Author's Notes

First thing I'd like to get off my chest before I begin this segment of the story, I'm not that good at explaining things directly to an audience, be it on paper or in real life, being what one would call a hermit of sorts. Forgive me if there are any misconceptions that I have not cleared up proceeding from here-on out or if I had not answered anything. If you wish to ask me something after this chapter pertaining to the story, do take it to Private Messages.

Alright, moving on and beginning, here we go.

Starting Howling Dark was an... interesting task. The prototype was fundamentally much different than the finished product (of which I will explain in the Scrapped Ideas section of this chapter), one that I had decided to bum-rush and write incoherently for the first two months before realizing that I had written myself into a corner in which I couldn't get out from (I had stopped at the prototype Chapter 7 when I realized my mistake). That was when I needed to get to thinking how I wanted to do this story, how to start it properly and how I wanted it to end. I needed to do something that hadn't done in 10 years: I had to plan the whole story; beginning, middle, end.

To start off, my first ever fanfiction was written when I was 10 years old. Not on any websites since I was poor as shit at the time, all that I had to go off of was playing Halo 2, 3, & Reach at my best friend's house, I had written my first fic, a Halo story taking place 10 years after Halo 3 (this was way before Halo 4 hit the shelves, so I was going in blind). Needless to say, it was grammatically and structurally terrible, 80 pages long, written in a variety of different pen inks and pencil leads, and the carpal-tunnel syndrome developing on my right hand was a painful learning experience. Nevertheless, Halo was where my storywriting hobby started.

Though things changed, Halo had sat at the back of my mind for quite some time, most of it being because I had then enlisted into the military (financial and educational reasons, nothing fancy or patriotic) and had to focus on training. When I was sent off for technical training back in 2018, I met someone who proceeded to introduce me into the Fate series. At the time, I had vaguely heard about it, the only name at the time being "Saber" and "Holy Grail War" after one episode of Studio DEEN's early adaption. Eventually, he convinced me to watch it now that it was being animated by Ufotable, which the only thing I had heard from them was "Unlimited Budget Works", so I expected nothing but quality. I had Netflix at the time so I though, "Hey, what the hell?", started with Fate/Zero, and clicked Play.

Flash forward to the present. I have read the Visual Novels (Fate/Stay Night AND Hollow Ataraxia), the Light Novels of Fate/Zero, Apocrypha, and Strange Fake, and as of posting am now waiting for the Lostbelt chapters of Fate Grand Order. Needless to say, I became a fan.

So I had then checked on FFN to see that there was a crossover section for Fate and my old flame Halo. I was... not satisfied with what I saw, I will be perfectly honest. So I thought to myself, "Hey, why don't I contribute to it? I'm a... good enough writer, right?". To which I then looked at my past fics sitting in this account and cringed in slight disgust (nothing wrong with the worlds that I built my stories in, just my lack of planning and overall foresight). Cut to 7 prototype chapters all improvised and hitting a roadblock before realizing, "I need to stop this."

It took me about 3-4 months of planning, both the parts of Zero and Stay Night, while the writing process took about 6 months. I had managed to bring a good friend of mine into the Fate fandom in the process, HeyMrJack33, who provided the motivation and looked through my stories for errors, alongside giving some advice on where to proceed and his general opinion on the story overall. Suffice to say, the story would be different without his help. Thanks Jack, you're the best and I know you're reading this.

While this is my story, a lot of influence was pulled from two stories that I will hold as my all-time favorites. Both being JoJo's Bizarre Adventure crossovers with Fate, the first being "Requiem for the Holy Grail" and the other being "A Holy War", both of which dealt with elements that caused me to think about the state of my own writing. One was more technical and thorough, while the other was more raw, unfiltered, and visceral in its storytelling, aspects that I could wholly respect and aspire to.

One of my biggest hurdles that I had to overcome in this story was, as a certain professor says, the Whydunnit. Why does Six, or Saber, or Caster want or need to do the things they wanted to do in this particular setting or situation? I had to step into their shoes (Caster and Six being the toughest due to the liberties I decided to take) and see the situation from a king or hero or killer's perspective and adjust accordingly, with conversations being my weakness in writing.

