Author's Note: I do not own the Fate series or Fate/Apocrypha in any way. All credits goes to its creator, as well as anything I use from other animes.

With that, enjoy the chapter.

italic [spells and chants]

'thoughts/telepathy'

Chapter 10: First Step of the War

Adrian (P.O.V)

The next day came rather fast for me, but that is because I returned to the house at around 4 in the morning and slept through the morning. It is already noon by the time I woke up for the day.

I don't really have much plans on what to do during the break in-between Holy Grail Wars. Which is why I am currently taking the time to look back on the events that occurred yesterday, while I eat my meal, a Tagliatelle with Arrabiata sauce, which was a lightly spicy tomato pasta.

First was the meeting with Kairi Shishigou and Saber of Red. From what I saw based on my impressions, it seems that the Saber summoned was quite similar to Kairi. The two of them are quite a pair as they are quite compatible to each other.

They also seem to have reservations about that priest, similar to me and Atalanta. I don't think I have to worry about them too much.

Second was the fight with the golems and homunculi. I don't really have much problems about them. But my one issue is the numbers. The Yggdmillenia most likely have an army of golems and homunculi but just how big is the question.

Sure, I can handle a few but against so many of them, I won't last long. They are basically cannon fodder for the Red Faction Servants, practically forcing us to show more of our hand than usual while theirs remain hidden to us.

I am going to have to fight smart against those numbers, or if I do not have to fight them at all that will be even better.

Third and lastly is the Avenger of this Great Holy Grail War, the Count of Monte Cristo. I don't think anyone expected him to be summoned, let alone an Avenger Class Servant. I think I am currently the only one so far that knows his existence so far.

From the looks of things, it appears that he has been laying low for some time. He was most likely waiting for the right moment to act.

But what is his purpose in this war and what is his intentions? This is making my brain hurt from all this thinking.

I was now contemplating on what I should do from here on out, but soon a ringing sound was heard.

My phone began ringing as someone was trying to contact me. I looked at the phone to see who was calling me and to my surprise, the number is from one Shirou Kotomine.

'What does he want?' I thought to myself as I answered the phone. "Shirou?"

"Adrian, I'm glad you answered. We kind of have a situation you need to know." He said.

"What happened? Did the black faction take action?" I asked as I crossed one leg over the other.

"No. Berserker of Red is currently heading to the Yggdmillenia stronghold right now."

That was surprising, our Berserker is going to the enemy without coordinating with the other Servants. If that is the case, chances are he would get surrounded by the enemy Servants and most likely be defeated.

"That is just suicidal to go to the enemy all by himself, even if he is a Servant. So, why did Berserker go berserk?" I had to ask that question.

Shirou explained why. "Well apparently, our Caster told him about where the 'oppressors' would be and since berserker would be against oppressors, he immediate went off to deal with them, charging to the other faction's stronghold."

I simply pinched my nose as I heard the reason. Shakespeare told Spartacus the location of the 'oppressors' and in turn, due to his lore caused him to go straight to crush them. He most likely did this so that he could get some inspiration to write his stories, what an unbelievable guy.

"After this situation is over, we are going to have a word with that play writer about this." I told the priest.

"Yes, I'll also have to inform Caster's Master about this development as well." He said.

"Well then, since things have come to this, how are we supposed to monitor his movements as he is charging head first into enemy territory?" I asked.

"For the time being, I told Archer and Rider to tail him and report his movements, and if possible persuade him to cease his advance."

That makes sense since Atalanta and Achilles are the two fastest on our side, so they should be able to catch up to him.

"But, in that case, wouldn't sending just one of them would be enough?" Which is true, sending one would be enough to catch up with him but the priest decided to send both of them.

"Maybe, but chances are, there will be a fight occurring regardless, even if they do catch up to him. As making contact with the enemy Servants is very likely, our Berserker having some support in the battle would be the best situation." Shirou said.

He did make a valid point. Since there is a high likely that a fight between our Berserker and the enemy Servants seems inevitable, the best decision is for Berserker to have backup.

After all, getting a Berserker to stop in his tracks is nearly impossible, even if Berserker's Master uses a Command Seal.

