A/N: Hello and welcome one and all to this series that I have begun. You might have heard of the holy grail wars before but never like this. I will see that the Third Grail War takes place during the 1940s instead of the 1930s. Anyway, I did this because the Grail War would be way more interesting if it had taken place then. I mean what would the interactions be like? The church and the association could finally clash! The betrayals would be amazing. The fight scenes between ships, airplanes, and tanks, versus a servant would be awesome but catastrophic.
This = indicates memories, or scene
This = indicates dates
'This' = indicates thought
"This" = indicates dialogue
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Early August 1939
I was in my apartment. It wasn't too big. It had a desk, a kitchen with a fridge, a bed, and a furnace. The walls were made of brick and the floors were wooden. The apartment descended underground. Not much for someone of my background, which was intended. The most exquisite food I ever had in this apartment was a fish.
I paid the bills by boxing, and working at a local smithing shop. Occasionally, I worked at the docks. These jobs were to continue practicing these skills. I had nowhere else to go. I was overall silent in my work. Some new smiths asked the occasional how to practice new methods of forging. I taught them of course. There were often discussions about the news that I usually ignored. However, some topics kept arising.
I heard stories of tensions rising in Europe but that didn't interest me. That was the talk of many newspapers and during my time near the kiln, but still, it was uninteresting. I didn't want anything to do with that. That had been the point of view until I got home.
Currently, I was working at the docks with my best friend, Frank. He was a hard worker. Our job was to load bags onto a truck.
"Did you hear about the news in Europe, " Frank said while we heaved a bag.
I sighed, "Why does everyone talk about that?" While continuing the job.
"It's interesting"
"Not really," I said.
"You got to admit, the guy has a funny mustache." We nearly collapsed from how hard we laughed. The boss wasn't pleased with that.
Going back home to my apartment, I gave a piece of bread to a stray dog that I always see en route.
Before entering my home, I looked at the letterbox which had a ton of mail inside. I decided to look at the mail at my desk. Reviewing the mail in my box, I got a letter with a seal I hadn't seen before. I placed it on the desk. I was curious as to what the crest meant. I then remembered something disturbing. The crest brought back memories of when I was younger.
I stepped back from the desk. The crest shocked me. 'I thought they were all dead.'
Daring not to open the letter. It was of a past I tried my hardest to forget. Nevertheless, I still practice the techniques I was taught to this day.
Darting to the wall near the staircase, I grabbed a hammer that I kept nearby. I smashed the wall, persistent to get what was inside. Removing the bricks, there was a book and a mysterious large case. I recovered the book and put it on the desk. The cover of the tome had a symbol that matched the letter's seal. It was an exact copy. The tome he kept secret had never seen the light of day, yet the crest that was thought lost was seen by him once again.
'Impossible,' I thought to myself.
I was somewhat curious about the letter the more I thought about it. Was it possible there were more? Were they not all wiped out?
I opened the letter. It read:
Dear Y/N L/N
You have been under my surveillance for a while. It's good that you have kept up with your training. I see you are as strong as ever.
I write regarding you being a strong candidate for the upcoming Holy Grail War. The Einzberns have summoned a Ruler class servant. The Mage's Association has informed me that this rarity must be eliminated. You are to assassinate the Einzbern master and steal their command spells.
I know your training is a sore subject for you. However, the Mage's Association requires someone of your skillset. This will require every measure of stealth to succeed. Your guardians will guide your path to Europe,
I implore you to be wary of an Einzbern called Jubstacheit. He is the head of the family and a golem with centuries to develop magic capabilities.
Regards, your Uncle, Max L/N
I didn't remember having an uncle. 'Why was I treated to these conditions if I had an Uncle?'
There was a knock at the door. I quickly hid the letter in a drawer. I stored the book in the hiding place again and rebuilt it using earth magic. Then, made my way to the door. Looking through the peek hole, I saw a familiar face. It was Frank, but he was accompanied by a dog. I opened the door.
"Hey Frank how's it going?"
"Here, a sandwich I picked up on the way," he said as he handed me it. It was my favorite type. I placed the sandwich in the fridge.
We began to talk about the day. He mentioned that he was going to be busy soon. Suddenly, he had been brought up a topic that I wasn't prepared for.
"Did you open it?" Said Frank in a serious tone.
"Open what?" I was confused as to what Frank was referring to.
"The letter, did you open it?" I was starting to be suspicious.
"What letter?"
Meanwhile, talking with Frank, the dog was going to my desk. It pulled open the drawer that contained the letter. It held onto the letter with its mouth and began to trot back to the table where we were sitting.
