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Fate/Strange Fake: Memories of the 3rd Crusade
By Edward John Millard
Chapter 1: “Night before the final battle.”
On the night of the 24th of August 1192 AD, two medieval military camps were situated across from each other on either side of a large, barren, wasteland. It was located about halfway between the port city of Jaffa to the west and the Holy City of Jerusalem to the east, near the coast of the Mediterranean sea.
The camp that is nearer Jaffa was owned by Christian crusaders from Western Europe. They were led by King Richard the 1st of England, also known as Richard the Lionheart, as well as the Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony. The camp nearer Jerusalem was occupied by their Muslim opposition who were led by the Kurdish commander and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, the Sultan (Islamic Leader) Saladin. He ruled a vast empire that included Syria, Egypt, Upper Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia.
The two leaders had become fierce rivals over the course of the 3rd Crusade, which was the 3rd attempt by European Christians to take the holy land from Muslim occupation. Richard had some notable victories at the Siege of Acre, a coastal city North of Jaffa, the battle of Arsuf which occurred as he marched his armies south to Jaffa and most recently fending off Saladin’s attempts to take Jaffa. He had however yet to make much progress inland towards taking Jerusalem thanks to Saladin’s efforts.
By now both sides were close to being unable to continue to wage war. Therefore, they decided to have a final confrontation that would take place on the 25th of August 1192 which would determine who would occupy Jerusalem.
In the Christian camp morale was high due to the recent victory at Jaffa and the hope of retaking Jerusalem. Richard himself was very excited for a completely different reason. It would be his last chance to meet and interview his distinguished rival Saladin. His followers were beyond used to his eccentric enthusiasm as they playfully said a few days before “How are you going to interview him on a battlefield when you don’t speak his tongue?” Rihard had taken this as a challenge and had made exceptionally good progress learning Kurdish, Arabic and Turkish thanks to his personal skill, Master of All Trades(1).
Meanwhile, in the Muslim camp morale was lower and not just because of the recent loss at Jaffa. Saladin was about 20 years Richard’s senior in age having just entered his early fifties and was starting to show it physically. Moreover, both camps were unsure about the decision to hold the battle on an open battlefield which had been agreed via a mediator and messenger called Rashid ad-Din Sinan.
This was because open battlefields in medieval warfare were notoriously chaotic and unpredictable in terms of their outcome. Despite their concerns, both sides still had great faith in the charismatic and capable leaders. The battle would commence shortly after dawn the next day.
Chapter 2: “The Battle Commences.”
Both of the armies awoke early and got ready for battle shortly before sunrise. The sun was just creeping over the horizon as they took up positions on each side of the open, desolate land. Richard’s bright blonde hair with red streaks shone in the Sunlight as he inspected his troops formations while Saladin did the same.
Once they had finished doing this and gave their final commands ending in a rallying speech to boost their army’s morale(2). The two armies finally charged across the wasteland at each other. Richard and Saladin were at the head of their respective armies’ charges so that just before the armies clashed, they finally met each other face to face. “Here I come Saladin.” Richard jubilantly cried in fluent Kurdish. “As am I, Lionheart.” Saladin replied as they rushed up to clash with each other on horseback.
Their swords crashed together to the sound of thunderclaps and nearby troops had to keep their distance. This was because Richard had imbued his sword with the power of Excalibur(3) the legendary sword of King Arthur while Saladin had his sword blessed by Allah, the god of Islam. This resulted in the impacts of their blades creating devastating shockwaves and powerful discharges of divine energy that would hurt any soldiers who got too close.
So invested were the warrior leaders in their duel that they did not notice a third party had entered the battlefield, drawn in by the bloodshed. This monstrous interloper began massacring both armies and feeding on those it killed.
Having severely decimated both armies it charged both Richard and Saladin. The latter noticed the intruder first and backed off. Richard’s horse was not so fortunate. The abominable being launched itself at the steed tearing out its throat and gorging on the blood that gushed from the wound. Thanks to his superb reflexes, Richard leapt acrobatically off his dying mount and landed safely on the hard ground.
As the monster finished feeding, Saladin charged it and swung his sword at its neck. The humanoid creature did not even react but its body simply changed into an intangible, gaseous substance which the sword slipped through as though nothing was there. Then the bloodsucker changed into a hard crystalline form and grabbed the blade mid-swing, crushing it by merely clenching its fist.
Saladin backed off in mild surprise and threw aside his broken weapon. He proceeded to take his bow and arrow, loosing a shot at the creature’s head. The monster turned into a more agile, athletic form with horns. It dodged the incoming arrow with incredible speed and charged Saladin. Richard with his Superhuman Speed(4) intercepted the monstrosity with a flying kick sending it stumbling backwards.
“He, he, he.” Cackled the abomination. “You are quite light on your feet, Lionheart.” Richard pointed his sword at this new enemy. “Name yourself, shameless monster. Who are you to interrupt an honourable duel between warriors?” Richard asked proudly. “Alucard Demorts the name, I was just in the area and I thought I would have a little meal.” The monster introduced himself Saladin who had taken in the devastation of their armies responded curtly. “You call this massacre a little? You interfere in a duel for such a depraved reason as that. It seems there is no end to your sinful nature, fiend.”
“Well then punish me great warriors.” Alucard mockingly replied. “Normally, I would be quite incensed by an interruption such as this but given your monstrous nature I can live out a personal dream of mine. To slay a monstrous enemy like the founder of my chivalry, King Arthur, would have done. For that you have thanks Alucard Demort.” Richard gratefully proclaimed. Turning to Saladin, Richard suggested “Saladin what say you and I take care of this monster together.” “Alright, Let us slay this demon.” Saladin concurred.