As such, we don't really have a lot of options to deal with a runaway Berserker. Well, we will just have to see how things play out for the time being.

"Alright, thanks for the information." I told him. "Okay, see you around." He said as the line was cut from his end.

Looks like this news have pretty much decided what I should do for now. From the looks of things, there is a high chance that the Yggdmillenia will be aware of this development and will act accordingly.

I contemplated for a while on how I should take advantage of this situation, until an idea suddenly hit me.

"If I do that… its risky for sure but they won't expect it… alright then." I muttered to myself as I look through the idea.

The idea would be crazy as no Master or Magus would even think of such a plan, but since I am considered an unconventional magus, that does not apply to me. With that, I'm now ready to act, I just need the right timing.

Before that though, I have to alert my Archer about the plan, though I am pretty sure she is not going to like what I have in mind.

(Atalanta P.O.V)

"Would you stop, Berserker?!" I yelled at someone.

The person was a being of a massive statue, as he crashed through the forests in Trifas. He was all muscle, the toughness of his body is practically armor, but that shows his prowess of his status as a Berserker.

Berserker of Red apparently went out and was headed to the enemy strong hold in Trifas. The Master of Assassin told me to pursue him and attempt to halt his advance into the other faction's territory, if possible.

Hence, I was pursuing this unchained brute as I leaped from branch to branch, calling out to Berserker again and again, telling him to halt his advance.

Berserker chortled and answered me without ever breaking stride.

"Ha ha ha! I cannot respond to that order, Archer. I must bring myself to that castle, to where the oppressors are."

"You gull! We are to merely wait until the time is ripe! Why do you not understand that?" I shouted back at him, not understanding why he would attack so soon.

"To me, the word 'wait' does not exist." He said as he continued to walk, one powerful step after another. He had been walking for a whole day straight already, charging towards the enemy castle all by himself.

I can only pray that that shady priest had things under control. That priest said to give Berserker some support in the likely event that he refuses to fall back, it would appear that I will have to do just that.

"Do you think we can somehow stop him, Rider?" I asked Rider who was behind me.

Rider was also tailing Berserker, as under the priest's orders, to assist me in trying to stop him. "Well, do you really think he'll just walk away if we ask nicely, Sis?" He asked.

"I have already told you to call me by my name or class, Achilles."

He laughed a bit. "In any case, the only thing he can think about is fighting the enemy. I think you're the strange one here, trying to talk him out of it."

That was true, despite being able to communicate with him, he still would not follow orders from others. If that was possible, Berserker would have changed his course and rounded on me instead. But of course, this sort of thing will not go like that so easily.

"Anyway... since fighting between both factions will likely happen, this should be a good chance to see what the Black Faction is capable of." Rider commented.

"Very well then." This is probably why we were sent to support Berserker, to gather information about the Black Faction.

We continued to pursue the loosed Berserker; there was no way we could lose track of his slow, unwavering stride as he heads to the stronghold. That is when I heard a voice in my head that made me stop for a bit.

'Archer, are you there? It's me.' I heard Adrian's voice in my head, he most likely heard of the current situation and is asking me to confirm it.

'What is it Master?' I asked him.

'The priest alerted me that our Berserker is currently headed towards the enemy stronghold with you and Rider tailing him, is that correct?' He said.

So the priest did inform him about the current situation, though if he didn't inform my Master, that would have increase my suspicions about him.

'Thou is correct, Berserker is still moving towards the enemy and he has no intention of stopping.' I said.

'I guess persuading him to not attack the enemy is already impossible, that figures.' I heard him sigh a bit, I suppose that is because there is the chance our faction would lose our Berserker so early in the Holy Grail War.

'In any case, how long will he take until he reaches the stronghold?' My Master asked for when Berserker would reach enemy territory.

'At the rate thou is moving, it will be when it hits nightfall in a few hours.' I answered.

There was a long silence after that, Adrian must be thinking of what to do at this point.

'Okay… I think this can work… Archer, since a fight with the Black Faction is inevitable, let's use Berserker's charge to the enemy to our advantage.'

