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

So, I won't bother you with any additional greeting and just get to it!

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

Out of all the things that he had ever considered, Darnic never would have thought he had to resort to this.

He stood before his own desk, hands pressed against the hard wood of the furniture, his phone on it right before him, and a specific number was typed into the dial. It was a number he knew all too well, but hated to even think about it. It was a number he had tried to forget, tried to ignore, tried to wipe from his field of existence for almost 60 years, and while it changed every now and again, as all numbers inevitably do, the receiver of it is what aggravated him so. But... he had no choice. Their preparations, the strengthening of the Combat Homonculus Prototype, Sieg, and their remaining Servants' preparations for Mordred might not be enough. They needed more ressources, more help, more fighters. And that number, the person on the other end, was one of the very few people he could consider getting any help from.

He typed "Call" into the phone and moved it to his ear, hearing the ringing of the phone, persisting for a few seconds, before it came, that slight noise from when the call is answered, akin to a click.

"...Never in all those years, would I have assumed you to call..." Came a slightly elderly, male voice on the receiver.

"Neither did I..." Darnic responded, his voice weary and tired, knowing that this was the heaviest of burdens he placed on himself since that time, 60 years ago... "But things happened so beyond me that I cannot affort to wallow in loathing, and once you heard me out, neither can you... Headmaster."

"Ho, is that right? Well, since you called, I know it has to be very important. Important enough to forsake your pride wholly... speak."

"As you request." Darnic responded before he let out a very deep sigh. "I will tell you the short version first: The Magus Agent you sent to infiltrate this Great Holy Grail War has failed. Emiya Shirou has become possessed by an Entity claiming to be a Deity from the Age of Gods, going by the name of Nanna, or En-zu."

The opposite end of the phone seemed silent for a long moment, in thought about what Darnic just said. Then, they spoke. "That is a very serious claim to make... can you prove it?"

"I'm afraid I can..." Darnic answered while letting out another sigh. "From the Intel we gathered from the survivors of the Red Faction, this plan of Nanna's has been in the making ever since the Age of Gods has been first declining. He supposedly stored parts of his divinity and his soul in his temples, particularily in the ruins of his Ziggurat in the old Ur, located south-east of Basra... Ground Zero for that global shockwave of mana every magus felt 2 weeks ago. It was also how you found Emiya Shirou in Basra... he had been at the lost Temple and became the host of Nanna's fragmented soul, unknowing at the time. And yesterday... Nanna succeeded in taking over control of Emiya Shirou's body, resulting in his partial freedom to life. He now seeks the Grail to finalize his incarnation by exorcizing Emiya Shirou's soul, or so he claims. But we are not fully sure if that really is his endgoal..."

Another extended silence on the other end of the phone. Darnic knew that his opposite was in thought about this. He leaned himself back a bit, trying to relax for the conversation as he had a feeling he would be stuck on the phone for a while.

"I understand... it seems to check out." The opposite voice said, making Darnic exhale due to relief. "The Clocktower will arrange an emergency meeting and discuss the procedure of this problem."

"There is no time for that...we have only 2 days left before he comes for the Grail. We managed to temporarily lock him high above ground, but his prison crumbles as we speak. Assembling an emergency council takes too long. We need reinforcements NOW."

"Who do you suggest, Darnic?"

The head of the Yggdmillennia family let out yet another sigh. Damn he sighs a lot. He then turned to his table again and took out a small case file he was given by Amakusa, pertaining all information the Priest had received on the redhead. "Capable magi, yet also people who know him well. Rin Tohsaka, Luviagelita Edelfeld and Lord El-Melloi II are my recommendations. Emiya Shirou is confirmed to still be somewhere in the mindscape of his body, so having people who can reach him will provide the best non-lethal results... but they also need to be able to strike him down, if worse comes to worst. I also suggest vice director Barthomeloi Lorelei. Her sheer prowess with magecraft and the level of utility in her skill will provide us a great advantage, plus Emiya Shirou has never met her to our knowledge, so we will have the element of surprise."

"You are asking me for two of my top students, a revered teacher and Lord and for the Vice Director to be sent into territory untouched by the Association for nearly 60 years to fight an enemy we can't fully trust to even be there... you do understand that this is a very serious set of requests?" The voice on the other side spoke, scepsism evident in their tone.

"I know... that is why I want to make this a negociation. Give and Take... as I have set demands entirely on my side, you shall set demands entirely on yours..."

