Another cooldown episode that sets up the next major arc in this story. Nothing major. We do get to see how everyone reacts to the quartet's actions. Disclaimer: I don't own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the Fate series, Lupin III, Ni No Kuni, or My Hero Academia.

Chapter 15: New Developments

"Good work, Inspector," Chief Makoto said as he received the report on Ryuunosuke's arrest, "This is two notorious killers in Japan arrested this year." Zenigata nodded, having heard the news reports on the arrest of the infamous Anjuro Katagiri, who was now on death row for murder. "There's plenty of evidence to have Ryuunosuke placed in the gallows right alongside him. We're just trying to get a few details straight." Makoto nodded. "Very well. But I should mention that someone is here on behalf of the Speedwagon Foundation to conduct their own interrogation." Zenigata raised an eyebrow, wondering what Speedwagon would want with this scumbag.

Kariya showed Lupin a picture of Sakura. "This is Sakura Tohsaka," he explained, "She's Tokiomi's birth daughter, but he put her up for adoption to the Matou family. Some bullshit about magus families not being allowed to have more than one heir." Jonathan shook his head. Even in his youth back in the 1880s the idea of a family having only one heir was going out of style, so for magus families to keep to those archaic ways was ludicrous. "So Sakura's your daughter now," Lupin surmised. Kariya shook his head. "If she was I wouldn't be in this mess. She's actually my niece, it was my brother Byakuya who adopted her."

"Unfortunately," All Might chimed in, "The Matou patriarch, Zouken, subjected her to the Matou Magecraft." Kariya demonstrated by biting into his thumb, causing some of the Crest Worms to pop out of his body. Jonathan felt sick and Lupin nearly gagged at the sight. It got worse as the effort caused Kariya to spit up some bile laced with blood into a nearby trashcan. "These… Things… Are part of the family Crest… They feed on prana and magic circuits, expanding them as they do to increase their food supply. Sakura's been having this happen to her for a year now."

Lupin nodded, understanding the situation. "I'm guessing your brother has no talent for magic." Kariya nodded. "I inherited all the family's talent for magic, but I wanted nothing to do with Zouken's schemes. So I moved out. If not for Sakura's adoption, the family line would have died out. When I learned what Tokiomi had done, I had to do something to save Sakura from that horrible fate. So Zouken made a deal with me. If I could get him the Holy Grail, he'd release Sakura. And he did this to me so I could handle a Servant."

"I doubt he's hold up his end of the bargain," Jonathan pointed out. "Not that it matters," Kariya noted, "After all, instead of getting Lancelot du Lac like Zouken intended, I wound up summoning All Might here." "I happened upon the breastplate of Lancelot during a field trip in high school," All Might explained, "I had it displayed in my dorm for years." 'It's the some situation as me,' Jonathan realized. "One thing I wanna know," Lupin said, "Does Tohsaka know what's happening to his daughter?" Kariya chuckled darkly. "I'd bet money on it. The Tohsaka, Matou, and Einzberns are the three main families, and are privy to each other's secrets."

"From what I saw of Zouken," All Might said, "He's nothing short of a monster, having long forgotten what 'human' even means." Lupin nodded. "All right, I'll pull it off. But I'll something to make this worth my while. Stealing a person is a lot more delicate than an artifact." "You're planning on dealing with Archer at some point, yes?," Kariya asked, "I'm sure All Might's strength can be a great asset in that regard." Lupin considered it. He already had a plan to deal with Archer, but it was never good to put all of one's eggs in one basket. And All Might had already proven Archer's equal. He offered his hand to Kariya. "Very well. We have a deal." Kariya smiled as he shook Lupin's hand.

Kirei was on the phone with his father as he watched the news. 'The Chief of Police informed me had Zenigata transferred to the kidnappings recently,' Risei noted, 'It looks like he wrapped it up in a hurry. It's unfortunate that the one responsible is one of the Master's. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Assassin was involved somehow.' "If he was," Kirei assured her father, "It would only be to remove Caster from the equation. The Grail Wat aside, the sort of actions Caster involved himself in would certainly anger Lupin."

