And here we go, for the 100th time... ok, for the fifth time. It's a new story, this time a cross-over between Fairy Tail and the TYPE-MOON universe (elements of Fate/Zero and Tsukihime). Just like TSCM, this story features a strong Lucy, but apart from that it's completely different.

NOTE: For the purposes of this story, the time line has been adjusted. The events of Tsukihime happened several years before the Fourth Holy Grail War, not during the Fifth War.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of Nasu Kinoko's works.

It had taken a few days for Caster to calm down after the funeral, but everyone was glad when she finally did. For one thing, it meant that things stopped getting randomly burnt to cinders or frozen in place. For another, Illya was excited about Lucy's child and wanted to start a debate regarding baby names, and everyone wanted Caster in a good enough mood to participate.

Which is what the group was doing right now. Lucy had a sheet of paper split in two columns with the headings 'boy' and 'girl' and was writing names down while the others came up with them.

"Ok, the page is full." She announced finally. "Let's start with the boy names. I like Bazett's idea of 'Lucian', Sella's idea of 'Marco' and Shirou's idea of 'Kiri'."

"I vote for Kiri!" Illya shouted immediately.

"That's derived from Kiritsugu, isn't it?" Archer mused. "Very well, I too vote for Kiri."

"I disagree." Saber shook her head. "I think Lucian is a noble-sounding name."

"Marco sounds Italian, or Spanish..." Bazett looked unsure. "I don't think it'll suit your child. Either one of the other two is fine, though."

"Well, I stand by my idea." Sella announced with dignity.

"Then you suck." Leysritt deadpanned. "I like Lucian, go with that."

"I still support Kiri." Shirou told Lucy. "It was my suggestion, after all."

"I agree with Shirou-kun." Caster spoke up. "Sorry, Master, but I don't want your child to grow up like you, and the name Lucian is basically a male form of Lucy, so I'll pass on it."

"So we have four votes for Kiri, two for Lucian, one for either, and one for Marco..." Lucy tallied the votes up, ignoring Caster's comment. "Ok, if it's a boy, I'll name him Kiri. For girl names, I like Leysritt's idea of 'Lisa', Shirou's idea of 'Maiya', Caster's idea of 'Hayate', and Illya's idea of..." Her eye twitched in amusement. "Illya."

"I vote for that one!" Illya, once again, spoke first.

"I do not care, as long as it is not Maiya." Saber decided. "The woman was too much like Kiritsugu for me to remember her in a good light."

"I like Hayate." Sella muttered simply.

"Well, I vote for my idea." Leysritt crossed her arms stubbornly.

"I also like Hayate." Archer declared. "I don't want to see another brat named Illya, and the other two don't exactly sound right to me."

"A friend of mine when I was a lady in court carried the name Hayate." Caster revealed. "It holds sentimental value to me, so I stick by my choice."

"Either Maiya or Illya is fine." Shirou decided. "Actually, I choose Illya. I'd like the idea of an Illya who actually looks her age."

Illya was torn between cheering and pouting at him.

"Again, I am undecided." Bazett sighed. "All of those sound ok."

"Ok, let's see..." Lucy checked her sheet. "That's three for Hayate, two for Illya, one for Lisa, one for not Maiya, and one undecided. I guess if I have a girl I'll name her Hayate."

Caster and Archer smiled at that.

"So this is the Ryudou Temple, under which one of the city's four leylines is." Lancer mused, twirling Gae Bolg idly. "It's only around ten, but the monks are all sleeping already. That's some discipline, wouldn't you say?"

His answer was a barrage of silenced gunshots, which he easily managed to avoid or deflect.

"Interesting." Assassin announced, showing herself. "How did you know I was here?"

"You reek of blood and regret." Lancer observed smugly. "You must have walked an empty path of death and misery in life, am I right?"

"What of it?" Assassin scowled. "It's not any of your concern, Lancer."

