After destroying the corrupted Holy Grail, Saber returns to her own time, but is once again summoned to a new city for an entirely new purpose. The Heroic Spirit known as "King Arthur" now finds herself in a city of heroes, defending the weak and battling against more dire enemies than she could have possibly imagined.
Prelude to Another Dream
Light filtered through the leafy canopy above her as she rested beneath the great tree, casting mottled shadows over her dying body. At first, she reflected on her life; the battles she had fought for the country she had died to protect and the regrets she had learned to accept as something she could not change. Before her long dream, she had regretted being chosen to lead her people, believing that they would have fared far better with a more suitable ruler. Perhaps things would have been better had another drawn the sword from the stone, and perhaps that ruler would be able to bear the demands and expectations of the kingdom. But it was in the midst of that dream that she came to accept that she, for better or for worse, was the King of her people.
She dreamed of her comrades both in her own country and the ones she had met when she had been summoned across the seas of time, to a foreign city in the distant future. Finally, as her world became ever-darkened, she dreamed of her beloved, the pure and innocent boy she had left behind. It was he who had convinced her that her past was something she should not change, even if it had been the whole reason she had become a Heroic Spirit and fought for the Holy Grail. And even as they loved each other, they each had their separate paths to walk, and hers was nearing its end.
Her story was supposed to have ended there. She was not supposed to awaken once again, summoned for what was yet another secret war. Her soul felt hollow, and she despaired thinking about how what she and Shirou had accomplished turned out to be a vain hope, after all. Once again she would be made to fight and kill other Servants called upon for the same task, and possibly die protecting her master who might desire nothing more than power. Perhaps it truly was impossible to destroy the now-tainted Grail.
"
Servant Saber. Upon thy summoning, I have come forth. I ask of thee: art thou the Master whom has called me?
" she asked the young man standing before her, her face composed into a mask of ice.
He was dressed more as if he were a butler for an affluent household than a magus powerful enough to summon the spirit of a warrior for a long and bloody battle. Out of her peripheral vision, she caught glimpses of seemingly endless bookcases, though a library was certainly a queer place for a summoning. Had she been summoned within an office of the Mages' Association itself?
"That's right, Your Majesty," her new master replied to her question affably, with a mysterious smile and a formal bow. His answer surprised her; never had her previous masters ever acknowledged her rank, even with the knowledge of her true identity.
"Welcome, my lady Saber, to the halls of the Midnight Squad, and Paragon City... the City of Heroes."
