Demon Emperor and Demon King

by Imperator's slave

Lelouch expected many things after his death. What he didn't expect was to find himself in the war between seven wizards and historical figures. Still, the prize seems nice enough so he might as well take it. Not to mention working with a fellow demon might be a unique experience.

26. Interlude: Three

Germany.

In the mountains sat adjacent to the river Rhine, a sole castle ominously stood tall. To the lucky few who spied it amidst the thick fog, the Einzbern Castle, home to one of the oldest, most prestigious magi clans in all of existence, was a magnificent sight to behold. But a fleeting one, nonetheless. The area that surrounded the castle wasn't a mere forest. The mountain itself had its own folktales passed down about it through the centuries past. Ones involving mystical creatures and lost travellers.

Such was the power of an obscuring Bounded Field that made it impossible to find a path to the fortress. Magecraft and magical creations lay hidden amidst the trees. Traps that messed with an individual's sense of direction, zones that inhibited, sometimes messing with a person's memory, and artificial bird flocks that attacked trespassers and serving as the simplest of warnings. Golem wolves, actual wolves, any and all manner of subtle to deathly encounters, no expense was spared to protect the ancient workshop of the Germanic mage clan.

With the sole exception of an invitation by the place's owner, any and all trespassers would be barred entry or even forfeit their lives should they still try. Still, any sort of curious onlookers were often just that. Guests were far and few between. Even rarer than people found leaving the premises after forcible entry.

Which was why today was one of those rare days Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the eighth head of the Einzbern family and a golem made by the original head of the family, entertained the visitor before him with a sharply narrowed gaze.

"Speak." Jubstacheit didn't have time for pleasantries. The old man never liked having guests, especially for the likes of magi that eluded all the barriers and now calmly sat before him.

"Oh, my. And here I thought that the old folks are known for their hospitality." The smiling man said serenely. "Lord Jubstacheit, please. I just came here for small talk, no need to be cold with us."

The older magus eyed the smiling man's companion. How in the world the man managed to get his hands on this thing was beyond the ancient golem's comprehension. But he comprehended the danger they posed. Not just to himself but to the clan as a whole. It only made him more irritated by the presence of the two.

"I don't know who you are. However, since you have it by your side looking for conversation, I doubt you have come here to start a fight. Hence, speak your mind and leave… before I show you my hospitality for the uninvited. If I deem you have nothing important to say, then we can conclude this exchange." As Jubstacheit spoke, several homunculi dressed as maids made their appearance around their guests. The smiling man sat as if nothing was happening yet his companion eyed them cautiously. "I'm sure the lesser magi in the Tower will be glad if I took care of their… escaped lab project."

"Please, my lord Einzbern. No need for such methods." Before the woman accompanying him could do anything, however, the redheaded man raised his hand. "As I said, we're here only to chat. All I wish is to ask some questions and learn about the events of the past Grail Wars."

The statement had Jubstacheit's attention. His focus was now solely on the smiling man himself. And, particularly, of the next most important event he was already busy planning for. Namely, the next Grail War that would come in the next decade.

As the head of the Einzbern clan, and the keeper of the Grail vessel, Jubstacheit knew better than anyone else that the next war would happen sooner than the planned fifty years. Something had changed. Something was forcing the predetermined cycle to occur faster than originally designed. But why exactly it was happening forty years earlier was a question Jubstacheit wasn't bothered with. Nay, he wasn't designed to bother with it. All that mattered to the ancient golem was that the Einzbern's champion would win. The fact that he will have a new opportunity to win the accursed war and at last seize the prize for his family, his makers, was all that mattered.

The last defeat was the most devastating to the Einzberns. Just like always, they risked everything and anything yet lost once again. Only this time, it wasn't a failure that lay solely on Jubstacheit's designs. The Magus Killer failed them. He failed the contract he and Jubstacheit agreed upon. And for that, the traitor had been punished.

'Emiya Kiritsugu… I should have you killed for failing to bring us the Grail. Despite all the tools provided, despite all the compromises, we'd come together on…' A golem had no need of emotion. Yet, had old man Acht bore a beating heart, he would've sworn vengeance on the one to break their promise. 'Hm… yet, the wheels turn. A failed opportunity has passed and now a new one is upon us. You are no longer worthy of my time. No, if anything your failure will become the fire that will motivate that girl. She won't fail as her good-for-nothing father had.'

On the honour of the Einzberns, the golem pushed on. The man that should have been Einzbern's champion had tried and failed like all others before him And while the magi clan had enough resources to find and see him dead and destroyed, a living yet distant Emiya Kiritsugu would serve them better. If only to become the target of vengeance for his own daughter, Illyasviel von Einzbern, the child left behind would have more than enough of a reason to claim victory.

Jubstacheit had already planned to make Illyasviel his next candidate for the following war. And, with this burning motivation planted in the half-human heart of his 'granddaughter', she would become his best creation. Of course, after Jubstacheit calibrated her enough times to rid any more defects as the past generation of models had.

Because of the current phase of the plan, the eighth head of the Einzbern family didn't have time to speak with some interloper magus from Clock Tower. Jubstacheit could have spent this time overseeing the child's training, but alas, the smiling man wasn't a complete waste of his time.

"You are here on behalf of someone else. Speak. Who is it?"

About an hour ago, the smiling man and the thing next to him entered the Einzbern forest, proudly and loudly declaring that they were there by the order of a Clock Tower Lord. While Jubstacheit made sure to keep a highly limited contact with London's magi and the outside world in general, a guest sent by one of the Lords wasn't a mere matter he could ignore. The Clock Tower was an inefficient mess of politics, dregs unworthy of his attention, yet they were the largest magi organization. The Einzbern clan had to keep a few ties to some extent if only to make sure none of them would interfere in the Grail Wars.

By design, Jubstacheit was to carry out and maintain the Grail and the war's necessary faculties, ensuring the cycle continues until the eventual victory of his clan. The last thing Jubstacheit needed was for mere cretins to interfere, much less learn about the true nature of the Grail. Allowing the more dangerous magi to participate in it was not inhibited by his programming, but even a machine knew better than to create more problems for itself.

"Oh, yes. My benefactor. How could I forget!" The smiling man exaggeratingly exclaimed before pulling out a letter and showing it to the old man. "My Lord is a generous man, enough to lend me whatever I might require for my mission."

Old Man Acht carefully took the letter and examined it. Even someone as isolated as him could recognize the family crest on it. Animusphere. One of the Clock Tower's top magi families, not to mention their head being a prominent Lord on his own merit. As much as Jubstacheit wished he could ignore it, he couldn't just close his eyes when someone this influential was asking for an audience with him. Although looking at his guests it was easy to guess what was the matter of discussion.

"What does the Lord want to do with the Grail War?"

The smiling man giggled. "Please, it should be obvious. My Lord desires to participate in the upcoming war that will happen in forty-seven years."

The machine showed no emotion, but a bug in the golem's programming had his grip wrinkling a corner of the letter slightly.

Having Western magi fight in the war was never a desirable outcome for Jubstacheit. Compared to the likes of Matou and Tohsaka, they were usually more experienced and talented. Especially now when two Japanese magi clans were weakened. Considering that the next war was going to start in less than seven years, Jubstacheit hoped that this time, everything would go as he wanted. But having one of the Clock Tower Lords volunteer as an enemy Master? It was a terrible scenario. Not the worst, but unpredictably detrimental.

However, there was still a chance. The man with a creepy smile before him wasn't aware of the war's… startlingly different circumstances as to the past ones. Time was an advantage yet. The golem, undeterred, pressed for more.

"… Why should I humour you? Not only have you trespassed upon our clan's home, but you've also even dared bring this…" He spared a side glance to the woman smirking his way, "with you. To not have been invited to the ritual, much less be aware of the processes required to summon and maintain one of its components, leads me to think you've been spying from the sidelines like the cur you are."

"Lord Einzbern, please. I've come only as an investigator. To learn more about what happened during the last war's conclusion, that is the reason I've spent the last three years wandering the globe." The smile never faltered, as though naught a lie was spoken from his lips. "The tragedy known as the Great Fire, while inconsequential to many practitioners of magecraft, has the interest of certain Lords of the Clock Tower. Especially those who would prefer our secrets remain such from the wider world. As for my friend." The redhead spared a glance at his companion. "She is my bodyguard. Snooping about on the trail of a small magi ritual in the far east has apparently drawn a target on my back. Who could've known, Ahahah?"

The false laugh didn't stir Jubstacheit's solid expression. His stern frown hid the confusion, however. A former Director of the Clock Tower department being targeted wasn't anything new. Yet this man gave Acht little doubt about his ability to escape mere executioners and enforcers. No. Someone else was after him. Someone dangerous enough for the man to summon that familiar stood next to him.

The reason was his inquisitiveness about the Grail War, that much wasn't a lie. Yet, it wasn't the full truth.

The golem family head held his silence. The Animusphere Lord wanting to join the next war could be easily dealt with. As he was out of the loop as to the intricacies of the Grail's inner workings, it'd be easy enough to convince the man that the ritual would begin far off into the future. And while it was likely that the current Animusphere head had the potential of becoming a Master, he wouldn't have enough time to properly prepare for the war in a mere decade.

But another outlier remained. One separate from the inquisitive fool sat before him. It seems like someone else had designs for his predecessor's creation and was trying to silence the smiling man before he could've reached Jubstacheit. And though it was frustrating to admit he could infiltrate this far into the Einzbern territory without falling victim to their defences, the golem couldn't outright deny the man's worth as a magus. To hound him so… whoever they were, it meant more trouble for his clan.

The situation had long since changed from manageable to concerning. Two dangerous and influential magi going after the Grail wasn't what Jubstacheit wanted but he could manage them for a time. An unknown factor lurking in the shadows though… that just made things even more problematic.

'… Perhaps it'd be best to let them deal with each other.' Yet not all hope was lost. The necessary pieces were already in place. The game itself was about to start all over again. Only the extras, the other would-be Masters, were not in the know as well as he, the war's technical host. After all, it was the Einzberns that would provide the Grail Vessel. Without it, the war could not function as it had been made to. Circumstances were on his side. 'Whoever this outsider was, they would be in the same boat as this fool and the Animuspheres. Victory will be ours at last.'

It didn't matter if it was the Animusphere clan or someone else. They weren't in the inner circle like the Tohsaka or the Makiri, or Matou as they were called now. Even Archibald's heir had apparently been one of the earliest to fall. But the Einzberns were even more prepared than the last time. Illyasviel von Einzbern, the child of that man that Jubstacheit spitefully modified and engineered to be the winning gambit, will be ready to beat them all. He will make sure of that.

"So, about my questions." The persistent smile snapped the golem out of his designs of grandeur. Not that a homunculus would be arrogant to think of it as such.

"Hmph. You may speak and perhaps I will consider answering your inquiries, plebeian." Jubstacheit opted to entertain him. Inhumane as he was, he could tell the man would simply return once again. And if he invoked the name of a Clock Tower Lord, not even he could brush it off with his clan's reputation.

Killing the annoying creep wouldn't solve anything either. The thing next to him didn't look as strong as the tool Jubstacheit gave to Kiritsugu. The woman lacked the same imposing Aura as Saber did. But he didn't want to see the castle harmed because of it. Playing along will be the easiest direction right now.

"Marvelous! Very well, first I would like to learn more about the story that led to the Fourth Grail War. Let's start with your perspective of the Third." The man's smile grew wider, as though he'd registered the slight surprise in the golem. Not that Jubstacheit showed any. "Ah, yes. The reports did mention that it was your invitation that involved the representatives from the Edelfelt family, yes? However, it seems baffling that your clan was the first to lose their servant. Is this true?"

That he would have already known as much beforehand and dared to bring it up as the first question was an affront to the face of the Einzberns for centuries. But before Jubstacheit could impolitely tell the man off, something he never expected happened.

Einzbern Castle was rocked by a sudden explosion.

---

In the forest.

Away from the cold walls of the castle, a little girl was running. As she ran, a pack of wild wolves was chasing her. Although calling them wild wasn't right, they were tamed by the magecraft of her family. Which, in fairness, only made it all worse as they were ordered to track and hunt down the white-haired half-homunculus child.

Illyasviel didn't dare look back. She ran as fast as her weak legs could take her. She knew they wouldn't kill, they weren't allowed to. However, her grandfather permitted maiming. Maiming to the extent of her losing a leg or an arm. It could all be replaced. So long as the bones and a few muscles existed, magecraft could reverse the damage to the point of her limbs being as good as new.

That didn't make it any less painful. If anything, it made experiencing hell a daily occurrence for the child. And that's what Jubstacheit wished upon her weakened psyche.

'Even if I make it out today, it will happen again next week…' she bit her lip and kicked the snow, frostbite be damned. 'It will happen again next month. And then again next year. And so on and so on… Until the next Grail War, grandfather… won't stop…'

Fresh tears froze against the cold winds. The mountain winds bit against her skin as she cried as hard as she ran.

Illyasviel hated it, she truly did. But there was nothing she could do to change the situation.

She could stop running, turn around and try to fight wolves with magecraft. But that would end in her defeat.

There were too many of them, while she was alone.

Completely alone.

Alone ever since her parents left for the distant lands in Asia. Alone ever since her mother died for the sake of their family. Alone ever since her father betrayed the Einzberns and ran away, leaving her at the mercy of her grandfather.

'If you want to blame anything, blame it on the man that tossed you aside like the rest of us dolls!'

Her grandfather's words stabbed a knife into her heart. She couldn't believe it. Would never have believed it. That man, her father, he wouldn't dare go back on his word. Sure, he'd tease her, cheat in their games, laugh at the expense of her mistakes… but he loved her back no matter what!

… … … Didn't he?

…

..

.

She didn't know.

Alone as she was now, and after all this time, he'd never once come back for her. It became harder and harder… to hold out hoping. To believe in the promises he made.

As the weeks turned to days and the lonely time she spent in the castle continued to grow, more and more, the pain started to numb her. When unfeelingness took over, all she was left with was anger. The anger she bottled up, never expressing, but always there. Always… always…

Illyasviel didn't know when she stopped staring out of the window, awaiting her family's return. She didn't know when she stopped crying herself to sleep. Tears no longer filled her vision, replaced by the blood that sprayed whenever she lost to whatever tests her grandfather put her through. Often the pain she felt in facing the wolves, if not live surgeries, were what kept her consciousness from drifting away into darker, emptier thoughts.

