* Umineko – Bizarre Divertimento

* Rewrite – Exploration

* Rose Guns Days – Axelle-ratio

* Umineko – Bizarre Divertimento

Things became more problematic in the blink of an eye.

What should have been a straightforward and short battle had drawn out for far too long by virtue of Ganelon's seemingly bottomless vigor. Even after the Ark had gone back to a horizontal position, Brynhildr was still locked into a frantic fight against the Berserker.

The latter should have been running out of energy for a moment now – and in a way he had, since his fighting style had been reduced to the bare minimum. He couldn't even activate any of his Noble Phantasms anymore and it would seem as though he wasn't a match for Brynhildr after all. Yet even so, the Valkyria couldn't tell whether she was closer to victory or not.

Truthfully, she had hoped to finish this battle quickly so she could be reunited with Ewald, and as their fight went on she grew anxious. At any moment Ravana could change his mind and decide that taking her out was worth sacrificing his teammate, and she would have little chance to escape the rain of death. She could not afford to flee to the streets for safety either because of her stubborn opponent. Finally, the fact that there still wasn't a sign of the Black Faction's presence had made her come to the same conclusion as Maui.

However, all of that changed once the battle stopped being one-on-one: because her attention had been hogged by Ganelon, Brynhildr hadn't realized that the tremor which had shaken the Ark had been a result of Neo Helios ramming into it; only once Chi You sprang into battle out of the blue did she understand.

The Saber didn't attack Brynhildr or Ganelon – she attacked both at once.

It had not been meant to kill though; if anything, it felt more like an introduction. The white knight and the Valkyria were pushed away and this surprise hit at least had the effect of pausing their battle. Ganelon, despite his mindless rage, was staring at Chi You without attacking – perhaps his last shred of sanity was holding him back until he could determine if the newcomer wasn't one of his allies.

Brynhildr was doing as much, although not for the same reason of course.

"..."

"So you still live after all, Lancer." The way Chi You was glarring at her wasn't different from how she always looked, yet even so Brynhildr was wincing on the inside. "I take it you are a Black Servant no more."

Back when she had been recruited by the Red Faction, Brynhildr had wondered how she would feel when coming across her previous companions. She had thought that it wouldn't faze her, but as expected she wasn't insensible either – there was still a remnant of pride within her that dearly regretted this War where there was no true ally. However, it wasn't as though she regretted defecting either.

"Indeed, I suppose I've become the new Lancer of Red." At the end of the day, she was not going to let this feeling interfere.

"Not that I would care." Chi You clicked her tongue.

"Huh?"

That was certainely not something Brynhildr had expected to hear from her.

That is, until the war god elborated.

"Those colours are a stupid and meaningless thing. I need to crush the Red as much as the White, and then the Black as much as those two." It was true, there was no difference between the way she looked at her teammates and the way she glarred at her opponents. "Those Factions were not meant to exist in something like the Holy Grail War. In the first place, we are not tied by any form of ideal or common goal – everyone desires to win for themselves."

"You're wrong, Saber." Brynhildr understood that Chi You didn't care about what arrangement the Black and Red Faction had made together, and so she readied her spear. "There is meaning is fighting together. Even in this merciless war, there are some who don't wish to see each other die."

The Valkyria wasn't oblivious to the kind of atmosphere that had and still permeated the Black Faction. Aside from its leader and the people closest to him, it was true that they were only tied together by interest. However, by joining the Red Faction she had found out that things didn't have to be this way. Benevolence and solidarity could still find their place in the Holy Grail War.

"YyyOOOouuu... are a FieEeennd!" Ganelon finally came to a conclusion. "You cannot trick me, demon! It has come back to me now – I have already drawn thy blood with Murgleis!"

"I don't remember hiding." A vein popped between Chi You's four eyes. "I haven't forgotten about you either, you annoying pile of scrap metal. The brat prevented me from putting you down once and for all before, but he's not here to stop me this time."

"I will slay evil with my blaAAAaaaAAAaaade!"

"You cannot even defeat that child over there." Chi You was unimpressed by his roaring. "In your state, you are even less of a threat than before."

It would have seemed that the battle was about resume now, except this time they each had one more opponent to watch out for.

However, something else happened before which made this situation even more difficult: as it turned out, Ravana had finally grown bored of his role as suppressive fire for the Ark. Now that both the Red and the Black Faction had made their way onboard, it wasn't as though the Pushpaka Vimana had much of a role to play; no matter how many cannons he aimed at Neo Helios, there was nothing he could do against the floating temple in this way.

