Fate/Apocrypha volume 2

Fate/Apocrypha volume 2 (chapter 2)

chapter 2

Participants in the Holy Grail War were able to see dreams. Perhaps it was due to the deep mental connection between Master and Servant.

They were able to view each other’s pasts in the form of dreams. It was a phenomenon that was widely known to have occurred in the first three Holy Grail Wars and the smaller derivative Holy Grail Wars.

—So Shishigou Kairi wasn’t surprised at all when he found himself in Britain in the far ancient past.

“…Well, this kind of thing happens too, I guess.”

This was probably his Servant Mordred’s past. When he realized it, she was already right there next to him. The sword she held was the weapon she favored in this Holy Grail War as well—<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">Clarent: Radiant Sword of the King.

Originally, this weapon did not belong to her. It was a sword that served as the symbol of the throne, which King Arthur had obtained and stored in his armory.

Mordred had stolen it and incited a large-scale rebellion to take the title of ‘king’ for herself, and now she was tightly grasping this sword in front of King Arthur as she challenged him to a one-on-one fight.

“…In other words, this is Camlann, huh?”

Yes, this place was the hill of Camlann. The site of the final decisive battle between the rebel army led by Mordred and the regular army led by King Arthur. In this sad and gloomy war, the curtains would finally close on the brilliant knightly story of King Arthur’s legend.

Fired arrows pierced lightly-armored rank-and-file soldiers. Mordred, with her entire body clad in armor, pushed forward in defiance of all attacks.

King Arthur, who boasted of tremendous charisma, had finally managed to unify Britain. Yet in spite of that, why did so many soldiers approve of Mordred’s rebellion?

With unification close at hand, weariness of war had spread and grown rampant within the country—that was one reason.

The scandal between Queen Guinevere and the Knight of the Lake, Lancelot, who, despite being extolled as perfect, had fallen into an immoral love, had caused the king’s authority to weaken in the people’s eyes—that was also one reason.

Many knights had been gripped by both a strange fear and even disdain for their king, who was too pure and upright and never acted according to personal feelings—that was also one reason.

But there was another reason.

Seeing Mordred on the battlefield, Shishigou could understand it quite well. Her way of fighting was savage. The magnificent and gallant sword technique that other knights boasted of was like a frail twig before her style.

It was a style of killing that focused on obeying her instincts and optimized her fighting habits with the greatest efficiency.

The morale of the troops who followed her from behind was high. It was a rhythm that urged people’s instincts. Their footsteps banged loudly and grandly like large drums as they stepped forward.

—It was a calamity like that of a dragon.

Mordred was a famous knight. She had worked hard to be one and seemed to be so in reality. Still, if she had proceeded to the battlefield as a [knight], hundreds of thousands of soldiers probably wouldn’t have followed her.

Her strength was real and somehow seemed to be filled with madness. But that very madness was her most admirable and suitable trait on the battlefield.