Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany.
***
RingRing
Waking up to the alarm, Arthur lay back on the bed with a huff, taking another few minutes to wake up fully. He washed up, took his washed clothes and dried them on his balcony, facing the sun. Dressing up in one of three sets, he skipped breakfast and trotted down to the ground floor, picking up a newspaper for his elderly neighbour, who was stuck in a wheelchair.
Cycling his way to class, a dog gave him chase, pushing him to pedal harder until the dog gave up, stopping some way more. He felt his hands shaking as the adrenaline wore off. "Bloody hell," he cursed under his breath. He was British, studying on German soil.
Rolling up to class, Arthur was greeted by his friends, "Damn it!" Pryce cursed while handing over some cash to Bryan, who shot him a wink. "Why can't you be late for once, Arthur!" Oh yes, they were his friends. A group of foreigners outcast by most of the class.
"Hey, I heard Professor Dietrich was back from the States." Sitting down next to Eddie, Arthur asked the group's encyclopedia to confirm.
"You would be right. He touched down at 1:56 yesterday, so he may not teach today immediately." Eddie replied.
As the class began, a man wearing black suit pants with golden patterns and a similarly coloured vest with a charcoal dress shirt entered the room. As he did, Pryce handed over some more cash to Bryan. Arthur could hear something along the lines of "Bad idea." and "No balls."
…
It was a normal life, filled with hopes, dreams and great expectations and dream. He had friends akin to siblings he never had. A person to look up to and strive to become.
And he was torn from it.
He stayed calm and made a plan to delve into Yin magic and find a way home, but his mouth, or rather, his body, moved on its own, and he ended up joining the Emilia camp. Even though the plan was to extract money from Roswaal and travel to Kararagi to establish himself.
This constant conflict with his own body only ever happened when Emilia was involved. So, his already distorted mind came to one conclusion.
It was Emilia's fault. If his instincts were always guiding him towards her, then it was her fault. It was her fault that he was in this world. It was her fault he was hurt. It was her fault. It was all her fault. Her! Her! Her! Her! Her! Her! Her!
"Excalibur!"
『Witch's Mark (EX Rank)』
"Morgan!"
The dark light crashed of Morgan crashed into the icy forest, and a massive explosion rose to the sky a great distance away, creating a mushroom cloud.
"That was close." Since Artorius had launched Morgan in a straight direction and a small delay existed between him gathering magical energy and releasing it, Puck was barely able to dodge. "Just what are those flames?" Dark flames spread everywhere, Excalibur's light touched, torching it. The miasma they emitted was vast, unlike anything a sane man could handle.
"So this is why…" The witch's miasma had been constantly attacking his mental state. The reason why he broke down so easily. "You're the Witch's vessel."
A dome of ice dropped from the sky like a bomb.
It wasn't just snow or hail, it was a wall of solid cold crashing down with the weight of mountains. The air itself froze as it moved, and in seconds, everything turned to white death.
Artorius didn't react, his dragon core pumping magical energy like a nuclear reactor.
A blast of mana exploded beneath his feet, launching him forward. He zigzagged through the falling ice, moving so fast he was almost a blur. Chunks the size of houses came at him from all directions, but he just cut them down or smacked them aside like they were nothing.
He got close.
With one clean swing, he let loose a burst of compressed wind—『Air Strike』.
The blast tore through everything in its path. Ice shattered. Puck went flying, flipping through the air like a ragdoll.
Artorius didn't stop.
He caught up to Puck in midair, grabbed him by the scruff, and threw him straight to the ground. Then he came down with a dropkick that shook the earth beneath them.
Without missing a beat, he grabbed Puck by the tail and slammed him into the ground. Once. Twice. Again and again, like he was trying to break the world. Then he chucked him into another mountain of ice and rock.
『Air Strike』followed right behind. The blast hit just as Puck crashed, burying him under rubble.
…
A roar tore through the silence.
From the mountain of ice, something huge climbed out. Puck—now transformed. No longer the small and cute mascot character, but the Beast of the End.
But that just made him easier to hit.
The beast swung a paw the size of a truck. It connected—barely.
The limb was cut clean off.
Artorius jumped off the falling paw and slashed down the monster's body, leaving a deep wound from shoulder to hip. Before Puck could react, Artorius caught his tail again and took off, dragging him through ice, stone, and shattered trees.
They shot upward.
Artorius launched them both higher and higher with bursts of mana, climbing past the clouds. They kept fighting on the way up—teeth and claws versus steel and fury. Puck landed cuts, but none of them stuck. Artorius kept pushing through unfazed, 『Avalon』 shielding him.
They reached the sky.
Artorius twisted midair and slammed Puck downward. Hard.
The fall took minutes. The sound when they hit the ground was like a bomb. Smoke, debris, and fire shot up in a giant mushroom cloud.
Before the dust could settle, Puck charged again, jaws open wide.
Artorius ducked low, planted his feet, and punched straight up, mana exploding from his fist. The blow landed clean on the beast's jaw, shattering three massive teeth and flipping him end over end.
No pause.
『Excalibur Morgan』charged to full.
Artorius stepped forward.
Point-blank.
A flash of black light lit up the battlefield.
***
Placing his foot on the downed beast, who had now returned to its small size, Artorius met his eyes with his hollowed ones. He raised his demonic sword to finish the job, but—
"Al Shamak!" Beatrice came to Puck's recuse, sending Artorius to another dimension.
