and we have found suitable catalysts for you to use to summon top-class servants to counter the ones we know that the Yggdmillennia have summoned."

"There is no need for you to pay me Lord El-Melloi II," Shirou Kotomine spoke up. "The Church is willing to ally with you to stop whatever plans the Yggdmillennia are attempting. The only thing we ask in return, is that there is a proper discussion on how to dispose of the Greater Grail. Too many times have the secrecy of the Moonlit World been jeopardized because of these wars and the body count is getting too high for the Church to tolerate anymore." the priest said with frown. And it was true for many in the Church no longer tolerated these wars over the false Holy Grails. These false Holy Grail Wars were becoming more and more destructive with each 'iteration'. Then there was the fact that members of several phantasmal beings (Vampires, Werewolves, Succubae/Incubae, Empusa, Lamia, etc.) had attempted to use these false Grails for their own ambitions... one could understand why the Church was fed up with these wars.

And in the fact that the Pope had actually launched into a curse filled rant when that one city got blown up was another indicator of the Church's hatred for anything related to the mage's version of the Holy Grail.

"Now see here…" Annaliese started with anger in her tone but was countered by El-Melloi II.

"Once the Yggdmillennia have been defeated and the Grail secured, the Vice-Director has given her word that a meeting will take place to discuss the Grail's fate. This clause is in the contracts I have here if you agree to accept." El-Melloi II said playing peace maker as his maid golem handed out the contracts for the group to read over and decide if it was fair and reasonable. He knew full well that there would be a heated discussion about the Grail's fate once it was out of the Yggdmillennia's hands. Thankfully he wouldn't be there to deal with it. All he had to do was to insure that the Clock Tower had a team that could go into enemy territory, win and come back victorious with the Greater Grail. What happened after was not his concern.

"As long as I get paid, I don't really care." Kairi said lighting up a cigarette and blowing out a puff of foul-smelling smoke that had the others in the room wrinkling their noses in disgust. "Though considering the scale of this particular war, we're going to need some top-class servants to counter the ones summoned by our enemies."

"Do not worry about that. My brother-in-law and one of his subordinates have taken care of that particular problem for us." just as El-Melloi II said that, the bell rang for a second time getting everyone's attention. The maid golem swiftly answered the door, letting in the man of hour. "Ah brother just in time. We were about to discuss the catalysts that were to be used to summon their servants." El-Melloi II said giving the floor to Bram.

"Just in time indeed. I am Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri and I have the catalysts for your possible servants." Bram said as Trimmau brought in the wheeled cart carrying the catalysts protected in suitcases. The maid golem placed the suitcases on her master's coffee table as Bram began explaining which catalysts was connected to which Heroic Spirit of legend. "The first case contains archery glove of the Persian Hero Arash who can be summoned under the Archer servant class." Bram said gesturing to the first case that Trimmau opened to worn yet still preserved archery glove with Persian designs. "The second case contains the crown of the Warrior-King Beowulf, who can be summoned under the Berserker servant class with Saber characteristics." Bram said gesturing to the second case with a worn looking crown with Norse markings. "The third case contains the armor fragment of the Chinese warlord Lu Bu who can be summoned as either: Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Lancer and/or Rider." Bram said gesturing to the third case revealing a fist-sized portion of Chinese war armor. "The fourth case contains the wheel of the chariot of the Hindu hero Karna who can be summoned as an Archer, Lancer or Rider." he said pointing to the case enchanted to be bigger on the inside to hold the chariot wheel. "The fifth case holds the vambrace of the Invincible Warrior Achilles who can be summoned as a Berserker, Lancer and Rider." Bram gestured to the case holding the worn Greek vambrace. "The sixth case holds a fragment of the legendary Round Table, allowing one to summon any of the Knights of the Round Table." Bram said revealing the the wooden table fragment. Bram looked at the Church agent Shirou Kotomine before speaking. "These were all the catalysts I was a able to gather. So I assume that the Church has it own catalysts for you to use."

