Hello! Welcome back to my little story! I hope you have enjoyed the read so far! I really want to thank all of you, my dear readers, for all the loyalty you have displayed so far. It really warms my heart to know you enjoy this poor, deluded noob's story so much :D

Now why don't I spoil you with a promised chapter that is twice the size of my average writing?

Disclaimer: All rights go to their respective creators, and even thought some of the new Servants for this story do not exist within the Nasuverse and are my own creative imput, i still reject all rights and grant them to Type-moon.

"Quick, this way!" Leonidas commanded, which was answered by Gordes just silently following along as they were running along the hallways.

"How do you even know if we are going the right direction!?" Gordes had to complain. They had been running for a few minutes now but they got nowhere from the looks of it.

"It is a Master and Servant contract-connection!" Leonidas then responded, to which Gordes had to answer with a loud HUH due to the level of surprise. "I do not know how, but Emiya Shirou has become my Master. As such, I can feel the link, and I can feel his presence!"

"Ah, Leonidas!" Shirou then exclaimed as he had run right into them, having been sprinting at a very fast pace to try and meet up with Gordes. "You are awake! That is good!" He commented with a smile on his face before he bent down a bit to catch a breath.

"Indeed, young Shirou!" The Spartan exclaimed, but then stopped to narrow his eyes for a moment. "But where are Saber of Black and Lancer of Red?"

"We separated. They went ahead to scout potential threats. We believe to be under attack, given the strength of the roar Heracles gave."

Leonidas narrowed his eyes slightly at what he heard. "They separated...? Weird..." But he brushed it off for now. One way or another, they were facing a big threat, for as they already knew and repeatedly mentioned, Heracles gave a roar of warning. "In that case, we shall take this opportunity and join them. We MUST defeat whoever is attacking us, whoever has made my proud Ancestor declare such danger."

Shirou nodded his head slightly at Leonidas' words and turned his head to look towards one of the pathways they could choose from. "We should also secure an exit route, just in case. If we are out-matched, then we need to be able to regroup and try again."

"Good thinking!" Leonidas agreed before he used his Spear to cut an X into the ground beneath him. "I have marked this location, if we stumble upon again..." he directed, pointing towards the hallway to his right. "We shall go that way. I can feel the blow of the breeze coming from it, it must be a path out of this building."

"I don't know about you, but I am NOT a Fighter!" Gordes then complained while taking a step back, staring at the two of them with fear. "I wouldn't last a second against servants! And they will likely try to take me out so that my Saber won't be able to support herself and disappear!"

"Then get out of here." Shirou adviced while pointing at their exit-path again. "As long as you are still on the platform, you should be within range for Mordred to receive Mana, but you will be out of danger as well. We will come for you when we get off this place."

"U-Understood!" Gordes affirmated with a rather loud voice before he made a run for the exit, leaving Shirou and Leonidas on their own.

The two exchanged a lengthy look with one another, Leonidas appearing very serious, almost threatening, humming out a throaty growl. "You separated from your woman, Artoria?" He asked, his voice filled with audible suspicion.

"Mordred's recommendation. She suggested that we operate in pairs of 2. Her and Artoria went as a group, leaving me and you."

The two remained deadly serious with one another for a moment longer before Leonidas nodded his head. "This Knight of Treachery seems to be a very reliable ally. Her strategy is sound. Let us hurry!"

With their minds made up, Emiya and Leonidas both raced the opposite way of Gordes, towards the hallway that lead deeper into the sanctuary of the Hanging Gardens, intent on meeting up with Heracles, then pick up the knight-pair and get the hell out of here. As they continued to hear more roars, gradually getting louder, they realized that they must be getting closer to Heracles.

The pathway lead them into a forking, one left and one right. Another Dilemma...

"I do not like this, at all, Emiya Shirou." Leonidas began as he turned to face the shorter redhead, a very serious look on his face. "But it seems we must split up... I sense two enemy signals, one left and one right. Both of us seem to be awaited."

"You are right... it is a bad Idea to split up, but we have to." Emiya said before he ran down his way without hesitation, tracing Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands.

Leonidas watched the young man run off, his gaze turning much more sour for a moment. However, after a moment longer, he shook his head and turned around to run. "Something is not right here... everything is falling into place a little too perfectly for the enemy..."

As Leonidas ran, he felt the enemy presence come up closer and closer until he could see a figure ahead. White hair, black dress, a charred and heavily burned, regular-shaped sword in her hand. Eyes burning with the orange-red of a deep flame. "I have been expecting you, Lancer of Black."

"It seems you have, Caster of Red" the Spartan responded while taking a typical phalanx-stance, shield up to cover his upper body while his spear was linearly aimed at her while hidden behind the shield to hide its trajectory.

"Let us not stand on Ceremony here, King Leonidas."

"You are right... and yet, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of respect for you. You, who despite being called a Saint, is remembered as one of the most savage and mighty rulers of the European continent."

Caster's eyes narrowed as she took one step closer before she pulled her sword back a bit, hiding a piece behind her dress as a result. "How did you figure it out? We just met for the first time."

"It appears that it has become a trend to underestimate opponents. I will humor you with the explanation, Saintess." Leonidas began before he started to take steps towards his left side, which Caster mimicked, causing them to circle before one another like sharks. "First of, your sword. It is heavily burned, with small traces of a yellow-ish substance along the blade. Yellow, flammable and so finely concentrated can only be Sulphuric powder. Combine that with your black dress, the dress of a mourning Queen Regent. Traditional wear for funerals during the heart of the European Middle Age from the 8th to the 14th century,particularily when suffering the loss of your King. That Cross on your neck is a very typical sign of the Christian belief, which was a very controversial and daring religion to possess in Eastern Europe, its popularity only truly surging up to 2 centuries after your own death. Sulphur as a flammable, mourning Queen Regend and the Christian Faith combined only can bring about one, single possible identity" Leonidas concluded while bashing his shield with his Spear, a typical taunting gesture for warriors before battle. "Your True Name, Caster of Red, is Saint Elena. Better known as Olga of Kiev"

Caster of Red narrowed her eyes a little for a moment before she stopped her circling, and Leonidas followed suit. "How was Sulphur such a giveaway?" She asked, almost rhetorically as she knew the answer, and so did Leonidas.

"It was how you burned the Drevlian capital, Iskorosten. You tricked them into believing they were the last city of their Tribe left, and forced them to surrender by giving you three birds from every messenger bird's nest. In what is known as one of the most clever sieges in history, you attached burning strands of Sulphur on the legs of each bird and freed them, prompting them to return to their Nests. Soon as they landed, the Sulphur set the nests on fire, blazing the entire city instantaneously, smoking it out before you and your troops went on to massacring what little survivors remained, pushing the Drevlians to extinction."

