Hey there, I have returned with a new chapter. I hope you are having a good time in America despite the pandemic. In my country (the Canary Islands) we are also having a very bad time due to the new curfew, but even so that does not prevent me from going for a walk with my dogs, and without masks!

Now, going back to the chapter, I received some reviews of that they did not like that Ichigo did not appear in fight scenes as we used to see, but this has to continue like this. Please have some patience and I promise I will give you a surprise as to when our protagonist will go badass.

To Angelvan105, I greatly appreciate your compliments on the Servants battle descriptions. I also wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (though it's over) but thanks anyway.

Chapter 14: After the Battle

15/01/2021

Loneliness

Isolation

That was all what she felt as she watched the outside world on the other side of her bedroom window. In front of her eyes, through the glass, the outside world stretched as far as the eye could see from the citadel campus where she lived, the vast forest covered in winter snow that stretched like a white sea to the high mountains on the horizon. This was the panoramic view of the world that she saw from the tower where her room was located, and it was the best viewpoint there was.

At every hour of the day, when had nothing to do, she dedicated herself to observing and enjoying these views that nature had given to the world. She felt somehow comforting and at peace and she always resorted to going to this place from time to time to kill the boredom.

Too bad mother would not let her go out to enjoy the environment and breathe the air from outside. As much as she begged her to let her go out even for a little while, mother had strictly forbidden her not to go outside as it was very dangerous. Mother told her that the forest where they lived was full of wolves, bears and even bands of bandits, very bad people who like to kidnap children and do very bad things to them. That had terribly disappointed her to think that she would be destined to live in this citadel where she had been born for the rest of her life, but mother encouraged her that she would let her go out to explore the outside world when she was old enough and strong enough. Even so, it did not seem to cheer her up, and in the end, she settled for waiting.

Since she could remember, the girl confined in the fortress that was her home, her mother was the one who raised her and had taught her many things such as that she was a pretty strong sorceress, and a single mother.

Single mother.

A woman who takes care of her child alone in the absence of a father.

Father.

The young girl had been taught all about the family tree and its components, and this made her more curious about her roots, her lineage and who her father was and why he was not with them. Unfortunately, mother did not want to talk to her about the matter since the time had not yet come. Not only was that, as she learned more things, more curiosity and doubts entered her head about her and why she had been confined here.

She wanted answers but knew it would not come until the time came. Which turned out to be a nuisance.

After an indeterminate time, the girl stopped staring in front of the window and proceeded to leave her room and walk through the corridors of the abandoned fortress she called home. Seeing born and raised in the fortress, she had extensive knowledge about these places, and knew how to guide and orient herself so easily.

In fact it was a natural gift that she was born to talented to better learn the things mother taught her when she was 4 years old, and that was why the latter was very proud of it, and the girl was also proud of the praise.

And yet she still wondered why her mother was single, why they had to live alone and isolated from civilization in a lush forest.

Where was her father in all of this and why wasn't he with them?

It was all very strange...

"Moordred! I now have arrived!"

Mordred's expression brightened when she heard the voice of mother who had just returned from some kind of errand, she knew nothing about.

She began to speed up the march towards the exit of the fortress where mother was waiting for her. She walked down the stairs and finally reached mother.

"Mother!" The little girl screamed when she saw newcomer mother. Mother was a tall and slim woman, and she had a black veil on her face. She gave her a strange smile before leaning down slightly and reaching out to hug her.

"Oh honey..."

Mother and daughter hugged each other for a little before parting ways.

"Have you behaved well?"

"Yes."

"Well then let's go in inside before we freeze."

With that, the little girl's mother rose to her height and began to walk inside. The little girl, on the other hand, stayed still in her place, watching mother dodge away. She frowned a little.

Every time she went to ask mother, she would always give her an elusive reply like 'We'll talk later,' and she went just like that, leaving the little girl absent. She could not understand it.

Why does she always ignore her this way?

Why is she behaving as if she is hiding something from her?

Why do they have to live such a lonely and isolated life of the kingdom's borders?

Where was father in all this?

"Mordred..."

The little girl was barely startled when she heard mother's voice and paid attention. Mother turned to look at her seriously, something she had never shown before.

"Come, I need to tell you something very important about you..."

Mordred almost felt her heart stop beating and she was filled with excitement and curiosity upon hearing those words. At last...

At last, mother was going to finally speak to her and tell her what she wanted to know.

