Here's the next chapter guys! Now things are really starting to speed up! And it's the longest chapter yet at 6,379 words!

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Chapter 10- Cave of Corruption

No one said anything as Manaka started to dance on the ground, twirling around as if there were no bodies on the ground.

"I'll never let you near my King!" Gawain shouted, righteous anger flowing through his body. Had his King really been summoned by such a vile person?!

Manaka stopped and stared up at Gawain. "Nothing can stop me." The certainty in her voice was chilling. "I am connected to the Greater Grail. The Root and now I even have this." She then revealed a smaller Grail glowing with power.

Both Ariene and Cleo stiffened and Cleo's intercom beeped as Roman's holographic image suddenly appeared. "Where did you get that?!" He demanded, his voice frantic.

Manaka laughed, twirling the Grail in her hand as if it were a child's toy. "The man with the funny hat of course!"

"Funny hat...?" Issie asked.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten what I look like." A new voice said, causing Cleo to straighten up, her fist clenched as her green eyes narrowed as they scanned her surroundings.

The visage of a man suddenly appeared, he was dressed neatly with a white dress shirt, purple tie, dark brown trousers and a vibrant green coat that matched the top hat that sat on his long, spiky dark brown hair.

"Lev!" Cleo shouted, fury burning through her entire body. This man. This man was responsible for the death for many of her friends. He was responsible for the death of her parents. She never would have thought she could hate someone so much.

"Calm down Cleo!" Issie latched onto the darker haired girl when it looked like she would physically attack him herself. "You know you attacking him is what he wants!

Lev laughed, "Listen to your fellow Master, Cléophée." Cleo growled at her full name, murder in her eyes. "You left me no choice. I never would have dreamed that Chaldea's two Masters and their servants could go through three singularities and succeed. You actually forced me to create another singularity." Lev's face turned demonic then, his face looking too thin and tight suddenly, "Now you'll die here."

Rin POV

Rin felt a shiver go through her at Lev's words. They were cold with a hint of madness, as far as she was concerned, he was as bad as Manaka. Why the hell were all their enemies showing their faces now?!

"He doesn't feel right." Jeanne muttered next to her, brows furrowing as she looked at Lev.

"What do you mean?" Rin asked. Nothing in this situation felt right and she could feel herself losing control of her composure.

"Breathe easy, Master," Gawain showed her the barest hint of a smile. "King Arthur is on our side. We will prevail."

Rin gave him a shaky smile. He sounded so confident that she actually felt some more hope return to her.

"Prevail?!" Lev demanded, looking at them with wide crazed eyes that seemed to see into her soul. "Humanity is already gone! You have already failed!"

Rin felt her anger start to boil in her. Who did he think he was? Telling them that they had already failed? They would not lose! She would fight heaven and hell to get back home to her own world! She would see all her friends again. Even if it killed her.

"How have they failed?" Rin called out to Lev, feeling her fear evaporate as her determination rose. "Like you said, they've already succeeded in three singularities. I would say that Chaldea has you on the run."

Rin saw Lev scowl at her while Roman gave her an admiring look. They were polar opposite but neither look affected her.

"Miss Rin! You're far too kind! Roman said happily while Lev just scoffed.

"Trust me, Little Girl, all Chaldea has done is set us back. You are about to be wiped out and the Master in Londinium will be dealt with as well. " Lev said before turning and walking away, soon his visage started to disappeared.

Rin almost jumped when Cleo suddenly lunged forward, skidding down the side of the ledge they had been standing on before anyone could stop her. "Hey! Lev! Get back here!" Cleo cried.

Rin cried out in alarm when she saw what Cleo had done; wasn't Issie supposed to be the reckless one?!

"Cleo!" Ariene cried out, she immediately leaped down after her Master, grabbing on to her just as the ground in front of them exploded, showering the two with rubble.