That was why Chi You, Brynhildr and Ganelon all saw the flying fortress dissolve into thin air – the next moment, the Rakshasa King's enormous frame landed right next to them.

Brynhildr immediatly acknowledge the danger of the situation. Of course, there was the menace of Ravana himself; she considered him a threat on the same level as Chi You, if not higher due of his immortality. But the true issue with this situation was that there were now two Servants of White in this battle. It was still a three-way battle, in the worst sense.

She had several options.

She could keep on fighting as though nothing had changed, even though that would pit her against many foes who were forces to be reckoned with.

Frankly speaking, odds of survival were low. She would normally be able to easily defeat Ganelon at this point, but now that the latter had an ally and that he wasn't her only opponent, it wasn't set it stone. Chi You was entirely a gamble; she hadn't been summoned with all of her strength, but if Brynhildr didn't kill her quickly, she would most certainely be the one to meet her end. As for Ravana, she had no way of killing him, period.

There was also the possibility of running away.

Ganelon might not try to pursue her now that his attention was set on Chi You. The latter had a match to settle with the two Servants of White, it would stand to reason that she would take care of them first. She didn't know how Ravana would react but as long as he had to deal with the war god, she could escape him. With all risks taken into account, this was the safest option and it would let her reunite with her teammates.

However, she was a Valkyria.

Her body was screaming her to fight. Chi You's words from a minute ago did resonate with that part of her: in order to fulfill her own wish, she had to strike down her foes.

Which was it going to be...?

While she dithered, the world around her wouldn't wait for her to make a decision.

The first to act was Ravana, who didn't have to worry about defending himself: he raised his massive sword abovehead and the weapon shone a bright pale blue. Thanks to his size, the other three Servants were close enough that he could swing it down in their general direction. Brynhildr's instinct was to step back, but Ganelon and Chi You closed in instead. The latter was the fastest though and she raised a shield high to block the sword which, upon clashing, released a powerful wave of energy.

The Valkyria and the white knight were pushed away violently by the sudden burst.

Further clashes ensued and the Berserker rushed back in immediatly, but not Brynhildr.

If there was any moment to run, it was this one.

(Don't let your thoughts stray.)

At the end of the day, reason was strong than instincts. She had more to gain by protecting her Master. She couldn't die a senseless death here; she still had something she needed to tell him. That's why Brynhildr abandoned her fight, turned heel and slipped into a street.

Just as she had calculated, none of the three Servants came after her, at least as far as she could tell when looking over her shoulder. The reason why she wasn't certain was because, after merely a few seconds of running around, she heard sounds that sounded like movements.

But she thought that if one of those three were to hunt her down, they would be much louder than this: this sound on the other hand was as quiet as leaves in the wind. Perhaps it was the wind in fact; the shape of the streets and this altitude was making the wind howl like a vengeful spectre.

"No."

She could tell the difference between the wind and this metallic sound. It seemed as though someone... something was walking. But that too was a wrong assessment.

One.

Two.

Ten.

Twenty.

"...How many are there?" In the span of a minute, the number of footsteps had increased to the point where it wasn't quiet anymore. "I see. Those are artificial life forms."

It occured to her before she even witnessed it directly that the source of that noise were most likely automata. She wasn't too familiar with those as these had been practically non-existent in the Midgard she remembered, but she had gotten to observe those made by Alexander Lendric. However, what she saw next was the complete opposite of a humanoid doll.

It was a swarm of insects.

They came in all shapes and forms: some looked like spiders, others ressembled water striders or mosquitoes, and there were even a couple centipedes crawling on the walls. The smallest were the size of a dog but because they were packed so close they managed to appear intimidating nonetheless. It was a host of nightmare which she saw spilling out of a street not too far ahead of her and, as soon as it had spotted her, came crawling in her direction.

As far as she was concerned though, they were not even worth considering as a threat.

With a mere swing of her spear, automata were smashed to smithereen while other were sent flying from the sheer force of the impact. Their number was overwhelming for sure, but they were incomparable to a weapon of war. Unfortunately...

Ewald, I need to know your location immediatly.

How would humans of flesh and bones fair against an army like this? It was entirely possible that these automata were not appearing only in this place. Even if she could mow them down, it would be for nothing if something happened to her Master.

But...

Ewald?

After twenty seconds had passed, she still hadn't received an answer. Then it was thirty seconds, then forty and eventually she realized that he wasn't taking his time to think.

Ewald!

She kept shouting through their mental link, to no avail. Oh, how she wished she were able to see through his eyes just as he could see through hers – he was alive, she could feel it, so why wasn't he responding?!

