AN- its been awhile. Whoo boy – 2021 has been a year. Lots of stuff has happened and I will get into none of it at this moment in time. Important thing to note – hiatus is over. Ready to get right into the second part of Fate Finality. As a quick refresher, the first round of the Grail War ended in a Zouken victory, the Blue Team is crippled, the Red Team are about to become relevant and the Greys have a metric fuck tonne of problems still to deal with.

Right into it, here we go~

Chapter 30

If there was one constant in warfare, it was death. The tools could change, the tactics would advance and the names and faces were unique – but the carnage was universal. Shedding of blood only led to further bloodshed – the cycle repeats. But she persisted anyway, progressing one corpse at a time. She rallied the kings, she prepared her warriors, they planned and they schemed and they prayed. After so much work it was finally coming together. One final shot – victory or defeat. The combined forces of Britannia – united under one banner – for one singe purpose.

Drive off the Romans. The savages that invaded their homes, raped their woman, burned their homes and spat on their peace.

200,000 strong, brave men... versus an imperial army of 10,000.

And then... they were slaughtered. Her preparations were for naught. They were still too divided, still too weak, still too undisciplined. Nero's Romans cut through Britannia like a scythe upon wheat.

But the Queen smiled through her tears, even as the beautiful blue rivers of her home overflowed with blood and the fields became a rotting garden of corpses. It was her duty to protect her people, avenge her husband and lead Britannia to Victory – that had been her promise. That had been the duty placed on her by those that rallied to her cry for vengeance. Victory. Oh Boudica, why could you not bring us Victory?

Let it all burn... just let it burn... let those damned Romans burn.

Had Andraste truly abandoned them? Why had she favoured the Romans so? How could any goddess look down upon the suffering those imperials wrought and allow them victory after all of their sins?

They weren't human – those Romans. Boudica the Queen could see them as enemies, those unfortunate enough to be born across the channel and to have challenged her... but Boudica the mother could only view them as monsters.

Her precious daughters – the darling offspring of her beloved Prasutagus... raped before her eyes. How they screamed for mercy! How they were ignored! She wanted them to pay – for their ruin to match her own.

However, could she ever accept any outcome but annihilation for those that so thoroughly stole everything from her: her nation, her husband, her children, her people, her peace?

She was the warrior Queen of Victory, whom promised triumph but only delivered bitter defeat. And even her death couldn't be clean. To fall in battle would be a relief, but to end it all to deny the Romans the privilege of using her for their own ends?

Now that was a poison she could drink to!

KA-WRENCH

I dRIfTeD AwAy

Once again, I returned to my own sense of self and attained the odd sensation of lucid dreaming – a knowledge that while I was definitely asleep and imagining this... that it was all still horribly real. Same temple of endless decadence, same throne, same burning divine power, same goddess.

"Hmph. Already acting like this is a mundane event. You should be grovelling before me for each and every word I deem to give you. Many mortals would claw their throats out merely for a chance to bask in my beauty or to head my wisdom."

As respectfully as possible, I'd rather not grovel. And frankly, third times the pattern. No clue how I keep ending up here aside from you dragging me here, but you're a Goddess from a bejillion years ago. I'm just accepting whatever the hell this is right now.

After all, I had no clue of the mechanics here. I was getting real Amaterasu vibes from all this, but I had never played the Extra series personally, so not like I remembered that interaction very clearly.

"You can assume the mechanics are similar. Don't stress your simple, monkey brain – you need not know the specifics."

Still hate the mind-reading. And ouch. Accurate, but that hit hard.

"You are welcome."

Also not a compliment. Now, anything you wanna talk about since you obviously brought me here for a reason.

I felt a sense of irritation from her and felt the fiery intensity of her presence magnify. "Do I need to give you another lesson in respect?"

Nopenopenope. I remembered last meeting all too well, thank you. This is just how I deal with nonsense. And I take no responsibility for what I'm thinking. All seriousness, anything to say?

"How are you not angrier? To have victory stolen from you! To be humiliated like this! How are you not thirsty for blood?"