'True,' Risei admitted, 'Though it was a little concerning to feel five different Servants in the same place, yet only Caster's presence disappeared.' Kirei decided there was no harm in mentioning Lupin's earlier plans. "To be honest, Lupin had joined forces with Sabre, Avenger, and Berserker, each of whom similarly desired justice for the murders Caster committed." He closed his eyes. "To be honest, I willingly let him go through with it. When I saw what Caster did to one young child, I… My thoughts turned to Caren…" There was a mutter of understanding from Risei. 'Yes, I suspected as much. Those children are around Caren's age.'

Kirei allowed a rare smile. "I had a feeling you would approve." 'Truth be told I was just as enraged by Caster's blatant disregard for the integrity of the war,' Risei said, 'As well as the atrocities he committed. Had it gone on for longer, I was planning on having Tokiomi motivate Archer into hunting him down. But now it seems that will not be necessary. As for the Master, a member of the Joestar family is in Fuyuki to determine a few things. Whether the Master intends to spill the beans about the War, and whether it might be worth brining Zenigata into the fold.'

Kirei raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?" 'Zenigata might be realizing the nature of the Holy Grail War without anyone telling him,' Risei explained, 'And only those with supernatural abilities are permitted to know of it. Most of the Joestar family has such supernatural powers, so this particular member wants to see if Zenigata could have a similar nature.' "Stand power," Kirei realized, "He wants to see if Zenigata has Stand potential." Such a power would certainly put Zenigata on equal footing with Lupin now that he was a Heroic Spirit. As he hung up, he noted that he was feeling elation at how Ryuunosuke would likely be feeling despair. He was someone who deserved it, and that actually made Kirei feel even more joy. He couldn't help but grin at the thought. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Lancer couldn't help but feel shunned. Evan had joined three other Servants in hunting down Caster and making him pay for his crimes, removing him from the War altogether. Lancer also hated what was happening, and would most certainly have joined the fight has his Master given the order. "So now the War is down to seven," Kayneth noted, enjoying one of the various drinks that came from Evermore. "Personally I'm glad Evan went out of his way," Sola-Ui said, "The police said they found the bodies of at least twenty children, and there were several more unidentified bodies."

Kayneth shook his head. "Magecraft is never pretty, and requires materials. But Caster's choice of materials was chosen out of personal joy rather than necessity. It's like how in this modern age, when virgin's blood is needed for a spell, a magus will prefer to use veal blood instead of human blood, since the spell never specifies what the blood has to come from other than the subject be a virgin. Only the blackest of magecraft truly needs human flesh and bone. And Caster, it seems, was working up to something big."

"Where you aware that this was Caster's work all along?," Evan asked. "I suspected," Kayneth admitted, "Unlike most magi, I'm not opposed to at least keeping an eye on the news, so I heard about the mass kidnappings. And none of the other Servants, not even Assassin, would commit the atrocities committed on those children. So that only left Caster, whom we did not identify during that night at the docks." Lancer was shocked. "If you knew, why did you not send me to deal with it?" Kayneth sighed. "Do you need me to give you an order for everything? I know your sense of justice, you should have been willing to do the deed without my say-so, the same way Evan did."

Lancer was taken aback at these words. Sola-Ui had to shake her head. Lancer was gorgeous, but also an idiot. Of course, she mused that she never would have admitted this had she been under the Love Spot's spell. "But I thought only heroes could be summoned for the War," she noted. "Gilles de Rais was a hero, at first," Evan explained, "It wasn't until the execution of Jeanne d'Arc that he went off the deep end." "It's also likely that Caster's Master was not actually a magus," Kayneth pointed out, "Otherwise he never would have been arrested. He likely has Magic Circuits, which was how he was able to summon a Servant to begin with, but he had no gift for magic beyond that."

He finished his drink. "Lancer, tomorrow we will search for Lupin and his Master. I have it from a reliable source that his name is Kirei Kotomine. Remember, do not underestimate them. Kirei is a former Executor, and Lupin has already proven dangerous even compared to more physically powerful Servants. Sola-Ui, I'd like you and Evan to observe the Tohsaka manor and see what you can learn of any weaknesses Archer may have. If you think you can defeat him, then by all means, but don't take unnecessary risks."