After Darnic said those words, the opposite on the phone hummed out in thought before responding. "Very well... the demands shall be given to you by Barthomeloi herself. I shall sent the team of 4 out immediately, they should arrive by tomorrow morning in Trifas."

"Your help is appreciated, Headmaster... even with our past anymosities. Even I have still some care left for our world as a whole."

The two both shared a small laugh for one another before Darnic hung up the phone and set it down, taking deep breaths after wards to calm himself down. "Well... that could have gone much worse..."

SLASH

Emiya Shirou opened his eyes, only to see it replay before him. When he stabbed Artoria without knowing it. Seeing her horrified face, hearing her ask him that question that haunted him even now.

"Wh...why...?"

"I didn't mean to..." He spoke.

"How many... times..." She then asked.

"I never wanted this..."

"How many... times..."

"Too many..."

It was a constant loop within his own consciousness, his guilt and his self-loathing plagueing him as long as it possibly could, the memory replaying before him over and over again, each time, a different scene, a different reason, a different fight, yet he always ended up stabbing Artoria to death, followed by her shocked expression and his heartbreak. Emiya Shirou lost count of how many times the memory replayed itself, how many times he saw himself kill Artoria Pendragon with a complete inability to prevent it.

"Is this... hell...?" He asked himself as Artoria lay dead in his arms yet again, waiting for yet another guilt-trip to occur, another way he has to suffer this loss.

"No, this isn't Hell. Hell is where you face your regrets, not your pain. This is life." Nanna suddenly spoke, his voice echoing from seemingly everywhere.

He hated this voice. He hated this person. HE HATED NANNA. In his time inside of his mind, he regained full access to his feelings, his memories, and he saw that Nanna staged everything. "Come out..." Emiya said, his voice as shaky as his shoulders were. "COME OUT SO I CAN RIP YOUR THROAT OUT!" He roared at the top of his lungs. "I HATE YOU! NANNA!"

"Then you will want to hear what I have to say all the more... Shirou." Nanna responded, appearing behind the redhead. Nanna remained with Emiya's general looks, but had the buffer body and the hair blonde and weaved back, save for the Ahoge.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM YOU!" Shirou growled, more as an animal than a man with the anger in his voice, getting up on his feet and storming towards the Mesopotamian God. "I JUST WANT TO KILL YOU AS MANY TIMES AS YOU MADE ME KILL HER!"

"Oh I understand your pain completely, but if you kill me, you will face it again, someday, a few days in the future, a few months, or a few years." Nanna countered as he was stepping back from Shirou to avoid getting into the redhead's hands. "Still don't want to hear me out?"

"YOU ARE ALL THE PAIN I EVER HAD. IF I KILL YOU, I WILL BE FREE-"

"And Barred from entering the Reverse Side of the World, where Artoria's soul rests for all eternity. Barred from seeing her ever again."

This got Shirou to stop walking, eyes widening even more in fury, if that was possible at this point.

"See? Now you want to listen. And believe me, you will want to hear this."

Emiya seemed immensely conflicted. He knew by now he shouldn't listen to Nanna. More trickery and deceit. But then, Nanna cannot lie, so even if this is a trick, it comes from something truthful. And he hated that he knew this little fact.

"Much better. Let me start by repeating something I told you a day ago." Nanna began and snipped his fingers, changing the Mindscape to where Shirou was when he was still knocked out, laying in his bed inside one of the Dormitries within the Hanging Gardens. "I told you that if the Outside World knew I was inside of you, it would eliminate you just to banish me. Do you remember?"

"I... I do."

"Good. Now, what if I told you that, while that was the case, the outside world already knew of my presence in you?"

"That is not po-" Shirou spoke, but then stopped himself as he remembered that discussion with Archer of Red, David of Israel. "That..."

"Mhm. Alaya already knew all along, several of the servants were suspicious. Matter of fact, three were. David, Achilles and Heracles. Now, you would think that Alaya would have counted 2 and 2 together and intervened, forcing those suspicious Servants to attack you, but it didn't. Instead, David and Achilles died first and Heracles turned out to be my sleeper agent that I manipulated. Alaya knew it all. So why didn't she intervene? Why did she let any of this happen?"

Emiya Shirou sank to his knees and put his hands against his head, the thoughts filling his head at such a rapid speed that it caused him a headache, and the heart pain he felt was not making it any easier.

