Fate is the creation and intellectual property of Nasu Kinoko and Type-Moon.
All other franchises and characters mentioned within this story are the intellectual properties of their respective copyright and trademark holders.
FATE: Realta Nua of 2814.
Based on the original by Shadow Crystal Mage.
With special thanks to Darkenning.
Quite a few things had changed in Hasegawa Chisame and Hakase Satomi's dorm room since Negi Springfield, boy teacher, had arrived. On the other hand, at least one thing had not changed for Negi himself, namely the fact he slept with a beautiful young lady every night, much like he'd do with his older sister back in Wales. Of course, since this is not that type of story, at least not yet, sleeping was all they did together, all through those cold long nights, under the warm covers, in close, tight contact with each other for hours and hours in the darkness…
Regardless, this was yet another night where Negi and Chisame just lay together in gentle intimacy and nothing beyond that happened. The only way that it had been out of the ordinary was the way that Negi found himself awakened slightly before dawn by an itching sensation on the wrist of his left hand. Opening his eyes and pulling his face away from its pillowed spot on Chisame's breasts, he looked blearily up at his wrist, and the delicate tracery of the three symbols now inscribed there.
He looked at that for a few minutes.
"What?" he eventually said rather sharply.
"Breeeghhhlll," Chisame growled, in a sleep-filled voice. "Neeeeegiiii – you'd better not be resting your head on my chest agaaaaaaiiiiiin..."
"Chisame," Negi said in a tiny, half-choked tone. "Please promise you won't get mad at me for this..."
Her eyes instantly snapped open, and her face settled into a fierce frown. "What have you done this time to ruin my life this time, brat?"
"So, is this some sort of mage VD?" Akashi Yuuna worriedly asked, a few moments and several Pactio summons later, as Negi himself, Chamo the Ermine, and Negi's Ministra Magi all sat around the room's table in a tight small crowd, most of them in pajamas, except for Saotome Haruna, who slept naked and as such had a bedsheet wrapped around her instead.
"VD?" Negi repeated, blinking innocently.
"Venereal Disease, Negi-kun," Kakizaki Misa explained with a weary sigh and a folding of arms.
"Well," Chisame bleakly observed. "Of course you'd know about that."
Misa just hissed her way giving her a stink eye.
"What is that?" Suzushiro Haruka asked, also blinking in turn.
"An old form of ailing transmitted through sexual contact, not that Negi-sensei could have acquired one," Hakase explained, even as Haruka, Ayaka and Negi broke into violent saliva choking and coughing plus intense blushing all at once. "At the very least, I dearly hope that he couldn't contract one from any of us," she added, leveling a glare first at Misa, then at Haruna, and finally at the still gasping and wheezing, rattled Iinchou.
"Of course not!" Negi let out a strangled scream, coming back to himself enough as to give Hakase a brief strangely angry glare, and then recomposing himself. "Anyway, n-no, there is no such disease that I know of, and if there was, I'm sure that it would have been cured ten years ago when Professors Richards and Pym decided that such diseases should be eliminated, as is of common knowledge to anyone with a passing knowledge of modern history, before any of you asks how I know, you're welcome. This is something much, much worse than a disease. This is something that shouldn't be happening."
Kagurazaka Asuna closed her mouth and frowned. "Spoilsport," she grouched.
"Something that shouldn't be happening, you say?" Chisame groaned. "You mean, like, oh, I don't know, being attacked by vampiric classmates and their combat robots, and then by demented Kyoto heretics commanding demon gods, and then by demon counts out to get you because of something your father did? That kind of 'shouldn't be happening', Sensei?"
"No, this is the really bad kind of 'shouldn't be happening', Chisame," their teacher and Magister explained. "To be brief, this is the mark which indicates that I'm a candidate to become one of the seven Masters selected to participate in the Fuyuki Holy Grail War."
A stunned silence fell around the table.
"And... What is that, Negi-kun?" Konoe Konoka asked finally.
Negi was about to give a detailed answer stressing how dire the situation was, when someone rang on their door.
She heard rumors as she approached the school gate, and though she wasn't normally a nosy person by nature, she stopped to listen.
"Hey, have you heard? Akashi-sensei is getting married, and I heard his fiancé is hot. Like, 'too good for him' hot!"