With that, she goes to mother to hear her better...

And with a groan, Ichigo slowly opens his eyes and vaguely lifts his body while awake. It took her a few moments to realize that she was now in the hotel room where they had temporarily settled, but she didn't remember much of what had happened. However, his mind was absent about what he had seen in his dream.

It was different from what he had seen before and somehow it seemed meaningful to him because he seemed to have lived it before, but he did not remember any of it at all.

'What was all that ...?' Ichigo wondered as he tried to remember the meaning of that dream. The only thing she could remember was as if she were under the skin of the main character who was that little girl who seemed to be living alone in some isolated place with her enigmatic mother but didn't know anything else. Who were those people?

That little girl was... Mordred?

"Man, look who's awakened."

Ichigo turned his head to the side to the right and saw Kon perched on the sheets with a smile.

"Yo, you look like you've had a long dream, don't you?" Said the stuffed lion with a smile.

"Kon, you-

"Don't give me that crap!" Kon yelled clearly annoyed, now that his mood was gone. "Don't see the scare you didn't give. First you tried to imite the hero and then you were thrown into the air like a baseball and fell dead on the ground. You were lucky that Orihime-san was with us since otherwise, surely you would have gone to the Soul Society of this world, if there is one, and we would have lost this damn war and also-

In that instant, Ichigo finally remembered what had happened at night.

"HOW IS GOING SHE!? Ichigo suddenly yelled in utter concern as he grabbed Kon's stuffed body before the latter finished the sentence.

"Tell me how Saber is! Is she being alright? Answer me!" The teenager yelled hysterically.

The only thing Kon could do was shake his body violently at the teenager's grasp as the latter glared at him frantically.

"Hey idiot, let me go!" The Mod soul screamed trying to escape from his captor's grip. "If you let me go, I'll tell you everything!"

Before Ichigo goes to agree to the talking stuffed lion's request, suddenly the door to his room opened, catching the former's attention, and he immediately saw a couple of familiar faces.

"Ishida. Inoue." He exclaimed surprised.

Orihime could not help but smile with great joy seeing Kurosaki awake and all right.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Once the eighth Master had regained consciousness and made sure he was in good shape, Ishida and Inoue proceeded to tell him what happened after he was 'dead' until the battle was over with Lancer's abandonment and Berserker. Ichigo listened carefully and absorbed every detail of what happened in his absence and was glad that Saber was safe and there were no fatalities. Well, except him.

"I see, so that's what happened."

"Yes." Ishida replied before frowning as he remembered that the other boy had to declare something to him when he woke up. "Kurosaki, are you aware of what you just did?"

Ichigo looked up to see the Quincy's scowl. "At night you scared us to death when we saw that you were running like a crazy towards Berserker, and he beat you. What were you thinking to do such stupidity?"

Ichigo just frowned irritably at the tone the Quincy spoke to him. He was not going to let this end like this.

"Hey, what the-

"It was about time you woke up!" The 3 teens almost shuddered upon hearing the familiar female voice that sounded like annoying, very annoying.

They soon saw the Knight of Rebellion approaching them, and she did not seem at very happy. Her dazzling emerald eyes only focused on her Master and started at him like a predator towards his prey.

Capturing this, Uryū and Orihime stepped aside, and Kon got off the bed to join Orihime. Ichigo just stayed on the bed as he kept watching the wild blonde approach with a hard but angry look at the same time.

Ichigo had a feeling that this was not going to be a peaceful conversation.

"LET'S SEE, CAN I KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT!?" Saber bellowed as she stood in front of the bed and looking at her Master. "How could you do such a nonsense like that? Did you want to die?"

"J-just shut up! I do not know if you would have noticed, but that bastard would have made you mush. I couldn't sit idly by while that was happening in front of my eyes."

"I didn't apply you to help me either, asshole!" Saber snapped again. "What good is it to me if you die and I no longer have someone to supply me with energy, huh? You were supposed that you should have stayed out of it since you do not paint anything in the combat. You should have stayed in Rider's chariot just as I asked you."

Ichigo almost let the anger consume him "What's the matter with you? Weren't Masters supposed support up their Servants in in cases of need?"

"Yes, but they shouldn't do stupid things like directly face a Servant as it would be complete suicide just like you did. Besides, what could a mere human like you do against a Heroic Spirit. Nothing! A normal human could never defeat a Servant not in a million years."