When I noticed the dog had the letter I was surprised "Give me that," I said. I soon recognized the do as the dog I passed on my path to work and back.
"This is the letter that Sir Frank was referring to," said the Dog.
I was shocked by this, nearly falling out of my chair. "That dog talked, is it a familiar?"
"To be precise, I'm your familiar. Charwoofs is the name"
"I thought you said your name was Charles," said Frank.
"It is to you," said the dog flatly.
I was taken aback by this whole situation. I soon noticed that I had the sandwich in my hand and it was half eaten. 'When did that happen!'
"You are the ones who have been surveying me?"
"Bingo," they said in unison.
"Get packed we're going to Germany," Frank said.
I undid the earth magic I had cast, bringing the tome and the case with me.
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Late October 1939
Me, Frank, And Charles were on the outskirts of the forest. Looking toward the humungous bounded field that was present. It caused a massive snowstorm to take place.
We traveled to undetected Germany thanks to the British Royal Navy. Most countries have some form of mage hit squads.
We had packed lightly. Charles held onto the case. We had pistols, an automatic rifle, and a standard rifle. I was using binoculars to scope the inside but I couldn't find anything. Charles carried medical and ration supplies. There we each had a dagger on our person. We were dressed in snow camouflage, including insulated jackets, pants, and boots. The best that the Association had.
"This is where the plan fails isn't it?" I said.
"Don't worry, I got this."
Frank began to produce a loop in the field. Now I knew what his magic was. It was hollow. One of the rarest. I noticed he was shivering even with all the protection from the suits.
"You good?"
"I've never opened a portal on a bounded field. It's like getting hit with a truck," he said with a sore throat.
"I recommend that we go through quickly before it collapses," said Charles.
We are all through. We were not prepared for the beasts that awaited us inside. There were many traps and evil spirits that we happened to avoid thanks to Frank being able to make portals for our escape. I didn't understand how he made some that were incredibly far away though. It was like he had the eyes of an eagle.
We were outside the castle, hiding amongst the treeline. Using my binoculars, and Frank with his weird eyes, began to scan the castle for guards around the castle.
There were two patrolling the third floor, four patrolling this wall, two at the highest tower, two on the lower tower, and one on our left patrolling the outside of the castle. We discussed this with muffled voices over the snowstorm.
"This place is heavily fortified no matter where you look," I said dejectedly.
"They don't even have guns, just polearms, swords, and other melee weapons," reported Charles.
"Most mages think they are unsophisticated tools," stated Frank.
"I agree," I stated. "I think they're expecting someone"
"What like the German Army? No way," Frank chided.
"I mean the Nazis did Invade Poland so eh?" I said. I remembered that we had to avoid the armies on our way here.
"If they prepared for a large-scale assault, it could mean they are susceptible to a small task force," Charles said. "
"I doubt that," Frank replied. There was an awkward silence before I had an epiphany.
"I know how to get in without detection,"
We discussed the plan. As soon as the guard outside passed us I took them out from behind. I made sure to be silent in the takedown. The snowstorm helped to some effect. I began to steal the clothes of the homunculi while hiding my equipment under their coat. We walked up to the edge of the castle. Frank looked inside and opened a portal. I walked through first.
There was a guard directly in front of me. I stepped forward walking past. I could tell that they were suspicious. I used the stolen sword and did a silent takedown of the homunculus. I signaled Frank and Charles to enter.
"Shit, I can't believe that worked," said Frank in surprise and excitement. We proceeded with this tactic. Luckily, Frank was able to disguise himself too. We did this until we got to the courtyard. There were numerous amount of guards this time and an old-looking homunculus. If my intel was correct this had to be Jubstacheit von Einzbern
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My room was lavish and full of ornate designs for each piece of furniture. The castle was well protected from the storm of the snowstorm.
I was lying in bed. I looked at my hand. The command spell looked like a sword and a flame to me. It seemed to fade and Flicker. I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in," I said
It was my personal keeper. She had been designed for combat. In the meantime, she was a maid for me.
"Lady Lilith, we have been ordered by Lord Jubstacheit to leave,"
"I don't understand, why must we leave?"
"Those are his orders," said the maid.
"What are the orders?" I asked.
" He said, 'You must leave with what has been entrusted to you. I will accompany you and protect you with my life.' Those are the orders."
I soon realized why we were leaving. I darted toward the desk in my room and retrieved a key. It was precious to the family, it couldn't fall into enemy hands.