"Because, to be Emiya Shirou is to suffer at the hands of the Will of the World. Your Future Self suffered in the service as a Guardian of the Counter Force, and it wasn't like it was accidental that he was made to do the one thing that despaired him to the point where he knew no other emotion. So what do you think happened to YOU when you decided to reject becoming a Guardian? What happens to an Emiya Shirou who rejects the call of Alaya?"

"He... suffers in his normal life..."

"Exactly. And to explain why, we need to delve into a bit of a study about this world. What do you know about the Will of the World, exactly?"

By now, Emiya Shirou had visibly calmed down, but was still extremely furious at Nanna. However, the thing that kept him from lunging at the Sumerian Deity and rip his throat out as threatened before was that he had a point. A point he couldn't refuse to aknowledge. He always had a point... and Shirou knew that that was precisely why he was so dangerous. Never the less, he decided to respond. "Only that it intervenes with events that threaten the extinction of Humanity..."

"That is what we call Alaya. There are two Wills, if you will. Alaya and Gaia. And while both are a Will of the World, their duties vary. Alaya is the World's Will that ensures the survival of Humanity, while Gaia is the World's Will that ensures the survival of Earth. It is their combined interference that puts limitations and counter-measures into Noble Phantasms that could potentially wipe out this planet, and why those very weapons are released in their full power against threats from outside of the World, such as outer space. However, both are pretty damn active and always ensuring their existence along with the existence of what they protect, and so, they regularily clash. Whenever Humanity goes too far, Gaia throws a rock at the Earth to shake it up and restore its life balance a bit. Natural Catastrophes, the rise of wars and the Evil of Mankind, supernatural beasts appearing and wiping a town from the map, rogue mages sabotaging the functioning system of human society and so on and so forth. Whenever the Earth feels threatened, Gaia intervenes with a catastrophe. And Alaya has to naturally intervene back to limit the catastrophe and make human losses acceptable. An Unspoken Pact of conflict that, in its own irony, results in a harmony of balance. Gaia makes people suffer and die, and Alaya ensures that it doesn't threaten the Human Species as a whole. And you, my dearest victim, are one of Gaias favorite targets."

"That doesn't make any sense... I would never harm the world or humanity." Shirou interjected. And he was being completely honest. His dream was to be the Hero of Justice, he who saves all from damnation and despair and brings back joy and fortune to the miserable. The specifics of what it means to be a Hero changed with the 5th Fuyuki Grail War, but the overall goal remained. Shirou learned much, and that reinforced his belief only more. So why...

"The discussion was never that you WILL, it is that you COULD. Being considered a threat doesn't necessarily mean you are one. The mere capacity in and off itself is more than enough."

"That doesn't make any sense! If they know I WON'T be a threat, then why hunt for me anyway? I would NEVER hurt the world or humanity!"

"Didn't I JUST tell you it doesn't matter if you never would, that you COULD is more than enough! The World doesn't care about individual sentimentalities. Its Stability and Survival are all that matters. And you have the POTENTIAL to threaten it. That is why, if you do not become a pawn to the Counter Force, you must suffer, and be eliminated. To reject your path to be Humanity's Pawn is to become Humanity's Enemy. That is why, to be Emiya Shirou, is to suffer. Every Form of yours across the infinite potentials of Time and Space, every type of life you ever lived. Every Emiya Shirou who does not become a Counter Guardian MUST suffer the wrath of Gaia. And because it is only one, single human, Alaya has no need to intervene. You are disposable, and that is why you are allowed the torture of the life you lived."

Shirou had to let out a very loud sigh as he ruffled his own hair while thinking, leaning back a bit before glancing up at the Mesopotamian god. His expression changed, it no longer had blind anger inside of it, but more fear than anything. "So I choose between helping you do whatever you want, or I will continue to get into these situations no matter what?"

"Precisely. At least you now understand that, no matter how much I am to blame for THIS piece of your suffering, the World could have prevented it, it could have obeyed its own laws, but it did not. Punishing a stray who rejects the Counter Force was more important to Alaya than I was."

"I..." Shirou started, but stopped speaking as he went back into deep thought. He looked around with his eyes, despite there being virtually nothing to look at than the room from a day ago. He then started to wander for a few seconds, walking towards one of the Room's ends, leaning back against it before sliding down the wall and covering his face with his hands, sighing audibly. "What do you need me to do?"