Ah. The war. A completed, pure wish snatched away at the last moment. Matou Zouken. That.

Welp, that's just human nature. We're inconsistent at times. Also, blame me for literally being a Contradiction. I don't regret any of the actions that led me to where I am. Okay, maybe a little bit. But getting angry doesn't help me one bit. Gotta stay strong for the team. Hard times are ahead. Need to keep my eye on the prize. So no time to bitch and moan.

"Still intend to win?"

Damn skippy. I've gone through too much bullshit now to go home empty handed. I'm getting us all through this, even if it kills me.

The goddess laughed in my face. Oooph. Both foreboding and embarrassing. "It probably will. Still, I will watch you closely. I am not dissatisfied by your actions – humans have always been a curiously odd species. I still think all of his peculiarities came from his human blood, after all."

Humanities oldest bully does what he does, screw what anyone has to say on the matter.

… and I still need to think of a plan to beat him. Its gonna suck so much.

Another laugh, one more bitter this time. "You are unfortunately correct. He is quite a difficult figure to face after all. I hate to speak of my own history on the topic, but his deeds speak for himself. The worst is still ahead for you."

Thanks.

KICK

I awoke to the familiar presences of way too many people for the bed I was using (but who was I to question why we were all sharing a bed when we had plenty of space and the ability to literally magic up new beds?). I wanted to go back to sleep and maybe actually get some decent rest.

On the other hand, I didn't want to wander back into the conversation landslide I'd only just managed to escape safely from. Ereshkigal's 'sister' was mean. And while that conversation was rather important, my mind also kept drifting off to that first vision. That glimpse of her past was enough to make me want to vomit.

"Fuck it. Fine. I'll start my day productively." I began to untangle myself from my Gordian Knot – lots of stuff to do today.

XXXXXXXXXX

Once more, Margaretha shows her immense utility by somehow having acquired enough coffee to keep even an elephant awake and happy. At this point in time I was tempted to order that the walls and floors of this building be so protected that they could never be broken, if only to keep sealed shut the Schrodinger's Box-like ability she had to pull literally anything from their depths.

"Righty ho. Now that the hangovers are slightly less painful, I guess we should this here meeting of the Grey Team to order."

"Sounding a little formal there." Teased Boudica. She was in as high spirits as normal. I tried to let her mood uplift my own... but my mind couldn't help but drift to the dream sequence and what I could clearly remember seeing before Ishtar stole the stage again (quite literally).

I think you sometimes forget that for all the levity the Heroic Spirits around me showed... they were all still horribly scarred individuals. There was enough trauma in them collectively to fill up an entire A&E.

But what was it about Boudica's pain that was hitting me so hard?

"James." I blinked, realising that I'd been silently staring at Boudica for too long and she was starting to give me a look.

"Nothing." I shook off those troubling thoughts and instead focused on the meeting. Keep it together, me. "Alright, I'm just gonna skip the banter at this point. Not really feeling it this morning. The first round is over, a tonne of shit has happened, and we should probably consider just what the hell our plan of action is now."

"Allow me to summarise the events of last night then." Cheerfully announced Lily. "We invaded the Einzbern Castle and successfully took down that faction. Saber and Berserker of Blue were killed... but third parties sticking their necks in fucked us all over."

"Fuck Zouken." was the universal consensus. I'm glad we have this one thing.

"So Blue Team is just Medea moping in her temple being ominously inactive." I concluded.

"She has to be at this point." Pointed out Scathach. "Her allies are all dead or unwilling to work with her. Archer of Blue might still be in play, as well as the newly reborn Makiri Zolgen, but she is effectively alone. She can't commit her forces fully in any aggressive battle."

"If I know myself... which I unfortunately do, she'll be scheming for any advantages." Medea tilted her head cutely – deep in thought. "She'll strike at weakness, but would rather barricade herself away working on trump cards. So her presence in the War is gonna be iffy until we choose to fight her, the numbers are reduced enough that she can afford to play riskier, or she has enough of a winning hand that the opposition can't beat her."

"Any clue what kind of trump card?" Ereshkigal asked.