"Hmpf." Caster of Red responded before she waved a piece of hair behind her ear with her left hand. "It would appear I have severely underestimated your intellect, Leonidas of Sparta. No wonder your little boyscout squad of 300 men was able to strike such a daunting last stand in Thermopylae that it went down in history as one of the most surprising turns of Warfare. History does not do your intellect justice."

"It would appear. But I do not mind. What I do mind is why you are stopping me. You should have been informed by Lancer of Red by now that Emiya Shirou, a Master of the Red Faction, has taken control of me with a new Contract after cutting me loose from the old one, making me an Ally."

Olga just scoffed slightly before she resumed the circling, and Leonidas once again followed suit, their eyes never even blinking as they stared at one another. "He stands in the way of my Master's Plans. As Queen Regent, and more importantly as a Saint of the Lord, I exercise his wish. He has brought me here, to Amakusa Shirou Tokisada's side, for a reason. If this reason is for me to serve, then so I shall."

"Amakusa Shirou Tokisada?"

"Indeed. He who has claimed control over all Red Faction servants except for Lancer of Red. And then there is Saber of Black and you, Lancer of Black. So his Plans are already jeopardized by having three allies whos cooperation he cannot ensure. That makes you a risk we are not willing to take."

"I sense a But, Olga of Kiev."

"And you are right." Olga spoke before she suddenly turned around and circled the other way, forcing Leonidas to adapt accordingly. "but Emiya Shirou is different. He proposes a Risk-factor of such magnitude that nothing short of his death will ensure even a chance of our success. There is something within him. Dormant, but dangerous. My Master wishes to not dabble in this unknown force, so we shall deal with it as soon as we can."

"By separating us all and catching him when he is alone, then strike him down using your mightiest Servant... Berserker of Red, someone he could never beat without his Servant's Aid."

"Quite Right, but it appears we have come across a... complication. Berserker of Red has attacked our Master in a fit of Rebellion. Since he has not regenerated his 8 lives from his previous fight yet, he only needs to be dealt the killing blow 4 times. That little a number compared to his full strength shall be of no concern to Amakusa Shirou."

"What an intriguing and well-thought out conspiracy you have there... and how will you deal with the Black Faction afterwards? By disposing of three servants on your side and their Masters, you cut your power by half."

Olga seemed almost amused that he asked the question and she sheated her sword for a moment to give him a slowclapping applause. "Considering all I have to do is keep you at bay, I shall do so by answering all your questions, but not this one, I am afraid. The longer I keep you here, the better."

"You make it sound as if you could not beat me, so you are stalling."

"My Noble Phantasm cannot handle the counterattack created by yours. Your Abilities are known to us, which is why I know that if the two of us fought in earnest, you would for sure emerge victorious, for my powers may deal with your absolute defence, but the retribution following it will be my inescapeable end."

"It is unsightly for a Queen Regent as brutal and unrelenting as you to admit defeat so easily and early." Leonidas countered before he suddenly stopped circling, causing Olga to stop as well. "But if that is the case, then I can deal with you here-"

"And lose your opportunity to force me to monologue some more?"

"I can get my answers a different way"

"I doubt so" Caster interjected, which caused Leonidas' eyebrow to perk up slightly before their circling continued once more. "Saber of Red is not in a condition to fight or talk, she is currently recovering while being astralized and is unavailable to you. Assassin of Red will be somewhat busy keeping Lancer of Red and Saber of Black barricaded so she can assassinate Emiya Shirou, meaning I and I alone am available to you. So if you kill me, you will not get any more answers."

"I praise your cunning, Olga of Kiev..." Leonidas responded after a moment, his eyes narrowing threateningly. "So you use your insight on your Master's plans as a means to negociate. Either I accept this stalling and you gradually reveal more and more, keeping me here for attention to your words until Emiya Shirou is dead for sure, or I fight you and use up my Noble Phantasm, losing any more insight into your strategy and potentially failing to save Emiya Shirou anyway."

"Quite right, Leonidas of Sparta." Caster responded while placing her hands ontop of one anothers against her stomach, as was typical to do for monarchs of her time when standing before others.

Leonidas, however, suddenly turned even more sour, which caused Olga to be somewhat curious. "You have miscalculated, Olga of Kiev."

"Huh?" The Queen Regent responded, coming to a full stop of their circling for the 4th time since they met, bewilderment all over her face. "What do you mean? Do you have some Ace in the Hole? Another Servant of the Black Faction who smuggled themselves onto this platform?"

Leonidas, before he responded, mutated the expression on his face, from stern and serious to worried and even a little terrified. "No... something much worse than that."

Olga's eyes slowly widened as she seemed to understand, her own expression becoming one of worry as well.

"Whatever you thought made Emiya Shirou so dangerous, that Dormant power?... it is no longer Dormant." Leonidas responded, causing Olga to gulp heavily before she turned her head slightly towards the pathway from where Leonidas came from, the direction Shirou was headed towards. "And worse..." The Spartan added, making Caster turn back towards him. "I fear... this is no longer Emiya Shirou at all."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know the details, but... His behaviour has been... off. He is not suspicious, he is not worried for his Servant, who doubles down as his beloved. From what impression I got from him when our fists clashed, he would never in a thousand lifetimes allow himself to be split from her unless it was absolutely, inescapeably inevitable... which wasn't the case here. Yet he allowed it without complaint, he didn't even put the slightest of doubt into the decision... that is not Emiya Shirou, the pinnacle of benevolence, love and compassion for others. Which means... your Assassin will not be able to fight a timid boy who makes an easy target."

Olga seemed to grow suspicious all of a sudden, her own eyes narrowing in return towards the Spartan King. "Then what do you propose? Will you actively go against him to figure out just what is wrong with him?"

"I am afraid so, yes."

"You are growing quite the record of defections... you betray both the Black Faction and your new Master, Emiya Shirou, in the span of 4 hours."

"Maybe, but something terrible is afoot, Olga of Kiev. This Betrayal does not stem from loyalty towards my one true ancestor, like the first one. This is..." He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a very deep breath before he finished. "This is something unimaginable. I don't know what it is, but whatever has become of Emiya Shirou... it has to be stopped."

"Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way!"

Mordred had to let out a very pissed off groan as she was running along the hallways while evading and destroying chains coming from seemingly everywhere. This has been going on for ever since Heracles' first roar echoed throughout the entire Hanging Gardens. It seriously screwed with her patience.

"Fucking hell!" She roared out in frustration before releasing a large Mana Burst into the direction in front of her to blast a hole into the many walls and take a short cut. "Show yourself, damnit! Or I will make you by tearing down this whole place!"