She had no idea where Phaeton, Michael and Ewald had gone to. Since the last time she had seen them, they could have moved to a completely different part of the Ark. They might even have backtracked for all she knew. She had counted on their ability to communicate to make up for that fact, but when even that option had been taken from her there was only one way.

Taking the risk of being seen by her previous opponents, Brynhildr sprang out of the street and spread her wings. Some of the mechanical insects shot bronze stings at her but she was already gone before the darts could reach her.

Soaring would let her look around faster than running blindly in this labyrinthine City. But even so, spotting them would be hard. She had no time to waste inspecting every nook and crany, and might very miss them; if they were inside a house or somewhere that wasn't visible from the air, she would never find them. But she didn't have time to wallow on that fact – the Valkyria began unraveling the Ark from the sky.

She flew in a large circle, making sure to avoid the trio fighting near the center and keeping an eye out for Neo Helios; all the while, her gaze was fixated toward the ground with the attention and precision of a hawk.

Despite all of this, by the time she returned to her starting point she still hadn't caught a glimpse of her Master nor the people who should have been with him. She didn't lose hope still; if she couldn't find him with her own eyes, then there had to be another way. There was at least one thing she had noticed during her flight: as she had predicted, the mechanical swarm had appeared in other spots. But instead of spreading out they all seemed to be moving in the same direction.

Whatever their objective was, there was a chance that they would lead her to the one she sought. In order to find him before them, she flew in the same direction.

She flew until she had reached the edge of the Ark (the same one the Red Faction had come through). And there, before the swarm, she spotted silhouettes on the ground. Hope grew in her heart.

"...!"

Before being crushed when she saw that the figures standing there were not the ones she had wanted to see. Now that she was closer, she saw that there were only two people, a Servant and a Master. Her first assumption was that they had to be from the White Faction since she couldn't recognize them. But the next moment, it occured to her that she did know that Servant – and disappointment left place to surprise.

"If I'm right, you are a Servant of Black." The Servant asked when she landed in front of them. "I hope that means you didn't come to stand in our way."

"You're Ruler, aren't you?" She looked at the old man with confusion. "What did you come here for?"

"I am here to fulfill my duty." He announced solemnly. "Far from me the intent of interfering with your battle, but where there is an enemy of the Holy Grail War my presence is necessary."

As he said that, the Ruler looked behind Brynhildr and saw the automata army approaching. He remained compose as the woman next to him revealed black keys in both of her hands.

"Hmph. So he has decided to put obstacles before us. Is that for his own fun or was he not expecting us so soon?" Then, he turned his gaze to Brynhildr. "I require your help."

"Huh...?!" He had just said he wouldn't interfere with what she was doing.

"I expect that man to have more in reserve for us. He wants to slow me down until his plan has come to completition – if I do not hurry before that happens, I foretell unimaginable disaster. Not only to those of are currently on the Ark but perhaps even the world at large."

Where did that even come from?

Brynhildr could make a good guess as to who Ruler was refering to, but he had never shared more about Ivan other than that he had become an 'enemy of the Grail'. She had no reason to distrust his words, that was true. But this was a very unfair choice as well – her heart was telling her to keep looking for her Master, but her reason was telling her to fight the threat Ruler spoke of. In both cases Ewald's life was in danger, but helping Ruler did not guarantee his safety either.

...

The swarm was now upon them – Brynhildr spun around and swept them off with her spear. Then, she cried through gritted teeth:

"I swear upon all the forces of the universe, if my Master dies because of this I will hold you responsible even beyond the veil of death, Ruler!"

The old man nodded somberly.

"We must make haste."

Chapter LXXIV: Dynamite Den

* Rewrite – Exploration

Leo's feet were lighter now; he managed to focus all of his attention on the situation around him.

One thing that went without saying, the City was a lot more fun to move around in when it was at its intended angle. He didn't need to calculate his trajectory or cross his fingers that he wouldn't lose strength again. That being said, the latter hadn't happened at all so far ever since he had left Anastasia. But even without that, he hadn't gotten the occasion to recover completely and wished he could go at his own pace. Unfortunately, he was not the master of his own destiny.

"Pant... pant... paaaaant...!"

Even though his chest was hurting and his mouth tasted like blood, he was sprinting.

But it wasn't like he could help it: he had seen through Galahad's eyes that Neo Helios (or at least what looked like it) was somehow stuck in the Ark's hull. In other words, the Black Faction had finally hauled their butts over here, including Hatsuyo. So of course he would be running as fast as he could, he had to get to her before anything bad could happen.