The blinding pain that burned her legs certainly kept her from seeing a root of a tree sticking out of the ground, causing her to trip and fall to an ice-cold bed of stone and dirt. The child's teeth clenched against the pain. Red dripping from a gash on her forehead stained the white snow.

'It hurts…' It always did. 'It hurts… mom… Kiritsugu…'

It always hurts to fall. But before, she'd always had someone to pick her up and comfort her wounds. Now though…

'It hurts…' It always did. But it would be nothing compared to the ravenous carnage brought upon her by the wolves that beset her.

From the number of the howls and the barks, Illyasviel quickly knew from experience that she'd have to spend a longer night in her grandfather's workshop. An entire sleepless night. Then, the day of the morrow would be even longer. Of when Jubstacheit would take his time to pull her apart then put her back together. She was to be 'recalibrated' to 'improved'. Over and over. And over and over…

Ah. It would hurt oh so much more than a mere scratch to the forehead. So, so much more… And there would be no one to save her from it all.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

'Please, no! Not again!' She slowly turned around at the sound of the growl. Fear had gripped her legs, but not her eyes as she faced those that wished her harm. The pack was creeping up on her. "No… please!"

In her words, their sharp teeth were bared. The wolf itself didn't even look all that hungry. It was all a reaction to her fear, no doubt designed by her grandfather in anticipation of a 'weakling's response' from her. She had to fight it. She had to hold steadfast against them. So long as she feared them, they would tear her apart. But… it was hard not to break.

The wolves… the look in their eyes… It was no different from the Homunculus dolls that filled the castle. Unfeeling, unsympathetic, empty. These animals were cruel because her grandfather ordered them to be so. The maids and her caregivers were just the same. No coddling, no care. No love, no nothing. A harsh world where only the strong would survive was what Jubstacheit wanted her to grow up in. To survive in.

But… it only made Illyasviel feel more terrified. Knowing that it was your fate for the next seven years. That it won't stop for years and even if it will, she wouldn't live long enough to forget about it all…

She was a mere tool. A flagrant last chance for her clan's eventual victory. All to be discarded the moment she'd fulfilled her purpose, win or lose. Such was the fate of Illyasviel von Einzbern.

And the closest thing she could get to closure was achieving said victory and getting the chance to avenge her mother and herself against the person her grandfather kept insisting betrayed them. For all this pain and agony, for the torment, he'd let come to her, for breaking his promise… Illya had no other recourse but to vow to get back at him… At Kiritsugu.

But for that day to come, Illyasviel had to endure this suffering again and again. She had to get better, grow stronger, and not fear the wolves as she did now.

"P-please…"

Only, she couldn't. Right now, at this very moment, surrounded by beasts with only a bloodstained one-piece dress in the middle of a blizzard, she had nothing but fear for her safety. Fear of the torture to come.

"A-anyone…"

At this moment of absolute hopelessness, all Illyasviel could do was start begging.

"Please… someone—!"

Not to the wolves, not to her father who won't hear or listen to her, but to fate itself. She begged for salvation.

"PLEASE! SAVE ME!"

…

Silence met her pleas.

…

Winter's cold shoulder bit against her tear-stained cheek.

…

And when the silence was broken by the emboldened wolves' first step towards her, she swallowed as she tried to keep her eyes shut.

Though it wouldn't stop them from ripping her to shreds, she could save herself the gut-wrenching image of seeing her limbs torn asunder.

For fate won't hear the cry of a little girl. Much less an abomination like her.

In the eyes of her family, her clan, she was but a mere vessel. An asset to the ritual. A tool of war. A chance at victory.

No one would save Illyasviel von Einzbern for her role was not to be saved.

And that was why someone else did 'save' her.

As Illyasviel trembled, cowering away to stave off the onslaught that was her near-death, the quiet soon came over once more. Gone were the hungry growls of the wolves, absent was their incessant biting and maiming of the poor girl.

Instead, as she peeked out from between her fingers, she noticed the animals surrounding her freeze in place, their glare aimed away from the little girl to something in the distance behind her. The moment their teeth bared even more viciously than when they chased her, Illya was forced to follow it.

There, in the distance, she saw something. A black silhouette was approaching her amidst the blizzard.

Calm and collected, unafraid of the danger that was her pursuers. The closer they got, the louder the magecraft-augmented wolves growled. The blizzard also created by magecraft mysteriously started to die down. That was odd in and of itself for it would only end should Jubstacheit make it so. However, the figure before Illyasviel wasn't her 'grandfather'. Not even remotely close.

Thinner, taller. The newcomer stood more confident whilst also moved more naturally than the human-shaped golem. Clad in a dark cloak with a strange helmet, the glassy single-eye-like face of it stared down at the poor girl. With the snowstorm wisping into the breeze, she could clearly see her own reflection on it. It was then that Illyasviel managed to snap back to reality.

What should she do? Try to flee? Hide behind her grandfather's creations? This person was clearly an outsider and the Einzbern hardly tolerated such. Moreover, during her 'training' of all things in the middle of a heavily guarded fortress. However, she didn't have any strength left in her legs. She knew she'd be unable to run, much less get up.

Despite only being part-human, her homunculi design was at its limit as well. She couldn't go on anymore. Illyasviel didn't know what to expect from this newcomer. An attack maybe. Some outsider looking to interfere in the Holy Grail ritual.

But the last thing she foresaw was for the man to cover her freezing body with his cloak. And she knew he was one when he spoke.

"Here I was, prepared to storm a castle full of mechanical dolls. The last thing I was prepared for was a blood-soaked princess surrounded by beasts out in the open." Cold and distant was the tone, but she could sense a hint of anger within. "And what might your name be, little one?"

"W-what?" Illyasviel blinked as she looked at the strange figure now kneeling next to her. The black cloak offered some protection from the cold winds. However, it would do little to protect her from the wolf—Wait, the wolves!

The animals had remained patient, only growling threats whilst they moved to surround her and the unknown guest both. It was likely they were instructed to only do the bare minimum in terms of monitoring her. Apart from tearing into her, that is. That they moved now meant their puppeteer, Jubstacheit, was watching from afar and had just recognized her predicament. Fangs bared, they all pounced.

"No—!" With the realization that their original task had suddenly been replaced with getting rid of the trespasser, Illya could only scream out a warning. "You have to go—!"

"No." At her shock, he calmly uttered, "It is quite rude to be interrupted."

CRASH

Before she could say anything, do anything, the ground exploded behind the man. Then, above both hers and the masked man's heads, a sudden gale erupted. In that instant, all those that pounced on their position had exploded in a bath of blood and gore. As though something had swatted the wolves out of the sky.

A rumbling thud had the child looking up. Not just at the stranger, but at the metallic giant standing behind him. Four eye sockets glinted at its helm, a large protrusion jutted out of its upper torso, and what appeared to be a firearm hung from its waist. Though, no man would ever be able to wield it unless they were at least five meters tall and weighed several tons.

But what caught her eye the most was the weapon in its other hand, a giant spear—nay, a lance dripped with blood. The same blood that now soaked the top of her head.

"What… is—?"

Illya couldn't finish. Not when, like a big, armoured knight, the titan lumbered forward, swatting away the others of the wolf pack from earlier before taking a stand between her and the survivors that retreated.

She was speechless. So much so that the man took notice.

"Rest assured, little one. Despite its shoddy appearance, Gloucesters can withstand attacks of this degree a thousandfold. Though not my favourite for personal reasons, this Knightmare model still does its job."

"Gloucester…? Knight-mares?!" These words were foreign to Illyasviel. Was this some kind of magecraft? Did this person create this knight? Was it a golem? A familiar? Whatever questions she had, Illyasviel was unable to voice them because of the wolves still alive.

The few battered and bruised, they didn't survive because of any sort of instinct, it was merely due to magecraft. Had they been alive in any sense of the word, they would've retreated by now. Yet, the only thing that mattered to them was fulfilling the commands given by her grandfather. And it was then that they barked and growled far more ferociously.

"Still quite rude, I see. That said, maybe I do not have the right to speak about propriety." A slight chuckle of amusement followed the man's words. "Knowing I've interfered in something quite important for you and your clan, perhaps I'm the villain in your eyes, is that not true, homunculus Einzbern head?"

He addressed not the child but the animals that continued to bark and growl. A moment passed. Then, as one, the remaining wolves howled madly into the air. It was as if they were signalling something. For what, the answer was swift as more beasts appeared from the edge of the tree line.

To Illya, it was as though her grandfather's rage had been provoked as all the animal marionettes he'd set up as their defences seemed to collapse on their heads. Wolves and falcons, bears, and even huge vipers that would've been protecting the various underground tunnels surfaced through the thick snow. All of them shared the same blank, feelingless look in their 'living eyes'. All the results of the Einzbern magecraft of creating synthetic life forms as closely as they could to natural living beings and being appropriated as defensive measures for any invaders. Right now, with their numbers, they were a large mass, a horde of man-eating beasts ready to rend and tear the only trespasser within miles.

He wouldn't survive this, the girl was quick to assume. Fear gripped her heart for her saviour.

"Hm… If that's how you plan on stopping me, I'd say I'm being severely underestimated." The man crossed his arms, but not before comforting the girl with a pat on the top of her head. "Apologies, my lady, but it seems we have to postpone answering any and all questions you have for later. For now, however, I ask you to stay put."

The masked man stepped forward, and with a snap of his fingers, Illya suddenly felt the air shift around him. To anyone watching, it must've been as though a conductor was posing to lead an orchestra. But the homunculus child saw with her own eyes the magic coalesced as if being willed.

"P-1, you are to serve as the front line. Do not let any of them pass! P-2, artillery battery fire. Take out as many of the larger pockets as possible!"

Orders were given but no sound was acknowledged receiving. That is until the large knight, lance in hand, stood before her, suddenly unholstering its gun with the other. Then, with speeds impossible for its size unless it was made from the lightweight material, the hulking giant dashed madly at the oncoming attackers. What came next almost sent Illya reeling backwards from the sheer ludicrousness of it all.

Gunshots were loud. She understood the concept of firearms from watching Kiritsugu when he took her out to hunt small animals in the forest. Pull the trigger, a large bang follows, and then the target either fall back or drops to the earth upon taking the hit.

These gunshots… they weren't just loud. They were both deafening and blinding.

Explosions rocked the field as well as her eardrums. Within seconds of exiting the barrel, about five or six of the beasts, if not an entire baker's dozen, were obliterated and mowed down by the shell before scattering shrapnel to those around. And that was just the one. The charging knight golem continued to relent a volley spray akin to that of an automatic machine gun, strafing and thinning the horde before coming into reach of the first bear. Said ursine was skewered and thrown aside just as easily when the giant thrust its lance with reckless abandon.

But the titan was soon surrounded. Many a beast quickly swarmed it, attempting to take it down as they would a normal human. The larger snakes lunged for its heels. A couple of bears tried to slam against its lower torso. The fliers darted and clawed at its eye sockets. Even the swift wolves that managed to evade the lance by hopping over their fallen brethren tried to rip out its neck.

"P-1, contact artillery shell! Commence evasive manoeuvres… Now!"

All of it was a futile effort when the metal monster suddenly dove into a roll and dislodged most of its foes from its back. In the confusion, the mindless puppet animals failed to notice the inbound artillery shell that imploded on P-1's former location.

More explosions ensued. Looking up, Illya's jaw dropped as streaks of smoke trailed after shells before they rained down on the battlefield. It was like a meteor shower. Dirt, dust, and snow were thrown up into the air. Alongside them, bodies upon gore upon blood. It was a literal warzone. It was hell. And in that hell, a single survivor continued to fluidly duck, dive, dart and dance as it continued to one-sidedly slaughter those that survived the artillery assault.

The battle lasted for barely three minutes. After which, only smoke and craters and a single hulking giant remained in the midst of the desolate fields she'd been running through earlier. Covered in brown, white and red, having bathed in the dirt, snow, and blood of its foes, it stood tall. Like a single knight who'd claimed victory against all odds.

As she admired its stalwart and undamaged visage, it was the slow yet approaching thudding of footsteps that once more snapped the girl out of her daze. Another giant approached them. This one, however, looked far different to the purple knight. Less of a humanoid, it appeared more as a bunker on legs. Bulky, towering, it lumbered over slowly. Twin cannons in place of actual arms this time, the barrels of which were smoking and red. On its back, sat next to the protrusions from its upper torso, there were a pair of empty crates that resembled a honey comb made out of metal. What made it look odder was the pair of bucket-like stubs that sat dead centre on either shoulder as well as the absence of an actual humanoid head.

"Hmm… perhaps emptying the two entire missile pods was a bit much." The masked man finally spoke up. He sounded more bored than anything despite the mayhem he'd just witnessed. Or perhaps ordered. "Then again, it's not like we're running on a deficit."

"Missiles… this golem… did… all of that?" Illya gawked, now certain which of the two giants had been the cause of the majority of the destruction in that fight.

"A golem, you say? Hm, perhaps you can call it that. However, I've simply designated this particular Knightmare model as a Panzer Hummel." The masked man commented when he noticed her confusion. "Developed by your countrymen, hence the name." The man suddenly let out a light chuckle. "Or, well. Maybe not really your countrymen as your kin don't really affiliate themselves with non-magi folk, no?"

Before Illyasviel could reply, the Hummel raised its cannon arms before firing into the air. It was deafening from up close. So much so that she squinted while covering her ears. Yet, she wasn't so blind as to not see the trajectory of the shot.

Now free from the fear of being torn apart, she could see in the distance, towards her castle. There, she noticed pillars of smoke and fire. And the recently fired shot merely toppled yet another spire of her home.

'This man and his giants saved me… but he's attacking Einzbern castle?!' The child froze, unsure of what to think.

All common sense screamed inside Illyasviel's head, ordering her to run away or put up a fight against the attacker of her household. But said common sense became silent when she could barely move her body. She groaned, the pain from before had returned as the adrenaline rush died out. In her stupor, her mind raced.

