Fate series and characters belong to Nasu and TypeMoon

Investigate the Church Ruins

Arrived at a building, the group had split off with Olga Marie who moved further investigating alone. The burnt benches, cracked glasses of windows and mirrors, Olga Marie headed towards the damaged podium. "Everything's burnt down far as the eye can see…"

Another sweeping scan of the area, the Director's orange orbs narrowed at the ash-colored powder on the ground and shelves with a closer investigation. "There aren't any traces of residents either. What happened here?

"What could even turn Chaldea gray in the first place? If we can't see the future, that means humanity will vanish," Olga Marie lifted her hand to chew on her thumb fingernail. "Could that mean the Counter Force doesn't work in a Singularity? Then this place is like a Bolt…

"The fatal choice of destruction scattered throughout human history… When your choices become mistakes, this is what happens."

As the separate three watched her rambled on, Romani's holographic image appeared beside them. He saw the Director mumbling and let out an exhale, "Looks like the Director is talking to herself. This could take a while."

With a swift inspection of their area and his data on another screen, he turned to Ritsuka. "Hey, looks like it's safe over there, Ritsuka-kun. Why don't both of you rest a bit?"

"Really?" Ritsuka turned his head to the Doctor.

"I agree with you, Doctor," Mash nodded. "Senpais, would you like some rations?"

"Yes! Thank you, Mash-chan!" Ritsuko raised her hand eagerly.

Mash returned with a happy beam and escorted the siblings to sit on a bench that stood unbroken. As she handed over to the siblings a pair of water bottles, Ritsuko gulped down as fast as she did.

Ritsuka took a hefty gulp down and breathed out a satisfied breath before shifting to Mash. "Thanks. But, aren't you tired, Mash?"

"Tired? Are you asking if I've been having any problems since I became a Servant?" Mash clarified with a perplexed expression.

Ritsuko shifted their attention to them when her brother nodded. Mash took a slow pause before answering, "Well, for the most part. It's scary to fight, but I'm doing fine otherwise."

As Ritsuka nodded with understanding, Ritsuko tilted her body sideways a little to get a better view of Mash. "Then, is there any complaints since you've become a Servant?"

A faint embarrassed blush appeared on Mash's cheeks. She bowed her head and admitted with a reluctant expression, "It's hard to explain. Imagine yourself becoming a jet fighter, Ritsuko-senpai. You might be able to fly around in the sky, but you can't do your own maintenance.

"No matter how strong you might be, essentially depends on having a Master," The violet-haired Servant continued as she recalled the dangerous encounter they've been through. "The risk and reward make sense here. But I can't be too happy when I think of the burden I'm putting on both of you."

"Then, are you okay with us being your Masters?" Ritsuko interjected her unpleasant thoughts from entering into the Servant's head.

"Eh?" Mash turned her head to stare at Ritsuko.

Ritsuko straightened up and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, we both are inexperienced or at worst, ignorant to everything of what's the work like here. Ritsuka and I feel we dragged you down.

"I mean, wouldn't you prefer a more competent person or Master in knowing how they do their things? It'd be better if we know what we are doing, or things here would be…"

Ritsuko tilted her head towards the sky with a sorry grin on her lips. Mash's orbs widened before shaking her head with a reassured smile, "That's not the case at all, Ritsuko-senpai."

"Really?"

Once Ritsuko faced at her, Ritsuka turned to see Mash smiling a satisfied and confident grin to them. "I think both of you might've been the best Master this summer. That's why–!"

Suddenly, Romani's holographic image appeared beside them and shouted to the four of them with a panic tone. "That's enough rest! We got incoming!"

The familiar screeches made the three turned their head to the back. With the usual group of skeletons, Mash leaped with her shield set in front of her. "Masters, your commands, please!"

A side glance from Ritsuka's blue orbs on seeing Olga Marie hiding behind a shelf on instinct, Ritsuka turned back and shouted. "Let's get rid of them!"

-0-

On the roof of a skyscraper building, a youthful man with a muscular physique stood with his bow equipped in his hand. His gaze fixated on the Demi-Servant using her shield engaging in combat with the leader.

He later turned to the Fujimaru siblings assisting each other in taking down the minions. As he stared Ritsuka's pipe clashed against the skeleton's sword, he murmured to himself. "Well, well…"

His right hand at the back emerged a metallic sword by the red light. He placed the blade on the bow in his left hand, and a glow of red-black light transformed its shape to a projectile.

As he took aim and to launch at his mark, he ceased and darted to his right as a dark purple orb directed towards him. With his mind shifted from them, he jumped elsewhere as it collided with the building creating smoke and dust.