"That nerd? No way! I'd believe it from Death Glasses, but..."
"Shhhh! They have ears everywhere!"
"Did you hear? The police arrested a bunch of Yakuza last night, all babbling about demons."
"Oh, crap! It's the Shadows! The Dark Hour is upon us! Nyx is going to destroy the world!"
"You really need to stop playing those videogames, Anyway, my uncle's a cop, and I heard they found weird chemical residue and traces of bladed weapons."
"Oh, crap! It's the ninja! The ninja are upon us! Akatsuki is going to destroy the world!"
"Oh, get a grip man! It's probably Armor Rider Gold again."
"I thought he was a myth? Some kind of sentai hero who beats up Yakuza and other criminal types and anyone else he runs into."
"Get a load of this guy! Next you'll tell me you don't believe in Superman or Green Lantern or giant monsters attacking Tokyo…"
"Hey, I'm not saying I don't think it's possible. I'm just a Magical Girl fan, is all."
In Tohsaka Sakura's mind's ear, the gnawing continued. She clenched her teeth and endured on.
Chisame didn't like being visited by her classmates in general, but there were categories on how much she disliked it. A visit from Kagurazaka was something to dread, since Kagurazaka wouldn't come unless there was a real emergence behind it. A visit from Iinchou was just a weekly annoyance, since she wanted to spend time with Sensei so often. A visit from Sasaki was just a semi-frequent bothersome halt to Chiu's activities, since it meant Makie needed help with her studies again.
Visits from Naba and Murakami were rare, but whenever they happened they were among the most uncomfortable, not so much because of Murakami, whom Chisame didn't mind much, but because of Naba, who was one of those persons who never do anything bad or wrong and yet manage to be completely overbearing and suffocating by their mere presence. At least for people like Chisame; the cheerleaders and Ayaka just found her a total delight to be around.
Having Naba come along without Murakami, though, was something that had never happened before, and Chisame had found it to be completely alien and unnerving from the second she had opened the door for her and seen her standing there, all alone and not smiling for once. Even before Naba said the laconic words that immediately made Negi jump up from his nearby chair and Ayaka to almost shriek.
"I'm afraid Natsumi-chan might have been kidnapped."
Moments later, Negi, Chizuru, Negi's Ministra Magi, and a Chamo who clung to Negi's shoulder while discreetly looking at Chizuru's cleavage sat around the kitchen table, while the neighboring young woman slid a note across the table towards the boy.
"Last night, Natsumi didn't come over to sleep, but she sometimes stays for the night with a crewmate, so I didn't mind it much and went to sleep early. This morning, however, she wasn't there when I woke up. And then... This was slipped under our front door minutes ago, just as I was wondering what was taking Natsumi-chan so long," Chizuru said tensely. "She isn't taking my calls, and I was about to call the Dorm Mother on it, but this made me come to you instead, Sensei."
Gulping, Negi picked the note up and read it aloud. It was typed on rather than handwritten, offering no obvious clues on the sender yet. "Negi Springfield: Come to the old Astronomy Observatory this midnight with your two roommates, if you want to see the girl again. Don't alert anyone else no matter what."
Negi paled visibly, putting the letter down. "Oh, goodness. What kind of people…"
Ayaka began seething, her face reddening. "The raw nerve of those knaves! Involving Natsumi-chan in this! Also, his two roommates?! Why not me?!"
Asuna slapped the back of Ayaka's head. "There are more important things to worry about now!"
Chisame frowned at Naba. "I don't get it. The message was for us, so why slip it under your door? Doesn't that beat the purpose of not wanting others involved?"
Chizuru shrugged. "Perhaps this individual, whoever they are, is afraid of a direct confrontation with Sensei, and left the note with me knowing I'd bring it to him. This is some enemy you've made with those martial arts you've been learning with Ku-san, isn't it, Sensei?"
"I… I have no way of knowing, really," Negi nervously said. "But of course, I won't allow anything else to happen to Murakami-san, I—"
"Or is this," Naba's voice sounded sharper and more critical now, yet ever so gentle, "related to those hoodlums who attacked our class trip in Kyoto instead? If I recall correctly the explanations we were given, they were after Konoka-san so they could ransom her for her family's fortune?"