'What… what should I do? No… What… can I do…? If grandfather's puppet were so easily… what about me? What do I do? Where do I run to…? Where can I go…? Where can I even go if those things are… Mother… Mother—?!'

"I see that you're in great distress, young lady of Einzberns." The man spoke calmly, making Illyasviel flinch as she slowly looked up at the mask. "I do not know your name, but the colour of your eyes and hair remind me of another of your kin I met three years back. In Japan, Tell me, does the name Irisviel von Einzbern sound familiar to you?"

"How… do you know your mother's name?"

The girl's confusion was apparent to her on the mask's reflection. But so was the man's as he paused and titled his head. "Mother…? Ah… I see. So you're their child… Hm. To think I'd meet that man's progeny after all these years… What fate has bound me to Kiritsugu that I'd actually rescue his child?"

''Their'… 'His'?' Implication after implication, the child's words couldn't help but stutter as she forced herself to ask. "Y-you know K-Kiritsugu… My… my m-mother? Y-you met them in J-Japan?!"

That was Kiritsugu's home country, or so he'd once mentioned. It was also the same place the Holy Grail War took place every few decades, as her grandfather kept repeating her lessons. If this person knew them, then he'd been there. He'd met them there! He should know all the answers she'd sought since that time and more! But…

"I did more than meet them." The man confirmed it, unaware of her doubts. "Sadly, that is a long story in itself. One I have no time to waste in telling you—"

"Then take me with you!"

That had an instant effect.

"What?" The man froze for the longest time, quiet yet calculating the situation. Though a mere child, Illya could tell this wasn't what he expected. For one, she was the child of his apparent enemy. If he'd met Kiritsugu and her mother… if he was attacking her home right here and now, then he could be anyone except an ally to the Einzbern family. But…

"If you know something about my mother, please… please… tell me…" Tears fell on either side of her face. Disregarding the pain her body was in, she forced herself to cling to his sleeves, not wanting to let him leave.

Illyasviel didn't care what was going on. She cared not for the plight of her clan nor the reasons why this man was attacking them, to begin with. She didn't care. She never had.

No one dared to speak with a girl about her parents, beyond reminding her how her father betrayed their house. Illyasviel couldn't remember the last time someone spoke of her mother as anything besides being another of the great Einzbern family's many defective creations for her loss during the war. To Jubstacheit, her only actual guardian, Irisviel and Kiritsugu were but broken tools and traitorous failures.

She wanted to learn more about her mother, to have more memories about the woman whose presence she craved so dearly whenever she slept. She wanted the whole truth, that which her grandfather—nay, her captor refused to tell her.

And besides, what else could she do? Run? To where? Hide? From two giants that could tear a forest and castle asunder? Attack her saviour? She'd sooner be crushed underfoot.

"Why do you bow to what should be your foe? For what reason do you prostrate yourself, child?"

"Please… I—I just want to know…" Tired and exhausted, the child collapsed into the man's arms. Even as the Panzer Hummel relented another volley that destroyed her home, she merely wept into her enemy's chest. "I… just want… to know… why she never came home… Why… why…"

"Hm… … You put me in a delicate position." The man shrugged before he leaned in to whisper into her ear, hesitant but consoling. "I too know what it's like to lose a mother. I would not wish for any child to experience that pain. Yet, I have come here today seeking to serve justice. That is all. I'd sought to punish the family that dared use that ritual to hurt me and mine. Considering your identity and relation to her family, then we're—"

"I don't care…" she hissed back, throat aching in the wind as her tears froze into the wind. "Just… tell me. Then… kill me… If that's what you want… because… I'm an Einzbern, after all…"

"… Hmph. I see no reason to make a child pay for the sins of her ancestors." An explosion rocked the ground as the last volley took out what had once been her tower in the distance. Her castle, her home, burned as she waited for his answer. "Very well, I shall take you with me. For now. And, once I've given to you the truth as I know it, I will leave you be. Your life is yours to lead after…"

Those very words were all that she needed to hear before suddenly losing all strength. Her grip on his sleeves slackened as her legs wobbled. She very nearly fell flat to the ground had he not supported her to sit on his knee. But before she could lose consciousness, she forced out what gratitude she could give. "T-thank you… I… don't know who you are… but… thank you…"

---

"I doubt a child would gladly thank their parents' killer." As the child slept in his arms, he willed Gloucester to take her off his hands and hide her in its makeshift cockpit. She'd be safe there until the siege was over. Or maybe until Nobunaga realized he'd taken one of their kin, the princess of the clan no less, captive. "Loathe as I am to refuse her hellbent revenge, there are some saplings that don't deserve to burn with the rest of the accursed forest."

Taking off his mask, Lelouch starred as the child slept peacefully. And that was despite the bloodstains that soaked her rags of a meagre dress. What she was doing out here being hunted by her keeper's puppets, Alaya knows why. Still, bundling her up in his cape, the child carelessly dozed off in her enemy's clutches with a scrunched-up expression of fear and sadness as she dreamed.

'No child deserves to be abandoned so…' The boy sighed, letting the frosty cloud of his breath to disperse in the cold air. 'Guess I'll have to come up with something convincing enough for my dear to not murder the child on sight. Then again, what is her game in all of this?'

To ally with her was one thing, but to take her along with them… The young man couldn't decide. No, he could, but to do so without getting a clear read on the Einzberns would and could ruin their plans in the long run. Best to nip the problem in the bud, yet he couldn't resort to outright murder. That made him just the same as that family of hers who threw her to the wolves, to begin with.

"P-1, head for point Alpha-Three. P-2, smoke this area before heading to Delta-Five. Remove our tracks while I assess the situation and ensure the rear of the castle is turned to rubble."

Mask on, he clambered up on the Gloucester's palm to sit on its shoulder. The golem-Knightmare then moved towards the designated point. Behind them, the Panzer-Hummel vented smoke from auxiliary canisters, clouding the area as it started shooting and burning its way through the strongly defended forest triggering as many magical traps as it could on its way. As a diversion, it would buy him some time.

"Now… will I have to use my Geass… or…?"

Such a question would be answered after he had time to talk to the exhausted girl.

---

Back in the castle.

Carnage and destruction were two of the few things she enjoyed in her past life. But now, more than ever, the Daimyo had to concede that the methods she used then couldn't be compared to that of the modern era. Much less the future tech her darling, and by proxy, she, wielded at the palm of her hands.

As shamelessly as a child with a new toy, Nobu had only one thing to say:

'These Knightmare things rock!'

The giant war machines she first saw in her Lelouch's past continued their relentless assault. Six of the eight pawns, the total number of pieces her beloved brought to this battle, quickly turned the daunting fortress into mere rubble. Although not the maximum number of pieces Lelouch could control at one time, the Pawns were all she needed to level a sizable magi stronghold in a matter of minutes.

Four Gloucesters and four Panzer-Hummels. Not even the best Pawns he could conjure.

'Considering the ease of our test run, using a mere four Pawns against the non-magi insurgents of the Middle East, I've come to the conclusion that we need not expend our resources to summon the rest of the pieces to deal with unprepared magi.'

As much as Nobu didn't want to admit it, Lulu was right. With how little of a resistance the Einzberns managed to put up in the first assault, the paltry castle wasn't worth wasting the entirety of her darling's arsenal. Nor did they necessitate revealing his entire hand.

'As the first raid against the so-called prestigious magi clan, this feels like a joke!'

Granted, in the past, their forces would attack and eliminate smaller magus families with the objective of either enslaving or eradicating them within their Middle Eastern and Asiatic holdings. However, those could have been dealt with by mere foot soldiers. At worst, Lulu need only temper their men's resistance against mind control by applying Geass beforehand. But this?

'The Einzberns shouldn't be a spineless family of cowards like the rest we gunned down. No, these fuckers should be the worst of the worst. One of the elites of the existing great magi clans! But now…'

The battlefield resembled that of a ten-year-old warzone. One that experienced the shelling and spilling of blood for nearly a decade. And why? Because their attacker was frustrated. For quite a while, several years, in fact, it had been Nobunaga's sole objective to eradicate that family. To crush them into dust, leaving nothing behind as she sent their souls to the fiery pits. And for a long time, it had irked her on how difficult it was to find the hide or hair of those responsible for her twisted summoning.

The Germanic magi family was a secretive bunch. Not even the Matou clan had info on precisely where to find them. And though they could've saved time by waltzing into the Clock Tower to seek out someone who may have an idea, that in itself was suicide with their current standing in the moonlit world.

Servants, they may be, the unknown that was the upper echelon of the Clock Tower was still something to be wary of.

The general area that was the country of Germany was too vast to covertly sift through, forcing them to resort to buying out the information from former Grail War participants and a distant rival of the golem makers in Romania to even narrow the number of places to look into. And it was only because Lelouch opted for a subtle diplomatic approach that not a single peep had made it to the Clock Tower Lords. Had any been made aware of their search for the great, enigmatic Einzberns, then perhaps this sudden invasion wouldn't have gone so seamlessly.

Now, looking all around as their 'well-protected' forest burned ablaze, the Daimyo haughtily scoffed. Her venting turned it into a cackle that revealed in joyous carnage as she cried into the sky. "Ha! 'Great' my ass! 'Enigmatic' bullshit! You're all nothing but cheating, snivelling cowards! Hiding behind the wall after wall, shrub after shrub, thinking you're safe in your little home. Well, tremble in fear as I burn your hidey holes to the earth! Wail in damnation as I turn your safe haven into hell itself, this I swear! FIRE!"

With a flourish of her blade, two of the Panzer-Hummel variant Pawns outfitted with rocket armaments let loose against the spires of the tallest sections of the castle. The resulting blast sent them toppling like spears that caved down upon the annexe interior, turning the ancient building into mere ruins. The Gloucesters stood by her and supplemented their destruction by shooting through what windows and balconies the Einzberns could use as a vantage point for long-range counterattacks. Not that they'd been able to return any so far when all those that tried were gunned down in a matter of seconds by the purple Knights' smaller mounted machine guns upon being spotted. A few had tried flanking her frontal assault. Those were left as mere blood stains splattered about by the lumbering Knightmares' feet.

"Hmph, as I expected. Nothing but worthless dolls and pets." Nobunaga spat at the lifeless eyes of a homunculus butler as she kicked its lifeless corpse into the rubble alongside the many animals and familiars that tried to bar their path. To the war dolls of her darling's own making, she ordered. "Take no prisoners! Show no mercy to magi scum!"

Their replies were given through the sound of reloading machine gun magazines. Empty cartridges thudded to the floor as a flourishing of lances caused the burning air to swirl and sear, all followed by even more rampant explosions and gunfire that tore further into the ruined castle walls.

With all the firepower they used, one could argue that they already used up far more munitions than any average country would dare expend in a single military engagement. They would be right. However, it would be worth it. For the sake of wiping the shit stains that masterminded the mechanism that was the corrupted ritual, Nobunaga would spare no expense.

It didn't matter to think economically either. Despite Lelouch's creations needing to use physically made modern weaponry, the cost was offset by the resources they gained from their conquests. Unwieldy and bulky lances? Easy to think up and cheap to slap on together. Rudimentary tanks and artillery cannons? Simple to acquire its designs via having their puppet countries procure designs from simple defence contractors. There was no need to purchase materials for treads and turrets either for those Lelouch could order with a simple wave of his hand. Even shells were cheap considering the number of rare-earth metal mines they 'liberated' during the past few years of their covert campaign.

All they needed for a single puppet, a basic Knightmare frame, was a hunk of metal fashioned into its image and the weapons it would carry and use in battle. Pilots are not included. Nor necessary, for that matter. They had Lelouch's experience and legend for that.

Said legend would be the envy of every army in the Throne of Heroes' known history, and perhaps even future. Glorified and romantic as they were in the past, no mere mortal army could withstand the might of Lelouch's own. Hell, she doubted Iskandar's would last a minute against the Pawns she commanded now if Lulu were to manipulate them himself. And she struggled against that brute's relentless horde.

Licking her lips at the pleasant destruction didn't last, however, as the ceiling of the main building collapsed but left a largely untouched wall barely scratched. The mosaic image of a gorgeous red-eyed, platinum-blonde woman clad in a ceremonial dress with its arms clasped in prayer stared at her from on high. The presumptuous image of the homunculi template irked the daimyo somewhat.

"Oy, remove that eyesore!"

Whistling to one of the Gloucesters, it wordlessly followed its mistress' orders and opened fire. But as the smoke cleared, much to Avenger's dismay and surprise, the mosaic wall still remained. Seemingly unmarred by the explosive shells the Knightmare fired upon it.

"Hoho. Able to defend even against that much firepower… whatever's behind it is something worth protecting, is it, you rats? Then…" With a wave of her crimson katana, both purple Knightmare frames shot flares at the mosaic. "Try this on for size!"

Not a second later when red smoke lit up the place, thunderous fiery blasts rocked the immaculate art piece. Explosion after an explosion sent ash and flames into the air, turning the surroundings into either slag or glass with how hot the incendiary burned.

Firearms had always been her favoured weapons. They were loud, powerful, and extremely efficient in informing her foes that all hell was about to break loose and it was in their best interest to be scarce or be scattered all over the place. A war machine that spewed a near-continuous barrage of volatile explosives, like that of a minigun but made out of barrels the size of a mortar cannon… well, that trumped her classical favourites. Now no one, not even a magi family that evaded their hunt for so long, could—

"Okay…? What the fuck?!" Such was her frustrated proclamation after the minute-long volley from the Panzer-Hummels ended with the dust clearing. The mosaic piece of the white-haired woman remained steadfast. Not a scratch, not even a stain from melted metal and stone marred it. No, more than that, its beautified expression looked to be mocking her even. Clearly, it wasn't just a normal wall. Enchanted defences, and a boundary field, were likely in place. "So… playing the stubborn game, eh? Can't just leave well enough alone and allow me to send you all to hell quietly, huh?!"

Nobunaga stepped forward and the air shifted. From the haze and heat of the flames, embers sparked and roared as the ground beneath her cracked. Enraged at the futile resistance and the audacity to force her hand, she'd summoned her arsenal. A few hundred rifles all lined up in a firing squad, all of them carrying shells that burned with hate and malice, coated in the emotion that was her namesake and legend.

