Fate T(w)o Wishes

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

A/N: Sorry, I had to delete the previous version of this chapter. I hope I didn't inconvenience anyone.

Thank you for your review, coronadomontes.

The user Mirakura just made me aware of the fact that there are indeed information about what happened to Shirou's element and origin. It is said that they changed thanks to him having Avalon inside him for many years. But since Saver already knows what he can do with an element and origin of "Sword" and has some interesting objects in his possession, Akage will still end up with an element and origin of "Sword". He just won't have it naturally.

Chapter 24: This Madness

Now it finally was time. Ruler had announced the beginning of the war, all their preparations ready. Now no one would stand in his way of getting revenge. Being killed by that damn Lancer was bad enough, but then Death had told him that Lancer was getting rewarded for his death?! Unforgivable! He would make sure to completely annihilate the Knight of the Lance! As soon as he was inside he let Berserker of Black materialize himself. War could still remember clearly what happened directly after the summoning.

/*flashback*/

Death's Servant turned around to face War's, drawing his sword in the process. Berserker roared and materialized one katana of his own in response. The blue flames around him intensified.

"Oh, can we fight already?", Pest's Servant asked eagerly, taking out a revolver.

"Berserker, stay down", War ordered and Pest did the same with his one.

"You can fight later on", he promised.

"Wait", Death told his Servant, "let us first discuss our plans before you kill each other!"

"I am afraid, I cannot do that", the white-clad Servant replied. "It is a heroes duty to slay monsters that cross their paths with him!" As he had not taken down his sword, it became impossible to restrain Berserker any longer – without the use of a Command Seal at last. Roaring the mad Servant raised his sword and charged at the one he viewed as his enemy. With a smug smile he awaited him, only for Lancer to suddenly appear between them, intercepting Berserker and together with him vanished into one of his black portals. Surprise showed clearly on the faces of all present. Death's Servant turned around to face the dead apostle.

"Why did you interfere with my duty?", he demanded to know.

"Look", Death tried to reason, "we are brothers and we all have the same wish. So we planned to fight together, until all of our enemies are defeated. Then you can fight against each other to sort out, which one of you will have their wish fulfilled. So for now, please do not fight against each other."

"I said it before, this is going to be impossible. But since you did not understand the reason, I'll clarify. I was not referring to my desire as a Servant to win the Holy Grail. I was referring to the duty to slay monsters as a hero. A duty dedicated by my karmic nature. I shall not leave a monster roaming around. I, Perseus, the Dragon-slaying hero, will defeat the beast!" War began to sweat. Even he knew that discrepancies this early would weaken them greatly, regardless of which Servant would win their fight. Luckily Death had always been a quick thinker.

"But do heroes not sometimes enslave the monsters they defeat and use them to fight for their enemies? If my memory serves me correctly, even you, Perseus, used the head of the slain Medusa to petrify your enemies? Having one alive under your complete control is not that different!"

"You speak with wisdom", the newly identified Perseus acknowledged. "Very well. I will refrain from defeating the demon, on that it will support me in my heroic exploits!" Death nodded once while looking to Famine and he sent a mental message towards his Servant. Soon Lancer and Berserker turned up again and at once War told his own Servant to stay down. This time he obeyed.

/*flashback end*/

With Berserker of Black in front of him War made his way up the stairs. His Servant had already drawn his sword and with a roar charged through the door. What greeted them where slowly moving corpses that seemed to have been human once before. But one strike with his sword and he made short work out of them. In the next room there were two axe wielding suits of armors, but they also stood no chance. Afterwards he had to fight against some girls with devil wings, some giant wolfs, some red mixtures between fish and man, some dancing ghosts – who for some reason or another ignored them completely even as Berserker cut down their numbers, some tomb stones, some giant slugs, some harpies, some worms, some bats, a giant eye with a tail made out of stone, a mad clown, a skeleton snake on the wall spewing flames and a lot more different kind of monsters, but Berserker of Black wasn't even slowed down in the slightest. However…

"Come and show yourself already", shouted War enraged. This was getting ridiculous! Where was that damn Lancer of Red?! Or even Berserker of Red?! Seriously, why didn't that damn Berserker already attacked?! Why was he hiding?! And why didn't the Master summoned something that proofed a challenge?! Why did he had to smash all those weaklings?! Heck, most of them he could probably defeat even without the help of his Servant. When now a bunch of children-sized fairy-looking things attacked, he lost his composure.