Negi winced. "N-No, I doubt that, those people have been… dealt with already. Even if this was done by them, they would have gone directly after Konoka-san…"
Konoka looked aside innocently while Setsuna shifted in place, clearly uneasy.
"I supposed that much," Chizuru nodded. "Well, since it's obviously a mundane, even if still obviously grievous and unacceptable, matter that should clearly fall under the staff's jurisdiction, I'll take these news to the Headmaster now that you've confirmed my—"
"No, wait, not so fast!" Chisame gasped, even as Satomi took the letter from Negi and began studying it with a special set of goggles she had fished out from under the table. "You heard it yourself, what if they hurt Theater Girl over this?! Do you care so little about your roommate?!"
"Natsumi-chan means the whole world to me, Chisame-san," Naba told her, extremely serious. "If I look calmed now, it's because I already spent minutes panicking over this back at our apartment, and because I know I won't help her if I don't try and keep a cool head about it. But, since you are just a bunch of average classmates, a completely normal ermine and a young man who has studied some kenpo, I'm afraid we must trust this whole ugly affair to the proper authorities, not you. I just wanted you to know…"
Misa sniffed, lifting her tiny cute nose. "I'm much more than average, I'll let you know!
"There are traces of the same residual magical energy left behind when Sakurako, Konoka-san and Sora-san made their summons on this paper," Hakase coldly reported, folding the note and handing it back to Chizuru. "I only can conclude that whoever wrote this is another mage involved with this 'Holy Grail War' business Sensei was about to explain us about, and this person is luring one of the best known local mages and his two closest known affiliates into a bid to determine whether they are a part of it or not. Oh, and for the sake of avoiding further miscommunications, Naba-san, Negi-sensei is an adept of the dark crafts of what you would call magic, and we are his two closest companions in that dangerous lifestyle. Chisame and I, that is, the rest of the present are just novices."
"Novices?!" Misa gasped, offended. "I'm almost as much of a veteran as you!"
"Oh, I see, that would explain quite a few things, actually," Chizuru unflappably said, while Misora slumped miserably as if wishing earth would just swallow her already, Chisame slammed both hands on her own face, and Negi shrunk back on his seat, hideously pale and shriveled, Chamo tensing up with interest.
"Of course, that is supposed to be an extremely well kept secret, so we'd appreciate you helping us keep it from… um, the Narutaki sisters," Satomi further confided to Chizuru. "Well, it's not a secret THAT well kept in our classroom, but otherwise, well, it is… sort of…"
"I can't decide whether being offended you kept this from us while telling everyone else but the twins, or flattered you put our safety above that of all those others," Chizuru said, formally addressing Negi but shooting a furtive sharp glare at a blushing Ayaka. "I believe I will choose to believe the latter."
Satomi nodded while Negi continued slumping down his chair. "That would probably be for the best, yes…"
Oneesama hadn't come to school that day. She had excused herself over being busy with the Heaven's Feel ritual, and then sent Sakura away with a warning to be very careful all day long. Once again, Sakura had been left in the dark about Rin's magical activities, but Sakura guessed it couldn't be helped. After all, Rin was the heiress.
It was only later in the day that Sakura learned that loud foreign student Luvia hadn't come to school either. Well, knowing of her past with Oneesama, it was logical to assume she had summoned a Servant as well. That would explain why Oneesama and her terribly dashing, devastatingly handsome Servant had been so tense over the last couple of days.
Not that they would share any of this with her, naturally.
Sakura fretted over this as she left school to buy Rin her favorite meat buns at the Chao Bao Zi, hearing her schoolmates exchange more rumors as she left. There had been some kind of terrorist attack in a big school in Neo-Tokyo. No, it was outside Neo-Tokyo, in Hina. No, you all are wrong, it was Ohtori! No, it was Honnouji, you morons! Always those dirty Honnouji devils! Green Lantern had been there. No, Superman had been there. No, Supergirl had! No, War Machine! No, it was a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a dress! No, it was a lion man dressed like All Might!
Sakura tried not to laugh at that last image.
Even if a bit more bitter than usual.