"Simple... I have what I wanted, well almost. You... you however need to get to the Grail and make a wish... A very specific wish, one that will halt Gaia to a point where you can live your life in peace, joy and love, and pursue your little goal without ever needing to suffer interference ever again. But... I won't tell you just yet. You will know when the time comes, or if you figure it out by yourself by then. We still have time to get there, after all."

With those words spoken, Nanna disappeared, and Shirou's surroundings suddenly changed back to the hall, to where Artoria died, and he saw her stand before him, Caliburn in his hands. "no... please don't..." He pleaded to seemingly no one, and his legs began to run forward.

Within the Throneroom inside the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the possessed body of Shirou was seated on the throne by himself, his eyes slowly opening as he returned to consciousness, leaving Shirou behind to suffer the infinite loop once again. Nanna just chuckled lightly to himself as he eyes his left hand before balling it to a fist. "That a fool... he never learns. I shall keep exploiting his fears until I can damn this world to hell... Who would have thought how much of a scared child Emiya Shirou is... Ah, I love it when a plan works out" Nanna monologued to himself before he laughed out loudly, lasting for a few seconds before it slowly died out until he was silent again.

He then got up from his seat and walked down the steps until he was at the ground of the Throne Hall and then exited it, closing the gates behind himself.

Meanwhile, at the Catacombs of the Yggdmillennia Castle, within the Reality Marble of Gwydion...

"GAH!" Mordred roared out as she suffered a throat-punch by Roland, causing her to be tossed back until she clashed into a tree with her back. Before she even connected with the ground, Roland stood before her once again, jamming Durindal through her Heart, killing her yet again. After Roland pulled her sword back out, Mordred fell to ground for a few seconds before she gasped out and got back up, immediately leaping away from Roland.

"How long have we been fighting..." Mordred thought to herself before she sidestepped a leap from above made by Berserker of Black, Hervor, narrowly avoiding being split into two by her Tyrfing. "How many years has it been now...?" Mordred continued to ask herself while her eyes were continuing to trace the movements of her enemy combatants. But to no avail. Assassin caught her by grazing her left shoulder with a toxin-laced dagger, and Mordred immediately succumbed to the toxicity, dying yet again, falling to the ground, and being revived yet again. "How many times... how many times have I died now?" She kept asking herself.

Gwydion had held true to his words. Within the Reality Marble, a few years had now passed. How many, Mordred didn't count. Her thoughts were never able to manifest completely as she was under permanent pressure from attacks.

Roland dashed into Mordred again for a downward stroke with her sword, but Mordred blocked it and rotated her body backwards to give Roland a heelkick to her chin, sending her flying back.

"Hey, she finally managed to land a hit back!" Gwydion sarcastically cheered. "She is growing. Keep the pressure up!"

Mordred groaned out in response to that, but she had no time for any formulated response. Hervor and Roland were coming at her again and she had to fight back, keep going. And so, she released all of her leftover Mana with a Mana Burst at the two, causing them to stop and block it. Hervor broke through, stabbing Mordred through the neck as a result, killing her yet again, and repeating the cycle of falling and reviving again.

"Damnit..." Mordred cursed as she fell back once again, keeping as much distance from Assassin as she could, but to no avail. She always got caught up too quickly to be safe. So she lifted her hand up in a 'halt' motion, requesting a break.

That break was answered with a Durindal straight through her skull. "No breaks. It was commanded to Kill for all Eternity, Mordred." Roland commented before pulling back to let Mordred be revived once more.

"I have a question..." Mordred spoke as she got back, after her body being restored again. "Something has been bugging me for some time now..." She spoke, her eyes turning towards Gwydion and Locusta for a moment. "You two were sent by the Counter Force, weren't you?"

Gwydion whistled out loudly at the proclamation Mordred made, who had to resume evading because the two warriors continued attacking her. "How did you figure it out?" Gwydion then chimed, sounding amused.

Mordred, who deflected one of Roland's sideways swings from the right, then gutpunched Hervor away from herself to gain space, scoffed before speaking. "Everything is a bit too convenient... this setup to empower me, the Assassin's knowledge on strengthening Homonculi to help with Sieg...everything fits a little too perfectly for my liking. It feels like some setup from a Shakespearian novel and I don't like it."

