Azelios: Ah, ok then. Have a good day.

AN: here's the latest chapter today! Kept 'em short, on-the-spot and entertaining. Please tell me if you find any mistakes here. Just review if you find anything wrong. Have a nice day...

Chapter 6: The Nightmare

"Ok then… hello 'Spirit' Tokisaki Kurumi, I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru, a human." The Master of Chaldea said it slowly and carefully, as if she was talking to a toddler, despite Kurumi releasing a serious killing intent. Ritsuka might have surrendered already if she was just an ordinary human. Being exposed to deadly warriors for a year really dulled her sense of security.

That's why she couldn't help but tease this Spirit Kurumi. Ritsuka thought she was being stupid to herself.

Kurumi thought that this is all disappointing and was frowning. She expected this individual in front of her to be scared or do anything but she didn't expect her to be this crass. She might have infuriated her but Kurumi kept her cool.

"I know what I'm talking about, Ritsuka and you can't fool me." Kurumi threatened her.

Ritsuka just gave her a stink eye of disbelief. "Oh, so I'm dealing here with a curious case of chuunibyou?"

Kurumi just gave her a mean look. Ritsuka alone might break her composure so she chose to ignore her sarcastic remarks. She has first and foremost, priorities to deal with.

"It might have been subtle but I know you're a Spirit just like me, you have me in awe, hiding in the campus like a normal human. I commend you for your efforts at hiding your Spirit nature."

Ritsuka was quiet for a moment, thinking of something and then she looked at her with mixed emotions. Kurumi felt elated for a moment as she thought she had hit a nail. She hoped that the 'Spirit' named Ritsuka would face her seriously.

Ritsuka gathered her breath. Kurumi was waiting in anticipation.

"Ok, I get it you really are upping your cosplay antics? Do you have anything you want to do here in the library? Can I suggested that you get out?" The Master of Chaldea nonchalantly suggested.

Even she was showing off her carefree expression, Kurumi was really frustrated inside. She can't deal with this 'Spirit' in front of her anymore, if Ritsuka was being reluctant or was ignoring the notion that she was a Spirit, then there's definitely no choice but to devour her.

Kurumi immediately glared, suddenly, leaning closer toward Ritsuka, who just leaned back casually, as if she had deal with seriously deranged individuals. (It's true by the way…)

"That's right, I'm going to devour you, Spirit."

"Ah, so I'm dealing with a kinky chuunibyou…"

*BOOOOM*

Immediately, the façade of the library was destroyed on impact, not just the door alone. Kurumi was interrupted from her attempted devouring and promptly evaded as if she was holding for her dear life.

A vicious pulsing red barbed spear zoomed past Kurumi, nearly losing her face from that spear.

*BOOM*

…and destroyed another portion of the library. It created a large hole enough to jump out, luckily this did not bring down the foundation. It made Ritsuka glare at Scathach. The Lancer gets the message on the spot.

"I apologize." Scathach said before she faced Nightmare who immediately recovered. In her hands were flintlock and a musket, whom were pointed at Scathach and Ritsuka.

"… I see, 'Lancer' eh? You trying to save another 'Spirit'? Let's see whose faster, your spear or my bullet?" Kurumi smirked, even wounding either of them will suffice. She doesn't intend to kill her targets for now. If this can make her escape her then she will take her chance.

As she was about to pull the trigger, she felt her back stabbed unexpectedly, dropping her weapons in the process. Her spine was struck by a sharp blade, which is proven lethal.

"I-Impossible." Nightmare uttered to herself, her mouth overflowing with her own blood, messing the floor already. Her back, although devoid of sense of touch and balance already due to the inury, felt occupied. Looking back, she saw a child clinging and crouching on her back using both of her knife.

"Mommy…" The child whispered creepily, her lips was too close to her Kurumi's ear. All Nightmare can only smirked from her own realization as she was dying.

