Within the Fuyuki docks, the sound of metal can be heard clanging repeatedly to such a rapid beat, it almost sounds like construction was being done there. In all reality, a battle between two warriors of legend was at play, as weapons venerated to the point of legends met head to head. However in that very same setting, a few blocks away, a black SUV parked. Within it, a couple of people, a foreigner with black and blue eyes sat with a serious expression on his face. Beside him was a woman of slightly shorter stature whose purple hair and crimson, almost cat-like eyes could only be a product of either impressive cosplay or of a more otherworldly origin.

As Bruce and Caster drove to the back, Bruce then pulled out a duffel bag from behind him and unzipped it, showcasing the black cloak hidden inside. As he was about to wear it, his servant then said "Oh no. I hope you're not thinking of doing what I'm thinking you're going to do.". To this, Bruce's only rebuttal was silence as he continued to unpack that Batman costume out of the bag. However, before he could pull it out, Caster's hand wrapped around the hand with the bat suit as she said "I will not allow you to fight those servants. You got lucky with Assassin last time. Against more battle oriented servants, you won't stand even a second. I may stand a chance since I've always been a better warrior then a mage, but you-".

Bruce then placed a hand on top of hers to try and assuage her worries, saying "Calm down. We're not going to fight them, we're merely going to size up the competition to see what we're dealing with.". Scathach(Lily) became torn by this idea as on one hand, it'd put her master in sizable danger, especially considering this is the same man who would not back down to even Assassin, but on the other hand, valuable knowledge of opponents is valuable. She decided to compromise.

She then placed her other hand on top of the one he placed on hers and said "Wait. At the very least, let me help you even the odds.". Bruce then asked "How exactly?" to which she merely said "Take out your costume." while pulling out her red spear-wand thing. Bruce then gave her a confused "Okay?" to which she then took the costume from his hand and began inscribing runes all around it making Bruce go "Hey, hey! What are you-". However, after reading the runes on it, he then said "Oh.", after realizing what she was doing.

Ur was written on the arm and leg portions of the legs to strengthen muscular strength, Ehwaz on the fists, chest, boots and cape to increase the protection and durability offered by the bat suit, Kenaz on the inside of the mask to allow for vision to be enhanced, Hagalaz was also added to the cape probably as a way to ward off possible curses and finally Algiz at the back of the head, which Bruce saw as strange since if he remembered correctly, that was a rune with similar properties to Ehwaz, maybe it actualizes a different effect?

After finishing up, Caster then said "And there." before taking time to admire her handiwork. She then said "Now these runes may not allow you to be able to beat a servant aside from Assassin if your fight last time was anything to go by, but, they're potent enough to at least allow you to survive a bit against even the likes of lancer or saber, maaaybe a few seconds against berserkers.". Caster then slumped down in front of the car's air conditioner, being relieved of the heat her body produced from using magecraft. She then said "Meanwhile, I will stay right here. I think I'm going to take a rest for a bit. Your mana generation isn't enough to sustain me completely, so I'll rest a bit first.".

Bruce then said "Hey, could you also add a Sowilo near my face?". Caster balked at this and said "Are you crazy? Why would you risk getting burned? What do you get out of this?". Bruce then said "Look, they don't know you exist. The best way we can keep that up, is that they'd think I'm a servant instead if they see that.". Caster then said "What servant are you possibly trying to play as?!" to which he said "Spring heeled jack.". Caster then shook her head vehemently, saying "No, servants can sense fellow servants. They would notice your dud, immediately. The only reason they don't sense me now, is because I placed an Isa rune while we were driving towards the second building.".

Bruce then sighed before saying "Well, wish me luck then." before wearing his bat suit and walking off. She then said "Good luck... master..." with a worried frown. As she went to meditate on her seat, she felt something fall on her leg, a piece of paper folded with a bat insignia drawn on it.