Assassin snapped her fingers to change what she made Toxic to Mordred this time, causing the blonde to suddenly and literally blow up into many little pieces, before her body re-assembled itself to revive once more. "You are correct, well, halfway... we were summoned by the Master's by their plan, but the Counter Force has given us visions... instructions for only one event. The event of Mordred Pendragon damaging her Core. It is only natural to assume that it came from the Counter Force as a means to prepare you against Nanna, but we are not sure. I am a Scientist, I made my career with proving things and making use of them, but this is the one thesis I can never fully provide evidence for. Now, enough chatter!"

Mordred released another Mana Burst, this time aimed towards Assassin, who just struck it away with a backhand slap.

"Weak. You have grown, but not by much. We intensify your regime even more! From now on, 3 non-lethal wounds before the deadly strike!"

"ROGER THAT, LITTLE QUEENIE!" Hervor roared out as she made a mad dash for Mordred to let their blades resume clashing.

Sieg slowly opened his eyes after he let out a deep breath and sat up, glancing around to check on his surroundings.

He was currently laid atop a surgical table, several tools for surgery laid on their small rest next to the table and a semi-bloodied Caules stood next to the Homunculus, wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead with the back of his wrist. "You woke up just as I finished. How do you feel?" Caules questioned.

Sieg, feeling quite a bit dizzy, shook his head to shake himself a bit awake before he spoke. "Tired... so tired..."

"Then the Anesthetic hasn't worn off yet. You will remain dizzy and a little numb for about an hour. But... how does your body feel?"

"Good..." Sieg responded, reluctant due to the nature of the question, but he knew what Caules meant. "I don't feel any pain... no shocks hitting my synapses, let alone frying them."

"Perfect. It means the 4th Circuit Insertion has been a success. Since this one had to be given to you without another human or homunculus carrying it, we had to resort to unconventional methods to fuse them into you with the others... you now have, to put it into measure, 4 different peoples amount of Magic Circuits inside of you, and so far, no conflict between them. But you know we need to do a practical test to determine any potential side-effects for activation."

Sieg simply nodded his head and slowly came down from the table, turning himself to let his legs down, only now seeing that he only wore a pretty typical patients gown that hospitals always gave out to their patients. He slowly made himself stand, lowering one leg, then the other, and then took a step forward.

"Good. No balance-issues. That is always great." Caules responded before he pulled off the protective mask from his face, followed by the operating coat on himself, revealing his normal clothes to be underneath them. "Follow me to the yard outside."

Sieg obeyed the instructions, still feeling a little dizzy, but it was subdueing fast enough for him to fully open his eyes and let his vision sharpen.

"Now, normally we would let you rest for a bit. After all, you don't just let someone get up right after surgery and walk, let alone leading them to a combat simulation, but since your second set of Circuits, you are no longer normal." Caules monologued for a bit, earning a small smile from Sieg. "And besides, time is working against us, so we don't have time to let you recover."

Sieg understood and just nodded in approval while he continued to follow Caules out of the room, through the hallways, down to the entrance hall, out of the Castle's main building and into the open yard in front of it. There, Amakusa Shirou was standing before the pair, in his Servant Form with the long, white hair tied to a ponytail with two long strands going down the side of his face, his yellow eyes and his red coat, expanded with a yellow collar and central pair of lines that came with a Cross sown to it, connected at the abdomen-area with a red band. Underneath the red coat was a pitch black yukata, bound closed with a white cloth at the pelvic area, and a white shirt underneath it, based on the white, skintight sleeves underneath the Yukata's sleeves on his arms. And lastly, that stereotypical, bound cloth to cover his throat as was custom with western royals.

Amakusa had his Katana already drawn and held a combat stance, his smile one of confidence towards the Homunculus. "I was growing concerned with wait. But I assume the wait is over?"

"Indeed." Caules said before he stepped away enough to give the two some room. "Sieg, this time, your sparring partner will be someone much more evenly matched. Amakusa was a Spirit before he reincarnated during the 3rd Grail War, so while he is human, he has all of his powers from when he was a Servant. He is someone who should push you to your limits, force you to the edge to make you use all your Circuits at once to assure the most insightful collection of Data."

Sieg simply nodded and pulled the sword on his hip out, the one that Astolfo had given him after the summoning, and took a pretty lax stance, right foot forward, left hand behind his back with the fist balled, and his sword arm, the right arm, lifted up, the blade pointing perfectly vertically upwards. His stance was almost exactly like an opening stance to a Fencer.

The two of them exchanged an intensive stare for an extended moment while they both only slowly inched towards one another, careful steps, one every few seconds with how slow they were progressing. It was clear that they were both being extremely careful with one another, and while respectful, they were first and foremost on the utmost defense.