"Betty…" Puck called out weakly.
"Don't speak, Bubby. Betty will get you out of here." Beatrice carried the fading spirit in her arms. She was ready to fly off only to hear a crackling from behind her.
Reality cracked like glass, as Artorius emerged from his banishment with 『Rhongomyniad』in his hands. He calmly walked up to them and stopped only a few steps away. He lifted the darkened holy lance and pointed it at Puck.
His intentions were made clear. He would kill Puck and not her.
"So… Betty has a special place in your heart, I suppose." She questioned but received no answer. "You're Betty's contractor, but nothing in our contract says Betty can't beat some sense into you, in fact!" She wasn't going to abandon Puck, so she chose the only other option.
"Shamak!" She blinded him, depriving him of his senses. "El Min—"
However, Artorius didn't need his senses to fight. His instinct alone was enough to drive Rhongomyniad into Beatrice's heart, ending her life. "Betty!"
Next, he would kill Puck, then Emilia, then the Witches in the Castle of Dreams. He would kill every single living being in the surrounding kingdoms before finally facing Reinhard and his untimely death.
That was the plan, but as it showed many times before, his plans never succeeded.
The slow tapping of footsteps behind him drew his attention away from Puck. There, a man dressed in a regal wizard robe with a witch's hat quietly walked towards them. A hint of recognition flashed through Artorius' eyes before returning to their hollowness.
"I screwed up." The wizard muttered, adjusting his glasses. "Restrain him, Order!" Chains shot out of the man's shadows, heading straight for Artorius, who didn't bother dodging.
He had 『Avalon』 with him, an anti-purge bounded field. The ultimate defence of the planet. No mere chains could—
They pierced right through Avalon and into his flesh.
"ARGH!" Artorius let out a bloody scream as the darkness covering him seeped into the chains. His features returned to normal. The witch's miasma vanished from his body, giving his mind the clarity required to properly process his own actions.
"No…" The denial came first. "No, I did not mean to I-I-I… I—" He couldn't form a single coherent sentence.
"I see you're back, Arthur." Hearing someone call him by his real name, Artorius looked up, a flash of recognition flashed again through his eyes and this time it stayed.
"... Eddie." Artorius shook his head. "What the fuck…" He fell face-forward, planting his head into the ground. This was a nightmare. He was sure of it, so sure of it.
"I am sorry, my friend. It was an honest mistake. The magic circuits that were supposed to give you information were burned out by the curse and your core working in tandem." Eddie, or as he was called, replied, analysing what had gone wrong.
"You're going to tell me what is happening in 20 words or less." He threatened his friend.
"You were reincarnated. That's it. That's all there is to it." Eddie explained, pressing his hand against Artorius' neck. "Originally, I had planted a magic crest at the back of your neck to smooth out the assimilation of your and King Arthur's memory. It was also supposed to give you the necessary information on what your goals in this world were. But I may have made a miscalculation which led to this."
Artorius paused for a minute, taking in every word, bit by bit. "... What about the others?"
"They are the same. Everyone in our group has gone through our Master's tests, except you."
"What are you talking about?" Artorius questioned. "Master put me through this?"
"Don't worry. You will understand soon enough."
"Understand?" He waved around to the carnage surrounding them. "Understand what, Eddie?"
"As I said, don't worry about it." Eddie raised his hand and made a chopping motion, splitting Artorius' head off his shoulders.
***
**
*
The Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica
…
(Arthur POV)
The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. The children were laughing off in the distance. My torso had a big gaping hole in it. For some reason this was all so familiar, this feeling of deja vu as though a prolouge to something.
But this time…
I was smiling.
***
**
*
(A/N: You poor souls. All these negative comments and reviews. I appreciate the gesture, but I think you overstep. You see, I didn't burn the dish. I barbecued it. But you made assumptions on your own.)
(A/N: Braindead comment one: Why is Artorius(Arthur) having trouble with Elsa... You dunderheads, he was just an ordinary man before reincarnation. You expect him to fight off against God in the first chapter or something?)
(A/N: Braindead comment two: Where is this story going? The story is going in my direction. You see, this is a crossover between Fate and Re: Zero, the one thing they have in common is not have happy endings.)
(A/N: Braindead comment three: Why is he not behaving like King Arthur?... Because he is not King Arthur? Being thrown into another world takes a mental toll on people who don't jerk it to pencil drawings. Subaru did the same, making a joke out of himself and using childish humour. You can clearly see the difference in his behaviour from Season 1 and Season 3.)
(A/N: Braindead comment four: Why isn't Avalon healing his abdominal wound? Because there is something bigger at play here, and you probably could've expected that if you didn't just read power fantasies all day instead of something like "The Catcher in the Rye".)
(A/N: Note: As mentioned in the chapter, Artorius is a vessel for Satella, the Witch of Envy, which plays a role in why his wound is not healing. She is constantly attacking his mind, causing him mental breakdowns. Subaru also isn't here because Satella has yet to summon him. This would all be too easy if Arthur could just steamroll his way through every problem with Excalibur in hand. So, I decided to nerf him in the worst possible way.)
(PS: This is my first real story. I am still exploring things, looking at what kind of Author I want to become. So please, criticism is very much welcome, but braindead complaints aren't.)