"Stay back, Berserker", he shouted and called upon his axe. Then he rushed at the foes. As if he was the Berserker he cut down the familiars or whatever they were, while roaring madly. One, two, three, four, five, six slashes and the room was empty again.

"Where are you?!", he shouted, raising his head towards the ceiling. But his voice got caught in his throat when he noticed that his earlier statement about an empty room had not been that correct. At the ceiling there was a giant head made out of wood with four arms. In one of them it held something like a white human-like figure. And why was it putting it in some sort of iron maiden? Suddenly everything went black and he felt an agonizing pain, as if thousand of spears impaled him simultaneously.

"▀█▀▄█▀█▄█▀██▀"

Berserker of Black roared loudly, when suddenly War vanished and his connection to his Master was cut off short. Without someone to guide him, the mad Servant thrashed at the first thing he saw: the giant head. In a burst of explosion blue flames shot out from him to all his surroundings. Using the flames as a drive he propelled himself upwards towards the giant head, slashing it with his katana and incinerating it with his flames. Within seconds the creature was no more. But the Berserker didn't stopped there. He crashed through the next door and attacked the inhabitants of the next room: three purple, upright standing, over-sized boars.

"▄▀▀▄▀▄▄█▀" The first was cut down before they even noticed the threat. The second turned around just in time to see the bringer of its demise, while the last one actually manage to spew a fireball at the intruder. But the little flame couldn't compare to the raging fires of hell soaring around the demonic beast and the same could be said about its manufacturer, who was slain just a moment later. Berserker of Black took a moment to stay and roared at the ceiling, but he was not satisfied, as soon enough he made his way through another door, destroying it in the process. The next room was completely empty, except for one figure standing on the opposite site of the room.

"You're quiet loud", it said. "But I guess, I shouldn't be the one pointing fingers, right?" Leisurely his giant kitchen-knife-like sword over his shoulder, Berserker of Red talked to his opponent.

"▀█▀▄▀██" Berserker of Black roared again and charged forward. Steel met steel and sparks flew as they both tried to push the other back.

"█▀██▄▀█▀█" Suddenly the flames around Berserker of Black intensified again and shot towards Berserker of Red. He had to jump back to avoid getting fried and his opponent used this opportunity to push forward. Berserker of Red had to retreat further, but from the very beginning he had stood to close to the wall, so there was not much room to retreat.

So, he applied what he learned in his fight against Saver, jumped, set his feet onto the wall and retreated further upwards. Berserker of Black's slash missed and Berserker of Red followed up with a strike from above that the former only managed to duck just in time and retaliate with a thrust up, which Berserker of Red easily sidestepped. However, blue flames shout out from the blade and spread out in a wave. He jumped away and did a roll in the air while he was at it. Then he quickly turned around to block the next strike which Berserker of Black delivered without pause.

Although the demonic beast didn't had Air Dance like him, he still was able to jump up to reach him. And then there were the flames that continuously sprouted from him. Even though he didn't knew anything about those blue flames, he did knew about that skill. It was, after all, the same that he had: Prana Burst, the explosive outburst of your prana. But their application of it was different. While usually someone clothed himself in pure prana and expelled it like a jet burst to increase his strength and speed, Berserker of Black on the other hand infused his prana with those special flames and spread it out as a means of attack, forcing him to get out-of-the-way as quickly as possible.

Usually he was the kind of guy that would rush straight into a fight, giving all that he got, to defeat his opponent. However, this time he couldn't do that. Every time a Servant fought, he used up prana, but the regeneration was always a lot slower. So they ended up using prana from their Masters, who, even though the actual amount was less, they had a faster regeneration. But, as they had estimated, his Master was different. So, when he fought, he had to use up as less prana as possible. Actually, it would have been better to leave the fighting to Lancer but the Knight of the Lance was not suited to fight that kind of opponent head-on. And since Berserker of Black didn't showed any signs of slowing down, they could not just let the monsters deal with him.

That was why he was currently evading all of his opponents attacks, hoping that he would exhaust all his prana and since the Master had been finished off, losing everything that would bound him to this world, before someone else decided to make a new contract with the mad Servant. Granted, they could try that, too – Sola-Ui had not a Servant, yet, after all – but they still had to have the consent of the Servant, before a new contract could be formed. And right now, Berserker of Black most likely wouldn't make a contract with someone that had killed of his previous Master. Berserkers were berserk, after all. At last that went for anybody that hadn't had a meeting with that so called Saver. Speaking of, meeting that guy would probably be really good for the opponent in front of him.