She shrugged. "No clue. I don't think her goal is stealing any more Servants right now, so I imagine that she'll focus on enhancing what she has right now. We'll find out when we find out."

"And that brings us to the first of our three problems we need to solve. No – four problems." I rubbed at my head. "What the hell do we do about Medea the Elder? I've left her alone because I want to rescue Kiyohime..."

"But that doesn't answer the problem, does it?" My Saber sighed. "Its a shame that it isn't as simple as just killing the witch, isn't it?"

"To be fair, we could just do that." Pointed out Lancer. "We could write off Berserker as a loss at this point and just move on."

"We could, but we're not." I put my foot down. On this point, I wouldn't budge. "So with that option being unacceptable because I say so, I see two ways out of this." I admitted. "And unfortunately both of them rely on the same point. Rule Breaker." That stupid-ass Noble Phantasm – it was a risk to any Servant. "Realistically the only way to steal back Kiyohime is through the way she was first taken. Use that blade against Kiyohime or her new Master."

"And would you care to fill in how we would acquire such a Noble Phantasm?" Lancer prompted with a narrowed look – no doubt already knowing the answer but just wanting her student to flex his brain a little. I also guessed that she wasn't happy that there was a solution – or rather, she was unhappy with what the solution needed to be.

"Easy answer: a copy. We hope that EMIYA is still alive and kicking and willing to work with us and get him to produce and use the weapon. Or we poke Shirou and hope he isn't too butt-hurt and that his training in the war has got him to the point where he can do it."

"Both of these rely on getting the help of someone that might not wish to aid us." Pointed out Boudica.

I acknowledged her very valid criticism. "That was one option. And its bad. I mean, in a pitch we could force the issue with Margaretha's Noble Phantasm to get them to comply, but I don't trust our odds at pulling that off. But unfortunately, my other idea is just as bad. This idea has been stewing awhile now, but it always felt awkward to bring up, so I didn't. Medea, can you use Rule Breaker?"

Everyone went quiet and my adorable Caster flinched. End of the day, they were the same Heroic Spirit, merely at different points in her life. Heck – they even possessed the same Class Container. Even if Medea loathed that weapon and all that it represented, that didn't mean that she didn't still have access to it somehow. And it was one curiosity of the Fate universe that had never really been discussed. If one Servant drops their Noble Phantasm... is another Servant capable of picking it up and using it if they are 'qualified' to use it?

"N-no." Medea shook her head. "I can't summon it. Not as I am now."

"But could you use it." I stressed the word. "The Noble Phantasm is physically present in this world. I mean, if Boudica dropped her sword, nothing says I can't pick it up off the ground and stab her with it. I can at the very least wield it, even if I can't activate or use it. But if we had two Boudica's, could the second use the NP of the first? See my point? If you took it off your elder self, could you actually use it, or simply wield it?"

Now this absolutely floored her. "I... never considered this before. Normally a Servant can't use another Servant's Noble Phantasm, but there are exceptions. Some can be given, and others have a legend of being lost that allow third parties to acquire them. But if two Servants were qualified to use the same one?I... I don't know, okay? I don't really want to know! Its a horrible weapon! Horrible!" And now Caster was crying. Geez – way to make me feel shit.

"Okay! Okay!" I shushed her, patting her shoulder reassuringly. "Just... please stop crying? Please? Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay." I said, glad that at least the water works had stopped. Best to shelve the topic of Rule Breaker for now. "That's... it's enough. We can return to the topic later, maybe. All in favour of moving on?"

A round of "Ayes."

"Okay, so that's one of four." I considered the other problems, each just as troublesome as the first. "Zouken... Zolgen is probs still in play. I hope he's had a change of heart and is getting out of dodge to go donate to charity or help starving orphans or something, but I doubt our luck is that good. So with that said, he is likely gonna try and interfere somehow."

"First and foremost he needs another Servant." Pointed out Assassin.

"No idea how he'll get one. Is he even qualified to be a Master now considering how he won the damn game already? Problem is I just don't know WHAT he IS capable of." Zouken was a scary Magus capable of recreating a Lesser Grail, manufacturing the Book of False Attendant and summoning a Servant from the corpse of another.