Unknown to him, another obscure figure on the sheltered ground level viewed the mysterious bowman leaving before turning and disappearing into thin air.

-0-

Stabbed the pipe onto the ground, Ritsuka heaved a huge relief breath before crashing on the ground. Ritsuko dropped to the ground and groaned, "Finally! Can we have our break now?!"

Mash set her shield down and let out a tired sigh, "Phew! Thank goodness, we managed it yet again Masters."

"I see you're getting used to being a Servant," Olga Marie walked out from her hiding again and approached Mash. With a satisfying grin, she went on. "Is it because now you know what we're up against, you're not afraid anymore?"

"I don't know about that," Mash's eyebrows furrowed. "No matter how good I am with my weapon when it comes to the battle itself…"

Before Olga Marie could say anything, she heard the recognizable 'beep' that irritated her.

She turned to where Romani's holographic appeared and grunted. "You're being annoying! What do you–!"

"Sorry, let's talk later!" Romani's urgent tone stopped the Director's scolding. "The four of you need to get out of there now! I'm still picking up something! And this is–!"

Chains shot out from nowhere and circled the perimeter of their area, setting up an enclosed trap.

As they peeked around the surroundings, a mysterious veiled woman came before them from a violet light.

"An unknown Servant and two unknown Masters," The veiled woman giggled.

Despite her features being hidden by the black veil, she had notable long purple hair and well-endowed figure.

Olga Marie gulped and sputtered in fear. "Wha–! Is that…"

"A Servant is there!" Romani exclaimed, green orbs widened in fright at the unknown Servant before them.

The purple-haired Servant examined each of them with a predatory gaze and smirked. "How young and fresh…"

"What the heck? What's a Servant doing here?!" Ritsuko's orbs widened, rose and strode a step backward from the unknown Servant.

"But I don't see her Master!" Mash replied, standing in front of the three with her shield in her grip.

Olga Marie lifted her hand out in a gun position and pointed out. "This world has already gone mad. A Servant without a Master doesn't surprise me."

Ritsuka gritted his teeth. Before he could add anything, Romani's voice cried out, "Don't fight it, Ritsuka-kun, Ritsuko-chan, Mash! It's too soon for you to fight a Servant!"

"Even so, we can't escape!" Olga Marie's orbs glanced back at the surrounding chains that ambushed them. She turned back to Mash and ordered, "Mash, prepare for battle! It's a Servant, you can do something about it, right?"

"Yes, I will do my best!" Mash gritted her teeth anxiously but took a brave step forward towards the enemy Servant.

"Oh, how bold. How fresh," The purple-haired Servant mused. "Is this your first time fighting as a Servant?"

With a stride forward too, the enemy Servant pulled out a pair of a chained nail-shaped dagger from her back. "Then, as your senpai, I'll teach you. Be careful of what you say and do. For once the word 'fight' passes your lips, it has already begun."

Dissolved in a black fog, Mash's shocked expression lasted for a second before she came back with her nail-dagger raised to strike. She hastily lifted her shield to block it. The spark generated from her nail-dagger clashed against her shield.

The violet-haired Servant at once raised her shield again to intercept another strike. Each strike hitting against her shield, Mash struggled to maintain her ground. At her determined gaze, the enemy Servant cackled, "You're desperate. Excellent. But be careful."

Vanished again, Mash pulled her shield back and scanned around. The distant echo of metal clinking against each other, she glanced skyward and caught the pair of dagger homing towards her.

As she leaped backward, the purple-haired Servant landed onto her chained gate. "Interesting. You're able to dodge my dagger that restricted and immobilize your movements. But the slightest mistake, you'll be a failure of a Servant for the rest of your life!"

Fired a nail-dagger towards her, Mash ducked her head and charged forward. "Yaargh!"

Taken by surprise as Mash's shield clashed against her, the impact produced a storm of sand towards the back. As Ritsuka, Ritsuko and Olga Marie used their arms to cover against the dust, the enemy Servant leaped up untouched.

Back on her chained gate, the enemy Servant hummed to herself. "Being too fresh can grate on the nerves."

Her hands moved to the back brushed out her long purple hair towards them. As it reached outwards, the hair changes from snakes for a moment to metallic chains at them.

"Watch out!" Olga Marie reached both of her hands out and grasped both Fujimaru's shirt collar. With a powerful tug, Olga Marie pulled them back while Mash stepped forward. Her shield swung both left and right to deflect the incoming chains.

"Interesting… I will entangle you all with my hair," The enemy Servant chuckled.