He would find her alongside the rest of the Black Faction, most likely, but that wasn't the part he was most worried about. Naturally, he could trust his illusion to hide him – if not for it, he wouldn't be running around without checking his surroundings. Not that he had come across anyone else so far, but even he wasn't stupid enough to drop his guard so easily.

"Aaaaaaaaghhhhhh... This place... pant.. is so pointlessly huge...! Pant..." There was literally nothing here too: the streets and the houses were empty. All this City was good for was making him run. "Pant... pant... I'm kinda missing that water right now... pant..."

The fact that he didn't know his way around this place did nothing to help, but even so it was ridiculous. It wasn't an actual labyrinth, so as long as he kept on the same way he should get to his destination pretty easily. In practice however, he was a slave to the City's whims and was forced to take detours, to the point he sometimes forgot in which direction he was headed. It wasn't as though he could climb up on buildings either, so he couldn't even tell how close he was to the edge of the Ark.

Eventually, he was forced to allow himself a break.

He had been running so much that it took actual efforts to slow down and, once that was down, he collapsed. His heart felt like it was about to burst and breathing was painful. Even though a strong wind was blowing on him in the during the coldest part of the year, his body was so hot that he at least opened his coat.

(Am I overdoing it...?)

If he drained himself of energy just getting to Hatsuyo, he wouldn't have any left in order to actually face her. He didn't think it was going to be a calm and peaceful reunion, after all; even when they had been getting along normally, she had been very physical.

Although...

How was he going to face her?

He had thought about it a lot. He had made up a lot of scenarios in his head in preparation for this day – no matter how hard he grinded his gears there was no clear answers. He knew what he wanted to do, but would she play along? Would she even accept to speak to him?

His expectation was that she wouldn't.

When the two of them talked, it had always felt as though she refused to pursue conversations, or when she did it was in an aggressive manner. Coming from a normal person, it would have meant she didn't want to interact with him at all, but that certainely hadn't stopped her from hanging around him in the past.

Still, that was a bit contradictory: he saw her as someone extremely straightforward and who didn't bother with lying. But then, shouldn't he accept her animosity as truth as well? He had thought about it too, plenty. If it turned out he had been dead wrong about her from the start, he wasn't sure how he would take it.

"..."

But in his opinion, it wasn't that much of a paradoxe: she didn't bother lying, but she didn't bother thinking either. The way she was always withdrawn on herself and her brutal tendencies made Leo believe that violence was her default option to deal with a situation. A way for her to avoid having to think at all. That didn't really excuse any of her actions, but...

Well, Leo was free to do whatever he wanted, even if it was stupid.

He could be mistaken and she might just kill him in cold blood this time. But he wanted to believe in what he saw in her – the time they had spent together during this one year - what he had felt in that room with gashes covering every wall. He had also brought something that might ease her up but that was as much of a gamble as everything else.

(...I should go.)

He had rested for long enough; at this rate, Hatsuyo would be gone somewhere else. He stood up with a grunt and resumed going around blindly. This time however, he was walking. Not because he wanted to but because it was painfully clear that his body couldn't take more sprinting.

(My legs are the ones taking me around, so I should treat them with more respect...)

What would he do if he reached Neo Helios and Hatsuyo wasn't there? He couldn't exactly ask someone from the Black Faction where she had gone to. How long he could afford to remain alone was also up in the air.

Only now did he realize every single part of his plan relied on sheer luck, and the irony wasn't wasted on him.

Even running around wasn't a completely safe bet either; he could hide easily, but he was not nearly skillful enough with illusions to avoid being detected by a Bounded Field. Considering this was a war between magi and that there were still two Casters on top of that, Leo wasn't as careful as he could.

"Well, I didn't encounter anything or anyone. Their base is so big but it doesn't looks like they bothered with basic security..." Not that he would complain about that. "If worse comes to worst, guess I'll die."

Leo tried laughing about it but it ringed hollow. Nonetheless, it had more or less been a smooth sailing so far; some optimism wouldn't be wasted. He kept walking for a short while with not a single living soul in sight and, at last, he made it to the opposite edge of the Ark. Somehow the path he had taken must have been the best despite the detours, for he had arrived almost exactly where Neo Helios was located.

Even though he was invisible, he peeked from behind a corner to see if anyone was there.

"... ... Of course I'm too late." He sighed.