The statement further enraged Ichigo, but he did not say anything. In fact, it was not the first time that someone had told him a 'simple' human could not defeat someone. Byakuya, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra and even Aizen said similar things to him that he could not win.

And look, in the end he got they to swallow his words and defeated them all, thanks to his powers of Shinigami and hollow. However, this was all backwards now, and he was once again frustrated at not having his powers now.

"Please Saber-san, Kurosaki-kun just wanted to-

"You stay out of this!" Saber roared at the other girl, not being in the mood with her but decided to clarify something for them. "I remind you that you two are also to blame for what happened." She replied with an accusing tone looking with daggers at both Orihime and Uryū. "You said you would also take part in this and would do your best to defend this idiot in my place, right? Why didn't you stop this moron from doing such a crazy thing? Why did you allow him to almost get killed just like that?"

Orihime could not help but shudder at the red knight's accusing tone and could barely find the words to answer that. "B-but we-

"Hey, don't bring Inoue into this!" Ichigo yelled in defense of his friend as he got up from the bed and looked defiantly at his Servant. This latter turned to her Master to look at him with more hostility.

Just when this volcano was about to erupt, Ishida decided to intervene.

"Enough already, Kurosaki!" The Quincy yelled so loudly that it broke the tension between Kurosaki and his Saber, and the latter 2 fixed their gaze on the first.

"What Saber says is true. Me and Inoue-san are also partly to blame for this." Ishida spoke in a tone of conviction. "We were also supposed to take part in this to defend you from the attack of the others Masters while Saber and Rider fought the other Servants, but in the end we underestimated the situation, and you almost died." Ishida adjusted his glasses a bit before continuing. "I know you were worried about Saber and wanted to save her, but just like she said she would have been of no use to you if in the end she would disappear if you died."

Ichigo listened to the Quincy's words and almost proved to be right.

"You know, I was about to intervene to distract Berserker and make Saber buy time to escape, but suddenly I saw you running towards Berserker like a madman seeking death. Do not see the troubles you had to do when Saber and Inoue-san they tried to get your body to safety while I distracted that oni who seemed more dangerous than any hollow, and we were lucky none of us had-

"That is not true!" Inoue protested suddenly. "Kurosaki-kun wasn't to blame for this. It was us who could not have done something to help Saber-san, and that's why Kurosaki-kun was forced to do something and-

She could not say anything else when the images of Kurosaki lying on the floor lifeless filled her mind making her shudder more and remember that it was her fault for not having helped him the more, he needed it and for that reason he almost dies.

She could not help but blame herself at the thought of something happening to Kurosaki because of her.

"Forgive us, Kurosaki-kun..."

"You don't have to apologize, Inoue." Ichigo said suddenly, catching the attention of the 3. The orange haired teenager no longer wore his expression of anger from before, and instead softened although he still kept his frown. "I guess Ishida is right and it's my fault that you've all cared about me. I'm sorry."

The 2 friends of the former Shinigami saw that the words of the last one detonated sincerity and understanding.

"You better apologize to Saber first." Ishida replied.

Ichigo looked at him a bit confused before realizing that his friends were not the only ones who had cared for him. Turning his gaze to his Servant who still stood with a stiff expression as stone although with a scowl on her face, Ichigo had to suppress his dislike with the blonde and be honest to her.

"I'm very sorry." His tone was soft, no longer harboring malice but utter sincerity. "Forgive me for what I did."

The blonde looked at him with the same expression, but immediately realized that he was being honest.

"Okay, I forgave you, but don't ever do something without my permission, is that clear?"

"Hey, now you think you are the leader or what?" Ichigo asked now with an annoyed frown at the last thing she said.

"Of course. It seems that you do not know how to handle things and you let others make the decisions for you like when you followed your friend's advice to ally with Rider without problems and in the end, it turned out that we only joined him as his subordinates, remember?"

Ichigo took a moment to recall what happened last night, and the discussion he and Saber had after hearing the truth of the alliance with the King of Conquerors.

"Well that. So from now on I will be the only one to make the decisions that benefit us and you will follow them, understood?"

Ichigo frowned more clearly annoyed but decided not to argue. Nor would it be the first time that someone will send him to make the decisions for him, since Rukia was the same in that on some occasions. The truth is that there was a certain parallel between the short Shinigami and the tomboy knight, although at 2, the blonde seemed to be a bit more irritating.