Writing fight scenes was where I thought my work shone, fighting was simple, there was always an end result: death, injury, escape, or even the very rare truce. I didn't have to think as hard, let the battle flow according to how I thought they'd fight, much of the writing was inspired by the Stay Night VN, particularly the Sparks Liner High ending. Music helped set a lot of the tone for what I wanted to write. Halo 3 ODST's soundtrack for Six's quiet moments, the Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II's OST for Caster and Ryuunosuke, Ougon no Ou (Gilgamesh's original theme) with Saber and Six's battle for the first part to capture the urban and gritty beginning, followed by Kara no Kyoukai music to encapsulate a climbing yet somber fight.

Q&A and Misconceptions (Starting from the beginning reviews):

Note: Not all questions will be answered as to prevent spoilers to the sequel.

What does Six look like and what is his age?

- At first I wanted him to look like a mix of Noble Team, each with varying parts of their distinctive looks, before deciding on who I wanted him to be as a person rather than some nameless amalgamation. If I had to put it best, his skin is very pale from the time spent in his armor and away from the sun, his hair is a dark auburn with steel-gray eyes. He stands at about 6' 4", making him a bit short for a Spartan-III, though MJOLNIR puts him at about 6' 10-11". For a Nasuverse comparison, if he was drawn by Takeuchi, he would look like a taller, rougher, and shorter-haired version of Gawain's original concept art.

As for his age, cross-referencing from when Beta Company was formed, Six joined at a rather younger age than most. As a Servant, he was summoned at the peak of his time as an Assassin, alongside the concept of "Lone Wolf", putting him at around the age of 18-reaching-19, but can pass for early-twenties.

Where's the Stat Sheet for Noble 6?

- Scroll down.

Why did Kiritsugu manage to spot Assassin at the docks?

- For the same reason he managed to spot Hundred-Faces in Fate/Zero. Thing is, Hassan-i Sabbah has a higher Presence Concealment than Six, so it would've been much easier for Kerry to see him.

Why doesn't Six use guns or UNSC weapons?

- I keep getting this question a lot, so I might as well get it out of the way. He can use guns, but it's due to the circumstances of where he is summoned. Japan has a strict firearm policy, so Six couldn't just stop and pick up a gat all willy-nilly. Kiritsugu had to have his weapons illegally ported into Fuyuki to even use them, while the Yakuza group in Fuyuki was headed by the Fujimuras, one which I was unable to get information and had overlooked. Six's use of firearms near the end of the story was from the weapons he had picked off of Maiya's corpse right around the same time he had found Kirei's body, which is also where he got the Black Keys to show to Kariya.

The UNSC weapons schtick is a lot easier to answer. A UNSC gun is simply a gun, a manufactured tool that pretty much every soldier had on them during the war against the Covenant. They were not formally named weapons that Six found and kept to create a legend of like Balmung, Gae Bolg, or Excalibur. There has been an argument being Billy the Kid's Thunderer NP being a gun NP, but the lore explicitly states in his case that the gun is not the NP, but rather it's the concept of "This gun fired by Billy", focusing on his technique and marksmanship rather than the killing power of the gun itself.

Another argument is the subject of EMIYA being an Archer using swords, so why can't Assassin use guns? Simple reason: Six doesn't have Unlimited Blade Works, he can't use Projection nor does he share Shirou's Sword Origin and Element, while the idea of a "Gun Origin/Element" seems... No. Alongside that, even if he could project a weapon, that would involve projecting every single part inside the weapon, as well as the painstaking process of the bullets that the weapon can fire, and maintaining its manifestation on the physical plane since Projection is essentially creating a degraded and hollow fake from nothing but mana.

Thom?

- The Noble Six before him, Assassin took the name out of convenience due to the lack of his own.

Assassin's Personality.

- Six's personality was a tough thing to create. While he was a blank slate for the player to insert themselves on, I decided to run with that concept, the "Blank Slate". Much of his memory is from being a soldier, all he knows is to kill and nothing more, it wasn't until he met Noble Team that he finally formed a kinship with them, even if it was a short time. Much of his personality is inspired by the Terminator, John Wick, and a slight inversion of Kirei Kotomine himself. Both men seeking to discover their true natures as people, both of which seeking satisfaction, though one hides his confused and twisted nature behind a mask of stoicism while the other creates a facade of fake emotions to mask the lack of his own.

Kirei and his nature.

- While he wasn't pushed to discover himself by Gil, he was still compelled to find out about himself by fighting Kiritsugu. His emotions were creeping up, but before they could be fully uncovered, he had bit the dust. The push from Caster was lighter, more subtle, but he had gotten the desired results: either Kiritsugu or Kirei dead.

Ryuunosuke and the Magic Circuits.