But that sounded about right. He had ran as fast as he could because he hadn't had any other solution, but in hindsight it would have been completely impossible for him to make it even with the build of an athlete. There was absolutely no one here aside him and he didn't think that they would still be inside after so much time.

Just in case though, he came out of hiding and approached to see if he could find any sign of presence. But all that did was confirming he was alone, as well as giving him a better look at the damage Neo Helios had left on the Ark.

"Wow, that's pretty much a crevace."

One giant crack was running from the floating temple's bow all the way into the City. If it had been any bigger it could have passed off as a creek.

And from that one main gap, many smaller fissures were spreading in all directions. Leo approached the rift to take a look and immediatly regretted it; it was easy to forget how high up this place was.

Beside, there was't much to see: the crack in the hull didn't seem to reach all the way down to the sea, but it was still large enough to see what was inside the belly of the Ark. Namely, nothing – it was like an empty shell and it was too dark inside to glimpse anything.

More interestingly, it was obvious that the golden temple had rammed the Ark when the latter had still been tipping: it was planted in the middle of the hull, too high to be touching the sea yet a tad too low to be on the same level as the City. Because of the scale, it looked more like an arrow stuck in a tree than two ships colliding.

"Well that's great and all, but where do I go now?" He stood up and stepped back from the crevice. No amount looking around and scratching his head was going to help when there was no clue whatsoever. "If I were Hatsuyo, where would I go? Left is where I come from, so that's probably not it... So, right or middle...?"

Unfortunately, they didn't know each other that well.

It would be up to chance again. But if he just picked a direction and searched blindly, he might be running for a long time, without mentioning how easy it was to miss someone inside that maze. There had to be a more efficient way to do this – was it time to reunite with his uncle and the others? Phaeton had his chariot, so it would make it easier to find someone.

...

But that would be bothering them with his problem, wouldn't it? They must already have had a lot on their plate, Leo couldn't imagine himself asking a selfish request now of all times. Moreover, even if he had wanted to, he hadn't seen Michael since that time his boat had been busted in half. It would be just as hard to find him than to find Hatsuyo.

"... ... ... ... ... ... Wait, am I lost?"

He didn't know where he was.

He didn't know where anyone was.

The only one he could contact was Galahad, who was in the middle of a fight.

...

Nervermind finding Hatsuyo or Michael; if something bad happened, no one would find him.

"I guess I knew what I was getting from the start..." Wandering off on his own had been the plan. However, it had never crossed his mind that he could end up stuck in that situation. "...Well, even if I'm alone, I guess I'm safe..."

At any rate, he had to get a move on.

Regardless of what he planned to do, he had to pick a direction and cross his fingers. There was no need to think hard about it either: Leo decided to go back through the street he had come from. He would get lost anyway, so maybe he could at least try to follow his tracks back.

* Rose Guns Days – Axelle-ratio

That's when he realized he was not alone at all.

He hadn't so much as turned around the corner that he came face-to-face with a black mass: Lancer of White was standing there.

He was so huge that, at first, Leo had mistaken him for a wall instead of a person. Only a few more centimetres and he would have walked right into him, and no amount of mirage would have managed to conceal that.

Even though he wasn't spotted, every fiber of Leo's being sized up with fear as though he had been caught. He fell backward on his butt and could only stare with his mouth hanging. Alarms were blarring with panic inside his head, but it wasn't only because of the sheer surprise: Leo had never met the ashen giant before and he knew very little about him - yet even so, a primordial dread was throwing all of his senses into disarray. Even when his life had been in danger, he had never felt as much fear as he did now.

His heart was screaming only one thing: to get as far away as possible from that man, even if it meant going to the other side of the planet.

But the rest of his body was paralyzed. He only had enough good sense to crawl out of the way before the giant could step on him and to huddle up against the wall. Even then, he couldn't take his eyes away from Lancer.

But what was the ashen giant doing exactly?

He was standing in place, moving only his head. He had to be looking for something; a part of Leo that could still reason calmly deduced as much. It was an absolute necessity to keep thinking if he didn't want to go insane from this pressure. At any rate, what the ashen giant was searching for didn't seem to be here. That he had come here must have meant he and Leo's objectives had been the same; and so, he must be just as disappointed as Leo to find that the Black Faction wasn't there.

But it shouldn't take this long to realize that, so why was he still here?

Sniff, sniff

All of sudden, Lancer did more than looking and started smelling the air as though he were a dog. Not only that, he stepped out of the alley and bent down until his face was close to the ground. Despite crouching he didn't appear any less colossal; in fact, he was very much scarier like this than before.