Then, they both dashed at each others simultaneously and their blades clashed. They traded blows for a short moment, but Amakusa was having the upper hand, forcing Sieg back step by step with their attacks. So Sieg decided to do a rotating leg-sweep after ducking down, which Amakusa evaded by jumping sideways, landing just in time to parry a upside slash and deflect the blade outwards, followed by heelkicking into Sieg with his left foot, who blocked by putting his arm on his chest, catching the foot with the outer side of his Elbow, where underarm and upper arm muscles met at the joint. Then, Sieg extended his arm outwards to shake Amakusa's balance, but he responded by going with the motion and spin-kicking Sieg's face. The Homunculus went with the rotation and responded by a spinning sideways heel kick to the Priests ribs. As a result, both of them backed away.

"You aren't using any of your circuits, Homonculus, and yet you already are matching me in speed! That is impressive." Amakusa complimented as they were both getting back on their feet.

"Not that impressive, it is one of my Magic Circuits. It strengthens my Muscles when activated, increasing all physical outputs connected to muscle activity." Sieg answered while taking a stance. "Running speed, striking power, gripping strength, leaping height, explosivity and limb-reflexes as well as the speed of tension. Thought not by much, everything my muscles can do is improved."

"That is a most impressive Ability. But you have more, so use it!"

With their little exchange done by the sound of Amakusa roaring his last word, they dashed into one another again. This time, however, Sieg exhilirated a green-ish lightning from his body as he dashed forward, his speed more than 3 times than before. Amakusa reacted just soon enough to avoid a dangerous slash to his arm by ducking underneath the swing by leaning his body back, then adjusted by going faster himself and the two began another exchange of blades, this time with Sieg having the upper hand. After a few clashes, Sieg slowed his attacks down on purpose to lure Amakusa into a trap, then slashed upwards at his heightened speed, giving the Priest a cut to his cheek. Amakusa immediately went to full speed and made a rotating roundhouse kick to Sieg's face, sending him flying. Just as Sieg stopped rolling on the ground, he saw Amakusa descend from above, rolling away to avoid a stomping kick that cracked the stone ground beneath his foot. Sieg flipped himself back to his feet with a rotation and used the momentum for another sideways kick, which Amakusa evaded by stepping back in time. Then, Sieg leaped over the Priest, and as he landed, he leaped again to avoid a low leg sweep, rotating in the air for a heelkick from above, followed by a twin kick into Amakusa's guard, injuring his wrist slightly. Amakuse, in response to the injury, let his katana go for a second, which Sieg made use of by kicking it away quite a bit. So Amakusa gripped Sieg's let and threw him off a good distance before feeling up his wrist.

"You display skill, Homonculus. But we are just about done measuring one another up, yes?"

Sieg only gave an agreeing nod, followed by both men grinning at each others.

Amakusa then materialized a Black Key as he leapt onto Sieg from above with a high jump, which Sieg parried before going for another leg sweep to try and destablize Amakusa's footing. The Priest responded by a backhand stab from above, which the Homunculus blocked by grabbing the priests wrist with his own hand, forcibly throwing it aside before aiming a slash with his own right hand. Amakusa stepped back, then hooked the Black Key to the hilt of the blade via a backhand-lock, forcing Sieg to flick the weapon upwards, letting it go in the process, but also flicking the Black Key up in the air. Amakusa then made a faint in the form of a knee-strike, causing Sieg to step back enough so that Amakusa could do a front flip and heel-kick the falling Black Key into his adversary, causing it to cut Sieg's left cheek as he turned clockwise to dodge the strike. Right after the hit, Sieg used the rotation, went counter-clockwise for a large windup and punched Amakusa in the chest, sending him flying about 20 meters before picking up his own sword by kicking the blade up, then catching it mid-air. Sieg then tilted his head to the side, causing his neck to make a small crack as the Homunculus rid himself off some stiffness, and Amakusa meanwhile materialized two more Black Keys, holding the one in his left hand regularily and the one in his right hand backhanded.