Still… Berserker of Black was holding out way too long for a Servant with no Master or Independent Action that wasted his prana without care. Right now, he was even engulfing the whole room into a sea of blue flames. Berserker of Red clicked his tongue in annoyance. He couldn't dodge that and since it was not moving in a straight line, he could not just cut it with his sword. So he had to do, what he avoided to do the whole time: activate his own Prana Burst. Dense enough to be visible to the naked eye, Berserker of Red shrouded himself in an armor of prana, pushing away the blue flames around him. But that was not all. He didn't wanted to waste any of it, so he tried something out. He used the prana that now surrounded him, gathered it and concentrated it into his blade. Before Berserker of Black could activate his own again, he brought down his sword.

"Getsuga Tenshou (The Light that Pierces the Heaven)!" A bright wave of light made its way over to Berserker of Black, cutting through all the flames. But before it could reach him, he suddenly vanished and Berserker of Red cut through empty space. And the walls behind that. Warily he looked around himself trying to sense his enemy. That was one of the things that were new for him. Compared to all his friends from before the summoning his sensing downright sucked. But every Servant had the inherit skill to sense the presence of other Servants – except Assassin for obvious reasons.

So, either Berserker of Black had somehow the ability Presence Concealment or he was not here anymore. Well, it could be a stealth-type Noble Phantasm like Saber's, but he didn't looked sane enough to have something like that. His suspicions were confirmed, when he saw Lancer walking into the room through on of the doors. Interestingly to note, it was not the same he had used.

"So, Berserker is really gone", he asked and the Knight of the Lance answered in the affirmative. It had been no empty boast, when he declared that even Assassin wouldn't be able to walk in this castle undetected.

"But how could he escape?", Berserker wondered. Lancer shrugged.

"The more important question is, how could he get inside!" With that he pointed at the figure, sitting in the corner if the room, drawing on a sheet of paper. Lancer and Berserker had recognized him at once. It was the self-proclaimed war painter from Ruler's summoning of the Servants. Sometime in the fight between the two Berserker he had just shown up and quietly drew pictures, not getting hit once. Now he finished the last touch and began to pack his equipment.

"Oi, are you going to fight, too?", Berserker of Red shouted but the war painter shook his head.

"I only draw", he declared and proceeded to walk out of the room.

"So, we are letting him go?", Berserker asked Lancer, who nodded.

"He moved past all of my monsters and traps without problems and still didn't decided to attack us. Right now we still don't know enough about him to risk a confrontation, yet. For now let's get back to our Masters." He indicated for the not-mad Servant to follow him.

On the other site of the door was another room the same size as all the others, however, there were no monsters and it had a lot more interior decoration. It had a big table, some chairs and a palatial couch. On the wall hang an insane amount of paintings – or one would think of them as paintings, until some of the pictures moved. Indeed, the paintings were not paintings, but his substitution for surveillance cameras. He used a monster called "Peeping Eye" to look through his castle and even though he could sent the images they saw directly into his brain, after ten he had decided to create these paintings as "screens" instead. One of them showed the room they just had been while another one was completely black.

"What happened to Berserker of Black?", Kayneth got straight to the point and Lancer shrugged anew.

"Vanished. Maybe he got called back by his Master."

"You mean that guy your puppet killed?", Berserker asked surprised.

"If that really was his Master. Besides, someone who could revive once, can revive again. We were supposed to get a reward for killing him, remember?"

"That is true", Kayneth admitted, "So are we going to have to anticipate another attack from Berserker of Black and the fake Sakoshimo.

"Maybe", Lancer conceded and Kariya declared:

"When he does, we'll kill him!"

"I doubt it will be that easy, but on the other hand I don't think, they are going to try again soon."

"What makes you say that, Lancer?", Sola-Ui asked him.

"Well, even though they managed to destroy my "Puppet Master", it came for the price of one Command Seal. Regardless who Berserker's true Master is, this is a big set-back for anybody who is allied with him! This said, there is nothing to keep us from finishing our game. Right, Master?"

"Indeed." Before Berserker of Black's rude interrupting, they had been playing chess against each other and they still had to finish.

"You know", Lancer mused, surveying the chess board with slight confusion, "didn't that rook stood one field to the right beforehand?"

"I am pretty sure you had been occupied with other things than a simple game of chess", his Master replied without batting an eye. Lancer smiled.

"Well, looks like someone is taking my lessons to heart", he said, sounding proud. "Let's see, how good that is going to be for you!"

