7

Gilgamesh raged. His fury surprised even him, it nearly approaching the level it had when he'd cursed the gods at Enkidu's death. His fists clenched and his entire body quivered as he stared at the image Kirei showed him through the eyes of one of his familiars.

"I merely thought you would want to be informed," Kirei intoned, frowning slightly at Gilgamesh's reaction, "I had not anticipated you to take this as a slight however. I expected it would have brought you great joy."

"Joy?" Gilgamesh laughed without mirth before his eyes hardened, his voice rising to a roar as he continued, "No, this is absolutely unacceptable. Blasphemy! I will not accept her presence in my garden! Who is this woman, Kotomine? Who is that dares to draw my ire?"

Kirei's frown deepened as Gilgamesh's rage rose, and he delayed before replying, "She appears to be the Saber class Servant summoned by Ruler. But is she not beautiful, such as your Saber?"

"Fool!" Gilgamesh roared, swatting the mirror through which Kirei had displayed the image of Hakuno's Servants from his familiar, shattering the glass, "It is not Saber's physical beauty that pleases me! It is her dream, that hopeless ideal she carries in her heart that will one day drag her down to her screaming end! For another to wear her form, to mock my love so…It is unacceptable!"

Kirei slowly sat behind his desk as he watched Gilgamesh's quivering form. He had never truly seen the King of Heroes so enraged. He had to speak carefully here, to contain his anger. He could not yet let Gilgamesh reveal himself to the participants of the Fifth Holy Grail War.

He leaned back, his eyes studying Gilgamesh, "What do you intend to do? Surely her punishment will come in the shape of your Saber. I doubt she appreciates another taking her form either. There is no need to involve yourself."

"No need?" Gilgamesh responded, "A mongrel such as that is worthy of the ultimate punishment delivered by my own hand. I shall erase all of their miserable existences, even Ruler and her Master, for slighting me so. No…I will kill them all! Every last one of them! Ruler, those mongrels and their Red and Blue Servants, every last one! Tonight I shall claim my Holy Grail, and break my Saber to my will!"

Kirei froze. He couldn't simply let Gilgamesh slaughter them all. He needed to break Emiya first, and even he didn't know if Gilgamesh could take down seven Servants at once. He couldn't let this happen.

"King of Heroes, if you would only consider-"

Gilgamesh cut him off as he turned to the door with a murderous glint in his eyes, "I have considered, Kirei. They all die, tonight. I will even eliminate that filthy shadow the Blue Faction spawned. I will not allow these mongrels and their instruments to pervade my garden any longer."

Kirei jumped up at his words, desperate, surprising even himself, "No!"

Gilgamesh icily turned his head over his shoulder to land his murderous gaze on Kirei, "You would dare to order me? Have you forgotten Tokiomi's folly so easily? You have provided grand entertainment for me in the past ten years, Kirei, but take care that you do not overstep your place. This world is mine, and its inhabitants' fate is for me to decide. If I say they shall die, they will die."

"You cannot! There is so much potential for their suffering in this War! Not yet a single casualty, not a single tear of anguish yet spilled, and you would deny me all of this in return for one night of senseless slaughter?!"

Gilgamesh's killing intent encompassed the entire room, "Kirei. In return for your services in the past ten years, I shall allow you this single slight. But if you continue this madness when I return with my Grail, I will tire of my interest in you."

He moved to the door, and Kirei finally accepted the inevitable. Rolling back his sleeve and lifting up his arm, he addressed his Servant.

"Gilgamesh."

The King of Heroes turned, and his eyes widened in shock and rage at the sight before him. Before he could even speak Kirei continued, holding up the three red glowing Command Seals left over from the Fourth War emblazoned on his arm. Gilgamesh quivered in anger, and a golden light began to appear behind him.

"You will not approach or attack any of the participants of the Fifth Holy Grail War, including their Servants and bases of operation, without my express permission."