Now what the hell could Makiri Zolgen, one of the founders of the fucking Grail War, do?

"I don't think we can know what shenanigan he pulls until he reveals it."

"So the same problem as Medea the Elder. Then I guess all we can do is stay on our guard. Bolster security." Confirmed our resident Goddess. "It annoys me that we need to be so passive about him."

"Then let me give this executive order." I grinned. "Fuck Zouken! Well, fuck Zolgen. We see him, we fuck him up. If we have a chance to screw with whatever he's doing, we take the shot. Just in case. It can't hurt."

And with that, we had two issues down. "Next, the Red Team."

"They will be our main adversaries this round." said Margaretha. "They have most of their important members still. While losing Tristan was bad for them, they still have the only other sizeable group left. So they need to take us down before they lose any more advantage. Which means one thing..."

"An attack directly on us." I unfortunately concluded. "So we NEED to increase our defences."

"I've got an idea or two about that." Medea spoke up – her earlier hysterics washed away. She looked determined. "I can put a stop on my potions lab and work on strengthening our territory. I would like some help from Archer and Lancer with this though."

"Ohoh? Sounds intriguing. I will allow you to make use of my talents." Typical Rinism.

"My priority is on teaching my student, but I will assist whenever free." Lancer agreed. "It's the least I can do to aid the Team. But would it not be better to wipe out the enemy instead?"

"Do we know where they are?" I asked aloud.

My spy shrugged. "A lot of my networks are starting to fall apart due to lack of use. I had to force a lot of things due to needing to make it quickly." Fast, cheap and effective. Can't have them all. Maybe replace cheap with stable? I dunno – the metaphor is lost. "I have a few candidate locations and I am pretty sure I know which one they'd have chosen, but with a Caster class Servant directly aware of me, I've been avoiding directly getting close to them. So I can't prove anything."

"Top area pick?"

"Maybe one of the Edelefts old mansions? They would be ruined from the Third War, but would do in a pinch. Otherwise, they might be in the eastern side of the city, near Kotomine Church."

"What kind of defences and traps would that Caster have set up too, I wonder." Rider pondered. "Our own adorable Medea focuses on potions and items, but a more traditional Caster definitely has a lot more options available to them."

"The old Magus saying: 'never fuck with a Magus on their home turf'." Quoted Ereshkigal. "Really, sounds like its just as risky as the defence game."

"Then maybe we should base our strategy on the 'fourth' problem." Suggested Saber. "And by process of elimination... Gilgamesh."

Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh... it all comes back to him. The overpowered, incarnated, absolutely bullshit Servant.

"We have four days, including today." Frowned Saber. "We don't have long to work with, and still have no proper plan in place."

"Well, that's what we're here to do." I bounced back, trying to remain cheerful. "We just need a plan to take down one of the strongest Heroic Spirits in history – no biggie! Just need to worry about all the Noble Phantasms, the instant win Anti-World weapon and all the misc bullshit he can pull out of his ass. No. Biggie."

"It sound like a biggie!"

"No shit Medea." I growled. "I'm just trying to stay positive! But he's so bullshit I want to cry! If he wants you dead, you're gonna die! Your best chance against him is for him to underestimate you and then pull something unexpected to kill him while his guards down. But he's actively coming to murder us! You should outnumber him so at least one of you has the chance to sneak a winning hit in, but if you try to outnumber him then he'll just stop holding back and will cut you down all the same! And if you can somehow match him, then he can always go 'fuck you' and summon his spinning space sword!"

"We don't have the means to face him one on one." Scathach said it this time – and if our own ace in the hole says she can't solo him, then she means business. "Even going all out, Gilgamesh is versatile enough to survive or counter whatever I have. Gae Bolg is a sure kill, but he will block it without question. And my Gate of Skye will also likely fail – and he isn't lacking in the destructive might to flat out destroy my gate. Naturally, this is with him fully focusing on me. If he has other distractions, then perhaps he will miss a key block."