Ritsuka murmured with his blue orbs widened. "Her hair…"

"Be careful, Ritsuka-kun! If anything were to happen to one of you, Mash's mana will weaken. Both of you are her Masters, so she's relying on you two for support." Romani's distressed voice amplified out from Ritsuka's wristwatch.

Ritsuko glimpsed at the entrapped area by the chains. "E-Even if you say that, we don't know what's the strength and weakness of our enemy!"

"Oi, Romani! Don't you have an analysis of the Servant?" Olga Marie shouted.

"R-Right, I did!" A second afterward, Romani's voice reported. "The enemy class is a Rider-type Servant. Even if her strength and endurance are average, watch out for her agility!"

"Her True Name?" One of Olga Marie's orbs glanced at Ritsuka's wristwatch.

"I-It's–!"

Before Romani could announce, the enemy Servant was to gaze at them revealing her gray orbs with squarish pupils. Mash raised her shield to avert her gaze towards them, but she felt an electrifying tingle surged through her nerves.

As Mash flinched, Ritsuko shouted with a concerned tone. "M-Mash-chan!"

Raised to intercept another attack, Mash gritted her teeth as the enemy Servant chuckled at her struggle. With a strike to slam her backward, Mash reassured back. "I'm fine, Ritsuko-senpai…"

"That eye and hair…" Ritsuka muttered to himself.

Familiar images and studies he did on history and mythology recalled in his mind.

He declared upon knowing, "That's Medusa, one of the three Gorgon sisters…!"

"Medusa?!" Olga Marie gasped in dread. "Mash is fighting with such monster…?!"

"W-Wait, how bad is Mash's situation from this?!" Ritsuko demanded.

Ritsuka's wristwatch blinked its light again as Romani spoke.

"Medusa is the youngest among the Gorgon sisters that resided in the Shapeless Isle, Ritsuko-chan.

"She was formerly a beautiful aboriginal Earth Mother deity like her sisters.

"But, the goddess Athena was jealous of their beauty. She cursed Medusa alone to what humans have recognized for her as the snake-haired monster now. As Ritsuka-kun had recognized, anybody who gazed into her eyes will be petrified and turned anyone into a stone statue."

Moved her gaze, Ritsuko watched Mash blocking another attack before swinging her shield at Medusa. She shifted back to them and pleaded, "Director, you said before they would have a weakness, right?!"

As they turned back, Medusa cackled as she used her dagger to smack her shield away. Lunged at the violet-haired Servant, Mash jumped high and raised her shield to deter against the gliding chains being knocked upwards.

Swallowed a gulp, Ritsuko turned back and went on. "Then, shouldn't there be something of how she died or something in history!"

"That's right! I-I mean, yeah, there is a weakness!" Olga Marie cleared her throat nervously. "Her weakness was–!"

"I've got a plan!" Ritsuka's intrusion of her words acquired a glare from Olga Marie.

Ritsuko shifted to her brother with an uneasy expression. "Please tell me you got an idea how to kill her, bro…"

"Well…"

Ritsuka leaned into his sister's ears and whispered to her. After nodding for a while, her eyes widened and screamed. "Are you crazy–?!"

He leaned back to her ears and murmured in an emotionless tone. "Pick your poison, do you want to die here, and should I say Mash will die too. Or at least die at a later age with her alive and able to, you know? I'm backing you as a wingman with no objections this time."

"You–! Ugh, fine! You owe me big time, brother," Ritsuko glared at him after he rolled his eyes at her. Reluctantly, she turned to Olga Marie. As the Director shot her a suspicious look, Ritsuka forced herself to put a charming grin. "Oh, great Director! I need your help!"

"W-What?!" As predicted, Olga Marie blushed beet red and sputtered. "Flattery won't get you anywhere, Fujimaru! W-What do you want?!"

Rolled her eyes sardonically, Ritsuko grabbed hold of her arm. "I have an idea to kill her. Come on!"

"H-Hey, hold on!" Olga Marie, struggling to pull arm away and keeping up with her pace.

Once they entered the building, Ritsuka shifted back to where Mash was. Despite her fatigue the prolonged battle with Medusa, she maintained her shield firm and resolute.

Just before Mash steady her shield against Medusa's next attack, rocks appeared and fired at the enemy Servant. Medusa hissed and twisted to where it came from. "Who?!"

"How about choosing someone your own size, Rider-class Servant?" Ritsuka's pipe armed in his grip and glared at her.

"Senpai!" Mash shouted.

Ritsuka commanded without facing her. "Mash, go into the building now!"

"But, Senpai, that's a Servant–!"

Ritsuka turned to stare at her and ordered with a resolute tone. "I know that! Now, go!"