Gilgamesh released a single scream of rage as Kirei finished speaking, his partially-summoned Gate of Babylon snapped closed before he dropped to his knees as if struck, Kirei's Command Seal glowing and taking effect. He roared and cursed the Command Seals' existence, and spouted murderous rage and spittle from his mouth as he struggled to reach Kirei and strangle him. But he could not move forward.

Instinctively, Kirei felt the corners of his mouth tug upwards in a smile as he beheld his Servant's rage and pain at once again being forced to act as a puppet, having been stripped of the free will he had always deemed his own right. How his ego must be suffering, his mind enraged and destroyed, Kirei thought. A part of him was certain that one of the reasons Gilgamesh had so readily betrayed Tokiomi was the time he had been ordered with a Command Seal. He had later told him that he hated their existence, and Kirei had kept his three seals from his second pact in the Fourth War for an occasion such as this, for a day when he would need the King of Heroes to bow. Gilgamesh would certainly want to kill him now, but he was bound by Kirei's order to not kill any participants of the Fifth Holy Grail War, which included him thanks to his secret status as the Master of Lancer.

He smiled as he bent down beside Gilgamesh's quivering and cursing form, "It brings me great joy to see you brought so low, King of Heroes. You consider yourself lord of all, but here you quiver on the floor. It was you after all, who taught me to enjoy suffering. Your pain and rage here is exquisite. I give you permission to approach me of course, but not to attack me as I know you so desperately want to do. But rejoice. You shall be my tool to sow suffering and hatred across the battlefield of this Fifth Holy Grail War."

Gilgamesh howled wordlessly as he struggled to resist the Command Seal and attack Kirei, and the fake priest stood back to enjoy the show presented to him.

The next morning, Leonardo Harway walked through the halls of his mansion with Luvia at his side. Julius trailed several feet behind them of course, always his silent shadow even if Leo had assured him Saber was more than enough protection. Several maids and other household servants bowed as the two Blue Masters swept by, but Leo paid them no heed as he conversed with Luvia. It would be unbecoming for a heir of the noble Harway family to address the staff directly anyways.

"So you think you might have found the location of Ruler's Master as well then?" Luvia inquired as she kept pace alongside him.

He nodded, "Yes, Julius believes he has a lead. He's quite good with technology and the sort, and he's been hacking into the city's mainframe to control the traffic cameras and so forth to capture video feed of our enemies' activity during the night. He's registered Ruler and her Master frequently near a particular city area, and we believe their base to be somewhere nearby."

Luvia looked ponderingly over her shoulder at Julius who stared blankly at her before returning her attention to Leo, "Yes, that is good news. We should attempt to take them out quickly after we eliminate the Red Faction tonight."

Leo nodded again as they emerged onto a balcony where a light lunch had been prepared, "I agree. Eliminating our enemies quickly is our highest priority in this war."

Luvia eyed him as he held out her chair and she sat, never taking her eyes off him as he moved around the table to his own seat, "And who exactly, if I might ask, are your enemies in this War?"

Leo smiled softly as he toyed with a glass of wine placed before him, "Ah. You refer to the second phase of this War then? Have you decided to support my wish?"

Luvia narrowed her eyes, "Perhaps. I am not yet convinced."

Leo mustered his most imploring smile for her, "But can't you see the mankind cannot be trusted? They will destroy themselves before the turn of the next century, if left unchecked. Someone better and wiser must guide them to a nobler goal."

Luvia relaxed in her chair despite her inner tension, noting how he spoke as if he were separate from humanity, "Someone such as yourself?"

Leo presented her with a bashful smile, "Of course. The Harway family has sought to shape human history for generations. With the power of the Grail, I can finally end all the suffering in the world, and join humanity as a whole."

"Humanity as a whole under one head."

"So long as the head is pure the body shall be so accordingly," Leo countered, "If mankind must sacrifice their free will to survive, surely that is a fate better than death?"