"Which goes back to 'gang up and hit him 'til he dies', which never goes well." I sighed. "If all the Grey Team gangs up on him, how are out chances?"

"Bad." admitted Scathach. "We are not a team able to match him, even if we had all seven members. Gilgamesh must have one of the strongest wills amongst Servants to be able to retain his ego after being submerged in All the Worlds Evils, so Saber and Assassin are unlikely to succeed with their Noble Phantasms." Already, that removes Margaretha as any kind of meaningful aid tot he battle, and reduces Saber to a tanky meatshield with a stabby stick (namely, unlikely to be able to do much more than shield me with their own body, and maybe get pin-cushioned by raining swords while trying to approach).

"What about me?" Ereshkigal pointed to herself. "He is a Demigod – I am his natural enemy."

"Archer's Noble Phantasm would be useful to remove his protections, but is unlikely to kill." Lancer countered.

"Plus, we have his whole hate boner to deal with. He hates Ishtar, and just being related to her made him decide to wipe out our whole team despite being happy to leave us alone only a day or so earlier." I reminder her. "I'm not being mean here, but your entire presence here is what caused this mess in the first place. And with his 'Divinity sealing chains' He can probably counter you more than you counter him."

Frankly, I still felt that Archer's major contribution to the upcoming fight would be less to do with her personally, and more the goddess that comes attached to her and occasionally bullies me in my dreams. I was certain that Ishtar could do something to aid us - just a matter of figuring out what, and persuading the Deity to assist us.

"And then there are the rest of us." Boudica frowned. "I hate to say this, but I'm a liability. My chariot can maybe help us close the distance between us, but my defences can't hold up to rapid fire Noble Phantasms, while my offensive options are limited. Meanwhile, Medea lacks a lot of major offensive oomph. Finally, Berserker isn't even here."

"In other words, the Grey Team is fucked." I concluded throwing my hands up in the air. "Conventionally, at least." I loved my team, but we were niche and just lacked the offensive oomph of either of the other teams. What I wouldn't give for even a single beam sword... "So we are going to have to make up for this by actually being smart about this."

"Oh, but that seems like work!" Pointed out Margaretha.

"A painful amount of it." I reaffirmed. "And we have 3 days to set it up, since the battle could happen at any point of the last day. Through alliance or blackmail, through terrain and tactics, through each and every goddamn advantage we can get our hands on... we need a fucking miracle. And we're gonna have to make it ourselves."

I gave everyone a grim look. This... was the biggie. We could beat the Red Team head on. We could tackle Zolgen's inevitable Trump Card. We could figure a work about for Medea the Elder. But all that was meaningless if in three days time Gilgamesh came to kill us all and we didn't have the most cunning plan in all of creation to save us.

"So then, that's the situation." I opened my arms in a wide gesture – opening the floor. "Now... how the absolute hell do we get out of this hole we've dug ourselves into?"

XXXXXXXXXX

After the headache which was that planning session, it was nice to go back to where things made sense: unravelling the mystical components of symbology.

"You're making good progress." Admitted my teacher. "I have set a demanding pace, and you keeping pace with it. Impressive."

"I try my best." I shrugged, rolling my shoulders to work off the kink in my neck from leaning over pieces of paper for so long. "Helps that I have a legendary teacher to help me, and the very real risk of death that I'll face if I can't learn enough quickly enough." I'm just glad I haven't needed to rely on my Runecraft to protect me yet. Funnily enough, I've had basically no fights against other Masters. I've always had a Servant to act as a bodyguard, or the enemy Master has chosen not to fight me (or just stayed the hell out of dodge).

"Even so, praise should be given when warranted." There was just the smallest smile on the god slayer's face – just a tinge of satisfaction. "Still immensely sloppy, mind you. And once this is over we'll be returning to the absolute basics again to unlearn all the sloppy shortcuts you're been using to save time, but that is for later." Joy. "It should help break up the spear training and give your broken bones time to heal."

Don't just talk about my future injuries so carelessly!