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Batman began prowling around the docks, towards where the sound of blades clashing was. With a quiet clink of his grappling hook, he zipped up to the top of the shipping containers, before sneaking around. With the use of his rune-boosted infrared and radar vision, Batman detected various life signals, as well as human-shaped mana clumps all hidden all around. With a click of his radio, he then contacted Caster, saying "Caster, come in." to which Caster responded. "So far, I'm seeing various life forces here. Based on what I can see, there are four humans here on the docks and nearly a hundred spiritual clumps in human shape. I'm guessing that dimmer light is the Assassin servant." making Caster go "What? But you said it yourself, he died." in shock.

Batman then looked around some more, and his eyes widened as she saw who were clashing. The young blond haired woman who called herself Tori was currently facing off against a man in green who was wielding twin spears as a weapon. However, what's more, 'Tori' looked different. Despite that, it wasn't the fact that this Tori person was no longer wearing her suit and was now wearing what looked like a cross between a dress and armor that shocked Batman, nor was it the fact that she was wielding what basically looked like an imaginary sword from his perspective.

No, it was the fact that, after looking at her using his improved bat sights, she showed one thing that eluded him during their past encounter, She wasn't human. A voice from one of the humans nearby then said "I allow you to use your noble phantasm, Lancer." to which the man in green smirked at. He then watched as the two devolved once more into a battle only to see this time that Lancer had slashed through the invisibility of 'Tori's' sword partially revealing a golden light. Batman then tapped his earpiece and swapped channels to Friede, asking "Friede, are you there?". Friede then answered with "Yes sir, always.". He then asked her "Friede, cross reference all the details I'm about to give you with the world wide web. Specifically, myths and stories all around the world.". He then heard Friede say "Ready sir.". He then uploads ten seconds worth of video regarding the man with the green armor and spear of red and gold.

After a few seconds, Friede then said "Sir, we have only one match of a hero that wielded two spears at the same time, a Diarmuid of the love spot from the Fenian cycle. Batman then phoned Caster in saying "Caster, twin spears, one red, one gold. What do you think? Apparently, Friede says it's of a Diarmuid of the love spot.". Caster then said "Oh, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, I remember him. A kid of Aengus I think. From what I can recall in one of my many divinations of the future, he was supposed to wield two spears and two swords, with the sword variant being especially deadly.". Running out of patience, Batman then said "Quick, what about the spears?" to which Caster said "Well... I don't remember much, except for their names. Gae Dearg, the crimson rose of exorcism, and Gae Buidhe, the golden rose of mortality.".

Batman began thinking. "If Crimson rose of Exorcism translates to the spear's ability to bypass that invisible ghost-like material wrapping Tori's sword and the metal on her presumably spirit-based armor, then Golden Rose of Mortality means-". He then looked in horror as he saw the blue clad woman ditch her armor before aiming her sword backwards, ready to launch herself at her opponent. His eyes then landed on her presumably master, Iris, and saw horrific parallels to his past. Parents dying to a secret war being waged within a large city... Gotham and its crime war, and Fuyuki and the holy grail war.

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Saber was currently forced to face her opponent unarmored due to said opponent being able to cut straight through her armor like it was butter. Therefore, to halt the loss advantage completely, she was going to bet on this one strike to kill the enemy. She aimed her sword to her back before chanting out the invisible wind's true name to undo it. "Strike air!".

After shouting out the name, a powerful gale of wind momentarily fired behind her as she jumped at her opponent, her precognition telling her of an assured victory should she swing fast enough for the long spear to not work. However, as she did so, she immediately regretted after seeing him pull out his second spear. However, before the short one could hit, the sound of metal cutting the air could be heard sailing towards the both of them forcing the two to dodge the surprise attack with the spearman jumping back and the swordswoman twisting to bat it out of the air.

Both then looked at the projectiles and found the bat shape of it strange. Sure, it was thrown at a speed that was slow to a servant above E rank in Agility, but even still, one must never underestimate an unknown opponent. Both their eyes then looked up to the shadowy figure that joined the fray, currently standing atop a lamp post.

Saber then said "Assassin, why have you come to interfere with our duel?". However, Batman then said "Assassin? Hardly. Vigilante would be a better term.", looking back at the eyes of the two with his helmet's glowing white lenses.