When the 2 seemed not to want to talk anymore, Uryū decided to add something to ease the tension between the 2.

"Listen, Saber, the next time a battle starts, we'll be there to stop this idiot from doing something."

"Hey, who are you calling and idiot?" Ichigo asked now looking annoyed to the Quincy.

The blonde was still skeptical but said nothing about it.

"My, it seems I have arrived at the best time." The 4 of them cringed at the new voice and turned to see what Kisuke Urahara is about a few away with his typical smile.

Once everything was settled, Kisuke proceeded to invite the teenagers to discuss the matter further in the dining room, and they did. The 7 of them sat (Kon on top next to Ichigo) around the circular table. On their respective places in front of them was breakfast; fresh toast.

"Alright, now that we are gathered here, we will proceed what we have learned today." Urahara started looking at the teenagers, who silently paid attention.

"It seems that this war is going to be more difficult and dangerous than we had anticipated, and I am not saying this for the Servants, also for their Masters."

"Uh, the Masters? Why?" Ichigo asked still not understanding why the Masters are considered a threat. He still had not seen many of them and what they were capable of. The Master allied himself with was just a rookie and inexperienced from the looks of it, and as for the Lancer's Master, he did not see what he was capable of either. Urahara gave a confused look. "Hasn't Ishida-san told you before?" He asked making Kurosaki look at him more confused.

"It's true, I almost forgot." Ishida said before looking at Kurosaki. "Before Urahara-san and I got to the containers to observe the battle, there were 2 people: a man and a woman. I don't know if they were mages or Masters since they were armed with sniper rifles, and one of them was pointing at the Rider's chariot."

Ichigo was visibly surprised by this.

"Wait a minute! Were they pointing a gun at me!?" He asked in disbelief and bewilderment. He did not expect that from the beginning, they would be pointing a gun at him.

"Yes, I saw that that man had his sights on you, and there was no doubt that he would have no regrets in pulling the trigger and scattering the ground with your brains." Urahara replied. "But I was lucky to arrive just in time and immobilized the man with the Kikanshinki."

Einzbern Castle

Kiritsugu Emiya was not happy at all.

His frustration could not be as confusing when he and Maiya had woken up a few hours ago. All he could remember was that they were secretly watching the battle between Saber and Lancer until a new opponent came who broke into the battle being Rider, whose name if he remembered was Iskandar, better known as Alexander the Great, the Macedonian King who in the past almost conquered the known world. Apart from that, he was also accompanied by another pair of Master and Servant, presumably an alliance, but what had caught his attention the most was that the Servant accompanying him was strikingly similar to Saber but wild-looking and wearing full armor.

That last thing caught his attention a bit thinking that he could be a type of knight in addition to the great sword she carried. Even in the way she fought Saber she was the closest thing to a Saber too, though he doubted it a lot. Either way, this new opponent turned out to be quite troublesome and he had to neutralize her Master to end this. Looking through the scope of his rifle, he located doppelgänger Saber's Master, being a slightly young teenager in his early 20s with orange haired. He had made the decision to pull the trigger and blow the teenager's head off, no matter how young he seemed and-

So far it was the only thing that the Magus Killer could remember since when he wanted to realize it, he had woken up in the same place where he had remained before. His assistant Maiya was also with him trying to wake up him, and when he did, he saw that the stage where the Servants' battle was taking place was completely empty with various signs of destructions. Maiya only informed him that the battle had ended a few hours ago much to the killer's confusion.

Kiritsugu tried to ask for an answer, but she claimed that she did not know since she had been knocked out by someone and he had also stolen the weapons they had except the Thompson Contender. All of this was very strange to the Magus Killer as he did not remembered any of it. He did not recall being knocked out at any point, but there was no other explanation for him being on the ground and his weapons having disappeared like that all of a sudden.

It was strange, but it felt like he had been brainwashed somehow or drugged so that he would not remember anything that happened. This sounded pretty ridiculous as he couldn't believe that the infamous Magus Killer had let his guard down and will be knocked out by someone without even realizing it and furthermore, he felt no pain anywhere he was supposed to have been hit.

Besides, he did not know who his attackers were, but if they were the enemy, it was very strange that they left them alive just like that. Sounded stupid to him that his attacker did not take advantage of him being knocked out and finished him off at once, and just let him live for some reason, and they just took his weapons away. This sounded surreal to him, but he had no other explanation.