"Burn!" At her will, the rifle cracked and a barrage of death befell the image.

Surely, by this, nothing would remain and she could move on with the eradication. Though Lelouch's Pawns carried weapons capable of reducing many a man to a mere speck of sand, her arsenal was of a class far greater. That was not to say that her darling's creations were lacking. True, they could only make use of man-made equipment that would be outclassed by any Servant of combat capability C-class or higher. But that was just the case for the Pawns that were made with what material they could easily find in the Asian mountains. And he had yet to expand the repertoire to include the rest of the other types of pieces on the Chess Board that was his Noble Phantasm.

All that aside, it didn't matter how limited Lelouch's army of Pawns were when they were far more cohesive and capable than most other heroes. Though many recorded in the Throne had experience fighting alongside each other, the Demon Emperor was titled such because of his army's unmatched coordination. Such was the ease in teamwork when the soldiers didn't have to worry about pride, ego, or glory. And besides, what her beloved lacked in killing power, Avenger had ample supply. Anti-divinity that could tear away at a god's power, at that.

This was why when she gawked at the intact glass mural of a benevolently smiling homunculus woman, she seethed with anger.

Unharmed, spotless, perfectly still. The mosaic wall stood strong. And though the smoke may have dissipated, Nobunaga's fury was just revving up.

"Oh… Ohohoho… You really want me to push it, don't you?!" her brow twitched in annoyance as her crimson hair flared with power. The smoke was gone, replaced by a haze that started to melt the ground around her. "I don't know what you're trying to hide, but I'm gonna make you all pay for angering me so! Taste this, mother—!"

BOOM

"—fucker?!"

To her shock, the wall she wasn't able to break did just that. Exploding into shards of coloured glass that dangerously flew in all directions. Swiping at the few that nearly grazed her face, she cleared her vision to spy a large something hurtling her way.

"Keh!" Eyes wide, teeth grit, she rolled aside, dodging the vehicle being dragged by skeletal wyverns as it zipped past and flew high into the air. Catching sight of the driver, Nobu sensed their power. And she licked her lips in anticipation. "So that's how it is! Heh, another Servant! A… Rider?!"

The newly arrived Servant looked the part. Though the Greek carriage was anything but classical as her old rival's had been, the edgier, bladed vehicle still carried the same dangerous air as the Gordius Wheel. However, it was the driver that tugged on the reins that caught Nobunaga's eye.

A woman, one whom Nobunaga would call quite beautiful, stared down at her from her perch in the sky. Her hair was of dark violet, monochromatic eyes of grey and blue were piercing yet challenging. She gave off an ominous air completely different yet eerily similar to the former King of Conquerors. Maybe it was the attire for which she was clad in the same royal red and dark brown, albeit far more loosely based, or maybe even a parody of Iskandar's own battle garments. She was probably someone from his time then. Considering that her appearance belied one of ancient Macedonian descent and other similarities, Nobu was confident it was someone related to the brute.

But then there was the important question.

'What is a Servant doing here? The next Grail would not be so soon… She looks like Rider but, apart from appearance, she doesn't share much … No, wait. I sense some familiar divinity coming from her.'

Iskandar had claimed to be a demi-god. Her whole might be managing to eat away at him whence they fought was proof of that claim. And now, this unnamed assailant was giving off the same vibe.

The redheaded woman raised her katana and warily pointed it at the new face. All fun and games may have to be put on hold. "Name yourself, Servant. To which Master do you belong? And why is it that you are here in the first place?"

The woman didn't respond immediately. Lazily, her left blue eye glanced over to the now-reformed mosaic she'd shattered open during her grand exit. It was as though she was sharing a knowing nod to the despicable homunculus lady's smile, but Nobunaga wasn't naïve.

"Hmph, so the Einzberns already summoned themselves a new lapdog." She scoffed aloud, now certain her guess was the case when the woman-Rider's face lost its last hint of amusement. "Typical that a cowardly clan would try to pull a fast one on any of their other competitors before the games even begin. Heh, how annoying."

"The annoying one here is you," replied the newcomer. "Barging in uninvited, then laying waste without even so much as introducing yourself, how shameless. Whoever are you, leave this place at once, else suffer my wrath."

The wyvern-skeletons pulling the chariot roared despite the missing vocal cords. At their cue, the stormy white skies quickly turned dark as crimson lightning crackled and clapped above.

"Hoh? That's a neat little trick, girl. However, lightning and thunder aren't enough to scare me. If you want to make my blood boil, however, talk less and get straight to the point." Nobunaga licked her lips, anxious to see what else she could do. Her bloodred blade hummed and glowed, thirsty for a fight just as its master. "It's been a long time since I'd faced any challenge on the battlefield. Perhaps you can satisfy my hunger for the blood of Heroic Spirits, brat?"

Red lightning answered her back. Like a warning shot, it zipped past her face and struck the ground behind her. The scent of ozone mixed with iron as Nobu noted the light sting on her cheek.

"Be very careful what you wish for, old bag. This is your last warning."

Contrary to the Rider's expectations, instead of backing off, Nobunaga's tongue dared lap up the blood that trickled down the side of her face. Then, her feral smile took centre stage.

BOOM

In the next second, the ground shattered. With a mighty kick, she flew straight at the flying carriage, earning a wide-eyed stare as the woman quickly cracked her reins. The wyvern-chariot took a dive and so did the woman, narrowly avoiding her neck being cleaved by a crimson slash that tore a vacuum in the space she'd been previously.

"What's the matter?! All bark and no bite?!" Though she missed and ended up slowly falling to earth upside down, her eagerness to fight permeated the air with bloodlust.

To Avenger's mocking, the woman directed a blade, a spatha, in Nobu's direction. Lightning crackled above before a bolt of electricity appeared to lance her out of the sky. But it didn't end there.

"You are a fool to challenge me in the skies." The woman cried as she continued to aim her blade. The sheen of metal sparked with crimson energies as a bolt manifested at will. "Eat this and rue your folly!"

Two shots of lightning bolts. One to force her to dodge, the other a follow-up wherever she tried to dodge. She was to be shot down and without a means to escape unscathed. Just like back during the Grail war, Avenger couldn't compete with a Rider's mobility.

That is, if she never learned to adapt to the situation.

"Keh, underestimating me?!" Space warped around her falling form. Several dozen rifles shimmered into existence before lining up and forming mini barricades against both bolts. Kicking off one, she dodged the second before pointing her own sword at her foe. "Just because I don't have wings does not mean I can't fly too, bitch! FIRE!"

At the devil's behest, a matchlock barrage rained down upon her. A crimson and black rain of shell and gunpowder exploded all around the target, catching the Rider woman unawares.

Though her weapons were relics of the ancient past, that didn't mean she couldn't modify the magical bullets they fired. Turning each matchlock shell into airburst rounds was quite the bold suggestion by Lelouch, but in terms of fighting flying targets, they were unmatched in precision and devastation.

Had the woman not been a Heroic Spirit, she would certainly have not escaped with mere scratches and an amusing scowl on her face. Said scowl turned frustrated when more airburst rounds struck her chariot from below. Without being ordered to, the two Gloucesters Nobu left on the ground were backing her up, trying to shoot down the wyverns as she was. Though, all that did was piss off the haughty Rider.

"You're wasting time. She's mine! Go crush the Einzberns like bugs. Leave no survivors!" The two Knightmares did as ordered and continued to bombard the wall. They couldn't kill the fast-moving target even if they did manage to hit. Despite the impact of modern weaponry, a Servant's legend and myth could power through much of the damage. This was why Nobunaga created more footholds in the sky with her numerous rifles and charged the woman directly. With enough force, she managed to get close enough to see the whites in the woman's eyes. She smiled, guns and red hair blazing. "Now… where were we?!"

The chariot dodged at the last second again, its wyverns pulling their lady away from the hellfire shots of the Demon King. But the unnamed Rider wasn't going to take this fight on the backfoot.

She cracked the reins before letting it go.

What would've seemed like a foolish move turned out to be a genius one as her chariot began to drive itself without her input? Streaking through the skies, it circled back to evade a volley and ducked under a follow-up before darting right at Nobunaga once more. But this time, what met her katana wasn't evasion or flesh. It was the spatha the monochromatic woman wielded with both hands that blocked a strike to her neck. A spatha that shared a very uncanny resemblance to one she'd crossed blades with in the past. And was wielded with great skill just as much as that brute!

A slice there, a thrust behind a feint. A slash that returned to deflect her own attacks. It was followed through by a parry that, two-handed, managed to push Nobunaga far back enough that she needed to open fire to continue her attacks. The woman simply evaded it. Or rather, her chariot managed to without even her ordering it to.

It was a momentary exchange. The quickest of skirmish strikes. But it was enough for Avenger to come to her own conclusions.

"You, two-colored-eyes bitch," halting her volley, she watched as the Rider came to a slow stop, hovering a small distance away in the air. "You ride a chariot, wield the same sword, and carry the same divinity. Tell me. Are you an incarnation of that buffoon?"

"What was that?" the woman muttered.

"Answer me, fool. Are you not related to the beaten bastard demigod who called himself the King of Conquerors, Iskandar?"

Had the woman resumed attacking, Nobunaga wouldn't have bothered pressing further. For an opponent to not bear the same grandiosity as her former rival, they wouldn't be worth the effort to crush. They would be pebbles, not even a mere foothold to step on and cement her greatness. But what she did not expect was seething anger.

"What… did you just call him?"

"The buffoon?" she raised her eyebrow, cottoning on to the prickled expression on Rider's face. "It is a nickname. One I've given to a fool deserving as he—!"

"Shut your mouth, you bastard!" The chariot surged forward. Faster than ever before, it launched itself like a jet fighter at Nobu's face. Only, she was sort of expecting it and managed to dodge it by hopping over. She even dared to give a cheeky smirk to the infuriated woman's face.

"Hoh? Struck a nerve, did I?" she didn't get a response. Only a second speedy charge. Yet, dangerous as it was to fool around with her prey, she couldn't help but dance around the woman's reckless abandon.

She was starting to get predictable, to the point where Nobu had backflipped over her last attack, blocked the spatha from slicing her neck open with a wall of rifles, and managed to cleave the back of one of the skeletal wyverns at the base of its spine.

"KUH!" Realizing the mistake, the Rider lost control of her ride as it quickly began to fall out of the sky. Lightning rained down alongside her, blocking Nobu from cutting into the other bony undead. She managed to right herself but was grounded in the process. Nobu swiftly touched the earth as well with a thud, cratering the burned soil. Yet, despite not landing a killing blow, she would assume she'd managed to win. After all, she clipped the wings of an actual Rider without the need to resort to her usual tactics.

"Hmm. Guess I have to take back my words. That brute was a better Rider than you are. Still, considering how you so easily let your emotions get the better of you as he had, you aren't too different to be unrelated." Shouldering her katana, she slowly marched closer to the glaring woman. "So? Who are you? His cosplayer? Or one of the loyal soldiers he'd left for dead in the desert? Can't be, considering I'd remember burning you back then—!"

"Shut your trap!" The unknown Servant roared as more red lighting struck at Avenger. But this time, Nobu managed to block and deflect the bolts with ease. Her katana flared and sparked whenever one struck, but their energies were weak, frayed. As though they reflected the control and composure of their caster. "Don't you dare insult my lord! I am his most loyal confidant, but neither am I a soldier of his army. Don't you dare associate me with that lot!"

"… … Huh?" Nobu gawked with a raised eyebrow, all bloodlust waning for a confusing moment. "Loyal but… not one of his army? But… aren't you of his posse? Sounds confusing. Make up your mind, Femskandar!"

"I told you! I'm not him!" another red lightning bolt that Avenger simply danced around. They weren't as fast as earlier. Nor did they have the same power. Nobu scowled slightly, losing interest. They were weaker. Like they couldn't be charged up faster or conjured better now that the woman was flustered and pissed. "Just stay still and die, you cockroach!"

"Hey, hey! That's rude! Don't call me names when you don't even know me. Ah, on that note, let me introduce myself," Nobunaga stopped as she bowed slightly before theatrically waving her hand before her, mimicking the gestures made by Lelouch whenever he introduced himself to a captive audience. Yet, she couldn't cluelessly expose her identity. So, replicating her darling's flair for the dramatics, she acted in her own play. "I am the real Lucifer, Lord of Hell itself. A pleasure to meet you, not-Iskandar. Now please, perish!"

At her order, dozens of rows of her arquebus arsenal manifested. In the next second, a concert of hell enacted a sweet symphony through the creative timing and rhythm found only in the sudden and impactful unison of gunfire.

Had they hit their mark, it would've made for a great standing ovation. Yet not even her audience was that much of a fool to watch her own demise. And that was despite the front row seat Nobunaga oh-so graciously bequeathed to her.

Swift as lightning, she escaped the barrage. Although left with only one wyvern to pull the chariot, shell after shell impacted the earth behind her, culminating in a desperate gambit when it flew high into the sky.

For a second, Nobunaga was blinded. The storm clouds had suddenly dispersed, leaving the high noon sun to glare down into her retinas. All was silent until she heard the guttural reptilian growl and saw its bony maw lunging for her face.

"Of all the desperate things—!" Nobu swiped at the air. The skeletal beast dispersed in motes of red light the second her sword sliced through it like butter. But eyes widened even further when the chariot that followed continued its meteoric crash course for her. 'DAMMIT!'

Her guns let loose a volley. The chariot was destroyed instantaneously.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The woman behind it thrust a blade at her, earning Nobu's surprise in the process. "DIE!"

"I think not!" The crimson blade clashed against the crimson blade. Hers burned red with the fires of vengeance, the other's sparked fiercely with the ferocity of electricity. It was there in that blade lock that they met face to face, eye to eye. So close that Nobunaga could study the glow of the faux-Rider's left amber eye. 'Wait… Amber—?!'

"Now," the woman snarled with a cheeky smirk. "You're mine!"

The imposter raised her weapon, aimed for the neck of Avenger and was ready to strike.

"Halt!" However, before the blade could make contact with Nobunaga's skin, a familiar male voice ordered with an assertive tone.