He then said "If you're looking for actual assassins, they're actually all over this city. Why, I heard there were even allegedly snipers in the area.", while looking at a group of cargo crates where a certain Magus Killer has been hiding, making Kiritsugu grunt in annoyance. Batman then said "After a bit of digging, I found out that you people are planning to start a little war in my city. I don't like that. So I'm giving you all this chance to leave or I am apprehending you.".

With a low growl, Saber then said "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, vigilante. This is way out of your league, so I'm giving you a counter offer. Stand down and go home. Forget all this ever happened. This is not your fight." to the man. However, he was unmoving, as he said "You're endangering the people of Fuyuki. I'm pretty sure it is my fight.". Due to

A voice from behind a crater then said "Lancer, kill this impudent fool. No mundane person must know of the moonlit world.". Lancer then aimed his spear at the man before saying "I find no honor in striking down one who is hapless against me but it is my duty to uphold my Lord's wishes.".

As he jumped forward to stab the mysterious vigilante and finish him off quickly and painlessly, lancer was suddenly shocked as the vigilante moved at nearly servant speeds, and grabbed the spears by the handle using his armpits before head-butting him with enough force to actually hurt him. While this might normally have been solved by his Eye of Mind, the very fact that he didn't expect the opponent to actually be able to see, much less catch up to him, meant that he was ironically caught in a similar trap as to what he planned to do on Saber.

Lancer was able to recover quickly from the initial shock, but by then he was already thrown falling, so he made one final gambit. With his shorter spear's faster striking speed, he then swung at his torso, to hopefully slash through what seemed like mere cloth only to hear the clank of steel. For his troubles, he instead received a kick to the stomach instead as the man fired a grappling hook towards the top of an empty cargo tank.

Saber then asks her companion, "Irisviel, what's the plan?". However, before any word could further be spoken, a loud crack of lightning of thunder reverberated throughout the battlefield as a man with red-hair descended from the very heavens, atop a bull-driven carriage while screaming a war cry. He then parked in the middle of the two knight class servants, saying "Sheathe your weapons! For you are in the presence of a king!".

The red-haired man of whom Bruce only knew as "Alex" the suspicious friend of a neighbor's equally suspicious "grandchild" was now proudly exclaiming that he was the king of Macedonia, Iskandar the Great, and that he was of the rider class in this Grail war. A bit later, the earlier mentioned grandson, Waver popped out from behind Iskandar with a shocked face as he looked back and forth between everyone present and his servant. Everyone else looked at the red-haired servant with apprehension, disbelief, a calculative gaze or any mix of the three.

Waver then whined out about the sheer audacity of that decision only to get a painful forehead flick for his troubles. He then began what basically was what Batman could consider the bravest and boldest business pitch he has heard both in the mundane and supernatural world wherein the King of Conquerors, Iskandar, used his charisma to try and rope in Saber, Lancer and Batman into joining his army.

With a scoff, Lancer told the man he refused his offer with as much politeness as the affronted, chivalrous warrior could offer, with Lancer only vowing to hand the grail one man and one man alone, his mysterious lord working in the shadows. Meanwhile, the more insulted swordswoman then said "So you disturbed our battle merely to propose such a ridiculous plan?". She then glared daggers at the conqueror, saying "As a knight, this is a grave insult.".

Meanwhile, Batman stood silently, merely whispering out "Are you getting all this Friede? Caster?", receiving a yes from both technically not human ladies. With a low hum, Rider then said "I am willing to discuss terms." only to be shut down by both battle-cucked warriors. Saber then said "And besides, I am a king myself responsible for the well-being of Britain.". She then gripped hard on her invisible sword, saying :No matter how mighty a king you are, I cannot lower myself to a mere retainer."

This piqued both Rider and Batman's interest as Iskandar said "Oh? Britain you say? I didn't expect the King of Knights to be a little girl!" with an amused tone. As Saber angrily said "So you wish to taste the blade of this little girl then, King of Conquerors?", Batman then asked on Caster's line, "Hey Caster, who is this king of knights?" to which he heard a choked gasp from the other side. After a bit of coughing, an answer then came from Caster who said "Th-that's King Arthur Pendragon.".

