The Servants of the Red Faction were summoned by the Mage's Association only after the Black Faction had already taken the lead by summoning Lancer (Vlad III) and Caster.
When it came to the selection of Servants, even though the Yggdmillennia clan had plotted for this Holy Grail War for nearly 60 years and made the most thorough preparations, in terms of sheer foundational resources, they ultimately couldn't compare to the Mage's Association, one of the two major organizations of the modern world.
This point was immediately apparent from a glance at the Servants summoned by the Red Faction.
The following were the magi carefully selected by the Mage's Association to act as Masters, and the Servants they summoned:
Lancer of Red: Karna. The son of the sun god Surya in the Indian epic Mahabharata, the Hero of Charity. He is a top-tier Servant matching the specifications of the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. Manifesting in the Lancer class this time, he descended from the Throne of Heroes carrying the legendary god-slaying spear: Vasavi Shakti, "O Sun, Abide to Death." His summoner is Feend vor Sembren, a First-Tier Lecturer at the Clock Tower, the same rank as Lord El-Melloi II.
Rider of Red: Achilles. One of the few heroes in Greek mythology who could rival the great hero Heracles. Known to the world for his invincible strength and immortal body, he was the main commander of the Greek army in the Trojan War. His life flashed by like a gale, yet he possessed a dazzling brilliance perfectly befitting the title of a hero. Descending in the Rider class this time, this was undoubtedly his strongest form. His Master is the younger brother of the "Bound Twins," Cabik Pentel, a powerful independent magus specially recruited by the Mage's Association.
Archer of Red: Atalante. The renowned archer and huntress of Greek mythology, favored by both the Sun God Apollo (who holds the title of Sun God in the Nasuverse) and the Moon Goddess Artemis. From the perspective of a bowman, as a hunter from the Age of Gods, Atalante inherently surpassed the vast majority of Archers. Her Master is Rottweil Berzinsky, a powerful figure highly renowned in magus warfare, also known as the "Silver Lizard."
Setting aside these standard classes, even for the Assassin class—widely acknowledged as the weakest—and the Berserker class—the most difficult to control and prone to backfiring on the Master—what the Red Faction summoned was the oldest poisoner, Empress Semiramis, and the heroine of the famous epic Nibelungenlied and protagonist of its second half, the Princess of Vengeance wielding the demonic sword Balmung, Kriemhild.
Furthermore, due to her unique nature, Kriemhild, summoned in the Berserker class, retained her sanity, able to communicate with humans and obey orders despite being endowed with "Mad Enhancement," which granted her tremendous strength and parameter boosts. She achieved the terrifying state of "Lucid Madness."
Undoubtedly, from the simple fact that all the Red Faction's Servants were from the Age of Gods and mythology, one could see the Red Faction's immense power and the importance the Mage's Association placed on this Holy Grail War.
With such overpowering combat strength, neither the Mage's Association nor the summoned Servants knew how they could possibly lose. After all, this was the equivalent of overwhelming the opponent with dragons.
Because of this, after understanding their side's near-abnormal lineup, the Rider of Red, Achilles, was certain that the victors of this war would be them, and as a result, he began to feel it would be somewhat boring.
Of course, this didn't mean he would be passive in battle. As a proud, swift, meteor-like warrior who enjoyed the process of fighting strong opponents, even knowing the other side likely wouldn't have opponents to interest him, he would still maintain respect and expectation for them, and smile during the process of fighting and killing them. It had nothing to do with mockery or contempt; it was simply the great hero Achilles's respect for his opponents.
Then, since there were no opponents to interest him, why not turn his gaze to his comrades—the other Servants this time around?
To this end, Achilles, who was unrestrained since he hadn't seen his Master again after being summoned, began evaluating his partners.
Lancer seemed to be a hero from another place. Although his aura was powerful, his personality was rigid; because he hadn't received orders from his Master, even if Achilles took the initiative to attack him, he wouldn't fight back. He was a boring but very strong person, but Achilles didn't dislike him.