Cleo blinked the dust from her eyes to see Ghoul's rise from the ground. She instinctively took a step back, these ones looked much worse than the Ghouls from before. Black blood dripped from gashes in their bodies and their fingers seemed to be bent into claws.

"No, no, no, no." Manaka sang as she skipped around the large pod. "I promised him that you wouldn't interfere anymore and he promised me my Prince!"

The Ghouls launched an attack on Ariene and she made the foolish mistake of believing that they were only as strong as before. Her mistake, the charging Ghoul was much faster and stronger; it pushed her back against the wall, crushing her against the wall of the ledge.

Ariene narrowed her eyes as more charged at her, though she was glad that she didn't need to worry about Ariene because when she got rushed, both Gawain and Siegfried had jumped down to protect the crazy Master. This was becoming a nuisance. She leaned back against the rocky wall as much as possible , the sword in her hand flashing with light and a second later, a curved, brilliant fiery-orange sword accented with bronze was in her hands.

She adjusted her grip only slightly, twisting the blade as her thumb gently brushed against a rune on the grip. The blade sparked for a moment before shooting white-hot flames, incinerating the Ghoul that had her pinned and the others behind it, even catching a few that were farther away; though those ones just ended up with a blackened arm or leg if they didn't lose it all together.

She changed her sword again as she twisted out of of the grips of a charging Ghoul, the weapon that appeared in her hands this time was sleek black metal with crimson red highlights along the edges; the weapon was a mix between a large battle-axe and sword and it was almost the size of her whole body.

"What's that one called?" Arthur asked as he jumped down beside her, slicing through a line of Ghouls with his invisible air and sending horrid smelling black blood through the air.

Ariene snorted, "Nothing noble. This was the main weapon of one of the war Queen's of Vasillía, it's name is Bórrag." She switched Bórrag out for her favored sword, Lamaris.

"Saber! Saber!" Manaka smiled as she called out as the ground started to rumble under your feet. "Look at what I did for you! Thorn-like chains and mini grotesque like pods burst out of the ground next to her. "Saber! Look!"

One of the pods opened and the thorn-like chains reached in, violently pulling out a limp humanoid figure covered in what looked like black blood.

"Hey!" Manaka kicked the limp bundle rather harshly, "Wake up! My Prince is finally here! Don't disappoint him!"

The humanoid figure finally pulled itself to it's feat weakly and the rest of them got a good look at what it was. It was a human; another human that both Ayaka and Arthur knew.

The figure turned out to be a young female and she would have been beautiful if it were not for what that pod had done to her. Her fair skin was covered by the black blood and her black hair fell down her back in matted tangles, her red eyes were dull as she looked at them. But it wasn't just that; her clothes were shredded in places and her veins seemed to be filled with dark inky blood.

"Misaya?" Ayaka asked in a terrified voice, this was too much for her. What the hell had happened.

Manaka giggled at the looks of horror on all their faces. "I will kill anyone who stands in the way of my Dear Prince." Her blue eyes turned horrifying cold as she stared at her sister. "If it weren't or you, Saber would have had his wish already! The moment you spoke to him things went wrong!"

"You're wrong!" Arthur yelled from where he was fighting back to back with Ariene. "You corrupted the wish I wanted. Ayaka was the one who saved it! She showed me what I really wanted!"

A dreamy look crossed her face as she gazed back at Saber and all he felt was disgust. "Saber, you'll thank me when you see the finished product!" She looked at Manaka who had collapsed on the ground again, groaning in pain as a dark puddle formed around her. "She's not the only one either! I have all the Masters and Servants! You haven't even seen what I've done to the servants yet!

Jeanne tightened her grip on her flag as she stayed on the ledge with the Masters, Boudica and Atalanta to guard the females. Especially Ayaka who looked like she was frozen on the stop. She needed to do something, this no doubt was the cause of the darkness that was filling the Grail. This small girl. "What did you do to the servants?" She finally asked, her voice calm despite all the turmoil that she was feeling.