Putting that aside, Kiritsugu and Maiya returned to the castle where they had taken refuge and would serve as a barracks, and he was glad to see his wife Irisviel, as well as Saber well. After a loving reunion with hugs and kisses, the albino proceeded to tell her husband what had happened during the fight. Kiritsugu had listened carefully to what happened in his absence and collected the information until the withdrawal of Berserker and Lancer.

After hearing what happened, on the one hand Kiritsugu was glad that both his wife and his Servant escaped this unscathed despite what happened, and quickly began to analyze the situation.

So that Servant who looked so much like Saber was none other than the Knight of Treachery Mordred, the bastard child of King Arthur 'Arturia' the one who killed her and ended her reign at once. Putting her identity aside, he had been puzzled to hear that she had also been classified in this war as a Saber, which was impossible, since there should only be one Saber and not 2 in a same war. His Saber had confirmed to him that her 'son' had been summoned as a Saber although her prowess was very similar to that of a Berserker, which surprised the mercenary quite a bit.

Putting that aside, the other Servants that appeared shortly after; Archer and Berserker were potential threats from what Irisviel and Saber had told him about them, and they would have to be careful going forward. The part that shocked him the most was when Berserker was about to eliminate the other Saber, suddenly her Master, that orange haired teenager, intruded and received the mortal blow from the Servant of Madness, ending his life and that of one of the participants of the war.

Kiritsugu could not believe what he had heard. A Master uselessly sacrificing his life to save his Servant? The Servant was supposed to fight and sacrifice their lives, and not the other way around. A noble but useless act since no proud magus would do something so colossally stupid.

Now with one of the war's competitors has been eliminated, this could be a slight advantage for now. However, still did not understand why there were 2 Sabers at the same time since only the Grail could summon a single Servant class. There was definitely something there that wasn't working right, but that didn't compare at all to what happened to him and Maiya during the heat of the battle, and he still kept wondering what had happened and why he couldn't remember anything that happened.

This is ridiculous!

"Do you want some tea?" His wife's soft voice woke him from his thoughts, and he noticed the albino bringing him a cup of hot tea.

"Thank you." Kiritsugu replied willingly sitting in the castle dining room, while Irisviel put the cup on the table in front him. He took a sip before looking at his wife.

"How is Saber doing?" She looked at him for a moment.

"She is still restoring from her injuries, but she is fine."

The Magus Killer nodded upon hearing that. He had been honestly surprised by his Servant's combat capabilities when he fought Lancer and it goes without saying that her skills in either swordsmanship or martial art were superior to any swordsman he had ever seen, because they were beings that transcended to mankind just as old Acht had told him when he spoke of the Heroic Spirits. But even so it does not mean that they are invincible since they are also vulnerable to the attacks of the other Servants and therefore can die again.

However, he was not really concerned about that matter. What happens is that during the heat of battle, Lancer displayed one of his Noble Phantasms, being a yellow spear called Gáe Buidhe that managed to reach Saber's left arm and cut her tendons.

According to the information he saw on the Throne of Heroes, Gáe Buidhe: The Golden Rose of Mortality, is a magic and cursed spear that inflicts wounds that cannot be healed naturally or with magecraft. According to its legend, it was a gift given to Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (true identity of Lancer) by Manannán mac Lir, the king of fairies, and he normally keeps it wrapped in a talisman cloth to seal its abilities and keep it from revealing his identity.

Apparently, the spear lowers the opponent's maximum health limit, thus limiting healing and regeneration abilities to the point where the opponent received the injury. When Saber received a light wound on her left arm that severed her tendons, Irisviel could not to heal it with magecraft due to her being considered in a state of full health. Kiritsugu had to admit that it was a dangerous weapon and a big problem at the same time.

This showed that they were now in a rather delicate situation regarding the state of his Saber, and he knew that this should not be ignored for anything before starting over.

The only thing he could think of to remove the curse of his Servant is to destroy that spear or its wielder. In other words, he had to kill Lancer's Master right now.

The Magus Killer was a little thoughtful about his options. He knew it would be a risk to face Lancer or another Servant head-on again considering Saber's fragile situation, so in the end he had to choose a different strategy.

"At the moment, Maiya is monitoring the various accommodation centers of the city to find out where the Lancer's Master has been established so that she and I can eliminate him at once." He squints as he remembers that he had already had a chance to eliminate one of the Lords of the Clock Tower if Rider had never appeared to interrupt them.