Nobunaga blinked when the Lookalike Rider before her stopped dead in her tracks. It was as if she was now a living statue. One who couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. Her glistening muscles tensed in place, but it was her monochromatic eyes trembling as they were enveloped by a red glow that had Nobu narrowing her gaze.

'Wait!' Nobu recognized this power. 'Why—?!'

"Why are you hesitating, my love?" Her darling's playful voice had the redheaded woman doing a one-eighty to catch the peeping eyehole seal itself at his approach. The masked figure of Zero was nonchalantly walking towards her with nary a care as to his stealing her prey. "Come now. Is this the whole might of my beloved Demon King?"

"Lulu…?" Avenger's eyes bulged in surprise. Not for the fact that he was challenging her, that was par for the course in their everyday life. But it was the fact that he didn't call ahead that they would be regrouping. "What're you doing here, darling? Were you not supposed to be encircling the castle?"

"I came by as soon as I heard the fighting start. Thought that the Pawns themselves would fulfil the task without my input. I was worried though that you'd be in trouble." His mask failed to hide his concern. But the teasing was quick to come again. "Didn't expect a day when I would have to bail you out during direct combat, however. And here I thought I'd be the damsel in distress come the next Servant battle!"

"F-fool! I could've handled her well enough on my own!" she felt her cheeks flush. Even the mightiest of Demons might make mistakes sometimes. "She just barely caught me off-guard. Under normal circumstances, she'd be beheaded the first second she tried something!"

Nobu waved it away whilst Lelouch indulged in a hearty chuckle. Still, she couldn't help but feel a weird sensation. Lelouch would have tried to contact her first before arriving at the battle. Not to mention, he'd come alone, without a single escort. Not that he needed one when he was able to predict any enemy's moves beforehand.

And… her fellow Demon often preferred to not use his power in the heat of battle like this. More so when something could go wrong and others find out about it. And besides, it was her fault, to begin with in getting distracted by the Rider Servant's resembling the fallen king.

Nobu pouted cutely, 'Meh, who am I to judge? Maybe Lulu felt I was in danger and decided to save his beloved Demon King. How cute… but also gallant of him.' Despite his many portrayals of himself as a heinous villain that targeted villains, a rebel leader that fought evil with evil in his past, he was quite the romantic gentleman at times. 'Still… why do I feel… on edge?'

It was strange, but Nobu thought nothing of it. Looking about, they were of course still in the midst of the Einzbern castle, home to a wretched magi clan. Now it was just ruined, but her animosity for the vile humans remained strong. Just the thought of breathing in the same air they did still caused her to seethe. They didn't deserve mercy, nor would they get any from her. Clasping her fist tightly, she recomposed herself and ignored it to return her gaze to their new puppet.

The Iskandar-cosplayer had quietly remained still this entire time. Despite being a Servant, her magical resistance must've been very weak if even Lelouch's Geass was this effective. Disregarding her stance as Nobunaga's foe though, she really did look like him. Perhaps she was some sort of family… Maybe a close aide or body double. In any case, it didn't really matter. She was summoned on the wrong side. And right now, Nobu was on the course of eradicating said side completely.

"Sorry, but… Nothing personal." Avenger raised her katana, aiming for the neck. While frozen in place, a person under the effect of Geass would still be somewhat aware of their surroundings. Not comprehensibly nor would she be able to remember anything, but she was very much conscious. A hint of fear overtook the beautiful Macedonian charioteer's face. Good, Nobu thought. "Since you're a Servant, the chances are slim. But, if we meet again, I hope you can give me a better fight."

Nobu felt her smirk widen ever so slightly.

"Or at least, a better fight than that dumbass giant of a man—GUH!" Just as she was about to swing, she felt a sharp pain pierce and twist inside her abdomen. Looking down, a large sword wound opened in her unguarded belly. But there should've been nothing to have sliced her open. No, she felt the steel. "What the—?!"

"I told you… You're mine!"

The statuette Rider's voice echoed in her head, but the woman was still frozen—"Kuh! How—?!"

"Disrespecting my lord yet again…" No, she wasn't frozen. She was smiling! Smiling like a madman that managed to gut her despite not having moved an inch. And said face morphed into one of anger. "A pain-filled death shall pay the price you pay!"

Instinctively, Avenger pulled back. She didn't see anything, but she felt something cut her chin. Rubbing it, there was nothing. But all her battle instincts honed by the warring states period told her she'd been marred. Staring back at the smiling statue woman, Rider's Amber eye shone brightly, cluing Avenger to the cause.

'This bitch! Hypnotic magecraft?!' The power was reminiscent to Lelouch's. Not precisely the same, but close enough that she'd been none the wiser. Glancing back, she confirmed it when her darling was still there, present and standing, but not doing anything about her dilemma. 'I've been had! And she dared use his image against me! Unforgivable!'

Teeth grit and mind racing, Avenger's wariness went on high alert. She couldn't retaliate with her full power whilst being unaware of her true surroundings. She breathed in, calming herself. Nobu didn't know the full extent of this ability. She could brute force through it, but only once. As for being stabbed… well, she could walk it off.

Her instincts kicked in again, feeling a blade near her sides. This time, she didn't move. She tried her damnedest not to react when the spatha sank deep into her ribcage. That was when she struck, throwing a claw to clamp down around where a hilt should've been. The change in the illusion woman's expression from mad to shock was all the confirmation she needed. Hence, she let her anger seep out.

Her hair began to burn.

"Ngh! What is this—"

"Neat trick, but you should've gone for my head immediately!"

Nobunaga threw a kick so strong, that it shattered the ground, as well as the illusion. Parameter-wise Nobu had more strength. Hence, when the magic dissipated and she was well aware of the reality around her, she stood strong despite the many cuts and open wounds she sported. The illusion-eyed bitch on the other hand, she sat in a crater the size of a hill, bearing only a single and bloody heel-shaped bruise on her muscled abdomen.

"What—?! How—?!" she coughed blood as her glowing Amber eye reverted back to blue. "How… did you break through…?! Why… are you… still alive?!"

"Eh… Power of true love?" It was a throwaway line. Disregarding that though, then the fact that Nobu was still receiving mana from Lelouch whose immortality pretty much meant she had access to a bottomless well of energy could very much be the reason, limits on how much she could expend at a time notwithstanding. Regardless, the dead didn't need to know that. Looking down on the bitch, the Daimyo smiled ferally. "Gotta say, it caught me off guard. But then again, Mystic Eyes can only get you so far."

"So… you noticed?" Rider tried to right herself, but either Nobu hit her too hard or her stats as a Servant weren't even on acceptable levels for melee combat. Still, she dusted herself off quickly and was at the ready, just as any warrior should be in this situation. "I'll admit, you may not just be a barbarian. You may actually be worth taking down several notches…"

She readied her spatha, crimson lightning crackled in the air, about and into the blade as she took her stance. It wasn't as stable as that of a samurai's, but Nobu could keenly tell just how fluid and flexible of an opponent she was. What's more, she was adept at sorcery. Something she gloated with her cool yet fierce gaze.

"Prepare yourself, demon warrior! On my honour, I will not let you leave alive!"

"Heh, Heheheh!" Rider, a fighter that atypically avoided direct melee combat, was readying herself against her, a demon that commanded the battlefield with rifles and artillery barrages. Nobu somewhat regretted having to hide her identity. "Hmm? Challenging me head on? What's the matter? Out of tricks? I'm not so easy a target, am I? If you really wanna fool me, the least your illusions should be capable of doing is giving Lucifer a good time!"

"Just as debauched as you are uncivilized. Cutting you down will be so satisfying!" Lightning crackled protectively around her.

"Make it worth my time, Iskandar-cosplayer!" Taking a battle stance, the temperatures rose as a fiery haze enveloped Nobunaga's blade. "At least as half as worth as the time I spent sending the oaf you idolized to hell!"

"You've been babbling on for quite a while." Rider's tone softened to a hiss so low, that it blended with the sizzling stones around Avenger. The woman was wary, but she was also quite annoyed. "Am I to believe you'd crossed swords with milord in the past? Sounds like exaggerated bragging of a howling mad dog."

"You best believe it, darling! Oh, and just so you know. I won."

"Impossible!" the woman denied, but she continued.

"What are you? Omnipotent? If you were, then you'd know just how loud and obnoxious the bastard was. Drinking and drowning in his carefree woes and antics, one could mistake him for a clown. You call me a barbarian, but darling, my discipline is leagues beyond that party animal who went on and on about his petty little conquests. Sheesh, bragging about the amount of sand he'd claimed under his boots, what a joke! Oh, how I pity the Master that was landed with such an undisciplined gorilla."

Nobu knew the woman wasn't stupid. But she couldn't help but rile an opponent up in order to get a decent fight at least. It was working. For every second she exaggerated a fact about the fool, the dual-colored eyes of the bitch seethed with rage.

"Then again, perhaps it was that boy's pity that made for the greatest exploit in his boasting. Throw a little inferno in the brat's way and then suddenly, the ape turned timid." The demon couldn't help but snarl in victory. "You know, it was so easy, lopping his head off at the moment he lost himself. It was so, so easy to take his title as the King of Conquerors. Just goes to show, the dog that barks loudest is undeniably the weakest—!"

CRACK

The ground exploded and dust was sent flying. A woman did too as she flew at Nobunaga with a face full of vengeance.

CLANG

Crimson clashed against crimson. A burning katana sparked as it deflected the spatha wreathed in lightning. Again and again, a flurry of stabs and sword strikes crackled and clashed against her sword, Rider rained down against her as a violent storm. Nobu couldn't help but chuckle with glee, pissing off the berserk Servant further.

"Struck a nerve again? Too easy!"

"Be silent, witch!" she cried as she attempted to go for the jugular.

Nobu deflected, kicking her in the gut and attempting to run her through. Rider skillfully danced around the metal, her muscled belly singed slightly by the flame but unperturbed as she tried a backhand decapitation the Daimyo deftly avoided. "Now this… This is what I call a fight!"

She leapt back, and sliced forward at the woman's feet. Rider chased, hopping into a somersault whilst crimson bolts and her blade flew across Nobunaga's face, preventing her from cutting through the exposed back. She was a flexible little shit as she snaked around and about, bobbing and weaving while sending attacks her way. Nobu relished in them, crushing the earth and creating vacuums in the air wherever she tried to cut the slippery snake across. Slicing, stabbing, kicking, and even coming to blows with their free hands balled up as fists, the melee turned ferocious as sword met sword and fist met fist.

"RAAAAAAAGH!"

"HAAAAAAAGH!"

CRASH

The resulting blow sent each of them sliding back and a crater forming on the ground. But just as swiftly as they were forced back, so too was their charge back into the fray. A clash of red differentiated only by the hues of white and black that accompanied the electricity and flames respectively.

Such was not the style of fighting Oda Nobunaga was accustomed to. But in the glaring heat of battle, she could care less about the method so long as it was a good fight.

Eventually, the bitch started to lose steam. Throwing cut after cut, feint after feint, it turned to the woman trying to pry an opening in her defences through feigned frontal assault. Nobu thought she'd gotten slower, so she decided to throw a fastball.

"Hey! Behind you!"

The woman's eyes didn't leave hers, but she flinched when the sound of matchlocks clicking erupted in a cacophony of gunfire. A wall of lightning seemed to come to life, deflecting the wall of bullets as it came. Still, that wasn't the only angle a surprise attack could come from as a hail of shells rained down on her purple-haired head.

"Kuh! Eat this!" Rider retaliated, sending a bolt of lightning into the sky before several more started to rain down on Nobu's position. She merely danced around them.

"Is this all—Woah!" her taunt was cut short when she instinctively kicked away from a wall of guns to dodge the oncoming chariot again. Being pulled by the skeleton wyverns again, Nobu's gaze narrowed in frustration. "Again with your little toys?"

"Says the bitch resorting to fire-breathing sticks!" The voice came from behind her, surprising Nobu at how fast the woman managed to reach her back undetected. "Got you!"

"Not this time!" sending a sword swipe behind her, she caught a glimpse of sparking amber light and a spray of red before she fell back to the ground. The other woman took her distance as well, being pulled back by the bladed chariot before it dissipated in red light once again. She can't possibly maintain it for too long after the damage she'd been dealt.

And it was a clean cut indeed.

"Hmph, a close call, aren'tcha, wannabe-Iskandar?" Nobu admired her handiwork as she was met with a blood-curdling stare. A single cut ran down Rider's face, not hurting the Mystic Eye but very much scarring the eyelid and cheek on that section of her face. It had cauterized quickly due to the heat of her sword.

Still, the fact that the woman remained smiling was off-putting. Normally, any real opponent of hers would've been frustrated just as much as she as to why they weren't dead yet.

"You'll pay for that, witch!" Rider said, spitting towards Nobu's feet. "As soon as I figure out which barbarian you were in life, I will certainly entrap you in the worst nightmare possible!"

"As I said, I'm Lucifer! Nothing in the seven heavens, not even hell, can entrap me!" Nobu pouted playfully, goading her foe to make another close mistake. "And on that note, why not introduce yourself for once! It ain't no fun when I'm the only one nice enough to announce my presence!"

"Hmph! If you wish to go on with this farce, then so be it! Call me 'Faker'." The smirk she sent her away made Nobu want to groan. "What? Did you expect me to reveal to you my real name? Do you take me for an imbecile?"

"Funny you say that. I so distinctly remember how one loud mouth bore no shame in loudly proclaiming his real name on the first night of the Grail War I was unceremoniously invited into. Perhaps it's the only difference between you two. Apart from what hangs between your legs of course, heh!" Nobu laughed whilst Faker seemed to pause. A smile flitted to her face soon after, catching Nobu's attention. "What? At a loss for words? Hard to believe Iskandar would do something as stupid as that?"

"… No. Quite the opposite, that sounds exactly what that idiot would do." Faker's expression became harder to read. What seemed like a nostalgic smile quickly turned into a composing scowl. "Then it is true… You claimed his title as the King of Conquerors."

"Not claimed, bitch, I own it!" snapped Nobu. "Taken fair and square through a duel in the midst of the fires of hell! By right of conquest, what was his is mine to trample now."

Faker clenched her fist. "I will not refute the claim. If milord Iskandar died to you, then it is through his honour that I recognize the claim… Even if it's possible he'd lost trying to accomplish a worthless wish like always, a winner is entitled to take whatever they want from the loser. That is the nature of conquest itself… The belief the man I respected carried to the grave and beyond."