"I made them into my playthings of course." Manaka said and a second later a dark silhouette shot through the air clashing into Gawain and sending him skidding back a dozen feet or so. Another shadow darted out a second later, and the clash of blades could be heard as Ariene defended herself from a cloaked figure.

When the dust cleared, it revealed a figure in an extremely tight, black body suit with dark gray accents, long blue hair, sickly pale skin and dull yellow eyes. There were also red lines of corruption running up his jaw and neck.

"Lancer?!" Rin demanded, shock in her eyes. Well it was Lancer, but he couldn't be the Lancer from her world. For one, this one looked a bit younger, his face rounder and the most glaring difference was his color tone. What the hell happened to him? Actually how was their situation spiraling out of control so fast?!

Cleo stared as the corrupted Lancer started to clash with Siegfried, who despite his power seemed to be having a hard time blocking his blows. This could not be happening. She heard a groan behind her and saw Gawain struggling to his feet as he fended of a rather large Ghoul.

Cleo ran towards him, gathering mana in her hand until she felt a burning hum go through her palm; she then flicked out her wrist and a whip of fire slammed into the Ghoul, burning its chest and sending it flying away from him.

She dropped to her knees beside him. That one attack from Lancer seemed to knock the air out of him. He even had a long gash that was seeping blood on his arm. "Here." She said softly, gently putting her arm on his to heal the gash.

Gawain kept an eye at as she healed him, but luckily, Siegfried was somehow keeping Lancer at bay and Atalanta was firing her arrows from the top of the ledge. Gawain met Arthur's eyes from where he was beside Ariene and nodded to show that he was okay.

"Hey." He looked up into Cleo's green eyes. "Is there anywhere else that needs healing?"

Gawain shook his head, gently pulling her hand away with his arm. "I'm fine, you should conserve your energy."

The cloaked servant that attacked Ariene jumped away from her with elegant agility, his hood falling from his head to reveal messy dark red hair and hollow yellow eyes; the same red lines of corruption running over his neck and arms.

"Isemi?!" Ayaka asked again, at this point, her heart was about to burst out of her chest. Why did people she know keep showing up. But with the cloaked redhead, she was also partly confused. "How can a Master fight like that?!"

"Master?" Issie asked, looking at the cloaked figure as he actually managed to push Ariene back a step or two. The clinking of the their blades was sending chills through her. "That's clearly a servant!"

"He's the servant Rider to be exact." Jeanne informed as she sliced down a Ghoul that lunged at her, sending black blood flying through the air. For the past few minutes, the Ghouls had been attacking the ledge that she and the Masters were standing on. Boudica was helping her combat them at close combat but this close, Atalanta was fighting them off with her bow, though she was covering the servants on the ground more than anything.

Ayaka blinked, slightly pulling out of her daze since this mayhem occured. "But he went to school with me. Are you saying he was disguises as a student this entire time?!"

Jeanne sighed, "I suppose so." She found that it was becoming harder for her to swing her flag, her mortal body was becoming tired and she could imagine that Issie and Cleo were worse off since they had two servants attached to them. "We have to get out of here."

"How?" Issie asked, a tinge of desperation in her voice as she watched Siegfried deliver a strong blow to Lancer, causing him to skid back just as Atalanta sent a volley of arrows down on him. "We're stuck. Who knows when another corrupted servant will appear! And if that wasn't enough, the Ghouls keep charging because we're literally in a cave filled with dead bodies! And now that black haired girl is starting to deform!"

"What?! Both Ayaka and Jeanne demanded, their eyes flying to Misaya as her skin started to bubble and expand, causing her to let out an ear-splitting scream as the sound of her bones breaking split through the air of the entire cave.

Ayaka covered her mouth, certain that she was about to throw up. She should turn away, but she couldn't. She watched with absolute horror as Misaya's body started to float into the ear, her bones still breaking as the front of her chest split open, spraying her reddish, black tinted blood into the air as something emerged from her chest.