"Perhaps…" Luvia mused, taking a drink of her wine.

"Surely you can't be thinking of siding with the Ainsworths?" Leo asked. A part of him was irked with this girl's short-sightedness, but he couldn't let it show past his gentlemanly façade. He needed her.

Luvia raised an eyebrow, "And if I am?"

Leo scoffed despite himself, "I refuse to believe a woman as beautiful and intelligent as you would lower herself to the level of a worm like Julian."

"A worm, you say?" A new voice broke in.

Leo frowned as Julian Ainsworth entered the balcony, accompanied by Angelica and his pervading sense of danger. He stood arrogantly as a maid hurriedly set him a seat at their table, and Leo curled his lip as Julian idly swirled a cup of his wine, Angelica standing imposingly behind him with her arms crossed. She stared fixedly at Julius, who stared coldly back across at her as he moved up behind Leo silently. No one spoke as Julian reclined in his chair, his dark hair brushing Angelica, before fixing Leo with his thunderous gaze.

"I suppose I should only expect such insults from a lowly family such as the Harways," he drily intoned.

Leo felt a rising fury inside his heart, but a single glance showed him Luvia was interestedly observing the exchange. He had to respond carefully to avoid falling into senseless anger, so that he could secure her support.

"Lowly?" he replied, "The Harway family has shepherded humanity for generations. Is that what you call a lowly family?"

"You've shepherded them into ruin, if that's what you mean. Your kind has tarnished mankind to the point that you've made me dirty my own hands to save them from your folly."

Leo felt his patience break, "Mad words from the master of a mad dog."

"Take care I don't allow this mad dog to rip out the throat of your pretty little soldier doll."

"So what then," Luvia asked Julian, interrupting them, "would you have of the Grail to save humanity?"

He regarded her disinterestedly, as if she was beneath him, but she managed to meet his eye, "I would have us begin again. Have you wondered why all Heroic Spirits are men and women of old? It is because by this age mankind has failed. We no longer produce men worthy enough to live on into legend, women pure enough to be glorified throughout the land. We are simply now a twisted, perverted form of humanity compared to the ages of old. I would have us return to that glory."

"You would erase all of our progress." Leo accused him.

"I would save the world from itself." Julian replied.

"As will I, but without losing that which has come before."

Luvia eyed them both. She had of course, sensed this undercurrent of tension and organization into camps when she'd first arrived, but this was the first time their hostility towards one another was openly displayed for her to see. She could only imagine what had brought such vicious enemies together to oppose the Red Faction. She knew they didn't trust anyone beside themselves to hold the Grail. Regardless, she was certain the walls of their alliance would come crumbling down the moment the last enemy Servant died. In order to have her own wish granted, she would need to outlast this inevitable civil war. For the moment she leaned towards Leo's side as he held two of the three legendary knight classes, including Saber. He and Julius seemed to be much more competent Masters than Erika and Beatrice, for sure. But she couldn't help but feel that Julian must have some incredible Heroic Spirit as his Berserker for Leo to regard him so cautiously. It was for this reason she simply sipped her wine as the two continued to argue, although she knew she would soon have to choose a side. She of course, ignored Rider's boasts in her head that he could take on all six of them.

Julian stood, running a hand through his hair as he looked down at Leo with one open eye, "I suppose I can't expect for someone like you to understand my legend and vision. I admit you might have more sensibility than some of those Red curs, but you still fall laughably short of the Ainsworth's status. I shall show you your folly before this War is over."

He exited with Angelica, his food untouched, and Leo gazed after him with a fury in his eyes, "I hate him. So short-sighted. Thinking he knows what's best for humanity. How laughable. As if anyone else could understand…And going on about his Berserker, performing filthy rituals while we're away…"

Luvia too rose, addressing Leo as he cut off his muttering, "I must leave you now, to practice my jewelcraft in anticipation for tonight's raid. I will think on what you have said. Thank you, but please excuse me."