Negi sighed, standing from the chair and rolling his sleeves up. "Okay," he said. "Going there without a Servant is obviously a suicide, so I'll have to jump the gun and summon mine before planned. Chizuru-san, please go to the kitchen and bring me a knife."
"Knife, coming up," Chizuru nodded, obeying quickly as she diligently made her way out the room.
"A-At least have the decency to freak out!" Chisame called out after her. "Kakizaki, Kagurazaka, Suzushiro, they all freaked out!" Then she glared at Negi. "What the hell are you going to do?! Slice your wrists off!?"
Haruka pouted. "I didn't overreactionate that much!"
"I'm going to perform a summon ritual," Negi explained coldly. "It's one of those things I learned about in Merdiana, and I memorized the necessary spell in the event I ever was involved in a Grail War…"
Before anyone could ask him what he was supposed to summon, Chizuru came back holding a huge butcher's knife. "Will this be enough?"
Chisame gasped. "You had to pick the largest one we have, didn't you?! Dammit, it was right at the bottom of the last drawer, too! Did you specifically look for the biggest we could supply?!"
"Since it is much bigger than what any of us would ever need in our daily routines, and I don't remember ever buying it, I'm more worried about what you were saving that knife for, Chisame," a vaguely concerned Hakase stated.
Negi accepted said domestic blade with a small nod. "Yes, this should suffice nicely enough, thank you very much, Chizuru-san. Now, you might wish to leave the room, so you wouldn't have to watch what transpires next…"
"Oh, are you going to sacrifice one of our classmates or the ermine for some sort of eldritch power up?" Chizuru asked while the other girls and Chamo all choked in their saliva. "I'm honored you'd hold Natsumi-chan in such high esteem, but unless it's the ermine, I'm afraid I must object…"
Negi shook his head, kneeling down, grabbing Chamo, and pulling a piece of chalk out of his fur. "No, I'm not… that kind of mage. I'm going to summon a Servant, a Heroic Spirit who will help me rescue Natsumi-san. However, I'm not fully sure what manner of spirit will heed my call regardless of my intent, so you might be safer elsewhere…"
"I'll take my chances, thanks," Chizuru noted as Negi began drawing a magical circle on the floor with a piece of chalk. Then she asked Chisame, "I assume this manner of incident is somewhat routine to you, as none of you is fleeing in panic just yet?"
"I'm in a good mood for it, actually!" Misora gasped.
"Chisame was right, it is you who really should be panicking right now, Naba-san. This is not normal," Satomi said, before asking Negi, "Sensei, what need is there for a knife anyway, if not to sacrifice any of us?"
Negi stood back and backed away from the just completed circle. "I am going to need a catalyst to summon a Servant. Since the Throne of Heroes the Servants come from is beyond time and one can summon heroes from any point of human history, be present, past or even future, I'll use some of my blood as the catalyst for the greatest hero I ever could think of. I speak, of course, of my father, the legendary Thousand Master."
"Oh, what a huge surprise," Chisame snorted dryly. "My heart almost stopped from the sheer shock. What a tweeeest…"
"Wait a second now, Sensei! If you manage to summon your father now, and later you find him for real…" Kugimiya Madoka doubted, "… how will that even work? Would you have two fathers, or what?"
Negi blinked at her. "And the downside to that would be…?"
Madoka sighed deeply. "Never mind! For a moment I forgot who I was talking to. Carry on then!"
Ayaka brought her hands together and sobbed. "Please be careful, Sensei! If you feel you can't do it, just stop! We won't think ill of you!"
Negi nodded and began chanting under his breath, closing his eyes. "For the elements, Silver and Iron. For the foundation, stone and the Archduke of Contracts. For the ancestor, the great master Schweinorg…"
"Oh, I believe I am starting to understand this," Satomi said, stroking her chin. "Sensei's not going to pull just any manner of normal Familiar from another plane of existence, but an actually evolved being, is he?"
"A Servant is the embodied soul of an actual heroic human from the past," Chamo lectured. "They can't be summoned under normal circumstances, so y'all are pretty much witnessing a miracle in the process!"
"Close the gates of the cardinal directions," Negi continued, oblivious to everything else as a weak light began erupting from the floor. "Come forth from the Crown, and follow the forked road leading to the Kingdom..."
