Chapter 44: The Rebellious Knight, Mordred

"Are all the Servants I summon destined to be difficult to handle?" Seeing the other party's striking features, Takashi Kuroda couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. But suddenly, a gleaming silver-white kingly sword pressed directly against his neck, accompanied by an aggressive voice: "What’s with that look in your eyes?! You dare look down on me?!"

In an instant, an intense killing intent locked onto Takashi, as if any unsatisfactory answer from him would result in his head being lopped off—even if it meant Mordred herself would vanish as a consequence.

"Simple. Because…" Takashi, however, remained unshaken. He raised a hand to his forehead, then gestured between them to compare their heights before speaking bluntly, "At first glance, you’re so much shorter than me. Isn’t it natural to feel a little dismissive?"

Hearing such a straightforward—and outright offensive—remark, the horned Servant was momentarily stunned before bursting into laughter. She withdrew her sword from Takashi’s neck and grinned. "Hahaha! Good, very good! You’re the first bastard who’s ever dared call me short to my face—and even had the guts to say it while my blade was at your throat. I like you."

"Then allow me to introduce myself properly, so you understand just how lucky you are to have summoned me." The horned Servant planted her silver-white sword in front of her, resting one hand on its hilt. Her armor then began to shift and reshape—her helmet’s horns split apart and settled onto her shoulders, the top portion folding back, while the faceplate retracted to her collar, revealing a face identical to King Arthur’s: delicate features, golden hair tied into a ponytail.

"My name is Mordred, the one and only rightful successor to the King of Knights, Artoria Pendragon." With a sharp, confident grin, she stared straight at Takashi and uttered the iconic line: "Now then—I ask of you, are you my Master?"

"Click, click, click."

The system kept snapping photos incessantly, leaving Takashi utterly baffled.

"Oh come on, Host, like father like child! Mordred saying this totally counts as a check-in!" the system chirped cheerfully, continuing to take pictures.

At the same time, Mordred’s armor dissolved into red light, leaving behind an extremely revealing outfit—little more than two strips of red cloth barely covering her chest, looking more like hastily wrapped bandages than actual clothing.

"Takashi Kuroda. I am your Master." Takashi gave a simple introduction.

"Hmph, so this is a storage room? Summoning me in such a cramped place—don’t tell me you’re already backed into a corner? Heh, good. I was itching for a fight the moment I got here." Mordred turned toward the door, gripping her silver-white sword. "So, Master—where are our enemies?"

(If this were the Fifth Holy Grail War, her assumption would’ve been spot-on. Well, at least her battle-crazed personality is accurate.) Takashi mused internally.

"No, calm down. There are no enemies right now. The Holy Grail War hasn’t even officially begun yet. This is just our residence." Takashi explained.

"Hah?! Not started yet? How boring." Mordred’s face twisted in displeasure as she sheathed her sword.

"The Holy Grail War will begin soon enough. Until then, we should take the time to understand each other and prepare for victory. So, let’s start by getting familiar—beginning with our wishes for the Grail. Mordred, even if your summoning was unusual, you must still have a wish you want granted, right?" Takashi asked.

"A wish? Hmph. My goal is the Sword of Selection—I want to challenge the blade King Arthur once pulled from the stone. That’s all I want… Tch." Mid-sentence, Mordred’s gaze fell upon the fragment of the Round Table placed within the summoning circle. Her eyes sharpened as she drew her sword again and viciously cleaved the relic into even smaller pieces.

"Seems you really despise the Round Table Knights. Using this to summon the Rebellious Knight was a bit disrespectful, wasn’t it?" Takashi remarked coolly, having already expected this outcome.

"Hah! My talents were never something the Round Table could contain. After all, I, Mordred, am the one true successor to the King of Knights!" she snarled.

"And yet, you still rebelled."

"Because that king refused to acknowledge me—just because of my birth! My skills, my everything! So I made sure she understood—that her politics were meaningless!!" She ground the shattered fragments beneath her boot, crushing them into dust.

"But your wish isn’t to become king. It’s to challenge the Sword of Selection, the same blade King Arthur once drew. Mordred… your real wish isn’t about the sword at all, is it? Your true desire… is to be acknowledged by her!"

Before Takashi could finish, Mordred’s blade was back at his throat, her killing intent surging once more.

"Say another word, and I’ll kill you!" Her entire body trembled, teetering on the edge of snapping.

(Hmph, good.) Takashi had been leading her step by step, peeling away the layers to expose the fragile core of her heart. Now, it was time to fully tame this rebellious knight.

Instead of backing down, Takashi leaned forward, pressing his throat against her blade. Mordred recoiled in shock—never expecting her Master to gamble with his own life like this. "You idiot! Have you lost your mind?! Do you really have no fear of death?!"

"Mordred, I’m just stating facts. Even if you point your sword at me, I won’t stop. Or are you really as small-minded as the King of Knights claimed?"

"YOU—!"

That single sentence struck Mordred’s greatest nerve.

In her final moments, standing before her father on the hill of swords, Mordred had laughed wildly, showing Artoria the ruin she had wrought.

"See, King of Knights?! Your kingdom is finished! No matter which of us wins—it’s all destroyed! You should’ve known this would happen! If you had just named me your heir, none of this would’ve occurred! Was I… was I really so hateful to you, just because I’m Morgan’s creation?!"

And Artoria’s reply had been cold, emotionless:

"I never hated you. There was only one reason I did not name you my heir—you lacked the capacity to be king."

Those words had ignited Mordred’s final rage, branding her soul with an unshakable obsession and an unfillable void. She died with that regret, slain by the King of Knights’ holy spear.

Now, hearing those same words again, Mordred snapped. She lunged at Takashi with murderous intent.

Normally, a Master would use a Command Spell to suppress an out-of-control Servant. But…

"Perfect. Let me experience firsthand just how strong a Heroic Spirit really is. Blade of the Ruined King!" A decaying greatsword materialized in Takashi’s grip as he clashed with Mordred’s silver-white blade.

BOOM!

The shockwave of their collision reduced the Emiya residence’s storeroom—once a sacred check-in spot—to rubble.

"This Master of mine really knows how to make trouble for me. If I hadn’t already started chanting, where would he find someone to cover this up?" A graceful black silhouette appeared in the sky, casting a bounded field over the entire Emiya property to conceal all traces of the battle.

After all, a Servant battle at this stage would undoubtedly draw the attention of both the Holy Church and the Tohsaka family. That’s why, the moment Mordred was summoned, Takashi had already used his dark mist to summon the Empress, to erase all evidence.