The albino barely tensed when she saw the dark glow of her husband. Despite being married for 8 years and knowing him very well better than anyone, there were times when she felt a bit intimidated when he was busy at his 'other' job. In fact, she knew very well what he was going to do, and she did not like it.

"By the way, is it true that Assassin is still alive?" Irisviel asked curiously remembering what her husband had told her although she did not know many details.

Kiritsugu's expression darkened as he remembered that moment in the middle of the battle. Despite not remembering what happened next, he clearly remembered experiencing through the scope of his rifle the dark figure of Assassin in one of buildings not far from the place, watching the battle.

He was very confused about why that Servant was alive if according to his assistant Maiya, Assassin was eliminated by sneaking into the Tohsaka residence.

Tohsaka.

If he remembered correctly, the Master of Assassin was Kirei Kotomine, the only man in this war who worried him, and according to his reports this individual was a student of Tokiomi Tohsaka for 3 years.

He still was not 100% sure, but if it were true that if somehow Assassin managed to survive Archer's attack either by pure chance or on purpose, then could it be that... somehow Tokiomi and Kirei be ally?

It was a possibility, but very remote.

He would have to keep a close eye on those 2 men next time.

"I'm still not sure, Iri." He answered after a moment's reflection. "I don't know what's going on right now, but next time I'll be more careful."

The albino could not help but smile with relief and assurance upon hearing those words.

"I'm sure you and Saber will do better."

Kiritsugu also gave a small smile on his face, which was a bit weird, but he did it anyway upon seeing his wife's smile. He took another sip of his tea and as he did so, he thought about what his wife said, and wanted to trust it too.

Golden Koi

Back with our protagonists.

"Now putting that aside, let's about the Servants." Urahara changed the subject to speak now about they enemies. "As we witnessed last night, these Servants are truly formidable warriors, and I would dare say their battle powers ranges from an experienced Shinigami lieutenant to a powerful Captain."

Ichigo and the others had to agree on that, since they also witnessed, they incredible fighting skills, and it would not be easy to deal with them.

"Lancer and the other Saber aside, the biggest threat is undoubtedly from Archer and Berserker, although I would worry more about the latter."

Again, they nodded, agreeing that this black demon was without a doubt the most dangerous.

"I agree to it." Ishida argumented. "But there's something I don't understand. Wasn't the Berserker Class supposed to just attack like crazy without any kind of strategy or fighting style similar to Saber? Why was Berserker attacking like he had it all figured out?"

"Good question." Urahara added. "As you say, the Berserker Class have no sense of self and are always on offense rather than defensive. This is quite peculiar."

"Wait, here's something I don't understand." Ichigo said before looking Ishida. "You said there was no reishi here so you could make your weapons, right? So how could you do it?"

The Quincy looked down a bit, looking a bit dejected. "You see ..." he said before moving a hand under his suit and took out a pendant with a small blue glass sphere.

"It was thanks to this."

Flashback

"Take it." Urahara said before handing Ishida a bluish spherical shaped amulet. To the Quincy, this slightly reminded him of a miniature version of the Reishūkaku. Ishida raised his head to the shopkeeper for the latter to explain what this was.

"I call it Rei hassei-ki. It is an invention of mine after hard work in making reishi so as not to depend on the environment." Urahara explained with a smile, he being obviously proud of his latest invention.

Ishida was almost perplexed by what he heard. Could Reishi be made with this? Something smaller than the Reishūkaku?

"How does it work?" He asked curiously, wishing to know how it was used.

"You see, it is made of the same material as the Reishūkaku, so like the latter, it is capable of absorbing the user's Reiryoku, but at the same time it turns it into Reishi so that you can absorb it and make your weapons." Urahara explained as the Quincy collected the information in amazement.

"Taste it. Use it in the same way as the Reishūkaku." The shopkeeper urged to use it.

Nodding, the Quincy took the locket in his hand, and used his Reiryoku to mold it from energy. However, instead of creating a semi-transparent sphere around the user, Ishida felt how his body had begun to gather Reishi from the locket, and taking advantage of this, he extended his free arm and a spiritual bow appeared to everyone's surprise.

Urahara only smiled proudly at the success of his invention.

"Sugoi!" Inoue exclaimed in surprise with a delighted smile.

Ishida couldn't believe it either. He was able to craft the Reishi weapon without the Reishi from his world, and this could be a great advantage. He could almost smile delightedly if it weren't for a strange feeling of exhaustion.

