Lancelot (Saber)

Knight of Demise

Narration: ...Britain has met its end.

Narration: A most horrific of ends. Everyone and everything dead. But by happenstance, I was spared.

Narration: All was sacrificed.

Narration: The King of Knights, Gawain, Mordred, Kay... Merlin escaped to paradise...or was he driven there?

Narration: The Round Table collapsed. Camelot is a land of ruin. Yet I survive...somehow.

Narration: After my death, I ascended to the Throne of Heroes, gaining a second life as a Servant.

Narration: And yet I feel as if I am still struggling to live in my homeland...

Shakespeare: This is merely an analogy...

Shakespeare: Let us make a play about the end of Britain. Oh, please do not be vexed.

Shakespeare: As a playwright, this is the only way I can express myself.

Shakespeare: Lord Mordred plays the role of demise. The knight of rebellion is truly the epitome of the end.

Shakespeare: That knight gathered all rebels to her banner, splitting Britain in twain, and laid waste to the Round Table itself...

Shakespeare: ...Bringing our play to its conclusion.

Shakespeare: King Arthur shall play the role of the sacrifice. And so I beg your indulgence.

Shakespeare: The king was, to be sure, used as a sacrifice.

Shakespeare: The one at the center of Britain's tragedy, but retaining her composure as the King of Knights through it all... There won't be a dry eye in the house.

Shakespeare: I suppose it may have ended differently, but I confess that I would not know.

Shakespeare: Now, for you, Sir Lancelot. Your parts in this play will be mixed.

Shakespeare: Your character witnesses the Round Table's split, and you will also take on the task of informing the audience of the play's conclusion.

Shakespeare: You, the sole witness, watch in agony as the tragedy unfolds before your eyes.

Shakespeare: You walked the path of the knight, and were charged with passing on the idea that knighthood itself had not perished.

Shakespeare: Whether you succeeded in doing so... Well, I imagine that is a question you can answer better than I.

Lancelot: I see. That's quite the merciless view of things. Such could only come from the mind of a playwright.

Lancelot: ...In that case, I am a man past his time, yes?

Lancelot: Quite upsetting, but I'm grateful, Shakespeare.

Shakespeare: Yes...yes...

Shakespeare: After overhearing your agony, I simply dissected it as an author might.

Shakespeare: While I do so, might I beg your assistance?

Lancelot: I shall, to the extent that I am able, and if Master approves.

Shakespeare: Then let us be off! With Master in tow, our destination is the Mist City, London!

Lancelot: London?


Fujimaru 1: Okay, why'd you drag me here!?

Lancelot: My apologies, Master. I thought you knew why we were here.


Fujimaru 2: What the hell, Shakespeare!?

Shakespeare: Hahaha!

Shakespeare: Oh, nothing, nothing. I just thought it might be amusing to bring the knight to this evil version of the city, is all!


Lancelot: Anyway, Shakespeare.

Lancelot: What am I supposed to do here? Sightsee?

Shakespeare: When one calls upon a knight, it should be for battle, or to save a princess.

Shakespeare: As I see no princess, it seems battle is to be the order of the day!

Shakespeare: Before partaking in a bit of nostalgia for your homeland, it is time for battle! Look ahead... It seems we are about to be beset by foes!

Lancelot: I hesitate to say that I understand, but I shall fulfill my duties as a Servant.

Lancelot: To battle!

--BATTLE--:

Lancelot: That was a fine warmup. Now, let's proceed.

Lancelot: I know this is rather obvious, but this place is very different from the Britain I remember.


Fujimaru 1: Mordred didn't seem to mind.

Lancelot: Well, that is Mordred. She was never the most refined among us, and could be downright uncouth about things like this.

Lancelot: I can only imagine she was barking like a dog, trying to scare others out of her territory.


Fujimaru 2: Well, yeah. It's been about a thousand years.

Lancelot: I see humanity has come a long way to be able to build so many structures of this sort in this benighted land.

Lancelot: I understand progress is progress, but it is still somewhat jarring.


Lancelot: Yes, this place was in constant strife. It had no chance to thrive, being ever ablaze in the fires of war.

Lancelot: The people of this land...they put all their hope in the King of Knights.

Lancelot: They all believed that the one chosen by the sacred sword would be able to save the world.

Shakespeare: And yet, ultimately, Britain's fate was destruction.

Shakespeare: The best you could do was try to mitigate the damage for future generations.

Lancelot: Now that I reflect back, that is probably true.

Lancelot: They should have simply given up and accepted their destruction in peace.

Lancelot: That is my opinion as I look back on it now, playwright.

Lancelot: But for those who lived during that time...the knights who lived in that era...well, there was no way any of them could accept such a thing.

Shakespeare: ...Yes, I suppose that's true.

Shakespeare: And that is why we fight now to prevent our own destruction!

Shakespeare: It would, I suppose, be fair to say that I am simply watching, cheering, and writing.

Lancelot: ...Master, is there nothing that can be done about this writer?

Lancelot: Were he a warrior, I would have him account for his words with his weapon... That would resolve so many things so very easily...

Shakespeare: NO VIOLENCE!!!

Lancelot: Have you forgotten the true nature of what it means to be a Servant!?

Shakespeare: Hahaha... Whatever do you mean...hahaha...

Shakespeare: Had I been summoned in a normal Holy Grail War, it is Master who would have been doing most of the fighting.


Fujimaru 1: Me!?


