A/N: First of all, sorry, this chapter doesn't have fight scenes. But the next one has it, and it will be GLORIOUS!

Have to edit a bit of the past chapters to fit this one. No worries, just some unimportant ones.

With that out of the way, enjoy~

Chapter 0: Fuyuki

Part 2: Holy Grail War, 2004 (I)

(3rd POV)

Singularity F

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..." Olga Marie turned towards the Demi-Servant. "...What's going on?"

"I-I have no idea eith-"

"No no no, I mean, you're a Demi-Servant now right? It's pretty obvious. What I want to know is why it's successful now all of a sudden!" she demanded. "And you!"

Ritsuka flinched at her finger-pointing.

"How did you become a Master? Only first-class Mages can enter contracts with Servants!" With every word, she jabbed her finger on his chest. "There's no way you could ever become a Master! What did you do to her to have her do your bidding?" she accused.

"W-wait a minute! You got it all wr- Are you seriously just ignoring him?!"

The man in question just stood up and patted away the dust on his clothes.

"Did you believe in the absurdity he's talking about?"

"W-Well no-"

"Then don't avoid the question and answer me!"

"Director, I'll explain the situation," Mash piped in.

While she explained the events leading up to then, the Master asked the so-called prophet, "You called me Maou, right? Why is that? Are you sure you got the right person?"

Woz merely took out his book from… somewhere, before he flipped back a few pages.

"Fujimaru Ritsuka, age 18. Currently studying in Homurahara Academy before attaining the chance to work for Chaldea. Bad in Maths and Chemistry, but excelled in Foreign Languages. You're now living with your uncle Fujimaru Junichiro, who works as a clock repairer. You have a hobby of video gam-"

"Okay okay that's enough!" he stopped him before he further embarrassed himself. "I guess you ARE telling the truth. But," he scratched his cheek, "why would I be a Maou? That's just ridiculous!"

"Nobody actually knows, not even this book. It's said that you suddenly appeared in 2020 already with immense power. Then you rule the world with an iron grip for 48 years."

He closed his book. "Some regarded you as a Monster, while others see you as a Messiah of a new world. The truth, however, remained a mystery." He gave a smile that betrayed nothing on his mind. "That's why I'm here to witness your glory myself."

"..." It just sounded so unbelievable. Here he was, being invited into an Organisation he didn't know about, then suddenly flung back in time to a ruined city. And now someone told him he would be a tyrant that ruled the world?

'...What have I gotten myself into?'

"...Hmph. I understand the situation now. Commoner, since this is an emergency I'll approve your Master-Servant contract."

He was about to nod when she continued, "BUT! You will follow my commands without complaints, un-der-stand?" she emphasised threateningly.

"H-Hai! But… what about him?" He gestured at Woz. He was smiling serenely at her, though his knuckles seemed to be turning white from gripping his book too hard.

"...I'm tempted to just leave him here, but he seems to be capable of fighting back. He'll be of some help." She shook her head. "But first we need to set up camp, as well as finding a leyline to conta-"

"Excuse me Director, but you're standing right on it," Mash interrupted.

"W-Wha-Oh...AHEM!" she quickly recomposed herself. "Right! I knew that of course!"

She ordered her to place her shield on it to act as a catalyst for a Summoning Circle. As soon as it was properly placed, the center glowed bightly before the light condensed into a ball above it. Then it expanded outwards, forming a black circular room, with neon-blue streaks of light across it. The shield then turned transparent blue.

Mash looked around in surprise. "This is... the same as the Summoning Chamber at Chaldea."

Ritsuka's wristband beeped to life again, with a clearer screen showing Dr. Roman. "Hello? Hellooo? Okay, connections are up and running!"

"Roman-san!" the Master-Servant pair exclaimed happily.

"Glad to see you two safe and sound. Now that connection's stable, we could-"

"HOLD IT ROMANI ARCHAMAN!" the Animusphere heiress snapped. "Why are you sitting in that chair? Where's Lev?!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAHH?! Director, you're alive?!"

"What's that supposed to mean?! ...Forget it, where's Lev? Why's the Head Medic in charge?!"

Dr. Roman looked away, before answering, "...there's nobody else. The reason I'm in charge of operations is because there's no one ranked higher than me who survived."

Chaldea Command Room

Through the screen, he watched as the trio's face went pale, especially the Director. She understood the implication and gave him a look that screamed "No no no no no!"

It's sad, but he needed to report the damage.

"Currently, the surviving full time staff of Chaldea is less than twenty people, including me. ...Dr. Lev was at ground zero of the blast, he couldn't have survived."

"No way…!" the young man replied.

Mash widened her eyes considerably in shock.

