Fate: Nameless Hero

Why the hell did you suddenly show up???

The moment Tamamo-no-Mae laid eyes on the figure before her, every single one of her fluffy fox tails stood on end.

That damn nightmare bastard! Now she understood why she ran so fast—why didn't she give her a warning?!

At this point, she just wanted to strangle that piece of trash. She sold her out without a second thought!

Shikotei strode forward leisurely, as though taking a walk through his own place.

"What? Could it be you are unhappy to see Us?"

"Cough, cough, Your Majesty, I have always been faithfully and diligently managing the vast Academy City, nurturing a great number of magical talents for the Empire!"

Tamamo forced herself to calm down.

"Your Majesty, I've made contributions, I've shed blood for Academy City—please don't take my life so lightly!"

He actually wanted to skin her and gift the pelt as a fox fur scarf for Nameless!

Too terrifying!

God, when facing a nine-tailed fox of such seductive charm, shouldn't you be doing everything to pamper her?

Had she not been trapped in Academy City, Tamamo would have already become a world-class idol, crushing all other Heroic Spirits in popularity!

"Then answer me: was it you who fought with Nameless last night at Illya's villa?"

Shikotei's eyes were icy cold as he stared her down.

As the Emperor of the Empire, he had the ability to expend his own essence to call forth the Dragon of Human Order.

Earlier, he had used that very Dragon to forcibly appoint Nameless as the Imperial Teacher—ignoring all opposition.

Once the appointment was complete, the Dragon of Human Order bestowed Nameless with the Platinum Dragon authority, allowing him to command a portion of the Empire's collective will.

The Dragon of Human Order, in essence, was the collective will of the Empire's people—like a miniature version of Alaya.

Shikotei had sensed the use of the Platinum Dragon at Illya's location, where a battle had occurred.

Among the combatants, there had been a Heroic Spirit entirely foreign to the Empire's system—a stealthy Assassin.

He had hidden his presence so well that tracking him had been nearly impossible.

But the moment he released his power, he became a blazing fire in the darkness—making it easy for Shikotei to detect.

And then, he was instantly slain by a single sword strike from Nameless—without making a sound.

All the Emperor could do was activate the Heavenly Court System system to bombard the incoming submarine, issuing a warning to deter further provocations.

Beyond that, there had been another familiar power lingering at the scene—that of the nine-tailed fox standing before him now!

"Your Majesty, an Assassin-class Heroic Spirit came to abduct Illya. As the Dean of Academy City, how could I just stand by and let one of my students be taken?"

Tamamo looked wronged and innocent. "So of course, I rushed to the scene and fought that guy head-on!"

She figured the Emperor didn't have the exact details—he was likely trying to trick her into confessing.

So she had to stay calm.

As long as she kept her cool, she could turn this around with a sliver of health left!

"Oh? So you care deeply about your students, do you?"

Shikotei eyed her with a half-smile.

"Of course! As a gentle, considerate, virtuous, and kind little fox, how could I ever harbor ill intent?"

Tamamo didn't hesitate to climb the ladder he offered.

It worked!

Looks like she really could wash herself clean of suspicion.

If she could just ride out this wave, she could stay in Academy City and master her recently skyrocketing power, eventually pressing Nameless beneath her—completely!

BZZZZZ~

Suddenly, a vast and terrifying pressure exploded forth.

Tamamo instantly curled into a ball. Her body—already bruised from Nameless's beating—once again felt like it was being ripped apart.

But this time, it was pure pain!

An overwhelming aura came crashing down.

The flames dancing in Shikotei's eyes intensified.

"How dare you lie in front of Me!"

He had originally believed that Nameless's use of the Platinum Dragon was to fend off invaders.

He never imagined it was triggered by this damned fox—completely unforgivable.

"Spare me, Your Majesty!" Tamamo pleaded frantically.

"I wish to gift my Teacher a fox-fur scarf," Shikotei said coldly. "You should know what that means."

"A… fox-fur scarf…"

Tamamo gulped hard.

That was clearly code for skinning her alive!

She immediately tried to bargain:

"Your Majesty, I was merely deceived by that scoundrel Merlin. How about letting me become Nameless's maid to repay my debt?"

Since Merry had sold her out, don't blame her for selling her out too!

Besides, as long as she could stay near Nameless, she could work during the day and… enjoy him at night…

"You really dare to dream."

Shikotei conjured a sword in his hand.

One side depicted the land, the other the nation—a blade known as the Heavenly Sword. He pointed it at the fox. "Choose. I kill you and skin you ourselves, or you offer one of your tails."

In recognition of her "assisting" in finding his Teacher, she'd be spared the death penalty—but not punishment.

"..."

Tamamo felt a chill deep in her soul.