Shakespeare: Yes. My job is to wave a flag around to cheer you on.

Lancelot: I'm relieved, then, that you're not involved in a normal Holy Grail War, Master...

Lancelot: Doubly so, knowing that had you been in such a situation, Shakespeare might have been your Servant.

Lancelot: But then again, I wonder what kind of Holy Grail War he would be summoned to?

Lancelot: ...Would they make him write a new book or something?

Shakespeare: ...Anyway! We're heading towards the main event!

Lancelot: Main...event?

Shakespeare: Yes, yes. The main event.

Shakespeare: The last Knight in a foreign land...the divider of the Round Table: Sir Lancelot!

Shakespeare: The individual whom you are to fight...is behind that bolt of lightning!

Altria: ...Are you a Knight of the Round Table?

Lancelot: Wha...!?

Lancelot: Impossible...impossible...impossible!

Lancelot: Why...why of all places, would you be here!?

Altria: That's obvious.

Altria: I am the embodiment of destruction, a Servant who manifested through the aspect of annihilation.

Altria: I will destroy it all.

Altria: Through my Rhongomyniad, thunderous clouds shall engulf all things.

Lancelot: ...I will not allow it.

Altria: Why not, Knight of the Round Table?

Altria: A fog surrounds your name in my memory as I am now, but I still sense that you once served me.

Altria: So sense my intentions, conform to my will, and obey my words. That is what it means to be loyal.

Lancelot: No...

Lancelot: My methods and actions may have been mistaken, but I still believe my intentions were true and just.

Lancelot: At times, true loyalty may require a knight to bare steel against his lord.

Lancelot: This rings all the truer when I face one who calls herself the embodiment of destruction! I can justly say that a person like you is no lord of mine!

Lancelot: If you are the Wild Hunt, the King of the Storm, I am...

Lancelot: The Knight of the Lake, who faces the storm down with his silent blade.

Altria: If that sacred sword of yours moves as quickly as you flap your lips, you will make a worthy opponent.

Altria: Come to me, dead spirits who gather here. I will turn this demonic city into a charnel pit!

--BATTLE--:

Altria: Just as dawn will always break the dark of night, so too must a storm end.

Altria: I am merely a remnant. Were this not the end of the world, I might simply have made a mark on history and disappeared.

Lancelot: My king, you are...

Altria: Stop right there, Knight of the Round Table. I am not the king you know.

Altria: This shining sacred spear is all that allows me to exist as a Heroic Spirit.

Altria: Even so, I am no more than a remnant of that person. There is no need for you to bow to me.

Lancelot: ...No matter what form you have taken, you are my king, now that you have come to your senses.

Altria: Well, I didn't come to my senses. It is only that I have remembered something.

Altria: The plains that I remembered are long gone, as are the people we vowed to protect.

Altria: But I still sense something. There are some human activity that has rooted itself in this city.

Altria: Traces of the dream of a utopia... A dream that existed here long ago, and still exists today...

Lancelot: If it wasn't for the guidance of the playwright, I might not have known what to feel in the face of this fate of mine.

Lancelot: Shakespeare, was this your doing?

Shakespeare: Hahahahaha, of course not!

Shakespeare: I could never have summoned such a perfect likeness of the King of Knights!

Shakespeare: Well, to think that she would manifest as a remnant, destroy London, and then simply disappear...

Shakespeare: ...would be a nightmare.

Shakespeare: And so I felt compelled to bring the most capable of all knights to this place.

Shakespeare: Ah, 'tis passing strange... These dreams of mine are no sooner formed than forgotten.


Fujimaru 1: Good eye!

Shakespeare: Thank you, Master.

Lancelot: A capable knight...?

Lancelot: Ah, to be referred to as such embarrasses me.

Lancelot: In any case, I will accept your praise with pride!


Fujimaru 2: Lancelot's the best knight!

Lancelot: Master...

Lancelot: Thank you. I shall cherish those words forever.

Lancelot: No matter the dire situation I face, those words will give me strength.


Shakespeare: I must be honest. To think that the most capable knight is FRENCH is more than a little troubling.

Shakespeare: Fortunately, modern man that I am, I consider myself to be quite open-minded when considering a nation's troubles.

Shakespeare: So even though the critics of your country first called me “vulgar” and “cruel”...

Shakespeare: I offer my forgiveness now!

Lancelot: I don't see how that has anything to do with me!

Shakespeare: I'm really just venting here.

Shakespeare: Well, at least in modern France, people know my true worth, so all is well...

Shakespeare: But know this: an author carries his grudges forever!

Lancelot: By the way, you said it was all a nightmare, Shakespeare.

Lancelot: Hm... No, it can't be...


Fujimaru 1: What's wrong?


Lancelot: It's nothing. I just remembered somebody...a dependable mage who has a deplorable tendency toward the ridiculous as well.

Lancelot: If his hand is at work here, there's nothing for it. Annoying as it is, I can only accept it.

Lancelot: After all, he is sneaky as a snake in the grass.

Lancelot: Only our king could ever command that man.

Lancelot: ...I see. He WOULD do something like this...


Fujimaru 1: Ahhh...


???: Ah-CHOO!

???: Hmmm, did I catch a cold? Or maybe someone's talking about me.

???: Hopefully all that annoying stuff is done.

???: And so, thanks to the Knight of the Lake, the remnant of the King of Storms in London vanished...

???: And now his debt to the Round Table is paid in full.

???: Yep. All's right in the world. Happily ever after for everyone.