Some how, she was able to stifle her scream and Rin was too stunned to make any noise but Issie definitely screamed. The scream was high pitched as she dropped to her knees, amber eyes wipe as she watched Misaya's blood and guts rain down further as the thing ripped itself from her corpse.

The monster was thick, rough looking, scaly corpse gray skin, large, deformed hands seemed to twitch, causing its clawed fingers to rip through its own skin.

Manaka who had been chillingly silent until then started to laugh with glee at the sound of ripping flesh and terror. "Saber! See! Look what I made for you!" She cried gleefully.

"Cleo! Issie! You guys have to get out of there!" Roman's frantic voice echoed through the cave, making all the Masters jump. They had been so distracted by all the horrors that Manaka had done that they had all but forgotten that Roman was still with them, at least in holograph form.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Issie demanded, trying to regain her composure, even as the mutilated monster that burst or had been Misaya looked at them, its lips pulled back from its sharp and somehow bloody teeth. She was positive that that monster hadn't sunken its teeth into anything.

"The Ghouls keep coming, we have... corrupted servants," Rin glanced at Issie to make sure she got the term right, "trying to kill us and a monster just burst from some girls body! How are we supposed to escape?!"

"You can't!" Manaka said gleefully, even though she had spoken to them, her eyes stayed glued to Arthur's blue and silver form, the obsessive light in her eyes growing by the minute. "But don't worry. I'm not trying to kill you." She added, sending a chill through the entire group.

The ground rumbled again as more cracks appeared where the corpses were not and what oozed out of the cracks in the Earth caused Issie and Cleo's hearts to stop dead. It was thick, black, oozing mud that sizzled as it slowly started spread across the rocky, blood covered floor.

"Get out!" Roman screamed, there were sudden, rapid beeping noises coming from his side of the hologram, causing him to turn and yell something at one of Chaldea's staff. "Natalya! Hurry up and analyze the mud!"

Cleo didn't need anyone to analyze anything, she knew what this mud was and immediately looked over at Siegfried who was still battling Lancer, but his eyes were now on the slowly advancing dark goo. "Siegfried! Pull back! Pull back right now!" She yelled, latching onto Gawain and dragging the stunned servant back.

"Ariene..." Cleo telepathically called out her distress clearly traveling through their mind link. "What are we supposed to do?"

Ariene had also grabbed Arthur and pulled him back as well, her eyes briefly going up to make sure that the Masters, Jeanne, Boudica and Atalanta were okay. Technically, out of all of them, those six were the safest from the mud but who knew? Maybe the mud would start to seep from the walls.

At this point, Atalanta had increased the strength of her arrows with the help of Issie's spells, shooting them more rapidly and intensely at the ground below her. She especially didn't let up on Lancer, giving Siegfried the proper chance to draw back to the group.

Ariene's attention was drawn back to Arthur as he glared with fury at Manaka who just smiled back at him. "If only I had finished her back then..." He snarled.

"You stabbed her through the heart." Ariene said, "You had every reason to believe that she was dead."

"But she isn't!" Arthur snapped, his frustration leaking into his voice. It was like the last Grail war over again! So much death and blood for no reason! No one deserved this! Not the Masters of the Grail War in Tokyo, or their Servants! He couldn't believe he was saying this, but couldn't Manaka at least let them die in a less peaceful way?! The only upside that he saw to this situation was that she wasn't sacrificing little girls again! The bodies mostly consisted of adults, both women and men, and some a bit younger, but no children.

Ariene paused, Arthur sounded so bitter about this situation, she had never seen him like this before. She hated to see him like this, she already knew that he hid his regret better than Arturia, so it was strange to see him like this. It looked like his composure was starting to crack too. They needed to get out of here... did she already have to use her trump card? "Arthur, we have to get on to the ledge. If the mud touches you, it'll corrupt you. That's what happened to that Lancer and Rider."