After all, this was such a bizarre behaviour: he was acting as though he would find what he wanted on the floor.

Sniff

Then, Leo saw his eyes.

Pitch black sclera with only two bright red dots in the middle. While Lancer was looking around furiously, he would sometimes cast glances in Leo's direction, and when he did the young magus felt as though those red dots were boring holes into his soul. Those eyes – no, the giant's entire face was filled with unfathomable hatred. Leo was almost fascinated by this, until he realized Lancer had stopped moving altogether.

His gaze was locked onto Leo, staring straight into his eyes.

That was when it dawned on Leo: the ashen giant had not only come to the same place as him, but also from the same street.

Taking into account his strange behaviour just now and his insistance... Leo suddenly understood with horror that Lancer was not after the Black Faction at all. The young man wanted to scream, but he brought his hands to his mouth to bury any sound. He stopped breathing, tried to make himself smaller, anything he could do short of erasing his existence. Even then, he felt as though his heartbeat was so loud Lancer might hear it.

He was still invisible, right?

How long had the Servant been following him?

(... ... ...The smell...?)

The reason why he had been sniffing around...

Admittedly, Leo wasn't very good at concealing smell, but...

His mind was blanking. He couldn't think of running away, of surviving and, for a moment, he even forgot who he was. His thoughts were all soaked with dread as the ashen giant slowly crept closer, barring any escape route with his massive body. When his face was only inches away from Leo's, the young man was about to faint from the intensity of his glare.

But instead, Lancer of White growled.

"It's not even human..." His massive frame rose to its feet. "I have no time to waste... it's close, it's right there...!"

He moved so fast that Leo couldn't follow him with his eyes, and in an instant the giant had disappeared into the crevice.

But even after he was gone, Leo's heartbeat didn't slow down.

"What... just happened...?"

"Should be really be heading out now?"

Phaeton voiced his concern, and it was clear from Michael's expression that he shared that feeling. Ewald could grasp those kinds of nuance now.

"We can't hide at the same place forever." The freelance magus warned. "There are many ways to track people with magecraft. In our condition, we can't afford a fight against another Servant."

Looking up, the Pushpaka Vimana was still floating menacingly above the Ark, making it impossible to use Phaeton's chariot. The trio was completely unaware of what had shaken the Ark so much nor what it meant for them. Thus, it wasn't the reason why Ewald felt the need to switch hiding places. Rather, Brynhildr was still fighting; that was not a good situation for them.

In this Holy Grail War, survival became more important than defeating your enemies and without her their ability to face non-human threats went down considerably. Regrouping would be the best option, but Brynhildr couldn't retreat without the risk of taking the enemy to them.

As to what Ewald was hoping to accomplish, he was not entirely sure.

This was the enemy's territory and the Red didn't have anything like a home base or a line of defense to fall back on. Faced with many unknown factors, all they could do was improvise. In that situation, someone like Ewald couldn't stay sit on his hand and stay holed up.

Truthfully, the best they could achieve with their own power was to find and kill Masters of White. The latters were most likely also separated from their Servants and were trying to hide from their invaders. In that sense, who was the hunter and who was the prey depended on who chose to take action. If the White could access secret rooms and the likes, however...

"Hey, do you hear something?"

While they were in the shadow of an alley, Michael asked them this was turning his head left and right. There was a heavy silence as each of them listened intently. It was so faint that Ewald hadn't heard it over the sound of their footsteps, but there was indeed a strange noise that didn't sound human.

In fact it didn't sound organic at all.

"It's probably not a friend." Phaeton seized his sword. "What do we do?"

"We don't have to fight something we don't know. But if it's on its own..." Ewald kept his ear open, hoping to get a better feel of what they were up against.

What he found out, however, was that the noise had increased and that whatever was coming at them was not on its own.

Worse yet, it wasn't coming from a single direction.

"...Run! It's an ambush!"

So Ewald had been right on the money about the enemy tracking them down. It couldn't be a coincidence if such an overwhelming number was appearing all of the sudden. That being said, this definitely wasn't the kind of assault he had been expecting.

"What are those things?"

"Has to be automata!" Phaeton replied. "That's the kinda sound they make! Well, usually they're a lot louder than that..."

"So an army just sprouted all around us?!" Michael was throwing panicked glances all around them.

The automata were not upon them yet but it was only a matter of seconds. If Ewald could trust his ears, there was one direction the sound wasn't coming from, and that was the one he was guiding his teammates toward. That being said, he was just as curious as Michael about this strange turn of event: where had all of these come from? No matter how silent they could try to be, there was no way the Red Faction members wouldn't have noticed them much earlier. All the more if they had been there the entire time.

