The king once thought that her reign was a mistake. She once wished that she could undo the mistake of pulling the sword out of the stone, the very act that allowed her to be a king in the first place.

Yes, she did become a king. A perfect king, in fact. But, in becoming a king, she abandoned her humanity. She was aware of it the moment she drew the blade out of the stone, knowing that becoming a king means no longer being human. A king needs to cast aside things like emotions or feelings in order to protect the people and the kingdom.

She became the epitome of chivalry and selflessness, being revered as a savior by her people. She was perfection personified, a perfect ruler who would bring her people to an everlasting utopia. Still, her perfection also isolated her from her people, as she had cast away her humanity.

"King Arthur does not understand human feelings."

Those were the words uttered by one of her knights, who noted that as a king, she was too perfect. Some of them felt that one without emotions could not rule others, leading to them abandoning the kingdom. As a king who had thrown away her feelings, she accepted this as a natural event which was a part of her kingship. Even though she was isolated from her knights and her people, there was no denying that she was the greatest among kings, the King of Knights.

While her path of kingship led her kingdom to flourish, that very same path also led it to its downfall. It was due to her inability to understand her people, her insistence on walking through her path in her lonesome that caused her kingdom to crumble. Tragedies after tragedies, the king began to realize that her kingship was a failure, and she thought that it would have been better if she had never pulled out the sword in the first place. She thought that it was due to her failure that her kingdom was in ruin.

Before drawing her last breath, the king appealed to the World, offering her servitude as a Heroic Spirit so that she could be given an opportunity to save her ruined kingdom with the Holy Grail. She believed that it would be better if someone else, one who was better than her, could pull the sword out of the stone and become the king instead. As a part of the deal she made with the World, upon achieving the Holy Grail, she would become a Counter Guardian, an agent of the collective consciousness of humanity. She considered it a fair trade, as she thought that sacrificing her afterlife would be worth it. While she still considered her kingship a mistake, she still considered herself a king through and through, and she would sacrifice herself for her people and her kingdom.

Still, after being summoned as a Servant for two Holy Grail Wars, after encountering numerous adversaries and hardships, the king slowly began to realize that while her being a king was a mistake that brought her kingdom to ruin, she was not wrong. After seeing a young man who was forced to learn that his ideal was a mistake, but was still adamant in pursuing it, she began to understand why she was tormented by her own failures. She understood that while she might have failed as a king, her pursuit to become an ideal king, the perfect king who would place others before herself, she was not wrong.

In the end, she rejected the Grail, destroying it. In turn, she broke her deal with the World, releasing her from her contract with the Counter Force. The king, now freed from her guilt and regrets, could only look at her past with lingering sadness as she moved on, knowing that she was not wrong in her path of kingship.

After breathing her last, the king neither ascended to the Throne of Heroes nor was assimilated by Akasha, but instead she went to Avalon, the final resting place of King Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights. As the Once and Future King, she would remain there, slumbering, until the time when she was truly and desperately needed.

"Here lies Arthur, king once, king to be."

"Issei-san!"

A cute, golden-haired nun clad in a dark green dress cried as her newfound friend, a boy with spiky brown hair, was mercilessly pummeled by a dark-haired woman. There was a pair of black wings on the woman's back, indicating that she was inhuman in nature. That twisted grin on her face also made her almost seem demonic.

She might have appeared stunningly beautiful if not due to the aforementioned grin.

"Ergh…" Despite the violent assault by the winged lady, the boy picked himself up, clutching his injured shoulder. There was a hole in his shoulder, courtesy of the winged lady, who cackled upon seeing the boy's pained expression. "I… I won't let you…" The boy said throatily as he glared at the winged lady. "I won't let you hurt Asia!"

"Kehehehehe… for an insect, you sure are very hard to kill…" The winged lady said as she held out her right hand, conjuring a spear that seemed to be made of pure light. She walked over to the boy's direction in a rather sensual manner as she expanded her wings. "You remind me of cockroaches, Issei. They're hard to kill, you know?" She purred as she held the spear that she had conjured a while ago with both hands vertically before she did a suggestive motion by moving one of her hands up and down. "Well, you're not really my objective this time. What I want now is her." She looked at the golden-haired nun, who felt intimidated by her look. "But, considering that I want you dead too, I guess I should kill you now…"

The boy, the one who was called Issei by both the winged lady and the golden-haired nun, let out a grunt. He glanced at the cute nun behind him, whose eyes were teary before he looked back at the winged lady, who swung her spear of light a few times. "Hey, you already killed me once. Give me a break, will you?" He tried to find a way to get away from this situation so that he could escape with the nun he befriended.