She looked around, relief filling her when she saw Siegfried make the leap to get back up on the ledge, Atalanta still covering him and Gawain. Her smile grew slightly when she saw Cleo clinging to Gawain.

"Get up there, I'm covering." Ariene said, nudging Arthur to go after them.

Arthur frowned, "We'll-" Arthur was cut off as a third servant slammed into the ground between him and Ariene. It forced him up onto the ledge with the others and Ariene away from the ledge altogether.

The dust settled once again and a giant servant with bulging muscles, tight pale olive skin and crazy black hair growled as it stood up, it's eyes glowing pale yellow as it looked at her.

"It's Berserker!" Rin cried out, she felt the situation deteriorate even more as she looked at the humongous servant. If he was anything like the Berserker from her world, then there was a very low chance of them beating him.

Manaka looked at all of them, her smile sickeningly sweet as it grew. "I think I said this already, but you're not leaving here."

There was the sound of metal scraping against rocks behind them and the sound of rattling feet, causing Boudica and Jeanne to look back into the darkness of the tunnel that they had come from. They couldn't see the Ghouls and Skeletons yet, but it was clear that they were coming.

"We're blocked in." Rin said, horror growing in her aqua eyes as she too glanced back at the cave before looking back at Manaka. Lancer and Rider were now flanking her and seemed oddly patient. The monster that had been Misaya was now crouched over Manaka's small body, as if waiting for orders, the blue light coming from the ground reflecting off the sleek looking blood on it's harsh skin. Was that Misaya's blood? If they survived this, she was going to puke.

"Cleo..." Ariene's voice rang through Cleo's head through the mind link and from the others reaction she knew that it was just between the two of them. "I think I'm going to have to pull out all the stops." She dodged as Berserker launched at her again, slamming his large jagged sword into the ground where she had been only a moment earlier.

"Ariene!" Arthur looked as if he was about to leap off to help her, frustration in his eyes but Cleo pulled him back, looking at the ground. The corruptible mud was covering more of the clean ground. "Let go of me!" He needed to help her! He needed to! He couldn't let anyone else get hurt because of his mistakes!

Cleo pulled him back, "The mud will corrupt you if you step in it!" She snapped.

"But there should be enough ground for them to keep sake." Issie argued back, she wanted to save Ariene too. "We can't just let those three rip her to shreds!"

Cleo looked back down when she heard Manaka laugh, the Misaya-Monster crouched over her; she also watched as Lancer and Rider joined Berserker's assault, and how Ariene barely dodged a combine attack from the pair, getting away with a scratch on her arm if anything.

"She'll be fine." Cleo finally said, if not a bit reluctantly. "Siegfried, Boudica!" She looked at the two Servants, a new intensity in her eyes. "Go into the tunnel and take care of those Ghouls. We need a way out without completely collapsing this cave on us."

"Right Master!" They both said, charging into the tunnel and a moment, later they could all hear the sound of metal striking against metal.

Jeanne stared after them, unable to help but worry about Siegfried. What if he strained himself? From what it sounded like, the two Servants would have a difficult fight, even if the Ghouls were weaker; sometimes numbers did win over quality. "Will they be okay?"

"Of course they will." Cleo said, her eyes staying on Ariene as she batted Rider away, it was clear to her that Ariene was tiring out. Which was natural for a Servant who had been fighting for an unknown amount of time. They just needed an opening.

Manaka watched Ariene parry Lancer's blow before twisting out of the way of Rider's slash, her moves elegant and with purpose; even as she was thrown around by the forces of their attacks if they did touch her. She still got up and fought. This Servant would have been interesting... if not for the fact that Arthur couldn't take his eyes off her.

It was infuriating and Manaka could feel her fury build. Arthur's wonderful green eyes hadn't been on her since he was separated from that dark haired Servant Girl! Instead, they stayed on her form, watching intensely. He hadn't even scolded her for touching him for a long amount of time. What was it about her that drew Arthur's interest?! No matter, his interest in her would leave soon, she's make sure of that.