After a moment of exhibition, Urahara decided that was enough.

"Okay, Ishida-san, it's enough now."

Heeding, Uryū deactivated his weapon and everything went silent. The Quincy looked at the now the inactive Rei hassei-ki in his hand, still amazed at its ability to manufacture Reishi from his Reiryoku.

"What do you think?" The shopkeeper asked the Quincy waiting for his words.

Ishida turned to him. "It was amazing. Thank you very much, Urahara-san. With this, I will be able to fight like before." He said this last sentence recovering his spirits and determination. Inoue and Urahara smiled in unison as they saw the Quincy recovering his morale and not looking like a burden.

"However..." he said suddenly. "It seems like it has the same side effects as when using the Reishūkaku, right?"

The positive mood had instantly faded upon hearing that, and Urahara wasted no time explaining it. "As you have said, the Rei hassei-ki is made of the same material as Reishūkaku, and therefore has the same effects. By absorbing your Reiryoku, you feel that your energy is draining depending on the amount that the Rei hassei-ki absorb to make Reishi. So, you'd better not force it too much, alright?"

Ishida nodded with stoic disappointment upon hearing that even though he could now use his abilities normally, would be limited depending on the use of his Reiryoku. Well at least this would be much better than when he lost his powers after his battle with Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

"But do not worry." Urahara suddenly spoke, regaining optimism. "Given your Reiryoku reserves, you will be able to perform a Hirenkyaku and your barrage of arrows."

Those words seemed to comfort the Quincy, and he knew he had to settle for this...

End of flashback

"That was all he told me." Ishida finished before putting the locket inside her clothes. Ichigo and Kon listened attentively to the Quincy's words and the former wouldn't know if he would be happy or disappointed by this. Although this problem did not seem uncomfortable to Ishida.

"Well, I did my best as not to keep Ishida-san out of this. So there will be not problem about it."

No one said anything seeing as there was nothing to discuss regarding Uryū's problem.

"Well, putting that aside, what we have to do is how to deal with Berserker when we meet him again." Urahara returned to the matter of the Servant of Madness.

"Well, and what can we do about it to be able to deal with it?" Ichigo asked not happy to see so much pessimism.

Urahara just adjusted his hat before speaking. "For now, we will just have to be careful and think through our options before facing him."

"Bah, I don't think it's necessary." Now all eyes were on the blonde knight sitting next to Ichigo, and unlike the rest, she did not seem to be too worried.

"I have to admit that fucking crazy bastard managed to beating me of death, but only because he caught me off guard and I couldn't react. But that will not happen again as I have learned all his tricks. This time I'll crush him." She said with conviction as she hit her fist with her hand and then cracked her knuckles.

"Can you really do it?" Ichigo asked with some of doubt.

"Of course, do you doubt my abilities?" She asked sounding almost offended.

"It's not that. I just think that you should fight alongside Rider so that you can-

"I don't need that big guy to help me!" Saber retorted in disagreement. "I am a mightily warrior, and the only one who can fight as equals against father!"

"Sure, but-

Suddenly his eyebrows arched in surprise and confusion as he collected the last sentence in his brain, and he suddenly remembered something important.

"Wait a minute, your father?" Ichigo asked ncuriously as images of the other Saber lit up his mind and what was revealed of her. "There is still something I don't understand, who exactly was that Saber who looked so much like you?"

Mordred said nothing while the thought of it also entered the heads of both Uryū and Orihime.

"It's true, now that I remember, I saw that other Saber up close, and was surprised that she looked so much like Mordred." Ishida said.

"I also." Inoue added.

"Wait, what?" Urahara asked in confusion. "The enemy Saber look like ours?"

"Yes, I was there and witnessed it." Kon, who had not said anything until now, suddenly replied. "I must admit she looked really cute and stuff, but I was shocked when she mentioned that she is the King of Britain."

This surprised almost everyone present in the dining room upon hearing the identity of the supposed second Saber.

"Wait, the King of Britain? You mean...?"

"Yeah, I also remember." Ichigo said. "Even that Waver boy mentioned that she was King Arthur."

"It's true, I remember too hearing her call the other Saber as Arthur." Orihime added remembering the scene.

Such was Ichigo's confusion about the identity of that Saber who looked more like a twin sister of his Saber, and he had a hard time believing that she was the same person that everyone claims to be, and much less the tomboy's father.