Leo rose and once again summoned his gentlemanly façade, bending to kiss her hand elegantly, "Of course, Lady Luvia. Please forgive that fool and his brash words for interrupting our lunch, and my own reactions. I hope will join me in my quest for salvation."

She nodded slightly before walking away swiftly, and Leo watched her go before he addressed Julius and the air behind him.

"Do you think you could defeat Berserker?"

Julius replied slowly, I am not sure. It would be difficult. He has only ever shown him once, and even then I could tell he was powerful without performing a full read on his parameters."

Archer laughed as he appeared reclining on the balcony against the wall, giving off a cocky smile, "I've already killed a Berserker once."

"Before he revived," Julius sharply cut him off, "and you were thoroughly humiliated by their Archer. Our reports say you didn't even finish off that Red Master."

Archer placed a hand to his heart mockingly, "Master, you wound me. Do you doubt my abilities so? How was I to know that he possessed such a Noble Phantasm, or that that idiot would jump in front of the girl?"

Assassin materialized and fixed Archer with a glare, "You weren't even supposed to kill the girl. The Einzberns are said to always prepare the Lesser Grail. She's probably the only one here who knows where it is, or the Greater Grail for that matter. If you'd killed her we would have lost that information."

Archer gave him a mocking smile as he adjusted his seat, "Oh? This coming from the Servant that lost us Ruler's Command Seals?"

Assassin glared, "Do not begin to trade words with me, Archer. A servant who uses such petty tricks and poisons is unbecoming of one of the three legendary knight classes."

Leo cut them off, "That's enough. I won't have us fighting amongst ourselves when we need to be unified against Julian and his ilk, not to mention the Red Faction and Ruler first."

Archer frowned, "You're not my Master, kid."

Julius snapped his fingers and fixed Archer with a glare, and the Blue Servant of the bow fell silent. Julius nodded to Leo, and he stepped forward as he felt approval emananting from Gawain in his spirit form as he took control of the conversation.

"Now," he began, "We have much to discuss."

Hakuno focused on the floating orb in front of him. It hovered softly above the glass table in the lounge, glowing dimly. It wavered slightly, but he continued to focus on pouring more and more prana into it to give it form. In reality, this was barely different than what he had continually done for Julius, filing up countless jewels and other magical talismans to act as magical power batteries for the Harway's resident enforcer. This however, he reflected, as he felt a ticklish sensation running across his ribs, was much harder.

He groaned as the light flickered and blinked out of existence, turning to Kuro, "Would you cut that out?"

"But, Onii-chan," she looked up at him innocently, "I'm just doing what you told me."

Hakuno groaned and pointed at Caster sitting across from him, "You're just doing what she told you."

Caster smiled brightly from where she sat across from him, "You told them to listen to me while I taught you about magic, and I told her do that, so technically she is doing what you told her."

Hakuno sighed and threw out his arms to gesture to the scene going on in the room, "Then please explain to me how all of this is supposed to help me learn about magic!"

Caster's grin widened as she began pointing out of the various mechanics of her teaching style, "You already know the basics of opening your circuits to perform magic. But you have to be focused while practicing magecraft. So I need to teach you to keep your concentration steady before I teach you anything nasty that could blow up in your face if you stop paying attention to it."

"So all of this…?" Hakuno inquired.

Caster crossed her arms proudly, "Well you never know what kind of distractions you might have, so I've prepared a whole bunch for you. If you can concentrate with all of this going on, you should be fine! I've turned the heater all the way up, so you should be sweating by now. You'll have to ignore that physical discomfort. You'll also have to ignore the latest shrieks blaring from this Justin Bieber playlist I have going at full volume. But you can't completely ignore your surroundings, because Assassin will be sneaking up on you like an enemy might during a battle. You have to raise your left hand whenever you think he's nearby or else he gets to smack you on the head if he gets close enough!"

"What?" Hakuno protested, "That's not fair! He has Presence Concealment!"