"I'm bored now." Manaka stated, looking at them. At her words, the roiled and grew wild, shady tentacles reached out of the mud, whipping around the air.

One dark tentacle whipped towards Jeanne but Rin quickly stepped in front and used some jewels that she had left to create a shield. It barely held but it did protect them before collapsing.

"Ariene!" Issie said, watching as the black-haired Servant dodged another blow form the Lancer and Rider pair, but she was so focused on what was in front of her that she didn't notice the two black shadowed tentacles that appeared from behind her before it was too late.

Ariene gasped as she was pierced from behind, looking down to see the tips of the tendrils piercing through her torso. She stared down stunned before she was whipped back and thrown into the corrupted mud, more stands wrapping around her forearms and torso.

Arthur gasped as she looked back at them, lines of corruption appearing all over her body. He wanted to help her, but the corruptible tendrils of mud were slamming into the shield that Jeanne had created, and was struggling to maintain.

"Damn it!" Issie snapped, glaring at Cleo. "If you had let-"

"Shut up and watch." Cleo snapped back, meeting all their eyes. "Ariene still has Noble Phantasms." Her eyes narrowed as she watched Ariene struggle back to her feet. "It's just a question of which one she'll use."

"How is that supposed to help her now?" Ayaka asked, clearly feeling as if the situation was helpless.

"She's being corrupted." Rin agreed, watching as the red lines ran up her body as she looked up at them. Her dark purplish-blue eyes had even turned red.

Gawain shook as he watch helpless next to Arthur, he hated feeling so helpless and he knew his King was even worse. He could tell by how tightly his fist were clenched and the set of his jaw; he was also shaking with barely contained anger. From what he could tell, Cleo and Jeanne were the only two that were remaining calm.

Manaka laughed again as her three Servants rejoined her, they all watched as Ariene pushed to her feet, her once blue, now red eyes on them. "I think it's great when things go according to plan. Don't you Saber?"

Arthur growled as she looked at him, but before he could respond, Ariene stood to her full height, causing him to look at her and what he saw left him speechless.

Ariene was standing with a black and red aura surrounding her, the shadowed tendrils that held her down handing loosely around her. "How are things going to plan?" Ariene asked, the aura intensifying as it washed over her body; her clothes were changing, the dress she wore turned black while the accents turned red and her Armour itself darkened to a gleaming dark silver. Red streaks even started to appear in her hair as he skin knitted itself back together.

"Call me crazy..." Rin said stunned, "But is the mud healing her?"

Atalanta nodded, "I thought she'd do something like this, though I thought she would have used Excordius, not Llhondryíad."

Cleo nodded in agreement. "She probably would have, but I think she doesn't have enough od or mana left to do it. With Llhondryíad, she's replenishing her strength." She then looked at Issie, "Did you forget about the nature of her Noble Phantasms?"

Issie blinked, "You mean... I thought she can't just use it."

"Well, she can't use them at full power, not unless the circumstances call for it." Atalanta said, "But, look in what's she's standing in, it's the perfect condition for her to use her Noble Phantasm."

"What do you mean it's not going as planned?" Manaka demanded, a frown on her face as she took in Ariene's new form. "Why are you still sane?"

Ariene smirked, her hand reaching out as a large sword formed in her hand. The blade itself was completely black with red accents to the metal and almost the entire length of Ariene's body and legs combined, the edge of the sword was also jagged instead of straight. "You can't corrupt what's already corrupted. Unsheathe the darkness of the soul Llhondryíad." She said, completely activating her Noble Phantasm as it began to adsorb the corrupted mud.

Manaka glared at her. This girl... she was keeping her away from Arthur! If she wouldn't become one of her toys, then she'd destroy her. "Berserker!"