- Ryuunosuke actually does have magic circuits, as stated in the Fate/Zero Light Novel. They were dormant all throughout his life until Caster's summoning (Moriarty in this case) awoke them.

Why Six feels underpowered.

- Not sure if anyone else felt this, however I did get this as a response. As many of you know due to the information provided by the last chapter, the circumstances of Six's summoning was a special case, that which being a 1 in a million chance to even be summoned in the Fourth Fuyuki Grail War. Six... isn't exactly from Earth, but his existence as a Counter Guardian binds him to the Earth at minimum. Even in the Noble Monument, Six is never displayed, so there's no fame boost, country of origin for him to have an advantage on, or notable Mystery aside from the ambiguity of his identity.

Nevertheless, even as underpowered as he was, he was still the winner.

Scrapped Ideas and Final Implementation

Assassin.

- At the time, I wanted to use a Spartan that I was familiar with. Having read the books, I had wanted to settle on using Frederick as the Spartan for this story, thinking it would be a niche use of a Spartan-II. However, after some thinking, I had come up with the Counter Guardian scenario and didn't realize that Six had been a better contender for the role, as well as allowing for more flexibility and interpretation on how I wanted to write this story and where I could take it from here.

Archer and Caster

- At around the time I wrote the prototype, I had just finished Agartha and Shinjuku, so Moriarty had been a planned Servant from the beginning, however he was implemented as an Archer with a slight deviation from the FGO version. Caster would've been Tokiomi's Servant, that Servant being none other than Gilgamesh. The story was much different, with Six following Gil's orders of tracking down Archer while Gil and Moriarty would engage in a sort of Cat and Mouse chase of trying to outwit each other.

After being stuck on Chapter 7, I scrapped the ideas entirely and started over, with better introspective into the Fate lore. That's when I picked up Fate/Strange Fake, with the introduction of Alcides, a twisted Alter form of Heracles' as an Archer. Moriarty had been moved into his canon Servant container, that being as a Caster and into a more mentor role for Ryuunosuke. While it is not shown in Part 1, the confrontation between Caster and Archer near the end of the Fourth Grail War has a deep impact for the Fifth to come.

Combat

- The prototype proved to be a fundamentally different story, with Gilgamesh forcing Six to take a proactive approach in the war while simultaneously keeping the anonymity of their alliance in check. The first being the battle on the docks. Caster and Berserker fought between Gil's Gate of Babylon and Lancelot using KoO infused rocks to block the magic before Lancer used Gae Dearg to nullify other magic after his command seal. Afterwards, Gil left and tossed Assassin into the battle, forcing him to fight Berserker and Lancer in his stead. This lead to a stand off between the three, Lancer and Berserker fighting off Assassin before Rider stepped in, seeing the fight as unfair. However, Heracles taking the role of Archer in the finished product lead to a better confrontation with Rider, while Berserker still remained a threat.

Saber and Assassin

- Because of Assassin's more proactive role in the prototype, Saber had seen his skill and acknowledged it. The 2v2 battle in the forest, between Saber and Lancer and Archer vs Berserker, was originally going to have Six facing Lancelot instead, both of which ending in a draw after Berserker takes a shotgun to the face (yes, the prototype just randomly had guns lying about. Part of the reason why I scrapped it). Assassin and Saber were temporarily allied for the sake of getting their prospective missions done, both of which had surprisingly good synergy in combat despite their contrasting styles of fighting.

Rider's Fall

- Originally, I had planned for a battle between Iskandar and Gilgamesh much like Fate/Zero. However, it was a battle between each other's rivaling parties. With Ionioi Hetairoi against the overwhelming forces of Gilgamesh's Melammu Dingir. Both dealt mortal wounds to each other, killing each other off in the process.

The Ending

- Howling Dark was going to end much differently than the finished product. The battle was going to be a one-sided battle between Saber and Archer, with Saber having the upper hand while Moriarty resorted to trickery to stay alive. Archer manages to get the upper hand by destroying Saber's arms with careful precision and temporarily preventing her from wielding Excalibur. Assassin barges in and tries to intervene, to which Archer tries to hold Saber at gunpoint, knowing the two had grown closer. Instead, Assassin takes the tougher path and ends up shooting Artoria to get to Archer, killing them both in the process, but not before Saber sees Assassin destroy the Grail using his Noble Phantasm.

(Update 2/15/2020) The Cover Art

- If you hadn't guessed, the cover art of Howling Dark is Kirei's Command Seals over Assassin.

Stat Sheet

Assassin:

True Name: Unknown

Alias: Noble 6. Counter Guardian SIX

Alignment: Lawful Neutral.