Chapter 3: “Unlikely Allies.”
The battle started with Richard engaging Alucard at close range with his sword while Saladin assisted at range with his arrows. However, Alucards three forms was giving them serious trouble. Every time one of their attacks seemed to be about to hit Alucard, he either evaded with his athletic form, let the attack pass through his gaseous form or deflect it with his crystalline form.
Saladin was beginning to run low on arrows and Richard’s speed could not outpace the transformations. Things were starting to look hopeless for the two warriors. Suddenly just as Alucard shifted into his gaseous form. A large red hand, attached to long, stretched out black arm slammed into Alucard’s chest despite being in his gaseous form.
The hand retracted, taking with it a beating heart, to a figure wrapped in black cloth with a hood and wearing a skull mask on its face. As soon as the arm had fully retracted, the hand holding the extracted heart crushed the vital organ in its grasp. Alucard howled in anguish and collapsed like a corpse.
Richard and Saladin were initially surprised but before they could relax. “Don’t let your guard down, from what I’ve seen that dead apostle(5) should have two more lives, he’s not dead yet.” Warned the hooded figure, who armed himself with throwing daggers. Richard and Saladin heeded the warning and readied themselves as Alucards corpse twitched. He stood up scowling “It’s no fun when you give away the game like that, Old Man of the Mountain.(6)” Alucard protested as he assumed his athletic form having lost his gaseous form.
“So, Old man of the Mountain, are you going to join in on this battle?” Richard inquired. “Indeed Lionheart, although I was only able to land that blow with my Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat(7) because I used my presence concealment ability(8) to catch him by surprise. It may not work again so I will provide support while you two take him down with your most powerful attacks. It should be easier now he no longer has that intangible form.” Explained the Old Man of the Mountain, whose true identity was Rashid ad-Din Sinan, the mediator and messenger from before.
“Today is just not my day.” Alucard complained before bolting in his athletic form. “Coward, you won’t get away.” Declared Richard who swiftly gave chase on foot. Saladin and Rashid followed suit. Richard was the closest to catching up with Saladin in second on horseback and Rashid bringing up the rear.
Soon Richard caught up and began clashing with Alucard as they ran. This caused them to slow down enough for Saladin to get in range with his final arrow. He blessed the arrow with the power of the Islamic angel of death called Azrael and loosed it at Alucard. The arrow struck Alucards second athletic forms heart immediately bringing the chase to an abrupt halt as Alucard collapsed again. Richard raised his sword in order to stab Alucards third and final heart before he recovered
Unfortunately, Alucard changed into his crystalline form causing Richard’s sword to shatter on impact. Before Richard could react, Alucard leapt up and punched Richard temporarily stunning him. Before he could continue to cave Richard’s head in, Saladin charged into Alucard on his horse knocking Alucard over.
This caused the horses feet and legs to be injured as they collided with the crystalline body of the dead apostle. As the horse whined in pain, Alucard got up and shoulder slammed into the animal’s side causing it to fall over on its other side. Saldin’s leg was trapped and broken under the animal’s side leaving him helpless.
“Your dead Sultan.” Alucard spat with venom in his voice as he approached the cornered Saladin. Suddenly a small dagger struck the side of Alucards head, having been thrown by Rashid who had finally caught up. It bounced off his crystalline skin without doing any damage but it was enough to distract him for Richard to charge Alucard with his broken sword.
The broken remains of the blade clanged harmlessly into the crystalline chest just by the third heart. “Nice tr-!!” Alucard started to say but was cut off by Richard roaring “Excalibur.” A beam of pure energy shot out the end of his broken blade, blowing a hole clean through Alucards chest. “The Sword of the Planet, dammit.” Alucard croaked before collapsing for the 3rd and final time.
Chapter 4: “Aftermath”
Richard and Rashid heaved Saladin dead horse off his broken leg and Saladin healed it using another blessing from Allah. Once he could stand, Saladin and Richard discussed what should happen next. “Well, I think we should call this war a draw as our armies are unable to keep fighting thanks to that monster.” Richard observed. “I agree.” Saladin said. “Thank you for aiding us in getting rid of that heinous filth.” “Think nothing of it.” Chuckled Richard. “Also, we will have to discuss peace terms in due course. But first I want to ask you about something Saladin as was my original intention before this battle started.”
“Hmm, what did you want to ask about?” Saladin replied, surprised by his enemy’s friendliness. “I would love to hear about the songs and music of your culture.” Richard spoke enthusiastically, his eyes shining with curiosity. After their discussion was over, Richard said his farewells and returned to his camp to help with what remained of his army. Primarily aiding the wounded with healing magecraft provided to him by the mage Nimue who was one of the members of his Rounds of Lionheart(9) Noble Phantasm.
“He’s a curious one.” Saladin commented to Rashid. “I thought he would be colder given how he executed 2,700 Muslim prisoners when I was unwilling to negotiate for their release. Yet just now he seemed genuinely excited to learn about my culture.” “Fearsome and kind hearted, truly he lives up to his namesake of Lionheart.” Replied Rashid. With that they returned to the Muslim camp.
The Third Crusade ended with a three-year truce as part of the Treaty of Jaffa on the second of September 1192. Richard agreed with Saladin that in exchange for leaving Jerusalem in Muslim hands. Saladin would allow a limited number of Christian pilgrims into the holy city. The Christians would keep the coastal cities of Tyre, Acre, and Jaffa.
Saladin and Richard had one final exchange where Richard stated he would return once the truce was over to take Jerusalem once again and Saladin replied with, that he could think of no king he would sooner lose his empire to. Unfortunately, they would never meet again as both Saladin and Rashid died a year later. Richard later died in 1199 having never returned to the holy land.
The End