Before Mash was to counter back, she stopped and noticed what Ritsuka had hinted. She acknowledged his message with a knowing expression. "As you command, Master Ritsuka!"

As Medusa watched Mash rushing into the building, she shifted back to Ritsuka and laughed. "So, you've volunteered as a tribute to my prey? You have courage. But, a bravery of a fool blindly walking into death."

"Maybe," Ritsuka gulped and threw back a nervous smirk. "I'm not cut out to be a hero, so might as well settle for something fitting."

"That's fine with me. I'll take you while you're still flesh and blood!" Medusa threw one of her nail-dagger towards him.

Ritsuka swung his pipe to hit it aside and tried to strike at her. Before he could swing his pipe, Medusa appeared before him and strike at him. He quickly blocked with his pipe. "Tch!"

Medusa pulled back one of her nail-dagger and strike at him. "For a first time fighting a Servant, you're not bad."

She bent down and swung her leg to kick him, solely for Ritsuka to dodge with his body bent backward. "But all you can do is nothing but to block my strikes!"

Ritsuka blocked another of her attacks and retorted, "When you have a sister being captain of Archery and Ace pitcher on the softball team. You'd be yanked around as target practice regularly to evade and fight back."

"So, you will not use a Command Seal either?" Medusa turned her lead foot and crouch down to lift both her legs.

Ritsuka jumped backward and panted. "I would if someone could teach me. But, I'd agree I volunteer as tribute for your meal, right?"

Medusa's lips formed a thin line as she threw one of her nail-dagger towards him. When Ritsuka raised and smacked it away with one hand gripping his pipe, another thrown and bound around the said hand.

"Shit–!"

Ritsuka at once closed his eyes and found himself pulled towards Medusa by her chains. Within the range, there was a particular pressure around his eyes forcing them to open. But, he struggled in closing and pulling himself free.

Soon, he halted when he felt a sharp object poking at his neck. Medusa's voice chuckle when he ceased moving. "This is what you get for opening your big mouth. And, this happens when you express your intentions."

As she moved her head towards him, Ritsuka struggled in getting his eyes remained closed. "Put those eyes of yours…. To this! Now, Ritsuko!"

Ritsuka slammed his forehead against hers and bent downwards. Before she could draw her target back, Medusa saw Ritsuko had stepped out offering a huge cracked mirror before her.

Medusa realized she was staring back in the mirror at her gaze and howled. "Ugh! Why, you!"

Olga Marie immediately discharged a golden glowing orb at her before she could charge at Ritsuko.

As Medusa staggered back to evade, the Director commanded, "Do it, Mash!"

Realized that she now sensed a familiar presence of a Servant, Medusa was about to swing behind to attack. But, Mash's shield already lifted up, and she swung it down towards her neck. "Argh!"

The strong and swift movement of her shield beheaded Medusa's head from her body. Her hands gripping the chains dropped and freed Ritsuka from them.

With a thump on the ground, Medusa's decapitated head and body dissolved and perished in a golden light. Mash set her shield steady on the ground to recover her breath. "Okay—okay—We won…"

"Yeah… We… Definitely did…!" Ritsuka panting heavily, his hands once removed from the chains rested on his knees.

Ritsuko nodded in agreement and panted, "Y-Yeah… Y-You did it, Mash-chan! Ritsuka's insane idea worked…!"

"At least… Now, I appreciate," Ritsuka panted. "Why Master should be at the rear commanding… And, yeah! Definitely should be in the back role next time!"

Mash shook her head while still recovering her breath. "I was sure I didn't stand a chance, but we actually won–!"

"Sorry, there's no time to rest Mash, you two," Romani's concerned tone interrupted them. He glimpsed at his other holographic image before turning back to the four. "'A similar signal as before' is heading that way. I don't have to tell you what you need to do, right?"

Panic and tense expression flashed across the violet-haired Servant's face. "What—Same signal? No way–!"

"Wait… There're more Servants than her?!" Ritsuko stared at the Doctor with eyes widened.

As though on cue, two shadowy figures found from afar in Olga Marie's view. Ritsuka noticed it too and raised his pipe back in his hand. But, the Director's voice stopped his next action. "Fujimaru! Retreat! We've got to get out of here now!"

"Tch! Let's hurry!" Ritsuka grunted. As he pulled his sister along, the four ran with all their might as the two shadowy figures gave chase to them.

End of Section 5

Thank you very much for the faves and follows! :D

We're now halfway through for this entire singularity
The next chapter will be awaited appearance of a certain Caster before things moved on
Thank you all once again for following and reading this so far
I hope you guys had enjoyed this new chapter too :)
If anything could be improve for the story or the characters are OOC, please let me know ^^