Olga Marie had it the worst. Her shoulders were shaking badly, and her pupils had constricted to the size of a pinhead. She closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath, forcing herself to calm down. Then she blinked.

"Wait. Less than 20 survivors? What about the Master candidates in the Coffins?"

"47 all in critical condition, and we're short on medical supplies. We might be able to save a few, but —"

"DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!" He nearly jumped out of his seat. "Cryopreserve them immediately! Think about reviving them later; your top priority is to make sure that they don't die!"

He gasped. 'I forgot the coffins had those functions!' "I'll get on it right away!" He left without turning off the screen.

Singularity F

"...Cryopreservation without consent is a crime," the Shielder smiled, "yet you made the decision right away. You put human lives ahead of your own reputation as the director."

"Don't be stupid! There's no way I can carry the burden of 47 lives over my head!" 'Oh Lev, if only you're here…'

"Director can be quite dependable when she's calm, isn't it?" Ritsuka suddenly stated. The woman in question spluttered from the unexpected complement.

Meanwhile, Woz was flipping through his book frantically. Seeing the confusion on his face, he asked, "Is something the matter?"

"O-Oh, it's none of your concern, my lord," he said, still roaming through the pages.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't press on.

"Speaking of which... " the heiress searched her pockets before taking out something shining. "Here, use these."

What she had in her hand were multicoloured, 8-pointed jewels. They shone with the radiance of the rainbow, shifting colours whenever her hand moved.

He took one and admired it. The Magus could practically feel the immense power humming in these tiny crystals. He counted 15 of them. "What am I suppose to do with them?"

She frowned. "...Have you been listening to my orientation? We're going to summon Servants to fight for us!"

Ritsuka exhaled slowly before looking forward. He's going to summon his first few Servants to fight not just for him, but also for Chaldea itself.

Various historical heroes. Noble acts. Concepts. Made into familiars that exist only to serve their Masters. To be honest, Director's line of thinking on Servants can be quite extreme. To him, Servants are people too.

He gently put 3 of the jewels, called Saint Quartz, onto the shield. Then he step away and chanted:

"Starlight and knowledge to the origin. Saint Quartz to the cornerstone."

"My cause is for the preservation of Humanity."

"The alighted wind becomes a wall.

The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown,

The three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate."

"Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill)."

"Repeat every five times.

Simply shatter once filled."

Ten balls of light appeared on the center, before they started spinning faster and faster, merging into a band of light.

"――I announce.

Your self is under me, my fate is in your sword.

In accordance with the approaching destruction of Humanity, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer."

"Here is my oath."

"I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead,

I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead."

"You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence,"

"O Keeper of the Balance!"

The band of light expanded and seperated into three rings, before finally converged into a pillar of light that shot towards the sky. He had to cover his eyes from the sheer brightness.

When it died down, a person was seen standing in the center of the circle.

He is a Japanese Servant, with long indigo hair tied into ponytail and matching sharp eyes. He wears a traditional light purple umanori hakama and kimono, similar coloured tabi and black geta shoes, along with a lavendar haori and tekkou. He carries a really long nodachi, more than 1-meter, on his back.

"Servant Assassin, Sasaki Kojirou. I have come to serve."

Ritsuka blinked. Servants usually hide their names behind their class names, but not him apparently. He smiled gladly. "Thank you Sasaki-san, for answering my call." The man smirked in reply before getting off the shield.

Then he repeated the process, and this time another one came.

The Servant wears an amethyst dress and a black cloak with the hood up, with a purple robe over it. She has blue hair seen underneath her hood, with blue lipstick. She also holds a metal staff depicting a golden image of the crescent moon in her hand. She seemed to be a Caster-class Servant.

"Oh my, aren't you a cute little master?" she teased. He felt his face flushed from embarrassment.

"You've just been summoned and you've already took a liking of him?" Kojirou asked mockingly. "How very much like you, Medea."

She took notice of the Assassin and growled. "SASAKI KOJIROU!" She flipped down her hood to reveal a beautiful woman with blue eyes, her pointy long ears caught the young man's eyes.

"It must've been Fate that our Master summoned the both of us." He slowly pulled out the katana from its sheath. "Care for a duel? For old times' sake."

She scowled as several crimson magic circles appeared behind her.

'Oh shit shit shit shit SHIT! How did the situation came from 0 to 1000 this quick?!'

"FUJIMARU, CONTROL YOUR SERVANTS!" the Director panicked. She hid behind Mash who already picked up and planted her shield on the ground.

"HOW?!"

"YOU'RE THE MASTER; THEY'RE YOUR SERVANTS! ORDER THEM YOU IDIOT!"