Berserker roared to life and lunged for Ariene, her red eyes looked up and calmly, she swung Llhondryíad back as it finished gathering energy, emitting a manic red light.

Ariene leaped into the air as Berserker landed, crushing the ground beneath his feet. She met Berserker's crazed eyes as she swung her sword back down. The blast didn't come from in a slash, but it formed a thin, glowing red halo that completely flew around Berserker, pushing him back. At first nothing seemed to happen but suddenly Berserker roared in agony as his entire body seemed to shred, gushes of blood streamed out of him as it was completely destroyed.

Rin gaped as she watched, it was like a horror movie when a character was being put through a wood chipper and only chunks of blood and guts came out in droves. What the hell kind of Noble Phantasm did Ariene wield?!

"Lancer! Rider!" Manaka ordered, not ready to give up yet. She had finally seen her Prince, she would not give up now!

Both of the two corrupt Servants rushed at Ariene and she took them out with the same ease; though it was a lot less bloody since she just sliced clean through the both of them, not even giving them the chance to counter her.

Ariene then surprised the group on the ledge by silently landing besides Cleo. "The enemy Servants have been eliminated, Master."

Cleo jumped in surprise before smiling, "Good job Ariene." She took in her red eyes and black Armour, noticing that there no longer were corrupt lines on her. "But we still have one more."

"Yeah. But something tells me she won't go down easily and..." Ariene collapsed to her knees, Llhondryíad fading as her appearance went back to normal. "I only had enough mana left to finish off the Servants."

Arthur knelt down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. In part to make sure that she was real and to reassure her. "Then leave the rest to us."

"He's right, Ariene." Gawain said, tightening his grip on Excalibur Galatine, "You've already done the brunt of the work. Allow us to to the rest."

"As nice as that sounds, we still have a problem. The ground is now fully tainted with the mud." Jeanne said, grunting as the corrupted tentacles once again slammed into her shield. Ruler or not, she was unsure if she would be able to hold out much longer.

"True. Ariene, do you think you can at least fire one of your Noble Phantasms at that giant pod behind Manaka? I think it's the cause of all this." Atalanta said.

"I can probably use Soláiris, but even then, it's not as powerful as Exordius or Llhondryíad, which I won't be able to use." Ariene explained.

Arthur looked at Gawain and he nodded back, "Then allow us. The forces of both our Noble Phantasms should be able to destroy it."

"Saber..." Ayaka finally looked up at Arthur's statement, "You plan to kill my sister a second time?"

Arthur stared back stunned. He didn't know how to answer that. Ten years ago, in the previous Holy Grail War, Ayaka had completely loved and adored her older sister. She didn't know her as wicked at all, she didn't even fully understand Manaka's actions when she had originally tried to kill her.

"Ayaka... I..." Arthur mumbled, his hand shaking. She could see the betrayal in her eyes. And the horror. How could he actively try to kill her sister when she was looking at him in such a way?

"Kill me?" Manaka's voice rang out, drawing their attention to her again as she laughed uncontrollably. "Ayaka, Saber won't be killing me. He'll be embracing me. Though, now, even I must admit that our joyous reunion has been ruined."

"If you can even consider this a reunion." Issie muttered under her breath. She watched as the pod started to glow with the same cold light that the ground had, the pod was even starting to beat like an actual living heart.

"It's gathering mana." Atalanta said, her green eyes narrowing as she saw it grow bigger and bigger.

A magic circle appeared under Manaka's feet and she stepped closer to the Monster she had created out of Misaya's corpse. "We'll meet again Saber. But for now, I'll just say bye-bye." The magic circle flashed and both her and the monster were teleported away, leaving only the pod.

"Damn it." Ariene snapped, she tried to force herself back on her feet, Solaíris forming in her hands.

"Hey." Arthur, said, gently pushing her back down. "We have this." He looked up at Gawain and he nodded, throwing Excalibur Galatine into the air and activating the mini sun in his Noble Phantasm. "Leave it to us."