He grunted as he was cuffed on the back of the head lightly and looked up to see Assassin smiling down at him as he spoke, "I've turned it off for now. Try harder next time."

"Wha-" Hakuno lightly protested again as Assassin melted into the back of the room.

"Then," Caster continued her lecture, "I've told Kuro to distract you physically anyway possibly, preferably through tickling. You can't worry about the itch on your foot during a battle!"

Kuro grinned up at him, "I've already licked your elbow six times without you noticing too."

"What?" Hakuno cried out, covering his arm, "Don't do that. And do you really think I'd risk my life during a battle to scratch an itch?"

Caster smiled, "I have. Now pay attention or I'll allow Kuro to lick you somewhere else."

"I am-" Hakuno grunted as he was struck again by Assassin before he disappeared, "-paying attention."

Caster nodded and patted Ruler on the shoulder, sitting next to her, "I'm having Ruler stare at you constantly to make you feel uncomfortable. If you get easily distracted by something like that icky feeling of someone staring you down, you'll lose for sure!"

Ruler nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving Hakuno or blinking, and he fidgeted before he pointed to Saber posing erotically in a bikini behind Caster, "Yeah, alright sure. But how is that supposed to be a part of my training?"

Caster glared at him pointedly, "Everyone knows that men are hormonal beasts. If you can resist focusing on Saber's voluptuous body you might just have a chance at staying concentrated on your magecraft in the middle of a battle. You can't be thinking about something perverted like how cute I look in my pajamas when you're getting ready to fry another mage with lightning!"

"Seriously?" Hakuno deadpanned.

Caster nodded importantly, "Yep! If you can master this technique, maybe I'll teach you some cool stuff. For your protection only, of course. We can't have you getting yourself killed."

"Yeah, that's not really one of my goals either." Hakuno muttered, before he suddenly straightened and lifted his left hand as he looked to Caster questioningly.

She shook her head, "He's not there."

He sighed and then grunted as he felt the cuff on his head. He looked back to Assassin smiling at him and then to Caster's victorious smirk.

"What the hell?" Hakuno asked her, "I said he was there!"

She stood and pointed at him defiantly, "But you changed your mind when I said he wasn't! Never trust the enemy on the battlefield! They might try to deceive you with their words!"

"This is unbelievable." Hakuno muttered.

"This training, Praetor," Saber said from behind Caster's couch, "I made sure the warriors of my time were well trained in both body and mind. I am pleased to see you undergo the same. An artist's foremost weapon is their mind after all."

"Alright!" Caster clapped her hands together, "That's enough explanation! Back to powering up the orb! We're gonna keep at this until you get it!"

"But it's already noon," Hakuno gave one final protest, "I'm practically nocturnal now, and I'm already tired from summoning Saber last night."

"Nonsense! Young men like yourself should be able to run for days on end without sleep. Now back to it!"

Hakuno groaned and once again set himself to generating the orb of light he'd be struggling with for the next four hours.

Rin Tohsaka walked idly on the pond's shore at Ryuudou Temple. It really was a beautiful day out, she couldn't help but think. It almost made her want to skip stones on the pond's cool, clear, and reflective surface like she used to as a kid. But she couldn't of course. She'd die if any of her fellow Masters caught her doing something so trivial. Not to mention the ridicule that would surely come from her own Servant. And she definitely wasn't a kid anymore. Back then, she'd still had a father, a mother, a sister… Those were all gone now. She was the sole remaining Tohsaka heir, obligated to win the Holy Grail to uphold the respect of her family. She couldn't let a pack of foreigners like the Blue Faction or Ruler's Master waltz in and take the prize her family had worked towards for generations, let alone any of the Red Masters. Her father would certainly want her to win. And she wanted to, for his sake.