The winged lady giggled. "My, I never thought you were the type to joke while facing his own imminent death, Issei-kun," she said in a cutesy voice. Issei flinched, as if trying to suppress the memories of the girl he dated before. The girl was also the one who killed him after their date. He still could remember the feeling of having a spear of light piercing through his chest, which caused him to shudder. He swore that he still could feel the pain of being pierced.

Still, he was alive, thanks to the machination of his senpai, Rias Gremory. He was no longer a human, but a Devil. He took the fact rather well, considering that by becoming a Devil, he could make his own harem. Still, that was a matter for another time, because there was a crazy winged lady trying to kill him while wanting to take his new friend away from him.

"M-Miss Raynare!" The cute nun shouted. "P-please don't hurt Issei-san! I-I'll follow you, but please don't hurt him!" Tears flowed unbidden down her cheeks as she begged. "P-please… I'm the one you wanted, r-right?"

"A-Asia…" Issei looked at the nun, not realizing that the winged lady, Raynare, was approaching him. She tried to stab him with her spear, but he managed to evade it in the nick of time. Still, the attack managed to graze his chest a bit, and considering his nature as a Devil, the spear made of light was poisonous to him. "Ergh!" Even though it was merely a graze, the injury caused by the spear still caused a great deal of pain for him.

Raynare, who let out a grunt after failing to stab Issei, twirled her spear before she looked at the nun. "Ah, what a good girl. Still, no can do. I'm going to kill him because he should've died when I killed him before. Consider this as unfinished business," she said before she went after Issei, attacking him mercilessly.

The nun could only stare in horror as Issei was pummeled by Raynare, and she was unable to do anything about it. Sniffing, she brought her hands together and prayed.

"P-please…"

While she knew that it may have been useless, because she had been excommunicated by the Church, she still wanted to do something, anything to save her friend. She might have been damned, but she still tried to pray so that her friend could be saved.

"Please… save Issei-san. P-please save my friend…"

The king jerked her head as she was awakened from her slumber. She was resting under a tree in Avalon, a realm unaffected by time and space, free from the influence of the World. She would remain there until the time when she was truly needed. As the King of Knights, she considered it her responsibility as a king to deliver salvation to those who desperately needed her help.

Because she no longer had a contract with the World and did not ascend to the Throne of Heroes, she was not restricted by any higher powers. In Avalon, her actions would be decided all by herself. After all, as the Once and Future King, she could freely choose whether to appear in the world or not.

"Please… save Issei-san. P-please save my friend…"

While slumbering, she heard a prayer, an earnest prayer of a girl who wanted to save her friend from injustice. It was a miracle that such a prayer managed to reach her, the one who was outside of time and space. And as a knight, letting such an earnest prayer go unanswered was against everything that she stood for.

Perhaps it was fate that caused the prayer to reach her in the first place? Whether or not that was the truth, the king had no idea.

Now that she had heard the prayer, to let it go unheeded for a long time would sully her pride as a knight. The king got up from her resting place and walked towards the clearing. Her one-piece dress was replaced by her armor as she walked. She looked up to the sky and closed her eyes.

The King of Knights shall continue her reign on Earth.

"Argh!"

Raynare kicked Issei's head after thrashing him endlessly. The boy no longer had the strength to stand his ground as his body was situated on solid concrete. The nun, Asia, cried out his name while her hands were still held together in a prayer. Now that the Devil was beaten half-dead, Raynare grinned as she lifted her spear of light.

"So, you're going to die now, insect?" Raynare asked as she stood over Issei's broken body. "Okay then, die now."

"Issei-san!"

Asia screamed. And at that instant, there was an explosion of light right in front of Raynare. Caught off-guard by the explosion, she barely evaded a sudden gust of wind that emerged from the light. She expanded her black wings before she leaped a few meters back, her eyes widened in bewilderment.

As the light faded, near Issei, there was a golden-haired woman clad in a blue dress underneath shiny armor. Her body was surrounded by golden dust, making her appearance seem mystical in nature. Then, she opened her eyes, revealing a pair of light green pupils. The woman wore a neutral expression as she studied her surroundings. Despite her slender physique and unimpressive height, the way she presented herself upon emerging from the light almost made Raynare drop to her knees.

Raynare was, for lack of a better word, bewildered. How could anyone exert such authority in the first place? Raynare could feel rage building up inside her chest the more she acknowledged this unknown woman's presence.

As for Asia, she was astonished by the appearance of the armored woman. The nun noted that she was inhumanly beautiful and regal. As she continued looking at the woman, she let out a yelp as she felt a stinging pain on the back of her left hand. She looked behind her hand and saw a mark forming on it. The mark was red in color and shaped like an upturned cross.