"I disagree. I now know what to tell Boss Lady to avoid when I go meet her after this." Lancer chuckled. "Incidentally, don't try shooting me again. I don't like getting killed before getting greeted, and besides, further fighting will be fatal for you."

In response, Assassin unleashed a hail of bullets on him. Her eyes widened when he again easily blocked each one with his lance.

"Hey now..." He grinned mockingly. "Don't tell me that's all you can do."

He stopped moving and his presence suddenly shifted into something malicious. "But if so, then this is it. I have enough prana to easily take care of you, so this is where it'll end."

Assassin panicked when he charged at her, and shot yet more bullets at him, even mixing in a few shots from her Thompson Contender. For the third time, Lancer brushed the attacks off as he closed in on her.

As the blue-clad Servant reached her, she hastily swung a dagger at him, her eyes now shining blue and showing her Lancer's weak points. Lancer managed to block her strike and slammed the butt of his spear into her chin, knocking her head back and dazing her.

"You are outmatched." He observed, leaping back. "Desist. I have no further interest in the Grail. If you want to have a winning chance at it, getting killed by me is pointless."

Assassin spat out some blood as she re-oriented herself. "I wouldn't have thought one of the Knight Classes would have so little honor that he'd strike a woman."

Lancer actually laughed at that. "You'd sink so low to try something like that, eh? I dunno what differences there are between you and the Boss Lady, but she's clearly a much better person than you could ever hope to be."

"Don't ever talk to me about that pathetic imitation." Assassin spat, dashing back until the shrine pond was between them. "That brat actually took in Illyasviel and Berserker, treated them as allies, and is now housing Illyasviel even after her usefulness ended. How disgusting."

"Ah, so your quarrel isn't so much with your other self as it is with this Illyasviel girl." Lancer observed. "Illyasviel... that would be the Einzbern child. I see no real reason to despise her so much, unless..." His eyes lit up with amusement. "Ah, were you mistreated by little Illya when you were alive?"

"You're pushing it, Lancer." Assassin was trembling with fury. "If you don't keep that tongue of yours in check, I'll have to unleash my strongest Noble Phantasm on you."

"Promises, promises." Lancer sang. "I'm more impressed by the fact you can talk after I shattered your jaw."

"I'd tell you how, but you don't need to know." Assassin was trying to calm down. "Now quit stalling."

"If you insist."

Water splashed under Lancer's feet as he dashed over and adjusted his lance, aiming for Assassin's leg-

Black tendrils of an unknown attacker shot out of the water towards Lancer, who skidded back to dodge them. "What the..."

More dark tentacles emerged, surrounding Lancer. The Servant cursed and used his spear to carve out protection runes in the shallow pond's bottom. His eyes widened when the approaching tendrils easily pierced through his barrier and aimed for him.

"I'd move if I were you." Assassin looked amused. "That thing will consume you otherwise."

Lancer sneered at the woman, who was standing at a safe distance. Apparently whatever this black creature was, it would also attack her if she got too close.

"Still, you dared bring up Illyasviel..." Assassin frowned. "I owe you for that, you bastard. Time Shift: Triple Accel!"

Lancer wasn't listening. Instead, he glanced between the approaching creature and the shore, which was a few meters away. A simple jump and-

"I got you."

"What-"

Having moved at a speed impossible even for Servants, Assassin had dashed past, torn Lancer's heart out of his chest, and retreated to safety before either he or the strange tentacles could react to her movement.

"Heh..." She watched as the black limbs engulfed Lancer's body completely. "Servant Lancer... what a joke."

"We need a plan of attack."

Shirou rubbed his eyes, tired of staring down at a drawing of what he knew about the Matou manor's structure.

"We're seriously gonna storm the place?" Bazett asked for the sixth time. "As in, full-out frontal assault?"

"For the last time, yes." Lucy took a sip of her tea. "It'll be a siege. I wish Berserker hadn't been killed, though... it'd have been a walk in the park with him helping out. Which reminds me... where are the homunculi?"