But she was afraid. She'd come to enjoy some of the Red Masters' company, and even some of the Servants'. She honestly wasn't sure she'd be able to kill them when the second phase of the war came. It was harder once she saw them as human beings and got to know them, rather than just envisioning them as faceless foes she would encounter and defeat in a single night. She didn't expect to have a week of history or more with them. So she banished those thoughts from her head, and sat on the grassy shore for some time to stare out across the pond, thinking of better days. It was peaceful, and of course that peace had to be broken when her Servant materialized leaning against the tree behind her.

"Rin," he spoke deeply, waiting for her to reply. He knew she was troubled, but would wait for her to speak to him of her worries. If he pressed too quickly she might bite his head off after all.

"Archer," She turned to him with a soft smile, "Have you recovered from your injuries yet?"

"Not completely," he sighed, rubbing his shoulder as he crossed his arms, "Using that attack took a lot more out of me than I expected. But give it a day or so. The location of this temple along the natural leylines is helpful as well."

She nodded slowly, "It was definitely a gamble. But I don't think there was any other way to buy time until help arrived."

Archer gazed at the back of her head and past it out to the water, "It worked yes, but I'd rather not deploy it on that scale unless I have to, especially this early in the war. It's too similar to my Noble Phantasm."

"The super-secret one you won't tell me about?" Rin grumbled.

He smirked as he looked down at the tree roots sprouting from the ground, "Yes, that one."

They both remained silent for a while before Rin spoke up softly, "How are we going to kill them?"

Archer shrugged and narrowed his eyes as he thought of Caster and Shinji, "It's war. People will die. I'm actually excited to kill some of them when the time comes."

"It might be easy for you, but it's harder for me. I mean, I've gone to school with Emiya my entire life for example."

Archer grunted. He still wasn't entirely sure if he'd go through with his plan to kill his younger self. He'd like to avoid erasing himself from existence if he could. But if he couldn't turn the foolish boy away from the idealistic path he himself had chosen, then perhaps it was the lesser of two evils.

"Then don't focus on it now," he suggested, "We still have to take care of the Blue Faction and Ruler after all."

Rin frowned, "We do need to find Ruler soon. We can't let her build up a full team of Servants. She probably already has a couple by now. But it gets harder to summon more as their team grows, so maybe we still have some time."

Archer kept silent, not mentioning his battle with Ruler's Archer Servant, the strange lookalike to Illya. While Archer was no stranger to the Kaleidoscope, having been summoned as a Counter Guardian into countless alternate realties filled with terrors that needed to be cleansed by his blades, he had never encountered anyone even remotely like her. The fact that someone could copy his skills as a Heroic Spirit was…troubling, to say the least. But he had forged a truce with her, and she seemed to know some version of Emiya Shirou, so he tried to steer Rin away from Ruler. It didn't hurt that what he was about to say was true either.

"I think," he began, "that we should be focusing on the Blue Faction for now."

Rin frowned, although Archer couldn't see it from behind her, "The Blue Faction? But they were weak enough that you defeated them all with your storm of swords in a single go."

"And that nearly killed me," he reminded her, "And next time they'll be expecting it, and will have taken countermeasures. And most of them were weakened after fighting Saber or Berserker. And we haven't seen their Berserker, or the full extent of their Caster. And Lancer claims that Assassin of Blue is strong. Remember Rin, that they are all Heroic Spirits for a reason. They won't be defeated so easily."

Rin sighed and placed her head on her arms as she hugged herself, "I guess. But we can't let them stop us. I have to win the Holy Grail for Father's sake. And I still haven't even found any clues to his killer yet."