"Fufufu~" Suddenly echoed a sourceless laughter, coming from Semiramis, before a large screen with her face appeared right above the Knight of Treachery. "Try it, if you can. You should know where to find a Queen, thought. If you hurry, you might just intercept me in time~"

"ARGH! I will KILL this woman when I get my hands on her!" Mordred roared out before she fired off another Mana Burst to break some more of those chains that keep endlessly emerging and going after her. "She said I would know where to find a queen... Oh for fucks sake, That's it! I can't believe I am so stupid!" Mordred thought to herself before she began to charge all of her Mana into Clarent to prepare yet another release of her Noble Phantasm, turning around to face towards a different layer of walls, her view pointed towards the center of the Hanging Gardens, her eyes angled to look above. "Clarent Blood Arthur!" She roared as she swung her blade forward, piercing the building's structure and brute-forcing a way through the walls to directly connect her pathway with the Throne. All she had to do was climb the holes, which was easily done by just leaping up the levels.

Once she was up, she saw the Throne Room, but it was empty. Semiramis was not where Mordred suspected her to be, being on the throne, sitting. "No... something is not right... why lure me to the Throne just to not be there?"

Mordred would find the answer by the whole room suddenly beginning to glow a pink-ish colour, the walls becoming traced with a layer of Mana. Even the damaged parts were covered with the layer as if they were whole.

"SHIT!" Mordred roared out and immediately raced for the Gate, trying to burst through it with Clarent, but the layer of Mana just repelled her as if she was a rubber ball bouncing off a wall, sending her flying all the way to the steps ascending to said Throne. "FUCK! This Witch, she trapped me!" Mordred roared while dashing like a mad bull at the Wall to try and burst through it again, but she suffered the same results as before. So she tried, again, and again, and again, but each time she was bounced back like nothing.

"Damnit..." She cursed to herself before she began to charge up Clarent for another release.

"Give up, Knight of Treachery..." Semiramis spoke, another screen-projection of her appearing, this time very large and parallel with the Ceiling. "This mana-prison was specifically designed to keep high-ranking Servants like you locked up. You are not getting out of there."

"Oh yeah?" Mordred tauntingly asked back before she took her stance to prepare her Noble Phantasm release. "Just watch me, you stinking, old hag! Clarent Blood Arthur!" She then roared, discharging her Noble Phantasm against the mana-reinforced Walls, but they swallowed up all of Mordred's energy without much issues. "What...?"

"See?" Semiramis said while having a somewhat pissed expression due to the nature of the insult Mordred gave to her. "The Walls repel physical attacks while absorbing Mana thrown at them. As long as you are in there, you cannot get out."

Mordred just started breathing rhythmically to collect herself and prepared another discharge, this one feeling even stronger than before. "Absorb, huh?" She said while having this vile grin on her face, like a predator who just found grade A prey out in the open. "You said Absorb, not negate... which means there is a limit to it, am I right?"

Semiramis' expression became more serious, her eyes narrowed slightly as she listened to Mordred speak.

"In which case, all I have to do is overload them!" the blonde Knight concluded before focusing all her Mana into Clarent in order to prepare a whole array of Noble Phantasm discharges.

"Hmpf, you don't have nearly enough reserves to overload this prison. This Wall was made with the intention to take on several full-power strikes from Lancer of Red's Rhongomyniad. Your lesser power will not suffice."

"FOOL!" Mordred roared out before she thrust her blade forward to unload her Noble Phantasm yet again. "NOW YOU REALLY GAVE ME THE FIRE OF INSPIRATION! If this prison was made to keep Father in it, then by breaking out, I prove that I am mightier than Father!"

"Do as you please, you dense rebel." Semiramis said before the screen-projection disappeared, leaving Mordred to be by herself.

"HAAAAA!" Mordred Roared out as she emptied her third full-charged load against the Wall, pressing on by maintaining it and streaming her Mana constantly through her sword to maintain this third discharge as a permanent, ongoing Attack. "COME ON! Crack you fucked up Wall!" She cursed, but to no avail. No matter how long she maintained the attack, the Wall seemed to handle it. And so, the third Discharge ended the same as the other two and Mordred staggered back slightly, letting out a very frustrated sigh. "Haa... I fucking hate Mages."

ROOOOAAAAAARRR!

Heracles' storm of Attacks against Amakusa Shirou was unrelenting. His fist swung with ferocity, his stonemace-sword smashed against anything and everything in his way to pulverize it and he even utilized stomps and kicks to destroy the room some more in an attempt to hit his enemy.

Amakusa Shirou managed to skillfully dodge every attack and tried to inflict injury on his enemy with Black Keys, but as was to be expected of Heracles' God Hand, simple Black Keys were not nearly enough to even scratch his skin, let alone wound it. So the snow-haired Saint kept his distance and tried to poke at Heracles whenever he could to try and spot out any possible weaknesses, anything he could do to slow down this rampaging beast of a man. "Tell me, Heracles..." He spoke, getting the Berserker's attention for a moment. "Why do you defy me so? What is it that drives you?"

Heracles simply let out a lengthy growl, followed by another mighty Roar.

"Hm?" Amakusa rose his eyebrow at this response before he threw his Black Keys out of his hand and instead materialized, then pulled his Katana, his original weapon as a Heroic Spirit. "Now that is interesting. You received an Order to attack me? By who?"

Heracles seemed unresponsive as he just stood there for a lengthy moment, staring, growling, tightening the grip he had on his trusted weapon.

"I see. Not going to answer me. So I have to assume it was Emiya Shirou..." Amakusa guessed before he took a defensive stance, both hands holding his katana while the tip pointed almost horizontally at Heracles. "How did he know of my plans? And more importantly..." The Saint narrowed his eyes and took a step forward to prepare his attack. "How did he enforce a will on you that overpowers my Command Seals?"

Heracles roared out again before dashing in at very high speeds, causing Amakusa to raise his Katana up and deflect one of Heracles' hits. While Amakusa's strength parametere was at least 2 ranks below Heracles', he had the advantage of superior technique, so he angled his katana to be almost vertically, tipping a bit towards the right, which resulted in Heracles' stonemace sword tracling along the blade and sliding to the left, missing the snow-haired servant entirely and colliding at full force with the ground instead. Heracles used this position to swing towards his left, towards Amakusa Shirou, but he repeated the same motion, this time holding his blade almost perfectly horizontally with a slight angle from his tip facing downwards, sliding Heracles' blade upwards over the Saint's head to dodge again.

After the second attack, Amakusa backflipped a few meters away before then dashing a further distance apart. "You may be much stronger than me, but as long as you have your Madness Enhancement, you cannot outsmart me. I know how to parry your attacks and make your overwhelming strength serve against you. And Eventually, I will find a loophole, a weakness in your impenetrable defence."

