The Holy Church's influence spans the globe, centered primarily in Western Europe.
Its stated mission is to spread the love of God, aid the poor, and heal the sick.
But beneath this facade lies a secretive organization with a special purpose. Far from an ordinary church, it is a vast armed institution established to "hunt heretics."
Despite the name, it is distinct from the Catholic Church.
In this super-powered, crossover world where gods and demons are real, the Holy Church naturally operates as a subordinate branch of the Catholic Church.
When Morpheus entered the church, he was greeted by none other than Kirei Kotomine.
This surprised Morpheus somewhat, as in the original Fate/stay night timeline, the Fifth Holy Grail War took place around 2004.
But now, with smartphones commonplace, 2004 was long past.
Yet Kirei Kotomine was still alive.
The timeline of this world was indeed abnormal.
While marveling at this, Morpheus forcibly invaded Kirei Kotomine's mind, sifting through his memories. With anyone else, he might have hesitated to be so invasive.
But with Kirei Kotomine, he had no such qualms.
Morpheus successfully extracted the list of participants in this Holy Grail War from Kirei's mind.
First was Rin Tohsaka.
Next was Sakura Matou.
Then came Illyasviel von Einzbern.
Followed by himself.
As for the final two Masters, even Kirei didn't know their identities, as they hadn't reported to him yet.
Morpheus's eyes flickered. Through Kirei's memories, he learned that Rin's Servant had never appeared, meaning it couldn't be EMIYA.
After all, EMIYA was already under Morpheus's command and couldn't be summoned by Rin.
Sakura's Servant was also absent, but it couldn't be Medusa, as Medusa was another of Morpheus's subordinates and wouldn't answer Sakura's call.
As for Illya's Servant, it was, as expected, Heracles.
What was intriguing, however, was that Illya's Heracles possessed full rationality, not summoned as a Berserker.
This was utterly absurd.
Everyone knew Heracles was ridiculously powerful, but a maddened Heracles, while gaining a boost in raw strength, was significantly weaker overall.
If Illya had summoned a rational Heracles, he was likely summoned as an Archer.
And just how strong was an Archer-class Heracles? One only needed to look at his Noble Phantasms.
His Noble Phantasm had transformed from Twelve Labors to Twelve Glories.
These were the "proofs of trials overcome," gained at the cost of his divinity and labors.
This allowed him to materialize various Noble Phantasms from his legend—such as the "pelt of the divine beast" and the "war belt of the god of war"—and use them as consumable tools.
Each of these Noble Phantasms wielded immense power.
The Pelt of the Divine Beast crafted from the hide of the invulnerable Nemean Lion he slew, was now worn as a long cloth over his head.
As the King of Heroes once said, it could negate the human civilization, rejecting all tools born of human civilization.
With this Noble Phantasm, Heracles withstood thousands of volleys from the Gate of Babylon unscathed and blocked an arrow from Hippolyta aimed at his back.
The Cerberus, the guard dog of the Underworld stolen during his final labor, was a divine beast of Hades.
Using Twelve Glories, Heracles could summon it.
The Man-Eating Horses of Diomedes, the four monstrous horses he stole from Diomedes, could also be summoned.
The Stymphalian Arrows, derived from the monstrous birds he killed at Lake Stymphalia, could transform into birds to attack foes.
These arrows likely drew from the birds' own abilities in Greek mythology, with their metallic beaks and bronze feathers capable of being launched like arrows at humans.
These were just a fraction of the Twelve Glories.
Beyond this, Archer Heracles possessed other Noble Phantasms.
Shooting the Hundred Heads needs no explanation.
The most overpowered among them was… Usurper of the Heavenly Winds.
An EX-rank Noble Phantasm, it was suspected to have the ability to seize an opponent's Noble Phantasms (including those elevated by legend).
This likely stemmed from the feat of stealing a belt.
That was ridiculously strong.
Of course, this was all Morpheus's speculation. It was possible that a rational Heracles wasn't summoned as an Archer but perhaps as a Rider.
As for how powerful a Rider-class Heracles would be, Morpheus wasn't entirely sure.
Beyond Heracles, Morpheus gleaned from Kirei's memories that Kirei's Servant was, as expected, Cú Chulainn.
The Hound of Ulster.
However, this Cú Chulainn wasn't summoned as a Lancer. Since Morpheus had summoned a Lancer, this Cú Chulainn arrived as a Caster.
Notably, Cú Chulainn's original Master wasn't Kirei.
It was Bazett.
Bazett Fraga McRemitz, hailing from an ancient Irish mage family, was an external mage dispatched by the Mage's Association for the Fifth Holy Grail War. She was also a descendant of the Red Branch Knights, the order Cú Chulainn belonged to in life.
In the original Fate timeline, Bazett wielded a mystic code centered on the concept of "striking first, killing in one blow," paired with exceptional physical and magical prowess, giving her the strength to face Servants head-on.
This earned her the moniker "Master of the Multi-Reverse Punch."
She was also an Executor for the Mage's Association's Sealing Designation Enforcers, tasked with capturing mages marked for sealing—a combat-oriented operative.
In terms of the Church, she was akin to an Executor, proficient in both advanced magecraft and martial arts.
In the Fifth Holy Grail War, recommended by Kirei Kotomine, she participated as the Mage's Association's representative, summoning Cú Chulainn using her family's heirloom earrings as a catalyst.
Eight days before the Holy Grail War began, she arrived in Fuyuki City and took up residence in a haunted mansion.
She sent Cú Chulainn to scout.
At that moment, Kirei Kotomine approached, claiming he had matters to discuss with her.
Without a second thought, Bazett invited him into her home.
About six years prior, Bazett had been tasked with retrieving a mage attempting to resurrect souls using corpses. Kirei, as a Church Executor, was simultaneously ordered to eliminate the same target.
With their respective teams wiped out, they decided to collaborate.
Two days later, the mage was killed, Bazett recovered the corpse, and both returned to their organizations to report.
That was Bazett and Kirei's first meeting, planting the seeds for the tragedy that followed.
***
Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well. I just wanted to let you know that right now I'm working on a really good and promising fate fanfic. If you're interested in reading it, feel free to give it a try:
[Fate/Max Level Returner]
Synopsis:
What if you took your max-level account and replayed the entire story from the beginning?
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