A little bit earlier:

"I think it is time!", Death mused. He cut himself into the finger and some of his blood fell to the ground. At once it started to accumulate and soon enough War stood in front of him.

"I must say, that's a need trick", Archer of Black admitted and the others had to agree with him.

"You died, again", Death greeted his brother, who became angry at this words.

"It's not my fault!", he raged. "If this damn Lancer would come out and show himself like a man…"

"For now use a Command Seal and summon Berserker", Death interrupted him. "We might be able to call you back from the dead and it looks like our contracts would still function even when we are killed, but I doubt we will have the same privilege with the Servants, all right?!" Grumpily War obeyed his brother's order.

"By the power of this Command Seal I, War, red horseman of the apocalypse, order you, Berserker, to come forward!" At once the Command Seal produced a rift in space and through this Berserker of Black appeared. As soon as he showed up, War told him to turn into spirit form to lessen the burden on himself. He had just revived, after all.

"So", Death now said, "from what I have gathered, you've decided to go on your own to the Kayneth residence and got yourself killed. Is that right, so far?!"

"This guy was supposed to receive a reward for killing me", War shouted. "I couldn't just take that lying down!"

"That's right!", Archer agreed. "If that happened to me, I would make them pay!"

"It was reckless", Lancer butted in, "behavior like that can endanger the whole mission." Archer snorted.

"You are just saying that because you are too scared to fight", he proclaimed. "Hell, you aren't even showing your face!"

"I will hide my identity, as long as I deem it necessary", he proclaimed.

"That is not something a hero would do!", Saber claimed. "A hero will proudly announce his name, so that all people will know him and worship his exploits!"

"I never claimed to be a hero", Lancer responded. "I have only one goal and everything else is insignificant."

"Back on topic", Death interrupted their quarrel. "War, what can you tell me about Lancer and Berserker of Red?"

"They didn't showed up at all!", he raged. "They just kept sending monster after monster!"

"And which one did you in?", Famine inquired.

"None!", he responded. "Just from one moment to another I've been dead. Just like that!"

"This is worrisome", Lancer commented. "If even the place itself is hazardous for your health one would not be able to attack them in their home without any protections. However, it will serve as a great advantage for the one, managing to overcome this weakness."

"Do you really have no memories of your demise?", Pestilence asked skeptically. "Those curses… aren't those the type… that weakens one the more… one is exposed to them? If it really was that quick… shouldn't you have died upon entering?"

"He is right", Lancer agreed, "Even normal people can walk through the 'Realm of Darkness' for a short time without succumbing to it. Have you really told us everything you know?"

"What was the last thing you remember?", Death asked quickly, before War could make a snarling comment towards the Knight of the Lance.

"Well, I was getting fed up with all those monsters, which even I could defeat that I had decided to kill a bunch of fairy-looking things myself. And then there was this giant head with four arms and some white doll… and then only pain."

"A doll…", Death mused, before suddenly having an idea. "Did he did something with that doll?"

"Huh? Well, he put it – in – an – iron – maiden." The last words he said slower, as realization dawned upon him. "Wait! You don't mean, voodoo?! Such high level…"

"It is possible", Death conceded. "Lancer of Red has already been shown to be capable of switching his place with a wooden doll in his fight against Rider of Red."

"Fucking great", War responded. "So, how are we going to kill that thing?!"

"For now, we won't", he objected. "Let someone else deal with him first. He might have even more dangerous monster hidden in their residence. It would be unwise to engage him right now."

"What?!", Archer shouted. "I want to fight, already! You can't keep us inside this shit hole the whole time!"

"We have the special opportunity to gain information on the enemies without any risk involved, as long as we only sent the Masters. That's why it would be unwise to sent the Servants." Archer snorted.

"Oh, really?!", he sneered. "You are so weak, I doubt you will make them even think about using their Noble Phantasm!" Silence fell upon the assembled.

"He is not wrong", Lancer conceded, "compared to a Servant you are rather weak. If we want to find out their strengths and weaknesses, you will not be enough." Death pondered about that.

"Okay", he agreed. "I will let you fight." One could see Archer smiling, if it hadn't been for the mask he was wearing.

"Who is it?", he asked eagerly. "Is it Archer of Red?!" For some reason or another Archer of Black had a strong obsession with his red counterpart. When they had asked him why, he just answered: "There can only be one Archer!" But Death had to disappoint the Knight of the Bow.