"What's the matter, girl? Gonna cry about it?" Nobu leaned forward, testing her foe's mettle.

"Nay, I shall not give you the pleasure of watching my tears. However, I'm his shadow." She didn't yield, going so far as to ready herself before Nobunaga's sword. Lightning crackled in her free hand. "I cannot allow his name to be besmirched or insulted any further. Perhaps you won his title, but by no means is it permanently yours. Such is the nature of conquest. You only keep that which you're strong enough to defend!"

"Oh?" Red hellfire danced in Nobu's eyes. "A challenger dares to declare taking something from me? I will allow it. But only because I vow to destroy you so that you may never dare again! You will face nothing but despair in challenging my might, Faker!"

"A true warrior will never run away from a battle."

"Coming from someone with a false name, I guess I'll be a magnanimous demon and let it slide. Then again, the next time, it'll be your neck on my blade if the spirit in your words is as weak as that oaf!"

Repeating the taunt would've been ineffective had her foe not carried such deep respect for the fallen's name. But all of Faker's rage and anger directed at Nobu dissipated in a flash as she sent a glance at the still-standing mural nearby. Avenger's gaze narrowed. An outsider dared to interfere in her good fun once again.

"Tch, it feels like our fight is over. My master is calling for me." Even Rider looked annoyed. "Hmph… That man chose now of all times… eh whatever." Lightning flashed and the woman's sword was gone. She truly was backing out of this far easier than she'd let on. "I will cut off your head next time, so-called Lucifer—"

"There won't be the next time!" Nobunaga roared before she launched herself forward, her katana ready to strike. However, before her weapon could touch Faker's smooth skin, she disappeared in a flash. The familiar magic in the air reminded her of the Grail's power. A Command Seal.

"Dammit!" Her katana pierced the ground as Avenger roared in frustration. "AGH!"

Fire surrounded Avenger who stood by herself. She was furious. This wasn't beyond irritating. That Faker wasn't too strong. She couldn't be compared to the likes of other Servants Avenger gunned down during the Fourth War. And yet, she managed to escape. She cursed the Command Seals. She cursed the Grail, the origin of such magic.

"Damn you, bitch!" Nobunaga didn't even know her true name, but she already hated that woman. 'I will have the last laugh after you cockblocked my fun like that!' She'd relish the fight once more. Then, soon after, her corpse would be turned to ashes! 'Agh! Whatever, I have come here to massacre the Einzberns. It's back to business with—… what the hell?!'

Avenger glanced towards the castle. Or what was left of it. While she and Faker had traded hits, the Panzer-Hummels didn't slow down the artillery barrage. What had once been a grand castle had now been reduced to nothing but rubble. At least one good news raised her spirits. But… then her eyes fell to a pair of the toys Lelouch lent her.

Two Gloucesters were missing their limbs, the royal purple paint job looked melted and white, as though something had scraped through and eaten away at the metal. What's more, when she noticed them and they did her, the pair wordlessly stared at her as if to ask where the hell she'd been.

"Forget me, what the fuck happened to you two?!"

---

Earlier,

As the fight between Servants raged outside the barrier, Doctor Heartless quietly analyzed the predicament he and his unlikely saviour found themselves in.

Not a few minutes back, they'd been having a polite-yet-not-really-pleasant conversation. He'd only been threatened a couple of times, but at least Jubstacheit von Einzbern hadn't blown him off entirely. Now, the lord of the castle was gnashing his teeth as more dust and rubble fell from the crumbling yet still-standing ceiling. As far as magical reinforcement went, it kept them protected at the cost of marring the once pristine home that was now their makeshift shelter from what was apparently a non-magical artillery barrage.

'Hm… this is a bit of a pickle…' Still-smiling but with a furrowed brow, the Doctor was feeling somewhat troubled yet not entirely concerned. 'So long as whoever it is that rudely decided to attack them now is outside, I won't get any answers…'

Personally, Doctor cared little if a rival clan had decided to try their luck and oust the Einzberns directly. Rare of an occurrence in the modern day, but all the power to them. Should they have the guts to antagonize other Clock Tower members that would find such a direct means of competition concerning, then even he who held very little if any emotion should respect them.

But Heartless had come for information. A sudden attack on his conversation partner's workshop derails their attention on him and would keep them guarded for some time. No matter. He was confident it was nothing his Servant couldn't handle. Of course, one would think using a Heroic Spirit to intervene in a spat between magi is a bit intrusive. Unless he was allied to either, interference on such a scale would be akin to calling a hit on someone who disagreed with you in a debate. Fairly rude, one might say.

And yet, even if poking his nose in other people's quarrels was considered unnecessary, her opponent wasn't a mere magus. Quite the contrary, the red-headed demon managing to keep up with Alexander the Great's body double was very, very dangerous. More so than a squad of the Church's Executors. She was also intriguing.

Wielding old firearms and a curved blade of oriental designs, the power of fire she commanded was anything but mere magecraft. Not only that, but the autonomous golems that stood by and heeded her every command were of quite the unorthodox design. Heartless' eyes could instantly tell she was no mere Heroic Spirit. And the magic that created those golems were no mere magecraft either.

'Interesting. Very… interesting…' He whispered to himself, watching Faker hound the woman.

She didn't bother waiting for his commands. Typical for a warrior with more fight than contemplation, but then again, his Servant was not like him. Quite the opposite, really. What he lacked in heart, she made up for in spirit. And confidence. If his contracted Servant believed she could take on that woman, Heartless couldn't stop her. And he wouldn't bother to, not that she would allow him to intervene anyway.

'Quite a rebellious Spirit…' he sighed as she avoided fatal blow after fatal blow coming mere inches to her neck and back. Despite having little more than above-average stats for a familiar, she was living up her name to the Rider class. 'But with how she wanted to stretch her legs so much for quite some time, a little exercise like this could be good for her.'

"How dare they!" Sad to say, however, the Doctor couldn't simply wait for Faker to shoo away the unwanted guest. Not when his host glared at them from behind the barrier that protected this half-destroyed room. "Wretches! All of them! To think they'd have the audacity to strike at this sanctimonious domain… Fools!"

Jubstacheit von Einzbern was frustrated. No, it was more apt to say he'd been frustrated upon the Doctor's arrival, unfazed by all the defences he'd broken through. With how much damage the red-flame demon had brought upon his clan's territory, anger could not fit the rage that was Jubstacheit von Einzbern.

The old homunculi looked far more alive than the Doctor could've comprehended. He burned with hate and disdain, so much that the golem was spitting at the barrier that kept them safe from the continuous artillery barrage. On that note,

'Magnificent…' The Doctor glanced at the bounded field his host had erected almost immediately. Despite all the shouting and cursing at the new arrivals, Jubstacheit hadn't wasted time or mana casting the formidable barrier. As a former magecraft teacher, Heartless understood atypical yet complex formations and the basic rules of boundaries. With a careful gaze, he studied the incredibly powerful one the old man maintained against an onslaught comparable to a trench shelling of modern tech warfare.

"If I was still teaching, I would have given you an A, my lord." The Doctor half-jokingly commented, earning the irate glare of the ancient magus. "Worry not. I'm confident my Servant will provide us with enough time to escape—"

"I don't care about yours or my life! All that matters to me is the safety of my granddaughter." Jubstacheit's angered tone and facial expression made Heartless pause. "Whoever is attacking my home, they must be prepared. They should be surrounding the castle as we speak. If it was any other circumstances, I would have butchered them myself, but Illyasviel… the future of my clan depends on that girl. I must secure her safety!"

For a second, he would've mistaken it for parental love. Something few and far between the magi of today. But surely, there were exceptions. After all, he was a prime example of one, in a sense. Yet, he quickly withdrew that misconception as soon as the elder demanded of him.

"Listen here, you creepy brat! Order your tool to find my granddaughter! It matters not if she's harmed or near death. So long as she's returned to me alive and somewhat functional!"

"Oh? And what would you give in exchange for my prioritizing her life?" maintaining the polite veneer to maintain cordiality between them, he asked bluntly. "While it is not beyond me to do as you ask, the concern of my involvement in your quarrels with our attacker is another matter entire—"

"Do it and I will answer what I can about the past Grail Wars. That is what you came for, no? Classified information only we, its designers and maintainers, would be aware of?"

Doctor was genuinely surprised by how easy it was to push that topic. Earlier, he was looked down upon like a mere insect. Yet now, coming to his granddaughter's well-being, he was far fiercer, more direct. Also, very compliant. A heart of gold? Unlikely. Too much investment riding on the child's life? The doctor who could only smile continued to do so.

"Understood, I will forward the command to my Servant." Knowing and understanding a true magi family head's mindset, the latter was most definitely the case. He spared a gaze to Faker beyond the barrier. She was being pushed back and had suffered a small loss when her chariot's wyverns were hurt, but she still lived. She was doing fine. "About our escape—"

"I will deal with this interloper! As for you and yours, there's a labyrinth of tunnels under the castle. No matter how prepared the enemy is, they couldn't have known anything about our hidden escape plan." Jubstacheit then sent a glance at a pair of homunculi standing behind the Doctor. "Leysritt. Sella. You two will guide this man out of the castle. Ensure Illyasviel's safety as soon as she's been taken back! The rest of you, collect what can be taken through the tunnels. Burn the rest. Leave nothing for the scum to salvage!"

"But my lord, are we really gonna abandon the castle?" The one known as Sella asked concernedly. Despite being what stereotypically would be an emotionless doll, the fact that the homunculus maid and her many other kin hesitated for Jubstacheit's response was pretty telling as to how far the Einzberns managed in their research to create a perfect being.

Yet, it seemed the earliest variant of their brood that had carried out the research in lieu of the actual clan felt disappointed in the results of his endeavours.

"Do not question my orders. An unknown magus has managed to attack this impregnable castle. Because of some flaw or defected piece, this place has become worthless! Do you understand?" The implication that one of them was the cause for the breach went unheeded. He repeated. "We leave this place in ruins. Take anything of value we can escape with. Destroy anything else! Go!"

The maids and butlers scattered. Not panicking or flustered, more a horde of organized ant workers systematically grabbing items here and there, opening secret doors and compartments to orderly run through them to inform the rest of the staff what was to come or perhaps snatch what valuables were hidden within the rest of the castle to leave with. This all happened whilst the mural beyond the barrier endured even heavier shelling by the giant golem attackers.

For the last creation of the original family, it didn't matter if their home base was changed or destroyed. Once the Einzberns reclaimed Heaven's Feel, they would get everything back! Even if there were no human magi left to revel in said victory. That's what the Doctor came to conclude, at least.

"Now, the last question, if you'd permit me." His polite inquiry was met with a hateful glare by the elder. Pointing outside the one-way-transparent barrier, he gestured towards the two giant metal knights. "How are we to deal with those two?"

Jubstacheit didn't address him. Instead, he took his staff and stepped forward. Brushing past the Doctor, he held the ornate save up against the barrier. Od thrummed to the transparent surface as he muttered to the nearest homunculi which just so happened to be the one to question the elder earlier.

"Take Illyasviel through the southwest tunnel on the third level down, Sella. One of my copies will be on standby with a vehicle and what supplies you can utilize to flee the estate. After you get far enough, use Plan F to escape the country. Avoid being detected by anyone, magi or otherwise."

"Understood!"

"What are you waiting for, brat?!" He then turned to the Doctor. "She should've been training behind the castle in the same direction as the tunnel I mentioned. Waste no time and use a command seal on your pet already!"

"And what of you, milord Einzbern?"

"I will distract these mechanical abominations." With a wave of his staff, the barrier flickered momentarily. Then, like a wall made of water, the glassy surface of the bounded field rippled as he stepped out of it. Only through the parting words did he truly make his fury apparent to the rest of those present. "It is time I bestow upon unwanted guests a deserving hospitality."

Rubble and dust fell as he walked out onto the battlefield. The head of the Einzbern clan calmly marched past burning holes and bloody craters filled with the smashed bodies of his fellow homunculi. Approaching the two purple-armoured machines ransacking his home, butchering his creations, and staining his honour, he tapped the butt of the ornate staff to the floor to get their attention.

The reaction was swift, machine-like. As soon as they spotted him, they opened fire. Gunshots and explosions rang out as cracked stone and earth flew all around him upon impact. Several mangled corpses of Jubstacheit's own homunculi scattered like trash, deflecting off the barrier he erected before him. These dolls were of high quality. Seeing them turned to scrap so wastefully… it sent something that should've been absent in a doll burning and broiling within his chest. His artificial heart.

The old homunculi subconsciously vowed he'd make whoever was responsible for this insult pay for such transgression. But right now, he had to provide a distraction for the greatest instrument to be taken back.

"For the sin of wreaking unwanted havoc on this home, I sentence thee on behalf of our great head, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, to death!"

The Gloucesters, seeing their shots having no effect, readied their lances and ran the old man through. His powerful barrier, unbreakable by shells and shrapnel, wilted like jelly to a hot knife as they simultaneously skewered his form.

However, instead of killing him like any of the other dolls that littered the ruined castle grounds, his blood did not splatter. His bones did not break. It was not his flesh that scattered to the wind, destroyed and mangled. No. It was instead the metal of the lances, crafted by merely compressing rare metals with modern metallurgy, that sparked and crumpled when their tips struck the golem's open palms.

Numerous lines glowed across Jubstacheit's limbs as the resulting gale-force winds of their thrust ruined his grand attire. Aged limbs remained strong though, even as the metal weapons of the hulking giants turned from lances to clubs to smash his smaller form into the earth.

"Primitive. Unwieldy." Scoffing, the elder raised his arm to catch the double impact, simply reinforcing his form with more magecraft to handle the force. He did so while the floor beneath him shattered into a meter-deep crater. All the while, he looked upon that which destroyed his creations with contempt. "Whoever designed you two… was a mere fool. An architect who knows not the beauty of designing true life. A fraud. A fraud who dares to spit on our clan's prestigious name!"