He gave a big sigh and massaged his temples. It felt like a few years had been drained off him.

Woz could only sit at the sidelines this time. After all, the future king needed to train his patience to handle the various personalities of his future Servants .

Timeskip

Chaldea Command Room

"...Chaldea has lost 80% of its functionality. There's only so much that the remaining staff can do." Dr. Roman continued where he left off. "I'm shifting available manpower to Rayshift repairs, and maintaining Chaldeas' and Sheba's current states.

"As soon as external communications are back up, we'll request supplies and start rebuilding Chaldea," he said while typing more data into the computers.

Olga Marie nodded. "That's fine. I would've done the same if I were there."

She sighed and glared right through the screen. "Romani Archaman. I don't like it, but until I return you're in charge of Chaldea. Make the Rayshift repairs your top priority."

She then looked over to her side, showing Assassin and Caster sitting apart on the ground with their backs facing each other. Ritsuka and Mash were busying themselves calming down the Servants.

"I still can't believe he summoned THE Witch of Colchis; her Magecraft is among the top 5 in the entire world! With her help, solving this Singularity should be a breeze."

"With her current behaviour with Assassin, I highly doubt that she will work for us in the long run. Seriously, how did a fictional swordsman meet a Greek witch?"

She huffed. "We'll be investigating this town. I'll be looking into Singularity F with Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash Kyrielight as investigators, and with the Servants as well."

He couldn't help but tease her. "Director, you're not afraid to be at ground zero? Since when did you become so brave?"

She gave a seething glare that promised future pain before continuing, "Since my field staff is inexperienced, the extent of this mission will be to discover the cause of this anomaly. Analysis and eradication will have to wait until after Chaldea's restored."

He nodded. "Roger that. Best of luck to you, Director. Feel free to contact me in an emergency." With that, he cut off the connection.

Singularity F

"...Heh. Even if we sent an SOS, nobody would come to our rescue." she said dejectedly.

"Director, are you sure about this? There's also the option of waiting here for rescue." the Demi-Servant walked towards her. Behind her, the young Master shook hands with his Servants in a form of agreement, though the Caster was still pouting.

She shook her head. "I can't afford to do that... After we return to Chaldea, who knows how long it will take to select the next team?"

The platinum-haired woman gripped her fist tightly. "I can't go back empty-handed; I need something that will shut the Association up!"

Sudden the hologram came back to life. She impatiently shouted, "What is it-"

"GET OUT OF THERE NOW! THERE'S A MASSIVE ENERGY READING HEADING TOWARDS YOU! AND IT'S FAST!"

At the same time, the Servants present heard a strange whistling sound. Mash looked up and screamed, "MASTER, DIRECTOR, GET BEHIND ME!"

What Dr. Roman detected was a glowing red meteor, aimed directly at the group. She got into position just in time to block it with her shield. When the arrow collided, it exploded and tried to overwhelm the petite girl with its sheer power.

"AAAAAAA-!" she screamed from the effort. With great difficulty, she finally deflected it… only to have another one slammed into her shield again. And another one.

"Urk! Gaah!"

"Μαρδοξ!" Medea chanted, and a transparent dome of glass surrounded the Chaldeans. Another meteor impacted, but it held its ground.

"That arrow..." Kojirou began.

"Aah." She agreed for once. "It's that despicable Archer alright. I'll never forget that arrow that destroyed my base before!"

"Who's shooting at us?!" Olga Marie yelped. "We have to get going, Fujimaru!"

"But where?!" They were in a foreign city. Without a map they could easily get lost, and that became an advantage the enemies could use.

"Anywhere but here!"

"..." Medea looked around her surroundings before widened her eyes. "...wait a minute. This is Fuyuki isn't it?"

"You've just noticed?" Sasaki remarked sarcastically.

She threw a glare at the kimono-clad Servant before gesturing at the group. "Follow me! I know a place where we can camp!"

"Huh? Caster-san, you know this place?"

"I'll explain on the way there. Now come on!" she ordered before running down the street. Seeing no other choice, they took off towards her direction.

"...Well, well, well…" the Archer remarked. He put down his black iron bow. "Looks like I'll be seeing some old faces."

White-gray hair rustling with the wind, steel eyes narrowed at the retreating group of people. He wears a black vest that hug his frame, showing off his 6-packs, dark pants and military boots. His golden tan skin is covered with pulsing red "cracks" reminiscing of veins. A part of it covered the right half of his face.

'No matter. If they step half a foot into the boundary, then I'll shoot them full of holes,' he thought darkly. 'Even if they're past accomplices.'

"If I'm right, the direction where Archer fired just now was the Ryuudou Temple, my old base." Medea chuckled dryly. "Heh. To think that he turned my advantage into his."