"No", he answered and looked through a map that they had filled with information on the Servants, "thanks to Saver we already know the name of his Noble Phantasm and even its full effects and origin. But there are other opponents which we have no information whatsoever about: Brawler, Assassin, Rider, Saver, Caster and Avenger of Black. However, there are only two we know the whereabouts: Assassin and Rider. Servants of Matou Zouken and Jubstacheit von Einzbern, both representatives of the founder families."

"What do we know about them?", Lancer asked and Death flicked through the documents.

"Well, Matou Zouken…" Death stopped.

"Famine…", he turned towards his brother. "Did I not told you to get me the information on all Servants and Masters?!"

"B-but they are the Masters!", the dead apostle responded, not knowing what he did wrong.

"In a war it is important to know about all ones enemies", Lancer said. "The ones who are fighting, and the ones who are planning." Death sighed.

"Pest, Famine."

"Yes!"

"You will accompany Archer to the Matou residence and fight the inhabitants. Prepare to die. Lancer, you will serve as a back-up and when things look sour, you will make sure Archer makes it out alive.

"Ey", Archer interrupted, but Death placated him, by telling him, it was just in case.

"Saber", he turned towards his own Servant, "I would recommend for you to stay at home this time. We can not leave War and Berserker here alone, now that they are weakened and I will have to gather some information on the opponent Masters. Besides, it would be good to have at last one Servant, the enemy knows nothing about, especially, since you are one of our strongest fighters."

"Very well", Saber agreed. "I will keep watch over your brother and wait until the right time to show them the true power of the dragon slayer, Perseus!"

A/N:

Hi guys and gals.

Even though War dies in this chapter, the Command Seals for Berserker don't vanish. This had less to do with the fact that he is a dead apostle and more with the fact that Angra Mainyu knows, he is going to come back again. And for a short amount of time even Berserker can fight without a Master.

Though should someone try to make a contract with one of the Servants of these dead apostles, while the Master is temporary dead, the Servant can accept.

And Berserker of Red really has to fight economically. So, he ends up thinking a lot more in his fights than usual. Luckily his opponent right now is not going to (able to) exploit that.

Kayneth is also slowly getting more pragmatic when dealing with his enemies. Right now it is just for mundane uses, but maybe we can see him fighting like that in the future…

Gashadokuro Amanojaku

CLASS/TITLE: Berserker of Black

Master: War

True Name:

Sex: male

Strength: A

Endurance: A

Agility: B

Mana: A+

Luck: C

Noble Phantasm: A

Class Abilities

Mad Enhancement: B

Rank up for all parameters, but takes away most of sanity.

Skills

Prana Burst (Flames): A

is a version of Prana Burst that infuses weapons with prana that imparts a flame effect.

Instinct: B

is the power to "feel" the most favorable developments for oneself during battle.

Monstrous Strength: C

is an ability possessed by monsters and beasts, temporary boost of the Strength parameter by one rank for a time limit determined by the ranking of this skill.

Noble Phantasm

Noble Phantasm #1

Rank: A; Anti-Unit/Anti-Army/Anti-Spirit; Range: 25; Targets: 666 people

Blue Flames that can damage the physical as well as the spiritual. They are able to hurt a Heroic Spirit even in Spirit Form.

CLASS/TITLE: Berserker of Red

Master: Matou Kariya

True Name:

Sex: Male

Strength: A+

Endurance: A+

Agility: A+

Mana: A

Luck: A

Noble Phantasm: A

Class Abilities

Mad Enhancement: X

Lost because of an opponent's Noble Phantasm.

Skills

Battle Continuation: A

Makes possible to fight even with deadly injuries and can remain alive so long as one does not receive a decisive fatal wound.

Hidden Visibility: D

It is impossible for anybody without magic circuits or psychic ability to see this Servant.

Air Dance: A

A skill that allows for running across the air as if it was solid ground.

Berserker is able to stand in mid-air, regardless of the direction he is facing.

Prana Burst: A

is the increase in performance caused by infusing one's weapons and body with magical energy and instantly expelling it.

A normal weapon that is not on the level of a divine mystery can be destroyed in one blow. Raises defense in several times.

Noble Phantasm

Noble Phantasm #1

Rang: B; Anti-Unit/Anti-Spirit; Range: 1-2; Targets: 1 person

Getsuga Tenshō: The Light that Pierces the Heaven

Rang: B~A++; Anti-Gate/Anti-Fortress/Anti-Spirit; Range: 1-99; Targets: 1000 people

Gathers a lot of prana into a the blade and releases it in one single wave. The strength of the attack depends on the amount of prana previously gathered.