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"Stay back, if things look bad, you know what to do," I said to the team. They agreed.
I walked towards the Jubstacheit with the same tactic in mind.
"You have me for a fool, mage of the Association?" he said with some form of assurance. "That I wouldn't notice a breach, an unknown magical presence, and many dead brethren. You are truly naive to take us all on by yourself."
I soon realized that I was surrounded by Einzbern Homunculi. Their weapons pointed at me, just within throwing distance.
"Bet," I said with a smirk.
Frank began to open multiple portals left and right. I took out the auto-rifle and began to unload into the portals making walls of bullets. These walls annihilated the homunculi surrounding me. The ones lunged forward but Frank sniped them before they got to me.
The courtyard was littered with bodies. 'Did we do the right thing?' I thought to myself. Unknowingly, I had purged a bloodline. That would later come to haunt me.
I noticed that Jubstacheit was gone. I looked for him but he wasn't in the pile of bodies. We soon headed toward the lower levels of the castle. It was there that we found more homunculi being formed and archives. Frank went off to the archives while Charles and I went to search for the master I had been sent to replace.
'If they were anywhere, they were gonna be down here,' I thought to myself.
I descended some stairs into a room that was dimly lit. It was a large room. Enough to hold a battle between two rifles. I saw Jubstacheit on the side protecting a body.
"This is the end of the line for you mage!"
"I doubt that," I removed the case from Charles. There were two weapons inside the case. I had forged them a while back using my family's magic, thaumaturgical smithing. This was my magnum opus. It was a sword using various metals from every shrine relating to a fire deity. It had a chain at the end of the hilt.
The other was a dagger made from the fang of a dragon long forgotten. It had peculiar abilities. I wasn't as skilled with it. It had more mana spreading from it the the sword.
I drew the sword. Its hilt was hot to the touch. As soon as I was about to cast the sword's unique ability, I was caught by something. They were wires. The head of the Einzbern house had wrapped these wires around me. And the sword, big mistake. I cast the magic. It trailed flames along the wires. Jubstacheit retracted the wires and began forming a beast using the wires. They were still ablaze. The duel between us lasted for a while.
"That is an interesting blade you have on your hands, never in my existence have I seen or heard of something like it. Did you make it?"
"I'll answer your question if you answer mine," I said. "Where is the servant?"
"Behind me, It was a Ruler. We experimented on her, trying to make her an Avenger. Ultimately failing, the servant is in a sleep state." he said with venom in his tongue.
"That's all I needed to hear," I made a quick stance, and lunged forward so fast it was impossible to see. I sliced Jubstacheit in half. He had a look of surprise. I could've ended him as soon as I saw him, but I needed the information.
"That's impossible!" he said in his final words. He coughed and dematerialized.
I went to the case again storing the sword. I took the dagger with me. I went to the body of the Servant. I looked at her, she had a delicate face to her. She had scars all over her.
I cut my hand with the dagger. I made the blood go into the servant's mouth. The faint mark of red appeared on my hand. I knew I had to do more. I will try to summon the servant.
"Let the void consume,"
"Let the dragon be the vessel and foundation,"
"Let red be the color I pay tribute to,"
"Let the darkness and nothingness make a path"
"The deep shall be a crown"
"I hereby declare"
"You shall serve under me"
"My fate shall by your sword"
"Submit to the beckoning of the holy grail"
"If you will submit to this will and this reason Ruler, resurrect!"
Suddenly, I felt an immense force push me back. It had enough force to push me back with just the wind. My vision was engulfed with light.
"Servant, Avenger. Summoned upon your request. ...What's with that look?" I looked at her shocked but when I realized what I had just done, it was amazing. 'I changed a servant's class! And revived one no less!' I was ecstatic in my thoughts.
"Nothing, you just surprised me that's all,"
"My aren't you a savior," she walked up to me. Her black dress was entrancing. "The world could do with less of those," she whispered in my ear.
"I don't think of myself as that," I said bluntly.
She stared at me. She blushed and looked away. "Whatever, you are a dumbass."
Frank returned and he had a book in his hand. I was curious as to what it was he had procured.
"Frank, what's that?"
"A book that the Association needs," he stored in on Charles. "It's classified by the way."
"Well, aren't you just a prick?"
"Who you calling a prick," he retorted.
Soon enough, we all exited the castle. I took a liking to the new servant I had. She had an interesting nature to her.
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A/N: This will be weekly. Make sure to follow me to keep up with updates. Anyway, have a good day/afternoon/night, and enjoy whatever you're doing.