This seemed to provoke Heracles as he let out another very loud roar, followed by dashing towards Amakusa with very strong steps, crushing the ground beneath his feet with every step he took. Amakusa just smirked slightly to himself. "Come, Legendary Hero. Let us see which is more powerful, your perseverance of my faith!"

As he finished speaking, the two of them clashed again, with Amakusa once more evading Heracles' attacks through very skilled parrying. However, this time, the Greek Hero was prepared for it and lifted his foot to strike the Saint from below, which only very narrowly missed due to Amakusa reacting just in time to feel it graze his face as the massive foot shot up with enough force to release a small shockwave. Following the motion, the foot came back down and Amakusa dashed backwards to avoid the follow-up attack, causing Heracles to stomp into the ground very hard, cratering it with a radius of almost 10 meters as a result.

Amakusa immediately followed up by dashing forward this time, pointing his katana forward to aim for Heracles' face, specifically his mouth. "Let us see if that works." he thought before leaping up to evade the Berserker's low sweep, followed by thrusting his sword into the Greek Hero's mouth to try and stab through it. However, to Amakusa's surprise, his blade came at a full stop without doing any damage other than maybe tickle Heracles' gag flex a bit. "Of course..." Amakusa Shirou then sighed before letting his Katana go to dash back and evade a punch from the Greek Demigod, who took the Katana out of his mouth and, to add insult to injury and no other reason, deadass used it as a toothpick before flicking it away.

"Heh" Amakusa scoffed as he saw that and even pouted slightly before drawing some more Black Keys. "Even the legendary Hero is not above a little banter between warriors."

Berserker just roared out and made a run for the Saint once more, who responded in kind, running at Heracles at full speed before dodging at the last second by sliding under his feet. As he did so, he rolled forward to regain traction and continued to run towards his Katana to pick it up. "Damnit... I have nothing physical I can hurt him with... and I can't use my Dual Arm Zero-Order Convergence yet because I don't have a secondary source of Mana... I can't fight Heracles up here, I need to connect to the Leylines by reaching the Grail... or I need to lure him to Caster. She can deal with him..." He thought, but as he did so, he saw that Heracles was engaging again to resume their clash, to which Amakusa had to respond by going to the defensive, dashing back and sideways enough so that the Greek Hero could not make any follow-up attacks. "But he is keeping me pinned..." Amakusa continued, glancing around to check his position and, as he suspected, he was at the center of the room. "Even thought I have the upper hand in defence, he is systematically engaging me from appropriate directions to keep me in the middle of this hall... he doesn't want me to leave."

Heracles growled out again as he suddenly stopped moving, staring silently at Amakusa, his red eyes throwing a piercing gaze through the Saint's very soul. "What is he doing now...?"

His question was answered by Heracles suddenly letting out his loudest roar yet, one so mighty that Amakusa was confident the folks at the ground heard it, even with more than 4000 meters of height of difference. Then, Heracles turned around and ran at full speed. "What the...?" Amakusa questioned before he ran after Heracles as fast as he could. However, his Agility parameter was also ranked lower than Heracles, so he started to slowly, but surely, fall behind enough to lose sight of Heracles.

"This isn't good... Heracles may be a mad Berserker, but he is not stupid. All this effort to keep me where I was, and then he suddenly storms off." Amakusa thought out loud to himself as he kept following as well as he could, using the marks on the ground left by Heracles' strong stomps to keep track of his trail. "He didn't just run off out of nowhere. Whoever or whatever has ordered him to attack me told him to probably return to their side... I have to catch up..." He declared to himself before he focused his everything on his legs to run as fast as he could.

"DAMNIT!" Mordred roared as she watched the Wall suck up yet another Clarent Blood Arthur. She had been at it for just a little over half an hour and the Wall showed not even the slightest crack, let alone any noteworthy damage to prove Mordred's Progress in breaking out. At this point, she was nearing complete depletion of her Mana. "Fucking shit... if I push any more, I will be out of mana... if that happens, any further push will drain my Spirit Core directly, damaging it in the process." She then exclaimed to herself before falling to the back, panting heavily for a moment and wiping some sweat off her forehead using the backside of her Gauntlet, lightly scratching herself in the process which left a harmless, thin line on her skin above her eyes.

"Fuck... how do I get out of here...?" She thought to herself before she looked up at the Throne and saw something that perked her interest a little. She got up, slowly due to fatigue, and made her way up the stairs until she reached the seat. "A cup..." she spoke as she eyed the golden cup that stood on the right armrest, filled halfway with wine. "I wonder if it is poisoned... I really could use a refreshment, even if it is alcohol... but on the other hand, I don't want to get myself killed" she complained, and just as she did, her stomach grumbled lightly, announcing that she was also feeling hungry. "Ah come one! Now of all times!?" She said as she looked down at her stomach, but her frustration was very short lived. She leaned forward and sat down on the Throne for a moment to catch a break, eyeing the wall for a moment longer. "I need to get out of here fast..." "I hope you two are alright, Father, Emiya Shirou..." She thought to herself for a moment before she glanced at the Cup again.

"Since when..." She then started to think to herself, eyes widening a little. "... Since when do I worry for that deadbeat...? Why am I worrying for her, even? Father will obviously be alright."

When she said so, she reached her right hand for the golden Cup, but just as she was about to touch it, it cracked. It didn't shatter completely, but it had one, long crack along its length from the edge all the way to the handle, just big enough for the wine to sip through, drop by drop. "What the... What just..." She thought to herself, and as she did, a memory came back to her about something like this. Something she had long since forgotten...

Mordred looked up at the ceiling as she sat against her table, dining, partying. Mordred was systematically visiting the furthest edges of the Kingdom to rally the fires of rebellion within the Kingdom in preparation to usurp the throne from Arthur, her 'Father', the one who looked her in the eye and rejected her being. Ever since she began with preparing the Rebellion against her Father, her influence grew like an unchecked wildfire in the outer corners of the Kingdom, where Arthur would not know about it just yet, and the people who were dissatisfied with Arthur made their anger and disappointment beyond vocal, their King unassuming of the rage building itself, as if waiting for him to put his attention aside just once.

It didn't help that more than a few bad things came out roughly around the same time, such as Lancelot's affair with Guinevere. Last she heard, Guinevere was to be sentenced to death, and she had become an absolute mess due to her ensueing depression as well as the many words Mordred threw at her in a fit of rage and mockery. 'Unchaste Wife' and 'Traitorous Queen' were simultaneouly what disgusted and amused Mordred the most. It was a duality that confused her somewhat. Mordred knew that her fit of rage was justified, that was what she wholly believed. But... the more she thought about it, the more Guinevere had nothing to do with it. She was equally a victim to this country made by her Father as Mordred was.