It's over. She knew there was no escaping this.

Her tails were the very source of her power.

Each tail added increased strength, multiplied by nine—her power grew exponentially.

Once she gathered all nine tails, she could flatten the entire Japan with a single swipe.

But now, she had only just grown her fourth. Nine was still a long way off.

Clearly—

The First Emperor was intentionally cutting off her path to growth!

So infuriating! Once she got all nine tails, she'd definitely get revenge!

Faced with the threat of the Sword, Tamamo could only feel cold despair.

Some time later—

The previously runaway Merry snuck back in again.

"You bastard! My butt hurts!" Tamamo looked utterly dead inside.

"Hey now, Dean, you just lost one tail to make a scarf. It's not that bad," Merry tried to comfort her.

A nine-tailed fox reduced to this—how tragic.

By comparison, he had only been turned into a girl. Barely an inconvenience.

BZZZZZ~

A wave of magical energy began to gather.

Merry's eyes widened in disbelief as she saw Tamamo, who now had only three visible tails, suddenly grow two more.

Now she had five tails total!

But—

Tamamo calmly retracted the two new ones, keeping up her appearance of having only three.

Her tails were her essence. Losing a physical tail was nothing—her core remained untouched.

On the contrary, the trauma pushed her to accelerate her growth, gaining her fifth tail early.

She gritted her teeth and growled,

"Heh… I will have revenge!"

"Good, now that's the spirit!"

Merry gave her a thumbs up.

This was exactly the kind of teammate she had in mind!

================

Fuyuki Grand Hotel

The British group frowned as they stared into the distance.

A subtle pulse had erupted over there.

A Heroic Spirit was in combat!

Mordred asked in surprise, "Who's fighting over there?"

This was the Empire, where Heroic Spirits were everywhere. Who had the guts to stir up trouble?

"There was an Assassin-class Heroic Spirit."

Artoria furrowed her brows slightly.

The heroic spirit's energy had flared suddenly—then vanished just as fast.

No, not vanished—erased completely.

On a peaceful and quiet night, a Heroic Spirit had died.

Not just the Assassin.

She vaguely sensed a familiar divine power.

It should mean that Illya had completely formed a contract with Heracles and could summon that demigod hero.

A fully realized demigod hero would allow the little girl to leap to the top of the world's power pyramid.

Besides that, there was another extremely subtle, nearly undetectable ripple.

It seemed that someone had slain the Assassin.

Fuyuki City was becoming more and more dangerous.

As she was thinking this—

Mordred suddenly spoke: "Father, the Empire has been avoiding us—we need to change our approach."

Britain's visit to Japan was meant to establish cooperation to resolve its domestic economic crisis.

With mounting pressure day by day, they couldn't afford to return empty-handed.

At the very least, they needed to sign a series of major deals in finance, energy, and public welfare before returning.

But now—

After watching Alaya's video "The Eternal Emperor", Artoria and Shikotei had a falling-out, and the talks ended in discord.

The other side had even returned to its homeland that very night, slamming the door shut on Britain.

Only those without real power remained to deal with them.

"Oh? And what do you propose?" Artoria's saintly cyan eyes gazed at her.

Could this rebellious knight really have some clever breakthrough strategy?

"That's simple—marriage alliance!"

Mordred lifted her chin slightly and calmly met her gaze. "We're now in the Age of Heroic Spirits. Every Heroic Spirit is a supreme strategic weapon. As long as we can forge a marriage alliance, all problems can be solved!"

???

The Sun Knight Gawain's head was full of question marks.

No matter what culture or time in history it is, "marriage alliance" referred to a central power sending off a princess to foreign tribes to maintain peace.

Now, Britain was the one seeking aid from the Empire.

Which meant… Britain had to send a princess to marry!

Britain's only princess and prince were—

Mordred!

She obviously wouldn't consider marrying the First Emperor, meaning her target could only be that newly appointed Imperial Teacher!

Good grief, is this brat trying to stir up a scandal again?

"In our past, Britain reached unparalleled glory, but that era has long passed. When I saw my father being coldly received by the Empire, sitting in silence…"

Under the gaze of everyone from Britain, Mordred declared righteously, "At that moment, I thought—if I could save Britain, I'd give everything."

"Now, I must consider whether this is our only chance. I believe our once-glorious position was thanks to Father's achievements. But to restore Britain's former glory—we, the next generation, have a duty!"

She raised her chest high, exuding a fearless spirit of self-sacrifice for Britain.

This spirit should have been enough to move the very skies…

The hell it did!

Before the King could draw her holy spear, Gawain already felt like unsheathing his Excalibur Galatine and purging her himself.

As the radiant, upright Sun Knight—an epitome of justice—how did he end up with her as a sister?