"Oh," Chizuru said faintly. "Ermine-san can talk, too…?"
"I insist you're talking all of this too lightly!" Chisame all but shouted, rubbing her own temples up. "Also, your priorities are all skewed! Someone's just about to call on some dead magical warrior, or one who hasn't even died yet, and you worry about the freaking white weasel?!"
"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat now, repeat five times. But when each is filled, destroy it. Set!"
Chizuru not-so-gently poked two fingers into Chamo's eyes. "This is for all these times you've watched over us in the bath, then," she said, her tone still as calm and polite as ever.
"Animal abuse…!" the ermine whined.
Negi made a slight cut on his arm with the edge of the knife, letting drops of his blood fall onto the circle. He didn't even wince, and his voice remained firm, which was the first thing that actually seemed to impress Chizuru since entering the apartment. "Heed my words. My word creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. You, heeding the call of the Holy Grail and obeying my will and reason, answer me!
"Oh, d-d-dear," Hasegawa Sora, Chisame's older sister, stammered. "S-Shouldn't we be stopping him?"
"This is the path of a hero," said the diminutive Cocone Fatima Rosa stoically.
Negi breathed out wheezily, as if straining under the effort, even as the circle began glowing in a bright blood red under the feet, gaining the girls' full attention. By now even Chizuru looked tense and more than a bit fearful.
"I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world! That I shall defeat all evil in the world! You, seven Heavens, clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding!" he shouted, opening his large brown eyes again. "Guardian of the Scales!"
"Ara, ara…" Chizuru said, awestruck, placing a hand on her cheek.
"Father-in-law…" Hakase quietly whispered to herself.
Chisame blinked twice. "What was that?!"
"N-Nothing!" Satomi said, looking aside awkwardly, while Misora, Misa, Ayaka and Haruka stared daggers at her. Sakurako only sighed.
And then, amidst a sudden and overwhelming red haze coming from the floor and swarming all over the room, not with an explosion of light but with a spreading of oozing uneasiness, it happened. A figure stood up, appearing right before Negi, at the middle of the circle.
This was a person in white and red armor, their head fully covered by a helmet armed with two tall long horns. The fully concealing suit of protection made it completely impossible to guess their age, race, or even gender from a first sight. They held a sword, one as impressive looking and large as that of Asuna, but also in crimson red and white, and ragged and twisted in shape, all sharp angles, wicked and bizarre in appearance. Not the blade of a noble warrior but that of a savage killer. This person looked icily at all the gathered, with aggressive intent and the manner of a barely restrained brute, taking several eternal seconds before speaking at them with clear contempt.
"I am Servant Saber," the newcomer addressed them all. "Which one of you would dare call themselves my Master?"
Time moved forward. The middle of the night…
It was, Batman considered at the edge of midnight, extremely satisfying to put down garden variety thugs and organized crime.
No riddles, no looking for plants, ice, Alice in Wonderland, penguins, any other birds, pharaohs, duality, coins, the number two, clowns, smiles or any other such connections. Find scum, follow scum, beat scum up so bad it puts the fear of God into them, rinse, repeat as needed.
It almost made for a compensation on the lack of new clues on the Galliasta case. With any luck, Clark and the others would find those in the no doubt related incidents they were attending to right then. In the meanwhile, he might as well just cleanse this area while he was there.
It was the fifteenth Yakuza-den of the night– fifteenth! He was on a roll!– when it occurred. As they say, once you stop looking for something, it tends to drop right on your lap the way you least wanted it to.
The Ichijou-gumi soldier he was following had barely walked into the warehouse, when there was a scream of primal terror and he ran out again. Batman, standing on a conveniently tall building, watched as a long end of chain flew from the darkened doorway, grabbed the running man by an ankle, and pulled him back screaming through the door.
When Batman crashed through a conveniently large window scant seconds later, it was to catch a glimpse of a tall, shapely woman with long purple hair, wearing a tight black minidress and matching tall boots, slamming the man onto the floor after pulling her mouth from his neck. The man hit the ground and spasmed a few times before stiffening, his eyes fixed open and blank. Other broken bodies filled the room, all breathing faintly but catatonic, with tiny bleeding marks on their necks.