The train of thought made her mind travel towards Gareth. Gawain's sister and a half-sibling to Mordred herself. Gareth was always so nice to talk to. Due to her being ordered to stand witness and guard to Guinevere's execution, Mordred's thoughts began to worsen. They knew, they all knew that Lancelot would come and try to save Guinevere. It was in his nature, his love for her true. Mordred wouldn't be able to attend the execution herself, too far away she was at the moment.

It was there that she reached for her Mug to drink from, but before she could touch it, it cracked. A lengthy crack wandering along its length, from the edge where her lips would meet the beverage all the way to the lowest corner, causing the wine inside of it to slowly seep out, drop by drop.

"Oh, God be with you, Lad." One of the Peasants at the table said. "Thou have been cursed by great loss." He continued, causing Mordred to raise her eyebrow in curiosity, which the elderly man seemed to notice. "Doth thou not know of the omens? When thou thinketh of someone dear to you whilst they face certain death, thy nearest object to reach shall crack, never to be healed."

"What do you mean by that?" Mordred bluntly asked. While she understood the man's words, she didn't exactly get the meaning behind it. Still rather unknowing, considering she was out in the open only for a handful of years.

"Whomever thou hast thought about just now is dying... the damage of thee item to reach? Proof that thine hand may not reach them ever again to save them and keep them whole."

"Superstitious nonsense..." Mordred cursed before she got up and left the large dining hall within the local castle. She walked, and walked, and walked while staring up into the Sky until she accidentally bumped into her own horse. She widened her eyes for a moment and saw that she had unknowingly walked all the way to the stables. "Well... if I am here, I might as well. My work in this village is done." Mordred declared to herself before she mounted her Horse and rode off.

When Mordred arrived back in Camelot, roughly 2 days later, she saw that the weather was dark. Rain had been plagueing the city for several days in a row from the looks of it. The Road to the gates was severely muddy and damaged, and from the looks of it, no cart had driven up on it since a day at least. And the more Mordred looked around, the more sorrow and pain she saw. It was as if the very Kingdom was weeping. 'What the hell...' Mordred was thinking to herself as she road up towards the Gates, making sure her helmet was seamlessly on her head as she approached, stopped by two guards before the Gates.

"I am Mordred, Knight of the Round Table. I demand Entry."

"Yes... Sir Mordred..." one of the Guards said. "You must be here for the Funeral, we assume..."

"Funeral? Whose?"

The Guards both glanced at one another, surprised that Mordred hadn't heard of it yet. "Did... you not hear? Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth... they are both dead. Struck down by Sir Lancelot during the execution of Guenivere. He tried to save her, but failed. He's fled southward since, and the King himself is in pursuit..."

Mordred felt deeply shook as she heard this, an audible gasp exiting her lips as she inhaled and exhaled in a very sudden, labored set of breaths.

"Gareth... she was not just killed, but completely destroyed... Feeling loyalty to the knight even then, she attended Guinevere's execution without her armor or weapons... So when Sir Lancelot stormed in, he crushed her skull with his steed, stomped it in... we couldn't even recognize her anymore."

Mordred didn't know what to do, how to feel. All she could do was remember that line from 2 days ago. 'Whomever thou hast thought about just now is dying [...] thine hand may not reach them in time to save them [...].'

"Her screams... I still hear them..." one of the Guards said as he visibly shook, tears in his eyes. "She was the brightest and happiest of them all..."

Mordred silently descended from her steed and reached the leash to the guard that wasn't shaking. "Bring him to the stables... I will see the remaining knights..."

"Yes, Sir Mordred." The Guard spoke, taking the horse to the stables as ordered while Mordred walked the entire way from the gates to the castle.

Even within the walls of the perfect kingdom envisioned by Arthur, none seemed immune to the great depression that loomed over its entire people. Mordred had never in her life seen so much pain before, and it was clear to her that this loss would be it... the great spark that will light the fire across the whole country. The Round Table broken, the King away, the Queen dead. But Mordred wouldn't be able to truly and fully begin the Rebellion just yet.

She would need a few days...

...A few days to mourn Gareth.

"What a depressing memory..." Mordred thought before she roughly slapped the Cup away from the armrest and got up. Her Anger and despair fueling her bit by bit, increasing exponentially as she descended down the stairs to stand where she had stood for the past half hour before, trying to break out.

"So you want to fuck with me so badly...?" She asked to seemingly no one, gripping Clarent in her left hand as tightly as she possibly could, then moved it to the middle to hold it with both hands, its blade beginning to glow its usual, sinister and bloody red as she was charging up her attack. "Fine by me..." She responded to her rhetoric question, her voice nothing but hate and venom. "I will make you regret ever having been discovered as a spell!" She roared in absolute wrath at the wall itself, cursing it as if it were a person. "FUCKING DIE!" She then roared and unloaded yet one more full-powered Clarent Blood Arthur. She pressed on, emptying every remaining drop of Mana inside of her and she could even feel her Spirit Core slowly beginning to take damage. In her mind, it envisioned like a pearl that slowly began to crack on the outside, and the more she pushed, the deeper those cracks went.

"COME OOOOOOOOOON!" Mordred roared and pushed her sword forward, taking one step forward. Suddenly, she heard loud and audible cracks, small and distant at first, but they gradually became louder. She looked up at the wall to see that the barrier was slowly starting to suffer the punishment dealt by Mordred.

"ONE. MORE. PUUUUSH!" She roared at the top of her lungs and took another step forward, pressing out everything she had and unloading Clarent Blood Arthur with power and quantity she didn't even know she could bring out. But she didn't think about any of that at all.

All she could see is that the wall before her shattered, and her Noble Phantasm unloaded its full power right through it, bursting the gates open and even downright melting them.

"haa... haaa..." Mordred panted like a thirsty hound, feeling completely out of breath and wasted. "Fuck... my Spirit Core is seriously damaged... any more and it will be completely destroyed... then I can kiss this Grail War and my reunion with Father goodbye... fucking hell..." She cursed between very heavy breaths as she took steps forward. Slow, tired and on the verge of falling over, Mordred could go no faster than a dramatic slowwalk forward, trying to push her muscles to the limit, squeeze out anything more she had in her, but she has never in her entire existence ever felt so tired. "Must be because of my damaged Core..." She assumed, as Heroic Spirits were not human and as such, the concent of muscle-fatigue shouldn't usually befall them, as they were not physical entities. Mordred's condition however wasn't usual at this moment.