"Still, I think I'm finally ready ready." I was honestly about as confident as I could hope to be – and time was oh so very short. "I have a lot of smaller pieces ready, and I've been thinking long and hard about it. But I think its time to start putting them together and get 'Hypothetical Rune Cannon Prototype' into development. At the very least, I think there's enough working material that the firing mechanism and the bullets themselves are done."

"I agree." Lancer nodded her head. "We can start putting it together this afternoon – Medea has agreed to construct the item itself, but you will be the sole carver."

"... were you already expecting this, and just waiting for me to work up the initiative to suggest it?"

"Yes." She shamelessly agreed. "We will build your little toy modularly. While Medea works on crafting the physical prototype parts, we can take breaks to study the other holes in your knowledge needed for the rest of the Mystic Code to properly function. Namely, the aiming mechanism, the reloading portion and the triggering mechanic. If we have time, we can also work on the amplification array and acceleration barrel."

I winced. Still a long way to go... but this was what I wanted. "No time like the presence. Brave men are coming... so let's get ready to kill them."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hmmm... this should be easy!" Medea declared brightly after hearing me describe what I needed her to make. "It's tricky that you wanted it to be able to slot together like that, but making the individual pieces should be a piece of cake! I've got some materials stashed away that should do the job – so long as you aren't too rough with it."

"As long as it doesn't explode in my face, I'll be happy." I admitted. "But then again, I am asking you to help me make a 'magic-rune-rifle-shotgun-I-don't-know-guns-very-well', so it would be nice if its strong enough to handle the bullshit we're basically going to have to get right the first time."

She shrugged. "I'm a Witch, not a miracle worker. But I'll give it my best shot!"

"That's all I can ask for." I smiled at her. "So, how goes the defence reinforcement?"

"Pretty well." She admitted. "I want to integrate Lancer's Runes to increase the outer protections, so I'll chat with her over work. But Archer has been great – we've designated this space as her primary territory, and her Blessing is making the whole thing stand together a lot better. She brought up a fun idea to give us a nice escape route for if we're attacked, so fingers crossed, we can get that done next!"

"That sounds like a good idea. When preparing for a siege, always have a secret tunnel out... or something like that." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Not like I know what I'm talking about."

"Soooo... you're having a break now, right?" Assassin's voice came from right behind my ear – I was tempted to jump, but I refused to give her the satisfaction. So instead, I resolutely remained still.

"Scathach is giving me a lunch break now, yes." Wondering where she was going with this.

"Weeeellll..." she hadn't even told me anything, and I already knew I wasn't going to like where this was going. "I... am going to take you out on a lunch date."

"Margaretha no."

"Margaretha yes." she countered, a smile of absolute confidence on her face. She was the cat that got the canary and the canary's immediate family. "It's all planned out. I need to go check on my networks, and your teacher has agreed that some fresh air and good food will help refresh you for even harsher learning later! And I've already persuaded Ereshkigal to watch from afar and snipe anyone that tries to assassinate us!"

"I have things to do!" I replied, trying to escape. But Margaretha had linked her arm around my own and had already started dragging me towards the door – I hadn't even noticed us move, such was Maragaretha's charm. Curse her Servant physiology for making her inherently stronger than me! "No – Medea save me!"

"Oh Medea~" trilled the menace stealing me away. "Scathach is all yours until we get back!"

"Take your time!" Medea cheerfully waved us away – though she did give me an apologetic nod. My sacrifice would surely go remembered – though it certainly wasn't a sacrifice I'd agreed to make!

"Saber!?" I cried out, searching for my ever-present bodyguard. They were my Bro – they were the ethereal voice of common sense and sanity, the oasis of sensibility in an ocean of ridiculousness. They were my last hope.

"Already bought off." They shrugged carelessly, then gave me an exaggerated wink and eyebrow waggle. "I will be here enjoying this vintage French wine, toasting to your valiant sacrifice."

"Sacrifice my ass!" I called out as I was dragged away in the embrace of a scheming Assassin who was definitely having way too much fun with this whole thing. Still, I couldn't deny the small smile on my face. Margaretha might be a terrible flirt, but she always acted with the best of intentions. Maybe I could give her the benefit of doubt?