That got my attention. 'What do you have in mind Master?' I asked.

'Well, in this situation, it's very likely that the Yggdmillenia caught wind of Berserker's movement and would plan accordingly. And since our enemies are not fools, they will also likely account for any additional Servants that would also arrive with Berserker.' Adrian explained.

He made a very valid statement about the other faction's likely movements. It would seem that my Master may have more experience than I originally thought.

'So, at the very least, they would likely send at least two of their Servants to deal with Berserker and another one or two to handle any other Servant that came with our Berserker.'

'In that case, what is thou trying to get here?' I asked, I have a weird feeling about what he plans on doing.

'I want to take this opportunity to sneak into the stronghold and get any information on what sort of Servants we're dealing with.' He told his plan.

That got me wide eyed, he wants to go into enemy territory on his own where the remaining Servants of Black and Masters are by himself.

'No! I forbid thou to continue on with this plan! The number of risks involved likely outweigh the rewards gained, it is not worth it.' I told him.

"What wrong, sis?" Rider asked me, he probably noticed my expression as we communicated with each other.

"My Master plans to infiltrate the enemy stronghold while Berserker charges towards said stronghold." I told Rider.

"Wait, he is going alone? That is crazy, your Master is certainly quite the risk taker." He smirked.

"Can you please not encourage him, Rider."

'Atalanta, I know that the risks that comes with here, but right now we need information on the opposition. And I would prefer if we can get them without any needless fighting.' Adrian said in my head.

Adrian said my actual name rather than my class. If there is anything that the two of us established, if we say our actual names in battle, then we are truly serious about our decisions.

"Anyway, I am actually going to go through with this plan regardless of your opinion, but at least I want to let you know about this." He continued.

My Master seems to be hellbent on doing this and it's very likely that I won't be able to change his mind. It is kind of like when he got me to go enjoy my free time in the City of Târgu Mureș.

'Then please do me a favor and don't be reckless.' I can only sigh as I told him, I can only hope that he doesn't get himself in trouble too much when he does sneak inside the stronghold.

'I'll try, anyway I will try to contact you when I'm out of their base. See you soon.' He said and soon ended the telepathic call.

I closed my eyes as I silently pray that nothing bad happens to my Master.

"So, I can probably assume that he is going to go for it then. What do you intend to do now then?" Rider asked me.

"I suppose I'll make it easier for thou to infiltrate while the enemy is focused on our appearance in their territory. Most likely, when Berserker arrives at their stronghold, then he sneaks in." I said.

"In any case, let's continue moving. We are going to lose sight of Berserker while we're standing here discussing." He said.

He was right. I could see that our Berserker was still striding forward, getting further and further from our position during my conversation with Adrian.

"Alright then." With that, me and Rider continued to pursue Berserker through the forest.

(Normal P.O.V)

As Berserker of Red is charging, a familiar golem was watching his movements as he moves through the Trifas forest. The familiar's sight is being broadcast onto a screen where the Black Faction watches his movements.

"This Servant has been making his way to us towards our castle, ignoring all our traps and warning shots. I suspect that he is the Berserker of Red." Darnic says as the Masters and Servants of Black watched the screen.

"So their Berserker is headed here." Avicebron commented.

"What do we do, Uncle?" Fiore asked Darnic.

"Of course, we will not waste this opportunity. In fact, we might even be able to turn Berserker of Red into our pawn instead." Darnic said

"I assume you have a strategy then, Darnic." Vlad III said.

"Yes your majesty. By the way, have you managed to gain any information about that Master, Fiore?" Darnic asked.

"Well…from what our spies in the Clock Tower said…apparently the Master is taking Rottweil Berzinsky's place and…is apparently Zelretch's disciple." Fiore said nervously.

"What?" That response was the collective response from all the people present in the throne room. The Masters all have wide eyes while the Servants have at least surprised expressions or raised eyebrows at the news.

"Eh!? That old guy is involved?" Astolfo exclaimed.

"Yeah, when we saw this information, we couldn't believe it either. We had them double check the information and surprising, it's all true" Caules said.

Darnic gritted his teeth. "So that damn vampire just had to interfere in this war for his amusement. Then did you find anything about the disciple?"