After hearing this, Batman then grimaced. He then quietly thought to himself "So that blade earlier was Excalibur then.". Friede then worriedly said "What are you doing there? Get out? Master, you are horribly outgunned in every possible way." only for him to abruptly cut the communication as Iskandar then turned to him saying "What say you Dark Knight? How bout it?".

Batman, from his perched position then said "You are Alexander the great, king of Macedonia, correct?" to which Rider then began smiling, saying "Yes, that's me exactly.". Batman then asked a follow up question of "And your wish is to be reborn anew to conquer the world, am I correct?". Rider then said "Right again mysterious dark knight guy.". Batman then said "Then I'll have to pass. It would go against my very mission in this little war of yours. My plan was to prevent as many needless deaths as possible and your plan of a global conquest is the opposite of what I want. So I respectfully decline."

With a shrug and a sigh, Rider then said "Well, looks like negotiations have failed. Aw jeez, what a waste. Truly a waste.". Waver from beside him then began whining once more only to be cut off by Lancer's master, saying "So it was you, of all people." making Waver freeze up in fear. The man then continued, saying "I was wondering what madness compelled you to take my relic.". The voice's mocking tone worsened as he said "I never imagined you to be one to actually have the audacity of joining the Grail War yourself.".

The man then called him by his full name, "Waver Velvet" before stepping out of the shadows to say "Maybe I'll have to give you extra lessons as a special case?", looking down on his student. His voice then showed hints of sadism as he said "The true meaning of mage's killing one another... I'll teach you all the fear and pain involved. You should feel honored.".

The fear had become enough to make Waver buckle under the weight of his fear as tears began streaming down his face while he clutched his head trying to drown out the fear-inducing voice. However, unexpected to him, his servant then decided to stand up for him by shouting at the man "Oi! Mage! It appears you intended to be my master instead of this boy. Do not make me laugh!". With a tone both sincere and serious, Rider then spoke up, saying "Only a man brave enough to ride alongside me to battle can ever consider themselves my master. A coward lacking even the courage to show up can never be my master" making the man grit his teeth at the blatant insult which was only furthered by the raucous laughter he followed with.

Rider then began calling out the rest of the ones watching in the shadows, making Saber question him only to get a thumbs up in return. He then praised her duel against lancer, as something that was truly magnificent. He then said "Surely, I am not alone as the sole person to be drawn by your battle.". After saying that, Batman then confirmed it, saying "There are at least five others at least still in hiding from what I can see. Two others being heroic spirits" making everyone visible in the battlefield gawk at the man. Everyone except Rider that is.

Rider then nodded before saying "Heroic Spirit who answered the grails call! Come and gather here now! Or from this day forth, earn the scorn of Iskandar, King of Conquerors!".

To be continued...

A.N. I wasn't able to showcase my madeup version of Scathach last time, so here's her servant sheet now.

General Information

Name: Scathach(Lily)

Servant Class: Caster

Alternate Classes: Lancer, Saber, Assassin

Alignment: Neutral Good

Origin: Irish Mythology, Ulster Cycle

Parameters

Strength: C

Endurance: B

Agility: B+

Mana: A++

Luck: B

Noble Phantasms

Name: Gae Bolg Alpha

Rank: C

Type: Anti-Unit, Magecraft

Range: 0-3

Maximum Number of Targets: 1

Description: Being that she is a derivative of the legend of Cu Chullain's teacher, Scathach, she too possesses a form of the legendary spear that her future self gave to her future student. However, this is not the Gae Bolg Prototype which was the blueprint form owned by the oldest hero, neither is it the actual Gae Bolg of myth as that was entrusted to that man already, nor is it the Alternative form. No, this is a form in between the final stage and the prototype. One could say it's in its Alpha stages. However, due to her nature as a "Rune Witch", the spear was modified to be able to also swap between its spear form and a small chisel/pen she can use to aid her in writing runes.

Backstory

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