Both King and Knight stood back to back as their Noble Phantasms powered up. Arthur dissolved his invisible air to reveal a beautiful,western style sword with a beautiful gold and rich blue design. Near the guard was a cross shaped ornament and the pummel was shaped like a golden coin.

Arthur focused as his sword began to unseal, having five of the restraints break by the blessings of his Knights. Five should be enough. "Gawain." His eyes narrowed on the pod, watching as it started to tremble with the force it was keeping in. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, My King."Gawain said, the sword in his hands catching fire to reflect the sun. Everyone stared at the two Knights as they released their Noble Phantasms at the same time the pod exploded.

"Excalibur Galatine!" "Excalibur!" They said together, light bursting out of their swords.

Both of them focused on the initial clash of power, one that caused the very foundation of the cave to crack, rocks from the ceiling started to fall and wind ripped through the air do to the resistance the pod's energy was putting out.

"Come on..." Rin said, through narrowed eyes, the wind stung and she couldn't open her eyes fully do to the light of Gawain and Arthur's combined attack. She looked to her side when she heard a whimper and saw Ayaka pressed to the floor, her eyes shut.

Eventually, the clash died out, the forces of their attacks finally eating through each other till there was nothing left. When the light cleared, the pod had vanished, and even the pile of dead bodies that had been on the ground had disappeared.

"Masters!" Cleo and Issie looked up at the same time to see Siegfried and Boudica rush back into the cave, their eyes widening as they took in the scene in front of them. "What happened?"

"Manaka escaped." Jeanne said from her position on the ground. She smiled in gratitude when Siegfried helped her back up, a strong arm wrapped around her waist to support her.

"We figured as much." Boudica said, moving over to Issie to make sure she was okay; but the orange haired Servant was rather bruised herself. It couldn't have been easy to hold off Ghouls with only Siegfried to help her.

Atalanta looked at their group, from what she could see, their Masters were all exhausted and shell-shocked and from what she could sense, all the Servants were all drained of mana. "We should go as well. We all need rest and time to recuperate."

"Agreed." Jeanne said, leaning heavily on Siegfried, but he didn't seem to mind. "Are the Ghouls gone Siegfried?"

He nodded, "They vanished, it' safe to go back."

"Then lets go." Jeanne said, leading the way out with him.

Cleo sighed and looked on as the rest of them followed suit. "How are you Ariene? No side effects from using Llhondryíad?"

"I'm fine. If what we're up against is a Grail possessor who uses corruption, than it's a good thing that I came. Being able to resist that will help...but... I can't say if we won or lost today." Ariene sighed, falling into step with Cleo and feeling a touch of guilt when she stumbled. Her Noble Phantasm no doubt wore Cleo down; she wouldn't be surprised if Cleo felt sore tomorrow.

Cleo took awhile to respond, her eyes going to the rest of the group ahead of them and taking in a particular scene. "Lets say that the battle itself was a tie... but our barely developed group foundation has a crack."

Ariene followed Cleo's gaze to where Arthur and Ayaka were. The dark haired girl was ignoring all of Arthur's attempts to talk to her, no matter how hard he tried. Even changing her pace didn't work because if she sped up or slowed down, Arthur would just match her pace.

"That's no good." Ariene agreed. A bond between a Master and Servant was sacred. If they weren't on the same page, it could cause them to lose a battle.

"Do you think they'll make up?" Cleo asked softly, hoping that the two up ahead wouldn't hear.

"Probably." Ariene said, "The question is when they'll make up. If their bond is still fractured by the time Manaka shows up again, our chances of winning will go down." There was also the chance that their tension may spill out to the rest of the group and if that happened, well they would all meet utter defeat, but Ariene didn't say that aloud, "Their bond is for fate to decide."

And that's the end of that! How was it? Next chapters wills be out soon!

Please review!