"Hey, Saber, can you tell us who she was exactly?"

Mordred frowned at the question. "Didn't they just tell you or what?"

"Yes, but I have a hard time believing that girl is king or your father. What's going on here?"

"That's right, is that girl really your bastard father?" Kon asked also curious. The rest also turned their attention to her for the answer.

However, instead of responding, the infamous Knight of Rebellion only gave them a death glare indicating that she was in no mood to bring it up to them.

"Listen carefully, this is none of your concern. You don't need to know anything about it, understood?"

They all caught the murderous, grumpy look of the blonde, and agreed not to ask any more question for their own good.

"Well, how about we change the subject now?" Urahara was the first to express his fear. "At least we know the name of two of our enemies, being the other one Lancer, whose identity is if I remember correctly, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, a legendary character from Irish mythology, who is said to have been one of the first knights of Fianna. With this, I think we have an advantage for next time."

Some nodded in agreement, but then Uryū decided to add something else.

"There is still something missing." Now everyone looked at the Quincy. "Of the Servants we've seen so far, I think one is missing."

"It is true, the Servant we have yet to see is Caster, the Spirit Heroic of the Magic and Sorcery, who apparently did not appear last night." Urahara added.

"No wonder." Saber said suddenly. "Of all the Servants, Caster is the weakest because he doesn't even know how to use a sword or spear, and that's why he didn't want to face us because he knows that he can't beat even me."

"We don't know for sure yet, as he is likely putting together a strategy to attack in the next night."

Fuyuki's Sewers

"This is cool, man! So, this is the Holy Grail War."

In the deep and dark in the sewers of the city, a sea of crazed laughter could be heard echoing through the surroundings. Those laughter belonged to that of a slightly older young man in his 20s with orange hair, wearing 2 piercings, wearing a white T-shirt, purple jacket and matching pants. This young man was about Ryūnosuke Uryū, a serial killer who liked to kidnap children and murder them.

The killer was dancing and screaming like a child excited to see what happened during the battle in the harbor. He had witnessed the action and abilities of every Servant he saw, and instead of being shocked or concerned, he was surprised and excited at the same time.

"Hey, Mister Bluebeard! That was all real, right? It was all real and not some kind of special effect, right?" The killer did a dance while saying that and then danced around the place where he was.

"Cool... You'll take part in all that too, right?"

However, his partner, the Caster-class Servant did not respond and remained oblivious to his Master's joy as he watched through a magic crystal ball where he had witnessed the combat.

"M-mister?" Ryūnosuke asked a bit confused by Bluebeard's silence.

"My wish has come true..." Caster spoke in a French accent with a sad and excited tone.

"It came true? Uh..." Ryūnosuke said with an awkwardly smile.

It was so that, Caster turned to look at his Master with a smile on his face and tears emerging from his large eyes.

"Look at her! She is the answer to my prayers!" He exclaimed hysterically. "Her dignified face, her noble posture..."

Then he points a finger whose nail was grown and sharp at the sphere. "She is none other than the maiden of my dreams!"

Ryūnosuke approached the sphere while Caster seemed to cry with joy, and when he got a good glimpse of what his Servant was looking at, he turned to him.

"You know her?" He asked dryly.

"Of course!" He exclaimed with joy. "She was abandoned by God and perished in shame. But she has been revived at last! This... this is a miracle!"

Then he walked back to the sphere and put his hands on it to visualize again and observe it once more.

"Oh my maiden... my holy virgin... I will come for you soon."

His eyes were so attached to the image emerging from the sphere that at any moment it could have left its orbit.

Yes. The image of his maiden that he longed for so much was nothing more and nothing less than Mordred showing his characteristic wild smile.

This is where this year's chapter ends. As you can see, our former Substitute is still alive and everyone is happy to see him, except one. It also seems that he has already dreamed of a small fragment of Mordred's past in her childhood. Just the instant of knowing who her father was and her lineage.

Also the Magus Killer is fine although somewhat frustrated to be defeated in an almost comical and somewhat amnesic way, but that will not prevent him from doing one of his as the Hyatt Hotel Incident.

Now, a new shadow looms among the sewers of Fuyuki waiting for its chance to strike, and now its gaze is on our Knight of Rebellion. What kind of problems is this going to give our protagonists when they come face with Caster and what direction is the war going to take from now on?

See it in the next chapter.

Ja ne!