But she couldn't think of any of this. No, her mind was only focused on one thing. "That damned Cup... why am I feeling so terrified over superstitious nonsense..." She cursed to herself as she kept pressing on.

Slowly but surely, she got out of the room, and then she wandered further through the halls, passing crossing by crossing, going straight ahead the entire time. No sense of time, no sense of direction. Just... forward... restless... unrelenting.

She took well over 10 minutes to get even close to anywhere, and when she did, she started to hear noise in the background, towards the direction she was going. The crashing of stone being shattered, the clanking of weapons crossing. She knew she was headed towards the right direction, towards her Father and Emiya Shirou. She continued on, pushing herself, forcing her body to at least jog forward, anything faster than this crippled slow-walk.

She then finally saw an opening. Twin gates that were burst open from the looks of it. Due to the Windows in the room letting the sun shine directly against the door, Mordred was blinded from this angle and couldn't keep into the room accurately, so she kept going closer to it until she was at the entrance, holding herself up by the doorframe. She reached her arm tiredly up to cover her vision's upper half as to not let the light blind her, and looked forward.

And as she did, her eyes widened and she could only let out a single, extended gasp at what she saw.

On one end of the Room, Heracles. Stomping Semiramis into the ground while holding Amakusa Shirou in a chokehold with his large hand. Assassin of Red was clearly knocked out. Just a bit further away from them, Leonidas, stomped into a wall with his head through, one leg missing. Then, at the furthest end of that half of the room was Caster of Red, Olga of Kiev, impaled against the wall by Heracles' Stonemace sword, her body turning into blue-ish particles, signaling her death in this Grail War and her return to Akasha.

But... that was not what had Mordred feeling like her soul escaped her through her lungs.

It was what she saw at the other half of the large room. Her Father, King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon...

Stabbed in the Abdomen by none other than Emiya Shirou.

"FAAAAAAATHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

20 MINUTES AGO

Shirou was running along the Hallways to find his pathway, feeling that a source of Mana was at the end of this path. He couldn't tell who it was, his senses were not nearly as fine as that of a Servant, but he came far enough in his self-education as a Magus that he could reliably pinpoint the location of the Mana and sense it to a high degree. As such, he used it to guide himself. He assumed he would most likely face an enemy.

"It would explain Heracles Roa- GUH!" He suddenly moaned in pain, feeling a very loud beeping in his ear while also suddenly being overcome with a headache. "What... argh!" He groaned again and fell to the ground on all fours, his elbows at the floor as his hands pressed tightly against his temples right above his ear. "AHHH!" He then screamed, the pain becoming unbearably high.

Then, the sound of glass shattering.

And the Pain stopped.

Shirou glanced up to see that his surroundings were entirely white, like an infinite blank, an empty as far as the eye could reach. And right in front of him stood Nanna, arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. "You are lucky that I work as fast as I do."

"What... just happened to me..." Shirou asked, still completely under the shock of the acute and extreme pain surge and its equally swift departure.

"Avalon did. I miscalculated the probability of its hostility after being unblocked and my presence minimized in your mind."

"What do you mean?"

Nanna sighed out loudly before he spoke. "I assumed that if I retreated, reduced my Divinity to about 10% in ratio to Avalon's 90% influence in you, things would work out and Avalon would ignore me and focus on you. You know, as we agreed on just about an hour ago. I was wrong. Avalon only further abandoned your bodily systems and concentrated almost its entire energy to try and wipe me out of your mind. However, because it could not mentally flush me out, it tried to do so physically by attacking the parts on your brain that are imprinted with the traces of my Divinity."

"Wait... you're not just in my Magic Circuits, but in my DNA?"

"Correct. I had to in order to not be eventually washed out of your body naturally due to the balance seeking to restore itself. A fleeting soul without an body it is integrated within, it can possess said body all it wants, eventually, just like Servants without a Master's mana provision, they will eventually be 'fixed' by the Will of the World and flushed back to Akasha. If I had to be so crude and cartograph it, I decided to hook myself to your DNA and rooted myself to the cells in your Brain."

"And what has that got to do with Avalon's reaction...?"

"Didn't you just hear me say it? Avalon tried to PHYSICALLY flush me out of your body. The fall-out from not being able to push me out of your Circuits caused a catastrophic reaction. Your Body began to produce a massive excess of White Bloodcells that attacked the parts of your brain I am located within, eating away at your brain. I managed to push Avalon back and take about... 65% control, for now, and stopped the attacks within your head. But soon as Avalon pushes me back to just a 50% balance, let alone beneath that, it will resume. Needless to say, if your body's immune system attacks your brain like that again..."

"... I will die..."

"Exactly. Avalon seems to regard my divinity within you as such a high-priority target it will not stop at killing you just to wash me out of your body. We have to reverse the balance-"

"And you didn't know this would happen!?" Emiya suddenly shouted, much to Nanna's surprise. "You JUST bragged about being the all-knowing, and you didn't prepare for Avalon reacting so hostile to you that it would KILL ME just to erase you!?"

Nanna could only let out a very deep sigh before he shook his head. "I did know about it, but I was going off by a mathematical probability in which case the chance of this reaction occuring were less than 0.018%. Something this unlikely didn't need any attention. I get it, I was wrong. Sorry, I will be absolutely paranoid about any smallest of issues regarding your health in the future. Happy?"

"A bit." The redhead shot back, much to the frustration of the god before him, who scoffed with such dramatic force that one could think Shirou just insulted his mother with a yo mama line. "But you wouldn't do something like this for free... you did say ALL your services require tribute... out with it, what part of my Humanity do you want now? My love? Maybe my sanity? Oh I know, how about EVERYTHING!?"

"OKAY I GET IT, YOU ARE ANGRY!" Nanna yelled back, causing Shirou to be shocked. "I AM SORRY, BUT ALL I WANT IS A LITTLE PLACE FOR MYSELF POST-AGE OF GODS! I COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE ASSUMED IT WOULD BE SO GODAWFUL HARD AND COMPLICATED! IF IT WERE UP TO ME, WE WOULD PROBABLY STILL BE IN BASRA, OR MAYBE EVEN BETTER, ENJOYING A LITTLE FUCKING COCKTAIL CUP AT THE BEACH OF THE PERSIAN GULF! YOU WANT SOMETHING TO BLAME, BLAME THE HORRENDOUS TIMING OF THE GRAIL WAR HAPPENING JUST AS THE TWO OF US ESTABLISHED CONTACT, FORCING YOUR BODY TO BE IN A BROKEN CONDITION!"

When Nanna was done, he was panting out of the natural reaction from the body when having vented extreme levels of anger. His sporatic breathing continued for a few seconds before he took a very deep breath, signing that he was trying to calm down. "Look, I didn't mean to bring half the harm you suffered, but we have to make do with what we have. Can you trust me this one last time?"