Evan and Sola-Ui nodded. Evan knew that Kayneth was fine with the brief alliance he and the others made to deal with Caster, but now that Caster was over there was no need to keep to it. But Evan suspected Lancer would find Lupin to be an opponent he could never match. He then noted a black owl flying by the window, hooting into the night. And he began to wonder where Kayneth got the information about Lupin's Master. He and Sola-Ui had never told Kayneth. They were intending to at some point, of course, but Kayneth had figured it out anyway. And that made Evan deeply concerned.

Rider laughed when he heard the news. "Keep it down," Waver said, "Unlike the soldiers in your army, some of us don't need excessive amounts of wine to sleep." Rider shrugged. "It's just so exciting. I recently felt Caster's demise, you see, and the Inspector on the TV practically admitted Lupin was involved. And likely a few more Servants as well." Waver had felt an immense concentration of prana the previous evening, like at least five Servants were all in the same location. And then one source just disappeared, Caster most likely.

"That's bit concerning though," Waver noted, "Caster's Master was just arrested, and he could reveal the entire war." "I doubt it," Rider pointed out, "The Mage's Association and the Church have many spies in place to prevent that sort of leak. Though said Master will likely find himself on the chopping block for his part in the atrocities." "They don't do beheadings anymore," Waver pointed out, "The most common execution in Japan in hanging." "It's just an expression," Rider retorted, "But yes, eventually that Master will find himself on the wrong end of a noose. The question is, what will Lupin's next move be? A man like that is not bound by normal strategies. And he's definitely a more worthy Servant than most who are summoned in the Assassin class."

Jonathan finally returned to the Einzbern manor. Kiritsugu was there to greet him. "Everything went to plan, I take it?" "It was a tough fight," Jonathan said, "But we dealt with Caster. From the looks of it, he had gone through a number of his captives, though we were in time to save seven. It seems his Master was equally depraved, but he's in police custody now." "Then it won't be long before his knowledge of Caster is removed," Kiritsugu noted, "At least there's one less obstacle in our path. I take it Lupin will be going for Lancer next, as you suspected."

"Yes, but not just yet," Jonathan clarified, "Right now he's been commissioned to rescue Kariya Matou's niece." He explained everything that Kariya told them, and Kiritsugu clenched his fist. "Goddamn Matou magecraft… Well, something like this will definitely occupy Lupin's time for a while. Time enough for us to start looking into removing some of the other Servants. Lupin is our biggest threat, but Archer is definitely a close second, so we'll focus on him for the time being." If Jonathan's knowledge was accurate, and Kiritsugu had reason to believe it was, then Lupin would be leaving them alone for quite a while.

Inside the Court of Owls, one of the members addressed their leader, known only as the Count. "Sire. I have a report that Caster has been eliminated. Evidence suggested Assassin teamed up with Sabre, Avenger, and Berserker to defeat him." The Count nodded. "At least things are escalating at a predicted rate, even if events are less than favorable." He was looking at numerous monitors that showed the events in Fuyuki. "And it seems Inspector Zenigata is drawing closer to the truth. But what's this? Jotaro Kujo is also in town." "That makes things more dangerous than we anticipated," the lesser member stated.

The Count had heard of the battle in Cairo, where the vampire DIO Brando was killed by Jotaro. He was definitely not someone to be messed with if one had any knowledge at all. "I dislike when things don't according to tale, but owls are meant to be adaptable. And placing all of ones eggs in one basket is never a good idea. Fortunately, we have other options for completing our plans. Keep an eye on Lord El-Melloi. The fact that his fiancee also has a Servant could be detrimental to us if we do not tread carefully." The servant bowed. "As you wish. I will inform our agents in Fuyuki." He left the Count to musings.

Yeah, these guys will be having their plans wrecked quite handily, since the real focus of this story is the Holy Grail War. Read and review.