A barrier sprouted from above, and multiple lines in the shape of a magic formation gracefully fell from the ceiling to fall atop the two lances like a sheet made of brilliant silver threads. But upon contact, the threads sheared through the metal as though they were the hot knives to the metallic butter. Weaponless, one of them even lost an entire wrist, the two golems retreated, drawing out giant firearms, and took aim. All the while, the magical threads Jubstacheit had created collected and reformed atop his torso, recreating his gallant and pristine attire once more.

"The great Einzbern clan has outlived Empires. It survived the First, Second and Third Reich. Witnessed the rise and fall of great magi clans. We have outlived many well-known names within the Clock Tower, instilled fear and garnered respect that has never wavered for centuries." Jubstacheit stepped forward. The old golem, no stranger to conflict or combat, readied his stave and magecraft. "I do not know who your master is, but he will learn the might of our wrath. It may not be today, but with certainty, we will exact justice upon—!"

Jubstacheit's words were drowned in a hail of gunfire. Despite managing to endure the weight of the lances, his body and protective barrier gave way to holes the size of a soccer ball as a shell after shell punctured his frame. He didn't gasp in pain nor cry out. Jubstacheit endured it all while standing, all the while stating a fact he wholeheartedly believed as the creator of all the Einzbern golems thus far.

"Worthless in design. I can only assume your creator is the same!"

Gloucesters had no pilots to converse with. No mouths to voice opinion, nor ears to heed taunts and insults. All they had was the programming to follow orders. They did just that. And, finally seeing their attacks have some effect, they rushed forward to exact their mistress' direct order. That being to 'crush the Einzberns like bugs' and 'leave no survivors.

Raising their lance-less fists, they made to pummel the old man into the ground, an attempt to literally crush the legacy of their master and mistress' enemies as per their orders.

CRASH

What they got was not a puddle of blood, however. There, plastered under the metallic fists, was a pool of silver, reminiscent of mercury but glowing and flowing. It was as though it was alive.

"To learn and adapt… To refine and recreate… All for a new and perfect being…" Old man Acht's head, not dead but questionably whole and functioning despite its body's state, muttered to no one but himself. "That is the essence of the Einzbern magecraft!"

On cue to his words, the pool of silver that the machines' fists sank in sprung to life. Thin lines glistened in the air as grey steel threads shot out and wrapped around the Gloucesters' arms. Then, when they pulled back, tautening the threads, the metal gave way, cleanly sliced and torn by the magic-infused living strings.

"Saite, Zerlegen!" the golem with only a head growled as the torrent of threads turned into a glowing river of strings, rushing at his killers to rend and tear with great ease.

The effect was immediate. The two golems retreated, observing yet also trying to rid themselves of the shimmering blight that ate away at their steel armour. Had they been human, or piloted by humans, the counterattack must've been shocking. But as primitive golems went, they managed to escape absolute destruction by purging their affected parts. Or, as much as they could.

Yet, the overpowered strings weren't to last. Losing their shimmering glow, their source and caster started to lose energy and life drastically. The amount of power he'd put into that was enough to power his artificial body enough for several more human lifetimes. That being the case, he had nowhere to source them, leading to this body's demise.

"This body has outlived its usefulness… Time to abandon this shell…" The disembodied head said as it slowly sank into the silvery pool that now started to turn red, converting back from a weapon into Jubstacheit's artificial blood. "Take pride in this small victory… For the Einzberns… will recover…"

Joining the rest of his fallen creations, this body of Jubstacheit von Einzbern fell silent as the rest of the dead. This body, at least.

---

"Here," offering a jug of water, the masked Emperor broke the silence. The tired and newly awoken child warily accepted it. But the thirst was quick to kick in as she gulped down heartily. Seeing her relax a bit more, he sat down whilst asking. "So? What would you like to know?"

"How did you meet my mother?"

Immediate, but also guarded. The red eyes of the pale child resembled the homunculus' own, albeit younger. And perhaps a little bit more naïve if she was this willing to heed his words. Especially the half-truths.

"We started off as enemies. I doubt I need to explain the rules of the Grail to someone whose family invented the whole ritual, yes?"

"I know of it. I was trained to become a Master for it… after news of my mother's defeat reached us."

At this age? Lelouch should've been surprised. Only he'd gotten used to seeing it. Unlike the humans unrelated to magecraft, he'd gotten around to knowing well enough that a magus was a creature that sought to use everything and anything, human or animal, others or their own, even themselves, as mere research material if not pawns for the greater ideology that was every magi's dream. This child was a victim of that and partially explained why she was out alone in the snow fields.

Training. Training to make a child into a Master. No matter how close to death she came.

"Then I offer you my apologies. For it is due to my victory that your mother was defeated."

The girl flinched. She didn't retreat, but her eyes trembled as she stared at him down. "How did she die?"

"I'm certain a child of the Einzbern would know about that more than an outsider like myself would."

She paused, hesitant to break away and think. But when she did, recognition was quick to chime in her expression. "The Lesser Grail. She couldn't hold it back forever."

"Correct," Lelouch remembered that day, that surprise. For one of the participants themselves to keep the prize they were all fighting for inside her, it was an eye-opening shocker. "By the time I realized what was going on, Irisviel von Einzbern had been consumed and birthed in her place was a golden cup. Alas, any attempts on my part to save her had all been in vain…"

"You… tried to save her?" she muttered, a little surprised.

"Would you believe me if I said I meant her no harm at all? No matter what came of the war's end result?" the child shook her head. Lelouch lightly chuckled. "Your mistrust is a given. Truth be told, I was an unwilling participant at first."

"An… outsider? Did the Grail… pull you in?"

"You could say that." He shrugged, playing on the girl's sympathy. "Something definitely forced my participation as, shortly before the war had begun, I was a mere schoolboy who knew nothing of magic. Or 'magecraft' that had rudely intruded on my daily life. Had I been unlucky, I would never have survived through it all, much less win."

He sat back, staring up at the forest canopy as the sounds of explosions rumbled in the distance. The siege was still ongoing. Something was likely stalling Nobu's path of absolute destruction. He needed to hurry this up.

"Truth be told, it was because of your kind mother that I needn't have died so early." That had the child perking up. "When we first came to conflict, I and my Servant sought a path of non-violence. Neither of us wanted to die, but we couldn't afford to lose to anyone either. Hence, it was a godsend when your mother and her Servant chose to stay their hand. But… some participants of the war thought differently."

Some chose combat, assassinations, if not an outright betrayal to get the upper hand. He, of course, was just as guilty as the rest of them. But he didn't inform the child of this as he regaled his tale to her gullible expression.

"I just wanted to survive and get out of it unscathed. To hell with the wish, and if my Servant wanted it, so be it. I would permit her to fight for it so long as neither I nor the enemy Master intervened in the last bout… but… just before the last night of the war came to a close, something happened to your mother."

"What happened?"

"She'd fallen ill, or that was what I'd assumed at the time." Utilizing subtle theatrics, he gently raised the tension in his voice. "Though our Servants had crossed blades before, the two of us had stayed out of their chivalrous duels, in favour of letting them decide the victor. But at the time, the other Masters decided to take matters into their own hands. One by one, other Masters would be defeated one after another alongside their Servants. Explosions, sniper fire, curses caused by forced Command Seals. When four of the Masters had fallen, your mother's health, seemingly perfect before, rapidly declined. But then… something strange occurred."

The girl leaned in closer, still keeping her distance but enraptured by his story.

"Her Servant stopped guarding her side," Lelouch said softly. "At first I thought it was a new ruse of theirs to bait the other competitors. Because of our… you could say 'alliance', I opted to hang back and let things play out. Intervene should it not go in their favour. But Irisviel was not acting. She'd fallen ill and was left unguarded for a time. It was only when my own Servant informed me that she was being targeted that I rushed in, demanding she saved the one Master that spared us throughout the whole conflict."

"You didn't take it as a trap?"

"Could you blame me? I'd never met a magus, let alone fought against one in open conflict. Despite our initial standings in the ritual, I'd come to respect your parent not only as an adversary but as a competitor." Just not the parent she assumed he was referring to. "In any case, when we recovered her, she was not only at death's door. She'd been left out to dry. Her Servant, Saber, was nowhere to be found. Nor were her bodyguards by her side."

"Body… guards…?" the child muttered, crimson eyes widening. "What… bodyguards?"

"Were the two armed with guns not part of her group? The short-haired woman had always been by her side. And though I didn't see him often, there was a man she was often close to during the whole thing, was he not?"

"They… they were. But… That man…" the girl's eyes slowly teared up. But after a second, they steeled sharply that Lelouch's narrowed back. "Where… where did that man go? Did… did you see him… after mother—? After mother had…—"

After her mother died? Been consumed by the Grail? He did. So he admitted, albeit twisting the truth directly at her face. "Emiya Kiritsugu, I remember that's what she called him. The man who armed himself with machine guns and grenades… Yes, he was there. Only, he wasn't guarding anyone, let alone looking for her when I tried my best to convey that I rescued your mother. That bodyguard… he tried to kill me instead. And when I offered your mother back, he chose to ignore my words. He tried to get to me. When the dust settled and I nearly fell victim to his attempts on my life, it was then I realized he was after the Grail and only the Grail. He didn't come for Irisviel."

"But… what came next?" the child's hands had balled into fists atop her knees. Her nails dug into her skin, even her teeth seemed to be biting on her lip. He had her on his web. "He didn't win, didn't he? He didn't win! I'm certain of it! If he had, I wouldn't…"

She wouldn't have had to suffer. He could surmise that, due to their defeat, she was next in line for the meat grinder. Something that would've been literal had he not come to her rescue as he had.

"No, he didn't win." But then Lelouch decided that the next thing he would do was to play dumb. "But that's the thing. He should've won."

"Eh?"

"You must understand, Lady Illyasviel. I didn't want to win. Only survive." He held the silence before standing up and staring into the distant castle that billowed smoke high enough to see over the tree line. "But after I conceded my victory to him, he did the unthinkable. Right as he was the designated victor of the War, do you know what he did?

"… What?"

"…" Pausing for dramatic effect, he turned to the girl so that her own reflection on his mask, a face of broken expectations, was what met her. "… He ordered his Servant to destroy the Grail."

"He… what?" the girl muttered in disbelief. "Kiritsugu… did what…?"

"He ordered Saber, one of the strongest Servants and the one most likely to win by that point, to destroy the Grail. He even expended two Command Seals when she resisted his order, all but guaranteeing she did the deed with her strongest attack. And so… she did. In the end, the war was over… but on that day, the city of Fuyuki was set ablaze and that man had disappeared like the wind. Along with his reasons as to why he refused victory."

It was quite the story, he had to admit. Granted, he didn't make up all of it. Partly due to Avenger informing him of the events that unfolded while his brain had been blown out, he gathered quite the messy story to retell to the Magus Killer's child.

"It… was true…?" she was struck speechless, astonished by the wonderous tale that ended so abruptly. "All this time…"

He expected disbelief. He expected denial. What Lelouch did not expect was for said child to screech as she spat and punched her tiny fists into the dirt.

"HE WAS A DAMN TRAITOR ALL ALONG!"

She punched the dirt. She tore into the grass. She punched and punched until the stones started scaring her knuckles. The blood seeped, but her fists didn't relent out of anger. What made it worse was the fact that she cried.

"Liar… You liar! You lying bastard! What promise to 'bring world peace'?! What promise to… … 'come home' for me?! You never did! You promised yet… you lied! YOU GODDAMN TRAITOR!"

She cried. Tears mixed in with the puddle of blood. To anyone else, it was heartrending to watch. To Lelouch, it was simply pitiful. That his words would cause her such grief… No. He intended to force a reaction. If this was what came of it, then…

"Now, young one," after a while of letting her vent against the earth, he leaned in to offer her a towel to clean herself up. She hesitated to take it, but when she was calm enough to accept it, he prompted her. "Knowing all this, what is it that you intend to do now?"

"… … Isn't it obvious," her eyes tinged red, and both pupils and the corners of her whites were filled with rage. True rage. "I'm going to get back at him! I'm going to ruin the one who ruined me! And… mother's dream… This, I swear—!"

"And?" Lelouch continued. "To fulfil that vow, do you intend to return to what remains of your family home?"

The sound of a distant explosion seemed to bring realization back to the child as she was quick to retreat from him. Lelouch, though, didn't move. He just repeated the question.

"Will you choose to become my enemy, here and now?"

Considering her current state and affiliation, she had no other recourse. He of all people had no incentive to help her. Not when his beloved intended to destroy all that her family was, including the girl, intentions be damned. And setting their agenda aside, the child alone had no one else to turn to. If it was simple murder, a knife was all she needed. But finding her target, much less cutting his throat, was going to be a far higher hurdle.

She had nothing. And as she bit down on her lip, he knew she was well aware of her position.

"I… I don't…" But her resolve remained strong. "I don't wish to be your enemy. I don't care what happens to my grandfather. If you want, he's all yours. But if you dare get in the way of my revenge, you will… I will…—"

She didn't dare finish. Her legs shook as she hesitated. Her form, was small and retreating. Yet, now more than ever, she looked at him dangerously.

There was a fire in her ruby red eyes. A will to live.

Like a cornered rat baring its fangs should he come too close… It seems, despite looking like a child, she was far more than that. Then again, she'd been groomed to be the Einzbern's newest weapon after all.

But a weapon aimed not at him but at his enemies was the best kind. More so when they could be manipulated to align together in the same goal.

"I advise against revenge." Therefore, Zero knelt, earning the girl's surprise as he spoke kindly. "For it is a thorny path that leads to nowhere. You may get some self-satisfaction at the end of that road, but that is all you will gain apart from the endless cuts and bruises."

"Don't treat me like a mere brat! I wasn't born yesterday!" The child—nay, the princess of a magi clan slapped her tiny palm against her chest defiantly. "I am Illyasviel von Einzbern, heir to Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's legacy, the greatest creation of the artificial intelligence named Jubstacheit!"

"Big words for a powerless child. If it wasn't for my mercy, you'd have died back in the field. You're weak and yet here you are, spouting nonsense you could never hope to achieve alone. Do you think I will let you leave and recover from the blow I purposely dealt your kin?" Harsh words buffeted her bravado, but he needed to test her mettle. So he added. "I ask you once more. Will you choose to become my enemy?"