He didn't have to wonder for long though.

"Hey, watch your feet!"

Michael warned him just in time for Ewald to notice the holes that had opened into the ground ahead of them. Medium-sized automata shaped like bugs crawled out of those holes and looked at them. The trio passed them by at full running speed, but already they were homing in on them. If that wasn't enough, Ewald's hope of escaping the ambush went down the drain: the swarm spilled into their street from both sides, closing the circle they had formed around them. Had they left that opening on purpose to trap them?

Regardless, a confrontation was unfortunately unavoidable. Even if they ran to the rooftops they would still end up overwhelmed; the narrow streets at least ensured the swarm was only coming from two directions.

But that was still too much for them to handle.

"Stay behind me!" Naturally, the one in first line to face the mechanical army was Phaeton. "I'll carve a path, but you have to follow quickly!"

His sword was able to cut through the bronze and steel with ease. Honestly, those seemed to be shoddily made automata. If not for their number they wouldn't pose a threat – but that was probably why there were so many of them in the first place.

Just as he had said, Phaeton was hacking his way through the swarm. But it wasn't enough when the insects were attacking from all sides, so Michael and Ewald still had to defend themselves. The middle-aged magus' rapier was capable of creating blades of water, very effective against a group; unfortunately, those same blades were unable to cut through metal, so the best they could do was push the automata away.

However, he was still better off than the freelance magus who had no such convenient weapon. A gun would be useless here, so instead he had taken out his knife was was blocking attacks as well as he could. This was an unrelenting crowd unfortunately, and even if he could avoid fatal injuries stingers, claws and fangs were marking his arms and legs in crimson.

But, more importantly, this just wouldn't work.

Phaeton was cleaving a path through the swarm as fast he could, which was normal since they wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. However, if Michael could follow that pace and stay behind his Servant, Ewald couldn't.

"...kh!" Every time his foot hit the ground, he had to grit his teeth to bear the pain.

Earlier, when they had crash landed on the Ark, Ewald had twisted his ankle. At the time he had thought it was good that this was his only injury, but now he was paying the price for it. It didn't hurt as much as before thanks to their short break, so walking around wasn't an issue. But running this much all while fighting for his life was putting his ankle through the ringer. He was used to pain, but not to sprinting like this while being pressed on all sides.

That fact became noticeable one Phaeton and Michael started gaining a lead on them.

"Ewald!" Michael noticed that and extended his hand toward him despite being under assault himself.

But the gap was wide enough for the swarm to fit in, and now Ewald was seperated from them.

"My name is Phaeton, Son of the Sun!"

The charioteer's voice arose through the metallic cacophony, followed by a flash of light. The wall of automata standing between Ewald and Michael was blown away by a sword which shone brightly like a flame. Phaeton's hair and eyes had become golden and the power behind his swings had visibly increased, mowing down the swarm at a much faster rate.

"If you had something like this... kh... you should have used it earlier...!" Ewald said.

"Hey, it's very taxing to use! What would you do if I ran out of energy?!" The Servant barked back. "There's no end to them! I can't kill them all!"

For every automaton destroyed, another took its place. Even with his power increased tenfold, Phaeton couldn't hold them back. And if it was true that he was using up a lot of prana for this, then it was a dead end. They had to give up on the strategy of going through with brute force; Ewald had an idea.

"Follow me. We have to get inside!" While screaming so, the freelance magus turned toward the nearest door and shoved the door open.

Despite the danger it could present, in the end they were holing themselves up again. It wouldn't be for long though: as soon as they slammed the door shut behind them, stingers and maws peforated it. The swarm was only prevented from entering by Phaeton who, although he had turned off his Sun God Core, was pressing against the door. He had enough strength to hold them back, but the wooden door would be smashed to smithereen soon enough.

They had to keep on moving.

"There's another door in the back." Ewald led the way despite limping.

"Are you sure you don't need help to walk?" Michael asked worriedly. "You're gonna make it worse at this rate."

"You need both your hands. That will be a great help."

Besides, if they could get out of this situation without having to fight more, Ewald would take the time to rest. Considering the general size of the buildings here, there was good hope that this door would led them to the house on the other side; if they could disappear through another street, they could try losing their pursuers. Unfortunately, there was was no door on the other side.

"How is it?!" Phaeton, who had moved from his position, shouted.

"Looks like a dead end." Michael sighed. "Well, almost."

Ewald followed his gaze and saw the flight of stairs. So this house actually had a second floor.

