Dear reader,

  Before you proceed to read The Mad War, I’d like to say a few words to explain some things.

  First of all, as a massive fan of the Fate series, I have decided to once more try writing a fanfiction that also works as a crossover with my own works, The Guardians of Diabolus. This means that most of the characters you will meet with in the story are original ones made by myself, situated into a Holy Grail War.

  Second, for those of you who have read the Fate/Stay Night visual novel (in any of its many versions), the following won’t be a new feature, for others a brand-new thing. The novel contains a section called ‘extras’ where you can read additional information on the Servants that you have met so far in the story. I would like to do a very similar thing in this document, gradually giving you information on the heroes that our main protagonists meet with.

  At the end of a chapter where you obtain new information (meeting a new Servant for the first time, seeing their Noble Phantasms etc.), I will make an update looking similar as the following:

  Update:

  Saber:

  Master: Sunamar

  True Name: Test 007

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  STR: F

  AGI: C

  Feel free to write these down somewhere along the way as you read through the story or - if you're not that interested in it - just feel free to ignore the information. It is merely a little extra for those interested in the Servants' actual statistics and brief backstories. There will be exactly seven Servants of classes Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster, Rider, Assassin and Berserker, one of each.

  Due to the fact that this is a mere fanfiction and not an original work, I would like to minimize the amount of content that would corelate with the original work, Fate/Stay Night. As such, there won’t be any scenes from the school nor much of the daily life of our characters, rather focusing on the more eventful parts that are connected to the Holy Grail War itself. This will also save a significant amount of time, both for me to write and for you to read. Thank you for understanding.

  I would also like to use this opportunity to thank Fate’s original author, Kinoko Nasu, for the inspiration to use the concept of interludes. In my works, they function as a sub-chapter that allows me to tell the story from a different character’s perspective (e.g. from the Servant’s rather than the Master’s). They can either be in ich- or er- form (1st or 3rd person, respectively), so be ready for both. In both cases, I will make it very easy to figure out whose perspective are we following in the specific interlude. An interlude does not end a chapter.

  In comparison to Echoes of the Dawnstar, I will try to make the chapters longer, also taking proportionally longer to write and correct them. Please have patience with me as I'm doing this alongside studies and job, so I don't always have the time and energy to think about the stories and write them down. Everything needs its time, including this novel.

  Lastly, I want to thank you for paying a visit to my works and I hope you’re going to have lots of fun reading into the story of The Mad War. I will see you again at the end! :)