Standing there, looking at her vulnerable and scared about her chances as she gazed out at the water made Archer want to tell her. Tell her that it was Kirei Kotomine, her guardian and overseer of this mad ritual, who had betrayed Tokiomi Tohsaka and murdered him in cold blood. He himself wanted to go and slaughter that priest before he began any of his evil machinations, but that would require him to face Gilgamesh. And he wasn't sure if he was yet ready to face the King of Heroes head-on. As a Counter-Guardian, certainly. But he was unsure of his capability as a Heroic Spirit. Besides, that would lead to Rin questioning how he knew any of this, which would lead to the revelation of his identity as Emiya Shirou. And even beyond that, this timeline was too different from his own. He didn't remember any Aporcypha being triggered, or any Blue Faction or Ruler Servant. Who knew what Kirei had up his sleeve in this reality? All he could do here was protect Rin and his little sister, and hope to change his younger self's foolish ideals. He couldn't even save Sakura without revealing himself. He could only hope that monstrous shadow wouldn't be spawned. He'd been summoned as a Counter-Guardian once to that universe when she'd gone out of control, his younger-self failing to stop her, and that one time had been enough to make him shudder every time he thought of his childhood friend. As long as the Grail wasn't corrupted, he had a chance. He'd seen some realities were it was never tainted in the Third War. Perhaps it was the same here.

"Well," he said, "If you're not satisfied by the time I win this Holy Grail War for you, simply wish for justice on your father's killer from the Grail."

Rin lowered her head, moved by his words, and Archer cocked his head to the side as he stared at her quizzically, "Rin? Why are your ears red?"

"Shut up!" She turned him with a red face, "I'm cold, okay? That's it! Nothing else, you lunkhead!"

He smirked. After having so many years of Rin mercilessly teasing him in his childhood, it always felt good to get a couple shots back in now, even if Rin didn't know who he was. His reply was cut off as Illya's voice carried over from across the pond from where she stood at Shirou and Saber's side.

"Rin! Get over here! We're going grocery shopping with Shirou and Saber! He's gonna make us a feast tonight!"

Rin grunted, grumbling as she stood and brushed dirt off her skirt as she replied to them. She turned to Archer when she was done, looking up at him, "Are you coming with us? Saber's there, and I'm sure Berserker never leaves Illya's side, so you won't have to worry about protecting me. It'd be good for you to relax instead of being so serious all the time."

Archer smirked and gazed across the pond at Shirou with his heightened eyesight, "And listen to that idiot ramble on about food produce. The idiot can't even make toast right."

Rin glanced at him, "He's actually pretty good. Almost as good as you."

He glared at her, "If you tell anyone…"

She smiled innocently at him, "That you're a great cook and housemaid? I'd never do that."

"Enough already," he waved his hand as he kicked off the tree's trunk and began walking towards the pond's edge, "Lancer's out scouting isn't he? I think I'll do the same. It's better than listening to you swoon over Emiya."

Rin's face exploded in fury but before she could rebuke him he disappeared into spirit form just as he reached the water's edge. She stared at the place where he had disappeared furiously for a moment before turning angrily to make her way to where Saber and the others were waiting. That damn Independent Action Skill. She couldn't keep herself from muttering angrily to herself as she walked.

"That idiot."

A/N: Another chapter down. Next time will be the big fight a lot of you have been waiting for. Some interesting developments, as Kirei and Gilgamesh's relationship has completely broken down. Anyways, leave your thoughts on this chapter, reviews are always super motivating. And now that we've broken 100 reviews, I just wanna say you guys are awesome for that. Also, someone asked if Hakuno's Assassin is Ezio from Assassin's Creed, and while that would be undeniably awesome, he's actually the first Hassan-i-Sabbah. So sorry if that disappoints you, although I do admit that would have been cool. To address some reviews about how some attacks shouldn't affect Berserker due to his God Hand Noble Phantasm, I admit I forgot about that aspect of it in that one chapter. So that part will definitely be applied in the future, sorry about that.

Also, I know Fate/Apocrypha volume 5 came out the past couple of days, so if anyone was willing to send me summary of what happened that'd be awesome, although I did manage to pick up a few details. That also extends to volumes 3 and 4, as I haven't been able to find any translations or spoilers for them yet. (Especially volume 4. I know a little about volume 3.)

Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing, and I'll try to get at least this next chapter out before I have to go back to school.