"Better than nothing." The freelance climbed up while Michael was behind to make sure he didn't fall. "But even if we get to the top, we're probably still surrounded..."

"But we can use Rider's Noble Phantasm." Said Michael. "If it's the only shot we have, it's worth taking it."

"..."

On the second floor, just as in their previous hiding spot, they found holes carved into the walls to work as windows. They were large enough for even a grown adult to get through as long as they were fit.

They heard the sound of something breaking from the first floor.

"Call Rider here." Ewald told Michael. "But mentally. They might be able to pick up loud noises."

The middle-aged magus did as much and a couple seconds later Phaeton materialized out of thin air next to them.

"Get on the roof and help us up."

A Servant could be useful for more than fighting after all. Phaeton had no trouble phasing through the ceiling while Ewald sat on the windowsill. As expected, there was too much distance between the latter and the roof to comfortably climb up on their own; Ewald grabbed Phaeton's hand and the latter pulled him up. All he could hope was that the automata down there (whose incessant clicking noises he could hear) didn't notice them.

But once he was sitting up on the roof and looking down, he noticed something strange: all the automata inside the alley were moving along at a brisk pace, as though they had a destination to get to. It might just have been that they hadn't seen them; while Phaeton was helping his Master up, Ewald went to the other side to take a look at the street they had been attacked in.

"...!"

It was the exact same.

As far as he could tell, none of them were even paying attention to the building their preys had just entered.

"...If they ignore us, then it's better for us..." As he muttered that to himself, Ewald noticed something else: the Pushpaka Vimana disappeared from the sky. "What is going on...?"

"Hey, Ewald!" Michael called out to him while trying to be as quiet as possible. "There are people down there...!"

"...!"

Ewald hurried over; it was just as Michael had said.

Unbothered by the swarm, two people were walking in the middle of it. Since the automata weren't paying any attention to them, it was easy to deduce they were members of the White Faction. But that wasn't what stuck out the most to Ewald: those two were definitely not Servants.

One was a girl wearing a strange ritualistic robe that fit right in for a magus. The other seemed to be a normal Asian teenager.

Ewald took out his handgun.

"They're kids...!" Michael said.

"They're Masters. If the Servant who attacked us belongs to one of them, I can't let them get away." Beside, if they were the one commanding this swarm, they didn't share Michael's compassion. "Let's turn the prey-predator dynamic around for a bit..."

They hadn't noticed them yet, but once one was killed the other could react – which one should he take out first? The boy didn't look like he could fight at first glance, so Ewald aimed at the girl. But at the same moment, the latter turned her eyes toward him. Had she set up a Bounded Field, or did she have a way to detect imminent danger?

(No matter.)

He fired.

What happened next was unexpected however: the girl had had the time of warning her teammate, who promptly pushed her out of the way. What surprised Ewald was the look on the boy's face: there was no fear or hesitation, he was completely unfazed. Even when the bullet intended for his friend lodged into his shoulder, he didn't lose his composure.

Instead, he was staring back at Ewald.

"Retribution will come."

So he said, but he did nothing else.

He didn't have to: Ewald noticed before soon – a shadow emerged from his own body. It was vaguely shaped like a human and it seized the freelancer by the throat. Ewald tried to punch it away but he felt absolutely nothing where his fist passed. Next to him, Michael was looking at him in confusion but wasn't paying attention to the shadow.

(What is this thing...?!)

Eye for eye

A voice spoke inside his head as the shadow raised its other arm.

Blood for blood

Its fist turned long and thin before punching a hole into Ewald's shoulder. The freelance magus knew this pain well – that was how it felt to be shot with a gun. The shadow didn't free him after inflicting this wound however; the grip around his neck tightened and Ewald struggled to breath. There was a buzzing sound in his head muffling the noises coming from around him.

A mouth appeared on the shadow.

Sinner

It turned into a huge maw and took a bite out of Ewald's head. There was no physical wound but the pain was very real. The buzzing sound inside the freelancer's head grew more intense and he felt he was on the brink of losing consciousness.

But he couldn't do that quite yet.

He had finally understood what type of attack it was.

"...You have no power over me." He said in a tongue which he hadn't spoken in a very long time – it was as though the words came out by instinct.

The shadow was coming back for another bites, but upon hearing him chant his spell it coiled in fear. However, it didn't run away as one might expect: it drew back its fist once again, but this time what Ewald felt was a blunt hit to his head and everything became dark around him.

Thank you for reading.

This is the work of an enemy ghost!

~Legends Storyteller