Alternate Classes: Avenger, Shielder.

Parameters:

Strength: B

Endurance: B+

Agility: A

Mana: D

Luck: E-

NP: C+

Class Skills:

Presence Concealment: A

- Once serving as a former handler's personal assassin, Spartan-B312 has made entire Insurrectionist bases disappear overnight without a shred of evidence denoting his involvement. Rank drops significantly when preparing to attack.

Independent Action: B

- Regularly given to the Archer Class, Assassin has earned this skill through the circumstances of becoming a Heroic Spirit. Able to stay manifested for two days.

Personal Skills:

Battle Continuation: A

- Left behind on a desolate planet, Assassin had sacrificed his life to keep the remaining intruders at bay. So long as he lived, he had posed a danger for them. Fighting beyond even the limits of a Spartan's body, Six can survive even with a mortal wound for a limited time.

Augmentations: C

- Every Spartan was granted the alterations necessary to wield the legendary MJOLNIR armor, and Six was no exception. Alongside functioning similarly to a low-ranking Instinct, Six is granted bonuses for any physical checks.

Eye of the Mind (True): B

- One among 300 Spartans of Beta Company, a lifetime of combat had manifested a deep intuition of reading the situation of a fight. This skill allows Assassin to maintain a calm demeanor and clear mind throughout the fight, thinking several steps ahead of his opponent in order to come out alive.

Hyper Lethal: -

- A Conceptual skill granted under the conditions of being able to maximize killing intent to an almost inhuman degree. As this was an ability that Assassin had manifested through pure efficiency alone, this does not fall under the categorization of a Noble Phantasm.

- Similarly to Sir Lancelot's Knight of Owner, any weapon within Assassin's grasp is endowed with the power of a C-rank weapon. This power extends to Noble Phantasms as well.

- However, there are drawbacks to this skill. Due to his existence with the Age of Man, any weapon surpassing C-rank is forcibly reduced to compensate. Along with this, unlike Berserker's Noble Phantasm, this skill restricts improvised weapons from attaining rank.

- So far, only two Servants within the Throne of Heroes possess this Skill.

Man-Made Hero (True): A

[Unknown; Information Inaccessible.]

Noble Phantasms:

MJOLNIR: C+

A technological marvel by the standards of the future and an impossible dream within the modern Age of Man, MJOLNIR functions as a suit of futuristic armor to shield the wearer from incoming damage. Normally a D+ rank Noble Phantasm, it is because of the unlikelihood of this armor's creation today that raises its effectiveness and durability.

MJOLNIR raises all Physical parameters by a single rank and Plus bonuses to any Physical parameter already within A Rank, alongside a shielding system formed by energy particles capable of granting an equivalent of E-rank Magic Resistance.

Interestingly, due to Assassin's lack of a formal weapon in life, MJOLNIR possesses the ability to carry a limited supply of tools within a pocket dimension formed from Imaginary Space.

Fall of Reach: EX

Like the Laconians of old, the Spartans stood at the hot gates and held the line to delay the inevitable. In this instance, the actions of Noble Team, their sacrifice, had contributed to the survival of mankind and the savior housed within the Pillar of Autumn. Because of this, the last survivor of Reach was granted this conceptual Noble Phantasm for their heroism, even as a nameless Counter Guardian.

Each member of Noble Team is his Noble Phantasm, the concept of their sacrifice given form. Upon activation, Six is given an opportunity to "break" a law of the World and achieve the impossible, whether it is coming back from the dead or surviving the absolute corruption of the Holy Grail. The amount of times allowed for this to happen is equivalent to the number of Spartans that served in Noble Team. However, this Noble Phantasm can only be used sparingly as it comes with a great cost of mana and a lost opportunity for any future use, as it recreates the sacrifice of a member of Noble in Six's place to push him forward, so it must be used in a fight where he is fully expected to lose.

In the instance of the Fourth Holy Grail War, Six had used this power only twice: the first was surviving his first "battle" against Archer, and the other was breaking out of the dreamlike prison given by the Holy Grail.

Final Words

Overall, I am satisfied with what I made. I know it's not perfect, but I know what I want to write from here, where I want to take Six's journey, with Sakura, Shirou, Rin, Saber, and everyone else to be involved. As of today, the sequel is being written between me pausing from this chapter to continue before coming back to this. So I would like to thank you for your patience as it will take me quite some time to finish the sequel, The Next War.

Once again, thank you for your time.