"Well no, apparently they could not find any information about him at all. I believe that he hid any information about himself, then only the Wizard Marshall knows the true identity." Fiore said.

"Tch…Well that's just great, they now have a wild card." Celenike responded.

This is because their spies in the Clock Tower had informed them about the Red Faction Masters, so they all know who the Masters are, as well as their capabilities. So the Red Faction having an unknown wild card is very surprising.

"So, how should we proceed to deal with him? It doesn't look like this Master is some amateur either." Roche asked.

"It matters not, in any case, we can deal with that Master for another time. Right now, we have to deal with the upcoming threat that is coming towards us." Vlad III said as he rose from the throne.

"And if that Master truly is the Wizard Marshall's disciple, then this Great Holy Grail War would only be that more interesting." He smirked. "This will be a glorious fight."

"Anyway Darnic, tell us your strategy about dealing with Berserker of Red."

"Of course, your majesty." Darnic said as he bowed. Soon, the Castle of Yggdmillenia was bustling around as preparations were made about the upcoming conflict.

Soon, evening came to Trifas as Berserker of Red finally arrived in the forested area that is not far from the Yggdmillenia stronghold. He is soon met with the vanguard of the Black Faction that was sent to slow him down at best.

A small army of Golems and Homunculi appeared to subdue Berserker of Red. However, this encounter was a one sided battle in Berserker of Red's favor.

The halberds of the homunculi bit into his body and the fists of the golems buried themselves in his face, with enough force that can shatter steel. However, these attacks did not make the smile disappear from Berserker's face. If anything, his grin widened.

The group attacked Berserker of Red continuously and he continued to take their beatings again and again. Despite all the attacks he received, his still had his smile of ecstasy. Soon, even his attackers hesitated and stopped for a moment, that was when Berserker of Red took action.

"HA HA HA! Wretched puppets of the oppressor, feel the wrath of my blade!" He declared.

Berserker grabbed the face of one of the golems with his hand, effortlessly tossing aside the three-meter-tall construct and crushing the homunculi who just so happened to be standing where it landed.

"Yes, you too!" As he said that, he swung his sword in a wide arc and majority of the homunculi nearby were relieved of their top halves. He then threw punches at several golems, pulverizing their heads and bodies.

The man was practically a walking disaster. Every slash and punch produced more corpses and debris. The number of golems and homunculi present went down very quickly.

But what was truly nightmarish was the unwavering smile on his face as he swung his sword and his fists. Even the homunculi, with their diluted emotions, became infected by his madness and fled the battle.

Ripping the final golem apart limb by limb, Berserker looked around at the traces of destruction and carnage he had wrought, nodded in satisfaction as he laughed, and began to walk to the Yggdmillenia stronghold again.

"At the rate he is going, he might end up using his Noble Phantasm. What do you think, Rider?" Archer of Red asked.

Archer and Rider of Red were perched on the tree branches as they watched Berserker of Red tore through the army of golems and homunculi.

"Let's hope he doesn't, if he does, we retreat immediately. We don't to be in the range when that happens." Rider of Red said.

"Very well then."

"By the way, I meant to ask, have you seen any of our other Masters?" Rider asked her.

"…No, apart from the Master of Semiramis and my own, I have not seen anyone else." She answered.

Rider of Red sighed as he talked. "This is really a peculiar arrangement. I get orders and we are connected with our Masters, yet they do not show themselves."

Archer of Red thought for a bit before answering, "I suppose it is the nature of mages to dwell in the shadows, though my Master is sensing some foul play being made."

Rider of Red raised an eyebrow, that prompted Archer of Red to continue. "My Master has been trying to contact the other Masters for some time, but he had not received any response. He only managed to contact the Master of Saber from my knowledge."

"Is that so, in that case it is rather fishy." Rider thought for a bit before asking another question. "Now that I think about it, your Master, Adrian is very perceptive. I want to ask, what does he think about that Priest?"

Archer of Red wasn't sure how to answer that, so she decided to answer as honest as possible.

"To be honest, my Master and I have our suspicions about him. There is something about him that feels off putting."