"Illya's sleeping, Sella is washing dishes, and Leysritt's channel-surfing."

"Ah." Archer nodded. "So, to confirm: the first move is me firing Caladbolg at the Matou manor?"

"Yes." Lucy glanced between the three Servants. "Zouken is likely to respond with waves of his bugs attacking us. Archer, you can dematerialize for that. Caster has her foxfire-augmented hand-to-hand combat which will burn them up, and Saber can use her Prana Burst. Bazett and Shirou, you both will remain here in the house."

Caster looked worried. "And you, Master?"

"I'll be helping the Servants fight. With my Mystic Eyes and Time Shift, I can deal with any number of bugs focusing on me." Lucy looked grim. "And I want to see that old worm perish with my own eyes."

Shirou hesitated. "What about Sakura?"

"Sakura Matou will be restrained and interrogated." Lucy decided calmly, taking another gulp of tea. "I will personally find out everything she knows about magecraft and the Holy Grail War."

Shirou exhaled heavily. "Just don't hurt her too much."

"That is not my intention." Lucy inclined her cup at him. "I have fairly non-violent ways of getting the information I want."

"Are you sure you should get involved?" Saber spoke up. "What about your child? Are you not worried that you might get wounded in your stomach area?"

"I... actually forgot about that." Lucy leaned forward and rested her chin on steeped fingers, looking thoughtful. "I should definitely avoid unnecessary risks then... but I want to see Zouken's corpse... but a gut wound can easily harm the fetus... but I need to make sure the attack goes as planned..."

She tore at her hair in frustration. "Dammit, why is everything so hard? This should be a simple decision!"

"Can't you just observe from a distance?" Archer suggested. "Perhaps set up a bounded field to keep Zouken's bugs out and just watch us Servants trash the place?"

"Yes..." Lucy held out a hand and Caster placed a book about warding in it. "That could work... now to find a quick-to-make bounded field that can repel familiars..."

She took another sip of her tea to steady her nerves. "Anyway, we attack at night, the day after tomorrow."

"Emiya and her allies have little choice but to come at us." Zouken was planning his next move. "Lancer, Berserker, and that errant Archer are gone, and they assume Rider to be gone, which leaves them only you to focus on."

"They will strike here in the next few days." Assassin spoke from a corner of the room. "Are you planning to utilize Sakura and Rider for the defense?"

"No." Zouken shook his head. "I ordered Sakura to test out one of Rider's abilities this week. They'll be focusing on that instead. I even told Sakura not to come here this week. She'll probably go to a hotel or some such. I doubt the Emiya girl is trusting enough to let her stay over at their place."

"So you're making Rider use that?" Assassin sounded amused. "Is it necessary? I thought Sakura had enough prana to easily sustain Rider."

"She does." Zouken nodded. "But this will bolster Rider's reserves to a higher level. Besides, it'll be a massive distraction for the Emiya team."

"You don't say..." Assassin looked thoughtful, before smirking darkly. "Master, can I infiltrate the Emiya household and try to thin out their numbers?"

Zouken raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You can sneak into that place without getting detected?"

"Of course." Assassin nodded. "Actually, among the Assassin-class Servants, I am most likely the one who can do it best. I am in a unique position to do it, after all."

"Ah... that's why." Zouken's eyes widened in comprehension. "Then by all means. Kill as many of them as you can."

NOTE: Caster's foxfire-augmented close combat is the first of the two unnamed skills I mentioned alongside the list of her spells in earlier post-chapter notes.

The Fifth Holy Grail War - Current Death Toll:

Rin Tohsaka.

24 humans serving as Gilgamesh's prana batteries.

Shinji Matou.

Servant Berserker – Hercules.

Ultear Milkovich.

Servant Archer (4th War) – Gilgamesh.

Kirei Kotomine.

Servant Lancer – Cu Chulainn

Chapter 11 will be out soon. Thanks for reading.

Till next time!