The two engaged into one another once more, with Amakusa parrying Sieg's slash upwards, which was the opening of a very fierce clash of blades, with Amakusa very systematically aiming for Sieg's non-lethal spots on his shoulders to disarm him, and Sieg constantly trying to disarm the Priest, only for him to either flip his weapons and catch them mid-air, or materialize new Black Keys. Sieg responded by making a winded-up slash, causing both of Amakusa's arms to be whipped to the left side, causing them both to rotate around half-circular. Amakusa turned around fast to intercept Sieg, but the Homunculus leapt up and backflipped, placing one hand on Amakusa's shoulder for directional support. Soon as he landed, Amakusa turned around again, but was met with Sieg's heel hitting him in the face, followed by Sieg's right arm coming down with a slash from above, which Amakusa parried before the two were thrown a step to the left each from the momentum of their movement.

When they recovered, they struck again, with Amakusa being bolded in his movement this time, spinning himself around and using the backhand-hold more often. The first clash resulted in them being back-to-back for a second, to which both turned right and clashed again. Amakusa ducked down to avoid a high sideway slash, then aimed a backhand stab from above, which Sieg dodged by taking a large step forward. But Amakusa expected it and turned to the left, his arm tossing the Black Key up before reaching Sieg's shoulder and forcibly throwing him to ground. Sieg recovered almost immediately and flipped himself around to leg-sweep Amakusa for the 4th time in their spar before he got up again. From there, Sieg immediately started a faint to bait Amakusa into the offense with a large downhill stab, dashing to the Priest's side before performing a very extravagant throw by leaping up along Amakusa's head, locking it between his thighs and swinging his upper body like a pendulum, the mid-air halt forcing Sieg's lower body, and Amakusa's head, to swing to the designated direction, forcing Amakusa's body to an unintentional front flip-throw to the ground, the Priest's back slapping the ground hard enough for the stone to ripple. Sieg then aimed a stab from above, which Amakusa dodged by lifting his knees up, then flipping himself back to the ground, throwing his upper body forward faster than Sieg's sword came down.

After Sieg pulled the sword back up, Amakusa attempted a double-stab with one Key from above and one from below. Sieg stepped backwards to dodge them both, then kicked Amakusa's right arm from below, forcing the Black Key out of his hand. As it spinned in the air, Amakusa attacked Sieg with his left arm, the right one performing punches simultaneous and parallel to the stabs, hitting Sieg's stomach. The Homunculus responded by forcing Amakusa back a step with a punch to his face. After the Step back, Amakusa caught the Black Key in the air and attempted a downward stab with it, only for Sieg to faint an evasive step so Amakusa wouldn't go through with the attack, before then knee-kicking the Priest in the face. Amakusa answered the kick by backflipping to absorb some of the impact force, then engaged the Homunculus for a short trade of blades before leaping above Sieg for a rotated backhand slash that came from below after Amakusa landed, and the block of the attack forced Sieg a step back. So Amakusa followed up by two sideway slashes, followed by using the second one as momentum-windup for a spinning sideway kick to the head, which Sieg evaded by leaning his upper body back. When Amakusa got back up, Sieg used his empty, left arm to lock Amakusa's right one, intercepting the Priest's left arm with his own right one, forcing their blades up above their heads. Then, Sieg kneed Amakusa in the stomach, forcing him to let go of the Black Key in his right hand. And finally, due to Sieg's right hand going up to block Amakusa's left Key, the Priest's right arm became freed and he attempted a punch, which Sieg caught with his hand, gripping Amakusa's fist in his palm before both hands slowly lowered to be at the same height as their heads.

"Heh... still no display of your other Circuits, Homunculus. Your hand-to-hand combat skills are excellent, I daresay you are even better than finely trained Samurai! But that won't be enough!"

"Then I will borrow this!" Sieg responded, almost uncomfortably softly for their heated exchange.

Sieg then let Amakusa's left hand go, causing his fist to open up. Then, Sieg clapped their palms together, and a flame suddenly began to build up at the Homunculus' palm as he pulled away.

"What? He performed a two-handed incantation with my hand as the missing one!? What Ingenious creativity!" The Ruler-Servant complimented, only to be given a flying twin-kick to the chest, forcing him on the ground.

With the Kick as a propel to get up into the air, Sieg's left hand, now a flaming fist, came down towards the Priest, who only narrowly dodged by rolling away, but the Fire then released itself in a Nova, engulfing the Priest and forcing him back a large distance and suffering a few hits.

"Interesting... So those are your Abilities, Homunculus! A Splendit Attack!"

Sieg only responded by channeling another Fire in his hands and then threw it towards the Priest, who intercepted it by creating several magic circles with Black Keys coming out of them. "Set!" He chanted and the Black Keys fired into the Flame. The Collision resulted in a large amount of smoke covering their entire little battlefield.