Kotomine nodded. "Yes. Most, if not all of our catalysts are still intact." he said simply. Many had warned him that the Clock Tower would try to spite him simply for being part of the Church. So he had anticipated getting a catalyst connected to some obscure Heroic Spirit who would turn out to be weak combative wise or not getting a catalyst at all. Though what many didn't know was that he had already managed to summon the Servant he desired and that she was already here with him, her class skills keeping her from being detected by the others.

Bram nodded, not really caring as he still, to a degree, resented the idea of allying with the Church. In his mind if the Church expected the Clock Tower to waist their precious limited resources for a Church agent then the Church was going to be disappointed. Let them use their own resources to find catalysts for top-class servants.

"Well then. My job here is done. Who chooses witch catalysts is up to you." Bram said before leaving the room and getting El-Melloi II to shake his head at his brother-in-law.

"Please take an hour to look over the contracts and come to a decision. Once that is done, we'll decide on who gets which catalysts. Unfortunately we do not have time to discuss possible stratagems to employ against the enemy. Once you make a decision and decide on a catalyst, please head out to Trifas as time is of the essence." El-Melloi II said before getting and leaving as well as he knew that his continued presence would be seen as a form of pressure to the potential contractees. An hour later, El-Melloi II returned to his office and resumed the meeting. He let out a sigh of relief that the potential contractees agreed to become their agents for this Grail War and the catalysts were thankfully chosen without any threats of violence.

Though Annaliese stated she didn't need a catalyst as she had plenty of options for potential servants to summon.

With that part done, El-Melloi II went over the plan; explaining that the Church and Mage's Association had set up a base of operations in the provincial city of Sighisoara which was northwest of the Romanian capital Bucharest. The team would take a shared charter plane to Sighisoara, summon their servants and begin their operation of taking down the Yggdmillennia clan. Though both Annaliese and Kairi claimed they would go their own ways to Sighisoara: Annaliese had her own personal plane and kept to herself that the Einzbern were able to procure a piece of property in Bucharest but 'promised' to meet up with the team; while Kairi said he would take his own way to city of Sighisoara after getting some of his tools and meet up with them later, keeping to himself how his instincts were telling him not trust Shirou Kotomine who he knew had his own agenda. The other member of the future Faction of Red merely accepted their teammates' choices, citing that they'll meet him at the church

And so the Greater Holy Grail had begun.

The largest Grail War ever seen waged by two factions: fourteen versus fourteen; seven masters and servants versus seven masters and servants.

The Yggdmillennia Clan, the future Faction of Black.

The freelancers and one Church agent hired by Clock Tower, the future Faction of Red.

Yet there would be a third faction that would rise to throw a spanner in the plans of Factions Black and Red.

The Faction of White.

Let the games begin.

And cut! RWOL here with the first chapter of what is Fate Antilegomena and lets get on with the Author's Note. First off is the name and why I chose it. Fate Apocrypha is called Apocrypha because of the major overarching theme of falsity. Apocrypha is defined as 1) the biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of Scripture and 2) writings or reports not considered genuine. The whole theme of falsity saturates Fate Apocrypha; Sieg is a false human known as a Homunculus and later becomes a False Heroic Spirit via Siegfried's sacrifice, the Subcategory Grail Wars are considered false grail wars because they could only summon Wraiths or False Servants, Jeanne D'Arc considers herself a False Saint (as in the light novel, manga and anime) she denies her sainthood, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada lives a false life as Shirou Kotomine and is a False Ruler as he was never recognized as a true Saint like Jeanne is. The Greater Holy Grail War is also considered a false grail war.

Thus when it came to naming this story, I wanted it to be similar and have themes similar to it. Thus I chose the term Antilegomena. Antilegomena is defined as the dispute of a text's authenticity. The authenticity of the Greater Holy Grail War will be disputed. The goals of both Factions and their chosen servants will be disputed. Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, his existence and his desire for humanity's safety will be disputed. The power of Shirou Emiya will be disputed and oh will this Shirou be powerful as fuck in this story.

Now onto the main topic of the Fate Apocrypha anime as I'm sure many of you are wondering if I'll follow the anime adaptation or not. The answer is a resounding HELL NO. In my personal opinion the anime sucks as it didn't do the original source material justice at all. First we have Sieg and his whole theme of Existentialism. For those of you who don't know, Existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding your self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The belief is that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook. And personal choices become unique without the necessity of an objective form of truth. An existentialist believes that a person should be forced to choose and be responsible without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions.