Emiya Shirou seemed to be in deep thought. His eyes wandered to the ground and his hand rested on his chin. He didn't know if he should. His benefits so far were... minimal. He just barely got the Martial Arts knowledge to beat Leonidas the first time, and as he found out now, Avalon just barely began regenerating enough to wake him up, before it just full on declared war on his body. Doubt crept up more and more as he thought about this. "I don't see why I should... unless you want to give me something to actually make the deal worth it this time, I don't think I can trust you at all..."

"Alright. Fair." Nanna said and clapped his hands. The moment he did, their surrounding was suddenly changed. They were in what seemed to be a very, very tall underground bunker of sorts. It was one giant room, with pillars stretching across its surface to hold up the ceiling. Shirou glanced around to explore it some more, but then he noticed something very odd and peculiar standing at the center of that room.

A large, green-black ish, crystalline sphere of roughly 30 meters height, from Shirou's experienced guess. And the center of it was open halfway, six crude edges pointing towards the center. And behind those edges, as if this large sphere was hollowed out, Shirou saw faces. So many, all made out of stone, and all of them looked so alike. Perfect copies of one another.

"The Greater Grail..." He concluded.

"Correct. This is the object of your current suffering. The thing the Mage Association recruited you for, to prevent the Yggdmillennia family from using it for nefarious purposes."

"How do you know about that?"

"I know of everything you saw, heard, tasted, smelled and felt ever since I entered you. So I overheard every little detail about you and Mr. Velvet."

"I see..." Shirou said as he glanced slightly closer at the faces, and then he recognized something that deeply disturbed him. He knew these faces.

"You recognize them, don't you?"

"They..." Shirou began, hesitant to say it out loud. "They all look like Ilya..."

"That is because they ARE, in a sense."

Shirou's head snapped to Nanna so fast one might think he would break his neck.

"The Einzbern has only one genetic template from which they model their Homonculi. Their personality may differ, their powers may change, but it is ALWAYS the same face, he same voice, the same eyes and hair. The reason Ilya was even remotely different was because she was a hybrid, half homonculi, half human. She was conceived naturally and her aging only stopped once her mother died and the power to host the Lesser Grail was transferred to her heart, overwriting the human genes within her. Had her Mother, Irisviel, survived the 4th Grail War, she would have been physically older than you by almost 4 years, if my guess is correct."

"And those are..."

"All of Ilyasviel and Irisviel's predecessors. The Homonculi meant to host the Grail that came before that mother-daughter pair. Every Host of the Greater and Lesser Grail. Whenever the Lesser Grail is done and the Grail Wars end, the Homonculi are equally absorbed into the Greater Grail."

"I thought you were cut off from the world for several thousands of years, how do you even know as much as you do?"

"Call it an Educated Guess. I could very well be wrong on EVERYTHING. But you have to admit, so far, it makes enough sense to be acceptable."

"I... can't argue with that."

"As I was saying... the Greater Grail absorbs and channels the Lesser Grails within itself ontop of its own hosts. That is why, unlike the Lesser Grail, it is not an evil device that seeks to puncture a hole directly towards the Root, connecting it to 'The Outside of the World'."

"Wait a minute... didn't the Einzberns only start giving the Holy Grail a Host-body AFTER it was damaged during the Third Holy Grail War?"

"Well, you know, I don't, so I suppose? But... you never heard me say successful hoasts, did you?"

Shirou gulped audibly at the explanation before he nodded.

"I assume, again from an Educated Guess, several decades passed between the Third and Fourth Holy Grail War. That is more than enough time to pint out..." Nanna stopped for a moment, pointing with the finger to each of the Iris-faces portrayed by the Greater Grail "...12 Homonculi in total, with so far 2 successfully recorded ones, Irisviel and Ilyasviel for the Lesser Grail, at least 1 successful host for the Greater Grail and-"

"-upwards of 9 failed experiments..."

"Bingo. You are learning fast."

Shirou gulped once again, processing this information in its entirety. This was brutal, even compared to everything he's seen so far. He decided he would try to change the topic and turned to look up to Nanna. "All of these 'Educated Guesses', and you still haven't told me a reason to Trust you with the third deal."

"I was wondering when you would catch on." Nanna said before he snapped his fingers. This time, the image became one that Emiya knew all too well, and the mere sight of it made him vomit out. "Welcome to Fuyuki City, ca. 13 years ago. I took the liberty to access your memories for a second to fish this one out."

Emiya, coughing really harshly from the very sudden and grim reminder of his greatest trauma, one he only minorly processed so far and still at large never learned how to live with, wiped his mouth as he tried to speak. "Why would you show me this!?"

"Because this, as you know, was the direct result of one Grail getting damaged and corrupted, thus leaking its sickening wrath across the entire city, killing thousands. Some of the victims of this catastrophe are to this day homeless, unemployed and weeping for the loss of the rest of their families, am I wrong?"

Shirou started to shake even more at the reminders. The memory came back to him all by itself. The faces... the screams... he remembered it all as if it were just yesterday when it happened. He never could forget even the smallest, most insignificant detail about it.

"So you do know, and I am right. So I hope you have paid good attention to my choice of words. This was only what happened when the Lesser Grail was corrupted. Imagine a Grail several times stronger ontop of placed at and connected with more potent leylines? If the Greater Grail gets corrupted like this, the broken connection to the Root might not only sweep across the entire hemisphere it is located on, if not further than that, but worse even, the hole might not be closed after it gets fully destroyed. So you run risk at not only unleashing a calamity so great that your little Fuyuki Grail War catastrophe is the vanilla sprinkles on a child's ice cream cone by comparison, but also one that cannot be undone. And here is where things get REALLY fucked up. Do you know what happens to any form of existence in ANY realm if they come into touch with the Root?"

Shirou was by now on a good way to a panic attack, but he had enough in him to respond with his head shaking to answer 'no'.

"Well, that's the thing. Nobody knows. All we know for certain is that, from that moment onwards, they just poof, cease to exist. But this level of uncertainty and whataboutism brings questions, doesn't it? Why do they cease to exist? Whoever touches the Root aquires a state of ascension wherein they are literally God Almighty. So, with that in mind, do they see the world in a different, unglier light and escape it into a higher plane of existence? Do they transcend their mortal needs and abandon their bodies to travel to Akasha on their own volition? or..." Nanna spoke in a suddenly much more ominous voice, kneeling down right beside Shirou to whisper in his ear. "Do they suffer such pain that they erase their physical existence to find relief?"