Amakusa then used his right arm's abilities to create a small gust of wind, enough to get the smoke away in a diameter of 4 meters around himself.

Sieg then ran up towards the Priest and threw his sword at him, which emerged from the cloud with a large trail, making Amakusa believe that was Sieg, so he slashed into the trail, only to discover it was the blade along, without its wielder. Sieg, using this opportunity, swept beneath Amakusa's legs, kicking them both and forcing the Priest to lose his footing, threatening to stumble forward on his face. Sieg immediately got up from the sweeping slide and gripped Amakusa by both feet, one in each hand, and slammed him down on his back hard enough for the ground to completely crater. Without even giving the Priest a second to recover, Sieg caught his sword and aimed it at Amakusa's throat, stopping barely an inch away from slashing it.

"I win, Amakusa Shirou." Sieg then proclaimed, almost proudly, given the smirk on his face.

"Heh... your battle capabilities exceed my own, Homunculus." Amakusa complimented before letting his Black Keys go, and Sieg helped him up to his feet after sheating his own blade. The two then shared a handshake with one another and Amakusa continued talking. "That was a most honorable duel. It almost made me feel like a true Samurai instead of the Christian Ronin that I am."

"I am glad that I am not the only one who thinks that way." Sieg responded and the two shared a silent, intent smile for one another, the wordless confrontation of two men who respect one another.

"Wheeew!" Caules then whistled before approaching the two while waving away some of the smoke. "You two really went at it! I almost thought you were facing off to the death with how you aimed at one another's throats so many times. And wow, the data we got from this combat report is phenomenal!"

Sieg smiled slightly at Caules and nodded. "How well did I do?"

"How well!? You just beat a Servant who excels in close combat! You were like a Servant yourself just now! I have never seen any human or homunculus fight like this. You make combat specialist Magus look cute! I mean, just look at this!" Caules spoke and handed them a small pad for Sieg to see. This Pad had various screens on its display, one of which was a replay of their combat, a second was Sieg's vitals, the third was a list of numbers. "Here, look at the numbers!" Caules then hinted and enlarged the screen with the data.

"Whoa..." Amakusa whispered. "That amount of Mana, with this unit of measure... and the particle density too... What did you give him as his 4th Circuit?"

Caules just smirked proudly at the compliments from the Priest. "These Circuits are passively and constantly active, we call it 'Galvanization'. It Passively converts all surrounding mana into electrical energy, which the Body then absorbs for various purposes, such as self-repair, to empower an attack or to increase the Ranks of other Mana-based Abilities, such as his magecraft."

Sieg just whistled in awe while Amakusa made some wide eyes. "He passively and permanently absorbs mana?"

"Well, not permanently. The Circuits are set to only activate when other Circuits are being used, such as his Reinforcement Ability, so he can't literally live with it 24/7, but it is active as long as he is in combat."

"But that effectively means, the longer he fights..." Amakusa started.

"The Stronger I get." Sieg then concluded.

"Pretty much. Getting our hands on this was extremely difficult. Lord Darnic said that he searched for the wielder of it for almost 6 years, but they sadly passed away when finally found. However, Lord Darnic was able to recover the Circuits as the body was not yet in an advanced stage of decomposing."

"Well that's certainly something that proved worth the trouble." Sieg commented, earning a collective nod from both the Priest and the Master.

"You boys done slapping chopsticks?" Semiramis then chimed in as she came out from the Castle's Main Building gates, eyeing the trio before fixiating her gaze on Amakusa. "Because I need to borrow one of you as my henchman for a while."

"Well, that is my call..." Amakusa said, with no short amount of comical fear in his voice and even some shaking in it before he walked towards Semiramis, leaving Sieg and Caules by themselves.

"Will he be alright?" Caules asked.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer for." Sieg responded in a mysterious and terrifying choice of words, making Caules sweatdrop.

"Now come, Lunch is getting ready. I am sure Jeanne is awaiting you."

"Oh man..." Sieg sighed out as he followed Caules back inside. "You guys aren't gonna let me live down this morning, are you?"

"Nope." Caules responded simplistically before making a small, mischievous snicker.

Aye, Chappy 13 going brrr.

I do hope that you guys are enjoying the read so far, and if you do (or don't), leave me an R&R with a Why so I can keep improving my writing!

Cheers!