"Y-you…!" Raynare snarled. "Y-you think I'm afraid of you?! Think again!" Enraged, she conjured a dozen spears of light around her, and all of them were primed at the armored woman.

Wordlessly, the armored woman turned to face Raynare before she leaped forward. In an instant, she managed to close the distance between her and Raynare with just a mere leap, and the latter immediately fired her spears of light at the former.

Logically speaking, the armored woman should've been skewered by the spears, but the spears spontaneously disintegrated when they were mere inches away from her. Panicking, Raynare tried to get away from her, but with a great leap, the armored woman rushed towards her, holding a sword that seemed to be invisible. In desperation, Raynare conjured a spear of light in order to take the armored woman head-on.

"Too slow."

Raynare's eyes widened in surprise as she looked at her right arm, which was no longer attached to her shoulder. The arm, still holding the spear of light she conjured earlier, twitched as a puddle of blood formed from the severed stump. It took her a few moments to register the fact that her arm was sliced off by the armored woman's invisible blade.

"M-my arm? My arm?!" Raynare started feeling the pain of having her arm sliced off. She immediately brought her other hand to the stump on her shoulder, screaming, "You cut my arm?!" She glared at her attacker, who shifted her position as she wielded her invisible sword with both hands.

"Give up," the armored woman spoke. "Your life shall be ended by my blade. Useless struggling will only bring you more pain and suffering." Her tone was calm and even, and there was no hint of hesitation in her voice as she looked at Raynare in her eyes.

"Ergh…" Now cornered, Raynare was completely under the armored woman's mercy. But before she could deliver the final blow, a spear of light suddenly descended from above, zooming towards the armored woman's unprotected back. But just like before, the spear disintegrated before it could even harm her. Apparently, Raynare had her own helper, who turned out to be a middle-aged man clad in a long coat and fedora, and just like her, he also had a pair of black wings.

Still, the spear had managed to distract the unknown woman, and Raynare immediately saw this as her chance to leap away, using her wings to flee. Still clutching onto the stump on her shoulder, she flew away with her cohort who threw a spear of light earlier.

Clicking her tongue, the armored woman lowered her invisible sword before she dismissed it. Raynare had escaped her. Still, she managed to save the life of the boy who was almost killed by Raynare earlier. She turned around to see the boy, who was being tended to by Asia. Her hands were glowing, and she instantly knew that the nun had some kind of healing power.

She walked over to the pair, and the sounds of clicking from her greaves made Asia stop her healing spell and look up to see the one who saved her friend's life earlier. Still wearing a neutral expression on her beautiful visage, she stood in front of Asia before she spoke, "I heard your prayer earlier." Her expression softened. "I couldn't find it in me to ignore such an earnest prayer." She glanced at Issei, who was unconscious due to the vicious beatings he received from Raynare earlier. "I take it that he is fine."

Asia stared at the armored woman, dumbfounded. A few moments later, she spoke, "W-who are you?"

At first, she considered calling herself Saber, the label that she used to call herself back when she fought for the Holy Grail. But then, she remembered that she was no longer associated with such a thing, and her deal with the World had been severed. To call herself Saber was a meaningless gesture. And she thought telling the nun the truth wouldn't hurt either.

"My name is Arturia," she introduced herself. "Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights. I am the King of Camelot, the Once and Future King." Both pairs of green eyes were looking into each other.

A brief moment of silence had passed until the woman named Arturia Pendragon spoke once more.

"I ask of you: Are you my Master?"

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Note: Hello, this is me, Prince Arjuna. This is a one-shot that I've been meaning to write after seeing a prompt in Spacebattles forum. As you can see, this is only a one-shot due to the fact that I can't afford to write a new multi-chaptered story right now. I have a lot of stories to update, see? So, as you can see, the Saber who shows up in this one-shot is post UBW True End Saber, who severed her pact with Alaya, no longer tied with the Counter Force and went to Avalon as the Once and Future King. She can return to the world whenever she is truly and desperately needed, but only by her own choice - no power can coerce or summon her unless she wills it so. Let's just say she's the opposite of the Counter Guardian.

Also, special thanks for Sorata Shioya for beta-reading this chapter. It's so nice to work alongside you, as always. So, I hope you like this one-shot, and I'll be glad if you can give me some reviews. You know, like some kind of encouragement or something? Maybe with enough reviews, I can be motivated to write multi-chapter version? Who knows?

Prince Arjuna (2015)

Edit: Who am I kidding? Multi-chapter story is the way to go!