Emiya gasped out very loudly and ended up vomiting again as a reaction to being asked this question in such a malicious way, which burst his panic attack to a much higher grade, so much so that Shirou's labored breathing was threatening to put him unconscious.

"See, we don't know the answer, but the mere idea, the possibility... You cannot accept that chance, can you? No, you are Emiya Shirou, the Hero of Justice, self-proclaimed saviour of any and every individual being you come across. Humans, Animals, Heroic Spirits. Even gods. You are the embodiment of a simple, ordinary man, striving to be the best example of not just himself, but of humanity as a whole. So tell me, can you allow even the faintest chance of possibility that the Grail gets corrupted and floods all of humanity with infinite pain? Specially now, given you were suffering a pretty literal self-brain-delete on a chance that is over twice as unlikely than being born with a 3rd Arm or Leg. Do you really wanna test your chances NOW of all times?"

Emiya Shirou was shaking profusedly, the cold chill and the exhaustion from vomiting his guts out sinking in and hitting him with the full batch of physical reprecussions from the panic attack.

Shirou took a very long time, over 5 minutes, to finally calm down enough to get up and speak again. "I... I..." he started before he reached for Nanna. Despite a height difference of over 3 feet, Shirou's arms reached up just enough to pull at the veil around Nanna's shoulders and neck to pull him down to eye-to-eye height. "I so badly want to say no... but everything you said makes sense. Every threat I will face if I don't embrace more power, every human's suffering I will be responsible for if I don't win this War and send the Grail to an Exile to the Reverse Side of the World... I so badly want to hate you for being right..."

"But you can't. You never could. Emiya Shirou doesn't hate to begin with. And you could never possibly hate someone just for being right, specially when they are being right in YOUR favor above all else."

"Precisely... so take it... take whatever you want... I will pay any price to prevent this catastrophe..."

"And you will pay any tribute to keep Artoria safe."

Shirou went silent at this for a moment, but his eyes spoke all the volume he needed to know. "Alright... you will have all the power you need. I will give you... 35% of my entire Divinity. But I do warn you... this will be extremely expensive, Emiya Shirou. What I demand from you this time... is the flawless integration of our DNA, my and your being rooted so deeply that we are as if born as one. Between Mind, Soul and Body, I want your Mind and Soul's permission to become one with the Body."

"Fine... as long as you keep your promise... as long as I can keep Artoria... and the rest of the world safe... from this catastrophe... have anything you want!"

Nanna nodded his head and clapped, suddenly disappearing from Shirou's grasp and standing behind him, the god's hands covering Shirou's eyes. What Shirou would fail to see, as a result, was that Nanna had a very dirty and evil smirk on his face. "Then see... see the enemy before you..."

When Shirou opened his eyes again, he was back in the real world, and one Amakusa Shirou Tokisada stood before him.

"See the enemy before you..." Shirou thought again, remembereing Nanna's words. His expression darkened and he traced Caliburn into his hand while suddenly running forward, the sword pulled back as if signing that it was put away. Seeing that his enemy stood perfectly still, Emiya continued to run forward, whipping the sword around at the very last second and impaling Amakusa's stomach with it.

Just as Mordred entered the room.

Then...

Then Emiya Shirou heard that cry...

"FAAAAAAATHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

Emiya turned to look at Mordred, glassy, empty eyes as he stared at her. He didn't know why Mordred screamed 'Father', when the person he stabbed was Amakusa Shirou.

He turned his head back forward to his adversary, and he would regret doing so.

As he turned his head, he didn't see Amakusa Shirou Tokisada.

He saw Artoria Pendragon. Eyes wide, shock and fear all over them, blood trickling down her lips as she coughed out. "Shi...rou..." Why whispered out before leaning forward, falling against the redhead's shoulder. "Wh...why...?" She barely whispered out before she let out one last breath, no longer taking an inhale and slowly sliding down Emiya Shirou's body, falling to the ground.

Emiya knelt with her, catching her, very gently laying her down to the ground, his eyes as wide as they could be, irises narrowed and shaking constantly, tears walling up in masses in his eyes. "I... I didn't mean to... Artoria..."

But it was to no avail. She was unresponsive, and even worse, her body began to glow a dimmly blue that intensified by the second, signaling a Servant's passing.

"No... nononono... Artoria..." Shirou gasped in pure desperation, holding her head up and laying it against his chest. "I didn't know... I didn't... Artoria... don't go..."

But it was to no avail. Her body dissolved into the last particles of mana before it was completely gone.

Emiya Shirou's hands fell down to his lap, tears flowing like an entire damm broke, dropping against his thighs, his hands, the ground, anything that was below his face. His head fell back, his eyes turned completely void, and he screamed.

He screamed in pain, in anguish, in loss, in guilt. He screamed in hate, in self-loathing and lament, he screamed in an ever-existent damnation that was his existence.

He screamed, and then he broke, his head nicking back further, shoulders falling in a loss of tension, voice dying out, response becoming dead. The sheer volume and intensity of the shock and mental breakdown caused Emiya Shirou to completely pass out.

Mordred grit her teeth as she watched it all unfold, tears freely flowing down her eyes. "Father... FATHER!" She roared, but it was too late. Artoria was already gone, after all. But then, all of a sudden, the whole Hanging Gardens of Babylon started to tremor and shake, a response to what unfolded before Mordreds, Amakusas's Semiramis' and Heracles' eyes.

This Shaking seemed to wake up the, up until now Knocked Out Leonidas, who pushed his head out of the pillar and fell to his knees, gazing before him to see in horror the things that unfold.

The Mana within Emiya Shirou's body suddenly started to surge massively, exhilirating itself in sigh volume that it became physically visible as a blue-ish, semi-transparent smoke that engulfs his being. The Muscles on his arms, legs, chest and neck all grew visibly, straining his clothing a little. His Hair started to re-colour itself to a shining Gold, completely overwriting his previous read. His upper body leaned forward, hands laid against the ground, tapping at it slightly.

"Ground... Air... I can feel again... I can Breathe again!" He spoke in an self-echoed, distorted voice.

Heracles dropped Amakusa and kicked Semiramis away before falling to his knees, bowing before the redhead-turned-blonde.

Emiya's arms stretched themselves outwards and he leaned back, gazing upwards to the ceiling, roaring words that shook everyone within ears reach to the core.

"I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

And here's where I declare, welcome to the grand change to the Plot from Fate/Apocrypha as you know it.

Writing this one certainly took the air out of me. I said I would take several days, but I squeezed my brain like a damn orange for some of that sweet fanfic juice.

So with that said, I hope you enjoyed the read, please do R&R if you liked it (or disliked) with a Why, any feedback helps me improve my writing, specially for chapters like these, where I am really trying to capture the drama and melodramatics within text.

Cheers! :D