Saber and Caster hadn't been summoned yet. Berserker looked very strong and could communicate normally, but her aura was too eerie and dangerous, as if she would destroy everything around her at any moment. As for Assassin... Achilles bluntly admitted he didn't like her at all. Such an insidious woman skilled in murder and poisoning—if possible, he absolutely didn't want to work with her.
Putting all this aside, the only remaining one capable of interesting Achilles was Archer. She belonged to the same Greek pantheon as him. Although they had no interactions in life due to being from different eras, he had heard her name from his father's mouth more than once when he was young: Atalante. A powerful and independent woman.
According to his father's descriptions, in an era where heroes walked everywhere and demigods were as common as dogs, a woman like Atalante, who ranked among heroes relying on mortality and archery, was undoubtedly the most dazzling and curiosity-inducing. He recalled how his father, who was always submissive and extremely cowardly in front of his mother, would only show a look of idol-worshiping longing when talking about Atalante.
Therefore, seeing that the Archer descending on his side this time was her, Achilles had been secretly keeping an eye on her.
Through this observation, he discovered many issues. Why was the first thing she did upon descending not observing her Master or the environment, but looking around and then closing her eyes as if sensing something? Was she looking for someone? Achilles, who had already gained knowledge of later generations and everything else from the Holy Grail, couldn't help but guess secretly. Was it Hippomenes? That man who caused Atalante to lose the gods' favor and everything else?
Harboring this question, during subsequent missions dispatched by the priest who claimed to issue orders on behalf of their Masters, Achilles began to intentionally or unintentionally approach Atalante, calling her "Big Sis." He learned this from Hector, who was both his nemesis and something akin to a good friend. According to Hector, such an address could close the distance with unfamiliar women, especially older ones, particularly given that the other party possessed strength.
Thus, after calling her this for the first time, Achilles was chased by a furious Atalante and shot into a pincushion. Yes, Atalante shot Achilles into a pincushion. The arrows she shot, even a casual strike, actually contained the blessing of gods. Although it was only a blessing and the divinity wasn't high, so Achilles didn't suffer much damage, there was no doubt it could break through his immortal body, "Andreias Amarantos." The divine blessing on Atalante was absolutely not low.
But this shouldn't be? According to the Atalante in his memory, although she had feats of being granted power jointly by the Sun God and Moon Goddess, in such a situation, shouldn't that be the effect of a Noble Phantasm? Why would a casual strike carry divine damage? Was this truly the "Big Sis Atalante" from his memory?
Involuntarily, Achilles's doubts about Atalante deepened.
But fortunately, whether in battle or other aspects, Achilles's spirit was extremely resilient. So finally, under his tireless chatting (harassment) and repeated calls of "Big Sis," Atalante finally paid attention to him.
"Do you have some kind of serious illness!" That was during a reconnaissance mission against the Black Faction. Because his interruptions caused Atalante to miss observing the scene where the Black Caster was setting up magecraft, she spoke to him for the first time. Although her tone was very bad, even arguably annoyed, at least she was willing to talk, wasn't she?
When it came to persisting in something, Achilles was very confident. Back then, it was precisely by relying on this tenacity and thick skin that he successfully married his beloved wife, Deidamia, the Princess of Scyros.
Sure enough, although Atalante was still very annoyed with him afterward, she would sometimes answer a few questions.
For example, her cat ears and tail (actually a lion's) weren't because of some disgusting person or story, but because she prayed to the Moon Goddess to become a constellation in the sky after death, and after gaining the recognition of the God King Zeus, she became the symbol of the constellation Leo.
Or, for example, why she was so repulsed by him. It was because she had witnessed too much of the disgust and hypocrisy of Greek men in the past. It wasn't until she met that person that she became certain that among the existence known as men, there were a rare few who were slightly better. And although he, Achilles, was very annoying, he was similar to that person in one aspect, which was why she was later willing to pay attention to him.
Then who is that person? Hearing this thing that was completely different from his cognition, Achilles couldn't help but develop an immense interest in "him" from Big Sis Atalante's mouth. Looking at the complex look in Big Sis's eyes and expression when talking about that person, could it be her lover?