"So t-three Spirits huh? I-Interesting—" Kurumi whispered once more before her knees buckled down and her face slammed the floor unceremonially. Her body laid flat on the floor unmoving.

It was obvious that she wasn't breathing but before they can conclude, Jack, who was still crouching on the back of the body, checked Kurumi's pulse on her neck.

"Mommy, I killed the baddy!" Jack assured them. Scathach dismissed her spear immediately.

"Master, we need to get out immediately." Lancer reminded her Master, whom immediately agreed.

"Yes, I do think so." Ritsuka then moved away from the desk and followed Scathach out of the alternative exit, since the door was destroyed by Scathach. Jack followed them as well before she dissipated into her Spirit Form.

But before she can leave the library, Ritsuka looked back and saw the corpse dissipated into the nothingness, crumbling away to dust until there's nothing left.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ritsuka figured out.

"Absolutely. We're facing something weaker than the Spirit. I reckon that Spirit aren't easily defeated just like that. If it is then they are real disappointment." Scathach deduced quickly.

"I suppose so." Ritsuka said before they fled the destruction scene.

Shidou immediately rushed toward the explosion area. The school was immediately closed when explosions were heard and all of the students were evacuated out of the campus. He realized that the library was the most affected.

Fortunately, there's no casualties around here.

"Shidou, can you see it? Are the damages extensive enough?" Kotori said through through Shidou's earpiece. Shidou just looked in front of the large hole where he could see outside. It was a miracle that this part of the school is still standing. A large section of the library was missing.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Ratatoskr recorded at least one mana signature at play, This is somehow irrelevant to the previous Spirit so somehow we are facing an unknown Spirit. The fact that no spacequake occurred proves that it was already present somewhere there."

"I can see it, Kotori but besides the destruction, nothing out of bound can be found."

"Are all of the students present? What about the staffs?"

"So far all of the students that I knew were here but Ms. Scarlet isn't here." Shidou said as she scanned the students around him.

"Ms. Scarlet? Your teacher at History?"

"Yes, I actually joined her when I entered the gates but I found it strange that she did not appear in our class until the explosions occurred." Shidou wondered. Actually, Origami was also absent but seeing that it was impossible for her to instigate bombing in the campus, he believed that she wasn't a culprit. He trusted that Origami wasn't up to that task.

"Shidou, we have a no. 1 suspect, Ms. Scarlet. Besides her basic resume, no other relevant information can be found her."

Shidou gasped at the thought. "You don't mean…"

"Were either dealing with a Spirit or a convict."

"H-hey, I am not suspecting Ms. Scarlet as something as a convict. I thoroughly believe that she is a good person."

"Oho, so you are now raising your voice, huh?"

"Eeep, I didn't mean it." Shidou was concerned. He wasn't definitely looking forward for what will happen when he will arrive home.

"The campus decided to end this day earlier than they expected, why don't you go home and visit the girls' dorm? Try to search for Ms. Scarlet there."

"Right, I'll go and pick-up Tohka before we go."

"Are they gone?"

"Definitely." Circe proclaimed as she witnessed not one but two shady individuals walking away from them. Mashu was still hiding behind the tree but felt no longer obliged to do so. Their game of cat and mouse ended up at the hill to the point Circe decided to frustrate them.

She conjured an illusion of them on a whim and made them walk a different path while Mashu and Circe were protected by a barrier that twisted anyone's visual perception from the outside.

"I don't if it still safe for now, so we'll stay put here for a moment." Circe suggested.

"I agree. I need a rest for a moment."

Mashu said as she sat on a smooth stone she just happened to found.

"This is the place your looking for, right? Might as well do it, I can set up an another barrier here. These tall trees can help mask our presence but an extra security might help."

"Thank you, Caster." Mashu promptly thanked Circe before she summoned her shield and placing it on the ground carefully.

"The leylines are bearable so take your chances."

"I will."

Then a hologram spurred out of the life and a familiar figure made of blue appeared like a ghost.

"Testing, testing… Ohoh, Mashu! I'm glad that to see you again!"