Why must she fight the King for the same man?

After watching the "Perfect King" video, Gawain clearly knew that Mordred was merely a tool shaped by Morgan to destroy his King.

Her birth came from Morgan's own crafting: his King's blood, the immense magical power of the White Dragon, and—

An unknown, mysterious power from another timeline.

That power had been extracted from Nameless—power that walked through the annals of human history—and bestowed on Mordred to give her the courage to defy Artoria.

But alas—

Under Artoria's overwhelming charm, not only Mordred but even he had defected and become a fervent King-worshipper.

Mordred, however, twisted into a warped heir, ultimately starring in a tragic "father-son" duel atop the Hill of Camlann…

That was all long past.

Even though Mordred and Nameless had no blood relation, there were still many complicated connections and debts.

Now, Mordred actually wanted to repay that debt… through marriage?!

No wonder she was the Rebel Knight—doing what none of them dared even to imagine!

Gawain cautiously glanced at the King, only to see her remain calm.

That perfect, captivating face held no trace of anger from beginning to end.

Good grief—this was clearly the calm before the storm!

As Gawain waited nervously, and Mordred stood her ground—

Artoria's cyan eyes remained unmoved as she softly said, "A marriage alliance, huh…"

But in her mind, the final scene from the "Perfect King" video resurfaced.

Back then, Bedivere didn't return the sword, and something must've changed in her afterward.

Whatever happened after that was likely the reason Nameless never came to see her again.

Buzz—

The holy spear she had previously put away reappeared in her hand, radiating immense, boundless power.

Its name—

[The Lance That Shines to the End of the World – Rhongomyniad]

It was, like the Seasetting Needle used by Nameless to seal the gods in "The Eternal Emperor," an anchor that held the world in place.

However, it bore a tremendous corruptive force—enough to turn someone into a cold, emotionless god.

After the battle at Camlann, Artoria had given Avalon to Nameless and died of grave injuries.

She had intended for Bedivere to return the sword, but in the end, he never did.

When he came back a third time, he found that she had vanished.

This meant she may have been corrupted by the spear, becoming a walking death-god wandering the earth.

"Huh???"

Mordred instinctively took several steps back.

She pulled out her own lance—was she going to stab again?

Yet under her wary gaze, the King made no move to attack. In fact, she looked… dazed?

What's going on?

Mordred followed her gaze toward the window—

BOOM!

A brilliant pillar of light descended from the sky, striking fiercely into the eastern sea.

Like divine punishment from the gods above, it brimmed with destructive force.

It vaporized the sea, blasting a hole all the way to the thousand-meter-deep ocean floor!

Mordred was left stunned.

That was the Empire's Heavenly Court defense system—who were they attacking?

Were they declaring war on America?

Which side were they supposed to take?

…

The next day at noon.

On the large LCD TV screen, a news broadcast was playing—

[America accuses the Empire of using the Heavenly Court defense system without provocation and demands restrictions!]

"Tch, who are you fooling?" Sanjiro rolled his eyes.

Even with half a brain, it was clear that the First Emperor wouldn't waste the Heavenly Court's massive magic reserves to attack a mere civilian ship.

If it really had been a civilian vessel, the Council of Gods would've been on them in seconds.

With their weak argument, all they could do was grumble in whispers.

"So amazing!" Kirina said in admiration while scrolling through forums.

Many people near the sea had accidentally captured the beam on video.

As she scrolled, she exclaimed, "Prime Minister Shokatsu Kōmei said it was just a test of the Heavenly Court system. Any casualties were purely accidental and have nothing to do with us… as expected of the scheming Prime Minister!"

These strategists were black-hearted beyond measure, lying with a straight face and taking lives without guilt.

They could sell you out and still have you counting the money for them!

"You'll get used to it," Sanjiro replied casually.

In this Age of Heroic Spirits, the Empire had Shikotei and over a hundred Heroic Spirits across half of Asia.

Only America had enough pseudo-gods to stand against them.

But that wouldn't last long.

Sanjiro figured, once Alaya released the next video revealing more of Shikotei's secrets, America would panic like headless chickens.

(Fuck nahh!)

Tch, the thought was kind of exciting—

No wait, what the hell am I getting excited for!

Sanjiro sighed lightly.

These exposés were roasting him on the fire.

If a bunch of Heroic Spirits came knocking on his door, he'd have no choice but to flee with the brats off the planet.

Oh wait—he couldn't flee.

The brats were bound to this planet, and he was even more tied down.

In the end, if humanity was wiped out, Alaya itself wouldn't survive.

Revealing him with such risk of mutual destruction—

Was Alaya stupid?

Damn you, Alaya!