Basically, we find our purpose instead of being born with a purpose.

Throughout the whole of the anime, Sieg is trying to find himself; to become his own person. But there are certain factors that counter this. Sieg was born (created) to be used a prana battery for the Black Faction's purposes. That right there counters the theme given to Sieg because he has a purpose; it is bleak purpose but a purpose none the less. But because he gained Siegfried's heart, which somehow gives Sieg something akin to a 'soul', which in Nasuverse is needed to be considered Human, Sieg is now questioning everything about himself. He is questioning everyone around him to find out what he is lacking so he can be a "true" human being. This in turn causes those he question to question themselves and their own life and try to find if they are lacking anything that make's them 'human'. This is seen when he questions Mordred who in turn questions herself about what kind of King she would have been if she was granted kingship of Britain because Artoria claimed that Mordred didn't have the capacity to be King.

Sieg can't ask Jeanne for help because she herself is another counter to Sieg's theme. We know her legend, both real-world historically and the Nasu version, in that her purpose came before her existence; she heard the voices of Angels that carried the lord's lament, which in turn spurned her into action in aiding her fellow countrymen in freeing France. Jeanne was born with her purpose already there, she had guidance throughout her life, she had allies backing her up and these factors counters Existentialism and thus counters Sieg's theme. Astolfo can't help him either because he himself has his own purpose; to travel the world for adventures. Astolfo is free-spirited and desired to travel the world and him being born into a noble family with vast influence and resources made making that desire into reality far easier.

Secondly, we have Sieg's development, which is none at all. He states he hates humans for what they've done to his fellow homunculus, but we don't see that hatred at all. We see some anger but never true hatred. We don't see this anger until the episode with Jack, the one where Atalanta snaps because Jeanne killed the spirits that made up Jack's being, he shows this anger when he sees how the Heroic Spirit Jack the Ripper came to be and he couldn't understand how cruel humans can be to make a child into a murderer. But after the episode everything is all good and they walk off into the sunset. If you're going to have a character being a misanthrope, then go all the way with it not just half-way then go back to the beginning and take a different course.

The light novels and manga do a better job of presenting Sieg as a character than the anime but even then they still fall short of what they were trying to do with his character.

With that rant out of the way, Sieg won't be the hero of this story, FA Shirou will, as you already know. Now this story will feature different servants who will affect the conflict that is the Greater Holy Grail. I don't like the how Fate Apocrypha set up the grail it featured as there was no real drama to add to the tension that a grail war provides from the masters and servants. The concept of a team vs team war is unique and one I was excited to see happen. But I was disappointed as there was no real drama, no true sense of urgency and no stakes at hand. Take Achilles and Chiron for example; the only real tension between the two of them was Chiron's desire to see how far Achilles had come as a warrior. Yes Chiron knew of Achilles' legend via the Throne but as a the greatest teacher of Greek Heroes, Chiron felt obligated to test Achilles' abilities.

Then we have Atalanta who gains a beef with Jeanne during and after the Jack episode. I question the point of Atalanta's presence in the story because she snaps, swears vengeance on Jeanne and fails thanks to Achilles intervening on Jeanne's behalf. What was the whole point of having Atalanta in the story; she's a lover of children (in a non-sexual way) and will basically hulk-out if she fails to save a child. That is it. There is no other aspect of Atalanta's character shown; just her love for children (again non-sexual) and her desire to give them a better world to live in.

The other servants don't have any personal conflicts besides them being on opposing sides. That will change in this story as the servants on both sides will have beef with each as they did their original lives. But I'll save that for the next three chapters titled: The Three Factions - Black, Red and White. Chapter two will focus on the Black Faction. Chapter three will focus on the Red Faction while Chapter four will focus on the White Faction. Its in the fourth chapter that you'll finally see the FA version of Shirou Emiya and just how powerful he is and why his participation is so worrisome.

Well you know what to do; read, review, flames will be ignored.