So, under the discrepancy between cognition and information, the completely baffled Achilles finally decided to just ask directly. Nothing suited him, the Meteor Hero Achilles, better than the method of asking directly.
Harboring this thought, one time when Atalante was up in a tree gazing into the distance again, he asked: "Hey Big Sis, who exactly is that person you talk about? Can you describe him to me in detail? I'm very curious." Achilles remembered asking exactly like this.
"Why are you asking this? What does it have to do with you?" Big Sis's voice remained as cold as ever, as if she had given all her emotions to that one person. When facing others, especially other men, she always appeared incomparably cold.
"It's just that from what you said, he sounds like a really great person. I always want to get to know people like that," Achilles, who had long grown accustomed to this, didn't give up because of her coldness, continuing to say cheerfully.
"Hmph, it'd be a miracle if that guy was great. He's just a liar." Seemingly having her memories provoked by his words, Atalante instinctively shot back with this sentence.
Hearing this, Achilles's eyes instantly lit up. He felt he had found a method. "A liar? Did that guy cheat you out of something, Big Sis?" To make his words sound less deliberate, Achilles quickly added right after: "If he bullied you, Big Sis, tell me. If I see him in the future, I'll definitely help you teach him a lesson."
"Heh." Hearing this, Atalante immediately chuckled lightly. "Forget it. Although I can feel you are very strong, and your aura even matches Heracles, against him, you should just give up. You wouldn't be his opponent."
"Oh?" Hearing this, Achilles couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. As a hero who, shortly after birth, chose death just to live out his brilliant, meteor-like fleeting life, Achilles was very confident in his own strength. He didn't think there was anyone in Greece he couldn't defeat, aside from a select few great heroes like Heracles and Hector.
Seeing Achilles's obvious look of disbelief and defiance, a smile couldn't help but tug at the corners of Atalante's mouth. She spoke, seemingly both persuading him and talking to herself: "That guy isn't an ordinary person. He always said he wasn't a hero, just a singing bard, and his purpose in traveling was merely to record the stories of others, then compile them into a book so his name would go down in history. But in reality, long before that, he was already the very definition of the word 'hero'..."
"The very definition of the word 'hero'?" Hearing Atalante's words, Achilles couldn't help but freeze. He instinctively searched through Greece for a person with such a title, but was astonished to find no such person. Whether in his memories or the knowledge brought to him by the Holy Grail, there was no record of this person.
Involuntarily, Achilles asked a question: "This person... this hero, who is he?"
Hearing this, Atalante looked back. After a brief silence, she still left a name: "Orpheus."
"Orpheus? Who... is he?"
Time flew by rapidly. When he heard Atalante say this name again, and at this exact moment when they were about to meet Father Shirou, Achilles couldn't help but freeze.
When he instinctively followed the dead stare of the cat-eared young girl beside him toward the figure of the unfamiliar man standing in the church, he froze again. Because that guy wasn't a Servant, but a genuine modern magus. And standing beside him was a woman in a dress shrouded in a mysterious aura. That aura should belong to the Caster who was summoned last. Then undoubtedly, that priest dressed just like Father Shirou should be Caster's Master.
How could a person like that possibly be Orpheus? Big Sis, your eyes must be playing tricks on you.
Just as Achilles was planning to explain this to Atalante beside him, he was astonished to discover that at some unknown point, a black-gold longbow flashing with strange colors had appeared in the hands of the green-haired, cat-eared young girl. That was Big Sis's Noble Phantasm, "Tauropolos (Bow of Heaven)"!
Seeing Atalante's expression turn ferocious, her normally forest-green eyes inexplicably dyed with a touch of darkness, Achilles instantly felt things were going wrong.
"Big Sis! Calm down!"
But before his words could fall, the next moment, the cat-eared Hunter Miss shot an incredibly powerful and heavy arrow toward the young man dressed as a priest.
"How... how dare you appear before me again, Orpheus... you bastard... you liar..." "Words are useless!" "Go see Lord Hades with me! Orpheus!"
In an instant, golden light flared. The green magical arrow mixed with divine power originating from the sun shot toward the completely bewildered Souya like a speeding, scorching sun.