The Chaldean group was running towards the bridge, just at the edge of the city. Beyond the river was, according to her, a church sitting on a leyline. Due to a Servant's parameters are fundamentally higher than a regular human's, Mash had to carry her Senpai in her arms, while Kojirou carried the Director on his back. It's embarrassing, but it's necessary.

"You still haven't answered us. How did you know this place?!" Olga Marie demanded. "And is that an Archer-class Servant shooting at us?!"

"Yes," the Assassin answered. "And as for how, well, we have been here before. To be precise, Caster is a participant of the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki. I'm just an unlucky Servant who got dragged in by her."

"A-A Holy Grail War? Here?!" Mash exclaimed.

"What's a Holy Grail War?"

The Caster looked at him weirdly. "...How long have you been a Master?"

"...Just a few hours ago." She facepalmed.

"*sigh* Seven Servants and seven Masters fight each other. The last one standing gets the Grail. The victor can then wish for anything upon the chalice."

"Seriously, when we get back, you're fired. Chaldea can't accept someone as inexperienced as you," the heiress deadpanned. Then she asked, "Does the name Marisbury Animusphere ring any bell to you?"

She frowned in confusion. "Not that I know of. My previous Master is...…" The witch went silent and looked ahead again.

Sensing that's a sensitive topic, they shut up. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, and it wasn't long before the bridge was in their sight. When they're near a burning park Kojirou suddenly slowed to a stop.

"..." He narrowed his eyes before putting down the woman on his back, earning a cofused frown from her.

"Kojirou?" Ritsuka got off from his kouhai's arms.

"Master, you go on ahead." He unsheated his nodachi in a single action. "Looks like there's an unwanted company following us."

"! ..."

He smirked at him. "Don't worry. This samurai will catch up with you later."

Ritsuka frowned before nodding. "Let's go!" With that, the group left him alone.

He waited until they're truly out of sight. Then he called out, "Quite honorable of you to let Master go."

*fwip* *fwip* *fwip*

*CLANG-ANG-ANG*

He swiftly parried away the thrown knives with his blade before he took a firm stance. The person in question then appeared, seemingly peeled off from a nearby shadow.

He is a lanky man, with skin that blends perfectly into the night. His limbs were severely disproportionate, being longer than a normal man's. He wears a black skeletal mask with red cracks, and a black tattered cloth covered his waist. His right arm is heavily bandaged as if hiding something underneath.

"..." he remained silent as he readied more knives in his hand.

"Not going to talk? Fine by me."

A putrid breeze blew across the area, sending dead leaves into the air. Both Assassins stood their ground unmoving.

Then, by an unssen signal, they moved.

"Are you sure he'll be alright Senpai?" Mash said worriedly.

"To be honest, I'm also concerned about Sasaki-san. But," he looked forward, "I trust him, that he will return safe and sound."

"Sasuga waga Maou. To place you trust on a Servant you just met, truly a sign of confidence."

He nearly tripped in shock, before looking at the person in surprise. "WOZ?! No wonder I felt like we've forgotten someone!"

"How did you even keep up with us?!" Mash exclaimed. 'I didn't even sensed him being so close to Senpai!'

"-Stop," the Caster said. They slowed down and stared at the sight ahead. The path towards the bridge had been blocked by chains.

"Chains?" Ritsuka slowly approached one of them and rea-

"DON'T TOUCH THEM! GET AWAY FROM IT!" Medea and Woz yelled in unison.

He took their advice just in time, before the chains came to life and tried to wrap around his arm. He jumped back a few metres out of their range. The chains then snapped back in place.

The witch glanced at the prophet before she continued, "I know one Servant that uses these chains… she must be-"

"How regretful. He got away…" a voice resounded throughout the area. The group put their guard up and looked around.

"He looked so fresh too…" A Servant materialised, standing on one of the chains. She wears a black hooded cape, with a form-fitting black dress that hugged her voluptous figure nicely. She has purple hair, and golden eyes with pupils reminiscent of a reptiles'. In her hands is a wicked, large scythe with a black blade and purple edges.

"You're…" the Caster glared. "RIDER!"

"Oh? Ohohohoho~? Now this is getting interesting…" a figure stated as he watched at both scenes from a destroyed building nearby.

"I wonder how good is this Master going to be?" He gave a feral grin.

A/N: I have surpassed myself and gave you this amazing chapter!

Well I have to split up the original, since it got too long for my taste. And hey, who doesn't love cliffhangers?

Edit: some parts editted for smoother reading.

The next part properly featured the battle scenes. To be honest, I have NO IDEA if they suited your taste, but I'll give it my best!

R & R, and stay healthy!