"Sion-sama, I'm glad to see you again too and that the Chaldea was safe." Mashu said expectantly. Sion immediately turned to the another individual who was also watching them.

"Circe, right?"

"Bonafide Chaldea's Servant, Circe." Circe as she made a peace sign with both of her hands.

"Gladly, I get it, Ritsuka isn't with you?"

"Umm, yes, she's busy over something." Mashu sad with a depreciating tone.

The Figure of Sion frowns before another figure butt in. "I have an answer for that…" The cute version of Da Vinci said reassuringly.

"I believe this is the nearest possible human history that we could ever encounter… so don't be a worrywart, maybe Ritsuka was just being nostalgic all of the sudden, seeing that you are coincidentally in Japan…"

"Yes, I have noticed it upon arriving here— Wait, Da Vinci. I think something happened to us when we rayshifted here. We've got separate not literally but from a span of a week."

Da Vinci was obviously brainstorming. "We have investigated the system here and found no faults over here either so that world was the culprit or something else…Anyways we are still investigating that notion."

"Thank you, Da Vinci…" Still, Mashu was still worried over something else. "…you can read Senpai's current condition, right? How is she?"

The figure of Da Vinci just scrunch up in worry and based on it, Mashu knew this could be a bad news already. Little Da Vinci was tapping her lips with a hint of uncertainty.

"I don't how should say this but Ritsuka's physique was showing abnormal signs of excessive mana. At this point it should have killed her already. Something foreign was taking roots inside her. In other words, Ritsuka was harboring an imitation Holy Grail."

"What!? How is this possible?" Mashu was exasperated, seeing that Senpai was in danger all along.

"Calm down, Mashu. Everything is still alright. I should have expected it earlier since Ritsuka… well, was being Ritsuka. She somehow defied our odds, Mashu. That's the Chaldean Master for us!"

"But still… don't you think you should have performed an emergency rayshift on Senpai already?"

Da Vinci just scratched the back of her head. "That's the problem, Mashu, we can't even rayshift the both of you on that world, as if something is preventing us, we can't do something here in our ends."

Mashu was troubled until she thought of something. "This world. Da Vinci-chan, is this the world that we must resolve, right?".

"You got it. Maybe, if you managed to find for whatever reason out of bound there on the world then maybe… just maybe..."

"I-I get it. Everything I will do for Senpai."

Eventually, Sherlock was the one now in the hologram stead. "I knew you can do it. Both Ritsuka and you, just be careful. Prioritize your safety first. Caster Circe, I commend you for letting all of Ritsuka's Servant materialized, as this will offset the 'implanted Holy Grail' in her and stabilize her condition furthermore, if not enough…"

Circe nodded at that notion. "On it already."

"… I am quite sure there was someone behind all of these ordeal." He said as he kept on caressing his chin, as a detective.

"Are you sure, Mr. Sherlock? Is someone behind Senpai's condition."

There was a long silence, and then the Detective continued. "I couldn't be so sure as there is still not enough evidence…" Sherlock's brows knitted together. "… I am sure that you could have done this a while before but I take it, under some circumstances, something is preventing you from communicating us?"

"Uhm…" Mashu was unsure what to say but immediately Circe was the one who answer at her stead instead.

"This world was already dangerous per se and we couldn't risk revealing Master on this world. We have bear witness to dangerous forces of this world. They are not ill-equip in fighting 'Spirit's, I swear."

Da Vinci butted in again once more.

"That's good. If you can communicate once more again in safety, please bring Ritsuka with you next time. We will report what we found in our stead and in turn, tell us what this world is, especially I found it interesting that there is 'Spirit' Caster said… Are they different from 'Heroic Spirits'… n-no, don't answer that for now, I think you needed rest."

"Yes, we will do. Da Vinci-chan."

"Take care… and you too, Caster."

Circe just smirk contently. "You got it."

Then the hologram dissipated and the communication was ceased.