Fate: How About a New Savior?

The summoning of a Heroic Spirit outside a Holy Grail War at a Singularity should be based on compatibility—responding to a Magus intent on repairing the Singularity by calling forth the most suitable Servant, or the one most attuned to Shiomi.

Originally, he had considered the possibility of summoning Morgan again.

But this wasn't the Morgan who had altered the contract system and entrusted the Mana required for its upkeep to Chaldea in order to maintain the bond across distances.

This was... Morgan le Fay from this human history.

Yet the one who appeared was Artoria—and not just any version, but a Lancer.

Shiomi didn't even need to ask. One look at the long spear told him it was another of the legendary relics from Arthurian lore—Holy Spear Rhongomyniad.

But the black armor cloaking her figure reminded him all too much of the dark King of Knights who had appeared in Singularity F.

Could there be something wrong with this Singularity? Something that corrupted the Servants summoned here?

Shiomi didn't have time to ponder it. The entire point of summoning a Servant was to break the overwhelming enemy numbers and avoid getting dragged into a drawn-out battle.

He even deliberately ignored the sound of a pen snapping in half from the communicator on the other end.

"Can I assume you're an ally, Lancer? No—Artoria!" Shiomi stepped forward and addressed the mounted knight.

Artoria looked down coldly at the mechanical soldiers who had survived the earlier charge and were closing in again.

"There's no need to ask. You summoned me. That makes you my Master. Give me your orders."

"Then fight, Lancer!" Shiomi ordered, clenching his fist.

At his command, Artoria charged forward on her steed like a heavy war chariot, crashing into the Helter Skelters. The iron wall they formed crumbled like paper before the storm her lance unleashed.

Mordred, who had been locked in a melee with the machines, smashed one apart just as a familiar gust swept through. She kicked away the nearest unit and leapt back, taking advantage of the sudden shift in attention.

"Fa... Father...?"

The surge of Mana that had descended from the sky was unmistakably familiar. Mordred hadn't expected it to be her father.

Though cloaked in dark armor, that silhouette could belong to no one else.

"What's going on? Why is Father here?" she demanded.

"No idea. Maybe because you're here, it affected the emergency summon somehow," Shiomi said casually as he dashed toward a mechanical soldier. Placing his palm on its head, a current surged out, forming a blade of electricity that cleaved the machine apart with razor-smooth precision.

"Seriously..." Mordred muttered.

Her emotions were complicated—part irritation, part a bubbling joy at fighting alongside her father again.

"Forget that! What about Mr. Jekyll? He's not dead, is he?" Sakura called out, taking the chance to check on the apartment.

Mordred paused. "Right—what about that bean sprout? Don't tell me he got himself killed—"

Without waiting for an answer, she leapt up the outer wall to the fourth floor and looked down.

There, just five or six meters from where Artoria stood, Jekyll was at the apartment entrance, desperately fending off a mechanical soldier with a small knife. He looked wild, almost unrecognizable.

The leader of the enemy forces swung its hammer down—but Jekyll, frail as he seemed, somehow caught the blow and let out a crazed roar.

He was drenched in blood. It didn't look good.

Mordred didn't know how a human had lasted this long, but she wasn't about to leave him to die. She kicked off the wall, dropped beside him, and sliced through the machine going for his back.

"Hey! Bean sprout! If you're still breathing, get out of here—leave the rest to us!"

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" Jekyll's voice had none of its usual composure—only raw aggression.

Mordred frowned. Something was off, but there was no time to ask questions. She grabbed his arm.

"Shut up. Keep this up and you'll die!"

Before he could protest, she hurled him in the direction of Shiomi and Sakura.

"Catch him, Master!"

In the chaos of steam and grinding metal, there was no sound of someone hitting the ground.

"Got him, Saber!" Sakura's voice echoed through mental communication. She used wind Magecraft to create a cushion of air, allowing Jekyll to land safely.

"Nice!"

Mordred turned back and released a blast of Mana, swinging her sword to intercept the massive mechanical Servant's next strike.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" she demanded.

"This body... is made of delusion and dream," a deep mechanical voice replied, the meaning obscure.

But the mechanical Servant seemed to sense the tide had turned.

A new Servant had arrived. The Helter Skelter forces would soon be wiped out.

Then, a wave of scorching steam rolled out, blinding and oppressive, forcing Mordred to retreat.

"The battlefield conditions have deteriorated. Annihilation mission deemed unfeasible—initiating retreat," declared the mechanical Servant.

With a massive blast of steam, its colossal frame surged upward, lifting off the ground.

"What... the hell?" Mordred shielded her face with one arm, forcing one eye open just in time to see the mechanical Servant abandoning the battlefield, leaving the Helter Skelters behind.

On the other side, Artoria saw it too. She tugged sharply on the reins—her steed reared and leapt into the air as she raised her lance.

"Winds, sweep it all away—Invisible Air!"

Even as a Lancer, with no need to conceal her identity or weapon, the wind-based Noble Phantasm Invisible Air remained with her.

Unlike the focused, piercing version used in her Saber form, this version allowed her to rapidly unleash a wide-range attack with minimal Mana cost.

The mechanical Servant at the center of the storm threw its full strength into resisting. Though it was struck directly, it wasn't knocked down. Instead, it used the impact to vanish into the dense fog, leaving only the hissing echo of steam-powered machines behind.

Mordred, watching from a safe distance, clicked her tongue in frustration. The enemy's retreat had been swift and clean.

She clung to the apartment's outer wall and glanced down. The remaining Helter Skelters had been completely torn apart by the blast from Invisible Air.

Those few still moving were swiftly dealt with by Shiomi and Sakura.

"Tch... what a letdown…"

Jekyll, still in his altered state, clicked his tongue before closing his eyes.

When he opened them again, he let out a low groan of pain.

"Everyone... you made it back. I wasn't sure you would, so I resorted to a... desperate measure..."

His voice and demeanor had returned to the refined and gentle tone they were familiar with.

And with that, he collapsed in the middle of the street.