Sanjiro got up from the sofa. "Alright, stay home. I'm going out to buy some things."

Tonight was New Year's Eve, and most stores would be closing soon.

"Okay okay, buy lots of snacks—Illya and Miyu are coming over later." Still playing her mobile game, Kirina replied without even looking up.

"Got it."

Sanjiro walked out of the house.

Ever since Alaya had repeatedly exposed his videos, his existence was gradually being restored, and more and more people began to gather around him.

Thinking back, he used to feel like a stray dog with no home to return to, at the peak of loneliness.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have adopted that little brat—the human-shaped walking disaster—just to ease his solitude a bit.

But going back to 007 overtime work again? Impossible!

Why bother, when lying in a kotatsu feels so good?

Sanjiro began buying the last of the New Year's goods at the market.

Buying candy at the eastern market, beef in the western market, fruit in the southern market, and seafood in the northern market.

He was already very familiar with the large marketplace, skillfully haggling with the vendors…

…

At the same time—

Burrowed into the kotatsu and comfortably playing a mobile game, Kirina finally paused after clearing a level.

She stretched and glanced at the wall clock, then looked down in front of her: "Sigh, another year has passed before I even realized it. You too—how about growing a bit, huh?"

Damn it, there's been absolutely no change at all.

It was like being tied up tightly with rope—two years had gone by and not a single bit of growth!

And that shut-in actually likes people who are well-endowed!

So frustrating!

Fou gave her a sideways glance.

What a foolish human.

No matter how much papaya milk you drink, it's useless!

Your body is bound by countless seals equivalent to the Chains of Heaven—how could your size possibly change?

Kirina clenched her teeth as she looked at it. "Damn you, are you mocking me too?"

This little cat was rotten to the core.

She had a strong feeling it was secretly cursing her!

Just as she was about to pounce and mess with it again, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Coming, coming!"

Kirina quickly put on her slippers and ran to open the door.

Could it be Illya and Miyu arriving?

Dinner wasn't for a few more hours though.

But that's fine—three people could still play strip card games like loser-takes-off-one-piece-of-clothing!

When Kirina opened the door, however, she saw a complete stranger.

"Uh, you are?"

She looked at the person curiously.

A tall and slender figure, with a stunningly attractive face—

A beauty?

Just looking at them, there was an androgynous charm that transcended gender—totally star or idol material.

Not only that,

This person also carried the air of someone used to being in a position of power, making Kirina feel slightly pressured just by looking at them.

"I'm here to deliver a fox-fur scarf."

The visitor smiled brightly—a truly charming expression.

Kirina sighed inwardly—

Someone with such aura… and they chose to become a delivery person?

Well, that's their business, not hers.

She looked at the gift box in the person's hand. "Thanks, just give it to me."

Sanjiro had just mentioned yesterday that he would buy her a fox-fur scarf, and now it had arrived.

No wonder it's called Instant Express—such amazing speed.

"Sorry, I need to deliver it personally to your master," the person politely declined.

"Uh…"

Kirina grew more confused.

Their household was dirt poor.

Even if Sanjiro bought her a fox scarf, it would at best be synthetic. How could it possibly be real fur?

She looked up at the stranger. "Sorry, he just went out to buy some groceries. You'll have to wait a bit."

As a little girl, she knew she should be cautious with strangers—but the house had surveillance, and in case of danger, she could call the police with one button.

Besides, this was Fuyuki City—known for its excellent safety and peace. Nothing to worry about.

"All right, then I'll wait outside," the visitor responded politely.

"Uh… it's freezing outside. Just come in, I'll make you a cup of hot tea to warm up."

Kirina felt a little embarrassed.

Standing out there in the cold winter? Poor sob.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

The visitor changed into Sanjiro's slippers and walked into the warm home.

After a while—

Kirina finally heard the front door open and ran over quickly, lowering her voice: "Sanjiro, that fox scarf you bought for me got delivered—wait, was it actually real fur?"

Only genuine fur would warrant this kind of treatment!

"Uh, fox scarf?" Sanjiro looked completely baffled.

He'd just wandered around the market, and the clothing store was closed—he hadn't bought anything.

What the heck?

Did the little brat get scammed?

Sanjiro quickly entered the living room, only to see a stranger sitting there—someone emitting a very familiar aura.

When the person saw him walk into the room—

They gave a brilliant smile, lips moving ever so slightly.

As someone who once walked as the savior of mankind, Sanjiro could easily read lip movements.

What they said was unmistakably—

"Finally, I've found you, Nameless—no, Sanjiro!"

==============

Ahh fuck... I'm sorry for the American's reading this but yall are a villain in this fic if you can't tell. Just tell me if the bashing is reaching yalls threshold of tolerance and I'll stop the fic.