"True, but I don't think it can be that bad." Rider answered.

"Achilles, when we first met, you said that the Master of Semiramis told you that you would meet a Greek hero. But, my Master and I never revealed anything related about my true name to him." She turned to look at him in the eye.

That got him surprised. "So, you didn't reveal your identity to him at that time?"

"I didn't, yet he already figured out my identity, that is one of the reason why we are keeping our distance from him." Archer explained.

Achilles thought about what he just heard, before responding again. "If you put it like that, then there is something going on with the priest."

"However, we have no idea about his plans, so we have to wait and see as the Grail War progressed." Atalanta said.

"I see. Alright then, thanks for the talk, sis." Rider said as he went back to watch Berserker of Red tearing through waves of golems.

"Didn't I told you to call me by either my cl-" Archer was about to say before she sensed something. Her animal ears perked up a bit and she noticed a scent, she had a discomforted expression.

"What's wrong?" Rider of Red asked.

Archer stood up from her crouching position as she replied. "They're coming."

"Hmm…from the looks of things, it looks like Berserker of Red has already made contact with the enemy army there." Adrian commented as he was watching from a treetop, with a view of the Yggdmillenia castle not far from his position.

He noticed in the distance that several trees were being knocked down by something, or rather someone. Hence he could deduce that Berserker of Red was in that direction.

"Alright then, looks like it's time for me to make my move." Adrian said as he jumped down from his position and began to run through the forested area and was headed to the castle.

He continued running towards the castle until he slowed down, eventually came to a stop where he could see the Yggdmillenia castle in the distance. But instead of moving again, he stood there, observing his surroundings as his blue eyes glowed for a bit.

'From what I can observe, there is a massive bounded field around the castle that expands all the way to my position. About 1.6 kilometres radius max, so any enemy within that range, they would be alerted.' He thought to himself.

Adrian could tell that the bounded field was well made, if he were to even attempt to break the field, that would just expose his position. So, he'll have to somehow bypass the field in order to sneak into the place.

"Alright, in that case…" He said as he did something.

Adrian raised his left hand in front of him, as he focused, causing green lines of magic circuits to appear on his arm. As he concentrated his mana, several magic circles began to form around his arm, each circle is inscribed differently as they glowed.

Soon, the different magic circles pulsed fiercely before several runes were formed in its place, each magic circle formed a different rune. The newly formed runes aligned themselves around Adrian as a blue aura surrounds his body. Then, several more runes appeared on the bounded field, causing something to occur to it.

The field had a dim glow while this occurs, it was so dim that even a Servant would not easily notice it. A tear through the bounded field began to appear in front of Adrian, where the runes were.

'Okay, with this, I bypassed the bounded field. They won't notice that I passed through the bounded field and my presence is currently hidden for the time being' Adrian thought.

With that, he passed through the tear and was now within the bounded field. But he did not have the leisure to walk, as soon as was safe for the time being, he immediately made a dash right towards the Yggdmillenia castle.

Rune magecraft is one of the more unpopular magecraft within the Mage's Association. This is probably because the success rate of using inscribed runes to affect a target is low as the magic circuits act as resistance to the effects.

However, Adrian is able to use runes in a way that doesn't require to be inscribed onto the body or items. He was able to create runes from magic circles he conjured and even out of thin air, though the latter was much harder for him to do. Not only that, rune magecraft came naturally to him, so he was able to use runes very proficiently.

'Those runes will only last for a certain period of time, so I better find what I need and get out of here fast.' He thought as he quickened his pace.

He pumped prana to his legs and reinforced them, and began to move faster than the eye can see. With this, it didn't take long for him to reach the castle perimeter.

As soon as was close to the castle, he ducked behind a tree for cover as he took a peek at the situation in front of him.

Several homunculi were stationed above the castle, as well as the surrounding area outside, currently observing and guarding the perimeter. He also noticed there were several golem familiars that were also observing the area.

'I guess sneaking inside is going to be more complicated than I thought, but at least I'm already at the castle.' Adrian commented.