"I will not!" Fists shaking and balled, she stamped her feet against the rough dirt. All the while, she didn't falter with her words. "I will accept whatever you want of me! Cast aside my family name, enslavement, give you what secrets my clan holds, hell, even torture! I'll accept it all! I've gone through enough that death would be a godsend! But… but I will give up everything… only if you allow me to fulfil my one wish!"

"And… what wish would that be?"

"To kill Emiya Kiritsugu!" Bloodshot eyes, absent of any and all pride and shame, tried to stare through his mask. "Bar that, if I can get the opportunity to stick it to him… to make him suffer as he made me suffer, that's all I want. That's all I need!"

It was far better than he could ever ask for. Knowing that the damned assassin hadn't died that night, Lelouch fully expected him to participate in the next war, if not someone standing in for him. A foe unknown or one he did know but couldn't outright face without risk, either way, he now had a counter-piece should the need come. Plus, he need not use his Geass to acquire her.

"Then, a contract, if you will." He offered her a hand, one fully committed to using her as she would use him. "In exchange for helping you get your revenge, I would request one thing in return, Lady Illyasviel, heir to the Einzbern clan."

She eyed him warily but didn't back down. "What is it you want?"

"The Grail. Not just the Lesser Grail, but the entire thing. I demand the whole concept and objective of the Grail War Ritual."

"Why?" she asked. She knew she didn't have a right to, but she dared ask anyway. Lelouch chalked it up to childish curiosity.

"Because, as you wish to destroy someone that wronged you, so too do I want to destroy what had wronged me."

Killing the Einzberns had been the first phase of dismantling the ritual. But if the system was separate and running on autopilot, then Lelouch needed to be prepared to do anything and everything. What better way to ensure its destruction than recruiting the help of its creators? Sure, she was but a child, but who said he would take anything at face value? What she knew—hell, what she was could be precisely the answer to his and Nobu's mission. From there, it was all a matter of tying up loose ends.

"How can I be certain… that you won't betray me?" the child asked, still guarded.

"What can you do to promise you wouldn't do the same?" Lelouch joked, chuckling as she pouted cutely. "Your worries are warranted. That being said, our goals are the same, if not close enough, that we're better off allied than not. What may come is uncertain, whether I will be the Master to win the next war, or it is you. Yet victory is not our truest goal, is it?"

Of that, she could agree. She, who laid out her truest wish beyond her family's desire for the Grail, did not want victory. No. She only wanted payback. And so too did he.

"If you still can't trust me, then simply trust I wouldn't jeopardize my own objectives by earning your ire. Besides, even if I would wish to pull a wool over your eyes and nab your prey from under you, there's no merit in wasting that much effort at all. No sense in stealing candy from a child if you will—"

"I am not a child! For a masked saviour, you're quite the rude jerk, aren't you?" the girl snapped back but composed herself with a huff, mumbling whilst he simply smiled under his mask. "You're not lying, aren't you? You're sure… you can… help me?"

"I could never claim to be a chivalric knight, little one. It was never my thing. But… I have been called a miracle maker in the past."

"Is that supposed to comfort me?" she retorted defensively, not taking him seriously. But… she dared hope. He could see it in her eyes. The desperation, that is.

"No. It's a promise." He stretched his hand further to her. "No matter how long, no matter the difficulty, I will carry out what I set out to do. And, in this case, that is to help the child of someone I owe a debt to. Be it revenge, be it recovery, be it to find a new life beyond the hell she desires to tread through, I have already decided to act. I have decided to lend you my aid. Though, conditional as it may be, I implore you to consider it. So, will you accept?"

A contract, as it were. He would have offered help in good faith, but the girl didn't need compassion in her time of desperation. Illyasviel didn't need pity, and neither would she truly want such. But… a deal with the devil…?

Though it came at a cost, she had much to gain from his offer. And, so much more to lose. But, needing power, was there really that much she could lose, to begin with? Without backing, without support, without someone she could trust not to stab her in the back as her father had, she no doubt would pay through the skin of her teeth to increase whatever chance of success she could have.

Lelouch could tell he'd once been as she. Powerless, weak, untrusting of the world except for that which he wished to protect. She was the same as he, and therefore, she would accept. She could only accept.

Hesitantly, but slowly, she offered her own hand…

CRASH

"GUH!"

"Eh?!"

It was then that a giant metal palm smashed between them, separating Lelouch from Illyasviel. A sword stabbing through the Gloucester's forearm, nearly skewering his mask, quickly had him on high alert.

"Huh—?!" Just then, Illya's voice told him all he needed. "Wait, who—! No! Let go of me!"

'Her rescue's arrived?!' The impossible thought that someone broke his encirclement was pushed aside, prioritizing the situation at hand. "P1! Retrieve the child!"

The robot tried to react, but red arcs of lightning quickly had it on the defensive. Designed to protect him first and foremost, it could do nought but pull a Guilford and sacrifice its measly body and curl up to block the fleeing saviour's attacks.

'To be able to disable my Pawns…' Lelouch's mind raced. "A Servant…"

Teeth grit, he consciously sent a mental order to one of the other Pawns in the distance.

---

"Let go! I said let go of—agh!"

"Silence, child!" Illya's attempts to bite down on her saviour's arm were met with a slap to the back of her head. It failed to knock her out, however, the threat was clear with the heterochromatic woman throwing her into the back of a chariot with spatha drawn that she wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. "Lest you wish to return in pieces, I suggest you stay quiet and still!"

The girl knew better than to fight back, thankfully. It didn't stop her demanding answers, much to Faker's displeasure. "Who sent you? Grandfather?"

"Indeed. Now shut up and behave!" There was no relief in the child's eyes. In fact, she looked panicked instead. T'was akin to a prisoner's hope of escape being dashed yet again. She'd seen her fair share from interrogated prisoners, undercover foes of her King that she personally captured, to know a helpless lamb at a glance. Curious, but not her concern. What was thought was getting the hell out of here as fast as—

"And who said I'd let you leave with her, interloper?!"

An explosion rocked the treeline as the trees next to her bony wyvern mounts suddenly burst into flame. The smell of sulfur suffused the air as the green canopy of the forest turned black with smoke.

"Kuh," sending a glance behind her, the metal warrior was making a mad dash for her and her charge. In a jogging gait that was seemingly able to keep up with her chariot, no less! "Armoured titans and seeming favouritism for fiery entrances… you wouldn't happen to be a partner of that damned devil Lucifer, aren't you?"

The masked rider knelt on the titan's shoulder and didn't reply. What he did do though was wave his hand. Suddenly, the iron giant's lance was reeled back and held aloft. Rider saw the attack coming and tried to manoeuvre to avoid it. Keyword: tried.

BOOM

From a distance, she heard the trigger before the resulting explosion impacted the clump of trees ahead of her. Flaming trunks and branches managed to block her vision for a second, but it was that precious second that cost her the chariot as she instinctively felt the lance flying at her back.

"Not once, but twice?!" pushing pride aside, she snatched the child from the vehicle's floor and tossed her ahead—atop one of her skeleton steeds. Immediately after, she cracked the reins to send a quiet order to the other wyvern, quickly cutting the harnesses and hopping off to narrowly avoid getting skewered. Mid Flight, she rode the lightning to dash over to the child before she could leap off. "If you want my chariot so bad, have it!"

"KUH—Damn you!"

She heard the masked man's curse before her second wyvern, still driving the lance-impaled chariot, immediately ground to a stop and smashed into the charging titan behind it. The diversion resulted in her chaser getting knocked off his ridiculously nimble steed and tumbling down the woodland earth.

'Heh, a free shot!' she eyed the man, aiming directly for the centre of his mask as she summoned a crimson bolt—only to miss when the child suddenly screamed and yanked her arm sideways.

"Tch!" Down but alive, the masked kidnapper could only reach his hand out helplessly. "Illyasviel!"

"Zero! Zero, save me—! Gah!"

Striking the child a second time, she managed to knock her out. But even then, she couldn't drop her guard as she sped through the forest. As soon as she broke the treeline, empty bone-framed wings spread out and magically induced lift, carrying her and her reluctant charge into the air, far away from the dilapidated mansion and burning forest.

"Hmmm… Master," Not sensing her pursuer's nor any threats within a three-mile radius, she dared open a mental link. "I retrieved the girl. We're flying to your location now."

"How's her condition?" the monotonous Doctor responded fairly cheerily but very much emotionally empty.

"Safe and in one piece."

"And her kidnapper?"

"Failed to eliminate nor identify them. But it seems like another Master was behind all this."

"Did you confirm their Command Seals?"

"Nay." Faker sighed, having a moment to consider. "The one I fought felt human. He commanded iron golems, but beyond that, mere mortal hiding behind a cape and mask."

"Hm. An unknown caped crusader, is it? Amusing and interesting, but their survival is… a disappointment." The former adjectives were attributed to her Master's quirky nature. The latter though wasn't really meant for her nor the heartless doctor. It was more for the elder she could hear throwing a tantrum through the mental link. Still, though, they now owed her Master a favour. "In any case, we'll go over the rest of the details as soon as we rendezvous."

"Understood."

With that, she caressed the back of her single wyvern's spine, urging it on. With the loss of its brother and her chariot, she lost some manoeuvrability. But in the skies, guarded by storm clouds arching with crimson lightning, she feared no one.

Certainly not the devil bitch and her Master that both cost her the same chariot in but a single day.

---

"Hmph… well, isn't this a predicament…"

Left alive in the middle of a smoking forest, Zero starred up into the cloud-covered skies. No doubt the runaway Servant was using the storm to cover their tracks. Even if he had the confidence to make a chase, he highly doubted he'd be able to catch up to them considering his ride wasn't designed for all-terrain. Not yet anyway.

"P-1, repair and recover for now. P-2, rendezvous at my position."

The orders were accepted and acknowledged. Being able to command them mentally was a given considering his creating and manipulating them at will. But saying the orders aloud were often what he defaulted to out of habit. Yet, just the same out of habit, he punched the nearby tree in frustration.

"Dammit, I was so close…"

Close to securing another pawn. Close to attaining access to the Grail's secrets. Either, or, he didn't know. What he did know was that he offered the child a promise and by her insistence she saves him, she was readily accepting of his offer.

The child—nay, Illyasviel von Einzbern was now to be designated as the princess who wanted to be rescued. But at the same time, she was a victim who sought revenge on the same enemy he held the most apprehension and caution for. Therefore, the next time they meet, the chances of them being foes was less than when he came here to be rid of their clan.

In and of itself, it was somewhat of a win. Albeit a very hollow victory for someone who prided themselves in absolute domination of the battlefield.

'Heh, look at me. Demoted to the position of a playwright and not the grand actor of this farce…' he scoffed at the failed attempt to move the act past the prelude. 'Well, whatever. In any case, the pieces have been readied. The seeds of an alliance have been planted. As for reaping the fruits of such… It should be left for the future.'

With the new Servant's interference, there was little he could do. And, considering that he and Nobu likely failed with their Einzbern elimination plan, seeing as they fled not to the castle but away from it, then the Einzbern Master-Servant pair was still in play.

In total, seven would-be foes were bound to oppose them yet again. But one might be on their side.

'Ah… I can't wait to see the expression on that blasted Magus Killer's face.' A side-revenge with very little merit, it was not. But for the sake of success, using whatever tools he could to finish the job was very much true to his nature. And he couldn't very well rule out that man's participation until he saw him dead before the war even began. 'Investing into your daughter as your foil… finally, a weakness to the most deterring force.'

As a mere mortal, he stood no chance against the perfect assassin. As a Servant, he still could be caught off-guard. Immortality notwithstanding, he could still be bound and trapped like any mere man with his meagre stats. But be that as it may, he never once got by using brawn alone.

The Demon Emperor chuckled before turning away and marching towards their camp outside the forest. This little jaunt of theirs had a few setbacks, namely failing to outright vanquish the entire Einzbern clan, but they gained quite the valuable insight into their predicament. Namely the appearance of a new Servant so early into the game. Zero pulled out a phone and speed-dialled his underlings.

"It's me. Send in the M-units and search the ruins of the castle. Take anything and everything of value and whatever can be salvaged, and retrieve them as well. After? Oh," he spared a glance at the smoking remains. The explosions had stopped. A sign that Nobu must've thought she was done. And if the Demon Lord Oda Nobunaga thought she was through, then it must be true. "Glass the place. Leave nothing but dirt and rubble. Also, contact my wife. We're to meet back at the hotel in Frankfurt. Yes. Yes, she will be in a bad mood. But tell her I have good news for her. That should prevent her from taking it out of the car."

With the casualness of a businessman phoning ahead for the sake of appeasing his abusive and needy wife, he sauntered off the battlefield atop the shoulder of a shoddily self-repaired Knightmare.

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And here we're! Nobu finally destroyed Germany! Well, a small part of it anyway. This isn't LB so Germany can continue to exist ;3. Our couple of demonic dorks met the new enemy and new ally. Since Gil is out of the picture, Nobunaga needs her own Faker to deal with and I doubt she will have issues with Shirou as Gilgamesh had. So why not give her a literal Faker? Considering her rivalry with Iskandar, it fits.

Now onto more interesting parts. First, Lelouch's power to command Knightmares. Lelouch can control at once only 16, similar to one side in chess. Also, the Knightmare model must be equivalent in value to chess pieces: units like Glausters can be only pawns while Guren can be only queen. In other words, only eight pawns, two bishops, one king and one queen etc. Also, Lelouch can't make eight pawns of Lancelot. No, it should be related to Knightmare's legend. Lancelot can be only a Knight, Guren can be only Queen, etc. Pawns are made of regular mass-produced Knightmares. As said in previous chapters, I had an idea for Lelouch as Ruler Servant and I plan to use some skills from there in chapters. Not everything tho, as some reviews pointed out putting + next EX is useless and made too much focused on World C.

Now about Illyasviel, she won't be joining Lelouch and Nobu's side, yet. While the idea of them adopting her might sound fun, especially to torment Kiritsugu, I think her remaining with her clan until the war starts is a better idea. But now the little German princess has a goal and an ally who might help her in the future. Although Herc might not like either Lulu or Nobu.

Special thanks to ReavesTheReader as usual!

Anyway, until the next chapter!

(no omake this time, sorry)