"Freeze!" Batman barked, swiftly pulling out a Batarang and throwing it at her. The woman, despite being blindfolded, ducked easily under the projectile and countered.
A hook attached to that chain he'd just seen was thrown by the female, much faster than he'd thought possible, wrapping itself around one of his wrists. Only the thickness of his glove saved him from having his hand cut off. With the greatest of ease, she swung him in circles a few times, never making a single sound. A flick of her wrist then sent him crashing out another window.
By the time he managed to return, the Servant was gone.
The smell of blood she had left behind was so pungent, it couldn't possibly just come from the small punctures on each man she had just brutalized.
"Hnh…" Batman mused. "Curiouser and curiouser."
And deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth while he pondered this latest mystery (or was it another piece of the existing puzzle?), he knelt by the closest hapless thug and began searching him for clues about where he could find others of a superstitious and cowardly nature…
"Rider," his voice quietly startled her as she materialized back into the apartment room. "You were out... doing that again, weren't you?"
After a moment of doubt and shame, the Spirit turned her head towards the black haired boy sitting on the edge of the bed. She chose not to tell him about the bat-garbed stranger. "I'm sorry, Master. But... I still need to do it. I wish it could be otherwise."
He lowered his head and sighed sadly. "No. It's me who should apologize. If only I were a more competent Master, nobody would have to suffer because of us."
"I make sure they suffer as little as possible," she gently told him, sitting by his side and petting his hair. "I only took a little from each. They won't be hurt permanently, and they'll barely remember anything afterwards. I wouldn't ever kill them, since I know you couldn't live with it."
Ikari Shinji smiled at her. "Thank you, Rider. I guess you're right. Nobody will be inconvenienced that much..."
The campus:
Negi held Natsumi in his arms as they, Chisame, Satomi, Chamo and Saber watched helplessly how, from the half flooded ruins of the old observatory, a gigantic battleship began rising. Floating up from the stank waters that had swallowed the collapsed structure, like a ghost from swashbuckling epics, the massive pirate galleon ascended, hovering above them and training two whole rows of large cannons down at the youngsters, the ermine, and the knight.
"Heavy Firepower Animal Abuse…!" Chamo wailed hysterically.
Natsumi's eyes shone and grew downright huge, as she paled like a sheet of paper. "Not fair, we are so going to die…!-!-!"
Standing proudly on the ship for all to see, with a coughing and soaked Matou Shinji clinging to her legs, Rider laughed thunderously, her breasts bouncing up and down in a way that mesmerized Chamo, and made Chisame and Satomi wince in primal envy. Natsumi downright ran her own hands down her own flat chest and grimaced bitterly without even noticing it. Negi could only stand in awe of the man-of-war itself.
"Oh ho ho ho!" Rider boasted. "Behold, the ultimate scourge of all seven seas! You are fortunate, for you'll be wiped by none but the Golden Hind, the pride and joy of my peerless campaigns! It's been a damn good time, lads and lasses! I'll thank you forever…!"
"… so, she is…?" Chisame gulped, really wishing she hadn't come along. "F-For some reason I'm drawing blanks, must be the terror of impending death…!"
"Sir Francis Drake," Negi said between grinding teeth.
Saber grinned within the helmet and stepped ahead boldly.
"Saber, what are you going to-" Negi gulped while the cannons were prepared to fire, mostly zeroing in on her. There was no way they'd miss her—no, them—and as soon as they fired, they'd be blown up to dust and bits, no doubts about that. Even the best of swordsmen surely had to be powerless against something like that.
Chisame was projecting an electric barrier around them with her heart-topped scepter, and Negi was already chanting to add a magical shield of his own under his breath, but he knew well that this wouldn't be enough. "Saber, please take the girls and run away!" he yelled at his Servant. "Contract someone else, you still can escape…!"
"Silence!" Saber roared. "No Master of mine will act as a coward! Show some faith, and don't insult me so!" the warrior said, lifting the blade and aiming it squarely at Rider herself.
"Tch," Rider huffed, pointing her hand down while Shinji looked on eagerly, with manic excitement. "FIRE!"
The cannons shook and rumbled, and then roared, drowning Saber's words as they were shouted.