While he could sneak inside the castle no problem, the golem familiars were watching the area and chances are, he would be spotted before he could enter fully. He would be surrounded by the homunculi and possibly the Masters and Servants of the Black Faction.

Adrian remained at his position, trying to come up with a plan to infiltrate the place, until he heard some sort of rumbling sound.

He peeked from his position and saw some large area of the ground was opening up. A ramp began to open up from the ground.

As the ramp opened, large footsteps can be heard as an army of golems slowly came and marched out from the opening.

'An army of golems huh, looks like that ramp is most likely connected an underground area where they are most likely summoned and created.' Adrian thought as he watched the scene played before him.

As he saw the army of golems marched away, an idea suddenly struck him. "Wait a minute… that means that the area where they came from should also be connected to the castle's interior." He commented.

After he thought of this, another rumbling sound was heard, he looked to see the ramp was slowly closing back into the ground. That was when he quickly took action.

Adrian pumped as much prana through his legs as he watched the flying familiars. He was waiting for the familiars to look away before he moved. The opening the ramp made was getting smaller and smaller as he waited.

The ramp was going to close when a blur came. Adrian waited for the very last second to make his move. Using his legs, he propelled himself to the ramp as fast as he could. As soon as he was close enough, he slid on the ground, he planned to slip through the opening.

It was very close call, but Adrian managed to squeeze through the small opening right before the ramp fully closed behind him.

Now inside, Adrian heaved a sigh of relief that it worked, soon he got up and started walking through the now spacious tunnel the ramp opened up to.

'Okay, I've successfully infiltrated the place. Let's see what's in store here.' Adrian was smiling internally as he continued walking, until he heard familiar footsteps.

The footsteps were the familiar sounds of golems moving around. Adrian decided to move faster in case he gets surrounded. He found another pathway and took it which leads upwards.

As he moved, he saw a guard standing there in front of him, he quickly moved to incapacitate the guard. He moved to sweep the guard's legs from behind, the guard had a shocked expression as he fell but got caught in Adrian's arms.

Adrian got the guard in a chokehold, proceeded to choke the guard. Soon, the guard went limp, gone unconscious, Adrian place the guard in a hard to see corner so that the guard would not be found easily.

With the guard out of the way, Adrian had a look at what the guard was looking at, he let out a sound of awe as he saw the place.

Under the luminous lights that reveal the area, the place was a massive workshop that created the golems. Both golems and homunculi were roaming the area, each doing their own tasks. There were several circular platforms that when activated, the rocks form to together to create the golems.

Another section was where the homunculi outfitted the golems with bronze armor, before being dispatched somewhere. Truly, an army of golems being created in the span of just several hours.

"So this is a massive workshop where the golems are created are and is being run by the homunculi stationed here. I'll admit, their preparations for the Great Holy Grail War is something else. That Darnic is really prepared for war." Adrian said. He began to survey the area around him, trying to look for anything noteworthy.

Soon Adrian spotted a certain person amongst the homunculi, who seems to be the one giving out orders. A boy who was holding a list board and directing the homunculi on the homunculi's tasks.

Roche Frain Yggdmillenia was in the workshop, giving out orders to be ones there. "Hurry up, we need to increase the production of golems here. That Berserker is destroying more than we can resupply here."

He continued directing the homunculi to their tasks until he sighed of relief. "Well, that's that, now to find Teacher, he said that something happened in the homunculi chamber."

Roche then went off in another direction, unbeknownst to him, Adrian was watching his movements as he headed off somewhere.

Adrian never left the boy from his eyes as he watched him go to a certain door, which is actually an elevator. He watched Roche entered it, soon the elevator doors closed and he watched it move up towards the surface.

"Well then, it looks like I have an easier way to the castle's interior." Adrian commented as he got ready to do what he came here to do.

Here is the next chapter. Things have begun to set in motion as Great Holy Grail War truly begins.

Anyway, the next chapter is going to be quite the chapter and I will try to have it out as soon as I can when I have the free time. My work schedule doesn't make it easy to write out the story.

If you readers are patient enough to wait for the next chapter, I'll be very grateful. Do leave me a review so that I know how is it I can improve on the story.

With that, thank you for reading!