Negi, wide eyed, could see the cannonballs being shot downwards, flying towards them, and he drew Chisame violently into the protective embrace he'd been sharing with Natsumi, pressing them against himself, whispering an apology, just as he heard Saber's final exclamation, somehow managing to rise over the cannons.
Saber's helmet was blown backwards, disappearing in a burst of mana and revealing a beautiful, delicate face, that of a woman in her prime. Her sword gave the impression of roaring like a mad beast, with a scorching burst of red flames that flew upwards, vaporizing the cannonballs in its blazing wake, and zooming past them and directly into Drake and her ship.
"CLARENT BLOOD ARTHUR!"
Rider managed to blink yet, truly astonished. "Oh," she quietly said. "Is that so? I really don't know what to—"
And then everything around her blew up.
The next morning…
"I can't believe we missed it!" Kuro groused as she, Illya and Miyu headed for the grade school. "A big fight like that, and no one called us!"
"Well, to be fair, there's no way we'd have gotten there anyway," Illya said. "I mean, it was all the way over in the old campus. Besides, at around that time, I think Rin and Luvia were still recovering from their mutual beating, and you and Archer were trying to out-badass each other in the living room."
"Which I clearly won!" Kuro declared. "The coward left!"
"Only because Rin had to go back home," Miyu pointed out quietly.
"Details, details! I am clearly more GAR!"
"Huh?" Illya said. "What does that mean?"
"Look it up. TV Tropes, dattebayo!"
"That's so outdated, Kuro," a disgusted Illya said. "TV Tropes hasn't been good for years!"
Rider opened her eyes and blinked. No, not that Rider. The other Rider.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You're in our room," Negi told her, sitting by the futon she had been placed onto. "Saber's Noble Phantasm almost killed you and your Master, but I managed to summon Konoka-san in time to heal you back."
"Who is 'Konoka'? No, wait, you saved me?! Why?!" the pirate asked. "I'm your enemy!"
Standing at a corner with her arms folded and now wearing only tight jean shorts and a red top, Saber sneered bitterly. No, not that Saber. The other Saber. "That's what I told these idiots, but do you think they ever listen?!"
"We don't kill, Saber," Negi told her patiently. Then he addressed Rider again. "We managed to... convince your Master to transfer his Command Seals before sending him away. I hope that this way, we don't need to be enemies anymore, and that we can find some kind of peaceful resolution for this Grail War."
"Saber is right, you're an idiot, but I think that can be excused if you are a real child and not a circus midget," Rider said, sitting up. "So, who is my new Captain now? You?"
Chisame, who was sitting between Negi and Hakase, made a miserable grimace and lifted her right fist, bearing the three red marks still itching on her flesh.
Rider grinned wickedly. "Splendid, splendid! Much cuter than the old management, at least! Now there's only the matter of me fee."
"I told you we should've just dumped her on Konoe!" Chisame growled at her teacher.
"Aha!" Iri cried as she finally managed to find what she was looking for. "I knew this was back here somewhere!"
She whirled, and Saber stared at the black suit in Iri's hands. Yes, that Saber this time.
Iri grinned widely at her. "Saber, SUIT UP!"
Somewhere in Europe, Morgan Le Fay looked up from her latest clue as to the location of the so-called Philosopher's Stone she sought, pouting to herself as she felt a cold chill pass through her. Then she shrugged it off, and went back to reading.
M'gann M'orzz of Mars frantically tried to reach Earth, struggling with the damaged controls of her ship as she escaped from her beloved world of Ma'aleca'andra, the Great Pale Ones in burning pursuit.
Medea made wedding preparations, and wished not for the first time she had enough money to hire a planner or someone…
Within the Grail just forming, darkness stirred. A tragic soul, twisted and ruined, now cursed to be the unwilling core of evil. A decade-long host body waking, a waiflike, petite, white figure stirring like a frail doll rising in the relentless depths...
Kotomine waited for the senseless killing to come and for beliefs to be made as cobwebs before the cruel light of day. Humanity would end, it would take just a little bit more, and he'd have a front row seat. Who knew, maybe he'd finally be able to return the favor Emiya Kiritsugu had done to him by killing him. It would be the least he could do…
Plans were made. Plans were set. The world continued on…
To be Continued.